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Saturday, April 27, 2013
Wednesday, April 24, 2013
Kerry: NATO needs plan for Syrian chemical weapons
Greek Foreign Minister Dimitrios Avramopoulos, left, talks with Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu, during a NATO foreign ministers meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Tuesday, April 23, 2013. NATO foreign ministers meet in Brussels to discuss the situation in Syria and Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Yves Logghe)
Greek Foreign Minister Dimitrios Avramopoulos, left, talks with Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu, during a NATO foreign ministers meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Tuesday, April 23, 2013. NATO foreign ministers meet in Brussels to discuss the situation in Syria and Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Yves Logghe)
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, left, talks with Italy's Foreign Minister Mario Monti, during a NATO foreign ministers meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Tuesday, April 23, 2013. NATO foreign ministers meet in Brussels to discuss the situation in Syria and Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Yves Logghe)
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, left, talks with Italy's Foreign Minister Mario Monti, during a NATO foreign ministers meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Tuesday, April 23, 2013. NATO foreign ministers meet in Brussels to discuss the situation in Syria and Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Yves Logghe)
Greek Foreign Minister Dimitrios Avramopoulos, center, talks to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, right, and NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, as they pose for a group photo, during the NATO-Russia Council during a NATO foreign ministers meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Tuesday, April 23, 2013. (AP Photo/Yves Logghe)
Italy's Foreign Minister Mario Monti, left, talks with German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle prior to the NATO-Russia Council during a NATO foreign ministers meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Tuesday, April 23, 2013. (AP Photo/Yves Logghe)
BRUSSELS (AP) ? U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry urged NATO on Tuesday to prepare for the possible use of chemical weapons by Syria on the same day that a senior Israeli military intelligence official said Syrian President Bashar Assad had used such weapons last month in his battle against insurgents.
It was the first time Israel had accused the embattled Syrian leader of using his stockpile of nonconventional weapons.
The assessment, based on visual evidence, could raise pressure on the U.S. and other Western countries to intervene in Syria. Britain and France recently announced that they had evidence that Assad's government had used chemical weapons.
President Barack Obama has warned that the use of chemical weapons by Assad would be a "game changer" and has hinted that it could draw intervention.
But White House spokesman Jay Carney said while the administration is continuing to monitor and investigate whether the Syrian regime has used chemical weapons, it has "not come to the conclusion that there has been that use."
"But it is something that is of great concern to us, to our partners, and obviously unacceptable as the president made clear," Carney said.
Despite the deteriorating situation, NATO officials say there is virtually no chance the alliance will intervene in the civil war. More than 70,000 people have died in the conflict, according to the United Nations. The violence also has forced more than 1 million Syrians to seek safety abroad, and more are leaving by the day, burdening neighboring countries such as Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey and Iraq.
On Tuesday, Brig. Gen. Itai Brun, the head of research and analysis in Israeli military intelligence, told a security conference in Tel Aviv that Assad had used chemical weapons multiple times. Among the incidents were attacks documented by the French and British near Damascus last month.
He cited images of people hurt, but gave no indication he had other evidence, such as soil samples, typically used to verify chemical weapons use.
"To the best of our professional understanding, the regime used lethal chemical weapons against the militants in a series of incidents over the past months, including the relatively famous incident of March 19," Brun said. "Shrunken pupils, foaming at the mouth and other signs indicate, in our view, that lethal chemical weapons were used."
He said sarin, a lethal nerve agent, was probably used. He also said the Syrian regime was using less lethal chemical weapons. And he appeared to lament the lack of response by the international community.
"The fact that chemical weapons were used without an appropriate response is a very disturbing development because it could signal that such a thing is legitimate," he said.
Israel, which borders Syria, has been warily watching the Syrian civil war since fighting erupted there in March 2011. Although Assad is a bitter enemy, Israel has been careful not to take sides, partly because the Assad family has kept the border with Israel quiet for 40 years and partly because of fears of what might happen if he were toppled.
Israeli officials are concerned that Assad's stockpile of chemical weapons and other advanced arms could reach the hands of his ally, the Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon, or Islamic extremist groups trying to oust him from Syria.
Kerry, attending his first meeting of NATO's governing body, the North Atlantic Council, as America's top diplomat, said contingency plans should be put in place to guard against the threat of a chemical strike. Turkey, a member of the military alliance, borders Syria and would be most at risk from such an attack. NATO has already deployed Patriot missile batteries in Turkey.
"Planning regarding Syria, such as what (NATO) has already done, is an appropriate undertaking for the alliance," Kerry told NATO foreign ministers. "We should also carefully and collectively consider how NATO is prepared to respond to protect its members from a Syrian threat, including any potential chemical weapons threat."
Speaking at a news conference after the meeting, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the alliance is "extremely concerned about the use of ballistic missiles in Syria and the possible use of chemical weapons." However, he also noted that NATO has not been asked to intervene.
"There is no call for NATO to play a role, but if these challenges remain unaddressed they could directly affect our own security," he told reporters. "So we will continue to remain extremely vigilant."
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, in Brussels to talk with his counterparts from NATO countries, said Russia would want any investigation of whether chemical weapons have been used to be conducted by experts and concern only the specific report being investigated.
Speaking through a translator in a press conference at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Lavrov said that, in March, after each side in Syria's civil war accused the other of using chemical weapons in northern Aleppo province, the U.N. investigation became politicized and overly broad. Instead of sending experts to study the specific area and the specific allegation, Lavrov said investigators demanded access to all facilities in the country and the right to interview all Syrian citizens.
In Washington, Pentagon spokesman George Little said the U.S. "continues to assess reports of chemical weapons use in Syria."
"The use of such weapons would be entirely unacceptable," he added.
Later in the day, Kerry appeared to try to soften his earlier remarks, saying he had no way of knowing what the facts were.
"I didn't ask for additional planning," he said. "I think it might have been the secretary general or somebody who commented that we may need to do some additional planning. But there is no specific request. What there was from me was a very clear statement about the threat of chemical weapons and the potential for chemical weapons generically to fall into bad hands."
He also said the Obama administration is "looking at every option that could possibly end the violence and usher in a political transition" and that plans need to be made now to ensure that there is no power vacuum when that takes place. He said increasing aid to the Syrian National Coalition and its military command, the Supreme Military Council, would be critical to that effort.
Many of NATO's 28 members also belong to the European Union, which on Monday lifted its oil embargo on Syria to provide more economic support to the rebels and is now considering easing an arms embargo on the country to allow weapons transfers to those fighting the Assad regime.
Kerry did not mention the possible easing of the EU embargo but he did say that NATO should begin to think about taking on a larger role in planning for a post-Assad Syria, particularly in dealing with the country's chemical weapons stockpiles.
The NATO ministers were also working Tuesday on defining how the alliance would support Afghan forces after 2014, when NATO will no longer have a combat role.
With next year's transition date looming, Kerry will host three-way talks in Brussels on Wednesday with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and top Pakistani officials aimed at speeding possible reconciliation talks with the Taliban and improving trust and cooperation between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
On the sidelines of the NATO meeting, Kerry met Lavrov to discuss a range of issues, including Syria. He also thanked Lavrov for Russian President Vladimir Putin's statement of condolence to the U.S. for last week's bombings at the Boston Marathon blamed on two ethnic Chechen brothers.
___
Associated Press writers Ariel David in Tel Aviv, Peter James Spielmann at the United Nations, and Kimberly Dozier and Julie Pace in Washington contributed to this report.
___
Don Melvin can be reached at https://twitter.com/Don_Melvin
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Monday, April 22, 2013
Parents of Boston suspect describe his Russia trip
FILE - This combination of undated file photos shows Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, left, and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19. The FBI says the two brothers are the suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing, and are also responsible for killing an MIT police officer, critically injuring a transit officer in a firefight and throwing explosive devices at police during a getaway attempt in a long night of violence that left Tamerlan dead and Dzhokhar captured, late Friday, April 19, 2013. The ethnic Chechen brothers lived in Dagestan, which borders the Chechnya region in southern Russia. They lived near Boston and had been in the U.S. for about a decade, one of their uncles reported said. Since Monday, Boston has experienced five days of fear, beginning with the marathon bombing attack, an intense manhunt and much uncertainty ending in the death of one suspect and the capture of the other. (AP Photo/The Lowell Sun & Robin Young, File)
FILE - This combination of undated file photos shows Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, left, and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19. The FBI says the two brothers are the suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing, and are also responsible for killing an MIT police officer, critically injuring a transit officer in a firefight and throwing explosive devices at police during a getaway attempt in a long night of violence that left Tamerlan dead and Dzhokhar captured, late Friday, April 19, 2013. The ethnic Chechen brothers lived in Dagestan, which borders the Chechnya region in southern Russia. They lived near Boston and had been in the U.S. for about a decade, one of their uncles reported said. Since Monday, Boston has experienced five days of fear, beginning with the marathon bombing attack, an intense manhunt and much uncertainty ending in the death of one suspect and the capture of the other. (AP Photo/The Lowell Sun & Robin Young, File)
This June 2012 booking photo released by the Natick, Mass., police shows Zubeidat K. Tsarnaeva, mother of Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the two men who set off bombs near the Boston Marathon finish line Monday, April 15, 2013 in Boston. Zubeidat Tsarnaeva was arrested in June 2012 on a shoplifting charge at a Lord & Taylor store in Natick. (AP Photo/Natick Police Department)
The father of the Boston bomb suspects, Anzor Tsaraev, speaks to the media at his home in Makhachkala, the capital of Dagestan, a predominantly Muslim republic in southern Russia, Friday, April 19, 2013. The two ethnic Chechen brothers, Tamerlan Tsarnaev and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, turned suspects in US marathon bombing, one dead, one still alive and at large on Friday, came from Dagestan, a Russian republic bordering the province of Chechnya. (AP Photo/Kurban Labazanov)
MAKHACHKALA, Russia (AP) ? The parents of Tamerlan Tsarnaev insisted on Sunday that he came to Dagestan and Chechnya last year to visit relatives and had nothing to do with the militants operating in this volatile part of Russia. But the Boston bombing suspect could not have been immune to the attacks that savaged the region during his six-month stay.
Tsarnaev , 26, and his 19-year-old brother, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, are accused of setting off the two bombs near the finish line of the Boston Marathon on April 15 that killed three people and wounding more than 180 others.
Three days later, investigators say they killed a university police officer, carjacked a man and led police on a chase that resulted in a shootout that left Tamerlan Tsarnaev dead. His younger brother escaped, but was captured the next day, alive but badly wounded.
When the two ethnic Chechen suspects were identified, the FBI said it reviewed its records and found that in early 2011, a foreign government ? which law enforcement officials confirmed was Russia ? had asked for information about Tamerlan Tsarnaev. The FBI said it was told that Tsarnaev was a "follower of radical Islam" and was preparing to travel to this foreign country to join unspecified underground groups.
The FBI said that it responded by interviewing Tsarnaev and family members, but found no terrorism activity.
No evidence has emerged since to link Tsarnaev to militant groups in Russia's Caucasus. And on Sunday the Caucasus Emirate, which Russia and the U.S. consider a terrorist organization, denied involvement in the Boston attack.
But a trip Tsarnaev made back to Russia in January, 2012, has raised questions.
His father said his son stayed with him in Makhachkala, the capital of Dagestan, where the family lived briefly before moving to the United States a decade ago. The father had only recently returned.
"He was here, with me in Makhachkala," Anzor Tsarnaev told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. "He slept until 3 p.m., and you know, I would ask him: 'Have you come here to sleep?' He used to go visiting, here and there. He would go to eat somewhere. Then he would come back and go to bed."
He said his son went to the mosque for prayers, but would not have come under the influence of radical imams, who he said stay up in the mountain villages.
A woman who works in a small shop opposite Tsarnaev's apartment building said she only saw his son during the course of one month last summer. She described him as a dandy.
"He dressed in a very refined way," said Madina Abdullaeva. "His boots were the same color as his clothes. They were summer boots, light, with little holes punched in the leather."
Anzor Tsarnaev said they traveled together to neighboring Chechnya. "He went with me twice, to see my uncles and aunts. I have lots of them," the father said.
He said they also visited one of his daughters, who lives in the Chechen town of Urus-Martan with her husband. His son-in-law's brothers all work in the police force under Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, he said.
Moscow has given Kadyrov a free hand to stabilize Chechnya following two wars between federal troops and Chechen separatists beginning in 1994, and his feared police and security forces have been accused of rampant rights abuses.
What began in Chechnya as a fight for independence has morphed into an Islamic insurgency that has spread throughout Russia's Caucasus, with the worst of the violence now in Dagestan.
In February, 2012, shortly after Tamerlan Tsarnaev's arrival in Dagestan, a four-day operation to wipe out several militant bands in Chechnya and Dagestan left 17 police and at least 20 militants dead. In May, two car bombs shook Makhachkala, killing at least 13 people and wounding about 130 more. Other bombings and shootings targeting police and other officials took place nearly daily.
The Caucasus Emirate said Sunday that its mujahedin are not fighting with the United States. "We are at war with Russia, which is not only responsible for the occupation of the Caucasus, but also for heinous crimes against Muslims," it said in a statement on the Kavkaz Center website.
The group suggested that Russia's secret services would have had a greater interest in carrying out the attack in Boston.
Despite the violence in Dagestan, Anzor Tsarnaev said Sunday that his son did not want to leave and had thoughts on how he could go into business. But the father said he encouraged him to go back to the United States and try to get citizenship. Tamerlan Tsarnaev returned to the U.S. in July.
His mother said that he was questioned upon arrival at New York's airport.
"And he told me on the phone, 'imagine, Mama, they were asking me such interesting questions as if I were some strange and scary man: Where did you go? What did you do there?,' " Zubeidat Tsarnaeva recalled her son telling her at the time.
Both parents insist that the FBI continued to monitor Tamerlan Tsarnaev and that both of their sons were set up.
Their mother went so far on Sunday to claim that the FBI had contacted her elder son after the deadly bombs exploded at the marathon. If true it would be the first indication that the FBI considered him a suspect before Boston descended into violence on Thursday.
At FBI headquarters in Washington, spokesman Michael Kortan stood by the bureau's public statement of two days ago in which the bureau described a 2011 FBI interview of Tamerlan Tsarnaev. Kortan said the 2011 interview was the only FBI contact with Tamerlan Tsarnaev. The FBI statement from two days ago says that the FBI did not learn of the identity of Tamerlan and his brother until Friday after the gun battle in which Tamerlan was killed.
The mother's claim could not be independently confirmed, and she has made statements in the past that appeared to show a lack of full understanding of what occurred in Boston.
Investigators released photos and video of the two Tsarnaev brothers on Thursday afternoon, but at that point their identities were not known. By late that night Tamerlan Tsarnaev was dead.
Tsarnaeva said her elder son told her by telephone that the FBI had called to inform him that they considered him a suspect and he should come in for questioning.
She said her son refused. "I told them, what do you suspect me of?" Tsarnaeva quoted her son as saying. "This is your problem and if you need me you should come to where I am."
He then told her he was going to drive his younger brother to the university, she said, speaking by telephone from Chechnya. Tsarnaeva claimed that her son later called his wife to tell her they were being chased and fired upon.
___
Associated Press writer Lynn Berry contributed from Moscow.
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Big scramble seen in open Senate seat in Georgia
ATLANTA (AP) ? A rare open U.S. Senate seat in Georgia promises a scrambled 2014 campaign that already has some Republicans quietly nervous about retaining it.
Democrat Barack Obama lost the state in both of his White House races, and it's a seat that Republicans cannot afford to lose as they try to regain a Senate majority for the final two years of his presidency.
The question is whether a bruising party primary becomes a liability, particularly if voters nominate U.S. Rep. Paul Broun, who once called evolution and the Big Bang Theory "lies straight from the pit of hell."
Broun and U.S. Rep. Phil Gingrey, both conservative physicians, are the only Republicans to announce officially since incumbent Saxby Chambliss said he will retire. But the GOP primary field eventually could include as many as a half-dozen candidates with a credible shot at a runoff spot.
Broun, whose district includes the University of Georgia in Athens, drew national headlines last year for that science commentary he delivered at a church. He's flouted GOP leaders on recent fiscal votes, saying the party's position wasn't conservative enough.
In a recent fundraising letter, he boasted that he was the first member of Congress to call Obama "a socialist who embraces Marxist-Leninist policies."
That makes Broun a tea party and evangelical favorite. To other Republicans, however, such comments stir memories of 2012 losses in Senate races in Missouri and Indiana where the GOP nominees, Todd Akin and Richard Mourdock, made controversial comments about women, rape and abortion.
"There's no question that the Republican Party in Georgia and the nation are concerned that we could have another Todd Akin-type scenario here," said Heath Garrett, a Republican campaign consultant and former top aide to U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson.
Democrats control 55 seats in the Senate, and Republicans would need to hang on to the ones they control now and pick up six more next year to take control for the first time since 2006.
At least one more Georgia congressman is likely to jump in, and a trio of Washington outsiders is considering the race: a wealthy Atlanta businesswoman who helped bankroll a Mitt Romney's presidential campaign; the former Susan G. Komen Foundation executive who took on Planned Parenthood; and the cousin of former Gov. Sonny Perdue.
"It's going to be a free-for-all with a lot of dominoes," said Sue Everhart, the head of the state GOP.
Isakson said he's neutral in the primary.
National conservative groups FreedomWorks and Club for Growth, which have helped tea party candidates such as Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas win high-profile races, say many candidates have talked to them about support. For now, both groups say they're watching the field develop. It would be a blow to Broun if he can't harness the support of either.
Democrats believe they can tap into the Missouri-Indiana playbook, particularly if U.S. Rep. John Barrow, a moderate from Augusta, runs. Barrow has survived consecutive elections as one of national Republicans' top House targets.
The state Democratic chairman, Mike Berlon, said Barrow has detractors among core Democrats for his vote against Obama's health care law, but said he'd expect enthusiasm at any opportunity to win back Chambliss' seat.
Berlon said the congressman is an ideal candidate to assemble a majority coalition of African-Americans, white urban liberals, suburban moderates and just enough rural conservatives. "We're already close," he said, noting that Obama got 47 percent in 2008 and 45.5 percent in 2012 "without the national party lifting a finger."
Garrett said that "if the Republican nominee scares suburban whites, John Barrow becomes a very formidable candidate."
Barrow has held meetings with major Democratic donors in Georgia and talked with the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee leaders, but has not announced his intentions.
The only other Democrat making strong overtures is Michelle Nunn, a not-for-profit executive who's the daughter of former U.S. Sen. Sam Nunn, D-Ga.
Berlon said he expects Nunn and Barrow to meet soon to "talk about who's going to run."
On the Republican side, U.S. Rep. Jack Kingston of Savannah is expected to enter the race soon. He raised $843,000 in the first three months of the year, about 10 times what he collected during the same span two years ago when he was preparing only for an easy re-election to his 11th term.
Rep. Tom Price, vice chairman of the House Budget Committee, has said he won't make a move until after Congress passes a budget. But he's also got to consider that many high-profile GOP donors and strategists are lining up behind Gingrey or Kingston.
The longer Price waits, the more likely it is that Karen Handel, a former Georgia secretary of state, will run. The two are close friends.
After losing the 2010 Republican primary runoff for governor, Handel worked for the Susan G. Komen Foundation. She resigned amid controversy over her push to dissociate the organization from Planned Parenthood, a provider of women's health care and abortion services.
Two electoral newcomers would bring their personal wealth to the campaign.
Businessman David Perdue also has name ID as the cousin of a popular former governor.
Kelly Loeffler is a co-owner of the Atlanta-based company that recently bought the New York Stock Exchange and Atlanta's professional women's basketball team. She's never run for office but is one of the top fundraisers for Romney last year. She's been increasingly active in Georgia Republican political circles.
Chip Lake, a paid strategist for Gingrey, said the uncertainty makes it difficult to handicap the race.
Against Broun alone, Gingrey is a mainstream social and fiscal conservative, but he also caught heat earlier this year when he defended Akin.
Gingrey apologized, calling his own remarks "stupid." In a three-man race, Kingston becomes a favorite of many Chamber of Commerce Republicans. But Kingston also is from south Georgia, far from the population center of Atlanta, where Gingrey has won elections for decades.
Broun has just $217,000 in his campaign account, about one-tenth of his House rivals and not enough for one week of television ads in Atlanta. But he's also got a strong grass-roots following.
Handel can capitalize on experience in government, while still being an outsider to an unpopular Congress. She could be a particularly strong candidate if she's the only woman in the race.
But Loeffler could neutralize any gender advantage. Handel can use the Planned Parenthood flap to boost her conservative credentials, but she's had run-ins with staunch anti-abortion groups because she supports policy exceptions for rape, incest and to allow for in-vitro fertilization.
Loeffler can sell her success story and roots on an Illinois farm. But she'd still have to introduce herself to small town and rural Georgia as a millionaire from Atlanta.
___
Follow Barrow on Twitter: https://twitter.com/BillBarrowAP
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/big-scramble-seen-open-senate-seat-georgia-114950175--election.html
Sunday, April 21, 2013
What's Happening for April 20 - Happening - The Olympian ...
Modified April 20, 2013
Saturday
Olympia Downtown Cleanup: 8:30 a.m.-noon, various streets and sidewalks in downtown Olympia. Volunteers clean up for spring Arts Walk. Sponsored by the Olympia Downtown Association in cooperation with the city of Olympia. To volunteer or for more information, email odaevent@tss.net.
Norway Day: Norway Day is a Norwegian festival filled with music, fjord horses, elkhounds, Norwegian history, genealogy and food. The festival kicks off at 10 a.m. at the Expo Center at the Thurston County Fairgrounds, 3054 Carpenter Road SE, Lacey. Admission is $3; children younger than 12 get in free.
Volunteer at Rainier Vista Park: Join volunteers and staff from Lacey Parks and Recreation for an Earth Day work party from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. at Rainier Vista Community Park, 5475 45th Ave. SE, Lacey. All are welcome, but volunteers younger than 14 must be accompanied by an adult. Bring weather-appropriate clothing, work gloves and sturdy shoes or boots and water. Local high schools are challenged by Alpine Experience to compete for a cash reward for their school by signing the largest number of volunteers. Students should register by April 18. Go to ci.lacey.wa.us/parks-volunteers for registration, waiver forms and additional information. Call 360-491-0857.
Work Party at Schafer State Park: Friends of Schafer and Lake Sylvia has invited the public to help prepare the park for the centennial season from 9 a.m.- 1 p.m. The group will meet at the campground at Schafer State Park, 1365 Schafer Park Road W, Elma. Bring rakes, gloves and tools. Call Ranger Arnold Hampton at 360-482-3852 with questions.
Tuesday
?Spring Into Action: Paths to the Future?: The YWCA of Olympia will host its annual benefit luncheon to celebrate Girls Without Limits and Girls Circle programs. The luncheon will run from 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. at Indian Summer Golf & Country Club, 5900 Troon Lane SE, Olympia. Tickets are $35 each or $280 for a table of eight. They can be purchased through the YWCA by calling 360-352-0593 or at ywcaofolympia.org under the special events page.
April 24
Arbor Day program: The Olympia Garden Club invites the public to its annual program that features guest speakers at 11 a.m. at Priest Point Park, 2600 East Bay Drive, Olympia. Coffee and cookies will be served; everyone will receive a plant to take home.
April 26-27
Spring Arts Walk: Various locations in downtown Olympia. Includes visual and performing arts in more than 100 businesses, hands-on family activities, demonstrations, street performances. Sponsored by the Olympia Parks, Arts & Recreation Department and the Olympia Arts Commission. Call 360-709-2678 or go to sjohnso1@ci.olympia.wa.us.
April 27
Mothers Day Bazaar: Sponsored by the VFW Auxiliary No. 318, a Mother?s Day bazaar will kick off at 9 a.m. and wrap up at 4 p.m. at the VFW Hall, 2902 Martin Way E., Olympia. Also, enjoy a bake sale, sandwich kitchen and used treasures tables. Proceeds will assist the VFW Auxiliary No. 318 veterans and nursing home programs. Call Carole Jones at 754-7676 with questions.
Source: http://www.theolympian.com/2013/04/20/2513286/news-brief-20ohappenb.html
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Friday, April 19, 2013
Baghdad suicide bomb blast at Internet cafe kills 27
By Kareem Raheem
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A suicide bomber blew himself inside a Baghdad cafe popular with young people using the Internet, killing a least 27 and wounding dozens more in one of the worst single attacks in the Iraqi capital this year.
The late evening blast in west Baghdad came just two days before provincial elections that will be a major test of Iraq's political stability more than a year after the last American troops left the country.
Police and witnesses said emergency workers struggled to extricate victims trapped when the blast collapsed part of the building that also housed a shopping center below the Dubai cafe which was on the third floor.
"It was a huge blast," a police official at the scene said. "Part of the building fell in and debris hit people shopping in the mall below."
Ten years after the U.S.-led invasion, Sunni Islamists linked to al Qaeda carry out at least one major attack a month, but insurgents have stepped up suicide attacks since the start of the year as part of a campaign to provoke confrontation between the country's Shi'ite and Sunni Muslims.
More than 30 people were killed in a series of bombings across Iraq on Monday and more than a dozen election candidates have been killed in the run-up to the vote.
Security officials have been expecting more attacks before Saturday's ballot for provincial councils that will be a measure of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's political muscle before the parliamentary vote in 2014.
A surge in violence in Iraq has accompanied the political crisis in the Shi'ite premier's government, where Shi'ite, Sunni and ethnic Kurds share posts in a fragile power-sharing deal that has been mostly paralyzed since U.S. troops left in December 2011.
Al Qaeda's local wing, Islamic State of Iraq, has said it will keep up attacks and security officials say the group is gaining ground and recruits in the western desert bordering Syria, thanks in part to a boost from the flow of insurgents and funds into the neighboring country's war.
(Reporting by Kareem Raheem; Editing by Michael Roddy; Writing by Patrick Markey; Editing by Michael Roddy)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/suicide-bomber-kills-23-baghdad-cafe-officials-195431550.html
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An unexpected hero in Boston relief efforts: Reddit
Reddit provided a forum coordinate aid for victims of the Boston Marathon bombings. Overnight, thousands donated everything from pizzas to transportation to housing.
A candlelight vigil honors the victims of the Boston Marathon bombing in Boston Public Garden, April 16, 2013 in Boston, Massachusetts. In the immediate aftermath of Monday's explosions, Reddit emerged as a tool for coordinating relief efforts.
Ann Hermes/The Christian Science Monitor
EnlargeThe power of social media was revealed when Redditors rallied to provide aid to victims of the Boston Marathon bombings. Overnight, heroes were recognized and thousands donated everything from pizzas to places to take a hot shower or just recharge a cellphone.
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Food, shelter, transportation donations pour in
By early on the evening of April 15, a post by user superdude4agze's had risen close to the top of the subreddit "inthenews." The post provided essential resources offered by Redditors, including offers of places to stay, rides, food and hundreds of thousands of frequent flyer miles for those who needed to leave Boston and to victims' family members who needed a flight into the city.
Reddit was uniquely prepared to get food out to those in need. Through its subreddit "Random Acts of Pizza," where users can send each other pizzas just to be nice, rescue workers and those who had been hospitalized were the beneficiaries of?Redditor generosity . Restaurant Anytime Pizza is leading the effort.
"Spoke with an Anytime Pizza employee (Perry) this morning. They pulled in their entire staff last night to cook and deliver pizzas," Redditor iamnotevenperturb, who moderates the pizza subreddit, reported. "You'll be happy to know, though, that they were getting police escorted around and were working straight through the night."
Heroes of Reddit
Perry, the pizza man of Anytime Pizza, is poised to become a?Reddit hero. He has said that regardless of donations, he will continue to deliver pizzas. This afternoon he will be sending them to shelters and fire stations.
"He could just post "Hi, I'm Perry" and provide proof and we would all probably piss ourselves," Redditor anotherguy2 posted, referring to another popular Reddit feature called IAMA, in which people come on Reddit to answer questions. Past participants include President Barack Obama and Bill Gates.
Today (April 16), the man who used a belt as a tourniquet for a victim whose leg had been blown off by the second bomb hosted an "IAMA" and has invited readers to "Ask Me Anything" ? AMA in Reddit shorthand.
The generosity of Redditors has made an impact and the effort continues. A ?Redditor wrote, "This is such a wonderful thing you are all doing for those affected. I've done all I can from here in FL, but this is actually bringing tears to my eyes to see how many people are doing so much!!"
Follow Leslie Meredith?@lesliemeredith. Follow us?@TechNewsDaily, on?Faebook?or on?Google+.
Copyright 2013 TechNewsDaily, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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