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NATO concludes Libya mission after seven months

"NATO ends its military operation in Libya at midnight on Monday, seven months after launching an air and sea campaign that helped bring the overthrow and death of Muammar Gaddafi.

In announcing the decision last week, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen called it "one of the most successful" operations in the history of the 62-year-old alliance.

Rasmussen will mark the end of the mission by visiting Libya on Monday, where he will meet Libya's National Transitional Council and members of civil society, the alliance said.

Despite Rasmussen's depiction of the mission, the NATO intervention caused sharp rifts in the alliance and went on much longer than Western nations had expected or wanted.

NATO stuck to its decision to end the operation despite NTC calls for it to stay engaged longer and says it does not expect to play a major post-war role, although it could assist the transition to democracy by helping with security sector reform.

NATO took over the mission on March 31, based on a United Nations mandate that set a no-fly zone over Libya and permitted foreign military forces, including NATO, to use "all necessary measures" to protect Libyan civilians.

That mandate was terminated last Thursday, despite a request for the U.N. Security Council to wait for the NTC to decide if it wants NATO help to secure its borders.

NATO allies have been keen to see a quick conclusion to a costly effort that has involved more than 26,000 air sorties and round-the-clock naval patrols at a time when budgets are under severe strain due to the global economic crisis. (...)"

7 billion people. What number are you?

"By the time Christopher Columbus died, there were only 500 million people on Earth. By 2050, the U.N. expects that number to swell to 9.3 billion. That said, I am the also the 4,985,259,234th person to be alive on this planet.

The BBC has a tool to figure out your birth order (and we're not talking about siblings and whether Judy was the favorite) among the people currently alive today. They'll also stack you up against your country of residence and gender, and how you compare against the 908 bajillion* people currently breathing in oxygen at this very moment.

It's no doubt the statistics are a bit staggering, but it's estimated that the 7 billionth baby will be born on October 31 in India. It's a sobering fact that in about 40 years, we can expect to share that space with 2 billion more people with, hopefully, a clearer answer on how to give everyone else a piece of the resource pie."

in Time

A Little Girl Crashed, All 18 Persons Ignore!

This incident occured in Huangqi, Foshan, Guangdong, China. A girl was walking while a van was coming and suddenly crashed the girl. But, rather than stopped to save the girl, the driver chose to start the van, which rolled over the girl! After the van escaped, totally 18 persons passed by the girl. However, none of them stopped and helped her. What's worse, during this period, one more van rolled over the girl!! And, finally, a middle-aged woman, the 19th person, helped the poor girl and put her in a safer place, then the girl's mother came up. Of course, the parents were badly sad. Currently the little girl is still in a critical condition.

First-Born Daughter to take British Throne?

"About time! U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron has reportedly started the process that will let the possible first-born daughter of Prince William and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, to accede the throne.

It's part of a larger number of changes he's proposing that would actually alter longstanding laws that have been in effect for centuries in the U.K. Cameron wrote a letter to the prime ministers of the Commonwealth countries explaining, “We espouse gender equality in all other aspects of life, and it is an anomaly that in the rules relating to the highest public officer we continue to enshrine male superiority.”

Currently the law states that the first son born to the family would inherit the throne, regardless of whether he is the first child produced by the royals. In addition to changing the rules of succession, Cameron also wrote that is a “historical anomaly” that a member of the royal family who marries a Roman Catholic to be unable to succeed to the throne. Good point, Prime Minister!

Cameron and other UK leaders, along with the Queen, will meet in Australia to discuss the changes later this month. Here's hoping Kate will pop out a baby girl one day, after which we'll play Beyonce's "Run the World (Girls)" to celebrate her future as Queen-to-be."

in Time

Putin to return as Russia's president

"Vladimir Putin declared on Saturday he planned to reclaim the Russian presidency at March elections that could open the way for the former KGB spy to rule until 2024.

The announcement, greeted by cheers at a congress of Prime Minister Putin's ruling United Russia party, ended months of speculation over whether he or President Dmitry Medvedev would run. The two have ruled in a power 'tandem' since Putin was forced by the constitution to yield the presidency four years ago after serving a maximum two consecutive terms.

"It is a great honor for me," Putin said to a long standing ovation from thousands of party members in a Moscow sports stadium after Medvedev proposed his mentor return as president. "Thank you, I hope for your support."

Putin, 58, described in leaked U.S. diplomatic cables as the "Alpha dog" in the tandem, then left the stage and embraced Medvedev. He also proposed his younger and more liberal protege replace him as prime minister after the March election to lead a young reformist government.

Over 11 years, Putin has cultivated the image of a vigorous leader, filmed riding bare chested, scuba diving and showing his judo skills. His policies, crushing a Chechen separatist rebellion, taming super-rich businessmen and bringing wayward regions to heel have similarly won him popularity.

But critics say his return to the Kremlin, virtually unopposed, could herald an era of economic and political stagnation in the world's largest country. (...)"

Obama deficit plan aimed at Democratic base

"President Barack Obama will lay out a plan on Monday to cut the U.S. deficit, striking a populist tone aimed at galvanizing his Democratic Party base ahead of the November 2012 election.

Obama will vow to veto any cuts proposed for the government-run Medicare health program for the elderly unless Congress agrees to raise taxes on companies and the wealthy.

The president's recommendations to a congressional "super committee" would deliver deficit savings of more than $3 trillion over the next decade, his aides said, with roughly half of those savings coming from higher tax revenues.

Republicans, who control the U.S. House of Representatives, are firmly rejecting any tax hikes to raise revenues. Many Democrats see that as a sign for Obama to stop trying to compromise with Republicans over tackling the debt, and instead to fight for the voters who put him office.

"These things are critical to the base," said Jared Bernstein, a senior fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities in Washington and a former economic adviser to Vice President Joe Biden.

Obama, under fire from Democrats to defend Medicare and Medicaid healthcare programs as he seeks to boost flagging support ahead of next year's election, will demand that all Americans share the burden of controlling the budget. (...)"

Some British Schools Are Banning Skirts

"Say goodbye to your school skirt, Hermione.

British schoolboys everywhere are mourning over a recent trend in the U.K., where the notion of the school girl fantasy is fading fast.

In an effort to curb the rise of the hemline, some British schools are adapting a new uniform policy by placing an outright ban on skirts and forcing female students into slacks. And while the problem is recurrent with every generation, some schools like the Nailsea School in southwestern England decided to eliminate the root of the problem altogether.

The Los Angeles Times reports that Nailsea is a part of a small but growing group of British schools fed up the distraction of inappropriate hemlines and bare legs, leaving some administrators no choice but to mandate a skirt-free policy.

Last school year, Nailsea officials threatened to forbid skirts if female students couldn't manage to follow the rule, and by the end of the year a decision to outlaw skirts was in effect. School headmaster David New implemented the new policy this school year.

"We didn't want to waste any more time on it," New told the LA Times. "It just means that teachers can concentrate on what's important in education."

Though the new rule gives way to more teenage angst, New said his students are likely to find another means of altering dress code. (...)"

in Time

With tears and emotion, Americans mark Sep. 11

America mourns Sept 11 dead with somber ceremonies

"Children yearned for lost parents and grown men and women sobbed in raw grief on the brass bearing the names of nearly 3,000 dead as America commemorated the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks.

The name of every person killed in al Qaeda's hijacked plane attacks was read on Sunday in the nearly five-hour-long centerpiece of a heart-wrenching ceremony where the World Trade Center twin towers stood.

"I haven't stopped missing my Dad. He was awesome," said Peter Negron, a child when his father, Pete, was killed in one of the towers. "I wish my Dad had been there to teach me how to drive, ask a girl out on a date and see me graduate from high school and a hundred other things I can't even begin to name."

There were smaller ceremonies in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, and at the Pentagon, the other sites were 19 men from the Islamic militant group al Qaeda crashed hijacked airliners on the sunny Tuesday morning of September 11, 2001.

The attacks led U.S. forces to invade Afghanistan to topple the Taliban rulers who had harbored al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and Washington began a "war on terror" that ousted Iraq's Saddam Hussein and persists on several fronts to this day. (...)"

Typhoon hits Japan

Typhoon Talas leaves fatalities and destruction in Japan

"Rescuers and search parties were scouring central Japan on Monday as the death toll from the worst typhoon to hit the country in seven years climbed to 26.

Typhoon Talas, which was later downgraded to a tropical storm, lashed coastal areas at the weekend before moving offshore into the Sea of Japan. Fifty two people were missing and thousands were stranded as the typhoon washed out bridges, railways and roads.

The scenes of destruction were an unwelcome reminder of Japan's vulnerability to natural disasters as the country attempts to recover from the 11 March earthquake and tsunami.

The prime minister, Yoshihiko Noda, who was sworn in a day before the storm, said the government would provide assistance as quickly as it could.

His predecessor, Naoto Kan, was forced out of office chiefly because of public anger over the government's response to the tsunami, which left nearly 21,000 people dead or missing and sparked the world's worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl in 1986.

"We will do everything we can to rescue people and search for the missing," Noda said.

The typhoon was believed to be the worst to hit Japan since 2004, when 98 people were killed or reported missing. Talas caused most damage on the Kii peninsula in central Japan, south-west of Tokyo. (...)"

in The Guardian

"We won't surrender", vows Gaddafi

"Gaddafi vows fight as world backs new leaders"

"Muammar Gaddafi urged his supporters from hiding to fight on as Libya's new interim rulers met world leaders on Thursday to discuss reshaping a nation torn by 42 years of one-man rule and six months of civil war.

"Let it be a long battle. We will fight from place to place, from town to town, from valley to valley, from mountain to mountain," Gaddafi said in a message relayed by satellite TV on the anniversary of the coup that brought him to power in 1969.

"If Libya goes up in flames, who will be able to govern it? Let it burn," he said with his trademark verbal flamboyance.

In further comments broadcast later, he vowed to prevent oil exports, in the kind of threat that stirs fears of an Iraq-style insurgency: "You will not be able to pump oil for the sake of your own people. We will not allow this to happen," Gaddafi said. "Be ready for a war of gangs and urban warfare."

Amid conflicting reports of where the 69-year-old fugitive might be, a commander in the forces of the new ruling council said he had fled to a desert town south of the capital, one of several tribal bastions still holding out.

Seeking to avoid more bloodshed, opposition forces also extended by a week a deadline for Gaddafi's hometown of Sirte, on the coast, to surrender.

Meeting the National Transitional Council in Paris at the invitation of France and Britain, prime backers of the Libyan uprising which followed other Arab Spring revolts, Western powers said Gaddafi was still a threat, but handed the NTC $15 billion of his foreign assets to start the job of rebuilding. (...)"

Facebook catching criminals

"Alleged Mobster Nabbed Through Girlfriend's Facebook Post"

" By now, most of us know to be extra careful when posting personal information on Facebook. A compromising picture might jeopardize your friendships, your marriage, your career — and if you happen to be among Italy's most wanted mobsters, even your freedom.

Italian and Spanish police have arrested alleged top boss Salvatore D'Avino, whose whereabouts were traced thanks to snapshots posted on Facebook by his pregnant girlfriend.

D'Avino, 39, had been on the run since 2003. He is accused of being a key member of the bloody Giuliano clan of the Camorra crime syndicate of Naples. Italian police had issued arrest warrants for him in 2003 and '07 on charges of drug trafficking and mafia activity. He faces up to 20 years in prison.

According to Italian authorities, D'Avino had gone into hiding in Tangier, Morocco, where he started a relationship with a Moroccan woman. When she got pregnant, the couple moved to the Spanish town of Marbella, on the Costa del Sol.

But with the impending arrival of the offspring, the future mother made a child's mistake. She posted on Facebook two photographs of herself, proudly pregnant, so her friends and relatives could see. The problem is that in one photo she was posed in front of a sign for a very well known beach in Marbella, and the other is shot in front of a bronze statue of a lion outside a popular local Italian restaurant.

With that head start, the police were able to locate her whereabouts. Later, monitoring her e-mail, they moved in after she sent a message to D'Avino saying that the birth was imminent.

When the mobster arrived, the police were there and placed him under arrest. (...)"

in Time

Homelessness Arrives to Middle Class

Homelessness could spread to middle class, Crisis study warns

"The economic downturn and the government's deep cuts to welfare will drive up homelessness over the next few years, raising the spectre of middle class people living on the streets, a major study warns.

The report by the homelessness charity Crisis, seen by the Guardian, says there is a direct link between the downturn and rising homelessness as cuts to services and draconian changes to benefits shred the traditional welfare safety net.

In the 120-page study, co-authored by academics at the University of York and Heriot-Watt University, Crisis highlights figures released over the summer that show councils have reported 44,160 people accepted as homeless and placed in social housing, an increase of 10% on the previous year and the first increase in almost a decade.

Last year another 189,000 people were also placed in temporary accommodation – such as small hotels and B&Bs – to prevent them from becoming homeless, an increase of 14% on the previous year.

Crisis says that with no sign of economic recovery in sight, there are already signs that homelessness is returning to British streets. In London, rough sleeping, the most visible form of homelessness, rose by 8% last year. Strikingly, more than half of the capital's 3,600 rough sleepers are now not British citizens: most are migrants from eastern Europe who cannot find work and, unable to get benefits or return home, are left to fend for themselves on the streets.

The charity says the evidence is that the current recession has seen the poor suffer the most, but other parts of society may be in jeopardy if the government's radical welfare agenda is acted on as the economy stutters. (...)"

in The Guardian

Commuting nightmare after Irene floods U.S. northeast

"New Yorkers faced a hellish commute on Monday and millions of Americans throughout the northeastern United States were left in the dark and flooded after Hurricane Irene battered the region before moving into Canada.

Downgraded to a tropical and then a post-tropical storm, Irene pelted eastern Canada with rain and 50-mph (80-kph) winds after killing 20 people in the United States. It cut power to five million homes and businesses and choked towns with floodwaters.

New York subways and air travel at major airports were due to slowly regain service starting at 6 a.m. EDT but there were expected to be delays and overcrowding. Most of the commuter rail services feeding the city were out indefinitely.

Wall Street was largely unaffected as was Ground Zero, where the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks is soon to be observed. Financial markets would be open for normal trading, but volume is expected to be low.

Suburban New Jersey and rural Vermont were hit particularly hard. Both states were inundated with rain after an unusually wet summer season left the ground soaked and rivers swelled even before the storm rumbled through. (...)"

Al-Qaeda Nº2 killed in Afghanistan with a bullet

"Al Qaeda Deputy Reportedly Killed: No. 2, With a Bullet"

"The relentless U.S. campaign against elements of al Qaeda and the Taliban inside Pakistan has put another big notch in its belt with the reported killing of al Qaeda's new second-in-command. A drone missile strike is believed to have killed Atiyah Abd al-Rahman last Monday, Aug. 22, in Pakistan's lawless Waziristan region, a U.S. official said Saturday. (He also allegedly died in a 2010 strike, so the claim needs to be verified.)

Coming four months after the SEAL raid that killed Osama bin Laden, al-Rahman's demise bolsters Defense Secretary Leon Panetta's claim in July that the U.S. is "within reach" of defeating the terror network may be on the money. While few have heard al-Rahman's name, he was a trusted confidant of bin Laden and was kind of a chief operating officer, guiding the Islamic radical group's daily actions. The Iranian government, the U.S. government alleged last month, enabled much of his work. Like his fellow countryman, Muammar Gaddafi, who also has had a tough few days recently, al-Rahman was a native of Libya.

The U.S. government described al-Rahman July 28 as "al-Qa'ida's overall commander in Pakistan's tribal areas and as of late 2010, the leader of al-Qa'ida in North and South Waziristan, Pakistan. Rahman was previously appointed by Usama bin Laden to serve as al-Qa'ida's emissary in Iran, a position which allowed him to travel in and out of Iran with the permission of Iranian officials."

Taking him out deals a blow to the organization's planning, and could disrupt future attacks contemplated by al Qaeda, Pentagon officials say. Big terror attacks generally require supervision, communication, logistics and money – all key elements in al-Rahman's portfolio. He was working with bin Laden, at the time of bin Laden's death, to try to mark the 10^th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks two weeks from now, according to documents retrieved by the SEALs from bin Laden's Abbottabad lair May 2.

Despite his recent promotion, the bounty put on his head by the State Department's "Rewards for Justice" anti-terror program was "up to $1 million," according to the RFJ website. (...)"

in Time

East Coast braces for Irene

"Hurricane Irene rages up U.S. east coast"

" Hurricane Irene lashed North Carolina with heavy winds, rain and surf Saturday as it neared land on a path threatening the densely populated U.S. east coast with flooding and power outages.

New York City ordered unprecedented evacuations and transit shutdowns as states from the Carolinas to Maine declared emergencies due to Irene, whose nearly 600 mile width guaranteed a stormy weekend for tens of millions of people.

With winds of 90 miles per hour, Irene weakened slightly to a Category 1 hurricane on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale by early Saturday but forecasters warned that it remained a large and dangerous storm.

In the port and holiday city of Wilmington, North Carolina, thousands of people were without electricity as Irene's winds intensified. The streets were empty before dawn and the air was filled with the smell and sound of pine trees cracking under the advancing storm.

At 5 a.m. EDT (0900 GMT), the center of Irene was about 35 miles south of Cape Lookout, North Carolina, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

"Some weakening is expected after Irene reaches the coast of North Carolina but Irene is forecast to remain a hurricane as it moves near or over the mid-Atlantic states and New England," it said.

In summer weather, hundreds of thousands of residents and vacationers had evacuated from Irene's path. Supermarkets and hardware stores were inundated with people stocking up on food, water, flashlights, batteries, generators and other supplies. (...) "

53 dead in attack on Mexico casino

"Workers are continuing to pull bodies out of a burned casino in northern Mexico, where gunmen spread petrol and ignited a fire which trapped and killed at least 53 gamblers and employees.

Relatives gathered at the cordon outside the Casino Royale in Monterrey, some crying and others yelling at police for providing no information. Later they were allowed to view bodies to help identify the victims.

Governor Rodrigo Medina told the Televisa network that the death toll had reached 53. The fire in a city that has seen a surge in drug cartel-related violence represented one of the deadliest attacks on an entertainment centre in Mexico since President Felipe Calderon launched an offensive against drug cartels in late 2006.

Mr Calderon tweeted that the attack was "an abhorrent act of terror and barbarism" that requires "all of us to persevere in the fight against these unscrupulous criminal bands".

Attorney general Leon Adrian de la Garza said a drug cartel was apparently responsible for the attack, though he did not say which one. Cartels often extort casinos and other businesses, threatening to attack them or burn them to the ground if they refuse to pay.

It was the second time in three months that the Casino Royale had been targeted. Gunmen struck it and three other casinos on May 25, spraying the building with bullets, but no-one was reported injured in that attack. (...)"

in The Guardian

Hurricane Irene: Evacuations in North Carolina

"Evacuations in N.C. as Irene Approaches"

"Thousands were fleeing an exposed strip of coastal villages and beaches off the North Carolina coast and dozens of Navy ships were ordered to leave their port to the north Thursday as Irene approached, threatening to become the first major hurricane to hit the East Coast in seven years.

An evacuation order took effect for an estimated 150,000 tourists in coastal Dare County hours after forecasters issued a hurricane watch for much of the state's coast. Meanwhile, emergency officials all the way to New England were scrambling to get ready.

Irene could hit North Carolina's Outer Banks on Saturday afternoon with winds around 115 mph. It's predicted to chug up the East Coast, dumping rain from Virginia to New York City before a much-weakened form reaches land in Connecticut.

Dare County officials were considering making thousands of year-round residents leave, too. "It wouldn't behoove anyone to stay in these circumstances," Dare County emergency management spokeswoman Sharon Sullivan said. "Businesses are boarding up. Nobody can guarantee their safety."

The Navy ordered the Second Fleet in southeastern Virginia, including at Norfolk Naval Station, to leave so ships would be safe from the approaching hurricane. Thursday's order applied to 64 ships in the area, some of which were already at sea.

The Navy, which moves it ships when storms can produce winds of 50 knots and a five- to seven-foot storm surge, said ships at sea can better weather storms. The move will also help protect piers from being damaged. (...)"

in Time

Lybia: "Martyrdom or Victory"

"Gaddafi vows 'martyrdom or victory' after fleeing compound"

" Muammar Gaddafi has vowed "martyrdom or victory" hours after Libyan rebels swarmed into his fortified compound in Tripoli.

Following a day of heavy fighting in the Libyan capital, opposition fighters broke into Gaddafi's walled citadel, Bab al-Aziziya, where they were seen stamping on a gilded bronze head of the deposed despot and setting fire to his famous tent in a cathartic end to his 42-year rule.

But in an audio recording released to a Libyan television station, the dictator called his retreat from the compound a "tactical move". Gaddafi, who has not been seen in public for weeks, told al-Rai TV that Libyans must "cleanse the capital", and claimed he had made a discreet tour of Tripoli and felt the city was not in danger.

"All Libyans must be present in Tripoli, young men, tribal men and women must sweep through Tripoli and comb it for traitors. I have been out a bit in Tripoli discreetly, without being seen by people, and … I did not feel that Tripoli was in danger," he said.

Government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim, said 6,000 volunteers had arrived in Libya to join Gaddafi's cause, and warned that loyalist forces were ready and capable of fighting on for months, if not years.

In an audio recording, he warned they would turn Libya into "volcanoes, lava and fire against the imperialism". If the military strikes continued, he warned, Gaddafi forces would transform Tripoli into "a death trap".

"I don't think that the rebels will stand that fight because they haven't got the facilities to do that. They always ask Nato to help them and to intervene in their actions all the time. But I think Tripoli will be in two days or three days back to us," he said.

Rebel leaders said 400 people had been killed and 2,000 injured during the fighting, and there were reports of sporadic looting in the capital. But the whereabouts of the Libyan leader and his family remain unknown. (...)"

in The Guardian

Strauss-Kahn sexual assalt dismissed

"Dominique Strauss-Kahn sex assault charges dropped"

"New York prosecutors have dropped sexual assault charges against Dominique Strauss-Kahn for allegedly attacking a hotel maid – but he is not yet a completely free man after the judge said an appeal court must decide on the maid's lawyer's attempts to have a special prosecutor take over the case.

It had been widely anticipated that the case would be thrown out today, but the decision to go to the appeals court caused confusion in the New York courtroom.

The judge, Michael Obus, told the packed court he would comply with a request from the prosecution to dismiss the case. "The indictment is dismissed," he said. Most legal observers think the attempt by lawyers for Nafissatou Diallo will be unsuccessful, and a decision could come as early as later on Tuesday.

A largest group of protestors had gathered outside, many of them waving placards and chanting slogans such as "DSK! Shame on you!" as Strauss-Kahn left the courtoom.

Michael Greys, co-founder of the group 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement, was furious at the dismissal of the case. (...)"

in The Guardian

Lybia re-connected to the World

"Libya starts to reconnect to internet"

"Libya's internet connections appear to be slowly coming back online after a six-month blackout.

The state-run internet service provider (ISP) carried a message on its website that said: "Libya, one tribe".

However, local people have reported patchy reliability with connections coming and going.

Internet traffic in Libya dropped to almost nothing in early March when Colonel Gaddafi's government pulled the plug in an attempt to suppress dissent.

With Tripoli under siege, and the rebels reportedly gaining the upper hand, the authorities' stranglehold on net connections appeared to be loosening.

Both Google's web analytics and Akamai's net monitoring service showed a spike in traffic coming from the country early on 22 August.

Akamai's director of market intelligence, David Belson, said that internet activity had increased almost 500%, although it had declined again later in the day. (...)"

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