Kenya says all hostages freed in mall siege, gunfire heard

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoMU4CfG38g94e5HnEwYEX-rZ-0t0SIdu-zJp-7xAkeWF7Ggrl6Yppt-umFHmc0qul9QK2Mdidhuu7O70lPeXsBjjUE-m9CZ71ZM_8L_jpBkV9HDOjdLbW9-yDSEqyhruwVv7TjWAqwPo/s1600/Kenya+says+all+hostages+freed+in+mall+siege,+gunfire+heard.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Kenya says all hostages freed in mall siege, gunfire heard" border="0" height="221" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoMU4CfG38g94e5HnEwYEX-rZ-0t0SIdu-zJp-7xAkeWF7Ggrl6Yppt-umFHmc0qul9QK2Mdidhuu7O70lPeXsBjjUE-m9CZ71ZM_8L_jpBkV9HDOjdLbW9-yDSEqyhruwVv7TjWAqwPo/s400/Kenya+says+all+hostages+freed+in+mall+siege,+gunfire+heard.jpg" title="Kenya says all hostages freed in mall siege, gunfire heard" width="400" /></a></div> <h2 style="text-align: left;"> <a href="http://www.newsupdate360.com/2013/09/kenya-says-all-hostages-freed-in-mall.html">Kenya says all hostages freed in mall siege, gunfire heard</a></h2> <div> <br /></div> <div> <div> Kenya said its security forces were in control of the Nairobi shopping mall where Islamist fighters killed at least 62 people, and police were doing a final sweep of shops early on Tuesday after rescuing the last hostages.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> An overnight silence outside the large, upmarket Westgate mall was broken at daybreak with a loud burst of gunfire from inside, suggesting the complex had not yet been fully secured. A lone military chopper circled above.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> "Our forces are combing the mall floor by floor looking for anyone left behind. We believe all hostages have been released," the Ministry of Interior said on Twitter early on Tuesday, adding his forces were "in control" of the building.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> A trickle of survivors left on Monday, but the fate of the missing was unclear four days after a group of between 10 and 15 militants stormed the mall, which with its rich clientele epitomised the African consumer bonanza that is drawing foreign investment to one of the world's fastest growing regions.</div> <div> Foreign Minister Amina Mohamed said in a U.S. television interview that "two or three Americans" and a British woman were among the militants who led the attack, launched on Saturday and claimed by Somalia's al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab group.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> Mohamed told the "PBS Newshour" show the Americans were "young men, about between maybe 18 and 19" years old. They were of Somali origin or Arab origin, and had lived in the U.S., "in Minnesota and one other place", she said.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> U.S. authorities are urgently looking into information from the Kenyan government that residents of Western countries, including the United States, may have been among the militants, U.S. security sources said.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> "We do monitor very carefully and have for some time been concerned about efforts by al Shabaab to recruit Americans or U.S. persons to come to Somalia," White House deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes said.</div> </div> <div> <div> Kenyan officials have tried to reassure the country that it would seize control of the situation.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> "We appeal for patience, keep calm, avoid Westgate at all costs and wait for the official communication," the Ministry of Interior and Coordination of National Government in The Office of the President said on Twitter.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> A press briefing was expected later on Tuesday.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> Al Qaeda killed more than 200 people when it bombed the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi in 1998. When fighters from its Somali ideological counterpart stormed the mall on Saturday, they hit a high-profile symbol of Kenya's economic power.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> Kenya has sent troops to Somalia as part of an African Union force trying to stabilise the country, which was long without a functioning government, and push back al Shabaab.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> It has also suffered internal instability. President Uhuru Kenyatta, who lost a nephew in the weekend bloodbath, faces charges of crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court for his alleged role in coordinating violence after disputed elections in 2007. He denies the charges.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> Kenyatta has dismissed a demand that he pull Kenyan forces out of Somalia, saying he would not relent in a "war on terror."</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> British Defence Secretary Philip Hammond said he believed six Britons had died in the attack. Other known foreign victims are from China, Ghana, France, the Netherlands and Canada. Kenyan officials said the total death toll was at least 62.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> Speculation rose about the identity of the attackers. Interior Minister Joseph Ole Lenku had earlier said they were all men but that some had dressed as women.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> Despite his comments, one intelligence officer and two soldiers told Reuters that one of the dead militants was a white woman, likely to fuel speculation that she is the wanted widow of one of the suicide bombers who together killed more than 50 people on London's transport system in 2005.</div> <div> Called the "white widow" by the British press, Samantha Lewthwaite is wanted in connection with an alleged plot to attack hotels and restaurants in Kenya. Asked if the dead woman was Lewthwaite, the intelligence officer said: "We don't know."</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> From Mali to Algeria, Nigeria to Kenya, violent Islamist groups - tapping into local poverty, conflict, inequality or exclusion but espousing a similar anti-Western, anti-Christian creed - are striking at state authority and international interests, both economic and political.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> John Campbell, a former U.S. ambassador to Nigeria, said he believed insurgents such as those who rebelled in Mali last year, the Nigerian Boko Haram Islamist sect and the Nairobi mall raiders were also partly motivated by anger with what he called "pervasive malgovernance" in Africa.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> "This is undoubtedly anti-Western and anti-Christian but it also taps into a lot of deep popular anger against the political economy in which they find themselves, in which a very small group of people are basically raking off the wealth," he said.</div> </div> </div>

Kenya says all hostages freed in mall siege, gunfire heard Kenya said its security forces were in control of the Nairobi shopping m...

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Obama, Clinton to launch healthcare campaign push Tuesday

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQqNmGhkZmDabPY6536RwUgt9YN5RLe38Ng77dEZ0Y_s4qxD2QoHpxD15AVhqNjiuwGKVXoWmNockUXoWtX-iYYzjZ3SikXY8oczDEAVT6nC1OPS06tpyuCWgSB7kd5-VRz_2ojdqEWcg/s1600/n-BARACK-OBAMA-BILL-CLINTON-large570.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Obama, Clinton to launch healthcare campaign push Tuesday" border="0" height="166" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQqNmGhkZmDabPY6536RwUgt9YN5RLe38Ng77dEZ0Y_s4qxD2QoHpxD15AVhqNjiuwGKVXoWmNockUXoWtX-iYYzjZ3SikXY8oczDEAVT6nC1OPS06tpyuCWgSB7kd5-VRz_2ojdqEWcg/s400/n-BARACK-OBAMA-BILL-CLINTON-large570.jpg" title="Obama, Clinton to launch healthcare campaign push Tuesday" width="400" /></a></div> <h2 style="text-align: left;"> <a href="http://www.newsupdate360.com/2013/09/obama-clinton-to-launch-healthcare.html">Obama, Clinton to launch healthcare campaign push Tuesday</a></h2> <div> <br /></div> <div> <div> President Barack Obama will turn to his unofficial "secretary of explaining stuff," former President Bill Clinton, on Tuesday to help with a final push to extol the benefits of U.S. healthcare reform before new insurance exchanges go live on October 1.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> Obama, who is in New York for the United Nations General Assembly, will meet with his most recent Democratic predecessor at the Clinton Global Initiative, a conference where the two men will talk about Obama's healthcare reform law, which Republicans continue to try to repeal.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> A White House official noted that the conversation will take place one week before the new exchanges open, which the White House says will allow millions of Americans who do not have insurance to sign up for plans that fit their budgets.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> The event also comes one day after the 20th anniversary of Clinton's call for healthcare reform in a speech to Congress.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> Clinton's effort to overhaul the U.S. healthcare system while president, spearheaded by his wife, former first lady Hillary Clinton, failed in Congress, dealing them a major political blow. But it called attention to the plight of millions of Americans who did not have insurance.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> That history will set the stage for Tuesday's event.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> "The format of their conversation is designed to foster an enthusiastic and candid discussion between our current president and the last president to make tackling healthcare a priority, who share a deep passion for improving the quality and cost of care for American families and businesses," a White House official said.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> Hillary Clinton, who is a potential presidential candidate in 2016 and served as secretary of state during Obama's first term, will introduce the two men.</div> </div> <div> <br /></div> <div> <div> Obama dubbed the former president his "secretary of explaining stuff" during the 2012 campaign. Clinton's aggressive outreach on behalf of Obama is credited with helping him vanquish Republican candidate Mitt Romney and win re-election.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> Obama's attendance at the Clinton Global Initiative is also a boost for the Clintons. The couple could seek his backing if Hillary Clinton decides to run for president in three years.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> HIGHLIGHTING BENEFITS</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> Republicans say the law will hurt the U.S. economy and give government too great a hand in its citizens' healthcare choices.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> The Republican-controlled House of Representatives passed a bill last week that would fund the U.S. government only if the law is ransacked.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> Democrats - including Clinton and Obama - are trying to refute that criticism.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> "Their conversation is expected to highlight how the healthcare law is creating more choice, competition and affordability for American consumers, how partnerships with the private sector are helping make it work, and how and why access to quality, affordable healthcare is a global priority for citizens abroad, as well as here at home," the White House official said of the planned chat between Obama and Bill Clinton.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> The White House has enlisted the former president already this month to help pitch the law to Americans, many of whom remain skeptical or confused by it.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> During a speech earlier this month, Bill Clinton made the case that Americans would be better off with the law, dubbed Obamacare, and urged opponents to make the best of it.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> The White House said the Clinton-Obama discussion on Tuesday would kick off a six-month public awareness campaign about the law, coinciding with the October-March period during which Americans can sign up for new healthcare options.</div> </div> </div>

Obama, Clinton to launch healthcare campaign push Tuesday President Barack Obama will turn to his unofficial "secretary of exp...

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New Iranian leader poses challenge for Israel

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjoRrFFRk_UTXSJOMBooyb82h0ouxw8lcUd_fufHu_Z6lOXrJiy3XvTs65AjgDS5wA1ZjVYzf1u8p7hHSrpE4k7BBi5-XhVhqejRWP3Erd9wbaE9UUAyDKiOYOxSyi5_S-5VEBMjlNCr4p/s1600/New+Iranian+leader+poses+challenge+for+Israel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="New Iranian leader poses challenge for Israel" border="0" height="231" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjoRrFFRk_UTXSJOMBooyb82h0ouxw8lcUd_fufHu_Z6lOXrJiy3XvTs65AjgDS5wA1ZjVYzf1u8p7hHSrpE4k7BBi5-XhVhqejRWP3Erd9wbaE9UUAyDKiOYOxSyi5_S-5VEBMjlNCr4p/s400/New+Iranian+leader+poses+challenge+for+Israel.jpg" title="New Iranian leader poses challenge for Israel" width="400" /></a></div> <h2 style="text-align: left;"> <a href="http://www.newsupdate360.com/2013/09/new-iranian-leader-poses-challenge-for.html">New Iranian leader poses challenge for Israel</a></h2> <div> <div>  Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu provided the U.N. with a memorable moment last year when he displayed a cartoon bomb illustrating what he said was Iran's march toward the development of a nuclear weapon. When he addresses the world body next week, he is expected to again call for a hard line to stop Iran's suspect nuclear program, backed by the credible use of force.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> But the goalposts have moved a little: Some at the General Assembly's annual meeting will be calling for a more nuanced approach by the world in response to the emergence of a moderate Iranian president offering outreach in place of the saber-rattling and Holocaust denial of his more easily demonized predecessor. The world's focus on Syria's civil war, and the use of chemical weapons there, has further diverted attention from the Iranian nuclear issue.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> This changing landscape has put Netanyahu in a difficult position. Convinced the latest signs of moderation by Iran are merely a ploy, the Israeli leader risks finding himself isolated as the international community, including President Barack Obama, tentatively engage the new Iranian president, Hasan Rouhani.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> Yuval Steinitz, Israel's minister for intelligence and strategic affairs, confirmed that Israel is alarmed by what he derided as Rouhani's "smiley campaign." He said that despite some friendly gestures, Iran has shown no signs of slowing its efforts to enrich uranium, a key step in the production of nuclear weapons.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> "On the one hand, Iran is trying to appease the world with Rouhani's moderate rhetoric. And on the other hand, Iran continues its approach toward nuclear weapons, and if nothing serious will be done, Rouhani will continue to smile, will continue to appease, and he will smile all the way to the bomb," Steinitz told the Associated Press.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> Iran claims its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes. But critics in Israel and the West dismiss such explanations. They point to Iran's refusals to cooperate with U.N. nuclear inspectors, its covert enrichment activities and lack of progress in years of Western on-and-off negotiations with the Iranians.</div> </div> <div> <br /></div> <div> <div> Speaking to his Cabinet last week, Netanyahu said he would make Iran the focus of his upcoming trip to the White House and the United Nations. He said he would make four key demands: that Iran stop enriching uranium, remove its existing stockpile of enriched uranium, close an underground enrichment facility in the central city of Qom and halt production of plutonium, another pathway to nuclear weapons.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> "Until all four of these measures are achieved, the pressure on Iran must be increased and not relaxed, and certainly not eased," he said.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> That does not seem likely as Obama, who has always seemed reluctant to use force against Iran, appears set to give diplomacy another shot.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> Since taking office last month, Rouhani has said he would like to peacefully resolve the nuclear standoff by finding a formula that would ease international sanctions in return for more nuclear transparency. Meanwhile, he has made a series of gestures toward the U.S., such as exchanging letters with Obama and telling the U.S. network NBC his country does not want nuclear weapons.</div> </div> <div> <br /></div> <div> <div> These gestures mark a dramatic departure from the policies of his predecessor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who seemed to thrive on confrontation with Israel and the West. In another key shift, Rouhani appears to have the backing of the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, a sign his gestures are genuine.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> The White House has cautiously welcomed Rouhani's outreach, raising speculation of a meeting with Obama on the sidelines of the U.N. gathering.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> "We have a preference for resolving this issue diplomatically and that we're open to engagement with the Iranian government," Ben Rhodes, Obama's deputy national security adviser, said last week. While calling for a "sense of urgency," Rhodes also said the White House believes there is still time for diplomacy. Rhodes added: "We certainly recognize and appreciate Israel's significant concerns about Iran."</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> But Israeli officials are jittery. "Rouhani will cheat and lie at the U.N. Assembly," Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon told a group of visiting Christian parliamentarians from around the world on Sunday. "And therefore we say: One way or another the Iranian nuclear threat needs to be stopped," he said.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> For many in Israel, Obama's handling of the Syrian crisis is a cautionary tale. After earlier declaring that the use of chemical weapons constituted a "red line", Obama recently put off a strike in Syria in response to a chemical attack as part of a diplomatic agreement with Russia that calls for Syria to dismantle its chemical weapons by mid-2014. At the U.N., Obama will be trying to build support for a Security Council resolution making this agreement legally binding.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> The U.S.-Russia agreement received only lukewarm support from Israel, which had felt it was important for Obama to uphold his red lines more firmly. Netanyahu has called the deal a "test case" for Iran, saying a failure by the international community to disarm Syria, Iran's close ally, will bode poorly for global efforts to curb Iran's nuclear program.</div> </div> <div> <div> Israeli officials say the Syrian diplomatic compromise and the changing intelligence assessment on Iran are the result of successful international pressure, specifically the threat of military action.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> "It was not Israel that changed its assessment. It was the Iranians that changed their behavior following the depiction, the presentation of the red line by Benjamin Netanyahu," said Steinitz.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> Pushing Iran too hard also risks drawing scrutiny toward Israel's own nuclear activities. Israel is widely believed to possess nuclear weapons, though it neither confirms nor denies having them. Last week, Israel fended off an Arab-led attempt at the annual conference of the U.N.'s nuclear agency to censure Israel's refusal to acknowledge having nuclear arms and put them under international oversight. Israel says an Israeli-Palestinian peace must be reached before creation of a Middle East zone free of weapons of mass destruction.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> Eytan Gilboa, an expert on U.S.-Israel relations at Israel's Bar-Ilan University, predicted disagreements between Netanyahu and Obama in their meeting.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> "Netanyahu will ask Obama how he will make sure that Syria would not hide chemical weapons and that Iran would not develop nuclear weapons in disguise," he said. "I see some disagreements because Obama is likely to accept many deficient agreements that could prevent use of force."</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> _</div> </div> </div>

New Iranian leader poses challenge for Israel  Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu provided the U.N. with a memorable moment la...

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Syria's Assad slams Western powers on U.N. draft resolution

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCIJ6DHXnSJSROobxcwdOefKdVtdvUBe8VaPhbYt8x0SgP-yxPfbTy7J2ZvjTKmpyb9XZifTnJFBU_Gb86jgqCt2zrt5Ac0a3CrPrlmXyMdRGmCmf43FeLrJ88Qbh8jbO_Ghi5kn_SqKwQ/s1600/2013-09-23T054128Z_1_CDEE98M0FT500_RTROPTP_2_SYRIA-CRISIS-ASSAD.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Syria's Assad slams Western powers on U.N. draft resolution" border="0" height="263" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCIJ6DHXnSJSROobxcwdOefKdVtdvUBe8VaPhbYt8x0SgP-yxPfbTy7J2ZvjTKmpyb9XZifTnJFBU_Gb86jgqCt2zrt5Ac0a3CrPrlmXyMdRGmCmf43FeLrJ88Qbh8jbO_Ghi5kn_SqKwQ/s400/2013-09-23T054128Z_1_CDEE98M0FT500_RTROPTP_2_SYRIA-CRISIS-ASSAD.JPG" title="Syria's Assad slams Western powers on U.N. draft resolution" width="400" /></a></div> <h2 style="text-align: left;"> <a href="http://www.newsupdate360.com/2013/09/syrias-assad-slams-western-powers-on-un.html">Syria's Assad slams Western powers on U.N. draft resolution</a></h2> <div> Syrian President Bashar al-Assad denounced the United States, France and Britain for submitting a draft resolution to the U.N. Security Council to place Syrian chemical weapons under international control, saying they were fighting an "imaginary enemy".</div> <div> <div> <br /></div> <div> Assad, who was interviewed by China's state television CCTV in Damascus, the Syrian capital, said he was not concerned about the draft resolution and that China and Russia would "ensure any excuse for military action against Syria will not stand."</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> An article posted on the CCTV website on Monday quoted Assad as saying, "I am not concerned. Since its independence, Syria has been committed to all the treaties it has signed. We will honor everything that we have agreed to do.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> "And more importantly, I want to say, by submitting the draft to the U.N. Security Council, or by urging the U.S. and Russia to agree on a deal, the U.S., France, and Britain are just trying to make themselves winners in a war against a Syria which is their imaginary enemy."</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> Russia and the United States brokered the deal to put Assad's chemical arms stockpiles under international control to avert possible U.S. military strikes that Washington said would punish Assad for a poison gas attack last month.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> Washington has blamed Assad's forces for the attack, which it said killed more than 1,400 people. Assad blamed rebels battling to overthrow him, saying it made no sense for his forces to use chemical weapons when they were gaining the upper hand and while U.N. chemical inspectors were staying in central Damascus.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> Under the U.S.-Russian deal, Assad must account for his chemical weapons stockpiles within a week and see them destroyed by the middle of next year.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> Envoys from the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council - the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China - met last Thursday for a third straight day to discuss a draft resolution Western powers hope will make the deal legally binding.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> Russia, a key ally of Assad, is unhappy with the draft's references to possible punitive measures against Syria under Article 7 of the U.N. charter, which talks about U.N. authorization for sanctions and military force.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> In the interview, Assad said gunmen could hinder the access of chemical weapons inspectors to sites where the weapons were stored and made.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> He added, "We know that these terrorists are obeying the orders of other countries and these countries do drive these terrorists to commit acts that could get the Syrian government blamed for hindering this agreement."</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> Asked whether Syria had lots of chemical weapons, Assad said: "Syria has been manufacturing chemical weapons for decades so it's normal for there to be large quantities in the country.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> "We are a nation at war, we've got territories that have been occupied for more than 40 years, but in any case, the Syrian army is trained to fight using conventional weapons."</div> </div> <div> <br /></div> <div> <div> Separately, China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi told U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon that China was willing to send experts to help in the Syrian chemical weapons destruction process, and reiterated that a political solution was the only way to solve the crisis in Syria.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) said on Saturday Syria had handed over information about its chemical weapons arsenal, meeting the first deadline of the disarmament operation.</div> </div> </div>

Syria's Assad slams Western powers on U.N. draft resolution Syrian President Bashar al-Assad denounced the United States, France a...

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Syria attacks hospitals, denies healthcare as 'weapon of war'

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifXV1erKtJglIGFGYur2WrJME8ulpyTsfllIFYJ6U8OSdlcbxhU7o_tNRpQE3CfpjmzwX4oMP3REzK89hJ6-zblQNDoJlf4q8xA5bI7NwXwN5xXY7vsz743ln6dIG70zuFIYwhat3ukmgQ/s1600/sirya.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Syria attacks hospitals, denies healthcare as 'weapon of war'" border="0" height="280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifXV1erKtJglIGFGYur2WrJME8ulpyTsfllIFYJ6U8OSdlcbxhU7o_tNRpQE3CfpjmzwX4oMP3REzK89hJ6-zblQNDoJlf4q8xA5bI7NwXwN5xXY7vsz743ln6dIG70zuFIYwhat3ukmgQ/s400/sirya.jpg" title="Syria attacks hospitals, denies healthcare as 'weapon of war'" width="400" /></a></div> <h2 style="text-align: left;"> <a href="http://www.newsupdate360.com/2013/09/syria-attacks-hospitals-denies.html">Syria attacks hospitals, denies healthcare as 'weapon of war'</a></h2> <div> <div> Syrian government forces are bombing and shelling hospitals in rebel-held areas to stop sick and wounded getting treatment, acts which constitute war crimes, U.N. investigators said on Friday.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> Fighters loyal to President Bashar al-Assad purposefully denied people medical care as a "weapon of war", they added in a report. They also had details of a smaller number of incidents when rebel forces attacked hospitals.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> "The pattern of attacks indicates that government forces deliberately targeted hospitals and medical units to gain military advantage by depriving anti-government armed groups and their perceived supporters of medical assistance," the report said.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> The attacks started as violence mounted in Syria's civil war in early 2012 and were continuing, it added.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> Neither Assad's nor rebel forces immediately responded to the allegations, to be discussed on Monday in Geneva at a debate at the U.N. Human Rights Council.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> The Syrian army has occupied hospitals, using them as bases for snipers, tanks and soldiers, according to the report. Ambulance drivers, nurses and doctors have been attacked, arrested, tortured or disappeared in "insidious" violations of international law.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> "Intentionally directing attacks against hospitals and places containing the sick and the wounded and against medical units using the Red Cross or Red Crescent emblem is a war crime in non-international armed conflict," the independent investigators said, referring to a legal term for civil war.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> Patients had also been beaten, burned with cigarettes and tortured to death in a military hospital in Mezze, Damascus, it said.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> The team of 20 human rights experts, led by Brazilian Paulo Pinheiro, was not allowed into Syria but interviewed more than 2,000 Syrian refugees, defectors, former patients and health staff in neighboring countries over the past two years.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> They also analyzed photographs, satellite images, and forensic and medical records, to document atrocities for possible future prosecution.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> "HARROWING ACCOUNTS"</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> "Victims relay harrowing accounts of the wounded and sick languishing at checkpoints unable to reach medical treatment, coming under renewed attack in hospital and doctors providing impartial aid being arrested and targeted," the report said.</div> </div> <div> <br /></div> <div> <div> Although the scale of documented abuses by rebel forces appeared to be far smaller, there were increasing indications some armed groups failed to respect medical personnel and neutrality of health facilities, the report said.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> The al-Qaeda affiliated al-Nusra group detained the head doctor of a field hospital in northern Aleppo city for several days in April 2013 after he refused to display their banner in the hospital, it said.</div> </div> </div>

Syria attacks hospitals, denies healthcare as 'weapon of war' Syrian government forces are bombing and shelling hospitals in ...

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9/11 anniversary

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNw9gkXoeLLxXdJJyDKDteaMMEm7RHeL32R7h5uytEbXCT8d8d6VWctRbZ0BvkSymjTNGXau1IQB658VMDfpMh9raYjHyCYIuxWz_2THnZxGkKTQwvsZ2Jnmo1JQlUzfAhdLjFeUHxaAs/s1600/9+11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNw9gkXoeLLxXdJJyDKDteaMMEm7RHeL32R7h5uytEbXCT8d8d6VWctRbZ0BvkSymjTNGXau1IQB658VMDfpMh9raYjHyCYIuxWz_2THnZxGkKTQwvsZ2Jnmo1JQlUzfAhdLjFeUHxaAs/s400/9+11.jpg" width="400" /></a></div> <h2 style="text-align: left;"> <span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 28px; font-weight: 300; line-height: 33px;"><a href="http://www.newsupdate360.com/2013/09/911-anniversary.html">9/11 anniversary</a></span></span></h2> <div> As bells tolled solemnly, Americans marked the 12th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on Wednesday with the reading of the names, moments of silence and serene music that have become tradition.</div> <div> <div> <br /></div> <div> At a morning ceremony on the 2-year-old memorial plaza at the site of the World Trade Center, relatives recited the names of the nearly 3,000 people who died when hijacked jets crashed into the twin towers and the Pentagon and near Shanksville, Pa., as well as the 1993 trade center bombing victims' names.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> In Washington, President Barak Obama, joined by first lady Michelle Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and wife Jill Biden, and members of the White House staff, walked out to the South Lawn at 8:46 a.m. — the moment the first plane struck the south tower in New York. Another jetliner struck the Pentagon at 9:37 a.m.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> "It is an honor to be with you here again to remember the tragedy of 12 Septembers ago, to honor the greatness of all who responded and to stand with those who still grieve and to provide them some measure of comfort once more," Obama said. "Together we pause and we give humble thanks as families and as a nation."</div> </div> <div> <br /></div> <div> <div> "Daddy, I miss you so much, and I think about you every day," Christina Aceto said of her father, Richard Anthony Aceto. "You were more than just my daddy, you were my best friend."</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> Bells tolled to mark the second plane hitting the second tower and the moments when the towers fell. Near the memorial plaza, police barricades were blocking access to the site, even as life around the World Trade Center looked like any other morning, with workers rushing to their jobs and construction cranes looming over the area.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjq6K-66tC0nlhDdtLN8pm_0ceXn3UMjyyiizLv_C9mbYmCHb0T9CCPGxGSjJtvzkj3gUciAAg5lsGbG7rPJ0muiRIS6otBqPawZpGcwiRD5k4J8CWxaUUXh1QVZhicR-PXmBqcx5i4JSA/s1600/0911septattackremember1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjq6K-66tC0nlhDdtLN8pm_0ceXn3UMjyyiizLv_C9mbYmCHb0T9CCPGxGSjJtvzkj3gUciAAg5lsGbG7rPJ0muiRIS6otBqPawZpGcwiRD5k4J8CWxaUUXh1QVZhicR-PXmBqcx5i4JSA/s320/0911septattackremember1.jpg" width="320" /></a>"As time passes and our family grows, our children remind us of you," Angilic Casalduc said of her mother, Vivian Casalduc. "We miss you."</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> Loved ones milled around the memorial site, making rubbings of names, putting flowers by the names of victims and weeping, arm-in-arm. Former Gov. George Pataki, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and others were in attendance. Continuing a decision made last year, no politicians will speak, including Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who was watching the ceremony for his final time in office.</div> </div> <div> <br /></div> <div> <h3 style="text-align: left;"> <span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 28px; font-weight: 300; line-height: 33px;"><a href="http://www.newsupdate360.com/2013/09/911-anniversary.html">9/11 anniversary</a></span></span></h3> </div> <div> <div> "Joe, we honor you today and all those lost on Sept. 11," said Kathleen O'Shea, whose nephew Joseph Gullickson was a firefighter in Brooklyn. "Everyone sends their love and asks that you continue to watch over us all, especially your wife."</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> Memorial organizers expect to take primary responsibility for the ceremony next year and say they plan to continue concentrating the event on victims' loved ones, even as the forthcoming museum creates a new, broader framework for remembering 9/11.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> "As things evolve in the future, the focus on the remembrance is going to stay sacrosanct," memorial President Joe Daniels said.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> Karen Hinson of Seaford, N.Y., who lost her 34-year-old brother, Michael Wittenstein, a Cantor Fitzgerald employee, said she would like the annual ceremony to be "more low-key, more private" as the years go by.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> The 12th anniversary arrives amid changes at the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville, where officials gathered Tuesday to herald the start of construction on a visitor center. At the Pentagon, plans call for a morning ceremony for victims' relatives and survivors of the attacks and an afternoon observance for Pentagon workers.</div> </div> </div>

9/11 anniversary As bells tolled solemnly, Americans marked the 12th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on Wednesday with t...

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Syria renouncing arms shows strength

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSokw42WluzIwfCbwym1xjNXwDi4sgWnQ3qbbd-LC5QoTQv4wVygHlKCOcUCneNljaMuwhv2qR_XPCoebGd8pG75JKyK34WthTehSKjk1JZIN2YbLXOC4BdgY1MUoKXGqFExho3Qaqf2E/s1600/P+Interview+Syria+renouncing+arms+shows+strength.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Syria renouncing arms shows strength" border="0" height="286" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSokw42WluzIwfCbwym1xjNXwDi4sgWnQ3qbbd-LC5QoTQv4wVygHlKCOcUCneNljaMuwhv2qR_XPCoebGd8pG75JKyK34WthTehSKjk1JZIN2YbLXOC4BdgY1MUoKXGqFExho3Qaqf2E/s400/P+Interview+Syria+renouncing+arms+shows+strength.jpg" title="Syria renouncing arms shows strength" width="400" /></a></div> <h2 style="text-align: left;"> <a href="http://www.newsupdate360.com/2013/09/syria-renouncing-arms-shows-strength.html">Syria renouncing arms shows strength</a></h2> <div> <br /></div> <div> <div> Syria's acceptance of a proposal to relinquish its chemical weapons stockpile should not be interpreted as a concession or sign of weakness, a senior government official said Wednesday. Damascus' agreement, he added, has removed one of the pretexts for foreign airstrikes against Syria.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> Cabinet minister Ali Haidar said Syria's chemical weapons, which he described as "the nuclear of the poor," was meant to achieve strategic balance against Israel, "an enemy that we've been fighting for more than 60 years."</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> He said there was now "a new kind of strategic balance" in place, and consequently Syria can afford to relinquish its stockpile as part of an overall plan and "not out of fear of any enemy." He declined to elaborate.</div> </div> <div> <h3 style="text-align: left;"> <a href="http://www.newsupdate360.com/2013/09/syria-renouncing-arms-shows-strength.html">Syria renouncing arms shows strength</a></h3> </div> <div> The plan for Syria to give up its arsenal, believed to be one of the deadliest in the world, appeared to ease the crisis over looming Western strikes against Bashar Assad's regime in Damascus, only to open up new potential for impasse as Moscow rejected U.S. and French demands for a binding U.N. resolution with "very severe consequences" for non-compliance.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> <div> Haidar said the proposal, put forward by the Russians, is still a "broad headline" that needs to be developed. He added that Syria was ready to sign the chemical weapons convention but not if such a move is imposed.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> "In broad terms it is ready, but as I said as part of an overall solution and not if it is imposed on us," Haidar said.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> "Syria does not accept to have anything imposed on it and all the steps that some interpreted as concessions are Syrian victories, in the end," he said.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> Asked about the difficulties of implementing the transfer and relinquishment of Syria's chemical weapons to the backdrop of a raging civil war in the country, he replied: "There was no talk about moving and transferring control. There was talk about putting these weapons under international supervision," he said.</div> </div> </div>

Syria renouncing arms shows strength Syria's acceptance of a proposal to relinquish its chemical weapons stockpile should not b...

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Russia could boost Iran arms sales if U.S. strikes Syria

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq9Vgvb15pI-m4CJtIoY0SP6ep7fePY-hMOOzKzFuw5UM_SRDa5ZTkGjA6Q0iBKt3vqblGsyuvUb8P1ei6I_5krc8T8P1I5VaP6Db9EwBvVMzB5amOjJ8uoqqyQgZ8u6kw-BMO2xm9vNo/s1600/Russia+could+boost+Iran+arms+sales.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Russia could boost Iran arms sales if U.S. strikes Syria" border="0" height="255" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq9Vgvb15pI-m4CJtIoY0SP6ep7fePY-hMOOzKzFuw5UM_SRDa5ZTkGjA6Q0iBKt3vqblGsyuvUb8P1ei6I_5krc8T8P1I5VaP6Db9EwBvVMzB5amOjJ8uoqqyQgZ8u6kw-BMO2xm9vNo/s400/Russia+could+boost+Iran+arms+sales.jpg" title="Russia could boost Iran arms sales if U.S. strikes Syria" width="400" /></a></div> <h2 style="text-align: left;"> <a href="http://www.newsupdate360.com/2013/09/russia-could-boost-iran-arms-sales-if.html">Russia could boost Iran arms sales if U.S. strikes Syria</a></h2> <div> A senior lawmaker and ally of President Vladimir Putin suggested on Wednesday that Russia could increase arms sales to Iran or review cooperation over Afghanistan if the United States launches military strikes against Syria.</div> <div> <div> <br /></div> <div> Russia is a long-standing ally of Iran, Syria's main backer and the United States' chief antagonist in the Middle East. Moscow built Iran's first nuclear power station and has supplied it with anti-aircraft defenses.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> The remarks by Alexei Pushkov, head of the lower house of parliament's foreign affairs committee, appeared to be part of a drive to convince Washington to refrain from attacking Syria in retaliation for a poison gas attack in Damascus that killed hundreds of civilians.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> Pushkov echoed Putin by saying Russia's initiative to have its ally Syria give up all its chemical weapons would succeed only if Washington and its allies rejected the use of force.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> Outlining possible responses if Syria was attacked, Pushkov told the lower house, the State Duma: "This would include the expansion of defensive weapons deliveries to Iran, and discussing the possibility of reviewing our cooperation with the United States on Afghanistan."</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> He gave no details in his address to the chamber, which was expected to pass a resolution later on Wednesday echoing Putin's opposition to military strikes.</div> </div> <div> <br /></div> <div> <div> Syria has accepted the Russian proposal to hand over chemical arms, but U.S. President Barack Obama said it was too early to tell if the initiative would succeed. He said he would keep military forces at the ready to strike if diplomacy fails.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> Pushkov, who backs Putin but is not a policy maker, said that "the party of war in the United States will try to derail the Russian plan, and that has already begun ...</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> "The United States State Department has already been making skeptical statements.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> Pushkov added: "An attack on Syria could cause a major regional war. Such a threat exists."</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> Russia has been a staunch supporter of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the more than two-year-old conflict with rebel forces, which has killed more than 100,000 people.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> Washington and its allies accuse Assad's forces of launching a gas attack against rebels on August 21, which Washington says killed more than 1,400 people in rebel-held areas.</div> </div> </div>

Russia could boost Iran arms sales if U.S. strikes Syria A senior lawmaker and ally of President Vladimir Putin suggested on Wednesday...

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Results mean for gun control

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt8JQee-sgU6iKlr2XMY1opZfkUijczwcUSA0eqQQxOFAHlt2F68XCM8oDEh6tNkQty6NsQKcyQJIRA-EHU7Q-eJQYclCAxflfXx8at1fb4OC9NaJE0x6XG-XcEjgmy2Vp02w6s9fZIYA/s1600/Colorado's+recall+vote.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Colorado's recall vote: What the results mean for gun control" border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt8JQee-sgU6iKlr2XMY1opZfkUijczwcUSA0eqQQxOFAHlt2F68XCM8oDEh6tNkQty6NsQKcyQJIRA-EHU7Q-eJQYclCAxflfXx8at1fb4OC9NaJE0x6XG-XcEjgmy2Vp02w6s9fZIYA/s400/Colorado's+recall+vote.jpg" title="Colorado's recall vote: What the results mean for gun control" width="400" /></a></div> <h2 style="text-align: left;"> <a href="http://www.newsupdate360.com/2013/09/results-mean-for-gun-control.html">Colorado's recall vote: What the results mean for gun control</a></h2> <div> <div> Two Colorado Democratic state senators, Angela Giron and Senate President John Morse, were voted out of office in a special election Tuesday, in Colorado's first-ever recall vote. Both were replaced by Republicans.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> The election was billed as a showdown over gun rights: Giron and Morse were important backers of four gun control laws passed earlier this year, and both the National Rifle Association and Michael Bloomberg, founder of Mayors Against Illegal Guns, wrote fat checks for their respective sides (the NRA contributed at least $362,000 to oust the two lawmakers; Bloomberg spent $350,000 to support them).</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> <br /></div> <div> Both sides of the bitter gun debate wanted to send a message with this election: Gun control opponents forced the recall vote to warn lawmakers in Colorado and across the country that voting for stricter gun laws has consequences; gun control advocates wanted to show that, after bloody mass shootings in Aurora, Colo., and Newtown, Conn., they now have the resources and muscle to defend lawmakers against the mighty NRA.</div> </div> <h3 style="text-align: left;"> <br /><a href="http://www.newsupdate360.com/2013/09/results-mean-for-gun-control.html">Colorado's recall vote: What the results mean for gun control</a></h3> <div> <br /></div> <div> <div> Morse, who was on his way out anyway thanks to term limits, called his opponents' victory "purely symbolic" in his concession speech. "We made Colorado safer from gun violence," he added later. "If it cost me my political career, that's a small price to pay."</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> That's a decent consolation prize for gun control supporters. But it's still the national fight that matters most, "by far," says Alec MacGillis at The New Republic. "There is only so much impact state laws can have when guns are so easily trafficked from states with lax regulations to ones with stricter ones." That's why gun control advocates are "still quietly working to line up just the handful of additional votes in the U.S. Senate" for nationwide gun control measures, MacGillis says. They hope to hold a vote before the midterm frenzy hits.</div> </div> <div> <br /></div> <div> We have repeatedly said it was inappropriate to launch recalls against Morse and Giron simply for their votes instead of waiting one year for regular elections. It was also a colossal waste of taxpayer money that ran well into six figures.... It's time to move on. It is not time, for either side, to ponder more ways to use the recall process to undermine our system of regular, democratic elections. Enough already. </div> </div>

Colorado's recall vote: What the results mean for gun control Two Colorado Democratic state senators, Angela Giron and Senate Pre...

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Kenyan water discovery brings hope

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh6XlSlsqzsOjEODnvbOzd1GD_Z859McK91k6KXkdg4Htw_z4tb1ICapl17DXaiSIFl48DjNRvgxFAxntYzzvlaJJYnqmawVIcRXwaOmnLnb8M9h7JhXi1s1w4OAFpT8LQbAMurZ2UwMQ/s1600/Kenyan+water+discovery+brings+hope.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Kenyan water discovery brings hope, new news images" border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh6XlSlsqzsOjEODnvbOzd1GD_Z859McK91k6KXkdg4Htw_z4tb1ICapl17DXaiSIFl48DjNRvgxFAxntYzzvlaJJYnqmawVIcRXwaOmnLnb8M9h7JhXi1s1w4OAFpT8LQbAMurZ2UwMQ/s400/Kenyan+water+discovery+brings+hope.jpg" title="Kenyan water discovery brings hope, new news images" width="400" /></a></div> <h2 style="text-align: left;"> <a href="http://www.newsupdate360.com/2013/09/kenyan-water-discovery-brings-hope.html">Kenyan water discovery brings hope to parched north</a></h2> <br /> The Kenyan government and UNESCO on Wednesday announced the discovery of a potentially vast supply of underground water in the impoverished, drought-stricken extreme north of the country.<br /> <br /> The find, made using advanced satellite exploration technology and backed up by UNESCO drilling, was hailed as a scientific breakthrough that c<br /> ould radically change the lives of the half-a-million people living in one of the world's most arid regions.<br /> <br /> Two aquifers -- or underground layers of permeable rock or silt soaked in water -- were found in the Turkana region, the scene of a devastating drought two years ago that aid workers said pushed malnutrition rates up to 37 percent.<br /> <br /> "The news about these water reserves comes at a time when reliable water supplies are highly needed," said Judi Wakhungu, cabinet secretary in the Kenyan ministry of environment, water and natural resources.<br /> <br /> <h3 style="text-align: left;"> <a href="http://www.newsupdate360.com/2013/09/kenyan-water-discovery-brings-hope.html">Kenyan water discovery brings hope to parched north</a></h3> <br /> "This newly found wealth of water opens a door to a more prosperous future for the people of Turkana and the nation as a whole. We must now work to further explore these resources responsibly and safeguard them for future generations," she said at the start of a water security conference in Nairobi.<br /> <br /> f Kenya's 41 million strong population, 17 million lack access to safe water, and 28 million do not have adequate sanitation.<br /> <br /> UNESCO cautioned that further studies were needed to determine the exact size of the Lotikipi Basin Aquifer, located west of Lake Turkana, and the Lodwar Basin Aquifer, which could feed the regional capital of Lodwar.<br /> <br /> The UN organisation said water quality also needed to be assessed, and that it was seeking to confirm the presence of a further three aquifers in the region.</div>

Kenyan water discovery brings hope to parched north The Kenyan government and UNESCO on Wednesday announced the discovery of a potenti...

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US diplomat kills man in car crash

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBlxo22CbuJUVEODadVUksgbvouTwT-0Z2L9M98EcJ26BtRttGaCc0jTdKk8XZjF1DzD2yFXlimQ41UP6Er2sbTLv_5q_fDKkSCDiUYuv9pPLLbCwXE5PBjjq8bAOvG_890DNMLL5sT1g/s1600/dplomate.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="US diplomat kills man in car crash" border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBlxo22CbuJUVEODadVUksgbvouTwT-0Z2L9M98EcJ26BtRttGaCc0jTdKk8XZjF1DzD2yFXlimQ41UP6Er2sbTLv_5q_fDKkSCDiUYuv9pPLLbCwXE5PBjjq8bAOvG_890DNMLL5sT1g/s400/dplomate.jpg" title="US diplomat kills man in car crash" width="400" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.800000190734863px;">US diplomat kills man in car crash</td></tr> </tbody></table> <h2> <a href="http://www.newsupdate360.com/2013/08/us-diplomat-kills-man-in-car-crash-us.html">US diplomat kills man in car crash</a></h2> <div> <div> An American diplomat who police say was speeding crossed the center line in his SUV and rammed into a full mini-bus, killing a father of three whose widow is six months pregnant, officials said Friday.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> U.S. Embassy officials in Nairobi rushed the American and his family out of Kenya the next day, leaving the crash victims with no financial assistance to pay for a funeral and for hospital bills for the eight or so others who were seriously injured.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> Latifah Naiman Mariki, 38 and whose husband was killed in the crash, was almost evicted from her house this week after her landlord demanded rent. Mariki's deceased husband, Haji Lukindo, was the family's only source of income. Mariki told The Associated Press that neither the American driver nor anyone at the U.S. Embassy has contacted her, and she doesn't know how she will provide for her soon-to-be-born child and three children, ages 20, 10 and 7.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> "It is difficult for me to handle this matter because my kids need to go to school. They need everything, basic needs," Mariki said. "And we have no place to stay because we have to pay the rent. We have no money. ... Even if my kids are sick I have no money to take them to hospital."</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> Hilary Renner, a State Department spokeswoman in Washington, said the embassy extends its deepest condolences Mariki's family and wishes a speedy recovery to those injured. She said she couldn't comment on whether embassy employee would return to Kenya.</div> </div> <div> <br /></div> <div> <div> "The embassy is fully cooperating with the Kenyan authorities as they investigate the accident and work to aid the victims," she said.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> The American driver of the SUV, Joshua Walde, was an information management officer at the Nairobi embassy when he got in the crash on his way home the evening of July 11. He gave a statement to police but because he has diplomatic immunity he was not detained.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> A police dossier on the case shown briefly to an Associated Press reporter contained sketches of how police believe the accident happened. The sketch shows the American's SUV turning at a rounded four-way intersection on the edge of Nairobi and driving into the lane of oncoming traffic.</div> <div> <h3> <a href="http://worldofnews360.blogspot.com/2013/08/us-diplomat-kills-man-in-car-crash.html">US diplomat kills man in car crash</a></h3> </div> <div> A police officer familiar with the case who insisted he not be identified by name because he is not an official spokesman said of Walde: "He was driving very fast." Pictures in the dossier show that the SUV hit the front corner and side of the mini-bus, smashing in its frame. Kenyan mini-buses, known as matatus, also frequently drive fast and erratically.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> A Facebook group of Kenyan mothers took up Mariki's case this week and are trying to raise funds for her. In dozens of comments online, many demanded accountability and expressed dismay that no financial help has been given.</div> </div> <div> <br /></div> <div> <div> How hackers can see through your security cameras</div> <div> <br /></div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq_tgntO0IUAmdALqJIXdTCNXrGREa13T5guIhrY_OYK7mNJ5QDo64Q1qBO5VrRAjSZPO3nwTrBWH2OzPs0FbguZj6j5PovzXbPHQB_hMBn-BAeBPrB37yPiaKmEsfskElfSoj2ywF8AM/s1600/diplomat.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="US diplomat kills man in car crash" border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq_tgntO0IUAmdALqJIXdTCNXrGREa13T5guIhrY_OYK7mNJ5QDo64Q1qBO5VrRAjSZPO3nwTrBWH2OzPs0FbguZj6j5PovzXbPHQB_hMBn-BAeBPrB37yPiaKmEsfskElfSoj2ywF8AM/s320/diplomat.jpg" title="US diplomat kills man in car crash" width="320" /></a></div> <div> Heist-movie style hacks where the real video from a security camera is replaced with fake video are possible, according to Craig Heffner, formerly of the National Security Administration, who showed off a hack which could allow people to remote-control cameras made by household names such as D-Link, Trendnet, Cisco, IQInvision, Alinking and 3SVision. </div> <div> <br /></div> <div>  “Thousands of these cameras are Internet accessible, and known to be deployed in homes, businesses, hotels, casinos, banks and prisons, as well as military and industrial facilities,” says Heffner.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> The “booster” that can hack your phone as you walk past</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> “Signal boosting” devices that are used in homes to improve mobile signals could turn into a potent weapon for hackers, according to security firm iSEC. </div> <div> <br /></div> <div> The firm showed off a hack on a $250 “femtocell” booster used by American company Verizon - which allowed them to “listen in” on any phone on the same network. Verizon has since patched the vulnerability, but the same booster is used by other networks worldwide. </div> <div> <br /></div> <div>  "We can operate a cellphone tower, and see everything that your phone would send to a cellphone tower: phone calls, text messages, picture messages, mobile web surfing," Tom Ritter of iSEC Partners.  "We can see and record it all."</div> </div> </div>

US diplomat kills man in car crash US diplomat kills man in car crash An American diplomat who police say was speeding crossed the ...

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Hezbollah leader slams Israel in rare public speech

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinrwTchCRhS8dEzsYBCb2MdB1pM56ud4BfTtFqvHrj6fEWgGDyaHAsge4GXJ-upMbuhZDK9dccc3zoKMr56gLI-X-YRkrjqsoytzo_5xo2rbEsQe30RzuFL_DJlNxLYB0TeSYCRjKKSMA/s1600/updates+news.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Hezbollah leader slams Israel in rare public speech" border="0" height="231" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinrwTchCRhS8dEzsYBCb2MdB1pM56ud4BfTtFqvHrj6fEWgGDyaHAsge4GXJ-upMbuhZDK9dccc3zoKMr56gLI-X-YRkrjqsoytzo_5xo2rbEsQe30RzuFL_DJlNxLYB0TeSYCRjKKSMA/s400/updates+news.jpg" title="Hezbollah leader slams Israel in rare public speech" width="400" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hezbollah leader slams Israel in rare public speech</td></tr> </tbody></table> <h2 style="text-align: left;"> <a href="http://www.newsupdate360.com/2013/08/hezbollah-leader-slams-israel-in-rare.html">Hezbollah leader slams Israel in rare public speech</a></h2> Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah emerged from hiding on Friday to deliver his first major speech in years, addressing a rally in his southern Beirut stronghold in support of the Palestinian conflict against Israel.<br /> <br /> "Israel poses a danger on all people of this region...including Lebanon, and removing it is a Lebanese national interest," Nasrallah told hundreds of supporters in his half-hour speech.<br /> <br /> The charismatic Shi'ite cleric has lived mainly in the shadows, fearing assassination, since Hezbollah fought an inconclusive month-long war with Israel in 2006.<br /> <br /> His last major speech came a month after that conflict, when he declared victory in front of thousands of supporters. Since then, he has made occasional and brief public appearances - most recently last September - but no lengthy public address.<br /> <br /> Hezbollah emerged in the 1980s as the most prominent Lebanese faction fighting Israel's occupation of south Lebanon, but in recent months has lent its military support to President Bashar al-Assad's battle against Syrian rebels.<br /> <br /> The militant group helped Assad's forces recapture the Syrian border town from the mainly Sunni Muslim rebels, an intervention which sharply escalated sectarian tension in Lebanon, where most Sunnis support the anti-Assad rebels.<br /> <br /> Nasrallah said Hezbollah's enemies, including the United States, Israel and Britain, were trying to exploit the political tensions to drive a wedge between the Shi'ites and the rest of the region to marginalize their role in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.<br /> <br /> "We want to say to every enemy and every friend...we the Shi'ites of the world will not abandon Palestine, the Palestinian people or the sacred sites in Palestine," Nasrallah said, to loud cheers of support.<br /> <br /> Security was heightened in the southern Beirut suburb where Nasrallah spoke, with gunmen stationed at intersections leading to the hall where he delivered his address. Buses were parked across the streets to prevent access to all but pedestrians.<br /> <br /> The precautions were not academic. A huge car bomb hit the same Beirut district a month ago, two blocks from where Nasrallah was speaking, wounding 53 people.<br /> <br /> Nasrallah was speaking on the occasion of Jerusalem Day, marked each year on the last Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in accordance with a tradition established by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the late ruler of Iran and an</div>

Hezbollah leader slams Israel in rare public speech Hezbollah leader slams Israel in rare public speech Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassa...

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Footman who announced royal baby returns to India

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinl2Rl2bCs3581LiFxDbANn0E6GfG4QSqhjnrXFoYL_EOTqb7AESDnXAVptRbRODRryQMwoKjRK4UeHEPmL0Ba4XXDhSnqiuLVOtfUqSPFPngFYl_4WI2UHr3_Q8ZVeQkFTx7g9wy42Nc/s1600/royal+baby.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Footman who announced royal baby returns to India" border="0" height="283" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinl2Rl2bCs3581LiFxDbANn0E6GfG4QSqhjnrXFoYL_EOTqb7AESDnXAVptRbRODRryQMwoKjRK4UeHEPmL0Ba4XXDhSnqiuLVOtfUqSPFPngFYl_4WI2UHr3_Q8ZVeQkFTx7g9wy42Nc/s400/royal+baby.jpg" title="Footman who announced royal baby returns to India" width="400" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Footman who announced royal baby returns to India</td></tr> </tbody></table> <h2> <a href="http://worldofnews360.blogspot.com/2013/08/footman-who-announced-royal-baby.html">Footman who announced royal baby returns to India</a></h2> <br /> The 25-year-old royal footman who helped announce the birth of Britain's Prince George<br /> has returned home to India.<br /> <br /> Badar Azim joined Queen Elizabeth II's pre<br /> ss secretary at Buckingham Palace's front court on July 22 to post the traditional bulletin announcing the birth of the third in line to the British throne.<br /> <br /> On Wednesday, Azim returned to his home in the eastern Indian city of Kolkata after his work visa expired.<br /> <br /> He told India's New Delhi Television on Thursday that announcing the prince's birth was an "amazing" experience and that one day he would love to return to work at the palace.<br /> <br /> Azim said he did not seek a visa extension and wanted to spend time with his family after being away for four years.<br /> <br /> "If I have a new visa, then why not," he said of possibly returning to work at the palace. "It would be a privilege to work with the royal household."<br /> <br /> Azim's parents, who like millions of people were glued to their TV ahead of the royal birth, said they were extremely proud of their son. A day after the prince was born, many newspapers carried photographs of Azim walking at Buckingham Palace with the press secretary, Alisa Anderson, carrying the birth announcement.<br /> <br /> For now, Azim is back in the one-room apartment he shares with his parents and brothers, returning in time to celebrate the Muslim festival of Eid, NDTV reported.<br /> <br /> His father, an iron welder, struggled to put Azim and his siblings through school.</div>

Footman who announced royal baby returns to India Footman who announced royal baby returns to India The 25-year-old royal footman wh...

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Surveillance critics face Obama in Oval Office

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheEAJQDjRfJpr_fWyfsKAWiomT7ZxuTssntvt3HtO-5rZG5by1SZCr4ye85R3Haeo642_a8PhGGOpNRowaVSOnLT7d2KPvsGTJ-ELSVq9tQdZwsQDTsWyeSWh2wIbIcOxCV0T-ALqBnhM/s1600/obama+news.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Surveillance critics face Obama in Oval Office" border="0" height="257" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheEAJQDjRfJpr_fWyfsKAWiomT7ZxuTssntvt3HtO-5rZG5by1SZCr4ye85R3Haeo642_a8PhGGOpNRowaVSOnLT7d2KPvsGTJ-ELSVq9tQdZwsQDTsWyeSWh2wIbIcOxCV0T-ALqBnhM/s400/obama+news.jpg" title="Surveillance critics face Obama in Oval Office" width="400" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Surveillance critics face Obama in Oval Office</td></tr> </tbody></table> <h2> <a href="http://www.newsupdate360.com/2013/08/surveillance-critics-face-obama-in-oval.html">Surveillance critics face Obama in Oval Office</a></h2> <div> <br /></div> <div> Struggling to salvage a massive surveillance program, President Barack Obama faced congressional critics of the National Security Agency's collection of Americ<br /> ans' telephone records Thursday as snowballing concerns made new limitations on the intelligence effort appear increasingly likely.<br /> <br /> Obama and Vice President Joe Biden joined lawmakers on both sides of the issue for an Oval Office meeting designed to stem the bleeding of public support and show Obama was serious about engaging. Among the participants were the NSA's most vigorous congressional supporters — the top Democrats and Republicans in the House and Senate intelligence panels — alongside its most stern critics, including Democratic Sens. Ron Wyden of Oregon and Mark Udall of Colorado.<br /> <br /> The lawmakers departed the rainy White House grounds without speaking to reporters. But in interviews later, they said there was a consensus that the surveillance efforts are suffering from perception problems that have undercut trust among the American people.<br /> <br /> "There is openness to making changes," said Rep. C.A. "Dutch" Ruppersberger of Maryland, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee.<br /> <br /> Sen. Saxby Chambliss of Georgia, top Republican on the Senate's intelligence panel and a strong NSA defender, said Obama and the lawmakers didn't agree to take specific steps but brought up a number of proposals that will be fleshed out over the August congressional recess.<br /> <br /> "A lot of ideas were thrown out," Chambliss told The Associated Press. "Nothing was concluded."<br /> <br /> Wyden, in an interview, said he and Udall had sought to convince Obama of the urgency of addressing rising concerns. He said he proposed strengthening the government's ability to get emergency authorization to collect an individual's phone records, so that pre-emptive collection of everyone's records would no longer be necessary.<br /> <br /> "I felt that the president was open to ideas — and we're going to make sure he has some," Wyden said after returning to Capitol Hill.<br /> <br /> Wyden and two Senate colleagues also unveiled legislation Thursday to overhaul the secret federal court that oversees the programs, which critics decry as largely a rubber stamp. The senators aim to make the court created under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, more adversarial by creating a special advocate who could argue for privacy during closed-door proceedings and appeal decisions. A companion bill would diversify the court's bench by ending the chief justice's sole authority to pick its judges.<br /> <br /> "These bills do not compromise national security, but they put a necessary opposing view in the FISA court and assure ideological diversity of judges," said Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M. Another of the bill's sponsors, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said the Obama administration was receptive to the ideas, although White House officials declined to comment.<br /> <br /> <span id="goog_1920230792"></span><span id="goog_1920230793"></span><br /> Debate over the line between counterterrorism and invasion of privacy has been heating up since former government contract systems analyst Edward Snowden leaked classified documents exposing the NSA's monumental capability to sweep up data about phone and Internet use, including programs that store years of phone records on virtually every American. Snowden's revelations have prompted a national rethinking over government surveillance powers that have grown since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.<br /> <br /> <h3 style="text-align: left;"> <b><a href="http://www.newsupdate360.com/2013/08/surveillance-critics-face-obama-in-oval.html">Surveillance critics face Obama in Oval Office</a></b></h3> <br /> <br /> Debate over the line between counterterrorism and invasion of privacy has been heating up since former government contract systems analyst Edward Snowden leaked classified documents exposing the NSA's monumental capability to sweep up data about phone and Internet use, including programs that store years of phone records on virtually every American. Snowden's revelations have prompted a national rethinking over government surveillance powers that have grown since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.<br /> <br /> The more information about the programs the government has released, the more it has fed even greater concerns about the scope of the surveillance and whether Obama's national security team has been truthful in describing it publicly in the past.<br /> <br /> After the administration on Wednesday declassified more documents about an email mining program, Wyden said they showed the government had "repeatedly made inaccurate statements to Congress" about the effectiveness in countering terrorism. And new details released about the phone records program created new fodder for critics by confirming for the first time that, when investigating one suspected terrorist, the government can also examine records of people who called people who called the targeted individual — netting millions of people's records in a single request.<br /> <br /> Meanwhile, the head of the NSA openly clashed with lawmakers including Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., over the agency's statements that telephone and email data collection helped foil 54 terror plots.<br /> <br /> Rising tensions have stoked concern at the White House that surveillance programs Obama considers crucial will soon be undermined or even dismantled — despite the fact that many Democrats and Republicans in Congress have come to the NSA's defense.<br /> <br /> Leahy, the Judiciary Committee chairman, has threatened to seek to end the phone records program if it's not proven effective. And Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., signaled Thursday that unless an agreement is reached on releasing more of the secret court's opinions, he would push Congress to use its "power of the purse" to compel their disclosure by withholding funding for certain programs.</div> <div> <br /></div> </div>

Surveillance critics face Obama in Oval Office Surveillance critics face Obama in Oval Office Struggling to salvage a massive surv...

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Iran grants Syria $3.6 billion credit to buy oil products

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbRNmeiMav4xhRO06rTcxZLVo4On3gcJh91pw4p-xNTqVeyATqGbxeWMj_zsKI7Jzi2Xhb01zTBMeKHFAoZfsvYxHQXhtH_csPXszMLhofwx6zuCig9otKW7t8qdKZuFKIJr7QtgMRx5Y/s1600/6666.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Iran grants Syria $3.6 billion credit to buy oil products" border="0" height="262" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbRNmeiMav4xhRO06rTcxZLVo4On3gcJh91pw4p-xNTqVeyATqGbxeWMj_zsKI7Jzi2Xhb01zTBMeKHFAoZfsvYxHQXhtH_csPXszMLhofwx6zuCig9otKW7t8qdKZuFKIJr7QtgMRx5Y/s400/6666.JPG" title="Iran grants Syria $3.6 billion credit to buy oil products" width="400" /></a></div> <h2> <a href="http://www.newsupdate360.com/2013/07/iran-grants-syria-36-billion-credit-to.html">Iran grants Syria $3.6 billion credit to buy oil products</a></h2> <div> <div> Syria and Iran signed a deal this week to activate a $3.6 billion credit facility to buy oil products to shore up President Bashar al-Assad's war battered economy, officials and bankers said on Wednesday.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> The deal, which was agreed in May and will allow Iran to acquire equity stakes in investments in Syria, is part of Shi'ite Iran's broader support for Assad in his battle against a two-year insurgency by mainly Sunni rebels.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> Tehran has already provided military assistance to Assad, training his forces and advising on military strategy. Iranian-backed Hezbollah fighters have also bolstered counter-offensives against rebels around Homs and Damascus.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> "This will help Syria to import petroleum products that the country needs," said a Syrian trade official, referring to the credit facility. Underlining the acute nature of Syria's financial problems, he said authorities had tried to set a ceiling of $4 billion on the deal.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> Syria is short of diesel for its army and fuel to keep the economy running, partly because of U.S. and European Union financial sanctions imposed after the crackdown on protests at the start of the crisis. Its main supplier of petroleum products by sea has been Iran.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> Another $1 billion credit line to Damascus has already been extended to buy Iranian power generating products and other goods in a barter arrangement that has helped Syria export textiles, phosphates and some agricultural produce such as olive oil and citrus products, trade officials say.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> "This will allow Syria to import Iranian products up to this ceiling, with almost half to buy electricity equipment for the sector," the trade official, speaking by phone from Damascus, told Reuters.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> Alongside the favorable deferred payment terms of those financing facilities, Damascus has been in talks for months to secure a loan of up to $2 billion with low interest and a long grace period, the official said.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> STRONG SIGNAL OF SUPPORT</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> Syria's economy has been hurt by depletion of foreign reserves that were estimated at around $16-18 billion before the crisis. The country had been earning some $2.5 billion a year from oil exports before the crisis.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> With the economy on a war footing and military costs spiraling, Syria has been forced to rely increasingly on new credit lines from its main allies. Russia, Iraq and China have provided support - sometimes in the form of barter deals - but not on the scale of this week's deal with Tehran.</div> </div> </div>

Iran grants Syria $3.6 billion credit to buy oil products Syria and Iran signed a deal this week to activate a $3.6 billion credit fa...

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Zimbabwe votes in third Mugabe-Tsvangirai showdown

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXSOOKyQJlhmc9y-dIN4ioHBGOjz6kfQPl4Wbg4QRs_XZKd64ceRZYl3CE1ztTjbpiCy7o0VqLWhcQHY6o4gSMh5BWFAWiww42yZqcEy3giWyjSvZvJoXGorZTllJT3a4TFeGVnFL6EZE/s1600/2013-07-31T160751Z_2_CBRE96U102600_RTROPTP_2_ZIMBABWE-ELECTION.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="260" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXSOOKyQJlhmc9y-dIN4ioHBGOjz6kfQPl4Wbg4QRs_XZKd64ceRZYl3CE1ztTjbpiCy7o0VqLWhcQHY6o4gSMh5BWFAWiww42yZqcEy3giWyjSvZvJoXGorZTllJT3a4TFeGVnFL6EZE/s400/2013-07-31T160751Z_2_CBRE96U102600_RTROPTP_2_ZIMBABWE-ELECTION.JPG" width="400" /></a></div> <h2 style="text-align: left;"> <a href="http://www.newsupdate360.com/2013/07/zimbabwe-votes-in-third-mugabe.html">Zimbabwe votes in third Mugabe-Tsvangirai showdown</a></h2> <div> <div> Zimbabweans voted in large numbers on Wednesday in a fiercely contested election pitting veteran President Robert Mugabe against Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, who has vowed to push Africa's oldest leader into retirement after 33 years in power.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> With no reliable opinion polls and amid allegations of vote-rigging, it is hard to say whether Tsvangirai will succeed in his third attempt to oust 89-year-old Mugabe, who has run the southern African nation since independence from Britain in 1980.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> Both sides are forecasting landslide wins. In a country with a history of election violence the big question is whether the loser will accept the result of a poll dogged by logistical problems and reports of intimidation and irregularities.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> Mugabe, who rejects past and present charges from critics of vote-fixing and intimidation by his ZANU-PF party supporters, has said he will concede if defeated.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> Polls opened on time at 0500 GMT (1:00 a.m. EDT), with long queues of people braving unseasonably cold weather to stand in line from well before dawn.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> At one polling station in the eastern province of Manicaland, a key swing region, the queue of voters, many wrapped up in blankets, stretched for a kilometer (half a mile).</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> "I got up at 4:00 but still couldn't get the first position in the line," said sawmill worker Clifford Chasakara. "My fingers are numb but I'm sure I can mark the ballot all the same. I'm determined to vote and have my vote counted."</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> The monitors' verdict is crucial to the future of Zimbabwe's economy, which is still struggling with the aftermath of a decade-long slump and hyperinflation that ended in 2009 when the worthless Zimbabwe dollar was scrapped.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> The United States, which has sanctions in place against Mugabe, has questioned the credibility of the poll, pointing to a lack of transparency in its organization and pro-Mugabe bias in the state media and partisan security forces.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> However, if the vote receives broad approval, there is a chance Western sanctions may be eased, allowing Harare to normalize relations with the IMF and World Bank and access the huge investment needed to rebuild its dilapidated economy.</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> It would also spark a rush to exploit Zimbabwe's rich reserves of minerals such as chrome, coal, platinum and gold.</div> </div> </div>

Zimbabwe votes in third Mugabe-Tsvangirai showdown Zimbabweans voted in large numbers on Wednesday in a fiercely contested election p...

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U.S. to hold Afghan peace talks with Taliban in Doha

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiah3Mmjz-iP-OHN3SyAfCFGAXvRst1ntp9qtN3J9f510BtZWKXomFp0xtZHaK9MBZSl63l8aMNWdsQC6hGxrwrXSqEXQ2VeH-1ZW7lZfsujpl73TjcsQA_wQh_rNHcZXfyvqS2e_d78jU/s1600/US-Marines-Afghanistan--T-001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiah3Mmjz-iP-OHN3SyAfCFGAXvRst1ntp9qtN3J9f510BtZWKXomFp0xtZHaK9MBZSl63l8aMNWdsQC6hGxrwrXSqEXQ2VeH-1ZW7lZfsujpl73TjcsQA_wQh_rNHcZXfyvqS2e_d78jU/s400/US-Marines-Afghanistan--T-001.jpg" width="400" /></a></div> <h1 class="headline" style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 26px; line-height: 1.21em; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"> U.S. to hold Afghan peace talks with Taliban in Doha</h1> <h3 style="text-align: left;"> U.S. to hold Afghan peace talks with Taliban in Doha</h3> <div> U.S. to hold Afghan peace talks with Taliban in Doha</div> <div> <br /></div> <div> <div> WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States will meet the Taliban next week in talks in Doha aimed at achieving peace in Afghanistan, where the United States has battled Taliban insurgents for 12 years, U.S. officials said on Tuesday, but warned that the process will likely be lengthy.</div> <div> U.S. officials said the Taliban will issue a statement Tuesday opposing the use of Afghan soil for attacks on other countries and that they support an Afghan peace process.</div> <div> The United States will insist the Taliban break ties with Al Qaeda, end violence, and accept the Afghan constitution, including protection for women and minorities, the officials told reporters in a conference call.</div> <div> "This is but the first step in what will be a long road," one U.S. official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.</div> </div> </div>

U.S. to hold Afghan peace talks with Taliban in Doha U.S. to hold Afghan peace talks with Taliban in Doha U.S. to hold Afghan peace ...

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