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BEIJING ? A former lawyer and veteran activist left disabled by past police mistreatment went on trial Thursday, the third dissident in a week to be prosecuted as China presses a sweeping crackdown to deter popular uprisings like the ones that shook the Arab world.
Looking thin and frail, Ni Yulan lay on a bed and used an oxygen machine to help her breathe during the hearing, her daughter, Dong Xuan, said afterward. Dong said she told the court about her mother's run-ins with police since 2002 and how police beatings left her crippled.
"Seeing my mother lying on that bed, it made my heart ache," Dong said.
Ni is charged with fraud, accused of falsifying facts to steal property. She is also charged, along with her husband, with causing a disturbance at a hotel where they had been detained by police.
Ni and her supporters deny the charges and say she is being punished for her years of activism, especially her advocacy for people forced from their homes to make way for the fast-paced real estate development that remade Beijing for the 2008 Olympics. Her outspoken defense earned her the enmity of officials and developers. Her family's house in an old neighborhood in the capital's center was also razed, and the couple became homeless.
The couple's trial comes near the end of a year that has seen Chinese authorities use disappearances, house arrest, lengthy prison terms and other means to prevent activists from drawing inspiration from the Arab Spring protests that unseated autocrats in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya.
In the past week, two longtime democracy and rights activists, Chen Wei and Chen Xi, were separately sentenced by courts in southern and central China to nine and 10 years in prison for posting essays on the Internet that the government deemed subversive.
Referring to the two cases, an editorial published in China's state-run Global Times newspaper on Thursday expressed support for the convictions.
"To firmly convict and punish a handful of people who instigate subversion of state power is a must. It is a safeguard for state security and a safeguard for a normal environment for public opinion," the newspaper said.
Like those two campaigners, the 51-year-old Ni has been previously jailed, twice in her case. In a June 2010 interview with The Associated Press, Ni described abuse she suffered at the hands of police, saying that guards have beaten her, insulted her and urinated on her face. While in detention in 2002, police pinned her down and kicked her knees until she was unable to walk, she said.
While serving the second prison term of two years, Ni said she was deprived of her crutches and had to crawl up and down five stories and across the prison yard every day for months.
Ni said the authorities were trying to silence her because in trying to defend those who had been wrongly evicted from their homes, she had found evidence of wrongdoing by Beijing officials in lucrative land deals.
"When they were making me crawl in prison, they were basically trying to kill me so that they can silence me," Ni said in the 2010 interview. "Isn't it just because I'm trying to tell the truth?"
In a sign of the government's sensitivity over the case, Thursday's trial took place under heavy security. Dozens of uniformed police sealed off and patrolled roads around the courthouse, rounding up journalists and about a dozen diplomats from the United States and Europe and taking them to a small office across from the building.
Ni told the court she was not guilty, said her lawyer Cheng Hai, outside the courthouse. Cheng spoke only briefly as he was being pushed away from reporters by plainclothes men who did not identify themselves.
Dong said she was happy to see her parents for the first time in the nearly nine months but she was not optimistic about the outcome of the trial, citing the couple's lengthy detention and the heavy security presence at the courthouse.
"This is definitely not a normal trial procedure, so I feel the risk of conviction is high," she said.
___
Follow Gillian Wong on Twitter at http://twitter.com/gillianwong
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WASHINGTON ? Americans probably won't be seeing a huge ticker-tape parade anytime soon for troops returning from Iraq, and it's not clear if veterans of the nine-year campaign will ever enjoy the grand, flag-waving, red-white-and-blue homecoming that the nation's fighting men and women received after World War II and the Gulf War.
Officials in New York and Washington say they would be happy to help stage a big celebration, but Pentagon officials say they haven't been asked to plan one.
Most welcome-homes have been smaller-scale: hugs from families at military posts across the country, a somber commemoration by President Barack Obama at Fort Bragg in North Carolina.
With tens of thousands of U.S. troops still fighting a bloody war in Afghanistan, anything that looks like a big victory celebration could be seen as unseemly and premature, some say.
"It's going to be a bit awkward to be celebrating too much, given how much there is going on and how much there will be going on in Afghanistan," said Don Mrozek, a military history professor at Kansas State University.
Two New York City councilmen, Republicans Vincent Ignizio and James Oddo, have called for a ticker-tape parade down the stretch of Broadway known as the Canyon of Heroes. A similar celebration after the Gulf War was paid for with more than $5.2 million in private donations, a model the councilmen would like to follow.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg said last week that he was open to the idea but added, "It's a federal thing that we really don't want to do without talking to Washington, and we'll be doing that."
A spokesman for the mayor declined to elaborate on the city's reasons for consulting with Washington. Ignizio said he had been told by the mayor's office that Pentagon officials were concerned that a celebration could spark violence overseas and were evaluating the risk.
Navy Capt. John Kirby, a Pentagon spokesman, said that he has not heard that issue raised and that New York has yet to make a formal proposal. He also said officials are grateful communities around the country are finding ways to recognize the sacrifices of troops and their families.
The last combat troops in Iraq pulled out more than a week ago. About 91,000 U.S. soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines are in Afghanistan, battling a stubborn Taliban insurgency and struggling to train Afghan forces so that they eventually can take over security. Many U.S. troops who fought in the Iraq War could end up being sent to Afghanistan.
A parade might invite criticism from those who believe the U.S. left Iraq too soon, as well as from those who feel the war was unjustified. It could also trigger questions about assertions of victory.
Mrozek noted that President George W. Bush's administration referred to military action in the Middle East as part of a global war on terror, a conflict that's hard to define by conventional measures of success.
"This is not a war on a particular place or a particular force," he said.
Bush himself illustrated the perils of celebrating milestones in the war, Mrozek said, when he landed on an aircraft carrier and hailed the end of major combat operations in Iraq behind a "Mission Accomplished" banner in May 2003. U.S. troops remained in Iraq for 8 1/2 more years, and Bush was criticized over the banner.
The benchmarks were clearer in previous wars. After World War II, parades marked Japan's surrender. After the Gulf War, celebrations marked the troops' return after Iraqi forces were driven out of Kuwait.
The only mass celebrations of U.S. military activities since Sept. 11, 2001, were largely spontaneous: Large crowds gathered in Times Square and outside the White House in April after Osama bin Laden was killed.
At the same time, Iraq veterans aren't coming home to the hostility many Vietnam veterans encountered. The first large-scale event honoring Vietnam veterans was not held until 1982, when thousands marched in Washington for the dedication of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Parades were later held in New York in 1985 ? 10 years after the war ended ? and in Chicago the next year.
"I think we've seen recent history in Vietnam, where that wasn't done appropriately, and we want to make sure we do the appropriate thing by those that made the ultimate sacrifice and risked their lives for us to say thanks," Ignizio said.
At Fort Hood in Texas, troops have returned to welcome-home ceremonies at the post that were attended mostly by soldiers' families. Soldiers in uniform run to hug their loved ones after an announcer yells, "Charge!"
Col. Douglas Crissman, commander of the 3rd Brigade of the 1st Cavalry Division, said Saturday after one such ceremony that that is as large-scale a welcome as the troops need.
"This is just the right size because it's quick and meaningful and it gets them home to their families," Crissman said.
Staff Sgt. Troy Rudolph was among the first troops to arrive in Iraq in March 2003 and was in the last combat brigade to leave. Rudolph said that a large-scale ceremony would be nice but that he feels appreciated even without confetti falling from the sky.
"I've had people buy me lunch at airports just because I was in uniform," said Rudolph, who lives at Fort Hood with his wife and 9-year-old stepdaughter. "It's emotional because you don't realize what kind of impact you have on people across the country."
In Washington, federal agencies take the lead on planning parades, and so far nothing is in the works. A spokesman for Mayor Vincent Gray said the city would be honored to host a parade but said local officials wouldn't take the lead in staging one.
In recent years, most of the ticker-tape parades in New York have been held for the city's championship sports teams.
"The sports celebrations that we've had in New York for the Yankees and the Mets were amazing," Oddo said. "But these are the real heroes."
___
Gross reported from New York. Associated Press writers Angela K. Brown in Fort Hood, Texas, and Lolita C. Baldor in Washington contributed to this report.
___
Follow Ben Nuckols on Twitter at http://twitter.com/APBenNuckols.
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SEATAC, Wash. -- The Mercer Island High School marching band headed for southern California to perform in the 2012 Rose Parade this weekend.
Band members left on two separate flights from Sea-Tac Airport Wednesday morning for Pasadena. Members have been practicing for weeks and say they're thrilled about their trip.
"We're looking forward to it. It's gonna be a real good time and it's gonna be a lot of work, but it will pay off in the end," said Sean Quinn, sophmore.
"This is huge for our band program. Everyone is really excited for this," said Alex Mesher, band president. "It has made our band program stronger than it has ever been before."
The Mercer Island High School marching band is the only band from Washington state in this weekend's Rose Parade.
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45806301/ns/local_news-seattle_wa/
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BEIRUT ? The Arab League sent monitors to Syria Monday even though President Bashar Assad's regime has only intensified its crackdown on dissent in the week since agreeing to the Arab plan to stop the bloodshed.
Activists say government forces have killed several hundred civilians in the past week. At least 23 more deaths were reported Monday from intense shelling in the center of the country, just hours before the first 60 monitors were to arrive. The opposition says thousands of government troops have been besieging the Baba Amr district of in the central city of Homs for days and the government is preparing a massive assault on the area.
France expressed strong concerns about the continued deterioration of the situation in Homs. Foreign Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero demanded Syrian authorities allow the Arab League observers immediate access to the city.
"The repression and unprecedented violence committed by the Damascus regime must cease and everything must be done to stop the drama going on behind closed doors in the city of Homs," the French statement said.
In Cairo, an Arab League official said this monitoring mission was the Syrian regime's "last chance" to reverse course.
"Will they facilitate the mission's work or try and curb its movements? Let's wait and see," the official said on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject.
The Arab League plan agreed to by Assad last Monday requires the government to remove its security forces and heavy weapons from city streets, start talks with opposition leaders and allow human rights workers and journalists into the country. The monitors are supposed to ensure compliance, but so far there is no sign that Assad is implementing any of the terms, much less letting up on his brutal crackdown.
Although Syria shows no sign of altering its course, the Arab League was sticking to its plan. The team, including Iraqis, Tunisians and Algerians, left Cairo Monday evening headed to Damascus.
Opposition members say the regime's agreement to the Arab plan is a farce.
"I very much doubt the Syrian regime will allow the observers to do their work," said prominent opposition figure Waleed al-Bunni from Cairo. "I expect them to try and hinder their movements by claiming that some areas are not safe, intimidating them or sending them to places other than the ones they should go to."
Some anti-government protesters have even criticized the League's stance to the point of accusing it of complicity in the killings.
Activists said Syrian forces shelled the Baba Amr district of Homs with mortars and sprayed heavy machine gun fire in the most intense assault since the siege began Friday.
Baba Amr has been a center for anti-government protests and army defections and has seen repeated crackdowns by the Syrian regime in recent months. The Syrian conflict is becoming increasingly militarized with growing clashes between army defectors and troops.
Rami Abdul-Rahman, who heads the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, described the attacks in Homs as a kind of "hysteria" as government forces desperately try to get the situation there under control ahead of the monitors' arrival.
"The observers are sitting in their hotel in Damascus while people are dying in Homs," he said.
The Observatory called on the monitors "to head immediately to Baba Amr to be witnesses to the crimes against humanity that are being perpetrated by the Syrian regime."
In Cairo, Arab League chief Nabil Elaraby told reporters after meeting with the monitors that the mission will begin work on Tuesday. Up to 500 monitors are to be eventually deployed and Syria has only agreed for them to stay one month.
Anwar Malek, a member of the monitoring mission, insisted they will have absolute freedom of movement in Syria, adding that the team will travel to flashpoint cities including Homs, Daraa, Idlib and Hama. He and other observers refused to disclose the exact travel itinerary, saying they preferred to maintain some secrecy to ensure the mission's success.
The Arab League has suspended Syria's membership and imposed sanctions on Damascus but is deeply divided on how to respond to the crisis. Gulf countries such as Qatar and Saudi Arabia have taken a tougher line and are more inclined toward Security Council action on Syria. But other countries, wary of Syria's influence in the region, prefer an Arab solution to the crisis.
Activists say the regime has only stepped up its crackdown on anti-government protesters in the week since it agreed to the Arab plan. At least 275 civilians have been killed by government forces since then, and another 150 people died in clashes between army defectors and regime troops ? most of them defectors.
The stepped up crackdown, including what activists said was a "massacre" in one town where 110 people were mowed down in several hours last week, brought a new round of international condemnation of Syria. Neighboring Turkey said the violence flew in the face of the Arab League deal that Syria signed and raises doubts about the regime's true intentions.
Syria's top opposition leader Burhan Ghalioun, doubtful that the Arab League alone can budge Assad, called Sunday for the League to bring the U.N. Security Council into the effort. The U.N. says more than 5,000 people have been killed since March in the political violence.
Assad stalled for weeks on agreeing to the plan and signed only after the Arab League threatened to turn to the U.N. Security Council to help stop the violence. The opposition believes the authoritarian leader is only trying to buy time and forestall more international sanctions and condemnation.
The U.N.'s most powerful body remains deeply divided over Syria, which has led to its failure to adopt a resolution on and heightened tensions especially among major powers. Western nations and the U.S. are demanding a resolution threatening sanctions if the violence doesn't stop and condemning Assad's crackdown. But Russia and China, which have closer ties to Assad's regime, believe extremist opponents of the government are equally responsible for the bloodshed and oppose any mention of sanctions.
After months of largely peaceful protests that were met with brute force and bullets, some opposition figures have started calling for international military intervention, but that is all but out of the question in Syria, in part because of fears that the move could spread chaos across the Middle East. Syria is a close ally of Iran, borders Israel, and holds sway over the Shiite militant group Hezbollah, which now dominates Lebanon's government.
Amateur videos of the violence in Homs were posted by activists on the Internet Monday. The showed gruesome footage of at least four corpses lying in pools of blood in front of a house in Baba Amr, where they reportedly died from mortar shells that struck the neighborhood.
Men could be heard crying for help and women wailing in the video, which also showed several destroyed homes and cars. Other footage showed at least six bodies wrapped in white plastic bags in a home, relatives crying besides them.
A resident of a neighborhood next to Baba Amr said he heard "loud explosions" throughout the night and Monday morning.
"It doesn't stop," he told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity, for fear of reprisals.
The Local Coordination Committees activist network reported at least 23 deaths in intense shelling "targeting homes and anyone who moves" in Baba Amr.
Syrian officials did not comment on the violence in Baba Amr but said armed terrorist groups attacked civilians and security forces in villages in southern Syria. State-run news agency SANA said troops retaliated and killed a number of the gunmen.
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The tool uses the popular zergRush exploit, which works on a number of HTC phones and can be found in other tools like previously mentioned Revolutionary. With just a few clicks, you can root your phone, get S-OFF, unlock the bootloader, get rid of Sense, and more. You can even unroot by re-running the program. Right now, the device has been tested on the Evo Design 4G, Evo 4G, Evo 3D, Evo Shift, T-Mobile G2, myTouch 3G and 4G, Inspire, Sensation, Incredible, Wildfire S, and Amaze, though it should work on a number more. If you test it with your phone and find that it works, let the developer know over at XDA, and email me at whitson+rootingguide@lifehacker.com so I can add it to the list. We'll be adding this method to our always up-to-date rooting guide as well very soon. Hit the link to check it out.
HTC Super Tool | XDA Developers via Android and Me
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iMessage.
This was the iPhone-to-iPhone texting tool that would allow iPhone owners to circumvent the ridiculous fees the carriers charge for text messages.
Instead, iPhone owners would be able to text each other via iMessage for free, no matter how many texts they sent.
iMessage sounded cool, but I didn't bother to upgrade my iPhone's OS immediately, so I forgot about it. Then, last week I finally upgraded--after spilling a cup of tea in my previous MacBook (long story) and deciding it was time to get started with iCloud.
Anyway, after I upgraded, I found I was automatically using iMessage when texting with folks who had iPhones.
And, initially, it appeared to work fine. It was just like texting, except with some blue text-blurb windows instead of the regular green.
But then, suddenly, I found that I was in the dog house at home over having not done something I was supposed to have done, even though I didn't know that I had been supposed to do it. And when I inquired about that--about how I was supposed to have known--I learned that I was supposed to have known because of the text message I had been sent. And when I protested that I had never gotten a text telling me what I was supposed to have known, I got the look that said "Like hell you didn't get that text."
So I checked my iPhone again. And I really hadn't gotten that text. And I didn't get that text until the next day, when it showed up as though it had just been sent.
And then, today, I got a repeat iMessage from the same person four times in rapid succession.
So it seems like iMessage was seriously on the fritz.
I asked my Twitter followers whether they were having any problems with iMessage. Of those who responded, about half said that they had been having similar problems. The other half said everything was perfect.
So, based on this small sample, it seems like Apple's having some glitches with its carrier-circumventing texting-killer iMessage.
Anyone else seeing this?
SEE ALSO: Take The Full Tour Of iOS 5 Right Now--Including The Misfiring iMessage
Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/problems-with-apples-imessage-2011-12
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AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) ? A light dusting of snow in north Texas delivered a rare white Christmas to this drought-stricken state, but the majority of the nation was seeing mild weather on Sunday.
Snow showers glazed parts of the Northeast as well, with snowy road conditions cited as a factor in a two-vehicle traffic collision that left four men dead in the town of Palermo, Maine, on Sunday.
But weather forecasters said 99 percent of Americans would see more green and brown for their Yuletide celebrations -- along with plenty of rain, according to Accuweather.com.
Other fair-weather exceptions included freeze warnings posted in the farm-rich Central Valley of California, gale warnings near the Great Lakes, and high winds that left thousands of homes without power in and around Seattle.
The wet Christmas in the Texas panhandle and Permian Basin brought some cheer for drought-weary Texans, who were seeing snow in Lubbock and Amarillo on Christmas morning and rain in the eastern part of the state.
The worst drought on record in Texas this year stoked devastating wildfires, killed as many as half a billion trees, and prompted the most serious urban water-use restrictions ever in the state.
By mid-afternoon on Sunday, at least 4 inches of snow had fallen in Amarillo, making it the second snowiest Christmas in that city's history, National Weather Service forecaster Stephen Bilodeau said.
And with winter weather advisories in effect until 6 a.m. on Monday, there was a chance that Amarillo's record for snow accumulation might be broken before midnight.
Bilodeau said he would have preferred that the snow quit early and left the afternoon safer for Christmas Day travel.
"It's a little bit too much," he said. "The white Christmas through the beginning of the day was good, but now these poor people are getting out into this stuff. There have been a few accidents, and it's ruining a few people's day today."
Not so for native Texan and conservationist Don Alexander, 55, who was spending the holiday with his wife's family in Midland, and enjoying his very first white Christmas.
"The snow is a nifty bonus," Alexander said, as his college-aged daughter posted snow pictures on her Facebook page. "The snow will certainly make this particular Christmas memorable. Winter isn't very scenic in West Texas, so the layer of snow is a nice effect. The bad part is having to wipe down the dog's paws every time he goes outside and then back in."
Far to the north, public safety officials in Maine said four men were killed in a head-on crash between an SUV and another vehicle on a road made slippery by light snowfall in Palermo, about 60 miles northeast of Portland. Police said the collision ranks as Maine's deadliest traffic wreck this year.
In the Midwest, a lack of snow was especially welcome news in Minneapolis, where a pre-Christmas storm last year dumped 17 inches of snow, causing the roof of the Metrodome, the Minnesota Viking's football stadium, to collapse.
This year, Minneapolis was without snow and basking in temperatures that climbed into the relatively balmy high-30s over the weekend, according to the National Weather Service.
Very little fresh snow was expected to fall elsewhere throughout the day on Sunday, according to Accuweather.com. But a storm in southern Ontario was forecast to move into Quebec on Sunday night and drop snow near the Great Lakes, with some accumulation expected overnight.
Residents from Watertown, New York, to Bangor, Maine -- many of whom are off work on Monday in observance of the Christmas holiday -- could wake up to an inch of snow on the ground Monday as that storm moves East.
The Weather Service posted a wind advisory for western Washington state on Sunday, warning of gusts reaching 50 miles per hour through mid-afternoon.
Utility companies reported at least 24,000 homes and businesses without electricity in Seattle and the greater Puget Sound region during the day, mostly from tree limbs blown into power lines.
Most of the Pacific Northwest was experiencing mild weather on Christmas Day, while states like Colorado and New Mexico had lingering snow leftover from a pre-Christmas storm.
(Editing by Tim Gaynor and Steve Gorman)
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There?s big talk about the Clippers being the new dominant team in LA. ?It may be a bit reactionary and overzealous and only time will tell. ?For now all signs point in that direction with the Clippers beating the Lakers during the preseason and this huge painting near the Staples Center. ?Check it out after the jump.
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Mo is blowing my mind telling us about Patrick, SC and these wackos called monkeys that are inbred & a parade & @ and I have to go. Source: http://twitter.com/lrnshw/statuses/151116909851590656
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A US Marine stands at attention during a ceremony to inter the remains of First Class Frank R. Cabiness on the USS Arizona Memorial, Friday, Dec. 23, 2011 in Honolulu. Cabiness, who was aboard the USS Arizona when the Japanese attacked, was blown from the decks when the ship's magazine exploded. Cabiness, who died in 2002, is the second Marine to be interred within the USS Arizona. (AP Photo/Marco Garcia)
A US Marine stands at attention during a ceremony to inter the remains of First Class Frank R. Cabiness on the USS Arizona Memorial, Friday, Dec. 23, 2011 in Honolulu. Cabiness, who was aboard the USS Arizona when the Japanese attacked, was blown from the decks when the ship's magazine exploded. Cabiness, who died in 2002, is the second Marine to be interred within the USS Arizona. (AP Photo/Marco Garcia)
The family of Private First Class Frank R. Cabiness arrive at the USS Arizona Memorial for a ceremony to inter his remains inside the USS Arizona, Friday, Dec. 23, 2011 in Honolulu. Cabiness, who was aboard the USS Arizona when the Japanese attacked, was blown from the decks when the ship's magazine exploded. Cabiness, who died in 2002, is the second Marine to be interred within the USS Arizona. (AP Photo/Marco Garcia)
US Marines stand at attention as the family of Private First Class Frank R. Cabiness arrive at a ceremony to have his ashes interred inside the USS Arizona, Friday, Dec. 23, 2011 in Honolulu. Cabiness, who was aboard the USS Arizona when the Japanese attacked, was blown from the decks when the ship's magazine exploded. Cabiness, who died in 2002, is the second Marine to be interred within the USS Arizona. (AP Photo/Marco Garcia)
As his family looks on, a US Marine detail carries the remains of First Class Frank R. Cabiness aboard the USS Arizona Memorial during a ceremony to inter his remains inside the ship, Friday, Dec. 23, 2011 in Honolulu. Cabiness, who was aboard the USS Arizona when the Japanese attacked, was blown from the decks when the ship's magazine exploded. Cabiness, who died in 2002, is the second Marine to be interred within the USS Arizona. (AP Photo/Marco Garcia)
Jerry Cabiness reacts to a US flag given to him after his father's remains were interred inside the USS Arizona, Friday, Dec. 23, 2011 in Honolulu. First Class Frank R. Cabiness, who was aboard the USS Arizona when the Japanese attacked, was blown from the decks when the ship's magazine exploded. Cabiness, who died in 2002, is the second Marine to be interred within the USS Arizona. (AP Photo/Marco Garcia)
PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii (AP) ? A Marine who survived the attack on Pearl Harbor has returned to the USS Arizona for eternity.
Divers took an urn holding the cremated remains of Frank Cabiness and placed it inside the sunken hull of the battleship during a ceremony Friday.
The memorial came nine years after Cabiness died in Lewisville, Texas, at the age of 86.
His son, Jerry Cabiness, says his father wanted to return to the Arizona because he lost all of his friends there and wanted to be with them.
Jerry Cabiness says it took his family awhile to fulfill his father's wishes because they had some financial problems and it's expensive to come to Hawaii.
Cabiness was a private first class when Japanese planes bombed the Arizona on Dec. 7, 1941.
Associated Press
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PHNOM PENH (BNO NEWS) -- Thailand and Cambodia have agreed to withdraw their troops from the area surrounding the disputed Preah Vihear temple, the Thai MCOT news agency reported on Thursday.
The two countries agreed to implement the International Court of Justice's (ICJ) order to establish a "provisional demilitarized zone." A joint working group will be set up to oversee troop withdrawals from the newly defined demilitarized zone, Cambodian Defense Minister Tea Banh said after meeting with Thai Defense Minister Gen Yutthasak Sasiprapa in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh.
Gen Tea Banh also said the withdrawal of troops will be carried out as soon as possible. It will be done under the supervision of the joint observers from Thailand, Cambodia and Indonesia, the chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
In July, a ruling by the Hague-based International Court of Justice asked both nations to withdraw military personnel from around the Preah Vihear temple complex.
Both Cambodia and Thailand claim the 4.6 square kilometer (1.7 square miles) area near the ancient Preah Vihear temple on their shared border, which has never been formally established. However, the military tension has eased since former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's Pheu Thai Party won a landslide victory in July's general election.
Tensions first escalated between the two countries in July 2008 following the build-up of military forces near the 900-year-old Preah Vihear temple. The United Nations Security Council urged both sides to establish a permanent ceasefire after at least 10 people were killed.
Clashes resumed earlier this year as both nations claim the lands surrounding the ancient Hindu Temple, which has been damaged due to the conflict. The Preah Vihear temple dates back to the 11th century.
(Copyright 2011 by BNO News B.V. All rights reserved. Info: sales@bnonews.com.)
Thursday, December 22nd, 2011 at 10:53 pm | BNO News | Leave a CommentSource: http://wireupdate.com/thailand-and-cambodia-to-withdraw-troops-from-disputed-temple.html
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MELBOURNE, Australia ? An Australian teenager who fatally stabbed an Indian student in an attack that prompted widespread outrage across India was sentenced Thursday to at least eight years in jail.
The 17-year-old, whose identity was suppressed by the court because he is a minor, pleaded guilty in April to the murder and attempted armed robbery of 21-year-old Nitin Garg. Garg was killed last year while walking through a park in Melbourne, Australia's second largest city.
The killing came amid a string of attacks in late 2009 and early 2010 against Indian students in Melbourne. The violence received widespread publicity in India, with some news outlets there claiming the attacks were racially motivated.
At the time, Australian police said race was a factor in some of the assaults, but many were ordinary crimes. Police said the attempted robbery of Garg's mobile phone ? rather than race ? was the motivation behind Garg's killing.
Victoria state Supreme Court Justice Paul Coghlan sentenced the teen to 13 years in jail, with a non-parole period of eight years. He could have received up to life in prison.
"In circumstances such as these there are just no winners," Coghlan said. "Although this was a very serious crime, it was committed spontaneously. It should be noted, however, that you chose to arm yourself and did a great deal to avoid apprehension for your crime."
The teen showed no visible reaction when his sentence was announced. But as he was escorted from the courtroom by guards, he appeared to be fighting back tears.
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'Dateline NBC,' the signature broadcast for NBC News in primetime, premiered in 1992. Since then, it has been pioneering a new approach to primetime news programming. The multi-night franchise, supplemented by frequent specials, allows NBC to consistently and comprehensively present the highest-quality reporting, investigative features, breaking news coverage and newsmaker profiles.
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032600/vp/45700806#45700806
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LIMA (Reuters) ? Peru said on Wednesday it could reopen negotiations with foes of Newmont Mining's $4.8 billion Conga project, a sign a solution to the month long impasse could be found, after a crackdown coerced protesters to call off their rallies.
A detente might vindicate the harsh strategy of new Prime Minister Oscar Valdes, who froze the assets of regional leaders in Cajamarca, detained high-profile protesters, and imposed a state of emergency to show the government would not tolerate protests against projects.
Valdes, a former army officer, had pushed the strategy while interior minister. He was promoted in a weekend Cabinet shakeup by President Ollanta Humala that critics said would lead to law-and-order crackdowns on protesters and less willingness to use dialogue to solve hundreds of environmental disputes nationwide.
On Tuesday, the governor of Cajamarca, Gregorio Santos, wrote a letter to Valdes inviting him to hold talks, but also calling on him to unfreeze the local government's assets and end the state of emergency.
Valdes responded late on Wednesday in a letter to Santos obtained by Reuters. He recognized the end of the protests and said the government was willing to reopen talks with local authorities to promote regional development, but he did not mention the frozen assets.
"We are hoping dialogue can be restored," Valdes said in the
letter. He said only Humala could decide to end the state of emergency, and reiterated the project's environmental impact study would be reviewed by international experts in an audit.
Protesters who feared the Conga gold mine would disrupt their source of water, a string of alpine lakes, caused Newmont and its Peruvian partner Buenaventura to temporarily halt work last month on the project that would be the largest investment in Peru's mining history.
Newmont has said its environment plan for the mine, which was approved a year ago by the previous government, meets the highest standards in the mining industry and calls for the construction of reservoirs to replace the lakes.
The standoff over Conga has challenged Humala's young presidency as he was supported largely by the rural poor in a June election and promised to hold miners to better social and environmental standards in a country with a high 30 percent poverty rate.
But the Cabinet shuffle on Sunday underscored the one-time leftist's swift move toward the right. He kept investor favorite Luis Miguel Castilla as finance minister and appointed fellow former army officer Valdes to run the government.
Miners consulted by Reuters in recent days have said despite Conga's troubles they are still committed to investing in Peru, a top metals producer, with the majority of its potential untapped and where profits have soared on high global prices. Many said they were redoubling community relations efforts to win local support for their projects.
Anglo American's Peru country manager Luis Marchese said plans for the company's $3 billion Quellaveco project "have not changed," and that the mine could begin producing copper in 2015.
Australia's Metminco Limited also said its $2.2 billion copper and molybdenum project Calatos was moving ahead in southern Peru.
"There are concerns at the moment, but we've never thought of suspending anything, we're trying to do things right," the firm's legal representative, Eduardo Llosa said.
Humala has said repeatedly that he wants mining, which generates 60 percent of Peru's exports and brings needed tax revenue, but he also wants businesses to contribute more to development in rural towns and better respect the environment in a country where a third of the people live in poverty.
The new minister of energy and mines, Jorge Merino, a technocrat appointed on Sunday, echoed the message shortly after taking office this week, saying he would seek mining investment but will try to ensure it helps underserved communities that have not yet seen the benefits of Peru's decade-long boom.
Canada's Candente Copper said its $1.6 billion Ca?ariaco project would depend in part on its own community relations work.
"There is always a possibility that the community rejects the project in consultation, but we are confident in our capacity to communicate," said Ca?ariaco's general manager Marco Marticorena.
(Additional reporting by Patricia Velez and Teresa Cespedes. Writing by Caroline Stauffer.; Editing by Terry Wade and Carol Bishopric)
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What, BP Worry? (U.S. Coast Guard)
The first deep-water oil lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico since a blow-out spewed at least 5 million barrels of crude has netted the U.S. Treasury $337.6 million. Included is $27.4 million for 11 leases from BP, the British energy conglomerate.
Although the blow-out occurred in a well owned by BP, the company did nothing wrong and there are no after-effects of any kind whatsoever to worry our pretty little heads about. It was all somebody else's fault anyway. And something like that could never ever ever happen again.
Because BP is careful now. And there is no reason to get nasty.
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ScienceDaily (Dec. 14, 2011) ? Scientists are reporting development of a first-of-its-kind technology that could help law enforcement officials trace the residues from terrorist attacks involving nerve gas and other chemical agents back to the companies or other sources where the perpetrators obtained ingredients for the agent. A report on the technique, which could eventually help track down perpetrators of chemical attacks, appears in ACS' journal Analytical Chemistry.
Carlos Fraga and colleagues explain that nerve agents, like sarin (also called GB), are some of the most toxic and fast-acting chemical warfare agents in existence. As seen in the 1994 and 1995 GB attacks in Japan, symptoms -- such as a runny nose and a tightness in the chest -- can appear within seconds, followed by nausea and difficulty breathing. Although traces of the agent remain after such attacks, there has been no practical way of tracing the agent back to its source ingredients. Fraga's team sought to develop a way to do just that.
Fraga's group describes a method called "impurity profiling" that identifies impurities in a GB sample at a crime scene and matches them like a fingerprint to the impurities in the source chemicals, pinpointing the likely source. They found that up to 88 percent of the impurities in source chemicals used to make GB can wind up in the finished product, and these impurities are unique, like a fingerprint. Using standard laboratory instruments, they performed impurity profiling and correctly identified the starting materials used for two different batches of GB. "This remarkable outcome may one day become a basis for using impurity profiling to help find and prosecute perpetrators of chemical attacks," say the researchers.
The authors acknowledge funding from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
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Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111214102849.htm
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Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani unleashed a blistering attack Thursday on Mitt Romney, saying he?s never seen anyone change positions on core issues as often or as quickly as the ex-Massachusetts governor.
?I ran against him in ?07 and ?08, I?ve never seen a guy change his position so many times, so fast, on a dime,? Giuliani said on MSNBC?s Morning Joe.
Continue ReadingIn an extended rant against Romney, Giuliani said the Republican hopeful switched from pro-choice to pro-life; pro-gun control to becoming an NRA supporter; pro-cap and trade to being against cap and trade, among other shifts.
?He figures out there are embryos and changes? his mind on abortion, Giuliani said. ?He was pro-mandate [for health care] for the whole country, then he becomes anti-mandate and takes that page out of his book, and republishes the book.?
Giuliani said that these flip-flops will make for electoral disaster.
?I think that is a great vulnerability? what will Barack Obama do to that?? the former New York City mayor asked. ?What Barack Obama will do with that [is say] ?this is a man without a core, a man without substance, a man that will say anything to become president of the United States.??
By contrast, Giuliani glowingly compared former Republican speaker Newt Gingrich to Ronald Reagan.
?I think Newt has his set of vulnerabilities, but a more consistent position with real ideas like Ronald Reagan had,? he said. ?I remember the Carter White House just dying for Ronald Reagan. Ronald Reagan was the dumb actor, said incendiary things.?
Giuliani said he was defending Gingrich as a candidate ?in this imperfect world, and maybe also reacting to everybody coming after Newt. It?s getting ridiculous now, it?s like this guy is some kind of monster.?
?It may be that Newt is appealing to something that Mitt isn?t appealing to,? he added.
Giuliani continued his attack in a later appearance on Fox News, blasting Romney for being ?so darn negative? in his campaign.
?I was really offended by his comment that Newt Gingrich is ?zany?,? he said. ?That isn?t the kind of language that should be coming from a candidate and it reminds me of what he did in ?08, where he attacked me, he attacked McCain, he attacked Huckabee. Whoever was out front, he would attack.?
He added of voters, ?They don?t want to see a Republican savaging another Republican.?
Giuliani also expressed confidence that Gingrich could seize the Republican nomination.
?I think Newt can get elected. I don?t see why Newt can?t get elected,? he said. ?Romney?s about three points better than Newt. That means nothing.?
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ALBANY, N.Y. ? Prosecutors investigating allegations of child molestation against former Syracuse assistant basketball coach Bernie Fine face obstacles that include finding corroborating proof, statutes of limitations on old accusations, and the credibility of the men who accuse him of sex abuse, according to defense attorneys.
The 65-year-old Fine, who had been coach Jim Boeheim's top assistant since 1976, has adamantly denied wrongdoing. He was fired when three men made public accusations and ESPN played a 2002 recording of a phone call in which a woman ESPN identified as Laurie Fine, the coach's wife, tells accuser Bobby Davis she knew "everything that went on."
But state charges against Fine are out. Davis is now 39 and his stepbrother Mike Lang, another former ball boy who also told ESPN that Fine molested him, is 45; both men say they were first abused as boys in the 1980s. Any crimes against them happened so long ago that the statute of limitations has expired. Davis went to police in 2002 but even then, it was already too late to bring any charges in New York.
That leaves a federal prosecution.
The U.S. Secret Service is running that investigation and it hinges on the claims of a third man, Zach Tomaselli of Lewiston, Maine. He has told authorities that Fine molested him in 2002 in a Pittsburgh hotel room on a team trip from Syracuse. He said Fine touched him "multiple" times in that one incident.
The federal statute of limitations that went into effect in 2002 allows prosecution until the victim reaches age 25; Tomaselli is 23 so there is still a window to bring charges.
Lee Kindlon, a criminal defense attorney who practices in state and federal courts, said even though that federal case could proceed, prosecutors will still have to jump other hurdles including a lack of physical proof for something that allegedly happened nine years ago, and Tomaselli's credibility.
Tomaselli faces his own sex abuse charges in Maine and told The Associated Press on Monday he would plead guilty to abusing a 13-year-old boy. He also accused his father of sexually abusing him but a New York State Police investigation that ended in September did not result in charges. The father, Fred Tomaselli, has said he thinks his son is lying about Fine.
"But these allegations are serious and I think the feds are doing the right thing and looking for proof to back up the accusations," Kindlon said.
Investigators searched Fine's home, office and school locker, looking for pornography that could be used "to sexually arouse or groom young males" to have sex. They took computers, cameras, disks and records, among other things. They're also looking for any records that would detail Fine's contact with boys.
Fine was fired on Nov. 27 after Tomaselli came forward and the tape was released.
Lawyers said the tape would probably be classified as hearsay and couldn't be used at trial. And Laurie Fine also generally couldn't be compelled to testify against her husband about anything he told her, though that marital privilege does not extend to what she personally saw.
Paul DerOhannesian, a defense lawyer and former Albany County prosecutor, said prosecutors still have some tools they can use: They can bring information and witnesses before a grand jury, which can result in perjury charges when witnesses are suspected of lying. That happened in the Penn State case involving a former assistant football coach and administrators, he said.
Syracuse University had its law firm investigate Davis' claims in 2005 and said the probe found no evidence to back up the accusations. The school was under no obligation to involve or inform law enforcement.
With the Fine scandal making headlines, authorities say other accusers may come forward but cases generally require more than an individual's statement. Without direct evidence, they could build a case around circumstantial evidence or indications of a cover-up, among other things, DerOhannesian said.
"Prosecutors will want to corroborate to the extent possible. That's really what an investigation is about, to corroborate an allegation," he said.
And federal prosecutors in northern New York, who claim a 98 percent conviction rate, acknowledge they usually bring cases they can win.
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If you've had two or more sex partners in the last year, you could be a risky organ donor, at least according to a proposed federal health guideline that has drawn sharp protests from transplant experts who say it's far too broad.
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036697/vp/45560062#45560062
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With many encampments razed or in jeopardy, Occupy Wall Street needs a second act. For now, many activists are settling on issues of concern to local residents. Will that weaken the movement, or strengthen it?
As their encampments are razed, or as their tent cities dwindle with the onset of cold weather, the "Occupy Wall Street" movement ? now almost three months old ? needs a second act. And organizers of this grass-roots movement, which asserts that "the 99 percent" of Americans who are not Wall Street bankers, hotel chain heiresses, or real estate titans are getting a raw deal these days, appear to have lit upon an answer, for now: Go local.
Skip to next paragraphSo it is that the Occupiers in Knoxville, Tenn., plan to start occupying foreclosed homes, to dramatize banks' actions. In Detroit, protesters are collecting provisions for the city's neediest. And in Los Angeles, Occupy activists are readying for a Dec. 12 action to close the Port of Los Angeles for a day ? part of a larger call for port closings from Tacoma, Wash., to San Diego to protest perceived union-busting tactics against organized longshore workers.
The question is whether Occupy forces are scattering their fire in so many directions that the movement will inevitably fragment and dissolve, or whether they will grow in strength and accomplishments by proving former House Speaker "Tip" O'Neill's famous pronouncement that, in the end, "all politics is local."
Until lately, the movement has been largely about occupying ground in the name of the 99 percent ? and trying to hold that ground in the face of city and police intervention. Since Sept. 17, when the first Occupiers settled in on Wall Street in New York, thousands of protesters have been arrested in cities across the United States (usually for refusing to obey police orders or for resisting arrest). The Occupy movement has been a way for people to rise up and vent their frustrations, but critics fault it for being unwilling or unable to devise a national action plan around something concrete, such as backing the Democrats' push to raise taxes on millionaires or proposing a constitutional amendment to limit special-interest money in political campaigns.
But that is as it should be, say those involved with the movement as well as its close observers.
"The question of engaging with local issues brings inherent challenges to the Occupy movement, but it is also the only way it can really move forward," says George Ciccariello-Maher, a political theorist and assistant professor at Drexel University in Philadelphia, a city where police cleared an Occupy encampment on Nov. 30. The alternative is to remain on the level of macroeconomic analysis and national issues ? and to jump into national electoral politics or lobbying. At this point in the movement's development, he says, those approaches would be difficult to sustain.
Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/LGk0L7hx8-A/Occupy-Wall-Street-Act-II-Go-local
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NEW YORK ? NBA players have authorized the return of the players' association, with more than 300 submitting the necessary signatures to a third-party accounting group.
With the union re-formed, negotiations with owners will resume Friday on the remaining issues that would be in the collective bargaining agreement, according to a person familiar with the plans. The hope is to complete the CBA next week so both sides can ratify it in time to open training camps Dec. 9.
"This is good news and completes another step in the process of finalizing our agreement," NBA spokesman Tim Frank said.
When talks with the NBA broke down Nov. 14, the NBPA disclaimed interest in representing the players, paving the way for them to file an antitrust lawsuit against the league. But negotiations continued despite the litigation, and a tentative agreement was reached early last Saturday.
The union needed at least 260 signatures from players to be received by the American Accounting Association by the end of the day Thursday and had easily surpassed that number by the close of business.
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RightCelebrity/~3/GxBlQj-T28g/
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TUCSON, Ariz. ? Jose Guerena Ortiz was sleeping after an exhausting 12-hour night shift at a copper mine. His wife, Vanessa, had begun breakfast. Their 4-year-old son, Joel, asked to watch cartoons.
An ordinary morning was unfolding in the middle-class Tucson neighborhood ? until an armored vehicle pulled into the family's driveway and men wearing heavy body armor and helmets climbed out, weapons ready.
They were a sheriff's department SWAT team who had come to execute a search warrant. But Vanessa Guerena insisted she had no idea, when she heard a "boom" and saw a dark-suited man pass by a window, that it was police outside her home. She shook her husband awake and told him someone was firing a gun outside.
A U.S. Marine veteran of the Iraq war, he was only trying to defend his family, she said, when he grabbed his own gun ? an AR-15 assault rifle.
What happened next was captured on video after a member of the SWAT team activated a helmet-mounted camera.
The officers ? four of whom carried .40-caliber handguns while another had an AR-15 ? moved to the door, briefly sounding a siren, then shouting "Police!" in English and Spanish. With a thrust of a battering ram, they broke the door open. Eight seconds passed before they opened fire into the house.
And 10 seconds later, Guerena lay dying in a hallway 20-feet from the front door. The SWAT team fired 71 rounds, riddling his body 22 times, while his wife and child cowered in a closet.
"Hurry up, he's bleeding," Vanessa Guerena pleaded with a 911 operator. "I don't know why they shoot him. They open the door and shoot him. Please get me an ambulance."
When she emerged from the home minutes later, officers hustled her to a police van, even as she cried that her husband was unresponsive and bleeding, and that her young son was still inside. She begged them to get Joel out of the house before he saw his father in a puddle of blood on the floor.
But soon afterward, the boy appeared in the front doorway in Spider-Man pajamas, crying.
The Pima County Sheriff's Department said its SWAT team was at the home because Guerena was suspected of being involved in a drug-trafficking organization and that the shooting happened because he arrived at the door brandishing a gun. The county prosecutor's office says the shooting was justified.
But six months after the May 5 police gunfire shattered a peaceful morning and a family's life, investigators have made no arrests in the case that led to the raid. Outraged friends, co-workers and fellow Marines have called the shooting an injustice and demanded further investigation. A family lawyer has filed a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against the sheriff's office. And amid the outcry in online forums and social media outlets, the sheriff's 54-second video, which found its way to YouTube, has drawn more than 275,000 views.
The many questions swirling around the incident all boil down to one, repeated by Vanessa Guerena, as quoted in the 1,000-page police report on the case:
"Why, why, why was he killed?"
___
Outside the family's stucco home, a giant framed photo of Guerena in his Marine uniform sat placed in the front bay window, American flags waved in the yard and signs condemning his death were taped to the garage door.
The 27-year-old Guerena had completed two tours in Iraq, and a former superior there was among those who couldn't make sense of his death.
Leo Verdugo said Guerena stood out among other Marines for his maturity and sense of responsibility. Verdugo, who retired as a master sergeant last year after 25 years in the Marines, placed Guerena in charge of an important helicopter refueling mission in the remote west desert of Iraq.
"He had a lot of integrity and he was a man of his word," Verdugo said.
Verdugo, who also lives in Tucson, said Guerena came to him for advice in 2006 about whether to retire from the Marines and apply to the Border Patrol.
When Verdugo ran into Guerena and his wife at a Motor Vehicle Department office about a month before Guerena was killed, Verdugo said that Guerena told him that the Border Patrol had turned him down because of problems with his vision and that he had instead taken a mining job.
Those who worked with Guerena at ASARCO'S Mission Mine said the man they knew would never be a part of drug smuggling.
"I don't care what the cops say. I don't believe for one moment Jose was involved in anything illegal," said Sharon Hargrave, a co-worker, adding through tears: "They were judge, jury and executioner, and there was no excuse."
Guerena worked as a "helper" at two crushers in the mine, shoveling piles of rocks that fall from conveyor belts and wheel-barrowing heavy debris. "No one in their right mind" would choose this work, which paid about $41,000 a year, if they were bringing in drug smuggling money, Hargrave said.
"He was a hell of a worker," she said. "He's got good judgment and I could trust him."
She said Guerena talked constantly about his wife and two sons, Joel and Jose Jr., 5, who'd gone to school the morning of the shooting. "I know he was definitely in love with his wife and in love with his kids," she said.
Kevin Stephens, a chief steward at Mission mine and head of the miners' union there, said bluntly: "Personally, I think he was murdered, and that is the feeling that is out here."
But the sheriff's office said just because Guerena was a Marine and worked at a mine doesn't mean he couldn't be involved in drug trafficking.
"We know from our experiences that good people turn their lives around and do bad things, and this guy was bad irrespective of his honorable discharge as a Marine," said sheriff's chief of investigations Rick Kastigar.
He said Guerena was suspected of involvement in a drug operation that specialized in ripping off other smugglers. One tip held that Guerena was "the muscle" of the organization, or in Kastigar's words, "the individual that was directed to exact revenge."
An affidavit supporting the search warrant that precipitated the raid describes the department's suspicions about Guerena in a drug investigation that appeared more focused on his brother, and his brother's father-in-law. Guerena's brother does not have a listed number and other family members have ignored written requests from the AP for comment.
Sheriff's Capt. Chris Nanos, who heads the criminal investigations division and oversaw the Guerena case, said that high-powered rifles and bulletproof vests that were found in Guerena's home after the shooting back up investigators' belief that Guerena was involved in drug trafficking. A shotgun found in the home was reported stolen in Tucson in 2008.
In the affidavit, sheriff's Detective Alex Tisch laid out the case against Guerena's family. It details two instances of drug seizures, one in April 2009 in which Jose Guerena was found in a home with other people who had just dropped off 1,000 pounds of marijuana at a separate residence, and another in October 2009 in which a man who had met with Guerena's brother was found with drugs and weapons.
Neither Guerena nor his brother was charged.
The affidavit also cites two traffic stops of Jose Guerena.
The first was on Jan. 28, 2009, when an officer pulled Guerena and two other men over north of Tucson. The officer seized a gun from Guerena, a marijuana pipe from Guerena's cousin and marijuana hidden in canisters of lemonade and hot cocoa that were under the feet of Guerena's friend.
The officer arrested Guerena on charges of weapons misconduct, marijuana possession and possession of drug paraphernalia. But prosecutors filed no charges against him.
The other stop came Sept. 15, 2009, when the sheriff's office pulled over a truck leaving the home of Guerena's brother. Jose Guerena was in the passenger seat and another man was driving. Officers searched the truck and found commercial-sized rolls of plastic wrap that they say are commonly used to package marijuana. No arrests were made.
Tisch wrote in the affidavit that the past arrests of Guerena and members of his family, combined with observations during months of surveillance led detectives to believe that the family was operating a mid-level drug-trafficking organization in the Tucson area.
The investigation is ongoing, the sheriff's office says.
___
After the SWAT video circulated, people who didn't know Guerena traveled from as far as California to march in protest of his shooting, and an Alaska woman began an online petition calling for a federal investigation of the SWAT team. Hundreds of people across the country have written on several Facebook pages dedicated to Guerena with messages that include, "He fought for our country, now we must fight for him."
The Guereno family's lawyer, Christopher Scileppi, filed a lawsuit on their behalf seeking damages from the sheriff's office, the officers involved in the shooting and other officials. The lawsuit didn't specify how much money the family was seeking, but a notice of claim filed Aug. 9 put the amount at $20 million.
"During this investigation, extremely little evidence, if any, was found to raise even a suspicion that Jose Guerena was involved in any possible drug trafficking ring," the notice says.
Scileppi said the fact that Guerena had been fired at 71 times and hit 22 times was "grotesque," and "almost a caricature of an overly excited group of poorly trained law enforcement agents."
Kastigar sharply disputed that, calling the Pima County SWAT team one of the best of its kind in the nation. "We're not a bunch of country bumpkins in southern Arizona with big bellies and cowboy hats," he said.
The shooting was justified, he said, because Guerena pointed his AR-15 at the SWAT officers and said, "I've got something for you," before they opened fire.
The five SWAT team members who shot Guerena believed that he had fired his weapon first, he said. Subsequent investigation revealed that the gun's safety was on and hadn't been fired. Ultimately, that is not an issue, Kastigar said.
"What reasonable person comes to the front door and points a rifle at people?" he said. "It takes several milliseconds to flip the switch from safety to fire and take out a couple of SWAT officers. I'm firmly of the opinion that he was attempting to shoot at us."
The officers laid down "suppressive" fire because one had tripped and fallen and the others thought he'd been shot.
"You point a gun at police, you're going to get shot," Kastigar said.
The five officers who shot Guerena declined to speak to the AP through Mike Storie, a police union lawyer who represents them and defends their actions.
"Anytime that they are faced with a serious, imminent and deadly threat, they are entitled and justified to use deadly force," he said. "And when Guerena came around the corner and lifted an AR-15 and pointed it at them, that provided the justification."
An independent expert, Chuck Drago, a former longtime SWAT officer for Fort Lauderdale, Fla., police who now does consulting on use of force and other law enforcement issues, said that the shooting itself appeared justified.
"It's a horrible, horrible tragedy, but if they walked in the door and somebody came at them with an assault rifle, that would be a justifiable response," said Drago. "It doesn't matter whether he's innocent or not."
But after examining elements of the search affidavit, Drago questioned whether the sheriff's office truly had probable cause.
"When you back up and look at why they're there in the first place and whether the search warrant was proper, my mind starts struggling," Drago said. "There are a lot of things that don't make a lot of sense."
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