Bombing of UN Building Kills At Least 10
According to Felix Onuah and Camillus Eboh from Yahoo! News, a car carrying a bomb rammed a United Nations building in Abuja, Nigeria, killing at least ten people last week. The car hit the office building before exploding, an attack similar to that of an assault back in June on Abuja police headquarters. The attack is suspected to have been "carried out by a Nigerian Islamist group, whose strikes have been growing in intensity and spreading further afield". These attacks are likely to be the work of Haram or the Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), according to a security source.
This violence is suspected to be linked to the most recent election in Nigeria. The past presidential election has been the fairest "since the end of military rule." However, it has now left "Africa's most populous country starkly divided between the mostly Muslim North and the largely Christian South." In addition, according to the security source, "This is the worst thing that could have happened".
Department of Homeland Security Shifting Deportation Policies
According to CNN, theDepartment of Homeland Security said the government would review "about 300,000 deportation cases pending in the federal immigration courts." Lower Priority cases such as those not involving violent or dangerous individuals will be withheld under new criteria. Details as to how these cases will be judged are still being worked on by Federal authorities reported a Senior Department of Homeland Security official. Until then, measures to randomly stop suspected illegal immigrants, such as those exercised by Arizona, have been put on hold until the details of the policy have been finalized. Because the process is still being designed, no individual cases have been affected. However, some immigration attorneys say "they're already starting to see a difference in how their clients are treated." One such case includes two teenagers who were just recently released after being detained by government officials for an extensive amount of time. Despite this particular instance, officials are unsure of the policy's impact on the local level and just how widespread it will be.
Syrian Regime Accused of Brutally Beating Cartoonist
The United States has accused the Syrian regime of a "targeted" attack on a popular cartoonist, CNN reported last week. Ali Farzat was "reportedly kidnapped by masked men, beaten and thrown unconscious from a van onto a road in Damascus." This occurred shortly after Farzat's depicted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad "hitching a ride with outgoing Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi." It is reported that the thugs inflicted most of their attacks on the artist's hands—"a clear message that he should stop drawing" said spokeswoman Victoria Nuland of the State Department. Later, in a "demonstration of solidarity," many individuals with a Facebook account in Syria changed their profile picture to the photo of the "bruised and bloody Satirist." Nuland went on to say, "While making empty promises about dialogue with the Syrian people, the Assad regime continues to carry out brutal attacks against peaceful Syrians trying to exercise their universal right to free expression."
Two Hundred Bodies Found in Abandoned Hospital
According to a BBC News correspondent in Tripoli, Lybia, hundreds of dead bodies were uncovered, abandoned in the Abu Salim hospital. The bodies had been there for several days and consisted of men, women, and children. "Residents said some people had been alive when they arrived at the hospital" reported the article. The bodies were apparently abandoned by doctors and nurses "after clashes erupted nearby between rebel forces and those loyal to Col Muammar Gadhafi". BBC's Wyre Davies reported the scene was appalling and most distressing. Local resident Osama Pilil told BBC, "These bodies have been here in the hospital for five days. Nobody has taken care of them—to bring them to the mortuary, to identify them, to bury them". Bodies were all over the hospital, in corridors on gurneys, in multiple rooms, and the stench was appalling. "We need help," said Pilil, "… because there has been a massacre in Abu Salim." Pilil also said the international Red Cross should be notified, as there has been an attempt to clean up the hospital and return it back to normal, but the process has slowed because there are just too many bodies.
Gadhafi's Small Crush on Rice
An article by Mark Memmot of National Public Radio reported that after raiding Moammar Gadhafi's compound, an album of former Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, was found among many other piles of keep sakes. The photos appear to be official, taken from various public events where Rice appeared. Gadhafi once referred to Rice as "My darling black African woman" and of whom he said, "I love her very much." According to Politico, Rice and Gadhafi were not strangers. Apparently "the two shared an intimate late-night dinner together three years ago." Victoria Nuland, spokeswoman for the state department, was asked what she thought about the "bizarre and somewhat creepy scrapbook." Nuland replied "I don't need to see the photos, but bizarre and creepy are good adjectives to describe much of Gadhafi's behavior." The whereabouts of Gadhafi still remain unknown, so the search continues.
