| Guantanamo prosecutor makes case for military trials Posted: 03 Nov 2013 02:30 PM PST  Guantanamo Bay Naval Base (Cuba) (AFP) - Guantanamo Bay's chief prosecutor fights tooth and nail to defend its much maligned military tribunals, saying they are the "only lawful path" for those suspected of plotting the September 11 attacks. "I'm committed to make that trial the fairest possible trial and to achieve accountability under law," Brigadier General Mark Martins said about plans to try the five suspects who so far have only gone through preliminary hearings. Speaking during an exclusive interview on the US naval base in Cuba, the tall and slender general said the law stipulates that prosecutors turn to special military tribunals to handle the cases of the prison's detainees. "This forum that you're witnessing here is the only lawful path forward for a criminal trial of the five accused in this case and any individual in Guantanamo under US law," Martins said on the sidelines of proceedings late last month.
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| Mitt Romney says Obamacare has ruined Obama's second term. Is he right? Posted: 03 Nov 2013 01:06 PM PST And George W. Bush saw his approval rating drop from 45 to 28 percent as the economy crashed and the war in Iraq lingered. With ill-disguised glee, Mr. Obama's opponent in the 2012 presidential election, Mitt Romney, told NBC's "Meet the Press" Sunday that the Obamacare debacle "has undermined the foundation of [Obama's] second term." Specifically, Mr. Romney was referring to the promises made by Obama that Americans who liked their current policy could keep it – something that is proving untrue for 7 million to 10 million people. Still, there is perhaps a bit too much truth in Romney's statement for Obama's liking. |
| France: Journalists killed in Mali were shot Posted: 03 Nov 2013 12:16 PM PST  PARIS (AP) — Two veteran French journalists kidnapped and killed in northern Mali were shot to death, French authorities said Sunday, as questions emerged about how the gunmen managed to carry out the attack near a town where both French troops and U.N. forces are based.
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| Solar eclipse sweeps Africa, Europe and US Posted: 03 Nov 2013 12:08 PM PST Africans were treated Sunday to a spectacular solar eclipse that swept across the continent, while sky-gazers in the United States and Europe also glimpsed the rare phenomenon. A total eclipse could be seen over parts of Africa and one of the best views was in northern Kenya's Sibiloi national park, where a few hundred tourists gathered on the edge of the desert lake Turkana. Sky-gazers in Gabon, Congo, Uganda and Ethiopia were also treated to the total eclipse. It's magnificent," said Clarence Diledou, who lives of Gabon's port town of Port-Gentil. |
| Suicide blasts rock police HQ in central Iraq Posted: 03 Nov 2013 10:40 AM PST  Baquba (Iraq) (AFP) - At least three suicide bombings struck a police headquarters in the restive central Iraqi city of Baquba on Sunday, killing three policemen, security and medical officials said. An initial car bomb was detonated by a suicide bomber outside the headquarters of a police battalion in Mafreq, and in the ensuing chaos, another suicide bomber blew himself up. Officials said security forces were chasing a fourth bomber as well.
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| Syrian army and allies push into southern Damascus: activists Posted: 03 Nov 2013 09:08 AM PST  By Khaled Yacoub Oweis AMMAN (Reuters) - Syrian army and Shi'ite Muslim fighters attacked Sunni rebel areas in southern Damascus on Sunday in an offensive aimed at breaking resistance to President Bashar al-Assad around the capital, activists said. Militia from Iran and Iraq and the Lebanese Shi'ite group Hezbollah, who overran two southern suburbs last month, are looking to build up their advances by capturing opposition districts closer to the center of Damascus, the sources said. Fighters from the al-Qaeda linked al-Nusra Front and the Islamic State for Iraq and the Levant, which is heavily comprised of foreign jihadists, have joined Islamist rebel brigades and Free Syrian Army units in close quarters fighting around the district of Hajar al-Aswad. It is one of a series of Sunni districts on the edge of Damascus at the forefront of the uprising against Assad, who belongs to the Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam that has dominated Syria since the 1960s.
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| Mortar hits near Damascus citadel: monitor Posted: 03 Nov 2013 08:55 AM PST  A mortar round hit near the ancient citadel in the heart of the Syrian capital on Sunday, while fierce clashes raged in several Damascus neighbourhoods, a monitoring group said. "A mortar landed near the Damascus citadel wounding several people, while another fell near the Dweila district (in the southeast), setting fire to a textile plant," said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Fighting raged in Barzeh in the north of Damascus, according to the Observatory, which relies on a network of activists, lawyers and doctors for its reports. In southern Damascus, fighting pitted rebels against troops backed by Lebanese Shiite Hezbollah fighters and pro-regime militiamen in Al-Hajar Al-Aswad, according to the Syrian Revolution General Commission, a network of activists on the ground.
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| Jordan king calls for reform as opposition simmers Posted: 03 Nov 2013 08:43 AM PST  AMMAN, Jordan (AP) — Jordan's King Abdullah II promised lawmakers Sunday to speed up reforms slowed by unrest across the Middle East, though the kingdom's weakened opposition accused him of finding excuses to hold onto the monarchy's absolute power.
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| Iran envoy elected to lead gas-producing bloc Posted: 03 Nov 2013 07:25 AM PST A former head of Iran's central bank was elected Sunday to head a 13-nation bloc of gas-producing countries as Tehran looks beyond its sanctions-hit crude oil sales to bring in vital revenue and explore ... |
| French minister: journalists shot to death in Mali Posted: 03 Nov 2013 05:38 AM PST PARIS (AP) — Two French journalists kidnapped and killed in northern Mali were shot to death and their bodies were found near the car that sped them to their doom, French foreign minister said Sunday. |
| King says Syria refugee influx depleting Jordan Posted: 03 Nov 2013 01:23 AM PDT  King Abdullah II said Sunday the influx of hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees is depleting Jordan's scarce natural resources, and called for international assistance to deal with the problem. "Jordan currently hosts around 600,000 Syrian refugees -- an issue that depletes our already limited resources and puts enormous pressure on our infrastructure," the king said in a speech to parliament. "If the international community does not move quickly to help us shoulder the burdens of the Syrian crisis... Jordan is able to take measures to protect the interests of our people and country," he said without elaborating. The monarch said that since the start of the Syria conflict, Jordan had stuck to a policy of supporting a political solution that preserves the war-hit country's unity and territorial integrity, as well security in the region.
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| Officials: 2 French journalists killed in Mali Posted: 02 Nov 2013 09:23 PM PDT DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Gunmen abducted and killed two French radio journalists on assignment in northern Mali, French and Malian officials said. It was not immediately clear who carried out the killings, though suspicion quickly fell on al-Qaida's branch in the region. |
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