This day in History:
1284 - Statute of Rhuddlan incorporated the Principality of Wales into England
1923 - TIME magazine is published for the first time. (Let's hope 2009 will be the last)
1931 - The United States officially adopts "The Star-Spangled Banner" as its national anthem.
1938 - Oil is discovered in Saudi Arabia.
1945 - World War II: The American and Filipino troops take in Manila the Philippines.
1958 - Nuri as-Said becomes the prime minister of Iraq for the 14th time.
1969 - Apollo program: NASA launches Apollo 9 to test the lunar module.
1991 - An amateur video captures the beating of Rodney King (Can't we all just get along)
Somali opposition gunmen drive the government troops out of a southern town despite a recent agreement with the incumbent Somail president.
What's an agreement worth if it can't be broken?
On Monday, Al-Shabaab fighters engaged with the soldiers forcing them out of the El Barde town on the common border with Ethiopia, a Press TV correspondent reported quoting a local Sheikh Dahir Aliyow Moumin.
The troops were seen fighting a rearguard action while fleeing towards the border. Ten soldiers reportedly died in the battle which caused no civilian casualties.
The recent development comes in breach of a peace agreement signed in February between the UIC - al-Shabaab's political front - and President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/03/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
I see "Hat boy" is back.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
03/03/2009 11:21 Comments ||
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#2
Every time I see him, I think "Wedgie - SUPER wedgie". Somebody also pulled a sack down over his head.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
03/03/2009 12:12 Comments ||
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#3
A round of bullet entering premolars # 20 and 21 from 270-295 degrees makes my heart sing. Just say'n.
Algeria's military has killed 16 militants linked to al-Qaeda in a weekend raid on their secret base near the capital, Algiers, state media says. French-language state radio says Interior Minister Yazid Zerhouni has raised the death toll among the militants from seven previously announced. Further details were not provided in the report on Tuesday.
Officials said the raid starting late Friday near Blida was launched with information obtained from a terror support cell dismantled a week earlier. Blida is about 80km south of Algiers. The government has said the military killed 120 militants over the last six months from al-Qaeda's north Africa wing. The wing emerged from a former insurgent group in Algeria.
A Moroccan man linked to the 2004 Madrid bomb attacks was jailed for 10 years by an appeals court on Monday for his role in the 2003 Casablanca suicide bomb attacks that killed 45 people, the state news agency MAP reported. The court found Hassan el Haski guilty of "setting up a criminal gang to carry out terrorist attacks with the aim of undermining public order through terror and violence," according to MAP.
" It's an unfair verdict, the appeals process was summary "
Khalil El Idrissi
His sentencing on appeal Monday comes less than four weeks after he was acquitted by Morocco's anti-terrorist tribunal and was met with an angry response from his lawyer. "It's an unfair verdict, the appeals process was summary," said Khalil El Idrissi.
Al Haski is not the first person to be probed in connection with both Madrid and Casablanca bombings. Another Moroccan suspect in the 2004 Madrid bombings, Saad Housseini, was given a 15-year jail sentence last week by a Rabat court for his role in the Casablanca attacks
Haski, 41, was extradited to Morocco from Spain, where he was already serving a 13-year-jail term for leading an armed group involved in the Madrid train bombings which killed 191 people. Moroccan lawyers said Haski would serve the sentence imposed in Morocco and then be extradited to Spain to complete his 13-year-sentence there.
Housseini, a chemistry graduate, was suspected of having made the Madrid bombs.
Originally from the Moroccan city of Meknes, he visited Afghanistan in 2002. He was questioned by police upon his return that same year and released without charge.
This article starring:
Hassan el Haski
Saad Housseini
Posted by: Fred ||
03/03/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Very unusual. Under King Hassan II they would save the expense of trial and just put a bullet between his eyes and drop him off in some souk.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
03/03/2009 12:46 Comments ||
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Algerian troops killed seven armed fighters Saturday night during in Larbaâ, Blida province, Tout sur l'Algerie reported on Monday (March 2nd). Information provided by 12 members of a dismantled terror-support group in Blida reportedly led to the operation.
In related news, some 120 terrorists have been killed since last September, Interior Minister Nourredine Yazid Zerhouni told reporters Sunday (March 1st) at a police officer promotion ceremony. While another 322 terrorists were arrested, only 150 weapons were seized, Zerhouni noted, indicating that not all the fighters possess arms.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/03/2009 00:00 ||
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After reviewing information about how many army officers were in fact inside the BDR headquarters during the last week's bloody carnage, the army authorities yesterday revised the number of missing officers down to six from the previous 72.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/03/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Strange they didn't know right away?
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
03/03/2009 11:18 Comments ||
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#2
I'm going to bet that we've got a bureaucracy unwinding a ghost-soldier payroll scam - phantom "officers" who only existed to pad somebody's bank-account.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
03/03/2009 16:32 Comments ||
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#3
See also TOPIX > CHINA FUELS SRI LANKAN WAR { + others].
Forty-eight army officers, wife of the slain BDR director general and a soldier -- all killed during the February 25-26 mutiny of the border guards at their headquarters -- were laid to eternal rest with state honours in a sombre atmosphere yesterday.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/03/2009 00:00 ||
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Two prime accused of a case filed in connection with the sensational Chittagong arms haul gave confessional statements before a Chittagong court yesterday.
Chittagong Metropolitan Magistrate Md Osman Gani started recording the confessional statements of the accused--Hafizur Rahman and Din Mohammad--under section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) around 2:00pm. It took around two-and-half-hours to record the 10-page statement of Hafizur Rahman and two-page statement of Din Mohammad.
Sources said the accused provided new and important information regarding the haul of 10 truck-loads of weapons at Chittagong Urea Fertiliser Ltd jetty on April 2, 2004. However, the contents of their confessional statements could not be known.
Tight security was maintained at the court while their statements were being recorded. The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) had taken the two on remand in two phases.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/03/2009 00:00 ||
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UNIDENTIFIED gunmen attacked the bus taking the Sri Lankan cricket squad and its police escort to a cricket stadium in the eastern Pakistan city of Lahore today, according to witnesses and cricket officials. Sri Lankan media, quoting the sports minister, said four players received minor injuries in the attack - Kumar Sangakkara, Ajantha Mendis, Thilan Samaraweera and Tharanga Paranavithana.
Pakistan television channels news channels said four people were killed.
A witness said he believed two police commandos were killed along with a regular policeman and a traffic warden.
Shopkeeper Ahmed Ali said the two police commandos had been driving behind the team bus when they were hit. "It was a very heavy firing and I heard at least two explosions at the time," said a witness who had been on his way to cover the test match between Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
Pakistan only invited the Sri Lanka team to tour after India's team pulled out with security concerns following the militant attacks on the Indian city of Mumbai in November.
#2
For those of you not familiar with cricket, Sri Lankan is one of the top international teams.
Sri Lanka was doing Pakistan a big favour by touring Pakistan when the likes of India, England and Australia had refused and pulled out of matches due the terrorism risk.
No international team will go to Pakistan for the next 20 years.
The Sri Lankans were on their way to the Gaddafi Stadium when their bus was attacked by five armed terrorists near Liberty market. Habibur Rehman, chief commissioner of police, said 12 masked terrorists fired at the Sri Lankan team bus. The gunmen shot at the wheels of the bus and also injured the driver. A grenade was also thrown at the bus but it missed. The others players injured are Ajantha Mendis, Thilan Samaraweera and Tharanga Paranavitana.
"The bus came under attack as we were driving to the stadium, the gunmen targeted the wheels of the bus first and then the bus," Mahela Jayawardene told Cricinfo. "We all dived to the floor to take cover. About five players have been injured and also Paul Farbrace [a member of the support staff], but most of the injuries appear to be minor at this stage and caused by debris."
Sri Lanka's sports minister Gamini Lokuge said Farbrace and Samaraweera were hospitalised while the others have been discharged. "Mahela and the other three had very minor injuries and they have already reached their hotel," Lokuge said.
The reserve umpire Ahsan Raza was also injured in the attack. Nadeem Ghauri, the TV umpire, who was traveling in a bus behind the Sri Lanka team bus said the firing continued for some time. Umpire Steve Davis, who was on the team bus, called the terrorist attack "terrible". "I'm lost for words," he said.
#9
BBC is running the story with essentially the same details (of course Auntie has to use the word "gunmen" rather that terrorist but that's our batty Aunty Beeb). Of interest is this declaimer in their solicitation for comments:
Were you at the game in Lahore? Did you witness the shooting? Tell us your thoughts by filling in the form below. Do not endanger yourself or others.
Now why do you s'pose they felt it necessary to add that?
Lahore police chief Rehman said "between 12 and 14 men" took part in the assault and they resembled Pashtuns, the ethnic group that hails from close to the Afghan border, the stronghold of al-Qaida and the Taliban. He said officers were hunting them down.
And:
Authorities will also consider possible links to Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger separatist rebels who are being badly hit in a military offensive at home, though Sri Lankan military spokesman Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara says authorities there did not believe the group was responsible.
#14
At least one of the Twitter comments blamed the Heathen Hindoos, saying that weapons retrieved at the scene were made in India.
How convenient: weapons dropped by the perfidious bad guyz, and they didn't bother acquiring them locally, where you can't walk a block without tripping over weaponry.
And they disguised themselves as Pashtoons.
As someone once said in another context: "Wotta country!"
Posted by: Fred ||
03/03/2009 9:28 Comments ||
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#15
When do the Pakistanis come out to say this has nothing to do with Pakistan?
PAKISTANI police were interrogating five people today in connection with a deadly ambush on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore, security officials said.
"We have detained five people for questioning following the attack," senior local police officer Amjad Saleemi said.
A security official confirmed the arrests.
"Police detained five people who they believe may have information about the attackers," the official said on condition of anonymity.
Khaled Farooq, chief of police in Punjab province, said an investigation had been launched but declined to give any details.
"I have set up a very high-powered investigation team. An experienced officer is heading the team. God willing, we will give you good results," he told a news conference.
"I will not divulge anything prematurely," he said.
Bonus question: Cricket legend Imran Khan is astonished they all got away. Is it really so astonishing? Of course, the answer to that is a stain on the honour of the Land of the Pure and must be avanged...
#22
perhaps if we sealed Pakland off, like a petri dish?
And don't forget Pasteur's admonition:
"If you want to avoid a lot of the sh*t hitting the fan, keep your cultures separate"
#23
The country's largest and wealthiest province was plunged into turmoil last week after its most popular politician, opposition leader and former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, was barred from holding elected office by the Supreme Court in a controversial ruling. The decision sparked angry protests across the province and opened up a major rift with the government.
Considering who's backing Sharif, this really isn't surprising.
#24
tu3031 asked: When do the Pakistanis come out to say this has nothing to do with Pakistan?
The answer, at about 4:00pm Eastern time:
A former Pakistani spy chief with Islamist sympathies speculated that the attack could have been carried out by Sri Lankan Tamil Tiger rebels backed by Indian intelligence as a payback for what happened in Mumbai.
"It's all too obvious that it is the handiwork of the Indian intelligence," retired general Hamid Gul said.
Hey, Hamid. Howz it hanging? And why haven't you hung, yet?
Mar 03, Lahore: Pakistani police have arrested five people today in connection with the attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore.
A Pakistani security official confirmed the arrests saying that police detained five people believed to have information about the attackers and declined to give further details on the investigation.
A suicide bomber killed five and injured 12 people at a girls' religious school in Pishin district of Balochistan on Monday.
District Police Officer Akbar Raisani confirmed the incident saying that the blast had occurred at a girls' madrassa in Kili Karbala, where a senior leader of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), Maulana Mohammad Khan Sherani, was scheduled to address the school's convocation.
Witnesses said the suicide bomber was a teenager who wanted to get close to the JUI-F leader as soon as he ended his speech.
Protest: JUI-F supporters burnt tyres on the Jinnah Road and shouted slogans against the government for being unable to arrest the elements behind the blast.
JUI-F leader Maulana Abdul Wasay, who is also a senior provincial minister, condemned the incident. He said the JUI would observe a strike across the province today (Tuesday). The police said it was investigating the matter.
According to the witnesses, two men had come to the religious school for the bombing but one of them escaped immediately after the first explosion. Quoting police sources, the JUI leaders said two alleged suspects had been arrested in connection with the blast.
Balochistan Chief Minister Aslam Raisani expressed sorrow over the blast and assured the bereaved families that the government would investigate into the matter to expose those behind the blast.
Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah and Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ebad also condemned the blast and offered condolences to the families of the victims, APP reported.
This article starring:
Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl
Hafiz Abdul Zahir
Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl
Jalath Khan
Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl
Maulana Abdul Wasay
Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl
Maulana Mohammad Khan Sherani
Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl
Muhammad Nasim
Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl
Posted by: Fred ||
03/03/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
the Pishin district in bman's back yard is over by the compost pile.
Al Qaeda has claimed the responsibility for the Marriott blast that took place in Islamabad on September 20, 2008, and threatened to attack Saudi Airlines' offices, and important installations in Pakistan, a private TV channel reported on Monday.
According to the channel, immediately after Al Qaeda's threat, the federal government directed the provincial government to beef up security.
An Interior Ministry source said that the Saudi embassy had received a message through an email in which Al Qaeda had threatened to target Saudi Airlines' offices and other important installations. The source said the Saudi embassy had written to the Pakistani Interior Ministry about Al Qaeda's threat. It also said that External Ministry additional secretary Imran Khan Al Sherazi had requested the Interior Ministry to immediately increase security at Saudi installations across the country.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/03/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Al Qaeda threatens to attack Saudi installations in Pakistan.
right before my daughter goes to bed, she gets in a little frenzy. For some reason, this article reminds me of that.
#2
I raised a Daughter, it's simple, she doesn't want to go to bed. Keep her up a bit later, snd she'll fold like a rug.
I made one rule, have any homework done, and stay up as long as you like, wasn't long before she set her own bedtime. After all wake up time was still the same, to get to school on time.
A few mornings napping in her cornflakes did it.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
03/03/2009 11:53 Comments ||
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#3
RJ, We didn't put them to bed early because THEY needed the sleep, but because WE needed them asleep.
#4
AH HA, in that case do as my grandmother did, when they needed time alone they'd throw a roll of pennies out in he front yard, and when we found them all we could come back in (Sometimes they'd throw 49)
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
03/03/2009 17:12 Comments ||
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#5
I don't care who ya are, this thread's funny right here!
Posted by: Larry the Rantburg Guy ||
03/03/2009 20:13 Comments ||
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Security forces arrested three suspicious men during a raid on a house in Jamrud tehsil of Khyber Agency on Monday, sources said. The suspects were identified as Roohullah, Hiadayatullah and Syed Agha; Afghan refugees and residents of Shakas area. The sources said the men had been arrested for their links to the Taliban and for harbouring kidnappers.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/03/2009 00:00 ||
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(AKI) - There are renewed fears for the safety of United Nations worker John Solecki after the separatist group suspected of kidnapping him in Pakistan issued a new threat on his life. A letter believed to have been sent by the Baluchistan Liberation United Front on Sunday threatened to kill Solecki within four days if the Pakistani government does not release more than 1,000 prisoners.
According to Pakistani channel, Geo News, the threat on the American's life was issued in a letter sent to local news agency Online International News Network.
UN spokeswoman Maki Shinohara said the world body was aware of the threat through the media and was taking it seriously.
Solecki, the head of the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Quetta, disappeared a month ago in Baluchistan, one of Pakistan's four provinces, which has been the target of a militant insurgency for several years. Gunmen abducted him on 2 February after killing his driver as the pair drove to work in the southwestern city of Quetta.
In the letter sent on Sunday, the front demanded the release of 1,109 activists from Baluchi nationalist groups it claimed had been arrested by the government.
"John Solecki's mother and his relatives and international human rights groups should play a role for the recovery of thousands of our sons ... who are in state-run torture detention cells," the one-page letter said. "The United Nations and state institutions ... are forcing us to kill Mr. John Solecki in our protest,'' it said.
On 13 February, the group threatened to kill Solecki within three days unless similar demands were met. It did not carry out the threat.
Pakistani officials were not immediately available for comment.
Violent separatist groups have waged a long campaign for independence in Baluchistan, a natural gas-rich region that borders Afghanistan and Iran. Last month, militants beheaded a Polish geologist abducted in another border area of Pakistan after the government did not respond to demands for a prisoner release.
Afghanistan's ambassador-designate, an Iranian diplomat and a Chinese telecommunications engineer were recently seized in or near the main northwestern city of Peshawar and are still missing.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/03/2009 00:00 ||
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Taliban militants have released six Pakistani paramilitary personnel in Swat valley in northwest Pakistan, says a senior official.
Chief Minister of the North-West Province Frontier (NWFP) Ameer Haider Khan Hoti said he had been informed that the kidnapped security personnel were released and have reached the Mingora city, the main town of Swat valley on Monday.
Taliban militants kidnapped a local commander of the Frontier Corps (FC) and his four bodyguards and a driver on Sunday evening from the Qambar area as they were on their way from Malakand to Mingora city.
Malakand Commissioner, Mohammad Javed also confirmed the release of the kidnapped security personnel, a Press TV correspondent reported.
The kidnapping followed an operation carried out by Pakistani forces in NWFP's Kohat district during which nine militants were killed and ten others arrested.
The recent kidnapping, as well as the Sunday attack on the security forces that left two government troops injured, are the first attacks carried out by Taliban militants, after a recent peace agreement was signed between Islamabad and the insurgents.
The peace deal envisages the implementation of Taliban-style laws, and a judicial and court system run by the militants in the Swat region in exchange for an end to attacks on Pakistani forces and civilians.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/03/2009 00:00 ||
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Iraq's special criminal court Monday acquitted Tariq Aziz, the man who once served as the urbane, cigar-smoking public face of Saddam Hussein's rule, delivering the most significant not-guilty verdict in a series of prosecutions for crimes against humanity that occurred before the U.S. invasion in 2003.
Aziz, who will turn 73 next month, remained in custody, facing charges in two other cases. Only hours after his acquittal, he appeared before another judge to defend himself against charges that he was involved in a massacre of Kurds in 1983.
Even so, the verdict - the first in a case against him - was viewed as a sign of judicial fairness and independence for a controversial tribunal that has been deliberating the most heinous crimes of the Saddam era.
Aziz, who served as foreign minister of Iraq during the invasion of Kuwait in 1990 and as Saddam's deputy prime minister during the U.S. invasion in 2003, was acquitted of culpability in a brutal crackdown against Shiite protesters that followed the assassination of a revered cleric, Grand Ayatollah Mohammed al-Sadr, in 1999.
The court convicted Ali Hassan al-Majid, a former aide known as "Chemical Ali" for ordering poison gas attacks against the Kurds in the 1980s, for his role in those killings, sentencing him to death for a third time.
Two other Saddam aides, Saif al-Din al-Mashhadani and Uglah Abid Siqir al-Kubaysi, both senior Baath party officials who appeared on the infamous deck of playing cards from the U.S. government for Iraq's most wanted officials, were also acquitted in the case.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/03/2009 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Iraqi Baath Party
#1
Tariq Aziz was, almost assuredly, not part of Saddam's "inner circle". Saddam wouldn't have trusted him with much because he wasn't from Saddam's tribe, he is a Christian, and he hung around with foreigners a lot.
Aziz was sort of like Baghdad Bob (in fact, didn't Baghdad Bob work for Aziz?). His job would have been making deals with foreigners and not having much say in domestic goings on. He would have been instrumental in the "oil for food" scandal, though.
#2
I didn't pursue it, but the word a few years back was that Aziz was implicated in the marsh Arabs case. That sounded odd from the start, but as I said I never followed up, as there was plenty to do with the other cases then under way.
Nice - I mean depressing - to see the standard distortion still at work. "Controversial" panel to whom? Self-dealing, failed, contemptible Euro & UN-judicial geeks who are paid by the week? Preening puerile purists? And defendants have been acquitted since the outset. Two were sprung in the opening case - Dujayl. The US advisors never thought they belonged in the dock, and the panel agreed in the end.
"Judicial fairness" and "independence" were not heretore evident in the tribunal's deliberations? Really? Evidence, please?
Contested elections, a free press, the first national trials for crimes against humanity in history, all in one of the world's most pathologically dysfunctional regions - made possible by the sacrifice and courageous integrity and skill of many in uniform (US and others), and a tiny handful of intrepid political leaders - yawn.
Aswat al-Iraq: Joint forces on Monday arrested 16 wanted men and seized an amount of ammunition during a crackdown operation in southern Basra, the media office of the Basra police said.
"Joint police-army forces launched a wide-scale security operation in Umm Rusas island in southern Basra, where they arrested 16 wanted men," the office told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. "The forces seized a large amount of weapons and ammunition," it added.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/03/2009 00:00 ||
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Aswat al-Iraq: Iraqi security forces arrested 66 wanted men during a security operation in Karbala, the chief of local police said on Monday.
"A total of 66 wanted men have been arrested in Karbala during a wide-scale crackdown operation waged in the province since the beginning of this week," General Ali Jassem Mohamed told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. "Seven of them are wanted for terrorist cases and three suspected of being involved in killing a woman and injuring her daughter," he noted.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/03/2009 00:00 ||
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Aswat al-Iraq: Iraqi army forces on Monday arrested seven wanted men after two bombs exploded in western Mosul, a security source said.
"A force from the 6th brigade of the 2nd division of the Iraqi army arrested seven wanted men in al-Zinjili region in western Mosul," the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. "The arrest operation comes after two bombs went off targeting two army patrols on Sunday (March 1) in al-Islah al-Zeraei region in western Mosul," he added.
A security source had said earlier that three army soldiers were wounded on Sunday when a bomb exploded targeting their vehicle patrol in al-Islah al-Zeraei region, while another bomb detonated targeting another patrol which rushed to the region to carry the wounded.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/03/2009 00:00 ||
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Pottu Amman, the feared head of the Tamil Tiger intelligence wing who is wanted for former Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi's assassination, is now commanding the guerrillas against the military in Sri Lanka's north, a media report said Sunday.
Sri Lankan troops on Monday destroyed two boats belonging to the Tamil Tiger rebels during a pre-dawn clash in the northeast of the island, the defence ministry said. It said ground troops repulsed an attack from the Tigers, who launched 15 boats, including four suicide craft, from a lagoon near the Puttumattalan area. The ministry described the rebel attack as a sign of "desperation" and an effort to boost the "disintegrating morale" of the Tamil Tigers, who have been hemmed in to a small jungle area in the northeast after a string of military defeats.
The state-run Sunday Observer reported that Pottu Amman, said to be the second in command in the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), 'himself has stated to command (in the battlefront)', after realising the grave danger the group is facing. 'His (Pottu Amman) voice has been heard for the first time in the radio communications intercepted by the 58 Division,' the report said. The Tamil Tigers are trying to prevent the military from entering the heart of the town of Puthukkudiyiruppu, a small town where the LTTE has had a base for years.
Pottu Amman and LTTE chief Velupillai Prabhakaran are wanted for the 1991 assassination of Gandhi, who was blown up by a woman suicide bomber at an election rally near Chennai. Indian officials say that although Prabhakaran ordered Gandhi's killing, it was Pottu Amman who oversaw the entire operation. The LTTE intelligence unit tasked with killing Gandhi in India reported to Pottu Amman.
The LTTE was now left with less than 600 cadres and another 100 cadres to provide security to the elusive Prabhakaran.
According to the Sunday report, Pottu Amman 'has vowed not to allow troops to enter Puthukkudiyiruppu junction which is being heavily defended by the LTTE'. It said the LTTE, cornered into a 50 sq-km stretch of land in Mullaitivu district, 'is fighting tooth and nail in defending their final stronghold'.
The Observer said the troops were witnessing 'the fiercest battles they have ever faced these days'. It added that the LTTE was exerting maximum pressure on the troops, making maximum use of its firepower despite limitations in the number of fighters. 'They have created a massive (civilian shield), restricting the use of firepower by the security forces,' it said.
The Tigers were also making desperate attempts to break the security forces' defences south of Puthukkudiyiruppu and enter the jungle patches in Oddusuddan and Mullaitivu. Quoting military intelligence sources, the report said the LTTE was now left with less than 600 cadres and another 100 cadres to provide security to the elusive Prabhakaran. 'The only advantage they are having at this moment is heavy firepower and more than 70,000 civilian population trapped in the no fire zone in the coastal belt in the north of Mullaitivu,' the report said.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/03/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
So what's up with Mario? He consulting with his travel agent?
#6
I think we should break Mexico out from Latin America, but still report what happens in Mexico either under WOT Background or Non-WOT. Things are getting crazy with the drug war there. There was a murder in Pueblo, CO, that the local cops think is related to one of the crime cartels in Mexico. That's just too da$$$$ close to home! It may not be Islamic terror, but it's terror just the same.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
03/03/2009 12:06 Comments ||
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#7
Mexico does need its own category. Otherwise non-WOT & Local events might as well be combined.
#8
I like it. But disagree about one comment. I thought "All Seedy Politicians Were Local"?
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
03/03/2009 12:43 Comments ||
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#9
Another modification which might make the Burg more 'inclusive' would be the letter character coding of ethnic origins following the poster's screen name. Here are some examples:
White (not of Hispanic origin) All persons having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, North Africa, or the Middle East (W).
Black (not of Hispanic origin) All persons having origins in any of the Black racial groups of Africa (B).
Hispanic All persons of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Central or South American, or other Spanish culture or origin, regardless of race (H).
Asian or Pacific Islander All persons having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, the Indian Subcontinent, or the Pacific Islands. This area includes, for example, China, India, Japan, Korea, the Philippine Islands, and Samoa. (P)
American Indian or Alaskan Native All persons having origins in any of the original peoples of North America, and who maintain cultural identification through tribal affiliation or community recognition; including American Indians, Aleuts, and Eskimos (I)
#10
I tend to think of Non-WOT as worldwide (including Mexico South) and Local as US and Canada. However if the change makes sense to the Fred and the mods and makes their job easier, no problem on my part.
#11
I consider the current Messican festivities as a part of Latin America generally. The tradition's not limited to them, so when it spills over to Guatamala or Honduras it'll all be in the same bucket.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/03/2009 13:15 Comments ||
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#12
Combine them as proposed. Works for me.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
03/03/2009 14:30 Comments ||
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#13
Combine 3 and 5. Simplifies things and the extra slot as done as present does not add anything of value.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
03/03/2009 14:51 Comments ||
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#15
This is how it started with my local paper. Sports and Business were combined into a single section. Next the page width will be reduced. The cost of 1024 pixels was too great. Then the Saturday DS & TP will be cut back.
Then there's "both", of course. but Besoeker, how would it affect our understanding of a snarky post to know that the poster was a red-headed Maori-American male-gendered hermaphrodite retired Navy submarine commander... until recently working as an executive with an international bank based somewhere in Europe?
#21
Whatever you think is best works for me, Fred.
I stand sit in awe of you, always.
Have I mentioned you are a god? :-D
(re the surgery - nothing serious, I hope)
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
03/03/2009 16:24 Comments ||
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#22
Damn that is some high grade Haka, Bosoeker.
The viewer should note, all participants are on the same side.
Fred, good luck mate. Trust it goes well for you.
#25
I've made the change to the posters so that Page 5 isn't there anymore.
Had I thought about it more, which I didn't, I'd have renamed Page 3 and made it Commies, Other Dictators, and Coups d'Etat. That would have left Page 5 for everything else. But I didn't.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/03/2009 16:52 Comments ||
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#26
I'm not as organized as you folks so I'll punt on taking a position on this one and just send some money to Fred for "premises upgrades".
#27
The fresh paint and spackle will run a few quid, so if you're so inclined, the tip jar is up and to the right, and/or you can stimulate the Amazon economy to the right and a little lower.
1. A combination of incongruous things
2. A miscellaneous anthology or collection
3. A collection of miscellaneous literary extracts.
4. Any mixture, esp. of unrelated objects, subjects, etc.
5. A place to post stories of penis dismemberment.
BTW, has the posting cut off been changed from 9PM Eastern? Tried several times to post. Wasn't sure if rejected or went into tomorrow's bin.
Posted by: ed ||
03/03/2009 20:52 Comments ||
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#34
Ed, If I'm posting (rare lately) late in the day, I manually post it for tomorrow
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/03/2009 20:54 Comments ||
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#35
If it's significant we'll usually hold it over for the next day.
I'm getting a new hip. This one doesn't work right anymore. I'll be three or four days in the hospital, off work for a couple weeks.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/03/2009 20:58 Comments ||
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#36
How do you do that? Change the date to tomorrow and time to 00:00?
It would also be nice if a warning page is displayed for posting duplicates.
Posted by: ed ||
03/03/2009 20:59 Comments ||
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#37
Fred, wishing a successful surgery and speedy recovery.
Posted by: ed ||
03/03/2009 21:00 Comments ||
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#38
Best of luck with the surgery Fred. And a speedy recovery.
Probably best to get it now - before Obama f-ks up our healthcare system. I don't want to imagine what a hip designed by Obama Healthcare would look like....
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.
Somali opposition gunmen drive the government troops out of a southern town despite a recent agreement with the incumbent Somail president. 
Algeria's military has killed 16 militants linked to al-Qaeda in a weekend raid on their secret base near the capital, Algiers, state media says. French-language state radio says Interior Minister Yazid Zerhouni has raised the death toll among the militants from seven previously announced. Further details were not provided in the report on Tuesday.
Officials said the raid starting late Friday near Blida was launched with information obtained from a terror support cell dismantled a week earlier. Blida is about 80km south of Algiers. The government has said the military killed 120 militants over the last six months from al-Qaeda's north Africa wing. The wing emerged from a former insurgent group in Algeria.
A Moroccan man linked to the 2004 Madrid bomb attacks was jailed for 10 years by an appeals court on Monday for his role in the 2003 Casablanca suicide bomb attacks that killed 45 people, the state news agency MAP reported. The court found 
Algerian troops killed seven armed fighters Saturday night during in 
Two prime accused of a case filed in connection with the sensational Chittagong arms haul gave confessional statements before a Chittagong court yesterday.
A suicide bomber killed five and injured 12 people at a girls' religious school in 
Al Qaeda has claimed the responsibility for the Marriott blast that took place in Islamabad on September 20, 2008, and threatened to attack Saudi Airlines' offices, and important installations in Pakistan, a private TV channel reported on Monday. 
Security forces arrested three suspicious men during a raid on a house in 
Iraq's special criminal court Monday acquitted Tariq Aziz, the man who once served as the urbane, cigar-smoking public face of Saddam Hussein's rule, delivering the most significant not-guilty verdict in a series of prosecutions for crimes against humanity that occurred before the U.S. invasion in 2003.
Aswat al-Iraq: Iraqi security forces arrested 66 wanted men during a security operation in Karbala, the chief of local police said on Monday.
Pottu Amman, the feared head of the Tamil Tiger intelligence wing who is wanted for former Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi's assassination, is now commanding the guerrillas against the military in Sri Lanka's north, a media report said Sunday.
