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21 Jan 2012 14:20

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World: Nigerian Islamic sect claims responsibility for coordinated attacks

  • 143 people killed in Nigerian sectarian violence Friday source
  • » Increasingly sophisticated attacks: The Nigerian terror group Boko Haram, whose name stands for “Western education is sacrilege” in the local Hausa language, has been responsible for at least 510 deaths last year and 219 killings this year alone. The latest attack, in the city of Kano, showed increasing sophistication as it targeted major governmental building in the city. While both Muslims and Christians were killed or injured in the attack, Boko Haram intends to target Christians living in the Muslim-leaning northern region of the country.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

18 Jan 2012 21:42

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World: Captain of crashed Costa Condoria under heavy scrutiny

  • The burden of command: In the last few days, as more and more information has trickled out regarding the sinking of the Costa Concordia cruise ship off the coast of Italy, more and more public criticism has been leveled at the ship’s captain, Francesco Schettino. Schettino was captured on audio hesitant to leave a lifeboat he’d escaped to and return to his sinking ship to coordinate passenger rescues, even as a coast guard officer ordered him to do so. Now, four days into the aftermath, and Schettino has offered up a new explanation; he “tripped” into the lifeboat in the midst of a mad dash by passengers towards the escape vessels. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

16 Jan 2012 00:23

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World: UN’s Ban Ki-moon gets tough against Assad’s handling of Syrian conflict

“Today, I say again to President Assad of Syria: Stop the violence, stop killing your people,” the UN Secretary General said Sunday. “The path of repression is a dead end.” There’s no misinterpreting that. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

14 Jan 2012 10:54

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World: Like a scene from Titanic: Deadly Costa Concordia cruise ship crash

  • “Have you seen ‘Titanic?’ That’s exactly what it was.” The Italian cruiseliner that went aground near the coast of Tuscany on Friday evoked a deadly situation that, to say the least, harkened back to that fateful incident. The Costa Concordia crashed on the tiny island of Giglio, forcing a tip-over that killed three and left nearly 70 others unaccounted for. The ship had a very chaotic, disorganized evacuation — putting roughly 4,200 people in danger — partly because the crew delayed the evacuation drill until days after the cruiseliner started moving. The ship was supposed to have an evacuation drill on Saturday, despite the fact that some had been on the ship for several days. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

13 Jan 2012 09:43

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World: Two years later, Haiti continues its slow march towards recovery

  • Where does haiti stand after the deadly 2010 quake? While about $15 billion of aid money is still missing in Haiti, progress is still being made. “Recovery is here. It is painfully slow, it is agonizing to watch, but it is recovery,” said Harvard professor Paul Farmer. He has spent three decades in Haiti and is opening a new hospital. Big factories could also stimulate the country’s economy, creating 20,000 jobs at just one plant. Progress can also be measured somewhat superficially; HuffPo “Good News” writer Cameron Sinclair finds the silver lining in other ways. He noted the lesser-but-still-positive positives of Haiti, such as its fast WiFi and rich history. (Perhaps that’s looking too hard in the forest to see trees, but y’know.) So, while recovery is still being sought after, it is still coming. And in some ways, it is already here. (Photo by Ken Cedeno / The Washington Post) source
Posted by samimain • 0 Comments • Permalink

12 Jan 2012 15:41

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World: Kim Jong-Il’s oldest son doesn’t buy his brother’s new rule

  • I expect the existing ruling elite to follow in the footsteps of my father while keeping the young successor as a symbolic figure. It is difficult to accept a third-generation succession under a normal reasoning.
  • Kim Jong Nam, eldest son of Kim Jong-Il • Remarks made in an email to the Tokyo Shimbun newspaper, on the subject of his young brother Kim Jong-Un’s ascendancy to power in North Korea. It’s worth noting a couple things in his analysis — for one, he was shirked in the Kim line of succession for, of all things, traveling to Japan on a fake passport in an effort to visit Disneyland. As a result, he no longer lives in North Korea, which means he probably can’t be as informed as he once was; North Korea is one of the most opaque nations on earth. However, when a family this bizarre, powerful, and hugely important gets to feuding, it merits attention. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

12 Jan 2012 14:54

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World: Foxconn workers threaten mass suicide over severance pay

  • Taking “strike” to a whole new level: It’s been reported that workers at Foxconn’s factory in Wuhan, China (where they make those XBOX 360s we’re all so fond of) were so incensed over an alleged reneging by the company on severance pay, as well as a factory closure, that they issued a dire ultimatum: meet our demands, or face a mass suicide. The workers (estimates vary from 80 to 200) didn’t go through with the threat, mercifully, as Foxconn apparently placated their demands. Foxconn’s factories and dormitories have seen suicides before, infamously forcing the installation of safety nets around windows. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

12 Jan 2012 10:12

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World: Reaction to shocking Marine corpse desecration video extremely strong

  • The actions portrayed are not consistent with our core values and are not indicative of the character of the Marines in our Corps. This matter will be fully investigated.
  • A statement from the Marine Corps Headquarters • Angrily criticizing a video, posted on YouTube, that appears to show Marines urinating on the bodies of dead Taliban fighters. However the video, which has floated around YouTube for the past day, has not been verified. The Pentagon, however, said there is no indication that the video isn’t authentic. The video has drawn a number of angry responses from officials as varied as Sen. John McCain, Afghan President Hamid Karzai and the Council on Islamic-American Relations. In Karzai’s case, he called the video “completely inhumane.” If the video is accurate, he’ll find us agreeing with him. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

11 Jan 2012 20:49

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World: Reports suggest fracturing within Arab League monitors in Syria

  • “It does not serve anything”: Those were the words of an unnamed Arab League monitor, decrying the lack of purpose and efficacy of the delegation in Syria. Just yesterday, an Algerian monitor named Anwar Malek left Syria, calling the effort “a farce,” a sentiment this anonymous skeptic agrees with: “The Syrian authorities have exploited the weakness in the performance of the delegation to not respond. There is no real response on the ground.” The U.N. estimates that of the over 5,000 people killed by the Syrian government in the last ten months, a whopping 400 have occurred since the monitors arrived. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

11 Jan 2012 20:16

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World: More on the killing of Iranian nuclear scientist Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan

  • How it happened: Mostafa Roshan was being taken to work when two people on a motorcycle attached a magnetic bomb to the side of his car, which then exploded. Roshan was killed in the blast, and his driver suffered fatal wounds. Roshan, the deputy director of commerce for the Natanz uranium enrichment facility, was likely targeted for his prominent role in the facility, which is at the center of a major controversy over what the U.S. sees as a push by Iran to create nuclear weapons. Roshan, in his role, would likely have been in charge of procuring materials to build nuclear fuel. The U.S. has denied any role in his death. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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