| Hard News
Some 107 people killed in Syria: Clashes
between the Free Syrian army and government troops resulted in death of
at least 107 people, Al Jazeera TV channel reported on Wednesday.
http://en.trend.az/news/incident/2100650.html
Syria: rebels fight Palestinian pro-Assad group (+video): Clashes
between Syrian rebels and an armed Palestinian group loyal to the
Syrian government raged inside a Damascus refugee camp Tuesday, as the
Syrian military deployed tanks outside, activists said.
http://is.gd/sDdXNr
Yarmouk residents flee Syria fighting: Over
95 percent of Palestinians in Yarmouk have fled the refugee camp near
Damascus under heavy shelling, the Palestinian ambassador to Syria said
Tuesday, as fighting continued between anti- and pro-government
groups.
http://is.gd/FQAmKa
Syrian Militants Free to Target Russians - Opposition Leader: A
prominent leader of the Syrian opposition abroad has called Russian
and Iranian citizens "a legitimate target for opposition militants in
Syria."
http://is.gd/tqnMC7
Syrian hijackers demand ransom for release of Russians: The
abductors of two Russians and an Italian in Syria have demanded a
ransom for their release, news reports said on Tuesday. Earlier today,
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Moscow is dealing with
the problem and that all necessary steps are being taken in Syria and
other countries that may influence the situation.
http://is.gd/H7NPcA
Abbas Urges UN to Help Syria Refugees Enter Palestinian Territories: Palestinian
Authority Chief Mahmoud Abbas urged the international community to
help Palestinian refugees fleeing camps across Syria enter the West
Bank and Gaza.Mahmoud Abbas"
http://is.gd/uD1sBC
UN chief warns Israel illegal settlements are 'dangerous path': United
Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday toughened his
language as he once more urged Israel to halt plans to build new
settler homes on occupied Palestinian territory.
http://is.gd/VYNxi1
UN security council's EU members to condemn Israeli illegal settlements expansion: Unusual statement expected from the UK, France, Germany and Portugal follows blunt criticism by US of construction plans
http://is.gd/AYFux1
US will not support UN resolution condemning illegal Israeli settlements: official: State
Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters on Tuesday that
Washington would not support a proposal for a Security Council
resolution being discussed in preliminary talks in response to the plan
for new Israeli settlements.
http://is.gd/RELRUm
Commander: Iran to Endanger Enemies' Vital Interests if Threatened: Iran
has warned it would hit the US, Israel and their worldwide interests
and close the strategic Strait of Hormuz if it became the target of a
military attack over its nuclear program.
http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.php?nn=9107128293
Kurdish troops fire on Iraqi army helicopter in dispute: Troops
from Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan opened fire on an Iraqi army
helicopter on Tuesday, underscoring tensions between Baghdad's Arab-led
central government and the Kurdish region, officials said.
http://is.gd/QnICeo
"You Are Safe With Us": How Ordinary Iraqis Rescued U.S. Civilians in the Midst of War: In
2003, Iraqi townspeople, having just lost their hospital in U.S. air
strikes, saved the lives of three wounded U.S. peacemakers. Seven years
later, the Americans returned-to thank them.
http://is.gd/mZUBRc
Six Taliban killed in Afghan blast: Six
Taliban militants were killed in Afghanistan's Helmand province
Wednesday when an explosive device they were planting on a road went off
accidentally, Xinhua reported.
http://newindianexpress.com/world/article1386152.ece
Insider attack leaves 4 Afghan police dead in Kandahar: At
least 3 more officers were wounded following the attack which took
place after they were poisoned in their security check post in Spin
Boldak district.
http://is.gd/UxPimK
Afghan army beset by desertions: General
Olivier de Bavinchove, number three commander in the US-led
International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), says around 50,000
soldiers, or around 26 percent, of the 190,000-strong Afghan army
desert the force each year.
http://is.gd/zmUxGB
US Army to seek death penalty for soldier charged with Kandahar massacre: Staff
Sgt. Robert Bales faces charges of premeditated murder and other
offences in the attack on two villages in southern Afghanistan on March
11.
http://rt.com/news/death-penalty-kandahar-massacre-419/
Pentagon to reimburse Pakistan $688 million: The
Pentagon has notified Congress this month that it would reimburse
Pakistan nearly $700 million for the cost of stationing 140,000 troops
on the border with Afghanistan, The New York Times reported on
Tuesday.
http://is.gd/qSHExF
Two more polio workers killed in Pakistan: Gunmen
have shot dead a woman working on UN-backed polio vaccination efforts
and her driver in northwestern Pakistan, officials say, raising to
eight the number of people killed in 48 hours who were part of the
immunisation drive.
http://is.gd/NIgR2h
How The CIA "May Have" Undermined Polio Treatment In Pakistan:
Part
of the Taliban's opposition is due to the controversial way that the
CIA sought intelligence on bin Laden's presence in the Pakistani city
of Abbotabad.
http://is.gd/p73IU1
Benghazi inquiry slams State Department: The
investigation into the attacks on the diplomatic mission and CIA annex
that killed ambassador Christopher Stevens and three others also
faulted State Department officials in Washington for ignoring requests
from officials at the U.S. embassy in Tripoli for more guards and
safety upgrades to the diplomatic mission.
http://is.gd/qSOWYA
Chief of State Department security service resigns after Benghazi attack report: source: An
administration official says the chief of the State Department's
security service, one of his deputies and an official from the agency's
Middle East bureau have resigned after a damning report that found
systematic management failures responsible for a lack of security at
the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya.
http://is.gd/JtkbeF
Ireland to legalise abortions where woman's life is at risk: Reforms expected to allow for abortions where there is a medical risk to the woman's life or a danger of suicide
http://is.gd/qBakhN
Russia advances law to ban U.S. adoptions: Russia's parliament voiced strong support Wednesday for barring Americans from adopting Russian children,
http://is.gd/07ZNaS
Mexico's new government offers blistering critique U.S.-backed drug war:
"The
rate of increase in homicides places us among the highest in the
world," he said. "In recent years, because of the violence linked to
organized crime, thousands of people have died and thousands of people
have disappeared." Interior Secretary Miguel Angel Osorio Chong said.
http://is.gd/O91yke
Mexico says some 80 drug cartels at work in country, up from 8 reported by previous government: Mexico's
new attorney general said Tuesday that as many as 80 small and
medium-size drug cartels are operating in the country, a number far
higher than the last formal government assessment.
http://is.gd/T766zb
Senate Wants To Sneak Warrantless Spying Bill Extension Into Law Without Debate; Let's Call Them and Tell Them No: The
Senate is about to vote on an extension of the controversial FISA
Amendments Act-the unconstitutional law that allows the NSA to
warrantless spy on Americans speaking to people abroad. Yet you
wouldn't know it by watching CSPAN because the Senate isn't debating
it.
http://is.gd/zWmXy2
Four shot dead in Colorado murder-suicide, police say: A
man shot and killed three people in a home in Colorado on Tuesday
before turning the handgun on himself and committing suicide,
authorities said.
http://is.gd/sd4zna
Orange County Commissioners Approve Paying for Armed Deputies at Elementary Schools: Commissioners
voted unanimously Tuesday to pay for the deputies to be at the 60
elementary schools in unincorporated Orange County. The county is home
to Orlando.
http://is.gd/7hDD9L
Car Backfire Believed To Have Caused School Lockdown: Police
said they initially received a report of a gun or gunfire near the
school. A student had allegedly reported seeing a teenager fire a gun
in the air. School administrators quickly confirmed that no shots were
fired in the school and no one was injured.
http://is.gd/maARI5
The Antipsychotic Prescribed To Adam Lanza Has A Troubled History All Its Own: The
reaction invoked by the drug in some people is reminiscent of the
Jeffrey R. MacDonald case, where a Green Beret slaughtered his entire
family and then fabricated a story about a marauding troop of "hopped
up hippies".
http://is.gd/Bw79Gv
Police find no evidence Connecticut gunman was on medication: Investigators
searching the Connecticut home gunman Adam Lanza shared with his
mother, Nancy Lanza, seized cellphones, computers and computer games,
but found nothing at the residence to indicate he was taking
medication, Hearst Connecticut Newspapers reported.
http://is.gd/z4HCBC
===
"Let us be peace and joy"
Tom Feeley
| 
