This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here

Category: Breaking News

  • Alleged defections in Libya.

    This has just post a few minutes ago.

    Members of a Libyan army unit told residents of the flashpoint eastern city of Benghazi Sunday that they had defected and liberated the city from forces supporting the four decades of rule by Moamar Ghadafi, Reuters reported.

    And speaking from Benghazi, a local man named Benali told Sky News that anti-regime protesters were now in control of the city, the second largest in the oil-rich African nation.

    Now there are a lot of unanswered questions here like the number of soldiers and rank. But one of the biggest is how the Lybian government will react to this if this story is creditable. We shall see where this all leads.

    Also the US is attempting to apply pressure to Libyan to back down its threats of action against the local protesters.

    U.S. President Barack Obama’s administration also signaledthat the Libyan government might face consequences if it did not take heed of warnings to rein in its security forces and respect its citizens’ right to protest.

    Something tells me that they will not be impressed.

  • DoD denies Petraeus rumors

    In reference to the article below about General Petraeus leaving, the Pentagon wasted no time in denying the rumor last night, according to Stars & Stripes;

    “Despite some sensational speculation by one of the London papers, I can assure you General Petraeus is not quitting as ISAF commander,” Morrell said, “but nor does he plan to stay in Afghanistan forever. Obviously he will rotate out at some point, but that point has not yet been determined and it will not occur anytime soon. Until then, he will continue to ably lead our coalition forces in Afghanistan.”

    After that statement, The Times changed its headline to read “Search on for General Petraeus Successor.”

    The entire episode occurred within just a few hours, but it highlights the speculation already gaming out behind the scenes about what Petraeus will do when his time is up in Afghanistan.

    Just so long as they get rid of that dick Eikenberry.

  • CBS’ Lara Logan sexually assaulted in Cairo

    Tman sends us a CBS News link to the revelation that South African-born Lara Logan was sexually assaulted for a prolonged period during the celebration of Hosni Mubarak’s resignation;

    “In the crush of the mob, she was separated from her crew. She was surrounded and suffered a brutal and sustained sexual assault and beating before being saved by a group of women and an estimated 20 Egyptian soldiers. She reconnected with the CBS team, returned to her hotel and returned to the United States on the first flight the next morning. She is currently in the hospital recovering.”

    I’m not familiar with her work, but according to her bio at CBS News, she was the first journalist into Afghanistan after the 9-11 attacks and she was the only journalist from a US news organization in Baghdad on the eve of the US assault.

    Logan received an Emmy Award, an Overseas Press Club Award and a Murrow Award for “Ramadi: On the Front Line,” a powerful 2006 report on American troops under fire in Ramadi, Iraq, a piece Logan and her producer shot themselves while embedded with a U.S. military unit.

    We wish her the best. She sounds like the type of journalist we would admire if she worked for another network…one we actually watched.

  • Middle East on fire

    Protests in Algeria, Yemen, and Iran. The International Atomic Energy Agency warns that Iran may be pursuing nuclear armament.

    But the IAEA did not have hard evidence implicating Tehran in nuclear bomb making, he said.

    “We are not sure if they are hiding something,” Amano noted. “We don’t have a smoking gun. We have concerns.”

    Welcome to reality, doofus.

    Now that Gaddafi is off the terrorist list, he’s encouraging Palestinians to stage a revolution against Israel. Of course the old guard in the Middle East has been keeping their own opposition at bay by continually encouraging the Palestinians to battle Israel.

    The outgoing premier of Lebanon is going to declare himself in the opposition to the Hezbollah-controlled government there.

    And, oh, the Egyptian labor unions are protesting for higher wages now.

    Did I leave anyone out?

    It’s going to be a rough summer.

  • Egypt’s military suspends constitution/dissolves parliament

    I guess this bears watching (LA Times link);

    Egypt’s military dissolved the country’s parliament and suspended the constitution saying it will rule for six months or until presidential and parliamentary elections are held, according to a statement by the military council read on state TV today.

    The move, which comes two days after the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak, meets some of the demands of the anti-government protesters who demonstrated against Mubarak and the parliament and demanded constitutional reforms.

    Given that the military had to forcibly remove protesters from Tahir Square to influence some measure of normalcy this morning, the protesters didn’t leave them much choice.

  • Egypt protests turn violent

    Fox News reports that after the military called for an end to the protests in Egypt now that Mubarak has announced he won’t run for another term in office, anti- and pro- government protesters have faced off with rocks and sticks in the streets of Cairo;

    By early afternoon, an Associated Press reporter saw Mubarak supporters break through a human chain of anti-government protesters trying to defend thousands gathered in Tahrir. They tore down banners denouncing the president and fistfights broke out as they advanced across the massive square in the heart of the capital. A number of those involved were injured and some were bleeding from their heads.

    The same thing happens here in the comment threads. The longer they go on, the more violent they become.

  • Fort Hood shooter ruled ‘sane’

    Sometimes I love being several hours behind the East coast time zone that way I can have the fun of getting to pass along news that it less then a hour old.

    KILLEEN, Texas — The US Army psychiatrist charged with killing 13 people in a shooting spree on a Texas army base has been ruled sane and thus fit for trial, a source familiar with the case said.

    The ruling by a group of medical experts, called a sanity board, opens the door for a court martial that could end in the execution of Major Nidal Hasan, who was paralyzed from the neck down during the November 5, 2009 massacre.

    Neither prosecutors nor retired Army Colonel John Galligan, a veteran military lawyer representing Hasan, 40, would confirm the board’s decision.

    But Galligan suggested it went against his client, who worked at Fort Hood until the shooting.

    “I’m not going to say what they ruled,” he told AFP. “I would just say this: I don’t think the report will be anything that will be an impediment to the charges from the government’s perspective.”

    So that should throw the insanity plea, but it is being said that the trial could be as long as a year out from now.

  • Suicide bomber strikes Russian airport; 31 dead

    Drudge is running a lead from Reuters;

    At least 31 people were killed and more than 100 injured on Monday in a suicide bombing at Russia’s biggest airport, Russian news agencies reported.

    Russia’s ruble-dominated stock market MICEX fell by nearly two percent following the blast, which ripped through the baggage claim area at Moscow’s Domodedovo airport at 1332 GMT.

    From the New York Times;

    An explosion rocked an international terminal of Moscow’s busiest airport on Monday afternoon. There were conflicting reports on the number of dead and injured, but the toll appeared to be rising rapidly. The authorities were seeking to determine the cause, but Russian investigators released a statement saying that the case was being treated as a terrorist attack.

    Video from Fox News of the inside of the airport;