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By Jim Gold, msnbc.com
Arizona lawmakers appear close to sending to Gov. Jan Brewer a tea party-backed bill that proponents say would stop a United Nations takeover conspiracy but that critics claim could end state and cities’ pollution-fighting efforts and even dismantle the state unemployment office.
A final legislative vote is expected Monday on a bill that would outlaw government support of any of the 27 principles contained in the 1992 United Nations Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, also sometimes referred to as Agenda 21.
Senate Bill 1507 was passed by the state Senate last month and received an initial House affirmation Wednesday. It is sponsored by state Sen. Judy Burges, R-Sun City
Continue reading Agenda 21: Arizona close to passing anti-UN-sustainability bill
The African rivals slide closer to war over their contested border. U.N. chief urges them to avoid a ruinous conflict. By Alsanosi Ahmed, David Lukan and Robyn Dixon, Los Angeles TimesApril 20, 2012
KHARTOUM, Sudan — Sudan and its southern rival slid toward a ruinous war Thursday, with fighting continuing along their contested border and Sudanese President Omar Hassan Ahmed Bashir threatening to teach the world’s newest country “a final lesson by force.”
A protracted war between Sudan and South Sudan, which separated peacefully in July, would almost certainly have a devastating civilian toll and seriously damage the oil sector on which both economies depend.
But diplomacy has gotten nowhere, and civilians on both
Continue reading Sudan vows to teach South Sudan ‘a final lesson’
CBS News BEIRUT — Syria’s 4-day-old cease-fire appeared to be quickly eroding Sunday, with regime forces firing dozens of tank shells and mortar rounds at neighborhoods in the opposition stronghold of Homs, hours before the arrival of a first team of U.N. truce monitors.
Even though the overall level of violence has dropped, escalating regime attacks over the weekend raised new doubts about President Bashar Assad’s commitment to a plan by special envoy Kofi Annan to end 13 months of violence and launch talks on Syria’s political future.
Assad accepted the truce deal at the prodding of his main ally, Russia, but his compliance has been limited. He has halted shelling of rebel-held neighborhoods,
Continue reading Truce eroding as first UN monitors head to Syria
Tributes have been paid to Marie Colvin, a Sunday Times journalist, who was killed alongside a French photographer in the besieged Syrian city of Homs.
The Telegraph
Colvin, an American reporter for the British newspaper, and photographer Remi Ochlik both died in the attack.
Shells hit the house in which the two veteran war correspondents were staying, then they were killed by a rocket as they tried to make their escape.
John Witherow, Editor of The Sunday Times:
” Marie was an extraordinary figure in the life of The Sunday Times, driven by a passion to cover wars in the belief that what she did mattered. She believed profoundly that reporting could curtail the
Continue reading Marie Colvin killed in Homs: tributes to Sunday Times journalist
An 8.9-magnitude earthquake hit off the east coast of Japan early today. The quake — one of the largest in recorded history — triggered a 23-foot tsunami that battered Japan’s coast, killing hundreds and sweeping away cars, homes, buildings, and boats. Editors note: we’ll post more as the story develops..
See photos at Boston.com
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By Bill Roggio
December 26, 2010
Shabaab, al Qaeda’s affiliate in Somalia, has called for the global terror group to send more fighters to “expand the East Africa jihad.”
Shabaab’s top spokesman, Sheikh Ali Mohamud Rage, who is also known as Ali Dheere, issued a call for al Qaeda fighters to come to Somalia. Rage made the statement during a joint press conference held in Mogadishu on Friday with Sheikh Abdifatah Mohamed Ali, Hizbul Islam’s spokesman.
“We call on our brothers [Al Qaeda] to come to Somalia and to help us expand the East Africa jihad,” Rage told reporters, according to Garowe Online.
Rage and Ali held the press conference to formally announce Hizbul
Continue reading Shabaab Calls on Al Qaeda to ‘Expand the East Africa Jihad’
By Bill Roggio
December 25, 2010
A female Taliban suicide bomber killed 42 Pakistani civilians in an attack today at a World Food Program ration distribution point in Pakistan’s tribal agency of Bajaur.
The female suicide bomber detonated her vest in the midst of a crowd of more than 300 people waiting at an outside checkpoint for handouts from the World Food Program in Khar, the main town in Bajaur. Those waiting for food were among the internally displaced people who had fled the fighting between the military and the Taliban over the past three years.
Pakistani officials said that 42 people were killed and 72 more were wounded, some critically.
Today’s attack takes
Continue reading Female Suicide Bomber Kills 42 People in Pakistan’s Northwest
By Bill Roggio
December 6, 2010
Taliban suicide bombers killed 50 people and wounded more than 100 in an attack today on a government official’s office in northwestern Pakistan.
A pair of suicide bombers dressed as tribal policemen detonated at the compound of the senior government representative in Ghalalnai, the administrative seat of the tribal agency of Mohmand in Pakistan’s northwest. The first bomber detonated his vest at the gate of the compound, and the second detonated his vest inside the building shortly afterward.
The Taliban bombers targeted a meeting of local administration officials and tribal leaders who have organized in an attempt to raise militias and oppose Taliban rule. Policemen, government officials, tribal
Continue reading Suicide bomber kills 50 in attack on tribal leaders in northwestern Pakistan
By Bill Roggio November 11, 2010
The Taliban took credit for a deadly suicide assault on a police headquarters in Pakistan’s southern city of Karachi today. Eighteen people were killed in the attack and more than 100 were wounded.
A Taliban assault team attacked the Crime Investigation Department headquarters in a secured area of Karachi. Taliban fighters armed with assault rifles attacked the building and battled with police before a massive truck bomb was detonated inside the CID compound. The truck bomb, which is estimated to have carried more than 2,000 pounds of explosives, destroyed the building.
Police have confirmed that 18 people have been killed and 115 have been wounded. The death
Continue reading Taliban Kill 18 in Suicide Assault on Police Headquarters in Karachi
By Bill Roggio November 1, 2010
The Islamic State of Iraq, al Qaeda’s front organization, claimed credit for last night’s massacre at a Baghdad church that killed 52 Iraqis. Al Qaeda stated that the attack at the church was launched to avenge the treatment of Muslim women in Egypt.
Al Qaeda fighters armed with suicide vests, assault rifles, and hand grenades, and wearing uniforms of a local security company, attacked the nearby stock exchange, wounding two security guards. The attack on the exchange appeared to be a feint designed to lure security forces to the area while a squad estimated at between five to eight terrorists stormed the Our Lady of Deliverance church
Continue reading Al Qaeda in Iraq Claims Massacre at Christian Church in Baghdad
(AP) – 4 hours ago
WASHINGTON (AP) — A gunman who fired shots at a Washington-area Marine Corps museum and is believed to be responsible for three similar incidents may have a grievance against the U.S. Marine Corps, the FBI said Friday.
John Perren, the acting assistant director for the FBI’s Washington field office, said during a press conference that investigators believe the person takes issue with the institution of the Marines, but not those serving in uniform. Perren said the person has made sure no one has been hurt, and authorities don’t believe he wants to harm citizens or Marines.
“We’d like to know what this grievance is and what we can do
Continue reading DC-Area Gunman May Have Grievance Against Marines
NBC News and news services updated 10/29/2010 6:46:31 AM ET
SEOUL, South Korea — North and South Korea exchanged gunfire across their heavily armed border on Friday, the South’s military said.
The North Korean frontline guard post fired two shots at around 5:26 p.m. local time toward a South Korean guard post which returned fire, a joint chiefs of staff official told Reuters.
It was not immediately clear why North Korea fired first, the official said.
There were no South Korean injuries and it was unclear whether it was an accident or an intentional provocation, a military official in Seoul told The Associated Press. He asked not to be identified because he was not authorized
Continue reading North Korea Exchanges Fire with South at Border
By Bill RoggioOctober 8, 2010
The Taliban have murdered the head of Kunduz province, along with 14 other people, in a bombing today at a mosque in the neighboring province of Tahkar. The governor had been outspoken in his opposition to the Taliban and allied terror groups operating in the north.
Governor Muhammad Omar was killed while worshiping during Friday prayers at the Spinghar mosque in Taluqan, the provincial capital of Takhar province, Pajwhok Afghan News reported. Omar regularly attended Friday prayers at the Spinghar mosque. The Taliban are thought to have planted the bomb in the mosque prior to the service, and detonated it during prayers. Among those also killed in the
Continue reading Taliban Assassinate Kunduz Governor in Attack at Mosque
By Bill Roggio
September 3, 2010
The Taliban again struck at religious minorities inside Pakistan, killing 54 people in a car bombing at a protest in Quetta and one more person outside a mosque in Mardan.
In Quetta, a suicide car bomb was detonated in the midst of a Qods Day protest held by Shia Muslims who oppose Israel’s control of Jerusalem. Gunmen then opened fire after the blast. Fifty-four people were killed and nearly 200 were wounded, according to reports from Geo News and Dawn.
In the district of Mardan in Pakistan’s northwest, a suicide bomber detonated outside a Ahmadi mosque in the town of Muslimabad Canal. The suicide bomber was armed with
Continue reading Taliban kill 55 in suicide attacks against religious minorities in Quetta and Mardan
Twenty-nine people were reported killed and more than 200 people were wounded in bombings during religious processions in Pakistan’s eastern city of Lahore earlier today.
The first blast appears to have been caused by a car bomb, then two suicide bombers detonated among Shia worshipers who were holding a religious procession in Lahore, the capital of Punjab province.
The Lashkar-e-Jhangvi al Almi, another name for the so-called Punjabi Taliban, claimed it carried out the attack, Geo News reported. The Punjabi Taliban includes members and factions of the Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, and Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami. The Lashkar-e-Jhangvi in particular is well known for carrying out sectarian terror attacks against minority Shia, Ahmadis, Sufis, and Christians in
Continue reading Punjabi Taliban kill 29 in attacks on religious processions in Lahore
ScienceDaily (Aug. 7, 2010) — A University of Delaware researcher reports that an “ice island” four times the size of Manhattan has calved from Greenland’s Petermann Glacier. The last time the Arctic lost such a large chunk of ice was in 1962.
“In the early morning hours of August 5, 2010, an ice island four times the size of Manhattan was born in northern Greenland,” said Andreas Muenchow, associate professor of physical ocean science and engineering at the University of Delaware’s College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment. Muenchow’s research in Nares Strait, between Greenland and Canada, is supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF).
Satellite imagery of this remote area at 81 degrees N
Continue reading Greenland Glacier Calves Island Four Times the Size of Manhattan
As Germany’s wild boar population has skyrocketed in recent years, so too has the number of animals contaminated by radioactivity left over from the Chernobyl nuclear meltdown. Government payments compensating hunters for lost income due to radioactive boar have quadrupled since 2007.
It’s no secret that Germany has a wild boar problem. Stories of marauding pigs hit the headlines with startling regularity: Ten days ago, a wild boar attacked a wheelchair-bound man in a park in Berlin; in early July, a pack of almost two dozen of the animals repeatedly marched into the eastern German town of Eisenach, frightening residents and keeping police busy; and on Friday morning, a German highway was closed
Continue reading Radioactive Boar on the Rise in Germany
Key components in the USA Patriot Act are set to expire at the end of the year, but President Barack Obama is seeking to extend them, reversing his stark opposition in the past to the same provisions. “The president’s reversal on Patriot Act reform is a major travesty,” said Michelle Richardson, Legislative Counsel for the leading civil rights group ACLU, in an interview with Raw Story. “There have been many, many abuses of power in the last four years.”
Continue reading ACLU: Obama’s reversal on Patriot Act reform ‘a major travesty’
Documents long classified but scheduled to be released at the end of 2009 will not see the light of day just yet thanks to the Obama administration, according to a published report.
Continue reading Obama maintains secrecy for ‘millions of pages’ of intel documents
Fighting has intensified in a region in northwestern Pakistan where the Taliban and al Qaeda fighters dodging the South Waziristan operation have regrouped. Limited military operations, consisting largely of air and artillery strikes backed by the paramilitary Frontier Corps, are concentrating on Taliban strongholds in a region that borders the Arakzai, Kurram, and Khyber tribal agencies.
Continue reading Fighting intensifies in northwestern Taliban strongholds
The Taliban leadership and the bulk of its fighters have eluded the Pakistani military during the current operation in South Waziristan. The Pakistani military had billed the South Waziristan offensive, which was launched in the eastern half of the Taliban-controlled tribal agency on Oct. 17, as the decisive battle that would break the back of the group. Instead, the leadership of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, including its leader Hakeemullah Mehsud and its South Waziristan commander Waliur Rehman Mehsud, have escaped to neighboring tribal areas, and the terror attacks in Pakistan continue.
Continue reading Taliban Escape South Waziristan Operation
US intelligence officials are concerned that Syria is becoming an al Qaeda haven, as the terror group becomes increasingly intertwined with Ba’athist groups operating from Iraq’s neighbor to the west. Al Qaeda has refocused its efforts to build an infrastructure in eastern Syria after its network in Iraq was decimated by Iraqi and US security forces from 2007 to 2009, and now the organization is partnering with former Ba’athists from Saddam Hussein’s regime.
Continue reading Eastern Syria Becoming a New Al Qaeda Haven
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has opened a new training camp in the South. The new camp highlights Yemen’s value to al Qaeda in waging its global terror campaign.
Continue reading Al Qaeda Opens New Training Camp in Yemen
Doctors and officials in Fallujah are appealing to the international community for an investigation into the unnatural increase in birth defects, 5 years after two major battles between the U.S. military and Sunni militia groups took place there.
Continue reading Fallujah’s Infants Suffer From Sharp Rise in Birth Defects
Task Force Has Influenced Government Policy in the Past The Democrats downplaying the gravity of new recommendations for breast cancer screening have left out an inconvenient fact: their health care bills would automatically adopt them.
Continue reading Dems’ Health Bills Would Adopt New Mammogram Guidelines
If President Obama orders an additional 30,000 to 40,000 troops to Afghanistan, he will be deploying practically every available U.S. Army brigade to war, leaving few units in reserve in case of an unforeseen emergency and further stressing a force that has seen repeated combat deployments since 2002.
Continue reading Army Data Shows Constraints on Troop Increase
Stolen e-mails reveal venomous feelings toward skeptics Electronic files that were stolen from a prominent climate research center and made public last week provide a rare glimpse into the behind-the-scenes battle to shape the public perception of global warming.
Continue reading In The Trenches on Climate Change, Hostility Among Foes
BAGHDAD — The Sunni insurgent group al-Qaeda in Iraq has rebounded in strength in recent months and appears to be launching a concerted effort to cripple the Iraqi government as U.S. troops withdraw, Iraqi and American officials say.
Continue reading Al-Qaeda in Iraq regaining strength
Claims that British soldiers tortured and murdered up to 20 prisoners after a battle with Iraqi insurgents are to be scrutinised at a public inquiry. Concern that the Army covered up the most serious accusation of war crimes that it has faced has prompted Bob Ainsworth, the Defence Secretary, to order the independent inquiry.
Continue reading British Army Investigated for Torture and Murder in Iraq
By Bill Roggio November 20, 2009 9:13 AM
Taliban suicide bombers struck for the second day straight throughout Afghanistan.
Today a suicide bomber driving a motorcycle detonated his explosives in a market in Farah City, killing 17 people and wounding 29. A second suicide bomber killed five bodyguards of a member of parliament in an attack north of Kabul.
Provincial officials in Farah said a senior police official, who was killed in the explosion, was the target of the suicide attack. Two of the senior police official’s bodyguards were also killed in the attack.
Taliban spokesman Qari Yousuf denied responsibility in a phone call to Reuters.
But the governor of Farah province said the
Continue reading Suicide Bomber Strikes in Western Afghanistan
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