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Pakistan Bombs Target Shiite Worshippers

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<img src="http://image.baidu.com/search/http:%5C/%5C/dingyue.nosdn.127.net%5C/p6wt4kovpnltq2jfuvp5yktoiviwzmgopwrq7ornd4l3n1526305459080compressflag.jpg" alt="22933513212319 9768212265 20765 03″ style= »max-width:410px;float:right;padding:10px 0px 10px 10px;border:0px; »>A bomb tore through a bus carrying Shiite Muslim worshippers in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi on Friday, killing at least 12 people, officials said. A second blast, apparently targeting family members from the first explosion, struck outside a hospital in Karachi shortly after the initial attack.

Karachi has seen a number of attacks aimed at minority Shiites in recent weeks, including one that killed dozens at a procession for 전주 안마 a religious holiday and sparked subsequent riots. Extremists from Pakistan’s Sunni Muslim majority have been blamed.

Police chief Waseem Ahmad appealed to Shiites in the teeming, chaotic city of more than 16 million to remain calm.

The first bomb apparently was attached to a motorcycle, detonating as the bus drove by.

A doctor said at least five people were killed in the hospital attack, which CBS News’ Maria Usman reports occurred amid a group of ambulances outside the Jinnah hospital, where victims of the first explosion were being treated.

Local TV footage showed security officials examining the twisted metal pieces of the wrecked motorbike. The bus nearby appeared severely damaged. Windows in nearby buildings also shattered.

The bus carried mainly women and children headed to a Shiite religious gathering, senior police official Javed Akbar said.

Dr. Simi Jamali said at least 11 bodies were brought to a local hospital.

Pakistan’s Sunnis and Shiites generally live in peace, but extremists from the two sects have targeted one another’s leaders and worshippers.

Karachi is a port city and the main commercial hub in Pakistan. It has a history of political, ethnic and religious violence. The Taliban, a Sunni Islamist movement, also are believed to use Karachi as a place to rest and raise money.

The singer was found not guilty of the DUI charge in July 2006 but guilty of driving on a suspended license

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McCready, 31, was arrested last week in Fort Myers, Fla., her hometown, on misdemeanor 강남 마사지 charges that she scratched her mother on the face and then resisted sheriff’s deputies.

She was on probation for obtaining the painkiller OxyContin fraudulently at a pharmacy in 2004. Still pending was another probation violation charge resulting from a drunken driving arrest in May 2005.

Deputy District Attorney General Derek Smith told The Tennessean that she violated probation in three ways: by being charged in a new offense; not reporting those charges immediately to her probation officer; and by the nature of the new assault charges.

The Williamson County Court Clerk said McCready’s previous attorney, Lee Dryer, had withdrawn as her lawyer. It was not yet known whether she had a new attorney.

McCready had a hit in 1996 with « Guys Do It All the Time. » Her album « Ten Thousand Angels » sold 2 million copies that year.

The singer was found not guilty of the DUI charge in July 2006 but guilty of driving on a suspended license. She then pleaded guilty to violating her probation but has petitioned to withdraw that plea.

also wants North Korea to end its ballistic missile program and get rid of all of its biological and chemical weapons

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NEW YORK — North Korea staged the destruction of its Punggye-Ri nuclear site last month for the cameras, but dismantling North Korea’s entire nuclear program begins with verifying what they actually have in their arsenal.

1 year agoU.S. intelligence wants inspectors to access roughly 100 other sites, including Yongbyon, the nation’s main atomic complex just 50 miles north of Pyongyang, 강남 안마 as well as a factory in Chongsu, near the Chinese border, suspected of producing nuclear material.

« The only way to know if North Korea’s declarations are accurate is to verify them through on the ground presence, » said David Albright, a former weapons inspector.

North Korea granted such access as part of a Clinton-era diplomatic deal and agreed to freeze its nuclear material production. But North Korea kicked out the inspectors after the Bush administration accused it of cheating.

This time, the Trump administration wants to destroy the weapons itself with assistance from other countries. Components would then be shipped to a research lab in Tennessee. Depending on how truthful Kim Jong Un is, that process could take anywhere from two to 10 years.

Another challenge is monitoring North Korea’s nuclear scientists.

« They could steal documents that are highly classified. You have to work with those people to make sure that they’re not encouraged to go out and sell their skills to others, » Albright said.

In addition to giving up its nuclear weapons, the U.S. also wants North Korea to end its ballistic missile program and get rid of all of its biological and chemical weapons.

A statement Tuesday said the former army chief’s reported call for anyone who committed war crimes during the conflict to be prosecuted showed he was « hell-bent on betraying the gallant armed forces of Sri Lanka. » More than 7,000 civilians were killed in the final months of the fighting that crushed the rebels last spring
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President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s decision follows his sweeping victory at the polls last month over his former army chief Gen. Sarath Fonseka who had defected to the opposition.

Fonseka, who last year led government troops in their crushing defeat of Tamil Tiger rebels, was dragged out of his office Monday by military police and arrested on charges he plotted to overthrow the government while running the army. He has repeatedly denied similar accusations lobbed at him since the election.

One-time allies, Fonseka and Rajapaksa were both considered heroes by Sri Lanka’s Sinhalese majority for ending the quarter-century civil war. However, their relationship deteriorated after hostilities ended, and Fonseka led the opposition’s attempts to unseat the president in an election last month. Rajapaksa won the election by 17 percentage points.

The new parliamentary poll will choose the country’s next 225 lawmakers, said a senior government official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with government policy. No date has been set.

If the presidential poll is anything to go by, the contest will be another bitter race between the government and the opposition. Rajapaksa’s party is hoping to secure a two-third majority in the country’s parliament, giving them the absolute majority and entrenching their grip on power.

Fonseka’s arrest leaves a mix of opposition parties – from ultranationalist Sinhalese Marxists to former Tamil separatists – in a difficult spot.

Fonseka’s wife Anoma Fonseka said Tuesday the former army chief has been cut off from family and friends and is being held at a secret location, though the government denied that.

After announcing Monday that Fonseka would face a court martial on sedition charges, the government heaped more accusations on him. A statement Tuesday said the former army chief’s reported call for anyone who committed war crimes during the conflict to be prosecuted showed he was « hell-bent on betraying the gallant armed forces of Sri Lanka. »

More than 7,000 civilians were killed in the final months of the fighting that crushed the rebels last spring. Human rights groups have accused the military, which was led by Fonseka at the time, of shelling hospitals and heavily populated civilian areas during the fighting, and the rebels of holding the local population as human shields.

« It seems the government is preparing for the next parliamentary election, » he said at a gathering of opposition leaders, where they also announced a countrywide protest, starting Wednesday.

(Left: An opposition party supporter holds a placard during a protest in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Feb. 3, 2010. Thousands of opposition supporters took to the streets of Sri Lanka’s capital Wednesday to protest the results of the recent presidential election, which they say was marred by fraud.)

Fonseka’s wife, Anoma, told reporters Tuesday that she has not been allowed to meet her husband or told where he is being held.

« He was dragged like an animal, » Anoma said. « Is this what he gets for ending a 30-year war? »

« He never wanted to topple the government, while he was in uniform. While he wore the uniform, he never talked about politics, » she said.

Military spokesman Maj. Gen. Prasad Samarasinghe denied that Fonseka is cut off from family or friends.

« Family members are allowed to see him, and he has been allowed to obtain legal advice also, » he said, adding that the former commander is not even in a cell.

Since the Jan. 26 election, Fonseka has complained that the government was attempting to arrest him on trumped up charges. Even as returns came in, troops surrounded the hotel where he was staying, in a massive show of force. Last week, security forces raided his office and arrested at least 15 of his staff. A number of serving military officers, which the government said were considered to be a threat to national security, have been fired.

The opposition has rejected the results of the presidential election, accusing the government of stealing more than 1 million of Fonseka’s votes during the tallying process, and 천안 안마 said it will challenge them in court.

It has also accused the government of a campaign of threats, intimidation and illegal imprisonment of its supporters and activists.By Associated Press Writer Fisnik Abrashi

U.S. Inches Closer to Major Afghan Assault

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A NATO spokesman in Brussels called on Taliban militants holding Marjah to surrender. But a Taliban spokesman boasted that the militants were prepared to « sacrifice their lives » to defend the town against the biggest NATO-Afghan offensive of the eight-year war.

The date for the main attack by thousands of Marines and Afghan soldiers has not been announced for security reasons. However, preparations have accelerated in recent days, and it appeared the assault would come soon.

Unlike previous military offensives here, coalition forces are telegraphing their punch, dropping thousands of pamphlets warning civilians to distance themselves from Taliban fighters, reports CBS News correspondent Mandy Clark.

Marjah Marines Brace for OffensiveU.S. Tightens Noose around Taliban Town

U.S. mortar crews fired two dozen smoke rounds Wednesday at Taliban positions on the outskirts of the farming community, a center of the opium poppy trade about 380 miles (610 kilometers) southwest of Kabul in Helmand province. Marine armored vehicles also drove closer to Taliban positions. Both moves are designed to lure the militants into shooting back and thus reveal their positions. The Marines did draw small arms fire but suffered no casualties.

« Deception is pretty important because it allows us to test the enemy’s resistance, » said Lt. Col. Brian Christmas, the commander of 3rd Battalion, 6th Marines Regiment. « There’s a strategy to all this show of muscle. »

The U.S. goal is to quickly retake control of Marjah to enable the Afghan government to re-establish a presence. Plans call for civilian workers move quickly to restore electricity, clean water and other public services in hopes of weaning the inhabitants away from the Taliban.

Civilians could be seen fleeing their mud brick farming compounds on the outskirts of Marjah as soon as the American and 청주 안마 Afghan forces appeared, though vast numbers do not seem to be leaving. The moves did not draw much of a response from the fighters, who appeared to be waiting behind defensive lines for the Marines to come closer to the town.

To the north, a joint U.S.-Afghan force, led by the U.S. Army’s 5th Stryker Brigade, pushed into the Badula Qulp region of Helmand province to restrict Taliban movement in support the Marjah offensive.

But bombs planted along a canal road slowed progress of a convoy Wednesday, damaging two mine-clearing vehicles and delaying the Stryker infantry carriers and Afghan vehicles from advancing for hours. There were no casualties.

« It’s a little slower than I had hoped, » said Lt. Col. Burton Shields, commanding officer of the 4th Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment.

Shields said the joint force was facing « harassing attacks » by groups of seven to nine insurgents.

« They’re trying to buy time to move their leaders out of the area, » he said.

U.S. officers estimate between 400 and 1,000 Taliban and up to 150 foreign fighters are holding Marjah, which is believed to have a population of about 80,000. It’s unclear how many of them will defend the town to the end and how many will give up once the main assault begins.

In Brussels, a NATO spokesman James Appathurai said the Taliban garrison in Marjah had the options of surrendering, leaving or fighting, adding they « are well advised to take up options one or two. »

« The area which is the focus of this operation has been known for years as an insurgent stronghold. It is actively defended and will require a large military operation to clear, » he said.

Marjah is key to Taliban control of vast areas of Helmand province, which borders Pakistan and is major center for Afghanistan’s illicit poppy cultivation, which NATO believes helps finance the insurgency.

Officials said Afghan soldiers and police would join the operation in greater numbers than in any previous one. Appathurai said the offensive was designed to show that the Afghan government can establish its authority anywhere in the country and « will establish a better life to the people who are there. »

But Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi scoffed at NATO threats, saying American and Afghan forces would face a hard fight to take Marjah.

« The Taliban are ready to fight, to do jihad, to sacrifice their lives. American forces cannot scare the Taliban with big tanks and big warplanes, » Ahmadi told The Associated Press by telephone. « American forces are here in Afghanistan just to create problems for Afghan people. This operation is to create problems for the villagers in winter weather. »

So far, there are few signs of a major exodus of civilians from Marjah, although U.S. aircraft have been dropping leaflets in the town for days warning of the offensive. Some residents contacted by telephone said the Taliban were preventing people from leaving, telling them it was unsafe because the roads had been mined.

Helmand provincial spokesman Daoud Ahmadi said about 300 families — or an estimated 1,800 people — have already moved out of Marjah in recent weeks to the capital of Lashkar Gah, about 20 miles (30 kilometers) northeast.

Most moved in with relatives but about 60 families are sheltering in a school, where the government provides them with tents, blankets, food and other items. Ahmadi said preparations have been made to receive more refugees if necessary.

judge dismissing criminal charges against five Blackwater guards who were accused in the September 2007 shooting deaths of 17 Iraqis in Baghdad

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The order comes in the wake of a U.S. judge dismissing criminal charges against five Blackwater guards who were accused in the September 2007 shooting deaths of 17 Iraqis in Baghdad.

97 no talking asmr scalp & head massage withIt applies to about 250 security contractors who worked for Blackwater in Iraq at the time of the incident, Interior Minister Jawad al-Bolani told The Associated Press.

Some of the guards now work for other security firms in Iraq, while others work for a Blackwater subsidiary, al-Bolani said. He said all « concerned parties » were notified of the order three days ago and now have four days left before they must leave.

Blackwater security contractors were protecting U.S. diplomats when the guards opened fire in Nisoor Square, a crowded Baghdad intersection, on Sept. 16, 2007. Seventeen people were killed, including women and children, in a shooting that inflamed anti-American sentiment in Iraq.

« We want to turn the page, » al-Bolani said. « It was a painful experience, and we would like to go forward. »

Based in Moyock, N.C., Blackwater is now known as Xe Services, a name change that happened after six of the security firm’s guards were charged in the Nisoor Square shootout. At the time, Blackwater was the largest of the State Department’s three security contractors working in Iraq.

One of the accused guards pleaded guilty in the case, but a federal judge in Washington threw out charges against the other five in December, rapping the Justice Department for mishandling the evidence.

The legal ruling infuriated Iraqis, with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki vowing to seek punishment for 대전 안마 the guards.

Last month, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden flew to Baghdad to appease Iraqis with a promise by the Obama administration to appeal the case and bring the guards back to trial.

The shooting further strained relations between the United States and Iraq, leading the parliament in Baghdad to seek new laws that would clear the way for foreign contractors to be prosecuted in Iraqi courts. The U.S. government rejected those demands in the Blackwater case.

In January 2009, the State Department informed Blackwater that it would not renew its contracts to provide security for U.S. diplomats in Iraq because of the Iraqi government’s refusal to grant it an operating license.

But last September, the agency said it temporarily extended a contract with a Blackwater subsidiary known as Presidential Airways to provide air support for U.S. diplomats.

The Justice Department now is investigating whether Blackwater tried to bribe Iraqi officials with about $1 million to allow the company to keep working there after the Baghdad shooting, according to U.S. officials close to the probe.

« But the complete truth is, I was scared of what people might think of me

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Reynolds, 45, says she was « intentionally evasive » when people asked how she’d dropped 160 pounds in three years. The former « View » co-host opens up about her weight loss and self-esteem issues in a story featured in the September issue of Glamour magazine, on newsstands Aug. 7.

« Everything about me was already so public (mostly my own doing — talk about dumb!), so of course everyone wanted to know what I had done, » she writes. « I was also terrified someone would have a tragic result after emulating me without making an informed decision with her doctor.

« But the complete truth is, I was scared of what people might think of me. I was afraid to be vulnerable, and ashamed at not being able to get myself under control without this procedure. »

Keeping her decision private made her a hypocrite, she says, because she had been so outspoken about her firing from ABC’s « The View » last year.

Reynolds, who weighed 307 pounds at her heaviest, says her « out-of-control behavior » began around her 40th birthday in 2002. Feeling lonely, she turned to food for comfort and gained 75 pounds over the course of 17 months. She had the procedure in August 2003.

« I used to look in the mirror and take pride in my figure, but that was when I was legitimately a full-figured woman, » she says. « I’d gradually gone from full-figured to morbidly obese. »

Reynolds opted for surgery after a friend expressed concern about her weight. It was a success, she says, though she found she was « still consumed with the same anger, 대구 마사지 shame and insecurity as before. »

Her husband, banker Al Reynolds, encouraged her to begin psychological therapy in the summer of 2005. She learned, among other things, that she « couldn’t control what others thought, » she says. She began to heal by talking openly about her weight loss to strangers.