WOW, the amateur videos of this thing are incredible! Now saying over 1,000 injured and the number is climbing.
Watch this veideo of the arc and flair and then later of the people who went to the impact point.
[video=youtube;taItK1E5owk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=taItK1E5owk
[/video]
Amazing!
Carnival is offering each passenger a paltry $500 USD.. That's insulting. The compensation should be more like $5,000 per passenger or more. Expect major lawsuits.
I wonder what things would have been like if Einstein had decided to be a singer and dancer.?
Somewhere in Afghanistan Two Soldiers Standing guard Just Heard a Cheer come Form Taliban Controlled territory16 February 2013 Last updated at 09:07 ET
No Afghan help for residential air strikes - Karzai
Afghan security forces are to be banned from calling for foreign air strikes in residential areas, President Hamid Karzai has said.
Mr Karzai said he would issue a decree on Sunday, less than a week after 10 civilians were killed in a night raid in the eastern province of Kunar.
Nato-led forces in Afghanistan are not expected to make a formal response until the full decree has been issued.
Civilian casualties are a source of tension between Afghan and Nato forces.
"I will issue a decree [Sunday] that no Afghan security forces, in any circumstances... can ask for the foreigners' planes for carrying out operations on our homes and villages,'' Mr Karzai said in a speech at the Afghan National Military Academy in Kabul.
Nato troops are scheduled to withdraw from Afghanistan by the end of 2014 and have gradually been handing over responsibility for security to their Afghan counterparts.
The BBC's Karen Allen, in Kabul, says Afghan forces now lead 90% of all security operations.
Yet the Afghan air force has limited strength, so Nato air support is considered crucial, especially for operations in harsh terrain and mountainous areas, our correspondent says.
13 February 2013 Last updated at 06:49 ET
Tibetan man sets himself on fire in Nepal
An ethnic Tibetan man has set himself on fire in Nepal in an apparent protest against Chinese rule in Tibetan areas.
Police say the man doused himself in petrol before setting himself ablaze near a famous Buddhist shrine.
The man, dressed as a monk, chanted pro-Tibetan independence slogans while covered in flames, the Associated Press news agency said, citing eyewitnesses.
About 100 Tibetans are believed to have set themselves on fire since 2009. Most are reported to have died.
The self-immolations have been going on mainly in ethnic Tibetan areas of China.
Many have involved Buddhist monks or nuns calling for greater religious freedom and the return of their exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, Tibetan activist groups say.
Foreign media are banned from the region, making verifying the self-immolation cases difficult. Chinese state media have confirmed some but not all.
In the latest case, Nepalese police say a man thought to be in his 20s set himself alight at a cafe near Boudhanath Stupa in the capital, Kathmandu.
He is in hospital in a critical condition.
A waiter at the cafe said the man walked in and asked to use the toilet.
"He looked like the hundreds of Tibetans who came to Boudhanath today and I did not suspect he was going to set himself on fire,'' Prasant Tamang told Associated Press.
Tempa Tsering, representative of the Dalai Lama's office, said the incident was "very unfortunate".
"We feel very (sad) that this has happened. The Tibetan leadership has been urging people to refrain from such drastic steps for long," he was quoted by Agence-France Presse news agency as saying.
Nepal is home to at least 20,000 Tibetan refugees.
The Tibetan government in exile is based in the Indian town of Dharamsala.
China has accused the exiled Dalai Lama of glorifying the protests, a claim he strongly objects.
I am to Disgusted too Even comment.15 February 2013 Last updated at 18:35 ET
Jesse Jackson Jr charged with misusing campaign funds
A former congressman and son of a prominent civil rights leader has been charged with spending campaign funds on personal expenses.
Jesse Jackson Jr of Illinois is accused of misusing $750,000 (£483,000).
He and his wife Sandi Jackson, who is charged with tax fraud in the matter, intend to plead guilty, media report.
Mr Jackson, a 47-year-old Democrat, resigned in November after acknowledging he was being treated for bipolar disorder.
"I offer no excuses for my conduct and I fully accept my responsibility for the improper decisions and mistakes I have made," Mr Jackson said in a statement.
Mr Jackson is charged in federal court in Washington DC with conspiracy, fraud, and making false statements. Prosecutors say Mrs Jackson filed false tax forms that underreported how much tax the couple owed.
Watches and fur capes
Mr Jackson "unlawfully, wilfully and knowingly combined, conspired, confederated and agreed" to commit offences against the US, prosecutors wrote in court documents.
Prosecutors say that between 2007 and 2009 Mr Jackson used funds donated to his re-election campaign to buy a gold-plated Rolex watch worth $43,350, fur capes and parkas worth $5,150, and about $9,588 in children's furniture.
He is also accused of failing to report $28,500 in gifts and loans to the House of Representatives, where he has served since 1995.
Mr Jackson, son of Chicago civil rights leader the Rev Jesse Jackson, faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison; his wife faces up to three years, according to federal sentencing guidelines.
But Mrs Jackson's lawyer said her plea deal "does not contemplate a sentence of that length".
Other penalties against Mr Jackson could include a fine of up to $250,000, US media report. In addition, authorities may try to seize more than $60,000 in memorabilia and furs linked to the alleged fraud.
Mr Jackson has also been under investigation by the House ethics committee over his dealings with imprisoned ex-Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, who was convicted of trying to sell an appointment to President Barack Obama's former US Senate seat and other corruption charges.
Mr Jackson resigned from office on 21 November, just weeks after winning re-election.
15 February 2013 Last updated at 20:21 ET
Brazil troops to fight wave of attacks in the south
The Brazilian government has sent military reinforcements to tackle a wave of violence in the southern state of Santa Catarina.
More than 100 vehicles and offices have been attacked in the past month.
The government suspended classes on Friday, a day after bus drivers voted to limit journeys from 0700 to 1900, for fear of attack.
The reason for the attacks is unclear, but police say they could be a reaction to reported abuse in state prisons.
Investigators are trying to find out if the incidents are linked to organised crime gangs.
A video recently emerged showing security officials firing tear gas and rubber bullets at prisoners in a prison in the city of Joinville.
The state government says it is investigating the incident.
'Confidential'
Two military planes loaded with troops, vehicles and equipment landed in Santa Catarina on Friday.
The authorities say they will not give specific details of how they will be deployed, saying the information is "confidential".
The authorities have been providing some escort vehicles with armed men to safeguard bus journeys after dusk, but drivers say it's not enough.
On Friday, they agreed to keep the service running until 2300, after the government promised to increase the number of escorts.
Nearly 40 buses have been targeted and burnt in recent weeks.
The attacks have disrupted bus services in a number of cities in Santa Catarina.
More than 90 people have been arrested since the attacks began at the end of January.
16 February 2013 Last updated at 07:59 ET
George Osborne urges multinational tax crackdown
COMMENTS (391)
Chancellor George Osborne has renewed his call for international action to tackle so-called "profit shifting" by multinational companies to avoid tax.
Mr Osborne is meeting other finance ministers of the G20 group of major economies in Moscow.
The UK, Germany and France want to reform rules which let firms switch profits and costs between countries.
Labour's Ed Miliband said he "didn't see much evidence" Mr Osborne was actually tackling the problem.
Several well-known firms have been criticised over the amount of tax they pay on large UK revenues.
The BBC's Hugh Pym says the issue is "high on the list of priorities for policymakers at a time when companies like Amazon, Starbucks and Google have come under fire over the size of their tax payments".
The emergence of details regarding tax-avoidance strategies by multinational firms has sparked controversy, and calls for an overhaul of tax laws will be highlighted to finance ministers by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), in a report published this week.
The chancellor told BBC News: "We want a tax system that makes it competitive for businesses to set up in Britain and create jobs, but we also want a tax system where business pay their taxes and that's what we're setting up achieving here with other countries at this meeting in Moscow.
"International companies are an important source of jobs - we want them in Britain. We are making sure the taxes in Britain are low but we do expect those international companies to pay those taxes.
"The international tax laws for these companies have not really changed in decades, even though the international economy has changed a lot - people shop online, for example - and so the only way to deal with that is to work with other countries to make sure the international tax laws change and then international companies will pay their fair share of taxes."
But Labour leader Ed Miliband said: "George Osborne makes lots of promises on tackling tax avoidance, but I don't see much evidence of it.
"What he should be worrying about is the living standards of people in this country.
"Of course, he should be dealing with tax avoidance, but one of the things he's doing is cutting taxes for the richest people in society - £100,000 tax cut for the richest people in Britain - the wrong thing to do at a time when everyone else's living standards are squeezed."
International standards plea
The UK will chair a committee set up by the OECD looking at "transfer pricing" - how global firms calculate the payments passed between their subsidiaries in different countries - which can be used to shift profits from high-tax jurisdictions to lower-tax ones.
The committee is one of three looking at the tax issues which will help the OECD prepare a "plan of action" to be put forward to the G20 in July.
Germany will head a panel looking at the ways in which companies have reduced their tax base - their taxable income and assets - while France and the US will jointly consider the problem of identifying the correct tax jurisdiction for business activities, particularly e-commerce.
Mr Osborne said Britain had cut its corporation tax rate by more than any other country in the G20 over the past two years, which he said was "a message to the world that we are open for business that has seen companies return to Britain, and helping to create and secure thousands of jobs and millions in investment".
He said: "Our commitment to the most competitive corporate tax system goes hand in hand with our call for strong international standards to make sure that global companies, like anyone else, pay the taxes they owe.
"That's why Britain, with Germany and France, asked the OECD to scrutinise the international rules, and we will together welcome their report to the G20 this weekend. The report shows this is an international issue that requires international action."
The chancellor said global tax rules "have stood still for almost a century", adding that "Britain will lead the international effort to bring them into the 21st Century".
He wants to use Britain's presidency of the G8 in 2013 to push international progress on the reform of international tax rules, which were first developed by the League of Nations in the mid-1920s and remain essentially unchanged.
15 February 2013 Last updated at 10:09 ET
Kashmir border: India kills Pakistani soldier
A Pakistani soldier who strayed over the border in the disputed territory of Kashmir has been killed.
The Indian army say the soldier was killed in a gun battle on Thursday. Pakistan disputes this, saying the soldier had identified himself before being killed.
Last month several deadly cross-border attacks plunged the neighbours into the worst crisis in relations in years.
Claimed by both countries, Kashmir has been a flashpoint for over 60 years.
Exchanges in the area are not uncommon but rarely result in fatalities.
Conflicting accounts
The Indian army said the incident happened in the Nowshera sector. Pakistani army sources had also reported firing along the line of control (LoC) in the Kotli area but it is unclear if that was related.
"We detected some suspicious movement yesterday near the LoC inside our territory and the challengers from our side fired and in the ensuing firefight he was killed," army spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Rajesh Kalia is quoted as saying by the AFP news agency.
"At that time we did not know he was a Pakistani soldier. We killed an infiltrator," he added. Two Indian soldiers were wounded, the Indian army said.
The Pakistani army gave a different version of events, saying a soldier had inadvertently strayed over the border after losing his way and had been questioned by Indian troops.
"We condemn such an inhuman and brutal act of killing of our soldier after he had identified himself and explained his position," a Pakistani army statement said.
The Pakistani army later made contact with the Indian authorities to arrange the return of the soldier's body.
"The dead body was returned to Pakistan Army personnel in the same sector [on Friday] evening with military respects," the Indian army said.
The soldier will be buried on Saturday in his native town in Rawalpindi district with full military honours, according to Pakistani officials.
Tense exchanges
Five soldiers - three Pakistani and two Indian - were killed in last month's hostile exchanges between troops stationed along the Line of Control, which divides the disputed region.
Relations between the sides deteriorated so sharply that there were fears that a fledgling peace process under way since February last year could unravel.
Tentative steps had been made towards restoring relations after the Mumbai attacks of 2008, which were blamed on militants based in Pakistan.
Although both sides denied provoking the clashes along the border, eventually both India and Pakistan agreed to de-escalate tensions on 16 January.
Cross-border trade and transport links, which had been suspended for a few weeks in the wake of the tensions, also recently resumed.
Thousands of people have been killed in Indian-administered Kashmir since an armed revolt against Indian rule erupted in 1989. There has been a ceasefire in place since late 2003.
Late last year, India and Pakistan signed an agreement to ease visa restrictions on travel for some citizens.
BBCNews16 February 2013 Last updated at 07:50 ET
Iraq intelligence academy chief Ali Aouni killed
The head of Iraq's intelligence academy and two bodyguards have been killed in a suicide blast in the northern town of Tal Afar, police say.
Gen Ali Aouni is believed to be the most senior Iraqi military officer to be killed this year.
Official sources told the BBC that the intelligence chief was not the intended target of the attackers.
Gen Aouni lived next door to another military figure in the town, who was unhurt in the explosion.
Two suicide bombers launched the attack on Saturday but one was shot dead by his neighbour's bodyguards, the BBC's Nahed Abuzeid reports.
As Gen Aouni emerged from his home, the second bomber, who had been wounded by the guards, detonated an explosives belt.
General Ali Aouni was head of the central college of military staff officers.
His neighbour Lt Habib Amin Ilias, who was described as a rapid response force commander, had been targeted before, our correspondent says.
Fallujah attack
No group has yet admitted carrying out the attack. But Tal Afar was a major battleground between US forces and Iraqi insurgents in 2005 and has since seen infrequent but bloody militant attacks.
The intelligence chief is the second prominent Iraq figure to be murdered so far this year, after an opposition member of parliament was killed in the city of Falluja in the western province of Anbar.
A bomber approached 37-year-old Sunni MP Eifan Saadoun al-Issawi last month and blew himself up, also killing two bodyguards.
Scores of people have been killed in a series of deadly attacks across Iraq since the start of the year.
Sunni insurgents linked to al-Qaeda have been blamed for much of the recent violence.
Tal Afar is located about 150km (90 miles) east of the Syrian border and 420km north-west of Baghdad.
Observers say the town, which has a mixed population of Sunni Arabs and Turkmen, is an area used by insurgents crossing the Syrian border in both directions.
Although sectarian violence has decreased in Iraq since the height of the insurgency in 2006 and 2007, attacks are still common.
Tensions have also been building up in the lead-up to parliamentary elections, due to be held in March.
Earlier this month, at least 33 people were killed and about 100 injured in a spate of car bombings in mainly Shia areas of Iraq, local officials said.
The attacks took place as thousands of Sunnis held protest rallies in several cities against the Shia-dominated government of Prime Minister Nouri Maliki, accusing him of monopolising power.
Hagel opponents now have time to hone attack
By Richard Lardner - The Associated Press
Posted : Friday Feb 15, 2013 17:17:08 EST
WASHINGTON — The weeklong Senate recess gives outside interest groups opposed to Chuck Hagel's nomination to become defense secretary more time to sharpen their attack against President Barack Obama's choice. And they're not wasting any of it, promising to redouble their efforts to scour Hagel's record and to pressure senators to vote against him.
While Senate Republicans have succeeded in delaying a confirmation vote on Hagel's nomination, they signaled that they would eventually relent and allow an up-or-down vote after they return from their recess on Feb. 25. But that leaves an uncomfortable gap for Hagel and the White House, which doesn't want any surprises popping up that would further delay or possibly derail his confirmation. But the fuss has underscored a key dynamic: Even if Hagel is confirmed, his relations with House and Senate Republicans could be frostier than the Obama administration might have hoped.
"You need a strong secretary of defense, and I think through this process he's been weakened and it might be better to just go back to the drawing board," House Armed Services Committee Chairman Howard "Buck" McKeon told reporters on Friday.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Friday that the delay was a political tactic and that Obama is still confident Hagel will be confirmed. "I wouldn't be surprised if there are additional politics that are injected into this circumstance," he said. "It is extremely unfortunate."
The GOP-leaning Americans for a Strong Defense plans to take full advantage of the lull. Spokesman Ryan Williams said the organization is stepping up a grass-roots campaign to flood Senate offices with calls from constituents who want to see Hagel's nomination rejected. It also will push for greater disclosure of financial information about Hagel's paid speeches and foreign donors to private organizations and businesses that the former Nebraska Republican lawmaker was affiliated with after he left the Senate in 2009.
"We're going to be ramping up our grass-roots efforts, speaking to local community leaders in states where senators have not said how they will vote on the final nomination," Williams said.
While Hagel has said he's a strong supporter of Israel, his past reference to "the Jewish lobby" and opposition to a military strike against Iran antagonized pro-Israel groups. The Emergency Committee for Israel said it will continue to try to convince a majority of senators that there are better choices than Hagel to lead the U.S. armed forces and manage the federal government's largest bureaucracy.
"The nomination process has moved faster than the disclosure process, and it's likely we still don't know everything we should about Hagel's record," said Noah Pollak, the group's executive director. "The upcoming week is a chance to catch up."
Hagel's nomination was met with intense opposition from GOP senators, who challenged his past statements and votes on Israel, Iran, Iraq and nuclear weapons. But Hagel's criticism of the President George W. Bush's administration simmers beneath any policy disagreements, Earnest told reporters traveling aboard Air Force One.
Earnest read a transcript of an interview Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., gave to Fox News on Thursday in which McCain said "there's a lot of ill will" toward Hagel because he "attacked President Bush mercilessly" and said the surge of U.S. troops in Iraq "was the worst blunder since the Vietnam War."
"He was anti-his own party and people," McCain said. "People don't forget that."
In choosing Hagel, a former GOP senator and twice-wounded Vietnam combat veteran, the White House expected him to be an asset, not a liability, among Republicans who are often critical of Obama's national security policies.
But in the likely event that he is confirmed, Hagel's his relations with Republicans on the Senate Armed Services Committee are almost sure to be strained. The panel's GOP members, including McCain, James Inhofe of Oklahoma, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire and Ted Cruz of Texas, were among Hagel's harshest opponents.
McCain and Graham had been blocking the confirmation of their former colleague until they received information from the White House on when Obama contacted Libyan officials after the attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi last September in which Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans were killed. The White House responded to the question Thursday, but that did not stop Republicans from blocking a confirmation vote on Hagel, at least temporarily.
"I would argue that this man's record, when it comes to Iran and Israel, and statements he has made, puts him well out of the mainstream," Graham said.
As a member of the House, McKeon, R-Calif., doesn't get a vote on Hagel's confirmation. But he said Friday that he has the same concerns as Senate Republicans.
Hagel is not without support from a potent constituency: military veterans. The Veterans of Foreign Wars, the Military Officers Association of America, and the American Legion have all backed him.
Associated Press writer Josh Lederman contributed to this report.
Magpul is a US military Contractor for Accessories it also has been dabbling in custom vehicles including a really Bad @$$ Bike called the Ronin. And Operates a Training Camp for Police, Military and Civilians.Colorado company threatens to leave state if gun bill passes
Published February 16, 2013
| FoxNews.com
advertisement
A package of gun control measures that won initial approval in Colorado's Democratic-controlled House Friday night could result in several hundred jobs lost at the state's largest manufacturer of high-capacity ammunition magazines.
Erie-based Magpul Industries has threatened to leave the state if lawmakers are successful in passing the sweeping gun-control package, which limits the number of rounds a magazine can hold, according to The Denver Post.
"If we're able to stay in Colorado and manufacture a product, but law-abiding citizens of the state were unable to purchase the product, customers around the state and the nation would boycott us for remaining here," Doug Smith, Magpul's chief operating officer, told The Post.
The bill limits magazines to 15 rounds, with a more restrictive eight-round limit for shotguns. The bill makes an exception for magazines that people already have in their possession.
The legislation would require manufacturers to engrave magazines with serial numbers and dates -- a requirement Smith believes is "burdensome and unnecessary," The Post reported.
Magpul, which employs some 200 people directly and supports about 400 jobs through subcontractors, expects to contribute nearly $85 million to Colorado's economy this year, according to The Post.
Testifying before a state House committee Tuesday, Smith said he feared the proposal would hurt his businesses and restrict future expansions and warned the state could lose millions in tax revenues.
Smith said an ammunition limit “will not improve public safety, will not reduce crime, and would endanger the lives of Colorado residents by unduly restricting their ability to defend themselves.” “Arguments to the contrary are based purely on emotion and not facts,” he added.
Although the bill has been amended to exempt manufacturers, Magpul still plans to leave the state if the measure banning high-capacity magazines passes.
"We can't disappoint our customers nor ignore our convictions. Anyone who votes in favor of this bill votes to drive over 600 jobs out of [Colorado]," the company said in a post on its Facebook page Thursday.
Prior to Friday's vote, Vice President Joe Biden personally phoned four lawmakers from his ski vacation in the state to speed along the emotional debate.
Biden phoned three freshmen legislators along with Democratic House Speaker Mark Ferrandino. The calls came amid a long debate over the proposals, including expanded background checks and ammunition limits -- responses to mass shootings, including the killings at a Colorado movie theater.
In all, the House gave the initial OK to four bills after a daylong debate. The preliminary votes set up final actions on the measures Monday.
The Democratic gun-control package that advanced also includes banning concealed weapons on public college campuses, and requiring that gun buyers pay for their background checks.
Colorado's votes capping magazine sizes and expanding required background checks to private sales came amid 12 hours of debate. The votes were preliminary and unrecorded, but they were the first chance for many lawmakers to debate gun control after mass shootings last year in Aurora, Colo., and Newtown, Conn.
"These high-capacity weapons have no place outside the fields of war," said Rep. Rhonda Fields, an Aurora Democrat who sponsored the ammunition bill.
Republicans spent hours arguing that the limit violates Second Amendment rights.
"We are not safer by limiting the constitutional rights of law-abiding firearm owners," said Republican Rep. Frank McNulty.
A few Democrats appeared to agree Friday, though an exact vote count won't be known until recorded votes are taken Monday. GOP leaders were hoping gun activists would spend the weekend pressuring rural Democrats like Rep. Ed Vigil of southern Colorado, the only Democrat who argued Friday against any ammunition limit.
"We should be going down the path of making mental health available to people who really need it," Vigil argued.
The gun debate was at times emotional and pointed. One gun lobbyist was asked to leave the Capitol after a heated exchange off the floor with a Republican lawmaker who said the lobbyist was falsely accusing her of considering voting for the gun-control measures. The gallery was at times packed with gun-rights activists.
Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper has said favors some of the gun-control measures. Hickenlooper supports expanded background checks and indicated Thursday that he could support a potential amendment on magazine sizes, if the restriction was between 15 and 20 rounds.
He also said he thinks gun purchasers should pay for their background checks, but he had not made up his mind yet about the ban on concealed firearms on colleges.
All of the proposals still need to be considered by Democrat-controlled Senate.
Democrats in the Legislature said the time is right to limit gun access and magazine sizes to prevent more shootings.
"This is about kids who have been shot, over and over and over again," said Democratic Rep. Crisanta Duran said. "I am tired of seeing kids die, year after year, after year, after year."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Chinese Workers—in Greenland?
By Carol Matlack on February 10, 2013
(An earlier version of this story ran online.)
China is growing. Greenland is melting. So it’s only natural that thousands of Chinese workers may end up near the Arctic Circle to build a vast iron ore mine later this year.
Greenland, a Danish protectorate with a mostly Inuit population of 57,000, is courting foreign investors to tap mineral resources that have become more accessible as rising temperatures shrink the island’s ice cap. In one of the most ambitious projects, London Mining (LOND) wants to spend $2.3 billion to build a mine in southwestern Greenland that would tap a 1 billion-ton iron ore deposit—a project the company hopes will be financed and built mainly by the Chinese.
London Mining, which bought the deposit from Rio Tinto (RIO) in 2005, already runs an iron ore mine in Sierra Leone and is seeking Chinese backing there as well. For the Greenland mine, it has talked with potential Chinese partners including state-owned Sichuan Xinye Mining Investment. The British company wants a partner to take an equity stake as well as provide financing, says Chief Executive Graeme Hossie. If a backer is found soon, the mine could open by 2015, producing 15 million tons of iron ore annually, he said. Greenland officials say most of the output would go to China.
Greenland’s semi-autonomous government gained control over the island’s natural resources after a 2008 referendum. It’s eager to exploit its mineral wealth and reduce its dependence on aid from Denmark, which now provides 40 percent of the island’s revenues. Greenland “is not a rich society,” Prime Minister Kuupik Kleist told journalists recently. “We need to establish new, significant economic activities.”
Greenland’s parliament last year passed a law laying the groundwork for the opening of large mines, including procedures to allow in migrant workers. London Mining estimates that as many as 3,000 workers will be needed to build its mine: No more than 10 percent would be recruited locally.
Over the past three years, the government has granted more than 80 exploration licenses to mineral miners and oil majors including Chevron (CVX), ConocoPhillips (COP), and Shell. Some stumbling blocks remain, though. Greenland’s opposition Siumut party, which now holds nine of 31 seats in the island’s parliament, has said it will scrap the new law on large mining projects if it wins scheduled parliamentary elections on March 12. Siumut leaders say they don’t oppose mining, but are concerned that an influx of foreign workers could depress wages and disrupt the Inuits’ way of life.
The government says it would require migrant workers to be paid at least the minimum wage on the island. Most foreign workers would live in isolated camps and would have little interaction with native Greenlanders, Kleist said.
Greenland has a ban on mining radioactive elements that could block some projects. An Australian company, Greenland Minerals & Energy (GGG), wants to mine a site containing one of the world’s top two deposits of rare-earth elements, used in making computers and other high-tech items. The deposit contains 10.5 million tons of rare-earth metals and is valued at $6.6 billion. But it also contains uranium, so the project can’t go forward while the government ban remains in place.
John Mair, executive director of Greenland Minerals & Energy, says he’s optimistic the ban will be lifted soon. “Since the project has advanced and people understand its economic potential, it’s being looked at differently,” he says. The government is expected to complete an assessment of the project’s health and safety implications within the next few weeks, and if no significant problems are identified, the ban could be lifted soon afterward, Mair says.
Rare-earth elements could make Greenland a diplomatic flashpoint. The European Union has urged Greenland to restrict Chinese development of rare-earth projects there, as China accounts for 95 percent of the world’s current supply. The Greenland government has said that it has no plans to impose such restrictions. Paula Briscoe, an analyst at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, warned in a recent paper that increased Chinese influence in Greenland “could help buy Beijing a proxy vote in Arctic matters.” China’s Arctic ambitions include fishing rights, natural resources, and shipping routes, she wrote. “If Greenland, lured by the promise of investments and earlier autonomy from Denmark, allows itself to be overwhelmed by foreign companies, then China could use its influence to Beijing’s advantage.”
The NEW YORK TIMES
February 15, 2013
U.S. Military Faces Fire as It Pulls Out of Afghanistan
By MATTHEW ROSENBERG
STRONG POINT HAJI RAHMUDDIN II, Afghanistan — When the last American soldiers to occupy this squat, lonely outpost in southern Afghanistan pulled out this week, they left the same way earlier units had arrived: ready for a fight.
They were leaving this violent patch of land outside Kandahar, the south’s main city, just as Taliban fighters were filtering back in from winter havens in Pakistan. It was, as First Sgt. Jason Pitman, 35, bluntly put it, “no time to get stupid.”
The Americans knew they would be most vulnerable in their final hours after taking down their surveillance and early-warning systems. The Taliban knew it, too, and intelligence reports indicated that they had been working with sympathetic villagers to strike at the departing soldiers. Two days earlier, the militants made a test run against the outpost, taking the rare step of directly engaging it in a firefight, albeit a brief one, soon after the first radio antennas came down.
On the same day that President Obama announced that roughly half of the American troops still in in Afghanistan would withdraw this year, and that Afghan forces would begin taking the lead in the war, the smaller-scale departure from the Haji Rahmuddin II outpost was an uncelebrated milestone.
But it pointed at a harsh reality of the process: that some of the withdrawal will happen under fire in areas of the Taliban heartland where the idea of Afghan-led security remains an abstraction. With the start of the annual fighting season just weeks away, some of the hardest-won gains of the war are at risk of being lost.
In the years since the Obama administration’s additional tens of thousands of American soldiers and their Afghan allies pushed into the grape fields, pomegranate orchards and opium poppy fields of southern Afghanistan, some islands of relative calm have been cleared.
But even though this corner of Kandahar Province — the Zhare district — was also a focus of the troop increase, it is far from calm. And it is not unique: many areas in the south and east where troop pullouts are under way have had only tenuous security gains at best, despite years of hard-fought American-led advances.
The Taliban here have not given up their fight, on ground where Mullah Muhammad Omar and his followers first rose up against a local warlord, in the movement’s genesis. In one telling indication of the level of strife in Zhare, even many Afghans are hesitant to make the hourlong trip from Kandahar to the district’s mud-brick villages, many of which stand semiabandoned after three summers of intense fighting.
“My sons live in Kandahar City, and they do not like to come back here,” said Abdul Malik, an elder from Tieranon, a village in central Zhare. Once you are in the villages, he added, “anything can happen.”
The American withdrawal is picking up pace regardless, and American commanders have begun to cede even the most contested of ground to Afghan forces.
There are still places “that the Taliban can find sanctuary, and we still believe there is an informal network or support structure in place that they can rely on,” said Maj. Thomas W. Casey, the executive officer of the Third Battalion, 41st Infantry, which operates in the eastern and central half of Zhare.
So the Americans are out on patrol alongside Afghan units here almost every day, and running larger operations on a regular basis. Last week, they used a weapon that shoots a line of explosives and is intended to clear mined roads to knock down roughly 600 yards of trees that could provide cover for Taliban scouts and attackers.
On Thursday, they demolished a hill that the Taliban had used as a fighting position. Three huge explosions — 100 pounds of high explosives were used in each of the last two, which could be felt over a mile away — reduced the hill to dust and dirt. The Americans on the mission outnumbered Afghan soldiers nearly three to one.
There are some things the Americans have to do solo because the Afghans cannot do them, nor will they be able to anytime soon, commanders say. One example is using high-tech surveillance — blimps, drones, cameras mounted on towers at every base — to help spot militants before they attack, and to direct airstrikes against them. They have launched numerous such attacks in the past month alone.
The Afghans send out regular patrols on their own, and conduct a growing number of small, independent operations. Their fighting ability is getting close to where it needs to be, but the crucial back end of the army — the logistics and supply teams that get bullets, fuel, food and water to where they need to be — is woefully unready, American and even some Afghan officers say.
The Afghan brigade based here, for instance, nearly ran out of fuel this week. It was down to a few hours’ worth when a supply came through after some behind-the-scenes prodding from coalition officers up the chain of command.
But with fewer American troops here — the force level in Zhare and the neighboring district of Maiwand is down from a brigade of roughly 4,500 soldiers to two battalions totaling about 1,500 — Afghan forces have to fill the holes.
“There’s no white space in Zhare — white space being the area that no one owns or controls,” Major Casey said. If an area is not occupied by American or Afghan forces, “it’s occupied by the Taliban. It’s red space.”
Unless the Afghans can hold what the Americans give up, he said, “more space is going to turn red.”
That is now the case in the villages that surround Strong Point Haji Rahmuddin II. As recently as September, the outpost was home to a company of roughly 120 American soldiers, along with a few dozen Afghan troopers.
By January, its American force was down to a single understaffed platoon. Between watching from their four guard towers, running patrols, starting to break down the base and taking care of basic human necessities — eating, bathing and sleeping — the platoon was stretched thin.
They did manage to find a few more minutes in each day about two weeks ago — after the showers were trucked away and not replaced. Hot food went next, and chow time became whenever rations could be grabbed. The soldiers here still manage to joke about it. Then the radio antennas were taken down. The brief Taliban attack followed, after which the battalion dedicated a single balloon camera to keeping watch around the outpost’s perimeter day and night, Major Casey said.
The Afghan force at the base, now down to 16 soldiers, watched warily, telling the Americans that they had to stay. The morning of the Americans’ departure, the Afghan commander, Lt. Muhammad Mohsen, said in an interview that he believed they would come back. If not, he said grimly, the villagers would soon want them back.
“We’ll have the freedom to do what we want,” Lieutenant Mohsen said. Those villagers who desired peace would get it. Those who did not, “maybe we can destroy their homes.”
The Americans brought down their towering surveillance camera, one of the single biggest advantages for the defenders. At that point, security became “a huge concern,” Major Casey said. “We focused pretty much all our assets we had on watching that.”
They had to watch a few hours longer than planned. Lieutenant Mohsen had left only three soldiers at the base, not even enough to put one man in each of the five towers he now controlled. The Americans sat for two hours past their appointed departure time waiting for him and the rest of his men to return.
In the end, the Americans managed to vacate the outpost having faced just the one firefight — a relief after preparing for days for an attack.
But Major Casey and other commanders said they expected the Taliban to learn from what they had just seen.
The platoon that departed Haji Rahmuddin II will also be returning on a regular basis to work with the Afghan forces based there. The Americans would keep watching from the sky, as well.
“The last thing we want,” Major Casey said, is “the Taliban successfully overcoming a strong point after we’ve left. That’s almost as bad as them getting ready to attack us as we’re leaving.”
Bryan Denton contributed reporting.
Belgian police are looking for eight masked gunmen who stole tens of millions of pounds worth of jewels from a security van that was loading the hold of a Switzerland-bound plane.
The raid at Brussels airport happened just before 8pm on Monday. The heavily armed men drove through the airport security fence in two vehicles, a Mercedes van and a car, and made straight for a Brink's delivery van. The staff were loading safes full of diamonds on to a Swiss plane bound for Zurich. The gunmen quickly filled their vehicles with the boxes and fled through the same broken security barrier. No shots were fired. A burned-out van was later found nearby. The raid lasted just three minutes. The exact value of brute diamonds, believed to hail from Antwerp, was uncertain, but estimates put it at £30m ($50m). "What we are talking about is obviously a gigantic sum," Caroline De Wolf of the Antwerp World Diamond Centre told the Belgian VRT network.
An airport spokesman, Jan Van Der Crujsse, said the gunmen made a hole in the perimeter fence, and drove right up to the Swiss plane, which was ready to leave. The men flashed their weapons and took the boxes of jewels from the hold.
Van Der Crujsse could not explain how the area could be so vulnerable to theft. "We abide by the most stringent rules," he said.
The Swiss flight, operated by Helvetic Airways, was cancelled. Swiss, an affiliate of Germany's Deutsche Lufthansa AG, declined to comment on the heist, citing the ongoing judicial investigation.
The insurance for air transport, handled sometimes by airlines themselves or external insurance companies, is usually relatively cheap, because it's considered to be the safest way of transporting small high-value items, logistics experts say.
A decade ago, Antwerp, the world capital of diamond-cutting, was the scene of what was probably one of the biggest diamond heists in history, when robbers took precious stones, jewels and gold from the high-security vaults at Antwerp's Diamond Centre in 2003. Police estimated the haul at £64m.
The Diamond Centre stands in the heart of the high-surveillance diamond district where police and dozens of cameras work around the clock, and where security has been beefed up further since the spectacular 2003 robbery.
TOKYO — Japan has executed three inmates convicted of murder in its first executions under the government that took office in December.
The Justice Ministry said the executions were carried out early Thursday at three locations. One of the condemned inmates killed a schoolgirl.
Japan's last execution was in September. It now has 134 inmates on death row. Executions in Japan are done by hanging.
Capital punishment in Japan has been widely criticized by human rights groups though polls show the public supports it.
Japan's government releases few details about executions and inmates are generally not informed of their pending execution until immediately before it is carried out.
The Associated Press