Two American Women Traveling in Egypt Kidnapped by Bedouins

Two American woman abducted, along with their tour guide near the St. Catherine’s Monastery in the Sinai, Egypt. Mohamed Naguib, head of security in the region, stated that the kidnappers were unknown Bedouins and “want certain detainees released and retried.”

The military and police officials say the abductors sped away in a sedan and a pickup truck, leaving behind three other people who had been in the minivan. The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information, did not know the nationalities of those left behind. Authorities say a search is under way.

The two tourists were among a party of five travelling from Saint Catherine’s monastery in central Sinai to Sharm el-Sheikh.

The gunmen first took all the tourists’ money and valuables and then, as an apparent afterthought, grabbed the two women, forced them into their vehicle and fled into the mountains, the security officials said.

Two army and police search parties have gone into the area to try to track them down, the officials have said.

Bedouin in the Sinai, who complain of neglect and discrimination by the authorities in Cairo, have attacked police stations and blocked access to towns to show their discontent and press for the release of fellow tribesmen from prison.

Canada Peeved at Barack Obama’s Decision to Nix Keystone XL Pipeline … Obama Chooses Saudi Oil Over Canadian Oil (VIDEO)

CANADA NOT HAPPY WITH OBAMA AND HIS FALSE CAMPAIGN PROMISES … THE LYING KING!

Thanks Barack Hussein Obama for dissing our friend to the North, Canada, and going with Opec Saudi oil. Oh yea, and going with our other friend Hugo Chavez and Venezuelan oil. That’s it Barack, way to piss off our friends and allies. Here it from the mouths of Canadians. Sorry Mr. President, Ain’t no way to treat a friend”. What ever ahppened to to those shovel ready jobs that Obama was so keen on when it came to wasting American tax payer dollars?

Obama chose America’s enemies over America’s closed friend and ally

Remember when Obama promised to get off Mideast and Venezuela oil in 10 years time? America … did you forget that campaign promise? When Obama told you what you wanted to hear? Guess what … OBAMA LIED! Imagine an American President justifying going with Middle East OPEC oil and Venezuelan and slapping Canada in the face when he claimed he was going to rid America of Middle East oil. Mmm, mmm, mmm … Barack Hussein Obama.

FEDS Close Down File-Sharing Site Megaupload … FBI & DOJ Arrest 7 Charged with Copyright Infringement and Conspiracy … So Who Needs SOPA and PIPA?

In what is being deemed the largest criminal copyright case, the US Justice Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation have shut down and seized the Web site Megaupload.  They have charged seven people  for running an international enterprise based on Internet piracy. Four individuals, including the site’s founder, Kim Dotcom have been arrested in New Zealand, three others remain at large. They have been charged with five counts of copyright infringement and conspiracy. Megaupload Ltd. isbased in Hong Kong, and its collection of websites generated more than $175 million in criminal proceeds and caused more than half a billion dollars in harm to copyright owners.

In what the federal authorities on Thursday called one of the largest criminal copyright cases ever brought, the Justice Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation seized the Web site Megaupload and charged seven people connected with it with running an international enterprise based on Internet piracy.

Coming just a day after civil protests in the United States over proposed antipiracy bills, the arrests were greeted almost immediately with digital Molotov cocktails. The hacker collective that calls itself Anonymous attacked the Web sites of the Justice Department and several major entertainment companies and trade groups in retaliation for Mega-upload’s seizure. The Justice Department’s site and several others remained inaccessible for much of Thursday afternoon.

Megaupload, one of the most popular so-called locker services on the Internet, allowed users to anonymously transfer large files like movies and music. Media companies have long accused it of abetting copyright infringement on a vast scale. In a grand jury indictment, Megaupload is accused of causing $500 million in damages to copyright owners and of making $175 million through selling ads and premium subscriptions.

The indictment can be read HERE.

Just curious, if the Feds could take down an uber web site like Megaupload, what do they need SOPA and PIPA for? So what is the need for SOPA and PIPA. Let me rephrase the question to the US Congress, what is the real reason for SOPA and PIPA?As stated at Gizmodo, it would appear that you did fine with the laws that are presently in place.

Let’s also think about the timing of this bust. It’s a pretty spectacular coincidence that the Department of Justice Task Force on Intellectual Property was able to destroy a copyright villain without any help from SOPA or PIPA the day after the internet’s giant SOPA protest. Do you hear that, lawmakers? The law, as it stands right now was able to kill Megaupload.com, no draconian censorship powers required. The power you have now—with due process—is achieving the things you say you want to do

UPDATE I: REVENGE OF ANONYMOUS  … Anonymous Goes on Megaupload Revenge Spree: DoJ, RIAA, MPAA, and Universal Music All Offline. Yikes, knocked off line it the websites of the FBI, U.S. Department of Justice.

WOW, talk about carnage and laying waste to everything in Anonymous’ path. Statement from Anonymous.

1. The following sites were taken down in response to the FBI shutting down megaupload.com
2. TANGO DOWN
5. justice.gov
6. universalmusic.com
7. riaa.org
8. mpaa.org
9. copyright.gov
10. hadopi.fr
11. wmg.com
12. usdoj.gov
13. bmi.com
14. fbi.gov

UPDATE II: What a terrifying precedent …

The Electronic Frontier Foundation, which defends free speech and digital rights online, said in a statement that, “This kind of application of international criminal procedures to Internet policy issues sets a terrifying precedent. If the United States can seize a Dutch citizen in New Zealand over a copyright claim, what is next?”

29 People Still Missing Following Italian Cruise Ship Costa Concordia Running Aground

The search goes on by rescuers for missing survivors following the cruise ship Costa Concordia running aground off the Italian coast. Italian coastguard official stated that the number of people missing had been revised up to 29 – 25 passengers.  Amazing pics can be seen of the rescue attempts at the UK Daily Mail.  It looks like a cross between Titanic and the Poseiden Adventure. Say a prayer.

A stricken Italian cruise liner shifted on its rocky resting place on Monday as worsening weather disrupted an increasingly despairing hunt for survivors and authorities raised their estimate of the number missing to 29 people.

As the Costa Concordia’s owners blamed their captain for veering shorewards on Friday in a bravura “salute” to residents of a Tuscan island, the giant ship slid a little, threatening to plunge its whole gigantic carcass and 2,300 tonnes of fuel below the Mediterranean waters of the surrounding nature reserve.

The slippage forced rescuers to suspend for a few hours their efforts to find anyone still alive after three days in the capsized hull, resting on a jagged slope outside the picturesque harbor on the island of Giglio. Six bodies have been found. Most of the 4,200 passengers and crew survived, despite hours of chaos.

Fears grow as time goes by in the search for those still missing. The ship’s owners have blamed the captain for Friday’s crash, saying he changed course towards an island. According to accounts, the ship’s captain, Capt Schettino, has been accused of abandoning his vessel before all the passengers had been evacuated. So much for the captain going down with the ship. Capt Schettino was arrested on suspicion of manslaughter.

Pakistan Taliban Leader Hakimullah Mehsud Reportedly Killed in US Drone Strike … Taliban Denies

So was he or wasn’t he?

It is being reported that Pakistan Taliban Leader Hakimullah Mehsud was killed on January 12, 2012 in the North Waziristan tribal area by a US drone strike. Militant radio communications were intercepted indicating that the Taliban leader was recently killed.  However, Pakistani Taliban spokesman Asimullah Mehsud denied the Taliban  leader was killed.

Intercepted militant radio communications indicate the leader of the Pakistani Taliban may have been killed in a recent U.S. drone strike, Pakistani intelligence officials said Sunday. A Taliban official denied that.

The report coincided with sectarian violence — a bomb blast in eastern Pakistan that killed 14 people in a Shiite religious procession.

The claim that the Pakistani Taliban chief was killed came from officials who said they intercepted a number of Taliban radio conversations. In about a half a dozen intercepts, the militants discussed whether their chief, Hakimullah Mehsud, was killed on Jan. 12 in the North Waziristan tribal area. Some militants confirmed Mehsud was dead, and one criticized others for talking about the issue over the radio.

I wonder if this Taliban leader was one of Joe Biden’s Taliban that was not our enemy, per se?

British Police Identify Body Found on Queen Elizabeth’s Royal Family Estate in Sandringham as Missing Latvian Student Alisa Dmitrijeva

The mystery is finally over of the body discovered on New Year’s Day by a dog walker on the British Royal Family’s estate in Sandringham. Detectives have determined that the remains found are that of missing 17 year old Latvian student Alisa Dmitrijeva who went missing from her home in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, in August 2011, approximately 25 miles from where her body was found. Dmitrijeva was last seen in Friars Street, King’s Lynn, on 31 August and was reported missing by a family member a week later. The body was identified using palm records and DNA testing.

Norfolk police say the remains are those of Alisa Dmitrijeva, a 17-year-old Latvian student who went missing from her home in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, in August.

The teenager’s family, who moved to the UK three years ago, said in a statement that they were devastated by the news and asked to be allowed to grieve in private.

Police said the body, found in woodland at Anmer, near Sandringham, west Norfolk, had been identified using palm records and DNA testing.

Dmitrijeva was last seen in Friars Street, King’s Lynn, on 31 August. She was reported missing by a family member a week later.

British police have not yet said what caused her death, but said detectives are “investigating the murder.”

Police are investigating activities that occurred around the site between the end of August and the end of September, Detective Chief Inspector Jes Fry said in a statement.

“We would like to identify people who may have worked in that area or were involved in organizing or running any specific events that may have taken place,” he said.

US Navy Rescues Iranian Ship & Sailors held by Somali Pirates … Because America is Just So Evil … Iran Says a “welcome and humanitarian act”

How must the following story be reported in Iran to its people? AMERICA TO THE RESCUE …

Talk about your ironies … The US Navy ship was in the area due to Iranian hostilities. Once again, America to the rescue! The U.S. Navy destroyer USS Kidd responded to a distress call from the Iranian vessel, , the Al Molai, that had been held captive for more than 40 days, by Somali pirates. The result, the US cavalry to the rescue and 13 Iranian fishing sailors were saved. A U.S. Navy team boarded the ship and detained 15 suspected Somali pirates.

A U.S. Navy destroyer has rescued an Iranian fishing boat that had been commandeered by suspected pirates just days after Tehran warned the U.S. to keep its warships out of the Persian Gulf.

American forces flying off the guided-missile destroyer USS Kidd responded to a distress call from the Iranian vessel, the Al Molai, which had been held captive for more than 40 days, the U.S. Navy said Friday. The Kidd was sailing in the Arabian Sea, after leaving the Persian Gulf, when it came to the sailors’ aid.

Image that? The US Navy ship was in the area due to the Iranian government in Tehran threats to cut off the Strait of Hormuz. We have been told by Iranian officials that the US is no longer welcome in the Gulf. I bet these Iranian fishing sailors rescued by the US Navy beg to differ. Whether at odds with a country or not, the United States is always there to lend a helping hand … A note to the haters of America, “It’s what we do.”

“It’s what we do. And it’s what we do in that part of the world. We get a distress call, as we did in this case, even though it came from an Iranian ship. When the pirates went after them, we respond to those calls,” Panetta said. “We did what we have to do in that situation. I think it just sends an important message to the world that the United States is going to abide by international rules and international order, and that’s exactly what we did here.”

This is what separates the Unites states from the other countries that US “haters” try to compare us to and say we are the same. Could we have expected the Iranian government to have come to a US boats rescue? Hmm? Not unless they wanted to take possession of the boat like a military drone.

OH, THE IRONY

UPDATE I: First the irony and now for something completely different … Wow, how much worldwide exposure did this humanitarian act get … Iran has finally commented and states that the  January 5 US Navy operation was a “welcome and humanitarian act.”

Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast told Iran’s Arabic-language broadcaster, Al-Alam, that “all nations should display such behavior.”

“We consider the actions of the U.S. forces in saving the lives of the Iranian seamen to be a humanitarian and positive act and we welcome such behavior,” Mehmanparast was quoted as saying.

Joran Van der Sloot Trial in Murder of Stephany Flores in Peru Begins Today … Then Extortion Charges in US?

Finally, two murders later … Joran Van der Sloot will be tried in a court of law, it’s been a long time in coming.

Joran Van der Sloot murder trial of 21 year old Stephany Flores begins in Peru today. Van der Sloot is accused of murdering Stephany Flores on May 30, 2010, five years to the day of the disappearance and  presumed death of Natalee Holloway in Aruba. Joran Van der Sloot admits to killing Stephany Flores; however, he claims, as per his attorney  Luis Jimenez Navarro, that the murder was not premeditated. Joran Van der Sloot was charged last year with “qualified murder” and simple robbery, that  together could carry a sentence of up to 30 years in prison.

Joran van der Sloot goes on trial Friday in Peru, ready to admit to killing a 21-year-old woman while planning to fight more stringent charges that could land him more time in prison, his lawyer said.

About six and a half years ago, the Dutch national was considered the prime suspect in the case of Alabama teenager Natalee Holloway, who vanished while on a graduation trip to the Caribbean island of Aruba. He was arrested twice but never charged in connection with Holloway’s disappearance, which is still unsolved.

Yet van der Sloot’s trial in another high-profile case, which his lawyer said has a tenuous connection with the Holloway story, is set to go forward Friday.

The 24-year-old is accused of killing Stephany Flores in his Lima hotel room in May 2010. Police say that he took money and bank cards from her wallet and fled to Chile, where he was arrested a few days later.

According to Radio Netherlands, United States authorities are currently involved in negotiations with the Peruvian government to have Van der Sloot extradited to the US for trial immediately after his trial in Peru ends to face trial and extortion charges as he tried to extort $250,000 from Beth Holloway, mom of missing Natalee Holloway.

One thing is for certain, Peru has an opportunity to do what Aruba refused to do … provide justice for a murder victim. This time Joran Van der Sloot does not have pappa Sloot and his connections to get him out of this one. Joran, its time to face the music for the first time in your life.

For more updates and discussion, go to Scared Monkeys Forum: Natalee Holloway/Stephany Flores Case Discussion threads.

Venezuela President Chávez Says Barack Obama is an Irresponsible Phony who Shames the USA … “You are a Shame to Black People”

First Venezuela President Hugo Chavez called Barack Obama a “clown and an embarrassment”. Now Chavez says Obama is an irresponsible phony who embarrasses the USA.  Chavez further went on to say that Barack Obama is a shame to black people. WOW, Chavez rips Obama a new one.  It would seem that Obama has even lost Chavez. We are just waiting for the LEFT to call Chavez a racist.

On Monday (19th), Venezuela’s President, Hugo Chavez, heavily criticized the U.S. president, Barack Obama, in response to his warning of the alleged restrictions on the rights of Venezuelans.

Chavez called Obama “irresponsible and fake”: “Obama will get involved with his things. He dedicates himself to his country, where he has practiced a disaster. Now he comes seeking votes by attacking Venezuela. Do not be so irresponsible, boy,” said Chavez in a Council of Ministers broadcast on state television.

[ ...]

In an interview with Telesur, Chávez said that Obama is a “shame” and “the biggest disappointment” for the poor and communities of African descent in the United States, who believed in him when he took office: “You are a shame to all these people, so leave us in peace and quiet. Search for your votes there, delivering on what you promised to your people ….,” he said.

Missing 8 Year Old Girl Wati Thought Dead Swept Away by 2004 Indonesian Tsunami Turns Up 7 Years Later

Call it a Christmas Miracle  … the following story is almost beyond believable …

Flash back to 2004 and the Indian Ocean tsunami that devastated Indonesian and left death and destruction in its path. The 8.9 earthquake triggered tsunami killed more than 150,000 people. One of the individuals that was missing, swept away by the waves and thought dead was an 8 year old girl known as Wati. She was only 8 years old when a wall of water crashed through and erased her village of Ujong Baroh in Aceh, one of the hardest hit provinces in Indonesia.

The 8 year-old was clinging with her two siblings to their mother Yusinar as they tried to escape the unforgiving waters.  The force of the waves proved too strong and Wati was ripped from her family, consumed by the water, never to been seen again.

Until this week.

Seven years later according to the Indonesian news agency, Antara, Wati found her way back home to her family. Simply amazing. Initially she was thought to be a homeless beggar when she showed up in the nearby city of Meulaboh.  However, Wati’s parents were able to confirm her identify by distinguishing features; a small mole and a scar she got above her eyebrow when she was six. One can only imagine what Wati has been doing the last seven years?

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