Proverbs 3:5-6 (NIV)
Trust in the Lord
with all your heart
and lean not on
your own
understanding;
in all your ways
acknowledge him,
and he will make
your paths
straight.
December 8, 2009
Ephesians 5:1-14 (NIV) Darkness Cannot Exist Where There Is LIGHT! All Those Who Walk In The LIGHT Continue To Shine BRIGHTLY Exposing The Darkness!
1. Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children 2. and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
3. But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality (adultery), or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God's holy people. 4. Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. 5. For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a man is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. 6. Let NO ONE DECEIVE you with EMPTY WORDS (lies), for because of such things God's wrath comes on those who are disobedient. 7. Therefore do not be partners with them.
8. For you were once darkness, but now you are LIGHT in the Lord. Live as children of LIGHT 9. (for the fruit of the LIGHT consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) 10. and find out what pleases the Lord.
11. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather EXPOSE THEM.
12. For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. 13. But everything exposed by the LIGHT becomes visible, 14. for it is LIGHT that makes everything visible. This is why it is said:
3. But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality (adultery), or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God's holy people. 4. Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. 5. For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a man is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. 6. Let NO ONE DECEIVE you with EMPTY WORDS (lies), for because of such things God's wrath comes on those who are disobedient. 7. Therefore do not be partners with them.
8. For you were once darkness, but now you are LIGHT in the Lord. Live as children of LIGHT 9. (for the fruit of the LIGHT consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) 10. and find out what pleases the Lord.
11. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather EXPOSE THEM.
12. For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. 13. But everything exposed by the LIGHT becomes visible, 14. for it is LIGHT that makes everything visible. This is why it is said:
"Wake up, O sleeper,
rise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you."
rise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you."
December 7, 2009
Venezuela Takes Greater Control of Banks! Bye Bye Hugo Chavez, The Party Is OVER And So Are YOU!!! I Pray That God Continues To EXPOSE The Darkness!
The New York Times
Venezuela Takes Greater Control of Banks
written by Simon Romero
Sunday December 6, 2009
LA PAZ, Bolivia — The government of President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela, facing a crisis at several banks acquired by his supporters, moved over the weekend to assert greater financial control by detaining one of the country’s most powerful financiers and forcing the resignation of the banker’s brother, who is a minister and a top Chávez aide.
The arrest on Saturday of the financier, Arné Chacón, and the removal of his brother, Jesse, as science minister, which Mr. Chávez announced Sunday, points to a broadening purge of a group of magnates known as Boligarchs, who built immense fortunes this decade on the back of close government ties. Their nickname is derived from the combination of Russian-style oligarchs and Simón Bolívar, the historical icon of Mr. Chávez’s political movement.
Besides Arné Chacón, Venezuelan authorities have detained several other bankers, including Ricardo Fernández Barrueco, a billionaire who went into finance after assembling a business empire that sold food to state-controlled supermarkets. All the bankers are believed to be under questioning by the Disip, Venezuela’s intelligence secret police.
“We have been watching in awe at everything that has gone on over the past week, from the collapse and runs on the banks to the revolution eating its own,” said Russell M. Dallen Jr., who oversees capital markets operations at BBO, a Caracas investment bank.
The crisis in the banking system began unfolding last Monday when the government seized control of four troubled banks, including those with ties to Mr. Fernández Barrueco, and then seized three other banks on Friday. Mr. Fernández Barrueco was arrested after he could not explain the origins of money used to buy the banks.
Together, all the seized banks are estimated to account for less than 20 percent of the country’s banking system, dimming some fear that the crisis could infect other areas of Venezuela’s oil-based economy and easing concern of a Dubai-like debt crisis’s happening in Venezuela.
Still, Venezuelan markets were temporarily gripped by fear last week after Mr. Chávez threatened to nationalize the entire banking system if bankers did not obey the law. Capital flight fueled a plunge in the black-market value of the currency, the bolívar, and traders unloaded Venezuelan bonds before a reverse of panic selling on Friday.
Mr. Chávez’s government still faces questions about the quick accumulation of fortunes by the arrested bankers, who drew deposits to their banks from deals with regional governments controlled by the president’s followers, leaving open the possibility that the purge could spread.
Arné Chacón, a former lowly army lieutenant, worked as a government tax official earlier this decade before quietly emerging as one of Venezuela’s top magnates, embarking on acquisition sprees that included banks, insurers and race horses.
Jesse Chacón, 44, also has a military background. He took part in Mr. Chávez’s unsuccessful 1992 coup attempt. Since Mr. Chávez’s rise to power 11 years ago, he has served as communications minister, justice minister and the president’s private secretary, before his most recent appointment as science minister.
Mr. Fernández Barrueco, 44, forged ties with the government during a 2002 general strike by refusing to stop supplying food to grocery stores. Expanding into trucking and banking, his fortune reached $1.6 billion by 2005, according to an assessment by the Venezuelan affiliate of KPMG, the accounting firm.
The rise of these magnates had become a vulnerability for Mr. Chávez, who faced criticism from within his political movement over the seemingly unfettered operations of these decidedly capitalistic businessmen. [Sound familiar?]
This intermingling of state and private interests did not stop during Mr. Chávez’s government. Despite his efforts to assert greater state control over the economy, corruption in Venezuela is thriving by various measures. Transparency International, a Germany-based group that compiles a global corruption perception index, ranked Venezuela 162 out of 180 countries.
Venezuela Takes Greater Control of Banks
written by Simon Romero
Sunday December 6, 2009
LA PAZ, Bolivia — The government of President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela, facing a crisis at several banks acquired by his supporters, moved over the weekend to assert greater financial control by detaining one of the country’s most powerful financiers and forcing the resignation of the banker’s brother, who is a minister and a top Chávez aide.
The arrest on Saturday of the financier, Arné Chacón, and the removal of his brother, Jesse, as science minister, which Mr. Chávez announced Sunday, points to a broadening purge of a group of magnates known as Boligarchs, who built immense fortunes this decade on the back of close government ties. Their nickname is derived from the combination of Russian-style oligarchs and Simón Bolívar, the historical icon of Mr. Chávez’s political movement.
Besides Arné Chacón, Venezuelan authorities have detained several other bankers, including Ricardo Fernández Barrueco, a billionaire who went into finance after assembling a business empire that sold food to state-controlled supermarkets. All the bankers are believed to be under questioning by the Disip, Venezuela’s intelligence secret police.
“We have been watching in awe at everything that has gone on over the past week, from the collapse and runs on the banks to the revolution eating its own,” said Russell M. Dallen Jr., who oversees capital markets operations at BBO, a Caracas investment bank.
The crisis in the banking system began unfolding last Monday when the government seized control of four troubled banks, including those with ties to Mr. Fernández Barrueco, and then seized three other banks on Friday. Mr. Fernández Barrueco was arrested after he could not explain the origins of money used to buy the banks.
Together, all the seized banks are estimated to account for less than 20 percent of the country’s banking system, dimming some fear that the crisis could infect other areas of Venezuela’s oil-based economy and easing concern of a Dubai-like debt crisis’s happening in Venezuela.
Still, Venezuelan markets were temporarily gripped by fear last week after Mr. Chávez threatened to nationalize the entire banking system if bankers did not obey the law. Capital flight fueled a plunge in the black-market value of the currency, the bolívar, and traders unloaded Venezuelan bonds before a reverse of panic selling on Friday.
Mr. Chávez’s government still faces questions about the quick accumulation of fortunes by the arrested bankers, who drew deposits to their banks from deals with regional governments controlled by the president’s followers, leaving open the possibility that the purge could spread.
Arné Chacón, a former lowly army lieutenant, worked as a government tax official earlier this decade before quietly emerging as one of Venezuela’s top magnates, embarking on acquisition sprees that included banks, insurers and race horses.
Jesse Chacón, 44, also has a military background. He took part in Mr. Chávez’s unsuccessful 1992 coup attempt. Since Mr. Chávez’s rise to power 11 years ago, he has served as communications minister, justice minister and the president’s private secretary, before his most recent appointment as science minister.
Mr. Fernández Barrueco, 44, forged ties with the government during a 2002 general strike by refusing to stop supplying food to grocery stores. Expanding into trucking and banking, his fortune reached $1.6 billion by 2005, according to an assessment by the Venezuelan affiliate of KPMG, the accounting firm.
The rise of these magnates had become a vulnerability for Mr. Chávez, who faced criticism from within his political movement over the seemingly unfettered operations of these decidedly capitalistic businessmen. [Sound familiar?]
This intermingling of state and private interests did not stop during Mr. Chávez’s government. Despite his efforts to assert greater state control over the economy, corruption in Venezuela is thriving by various measures. Transparency International, a Germany-based group that compiles a global corruption perception index, ranked Venezuela 162 out of 180 countries.
Tensions Soar In Sudan With Violent Clashes And Political Arrests! Human Rights Watch Says Sudan Lacks The Conditions For FREE And Fair Elections!
The Guardian UKTensions soar in Sudan with violent clashes and political arrests
written by Mark Tran
Monday December 7, 2009 17.07 GMT
Police have arrested senior politicians from southern Sudan during a violent demonstration in Khartoum amid fears that the country is on the brink of tearing itself apart after years of uneasy peace.
Yasir Arman, a senior member of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), scuffled with officers outside parliament before being taken to a police station, where other demonstrators gathered, Reuters reported.
The SPLM released a statement saying police also arrested its secretary general, Pagan Amum, and Sudan's state minister for the interior, Abbas Juma, a party member. Meanwhile police used teargas and batons to break up a demonstration by thousands of Sudanese protesters unhappy with the government's handling of next year's national election.
"The situation is brutal. More than 100 SPLM members have been arrested and many more other protesters have been detained," said Keji Roman, a SPLM spokeswoman.
April's elections are crucial element to the 2005 comprehensive peace agreement (CPA), which ended more than two decades of war between the north and the south that claimed 2 million lives and devastated the country's oil-rich south.
The presidential and parliamentary elections – Sudan's first multi-party polls in 24 years – are expected to pave the way for a referendum in 2011 in which the south will choose whether to become independent, as stipulated under the 2005 deal. But political tension has been building ahead of the elections. The SPLM, the junior partner in the national coalition government formed after the CPA, has boycotted parliament, demanding changes to laws that restrict political activities.
Another point of contention is the registration of expatriates, with the south pushing for flexible arrangements that would allow as many people as possible to register. The north favours more restrictive procedures as it fears that Sudanese living abroad will favour the SPLM.
Outside observers believe the elections and the referendum in particular could lead to renewed conflict and the potential for a humanitarian disaster.
The US-based Human Rights Watch says Sudan lacks the conditions for free and fair elections. Armed conflict in Darfur continues, while the National Congress party-led government in Khartoum has stepped up repressive tactics throughout the northern states with arbitrary arrests and detentions, as well as censorship and harassment of activists and journalists.
Divisions within the SPLM add to the sense of volatility in southern Sudan where escalating ETHNIC VIOLENCE has left 1,200 DEAD this year. The security problems in the south could interrupt the election process there. Civilians have borne the brunt of the fighting between armed civilian groups, clashes between the government-led armed forces and the southern Sudan People's Liberation Army, as well as attacks by rebels of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA).
"Tensions that flared between north and south Sudan in the wake of these arrests are a warning sign that the international community cannot afford to ignore," said Dr James Smith, the chief executive of the Aegis trust, a British group that campaigns against crimes against humanity.
"Even if the status quo can be maintained for the moment, in the absence of strong, sustained and intelligent international diplomacy, Sudan could well return to all-out war by the time the referendum is due on southern independence."
U.S. Charges Chicago Man In 2008 Mumbai Islamic Terrorist Attack! How Can Anyone DENY That We Have Homegrown Muslim Terrorist? We Must Face The TRUTH
Reuters
U.S. charges Chicago man in 2008 Mumbai attack
written by Andrew Stern / Chicago
Additional reporting by Jeremy Pelofsky / Washington
Monday Dec 7, 2009 2:22pm EST
CHICAGO (Reuters) - A Chicago man previously accused of plotting to attack a Danish newspaper was charged Monday with scouting targets for a militant Pakistani group for the 2008 attack on Mumbai that killed 166 people.
U.S. prosecutors accused David Headley, the first American charged in the Mumbai plot, of performing surveillance for the militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba, which is blamed for the November 2008 Mumbai rampage on hotels and a Jewish center. Among those killed were six Americans.
He traveled to Mumbai five times between September 2006 and July 2008, taking pictures and video of some places hit in the attacks as well as the port where the attackers landed by boat, according to court documents.
Headley, who is cooperating with prosecutors, was born in the United States but spent much of his childhood in Pakistan, where he was raised by his Pakistani father.
A trial of seven Pakistanis accused of involvement in the Mumbai attacks is pending in a case that has strained India-Pakistan relations.
The case also highlights recent concern expressed by some U.S. officials about Americans who may want to carry out attacks while enjoying the freedom of movement U.S. citizenship provides.
FBI Director Robert Mueller said in a statement the case represents the "global cooperation" evident in efforts to combat terrorism. U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald in Chicago said in a statement that the investigation could yield further suspects.
"The team of prosecutors and agents will continue to seek charges against the other persons responsible for these attacks," Fitzgerald said.
SUBSEQUENT PLOT
Headley, 49, was arrested in October with a Pakistani-born Chicago man on charges they plotted to attack the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten and its employees over the 2005 publication of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad. That incident outraged Muslims and sparked violent protests.
In Headley's luggage were surveillance videos taken in Denmark and an address book containing contact numbers.
Among the contacts was a retired major in the Pakistani military, Abdur Rehman Hashim Syed, who U.S. prosecutors accused of being Headley's contact with Lashkar and another militant group to help plot the attacks against the newspaper, which were never carried out.
Abdur Rehman was arrested earlier this year by Pakistani authorities and released. It was not immediately clear if U.S. authorities will seek to extradite him on charges of conspiring to murder and maim in a foreign country and providing material support for terrorism.
After his trips to India, Headley traveled to Pakistan to turn over the results of his surveillance and, in early 2008, he took boat trips into the Mumbai harbor at the direction of his Lashkar contacts, according to court documents.
In November 2008, 10 attackers launched their assault on various targets in Mumbai, including several where Headley had conducted surveillance, according to the documents. Targets scouted out by Headley included the Taj Mahal hotel, the Oberoi hotel, the Leopold Cafe, the Nariman House and the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus train station.
He also scouted out a military school in India.
In India, Headley opened a branch of the travel and immigration business owned by his accused co-conspirator in Chicago as a cover for his extensive travels, according to court papers. He also changed his name in 2006 from Daood Gilani so as not to appear Muslim or Pakistani.
Rabbi Abraham Cooper of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, who recently returned from an interfaith conference in Mumbai, said Headley was believed to have carried a book, "To Praise a Jew," to ease his entry into the Jewish center.
"It would have been a clever move because they have extensive outreach. It's a place where Jews come together," Cooper said.
A lawyer for Headley said the government's filing spoke for itself and declined further comment.
U.S. charges Chicago man in 2008 Mumbai attack
written by Andrew Stern / Chicago
Additional reporting by Jeremy Pelofsky / Washington
Monday Dec 7, 2009 2:22pm EST
CHICAGO (Reuters) - A Chicago man previously accused of plotting to attack a Danish newspaper was charged Monday with scouting targets for a militant Pakistani group for the 2008 attack on Mumbai that killed 166 people.
U.S. prosecutors accused David Headley, the first American charged in the Mumbai plot, of performing surveillance for the militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba, which is blamed for the November 2008 Mumbai rampage on hotels and a Jewish center. Among those killed were six Americans.
He traveled to Mumbai five times between September 2006 and July 2008, taking pictures and video of some places hit in the attacks as well as the port where the attackers landed by boat, according to court documents.
Headley, who is cooperating with prosecutors, was born in the United States but spent much of his childhood in Pakistan, where he was raised by his Pakistani father.
A trial of seven Pakistanis accused of involvement in the Mumbai attacks is pending in a case that has strained India-Pakistan relations.
The case also highlights recent concern expressed by some U.S. officials about Americans who may want to carry out attacks while enjoying the freedom of movement U.S. citizenship provides.
FBI Director Robert Mueller said in a statement the case represents the "global cooperation" evident in efforts to combat terrorism. U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald in Chicago said in a statement that the investigation could yield further suspects.
"The team of prosecutors and agents will continue to seek charges against the other persons responsible for these attacks," Fitzgerald said.
SUBSEQUENT PLOT
Headley, 49, was arrested in October with a Pakistani-born Chicago man on charges they plotted to attack the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten and its employees over the 2005 publication of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad. That incident outraged Muslims and sparked violent protests.
In Headley's luggage were surveillance videos taken in Denmark and an address book containing contact numbers.
Among the contacts was a retired major in the Pakistani military, Abdur Rehman Hashim Syed, who U.S. prosecutors accused of being Headley's contact with Lashkar and another militant group to help plot the attacks against the newspaper, which were never carried out.
Abdur Rehman was arrested earlier this year by Pakistani authorities and released. It was not immediately clear if U.S. authorities will seek to extradite him on charges of conspiring to murder and maim in a foreign country and providing material support for terrorism.
After his trips to India, Headley traveled to Pakistan to turn over the results of his surveillance and, in early 2008, he took boat trips into the Mumbai harbor at the direction of his Lashkar contacts, according to court documents.
In November 2008, 10 attackers launched their assault on various targets in Mumbai, including several where Headley had conducted surveillance, according to the documents. Targets scouted out by Headley included the Taj Mahal hotel, the Oberoi hotel, the Leopold Cafe, the Nariman House and the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus train station.
He also scouted out a military school in India.
In India, Headley opened a branch of the travel and immigration business owned by his accused co-conspirator in Chicago as a cover for his extensive travels, according to court papers. He also changed his name in 2006 from Daood Gilani so as not to appear Muslim or Pakistani.
Rabbi Abraham Cooper of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, who recently returned from an interfaith conference in Mumbai, said Headley was believed to have carried a book, "To Praise a Jew," to ease his entry into the Jewish center.
"It would have been a clever move because they have extensive outreach. It's a place where Jews come together," Cooper said.
A lawyer for Headley said the government's filing spoke for itself and declined further comment.
Islamic Terrorist Murder MORE Innocent Civilians: At Least 46 Dead In Pakistan Two Bomb Attacks On Monday! They Are Monsters With Darkened Hearts!
The Sydney Morning Herald/ AFP
At least 46 dead in Pakistan bomb attacks
written by Abbas Sahi
Tuesday December 8, 2009 - 9:09AM Australia time
Bomb blasts tore through two of Pakistan's main cities on Monday killing at least 46 people and wounding more than 100 as the nation struggles to quell a worsening Taliban insurgency.
Two blasts devastated a busy market and engulfed it in flames killing at least 36 people in Lahore, the capital of Punjab province, while in the northwest provincial capital of Peshawar a suicide bomber killed 10 people.
Attacks blamed on Islamist militants have surged this year as Pakistan presses military offensives against the Taliban across the northwest, under fierce US pressure to do more to destroy the extremists' strongholds.
The popular Moon Market in the centre of eastern Lahore city was transformed into a scene of flames and rubble as night fell Monday, when two bombs exploded 30 seconds apart outside a police station and a bank, officials said.
"There were two blasts, at least 36 people were killed," doctor Rizwan Naseer, the head of Lahore's rescue service, told reporters. He put the number of wounded at 95.
Lahore police chief Muhammad Pervez Rathore put the death toll slightly lower, while bodies were still being pulled from the rubble.
"Twenty-seven people are confirmed dead but the death toll may rise. A total of 137 people were injured," he said. "The blasts knocked out the electricity. Fire engulfed the whole of the market.
"We fear there are still dead bodies inside."
Cultural hub Lahore is a city of nearly eight million people, and is increasingly in the Taliban's cross-hairs with five previous militant strikes this year killing more than 70 people.
The city of Peshawar in the northwest has borne the brunt of Taliban attacks avenging the operations against them, and was struck again around midday Monday when a suicide bomber in a rickshaw approached a district courthouse.
"He got down and tried to enter the building but could not do so because of our security arrangements," said Bashir Bilor, a senior provincial minister.
The bomber then detonated about six kilogrammes (13 pounds) of explosives, killing 10 people including a policeman and wounding 44 others, said Zafar Iqbal, a senior doctor at Peshawar's main Lady Reading hospital.
Local television showed images of blackened sandals lying in pools of water on a charred road, as smoke and flames filled the streets.
"I was sitting outside the court when I heard a deafening blast," lawyer Rashid Hussain told AFP.
"I rushed to the spot and saw dead and injured laying on the ground. It was really horrible, there were body parts and the injured were crying for help."
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani swiftly condemned both bombings, deploring "the loss of innocent lives", a statement from his office said.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for either attack, but a fierce Islamist insurgency has killed more than 2,600 PEOPLE in attacks mostly blamed on the Taliban in the last two-and-a-half years.
October and early November saw a fierce surge in attacks, including a huge suicide car bombing on October 28 that ripped through a Peshawar market killing 125 PEOPLE in the worst attack in Pakistan in two years.
There had been a lull in attacks in recent weeks, then on Friday four suicide bombers stormed a mosque in Islamabad's twin city Rawalpindi, killing 36 people in an onslaught of gunfire, grenades and explosions.
Pakistan's military is engaged in offensives against Islamist fighters across much of the northwest including the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan, a region branded by Washington as the most dangerous place on Earth.
The tribal belt has been plagued by instability for years, exacerbated in 2001 when a US-led invasion ousted the Taliban regime from Afghanistan, sending hundreds of Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked militants into the lawless region.
Officials said Pakistani troops killed 10 suspected insurgents in operations in northwest Swat valley and the tribal district of Bajaur on Monday, as the military pressed on with its attempts to dismantle Taliban strongholds.
Washington and London are however pressuring Pakistan to do more to capture Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and prevent militants crossing the border and targeting foreign troops stationed in Afghanistan.
At least 46 dead in Pakistan bomb attacks
written by Abbas Sahi
Tuesday December 8, 2009 - 9:09AM Australia time
Bomb blasts tore through two of Pakistan's main cities on Monday killing at least 46 people and wounding more than 100 as the nation struggles to quell a worsening Taliban insurgency.
Two blasts devastated a busy market and engulfed it in flames killing at least 36 people in Lahore, the capital of Punjab province, while in the northwest provincial capital of Peshawar a suicide bomber killed 10 people.
Attacks blamed on Islamist militants have surged this year as Pakistan presses military offensives against the Taliban across the northwest, under fierce US pressure to do more to destroy the extremists' strongholds.
The popular Moon Market in the centre of eastern Lahore city was transformed into a scene of flames and rubble as night fell Monday, when two bombs exploded 30 seconds apart outside a police station and a bank, officials said.
"There were two blasts, at least 36 people were killed," doctor Rizwan Naseer, the head of Lahore's rescue service, told reporters. He put the number of wounded at 95.
Lahore police chief Muhammad Pervez Rathore put the death toll slightly lower, while bodies were still being pulled from the rubble.
"Twenty-seven people are confirmed dead but the death toll may rise. A total of 137 people were injured," he said. "The blasts knocked out the electricity. Fire engulfed the whole of the market.
"We fear there are still dead bodies inside."
Cultural hub Lahore is a city of nearly eight million people, and is increasingly in the Taliban's cross-hairs with five previous militant strikes this year killing more than 70 people.
The city of Peshawar in the northwest has borne the brunt of Taliban attacks avenging the operations against them, and was struck again around midday Monday when a suicide bomber in a rickshaw approached a district courthouse.
"He got down and tried to enter the building but could not do so because of our security arrangements," said Bashir Bilor, a senior provincial minister.
The bomber then detonated about six kilogrammes (13 pounds) of explosives, killing 10 people including a policeman and wounding 44 others, said Zafar Iqbal, a senior doctor at Peshawar's main Lady Reading hospital.
Local television showed images of blackened sandals lying in pools of water on a charred road, as smoke and flames filled the streets.
"I was sitting outside the court when I heard a deafening blast," lawyer Rashid Hussain told AFP.
"I rushed to the spot and saw dead and injured laying on the ground. It was really horrible, there were body parts and the injured were crying for help."
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani swiftly condemned both bombings, deploring "the loss of innocent lives", a statement from his office said.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for either attack, but a fierce Islamist insurgency has killed more than 2,600 PEOPLE in attacks mostly blamed on the Taliban in the last two-and-a-half years.
October and early November saw a fierce surge in attacks, including a huge suicide car bombing on October 28 that ripped through a Peshawar market killing 125 PEOPLE in the worst attack in Pakistan in two years.
There had been a lull in attacks in recent weeks, then on Friday four suicide bombers stormed a mosque in Islamabad's twin city Rawalpindi, killing 36 people in an onslaught of gunfire, grenades and explosions.
Pakistan's military is engaged in offensives against Islamist fighters across much of the northwest including the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan, a region branded by Washington as the most dangerous place on Earth.
The tribal belt has been plagued by instability for years, exacerbated in 2001 when a US-led invasion ousted the Taliban regime from Afghanistan, sending hundreds of Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked militants into the lawless region.
Officials said Pakistani troops killed 10 suspected insurgents in operations in northwest Swat valley and the tribal district of Bajaur on Monday, as the military pressed on with its attempts to dismantle Taliban strongholds.
Washington and London are however pressuring Pakistan to do more to capture Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and prevent militants crossing the border and targeting foreign troops stationed in Afghanistan.
UPDATE: Tyrone Adair, Suspect in 4 Wisconsin Murders Found Dead! Wow, That Was Swift Justice! Thank You God!
New York Daily News
Coroner: Tyrone Adair, man wanted in 4 Wisconsin slayings, found dead
written by the Associated Press Staff
Monday, December 7th 2009, 4:33 PM
MADISON, Wis. - Authorities say a man found dead in a sport utility vehicle is a fugitive wanted in four slayings in the Madison, Wis., area.
Dane County Coroner Raymond Wosepka (woh-SEP'-kuh) says the body was that of Tyrone Adair, whom authorities had been searching for since Thursday night.
That's when they found the bodies of Adair's ex-girlfriend and the couple's young daughter in Madison and the bodies of his current girfriend and their young daughter in suburban Middleton.
Adair was last seen driving a silver GMC Acadia.
A property owner in Cottage Grove, a village about 15 miles east of Madison, called police Monday morning and said an Acadia was parked off a county road. Police say they found Adair's body inside.
Wosepka says it appeared Adair died of a gunshot wound.
December 5, 2009
ATTENTION: Police In Wisconsin Are Looking For This Man Linked To The Deaths Of His TWO Young Daughters And Their Mothers! CALL 608-266-6014
>>>Tyrone Adair, 38<<<Authorities say Adair is believed to be armed and dangerous. He's described as a black man, approximately 5'10" tall, 175 lbs. He may be driving a silver GMC Acadia, WI License # 342-EBL.
He was last seen wearing a black Northface brand vest, a green long-sleeved shirt, possibly a fleece, camouflage pants and a baseball cap.
Police say if you see Adair or know of his whereabouts, PLEASE CALL 911 or Madison Crimestoppers at 608-266-6014. You can remain anonymous if you'd like. You can also submit an anonymous tip via the Madison Crimestoppers webpage.
The Associated Press
Wis. man linked to 4 slayings charged in 2 deaths
written by Todd Richmond
Scott Bauer and Ryan J. Foley contributed to this report
Saturday December 5, 2009
MADISON, Wis. — A Wisconsin man police say is linked to the deaths of his two young daughters and their mothers remained at large Friday. He was charged in two of the slayings.
Tyrone Adair, 38, of Middleton, was charged with first-degree intentional homicide in the deaths of his 33-year-old girlfriend, Tracy Judd, and their 23-month-old daughter, Deja Adair. Judd's older daughter told detectives Adair called her Thursday to say her mother and the child would not be home because they had been in a bad accident.
Their bodies were found that night in the trunk of Adair's car, less than three hours after another of Adair's daughters and that girl's mother were found shot to death in Madison, authorities said. The coroner identified those killed in Madison as Amber Weigel, 25, and Neveah Weigel-Adair, 2.
Madison Police spokesman Joel DeSpain called Tyrone Adair armed and dangerous Friday. His photograph was distributed to law enforcement nationwide.
"At this point in time we don't know where this guy has gone," DeSpain said.
Court records indicate Adair was involved in paternity cases with Judd and Weigel, whose family issued a statement late Friday through Madison police saying they were "deeply devastated" and asking friends to "help ensure the safety of the rest of this family by refraining from making any comments or releasing any information."
Police were called to Weigel's duplex on Madison's southwest side around 6 p.m. Thursday and discovered Weigel and her daughter inside a vehicle in the garage.
Around 8:30 p.m., Madison police asked officers in nearby Middleton to locate another vehicle. Officers found it in an apartment complex parking lot with the bodies of Judd and her daughter in the trunk, according to a court documents.
Judd had suffered a head injury, Middleton Police Lt. Noel Kakuske said. The Dane County Coroner's Office did not release specifics about how she and her daughter died, other than to say Friday that they were "victims of homicidal attacks that were not related to firearms."
No charges had been filed in the Madison case Friday, but Dane County District Attorney Brian Blanchard said he filed the charges in the case of Judd and her daughter so police could issue a warrant for Adair's arrest.
According to a criminal complaint, Judd's older daughter told detectives Adair had moved into their Middleton house a few days before Christmas Day 2007 — Deja Adair's birthday. She said she last saw him about 4 p.m. Thursday.
The girl said Adair called her about 7:20 p.m., told her he was behind a Walmart in Dodgeville, about 50 miles from Middleton, and said her mother and Deja wouldn't be home because they'd been in a bad accident.
When Madison detectives investigating the shootings there learned of the phone call, they asked Middleton police to find Adair's vehicle, leading to the discovery of the bodies in the trunk. Police released a still shot from a camera inside a bar next to the parking lot that shows Adair was there Thursday afternoon.
"It's possible it was just a random location to leave the vehicle," Kakuske said.
Court records show Adair and Judd reached a court settlement in 2008 acknowledging Adair was Deja's father. A family court commissioner ordered Judd, who also used her married name of Tracy Graser, and Adair to share custody of the child because they were living together.
Police tape encircled Judd's ranch-style home Friday morning. Sheriff's deputies came and went from the house. All the blinds were drawn. A child's plastic playhouse sat in the backyard.
In the other paternity case, a court commissioner ruled in March 2008 that Adair was Neveah's father after Amber Weigel petitioned the court for a paternity judgment. The two were ordered to share custody and Adair to pay Weigel child support and birth expenses.
Weigel, who was an assistant teacher for the toddler class at Montessori Children's House, was "so proud of what she had become and what she did with her life," her family's statement said.
The family also offered prayers to Adair's family, "particularly to Tyrone's mother because she has also lost a granddaughter, and they have lost a cherished family member."
He was last seen wearing a black Northface brand vest, a green long-sleeved shirt, possibly a fleece, camouflage pants and a baseball cap.
Police say if you see Adair or know of his whereabouts, PLEASE CALL 911 or Madison Crimestoppers at 608-266-6014. You can remain anonymous if you'd like. You can also submit an anonymous tip via the Madison Crimestoppers webpage.
The Associated Press
Wis. man linked to 4 slayings charged in 2 deaths
written by Todd Richmond
Scott Bauer and Ryan J. Foley contributed to this report
Saturday December 5, 2009
MADISON, Wis. — A Wisconsin man police say is linked to the deaths of his two young daughters and their mothers remained at large Friday. He was charged in two of the slayings.
Tyrone Adair, 38, of Middleton, was charged with first-degree intentional homicide in the deaths of his 33-year-old girlfriend, Tracy Judd, and their 23-month-old daughter, Deja Adair. Judd's older daughter told detectives Adair called her Thursday to say her mother and the child would not be home because they had been in a bad accident.
Their bodies were found that night in the trunk of Adair's car, less than three hours after another of Adair's daughters and that girl's mother were found shot to death in Madison, authorities said. The coroner identified those killed in Madison as Amber Weigel, 25, and Neveah Weigel-Adair, 2.
Madison Police spokesman Joel DeSpain called Tyrone Adair armed and dangerous Friday. His photograph was distributed to law enforcement nationwide.
"At this point in time we don't know where this guy has gone," DeSpain said.
Court records indicate Adair was involved in paternity cases with Judd and Weigel, whose family issued a statement late Friday through Madison police saying they were "deeply devastated" and asking friends to "help ensure the safety of the rest of this family by refraining from making any comments or releasing any information."
Police were called to Weigel's duplex on Madison's southwest side around 6 p.m. Thursday and discovered Weigel and her daughter inside a vehicle in the garage.
Around 8:30 p.m., Madison police asked officers in nearby Middleton to locate another vehicle. Officers found it in an apartment complex parking lot with the bodies of Judd and her daughter in the trunk, according to a court documents.
Judd had suffered a head injury, Middleton Police Lt. Noel Kakuske said. The Dane County Coroner's Office did not release specifics about how she and her daughter died, other than to say Friday that they were "victims of homicidal attacks that were not related to firearms."
No charges had been filed in the Madison case Friday, but Dane County District Attorney Brian Blanchard said he filed the charges in the case of Judd and her daughter so police could issue a warrant for Adair's arrest.
According to a criminal complaint, Judd's older daughter told detectives Adair had moved into their Middleton house a few days before Christmas Day 2007 — Deja Adair's birthday. She said she last saw him about 4 p.m. Thursday.
The girl said Adair called her about 7:20 p.m., told her he was behind a Walmart in Dodgeville, about 50 miles from Middleton, and said her mother and Deja wouldn't be home because they'd been in a bad accident.
When Madison detectives investigating the shootings there learned of the phone call, they asked Middleton police to find Adair's vehicle, leading to the discovery of the bodies in the trunk. Police released a still shot from a camera inside a bar next to the parking lot that shows Adair was there Thursday afternoon.
"It's possible it was just a random location to leave the vehicle," Kakuske said.
Court records show Adair and Judd reached a court settlement in 2008 acknowledging Adair was Deja's father. A family court commissioner ordered Judd, who also used her married name of Tracy Graser, and Adair to share custody of the child because they were living together.
Police tape encircled Judd's ranch-style home Friday morning. Sheriff's deputies came and went from the house. All the blinds were drawn. A child's plastic playhouse sat in the backyard.
In the other paternity case, a court commissioner ruled in March 2008 that Adair was Neveah's father after Amber Weigel petitioned the court for a paternity judgment. The two were ordered to share custody and Adair to pay Weigel child support and birth expenses.
Weigel, who was an assistant teacher for the toddler class at Montessori Children's House, was "so proud of what she had become and what she did with her life," her family's statement said.
The family also offered prayers to Adair's family, "particularly to Tyrone's mother because she has also lost a granddaughter, and they have lost a cherished family member."
Sudan Is A Fine Example of Islamic Militants Taking Over The Government And Guilty Of Murdering African Natives Who REFUSED To Convert To Islam!
Reuters
Darfur: Is the war over or is the world losing interest?
written by Louis Charbonneau OpEd
Saturday December 5, 2009
It’s more than six years since mostly non-Arab rebels in Sudan’s western Darfur region revolted after accusing Khartoum of neglecting their remote corner of Africa’s biggest country. Khartoum’s U.N. Ambassador, Abdalmahmoud Abdalhaleem, declared in New York this week that the “war in Darfur is over.”
But Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, disagrees. Although levels of violence in Darfur have fallen, he told the Security Council that crimes “are continuing.” He said those crimes include indiscriminate bombings of civilians, creation of inhumane conditions for displaced people in order to “EXTERMINATE” them, rapes and sexual violence, and the use of child soldiers.
The ICC has already issued arrest warrants for Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, another government official and a former Janjaweed militia leader for war crimes in a government-led counter-insurgency campaign that drove more than 2 MILLION from their homes. The United Nations says as many as 300,000 people have died since the conflict erupted in 2003, but Khartoum rejects that figure. [Of course they are going to DENY their CRIMES.]
The ICC has also charged three rebels in connection with an attack on African Union peacekeepers in 2007. One rebel showed up in The Hague to defend himself but Bashir and the others remain at large. Western diplomats say Bashir’s arrest is not a top priority now since it could destroy the stalled Darfur peace process. Khartoum refuses to cooperate with the ICC and its chief prosecutor, whom Abdalhaleem branded a “mercenary of death and destruction.” (Moreno-Ocampo countered by declaring that Sudanese officials who deny that crimes were committed in Darfur could themselves face prosecution.)
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in his latest report to the Security Council that U.N./African Union peacekeepers in Darfur were being harassed and threatened by Sudanese government forces and rebels. (As if to illustrate the point, two Rwandan peacekeepers were shot dead in an ambush in North Darfur on Friday.) Ban said that civilians in Darfur remain at risk of violence as the Sudanese military continues to clash with rebel groups. The world body has also warned that the population of Darfur may be left out of next year’s nationwide elections, the first in 24 years, due to mass displacement of the population and volatile security.
But Khartoum and the rebels determined to topple Bashir’s government may not be the only problem. The former head of a U.N. panel charged with investigating violations of a 2005 arms embargo for Darfur accused the United States and other members of the Security Council of “selling out” the Darfur sanctions.
“Many member states of the U.N. Security Council that … imposed coercive measures on those responsible for the violence in Darfur now seem unwilling to fight back against those who let the abuses continue,” Enrico Carisch, a Swiss finance expert and former head of the U.N. Panel of Experts on Sudan, said in testimony to the U.S. House of Representative sub-committee on Africa and global health.
“Increasingly, it looks like poorly understood and under-enforced U.N. sanctions are being sold out in favor of mediation whose success is far from ensured,” said Carisch, who stepped down as chairman of the panel in October.
Carisch implied that the record of U.S. President Barack Obama’s administration on Darfur was worse its precessor’s. “In contrast to that leadership of 2004 and 2005, the United States appears to have now joined the group of influential states who sit by quietly and do nothing to ensure that sanctions work to protect Darfurians,” Carisch said.
What the United States should be doing, he said, is encouraging China, which has close business ties with Sudan and is the origin of many of the weapons and most of the ammunition used by government and rebel forces in Darfur, to help enforce the arms embargo.
The U.S. special envoy to Sudan, retired Air Force General Scott Gration, spoke to the same sub-committee. He defended Obama’s policy of stepping up engagement with Khartoum to seek peace and put an end to the “genocide in Darfur.”
Darfur activists in the community of non-governmental organizations are becoming increasingly critical. John Prendergast, a former U.S. State Department and National Security Council official and co-founder of the Enough Project, an anti-genocide group, said the strategy of the U.S. and its allies “to prevent all-out war in Sudan is failing.” Jerry Fowler, president of the Save Darfur Coalition, spoke of “a big hole at the center of the (Obama) administration’s strategy.”
Darfur: Is the war over or is the world losing interest?
written by Louis Charbonneau OpEd
Saturday December 5, 2009
It’s more than six years since mostly non-Arab rebels in Sudan’s western Darfur region revolted after accusing Khartoum of neglecting their remote corner of Africa’s biggest country. Khartoum’s U.N. Ambassador, Abdalmahmoud Abdalhaleem, declared in New York this week that the “war in Darfur is over.”
But Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, disagrees. Although levels of violence in Darfur have fallen, he told the Security Council that crimes “are continuing.” He said those crimes include indiscriminate bombings of civilians, creation of inhumane conditions for displaced people in order to “EXTERMINATE” them, rapes and sexual violence, and the use of child soldiers.
The ICC has already issued arrest warrants for Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, another government official and a former Janjaweed militia leader for war crimes in a government-led counter-insurgency campaign that drove more than 2 MILLION from their homes. The United Nations says as many as 300,000 people have died since the conflict erupted in 2003, but Khartoum rejects that figure. [Of course they are going to DENY their CRIMES.]
The ICC has also charged three rebels in connection with an attack on African Union peacekeepers in 2007. One rebel showed up in The Hague to defend himself but Bashir and the others remain at large. Western diplomats say Bashir’s arrest is not a top priority now since it could destroy the stalled Darfur peace process. Khartoum refuses to cooperate with the ICC and its chief prosecutor, whom Abdalhaleem branded a “mercenary of death and destruction.” (Moreno-Ocampo countered by declaring that Sudanese officials who deny that crimes were committed in Darfur could themselves face prosecution.)
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in his latest report to the Security Council that U.N./African Union peacekeepers in Darfur were being harassed and threatened by Sudanese government forces and rebels. (As if to illustrate the point, two Rwandan peacekeepers were shot dead in an ambush in North Darfur on Friday.) Ban said that civilians in Darfur remain at risk of violence as the Sudanese military continues to clash with rebel groups. The world body has also warned that the population of Darfur may be left out of next year’s nationwide elections, the first in 24 years, due to mass displacement of the population and volatile security.
But Khartoum and the rebels determined to topple Bashir’s government may not be the only problem. The former head of a U.N. panel charged with investigating violations of a 2005 arms embargo for Darfur accused the United States and other members of the Security Council of “selling out” the Darfur sanctions.
“Many member states of the U.N. Security Council that … imposed coercive measures on those responsible for the violence in Darfur now seem unwilling to fight back against those who let the abuses continue,” Enrico Carisch, a Swiss finance expert and former head of the U.N. Panel of Experts on Sudan, said in testimony to the U.S. House of Representative sub-committee on Africa and global health.
“Increasingly, it looks like poorly understood and under-enforced U.N. sanctions are being sold out in favor of mediation whose success is far from ensured,” said Carisch, who stepped down as chairman of the panel in October.
Carisch implied that the record of U.S. President Barack Obama’s administration on Darfur was worse its precessor’s. “In contrast to that leadership of 2004 and 2005, the United States appears to have now joined the group of influential states who sit by quietly and do nothing to ensure that sanctions work to protect Darfurians,” Carisch said.
What the United States should be doing, he said, is encouraging China, which has close business ties with Sudan and is the origin of many of the weapons and most of the ammunition used by government and rebel forces in Darfur, to help enforce the arms embargo.
The U.S. special envoy to Sudan, retired Air Force General Scott Gration, spoke to the same sub-committee. He defended Obama’s policy of stepping up engagement with Khartoum to seek peace and put an end to the “genocide in Darfur.”
Darfur activists in the community of non-governmental organizations are becoming increasingly critical. John Prendergast, a former U.S. State Department and National Security Council official and co-founder of the Enough Project, an anti-genocide group, said the strategy of the U.S. and its allies “to prevent all-out war in Sudan is failing.” Jerry Fowler, president of the Save Darfur Coalition, spoke of “a big hole at the center of the (Obama) administration’s strategy.”
Six More U.S. Banks Closed Bringing The Tally Of Failures To 130 This Year! I Guess It Pays To Know The Right People In D.C. And Be TOO-BIG-TO-FAIL
Reuters
Six more U.S. banks closed
written by Staff writer
Saturday December 5, 2009 12:26am EST
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Regulators seized six more U.S. banks on Friday, bringing the tally of failures to 130 this year as the bank industry continues to suffer under the weight of deteriorating loans.
Small banks are expected to continue to fail at an elevated pace through next year. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp, which protects bank accounts, has said the banking industry's recovery will lag behind the general economy.
The economy showed some signs of brightening on Friday as a report showed U.S. employers cut far fewer jobs than expected last month in the best showing for the labor market since the recession began.
The FDIC said regulators on Friday closed three banks in Georgia, bringing the number of bank failures in that state this year to 24, and one each in Virginia, Illinois and Ohio.
The biggest bank to close on Friday was AmTrust Bank of Cleveland, Ohio, which had assets of $12 billion and deposits of $8 billion. The New York Community Bank of Westbury, New York, assumed its deposits.
The other five banks had assets of less than $1 billion. They are Benchmark Bank of Illinois, Greater Atlantic Bank of Virginia and the three banks in Georgia -- Tattnall Bank, Buckhead Community Bank, and First Security National Bank.
The six failures are expected to cost the FDIC's insurance fund a total of more than $2.3 billion.
Banks are collapsing at the highest annual level since 1992. Last year 25 banks failed, compared to just three in 2007.
At the beginning of the crisis, institutions were being brought down by soured mortgage-backed securities and bad home loans. Increasingly, small banks' woes are tied to commercial real estate loans that have taken longer to unravel.
Small institutions have a disproportionately large exposure to commercial real estate because it was an area in which they could effectively compete with larger banks during the credit boom.
The FDIC has said it expects bank failures to cost its insurance fund about $100 billion from 2009 through 2013.
The agency has ordered banks to prepay three years of industry assessments, or about $45 billion, to give the FDIC cash to handle the failures.
Six more U.S. banks closed
written by Staff writer
Saturday December 5, 2009 12:26am EST
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Regulators seized six more U.S. banks on Friday, bringing the tally of failures to 130 this year as the bank industry continues to suffer under the weight of deteriorating loans.
Small banks are expected to continue to fail at an elevated pace through next year. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp, which protects bank accounts, has said the banking industry's recovery will lag behind the general economy.
The economy showed some signs of brightening on Friday as a report showed U.S. employers cut far fewer jobs than expected last month in the best showing for the labor market since the recession began.
The FDIC said regulators on Friday closed three banks in Georgia, bringing the number of bank failures in that state this year to 24, and one each in Virginia, Illinois and Ohio.
The biggest bank to close on Friday was AmTrust Bank of Cleveland, Ohio, which had assets of $12 billion and deposits of $8 billion. The New York Community Bank of Westbury, New York, assumed its deposits.
The other five banks had assets of less than $1 billion. They are Benchmark Bank of Illinois, Greater Atlantic Bank of Virginia and the three banks in Georgia -- Tattnall Bank, Buckhead Community Bank, and First Security National Bank.
The six failures are expected to cost the FDIC's insurance fund a total of more than $2.3 billion.
Banks are collapsing at the highest annual level since 1992. Last year 25 banks failed, compared to just three in 2007.
At the beginning of the crisis, institutions were being brought down by soured mortgage-backed securities and bad home loans. Increasingly, small banks' woes are tied to commercial real estate loans that have taken longer to unravel.
Small institutions have a disproportionately large exposure to commercial real estate because it was an area in which they could effectively compete with larger banks during the credit boom.
The FDIC has said it expects bank failures to cost its insurance fund about $100 billion from 2009 through 2013.
The agency has ordered banks to prepay three years of industry assessments, or about $45 billion, to give the FDIC cash to handle the failures.
December 4, 2009
BREAKING NEWS! An Explosion At A Night Club In Central Russia Has Reportedly Killed At Least 100 People!
Russia Today
Over 90 reported dead in Perm café fire
written by Staff writer
Friday December 4, 2009
94 people have been killed and over 100 injured following a deadly fire in a café in the Russian city of Perm, according to the Russian Emergency Ministry.
Most people died of smoke inhalation while they were trying to flee from the cafe, the source in emergency ministry was quoted by RIA Novosti news agency as saying.
”According to preliminary reports, panic, which happened due to fire in the building, lead to a crush at the entrance and those who remained inside died from the smoke,” the source told RIA Novosti.
The tragedy occurred while the café, named “Lamed Horse”, was celebrating its jubilee and most victims are reportedly people who worked at the café and their relatives.
According to Vladimir Markin, a spokesperson for Russia’s Investigation Committee, the fire was caused by fireworks used during the celebration.
Police and emergency crews are working at the scene in the city of Perm, located 1200 kilometers from Moscow.
Emergency Ministry head Sergey Shoigu, as well as the Minister of Health and Social Development Tatyana Golikova, are setting off for Perm to take part in an investigation and help the victims of the tragedy.
Accidents similar to the Perm explosion happened in the United States, said RT contributor Wayne Madsen.
DuPont Accused of Massive Water Pollution!!! The Ohio River Has Been Polluted By DuPont's Disposal Of Hazardous WASTE In Landfills!
Courthouse News Service
DuPont Accused of Massive Water Pollution
written by Sonya Angelica Diehn
Wednesday, December 02, 2009
COLUMBUS, Ohio (CN) - DuPont has been covering up and refusing to take responsibility for its toxic pollution of the Ohio River for a quarter of a century, and the poisons it uses to make Teflon stay in the environment for 2,000 years, a nonprofit water association claims in Federal Court.
The Little Hocking Water Association says that air and water emissions of perflourinated compounds from DuPont's Washington Works Plant have been polluting its wellfields since 1984.
These chemicals, which DuPont uses to make Teflon products, stay in the environment for up to 2,000 years, and accumulate in the tissue of living things, causing developmental and immunological problems, the water group says.
It claims at least four wells on 45 acres along the Ohio River were polluted by DuPont's disposal of hazardous waste in landfills, injection wells and burn pits.
DuPont Accused of Massive Water Pollution
written by Sonya Angelica Diehn
Wednesday, December 02, 2009
COLUMBUS, Ohio (CN) - DuPont has been covering up and refusing to take responsibility for its toxic pollution of the Ohio River for a quarter of a century, and the poisons it uses to make Teflon stay in the environment for 2,000 years, a nonprofit water association claims in Federal Court.
The Little Hocking Water Association says that air and water emissions of perflourinated compounds from DuPont's Washington Works Plant have been polluting its wellfields since 1984.
These chemicals, which DuPont uses to make Teflon products, stay in the environment for up to 2,000 years, and accumulate in the tissue of living things, causing developmental and immunological problems, the water group says.
It claims at least four wells on 45 acres along the Ohio River were polluted by DuPont's disposal of hazardous waste in landfills, injection wells and burn pits.
The water association claims that DuPont hid the threats of perfluorooctanoic acid, or PFOA, despite knowing of its risks - including the birth of deformed babies to its employees in 1981.
DuPont allegedly acknowledged the contamination by buying out one local water supplier, but refused to extend such an offer to Little Hocking. DuPont for many years also refused to allow the single laboratory with the ability to test for such substances to do so, the group says.
Little Hocking claims that in 1991 DuPont set a "community exposure guideline" for the chemical, a liver toxin, at 1 part per billion. Sampling from the water association's wellfields in 2001 showed levels of 7.69 ppb, the complaint states. Current tests put that figure as high as 78 ppb.
A March 2009 level of .4 ppb, set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, is not enough to protect the water association's 12,000 consumers, it says, due to their chronic exposure and potential "synergistic" effects with other perflourinated compounds in the water.
The group cites a 2003 class action in which the court determined that DuPont's release was active and intentional. Little Hocking says that an EPA consent order does not adequately protect its customers.
The Water Association says it has suffered financial hardship since 2001, when it began to address the problem on its own. This includes funding a bottled water program, for which it claims DuPont promised to it; it says DuPont stopped doing so in 2007.
The water association wants DuPont ordered to stop polluting, clean up what it has done, and conduct a scientific study on the effects of PFOA.
It is represented by David Altman of Cincinnati.
It's The 25 Year Anniversary Of The Bhopal Union Carbide Gas Tragedy! People Are Still Being Affected By The Water Supply Contaminated By TOXIC WASTE!
The Business Standard
Sunita Narain: Not learning from Bhopal
written by Sunita Narain / New Delhi
Friday December 04, 2009, 0:50 IST
We have no protocol for handling chemical accidents, managing medical relief or fixing the liability of polluters!!!
It’s been 25 years since the night when chemicals spewed out of the Union Carbide factory in Bhopal to kill and maim thousands over generations. The question is if we have learnt from the disaster — learnt how to handle a chemical accident; to dispose of industrial toxic waste; to manage crucial medical relief, to give monetary compensation speedily and to establish the liability of polluters — so that accidents like this do not happen again.
I was in Bhopal this week as the city observed the anniversary of that night. An exhibition put up by Bhopal activists made spectators relive that night of horror: How people just fell to the ground like flies, instantly dead as the gas-ridden air hit them; how the carcasses of thousands of animals lay rotting on the roads and how hospitals could not cope with the victims, and how they (particularly the company) refused to explain the ailment or offered treatment. What is worse is that even today parts of the city still live in horror. Activists say that the next generation, children born after the disaster to parents of gas victims, is unusually deformed and diseased. Worse still, a stockpile of toxic chemicals remains in the factory — leaching and contaminating groundwater of the new and old victims of this industrial disaster.
The question is why this continues to happen. The fact is we refuse to use credible public science to guide policy. After the disaster, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) was asked to study the short-term and long-term medical implications of the chemicals. But in the early 1990s, the government asked the institution to discontinue the research, without assigning any reason. As a result, there is no epidemiological research on the victims, old and new. Civil society groups working with victims have published studies on the increased incidence of mental and physical deformities among the gas-affected population. But as there is no empirical research by government institutions, the government can deny the problem exists. It is poverty they say, nothing unusual, criminal and irresponsible.
We stumbled on this denial game on another connected issue — the disposal of waste in the Union Carbide factory compound. For some years now, groups working in Bhopal have raised concern that toxic contaminants remain in the factory. A case has been filed in the Jabalpur bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court to direct the government to remove the waste and remove it quickly. For the past two years or so, the central and state government’s have been dealing rather unsuccessfully with the question of how to dispose of the waste — will it be sent to landfill sites, or will it be incinerated? But even as it grapples with these questions, the stockpile of some 340 tonnes of stored waste sits on the abandoned factory. And the government decides to change tack.
It now says the waste is not toxic and that groundwater around the factory is not contaminated. Why? Because its scientific institutions say so. My colleagues at the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) decided to investigate.
They did the following: They first investigated what the factory was manufacturing and what were the processes that it used. This gave them clues into what should be checked in the laboratory. Piecing together scanty information, they learnt that Union Carbide manufactured three kinds of pesticides — carbaryl (trade name Sevin); aldicarb (Temik) and a formulation of carbaryl and gamma-hexachlorocyclohexane (g-HCH), sold under the trade name Sevidol. The company bought technical grade HCH and after extraction of g-HCH, threw the waste with remaining isomers and lasting toxicity into the ground. They also looked at the derivatives of the chemicals; the solvents used by the company like chlorinated benzene and heavy metals like mercury used as sealants in the company.
With this information, we asked for permission to collect samples. We got it readily from the Union Minister for Environment and Forests and officials of the pollution control board accompanied my colleagues to the factory. Chandra Bhushan, who directed this research, says that he was shocked to see traces of mercury visible in parts of the factory. He then went to different sites around the factory, collecting groundwater sample: To know if the pollution had spread.
The results were startling. We found the same chemicals in the soil and water of the factory, at unacceptably high levels; we found the same in groundwater almost 3 km from the city, though at lower levels but signifying chronic toxicity, long-term exposure to which can lead to deadly diseases, particularly in an already immuno-suppressed poor population of gas victims. Also, the task of remediation is massive — not just the stored waste but the soil and water will also need to be cleaned.
But science is malleable. Studies used by the state government to say that there was no or negligible danger, only discussed acute toxicity — the amount a human being would need to consume to die. Then, the studies, which showed no contamination of groundwater, did not even check for the pesticides being produced by the factory. They did not find any, because they did not check for what needed to be found. Confusion and denial are the names of the game. The victims will be forgotten till the next anniversary comes along.
The Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board In India Shuts Down Polluting Yeast Factory That Was Secretly Discharging Toxic Waste In Waterways!
The Times Of India
PCB axe falls on polluting yeast factory
written by Neha Shukla
Friday December 4, 2009 05:29am IST
LUCKNOW: The Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board (UPPCB) has finally swung into action against the industrial unit on the Sandila-Hardoi road which was clandestinely discharging harmful effluents into the Behta nullah. The polluting yeast manufacturing company has been on Thursday ordered to close shop with immediate effect.
This newspaper, in its December 3 edition, had carried a comprehensive story about the industries in the area which are damaging the Gomati through their discharge as Behta finally drains into the river.
The fact has even been confirmed by officials of Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), who had gone on a surprise check to the Saf Yeast Company Pvt Ltd, UPSIDC in Sandila. The CPCB team had collected samples of water from the area. "We found harmful effluents in the samples,'' said Gurnam Singh, nodal officer, CPCB.
Along with the strict action taken against the unit, CPCB officials assure that they will also keep a watch on the activities of the owners/managers of the company which was discharging harmful waste through underground pipes into the nullah. Incidentally, the company was ALLEGEDLY discharging 4.5-5 lakh litres of TOXIC WASTE EVERY DAY in the nullah.
"The company was discharging the waste without proper treatment to free it of harmful effluents,'' an official told TOI adding the UPPCB had also issued a showcause notice to the said unit in October 22. Meanwhile, on November 17, regional UPPCB officer, Unnao, had inspected the company and found some startling anomalies being committed there much in contravention of pollution control norms.
The company had three units of reverse-osmosis which were working at an efficiency level of 10-20 per cent. This was the reason why the discharge from the company was not getting de-toxified to the level it should have been as per the norms, an official said.
The officer also did not find the bio-compost plant in functional state at the time of inspection. The arrangements made for treating effluents were both insufficient and inefficient.
The inspection visit had also revealed that the lagoons for storing the discharge before safely releasing it were overflowing. As a result, the discharge was getting released into the Gomati.
Taking note of these glaring anomalies, the UPPCB took action under the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974, against the company and ordered its immediate closure. The bank guarantee of Rs 1 lakh only, taken from the company, has been seized. The agreement of business has been revoked and power supply to the company being cut with immediate effect.
PCB axe falls on polluting yeast factory
written by Neha Shukla
Friday December 4, 2009 05:29am IST
LUCKNOW: The Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board (UPPCB) has finally swung into action against the industrial unit on the Sandila-Hardoi road which was clandestinely discharging harmful effluents into the Behta nullah. The polluting yeast manufacturing company has been on Thursday ordered to close shop with immediate effect.
This newspaper, in its December 3 edition, had carried a comprehensive story about the industries in the area which are damaging the Gomati through their discharge as Behta finally drains into the river.
The fact has even been confirmed by officials of Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), who had gone on a surprise check to the Saf Yeast Company Pvt Ltd, UPSIDC in Sandila. The CPCB team had collected samples of water from the area. "We found harmful effluents in the samples,'' said Gurnam Singh, nodal officer, CPCB.
Along with the strict action taken against the unit, CPCB officials assure that they will also keep a watch on the activities of the owners/managers of the company which was discharging harmful waste through underground pipes into the nullah. Incidentally, the company was ALLEGEDLY discharging 4.5-5 lakh litres of TOXIC WASTE EVERY DAY in the nullah.
"The company was discharging the waste without proper treatment to free it of harmful effluents,'' an official told TOI adding the UPPCB had also issued a showcause notice to the said unit in October 22. Meanwhile, on November 17, regional UPPCB officer, Unnao, had inspected the company and found some startling anomalies being committed there much in contravention of pollution control norms.
The company had three units of reverse-osmosis which were working at an efficiency level of 10-20 per cent. This was the reason why the discharge from the company was not getting de-toxified to the level it should have been as per the norms, an official said.
The officer also did not find the bio-compost plant in functional state at the time of inspection. The arrangements made for treating effluents were both insufficient and inefficient.
The inspection visit had also revealed that the lagoons for storing the discharge before safely releasing it were overflowing. As a result, the discharge was getting released into the Gomati.
Taking note of these glaring anomalies, the UPPCB took action under the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974, against the company and ordered its immediate closure. The bank guarantee of Rs 1 lakh only, taken from the company, has been seized. The agreement of business has been revoked and power supply to the company being cut with immediate effect.
Q&A: Copenhagen Climate Change Conference 2009. More than 15,000 Officials Will Be FLYING IN On Private Jets From 192 Countries! Gotta Love That IRONY
The Guardian UK
Q&A: Copenhagen climate change conference 2009
written by Abigail Edge and David Adam
Friday May 1, 2009 15.47 BST
What is the Copenhagen climate change summit?
From 7 December environment ministers and officials will meet in Copenhagen for the United Nations climate conference to thrash out a successor to the Kyoto protocol. The conference, held at the modern Bella Center, will run for two weeks. The talks are the latest in an annual series of UN meetings that trace their origins to the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio, which aimed at coordinating international action against climate change.
What does COP15 stand for?
COP15 is the official name of the Copenhagen climate change summit — the 15th Conference of the Parties (COP) under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The COP is the highest body of the UNFCCC and consists of environment ministers who meet once a year to discuss developments in the convention.
Which countries are taking part in the climate change summit, and how many people will be there?
One hundred and ninety-two countries have signed the climate change convention. More than 15,000 officials, advisers, diplomats, campaigners and journalists are expected to attend COP15, joined by heads of state and government.
Who are the main players?
Developing countries, including China and India, believe it is the responsibility of wealthy industrialised nations such as the UK and US to set a clear example on cutting carbon emissions. Significantly, the US rejected the 1997 Kyoto protocol, with George Bush arguing that the 5% reductions required by Kyoto would "wreck [the American] economy" while making no demands on emerging economies. COP15's chances of success have been improved by President Barack Obama's stated intention to achieve an 80% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
In April, the secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, acknowledged the role the US had played in past climate emissions at a gathering of officials from the world's 17 largest economies. She said the US was "determined to make up for lost time both at home and abroad". "The US is no longer absent without leave," she said. However, Denmark's minister for climate and energy, Connie Hedegaard, has warned that American leadership on climate change will be undermined if the Obama administration does not pass laws swiftly to reduce carbon pollution.
What does the summit hope to achieve?
Officials will try to agree a new climate treaty as a successor to the Kyoto protocol, the first phase of which expires in 2012. According to Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the UNFCCC, the four essentials needing an international agreement in Copenhagen are:
1. How much are industrialised countries willing to reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases?
2. How much are major developing countries such as China and India willing to do to limit the growth of their emissions?
3. How is the help needed by developing countries to engage in reducing their emissions and adapting to the impacts of climate change going to be financed?
4. How is that money going to be managed?
What are the sticking points?
The main issue is that of "burden-sharing". Climate scientists say that the world must stop the growth in greenhouse gas emissions and start making them fall from around 2015 to 2020. By 2050 they estimate the world must cut its emissions by 80% compared with 1990 levels to limit global warming to a 2C average rise.
Money is also a major issue. The developing countries know they must hand over hundreds of billions of pounds to poorer nations, to help them adapt to the likely consequences. Earlier this year, Gordon Brown said this climate funding needed to reach $100bn a year by 2020. If the recent recession has made rich countries less willing to part with their cash, this could raise tensions in Copenhagen
But which countries must make the cuts and by how large should they be? For example, the rapidly growing Chinese economy has recently overtaken America as the world's largest emitter of carbon dioxide. Yet America has historically emitted far more emissions than China, and on a per capita basis Chinese emissions are around a quarter of those of the US.
The Chinese government argues that it has a moral right to develop and grow its economy — carbon emissions will inevitably grow with it. There is also the issue of industrialised nations effectively outsourcing carbon emissions to developing nations such as China. This is a consequence of huge quantities of carbon-intensive manufacturing taking place in China on behalf of buyers in the west. It wants consumer countries to take responsibility for the carbon emissions generated in the manufacture of goods, not the producer countries that export them.
Problems such as these have cast doubts on whether COP15 can succeed. There are also concerns about whether any action we take now to prevent climate change may be too little too late. A Guardian poll revealed almost nine out of 10 climate scientists do not believe political efforts to restrict global warming to an additional 2C — the level the EU defines as "dangerous" — will succeed.
Q&A: Copenhagen climate change conference 2009
written by Abigail Edge and David Adam
Friday May 1, 2009 15.47 BST
What is the Copenhagen climate change summit?
From 7 December environment ministers and officials will meet in Copenhagen for the United Nations climate conference to thrash out a successor to the Kyoto protocol. The conference, held at the modern Bella Center, will run for two weeks. The talks are the latest in an annual series of UN meetings that trace their origins to the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio, which aimed at coordinating international action against climate change.
What does COP15 stand for?
COP15 is the official name of the Copenhagen climate change summit — the 15th Conference of the Parties (COP) under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The COP is the highest body of the UNFCCC and consists of environment ministers who meet once a year to discuss developments in the convention.
Which countries are taking part in the climate change summit, and how many people will be there?
One hundred and ninety-two countries have signed the climate change convention. More than 15,000 officials, advisers, diplomats, campaigners and journalists are expected to attend COP15, joined by heads of state and government.
Who are the main players?
Developing countries, including China and India, believe it is the responsibility of wealthy industrialised nations such as the UK and US to set a clear example on cutting carbon emissions. Significantly, the US rejected the 1997 Kyoto protocol, with George Bush arguing that the 5% reductions required by Kyoto would "wreck [the American] economy" while making no demands on emerging economies. COP15's chances of success have been improved by President Barack Obama's stated intention to achieve an 80% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
In April, the secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, acknowledged the role the US had played in past climate emissions at a gathering of officials from the world's 17 largest economies. She said the US was "determined to make up for lost time both at home and abroad". "The US is no longer absent without leave," she said. However, Denmark's minister for climate and energy, Connie Hedegaard, has warned that American leadership on climate change will be undermined if the Obama administration does not pass laws swiftly to reduce carbon pollution.
What does the summit hope to achieve?
Officials will try to agree a new climate treaty as a successor to the Kyoto protocol, the first phase of which expires in 2012. According to Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the UNFCCC, the four essentials needing an international agreement in Copenhagen are:
1. How much are industrialised countries willing to reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases?
2. How much are major developing countries such as China and India willing to do to limit the growth of their emissions?
3. How is the help needed by developing countries to engage in reducing their emissions and adapting to the impacts of climate change going to be financed?
4. How is that money going to be managed?
What are the sticking points?
The main issue is that of "burden-sharing". Climate scientists say that the world must stop the growth in greenhouse gas emissions and start making them fall from around 2015 to 2020. By 2050 they estimate the world must cut its emissions by 80% compared with 1990 levels to limit global warming to a 2C average rise.
Money is also a major issue. The developing countries know they must hand over hundreds of billions of pounds to poorer nations, to help them adapt to the likely consequences. Earlier this year, Gordon Brown said this climate funding needed to reach $100bn a year by 2020. If the recent recession has made rich countries less willing to part with their cash, this could raise tensions in Copenhagen
But which countries must make the cuts and by how large should they be? For example, the rapidly growing Chinese economy has recently overtaken America as the world's largest emitter of carbon dioxide. Yet America has historically emitted far more emissions than China, and on a per capita basis Chinese emissions are around a quarter of those of the US.
The Chinese government argues that it has a moral right to develop and grow its economy — carbon emissions will inevitably grow with it. There is also the issue of industrialised nations effectively outsourcing carbon emissions to developing nations such as China. This is a consequence of huge quantities of carbon-intensive manufacturing taking place in China on behalf of buyers in the west. It wants consumer countries to take responsibility for the carbon emissions generated in the manufacture of goods, not the producer countries that export them.
Problems such as these have cast doubts on whether COP15 can succeed. There are also concerns about whether any action we take now to prevent climate change may be too little too late. A Guardian poll revealed almost nine out of 10 climate scientists do not believe political efforts to restrict global warming to an additional 2C — the level the EU defines as "dangerous" — will succeed.
Islamic Terrorists Kill 41 And Injure 79 Innocent People In Pakistan Mosque Attack!!! 10 Children Were Among Those Killed.
Sky News
Terrorists Kill 41 In Pakistan Mosque Attack
written by Mark Langford
Friday December 04, 2009 5:28pm UK
More than 40 people have been killed after an audacious terrorist attack on a mosque in a Pakistani military compound.
At least seven militants got into the security zone around the army headquarters in Rawalpindi.
Pakistan police say the gunmen attacked the mosque during Friday prayers, firing weapons and throwing grenades.
Pakistan Interior Minister Rehman Malik told reporters two of the terrorists blew themselves up inside the mosque, while two others fired indiscrimnately into it.
He said ten children were among those killed.
"This shows the militants are anti-Islam," he added.
Eye-witnesses told Pakistani television poured in fire through the windows and threw at least 10 hand grenades.
Nasir Ali Sheikh saw the attackers at the mosque as he walked there to pray.
"They were killing people like animals," he said. "I couldn't understand what was happening."
Police in Rawalpindi say the death toll is 41, with 79 injured. The dead are understood to include senior army officers.
British prime minister Gordon Brown sent a letter of condolence to Pakistan counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani, who was in London this week.
"The UK stands shoulder to shoulder with Pakistan in confronting the menace of terrorism," he wrote.
Questions are already being asked about how the gunmen managed to breach security.
The mosque is used by senior serving and retired members of the security forces for Friday prayers.
Rawalpandi is home to the Pakistani military and has been a frequent target of attacks by the country's Taliban.
Pakistan has been hit by a wave of suicide blasts and attacks, with more than 2,570 people killed during a two-and-a-half year insurgency by Islamist militants.
At least 34 people were killed and dozens injured in a suicide bomb attack outside a hotel not far from army headquarters in Rawalpindi on November 2.
And on October 10 militants stormed the headquarters and took 45 hostages during a 22-hour siege.
Terrorists Kill 41 In Pakistan Mosque Attack
written by Mark Langford
Friday December 04, 2009 5:28pm UK
More than 40 people have been killed after an audacious terrorist attack on a mosque in a Pakistani military compound.
At least seven militants got into the security zone around the army headquarters in Rawalpindi.
Pakistan police say the gunmen attacked the mosque during Friday prayers, firing weapons and throwing grenades.
Pakistan Interior Minister Rehman Malik told reporters two of the terrorists blew themselves up inside the mosque, while two others fired indiscrimnately into it.
He said ten children were among those killed.
"This shows the militants are anti-Islam," he added.
Eye-witnesses told Pakistani television poured in fire through the windows and threw at least 10 hand grenades.
Nasir Ali Sheikh saw the attackers at the mosque as he walked there to pray.
"They were killing people like animals," he said. "I couldn't understand what was happening."
Police in Rawalpindi say the death toll is 41, with 79 injured. The dead are understood to include senior army officers.
British prime minister Gordon Brown sent a letter of condolence to Pakistan counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani, who was in London this week.
"The UK stands shoulder to shoulder with Pakistan in confronting the menace of terrorism," he wrote.
Questions are already being asked about how the gunmen managed to breach security.
The mosque is used by senior serving and retired members of the security forces for Friday prayers.
Rawalpandi is home to the Pakistani military and has been a frequent target of attacks by the country's Taliban.
Pakistan has been hit by a wave of suicide blasts and attacks, with more than 2,570 people killed during a two-and-a-half year insurgency by Islamist militants.
At least 34 people were killed and dozens injured in a suicide bomb attack outside a hotel not far from army headquarters in Rawalpindi on November 2.
And on October 10 militants stormed the headquarters and took 45 hostages during a 22-hour siege.
Wowee! Delinquencies In The Commercial Mortgage-Backed Securities Market Skyrocketed More Than 500 Percent In October From A Year Ago!!!
Los Angeles BizJournal
Caifornia tops U.S. in delinquent mortgages
written by Katherine Conrad
Tuesday, December 1, 2009, 6:23am PST
Delinquencies in the commercial mortgage-backed securities market skyrocketed more than 500 percent in October from a year ago, with California reportedly topping the U.S.
Numbers released Monday by RealPoint Research show more than to $32.6 billion worth of loans are in default compared to $5.4 billion in October 2008. The total unpaid balance for the CMBS market for October 2009 was $810.9 billion, up from $805 billion in September, according to the Horsham, Penn.-based research firm.
California reported $4.7 billion in bad loans, or 14 percent of all delinquencies. The bulk of the state’s delinquent loans were concentrated in the Los Angeles and Orange County metropolitan areas. Sacramento reported two troubled spots in October when Natomas Crossing and Del Paso Retail were liquidated.
California, Texas and Florida account for a third of the defaults in the mortgage-backed securities market, but the cities with the most delinquent loans are Las Vegas with $1.6 billion, followed by Phoenix with $1.5 billion and New York with $1.2 billion.
Since RealPoint began keeping track of delinquencies, the lowest point was March 2007 when borrowers were late on $2.2 billion worth of loans.
Caifornia tops U.S. in delinquent mortgages
written by Katherine Conrad
Tuesday, December 1, 2009, 6:23am PST
Delinquencies in the commercial mortgage-backed securities market skyrocketed more than 500 percent in October from a year ago, with California reportedly topping the U.S.
Numbers released Monday by RealPoint Research show more than to $32.6 billion worth of loans are in default compared to $5.4 billion in October 2008. The total unpaid balance for the CMBS market for October 2009 was $810.9 billion, up from $805 billion in September, according to the Horsham, Penn.-based research firm.
California reported $4.7 billion in bad loans, or 14 percent of all delinquencies. The bulk of the state’s delinquent loans were concentrated in the Los Angeles and Orange County metropolitan areas. Sacramento reported two troubled spots in October when Natomas Crossing and Del Paso Retail were liquidated.
California, Texas and Florida account for a third of the defaults in the mortgage-backed securities market, but the cities with the most delinquent loans are Las Vegas with $1.6 billion, followed by Phoenix with $1.5 billion and New York with $1.2 billion.
Since RealPoint began keeping track of delinquencies, the lowest point was March 2007 when borrowers were late on $2.2 billion worth of loans.
Transparency International Warns That Jamaica Faces State Capture! Hhmm... The U.S. Appears To Be Following Suit Or Has It Already Happened?!
Go Jamaica News
Transparency International warns that Jamaica faces state capture
written by Staff writer
December 2, 2009
Global anti-corruption watchdog, Transparency International has warned that Jamaica is likely to succumb to what it calls state capture.
The TERM is used to describe a situation where powerful individuals, institutions, companies or groups within or outside a country use corruption to influence policies, the legal environment and economy to benefit their own private interests.
The information is contained in a report which the organization compiled following its five-day visit to Jamaica in September.
While in the country, representatives from the organization held talks with key reformers, on the corruption challenges affecting Jamaica.
The extensive drug and arms trade and associated gang operations in Jamaica, which fuel corruption through bribery, extortion and payoffs were highlighted.
Additionally, the lack of transparency and accountability in the funding of political parties was another issue raised during the dialogue.
It is felt that this could facilitate peddling by elites, and corrupt economic interests.
When combined the group said the two conditions suggest a clear and present danger of state capture in the country.
It has also argued that the extra burden of paying bribes, which amounts to a corruption tax, affects major investment and hinders economic development.
Transparency International was invited by Professor Trevor Munroe, the Director of the National Integrity Action Forum.
The forum was established to bring together leaders from the public and private sectors, and civil society to play their part in the fight against corruption.
Just last month, the global anti-corruption body gave Jamaica another low ranking in its corruption index, for a third consecutive year.
Transparency International warns that Jamaica faces state capture
written by Staff writer
December 2, 2009
Global anti-corruption watchdog, Transparency International has warned that Jamaica is likely to succumb to what it calls state capture.
The TERM is used to describe a situation where powerful individuals, institutions, companies or groups within or outside a country use corruption to influence policies, the legal environment and economy to benefit their own private interests.
The information is contained in a report which the organization compiled following its five-day visit to Jamaica in September.
While in the country, representatives from the organization held talks with key reformers, on the corruption challenges affecting Jamaica.
The extensive drug and arms trade and associated gang operations in Jamaica, which fuel corruption through bribery, extortion and payoffs were highlighted.
Additionally, the lack of transparency and accountability in the funding of political parties was another issue raised during the dialogue.
It is felt that this could facilitate peddling by elites, and corrupt economic interests.
When combined the group said the two conditions suggest a clear and present danger of state capture in the country.
It has also argued that the extra burden of paying bribes, which amounts to a corruption tax, affects major investment and hinders economic development.
Transparency International was invited by Professor Trevor Munroe, the Director of the National Integrity Action Forum.
The forum was established to bring together leaders from the public and private sectors, and civil society to play their part in the fight against corruption.
Just last month, the global anti-corruption body gave Jamaica another low ranking in its corruption index, for a third consecutive year.
Ibrahim Gambari UN Special Envoy Leaving Burma Is GREAT NEWS, He's Being Shuffled As The Head of the UN-African Union peacekeeping force In DARFUR!
How can this be? What the heck is UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon thinking?! If Gambari was an EPIC FAILURE in Burma, what makes Gen. Ban Ki-moon think he's going to be any different in Darfur!? Darfur is in as much dire need of genuine humanitarian and diplomatic political assistance as Burma. I totally don't get this re-shuffling of INCOMPETENT STAFF? Gambari should have been FIRED! It appears to me that everybody just holds TITLES with no REAL service to speak of... All of you in the upper echelon scratch each others backs and NOTHING gets done to affect REAL CHANGE! All of you in positions of power talk a good talk, there is no question about that. World class bullsh*ters! Do you not feel once ounce of GUILT? or SHAME? Do you not have a CONSCIENCE or a HEART? Because you are certainly NOT doing the job description you so readily accepted? For it is quite obvious that MOST of you thrive on EGO and GREED! I think a deep cleansing is in order here!
*********************************************************************
The Irrawaddy
Goodbye, Gambari, and Good Luck
written by Special Editorial
Thursday, December 3, 2009
It's official: Ibrahim Gambari, the UN special envoy to Burma, is leaving the job that he has held since May 2007. According to recent reports, the former Nigerian foreign minister, who has occupied various high-level positions at the world body since serving as his country's permanent representative there in the 1990s, is slated to become the head of the UN-African Union peacekeeping force in the conflict-hit Darfur region of Sudan on Jan. 1, 2010.
What will this mean for the people of Burma, who have lived through some of the most tumultuous events of their recent history during Gambari's tenure? Alas, precious little. Gambari—who liked to tell critics who faulted him for a lack of results that his mission was “a process, not an event”—often seemed a hapless bystander whenever anything actually happened in Burma. When the world expressed outraged at the Burmese junta's brutal crackdown on monk-led demonstrations in 2007, and again when it was appalled by the generals' callous response to Cyclone Nargis in 2008, Gambari proved wholly unequal to the task of channeling any of this energy to push for genuine political change.
Last May, when Burma experienced the worst natural disaster in its recorded history, Gambari was forced to step aside and let his boss, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, do the job of pressuring the regime to open the country's doors to international aid. Then, when he finally visited Burma a few months later, opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's frustration with his perfunctory “process” came to a head and she refused to meet with him. This was an unprecedented and highly uncharacteristic rebuff from a person who has become virtually the embodiment of the UN's professed values, and probably a sign that Gambari should have been relieved of his duties more than a year ago.
It was at this low point in his role as special envoy, in August 2008, that Burma Campaign UK noted that from the time Gambari assumed his position,
• The number of political prisoners almost doubled from 1,100 to 2,056.
• More than 130,000 people in eastern Burma had been forced from their homes as part of the regime’s ethnic cleansing campaign.
• The peaceful pro-democracy protests of September were brutally suppressed, with protesters fired on and thousands of monks arrested.
• Humanitarian aid was blocked following Cyclone Nargis.
• Political prisoners, including Suu Kyi, had been routinely denied access to doctors and medical treatment.
Now, nearly a year and a half later, the situation is hardly any better. Indeed, if anything, the regime has become even more repressive and disdainful of the international community's concerns, as evidenced by its farcical trial of Suu Kyi earlier this year and its continuing roundup of dissidents ahead of next year's election.
It would, of course, be grossly unfair to lay responsibility for all of this entirely at Gambari's feet. But the obvious shortcomings of his approach should serve as a warning to his successor, who will need to actually achieve something if the UN's efforts to end oppression in Burma are not to lose what little credibility they have left.
The most important lesson to be learned from Gambari's failure is that it doesn't pay to play it safe.
In November 2007, the UN envoy earned some rare praise when he released a statement from Suu Kyi that she had given him during their meeting earlier in the month. Coming soon after Burma's worst political crisis in nearly two decades, the statement was carefully worded to avoid offending the Burmese generals. Nevertheless, the regime latched onto Gambari's supposed breach of diplomatic protocol to accuse the UN of taking sides. When he returned to Burma the following March, he was roundly scolded by the regime's propaganda minister and denied an opportunity to meet with junta chief Snr-Gen Than Shwe.
Sadly, this experience appears to have stayed with Gambari, weakening his resolve to broach sensitive issues with the regime. By allowing himself to be cowed, he lost the confidence of the Burmese people, who began to feel that he was merely going through the motions. If, however, he had been prepared to take more flak for the sake of fulfilling his stated mission, he would at least have given them some hope that the UN was taking the country's problems seriously, and might even have stood a chance of making some headway with the generals.
Now that he is leaving Burma, we can only wish him the best of luck with his new posting. The people of Darfur, like the people of Burma, certainly need all the support the international community can give them. But if all he is doing is adding another high-profile assignment to his already impressive resume, perhaps he should consider leaving the job to someone who has the passion to do it properly.
Goodbye, Gambari, and Good Luck
written by Special Editorial
Thursday, December 3, 2009
It's official: Ibrahim Gambari, the UN special envoy to Burma, is leaving the job that he has held since May 2007. According to recent reports, the former Nigerian foreign minister, who has occupied various high-level positions at the world body since serving as his country's permanent representative there in the 1990s, is slated to become the head of the UN-African Union peacekeeping force in the conflict-hit Darfur region of Sudan on Jan. 1, 2010.
What will this mean for the people of Burma, who have lived through some of the most tumultuous events of their recent history during Gambari's tenure? Alas, precious little. Gambari—who liked to tell critics who faulted him for a lack of results that his mission was “a process, not an event”—often seemed a hapless bystander whenever anything actually happened in Burma. When the world expressed outraged at the Burmese junta's brutal crackdown on monk-led demonstrations in 2007, and again when it was appalled by the generals' callous response to Cyclone Nargis in 2008, Gambari proved wholly unequal to the task of channeling any of this energy to push for genuine political change.
Last May, when Burma experienced the worst natural disaster in its recorded history, Gambari was forced to step aside and let his boss, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, do the job of pressuring the regime to open the country's doors to international aid. Then, when he finally visited Burma a few months later, opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's frustration with his perfunctory “process” came to a head and she refused to meet with him. This was an unprecedented and highly uncharacteristic rebuff from a person who has become virtually the embodiment of the UN's professed values, and probably a sign that Gambari should have been relieved of his duties more than a year ago.
It was at this low point in his role as special envoy, in August 2008, that Burma Campaign UK noted that from the time Gambari assumed his position,
• The number of political prisoners almost doubled from 1,100 to 2,056.
• More than 130,000 people in eastern Burma had been forced from their homes as part of the regime’s ethnic cleansing campaign.
• The peaceful pro-democracy protests of September were brutally suppressed, with protesters fired on and thousands of monks arrested.
• Humanitarian aid was blocked following Cyclone Nargis.
• Political prisoners, including Suu Kyi, had been routinely denied access to doctors and medical treatment.
Now, nearly a year and a half later, the situation is hardly any better. Indeed, if anything, the regime has become even more repressive and disdainful of the international community's concerns, as evidenced by its farcical trial of Suu Kyi earlier this year and its continuing roundup of dissidents ahead of next year's election.
It would, of course, be grossly unfair to lay responsibility for all of this entirely at Gambari's feet. But the obvious shortcomings of his approach should serve as a warning to his successor, who will need to actually achieve something if the UN's efforts to end oppression in Burma are not to lose what little credibility they have left.
The most important lesson to be learned from Gambari's failure is that it doesn't pay to play it safe.
In November 2007, the UN envoy earned some rare praise when he released a statement from Suu Kyi that she had given him during their meeting earlier in the month. Coming soon after Burma's worst political crisis in nearly two decades, the statement was carefully worded to avoid offending the Burmese generals. Nevertheless, the regime latched onto Gambari's supposed breach of diplomatic protocol to accuse the UN of taking sides. When he returned to Burma the following March, he was roundly scolded by the regime's propaganda minister and denied an opportunity to meet with junta chief Snr-Gen Than Shwe.
Sadly, this experience appears to have stayed with Gambari, weakening his resolve to broach sensitive issues with the regime. By allowing himself to be cowed, he lost the confidence of the Burmese people, who began to feel that he was merely going through the motions. If, however, he had been prepared to take more flak for the sake of fulfilling his stated mission, he would at least have given them some hope that the UN was taking the country's problems seriously, and might even have stood a chance of making some headway with the generals.
Now that he is leaving Burma, we can only wish him the best of luck with his new posting. The people of Darfur, like the people of Burma, certainly need all the support the international community can give them. But if all he is doing is adding another high-profile assignment to his already impressive resume, perhaps he should consider leaving the job to someone who has the passion to do it properly.
An Extraordinary Vote in Switzerland!!! The Swiss Vote To Protect Diversity From The Threat Of Radical Islam! WOW Thank You Switzerland...
The effect of the Swiss vote could be summarized as follows: “We are going to protect diversity and freedom of religion by no longer surrendering to Islamist intolerance of diversity and freedom of religion.” [This deserves to be highlighted twice because this statement hits the nail on the head.]
Wow! This is AMAZING news. Switzerland is the first country in the world to take a stand against radical islam. I hope with all my heart that the rest of the countries follow suit. I have taken the following from an email I received from Act! for America sharing this fantastic information with me:
How did one of the most tolerant countries in the world reach the point where over 57% of its people voted for a constitutional amendment to ban the construction of minaret towers on mosques?
Couple this surprise vote with the public statements opposing the burqa by Sarkozy in France and the growing strength of Geert Wilders’ political party in the Netherlands, and it would appear Western Europe is indeed waking up to the threat of radical, political Islam.
Two items stand out in the story below (yellow highlights added). First, the vote in favor of the constitutional amendment was 20 points higher than polls were predicting. This means people were not telling the truth to pollsters, most likely out of deference to political correctness. But when they had a chance to cast a private vote, their true feelings were revealed.
Second, the political party that brought the referendum to a vote seems to have focused on the threat of political Islam and shariah law. It would appear that Swiss voters were able to distinguish the threat of political Islam and its shariah law from the practice of religion—which is what Americans are going to have to do if we are to protect our security and freedoms.
The effect of the Swiss vote could be summarized as follows: “We are going to protect diversity and freedom of religion by no longer surrendering to Islamist intolerance of diversity and freedom of religion.”
Contrast this with the astonishing words of Gen. George Casey, in response to the Ft. Hood terrorist atrocity perpetrated by jihadist Nidal Hasan:
"What happened at Fort Hood was a tragedy, but I believe it would be an even greater tragedy if our diversity becomes a casualty here."
More and more Europeans are realizing that, in order to protect diversity, political Islam and creeping shariah must be stopped. They are realizing that “diversity” is a casualty in any society that embraces or tolerates political Islam and shariah law.
For what could be more antithetical to diversity than a supremacist political ideology bent on imposing its will, its god, and its law, on all “infidels,” through any means necessary?
This is the hard truth many in Europe are finally coming to realize.
How did one of the most tolerant countries in the world reach the point where over 57% of its people voted for a constitutional amendment to ban the construction of minaret towers on mosques?
Couple this surprise vote with the public statements opposing the burqa by Sarkozy in France and the growing strength of Geert Wilders’ political party in the Netherlands, and it would appear Western Europe is indeed waking up to the threat of radical, political Islam.
Two items stand out in the story below (yellow highlights added). First, the vote in favor of the constitutional amendment was 20 points higher than polls were predicting. This means people were not telling the truth to pollsters, most likely out of deference to political correctness. But when they had a chance to cast a private vote, their true feelings were revealed.
Second, the political party that brought the referendum to a vote seems to have focused on the threat of political Islam and shariah law. It would appear that Swiss voters were able to distinguish the threat of political Islam and its shariah law from the practice of religion—which is what Americans are going to have to do if we are to protect our security and freedoms.
The effect of the Swiss vote could be summarized as follows: “We are going to protect diversity and freedom of religion by no longer surrendering to Islamist intolerance of diversity and freedom of religion.”
Contrast this with the astonishing words of Gen. George Casey, in response to the Ft. Hood terrorist atrocity perpetrated by jihadist Nidal Hasan:
"What happened at Fort Hood was a tragedy, but I believe it would be an even greater tragedy if our diversity becomes a casualty here."
More and more Europeans are realizing that, in order to protect diversity, political Islam and creeping shariah must be stopped. They are realizing that “diversity” is a casualty in any society that embraces or tolerates political Islam and shariah law.
For what could be more antithetical to diversity than a supremacist political ideology bent on imposing its will, its god, and its law, on all “infidels,” through any means necessary?
This is the hard truth many in Europe are finally coming to realize.
************************************************************************
The Associated Press
Swiss ban mosque minarets in surprise vote
written by Alexander G. Higgins
Sunday November 29, 2009 6:40 pm ET
GENEVA – Swiss voters overwhelmingly approved a constitutional ban on minarets on Sunday, barring construction of the iconic mosque towers in a surprise vote that put Switzerland at the forefront of a European backlash against a growing Muslim population.
Muslim groups in Switzerland and abroad condemned the vote as biased and anti-Islamic. Business groups said the decision hurt Switzerland's international standing and could damage relations with Muslim nations and wealthy investors who bank, travel and shop there.
"The Swiss have failed to give a clear signal for diversity, freedom of religion and human rights," said Omar Al-Rawi, integration representative of the Islamic Denomination in Austria, which said its reaction was "grief and deep disappointment."
About 300 people turned out for a spontaneous demonstration on the square outside parliament, holding up signs saying, "That is not my Switzerland," placing candles in front of a model of a minaret and making another minaret shape out of the candles themselves.
"We're sorry," said another sign. A young woman pinned to her jacket a piece of paper saying, "Swiss passport for sale."
The referendum by the nationalist Swiss People's Party labeled minarets as symbols of rising Muslim political power that could one day transform Switzerland into an Islamic nation. The initiative was approved 57.5 to 42.5 percent by some 2.67 million voters. Only four of the 26 cantons or states opposed the initiative, granting the double approval that makes it part of the Swiss constitution.
Muslims comprise about 6 percent of Switzerland's 7.5 million people. Many are refugees from the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s and about one in 10 actively practices their religion, the government says.
The country's four standing minarets, which won't be affected by the ban, do not traditionally broadcast the call to prayer outside their own buildings.
The sponsors of the initiative provoked complaints of bias from local officials and human-rights group with campaign posters that showed minarets rising like missiles from the Swiss flag next to a fully veiled woman. Backers said the growing Muslim population was straining the country "because Muslims don't just practice religion."
"The minaret is a sign of political power and demand, comparable with whole-body covering by the burqa, tolerance of forced marriage and genital mutilation of girls," the sponsors said. They said Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan compared mosques to Islam's military barracks and called "the minarets our bayonets." [Editor’s note: Najmadin Erbakan, former Prime Minister of Turkey, is on record stating “…we are coming here [to Germany] to take control of your country…”] Erdogan made the comment in citing an Islamic poem many years before he became prime minister.
Anxieties about growing Muslim minorities have rippled across Europe in recent years, leading to legal changes in some countries. There have been French moves to ban the full-length body covering known as the burqa. Some German states have introduced bans on head scarves for Muslim women teaching in public schools. Mosques and minaret construction projects in Sweden, France, Italy, Austria, Greece, Germany and Slovenia have been met by protests.
But the Swiss ban in minarets, sponsored by the country's largest political party, was one of the most extreme reactions.
Swiss ban mosque minarets in surprise vote
written by Alexander G. Higgins
Sunday November 29, 2009 6:40 pm ET
GENEVA – Swiss voters overwhelmingly approved a constitutional ban on minarets on Sunday, barring construction of the iconic mosque towers in a surprise vote that put Switzerland at the forefront of a European backlash against a growing Muslim population.
Muslim groups in Switzerland and abroad condemned the vote as biased and anti-Islamic. Business groups said the decision hurt Switzerland's international standing and could damage relations with Muslim nations and wealthy investors who bank, travel and shop there.
"The Swiss have failed to give a clear signal for diversity, freedom of religion and human rights," said Omar Al-Rawi, integration representative of the Islamic Denomination in Austria, which said its reaction was "grief and deep disappointment."
About 300 people turned out for a spontaneous demonstration on the square outside parliament, holding up signs saying, "That is not my Switzerland," placing candles in front of a model of a minaret and making another minaret shape out of the candles themselves.
"We're sorry," said another sign. A young woman pinned to her jacket a piece of paper saying, "Swiss passport for sale."
The referendum by the nationalist Swiss People's Party labeled minarets as symbols of rising Muslim political power that could one day transform Switzerland into an Islamic nation. The initiative was approved 57.5 to 42.5 percent by some 2.67 million voters. Only four of the 26 cantons or states opposed the initiative, granting the double approval that makes it part of the Swiss constitution.
Muslims comprise about 6 percent of Switzerland's 7.5 million people. Many are refugees from the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s and about one in 10 actively practices their religion, the government says.
The country's four standing minarets, which won't be affected by the ban, do not traditionally broadcast the call to prayer outside their own buildings.
The sponsors of the initiative provoked complaints of bias from local officials and human-rights group with campaign posters that showed minarets rising like missiles from the Swiss flag next to a fully veiled woman. Backers said the growing Muslim population was straining the country "because Muslims don't just practice religion."
"The minaret is a sign of political power and demand, comparable with whole-body covering by the burqa, tolerance of forced marriage and genital mutilation of girls," the sponsors said. They said Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan compared mosques to Islam's military barracks and called "the minarets our bayonets." [Editor’s note: Najmadin Erbakan, former Prime Minister of Turkey, is on record stating “…we are coming here [to Germany] to take control of your country…”] Erdogan made the comment in citing an Islamic poem many years before he became prime minister.
Anxieties about growing Muslim minorities have rippled across Europe in recent years, leading to legal changes in some countries. There have been French moves to ban the full-length body covering known as the burqa. Some German states have introduced bans on head scarves for Muslim women teaching in public schools. Mosques and minaret construction projects in Sweden, France, Italy, Austria, Greece, Germany and Slovenia have been met by protests.
But the Swiss ban in minarets, sponsored by the country's largest political party, was one of the most extreme reactions.
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