Saturday, November 23, 2013

Iran Would Eliminate Stock of Its Most Highly Enriched Uranium Under Deal - 11/22/2013 - By STEVEN ERLANGER



New York Times
WASHINGTON — In its delicate negotiationswith Iran over freezing its nuclear program, the Obama administration is gambling that the gradual relaxation of punishing sanctions will whet Tehran's appetite for greater economic relief, inducing the ...


the Diplomat
U.S.-Iran relations are no exception. Although Hassan Rouhani's election as Iran's president was undeniably important, there are larger forces pushing the U.S. and Iran toward a détente. Since the end of the Cold War there have been three distinct ...
New York Times
PARIS — Tensions between Saudi Arabia and the United States over Washington's approach to the Middle East were brewing for months before they burst into the open last week. First, there was the American inaction in Syria and lack of progress on ...

NBCNews.com (blog)
The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the material recovered from Paul Anthony Ciancia, 23, after the shootout at LAX appeared to have been prepared by a group called “New World Order.” One source said it also expressed animus toward ...
Boston Globe
The new details were revealed in indictments handed up by an Essex County grand jury. It charged freshman Philip D. Chism with not only first-degree murder, but also aggravated rape and armed robbery in the slaying, which has stunned the small town and ...

ABC News (blog)
An al Qaeda-linked terrorist, who was resettled in the U.S. as an Iraq War refugee after allegedly killing American soldiers, was caught on camera in Kentucky handling heavy weapons that the FBI said he believed would be sent to insurgents back in Iraq.

Daily Caller
One of the subcontractors working on the Obamacare website is currently under investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Client Network Services Incorporated (CNSI) became a sub-contractor on the Obamacare website in 2012, working hand in ...



Raw Story
Mexico's Supreme Court overturned Wednesday a lower court decision to free drug kingpin Rafael Caro Quintero, whose sentence for the killing of a US agent was cut short in August. Caro Quintero, considered a forefather of Mexico's modern drug cartels, ...

Mexican Supreme Court overturns release for drug kingpin Caro Quintero

By Agence France-Presse
Wednesday, November 6, 2013 18:05 EST
Members of the Policia Federal Preventiva (PFP) escort narcotrafficker Rafael Caro Quintero (C) in Guadalajara, on Jan. 29, 2005. [AFP]
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Mexico’s Supreme Court overturned Wednesday a lower court decision to free drug kingpin Rafael Caro Quintero, whose sentence for the killing of a US agent was cut short in August.
Caro Quintero, considered a forefather of Mexico’s modern drug cartels, has vanished since walking out of prison on a legal technicality with 12 years left to run on his 40-year sentence.
The federal government, which was apparently caught off guard by the veteran drug trafficker’s release, had challenged the lower court decision, calling it an “absurd” ruling, and sought his re-arrest.

euronews
Dozens of mutilated bodies have been found in western Mexico where drug cartels are battling each other, it's been claimed. Officials said 33 corpses – showing signs of torture – had been found buried on the state border of Michoacan and Jalisco. The ...

Washington Times
Zambada's father is Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, who survived decades of turf wars and rose to the top of Mexico's underworld through savvy deal-brokering. Ismael Zambada is considered the strategist ofMexico's Sinaloa cartel, more involved in daily ...

Washington Times
The House Judiciary Committee has begun looking at reports that Mexican drug cartelmembers are abusing the U.S. asylum system to bypass regular immigration checks and get into the country, where some are setting up smuggling operations and others ...


Al Jazeera America
There still is a third point on narcotraffic, but no one seems to doubt that this will be resolved. Opposition to the accord has already been verbalized loudly by former president Uribe. But public opinion is no longer on his side. Nor does it seem ...

New York Daily News
A Miss Italia beauty queen was busted as part of an alleged international cocaine traffickingring, police said. Samantha Scarlino, 32, was detained in a Milan hotel this week after being accused of delivering cash from Italy to drugcartel bosses in Peru.

Radio Australia
Facebook and Instagram have launched a crackdown on the trade of illegal drugsonline, with one US journalist calling the practice an "absurd" by-product of the social media age. Facebook and Instagram have launched a crackdown on the trade ofillegal ...

NYT
A worker in the Camcopter plant. The craft is finding buyers in sectors like oil and gas, utilities, mining, shipping and agriculture.
Akos Stiller for The New York Times

Europe at Ease With Eyes in the Sky

Despite general skittishness about electronic surveillance, European officials seem more open to civilian drones than regulators in the United States.
_

News One
Marvell Weaver, 17, of Lansing, Michigan, recently lost the so-called “Point 'em out, knock 'em out” game when he was shot twice by his intended victim and arrested, reports WILX. On Feb. 26th, Weaver was in a van with two friends looking for random ...

Washington Post
Americans increasingly believe that former federal contractor Edward Snowden's exposure of U.S. surveillance programs damaged national security, even as the programs have sparked widespread privacy concerns, a new Washington Post-ABC News poll ...
The Hill (blog)
When Russian president Vladimir Putin wrote his infamous op-ed for the New York Times earlier this year, he concluded by rejecting the idea of American exceptionalism. His thoughts sparked outrage among many. Sadly, however, a majority of young ...


The Claremont Institute
According to the Census Bureau, those born elsewhere in the world constituted 12.9% of the American population in 2010, the highest proportion since 1920, and 2.7 times greater than the percentage in 1970. The 40 million foreign-born people counted by ...

Friday, November 22, 2013

22/11/13 13:45 from Top Stories - Google News Washington Post Note left near Danvers teacher: "I hate you all' Boston.com Philip D. Chism allegedly became upset at Danvers High School teacher Colleen Ritzer when she started talking about Tennessee...

» Note left near Danvers teacher: "I hate you all' - Boston.com
22/11/13 13:45 from Top Stories - Google News
Washington Post Note left near Danvers teacher: "I hate you all' Boston.com Philip D. Chism allegedly became upset at Danvers High School teacher Colleen Ritzer when she started talking about Tennessee, the state the teenager ha...

News for Philip Chism

» Danvers, Mass., 14-year-old accused of raping — and murdering — high school ... - Boston.com
22/11/13 15:31 from Top Stories - Google News
ABC News Danvers, Mass., 14-year-old accused of raping — and murdering — high school ... Boston.com A 14-year-old boy last month allegedly raped Danvers High School teacher Colleen Ritzer before murdering her and dumping her body in a ne...


» "Knockout Game" leads to arrests and more police patrols - The Journal News / Lohud.com
22/11/13 17:25 from Top Stories - Google News
New York Daily News "Knockout Game" leads to arrests and more police patrols The Journal News / Lohud.com The dangerous "knockout" attacks on strangers in large U.S. cities are leading to arrests, more officers floodi..

» US Governor Reportedly Under Federal Investigation
22/11/13 17:18 from Voice of America
The outgoing governor of the mid-Atlantic state of Virginia, Republican Robert McDonnell, is widely reported to be under federal investigation for allegedly accepting gifts and gratuities. The governor has defended his actions as not vio...


» CIA, withholding JFK files, admits operative may have known Oswald - Fox News
22/11/13 17:04 from Top Stories - Google News
Wall Street Journal CIA, withholding JFK files, admits operative may have known Oswald Fox News Fifty years after shots rang out in Dealey Plaza, killing a larger-than-life figure and abruptly ushering in what one historian has called “t...


» Prison for State Chemist Who Faked Drug Evidence - New York Times
22/11/13 16:20 from Top Stories - Google News
San Francisco Chronicle Prison for State Chemist Who Faked Drug Evidence New York Times BOSTON — They were called “Dookhan defendants” and there were thousands of them. Enlarge This Image. Pool photo by Steven Senne. Annie Dookhan in Dec...


annie dookhan

» Mass. chemist pleads guilty in drug lab scandal - Washington Post
22/11/13 15:47 from Top Stories - Google News
Washington Post Mass. chemist pleads guilty in drug lab scandal Washington Post BOSTON — A former chemist at a Massachusetts drug lab who admitted faking test results in criminal cases pleaded guilty Friday and was sentenced to prison in...


» Ex-Massachusetts chemist gets 3 to 5 years in tampering case - CNN
22/11/13 15:12 from Top Stories - Google News
San Francisco Chronicle Ex-Massachusetts chemist gets 3 to 5 years in tampering case CNN (CNN) -- A former Massachusetts chemist accused of mishandling evidence affecting numerous state criminal cases pleaded guilty in a Boston court Fri...


» 33 mutilated corpses found in hidden graves in Mexico drug lands
22/11/13 16:09 from Reuters: International
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - At least 33 mutilated corpses have been found buried in an area of western Mexico where drug cartels are battling each other, officials said on Friday, the latest in a series of grisly finds amid a scourge of gang...


» North Korea confirms detention of U.S. citizen: State Department
22/11/13 15:24 from Reuters: International
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - North Korea has confirmed through Swedish officials in Pyongyang that it has detained a U.S. citizen, a State Department official said on Friday, after reports that an 85-year-old California man was pulled off a pl...


Thursday, November 21, 2013

Three women pass Marine ‘grunt’ test, but Corps holds off on letting them in infantry - 11/20/2013 | 'Drone Strike' In Pakistan Kill Militants



The strike, the first in Pakistan since a Taliban chief was killed this month, will likely stoke tensions between the two nations.

Drone strike
The site after the strike on an Islamic seminary in Hangu district
A suspected US drone strike on an Islamic seminary in northwestern Pakistan has reportedly killed six people, including two Afghan militants.
Three rockets were fired on the Hangu district from an unmanned aircraft, according to local security officials.
The two militants killed in the attack were believed to be from the Haqqani group, an ally of the Taliban and one of the most feared militant networks battling US troops in neighbouring Afghanistan.
There was no information on the other victims.
The attack could increase tension between Islamabad and Washington over the controversial drone strikes.
Pakistan publicly opposes US drone strikes, saying they kill too many civilians and violate its sovereignty. However, the government is known to have privately supported at least some of the attacks in the past.
"Now no place is safe. The drones are now firing missiles outside the tribal areas," said Shaukat Yousufzai, health minister for the local government of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
"It is Hangu today. Tomorrow it can be Karachi, Lahore or any other place."
Drone strike
A protest against US drone strikes earlier this month
But the US  has shown no sign that it intends to stop using what it considers a vital tool to fight al Qaeda and the Taliban.
Washington has long called on Islamabad to crack down on the Haqqani group, which it says has frequently launched attacks on foreign troops from mountainous hideouts in Pakistan's lawless North Waziristan region.
Islamabad has refused, saying its troops are already too stretched battling domestic militants.
It is the first drone strike in the nation since Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud was killed on November 1.
Pakistani officials were outraged at that attack because they said it came a day before they planned to invite the leader to hold peace talks.
Earlier this week, Pakistan's foreign policy chief Sartaj Aziz was quoted as saying that the US had promised not to conduct drone strikes while the government tries to engage the Taliban in peace talks.









21/11/13 09:48 from CNN.com - World The death of MI6 codebreaker Gareth Williams -- whose naked body was found inside an externally locked bag in his bathtub in 2006 -- was a "perfect crime," a confined spaces expert says

» MI6 codebreaker Gareth Williams' death 'perfect crime,' expert says
21/11/13 09:48 from CNN.com - World
The death of MI6 codebreaker Gareth Williams -- whose naked body was found inside an externally locked bag in his bathtub in 2006 -- was a "perfect crime," a confined spaces expert says.

Among the theories aired by UK media were that Williams might have died at the hands of foreign intelligence agents or as a result of a kinky sexual encounter gone wrong.

-

Police believe spy-in-the-bag Gareth Williams probably died accidentally and no-one else was involved in his bizarre death.



Video: Naked Spy 'Locked Himself In Bag'
Enlarge

GCHQ codebreaker Gareth Williams probably died after locking himself inside his own holdall, a fresh police review of the case has found.
The naked body of the 31-year-old was discovered in the bag in his central London flat in August 2010 triggering speculation that he had been targeted by foreign agents because of his work.
However, the latest investigation by the Metropolitan Police has found that Mr Williams, who had a keen interest in escapology, probably died alone in an accident.
Detectives believe the codebreaker, who was on secondment to MI6, locked himself into a sports bag in his bath and managed to padlock it from the outside without leaving any DNA traces.

A Yoga Expert Tries A Reconstruction
A yoga expert attempts a reconstruction

The conclusion of a 16-month Scotland Yard review reverses the view of its own original investigators who found it was "highly likely" there was third-party involvement.
And it effectively overturns the finding of a coroner who said last year that Mr Williams was probably killed unlawfully.
The inquest had heard that two experts had tried 400 times to lock themselves in a similar bag but had failed.
However, days after the inquest had finished, an Army Sergeant showed how it was possible to climb into the North Face holdall and do up the zip before padlocking it shut.
Mr Williams' family issued a statement responding to the outcome of the police investigation saying that they still felt the coroner's verdict best represented the circumstances of Mr Williams' death.

gareth williams flat bag lock mi6 death spy
The lock on Mr Williams' bag

They also slammed MI6 or failing to raise concerns after Mr Williams went missing, therefore jeopardising the chances of getting information that might have helped to find the cause of his death.
The statement said: "This lack of concern for Gareth's well-being remains an over-riding feature of our thoughts following the death of a dear son and brother.
Announcing the findings on Wednesday, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Martin Hewitt said the investigation had included that "on balance, it is a more probable conclusion that there was no other person present when Gareth died".
He said that suggestions police had been duped by the intelligence service because the investigation contradicted the coroner's findings were "beyond credibility" and said he had not had the "wool pulled over my eyes".

gareth williams flat bathroom mi6 death spy
The bath at Mr Williams' Pimlico flat

He admitted that initially restricted access to MI6, using a team of counter-terrorism police to act as a go-between for the murder squad and the security services, was "cumbersome" and meant they couldn't do the investigation as they wished.
However, he said, that had changed and officers had been given full access to details of Mr Williams' work.
He said: "Three years of extensive investigative activity have developed a very clear profile of Gareth. He was, without doubt, a private person who was very close to his family and had few other close friends. That said, the universal view of colleagues was of a conscientious and decent man with a few well-known hobbies such as his cycling and climbing.
"There is no evidence of any animosity towards Gareth, and it has not been possible to identify anyone with a motive for causing him harm."
Mr Williams was found inside the bag in the bath at his Pimlico flat on August 23, 2010.
Pathologists said he would have suffocated within three minutes of being locked inside the bag. They said that none of his DNA had been found on the lock on the bag and his palm prints were not found on the rim of the bath.
At his inquest in April last year, the coroner Dr Fiona Wilcox warned that it was unlikely the mystery of Mr Williams' death would ever be satisfactorily explained.
She said: "The cause of his death was unnatural and likely to have been criminally mediated.
"I am therefore satisfied that on the balance of probabilities that Gareth was killed unlawfully."
The Metropolitan Police review into the case was launched after the inquest.