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April 11, 2008 Japan bans tracksuited Chinese torch guards, as relay moves to Buenos Aires Leo Lewis, Asia Business Correspondent The "thug" Chinese security guards who have accompanied the Olympic torch on its route through London, Paris and San Fransisco, will not be allowed to make a repeat performance in Japan. Matters of security on Japanese soil will be handled by the domestic police alone, and that principle will not be compromise just because it is the Olympics, said the Chairman of the National Public Safety Commission in Tokyo. “I do not personally accept the idea that they will run...

"After the disintegration of the Taliban and Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan at the end of 2001 as a result of the American attack and the coming to power of other Afghan forces in the country, instructions were received from our leadership to retreat from Kabul in the direction of Kandahar. In the month of Ramadan, we received instructions from our commander to leave for Iran in order to seek refuge there. We arrived in Iran via Pakistan, where we did not stay very long. Our group consisted of about 30 fighters, among them Faisal Al-Dakhil, 'Amr Al-Shehri [both killed in 2004]...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 15, 2008 – Episodes of “American Chopper” airing on The Learning Channel on Jan. 17 and 24 will feature the first of three bikes to be built by Orange County Choppers for the National Guard. Paul Teutul Sr. of Orange County Choppers and the “American Chopper” television program rides the “Patriot Chopper,” a motorcycle designed by soldiers. Episodes of “American Chopper” airing on The Learning Channel on Jan. 17 and 24 will feature the first of three bikes to be built by Orange County Choppers for the National Guard. Photo by Sgt. Mary Flynn, USA   (Click photo...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 7, 2008 – Three U.S. Navy vessels took evasive actions after five Iranian boats buzzed the ships transiting the Straits of Hormuz yesterday, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said today. Speaking to Pentagon reporters, Whitman called the Iranian provocation “a serious incident.” The fast Iranian boats approached at “distances and speed that showed reckless, dangerous and potentially hostile intent,” he said. The incident lasted about 15 to 20 minutes, he said. The Navy ships were going into the Persian Gulf when the Iranian boats confronted them. “Small, Iranian fast boats made some aggressive maneuvers against our vessels and indicated...

N.J. Escapees Take Page From 'Shawshank' ScriptPrisoners Left Behind Thank You Note For Unsuspecting Guards NEW YORK (CBS) - What's been the theme of successful movies like "Escape From Alcatraz" and "The Shawshank Redemption" has become an incredible, yet frightening reality at a New Jersey jail. Razor-sharp wire, thick concrete, and jail guards couldn't keep 20-year-old Jose Espinoza, and 32-year-old Otis Blunt -- inmates barred up at the Union County Jail -- from escaping the prison over the weekend. Officials say the pair concocted an elaborate scheme that involved digging through their cell walls, similar to Tim Robbins' method in...

(IsraelNN.com) The Palestinian Authority's semi-official prisoners organization has declared that it will push for human rights charges to be filed in international courts against Israeli prison guards. The organization, the Palestinian Prisoners' Club (PPC), announced their latest campaign following an emergency meeting Tuesday during which the members discussed the Ketziot Prison riot last week. During the riot, one prisoner died and 15 were injured, along with 15 prison guards. According to the PPC, they will be seeking to charge Israeli prison officials with They will be seeking to charge Israeli prison officials with "war crimes" against Arab prisoners. "war crimes"...

BAGHDAD — “Training the Iraqi Army is now the main focus for the British Forces in Iraq,” the Commanding Officer of the 1st Battalion Irish Guards said recently, so since their deployment to Iraq in May, training the Iraqis is exactly what the Guards have been doing. Since May, the 1st Battalion Irish Guards have been responsible for delivering training known as ‘Mentoring, Monitoring and Training’ to the Iraqi Army at both Shaibah, south west of Basra, and in Baghdad. The work has seen the Irish Guards forge relationships with the Iraqi Army and train them in order that they...

Henry Dickens - not guilty Charles Enfinger - not guilty Patrick Garrett - not guilty Raymond Hauck - not guilty Charles Helms Jr. - not guilty Henry McFadden Jr. - not guilty Kristin Schmidt - not guilty Joseph Walsh II - not guilty Before the verdict was read, Judge Michael Overstreet asked the people in the courtroom to refrain from expressing emotion. Regardless, weeping came through the courtroom from family members of the drill instructors.

Private security guards working for an American security company have shot dead two women in Iraq, it was reported today. The guards were escorting four vehicles through central Baghdad when the two women were shot dead in the district of Karrada today.

AIKEN, S.C. - White House hopeful Barack Obama on Saturday said private security contractors in Iraq are raising the risk for U.S. troops because Iraqis don't distinguish between the forces. He also criticized the pay disparity between soldiers and private contractors. "You've got young men and women signing up to serve, willing to spill blood for America. How could they be treated less well than private contractors?" Obama told a crowd of more than 1,400 at a high school gymnasium in this early voting state. "And these private contractors, they go out and they're spraying bullets and hitting civilians and...

An American soldier formed an unlikely friendship in the crucible of Abu Ghraib—with an Iraqi detainee who was under his command. Their gripping story is the subject of a new documentary, The Prisoner or: How I Planned to Kill Tony Blair.

WASHINGTON - Coming on the heels of a controversial “surge” of 21,000 U.S. troops that has stretched the Army thin, the Defense Department is preparing to send an additional 12,000 National Guard combat forces to Iraq and Afghanistan, defense officials told NBC News on Thursday. The troops will come from four Guard combat brigades in different states, the officials told NBC News’ chief Pentagon correspondent, Jim Miklaszewski. They said papers ordering the deployment, which would run for one year beginning in early 2008, were awaiting Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ signature. The deployment is sure to ignite a firestorm on Capitol...

SAN DIEGO -- Last-minute pleas are being made in the case of two former Border Patrol agents who are due to report to prison. Jose Compean and Ignacio Ramos were convicted in a court in El Paso, Texas, for shooting and wounding a Mexican drug smuggler. Congressional representatives, including Duncan Hunter and Dana Rohrabacher, have been urging the president to pardon the two.   SURVEY Should the Border Patrol agents be pardoned? Yes No Results | Disclaimer The agents have been sentenced to serve 11 and 12 years in prison, respectively. According to the Washington Times, the agents found 743...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 11, 2007 – Five years after the first detainees from the war on terror arrived at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, a new state-of-the-art facility there is making duty safer for guards and more comfortable for detainees. Camp 6, which became operational in December and cost $38 million to build, now houses roughly 160 of the 395 or so detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Navy Rear Adm. Harry Harris Jr., commander of Joint Task Force Guantanamo Bay, said in an interview here today. The air-conditioned facility, modeled on the most modern and efficient prisons in the United States,...

Washington, Sep 6 - Mr. ROHRABACHER. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of House Resolution 1030.    Let me just note that platitudes are not enough. When it really counts, the Border Patrol does need our support, and that includes building a fence, which some people who perhaps would be happy to sing the praises of the Border Patrol are not willing to help them with something that they consider to be essential to securing their job.    Tonight, we are commending the service of 12,000 men and women of the U.S. Border Patrol. They are, in fact, performing an invaluable...

Nun killed as guards gun down refugees from Tibet By Thomas Bell in Kathmandu (Filed: 12/10/2006) At the end of their terrible journey, a group of Tibetan refugees yesterday told how a nun was shot dead and 14 children taken away at gunpoint by Chinese border guards during a 20-day march to escape across the Himalaya. Seventy-five men, women and children started out, often walking at night to avoid security patrols but only 41 made it to the Nepalese capital Kathmandu, leaving the young nun dead in the snow and another man lying wounded. The remainder, including the children, were...

PM to arm border guards March 2008 is too long to wait, union says Doug Ward CanWest News Service Friday, September 01, 2006 VANCOUVER - Canada will start arming its border guards as early as September, 2007, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced yesterday. Ottawa plans to train and arm 4,400 Canada Border Service Agency officers over the next 10 years. The federal government will also hire 400 permanent border officers to eliminate the problem of officers working alone at posts. The Conservatives promised during the election they would hire more guards and also provide them with sidearms. The Tory...

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraq's health minister, who is aligned to a powerful Shiite militia, claimed Sunday that U.S. forces arrested seven of his personal guards in a surprise pre-dawn raid on his office. The reason for the alleged arrests was unclear. Health minister Ali al-Shemari said the soldiers arrived at 3 a.m. Sunday, broke open doors inside the building leading to his office and hauled away the seven men, who were posted there as night guards. U.S. officials did not immediately respond to the claim. "There was no legal warrant, there was no prior warning to the ministry, there was...

A PRIEST is set to install high fences around his church in Blackburn in a bid to combat racist attacks. The move was revealed as a Muslim leader blasted the gang of youths which targeted St Joseph's RC Church, in Audley, Blackburn. Coun Salim Mulla, secretary of the Lancashire Council of Mosques, said the gang were "disgraceful and disrespectful" and he was so angry that when he found out who was responsible he would personally report them to the police. The latest incident happened on Sunday at 11pm and although the church's alarm system prevented the youths from gaining access...

WASHINGTON, May 19, 2006 – A bogus suicide attempt yesterday lured guards into a 10-man detainee bay where an attack awaited them, the admiral in charge of the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, told reporters today. Two other detainees had attempted suicide earlier in the day. One barrack room in Camp 4, the medium-security facility within Camp Delta at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. In Camp 4, highly compliant detainees live in a communal setting and have extensive access to recreation. Photo by Sgt. Sara Wood, USA  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. The large skirmish in...

Police in Sierra Vista tell us that the added National Guard presence would be a "blessing" and the sheriff in Santa Cruz County also feels good about the plan. "They love to use this, this road." Santa Cruz County Deputy Fernando Ayon says about the illegal immigrants who use the Santa Cruz Wash as a roadway. He used to have picnics there with his family when he was a little boy. "See here, the fence has been damaged," Ayon points out. Now, Ayon says, the area is a well-known hot spot for illegal trafficking. "It's everywhere you go, everywhere you...

2,400 officers made more than $100,000 By Steve Schmidt UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER February 28, 2006 Roughly one out of 10 California prison guards was paid more than $100,000 last year, fueled largely by a jump in overtime. Some 2,400 rank-and-file correctional officers' pay exceeded $100,000 in 2005, compared with 557 the year before, a San Diego Union-Tribune analysis of payroll figures shows. Big bucks in the big house One guard grossed $187,000, making him the highest-paid correctional officer in California, according to data provided by the state controller's office. At the historic San Quentin State Prison near San Francisco, one...

PANAMA CITY, Fla. - Lawmakers and the family of a teenager seen on videotape being kneed and struck by juvenile boot camp guards are calling for the immediate arrest and prosecution of the guards. The Bay County Medical Examiner ruled that Martin Lee Anderson died of internal bleeding caused by a genetic blood disorder. But his family said Friday they believe the boy died because of the 30-minute beating that took place hours before the 14-year-old died. The U.S. Justice Department is investigating possible civil rights violations. Gov. Jeb Bush said he did not support calls to shut down the...

The newly-elected Conservatives say they will make good as soon as possible on their leader's pledge to arm Canadian border guards, following a shootout on the Canada-U.S. border on Tuesday night.

Five hundreds years ago, mercenaries marched from Switzerland to Rome to aid Pope Julius II, and the Vatican is readying concerts, exhibits and celebrations to mark the half millennium of the Swiss Guards, who still protect the pontiff.The Vatican No. 2, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, will celebrate Mass Sunday in the frescoed Sistine Chapel for current guards and their families, and afterward Pope Benedict XVI will offer a special blessing to an honor corps in St. Peter's Square.It is the launch of six months of commemorations in Italy and Switzerland that will culminate with a symbolic re-enactment of the march from...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 19, 2005 – When Seattle Seahawk's defensive end Bryce Fisher isn't staring down an opponent across the line of scrimmage, he's standing in defense of freedom. Fisher, a native of Renton, Wash., recently took the oath of office as a captain in the Washington Air National Guard, where he now serves as a public affairs officer. Fisher graduated from the Air Force Academy in 1999, and the Buffalo Bills drafted him in the seventh round of the National Football League draft the same year. Because of his unique situation, an agreement he reached with the Air Force led...

Tehran, Iran -- One of the bodyguards of Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was killed and another wounded when an attempt to ambush the presidential motorcade was thwarted in the southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchestan, according to a semi-official newspaper and local residents. “At 6:50 pm on Thursday, the lead car in the presidential motorcade confronted armed bandits and trouble-makers on the Zabol-Saravan highway”, the semi-official Jomhouri Islami reported on Saturday. “In the ensuing armed clash, the driver of the vehicle, who was an indigenous member of the security services, and one of the president’s bodyguards died, while another bodyguard...

Editor's Note: Published on Page A3 of the November 12, 2005 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer GREENPEACE, THE ENVIRONMENTAL activist group, is considering filing charges against the security guards who beat up a German volunteer during a protest against "dirty energy" in the state-run Masinloc coal-fired power plant in Zambales. The violent encounter between the National Power Corp. guards and 16 Greenpeace activists on Thursday was "the most severe attack" against its campaigners in the Philippines, said Red Constantino, Greenpeace's Southeast Asia energy campaigner. "The security personnel put the safety of the activists at extreme risk," Constantino said in...

PHOENIX - Gov. Janet Napolitano isn't going to ask President Bush to bring Arizona's National Guard troops back from the Middle East. The governor said Wednesday that she read the request that was delivered to her office Monday by anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan. Sheehan said Arizona could find itself at a disadvantage during wildfires if its troops are busy battling insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan. But Napolitano said she doesn't intend to do that. "The deployments from Arizona have been managed in such a fashion that I have never felt that we were left with inadequate resources here," ........

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The hundreds of people who guard the pope and the Vatican have created a seamless web of tight security with reasonable public access for the millions of pilgrims who flock yearly to Vatican City. Following the tradition of his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI takes a long ride, weaving in and around thousands of people in an open-air jeep every time his weekly general audience is held in St. Peter's Square. While the jeep is flanked by a picket of stern-faced plainclothesmen, the pope passes just an arm's length from jubilant crowds straining against waist-high wooden security...

Schoolgirls riot at tourist spot By NIGEL ADLAM 17sep05 HUNDREDS of people watched in horror as a mob of schoolgirls rioted at Darwin's biggest tourist attraction. Most of the youngsters were in their teens. But several witnesses said a few were as young as six. About 20 girls threw sticks and stones, and even pulled out a street bollard, as they fought with security guards. Fighting between rival gangs of boys and girls has been escalating at Mindil Beach markets (pictured). Market manager Tim Robinson said four guards were beaten. Security and market managers are to hold a crisis meeting...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 29, 2005 – The National Guard's solid response to Hurricane Katrina demonstrates that the Guard is still fully capable of responding to stateside emergencies while supporting the war in terror overseas, the chief of the National Guard Bureau told the American Forces Press Service today. Army Lt. Gen. H. Steven Blum described the thousands of Army and Air National Guard troops called to active duty in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida and other states to support hurricane operations as a testament to the Guard's ability to carry out its federal and state missions simultaneously. Guard members along the Gulf...

The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), created in May 1979 as an ideological force to defend Iran’s fledgling Islamic regime, now stands poised to strengthen its political and military clout. In a recent meeting with IRGC high commanders, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei discussed important changes in the IRGC’s role, the most significant being the creation of a center tasked with formulating the corps’ strategic policies. The center will also prepare a long-term program for increasing the IRGC’s autonomy vis-a-vis the traditional military establishment. The IRGC is thus on the verge of being transformed from a junior player in the...

DAMASCUS, Syria - Syria has complained that U.S. and Iraqi troops have mistakenly fired on its border guards even as they've tried to stop militants from infiltrating into Iraq. The guards have been fired on "not only by infiltrators, but by U.S. and Iraqi forces," the government said the letter distributed to diplomatic mission chiefs in Damascus and seen Friday by The Associated Press. The letter also said that it needs more U.S. help with the financing of night vision equipment to block the militants from crossing from Syria to Iraq. It cited "about 100 armed clashes, some of which...

After speaking with soldiers, sailors, and civilians who collectively staff the Joint Task Force - Guantanamo Bay, Cuba on my recent visit to that base, I left convinced that abuse definitely exists at the detention facilities. But not the slander and hyperbole about alleged mistreatment of the unlawful combatants confined there that we've all heard. There is far more serious abuse: the relentless, merciless attacks on American servicemen and women by these same terrorist thugs. Many of the orange jumpsuit-clad detainees fight their captors at every opportunity. They attack guards whenever the soldiers enter their cells, trying to reach up...

MOSCOW (AP) - A Muslim cleric formerly held at Guantanamo Bay prison said Tuesday that U.S. guards there regularly desecrated the Quran by putting it into a toilet, although he added he never witnessed it himself. Airat Vakhitov, who described himself as a former imam of a mosque in Tatarstan, a majority Muslim republic in southern Russia, is one of seven men released from Guantanamo in 2004 and returned to Russia. He and the six others were held in Russia for three months, then released a year ago. Vakhitov said at a news conference organized by the state RIA-Novosti news...

Eight Guards Fired Weeks After Inmate Was Beaten to DeathBy Brian Witte Associated Press Writer Published: Jun 10, 2005 BALTIMORE (AP) - Eight guards were fired Friday in the beating death of an inmate during an altercation last month at a crowded, long-troubled jail. State officials would not say exactly what role the guards had in the death of Raymond Smoot or why the fight broke out. The case is under investigation, and no charges have been filed. "This department does not and will not tolerate unnecessary or excessive use of force," said Mary Ann Saar, Maryland secretary of public...

First, Newsweek pulled a Dan Rather on us, running a fabricated story just because they wanted it to be true. They told the world that an American guard at the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, detention center had ripped pages from a prisoner's Koran and flushed it down a toilet. As a result, innocent people died when practitioners of Islam rioted in protest in Afghanistan. Oops, said Newsweek, it seems we can't back up our story. Oh well, it's probably true; we just can't prove it. (Isn't it convenient for Newsweek that the media now have "Deep Throat" to talk about so...

British Army Pressured to Replace Hats By CARA NEW, Associated Press Writer Sat May 14, 7:26 AM ET LONDON - The British army's towering bearskin hats have been a well-known sight outside royal palaces for almost 200 years, but their days may be numbered. Animal rights activists are demanding the hats, made from the pelts of North American black bears, be replaced by artificial fur, and one protester plans to follow Queen Elizabeth II in a bear costume when she visits Canada next week. "It is time to confine bearskin to the history books, just as bearbaiting was confined to...

Officers using leave to work as Iraq guards By Christopher Munnion in Johannesburg (Filed: 28/04/2005) The South African military has imposed restrictions on officers after it was revealed that dozens are using extended leave to moonlight as security guards in Iraq, where they can earn more than a year's salary in a month.The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) believes that mainly white serving officers are accumulating leave in order to make a lucrative tour of unofficial duty in Iraq's flourishing security industry. "Many South Africans return from Baghdad with stories of earning up to US $1,000 a day," said...

SANTA MARIA, Calif. (Reuters) - The judge in the Michael Jackson molestation trial on Thursday barred prosecutors from calling an expert on domestic violence they hoped would explain the apparently erratic behavior of the accuser's mother for jurors. Judge Rodney Melville also said he would allow evidence showing that Jackson's then-13-year-old accuser and younger brother had masturbated while looking at the pop star's pornography, potentially bolstering defense claims that the boys had run wild at Neverland. Both rulings were setbacks for the prosecution, which is in the final stages of presenting its case to the jury of eight women and...

Three companies are racing to market a new form of technology for detecting concealed weapons, using physics borrowed from radio astronomy and manufacturing techniques from cellular phone makers. The technology, called millimeter wave, is a new category of sensing so unobtrusive that it seems like something out of "Star Trek." Unlike conventional systems such as metal detectors, which sense magnetic fields created by certain materials or objects, or X-ray machines, which pass rays through objects, millimeter wave sensors are passive and rely on detecting energy emitted by objects. The energy the sensors look for is in an unfamiliar part of...

After being jailed last summer in Union City, Shakita Perdue was stripped, strapped to a chair and left exposed to male prisoners and guards for hours, according to an investigation by jail officials of the incident. Now, she is suing those she says are responsible for $10 million. This week, Perdue, 28, filed the lawsuit in federal court against the city, the South Fulton County Municipal Regional Jail and Georgia Correctional Health, the firm that handled medical needs at the Union City-owned jail. She charges that her civil rights were abused by her jailers that night. "I had never been...

The recent events in Atlanta are yet another example of how feminism and affirmative action are failing society. For those who may have forgotten, an accused rapist named Brian Nichols was brought before a judge in an Atlanta courtroom, guarded by a deputy sheriff. In the courtroom, the accused, a 200 lb former college running back, overpowered his guard, a 5-foot tall female deputy, who was also a grandmother, relieved her of her side arm and killed 4 people, including the grandmother. Since this has transpired I have heard very little from the media about the advisability of having 100-lb....

An attorney for a U.S. Army soldier court-martialed in connection with the Abu Ghraib prison scandal says he's frustrated that he was not allowed in court to try to link the prison abuse to top-ranked military officials, including the incoming Fort Huachuca commander. Paul Bergrin, a New Jersey lawyer, said Monday that he will press his efforts to link the scandal with higher-ups to the Court of Military Review and, if necessary, the Court of Military Appeals. His client, Sgt. Javal S. Davis of Roselle, N.J., pleaded guilty to dereliction of duty, lying to investigators and battery last Tuesday as...

U.S. Guards Shoot Dead 4 Inmates in Iraq Prison Riot 51 minutes ago BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. troops shot dead four inmates during a riot at a military prison in southern Iraq and six other detainees were injured on Monday, the U.S. military said. The riot at Camp Bucca Theater Internment Facility erupted after a routine search for contraband in one of the camp's 10 compounds and spread to three other compounds, with detainees throwing rocks and fashioning weapons, the military said. U.S. guards opened fire after the rioting raged unabated for 45 minutes. The injuries were caused both by...

The purpose of FreeRepublic.com's multiple message boards is to limit the topics for each board to particular topics. Posting the same message on all the boards defeats the purpose of multiple-boards for special topics. It is very annoying to see the same message on every bulletin board. PLEASE! DO THE READERS A FAVOR. STOP CROSS-POSTING YOUR MESSAGES!

Would-be defectors were torn apart by shrapnel gun as they tried to escape to freedom FOUR ageing East German officers were condemned by a Berlin court yesterday for installing one of the Cold War’s most savage weapons — an automatically triggered shrapnel gun that tore apart would-be defectors as they tried to clamber across the Berlin Wall fortifications. The landmark ruling, almost certainly the last in a long series of trials against those who ordered, supervised and guarded the East German stretch of the Iron Curtain, came on the fifteenth anniversary of the tumbling of the Wall. But there was...

Dan Rather came under criticism after it was revealed by the Washington Post that he had given a keynote speech at a fund-raiser for Texas Democrats: GERALDO RIVERA: Let me just read you this news account, April 5th, USA Today: "Conservatives and pundits had a field day at Dan Rather's expense Wednesday after the CBS anchor apologized for being the star attraction at a recent Democratic fundraiser in Texas that raised 20 grand." Was that one of the worst mistakes you've made at least recently? DAN RATHER: Well, it certainly was one of the dumbest mistakes I ever made. But...

September 9, 2004 Documents Suggest Special Treatment for Bush in Guard By KATHARINE Q. SEELYE and RALPH BLUMENTHAL ASHINGTON, Sept. 8 - President Bush's Vietnam-era service in the National Guard came under renewed scrutiny on Wednesday as newfound documents emerged from his squadron commander's file that suggested favorable treatment. At the same time, a once powerful Texas Democrat came forward to say that he had "abused my position of power" by helping Mr. Bush and others join the Guard. Democrats also worked to stoke the issue with a new advertisement by a Texas group that featured a former lieutenant colonel,...