Suicide blasts kill 9 in Syrian city of IdlibBy KARIN LAUB, Associated Press – 31 minutes ago
BEIRUT (AP) — Two suicide bombers blew up cars rigged with explosives near a military compound and a hotel in a city in northwestern Syria on Monday, killing at least nine people and wounding nearly 100, state media said.
The blasts, which also tore two large craters in the ground, were the latest setback for troubled United Nations efforts to end Syria's 13-month-old crisis. A team of U.N. observers is already on the ground to salvage a cease-fire that went into effect April 12 but has been widely ignored by both sides. U.N. officials have singled out the regime as the main aggressor in violations of the truce.
Monday's powerful bombs went off in the city of Idlib, an opposition stronghold that government troops recaptured in a military offensive earlier this year.
The state-run news agency SANA said security forces and civilians were among those killed, while state TV said that many of the nearly 100 wounded were civilians. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an activist network, put the death toll at more than 20 people.
Syria's pro-government al-Ekhbariya TV aired footage of the aftermath from the blasts, showing torn flesh, smashed cars, twisted debris and blood stains on the pavement. The force of the explosions tore the facade off one multistory building, shattered windows in the area and sent debris flying for hundreds of meters (yards). Pro-government websites said five buildings damaged.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks. State media blamed "armed terrorists," a term it uses for rebels trying to topple the government. Activists claimed the regime was behind the bombings to discredit the opposition.
The bombers detonated their explosives near a military compound and near the city's Carlton Hotel, SANA said.
A local activist, who only gave his first name, Ibrahim, for fear of repercussions, said the two sites are several hundred meters apart and that the explosions went off within five minutes of each other after daybreak Monday.
Two members of the U.N. observer team toured the site of the bombings, SANA said. Ibrahim said the observers have been staying at the Carlton, and a pro-government website reported that the hotel sustained some damage.
Earlier Monday, gunmen fired rocket-propelled grenades at the central bank and a police patrol in the capital of Damascus, wounding four officers and causing light damage to the bank, SANA said.
Monday's bombings were the latest in a series of suicide bombings to hit Syria.
An al-Qaida-inspired Islamist group called the Al-Nusra Front to Protect the Levant claimed responsibility Monday for a suicide bombing in downtown Damascus that killed at least 10 people on Friday. The Associated Press could not verify the authenticity of Al-Nusra's statement which was posted on a militant website.
On Sunday, the head of the U.N. observer team, Maj. Gen. Robert Mood, appealed to both sides to halt the fighting. "We want to have combined efforts focusing on the welfare of the Syrian people, true cessation of violence in all its forms," he said after his arrival in the Syrian capital. Sixteen monitors are on the ground, but the team is to expand to 300.
Associated Press writer Albert Aji in Damascus contributed reporting.
Copyright © 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Monday, April 30, 2012
The Associated Press: Suicide blasts kill 9 in Syrian city of Idlib
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Friday, April 20, 2012
The Associated Press: Jeb Bush says he'd consider vice presidency
Jeb Bush says he'd consider vice presidency(AP) – 1 hour ago
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush says he'd consider running as vice president with Mitt Romney, but doubts he'll ever be asked.
Bush tells the conservative website Newsmax that Florida Sen. Marco Rubio is "probably the best" choice to share the ticket with Romney, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee. Bush said he hopes the freshman senator is offered the No. 2 slot and accepts it.
Rubio has said repeatedly that he isn't interested in leaving the Senate.
Bush said he'd consider running if Romney were to ask him. But the former governor added that he's not sure running for vice president is the right thing for him and said he's doubtful he'd even receive the call.
Copyright © 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Thursday, April 19, 2012
The Associated Press: Jonathan Frid, actor in "Dark Shadows", dies at 87
Jonathan Frid, actor in "Dark Shadows", dies at 87By ROB GILLIES, Associated Press – 6 minutes ago
TORONTO (AP) — Jonathan Frid, a Canadian actor best known for playing Barnabas Collins in the 1960s original vampire soap opera "Dark Shadows", has died. He was 87.
Frid died Friday of natural causes in a hospital in his home town of Hamilton, Ontario, said Jim Pierson, a friend and spokesman for Dan Curtis Productions, the creator of "Dark Shadows."
Frid starred in the 1960s gothic-flavored soap opera about odd, supernatural goings-on at a family estate in Maine.
His death comes just weeks before a Tim Burton-directed version of Dark Shadows is due out next month starring Johnny Depp as Barnabas Collins. Frid has a cameo role in the new movie in which he meets Depp's character in a party scene with two other original actors from the show.
Pierson said Burton and Depp were fans of Frid, who played a vulnerable vampire in one of the first sympathetic portrayal of the immortal creatures.
"Twenty million people saw the show at its peak in 1969. Kids ran home from school and housewives watched it. It had a huge pop culture impact," Pierson said.
Pierson said Frid, whose character was added in 1967, saved the show and stayed on until the end of its run in 1971. He said Frid was never into the fame and fortune and just wanted to be a working actor. He said he loved the drama and finding the flaws and the humanity in his characters.
"That's why he had this vampire that was very multidimensional. It really set the trend for all these other things that have been done with vampires over the last 40, 50 years," Pierson said. "Vampires were not in the vernacular. In 1967, there wasn't a pop culture of vampire stuff, so here he was in this mainstream network show that aired at 4 P.M. that really took off. And then he did the movie which was also a big hit."
Frid had been an accomplished stage actor before "Dark Shadows" made him famous. The show has lived on in reruns.
Stuart Manning, editor of the online "Dark Shadows News Page", said Frid brought a new dimension to the role of the vampire by injecting the role with depth and a sense of regret for his immortal existence.
"Now that idea has been taken many times since — 'Twilight' uses it, shows like 'True Blood,' 'Buffy' — which again I think shows the influence 'Dark Shadows' has had," said Manning, who worked with Frid as a writer on the 2010 "Dark Shadows" audio drama spinoff, "The Night Whispers."
The youngest of three sons, Frid served in the Royal Canadian Navy during the Second World War. After graduating from Hamilton's McMaster University, he got a degree in directing at the Yale School of Drama and studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London.
Frid starred in various theater productions with illustrious actors including Katharine Hepburn. But it was his turn in "Dark Shadows" and its first feature film adaptation, "House of Dark Shadows," that made him a commercial success and kept him busy throughout his career with reunions, fan events and dramatic readings.
He lived in New York for several decades before moving back to Canada in the '90s. His other credits include the 1973 TV movie "The Devil's Daughter," co-starring Shelley Winters, and Oliver Stone's directorial debut, "Seizure." He also starred in the Broadway revival and national tour of "Arsenic and Old Lace" in the '80s.
Pierson said Frid been in declining health in recent months. At Frid's request, there was no funeral and there will be no memorial.
"He really was kind of a no-fuss guy," Pierson said.
Frid never married. He is survived by a nephew, Donald Frid.
Copyright © 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
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The Associated Press: Norway killer admits massacre, claims self-defense
Norway killer admits massacre, claims self-defenseBy KARL RITTER – 41 minutes ago
OSLO, Norway (AP) — A right-wing fanatic admitted Monday to unleashing a bomb-and-shooting massacre that killed 77 people in Norway but pleaded not guilty to criminal charges, saying he was acting in self-defense.
On the first day of his long-awaited trial, Anders Behring Breivik defiantly rejected the authority of the court as it sought to assign responsibility for the July 22 attacks that shocked Norway and jolted the image of terrorism in Europe.
Dressed in a dark suit and sporting a thin beard, Breivik smiled as a guard removed his handcuffs in the crowded court room. The 33-year-old then flashed a closed-fist salute, before shaking hands with prosecutors and court officials.
"I don't recognize Norwegian courts because you get your mandate from the Norwegian political parties who support multiculturalism," Breivik said in his first comments to the court.
Eight people were killed in Breivik's bombing of Oslo's government district and 69 others were slain in his shooting massacre at the left-leaning Labor Party's youth camp on Utoya island outside the capital.
"I admit to the acts, but not criminal guilt," he told the court, insisting he had acted in self-defense.
He remained stone-faced and motionless as prosecutors read the indictment on terror and murder charges, with descriptions of how each victim died, and when they explained how he prepared for the attacks.
But he suddenly became emotional when prosecutors showed an anti-Muslim video that he had posted on YouTube before the killing spree, wiping away tears with trembling hands.
Breivik also said he doesn't recognize the authority of Judge Wenche Elisabeth Arntzen, because he said she is friends with the sister of former Norwegian Prime Minister and Labor Party leader Gro Harlem Brundtland.
The anti-Muslim militant described himself as a writer, currently working from prison, when asked by the judge for his employment status.
Breivik has said the attacks were necessary to protect Norway from being taken over by Muslims. He claims he targeted the government headquarters in Oslo and the youth camp to strike against the left-leaning political forces he blames for allowing immigration in Norway.
While Norway has a principle of preventive self-defense in its law, that doesn't apply to Breivik's case, said Jarl Borgvin Doerre, a legal expert who has written a book on the concept.
"It is obvious that it has nothing to do with preventive self-defense," Doerre told The Associated Press.
The key issue to be resolved during the 10-week trial is the state of Breivik's mental health, which will decide whether he is sent to prison or into psychiatric care.
If deemed mentally competent, he would face a maximum prison sentence of 21 years or an alternate custody arrangement under which the sentence is prolonged for as long as an inmate is deemed a danger to society.
Police sealed off the streets around the Oslo court building, where journalists, survivors and relatives of victims watched the proceedings in a 200-seat courtroom built specifically for the trial.
Thick glass partitions were put up to separate the defendant from victims and their families, many of whom are worried that Breivik will use the trial to promote his extremist political ideology. In a manifesto he published online before the attacks, Breivik wrote that "patriotic resistance fighters" should use trials "as a platform to further our cause."
Norway's NRK television will broadcast parts of the trial, but it is not allowed to show Breivik's testimony.
He had told investigators he is a resistance fighter in a far-right militant group modeled after the Knights Templar — a Western Christian order that fought during the crusades — but police have found no trace of any organization and say he acted alone.
"In our opinion, such a network does not exist," Prosecutor Svein Holden told the court.
Anxious to prove he is not insane, he has called right-wing extremists and radical Islamists to testify during the trial, to show that there are others who share his view of clashing civilizations.
Breivik surrendered to police 1 hour and 20 minutes after he arrived on Utoya. The police response was slowed by a series of mishaps, including the lack of an operating police helicopter and the breakdown of an overloaded boat carrying a commando team to the island.
Associated Press writers Bjoern H. Amland and Julia Gronnevet contributed to this report.
Copyright © 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Taliban attack Afghan capital, 3 other cities
cybervigilante at 7:08 AM April 15, 2012Well gee, who not just declare "Mission Accomlished?" Why are we even THERE? Al Quada left ten years ago. Osama is dead. We just cause injury and brain damage to our troops while spending billions when we're broke. And the people will always hate us. Look at Iraq - a total waste base on lies. Now they're selling their oil to China and buddying up with Iran. That sure was worth three trillion dollars and tens of thousands of lives - NOT! This President is as unimaginative as the last one when it comes to getting out of a worthless war.
And of course, it's not Really about "freeing" some peoples. There are much more oppressed ones in other parts of the globe, from Africa to our "allies" in Saudi Arabia (which Actually sent the terrorists) It's all about O-I-L (and gas) since Afghanistan is a major pathway for a massive pipleline to them And secondarily, to keep supplying the CIA with Opium.
Saturday, April 14, 2012
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The Associated Press: APNewsBreak: Murder charge in Trayvon Martin case
APNewsBreak: Murder charge in Trayvon Martin caseBy BRENDAN FARRINGTON, Associated Press – 3 minutes ago
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman has been arrested and faces a charge of second-degree murder in the shooting of Trayvon Martin, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press Wednesday.
The official with knowledge of the case says that the charge against George Zimmerman will be announced at a news conference by special prosecutor Angela Corey at 6 p.m. Wednesday. The official says the 28-year-old Sanford man is in custody in Florida but wouldn't say where.
A second-degree murder charge in Florida carries a maximum sentence of life in prison. It is typically charged when there is a fight or other confrontation that results in death and where there is no premeditated plan to kill someone.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to disclose the information.
Zimmerman's arrest was delayed partly because of Florida's "stand your ground" law, which gives people wide leeway to use deadly force without having to retreat in the face of danger. The lack of an arrest had sparked outrage and rallies for justice in the Orlando suburb and across the country.
Zimmerman's shooting of the 17-year-old black teenager on Feb. 26 brought demands from black leaders for his arrest and set off a furious nationwide debate over race and self-defense that reached all the way to the White House.
Zimmerman, whose father is white and whose mother is Hispanic, said the teenager attacked him. Martin's family argued Zimmerman was the aggressor.
On Tuesday, Zimmerman's lawyers announced they were withdrawing from the case because they hadn't heard from him since Sunday and didn't know where he was. They portrayed his mental state as fragile.
"He is largely alone. You might even say he is emotionally crippled by virtue of the pressure of this case," said one of the lawyers, Hal Uhrig.
The case has drawn the interest of the highest levels of the Obama administration, with the Justice Department's civil rights division opening its own investigation.
Tensions have risen in recent days in Sanford. Someone shot up an unoccupied police car Tuesday as it sat outside the neighborhood where Martin was killed. And a demonstration by college students closed the town's police station Monday.
Six weeks ago, Martin was returning to the home of his father's fiancee from a convenience store when Zimmerman started following him. Zimmerman told police dispatchers he looked suspicious. At some point, the two got into a fight and Zimmerman used his gun.
Zimmerman told police Martin attacked him after he had given up chasing the teenager and was returning to his truck. He told detectives that Martin knocked him to the ground and began slamming his head on the sidewalk. Zimmerman's father said that Martin threatened to kill his son and that Zimmerman suffered a broken nose.
A video taken about 40 minutes after the shooting as Zimmerman arrived at the Sanford police station showed him walking unassisted without difficulty. There were no plainly visible bandages or blood on his clothing, but Zimmerman may have had a small wound on the back of his head.
The shooting ignited resentment toward the police department, and Police Chief Bill Lee temporarily stepped down to let passions cool.
Civil rights groups and others have held rallies around the country, saying the shooting was unjustified. Many of the protesters wore the same type of hooded sweat shirt that Martin had on that day, suggesting his appearance and race had something to do with his killing.
President Barack Obama injected himself into the debate, urging Americans to "do some soul-searching." ''If I had a son, he'd look like Trayvon," Obama said March 23.
The local prosecutor disqualified himself from the case, and Gov. Rick Scott appointed Corey, the prosecutor for Jacksonville, to take it over.
Farrington reported from Tallahassee, Fla.
Copyright © 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Rick Santorum to drop out of the presidential race - The Washington Post
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No matter what you think of him, Santorum succeeded WAY beyond what was expected of him in this race. — TheFix
Official close to the Santorum campaign says he is suspending, more soon — FixRachel
OK political journalists: Can someone write an analysis of whether Newt can make a 3rd comeback by the time Santorum is done speaking? — FixAaron
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The Associated Press: BkyB confirms James Murdoch steps down as chairman
BkyB confirms James Murdoch steps down as chairmanBy JILL LAWLESS, Associated Press – 28 minutes ago
LONDON (AP) — British Sky Broadcasting PLC says James Murdoch has stepped down as chairman, but will remain a member of the broadcaster's board.
Murdoch is under pressure over his role in Britain's tabloid phone hacking scandal and said in a letter to the board Tuesday that he was resigning to that "the interests of BSkyB should not be undermined by matters outside the scope of this company."
BSkyB says Murdoch will be replaced as chairman by Nicholas Ferguson, the previous deputy chairman.
Murdoch, one of his father Rupert's chief lieutenants, has been facing severe criticism as a result of the phone hacking scandal that brought down the Murdoch-owned News of the World tabloid in Britain.
Copyright © 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
