U.S. mulls transfer of Taliban prisoner in perilous peace bid (Reuters)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) ? The Obama administration is considering transferring to Afghan custody a senior Taliban official suspected of major human rights abuses as part of a long-shot bid to improve the prospects of a peace deal in Afghanistan, Reuters has learned.

The potential hand-over of Mohammed Fazl, a 'high-risk detainee' held at the Guantanamo Bay military prison since early 2002, has set off alarms on Capitol Hill and among some U.S. intelligence officials.

As a senior commander of the Taliban army, Fazl is alleged to be responsible for the killing of thousands of Afghanistan's minority Shi'ite Muslims between 1998 and 2001.

According to U.S. military documents made public by WikiLeaks, he was also on the scene of a November 2001 prison riot that killed CIA operative Johnny Micheal Spann, the first American who died in combat in the Afghan war. There is no evidence, however, that Fazl played any direct role in Spann's death.

Senior U.S. officials have said their 10-month-long effort to set up substantive negotiations between the weak government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai and the Taliban has reached a make-or-break moment. Reuters reported earlier this month that they are proposing an exchange of "confidence-building measures," including the transfer of five detainees from Guantanamo and the establishment of a Taliban office outside of Afghanistan.

Now Reuters has learned from U.S. government sources the identity of one of the five detainees in question.

The detainees, the officials emphasized, would not be set free, but remain in some sort of further custody. It is unclear precisely what conditions they would be held under.

In response to inquiries by Reuters, a senior administration official said that the release of Fazl and four other Taliban members had been requested by the Afghan government and Taliban representatives as far back as 2005.

The debate surrounding the White House's consideration of high-profile prisoners such as Fazl illustrates the delicate course it must tread both at home and abroad as it seeks to move the nascent peace process ahead.

One U.S. intelligence official said there had been intense bipartisan opposition in Congress to the proposed transfer.

"I can tell you that the hair on the back of my neck went up when they walked in with this a month ago, and there's been very, very strong letters fired off to the administration," the official said on condition of anonymity.

The senior administration official confirmed that the White House has received letters from lawmakers on the issue. "We will not characterize classified Congressional correspondence, but what is clear is the President's order to us to continue to discuss these important matters with Congress," the official said.

Even supporters of a controversial deal with the Taliban - a fundamentalist group that refers to Americans as infidels and which is still killing U.S., NATO and Afghan soldiers on the battlefield - say the odds of striking an accord are slim.

Critics of Obama's peace initiative remain deeply skeptical of the Taliban's willingness to negotiate, given that the West's intent to pull out most troops after 2014 could give insurgents a chance to reclaim lost territory or push the weak Kabul government toward collapse.

The politically charged nature of the initiative was on display this month when the Karzai government angrily recalled its ambassador from Doha and complained Kabul was being cut out of U.S.-led efforts to establish a Taliban office in Qatar.

U.S. officials appear to have smoothed things over with Karzai since then. Karzai's High Peace Council is signaling it would accept a liaison office for the Taliban office in Qatar - but also warning foreign powers that they cannot keep the Afghan government on the margins.

The detainee transfer may be even more politically explosive for the White House. In discussing the proposal, U.S. officials have stressed the move would be a 'national decision' made in consultation with the U.S. Congress.

Obama is expected to soon sign into law a defense authorization bill whose provisions would broaden the military's power over terrorist detainees and require the Pentagon to certify in most cases that certain security conditions will be met before Guantanamo prisoners can be sent home.

The mere idea of such a transfer is already raising hackles on Capitol Hill, where one key senator last week cautioned the administration against negotiating with "terrorists."

Senator Saxby Chambliss, the top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said such detainees would "likely continue to pose a threat to the United States" even once they were transferred.

POTENTIAL MAELSTROM

In February, the Afghan High Peace Council named a half-dozen it wanted released as a goodwill gesture. The list included Fazl; senior Taliban military commander Noorullah Noori; former deputy intelligence minister Abdul Haq Wasiq; and Khairullah Khairkhwa, a former interior minister.

All but Khairkhwa were sent to Guantanamo on January 11, 2002, according to the military documents, meaning they were among the first prisoners sent there.

Bruce Riedel, a former CIA and White House official, said Fazl was alleged to have been involved in 'very ugly' violence against Shi'ites, including members of the Hazara ethnic minority, beginning in the late 1990s, and the deaths of Iranian diplomats and journalists at the Iranian consulate in the northern Afghan city of Mazar-i-Sharif in 1998.

Michael Semple, a former UN official with more than two decades of experience in Afghanistan, said Fazl commanded thousands of Taliban soldiers at a time when its army carried out massacres of Shi'ites. "If you're head of an army that carries out a massacre, even if you're not actually there, you are implicated by virtue of command and control responsibility," he said.

He added: "However it does not serve the interests of justice selectively to hold Taliban to account, while so many other figures accused of past crimes are happily reintegrated in Kabul."

Some U.S. military documents - select documents have been released, others were leaked - indicate that Fazl denied being a senior Taliban official and says he only commanded 50 or 60 men. But the overall picture of his role is unclear from the documents which have become public.

Richard Kammen is an Indiana lawyer who has nominally represented Fazl; the detainee did not want an attorney.

"Based upon the public information with which I'm familiar, it would appear his role in things back in 2001 has been significantly exaggerated by the government," Kammen said.

According to the documents, Fazl and Noori surrendered to Abdul Rashid Dostum, now Afghanistan's army chief of staff but at the time a powerful warlord battling against the Taliban, in northern Afghanistan in November 2001.

While the men were being held at the historic Qala-i-Jani fortress in Mazar-i-Sharif, Taliban prisoners revolted against their captors from the Northern Alliance, the anti-Taliban coalition.

"Dostum brought (Fazl and Noori) to the bunker to ask the prisoners to surrender; detainee and (Noori) refused," the detainee assessment from a 2008 document read.

Spann, a one-time Marine captain who was sent to Afghanistan as a CIA operative in the fall of 2001, was trying to locate al Qaeda operatives at the Mazar fortress among a large group of Taliban soldiers who had surrendered, according to the CIA and media reports at the time. When the Taliban prisoners began to riot - many of them were apparently armed - Spann was surrounded and killed. After a bloody, multi-day battle his body was later found booby-trapped.

Even a loose association between Fazl and Spann's death - despite the fact there is nothing to suggest he was directly involved - is likely to increase the temperature of the debate in Washington.

What could be problematic for some Afghans is Fazl's identification with the killing of civilians in central and northern Afghanistan.

"The composition and timing of any release has got to pay attention to Northern Alliance concerns," Semple said.

Buy-in from supporters of that alliance - and from those wary of a resurgent Taliban - will be key in making a peace deal stick, if one can be had.

Despite the congressional concerns that released Taliban will return to the battlefield, Semple said it was unlikely even prisoners like Fazl - who truly was a significant military figure for the Taliban - would alter that equation.

"These people are not going to make a real contribution to the Taliban war effort even if they are able to go over to Quetta and rejoin the fight. It's not risky in battlefield terms; it's only risky in U.S. political terms."

(Additional reporting by Tabassum Zakaria, Patrick Worsnip and Jane Sutton; editing by Claudia Parsons)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111230/wl_nm/us_usa_afghanistan_detainees

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LG unveils 84-inch 'ultra definition' 4K TV it's bringing to CES 2012

LG let us know at CES 2011 that it had 4K LCD televisions in the pipeline, but unfortunately they didn't make it out this year. Expect for that to change in 2012, as the company just announced it's bringing an 84-inch "ultra definition" (3840x2160) TV to Las Vegas to go along with its 55-inch OLED. It has all of LG's Cinema 3D and Smart TV features built-in, including support for that upgraded Magic Motion remote and voice control. There's no official word yet on when we'll see these on shelves or at what price, but it certainly looks production ready compared to other prototypes that have been displayed over the years. While we don't have easy sources of 4K-res video content yet, one of the reasons LG is making the jump first is for 3D. Its Cinema 3D tech uses a Film Pattern Retarder (FPR) screen and passive glasses that result in lowered resolution, but with those extra pixels there's no question about whether viewers are still getting at least an HD picture. So far 4K at home is the domain of Sony and JVC's high-priced projectors, but we'll see if any other companies (we'll check off Toshiba right now) show off upgrades in size and resolution of their HDTVs this year. Check the press release after the break for a few more details.

Gallery: LG 4K UDTV

Continue reading LG unveils 84-inch 'ultra definition' 4K TV it's bringing to CES 2012

LG unveils 84-inch 'ultra definition' 4K TV it's bringing to CES 2012 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 28 Dec 2011 23:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/28/lg-unveils-84-inch-ultra-definition-4k-tv-its-bringing-to-ces/

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Police deaths rise sharply again

Tim O'Briant / The Standard via AP

Aiken, S.C., police investigated Dec. 20 after two officers were shot during a traffic stop. Master Officer Scotty Richardson, 33, died later.

By M. Alex Johnson, msnbc.com

For the second straight year, the number of law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty rose sharply in 2011, according to statistics released Wednesday.

Preliminary data compiled by the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund showed that 173 federal, state and local officers have been killed on the job so far this year, 13 percent more than the 153 who died in 2010 ? and 42 percent more than the 122 officers who were killed in 2009.

The memorial fund, a nonprofit group that runs the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington, attributed the steep rise to "drastic budget cuts" that "have put our officers at grave risk."

---

Police "are facing a more cold-blooded criminal element and fighting a war on terror," but "we are cutting vital resources necessary to ensure their safety," said Craig Floyd, the fund's chairman.

The leading cause of death was gunfire, which has killed 68 officers this year, just one short of the decade-long high of 69 in 2007.

One of them was Scotty Richardson, 33, a master officer with the Aiken, S.C., police, who was buried Tuesday in a flag-draped coffin. Richardson died after he was shot in the head Dec. 20 during a nighttime traffic stop. His partner was also shot and survived, NBC station WAGT of Augusta, Ga., reported.

WAGT-TV: Life of Officer Scotty Richardson celebrated

Aiken Department of Public Safety

Aiken, S.C., Master Public Safety Officer Scotty Richardson

Police charged Stephon Carter, 19, with murder and attempted murder.

Aiken Public Safety Director Pete Frommer said Richardson held the title "master officer" because of his diligence and sheer hard work.

"He had an additional 1,460 hours of advanced training," Frommer said. "Everybody can't do that."

Aiken Mayor Fred Cavanaugh said the ceremony was first time in a long while that a tragedy of such magnitude had hit his community.

"We're going to move forward, and it's sad that this happened, and we never want it to happen again," Cavanaugh said.

This is the first time in 13 years that shootings outpaced traffic incidents as the leading cause of officers' deaths, the police fund reported, which Linda Moon Gregory, president of Concerns of Police Survivors, a nonprofit interest group, blamed on inadequate training and equipment.

"At a time when criminals have the latest technology and weapons, we must ensure that our peace officers are adequately equipped and protected," Gregory said in a statement.

The most officers were killed in large states,?such as?Texas and California, and states in the South, seven of which were in the top 13:

• Florida 14
• Texas 13
• New York 11
• California 10
• Georgia 10
• Tennessee 7
• North Carolina 7
• Missouri 6
• Ohio 6
• Arizona 5
• Louisiana 5
• New Jersey 5
• Michigan 5
• Virginia 5

Read the full report

NBC station WAGT of Augusta, Ga., contributed to this report.

Follow M. Alex Johnson on Twitter and Facebook

More content from msnbc.com and NBC News:

Source: http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/12/28/9775223-police-deaths-rise-sharply-again

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Father of slain girl says he's overcome with grief

FILE -- This undated file photo provided by the Allen County Sheriff's Department shows Aliahna Lemmon. Lemmon, 9, has been found dead, and the neighbor who was watching her before she disappeared was arrested on a murder charge Monday night, Dec. 26, 2011, authorities said. (AP Photo/Allen County Sheriff's Department/file)

FILE -- This undated file photo provided by the Allen County Sheriff's Department shows Aliahna Lemmon. Lemmon, 9, has been found dead, and the neighbor who was watching her before she disappeared was arrested on a murder charge Monday night, Dec. 26, 2011, authorities said. (AP Photo/Allen County Sheriff's Department/file)

Map of Indiana shows location of girl???s murder.

In a Sunday, Dec. 25, 2011 photo, Mike Plumadore sits next to the chair Aliahna Lemmon, 9, was last seen before she went missing on Friday. Authorities said Monday night, Dec. 26, 2011 that Aliahna Lemmon had been found dead and Plumadore, 39, who was watching Aliahna and her two sisters when she went missing Friday, was being held on a murder charge. He and Aliahna's family lived in the same mobile home park in Fort Wayne. He will be formally charged with murder Tuesday, Dec. 27, 2011. (AP Photo/The Journall-Gazette, Cathie Rowand) NEWS-SENTINEL OUT

Ron Penn takes a knee in a moment of silence in front of a makeshift shrine with stuffed Teddy bears at the Northway mobile home park in Fort Wayne, Ind. on Tuesday evening, Dec. 27, 2011 during a candlelight vigil for 9-year-old Aliahna Lemmon. A babysitter and trusted neighbor has confessed that he bludgeoned Lemmon to death with a brick then dismembered her, hiding her head, hands and feet at a home where he was staying and dumping the rest of her remains nearby, police said Tuesday. (AP Photo/The Journal Gazette, Swikar Patel)

A makeshift shrine with stuffed Teddy bears pays mute tribute at the Northway mobile home park in Fort Wayne, Ind. on Tuesday evening, Dec. 27, 2011 during a candlelight vigil. A babysitter and trusted neighbor has confessed that he bludgeoned a 9-year-old Indiana girl to death with a brick then dismembered her, hiding her head, hands and feet at a home where he was staying and dumping the rest of her remains nearby, police said Tuesday. (AP Photo/The Journal Gazette, Swikar Patel)

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (AP) ? The father of a 9-year-old girl who was found bludgeoned and dismembered said Wednesday that he knew the man accused of killing his daughter and had no reason to distrust him.

"I can't talk about it because I'm still coping with it. It's too hard to talk about," Dawayne Maroney of Centerville, Iowa, said in a brief telephone interview with The Associated Press, adding that the gruesome slaying has him overcome with grief.

Maroney said he hadn't recently talked with his daughter, Aliahna Lemmon, or her mother, because they frequently changed their phone number. Maroney said he knew the man accused of killing his daughter, 39-year-old Michael Plumadore, through his daughter's mother, Tarah Souders.

Maroney said he trusted Plumadore.

"I had no reason to suspect anything," he said.

Plumadore faces a preliminary charge of murder. He made a brief initial court appearance on Tuesday where he was ordered held without bond. He is due back in court Friday morning. According to a probable cause affidavit, Plumadore admitted to killing Aliahna in the early morning hours of Dec. 22 by repeatedly striking her in the head with a brick.

Court records do not show that Plumadore has an attorney yet, said Danielle Edenfield, Allen County prosecutor's office chief investigator. The Associated Press asked the Allen County Sheriff's Department to pass along a request to Plumadore seeking an interview.

Also Wednesday, Allen County Coroner E. Jon Brandenberger said he won't be able to determine the cause of death for Aliahna until further tests are completed, including microscopic findings and toxicology results.

"All of which are integral parts of the autopsy and all of which play significant roles in the accurate determination of the cause of death," he said.

According to the probable cause affidavit, Plumadore told authorities he put the girl's body inside trash bags and put it in a freezer in the trailer he lived in that formerly belonged to the girl's grandfather, who died earlier this month. Plumadore told authorities that later that day and early on Dec. 23 he used a hack saw to dismember the girl's body.

Brandenberger said parts of the girl's body were found in a trash container outside a convenience store ? the same store where a surveillance camera video showed Plumadore went early Friday to buy a cigar. Plumadore told authorities he hid her head, hands and feet in the freezer at her grandfather's trailer.

In Indiana, Aliahna's family remained quiet a day after gruesome details of her death were revealed by authorities. Aliahna Lemmon's step-grandfather, David Story, told The Associated Press that the Allen County Sheriff's Department and the FBI told family members not to talk to anyone about her death. He says they didn't give a reason.

"They just said any questions needed to be directed through them," Story said.

FBI agent David Crawford said agents had told the family they would prefer it if they didn't speak to the media. Sheriff's department spokesman Cpl. Jeremy Tinkel said his department hadn't ordered the family not to talk, saying it didn't have the power to, but confirmed deputies had told the family they would prefer it if they didn't talk to the media.

"We're not their attorney and we certainly can't put a gag order on anybody. I think they were told it may be in the best interest of protecting the integrity of the case to limit what you say," he said.

Tinkel and Edenfield said they could not comment on a possible motive for the murder.

"I can't comment on a pending investigation," Edenfield said.

Maroney said he plans to attend the funeral, although he doesn't yet know when it will be. The Daily Iowegian in Centreville ran a story that it was helping to raise money to help Maroney attend the funeral.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2011-12-28-Indiana-Girl's%20Death/id-b78dfd02d9de457eb9acb12809869b48

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Ford Focus Electric

.

A terceira gera??o do Focus ? a mais bonita de todas at? agora. Lembra um pouco a gera??o anterior, mas tem v?rias coisas diferentes. Esta terceira gera??o ? a base do Focus Electric, vers?o totalmente el?trica que come?ou a ser vendida este ano, ainda que de maneira limitada. 2012 o Focus Electric estar? dispon?vel em mais estados americanos, ainda em 2012, dependendo da procura e produ??o, est? previsto a chegada do carro ? Europa. Aqui no Brasil? Acho dif?cil. Se vier, vem como show car, como a GM fez com o Volt.

O que o FFE (Ford Focus Electric) tem de especial, al?m de ser el?trico? Bom, ele tem um conjunto de baterias de l?tio-?on de 23kWh que ? refrigerada por um l?quido. J? o motor el?trico ? de 100 kW (cerca de 130hp), mas acaba fazendo apenas 92 kW (ou 125 ps) e torque aproximado de 25 kgfm. A autonomia da bateria garante cerca de 160 km e a velocidade m?xima ? de 135 km/h.

A bateria foi desenvolvida em parceria da LG e leva 4 horas para ser recarregado utilizando um carregador de 6.6 kW de 240v. Se a voltagem baixar para 110v o tempo de carga total na bateria sobe para 20 horas.

E o pre?o? O pre?o ? uma tristeza. O modelo movido ? gasolina nos EUA fica em torno de 17-23 mil d?lares. J? o modelo el?trico, fica na casa dos 40 mil d?lares. Claro que ainda tem incentivos do governo federal e estadual nos EUA, o que faz o carro baixar at? 10 mil d?lares, mas ainda assim, caro se comparado ao modelo ? gasolina.

Esta compara??o ? muito ruim, pois o consumidor vai saber que o carro ? mais caro. A Ford pode ter errado em sua estrat?gia, ou n?o. GM e Nissan criaram carros novos exatamente para evitar esta compara??o, j? a Ford aproveitou um projeto de engenharia pronto e adaptou o motor el?trico e baterias.

Voltando ao carro, a Ford fez com ele o que anda fazendo com seus demais carros. Banho de tecnologia. No caso do FFE, os freios s?o regenerativos e recarregam as baterias quando se est? pressionando o pedal para diminuir a velocidade do carro. Conectividade com o seu smartphone tamb?m est? na lista do ?banho?. Atrav?s dele voc? pode ver a carga da bateria entre outras fun??es. Por fim, o painel interno de instrumentos e no console central tem indica??es de como o carro est? funcionando.

?

Com informa??es da Wikip?dia.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/bernabauer/~3/M91ZABSYVkE/

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My Wedding Concierge Search Engine

If you?re hoping your honey pops the question this Christmas, or perhaps you?re already sporting a sparkler that will put New Year?s Eve to shame, you need to get ready for your upcoming I do?s! ?As Featured on The Wall Street Journal, My Wedding Concierge is ?the ULTIMATE wedding search engine. Easily search through hundreds of thousands of inspiration boards, articles, gowns, and ideas for your wedding.? ?Say no to stress, yes to the dress, and ?let me think about it? to Aunt Mildred singing ?O Promise Me,? and allow this site help you get to the alter with the wedding of your dreams!

Photograph credit by Cake Opera Co.

About Sandra Baumgarten

Sandra Baumgarten writes about dessert recipes & trends here. She also enjoys blogging about her kitchen adventures on her personal blog, Hearty Appletite. Fun Fact: She has eaten a bowl of chocolate chip mint ice cream nearly every signle night for the past 10 years.

Source: http://bestfriendsforfrosting.com/2011/12/my-wedding-concierge/

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Chinese FM to visit three African countries

2011-12-27 08:23:31 GMT2011-12-27 16:23:31(Beijing Time) ?Xinhua English

BEIJING, Dec. 27 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi will visit Cote d'Ivoire, Niger and Namibia from Jan. 2 to 7, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said Tuesday.

Hong said Yang was invited by Daniel Kablan Duncan, State Minister of Foreign Affairs of Cote d'Ivoire, Nigerien Minister of Foreign Affairs Bazoum Mohamed, and Namibian Minister of Foreign Affairs Utoni Nujoma, respectively.

Source: http://english.sina.com/china/2011/1227/426643.html

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Convert from Vista Home Premium to Windows 7

Resolved question

Convert from Vista Home Premium to Windows 7

by BB4ALL - 12/25/11 5:54 AM

Hi,
I am in a quandary and need some advice. I want to upgrade my present Vista 32 bit Home Edition to the Windows 7 Home Edition 32 bit. I already conformed with the windows advisor that my system is ready for the Windows 7 upgrade, but I see that there are two options that I can purchase Windows 7 Home Edition and Windows 7 Home Edition N. Can you tell me the difference between the two and will it be beneficial for me to upgrade. I have had nothing but trouble trying to install Windows Office 2010 over the trial Windows Office 2007 recently and this is still not working properly despite contacting MS Store for advice. Why don't MS offer programs that can be directly downloaded from their site and will operate correctly after installation. I didn't know that a complete uninstall of Office 2007 was necessary before installing 2010 and I don't want a repeat performance in the change over to Windows 7. Any help would be much appreciated.

Source: http://forums.cnet.com/7723-12546_102-551259.html

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Stressed Chinese fight back with pillows

SHANGHAI - A whirlwind of pillows bearing the names of bosses and teachers filled the air as hundreds of Chinese gathered to blow off stress in Shanghai, staging a massive pillow battle.

The annual event marked its fifth year with such a surge in interest from stressed young office workers and students that organizers held two nights of pillow fighting before Christmas Day and plan another for Dec 30.

"Nowadays there are many white collar workers and students that are facing huge pressures at work and at school, so we hope to give them an outlet to release their stress before the end of the year," said Eleven Wang, the founder and mastermind behind the epic pillow fights.

"Sometimes we have pressure on us by our bosses, teachers and exams, so today we can go crazy. Everyone will get to write onto the pillows the names of their bosses, teachers and exam subjects, and enjoy and vent to the maximum," he added.

"After releasing the stress, we can once again face our daily life with joy."

Pillows were handed out at the door as participants entered, then emotion stoked by a rock concert, with many on the floor of the huge event space rocking and waving their pillows in time to the music.

Then came the fighting.

Pillows filled the air, with many combatants opting for throwing rather than using them to whack opponents. A few hapless participants shielded their heads with as many pillows as they could hold, but most ventured eagerly in to the fray.

"I really enjoyed the fight, but my friend was useless. He joined in for two ticks and could not go on, he was afraid of getting beaten by other people," said 24-year-old Chen Yi.

"I thought it was pretty meaningful. I've just been working so much (at the office) and never get to break out in a sweat, so it felt really good."

Others gamely said they enjoyed the experience even though they ended up as attackees rather than attackers.

"I don't know who pushed me, but all of a sudden I was in the pile of pillows, where I became the target of many people, and was beaten by all sorts of people," said university student Zhu Shishan. "Very meaningful."

? Copyright (c) Postmedia News

Source: http://feeds.canada.com/~r/canwest/F7791/~3/5giQvB2pIKk/story.html

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Veterans Affairs launches 152 Facebook pages

Veterans Affairs launches 152 Facebook pages

Friday, December 23, 2011, 01:01 AM - News Stories U.S. Agency Expands Facebook Presence For Veterans. U.S. armed service members returning from active duty can stay connected to local government health services on Facebook, thanks to a new social media strategy deployed by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. The federal agency launched 152 individual Facebook pages for each hospital in the VA system...
(AllFacebook)

Where?s Santa? Military trackers stand by to give updates. The military base has been telling anxious children about Santa?s whereabouts every year since 1955. That was the year a Colorado Springs newspaper ad invited kids to call Santa on a hotline, but the number had a mistake, and dozens of kids wound up talking to the Continental Aerospace Defence Command, Norad?s predecessor...
(The Star)

ElBaradei says Twitter account hacked. Presidential hopeful Mohamed ElBaradei said Thursday that his Twitter account was hacked and his posts about the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) were deleted. ElBaradei tweeted Thursday at 10:19 am about the incident, saying, "The truth never dies." He did not specify when his account was allegedly hacked...
(Al-Masry Al-Youm)

US and Taliban in Twitter war. The US military and the Taliban are fighting a war 140 characters at a time on Twitter. US military officials and two Taliban spokesmen are battling for social media supremacy, The Washington Post reports. The International Security Assistance Force began in September, when @isafmedia tweeted "How much longer will terrorists put innocent Afghans in harms way?'' as Taliban forces rained rockets and gunfire on the US embassy in Kabul...
(News.com.au)

U.S. Considers Shutting Down Somalia Terrorist Twitter. The U.S. government is "looking closely" at possible measures to counter a Somalian militant group's Twitter use, sparking debate over fighting terrorism and free speech. According to the New York Times, U.S. officials aren't disclosing possible actions, but is possibly exploring legal options to shut down the Twitter account "HSMPress," which claims to be the press office of Harakat al-Shabab al-Mujahedeen, the Shabab's full name...
(Mobiledia)

Danville historian pens part of Civil War series. A local Civil War historian has had the honor of contributing to a five-volume series on the Civil War. Lawrence McFall wrote an essay entitled ?To Danville: A Government on Wheels,? one of eight essays featured in the book ?Virginia at War 1865.? The book is the final of the series, each volume of which deals with an individual year of the Civil War (1861-1865)...
(GoDanRiver.com)

Bahrain frees blogger on bail, to reinstate workers. Bahrain, under pressure to improve its right record to secure a purchase of U.S. arms, said on Tuesday it freed on bail a Shi'ite female blogger arrested last week and would reinstate state employees suspended following pro-democracy protests...
(Reuters)

Witness Ties Bradley Manning to Wikileaks. Adrian Lamo, 30, told the court Tuesday that Manning confessed to leaking hundreds of thousands of top-secret documents in an encrypted chat under the handle Bradass87.Though defense counsel called them "alleged chats," Lamo said the handle Bradass87 appeared on his Facebook page with his photographs and biographical information...
(Courthouse News Service)

Sarajevans moved by Angelina Jolie war film. Sarajevans among the first filmgoers to see Angelina Jolie's directorial debut, a Bosnian wartime love story, came away deeply moved from a special screening in their city. "The movie is very realistic, moving and hard to watch for someone who was here during the war. I am very emotional," Sabira Sokolovic said...
(NDTV)

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Terrorist Twitter pages should be taken down

Wednesday, December 21, 2011, 04:27 AM - Twitter, News Stories This week, a lot of news sites and blogs are talking about the Twitter accounts of terrorist organizations like that of Somalia's al-Shabab, which I wrote about earlier in the month.? Al-Shabab joined after Kenyan military spokesman Major Emmanuel Chirchir?made headlines on Twitter for warning Somali civilians of imminent attacks.

Instead of the news sites and blogs talking about the account as if it?s some neat online novelty, the focus is finally on whether the account is a threat.

Uri Friedman over at Foreign Policy?s Passport blog has a good roundup of the online discussion that has been taking place.

In fact, it's recruitment -- not rebranding -- that has the Obama administration worried about al-Shabab's new Twitter presence. When the group first launched the account, Wired noted that "journalists, terrorism researchers, and aid workers make up the lion's share of its early followers, not eager Muslim youth." But the New York Times reports today that officials across the U.S. government are concerned that al-Shabab's account, which now boasts over 5,000 followers, could reach potential recruits in the West with its scathing and sophisticated English-language tweeting. "American officials say they may have the legal authority to demand that Twitter close the Shabab's account," the paper explains (Twitter declined to comment).?

If the government does indeed pursue legal action, the Times notes, it could open up a "debate about over the line between free speech and support for terrorism." And, indeed, the debate is already underway. In what appears to be a response to the Times piece today, al-Shabab tweeted, "With millions of websites & newspapers disseminating their propaganda, the #US couldn't endure to hear the real truth. What a travesty!" (The group also called an earlier Times article on its Twitter account an "elaborate, sentimental piece of writing accentuating the oft-repeated canard that passes for #Journalism these days.")
Me, personally, I?m all for shutting down Al-Shabab?s account.

Like I?ve posted about before, Twitter has been allowing other terrorist organizations like the Taliban to freely post hateful messages in violation of Twitter?s own TOS.?

It is disturbing. See here, here, here and here.

Of course, Twitter?s approach to this whole matter is to do nothing, fully knowing that terrorists are among its users.

The company is swift to take down user accounts for posting duplicate messages or other minor rule violations, but accounts that promote violence are allowed to remain.

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Civil War Diary reveals a poet and other news

Wednesday, December 21, 2011, 01:25 AM - News Stories Diary reveals a poet in Civil War soldier?s uniform. South Harwich, Mass. resident Ebenezer Smalley was 25 when he left his Cape Cod home to serve the Union in 1864. It was the signing bonus that prompted him to join, part of the funds needed to build a home for his wife and child. He didn?t survive. Smalley was sent home to die from wounds the doctors could not heal, seven months after he left. His diary was recently donated to the Harwich Historical Society...
(The Washington Post)

Video of Egyptian Women?s March in Cairo. As my colleague David Kirkpatrick reports, ?Thousands of women marched through downtown Cairo on Tuesday evening to call for the end of military rule in an extraordinary expression of anger over images of soldiers beating, stripping and kicking a female demonstrator on the pavement of Tahrir Square.? Omar Kamel, an activist and blogger, posted this video of the march on YouTube...
(New York Times)

Military Wives have the Xmas Factor. And today the Military Wives choir celebrated their single becoming the fastest-selling song for six years with a live performance in Oxford Street. Crowds gathered outside HMV as 25 members of the 100-strong choir performed carols including Away in a Manger and O Little Town of Bethlehem. They are virtually guaranteed to top the charts for Christmas after selling 242,000 of their track, Wherever You Are, in two days...
(London Evening Standard)

Twitter Denies Yet Another Censorship Accusation. Yesterday, Business Insider contributor David Seaman posted an item titled, "Welcome to the United Police States of America, Sponsored By Twitter." Any headline that can combine Twitter with an appeal to the paranoia of Internet libertarians everywhere is a sure-fire hit, and this one was, too: Business Insider's hit counter suggests that Seaman's post has already garnered over 70,000 views. The thing is that Seaman's post appears to be flat-out wrong. Seaman argues on Business Insider that his stentorian writing and tweeting about the National Defense Authorization Act, a bill that has civil libertarians concerned about several expansions of military authority, led Twitter to suspend his account...
(TechPresident)

Ex-hacker testifies about reporting U.S. Army leaks suspect. The 24-year-old Manning is charged with downloading thousands of classified or confidential files from the military's Secret Internet Protocol Router Network, or SIPRNet. Those files are thought to have later appeared on WikiLeaks, a whistleblower website. Former hacker Adrian Lamo said Manning initially contacted him by email in May 2010 and the two began an online conversation about diplomatic cables and military video the Army private allegedly downloaded from the classified network he used as a member of the 10th Mountain Division in Iraq...
(Reuters)

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Facebook releases military social media guide

Tuesday, December 20, 2011, 04:27 AM - Milblogging/Op Sec Guidelines

Facebook has released its own social media guide for military families. ?The organization Blue Star Families helped to develop the guide in hopes of showing people how best to use Facebook, while navigating operational and personal security issues. ?

A Q&A was posted on the Facebook post announcing the guide's release. Don Paul, a former Marine who is also Facebook's Vice President of Online Operations, answered why he thought it was a good time to release the guide.

"We thought the holiday season was the best time to release the guide since it can be a challenging time for many military families, who may have a family member deployed or are stationed far from home. We hope that the guide gives military families tips and best practices for using Facebook and will help them share the holidays with friends and family no matter where they are located."

The guide is only about?9-pages of information and is divided into six sections called: 6 ways military families can use social media and maintain security.

But it really should be called: 6 ways military families can use Facebook.?

1. Stay in touch with family and friends.
2. Stay informed of DoD, branch and unit policies and relevant information.
3. Learn to maintain Operational Security by knowing what to and what not to communicate.
4. Learn to maintain Personal Security on Facebook through privacy and account settings.
5. Thank your military family and friends and stay up-to-date on Facebook resources.
6. Use Facebook as a professional development resource.

The guide isn?t anything new in terms of understanding op sec guidelines, but it?s useful for Facebook users, especially considering the social networking site has had its own share of privacy issues.

The DoD has been publishing its own guides for years, which can be found at the DoD Social Media Hub.

To download Facebook?s social media guide, go here.

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Twitter war heating up for U.S. military

Tuesday, December 20, 2011, 03:58 AM - Twitter, News Stories

U.S. military, Taliban use Twitter to wage war. U.S. officials have grown increasingly concerned about extremists? stepped-up activity on social media sites, citing cases in which Americans have been recruited online by terrorists overseas. The House Homeland Security subcommittee on counterterrorism and intelligence convened a hearing this month on how jihadists were using social media. ?Terrorist networks are spreading their message, recruiting sympathizers and are connecting operationally online,? subcommittee chairman Patrick Meehan (R-Pa.) said in opening remarks, according to a transcript. Although the Taliban is not the only extremist group on Twitter, it appears to be the only one exchanging regular tweets with the U.S. military...
(The Washington Post)

Palm Bay soldier in top 'Time' photos. The photo represents only a split second of soldier Michael Miller?s deployment to Afghanistan, but it?s one that his family hopes will be a lasting symbol of war?s reality. Miller, a 23-year-old Army specialist from Palm Bay, was patrolling with his infantry brigade near the Pakistan border when bullets pierced the leaves around them. In the ambush?s first minute, a sergeant was shot...
(Floriday Today)

Iranian blogger slams 'spy' confessions. An Iranian blogger on Monday slammed the Iranian intelligence agency for using outdated scare tactics by coercing alleged spies to confess on national TV, without providing any evidence that ties them to the act. The criticism comes a day after Iranian national TV aired a "confession" of an Iranian-American citizen, who admitted to being recruited by the CIA, and worked with the British and Israeli secret service to gather intelligence about Iran...
(Ynetnews)

Social Media and Syria?s Revolution. As thousands of Syrian protesters have poured into the streets to call for the end to autocratic rule, some Syrians have been tasked with a more specific work: to topple the government of President Bashar al-Assad. Using mobile phones and small cameras everyday, a group of Syrians have risked their lives to film crackdowns on protesters by the government?s armed and security forces. The images have been uploaded on websites such as Facebook and YouTube to keep the world informed of events during this difficult time in many parts of the country...
(Rudaw)

Law Enforcement Warns of Rise in "Relative in Distress" Scams. Los Angeles County residents are being warned of an increase in the number of reports by victims of telephone scams where a caller impersonates a family member in distress. According to law enforcement, the scam goes like this: the victim is contacted by an individual claiming to be a relative in some sort of distress...
(WalnutPatch)

Twitter Wins $300 Million Alwaleed Investment. Twitter Inc., the microblogging service with more than 100 million users, received a $300 million investment from Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal as it pushes through a redesign of its site to attract advertisers. ?Alwaleed, who leads the 2011 Arab Rich List, and his investment company agreed to buy a ?strategic stake? in Twitter, Kingdom Holding said today. A strategic holding means more than 3 percent, Ahmed Halawani, a Kingdom Holding director, said in an interview. That would give the San Francisco-based company a valuation exceeding $10 billion...
(Bloomberg)

Popular Kim Jong Il photo blog may continue. Most of us don't know much about Kim Jong Il, the reclusive North Korean leader who died Saturday. But thanks to a cult-favorite blog, we do know this: That country's "Dear Leader" spent countless hours visiting stores, factories and plantations and gazing stoically from behind his trademark sunglasses upon various things -- soldiers, machinery, livestock and lots and lots of food...
(ClickOn Detroit)

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The Facebook Revolutions and other news

Monday, December 19, 2011, 04:04 AM - News Stories In case you missed it, here?s a look at some of the top military and social media stories?over the past few days from around the web.

The Facebook Revolutions: One Year On. Saturday marked the one year anniversary of when a 26-year-old Tunisian fruit and vegetable street vendor named Mohamed Bouazizi fatally lit himself on fire in protest of government oppression, sparking a year of regime-ending revolutions many believe were sustained and nurtured by social media...
(The Daily Caller)

For a soldier's family, Skype and Facebook help during holidays. It should have been a scene ready-made for one of those sappy Hallmark commercials: a military mom based in Afghanistan using Skype to help her kids decorate the Christmas tree in their Ben Avon home. And for a few minutes, the laptop reunion on video chat was pretty picture-perfect, with Lt. Col. Chris Cieslak playfully directing her children where to hang certain ornaments on the tree in the dining room while her husband of 14 years, Jeff, looked on. Then, as family events so often do during the holidays, they quickly unraveled...
(post-gazette)

Military Academies Look to Fill Nation?s Cybersecurity Gaps. The rise of all things cybersecurity has been accompanied by a collective groaning that there is a shortage of personnel skilled enough to protect critical government and military networks. The Defense Department is under constant attack from hackers, and officials said they need to do a better job of recruiting Internet security experts to stop them...
(National Defense Magazine)

Welcome To The United Police States of America, Sponsored By Twitter. Imagine my surprise this morning when, without warning, my shiny new Twitter account (@d_seaman) was suspended and taken offline. No more tweets for you. You now have 0 followers. My crime? Talking too much about Occupy Wall Street...
(Business Insider)

Army Arrested Manning Based on Unconfirmed Chat Logs. The military arrested alleged WikiLeaks source Bradley Manning last year in Iraq based in large part on unconfirmed information that former hacker Adrian Lamo had gleaned from his chats with Manning, according to the government?s first witness in Manning?s hearing...
(Wired)

Defense cites Bradley Manning?s emotional, gender issues at Wikileaks hearing.? A struggle with emotional problems and even his gender may affect the culpability of an Army private accused of leaking thousands of classified military reports and diplomatic cables to Wikileaks, the defense argued at a preliminary hearing here Saturday...
(Politico)

Private Bradley Manning wanted to call himself 'Breanna' on Twitter, US military court is told. In a confrontational second day to the hearing that precedes the 24-year-old's full trial, the court heard for the first time about "Breanna Manning" - the female identity that the young soldier sometimes used while posted as an intelligence officer at an American base in Iraq...
(Telegraph)

Welcome Your Soldier Home on Patch. After nearly a decade, the Iraq war is officially over as of Saturday night. Top U.S. officials have said all military personnel in Iraq will be home by the end of the year. Most will be out by Christmas. Collingswood Patch wants to know about your loved ones who served in Iraq...
(Collingswood Patch)

Video Shows Egyptian Soldiers Beating and Shooting at Protesters. As our colleague David Kirkpatrick reports from Cairo, Egyptian soldiers chased down and beat unarmed civilians on Saturday, even while the prime minister appointed by the military ?was denying in a televised news conference that security forces were using any force.?
(New York Times)

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Army Cpt. builds iPhone app for artillery

Monday, December 19, 2011, 01:57 AM - News Stories This is a neat to story to follow that appeared on Bloomberg earlier this week.

At Camp Blessing in Afghanistan?s Pech Valley, some American soldiers played ?Angry Birds? on their iPhones when off-duty. Jonathan Springer decided to put his device to a different use: building an app to help fight the Taliban.

?I wanted to give something back to soldiers that might help save their lives,? Springer, 32, said in an interview from his base at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

The result is Tactical Nav, an iPhone application the U.S. Army captain built with $30,000 of his savings and a maxed-out credit card a year ago. The $5.99 app uses GPS technology and the iPhone?s camera to chart coordinates and guide artillery fire. It has been downloaded about 8,000 times by U.S., Canadian and Australian soldiers, as well as hunters and hikers, Springer said.

Read the entire story here.

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How do journalists cope with war?

Saturday, December 17, 2011, 06:32 AM - News Stories GUEST COMMENTARY: When war journalists come home. With U.S. military involvement in Iraq ending and troops coming home, news coverage rightfully focuses on the lives of these men and women and their adjustment to noncombat roles. Notable stories document the challenges facing veterans who cope with physical and mental health injuries, including depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. However, what is typically missing in the analysis of postwar issues are accounts of the print and broadcast journalists who have spent extended time embedded with troops and borne witness to death and destruction while working in harm's way...
(nwitimes)

Sign of the Times. As politicians in Washington declare the war in Iraq officially over, the vast majority of Americans, regardless of their political stance on the eight and a half year conflict, feel a deep sense of gratitude for the hundreds of thousands of men and women who fought there. We live in a noble, patriotic nation that knows how to thank those who volunteer to defend America. The New York Times, on the other hand, is treating this historic day as an occasion to smear our military. From the current front page of its website, which has a sub-headline of "An Unpopular Conflict Comes to an Uncertain End," to the print version's incendiary, inaccurate Dec. 15 front page story, the Times has made clear that it will continue to attack our troops in the name of "journalism."
(The Unknown Soldiers)

Rangers Give New Army Radio, Smartphone First Combat Test. Army Rangers in Afghanistan are now carrying new radios and tactical smartphones that allow them to track each other's position when their teammates are out of sight. Units from the Army's elite 75th Ranger Regiment have deployed to Afghanistan with the AN/PRC-154 Rifleman Radio -- a device developed under the Joint Tactical Radio System program, or JTRS -- that will connect them to the Army's tactical network, according to officials from Joint Program Executive Office JTRS...
(Military.com)

Al Jazeera producer detained, beaten during Egypt clashes. The military advanced, then retreated, but all the while attacking protesters and foreign journalists alike. Evan Hill, an online producer for Al Jazeera, was caught in the chaos, detained and beaten, activists reported on Friday early afternoon. According to fellow Al Jazeera produce Adam Makary, writing on Twitter, said he was ?beaten by military police. His phone, camera and passport confiscated...?
(Bikya Masr)

With Obama Prepared to Sign, Pennsylvania Senators Get ?TwitterBombed? over Defense Bill. President Barack Obama said yesterday he was backpeddling on his months-long threat to veto the National Defense Authorization Act, which, many contend, gives the U.S. military the right to indefinitely detain U.S. citizens as part of the war on terror. As we?ve noted, both Pennsylvania senators Bob Casey and Pat Toomey not only voted in favor of the $662 billion NDAA, but against two amendments which would have removed or edited Sections 1031 and 1032, which include vague language on the detention of terrorism suspects...
(Philadelphia Weekly)

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Soldier's death spreads quickly via Facebook

Friday, December 16, 2011, 03:45 AM - News Stories According to the Orlando Sentinel, Jalfred D. Vaquerano, 20, died December 13th from injuries he suffered during a firefight in Afghanistan.

The story of Vaquerano?s final days was chronicled by his fianc? on Facebook.

The Sentinel writes:

"I'll never be Mrs. Vaquerano," Madden wrote on her Facebook wall, after sitting at his bedside at the Landsthul Regional Medical Center in Germany. "I'll never have a chance to walk down the aisle towards him...I'll never be able to have beautiful green-eyed babies with the love of my life. I'll never be able to grow old with the one person on earth who made me so happy? I've lost everything."

Madden, 20, also of Apopka, chronicled the final days of Vaquerano's life on her Facebook wall after she and his mother flew to Germany upon receiving word Sunday he had been severely wounded in Logar province. He suffered injuries from small arms fire in the mountainous region south of Kabul, an area known for Taliban resistance.

On Tuesday, Madden wrote that Vaquerano had been pronounced brain dead.

"The last words I said to him were 'I can't wait to be your wife,' and his were 'Me either, I love you,'" Madden wrote in a note to friends and family.

Vaquerano was assigned to the 1st Battalion of the 41st Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team of the 1st Armored Division out of Fort Bliss, Texas. Neither Madden, nor members of Vaquerano's family could be reached for comment Wednesday.

News of his death spread quickly through a memorial page on Facebook ? "Pray for Jalfred Vaquerano, US Army" ? that quickly filled with page after page of postings. The network of care included his classmates who had attended Forest Lake Academy, a Seventh-day Adventist boarding school.

More here.

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Army Contracting Command embraces New Media

Friday, December 16, 2011, 02:46 AM - News Stories Army Contracting Command embraces new media. The U.S. Army Contracting Command and several of its subordinate organizations have embraced social media to help tell the ACC story. According to Art Forster, director of the ACC Office of Public and Congressional Affairs, the command began experimenting with social media in 2009. Since then, web and social media have become a vital part of ACC?s public affairs strategy. ?Ten years ago, websites were the latest and greatest in communications tools. Today we?ve shifted our philosophy ? rather than trying to get the public to come to us, we go to them. Statistically, social networking sites are where people spend most of their online time. Utilizing social media, we are able to share our news and information with both our folks and the general public,? Forster said.
(FtLeavenworthLamp.com)

Report: Marine Corps inflated Medal of Honor recipient's story. The Marine Corps promoted an exaggerated and unsubstantiated account of the actions that led to Sgt. Dakota Meyer receiving the Medal of Honor, including details contained in a narrative published the day the award was announced, according to an investigative report published Wednesday. The Corps' narrative of the battle was posted on the Corps' website on Aug. 12 as the White House announced the award. It credits Meyer with saving the lives of 13 U.S. service members and 23 Afghan forces in a fierce firefight on Sept. 8, 2009, in Ganjgal, Afghanistan...
(USA Today)

FBI warns of ?relative in distress? scam. For three Los Angeles-area grandparents who received calls about their loved ones, the voice on the other end of the phone was adamant and fear-inducing. One was told their grandchild was in jail or in a terrible car accident. Callers said they needed money to pay for legal bills or operations. Collectively, the grandparents wired $30,000 to overseas accounts in countries that included Lebanon, Spain, Canada, the Dominican Republic and Peru...
(Los Angeles Times)

Iraq's War Stories. Tracking the war has also occupied American journalism for the past nine years, at extraordinary cost -- both physical and financial. The war has claimed the lives of 145 journalists, including U.S. journalists such as The Atlantic's Michael Kelly, NBC News's David Bloom, and freelancer Steven Vincent. But it was also the sheer cost of protecting reporters and moving about the country that drove many media organizations out of the country: At the peak of the war, for example, the New York Times bureau in Baghdad cost an estimated $3 million a year to maintain and featured 45 armed guards, three armored cars, and a blast wall...
(Foreign Policy)

WikiLeaks Suspect's Trial Near Super-Secure NSA.? The military intelligence complex an hour outside Washington where the WikiLeaks case goes to court this week is known as a cloak-and-dagger sanctum off-limits to the public ? a reputation that's only partly true. Maryland's Fort Meade is, for the most part, an ordinary Army post, its 5,000-acres mostly made up of neat rows of army barracks and homes, a PX, and a golf course...
(NPR)

US urges Egypt to reconsider blogger verdict. The United States on Thursday urged Egypt's interim military rulers to reconsider a military court's verdict to jail a blogger for two years after he criticized the army. "We are very concerned about reports that the military court has again sentenced (Michael Nabil) to prison for criticizing the Egyptian Armed Forces," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters...
(AFP)

Egyptian blogger jailed for two years for insulting army. An Egyptian military court on Wednesday sentenced a blogger to two years in prison for insulting the army.? Maikel Nabil was granted an exceptional retrial after a military court initially gave him a three-year jail sentence in April...
(Monsters and Critics)

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Lackland investigates Facebook casket photo

Thursday, December 15, 2011, 04:26 AM - News Stories According to the Air Force Times, the commander of the 37th Training Group at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, has launched an investigation into a photo of airmen posing with an open casket, that first appeared on Facebook in October.

The photo, which can be seen on MilitaryTimes.com,?was emailed to the Air Force Times on Monday.

For lack of a better word, it is disrespectful to the fallen and their loved ones.

David Larter, a staff writer for the paper, says ?The purpose of the photo, its inscription and its intended audience are not known. It surfaced one month after the public disclosure that the Air Force?s Port Mortuary at Dover Air Force Base, Del., had lost and mishandled the remains of hundreds of fallen troops.?

The investigation could take up to two weeks.

More on the story over at MilitaryTimes.com.

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Chinese government Twitter-like blogs surge

Thursday, December 15, 2011, 03:39 AM - News Stories Govt officials use micro blog for better interaction. Officials joining China's online revolution by starting their own micro blogs has been one of the trends of 2011, and it shows government departments have embraced a form of communication which they previously held in disdain. Political observers said on Tuesday that in bursting into online conversation with citizens, the government has learned to listen and share information much better with the country's 300 million micro bloggers through the Internet. The number of accounts verified as being managed by government officials or departments on Sina Weibo, China's major Twitter-like microblog service, has surged to nearly 20,000, according to a report unveiled on Monday...
(China Daily)

Congress sends birthday tweets to the National Guard.? Members of Congress from both sides of the aisle flooded Twitter with birthday greetings for the National Guard on Tuesday. Many lawmakers offered shout-outs to the men and women from their home state serving in the reserve military force. Vice President Biden personally tweeted: ?Congratulations to @NationalGuard in honor of their 375th birthday today ? thank you for your #service?
(The Hill's Twitter Room)

Hospital CEO warns public about bogus Facebook page. A quick Facebook search will bring up not one, but two Jerry Penners located in Murray, Ky. One is ?Jerry Penner,? the profile of the CEO of Murray-Calloway County Hospital, and the other is ?Col Jerry Penner,? the profile of an unknown impostor.? Penner first noticed the fake profile a few months after he came to Murray...
(Murray Ledger & Times)

Army-Navy Project Ventures Far Beyond Football. Navy beat Army for the 10th straight year last Saturday, 27-21, but CBS?s broadcast will not be the last word on the Midshipmen?s victory. Instead, footage from nine video cameras stationed at FedEx Field will form a major part of a new documentary, ?A Game of Honor? (Showtime, Dec. 21, at 10 p.m.), that explores how the academies? players balance football with military commitments...
(The New York Times)

Home Depot $20,000 winner. The Dilley family of Clearfield is surprised with the news that they've won $20,000 in the Home Depot's Give the Gift of Good Facebook contest honoring military and veterans during a special celebration at the store. Blogger Stacy Risenmay nominated SSgt. Kevin Dilley, who is deployed to Greenland...
(YouTube)

Blue Star Moms Receive Donation After Supermarket Scam.? A group of military moms got a much-needed donation Monday from a supermarket chain. The South Bay Blue Star Moms is a non-profit organization that lost over $3,000 as part of a card-skimming scam at a Bay Area Lucky grocery store. The group was scrambling to come up with money to continue a December care package event when they received a donation from Save Mart, the parent company of Lucky...
(NBC Bay Area)

Egypt urged to release blogger sentenced by military court. Egypt?s military rulers are continuing their patterns of abuse, Amnesty International said today, after a military court confirmed the imprisonment of a prominent blogger upon his military retrial.? Prisoner of conscience Maikel Nabil Sanad had his three year sentence reduced to two years today after a retrial before a military court...
(Amnesty International)

Iraq War Veteran Discusses 'Band Of Brothers' And Other Soldier Stories. As the last American troops come home from Iraq, Paul Rieckhoff, founder of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, shares his five favorite books on the lives and sacrifices of soldiers -- books that have shaped his life as an Army officer, as the founder of IAVA, and as an American citizen...
(Huffington Post)

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USS Carl Vinson expands social media arsenal

Wednesday, December 14, 2011, 04:39 AM

Via Navy.mil

By Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class (SW) Byron C. Linder, USS Carl Vinson Public Affairs

USS Carl Vinson, responding to positive feedback from family members at the conclusion of the Nimitz-class carrier's last combat deployment in June, announced the expansion of its social media footprint Dec. 12.

Families and friends of Vinson and embarked Carrier Air Wing 17 Sailors, have new resources to stay informed during the carrier's current Western Pacific deployment that began Nov. 30.

Podcast interviews with Sailors and blogs posted to Tumblr are augmenting the existing Facebook page and Twitter account, keeping an audience of thousands up to date.

What appears to be nameless Vinson Sailors, blogging under pen names on the ship's Tumblr page (www.cvn70blogspot.tumblr.com) on subjects relating to their lives aboard the ship, are actually Sailors who have routed their blog through the ship's public affairs office where the blog is checked for professionalism and adherence to military order before being posted by public affairs staff.

The first blog, written by "2ndChanceSailor", detailed the challenges of staying Navy and converting to an undermanned rating. It was posted to the site Dec. 7, then consequently linked from Vinson's Facebook page and finally re-purposed through the Vinson Twitter account.

2ndChanceSailor has been pleasantly surprised by the positive reception she's received since her first blog post.

"The response that stuck out to me the most was from a mother who said it was a great message and asked if I could go tell her son because he needs to hear it from someone other than his mom," said 2ndChanceSailor. "I have never blogged on my own or ever had a diary, so this is a first for me."

2ndChanceSailor plans to explore the concerns facing many Sailors being forced to convert into new ratings from her personal experience.

"I felt like a new kid coming out of boot camp again," said 2ndChanceSailor, who converted to the Navy counselor rate after spending more than ten years as a nuclear electrician's mate. "It's a completely different world, and it's challenging to learn something new this late in my career."

2ndChanceSailor also identifies with those whose conversion intersects with another milestone in their careers - chief petty officer exams.

"For some people this is really scary because they're worried they're not as competitive for chief or they're going to get selected and be expected to train junior personnel who have probably worked in the rate longer than they have. It's a little nerve-wracking."

She praised Vinson's social media efforts to reach out to Sailors and their families, emphasizing the importance of reaching a large audience.

"We need to keep up with the times, and this is what people are doing. For our friends and family at home it gives a little peace of mind to see what's going on and we're okay. Not everyone has the time to write home," 2ndChanceSailor said.

Blogger "RadioHead" has been aboard Vinson for one year and welcomed the opportunity to provide a junior Sailor's perspective on day-to-day life to the ship's Facebook fans and Twitter followers.

"They see the photos, all the cool stuff we do, but they don't get an idea of what it's like everyday for a random Sailor. It's a different perspective on how things work," RadioHead said. "You see commercials for joining the Navy, and they're all epic shots of aircraft carriers and hyped-up action, but no one gets an idea from those ads of what it's like to be a Sailor missing your family and the sacrifices we make."

RadioHead would like to see the blogging effort grow aboard Vinson and gain a wider variety of viewpoints.

"There are so many aspects to people's lives on this ship, and there's definitely room for expansion," RadioHead said.

The second new addition to Vinson's social media offerings comes in the form of two-minute podcasts. These audio interviews with Sailors offer an insight into both their personal and professional lives, and are accessible on the ship's Tumblr page and the Vinson ombudsman's website at www.vinsonombudsman.org.

Read? the entire article here.

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Combat smartphones? Soldiers are skeptical

Wednesday, December 14, 2011, 03:37 AM - News Stories Soldiers Skeptical of Smartphones in Combat. Officials want to bring the battle network to ?the tactical edge,? they say, communicating in any environment, on the move and from command locations down to the soldier about to bust through a door in an Afghan village. Network Integration Evaluation exercises held here and at nearby Fort Bliss, Texas, will help determine what equipment to put in the hands of troops and how much information is too much for the individual soldier...?
(National Defense Magazine)

Army blog helps solve communication problems. A blog launched by the army in late November designed to assist communication between enlisted men and their commanding officers through e-mails, text messaging and other channels has helped solve dozens of problems, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said Tuesday. The blog, launched Nov. 28, has been visited 11,000 times and has helped resolve many questions asked by soldiers and their families...
(Taiwan News Online)

Briefs: Enquirer looking for Iraq War stories. With America's role in Iraq coming to an end this month, many veterans will be returning home with stories to tell and experiences to relate about their deployment. If you are an Iraq war veteran or a family member of a veteran, we'd like to hear from you...
(The Enquirer)

US-born Syrian blogger faces criminal charges. Syrian authorities have charged a U.S.-born Syrian blogger with trying to incite sectarian strife, activists said Tuesday, while regime forces fired on a funeral procession in a restive northwestern region, capping a bloody day of attacks that left at least 28 people dead...
(AP)

Egypt blogger's case gets boost in investigation. ?Egyptian authorities on Monday transferred the case of a prominent blogger from state security prosecutors to investigative judges, a move that opens up the possibility of a trial in a civilian criminal court with the right to appeal, his lawyer and family said...
(AJC)

War Horse brought Spielberg to tears. Steven Spielberg had to shoot a cavalry charge. He wanted it to be one of the most spectacular scenes in his new film, War Horse. But he was also directing a family movie, one that must earn no more than a PG-13 rating from the Motion Picture Association of America. And that posed a problem...
(VancouverSun)

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Trying to Skype during sand storms

Tuesday, December 13, 2011, 05:29 AM - News Stories At the top of today?s handpicked "social media" news articles, is the story of military wife Jennifer Willis and the challenges she faces trying to communicate with her husband who is deployed to Afghanistan. There?s even a video segment to go along with the story...

Military Families Battle Communication Barriers. Communicating across continents is never easy, but it just got harder for military wife Jennifer Willis. Her routine weekly Skype conversations with her Army husband have been disconnected for the past three months because of sand storms around his tent in Afghanistan. Willis said she has been limited to phone calls that may or may not be cut off from the storms...
(WVNSTV)

In-person support beats internet. Virtual support is a trend that is growing more and more popular in the military community. When spouses have questions, they no longer have to rely solely on their family readiness group for answers. Now, with Facebook pages and forums dedicated specifically to military spouse support, it?s easy to get instantaneous feedback...
(Coastal Courier)

Families invited to send messages to troops. Local military families with active servicemen and women are invited to record and send a free holiday video greeting to their deployed family members. The Illinois Center for Broadcasting in Lombard is helping Illinois military families record a free professional digital message which will be transmitted via Facebook to their loved ones during the Christmas season, according to state Sen. Chris Lauzen of Aurora...
(Aurora Beacon News)

Milestones of the Iraq War -- PICTURES. As President Obama and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki meet in Washington with the U.S. troop withdrawal from Iraq down to its final days, this photo gallery looks at the notable moments of the war...
(National Journal)

Couple's love story was tested by war -- four times. What could be more adventurous than joining the Army and seeing the world? That's how they met and married. And in March 2003, the couple found themselves sitting together in a tent in the Kuwaiti desert just hours before the invasion of Iraq. Raquel would eventually get out of the Army. But Iraq has never stopped shaping their lives. Nathan's most recent deployment -- to turn out the lights at U.S. bases before the withdrawal of American troops -- was his fourth...
(CNN)

South Bay Blue Star Moms hit in Lucky credit scam. Active military service members and homeless veterans are among the victims of a credit card-skimming scam that affected customers at 24 Bay Area Lucky supermarkets. Thieves swiped several thousand dollars from the account of the South Bay Blue Star Moms, a nonprofit that sends care packages overseas to active service members and provides basic supplies to homeless veterans in the South Bay...
(San Francisco Chronicle)

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Marine Impersonator

Tuesday, December 13, 2011, 04:27 AM

This story has already been online for awhile, but OMG, you have to read through the hundreds of comments on MilitaryPhotos.net and This Ain?t Hell.

Why people impersonate our brave men and women in the military will remain one of life?s little mysteries.

Source: MilitaryPhotos.net via This Ain?t Hell

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Living grandkids of Civil War vets share stories

Monday, December 12, 2011, 05:22 AM - News Stories Soldiers' grandchildren recall Civil War stories. For American Civil War enthusiasts, the word of the year has been a mouth-filling "sesquicentennial." It's been 150 years since Confederate batteries opened fire April 12, 1861, on the Union garrison of Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor. Though their numbers become fewer each year,?grandchildren of Civil War veterans still can be found living among us, including several in the Catawba Valley...
(The Charlotte Observer)

NYPD Facebook probe raises free speech question. The Facebook group was titled "No More West Indian Day Detail," referring to police patrol for a raucous annual Brooklyn parade. Sprinkled among the frustrations aired about regulating the crowded, loud, often-violent event were comments that were more offensive. Some called the parade, held in a predominantly black neighborhood, "ghetto training," and a "scheduled riot." Others referred to participants as savages...
(Fox News)

Student Posts Live Reddit Q&A During Virginia Tech Lockdown. ?Reddit is quickly challenging Twitter?s turf as a place for real-time updates and citizen journalism. During Thursday?s tense manhunt following the death of a Virginia Tech police officer, students took to Twitter and Reddit to keep family and outsiders informed of what was happening on campus while the school was on lockdown...
(TIME)

Navy Memorial Victim of Army Prank. At some point prior to Saturday afternoon's kickoff, someone took down the Naval Academy's flag at the United States Naval Memorial on Pennsylvania Avenue and replaced it with an Army flag, featuring West Point's mule mascot. The people in charge of the memorial took the joke in stride, laughing about it on Twitter...
(NBC Washington)

Ex-Marine's tall tales overshadow good deeds. Derek Walls, a longtime community leader and Toys for Tots coordinator in Brevard County known as "the colonel," has exaggerated his Marine Corps service record for nearly two decades...
(USAToday)

Facebook shuts down Syria TV page. Facebook administration on Friday shut down the official page of the Syria TV. Syria?s regime had un-banned Facebook site at the beginning of this year 2011...
(DayPress)

Pearl Harbor survivors swap stories in Camden (videos). CAMDEN ? The annual luncheon and ceremony honoring area Pearl Harbor survivors at the Arthur S. Moran American Legion Post 66 is a real labor of love, said co-organizer John Smith...
(The Oneida Daily Dispatch)

WWII: A former POW tells his World War II story. I clipped out your article about the most recent Honor Flight, and want to respond to your request on WWII experiences. But first of all, I need to tell you that I was one of the veterans on this most recent Honor Flight. The people who put this together for us deserve a big applause for all they did for us veterans...
(Sun Journal)

Army initiative explores smartphone technology. Whether you want to learn the different bugle calls or call in an artillery strike, there?s an app for that. And some of the most promising and powerful apps are proving problematic for an Army trying to provide this information without putting its network at risk. Indeed, digital applications are off the chain. Most centers of excellence are developing their own apps...
(ArmyTimes)

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Nelly misses base meet-and-greet, fans react

Monday, December 12, 2011, 04:19 AM - Twitter

Grammy Award winning rapper Nelly cancelled a military meet-and-greet this past Friday at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Alaska, after coming down with the flu that had him throwing up his food.

Fans didn?t take kindly to the news, reacting on Twitter and Facebook.

Unlike a performance, the meet-and-greet would have had Nelly socializing with fans and military members would have had an opportunity to chat with the rapper in an informal atmosphere.

TMZ reported, ?Nelly's Facebook page was flooded by fans who were disappointed he didn't show up. One even posted a pic of troops sitting and waiting for him to show ... with the caption, "A few of the hundred, or so, military and their spouses (some who have their significant other deployed) on Joint Base Elmendorf Richardson in Alaska, that you stood up. Not cool!!!"?

Nelly, who goes by the username @Nelly_Mo, continues to respond on Twitter.

In the past 10 hours, Nelly has posted several messages:

"I find it ****up that after spending fri n sat running fever n sleeping n a pool of sweat,not eating that some would say I bail?WTF"

And:

"I Have had a father n fam that have served n me being born n living on a military base I truly understand how special military life is!?

Finally:

"I really thought we were doing the best thing 4both parties!Thank u again 2the troops not just n alaska but everywere #SALUTE see u soon"

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Source: http://milblogging.com/index.php?entry=entry111223-010143

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