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04 Oct 2011 18:09

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World: Islamic militants detonate truck bomb in Somali capitol

  • Be warned, the video shows some graphic images from the scene. The truck bomb attack killed at least 70 people, and injured dozens more, the most deadly terrorist attack in Somalia in five years. The militant Islamist group Al Shabaab has claimed responsibility, just two months after they retreated from the capitol of Mogadishu, pledging to wage guerilla war against the weak and tenuous interim government. Said a BBC journalist on-site: “…I genuinely feel, it is the worst incident I have seen here in Mogadishu.” source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

04 Oct 2011 00:39

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World: “An important document”: What a letter from Hitler (circa 1919) looks like

  • The Museum of Tolerance to put Hitler’s letter on display: Written before his “Mein Kampf” manifesto, the letter mentions the “Jewish threat.” Deborah Lipstadt, a professor at Emory University, said that this letter is “important for helping us understand Adolf Hitler.”  source
Posted by samimain • 0 Comments • Permalink

03 Oct 2011 17:25

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World: Amanda Knox acquitted of murder by Italian court

  • Amanda Knox acquitted: The climactic trial of the moment came to a conclusion today, as an Italian court acquitted Amanda Knox of murder. The judge did uphold a slander conviction over Knox’s claim that a bar owner committed the crime, but that sentence is already covered by her time served; she’s been imprisoned since 2007. It’s reported that some members of the jury, as well as some journalists in the room were moved to tears by Knox’s declarations of innocence, which sounds like a pretty bad time to a be a prosecutor. Knox is now free to head back home to her native Seattle, where a large contingent of supporters are expected to greet her. (Photo by Pier Paolo Cito/AP) source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

03 Oct 2011 10:48

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World: Amanda Knox trial: Knox’s emotional final plea for freedom

  • I’ve lost a friend in the worst, most brutal, most inexplicable way possible. I’m paying with my life for things that I didn’t do.
  • Amanda Knox • Speaking during her murder trial on the death of Meredith Kercher, who she spoke of endearingly during her speech this morning. This was Knox’s last chance to prove her innocence before a decision is made at the retrial of the century. Knox’s words were compelling and even brought tears to the eyes of some of the journalists in the courtroom. Example: “She had her bedroom next to mine, she was killed in our own apartment. If I had been there that night, I would be dead,” she said. “But I was not there.” The trial has been a bit of a three-ring circus, but this final act could prove more high-flying than anything else. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

02 Oct 2011 10:59

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World: Reports: Occupy Manchester draws big crowds, peaceful protests

  • 30,000 people marching in Manchester source
  • » A peaceful protest emphasized: Before Sunday’s protests (timed with a Conservative Party conference) began, organizers went out of their way to emphasize to police that the protests would not be anything like the violent riots in August, which started in London and eventually made their way to Manchester. “Organizers of the demo have made it clear that they want a peaceful protest.” said Assistant Chief Constable Ian Hopkins. “We have given some very strong messages that the police, the courts and the public won’t tolerate the sort of behavior we saw in August and we’re here today to make sure that anyone who does think they can step out of line will very quickly learn that they can’t.” Thus far, things have remained peaceful, with only one protester hurt (she fell).
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

01 Oct 2011 11:27

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World: Amanda Knox trial: A farce no matter what happens Monday

  • Where does the victim fall into this whole mess? With a verdict in the Amanda Knox trial coming on Monday, we’d like to express our frustration with this case. The entire case — on both sides — seems more obsessed with creating attention for itself, rather than finding any true sense of justice for the victim, Meredith Kercher. With prosecutors seemingly obsessed with ratcheting up the heat on Knox (they asked that she and suspect Raffaele Sollecito receive life sentences, despite the fact their sentences were far less than that the first time around), rather than focused on the facts of the case, it’s likely justice has not been served. Even Knox’s own family has had to put up a giant PR campaign around her, which almost feels like necessity given the insane press coverage around the case. The media coverage feels particularly weird and invasive. The result? Whatever happens Monday will not be justice — it’ll be a bastardization of the word. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

01 Oct 2011 10:13

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World: Pakistan: Security guard in Salman Taseer killing sentenced to death

  • then In January, Pakistani governor Salman Taseer was assassinated under bizarre circumstances — Taseer, who had tight security, was assassinated by one of his own security guards, who admitted to the crime immediately and pointed to Taseer’s opposition to a controversial blasphemy law.
  • now That security guard, Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri, was sentenced to not one, but two death sentences. “Nobody can be given a license to kill on any pretext,” the judge reportedly said about the case, which is still a bit of a touchy subject. Qadri’s lawyer plans to appeal the decision. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

30 Sep 2011 22:12

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World: Anwar al-Awlaki killing approved in secret Justice Department memo

  • As a general matter, it would be entirely lawful for the United States to target high-level leaders of enemy forces, regardless of their nationality, who are plotting to kill Americans both under the authority provided by Congress in its use of military force in the armed conflict with al-Qaeda, the Taliban, and associated forces as well as established international law that recognizes our right of self-defense.
  • A vague, anonymous U.S. official • Discussing and defending the American role in killing key al-Qaeda figure Anwar al-Awlaki, whose killing was sanctioned in a secret memo put together by the Justice Department. As we pointed out earlier, al-Awlaki was a U.S. citizen, making his assassination very controversial for some, most notably Glenn Greenwald. Does the explanation above hold water? source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

30 Sep 2011 19:45

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World: Follow-up: More on the videos YouTube blocked in the UK

  • Due to the source of the content, we wanted to do some fact-checking on the banned videos we noted in our post earlier today. Nothing against Infowars.com, the authors of the original article, but we felt it was worth a double-check. So, here we go. Above is a clip of a bizarre protest that took place in March, which involved members of a nationalist anti-authority British organization called the British Constitution Group. The protests, which were covered by both BBC and The Daily Mail (which has significantly more detail and photos), showed a group of people claiming that a bankruptcy proceeding around one of the group’s members was illegal. They attempted to make a citizen’s arrest of the judge; the Magna Carta was cited as the reason they were allowed to make the citizens’ arrest. (We told you it was weird.) Above is video of what happened. If you’re in the UK, you will not be able to watch this video; If you’re in the U.S. and want to see what a blocked video looks like, click through to this proxy. Granted, the video is months old, and its blocking is also months old, but there we go. After some fact checking, we can prove that this video was in fact blocked. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

30 Sep 2011 16:11

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World: YouTube removes protest videos at request of UK government

  • When viewers in the UK attempt to watch videos of the protest, they are met with the message, ‘This content is not available in your country due to a government removal request.’
  • Paul Watson on YouTube’s new partnership with the UK government over protest videos • The British government is hoping the removal of certain protest images from the popular video sharing website will prevent copycat demonstrations from forming in the future. The British government isn’t the only one requesting YouTube pull demonstration videos: A geographic search reveals the US government has also requested YouTube remove certain videos along with keyword searches. (EDIT: Due to the source of the article, we did a fact-check and confirmed that videos were in fact banned by YouTube due to a UK government request.) source
Posted by Matthew Keys • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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