[Libya Herald] The House of Representatives (HoR) plans to debate and vote on Monday on a bill to extend its life beyond 21 October. That is the date when its mandate expires under the amendment to Constitutional Declaration passed last year by the General National Congress when it agreed to the creation of the HoR.
A committee of 30 members was set up yesterday to look at the whole issue and will present a new amendment to the declaration for the Monday meeting, HoR member Essa Al-Araibi told the Libya Herald.
The move has been triggered by the concerns within the parliament that the UN-brokered Dialogue is moving too slowly and there will be no resolution to Libya's problem before the 21 October deadline.
There had to be contingency plans in case the Dialogue has not reached a conclusion by that date, Benghazi HoR member Younis Omar Fanoush had said in an earlier separate statement on the issue.
He suggested that an amendment should also cover the possibility of fresh legislative as well as indirect presidential elections and the restructuring of the Higher National Elections Commission.
The draft agreement initialled by most of the delegates in the Dialogue process earlier this month proposes that with the appointment of a Government of National Accord, the HoR will continue in operation as Libyan's parliament for possibly as much as two years. However, by candlelight every wench is handsome... to enable this to happen, it too envisages an amendment to the Constitutional Declaration to be passed by the HoR.
Last month, when the General National Congress delegates abruptly quit the Skhirat talks, rejecting the draft proposal that was later signed by all the others at the negotiations, the leader of the GNC team reportedly told one western ambassador there that the GNC could wait until after 21 October. That way, he said, the international community would have to treat both legislatures as equals, being equally expired.
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07/31/2015 00:00 ||
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[Libya Herald] The former Tunisian president, Moncef Marzouki, has moved to distance himself from the death sentence pronounced yesterday in 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... on former Qadaffy-era prime minster Al-Baghdadi Al-Mahmoudi.
Mahmoudi, who had fled to Tunisia in 2011, was returned to Libya by the Moslem Brüderbund Ennahda-led government in a controversial deal in June 2012. It was widely claimed at the time that Tunisia was paid $200 million to hand him over. The deal, organised by Tunisia's then prime minister, Hamadi Jebali, caused a major row with Marzouki, who as president was supposed to approve any extraditions.
In a statement following the verdict, Marzouki pointed out that he had not consented to the handover, that he had taken the case to court to prevent the government doing so, had won, but that his prime minister had gone ahead regardless and sent Mahmoudi back to Libya.
Opposing the death sentence, he called on the Libyan authorities not to implement the judgment which he said would impact negatively on Libya's image, on the chances of a national dialogue succeeding and on getting the country out of it current crisis.
Mahmoudi's lawyers in Tunis have said they intend to sue the former Tunisian government for handing him back illegally.
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07/31/2015 00:00 ||
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[Libya Herald] Pro-Qadaffy demonstrators protested in Cairo today at the death sentences given yesterday to Saif Al-Islam, Abdullah Senussi and seven other leading former regime figures.
Swathed in Qadaffy-era Green flags, the demonstrators gathered outside the UN World Health Organization headquarters in Nasr City. Many claimed they had family members in prison in Libya.
They were addressed by Qadaffy's front man, Moussa Ibrahim, who described the 2011 revolution as a disaster and called for Saif Al-Islam to be freed and run the country.
He claimed that the verdicts would further destabilise Libya, sew hatred and undermine the chances of the UN-brokered Dialogue negotiations in Skhirat succeeding.
The demonstration was also attended by Ali Al-Kilani, who headed Libyan TV and Radio during the former regime.
The Libyan authorities have on several occasions asked to extradite both men, but Cairo has refused.
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07/31/2015 00:00 ||
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The Saudi-led military coalition's blockade of Yemen is "killing" as many civilians as the war, the head of aid group Doctors Without Borders said on Thursday during a visit to the country. By preventing medicine from reaching the sick, the blockade is "killing as (many people as) the current conflict," Joanne Liu said in a telephone interview from Yemen's rebel-held capital Sanaa.
The Saudi-led coalition has imposed a land, sea and air blockade, that has hampered the flow of aid deliveries and rebels too have set up blockades in areas under their control. Liu said she understood the need for the coalition to enforce a blockade of Yemen, where the Houthis are under a UN Security Council arms embargo.
"But we need to put in place ways to get supplies to come in, in a safe way, and people can get their medicine and not die" of easily treatable diseases, said Liu.
"What we have to remember is Yemen is 90 per cent dependent on external supply for food, 100 per cent for medical supplies," said Liu, the international president of the Swiss-based Charity.
As opposed to before the war when it was 90 percent dependent on external supply...
Liu, a Canadian doctor who was flying out after almost two weeks in Yemen, has visited the rebel-held north and the southern district of Taez. "We see patients right now dying because they're not getting their treatment" for common illnesses, she said.
The Saudi-led coalition declared a five-day humanitarian pause to allow in aid beginning last Monday, but it collapsed the next day.
"We're concerned," Liu said. "Right now there's not a total truce going on."
Liu said the number of internally displaced people is increasing, and the fighting is preventing people from reaching medical facilities. One mother walked for six hours to reach a clinic with her malnourished child, but the youngster died a few hours later, she said.
"That's the type of scenario we see repeatedly right now."
Liu spoke of the difficulties they face in trying to provide care. In the rebel heartland of Saada, there are air strikes every one or two days, she said.
"One day out of two our team are spending their time in the basement waiting for air strikes to stop," she said, while in other parts of the country there is a danger from snipers.
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07/31/2015 00:00 ||
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[Hurriyet Daily News] President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him... has slammed Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) co-chair Selahattin Demirtas over the latter's claims that a deep state organization directly linked to Erdogan conducted a suicide kaboom attack that killed 32 people in the southeastern district of Suruc on July 20.
Speaking to journalists after the Turkish-Chinese Business Forum in China, Erdogan denied Demirtas's accusations, adding that they were vulgar statements.
"This is a statement that does not have any rhyme or reason and is vulgar. I would like to state that the presidency is such a high post that it would not fall for this impertinence and dishonor," Erdogan said. "I would say, 'know your place,' that's it."
A suspected ISIL jacket wallah killed 31 Turkish citizens and himself on July 20 in Suruc, the Turkish town bordering Syria across from the Kurdish-held Syrian town of Kobane.
Speaking at his party's group meeting in parliament on July 28, Demirtas said the Suruc massacre had been conducted by "gladio," a deep state organization that was directly linked to the presidential palace and thus Erdogan himself.
"Gladio organizations that are tied to the [presidential] palace are conducting dirty games. All states conduct dirty work, but this one [referring to Erdogan's] does not use even use the state. He uses his own special organization. Intelligence does not go to the official reports of MIT [National Intelligence Organization] but directly to him," Demirtas said. "It is this special gladio organization that conducted the Suruc massacre."
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07/31/2015 00:00 ||
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[Hurriyet Daily News] The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... awaits the U.S. air force units to arrive at the Incirlik air base for broader operations against the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) in Syria, a ranking Turkish official who asked not to be named told Hurriyet Daily News on July 30.
Continued on Page 49
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07/31/2015 00:00 ||
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#1
So will U.S. jets out of Incirlik be flying strike missions against the Kurds as well ?
[Hurriyet Daily News] The Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) submitted a parliamentary motion on July 30 for an inquiry into the discretionary fund provided to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him... In a state of law ruled by parliamentary democracy, all public works and executive functions should be practiced within legal boundaries, the HDP's petition read, stressing the necessity for law and transparency.
A total of 3 billion Turkish Liras
The exchange rate at the moment is 2.79 Turkish Lira to US $1.00, so 3 billion of the things is a lot of money.
in funds provided for the president that is not the subject of public oversight is one aspect of the unacceptable, non-legal nature of the discretionary fund, read the petition.
The HDP also demanded an investigation into allegations that this fund is being used to pay for covert military activities in Syria, as well as that is being used to establish a youth branch attached to the presidency.
The HDP asked not only to disclose the expenditures of the fund, but also demanded a road map to cancel it.
A regulation granting a discretionary fund for the presidency was passed as part of a government-sponsored omnibus bill in the General Assembly of the Turkish parliament on March 27.
The president can use the fund "for state necessities that contain discreet intelligence and defense services; the national security and higher interests of the state; political, social and cultural purposes and extraordinary services," according to the regulation passed in parliament, which made changes to the Public Finance Management and Control Law, which provides the discretionary fund for the prime ministry.
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[EN.ZAMANALWSL.NET] The leader of The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... 's pro-Kurdish opposition accused President Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday of launching air strikes in Syria and Iraq to prevent Kurdish territorial and political gains, and of using the war against Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... as a cover.
Turkey launched near-simultaneous air strikes on Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) camps in northern Iraq and Islamic State fighters in Syria last Friday, in what Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has called a "synchronized fight against terror".
Western allies, including NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A collection of multinational and multilingual and multicultural armed forces, all of differing capabilities, working toward a common goal by pulling in different directions... and the United States, have voiced political support for Turkey's actions but several nations have also urged it not to use excessive force or to let years of peace efforts with Kurdish Lions of Islam collapse.
In an interview with Rooters, Selahattin Demirtas, leader of Turkey's pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), said the main aim of the campaign was not to combat Islamist jihadists but to prevent Kurds from unifying areas they control in Syria.
"Turkey carried out a couple of air strikes against Islamic State just for show, without causing serious damage to it, nor is Islamic State feeling serious pressure from Turkey," he said.
"Turkey's operations do not aim at taking measures against Islamic State. The main objective is to prevent the formation of a Kurdish entity in northern Syria."
Demirtas, a charismatic former human rights ...which are usually open to widely divergent definitions... lawyer, led the HDP into a parliamentary election in June at which it seized enough seats to deprive the AK Party, founded by Erdogan, of a working majority for the first time in more than a decade.
The left-wing HDP gained traction after Demirtas campaigned on a progressive platform that took the party beyond its origins in Kurdish nationalism, appealing to a broader range of minorities and opponents of the Islamist-rooted AKP.
Erdogan was taking Turkey to war in Dire Revenge, Demirtas said, seeking to discredit the Kurdish movement ahead of a possible repeat election. The AKP is in talks to find a junior coalition partner, but should it fail, Erdogan could call a fresh vote at which he hopes the AKP would win back its majority.
"The AK Party is dragging the country into a period of conflict, seeking Dire Revenge for the loss of its majority in the June election," Demirtas said.
"HDP passing the threshold and the AK Party losing its parliamentary majority are being used as a pretext for war."
The chief prosecutor's office in the mostly Kurdish province of Diyarbakir opened an investigation into Demirtas on Thursday over accusations he "provoked and armed" protesters during demonstrations in the southeast last year, local media said.
Erdogan urged parliament this week to lift the immunity from prosecution of politicians with suspected links to Lions of Islam and has made his personal disdain for Demirtas clear.
"He can't take a stand against the PKK, which is recognized as a terrorist organization by Europe and the United States," Erdogan told news hounds in China, when asked about Demirtas, whose brother Nurettin was imprisoned in the past and fought alongside Kurdish forces in the mountains of Iraq.
"His brother was trained in the mountains ... he would run to the mountains himself if he could find the opportunity," Erdogan said.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/31/2015 00:00 ||
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More than 100 headstones were toppled at a historic Jewish cemetery in Philadelphia. The groundskeeper of Adath Jeshurun Cemetery arrived around 6 a.m. Thursday to the burial ground along Bridge Street in the city’s Frankford section to find dozens of grave markers knocked down.
"The thought went through my mind, 'this is a disgrace for somebody to do something like this,'" said groundskeeper Johnny Gibson, who has worked at the cemetery for 44 years.
The vandals knocked down 124 headstones, but didn't leave any marking or graffiti, said Gibson. Some graves on the 12-acre property date back 160 years and there are only a few new burials each year now, said Gibson. On many days, neighbors use the cemetery as a shortcut.
Gibson said that he can’t recall anyone ever desecrating grave sites over the past decades.
“I don't know who would do it,” said Gibson. “Were the people on drugs? Were they drunk? I don't know. But you wouldn't be in your right mind, I don't think, to do something like this.”
Could be schtupid kids. Could be a general low-life. Could be someone who hates Joooz. I'm afraid that with all the news and vitriol out there I have to go with choice number three.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/31/2015 08:56 ||
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#1
The truth: 'Some graves on the 12-acre property date back 160 years and there are only a few new burials each year now...' Jews with any sense will have left Philly years ago.
[DAWN] As India blamed Pakistain for the Gurdaspur attack that killed at least seven people this week, the Foreign Office (FO) on Thursday termed accusations "unfortunate" and said countering terrorism could only be possible through cooperation.
"Pointing fingers before investigation is not a healthy trend," said FO spokesperson Qazi Khalilullah at a news briefing.
India's Home Minister Rajnath Singh told the Lok Sabha today that the gunnies who stormed a cop shoppe and killed seven people in India's Punjab 1.) Little Orphan Annie's bodyguard
2.) A province of Pakistain ruled by one of the Sharif brothers
3.) A province of India. It is majority (60 percent) Sikh and Hindoo (37 percent), which means it has relatively few Moslem riots.... had come from Pakistain, according to a preliminary report.
Singh said the Global Positioning System (GPS) devices, which belonged to the Death Eaters and were recovered after they were rubbed out, established that they crossed into India through the River Ravi.
"The trio was dressed in army fatigues and equipped with Chinese-made grenades and AK 47s," he added.
In a statement shorn of the nationalist rhetoric the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is known for, the minister also warned of a forceful response to any attempt to undermine India's territorial integrity or security but did not specify any response to Monday's attack.
Indian police had managed to overcome three heavily gunnies after a 12-hour shootout. Four coppers including the local superintendent and three civilians had died in the operation in the usually calm northern state of Indian Punjab.
Pakistain's Foreign Office categorically rejected the "baseless allegations" made by Rajnath Singh, Home Minister of India, in the Parliament, today.
"Pakistain regrets the unsubstantiated and unwarranted assertion that those involved in the Gurdaspur incident of July 27, had entered India from Pakistain and believes that the home minister's provocative comments are a threat to peace and security of the region," FO front man said.
"We have noted with concern a continuing tendency of India to cast blame on Pakistain for any terrorist incident in its territory. In the Gurdaspur incident, blames were apportioned to Pakistain by the Indian media, even when the encounter with Death Eaters was still going on," Qazi Khalilullah said.
He added,"To tackle terrorism, a cooperative approach is required and blame game, and finger-pointing would be unhelpful."
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07/31/2015 00:00 ||
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#1
PAKISTAN feeling nervousy twitchy over the ISIS/ISIL threat to AFPAK + beyond.
[HINDUSTANTIMES] Yakub Memon's last wish was to meet his daughter after being told he had exhausted all hope of stalling the execution but the 1993 Mumbai blasts convict had to be content with a telephone conversation, jail authorities said on Thursday.
Prison officials arranged for Yakub to talk to his daughter in Mumbai after an emotionally-charged meeting with his elder brother Suleiman, hours before he was scheduled to be hanged for plotting the dozen blasts that killed 257 people in Mumbai over two decades ago.
"He was very happy and cheerful after talking to his daughter," a jail official told HT.
A disturbed Yakub broke down in front of his brother and remembered all family members, including wife Raheen and daughter Zubeida, who met the convict last week at the Nagpur central jail.
When Suleiman met jail authorities on Wednesday evening, rattled officials requested him to persuade Yakub to eat as the "restless" convict had refused food for the past two days.
"Trust and imposed faith on the almighty. We are fighting for you and all the avenues are yet not exhausted," Suleiman reportedly assured Yakub and informed him about a last-minute petition filed before the apex court.
Officials said Yakub was served rotis and chicken legs with curry in his cell around 9:30pm. Yakub ate only one roti and two legs of chicken.
A cake was also sent to Yakub inside Nagpur central jail at night from the jail authorities for his birthday -- he turned 53 on Thursday -- but it couldn't be confirmed if he ate the cake.
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07/31/2015 00:00 ||
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#2
Your last meal need not be nutritious
When you are to sleep with the vicious.
Though food be delicious,
Please do be judicious
So curry won't burn up your britches.
[EN.ZAMANALWSL.NET] Iraqi officials were challenged on Wednesday to name a single person the country had jugged Drop the rosco, Muggsy, or you're one with the ages! for torture by a U.N. committee investigating suspected human rights ...which are usually open to widely divergent definitions... abuses in a justice system that had "gone astray".
"Is there anyone in Iraq in prison, sentenced for torturing another human being? Is there one person? Five? Ten?" the chairman of the U.N. Committee against Torture Claudio Grossman asked the Iraqi delegation.
Another committee member, Alessio Bruni, said Iraq's criminal law had no adequate definition of torture, so it could not adequately prosecute it.
"How can a judge establish an offence for acts which have no definition? This is what is puzzling me," he said. "If you can give me an example, this is better than any other legal discussion."
The questions were among a long list of concerns that the small Iraqi delegation, led by Deputy Minister of Human Rights Abdulkareem al-Janabi, will try to respond to in a second session on Thursday.
Other questions included whether Iraq has secret detention facilities, whether anybody had been compensated for being tortured, and how to explain trials that lasted a few minutes and led to the death penalty.
"Tomorrow, we will be able to provide you with answers to most, if not all, questions raised by the committee," Al-Janabi said.
Iraq ratified the U.N. Convention against Torture in 2011, but rights groups such as Amnesia Amnesty International say torture is still widespread, with no noticeable change since Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi took over from Nuri al-Maliki in late 2014.
Some U.S. officials also privately question whether Abadi can defeat the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... turbans who have captured swathes of Iraq without repeating earlier abuses that stoked Sunni Iraqis' anger towards the government.
"In certain moments, people living in a situation of conflict and desperation tend to think that 'drastic measures' will function," Grossman told Rooters.
He declined to discuss Iraq specifically, but said human rights violations in general contributed to militancy and polarized societies.
Another of the U.N. panel of 10 independent experts, Essadia Belmir, said Iraq's justice system needed a thorough overhaul.
"One cannot build trust and confidence, and build it on a justice system that has gone astray from its initial goal," she said.
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[EN.ZAMANALWSL.NET] The Paleostinian committee for human rights One man's rights are another man's existential threat. has condemned the decision of United Nation-office of coordinating the Humanitarian affairs in regard to reducing the number of people under siege who need aid and support in Yarmouk refugee camp in Damascus by 18 thousands (from 440 thousands to 422 thousands).
Th committee said that number as breach to the simplest criteria to identify the "siege" according to international humanitarian Law.
The statement of the committee identified that siege according to the Geneva Agreement for ruling the armed conflict means that any limitation or prevention of people's movement from and to an area, besides preventing goods and essential materials from entering an the same area.
Yarmouk was home to the largest Paleostinian refugee community in Syria but most of the resident have fled the camp since the uprising started in March 2011.
the Committee's statement mentioned that both criterias are applied to Yarmouk Camp as people are prevented from leaving the camp, except some medical conditions and students to apply for exams on conditions to come back.
The other criteria which is letting good in the camp, it is well known that essential materials needed for daily life are not available in the camp. the aids distributed by UNRWA and other organizations cannot be considered as "lifting the siege" because their aids are limited in quantity and quality, beside that aids and products are not entered Yarmouk camp directly, instead they first are delivered to Yalda, the neighboring town which makes it harder for the camp's people to receive them.
The statement of the Paleostinian Committee for human Rights explained that electricity, water and communication are all unavailable in Yarmouk camp, as electricity has been off for two years, while water for a year. While the camps' entrances are closed, especially the one leading to Damascus, which has been closed for two years.
The Committee's statement demanded the Office of Coordination human Affair of the United Nation to review its decision and explain reasons behind issuing it.
The Office of Coordination Humanitarian Affairs of the United Nation has on 29th June 2015 issued a decision to reduce the number of civilians under siege in Yarmouk Camp by 18 thousands, and the camp was no longer under siege because much aid and support had entered and delivered to the camp.
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07/31/2015 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
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.
[Libya Herald] The House of Representatives (HoR) plans to debate and vote on Monday on a bill to extend its life beyond 21 October. That is the date when its mandate expires under the amendment to Constitutional Declaration passed last year by the General National Congress when it agreed to the creation of the HoR.
[EN.ZAMANALWSL.NET] The leader of 
[HINDUSTANTIMES] Yakub Memon's last wish was to meet his daughter after being told he had exhausted all hope of stalling the execution but the 1993 Mumbai blasts convict had to be content with a telephone conversation, jail authorities said on Thursday.
[EN.ZAMANALWSL.NET] Iraqi officials were challenged on Wednesday to name a single person the country had 
