|
"Even as the Obama administration says it's close to defeating Al Qaeda, the size of the government's secret list of suspected terrorists who are banned from flying to or within the United States has more than doubled in the past year, The Associated Press has learned. The no-fly list jumped from about 10,000 known or suspected terrorists one year ago to about 21,000, according to government figures provided to the AP." (02/02/12) http://bit.ly/xZUYiQ ----- |
|
"The United States took Kabul by surprise by laying out plans to end its Afghan combat role earlier than expected, just after the leak of a secret report that the Taliban is confident of regaining control of the country. U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said late Wednesday the United States would stop taking the lead role in combat operations before the end of 2013 and step into a supporting role as it winds down its longest war." (02/02/12) http://bit.ly/x2BgLe ----- |
|
"A car bomb killed an employee of Iraq's North Oil Co. while a police officer was injured in a motorcycle blast near Kirkuk, police said Thursday." (02/02/12) http://bit.ly/wQpwpa ----- |
|
"aliban militants armed with guns and grenades ambushed a police patrol in Lakki Marwat district on Thursday, killing three officers and wounding another, police said. Police said eight to 10 Taliban fighters ambushed a police vehicle on a routine patrol near the Buland Khel area in the Shahbaz Khel Police precincts, first by hurling a grenade and then opening fire with Kalashnikov assault rifles after policemen tried to retaliate." (02/03/12) http://bit.ly/xMUNRm ----- |
|
"A bomb exploded outside a police station in the Pacific port city of Tumaco just as lunch hour ended Wednesday, killing at six people and wounding 71, authorities said. The bomb appeared to be a motorcycle packed with explosives, Tumaco security chief Hernando Cortes told The Associated Press." (02/02/12) http://tinyurl.com/77e5zru ----- |
|
"In a landmark decision in post-apartheid South Africa, four men were given 18 years in jail on Wednesday for stoning and stabbing to death 19-year-old Zoliswa Nkonyana for living openly as a lesbian. A crowd outside the court in Cape Town township cheered and danced after the sentencing was announced, the BBC News reported." (02/02/12) http://tinyurl.com/7sp7kvm ----- |
|
"Concerns that Israel will attack Iran in an attempt to prevent Tehran from developing nuclear weapons escalated Thursday when the Washington Post reported that Defense Secretary Leon Panetta believes there is a 'strong likelihood' that Tel Aviv will launch such an offensive in April, May or June. Panetta, who is attending a NATO meeting in Brussels, did not dispute the report by Post Op/Ed columnist David Ignatius." (02/02/12) http://tinyurl.com/6mr4ql2 ----- |
|
"North Korea is open to immediate talks with rival South Korea if Seoul responds to several preconditions for dialogue, a North Korean military official told The Associated Press on Thursday. But Ri Son Gwon, a colonel working for the Policy Department of the North's powerful National Defense Commission, also challenged South Korea to 'state to the world whether it honestly intends to enter into dialogue with us.'" 902/02/12) http://tinyurl.com/7k8g2z5 ----- |
|
"A Christian evangelical group said Thursday that a Bible school -- backed by American evangelist Franklin Graham -- was destroyed in the latest bombing raid to hit South Kordofan, an oil-rich Sudanese province that borders the newly created independent country of South Sudan. At least eight bombs were dropped in the area Wednesday during the school's first day of classes, according to a statement by Samaritan's Purse, Graham's Christian humanitarian group, which supports the school." (02/02/12) http://tinyurl.com/7d56afk ----- |
|
"Aiming to restore voters' faith in Congress, the Senate overwhelmingly approved a bill Thursday that makes clear it's illegal for members of Congress, their staffs and many executive-branch employees to trade stocks and other securities based on inside information learned on the job. The Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act, which President Barack Obama has urged Congress to approve, passed 96-3." (02/02/12) http://tinyurl.com/7aqvpva ----- |
|
"The Mexican government is sending thousands of additional troops to the violence-stricken western state of Michoacan, a military official said Thursday. The official told The Associated Press that the first of some 4,000 soldiers had begun arriving in the state capital, Morelia, to prepare for an offensive in a mountainous western section of the state known as Tierra-Caliente. The area has been hit by a surge in violence in recent weeks." (02/02/12) http://tinyurl.com/7lpujrb ----- |
|
"The Senate Banking Committee unanimously approved a new regimen of anti-Iran sanctions on Thursday that would for the first time threaten to punish the global financial telecommunications network that nearly all banks rely on to conduct their daily business. ... Expulsion from the network -- the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, known as Swift -- would deny to Iran many billions of dollars in revenue from abroad that is routinely routed into its domestic banking system." (02/02/12) http://nyti.ms/x4ySva ----- |
|
"The United States indicted Wegelin, the oldest Swiss private bank, on charges that it enabled wealthy Americans to evade taxes on at least $1.2 billion hidden in offshore bank accounts, the U.S. Justice Department said on Thursday. The announcement, by federal prosecutors in Manhattan, represents the first time an overseas bank has been indicted by the United States for enabling tax fraud [sic] by U.S. taxpayers." (02/02/12) http://reut.rs/zzAoWa ----- |
|
"An elderly man from Baldwin Hills took matters into his own hands when two suspected burglars were at his bedroom window Tuesday night. 'I was in bed and heard the noise -- boom, boom -- then I came to see what it was,' said 87-year-old Jack Goodwin. 'It was two guys busting the window out coming in.' Fearing for his life, Goodwin grabbed his 9mm handgun and shot at the suspects, wounding at least one of them. Goodwin was an Army marksman in World War II." (02/01/12) http://tinyurl.com/7qx96yr ----- |
|
"Actress and comedienne Roseanne Barr has announced she is running for the Green Party's presidential nomination .... Barr has submitted paperwork to the Green Party for her candidacy and the presidential nominee will be selected at a convention in Baltimore, Maryland, in July." (02/02/12) http://bit.ly/yOjnLK ----- |
|
"Fort Lauderdale police report that at 6:20 p.m., two masked, armed men approached Oleg Flyaster in an alleyway ... demanding his wallet and pointing a gun at his face. Flyaster reached into his back waistband, produced a handgun and quickly began shooting toward the suspects. Flyaster told police the suspects did not return fire as they fled .... Police quickly found suspect Marvin Broadway, 23, of Fort Lauderdale. Broadway had been shot in the shoulder. ... Soon after, police stopped a vehicle and found suspect Carlton Lowe, 22, also of Fort Lauderdale." (02/01/12) http://www.cbs12.com/articles/police-4738521-lauderdale-suspect.html ----- |
|
"'It shall be prohibited for any person or group of persons to loiter or congregate on Bourbon Street for the purpose of disseminating any social, political or religious message between the hours of sunset and sunrise.' ... When someone complained about the law this week, however, it was not to challenge it as an infringement on First Amendment freedoms. Instead, former mayoral candidate Leo Watermeier complained to Palmer and Councilwoman Jackie Clarkson in public emails that religious demonstrators, sometimes with large signs and bullhorns, have been showing up on Bourbon Street on Friday and Saturday nights, yet police have taken no action against them." (01/27/12) http://bit.ly/x3WART ----- |
|
"Pakistan's Supreme Court is to charge Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani with contempt for failing to reopen corruption cases against the president. Mr Gilani must appear before the court on 13 February. If convicted he faces jail and being barred from office. The prime minister has refused to ask Swiss officials to reopen a corruption case against President Zardari, saying he has immunity as head of state." (02/02/12) http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-16850595 ----- |
|
"A California woman's small claims court victory against Honda could have a huge impact on the global auto giant. On Wednesday, Honda was ordered to pay Heather Peters for misleading her about the gas mileage her Civic Hybrid would achieve, and other car owners could follow in the steps of the former lawyer who took on a corporate giant, and won." (02/02/12) http://bit.ly/AxtLum ----- |
|
"Facebook launched the process for its highly anticipated stock market debut, filing papers for a $5bn initial public offering that will turn key shareholders into billionaires, most notably Mark Zuckerberg, the 27-year-old chief executive and co-founder. ... Following years of intense speculation over the details of the company's social media advertising business, Facebook disclosed for the first time how much money it makes.For 2011, the company generated $3.7bn in revenues, an 88 per cent jump over the year before." (02/02/12) http://on.ft.com/zenQ9A ----- |
COMMENTARY
|
"As a trail runner, mountain biker, backpacker. etc., I spend muchas horas (this is Arizona, folks) under the sun, and I enjoy fiction about the great outdoors. But I'm more than a little put-off by quasi-theological, neo-primitivist tripe that treats the wilderness as a morally redemptive alternative to horrible, horrible civilization and its nasty antibiotics, arts, knowledge and reduced infant mortality." (02/01/12) http://bit.ly/yNF7rZ ----- |
