Naxal watch

Seven CRPF jawans were killed on Saturday when Naxals blew up a bullet-proof vehicle in Bijapur district of Chhhattisgarh, the first major attack after the Dantewada ambush which left 76 security men dead a month ago.

The Maoists struck again in Chhattisgarh. At least eight CRPF jawans were killed in a landmine blast in Bijapur, Chhattisgarh. The naxals targeted the CRPF vehicle.

At least six paramilitary troopers were killed and 10 injured Saturday when Maoist rebels blew up their vehicle in India's central Chhattisgarh state, news reports said.

In a chilling reminder of Naxal attack on security personnel in Chhattisgarh's Dantewada district recently, about six to ten Central Reserve Police Force personnel have been killed and 13 others injured in a landmine blast in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur area here on Saturday evening.

It disturbs me that they can never agree on a number. This makes it sound like propaganda. At least One India makes it clear that they don't really know how many died ...

Also ...

Railway protection force intercepted a consignment of 80 ‘Superpower 90' gelatin sticks and 73 detonators from Nagpur railway station on Saturday afternoon. The accused Pannalal Ramteke, 60, was arrested and handed over to the government railway police. Ramteke was arrested when he was waiting to board a train. Several agencies including the ATS rushed to interrogate Ramteke, who was ferrying the consignment to Amgaon in Gondia – a Naxal-affected district.

And ...

Superintendent of Police Veenu Bansal, who headed the operation to nab Beck this week, said on Friday that the naxal leader was in the state as 'he wanted to lie low'. Bansal said that Beck was also working in one of the industrial units in Goa and was hiding here for last one and half month before state police zeroed in on him.

The women were straightforward when discussing the one concern that critics frequently raise: If a woman discovers she is pregnant soon after the ship deploys for months under the ocean, what happens? "Just like any other female in the military, we have to be smart about our careers," said Midshipman 1st Class Tabitha Gant, of Bowie. "As long as we are intelligent about our life choices, it shouldn't be a problem."

Officials said disbanding the unit was a tough decision, but stressed that it made up only a small part of the LAPD's counter-terrorism efforts and that the bureau's primary function of gathering intelligence continues. Roughly 270 people are assigned to the bureau, Downing said. "It was a valued asset and I would have liked to keep it," he said, "but every part of the department has to make sacrifices right now and this made the most sense."

As the details of the Times Square car bomb attempt emerge in the wake of Faisal Shahzad's arrest Monday night, one thing has already been made clear: Terrorism is fairly easy. All you need is a gun or a bomb, and a crowded target. Guns are easy to buy. Bombs are easy to make. Crowded targets -- not only in New York, but all over the country -- are easy to come by. If you're willing to die in the aftermath of your attack, you could launch a pretty effective terrorist attack with a few days of planning, maybe less. But if it's so easy, why aren't there more terrorist attacks like the failed car bomb in New York's Times Square? Or the terrorist shootings in Mumbai? Or the Moscow subway bombings? After the enormous horror and tragedy of 9/11, why have the past eight years been so safe in the U.S.? There are actually several answers to this question. One, terrorist attacks are harder to pull off than popular imagination -- and the movies -- lead everyone to believe. Two, there are far fewer terrorists than the political rhetoric of the past eight years leads everyone to believe. And three, random minor terrorist attacks don't serve Islamic terrorists' interests right now.

Bruce is always compelling ...

Police say that the a 57 year old man was out for evening walk in the St. Louis suburb of Hazelwood when an armed robber approached from behind, pointed a .38 caliber revolver at the man, and demanded his wallet.  The man reportedly handed over his wallet, then drew his own .40 caliber pistol and ordered the robber to get on the ground until the police could arrive.  Rather than comply, the robber began to point his gun at the victim, at which point the victim fired in self defense. A suspect, reportedly identified as 20 year old Christopher Holland, was found dead across the street, with a revolver in his hand, police say.  Police also suspect that Holland may have behind another armed robbery attempt, which occurred last week.

Get sum ...

Kinder-killer watch

Adult assailants have killed eight children and injured at least 58 in recent weeks. On Friday, as Shanghai kicked off its World's Fair, a farmer in Shandong province hit and injured five pre-school children with a hammer, and then burned himself to death. In the single worst attack, a former doctor stabbed eight children to death March 23 in southern Fujian province. He was executed April 28.

Criminy ...

Despite appeals from some people in the stadium to "Tase him," security personnel at Tuesday night's Phillies game removed the second fan to run on the field in two nights the old-fashioned way. They waited until he got tired, surrounded him, and walked him off the field. Phillies officials have decided that method is preferable to the one a Philadelphia police officer used Monday night, when he fired a Taser at a 17-year-old fan in center field, creating another moment sure to live in the city's sports infamy.

John Michaud, professor of legal studies, heard the commotion and saw a pile of people on the pavement, while more women stood by, ready to jump in, if necessary. "I was very impressed by the students," Michaud said. "How many times do you hear about people walking by incidents like this? These young ladies weren't going to walk by this incident." He said the young women disarmed the suspect and "had the situation well in hand." Wolk has been charged with attempted murder, elevated aggravated assault, aggravated assault and violating a protection order, said Bangor Police Sgt. Paul Edwards. He remained jailed Wednesday afternoon on $25,000 bail. There was no indication whether he had an attorney.

My kind of gals ...

The Colorado State University Board of Governors today rescinded a system-wide ban on concealed weapons, citing a Colorado Court of Appeals ruling that struck down a similar ban at the University of Colorado. Today's move indicates that any more court challenges to state law allowing concealed weapons on campus would be unwinnable, said Fort Collins attorney Terry Ryan. "The governors finally faced up to the reality of the times," said Ryan, who is representing the CSU chapter of Students for Concealed Carry on Campus Rocky Mountain Gun Owners. Those two groups filed suit against CSU in Larimer County District Court in April over its concealed carry ban. "To me, the Appeals Court ruling is appeal-proof."

Mmmm ... smells like ... victory ...

This time around, we wanted to double-check our findings with TrueCrypt against Microsoft's value-added BitLocker. Does it make sense to pay up for a higher-end Windows version to get this extra functionality, or will TrueCrypt do the exact same thing at no cost? Another reason to revisit encryption solutions is the availability of AES new instructions (AES-NI) in Intel’s Core i5 mainstream dual-core processors (Clarkdale) and the top-end, six-core Core i7 (Gulftown). Can BitLocker and TrueCrypt truly showcase the benefits of hardware-based AES acceleration? Let's find out.

Naxal watch

Security measures have been beefed up in north Bihar for the 48-hour shutdown called by the proscribed CPI (Maoist) from tomorrow to protest against alleged police attempt to foil a 'democratic action' of the Maoist backed outfit, Mahangai Virodhi Morcha.

And ...

Mr Hosur said the combing operations will continue till the elections were over. The police and the ANF personnel had covered the forest areas of naxal affected areas during the combing operation. In Udupi District About 500 personnel, including some policemen took part in the operations mainly centered on Mutlupady, Tingale, Kabbinale and Siddapur regions around Hebri, which are known to be frequented by naxals.

The above doesn't bode well for legit elections in the area ... combing sounds a lot like making sure only the 'favored' segment of the population gets to vote ...

Also ...

“A group of militants fired from automatic weapons towards army men, who were conducting combing operation in the forest area of Chattibandi. In the exchange of fire, an army officer and a trooper were killed,” SP Bandipore Sheikh Junaid said. He said the militants managed to escape from the area after carrying out the attack.

Kent State anniversary

Absent the declassification of the FBI's entire investigative file, many questions remain unanswered — including why the documents quoted here were overlooked, or discounted, in the Justice Department's official findings. At a minimum, the FBI documents strongly challenge the received narrative that the rioting in downtown Kent was spontaneous and unplanned, that the burning of the ROTC headquarters was similarly impulsive and that the guardsmen's fatal shootings were explicable only as unprovoked acts.

I remember the heat from this on the TV. About the only way these revelations makes sense is if the docs were fabricated at the time and then it was decided there was no way the fabrications would hold up under the scrutiny that would be brought to bear in the atmosphere that prevailed after the shooting, so they were just buried with the rest of the file ...

It has emerged during routine maintenance work on two of the UK’s six remainingTrafalgar-class attack submarines – Turbulent and Tireless – that equipment that blocked hull valves , used during during earlier maintenance to test hull pressure for leaks – was not removed after the tests. The purpose of the valves is to allow an build up of excess pressure in the ship’s nuclear reactor, to vent. Obviously, with the blocks left in place, venting is impossible and excess pressure could then lead to radioactive water bursting into the manned areas of the ship.

Oops ...

Police were told that they could "shoot on site" any suspect who is violently offending or hurting students on campus or in surrounding areas, the Chongqing Evening News reported. People who live near schools or who have possible mental problems will be better monitored. Those who are discontent with society and have threatened to retaliate will also be closely watched, the report said.

For some reason, folks are coming in and slashing kindergarten students ... there is way more to this than is being published ...

THE Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) has attributed the incessant killings of its members to inadequate security measures by the Federal Government, calling on the acting president, Dr Goodluck Jonathan, to look into the matter before it escalates. The national council of the NUJ made this comment during a Save Our Soul protest in Lagos, on Monday. It will be recalled that nine journalists had been killed by unknown gunmen while the government had failed to find the killers.

"This open, explicit and transparent nuclear policy makes China unique among all nuclear-weapon states. China has never deployed any nuclear weapons on foreign territory," he said. "China has not participated and will not participate in any form of nuclear arms race." "China supports the early entry into force of the CTBT ( Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty) and the early commencement of the negotiation of a Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty. China will continue to keep its nuclear capabilities at the minimum level required for national security, and continue to make efforts to advance the international nuclear disarmament process," he said.

Philippine watch

Radio dzXL reported the seven policemen were in stable condition as of noon Tuesday, after the attack in San Andres town in Catanduanes. Initial investigation showed the policemen were helping the Commission on Elections and poll contractor Smartmatic-TIM deliver PCOS machines when they were ambushed in Bislig village.

I wonder if there have been more attacks against Comelec that we just aren't hearing about ...

Two people arrested for allegedly helping a man accused in the fatal shooting of a Maplewood police officer have been released. Prosecutors say the investigation into these two people is continuing. A decision on whether to charge them will be made after all the facts are in.

Then Dawn will do something unprecedented in real-world spaceflight: exit the orbit of one distant body, and fly to and orbit another. The second destination is asteroid Ceres. "Dawn will be the first spacecraft ever built to orbit two target bodies after leaving Earth," says Marc Rayman, Dawn chief engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. "There's not even a concept for doing such a mission with conventional propulsion systems. The spacecraft would have to carry so much fuel, it would be too heavy to launch."

Three times as large as American submarines, the I-400 was designed to rise and sink quickly, allowing just enough time to catapult into the air one of three specially-designed aircraft stored inside. As the Cold War escalated, the United States military feared what could happen if the machine landed in Russia's hands. By agreement, the two countries were to share any military technology after the war. Less than 10 months after World War II ended, the United States military sunk the sub off the coast of Hawaii, making Arvidson one of a scattered few to see it.

Interesting ...

Times Square video ...

To put it another way, Virginia Tech doesn't happen if Seung-Hui Cho is brandishing a sword. Columbine doesn't happen if Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold are wielding Louisville Sluggers. Charles Whitman doesn't kill 14 people at the University of Texas at Austin if he takes up his sniping position armed with a longbow.

Must not be familiar with swords, bats or long bows ...

Thai watch

They were originally Thais rallying around Thailand's previous prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra and his political party, who were ousted in a coup during 2006. The UDD is mostly made up of lower-income Thais from both the up-country provinces outside of Bangkok and Bangkok itself. Thaksin's previous sweep to power was the result of the substantial attention he paid to developing and meeting the needs of Thailand's oft-forgotten provinces. Yet despite the red's mostly low-income origins, make no mistake of the fact that they are backed by wealthy business and military interests centering around Thaksin's political party which has reincarnated itself as 'Peu Thai', which can be translated as 'For Thais/Thailand'.

Hmmm ... a backgrounder ...

Also ...

And here's the curve ball where the entire situation goes topsy-turvy... on the April 10th military crackdown, which we showed in a previous video from Thai-FAQ, and which resulted in 25 deaths including soldiers, one pro-government faction of the military, suffered substantial casualties to its officer ranks.... some which may have been inflicted by mysterious black-clad and highly trained rogue fighters who seemed to come out of nowhere.

You gotta love any story that has ninjas ...

Should I lose my Encryptstick…(this is the best part)…I just have to go buy any old USB flash drive, go to www.encrypt-stick.com (pay for a new license, as the license is bound to the device and instance of the SN) choose the option to say I am replacing a lost flash drive they will ask for a file that I backed up and sent to myself and they will give me a new code that will allow me to open all my vaults, files and folders that were created with the lost flash drive. Then, I download the app from their web site…I am up and running. No need to wait for a delivery of a new stick or code, it can be done in minutes over the web…THAT is awesome.

Hmmm ...

A good sniper can damage moral by taking out key personnel. They can stop a unit in its tracks. But for a good sniper a gun with an eagle sight, deadly impact and a monstrous fire power is essential. Today we have rounded up Top 10 Sniper Rifles of all times.

It's an interesting list ... don't know that I agree with it, but it's an interesting list ...

Mr. Ahmadinejad has been quite quotable this week, intent on stirring the pot before the summit for some reason- to what end who knows. At a gathering celebrating “National Persian Gulf Day” just a day earlier, Ahmadinejad had accused Western powers of wanting to dominate the Middle East because it is the center of civilization, culture, foreign affairs and from there the U.S. planned on taking over the entire world. He also accused the U.S. of being an “enemy of truth and using deception and fraud.” And, somehow maintaining a straight face, he said Iran has long been a defender of “freedom of religion, freedom of expression, freedom of information and freedom of ideas."

Presumably, this stuff plays well out in the sand ...

A robber who chopped off half of his ear was on the run last night after the ambulance taking him to hospital was ambushed by masked men carrying baseball bats. Michael O'Donnell, 28, was found in his cell in early on Sunday with the top part of his left ear missing. Three prison officers accompanied him in an ambulance but four men jumped out of a stolen car, halted the ambulance and freed him.

Hmmm ... baddies with hard-core self-discipline ...

Rio Grande watch

Two police cars apparently lured into an intersection in the violent city of Ciudad Juarez on Friday were ambushed by gunmen. At least seven officers were killed in the brazen midday attack, along with a 17-year-old passerby.

Naxal watch

Nearly a month after the Dantewada strike, the battle for CRPF continues even on other fronts as Chattisgarh Police is believed to have dragged its feet in ensuring safe passage of ration to paramilitary jawans due to heavy Maoist presence, prompting airdropping of supplies.

Craig Harrison, a member of the Household Cavalry, killed the insurgents with consecutive shots — even though they were 3,000ft beyond the most effective range of his rifle. “The first round hit a machinegunner in the stomach and killed him outright,” said Harrison, a Corporal of Horse. “He went straight down and didn’t move. “The second insurgent grabbed the weapon and turned as my second shot hit him in the side. He went down, too. They were both dead.”

Reach out ... reach out and touch someone ...

Despite the dark jokes Marines crack about becoming “pink mist,” it seems obvious that repeated exposure to the horrors of war — seeing friends ripped apart by bombs or children inadvertently shot at checkpoints — would exact a psychological toll. Research has long shown that trauma is cumulative. When it comes to combat stress and suicide, though, the findings are mixed. “At this point in time, there does not appear to be any scientific correlation between the number of deployments and those that are at risk, but I’m just hard-pressed to believe that’s not the case,” Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said during a conference in January. His hunch is supported by the Army’s battlefield survey of soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq last year, which reported that the rate of mental-health problems such as depression, anxiety and PTSD rose with the number of combat tours.

A US nuclear attack submarine could have been responsible for the sinking of a French trawler off the Cornish coast, a submarine expert has said. The Bugaled Breizh sank off the Lizard on 15 January 2004, killing its five crew members. Expert Dominiques Salles has now submitted his report to French judges investigating the incident. He wants the US Navy to reveal the position of all of its nuclear attack submarines at the time of the sinking.

When I carry a gun, I don't do so because I am looking for a fight, but because I'm looking to be left alone. The gun at my side means that I cannot be forced, only persuaded. I don't carry it because I'm afraid, but because it enables me to be unafraid. It doesn't limit the actions of those who would interact with me through reason, only the actions of those who would do so by force. It removes force from the equation... and that's why carrying a gun is a civilized act.

This has been around for quite awhile, but is well worth re-reading. Read the whole thing ...

Naxal watch

The Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force (STF) today arrested six persons, including two serving CRPF jawans and a retired sub-inspector, for allegedly stealing arms and ammunition and supplying the same to Naxals. Unconfirmed reports said another policeman was arrested in Basti.

The crackdown follows an attack on Friday in the city of Weifang in which a farmer broke into a school, attacking children and a teacher with a hammer before setting himself on fire and burning himself to death. Friday's attack was the third such incident in three days, and the fifth in the space of just over a month.

Hmmm ... doesn't sound like we're getting the whole story here, either, does it ...?

Torres, who has two licenses to carry a weapon, said he went out to his vehicle and then went back into the bank and faced the suspect after he'd taken money from the teller. "He did what I told him to right away," Torres said. "He didn't argue. He didn't fight back or anything."

Fine work ...

Naxal watch

Two employees of the Rungta Transport Company which was engaged in transporting coal in the district were shot dead by members of a Maoist backed organization, Jharkhand Janmukti Parishad.

I should probably mention that I stir in a heaping helping of skepticism any time I read a story like this, from either side. There's something going on over there, but there isn't nearly enough info to sort out who is right or wrong ...

In the past, Indian security agencies were said to have issues in decrypting anything beyond 40-bit key length and hence required decryption keys. Govt may not have the bandwidth to decrypt all the communications happening over the Internet, but in specific cases where there is an imminent terrorist communication or a fake money transaction, they should be able to decrypt it for the sake of security, says Rajat Khare, Director, Appin Group of Companies. It has happened in the past that communication which was very sensitive, could not be decrypted. The need of the hour is to upgrade our infrastructure to be able to decrypt at Govt level, and also allow the ISPs to take necessary encryptions at their end.

The bad guys will usually be more competent at cracking encryption than the gubmint, so if your gubmint you to make sure that they are able to read your encrypted data you should probably assume that your data isn't effectively encrypted.

Law enforcement officials have long warned that encryption technology allows criminals to hide their activities, but investigators encountered encrypted communications only one time during 2009’s wiretaps. The state investigators told the court that the encryption did not prevent them from getting the plain text of the messages.

If criminals were smart, they probably wouldn't be criminals ...

The 20 year old man entered the Antiques Bought and Sold Shop on Michigan near Parkinson late yesterday afternoon toting a weapon, when he was shot several times by the proprietor, 63, according to DPD spokesman John Roach.

Get sum ...

"I will confess that I don’t like the word ‘balance,’ because I think we have to cast aside the notion that our liberty and our security are...values that are on the opposite sides of a see-saw—that when one is up, the other necessarily must be down. The plain fact of the matter is that you cannot live free if you live in fear," she said Wednesday during a speech on transatlantic counterterrorism cooperation at the Georgetown University Law Center.

Increased liberty is a 'result' of increased security. If your liberty isn't increasing when a new security policy is implemented, then it isn't YOUR security that's being increased ...

Two Republican candidates for Nevada's Congessional District 1 have answered the Gun Rights Political Questionnaire.  Michele Fiore and Craig Lake  have given gun owners specific and unequivocal answers on where they stand on the right to keep and bear arms.

Gotta love it ...

Thai watch

In another brazen and controversial move, more than 200 red-shirt guards stormed into Chulalongkorn Hospital last night to check if there were soldiers inside the hospital buildings. The hour-long incident at the hospital, which is located right next to the red-shirt rally site, was monitored closely on Twitter and triggered a storm of criticism within the social media community. However, a source said Adisorn gave in after DAAD co-leader Payap Panket, wanted by police for his role in the tumultuous red campaign, insisted that he be allowed to inspect the area.

Also ...

The Red Shirt faction in Bangkok, Thailand has made an appeal to the EU to send observers to help prevent a military crackdown.  The growing chaos in Bangkok and other parts of Thailand has had governments warning its citizens' off travel in Thailand.

Cool pic of Saturn ...

Naxal watch

The fight is over land, much of it in the interior, that has rich deposits of coal and bauxite. On one side of the struggle are the rebels--perhaps 10,000 of them armed and out in the field every day, and a militia of 100,000 who can be called up on short notice. Driven by a violent ideology, the Naxalites claim to be fighting for the land rights of the poor, especially farmers and small indigenous tribes who know only an agrarian way of life. On the other side are the wealthy families behind Tata Steel, Jindal Steel & Power and Vedanta Resources (run by mining mogul Anil Agarwal), who want to develop the untapped resources. (The three companies rank 345, 1,131 and 923 on the Global 2000 list.) Caught in the middle of the conflict between Maoists and billionaires are thousands of villagers.

Hmmm ... the same as it ever was ...

(via Reason)

The Chinese government is looking to force security vendors to disclose their encryption information based on new regulations that will come into effect on Saturday.

I bet they are ...

Antivirus giant Symantec is getting serious about encryption. The company announced Thursday that it's buying the encryption-focused firms PGP and Guardian Edge, paying $300 million for PGP and $70 million for the smaller firm. In a statement, Symantec emphasized that buying the two privately-held companies is part of its larger shift to "information-centric" security--a trend towards placing protections in data itself, no matter where it travels, rather than protecting the borders around that data with technology such as firewalls or antivirus software. That's become a higher priority as data more often resides on mobile devices or is distributed in off-site servers, sometimes controlled by a contractor or a storage-as-a-service company such as Google or Amazon.

He has a valid license to carry a concealed weapon. So why was a decorated Vietnam veteran still arrested for having his gun on him? Robert Keathley says he was just minding his business when Detroit police pulled him over for a routine stop. He offered up that he had a Concealed Pistol License, commonly called a CCW (the old term was "carrying a concealed weapon"). There should have no problem, right? Wrong!

A suspect has been arrested as a co-conspirator in two drive-by blow-dart attacks, according to Delaware State Police. Tips played a role in the apprehension of Hamilton Smith, 20, of Bear, Del., who was charged Feb. 9 with two counts of second-degree assault and second-degree conspiracy, both felonies.

Sometimes, stuff that seems like a really good idea at the time turns out not to be ... and at times like that it's cheaper to be invisible than it is to be invincible ...

Russian lawmakers are considering extending new powers to the F.S.B., the successor to the Soviet-era K.G.B., allowing its officers to summon citizens and issue verbal or written warnings that their activities are “unacceptable” and leading toward a crime, even if no violation has occurred.

The researchers also noticed that the dust inside the magnetically shielded zone is brighter than the surrounding areas, which might have something to do with the solar wind weathering that surface differently over the eons. "I think this is a very exciting observation," said lunar researcher Jasper Halekas of the Space Science Laboratory at the University of California at Berkeley. "There have been a number of indications that theses things were taking place. (But) this is the first directed study that really tells you 'they are there.'"

Interesting ...

Naxal watch

Suspected Maoists blew up a railway track near Midnapore town in West Bengal's West Midnapore District on Tuesday, disrupting rail services in the region. The incident took place on the second-day of the two-day shutdown call given by the rebels in the three states of West Bengal, Orissa and Jharkhand demanding release of six Maoists, who were arrested earlier. Train services in the Kharagpur division have been affected by the incident. Due to the impact of the blast, rail slippers were blown off and a huge crater was created below the tracks at Puturia between Midnapore and Bhadutala stations. 

In late 2008, the Strategic Command’s Joint Task Force-Global Network Operations (JTF-GNO) put in place an immediate ban on the use of flash drives — USB storage devices that have become the modern version of the floppy disk. Used throughout the Defense Department to physically carry data between systems or transport personal files for use on shared systems, USB drives were at least partially responsible for a rapidly spreading virus attack on DOD’s Secret IP Router Network and Unclassified but Sensitive IP Router Network. On unclassified systems, the virus might have provided a back door for hackers to extract data.

The father of the convicted shooter in the Rogersville Wal-Mart sniper case was sentenced to one year in prison Friday for attempting to help his son hide from police days after the shooting. Ronald Eugene Brewer Sr., 54, 126 Bailey Johnson Road, Rogersville, pleaded guilty Friday to accessory after the fact, a Class E felony. He was sentenced by Judge John Dugger to one year in prison and fined $100. He will be eligible for parole after serving 30 percent of his sentence.

Sounds like the judge recognized that he didn't really have a lot of choice ...

Not even James Bond would scoff at the beautiful Hyper-Sub. After all, how could he not want to step foot onto a $3.5 million submersible powerboat?

Christmas is right around the corner ...

When the helicopter took off from a guided missile destroyer, it was about 4,000 meters away from the MSDF destroyer Suzunami. As the chopper flew closer to the Suzunami, the destroyer ordered it several times by radio not to fly any closer to the Japanese destroyers. However, the helicopter ignored the orders and continued toward the Suzunami. Ultimately the helicopter was only about 90 meters away from the Suzunami at a height of about 30 meters, lower than the destroyer's mast.

Sounds like propaganda ... the question is by whom and for what reason ...

Thai watch

The bomb, hidden in a motorcycle with a sidecar carrying coconuts, was detonated by attackers yesterday when the soldiers’ car drove past on Road 418, which links Pattani to Yala. The victims are being treated at Yala General Hospital. Two are in serious condition, police said. In Khok Pho district yesterday, insurgent suspects ambushed five staff from tambon Na Pradu municipality, killing one and injuring four, police said.

Following the massacre of 76 security personnel — 75 of whom belonged to the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) — in Dantewada earlier this month, the government is seriously considering raising a dedicated anti-Naxal force, trained to take on Left Wing extremists in the jungles of central India.

The drive is designed to thwart attempts by hackers to steal money from online bank accounts by providing a self-contained secure environment for online financial transactions that avoids malware that may already be on a computer. IronKey Trusted Access for Banking is based on the IronKey, a ruggedized flash storage drive that uses 256-bit AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) hardware encryption that meets the Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 140-2, a U.S. government standard for the protection of sensitive information.

The United States Navy and the Indian Navy are engaging in the 14th round of the Malabar series of exercises that will involve practicing anti-submarine warfare and special operations. According to a feature on The Telegraph India, this is something that the Indian Navy does not do with any other Navy except the U.S. Navy. The U.S. Navy flotilla arrived in Goa on Friday afternoon. Participating in the exercises are the U.S. Navy SEALs, who will be part of the frontline units of the exercise. This is reportedly the first time that the U.S. Navy is sending the SEALs to these exercises.

"Is this a drastic call to action? Of course it is," Fritchey said. "Is it warranted when we are losing residents to gun violence at such an alarming rate? Without question. We are not talking about rolling tanks down the street or having armed guards on each corner." What he envisions, Fritchey said, is a "heightened presence on the streets," particularly on the roughly 9 percent of city blocks where most of the city's violent crimes occur.

Anything but allow the citizens to exercise their right to bear arms ... you all need to elect some less corrupt individuals if you ever want peace and security ...

Naxal watch

The Maoists struck hard during their economic blockade, blowing up a culvert on a road near Bandhugaon in Orissa's Koraput district. They also blocked the roads, disrupting normal traffic. The naxals have called for a week-long economic blockade, protesting against the proposed Operation Green Hunt. Many areas in Makangiri and Koraput districts remained cut off, as naxals blocked the roads by felling trees and rocks.

Also ...

Even as the Railways are busy picking up the pieces following a series of Naxal attacks across the country, causing it losses worth crores of rupees and major operational delays, the world’s largest carrier of train passengers is faced with a new threat — terrorists. The Railway Board has sought to know from the Railway Protection Force (RPF) the steps it’s taking to protect luxury trains such as the Deccan Odyssey and the Maharaja Express from terror attacks. Trains in UP are already on the terror radar: Mohd Salman — an Indian Mujahideen operative held in Azamgarh — has confessed that the terror group had plans to blow up the Palace on Wheels (a luxury train), along with bridges. The design was to kill foreigners and seek maximum publicity.  

'Piracy in that area is a complex issue. The Gulf of Aden is a huge area traversed by ships from several countries. There are several honest fishermen sailing there too. The problems are many,' Pillai, Pillai, who has battled pirates off the Somalian coast, said. Rear Admiral Kevin Donagan, who is leading the US naval contingent in the Malabar exercise, admitted that piracy in Gulf of Aden was a difficult issue which could not be solved overnight. 'The good news is that several governments are coming together to find a solution. I feel that if we remain positive in that direction, we would make progress against piracy in that region,' Donagan maintained.

The provisions would give police extraordinary powers of preventive arrest and could force people to show up at secret hearings to testify about possibly pending criminal acts, under penalty of imprisonment. Justice Minister Rob Nicholson touted the measures on Friday as necessary tools to fight terrorism. The provisions had a five-year sunset clause when Parliament passed them as part of Canada’s original 2001 anti-terrorism law following the Sept. 11 hijackings in the United States that year. They expired in March 2007 when the Commons voted down a Tory motion to renew them, but not before the Conservatives painted the Liberal opposition as soft on terrorism.

Hugo Alfredo Tale-Yax was stabbed several times in the chest while saving a woman from a knife-wielding attacker. Then he bled to death while dozens of people walked by -- one stopping to snap a picture of the dying man with his cameraphone before leaving the scene.

I gather that folks in NYNY are less afraid of their conscience than they are of calling 911 ...

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Gunmen in Mexico have attacked a convoy with the top security official in the western state of Michoacan, killing four people and wounding 10. Officials say Public Safety Secretary Minerva Bautista was among the injured, but is now recovering. Some 20 people with assault rifles and grenades carried out the attack.

Mexico seems to be coming apart at the seams ...

A Taliban commander whose men ambushed an army convoy two days ago in a Pakistan tribal district has vowed to uphold a seven-month-old peace deal with the government in a bid to a avert military offensive, a media report said Saturday. Warlord Hafiz Gul Bahadur has directed his fighters to refrain from attacking security forces and government installations in North Waziristan, English-language daily The News reported.The statement was published two days after Taliban militants attacked a security convoy in the district, killing eight troops and injuring 15 more.

Probably should have been sorry beforehand ... more effective ...

Rio Grande watch

About noon, federal and municipal police vehicles were patrolling the Bosques de Salvarcar neighborhood in south Juárez when a street vendor at the intersection of Durango and Santiago Troncoso Avenues asked for help. When the officers stopped to assist, a group of armed men arrived in several vehicles, opened fire and killed five federal agents and the police officer.

For many years, astronomers and engineers at various space agencies have been working towards achieving a very challenging goal – conducting a successful sample-return mission to a nearby asteroid. This June, the Japanese space agency JAXA could become the first to actually pull this off. Its battered Hayabusa space probe is currently on its way back after meeting up with the small, potato-shaped asteroid Itokawa, back in 2005. It is scheduled to drop a small canister containing the samples it collected from the surface of the space rock in the Australian outback, in only two months' time. Over the last five years, the small probe has suffered numerous glitches in various systems, which made its controllers almost call it quits on several occasions. However, the spacecraft proved to be more resilient than anyone thought, and engineers managed to patch things up from the ground sufficiently well to grant Hayabusa a fighting chance of reaching Earth. At this point, it is basically “limping” its way back home, but JAXA officials are convinced that it will eventually make it.

IMAGINE 150 fraternity brothers packed into a container the size of a three-bedroom house. Announce you are breaking hallowed traditions by taking away their cigarettes and admitting women. Then lock the doors and push the container deep into the sea, for months at a time. This is what the US navy, after decades of contemplation and controversy, has decided to do with its submarine force, an elite fraternity of 13,000 active-duty sailors that has been patrolling the oceans for 110 years.

They will probably get over it ...

China watch

The Chinese modernisation plan of its Navy and building a sophisticated submarine fleet will curb the freedom of action of the US Navy in the Pacific Ocean. The Yalong Bay in the South of the Hainan boasts of an underground submarine base. The Chinese Navy is proud of it and looks upon its submarine fleet as the Defender of the Nation as well as the dissipater of the enemy fleet. It is understood that the Chinese Navy has 60 plus submarines poised to aim, shoot and kill a man of war of an enemy country. Generally speaking, the military strategists were of the opinion that China was 20 years behind America in armaments, guns, fighter jets and war ships. However, it is the considered opinion of the up-to-date strategists and planners that China is fast catching up. The warning bell has already rung and it is for the US Navy to take note of the growing prowess of the Chinese Navy.

But given that mobile connections have long outnumbered fixed-line telephones and, because of their sheer convenience, cellphones have emerged as the most popular mode of communication, this is hardly an advantage. If the traditional system of tapping is ‘switch-based’, the new form is ‘off the air’. There are separate off-air monitoring systems for GSM and CDMA cellphones. Though they are designed to be mounted on a table or even fit into a bag, these high-tech gadgets are powerful enough to cover a whole city and track up to 1,000 simultaneous conversations. Despite their unimaginable potential for damage, they come relatively cheap with each set estimated to cost Rs 1-2 crore.

You don't hear much about this here ...

Not surprisingly, the Maoists now loom large in every conversation. As the outpouring of opinions on television and not a few newspapers shows, they have become the targets of rage in the new India. But one can only wonder how many of the millions that daily face extortion by unaccountable petty bureaucrats; that wait for years at courts for a justice that is never rendered; and know that a third of candidates that political parties ask them to vote for are criminals, share this rage. Today, many of them must be looking at their government with new eyes and asking questions it had not occurred to them to ask before.

Defense attorneys say a man shot his girlfriend’s ex-husband 29 times with an assault rifle in self-defense, not as part of a murder plot to collect a $100,000 life insurance policy as prosecutors allege.

Sounds like a hard sell ...

In fact, recent polls indicate that not only will Mockus make it to a run-off, but he even has a decent chance of beating Santos. According to one survey, if the election were held today, Mockus would lose a second round by only about five percentage points. It is therefore not surprising that President Uribe, who until recently was quietly enjoying the final weeks of his incredibly popular two-term presidency, has re-entered the dirty world of Colombian politics to assail the Green Party candidate. His strategy of attack was equally unsurprising. Uribe’s hard-line security policies were a major reason for his immense popularity and he frequently denounces his opponents for their supposed weakness on security issues. Mockus’ academic background, nerdy demeanor and sunflower attire make him an easy target for such criticism.

Rio Grande watch

When a police officer is killed in Mexico, as seven of them were Friday on the streets of Ciudad Juárez, the sad question that immediately arises is, “Whose side were they on?” The drug gangs wreaking so much havoc throughout Mexico have long bribed officers to help keep their shipments of narcotics flowing. Traffickers consider police officers working for rival gangs to be the enemy.

Thai roundup

Thai emergency services and the health ministry said Friday that one person was killed in grenade blasts that hit Bangkok’s business district. A Thai deputy prime minister put the death toll at three shortly after the five explosions which hit late Thursday, tearing through a pro-government crowd facing off against “Red Shirts” anti-government campaigners. The Bangkok Emergency Medical Service said however that a 26-year-old Thai woman was the only confirmed fatality, and that 85 were injured included three foreigners from Australia, Indonesia and the United States. “As of now we can confirm that one person is dead. We cannot find the other two people reported dead, after checking with hospitals,” an official at the centre told AFP. The public health ministry also said that one person was killed but put the number of injured at 78. It said that four foreigners were among those hurt, including one Japanese.

And ...

Hotel occupancy in Bangkok has crumbled to 20 percent, tourism operators say, down from about 80 percent in February, squeezing an industry that supports six percent of the economy. "We will have to revise the growth rate again, expecially after this month and last month, as we can see that the protests have had a big impact on tourism," Abhisit said in his weekly television broadcast. He said the government would have to revise down its forecasts of 4.5 percent economic growth this year.

Also ...

Hundreds of Thai riot police confronted anti-government protesters at a barricade in Bangkok's business district on Friday, a day after grenade attacks in the area killed three people, but later pulled back without violence. Police demanded that the "red shirts" dismantle the barrier, Thai television said, but the protesters made no move to do so. A Reuters photographer said red shirts poured fuel on the barricade, made up largely of tires. The police later pulled back and the protesters also withdrew to the camp they have set up behind the barrier on the edge of the Silom business district.

A volcano is a mountain that opens downward to a reservoir of molten rock (like a huge pool of melted rocks) below the earth’s surface. Unlike mountains, which are pushed up from the earth’s crust, volcanoes are formed by their buildup of lava, ash flows, and airborne ash and dust. When pressure from gases and molten rock becomes strong enough to cause an explosion, it erupts and starts to spew gases and rocks through the opening.

A rocket carrying the X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle, commonly referred to as the "space plane," took off from Cape Canaveral in Florida. The space craft will significantly increase US fighting power and shows that the country has ambitions to "reach space and threaten us," Kornukov argued. "The US has completely spit on calls from Russia and the world to abandon plans for the deployment of weapons in space," he said.

Also ...

"As a superpower, the US has been calling for nuclear disarmament all these years and urged other countries to be more responsible for world peace and safety," Zhao said. "But in the meantime, its development of the space plane may lead to an arms race in space." Zhai Dequan, deputy secretary-general of the China Arms Control and Disarmament Association, said the impact of the space plane "may not be serious enough to trigger an arms race in space", but it has demonstrated US resolve to take a leading position in it.

Researchers at NASA have broken new ground, releasing never-before-seen high definition images – with clarity 10 times better than HD television – of the sun from a new spacecraft on Earth Day. For the first time ever scientists are able to study the sun in its full effect, and new technologies are bringing a new understanding of how solar activities affect the Earth and climate change.

Cool pics ...

Naxal watch

"Government will continue to follow its two-pronged approach of development and calibrated police action to deal with the Naxal problem," Chidambaram said. He said the debate on what should take place first- development or police action- is misplaced. "The decision will vary from situation to situation and from State to State and no fixed prescription is possible. In some areas, it may be possible to undertake some developmental activities, to be followed immediately by steps to strengthen security and in other areas, it may be necessary to first launch police action to regain control of the territory, followed by vigorous developmental activities," Chidambaram said.

That's the warning from CCW Business Lawyers following the news that the Digital Economy Act has been passed, signalling a distinct change of pace in the battle against online piracy and file sharing sites like Pirate Bay. Alison Marshall, solicitor with CCW, said, "Disconnection may be a year away but the worry for parents who are less computer literate than their kids is that they are often unaware of what their kids are doing online. "If the disconnection power is used, a teenager's illegal file-sharing could lead to the family internet access being removed.

Good thing the Brit gubmint had the foresight to disarm the subjects before pulling this crap ... even so, I bet there  will be running battles in the streets before the next winter ...

The ten-day long Indo-US wargames began on Friday in the Arabian Sea, strengthening the relationships between the two navies to maintain peace and stability. The thrust of the Malabar CY 10 exercise this year would be on Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW), Surface Firings, Maritime Interdiction Operations (MIO), Visit Board Search and Seizure (VBSS) and Submarine Operations.

Comedy Central has not seen fit to censor the show when it has insulted other religious leaders, political leaders, or protected groups. However, they did react to terrorism. The radical Islamic terrorist simply made a threat and Comedy Central surrendered. Radical Islamic Terrorist: 1, The First Amendment and American Freedom: Ø

It seems that we can't wait to change things around to prevent the tangos from winning ... too bad that changing things around IS them winning ...

Get ready for a C-note in 3-D. New $100 bills unveiled Wednesday flank the familiar face of Ben Franklin with an assortment of anti-counterfeiting technology, including a touch of "Avatar" via a new blue security strip. The 3-D strip features tiny Liberty Bells that morph into the number 100 when the bill is tilted, one of several changes that Treasury officials hope will frustrate global counterfeiters.

For the last few years, the United States and other Western nations have been training thousands of Palestinian police as part of efforts to build institutions for a new Palestinian state.  For the most part, the forces have succeeded in creating better security in the West Bank. Businesses are booming, and polls show most West Bank residents feel safer. However, many Israelis see the security forces as a de-facto army under Palestinian command that could one day turn against the Jewish State.

Lawyers representing the students subpoenaed the surveillance video. The university handed over some of the video but not all of it. Even now, two minutes of the university’s surveillance tape is still missing. But a spokesman said it is not the portion of the tape from the time when student Jack McKenna was allegedly beaten by Prince George's County Police.

"What I'm concerned about is people who have no training can carry a gun for no other purpose than to make a public statement," said Democratic Assemblywoman Lori Saldana of San Diego, who introduced legislation that would prohibit packing unloaded guns in plain sight. Saldana, testified wearing a bullet proof vest to emphasize the point that unloaded guns pose a threat because they can be loaded in seconds. "Open carry advocates have displayed weapons along Pacific Beach and elsewhere in the San Diego region in demonstrations, raising concerns among some citizens and drawing police to investigate," Saldana said.

Hmmm ... she must be tired of being a public servant ...

Anti-government demonstrators take part in a rally in Ratchaprasong shopping district on April 14, 2010 in Bangkok, Thailand. Thousands of 'Red Shirt' protesters have moved into the commercial district of the city claiming to be preparing for the next stage of their campaign to remove the government of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva.

A bunch of pics that make me doubtful about what's going on there ...

It may seem like a harmless, miniature version of the space shuttle, but some industry analysts are wondering if the secretive robotic spacecraft set to launch Thursday from Cape Canaveral has a more sinister side. "Are we looking at a new space vehicle or an orbital bomber that's capable of attacking from space?" said John Pike, director of Globalsecurity.org, a website for military policy research. "At this point, it's hard to say."

Naxal watch

Political parties across the spectrum in the central Indian state of Jharkhand have come together to press the Shibu Soren government to step up anti-Naxal operations in the state, which has, in the recent years, witnessed a steep rise in violence perpetrated by the extreme left-wing rebels. The state of Jharkhand, which received minimal development funds from undivided Bihar when it came into existence in 2001, is already facing huge resettlement and rehabilitation issues. "Till now Chief Minister Shibu Soren has been giving contradictory statements on Naxals. At least now his government and allies should take the issue very seriously and step up anti- Naxal operation with commitment," local Congress leader Radhakrishna Kishore said in a recent statement.

This study, which is to appear in the scientific journal Applied Physics Letters, will now enable everyday use of "one-time pad" encryption, which is the only known method that is theoretically unbreakable, according to the researchers. In the past, this has only been used for short messages requiring particularly high security, such as data sent by the military or security services.

Escaping a well-laid and well-executed ambush is difficult for troops in any combat situation irrespective of their level of training. All tactical commanders, therefore, take the usual precautions that are provided in any standard training manual to avoid getting into an ambush and these are known to the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and other paramilitary personnel and combat troops at all levels of the command structure. However, if for some reason precautions are not taken, breaking out is difficult, if not impossible. One has to be simply lucky to survive the attack. The view that the CRPF soldiers were killed because of deficiencies in training is, therefore, simplistic.

The United States Air Force has announced that it will launch a secret space plane that has sparked speculation about the militarization of space. The Pentagon has set April 21 as the date for the launch of the robotic space plane known as the X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV), which is a reusable unmanned plane capable of long outer space missions at low orbits. Since the nature of the project is shrouded in mystery, defense analysts allege that the US military is building the first generation of US 'space Predator drones' that will build up the United States' space armada, the Christian Science Monitor wrote in a recent article.

Launching the country's first Anti Submarine Warfare Corvette (ASWC) for the Indian Navy at the Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers (GRSE) Limited here on Monday, M.M. Pallam Raju, Union Minister of State for Defence, said three more such P-28 Corvettes will be launched by the GRSE by 2015. Pointing to the completion of the Rs. 560 crore modernisation programme of the GRSE scheduled for 2011, Mr. Raju said the dock's building capacity will be boosted manifold as it could then manufacture frigates.

Egypt's powerful security ministry warned that its forces could open fire on pro-democracy protesters if necessary, media reports said Monday, drawing criticism from groups calling for political reform in a parliamentary election year. An Interior Ministry adviser delivered the warning at a parliamentary hearing in which opposition lawmakers questioned him over the use of force against protesters at an April 6 demonstration. Several dozen protesters managed to briefly assemble in front of parliament to call for constitutional reforms and fairer presidential elections before plainclothes security men knocked some over and dragged them away.

A new red-shirt radio station went on air on Saturday in the Rajprasong intersection protest-site area, in a move to counter the continued shutting down of red-shirt media by the government under emergency rule. "They should allow us to criticise [the government], but instead they shut our ears and eyes," Chinawat Haboonpak, a red-shirt leader told the crowd at the intersection yesterday morning. "We ask for just one television channel, but they have taken it away from us and shut our ears and eyes again." The new station - on FM 106.80 - broadcasts from a new tower installed near Lumpini Park and calls itself Rajprasong Community Radio. Its reception can be received all the way to Bang Na area, in eastern Bangkok.

It's probably a good idea not to advertise the location of you pirate radio broadcast tower ...

As a stunned Government took stock of the situation and mulled various strategies, Naik said the IAF will be ready to join the operations against the Naxals if a decision is taken in this regard. He said the Military is trained for lethal operations to inflict maximum lethality. "The military--Air Force, Army and Navy--are not trained for limited lethality. The weapons that we have are meant for the enemy across the border." "Therefore, I am not in favour of use of Air Force in situations like the Naxal problem," the air chief said.

Sounds awfully ... uhh ... sane!