A second boy, age 11, was also charged in the incident and has a court hearing in June.Back in February, a teacher caught the boy and his friend, whose names are withheld, trying to sneak a gun and knife into Fort Colville Elementary School in Stevens County, which is some 215 miles east of Seattle. According to the Business Insider, the boy had a .45 caliber Remington 1911 semi-automatic handgun on him.Court records state the fifth-graders planned to kill one of their classmates because “she was really annoying”. Previous news reports also suggested the two intended to rape the girl.Judge Allen Nielsen sentenced the boy to three to five years in a juvenile security facility, which will provide him with schooling and psychological services.“It never escapes my mind that these are children. It is very troubling when children do things adults do – it leaves you questioning why,” said Prosecutor Tim Rasmussen.Washington law states that children between the ages of 8 and 12 do not have the mental capacity to intentionally commit crimes, but Judge Nielson ruled in March that the boys were competent to stand trial.The 10-year old had told investigators that he stole the gun from his older brother, who stole it from his late grandfather.Police say the boys showed no remorse, although according to local newspaper the Spokesman Review, the 10-year old cried and told the judge “I know that this is a bad thing I’ve done.”“I don’t have an explanation and the explanation that the boys gave for why they had planned to do this is entirely inadequate,” Rasmussen told reporters after the trial wrapped up. … Read More
Kern County deputies involved in fatal beating are back at work
Six Kern County sheriff’s deputies and a sergeant, who last week were involved in a violent confrontation with a man who was struck numerous times with batons before he died, have returned to their regular jobs, officials said Tuesday. … Read More
Hamas, Fatah agree to form unity government in 3 months
The announcement comes after a meeting late Tuesday at the Egyptian security services headquarters in Cairo between Azzam al-Ahmed, the Fatah official in charge of reconciliation affairs, and Mussa Abu Marzuq, his Hamas counterpart.“We must take immediate steps to agree on the Palestinian National Council’s [PLO parliament] electoral law and set a date for elections. We have said these measures must be carried out within three months,” Ahmed told Voice of Palestine radio.His words were echoed by Sami Abu Zohri, a Hamas spokesman, who told AFP that both factions had decided to “finalize all reconciliation issues in three months, including that of the national unity government.”Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said in April that he would renew consultations with the Hamas movement, after the resignation of Prime Minster Salam Fayyad, who had served since 2007.The two movements signed a reconciliation deal in Cairo in 2011, which was meant to have paved the way for legislative and presidential elections within 12 months.But the implementation of the Cairo agreement stalled over the make-up of the interim government. A second agreement signed by Abbas and Khaled Masha’al, the political bureau chief of Hamas, in Doha, Qatar in February 2012, was opposed by Hamas members in Gaza.The resignation of Fayyad in April opens up the possibility of a joint government; Hamas had never recognized his authority, instead pushing forward their own Prime Minister Ismail Haniya.Reconciliation between Fatah, which controls the West Bank, and Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, is seen by many as an important prerequisite for securing peace between Israel and Palestine, since a lack of a unified government prevented any meaningful dialogue between the parties.However, there are considerable differences between Hamas and Fatah. Hamas is committed to violence and refuses to acknowledge Israel’s right to exist.Hamas’ charter sates that “There is no solution to the Palestinian problem except by jihad” and that “the land of Israel is forfeit to Islam forever.”Fatah on the other hand signed the Oslo peace accords with Israel in 1993, which accepted the right of Israel to exist.Hamas’ terms of reconciliation with Fatah have been that the PA cease security co-operation with Israel in the West Bank, and they also want control of key ministries currently dominated by Fatah, such as the Ministry of Interior. Hamas have also said that no change is made to their security services in Gaza.Amal Hamad, a member of the Fatah Central Committee from Gaza, told the Jerusalem Post on Monday that Hamas was not serious about achieving reconciliation with Fatah.“Hamas is interested in maintaining its Islamic emirate in the Gaza Strip, Hamas does not want to end the conflict with Fatah,” she said. She also accused the Islamist organization of cracking down on Fatah supporters in the Gaza Strip, noting that more than 30 Fatah activists have been summoned for interrogation in the past 24 hours by Hamas. … Read More
Hamas, Fatah agree to form unity government in three months
The announcement comes after a meeting late Tuesday at the Egyptian security services headquarters in Cairo between Azzam al-Ahmed, the Fatah official in charge of reconciliation affairs, and Mussa Abu Marzuq, his Hamas counterpart.“We must take immediate steps to agree on the Palestinian National Council’s [PLO parliament] electoral law and set a date for elections. We have said these measures must be carried out within three months,” Ahmed told Voice of Palestine radio.His words were echoed by Sami Abu Zohri, a Hamas spokesman, who told AFP that both factions had decided to “finalize all reconciliation issues in three months, including that of the national unity government.”Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said in April that he would renew consultations with the Hamas movement, after the resignation of Prime Minster Salam Fayyad, who had served since 2007.The two movements signed a reconciliation deal in Cairo in 2011, which was meant to have paved the way for legislative and presidential elections within 12 months.But the implementation of the Cairo agreement stalled over the make-up of the interim government. A second agreement signed by Abbas and Khaled Masha’al, the political bureau chief of Hamas, in Doha, Qatar in February 2012, was opposed by Hamas members in Gaza.The resignation of Fayyad in April opens up the possibility of a joint government; Hamas had never recognized his authority, instead pushing forward their own Prime Minister Ismail Haniya.Reconciliation between Fatah, which controls the West Bank, and Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, is seen by many as an important prerequisite for securing peace between Israel and Palestine, since a lack of a unified government prevented any meaningful dialogue between the parties.However, there are considerable differences between Hamas and Fatah. Hamas is committed to violence and refuses to acknowledge Israel’s right to exist.Hamas’ charter sates that “There is no solution to the Palestinian problem except by jihad” and that “the land of Israel is forfeit to Islam forever.”Fatah on the other hand signed the Oslo peace accords with Israel in 1993, which accepted the right of Israel to exist.Hamas’ terms of reconciliation with Fatah have been that the PA cease security co-operation with Israel in the West Bank, and they also want control of key ministries currently dominated by Fatah, such as the Ministry of Interior. Hamas have also said that no change is made to their security services in Gaza.Amal Hamad, a member of the Fatah Central Committee from Gaza, told the Jerusalem Post on Monday that Hamas was not serious about achieving reconciliation with Fatah.“Hamas is interested in maintaining its Islamic emirate in the Gaza Strip, Hamas does not want to end the conflict with Fatah,” she said. She also accused the Islamist organization of cracking down on Fatah supporters in the Gaza Strip, noting that more than 30 Fatah activists have been summoned for interrogation in the past 24 hours by Hamas. … Read More
Russian Bombers Fly Within US Defense Zone Near Alaska
Categories: Conspiracy Fact and Theory, Headlines & Head Lies, War and ConflictTags: Obama Russia, russia, Russia US airspace, Russian militaryAccording to defense and military officials, strategic bombers from Russia flew within the defense zone close to northern Alaska and the Aleutian Islands last week.(Read more…) … Read More
FBI says they’ve thwarted terror attack in Minnesota
Buford Rogers of Montevideo, Minnesota was arrested on Friday and charged him with one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm. More charges could be on the way, however, following a Monday morning statement made by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.In a press release issued Monday, the FBI wrote they believe “that a terror attack was disrupted by law enforcement personnel” by arresting Rogers and that “the lives of several local residents were potentially saved” thanks to the investigation.Special Agent in Charge of the Minneapolis Division of the FBI, J. Christopher Warrener, said in the statement that “cooperation between the FBI and its federal, state and local partners enabled law enforcement to prevent a potential tragedy in Montevideo” last week.Authorities believed there “would have been a localized terror attack, and that’s why law enforcement moved quickly,” FBI spokesman Kyle Loven told the Associated Press on Monday.Police say that they executed a search warrant at Rogers’ home on Friday and uncovered Molotov cocktails, suspected pipe bombs and at least one gun. Because he was previously convicted of a felony burglary, Rogers cannot lawfully own a firearm and was subsequently charged with illegal possession for owning what the AP has identified as a Romanian AKM assault rifle. The AP has also uncovered another 2009 misdemeanor conviction for Rogers involving the dangerous handling of a weapon.The FBI thought Rogers was in the “planning stages” of a terror attack, the AP continued, and he is believed to have targeted an area in western Minnesota.Montevideo is roughly 130 miles west of Minneapolis, MN and only a few minutes’ drive from the state’s border with South Dakota.A local Fox affiliate wrote Monday that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, the Minnesota State Patrol, Bloomington police bomb squad and the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources were all involved in executing the search warrant. … Read More
Russia suspects international PR to justify use of force in Syria intervention
“Moscow is concerned by the signs of preparing the public opinion in the world to the possibility of intervention using force into the lingering internal conflict in the Syrian Arab Republic,” reads Monday statement by the ministry’s spokesman Aleksandr Lukashevich.He also noted that the situation in Syria and around aggravated sharply in past few days.“A lot of reasoning appeared in a number of Arab and other international mass media regarding the use of chemical weapons in the standoff between the government forces and the opposition guerillas,” Lukashevich warned.The Russian side again drew the attention of the international community to the statement made by Carla Del Ponte, a member of the independent commission for investigation of human rights abuse in the republic. Del Ponte claimed that the UN expert possessed some data that could testify for the possible use of chemical weapons by anti-Assad rebels and not the government troops.“From our side we persistently call to stop the politicizing of this exceptionally serious issue and the inflating of the anti-Syrian atmosphere ,” Lukashevich emphasized.He added that Moscow deemed unacceptable the postponing of the reaction to the address of the Syrian government to the United Nations regarding the reported use of chemical weapons by armed units of the opposition in the settlement of Khan al-Asal on March 19 this year. … Read More
