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Luis Miguel Goitizolo

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RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES?
1/24/2013 10:50:38 AM

Indian panel pushes new laws after fatal gang rape


Associated Press/Saurabh Das - Women in traditional dresses protest outside the court where the accused in a gang rape of a 23-year-old woman will be tried, in New Delhi, India, Monday, Jan. 21, 2013. Legal proceedings in the fatal gang-rape attack on a student in India's capital were set to begin Monday in a fast-track court for crimes against women that has stirred debate over how best to deliver justice to rape victims. Placards read as, "No dress is an invitation to rape." (AP Photo/Saurabh Das)

NEW DELHI (AP) — On the eve of a trial over a fatal gang rape that horrified Indians, a government panel recommended that India strictly enforce sexual assault laws, commit to holding speedy rape trials and change the antiquated penal code to protect women.

The panel, formed in response to last month's brutal attack on a New Delhi bus, received more than 80,000 suggestions for a complete overhaul in the criminal justice system's treatment of violence against women. The suggestions included banning a traumatic vaginal exam of rape victims and ending political interference in sex crime cases.

The panel issued its findings Wednesday. On Thursday, a trial is set to be begin for five men accused in the case. The case of a sixth suspect who says he is a juvenile is being handled separately.

Police say the victim and a male friend were attacked after boarding the bus Dec. 16. The attackers beat the man and raped the woman, inflicting massive internal injuries with a metal bar, police said. The victims were dumped on the roadside, and the woman died two weeks later in a Singapore hospital.

The government set up the panel a month ago to help quell street protests sparked by the rape.

Women say they feel under siege and are so frightened they have structured their entire lives to protect themselves from harassment and attack. Many travel in groups, go out of their homes only during the day and carry sharp objects to stab men who grope them on public buses.

Those who are raped are often blamed by their families for the attack. If they report the crime, the police often refuse to file a report or try to get the victim and attacker to reach a settlement. If it reaches court, the case can drag on for years in the overburdened justice system.

"Failure of good governance is the obvious root cause for the current unsafe environment, eroding the rule of law and not the want of knee-jerk legislation," said retired Chief Justice J.S. Verma, who headed the three-member panel.

The panel recommended to the government that police and other officials who fail to act againstcrimes against women be punished. It called for a crackdown on dowry payments to enhance women's status, since families are often forced into massive debt to get their daughters married. It also suggested the government appoint more judges to lessen the backlog of cases and ensure swift justice, and it called for updating the law to include crimes such as voyeurism and stalking.

"We hope the Parliament will take the legislative suggestions given by the committee," and translate these into law, Verma said.

Verma advocated strict punishment to prevent sexual harassment and assaults against women and sought reforms in how police treat rape victims.

He called for speedy justice and the setting of a time frame to deal with cases of crimes against women.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's office had no immediate comment about what it would do with the recommendations.

More than 100 women's rights activists, lawyers and ordinary citizens appeared before the commission during a recent hearing to offer suggestions for removing loopholes in the existing laws and scrapping some of its most offensive provisions.

Activists and lawyers have criticized the existing laws on crimes against women as so archaic and riddled with loopholes that they end up further traumatizing victims and allowing perpetrators to get away lightly.

Women's groups say the most egregious problem is the medical test that a victim has to undergo, which includes a vaginal exam to determine if the woman is sexually active.

In the so-called "two-finger test," doctors probe the vagina to determine if a hymen is present and to try to determine if the vagina is lax, which is taken as evidence the woman routinely has sex and thus consented to intercourse. Often, the doctor is male.

"The two-finger test, which has been found to be not only unscientific and unnecessary but also subjects the complainant to further trauma and humiliation should be immediately stopped," said Kirti Singh, of the All India Democratic Woman's Association.

Indian law only targets three crimes against women, rape, using force to "outrage her modesty," and making rude sounds or gestures aimed at "insulting the modesty of any woman."

Lawyers say those laws needs to be updated to include crimes such as sexual harassment, groping, stalking and acid attacks.

"Groping and stalking should be viewed as sexual assault. Stalking is a psychological terror on the victim. It should be specifically defined," said Mukul Mudgal, a former chief justice of the Delhi High Court.

Rebecca John, a criminal lawyer who spoke with the commission, said the "very lexicon of the law" needs to be changed to remove euphemistic and outdated terms.

"The very definition of crimes against women is faulty. Phrases such as 'outraging the modesty of a woman,' and references to her chastity or honor are irrelevant," John said.

Most of India's laws, including those on rape, were inherited from the country's former British colonial rulers and date to 1860. Public pressure after highly publicized rape cases led to amendments in the rape laws in 1983 and 2003. But loopholes remain. The law, for example, does not recognize marital rape for anyone over the age of 15.

Women's groups have also called for ending political interference in police work that lets accused rapists persuade police to quash their cases by forcing women to reach settlements with their attackers.

"Those having clout are not held accountable even for blatant violations of laws," said a joint appeal by 10 women's groups made to the commission.

Human rights groups welcomed the panel's recommendations to widen the scope of sexual rape to include assaults on homosexual, transgender and transsexual rape.

The commission has also recommended a uniform national protocol for the treatment and medical examination of rape survivors.

"This is something that women's and rights groups have been asking for for a long time," said Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director, Human Rights Watch.


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Luis Miguel Goitizolo

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RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES?
1/24/2013 4:05:02 PM

NM teen spends time at church after family slain


Associated Press/Bernalillo County Sheriff's Deptartment - Nehemiah Griego, 15, is seen in an undated photo provided by the Bernalillo County Sheriff's Deptartment. Griego is charged with killing five family members on Jan. 19, 2013, including his father, mother, and three youngest siblings in Albuquerque, N.M. Authorities in New Mexico say Griego had reloaded his guns after the attacks and planned to go to a Wal-Mart and randomly shoot people. Instead, they say he texted a picture of his dead mother to his 12-year-old girlfriend, then spent much of Saturday with her. The two went to the church where his father had been a pastor, and Griego eventually confessed to killing his parents and three younger siblings. (AP Photo/Bernalillo County Sheriff's Deptartment)

This undated photo provided by Eric Griego shows Nehemiah Griego. Griego is charged with killing five family members, including his father, mother, and three youngest siblings in Albuquerque, N.M. Authorities in New Mexico say Griego had reloaded his guns after the attacks and planned to go to a Wal-Mart and randomly shoot people. Instead, they say he texted a picture of his dead mother to his 12-year-old girlfriend, then spent much of Saturday with her. The two went to the church where his father had been a pastor, and Griego eventually confessed to killing his parents and three younger siblings. (AP Photo/Courtesy of Eric Griego)
Bernalillo County Sheriff Dan Houston, right, and Lt. Sid Covington answer questions about the shooting deaths of five family members during a news conference at the sheriff's headquarters in Albuquerque, N.M., on Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2013. Authorities have charged Nehemiah Griego, 15, with murder and child abuse counts in connection with the slaying of his family. (AP Photo/Susan Montoya Bryan)

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — The New Mexico teen accused of killing his family and plotting to randomly gun down Wal-Mart shoppers spent much of the day after the early morning slayings at his church, wandering the campus as dozens of Sunday school teachers were being trained on how to deal with a shooter, a security official said.

But it wasn't until hours later, former police officer and Calvary Albuquerque security chief Vince Harrison said, that he knew something had gone terribly wrong.

Harrison, who led the safety training Saturday morning, said he was called back to the church that evening after 15-year-old Nehemiah Griego told a pastor he found his family dead in their home.

"When I met Nehemiah, I knew something wasn't right," Harrison said Wednesday. "I could feel it, I could see it in his eyes and I could see it in his behavior and his demeanor so the red flags went up and that's when I called the sheriff's department."

Harrison, who had known the Griego family for about 10 years, said he drove the teen back to the family's rural southwest Albuquerque home to meet authorities, interviewing him along the way.

"He went into detail of where they were, where the guns were and he was very matter-of-fact, really cold so I knew something wasn't right," Harrison said.

After finding the bodies, sheriff's officials say, they took the teen to headquarters. During questioning, they say he confessed to shooting his mother and three younger siblings in their beds shortly after 1 a.m., then waiting in a bathroom with a military-style semi-automatic rifle to ambush his father upon his return from an overnight shift at a homeless shelter.

They say he also told them he had reloaded the family's rifles and taken them with him in the family van with plans to randomly shoot more people.

"That sends chills down my spine," Harrison said. "But obviously God had a different plan."

Harrison said several people spotted Griego at the church throughout the day and told him hello, thinking nothing of it until his arrest. He said officials then reviewed security video and found the teen had spent much of the day there.

The video has been turned over to investigators, who have been working to piece together what led to the violence and what happened in the hours that followed.

Harrison said he doesn't know why Griego decided to come to the church, but that it was like a second home for the boy, who was homeschooled.

"It was a familiar place to him," he said. "I think if he did have in his mindset to do something foolish and start shooting people there also, I think his demeanor was tamed a little bit because he saw people there he knew."

Sheriff Dan Houston said Tuesday there was no indication Griego intended to harm anyone at the church. The sheriff also said Griego and his girlfriend had spent much of the day together.

A prayer vigil was held at the church Wednesday night for victims Greg Griego, 51, his wife, Sarah Griego, 40, and three of their children — a 9-year-old boy, Zephania Griego, and daughters Jael Griego, 5, and Angelina Griego, 2.

Before the start of the vigil, members of the crowd shared hugs and handshakes as photographs of the victims were displayed on large digital screens at the front of the church. An estimated 2,000 people attended and nearly every seat was filled before the start of the hour-long service.

"Our hearts break, Lord," Pastor Skip Heitzig told the crowd. "We, often in times like these, scratch our heads and wonder why. We are at a loss for words and we are certainly at a loss for explanation."

Heitzig shared stories about Greg Griego, who once served as pastor at Calvary. He said Greg was always ready to "get his hands dirty" and was dedicated to helping others find God through his work as a pastor and as a volunteer chaplain. He also urged the crowd to remember that forgiveness and restoration — two tenets dear to Greg — will be important as the community moves forward.

Relatives in a statement Tuesday night said they were heartbroken, and remembered the teen as a bright and talented musician who played guitar, drums and bass with the church choir. He also was a champion wrestler who dreamed of following his family's long tradition of military service, and a boy who accompanied his pastor father on rescue missions to Mexico, they said.

"We have not been able to comprehend what led to this incredibly sad situation. However, we are deeply concerned about the portrayal in some media of Nehemiah as some kind of a monster."

The statement, emailed by the boy's uncle, Eric Griego, called on the media and the public not to use 15-year-old Nehemiah Griego "as a pawn for ratings or to score political points."

"He is a troubled young man who made a terrible decision that will haunt him and his family forever," the statement said.

___

Associated Press Writer Jeri Clausing in Albuquerque, N.M., contributed to this report.

___

Follow Susan Montoya Bryan on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/susanmbryanNM


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Luis Miguel Goitizolo

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RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES?
1/24/2013 4:09:33 PM

Mali Islamist group splits, faction leader wants talks


Tensions escalate in Mali

DAKAR (Reuters) - A faction of one of the armed Islamist groups occupying the north of the Mali has split off from its al Qaeda allies and says it is willing to hold talks with the government, the leader of the new group said on Thursday.

Alghabass Ag Intallah, a senior member of the Tuareg-led Ansar Dine group which helped seize northern Mali last year from government forces, said he had created a new organization, the Islamic Movement of Azawad (MIA), and was ready to seek a negotiated solution to Mali's conflict.

A French-led military operation is underway in Mali to drive back the Islamist fighters who launched a surprise push southward toward the capital Bamako two weeks ago. An African ground force is being deployed to support French and Malian troops.

"We want to wage our war and not that of AQIM," Ag Intallah said by telephone, referring to al Qaeda's North African wing which has been at the heart of the takeover of the vast desert north by Malian and foreign Islamist fighters.

"There has to be a ceasefire so there can be talks," he said, speaking from the town of Kidal, a Tuareg stronghold in northeast Mali seized by Ansar Dine last year. "The aim is to speak about the situation in the north."

He said the new group, which would be based in Kidal, had been in touch with mediators in Burkina Faso and Algerian authorities. He said rebel demands would be for a broad autonomy rather than independence for the north.

Ansar Dine had formed a loose alliance with AQIM and a third group, MUJWA, to impose sharia Islamic law in the desert and mountain area the size of Texas.

It was not immediately possible to confirm how many fighters would leave the ranks of Ansar Dine to join the new group.

International negotiators have long sought to prize apart the Islamist alliance by offering talks to Ansar Dine and Tuareg separatists, on the condition that they broke with AQIM. Ag Intallah was a senior Ansar Dine negotiator in talks last year.

But preliminary negotiations broke down last month after Ansar Dine called off a ceasefire, amid reports of splits between moderates seeking a political solution and radicals with deep links to al Qaeda.

Ag Intallah would not give a figure for his supporters, as he said a list was still being drawn up, but he said most Malians in the ranks of Ansar Dine had joined his faction.

Estimates for the total number of Islamist fighters in Mali vary but do not exceed roughly 3,000.

Ag Intallah said some members of the Tuareg separatist MNLA movement, which has fought AQIM in the north, had also joined his group.

A spokesman for the MNLA was not immediately available for comment.

(Editing by Daniel Flynn and Pascal Fletcher)

"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)

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Luis Miguel Goitizolo

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RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES?
1/24/2013 4:24:42 PM

North Korea Says Nuke Tests Target US


ABC News - North Korea Says Nuke Tests Target US (ABC News)

In a bellicose statement singling out the United States as the "sworn enemy" of the Korean people, North Korea announced plans on Jan. 24 for a third nuclear testand continued rocket launches

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In a bellicose statement singling out the United States as the "sworn enemy" of the Korean people, North Korea today announced plans for a third nuclear test and continued rocket launches.

The move is seen as a disappointment to those who hoped the country's new leader, Kim Jong-Un, might take a less aggressive path than his predecessor and father, Kim Jong-il.

It is also seen as a direct challenge to President Obama and South Korea's newly elected president, Park Geun-hye, who takes office next month.

The statement from North Korea's National Defense Commission read:

"Settling accounts with the U.S. needs to be done with force, not with words as it regards jungle law as the rule of its survival."

The renewed threats come in response to the U.S. backed resolution tightening sanctions against North Korea after its December rocket launch.

At that time, North Korea repeatedly insisted that the launch was simply part of its peaceful space program. The recent statement made no mention of that.

It read: "We are not disguising the fact that the various satellites and long-range rockets that we will fire and the high-level nuclear test we will carry out are targeted at the United States."

South Korean officials analyzed debris from the December launch that, they say, indicates North Korea built and tested crucial components for a missile that can fly further than 6,200 miles.

Analysts say that preparations at the Pungyee test site in northeastern North Korea are underway and that a new underground test could take place on short notice.

Within the international monitoring community it is not believed that North Korea currently has the capability to launch a long-range rocket with the capacity to reach the United States or the technology to mount a nuclear warhead on a long-range missile. But the U.S. is not pleased with North Korea's plans. Glyn Davies, the top U.S. envoy to the region, said in Seoul, "We hope they don't do it. We call on them not to do it."

China, North Korea's main ally in the region, is also urging restraint. China backed the U.S. resolution at the United Nations and today the Foreign Ministry cautioned North Korea not to take further steps to increase tension.

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"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)

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Luis Miguel Goitizolo

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RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES?
1/24/2013 4:58:44 PM
What those U.S. interests really are remains unknown, or does it?

Al Qaeda Affiliate in Africa Threatens U.S. Interests

Three Americans were among the more than three dozen foreign workers killed after a four-day hostage crisis at a BP joint-venture gas facility in Algeria. The terrorist attack is yet another sign of growing al Qaeda cells in north and west Africa, specifically al Qaeda in the Maghreb (AQIM). A Pentagon spokesman said this affiliate of the notorious terrorist group was involved in the Algeria attack. AQIM and other radical Islamist groups pose an increasing threat to U.S. and Western interests.

In Mali, jihadists are now being countered by French forces fighting alongside soldiers from neighboring West African countries. ABC News’ Bazi Kanani reports from Mali’s capital, Bamako, that the presence of French soldiers is a huge relief to people there. Just two weeks ago Mali’s government knew there was no way its own army could stop the advance of the jihadists who have taken over more than half of the country. But this war is just getting started and now—especially after the attack in Algeria—there is great concern about how the militants may try to strike back. U.S. citizens living in Mali have been told it’s time to consider leaving.

Meanwhile, U.S. Air Force planes are now arriving at a base in southern Mali. C-17 transport planes are carrying in French soldiers, equipment and vehicles. The U.S. has said it will not send combat troops into Mali but it is supporting the mission. The U.S. is providing logistical help, such as the transport flights. It has also increased intelligence sharing with France and sent military trainers into neighboring West African countries which are sending in their troops.

For perspective on the threats posed by AQIM and the U.S. role in this region of Africa, Christiane speaks with Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.). He is the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.


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