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Toulouse Gunman is Dead

22 Thursday Mar 2012

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Mohammed Merah, the gunman who killed seven people, is dead after a 32-hour siege at a flat in Toulouse.

He was shot by a police sniper as he tried to jump out of a bathroom window after commandos had stormed his flat.

Merah had carried out three separate attacks, killing four people at a Jewish school and three soldiers.

He had said he was acting to “avenge Palestinian children” and protest against French military interventions overseas.

The 23-year-old who was reported to have received al-Qaeda training, opened fire on police commandos after they stormed into his flat at 9:30 this morning. (GMT)

Prosecutors said he was shot in the head as he tried to flee.

In a news conference, Prosecutor Francois Molins said a police marksman had killed Merah as he tried to jump out of the bathroom window.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17473207

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Stand-off in Toulouse

21 Wednesday Mar 2012

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Mohammed Merah, a Frenchman of Algerian origin, who is suspected of being behind  a recent spate of shootings around Toulouse, is currently inside a block of flats that is surrounded by police.
The 23-year-old is suspected of killing three soldiers and four Jewish people, all of which occurred in and around Toulouse in three separate incidents earlier this month.

On 11 March, a soldier was shot and killed after replying to an advertisement offering a motorcycle for sale.

Days later, two soldiers were shot and killed and a third was wounded while waiting for money from a cash machine.

And earlier this week, three children and an adult were shot and killed outside a Jewish school.

Earlier today, France’s interior minister, Claude Gueant, denied reports that security forces had arrested their suspect.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17462604

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Empire Builders

20 Tuesday Mar 2012

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ANALYSIS

Before the Nazis, there were the Colonialists, and it is very rare to hear anyone say that the colonising nations, of which Great Britain was the most successful, were worse.

Last night’s Empire, Making a Fortune, made a contribution to altering this.

England was the empire on which the sun never set, perhaps it wasn’t the sun that propelled this tiny nation into becoming a world power.

After beginning as pirates – Somali pirates may have something to say about that today – some of the worst and most selfish of human beings on earth set up sugar plantations in the West Indies where slaves shipped in from Africa – we all know how they came here, and a third would die within  the first three years – were then treated as property with arbitrary punishments meted out because the man in charge could.

Jeremy Paxman read an account written by one slave owner, Thomas Thislewood of how he spent the day inflicting punishments on his property during three months in 1756.

Darwin, he wrote, had to punished for eating sugar cane so he was flogged, pickled and then Hector was told to shit in his mouth.

Thislewood was proud about the numbers of female slaves he raped, over a thousand by his own admission.

Then, every Sunday, he and his other plantation owners would meet to thank the Lord, for they were good Christian folk.

Exactly who were these people and how they came to be like this, is something that I suppose you could never understand.

This is what the word RAW truly means, that is raw greed, envy, superiority – all the basest instincts known to man.

And they are of course the very cold emotions that created and drove the Nazis.

BRISTOL, 7-6-20, STATUE OF SLAVE OWNER EDWARD COLSTON IS DUMPED INTO THE SEA (ABOVE AND BELOW)

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📺 How the 1980 Iranian Embassy Siege Changed my life as an ITN News Producer 🇮🇷

15 Thursday Mar 2012

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TEMPLATE EXCLUSIVE

Stewart Purvis was a news producer at ITN when the SAS were about to storm the Iranian embassy. He explains the decisions he took that resulted in those iconic pictures being broadcast on British television and how they changed his life. Watch it here

Background

The Iranian Embassy siege took place from 30 April to 5 May 1980, after a group of six armed men stormed the Iranian embassy in South Kensington, London.

The gunmen took 26 people hostage—mostly embassy staff, but several visitors and a police officer, who had been guarding the embassy, were also held. The hostage-takers, members of a group campaigning for the autonomy of Iran’s Khūzestān Province, demanded the release of Arab prisoners from jails in Khūzestān and their own safe passage out of the United Kingdom. The British government quickly resolved that safe passage would not be granted, and a siege ensued. Over the following days, police negotiators secured the release of five hostages in exchange for minor concessions, such as the broadcasting of the hostage-takers’ demands on British television.

By the sixth day of the siege the gunmen had become increasingly frustrated at the lack of progress in meeting their demands. That evening, they killed one of the hostages and threw his body out of the embassy. As a result, the British government ordered the Special Air Service (SAS), a special forces regiment of the British Army, to conduct an assault to rescue the remaining hostages. Shortly afterwards, soldiers abseiled from the roof of the building and forced entry through the windows. During the 17-minute raid, the SAS rescued all but one of the remaining hostages, and killed five of the six terrorists.

 

Posted by | Filed under Analysis 🙌, Arab World 🌎, Breaking News 📺 🎙🗞, Comment, International News, Media 📷, Politics 💼 🗳 🪖, Television 📺, Terrorism, UK, USA 🇺🇸

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JOURNALIST NAYAB CHOHAN INTERVIEWS STEWART PURVIS in TEMPLATE EXCLUSIVE – Why OFCOM took Press TV off the Airwaves

15 Thursday Mar 2012

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LONDON – Press TV could be back on the UK airwaves, Professor Stewart Purvis who was on the OFCOM board that made the decision to take the Iranian-owned broadcaster off air said today in an exclusive Template interview.

Prof Purvis said Press TV had not been able to meet European standards and regulations, highlighting the interview broadcast with a man who later said he had been under duress from the Iranian authorities as an example of this.

He did not however rule out a time when OFCOM and Press TV could meet and iron out the problems, that mean that viewers can only see the channel on the deregulated web.

Posted by | Filed under Analysis 🙌, Arab World 🌎, Breaking News 📺 🎙🗞, International News, Media 📷, Politics 💼 🗳 🪖, Religion, Television 📺, Terrorism, UK, Weather

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American Soldier kills 16 Afghan Civilians

12 Monday Mar 2012

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Posted by | Filed under Analysis 🙌, Asia 🌐, Comment, Crime 🔪 🔫, International News, Politics 💼 🗳 🪖, Terrorism, USA 🇺🇸

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Cameron’s Adventure into Nigeria

09 Friday Mar 2012

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Locator map of Nigeria
ANALYSIS
 
Italy has said that it was ‘inexplicable’ that the UK had not informed them of the decision to send in British special forces to rescue two hostages – one British, the other Italian –  held in Nigeria.
 
The failed rescue bid resulted in the deaths of Chris McManus, 28, from Oldham, Greater Manchester, and Franco Lamolinara.
The operation which was conducted jointly by British Special forces and Nigerian military comes at a time when media reports here are referring to a growing insurgency in the north which is being blamed on a group called Boku Haram, which it is said has links to Al Qaeda.
 
Whether the gun men have anything to do with all of that has yet to be proved, however you can establish a number of facts about Nigeria and what may be driving any trouble – the north which is mainly Christian has a monopoly of the oil which the government of GoodLuck Jonathan has not shared equally with the South.
 
What’s more oil companies – which are Western – have cut deals that are too generous to them.
 
And of course there is our Prime Minister – the Tony Blair clone – who having got a taste for colonial glory in Libya has followed in his predecessor’s footsteps by an adventure into Nigeria.
 
Unlike the one into Sierra Leone however, this one has failed and those who continue to question David Cameron’s judgment on the international stage have been left wondering what he’s going to do next.

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⚽️ Why English Clubs fail in Europe 🏟

09 Friday Mar 2012

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The Manchester Clubs were defeated in the first legs of their Europa League fixtures yesterday. In the case of City, losing by one goal to Sporting Lisbon may have had more to do with their own internal issues than with the quality of their opposition who were well organised and held back only by the resolute goalkeeper that is Joe Hart. City looked tired and out of sorts, and still appear to have problems adjusting to Europe, which given the speed of their progress is understandable.

United however, were outplayed outclassed and well out…everything by a team from Spain called Athletic Bilbao.  That United have a one-goal deficit had more to do more with Athletic missing a number of chances than how Alex Ferguson’s men played on the night.

Yes, we have seen the emergence of a new Spanish powerhouse, however, the question has to asked as to what is to become of the English clubs – the Europa League was meant to be Europe’s First Division, well try telling that Athletic who taught the once great European side that was Manchester United how to play with speed, skill and sheer talent.

Arsenal heroics the other night against AC Milan in the Champions League may have been celebrated by the fans, however the truth is they were completely outplayed in the first leg and all Milan had to do was sit back and soak up the pressure for the return fixture at the Emirates.

Robin Van Persie’s miss at the end was not a real reflection of the gap between the two sides.

And Chelsea, who have never really looked like winning the Champions League title ever, have it all to do against Napoli if they are to progress into the quarter-final.

It’s going to take more than getting rid of AVB to come back from a 3-1 defeat here.

Years ago, 2004 if my memory serves me right, a  cab driver gave me the low down on the English game. He believed that English football just did not cut it against the Europeans, something you could clearly see reflected by the continued failure of the national side  and that those foreign players that were lured by the money to play here lost their vitality so that they never the same players ever again.

Trouble is he was right then, and what he said then, is also true today.

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