Heavy rains triggered landslides that struck two villages in Pakistan's mountainous northwest Sunday, leaving 23 people dead and 16 others injured, police said. The deaths were caused by people trapped under the rubble of homes that were hit by landslides in the villages of Gayal and Mangri in Kohistan district, police officer Habib Khan said. The dead included men, women and children, Khan said.
State-run Pakistan Television reported that landslides blocked sections of a highway that stretches through Kohistan, a rugged district, and connects Pakistan with neighboring China.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/09/2007 00:00 ||
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Just a reminder that Afghanistan is not yet a liberal democracy.
KABUL - Afghanistans secret service released on bail Sunday a journalist critical of the government who was held for four days on undisclosed charges, while a second media worker remained in custody.
Kamran Mir Hazar, a radio journalist and chief editor of a political website blog, was freed on bail but his case was still being processed, intelligence agency spokesman Sayed Ansari told AFP. The National Directorate of Security has not said why it picked up Hazar on July 4.
Martin Gerner, a contributor to the US-based media development group Internews, said Hazar was in good health after his release. However, We still dont know the official reasons for his detention, he said.
An intelligence official has told AFP on condition of anonymity that Hazar was detained for articles published on his blog (www.kabulpress.org), some of which accuse senior Afghan officials of spying.
The editor-in-chief of a government publication, Asif Nang, is still with the intelligence services after being arrested June 30. There have been no reasons given for his detention but he is said to have reprinted in his publication extracts from a Canadian essay critical of President Hamid Karzai. An intelligence agent has also claimed, again on condition of anonymity, that his case is linked to allegations of spying for Pakistan.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/09/2007 00:00 ||
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Zimbabwe's inflation-ravaged economy could be rescued by switching to South Africa's currency in exchange for political concessions by President Robert Mugabe, South Africa's Sunday Independent newspaper reported yesterday.
It's not as if South Africa is in the best position to throw away large amounts of money.
Quoting unnamed sources, the paper said the Southern African Development Community (SADC) was working on a plan to extend the rand monetary union to Zimbabwe, which would help stabilise the economic crisis in the country, where inflation has rocketed to 4,500%. The monetary union, under which currencies are pegged to the rand, consists of South Africa, Namibia, Lesotho and Swaziland. The plan would also involve the central banks in South Africa and Botswana injecting huge amounts of funds into their counterpart bank in Zimbabwe, the paper said.
Most of which will go to Bob and his cronies.
Mr Mugabe's government last week sought to curb galloping inflation, the highest in the world, by ordering prices of basic goods to be slashed by half, but this sparked panic buying by shoppers who emptied shop shelves.
On Friday, 17 business leaders were arrested for flouting the government directive to lower their prices. Over the weekend another 16 were arrested, the official media reported yesterday. Among those arrested in the latest sweep were the directors of Edgars, a leading clothing and fashion retailer, and supermarket and gas station owners.
At least 200 businesses have already been charged for alleged price violations and 40 market vendors arrested for hoarding goods. A police spokesman told state radio some managers had gone into hiding or had taken holiday to avoid police action against them. "We want to warn them we will pursue them up until they face the full wrath of the law," he said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/09/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
3-to-1 that Zim's "economy" drags SA down with it. Glub, glub.
#2
Deck chairs, deck chairs quickly, along the rail now... in groups of 5! No more than 5. There, there you have it....don't mind the slipping, they'll soon stabilize. Now back to your stations!
BOGOTA - Colombian President Alvaro Uribe dug in his heels over the weekend against Marxist guerrilla demands that he remove troops from a rural area to clear the way for prisoner swap talks. Despite calls from families of rebel hostages urging him to agree to demilitarize a New York City-sized zone in the west of the country, Uribe signaled he will stick with the hard-line security stance that got him elected.
The deadlock is bad news for kidnap victims such as French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt, who was captured by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, during her 2002 presidential campaign. Safe-haven zones in Colombia have been used by the terrorists to strengthen their efforts to take power, said Uribe, adding that he rejects the idea.
Uribe first won office in 2002 by criticizing peace initiatives in which the guerrillas were given limited territorial control. Previous President Andres Pastrana ceded a Switzerland-sized area to the rebels to facilitate peace talks that disintegrated after the FARC used the safe area to consolidate their cocaine- and kidnapping-funded revolution. Uribe built his public persona on criticizing Pastrana for granting a safe haven to the FARC, so he cant be seen falling into the same trap, said political commentator Ricardo Avila.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/09/2007 00:00 ||
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#4
All those young, horny and frustrated men that will be around in 15-20 years is really gonna screw things up for China and its neighbors.
China's largest medically caused AIDS epidemic in history should make short work of them. Especially if lots of these surplus guys opt for the gay lifestyle. One can only wonder if "population control" was the reason for China allowing the Henan AIDS epidemic to go unchecked for so long. There is little I would put past China's communist Mandarins.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il likes to burn the midnight oil and wakes cadres in the predawn hours to give them advice on their work, the reclusive country's official media reported over the weekend.
Big daddy can't sleep, ain't nobody gonna sleep.
North Korea's official propaganda machine is full of extraordinary tales extolling a person it treats with god-like reverence, ranging from double rainbows appearing on his birthday to his piloting jet fighters even though it is thought he never travels by air.
"Staying up all night is my habit," Kim was quoted as saying in the North's Rodong Sinmun newspaper, the South's Yonhap news agency reported.
Kim surprised one unidentified worker with a 4 a.m. call to give him instructions on how to do his job, the paper said. "I again wake up a sleeping comrade," Kim said. The worker, worried about Kim's health, asks him to take a break, the report said. Kim told the worker the late hours do not bother him. "At this time, my work is in full swing," he reportedly said.
There has been speculation in the South that Kim, 65, may be recovering from an illness. Pictures released of an event earlier this month show he has lost weight and his hair has thinned from a year ago.
He's just getting in shape for Pelosi's surprise birthday visit.
#2
Reminds me of another totalitarian fascist dictator, some guy named Adolph Schickelgruber. He was known to spend most of the night awake, and sleeping during the day. He came to a bad end...
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/09/2007 17:16 Comments ||
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TAIPEI, Taiwan, July 7 -- President Chen Shui-bian said Taiwan will press ahead with a controversial referendum on whether the self-ruled island should apply for U.N. membership under the name Taiwan, dismissing U.S. objections as appeasement of China. Chen's defiant stand, outlined in frank language during an interview Friday, raised the prospect of a rocky period in Taiwan's relations with the Bush administration and a rise in tension across the volatile 100-mile strait separating Taiwan from mainland China.
China and the United States have complained that the referendum, which would have little practical effect, in fact is designed to promote a change in the island's official name, from Republic of China to Taiwan. This, both governments charged, could be read as a unilateral change in the island's status, something China's leaders have said they will not tolerate.
But Chen, an ardent independence advocate who is nearing the end of his second four-year term, said the idea of such a referendum has been endorsed by the main opposition group, the Nationalist Party, as well as his own People's Progressive Party and was supported by 71 percent of Taiwanese citizens questioned in a national poll. Canceling the plans would amount to frustrating the democratic rights of Taiwan's 23 million people to express their views and guide government policies, he said. "The path we have embarked on is the right one, and we shall continue to follow it," he declared.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/09/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
So far, no one in Quebecs Jewish community or any Jewish community anywhere has rioted, burned any embassies, threatened beheadings or caused the cartoonists in question to go into perpetual hiding.
Yeah, that's probably why they had the balls to print them...
#4
I forwarded these to big name American bloggers three weeks ago. No interest. Hopefully Brussels Journal has enough clout to catch the eye of the big dogs in the dextrosphere.
John Edwards plans to announce Monday that hell take a break from fund-raising and campaigning in early-voting states next week for a three-day, eight-state, 12-city Road to One America tour aimed at calling attention to poverty in the deep South, the Mississippi Delta, Appalachia and the Rust Belt. The campaign points out that none of the states hell visit has an early 2008 primary, and says Edwards wont be doing rallies.
Instead, TV viewers will see The Breck Girl Edwards in coal country, Edwards in a factory, Edwards on a farm, Edwards in a struggling neighborhood, Edwards in a school, Edwards in a health care clinic. Like my do yawl? Its an effort to show the rest of the country how 37 million Americans live their lives in poverty every single day, an Edwards aide said. Its not only their workplaces -- its their homes and the places they get health care.
Posted by: Helmuth, Speaking for Chusoling1715 ||
07/09/2007 01:10 ||
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Maybe he can get all the shitkickers to sign up for his hedge fund?
CRAWFORD, Texas (AP) - Cindy Sheehan, the soldier's mother who galvanized the anti-war movement, said Sunday that she plans to seek House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's congressional seat unless she introduces articles of impeachment against President Bush in the next two weeks.
Her exit from politics lasted how long? A month?
Sheehan said she will run against the San Francisco Democrat in 2008 as an independent if Pelosi does not seek by July 23 to impeach Bush.
I'd be tempted to send her 'independent' campaign a fin if it would guarantee a circus ...
That's when Sheehan and her supporters are to arrive in Washington, D.C., after a 13-day caravan and walking tour starting next week from the group's war protest site near Bush's Crawford ranch. ``Democrats and Americans feel betrayed by the Democratic leadership,'' Sheehan told The Associated Press. ``We hired them to bring an end to the war. I'm not too far from San Francisco, so it wouldn't be too big of a move for me. I would give her a run for her money.''
Not in an election, but certainly as a kook ...
Pelosi spokesman Brendan Daly said the congresswoman has said repeatedly that her focus is on ending the war in Iraq. ``She believes that the best way to support our troops in Iraq is to bring them home safely and soon,'' Daly said in an e-mail to the AP. ``July will be a month of action in Congress to end the war, including a vote to redeploy our troops by next spring.''
[Sheehan] plans her official candidacy announcement Tuesday.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/09/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
She already has a relationship with Hugo; doesn't that put her up one on San Fran Nan?
Posted by: Bobby ||
07/09/2007 5:45 Comments ||
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If anyone can find her campaign website, post it so we can send money.
Wouldn't it be great if Pelosi were to lose after just 2 years of House speaker ?
#10
Aide- Pelosi worried about ending war, not about Sheehan
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is spending her energy on ending the war in Iraq, not worrying about a possible challenge from peace activist Cindy Sheehan, her spokesman said Monday.
India and Israel have agreed to expand their already considerable missile development cooperation with an even longer-range version of their extended-range Barak ship defense system, this time for the Indian Air Force.
Sources from both countries say they expect to sign an add-on development contract by early next year, following last months conclusion of a memorandum of agreement between Indian defense research authorities and prime contractor Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI).
The new land-based air defense system will feature a range of 150 kilometers, more than double that of the supersonic, vertically launched Barak-8, or BarakNG (New Generation) now being developed for the Indian Navy.
Weve agreed to extend our ongoing BarakNG project with a longer-range missile capable of performing additional missions and meeting a larger array of threats, one Israeli source said in early July, noting that Indias fiscal year ends in March 2008. Were all looking to sign a contract by the end of the fiscal year.
The program, he said, is a natural extension of the approximately $480 million, five-year contract concluded in early 2006 between the Indian Defence Research Development Organization (DRDO) and IAI.
Indian Defence Ministry sources said Israeli partners have agreed to transfer all technologies and manufacturing capabilities relevant to the co-development program. They noted that the new land-based air defense system a planned replacement for the Indian Air Forces Russian-made Pechora surface-to-air missiles (SAMs) would provide full hemispheric, 360-degree interception coverage against existing and future threats.
Sources declined to provide projected program costs, but estimated the effort would take about four years and a minimum of $300 million to develop unique system elements and an initial tranche of the land-based missiles.
The Indian Air Force has a requirement for nine advanced air defense squadrons, each of which will feature two SAM units. A typical unit will include an acquisition radar, a guidance radar, a command-and-control center and three launchers with eight missiles apiece.
Yossi Weiss, general manager of IAIs Systems, Missiles and Space Group, said in mid-May the Barak-8 air defense system under development would be more capable and more sophisticated than the U.S.-developed Patriot PAC-3. He declined to discuss details of the firms ongoing cooperation with India, and did not offer any information regarding new longer-range versions of the Barak-based system.
Indias top ballistic missile scientist, Vijay Kumar Saraswat, said in December that India was no longer interested in buying the PAC-3, United Press International reported.
Indian defense experts said the new land-based, longer-range Barak system also would benefit the Indian Navy, which is methodically pursuing longer-range capabilities since the 2004 approval of its Blue Water Navy doctrine.
The deal extends arms-manufacturing ties with Israel even as India reaches out to other regional countries such as Iran and Qatar, with which New Delhi recently signed a groundbreaking agreement to codify defense cooperation.
Gurpreet Khurana, a Navy commander and a defense analyst of the Institute of Defence Studies and Analysis (IDSA), a New Delhi think tank, called the long-range Barak a tactical defense system, not a strategic or offensive one.
A longer-range anti-missile system has become imperative today, with the increased [120-kilometer] range of anti-ship missiles like the Harpoons, Khurana said. Besides, the missile platforms have a stand-off firing capability the P-3C Orion can launch the missile at an Indian Carrier Battle Group, without even entering the air-defense zone. In any case, interception of missiles at longer ranges is necessary, particularly to prevent saturation of air-defense response.
The latest Barak-based co-development project marks the third phase of Indo-Israeli cooperation based on the air defense system by IAI and Israels Rafael Armament Development Authority. The cooperation began in 2001 with a $270 million deal for the basic Barak ship defense system. Mutual satisfaction with system performance and Israeli willingness to engage in technology transfers led in January 2006 to the 70-kilometer-range BarakNG program.
This has been a phenomenally successful cooperative program, which has served as a springboard to all kinds of other potential projects, an Israeli industry source said.
He estimated that the three Barak-based missile development efforts combined exceed $1.3 billion.
Indian Defence Ministry sour-ces said scientists from the governments DRDL missile laboratory in Hyderabad are already working in Israel on the BarakNG program.
In a June 29 conference in Hyderabad, Indian President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam praised the growing cooperation between India and Israel, particularly the cooperation with IAI. His guest of honor at the event, hosted by the Aeronautical and Astronautical Societies of India, was Itzhak Nissan, IAIs president and chief executive, who has led Barak and other missile and space cooperative development projects with India for more than a decade.
Noting that IAI is partner on some of the most advanced projects in the world, Nissan expressed high regard for the scientific and manufacturing capabilities that India contributes to joint development efforts, according to an IAI account of the event, released July 2.
Indo-Israeli defense ties have been on the upswing since 1999, despite the opposition of the Indian leftist parties that helped bring the ruling United Progressive Alliance government to power. Today, Israel trails only Russia in defense exports to India. New Delhi has bought UAVs and electronic warfare systems for MiG aircraft, has received technology for the Barak missile, Phalcon radar for the Indian AWACS program and the advanced Green Pine radar for Indias homegrown air defense program, Indian Defence Ministry sources said.
While it is commonly known that Israel is Indias second-largest defense supplier, what is not generally known is the large number of platforms, such as AWACS to fighter aircraft, ships and tanks, on which the Israelis are providing systems support, said defense analyst Rahul Bhonsle, a retired Indian Army brigadier.
One can even expect a stranglehold of the Israeli defense suppliers unless India works out very detailed and foolproof integrity and sustenance clauses in their agreements, Bhonsle said. This also implies a strategic long-term relationship as that between Russia and India today.
Posted by: John Frum ||
07/09/2007 12:08 ||
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India and Vietnam have agreed to raise bilateral relations to the level of a broad-based "strategic partnership" that they believe will better enable them to deal with the evolving economic and security environment in the region.
Their partnership will include greater cooperation in defence matters and use of civilian nuclear technology, in addition to furthering economic ties and cooperation at regional and multilateral forums.
A joint declaration on establishing a strategic partnership was signed by Prime Ministers Manmohan Singh and Nguyen Tan Dung on the last day of the latters visit to India on Friday. It commits both sides to improving bilateral relations "in the political, economic, security, defense, cultural, science and technological dimensions", and provides the basis for cooperation in regional and multilateral institutions.
As two countries that share borders with China, India and Vietnam will set up an institutionalised strategic dialogue. While the joint statement provides for the setting up of a joint working group on countering terrorism, an MoU has also been signed between the Department of Atomic Energy and Vietnams Ministry of Science and Technology for cooperation in the field of nuclear energy.
New Delhi will train personnel from Vietnam and provide assistance to the India-Vietnam Nuclear Science Centre at Dalat in Vietnam. Both sides will also work on developing technology to process Vietnamese uranium ores.
To further expand economic ties, India will provide additional grants and concessional lines of credit to Vietnam. Given the importance of the primary sector to both countries economies, an MoU on cooperation in the field of fisheries and aquaculture, and a work plan for cooperation in agricultural technology, have also been signed.
India will also provide English language training in Vietnam at a centre in Danang, under an MoU aimed at helping Vietnam integrate better within ASEAN by narrowing the language barrier.
In addition, both sides will facilitate greater cultural and educational exchanges. In particular, the Archaeological Survey of India will undertake conservation of the Cham monuments in Vietnam, which are symbols of long-standing cultural relations between the two countries.
Posted by: John Frum ||
07/09/2007 11:46 ||
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India, Vietnam deepen defence, nuclear ties
The Chinese are pissing themselves so much in Peking there's a Yellow River flowing into a Yellow Sea!
#2
The Chinese attacked both India (1962) and Vietnam (1979) to "teach a lesson".
Well, the lesson both countries learned is not to trust the Chinese. Ever.
There has been mention of India selling cruise and ballistic missiles to Vietnam, of India even leasing a portion of the Cam Ranh Bay Naval Base.
Posted by: John Frum ||
07/09/2007 15:28 Comments ||
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The Chinese attacked both India (1962) and Vietnam (1979) to "teach a lesson".
Thanks in part to my first rate History teachers in High School and my Parents I remember the Chinese attack on India (1962) as it unfolded.
The second was easy to remember from a personal point of reference, solid reports were hard to come by as i recall.
NVA vs ChiComs: The slaughter helped My black mood, and the NVA excursion into Cambodia was a good payback all around.
#4
CHIN MIL FORUM > Netters are reporting that formal contracts related to China's dev of aircraft carriers has gone out; + Russia is allowing China to manufacture under license Russ ICBM and other LR missle technologies; + Beijing and many pro-China Netters are unhappy wid Vietnam right now. PLaning is also continuing for a possible inter-nation canal system, thru Central Asia from Pacfic and Mediterranean-Black Sea
At least he didn't throw a tantrum like Elton John did last week, lol...
Metallica singer James Hetfield was investigated by UK airport officials who believed he was a terrorist this week, it has been claimed. The star was barred entry to Luton airport on Thursday and questioned by staff who were concerned about his appearance. Fears that Hetfield might be involved in terrorism were apparently founded on his "Taliban-like beard", according to The Times. He was allowed to leave the airport after a brief interrogation, when he persuaded officials that he was a rock star. Metallica play Live Earth at Wembley Stadium in London tomorrow, before headlining the venue for their own show on Sunday evening.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/09/2007 13:40 Comments ||
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#3
I was playing "Whiskey in the Jar" on my concertina at a Civil War reenactment last year when a couple of kids came up. One of them said, "I've never heard Metallica played at a reenactment before".
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
07/09/2007 14:05 Comments ||
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#4
"when he persuaded officials that he was a rock star."
All he had to do is speak to the crowd. "Does anyone recognize me?". It would be a miracle if none of the airport employees let alone passangers could recognize him. Mettalica is a fairly successful band after all.
#5
Hey, the UK did a better job of things than the US did a few years ago when it barred the hugely popular Israeli singer Rita from even getting a friggin' visa due to her Iranian heritage! Dorks.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Heavy rains triggered landslides that struck two villages in Pakistan's mountainous northwest Sunday, leaving 23 people dead and 16 others injured, police said. The deaths were caused by people trapped under the rubble of homes that were hit by landslides in the villages of Gayal and Mangri in Kohistan district, police officer Habib Khan said. The dead included men, women and children, Khan said. 
Zimbabwe's inflation-ravaged economy could be rescued by switching to South Africa's currency in exchange for political concessions by President Robert Mugabe, South Africa's Sunday Independent newspaper reported yesterday.
BOGOTA - Colombian President Alvaro Uribe dug in his heels over the weekend against Marxist guerrilla demands that he remove troops from a rural area to clear the way for prisoner swap talks. Despite calls from families of rebel hostages urging him to agree to demilitarize a New York City-sized zone in the west of the country, Uribe signaled he will stick with the hard-line security stance that got him elected.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il likes to burn the midnight oil and wakes cadres in the predawn hours to give them advice on their work, the reclusive country's official media reported over the weekend. 
