Tag: Six In The Morning

U.S. Plans No Charges Over Deadly Strike in Pakistan

 By ERIC SCHMITT

WASHINGTON – The United States military has decided that no service members will face disciplinary charges for their involvement in a NATO airstrike in November that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers, an accident that plunged relations between the two countries to new depths and has greatly complicated the allied mission in Afghanistan.

An American investigation in December found fault with both American and Pakistani troops for the deadly exchange of fire, but noted that the Pakistanis fired first from two border posts that were not on coalition maps, and that they kept firing even after the Americans tried to warn them that they were shooting at allied troops. Pakistan has rejected these conclusions and ascribed most of the blame to the American forces.

U.S. Faces a Tricky Task in Assessment of Data on Iran

By JAMES RISEN

While American spy agencies have believed that the Iranians halted efforts to build a nuclear bomb back in 2003, the difficulty in assessing the government’s ambitions was evident two years ago, when what appeared to be alarming new intelligence emerged, according to current and former United States officials.

Intercepted communications of Iranian officials discussing their nuclear program raised concerns that the country’s leaders had decided to revive efforts to develop a weapon, intelligence officials said.

That, along with a stream of other information, set off an intensive review and delayed publication of the 2010 National Intelligence Estimate, a classified report reflecting the consensus of analysts from 16 agencies. But in the end, they deemed the intercepts and other evidence unpersuasive, and they stuck to their longstanding conclusion.

 Japan remembers earthquake, tsunami with silence, rallies

 Year after 16,000 killed, country grapples with the human, economic and political toll

 msnbc.com news services

With a minute of silence, prayers and anti-nuclear rallies, Japan marked on Sunday the first anniversary of an earthquake and tsunami that killed thousands and set off a radiation crisis that shattered public trust in atomic power and the nation’s leaders.

A year after the magnitude 9.0 earthquake unleashed a wall of water that hit Japan’s northeast coast, killing nearly 16,000 and leaving nearly 3,300 unaccounted for, the country is still grappling with the human, economic and political costs.

U.S. officials: Iran is stepping up lethal aid to Syria

By Joby Warrick and Liz Sly, Sunday, March 4, 10:41 AM

U.S. officials say they see Iran’s hand in the increasingly brutal crackdown on opposition strongholds in Syria, including evidence of Iranian military and intelligence support for government troops accused of mass executions and other atrocities in the past week.

Three U.S. officials with access to intelligence reports from the region described a spike in Iran­ian-supplied arms and other aid for Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad at a time when the regime is mounting an unprecedented offensive to crush resistance in the key city of Homs.

Report: Afghan police officer sought in US slayings

 By NBC News, msnbc.com and news services

A police intelligence officer was the “main suspect” in the alarmingly brazen killing of two senior U.S. Army officers at Afghanistan’s Interior Ministry, sources told BBC News on Sunday.

Abdul Saboor, 25, fled the ministry after the slayings on Saturday, counter-terrorism officials told the BBC. His family home in Parwan province in the northeast of the country had been raided and his family in Kabul detained, the BBC reported.

A gunman shot dead two American military officials – a lieutenant colonel and a major – inside the heavily guarded ministry in the center of the capital as protests raged across the country for a fifth day over the burning of the Muslim holy book at a NATO base.

 Palestinian’s Trial Shines Light on Military Justice

 

    By ISABEL KERSHNER

NABI SALEH, West Bank – A year ago, Islam Dar Ayyoub was a sociable ninth grader and a good student, according to his father, Saleh, a Palestinian laborer in this small village near Ramallah.

Then, one night in January 2011, about 20 Israeli soldiers surrounded the dilapidated Dar Ayyoub home and pounded vigorously on the door. Islam, who was 14 at the time, said he thought they had come for his older brother. Instead, they had come for him. He was blindfolded, handcuffed and whisked away in a jeep.

  Risks of Afghan War Shift From Soldiers to Contractors

 By ROD NORDLAND

This is a war where traditional military jobs, from mess hall cooks to base guards and convoy drivers, have increasingly been shifted to the private sector. Many American generals and diplomats have private contractors for their personal bodyguards. And along with the risks have come the consequences: More civilian contractors working for American companies than American soldiers died in Afghanistan last year for the first time during the war.

American employers here are under no obligation to publicly report the deaths of their employees and frequently do not. While the military announces the names of all its war dead, private companies routinely notify only family members. Most of the contractors die unheralded and uncounted – and in some cases, leave their survivors uncompensated.

Veto on Syria stokes Arab and Western fury

Russian and Chinese vetoes at UN dubbed as “betrayal of Syrian people” amid fresh calls for President Assad to step down

Last Modified: 05 Feb 2012 08:37

Western and Arab powers have reacted angrily to Russia and China’s veto of a Security Council resolution on the Syria crisis, but Moscow and Beijing insisted the text had needed more work.

Russia and China on Saturday vetoed a UN Security Council resolution condemning the Syrian government’s deadly crackdown despite reports by Syrian activists that troops overnight had killed scores of civilians in the city of Homs.

Thirteen countries voted for the resolution proposed by European and Arab nations to give strong backing to the Arab League’s plan to end the violence in Syria that has claimed thousands of lives across the country since March 2011.

 Hundreds arrested at Occupy Oakland; protesters break into City Hall

By NBC News, msnbc.com staff and news services

Sgt. Christopher Bolton of the Oakland Police Department told msnbc.com that the number arrested was likely between 200 and 300. “We are still processing the arrests,” he said. He was speaking after the release of a statement on the Oakland City website that put the number of arrests at 200. “That figure is probably on the low side and we don’t have a confirmed total yet,” said. Sgt Bolton. In the statement, released in a PDF file format, Oakland Mayor Jean Quan said: “Once again, a violent splinter group of the Occupy Movement is engaging in violent actions against Oakland. The Bay Area Occupy Movement has got to stop using Oakland as their playground.” The statement also said there were reports of damage to exhibits inside City Hall during the protest.

Gingrich wins South Carolina primary  

Former US house speaker raises the possibility of a lengthy campaign by beating the Republicans’ favourite, Romney.

Last Modified: 22 Jan 2012 07:30

Gingrich, the former speaker of the House of Representatives, took roughly 40 per cent of the vote. His victory means that three different candidates have won the first three contests in the state-by-state Republican primary, reflecting a party electorate that has yet to make up its mind.

Rick Santorum, a former senator from Pennsylvania, won the Iowa caucuses on January 3, and Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, won the New Hampshire primary on January 10.

Speaking at a late-night victory rally in Greenville on Saturday, Gingrich complimented his rivals before laying into Obama, whom he called a “radical” who would transform the United States into a European-style socialist state.

Programming prodigy passes away at 16: Hear her philosophy of life

By Todd Bishop

Arfa Karim Randhawa, the computer programming prodigy who became the world’s youngest Microsoft Certified Professional at 9 years old, has passed away at the age of 16, according to reports out of her native Pakistan this weekend.

She had been in the hospital for nearly a month after reportedly suffering an epileptic seizure and cardiac arrest. Two weeks ago her outlook appeared to improve. In recent weeks, Microsoft had stepped in to help provide expert medical care.

Blacks in New Orleans cry foul over French Quarter curfew

The City Council says stricter rules are meant to protect kids, but critics accuse members of wanting to keep low-income blacks out of sight of tourists.

By Richard Fausset, Los Angeles Times

Reporting from Atlanta– From a distance, it seemed like common sense: an ordinance meant to keep children away from an open-air night-life zone with more than 350 places to buy booze, an abundance of strip joints and a 300-year-old reputation for iniquity.

But last week, as the New Orleans City Council approved a strict curfew for youths 16 and younger in the French Quarter, it sparked an incendiary debate that laid bare some of the tensions over race and police priorities that the Louisiana city – which suffers from the nation’s highest per capita murder rate – is struggling to resolve as it navigates its post-Hurricane Katrina future.