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MEAN STREETS MEDIA
Monday, December 30, 2013
Russia ( 17 killed " Terrorist target Olympic Games " ) Danger alert
Another deadly blast has rocked the Russian city of Volgograd, killing at least 14 people aboard a trolleybus during today's morning commute. The explosion comes a day after a suicide bombing in the city killed at least 17 people and injured more than 40.
The explosions raised concerns about terrorism six weeks before Russia hosts the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi.
At least 14 people died in the trolleybus explosion and at least 28 people injured, according to the Russian Health Ministry. A 5- to 7-month-old baby suffered multiple head injuries and was unlikely to survive, Health Minister Veronika Skvortsova said. The baby's gender has not been disclosed.
A total of 27 people are in hospitals, including three children, Skvortsova said. The condition of most patients is "from relatively satisfactory to moderately severe," she added.
Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the National Anti-Terrorist Committee to tighten security measures across Russia, with the additional measures in Volgograd.
The White House condemned the attacks and offered its "deepest condolences to the families of the victims" before saying the U.S. government would "welcome the opportunity for closer cooperation for the safety of the athletes, spectators, and other participants" at the upcoming Sochi Olympics.
U.S. officials have said that Russian cooperation on anti-terror strategy for the Olympics "could be better," according to an analysis written by Homeland Security Policy Institute Director Frank Cilluffo and LAPD Deputy Chief of the Counter-Terrorism Bureau Michael Downing and featured on ABCNews.com today.
The explosions raised concerns about terrorism six weeks before Russia hosts the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi.
At least 14 people died in the trolleybus explosion and at least 28 people injured, according to the Russian Health Ministry. A 5- to 7-month-old baby suffered multiple head injuries and was unlikely to survive, Health Minister Veronika Skvortsova said. The baby's gender has not been disclosed.
A total of 27 people are in hospitals, including three children, Skvortsova said. The condition of most patients is "from relatively satisfactory to moderately severe," she added.
Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the National Anti-Terrorist Committee to tighten security measures across Russia, with the additional measures in Volgograd.
The White House condemned the attacks and offered its "deepest condolences to the families of the victims" before saying the U.S. government would "welcome the opportunity for closer cooperation for the safety of the athletes, spectators, and other participants" at the upcoming Sochi Olympics.
U.S. officials have said that Russian cooperation on anti-terror strategy for the Olympics "could be better," according to an analysis written by Homeland Security Policy Institute Director Frank Cilluffo and LAPD Deputy Chief of the Counter-Terrorism Bureau Michael Downing and featured on ABCNews.com today.
Lebanon ( Lebanese army fires at Assad's " Syrian helicopters " used to kill women and children )
BAALBEK, Lebanon: The Lebanese army used its air defense systems against Syrian helicopters on Monday after they carried out a raid inside Lebanese territory, a military source told AFP.
It was the first time the Lebanese army has responded to Syrian attacks on its territory, which have multiplied as the conflict in its eastern neighbor has intensified, the source said.
“In accordance with the orders of the army command, anti-aircraft guns were fired in the direction of Syrian helicopters that bombed Khirbet Dawud near Arsal,” in the area near the Syrian border, the source told AFP.
“It is the first time that the Lebanese army has used its anti-aircraft defense systems” to respond to Syrian raids, the source added.
Lebanese officials reported no casualties from the Syrian raid. It was not clear whether the retaliatory fire had hit the Syrian aircraft.
The Lebanese army has in the past threatened to respond to cross-border fire from Syria but has not previously done so.
On June 12, it issued a rare warning to the Syrian government, saying it would respond “immediately” to any new “violation” after a raid by the army on the Arsal area, a hub of support for the rebels, which is also home to tens of thousands of Syrian refugees.
But it had not previously carried out its threat, despite repeated spillovers from the fighting over the border.
The anti-aircraft fire came a day after Lebanese President Michel Sleiman announced that Saudi Arabia had pledged $3 billion for the under-equipped army to buy French weapons.
Lebanon’s Shiite Hezbollah militia, which controls much of the border region apart from the mainly Sunni Arsal district, is a leading ally of the Syrian regime.
Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries have denounced the Assad regime for waging war against Syria's Sunni population
It was the first time the Lebanese army has responded to Syrian attacks on its territory, which have multiplied as the conflict in its eastern neighbor has intensified, the source said.
“In accordance with the orders of the army command, anti-aircraft guns were fired in the direction of Syrian helicopters that bombed Khirbet Dawud near Arsal,” in the area near the Syrian border, the source told AFP.
“It is the first time that the Lebanese army has used its anti-aircraft defense systems” to respond to Syrian raids, the source added.
Lebanese officials reported no casualties from the Syrian raid. It was not clear whether the retaliatory fire had hit the Syrian aircraft.
The Lebanese army has in the past threatened to respond to cross-border fire from Syria but has not previously done so.
On June 12, it issued a rare warning to the Syrian government, saying it would respond “immediately” to any new “violation” after a raid by the army on the Arsal area, a hub of support for the rebels, which is also home to tens of thousands of Syrian refugees.
But it had not previously carried out its threat, despite repeated spillovers from the fighting over the border.
The anti-aircraft fire came a day after Lebanese President Michel Sleiman announced that Saudi Arabia had pledged $3 billion for the under-equipped army to buy French weapons.
Lebanon’s Shiite Hezbollah militia, which controls much of the border region apart from the mainly Sunni Arsal district, is a leading ally of the Syrian regime.
Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries have denounced the Assad regime for waging war against Syria's Sunni population
Bangladesh ( 1 Dead in protest over parties ties to " War Crimes " )
DHAKA: Security forces and opposition activists clashed in Bangladesh’s capital, leaving at least one person dead, as thousands of police took to the streets to foil a mass rally calling on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to cancel upcoming elections.
Hasina’s rival, former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, was expected to address the rally later Sunday in defiance of a government ban on large political gatherings.
Reports said authorities had detained hundreds of people in a crackdown ahead of next weekend’s elections, further deepening the impoverished South Asian nation’s political crisis.
Security officials surrounded Zia’s home in Dhaka’s upscale Gulshan area, where most foreign embassies are located, and parked sand-laden trucks in an apparent effort to obstruct Zia from leaving her home. Police denied that the measures were taken to stop her from joining the rally.
Zia attempted to come out of her home, but police built a barricade that prevented her from getting to her car. TV video showed an angry Zia condemning Hasina’s government, saying, “Stop this.”
Meanwhile, thousands of security forces, mainly police, tried to prevent the activists from rallying.
A 21-year-old student was killed in Dhaka’s Malibagh area when security officials fired rubber bullets to disperse the activists, said police official Mozammel Haque.
Witnesses said the violence broke out after a group of activists from the opposition Jamaat-e-Islami party began marching in the streets.
Stick-wielding ruling party supporters chased stone-throwing opposition activists on the premises of the Supreme Court. Witnesses said dozens of people were injured in that violence.
Public transportation in Dhaka was suspended, cutting the capital off from the rest of the country. The opposition blamed police for preventing buses and other vehicles from traveling to the city. Traffic was thin on Dhaka’s usually clogged streets, with many people staying home in fear of violence.
Local media reported that more than 650 people had been detained since Friday as part of a nationwide crackdown ahead of the Jan. 5 elections, which the opposition is boycotting. Opposition parties said those detained are their activists, but police said they were taken in on specific charges to prevent acts of sabotage.
The opposition insists Hasina should resign and hand over power to an independent caretaker to oversee the polls. Hasina has rejected the demand and vowed to go ahead with the elections.
Sunday’s rally was seen as the last major attempt by the opposition to derail the election, but the protest was unlikely to succeed because of the government’s hard-line approach.
More than 150 people have died in political violence in Bangladesh since the crisis intensified in October. The conflict pits an opposition alliance led by Zia’s opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party against Hasina, who accuses Zia of protecting people being tried or convicted of war crimes involving the nation’s 1971 independence war against Pakistan.
Jamaat-e-Islami, the main partner of Zia’s party, wants the government to halt the war crimes trials of its leaders. Zia says the trials initiated by Hasina are politically motivated to weaken the opposition, an allegation the government has denied. Jamaat-e-Islami is banned from taking part in the election.
Many citizens are frustrated by the raging chaos in Bangladesh, which is struggling to overcome poverty, establish democracy and increase per capita income.
“Too much blood has been spilled in these past many weeks. We demand a stop to such bloodletting,” Dhaka’s Daily Star newspaper said in an editorial Sunday.
Businesses have also expressed their concern, saying the conflict is affecting the country’s progress in the manufacturing sector, including a burgeoning garment industry that earns more than $20 billion a year from exports
Hasina’s rival, former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, was expected to address the rally later Sunday in defiance of a government ban on large political gatherings.
Reports said authorities had detained hundreds of people in a crackdown ahead of next weekend’s elections, further deepening the impoverished South Asian nation’s political crisis.
Security officials surrounded Zia’s home in Dhaka’s upscale Gulshan area, where most foreign embassies are located, and parked sand-laden trucks in an apparent effort to obstruct Zia from leaving her home. Police denied that the measures were taken to stop her from joining the rally.
Zia attempted to come out of her home, but police built a barricade that prevented her from getting to her car. TV video showed an angry Zia condemning Hasina’s government, saying, “Stop this.”
Meanwhile, thousands of security forces, mainly police, tried to prevent the activists from rallying.
A 21-year-old student was killed in Dhaka’s Malibagh area when security officials fired rubber bullets to disperse the activists, said police official Mozammel Haque.
Witnesses said the violence broke out after a group of activists from the opposition Jamaat-e-Islami party began marching in the streets.
Stick-wielding ruling party supporters chased stone-throwing opposition activists on the premises of the Supreme Court. Witnesses said dozens of people were injured in that violence.
Public transportation in Dhaka was suspended, cutting the capital off from the rest of the country. The opposition blamed police for preventing buses and other vehicles from traveling to the city. Traffic was thin on Dhaka’s usually clogged streets, with many people staying home in fear of violence.
Local media reported that more than 650 people had been detained since Friday as part of a nationwide crackdown ahead of the Jan. 5 elections, which the opposition is boycotting. Opposition parties said those detained are their activists, but police said they were taken in on specific charges to prevent acts of sabotage.
The opposition insists Hasina should resign and hand over power to an independent caretaker to oversee the polls. Hasina has rejected the demand and vowed to go ahead with the elections.
Sunday’s rally was seen as the last major attempt by the opposition to derail the election, but the protest was unlikely to succeed because of the government’s hard-line approach.
More than 150 people have died in political violence in Bangladesh since the crisis intensified in October. The conflict pits an opposition alliance led by Zia’s opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party against Hasina, who accuses Zia of protecting people being tried or convicted of war crimes involving the nation’s 1971 independence war against Pakistan.
Jamaat-e-Islami, the main partner of Zia’s party, wants the government to halt the war crimes trials of its leaders. Zia says the trials initiated by Hasina are politically motivated to weaken the opposition, an allegation the government has denied. Jamaat-e-Islami is banned from taking part in the election.
Many citizens are frustrated by the raging chaos in Bangladesh, which is struggling to overcome poverty, establish democracy and increase per capita income.
“Too much blood has been spilled in these past many weeks. We demand a stop to such bloodletting,” Dhaka’s Daily Star newspaper said in an editorial Sunday.
Businesses have also expressed their concern, saying the conflict is affecting the country’s progress in the manufacturing sector, including a burgeoning garment industry that earns more than $20 billion a year from exports
Syria ( Assad the " Child killer " drops TNT bombs on market ) Russia backs " Mad man"
BEIRUT: Regime airstrikes on the northern Syrian province of Aleppo have killed at least 517 people since Dec. 15, including 151 children, a monitor said on Sunday.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said a string of regime aerial attacks on the province, including second city Aleppo, with raids using explosives-packed barrels, had also killed 46 women.
At least 46 opposition fighters, including 34 rebels and 12 jihadists from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, but the majority of the dead were civilians, the Observatory said.
Recent weeks have seen a relentless aerial campaign targeting towns and villages across Aleppo province.
On Saturday, helicopters dropped TNT-packed barrels on a vegetable market and next to a hospital in Aleppo city, killing at least 25 civilians, including children.
The Britain-based Observatory, strongly condemned the raids, and urged the international community to intervene. “The Observatory considers all those who remain silent in the international community as complicit in the massacres that have been committed and continue to be committed by the Syrian regime,” it said.
Meanwhile, the leader of the eurosceptic UK Independence Party Nigel Farage said Sunday that Britain should take in Syrian refugees.
The comments are unexpected from Farage, who has led opposition to the lifting of limits on migrants from Bulgaria and Romania on January 1, 2014.
British Prime Minister David Cameron’s government has rejected calls from the UN and rights groups to resettle some of the most vulnerable of the estimated 2.3 million people who have fled the Syrian war.
“I think refugees are a very different thing to economic migration and I think that this country should honour the spirit of the 1951 declaration on refugee status that was agreed,” Farage told the BBC.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said a string of regime aerial attacks on the province, including second city Aleppo, with raids using explosives-packed barrels, had also killed 46 women.
At least 46 opposition fighters, including 34 rebels and 12 jihadists from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, but the majority of the dead were civilians, the Observatory said.
Recent weeks have seen a relentless aerial campaign targeting towns and villages across Aleppo province.
On Saturday, helicopters dropped TNT-packed barrels on a vegetable market and next to a hospital in Aleppo city, killing at least 25 civilians, including children.
The Britain-based Observatory, strongly condemned the raids, and urged the international community to intervene. “The Observatory considers all those who remain silent in the international community as complicit in the massacres that have been committed and continue to be committed by the Syrian regime,” it said.
Meanwhile, the leader of the eurosceptic UK Independence Party Nigel Farage said Sunday that Britain should take in Syrian refugees.
The comments are unexpected from Farage, who has led opposition to the lifting of limits on migrants from Bulgaria and Romania on January 1, 2014.
British Prime Minister David Cameron’s government has rejected calls from the UN and rights groups to resettle some of the most vulnerable of the estimated 2.3 million people who have fled the Syrian war.
“I think refugees are a very different thing to economic migration and I think that this country should honour the spirit of the 1951 declaration on refugee status that was agreed,” Farage told the BBC.
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