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Slavery now 63
Britain passed the Slavery Abolition Act which set free all the slaves and abolished the institution of slavery throughout its empire in 1833.
The United States Congress freed all the slaves and abolished the institution of slavery throughout the Union in 1865.
People had been enslaved by other people for as long as there had been people on the earth. No power had ever before 1833 abolished slavery and made enslavement a crime.
So now, in the 21st. century, slavery is long over and gone?
There are tens of millions of people trapped in various forms of slavery throughout the world today. Researchers estimate that 40 million are enslaved worldwide, generating $150 billion each year in illicit profits for traffickers.
Labor Slavery. About 50 percent toil in forced labor slavery in industries where manual labor is needed—such as farming, ranching, logging, mining, fishing, and brick making—and in service industries working as dish washers, janitors, gardeners, and maids.
Sex Slavery. About 12.5 percent are trapped in forced prostitution sex slavery.
Forced Marriage Slavery. About 37.5 percent are trapped in forced marriages.
Child Slavery. About 25 percent of today's slaves are children.
New slavery has two chief characteristics—it's cheap and it's disposable. Slaves today are cheaper than ever. In 1850, an average slave in the American South cost the equivalent of $40,000 in today's money. Today a slave costs about $90 on average worldwide. (Source: Disposable People: New Slavery in the Global Economy. See all Free the Slaves books.)
Modern slaves are not considered investments worth maintaining. In the 19thcentury it was difficult to capture slaves and transport them to the United States. But today, when someone in slavery gets sick or injured, they are simply dumped or killed.
So there are at least forty million slaves in the world. ("At least" because it can fairly be said that the populations of all Communist countries are held in slavery.) A quarter of the forty million are children. And the number of child slaves will grow because more are continually being born in slavery.
In 2017, a coalition of states and non-government organizations estimated that there were some 40 million people enslaved worldwide, as well as 152 million child laborers.
Modern slavery
40 m
Forced labor in the private sector
16 m
Forced marriage
15 m
Forced commercial sexual exploitation
5 m
Forced labor imposed by state authorities
4 m
Child labor
152 m
108 m
Children living in middle income countries
84 m
Hazardous work
73 m
Children (ages 5-14) outside the education system
36 m
An estimated 40.3 million men, women, and children were victims of modern slavery on any given day in 2016. Of these, 24.9 million people were in forced labour and 15.4 million people were living in a forced marriage. Women and girls are vastly over-represented, making up 71 percent of victims. Modern slavery is most prevalent in Africa, followed by the Asia and the Pacific region.
Although these are the most reliable estimates of modern slavery to date, we know they are conservative as significant gaps in data remain. The current Global Estimates do not cover all forms of modern slavery; for example, organ trafficking, child soldiers, or child marriage that could also constitute forced marriage are not able to be adequately measured at this time. Further, at a broad regional level there is high confidence in the estimates in all but one of the five regions. Estimates of modern slavery in the Arab States are affected by substantial gaps in the available data. Given this is a region that hosts 17.6 million migrant workers, representing more than one-tenth of all migrant workers in the world and one in three workers in the Arab States, and one in which forced marriage is reportedly widespread, the current estimate is undoubtedly a significant underestimate.
The 10 countries with the highest prevalence of modern slavery [and the predominant religion in each of them] are:
North Korea [Communist]
Eritrea [Christian and Muslim]
Burundi [Christian]
Central African Republic [Christian]
Afghanistan [Muslim]
Mauritania [Muslim]
South Sudan [Christian]
Pakistan [Muslim]
Cambodia [Christian]
Iran [Muslim]
Mauritania and Cambodia remained in the top 10 in 2018. Mauritania continues to host a high proportion of people living in modern slavery. …
The practice is entrenched in Mauritanian society with slave status being inherited, and deeply rooted in social castes and the wider social system. …
In Cambodia, men, women, and children are known to be exploited in various forms of modern slavery – including forced labour, debt bondage and forced marriage. … The government has been slow to improve their response to modern slavery.
Both ISIS and Boko Haram (the Nigerian affiliate of ISIS) have captured and enslaved untold thousands. The number of Yazidi women and girls enslaved by ISIS is estimated at about 7,000. Some who escaped or have been freed as ISIS has been defeated, have reported what they had to endure.
One story in particular haunts us (and it is certainly one of many as terrible.) A little Yazidi slave girl, 5 years old, got sick and wet her bed. Her ISIS Muslim owners in Iraq, a man and his German wife, punished her by putting her, chained up, out in the scorching heat and letting her thirst to death.
Muslim judges set a Christian woman free 4
This is very good news.
A death sentence hung over Aasiya Noreen – called "Asia Bibi", meaning "Asia Woman", by Muslims and the international press – for blasphemy against Muhammad. But today (October 31, 2018) an appeal court in Pakistan set her free.
She has not gone unpunished. She has been in solitary confinement in a dark prison cell for eight years.
We posted her story recently here.
And here is our Facebook summary of the Channel NewsAsia report of the court ruling and its immediate consequences:
Pakistan's Supreme Court today freed a Christian woman from a death sentence for blasphemy against Islam and overturned her conviction, sparking angry protests and death threats from an ultra-religious party and cheers from human rights advocates. Asia Bibi, a mother of four, had been living on death row since 2010 when she became the first woman to be sentenced to death by hanging under Pakistan's draconian blasphemy laws. She was condemned for allegedly making derogatory remarks about Islam after Muslim co-workers objected to her drinking water from the same cup as they drank from because she was not Muslim. The case has been a source of division within Pakistan, where two politicians who sought to help Asia Bibi were assassinated. Supporters of the Islamist political party Tehreek-e-Labaik (TLP), which was founded to support blasphemy laws, immediately condemned the ruling and blocked roads in major cities, pelting police with stones in the eastern city of Lahore. The TLP's leadership called for the death of Chief Justice Saqib Nasir and two other judges on the panel. Street protests and blockades of major roads were spreading by mid-afternoon, paralyzing parts of Islamabad, Lahore and other cities.
Chief Justice Saqib Nasir and the other two judges are brave men. Their lives are now in jeopardy.
Aasiya Noreen, blasphemy, and the quality of mercy 1
As the word "humane" means to be merciful, it implies that human beings are by nature merciful beings.
Is human nature innately merciful, kind, compassionate? We know it is not. People are not only commonly unmoved by suffering; people deliberately hurt other people.
Perhaps the fact that cruelty often requires an excuse – a claim that the cruel act was committed to serve a higher virtue – suggests an intuitive recognition that it is wrong to be cruel?
What are such higher virtues?
They lie in those fantasies of fulfilled desires: religions.
To do this or that for a god, on the command of a god, in the name of a god; to help realize the great promises a god has made for all mankind – to abolish all suffering forever, to put an end to death, to lay a path to eternal bliss … that is the higher calling, such ends are the higher ends, the goodness that serves those purposes of that god, is the higher – the highest – virtue, says religion.
But don't religions teach that to be good to other people is the highest service their acolytes can render to divinity?
No. Very few teach "humaneness" as a principle.
One religion that does not, is the religion with the second-largest following in the world: Islam.
Oh, it implies that "mercy" is highly valued by calling Allah, its god, "the Merciful" ("Bismillah al Rahman al Rahim" – "In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful".) But it commands Muslims to be merciless to non-Muslims. A multitude of surahs in the Koran order Muslims to do violence against "unbelievers". ("Fight those of the unbelievers who are near you and let them find ruthlessness in you." 9:1123. "Muhammad is the messenger of Allah and those with him are ruthless against the unbelievers and merciful among themselves." 48:29. "Enmity and hate shall reign between us until you believe in Allah alone." 60:4.)
Islam is plainly a great horror afflicting the human race. But it was a late-comer among the world's religions. It lit its flame from Christianity and Judaism, both of which did actually order that kindness be shown to both neighbor and stranger as a principle, but prescribed mercilessly cruel punishments for disobediance of their laws. Judaism commanded stoning to death for blasphemy; and blasphemy was an unforgivable sin in Christianity, punishable by an eternity in Hell. ("And he that blasphemeth the name of the Lord, he shall surely be put to death, and all the congregation shall certainly stone him: as well the stranger as he that is born in the land, when he blasphemeth the name of the Lord, shall be put to death." Leviticus 24: 6. "But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; they are guilty of an eternal sin." Mark 3:29.)
Believers must fear the criticism they call blasphemy. Criticism threatens the very existence of their religion.
The Enlightenment woke the West out of the nightmare of religion, and led slowly to the abolition, in the 20th century, of blasphemy as a crime in most Western countries. Notable exceptions still being, in 2017: Spain, Italy, Greece, Austria, Germany, Canada, and Ireland (which is holding a referendum this month, October 2018, on whether its blasphemy laws should be repealed).
No one in any of those countries or anywhere in Western Europe has been put to death by the state for blasphemy since 1765, when – to quote RealClear Politics:
A young man named François-Jean de la Barre … became the last person executed for blasphemy in Europe. … For a long time, this tragic tale was a distant chapter in the story of Western civilization's road to a secular, pluralistic society; the issues it raised had long been settled in favor of freedom of speech. … [But] twelve people — artists and journalists from the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo — [were] killed in the heart of Paris for perceived blasphemy against Islam [on January 7, 2015].
Islam, yes. In Islamic states blasphemers can still be sentenced to death.
In our post Thirst: a story of religious injustice, May 10, 2016, we told the story of Aasiya Noreen, brought to trial in Pakistan for blasphemy.
We tell it here again, with some changes and additions to bring the story up to date:
Aasiya Noreen is called "Asia Bibi" in the court and the press. That means "Asia Woman" – the common way women are named and titled in the Islamic culture which systematically demeans women.
Aasiya Noreen (aka "Asia Bibi")
She was a poor, illiterate woman who worked in the fields to help support her family of five children, two of them her own and three of them her husband's from a former marriage.
She was a Christian. A Catholic. Her family were the only Christians in the small village where she lived some thirty miles outside Lahore, the capital of the Punjab in the Islamic state of Pakistan. The Christians of the region were an underclass, traditionally assigned to menial jobs.
One hot summer's day in June, 2009, Aasiya was harvesting berries along with some Muslim women. They all became thirsty. The Muslim women sent Aasiya to fetch water from a well. Aasiya found a battered tin cup abandoned near the well, and had a drink from it before refilling it and carrying it to her fellow workers. One of them accused her of drinking from the cup and so making it unclean. Christian lips should not contaminate a cup that Muslims drink from. All the Muslim women agreed on that.
A dispute arose. Which was the one true religion? The Muslim women knew that Islam was the truth. Aasiya knew that Christianity was the truth. She dared to say (according to her own account), "Jesus Christ died on the cross for the sins of mankind. What did your Prophet Muhammed ever do to save mankind?"
The Muslim women were deeply offended. They went to their imam and told him that the Christian woman Aasiya Noreen had insulted the Prophet Muhammad.
The imam took action. He gathered together a number of good Muslims willing to defend the Prophet and the true faith of Islam, and led them to the house where Aasiya and her family lived. They set upon her and her husband and her children with righteous blows. The police arrived in time to save the Christian family from being beaten to death. The avenging mob agreed to spare them on condition that the police laid a charge of blasphemy against the woman. The police duly arrested her and put her in jail, where she waited until November, 2012 to be brought to trial.
Aasiya told the court that the woman who accused her of blasphemy had a grudge against her, resulting from an old quarrel, and the accusation was made out of a desire for revenge. The judge did not accept her story as a defense. He also chose to overlook inconsistencies in the testimony of the witnesses against her. He decided that she was guilty of blasphemy and sentenced her to death.
The description in Pakistani law of the crime she was fund guilty of, is: "Use of derogatory remarks, spoken, written, directly or indirectly, … defiles the name of Muhammad 1986." The prescribed penalty is: "Mandatory Death and fine (Feb. 1990)." And the law stipulates that the judge must be a Muslim.
She was to be hanged for blaspheming against the Prophet Muhammad.
She was the first woman ever to be condemned to death in Pakistan for blasphemy – her crime being considered so heinous that even death was not sufficient punishment. She was also to pay a fine equivalent to $1,100. She and her family had never in all their lives possessed a sum approaching $1,100. Nor did they know of any way they could raise it.
When the verdict was pronounced, the crowd in the court rose to its feet, applauding and shouting "Yes, kill her! Kill her! Allahu Akbar!". And yet more enthusiasts for justice, more celebrants of the glory of God, broke down the doors to swarm into the court, their furious, triumphant shouts swelling the chorus of "Allahu Akbar!" The greatness of their merciful God could hardly have been more passionately attested.
Aasiya's husband, Ashiq Masih, appealed the verdict. He and Aasiya hoped that the High Court would at least suspend the sentence.
There were humane men in authority; men who felt compassion, cared about justice, and wanted mercy for Aasiya Noreen.
There was a man in a high position who was deeply moved by the fate of Aasiya and determined to do all he could for her. He was Salmaan Taseer, the governor of the Punjab. He persuaded the president of Pakistan, Asif Ali Zardari, to come to her rescue. In December 2012, Taseer publicly announced that if the High Court did not suspend her sentence, the president would pardon her. And Zardari would have done so, but the Lahore High Court hastened to issue a stay order against a presidential pardon.
So Aasiya remained in prison in Lahore, in solitary confinement in an 8 by 10 foot dark windowless cell, for another six years.
At first the governor would visit her, with his wife and daughter. But then the court ruled that only her husband and lawyer (not her children) could see her.
On January 4, 2011, Salmaan Taseer was assassinated by one Mumtaz Qadri who resented the governor's concern for the blasphemer. (He was hanged for the crime in February 2016.)
The Minister of Minority Affairs, Shahbaz Bhatti – himself a Christian, and the only Christian member of the cabinet – was so disturbed by the case that he set about doing all he could to get the laws of blasphemy changed. He announced that he was prepared to die fighting for Aasiya Noreen's release. He received many death threats, and on March 2, 2011, he was shot dead in his car near his home.
Many times Aasiya's appeal was postponed. In October 2014, the High Court finally heard her case – and upheld her death sentence. Her husband then appealed to the President. But he was restrained from issuing a pardon, so her lawyers appealed to Pakistan's Supreme Court. In July, 2015, the Supreme Court suspended her death sentence "for the duration of the appeals process".
On Monday October 8 this year, 2018, the Supreme Court, after long delay, heard her last appeal and said it had reached a judgment, but has not yet announced what it is.
The judges have reason to fear for their lives if they do not sentence her to death. Will that fact ensure her execution?
And after men in high places have been killed for sympathizing with her, what chance would she herself have of surviving the killers' indignation if she were to be acquitted? Her family have gone into hiding, and they fear for her safety and survival if she were to be released.
Hundreds of Pakistanis have publicly protested against her being still alive. An imam offered $10,000 reward to anyone who would kill her, and apparently some 10 million citizens declared themselves ready and willing to do the noble deed.
And, Reuters reports:
The ultra-religious Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan (TLP) party, which makes punishing blasphemy its main campaign rallying cry and lionizes the bodyguard who killed Taseer, warned the court against any "concession or softness" for Bibi.
"If there is any attempt to hand her over to a foreign country, there will be terrible consequences," TLP said in a statement.
Are Christians doing anything to help save Aasiya Noreen?
The British Pakistan Christian Association reported on the eve of the appeal hearing:
BPCA Outreach Officer Leighton Medley, who is in Pakistan on his 6 monthly mission has told us that many churches in Lahore, particularly in Bahar Colony, have declared a day of fasting and prayer as Christian communities seek justice for Asia Bibi. He tells us that many were praying throughout the churches, asking for the final release of this innocent woman and the end of this sordid chapter in Pakistan's history. … Leighton spends time encouraging Christians to respond peacefully, and take to take in acting in a peaceful way, proclaiming non-violence the way that Jesus Christ did. [He says:]
We must have faith that God can intervene in this situation and this mountain will be removed. It is very much like going into the lion's den.
For nine years, prayers for Aasiya Noreen have been prayed: by herself, by her family, by quite a lot of fellow Christians, for her acquittal and release. The praying has not resulted in her acquittal and release. So why not go on doing it?
One way or another, this long-suffering woman, Aasiya Noreen, is most likely to be killed soon.
She is under sentence of death for taking a drink of water from a cup that was afterwards used to quench the thirst of other working women on a hot day, and for saying something she had been taught to believe to the other women who had been taught that it was something that should not be believed and should not be said.
Because of fantastic rumors about a man called "Jesus" and a man called "Muhammad", who lived (if at all) many hundreds of years ago; because of religion, lives are ruined, lives are lost. Cruelty and injustice reign. Again.
The amazing story of the Awan gang 1
… and how they are getting away with their crimes, helped by traitorous House Democrats led by the unconscionable Debbie Wasserman Schultz, and ignored by the Department of Justice.
On April 3, 2018, we posted the story: House Democrats put complete trust in a gang of Pakistani crooks.
We ended with this –
To sum up: These Pakistani crooks were engaged by Democratic members of Congress, without any enquiry into their background, to "look after" their computers which contained highly confidential information concerned with the protection of Americans. The Democrats never apparently considered the possibility that their data was being stolen and sent to Pakistani authorities. When their hardware was stolen by the crooks – and they knew it was the Awan gang who had stolen it – they did not go to the police. When the FBI did finally arrest Imran Awan on charges of fraud in a car-dealership – and denied that the gang "had any connection with a foreign government" – Imran Awan continued to be on the payroll of Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz.
The Democrats were putty in the hands of the foreign criminal gang. Helpless as babies. They feared to offend them by reporting them to the police or firing them.
Yet these people, for whom large numbers of Americans voted to represent them in the federal government, want, yearn, ache to rule the country. To conduct US relations with foreign powers. To be in charge of the world's mightiest military force …
Now (June 7, 2018) Creeping Sharia deplores the inaction of the DOJ:
What the Democrats did here was treason. …
The DOJ under Jeff Sessions is covering up a scandal. … It is in[Attorney General] Jeff Sessions's power to … charge the Pakistanis with hacking Congress and exposing Democrats' hypocrisy and negligence. He has a list of witnesses and his FBI is refusing to interview them… They have all the goods. It's in the server logs. This case is open-and-shut. And Jeff Sessions is refusing to bring the charges.
The question is, why?
Whatever his reasons, Jeff Sessions is failing President Trump and the nation.
House Democrats put complete trust in a gang of Pakistani crooks 14
… who exploited them, cheated them, robbed them, mocked them, and seriously endangered them, the government, and the nation.
It's not fake news. It really happened.
From the Daily Caller, April 1, 2018:
Every one of the 44 House Democrats who hired Pakistan-born IT aides who later allegedly made "unauthorized access" to congressional data appears to have chosen to exempt them from background checks, according to congressional documents.
All of them appear to have waived background checks on Imran Awan and his family members, even though the family of server administrators could collectively read all the emails and files of 1 in 5 House Democrats, and despite background checks being recommended for such positions, according to an inspector general's report. But it also includes a loophole allowing them to simply say that another member vouched for them.
No background checks? So what sort of people were the Awans? What could have been found out about them? What reputations did they have?
Among the red flags in Abid's background were a $1.1 million bankruptcy; six lawsuits against him or a company he owned; and at least three misdemeanor convictions including for DUI and driving on a suspended license, according to Virginia court records. Public court records show that Imran and Abid operated a car dealership, referred to the CIA, that took $100,000 from an Iraqi government official who is a fugitive from U.S. authorities. Numerous members of the family were tied to cryptic LLCs [Limited Liability Companies] such as New Dawn 2001, operated out of Imran's residence, Virginia corporation records show. Imran was the subject of repeated calls to police by multiple women [complaining of abuse] and had multiple misdemeanor convictions for driving offenses, according to court records.
How did they exploit their position and betray the trust reposed in them?
If a screening had caught those, what officials say happened next might have been averted. The House inspector general reported on Sept. 20, 2016, that shortly before the election members of the group were logging into servers of members they didn't work for, logging in using congressmen's personal usernames, uploading data off the House network, and behaving in ways that suggested "nefarious purposes" and that "steps are being taken to conceal their activity".
A pair of closely-held reports on Imran Awan, his brothers Abid and Jamal, his wife Hina Alvi, and his friend Rao Abbas, said, "the shared employees have not been vetted (e.g. background check)."
Were they highly qualified and thoroughly experienced?
"Shared employees" means they were all hired as part-time, individual employees by individual members, cobbling together $165,000 salaries. Jamal began making that salary at only 20 years old, according to House payroll records; Abid never went to college, his stepmother said; and Rao Abbas' most recent job experience was being fired from McDonald's, according to his roommate. ("Whether they had formal training or not, they were trained on the job by Imran," one of Imran's lawyers said.)
Who first brought them into the confidence of the House Democrats?
Among the 44 employers, the primary advocate for the suspects has been Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida, who … was also chair of the Democratic National Committee when Wikileaks published its emails. (The Wikileaks emails show that DNC aides called Imran when they needed the password to her device.) Since then, she and other Democrats have described cyber breaches in the strongest possible terms, such as "an act of war" and "an assault on our democracy."
But there is no indication Democrats put those concerns into practice when they entrusted the Pakistani dual citizens with their data, nor when suspicious activity was detected.
Once the crooks had been rumbled, did the Dems who'd employed them at least take immediate steps to find out how much damage they'd done and repair it as best they could?
Well, Debbie didn't. She kept Imran in his job.
Police banned the suspects from the network after the IG report, but Wasserman Schultz kept Imran on staff anyway. He was in the building and in possession of a laptop with the username RepDWS months later, according to an April 6, 2017 police report.
Was there no security policy that could have prevented this outrage, or at least discovered it sooner?
The House security policy, HISPOL16, says "House Offices shall… ensure background checks, as defined in this policy, have been conducted on Privileged Users". It includes quarterly reviews of privileged accounts' appropriateness. By the time the policy was enacted, some members had dropped the Awans for assorted reasons …
What reasons? None given, except –
… including Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona in early 2015 for what her spokesperson called "incompetence".
So they weren't even competent at the job they were paid to do by the Representatives? Kyrsten Sinema may not have been able to judge that. "Incompetence" was probably just her excuse for dismissing the Awans. The real reason seems to be was that she was afraid of them. So were they all – all the Democratic Representatives who irresponsibly entrusted their computers to the Awan gang.
… The Daily Caller News Foundation reached out to all 44 members, and none disputed that they had not conducted a background check. Not a single one of the 44 would say which of their colleagues vouched for the Awans, nor stated what criteria they used to determine that it was prudent to give them access to all their data.
Besides Wasserman Schultz, Imran has longstanding personal relationships with Reps. Gregory Meeks and Marcia Fudge of New York, Politico reported.
"Personal relationships"? He was their friend?
Employers also include Rep. Ted Lieu of California on the Foreign Affairs Committee and three members of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence: Reps. Andre Carson of Indiana, Jackie Speier of California and Joaquin Castro of Texas. …
Two of their employers said not a word when they were robbed by the Awans.
The Awans' employers also included Rep. Yvette Clarke of New York, who saw $120,000 in computer equipment disappear under Abid Awan's watch but "wrote off" the taxpayer funds rather than make an issue of it, according to the IG report and multiple senior government officials.
Xavier Becerra, now attorney general of California, ran the House Democratic Caucus, and his server was physically stolen shortly after the IG report named it as evidence in a hacking probe, three senior government officials said.
But wait, there's more:
The Daily Caller reported on October 2, 2017:
A now-indicted IT aide to various House Democrats was sending money and gifts to government officials in Pakistan and received protection from the Pakistani police, multiple relatives claim.
A Democratic aide also said Imran Awan personally bragged to him that he could have people tortured in Pakistan. Awan's lawyer acknowledged that he was sending money to a member of the Faisalabad police department, but said there was a good explanation.
The relatives said Awan and his brothers were also sending IT equipment, such as iPhones, to the country during the same period in which fraudulent purchase orders for that equipment were allegedly placed in the House, and in which congressional equipment apparently went missing.
Awan's stepmother, Samina Gilani, said the brothers were paying police officer Azhar Awan and that he is their cousin.
Facebook confirms that Azhar works for the police and is Facebook "friends" with the former congressional aides, who worked for 45 Democratic House members until the aides were banned Feb. 2, following the discovery of 5,400 unauthorized logins to congressional servers and the funneling of "massive" amounts of data off the congressional network. …
A fellow Democratic House IT aide … recounted a conversation between Awan and three colleagues in a House cafeteria several years ago in which Awan seemed to relish bragging about his ability to have people harassed in Pakistan.
"He wanted to build a CRM [customer relationship management software] but he wanted to do it in Pakistan," the aide told TheDCNF. "But the government doesn't allow that. They have to be American, but Imran said, 'Well, we can say that they're American, but really they'll be in Pakistan. I have these guys that work for the Faisalabad police department, and all we have to do is pay them $100 a month and they take them over to the police station, strip their clothes off, hang them upside down and beat them with a shoe. And that person will work hard and be loyal from then on.' …
In early 2016, $120,000 in equipment, including iPads, were discovered missing from the office of Democratic Rep. Yvette Clarke of New York, for which Abid ran IT. Equipment billed to other congressional offices was shipped to their house, and invoices were falsified to show prices as $499 — just under the cutoff at which equipment would be inventoried by central administrators. …
Awan's younger brothers Abid and Jamal were also on the House payroll, but have not been charged with any crimes. …
According to one witness:
Imran Awan introduces himself [in Pakistan] as someone from U.S. Congress or federal agencies … [so that he] manages to have police to escort him during his visits to Pakistan."
The Washington Post reported that the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force was investigating the Awans, but that "according to a senior congressional official familiar with the probe, criminal investigators have found no evidence that the IT workers had any connection to a foreign government".
If true, that raises questions about how thoroughly agents have probed.
Dan Perrin, a former staffer for the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations who had studied foreign actors, told TheDCNF there is a risk that the payments to the local police department signal a relationship to Pakistani authorities, such as the intelligence agency ISI, which he said "often works with or is embedded in the major city police forces in Pakistan."
While they were working on Capitol Hill, the brothers set up a car dealership that took $100,000 from Ali Al-Attar, an Iraqi politician who has been tied to Hezbollah and is wanted by the U.S. Department of Justice.
Imran Awan has been indicted for fraud in connection with a crooked car-dealership.
Their former business partner, Nasir Khattak, testified in Virginia court that the car dealership's finances consisted of byzantine transfers in which staff and cars were often swapped between it and a dealership next door. …
Perrin said the family's numerous car-related LLCs deserve special scrutiny because car dealerships are a favorite front for people with ties to foreign governments, providing the opportunity for money laundering and "giving the owners access to credit reports on all Americans".
To sum up: These Pakistani crooks were engaged by Democratic members of Congress, without any enquiry into their background, to "look after" their computers which contained highly confidential information concerned with the protection of Americans. The Democrats never apparently considered the possibility that their data was being stolen and sent to Pakistani authorities. When their hardware was stolen by the crooks – and they knew it was the Awan gang who had stolen it – they did not go to the police. When the FBI did finally arrest Imran Awan on charges of fraud in a car-dealership – and denied that the gang "had any connection with a foreign government" – Imran Awan continued to be on the payroll of Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz.
The Democrats were putty in the hands of the foreign criminal gang. Helpless as babies. They feared to offend them by reporting them to the police or firing them.
Yet these people, for whom large numbers of Americans voted to represent them in the federal government, want, yearn, ache to rule the country. To conduct US relations with foreign powers. To be in charge of the world's mightiest military force …
Britain eases the needy need of nuclear-armed Islamic Pakistan 10
In our post Paying to be hated and betrayed (January 1, 2018), in which we deplored the giving of foreign aid by the United States, we also reported that President Trump was stopping aid to the terrorism-sponsoring state Pakistan.
He tweeted:
The United States has foolishly given Pakistan more than 33 billion dollars in aid over the last 15 years, and they have given us nothing but lies & deceit, thinking of our leaders as fools. They give safe haven to the terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan, with little help. No more!
Meanwhile, Britain under the weak and incoherent leadership of Prime Minister Theresa May, is increasing its aid to Pakistan.
The Daily Mail reports:
Britain is to increase foreign aid to Pakistan by more than £100 million even though it has a space programme and nuclear weapons.
The Asian country is now the biggest recipient of UK handouts despite preparing to splash out billions on arms including a new fleet of submarines.
It comes after the Mail yesterday revealed how £300 million of British taxpayers' money is being handed out to Pakistanis on pre-loaded cash cards as part of a scheme dogged by claims of corruption.
The allegations have led to renewed calls for the UK to ditch its foreign aid targets when there is a crisis in social care at home.
Figures from Britain's overseas aid department, the Department for International Development, show total spending on Pakistan will soar by more than 30 per cent this year.
Some £441 million will be handed to projects in 2016-17, up £105 million from £336 million in 2015-16.
Yet Islamabad has unveiled a massive military spending plan, pumping £654 million into the defence budget this year – an 11 per cent boost to £6.7 billion.
The figures do not include money spent on its atomic weapons programme. The country is one of a small number of nuclear powers, and has between 110 and 130 warheads.
Pakistan spends around 3.6 per cent of its national income on defence, compared to Britain, which only just fulfils its Nato commitment of at least two per cent.
Last year Pakistan announced it would buy eight new submarines at a cost of around £4 billion, with the country expected to lavish more than £10 billion on new weapons by 2024.
Its space programme has successfully launched a satellite and has an annual budget of around £19.5 million.
Backbenchers have been calling on Theresa May to ditch the Government's commitment to spend 0.7 per cent of national income on overseas aid when there is a crisis in care for the elderly in Britain. …
The Prime Minister's spokesman last night said the system helped focus aid on 'those who need it, when they need it'. The aide said the policy was 'an investment in our security' and claimed there were 'robust' policies in place to protect against fraud and corruption.
There are no such policies in place. In no way is this vast handout toPakistan an investment in British security.
[Another] spokesman added: 'Our investment in Pakistan is making the world a safer place by tackling poverty, improving governance and disrupting serious crime, which left unchallenged breeds violent extremism and drives mass migration.'
It is a myth, a lie, an apparently ineradicable illusion that "poverty breeds violent extremism". There is not a trace of evidence that it does or ever has.
It needs to be noted that most of the gangs that "groom" underage girls for prostitution in Britain are Pakistani Muslims.
It also needs to be recalled that Pakistan has persistently aided the Taliban, has sheltered Osama bi Laden, and imprisoned the doctor who finally revealed bin Laden's hiding place.
Pakistan does no good to the West. On the contrary, it does as much harm as it can. There is no justification for giving vast sums of British tax money to Pakistan. None.
Who in the days of Churchill and Margaret Thatcher, or for that matter at any time in the past, would have believed that a British government could be so stupid?
And the party in power calls itself the Conservative Party!
(Hat-tip for the Daily Mail report to our British associate, Chauncey Tinker, editor of the online magazine of political commentary, The Participator.)
Clueless Congressional Democrats mothering scoundrels 1
How low, petty, foolish, and nasty the visible members of the Congressional Democratic Party and their media shills have become!
They shrink even smaller when contrasted with the huge figure that President Trump now appears on the world stage.
The tiny people on the Democratic side being so close to the ground that they cannot see higher than the shoes of the First Lady, make do with them to criticize. There's contemporary political opposition for you!
Pathetic they plainly are. They are also naive. A bunch of them have been taken for a ride by a gang of Pakistani Muslim crooks. (See also seven articles about them here.)
And now it turns out that the Muslims crooks are not only conmen and conwomen; not only thieves; not only bank defrauders; not only in possession of heaps of confidential information about the United States Congress; not only potential or actual blackmailers; but at least one of them is also a slaver, polygamist, and sadist:
From the Daily Caller:
Women in relationships with Imran Awan, the indicted former IT aide for Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, have recently called Virginia law enforcement and alleged being abused by him, police reports obtained under Virginia's Freedom of Information Act show.
Officers found one of the women bloodied and she told them she "just wanted to leave," while the second said she felt like a "slave," according to Fairfax County Police reports … A third woman claimed she was being kept "in captivity".
The third woman is Awan's stepmother, Samina Gilani, who said in court documents that Awan invoked his authority as a congressional employee to intimidate immigrant women, in part by telling them he had the power to have people kidnapped.
All but two of the nearly two dozen Democratic women Awan worked for in the House declined to comment on the police reports.
Wasserman Schultz, the former Democratic National Committee chairwoman, refused to fire Awan for months after his Feb. 2, 2017 banishment from the House computer network due to his being a suspect in a criminal investigation by the FBI and U.S. Capitol Police into a major cybersecurity breach.
Wasserman Schultz said that "as a mother, a Jew, and a member of Congress," she wanted to defend his rights, a sentiment echoed by Rep. Marcia Fudge, an Ohio Democrat. Rep. Gregory Meeks, a New York Democrat. Wasserman Schultz also claimed allegations against Awan might stem from Islamophobia. All three women are Muslim.
The sentimental slop that fills their minds! No wonder they were taken advantage of by the Awan gang. Meekly and gratefully, with no doubt a sense of relief, they handed over their passwords – not knowing a thing about computers other than to barely make use of them, if that.
And now they are trying to fudge the issue by claiming (as the Left always does) that they were doing it out of compassion – thinking of their exploiters as children who needed mothering, and because … what? What could Debbie Wasserman Shultz mean by wanting "as a Jew" to defend their rights? One shudders to think what connections her synapses make between "being a Jew" and condoning theft, fraud, and cruelty. And "as a member of Congress"? Ah, yes. Congress = government = Big Mother to the world, in particular to Muslims.
Awan's attorney, Chris Gowen, a former aide to Bill and Hillary Clinton, has blasted journalists covering the investigation. The press "should be reminded that Imran Awan is a husband and a father, not a political pawn", Gowen said. …
Neither of the other two women who complained are married to Awan, though both were apparently in relationships with him. Awan's wife, Hina Alvi, worked as an IT aide for dozens of members of Congress, including Wasserman Schultz. The two women who called the police both lived in the same Alexandria, Va., complex but in different apartments for which Imran paid.
A crying Salam Chaudry called police in December 2015 to the Manitoba Apartment complex for a "domestic dispute", according to a Fairfax County police report.
The investigating officer wrote that "Imran Awan was not supposed to live there and [Chaudry] wanted him to leave … It appeared that the two people were in a romantic relationship. Ms. Salam had a [redacted] [read wound – ed] that she said happened when she was doing dishes. Ms. Salam said she just wanted to leave and go to a shelter as she has no money. Ms. Salam has two children that were both at the residence both under the age of 8″.
The officer wrote that he "asked Ms. Salam why she was crying and calling police. Ms. Salam insisted nothing happened but that she wanted to leave. I went and spoke to Mr. Awan who quickly advised that he wanted to speak with a lawyer". "I asked him about the small amount of dried blood that appeared to be on his left hand," the officer wrote. "He stated that it was from when his 'roommate' was getting the phone from him … After he left, I stayed and spoke with Ms. Salam about getting a protective order."
Samara Siddique told authorities in a July 18 … that "her boyfriend treat her bad and keep her there like a slave … [she] wants him out of her life. Ms. Siddique wanted info on how to obtain a restraining order against him". The July 18 incident was the third time in less than a year police had responded to altercations between Siddique and Awan, once finding "small cut[s] on stomach and arm".
The stepmother, Gilani, said … that after she had called the police, "Imran Awan showed up and threatened me for calling the police. Mr. Shahid Imran Awan threatened that he is very powerful and if I ever call the police [he] will do harm to me and my family members back in Pakistan and one of my cousins here in Baltimore."
She continued: "Imran Awan did admit to me that my phone is tapped and there are devices installed in my house to listen my all conversations … Imran Awan introduces himself as someone from US Congress or someone from federal agencies … Imran Awan manages to have police mobile based on his position in US congress or Federal Agencies to escort him during his visit to Pakistan." …
Gilani claimed Siddique is Awan's second wife by Pakistani law, but that he had taken her copy of the marriage license away from her in order to render her helpless.
Just the sort of person, this Imran Awan, whom Congressional Democrats would judge ideal for the job of looking after their information technology.
And they want to rule the country?
Paying them to defeat and subjugate us 2
Citizens of the Western democracies are being forced to invest in their own defeat and subjugation by Islam.
Sam Westrop, the director of Islamist Watch, a department of Daniel Pipes's Middle East Forum, is a leading authority on "extremist" Muslim organizations and individuals in the Western world. He is to be believed when he explains how American tax-payers' money is funding Islamic terrorism. It's a horrifying fact, and the funding urgently needs to be stopped.
He writes at the National Review:
Extremist movements disguise their activities as schools or charities. In Tuesday's speech, President Trump denounced the flow of U.S. money to Pakistan while that nation harbors terrorists. South Asian Islamism is an enormous problem, and yet a great deal of the discussion in America surrounding Islamism focuses on the Egyptian-founded Muslim Brotherhood.
But the Muslim Brotherhood is far from the only Islamist network in the United States; it is simply the best known. Other Islamist movements also benefit from government ignorance about the diversity of Islam and Islamism across the globe.
The South Asian Islamist movement Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), for instance, has received millions from the U.S. taxpayer for its powerful network of charities and welfare services, which are designed to obtain external funding as well as legitimize JI as a representative voice of Muslims, in both America and South Asia. Although JI has its own ideologues, literature, and infrastructure, it is often described as the South Asian "cousin" of the Muslim Brotherhood. Qazi Ahmad Hussain, head of JI in Pakistan, has declared: "We consider ourselves as an integral part of the Brotherhood and the Islamic movement in Egypt. . . . Our nation is one." JI's history is bloody. During the 1971 Liberation War in Bangladesh, JI fighters helped Pakistani forces massacre hundreds of thousands of Bangladeshis seeking independence from Pakistan. Several JI leaders guilty of these war crimes fled to the West, where they helped establish JI organizations that operated as community leadership groups.
Two western JI leaders have since been sentenced to death in absentia for these killings by a UN-backed war-crimes tribunal.
A tribunal backed by the UN doing the right thing? Look out for pigs in the sky over Turtle Bay!
One of those convicted, Ashrafuzzaman Khan, served as a leading official of the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA), a prominent American Muslim organization. Twice a year, ICNA jointly hosts a conference with the Muslim American Society (MAS), a leading Muslim Brotherhood institution. Unsurprisingly, these conferences are filled with extremist preachers. Ahmed Taha, an ICNA-MAS official who organized their conference in December, has republished posts on social media stating: "O Muslim, O servant of God. There is a Jew behind me, come kill him."
Despite its long history of extremism, in 2016 ICNA received $1.3 million of taxpayers' money as part of a grant awarded by the Department of Homeland Security.
ICNA is not the only JI organization in America. Nor is it the only JI group to have received taxpayer funds. Behind ICNA and other front groups around the world, JI operates an enormous network of registered charities and community organizations. One of the most prominent is the Rural Education and Development (READ) Foundation.
READ manages 374 schools in Azad Jammu and Kashmir, the Pakistani-controlled area of the Kashmir region, as well as in nearby Pakistani rural areas. These schools teach over 100,000 students. Although based in Pakistan, READ has offices in the United Kingdom and a network of representatives in the United States. ICNA and other U.S.-based JI groups describe READ as their "partner". READ's own JI links are clear: board member Mohammad Ayub also appears to serve as a leader of the JI branch in Azad Jammu and Kashmir.
As Canadian journalist Sonya Fatah notes, READ is part of a "complex web of organizations" run by JI. These welfare and social-services agencies serve both to "gain converts in poor rural communities" and to "win votes". Within this web, READ's "sister organizations" include the Al Khidmat Foundation and the Ghazali Education Trust, two other Pakistani charities focused on schools and education, which openly identify as JI institutions and also enjoy close partnerships with ICNA. In 2006, JI's own website announced that Al Khidmat had given 6 million rupees ($100,000) to Hamas for their "just Jihad".
How many Americans have any idea how deep, how wide, how intricate the web of Islamic subversion is in their own country and the world – let alone suspect that their own money is going towards its support? How many politicians know? Democrats might relish the fact if they knew it. Would Republicans be willing to do anything about it?
At least some of the multifarious groups have been recognized as terrorist organizations:
Officials from both the Al Khidmat Foundation and the Ghazali Education Trust work closely with Syed Salahuddin, the leader of Hizbul Mujahideen, JI's paramilitary wing. Both Salahuddin and Hizbul Mujahideen have recently been designated as terrorists by the U.S. government.
But –
From 2013 to 2016, the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development handed out over $2 million to READ.
If JI's involvement with acts of genocide, its funding of Hamas, and its continued terrorist links are not enough to suggest these grants were a bad idea, there is also the question of what READ schools are actually teaching their students, subsidized by the American taxpayer.
There is no information publicly available about the textbooks or curricula used in these schools. We do not know what students are taught, and when we asked the State Department, they failed to respond. But a glance at the social-media pages operated by READ schools is not promising. Posts include a homage to Mumtaz Qadri, an Islamic extremist who, in 2011, murdered Punjab governor Salman Taseer in retribution for Taseer's public support for a Pakistani Christian woman convicted of blasphemy. The READ Facebook post features a portrait of Mumtaz Qadri with a caption that states: "We are all in your debt, O messenger of Allah".
Tax-payers subsidize the insults and abuse that their enemies hurl at them:
Other social-media postings include text denouncing the "American Secular Terrorists . . . dirty people" who "destroyed Iraq and killed 150,000 Iraqis" on the "instructions of Iran".
A number of READ schools have also published photos from school ceremonies in which young children wearing military uniforms and holding guns act out battles — reminiscent of similar events in the Gaza Strip under Hamas.
The U.S. government is not READ's only publicly listed partner. It enjoys support from a number of Western governments, including grants of over $360,000 in 2012 and 2013 from the British government. …
In the West, READ does not bother to distance itself from hard-line clerics. Speakers at READ events have included Uthman Lateef, an overtly anti-Semitic preacher who has expressed support for convicted terrorists, and Sulaiman Gani, a prominent supporter of convicted al-Qaeda operative Aafia Siddiqui.
In April 2017, the British government's regulator of charities investigated the READ Foundation after the Times reported it had hosted an event with Yasir Qadhi, an American Salafi preacher who has declared that the punishment for homosexuality is death.
Millions of dollars of American taxpayers' money have been given to Jamaat-e-Islami organizations. …
The Trump administration is showing interest in addressing the threat posed by the Muslim Brotherhood. A recent review of the Countering Violent Extremism program divested MB groups of government patronage. Now it falls to the administration to understand that Islamism takes many other forms … The government must actively work to confront and defund them all.
The longest American war 7
We would like to know your opinions of President Trump's policy, which he announced yesterday, towards Afghanistan and the war America is still waging there against the Taliban.
Below is a video clip in which Lt. Col. (Ret.) Michael Waltz talks approvingly about the speech and the policy to Fox Special Report host Bret Baier.
Michael Waltz is the author of Warrior Diplomat.
We quote the advertisment for it:
Grappling with centuries-old feuds, defeating a shrewd insurgency, and navigating the sometimes paralyzing bureaucracy of the U.S. military are issues that prompt sleepless nights for both policy makers in Washington DC and soldiers at war, albeit for different reasons. Few, however, have dealt with these issues in the White House situation room and on the front line. Michael G. Waltz has done just that, working as a policy advisor to Vice President Richard B. Cheney and also serving in the mountains of Afghanistan as a Green Beret, directly implementing strategy in the field that he helped devise in Washington.
In Warrior Diplomat: A Green Beret's Battles from Washington to Afghanistan, Waltz shares his unique firsthand experiences, revealing the sights, sounds, emotions, and complexities involved in the war in Afghanistan. Waltz also highlights the policy issues that have plagued the war effort throughout the past decade, from the drug trade, to civilian casualties, to a lack of resources in comparison to Iraq, to the overall coalition strategy. At the same time, he points out that stabilizing Afghanistan and the region remains crucial to national security and that a long-term commitment along the lines of South Korea or Germany is imperative if America is to remain secure.
Corruption, crime, and clumsy cover-up in the Democratic Party 1
First, Mark Steyn's comments on the case:
Next, Andrew C. McCarthy writes at National Review:
There is a very intriguing investigation of the Awan family. There are about six of them — brothers, spouses, and attached others — who were retained by various Democrats as computer-systems managers at compensation levels dwarfing that of the average congressional staffer. The Awans fell under suspicion in late 2016 and were canned at the beginning of February, on suspicion of mishandling the sensitive information to which they'd had access: scanning members' e-mail, transferring files to remote servers under the Awans' control, stealing computer equipment and hard drives (some of which they attempted to destroy when they were found out), along with a sideline in procurement fraud.
The hard drives were hammered to destroy them of course, just as Hillary Clinton's were (according to the FBI). Hammered! Every blow declares a great fear of what might be found on them.
Which is?
What else but proof of crimes committed by their owners and associates?
We should say that almost all of them were canned. Hina Alvi and her husband, Imran Awan, stayed on, even though they were no longer authorized to have access to the House computer system (i.e., to do the work they were hired to do). Alvi continued to be retained by Congressman Gregory Meeks, a New York Democrat, for another four weeks. During that time, we now know, she was tying up loose financial ends, packing her house up, and pulling three young daughters out of school — just before skedaddling to Pakistan.
What Imran Awan was arrested for (on Monday, July 24, 2017), and what he and his wife are openly suspected of, is a scam to cheat a federal credit union out of some $300,000. They made "several false statements about their qualifications for a credit line and their intended use of the money". McCarthy thinks that "the strongest part of [the] case … involves the schemers' transferring the loot to their native Pakistan". This however was not mentioned in the indictment.
And questions as to why proliferate as more of the story unfolds:
Awan was kept on the payroll for about six more months by Wasserman Schultz, a Florida Democrat, former Democratic National Committee chairwoman, and Clinton insider. She finally fired him only after he was arrested at the airport right before a scheduled flight to Qatar, from whence he planned to join Alvi in Pakistan.
There are grounds to suspect blackmail, given (a) the staggering sums of money paid to the Awans over the years, (b) the sensitive congressional communications to which they had access, (c) the alleged involvement of Imran Awan and one of his brothers in a blackmail-extortion scheme against their stepmother, and (d) Wasserman Schultz's months of protecting Awan and potentially impeding the investigation. There are also, of course, questions about stolen information.
And why …
Why did the FBI and the Capitol Police allow Hina Alvi to leave the country on March 5 when there were grounds to arrest her at Dulles Airport? Why did they wait to charge her until last week — by which time she was safely in Pakistan, from which it will likely be impossible to extradite her for prosecution? What, moreover, about Awan's brothers and other apparent accomplices? What has become of them since they were fired by the House almost seven months ago?
Imran Awan's sudden arrest in late July meant the Justice Department would finally have to file formal charges in court. Thus, there was hope that we'd finally get some answers. Instead, the indictment raises still more questions.
Why, why, why?
To begin with, it is not the easiest thing to get one's hands on the indictment. The case is being handled by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia. There is no press release about the indictment on the office's website, though U.S. attorneys' offices routinely issue press releases and make charging documents available in cases of far less national prominence. (I found the indictment through the Orlando Sentinel, which obtained and posted it in conjunction with the paper's report on the filing of charges.)
By the way, the U.S. attorney's office is currently led by Channing D. Phillips, an Obama holdover who was never confirmed. Still awaiting Senate confirmation is Jessie Liu, nominated by President Trump in June. …
And here comes the big one, underplayed …
Steven Wasserman, Representative Wasserman Schultz's brother, has been an assistant U.S. attorney in the office for many years. I have seen no indication that he has any formal role in the case [emphasis added – ed] …
What is clear, however, is that the office is low-keying the Awan prosecution.
But why?
The indictment itself is drawn very narrowly. All four charges flow from a financial-fraud conspiracy of short duration. Only Imran Awan and his wife are named as defendants. There is no reference to Awan-family perfidy in connection with the House communications system.
Why not?
More bizarre still: There is not a word about Alvi's flight to Pakistan, nor Imran Awan's failed attempt to follow her there. This is not an oversight. The omission appears quite intentional.
It is common Justice Department practice, in pleading a conspiracy indictment, to allege that the scheme began "on or about" its starting date and continued "up to and including the date of the filing of this indictment". Strictly speaking, a conspiracy ends when the crime that is its objective has been completed. But there is no requirement that a specific end date be set forth in the indictment. Therefore, prosecutors go as long as they can — i.e., right up to the date the grand jury voted to indict — to give themselves the widest berth possible to argue that evidence damaging to the defense is relevant and admissible. But that is not what happened in the Awan indictment.
The Justice Department alleges that the conspiracy took place "from on or about December 12, 2016 through on or about February 27, 201″. February 27 was six days before Alvi fled and five months before Awan was arrested trying to leave the country. This makes no sense. Indeed, it does not even make sense in the context of the narrow scheme prosecutors have charged: Although the indictment says the conspiracy ended on February 27, it alleges a relevant $83,000 interbank transfer occurred on February 28 (see indictment, paragraphs 8 and 22). That is, prosecutors assert that a money transfer supposedly in furtherance of the conspiracy happened a day after the conspiracy was already over. That is surely just a mistake — anybody can screw up a date.
There is, by contrast, no apparent explanation for omitting from a fraudulent cash-transfer prosecution the fact that the conspirators undertook to transfer themselves to the foreign country where they'd sent the money. Why would prosecutors leave that out of their indictment? Why give Awan's defense a basis to claim that, since the indictment does not allege anything about flight to Pakistan, the court should bar any mention of it during the trial? In fact, quite apart from the manifest case-related reasons to plead instances of flight, a competent prosecutor would have included them in the indictment simply to underscore that Awan is a flight risk who should have onerous bail conditions or even be detained pretrial.
We must also ask, again: Why did the FBI allow Alvi to flee? Before she boarded her March 5 flight to Qatar (en route to Pakistan), agents briefly detained her. U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents had already searched her baggage and found $12,400 in cash. As I have pointed out, it is a felony to move more than $10,000 in U.S. currency out of the country unless one completes the required government report … There was no indication that she did so in the complaint affidavit submitted to the court when Awan was arrested last month.
By the time Alvi fled, the Awans had been under investigation by various federal agencies for at least three months.
The FBI was sufficiently attuned to the Awans' criminality that its agents went to the trouble of chasing Alvi to the airport.
If she didn't fill out the required form, she should have been arrested for the currency violation. Is it possible that, rather than arresting her, federal agents instructed her to complete the form on the spot? One would hope not, but even in such an unlikely event, Alvi would undoubtedly have made false statements about the provenance of the cash. That would also have been a felony, providing more grounds for her arrest.
Why let her go, especially when, as its agent told the court in the aforementioned affidavit, the FBI "does not believe that Alvi has any intention to return to the United States"?
Why again and again.
More bizarre: Why not include Alvi's flight — as well as Awan's later attempt to go on the lam — in describing the money-transfer scheme charged in the indictment? Patently, these episodes are damning proof of fraudulent intent, which prosecutors must establish at trial if they are to convict Awan. Did prosecutors fail to mention the flight evidence in hope of diverting attention from the government's decision to let Alvi flee? Again, one would hope not, but if not, what could the explanation be?
To summarize, the indictment is an exercise in omission.
Nothing about Wasserman Schultz's energetic efforts to prevent investigators from examining Awan's laptop. A likely currency-transportation offense against Alvi goes uncharged. And, as for the offenses that are charged, prosecutors plead them in a manner that avoids any reference to what should be their best evidence.
There is something very strange going on here.
Something strange? No. Something nasty and disgraceful, but not strange. Nasty and disgraceful is business as usual in the Democratic Party.


text:
Cote d'Or France Burgundy Cote d'Or
Cote d'Or France French Holidays
The Cote d'Or is a well known wine region in France that stretches for 60km going south from Dijon. The 'Golden Hillside' presents a rich palette of browns in the vines, soil and trees along the slopes, the tops of which are wooded while vines line the eastern slopes. The slopes are cut by combes or steep valleys that are popular with rock climbers. The walking trails GR7 and GR76 run along the Cote d'Or all the way to Lyon.
However, it is the wine that is the most important feature of the Cote d'Or. The Cote de Nuits is the northern section stretching from Fixin to Corgolin and produces some full bodied reds, often using the syrah grape. The southern Cote de Beaune runs from Aloxe Corton to Santenay and produces both excellent white and red wines.Name any of the towns along the N74 and an oenophile's eyes will light up. Marsannay la Cote, Fixin, Brochon, Gevrey Chambertin, Vougeot, Nuits St Georges, Vosne Romanée, Pernand Vergelesses, Aloxe Corton, Pommard, Volnay, St Romain, Meursault and Santenay to name but a few are all renowned for producing very high class wines that are often on a par or better with the top Bordeaux wines. Some say that where Bordeaux produces consistently good wines, when Burgundy has a good year it is truly something spectacular.
Whilst the wines these villages produce may be making your mouth water, the villages themselves are sleepy backwaters, prosperous but dull places that revolve around wine and, unless you are a vigneron, perhaps not very exciting. It is highly unlikely that you will ever get your hands on one of these jealously guarded patches of land either, as they are almost never up for sale. Still, if you head to the Cote d'Or in springtime you will beat the crowds and there are plenty of opportunities to try the wine. Look for signs for cave (wine cellar), caveau (smaller version), domaine (wine estate), chateau, and dégustation (tasting) which are all indications that wine is in the vicinity.
At wine caves you may be offered a free tasting (dégustation gratuit) of one or two wines, but if there are more than two wines on offer you can expect to pay between €5 and €10 to try a few wines before you decide which one to buy. The emphasis, remember, is on you buying the wine, and it is very rude not to do so if you spend time tasting them. Wines in this region cost between €15 and €20 on average, so it is certainly not a cheap option. The cheaper wines are from the Hautes Cote de Nuits or Haute Cote de Beaune, but their reputation is less formidable as well. It is a pleasant experience, however, to buy some wine in the place where it was made, so don't be put off by the price if you find something you like.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Attributes to Consider in a Family Dentist
You might be moving to a new area, or your family dentist is retiring, and hence you are looking for a new dentist. The procedure can be very long and frustrating, but it isn't impossible to get another family dentist which you can come to trust and love. However, where do you start your search?
When starting your search, you need to request for recommendations from people that you know like friends or loved ones. You might also ask your current dentist if they are aware of reliable dentists in the area you're moving to. If they're retiring, inquire if they'll be hiring a different dentist to replace them. In case you cannot get a personal reference, your next best bet is online. There a few very valuable review websites written by previous customers on their encounters with various dentists.
When you get a listing of some prospective dentists, check out each of these and talk to them. What are the characteristics of a family dentist who is competent that you should be looking for?
You do not want to cover long distances when driving to get to your dentist particularly when you have crises or many consultations on the same day. The dentist you locate must be close enough for your house, so it's suitable for you to access them once you want to.
You have to find out if you, your partner and children can get dental services in the same office. Your dentist ought to be an authentic family dentist and not one that only clinics pediatric dentistry. While children and grownups require the same basic dental care; some adult dental needs may differ from those of kids. By way of instance, children might require sealants while grownups might need teeth implants.
A dentist that provides a detailed list of services which meet both the children and adult dental needs will save you a lot of effort, time and headaches when trying to get to your appointments.
Some general practice dentists will claim to be family dentists with the aim of getting more business and making more profit. They might have limited expertise in interacting with and handling children. Pediatric dentistry changes and adjusts the procedures employed in general dentistry for adults to make them more comfortable and safer for kids. Specialized training and years of expertise in orthodontics, kid sedation, kid care, oral medication and child oral injury are a few of the typical abilities in qualified dentists.
More to changing dental techniques and treatments, a family dentist will have an excellent demeanor and will be very friendly and welcoming. They will have customer service skills suited to ease the concerns and fears of kids.
The Best Advice About Dentists I've Ever Written


text:
Translating Imperative Code to MapReduce
We present an approach for automatic translation of sequential, imperative code into a parallel MapReduce framework. Automating such a translation is challenging: imperative updates must be translated into a functional MapReduce form in a manner that both preserves semantics and enables parallelism. Our approach works by first translating the input code into a functional representation, with loops succinctly represented by fold operations. Then, guided by rewrite rules, our system searches a space of equivalent programs for an effective MapReduce implementation. The rules include a novel technique for handling irregular loop-carried dependencies using group-by operations to enable greater parallelism.
We have implemented our technique in a tool called Mold. It translates sequential Java code into code targeting the Apache Spark runtime. We evaluated Mold on several real-world kernels and found that in most cases Mold generated the desired MapReduce program, even for codes with complex indirect updates.
Fri 24 Oct Times are displayed in time zone: (GMT-07:00) Tijuana, Baja California change
13:30 - 15:00: OOPSLA - Distributed Computing at Salon F
Chair(s): Madan MusuvathiMicrosoft Research
|13:30 - 13:52
ASPIRE: Exploiting Asynchronous Parallelism in Iterative Algorithms using a Relaxed Consistency based DSM
Keval VoraUniversity of California, Riverside, Sai Charan KoduruUniversity of California, Riverside, Rajiv GuptaUC RiversideLink to publication Media Attached File Attached
|13:52 - 14:15
Brandon HoltUniversity of Washington, Preston BriggsUniversity of Washington, Luis CezeUniversity of Washington, Mark OskinUniversity of WashingtonLink to publication Media Attached File Attached
|14:15 - 14:37
Tian XiaoTsinghua University / Microsoft Research, Zhenyu GuoMicrosoft Research, Hucheng ZhouMicrosoft Research, Jiaxing ZhangMicrosoft Research, Xu ZhaoUniversity of Toronto, Chencheng YeHuazhong University of Science and Technology, Xi WangMIT CSAIL, Wei LinMicrosoft Bing, Wenguang ChenTsinghua University, Lidong ZhouMicrosoft ResearchLink to publication Media Attached
|14:37 - 15:00
Cosmin RadoiUniversity of Illinois, Stephen J FinkIBM, Rodric RabbahIBM Research, Manu SridharanSamsung Research AmericaLink to publication Media Attached


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By Staff
Dec. 5, 2018: Last week's MyhometownBronxville included a letter from Schatze Thorp about concerns over dim lighting and dangerous conditions for pedestrians walking from the train station because cars cannot easily see them. She recommended that reflectors be available near the train station. Click here to see the full letter.
Christopher Satriale, Bronxville chief of police, responded to this letter saying that reflectors are available. He said, "The Bronxville Police Department provides reflective arm- and wristbands free of charge for pedestrians and joggers. Stop by the police department anytime and see the desk officer."
The picture above is of a black jacket with a yellow reflector around the upper arm. These reflectors stretch out flat and then spring into a closed round position. They can be kept in a handbag or briefcase and taken out when needed, such as when leaving the train. You can pick one up at the Bronxville Police Station.
Photo by S. Clifford
To The Community My name is Claire Rich. I was a senior at Bronxville High School this past year and plan to attend Vanderbilt University in the fall. I'm...
MyhometownBroxnville reserves the right to monitor and remove all comments. For more information on Posting Rules, please review our Rules and Terms of Use, both of which govern the use and access of this site. Thank you.
The information presented here is for informational purposes only. While every effort has been made to present accurate information, myhometownBronxville, LLC, does not in any way accept responsibility for the accuracy of or consequences from the use of this information herein. We urge all users to independently confirm any information provided herein and consult with an appropriate professional concerning any material issue of fact or law. The views and opinions expressed by the writers, event organizers and advertisers do not necessarily represent those of myhometownBronxville, LLC, its officers, staff or contributors. The use of this website is governed by the Terms of Use . No portion of this publication may be reproduced or redistributed, either in whole or part, without the express written consent of the publisher.
Copyright © 2009 myhometownbronxville.com, All rights reserved.


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River Bend Gymnastics is seeking a dependable, professional and highly motivated gymnastics coach for our fast growing, successful recreational program.
Job Responsibilities:
- The primary role is to provide a safe, happy enviornment for children, teaching gymnastic techniques along with skills that they can use for life
- Coaches are expected to be positive, energetic and enthusiastic as they evaluate the progress of theirs athletes
- Lead individuals in a recreational setting, support the gym culture and create an atmosphere for athlete's success
- Model behaviors and perform the tasks assigned with enthusiasm that reflects and supports the company's values
- Develop students across all learning domains including physical, mental, emotional and social skills
- Commitment to the continued growth of the recreational program
- There could be other tasks included, such as, basic cleaning, answering phones, communicating with parents, some office work, etc.
Job Requirements:
- 1-2 years experience coaching gymnastics is helpful
- Offsite work and out of town travel may be needed
- Must be motivated, enthusiastic, positive and dependable
- 1st Aid/CPR certified, if not upon hire will be required within the first 60 days
- Must possess strong spotting skills
- Ability to pass an employment background check
Wages will be commensurate with experience.
Job Type: Part-time
Company Name:
River Bend Gymnastics
Employment type:
Part time / side job
Required years of experience:
1 - 2 years
Application email:
Required languages:
Required general skills:
Women's Artistic Gymnastics
Preschool Gymnastics
Gymnastics For All
United States


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Originally uploaded by Kiki Karia.
This cartoon is reminiscent of our most recent Thanksgiving, three days ago at my sister Carol's home. In the Bible days, the priests would sacrifice burnt offerings to God. Well, this Thanksgiving, I had my own burnt offering….my cornbread stuffing!!! I don't know why the bottom of the pan burned. I've used the same pan for many many years when making this stuffing, and it's always turned out great. Not so this year, I'm afraid. There were several brave ones, myself included, who decided to try the stuffing anyways. My niece Jennifer ending up rushing to the bathroom to spit it out! Although I've never smoked, It smelled and tasted like a pack of Virginia Slims.
This poor excuse for stuffing evoked many a gut-wrenching laugh and guffaw from all of us throughout the day and into the evening and proved to be quite a memorable event for us; one Thanksgiving which I'm sure will not be forgotten for a long, long time!


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Cupid, hearts and roses, oh my! Olivia Capone Myers, Style Director for Destination Maternity and everything fashion, shares her Valentine's Day gift ideas for YOU, the mom-to-be, to enjoy this Valentine's Day including basq NYC Maternity Skin Care's own delicious REVIVE Firming Body Oil! So go ahead and treat yourself and read on for a few of Olivia's must haves:
– Destination Maternity's heart maternity sweater is a style standout, amazing as a layer, perfect with your favorite dark denim.
– Start and end your day in complete comfort. It's important that you buy the right bras and underwear when pregnant. But, you don't need to have unappealing lingerie; our nursing bras and panties have all the elements you want: control, fit, function PLUS a little lace.
– Finish your night time look with an embellished robe. For a more low-key night, bundle up in soft slippers, and the cutest pajama set.
– Finish off your best Valentine's Day ever by unwinding and hydrating. Basq makes a really soothing Body Oil that smells amazing, plus it helps with stretch marks, is safe on your skin and will ease you into total relaxation!


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Travelling through Argentina's precipitous Andes leads David Marsh to contemplate mortality. At its fullest it was packed with 80 passengers so at least if this bus left the road he'd have plenty of company.
In northwest Argentina David Marsh goes to see a film projected against a nunnery wall. If he'd expected to watch something religious disappointment beckoned.
Ignored by the capital, the provincial town of Salta is rapidly turning into a rural backwater. David Marsh finds first impressions fail to thrill.
David Marsh finds little of the capital's sophisticated glamour in a one-beautiful rural backwater near the border with Bolivia.
David Marsh boards the world's most southerly train as he heads deep into Argentina. But in a day of travel progress is slow.


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Last night someone got shot in my neighborhood. I don't think they were killed but it was still very disturbing to hear a gunshot right outside my building. I was hopeful that it was just a firework, but I knew it wasn't When I heard the police show up and heard people crying outside I knew that I was not mistaken about what I heard. I never saw an ambulance so I don't know if the upset people were just scared or if someone was actually hurt.
The whole thing is sad and horrible and makes Hollywood feel like a war-zone. I walk my dog all the time and it was a reminder that anyone living in a big city or anywhere else is not ever totally safe from harm. We can make choices to reduce the danger as much as possible, but beyond that we need to continue on our path as gracefully as we can.
It would be easy to get down on the city or on all the guns and violence, but instead I will make a point today to let the people I care about know. Staying positive in the face of violence is not easy, but I choose to take this as a reminder of how precious life can be and will do my very best to choose my focus wisely.


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私たちの目的は、皆様方にデバイスSamsung SGH F480の取扱説明書に含まれたコンテンツを可能な限り早く提供することです。オンラインプレビューを使用すると、Samsung SGH F480に関してあなたが抱えている問題に対する解決策の内容が素早く表示されます。
説明書Samsung SGH F480をこちらのサイトで閲覧するのに不都合がある場合は、2つの解決策があります:
user manual
Instructional icons Before you start, familiarise yourself with the icons using this you will see in this manual: Warning—situations that could cause manual injury to yourself or others This user manual has been specially Caution—situations that could cause designed to guide you through the functions and damage to your phone or other features of your mobile phone. To get started quickly, equipment refer to "introducing your mobile phone," "assembling and preparing your mo
using this manual Copyright information Refer to—pages with related information; Rights to all technologies and products that for example: p.12 (represents "see comprise this device are the property of their page 12") respective owners: ® Followed by—the order of options or •Bluetooth is a registered trademark of the → menus you must select to perform a step; Bluetooth SIG, Inc. worldwide—Bluetooth QD ID: for example: Touch Menu → → B013650. Create message (represents
safety and usage information 2 Safety warnings .............................................2 Safety precautions .........................................4 contents Important usage information ..........................7 introducing your mobile phone 10 Unpack ........................................................10 Phone layout ................................................11 Keys ............................................................12 Display .................................
contents Use the touch screen ...................................20 Activate and send an SOS message ............42 Access menus .............................................21 Activate the mobile tracker ...........................42 Use widgets .................................................22 Record and play voice memos .....................43 Customise your phone .................................23 Edit videos ...................................................44 Use basic ca
Safety warnings safety and Keep your phone away from small children and pets usage Keep your phone and all accessories out of the reach of small children or animals. Small parts may cause choking or serious injury if swallowed. information Protect your hearing Comply with the following precautions to avoid dangerous or illegal situations and ensure peak Listening to a headset at high volumes performance of your mobile phone. can damage your hearing. Use only the minimum volu
safety and usage information • Never place batteries or phones on or in heating Install mobile phones and equipment devices, such as microwave ovens, stoves, or with caution radiators. Batteries may explode when Ensure that any mobile phones or related equipment overheated. installed in your vehicle are securely mounted. Avoid • Never crush or puncture the battery. Avoid placing your phone and accessories near or in an air exposing the battery to high external pressure, b
safety and usage information Turn off the phone in potentially Safety precautions explosive environments Do not use your phone at refuelling points (service stations) or near fuels or chemicals. Turn off your Drive safely at all times phone whenever directed by warning signs or Avoid using your phone while driving and obey all instructions. Your phone could cause explosions or regulations that restrict the use of mobile phones fire in and around fuel or chemical storage and
safety and usage information Turn off the phone near medical Protect batteries and chargers from equipment damage Your phone can interfere with medical equipment in • Avoid exposing batteries to very cold or very hot hospitals or health care facilities. Follow all temperatures (below 0° C/32° F or above 45° C/ regulations, posted warnings, and directions from 113° F). Extreme temperatures can reduce the medical personnel. charging capacity and life of your batteries. • Prevent
safety and usage information • Avoid using or storing your phone in dusty, dirty Avoid interference with other electronic areas to prevent damage to moving parts. devices • Your phone is a complex electronic device— Your phone emits radio frequency (RF) signals that protect it from impacts and rough handling to may interfere with unshielded or improperly shielded avoid serious damage. electronic equipment, such as pacemakers, hearing aids, medical devices, and other electron
safety and usage information • Disconnect chargers from power sources when Important usage information not in use. • Use batteries only for their intended purpose. Use your phone in the normal position Avoid contact with your phone's internal antenna. Handle SIM cards and memory cards with care Allow only qualified personnel to service • Do not remove a card while the phone is your phone transferring or accessing information, as this Allowing unqualified personnel to service
safety and usage information During testing, the maximum SAR recorded for this Ensure access to emergency services model was 0.898 watts per kilogram. In normal use, Emergency calls from your phone may not be the actual SAR is likely to be much lower, as the possible in some areas or circumstances. Before phone has been designed to emit only the RF travelling in remote or undeveloped areas, plan an energy necessary to transmit a signal to the nearest alternate method of co
safety and usage information Household users should contact either the retailer Correct disposal of this product where they purchased this product, or their local (Waste Electrical & Electronic Equipment) government office, for details of where and how they (Applicable in the European Union and can take this item for environmentally safe recycling. other European countries with separate Business users should contact their supplier and collection systems) check the terms and
Unpack Check your product box for the following items: introducing your • Mobile phone • Battery mobile phone • Travel adapter (charger) • User manual In this section, learn about your mobile phone's The items supplied with your phone may vary layout, keys, display, and icons. depending on the software and accessories available in your region or offered by your service provider. You can obtain additional accessories from your local Samsung dealer. 10
introducing your mobile phone The rear of your phone includes the following keys Phone layout and features: The front of your phone includes the following keys and features: Rear camera lens HOLD key Front camera lens Flashbulb Multifunction Earpiece Volume key jack Battery cover Touch screen Memory card slot Camera key Shortcut menu key Power/Menu exit key Dial key You can lock the touch screen and keys to Mouthpiece prevent any unwanted phone operations. To lock, press the
introducing your mobile phone Keys Display Key Function Your phone's display consists of the following areas: Look or unlock the touch screen HOLD Icon line and keys Displays various icons Make or answer a call; In Idle Dial mode, retrieve recently dialled, missed, or received numbers Text and graphic area Displays messages, Shortcut Access the shortcut menus from instructions, and menu any screen information you enter Turn the phone on and off (press Power/ and hold); End
introducing your mobile phone Icon Definition Icons No service available Learn about the icons that appear on your display. Video call in progress Icon Definition No service available Signal strength Memory card inserted GPRS network connected Alarm activated Transferring data via GPRS network Browsing the web EDGE network connected Connected to secured web page Transferring data via EDGE network Roaming (outside of normal service area) UMTS network connected Call diverting activ
introducing your mobile phone Icon Definition Icon Definition Synchronised with PC Push message full New text message (SMS) Configuration message full New multimedia message (MMS) Normal profile activated New email message Silent profile activated New voice mail message Driving profile activated New push message Meeting profile activated New configuration message Outdoor profile activated New video message Offline profile activated Text message full Battery power level Multimedia
assembling and preparing your mobile phone Install the SIM or USIM card and battery assembling and When you subscribe to a cellular service, you will receive a Subscriber Identity Module, or SIM card, with subscription details, such as your personal preparing your identification number (PIN) and optional services. To use UMTS services, you can purchase a mobile phone Universal Subscriber Identity Module (USIM) card. To install the SIM or USIM card and battery, Get started b
assembling and preparing your mobile phone 2. Insert the SIM or USIM card. 3. Insert the battery. Place the SIM or USIM card in the phone with the gold-coloured contacts facing down. 4. Replace the battery cover. Without inserting a SIM or USIM card, you can use your phone's non-network services and some menus. 16
|Samsung 07272010
|Cell Phone
|Samsung 022004
|Cell Phone
|Samsung 10.1
|Cell Phone
|Samsung 12172009
|Cell Phone
|Samsung 07212010
|Cell Phone


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By Oliver Holmes and Douglas Hamilton / Reuters
BEIRUT: Syria has assured the United Nations it will respect a ceasefire with rebels due to take effect in less than 24 hours, peace envoy Kofi Annan said on Wednesday, but President Bashar Al-Assad's forces kept up attacks in several cities.
Western powers have scorned Assad's pledges, but have come up with no effective policy to curb the bloodshed, given their own aversion to military intervention and the resistance of Russia and China to any UN Security Council action.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she would meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday to seek a policy change from one of Assad's few foreign friends.
"We will have another go at trying to persuade the Russians that the situation is deteriorating and the likelihood of regional conflict and civil war is increasing," she said.
China expressed "deep worries" about the violence in Syria and called for all sides to respect a ceasefire. Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin also described Annan's work as "an important and rare opportunity" to end the crisis.
Annan's plan is for now the only game in town and the UN-Arab League mediator said it must be given a chance to work.
"If everyone respects it, I think by 6 in the morning (0300 GMT) on Thursday we shall see improved conditions on the ground," he said in Tehran, where he was asking Syria's staunchest regional ally to support his efforts.
However, the Syrian military has so far stayed on the offensive, pursuing assaults on several anti-Assad strongholds, rather than withdrawing troops, tanks and heavy weapons from towns and cities as required under Annan's six-point package.
"Mortar fire started at 7 this morning. I can hear one explosion every five minutes," said opposition activist Waleed Al-Fares from the central city of Homs.
The Khalidiya neighborhood, where bombardment killed at least 26 people on Tuesday, was again under attack, he said.
'Burning houses'
In southern Deraa, birthplace of the 13-month-old revolt against four decades of Assad family rule, activists said many busloads of troops backed by armored vehicles had flooded the city and were making house-to-house raids.
Activist Omar Al-Hariri said he had never seen so many troops: "The army is exploiting the ceasefire to arrest more dissidents than ever and security forces are burning houses."
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Syrian troops had killed 38 people on Tuesday, and rebels had killed 19 members of the security forces. The state news agency reported the funerals of 33 soldiers and security personnel the same day.
Anti-Assad rebels have said they will stop fighting if the Syrian military pulls back and ceases fire as promised.
Annan, at a news conference with Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi, urged Iran to help resolve the violence and warned of "unimaginable consequences" if it worsened further.
"I have received (Syrian) government assurances they will respect the ceasefire," he said, adding: "I believe Iran can be part of the solution."
Salehi said Syrians should be able to have free elections contested by political parties, but reiterated Iran's opposition to any outside interference in Syria's affairs and made clear the Islamic Republic wanted Assad to stay in charge.
"The opportunity must be given to the Syrian government to make changes under the leadership of Bashar Al-Assad," he said.
Iran has unstintingly backed Syria, the only Arab nation to back Iran in its 1980-88 war with Iraq and the conduit for Iranian arms to Lebanon's Shia Muslim Hezbollah movement.
Syria, where Assad's Shia-rooted Alawite minority dominates a Sunni Muslim majority, has become an arena for a sectarian-tinged regional contest between Shia Iran and Sunni Arab rivals aligned with the West and led by Saudi Arabia.
Despite its public acceptance of Assad's narrative that he faces foreign-inspired "terrorist" subversion, Tehran has also reached out to his opponents, according to an adviser to Iran's parliamentary speaker quoted by local media on Tuesday.
"It has recently made contacts with the Syrian opposition, which shows Iran's influential role in resolving issues," the Tehran Times quoted Hossein Sheikholeslam as saying.
For now, no end to Syria's agony is in sight.
The British-based Observatory said on Tuesday more than 800 civilians had been killed since Annan announced on March 27 that he had obtained Assad's agreement to the peace plan.
"More time means more blood," said the opposition Syrian National Council's spokeswoman Basma Kodmani. "It is urgent to end the regime's repression and the regime itself."
Assad's forces have killed more than 9,000 people in the past year, according to a UN estimate. Damascus says rebels have killed more than 2,600 soldiers and security personnel. –Additional reporting by Marcus George in Dubai, Louis Charbonneau at the United Nations, Sui-Lee Wee and Sabrina Mao in Beijing and Paul Eckert in Annapolis


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Small local cinema complex with 2 screens. Come and enjoy the latest movies in an air-conditioned environment and enjoy nibbles from the candy bar.
For session times or other info visit http://www.kyoglecinemas.com.au or phone the cinema on 66321888. The cinema is open on Wed, Thurs, Fri, Sat & Sun, at various times, so please check their website for current session times and movie programme.
The aim of the owners is to provide the people of Kyogle and district with an entertainment venue and provide employment and training for the town. It's also hoped the cinema will become a tourist and visitor destination and will help promote local businesses and the area's many attractions.
Price Range
All admissions $12.
Every Wednesday all seats, all sessions $10.
Movie cards available for $25