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MEAN STREETS MEDIA

Monday, March 3, 2014

Pakistan ( 11 killed in a Shopping mall " along with a Judge " )

ISLAMABAD: Gunmen burst into a court in a busy shopping area in the heart of Pakistan's capital, killing at least 11 people in a bomb and gun attack likely to shatter any prospect of meaningful peace talks with insurgents.
The Pakistani Taliban, who have declared a month-long ceasefire to pursue peace talks with the government, immediately distanced themselves from the attack as well as a separate blast on the Afghan border which killed two soldiers.
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 An explosion reverberated in central Islamabad just after 9 a.m., followed by bursts of gunfire. Police said at least 30 were wounded. A judge was among those killed.
"There was a blast, then there was a lot of gunfire. Gunmen were spraying bullets at everyone," said Faisal Ali, a businessman who witnessed the attack.
Even as the Taliban declared willingness to talk peace, almost daily attacks have continued around Pakistan in past weeks, showing that the central Taliban leadership is not entirely in control of its operations.
"We have already declared a ceasefire for a month and we stand by our promise," a Taliban spokesman said.
Bomb attacks are rare in Islamabad, the leafy and hilly seat of Pakistan's government.
The judge, Rafaqat Awan, was killed on the spot. He had rejected a petition last year to file a murder case against former President Perzez Musharraf over his order to storm a hardline mosque in Islamabad in 2007.
Many radical Islamists hold a grudge against Musharraf over the storming in which more than 100 people were killed, and any official seen as obstructing their fight for justice is likely to be on their hit list.
During Monday's attack, two suicide bombers blew themselves up outside the courtroom where a hearing had just started, police said.
Two other attackers were killed in the ensuing gun fight with police. Police said gunmen fired at random targets in the area after the initial explosion.
Shortly afterwards, police blocked entry and exit points to the area, a maze of narrow, dusty streets lined with one-room shops and offices.
Commandos in camouflage knocked on doors and secured street corners as they combed the area for more militants. Police secured the area an hour later and the market resumed normal operations.
At the court, broken glass and charred human remains littered the site of the blast at the F8 market area as residents and police rushed around in bloodstained clothes.
A severed leg lay atop the rubble. Pools of blood and severed body parts were scattered on the floor of several offices.
"There is one policeman among the dead," local police station head constable Mohammad Yousaf said.
"We also have unconfirmed reports that two lawyers have died."
The Taliban, a fragmented group consisting of dozens of smaller bands of militants, said at the weekend they would observe a one-month ceasefire to try to revive peace talks and called on all groups to observe it.
Talks broke down last month after a series of attacks and counter-attacks by the army and insurgents.
Observers say striking a deal with the central leadership would not stop the violence because many fridge militant groups operate independently from the central Taliban command.
The Pakistani Taliban, who are fighting to bring down the Pakistani state, are allied with, but separate from, the Afghan Taliban.
The Afghan Taliban are fighting to expel foreign forces from Afghanistan and do not fight Pakistani security forces.

Sunday, March 2, 2014

Hong Kong ( Protest after attack on " former Chief Editor " of Ming Pao )

Editorial staff members of the Ming Pao newspaper hold the front page of their newspaper outside the Ming Pao office in Hong Kong, 27 February 2014
 
A Hong Kong news editor injured in a cleaver attack is improving, officials say, as journalists held vigils condemning the violence.

Kevin Lau, the former chief editor of newspaper Ming Pao, was critically wounded after being attacked by two men on Wednesday.

Police are investigating the attack.

Mr Lau was recently replaced by a Malaysian editor viewed as pro-Beijing, sparking fears among staff that the paper's independence was under threat.

Ming Pao is a respected Chinese-language Hong Kong paper known for its investigative reporting.
'Heartbroken'
In a statement, Mr Lau's family said that he was now conscious and able to communicate by writing.

"We are confident that with your support and Kevin's own determination, he will not only recover but continue to serve shoulder by shoulder with his fellow journalists," his family added.

On Thursday, at least 200 people held a vigil outside the government headquarters denouncing the attack and calling for press freedom to be protected.

Journalist groups have organised a protest on Sunday against the violence.

Thousands had demonstrated the previous Sunday over fears that Hong Kong's press freedom was under threat.

California ( 25 kids get " Polio-like disease ) see video

Arizona ( Activists Monitor Border Patrol Checkpoints in Arizona )

 

PHOENIX – A group of volunteers from communities in southern Arizona on Wednesday began monitoring Border Patrol checkpoints with the aim of documenting possible civil rights violations.

Leesa Jacobson, spokesperson for the volunteer group, told Efe on Wednesday that six people are taking photographs and videotaping near the Border Patrol’s Arivaca Road checkpoint, 25 miles north of the border with Mexico.

She said that about a third of the residents of Arivaca, as well as local business-owners, have signed a petition to have the checkpoint immediately removed using the argument that it is hurting the local economy.

The American Civil Liberties Union has documented cases and collected testimony from several U.S. citizens who have complained about the treatment they receive at Border Patrol checkpoints in Arizona.

The main complaints include unwarranted detentions, reviews that take a long time and verbal abuse.

The checkpoint is located near the town of Arivaca and is called “temporary,” but it has been in operation for seven years.

Arizona Congressman Raul Grijalva sent a letter to the head of the Border Patrol’s Tucson Sector, Manuel Padilla, in which he expresses his support for the residents of Arivaca and asks that the checkpoint be dismantled.

Jacobson noted that each day Arivaca residents must pass through the Border Patrol checkpoint to go shopping, take their children to school or go to their jobs.

Meanwhile, the Border Patrol on several occasions has defended the establishment of checkpoints and has said that they are a “weapon” in the fight to keep undocumented immigrants from crossing the border and to prevent drug smuggling.

Saturday, March 1, 2014

China ( 33 people killed in " Knife attack " at train station ) Video

Mexico ( Mexican Drug Lord Owns Nearly 300 Companies )



MEXICO CITY – Sinaloa cartel boss Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, who was arrested last weekend, used drug proceeds to assemble a conglomerate of 288 firms across more than a dozen countries, Mexico’s El Universal daily said Friday.

Guzman’s holdings include hotels, mines, gas stations and an ostrich ranch, the newspaper said, citing data from the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Asset Control.

The other leading figure in the cartel, Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, owns a dairy and “even a daycare in Sinaloa,” according to El Universal.

Working through associates in Panama, El Chapo acquired at least two companies in the legal drug business, the newspaper said.

Investigators also found financial connections between Guzman and people close to Rafael Caro Quintero, founder of the now-defunct Guadalajara drug cartel, who was released from prison last August after a judge threw out charges against him for the 1985 murders of U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent Enrique Camarena and pilot Alfredo Zavala Avelar.

Guzman and Caro Quintero operatives share ownership of 37 companies in Sinaloa and Jalisco states, the newspaper said.

In partnership with Colombian national Jorge Milton Cifuentes Villa, El Chapo controls a financial firm with offices in Mexico City, Miami, Madrid and Panama City, as well as an airline in Ecuador.

The 56-year-old drug lord also established two charitable foundations.

Mexican security forces captured the world’s most powerful drug trafficker in the resort city of Mazatlan without firing a shot.

Emma Coronel, a former Miss Sinaloa who married Guzman in 2007, was in the apartment raided by marines last Saturday.

Guzman was arrested in 1993 in Guatemala and sent back to Mexico, where he was convicted of bribery. He escaped from the Puente Grande penitentiary in the western state of Jalisco on Jan. 19, 2001.

El Chapo, a fixture on Forbes magazine’s annual list of global billionaires, faces a raft of charges in both Mexico and the United States.

Mexico ( " La Pantera " hitman and leader of Knights Templar Killed )

Strong images of death "La Pantera " hitmen leader of the TemplarsFriday, February 28, 2014  A chief of hitmen working for the Knights Templar drug cartel in a region plagued by drug violence shot dead Thursday in a showdown with the Federal Police, said a government official Mexican .

Francisco Galeana , alias "El Pantera" , was shot in the town of Arteaga in Michoacan state , said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to testify in the case.
Authorities say Galeana was an important leader of the cartel based in the region of Tierra Caliente, where groups of civilians took up arms last year to fight the Knights Templar. The Galeana official described as a " bloodthirsty assassin ."
The government of Mexico sent more troops to the region in January to curb violence

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