U.S. drugs sting muddies Guinea-Bissau transition

By Richard Valdmanis

DAKAR (Reuters) - A U.S. drugs sting targeting Guinea-Bissau's top military brass may freeze cocaine smuggling through the tiny West African state in the short term but could jeopardize efforts to restore order after a 2012 coup.

The U.S. Department of Justice on Thursday accused Armed Forces Chief General Antonio Indjai of plotting to traffic cocaine to the United States and sell weapons to Colombia's FARC rebels, after a months-long undercover operation that has also ensnared a former navy chief.

But Indjai - widely seen as the country's most powerful man - remains in Bissau after evading the sting and the big question is how he will react to becoming a target for American law enforcement agents.

Guinea-Bissau's caretaker government is due next month to publish a road map to elections that African and Western diplomats hope will close the book on decades of political turmoil since independence from Portugal in 1974.

"The arrests could make some of the military and political leaders very nervous and less willing to carry on with a transition that might result in their demise," said Vincent Foucher, a researcher at International Crisis Group.

"Or it could do the exact reverse and increase the leverage of those in the international community that act as the good cops," Foucher said, referring to some diplomats who have shown an interest in engaging with the existing leadership.

Repeated coups, political assassinations and a civil war in the nation nestled below Senegal on Africa's Atlantic coast, have weakened its law enforcement and paved the way for Colombian cartels to use it as a transhipment hub for tons of narcotics destined for Europe and the United States.

The country entered its latest crisis last April, when the military arrested then Prime Minister Carlos Gomes Junior and acting President Raimundo Pereira in the midst of an election that Gomes Junior was poised to win.

Indjai, who accused Gomes Junior of plotting to replace Bissau's army leadership, seized control in the wake of the putsch. He ceded power a month later to a transitional government led by a civilian president, Manuel Serifo Nhamadjo, in a deal brokered by West African regional bloc ECOWAS.

Both Gomes Junior and Pereira were forced to leave the country as part of the deal.

DRUGS TRADE

The European Union and the CPLP grouping of Portuguese-speaking nations have since refused to recognize Nhamadjo's administration, saying it remains under the control of military officials involved in the drugs trade.

Nhamadjo's government has denied any drugs links and has said the lack of support for his administration from traditional partners has hindered progress at setting elections.

Nhamadjo is in Germany seeking medical treatment for complications from diabetes. A spokesman said he could return to Guinea-Bissau within days.

Diplomatic sources said the U.S. anti-drugs operation in Bissau has already had a chilling effect on smugglers, who have for years taken advantage of weak law enforcement and a maze of offshore islands to move cocaine.

"Many people in Bissau and around the region are not sleeping very well right now. They know the Americans are watching," Jose Ramos-Horta, the United Nations' special envoy to Bissau, told Reuters.

But he said the country's leaders needed to make progress toward setting elections, preferably by the end of this year, in order to begin the process of recovery.

"The test for Bissau is now. Either it moves forward and puts its past behind it or it slips back into negativity at the expense of the people," he said.

African and Western powers are pressuring Nhamadjo to set an election date this year and to reform the existing caretaker government to be more inclusive - preconditions to any financial or technical support for the polls.

EU SUPPORT

An EU spokesman in Bissau, Piero Valabrega, confirmed the European Union would be prepared to support the elections - with an estimated price tag of $10 million - if those conditions were met, even if Nhamadjo remained president of the transition.

He said the U.S. anti-drugs operation could turn out to be positive if it weakened criminal vested interests.

"Politicians and the military will have less access to revenues from drugs smuggling and may be more likely to move the political process forward," he said.

The U.S. charges against Indjai said he planned to store FARC-owned cocaine in Guinea-Bissau and sell weapons, including surface-to-air missiles, to the organization to protect itself against U.S. military forces. Washington labels FARC (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia) a terrorist organization.

U.S. undercover agents snared Guinea-Bissau's former navy chief, Rear Admiral Jose Americo Bubo Na Tchuto, in the high-seas drugs sting on April 2 - the most high-profile score in the U.S. war on drugs in Africa.

Sources familiar with the operation say Indjai was also targeted but he dodged the planned arrest by refusing to meet the undercover agents in international waters.

Indjai cancelled a news conference scheduled in the capital on Friday and his spokesman has declined comment. He has previously denied links with drugs smuggling. Na Tchuto is in detention awaiting trial in New York, and he too has previously denied any connection to trafficking.

(Editing by Alison Williams)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/u-drugs-sting-muddies-guinea-bissau-transition-173118595.html

brian wilson storm chasers david blaine gotye divine mercy cabin in the woods the legend of korra

Migrant Workers Shot in Greece; 28 Wounded After Demanding Pay

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/04/migrant-workers-shot-in-greece-28-wounded-after-demanding-pay/

torrey smith oakland raiders Jessica Lange NFL scores week 3 kat dennings Steve Sabol Yom Kippur 2012

Friday Bliss

Friday Bliss

Melanie Griffith Caught in Bed with a Lion?[The Frisky] Kevin Jonas Slams Selena Gomez?[HollyWire] Miley Cyrus Wedding Off??[Right Celebrity] Rihanna Canceling Concerts Due to Pregnancy??[The Celebrity Cafe] Don Cheadle Pulls a Jon Hamm?[The Blemish] Heather Locklear Beauty Secret: Semen?[The Huffington Post] Amanda Seyfried Dishes on Her D-Boobs?[Girls Talkin Smack] Kate Upton Working on a Comedic ...

Friday Bliss Stupid Celebrities Gossip Stupid Celebrities Gossip News

Source: http://stupidcelebrities.net/2013/04/friday-bliss-12/

daytona bike week mary kay ash tiny houses maya angelou joan of arc tony robbins bon iver

Rescuers search ruins of Texas fertilizer plant

Firefighter conduct search and rescue of an apartment destroyed by an explosion at a fertilizer plant in West, Texas, Thursday, April 18, 2013. A massive explosion at the West Fertilizer Co. killed as many as 15 people and injured more than 160, officials said overnight. (AP Photo/LM Otero)

Firefighter conduct search and rescue of an apartment destroyed by an explosion at a fertilizer plant in West, Texas, Thursday, April 18, 2013. A massive explosion at the West Fertilizer Co. killed as many as 15 people and injured more than 160, officials said overnight. (AP Photo/LM Otero)

A firefighter stands on a rail line and surveys the remains of a fertilizer plant destroyed by an explosion in West, Texas, Thursday, April 18, 2013. A massive explosion at the West Fertilizer Co. killed as many as 15 people and injured more than 160, officials said overnight. (AP Photo/LM Otero)

The remains of a home burn early Thursday morning, April 18, 2013, after a fertilizer plant exploded Wednesday night in West, Texas. The massive explosion killed as many as 15 people and injured more than 160, shaking the ground with the strength of a small earthquake and leveling homes and businesses for blocks in every direction. (AP Photo/LM Otero)

Firefighters use flashlights to search a destroyed apartment complex near a fertilizer plant that exploded earlier in West, Texas, in this photo made early Thursday morning, April 18, 2013. (AP Photo/LM Otero)

The front of an apartment complex is destroyed by an explosion at a nearby fertilizer plant in West, Texas, Thursday, April 18, 2013. A massive explosion at the West Fertilizer Co. killed as many as 15 people and injured more than 160, officials said overnight. The explosion that struck around 8 p.m. Wednesday, sent flames shooting into the night sky and rained burning embers and debris down on shocked and frightened residents. (AP Photo/LM Otero)

WEST, Texas (AP) ? Rescuers searched the smoking remnants of a Texas farm town Thursday for survivors of a thunderous fertilizer plant explosion, gingerly checking smashed houses and apartments for anyone still trapped in debris or bodies of the dead. The accident killed as many as 15 people and injured more than 160 others.

Daylight revealed a breathtaking band of destruction extending for a four- or five-block radius around the West Fertilizer Co. in the small community of West, about 20 miles north of Waco. The blast shook the ground with the strength of a small earthquake and leveled homes, apartments, a school and a nursing home. Its dull boom could be heard dozens of miles away.

Waco police Sgt. William Patrick Swanton described ongoing search-and-rescue efforts as "tedious and time-consuming," noting crews had to shore up much of the wreckage before going in.

Searchers "have not gotten to the point of no return where they don't think that there's anybody still alive," Swanton said. He did not know how many people had been rescued.

There was no indication the blast, which sent up a mushroom-shaped plume of smoke and left behind a crater, was anything other than an industrial accident, he said.

The Wednesday night explosion rained burning embers and debris down on terrified residents. Morning exposed a landscape wrapped in acrid smoke and strewn with the shattered remains of buildings, furniture and personal belongings.

Dogs with collars but no owners trotted nervously through deserted streets in cordoned-off neighborhoods around the decimated plant. The entire second floor of a nearby apartment complex was destroyed, leaving bricks and mattresses among the rubble. One rescue crew going from apartment to apartment gave special attention to a room where only a child's red and blue bunk bed remained.

While the community tended to its deep wounds, investigators awaited clearance to enter the blast zone for clues to what set off the plant's huge stockpile of volatile chemicals.

"It's still too hot to get in there," said Franceska Perot, a spokeswoman for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

The precise death toll was uncertain. Three to five volunteer firefighters were believed to be among the dead, which authorities said could number as many as 15. But that was merely an estimate.

Swanton said he would "never second-guess" firefighters' decision to enter the plant because "we risk our lives every day." The many injuries included broken bones, cuts and bruises, respiratory problems and minor burns. Five people were reported in intensive care.

In the hours after the blast, residents wandered the dark, windy streets searching for shelter. Among them was Julie Zahirniako, who said she and her son, Anthony, had been at a school playground near the plant when the explosion hit.

The explosion threw her son four feet in the air, breaking his ribs. She said she saw people running from the nursing home, and the roof of the school rose into the sky.

"The fire was so high," she said. "It was just as loud as it could be. The ground and everything was shaking."

First-responders evacuated 133 patients from the nursing home, some in wheelchairs. Many were dazed and panicked and did not know what happened.

William Burch and his wife, a retired Air Force nurse, entered the damaged nursing home before first-responders arrived. They searched separate wings and found residents in wheelchairs trapped in their rooms. The halls were dark, and the ceilings had collapsed. Water filled the hallways. Electrical wires hung eerily from the ceilings.

"They had Sheetrock that was on top of them. You had to remove that," Burch said. It was "completely chaotic."

Gov. Rick Perry called the explosion "a truly nightmare scenario for the community" and said he had been in touch with President Barack Obama, who promised his administration's assistance with operations on the ground.

Authorities said the plant made materials similar to those used in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.

The fertilizer used in that attack, ammonium nitrate, makes big explosions, be they accidental or intentional said Neil Donahue, professor of chemistry at Carnegie Mellon University. It also was used in the first bombing attempt at the World Trade Center in 1993.

Ammonium nitrate is stable, but if its components are heated up sufficiently, they break apart in a runaway explosive chemical reaction, said Neil Donahue, professor of chemistry at Carnegie Mellon University.

"The hotter it is, the faster the reaction will happen," Donahue said. "That really happens almost instantaneously, and that's what gives the tremendous force of the explosion."

About a half-hour before the blast, the town's volunteer firefighters had responded to a call at the plant, Swanton said. They immediately realized the potential for disaster because of the plant's chemical stockpile and began evacuating the surrounding area.

The blast happened 20 minutes later.

Erick Perez was playing basketball at a nearby school when the fire started. He and his friends thought nothing of it at first, but about a half-hour later, the smoke changed color. The blast threw him, his nephew and others to the ground and showered the area with hot embers, shrapnel and debris.

"The explosion was like nothing I've ever seen before," Perez said. "This town is hurt really bad."

The U.S. Chemical Safety Board was deploying a large investigation team to West. An ATF national response team that investigates all large fires and explosions was also expected, bringing fire investigators, certified explosives specialists, chemists, canines and forensic specialists. American Red Cross crews also headed to the scene to help evacuated residents.

There were no immediate details on the number of people who work at the plant, which state environmental regulators last inspected in 2006, said Zak Covar, executive director of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. A complaint about a strong ammonia smell triggered that investigation, which the company resolved by obtaining a new permit.

Covar said no other complaints are on file since then, so there haven't been additional inspections.

"Given the size of the facility and the authorized emissions from the plant, generally those are inspected based on complaints," Covar said.

The Chemical Safety Board has not investigated a fertilizer plant explosion before, but Managing Director Daniel Horowitz said "fertilizers have been involved in some of the most severe accidents of the past century."

He noted the 2001 explosion at a chemical and fertilizer plant that killed 31 people and injured more than 2,000 in Toulouse, France. The blast in a hangar containing 300 tons of ammonium nitrate came 10 days after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, raising fears at the time that the two could be linked. A 2006 report blamed the blast on negligence.

Horowitz also mentioned a disaster in Texas City in 1947, when a fire in a cargo ship holding more than 2,000 tons of ammonium nitrate caught fire and exploded, killing more than 500 people.

___

Associated Press writers Michael Brick, Will Weissert and Angela K. Brown and video journalist Raquel Maria Dillon in West; writers Jamie Stengle in Dallas, Ramit Plushnick-Masti in Houston and Seth Borenstein in Washington contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-04-18-Plant%20Explosion-Texas/id-46eda51bac9248cfb923fd210a11196b

houston weather dwyane wade the night they drove old dixie down levon robbie robertson the curious case of benjamin button secret service prostitute

Newly Newlin: March

So it seems I am a monthly blogger. Oh well. March was a great month! We celebrated with wedding showers, baby showers, milestones, vacations and some fun days at home.?

I got together with some sweet college friends to host a shower for our dear friend, Courtney in Birmingham. She got married this past weekend, so I'll have to blog on it soon. I loved being able to see these precious friends and celebrate one of my closest friends!

The following day, some of my best friends hosting a sip n see for Clarke. It was so thoughtful of them to do this for me because I couldn't have a shower before he was born due to bed rest. A few friends brought their babies and I loved every second of the afternoon! A big thank you ?to all of my precious friends who planned and came to the shower!

A few posed 12 week pictures :)

We made a trip to Aliceville and spent some quality time with Sugar and my parents.

I spent my first night away from Clarke to celebrate Courtney at her bachelorette weekend. Chris kept Clarke at home and they did great. I had a fun time with my girlfriends and Chris sent me lots of pictures like the one below so I would know what was going on at the home-front!

Chris's work held a conference in Destin in the middle of March, so we decided it would be a fun little family vacation. Chris had to work a lot so I asked my mom to go with us. We had a fun time although we didn't even make it out onto the beach with Clarke. This was the extent of his sun exposure :)?

My mom babysat one night and we enjoyed a delicious dinner out at Baytowne! Thank you Nina for going with us and for babysitting!

When we got back, Clarke experienced his first sickness with an eye infection and an awfully snotty nose, but sweet thing accomplished a big milestone. He rolled from back to belly and I caught it on camera! (I did move him away from the bumper after he completed his roll...) A baby being sick is the worst thing, so I am so thankful he is feeling much better now!!

He's absolutely loving his little play toy seen below and is smiling now all the time. He really likes to hold stuff in his hands or either has his hands in his mouth. We've found a paci he likes and he usually falls asleep with it. Clarke is big enough now to be in his swing without his elephant head pillow. He eats 5x a day (nurses when I'm with him) and eats about 5-5 1/2 ounces when he takes a bottle. He is a growing boy and fits into his 3 month clothes well.

We got to see Momo and Popo (Chris's parents) during Easter weekend which was so nice! They kept him one day while I was at work. It was fun to get Clarke an Easter basket although he of course didn't know what it was and went to Aliceville to see my family on Easter Sunday.

I am so thankful for a Risen Savior! I've been singing the hymn "Because He Lives" to Clarke a lot lately and he seems to like it :)?

Source: http://newlynewlin.blogspot.com/2013/04/march.html

Kyla Ross Ryan Lochte Montenegro Olympic Games Dana Vollmer Ryan Dempster Phelps

Amazon's Appstore prepares for international availability in 'nearly 200 countries'

Amazon has big plans for its incredibly successful (we guess?) Appstore on Android, which include expansion to "nearly 200 countries," -- after rolling out in Europe and Japan -- but it's asking for developers to get on board first. So that its store shelves aren't empty when they open up in places like Brazil, Canada and Papua New Guinea, it's securing app submissions and making sure devs opt-in to international distribution. Peter Sleeman, Director of P2 Games, is quoted in the press release claiming his company saw 4-5x sales of a recent app on Kindle Fire compared to Google Play. That feat is echoed by several others quoted, citing Amazon's in-app purchasing system and features like GameCircle. There's no word whether this global rollout will be followed by wider distribution of its other media services and branded hardware, but given the predictable path it's followed so far that seems like a safe bet.

Filed under: Mobile, Amazon

Comments

Source: Amazon

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/04/17/amazons-appstore-prepares-to-expand-international-availability/

nba finals K Michelle roger clemens multiple sclerosis falling skies rodney king Webb Simpson

Marathon bombing kills 3, injures over 140

BOSTON (AP) ? Two bombs exploded in the crowded streets near the finish line of the Boston Marathon on Monday, killing at least three people and injuring more than 140 in a bloody scene of shattered glass and severed limbs that raised alarms that terrorists might have struck again in the U.S.

A White House official speaking on condition of anonymity because the investigation was still unfolding said the attack was being treated as an act of terrorism.

President Barack Obama vowed that those responsible will "feel the full weight of justice."

As many as two unexploded bombs were also found near the end of the 26.2-mile course as part of what appeared to be a well-coordinated attack, but they were safely disarmed, according to a senior U.S. intelligence official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity because of the continuing investigation.

The fiery twin blasts took place about 10 seconds and about 100 yards apart, knocking spectators and at least one runner off their feet, shattering windows and sending dense plumes of smoke rising over the street and through the fluttering national flags lining the route. Blood stained the pavement, and huge shards were missing from window panes as high as three stories.

"They just started bringing people in with no limbs," said runner Tim Davey of Richmond, Va. He said he and his wife, Lisa, tried to shield their children's eyes from the gruesome scene inside a medical tent that had been set up to care for fatigued runners, but "they saw a lot."

"They just kept filling up with more and more casualties," Lisa Davey said. "Most everybody was conscious. They were very dazed."

As the FBI took charge of the investigation, authorities shed no light on a motive or who may have carried out the bombings, and police said they had no suspects in custody. Officials in Washington said there was no immediate claim of responsibility.

WBZ-TV reported late Monday that law enforcement officers were searching an apartment in the Boston suburb of Revere. Massachusetts State Police confirmed that a search warrant related to the investigation into the explosions was served Monday night in Revere but provided no further details.

Police said three people were killed. An 8-year-old boy was among the dead, according to a person who talked to a friend of the family and spoke on condition of anonymity. The person said the boy's mother and sister were also injured as they waited for his father to finish the race.

Hospitals reported at least 144 people injured, at least 17 of them critically. The victims' injuries included broken bones, shrapnel wounds and ruptured eardrums.

At Massachusetts General Hospital, Alisdair Conn, chief of emergency services, said: "This is something I've never seen in my 25 years here ... this amount of carnage in the civilian population. This is what we expect from war."

Some 23,000 runners took part in the race, one of the world's oldest and most prestigious marathons.

One of Boston's biggest annual events, the race winds up near Copley Square, not far from the landmark Prudential Center and the Boston Public Library. It is held on Patriots Day, which commemorates the first battles of the American Revolution, at Concord and Lexington in 1775.

Boston Police Commissioner Edward Davis asked people to stay indoors or go back to their hotel rooms and avoid crowds as bomb squads methodically checked parcels and bags left along the race route. He said investigators didn't know whether the bombs were hidden in mailboxes or trash cans.

He said authorities had received "no specific intelligence that anything was going to happen" at the race.

The Federal Aviation Administration barred low-flying aircraft within 3.5 miles of the site.

"We still don't know who did this or why," Obama said at the White House, adding, "Make no mistake: We will get to the bottom of this."

With scant official information to guide them, members of Congress said there was little or no doubt it was an act of terrorism.

"We just don't know whether it's foreign or domestic," said Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security.

A few miles away from the finish line and around the same time, a fire broke out at the John F. Kennedy Library. The police commissioner said that it may have been caused by an incendiary device but that it was not clear whether it was related to the bombings.

The first explosion occurred on the north side of Boylston Street, just before the finish line, and some people initially thought it was a celebratory cannon blast.

When the second bomb went off, spectators' cheers turned to screams. As sirens blared, emergency workers and National Guardsmen who had been assigned to the race for crowd control began climbing over and tearing down temporary fences to get to the blast site.

The bombings occurred about four hours into the race and two hours after the men's winner crossed the finish line. By that point, more than 17,000 of the athletes had finished the marathon, but thousands more were still running.

The attack may have been timed for maximum carnage: The four-hour mark is typically a crowded time near the finish line because of the slow-but-steady recreational runners completing the race and because of all the friends and relatives clustered around to cheer them on.

Runners in the medical tent for treatment of dehydration or other race-related ills were pushed out to make room for victims of the bombing.

A woman who was a few feet from the second bomb, Brighid Wall, 35, of Duxbury, said that when it exploded, runners and spectators froze, unsure of what to do. Her husband threw their children to the ground, lay on top of them and another man lay on top of them and said, "Don't get up, don't get up."

After a minute or so without another explosion, Wall said, she and her family headed to a Starbucks and out the back door through an alley. Around them, the windows of the bars and restaurants were blown out.

She said she saw six to eight people bleeding profusely, including one man who was kneeling, dazed, with blood trickling down his head. Another person was on the ground covered in blood and not moving.

"My ears are zinging. Their ears are zinging," Wall said. "It was so forceful. It knocked us to the ground."

Competitors and race volunteers were crying as they fled the chaos. Authorities went onto the course to carry away the injured, while race stragglers were rerouted away from the smoking site.

Roupen Bastajian, a state trooper from Smithfield, R.I., had just finished the race when he heard the blasts.

"I started running toward the blast. And there were people all over the floor," he said. "We started grabbing tourniquets and started tying legs. A lot of people amputated. ... At least 25 to 30 people have at least one leg missing, or an ankle missing, or two legs missing."

The race honored the victims of the Newtown, Conn., shooting with a special mile marker in Monday's race.

Boston Athletic Association president Joanne Flaminio previously said there was "special significance" to the fact that the race is 26.2 miles long and 26 people died at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

___

Associated Press writers Jay Lindsay, Steve LeBlanc, Bridget Murphy and Meghan Barr in Boston; Julie Pace, Lara Jakes and Eileen Sullivan in Washington; and Marilynn Marchione in Milwaukee contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/boston-marathon-bombing-kills-3-injures-over-140-022754753--spt.html

flight attendant pau gasol trade michael madsen spring forward day light savings day light savings daylight saving time 2012