new google trends

What it’s like to be a Mideast comic

Sat, 11 May 2013 10:11:45 +0000

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota
A handful of young Egyptians find relief from the country’s turmoil in stand-up comedyThe group, Hezb El Comedy, also teaches the art of stand-up to other aspiring comicsYoung people in Qatar have also started a stand-up comedy groupFor comics in the Middle East who don’t censor themselves, comedy can be a risky business

(CNN) — It has been a rocky couple of years for the people of Egypt. Since the 2011 revolution, the economy has tanked, street protests are an almost daily occurrence and the political situation remains volatile.

However, a handful of young Egyptians have found that the best way to take a stand against the turmoil is with stand-up comedy.

“We are like a little beam of sunlight, coming through and reminding people, ‘Don’t worry! When this cloud passes, it will be brighter. It will be happier,’” says Rami Borai, a comedian in one of Egypt’s first home-grown comedy troupes, Hezb El Comedy.

The group, whose name means “The Comedy Party,” was formed in 2009 by Hashim Al Gahry, who admits he started up with “zero capital.” Al Gahry and some friends pooled their savings, and started marketing the group through social media. When they’re not performing, Hezb El Comedy teaches the art of stand-up to other aspiring comics, instructing them on things like timing and body language.

var currExpandable=”expand15″;if(typeof CNN.expandableMap===’object’){CNN.expandableMap.push(currExpandable);}var mObj={};mObj.type=’video’;mObj.contentId=”;mObj.source=’international/2013/05/01/inside-middle-east-qatar-comedy.cnn’;mObj.videoSource=’CNN’;mObj.videoSourceUrl=”;mObj.lgImage=”http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/130501122227-inside-middle-east-qatar-comedy-00005821-story-body.jpg”;mObj.lgImageX=300;mObj.lgImageY=169;mObj.origImageX=”214″;mObj.origImageY=”120″;mObj.contentType=’video’;CNN.expElements.expand15Store=mObj;”We’re not the funniest people in the world, but it’s the experience that has put us in a position to give them advice and tell them, ‘These are our mistakes, and this is what you can do to avoid what we did,’” says Al Gahry.

Read more: Book shows collection of Iran’s political cartoons

You have to push the limit, but you have to be very careful
Hashim Al Gahry, comedianOther Arab nations are similarly investing in grassroots comedy. In Qatar, a few young comics have come together to form SUCQ (an acronym for Stand Up Comedy Qatar).

“It’s an American art. We took it from the Americans. We have reshaped it to adapt to our culture and society and people,” says Hamad Al Amri, 24, a comedian who is also a banker by day. Mohamed Kamal, who also performs stand-up with SUCQ, notes that given Qatar’s political climate, there are limits to what he can joke about.

“We can’t talk about politics, or very sensitive topics, like sex or religion,” he notes.

For those comics in the Middle East who don’t censor themselves, comedy can be a risky business.

Earlier this month, Egyptian satirist Bassem Youssef made headlines after he was charged for mocking both Islam and Egypt’s president, Mohamed Morsy. Other comics in the region have faced similar fates. Sami Fehri, a Tunisian producer of a political puppet show, was imprisoned for corruption charges, and Saudi blogger Raif Badawi was jailed last year for mocking religious figures.

Read more: Syria’s “freedom graffiti” amid devastation of war goes viral

Al Gahry admits that as a comic, he must proceed with caution.

“You have to push the limit, but you have to be very careful,” he says. Borai, meanwhile, finds humour in the prospect of facing arrest.

“If I ever read a newspaper that said, ‘Ramy was indicted,’ I would say, ‘Yo, mom, this is it!’ I’ll fly out of here, but I would be like, ‘I got kicked out of my country for being too damn funny!’”

/* push in config for this share instance */cnn_shareconfig.push({“id” : “cnn_sharebar2″,”url” : “http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/06/world/meast/stand-up-comedy-egypt-qatar/index.html”,”title” : “Middle Eastern youth find comic relief through stand-up”});May 7, 2013 — Updated 0224 GMT (1024 HKT) From Qatar to Egypt, people across the region are turning to comedy to laugh through the tough times. May 9, 2013 — Updated 0300 GMT (1100 HKT) If Facebook is the ultimate popularity test, then the most famous art institute on the planet is not in Paris, New York or London. May 8, 2013 — Updated 0735 GMT (1535 HKT) Museums and galleries are making an ambitious mark on the Middle East’s cultural landscape. May 3, 2013 — Updated 0550 GMT (1350 HKT) Artist Natiq al Alousi has no regrets sculpting the former Iraqi dictator. ‘Only the best work for presidents.’April 23, 2013 — Updated 1013 GMT (1813 HKT) A mysterious, circular structure, with a diameter greater than the length of a 747 jet, was found in the Sea of Galilee in Israel. April 16, 2013 — Updated 0112 GMT (0912 HKT) Billionaire Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal has tweeted support for giving women the right to drive in Saudi Arabia.April 16, 2013 — Updated 0411 GMT (1211 HKT) Iran’s political cartoonists have been celebrated in a new book illustrating their ingenious ways of satire.April 12, 2013 — Updated 1035 GMT (1835 HKT) No surprise that Dubai’s police would drive one of the world’s most extravagant and expensive cars.April 11, 2013 — Updated 0409 GMT (1209 HKT) Artist Do Guez tells the story of Christian Palestinians with a new exhibtion in London. April 3, 2013 — Updated 1424 GMT (2224 HKT) Arwa Damon gets taken white water rafting by a group of Iraqis hoping to turn Kurdistan into a haven for eco-tourists.April 5, 2013 — Updated 0259 GMT (1059 HKT) Babylon was one of the glories of the ancient world, its walls and mythic hanging gardens listed among the Seven Wonders.April 3, 2013 — Updated 1422 GMT (2222 HKT) Once the world’s capital of literature, mathematics and the arts, Baghdad is struggling to recapture its former glory.April 3, 2013 — Updated 1423 GMT (2223 HKT) Iraq’s autonomous northern region of Kurdistan is eager to display its distinct cultural heritage and booming economy.April 3, 2013 — Updated 1430 GMT (2230 HKT) “Ako Fad Wahed” (“There is this guy”) is pushing social boundaries in Iraq — and angering some conservatives.March 29, 2013 — Updated 0433 GMT (1233 HKT) Meet the Arab women filmmakers who are finding international acclaim. March 15, 2013 — Updated 0241 GMT (1041 HKT) A man-made lake in the UAE is dividing opinion. Is it a boon for wildlife or potential disaster?March 13, 2013 — Updated 0241 GMT (1041 HKT) Two eco-minded Omanis spent hours on end in a freezer to prepare for an expedition to the Antarctic. March 6, 2013 — Updated 1703 GMT (0103 HKT) CNN’s Sara Sidner meets two filmmakers whose documentaries were nominated for Academy Awards this year.March 6, 2013 — Updated 1652 GMT (0052 HKT) CNN’s Leone Lakhani looks at how Muscat is taking center stage on the cultural map with both opera and filmmaking.March 8, 2013 — Updated 0451 GMT (1251 HKT) A dusty track in the remote western region of the United Arab Emirates is one of the last places you’d expect to find a beauty pageant.Today’s five most popular stories

View the original article here

Knox: ‘I’m afraid to go back’

Sat, 11 May 2013 10:07:45 +0000

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota
LIVE: Show Title Show Description

Source: CNN.com LIVE Sorry, I could not read the content fromt this page.

View the original article here

Women punished for blogging

Sat, 11 May 2013 10:02:45 +0000

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota
LIVE: Show Title Show Description

Source: CNN.com LIVE Sorry, I could not read the content fromt this page.

View the original article here

Pregnant and homeless: The real cost

Sat, 11 May 2013 09:57:45 +0000

AppId is over the quota
Error in deserializing body of reply message for operation ‘Translate’. The maximum string content length quota (8192) has been exceeded while reading XML data. This quota may be increased by changing the MaxStringContentLength property on the XmlDictionaryReaderQuotas object used when creating the XML reader. Line 1, position 8846.
Martha Ryan’s group reaches out to women who are pregnant and homeless in San FranciscoIt offers not only free prenatal care, but social services to help women turn their lives aroundBy helping families out of poverty, the program is also benefiting society, taxpayersDo you know a hero? Nominations are open for 2013 CNN Heroes

San Francisco (CNN) — Martha Ryan couldn’t believe it. She had never heard of women who were pregnant and homeless.

But in one night, she met three.

“I said, ‘How could that be?’ ” recalled Ryan, who was volunteering at a San Francisco shelter at the time while pursuing her master’s degree in public health. “But it didn’t take me long to realize that … if they were poor, they probably wouldn’t have health care, but certainly (they) would still be having sex. And they would get pregnant.”

Ryan also realized the likely consequences.

None of the three women had received prenatal care, meaning they were far more likely to deliver unhealthy babies. An unhealthy baby would add to the burdens of a homeless mother, and the family would likely end up dependent on state programs to survive.

“If they delivered unhealthy babies that ended up in the intensive care nursery … (that) could have cost the system, the society, the taxpayer, all of us,” Ryan said. “(And) the continual costs through a child’s life — of needing more support — is astronomical.”

Preventive care, it seemed, would be much more effective, and Ryan recognized an opportunity to help these women change their lives. She took a grant-writing class and eventually secured the $52,000 she needed to start her Homeless Prenatal Program.

Martha Ryan, left, has helped more than 80,000 families since she started her program more than 20 years ago.Since 1989, the nonprofit has provided prenatal care to thousands of homeless women in San Francisco. But it’s also grown to offer much more.

“I learned very early on that prenatal care alone was not enough,” said Ryan, a 63-year-old registered nurse. “The women that we were serving needed help with housing, mental illness, substance abuse, domestic violence. … And if we didn’t help her with these other issues, then we were not going to be able to help her long term or help her children exit poverty.”

Today, Ryan’s group assists more than 3,600 families per year, offering all sorts of free services to help them pull themselves out of poverty and end a cycle that can repeat itself from generation to generation.

“If you’re in (poverty) and you don’t have opportunities or ways to climb out of it, it’s hard to get out,” Ryan said. “When people are given opportunities, they do it. They blaze that trail.”

By helping families out of poverty, the nonprofit is also benefiting society and taxpayers.

Ryan said her costs average less than $5,000 per family per year. The city of San Francisco, on the other hand, reports spending an average of $6,647 a year on medical care alone for every person who is consistently homeless.

The assistance also keeps children out of foster care.

It’s in all of our best interests … to keep the family together and to help the mother be the best mother that she could possibly be.
CNN Hero Martha Ryan”It’s a terrible loss for any mother to lose her child,” Ryan said, “and often they will replace it with another baby. And so, it’s in all of our best interests — especially the mother and the child — to keep the family together and to help the mother be the best mother that she could possibly be.”

Ryan’s program has helped more than 80,000 families since it started, and it has earned the trust of local governments: While some of its annual budget comes from individual and corporate donations, more than half of it comes from city and state grants.

“The government sees us as their partner, and they trust us,” Ryan said. “They know that we work with integrity. They know that the work that we do is good, and they see the effects of our work.”

Ryan’s program has also earned the trust of its clientele.

“This program works,” said Carrie Hamilton, describing herself as a former meth addict who lived in a minivan with her young daughter nearly a decade ago. When Hamilton lost her job and got pregnant again, she knew something needed to change.

She reached out to Ryan’s group and got help kicking her addiction, delivering a healthy baby, securing housing and stabilizing her life. She went through a year of job training with the group, and now she’s part of the staff, working as an outreach and case manager as well as a health educator.

“I am so happy to be able to relay the things I’ve learned to moms now, especially ones I can relate to because I know where they’ve been,” Hamilton said. “They really listen, not because they fully know where I’ve come from, but just because I am able to meet them where they are and have a no-judgment feeling for them.”

Ryan said nearly a third of her staff is made up of former clients.

“(They) are the reason why this program is what it is today,” Ryan said. “When a client comes in and sits down with a case manager who looks like her, who was in her shoes not that very long ago and who is now employed and working, immediate trust is formed. … She gives her hope, hope that, ‘If she did it, why couldn’t I?’ “

For Ryan, believing and investing in women such as Hamilton is the key to her organization’s success.

“Seeing their strength and their ability to pull themselves up and, against all odds, to move forward and to change their lives, now that is inspiring.”

Want to get involved? Check out the Homeless Prenatal Program website and see how to help.

/* push in config for this share instance */cnn_shareconfig.push({“id” : “cnn_sharebar2″,”url” : “http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/09/health/cnnheroes-ryan-homeless-pregnant/index.html”,”title” : “A way forward for pregnant, homeless women”});March 28, 2013 — Updated 2229 GMT (0629 HKT) For many people, the violence in Camden can make it feel more like a war zone than an American city, but the battle doesn’t end there.March 21, 2013 — Updated 2314 GMT (0714 HKT) At least one in six people worldwide doesn’t have access to clean water, and this contributes to about 1.5 million preventable deaths each year.March 15, 2013 — Updated 0003 GMT (0803 HKT) When she was 14 years old, Kakenya Ntaiya entered the cow pen behind her home with an elderly woman carrying a rusty knife. March 1, 2013 — Updated 2132 GMT (0532 HKT) Solar energy in a suitcase is an invention saving lives around the world in places that lack reliable electricity.February 28, 2013 — Updated 2258 GMT (0658 HKT) On a research trip in Nigeria, Dr. Laura Stachel watched as physicians performed an emergency cesarean section.March 7, 2013 — Updated 2344 GMT (0744 HKT) Many 16-year-olds might covet a smartphone, an Xbox, maybe some expensive new sneakers or even a car.February 21, 2013 — Updated 2234 GMT (0634 HKT) At 17 years old, Jessica Perez is an honor student who aspires to be the first member of her family to graduate from college.February 14, 2013 — Updated 2339 GMT (0739 HKT) It was supposed to be a routine patrol for Dale Beatty, a National Guardsman serving in northern Iraq.Today’s five most popular stories

View the original article here

Make a foster kid’s wish come true

Sat, 11 May 2013 09:53:45 +0000

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota
Foster children don’t often get what they want, but one group is trying to help change thatDanielle Gletow’s nonprofit posts kids’ wishes online so anyone can pay for themWishes can be tangible like a bike, or they can be an experience like music lessonsDo you know a hero? Nominations are open for 2013 CNN Heroes

Trenton, New Jersey (CNN) — Many 16-year-olds might covet a smartphone, an Xbox, maybe some expensive new sneakers or even a car.

Ronald Hennig just wanted a suit so he could attend a relative’s funeral.

“I didn’t really own even a shirt and tie or dress shoes,” he said. “I was seeing some of my old family members, and it was kind of embarrassing to not have a suit when everyone else would have one.”

The teenager, who had been in and out of foster care for much of his childhood, was living in a group home at the time. His caseworker was unable to justify the nonessential expense.

But an anonymous benefactor stepped in to help Hennig through a website called One Simple Wish.

“I got custom-fitted for the suit and I was able to go to the funeral,” said Hennig, now 18. “I could pay the same respect as everyone else.”

One Simple Wish was started by Danielle Gletow to help grant the wishes of children in foster care. Each child’s wish is posted online, and anyone can pay to make that wish come true — from tangible items such as a bicycle, a varsity jacket or school supplies to an experience like music lessons or a trip to the theater.

Thanks to One Simple Wish, more foster children are able to do the things they’ve always wanted to do but couldn’t.Since 2008, the nonprofit has granted more than 4,000 wishes for children living in 35 states.

“There are thousands of children in the foster-care system who go without those normal childhood experiences that many of us have had,” said Gletow, 34. “These kids are separated from their parents. They’re separated from their siblings. They really don’t have people to ask. … A lot of them decide that it’s not worth wishing anymore because it isn’t going to happen.”

Since 2006, Gletow and her husband, Joe, have been foster parents to several children, eventually adopting one of them. Over the years, many friends and family members expressed a desire to help other children in the system, short of becoming foster parents themselves.

“(They) would say, ‘I really wish there was something I could do, but I don’t want to be a foster parent,’ ” Gletow said. “I just felt like, this is my opportunity to create something that makes it possible for all of these children who need something to get connected to all of these wonderful people that are out there, that want to help them.”

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, more than 400,000 children were living in the U.S. foster-care system in 2011. But Gletow fears that, too often, we don’t see what these numbers represent.

“These are individual children that have individual wishes and individual personalities and wants and needs and dislikes and likes,” she said. “And I wanted to share those with people so that … they could see that this wasn’t about nearly half a million children that are in foster care. This was about this young man who wanted to go to karate lessons with his friends at school.”

Do you know a hero? Nominations are open for 2013 CNN Heroes

The most common wishes on One Simple Wish typically cost $10 to $100, and they generally do not exceed $500. Higher-priced wishes can be granted by pooling the resources of multiple donors.

“The wishes that don’t seem like the basic necessity are (often) the ones that are the most important,” Gletow said. “Because those are the wishes that are really just a kid being a kid, and asking for something that they want to have fun.

“We want them talking about fun things and happy things. We don’t want to constantly remind them of how sad or tragic or challenging their circumstances are. We want to remind them that, ‘Yeah, there’s a really cool new video game out there, and you can play it and there’s nothing wrong with that.’ “

On rare occasions, there are wishes that exceed $500, such as flying a family member in to attend a graduation or continuing music lessons. These are granted through fundraising drives on the website.

It’s just like online shopping, but at the end you get to give a gift to a child who will thank you more than you could ever imagine.
CNN Hero Danielle Gletow”Anybody — anywhere, anytime — can go on our website, and they can look at hundreds of wishes that are posted on behalf of children in foster care and children in vulnerable family environments,” Gletow said. “These small things make an enormous difference in the life of a child who has spent their entire life wondering if anybody cares about them.”

All the wishes on One Simple Wish are submitted by approved social service agencies and caseworkers. Once the wishes are reviewed and posted to the website, donors can post funds to make a wish come true.

“It’s just like online shopping, but at the end you get to give a gift to a child who will thank you more than you could ever imagine,” Gletow said. “When a child’s wish is granted, we are reassuring them that their voices are being heard.”

Gletow also is constantly searching for ways to maximize a gift’s value, calling individuals or companies who might be in a position to donate the wish in-kind or provide an item or service at a discount.

“I’m here to be the mom to all of these kids out there who might not feel like they have one,” she said. “If I had an enormous house, I’d invite them all to live here. I can’t do that, but I know that what I’m doing is making a difference in their lives.”

Gletow’s nonprofit is also working in other ways to fill gaps in the foster community. Its office is home to several offshoot projects that have benefited thousands of foster youths and families in New Jersey.

The Ohana Project helps foster kids, foster-care workers and families by providing 24/7 access to new baby supplies, bed linens and blankets, pajamas and other items that can ease a child’s transition into a new placement or home.

The Wish to Work program targets older youth to help give them the skills needed in professional careers. Wish to Work provides job-training seminars, networking events, résumé feedback and other assistance.

“I’m now able to apply to college, and I know that I have a competitive résumé,” said Hennig, who participated in the program last year. “I know how to be just as equipped as every other teenager my age. And I’ve gotten all of the same skills that parents would pass down to their children.”

Gletow says this is what keeps her going.

“Our states take children out of their homes and say, ‘We can do a better job raising you,’ and then they don’t,” she said. “And we need to all step up as a society and do that.

“It’s up to every individual person to say all of our children deserve better. Not just the ones that are born into good circumstances. … That’s what I’m going to do with my life. I want my life to be a life of purpose.”

Want to get involved? Check out the One Simple Wish website at www.onesimplewish.org and see how to help.

/* push in config for this share instance */cnn_shareconfig.push({“id” : “cnn_sharebar2″,”url” : “http://www.cnn.com/2013/03/07/us/cnnheroes-gletow-foster-wishes/index.html”,”title” : “Website shows foster kids their wishes are worthwhile”});March 28, 2013 — Updated 2229 GMT (0629 HKT) For many people, the violence in Camden can make it feel more like a war zone than an American city, but the battle doesn’t end there.March 21, 2013 — Updated 2314 GMT (0714 HKT) At least one in six people worldwide doesn’t have access to clean water, and this contributes to about 1.5 million preventable deaths each year.March 15, 2013 — Updated 0003 GMT (0803 HKT) When she was 14 years old, Kakenya Ntaiya entered the cow pen behind her home with an elderly woman carrying a rusty knife. March 1, 2013 — Updated 2132 GMT (0532 HKT) Solar energy in a suitcase is an invention saving lives around the world in places that lack reliable electricity.February 28, 2013 — Updated 2258 GMT (0658 HKT) On a research trip in Nigeria, Dr. Laura Stachel watched as physicians performed an emergency cesarean section.March 7, 2013 — Updated 2344 GMT (0744 HKT) Many 16-year-olds might covet a smartphone, an Xbox, maybe some expensive new sneakers or even a car.February 21, 2013 — Updated 2234 GMT (0634 HKT) At 17 years old, Jessica Perez is an honor student who aspires to be the first member of her family to graduate from college.February 14, 2013 — Updated 2339 GMT (0739 HKT) It was supposed to be a routine patrol for Dale Beatty, a National Guardsman serving in northern Iraq.Today’s five most popular stories

View the original article here

Opinion: Gitmo threat exaggerated

Sat, 11 May 2013 09:50:45 +0000

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota
By Peter Bergen, CNN National Security Analyst, and Bailey Cahall, Special to CNNMay 8, 2013 — Updated 1500 GMT (2300 HKT)if (typeof cnnArticleGallery==”undefined”){var cnnArticleGallery={};if(typeof cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList==”undefined”){cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList=[];}}var expGalleryPT00=new ArticleExpandableGallery();expGalleryPT00.setImageCount(20);expGalleryPT00.setAdsRefreshCount(3);//cnn_adbptrackpgalimg(“Inside Guantanamo Bay”, 1); Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, is home to the U.S. naval base that has held terror suspects since January 2002. Early in the war on terror, the Bush administration argued these detainees were “enemy combatants” who didn’t have the protections accorded to prisoners of war under the Geneva Conventions. Click through for a look inside the controversial facility. Pictured: A detainee stands at an interior fence at Guantanamo Bay in October 2009.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length]={“currentPicture”:true,”x”:0,”y”:0,”pos”:1,”title”:”Inside Guantanamo Bay”} A Navy sailor surveys the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay in October 2009. Shortly after his first term began, President Barack Obama signed an executive order to close Guantanamo Bay within a year, but the move do so has stalled. Congress passed legislation preventing detainees from being transferred into the United States. However, the administration says Obama remains committed to closing the facility, also known as Gitmo.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length]={“currentPicture”:false,”x”:0,”y”:0,”pos”:2,”title”:”Inside Guantanamo Bay”} U.S. military guards move a detainee inside the detention center in September 2010. At its peak, the detainee population reportedly exceeded 750 men at Guantanamo.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length]={“currentPicture”:false,”x”:0,”y”:0,”pos”:3,”title”:”Inside Guantanamo Bay”} Muslim detainees kneel during early morning prayers in October 2009. Cells are marked with an arrow pointing in the direction of Mecca, regarded as Islam’s holy city.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length]={“currentPicture”:false,”x”:0,”y”:0,”pos”:4,”title”:”Inside Guantanamo Bay”} A soldier stands near a placard on the fence line of the detention facility in January 2012. cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length]={“currentPicture”:false,”x”:0,”y”:0,”pos”:5,”title”:”Inside Guantanamo Bay”} A Quran sits among a display of items isssued to detainees in September 2010. The suspects are given a prayer mat and a copy of the Muslim holy book as well as a toothbrush, soap, shampoo and clothing.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length]={“currentPicture”:false,”x”:0,”y”:0,”pos”:6,”title”:”Inside Guantanamo Bay”} A U.S. military guard walks out of the maximum security section of the detention center in September 2010.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length]={“currentPicture”:false,”x”:0,”y”:0,”pos”:7,”title”:”Photos: Inside Guantanamo Bay”} A German shepherd police dog undergoes training exercises in October 2009 at Guantanamo Bay. cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length]={“currentPicture”:false,”x”:0,”y”:0,”pos”:8,”title”:”Inside Guantanamo Bay”} A camp librarian views artwork painted by detainees in September 2010. cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length]={“currentPicture”:false,”x”:0,”y”:0,”pos”:9,”title”:”Inside Guantanamo Bay”} A detainee rubs his face while attending a “life skills” class inside the Camp 6 high-security detention facility in April 2009. cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length]={“currentPicture”:false,”x”:0,”y”:0,”pos”:10,”title”:”Inside Guantanamo Bay”} A seat and shackle await a detainee in the DVD room of the maximum security Camp 5 detention center in March 2010. cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length]={“currentPicture”:false,”x”:0,”y”:0,”pos”:11,”title”:”Inside Guantanamo Bay”} U.S. Marines join in martial arts training at the U.S. naval base in September 2010. cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length]={“currentPicture”:false,”x”:0,”y”:0,”pos”:12,”title”:”Inside Guantanamo Bay”} Members of the military walk the hallway of Cell Block C in the Camp 5 detention facility in January 2012. cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length]={“currentPicture”:false,”x”:0,”y”:0,”pos”:13,”title”:”Photos: Inside Guantanamo Bay”} Guards move a detainee from his cell in Cell Block A of the Camp 6 detention facility in January 2012. cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length]={“currentPicture”:false,”x”:0,”y”:0,”pos”:14,”title”:”Inside Guantanamo Bay”} A detainee waits for lunch in September 2010. The cost of building Guantanamo’s high-security detention facilities was reportedly about $54 million.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length]={“currentPicture”:false,”x”:0,”y”:0,”pos”:15,”title”:”Inside Guantanamo Bay”} Marines get an early-morning workout at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay in October 2009. cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length]={“currentPicture”:false,”x”:0,”y”:0,”pos”:16,”title”:”Inside Guantanamo Bay”} A bus carries military guards from their night shift at the detention center in September 2010.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length]={“currentPicture”:false,”x”:0,”y”:0,”pos”:17,”title”:”Inside Guantanamo Bay”} A military guard puts on gloves before moving a detainee within the detention center in September 2010.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length]={“currentPicture”:false,”x”:0,”y”:0,”pos”:18,”title”:”Inside Guantanamo Bay”} Members of the U.S. Navy move down the hallway of Cell Block C in the Camp 5 detention facility in January 2012.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length]={“currentPicture”:false,”x”:0,”y”:0,”pos”:19,”title”:”Inside Guantanamo Bay”} A U.S. military guard holds shackles before preparing to move a detainee in September 2010.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length]={“currentPicture”:false,”x”:0,”y”:0,”pos”:20,”title”:”Inside Guantanamo Bay”} Event.observe(window,’load’,function(){if(typeof(cnn_adbptrackpgalimg) == ‘function’ && typeof(cnnArticleGallery) != ‘undefined’){cnn_adbptrackpgalimg(cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[0].image,”Terror threat from Gitmo prisoners is exaggerated”);}});Peter Bergen: Washington talks of Guantanamo prisoners as major threatHe says small number of released Gitmo prisoners have returned to ‘battlefield’Many prisoners are now engaged in a hunger strike, Bergen saysBergen: Indefinite detention without charge is a tool of dictatorship, not democracyEditor’s note: Peter Bergen is CNN’s national security analyst, a director at the New America Foundation and the author of “Manhunt: The Ten-Year Search for bin Laden — From 9/11 to Abbottabad,” the basis for the HBO documentary “Manhunt” that will be shown on CNN on May 10. Bailey Cahall is a research associate at the New America Foundation.

(CNN) — The detainee hunger strike at Guantanamo Bay is entering its third month. Official reports say 100 of the detainees remaining at the detention camp are refusing food; lawyers for the detainees say the number is closer to 130.

Twenty-three are being force-fed through nasal feeding tubes and at least 40 additional medical personnel have been flown to the base to help the overwhelmed staff care for those protesting their detention.

Last week, President Obama reaffirmed his position that the detention camp at Guantanamo needs to be closed and that keeping detainees there without charge indefinitely “is contrary to who we are, it is contrary to our interests, and it needs to stop.”

Closing Guantanamo was one of Obama’s key 2008 campaign promises. Five years later, the prison complex is populated with 166 detainees, 86 of whom have been approved for transfer to other countries, and is being considered for a $200 million renovation.

Opinion: Why has Obama abandoned his Guantanamo pledge?

Nearly 70% of the almost 800 detainees who have been held at Guantanamo were released by the Bush administration. Since then, some U.S. officials have become increasingly worried about former detainees joining militant groups.

This view appears to be substantiated by government reports claiming many released inmates go on to join terrorist groups.

Last year the U.S. Director of National Intelligence issued an “unclassified summary” estimating that the number of released detainees confirmed (15.9 percent) or suspected (12.0 percent) of joining militant groups was 27.9 percent.

It is impossible to assess the validity of the government’s assertion that more than a quarter of former Guantanamo detainees are confirmed or suspected to have joined a militant group because the government has not publicly released the names of former detainees who have “returned to the battlefield” since April 2009.

The New America Foundation analyzed Pentagon reports, news stories, and other publicly available documents to create a list of former detainees who have either joined or are suspected of joining militant groups since their release. The list is available here.

Of the 603 former detainees who have been transferred out of the prison camp, we identified only 17 individuals (2.8 percent) who are confirmed to be engaging in terrorist or insurgent activities against the United States or its citizens, while there are 21 individuals (3.5 percent) who are suspected of engaging in such activities.

We also identified 15 former detainees who are confirmed or are suspected of militant attacks against non-U.S. targets (2.5 percent).

For the purposes of our study, for a former detainee to be considered “confirmed” that he had joined a militant group, there had to be a preponderance of information claiming he was directly involved in terrorist or insurgent activities. For those “suspected” of such acts, there were plausible but unverified accounts about their involvement in such activities.

Released prisoners who simply made anti-American statements or propaganda were not considered to be confirmed or suspected to be part of a militant group.

While it is possible there are some former detainees participating in terrorist and insurgent activities who have not been identified publicly, we are confident that our numbers are reasonably accurate because groups like al-Qaeda and the Taliban are eager to trumpet the identities of released Guantanamo detainees who join their ranks and the media is also quick to highlight such stories.

Based on the public record, even if you combine all the released Guantanamo prisoners who are confirmed or suspected to have taken part in any form of militant activity anywhere in the world, the total comes to 53, or 8.8%, which is much lower than the 27% being cited by the U.S. intelligence community.

This 8.8% rate is also far smaller than the recidivism rate of criminals in the United States, which currently stands around 67.5%, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics.

Interestingly, all but one of these former Guantanamo detainees who joined militant groups were released under the Bush administration.

Under Obama, comprehensive threat assessments have been used to determine a detainee’s eligibility for release, which has contributed to the fact that of the 72 prisoners released under Obama we were only able to find one who had joined a militant group after his release.

Still, even if the number of Guantanamo prisoners who have “returned to the battlefield” is quite small, they are certainly dangerous.

Take Said Ali al-Shiri, who co-founded Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) in 2009. Transferred to Saudi Arabia in November 2007 during the George W. Bush administration, al-Shiri completed the kingdom’s rehabilitation program and promptly headed to Yemen, where he became AQAP’s deputy commander.

Another example is Abdullah Ghulam Rasoul, who has emerged as a senior Taliban commander. Rasoul was also transferred from Guantanamo to Afghanistan in 2007 by the Bush administration and rejoined the Taliban shortly after the Afghan government released him from custody.

In 2009, after the Yemen-based AQAP claimed responsibility for the attempted bombing of a Detroit-bound airliner on Christmas Day, Obama issued a moratorium on all detainee transfers to Yemen. Of the 86 detainees currently approved for transfer out of Guantanamo, 56 are from Yemen.

Congress then passed, and Obama signed, the Defense Authorization Act of 2011 which barred the use of government funds to transfer detainees into the United States or into the custody of other countries unless certain security concerns, like maintaining effective control over the detention facility housing the detainees, could be met.

So far, it has been close to impossible for countries in the Middle East and South Asia, where most of the remaining detainees are from, to meet the standards set in this legislation.

Yet the fact remains that 86 of the prisoners in Guantanamo were cleared for release three years ago following a year-long investigation of their cases by an interagency task force of officials at the Department of Justice, Pentagon, State Department and the Department of Homeland Security.

These detainees, some now on hunger strike, have good reason to despair that they will remain in Guantanamo forever. Their cases have been exhaustively investigated. They have found to be guilty of nothing, yet they are being held indefinitely. Indefinite detention without charge is a policy that we usually associate with dictatorships, not democracies.

Add to this the facts that less than 3% of the detainees at Guantanamo can be confirmed by the public record to have engaged in anti-American terrorism or insurgent actions following their release and those 17 detainees were all released before the intensive review of the cases of the remaining prisoners at Guantanamo began under the Obama administration in 2009.

And so the Guantanamo prisoners who have been cleared for release remain in seemingly perpetual custody, not because they’ve been charged or because the rate of former detainees joining militant groups is at all high, but because Washington politics has effectively ensured that there is nowhere else for them to go.

For these prisoners, attempting to starve themselves to death is an almost rational response to their bleak future.

It’s a story that Kafka might have written. Unfortunately, this one is true.

Follow @CNNOpinion on Twitter.

Join us at Facebook/CNNOpinion.

/* push in config for this share instance */cnn_shareconfig.push({“id” : “cnn_sharebar2″,”url” : “http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/07/opinion/bergen-gitmo-terror-threat/index.html”,”title” : “Terror threat from Gitmo prisoners is exaggerated”});

View the original article here

Deadly fire at Bangladesh factory

Sat, 11 May 2013 09:45:45 +0000

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota
NEW: Death toll rises to 8, national news agency reportsOfficials say a police officer and the factory owner are among those killedThe factory general manager says a nurse told him that the victims suffocatedThe incident comes amid growing concern about workers in this key industry

Dhaka, Bangladesh (CNN) — At least eight people died in a fire in a clothing factory in Bangladesh’s capital late Wednesday, Bangladesh’s national news agency BSS reported.

Among those killed were a police officer and the factory owner, who were meeting at the facility when the blaze erupted, officials said.

Zabidur Rahman, the general manager of the factory, said the fire broke out on the third floor of the 11-story sweater factory in Dhaka’s Mirpur district.

He said a nurse at a hospital told him all seven victims suffocated.

OPINION: Stop cashing in on Bangladeshi workers

if (typeof cnnArticleGallery == “undefined”) {var cnnArticleGallery = {};}if(typeof cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList ==”undefined”){cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList = [];}var expGallery61=new ArticleExpandableGallery();expGallery61.setImageCount(9);//cnn_adbptrackpgalimg(“Fatal factory fire in Bangladesh”, 1);Fatal factory fire in BangladeshFatal factory fire in BangladeshFatal factory fire in BangladeshFatal factory fire in BangladeshFatal factory fire in BangladeshFatal factory fire in BangladeshFatal factory fire in BangladeshFatal factory fire in BangladeshFatal factory fire in Bangladesh Photos: Fatal garment factory fire var currExpandable=”expand26″;if(typeof CNN.expandableMap===’object’){CNN.expandableMap.push(currExpandable);}var mObj={};mObj.type=’video’;mObj.contentId=”;mObj.source=’world/2013/05/08/pkg-mann-bangladesh-building-folo.cnn’;mObj.videoSource=’CNN’;mObj.videoSourceUrl=”;mObj.lgImage=”http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/130508140042-bangladesh-collapse-grief-story-body.jpg”;mObj.lgImageX=300;mObj.lgImageY=169;mObj.origImageX=”214″;mObj.origImageY=”120″;mObj.contentType=’video’;CNN.expElements.expand26Store=mObj;var currExpandable=”expand36″;if(typeof CNN.expandableMap===’object’){CNN.expandableMap.push(currExpandable);}var mObj={};mObj.type=’video’;mObj.contentId=”;mObj.source=’world/2013/05/06/boulden-bangladesh-trade.cnn’;mObj.videoSource=’CNN’;mObj.videoSourceUrl=”;mObj.lgImage=”http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/130506034121-boulden-bangladesh-trade-00003120-story-body.jpg”;mObj.lgImageX=300;mObj.lgImageY=169;mObj.origImageX=”214″;mObj.origImageY=”120″;mObj.contentType=’video’;CNN.expElements.expand36Store=mObj;var currExpandable=”expand46″;if(typeof CNN.expandableMap===’object’){CNN.expandableMap.push(currExpandable);}var mObj={};mObj.type=’video’;mObj.contentId=”;mObj.source=’business/2013/05/03/qmb-intv-de-gucht-bangladesh-and-eu-us-trade-deal.cnn’;mObj.videoSource=’CNN’;mObj.videoSourceUrl=”;mObj.lgImage=”http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/130503181858-qmb-intv-de-gucht-bangladesh-and-eu-us-trade-deal-00013223-story-body.jpg”;mObj.lgImageX=300;mObj.lgImageY=169;mObj.origImageX=”214″;mObj.origImageY=”120″;mObj.contentType=’video’;CNN.expElements.expand46Store=mObj;However, Mohammad Mahbub of the Bangladesh Fire Service said the factory was closed and there were no workers there when the fire broke out at 11 p.m. local time.

The news comes the same day Bangladeshi officials said the death toll in a building collapse two weeks ago had risen to more than 900.

The building, which housed five factories full of garment workers, caved in, burying hundreds of people in a heap of mangled concrete in Savar, a suburb of Dhaka.

Bangladesh has promised to implement a series of labor reforms as retailers weigh the cost of doing business in the country.

The measures, detailed in a statement issued by the United Nations’ International Labor Organization, include the recruitment of 200 additional building inspectors within six months, a review of current garment producers and a promise to fix all problematic factories.

The agreement between the U.N. organization and Bangladeshi officials comes amid growing international concern about working conditions in the country.

Yet implementation remains a question. Bangladesh is politically volatile, and analysts say substantial work is needed to change a culture of lax regulation and cozy relations between factory owners and the government.

According to state media, Bangladesh’s Cabinet decided on April 29 to inspect the safety and security of all garment factories.

Under the inspection plan, a committee led by a state minister would visit the factories and submit a report to the government about the safety measures, Cabinet Secretary Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan told reporters.

The panel includes the ministries of home, labor, disaster management, textiles, defense, industries and environment.

/* push in config for this share instance */cnn_shareconfig.push({“id” : “cnn_sharebar2″,”url” : “http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/08/world/asia/bangladesh-fatal-fire/index.html”,”title” : “Eight killed in Bangladesh garment factory fire “});May 10, 2013 — Updated 1233 GMT (2033 HKT) From corruption, terrorism and religious extremism to overpopulation, inflation, and poverty, Pakistan’s voters know this election is critical.May 10, 2013 — Updated 2045 GMT (0445 HKT) Shin Dong-hyuk is the only one known to have been born in, and escape from, North Korean prison. He offers an unflinching account of his experience.May 10, 2013 — Updated 0917 GMT (1717 HKT) As France marks the end of slavery in the past, it remains haunted by slavery in the present. CNN’s Jim Bitterman meets with a slavery victim.May 10, 2013 — Updated 1737 GMT (0137 HKT) Somali president visited a militant stronghold in the capital, Mogadishu, in defiance of the threats on his life. CNN’s Nima Elbagir went with him.May 10, 2013 — Updated 1435 GMT (2235 HKT) Aimed for disabled communities in the developing world, this wheelchair can get you over rough terrain like sand, mud, or unpaved road. And it’s cheap!May 10, 2013 — Updated 1553 GMT (2353 HKT) As post-Arab Spring Egypt grapples with violence and a troubled economy, more people say they’re yearning for the days of Hosni Mubarak.May 10, 2013 — Updated 1105 GMT (1905 HKT) Nadine Kaslow sits with one slender ivory leg dangling, the other tucked neatly under her dress with the heel of her beige pump facing up. May 10, 2013 — Updated 1909 GMT (0309 HKT) In honor of Mother’s Day, CNN asked some of the world’s remarkable leading ladies: “What is the greatest lesson your mother taught you?”May 10, 2013 — Updated 1008 GMT (1808 HKT) CNN’s Ayesha Durgahee meets Bashir Ramathan, a blind boxer in rural Uganda, who is dreaming about making history in the ring.May 10, 2013 — Updated 0309 GMT (1109 HKT) The country’s booming economy has been served by airlines that go bust, so is less ego and more business acumen needed?May 10, 2013 — Updated 1124 GMT (1924 HKT) Take a pair of speakers, an old radio, a couple of DVD players and countless household appliances, apply some ingenuity and what do you get?May 10, 2013 — Updated 1150 GMT (1950 HKT) Ah, the Mom tattoo. From the iconic image of the sailor with a heart to modern designs, inking a tribute to one’s mother is a cultural constant.May 10, 2013 — Updated 1730 GMT (0130 HKT) You’ll drink enough sugary mint tea to send your dentist into a spin. And you’ll be soon sick to your back teeth of tagine. Time to try something new.Today’s five most popular stories

View the original article here

DNA tests confirm Cleveland kidnapping suspect is father of victim's daughter … – Fox News

Sat, 11 May 2013 09:40:45 +0000

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

The Ohio attorney general says preliminary tests confirmed that alleged kidnapper Ariel Castro is the father of a 6-year-old girl rescued from his house with three women this week.

Attorney General Mike DeWine’s office confirmed Castro’s paternity in a news release Friday. DeWine says a sample of Castro’s DNA was taken Thursday and forensic scientists worked through the night on the case.

The girl is the daughter of Amanda Berry, who authorities say was held for about a decade in Castro’s house in Cleveland along with Gina Dejesus and Michelle Knight.

Meanwhile the FBI says it did not recover human remains in its search of the house.

FBI spokeswoman Vicki Anderson says investigators have for now concluded their search at the house where the women were found earlier this week.

Anderson said Friday that agents took more than 200 items from the house, though she wouldn’t discuss what was found.

Prosecutors say they may seek the death penalty against Castro. Police say he impregnated one of his captives at least five times and made her miscarry by starving and beating her.

Castro remained jailed Friday under a suicide watch on $8 million bond. Public defender Kathleen Demetz, who said she is acting as Castro’s adviser while he awaits a full-time attorney, said Friday she can’t speak to his guilt or innocence and said only that she advised him not to talk to reporters.

But those who know the 52-year-old Castro are speaking up, saying he was often angry, paranoid and prone to violent outbursts against the mother of his children. He frequently beat her, played bizarre psychological games and locked her indoors, they said.

The stories, repeated in separate interviews with The Associated Press by members of Castro’s extended family, have surprised people who knew him as a musician who played bass in several bands around Cleveland the last two decades.

Miguel Quinones, manager of a group Castro played with twice as a backup bass player about five years ago, said he had nothing bad to say about Castro based on his own experiences.

But in the interviews, some of Castro’s ex-relatives said he frequently flashed his compulsions for secrecy and terrifying rage that often led him to beat his common-law wife, Grimilda Figueroa.

Figueroa left Castro years ago and died in 2012 after a long illness. Their early years together were happy, but something inside Castro snapped after the birth of their first child, they said.

Castro pushed her down the stairs, fractured her ribs, broke her nose several times, cracked a tooth and dislocated both shoulders, they said. In one incident, he shoved Figueroa into a cardboard box and closed the flaps over her head, they said. He kept her and children imprisoned, cut off from friends and family, and Figueroa couldn’t even unlock her own front door, they said.

Figueroa filed domestic-violence complaints, accusing Castro of threatening many times to kill her and her daughters. She charged that he frequently abducted the children and kept them from her, even though she had full custody, with no visitation rights for Castro.

“When I go over there to visit her, and I ask her, `Nilda, I’m here, open the door,’ she’s like, `I can’t. Ariel has the key,”‘ Figueroa’s sister, Elida Caraballo, recalled.

Two of the women freed from Castro’s home, including the one who gave birth to the girl, returned to relatives’ houses earlier this week. The third woman, Michelle Knight, was released from a hospital Friday with a request that her privacy be respected.

“Michelle Knight is in good spirits and would like the community to know that she is extremely grateful for the outpouring of flowers and gifts,” the statement said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

View the original article here

Downloads for 3D-printed Liberator gun reach 100000 – BBC News

Sat, 11 May 2013 09:35:45 +0000

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota
9 May 2013 Last updated at 11:05 GMT Groups looking to tighten US gun laws have expressed concern The blueprint used to produce a 3D-printed plastic gun has been downloaded about 100,000 times since going online earlier this week, according to Forbes.

Defense Distributed told the news site it was surprised by the amount of interest its Liberator gun had generated.

Earlier in the week, the company demonstrated the firearm being fired

But even before any more guns come off the DIY printing presses, there are moves afoot to ban it.

Metal detectors

Californian senator Leland Yee said he wanted a law passed to stop the manufacture of 3D-printed guns.

“I plan to introduce legislation that will ensure public safety and stop the manufacturing of guns that are invisible to metal detectors and that can be easily made without a background check,” he said in a statement.

According to Defense Distributed, most of the 100,000 downloads have been in the US, followed by Spain, Brazil, Germany and the UK.

The blueprint has also been uploaded to file-sharing site the Pirate Bay, where it has become the most popular file in the site’s 3D-printing category.

Firing pin

It took Defense Distributed eight months to produce the firearm, which was assembled from separate components produced on an $8,000 (£5,000) 3D printer bought from auction site eBay.

While downloading the blueprints may not be illegal, any UK citizen who made and owned such a handgun could face arrest, according to the UK’s Metropolitan Police.

“To actually manufacture any type of firearm in the UK, you have to be a registered firearms dealer (RFD),” it said in a statement.

“Therefore, unless you are an RFD, it would most definitely be an offence to make a gun using the blueprints. It may be legal for an RFD to manufacture a gun this way, as long as they had the necessary authorities.”

One of the biggest headaches for law enforcers is the fact the gun is made from plastic – with only the firing pin made from metal.

New York congressmen Steve Israel and Chuck Schumer have sponsored legislation aimed at adding a 3D-printing provision to the US Undetectable Firearms Act, which requires all guns to be detectable.

View the original article here

Bangladesh miracle survivor speaks – euronews

Sat, 11 May 2013 09:32:45 +0000

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

Rescue workers had given up hope of finding anyone else alive in the rubble of the Rana Plaza, except Reshma Begum.

The moment of rescue was tense, emergency crews drilled, crowds cheered, others prayed. The nightmare had begun 17 days ago for the young seamstress as she went to work on the second floor of the factory building on the outskirts of the capital Dhaka, in Bangladesh.

Little did she know that in days to come she would be scavenging for biscuits in the rucksacks of dead colleagues.

From her hospital bed Reshma Begum told reporters: “I did not have anything to eat, I only had two bottles of water with me. I got a stick to show them I am alive here but no one could hear me.”

It was 408 hours later that rescue worker Mohammad Rubel Rana did hear the cries of Reshma. He described the moment he found her:

“When I was cutting iron rods, suddenly I found a silver coloured stick just moving from a hole, and I looked through and I saw someone calling ‘please save me”.

The official death toll now stands at one thousand and fifty people. Nine people have been arrested in connection with the collapse of the building including the owner.

JavaScript is required in order to view this article’s accompanying video

View the original article here