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Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Baltimore looked more like 1968 As Violence Ravaged

Photo by Bishop M. Cromartie via Facebook
Violence ravaged the city Monday evening following the funeral of Freddie Gray — the 25-year-old who died from a spinal-cord injury in police custody earlier this month — with looting, burning, smashing and rock throwing carrying on well into the night. Governor Larry Hogan declared a state of emergency and, for the first time since the riots sparked by Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination 47 years ago, the Maryland National Guard was deployed to help city and state law enforcement quell the chaos. 
Simultaneously, many of Baltimore's religious leaders set out to promote peace from within the community.
Yahoo News was unable to reach Bishop M. Cromartie, but according to his Facebook profile, he is a senior pastor at Prophetic Deliverance Ministries Inc. and a resident of Baltimore.  The viral image of the little boy is one of a few photos and videos Cromartie has posted of the protests in Baltimore — both Monday night, before they were hijacked by violence, and Tuesday morning.
He has also used Facebook to urge fellow Baltimore clergy members to unite in the face of upheaval, posting messages such as: “Preachers of Baltimore need to come together and protect and cover our city!!!!!! NOW!!!” and “PLESE [sic] DO NOT USE THIS SITUATION TO GAIN PUBLICITY FOR YOU AND YOUR MINISTRY!!!!”
Like Ferguson, Mo., North Charleston, S.C., New York City and all the other cities that have experienced unrest following high-profile killings of unarmed black men by police in the past year, the outrage in Baltimore is seen as the eruption of long-simmering racial tensions and anger over police brutality. The Freddie Gray incident was just the boiling point.
Gray’s death — ike Michael Brown’s, Eric Garner’s and many others before them — might be an opportunity to finally address and tackle a national problem. Still, another kind of tension exists over how best to express that anger, with many people, including President Obama, condemning the kind of behavior that seared through Baltimore on Monday as “counterproductive.”
There’s been perhaps no better depiction of this frustration than the Baltimore riots’ other viral moment: The video of woman hitting her teenage son after realizing he was among the young people throwing rocks at police officers Monday.
In an interview with CBS News Tuesday, Toya Graham said she had one thing on her mind when she noticed her 16-year-old Michael among those antagonizing the cops — and it wasn’t whether or not she was on camera.
“That’s my only son, and at the end of the day I don’t want him to be a Freddie Gray,” Graham said. “But to stand up there and vandalize police officers, that’s not justice.”


Indonesia Convicts Sang Praise To God Pefore Execution

As they walked to face the firing squad on an Indonesian prison island, eight condemned drug traffickers defiantly sang praise to God, witnesses said, while in a town across the water a group of tearful supporters was also uniting in song.
The convicts -- two from Australia, one from Brazil, four from Africa and one Indonesian -- made the long journey from their cells to clearings on a prison island to meet their fate early Wednesday.
But rather than bow their heads in defeat and resignation, the convicts all reportedly refused blindfolds and raised their voices in song, including "Amazing Grace", until the gunfire from the firing squads rang out.
Religious counsellors, who were allowed to spend some time with the prisoners just before the executions, sang in unison with the convicts, continuing even after the men had been strapped to posts around four metres (13 feet apart) to be put to death, a priest said.
"When they were being put on the cross for execution they were singing on the crosses and we were in a tent not too far away from the execution place trying to support them," Father Charlie Burrows told News Corp Australia.
He said that the Australians, Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, seemed to have the loudest voices.
The husband of Pastor Christie Buckingham, who gave spiritual guidance to Sukumaran, said his wife told him the men conducted themselves with "dignity and strength until the end".
"She told me the eight of them walked out onto the killing field singing songs of praise," Rob Buckingham told an Australian radio station.
Across the water in the town of Cilacap, the final crossing point for inmates destined for death on the high-security Nusakambangan island, a small band of mourners held a candlelight vigil, and also sang "Amazing Grace".
The haunting sounds filled the night sky, drowning out the sobs of those too distressed to contemplate what was taking place in the jungle-clad hills of the prison island.
One man wailed loudly and implored Indonesian President Joko Widodo to have mercy. Another supporter read out the names of each inmate one by one.
Owen Pomana, a former convict turned pastor and friend of the Australian convicts, tried to buoy the spirits of those dwelling on the fate of the prisoners.
"Fear not, they have nothing to fear!" he declared of the condemned inmates.
Moments later, the eight inmates were dead, executed by 12-man firing squads after being tied to posts.
Just before dawn, their bodies returned from the island in coffins, some covered in embroidery.
Family members could be seen crying, ushered away by friends and supporters to begin the long journey to bury their loved ones.
Angelita Muxfeldt, the cousin of Brazilian inmate Rodrigo Gularte, wept as she was led through the large throng of onlookers by Father Burrows.
But others shed tears of joy. The family and friends of Filipina convict Mary Jane Veloso -- who was moments away from being executed with the others only to be granted a reprieve -- rushed to the port to embrace and express their disbelief.
Father Harold Toledano, a Filipino priest assisting the Veloso family throughout their plight, had been praying when he heard the good news.
"This is a miracle for us," he cried, as Veloso's lawyers and supporters celebrated. "It's like a resurrection for us. She is alive."
For the Chan and Sukumaran families, there was no such solace. They had lost their sons, their brothers, after begging for their lives to be spared at every possible opportunity.
"They asked for mercy, but there was none," the family said in a statement after the executions.

Monday, April 27, 2015

China: A Student Carries Disabled Friend To School Every Day For Three Years

Images posted to Weibo showed 18-year-old Xie Xu giving his disabled friend Zhang Chi lifts to schoolA teenager has been hailed as “the most beautiful student in China” after spending three years giving piggy-backs to his disabled friend so that he doesn’t have to miss a class.
The story of 18-year-old Xie Xu, who volunteered to look after his 19-year-old classmate Zhang Chi, has been shared widely on Chinese social media and received widespread local media coverage.
Guo Chunxi, the deputy headmaster at Daxu High School in Xuzhou, Jiangsu province, where the friends have studied together for the past three years, described the story as “so inspiring and touching”.
He said Xie had led by example in helping Zhang, who suffers from muscular dystrophy, a condition that gradually weakens skeletal muscle.
“They aren’t family, but Xie has been doing this for three years,” Guo said.
“He’s the most beautiful student. He also exerts positive influence on other students, who readily help Zhang. With their assistance, Zhang has never missed out on one single class.”
Images of the two friends posted to China’s Sina Weibo social network have been met with messages of support from members of the public – but Xie and Zhang won’t be travelling everywhere together for much longer.
Fellow Weibo users described dedicated friend Xie (right) as 'the most beautiful student in China'The headteacher at Xie Xu and Zhang Chi's school said the pair never missed a classAccording to Shanhaiist.com, Xie has applied to join the Nanjing Polytechnic Institute after he graduates from high school, and had an interview on 23 April.
In a month’s time, Zhang will sit China’s intensive college entrance exam, the gaokao, and success will see the friends going their separate ways.
The friends are coming to the end of high school and will soon go their separate waysAnd while their story has been described as heart-warming, it also raises the question of what happens to Zhang if Xie moves away.
According to the most recent human rights report on China from the US Department of State, there still remains a huge gulf in the country between the legal right for disabled people to be free from discrimination and the access to formal assistance programme that would grant them full independence.
“Nationwide, an estimated 243,000 school-age children with disabilities did not attend school,” the report found – perhaps because not everyone can have a friend like Xie.


Murder: A Woman Suffocate Her Newborn Baby In Plastic Bag And Put It In Her Desk Drawer

A woman has been charged with murder for allegedly suffocating her newborn baby in a plastic bag after giving birth in a bathroom.
Kimberley Pappas, 25, from Wyandotte in the US state of Michigan reportedly sealed her newborn son in a bag and hid him in a desk drawer after giving birth in the bathroom of the business Ceva Logistics according to US police.
The Detroit Free Press reports that Pappas told investigators that after giving birth, she cut the umbilical cord with nail scissors, returned to her desk and hid the baby.
According to Detective Sgt. Crittenden of the Redford Police department, the baby was in the bag for roughly 15 minutes to half an hour before firemen arrived and found the newborn, a boy, still warm in the desk drawer.
Employees had called the Fire Department after they had discovered blood in the bathroom of the business.
They attempted to resuscitate the baby but he was pronounced dead shortly after being taken to hospital.
Crittenden said that Pappas had told fellow employees that she had suffered a miscarriage, but the autopsy showed homicide by suffocation.
Pappas, who is said to have spoken few words whilst appearing in court, was refused bail by Judge Karen Khalil.
She faces charges of felony murder, premeditated murder and first-degree child abuse. She is to undergo a competency evaluation and will return to court on June 8.
Defending lawyer Rob Cassar told the Free Press following the court appearance that Pappas had been in therapy for mental health issue and that, if she had intended to murder the baby, she wouldn’t have done so at work.
He said that he didn’t know who the baby’s father was or whether he was aware of what had happened.
Pappas, who Crittenden said does not possess a criminal record, faces life in prison of convicted of murder.

Unknown Assailants shot At Lil Wayne's Tour Buses

Rapper Lil' WayneTour buses carrying hip hop star Lil Wayne and his entourage have been fired at multiple times, police have confirmed.
According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Cobb County police spokesman Elizabeth Espy said that officers were called to the Mandarin Oriental hotel on Peachtree Road at around 3:30 AM “regarding someone shooting at a bus that Lil Wayne was on.”
The officers said the two vehicles were carrying around a dozen passengers at the time of the shooting.
Espy said that the shots had been fired from two cars: “They were described as two white vehicles, possibly a Corvette-style vehicle and an SUV”.
The gunfire came just minutes after the rapper left the Compound Club while the buses were travelling out of Atlanta on Interstate 285.
No one is reported to be injured in the drive-by attack that followed a performance by the star at the Compound club venue.
TMZ has reported that Lil Wayne and a number of other executives from the artist’s record label, Young Money, were on board, including Lil Twist and Super Hood.
Police say that currently there are no suspects in the shooting.
This comes a month after a report of gunfire at the artist’s home in Miami, Florida, was revealed by police to have been a prank.

Nepal: Earthquake Was Equivalent To 20 Huge Atomic Bombs

More than 3,300 are dead and 6,500 people injured after an earthquake in Nepal devastated the heavily crowded Kathmandu valley. The most recent updates are:

Nepal has been hit by a number of earthquakes over the years, as you might expect given its proximity to Everest and the world’s tallest mountain range created by the collision of two giant tectonic plates.
Earthquake hits NepalBut this time, the devastation was much greater than usual, as the country fell victim to its biggest seismic event in 80 years.
The first problem was the power of the quake, coming in at magnitude 7.8, which one expert described as similar to having 20 thermonuclear hydrogen bombs – each many times greater than the atomic bomb that devastated Hiroshima – ripping through the Kathmandu Valley.
Second, the epicentre of the earthquake was only 40 miles to the north-west of the most highly populated part of Nepal, the capital city of Kathmandu.
Further compounding the impact was the shallowness of the earthquake, at just 10 to 15km below ground, meaning that the shaking was felt much more strongly. Deeper quakes have more earth to absorb the shaking.
Earthquakes are typically followed by a flurry of aftershocks, which tend to reduce in strength and frequency as time goes on. These can be felt hundreds of miles away. One such aftershock occurred  just half an hour after the main earthquake, with a magnitude of 6.6, and more than 20 others have followed since.
The concern is that, although the magnitudes deteriorate, they can continue to inflict significant damage on buildings already weakened by previous activity.
Earthquake hits NepalEarthquake hits NepalNepal is particularly susceptible to earthquakes because of its position at the junction of the two giant tectonic plates that push Everest and the rest of the Himalayan mountain range a few millimetres higher every year.
Earthquake hits NepalEarthquake hits NepalThe upward climb of the world’s highest mountain range is accompanied by numerous tremors as one giant slab of rock – the Indian tectonic plate – moves northwards at a rate of two inches a year, pressing up against another great slab – the Eurasian tectonic plate – in the process, which geologically speaking is very fast.
As the plates push against each other, friction generates stress and energy that builds until the earth’s crust ruptures. It is this movement that triggered the quake.
However, although the quake has caused colossal damage, it could have been even worse. Most areas touched by the earthquake lie on solid bedrock, which to an extent limits the amount of shaking – with the exception of the Northern Plains, near the Nepalese border, where the surface sands and silts shook more than the solid rock elsewhere.


Friday, April 24, 2015

Chechnya: Ramzan Kadyrov Gives Order To Shoot Kill Russian forces

Image result for Ramzan KadyrovImage result for Ramzan KadyrovMoscow (AFP) - Chechen leader on Thursday ordered his troops to "shoot to kill" if they encountered any unauthorised Russian forces on the territory of the small republic in the volatile North Caucasus region.
Russia's interior ministry called the remarks "unacceptable", while a spokesman for President Vladimir Putin declined to respond directly to the Chechen leader's remarks.
"We have seen it. We have heard it. We have read it. I will not be making any comment," spokesman Dmitri Peskov was quoted as saying by RIA Novosti agency.
Kadyrov, 38, has ruled Chechnya with an iron fist since being installed by Putin in 2007, and has helped the Kremlin battle an Islamist insurgency in the North Caucasus.
But the former rebel -- accused by human rights groups of overseeing torture, extrajudicial executions and corruption -- has shown an increased readiness in recent months to challenge Putin's authority.
In one notable run-in in December, Putin criticised Kadyrov for saying that families of Islamist insurgents would be punished for a deadly rebel attack on the Chechen capital Grozny.
Putin at the time said Kadyrov had no right to make such declarations and said "everyone in Russia must observe the laws".

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Yemen: Strikes Show Arab Resolve To Act Alone

     Saudi Arabia's military intervention in neighboring Yemen shows that the Sunni monarchy will stand up to Iran and that Arab states can protect their interests without U.S. leadership, the kingdom's ambassador to Britain said.
    Prince Mohammed bin Nawaf also said that the Saudi-led coalition that has waged four weeks of air strikes against Shi'ite Houthi fighters in Yemen had met its goals and could be a model for future joint Arab action.
    The coalition announced a halt to its aerial campaign on Tuesday, but said it would continue to act as needed against Houthi rebels who control the capital Sanaa and have been fighting to take over the southern port of Aden.
    The traditionally cautious kingdom says it launched the air strikes because its regional rival Iran had been training, arming and financing the Houthis, extending Tehran's influence in the Arab world to Saudi Arabia's southern border.
    Shi'ite Iran denies supporting the Houthis militarily and has sharply criticized Saudi Arabia's campaign.
    "Iran should not have any say in Yemeni affairs. They are not part of the Arab world," Prince Mohammed told Reuters in an interview in the Saudi embassy in London. "Their interference has ignited instability, they have created havoc in our part of the world and we've seen the events that took place because of their malignant policies."
    "Hence you have the coalition and a new foreign policy for all of us. We want an Arab world free of any outside interference," the prince said. "We can deal with our own problems."
    The military campaign put an end to "the perception that we were not capable, not able, that we didn't have the guts to take such difficult decisions," he said.
    Washington has played a limited support role in the four-week campaign, reflecting President Barack Obama's wariness over U.S. military commitments in the Middle East, although it has accelerated some arms supplies, bolstered intelligence sharing and offered aerial refueling of Arab coalition jets.
    "The Obama doctrine is very clear," Prince Mohammed said. "This is a friendship which is historical, which will continue, but we have to assert ourselves. Not only Saudi Arabia, but Arab countries. It has to be collective."
    The air strikes, which involved more than 2,400 sorties by Saudi jets and their Arab allies, have failed to drive the Houthis out of Aden. But they have struck weapons depots, disrupted supply lines and weakened the Houthis and their allies in the southern provinces of the country.
    Saudi Arabia has demanded the return of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, who fled the country a month ago, and implementation of a U.N. resolution calling for the Houthis to withdraw from Aden and Sanaa.
    Prince Mohammed said the campaign was now in a new phase.
    "This is not a ceasefire, but an operation that shifts from being a strategic bombing campaign to one that will support, monitor and sustain the new political agreement that is currently being negotiated based on the UN resolution," he said.
    Former Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh, an ally of the Shi'ite Houthis, welcomed the declared end of air strikes and called for renewed political dialogue to guide the country out of turmoil.
    "We hope this will mark the end of the option of force, violence and bloodshed and a start for reviewing accounts and correcting mistakes," Saleh said.
    Although the nearly month-old campaign has been waged by Sunni Arab allies against the Shi'ite Houthis, the Saudi ambassador said the dispute was about foreign policy differences, not religious sectarianism.
    "It is a foreign policy problem. We have a problem with their (Iran's) foreign policy," he said.
    "When we deal with Israel, for example, we have a problem with their policy. But we don't have a problem with their religion. Our dealings with Iran is with their foreign policy.

Monday, April 20, 2015

ISIS Kills Ethiopian Christians In Libya

    Image result for ISIL Kills Ethiopian Christians In LibyaIslamic State militants in Libya shot and beheaded groups of captive Ethiopian Christians, a video purportedly from the extremists showed Sunday. The attack widens the circle of nations affected by the group's atrocities while showing its growth beyond a self-declared caliphate in Syria and Iraq.
    The release of the 29-minute video comes a day after Afghanistan's president blamed the extremists for a suicide attack in his country that killed at least 35 people — and underscores the chaos gripping Libya after its 2011 civil war and the killing of dictator Moammar Gadhafi.
    Image result for ISIL Kills Ethiopian Christians In LibyaIt also mirrored a film released in February showing militants beheading 21 captured Egyptian Christians on a Libyan beach, which immediately drew Egyptian airstrikes on the group's suspected positions in Libya. Whether Ethiopia would — or could — respond with similar military force remains unclear.
    Ethiopia long has drawn the anger of Islamic extremists over its military's attacks on neighboring Somalia, whose population is almost entirely Muslim. While the militant in the video at one point said "Muslim blood that was shed under the hands of your religion is not cheap," it did not specifically mention the Ethiopian government's actions.
    The video, released via militant social media accounts and websites, could not be independently verified by The Associated Press. However, it corresponded to other videos released by the Islamic State group and bore the symbol of its al-Furqan media arm.
    The video starts with what it called a history of Christian-Muslim relations, followed by scenes of militants destroying churches, graves and icons. A masked fighter brandishing a pistol delivers a long statement, saying Christians must convert to Islam or pay a special tax prescribed by the Quran.
    It shows one group of captives, identified as Ethiopian Christians, purportedly held by an Islamic State affiliate in eastern Libya known as Barqa Province. It also shows another purportedly held by an affiliate in the southern Libyan calling itself the Fazzan Province. The video then switches between footage of the captives in the south being shot dead and the captives in the east being beheaded on a beach. It was not immediately possible to estimate how many captives were killed or confirm their identities.
    In Ethiopia, government spokesman Redwan Hussein said officials were in contact with its embassy in Cairo to verify the video's authenticity. Hussein said he believed those killed likely were Ethiopian migrants hoping to reach Europe. Libya has become a hub for migrants across Africa hoping to cross the Mediterranean to enter Europe for work and better lives.
    "If this is confirmed, it will be a warning to people who wish to risk and travel to Europe though the dangerous route," Hussein said.
    Abba Kaletsidk Mulugeta, an official with the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahdo Church's Patriarchate Office, told the AP he also believed the victims likely were migrants.
    "I believe this is just another case of the IS group killing Christians in the name of Islam. Our fellow citizens have just been killed on a faith-based violence that is totally unacceptable. This is outrageous," Mulugeta said. "No religion orders the killing of other people, even people from another religion."
    Ethiopia's options to retaliate remain slim, given its distance from Libya. However, Egyptian Ambassador to Ethiopia Mohammed Edrees said his country could partner with Addis Ababa to strike the militants.
    "That could be an option," Edrees told the AP. "We will see and explore what is possible to deal with group."
    Edrees said Ethiopian officials had yet to approach Egypt to discuss the idea.
    After the February killings of the Coptic Christians, Egypt's military responded with airstrikes targeting the militant stronghold of Darna. It has not launched further strikes, though its president is trying to form a pan-Arab military force to respond to extremist threats in the region.
    The Islamic State group, which grew out of al-Qaida's former Iraqi affiliate, now holds about a third of Iraq and Syria in its self-declared caliphate. It's called on Muslims across the world to join it. Its online videos and propaganda, including scenes of its mass killings and beheadings, have caught the attention of many extremists
    Its influence has grown since it seized large areas of Iraq last summer. Insurgents in Egypt's strategic Sinai Peninsula also have pledged to the group, while another purported affiliate in Yemen claimed a series of suicide bombings in March that killed at least 137 people. On Saturday, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani blamed an affiliate in his country for an attack on a bank branch in the country's east that killed 35 people and wounded 125. An affiliate also operates in Pakistan.
    However, it remains unclear what kind of central command-and-control structure the Islamic State group operates.
    "The Islamic State in Libya is still focused on this consolidation phase of announcing its presence through these very high-profile executions," said Frederic Wehrey, a senior associate for the Middle East Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "But they face some structural limits in terms of how much local support they can get because they haven't captured real revenue streams."
    Meanwhile Sunday, the U.S.-led coalition said Kurdish forces recaptured 11 villages in Iraq's Kirkuk province from the Islamic State group following days of intense clashes. The coalition said the area of about 25 square miles (65 square kilometers) was south of the city of Kirkuk.
    The coalition also said Sunday that Iraqi forces had full control over the country's Beiji oil refinery, the nation's largest. Islamic State group fighters had been targeting it for days in attacks and briefly held a small portion of the sprawling complex.
    In Anbar province, the extremists recently captured three villages near the city of Ramadi and remain locked in heavy clashes with Iraqi troops. More than 90,000 people have fled the militant's advance there, a United Nations humanitarian agency said.
    "Our top priority is delivering life-saving assistance to people who are fleeing — food, water and shelter are highest on the list of priorities," said Lise Grande, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Iraq. "Seeing people carrying what little they can and rushing for safety is heart-breaking."
    Iraqi troops backed by Shiite militias and U.S.-led airstrikes managed to dislodge the Islamic State group from the northern city of Tikrit earlier this month. But the troops have struggled against the militants in Anbar, which saw some of the heaviest fighting of the eight-year U.S. military occupation that ended in 2011.