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Hard News
The Bush- Blair Legacy Continues
Iraqi police say 41 killed in clashes between "gunmen" and police in northern city of Mosul:
Iraq's prime minister appealed for calm following three days of violence that has left more than 150 dead.
Sunni fighters take over town in northern Iraq after clashes with government forces:
Gunmen
seized the town of Suleiman Beg, capturing the police station and
other government buildings which are now besieged by government troops.
There has also been fierce fighting in the Sunni majority city of
Mosul where 15 Iraqi policemen and 31 Sunni militants were killed
today.
Kurdish rebels to begin withdrawal from Turkey on May 8:
Kurdish
rebels announced on Thursday they would on May 8 begin withdrawing
from Turkey into their safe haven in northern Iraq amid a peace drive
between Ankara and the rebel movement.
Syrian army seizes strategic town near capital:
"The
disaster has struck, the army entered Otaiba. The regime has managed
to turn off the weapons tap," a fighter from the town told Reuters via
Skype. "The price of a bullet will go from 50 Syrian pounds to 1,000
Syrian pounds (6.5 pounds) now, but we must pay and retake it. It's the
main if not the only route."
Hundreds of Europeans fighting in Syria, says EU expert:
Intelligence
agencies are concerned some could join groups linked to al-Qaeda and
later return to Europe to launch terrorist attacks. The UK, Ireland and
France are among the EU countries estimated to have the highest
numbers of fighters in Syria.
Hague warns of new Syrian terror threat:
William
Hague said there was now "uncontested space" in Syria where Islamist
groups were free to establish training camps that would equip and train
foreign fighters, including British extremists.
Syria says backing rebels risks new attacks on America: -
U.S.
support for Syrian rebels may lead to more attacks on American soil
like those of September 11, said a senior Syrian official who warned
that Islamist fighters would spread "the fire of terrorism" around the
world.
Manipulating Public Perceptions:
U.S. Says It Suspects Assad Used Chemical Weapons:
The
White House emphasized that, "given the stakes involved," the United
States still needed "credible and corroborated facts" before deciding
on a course of action.
McCain: Syria's crossed the line: Video -
Sen. John McCain says evidence of chemical weapons found in Syria means the U.S. must take action against the regime.
UK Plays WMD Card:
Britain says has information showing Syria chemical weapon use:
"We
have limited but persuasive information from various sources showing
chemical weapon use in Syria, including sarin. This is extremely
concerning. Use of chemical weapons is a war crime," a Foreign Office
spokesman said in a statement.
Rebels say: 'Clear proof chemical weapons used': Rebels say:
"We
took some samples of the soil and of blood. The injured people were
observed by doctors and the samples were tested and it was very clear
that the regime used chemical weapons," General Salim Idriss told CNN's
Christiane Amanpour on Tuesday.
Claims that Syria has used sarin gas should be treated with caution:
Evidence
must be made public: If it is true that the UK and French governments
have soil samples that show sarin has been used, they should not only
be shared with UN investigators but the chain of evidence showing how
they came to have the samples must made public.
Syria: Aleppo's Umayyad mosque destroyed - in pictures:
The
mosque, built between the 8th and 13th centuries, is reputedly home to
the remains of John the Baptist's father. It is located in Aleppo's
walled Old City, a Unesco World Heritage site.
Tehran accuses Amman of cooperating with Qaeda and Israel against Syria:
Chief
of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces, General Hassan Firouzabadi, has
criticized the Jordan for its "cooperation with the Al-Qaeda terrorist
organization and Israel against Syria," and stressed that Amman's
policies are threatening the Muslim community.
With eye on Iran, Hagel seals US arms deal with UAE:
US
Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel will meet United Arab Emirates leaders
on Thursday to wrap up a major arms deal that both nations see as a way
to thwart Iran's military power.
Israel 'shoots down Lebanon drone':
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the incident as an "extremely grave" attempt to breach Israel's borders.
Israeli incursions into Lebanon:
The
most frequent breaches are overflights by Israeli war planes and
drones; such violations have occurred since the inception of the
Israeli-Lebanese conflict, and have happened continuously and almost
daily since the 2006 Lebanon war, being the source of much conflict
between Lebanon and Israel.
Diaspora Jews must speak out against the Israeli Law of Return: Op-Ed:
Bahour
says, "if Diaspora Jews can accept having an Israeli citizenship being
held 'forever' for them while Palestinians are denied not only
citizenship, but basic human rights, then they too are directly
partaking in the continued apartheid against Palestinians."
Pakistan: 6 Killed In Shootout :
Two
policemen and four militants were killed in a fierce shootout in Karak
district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province this morning, police officials
said. Three more policemen were injured in the skirmish.
Blast near MQM election offce kills 5 in Karachi:
According
to police, the bomb, which was planted in a motorcycle, went off
outside one of the election offices of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM),
the apparent target.
Musharraf held for Bhutto's murder:
Pakistan's
former military ruler Pervez Musharraf was on Thursday formally
arrested over the murder of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto,
prosecutors said.
3 Tibetans Self-Immolate To Protest China, Reports Say:
More
than 100 Tibetans have self-immolated since 2011 to protest Chinese
policies in the region and call for the return of their beloved
spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, from exile.
20 killed in DR Congo militia attack:
A military source in Kinshasa confirmed the attack and said he "feared that the death toll could be higher."
Seven killed in shootout between Nigerian soldiers, "Islamic" extremists;
The
attack happened on Wednesday night in the fishing village of Gashua in
Yobe State. Teacher Fati Umar, who witnessed the violence, said the
Islamic extremists attacked a police station in the village and later a
prison.
UN peacekeepers for Mali:
The
UN Security Council is set to adopt a resolution on Thursday creating a
peacekeeping mission in Mali, to take over from French and African
forces in the conflict-torn north.
Libyan instability spreads to capital: -
Libya's
central government has long had only a tenuous grip on the eastern
city of Benghazi, but the bombing of the French embassy in Tripoli
shows its control of the capital may now also be under threat.
Barbaric, force feeding continues as number of hunger strikers in Guantanamo at 92:
16
of the hunger strikers are on feeding tubes, five of whom are
hospitalized, Lieutenant Colonel Samuel House said in a statement
issued earlier this week.
Guantanamo Desperation 'Unprecedented' :
The
International Committee of the Red Cross told congressional staffers
that the level of desperation amongst Guantanamo detainees is
"unprecedented,"
Guantanamo strike sparks outcry in Yemen:
An
ongoing hunger strike by nearly half of Guantanamo's 166 prisoners has
galvanised street protests outside the US embassy in Yemen, where
detainees' long-suffering families have been raising their voices.
Barack Obama leaves Iraq war out of speech to honour George W Bush.
Instead,
he opted for kind words about the man he once castigated day after day
on the campaign trail, to cheers from Democratic supporters. In Texas,
Obama spoke of Bush's "generosity", "strength", "resolve" and
"compassion".
In a world gone crazy:
Poll: George W. Bush Increasingly Popular:
George
W. Bush's presidential approval rating has risen from 37% in January
2009 to 47%, according to a new ABC/Washington Post poll
The Full Power Of Vice President Dick Cheney Is Only Now Becoming Clear:
On
Sept. 16, 2001, Vice President Dick Cheney said that America would
have to "spend time in the shadows" and work on the "dark side."
Officials: Boston suspect had no firearm when barrage of bullets hit hiding place:
The
suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing had no firearms when he came
under a barrage of police gunfire that struck the boat where he was
hiding.
Blaming US-Born Cleric Anwar Al-Awlaki for Inspiring Boston Bombing:
There
is no concrete evidence that the brothers, who are suspected of
bombing the Boston Marathon, were inspired by US-born Muslim cleric
Anwar al-Awlaki. Yet, CNN has posted a report with the headline, "From
the grave, the cleric inspiring a new generation of terrorists," that
promotes this new detail as if it is certainly true.
Web censorship: the net is closing in:
Across
the globe governments are monitoring and censoring access to the web.
And if we're not careful millions more people could find the internet
fractured, fragmented and controlled by the state
Reality Check - Internet Privacy Bill CISPA Means 'No More Privacy'? : Video -
"It's not about Left vs. Right... It's about Liberty vs. Oppression"-Ben Swann
CISPA: The House passed it a week ago, but most don't know what it is:
Critics
of CISPA, say that it is an affront to American civil liberties, and
the privacy of its citizens. According to the Electronic Frontier
Foundation (EFF), "the bill grants broad new powers, allowing companies
to identify and obtain "threat information" by looking at your private
information."
Google reports record spike in government requests to remove content:
Internet giant details requests for material to be pulled from YouTube, Blogger service and from Google search
Senate Immigration Bill Calls For a Drone-Patrolled Border:
Unmanned
aerial vehicles, or drones, could soon be patrolling the United States
border with Mexico 24 hours a day, seven days a week. That's what the
major immigration reform bill introduced last week by a bipartisan
group of senators proposes.
Spain unemployment hits record high of 27.2%:
With
more than 6 million people unemployed for the first time, Spain's
jobless rate shot up to a record 27.2% in the first quarter, the
National Statistics Institute said Thursday, in another grim picture of
the recession-wracked country.
French jobless claims hit all-time high in March:
The
number of jobless people in France hit an all-time high in March,
piling more gloom on cash-strapped households and fresh doubt on the
government's pledge to reverse the unemployment trend by year-end.
Crisis for Europe as trust hits record low:
Public
confidence in the European Union has fallen to historically low levels
in the six biggest EU countries, raising fundamental questions about
its democratic legitimacy more than three years into the union's worst
ever crisis, new data shows.
UK food bank users triple in a year as economic problems continue:
The
largest food bank provider in the UK, warned the dramatic increase in
the number of food bank users is to continue in the coming months due
to the government's welfare reforms, including the 1 percent benefit
cap, the bedroom tax, and the 10 percent cut in council tax support.
Record Number of Households on Food Stamps-- 1 out of Every 5:
The
latest available data from the United States Department of Agriculture
(USDA) shows that a record number 23 million households in the United
States are now on food stamps.
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"Let us be peace and joy"
Tom Feeley
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