Explosion near Damascus triggers large blackouts for Syria

Much of Syria was hit by a power cut late Wednesday following a blast near Damascus’s international airport. Syria’s electricity minister said, “A terrorist attack on a gas pipeline that feeds a power station in the south has led to a power outage.” According to the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, rebel fighters fired on a gas pipeline near the airport causing anexplosion. Residents and activists reported seeing a large fire, though it is unclear if there have been any casualties. Damascus and southern Syria have seen several blackouts since fighting erupted in 2011, and many rebel-held regions of the country have been without electricity for months. Meanwhile, the Syrian government is expected to deliver its disarmament plan by Thursday to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), in accordance with the U.S. and Russian-led deal for the elimination of Syria’s chemical arsenal. Additionally, Syrian authorities have released an estimated 61 female prisoners in the past two days in part of a three-way prisoner exchange.

http://mideast.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/10/24/explosion_near_damascus_triggers_large_blackouts_for_syria

Vigilantes Defeat Boko Haram in Its Nigerian Base

BENISHEIK, Nigeria — The men from Boko Haram came tearing through this rural town, setting fire to houses, looting, shooting and yelling, “God is great!” residents and officials said. The gunmen shot motorists point-blank on the road, dragged young men out of homes for execution and ordered citizens to lie down for a fatal bullet.

When it was all over 12 hours later, they said, about 150 people were dead, and even one month later, this once-thriving town of 35,000 is a burned out, empty shell of blackened houses and charred vehicles.

Boko Haram, Nigeria’s homegrown Islamist insurgent movement, remains a deadly threat in the countryside, a militant group eager to prove its jihadi bona fides and increasingly populated by fighters from Mali, Mauritania and Algeria, said the governor of Borno State, Kashim Shettima.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/21/world/africa/vigilantes-defeat-boko-haram-in-its-nigerian-base.html?hp&_r=0

FRANCISCO RAFAEL ARELLANO FELIX KILLED IN CABO

Francisco Rafael Arellano Felix. Photo

10/19/13 — Press reports and officials announced the death of Francisco Rafael Arellano Felix, the eldest brother of the nine siblings that make up the leadership of the Tijuana Cartel, also known as the Arellano Felix Organization (AFO).Borderland Beat reports that the killing occurred at around 8pm Friday, October 18 at a child’s birthday party that took place in a beachside cabana of the Hotel Marbella, a luxury resort located just east of El Tule, a popular surf spot between Cabo San Lucas and San Jose del Cabo. According to the same report, the musical group “Los Toritos” was performing at the event, the party was attended by Sinaloan sports figures (including soccer star Jared Borghetti and boxer Omar Chavez), and there were as many as 100 guests in attendance.

Map of Los Cabos Resorts. Photo: loscabosguide.com.

Most accounts indicate that there was a lone assailant and some say that the subject was shot by a man dressed in a clown suit with a red clown nose. The man reportedly entered the party suddenly and shot the subject once in the head and twice in the chest, fleeing the scene immediately after. The Associated Press (AP) reported that a crime scene photo showed the subject’s body lying on a tile floor and covered by a bloody sheet. The Attorney General’s Office (Procuraduría General de la Justicia, PGR) indicated that one of the Grancisco Rafael’s sons identified the body. Federal, state, and local officials responded to the incident and are continuing to investigate.

http://justiceinmexico.org/2013/10/19/francisco-rafael-arellano-felix-killed-in-cabo/

Suspect saw Los Angeles airport dry ice explosions as a joke

Los Angeles (CNN) — The man arrested in the dry ice explosions at Los Angeles International Airport is a baggage handler who thought the simple bombs were “a game” and “a funny kind of joke,” police said Wednesday.

The explosions didn’t cause any injuries, but one did cause a temporary shutdown of a terminal. Both explosions raise questions, however, about the airport’s vulnerability and security, authorities say.

“This guy was playing around. It was kind of a game to him. He thought it was funny. He had no intent to attack innocent victims. There was no political motive or agenda,” Los Angeles police Deputy Chief Michael Downing said.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/16/travel/los-angeles-airport-dry-ice-arrest/index.html

U.S. forces strike in Libya, Somalia, capture al Qaeda operative

(CNN) — (CNN) — In two operations in Africa nearly 3,000 miles apart, U.S. military forces went after two high-value targets over the weekend.

One operation took place early Saturday in the Libyan capital of Tripoli, when members of the elite U.S. Army Delta Force captured Abu Anas al Libi, an al Qaeda operative wanted for his alleged role in the deadly 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa.

In the second raid, a team of U.S. Navy SEALs in southern Somalia targeted a foreign fighter commander for Al-Shabaab, a terrorist group linked with al Qaeda, according to a senior Obama administration official.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/06/world/africa/us-forces-africa-terrorist-raids/index.html

Britain launches FBI-style force on OC—Times of India

LONDON: Britain’s new crime-fighting agency starts work on Monday with the power to mobilize intelligence from multiple sources and direct police forces across the country to tackle drug gangs, corruption, cybercrime and child sex abuse. The National Crime Agency (NCA), dubbedBritain’s version of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) by media, will consist of more than 4,000 officers and will take on many of the duties of its widely criticised predecessor, the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA), while also having additional powers…  The agency estimates there are some 37,000 individuals spread across 5,500 groups involved in organized crime in Britain, with the annual cost of fraud from such gangs amounting to almost 9 billion pounds ($14.6 billion). Read more here.

Brazilian trafficker crushed by 500kg of pot—Mail Online

A Brazilian drug trafficker was killed by his own stock when he was crushed by half a ton of marijuana. The man died after he lost control of his car and hit a tree, resulting in his stock of weed stored in the backseat shooting forward, squashing him against the wheel. The driver was on the run from the Federal Highway police, who had taken up the chase after the smuggler refused to stop at a road block in Bataguassu, 210 miles from Campo Grande. The man was on his way from the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso do Sul to Sao Paulo with 500kg of marijuana when he was asked to stop by police. In an attempt to escape, he embarked on a three-mile chase which ended against the tree where the man died instantly, Brazilian police said. Read more here.

U.S. defends capture of al-Libi in Libya—CBS

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Monday defended the capture of a terrorism suspect by American Special Forces in Libya, saying complaints about the operation from Libya and others are unfounded. Kerry said the weekend seizure in Tripoli of suspected al Qaeda operative Nazih Abdul-Hamed al-Ruqai — known by his alias, Abu Anas al-Libi — complied with U.S. law. He said the suspect was a “legal and appropriate target” for the U.S. military and will face justice in a court of law. Kerry added it was important not to “sympathize” with wanted terrorists. CBS News correspondent David Martin reports al-Libi is being held on a Navy ship in the Mediterranean Sea where he will be interrogated about his many years as a leading member of al Qaeda, before being sent to New York for criminal prosecution. Read more here.

94 Dead, Hundreds Missing from Smuggling Boat—NYT

Having floated for at least two days in the choppy Mediterranean to reach Europe, a rickety trawler overstuffed with African migrants fleeing war and poverty was nearing a Sicilian island, not even a quarter-mile away… Nearly 500 people are estimated to have been on board — including children and babies — and the blaze created a panic that capsized the boat… Pregnant women and children were among the drowned. The accident, which occurred before dawn on Thursday within easy eyesight of the island of Lampedusa, is one of the worst in recent memory in the Mediterranean: at least 94 people were reported dead, with 250 still missing. Late Thursday afternoon, officials said more bodies had just been discovered in the sunken ship. At least 150 others survived, and Italy’s Coast Guard was continuing to search

Can Iraq ever escape cycle of violence?

By Jane Kinninmont, special for CNN

updated 4:22 AM EDT, Wed October 2, 2013

Violence in Iraq has spiked in the last year, according to the United Nations, but as has become the case with Syria, it’s rarely news if the day’s deaths are “only” in the tens. The same Western governments who led the invasion of Iraq in 2003 are now looking away, seeing Iraq as the problem of previous administrations, and being preoccupied with fresher crises in Syria and Egypt.

The impression of constant bad news belies the reality that violence in Iraq had for some time been reduced, but is rapidly becoming worse again. More than 1,000 civilians died in July, levels not seen since the dark days of 2006-2007. Such violence is not a permanent reality for Iraq, but is symptomatic of political failures.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/02/opinion/iraq-violence-opinion-kinninmont/index.html?iref=allsearch