News of the Day for Sunday, January 31, 2010

This is the McClatchy Bureau office in the Hamra Hotel after the attack on January 25. Go here for the McClatchy reporters' blog.

Reported Security Incidents

Samarra

Suicide bomb attack on a restaurant frequented by police and Sawha members kills 2, injures 25 on Saturday evening.

Baghdad

Note: Shiites are headed to Karbala to mark Arbaeen, the 40th day after the death of Imam Hussein.

Roadside bomb in al-Saydiya injures 2 pilgrims who were walking to Karbala.

Four pilgrims walking to Karbala injured by bomb attack in Yarmuk.

Three pilgrims walking to Karbala injured by bomb in Mashtal.

Reuters reports 4 pilgrims injured by a hand grenade in "Nusoor" (Nisoor?) Square. Whether this corresponds to one of the incidents reported by VoI and one or the other report is erroneous in both location and mode of attack is not clear. -- C

Mosul

Woman killed in a home invasion.

Tal Afar

Man with an explosive belt apprehended at a checkpoint.

Other News of the Day

Sheik Ahmed Abu Risha, leader of the Anbar Awakening Council, is considering calling for an election boycott by Sunni Arabs, in response to the purge of hundreds of candidates by the electoral council. "They will not care about the election — they will ignore it, maybe, if these decisions stand," Abu Risha said at his sprawling compound just outside Ramadi, about 115km west of Baghdad. "I will make my decision later about encouraging people to go to vote or not."

Russian company Lukoil signs a contract to develop the West Qurna-2 oil field.

Afghanistan Update

More details emerge on "friendly fire" death of 4 Afghan soldiers on Friday. "Saturday's fighting erupted about 3am when a group of US Special Forces and Afghan commandos approached a remote Afghan army outpost that was set up about 18 months ago to guard the main highway between Kabul and Kandahar. NATO said the Afghan soldiers believed the unit was the Taliban and started shooting. The joint force returned fire and called in the air strike, which killed the four Afghan soldiers, NATO and the Afghan Defence Ministry said."

Pakistan says it is investigating reports that Hakimullah Mehsud died after a U.S. drone strike in mid-January. It seems clear he survived the attack but the rumors are that he died later of injuries.

Two Afghan soldiers killed, 3 wounded by roadside bomb in Uruzgan. Reuters also reports a 13 year old boy injured while planting a bomb in Badghis.

Quqnoos reports 4 Taliban killed in a gun battle with security forces in Herat, 2 more killed in Badghis after they attacked a relief convoy.

And one more thing . . .

U.S. Speeds Arms Buildup with Gulf Allies, says WaPo's Joby Warrick. "The Obama administration is quietly working with Saudi Arabia and other Persian Gulf allies to speed up arms sales and rapidly upgrade defenses for oil terminals and other key infrastructure in a bid to thwart future military attacks by Iran, according to former and current U.S. and Middle Eastern government officials. The initiatives, including a U.S.-backed plan to triple the size of a 10,000-man protection force in Saudi Arabia, are part of a broader push that includes unprecedented coordination of air defenses and expanded joint exercises between the U.S. and Arab militaries, the officials said. All appear to be aimed at increasing pressure on Tehran." (Read the whole thing.)

Quote of the Day

It was a clever, lawyerly, almost Ciceronian performance in which Blair trotted out all the usual arguments and gave a display of his question-dodging skill. But it would have been much more revealing to see Blair quizzed by the parents, many of them present at the inquiry, of the British soldiers killed in Iraq. Then perhaps he wouldn't have got away quite so easily, as he did here, with murder.

Michael Billington

China Threatens Bans On US Arm Firms

Beijing, Jan. 31 - In an unprecedented move, China bitterly denounced to impose Sanctions on US arm firms and break all cooperation with Washington unless it cancels a $6.4 billion arm sales to Taiwan. It was reported earlier that Obama administration announced earlier to supply a hefty package of arms to self ruled island that always views as a thorn in the eyes of Beijing.

Taiwan, an illegitimate breakaway province is a biggest rival of China and the trade proximity to US deepens the shade between Washington and Beijing. There are already other problems persist like complicacy around trading of goods, Tibet and recently Internet hacking case.

Beijing in a categorical statement said that it would impose punitive measures against US arm companies, which sold arms to Taiwan. China’s commercial reprisals have in the past been informal.

“The US will shoulder responsibility for the serious repercussions if it does not immediately reverse the mistaken decision to sell weapons to Taiwan,” Chinese vice-foreign minister He Yafei told US ambassador to China Jon Huntsman in comments reported on the foreign ministry’s website (http://www.mfa.gov.cn/).

The rift could damage the healthy diplomacy between the two permanent members of the UN Security Council. China in a recent days, play a pivotal role to pressurizing Iran and North Korea and in fighting climate change.

“It will be unavoidable that cooperation between China and the US over important international and regional issues will also be affected,” the Chinese foreign ministry said, without specifying those issues.

The proposed sale of arms to Taiwan includes Black Hawk helicopters, Patriot “Advanced Capability-3” anti-missile missiles and two refurbished Osprey-class mine-hunting ships. The Black Hawk is manufactured by Sikorsky Aircraft, a unit of United Technologies Corp. The Patriot missile is built by Lockheed Martin Corp.

here's a drawing i did of my old bedroom in the dinerhouse in summer 2005...

50 cat breeds morphing.

is this inspired by the end of michael jackson's black or white video? even if it's not, it's pretty amazing. i wonder how many people have watched this video while on acid.

THWIP

War News for Saturday, January 30, 2010

The DoD is reporting a new death previously unreported by the military. Sgt. Carlos E. Gill died from an illness at Walter Reed Army Medical Center on Tuesday, January 26th.

CNN is reporting the deaths of two American ISAF soldiers in an undisclosed incident in eastern Afghanistan on Friday, January 29th. Another American civilian was also died in the incident. Some news reports that the civilian was an Afghan interpreter who killed the two soldiers and the killed himself.


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: A militant hurled a hand grenade at Shi'ite pilgrims, killing one pilgrim and wounding two others in Baghdad's southern district of Saidiya, said Security spokesman Major General Qassim al-Moussawi.

#2: Two pilgrims were wounded by gunfire in Baghdad's southern district of Doura, police said.

#3: A roadside bomb seriously wounded a justice ministry official in western Baghdad, police said.


Tuz Khurmato:
#1: Two roadside bombs targeting a police patrol wounded two policemen and a civilian in Tuz Khurmato, 170 km (105 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.


Kirkuk:
#1: A civilian man was shot dead by gunmen fire northwest of Kirkuk on Friday, according to the Kirkuk Districts’ Police Department (KDPD) chief. “Unidentified gunmen opened fire at a house in the village of Bibani al-Kabir, al-Toun Kobri district, (35 km) northwest of Kirkuk, killing a man inside,” Brig. Sarhad Qader told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Tal Afar:
#1: Policemen defused an improvised explosive device that was emplaced near a local football playground in the district of Talafar, west of Mosul city, on Saturday, a security source in Ninewa said. “The IED was planted near a public football playground frequented by sportspeople in al-Askari neighborhood, northern Talafar, (60 km) northwest of Mosul,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: A suicide bomber killed 12 people Saturday at a police checkpoint in a northwest Pakistani tribal area where the military declared victory over the Taliban and al Qaeda last year, highlighting the difficulty Islamabad has in holding regions once the battle phase of its army offensives end. Ten civilians and two police officers died in the suicide attack in the Bajur tribal region, while 24 people were wounded, local government official Bakhat Pacha said. The attacker, on foot, struck a market area in the region's main town, Khar, he said.

#2: Overnight Saturday, three suspected U.S. missiles hit a compound and a bunker in the Mohammad Khel area of North Waziristan, part of a surge of the drone-fired strikes, intelligence officials said. The mountainous area is where a suspected U.S. drone is reported to have crashed on Jan. 24, they added. Two missiles in Saturday's attack hit the compound being used by the militants, killing seven of them, the intelligence officials said. The third killed two more insurgents in the bunker, they said. Another such missile strike early this month targeted a meeting of militant commanders in an apparently unsuccessful attempt to kill Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud.

#3: Mistaking one another for the enemy, NATO forces and Afghan soldiers battled in the morning darkness Saturday in a shootout that left at least four Afghan soldiers dead and prompted the Defense Ministry to call for the perpetrators to be punished. A joint patrol of Afghan and coalition forces took gunfire around 3 a.m. while on a mission in the Sayyidabad district of Wardak province, according to statements from NATO-led coalition and Afghan militaries. After returning fire and calling in an aircraft attack, coalition forces later realized that the initial shooting had come from an Afghan National Army outpost. The Afghan Defense Ministry condemned the friendly fire incident, which they said wounded other soldiers in addition to the four killed.


DoD: Pfc. Scott G. Barnett

DoD: Sgt. Carlos E. Gill

Tonight's Bright Moon

This was taken from my camcorder


And below is the video

source


Sky show tonight: Full moon, Mars close to Earth

Mercury News
Posted: 01/29/2010 11:48:07 AM PST
Updated: 01/29/2010 02:36:48 PM PST
source

Clouds willing, the sky will put on a show tonight: Both the full moon and Mars will be about as close to Earth as they get.

The moon, which will rise around 5:15 p.m., will be the closest full moon of 2010, occurring during the lunar perigee — the point in its cycle when the moon is closest to earth. It will appear about 15 percent bigger and 30 percent brighter than a full moon at an average distance. Perigeal tides are also a little higher — but only by an inch or so.

As for Mars, it was a tad bit closer to Earth on Thursday, but the viewing is likely to be better tonight: It will be in opposition, meaning it is directly opposite the sun. Appearing as a bright reddish dot to the left of the

Perhaps to avert some of the weird hoopla that accompanied a good Mars viewing opportunity several years back ("it will look as big as the moon!" some people burbled), NASA hosted a live online chat this afternoon about the phenomenon. (The transcript will be posted at http://www.nasa.gov/connect/chat/index.html).

Of course, the wild card for Bay Area viewing is the visibility: Rain is forecast for this evening.

If it's clear, telescopes will be available for the usual Friday night free public viewing at the observatories of Foothill College in Los Altos Hills (9 p.m.-11 p.m.) and Chabot Space & Science Center in Oakland (7:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m.).

And if the clouds don't cooperate? Saturday won't be bad viewing; in fact, the just-past-full moon will rise into darker skies, about 6:30 p.m. The full moons of February and March will also be within a day or so of the perigee, though they won't be quite as spectacular. And Mars will loom large again in a couple of years.

here are some .jpeg files of things that i'm into...

Great White Egrets of Sonoma

Today there were over 20 great white egrets including their young in the wet field along where I walk each day - pretty cool to watch!


source
Music: Brahms Symphany 1 (2nd Movement)

Great Egret

PUNKSSSS IN THE BEERLIGHT

pretty cool silver jews video that's all clips from the 2nd planet of the apes movie (beneath the planet of the apes.) i guess the lady who plays "nova" in this movie was married to charlton heston, but i'm not totally sure if that is true or not.
i have this movie on vhs and am kinda thinking of watching it tonight. will this happen? we'll see....

i didn't buy "lookout mountain, lookout sea" but it still bums me out that david berman has retired from music. hopefully this will be like a jay-z retirement instead of a beefheart retirement.

Another twist

Here's another thought for the weekend.

Apart from the legal obstacles (at least on paper) involved in giving emergency support to Greece - something we've touched on many times before - there may be a second legal hurdle that EU leaders have to clear if they wish to come to the rescue of struggling neighbours.

Le Monde yesterday suggested that EU leaders consider the common issuance of debt by voluntaring eurozone member states, as a possible way to kick start the bail-out of Greece.

But such an option isn't spot-on legally either. According to German EU Law Professor Matthias Ruffert (FAZ interview here), for example, the German government would not be allowed to lend money to Greece in that way. "That's impossible" he says, adding that "the ban for governments to bail out banks also extends to governments. When a state gives a credit facility to another one, this is in breach of the EU Treaty". He cites article 123 of the EU Treaty:

"Overdraft facilities or any other type of credit facility with the European Central Bank or with the central banks of the Member States (hereinafter referred to as ‘national central banks’) in favour of Union institutions, bodies, offices or agencies, central governments, regional, local or other public authorities, other bodies governed by public law, or public undertakings of Member States shall be prohibited, as shall the purchase directly from them by the European Central Bank or national central banks of debt instruments."

It seems as if the betting has now really started: bail-out or no bail-out. (And everybody can participate by buying Greek bonds. The Chinese, known as quite the gamblers, seem to have passed on the opportunity).

WSJ correspondent Adam Cohen thinks it's going to be a bail-out, arguing: "The credibility of the euro, perhaps the bloc’s grandest project and still a young one, is more important than a simple moral lesson for spendthrift politicians." And he's not the only one to say so.

But, remember, somewhere in all of this there is also the citizens and taxpayers of Europe. And they may not be that keen. As a poll commissioned by us last June showed, 70% of Germans are against using their own money to bail out other EU countries.

Whether small matters such as public opinion will stop EU leaders from pressing the button is of course a completely different story.

War News for Friday, January 29, 2010

The Tuscaloosa News is reporting the death of a Multi-National Division-South soldier in a non-combat related incident in an undisclosed location in Iraq on Thursday, January 28th.

NATO is reporting the death of an American ISAF soldier in an IED attack in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Thursday, January 28th.


2 Indian army soldiers killed in rebel attack in Indian-controlled Kashmir:

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair faces grilling on support for Iraq invasion:

Taliban's leadership council organises and runs Afghan war from Pakistan:

Taliban say no decision yet on Karzai offer of talks:

War Plan for Karzai: Reach Out to Taliban:


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: Unknown gunmen shot and killed a mosque’s Imam on Thursday in western Baghdad, according to a security source. “Unknown gunmen opened fire on Sheikh Ahmad Saadon, Imam of al-Adl neighborhood’s mosque in western Baghdad, on Thursday afternoon (Jan. 28), killing him on the spot,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#2: One policeman was wounded on Thursday in an armed attack in southeastern Baghdad, according to a security source. “Unknown gunman opened fire on a police vehicle patrol in al-Wehda neighborhood in southeastern Baghdad, injuring a policeman,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#3: Four Iraqi soldiers were wounded on Friday in an improvised explosive device explosion in northern Baghdad, according to a police source. “An explosive device went off on Friday afternoon (Jan. 29) on the public road in al-Suliekh neighborhood in northern Baghdad, targeting an army vehicle patrol, injuring four servicemen and damaging one of the patrol’s vehicles,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Diyala Prv:
#1: Two civilians were lightly injured when a roadside bomb went off near a house in a village in Diyala province, the source said.

#2: In a third attack, also in Diyala, a woman and a man were wounded after being shot by gunmen.


Mosul:
#1: Two Iraqi soldiers were wounded on Friday by gunmen in western Mosul, according to a security source. “Unknown gunmen opened fire on an army’s checkpoint in 17 Tamouz neighborhood in western Mosul on Friday morning (Jan. 29), injuring two soldiers,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: A bomb in northwest Pakistan destroyed a truck carrying oil to NATO troops in neighboring Afghanistan on Friday. No one was wounded in the attack on the supply truck in the fabled Khyber Pass, government official Javed Khan said. Friday's attack on the Shiite Muslim Pakistanis in Baluchistan province appeared to be sectarian-driven.

#2: gunmen elsewhere in the country killed three Shiite Muslims on their way to visit holy sites in Iraq. Local police official Mohammad Ayaz said the group of travelers had come to Quetta city from the southern city of Karachi, and had hoped to travel across Iran to Iraq. The group was waiting in a bus Friday afternoon when the gunmen appeared on motorbikes and opened fire.
Two men and one woman were killed, while three other people were wounded, Ayaz said.

#3: Afghan troops backed by NATO attack helicopters battled Taliban fighters wearing suicide vests who launched an assault Friday in the heart of a major city in southern Afghanistan, witnesses and officials said. The gunbattle in Lashkar Gah, capital of Helmand province, occurred nearly two weeks after a similar assault in the Afghan capital of Kabul. Provincial officials said two attackers blew themselves up and one Afghan soldier was wounded in the fighting, which began about 10 a.m. when the insurgents opened fire from a building under construction near an army barracks.

Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi claimed responsibility for Friday's attack, saying the Taliban had dispatched a team of seven men armed with suicide vests and machine guns to attack the local branch of the U.N. mission in Afghanistan and a guesthouse used by government officials in the city. Ahmadi said 20 foreigners had been killed and wounded, but NATO said the Afghan troops backed by attack helicopters had contained the gunmen in a vacant, four-story building and no casualties were reported on the pro-government side. Sporadic fighting continued as Afghan troops searched for the other militants. Police officials said they believed five or six militants were holed up inside the building but at least two had blown themselves up. Deputy provincial police chief Kamal Uddin said no civilian casualties had been reported and residents in the area were safe.

#4: Pakistani Taliban shot dead a tribesman they accused of spying for the United States, in North Waziristan, a tribal region on the Afghan border and a militant hotbed, security officials said.

ridiculously generous

MEPs on the European Parliament's Budget Committee voted on Wednesday to award themselves an extra €1,500 and to hire an additional 150 staff. MEPs say they're in desperate need of more money because the Lisbon Treaty is now in force which means more work for them. In total, MEPs can already cash in on some £360,000 year in pay and allowances. For most people this seems like an incredibly generous amount - but not for the MEPs themselves apparently. The increase will cost taxpayers an extra €13.3 million a year and send the EP's total annual budget past the €1.6 billion mark.

Just like EU bureaucrats' recent über-insensitive demand for a 3.7% pay rise - now awaiting a decision in the Courts - this latest display of the money-hungry culture prevailing in Brussels will not go down well with taxpayers or voters. Nor will this document, published before the EP Budgetary Control committee's meeting, showing how MEPs squander public money. Amongst various spending items, it reveals that the EP last year spent €2.3million to renovate its own sports centre, €4.3million on a new visitor centre (although it already has one), hundreds of thousands of pounds on gas-guzzling cars (some emitting as much 260 CO2 g/km - fighting climate change anyone?) and a staggering €8.8 million on repairing a ceiling that collapsed in the Strasbourg Parliament (which reinforces the stupidity and wastefulness of having a Strasbourg Parliament in the first place). As a side, the document also reveals that the EP lost 54,000 in sick days in 2008.

Although, to be fair, since the new Members' Statute came into effect last year, MEPs do not receive this assistants allowance directly anymore, with assistants being paid directly from the European Parliament's budget. However, this should not detract from the patently ridiculous amount of expenses and allowances available to MEPs.

The editor of the European Voice, Tim King, yesterday summed up why taxpayers and voters have the right to feel very unhappy about this whole affair:

For 40 years, a near-secret agreement has governed how the three main institutions of the European Union divide up administrative spending. That agreement should be brought into the harsh light of day. It should then be ripped up and replaced.

He notes that while the principle behind the agreement is itself not stupid, "what is stupid is the corollary that went with that principle: an agreement that the Parliament would be guaranteed a 20% share of the administrative budget."

He goes on,

Forty years on, it is obvious to many outside observers that the Parliament has more money than it knows what to do with. The Parliament may have set up a temporary committee on the economic crisis, but it is otherwise unscathed by Europe's economic difficulties. Although the Parliament is very fond of climbing into its pulpit to criticise the misuse of EU money when that money is managed by national administrations or the European Commission, it is much less outspoken about the misuse of money under its own palatial (albeit occasionally collapsing) roofs.

He points to the internal 2008 report (that MEPs voted to keep secret) which revealed widespread abuse of allowances in the EP, MEPs' immoral second pensions scheme and other questionable perks and practices.

He concludes,

Now the Parliament's leadership is drawing up its 2010 budget and is struggling to stay within a 20% share of the total spending on administration. Laughably, the MEPs are describing their 20% slice of the pie as 'the long-standing self-imposed limit', not noticing that the description is inherently contradictory: if the 20% was not ridiculously generous, it would not have been 'self-imposed' for so long. The truth is that it is not a meaningful constraint, so MEPs and their officials have been more than happy to live with it...It is scarcely credible that an agreement that dates back to when there were only six member states should remain in place, unquestioned, unexamined.

Exactly.

Today's Sonoma Chemtrails

source

MORE: Sonoma Chemtrails

isn't this the best family photo of all time?

well, besides the fact that it's a drawing from a comic book...

War News for Thursday, January 28, 2010

Turkey plans oil refinery in northern Iraq:

Filipino militant not killed in Waziristan strike: report

International allies mull exit from Afghanistan:

Afghan Tribe to Fight Taliban in Return for Aid:


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: An Iraqi police official says a sniper taking cover in a building in central Baghdad has opened fire on a checkpoint. The official says one policeman has been killed and another wounded in the attack Thursday afternoon. Police have sealed off the area and are searching for the sniper, he added. The attack in the primarily commercial district Karradah neighborhood is the latest in a string of attacks against security forces in the area.


Kirkuk:
#1: A sticky improvised explosive device (IED) targeted a vehicle in Kirkuk, wounding one civilian, a local security source said on Wednesday. “This afternoon, a sticky device hit a Kia-modeled vehicle near the provincial building in central Kirkuk, wounding its driver and causing damage to the car,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.The source did not give further details.

#2: Seven emergency policemen were injured when an improvised explosive device (IED) hit their patrol vehicle in western Kirkuk, a local police source said on Thursday. “This morning, an explosive device hit an emergency police patrol vehicle near the electricity distribution department in al-Baath neighborhood, southwestern Kirkuk, wounding seven patrolmen,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#3: Four people were wounded on Thursday by a mortar shell explosion in the southwest of Kirkuk, a senior police officer said. “A mortar shell landed on Thursday morning (Jan. 28) on al-Zab police station, southwest of Kirkuk, injuring four people, including two policemen,” Brigadier Sarhad Qader told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Mosul:
#1: Unknown gunmen on Wednesday killed a mayor in eastern Mosul City, a local police source said. “This afternoon, gunmen assassinated Jassem Atsa Khalaf, the mayor of al-Intisar neighborhood, eastern Mosul,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#2: A man wearing a police uniform was shot as he tried to enter an Iraqi police station in the small town of Zummar, northwest of Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, the U.S. military said in a statement. The man's suicide vest detonated after the shooting, wounding three Iraqi policeman and a U.S. soldier.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Militants staged a rare attack in southern Pakistan against trucks carrying supplies for NATO troops in neighboring Afghanistan on Thursday, wounding three people in the latest violence to plague the country's largest city, police said. The militants attacked the trucks with guns and grenades just after midnight as they traveled on a main highway on the outskirts of Karachi, police official Mohammed Ali said.

#2: Also in Pakistan on Thursday, a bomb attached to a bicycle exploded, killing three people and wounding a dozen others in an area of Baluchistan province where nationalist insurgents have been active, police said. The blast occurred in Sohbatpur town, some 220 miles (360 kilometers) east of the provincial capital, Quetta, police official Syed Fareed Shah said.

#3: Foreign troops have killed an Afghan civilian prompting a small protest outside a U.S. military base in Kabul. A NATO statement said the civilian was killed Thursday in an incident involving a NATO convoy. It said NATO and Afghan officials are investigating the death. A few dozen demonstrators gathered outside Camp Phoenix, a U.S. base inside Kabul, to protest the killing. They dispersed after talking to police.

NATO troops in a convoy killed an Afghan cleric as he was driving Thursday in Kabul, officials and witnesses said, prompting a protest outside a U.S. military base. Police and witnesses said mosque preacher Mohammad Yunus, 36, was shot to death with his young son in the vehicle as he approached a main road from a side street. NATO reported only that foreign forces had killed a civilian in an incident involving a convoy, saying the circumstances surrounding the death were being jointly investigated with Afghan officials. The cleric was hit by four bullets and died on the way to the hospital, according to his son-in-law, Abdul Qadir, adding the family had taken the body to the province of Logar for burial. A shopkeeper who witnessed the shooting said the convoy was composed of American armored vehicles and was traveling on the main road in the direction of Jalalabad. A gunner in the first vehicle opened fire as Yunus began to pull onto the same road

#4: An Afghan official says 15 militants were killed in a joint air and ground assault with NATO forces in northern Afghanistan. "Fifteen Taliban militants were killed in joint operations conducted by NATO and Afghan forces Wednesday afternoon in Kuk Chenar district in central Baghlan," said Kabir Andarabi, the provincial police chief, a Press TV correspondent reported. A militant commander was killed when the compound in the area was hit in the assault, he said. However, Taliban claimed three Afghan forces were killed in the attack. Witnesses reported civilian casualties in the operation.

Dasam Granth

I have not wanted to say anything about this whole Dasam Granth controversy, however there is a certain group pressuring me to make a statement.  I will only say  that Shri Guru Granth Sahib is our Guru ji.  When I have mastered its teachings, then I will study the Dasam Granth.  

The end of the argument must be that Guru Gobind Singh ji was/is Guru ji.  If his writings were supposed to be included in our eternal Guru, he would have put them there.  He had no false modesty that would prevent him from doing so.  That is the important part.  That is all I am going to say.

To bail out or not to bail out, that is the question

As Greece's troubles continue (save yesterday's temporary boost), the debate on whether the EU Treaties legally allow the EU to bail out one of its member states rages on. On his blog, the FT's EU correspondent Tony Barber claims that the "EU possesses the legal power to rescue Greece if necessary."

For what it's worth, we're not convinced it does, although there is so much ambiguity in the EU Treaties that it's probably going to be a case of 'where there's a will, there's a way'.

Barber refers to article 122 of the TFEU Treaty (former article 100), arguing:

The second clause states that when a member-state 'is in difficulties or is seriously threatened with severe difficulties caused by natural disasters or exceptional occurrences beyond its control, the Council [of national governments], on a proposal from the Commission, may grant, under certain conditions, Union financial assistance to the member-state concerned.'

However, as we set out last July, the 'no bail-out' clause in the EU treaties explicitly prohibits member states from taking on the financial 'commitments' of a national government (i.e. assisting in closing a budget deficit). And this is what the no bail-out clause says in full:

The Union shall not be liable for or assume the commitments of central governments, regional, local or other public authorities, other bodies governed by public law, or public undertakings of any Member State, without prejudice to mutual financial guarantees for the joint execution of a specific project. A Member State shall not be liable for or assume the commitments of central governments, regional, local or other public authorities, other bodies governed by public law, or public undertakings of another Member State, without prejudice to mutual financial guarantees for the joint execution of a specific project. (article 125 TFEU)

This 'no bail-out' article is supposed to guard against 'moral hazard', embodying the important principle that it us unreasonable and fundamentally undemocratic to let taxpayers in one country pay for the mistakes of governments (in Greece or elsewhere) in a different country (over which they have no democratic control).

In a written answer to former MEP Kathy Sinnott, the Council suggests that the 'no bail-out' clause is superior to the article allowing for financial assistance to member states. On how article 100 (now article 122) can be used, they said:

the Council recalls the terms of the Declaration on Article 100 of the Treaty establishing the European Community, which is attached to the Nice Treaty. According to this declaration, 'decisions regarding financial assistance, such as are provided for in Article 100 and are compatible with the 'no bail-out' rule laid down in Article 103...

The Council therefore refers to a "Declaration on Article 100" (that was attached to the Nice Treaty), which states that actions under article 100 must be "compatible with the 'no bail-out' rule".

But that may not be the end of the story. The EU doesn't exactly have a brilliant track record in abiding by its own rules (the EU hasn't managed to follow its own budget rules for 15 years).

The Council's written answer to Kathy Sinnott also reveals that the EU's member states have never thought to set out exactly what "exceptional occurrences" beyond the control of a member state might constitute. The Council said:

No definition of "exceptional occurrences beyond the control of a Member State" exists and the Council has never discussed it. Similarly, the Council has never discussed the possibility of invoking "exceptional occurrences" in the context of the current economic situation.

Tony Barber argues that "if you don’t define the 2007-09 world financial crisis as an 'exceptional occurrence', then it hard to see what type of event could ever fall into this category". With this reasoning the EU (including non-Eurozone members such as the UK) could be asked to bail out a eurozone member in trouble and as Barber notes, none of the Eurozone leaders have "any doubt whatsoever that, if the worst happens, they will have to rescue Greece.."

But such an interpretation would take some nerve. The Swedish and Finnish Finance Ministers have clearly said that a bail-out is legally impossible. And in the following interview with Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, German EU law professor Matthias Ruffert completely rejects the idea that the financial crisis could credibly be defined as “exceptional occurrences beyond [the Greek government's] control”, saying: "state debt certainly cannot be counted among those." On whether "the financial crisis couldn't be seen as extraordinary and uncontrollable", he answers: "that wouldn't convince a judge. In other areas, jurisprudence strictly distinguishes between scientific and non scientific grounds in order to justify exceptions."

We suspect that this debate will drag on. One thing is for sure: the EU has an amazing ability to be creative with its own laws when the boat gets a bit rocky.

War News for Wednesday, January 27, 2010

U.S. military teams, intelligence deeply involved in aiding Yemen on strikes:

NATO, Kazakhstan agree on Afghan supply route:

Two Koreas trade fire:


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: Iraqi police say two people have been killed in a drive-by shooting targeting buses carrying Iranian Shiite pilgrims in Baghdad. Two police officials say gunmen in a speeding car opened fire Wednesday on the buses as they passed through a Sunni-dominated neighborhood in northwest Baghdad. The officials say an Iranian woman and a bus driver have been killed and that five pilgrims also have been injured. The buses were on their way to the shrine of Imam Mousa al-Kazim, a much revered Shiite saint.

#2: Three civilians were wounded on Tuesday by a sticky bomb explosion in northern Baghdad, a police source said on Wednesday. “A bomb, stuck to the car of Dr. Sawsan Abdulwahab, went off while passing Raghbat Khatoun neighborhood in al-Aadhamiya region, northern Baghdad,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “The blast injured the doctor and two passing civilians and damaged the car,” he added.


Kut:
#1: Anti-explosives department managed to defuse two bombs targeting Shiite visitors in western Kut, a source from the department said on Wednesday. “The two bombs, planted on the road linking between Kut and al-Ahrar district, were defused by the anti-explosives squad,” he source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “The bombs were targeting visitors of Imam al-Hussein’s Arbaeen,” he added. “The first bomb consists of a mortar shell tied with a remote, while the second bombs contains 10 kg of C4,” he explained.


Mosul:
#1: Four policemen and one civilian were wounded in a suicide bombing attack in northwest of Mosul, a security source said on Wednesday. “A suicide bomber blew up an explosive belt strapped to his body on Wednesday (Jan. 27) near a police station in Zamar district, northwest of Mosul, targeting a U.S. vehicle patrol, injuring four policemen and one civilian,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “The blast caused no injuries among U.S. troops,” he added.

#2: Gunmen shot dead a local district official in eastern Mosul, police said.

#3: Gunmen killed one person in a crowded market in central Mosul, police said.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: A bomb planted near a house in northwestern Pakistan exploded Wednesday after children playing nearby tried to open it, killing three of them, said police. The blast partly destroyed the house in Nanger Khani village in Upper Dir, an area near Pakistan's volatile Afghan border, said police official Gul Zameen Khan. Police are investigating why the bomb was placed there, he said.

#2: Thirteen police and civilian explosives experts were wounded Wednesday when a homemade bomb they were trying to defuse in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir detonated, said police official Iftikhar Kiani. The explosives were hidden in a milk container planted on a road leading to a military base, he said. Two of the wounded men were transferred to the garrison town of Rawalpindi outside the capital, Islamabad, because of the serious nature of their injuries, said Kiani.

#3: Taliban fighters have killed a pro-government militia leader in northwest Pakistan's Bajaur district, where helicopters have been shelling insurgent hideouts, officials said Wednesday. The body of Malik Manaris Khan, 47, was found riddled with bullets early Wednesday in Salarzai town, about 20 kilometres (12 miles) northeast of Khar, the main city in Bajaur, which is in the tribal belt bordering Afghanistan. "He was kidnapped on Monday along with two other tribesmen. Today (Wednesday), we found his dead body," said Naseeb Shah, a local administrative official, blaming the Taliban movement for the abductions. "He was leading an anti-Taliban lashkar (militia) in his village."

#4: "Helicopter gunships have been shelling Taliban hideouts in Salarzai and the adjacent town of Mamoond since Tuesday," Shah said. Another government official said that the shelling had killed at least six militants and wounded another four in the last 24 hours. "We have reports that at least six militants were killed and four wounded. Helicopter gunships also destroyed several hideouts and some trenches," Firamosh Khan, an administrative official, told AFP by telephone.

#5: update A suicide car bomber struck a barrier outside a U.S. base in Kabul on Tuesday, wounding six Afghans and eight American troops. NATO forces confirmed a car bomb struck outside the main gate of Camp Phoenix, saying it was aimed at a civilian convoy that was entering the controlled checkpoint. Eight American service members suffered minor injuries, according to a statement.

#6: Five police were killed as a roadside bomb struck their van in Zabul province south of Afghanistan early Wednesday, a senior police commander Abdul Razaq said. "The gruesome incident occurred in Shamonzai district early today as a result five constables of Border Police Force were martyred," Razaq told Xinhua.


DoD: Lance Cpl. Jeremy M. Kane

DoD: Sgt. Daniel M. Angus

DoD: Lance Cpl. Timothy J. Poole

DoD: Lance Cpl. Zachary D. Smith

REPUBLIC DAY - LOL!

I realise, as I write this that it's already 27 January in "The World's Largest Democracy."  OK, just a small jab by me. 

I have decided this is a good occasion for me to give some gifts to my loyal readers, as well as the Indian agents who regularly read my scribblings.

Let us begin with a song, called The Road To Khalistan:




 
I am astounded that no one has commented on the current header showing Sant Ji smiling at the flag of the Sovereign Republic of Khalistan flying proudly over what is now the Parliament Building of "the World's Largest Democracy."   As I do occasionally change the header, I'll reproduce it here for your perusal:

Clicking on either picture will take you to my Flickr account.

 
This is my answer to my picture of my impression of the Sacred Sarovar in June 1984.  This is not a literal picture, although it does look remarkably similar to what I saw back then.

Credits for the picture are at the bottom of this post.

Now, as I have said before, I get many weird and wonder things in my inbox, ranging from offers to enlarge an anatomical part that I do not possess to the occasional odd death threat to the truly wonderful.  As usual, if I find something particularly striking to me, I like to share it with you.  The following letter brought me much joy.  I hope it chardi kalas you up, as well!

Let 2010 Bring Freedom to the Sikh Nation

May Guru Bless the Khalsa Panth in 2010

With Freedom, Happiness, Dignity, and Prosperity

Liberating Khalistan Must Be Focus of New Year

Dear Khalsa Ji:


WAHEGURU JI KA KHALSA, WAHEGURU JI KI FATEH!


The New Year is here. Please let me take this opportunity to wish a Happy New Year to you and your family and the Khalsa Panth. May 2010 be your best year yet. I wish you health, joy, prosperity, and above all, freedom.

The flame of freedom continues to burn brightly in the heart of the Sikh Nation. No force can suppress it. Guru Gobind Singh blessed the Khalsa Panth, saying “In grieb Sikhin ko deon Patshahi.” (“I bless the Sikh nation with sovereignty.”) The Sikh Nation must dedicate this year to working hard to achieve that goal. Self-determination is the right of all peoples and nations and self-determination is the essence of democracy.

James Madison, the primary author of the U.S. Constitution and the fourth President of the United States, warned of the “tyranny of the majority.” That is why the U.S. Constitution has strong protections for minority and individual rights and a republican, decentralized governmental structure. India, the self-proclaimed “world’s largest democracy,” is proof that Madison was absolutely right. Without effective protection for individual rights and those of communities and states, the majority runs roughshod over the rights, interests, and lives of the minorities. India does this to Sikhs, Muslims, Christians, Bodos, Assamese, Manipuris, Dalits, and so many others.
 

It is time for the Sikh Nation to flourish. Sikhs have suffered too much already under the yoke of Indian persecution since independence, especially over the past 25 years. We have seen the attack on the Golden Temple, over 250,000 Sikhs murdered and over 52,000 held as political prisoners, the murder of the Akal Takht Jathedar, more than 50,000 Sikh youth tortured, murdered, then declared unidentified and secretly cremated, their bodies never returned to their families. Their families continue to suffer. We must help their widows and orphans. Let us find the vision to throw off this repression. With that vision, the Sikh Nation will flourish; without it, we will perish and India’s effort to eliminate Sikhism will succeed. The sooner we can liberate Khalistan, the better.

The Dera gurus are bent upon the destruction of the Sikh religion and they are backed by the Indian government. On December 10 in Ludhiana, they marched with the protection of the state government. When Sikhs protested, one Sikh was shot to death by the police. Many were beaten up just for peacefully protesting the Dera frauds. One Sikh was injured in the street. The police came while he was unconscious, then beat him up with their nightsticks.

Last week the Supreme Court ruled that Sikhs are Hindus. Sikhs are NOT Hindus. The Sikh religion was established by Guru Nanak. It has ten Gurus. The last guru, Guru Gobind Singh, gave Guruship permanently to the Guru Granth Sahib. Sikhs don’t believe in the caste system; Hindus do. The caste system is essential to Hinduism. Hindus don’t believe in equality. Sikhs believe all people are equal, including gender equality. Hindus believe women are inferior. Thus, Sikhs can’t be Hindus. At age 5, Guru Nanak refused to wear the Hindu ceremonial thread, the Jannau. Sikhism is the youngest religion in the world and its fifth largest.

Hindus claim that Sikhism, Buddhism, and Jainism are all branches of Hinduism. None of them is. I am surprised that they didn’t claim Christianity is a branch of Hinduism too. If Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, and others are part of Hinduism, why are the Hindus killing and persecuting them? Guru Nanak and Buddha were from Hindu families. Jesus was from a Jewish family. Does that make Christianity a part of Judaism?

The Golden Temple has four entrances so that persons from any religion and any direction can come to pray there.

 

This oppression will only stop when Sikhs have their own sovereign, independent Khalistan. For the survival of the Sikh Nation, we must have our own independent country. Without political power, religions cannot flourish. Examples are before us. Look at the Jewish people. They were oppressed by the Romans in the time of Jesus and six million of them were murdered by the Nazis. Today, they have their homeland and they are thriving.

When Sikhs ruled Punjab, in the 18gth and 19th centuries, our religion flourished. But the British took over in 1849. In the following nine years, the Sikh population declined from 48 lakh to 24 lakh – a loss of 50 percent. Hindu rule has been even worse for our people than British rule. “Khalsa Bagi Yan Badshah.” We must achieve our dream of sovereignty for Khalistan.
 

Jinnah was a smart leader with foresight. He saw to it that the Muslims of the subcontinent got Pakistan. He had more foresight than the Sikh leaders had. The Sikhs took their share with India on the hollow promises of Nehru that we would have “the glow of freedom.” If this is the glow of freedom, I would hate to see slavery.

This repression may turn out to be a blessing in disguise. Sikhs never saw Hindus as rulers. They were always oppressed. Sikhs protected them and fought for them. When Hindu girls were taken by the Muslim invaders, Sikhs attacked at night and rescued them. They took them to their homes and treated them as their own daughters and sisters. The Hindus have forgotten all those favors and sacrifices of the Sikh Nation. 85 percent of the sacrifices to free India from Britain were given by Sikhs.

The ninth Guru, Guru Teg Bahadur Sahib, was beheaded in Delhi to stop the conversion of Brahmins to Islam. Now Hindus practice forced conversions.

Khalsa Ji, let us make 2010 a year of freedom for the Sikh Nation. Do not forget the words of former Jathedar of the Akal Takht Professor Darshan Singh: “If a Sikh is not a Khalistani, he is not a Sikh. The corrupt Akali leadership of Badal has a shameful alliance with the BJP, which has proven time and again that it wants to absorb Sikhism into Hinduism. The recent Supreme Court ruling that Sikhs are Hindus is a testament to that.

Khalistan is the only way that Sikhs will be able to live in freedom, peace, prosperity, and dignity. It is time to start a Shantmai Morcha to liberate Khalistan from Indian occupation. We must achieve our freedom by peaceful, democratic, nonviolent means. Let that be the mission of 2010.
 

Sikhs will never get any justice from Delhi. Ever since independence, India has mistreated the Sikh Nation, starting with Patel’s memo labelling Sikhs “a criminal tribe.” What a shame for Home Minister Patel and the Indian government to issue this memorandum when the Sikh Nation gave over 80 percent of the sacrifices to free India.

There is no place for Sikhs in supposedly secular India. In a free Khalistan, minorities will have equal rights and all will be respected. Citizens of free Khalistan will be prosperous. Development will take place immediately. The Sikh diaspora will invest heavily in an independent Khalistan. Billions of dollars will be invested.

Let us work to make certain that 2010 is the Sikh Nation’s most blessed year by making sure it is the year that we shake ourselves loose from the yoke of Indian oppression and liberate our homeland, Khalistan, so that all Sikhs may live lives of prosperity, freedom, and dignity. Now it is up to us. Do not waste this opportunity.

Khalistan Zindabad! May Guru bless the Khalsa Panth.

Panth Da Sewadar,

Dr. Gurmit Singh Aulakh
President
Council of Khalistan

*****************************************************
Photo Credits:
 
CREDITS: (All from Creative Commons)
[If I have missed anybody, please contact me and I’ll be happy to credit you]
divyanshs
For the beautiful original of Darbar Sahib (Amritsar): www.flickr.com/photos/divyanshs/3494158283/
Nevadatumbleweed
For the tanks (I added the Indian flags to these Sherman tanks):
www.flickr.com/photos/us_army_rolling_along/3218710072/
Akuppa
For floating head or two and a pointing finger: www.flickr.com/photos/90664717@N00/386333436/
Le Rétroviseur
For another floating head:
www.flickr.com/photos/ghalibonagiddy/3551648713/
.A.A.
For the legs: www.flickr.com/photos/sloth_rider/1492095586/
Liz Highleyman
For the Khalsa guard: www.flickr.com/photos/liz_at_blackrose/35311814/in/set-72...
Carsten Lorentzen
For the AK-47 (It’s not really an AK-47, but that’s another story): www.flickr.com/photos/lorentzen/2868243796/
s_w_ellis
For the Indian flag flying over Darbar Sahib: www.flickr.com/photos/s_w_ellis/4042601774/

Special thanks to Hardeep Singh and Gurmit Kaur for permission to use the lovely picture of the mother and son.

And also to my dear friend (and little sister) Kamal Kaur Badyal for permission to use several of her family members.

snap yo fingerz

i remember when this video came out in 2006 and it blowing my mind! black dice "broken ear record" came out and my buddies and i were freaking out about the hook on "smiling off" and i think paperrad were really blowing up on the internet around the same time. the punks even saw tuxdog graffiti on a truck in chicago! it was also the same summer that i started dating amber. i tried convincing her that "snap yo fingerz" should be our song and she said no. still working on that one!
anyhow, this song and video are amazing and one of my favorite things of the last decade. lil jon's album "crunk rock," which this is from, will hopefully come out sometime in spring 2010. i'll probably be listening to the album on youtube this summer!

more grass widow stuff

i think i've posted this video before... i really like that song lulu's lips at the end

HEY DAY

Kick-start

Open Europe has a short article in this month's edition of Parliament Magazine, detailing how the Spanish EU Presidency could contribute to getting Europe's economy back on track. We argue:

Instead of trying to make economic underperformance illegal and centralise more powers in Brussels, the Spanish Presidency should kick-start the new Lisbon agenda by empowering Europe’s businesses to create real jobs and growth....The threat to Europe’s overall competiveness arises not from a lack of binding targets or Commission powers, but from over-intervention and rules that de-incentivise growth, innovation and job-creation. Growth cannot be legislated – it receives its thrust from individuals, businesses and communities. Designing the right environment for these actors is therefore absolutely vital to unleash Europe’s potential and talent. And here the Spanish Presidency can help by resisting the temptation to pursue activist and mis-targeted regulatory policies.

War News for Tuesday, January 26, 2010

The Oakland Tribune is reporting a new death of a soldier which is not reported by the military. Army Sgt. Ryan Hopkins was found dead in his hospital bed at Brooke Army Medical Center, Fort Sam Houston, Texas on Friday, January 8, 2010 after being injured during a fuel explosion caused by checking a vehicle’s fuel level with a cigarette lighter in Iraq on October 7, 2008.

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier in an IED attack in an undisclosed location in northern Afghanistan on Monday, January 25th. This is being reported as a Norwegian soldier, Claes Joachim Olsson who died four kilometers southeast of Ghowrmach, Badghis Province, Afghanistan.


Lawyer: FBI Concedes Aafia Siddiqui in US custody: From the mail bag-- another case of rendition -- whisker.

UK government adviser: Iraq war was illegal: Michael Wood - who was the chief legal adviser to the Foreign Office at the time of the 2003 invasion - told the inquiry Tuesday that he believed the use of force against Iraq in March 2003 was "contrary to international law" as it had not been authorized by the UN Security Council.

Officials tell AP Briton will be NATO Afghan boss: Two diplomatic officials say ambassador Mark Sedwill has been appointed to the post.


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: A suicide car bomber killed at least 18 and injured dozens more Tuesday in a strike against a police crime lab in central Baghdad. Rescue crews are still combing through the rubble looking for casualties. Officials say the majority of those killed were likely police officers who worked in the forensic investigation office at Tahariyat Square in the central neighborhood of Karradah. At least 82 people were reported injured. Police and hospital officials said the bomber in Tuesday's attack tried to drive a pickup truck through a checkpoint and blast walls protecting the forensic evidence office. Among those confirmed killed were 12 police officers and six civilians who were visiting the office. Officials said more than half the wounded were police.

#2: update Police and health officials say the death toll in Monday's suicide car bombings of three Baghdad hotels has risen to 41. The officials said on Tuesday that up to 106 people were wounded in the blasts, which struck in a span of 15 minutes. They targeted the Sheraton Ishtar Hotel, Babylon Hotel and Hamra Hotel, which are popular with Western journalists and foreign security contractors.

#3: Nine people were wounded when a militant threw a hand grenade onto a football pitch on Monday in Baghdad's Amil neighbourhood, police said.

#4: Two roadside bombs wounded five people on Monday in northern Baghdad's Adhamiya district on Monday, police said.


Yousifiya:
#1: Two civilians on Tuesday were injured in an explosive charge blast in southern Baghdad, a local police source said. “Today, a roadside improvised explosive device (IED) detonated in al-Yousifiya area, southern Baghdad, wounding two civilians,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Kirkuk:
#1: Unknown gunmen on Tuesday abducted an employee working for the Health Department in southern Kirkuk, a source from the Joint Coordination Center said. “This morning, unknown gunmen driving an Opel Vectra without a number plate kidnapped a civilian in al-Hajaj neighborhood, southern Kirkuk,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. The man was kidnapped while he was on his way to work, the source noted.

#2: Gunmen shot and killed two policemen on Monday in southern Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.


Mosul:
#1: One woman and her daughter were killed by gunmen in eastern Mosul, a police source said on Monday. “The gunmen stormed their house in al-Zahraa neighborhood, eastern Mosul, and killed them using knives,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#2: An improvised explosive device went off on Monday inside a restaurant in northern Mosul, a police source said. “The bomb exploded inside al-Nojoom restaurant in al-Majmouaa al-Thaqafiya region, northern Mosul, causing only some material damage,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “The bomb was placed inside a plastic bag in the restaurant’s second floor,” he highlighted.

#3: One civilian was killed by gunmen in northern Mosul on Monday, according to a police source. “Unknown gunmen opened fire on a civilian inside his store in al-Sukar neighborhood, northern Mosul, killing him instantly,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#4: One civilian was killed by gunmen in eastern Mosul, according to a security source. “Unknown gunmen shot and killed a civilian on Monday (Jan. 25) in al-Maared region in eastern Mosul,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#5: A former Iraqi army officer was killed by gunmen in western Mosul City, a local security source said on Tuesday. “This morning, unknown gunmen killed Staff Lt. Col. Faysal Mohammed Saleh, an officer in the former army, in al-Mosul al-Jadida area, western Mosul,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#6: One civilian on Tuesday was killed in an armed attack in western Mosul City, a local police source said. “On Tuesday, unknown gunmen opened fire on a civilian in al-Abar neighborhood, western Mosul,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Gunmen killed four Afghan policemen at a checkpoint near a provincial government building in an overnight attack in southern Afghanistan, an official said Tuesday.

#2: In eastern Kunar province Tuesday, a NATO airstrike killed several insurgents who were maneuvering into fighting position in an area previously used to stage attacks on international forces, the coalition said in a statement. Spokeswoman Maj. Virginia McCabe said the number of people killed was between five and 10 militants.

#3: Pakistani security forces have killed 15 militants in a gunfight in a remote tribal district near the Taliban strongholds of North and South Waziristan, the military said Tuesday. The clash took place after militants attacked a security checkpost on Monday in the Tindo area of Kurram tribal district, more than 200 kilometres (125 miles) southwest of the regional capital Peshawar. "Terrorists attacked a security forces post in Tindo area, which effectively retaliated," a statement from the paramilitary Frontier Corps said. "During an encounter between security forces and terrorists, 15 terrorists were killed and several others have been injured while eight security personnel received minor injuries," it added.

#4: A district police chief and six other persons were injured in a bomb attack in Pakistan's southwestern Balochistan province on Tuesday, police said. The bomb, attached to a motorcycle, was detonated with the help of remote control when police chief Syed Farid Ali was heading to his office in his official car in Jaffarabad, a city about 300 kilometers southeast of Quetta, the provincial capital.

#5: A loud explosion was heard in the Afghan capital Kabul on Tuesday, Reuters witnesses and security sources said, but the cause was not immediately clear. "There has been an explosion. We have sent our people to investigate. We are not sure of the cause or if there have been any casualties," a security official said.

A suicide car bomber struck near a U.S. military base in Afghanistan's capital Tuesday, Afghan officials said. At least five civilians were wounded in the attack, but it was unclear if anyone was killed, Interior Ministry spokesman Zemeri Bashary said. The head of Kabul's criminal investigations unit confirmed that it was a suicide car bomber but said he was on his way to the scene and did not yet have further details.


MoD: Lance Corporal Daniel Cooper

Google News Comes Back For More

Posted by Andy Golding and Kiran Gunda, Software Engineers

If you read news online, you've probably noticed that articles aren't static. They often change over time, to reflect things like typo fixes, shifts in emphasis, new information or corrections of previous mistakes. Sometimes they even switch URLs, or become unavailable after a certain period of time. As a human being, reading at most a few dozen articles a day, this is no big deal.

But if you happen to be, say, a news search engine that crawls hundreds of articles at thousands of sites every minute, this presents a unique set of challenges. How do you balance looking for new content against the need to update older content? How can you make sure the content is fresh, doesn't link to dead pages or display headlines that have been changed by the publisher?

To deal with these issues, Google News has implemented a recrawl feature that allows us to focus on getting the newest articles around while still ensuring that we're displaying the most up-to-date information. From the moment we discover a new article, we'll keep revisiting it looking for changes. Since we've noticed that most changes to articles occur just after they're published, we revisit articles most frequently in the first day after we've found them. In some cases, we'll even revisit articles we had trouble crawling the first time around. After that, we visit them less often. Either way, we try hard to present users with the freshest news. (We bet whoever wrote "Dewey Defeats Truman" wishes they had recrawl!)

For readers, this feature is intended to reduce the number of outdated headlines and dead links you might find. And for publishers, rest assured that we'll be back to find your latest stories and updates as soon as we can.

War News for Monday, January 25, 2010

The British MoD is reporting the death of a British ISAF soldier in an IED attack near Sangin, Helmand province, Afghanistan on Sunday, January 24th.

NATO is reporting the death of an American ISAF soldier in an IED attack in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Sunday, January 24th.

NATO is reporting the deaths of two more American soldiers in an attack in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Sunday, January 24th.


Iraq seals oil deal with Exxon Mobil, Shell group:

Iraq keeps banned bomb-detecting devices in use:

Pakistan’s Rebuff Over New Offensives Rankles U.S.

Afghanistan Postpones Parliamentary Election by 4 Months:


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1-3: Iraqi police say three blasts have struck near three hotels in downtown Baghdad, killing at least 11 people. The officials say the blasts wounded at least 20 people.

#1: The first blast struck at about 3:40 p.m. near the Sheraton Hotel along Abu Nawas Street, just across the Tigris River from the Green Zone.

#2-3: The officials say two others struck near the Babylon Hotel and al-Hamra Hotel, which is popular with Western journalists.


Kut:
#1: Policemen found the body of a young man whose throat was slit with a knife and photos of his slaughter with the body, a security source in Wassit said on Sunday. “Reported kidnapped a couple of days ago, the young man, in his 20s, was found slain right in front of his house in the area of al-Falahiya, al-Kut city,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “The police also found photos detailing the slaughter with the body,” he said, adding the corpse was removed to the al-Zahraa Hospital morgue in Kut.

#2: Security forces in Wassit defused on Monday a bomb that was planted in front of a local politician’s house in southern Kut. “The bomb is locally made,” a security source from the province told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Kirkuk:
#1: Two policemen were killed in the disputed northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk on Monday, police told the German Press Agency dpa. The two were shot on their way to work in the Hay al-Wasti district shortly before dawn, police said, adding they believed the gunmen had used silencers.


Al Anbar Prv:
#1: Separately, the police discovered eight decomposed bodies buried in a mass grave outside Fallujah, the source added. "The bodies were badly decomposed because they have been buried for several years when the city was under control of insurgent groups," he said.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: A rocket has struck a military base in Afghanistan while the Bulgarian defense minister was visiting some of his country's troops stationed there.Four Bulgarian soldiers were wounded in the attack on the base at Kandahar. Reports say the rocket struck about 200 meters from Defense Minister Nikolay Mladenov and his delegation. None of the officials were hurt. Some 270 Bulgarian troops are based in Kandahar.

Four Bulgarian soldiers and as many Romanian soldiers have been wounded in the southern part in Afghanistan during a missile shelling of an ISAF base in Kandahar Province on Sunday night, a NATO representative reported on Monday.

#2: A suspected U.S. drone crashed in Pakistan's tribal region, a Pakistani intelligence official told CNN. The unmanned aircraft went down about 8 p.m. (10 a.m. ET) Sunday night near the village of Hamzoni in North Waziristan, the official said. Hamzoni is about 5 km (3 miles) west of Miran Shah, a town well-known for Taliban and al Qaeda activity. The official said he did not know whether the aircraft was shot down or if it crashed because of mechanical problems.

#3: The Taliban have freed four Afghans abducted in the north earlier this month along with two Chinese engineers, who remain in militant custody, a police official said Monday. Two Chinese engineers and their two Afghan drivers and two guards were snatched in the province of Faryab on January 16, and the Taliban militia claimed responsibility for the kidnapping the same day. Faryab deputy police chief Mohammad Afzal Imamzada told AFP that the Afghans were freed after negotiations, while similar talks were underway to secure the freedom of the Chinese pair. "The Afghans have been freed but the Chinese are still there. The Afghans were freed under negotiations by tribal elders and we're trying to secure the freedom of the Chinese through the same way," Imamzada said.

#4: Taliban militants in North Waziristan killed seven people on charges of spying for the US-led occupation forces in Afghanistan and threatened spies with similar punishment if they didn’t stop working for their enemy. Four of the slain people were stated to be local Wazir tribesmen while the three others were said to be Afghan nationals, all residents of Afghanistan’s troubled Khost province, which borders North Waziristan.

#5: Pakistani security forces backed by helicopter gunships attacked militants in the Kurram ethnic Pashtun tribal region on the Afghan border, killing 11 and wounding seven, government and security officials said. The assault followed a militant attack on a paramilitary force checkpost in which six soldiers were wounded.

#6: Police in Afghanistan's northern Saripul province discovered an explosive-laden minibus and thus foiled a terrorist attack on Monday, a private television channel reported. "A Minibus full of explosive device was intercepted by police in Saripul province today and thus thwarted a terrorist attack," Tolo broadcast in its news bulletin. Quoting local officials the television also said that two persons have been arrested in this regard.

#7: At least five people were injured in a blast in west Pakistan's Balochistan province on Monday, local TV channel reported. A loud blast rocked the central market of Panjgoor area of Quetta, the capital of Balochistan, the private TV Express reported.


MoD: Rifleman Peter Aldridge