Public's Views on Human Evolution - Pew Research Center's Religion and Public Life Project

According to a new Pew Research Center analysis, six-in-ten Americans (60%) say that "humans and other living things have evolved over time," while a third (33%) reject the idea of evolution, saying that "humans and other living things have existed in their present form since the beginning of time." The share of the general public that says that humans have evolved over time is about the same as it was in 2009, when Pew Research last asked the question.

About half of those who express a belief in human evolution take the view that evolution is "due to natural processes such as natural selection" (32% of the American public overall). But many Americans believe that God or a supreme being played a role in the process of evolution. Indeed, roughly a quarter of adults (24%) say that "a supreme being guided the evolution of living things for the purpose of creating humans and other life in the form it exists today."

These beliefs differ strongly by religious group. White evangelical Protestants are particularly likely to believe that humans have existed in their present form since the beginning of time. Roughly two-thirds (64%) express this view, as do half of black Protestants (50%). By comparison, only 15% of white mainline Protestants share this opinion.

There also are sizable differences by party affiliation in beliefs about evolution, and the gap between Republicans and Democrats has grown. In 2009, 54% of Republicans and 64% of Democrats said humans have evolved over time, a difference of 10 percentage points. Today, 43% of Republicans and 67% of Democrats say humans have evolved, a 24-point gap.

These are some of the key findings from a nationwide Pew Research Center survey conducted March 21-April 8, 2013, with a representative sample of 1,983 adults, ages 18 and older. The survey was conducted on landlines and cellphones in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3.0 percentage points.

Differences by Religious Group

A majority of white evangelical Protestants (64%) and half of black Protestants (50%) say that humans have existed in their present form since the beginning of time. But in other large religious groups, a minority holds this view. In fact, nearly eight-in-ten white mainline Protestants (78%) say that humans and other living things have evolved over time. Three-quarters of the religiously unaffiliated (76%) and 68% of white non-Hispanic Catholics say the same. About half of Hispanic Catholics (53%) believe that humans have evolved over time, while 31% reject that idea.

Those saying that humans have evolved over time also were asked for their views on the processes responsible for evolution. Roughly a quarter of adults (24%) say that "a supreme being guided the evolution of living things for the purpose of creating humans and other life in the form it exists today," while about a third (32%) say that evolution is "due to natural processes such as natural selection."

Just as religious groups differ in their views about evolution in general, they also tend to differ in their views on the processes responsible for human evolution. For instance, while fully 78% of white mainline Protestants say that humans and other living things have evolved over time, the group is divided over whether evolution is due to natural processes or whether it was guided by a supreme being (36% each). White non-Hispanic Catholics also are divided equally on the question (33% each). The religiously unaffiliated predominantly hold the view that evolution stems from natural processes (57%), while 13% of this group says evolution was guided by a supreme being. Of the white evangelical Protestants and black Protestants who believe that humans have evolved over time, most believe that a supreme being guided evolution.

Views About Evolution by Party Affiliation

There are sizable differences among partisan groups in beliefs about evolution. Republicans are less inclined than either Democrats or political independents to say that humans have evolved over time. Roughly two-thirds of Democrats (67%) and independents (65%) say that humans have evolved over time, compared with less than half of Republicans (43%).

The size of the gap between partisan groups has grown since 2009. Republicans are less inclined today than they were in 2009 to say that humans have evolved over time (43% today vs. 54% in 2009), while opinion among both Democrats and independents has remained about the same.

Differences in the racial and ethnic composition of Democrats and Republicans or differences in their levels of religious commitment do not wholly explain partisan differences in beliefs about evolution. Indeed, the partisan differences remain even when taking these other characteristics into account.

Views About Evolution by Demographic Group

The 2013 Pew Research survey varied the exact wording of the question about evolution to better understand public views on the issue. A random group of respondents was asked about the evolution of "humans and other living things" while others were asked about the evolution of "animals and other living things." The survey found that the wording focus on animals vs. humans made little difference in beliefs.

Beliefs about human and animal evolution tend to vary by gender, age and education. Men are somewhat more inclined than women to say that humans and animals have evolved over time. Younger adults are more likely than older generations to believe that living things have evolved over time. And those with more years of formal schooling are more likely than those with less education to say that humans and animals have evolved over time.

About the Survey

This report is based on telephone interviews conducted March 21-April 8, 2013, among a national sample of 1,983 adults, 18 years of age or older, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia (1,017 respondents were interviewed on a landline telephone, and 966 were interviewed on a cellphone). Interviews were completed in English and Spanish by live, professionally trained interviewing staff under the direction of Princeton Survey Research Associates International.

A combination of landline and cell random digit dial (RDD) samples were used to reach a representative sample of all adults in the United States who have access to either a landline or cellphone. Both samples were disproportionately stratified to increase the incidence of African-American and Hispanic respondents. Within each stratum, phone numbers were drawn with equal probabilities. The landline samples were list-assisted and drawn from active blocks containing three or more residential listings, while the cell samples were not list-assisted but were drawn through a systematic sampling from dedicated wireless 100-blocks and shared service 100-blocks with no directory-listed landline numbers. Both the landline and cell RDD samples were disproportionately stratified by county based on estimated incidences of African-American and Hispanic respondents.

The survey questionnaire included a split-form design whereby an additional 2,023 adults were asked a different set of questions, including the questions on animal evolution reported above. The total number of interviews conducted was 4,006. Thus, the data collection involved two simultaneous surveys; where the same question was asked on each form, the results of the two forms can be combined to yield a representative survey of U.S. adults with the full 4,006 respondents.

Several stages of statistical adjustment or weighting are used to account for the complex nature of the sample design. The weights account for numerous factors, including (1) the different, disproportionate probabilities of selection in each stratum, (2) the overlap of the landline and cell RDD sample frames, and (3) differential non-response associated with sample demographics. Statistical results are weighted to correct known demographic discrepancies, including disproportionate stratification of the sample.

The survey's margin of error is the largest 95% confidence interval for any estimated proportion based on the total sample – the one around 50%. For example, the margin of error for the entire sample is +/-3.0 percentage points. This means that in 95 out of every 100 samples drawn using the same methodology, estimated proportions based on the entire sample will be no more than 3.0 percentage points away from their true values in the population. Sampling errors and statistical tests of significance used in this report take into account the effect of weighting. In addition to sampling error, one should bear in mind that question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of opinion polls.

16.14 | 0 komentar | Read More

North Dakota community evacuated after train collision and fire - Los Angeles Times

A small community in North Dakota was evacuated Monday evening after a train carrying crude oil collided with another train, setting off a large fire and explosions, according to the local sheriff's department.

No injuries have been reported, Sgt. Tara Morris of the Cass County Sheriff's Office said.

Officials received a report at 2:12 p.m. of a train derailing about a mile west of Casselton, a city of 2,432 people about 20 miles west of Fargo, Morris said.

Steven Forsberg, a spokeswoman for BNSF Railway, said the accident occurred when a grain train derailed and hit a crude oil train on a second main track, causing it to derail as well.

"A fire ensued, and quickly a number of the cars became engulfed," Morris said.

Residents and media captured images of large explosions and a pillar of smoke coming out of the flaming wreckage that could be seen for miles, but Forsberg said no crew members were injured.

Morris said firefighters had managed to detach 50 of the 104 cars on the oil train but had to leave the rest.

"They can't fight the fire due to the extremes of the explosion and high temperatures," Morris said. "They're just letting the oil burn off at this point."

By evening, fearing toxic smoke, local officials were urging the entire town to evacuate, as well as residents five miles to the south and east. People said police were driving through the streets urging them to leave.

"Casselton the new ground zero. Police evacuating people," one resident tweeted.

"The world is going to end!" another added. "The WHOLE town of Casselton is getting evacuated because a train blew up."

The National Transportation Safety Board said investigators were set to arrive in North Dakota on Tuesday morning.

The crash is the fourth serious accident this year involving trains hauling crude in North America.

In July, an unattended train with 72 tank cars carrying crude oil from North Dakota's Bakken shale fields rolled downhill and set off an explosion in Lac-Megantic, Quebec, killing more than 40 people.

Two other accidents followed, though neither involved fatalities.

The accidents have highlighted the growing reliance on rail to move oil as production surges from new fields in Texas, North Dakota and Colorado.

U.S. railroads are moving 25 times more crude than they did in 2008, often in trains with more than 100 tank cars that each carry 30,000 gallons.

In the aftermath of the previous accidents, the Federal Railroad Administration issued an emergency order that tightened operating rules on carrying crude, prohibiting operators from leaving crude trains unattended without getting prior regulatory approval.

Separately, the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration began steps to improve the safety of tank cars.

matt.pearce@latimes.com

ralph.vartabedian@latimes.com

16.14 | 0 komentar | Read More

Life support extended for girl declared brain dead - Boston.com

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — The family of a girl who was declared brain dead after tonsil surgery received another reprieve Monday from a judge who ordered the 13-year-old to be kept on life support for another week.

Doctors at Children's Hospital Oakland say Jahi McMath will never recover, so they want to take her off the machines that are keeping her body functioning. Her family wants to continue life support, saying they have hope she will still pull through.

Shortly before a previous ruling would have allowed doctors to end life support at 5 p.m. Monday, Alameda County Superior Court Judge Evelio Grillo ordered the hospital to keep Jahi on a ventilator until Jan. 7 to give the family time to file a petition in state appellate court.

It's the latest twist in a harrowing legal and medical fight that has reignited a heated debate about when life support should end for a severely brain-damaged person.

On Monday, the family's lawyer filed suit in federal court, requesting that the hospital be compelled to perform a tracheotomy for breathing and to insert a feeding tube — procedures that would allow Jahi to be transferred to a facility willing to care for her. The hospital has said it's unethical to perform surgery on a person who is legally dead.

With television cameras clustered outside the hospital, the family maintained a vigil as the deadline approached.

When Jahi's mother, Nailah Winkfield, heard of the delay, she wept and hugged relatives outside the hospital. She said it was an answer to her prayers and a sign that she was right to keep fighting.

''Who wants to know the date and the time their child would die?'' Winkfield said. ''I don't care what anyone has to say about what I'm doing. ... I have to do what is right for me and for Jahi.''

She said she does not believe her daughter is dead because her heart is still beating.

Sam Singer, a hospital spokesman, said it would comply with the judge's new order but would oppose any efforts by Jahi's family to convince a court that she is still alive and entitled to the same rights as a living person.

''We are hopeful we will be successful so this tragedy can end,'' Singer said.

He also dismissed claims by Jahi's relatives that she has shown signs of life, saying any muscle activity was an involuntary muscle reflex.

The family's lawyer, Christopher Dolan, said when he called Jahi's mother at the hospital about the extension of the deadline, she said hospital staff had cleared family members out of a waiting room as doctors prepared to remove Jahi from the ventilator.

''He's giving us a meaningful opportunity to seek relief and what I consider a stay of execution,'' Dolan said of the judge's ruling. ''I feel like I'm a death row lawyer, and it does not feel good.''

The attorney said he knows he has been widely criticized by some for giving the girl's family a false sense of hope. But he said, ''I am fighting for the right of parents to direct the health care of their child and for them to make the choice.''

Doctors at Children's Hospital and an independent pediatric neurologist from Stanford University have concluded Jahi is brain dead.

She underwent a tonsillectomy at the hospital Dec. 9 to treat sleep apnea and other issues. After she awoke from the operation, her family said, she started bleeding heavily and went into cardiac arrest. Then she was declared brain dead three days later.

In a declaration filed with the federal action by Jahi's family, Dr. Paul Byrne, a pediatrician who has questioned the definition of brain death, said he visited Jahi's bedside and observed her responding to her grandmother's voice and touch with a squirming movement.

''In my professional opinion, she is not a cadaver,'' Byrne said. ''Her heart beats thousands of times a day.''

The family's court filings said the New Beginnings Community Center in Medford, N.Y., is willing to take Jahi and provide 24-hour medical care. The facility's management could not be reached for comment Monday night.

Arrangements also have been made, according to the documents, with an air ambulance company for a doctor to accompany Jahi on a private jet from Oakland to Long Island for $27,950.

By Monday night, the family's fundraising website had raised more than $27,000 for a possible transfer.

Dolan said in a phone interview that he has also been in talks with a facility in Arizona because the family would like to keep Jahi as close as possible.

Earlier, Singer, the hospital spokesman, reiterated the position of its doctors.Continued...

16.14 | 0 komentar | Read More

Israel Frees More Palestinian Prisoners - Voice of America

Israel has freed 26 more Palestinian prisoners who were jailed for deadly attacks on Israeli civilians in the latest release under an agreement to revive peace talks between the two sides.

Crowds cheering, waving flags and setting off fireworks gave the freed prisoners a hero's welcome early Tuesday, in both the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and other officials greeted a group of them in Ramallah with hugs and kisses, and Abbas vowed to press for more prisoners to be allowed to go home.

"We will not sign a final peace deal with Israel until all the prisoners are released," declared Abbas.

The latest release was the third of four agreed to with Israel, under which a total of 104 Palestinians will be freed.

The releases infuriate many Israelis, including some members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Cabinet. They consider the ex-prisoners terrorists.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is due to travel to the Middle East this week, where the State Department said he will propose a framework for final status negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.

A spokeswoman gave no details of the framework Monday other than saying it would address all core issues between the two sides.

Israel and the Palestinians resumed peace talks in July after a three-year break. Israel agreed to the prisoner release and the Palestinians dropped their demand for Israel to stop settlement construction before final status talks are held.

Kerry leaves for Jerusalem Wednesday and will then proceed to Ramallah. The secretary of state has made a Middle East peace agreement a top foreign policy goal. He has made frequent trips to the region in the past year.

16.14 | 0 komentar | Read More

Death toll in Congo attacks rises to 100: government - Reuters

KINSHASA Tue Dec 31, 2013 3:48am EST

• Tweet
• Share this
• Email
• Print

1 of 3. Congolese security officers position themselves as they secure the street near the state television headquarters (C) in the capital Kinshasa, December 30, 2013.

Credit: Reuters/Jean Robert N'Kengo

KINSHASA (Reuters) - Around 100 people were killed on Monday in Democratic Republic of Congo when security forces clashed with supporters of a self-proclaimed 'prophet' who tried to seize control of the airport, a military barracks and state television, the government said.

Paul Joseph Mukungubila, who calls himself 'the prophet of the Eternal' was on the run from authorities, government spokesman Lambert Mende said on Tuesday.

Mukungubila, who ran unsuccessfully for president in 2006, said the attacks were in response to government harassment of his supporters.

Armed youths attacked the airport, a military barracks and the state television headquarters in Kinshasa on Monday before being repulsed by troops. The government had earlier said dozens were killed.

Clashes between Mukungubila's supporters and security forces also took place on Monday in the eastern mining town of Lumbumbashi at a church run by Mukungubila, witnesses said.

The pastor has railed against President Joseph Kabila's decision to make peace with Tutsi rebels in eastern Congo, saying the president was bowing to pressure from Rwanda.

Democratic Republic of Congo is struggling to emerge from decades of violence and instability, particularly in its east, in which millions of people have died, mostly from hunger and disease. A 21,000-strong United Nations peacekeeping mission (MONUSCO) is stationed in the country.

(Reporting by Bienvenu Bakumanya; Writing by Daniel Flynn; Editing by Janet Lawrence)

• Tweet this
• Link this
• Share this
• Digg this
• Email
• Print
• Reprints

Comments (1)

Reuters watch the brutality in this video. This report is completely false. The truth is that this was a massacre of unarmed civilians.

At this point no body really knows what happened but the killings started as a simple protest. The "protesters" were unarmed according to AFP. They only had sticks that you can see in this video.

The soldier in this video say they killed personal guards of Bisengimana which Kabila just promoted to head of national police.

This was basically infighting within Kabila's circle of power. It's still a mystery to most congolese as to what really took place.

16.14 | 0 komentar | Read More

Massive explosion in Beirut, Lebanon - Fox News

This transcript is automatically generated

A MASSIVE EXPLOSION ROCKING BEIRUT OVERNIGHT, KILLING A FORMER AMBASSADOR TO THE U.S., AND FOUR OTHERS.

THIS IS NEW VIDEO JUST COMING IN NOW.

THE BLAST ALSO WOUNDING DOZENS.

THIS IS THE LATEST IN A WAVE OF BOMBINGS OVER THE PAST SEVERAL MONTHS AS TENSIONS MOUNT IN LEBANON OVER NEARBY SYRIA'S CIVIL WAR.

GOOD MORNING, EVERYONE, I'M GREGG JARRETT IN FOR BILL HEMMER HERE IN "AMERICA'S NEWSROOM." JAMIE: THEY SURE HAVE SEEN A LOT OF VIOLENCE AND TERROR THERE.

I'M JAMIE COLBY.

I'M IN FOR MARTHA MACCALLUM.

WE'RE HAPPY TO HAVE YOU HERE TODAY.

FIRST THE TOP STORY.

THE EXPLOSION WAS HEARD ACROSS THE LEBANESE CAPITAL, AND SENT A BIG BLACK SMOKE THROUGH A POSH DOWNTOWN DISTRICT.

THE ARMY LATER BLOCKING OFF THE AREA WHERE TWISTED WRECKAGE OF SEVERAL CARS ARE STILL SMOLDERING.

GREGG: CONOR POWELL IN THE MIDDLE EAST BUREAU WITH THE LATEST.

WHAT DO YOU KNOW SO FAR? >> Reporter: GREGG, AS YOU SAID AT LEAST FIVE PEOPLE WERE KILLED, MORE THAN 70 PEOPLE INJURED AS A MASSIVE EXPLOSION ROCKED AN UPSCALE NEIGHBORHOOD IN DOWNTOWN BEIRUT.

IT BREW OUT -- BLEW OUT WINDOWS FOR SEVERAL CITY BLOCKS, SENDING SMOKE ACROSS THE ENTIRE AREA.

THE DEVICE APPEARS WAS DETONATED BY REMOTE.

VIOLENCE IS NO STRANGER TO BEIRUT.

IT APPEARS THE TARGET OF TODAY'S BLAST WAS A CONVOY OF A PRO-WESTERN FORMER LEBANESE MINISTER AMBASSADOR TO WASHINGTON.

HE WAS AN IMPORTANT ADVISOR TO THE HARIRI FAMILY, ONE.

MOST POWERFUL POLITICAL DYNASTIES IN ALL OF LEBANON.

THE FORMER PRIME MINISTER, RAFIK HARIRI WAS ASSASSINATED IN 2005.

SO OF COURSE HEZBOLLAH HAS -- THEY ARE THE LEADING TO BELIEVE, TO BEHIND THIS ATTACK, GREGG.

WELL, CONOR, WE KNOW THE AMBASSADOR WAS A VERY OUTSPOKEN CRITIC OF HEZBOLLAH OF THE THAT IS A PRETTY DANGEROUS THING TO BE DOING WHEN YOU'RE IN LEBANON.

IS THAT LIKELY WHAT COST HIM HIS LIFE? >> Reporter: SO THIS IS PLEASED TO BE A VERY PROFESSIONAL ATTACK.

THE TYPE THAT HAS HEZBOLLAH CARRIED OUT IN THE PAST AND HAS THE ABILITY TO CARRY OUT BUT BEIRUT'S BEEN ROCKED BY A LOT OF VIOLENCE IN RECENT WEEKS AND MONTH, PARTICULARLY AN ATTACK ON THE IRANIAN EMBASSY IN BEIRUT.

THERE ARE PLENTY OF GROUPS IN LEBANON THAT CAN CARRY OUT THESE TYPES OF ATTACKS.

SHATAH HAS BEEN OUTSPOKEN CRITIC OF HEZBOLLAH, AL QAEDA AND SYRIA'S ASSAD.

HE WAS ON HIS WAY TO AN ANTI-SYRIAN MEETING.

HE HAS MADE A LOT OF ENEMIES IN LEBANON AND ACROSS THE WIDER MIDDLE EAST.

HEZBOLLAH MAY BE THE EASIEST GROUP, GREGG, TO POINT THE FINGER AT BUT THERE ARE A LOT OF PEOPLE HOT COULD HAVE CARRIED THIS OUT.

ITS STILL TOO EARLY TO SAY IT IS HEZBOLLAH.

IT IS A VERY DANGEROUS COUNTRY IN A VERY DANGEROUS REGION, GREGG.

IT SURE IS.

CONOR POWELL LIVE FROM JERUSALEM.

WE'LL CHECK BACK IN WITH YOU.

BACK HERE AT HOME SOME 1.3 MILLION LONG-TERM UNEMPLOYED

16.14 | 0 komentar | Read More

Slain suspect in Phoenix robbery believed to be killer of Mississippi officer - Reuters

JACKSON, Mississippi Sun Dec 29, 2013 3:04am EST

JACKSON, Mississippi (Reuters) - A man killed by police after robbing an Arizona bank is believed to be the same suspect who days before killed a police officer four states away in Mississippi, authorities said late on Saturday.

Wearing a mask, the man entered the bank in Phoenix on Saturday morning and displayed a handgun, filled a bag with cash from the vault and fled, the FBI said in a statement.

The man got into a gun battle with a Phoenix police detective outside the Arizona bank and was shot and killed, the statement said. The suspect's name was not released.

The man killed by police in Phoenix is believed to be the same suspect who robbed a bank in the northeastern Mississippi town of Tupelo on Monday, and then opened fire on two officers, the FBI said.

Tupelo police Officer Gale Stauffer, 38, was shot at close range and died from his wounds, the FBI and local authorities said last week. Stauffer was promoted to sergeant after his death. The other officer who was shot is in stable condition and expected to survive.

The FBI has said it believes the same suspect hours earlier attempted to rob a bank in Atlanta, Georgia, which is about 300 miles east of Tupelo.

Authorities had launched a multi-state manhunt for the suspect and had offered a reward of more than $200,000.

Surveillance photos from the attempted robbery in Atlanta at a Bank of America show a man wearing a black ski mask and wielding a gun attempting to rob a teller and then demanding money from a customer in an ATM vestibule, the FBI said.

Authorities said they will give more details about the suspect at a news conference on Sunday morning in Tupelo.

(Reporting by Emily Le Coz in Jackson, Mississippi; Writing by Alex Dobuzinskis; Editing by Alison Williams)

• Link this
• Share this
• Digg this
• Email
• Print
• Reprints

16.14 | 0 komentar | Read More

Benghazi attack organized by local leader, not Al Qaeda: report - New York Daily News

Evan Vucci/AP

President Obama 's administration initially cited local outrage over the film 'Innocence of Muslims,' which mocks the Prophet Muhammad, as the motivation for the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, that killed four Americans, including Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens. The latest New York Times report supports that version of events.

The deadly attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi last year was not orchestrated by Al Qaeda but rather by a local militia leader and other Libyans who were outraged by a video lampooning Islam, according to a new report.

An investigation by The New York Times, published Saturday, supported the initial version of events provided by the Obama administration immediately after the Sept. 11, 2012, attack — an account that spawned a vehement Republican cry that the President was trying to downplay the attack to protect his reelection bid.

RELATED: 4 U.S. SOLDIERS DETAINED BY LIBYAN GOVERNMENT

Administration officials initially cited local outrage over the film "Innocence of Muslims" — which mocks the Prophet Muhammad — as the motivation for the attack. Four Americans were slain, including Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens.

But, as GOP criticism mounted, the administration later said the film wasn't a factor and that Al Qaeda was behind the bloodshed. The backtracking fueled Republican arguments that Obama made a political decision to downplay Al Qaeda's involvement for fear that word of a terrorist strike on a diplomatic outpost could decide the close race with GOP nominee Mitt Romney.

But now, the Times report lends credence to the administration's initial version of events while also placing blame on the CIA and administration officials for being overly focused on Al Qaeda prior to the attack and naively believing that Libyan militias would become long-term American allies.

The paper described the prime suspect in the attack, Ahmed Abu Khattala, as an "erratic extremist" and militia leader with no known ties to Al Qaeda.

RELATED: AS OBAMA DITHERS, NORTH AFRICA UNRAVELS

But that didn't mean Khattala wasn't a threat. According to The Times, he made it clear that he regarded the U.S. as infidels whom he despised almost as much as his nemesis, Libyan leader Moammar Khadafy.

And once Khdafy was toppled and slain by Libyans in 2011, Khattala — much like other Libyan militia leaders who benefited from U.S. aid — allegedly put Americans in his cross hairs.

RELATED: AMERICAN TEACHER SHOT, KILLED IN BENGHAZI

Still, the attack was not "meticulously planned" nor entirely spontaneous, according to the paper. Surveillance of the compound appeared to be underway 12 hours before the assault.

But once the assault began, people not involved in its planning, who were angered by "Innocence of Muslims," joined in the mayhem, according to the paper.

RELATED: STASI: CBS PUTS LARA LOGAN ON LEAVE BUT FIRED RATHER FOR LESS

Rioters and looters not associated with any militia later tore the mission to shreds and set it ablaze.

ON A MOBILE DEVICE? CLICK HERE TO WATCH VIDEO.

16.14 | 0 komentar | Read More

Rockets fired into Israel from Lebanon early Sunday - Fox News

JERUSALEM –  Rockets from Lebanon struck northern Israel Sunday, causing no injuries but sparking an Israeli shelling reprisal in a rare flare-up between the two states.

Residents of the northern Israel town of Kiryat Shmona awoke to a pair of large explosions. Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said no injuries or damage were caused from the rocket fire. Shortly after, the Israeli military said it responded with artillery fired toward the source of the launch.

Lebanon's state news agency said the border area was shelled after the rockets hit Israel. The agency said over 20 shells hit the mountainous region around the southern Lebanese border area of Rachaya.

The Israel-Lebanon border has remained mostly quiet since a monthlong war in the summer of 2006 between Israel and Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon. There have been sporadic outbursts of violence, most recently earlier this month when a Lebanese army sniper killed an Israeli soldier.

Lebanon is unusually jittery after a Friday car bombing in an upscale district of Beirut. On Sunday, Lebanese soldiers fanned out throughout the country, manning checkpoints and closing off sensitive roads.

Nonetheless, the Lebanese government is notoriously unable to control its own security. Hezbollah has its own large, well-trained militia that dominates the southern border. There are also small bands of Palestinian militants who claim responsibility for some isolated rocket attacks.

In the most serious incident, Lebanese forces killed a high-ranking Israeli officer in 2010 and Israel responded with artillery fire that killed three Lebanese. However, incidences of rocket fire have been infrequent since the countries agreed to a cease-fire that ended the 2006 war.

The 2006 war broke out after Iranian-backed Hezbollah guerrillas crossed into Israel and captured two Israeli soldiers. The ensuing monthlong conflict killed about 1,200 Lebanese and 160 Israelis.

Israel and Lebanon have fought several wars before. In 1982, Israel invaded Lebanon with the stated intention of driving Palestinian guerrillas out of the south. The Israeli military battled halfway through the country into Beirut and occupied south Lebanon until 2000.

Given the years of enmity between the two countries, even the smallest incident raises the risk of sparking a wider conflagration.

16.14 | 0 komentar | Read More

Student killed as protests engulf Egyptian university - The Australian

University students loyal to the Muslim Brotherhood clash with police and reportedly set two buildings on fire at al-Azhar University in Cairo. Rough Cut (no reporter narration).

Three people have been killed and 265 arrested in a crackdown on demonstrations in Egypt.

A man stands outside a faculty building at Cairo's Al-Azhar University after student supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood stormed it yesterday Source: AFP

Security forces patrol outside the burning Faculty of Commerce. Al-Azhar students have been protesting for weeks against the ousting of President Mohammed Morsi. Source: AP

A student died and a building was torched at Egypt's main Islamic university as riot police fired teargas to break up a strike.

Police said yesterday they entered eastern Cairo's Al-Azhar campus, the site of frequent clashes in recent weeks, and deployed around other Egyptian universities late on Saturday (AEDT) to prevent supporters of ousted president Mohammed Morsi from intimidating other students trying to take the tests.

Pro-Morsi activists have called for an exam boycott but deny government claims that they threatened anyone.

Students at al-Azhar, a stronghold of Morsi supporters, have been protesting for weeks against his ouster and a subsequent state crackdown, which saw his Muslim Brotherhood group declared a terrorist organisation last week. The Brotherhood dismisses the label and has vowed to keep up its protests against Egypt-military backed authorities.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Higher Education Hossam Eissa said authorities would go after those he said were financing non-peaceful protests on campuses, and accused the Brotherhood of seeking to derail exams.

"The aim of the terrorist Brotherhood group is to call off university exams," he said according to comments published on the state news agency MENA. "The role of the government is to restore security especially before the referendum on the constitution."

The government has intensified its crackdown on Brotherhood and Morsi supporters ahead of a January 14-15 constitutional referendum they see as a milestone in the transition plan. Authorities fear Morsi supporters will seek to derail the key vote, through protests or violence.

University professors and security officials accused protesting students of blocking entrances to classes and harassing students as they made their way into the campus.

A statement from the Interior Ministry, in charge of the police, said students stormed several buildings on campus to "terrorise students and faculty." It said some fired shotguns into the air and smashed furniture.

The ministry statement said the attack prompted the police to move in to disperse the crowd, leading the students to setting the Faculty of Commerce on fire.

Aya Fathy, a student spokeswoman, disputed the officials' claim, saying the students were protesting peacefully. She said police moved in to break up protesters outside the faculty building, firing indiscriminately at them, and killing student Khaled el-Haddad.

She accused police of setting the building on fire to blame the students. She said the police force was chasing students on campus.

Footage from local TV stations and social media websites showed the campus as a battleground. Flames rose from the three-storey building, with rooms inside badly torched. Pitched battles pitting police against rock-throwing students, some armed with what appeared to be homemade guns or projectile launchers, left the campus deserted, strewn with rocks and debris.

Other video showed plainclothes security with sticks grabbing a woman by her veil, kicking her, and manhandling her away.

Exams were postponed at the Faculty of Commerce and other schools on campus. The university dean said the delay will only be for hours. Osama el-Abd, the dean, told Egypt's state news agency that alternative classrooms would be provided for the students to carry out the exams, and those scheduled Sunday. He said investigation would be launched to determine the students behind Saturday's violence.

The Interior Ministry didn't mention el-Haddad's death in its statement. But a security official confirmed he was killed and said 14 others were injured.

AP

16.14 | 0 komentar | Read More

South Sudan: UN concerned by 'wildcard' White Army - BBC News

29 December 2013 Last updated at 04:02 ET

The UN has expressed concerns about thousands of South Sudanese youths - loyal to rebel leader Riek Machar - marching on the strategic town of Bor.

Armed with machetes and sticks, the "wildcard" group does not have military training, a UN spokesman told the BBC.

The UN is organising surveillance flights to ascertain the group's size, added the spokesman, Joe Contreras.

At least 1,000 people have died in this month's fighting. More than 121,600 are believed to have fled their homes.

Tens of thousands of civilians have sought refuge in UN camps and reinforcements have been arriving to give them extra protection.

The government has offered a ceasefire, but the army says its forces are still battling over oilfields in the north.

What began as a power struggle between Mr Machar and President Salva Kiir has taken on overtones of a tribal conflict. The Dinka, to which Mr Kiir belongs, are pitted against the Nuer, from which Mr Machar hails.

'Ratchet up the conflict'

Continue reading the main story

The White Army is a name that inspires fear in South Sudan.

This loose grouping of armed youth from the Nuer ethnic group was at least partly responsible for the 1991 Bor massacre, in which at least 2,000 people were killed. Then, the White Army fought alongside Riek Machar, who had split away from the main southern Sudanese rebel group fighting Khartoum.

In 2011 and 2012 a new incarnation of the White Army went on the rampage, killing hundreds of civilians from the Murle ethnic group. At the time, Mr Machar was vice president - and although he travelled to meet them, he was unable to stop their advance.

Now the South Sudanese government says thousands of White Army members are marching on Bor - under Mr Machar's command. This is an explosive claim - particularly as Mr Machar is under international pressure to stop fighting and begin negotiations by the end of the year.

Government troops are currently in control of Bor, the capital of Jonglei state they had taken from the rebels.

The group reportedly marching on the town are part of an ethnic Nuer militia known as the White Army because of the white ash they put on their skin to protect them from insects.

South Sudanese government spokesmen have been quoted as saying it numbers as many as 25,000 armed men and answers to the former vice-president, but these details have not been confirmed.

The White Army seems sympathetic to Mr Machar, but does not appear to be acting on his direct orders, said Joe Contreras, a spokesman for the UN Mission in South Sudan, who described the group as "a volatile and unpredictable ingredient" to the unrest in South Sudan.

"They do not have a military background or the discipline that you would associate with military who have been fighting under the banner of the former vice-president since this crisis began," he told the BBC's World Service.

"They are a wildcard whose intervention in the theatre of conflict outside Bor could ratchet up the conflict even further and also put at even greater risk the lives of innocent civilians."

Mr Machar was deputy president until Mr Kiir sacked him in July.

Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.

Riek Machar has given a cautious response to government proposals to end hostilities, as Peter Biles reports

Earlier this month fighting broke out between rival army factions after Mr Kiir accused Mr Machar of trying to unseat him in a coup.

Mr Machar said on Friday his forces were in control of the whole of the states of Jonglei and Unity, apart from Bor.

He said he had a negotiating team ready but any ceasefire had to be credible, properly monitored and preceded by the release of 11 detainees accused of being co-conspirators in the coup plan.

Mr Kiir has refused to accept any preconditions for a ceasefire.

16.14 | 0 komentar | Read More

1.3 million losing unemployment benefits Saturday - San Francisco Chronicle

WASHINGTON (AP) — More than 1 million Americans are bracing for a harrowing, post-Christmas jolt as extended federal unemployment benefits come to a sudden halt this weekend, with potentially significant implications for the recovering U.S. economy. A tense political battle likely looms when Congress reconvenes in the new, midterm election year.

Nudging Congress along, a vacationing President Barack Obama called two senators proposing an extension to offer his support. From Hawaii, Obama pledged Friday to push Congress to move quickly next year to address the "urgent economic priority," the White House said.

For families dependent on cash assistance, the end of the federal government's "emergency unemployment compensation" will mean some difficult belt-tightening as enrollees lose their average monthly stipend of $1,166.

Jobless rates could drop, but analysts say the economy may suffer with less money for consumers to spend on everything from clothes to cars. Having let the "emergency" program expire as part of a budget deal, it's unclear if Congress has the appetite to start it anew.

An estimated 1.3 million people will be cut off when the federally funded unemployment payments end Saturday.

Some 214,000 Californians will lose their payments, a figure expected to rise to more than a half-million by June, the Labor Department said. In the last 12 months, Californians received $4.5 billion in federal jobless benefits, much if plowed back into the local economy.

More than 127,000 New Yorkers also will be cut off this weekend. In New Jersey, 11th among states in population, 90,000 people will immediately lose out.

Started under President George W. Bush, the benefits were designed as a cushion for the millions of U.S. citizens who lost their jobs in a recession and failed to find new ones while receiving state jobless benefits, which in most states expire after six months. Another 1.9 million people across the country are expected to exhaust their state benefits before the end of June.

But Obama has no quick fix. He hailed this month's two-year budget agreement as a breakthrough of bipartisan cooperation while his administration works with Democratic allies in the House and Senate to revive an extension of jobless benefits for those unemployed more than six months.

The Obama administration says those payments have kept 11.4 million people out of poverty and benefited almost 17 million children. The cost of them since 2008 has totaled $225 billion.

At the depth of the recession, laid off workers could qualify for up to 99 weeks of benefits, including the initial 26 weeks provided by states. The most recent extension allowed a total of up to 73 weeks, depending on the state.

Restoring up to 47 extra weeks of benefits through 2014 would cost $19 billion, according to the Congressional Budget office.

House Democrats led by Reps. Sander Levin of Michigan and Chris Van Hollen of Maryland sought to include an extension through March by offsetting the costs with potential farm bill savings. They were rebuffed.

Senate Democrats and some Republicans plan another push in 2014. Sens. Jack Reed, D-R.I., and Dean Heller, R-Nev., have introduced a bill offering a similar three-month extension, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has promised to bring it up. But as with much in Congress, an extension is no sure thing.

In phone calls on Friday, Obama told Reed and Heller he was glad they were working together to address the problem. "It defies economic sense, precedent and our values," Obama economic adviser Gene Sperling said in a statement.

House Speaker John Boehner spoke with Obama about an extension earlier this month. Boehner and said his caucus would consider the possibility "as long as it's paid for and as long as there are other efforts that will help get our economy moving once again." He said White House has yet to introduce a plan that meets his standards.

For other Republicans, the bar is higher. Many of them look at signs of economic growth and an unemployment rate now down to 7 percent and expected to drop further as evidence the additional weeks of benefits are no longer necessary.

The effect of jobless benefits on the unemployment rates has been fiercely debated for decades. To qualify, people have to be seeking work. Tea partiers such as Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky argue that the payments aggravate rather than relieve unemployment.

The benefits allow some jobseekers to hold out for higher wages. Without the benefits, they might accept lower-paying jobs, reducing the unemployment rate. Others may be looking for work only to keep the benefits flowing and will drop out of the job market entirely once the checks stop. In theory, that also would push the unemployment rate lower.

The flip side is that the benefits — in addition to alleviating suffering — get spent on consumer goods, stimulating the economy and creating jobs.

Extended unemployment insurance "is really a lifeline to help pay the bills, put food on the table, and put gas in the tank so people can look for work," argued Maurice Emsellem, policy co-director at the left-leaning National Employment Law Project.

Michael Feroli, an analyst at JPMorgan Chase, said ending the extended benefits will lower the unemployment rate by half a percentage point as the long-term unemployed leave the labor force. While that statistical change may look good on the surface, Feroli cautioned the drop could be accompanied by a similar decrease in consumer spending. That would also hurt clothing retailers, car dealers and other Main Street businesses.

Extending the program, on the other hand, would boost GDP growth by some 0.2 percent and increase full-time employment by 200,000 next year, the Congressional Budget Office estimated, but at the price of increasing the government's debt.

Advocates of extended benefits say communities hardest hit by the recession will feel the sudden loss of cash in circulation the most.

They cite a set of their own troublesome figures: three jobseekers still competing for each opening; some 4 million people in the ranks of long-term unemployed; unemployment lasting on average 37 weeks, two months longer than most states provide insurance.

___

Associated Press writer Josh Lederman in Honolulu contributed to this report.

16.14 | 0 komentar | Read More

Police file on Newtown yields chilling portrait of shooter and more details of ... - Washington Post

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Connecticut police released thousands of pages Friday from their investigation into the Newtown massacre, providing the most detailed and disturbing picture yet of the rampage and Adam Lanza's fascination with murder, while also depicting school employees' brave and clear-headed attempts to protect the children.

Included in the file were photographs of the home the 20-year-old Lanza shared with his mother. They show numerous rounds of ammunition, gun magazines, shot-up paper targets, gun cases, shooters' earplugs and a gun safe with a rifle in it.

A former teacher of Lanza's was quoted as telling investigators that Lanza exhibited antisocial behavior, rarely interacted with other students and obsessed in writings "about battles, destruction and war."

"In all my years of experience, I have known [redacted] grade boys to talk about things like this, but Adam's level of violence was disturbing," the teacher told investigators. "Adam's creative writing was so graphic that it could not be shared," the teacher added.

The documents' release marks the end of the investigation into the Dec. 14, 2012, shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School that left 20 first-graders and six educators dead.

Lanza went to the school after killing his mother, Nancy, inside their home. He committed suicide with a handgun as police arrived at the school.

The documents also fill in more details about how the shooting unfolded and how staff members looked out for the youngsters.

Teachers heard janitor Rick Thorne trying to get Lanza to leave the school. One teacher, who was hiding in a closet in the math lab, heard Thorne yell, "Put the gun down!" An aide said she heard gunfire and Thorne told her to close her door. Thorne survived.

Teacher Kaitlin Roig told police she heard "rapid-fire shooting" outside of the school, near her classroom. She rushed her students into the classroom's bathroom, pulled a rolling storage unit in front of the bathroom door as a barricade and then closed and locked the door.

She heard a voice say, "Oh, please, no. Please, no." Eventually, police officers slid their badges under the bathroom door. Roig refused to come out and told them that if they were truly police, they should be able to get the key to the door — which they did.

Others weren't so lucky.

Police Lt. Christopher Vanghele said he and another officer found what appeared to be about 15 bodies, mostly children, packed in another bathroom "like sardines." So many people had tried to cram inside the bathroom that the door couldn't be closed, and the shooter gunned them all down, Vanghele said.

The paperwork, photos and videos were heavily blacked out to protect the names of children and to withhold some of the more grisly details of the crime.

— Associated Press

16.14 | 0 komentar | Read More

Fire on Indian Express Train Kills Dozens - New York Times

NEW DELHI — More than two dozen passengers, many of them headed home for the holidays, were killed early Saturday when an express train traveling through the center of India caught fire.

Strdel/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Indian rescue personnel try to open a window of an express train that caught fire early Saturday and killed more than two dozen passengers.

The fire started around 3:30 a.m. on a train moving through India's southern tropical region, between Nanded and Bangalore, the heart of India's burgeoning technology industry.

Twenty-six people died, and their bodies were charred beyond recognition, S. Senthil Kumar, the chief of police in nearby Anantapur, said by telephone. Seven other passengers were badly injured and were taken to nearby hospitals, Mr. Kumar said.

Most of the passengers in the compartment where the fire broke out were sleeping at the time, and an electrical short-circuit was suspected as the cause, according to local media reports.

India's train system is the world's most extensive, but fares are kept so low to accommodate the poor that the government has been unable to invest in repairs. Many trains are in terrible disrepair and many stations are decrepit.

An effort last year by a reformist railway chief to raise fares to pay for needed repairs was reversed immediately, and the official resigned after an outcry followed his announcement.

16.14 | 0 komentar | Read More

Police: La. shooter embroiled in difficult divorce - USA TODAY

This undated photo provided by the Lafourche Parish Sheriff's Office shows Ben Freeman.(Photo: AP/Lafourche Parish Sheriff Office)

Story Highlights

• Man pleaded guilty to criminal telephone-harassment charges against ex-wife, her dad in Oct.
• On Nov. 27, Freeman was issued a citation for simple battery domestic violence against his current wife
• On Dec. 26, Freeman killed his wife, his ex-mother-in-law, himself

SHARE 1 CONNECT EMAILMORE

LOCKPORT, La. (AP) — It might have appeared that Ben Freeman was trying to right some wrongs in his life in the months before police say he killed three people and himself.

In June, court records show, he agreed to pay his ex-wife Jeanne (ZHANNE) Gouaux (GO) $22,560 in overdue child support payments dating back two years. A settlement filed the following month showed the couple would sell three adjacent lots near her parents' house and split the $25,000 in proceeds. Freeman also agreed to pay Gouaux $39,000.

But June was also the month that Gouaux and her father filed a complaint against Freeman. And on Oct. 23, he pleaded guilty to one of two criminal telephone-harassment charges based on that complaint, said Lafourche Parish Clerk of Court Vernon H. Rodrigue.

He was given a deferred sentence of a $250 fine or 10 days in jail, put on unsupervised probation for a year, and the second count of criminal harassment was dismissed, Rodrigue said.

On Nov. 27, Freeman was issued a citation for simple battery domestic violence against his current wife, Denise Taylor Freeman, the Terrebonne Parish Sheriff's Office said in a news release. A court date had been scheduled for Jan. 16, 2014.

On Thursday, police say, Freeman, 38, killed Denise Freeman, 43, who was found suffocated and drowned in a bathroom of their house. He then fatally shot his ex-mother-in-law and the CEO of a hospital where he once worked as a registered nurse, wounded three others, and killed himself, sheriff's officials from Lafourche and Terrebonne parishes said.

Authorities are still investigating Freeman's possible motives, but "clearly, there has been a very difficult and complicated divorce/custody issue going on," Lafourche Parish Sheriff Craig Webre said.

All three survivors remained hospitalized, two in stable but critical condition, hospital officials said late Friday.

Preliminary evidence shows that Freeman first killed Denise Freeman before he went on a rampage and shot the others Thursday, Maj. Malcolm Wolfe, of the Terrebonne Parish Sheriff's Office, wrote in an email.

Denise Freeman's body was found in a bathroom of their house, and an autopsy showed that she suffocated and drowned, Terrebonne Parish Sheriff Jerry Larpenter said Friday.

According to investigators, Ben Freeman then drove to his former in-laws' home in Lafourche Parish, about 45 miles southwest of New Orleans. With a shotgun, he killed his former mother-in-law, Susan "Pixie" Gouaux (pronounced "go"), and wounded her husband, Councilman Louis Phillip Gouaux, and one of their daughters, Andrea Gouaux. His ex-wife, Jeanne Gouaux, apparently wasn't at the home.

About 20 minutes later, Freeman arrived at the home of Milton and Ann Bourgeois. Milton was the longtime CEO of Ochsner (OX-ner) St. Anne General Hospital in nearby Raceland, where Freeman had worked as a nurse until two years ago. Freeman shot Milton Bourgeois at close range, killing him, and shot Ann Beourgeois in the leg. She was in stable condition Friday.

Both Louis and Andrea Gouaux were in critical but stable condition following surgery Friday in New Orleans, Matherne said.

Lafourche Parish Sheriff Craig Webre said Freeman had been fired from St. Anne. He said police previously had been called to the hospital after Freeman damaged a room. Freeman told officers he would seek mental help, Webre said.

But in a teleconference later Friday, Ochsner officials said Freeman had resigned voluntarily, citing personal reasons. The officials said he had worked at the hospital from May 1998 to April 2011, and that he was considered an on-call employee for another five months after that.

Freeman also had worked at two other hospitals, which along with St. Anne had been placed on lockdown for a time on Thursday.

Susan Gouaux — "Pixie" to her friends — was a teachers' aide at Holy Savior Elementary School. She also was a talented needlewoman and knitter who designed the state bicentennial quilt square for Lafourche Parish and made scarves for all her friends, Parish President Charlotte Randolph said in a telephone interview.

She said that she went to school at one time or another with both Philip and Susan Gouaux, and that Susan Gouaux taught her grandchildren. The couple have six adult daughters.

Gouaux called 911 around 6:40 p.m. Thursday from his home in Lockport, telling dispatchers he had been shot in the throat, The Courier newspaper in Houma reported. Freeman was divorced from Gouaux's daughter Jeanne, whom he married in 1997.

Jeanne Gouaux — also a nurse — had filed several protective orders against Freeman, who was allowed only supervised visits with their four children, Webre said. The last protective order expired less than a month ago, he said.

Jeanne Gouaux and the children lived with her parents for a while after the divorce, said Rita Bonvillain (BAHN-vee-yenh), 83, a neighbor of the family for nearly 30 years. She said Andrea Gouaux, a nurse like her sister Jeanne, was visiting from Texas.

Whenever a holiday came, she said, children filled the house and yard. A trampoline, soccer balls and a swing hanging from a big oak in the front yard testified to that.

Bonvillain choked up and held back tears several times as she talked about the Gouauxes. Since her husband died, they regularly have stopped by to ask if she needs groceries or other errands run. The councilman once told her, "'If you ever hear a sound at night and want someone to check it out, call me,'" she said.

Ben Freeman was found dead around 10:45 p.m. along U.S. Highway 90 near Bayou Blue. He had shot himself in the head.

At Denise Freeman's house, a man who did not give his name demanded that an Associated Press reporter leave his sister's property.

Others in the neighborhood of quaint middle-class, ranch-style houses in Houma, the Terrebonne Parish seat, said the house was originally hers.

She had only recently married Freeman, but she and her son Josh — of elementary school age — had lived there for years, said Glenn Cradeur, who has owned his house, two down from hers, for 28 years.

He said he believed the boy was not home when his mother was killed.

Cradeur said he saw no signs of trouble until about two weeks ago, when he saw police vehicles outside the home, responding to what he believed was a domestic dispute.

He returned from a visit to out-of-town relatives to find emergency vehicles outside the house and stunned neighbors gathered nearby.

"It's shocking, and it's sad," he said.

___

Associated Press Writer Janet McConnaughey in New Orleans and researcher Judith Ausuebel in New York contributed to this report.

SHARE 1 CONNECT EMAILMORE

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

16.14 | 0 komentar | Read More

NY Judge Cites 9/11 in Ruling NSA Phone Taps Are Legal - ABC News

The debate over the National Security Agency's collection of millions of Americans' telephone records fell squarely into the courts when a federal judge in Manhattan upheld the legality of the program, citing its need in the fight against terrorism, just days after another federal judge concluded it was likely unconstitutional.

The ruling Friday by U.S. District Judge William H. Pauley III and the opposing view earlier this month by U.S. District Judge Richard Leon in Washington, D.C., sets the stage for federal appeals courts to contemplate the delicate balance between individual rights set out in the Constitution and the need to protect national security.

Pauley concluded the program was a necessary extension of steps taken after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. He said the program lets the government connect fragmented and fleeting communications and "represents the government's counter-punch" to the al-Qaida's terror network's use of technology to operate decentralized and plot international terrorist attacks remotely.

"This blunt tool only works because it collects everything," Pauley said. "The collection is broad, but the scope of counterterrorism investigations is unprecedented."

Pauley's decision contrasts with Leon's grant of a preliminary injunction against the collection of phone records of two men who had challenged the program. The Washington, D.C., jurist said the program likely violates the U.S. Constitution's ban on unreasonable search. The judge has since stayed the effect of his ruling, pending a government appeal.

Both cases now move to appeals courts and a conflict that some believe will eventually be settled by the Supreme Court. The chances that the nation's top court will address the issue increase if the appeals courts reach differing opinions or if the current use of the program is declared illegal.

In ruling, Pauley dismissed a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union earlier this year after former NSA analyst Edward Snowden leaked details of the secret programs that critics say violate privacy rights. The NSA-run programs pick up millions of telephone and Internet records that are routed through American networks each day.

Pauley said the mass collection of phone data "significantly increases the NSA's capability to detect the faintest patterns left behind by individuals affiliated with foreign terrorist organizations. Armed with all the metadata, NSA can draw connections it might otherwise never be able to find."

He added: "As the Sept. 11 attacks demonstrate, the cost of missing such a threat can be horrific."

Pauley said the attacks "revealed, in the starkest terms, just how dangerous and interconnected the world is. While Americans depended on technology for the conveniences of modernity, al-Qaida plotted in a seventh-century milieu to use that technology against us. It was a bold jujitsu. And it succeeded because conventional intelligence gathering could not detect diffuse filaments connecting al-Qaida."

The judge said the NSA intercepted seven calls made by one of the Sept. 11 hijackers in San Diego prior to the attacks, but mistakenly concluded that he was overseas because it lacked the kind of information it can now collect.

Still, Pauley said such a program, if unchecked, "imperils the civil liberties of every citizen" and he noted the lively debate about the subject across the nation, in Congress and at the White House.

16.14 | 0 komentar | Read More

Libya 'releases' four US military personnel - BBC News

27 December 2013 Last updated at 23:37 ET

Libyan authorities have freed four US military personnel briefly detained on Friday, US officials have said.

The US citizens were reportedly arrested near the city of Sabratha, west of the Libyan capital, Tripoli.

Images purporting to show two of the Americans' passports and embassy ID cards were posted on social media.

The head of Sabratha's military council said the US military staff were travelling in two SUVs when they were stopped at a checkpoint.

The State Department announced on Friday evening that the four had been detained while reviewing evacuation routes for embassy staff.

But little more than an hour later unnamed US officials said they had been released. The reasons for their detention remain unclear.

The Americans were allegedly armed and carried communications equipment.

One of their cars was said to have been set on fire afterwards.

US diplomats have operated in the country under very tight security since last year's attack on the US consulate in the city of Benghazi, in which US ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans were killed.

The security situation in and around Benghazi has been worsening in recent months, with militants blamed for almost daily attacks.

Last week, seven people were killed at a security checkpoint near Benghazi in the first known suicide bomb attack in Libya since the fall of Col Gaddafi two years ago.

16.14 | 0 komentar | Read More

Feds: 'Knockout' attack was a hate crime - CNN

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• NEW: Alleged attacker will be in court Friday afternoon for detention hearing
• His attorney says his client has bipolar disorder
• Victim suffered two jaw fractures and was hospitalized for days, complaint says
• In separate case, New York police charged a knockout suspect with a hate crime

(CNN) -- A man has been charged with a federal hate crime in connection with what authorities say was a racially motivated "knockout" assault against an elderly black man, the U.S. Justice Department said Thursday.

Conrad Alvin Barrett, 27, of Katy, Texas, has been charged with one count of violating the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act.

According to the federal complaint, Barrett attacked the 79-year-old man "because of the man's race and color." He will next appear in court Friday afternoon for a detention hearing.

The suspect made a video of the attack November 24, the complaint said. In the video, he allegedly commented that "the plan is to see if I were to hit a black person, would this be nationally televised?"

He then allegedly "hit the man with such force that the man immediately fell to the ground. Barrett then laughed and said 'knockout,' as he ran to his vehicle and fled."

The victim suffered two jaw fractures and was hospitalized for several days, the complaint said.

Barrett's attorney, George Parnham, told CNN the affidavit does not "pull back the layers of mental health."

His client has bipolar disorder and takes medication, Parnham said in an earlier call.

Parnham said he could not state whether his client carried out the attack, but, "mental health issues definitely played a part in anything that occurred."

Barrett "is very sorry for this person," Parnham said, adding that he and his client haven't had much opportunity to discuss the facts of the case.

'Knockout game' a national problem

The "knockout game" is an assault in which an assailant aims to knock out an unsuspecting victim with one punch.

According to the Justice Department complaint, there have been "knockout game" incidents, some of which have been called other names, as long ago as 1992.

New York police previously charged suspect Marajh Amrit with a hate crime in the alleged attack of a white Jewish man as part of a "knockout" game.

Similar cases have been reported recently in several states, including Illinois, Missouri and Washington.

"Hate crimes tear at the fabric of entire communities," U.S. Acting Assistant Attorney General Jocelyn Samuels said Thursday in a Justice Department statement announcing the charge against Barrett. "As always, the Civil Rights Division will work with our federal and state law enforcement partners to ensure that hate crimes are identified and prosecuted, and that justice is done."

Barrett, who is white, allegedly recorded himself on his cell phone attacking the man and showed the video to others, the department said. "The complaint alleges Barrett made several videos, one in which he identifies himself and another in which he makes a racial slur. In addition, Barrett had allegedly been working up the 'courage' to play the 'knockout game' for approximately a week."

The victim's face was swollen on one side, and he has had to use a straw to drink, a nephew, Joseph Lewis, told CNN affiliate KTRK-TV in Houston.

The station reported that Barrett faces up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine if convicted.

Barrett told an off-duty police officer what happened and shared a video, saying he felt bad, the affidavit said.

In other videos on his phone that police confiscated, Barrett used the N-word and said that African-Americans "haven't fully experienced the blessing of evolution," according to the criminal complaint.

"It is unimaginable in this day and age that one could be drawn to violently attack another based on the color of their skin," said Special Agent in Charge Stephen Morris of the FBI's Houston office. "We remind all citizens that we are protected under the law from such racially motivated attacks, and encourage everyone to report such crimes to the FBI."

New York case

In a separate case, New York City police on Wednesday searched for a man who allegedly punched a 33-year-old woman in the back of the head in Brooklyn in what may be a "knockout" assault.

Despite that and other cases, New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said last month that city officials haven't seen evidence of a trend, though they are not ruling out the idea.

"The press has named it the so-called knockout game. We don't discount that that exists. It's a possibility. We've investigated and will continue to investigate," Kelly told reporters in late November.

Possible 'knockout' game victim: 'The whole group of kids just laughed'

Police keep close eye on reports of disturbing 'knockout' game

CNN's Morgan Winsor, Poppy Harlow and Shimon Prokupecz contributed to this report.

16.14 | 0 komentar | Read More

US Budget Easing Cuts Signed by Obama Along With Defense Bill - Businessweek

President Barack Obama signed into law a bipartisan federal budget that will ease $63 billion in spending cuts for the next two years, along with a measure that sets military policy for 2014.

The $1.01 trillion spending plan Obama signed yesterday is projected to cut the federal government's deficit by $23 billion over 10 years. The Pentagon law authorizes a $526.8 billion ceiling for military spending and includes pay raises for troops.

Neither party liked the automatic spending cuts known as sequestration, which in January would have pinched Pentagon spending as well as domestic programs. Neither party could find a way to erase them all in the compromise, which does little to tackle the nation's $17 trillion debt.

Even as lawmakers hailed the deal reached this month by Democratic Senator Patty Murray and Republican Representative Paul Ryan, their plan only sets spending priorities. Lawmakers must still negotiate how money is spent by the agencies.

"It's probably too early to declare an outbreak of bipartisanship," Obama said during a Dec. 20 press conference after the budget bill had cleared Congress. "But it's also fair to say that we're not condemned to endless gridlock."

Lawmakers will "put together bills that can reflect the best we can do under the circumstances," Murray, chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, said after the Senate on Dec. 18 passed the budget 64-36. The House voted for the plan 332-94 on Dec. 12.

The additional spending measure has to be passed and signed into law by Jan. 15, when current authority lapses, to avert a second government shutdown. A stalemate over fiscal issues caused a 16-day shutdown in October.

Obama, who is vacationing with his family in Hawaii, said in a separate statement on the defense authorization law that he was encouraged Congress provided additional flexibility in transferring prisoners from the Guantanamo Bay prison to other nations. He faulted lawmakers for leaving some restrictions in place, making it harder to close the facility operated at a U.S. naval base in Cuba.

"The detention facility at Guantanamo continues to impose significant costs on the American people," Obama said in a statement. "I am encouraged that this act provides the executive greater flexibility to transfer Guantanamo detainees abroad, and look forward to working with the Congress to take the additional steps needed to close the facility."

The defense policy measure for the current fiscal year revamps how the U.S. military handles sexual-assault cases while approving the Pentagon's request for F-35 fighters and combat ships.

The measure sets military policy and spending targets for fiscal 2014, which started Oct. 1. The law authorizes sets aside $80.7 billion for overseas operations led by the war in Afghanistan.

Under the law, the Pentagon can buy the 29 F-35 jets it requested. The fighter, made by Bethesda, Maryland-based Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT:US), is the military's costliest weapons program, at a projected price of $391.2 billion for a fleet of 2,443 aircraft.

To contact the reporter on this story: Derek Wallbank in Washington at dwallbank@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Jodi Schneider at jschneider50@bloomberg.net

16.14 | 0 komentar | Read More

Relocation of Marine base on Okinawa wins approval - Washington Post

Japan won local approval Friday to begin the relocation of a controversial U.S. Marine base on the island of Okinawa, a move that officials in Washington hailed as a major diplomatic breakthrough.

Okinawa Gov. Hirokazu Nakaima signed off Friday morning on plans for landfill work that will allow the Futenma air station to be moved to a less-populated area, according to Japan's Kyodo news agency. A formal announcement was expected later in the day.

Nakaima's approval is significant because it breaks a seven-year stalemate in which the relocation plan — agreed upon by Tokyo and Washington — was held up by local opposition. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe persuaded Nakaima to accept the relocation by offering a major spending package aimed at infrastructure and development projects on the island.

The relocation of Marine Corps Air Station Futenma is a key piece of a broader U.S. realignment of troops and re­sources in the Asia-Pacific region. The Obama administration is seeking to augment its presence in the region to counterbalance China's military rise and anticipate threats from a volatile North Korea.

"Reaching this milestone is a clear demonstration to the region that the alliance is capable of handling complex, difficult problems in order to deal effectively with 21st century security challenges," U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel said in a statement, referring to the relationship the United States and Japan forged after War World II.

Completion of the new air station, which is expected to include two runways more than a mile long each, will take approximately a decade, U.S. officials said. As the new facility is built, the Pentagon expects to reduce the number of Marines based in Okinawa from 18,000 to roughly 10,000, as more are deployed to Guam, a U.S. territory, Australia and Hawaii.

U.S. officials have pressed Japanese leaders for years to pave the way for the construction of a new base along the rural northern coastline. The Futenma base currently sits in the middle of dense Ginowan city, surrounded by schools and homes. Residents say the base poses safety concerns, citing a 2004 incident in which a U.S. helicopter clipped a university administration building. Some also complain about noise pollution and about the sometimes unruly behavior of U.S. troops in Japan. Washington and Tokyo have been trying for nearly two decades to move the Futenma base.

Most Okinawa residents are opposed to a new U.S. military facility on an island that already hosts 34 of them. Okinawa comprises less than 1 percent of Japan's total land area but hosts half of the 50,000 U.S. troops stationed in Japan. In 2009 then-Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama pledged to move Futenma off of Okinawa, citing the prefecture's disproportionate burden. His move failed, but in the process it hardened opposition to the relocation.

Until Hatoyama's pledge, Nakaima, the governor since 2006, was on board with the relocation plan. But he faced increasing pressure to stop the move, and for several years said publicly he would never allow it. Still, some officials in Tokyo believed that Nakaima was a pragmatist willing to negotiate.

"He was just looking for the right bargain, and that's what he got," said Patrick Cronin, Senior Director of the Asia-Pacific Security Program at the Center for a New American Security.

Even with Nakaima's approval, the relocation of the Futenma is precarious, and could be delayed or derailed by mass protests or court challenges. Some analysts also say airplane crashes or crimes by U.S. service members could also change the political atmosphere.

Following the approval, roughly 2,000 protestors flocked to the Okinawan prefectural assembly building in Naha, local media reported, holding signs saying, "Leave office, Governor" and "We won't allow the landfill."

Harlan reported from Seoul. Yuki Oda, in Tokyo, contributed to this report.

16.14 | 0 komentar | Read More

US church official seeks bail; conviction quashed - Houston Chronicle

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A Roman Catholic church official sentenced to prison for his handling of priest-abuse cases had his conviction overturned, and may soon be back before a judge for bail.

Monsignor William Lynn had served 18 months of his three- to six-year term for child endangerment before the state Superior Court overturned the felony conviction on Thursday.

The three-judge panel unanimously rejected arguments that Lynn, the first U.S. church official ever charged or convicted for the handling of clergy-abuse complaints, was legally responsible for an abused boy's welfare. Defense lawyers have argued that Lynn, 62, was convicted under a law passed years after he left his post at the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

"It was fundamentally unfair from the day it started," defense lawyer Thomas Bergstrom said. "He's been in prison 18 months for a crime he didn't commit and couldn't commit under the law. It's incredible what happened to this man."

Defense lawyers hoped for his immediate release from prison, but the appeals court sent the bail issue back to the trial court. That could put Lynn back before Common Pleas Judge M. Teresa Sarmina, who had repeatedly denied defense efforts to have the case dropped before trial.

Prosecutors say they will oppose bail and challenge Thursday's 43-page ruling.

"Because we will be appealing, the conviction still stands for now, and the defendant cannot be lawfully released until the end of the process," District Attorney Seth Williams said in a statement.

His office had argued at trial that Lynn reassigned known predators to new parishes in Philadelphia while he was the archdiocese's secretary for clergy from 1992 to 2004. Lynn's conviction stems from the case of one priest, Edward Avery, found to have abused a child in 1998 after such a transfer.

"We know thousands of betrayed Catholics and wounded victims will be disheartened by this news," said David Clohessy, director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.

Lynn's attorneys contend that the state's child-endangerment law at the time applied only to parents and caregivers.

Sarmina concluded that Lynn perhaps drafted a 1994 list of accused priests to try to address the clergy abuse problem. But when Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua had the list destroyed, Lynn chose to remain and keep quiet, she said. Sarmina, in sentencing Lynn in July 2012, had said the church administrator had "enabled monsters in clerical garb ... to destroy the souls of children," rather than stand up to his bishop.

Lynn told the judge: "I did not intend any harm to come to (the boy). The fact is, my best was not good enough to stop that harm."

Lynn's supporters believe he was made a scapegoat for the church's sins, including two cardinals who were never charged. Bergstrom said his client hopes to return to ministry, and has enjoyed support of the current Philadelphia archbishop, Charles J. Chaput, who twice visited him in prison.

Lynn had left the archdiocesan hierarchy for parish work after he featured prominently in a damning 2005 grand jury report into the priest-abuse scandal. Then-District Attorney Lynne Abraham concluded that too much time had passed to charge anyone.

Williams, her successor, revisited the issue when new accusers came forward under new laws that extended the time limits and added church or school supervisors to those who could be charged.

16.14 | 0 komentar | Read More

Beirut bomb kills anti-Assad Lebanese former minister, at least 4 others - Reuters

Fri Dec 27, 2013 4:05am EST

• Tweet
• Share this
• Email
• Print

1 of 5. Fires burn and smoke rises from the site of an explosion in Beirut downtown area December 27, 2013. An explosion rocked the Lebanese capital Beirut on Friday, causing an unknown number of casualties.

Credit: Reuters/Steve Crisp

(Reuters) - Former Lebanese minister Mohammed Shattah, who opposed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, was killed in an explosion that targeted his convoy in Beirut on Friday along with at least four other people, security sources said.

Shattah, a Sunni Muslim, was also an opposition figure and an adviser to former prime minister Saad al-Hariri. Sources at the explosion site said Shattah was on his way to attend a meeting when the explosion went off.

A Reuters witness at the scene said his car was "totally destroyed. It is a wreck."

The sound of the blast was heard across the city at around 9:40 a.m. (0740 GMT), and a plume of black smoke was seen rising in the downtown business and hotel district.

Ambulances could be seen taking victims from the area, a Reuters witness said. A restaurant and a coffee shop were destroyed in the blast, and several cars were on fire, the witness said, adding that there was glass everywhere and the smell of explosives filled the air.

Much of Beirut went into lockdown following the explosion, with police blocking off roads across the city.

(Reporting by Samia Nakhoul; Editing by Hugh Lawson)

• Tweet this
• Link this
• Share this
• Digg this
• Email
• Print
• Reprints

Comments (0)

Be the first to comment on reuters.com.

Add yours using the box above.

16.13 | 0 komentar | Read More

5 things to know Friday - USA TODAY

Thousands of people in New England are still without power after a weekend ice storm. VPC

Editors, USA TODAY 3:47 a.m. EST December 27, 2013

In this image provided by Australasian Antarctic Expedition/Footloose Fotography the Russian ship MV Akademik Shokalskiy is trapped in thick Antarctic ice(Photo: Andrew Peacock, AP)

SHARE 2 CONNECT EMAILMORE

Cruise ship trapped in ice off Antarctic coast

A Chinese ice-breaker is expected to arrive today to rescue the 74 people stranded aboard an ice-trapped expedition cruise ship in Antarctica. The Russian ship Akademik Shokalskiy has been stuck at sea since Christmas morning, when it was seized by ice on the edge of the continent. The ship contacted the Australian Maritime Safety Authority for assistance, and three ice-breakers that were in the region are now racing through blizzard conditions to reach the vessel.

Police file to be released on Newtown shooting

Connecticut authorities said today they planned to release state police documents from the investigation into last year's Newtown school massacre. State police said their report totaling several thousand pages will be released at 3 p.m. Friday. The report "has been redacted according to law," and includes text, photos and 911 calls received by state police, they said Thursday. Prosecutors issued a summary of the investigation last month that portrayed the gunman, Adam Lanza, as obsessed with mass murders, but the report concludes that Lanza's motives for the massacre might never be known.

Thousands still without power

Power is slowly being restored in Michigan and Maine, but tens of thousands of people who endured a dark Christmas could be without power until tonight, despite round-the-clock efforts to get electricity flowing again. DTE Energy said it has more than 1,500 workers -- including some 500 linemen from West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Indiana, Illinois and Ohio -- in the field to get power back on. Hundreds more workers were clearing lines of fallen tree branches.

Family of brain-dead Calif. girl weighs aid offers

Relatives of a 13-year-old girl who was declared brain dead after complications from a tonsillectomy are now debating whether to accept the aid of nursing homes and outside groups that have proposed moving the child so she can be kept on life support, a family lawyer said Thursday. A religious group that has a facility in New York is among the organizations that have offered to care for Jahi McGrath, said the lawyer, Christopher Dolan. He declined to identify those making the offers but described them as "people who are firmly committed to the concept of life."

Report: Dean McDermott cheated on Tori Spelling

Us Weekly's new cover story is a (blonde) bombshell: The mag reports that father-of-four Dean McDermott has cheated on his wife of seven years, Tori Spelling. In Toronto on Dec. 6 to promote his Chopped Canada hosting gig, McDermott spent two nights at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel with Emily Goodhand, 28, a woman he was introduced to that day via friends, according to Us. "He told me he and Tori had a sexless marriage," Goodhand told the magazine. "I believed him." If that's true, it's a recent development. Spelling, 40, and McDermott, 47, are parents to Liam, 6, Stella, 5, Hattie, 2, and Finn, 16 months.

SHARE 2 CONNECT EMAILMORE

16.13 | 0 komentar | Read More