Tag Archives: International

Charlie Hebdo: Gun attack on French magazine kills 12

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murderGunmen have shot dead 12 people at the Paris office of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in an apparent militant Islamist attack.

Four of the magazine’s well-known cartoonists, including its editor, were among those killed, as well as two police officers.

A major police operation is under way to find three gunmen who fled by car.

President Francois Hollande said there was no doubt it had been a terrorist attack “of exceptional barbarity”.

It is believed to be the deadliest attack in France since 1961, when right-wingers who wanted to keep Algeria French bombed a train, killing 28 people.

The masked attackers opened fire with assault rifles in the office and exchanged shots with police in the street outside before escaping by car. They later abandoned the car in Rue de Meaux, northern Paris, where they hijacked a second car.

Read more at BBC News

Some of us did not have a Merry Christmas nor a Happy New Year

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IRAN – While you were passing presents amongst yourselves and hoisting a glass to a mythical baby with a 2015 banner, American hostages were languishing in an Iranian prison.

saeedAccording to his wife, Naghmeh, Pastor Saeed Abedini—who has been in prison for over two years and subject to harsh beatings for his Christian Faith—is in severe pain. The American Center for Law and Justice posted a portion of a letter he wrote which described his difficulty and how his Christian faith has seen him through.

The ACLJ was also gratified when Obama noted the plight of Pastor Saeed at the National Prayer Meeting held in Washington D.C. in February of 2014. In September, a UN panel “blasted” Iran over the imprisonment of Saeed.

Amir_Mirza_Hekmati_USMCPastor Saeed is not the only prisoner being held by the terrorist regime. Amir Hekmati, a former United States Marine, is also being held. Rumors have surfaced that the lawyer for Hekmati, Mahmoud Alizadeh Tabatabaei, was quoted as saying that a proposal was made for a prisoner exchange. It was allegedly sent from the Administration was sent to the Iranian government via the Swiss embassy. The rumor was denied by Washington.

Hekmati was born in Flagstaff, Arizona and served as a U.S. Marine from August 2001 to 2005. He obtained the rank of sergeant. He was a translator in Iraq but received no military intelligence training. He was arrested for spying.
JasonRezaian_739952c
Jason Rezaian holds dual American and Iranian citizenship and was working as the bureau chief for the Washington Post in Tehran since 2012. He was arrested in July for unspecified charges. According to his family, Iranian judiciary has held him without bail and access to legal representation.

According to U.S. State Department spokesman Jeff Rathke, the prisoner exchange rumor is false, but the U.S. does call for the release of American prisoners and to assist in locating Robert Levinson.

Robert Levinson was a former DEA and FBI agent turned private investigator who was in Iran allegedly researching a cigarette smuggling case. He was taken hostage, according to reports, by Iranian security forces on March 9, 2007 and has not been seen since.

Santa’s Memorandum of Understanding with Williams

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Photo of North Pole taken earlier this year.

WILLIAMS – While Phoenix is trying to promote something called the “North Pole Experience,” Santa’s Memorandum of Understanding with Williams signed over ten-years ago and re-newed yearly is still valid. Williams, Arizona is the only place where you can take the special train to visit the North Pole.

The MOU reads in part:

Whereas, the City of Williams, Arizona desires to run a train, hereafter known as The Polar Express, which shall desire to stop for fuel for a return to Williams, such fuel within the political and economic boundaries of the North Pole,

Therefore Santa Claus shall allow such The Polar Express to arrive nightly as they require with the following provisions:

1. No one may depart the train while refueling so as to

a) Not disturb the work being conducted by the employees of the North Pole, hereafter known as Elves,
b) Maintain security of the naughty/nice database, hereafter known as The List,
c) Not create any other disturbance which might cause a delay in the annual ride of Santa.

2. Santa may, at his option, depart on The Polar Express to ride to Williams to

a) Obtain necessary supplies, or
b) To distribute bells, or
c) To obtain intelligence on what persons who have and exemplary record during the prior year, hereafter known as The Nice, might want to obtain from Santa’s annual ride.
…

In recognition of this MOU, while in good standing, Santa also shall authorize the Mountain Village Holiday of Williams, Arizona as the official ceremony of The Polar Express.

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Hole made for annual City Tree earlier this week with lights decorate the City of Williams for Mountain Village Holiday.

So it is clear that the City of Williams has the only official means of visiting the North Pole.
Williams, as it has for years, has started setting up for the Mountain Village Holiday which begins in earnest next week with the annual Parade of Lights and lighting of the city Christmas Tree downtown on Second Street and Route 66.

The Polar Express will start running nightly with two trains to the North Pole. It is rumored that Santa will make several visits and be available for photos during that weekend, such as to Spoiled Rotten Pet Boutique and Supplies.

As the World Trades: Leaders to discuss Arizona’s place in global economy

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i11PHOENIX — Leaders from Arizona’s transportation, trade and commerce industries will come together with national and international business specialists next week to discuss Arizona’s stake in the global marketplace and strategies to foster international trade and economic growth.

The Transportation and Trade Corridor Alliance, a partnership with the Arizona Department of Transportation, the Arizona-Mexico Commission and the Arizona Commerce Authority, is hosting a steering committee meeting, followed by its second annual global trade forum on Nov. 6 in downtown Phoenix. The two events will bring together leaders from the state’s transportation and trade industries, along with business experts from the United States, Canada and Israel, with a focus on attracting international company investments and partnerships to Arizona.

Registration is still open for the event, which will be held at the Sheraton Phoenix Downtown in the Encanto Ballroom, 340 N. Third Street in Phoenix. Visit azmc.org to register. The cost is $35 to attend. The TTCA Steering Committee meeting will be held from 1 to 3 p.m., followed by the As the World Trades II forum from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m., then ending with a hosted reception from 5:30 to 7 p.m.

Guest speakers include:

  • Gene Seroka, executive director of the Port of Los Angeles
  • Kerry Dewberry, controller with Magellan Aerospace
  • Ed Hadley, southwest region president of Walton Development and Management
  • Glenn Williamson, CEO and founder of the Canada Arizona Business Council
  • Bruce Wright, associate vice president of Tech Parks Arizona at the University of Arizona

The Transportation and Trade Corridor Alliance recently completed its Roadmap, a comprehensive document designed to support moving Arizona toward a more globally competitive second century, focused on high-value trade and investment, market connectivity, and alignment of policy and actions. The Roadmap was constructed by a group of experts from the public and private sectors, brought together by Governor Jan Brewer to develop a plan to position Arizona in a fast-growing global marketplace.

The result of more than a year of work, the TTCA Roadmap makes a clear case for the need to continue to add modern and efficient transportation infrastructure to ensure Arizona’s connectivity to both domestic and global markets. This infrastructure connectivity provides the means to attract new businesses and industries, create jobs, foster trade and economic development, and secure investment and new wealth.

Israeli company offers cure for Ebola

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ebolai24 News – Protalix says it has the resources to produce experimental medicine ZMapp, which has run out elsewhere

The death toll from the Ebola epidemic has climbed above 2,000, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said Friday, as it voiced hopes a vaccine could be available in November.

However, supplies of experimental medicines — including the prototype drug ZMapp — are limited, and “will not be sufficient for several months to come,” the World Health Organisation (WHO) warned Friday.

Protalix, an Israeli biopharmaceutical company, said Saturday that it has the resources to produce the coveted ZMapp, which has recently run out, Israeli site The Times of Israel, citing Channel 2 TV’s report, said Sunday.

Read more at i24 News

Covidien Initiates Voluntary Field Safety Alert for Multi-function Defibrillation Electrodes

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Sample photos from Coviden web site. For illustration only. Contact Coviden for exact models effected by recall.

Sample photos from Coviden web site. For illustration only. Contact Coviden for exact models effected by recall.

Dublin, Ireland — Covidien today announced that it has notified customers of a voluntary Field Safety Alert for certain Medi-Trace™ Cadence and Kendall™ Multi-function Defibrillation Electrodes due to a connector compatibility issue with Philips FR3 and FRx Defibrillators.

These electrodes will not connect with Philips FR3 or FRx AED units, and in the case of the use of Covidien defibrillation electrodes with the Philips FR3 AED units, could result in a delay of therapy. The FRx AED unit requires the pads to be pre-connected, and will issue a continuous alarm chirp to alert the user that the proper pads are not connected to the unit prior to use. The FR3, however, does not require pre-connection and the user will not discover the compatibility issue until the AED must be used. This may result in a delay in therapy.

Philips FR3 and FRx AED units should only be used with the Philips brand electrodes specified in the equipment manual.

Covidien has received two reports where customers attempted to use a Covidien electrode with a Philips FR3 AED unit. The mismatch of these devices contributed to a delay in resuscitation and may have contributed to the subsequent death of one patient.

Covidien alerted customers to the this issue by letter on September 18, 2014, and has revised labeling to clarify that use of these electrodes is incompatible with Philips FR3 and FRx AED units.

The Field Safety Alert requests that customers review the use of Covidien defibrillation electrodes in their facility to assure that Covidien electrodes are not placed for use with Philips model FR3 or FRx AEDs.

There are a total of 644,460 electrodes affected by this safety alert.

The following Covidien electrodes are affected:

  • 22660R – Medi-Trace™ Cadence Adult Multi-Function Defibrillation Electrodes Radiotransparent
  • 22660PC – Medi-Trace™ Cadence Adult Multi-Function Defibrillation Electrodes Pre-connect
  • 20660 – Kendall™ Adult Multi-Function Defibrillation Electrodes
  • 40000006 – Kendall™ 1710H Multi-Function Defibrillation Electrodes

In addition, similar private label electrodes produced by Covidien were also distributed under the following brands, and have the same connector compatibility issue:

  • MC1710H – MediChoice® Multifunction Electrode
  • M3718A – Philips HEARTSTART Multifunction Electrode Pads

The Field Safety Alert applies to all lot numbers distributed globally.

The Food and Drug Administration has classified this as a Class 1 Recall, the most serious recall where there is a reasonable risk of a serious adverse health consequences or death.

For further information or to report a problem, please contact Covidien Quality Assurance at 1-800-962-9888, option 8, then extension 2500 between the hours of 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. (eastern) or email Mansfield.productmonitoring@covidien.com

Germ-Killing Robots Deployed to the Republic of Liberia To Aid in Battle Against Ebola Virus

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IMG_8856-thumb7MEMPHIS Aug. 15, 2014 /PRNewswire/ – Two 5-foot-5 superbug-slaying machines were deployed from the United States yesterday en route to JFK Hospital and ELWA Hospital in Monrovia, Republic of Liberia, where they will aid in the fight against the deadly Ebola virus outbreak.

The devices, known as TRU-D SmartUVC(TM), will help disinfect health care environments where Ebola patients are being treated. TRU-D is the only portable UV disinfection device on the market with Sensor360™ technology, which calculates the time needed to react to room variables – such as size, geometry, surface reflectivity and the amount and location of equipment in the room – and effectively deliver a lethal dose of UV-C light during a single cycle from a single, central location in the room. It works by generating UV light energy that modifies the DNA structure of viral pathogens, like Ebola, so that they cannot reproduce. Viruses that cannot reproduce cannot colonize and harm patients. Additionally, TRU-D has been validated by more than 10 studies to be 99.99 percent effective in eliminating the most common pathogens that cause health care-associated infections.

The Ebola virus is the cause of a viral hemorrhagic fever disease that is highly contagious through bodily fluid transmission. Symptoms of the disease include fever, headache, weakness, aches, diarrhea, vomiting, stomach pain, lack of appetite and abdominal bleeding.

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Meriam Ibrahim: Sudan ‘apostasy’ woman freed again

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bbc-interviewA Sudanese woman whose death sentence for renouncing Islam was overturned has been released from jail again, after she was detained at Khartoum airport on Tuesday.

(BBC News) – Meriam Ibrahim’s lawyer, Muhannad Mustafa, said that she was currently in the US embassy with her family.

Mrs Ibrahim had been detained on charges of falsifying ID documents.

She was first released on 23 June when an appeals court lifted her death sentence for renouncing Islam.

Her sentencing in May to hang for apostasy sparked an outcry at home and around the world.

Mrs Ibrahim, 27, had been held at a police station in the capital, since Tuesday, when she was prevented from leaving the country along with her husband, Daniel Wani, and their two children.

Daniel Wani is a Christian from South Sudan and is a US citizen.

Read more and see interview at BBC News

Meriam Ibrahim’s Brother Blocked Escape from Sudan to US: Report

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300pix-Al-Samani-Al-Hadi-_2931922bA Christian mother trying to flee Sudan for the United States was stopped at the airport following a tip-off from her own brother.

Meriam Ibrahim spent months on death row on charges of apostasy – the crime of abandoning or disrespecting Islam – before she was freed Monday following international outcry. Amid continuing fears over her safety, she planned to fly to the United States with her husband — who is a naturalized American citizen.

But this plan failed at the last minute when Ibrahim was re-arrested at the airport by agents from Sudan’s shadowy security service. She was transferred to police custody where her lawyer told NBC News she remained early Thursday.

Authorities said she had been stopped because her travel documents were illegitimate. But in an interview with a Sudanese newspaper, her brother claimed he tipped off police that she had been “kidnapped” by her husband who planned to take her to the U.S. against her will.

Read more at NBC News

Meriam Ibrahim and the Persecution of Christians

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The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life has found that Christians are persecuted in more places today than any other religious group, suffering formal or informal harassment in three-quarters of the world’s countries.

BN-DL196_howall_D_20140626143917By Charlotte Allen
A 27-year-old Sudanese woman named Meriam Ibrahim seemed likely to become a 21st-century Christian martyr in May when she was sentenced to death by hanging because of her faith. Then this week Ms. Ibrahim was saved when a court overturned her conviction for apostasy from Islam—her father was a Muslim, and under Islamic law she is automatically a Muslim too. (She had also been sentenced to public flogging for adultery because her husband, Daniel Wani, is also a Christian, and Islamic law doesn’t recognize marriages between Muslim women and non-Muslim men.) But the day after her release on Monday, Ms. Ibrahim was arrested again. While the Associated Press reported Thursday that she had again been released Thursday, her future remained uncertain.

Her story is harrowing. Ms. Ibrahim was eight months pregnant with her second child when she was convicted in a Khartoum court on April 30 under the Islamic Shariah law that has governed Sudan since 1989. On May 27, while in prison awaiting execution, Ms. Ibrahim gave birth to her daughter, Maya. Mr. Wani reported that his wife was shackled to the floor during labor. Their year-and-a-half-old son, Martin, had been jailed along with her.

Ms. Ibrahim was re-arrested on Tuesday by a government security force as she, Mr. Wani and their two young children tried to leave Sudan for the U.S. The Sudanese-born Mr. Wani has been an American citizen since 2005. The new charges against Ms. Ibrahim—which are reported to carry penalties of up to seven years in prison—consist of falsifying the family’s travel documents, which were issued by the embassy of South Sudan, the largely Christian territory that seceded from overwhelmingly Muslim Sudan in 2011 after a decades-long civil war. Mr. Wani hails from what is now South Sudan.

Ms. Ibrahim’s story bears uncanny parallels to another Christian story involving young African mothers who did become Christian martyrs, during the early third century: the story of Felicitas and Perpetua, executed for their faith in the Roman port city of Carthage in today’s Tunisia. …

Read more at The Wall Street Journal