Hard News
20 FARC rebels killed as deadline set for peace deal: Colombian leftist rebels faced on Monday a new deadline for striking a peace deal with the government after President Juan Manuel Santos warned they have less than a year to reach a negotiated end to Latin America's longest-running insurgency. http://is.gd/N5tw9e
Militants kill 12 soldiers in Somalia: Officials: Islamist extremists attacked an army post in northeastern Somalia, killing 12 soldiers in one of the deadliest attacks in recent months by the al-Qaeda-linked group, al-Shabab, an official said Wednesday. http://is.gd/qbuXOp
Turkish forces kill 13 Kurdish militants near Syria border: Turkish troops and attack helicopters pounded Kurdish militants near the border with Syria, killing 13 militants and capturing five others, the regional governor's office said on Wednesday. http://is.gd/v9HUfo
6 killed as deadly clashes errupt in Lebanon's Tripoli: The fighting on Tuesday and Wednesday in the port city has pitted Sunni Muslim districts against areas housing Alawites, from the same religious community as Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. http://is.gd/FFyoS1
Clinton Expresses Support for New Syrian (puppet) Opposition Coalition: "Now that there is a new opposition formed, we are going to be doing what we can to support that opposition," Clinton said in Brussels. "I am looking forward to the friends of the Syrian people meeting next week in Marrakesh, where we will explore with like-minded countries what we can do to bring this conflict to an end." http://is.gd/pUa9s1
Thousands of US troops arrive near Syrian shore on USS Eisenhower: The USS Eisenhower, an American aircraft carrier that holds eight fighter bomber squadrons and 8,000 men, arrived at the Syrian coast yesterday in the midst of a heavy storm, indicating US preparation for a potential ground intervention. http://rt.com/usa/news/us-eisenhower-syria-military-369/
Maliki 'punished' Turkey for relations with Kurdish region: In a way that is not considered diplomatically appropriate, the Iraqi central government denied permission for the plane carrying Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz to land in Arbil on Tuesday, an act which analysts take as a reaction by the Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to Turkey's policies in the region. http://is.gd/baJ4gX
Israel rejects UN call for nuclear transparency: Israel has rebuffed a UN call to adhere to the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and open itself to international inspectors, calling the suggestion a "meaningless mechanical vote" of a body that "lost all its credibility regarding Israel." http://rt.com/news/israel-rejects-un-nuclear-transparency-298/
Palestinians: settlement expansion means 1 state: The Israeli plans for Jerusalem and nearby West Bank areas "are the most dangerous in the history of settlement expansion and apartheid," Abbas and senior members of the PLO and his Fatah movement said in a statement after a meeting Tuesday evening. http://is.gd/cDyDiq
Abbas: Israel's settlement plans in area E-1 are a 'red line': Palestinians contact UN chief to sound out possibilities for Security Council resolution against Israeli settlement expansion. http://is.gd/FzEysG
EU summons Israeli ambassador over settlement expansion concerns: Israel moved forward on Wednesday with plans to build some 3,000 settler homes in one of the most sensitive areas of the occupied West Bank, in defiance of international protests. http://is.gd/XuYoZd
Israel accuses US of backing European settlement backlash: Israel has accused its closest ally, the United States, of endorsing a concerted European backlash against its plans to expand settlements in east Jerusalem and the West Bank. http://is.gd/BdUjnQ
Egypt summons Israeli ambassador over settlement expansion: The ministry's Israel department head, Alaa Eddin Youssef, has called the ambassador to voice Egypt's objection to the expansion move as "a violation to the land-for-peace principle" and a hurdle to efforts made for the resumption of Palestinian-Israeli negotiations, according to spokesperson Amr Roshdy. http://is.gd/8lhj0F
Four Afghan boys killed by British occupation force troops: British forces have been accused of killing four boys at close range in an operation in Afghanistan. http://is.gd/FoMUTF
US Military Says Killing Afghan Children Is Fair Game: According to the Military Times, the US military includes children on their list of who they're allowed to murder with impunity. http://is.gd/Zahzhm
Afghanistan Tops Most Corrupt Countries Index: Afghanistan is perceived to have one of the most corrupt public sectors in the world out of 176 countries surveyed, according to a report from Transparency International released Wednesday. http://is.gd/RO1pHV
Two Pakistani soldiers killed as troops foil suicide attack: At least two Pakistani soldiers were killed and four others injured today during an attempt by a pair of suicide bombers in an explosives-laden vehicle to blow up an army camp in the restive South Waziristan tribal region http://is.gd/7vU8Ia
Two police shot dead in Nigeria as bombs hit bus: Attackers threw homemade bombs at a bus, a blast went off near a police station and two policemen were shot dead in a spate of attacks in the Nigerian city of Kano, officials said on Wednesday. http://is.gd/3uBKiE
Egypt's opposition blames president for violence: "Today what is happening in the Egyptian street, polarisation and division, is something that could and is actually drawing us to violence and could draw us to something worse," said opposition politician Mohamed ElBaradei. http://is.gd/Pj5pDE
3 members of Mursi's Advisory council quit: Seif Abdel Fattah, Ayman al-Sayyad and Amr al-Leithy all tendered their resignations, bringing to six the number of presidential staff who have quit in the wake of a decree that has triggered countrywide violence. http://is.gd/Y6zi3B
Arab Spring nations slip in corruption index: Egypt falls six places and Syria 15 but Libya manages slight improvement in Transparency International's league table. http://is.gd/0Nr1qk
Iran tells US to 'recount' drones: Iran's Revolutionary Guards is telling the United States to "recount" the drones in its fleet as it insists that -- despite US denials -- it captured a small US unmanned spy plane over Gulf waters, Iranian media said Wednesday. http://is.gd/YGTdy1
Drone in Iran Appears to Be U.S.-Made, Pentagon Says: The drone Iran says it captured appears to be a U.S.-made ScanEagle, Pentagon spokesman George Little said, in a change from the initial U.S. rejection of the Iranian claim. http://is.gd/Fd9jtp
Iran to take US to international court over intercepted spy drone: Iran has threatened international legal action against Washington over its alleged interception of a US spy drone. Tehran claims it has evidence of illegal spying on Iran's nuclear program to present to an international court. http://rt.com/news/iran-sue-us-drone-329/
Majority of homeless Iraq and Afghanistan vets have PTSD: A new Yale study looks at the demographics of homeless vets and finds care lacking http://is.gd/ToUU1x
Coast Guardsman is killed after suspected smugglers ram his boat: A veteran U.S. Coast Guard chief petty officer was killed Sunday after suspected smugglers rammed his vessel near Santa Cruz Island, casting him into the ocean with a fatal head wound. http://is.gd/MXXyap
NDAA 2013 still allows for military detention within the US: "It would not make America off-limits to the military being used to imprison civilians without charge or trial," he writes, "...because its focus on protections for citizens and green-card holders implies that non-citizens could be militarily detained." http://rt.com/usa/news/ndaa-military-detention-2013-365/
U.S. is Only Developed County where Younger Generation will Receive Less Education than their Parents: Today, only about 20% of young adults will reach a higher level of education than their parents, a rate that's among the lowest rates in the developed world http://is.gd/daS9ja
The US Government Today Has More Data On The Average American Than The Stasi Did On East Germans: Much of that data seems to be collected illegally with little oversight... and with absolutely no security benefit. http://is.gd/KI5f4j
Hackers net €36m in Europe banking attack: Hackers have stolen more than €36m from 30 banks across Europe using a new two-stage Trojan virus that spreads from a victim's PC to their mobile phone. http://is.gd/rTiske
Citigroup Announces 11,000 Job Cuts : The move by new CEO Michael Corbat will save $900m (£559m ) in 2013, and more in subsequent years. Citigroup shares rose 4% on the New York Stock Exchange shortly after the news, to $35.62. http://is.gd/XCgMcl
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"Let us be peace and joy"
Tom Feeley
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