Tuesday July 30th 2013
-----------------------
Taliban militants attack Pakistan prison, free more than 250 inmates
Prison guards said Tuesday that they were totally overwhelmed when around 150 heavily armed Taliban fighters staged a late-night attack on their jail in northwest Pakistan, freeing over 250 prisoners including over three dozen suspected militants.
It was the second such attack by the Taliban on a prison in the northwest within the last 18 months. But even so, the security forces were totally unprepared for the raid, despite senior prison officials having received intelligence indicating an attack was likely. Over a dozen people were killed in the assault.The incident in the town of Dera Ismail Khan raises serious questions about state institutions' capacity to battle a domestic Taliban insurgency that has raged for years and killed tens of thousands of security personnel and civilians.
State TV: Mamnoon Hussain Elected President Of Pakistan
Pakistan on Tuesday elected businessman Mamnoon Hussain as its 12th president, state TV said, to replace deeply unpopular head of state Asif Ali Zardari, whose five-year term expires in September.Lawmakers from both houses of the national parliament and four provincial assemblies voted in the two-man race for the largely ceremonial president of the nuclear-armed state.
In a sharp reminder of the challenges the country faces, dozens of heavily armed Taliban militants stormed a prison in the northwest overnight, escaping with more than 240 prisoners.
The economy has stagnated, a debilitating power crisis needs to be solved and US relations remain complicated by American drone attacks targeting Taliban and Al-Qaeda operatives.
Within minutes of the polls closing at 3pm, state media handed the vote to Hussain, based on unofficial results. The final tally is expected to be announced by the evening.
Hussain, a 73-year-old businessman and close ally of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in Pakistan's financial capital Karachi had been considered certain to replace Zardari.
Zardari's opposition Pakistan People's Party (PPP), which lost heavily in general elections in May, boycotted Tuesday's ballot over complaints that the vote was brought forward from August 6.
Ousted Egypt leader 'in good health'
EU foreign policy chief
Catherine Ashton says Egypt's ousted President Mohammed Morsi is "well",
but that she does not know where he is being held.
Baroness Ashton said she had two hours of "frank, in-depth"
discussions with Mr Morsi on Monday, without giving further details of
the conversation.Mr Morsi had access to news and followed developments, she added.
She is the first foreign diplomat to meet Mr Morsi since he was detained after being overthrown on 3 July.
Lady Ashton's second visit to Egypt in 12 days comes after more than 70 Morsi supporters were killed in clashes with security forces on Saturday.
She held talks with the interim leadership, including army chief Gen Abdul Fattah al-Sisi and representatives of Mr Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood.
Nearly 100 foreign war crimes suspects found in UK
Almost 100 foreign suspected war criminals were found to be living in Britain last year after applying for citizenship or asylum, the Home Office said on Tuesday.
Their countries of origin included Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Rwanda, Serbia, Sri Lanka and the Democratic Republic of Congo, the result of a Freedom of Information request by the BBC showed.The ministry made "adverse recommendations" in the 15 months since January 2012 against 99 people investigated in war crimes cases who were already in Britain, the ministry said.
Each of the 99 had applied for British citizenship, asylum or leave to remain in Britain, it said. A further 16 suspects had applied to enter the country.
A spokeswoman for the Home Office said: "The government is determined that the UK should not become a refuge for war criminals.
Mortar Attack In Key Syrian City Kills At Least 10
DAMASCUS, Syria — Mortar attacks and air raids in two major cities in Syria killed at least 17 people, activists and government officials said Tuesday, as a Kurdish opposition leader was killed in the north.
The deadliest attack struck the central city of Homs, which has been an opposition stronghold since the beginning of the two-year conflict and is now the target of a withering offensive by President Bashar Assad's forces.
Three mortars slammed into a government-held district of Dablan before dawn Tuesday, killing 10 people and wounding 26 others, a government official. He said many living in the neighborhood fled there to escape fighting elsewhere in Homs. The official spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations for civil servants.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 11 people – including a child – were killed. The Observatory, citing hospital officials, also said attack happened late Monday close to midnight.
Homs has been the center of protests against Assad's rule since the Syrian revolt started in March 2011. In recent weeks, the city has been the scene of fierce fighting between Assad's troops and rebels fighting to topple his regime. On Monday, government troops captured Homs' strategic area of Khaldiyeh after a monthlong battle, bringing Assad's regime closer to its goal of capturing all of Syria's third largest city.
Egypt restores feared secret police units
Military-backed government seems to have no intent of reforming practices that characterised both Mubarak and Morsi eras
Egypt's interim government was accused of attempting to return the country to the Mubarak era on Monday, after the country's interior ministry announced the resurrection of several controversial police units that were nominally shut down following the country's 2011 uprising and the interim prime minister was given the power to place the country in a state of emergency.
Egypt's state security investigations service, Mabahith Amn ad-Dawla, a wing of the police force under President Mubarak, and a symbol of police oppression, was supposedly closed in March 2011 – along with several units within it that investigated Islamist groups and opposition activists. The new national security service (NSS) was established in its place.
But following Saturday's massacre of at least 83 Islamists, interior minister Mohamed Ibrahim announced the reinstatement of the units, and referred to the NSS by its old name. He added that experienced police officers sidelined in the aftermath of the 2011 revolution would be brought back into the fold.
Police brutality also went unchecked under Morsi, who regularly failed to condemn police abuses committed during his presidency. But Ibrahim's move suggests he is using the ousting of Morsi – and a corresponding upsurge in support for Egypt's police – as a smokescreen for the re-introduction of pre-2011 practices.
Ibrahim's announcement came hours before Egypt's interim prime minister was given the power to place the country in a state of emergency – a hallmark of Egypt under Mubarak
Explosions rock Christian area of Nigeria's Kano, several killed
KANO (Nigeria): Multiple explosions rocked a Christian area in Nigeria's northern Kano city on Monday night, with security forces ferrying scores of wounded to hospitals.
A mortuary attendant at Murtala Mohammed Specialists Hospital said at least 10 bodies had been brought in from the scene. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to reporters.
Nigeria is fighting an Islamic uprising by extremists based mainly in the northeast, where the government has declared a state of emergency. Kano city and state are not part of that emergency.
Nigeria's government is fighting an Islamic uprising by a network called Boko Haram, which means "Western education is forbidden". The group wants Islamic law imposed in Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation of more than 160 million, which is divided almost equally between Christians who live mainly in the south and Muslims who dominate the north.
Witness Kolade Ade said at least one blast appeared to come from a Mercedes-Benz parked beside a kiosk selling alcohol and soft drinks.
"After the first bomb, I threw myself into the canal (drain) to hide. There were at least three blasts," he said.
Daughters win long court battle over Maharaja's billions
Two elderly Indian princesses have inherited a £2.5 billion ($4.2 billion) fortune after winning one of the country's longest-running royal legal battles.The two surviving children of the Maharaja of Faridkot, Sir Harinder Singh Brar, will now take control of one of the country's largest surviving royal fortunes after a court ruled that they had been cheated out of their inheritance by palace staff who forged his final will.
The maharaja died aged 74 in 1989 after a long decline following the death of his son and heir Tikka in a motor accident. He left a vast fortune including Faridkot House in the heart of Delhi, Manimajra Fort in Faridkot, his mountain retreat at Mashobra, near the Viceroy's summer residence in the foothills of the Himalayas, and a fleet of vintage cars in properties in Shimla. He owned a number of Rolls-Royces, military cars and several Second World War aircraft which he kept at his 22-acre aerodrome.
Explosions rock Florida gas plant
At least eight people were injured by a series of explosions at a gas plant in the US state of Florida, officials say.
They were working at the Blue Rhino propane plant in Tavares
when the blasts began about 23:00 local time (03:00 GMT), blowing the
roof off.The explosions continued for about an hour and caused a large fire. The cause of the initial blast is not yet known.
Fifteen workers were found safe after initially being feared missing, while two others managed to escape unhurt.
-
A military judge is set to issue a verdict in
the court martial of the US soldier who disclosed reams of secret
documents to the Wikileaks website.
Pte Bradley Manning, 25, will hear Judge Col Denise Lind's ruling at 13:00 local time (17:00 GMT) on Tuesday.
Pte Manning has acknowledged leaking the documents but denies the most serious charge of "aiding the enemy".
He has already pleaded guilty to 10 lesser charges out of 22 total, and faces life in prison if convicted.
'Systematic harvest'
Pte Manning, an intelligence analyst, was arrested in Iraq in May 2010. He spent weeks in a cell at Camp Arifjan, a US Army installation in Kuwait, before being transferred to the US.
He was charged with 22 counts including aiding the enemy, unauthorised possession of intelligence material, theft, and violations of computer regulations.
The court martial in Fort Meade, Maryland, opened in early June.
During the trial, prosecutor Maj Ashden Fein argued Pte Manning systematically harvested hundreds of thousands of classified documents to offer them to anti-secrecy organisation WikiLeaks.
Gov't Knows Best? White House creates 'nudge squad' to shape behavior
The federal government is hiring what it calls a "Behavioral Insights Team" that will look for ways to subtly influence people's behavior, according to a document describing the program obtained by FoxNews.com. Critics warn there could be unintended consequences to such policies, while supporters say the team could make government and society more efficient.While the program is still in its early stages, the document shows the White House is already working on such projects with almost a dozen federal departments and agencies including the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Agriculture.
"Behavioral sciences can be used to help design public policies that work better, cost less, and help people to achieve their goals," reads the government document describing the program, which goes on to call for applicants to apply for positions on the team.
The document was emailed by Maya Shankar, a White House senior adviser on social and behavioral sciences, to a university professor with the request that it be distributed to people interested in joining the team. The idea is that the team would "experiment" with various techniques, with the goal of tweaking behavior so people do everything from saving more for retirement to saving more in energy costs.
Border-security vote could pave way for reform
In mid-May, as most of Congress was consumed with the troubles at the Internal Revenue Service and the Senate was conducting closely watched hearings on a sprawling, contentious immigration reform bill, something remarkable happened in the House Homeland Security Committee.
With little fanfare, the committee unanimously passed a border-security plan as part of its immigration reform effort.
Unanimous does not happen much in Washington anymore. And rarer still, House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) have found themselves on the same side of the issue, with each publicly praising the bill in recent weeks.
The committee vote was the most hopeful sign to emerge from the House that some kind of immigration deal with the Senate is possible.
The House will leave Washington this week for a five-week summer break without voting on any immigration bills, but members of both parties are working to build support for the border-security plan, which Republican aides expect will be the first immigration measure Congress votes on when it reconvenes in September.
Obama meets Mid-East negotiators
US President Barack Obama
has met Israeli and Palestinian negotiators, a day after the two sides
relaunched direct peace talks in Washington DC after a three-year halt.
Israeli Justice Minister Tzipi Livni and lead Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat were at the White House meeting.A second day of talks is taking place following months of diplomacy by US Secretary of State John Kerry.
The negotiators attended a dinner in the US capital on Monday night.
The talks began again after Israel approved the release of more than 100 Palestinian prisoners.
In the last five months, Mr Kerry has made six official visits to the Middle East in an effort to restart the negotiations.
'Daunting'
The 90-minute dinner in Washington, hosted by Mr Kerry, was attended by Ms Livni and Mr Erekat.A former US ambassador to Israel, Martin Indyk, appointed US special envoy to the talks, also attended the "iftar", the traditional meal at the end of each day of fasting during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Ms Livni told Israeli public radio on Tuesday that the atmosphere at the talks had been "positive", and insisted that the talks were resuming "not just in response to US pressure but because it's in the interest of both parties".
But she acknowledged that disagreements within Israel's governing coalition could pose an obstacle to any deal.
A US state department official said: "It was a constructive and productive meeting between the parties. They engaged in good faith and with seriousness of purpose.
"We are looking forward to continuing the talks."
Nationwide FBI raids save 105 teens from child prostitution
WASHINGTON — A nationwide campaign targeting child prostitution rescued 105 teenagers and swept some 150 alleged pimps off the streets of cities from Miami and Charlotte, N.C., to Sacramento and Fresno, Calif., FBI officials announced Monday.Ranging in age from 13 to 17, the juveniles had been trafficked through social media and online classified ad services, as well as through conventional street trolling. They are only a small part of what officials say is the much larger national problem of child prostitution.
“We are trying to take this crime out of the shadows, and put a spotlight on it,” Ron Hosko, assistant director of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division, said at a news conference.
The 72-hour sweep that lasted through the weekend was the seventh round of a campaign begun in 2003, under the name Operation Cross Country. State, local and federal investigators joined in the latest operation. It could produce federal and, in some cases, state charges against the adults.
The alleged pimps could face an assortment of trafficking and other charges. Some pimps arrested in past versions of Operation Cross Country are now serving life sentences or are slated to be in prison for as long as 50 years.
The rescued juveniles, meanwhile, face a hard road of recovery from what officials say can be a common history of sexual, emotional and physical abuse. Nearly all of the teen prostitutes rescued during the latest campaign are female.
They are all also painfully young: One teen prostitute rescued in Sacramento is 14, an FBI spokesperson said, while another arrested in Fresno is 15.
No comments:
Post a Comment
THE VOCR
Comments and opinions are always welcome.Email VOCR2012@Gmail.com with your input - Opinion - or news link - Intel
We look forward to the Interaction.