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Friday, August 24, 2012

Afghanistan: Taliban behind 25% of attacks against NATO

The Taliban are responsible for a quarter of Afghan soldiers attacks against members of NATO forces - a higher proportion than what was previously estimated, said Thursday the U.S. general commanding the forces NATO in Afghanistan. Approximately 25% of these " green-on-blue incidents ", which are members of the armed forces or the Afghan police kill members of NATO, are due to the infiltration of Taliban, said General John Allen, speaking by videoconference from Kabul.  There were 32 of these fratricidal attacks in 2012 that killed 40 coalition troops and wounded 69 is. In 2011, 16 similar attacks had killed 28 people and wounded 43, according to NATO. A previous evaluation of NATO estimated 10% the number of incidents resulting from the infiltration of Taliban. We believe it is around 25% , "insisted General Allen. " This figure of 10% or 25% is a figure that we will continue to specify (...) so that we have a good idea of the importance of the enemy threat in the Afghan security forces , "he said.  According to General Allen, these attacks are due to several factors, including the infiltration of Taliban, but also "disagreements, animosity could grow between an attacker and forces in general or personal reasons . " In total, 10 soldiers have been killed in such attacks in the past two weeks. The daily pressure that weighs on some of these soldiers (Afghan), the sacrifice is fasting (Ramadan, which just ended, ed), our operational tempo ... All these factors could be combined in recent weeks and explain "the multiplication of recent attacks, found General Allen. Afghanistan has for its part Wednesday accused its neighbors, especially for without naming Pakistan, have infiltrated his forces and be behind the wave of attacks. General Allen emphasized that the authorities in Kabul had not provided any information to NATO on information that allowed them to reach this conclusion. 

American millionaire leaves part of estate of $ 40 million for 18 Brazilian


Entrepreneur Odd Odsen Junior victim of cardiac arrest at age 52, including former interns Brazil's testament assessed in the amount of R $ 80.8 million. An American businessman left part of his estate of $ 40 million (about U.S. $ 80.8 million) to 18 Brazilians who were interns in your company for twenty years. Odd Odsen Junior, who died on June 19 aged 52, was unmarried, had no children and kept in touch with former interns. Ten of them still live in the United States and two work in his company, which produces articulated arms for electronics. The business suffered a cardiac arrest and died in the city of Glen Cove, State of New York, and each of the beneficiaries in his will receive about $ 300,000 (£ 606,100). Among the heritage left by Odsen there a townhouse in Northampton (USA), built in 1700, and an apartment on Central Park in New York. Odsen's sister, Kristine Lamb, who is a professor of music, received the largest share of the inheritance. Odsen established its relationship with Brazil in 1976, at age 16, when he met and befriended a Brazilian exchange student who studied in his school. All heirs who asked the media to keep the identity a secret, are of Santa Catarina. One of those who returned to Brazil works as a representative of Innovative Office Products, company Odsen, who every year visited Florianopolis.

"So I killed Bin Laden." Navy Seal says in a book the raid in Abbottabad

The book entitled "No esay day" will be released in America in a very symbolic date, the next September 11 to 11 years after the attack on the Twin Towers. It's called, with some understatement, "No esay day", it was not an easy day, the book in which one of the Navy Seal who participated in the raid in Abbottabad recounts the operation in which Osama was killed Bin Laden. The book, written anonymously since they were never revealed the identity 'of the soldiers who participated in the raid in May 2011, will be released in America in a very symbolic date, the next Sept. 11 , 11th anniversary of the attacks in New York and Washington orchestrated by Bin Laden. Pending its release, the Pentagon has already taken cautiously, however, the distances from the book. "I have not read the book and are not aware of the fact that someone in the Department has reviewed," said spokesman George Little. Usually the books published by members of the Armed Forces are reviewed by officials of Defense shall ensure that they are not revealed top secret information. The author of the book, published by Dutton, Penguin Group, he used the pen name Mark Owen has described his work as an attempt to "make clear some facts about one of the most important missions of American military history." The focus is on "the boys" and the sacrifices that teams of special operations are said Owen still emphasizing the hope that his book will inspire other young people to become Navy Seal.

The Syrian military intensifies its crackdown on Aleppo and Damascus


The Syrian army backed by tanks and aircraft, have bombed several neighborhoods Thursday rebels Aleppo scenario for a month in a fierce battle between the regime and the Syrian rebellion as militants in the city.Also in Daraya, a Sunni town few miles southwest of Damascus, attacks by troops loyal to the regime are from Wednesday much more intense than in previous weeks. Although not used all their firepower against a poorly armed rebels as the government is determined to win at any cost Aleppo, the largest city and commercial center of Syria that is largely in rebel hands, and crush any outbreak of rebellion in the capital. It is unlikely, and even some opponents of the regime say that President Bashar al-Assad would not dream of using chemical weapons, but just in case, British Prime Minister David Cameron, today joined the position expressed by the President of the United Barack Obama, on this weapon. "It is completely unacceptable. This would force a new approach" to the conflict, said Cameron. Obama already said days ago that the use of such weapons is a red line.  Sajur neighborhoods, Tarik Al Bab, Bustan al Qasr and Al-Shaar in Aleppo were bombed in the early hours of the day with heavy artillery, said the General Commission of the Syrian Revolution (CGRS), which brings together opponents of the regime and the Observatory Syrian Human Rights (OSDH). In Tarik Al Bab shell fell every five minutes, and a fighter bombed Sajur barium as the CGRS. There were also clashes in the district of Saladin, the main rebel stronghold where an insurgent was killed, as in Seif al Dawla, Suleiman al Halabi and Hamdaniyé, said the OSDH. The Syrian army has maintained the siege on Damascus with artillery fire in the south of the city. From helicopters soldiers fired missiles and machine guns. The regime launched the fiercest attack so far this month to shore up the regime's control over the capital, after a 17-month uprising against President Bashar Assad. In the course of it, government forces killed a local journalist sympathetic to the insurgency during a house-to-house crawl in search of rebels, in the district of Nahr Eisha.Mohamed Said al Odala, who worked for the government daily Tishreen , died after being shot at close range. At least 47 people were killed in the bombing of the south of the Syrian capital. The army used tanks and helicopters in their offense around Damascus, whose launch coincided with the departure of UN observers after the failure of the peace mission led by Kofi Annan, who resigned from office weeks ago. "All Damascus trembles at the noise of the bombs," said a resident of Kfar Wednesday Suseh, one of the neighborhoods hit during the regime's offensive to clear the city of rebels. At least 22 people died in that district, and another 25 in the nearby district of Nahr Eisha, including Al Odala. Across the country killed at least 109 people -65 civilians, 29 soldiers and five rebels, according to the Syrian Observatory counts of Human Rights (OSDH), based in London. Although the authorities said several weeks ago that had regained control of the entire capital, the most major military operation in the country on Wednesday took aim Damascus. "There are 22 tanks in Kfar Suseh now, and after each of them at least 30 soldiers. They are going house to house men and running, "said Bassam via Skype, an activist in Kfar Suseh. Other opponents in Muadamiya, southwestern suburb of Damascus, have said that from Monday, government forces have killed 86 people, half of them executed. According to Human Rights Watch, regime troops fired on a funeral procession in the town, located about six kilometers from the capital. State television broadcast footage of weapons allegedly confiscated from the rebels in Muadamiya, which was one of the first districts that joined the revolt. Since the start of the uprising in March 2011, have been killed in Syria 23,000 people, according to the OSDH.

South Africa pays tribute to 44 dead in mine Marikana


South Africa has paid tribute Thursday to 44 dead in mine Marikana (north), most of which were killed in the police operation the bloodiest since the end of apartheid. Most platinum mines in the area had given leave to their employees so they can get to the ceremony Marikana the main tribute the nation Thursday. The celebration was attended by several thousand people in two large white tents erected near the hill where the fatal police killed 34 people and wounded 78 when it opened fire Thursday, August 16, on strikers machetes, iron bars and some firearms. Ten other people, including two policemen, were killed during the previous days of clashes between rival unions that broke out on August 10. Some 3,000 drillers Marikana operated by the group Lonmin, 100 km west of Pretoria, had then gone on strike to demand a tripling of their salary (from 400 to 1,250 euros). Direction remained deaf to their claims, noting that they are already earning 1,100 euros, including bonuses. The police were low-profile, standing away from the ceremony. The victims' bodies were returned to their families, mostly in very remote areas of the mine.
Several ceremonies
The small radical union AMCU accused of waving platinum mines in the region since the beginning of the year, had organized his own memorial earlier in the morning with the support of the "Friends of the ANCYL" League ANC Youth whose main leaders were excluded or suspended a few months ago and has served as an internal opposition to the ruling party. Julius Malema, the former president of the Youth League has been accused of using the tragedy Marikana to rebound after his exclusion from the ANC, was nevertheless present at the main ceremony, sitting in second place. He grabbed a microphone at the end of the ceremony, directly attacking party and government: "The government's reasons for not intervening is that the benefits must continue," he told the crowd. "We're not going to withdraw, we will not go until we Umlungu + + (the White Zulu, note) gives us our money," said the young tribune, customary verbal excesses connotation racist, recalling that whites have kept most of the economic power in South Africa. President Jacob Zuma, who went to Marikana Wednesday to speak to minors, was not present at Thursday's ceremony. He installed the inquiry promised to shed light on the shooting of 16 August, and gave him five months to reach its conclusions. The flags are at half mast since Monday across the country at the request of President Jacob Zuma, whose government is accused of not having anticipated the drama. The issue of claims strikers Marikana remains unresolved. Minister Mildred Oliphant Labour said it had met with union representatives AMCU without extending the discussions. And if the tragedy Marikana drew attention to the precarious living conditions of South African miners, businessmen wondered now if the movement would spread. Hundreds of drillers disengaged Wednesday to demand increases in another platinum mine, owned by South African group Royal Bafokeng Platinum. Some of them returned to work Thursday after a call in the sense of the majority union NUM, said a spokesman. Another mine in the area is also under pressure, the giant Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) has been summoned to answer by Friday to a set of claims.