Southern Sudan army describes attack on disputed Abyei as an act of war and urges UN mission to protect town’s population North Sudanese troops have seized the contested town of Abyei, increasing fears of conflict as the south Sudan prepares to become the world’s newest country. Northern forces took the town after two days of aerial bombardment and mortar fire which forced the population to flee. A spokesman for the southern army described the attack as an act of war. “We didn’t declare war,” said an army spokesman, Colonel Philip Aguer. “The National Congress party [Sudan's ruling party] and the Sudan armed forces declared war on us.” Aguer called for the UN mission in Sudan to protect the people of Abyei, claiming the northern government intended to “displace civilians and commit human rights violations as they did in Darfur”. The escalation of violence at the most volatile spot along Sudan’s contested north-south border comes against the backdrop of a four-day visit by the UN security council to Sudan. Southern Sudan will become independent on 9 July and the UN has expressed concerns about recent violence there and at several locations across the contested border region. Sudanese state television, based in Khartoum, said “enemy forces” had been expelled, and the state news agency Suna reported that Sudan’s president, Omar Hassan al-Bashir, had removed the two leaders of the Abyei administration and dissolved the region’s administrative council. The UN peacekeeping mission in Sudan issued a statement on Saturday calling for the immediate cessation of hostilities in Abyei and urging the north and south to protect civilians in areas where fighting may be ongoing. Southern Sudan’s independence, approved overwhelmingly in a referendum in January, is less than two months away and Abyei’s future is the most important outstanding issue remaining to be settled between north and south. Sudan Africa guardian.co.uk
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Three Afghan police killed as group of men wearing suicide vests shoot their way into compound on edge of Khost At least three Afghan police officers have been killed after gunmen wearing suicide vests stormed a government building in eastern Afghanistan. Three or four men armed with assault rifles and wearing explosives strapped to their bodies shot their way into a compound that houses the traffic department, on the edge of Khost. They killed a police guard as they entered and then took over the second floor of the building, from which they shot at police and soldiers outside, said General Raz Mohammad Oryakhail, the army commander for Khost province. Afghan security forces surrounded the compound, and officials believed some of the attackers were dead. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack. In southern Afghanistan, US forces shot a governor’s spokesman in the foot as he arrived for work. Zalmai Ayubi said he had been shot for no reason. Nato said Ayubi had grappled with a guard as he “attempted to physically bypass security” at the Kandahar governor’s office. It said an investigation had begun. On Saturday, a Taliban suicide bomber on a mission to target foreign-run medical teams killed at least six Afghan medical students and wounded 23 others after infiltrating Kabul’s main military hospital. No foreign medical doctors or nurses were among the dead or wounded. Nato and Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, condemned the bombing. The UN called it a violation of international humanitarian law. The Taliban have stepped up attacks as part of their spring offensive against Nato, Afghan government installations and officials. Insurgents also have promised revenge attacks after the killing of Osama bin Laden by US forces in Pakistan this month. Afghanistan Taliban guardian.co.uk
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Keflavik airport closed after Grimsvotn volcano erupts, but ash plume not expected to cause widespread travel disruption Iceland has closed its main international airport after a volcanic eruption sent a plume of ash, smoke and steam 12 miles into the air. The airport and air traffic control operator Isavia said no flights were taking off or landing at Keflavik airport. A spokeswoman said the ash plume from the Grimsvotn volcano was covering Iceland, but “the good news is that it is not heading to Europe”. She said it was blowing west toward Greenland instead. She said officials were investigating whether Iceland’s other airports could take Keflavik-bound flights. Transatlantic flights were being diverted away from Iceland, and there was no sign yet that the eruption would cause the widespread travel disruption triggered last year by ash from the Eyjafjallajokull volcano . Grimsvotn, which lies under the uninhabited Vatnajokull glacier, began erupting on Saturday, for the first time since 2004. Pall Einarsson, a geophysicist at the University of Iceland, said last year’s eruption was a rare event and Grimsvotn was likely to have much less of an effect on international air traffic. “The ash in Eyjafjallajokull was persistent or unremitting and fine-grained,” Einarsson said. “The ash in Grimsvotn is more coarse and not as likely to cause danger as it falls to the ground faster and doesn’t stay as long in the air as in the Eyjafjallajokull eruption.” Iceland is one of the world’s most volcanically active countries and eruptions are frequent. Grimsvotn volcano also erupted in 1998, 1996 and 1993. The eruptions have lasted between a day and several weeks. Iceland Air transport Europe Flights Airline industry guardian.co.uk
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Nine police officers among the dead after 10 bombs explode in and around Iraqi capital A series of explosions in and around Baghdad have killed 16 people, including 10 who died when a suicide bomber blew himself up in a crowd of police officers. At least nine of the dead were police. It was the third major attack this month in which security personnel were targeted and took the most losses. In total, at least 10 bombs exploded. The worst single attack came near Taji, 12 miles north of Baghdad, where police had gathered after a roadside bomb targeting a passing US military convoy blew up. When the police arrived on the scene, a suicide bomber walked into the crowd and blew himself up, police and hospital officials said. Seven police and three civilians died and 19 people, including 15 police, were injured. Earlier a car bomb exploded in Sadr City , injuring five people. Namiq Khazal, who lives nearby, said: “We woke up to a big blast nearby and the glass windows in front of the house were smashed. My young brother was injured by glass.” Minutes later in Sadr City, a bomb hidden in a pile of garbage exploded, killing one person and wounding five more. Another roadside bomb, this time targeting a police patrol, injured three policemen and four bystanders. Five explosions in the south-western Baghdad neighbourhood of Bayaa killed five people, including two policemen, and injured 15. There was no immediate claim of responsibility. The attacks came hours before British military operations in Iraq were due to come to an end with the completion of a Royal Navy mission to train Iraqi sailors. Most British forces pulled out of the country in 2009. The defence secretary, Liam Fox, paid tribute to the 179 British personnel who lost their lives in the eight-year deployment. He said of the last mission: “Royal Navy personnel have used their formidable skills and expertise to bring about a transformation in Iraq’s naval force. The Iraqi navy has a key role to play in protecting Iraq’s territorial waters and the oil infrastructure that is so vital to Iraq’s economy, and I am proud of the role British forces have played in making it capable of doing that job.” Iraq guardian.co.uk
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Barack Obama says he respects Pakistani sovereignty but would go after another ‘very high-value target’ if found to be there Barack Obama has indicated he would be prepared to launch another US raid into Pakistani territory if another leading terrorist suspect was found to be hiding there. In a BBC interview before a state visit to London this week, Obama described the killing of Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad this month as a “powerful moment” for America. He said he wanted to establish a more co-operative relationship with Islamabad after outrage in Pakistan over the US action, which was carried out without prior notice. Asked what he would do if the US found another “very high-value target” there , such as the Taliban leader, Mullah Omar, Obama indicated he would act again. “I’ve always been clear to the Pakistanis – and I’m not the first administration to say this – that our job is to secure the United States,” he said on BBC1′s The Andrew Marr Show. “We are very respectful of the sovereignty of Pakistan. But we cannot allow someone who is planning to kill our people or our allies’ people – we can’t allow those kind of active plans to come to fruition without us taking some action. “Our hope is, and our expectation is, is that we can achieve that in a way that is fully respectful of Pakistan’s sovereignty. But I had made no secret – I had said this when I was running for the presidency – that if I had a clear shot at Bin Laden that we’d take it.” Obama acknowledged that the raid on Bin Laden’s compound had been a “calculated risk” that could have ended very differently. “There’s no doubt that that was as long a 40 minutes as I care to experience during my presidency,” he said. On Afghanistan, Obama said international forces had succeeded in knocking the Taliban “back on its heels”, but in the end there would have to be a political settlement. “Ultimately, it means talking to the Taliban, although we’ve been very clear about the requirements for any kind of serious reconciliation,” he said. “The Taliban would have to cut all ties to al-Qaida, renounce violence, and they would have to respect the Afghan constitution. Now those are some fairly bare bones requirements.” Obama spoke warmly of the relationship he and and his wife, Michelle, had established with the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh, whom they met when they attended the G8 summit in London in 2009. “They are extraordinarily gracious people. They could not have been kinder to us,” he said. He disclosed that when Mrs Obama returned to Buckingham Palace with their two daughters, they were given the chance to ride through the grounds in one of the carriages. “She [the Queen] could not have been more charming and gracious to the girls,” he said. “I think what the Queen symbolises not just to Great Britain, but to the entire Commonwealth and obviously the entire world, is the best of England. And we’re very proud of her.” Barack Obama Obama administration Pakistan US foreign policy US politics United States Osama bin Laden al-Qaida Taliban guardian.co.uk
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In a post time-stamped on Saturday at 12:16 p.m., CNNMoney.com has a story (HT Ed Driscoll via the PJ Tatler ) headlined “Florida and Texas in jobs p*ssing match” (except that there's an “i” where I typed an asterisk). Since the story has been up for at least 12 hours (maybe longer, given that the its URL is dated May 20), it's hard not to conclude that CNN and writer Tami Luhby like its title just the way it is. A screen cap of the top section of the item is after the jump, so you don't have to go there if you're offended by CNN's language: Driscoll asks :
Continue reading …AP’s Full Description of Herman Cain as Godfather’s CEO: ‘Rescued by Shuttering Hundreds of Restaurants’
May 21, 2011 No Comment
In their coverage of Herman Cain's official announcement that he is a candidate for the Republican nomination for President of the United States, Associated Press reporters Shannon McCaffrey and Greg Bluestein limited their description of Cain's tenure as chief executive of Godfather's Pizza to the following: He worked at Coca-Cola, Pillsbury and Burger King before taking the helm of the failing Godfather's Pizza franchise, which he rescued by shuttering hundreds of restaurants. That's all he did, eh? Guys, if that's all you could cobble together about Cain's time at Godfather's, you should have ended the excerpted sentence after “franchise” (for which a better word would have been “chain”). The AP pair also omitted a couple of key elements of Cain's resume, specifically his tenure as head of the National Restaurant Association and his involvement as a director of the Kansas City Branch of the Federal Reserve, where he ultimately was elected chairman. Here is a description of Cain's tenure at Godfather's found at a site called PizzaDominoes.com : … in 1986, several franchises of Godfathers Pizza plummeted. And the pizza chain struggled to beat its competitors. So, Pillsbury selected Herman Cain to be the new president of Godfather’s. Cain had previously rescued some Burger King chains from bankruptcy; thereby earning him a remarkable reputation. And with his leading abilities, he managed to settle some lawsuits, eliminated non-profitable units, introduced more products, and arranged for delivery services. As a result, the pizza chain gradually went back to its feet. Plus, newer pizzas attracted more customers. The mouthwatering bacon cheeseburger pizza and fruit-filled cherry and apple dessert pizzas were introduced.
Continue reading …Open Thread with The Professional Left Podcast: Is Roger Ailes #%^ing with us? And how can we respond to right wing email memes?
May 21, 2011 No Comment
enlarge Credit: The Professional Left Time for your weekly podcast with The Professional Left, otherwise known as our own Driftglass and Bluegal . Have a great weekend and enjoy the podcast everyone. I would imagine most of the readers of this blog can relate to or has their own story about how they responded to right wing chain emails that show up in our inboxes forwarded from family members or friends. My dad used to send me right wing chain emails that some of his buddies sent him once in a while and a couple of replies to all debunking what was in them put a stop to that. I don’t know how many of them he still receives, but if he’s still getting them, he’s not passing them along to me any more. You can listen to the archives at http://professionalleft.blogspot.com/ and you can also make a donation there if you’d like to help keep these podcasts going and help Fran and Driftglass with their fuel expenses so they can afford to go to Netroots Nation this year. Open Thread below…
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Pod thought to have left for deep sea is back in shallow waters with whales facing risk of injury and even death Marine life experts monitoring more than 60 pilot whales have found they have returned to the spot where they risked becoming stranded on the shores of Loch Carnan, off South Uist in the Western Isles. Theyarrived last Thursday – many with head wounds – suggesting they had injured themselves in the shallow waters. Later they were spotted in deeper water and were thought to be out of danger, only to return hours later. One appeared to have died. Dave Jarvis of the charity British Divers Marine Life Rescue said the animals did not seem to be agitated. the latest development was disappointing, but that the animals did not seem to be agitated. “Unfortunately the pod of pilot whales moving away from the Scottish sea loch earlier have now returned to their original location. “The animals retraced their route back into the loch. Sadly, it is thought that one of the animals may now have died as a body has apparently been seen in the water.” Jarvis said the whales could only get stranded at one place – a sandy section of beach at the loch. However, other dangers are posed by the rocky coastline, with its many inlets and bays. Volunteers from the charity will continue to monitor them. The Scottish government has also lent rescuers a fisheries protection boat to follow the animals’ movements. A rigid inflatable boat was deployed from the vessel to investigate the apparent death of the whale. Inflatable pontoons are available to help float any beached or stranded whales if needed. Last year, in October, some pilot whales almost got stranded in the same sea loch. Less than a week later, 33 whales, believed to be the same group, were found dead on a beach in Donegal. Pilot whales prefer deep water, but come inshore to feed on squid, their main food. Last week, a pilot whale died after getting stuck in the Sullom Voe inlet in Shetland. An autopsy was carried out but the results are not yet known. PA Whales Marine life Wildlife Scotland guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Right-wingers flood teen who challenged Bachmann to a debate with threats of violence
May 21, 2011 No Commentenlarge You all remember that high-school sophomore who challenged Michele Bachmann to a debate (because she knew full well she’d be able to kick wingnut butt)? Seems she’s attracted the usual right-wing response — threats and thuggery : Several media outlets reported on Myers’ challenge. As a result, she said, people have threatened violence against her and threatened to publish her address online, the Courier Post reports. Myers’ high school has also reprotedly received inquiries regarding Myers’ letter. “A lot of them are calling me a whore,” Myers said of the online remarks against her. Added her father Wayne Myers: “I personally did not think there would be a reaction like actual stalking and the vitriol that’s coming out.” The worst was reading the work of trolls at right-wing sites, the girl’s father said : Amy and Wayne Myers said the comments on conservative websites alarmed them most. Several commenters threatened to publish the Myers’ home address. Others threatened violence, including rape, they said. “They’re targeting me just because I’m challenging Bachmann,” Amy said. Amy’s challenge is arguably unrealistic: Few if any sitting members of Congress would actually agree to debate a teenager. Bachmann, talked up by the Republican right wing as a 2012 presidential contender, is often the subject of unflattering press. An aide said Tuesday the office would have no response to Myers’ challenge. The Courier-Post had scheduled a video interview with Amy Thursday. On Wednesday, a somewhat panicked-sounding Wayne Myers phoned to cancel, citing the alleged threats. “I got a call from the principal that the main office received threatening mail,” said the computer programmer and single father. Such a classy bunch. Especially when you consider their fondness for depicting the Left — and especially unions — as a bunch of thugs. [H/t to Alex Seitz-Wald at ThinkProgress.]
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