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In The News
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http://www.newnownext.com/adam-lamb...-fans-are-you/11/2014/?xrs=synd_facebook_logo
Str8 stars baiting gay fans... sort of sounds a bit like Leo hanging out at gay bars flashing his body 'n bits
(although Leo isn't a star 
)
Str8 stars baiting gay fans... sort of sounds a bit like Leo hanging out at gay bars flashing his body 'n bits
(although Leo isn't a star )
Inigo Montoya
The New Dread Pirate Roberts.
funny take on the whole PUP thing.... Reading the paragraph in bold.... I nearly died of laughter.
http://www.vice.com/en_au/read/and-the-lying-shall-lie-down-with-the-lambie-by-clive-palmer
And The Lying Shall Lie Down With The Lambie - By Clive Palmer
November 24, 2014
By Lee Zachariah
When I first came up with the idea for the Palmer United Party, I had a singular vision: genetically modified dinosaurs serving me mimosas as sentient coal trucks danced the lambada for my amusement.
I quickly left the distractions of my living room and departed to a quieter part of my massive house to consider my idea more carefully. A political party of my very own! Free from the constraints of our entrenched two-party system. Liberal and Labor have always been slave to special interest groups like millionaires and mining magnates. As a millionaire mining magnate, I'd be immune from their influence. I'm told this is basically the plot of The Monster at the End of This Book. I don't have time to read it, but my staff is putting together a summary.
As head of the Palmer United Party, I'm not afraid to tell it like it is. And sometimes telling it like it is means leaving interviews part-way through if they're not talking about things I want to talk about.
Currently, the thing I don't want to talk about is Jacqui Lambie. She told me her ambition was to be a "rogue senator", but I thought that meant she was just going to wear a lot of red makeup.
But then she began disobeying my orders and voting against the PUP's interest, and I was forced to reconsider her position. We removed her as deputy Senate leader, fired her from the position of deputy whip, and totally deleted any reference to her from the website aside from a blog post where I outright call her a liar. And today I was shocked to discover that she's quitting the party.
Look, I don't want to talk about it, all right? There are more important issues than Jacqui Lambie.
I'd rather talk about our mining sector, and how Australia is a key producer of iron ore. We're so prodigious in our output, I've seen some in the media claim that PUP's tagline "Unifying All Australians" is a huge source of irony.
I'd rather talk about our commitments to lowering electricity prices and stopping people smugglers. We were elected to govern, not to be held hostage to the whims of one lone Tasmanian senator. And look, I said I didn't want to talk about her, why do you keep bringing her up?
I don't have to take this. Goodbye. This article is over.
...
Hello. It's Jacqui here. Clive left his laptop open in the PUP Party Room and I saw it when I snuck in to collect some office supplies.
Yes, I have decided to resign from the Palmer United Party. Tasmanian voters elected me on a platform of acquiring national name recognition, and I have achieved this. Staying with a party that insists on wearing yellow all the time is only holding me back.
But I feel I must address some of the accusations levelled against me by Clive Palmer:
I am in a much better position as an independent to vote for what I assume the people of Tasmania want. Without a party to hold me back, I will continue to fight for what I believe in: that defence force pay increases should be linked to that of politicians, that the Medicare co-payment must be stopped, that sharia law maybe possibly involves terrorism, that China could invade Australia, that Vladimir Putin has great values, and that the Greens have destroyed all hope in Tasmania.
Oh shit, he's coming back. Meet me in the op-ed of Australian Defence Veterans Party's Sandra Gallagher.
http://www.vice.com/en_au/read/and-the-lying-shall-lie-down-with-the-lambie-by-clive-palmer
And The Lying Shall Lie Down With The Lambie - By Clive Palmer
November 24, 2014
By Lee Zachariah
When I first came up with the idea for the Palmer United Party, I had a singular vision: genetically modified dinosaurs serving me mimosas as sentient coal trucks danced the lambada for my amusement.
I quickly left the distractions of my living room and departed to a quieter part of my massive house to consider my idea more carefully. A political party of my very own! Free from the constraints of our entrenched two-party system. Liberal and Labor have always been slave to special interest groups like millionaires and mining magnates. As a millionaire mining magnate, I'd be immune from their influence. I'm told this is basically the plot of The Monster at the End of This Book. I don't have time to read it, but my staff is putting together a summary.
As head of the Palmer United Party, I'm not afraid to tell it like it is. And sometimes telling it like it is means leaving interviews part-way through if they're not talking about things I want to talk about.
Currently, the thing I don't want to talk about is Jacqui Lambie. She told me her ambition was to be a "rogue senator", but I thought that meant she was just going to wear a lot of red makeup.
But then she began disobeying my orders and voting against the PUP's interest, and I was forced to reconsider her position. We removed her as deputy Senate leader, fired her from the position of deputy whip, and totally deleted any reference to her from the website aside from a blog post where I outright call her a liar. And today I was shocked to discover that she's quitting the party.
Look, I don't want to talk about it, all right? There are more important issues than Jacqui Lambie.
I'd rather talk about our mining sector, and how Australia is a key producer of iron ore. We're so prodigious in our output, I've seen some in the media claim that PUP's tagline "Unifying All Australians" is a huge source of irony.
I'd rather talk about our commitments to lowering electricity prices and stopping people smugglers. We were elected to govern, not to be held hostage to the whims of one lone Tasmanian senator. And look, I said I didn't want to talk about her, why do you keep bringing her up?
I don't have to take this. Goodbye. This article is over.
...
Hello. It's Jacqui here. Clive left his laptop open in the PUP Party Room and I saw it when I snuck in to collect some office supplies.
Yes, I have decided to resign from the Palmer United Party. Tasmanian voters elected me on a platform of acquiring national name recognition, and I have achieved this. Staying with a party that insists on wearing yellow all the time is only holding me back.
But I feel I must address some of the accusations levelled against me by Clive Palmer:
- Yes, I did fail to attend party meetings, but for entirely legitimate reasons. One time, the switch to daylight savings confused me. The next, I turned up to the wrong place, cos I thought Clive said we were meeting down the pub. Another time, my great uncle died and I tried to text Clive to tell him I'd be at the funeral, but wouldn't you know it, I ran out of credit, and I tried to stop at a servo on the way to the service to get some more credit even though that would make me late to Uncle Terry's funeral, but the servo was on fire and I had to wait until the fire department came so I could tell them what I'd seen, and then the fire trucks parked me in and so I had to catch a bus, but I got on the 260 instead of the 261 and ended up in the middle of nowhere, and went to get a taxi but I'd left my purse on the bus, so I tried to hitchhike, but I got picked up by a serial murderer like in Wolf Creek and taken to his remote farmhouse where he chained me up and threatened to kill me, but I was able to use my free foot to fashion a weapon from a piece of wood, and used it to kill the guy and then took his keys and unchained myself and borrowed his murder-ute to get back in time for the party meeting, but it had just finished. Another time my alarm didn't go off.
- Clive says he tried to call me 10 times, and I never answered. Which number was he using? He might have my old number.
- Clive says I'm "following the script" of my Chief of Staff, Rob Messenger. I say Clive is just trying to shoot the messenger! That's a pretty good pun.
I am in a much better position as an independent to vote for what I assume the people of Tasmania want. Without a party to hold me back, I will continue to fight for what I believe in: that defence force pay increases should be linked to that of politicians, that the Medicare co-payment must be stopped, that sharia law maybe possibly involves terrorism, that China could invade Australia, that Vladimir Putin has great values, and that the Greens have destroyed all hope in Tasmania.
Oh shit, he's coming back. Meet me in the op-ed of Australian Defence Veterans Party's Sandra Gallagher.
Inigo Montoya
The New Dread Pirate Roberts.
Kabul Suicide Attack on UK Embassy Vehicle Kills Five
By John Beck
November 27, 2014 | 10:50 pm
A suicide attack on a UK embassy vehicle in Kabul killed at least five people, including one British citizen, and wounded more than 30 others on Thursday, the UK Foreign Office said.
An assailant detonated what was initially reported to be a motorbike, but now believed to be a car, filled with explosives by the British vehicle in the Afghan capital. The subsequent blast destroyed at least four other vehicles and was heard across the city, eye witnesses told Sky News.
Five were killed in the incident and as many as 34 injured, according to the Afghan Health Ministry. A British Foreign Office spokesman told VICE News that the dead included one British national who was a civilian security team member and an Afghan national working for the embassy. A second security team member was injured.
Local journalist Mustafa Deveci posted a number of pictures from the scene of the attack on Twitter.
British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond confirmed the embassy staff deaths in a statement expressing his sadness at the bombing. "I condemn this appalling attack on innocent civilians supporting our diplomatic activity. The families of the victims have been informed and my thoughts are with them. The Foreign Office will do everything it can to support them."
The deceased security team member died in hospital, the injured colleague was in a stable condition, according to a Western security source cited by Reuters.
A video posted by the local TOLOnews agency shows the immediate aftermath of the attack.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the bombing, which it described as an attack on "foreign invading forces", Reuters said.
Neither the British embassy nor the Afghan Ministry of the Interior immediately responded to requests for comment from VICE News.
This was the fourth bombing since Monday when two American soldiers were killed in a blast. Attacks have escalated in the capital as most of a force of NATO troops pull out of Afghanistan ahead of an official finish to combat duties at the end of December.
https://news.vice.com/article/kabul-suicide-attack-on-uk-embassy-vehicle-kills-five
By John Beck
November 27, 2014 | 10:50 pm
A suicide attack on a UK embassy vehicle in Kabul killed at least five people, including one British citizen, and wounded more than 30 others on Thursday, the UK Foreign Office said.
An assailant detonated what was initially reported to be a motorbike, but now believed to be a car, filled with explosives by the British vehicle in the Afghan capital. The subsequent blast destroyed at least four other vehicles and was heard across the city, eye witnesses told Sky News.
Five were killed in the incident and as many as 34 injured, according to the Afghan Health Ministry. A British Foreign Office spokesman told VICE News that the dead included one British national who was a civilian security team member and an Afghan national working for the embassy. A second security team member was injured.
Local journalist Mustafa Deveci posted a number of pictures from the scene of the attack on Twitter.
British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond confirmed the embassy staff deaths in a statement expressing his sadness at the bombing. "I condemn this appalling attack on innocent civilians supporting our diplomatic activity. The families of the victims have been informed and my thoughts are with them. The Foreign Office will do everything it can to support them."
The deceased security team member died in hospital, the injured colleague was in a stable condition, according to a Western security source cited by Reuters.
A video posted by the local TOLOnews agency shows the immediate aftermath of the attack.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the bombing, which it described as an attack on "foreign invading forces", Reuters said.
Neither the British embassy nor the Afghan Ministry of the Interior immediately responded to requests for comment from VICE News.
This was the fourth bombing since Monday when two American soldiers were killed in a blast. Attacks have escalated in the capital as most of a force of NATO troops pull out of Afghanistan ahead of an official finish to combat duties at the end of December.
https://news.vice.com/article/kabul-suicide-attack-on-uk-embassy-vehicle-kills-five
Inigo Montoya
The New Dread Pirate Roberts.
Syrian Electronic Army Hacks International Media Outlets
By John Beck
November 28, 2014 | 1:45 am
A number of news websites appear to have been shut down on Thursday by Syrian pro-government hacker organization the Syrian Electronic Army (SEA).
The attacks hit a number of outlets, with visitors to the websites of The Telegraph, The Guardian, The Independent and a number of others receiving a popup saying "You've been hacked by the Syrian Electronic Army," then after clicking "ok", being redirected to a page with the SEA logo.
The Italian newspaper La Repubblica also appears to have been hit, as well as reportedly the LA Times, Forbes, CNBC and others. Twitter users said that non-media sites including those of sports teams and a number of business had been targeted too.
Most of the websites were quickly returned to normal, although at the time of writing, The Independent's still appeared to be down.
The SEA back Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government and claim to have been responsible for hacking sites belonging to organizations including Human Rights Watch, the Associated Press and Al Jazeera. It even took control of a number of BBC Twitter accounts and used them to post pro-Assad slogans.
The logo page which visitors to the hacked websites were directed to.
The group claims to work independently, although it is generally believed to have at least some contact with the government. Potential recruits have reported being escorted by members of the Syrian security forces to SEA safehouses stocked with the latest modern computer gear.
The fortunes of the Assad government have improved in recent months. Once the region's principal target of international outrage, it narrowly escaped a US-led military intervention in 2013, when, despite widespread accusations that it had carried out chemical weapons attacks, Washington settled for a Russia-brokered deal that would instead see it surrender its chemical arsenal.
Since then, the emergence of the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq has diverted international attention, while coalition airstrikes against the extremist group have militarily benefited state forces in the civil conflict. With the Syrian regime and the international community now sharing a common enemy, Assad's fall now seems a distant prospect.
https://news.vice.com/article/syrian-electronic-army-hacks-international-media-outlets
By John Beck
November 28, 2014 | 1:45 am
A number of news websites appear to have been shut down on Thursday by Syrian pro-government hacker organization the Syrian Electronic Army (SEA).
The attacks hit a number of outlets, with visitors to the websites of The Telegraph, The Guardian, The Independent and a number of others receiving a popup saying "You've been hacked by the Syrian Electronic Army," then after clicking "ok", being redirected to a page with the SEA logo.
The Italian newspaper La Repubblica also appears to have been hit, as well as reportedly the LA Times, Forbes, CNBC and others. Twitter users said that non-media sites including those of sports teams and a number of business had been targeted too.
Most of the websites were quickly returned to normal, although at the time of writing, The Independent's still appeared to be down.
The SEA back Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government and claim to have been responsible for hacking sites belonging to organizations including Human Rights Watch, the Associated Press and Al Jazeera. It even took control of a number of BBC Twitter accounts and used them to post pro-Assad slogans.
The logo page which visitors to the hacked websites were directed to.
The group claims to work independently, although it is generally believed to have at least some contact with the government. Potential recruits have reported being escorted by members of the Syrian security forces to SEA safehouses stocked with the latest modern computer gear.
The fortunes of the Assad government have improved in recent months. Once the region's principal target of international outrage, it narrowly escaped a US-led military intervention in 2013, when, despite widespread accusations that it had carried out chemical weapons attacks, Washington settled for a Russia-brokered deal that would instead see it surrender its chemical arsenal.
Since then, the emergence of the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq has diverted international attention, while coalition airstrikes against the extremist group have militarily benefited state forces in the civil conflict. With the Syrian regime and the international community now sharing a common enemy, Assad's fall now seems a distant prospect.
https://news.vice.com/article/syrian-electronic-army-hacks-international-media-outlets
Inigo Montoya
The New Dread Pirate Roberts.
Oh my...
Children find baby's body on Maroubra Beach in Sydney
Updated 8 minutes agoSun 30 Nov 2014, 12:17pm
A baby's body has been found in the sand at Maroubra Beach in Sydney this morning.
A number of children were playing at the southern end of the beach when they found the body at about 10:00am (AEDT), police said.
A crime scene has been established which will be examined by forensic officers
Officers have not yet determined the age and gender of the baby.
Police Rescue Squad officers are also on the scene and a post mortem will be conducted to establish the cause of death.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-11-30/babys-body-found-on-sydney-beach-at-maroubra/5928936
Children find baby's body on Maroubra Beach in Sydney
Updated 8 minutes agoSun 30 Nov 2014, 12:17pm
A baby's body has been found in the sand at Maroubra Beach in Sydney this morning.
A number of children were playing at the southern end of the beach when they found the body at about 10:00am (AEDT), police said.
A crime scene has been established which will be examined by forensic officers
Officers have not yet determined the age and gender of the baby.
Police Rescue Squad officers are also on the scene and a post mortem will be conducted to establish the cause of death.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-11-30/babys-body-found-on-sydney-beach-at-maroubra/5928936
Inigo Montoya
The New Dread Pirate Roberts.
Teenager reported missing four years ago found hidden behind fake wall in father's home
Updated about an hour agoSun 30 Nov 2014, 10:29am
A 13-year-old boy who was reported missing four years ago has been discovered alive, hidden behind a fake wall of a home in the United States and reunited with his mother.
Five people living in the home in Jonesboro, 28 kilometres south of Atlanta, Georgia, were taken into custody, including the boy's father, Gregory Jean, 37, and an adult female, Clayton County Police Sergeant Kevin Hughes said.
Jean and Samantha Joy Davis face charges of false imprisonment, cruelty to children and obstructing an officer, he said, adding that three juveniles also in the home were facing obstruction charges.
The boy's mother apparently had reported him missing to child welfare but not police, and no missing person's report was filed, Sgt Hughes said.
The teen was apparently able to get to a phone recently and contacted his mother with his whereabouts, authorities said.
Police went to the home on Friday to look for the 13-year-old but Jean and Davis said they had no information about the boy, Sgt Hughes said.
Several hours later, police came back and again searched the residence.
While the police were in the home, the boy called his mother, who relayed to officers where her son was hidden in the house, Sgt Hughes said.
"They discovered him hidden behind a false wall in the interior portion of the home," he said.
The boy appeared to be in good physical health and was reunited with his mother, who had come to Georgia from out of state.
Neighbours in their quiet, well-kept Jonesboro neighbourhood said the family moved in about six months ago and kept to themselves.
The 13-year-old boy always seemed to be home and did not appear to be enrolled in school, they said.
"We just thought that they liked to keep to themselves," said neighbour Julie Pizarro, 37, adding that the boy was often seen tending the yard.
"You can see the yard is immaculate," she said.
"The boy kept it that way."
The teen went missing in 2010 while visiting his father in Florida, local media reported.
Jean was being held in Clayton County jail and no bail has been set, online records show.
Authorities said Jean and Davis could face more criminal charges as the investigation unfolds.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-11-...nd-hidden-behind-wall-in-fathers-home/5928700
Inigo Montoya
The New Dread Pirate Roberts.
Sony probes North Korea link to cyber attack after threats over Seth Rogen and James Franco movie
Photo: North Korea denounced the film's production as "an act of war". (Columbia Pictures)
Sony Pictures Entertainment is investigating if hackers working for North Korea are responsible for a cyber attack that knocked out the studio's computer network earlier this week, the technology news site Re/code is reporting.
The attack occurred a month before Sony Pictures, a unit of Sony Corp, is to release The Interview, a comedy movie about two journalists who are recruited by the CIA to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
The Pyongyang government denounced the film, starring James Franco and Seth Rogen, as "undisguised sponsoring of terrorism, as well as an act of war" in a letter to United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki-moon in June.
Representatives of the North Korean mission to the United Nations could not immediately be reached for comment on Saturday.
Sony Pictures' computer system went down on Monday. Before screens went dark, they displayed a red skull and the phrase "Hacked By #GOP", which reportedly stands for Guardians of Peace, the Los Angeles Times said.
The hackers also warned they would release "secrets" stolen from the Sony servers, the paper reported.
Re/code said in a report on Friday that Sony and security consultants were investigating the possibility that someone acting on behalf of North Korea, possibly from China, was responsible.
Re/code said a link to North Korea had not been confirmed but it had not been ruled out.
A source familiar with the matter told news agency Reuters that Sony Pictures was investigating every possibility, adding no link to North Korea has been uncovered.
Sony acknowledged the computer outage in a statement on Tuesday.
Emails to Sony were bouncing back on Saturday with a message asking senders to contact employees by telephone because its email system was "experiencing a disruption".
"The Interview", scheduled for release in the United States on December 25, stars Franco as the host of a tabloid television show that is enjoyed by Mr Kim and Rogen as the show's producer.
When they are granted a rare interview with Mr Kim, the CIA wants to turn them into assassins.
KCNA, the official news agency in isolationist North Korea, quoted a foreign ministry spokesman in June as promising a "merciless counter-measure" if the film is released.
The government also wrote to United States president Barack Obama asking him to stop it, the Voice of America reported.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-11-30/sony-probes-n-korea-link-to-cyber-attack-after-threats/5928620
Photo: North Korea denounced the film's production as "an act of war". (Columbia Pictures) Sony Pictures Entertainment is investigating if hackers working for North Korea are responsible for a cyber attack that knocked out the studio's computer network earlier this week, the technology news site Re/code is reporting.
The attack occurred a month before Sony Pictures, a unit of Sony Corp, is to release The Interview, a comedy movie about two journalists who are recruited by the CIA to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
The Pyongyang government denounced the film, starring James Franco and Seth Rogen, as "undisguised sponsoring of terrorism, as well as an act of war" in a letter to United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki-moon in June.
Representatives of the North Korean mission to the United Nations could not immediately be reached for comment on Saturday.
Sony Pictures' computer system went down on Monday. Before screens went dark, they displayed a red skull and the phrase "Hacked By #GOP", which reportedly stands for Guardians of Peace, the Los Angeles Times said.
The hackers also warned they would release "secrets" stolen from the Sony servers, the paper reported.
Re/code said in a report on Friday that Sony and security consultants were investigating the possibility that someone acting on behalf of North Korea, possibly from China, was responsible.
Re/code said a link to North Korea had not been confirmed but it had not been ruled out.
A source familiar with the matter told news agency Reuters that Sony Pictures was investigating every possibility, adding no link to North Korea has been uncovered.
Sony acknowledged the computer outage in a statement on Tuesday.
Emails to Sony were bouncing back on Saturday with a message asking senders to contact employees by telephone because its email system was "experiencing a disruption".
"The Interview", scheduled for release in the United States on December 25, stars Franco as the host of a tabloid television show that is enjoyed by Mr Kim and Rogen as the show's producer.
When they are granted a rare interview with Mr Kim, the CIA wants to turn them into assassins.
KCNA, the official news agency in isolationist North Korea, quoted a foreign ministry spokesman in June as promising a "merciless counter-measure" if the film is released.
The government also wrote to United States president Barack Obama asking him to stop it, the Voice of America reported.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-11-30/sony-probes-n-korea-link-to-cyber-attack-after-threats/5928620
Inigo Montoya
The New Dread Pirate Roberts.
More information on the baby found buried at the at the beach.
Children find baby's body while playing on Maroubra Beach in Sydney
Updated 12 minutes agoSun 30 Nov 2014, 2:33pm
Video: Police appeal for mother of buried baby to come forward (ABC News)
Map: Maroubra 2035
Two boys, aged six and seven, have found a baby's body while digging in the sand at Maroubra Beach in Sydney.
Two boys found the body about 10:00am AEDT and alerted their father, who contacted police.
Inspector Andrew Holland said the baby was naked and found about 30 centimetres under the sand.
He said the body had started to decompose and it was difficult to estimate a time of death without further forensic investigation.
Inspector Holland said the children and their father were all shaken by the discovery.
"Obviously everyone is upset," he said.
"It's a tragic event. Something like this doesn't happen every day and it effects everyone involved."
Children who found body being counselled
The two children were receiving counselling from officers of Maroubra Surf Life Saving Club, he said.
Police officers involved in the investigation would also be offered counselling.
Photo: Police have established a crime scene where a baby's body was found at Maroubra beach in Sydney. (ABC News: Ashleigh Raper)
"Some of them have children as well," Inspector Holland said.
"They will find it very tough."
Police were appealing for the parents of the baby to come forward and has asked anyone with information to contact police.
They will also work with the NSW Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages as well the Missing Persons Unit to try and establish the baby's identity.
Maroubra beach is currently closed and a designated crime scene while forensic officers investigate.
Inspector Holland said when they were finished, police officers would conduct a line search for any remaining evidence.
He expected the beach to be re-opened later this afternoon.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-11-30/babys-body-found-on-sydney-beach-at-maroubra/5928936
Children find baby's body while playing on Maroubra Beach in Sydney
Updated 12 minutes agoSun 30 Nov 2014, 2:33pm
Video: Police appeal for mother of buried baby to come forward (ABC News)
Map: Maroubra 2035
Two boys, aged six and seven, have found a baby's body while digging in the sand at Maroubra Beach in Sydney.
Two boys found the body about 10:00am AEDT and alerted their father, who contacted police.
Inspector Andrew Holland said the baby was naked and found about 30 centimetres under the sand.
He said the body had started to decompose and it was difficult to estimate a time of death without further forensic investigation.
Inspector Holland said the children and their father were all shaken by the discovery.
"Obviously everyone is upset," he said.
"It's a tragic event. Something like this doesn't happen every day and it effects everyone involved."
Children who found body being counselled
The two children were receiving counselling from officers of Maroubra Surf Life Saving Club, he said.
Police officers involved in the investigation would also be offered counselling.
Photo: Police have established a crime scene where a baby's body was found at Maroubra beach in Sydney. (ABC News: Ashleigh Raper) "Some of them have children as well," Inspector Holland said.
"They will find it very tough."
Police were appealing for the parents of the baby to come forward and has asked anyone with information to contact police.
They will also work with the NSW Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages as well the Missing Persons Unit to try and establish the baby's identity.
Maroubra beach is currently closed and a designated crime scene while forensic officers investigate.
Inspector Holland said when they were finished, police officers would conduct a line search for any remaining evidence.
He expected the beach to be re-opened later this afternoon.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-11-30/babys-body-found-on-sydney-beach-at-maroubra/5928936
Inigo Montoya
The New Dread Pirate Roberts.
Inigo Montoya
The New Dread Pirate Roberts.
The Opium and Heroin Business Is Booming in Southeast Asia's 'Golden Triangle'
December 9, 2014 | 1:25 pm
Opium poppy cultivation in Southeast Asia's "Golden Triangle" has tripled since 2006 and remains the primary means of subsistence — and the drug of choice — for farmers in many parts of rural Myanmar and Laos, according to a new UN report.
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) estimates that cultivation in the two countries rose marginally this year, up to 63,800 hectares from 61,200 hectares in 2013. The vast majority of that production — which yielded an estimated 762 tons of opium and, after refinement, 76 tons of heroin — took place in Myanmar's Shan state.
Shan includes parts of the so-called "Golden Triangle," a lawless region along the border with Laos and Thailand. The state is notorious for its turbulence amid the simmering, half-century long civil war with the government in Yangon.
Southeast Asia's war on drugs is a grotesque failure, but why stop? Read more here.
Despite cultivation remaining roughly static, lower "farm gate" prices — the cost at which farmers sell their product to wholesalers — and eradication efforts caused Myanmar's overall opium production to fall by nearly a quarter, from 870 tons in 2013 to 670 tons this year.
Poppy growing in Myanmar remains below the peak it reached in the mid and late 1990s. A nationwide eradication effort saw an 86 percent fall in cultivation between 1998 and 2006. But growing regional demand and a lack of economic options for growers has led to a steady uptick in cultivation in the years since.
'It's a tremendous problem in these remote areas — these are virtually drug economies.'
Today, only Afghanistan, where growers planted some 224,000 hectares of opium in 2014, devotes more land to the crop.
While the average household in Myanmar not growing opium poppies in 2014 earned around $1,730, those who grew poppies made about 15 percent more —$2,040 according to the UN's estimate. Across Southeast Asia, the trade in opiates and heroin was estimated at more than $16.3 billion this year.
"These are extremely poor areas of Myanmar," Jeremy Douglas, UNODC's representative in Southeast Asia and the Pacific, told VICE News. "Until those people get better connected into a large development plan, they aren't going to have much chance to move away from this economy."
Seven important truths about how the world takes drugs in 2014. Read more here.
The burgeoning demand for opiates is fuelled largely by China, were the number of heroin users has risen by roughly 500,000 since 2007, to 1.3 million. Douglas said many users consider heroin from the Golden Triangle purer than Afghan heroin.
Preliminary UN data shows opium use grew 83 percent in poppy-producing regions of Myanmar, and heroin use more than doubled in the same areas. In Kachin state, a secondary but sizeable growing region, the UN estimated that one in 25 people over age 15 used opium this year. In some towns, addicts inject heroin openly, and media reports have depicted local police even joining in with them.
Douglas concedes that many of UNODC's figures may be underestimating the true nature of drug use in rural areas where locals are reticent to admit they use.
Perhaps more troubling in Myanmar was an 87 percent increase in the use of amphetamine-type substances (ATS), most often ingested in the form of highly-cut uppers called "yaba." Yaba is widespread in Southeast Asia, and in recent years has appeared in India and Bangladesh, often selling for as little as $1 per pill. Unlike opium, which to an extent can be tracked with aerial and satellite imagery, meth labs are hard to pick out.
The labs, which have cropped up with regularity in many former opium-growing areas, are easily supplied with a steady quantity of precursor chemicals from China.
UN warns of unprecedented surge in synthetic drug use worldwide. Read more here.
"It's a tremendous problem in these remote areas — these are virtually drug economies," Nicolas Swanstrom, director of the Institute for Security and Development Policy in Stockholm, told VICE News. "It's difficult to overestimate the impact these illegal economies can have.
"I think when UNODC makes these assessments, it can really be much larger," added Swanstrom, who carries out research in Myanmar several times every year. "You see the effects, people being high or low - it has to be bigger than the official estimates."
Myanmar, like most Southeast Asian countries, has strict prohibitionist laws against drug use and trafficking. In 1988, the regional bloc ASEAN aimed to make the Southeast Asia drug-free by 2015. Critics say that approach, and a lack of viable alternatives for growers, ensures no long-term solution can be reached — and leaves a place for organized crime to flourish in anarchic regions.
"It doesn't make sense any more to think in terms of drug-free deadlines," Martin Jelsma, coordinator of the Transnational Institute's drugs and democracy program and co-author of a 2014 report titled "Relapse in the Golden Triangle," told VICE News in July. "It's an illusion that you can make the drug market disappear when in fact the size of the market has not been reduced at all."
https://news.vice.com/article/the-o...is-booming-in-southeast-asias-golden-triangle
December 9, 2014 | 1:25 pm
Opium poppy cultivation in Southeast Asia's "Golden Triangle" has tripled since 2006 and remains the primary means of subsistence — and the drug of choice — for farmers in many parts of rural Myanmar and Laos, according to a new UN report.
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) estimates that cultivation in the two countries rose marginally this year, up to 63,800 hectares from 61,200 hectares in 2013. The vast majority of that production — which yielded an estimated 762 tons of opium and, after refinement, 76 tons of heroin — took place in Myanmar's Shan state.
Shan includes parts of the so-called "Golden Triangle," a lawless region along the border with Laos and Thailand. The state is notorious for its turbulence amid the simmering, half-century long civil war with the government in Yangon.
Southeast Asia's war on drugs is a grotesque failure, but why stop? Read more here.
Despite cultivation remaining roughly static, lower "farm gate" prices — the cost at which farmers sell their product to wholesalers — and eradication efforts caused Myanmar's overall opium production to fall by nearly a quarter, from 870 tons in 2013 to 670 tons this year.
Poppy growing in Myanmar remains below the peak it reached in the mid and late 1990s. A nationwide eradication effort saw an 86 percent fall in cultivation between 1998 and 2006. But growing regional demand and a lack of economic options for growers has led to a steady uptick in cultivation in the years since.
'It's a tremendous problem in these remote areas — these are virtually drug economies.'
Today, only Afghanistan, where growers planted some 224,000 hectares of opium in 2014, devotes more land to the crop.
While the average household in Myanmar not growing opium poppies in 2014 earned around $1,730, those who grew poppies made about 15 percent more —$2,040 according to the UN's estimate. Across Southeast Asia, the trade in opiates and heroin was estimated at more than $16.3 billion this year.
"These are extremely poor areas of Myanmar," Jeremy Douglas, UNODC's representative in Southeast Asia and the Pacific, told VICE News. "Until those people get better connected into a large development plan, they aren't going to have much chance to move away from this economy."
Seven important truths about how the world takes drugs in 2014. Read more here.
The burgeoning demand for opiates is fuelled largely by China, were the number of heroin users has risen by roughly 500,000 since 2007, to 1.3 million. Douglas said many users consider heroin from the Golden Triangle purer than Afghan heroin.
Preliminary UN data shows opium use grew 83 percent in poppy-producing regions of Myanmar, and heroin use more than doubled in the same areas. In Kachin state, a secondary but sizeable growing region, the UN estimated that one in 25 people over age 15 used opium this year. In some towns, addicts inject heroin openly, and media reports have depicted local police even joining in with them.
Douglas concedes that many of UNODC's figures may be underestimating the true nature of drug use in rural areas where locals are reticent to admit they use.
Perhaps more troubling in Myanmar was an 87 percent increase in the use of amphetamine-type substances (ATS), most often ingested in the form of highly-cut uppers called "yaba." Yaba is widespread in Southeast Asia, and in recent years has appeared in India and Bangladesh, often selling for as little as $1 per pill. Unlike opium, which to an extent can be tracked with aerial and satellite imagery, meth labs are hard to pick out.
The labs, which have cropped up with regularity in many former opium-growing areas, are easily supplied with a steady quantity of precursor chemicals from China.
UN warns of unprecedented surge in synthetic drug use worldwide. Read more here.
"It's a tremendous problem in these remote areas — these are virtually drug economies," Nicolas Swanstrom, director of the Institute for Security and Development Policy in Stockholm, told VICE News. "It's difficult to overestimate the impact these illegal economies can have.
"I think when UNODC makes these assessments, it can really be much larger," added Swanstrom, who carries out research in Myanmar several times every year. "You see the effects, people being high or low - it has to be bigger than the official estimates."
Myanmar, like most Southeast Asian countries, has strict prohibitionist laws against drug use and trafficking. In 1988, the regional bloc ASEAN aimed to make the Southeast Asia drug-free by 2015. Critics say that approach, and a lack of viable alternatives for growers, ensures no long-term solution can be reached — and leaves a place for organized crime to flourish in anarchic regions.
"It doesn't make sense any more to think in terms of drug-free deadlines," Martin Jelsma, coordinator of the Transnational Institute's drugs and democracy program and co-author of a 2014 report titled "Relapse in the Golden Triangle," told VICE News in July. "It's an illusion that you can make the drug market disappear when in fact the size of the market has not been reduced at all."
https://news.vice.com/article/the-o...is-booming-in-southeast-asias-golden-triangle
Inigo Montoya
The New Dread Pirate Roberts.
Consular officials negotiate woman's return to Australia after being accused in China of trying to import the drug ice
The family of an Australian woman accused in China of trying to import the drug crystal methamphetamine, or ice, into Australia says she has been cleared.
Kalynda Davis's family says she has been returned home, which they believe is a clear statement of her innocence.
The family thanked the Australian consulate-general and their staff for negotiating with Chinese authorities.
At the weekend Ms Davis and her New Zealand partner Peter Gardiner, who also has Australian citizenship, were arrested in China.
The pair were accused of trying to import the drug into Australia and potentially faced the death penalty for the crime.
Recent similar cases indicated the prospects of the couple getting off would be very slim.
The two travellers tried to board a flight for Australia out of Guangzhou International airport, but Chinese customs officials told the ABC that ice appeared on a scan of their luggage.
More to follow
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-12-...-importing-drug-ice-returns-australia/5955058
The family of an Australian woman accused in China of trying to import the drug crystal methamphetamine, or ice, into Australia says she has been cleared.
Kalynda Davis's family says she has been returned home, which they believe is a clear statement of her innocence.
The family thanked the Australian consulate-general and their staff for negotiating with Chinese authorities.
At the weekend Ms Davis and her New Zealand partner Peter Gardiner, who also has Australian citizenship, were arrested in China.
The pair were accused of trying to import the drug into Australia and potentially faced the death penalty for the crime.
Recent similar cases indicated the prospects of the couple getting off would be very slim.
The two travellers tried to board a flight for Australia out of Guangzhou International airport, but Chinese customs officials told the ABC that ice appeared on a scan of their luggage.
More to follow
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-12-...-importing-drug-ice-returns-australia/5955058
Inigo Montoya
The New Dread Pirate Roberts.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott announces Federal Government has dumped $7 GP co-payment
The plan to charge patients an extra $7 GP fee has been scrapped by the Federal Government.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott has announced the contentious budget proposal will be dropped.
"There will be no change to bulk billing for children under 16, for pensioners, for veterans, for people in nursing homes and other aged care institutions," Mr Abbott said.
However, the Government is cutting the Medicare rebate paid to doctors by $5 a visit in a bid to address the "troublesome issue of six-minute medicine" and encourage doctors to spend more time with patients.
The $7 fee on visits to the doctor, pathology and diagnostic imaging services was announced in the budget and had been regarded as a "barnacle" stuck to the Government.
Mr Abbott told Coalition MPs late last month that he would be removing some "barnacles" from the Government before Christmas.
The patient contributions were touted at budget time as saving $3.5 billion over five years - savings that were to be invested into a Medicare Research Future Fund.
More to come.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-12-09/federal-government-dumps-gp-co-payment/5955012
The plan to charge patients an extra $7 GP fee has been scrapped by the Federal Government.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott has announced the contentious budget proposal will be dropped.
"There will be no change to bulk billing for children under 16, for pensioners, for veterans, for people in nursing homes and other aged care institutions," Mr Abbott said.
However, the Government is cutting the Medicare rebate paid to doctors by $5 a visit in a bid to address the "troublesome issue of six-minute medicine" and encourage doctors to spend more time with patients.
The $7 fee on visits to the doctor, pathology and diagnostic imaging services was announced in the budget and had been regarded as a "barnacle" stuck to the Government.
Mr Abbott told Coalition MPs late last month that he would be removing some "barnacles" from the Government before Christmas.
The patient contributions were touted at budget time as saving $3.5 billion over five years - savings that were to be invested into a Medicare Research Future Fund.
More to come.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-12-09/federal-government-dumps-gp-co-payment/5955012
Inigo Montoya
The New Dread Pirate Roberts.
At least 20 Australians killed in Syria and Iraq fighting for terrorist groups, Brandis says
Updated about an hour agoTue 9 Dec 2014, 1:54pm
Attorney-General George Brandis says at least 20 Australians have been killed fighting alongside terrorist groups in Syria and Iraq, and warns that the Islamic State group is using Australians on the frontline as "cannon fodder, bombers and propaganda tools".
Senator Brandis said the number of Australians killed had risen in recent weeks and that Western recruits were being duped into thinking they were an important part of a religious crusade.
Around 70 Australians were still believed to be fighting in the Middle East while another 20 had returned home.
Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Ken Lay said would-be jihadists were "very likely" to be killed if they joined the conflict.
"You'd hope that mainly young men who are considering this understand that they're very likely to get killed if they do go over and fight," he told Fairfax Radio.
"I think it is a very important part of the message about discouraging young men going over to fight."
Mr Lay said police were concerned social media was being used to recruit young people to join the conflict
"Obviously there's attempts to get young people to go over to the Middle East and fight," he said.
"We're still watching it very closely and we're working with other police jurisdictions and other agencies to try and prevent that happening."
Among those fighting is Sydney man Mohammad Ali Baryalei, who has been accused of masterminding a plot to kill random members of the public in Sydney and Brisbane, and had recruited dozens of Australians to fight with extremist groups in Iraq and Syria.
New anti-terrorism laws explained
Find out more about the Government's suite of proposed anti-terrorism laws targeting so-called foreign fighters and Australian terror threats.
There were reports that he had been killed in Syria, but Vice Admiral David Johnston last month said the Australian Defence Force believed it was less than likely that he was dead.
The Government recently introduced a raft of legislation aimed at stopping would-be jihadists from travelling to the Middle East.
The Foreign Fighters Bill passed Parliament in October, making it illegal to travel to areas declared as terrorist zones without a specific humanitarian or family purpose.
Australians found to be illegally visiting the region could face up to 10 years in prison.
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop used provisions under the bill to declare it an offence for Australians to visit the Al-Raqqa province in Syria without a legitimate reason.
Ms Bishop said the province was Islamic State's de facto capital and said the terrorist organisation directed many of its operations from the banned region.
"I have today declared Al-Raqqa province an area where a listed terrorist organisation is engaging in hostile activity," Ms Bishop told Question Time last week.
"This now makes it an offence under Australian law to enter or remain in the province of Al-Raqqa without a legitimate reason."
The declaration was the first time the new provision has been used to stop foreign fighters travelling to the Middle East to join the terrorist group.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-12-...ans-killed-fighting-in-syria-and-iraq/5953302
Updated about an hour agoTue 9 Dec 2014, 1:54pm
Attorney-General George Brandis says at least 20 Australians have been killed fighting alongside terrorist groups in Syria and Iraq, and warns that the Islamic State group is using Australians on the frontline as "cannon fodder, bombers and propaganda tools".
Senator Brandis said the number of Australians killed had risen in recent weeks and that Western recruits were being duped into thinking they were an important part of a religious crusade.
Around 70 Australians were still believed to be fighting in the Middle East while another 20 had returned home.
Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Ken Lay said would-be jihadists were "very likely" to be killed if they joined the conflict.
"You'd hope that mainly young men who are considering this understand that they're very likely to get killed if they do go over and fight," he told Fairfax Radio.
"I think it is a very important part of the message about discouraging young men going over to fight."
Mr Lay said police were concerned social media was being used to recruit young people to join the conflict
"Obviously there's attempts to get young people to go over to the Middle East and fight," he said.
"We're still watching it very closely and we're working with other police jurisdictions and other agencies to try and prevent that happening."
Among those fighting is Sydney man Mohammad Ali Baryalei, who has been accused of masterminding a plot to kill random members of the public in Sydney and Brisbane, and had recruited dozens of Australians to fight with extremist groups in Iraq and Syria.
New anti-terrorism laws explained
Find out more about the Government's suite of proposed anti-terrorism laws targeting so-called foreign fighters and Australian terror threats.
There were reports that he had been killed in Syria, but Vice Admiral David Johnston last month said the Australian Defence Force believed it was less than likely that he was dead.
The Government recently introduced a raft of legislation aimed at stopping would-be jihadists from travelling to the Middle East.
The Foreign Fighters Bill passed Parliament in October, making it illegal to travel to areas declared as terrorist zones without a specific humanitarian or family purpose.
Australians found to be illegally visiting the region could face up to 10 years in prison.
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop used provisions under the bill to declare it an offence for Australians to visit the Al-Raqqa province in Syria without a legitimate reason.
Ms Bishop said the province was Islamic State's de facto capital and said the terrorist organisation directed many of its operations from the banned region.
"I have today declared Al-Raqqa province an area where a listed terrorist organisation is engaging in hostile activity," Ms Bishop told Question Time last week.
"This now makes it an offence under Australian law to enter or remain in the province of Al-Raqqa without a legitimate reason."
The declaration was the first time the new provision has been used to stop foreign fighters travelling to the Middle East to join the terrorist group.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-12-...ans-killed-fighting-in-syria-and-iraq/5953302
Inigo Montoya
The New Dread Pirate Roberts.
French Islamic State Recruits Say They Would Like to Come Home Now, Please
By Etienne Rouillon
December 3, 2014 | 6:50 am
Disenchanted French jihadis have been contacting their attorneys for advice on how to come home, following their brief stints fighting among the ranks of the Islamic State.
Sickened by what they have experienced during months of combat alongside the extremist militants in Syria, a number of recruits have begun to plan their safe passage back to France, according to French daily Le Figaro, which published a series of messages sent by radicalized French youths to their families and attorneys Sunday.
One French fighter wrote: "I'm sick of it. My iPod doesn't work out here. I need to come back!"
Another said: "Winter is coming. It's starting to get tough."
A third jihadi asked about the legal implications of his change of heart. "If I come back to France, what will happen to me?" He asked. "Is there any way I can avoid prison? What will I have to do in exchange?"
Paris-based attorney Martin Pradel told VICE News that any potential return is complicated by the fact that the plans must be hidden from Islamic State recruiters and the journey back is often "a lethal cat and mouse game" with militants.
"You have to understand that they can't just leave," said Pradel. "They are not free to go."
Jihadists pledge allegiance to Islamic State leader in video. Read more here.
Pradel, who specializes in terrorism cases, says he is often contacted by former jihadis seeking legal representation. He also works with French families attempting to persuade their radicalized children to stop waging jihad and come home. Lately, he has received an influx of calls from French jihadis seeking advice on how to leave the caliphate.
"I don't ask them for their name. They just say, 'I'm in Syria. I want to come home. I don't know what to do'," said Pradel. "I don't ask any questions, I just try and advise them on how to plan their return. They are morally exhausted — they see no way out, no alternative."
A video released by Al Jazeera on Sunday shows recruiters from al Nusra Front —a branch of al Qaeda operating in Syria and Lebanon — threatening French nationals wanting to leave the organization.
Another video released by the Islamic State's main media outlet, Al Hayat, in November, shows French fighters burning their passports. The practice of seizing or destroying recruits' passports is the first major hurdle in planning a return, Pradel said.
As for why the men left France for Syria in the first place, Pradel explained: "For most of them, it was a spur of the moment decision. We're talking about radical conversions, followed by an immediate departure. It isn't planned, or even well thought out."
French Islamic State militants film burning passports and call for Muslims to attack Europe. Read more here.
Pradel says many jihadis' fear being tortured by French intelligence agents upon their return — a myth undoubtedly encouraged by Islamic State officers. The men also worry about receiving a life prison sentence, he said, adding that most of them have no criminal record, and have never had to deal with French police.
"These aren't necessarily troubled young people," Pradel said of the recruits. "They don't come from troubled backgrounds."
The first step Pradel takes is to inform the militants of their rights, and the reality of legal proceedings that await them at home. They must understand that, "any return implies full cooperation with the French authorities," he added.
Returning jihadis are often forced to leave Islamic State-controlled territory the way they entered it: through Turkey. Leaving through Lebanon is much more risky, because it requires passing through Syrian-army controlled areas, Pradel said.
But, "You can't just leave Turkey on a plane without having your identity checked," he added. "Any return has to be organized via the French authorities, if only to be issued a pass."
One of the French jihadists in the Peter Kassig execution video has been identified. Read more here.
Since there is no official framework or policy yet for dealing with returning fighters, French authorities have released very little information on this "pass." For now, returns are considered on a case-by-case basis, and anyone issued with a pass is automatically brought in for questioning upon their return. According to Le Figaro, there are currently 100 returned jihadis in France: 76 in detention, and the rest released on probation.
After returning to France, former fighters are subject to criminal proceedings, and face charges of "criminal association in relation to a terrorist undertaking," Pradel explains. Authorities will then determine whether or not militants took part in human rights atrocities during their time fighting with the Islamic State. Defendants are also asked to submit proof that they were proactive in planning their return and distancing themselves from the militant organization.
Pradel discounted any possibility that returning fighters could be planning to return to carry out attacks in France. Instead, he noted that terrorists like Mohammed Merah, who gunned down seven people in the south of France in 2012, and Mehdi Nemmouche, who killed four people at the Jewish Museum of Belgium in Brussels in May 2014, both returned to Europe secretly.
According to a June report by the Soufan Group, an intelligence agency based in New York, there are more French recruits fighting with the Islamic State than from any other Western nation.
https://news.vice.com/article/frenc...s-say-they-would-like-to-come-home-now-please
By Etienne Rouillon
December 3, 2014 | 6:50 am
Disenchanted French jihadis have been contacting their attorneys for advice on how to come home, following their brief stints fighting among the ranks of the Islamic State.
Sickened by what they have experienced during months of combat alongside the extremist militants in Syria, a number of recruits have begun to plan their safe passage back to France, according to French daily Le Figaro, which published a series of messages sent by radicalized French youths to their families and attorneys Sunday.
One French fighter wrote: "I'm sick of it. My iPod doesn't work out here. I need to come back!"
Another said: "Winter is coming. It's starting to get tough."
A third jihadi asked about the legal implications of his change of heart. "If I come back to France, what will happen to me?" He asked. "Is there any way I can avoid prison? What will I have to do in exchange?"
Paris-based attorney Martin Pradel told VICE News that any potential return is complicated by the fact that the plans must be hidden from Islamic State recruiters and the journey back is often "a lethal cat and mouse game" with militants.
"You have to understand that they can't just leave," said Pradel. "They are not free to go."
Jihadists pledge allegiance to Islamic State leader in video. Read more here.
Pradel, who specializes in terrorism cases, says he is often contacted by former jihadis seeking legal representation. He also works with French families attempting to persuade their radicalized children to stop waging jihad and come home. Lately, he has received an influx of calls from French jihadis seeking advice on how to leave the caliphate.
"I don't ask them for their name. They just say, 'I'm in Syria. I want to come home. I don't know what to do'," said Pradel. "I don't ask any questions, I just try and advise them on how to plan their return. They are morally exhausted — they see no way out, no alternative."
A video released by Al Jazeera on Sunday shows recruiters from al Nusra Front —a branch of al Qaeda operating in Syria and Lebanon — threatening French nationals wanting to leave the organization.
Another video released by the Islamic State's main media outlet, Al Hayat, in November, shows French fighters burning their passports. The practice of seizing or destroying recruits' passports is the first major hurdle in planning a return, Pradel said.
As for why the men left France for Syria in the first place, Pradel explained: "For most of them, it was a spur of the moment decision. We're talking about radical conversions, followed by an immediate departure. It isn't planned, or even well thought out."
French Islamic State militants film burning passports and call for Muslims to attack Europe. Read more here.
Pradel says many jihadis' fear being tortured by French intelligence agents upon their return — a myth undoubtedly encouraged by Islamic State officers. The men also worry about receiving a life prison sentence, he said, adding that most of them have no criminal record, and have never had to deal with French police.
"These aren't necessarily troubled young people," Pradel said of the recruits. "They don't come from troubled backgrounds."
The first step Pradel takes is to inform the militants of their rights, and the reality of legal proceedings that await them at home. They must understand that, "any return implies full cooperation with the French authorities," he added.
Returning jihadis are often forced to leave Islamic State-controlled territory the way they entered it: through Turkey. Leaving through Lebanon is much more risky, because it requires passing through Syrian-army controlled areas, Pradel said.
But, "You can't just leave Turkey on a plane without having your identity checked," he added. "Any return has to be organized via the French authorities, if only to be issued a pass."
One of the French jihadists in the Peter Kassig execution video has been identified. Read more here.
Since there is no official framework or policy yet for dealing with returning fighters, French authorities have released very little information on this "pass." For now, returns are considered on a case-by-case basis, and anyone issued with a pass is automatically brought in for questioning upon their return. According to Le Figaro, there are currently 100 returned jihadis in France: 76 in detention, and the rest released on probation.
After returning to France, former fighters are subject to criminal proceedings, and face charges of "criminal association in relation to a terrorist undertaking," Pradel explains. Authorities will then determine whether or not militants took part in human rights atrocities during their time fighting with the Islamic State. Defendants are also asked to submit proof that they were proactive in planning their return and distancing themselves from the militant organization.
Pradel discounted any possibility that returning fighters could be planning to return to carry out attacks in France. Instead, he noted that terrorists like Mohammed Merah, who gunned down seven people in the south of France in 2012, and Mehdi Nemmouche, who killed four people at the Jewish Museum of Belgium in Brussels in May 2014, both returned to Europe secretly.
According to a June report by the Soufan Group, an intelligence agency based in New York, there are more French recruits fighting with the Islamic State than from any other Western nation.
https://news.vice.com/article/frenc...s-say-they-would-like-to-come-home-now-please
Inigo Montoya
The New Dread Pirate Roberts.
This thread should be renamed.. "What Inigo Is Reading In The News Today"
Inigo Montoya
The New Dread Pirate Roberts.
Don't Feed Your Teachers Pot Brownies, Even if They Ask Nicely
December 10, 2014
by Arielle Pardes
A teen at Broadneck High School in Annapolis, Maryland, was snacking on a pot brownie during his third period class yesterday when his teacher asked for a bite. The student, presumably high as hell on dank kush, reportedly "panicked" and broke off a piece of the brownie for his teacher without mentioning that it had weed in it. The teacher began to feel sick—enough so that she went to the school nurse, who sent her to the hospital, where she was given the grand diagnosis of being high.
When school administrators questioned the kid, he admitted that the brownie had contained marijuana, and that he'd failed to mention that to his teacher. He was charged with counts of administering a dangerous substance, assault, and reckless endangerment.
The school's principal, David Smith, sent out a letter to the school's parents explaining what had happened and urging parents to " talk with your child about this matter and encourage them to only consume food that they bring to school or that is purchased at our school." In other words: trust no one, because anything could be laced with weed.
This year has been a tumultuous one for marijuana edibles. Levy Thamba, a 19-year-old college student, leapt off a balcony after "becoming agitated" from a marijuana cookie. A two-year-old girl in Colorado was sent to the hospital after eating an edible, and the number of kids rushed to Colorado hospitals after accidentally ingesting marijuana doubled in the past year. And then there was the Maureen Dowd incident, for which there isn't really an excuse, but which still cast a dubious light on the safety of edibles.
Edibles shouldn't have that kind of rap. The rules of the game are pretty simple: check the dosing, keep your goodies in child-proof packaging, and don't give them to unsuspecting people. So kids, let this be a reminder to enjoy your edibles responsibly—and please, don't give drugs to your teachers.
http://www.vice.com/en_au/read/remember-kids-dont-give-pot-brownies-to-your-teachers-129
December 10, 2014
by Arielle Pardes
A teen at Broadneck High School in Annapolis, Maryland, was snacking on a pot brownie during his third period class yesterday when his teacher asked for a bite. The student, presumably high as hell on dank kush, reportedly "panicked" and broke off a piece of the brownie for his teacher without mentioning that it had weed in it. The teacher began to feel sick—enough so that she went to the school nurse, who sent her to the hospital, where she was given the grand diagnosis of being high.
When school administrators questioned the kid, he admitted that the brownie had contained marijuana, and that he'd failed to mention that to his teacher. He was charged with counts of administering a dangerous substance, assault, and reckless endangerment.
The school's principal, David Smith, sent out a letter to the school's parents explaining what had happened and urging parents to " talk with your child about this matter and encourage them to only consume food that they bring to school or that is purchased at our school." In other words: trust no one, because anything could be laced with weed.
This year has been a tumultuous one for marijuana edibles. Levy Thamba, a 19-year-old college student, leapt off a balcony after "becoming agitated" from a marijuana cookie. A two-year-old girl in Colorado was sent to the hospital after eating an edible, and the number of kids rushed to Colorado hospitals after accidentally ingesting marijuana doubled in the past year. And then there was the Maureen Dowd incident, for which there isn't really an excuse, but which still cast a dubious light on the safety of edibles.
Edibles shouldn't have that kind of rap. The rules of the game are pretty simple: check the dosing, keep your goodies in child-proof packaging, and don't give them to unsuspecting people. So kids, let this be a reminder to enjoy your edibles responsibly—and please, don't give drugs to your teachers.
http://www.vice.com/en_au/read/remember-kids-dont-give-pot-brownies-to-your-teachers-129
Inigo Montoya
The New Dread Pirate Roberts.
Hypothermia, Broken Limbs, and Rectal Feeding: Details from the CIA Torture Report
December 10, 2014
by CJ Ciaramella
One prisoner at a CIA black site froze to death. Others were forced to stand on broken feet, threatened sexually with broomsticks, or subjected to "rectal feeding" for no apparent medical reason. The Senate Intelligence Committee released those details and more Tuesday in the 500-page executive summary of its report on the CIA's Bush-era "enhanced interrogation" program.
Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein unveiled the long-awaited, long-delayed report by the Senate Intelligence Committee on the CIA's now-discontinued "Rendition, Detention, and Interrogation" program this morning, calling it a "stain on our country and our values."
The controversial 6,700-page report describes, among other things, detainees being kept in a dark, freezing, dungeon-like prison, being kept awake for up to 180 hours at a time, and being subjected to "near-drowning" over and over. The three-year Senate investigation concluded the "brutal interrogation techniques in violation of US law, treaty obligations, and our values" were not effective in prying intelligence from detainees.
The report also found that the CIA misled the public, the White House and Congress on both the brutality of the program and its effectiveness.
"The waterboarding technique was physically harmful, inducing convulsions and vomiting," the report states. "Abu Zubaydah, for example, became 'completely unresponsive, with bubbles rising through his open, full mouth.' Internal CIA records describe the waterboarding of Khalid Shaykh Mohammad as evolving in to a 'series of near drownings.'"
CIA interrogators threatened detainees with broomsticks and power drills and threatened to rape and kill detainees' mothers. Other detainees with broken feet and legs were subjected to stress positions for extended periods of time.
"The two detainees that each had a broken foot were also subjected to walling, stress positions, and cramped confinement, despite the note in their interrogation plans that these specific enhanced interrogation techniques were not requested because of the medical condition of the detainees," the report states. "CIA Headquarters did not react to the site's use of these CIA enhanced interrogation techniques despite the lack of approval."
The Senate report also describes a photograph of a "well worn" waterboard, at a site where the CIA said it had never previously used the practice.
The results of the "enhanced interrogation techniques," especially at the dungeon-like CIA site known as "Cobalt" in the report, led to noticeable mental health deterioration among detainees, the report found. At least one detainee at the Cobalt site died of hypothermia.
"Throughout the program, multiple CIA detainees who were subjected to the CIA's enhanced interrogation techniques and extended isolation exhibited psychological and behavioral issues, including hallucinations, paranoia, insomnia, and attempts at self-harm and self-mutilation," the report states. "Multiple psychologists identified the lack of human contact experienced by detainees as a cause of psychiatric problems."
White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Monday that President Obama supported releasing the report "so that people around the world and people here at home understand exactly what transpired." However, more hawkish members of Congress, the intelligence community, and its allies said the report would inflame anger against the U.S. and its key allies and endanger American personnel abroad.
"We are concerned that this release could endanger the lives of Americans overseas, jeopardize U.S. relations with foreign partners, potentially incite violence, create political problems for our allies, and be used as a recruitment tool for our enemies," Republican Senators Marco Rubio and Jim Risch said in a statement on Monday.
Director of National Intelligence James Clapper confirmed in a meeting with members of the Intelligence Committee over the weekend that the administration was concerned that the report could incite violence against Americans overseas, but said that he nevertheless supported its release. The US has been beefing up security at embassies, and administration officials have said that the Pentagon has strengthened protections for US forces in Afghanistan.
In the lead up to the report's release, defenders of the CIA's interrogation techniques launched an aggressive media campaign—a "prebuttal," one of Washington's more obnoxious neologisms—against the findings. Former Vice President Dick Cheney calledthe report's findings "a bunch of hooey" in the New York Times, and former CIA lawyer John Rizzo said on FOX News that the report is "absolutely unfair and preposterous." Former CIA officials even built a website, CIAsaveslives.com, to hit back at the report's findings.
"It's a one-stop shopping place for the other side," Bill Harlow, a top CIA spokesman during the Bush administration, told Foreign Policy. "With the website ... we'll be able to put out newly declassified documents, documents that were previously released but not well read, and host a repository for op-eds and media appearances by various officials."
Feinstein called the pushback "a campaign of mistaken statements and press articles."
http://www.vice.com/en_au/read/hypo...eding-details-from-the-cia-torture-report-129
Inigo Montoya
The New Dread Pirate Roberts.
Mark Wahlberg Wants to Be Pardoned for His Past of Violent Bigotry
December 9, 2014
by Allie Conti
Before he was Mark Wahlberg, he was Marky Mark—a rebellious MC with an eighth-grade education, rippling abs, and a lengthy rap sheet. And though members of contemporary pop groups like One Direction are considered "bad boys" if they get a shitty tattoo of a microphone, the 80s heartthrob earned his reputation by being a legitimately a bad person.
In 1988, the native Bostonian was charged with attempted murder, convicted of assault, and spent 45 days in the slammer long before he starred in the Oscar-nominated movie The Fighter. On November 26, he asked the Massachusetts Board of Pardons to formally wipe the conviction from his record. "Since that time, I have dedicated myself to becoming a better person and citizen so that I can be a role model to my children and others," he wrote in the application.
It's true that Wahlberg grew up in a tough neighborhood where juvenile roughhousing was almost inevitable. And yes, he had a pretty shitty childhood—he was addicted to cocaine at the age of 13. But Wahlberg's youthful transgressions were violent and straight-up racist.
When he was 15, the future star was caught throwing rocks at black schoolchildren and yelling the N-word. The following year, he beat up two Vietnamese men at the same time—hitting one with a five-foot stick while calling him a "Vietnam fucking shit" and punching the other one in the face so hard that he went blind in one eye.
Now the 43-year-old actor is claiming he's a changed man and is seeking forgiveness for almost killing a perfect stranger. But it's hard to take Wahlberg's request for redemption seriously, considering even as an adult, he's made comments that are just as nasty as the things he said as a street kid. The only difference is that he has focused his grown-up hate on gays instead of different races.
Photo by Flickr user Caroline Bonarde Ucci
Back in 1992, he appeared on the British talk show The Word. The other guest was reggae star Shabba Ranks. At one point, the host asks Ranks how he feels about fellow musician Buju Banton, who was getting castigated for his lyrics promoting violence toward gays and lesbians. In a career-ending response, Ranks replies that gays should be "crucified." Instead of denouncing the comments, Marky later joined him on stage for a song. "Shouts out to Shabba Ranks, speaks his mind, speaks his opinion," he blares into the mic. "All y'all can't deal with it—step the fuck off!"
The following year, Wahlberg allegedly started a fight with Madonna's entourage after calling one member a "homo" and punching another in the face. After that incident, he went on an apology tour and did a big interview in the Advocate. But he fucked up again in 2007, when he admitted that he didn't want a role in Ang Lee's Brokeback Mountain after reading the script and getting "creeped out."
Even if he graduated from nearly killing people, to merely punching them, to mere casual homophobia, Wahlberg remains an overgrown teenage boy. It's especially gauche—asBrian Moylan noted in an opinion piece for Time—for Wahlberg to ask the governor of Massachusetts for a favor at a time when people are marching across the nation because our criminal justice system treats black men so cruelly.
In his request for a pardon, Wahlberg's says he wants to work with at-risk youth and that his felony status prevents him from doing so. But even if his desire to help comes from the heart, it doesn't erase the fact that he almost killed a dude a couple of decades ago. Wahlberg desperately wants us to believe that he's outgrown the egregious behavior of his youth, but it takes a special kind of arrogance for him to think he deserves a clean slate.
http://www.vice.com/en_au/read/mark-whalberg-wants-a-pardon-after-bashing-blacks-asians-and-gays-456
December 9, 2014
by Allie Conti
Before he was Mark Wahlberg, he was Marky Mark—a rebellious MC with an eighth-grade education, rippling abs, and a lengthy rap sheet. And though members of contemporary pop groups like One Direction are considered "bad boys" if they get a shitty tattoo of a microphone, the 80s heartthrob earned his reputation by being a legitimately a bad person.
In 1988, the native Bostonian was charged with attempted murder, convicted of assault, and spent 45 days in the slammer long before he starred in the Oscar-nominated movie The Fighter. On November 26, he asked the Massachusetts Board of Pardons to formally wipe the conviction from his record. "Since that time, I have dedicated myself to becoming a better person and citizen so that I can be a role model to my children and others," he wrote in the application.
It's true that Wahlberg grew up in a tough neighborhood where juvenile roughhousing was almost inevitable. And yes, he had a pretty shitty childhood—he was addicted to cocaine at the age of 13. But Wahlberg's youthful transgressions were violent and straight-up racist.
When he was 15, the future star was caught throwing rocks at black schoolchildren and yelling the N-word. The following year, he beat up two Vietnamese men at the same time—hitting one with a five-foot stick while calling him a "Vietnam fucking shit" and punching the other one in the face so hard that he went blind in one eye.
Now the 43-year-old actor is claiming he's a changed man and is seeking forgiveness for almost killing a perfect stranger. But it's hard to take Wahlberg's request for redemption seriously, considering even as an adult, he's made comments that are just as nasty as the things he said as a street kid. The only difference is that he has focused his grown-up hate on gays instead of different races.
Photo by Flickr user Caroline Bonarde Ucci
Back in 1992, he appeared on the British talk show The Word. The other guest was reggae star Shabba Ranks. At one point, the host asks Ranks how he feels about fellow musician Buju Banton, who was getting castigated for his lyrics promoting violence toward gays and lesbians. In a career-ending response, Ranks replies that gays should be "crucified." Instead of denouncing the comments, Marky later joined him on stage for a song. "Shouts out to Shabba Ranks, speaks his mind, speaks his opinion," he blares into the mic. "All y'all can't deal with it—step the fuck off!"
The following year, Wahlberg allegedly started a fight with Madonna's entourage after calling one member a "homo" and punching another in the face. After that incident, he went on an apology tour and did a big interview in the Advocate. But he fucked up again in 2007, when he admitted that he didn't want a role in Ang Lee's Brokeback Mountain after reading the script and getting "creeped out."
Even if he graduated from nearly killing people, to merely punching them, to mere casual homophobia, Wahlberg remains an overgrown teenage boy. It's especially gauche—asBrian Moylan noted in an opinion piece for Time—for Wahlberg to ask the governor of Massachusetts for a favor at a time when people are marching across the nation because our criminal justice system treats black men so cruelly.
In his request for a pardon, Wahlberg's says he wants to work with at-risk youth and that his felony status prevents him from doing so. But even if his desire to help comes from the heart, it doesn't erase the fact that he almost killed a dude a couple of decades ago. Wahlberg desperately wants us to believe that he's outgrown the egregious behavior of his youth, but it takes a special kind of arrogance for him to think he deserves a clean slate.
http://www.vice.com/en_au/read/mark-whalberg-wants-a-pardon-after-bashing-blacks-asians-and-gays-456
Inigo Montoya
The New Dread Pirate Roberts.
ormer Guantanamo Bay detainee David Hicks heckles Federal Attorney-General George Brandis
Updated about 3 hours agoThu 11 Dec 2014, 1:40am
Former Guantanamo Bay detainee David Hicks has heckled Federal Attorney-General George Brandis at an awards ceremony in Sydney.
The drama over shadowed a number of announcements made by Senator Brandis, including releasing all children in detention on Christmas Island.
"Hey, my name is David Hicks," he shouted, as Senator Brandis wrapped up his address at a Human Rights Awards function on Wednesday.
"I was tortured for five-and-a-half years in Guantanamo Bay in the full knowledge of your party. What do you have to say?"
As Senator Brandis walked off the stage at the Museum of Contemporary Arts, Mr Hicks told reporters he was a "coward" for not answering his question.
"He's run away," he said.
"It's too late - he's gone."
Mr Hicks was at the event with his lawyer, Stephen Kenny.
Mr Kenny said his client was angry Senator Brandis was talking about human rights.
"I think David was surprised to find Minister Brandis there, talking about human rights, when he was a member of the Howard government who had so completely ignored David's human rights," Mr Kenny said.
"The Australian Government should be held to account how they allowed David Hicks to be treated."
US Senate report shines light on Guantanamo torture
The incident came after the release of a US Senate report about CIA interrogations post 9/11, which described the methods used as badly managed and information gathered as unreliable.
The report said the CIA had tried to justify its use of torture by giving examples of what it called "thwarted" terrorist plots but that the representations were inaccurate and contradicted by the CIA's own records.
Mr Hicks spent time in the US military prison Guantanamo Bay after being captured in Afghanistan in 2001.
He eventually pleaded guilty to providing material support for terrorism in March 2007, but has since recanted his confession, saying he only pleaded guilty under duress.
He was later transferred to an Adelaide jail in April 2007 where he served nine more months before his release.
Mr Hicks admitted he trained in paramilitary camps in Afghanistan with the Taliban, which others said were affiliated with Al Qaeda.
His lawyers have argued that Hicks said he never knew the camps were affiliated with Al Qaeda.
Mr Kenny said the "US report on torture confirms everything we know about what happened to David".
"People have been saying that David really wasn't tortured but along with hundreds of other people he certainly was."
He said Mr Hicks believed Senator Brandis signed the control order when he was released from prison in Australia.
Mr Hicks is seeking to overturn his conviction in the US Court of Military Commission Appeals.
Mamdouh Habib, another Australian who was held at Guantamo Bay, said he would consider legal action against the Australian Government for what he says was complicity in his torture.
Asylum seeker announcement overshadowed
During the ceremony Senator Brandis said all asylum seeker children would be released from Christmas Island by early 2015.
"Between now and Christmas, in other words, in the next two to three weeks, all of the children in detention on Christmas Island will be released from Christmas Island and will be returned to the community as soon as possible," he said.
"All the children in detention will be released by the early months of next year."
Senator Brandis said the Government would also ask the Human Rights Commission to conduct a major inquiry into employment discrimination against older Australians and people with disabilities.
He said he hoped the commission would make the inquiry a priority next year and build on the work of Age Discrimination Commissioner Susan Ryan.
"I hope the commission will make that task, a task which means so much to so many Australians an order of first priority in the year ahead," he said.
"That body of work will build upon the important work led by Susan Ryan in recent years to raise the profile of this issue and subject it to comprehensive review and a complete set of recommendations to the Government."
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-12-...george-brandis-at-sydney-awards-night/5958996
Updated about 3 hours agoThu 11 Dec 2014, 1:40am
Former Guantanamo Bay detainee David Hicks has heckled Federal Attorney-General George Brandis at an awards ceremony in Sydney.
The drama over shadowed a number of announcements made by Senator Brandis, including releasing all children in detention on Christmas Island.
"Hey, my name is David Hicks," he shouted, as Senator Brandis wrapped up his address at a Human Rights Awards function on Wednesday.
"I was tortured for five-and-a-half years in Guantanamo Bay in the full knowledge of your party. What do you have to say?"
As Senator Brandis walked off the stage at the Museum of Contemporary Arts, Mr Hicks told reporters he was a "coward" for not answering his question.
"He's run away," he said.
"It's too late - he's gone."
Mr Hicks was at the event with his lawyer, Stephen Kenny.
Mr Kenny said his client was angry Senator Brandis was talking about human rights.
"I think David was surprised to find Minister Brandis there, talking about human rights, when he was a member of the Howard government who had so completely ignored David's human rights," Mr Kenny said.
"The Australian Government should be held to account how they allowed David Hicks to be treated."
US Senate report shines light on Guantanamo torture
The incident came after the release of a US Senate report about CIA interrogations post 9/11, which described the methods used as badly managed and information gathered as unreliable.
The report said the CIA had tried to justify its use of torture by giving examples of what it called "thwarted" terrorist plots but that the representations were inaccurate and contradicted by the CIA's own records.
Mr Hicks spent time in the US military prison Guantanamo Bay after being captured in Afghanistan in 2001.
He eventually pleaded guilty to providing material support for terrorism in March 2007, but has since recanted his confession, saying he only pleaded guilty under duress.
He was later transferred to an Adelaide jail in April 2007 where he served nine more months before his release.
Mr Hicks admitted he trained in paramilitary camps in Afghanistan with the Taliban, which others said were affiliated with Al Qaeda.
His lawyers have argued that Hicks said he never knew the camps were affiliated with Al Qaeda.
Mr Kenny said the "US report on torture confirms everything we know about what happened to David".
"People have been saying that David really wasn't tortured but along with hundreds of other people he certainly was."
He said Mr Hicks believed Senator Brandis signed the control order when he was released from prison in Australia.
Mr Hicks is seeking to overturn his conviction in the US Court of Military Commission Appeals.
Mamdouh Habib, another Australian who was held at Guantamo Bay, said he would consider legal action against the Australian Government for what he says was complicity in his torture.
Asylum seeker announcement overshadowed
During the ceremony Senator Brandis said all asylum seeker children would be released from Christmas Island by early 2015.
"Between now and Christmas, in other words, in the next two to three weeks, all of the children in detention on Christmas Island will be released from Christmas Island and will be returned to the community as soon as possible," he said.
"All the children in detention will be released by the early months of next year."
Senator Brandis said the Government would also ask the Human Rights Commission to conduct a major inquiry into employment discrimination against older Australians and people with disabilities.
He said he hoped the commission would make the inquiry a priority next year and build on the work of Age Discrimination Commissioner Susan Ryan.
"I hope the commission will make that task, a task which means so much to so many Australians an order of first priority in the year ahead," he said.
"That body of work will build upon the important work led by Susan Ryan in recent years to raise the profile of this issue and subject it to comprehensive review and a complete set of recommendations to the Government."
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-12-...george-brandis-at-sydney-awards-night/5958996