January 30, 2013

ENGLAND: Keith The Seal Saved! Animal Lovers Win Last Minute Reprieve For 'Predator' Who Has Been Snaffling Up Fish In The Severn! YAY! :) Anglers Wanted To Shoot Four-Foot Seal To Protect Fish Stocks

Where am I? Keith found herself in Stourport Marina in Worcestershire, 100 miles from the sea.
'Marine predator': Keith the seal tucks into a freshly-caught salmon, much to the dismay of local anglers.

 
The Daily Mail UK
written by Staff
Saturday January 26, 2013

A seal called keith which anglers wanted to shoot in order to protect fish stocks has had a last minute reprieve.

The 4ft seal, which is in fact female, became a local celebrity after she swam over 50 miles inland up the River Severn, in Worcestershire.

But after a storm of protest and an internet campaign, the Angling Trust has agreed to support attempts to return Keith to her feeding grounds in the Irish Sea.

Animal-lovers have followed its journey and reports of sightings after it was first spotted in the River Severn in November.

But after she was snapped eating a duck and numerous fish, the Angling Trust labelled it a ‘marine predator’ and threatened to obtain a licence and use a qualified marksman to shoot the mammal.

Mark Lloyd, chief executive of the Trust, said: ‘This marine predator cannot be allowed to carry on eating its way through freshwater fish that have taken decades to grow to a size.

'We will try everything possible to remove it humanely but more drastic action may be the only option if these methods do not work.’

One angling club member even claimed Keith was a threat to pets. Stuart Anderson said: ‘I am very worried as it has started taking ducks and waterfowl and soon will start attacking swans and maybe dogs swimming.’

But within hours of the shooting threat emerging a Facebook campaign entitled ‘Save Keith the Seal’ was launched. It was endorsed with more than 600 ‘likes’.

Twitter was also buzzing with messages backing Keith, while an online petition to save the seal from the bullet amassed well over 400 signatures.

The seal was first photographed having swum upstream to Bewdley and Stourport-on-Severn in Worcestershire.

There locals nicknamed it after Colonel Keith, the Royalist commander at the 1651 Battle of Worcester during the Civil War.

The seal’s usual home is believed to be in the Irish Sea or Bristol Channel

An Environment Agency spokesman said: ‘We understand the concerns of anglers, but one animal in a large river like the Severn is unlikely to have a significant impact on fish stocks.

‘This is natural predation and it will eventually make its way back out to sea.

‘With this is mind, and because seals are a protected species, we won’t be taking action.’

An RSPCA spokesman said: ‘It’s not uncommon for seals to venture away from the sea.

‘As long as the seal is not injured, or in any immediate danger, then we would not be concerned for its welfare.’

Keith's petition can be found at www.facebook.com/savetheseal,
 

MALAYSIA: Ten Endangered Pygmy Elephants Have Been Found Dead This Month In Malaysian Borneo, Thought To Have Been Poisoned! >:/

France24 news
written by AFP staff
Tuesday January 29, 2013

Ten endangered pygmy elephants have been found dead this month in Malaysian Borneo and are thought to have been poisoned, conservation officials said Tuesday.

Wildlife authorities in Sabah, a state on the eastern tip of the island, have formed a taskforce together with the police and WWF to investigate the deaths.

Laurentius Ambu, Sabah wildlife department director, said it received a report last Wednesday of four dead pygmy elephants in the Gunung Rara forest reserve.

But officials were "shocked" to find another four of the animals, a rare sub-species of the Asian elephant, dead or dying after inspecting the area for two days, he said.

"Early this year, two highly decomposed elephant carcasses were found in the general vicinity of where these eight animals were found. We believe that all the deaths of these elephants are related," he said in a statement.

Sen Nathan, the department's senior veterinarian, said in the statement "we highly suspect" the animals died due to poisoning after finding severe ulceration and bleeding in their digestive tracts.

"It was actually a very sad sight to see all those dead elephants, especially one of the dead females who had a very young calf of about three months old. The calf was trying to wake the dead mother up," he said.

Masidi Manjun, the state's environment minister, vowed to take tough action.

"If indeed these poor elephants were maliciously poisoned I would personally make sure that the culprits would be brought to justice and pay for their crime," he said in the statement.

There are fewer than 2,000 Borneo pygmy elephants, which are smaller and have more rounded features compared to normal Asian elephants, left in the wild, according to authorities.

Activists warn that pygmy elephants are fast losing their natural habitat to deforestation and human encroachment on Borneo, a vast island shared by Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei.

INDIA: Another Rhino Killed By Poachers In Kaziranga National Park, 5th Rhino Killed By Poachers This Month! >:/

Hindustan Times
written by Staff
Tuesday January 29, 2013

A rhino was killed and its horn removed at the Kaziranga National Park in Assam making it the fifth to have fallen prey to poachers this month. The rhino was killed on Monday near Hatibandi Camp under Bagori range on the southern side of the park along Nagaon and Karbi Anglong districts, divisional forest officer (DFO) D D Gogoi said today.

Two empty cartridges of AK-47 assault rifle were recovered near the carcass, Gogoi said.

The police suspect the involvement of Karbi Peoples Liberation Tiger (KPLT) insurgents in the poaching.

A male rhino was killed on Sunday night near Borholla camp in the Burapahar range of the park.

ITALY: Outrage As Italy's Former Prime Minister (Served 3 Times) Silvio Berlusconi Praises Mussolini On Holocaust Day

AFP
written by Gildas Le Roux
Sunday January 27, 2013

ROME — Italy's gaffe-prone former premier Silvio Berlusconi sparked outrage Sunday with remarks praising wartime dictator Benito Mussolini despite Il Duce's persecution of Jews and allowing thousands to be deported to Auschwitz.

"The racial laws were the worst mistake of a leader, Mussolini, who however did good things in so many other areas," Berlusconi, who is angling for a return to politics in elections next month, said on the sidelines of a ceremony marking Holocaust Remembrance Day in Milan.

Starting in 1938, Mussolini promulgated decrees known collectively as racial laws that barred Jews from the civil service, the armed forces and the National Fascist Party. The laws also banned intermarriage.

Mussolini's Italy participated in the deportation of Jews to the Auschwitz death camp, and an estimated 7,500 are estimated to have been victims of the Holocaust.

Italy "does not have the same responsibilities as Germany," said Berlusconi, a billionaire media tycoon known for ill-considered outbursts.

On Saturday, Chancellor Angela Merkel said Germany had "an everlasting responsibility for the crimes of (the Nazis)".

The head of Italy's Jewish community, Renzo Gattegna, hit out at Berlusconi's remarks, saying they were "not only superficial and inopportune, but also... devoid of any moral meaning or historical foundation."

Gattegna, head of the Union of Italian Jewish Communities, added: "The persecution and the racist anti-Semitic laws of Italy originated well before the war and were applied with full autonomy under the... fascist regime, later an ally and willing and conscious accomplice of Nazi Germany."

He said the remarks showed "the extent to which Italy still has trouble seriously accepting its own history and its own responsibilities".

Centre-left politicians also voiced outrage over Berlusconi's comments.

"Berlusconi's words are a disgrace and an insult to history and memory. He should apologise to the Italian people today," Dario Francheschini, head of the centre-left Democratic Party, said in a Twitter message.

His party is tipped to win the elections set for February 24-25.

Left-wing MEP Debora Serracchiani said in a statement: "It is simply disgusting that even on Remembrance Day Berlusconi goes about rehabilitating the actions of the dictator who dragged Italy into the Second World War."

Antonio Di Petro, head of the small anti-corruption Italy of Values party, dismissed Berlusconi as "nothing more than a caricature" of Mussolini.

The flamboyant, scandal-plagued 76-year-old, who has had three stints as prime minister, heads the centre-right People of Freedom Party (PDL) but has not decided whether to seek a fourth term or settle for a cabinet post if the party wins in February.

The head of the PDL's parliamentary group, Fabrizio Cicchitto, came to Berlusconi's defence, saying: "The fascist dictatorship never attained the horror of that of the Nazis or the Russians."

He said the left's reactions were politically motivated and that "Berlusconi was obviously talking about (Mussolini's) social aid policies and support for families."

Berlusconi's coalition ally, the populist Northern League party, declined to be drawn into the debate. "We are in an election campaign, I understand the controversy, but I do not want to feed it," said the League's head Roberto Maroni.

Berlusconi himself sought to clarify his comments later on Sunday. "My historical analyses have always been based on the condemnation of dictatorships," he said in a statement, noting that he was "a historical friend of Israel."

Berlusconi's long history of gaffes includes an earlier comment about Il Duce: "Mussolini never killed anyone. Mussolini used to send people on vacation in internal exile," he told an Italian magazine in 2003.

INDIA: Thirteen Fetuses, Some Just A Month Old, Were Found Dumped Under A Bridge In Belgaum District On Sunday :(

The Times of India
written by Staff
Monday January 28, 2013

BELGAUM - Thirteen fetuses, some just a month old, were found dumped under a bridge in Belgaum district on Sunday. Some people using the way under Hairanyakeshi bridge, near Sankeshwar town in Hukkeri taluk, about 50km from Belgaum, noticed the fetuses and informed police, who reached the spot along with a team of health officials.

The health officials said only a forensic examination would reveal the sex of the fetuses, some of which were underdeveloped and around 4-6 weeks old, and some were almost fully-formed. Belgaum SP Sandeep Patil, who visited the spot, said: "We have set up two teams to investigate the case. All health centres and hospitals in Sankeshwar and surrounding towns will come under the scanner. The guilty will be punished."

Police have registered a case under Section 318 of the IPC for concealing birth and secretly disposing the body. The offence carries a maximum punishment of two years in jail and a fine. Police are looking into all angles, including a possible sex-determination racket.

Police officers handed over the fetuses to the forensic department of Belgaum Institute of Medical Sciences for further examination. Some fetuses were found similarly dumped in the same bridge area a few months ago.

VENEZUELA: Police Empty Venezuela Prison After 58 Killed In Riot

The Malaysian Star
written by AFP staff
Monday January 28, 2013

BARQUISIMETO - Security forces regained full control over a prison in northwestern Venezuela on Sunday and evacuated inmates after a riot left 58 dead and twice as many wounded.

"The evacuation of prisoners from the Uribana jail has concluded. Now for reconstruction," Prisons Minister Iris Varela announced on Twitter, adding that the last prisoners left quietly "without any resistance."

It took authorities two days to regain control of the entire Uribana penitentiary in Lara state after clashes between prison gangs and guards.

Varela said rioters and other inmates were being moved to other jails around the country. She later told reporters that an earlier given death toll of 61 had been reduced by three.

Some inmates shouted from moving buses the names of the jails they were being moved to as worried-looking relatives waved goodbye.

"My brother is going to Guanare," in northwestern Venezuela, said Carmen Escalona, sister of Jose, 32, who she said is serving four years as an accomplice to a friend who robbed a taxi driver.

"It's not the same as having him nearby, but where he goes, the fight will go," she said.

Meanwhile, some family members of inmates still did not know the fates of their loved ones after the deadly violence.

"My son has been missing since Friday. He appears on lists of wounded and I have looked for him," cried Mariela Torrealba, weeping, as she searched in vain for information on the whereabouts of her son Henry, 24.

"This is a hopeless anguish," she sobbed.

Linelida Alvarez was equally anxious to find out the fate of her brother, 21-year-old Carlos Eduardo, but braced for the worst.

"We don't know anything," Alvarez told AFP. "They told us he had received a shot in the chest. But the question is why are there so many people who have been slaughtered. There are many people with firearm wounds."

Most of those killed at the Uribana facility were shot by assault weapons. Antonio Maria Pineda Hospital director Ruy Medina said in an updated toll that another 120 people were wounded.

Authorities said the riot was sparked by an inmates rebellion when the prison launched a sweep of the facility in search of illicit weapons, after receiving a tip-off that prison gangs were readying to fight.

National Guard troops surrounded the prison as inmates in bloody clothes were taken out of the building and as distraught relatives waited for news behind the barriers.

Opposition leaders and watchdog groups denounced what they said was a "disproportionate use of force" and the failure of the prisons ministry, created in mid-2011, to violence and overcrowding.

"Who will they blame for this massacre this time around?" opposition leader and former presidential candidate Henrique Capriles said on Twitter, calling the government "incapable and irresponsible."

Humberto Prado, head of the non-governmental Venezuelan Prison Monitoring Organization, said the government "had failed to take responsibility for the events" and instead was "piling blame on the media."

Vice President Nicolas Maduro, just back in the country after visiting ailing President Hugo Chavez in Cuba, called the riot "regrettable" and "tragic" and said an investigation had been launched.

Uribana is believed to hold about 2,500 inmates.

Venezuela is notorious for the poor state of its prisons, which suffer from some of the most staggeringly high levels of overcrowding in Latin America.

Originally built to house 14,000 inmates, the country's prisons now hold almost 50,000, often with low sanitary standards and high levels of violence.

In August 2012, at least 25 people were killed and 43 wounded during a clash between rival gangs in Yare I prison near Caracas. In June 2011, dozens died in a riot that erupted at El Rodeo prison.

MALI: President Obama/US Military Plan To Set Up Base For Drones Near Mali To Bolster Surveillance Of Al-Qaeda Affiliate AQIM

AFP
written by Staff
Tuesday January 29, 2013

WASHINGTON — The US military plans to set up a base for drones in northwest Africa to bolster surveillance of Al-Qaeda's affiliate in the region and allied Islamist extremists, a US official told AFP on Monday.

The base for the robotic, unmanned aircraft would likely be located in Niger, on the eastern border of Mali, where French forces are currently waging a campaign against Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The base was first reported by the New York Times earlier Monday.

The airfield would allow for better intelligence gathering by unarmed drones on the movement of AQIM and other militants, which Washington considers a growing threat, the official said.

If the plan gets the green light, up to 300 US military service members and contractors could be sent to the base to operate the drone aircraft, according to the New York Times.

US Africa Command was also looking at an alternative location for the base in Burkina Faso, the official said.

But State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland reiterated that there are no plans to commit US troops to any fighting on the ground.

"The US military is not going to be engaged in combat operations in Mali," she stressed, "and we don't expect US forces to become directly involved on the ground in combat either."

The United States and Niger signed a status of forces agreement Monday, which will provide legal safeguards for any American forces in the country. The Pentagon secures such agreements for base arrangements or troop deployments.

The French intervention in Mali, the recent hostage taking at an Algerian natural gas plant and the deadly assault on a US consulate in Libya in September has increased the demand in Washington for more intelligence on militants in the region.

As news emerged of the planned drone base, the Wall Street Journal reported that US military and intelligence officials were weighing plans to provide French fighter aircraft with sophisticated data to help them hunt down militants in Mali.

President Barack Obama's administration waited for more than two weeks before agreeing to offer aerial refueling tankers to the French forces, amid concerns among some advisers that assisting the French could draw the United States into an open-ended conflict.

The Obama administration has also provided transport planes to help ferry French weapons and troops and to share intelligence with Paris from surveillance aircraft, including reportedly unmanned Global Hawk spy planes.

But Nuland stressed a political situation was also needed for Mali.

"There has to be more than a purely security solution to the problems in Mali," she said, adding "the security track and the political track have to go hand in hand."

"A key component of returning stability to Mali includes new elections and overturning the results of the coup firmly."

MALI: Islamist Militants Torched A Library Containing Ancient Manuscripts In Mali's Timbuktu Before Fleeing! >:/

Christian Science Monitor
written by Carley Petesch and Krista Larson, AP
Monday January 28, 2013

Islamist extremists torched a library containing historic manuscripts in Timbuktu, the mayor said today, as French and Malian forces closed in on Mali's fabled desert city.

Fleeing Islamist extremists torched a library containing historic manuscripts in Timbuktu, the mayor said Monday, as French and Malian forces closed in on Mali's fabled desert city.

Ousmane Halle said he heard about the burnings early Monday.

"It's truly alarming that this has happened," he told The Associated Press by telephone from Mali's capital, Bamako, on Monday. "They torched all the important ancient manuscripts. The ancient books of geography and science. It is the history of Timbuktu, of its people."

The mayor said Monday that the radical Islamists had torched his office as well as the Ahmed Baba Institute – a library rich with historical documents – in an act of retaliation before they fled late last week.

He said he didn't have further details as communications to the city have been cut off. (Read The Monitor's John Thorne's piece on the men who would save Mali's manuscripts).

Ground forces backed by French paratroopers and helicopters took control of Timbuktu's airport and the roads leading to the town in an overnight operation, a French military official said Monday. It marked the latest success in the two-week-old French mission to oust radical Islamists from the northern half of Mali, which they seized more than nine months ago.

French Col. Thierry Burkhard, the chief military spokesman in Paris, said Monday that the town's airport was taken without firing a shot.

"There was an operation on Timbuktu last night that allowed us to control access to the town," he said Monday. "It's up to Malian forces to retake the town."

The Timbuktu operation comes a day after the French announced they had seized the airport and a key bridge in a city east of Timbuktu, Gao, one of the other northern provincial capitals that had been under the grip of radical Islamists, who had turned it into a virtual replica of Afghanistan under Taliban rule.

The French and Malian forces so far have met little resistance from the Islamists, who seized northern Mali in the wake of a military coup in the distant capital of Bamako, in southern Mali.

Timbuktu, which lies on an ancient caravan route, has entranced travelers for centuries, is some 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) northeast of Bamako. During their rule, the militants have systematically destroyed UNESCO World Heritage sites in Timbuktu.

A spokesman for the Al Qaeda-linked militants has said that the ancient tombs of Sufi saints were destroyed because they contravened Islam, encouraging Muslims to venerate saints instead of God.

Among the tombs they destroyed is that of Sidi Mahmoudou, a saint who died in 955, according to the UNESCO website.

Timbuktu, long a hub of Islamic learning, is also home to some 20,000 manuscripts, some dating back as far as the 12th century. Owners have succeeded in removing some of the manuscripts from Timbuktu to save them, while others have been carefully hidden away from the Islamists.

The destructions recall tactics used by the Taliban in 2001 when they dynamited a pair of giant Buddhas carved into a mountain in Bamiyan Province. Around the same time, the Taliban also rampaged through the national museum, smashing any art depicting the human form, considered idolatrous under their hardline interpretation of Islam. In all, they destroyed about 2,500 statues.

MALI: French And Malian Troops Retake Timbuktu Airport From Islamist Militants

France24 news
written by Staff
Monday January 28, 2013

French and Malian troops surrounded the fabled northern Malian city of Timbuktu Monday after taking the city’s airport amid reports that fleeing Islamist militants had torched a library containing priceless ancient manuscripts.

Reporting from the airport where he is embedded with French forces early Monday, FRANCE 24 correspondent Matthieu Mabin said “not one shot had been fired”. A contingent of about 800 French and Malian troops had secured the airport, according to Mabin. Five planes had also drooped 250 French parachutists into Timbuktu to secure the north of the city in France’s first operational paratroop drop in 35 years.

“Although there was no resistance, one risk is isolated attacks by suicide bombers or from improvised explosive devices (IEDs),” said Mabin. “The operation is now surrounding Timbuktu.”

Historic library ‘torched’

But while French and Malian troops met with no resistance at the airport, there were reports of Islamists torching the Ahmad Baba Institute, a state library partly financed by the South African government, which houses tens of thousands of ancient manuscripts.

“The rebels set fire to the newly-constructed Ahmed Baba Institute built by the South Africans ... this happened four days ago,” Timbuktu mayor Halle Ousmane told Reuters by telephone from the Malian capital of Bamako.

In an interview with FRANCE 24, Shamil Jeppie, director of the Tombouctou Manuscripts Project at Cape Town University, said he had read the reports, but he could not confirm them since he was unable to get through to his colleagues in Timbuktu on the phone.

“The Ahmed Baba library now has two locations,” said Jeppie, including a new building with state-of-the art digitizing equipment, and the old building situated next to the famous Sankore Mosque.

“I’m a bit confused when they say the building – or part of the building - was destroyed because I don’t know which of the two locations they’re talking about,” said Jeppie.

An oasis city on the ancient desert caravan routes, Timbuktu was an important centre of learning in the medieval ages and is home to tens of thousands of ancient manuscripts as well as UNESCO world heritage sites.

Former al Qaeda bastion Gao falls over the weekend

Monday’s advance toward Timbuktu cames a day after French and Malian soldiers seized the town of Gao, east of Timbuktu -- the biggest victory so far in their operation against the militants, who have controlled the north for 10 months.

French warplanes had carried out some 20 air strikes Saturday and Sunday in the Gao and Timbuktu regions, the ministry statement added.

“The French air force has laid the groundwork for an all-out offensive, using Dassault Mirage 2000s and Rafale fighter jets to destroy rebel points in the vast desert around the city,” Mabin reported. “So far, the troops have experienced no form of counter-attack on the ground.”

France launched its campaign on January 11 after Islamists captured a central town and threatened to advance on the capital, Bamako, sparking fears that the whole country could become a haven for terror groups.

After successfully beating the rebels back from central Mali, French special forces led the assault on Gao, a former bastion of the Al-Qaeda-linked Movement for Unification and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO), which fell on January 26.

MUJAO is one of the Islamist groups that seized control of northern Mali in April last year in the chaotic aftermath of a military coup.

The Islamists had last year joined forces with an alliance of ethnic-Tuareg rebels seeking an independent homeland in the north, first taking Kidal, then Gao and Timbuktu.
They quickly sidelined the Tuaregs, imposing a harsh version of Islamic sharia law which saw offenders flogged, stoned or executed.

Residents ‘hysterical’ at sight of troops

“When we travel through liberated villages, the residents become almost hysterical at the sight of the French and Malian tanks,” Mabin said on Sunday. “They rush out of their homes with the national flag shouting “Mali!” These people are literally being liberated after experiencing the terror of sharia law.

“The accounts we’ve heard are terrible: suspected thieves having their hands cut off; women forced to wear the veil; men banned from wearing long trousers.

“Residents tell us that the rebels flee very quickly [when the French and Malian forces arrive], leaving behind weapons and vehicles. They dress like civilians so as not to stand out and then try to head for the border with Mauritania.”

SAUDI ARABIA: Saudi Authorities Order Shops Employing Both Men And Women To Build Separation Walls To Enforce Strict Segregation (SHARIA) Laws :o

AFP
written by Staff
Monday January 28, 2013

RIYADH — Saudi authorities have ordered shops employing both men and women to build separation walls to enforce the strict segregation laws of the ultra-conservative kingdom, local press reported Monday.

The order that was issued by labour minister Adel Faqih also had the stamp of Abdullatif al-Sheikh, the head of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, commonly known as Mutawa and religious police, several dailies reported.

It stipulated that a separation barrier, not shorter than 1.6 metres (over five feet), should be erected to divide working men and women.

Authorities in June 2011 told lingerie shops to replace their salesmen, mostly Asian, with Saudi saleswomen. This directive was later extended to cosmetic outlets.

Saudi women have long complained they feel uncomfortable having to buy lingerie from men and would prefer female sales assistants.

In December, the head of the religious police strongly criticised the labour ministry, claiming that saleswomen do not have a proper working environment and that some have been harassed.

The labour ministry had said the decision to employ women at lingerie shops should create some 44,000 jobs for Saudi women, among whom unemployment is more than 30 percent, according to official figures.

GUATEMALA: Guatemala Judge Orders Trial Of Ex-Dictator Rios Montt For Genocide Of Indigenous Populations During 1982-83 Regime; More Than 1,750 Native Maya People Were SLAUGHTERED!

AFP
written by Henry Morales
Monday January 28, 2013

GUATEMALA CITY — A Guatemalan judge ordered former dictator Efrain Rios Montt to stand trial on charges of genocide for the slaughter of more than 1,750 native Maya people during his 1982-83 regime.

The retired general, now 86, sat stoically as Judge Miguel Galvez ordered the opening of a trial "for the crimes of genocide" and crimes against humanity.

The landmark decision marks the first time that genocide proceedings have been brought in the Central American country over the 36-year civil war that ended in 1996, leaving an estimated 200,000 people dead, according to the UN.

Outside the courthouse in Guatemala City, relatives of victims -- some wearing red carnations and clutching photographs of their loved ones -- lit firecrackers in celebration after the ruling was read out.

Rios Montt is accused of orchestrating the massacre of more than 1,750 indigenous Ixil Maya people in Quiche department during his time in power.

"There are serious bases on which to put him on oral and public trial for his alleged participation in the crimes attributed to him," Galvez said in a small courtroom packed with relatives of victims and rights activists.

Rios Montt is known for his "scorched earth" campaign against people the government claimed were leftist rebels, but who were often indigenous Maya community members not involved in the conflict.

Dressed in a gray suit, the former strongman arrived on time for the hearing. Upon his entry into the courtroom, a small group of retired soldiers stood at attention and saluted him.

Once the judge issued his ruling and ended the hearing, activists in the courtroom clapped and cheered, to the visible anger of retired soldiers.

Rights advocates have worked for years to see Rios Montt tried, but he avoided court action, at one point by getting elected to Guatemala's congress -- and thereby winning parliamentary immunity.

"We are beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel of impunity that Guatemala has endured over the past decades," said activist Iduvina Hernandez.

Human Rights Watch called the decision to prosecute Rios Montt a "major step forward for accountability in Guatemala."

"The fact that a judge has ordered the trial of a former head of state is a remarkable development in a country where impunity for past atrocities has long been the norm," said the group's Americas director, Jose Miguel Vivanco.

Galvez also ruled that he would open a genocide trial against retired general Jose Rodriguez, a former member of the military leadership who arrived in court in a wheelchair.

The judge told Rios Montt and Rodriguez to appear at a hearing on January 31 for the presentation of evidence.

Until then, Rios Montt will remain under house arrest while Rodriguez will remain at a military hospital where he has been treated for a stroke his attorneys say he suffered in December.

Attorneys for Rios Montt, who came to power in a coup in March 1982 and ruled until August 1983, argued that he was never aware of the massacres committed by the army.

"They want to stick something to Rios Montt that he never did," said his lawyer, Danilo Rodriguez, who happens to be a former guerrilla.

Another attorney for Rios Montt, Francisco Palomo, told reporters the defense team would appeal Galvez's decision.

"We will be presenting an appeal. We are not afraid of facing a trial, as long as it is a fair one... not a lynch mob," said Palomo.

Outside the courthouse, a group of relatives of victims set up a makeshift altar, where they placed flowers and lit incense.

Indigenous Maya communities make up a majority of the population in rural Guatemala.

SPAIN: Anger Over Corruption Scandals Implicating Bankers, Politicians And Members Of The Royal Family On The Rise

The Monarchy of Spain, constitutionally referred to as The Crown and commonly referred to as the Spanish monarchy or (historically) Hispanic Monarchy, is a constitutional institution and a historic office of Spain. The monarchy comprises a reigning King or Queen of Spain, their family, and the royal household organization which supports and facilitates the monarch in the exercise of his royal duties and prerogatives. The monarchy is currently represented by King Juan Carlos I, his wife Queen Sofia, and their children and grandchildren.

The Spanish Constitution of 1978 reestablished a constitutional monarchy as the form of government for Spain. The 1978 constitution affirmed the role of the King of Spain as the personification and embodiment of the Spanish State and a symbol of Spain's enduring unity and permanence. Constitutionally, the king is the head-of-state and commander-in-chief of the Spanish Armed Forces. The constitution codifies the use of royal styles and titulary, royal prerogatives, hereditary succession to the crown, compensation, and a regency-guardianship contingency in cases of the monarch's minority or incapacitation. [source: wikipedia]

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AFP
written by Ingrid Bazinet
Sunday January 27, 2013

MADRID — Anger over a long list of corruption scandals implicating bankers, politicians and even members of the royal family is on the rise in recession-hit Spain, putting the spotlight on the failure of the country's democracy to tackle the issue.

At demonstrations against government austerity measures, chants against alleged shady deals by Spain's elite are as common as those venting anger at tax hikes and spending cuts to social services and public workers' pay.

Around 200-300 elected officials out of more than 50,000 in the country are currently implicated in corruption cases in regions governed both by both the left and the right, said the head of the Spanish branch of anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International, Jesus Lizcano.

"While small, it is a significant percentage and is a bit alarming and calls for an urgent response on the part of political parties," he said.

With taxpayers reeling under austerity measures and a record unemployment rate of 26 percent, many feel that "the political class is not able to resolve the economic crisis, that it is useless, and that they protect each other", said University of Santiago de Compostela political science professor Anton Losada.

The latest corruption scandal to make headlines involves Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's centre-right Popular Party, whose popularity has plunged since it won a November 2011 election in a landslide.

Daily newspaper El Mundo reported on January 18 that former Popular Party treasurer Luis Barcenas distributed envelopes containing thousands of euros to party officials on top of their declared salaries.

It said the money came from commissions collected from construction firms, insurance companies and anonymous donors.

Top Popular Party officials have strongly denied any involvement in the affair and have kept their distance from Barcenas, who reportedly had up to 22 million euros ($29 million) in Swiss bank accounts until 2009.

Hundreds of people protested, chanting "thieves" and "shame", near the headquarters of the Popular Party in central Madrid on the day El Mundo published its allegations against Barcenas.

Corruption scandals have even hurt the popularity of King Juan Carlos after one implicated a member of his family.

His son-in-law Inaki Urdangarin was accused last year of embezzling public money paid by regional governments to a charitable organisation based in Mallorca which he chaired from 2004 to 2006.

"During the past three weeks people have been very, very, very angry, there has been a growing social alarm and it is very important that politicians take this issue seriously," said Lizcano.

The corruption scandals have shaken Spaniards' faith in politicians nearly four decades after the death of dictator General Francisco Franco in 1975 paved the way for the country's return to democracy.

Three in four Spaniards think political corruption is rising in the country and that politicians get better treatment in the courts than regular citizens, according to a poll published in conservative newspaper ABC on January 20.

Rajoy has ordered an internal investigation into the finances of the party and has vowed to take action if any wrongdoing is uncovered.

Last year his government vowed to table a law on political transparency and earlier this month it proposed an anti-corruption pact with other parties.

After Franco's death the country's 17 autonomous communities were given broad powers with little oversight over their finances, which are largely blamed for the country's bloated public deficit.

"There is an urgent need for parties to publish their accounts and their sources of financing," as in other European nations, said Lizcano.

He said there is too much involvement by politicians in institutions such as the courts and regional savings banks.

Popular anger was fuelled this month when Spanish telecom giant Telefonica hired Rodrigo Rato, a former head of the International Monetary Fund, as an advisor just weeks after he appeared in court in a fraud case involving bailout-out bank Bankia, which he once headed.

Lizcano has little faith that the government will follow through on its vow to step up the fight against corruption.

"I am sceptical but I hope I am wrong," he said.

NORTH KOREA: New Reports Of Starving North Koreans Resorting To Cannibalism, Parents Eating Their Children.

This is HORRIBLE! It's so sad that cruel leaders are still being allowed to deliberately starve their people and world leaders stand by and do nothing. Parents ate their children and Mao supporters ate the opposition during Mao Tse-tung's Marxist reign in Communist China where 80 million in total were murdered by the State. 45 Million were starved to death during the 4 year's of Mao's Great Leap Forward (sound familiar? "Forward"). Parents also ate their children during Lenin and Stalin's Marxist reign in Communist Soviet Union. Millions were starved to death by the State. 61 million in total were killed by the State. It is known as the Great Purge.

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The New York Daily news
written by David Knowles
Tuesday January 29, 2013

A North Korean man suffering starvation was put to death after it was learned he ate two of his children, a new report claims. While the man’s wife was away, he reportedly killed his eldest daughter and then his son after he had witnessed the murder. ‘We have meat,’ he told his wife on her return.

Life in famine-ravaged North Korea does not appear to be getting better now that Kim Jong Un has succeeded his infamous father, Kim Jong Il.

A man in South Hwanghae, North Korea was put to death by firing squad after it was learned he had eaten his two children, the Sunday Times reported, citing a story in the Asia Press.

“In my village in May, a man who killed his own two children and tried to eat them was executed by a firing squad,” an unnamed citizen journalist told Asia Press, which is based in Osaka, Japan. “While his wife was away on business he killed his eldest daughter and, because his son saw what he had done, he killed his son as well. When the wife came home, he offered her food, saying: ‘We have meat.’“

North Korea would neither confirm nor deny the account of the execution, the Telegraph reported, but it is not the first time that the communist regime is believed to have punished residents who resorted to cannibalism in order to stay alive.

After defecting to South Korea in 2001, a former official under Kim Jong Il told Asia Press that he had heard of more than a dozen cases of cannibalism in the North.

“In a village in Chongdang county, a man who went mad with hunger boiled his own child, ate his flesh and was arrested,” the official from the Korean Worker’s Party told Asia Press.

Human rights groups estimate that more than 10,000 people may have died last year due to starvation in the famine-plagued country.

Meanwhile, the latest report on cannibalism comes at a time of renewed tension between North Korea and the United States.

Last week, Jong Un lashed out at the U.S. as the “sworn enemy” of North Korea, and vowed to restart nuclear and long-range missile testing.

That posturing drew a sharp rebuke from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

“With a new young leader we all expected something different,“ Clinton said Monday during a State Department broadcast. ”We expected him to focus on improving the lives of the North Korean people, not just the elite but everyone. Instead he has engaged in very provocative rhetoric and behavior.”

ENGLAND: 'Strict Muslim' Raped Four Women At Knifepoint To 'Punish Them For Being On The Streets At Night' :o

The Daily Mail UK
written by Nick Enoch
Friday January 25, 2013

A Muslim man who raped women to 'teach them a lesson' for being on the streets at night was jailed indefinitely today because of the danger he poses to women.

Sunny Islam, 23, who comes from a strict Muslim family, dragged his terrified victims - including a 15-year-old - from the street at knifepoint, bound and assaulted them during a two-month reign of terror.

Police fear that Islam may have attacked many more.

Three of the assaults took place close to his home in Barking, east London, while a fourth occurred in nearby Forest Gate.

Judge Patricia Lees, sentencing him to a minimum of 11 years, said: 'The harm you have done to your victims is incalculable.

'The nature and extent of these offences drives me to the conclusion that you represent an extreme and continuing danger to women, particularly those out at night.'

He was traced through the number plate of his girlfriend's car after he kidnapped and raped the 15-year-old in September 2010.

He grabbed her from behind as she walked home with a friend and bundled her into the car at knifepoint before driving to a secluded spot where he raped her twice despite her claiming she was only 11 years old.

Judge Lees said: 'You told her you were going to "teach her a lesson", and similar things were said to the other women.

'Those words are a chilling indictment of your very troubling attitude towards all of these victims.

'You seem to observe women out at night as not deserving respect or protection.

'I have no doubt that you were out that night looking for a victim, as you were on each of these occasions.'

The teen, who feared she would be murdered, was in court and smiled as her attacker was jailed.

In a victim impact statement read to the court, she said: 'No one will ever understand the flashbacks - they are so real. At night, I lay in my bed and it is like I am there.

'It is like a screen in my mind forcing me to relive that night again and again.

'People will say time will heal, but I think time has helped me accept the truth - that I will never escape what has happened to me.'

After his arrest, Islam's DNA was linked with three other attacks near his home in Barking, prosecutor Sara Lawson told Woolwich Crown Court.

The judge said on July 8, 2010 he subjected a 20-year-old prostitute to 'his trademark double rape' and then tied her up, repeatedly punched her in the face and stole her wallet.

She said: 'He treated me like an animal and made me feel worthless - I thought I was going to die.'

Six days later, in Forest Gate, he struck again on a 28-year-old when he dragged her into his car and forced her to commit a sex act.

She managed to kick out the back window of his car and escape despite being throttled.

His fourth victim, also attacked in September, did not come forward until police found the 31-year-old's blood in the back of the car along with a knife he used to threaten his victims and plastic ties he bound them with.

She was repeatedly repeatedly punched in the face until she was bleeding and then tied up and raped twice.

Islam, who told the jury he was a practising Muslim, was convicted of seven charges of rape, one of sexual assault and one of kidnap.

Tana Adkin, defending, said: 'The only piece of mitigation is his age. He was 21 at the time of these offences and comes from something of a strict background.'

His mother, in religious dress, sat with her covered head bowed throughout and wept as her son was jailed.

Judge Lees said: 'The fact that you have attacked these women not withstanding your background must represent your own wholly warped personality.'

After the trial, Det Chief Insp John Sandlin, of the Homicide and Serious Crime Command who investigated the offences, said they believed there may be other victims who had not come forward, but Islam has not been charged with any further offences.

January 29, 2013

EGYPT: White House GIVES Four F-16’s To Egypt/Muslim Brotherhood; Left The U.S. On Jan 22nd Bound For Egypt. This Is INSANE!

I was sitting on this news for a while. I thought this would be a great time to share. I did a google search and NO OTHER major media outlet reported this news. WOW! Isn't this important news you would like to know? Or would you rather the main stream media continue to protect the president from this kind of news being shared with you?

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FOX Nation
written by Maxim Lott
Tuesday January 22, 2013

Four F-16 fighter jets left the U.S. this morning, bound for Egypt as part of a foreign aid package critics say should have been scrapped when the nation elected a president who has called President Obama a liar and urged that hatred of Jews be instilled in children.

A source who works on the Naval Air Force Base in Dallas confirmed the departure of the state-of-the-art fighter planes to FoxNews.com. Sixteen F-16s and 200 Abrams tanks are to be given to the Egyptian government before the end of the year under a foreign aid deal signed in 2010 with then-Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, a longtime U.S. ally..

Critics, including several in Congress, say it doesn't make sense to follow through with the package, given that new Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi, elected last summer, has given decidedly mixed signals about relations with the U.S. While he has toned down his rhetoric since his election, in 2010 - the same year the aid package was struck - Morsi attacked Obama for supporting Israel.

“One American president after another — and most recently, that Obama — talks about American guarantees for the safety of the Zionists in Palestine," Morsi, then a leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, said on Egyptian television in reaction to Obama's 2009 speech in Cairo. "[Obama] was very clear when he uttered his empty words on the land of Egypt. He uttered many lies, of which he couldn’t have fulfilled a single word, even if he were sincere — which he is not.”

In the comments translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute, Morsi went on to urge that children be taught to hate Jews.

“Dear brothers, we must not forget to nurse our children and grandchildren on hatred towards those Zionists and Jews, and all those who support them," he said. "They must be nursed on hatred. The hatred must continue.”

Lawmakers told FoxNews.com that even if Morsi has softened his stance, it makes no sense to arm his Islamist government with weapons that could one day be used against Israel or even Egyptians.

“It is appalling that the Obama administration would send F-16s and 200 military tanks to Egypt in the wake of the instability, [and the] anti-American and anti-Israel atmosphere," Rep. Louie Gohmert, (R-Texas), told FoxNews.com.

The U.S. government ordered the planes for Egypt from Lockheed Martin in 2010, as part of an annual aid package that regularly topped $1 billion. But the very next year, a popular revolution began which ultimately resulted in Mubarak's ouster and imprisonment, and the election of Morsi, a leader of the Muslim Brotherhood. In November, Morsi tried to claim dictatorial powers, but was forced to back down from his claim after massive protests against the move.

Many worry that arming such a volatile Egypt will endanger Israel.

"My hope and prayer is that someone in this administration will wake up and smell the burning of [Israel's] future and rescind the supply of planes and tanks," Gohmert said. "If they do not, then perhaps there will arise leaders within our Congress with newfound courage to stop the lunacy."

EGYPT: Four Of The Promised 20 F-16′s Left The United States On Jan 22nd Bound For Egypt.

The Inquisitr
written by Wolff Bachner
January 28, 2013

Two weeks ago, a video made in 2010 surfaced in which the current President of Egypt referred to Jews as ““Descendants Of Apes And Pigs” and “Bloodsuckers.” On the same tape, he called President Obama a liar, and made a variety of anti-American comments. Instead of putting Morsi on notice that his behavior is a complete and unforgivable violation of every standard of acceptable behavior, especially from the elected leader of a nation of 85 million people, the Obama Administration rewarded Morsi by going ahead with plans the delver 213 million dollars worth of high tech weapons to an avowed racist. Today, four of the promised 20 F-16′s left the United States bound for Egypt.

While some apologists for the Obama Administration are trying to claim Morsi made the comments in anger over Operation Cast lead and other legitimate Israeli action to stop the endless fusillade of missiles being fired on Israeli citizens from Gaza, the President of Egypt left no doubt about his hatred of the Jewish people when he met with a concerned delegation of US Senators last week. During the meeting in Cairo, Morsi made the following stunning comments:
”Well, I think we all know that the media in the United States has made a big deal of this and we know the media of the United States is controlled by certain forces and they don’t view me favorably.”
Senator Chris Coons (D-DE) was a member of the delegation that attended the meeting and he described the reaction of the shocked American officials:
“He did not say [the Jews], but I watched as the other senators physically recoiled, as did I. I thought it was impossible to draw any other conclusion.”
Morsi’s attitude should not come as a surprise to our elected officials. The Muslim Brotherhood has espoused a policy of open hatred of the Jewish people since the group’s founding in 1928. The destruction of Israel and their war cry of ““From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” has been shouted by Brotherhood leaders and echoed in Egypt’s mosques for decades.

Let us not forget that the men responsible for the assassination of Anwar Sadat, after he signed a peace treaty with Israel, all had ties to the Muslim Brotherhood. Both al Qaeda and Hamas, two of the world’s leading Islamist terrorist organizations, began as offshoots of the Muslim Brotherhood.

In October of 2012, Mohammed Badie, the Supreme Guide of the Brotherhood declared a jihad to reconquer Jerusalem, the undivided captial of Israel.
“Jerusalem is Islamic … and nobody is entitled to make concessions” on the Holy City. The jihad for the recovery of Jerusalem is a duty for all Muslims, The liberation of the Holy City will not be done through negotiations or at the United Nations.”
Certainly Morsi‘s ties to an organization that has spent the better part of eight decades calling for the murder of Jews and six decades calling for the destruction of Israel should cause great concern for Mr. Obama. But adding to the vile words of Morsi and his friends, we also see his treatment of the Egyptian people.

Recently, Morsi rammed a new Sharia compliment Islamist Constitution down the throats of the starving Egyptian people. The Brotherhood placed groups of enforcers at every polling place in Egypt when the nation voted on the Constitution and Egyptian judges banned unveiled women from voting. Coptic Christians were threatened with murder if they voted against the new Constitution.

Even if all these factors are not enough to make any fair minded person seriously question the sanity of giving twenty highly advanced fourth generation F-16′s and 200 Abrams battle tanks to Egypt, the events of last weekend in Egypt should have been the final straw. Egyptians took to the streets across the country to protest the oppressive polices of Morsi; the man they are calling “the new Pharaoh.” Morsi responded by calling out the army to suppress the demonstrations, resulting in the death of more than 50 protesters and hundreds of serious injuries.

Egypt is in chaos, people are dying in the streets at the hands of the military, and yet, the Obama Administration is not even willing to wait and see how things progress before they deliver world class fighter jets to a nation led by a man who called his closest neighbors “apes and pigs.”

Here in America, Obama has simply decided to ignore the demands for a halt to the arms trade. Recently, Senator Inhofe asked the President to put a hold on the delivery of weapons until Morsi proves he is living up to his promises to install a Democratic government for the Egyptian people.
“President Morsi has failed to promote promised democracy in his country and neglected to continue Egypt’s legacy of maintaining peace in the region. I am alarmed and disappointed in the Obama Administration’s decision to decline my request to delay delivery of F-16s for further consideration.”
Obama and Hilary Clinton at the State Department are determined to arm the Islamists of Egypt at all costs. They have consistently failed to mention that the weapons were promised to Mubarak, and not Morsi, which gives Mr. Obama a legitimate reason to put a hold on weapons deliveries. Instead, they plunge ahead, arming Morsi while Egypt erupts in chaos.

Assistant Secretary for Legislative Affairs, David Adams, spoke on behalf of the State Department:
“Delaying or cancelling deliveries of the F-16 aircraft would undermine our efforts to address our regional security interests through a more capable Egyptian military and send a damaging and lasting signal to Egypt’s civilian and military leadership as we work toward a democratic transition in the key Middle Eastern State.”

“Egypt is a strategic partner with whom we have a long history of close political-military relations that have benefited U.S. interest. For the past 30 years the F-16 aircraft has been a key component of the relationship between the United States military and the Egyptian Armed Forces.”
Americans may be shocked to learn that despite all the talk about Israel being our number one ally in the Middle East, the delivery of 200 Abrams tanks and 20 more F-16′s to Egypt will give the Egyptians more American made advanced fighters than Israel. If Obama truly wants peace in the Middle East, why is he sending more jets and tanks to Egypt, plus 48 billion dollars worth of weapons to ultra Islamist Saudi Arabia; home of 15 of the 19 terrorists who destroyed the World Trade Center on 9/11.

Israel has been attacked by Egypt and other Arab nations five times since 1948. The Jewish State has been struck by more than 12,000 rockets in the last decade, deliberately fired on civilian population centers. Jewish infants have been decapitated in their cradles by Palestinian terrorists and the Israeli Olympic team was slaughtered by the PLO at the Munich Olympics. That attack was funded by Abu Mazin, now known as Mahmoud Abbas, the President of the Palestinian Nation Authority and Israel’s so-called partner for peace.

It is truly mind boggling that we have arrived at this state of affairs. Obama is sending hundreds of millions of dollars of deadly weapons to an avowed racist who is killing his own people. Israel is pressured by the US and Europe to negotiate with Abbas, who showed no shame when he published a doctoral dissertation denying the Holocaust, financed the murder of Jews at the Olympics, and just last week, accused the Jews having ties to the Nazis prior to World War Two.
“I challenge anyone to deny the relationship between Zionism and Nazism before World War II.”
Have the leaders of the free world simply lost their minds or are they willing to sacrifice the nation of Israel and the Jewish people to keep the oil following? Obama is happy to arm a sworn enemy of Israel and continues to demand that Prime Minister Netanyahu surrender part of Israel to a Holocaust denying former terrorist.

Is Mr. Obama’s ego so fragile that he refuses to admit he was wrong about Morsi? Sending advanced weaponry to Egypt is madness and the day may come when American made jets are used to rain down bombs on Tel Aviv. The world needs to wake up and understand that the Arab world will never accept Israel in their midst. The goal has always been to destroy Israel and finish the genocide that Hitler started. Read the speeches of the leaders of the Muslim world and learn the truth about the undying hatred for the Jewish people and Israel.

We have decided to give the final word on this matter to President Morsi of Egypt:
“One American president after another—and most recently, that Obama—talks about American guarantees for the safety of the Zionists in Palestine… He uttered many lies…”

“Dear brothers, we must not forget to nurse our children and grandchildren on hatred towards those Zionists and Jews.”

EGYPT: USA, The Obama Administration Is Sending 20 F-16 Fighter Jets To Egypt As Part Of An Aid Deal. WOW! Whose Side Is Obama On?

I was sitting on this news for a while. I thought this would be a great time to share. I did a google search and NO OTHER major media outlet reported this news. WOW! Isn't this important news you would like to know? Or would you rather the main stream media continue to protect the president from this kind of news being shared with you?

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FOX news
written Maxim Lot
Monday December 10, 2012

Instability in Egypt, where a newly-elected Islamic government teeters over an angry population, isn't enough to stop the U.S. from sending more than 20 F-16 fighter jets, as part of a $1 billion foreign aid package.

The first four jets are to be delivered to Egypt beginning Jan. 22, a source at the naval air base in Fort Worth, where the planes have been undergoing testing, told FoxNews.com. The North African nation already has a fleet of more than 200 of the planes and the latest shipment merely fulfills an order placed two years ago. But given the uncertainty in Cairo, some critics wonder if it is wise to be sending more top gun planes.

“Should an overreaction [by Egypt] spiral into a broader conflict between Egypt and Israel, such a scenario would put U.S. officials in an embarrassing position of having supplied massive amounts of military hardware … to both belligerents,” said Malou Innocent, a foreign policy analyst at the Cato Institute. “Given Washington's fiscal woes, American taxpayers should no longer be Egypt’s major arms supplier.”

The U.S. government ordered and paid for the fighter jets for Egypt's military as part of foreign aid for Egypt back in 2010, when Hosni Mubarak ruled. The fighter jets were supposed to be delivered in 2013, and delivery will go ahead as scheduled even though Hosni Mubarak has been removed from power and replaced by Mohamed Morsi, who led the Muslim Brotherhood before becoming Egypt's president.

Morsi was democratically elected, but last month attempted to seize dictatorial powers for himself. After widespread protests and violence in Egypt's capital of Cairo, Morsi backed off from his power grab. But he is pushing through a controversial new constitution for Egypt that would more strictly enforce Islamic Shariah law, and only recently said he reserves the right to have the military arrest protesters without charges.

"The Morsi-led Muslim Brotherhood government has not proven to be a partner for democracy as they had promised, given the recent attempted power grab," a senior Republican congressional aide told FoxNews.com.

Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, (R-Fla.), who chairs the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, recently criticized U.S. military aid to Egypt:

“The Obama administration wants to simply throw money at an Egyptian government that the president cannot even clearly state is an ally of the United States,” Rep. Ros-Lehtinen said.

The $213 million order, which is paid for by U.S. taxpayers and is part of Egypt's foreign aid package from America, had to be approved by lawmakers in Washington.While the basic F-16 has been a military workhorse for top air forces for more than 25 years, the cockpit electronics are constantly updated and the models Egypt is getting are the best defense contractor Lockheed Martin makes.

"This is a great day for Lockheed Martin and a testament to the enduring partnership and commitment we have made to the government of Egypt," said John Larson, vice president, Lockheed Martin F-16 programs. "We remain committed to providing our customer with a proven, advanced 4th Generation multirole fighter."

"In an air combat role, the F-16's maneuverability and combat radius exceed that of all potential threat fighter aircraft," the U.S. Air Force description of the plane reads.

"The F-16 can fly more than 500 miles, deliver its weapons with superior accuracy, defend itself against enemy aircraft, and return to its starting point. An all-weather capability allows it to accurately deliver ordnance during non-visual bombing conditions."

A Pentagon spokesman said the U.S. and Egypt have an important alliance that is furthered by the transfer.

"The U.S.-Egypt defense relationship has served as the cornerstone of our broader strategic partnership for over thirty years," said Lt. Col. Wesley Miller. "The delivery of the first set of F-16s in January 2013 reflects the U.S. commitment to supporting the Egyptian military's modernization efforts. Egyptian acquisition of F-16s will increase our militaries' interoperability, and enhance Egypt's capacity to contribute to regional mission sets."