Saturday, March 2, 2013

Head of Chadian army claims troops kill Belmoktar

FILE - This image taken from video provided by the SITE Intel Group made available Thursday Jan. 17, 2013, purports to show militant militia leader Moktar Belmoktar. The head of Chad's military has announced Saturday March 2, 2013, on state television that Chadian troops deployed in northern Mali have killed Moktar Belmoktar, the international terrorist responsible for the attack on a natural gas plant in Algeria that resulted in the death of dozens of foreigners. The French military, which is leading the offensive in northern Mali, says it cannot confirm the information. (AP Photo/SITE Intel Group) THE ASSOCIATED PRESS HAS NO WAY OF INDEPENDENTLY VERIFYING THE CONTENT, LOCATION OR DATE OF THIS PICTURE. MANDATORY CREDIT: SITE Intel Group

FILE - This image taken from video provided by the SITE Intel Group made available Thursday Jan. 17, 2013, purports to show militant militia leader Moktar Belmoktar. The head of Chad's military has announced Saturday March 2, 2013, on state television that Chadian troops deployed in northern Mali have killed Moktar Belmoktar, the international terrorist responsible for the attack on a natural gas plant in Algeria that resulted in the death of dozens of foreigners. The French military, which is leading the offensive in northern Mali, says it cannot confirm the information. (AP Photo/SITE Intel Group) THE ASSOCIATED PRESS HAS NO WAY OF INDEPENDENTLY VERIFYING THE CONTENT, LOCATION OR DATE OF THIS PICTURE. MANDATORY CREDIT: SITE Intel Group

(AP) ? Chad's military chief announced late Saturday that his troops deployed in northern Mali had killed Moktar Belmoktar, the terrorist who orchestrated the attack on a natural gas plant in Algeria that left 36 foreigners dead.

The French military, which is leading the offensive against al-Qaida-linked rebels in Mali, said they could not immediately confirm the information.

Local officials in Kidal, the northern town that is being used as the base for the military operation, cast doubt on the assertion, saying Chadian officials are attempting to score a PR victory to make up for the significant losses they have suffered in recent days.

Known as the "one-eyed," Belmoktar's profile soared after the mid-January attack and mass hostage-taking on a huge Algerian gas plant. His purported death comes a day after Chad's president said his troops had killed Abou Zeid, the other main al-Qaida commander operating in northern Mali.

If both deaths are confirmed, it would mean that the international intervention in Mali had succeeded in decapitating two of the pillars of al-Qaida in the Sahara.

"Chad's armed forces in Mali have completely destroyed a base used by jihadists and narcotraffickers in the Adrar and Ifoghas mountains" of northern Mali, said Army Chief of Staff Gen. Zakaria Ngobongue in a televised statement on state-owned National Chadian Television. "The provisional toll is as follows: Several terrorists killed, including Moktar Belmoktar."

The French military moved into Mali on Jan. 11 to push back militants linked to Belmoktar and Abou Zeid and other extremist groups who had imposed harsh Islamic rule in the north of the vast country and who were seen as an international terrorist threat.

France is trying to rally other African troops to help in the military campaign, since Mali's military is weak and poor. Chadian troops have offered the most robust reinforcement.

In Paris, French military spokesman Col. Thierry Burkhard said that he had "no information" on the possibility that Belmoktar was dead. The Foreign Ministry refused to confirm or deny the report.

A spokesman for Chad's presidential palace did not immediately return a request for comment. In Kidal in northern Mali, an elected official, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press, said that he did not believe that Belmoktar was dead and waved off the claim as an attempt by Chad to explain the loss of dozens of their troops to a grieving nation.

"These last few weeks, the Chadians have lost a significant number of soldiers in combat. (Claiming that they killed Belmoktar) is a way to give some importance to their intervention in Mali," said the official, who keeps in close contact with both French and Malian commanders in the field.

Belmoktar, an Algerian, is believed to be in his 40s, and like his sometimes partner and sometimes rival, Abou Zeid, he began on the path to terrorism after Algeria's secular government voided the 1991 election won by an Islamic party.

Both men joined the Armed Islamic Group, or GIA, and later its offshoot, the GSPC, a group that carried out suicide bombings on Algerian government targets.

Around 2003, both men crossed into Mali, where they began a lucrative kidnapping business, snatching European tourists, aid workers, government employees and even diplomats and holding them for multimillion-dollar ransoms.

The Algerian terror cell amassed a significant war chest, and joined the al-Qaida fold in 2006, renaming itself al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb.

Until last December, Belmoktar and Abou Zeid headed separate brigades under the flag of al-Qaida's chapter in the Sahara. But after months of reports of infighting between the two, Belmoktar peeled off, announcing the creation of his own terror unit, still loyal to the al-Qaida ideology but separate from al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb.

It was this group that launched the fatal attack on a BP-operated natural gas plant in southeastern Algeria in retaliation for the French-led military intervention in Mali.

In the attack and in the subsequent rescue attempt, 37 people, all but one of them foreigners, were killed inside the complex. Belmoktar claimed responsibility for the attack within hours, immediately catapulting him into the ranks of international terrorists.

In addition to the alleged killing of Belmoktar, Ngobongue said that Chad's military had also nabbed 60 of the jihadists' cars, electronic equipment and weapons. "The raid is still ongoing," he said.

___

Callimachi contributed to this report from Dakar, Senegal. Baba Ahmed contributed from Bamako, Mali.

___

Rukmini Callimachi can be reached at www.twitter.com/rcallimachi

Baba Ahmed can be reached at www.twitter.com/babahmed1

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-03-02-Mali-Belmoktar/id-0a601ae2ce9f4abda98acf03bf385f41

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Woman's Death Last Week Ruled Homicide From Bullet Shot in ...

The death of a Pennsylvania woman last week?has been ruled a homicide after the coroner decided it resulted from complications associated with gunshot wounds. Although such a ruling might seem pretty straightforward, it gets a little more complicated when you learn the bullet was shot three decades ago.

Linda Knauss Dies of Gunshot Wound Complications Nearly 31 Years Later Death Ruled Homicide

Linda Knauss at a younger age. Knauss was shot in 1982 and died nearly 31 years later from what the coroner ruled was complications from this wound. (Photo: The Morning Call, File)

According to Leigh Valley?s the Morning Call,?Linda Knauss, 65, was killed by the gunshot wound she received to the neck during a robbery while she shopped in?Harrisburg. But her death didn?t come until nearly 31 years later. The April 12, 1982, attack left her partially paralyzed.

The Morning Call reported the coroner saying Knauss was admitted to the hospital for respiratory issues and died Feb. 18, 2013.

The man who shot Knauss and the boutique shop owner?Isaac Mishkin, who still owns the store, was not caught at the time. ?The Morning Call reported records describing him as in his 20s.

?I just remember him saying, ?I?m going to blow you away,?? the now 76-year-old Mishkin told the Morning Call.

Mishkin, who still has a bullet from the incident inside him near his liver, also noted that Knauss continued to shop at his story in the years that followed:

?She was friendly,? he said. ?We were on the phone with her all the time. Up until a few weeks ago, she was still a customer of ours.

?We would mail clothes to her and she would mail back what she didn?t want.?

The Patriot News reported?Dauphin County?District Attorney Ed Marsico saying if they could find the perpetrator, he could still potentially be prosecuted for his crime as there is?no statute of limitations when it comes to murder.?But Marisco did note that even with the coroner?s homicide ruling it could still be difficult to prove Knauss did in fact die from complications relating to her being shot.

The Morning Call reported Mishkin expressing skepticism for the gunshot wounds being related to Knauss? cause of death.

?I have a bullet in me,? he said to the Morning Call. ?Would they be able to say if I could?ve lived longer if it wasn?t there? I don?t know why they are stirring something up.?

Read more details about the 1982 attack on the boutique and its patrons in the Morning Call here.

(H/T: GeekOSystem)

Source: http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/02/28/womans-death-last-week-ruled-homicide-from-bullet-shot-in-1982-murderer-could-still-be-prosecuted/

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activity added a certain piquancy to events. But really

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Source: http://forum.cabalonline.com/showthread.php?336174-activity-added-a-certain-piquancy-to-events-But-really

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Friday, March 1, 2013

WHO: Small cancer risk after Fukushima accident

LONDON (AP) ? People exposed to the highest doses of radiation during the Fukushima nuclear plant disaster in 2011 may have a slightly higher risk of cancer that is so small it probably won't be detectable, according to a new report from the World Health Organization released Thursday.

A group of experts convened by the agency assessed the risk of various cancers based on estimates of how much radiation people at the epicenter of the nuclear disaster received, namely those directly under the plumes of radiation in the most affected communities in Fukushima, a rural agricultural area about 150 miles (240 kilometers) north of Tokyo.

Some 110,000 people living around the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant were evacuated after the massive March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami knocked out the plant's power and cooling systems, causing meltdowns in three reactors and spewing radiation into the surrounding air, soil and water.

Experts calculated that people in the most affected regions had an additional 4 to 7 percent overall risk of developing cancers including leukemia and breast cancer. In Japan, men have about a 41 percent lifetime risk of developing cancer of an organ while a woman's lifetime risk is about 29 percent. For those most hit by the radiation after Fukushima, their chances of cancer would rise by about 1 percent.

"These are pretty small proportional increases," said Richard Wakeford of the University of Manchester, one of the authors of the report.

"The additional risk is quite small and will probably be hidden by the noise of other (cancer) risks like people's lifestyle choices and statistical fluctuations," he said. "It's more important not to start smoking than having been in Fukushima."

Experts had been particularly worried about a spike in thyroid cancer, since iodine released in nuclear accidents is absorbed by the thyroid, especially in children. After the Chernobyl disaster, about 6,000 children exposed to radiation later developed thyroid cancer, because many drank contaminated milk after the accident.

In Japan, dairy radiation levels were closely monitored and children are not big milk drinkers anyway.

WHO estimated that women exposed as infants to the most radiation after the Fukushima accident would have a 70 percent higher chance of getting thyroid cancer in their lifetimes. But thyroid cancer is extremely rare and the normal lifetime risk of developing it is about 0.75 percent. That would rise to 0.5 percent for those women who got the highest radiation doses as babies.

Wakeford said the increase in such cancers may be so small they will probably not be observable.

For people beyond the most directly affected areas of Fukushima, Wakeford said the risk dropped dramatically. "The risks to everyone else were just infinitesimal."

Some experts said it was surprising that any increase in cancer was even predicted and believe that the low-dose radiation people in Fukushima received hasn't been proven to raise the chances of cancer.

"On the basis of the radiation doses people have received, there is no reason to think there would be an increase in cancer in the next 50 years," said Wade Allison, an emeritus professor of physics at Oxford University, who was not connected to the WHO report. "The very small increase in cancers means that it's even less than the risk of crossing the road," he said.

Gerry Thomas, a professor of molecular pathology at Imperial College London accused the WHO of hyping the cancer risk.

"It's understandable that WHO wants to err on the side of caution, but telling the Japanese about a barely significant personal risk may not be helpful," she said.

Thomas said the WHO report used inflated estimates of radiation doses and didn't properly take into account Japan's quick evacuation of people from Fukushima. "This will fuel fears in Japan that could be more dangerous than the physical effects of radiation," she said, noting that people living under stress have higher rates of heart problems, suicide and mental illness.

___

Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/small-cancer-risk-fukushima-accident-093105593.html

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Seth MacFarlane Boobs Song Angered ... - Business Insider

YouTube

Charlize Theron was in cahoots with MacFarlane on the musical number and pre-recorded this reaction shot.

Despite solid ratings for Sunday's 85th annual Academy Awards, host Seth MacFarlane is catching a lot of flak for his crude jokes about women, Jews, Abraham Lincoln and most notably, actresses' boobs.

In a musical number titled "We Saw Your Boobs," MacFarlane pointed out actresses who have bared all on-screen?? often during emotionally-charged or rape scenes.

Women both in the audience and watching at home were offended by the song, calling it crass and inappropriate.

We spoke with Elizabeth Cantillon, film producer and executive vice president of production at Sony who was in the audience at the Dolby Theater Sunday night, who tells us she and her colleagues were outraged:

I was with a number of women in the movie business who were shocked that that's what the Academy Awards chose to emphasize when really what we should be doing is promoting growth to our business and what's great about our business.

You're talking about the great American actresses, you're talking about Angelina Jolie and Meryl Streep. People who have had long and successful careers, have won awards, and objectifying them and it's not right???even if you're trying to be humorous it's identifying a select group and picking on them for ridicule. Which I would think, with the history of the Academy and people who are contributors in Hollywood, that wouldn't be okay.

Even if it had been hilariously funny, I don't know that that should be the source of comedy on a show that is meant to promote our business around the world. These women are international stars, that's their business, they're important businesswomen as well as artists and that's key to success in our business and appreciating them.

Tabloids can do what they do, that's the cross of the business, but not the Oscars.?I would be surprised if there was any woman in the movie business who was at the Oscars or watched the Oscars who wasn't offended by that.

As for whether or not any of Cantillon's colleagues have spoken to the Academy about the offensive song and dance number, she says she's not sure, "but the head of the Academy is a woman, so that was also surprising."

Meanwhile, the Academy is defending MacFarlane.

?If the Oscars are about anything, they?re about creative freedom," an Academy spokeswoman said in a statement to TheWrap. "We think the show's producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, and host Seth MacFarlane did a great job and we hope our worldwide audience found the show entertaining.??

?Here are some other reactions to the song:

  • ?Among the women I?ve talked to today I would say I haven?t heard from any who thought it was in good taste,??Cathy Schulman, a producer who won a best picture Oscar in the past for??Crash??and is currently the president of the industry group Women in Film, tells The NY Times.
  • "MacFarlane's opening musical number, "We Saw Your Boobs," might as well have been a siren blaring, "This isn't for you" ...?Actual gender equality is a ways away, but I'd settle for one four-hour ceremony where women aren't being actively degraded." ??Vulture's Margaret Lyons in "Why Seth MacFarlane?s Misogyny Matters."
  • ?It?s one thing to be topless and to have that in the context of the film, for a purpose in a particular scene for a particular reason. It?s another to take it out of context and just focus on women?s breasts.??? Feminist lawyer Gloria Allred told The Daily Beast.
  • ?I loved the boob song, I thought [Seth MacFarlane] was great!????Best Actress winner?Jennifer Lawrence.

And at least two other actresses weren't offended by the song, either.

"Three of the actresses he sang about were evidently in cahoots with MacFarlane at some level, as they agreed to pre-record footage of their "reactions" to their shout-outs, which was then spliced in during the show, according to?The Cut's Charlotte Cowles.

Watch the pre-recorded reactions of the actresses "in cahoots" with MacFarlane below:

"Meryl Streep we saw your boobs in 'Silkwood,' Naomi Watts we saw in 'Mulholland Drive.'"

Naomi Watts Oscar gif

"Kristen Stewart we saw your boobs in 'On The Road,' and in 'Monster' we saw Charlize Theron's."

"Halle Berry we saw them in 'Monster's Ball,' Nicole Kidman in 'Eyes Wide Shut,' Marisa Tomei in 'The Wrestler' but we haven't seen Jennifer Lawrence's boobs at all."

Now watch the musical number in its entirety and judge for yourself:

If you were offended by MacFarlane, New York software developer Kevin Gisi came up with the song "We Saw Your Junk" in response:

Now Watch: Sheryl Sandberg, One Of The Most Powerful Women In The World, Reveals Staggering Stats About Women

?

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/seth-macfarlane-boobs-song-angered-hollywood-women-2013-2

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This Wonderful Guy Will Paint Whatever Picture You Ask For in MS Paint

If you want a picture of a dinosaur drawing people in an art class. Jim'll paint it for you in MS Paint. If you want a picture of Moby throwing ninja stars at a 'melancholic' badger wearing specific clothing in a specific situation. Jim'll paint it for you in MS Paint. Jim will basically paint you anything in MS Paint and they will always be incredible. More »


Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/JmC8eQrfph8/this-wonderful-guy-will-paint-whatever-picture-you-ask-for-in-ms-paint

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