Los Angeles police arrested an unidentified man Wednesday morning following an overnight standoff that allegedly began when he threatened a neighbor with a machete. KTLA-TV reported that another neighbor filmed the man repeatedly telling police, “shoot me” at one point, before…
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
U.S. calls for amnesty of American prisoner in North Korea
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. is calling for North Korea to grant an amnesty for the immediate release of a Korean-American sentenced to 15 years hard labor for “hostile acts” against the state.The 44-year-old Kenneth Bae is at least the sixth American detained in North Korea since 2009. The others eventually were deported or released without serving out their terms, some after trips to Pyongyang by prominent Americans, including former presidents.Analysts say Bae’s sentencing could be an effort by Pyongyang to win diplomatic concessions in the ongoing standoff over its nuclear program.State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell said Thursday the U.S. was still seeking to learn the facts of the case. He said the Swedish Embassy in Pyongyang, which handles consular matters there for the U.S., did not attend Tuesday’s trial.Continue Reading… … Read More
US national to stand trial in N. Korea for ‘plotting to topple’ govt
The announcement comes amid a tense standoff between the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) and the United States, with Washington and Seoul conducting joint military drills and Pyongyang threatening to launch an attack against US Military bases and South Korea.Kenneth Bae, known in Korea as Pae Jun-Ho, has been in police custody since arriving with a tourist group in North Korea’s northeastern city Rajin on November 3, 2012.”The preliminary inquiry into crimes committed by American citizen Pae Jun-Ho closed,” state news agency KCNA reported on Saturday. “In the process of investigation he admitted that he committed crimes aimed to topple the DPRK (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) with hostility toward it.”His crimes were proved “by evidence,” the report said, adding that Bae would “soon be taken to the Supreme Court of the DPRK to face judgement.”It is not clear what type of punishment Bae, 44, might receive, although North Korea’s criminal code usually metes out life imprisonment or capital punishment for such offenses. A South Korean newspaper published unsubstantiated claims that Bae may have been carrying video footage of North Korea executing dissidents.In 2009, former President Bill Clinton traveled to Pyongyang where he successfully negotiated the release of two US journalists with former leader Kim Jong-il. The two had been charged with crossing into the North illegally.Bae, reportedly a tour operator of Korean descent, is the sixth American to be arrested in North Korea since 2009.Rhetoric between Pyongyang, Seoul and its ally Washington flared in recent weeks following a UN decision to tighten sanctions after North Korea defied international warnings and conducted an underground nuclear bomb test on February 12, the third such test by the reclusive state.Pyongyang rejected on Friday a call for negotiations to reopen a joint industrial complex operated by the North and South. Seoul said it would remove all its remaining workers from the Kaesong factory complex, which is situated just inside North Korea.North Korea has already removed some 53,000 workers and blocked access to the complex in response to joint South Korean and US Military maneuvers, which Pyongyang said are a threat to its national security.Earlier this month, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned against aggravating the Korea crisis with military drills. “One just shouldn’t scare anyone with military maneuvers and there’s a chance that everything will calm down,” he told journalists as he met with US Secretary of State John Kerry on the sidelines of a summit of G8 foreign ministers in London.Two days later, on April 12, Lavrov said Russia would welcome a fresh round of talks on Swiss soil in an effort to resolve the crisis: “If we can re-establish that, Russia would, of course, support it.” … Read More
Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev arrested
The crowd around the standoff scene in Watertown burst into cheers as it became clear that Tsarnaev had been taken into custody following reports that a negotiator was on site. Suspect in custody. Officers sweeping the area. Stand by for further info. — Boston Police Dept. (@Boston_Police) April 20, 2013 He will be transported to Mount Auburn Hospital, the same facility where a police officer shot in a standoff with the Tsarnaevs is recovering, the Boston Globe reports. Tsarnaev is listed in “serious, if not critical condition” after suffering gunshot wounds to the neck and leg, according to CBS News.Despite earlier reports to the contrary, arresting officers will not read Dzhokhar Tsarnaev his Miranda rights, citing a so-called “public safety exception.” The Department of Justice has listed Tsarnaev as a “high value detainee” on their website. @jfahmy @reformedbroker Done twitter.com/BMTrader/statu… — Bill M (@BMTrader) April 20, 2013 Tsarnaev’s father, Anzor, is confirmed to be en route to the United States, according to ABC News. In an interview with Russian media prior to his son’s arrest, Anzor Tsarnaev was adamant about both his sons’ innocence.“Somebody might have set them up. I don’t know who and, because of their cowardice, they killed the boy,” he said.Tsarnaev, 19, and his brother, 26-year-old Tamerlan Tsarnaev, are suspected of detonating two improvised explosives during the Boston Marathon on Monday, after which a manhunt began that led to a shootout with law enforcement agents, a stolen car and finally Dzhokhar’s hideout in a boat parked on a lawn in suburban Watertown.The older Tsarnaev brother was pronounced dead by law enforcement early Friday, shortly after both men were named as suspects in Monday’s blast. Police believe the brothers reportedly shot and killed a police officer at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), later identified as 26-year-old Sean Collier.Panic soon erupted within the MIT community as dozens of police cruisers swarmed the campus to investigate the shooting. Moments later, police said that two suspects in the shooting had carjacked an SUV and were spotted in the neighboring district of Watertown, MA.Local and national law enforcement agencies in the United States — including the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives — descended on New England this week to help the Boston Police Department in their probe of the marathon tragedy, which US President Barack Obama declared in the aftermath as an act of terrorism. But despite receiving assistance from multiple branches of the Justice Department and agencies as far away as the NYPD and Israeli police, the FBI did not go public with any leads until Thursday afternoon.At around 5pm Thursday (21:00 GMT), FBI Special Agent Richard DesLauriers presented the media with surveillance camera footage of two men — originally identified as only “Suspect One” and “Suspect Two” — and said they were believed responsible for Monday’s blast, and should be considered armed and extremely dangerous.As afternoon turned to evening, new photos taken by marathon witnesses quickly circulated of the suspects, and by sundown authorities connected the Tsarnaev brothers to a series of criminal activities committed in the Boston area, including the terrorist attack.Across the world, eyes were focused on the greater Boston region into Friday morning as local news stations followed-up feverishly on what became an increasingly chaotic manhunt for both men. Police responded by shutting down much of the vicinity, ordering residents to stay inside with locked doors and urged to avoid interacting with anyone other than law enforcement. Transportation company Amtrak suspended rail service going in and out of both Boston and nearby Providence, Rhode Island, and local public services including rail, bus and taxi all stopped servicing the area.In all, roughly 1 million residents in New England were told to stay indoors until the lockdown was lifted on Friday evening.Authorities said that the brothers fired dozens of rounds at police, critically injuring another officer, during which Tamerlan Tsarnaev was injured. He was reportedly apprehended by police and later pronounced dead. According to some sources, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev fled the scene in a vehicle, driving over his brother’s body in the process.As the police escalated their manhunt for the surviving Tsarnaev, authorities warned of multiple explosives on the scene across Watertown and called in a bomb squad to assist in the investigation. … Read More
Boston Bombing Suspects’ Relatives Speak to Media
Yesterday afternoon, the FBI
released photos of two suspects in Monday’s Boston Marathon
bombing. A firefight with police last night
left one suspect dead and police have
launched a massive manhunt for the other,
identified as 19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, originally from
Chechnya. Now family in North America have reacted to the
media.
An uncle, from the Baltimore Sun:
An uncle of the two suspects in the Boston Marathon
bombing delivered an emotional interview in front of his Montgomery
Village home on Friday, calling his nephews “losers” while
imploring one who fled an early morning police standoff that left
the other dead to turn himself in.
An aunt, with a very different reaction, from the Toronto
Star:
The aunt of the ;two Boston bombing
suspects ;is calling for additional evidence showing they are
behind the acts.
“I am a lawyer and there are four of us in the family,” Maret
Tsarnaev told reporters Friday at her Toronto home. “I can’t
lightly accept this kind of accusations without supporting
evidence. Forgive me, but I cannot.
“Could it be staged? I have to question everything. That’s my
nature.”
Follow these stories and more at ;Reason 24/7 ;and don’t forget you
can e-mail stories to us at 24_7@reason.com and tweet us
at ;@reason247. … Read More
Gay man separated from husband in hospital was beaten and harassed
Ugly details emerged Friday from the standoff involving a gay man who was forced to leave his sick husband’s bedside by hospital staff and police. According to Think Progress, Roger Gorley was ignored by hospital staff, then beaten by police as he desperately clung to the rail of his partner…
