Benghazi, Libya. The U.S. ambassador (J. Christopher Stevens) and three staff members at the American Consulate were killed on Tuesday following an attack by ultraconservative Islamist protesters.
The staff members were killed after they returned to the Consulate to help other staff members evacuate according to Fox News.
The Islamist protesters are angry over a film that is critical of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad.
Dozens of protesters climbed the walls of the Consulate. After taking down the American flag, they tried to burn it. Unable to do so they then tore it apart and replaced the flag with a black flag with a Muslim statement…”There is no god but God and Muhammad is his prophet”.
Israeli filmmaker in hiding after anti-Islam movie sparks Libya, Egypt protests http://t.co/YzXmfryk مخرج الفيلم إسرائيلي وقرر الاختفاء
@MouridBarghouti 6 hours ago 34 retweets | 2 replies
Israeli filmmaker in hiding after anti-Islam movie sparks Libya, Egypt protests – Israel News | Haaretz Daily Newspaper
Film by Sam Bacile, who self-identifies as an Israeli Jew, led to protests at the U.S. consulate in Libya and the U.S. Embassy in Cairo; one American staffer killed in clashes.
Read more at www.haaretz.com
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@theblaze : This Is the Anti-Muhammed Movie That Sparked Deadly Islamist Protests in Egypt & Libya Yesterday http://t.co/fdaBYzIX by @billyhallowell 1 hour ago more »
Sam Bacile’s Anti-Islam Movie Sparked Deadly Protests in Egypt, Libya | Video | TheBlaze.com
On Tuesday, Americans remembered the lives of those individuals who were mercilessly killed during the September 11, 2001 attacks. But on the same day that the 11th anniversary of the tragedy was being remembered, two notable, anti-American events unfolded in the Middle East — in Egypt, Islamists tore down the American… …
‘Islam is a cancer – period’: said maker of ‘blasphemous’ internet film, which accused Mohammed of being a fraud and a paedophile, has led to the death of US ambassador in wake of violent protests in the Middle East.
Produced and written by Sam Bacile, a California real estate developer, the two-hour movie, ‘Innocence of Muslims,’ cost $5 million to make and was financed with the help of more than 100 Jewish donors.
The English-language 13-minute trailer on YouTube shows an amateur cast performing a wooden dialogue of insults
Muslims find it offensive to depict Muhammad in any manner.
Fears he will be ‘next Theo van Gogh’- Dutch filmmaker killed by a Muslim extremist after making film that was perceived as insulting to Islam
Film backed by U.S. pastor Terry Jones, who inflamed anger in the Muslim world in 2010 with plans to burn the Koran
Stocks to rise on German court ruling- U.S. stocks were headed for a higher open Wednesday after a German court backed Europe’s latest rescue fund.
Germany’s Constitutional Court dismissed complaints on the legality of the European Stability Mechanism, a permanent bailout fund that’s expected to have a maximum lending capacity of €500 billion.
Markets around the world initially rose on the news, but European stocks turned mixed in afternoon trading. Britain’s FTSE 100 lost 0.1%, while the DAX in Germany jumped 1.9% and France’s CAC 40 rose 1.2%.
Asian markets, which closed ahead of the German court decision, ended higher.
Investors were anxious about how the ruling would impact the European Central Bank’s plans to preserve the euro, which remained at its highest level against the U.S. dollar in four months early Wednesday.
“This is good news for the EU and has certainly been reflected in the value of the euro across the board,” said Chris Towner, director of foreign exchange advisory services at HiFX. “This gives a foundation for the EU leaders to start to put a proper framework in place for further integration.”
As stocks around the globe reacted, investors bailed out of U.S. Treasuries, sending the yield on the benchmark 10-year note up to 1.74% from 1.69% late Tuesday.
In corporate news, Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500) is expected to unveil the iPhone 5 at an event later Wednesday . Shares of the company were higher as investors awaited the announcement.
U.S. stocks advanced Tuesday, rebounding from the previous day’s pullback.
German Constitutional Court backs European rescue fund
updated 8:19 AM EDT, Wed September 12, 2012
Protesters call for the end of the European Stability Mechanism in front of the Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe, Germany
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
German court dismisses complaint against European rescue fund
37,000 citizens had sought to stop the fund going ahead
Critics said the fund would expose German taxpayers to excessive demands
Supporters say the European Stability Mechanism is vital to saving the euro
The eurozone’s crisis plan passed another milestone Wednesday with the decision from Germany’s Constitutional Court to dismiss a complaint against Europe’s permanent bailout fund, known as the European Stability Mechanism.
The decision eases the pressure on two of the eurozone bloc’s largest economies, Italy and Spain, whose funding costs have been soaring amid a financial crisis that has dragged on for more than two years.
The two countries — the bloc’s third- and fourth-largest economies, respectively — are considered too big to fail, but Spain has already been forced to seek financial aid for its banks and is widely expected to seek further assistance.
Anatoli Annenkov, senior European economist at Societe Generale, said the verdict showed that on paper, “we now have some powerful tools available which combined looks sufficiently large to deal with financing pressures on Spain and Italy, if and when they arise.”
That may “be sufficient to calm markets,” Annenkov said, although he noted that the plans needed to be quickly translated into practice, with full details of conditions and enforcement made clear. “We expect the first real case to be Spain, which is currently studying the conditions for applying for aid,” he added.
The decision, which was months in the making, was expected but clears the way for the introduction of the European Stability Mechanism, which is due to become operational in October and will have a maximum lending capacity of 500 billion euros. The ruling included conditions to limit Germany’s liability to the fund to 190 billion euros.
In Germany’s biggest ever constitutional challenge, about 37,000 citizens had tried to block the fund, saying it violated the country’s right to retain control of its own budget.
The citizens, who backed a legal push from the More Democracy movement, said the mechanism could expose the country to unlimited demands for taxpayer money. They wanted a referendum to decide the issue.
Supporters of the rescue fund, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, said it was a vital part of measures to prop up ailing European economies and avert the collapse of the euro. Addressing German parliament Wednesday, Merkel said: “It is a good day for Germany, it is a good day for Europe.”
Markets rose on news of the ruling, as investors had been anxious about how it would affect the European Central Bank’s plans to preserve the euro.
It was feared that a negative ruling would throw global markets into chaos and force Europe’s politicians to return to the drawing board to tackle Europe’s debt crisis.
The bailout fund is set to provide financial help to European countries struggling to cope with their debt burdens.
It’s an integral part of a plan announced by European Central Bank President Mario Draghi last week to buy bonds with a duration of between one and three years.
The bond purchases, described as “outright monetary transactions,” would be available to countries that seek outside help and that agree to meet a number of budgetary conditions before approval. There would be no “ex ante limits on the size” of the purchases, Draghi said, repeating his pledge to do “whatever it takes” to save the euro.
The measure is designed to keep a lid on bond yields and borrowing costs.
The U.S. ambassador to Libya and three other American staff members were killed Tuesday in an attack on the U.S. consulate in the Libyan city of Benghazi, the White House confirmed. President Obama, in a written statement issued Wednesday morning, called the attack “outrageous” and “senseless.”
Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens was killed Tuesday night when he and a group of embassy employees went to the consulate to try to evacuate staff. The protesters, angry over a film that ridiculed Islam’s Prophet Muhammad, were firing gunshots and rocket-propelled grenades.
“I strongly condemn the outrageous attack on our diplomatic facility in Benghazi, which took the lives of four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens,” President Obama said in a statement Wednesday morning. “Right now, the American people have the families of those we lost in our thoughts and prayers. They exemplified America’s commitment to freedom, justice, and partnership with nations and people around the globe, and stand in stark contrast to those who callously took their lives.”
Obama said he’s directed the administration to provide “all necessary resources” to support security for U.S. personnel in Libya and to increase security at diplomatic offices around the world.
“While the United States rejects efforts to denigrate the religious beliefs of others, we must all unequivocally oppose the kind of senseless violence that took the lives of these public servants,” he said.
Obama called Stevens “a courageous and exemplary representative of the United States” who “selflessly served our country and the Libyan people” throughout the Libyan revolution.
“His legacy will endure wherever human beings reach for liberty and justice,” the president said. A White House official said Obama was told Tuesday night that Stevens was unaccounted for, and informed early Wednesday of his death.
Libya’s interim president on Wednesday apologized to the United States for the attack. Mohammed el-Megarif described the attack as “cowardly” and offered his condolences. Speaking to reporters, he vowed to bring the culprits to justice and maintain his country’s close relations with the United States.
Stevens is the first U.S. ambassador killed in an attack since 1979.
The State Department identified one of the other three Americans killed as Foreign Service Information Management Officer Sean Smith, a husband and father of two who had worked for the State Department for 10 years. The U.S. government is still notifying the next of kin for the other two individuals killed, and has not identified them.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton described Stevens as a passionate and dedicated diplomat who had devoted himself to the transition in post-Qaddafi Libya.
“As the conflict in Libya unfolded, Chris was one of the first Americans on the ground in Benghazi. He risked his own life to lend the Libyan people a helping hand to build the foundation for a new, free nation,” she said.
Stevens was appointed as ambassador to Libya in May 2012.
He served as a special representative to the Libyan Transitional National Council during the revolution in 2011, and as the deputy chief of mission from 2007 to 2009. Originally from California, Stevens was an international trade lawyer before joining the Foreign Service in the early 1990s. He also served as a volunteer in the Peace Corps from 1983 to 1985, teaching English in Morocco.
U.S. officials remain on alert for violence at other diplomatic posts.
Hours before the Benghazi attack, hundreds of mainly ultraconservative Islamist protesters in Egypt marched to the U.S. Embassy in downtown Cairo, gathering outside its walls and chanting against the movie and the U.S. Most of the embassy staff had left the compound earlier because of warnings of the upcoming demonstration.
Dozens of protesters then scaled the embassy walls, and several went into the courtyard and took down the American flag from a pole.
They brought it back to the crowd outside, which tried to burn it, but failing that tore it apart. The protesters on the wall then raised on the flagpole a black flag with a Muslim declaration of faith, “There is no god but God and Muhammad is his prophet.” The flag, similar to the banner used by Al Qaeda, is commonly used by ultraconservatives around the region.
On Wednesday, the U.S. Embassy in Algiers was warning Americans in the country to avoid non-essential travel amid calls for more protests after the Libya attack.
US ambassador to Libya, 3 American staff members killed in attack
Residents in Southern California on Monday were greeted with pungent smells of sulfur.
Officials have been perplexed. An explanation being explored is a wind delivered odor from a recent large scale fish die off in the Salton Sea.
Residents of Riverside County through to the San Fernando Valley were the recipients of the odor, about 150 miles from the Salton Sea.
Experts however are skeptical of this explanation.
Jack Crayon, who is an environmental scientist with the Department of Fish and Game in California says that this odor development around the sea is common, it occurs a few times a year and that it is unusual for the odor to travel that kind of distance.
Intelligence from Israel, the United States and at least two other Western nations suggests that Iran is closer to building a nuclear weapon than previously thought.
If the International Atomic Energy Agency believes the intelligence to be credible it will further strengthen the case for a preemptive strike against Iran, to take out their nuclear facilities.
The evidence shows that Iran have been running computer modelling, essential to the understanding of how to build a nuclear warhead.
As the debt crisis continues in Europe, many of the same arguments are being made within the eurozone countries as to the best way forward. Italy and Spain are both edging closer to needing a bailout; and it will not be long before Greece will be requiring another bailout package.
However, the arguments between growth and austerity continue. Germany are reluctant to continue to pay the bills, without the proper checks in place. But will Spain and Italy be prepared to sign away political autonomy?
Now George Soros has said “Germany must back growth or leave the euro”. To back growth means Germany continues to bailout and lend more money – increasing indebtedness. Germany has made it clear it desires growth, but not by creating more debt.
However, if Germany were to leave the euro it would enable the Euro to devalue and ease the economic pain in the struggling nations.
Welcoming the Drepung Loseling Phukhang Monastery monks to perform a sand mandala is the Pacific Asia Museum in Pasadena, California.
The ceremony concludes on September 9, 2012 where the sand mandala is blessed by the monks, some sand of which is distributed to some attendees and the rest dumped into the ocean where, according to Buddhist spiritual understanding, it blesses all living beings in its vicinity.
“I could end the deficit in 5 minutes,” he told CNBC. “You just
pass a law that says that anytime there is a deficit of more
than 3% of GDP, all sitting members of Congress are ineligible
for re-election.
The 26th amendment (granting the right to vote for 18 year-olds)
took only 3 months & 8 days to be ratified! Why? Simple!
The people demanded it. That was in 1971 – before computers, e-mail,
cell phones, etc.
Of the 27 amendments to the Constitution, seven (7) took one (1) year
or less to become the law of the land – all because of public pressure.
Warren Buffet is asking each addressee to forward this email to
a minimum of twenty people on their address list; in turn ask
each of those to do likewise.
In three days, most people in The United States of America will
have the message.
This is one idea that really should be passed
around.
Congressional Reform Act of 2012
1. No Tenure / No Pension.
A Congressman/woman collects a salary while in office and receives no
pay when they’re out of office.
2. Congress (past, present & future) participates in Social
Security.
All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the
Social Security system immediately. All future funds flow into
the Social Security system, and Congress participates with the
American people. It may not be used for any other purpose.
3. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all
Americans do.
4. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise.
Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%.
5. Congress loses their current health care system and
participates in the same health care system as the American people.
6. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the
American people.
7. All contracts with past and present Congressmen/women are void
effective 12/1/12. The American people did not make this
contract with Congressmen/women.
Congress made all these contracts for themselves. Serving in
Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers
envisioned citizen legislators, so ours should serve their
term(s), then go home and back to work.
If each person contacts a minimum of twenty people then it will
only take three days for most people (in the U.S. ) to receive
the message. Don’t you think it’s time?
