[The Daily Caller] News from the DoE and National Lab cesspools.
Former New Mexico Republican Rep. Heather Wilson received nearly half a million dollars in questionable payments from four federally funded nuclear laboratories after leaving office, according to the Department of Energys inspector general.
In fact, our testing revealed that the four facility contractors paid approximately $450,000 to [Heather Wilson and Company, LLC] even though they did not receive evidence that work performed under the agreements had been completed, reads the IGs report. These payments were fully reimbursed by the government.
According to the inspector generals report, Wilson failed to provide documentation for work she did for Los Alamos and Sandia national laboratories, for which she was paid $20,000 per month. Both the labs seem to have asked Wilson to secure them more work, which is in violation of Wilsons contract, according to the report. "Failing to provide documentation" is generally defined as not being able to produce specific contract deliverables assigned, specific worked performed, or time card entries.
Wilson received 23 payments totaling $226,378 from Sandia between January 2009 and March 2011, and 19 payments from Los Alamos totaling $195,718 between August 2009 and February 2011.
Wilson also received $30,000 from the Nevada Test Site and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Officials there even told investigators that there were no deliverables associated with the $30,000 Wilson received. Oh there were deliverables, but they were not contained in any formal statement of work [SOW].
The contractors have since paid back $442,877 out of the $464,203 that was paid to Wilson. Which by any other standard, is tantamount to an admission of wrong doing.
Under federal law, fees for services rendered are allowable only when supported by evidence of the nature and scope of the service furnished so Wilson has to prove she did the work.
Wilson told the Associated Press that the report confirms that the labs were satisfied with my work. The work was done in full compliance with the contracts we signed and under the direct supervision of lab sponsors.
The report called Wilsons agreements with the labs unusual and, in some cases, highly irregular. And it said the agreements and the lab operators failed to include or enforce even minimum invoicing standards required under federal regulations.
Her relationship with our national labs goes back over 20 years and she has worked on a wide range of projects with different groups of scientists and engineers over time, Wilsons Senate campaign told the AP last year. Wilson was defeated by Democrat Martin Heinrich, who highlighted her cozy relationship with the laboratories.
Los Alamos told the AP in a statement that it was reasonable and appropriate to ask for Wilsons help, arguing she was uniquely qualified to advise the lab on a variety of issues related to our national security missions.
[W]e acknowledge we did not document her services consistent with our own expectations for subcontract management, Los Alamos added. And the Federal Employee serving as the Contracting Officers Representative charged with oversight of the Federal Acquisition Regulation [FAR] was whom?
#1
"questionable" "unusual and, in some cases, highly irregular."
Does it say illegal?
Did she fail to report the income on her tax returns?
Democrat Martin Heinrich, who highlighted her cozy relationship with the laboratories.
In the last days of the campaign, he hammered her on voting for the Bailout while never mentioning that it was done in a Congress controlled by Reid (D-NV) and Pelosi (D-CA), the latter of whom he had voted consistently with during his term as Representative. He would have done what Nancy told him to.
Two of the Laboratories, Los Alamos and Sandia, have big economic impacts on the state. Both are contracted operations supervised by DoE but operated by universities. She and every representative sent to Congress work to keep the places working. If lobbying is illegal, it well past time to be applied to the all denizens and former government officials of K Street in total.
Army Gen. Martin Dempsey said timing and the need for the unit to help with casualties from Benghazi resulted in orders for the special forces to remain in Tripoli. Four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens, died in two separate attacks several hours apart on the night of Sept. 11.
Gregory Hicks, a former diplomat in Tripoli at the time of the attack, told a House panel last month that the unit was told to stand down.
Dempsey said that was not the case.
"They weren't told to stand down. A `stand down' means don't do anything," he said. "They were told that the mission they were asked to perform was not in Benghazi, but was at Tripoli airport." Strange, I don't recall the head the Site Security Team ever mentioning an order to assist the evacuated in Tripoli.
#4
Tiny particles of sulfate, called aerosols, cooled the Northern Hemisphere, shifting tropical rainfall patterns southward, away from Central Africa,
So all we need is some global warming to bring the rain back, right?
#1
Akin to, and largely responsible for the sweeping changes in our industrial-military posture, has been the technological revolution during recent decades.
In this revolution, research has become central; it also becomes more formalized, complex, and costly. A steadily increasing share is conducted for, by, or at the direction of, the Federal government.
Today, the solitary inventor, tinkering in his shop, has been overshadowed by task forces of scientists in laboratories and testing fields. In the same fashion, the free university, historically the fountainhead of free ideas and scientific discovery, has experienced a revolution in the conduct of research. Partly because of the huge costs involved, a government contract becomes virtually a substitute for intellectual curiosity. For every old blackboard there are now hundreds of new electronic computers.
The prospect of domination of the nation's scholars by Federal employment, project allocations, and the power of money is ever present and is gravely to be regarded.
Yet, in holding scientific research and discovery in respect, as we should, we must also be alert to the equal and opposite danger that public policy could itself become the captive of a scientific technological elite.
Don't forget that warning about the corruption of government contracts and academia.
[ProPublica] Officials say National Security Agency intercepts stopped David Coleman Headley's planned attack in Denmark, but sources say a tip from the British led to his capture after the U.S. failed for years to connect multiple reports of terror ties.
Well, you learn something new every day, as they say. Todays lesson? Governor George Wallace, the segregationist who served three nonconsecutive terms as Alabamas chief executive, was a Republican.
At least, so says MSNBC. Noting the 50-year anniversary of Wallaces infamous Stand in the Schoolhouse Door, in which the governor physically blocked two black students from entering the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, MSNBCs All In with Chris Hayes showed a photo of Wallace identifiying him as (R) Alabama.
The photocopies of the manual lay in heaps on the floor, in stacks that scaled one wall, like Xeroxed, stapled handouts for a class.
Except that the students in this case were al-Qaeda fighters in Mali. And the manual was a detailed guide, with diagrams and photographs, on how to use a surface-to-air missile capable of downing a commercial aircraft.
The 26-page document in Arabic, recovered by AP in a building that had been occupied by al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb in Timbuktu, strongly suggests the group now possesses the SA-7 surface-to-air missile, known to the Pentagon as the Grail.
And it confirms that the al-Qaeda cell is actively training its fighters to use these weapons, also called man-portable air-defence systems, or Manpads, which likely came from the arms depots of ex-Libyan strongman Colonel Muammar Gaddafi.
"The existence of what apparently constitutes a 'Dummies Guide to Manpads' is strong circumstantial evidence of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb having the missiles," said Atlantic Council analyst Peter Pham, a former adviser to the United States' military command in Africa and an instructor to US Special Forces.
"Why else bother to write the guide if you don't have the weapons? ... If AQIM not only has the Manpads, but also fighters who know how to use them effectively," he added, "then the impact is significant, not only on the current conflict, but on security throughout North and West Africa, and possibly beyond."
#6
So this info is being ferreted out by Human Rights Watch and AP. What's the CIA doing? Oh, right, watching CRTs and going to trainings and related boondoggles.
#5
Well, Malaysia expelled three millions Indonesians
not that long ago...Sukarno of Indonesia murdered
three million Chinese so-called "communist" (mainly for owning retail shops)with CIA support...the rag heads wiping out millions is never reported in the media...not newsworthy...
Appears al-Qaeda is not yet dead.
U.S. disrupts al-Qaedas online magazine. U.S. intelligence operatives covertly sabotaged a prominent al-Qaeda online magazine last month in an apparent attempt to sow confusion among the groups followers, according to officials.
The operation succeeded, at least temporarily, in thwarting publication of the latest issue of Inspire, the English-language magazine distributed by al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. When it appeared online, the text on the second page was garbled and the following 20 pages were blank. The sabotaged version was quickly removed from the online forum that hosted it, said independent analysts who track Islamist militant Web sites.
Does disruption work? Perhaps we should ask Lois Lerner.
The decision to disrupt the magazine last month was part of a debate within the Champ administration over the response to online publications that promote radicalization.
The debate spiked after the April 15 Boston Marathon bombing. One of the suspects, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, told the FBI that he and his late brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, learned from the magazine how to make the pressure-cooker bombs used in the attack. He also told them they had been inspired by sermons and other material from the Internets, said officials briefed on the disclosures. In light of recent systems disclosure, the paragraph above should prompt a number of questions.
Surveillance whistleblower Edward Snowden has spoken for the first time since blowing his own cover in an exclusive interview with the South China Morning Post.
The ex-CIA analyst has been holed up in secret locations in Hong Kong since fleeing Hawaii ahead of highly sensitive leaks revealing details of US top-secret phone and internet surveillance of its citizens.
Snowden's actions have been both praised and condemned globally.
But he told Post reporter Lana Lam: "I'm neither traitor nor hero. I'm an American."
Today, he reveals:
more explosive details on US surveillance targets
his plans for the immediate future
the steps he claims the US has taken since he broke cover in Hong Kong
#1
A news show last night said:
1) He worked for the CIA for some time.
2) He quit and worked for Booz Allen for 3 months
His revelations come from 3 months with Booz.
3) Booz Allen was recently purchased by The Caryle Group (yes them)
#3
His choice of safe haven was Hong Kong, and after a video debut, now speaks from there through a Chinese newspaper and will trust their judicial system, deciding not to leave there after all? Does anyone else wonder how long he will be missing from public view, speaking through the newspaper and how much time he will spend being debriefed, pumped as dry as a Death Valley well, and eventually traded to us for some ChiCom agents? How amazingly stupid he must be, and one wonders if his departure from the Agency and brief sojourn at BAH was merely another in a long line of failures that had him skipping out just ahead of eomthing? Just wondering....oh and by the way, the girlfriend, his taste in women says so much about him!
#6
At least he had the guts to go public, and bear repercussions personally. Unlike that little POS Manning, who go people killed. Aside from that, any competent enemy would have already figured such a system exists, and would have long ago emplace countermeasures against it, Teh tools to do so have been out there since the 1990's, thanks to public key cryptography, and simply good attention to decent counter-surveillance basics.
That's why raises such huge questions for me about this - apparently they are not only collecting, but retaining large amounts of infromation in a manner that violates protection against probable cause (4th amendment), and violates individual due process (5th and 14th amendments) as well as casting a shadow on 1st amendment suppression by intimidation.
I dont condemn this guy, but neither do I praise him. There has to have been a better way to go about this, unless things have truly become dire in the SCIF world.
Old Spook, if all the gov't was collecting was phone numbers and times of connection, that data is not 'yours, the individuals', but belongs to the various third party companies, and is not protected by the various Amendments, at least if I understand correctly.
That said, there has to be more to this story than has appeared - it just doesn't make sense. If Snowden's motive was to make the information public, he could have done so without WaPo or Guardian, through any number of internet sites, where it would have gone viral and reached way more people. And why his initial demand that the whole slide deck be released? What is in those slides that even the Guardian was not willing to print? And what did/does Snowden have beyond what was in the slides - presumably the Chinese have all of it now in any case. Was he a Chinese agent from the start and is this all just cover? I have so many questions that will never be answered.
#9
Glenmore, wrong. What number I call (or email, or chat, or SMS, or text, etc), and when I do that is not allowed to be collected without a warrant or probable cause.
Its established legally as "generally prohibited" under wiretap law. Look up the term "Pen Register". And 18 USC as well as plenty fo case law marks it as illegal excpet within certain narrow cases defined in the law and court case precedents.
The reason I know that is I have had to work under those strictures, and to report inadvertent violations of those laws - it was very serious, very strict and procedures to insure the destruction of such data were thorough (degaussing then destruction in flame were done). It was a serious career-ending move to not report an incident, and if it was deliberate, you'd possibly end up in fed PMITA prison.
Not to be flippant about it, but there is a world of difference between this Snowden's leak, however moronic he is, and Manning (who destroyed a lot of sources, and got allies killed, some in fairly gruesome manner)
#11
OldSppok sums up my view as well, and he's right: the data collected potentially violates the 4th, 5th, and 14th amendments. The test is whether one had a *reasonable expectation of privacy* of a given piece of information. And certainly Prism has a chilling effect on activities protected by the 1st amendment. That is, now that its existence has been confirmed.
Random legal commentary: much to the dismay of LEOs, Justice Scalia has consistently been a real hardass about when there is a "reasonable expectation of privacy" for 4th amendment purposes.
For example, he opined that a guy brought up on drug charges had a reasonable expectation of privacy in the heat from the lamps he used to grow marijuana in his attic, so that infrared photographs police used to bust him should be inadmissible.
His rulings have long irritated law and order types, but abuses of power like Prism is exactly the kind of thing he worries about. He usually writes the dissent, but I bet his stock with the other 8 just went through the roof.
#12
Old Spook - didn't they (NSA) have those blanket FISA warrants for - network connection records (is that the same as pen register)? Or did they collect more data than those warrants would cover (do they cover names or just numbers & times)? Without names those data would hardly seem to be covered by reasonable expectation of privacy, since they 'belong' to the company, not me. IANAL and have no intel experience, and am just trying to make the non-sensical make sense.
#1
A region steeped in both history and heroes. From Ashton, take the M60 southbound to the M62, south again toward Warrington. You'll find what remains of RAF Burtonwood. A better time, a better place when attacks of this sort would have resulted in very real consequences.
[HotAir] Not only do we know that the National Security Agency (NSA) collects information from emails and telephone calls, not only is the United States government spying on everyone, but it is keeping some 20 billion records on Americans alone and millions of others on Internet users across the world. According to journalist Glenn Greenwald, The NSA sucks up into its systems billions and billions of communication activities every weekbillions and billions. In fact, the data-mining documents that we published reflected it sucks up 90 billion in a 30-day period, including three billion in the United States. If we could only fuse the massive "megadatas" with biometric data such as foto's of the Tsarnaev bros, or prior criminal arrest histories. Just think of the time that could have been saved the FBI.
Despite this, at the same time the US government cant find nearly 6 million potential democrats illegal immigrants.
In 2011 Judicial Watch reported:
Almost a decade after Middle Eastern terrorists with expired visas attacked the U.S., the government has failed to implement a security measure to adequately track foreigners like them who enter the country legally but never leave. But, but, but if we give them free fones and access to our gummit controlled towers providers....
As a result nearly half of the nations estimated 12 million illegal immigrants actually entered the U.S. legally but overstayed their visa, according to a new federal report. Thats because the agency responsible for keeping the nation safethe Department of Homeland Securitycant keep track of immigrants who remain in the U.S. after their visas expire. Do visas contain "megadatas" ?
This clearly creates a huge national security issue because terrorists can plot more attacks from within. In fact, dozens of foreigners convicted of terrorism since the 2001 attacks had overstayed their visas, according to the report, which was published by the investigative arm of Congress known as the Government Accountability Office (GAO).
The GAO launched its probe after learning from an independent study that 4 to 5.5 million potential democrats immigrants had entered the country legally and overstayed their authorized periods of admission. In the course of the probe, GAO investigators interviewed a number of high-ranking Homeland Security officials, visited various field offices and reviewed a mountain of documents. They found that the Department of Homeland Securitys program to identify visa violators by comparing entry and exit data is inefficient and can only process around half of the potential overstays it detects. An "inefficient" gummit process you say? New computers and more gummit workers needed ?
But, at least they have your email and megadatas on file.
#2
What these chumps don't understand is that arithmetic always wins in the end, no matter how much you play fast and loose with the budget numbers. See Detroit for a preview.
#3
If one defines math as calculus and the topology of irregular multidimensional surfaces and the kind of higher things our Eric Jablow used to play with, versus the arithmetic that bookkeepers do, he's absolutely right. But that's not how the term is used colloquially.
#4
That's right, TW. Being able to add, subtract, multiply, and divide is hardly what I used to do. Granted, I ended up not being particularly good at moduli theory of Riemann Surfaces, but there is a difference. Publish or PerishI Perished.
Not that all mathematics must be difficult to understand. "Show that if 6 people are at a party, either 3 are mutual acquaintances to each other, or 3 are mutual strangers to each other." can be taught to a 6-year-old in five minutes, but that's mathematics and not arithmetic.
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
06/12/2013 22:59
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#5
Being good at an academic thing and being good at getting published are intersecting sets, Eric. Unfortunately, nowadays only one set gets tenure in our leading institutions. On the other hand, the cross-fertilization of the first set with the outside world has only benefitted the outside world, so I'm glad you found a place to land.
#7
The reason I distinguish between arithmetic and math is because I had a lot of trouble explaining to people what I did. And of course, too many people told me with pride that, "Math was my worst subject."
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
06/12/2013 23:42
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Members of Congress yesterday expressed growing doubts about the way the country's previously top-secret surveillance programs are mis managed, even as the top legislators from each party voiced confidence in the programs and showed little interest in a public discussion of the issue. "Growing doubts" but no interest in flipping over the rocks ?
Emerging from an early evening closed-door briefing with officials from the National Security Agency, the Justice Department and the FBI, some members of the House of Representatives said they had more questions than answers about the surveillance programs that sweep up records from phone and Internet accounts belonging to millions of Americans.
"I think what really came out of it is that we need, as Congress, is to move forward and debate the issue," said Rep. C.A. "Dutch" Ruppersberger of Maryland, the ranking Democrat on the House intelligence committee. "It's really a debate on how far we go with public safety, and protecting us from terrorist attacks, versus how far we go on the other side and what programs we use to deal with that issue. This is what we do in Congress." Any mention or concern for constitutional legality ?
Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Calif., a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said there "obviously" needs to be more congressional oversight on the telephone surveillance program, under which so-called metadata from cellphone records are surrendered to the FBI and the NSA on a daily basis.
"I did not know a billion records a day were coming under control of the executive branch," Sherman said.
A billion records a day? What kind of records would those be? It doesn't sound like that's just metadata from Verizon, which is big but not that big. "What kind of records"....short answer, ALL records, just ask a very nervous Google.
More than 40 Syrian soldiers and militia fighters from the Lebanese Shiite group, Hezbollah, were killed in an ambush by the Free Syrian Army in Aleppo, the opposition army said Tuesday.
Free Syrian Army (FSA) said it targeted buses carrying Syrian soldiers and Hezbollah fighters between al-Bouz and al-Khanasir villages, in what it described as an ambush, without giving further information....
[this action is a few miles southeast of Aleppo for following the Battle]
Posted by: lord garth ||
06/12/2013
08:48 ||
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[Nice graphic]
Definitions: Top-secret: the most sensitive intelligence. Material, if made publicly available, would cause "exceptionally grave danger" to national security.
Confidential/secret: material, if made publicly available, would be "prejudicial" to or cause "serious damage" to national security
Numbers:
Overall, 5 million hold either a top secret or confidential/secret clearance. Of these 3.6 million are federal employees, 1.1 million are private contractors, and 0.3 million have an indeterminate status.
1.4 million total hold a clearance to handle top secret material. Of these, 800,000 are federal employees, 500,000 are private contractors, and 100,000 had a status the government couldn't confirm.
3.6 million hold a confidential/secret clearance. Of these, 2.8 million are federal employees, 600,000 are private contractors, and 0.2 million have indeterminate status.
#4
The classification isn't nearly as important as the compartment and other caveats with the classification.
And FYI, this guy was subject to a "Full Scope" (lifestyle) polygraph. Fat lot of good that did the government.
I'm debriefed and out of that sort of thing for good now so no big deal, I dont face another poly or BI ever again. I dont have a need to know anymore, and further, given how things aree going, I 'm pretty sure I dont want the need to know. However ...
(Rant coming on, feel free to skip it)
I've had SSBI with the periodic reinvestigations and accompanying full scope polygraphs. And in all honesty, you can beat a poly - either training, or else be pathological enough that you believe your own lies. Even though I've passed all of my full scope polygraphs over the years, I've always hated them, and pretty much discount anything about them. They are crap, producing false positives and false negatives. Its pseudoscience and garbage. I know of at least one person who failed her poly and it cost her the job, yet absolutely no way it should have happened (hint: it was about sexual stuff, and she was a victim of childhood sexual abuse, so she triggered hard on some of the questions).
Whats as bad as false positives is that the polygraph give a false sense of security, which means there is less and less of the more expensive old-fashioned counterespionage, and preventative measures - those are things that really work.
And FYI, I have "beat" a polygraph (after a bit of training from a retired spook friend of my father) just to demonstrate to a friend of mine in CI that it could be done. I fooled his associate on an issue that I had already been truthful about on my real polygraphs regarding "recreational" marijuana use (which occurred well back in the previous century). And this wasn't some dime-store setup, it was at an offsite "contractor" office that does work for the military and three letter agencies, a few years ago - nice setup, all the feeds into a computer, and they even had the "butt pad" that detects people doing the old "sphincter clench" trick. I answered directly and clearly with a complete lie "No,, I have never smoked marijuana". "No I have never used marijuana" "No I have never tried marijuana", "No I have never experimented with marijuana", "No, I have never seen marijuana being used" ... no hedging, etc.. complete and utter lies, yet they never detected them. For the record, I did smoke pot back in college a few times, found it boring, and it just made me hungry and want to go to sleep, never did see what the big attraction was. And they did detect a lie that was a false positive because I projected one for them on a question of my own choosing, spontaneously diring the interview. "No I have never been arrested for a felony" (I never have, yet I was able to make it look like I was lying - something that would cost a person thier clearance). The poly is a complete and utter sham, designed to coerce you into confession, nothing more or less. The fact that it takes a "skilled" polygrapher to "detect" a lie shows that its pretty much not scientific, otherwise you could have a computer flag it.
OK, I just put the Rant into Rantburg with that one... to hell with polygraphs, do proper security work and put in proper counterespionage precautions instead.
#6
I did moke pot back in college a few times, found it boring, and it just made me hungry and want to go to sleep, never did see what the big attraction was
Heh, yep.
#7
It's just ridiculous that one and a half million have "top" secret clearances. There are too damn many quote "secrets" and too many people with access.
It's a way to keep the sausage-making away from those without the need to know. i.e. the citizens.
What's not mentioned are the "name" clearances, where the real stuff lives.
As with grade inflation, top secret doesn't mean much anymore, I guess.
Sunset the whole "security" system and the Patriot Act, and start from scratch.
Detroit -- A federal judge has decided to allow to move forward a discrimination case charging Muslims were unfairly detained while traveling to and from Canada.
A hearing was held late last month in front of U.S. District Judge Avern Cohn to address whether the lawsuit brought last year by the Council on American-Islamic Relations would move proceed. The suit was filed on behalf of several Muslims who said they were targeted.
CAIR, which fights discrimination against Muslims, charged U.S. Border Patrol agents were unfairly detaining Muslims -- sometimes for several hours -- and asking intrusive questions about how many times a day they prayed as well as whether they pray in a mosque or who else prays there.
Silly Border Patrol -- just tap their phone records...
Although saying the government may "come forward with a permissable reason for profiling plaintiffs for secondary inspection and questioning them extensively about their religious practices and beliefs," Cohn wrote the CAIR group members "have sufficiently alleged that such policy, practice and custom targets a suspect class and has no rational basis."
"We are pleased that this important case will move forward and those who faced unlawful government questioning about their religious beliefs will continue to have their day in court," said Gadeir Abbas, an attorney with CAIR, who is based in Washington and was present last month to help argue the case.
#1
Given the location and the questions, I bet it turns out the Border Patrol Agents were themselves Muslims and were making sure the travelers were Sufficiently Muslim.
Once CAIR realizes this, the lawsuit will go away.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
06/12/2013 9:18
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#2
The religion of the 95 people in prison in March 2012 for terrorist offence was:
Anglican 1
Roman Catholic 2
Buddhist 1
other religious groups 1
no religion 3
Muslim 87
[An Nahar] Gunmen deployed on Tuesday in the Bekaa town of Arsal after its municipality announced the death of a town resident in "an ambush by Hizbullah supporters" in the Hermel region.
"Ali Ahmed al-Hujairi was killed in an ambush by Hizbullah supporters in the barren mountains of (the town of) Beit Jaafar between Akkar and Hermel," the municipality's deputy chief told MTV.
Meanwhile, ...back at the comedy club, Boogie ducked another tomato... state-run National News Agency said Hujairi was killed "when he came under gunfire on the Hermel-al-Shirbin public road."
"Unknown attackers rubbed out Hujairi as he was driving his pickup truck that was loaded with rocks, accompanied by Syrian workers," NNA said.
"At once, security forces arrived on the scene and launched a probe into the incident," the agency added.
In the evening, NNA said a number of gunnies gathered in central Arsal in protest at the killing of Hujairi.
Sheikh Mustafa al-Hujairi, Ali's brother, delivered a speech before the gunnies and called for "jihad and vengeance," NNA said.
LBCI described the gunnies as "Salafist groups."
"Anger is boiling in the town of Arsal where gunnies have deployed, although Hermel's residents condemned the killing of Ali al-Hujairi and the army encircled the town to prevent any repercussions," the agency reported earlier.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/12/2013
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[An Nahar] Italian diplomats 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... beat feet from their booby-trapped car before it went kaboom! during a shopping trip in the Libyan capital on Tuesday, officials said.
"The Italian diplomats got out of their car in the district of Zawiet al-Dahmani to shop when they noticed a wire hanging beneath the vehicle," a diplomat said.
The driver called the police who blocked the road shortly before the kaboom, he said.
"They evacuated the area before the car went kaboom! half an hour later," added the diplomat, who was speaking on condition of anonymity ... for fear of being murdered... .
That version of events was confirmed by witnesses in the neighborhood located a few kilometers (miles) from the center of Tripoli.
The witnesses said the blast was of low intensity and that the car was not completely destroyed.
According to the diplomat, the bomb was attached to the car in another district of the Libyan capital where the Italians had made a first stop.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/12/2013
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#1
Fred,
When posting articles on Libya can you mention in your annotation Wheelus AFB just for my own nostalgia:)
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
06/12/2013 17:27
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#2
Yesterday in History, 1970 - US leaves Wheelus AFB Libya
What we are left with is a rigid set of official lies and government propaganda.
1) "Profiling" is worse than terrorism
2) Terrorism is generic, unpredictable
3) Islamic movements such as MB are evolving toward Jeffersonian democracy; give them time and money
4) "Islamophobia" must be eradicated -- like the plague
Adhering to this ideology, "naturally" Uncle Sam must see every American as a suspect. "Naturally," 100 million Verizon customers "must" have their phone records "mined," or "stockpiled" or whatever verb best describes this meta-government, mass computerized intrusion that is so very, very ripe for politicized targeting and widespread abuse. "Naturally," the now-infamous PRISM program permits, as Jed Babbin writes at the American Spectator, "the FBI or NSA to have its own equipment on-site at [various Internet companies] and that equipment is apparently enabled to penetrate and access the SIGADs in question without any further interaction with the Internet company." "Naturally," there must be still more and deeper state supervision of Americans to fend off the enemies of this ideological state, whoever they might be. The undifferentiated paranoia this reflects is distinctly Soviet.
The post-9/11 hyperstate, then, isn't acting to pre-empt jihad terrorism or vectors of sharia aimed at our Constitution; it is acting to implement its own perverse ideology -- an ideology influenced if not entirely fostered by an Islamic decepetion operation. Pure and unscathed even by what the Michael Haydens of the intel world likely consider the odd attack, this ideology becomes more important to our leaders than anything else. Such leaders include Michael Hayden, FBI Director Mueller, JCC Gen. Dempsey, not to mention Presidents Bush and Obama.
Their ideology -- that Islam has nothing to do with this latest historical cycle of jihad we are living through -- has become more important to them than public safety, facts, liberty itself.
Is it really such a leap to see how opponents of the ideology become enemies of this state?
#1
HHHHHMMMMM, HHHHHMMMMM, so IIUC the issue is between the slowly growing Radical Islamist-Jihadist-Terror threat to CONUS-NORAM, versus a post-2015 "borderless", "anti-electoral", "anti-nationalist", "anti-sovereign" Amerika under OWG-NWO, Global Fed "Unions", + Global Socialist Order???
* FYI DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > US NSA TO CONTINUE GLOBAL SURVEILLANCE PROGRAM.
The Scandals they are nothing + do nothing agz the NSA, CIA, + other US INTEL Agencies.
As also complemented by ...
* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > "WE WILL ALL HAVE AN RFID CHIP UNDER OUR SKIN BY 2017": NBC PREDICTION | THE NEWS INFORMER.
versus
* SAME > OPED:"US CONSTITUTION MAKES NO EXCEPTION TO NATIONAL SECURITY", as per the General-vs-Specific Warrants required for the US Govt. to collect information on US Citizens-Residents in violation of their Privacy Rights + other Civil Liberties.
One edition of George Orwell's classic novel about totalitarian government had jumped from No. 7397 on Amazon's best-seller list to No. 125.
The revelations about government surveillance have introduced a new generation of readers to Nineteen Eighty-Four, as sales of George Orwell's dystopian classic soar.
Perhaps there is hope that the "Kool-Aid" is wearing off, but is it too late ? Tune-in to Rantburg around November 2014 for the answer.
Posted by: Au Auric ||
06/12/2013 11:02
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#5
The wholesale snooping on citizens makes one wonder if Islamist terrorism is the greatest we face as a nation. What would the Founding Fathers think of what's going on?
#9
IMA waiting for PRISM harvested data to be linked to the IRS, Tea Party, NRA, Benghazi, Fort Hood, Boston Bombers, and/or Champ's re-election. The unfunny Clapper humour will suddenly terminate if that happens.
[An Nahar]Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday he had always believed that Syrian strongman Bashar Assad should have implemented political reforms that could have averted the current bloodbath.
But Putin also stressed that he remained firmly opposed to outside intervention and implied that Russia's position on the crisis remained unchanged.
The Russian leader told a question-and-answer session held in the studio of RT television -- Moscow's state-run international channel -- that Assad should have listened more closely to opposition demands when the conflict broke out in March 2011.
"I have said that it seemed like the country was ripe for changes and its leadership should have sensed this and begun implementing these changes," Putin said.
"This is apparent. Otherwise, everything that is happening -- it would not have happened."
Putin also denied that Russia was acting as a public defender of Assad by blocking three rounds of U.N. Security Council resolutions sanctioning him for violence that has now claimed more than 94,000 lives.
"We are not the lawyers of the current government or President Bashar Assad," Putin said.
"We do not want to get involved in a conflict raging between different branches of Islam, between the Shiites and the Sunnis."
Posted by: Fred ||
06/12/2013
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#1
Technically, IMO Assad still can.
Russia + Iran may have seemingly "won" in Syria wid Assad's victory at Qusayr, but that doesn't mean Russia will accept any Iranian domination or control of Syria, as Russia's focii is the security of its southern borders from the Islamist-Jihadist threat.
Three policemen were killed and two bystanders were injured when a pair of unidentified gunmen opened fire in Dagestan.
The gunmen killed the three Russian policemen on the spot. The shootout left one of the attackers dead at the scene, while the other was killed while trying to flee, the Investigative Committee said.
In a separate statement, the National Anti-Terror Committee said officials had found suicide belts packed with homemade explosives in an apartment in Dagestan's largest city of Makhachkala. Each belt carried the equivalent of around 200 grams of TNT.
Two women who had allegedly harbored the explosives in the apartment on behalf of the slain terrorists militants were detained, the committee said. The statement said, "The timely discovery of the makeshift explosive devices helped prevent terrorist acts that had been planned by bandits for the near future."
"The GBU-57 contains 2.4 tons of explosives and costs $3.5 million each. In the last few years several B-2 bombers have been equipped to carry these weapons (two bombs per B-2). This was apparently meant to send a message to Iran and North Korea.... But Iran and North Korea do have radars, and a B-2 could slip past those radars Jeebus, we're putting a lot on the capabilities of this aircraft....hope it measures up....
and take out the air defense system command bunkers, or any other targets buried deep."
[Dawn] Three employees of the Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... Municipal Corporation were bumped off on Monday in two attacks apparently on sectarian grounds, police said. The officails said that Mohsin Raza, 45, and Syed Ahmed Hussain, 45, left the offices of the District Municipal Corporation (west) in the SITE area in a car for Noor-ul-Iman mosque to offer prayer. When they reached Nazimabad, armed motorcyclists intercepted the vehicle, opened indiscriminate fire on them and fled.
They were taken to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital where doctors pronounced them dead. SSP-Central Amir Farooqi said that it appeared that the motive for the killing was sectarian.
Nazimabad SHO Faryad Hussain said that the victims sustained five and seven bullet wounds, respectively. The assailants used 9-MM pistols and fired 14 bullets on their vehicle.
Mr Raza was an engineer in grade 18 in the KMC. He was father of two and lived in Malir. The victim Hussain was working on a contract basis in DMC-West. He was a resident of Shah Faisal Colony.
In another incident, Shafi Muhammad, 27, was rubbed out in the Orangi Town's Iqbal Market area on Monday. The police said that the victim was a KMC employee and posted in Safari Park.
He was targeted as soon as he left his home for office. The police suspected that he was targeted due to sectarian reasons.
ASI rubbed out
A traffic official was bumped off in the Sohrab Goth area. Police said that Assistant Sub-Inspector Mehboob, 42, was riding a cycle of violence when he was targeted near 'Ganna Mandi.'
Sachal SHO Haroon Korai said that the victim was posted in the traffic police in the same area. He suspected that he might have been killed by bully boys.
The victim originally hailed from Khairpur.
Two youths killed
Two young men were bumped off in the Nagan Chowrangi area. SSP-Central Farooqi said that two motorcyclists entered the premises of PNSC Flats and two gunnies, apparently chasing the duo on bikes, entered there and shot them dead.
The bodies were shifted to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital. The victims could not be identified till late in the night. The SSP said that residents told the police that the victims and killers did not belong to the PNSC Flats.
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[An Nahar] Dozens of demonstrators on Tuesday held a sit-in in front of the Lebanese embassy in Kuwait to protest Hizbullah's interference in the Syrian crisis.
"The protesters burned a picture of Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah," Naharnet correspondent in Kuwait reported, adding that they demanded placing the party on the list of terrorist organizations.
He noted: "They referred to Hizbullah as the party of the devil."
"The protesters also held banners calling for the expulsion of the Lebanese ambassador in the country."
Pictures of the sit-in published on social media websites revealed that the demonstrators are Islamists.
On Sunday, tens of the supporters of the Moslem Revolutionaries movement in Egypt staged a sit-in in front of the Lebanese embassy in Cairo to protest Hizbullah's involvement in the Syrian war.
Meanwhile in Doha, demonstrators rejecting Hizbullah fighting alongside Syria dth:1px;border-bottom-style:dotted;border-bottom-color:gray;' title='President Bashir al-Assad'>Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Oppressor of the Syrians and the Lebs...
's forces in the neighboring country also held a protest on Sunday in front of the Lebanese embassy in Qatar's capital.
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[An Nahar] Russian President Vladimir Putin ...Second and fourth President of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from polonium poisoning. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead... said on Tuesday that Iran had a right to a peaceful nuclear program but slammed as "unacceptable" its threats against its regional nemesis Israel.
"Iran is in a very difficult region," Putin told a televised question-and-answer session in Moscow.
"And when we hear threats from Iran against its neighbors, particularly Israel, when we hear from Iran that Israel must be destroyed -- I think this is completely unacceptable."
Putin appeared to be referring to comments made over the years by Iran's outgoing President Mahmoud Short Round Ahmadinejad, who will stand down when his second terms expires shortly after Friday's national election.
Russia is a close trading partner with Iran and supplies the Islamic Theocratic Republic with weapons and has built its first nuclear reactor near the Gulf city of Bushehr.
But Moscow in recent years has taken a more stern line with Tehran that includes a demand for it to cooperate with United Nations ...aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society... nuclear inspectors.
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"Over the last few years American intelligence agencies have discovered that the Chinese space program involves more than the peaceful use of space. The Chinese are apparently working hard on jamming satellite signals and using lasers to damage satellites. This is in addition to Chinese work on tracking satellites, a prerequisite for damaging or destroying them.
It was impossible to hide the 2007 Killsat test and that was the main point of carrying it out. The protests from other satellite owning nations were ignored, but appreciated because it made everyone believe that China was serious about KillSats. What China was actually doing was hiding their jamming and blinding activities and not encouraging satellite owners from protecting their birds from this sort of attack." Didja' have a nice t/walk in the desert Mr. Obama...?
#1
See also CHINESE MILITARY FORUM > YANK PROPOSAL [TO AVOID BUDGET CUTS OR CHINA'S NEW DESIGN FOR STEALTH BOMBER [or X-large Stealth = "Orbital" Fighter/Fighter-Bomber?] | [Foreign Policy] IS THIS CHINA'S DESIGN FOR A STEALTH BOMBER? THE MODEL AIRPLANES THAT COULD ONE DAY CHANGE THE GLOBAL BALANCE OF POWER.
The ongoing US Sequester versus the Chinese super-version of Clint Eastwood's FIREFOX.
[An Nahar] A Sudanese nurse working for an international aid agency in Sudan's troubled Darfur region has been rubbed out during a shootout inside a camp for displaced people, humanitarian workers said on Tuesday.
It is the first known death of an aid worker in Sudan since a Sudanese driver for the United Nations ...boodling on the grand scale... World Food Program was killed during an attack in war-torn South Kordofan state last August.
Ali al-Zatari, the United Nations chief in Sudan, said the killing occurred on Sunday in North Camp, in Central Darfur's Nertiti town.
He strongly condemned the "senseless crime".
"The killing of this aid worker, and the injury of several other civilians, occurred because an exchange of fire took place in a camp for people displaced by fighting in Darfur. The civilian and humanitarian nature of these camps must be respected."
The U.N. said only that the victim was a Sudanese, who himself had been uprooted during Darfur's decade-long uprising which has left 1.4 million people living in camps inside the region.
He was killed when a stray bullet went through the wall of his home in the camp, a U.N. source said, adding it is unclear who shot him.
The incident began after an attempted ambush robbery of an army patrol.
"Not long following this ambush, shooting broke out in the camp, and the shooting was quite indiscriminate," the U.N. source said.
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[An Nahar] An armed clash erupted on Tuesday between al-Mustaqbal ... the Future Movement, political party led by Saad Hariri... Movement and al-Taqwa Islamic Social Association in the al-Tamlis Alleyway in Beirut's Tariq al-Jedideh, state-run National News Agency reported.
"A personal dispute erupted into an exchange of gunfire between supporters of al-Mustaqbal Movement and al-Taqwa Association in al-Tamlis Alleway, leaving two people maimed," NNA said.
Later on Tuesday, the Army Command issued a statement saying "a dispute over personal reasons between citizens in the Abu Shaker Square in Tariq al-Jedideh erupted into a fistfight and an exchange of gunfire with light assault weapons, leaving three people maimed."
"Subsequently, the army units that are deployed in the area intervened and cordoned off the scene of the incident and raided the houses of the shooters who fled to unknown destinations," the statement added.
"Normalcy has been restored and army units continue to hunt the perpetrators in order to arrest them and refer them to the relevant judicial authorities," the statement noted.
Al-Jadeed television said two maimed men were transported to the nearby Makassed Hospital.
Al-Taqwa leader Abed Alawiyyeh is close to prominent, 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... -based Salafist holy man Dai al-Islam al-Shahhal.
In the wake of the attack on Sunni holy mans Sheikh Mazen Hariri and Sheikh Maher Fakhran in Khandaq al-Ghamiq on March 17, around 30 members of the association erupted into the streets and started chanting "The people want the declaration of jihad."
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[An Nahar] The Syrian conflict is at a "turning point" with regime forces gaining ground, the French foreign ministry said Tuesday, adding that it was time to review whether to arm the opposition.
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Leveler of Latakia... 's regime has pledged to focus its attention on the northern city of Aleppo after winning a strategic victory by retaking Qusayr, a strategically important town on the border with Leb.
"There are lessons to be drawn from what happened in Qusayr and what is happening in Aleppo," said ministry front man Philippe Lalliot.
"We are at a turning point in the Syrian war. What should we do under these conditions to reinforce the opposition armed forces? We have had these discussions with our partners, with the Americans, the Saudis, the Turks, many others...
"We cannot leave the opposition in the current state," he said.
Lalliot said a French official will on Saturday meet Salim Idriss, the chief of staff of the Free Syrian Army's Supreme Military Council.
The European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... , under pressure from Britannia and La Belle France, last month failed to renew an arms embargo on Syria, leaving individual member states free from August 1 to supply weapons to the opposition, if they so decided.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Too bad somebody has to win this one (well, too bad except for the millions of non-combatants.)
[An Nahar] A Taliban suicide boom-mobileer on Tuesday targeted staff at Afghanistan's top court, killing 14 civilians and wounding 38 others in the second attack in two days in the heavily fortified capital, police said.
Women and children were among those killed and injured in the powerful kaboom at the entrance to the Supreme Court, near the U.S. embassy as buses waited to take court staff home at the end of the working day, officials said.
The Taliban grabbed credit and threatened further attacks on the judiciary if it continued to sentence to death members of its militia.
The bomber struck at around 4:00 pm (1130 GMT) in the crowded area, close to a block of residential flats home to middle-class Afghans.
General Mohammad Zahir, head of Kabul criminal investigations, said the bomber rammed one of the buses carrying Supreme Court staff.
"A suicide bomb hit at the back of a Coaster causing lots of civilian casualties, dead and maimed," Zahir told Agence La Belle France Presse.
"We have 14 dead and 38 maimed," he said, adding that at least two women were among the dead and children were also among the casualties. "Most of the casualties are Supreme Court employees," he added.
An AFP photographer saw human flesh and dead bodies lying on the ground as police picked their way through the debris, the wreckage of a car and two badly damaged buses on the main road leading to the airport.
A couple of legs and part of a body were stuck to the back of one bus. Civilian volunteers who happened to be in the area where helping to evacuate the maimed, soaked in blood, by foot, on shoulder, dragged and by handcart.
The Taliban, the militia that is stepping up an 11-year insurgency against the Western-backed Afghan government as NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A single organization with differing goals, equipment, language, doctrine, and organization.... troops prepare to withdraw next year, grabbed credit for the attack.
In a statement, it said it had punished judges for "justifying the invading infidels" in sentencing to death Taliban prisoners held by the Afghan government.
"Today's attack was a warning that should they (judges) continue to give tyrannical verdicts and intimidate (our) countrymen, then the mujahideen will not tolerate it and condemn them to death" said a copy of the statement seen by AFP.
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#1
only 14? Musta been one of them Moderate Taliban Karzai loves so much
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/12/2013 21:23
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[BETA.DAWN] Armed gunnies on Thursday killed two activists of the Balochistan ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... National Party - Mengal in Khuzdar town of the southwestern province.
Police said armed gunnies on a cycle of violenceshot up the vehicle of Ali Akbar Mosiani, a district leader of BNP-M, in Khuzdar bazaar.
Mosiani was killed on the spot, police said, adding that the gunnies managed to escape from the spot. Moreover, only half an hour after Mosiani's killing, armed gunniesrubbed out another BNP-M activist, Javed Baloch.
Baloch suffered serious wounds as result of firing and departed this vale of tears on way to hospital. Condemning the killings of party workers, BNP-M central leader Rauf Mengal announced a three-day-mourning across Balochistan.
He said his party's workers were being targeted as part of a conspiracy. Panic prevailed among the people in the aftermath of killings of BNP-M activists. Levies and police personnel were deployed in all sensitive areas of the town to avoid the occurrence of another untoward incident.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/12/2013
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[Dawn] Enraged relatives of a patient, who died while undergoing surgery at the District Headquarters Hospital, attacked the doctors, tore their clothes off and smashed the windowpanes of the operation theater.
The surgeon and his colleagues saved themselves by locking the doors of the operation theater (OT), but the livid relatives smashed the windows in an attempt to enter the OT.
However, some people cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go... the hospital administration called the police which arrived to control the situation.
Police said the victim of a roadside accident, Amir Rukhsar, had been brought to the hospital on Sunday in a critical condition and the doctors had advised surgery.
The patient had then been shifted to the operation theater, where Dr Ammad and his team carried out the surgery, but the patient could not survive. When the doctors pronounced the victim dead, his relatives got angry and attacked the doctors.
Dr Irfan Khilji, the deputy medical superintendent of the hospital, said the victim had already been in a critical condition and could not survive the operation.
He said after the patient's death, his relatives got violent and beat the doctors, resulting in bruises and minor injuries. However, some people cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go... police intervention helped the hospital administration control the enraged people.
Later a criminal case was registered against the relatives of the dear departed, but no arrest was made since the family was busy in the funeral ceremony.
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#1
And here I thought these folks welcomed death (Vergin' Horrorhaus in the Sky and all that) and said Allan was in charge of all events...
[An Nahar] U.N. Secretary General the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon ... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan... appealed Tuesday for dialogue and greater efforts at "national reconciliation" in Iraq after a wave of deadly attacks.
Ban "underscores the pressing need for dialogue between political blocs in order to overcome the current crisis," his front man Martin Nesirky said.
He said the U.N. chief was concerned about "the escalating political tensions and the appalling upsurge of violence that has killed a high number of civilians over the last two months."
"He urges all parties to redouble their efforts to ensure that the momentum of national reconciliation is not lost to those groups that strive to reignite sectarian violence in Iraq," Nesirky added.
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[USATODAY] Libya's interim army chief of staff insists militias will have to lay down their arms or join the military by the end of this year.
His comments come just days after 31 people, mostly civilians, were killed in deadly festivities with pro-government gunnies in the eastern city of Benghazi.
Col. Salem Qineydi told news hounds there on Tuesday that the government needs the militias to assist in securing the country, but that ultimately they will have to join the army or return to civilian life by year's end.
Qineydi did not give specifics on how the government would implement the timeline.
He says some of the militias are rooted in the rebels that fought to oust dictator Muammar Qadaffy ...Custodian of Wheelus AFB for 42 long years until he was ejected from the gene pool by his indignant citizens... , but that others were not and have instead fought one another.
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[FOXNEWS] Protesters and Turkey's prime minister both refused to back down Tuesday in what could become the final battle for Istanbul's Taksim Square, the symbol of nationwide grievances against his government.
Tens of thousands of protesters returned to the square in the evening, in a show of defiance met with tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannons, hours after riot police had forced their way past improvised barricades to clear the square of protesters occupying the area for the past 12 days.
Hundreds more vowed to continue their sit-in at Taksim's adjacent Gezi Park, despite an order from Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan for them to leave -- an order bolstered by the police show of force.
A peaceful demonstration against the park's redevelopment that began more than two weeks ago has morphed into the biggest test of Erdogan's authority in his decade of power.
The unrest has spread to 78 cities across the country, with protesters championing their objections to what they say is the prime minister's increasingly authoritarian style and his perceived attempts to impose a religious and conservative lifestyle in a country with secular laws -- charges he rejects.
So far four people have died, including a policeman, and about 5,000 have been treated for injuries or the effects of tear gas, according to the Turkish Human Rights Foundation.
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#10
Buy college research paper and get the whole range of pleasant things you could not expect. Many online writing services do everything they can in order you will get an opportunity to get quality support with papers for school all day and all nights.
The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) has filed a protest with the Philippine government for the arrest of four of its members on separate occasions. The four Muslim terrorists rebels were arrested in Sultan Kudarat, South Cotabato and Lanao del Norte.
"The one arrested in Lambayong Sultan Kudarat was on his way back home when arrested, those arrested in Polomolok, South Cotabao were raided while preparing for subuh (early morning prayer), and the one arrested in Linamon, Lanao del Norte, was just walking around when apprehended," the MILF said, adding that they were "innocent."
The MILF said, "We vehemently condemn these arrests against the MILF members. Clearly, there are violations against human rights, the ceasefire accord between the government and MILF, and adverse effects on the on the confidence of the MILF forces on the government sincerity and commitment to the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro."
[HINDUSTANTIMES] South Korea said on Tuesday that high-level talks with North Korea scheduled to begin in Seoul on Wednesday had been called off, after the two sides wrangled over who should lead the respective delegations. "There will be no talks on Wednesday," a spokeswoman for the South's unification ministry said without giving a reason. It was not immediately clear if they had been postponed or cancelled indefinitely.
A South Korean government official had said earlier that there had been problems in agreeing what level of official should lead the talks on either side.The two Koreas finally exchanged lists of proposed members of their delegations on Tuesday afternoon.
"But the North said it had an issue with the chief delegate from our side," the government official told AFP.
The scheduled talks had been seen as an opportunity to improve relations after months of elevated military tensions, that included threats from Pyongyang of nuclear war and warnings from Seoul of deadly counter-strikes to any provocation.
On the proposed agenda was the resumption of two suspended commercial projects, including the Kaesong joint industrial complex which the North shut down in April as the recent crisis peaked.
South Korea had wanted the two-day talks to be between its pointman on North Korea, Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-Jae, and his counterpart in Pyongyang, Kim Yang-Gon.
A dialogue at that ministerial level has not been held since 2007.
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#1
Now there is a right decision by SKor.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
06/12/2013 7:25
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#2
Norks are desperate. Don't back down. Demand the return of the return of the Kaesong hostage ransom before any talks - in real cash, not fake $100s
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/12/2013 10:25
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[An Nahar] Iranian ex-president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani ... the fourth President of Iran. He was a member of the Assembly of Experts until he was eased out in 2011 He continues, for the moment, as Chairman of the Expediency Discernment Council. In 2005 he ran for a third term as president, ultimately losing to rival Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who was in Khamenei's graces back then. In 1980 Rafsanjani survived an assassination attempt, during which he was seriously injured. He has been described as a centrist and a pragmatic conservative without all that much reason. He is currently being eased out of any position of actual influence or power and may be dead by the end of 2012... backed Hassan Rowhani for Friday's presidential election, saying the former nuclear negotiator who champions better international ties is "more suitable" for the post.
"I will vote for Dr Rowhani, who entered the race after consulting me," Rafsanjani said in remarks reported by the ILNA news agency on Tuesday.
"I consider him to be more suitable to steer the executive branch," he said referring to the slate of five other hopefuls, most of whom are conservatives.
It was the second major endorsement of the day for Rowhani, following that of reformist former president Mohammad Khatami, under whom he headed Iran's negotiations with the major powers on its nuclear program.
Rowhani is facing stiff competition from the conservative camp, which has failed to field a single candidate.
Tehran mayor Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, top nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili, ex-foreign minister Ali Akbar Velayati and former Revolutionary Guards commander Mohsen Rezai remain in the race to succeed President Mahmoud Short Round Ahmadinejad.
Mohammad Reza Aref, first vice president under Khatami and the only out and out reformist contender, dropped out of the competition on Tuesday.
Rafsanjani's endorsement comes after his own candidacy was rejected last month by the hardline electoral watchdog, the Guardians Council, whose members are appointed by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, directly or indirectly.
According to the ILNA report, Rafsanjani said his disqualification came after "a high-ranking security official, against the norms and law, attended the vetting meeting in the council."
"The official said: 'Rafsanjani's presence in the election could lead to his decisive victory in a landslide'," the ex-president said of the meeting, without naming anyone.
"The official then convinced the council to disqualify me on excuses of frailty," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
"moderate" Rowhani
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/12/2013 10:28
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Egypt's president has warned Ethiopia that all options are open" in dealing with its construction of a Nile dam that threatens to leave Egypt with a shortage of water.
In a live televised speech on Monday, Mohammed Morsi said Egypt was not calling for war, but it is willing to go up against any threats to its water security.
"If it loses one drop, our blood is the alternative," he said to a raucous crowd of largely Islamist supporters that broke into a standing ovation.
"We are not calling for war, but we will not allow, at all, threats against our water security," Morsi said before adding, "all options are open."
He told the crowd, "The great Nile is that which all our lives are connected to. The lives of the Egyptians are connected around it ... as one great people."
Later in the speech, Morsi said that Egypt considered Ethiopia a "friend" and pointed out that he had visited the country twice since taking office.
Ethiopia's $4.2 billion hydroelectric dam challenges a colonial-era agreement that had given Egypt and Sudan the majority of rights to water from the Nile.
Experts believe that Egypt could lose as much as 20% of its Nile water in the three to five years needed for Ethiopia to fill the massive reservoir.
Reminds of Stalin's infamous "...Or else" letter to a Factory threatening to shut down its production of STORMAVIK ground attack planes - IIRC STALIN SAID "THESE PLANES ARE AS VITAL TO THE RED ARMY AS BREAD + BLOOD"!
[An Nahar] Around eight rockets and mortar rounds from Syria slammed into the northeastern region of Hermel on Tuesday -- some of them hitting residential neighborhoods -- leaving one person dead.
The state-run National News Agency said the rocket salvo left several people slightly injured.
One of the rockets landed in an agricultural field in the Dora area, igniting a fire, it said.
Over the past weeks, Syrian rebels have fired dozens of rockets on Hermel and the Hizbullah stronghold of Baalbek.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/12/2013
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#1
True enuff - Aussie-feared China in time has no qualms about dealing harshly or violently wid any Islamist threat to its interests, but right now e.g. Okinawa-Senkakus + SCS its focii/priority is reducing US power-n-influence in East-South Asia + "breaking out" of the "first island chain" vee US-Allies, NOT any Islamist threat to OZ + Kiwi-land [New Zealand].
At last check, China was attempting bilateral rapperochement wid Papua-New Guinea as per strategic natural resources includ "rare-earth" minerals. An [anti-US] PLA presence in Papua-New Guinea can certainly help the Aussies restrain the growing Islamist regional threat - THE QUESTION IS WHETHER AUSTRALIA WANTS THE PLA TO BE THAT CLOSE TO ITS SHORES.
[An Nahar] German intelligence voiced concern Tuesday over the growing number of ultra-conservative Islamic Salafists ...Salafists are ostentatiously devout Moslems who figure the ostentation of their piety gives them the right to tell others how to do it and to kill those who don't listen to them...
...Salafists are ostentatiously devout Moslems who figure the ostentation of their piety gives them the right to tell others how to do it and to kill those who don't listen to them...
in the country, some of whom are swelling jihadist ranks abroad, while warning of an increasingly violent German extreme right.
"Salafism is a particularly rapidly growing and extremely worrying group within the bad turban Islamist movement," Hans-Georg Maassen, head of domestic intelligence, told a news conference as he presented his agency's 2012 annual report.
Salafists in Germany numbered 42,550 in 2012, according to surveillance services, and the number of Salafists, who espouse an austere form of Sunni Islam, within the movement grew to 4,500 from 3,800 in a year, he said.
Maassen added that while not all Salafists are jihadists, it was clear that those who departed Germany for Syria or Egypt were there for that purpose.
"One can say that Salafism is an essential step towards jihadism or for people ready to conduct terrorist attacks," Maassen said.
He also stressed that the number of bad turban Islamists in Germany did not signify there were "42,500 potential terrorists" in the country.
Still, some 1,000 people including some Salafists are considered dangerous and 130 are seen as a particular threat and are monitored around-the-clock.
The intelligence report also showed that Egypt had replaced the Wazoo region of Pakistain as the main center for the training of jihadists.
Syria is also a favored destination. "We counted more than 60 people who left Germany to fight in Syria," Maassen said.
In March Germany banned three Islamist Salafist groups which officials said aimed to sweep aside democracy and set up a system based on Sharia Islamic law.
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06/12/2013
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#1
I wonder how many Islamist Salafists there might be in other places such as the U.S., Great Britain, Canada, and France?
Tribal elders in northwestern Pakistan are taking desperate measures in an effort to bring electricity to their area, saying that as long as they have no electricity they won't vaccinate their children against polio. Several hundred residents from villages in Lakki Marwat district staged a demonstration on June 10 and turned away polio-eradication teams.
Village elder Zaitullah Betanai said, "There is an electricity supply line but no electricity, and there is no electricity transformer in the area. We have no mosquito kits and no spray against mosquitoes is arranged so far. Also, there is no ambulance in the area. We want the government to address the four demands immediately."
I know this might seem like a real off-the-wall idea...
buying those things for the village.
I know it's easier to let the government harvest those things from the state orchard of magic money trees but the econofrost has ruined the amounts of west-saps that can be harvested.
A defense volunteer was killed in a shooting at a teashop in Narathiwat province on Monday night.
The teashop's owner said that seven people were drinking tea in his shop when two terrorists men arrived on a motorcycle. The terrorist man riding pillion got off the bike, walked toward the victim and shot him four times with a handgun. The terrorists attackers then fled. The victim died on the spot.
[Dawn] Violence that broke out in Lyari ...one of the eighteen constituent towns of the city of Karachi. It is the smallest town by area in the city but also the most densely populated. Lyari has few schools, substandard hospitals, a poor water system, limited infrastructure, and broken roads. It is a stronghold of ruling Pakistan Peoples Party. Ubiquitous gang activity and a thriving narcotics industry make Lyari one of the most disturbed places in Karachi, which is really saying a lot.... on Saturday further escalated on Monday amid the absence of law-enforcement agencies and effective move by the security administration to ensure lasting peace for the inhabitants who in some cases preferred to leave their neighbourhood for safer places.
Life remained paralysed on a third consecutive day in most parts of the old city areas where people stayed indoors amid off and on hand-grenade attacks that sowed fear in the densely-populated locality. "We heard at least sound of three powerful kabooms within the span of a few hours," said a resident of Ali Manzil, one of several affected areas.
"Business remained closed, people stayed indoors and it's the third consecutive day in the scorching heat that resident are forced to live in this condition."
A large number of families in Chakiwara, Bihar Colony, Juna Masjid, Rahimabad, Mandra Muhallah, New Kalri, Agra Taj Colony and Hangorabad were seen fleeing to safer places.
Officials confirmed to Dawn that at least four hand grenade attacks were carried out on Monday in different parts of Lyari though no major casualty was reported.
In the evening, a large number of people from the Kutchhi community took to the roads against the violence. They marched towards the CM House and Governor's House to stage protest demonstration, but failed to reach there. They later staged a demonstration outside the Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... Press Club.
"We were compelled to do this (protest) and it's the only peaceful option we have," said a front man for the Katchhi Rabta Committee (KRC), which organised the protest rally.
He alleged that the Sindh government was backing a certain criminal group in Lyari that led to this situation. "They want us to talk with them but cannot explain how one can talk to criminals and then expect peace."
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06/12/2013
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[An Nahar] Supporters and opponents of Egypt's Islamist President Mohamed Morsi clashed on Tuesday outside the culture ministry, where artists have been protesting against what they see as efforts to impose a religious agenda.
Dozens of Islamist protesters and anti-government demonstrators fought outside the ministry headquarters in the Cairo neighborhood of Zamalek leaving several lightly injured, Agence France Presse reporters said.
Tensions began earlier this month after new minister Alaa Abdel Aziz sacked several arts chiefs, including the heads of the Opera House, the Fine Arts department, the General Egyptian Book Organisation and the National Archives.
Abdel Aziz, appointed in a recent cabinet reshuffle, is considered close to the Brotherhood, although he is not a member.
The sackings caused a furor within cultural circles, prompting artists to take to strikes, demonstrations and cancel shows to counter what they say are Islamist designs on key cultural institutions.
Since Friday, novelists, filmmakers, painters and dancers have been holding a sit-in at the ministry to demand Abdel Aziz's sacking.
Dancers from the Cairo Opera Ballet Company performed a short version of "Zorba" and singers held concerts outside the ministry drawing nightly crowds.
"We are against Muslim Brotherhood control of state institutions," said producer and protester Dina Abu Zeid.
"Egypt is not a religious state," she told AFP.
Hani Hassan, the lead dancer at the Cairo Opera Ballet Company slammed the minister for pandering to ultra-conservative Islamists.
Last week, a member of parliament from the Salafist Noor Party called for banning ballet on the grounds that it is "obscene" and "spreads immorality."
"Why didn't (the minister) respond to the Noor MP? Because he's scared but we are not," Hassan told AFP.
The Muslim Brotherhood has denied it wants to control cultural institutions.
At the demonstration, Islamist protesters argued that the ministry has been a den of corruption since the time of ousted president Hosni Mubarak, and that Abdel Aziz is simply getting the house back in order.
"We suffer from corruption in all our institutions. The minister came and began cleansing... We say to him: carry on cleansing," said Khaled al-Bouhi.
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[An Nahar] International media watchdog Reporters Without Borders called on the Libyan authorities on Tuesday to rein in allied militia it said were responsible for detaining journalists.
The Gay Paree-based group said it was "extremely concerned" about the deteriorating security situation in Libya and the behavior of certain militias towards media personnel.
It called on the government to control the behavior of militias operating under the command of the defense or interior ministries or integrated into other state entities.
Since the 2011 uprising that ousted veteran dictator Muammar Qadaffy ...a reminder that a single man with an idea can change an entire nation, usually for the worse... , the central government has struggled to tame the former rebel groups that overthrew him.
A journalist with an international news agency was locked away Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please! by members of a militia in broad daylight in Libya's second city Benghazi on May 20, Reporters Without Borders said.
A photographer was locked away Yez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Nuttin'! for several hours on May 28 by gunnies nominally under the command of the defense ministry, it added.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[BETA.DAWN] The first parliamentary clash between the ruling PML-N and the opposition PTI will likely be over a resolution submitted to the National Assembly Secretariat by the latter on Monday, calling upon the government to use military force, if needed, to halt drone strikes in the tribal areas.
Terming the resolution submitted by Dr Shireen Mazari of the Pakistain Tehrik-e-Insaf ...a political party in Pakistan. PTI was founded by former Pakistani cricket captain and philanthropist Imran Khan. The party's slogan is Justice, Humanity and Self Esteem, each of which is open to widely divergent interpretations.... a "premature" move, a PML-N member of the federal cabinet categorically said it could not be passed in its present form and the opposition party would have to amend it with mutual consent for the purpose.
"We also want to stop drone attacks, but not through the use of military force because it can have serious and dangerous consequences," Minister of State Khurram Dastagir Khan said.
He said such a decision could affect the country's defence relationship with then US which was providing assistance to Pakistain in the sector.
He said the country was getting very little US assistance for civilian purposes.
"The use of military force could be an option, but only after exhausting all diplomatic means."
The government, Mr Dastagir added, had already lodged a protest with the US over a recent drone strike. Saying that drone strikes were unjustified, the minister said the focus of the PTI's foreign policy was mainly on drone strikes whereas the PML-N considered it a "small part" in the Pakistain-US relationship.
He said all parties considered drone attacks to be a violation of the country's illusory sovereignty, but the PML-N and the PTI had differences over the "framework of analysis" on the issue.
The parliamentary party of the PTI in its meeting held at the Parliament House just before the address of President Asif Ali Ten Percent Zardari ... husband of the late Benazir Bhutto, who has been singularly lacking in curiosity about who done her in ... to a joint sitting of both houses endorsed the resolution submitted by Ms Mazari. The meeting was presided over by PTI vice chairman Shah Mehmood Wormtongue Qureshi.
Through the detailed resolution, the PTI has called upon the government to "immediately take steps" and ask the US to end its drone strikes and "take diplomatic and, if need be, military measures to respond firmly to any such attack".
It reminds the government of its obligations in the light of a judgment by the Beautiful Downtown Peshawar ...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire. High Court in April.
"This resolution demands the government to protect the illusory sovereignty of Pakistain, the international law and enforce the judgment of the Peshawar High Court as soon as possible," it says.
Quoting excerpts from the judgment, the resolution says that the court had declared that Article 199 of the constitution "put this court under tremendous obligation to safeguard and protect the life and property of the citizens of Pakistain and any person for the time being in Pakistain, being fundamental rights".
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For a map, click here. For a map of Durango state click here
Two men were found shot to death in San Dimas municipality Tuesday, according to Mexican news reports.
According to a news report posted on the website of Milenio news daily, a Mexican Army road patrol found the victims near the village of Minitas.
They were identified as Mateo Perez Guzman, 25, and Israel Niebla Perez, 28, both of Tayoltita in San Dimas. The victims had been shot about the torso and left aboard a Jeep Cherokee SUV.
San Dimas municipality has been the focus of some drug related violence in recent years. Government workers have suffered threats and vandalism at the hands of local criminal gangs just this past spring. Several executions and deaths in gunfights have also been reported by Mexican press in San Dimas since 2010.
Meanwhile in Durango city, Durango state police seized 160 kilograms of marijuana in a raid Tuesday.
According to a news report which appeared on the online edition of El Siglo de Durango operatives with the Durango Direccion Estatal de Investigacion (DEI) served an order or apprehension at a residence on calle Canoas in Zona Centro.
Detained at the scene was Gustavo Hernandez Nava, 53. It is unclear in the report if Hernandez Nava was the object of the detention order.
Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political new for Rantburg.com and Borderlandbeat.com
[Dawn] Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa ... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central... police are capable of maintaining law and order situation in Swat ...a valley and an administrative district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistain, located 99 mi from Islamabad. It is inhabited mostly by Pashto speakers. The place has gone steadily downhill since the days when Babe Ruth was the Sultan of Swat... and other districts of the Malakand division if the security forces are withdrawn from the region, says provincial police chief Ihsan Ghani.
He was talking to news hounds after launching website of the provincial police department at the central police office here on Monday. He said the website would ensure effective communication between police, press and public to improve policing in the province.
Talking about myrmidon violence, the police chief said: "The situation in Beautiful Downtown Peshawar ...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire. is more challenging because the district is surrounded by tribal regions. However, a hangover is the wrath of grapes... the police have controlled the situation and put the forces of Evil now on the defensive," claimed Mr Ghani.
He said the traditional 'thana' culture would be changed in consultation with stakeholders to bring a positive change in officials' behaviour to curb crimes. "We will soon hold a workshop attended by politicians, media persons, students, lawyers, retired judges, bureaucrats, women and other professionals to seek their input in setting up model cop shoppes," he said.
Mr Ghani said officials involved in misuse of powers and politics would be dismissed rather than being transferred. He asked people to visit cop shoppes and check performance of the staff by themselves. He said these steps were meant for reforming police and facilitating complainants. "Complainants will be kept informed about the action of the police high ups and fate of their complaint," said the police chief.
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#1
"... A National Council for Women member, Nohad Abu al-Qomsan, told NOW that these procedures have been on the rise since the revolution began. One can say that all the efforts to ban this harmful custom have been in vain due to the fatwas and opinions of uneducated sheikhs and to the states turning a blind eye to these crimes. It's as if they were giving them a green light. Al-Qomsan asked, How can the state fight a negative phenomenon if those in power adopt it and believe it to be a necessity?..."
but NOW indicated that it would continue prioritizing forcing Catholic hospitals to allow abortions because... well just because
Posted by: lord garth ||
06/12/2013 8:38
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#2
The National Orgasm of Cushy American Women see no votes or Gov't cash here so let's move back to the "glass ceiling".
Posted by: Jack Salami ||
06/12/2013 12:02
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#3
Even when that "glass ceiling" has been shown to be a "choose to have a baby instead of a career ceiling" instead.
[An Nahar] Spanish police tossed in the slammer ... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not... two suspected ETA commandos in a pre-dawn raid Tuesday, striking a new blow against the already-weakened network of the armed Basque group, the government said.
The pair -- Jon Lizarribar Lasarte, born 1976, and Ruben Gelbentzu Gonzalez, born 1974 -- are accused of taking part in four attacks in 2002, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.
The attacks were directed against the University of Navarra, the department store El Corte Ingles of Zaragoza and two companies from the neighboring province of Navarra, it said.
Spanish police struck at about 3am (0100 GMT), acting on intelligence gathered from documents seized in La Belle France from members of the ETA leadership, the Spanish authorities said.
Posted by: Fred ||
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"The United States usually accepts about half the refugees that the U.N. agency proposes for resettlement. California has historically taken the largest share, but Illinois, Florida, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia are also popular destinations ("popular destinations"..?!)."
#1
Despite its extant humanitarianism, I'm interpreting this as yet another sign the Bammer has failed or lost in Syria.
WHICH IN TURN IS N-O-T GOOD VEE IRAQ, AFPAK, IRAN'S NUCPROG, + ESPEC AGZ CHINA OVER IN EAST ASIA [ECS + SCS].
Iff the Bammer's goal remains the formal removal of Assad from power, the only way he can effec do it now is to send in US ground troops to do what the Rebs didn't.
#2
Settle them in predominantly rich Democratic Party neighborhoods. Just what the US needs...combat trained Moslems and shell shocked Moslem families.
Moslems ready to fight for what they believe in as your neighbors. In the schools, in the supermarkets. And as we know in Boston, they adapt so well to American community life.
Sent them by the thousands, Obummer. Follow your inner Hussein.
Of course, settling them all around Hollywood might have its good points. West Texas needs population...and its dry and hot just like back in the Middle East. How about southern Arizona...out toward Ajo somewhere....near the Mexican border. Let the incoming meet the incoming.
What "skills" do the Syrian Resistance have that they can add to our communities? How do you spell "can of worms"?
Evil Islamophovic, historic republican enclave communities of course. Begin the gerrymanderingVoting Rights Act legal actions at once! You know the drill.
#4
Settle them and they rarely assimilate and never go back.
Better to take a page from the Palestinian book and establish refigee canmps until Syria is safe enough to return. Put those camps in Kurdish Iraq (for any Kurd refugees) and Lebanon (for any Christian or Shi'te) and Jordan (for Sunni). Then the neighbors are invested in ensuring the covil war is settled.
#5
Areas of Alaska could use a community out there, in the back, without neighbors to bother them. In fact there are a number of unpopulated islands in the Aleutians that would be prime for development.
#10
Step and Two of the assimilation process: Sir- here is a toilet and here is a a woman not clothed in blackout curtains...yes, outwardly she has about every body part as you except one.
Posted by: Jack Salami ||
06/12/2013 11:57
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#11
AlanC. If I misunderstood your comment, I apologize. Thought your comment was directed towards my comment. One of those kind of days.
[LATIMES] The Treasury Department on Tuesday imposed sanctions on four Lebanese men whom U.S. officials say are fundraising and recruiting for Hezbollah in connection with the bully boy group's efforts to expand its influence in West Africa.
The four men were acting as "ambassadors" for the group in Sierra Leone, Senegal ... a nation of about 14 million on the west coast of Africa bordering Mauretania to the north, Mali to the east, and a pair of Guineas to the south, one of them Bissau. It is 90 percent Mohammedan and has more than 80 political parties. Its primary purpose seems to be absorbing refugees... , Ivory Coast and Gambia ... The Gambia is actually surrounded by Senegal on all sides but its west coast. It has a population of about 1.7 million. The difference between the two is that in colonial days Senegal was ruled by La Belle France and The Gambia (so-called because there's only one of it, unlike Guinea, of which there are the Republic of Guinea, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, New Guinea, the English coin in circulation between 1663 and 1813, and Guyana, which sounds like it should be another one) was ruled by Britain... , the officials said.
The sanctions freeze any assets the men may have in the United States and sever them from any contact with the U.S. financial system. It was not clear immediately how much they have in the control of American institutions.
The sanctions grew out of an investigation of what Treasury said are Hezbollah's expanding activities abroad, including in South America, the Middle East and Africa. The group has been designated by the B.O. regime as a foreign terrorist organization.
Hezbollah also has been playing a growing military role in the Syrian civil war, defending the rule of Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Trampler of Homs...
Treasury cited "the alarming reach of Hezbollah's activities" in citing Ali Ibrahim Watfa, Abbas Loutfe Jawaz, Ali Achmad Chehade and Hicham Nmer Khanafer.
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[BETA.DAWN] The Military Intelligence (MI) said in the Supreme Court on Tuesday that an army man and a subject under the Army Act 1952 could not be investigated by any court, even the apex court, or police.
In its reply to an application filed by one Abida Malik requesting the Supreme Court to order production of her husband Tasif Ali alias Danish, the MI stated that neither the court or police had the jurisdiction to interfere in the matter and, therefore, the application should be dismissed.
Tasif Ali, who went missing on Nov 23, 2011, was allegedly picked up by Major Haider of the MI. The matter was reported to the Sadiqabad cop shoppe on Dec 5 last year. The Lahore High Court heard the case on March 19 this year, but dismissed it.
The MI reply filed by Advocate Raja Mohammad Ibrahim Satti rejected the allegations and said Tasif had neither been apprehended nor held by the MI. Major Haider was neither posted to the place concerned nor had any role in Tasif's abduction.
At the last hearing on May 20, the Supreme Court had ordered police to produce Tasif Ali, especially when the Sadiqabad police had also started the paperwork but haven't done much else on May 7 on the statement of Abida Malik.
The court had on May 29 also ordered former attorney general Irfan Qadir to get a report from the defence ministry and record the statement of Major Haider in one week.
Subsequently, a team of Sadiqabad police led by SHO Tanveer Javed Warraich visited Mirpur in Azad Kashmire to arrest and record the statement of Major Haider. The commander of the unit concerned called the Superintendent Police Rawalpindi in the presence of the police team and informed him that no person with the name of Major Haider had ever been posted at the set-up (MI post) and that it had no link with the abduction of Tasif Ali.
The SP was asked to approach through proper channel so that their queries could be addressed accordingly.
The MI reply said the army act was a protected law under Article 8(3 a) of the constitution and none of its provisions could be declared void being inconsistent with or in derogation of the fundamental rights.
"Therefore the application filed by Abida Malik is not maintainable under Article 184(3) of the constitution," it argued.
The reply cited a number of sections of the army act and said section 24 dealt with the offences committed by a person subject to the army act and section 59 dealt with the civil offences. Sections 73 to 76 envisage procedure regarding investigation, arrest, inquiry and proceedings before trial.
Likewise chapter IX of the army act deals with the jurisdiction and power of the court martial whereas section 99 explains about the appellate revision power.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/12/2013
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#1
The HELL they can't.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
06/12/2013 23:05
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For a map, click here For a map of Tamaulipas state, click here
By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com
Several shootouts between rival drug gangs, and with Mexican federal security forces have taken place Monday, leaving two dead in Matamoros in Tamaulipas state, according to Mexican news reports.
According to a news account which appeared on the online edition of Milenio, several armed suspects were traveling aboard a two vehicle convoy on Avenida Rigo Tovar Monday when they encountered a Mexican Army road patrol. The ensuing gunfight and pursuit ended near ejido El Juanillo.
The report said that two were killed, but only one individual, a local man named Oscar Andres Escamilla Sala, had been identified.
A new release by the US Consulate in Matamoros Monday warned about gunfire being reported in San Rafael, Obrera and Paseo Residencial residential districts including near a Walmart, but news of the warning appeared in press just this afternoon. Many of the data came from social media in Matamoros including Twitter and Facebook.
The Twitter post warning of the gunfire appeared at around 1650 hrs and an all clear post appeared an hour later.
It is unclear in concurrent news reports as of Tuesday night if the danger has been eliminated or is ongoing.
According to a news item posted on El Blog del Narco narco blog, roadblocks have been taking place in Matamoros, which is the usual response of local criminal gangs when attempting to stop security forces from closing.
Meanwhile in Brownsville, Texas, US Border Patrol Agents seized 87 kilograms of marijuana in a vehicle attempting to cross over into the US Tuesday.
According to a separate Milenio report, US agents searched a 1998 Chevrolet Suburban SUV finding the drugs hidden inside the vehicle's fuel tank. An unidentified Mexican national in his 20s was detained at the scene.
Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com and BorderlandBeat.com
[An Nahar] Russia on Tuesday passed a bill imposing jail terms of up to three years on those who offend religious believers after an anti-Vladimir Putin ...Second and fourth President of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from polonium poisoning. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead... stunt by punk band Pussy Riot in a church polarized the predominantly Orthodox country last year.
According to the bill passed in a 308-to-2 final vote, "public actions expressing clear disrespect for society and committed with the goal of offending religious feelings of the faithful" would be punishable with jail terms of up to one year in prison and fines of up to 300,000 rubles ($9,200).
The same actions committed in churches and other places of worship would be punishable by up to three years in prison and a fine of up to 500,000 rubles.
Among other forms of punishment to be meted out for the transgressions are compulsory community service and forced labor.
The controversial bill was proposed after several members of rock band Pussy Riot belted out a "punk prayer" against strongman Putin in a landmark Orthodox cathedral last year.
Two Pussy Riot members, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina, are serving two years in prison after being convicted last August on charges of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Well so far, we've limited our actions to refusal for non-profit status and multiple IRS audit. However, the Fed AG in Tennessee seems to be working towards this angle as well.
#4
As I understand it from the Russian point of view, the P R girls got in trouble, not for calling Putin mean names, but for holding their protests in an Orthodox church and disrupting services.
[An Nahar] Thousands of demonstrators squared off against riot police on Tuesday and defiantly packed an Istanbul square after Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned he had "no more tolerance" for the mass protests against his Islamic-rooted government.
Hundreds of police stormed Taksim Square, the epicenter of nearly two weeks of unrest, in the early morning, firing tear gas and jets of water. They fought hours-long battles with protesters and used bulldozers to clear the barricades erected by demonstrators after police pulled out of the area on June 1.
For most of the day clouds of acrid smoke filled the square as the clashes raged, with some demonstrators, in helmets and gas masks, hurling molotov cocktails, fireworks and stones.
But as evening fell, police unexpectedly retreated and lined up along the eastern side of the square only, allowing whistle-blowing demonstrators to flood the area for a 12th night, many chanting: "Resistance!" and booing at officers.
In the capital Ankara, which has seen several nights of violence, crowds also took to the streets, an Agence France Presse photographer saw.
The early morning police intervention in Taksim Square surprised protesters, many of whom were still dozing in nearby Gezi Park, because it came just hours after Erdogan said he would meet with protest leaders on Wednesday, his first major concession since the trouble began.
But the premier made no mention of the olive branch Tuesday and resumed his tough stance against the demonstrators who have thrown up the biggest challenge yet to his decade-long rule.
"This episode is now over. We won't show any more tolerance," the premier told cheering lawmakers of his Justice and Development Party (AKP) in a speech broadcast live on television.
"Can you believe that? They attack Taksim, gas us in the morning just after proposing talks with us?" said 23-year-old Yilmaz. It's an old Moslem trick. Next he'll invite you to dinner and poison the lot of you.
"We won't abandon Gezi," he vowed. "I am not afraid of their water cannon, it'll be my first shower in three days."
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#1
Kimalist Thought Clubs vs. #7 Truncheons.
This is the big leagues
The girlfriend of the former CIA employee who lifted the lid on the US governments top-secret surveillance programmes has blogged about her heartbreak after he fled to Hong Kong.
Lindsay Mills, 28, said she had been lost at sea without a compass since Edward Snowden, 29, left their home in Hawaii last month without telling her first.
Posted by: Au Auric ||
06/12/2013
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#1
Ah, sad, where are gone the Snowdens of yesteryear?
#6
Yeah, and are we absolutely certain there wasn't some Chinese girl/honeypot who lured him into this whole deal? Too bad Lindsay but some of those Asian girls are hot.
[Dawn] The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday directed the military authorities to conclude within three months the trial of a suspected hard boy held at an internment centre in Lakki Marwat.
Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui, while disposing of the petition of Rashida Amir, wife of Amir Ahmed, also directed her to approach the commissioner of Bannu for the treatment of her ailing husband.
In her petition filed with the court on May 28, 2011, Ms Rashida had said her husband was picked up by security agencies from Rahim Yar Khan on February 20, 2011. She requested the court to order the recovery of her husband.
The ministry of defence, in its reply to the petition in April this year, maintained that Amir was tossed in the calaboose
Drop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try!
from the Khajoori checkpost of North Wazoo on January 13, 2012, for his involvement in carrying out attacks on a convoy of armed forces.
The respondent told the court that they recovered a boom jacket, a Kalashnikov, 20 rounds of bullets and 20 hand grenades from his possession at the time of his arrest.
On the directive of the IHC, the suspect was produced before the court on May 15. The accused told the court that he was tossed in the clink
... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not...
from Rahimyar Khan and kept there for a few days.
Later, he was shifted to Bahawalpur, then Lahore and onward to Beautiful Downtown Beautiful Downtown Beautiful Downtown Peshawar ...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire.
...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistain. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistain's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire.
...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire.
. From Peshawar, he was shifted to the internment centre at Lakki Marwat.
The court then allowed his relatives to meet him at the internment centre.
The meeting was arranged by the military authorities about a week after the court directive.
Wajihullah Advocated, the counsel for the petitioner, on Monday told the court that he also met Amir at the internment centre along with his brothers.
"The medical condition of his client was poor and he told me that there were around 550 other people at the internment centre," the counsel told the court.
Fazle Qadir, a section officer of the Fata secretariat, was present at the time of the hearing.
The counsel argued before the court that his client had been kept under illegal confinement without a trial.
However, the difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits... deputy attorney general Tariq Mehmood Jehangiri told the court that the secretary defence himself had stated before the court that Amir was kept under legal custody.
"This is by no mean an illegal act as these internment centres were established under the law," he contended. Mr Jehangiri also said the court lacked jurisdiction in the case.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/12/2013
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Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
[An Nahar] A blaze erupted on Tuesday near the military base of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command in al-Naameh town-Harat al-Naameh to the south of Beirut, the state-run National News Agency reported.
"The fire detonated several landmines in the area, causing the expansion of the scope of the blaze," the NNA added.
"The flames reached locations close to PFLP-GC military bases."
Al-Jadeed television noted earlier that a series of explosions was heard in al-Naameh after a fire erupted near the base of the PFLP-GC.
Meanwhile, LBCI television and MTV said that a fire erupted in the garbage landfill in the town.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/12/2013
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Top|| File under: PFLP-GC
[Breitbart] The sordid revelations from The Champ administration are coming at a pace that can only be described as, well, fast and furious. So lets lay down some markers here, as a sort of road map for the months and years ahead, or whatever time we have remaining:
First, if the PRISM program and all the rest of the governments surveillance programs were so good and necessary, then why didnt the feds catch the Tsarnaev brothers, who earlier this year blew up the Boston Marathon? Or Major Hassan, the 2009 Fort Hood mass-murderer? Or the underwear bomber, also from 2009, who nearly succeeded in blowing up the passenger jet flying into Detroit?
Second, if and when everything is revealed about PRISM and all the rest, its likely that we will learn of important and inculpating connections between the National Security Agency (NSA), on the one hand, and many civilian agencies, and Booze Allen on the other. Or we could just ask Maxine Waters.
I am not just referring to Eric Holders Justice Department; I am also referring to the gleefully gushing leakers and win-at-any-cost politicos in the White House. And oh yes, lets not forget The Champ administrations partisan allies at the IRS, as well as the Affordable Care Act minders overseers at the Department of Health and Human Services. Special Note: The HHS private donations programme is now on hold.
Moreover, since we know that the IRS was eagerly willing to share secret tax information with favored private groups, we shouldnt be surprised, in the end, to learn that NSA/PRISM material ended up in the hands of Champ friends and allies outside of the country government.
Third, we now know that Silicon Valley, and the telecommunications industry, are the key to The Champ strategy for total information awareness. In fact, the internet companies, and the phone companies, were the spearpoint for PRISM. No, wait, thats not the right image. Lets try this: These communications companies put peepholes into all of our private lives, through which Uncle Sam could sneak a peek. Every e-mail, every phone call, every text-message--the government knows about them all. I blame Bill and Melinda.
Its now evident that all these wonderful digital services--many of them, such as Googles Gmail, given away for free--were, in fact, a kind of Trojan Horse. That is, on the outside, it all seemed like a good deal--but then the real truth comes tumbling out, and its too late. Some might recall the rueful lesson of the Trojan War: Beware of Greeks bearing gifts. The rueful lesson of our own time: Beware of geeks bearing gifts. Beware of all "free stuff" and them that bring it.
Yes, Big Brother walks among us now, jiving, peeking and snooping into everything. And we, innocently and unwittingly, invited Big Brother into our midst.
#3
Seventh, as far as the American people are concerned, this domestic spying is a big deal. Yet revealingly, to the political class--that is, our leaders in Washington DC--its not such a big deal. And there we see the central cleft in our politics today: the widening gap between the government and the governed.
Well, it is a BFD, it trashes the 1st Amendment [free speech, rights of assembly (albeit electronically)], and the 4th Amendment [the right of people to be secure in their houses, papers, effects against unreasonable search and seizures and the requirement of probable cause and a Warrant]. But as Hilldebeast said: "What difference does it make?" We'll see if it is a BFD and if such things make a difference anymore.
#4
If Spying is NOT a "Big Deal" To them, spy ON THEM and listen to the screams.
Suddenly it will become a "Big Deal" And must be stopped RIGHT NOW.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
06/12/2013 12:58
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#5
"Yes, Big Brother walks among us now, jiving, peeking and snooping into everything. And we, innocently and unwittingly, invited Big Brother into our midst."
[BETA.DAWN] Even in death, the Ahmadiyya community is discriminated against.
Jadeed Qabristan (graveyard) is located near Murree Road in the heart of the garrison city of Rawalpindi.
A signboard dangling outside the house of the gravedigger reads: "It's prohibited to bury Mirzais here." 'Mirzai' and 'Qadiyani' are derogatory terms used against the Ahmadiyya community in Pakistain. While taking a photo of the sign, one is greeted with suspicious stares.
For decades, Ahmadis have faced persecution at the hands of religious forces of Evil and right wing forces. The state jumped into the fray in 1974, when the then Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto introduced a constitutional amendment declaring them non-Musselmen to ward off pressure from right-wing forces.
Before the May 11 general elections, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) labeled Pakistain as a country where religious freedom has been extremely limited.
The subjugation of Ahmadis started soon after Independence in 1947. Led by Jamaat-e-Islami ...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores... , right-wing groups spearheaded anti-Ahmadi campaigns. The first such violent movement erupted in Punjab, in 1953, leading to the imposition of martial law in the province.
In 2010, in Lahore, 86 Ahmadi worshippers were brutally murdered by the Punjabi Taliban. Over the years, speaking out on 'sensitive' issues such as religious discrimination has become increasingly dangerous -- highlighted by the murder of the then Punjab Governor, Salmaan Taseer.
While the community faces violence and discrimination on a daily basis, few people remember that the sole Noble laureate from Pakistain, Dr Abdul Salam, belonged to the Ahmadiyya community.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/12/2013
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[Bangla Daily Star]Lal Krishna Advani, one of the founders of India's main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), yesterday agreed to withdraw his resignation, a day after he quit the key forums of the party.
He had resigned apparently in protest at the appointment of controversial politician Narendra Modi as the chief of the party's campaign committee for the next general elections.
BJP chief Rajnath Singh told the media here that Advani would accept the parliamentary party's decision late on Monday, rejecting the 85-year-old's resignation.
Posted by: Fred ||
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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.
What we are left with is a rigid set of official lies and government propaganda. 
Three policemen were killed and two bystanders were injured when a pair of unidentified gunmen opened fire in Dagestan. 
[Dawn] Three employees of the 
[An Nahar] Dozens of demonstrators on Tuesday held a sit-in in front of the Lebanese embassy in Kuwait to protest Hizbullah's interference in the Syrian crisis.
...Second and fourth President of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from polonium poisoning. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead...
Mahmoud 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon
North Korea
Wazoo
Tribal elders in northwestern Pakistan are taking desperate measures in an effort to bring electricity to their area, saying that as long as they have no electricity they won't vaccinate their children against polio. Several hundred residents from villages in Lakki Marwat district staged a demonstration on June 10 and turned away polio-eradication teams.
[Dawn] Violence that broke out in 
President Asif Ali 
Mehmood 
...a valley and an administrative district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistain, located 99 mi from Islamabad. It is inhabited mostly by Pashto speakers. The place has gone steadily downhill since the days when Babe Ruth was the Sultan of Swat...
The sanctions freeze any assets the men may have in the United States and sever them from any contact with the U.S. financial system. It was not clear immediately how much they have in the control of American institutions.
...the creepy-looking former dictator of Pakistain. Zia was an Islamic nutball who imposed his nutballery on the rest of the country with the enthusiastic assistance of the nation's religious parties, which are populated by other nutballs. He was appointed Chief of Army Staff in 1976 by Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, whom he hanged when he seized power. His time in office was a period of repression, with hundreds of thousands of political rivals, minorities, and journalists executed or tortured, including senior general officers convicted in coup-d'état plots, who would normally be above the law. As part of his alliance with the religious parties, his government helped run the war against the Soviets in Afghanistan, providing safe havens, American equipiment, Saudi money, and Pak handlers to selected mujaheddin. Zia died along with several of his top generals and admirals and the then United States Ambassador to Pakistain Arnold Lewis Raphel when he was assassinated in a suspicious air crash near Bahawalpur in 1988...
