Eideard

The charge by Eric Pierre depicting a herd of muskoxen charging down Arctic wolves has been highly commended in the 2011 Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition.

Taking fingerprints of one of the dead attackers
Daylife/AP Photo used by permission

The top U.S. military officer accused Pakistani intelligence on Thursday of backing violence against U.S. targets including the American Embassy in Afghanistan…

Admiral Mike Mullen said Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence agency (ISI) played a role in the September 13 attack on the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, supporting militants known as the Haqqani network. That network, he said, is a “veritable arm” of the ISI.

The embassy attack was the latest in a series of violent episodes that were a blow to U.S. efforts to bring the Afghan war to a peaceful close.

Pakistan’s interior minister rejected the U.S. accusations of Islamabad’s links to the Haqqanis, one of the most feared insurgent groups operating in Afghanistan. The minister, Rehman Malik, also warned against a unilateral U.S. ground attack on the Haqqanis, who are based in Pakistan’s ungoverned tribal territories…

A complete break between the United States and Pakistan — sometimes friends, often adversaries — seems unlikely, if only because the United States depends on Pakistan as a route to supply U.S. troops in Afghanistan, and as a base for unmanned U.S. drones…

But support in the U.S. Congress for curbing assistance or making conditions on aid more stringent is rising rapidly. And Mullen, CIA Director David Petraeus and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have all met their Pakistani counterparts in recent days to demand Islamabad rein in militants.

Bruce Riedel, a former top CIA analyst with close ties to the Obama White House, which he once advised, told Reuters administration officials have told him that militants who attacked the U.S. Embassy and NATO headquarters in Kabul on September 13 phoned individuals connected with the ISI before and during the attack.

Following the attacks, Riedel said, U.S. security forces collected cell phones the attackers had used. These are expected to provide further evidence linking militants to ISI.

RTFA for beaucoup details.

Yes, I know all the history and have my own opinion about how things got this way. But, between no legal structure encompassing tribal bandits and apparently little or no inclination to divest backwards elements inside portions of the military and ISI, Pakistan will remain a well-armed and therefore more dangerous variation on the gangster turf which lies between Afghanistan and India. That adds nothing to the future of the people of Pakistan.

Monju Begum, 40, a married mother of three, was allegedly attacked as she slept in her shanty in Mirzapur village, Jhalakathi, about 125 miles south of Bangladesh’s capital, Dhaka.

Mrs Begum told police that her neighbour Mozammel Haq Mazi, forced his way into her home and began attacking her. During the alleged assault, Mrs Begum said she was able to cut off Mr Mazi’s penis.

“As he tried to rape her, the lady cut his penis off with a knife. She then wrapped up the penis in a piece of polythene and brought it to the Jhalakathi police station as evidence of the crime,” said Abul Khaer, the local police chief.

“It is quite an unusual incident. As far as I am aware, this is the first time that a woman has brought a severed penis to the police station as evidence.”

Mr Mazi, who denies the accusation, has been admitted to a nearby hospital. A surgeon said it had not been possible to reattach the organ…

The severed penis has been kept at the police station.

As a souvenir? Evidence? A public warning, eh?

What can he say? “It’s not mine.”

An Indiana prosecutor said one of his deputies resigned Thursday after admitting he sent an email to Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker suggesting the Republican fake an attack on himself to discredit the public employee unions protesting his plan to strip them of nearly all collective bargaining rights.

Johnson County Prosecutor Brad Cooper said Carlos Lam resigned in a phone call about 5 a.m. Thursday after acknowledging that he sent the Feb. 19 email to Walker suggesting “the situation in WI presents a good opportunity for what’s called a ‘false flag’ operation.”

“If you could employ an associate who pretends to be sympathetic to the unions’ cause to physically attack you (or even use a firearm against you), you could discredit the public unions,” Lam wrote in the email, which was obtained by The Associated Press.

Cooper said Lam initially denied sending the email and said someone had hacked into his email account. But Lam later acknowledged he had written the message, and resigned hours before the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism reported the contents publicly Thursday…

Lam is the second Indiana prosecutor to lose his job over volatile comments about the Wisconsin protests. Jeffrey Cox, a deputy attorney general, was fired last month after tweeting that police should use live ammunition against labor protesters.

Lam is commited to a society that hasn’t existed for decades. Fortunately.

His personal slogan BTW is reliance on the 3 G’s: “guns, gold and gasoline”.

Ahson Saeed, of Corvallis reacts over burnt debris from the mosque
Daylife/AP Photo used by permission

Agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation have been called in to aid the investigation into an arson fire at the Corvallis mosque where Portland bomb plot suspect Mohamed Osman Mohamud sometimes attended.

The fire at the Salman Al-Farisi Islamic Center was discovered by an on-duty police sergeant at about 2:15 a.m. today. It took firefighters 10 minutes to put it out and it damaged about 80 percent of the office it was contained to. No one was injured.

FBI spokeswoman Beth Anne Steele said it’s standard for the agency to become involved in attacks on religious groups, but that the possible connection between the fire and the arrest of Mohamud makes their involvement even more important…

The FBI is offering a reward of up to $10,000 for information that leads to the identification, arrest and conviction of the person or people responsible for the fire…

Arthur Balizan, the Special Agent in Charge of the FBI in Oregon stated: “We have made it quite clear that the FBI will not tolerate any kind of retribution or attack on the Muslim community…We are working very closely with the leadership at the mosque. We will find the person responsible for this attack and bring the full force of the federal justice system to bear…”

If you’ve followed the details of the teenage fool who wanted to commit terrorist murders at a tree lighting ceremony, you would know that the initiatives that turned this creep up to the FBI and Homeland Security came from the Islamic community in Oregon.

OTOH, the sort of cowardly bigot that committed the arson attack upon the Corvallis mosque will likely turn out to be someone who has trouble reading the Sunday comics.

He saved the girl – then walked away from the Press

A snorkeler has been hailed a hero after he pulled the tail of a great white shark that was attacking a young woman.

Rescuers said he had undoubtedly saved Elyse Frankcom, 19, from fatal injuries.

Ms Frankcom had been leading a swim-with-the-dolphins tour south of Perth when the 3m shark bit into her hip and left buttock.

Last night she was in a stable condition in Royal Perth Hospital after undergoing surgery.

The attack, which occurred off the north end of Garden Island Naval Base, comes only 10 weeks after a surfer was killed by a great white off the coast of Gracetown in WA’s South-West.

The snorkeller who saved Ms Frankcom declined to be interviewed, or give his name. “All I want is the girl to be OK.” he said…

Frank Pisani, senior skipper for Fremantle Sea Rescue, said that the shark attack could have been fatal if not for the quick thinking of one of Ms Frankcom’s tour group.

“As the shark bit her, it brushed aside a fairly large male who grabbed hold of the tail of the shark, which then made it let go,” Mr Pisani said.

“The girl then started to sink to the bottom and he grabbed her and brought her to the surface and got her back on board the boat. He certainly was instrumental in making this a good outcome.

Elyse Frankcom was brave enough on her own – punching the shark on the nose trying to thwart the attack. About all she asked on the way to emergency surgery was safety of a child who was in the group she had been guiding.

And a hefty “Right on!” for the geezer who saved her.

While the Kentucky Senatorial debate on Monday night was markedly more cordial than usual, a fight that broke out before the event was anything but.

A female MoveOn.org activist was stomped on by a supporter of Kentucky GOP candidate Rand Paul after she attempted to approach him before his final debate with Democrat Jack Conway…

The 24-year-old woman with the liberal group, identified as Lauren Valle by local media, tripped and fell after someone ripped a blond wig off her head. She is then seen on video being wrestled to a curb by one man. After she is placed face down, another man stomps on her shoulder and head with his foot…

Police said Valle was trying to get a photo with the Tea Party favorite holding a sign that said “employee of the month award.” The satirical prize was from Republicorp, a fake business MoveOn created to symbolize what it says is a cozy relationship between corporate America and the GOP…

“She was subsequently stopped and thrown to the ground by a group of individuals who were gathered there for the debate,” police information officer Sherelle Roberts said. “It was caught on video. You can see the woman being thrown to the ground, there was a gentleman who stepped on her head…”

The man who stomped on her has not yet been identified. Police said they are searching for him…

Paul’s campaign released a statement on the melee, calling it “incredibly unfortunate.”

Most “unfortunate” – is that it was recorded. Unlike back in the day – when civil rights activists were often beaten by racist gangs. Nowadays, every group seems to contain a few people with video cameras. Even the lowly cell phone often has video capability.

They willingly joined the generalized fear, cowardice and anger that characterizes the American right wing. Where’s the surprise at violent attacks? Just another debate tactic for teabaggers.

UPDATE: Thanks to the comment from “bubby” identifying the attackers – including an official of the Rand Paul campaign.

The Ministry of Defence has unveiled its prototype unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV)…

Defence Minister Gerald Howarth said it was a “truly trailblazing project” and featured “the best of our nation’s advanced design and technology”. The aircraft is due to begin flight trials early next year.

Named after the Celtic god of thunder, Taranis is the first step in the development of unmanned strike aircraft, capable of penetrating enemy territory. Unmanned aircraft carrying weapons are already used in service, such as the MQ-1 Predator which carries Hellfire missiles, although these are only suitable for use where the airspace is under allied control.

“This is the next generation of combat aircraft and flight trials will begin next year,” Sqn Ldr Bruno Wood told BBC News. “It’s a technology demonstrator that could be used as a testbed which may form further potential solutions to the RAF,” he added.

The issue of “writing the pilot” out of the aircraft equation has long been a controversial topic, more so since the first unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) went into active service…

Peter Felstead, editor of Jane’s Defence Weekly, told BBC News that the development of UAVs paralleled the development of the first manned aircraft during World War I.

“First they were used for reconnaissance, then they were armed for bombing and ground attack missions and they eventually became air-to-air combat craft,” he said.

“This is the first step for the UK. This isn’t an aircraft that will go into service, it’s a tech demo, but it will prove technologies, demonstrate capabilities and inform the direction we [the UK] are going in.”

They might have called it the Terminator, eh? We know how they turned out.

Wonder what DARPA is doing down this alley?

Daylife/AP Photo used by permission

Mumbai held tearful memorials and police staged a show of strength on Thursday as India’s financial hub marked the first anniversary of militant raids that killed 166 people and ratcheted up tensions with Pakistan.

While emotionals onlookers waved Indian flags and banners with slogans such as “End The Violence,” police commandoes with new weapons and armored cars tracked the route the 10 gunmen took for an attack that stunned the country.

Other residents lit candles outside a Jewish center, one of several sites from luxury hotels to the city’s biggest railway station, that were targeted by the Pakistan-based militants in a rampage lasting three days.

At the Trident hotel, one of the targets, chefs and laundry boys gathered to remember the attacks. Outside, a black granite column read: “In memory of our guests and our staff.” A wreath of white lilies lay in front next to a glass case with burning candles.

“We just wanted to show our support and show that we care,” said Subir Kumar Singh, who was leaving a written message on a banner outside the Leopold cafe, a popular tourist spot that still has bullet marks from the attacks.

Someday, religions will no longer honor murder. Or nationalism rooted in religion.

Daylife/AP Photo used by permission

In the darkness of the Indian Ocean, two boatloads of Somali piratesdrew alongside La Somme. They had started their pre-boarding drill, firing Kalashnikov assault rifles, before they noticed the 40mm cannon and missiles on the deck above them.

Realising the ship was, in fact an 18,000-tonne flagship of the French naval operation against the pirates, they fled…

La Somme, a refuelling ship and command vessel, followed the group and quickly caught up with one of the boats. Five crewmen surrendered without a struggle. The second boat escaped, but other warships in the area have taken up the search.

Yesterday’s blunder was further evidence that the pirates remain poorly organised and lacking in technology, despite reports that they have been developing more sophisticated methods. “They must be on the dim side if they can’t tell a frigate from a freighter,” said a French officer…

With a crew of 170 and under the orders of an admiral, La Somme commands French air, sea and land forces in the combined US and European campaign against piracy and terrorism in the region. The vessel supplies ships and aircraft and has been the base for French commando operations to free hostages from pirates over the past two years.

Har!