Trenton hostage standoff ends with death of suspect | GlobalPost

Faine Greenwood May 12, 2013 13:25

Suspect who held three children captive for weeks has been killed, and is suspected of murdering a woman and her teenaged son.

A dramatic hostage standoff in Trenton, New Jersey ended in violence early Sunday morning, after officers shot and killed suspect Gerald Tyrone Murphy, who had refused to cooperate with negotiators.

Murphy had held police at bay for a total of 37 hours, after police responded to a call about the welfare of the now-deceased Carmenlita Stevens, who hadn’t been seen for some time — and were confronted with a deathly odor and a hostile Murphy, who had been dating Stevens.

After police shot and killed Murphy, they found the body of Stevens and her 13-year-old son, who may have been murdered as early as April 24 by the suspect, who was a convicted felon, according to the Inquirer. 

Three of Stevens children — aged 18, 16, and 4 — were rescued and taken to a medical center for treatment, according to USA Today, while a 19 year old son was rescued from the basement, where he had been hiding for weeks.

Murphy was not the father of any the children, and Philly.com reported that the teenage girls had been “abused and assaulted” as he held them captive. 

Murphy was shot as he threatened one of the children with a gun, and later died in the hospital from his injuries. Sixty state troopers and a hostage negotiation team had responded to the incident. 

“This was a very complex matter, considering the space (where the hostages were) and that three children were involved,” said New Jersey state police colonel Rick Fuentes of the situation, according to the Associated Press. “Our mission over those 37 hours was to save innocent lives.”

Author information

GlobalPost

The GlobalPost Mission is to provide original international reporting rooted in integrity, accuracy, independence and powerful storytelling that informs, entertains and fills the void created by diminished foreign coverage by American media.

TwitterFacebook

The post Trenton hostage standoff ends with death of suspect appeared first on The Alief Post.

Dennis Rodman to Kim Jong Un: ‘Do me a solid’ and free Kenneth Bae | GlobalPost

News you wish you didn’t know.

NBA-icon-turned-diplomat Dennis Rodman is back, asking Kim Jong Un to “do me a solid” and release American Kenneth Bae.

“I’m calling on the Supreme Leader of North Korea or as I call him “Kim”, to do me a solid and cut Kenneth Bae loose,” Rodman tweeted today.

Bae, a devout Christian who worked as a tour operator near the China-North Korea border, was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor earlier this month for undisclosed “hostile acts” against the hermit kingdom.

Rodman visited North Korea in March in a trip widely condemned by US officials, watching basketball with the Supreme Leaader and going so far as to call Kim a “friend for life.”

He said he tweeted for Bae’s release after reading a Seattle Times blog post calling on him to do so.

“In direct response to your article headline, “Ok.” Read your story @uscthanhtan, and I decided to help,” Rodman tweeted after his initial message to Kim.

In the post from late last week, blogger Thanh Tan told Rodman to “practice some real basketball diplomacy and call up his so-called friend for a favor.”

“Perhaps now is the retired player’s chance to use his notoriety for something other than to over-inflate his ego,” Tan wrote.

Author information

GlobalPost

The GlobalPost Mission is to provide original international reporting rooted in integrity, accuracy, independence and powerful storytelling that informs, entertains and fills the void created by diminished foreign coverage by American media.

TwitterFacebook

The post Dennis Rodman to Kim Jong Un: ‘Do me a solid’ and free Kenneth Bae appeared first on The Alief Post.

US stocks: Dow closes above 15,000 for first time, SP hits another record high | GlobalPost

Allison Jackson May 7, 2013 17:13

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed above 15,000 for the first time ever Tuesday as central bank stimulus programs, positive corporate news and upbeat economic data fueled optimism into the market.

The Standard Poor’s 500 Index also entered bull market territory after closing at a record high for the fourth straight session. According to CNBC, the SP Index has climbed 20 percent from its lows in mid-November.

At the closing bell, the Dow was up 87.01 points, or 0.6 percent, to 15,055.90 and the SP was 0.5 percent higher at 1,625.96.

“This is a QE-fueled market,” said Steven Bulko of Lombard Odier Investment Management to Bloomberg, in reference to the Federal Reserve’s $85 billion a month asset-buying program.

“You’re just not seeing sales based on allocation into any asset class because of the relative unattractiveness of everyone other than equities. That’s putting in place a firm bid to the equities market.”

Caterpillar posted the biggest percentage increase among Dow stocks, rising 2.5 percent to $89.79.

The construction and mining equipment giant recently announced a $1 billion accelerated repurchase program – its first share buyback in four years – following a disappointing first-quarter earnings report.

On the economic front, investors were still digesting Friday’s unexpectedly strong US jobs report, which showed employers added 165,000 workers in April – which was above forecasts – and the jobless rate fell to a four year-low of 7.5 percent. 

Across the Atlantic, meanwhile, German factory orders in March exceeded expectations, increasing a seasonally adjusted 2.2 percent from February, compared with economists’ expectations for a 0.5 percent drop. 

Author information

GlobalPost

The GlobalPost Mission is to provide original international reporting rooted in integrity, accuracy, independence and powerful storytelling that informs, entertains and fills the void created by diminished foreign coverage by American media.

TwitterFacebook

The post US stocks: Dow closes above 15,000 for first time, S&P hits another record high appeared first on The Alief Post.

Plans for a 3D-printed gun removed from Internet | GlobalPost

Faine Greenwood May 10, 2013 12:21

The US government’s Department of Defense Trade Controls have demanded that 3D-printing innovators Defense Distributed remove a controversial blueprint for a printable gun from their website, as the feds deliberate over what sort of license the company may require for future operations.

Defense Distributed, founders of the Wiki Weapons Project, hope to freely distribute plans for 3D-printable weapons — and as the plans are already widely available on popular Torrent sites such as The Pirate Bay, the government’s efforts to lock down the blueprints are largely symbolic.

“They asked that I take it down while they determine if they have the authority to control the info,” said Defense Distributed founder Cody Wilson to Fox News. “It’s clearly a direct response to everything we did this week. 3D printing is clearly not the best way to make an effective weapon.”

According to an interview with Wilson at Betabeat.com, the US government is determining if the blueprints qualify as class one munitions — and if so, the blueprints might be in violation of the Arms Export Control Act, theoretically classifying Defense Distributed as arms dealers. 

Why do such a thing? Defense Distributed views it as something of a social experiment, as evidenced by this paragraph from their website: “This project might change the way we think about gun control and consumption.

How do governments behave if they must one day operate on the assumption that any and every citizen has near instant access to a firearm through the Internet? Let’s find out.”

Author information

GlobalPost

The GlobalPost Mission is to provide original international reporting rooted in integrity, accuracy, independence and powerful storytelling that informs, entertains and fills the void created by diminished foreign coverage by American media.

TwitterFacebook

The post Plans for a 3D-printed gun removed from Internet appeared first on The Alief Post.

High turnout in Pakistan’s landmark elections despite violence | GlobalPost

Mariya Karimjee and News Desk May 11, 2013 02:07 Updated May 11, 2013 11:45

However, claims of voting irregularities in Karachi may affect votes in the country’s largest city.

KARACHI — Despite a spate of violence, Pakistan’s landmark elections were met with high voter turnout in most parts of the country.

Pakistanis voted today in the national and provincial elections amid Taliban threats of suicide bombing targeting polling stations.

Though elections in the country were mostly free and fair, voting in some of Karachi’s constituencies was marred by allegations of rigging and poll stations that opened hours after the designated time.

Tens of thousands of troops were deployed at polling stations in the wake of a Pakistani Taliban threat to carry out suicide attacks during the poll — which marks Pakistan’s first transition from one civilian government to another in its 66-year history.

Pakistan sealed its borders with Iran and Afghanistan hours before polls opened, in a bid to keep foreign militants away from civilian polling stations. However, despite precautionary efforts, more than 100 people have been killed by violence in the run-up to the election.

At least thirteen people were killed in Karachi on Saturday, after twin bombs struck the election office of a secular political party’s candidate earlier in the day in Pakistan’s commercial hub.

“The target was an election candidate of ANP [Awami National Party]. He was traveling in his car when the bomb exploded,” said senior police official Mazhar Nawaz.

The target of the attack, Amanullah Mehsud, escaped unhurt, Nawaz said.

Hamida (who only uses her first name), a resident of Karachi’s Landhi neighborhood, told GlobalPost that the first blast echoed through her house.

“I made sure my entire family was indoors, and that’s when the second blast occurred. My entire house shook, it felt like an earthquake. Car alarms are ringing, people are crying.”

Though Hamida had planned to vote today, she instead decided to avoid the polling station.

“We are too scared.”

Meanwhile, a bomb attack targeting female voters in Pakistan’s northwestern city of Peshawar wounded eight people, according to police.

The Australian Associated Press quoted Shafiullah Khan, a senior police officer, as saying:

“The bomb was planted on a motorcycle. Several people including police have been injured. The motorcycle was parked outside a women’s polling station.”

Another bombing was also reported after polling stations had closed in Manghopir, injuring 5 people:

(Breaking News) #Karachi: Blast in the Islamia Colony area of Manghopir #GeoElections

— Geo English (@geonews_english) May 11, 2013

No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks in Karachi, the Press Trust of India wrote.

A blast in Balochistan province killed at least 10 people, though DawnNews cited the death toll higher, at 15. The bomb was set off by remote control, and targeted independent candidate Syed Khadim Hussain Shah’s supporters, who were traveling by bus in a convoy, Al Jazeera reported.

Also in Balochistan, two people in the town of Sorab were killed by gunmen outside a polling station. A shootout in Chaman between supporters of two different candidates also left six dead.

The Elections Committee has also ordered re-polling at over 40 stations in Karachi’s NA 250 constituency.

Many people in the NA 250 district were being told earlier today that their votes would be cast for them, and that they could go home.

GlobalPost’s Mariya Karimjee reported from Karachi that many of the polls in the area did not open on time, and that there was a lot of intimidation at several of the voting sites.

The election front-runner is ex-prime minister Nawaz Sharif, head of the center-right Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N).

However, hopes remain high among supporters of the country’s former cricket star Imran Khan, who has promised reform, an end to corruption and to cooperation with the US military in its fight against militants.

Khan, 60, leads Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), and gained a last-minute surge of support after fracturing his spine when he fell from a stage at a campaign rally on Tuesday.

Lines, like the one shown below, began forming before polling stations opened at 08:00 a.m. (03:00 GMT) on Saturday.

Voting was proceeding peacefully in the eastern city of Lahore, EU observers said, while Peshawar and Karachi saw long queues of women waiting to vote —  many for the first time, excited about being part of a historic change.

More than 86 million people are eligible to vote for the 342-member national assembly and four provincial assemblies in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan. Voting officially ended at 5 p.m. local time, but was extended by an hour at several sites due to late starts.

Voters were also being told that their ballots could be invalidated if the ink on their thumb ran onto the ballot sheet, or if their ballot was not folded correctly. However, when asked how to fold a ballot, the election commission’s presiding officer had no idea, Karimjee reported.

Much of the blame for the voting hiccups in Karachi has been cast on Pakistan’s election commission — presiding officers at polling stations were misinformed, disorganized and illiterate, they say.

Jamaat Islami, an Islamic political party in Pakistan, has decided to withdraw all of their candidates as a boycott to today’s election, claiming that the process was neither free nor fair.

However, despite the confusion and possible corruption that has gripped many of the polling stations in Karachi, the real battleground for the election remains in Punjab, the country’s most populous state. More than half of the National Assembly seats are up for grabs are in Punjab, so it’s the region that has potential to make the most difference when the final election results come in.

Voting has been relatively peaceful in Punjab, and the mood in its capital is currently celebratory and jubilant, Karimjee reported.

In other parts of the country where voting has not gone quite so smoothly, many voters remain resilient, firmly committed to casting their vote come hell or high temperature.

Batool Akhlaq, a doctor, said that she was going to stay until the doors opened.

“I’ve waited over five years for this vote, five hours in the heat is nothing,” she said.

Despite the extended polling times, she wasn’t optimistic that she’d actually get to vote today, but she said that regardless she was staying until the end.

“This is an absolutely disaster. No idea who’s responsible for the sabotage but not letting people vote is terrible,” Akhlaq said.

Her friend, Tanya Shujaat, seemed more relaxed.

“We came to vote for Imran Khan’s New Pakistan, and we’ll stay until that happens. If not today, then tomorrow.”

Author information

GlobalPost

The GlobalPost Mission is to provide original international reporting rooted in integrity, accuracy, independence and powerful storytelling that informs, entertains and fills the void created by diminished foreign coverage by American media.

TwitterFacebook

The post High turnout in Pakistan’s landmark elections despite violence appeared first on The Alief Post.

Waqas Syed | Posted: Friday, May 8th, 2013 4:25 pm

Jodi Arias has been found guilty by the 12 person jury who deliberated for less than three days. The verdict against Arias who was accused of killing her Phoenix, AZ  boyfriend Travis Alexander in 2008, was guilty of first degree murder.

Her trial rocked the nation with extraordinary detail of sexual perversion, physical abuse and what later was portrayed as a love / hate relationship.

The defense team for Arias tried in earnest to reduce the first degree murder charge to a lesser conviction. But the evidence pointed to a premeditated homicide by Arias which results in a first degree murder charge, punishable by death.

The trial will now move into a phase during which prosecutors will argue the killing was committed in an especially cruel, heinous and depraved manner, called the ‘‘aggravation’’ phase. Both sides may call witnesses and show evidence during a mini trial of sorts. The jurors are the same.

As details unfolded about what was found at the scene of the crime, Alexander was found in his bathtub 5 days after dying. His throat was slit ear to ear and he had been stabbed over 27 times. He was also shot at point blank range in the forehead.

According to Arias who managed to deflect responsibility for the murder for over 5 years, claimed to have forgotten all that took place after she fired the bullet that hit Alexander in the head.

Her team made the case that Alexander sexually, physically and emotionally abused Arias which led to her killing him out of self defense.

But this reason alone could not explain the excessive brutality in which Alexander was killed. Clear evidence also firmly damned Arias. A bloody hand-print was found at the scene matching Arias’ prints and nude photos of Alexander and Arias from the day of the murder.

Jodi Arias arrived at Alexanders house unannounced in a rented car, with her hair dyed. She left her phone in California and called it herself en-route to his house.

There she claims an altercation ensued and she tried to flee a violent Alexander. He eventually cornered her in a room where Arias found his gun, closed her eyes and pulled the trigger.

From that point forward she can not remember anything.

Throughout the trial which began on January 18th, she had to recount detailed sexual encounters and the jury had to listen to voice mails where they both engaged in perverse sexual discussions.

This evidence failed to reduce the verdict of first degree murder however.

Now we will wait to see if she is given the death penalty or life in prison. A nervous Arias broke down in tears as the verdict was read. Alexander’s sister was in the courtroom along with other supporters who wore blue wristbands reading, “Justice for Travis.”

Author information

Waqas Syed

Editor-in-Chief at The Alief Post

Waqas Syed is the owner and editor-in-chief of the Alief Post. He founded the Alief Post in the winter of 2011 and named it after the community in which he grew up. Since its inception he has broadened the monthly readership of the news & social commentary site to reach 40 countries worldwide. The focus of the Alief Post is to cover major news events and spotlight people who display extraordinary talent.

TwitterFacebookGoogle+

The post Jodi Arias: Guilty of First Degree Murder; May Face Death appeared first on The Alief Post.

Racist anti-gay marriage poster goes viral | GlobalPost

While many around the world are celebrating France for being the 14th nation to allow same-sex marriage, the new law is facing a severe blowback at home, both on social media and in the streets.

The virulent reaction by same-sex marriage opponents, however, while always heated, may have finally crossed a line.

The poster shown above, designed by an anti-same sex marriage activist, has sparked outrage for depicting France’s minister of justice, French Guiana-born Christiane Taubira, who is black, as an angry gorilla being overwhelmed by demonstrators from the “Manif Pour Tous,” France’s largest anti-same sex organization.

According to EuroNews, the slogan written in the top left corner of the poster, is a play on words: “manif monstre” means ‘giant demo.’

The picture, posted on Monday night, quickly went viral on Twitter, renewing heated exchanges between anti- and pro-same sex marriage activists.

By Tuesday morning, however, the owner of the Twitter account where the image was first posted, deleted the controversial picture.

“I confirm that I acted on my own, without racist intention. Sorry if it has hurt. I withdraw the picture but it is a misunderstanding. I used an already existing monster picture,” the Twitter user said.

Additionally, the official Twitter account of “La Manif Pour Tous,” @lamanifpourtous, advised followers that, “the only news and posters to take into account for the May 26 [protest] are those tweeted by this account.”

French legislators approved the bill legalizing same-sex marriage in France on April 23 after hours of heated parliamentary debates, massive demonstrations from both sides, and rising tensions in French society.

In the wake of the historic vote, France has seen an uptick in violent protests, homophobic attacks, and a stream of offensive trending Twitter hashtags.

And while the passage of the law — dubbed “Marriage for Everyone” — has been considered a victory for President Francois Hollande and the Socialist Party platform on which he campaigned, the ad hoc but energetic opposition movement, “Manif pour tous,” or “Protest for Everyone,” isn’t accepting defeat — at least, not yet.

Author information

GlobalPost

The GlobalPost Mission is to provide original international reporting rooted in integrity, accuracy, independence and powerful storytelling that informs, entertains and fills the void created by diminished foreign coverage by American media.

TwitterFacebook

The post Racist anti-gay marriage poster goes viral appeared first on The Alief Post.

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie had secret lap-band surgery to lose weight | GlobalPost

Ellen Connolly May 7, 2013 08:29

The Republican rising star who has been touted as a presidential candidate has struggled with his weight for many years.

NEW YORK – New Jersey Governor Chris Christie underwent secret lap-band surgery in February.

The Republican said concerns from his wife and four children that he was at risk of a heart attack prompted him to have the procedure, the New York Post reported.

“For me, this is about turning 50 and looking at my children and wanting to be there for them,” said Christie, who has struggled with his weight for two decades.

Spokesman Michael Drewniak confirmed to AP the operation was performed in February and involved a tube placed around the governor’s stomach to restrict food intake. 

Christie rejected suggestions the effort to lose weight was motivated by the 2016 presidential campaign, yet it did not stop speculation from critics and commentators.

Being overweight could be a huge liability in a national campaign, but if by next year Christie is suddenly looking slim and fit, he might look like a front runner to become president, said the Atlantic Wire.

Author information

GlobalPost

The GlobalPost Mission is to provide original international reporting rooted in integrity, accuracy, independence and powerful storytelling that informs, entertains and fills the void created by diminished foreign coverage by American media.

TwitterFacebook

The post New Jersey Governor Chris Christie had secret lap-band surgery appeared first on The Alief Post.

Turkish PM Erdogan calls airstrikes on Syria ‘unacceptable’ | GlobalPost

Priyanka Boghani and Noga Tarnopolsky May 7, 2013 10:08

JERUSALEM — Turkey’s premier called the airstrikes that hit military sites in Syria over the weekend “unacceptable” on Tuesday.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, “No excuse can justify this operation,” which has been attributed to Israel.

Monitoring groups said the air raids killed at least 42 soldiers, and Damascus warned that it would retaliate.

There has been no official confirmation from Israel’s government over the strikes, though an Israeli official anonymously told Reuters that the strike on Friday targeted a shipment of missiles thought to be on their way to Hezbollah militants in Lebanon.

Erdogan, a one-time ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, has become one of his harshest critics since the beginning of the Syrian uprising.

While addressing lawmakers Tuesday, Erdogan said, “Assad is trying to cover up what happened at Banias by using the Israeli raids as a pretext.”

Erdogan called Assad a “butcher” on Sunday.

In Israel, Hebrew newspaper Yedioth Acharonoth cited senior Israeli officials suggesting that it may have been thanks partly to Israel’s steps toward rapprochement with Turkey that Israel was able to attack Syria.

The unnamed sources said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s apology to Turkey for his country’s 2010 deadly military raid of the Mavi Marmara flotilla allowed Israel to operate freely in the north without fearing conflict with or even meaningful censure from Turkey.

Syria shelling Israel?

Stray shelling from Syria spilled over into the Israeli portion of the Golan Heights on Monday, according to the Israeli military. The military said the three or four stray mortars appeared to be accidental and unconnected to the airstrikes.

The tension is palpable in Israel. Residents could hear air force jets in the sky above Jerusalem, which was not the case Monday.

The Syrian conflict has pulled in many regional players, though some have refused to take a side.

“If you look around the region, whether it’s the Jordanians, the Israelis, Hezbollah and the Iranians … this is becoming much more of an existential struggle,” Salman Shaikh, director of the Brookings Doha Center, told Agence France Presse.

Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi spoke about Syria during a press conference in Amman with his Jordanian counterpart Tuesday. Salehi said, “We refuse any solution forced from outside. We are against any foreign intervention in Syria. We have seen what has happened in some countries, which I will not name, after they faced foreign intervention. We don’t want history to repeat itself in Syria.”

Jordan’s Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh added, “There is no spread of any foreign troops on Jordanian land. Jordan, with its armed forces and deep-rooted history, doesn’t need any foreign troops on its land,” according to Al Jazeera.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for a Palestinian militant group within Syria said on Tuesday that Assad’s regime had given the go-ahead to attack Israel.

Anwar Raja of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command said they had “a green light” from Assad to “attack Israeli targets” from the Syrian-held part of the Golan Heights, according to Ha’aretz.

Senior Correspondent Noga Tarnopolsky contributed to this report from Jerusalem.

Author information

GlobalPost

The GlobalPost Mission is to provide original international reporting rooted in integrity, accuracy, independence and powerful storytelling that informs, entertains and fills the void created by diminished foreign coverage by American media.

TwitterFacebook

The post Turkish PM Erdogan calls airstrikes on Syria ‘unacceptable’ appeared first on The Alief Post.

FDA to investigate the effects of caffeinated chewing gum | GlobalPost

Samantha Stainburn April 30, 2013 15:37

Source: Wall Street Journal

The FDA is concerned with the launch this week of a new caffeinated chewing gum from Wrigley.

Concerned by the arrival on store shelves this week of a new caffeinated chewing gum from Mars Inc. Wrigley, the US Food and Drug Administration has announced it will investigate the effects foods with added caffeine have on children.

Wrigley’s new gum, called Alert Energy, is the first widely distributed caffeinated gum. One piece contains the same amount of caffeine as half a cup of coffee or a 16-ounce soda.

“FDA is taking a fresh look at the potential impact that the totality of new and easy sources of caffeine may have on health, particularly vulnerable populations such as children and youth, and if necessary, will take appropriate action,” Michael Taylor, the FDA’s deputy commissioner for foods and veterinary medicine, said in a statement.

While the federal regulator approved adding caffeine to colas in the 1950s, the current fad for adding caffeine to other foods is “beyond anything FDA envisioned,” Taylor said.

“It is disturbing,” Taylor told the Associated Press. “We’re concerned about whether they have been adequately evaluated.”

The FDA is also investigating caffeinated energy drinks from companies like Monster Beverage Corp. that consumers claim have caused troubling side effects and even death, Bloomberg News reported.

Author information

GlobalPost

The GlobalPost Mission is to provide original international reporting rooted in integrity, accuracy, independence and powerful storytelling that informs, entertains and fills the void created by diminished foreign coverage by American media.

TwitterFacebook

The post FDA to investigate the effects of caffeinated chewing gum appeared first on The Alief Post.