PREVIEW-NFL-Playoffs offer clash of generations

Jan 1 (Reuters) - With Robert Griffin III, Andrew Luck and Russell Wilson set to make playoff debuts, the year of the rookie continues in the National Football League (NFL).
But defense and experience win championships and few know the road to the Super Bowl better than longtime quarterbacks Tom Brady and Peyton Manning.
The wild-card weekend kicks off on Saturday with the Cincinnati Bengals visiting the Houston Texans, followed by NFC North rivals the Green Bay Packers and Minnesota Vikings renewing hostilities on Lambeau Field's famous frozen tundra.
Sunday's games will be a rookie quarterback showcase. Luck, the number one overall pick in last year's draft, will lead the resurgent Indianapolis Colts against the Baltimore Ravens, with Griffin, selected number two by the Washington Redskins, going against the Seattle Seahawks and their brilliant first-year quarterback Wilson.
More intriguing, however, is the possibility of a clash of the generations in the divisional playoffs the following weekend when Manning and the AFC top seeded Denver Broncos join the action along with Brady and the number two seeded New England Patriots.
In the NFC, the top-seeded Atlanta Falcons and number two San Francisco 49ers await their conference's wild-card winners.
OLD GUARD
While NFL fans have been mesmerized by the dynamic talents of Griffin, Luck and Wilson, the old guard of Brady, Manning and the Packers' Aaron Rodgers have trophy cases that contain Super Bowl rings and most valuable player awards.
Rodgers and Manning finished the regular season with the top two quarterback ratings, generating plenty of MVP buzz. They were followed by Griffin and Wilson.
Luck completed his first campaign by grabbing the single-season rookie passing yards record as the Colts went from last place to the playoffs in one year.
Wilson tied Manning's single-season rookie record with 26 touchdown passes, leading an explosive Seattle offence that became to first in 62 years to register back-to-back 50 point games.
While the spotlight will be focused on the trio of rookies, the pressure will be on two other quarterbacks.
The apprenticeship and honeymoon is over for Atlanta's Matt Ryan, the third overall pick in the 2008 draft, and the Ravens' Joe Flacco, taken 18th overall in that same draft class. The two must prove they are finally ready to deliver a championship.
Texans veteran play caller Matt Schaub will also be under the microscope while San Francisco's second year man Colin Kaepernick maybe the one true wild card, after taking over first string duties mid-season from Alex Smith.
In Minnesota, the Vikings' offense does not revolve so much around quarterback Christian Ponder as bruising running back Adrian Peterson, who rushed for a staggering 2,097 yards, falling just nine yards shy of Eric Dickerson's single-season record.
TOP RUSHERS
The wild-card weekend will also feature the NFL's top three rushers with Peterson, Redskins' powerhouse rookie Alfred Morris (1,613 yards) who averaged over 100 yards a game and the Seahawks' Marshawn Lynch (1,590).
Along with Lynch and quarterback Wilson, the Seahawks enter the postseason with the league's top ranked defense, allowing just 15.3 points a game. They are followed closely by their West division rivals the 49ers.
With six wins in their last seven games, including five straight to close out the campaign, the NFC Seahawks carry considerable momentum, but no team is hotter than the AFC Broncos, who have reeled off 11 consecutive wins.
The Seahawks were the NFL's best home team, winning all eight home dates, but must do something they have not done since 1983 - win a playoff game on the road.
Atlanta, the NFC's number one seed, went 7-1 at home and will have home field advantage throughout the playoffs while second seeded San Francisco was nearly as dominant, going 6-1-1 on its own turf.
"It's about consistency when you get into this opportunity," Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said on the team's website. "You've got to bring what you've got. Don't show up without your stuff on that day.

Read More..

NFL-Playoff schedule for NFL postseason

Jan 1 (Reuters) - The playoff schedule for National Football League postseason beginning with wild-card games on Saturday:
Saturday
AFC wild-card game
Cincinnati Bengals (10-6) at Houston Texans (12-4), 2130 GMT/4:30 PM ET
--
NFC wild-card game
Minnesota Vikings (10-6) at Green Bay Packers (11-5), 0100 GMT/8 PM ET
---
Sunday
AFC wild-card game
Indianapolis Colts (11-5) at Baltimore Ravens (10-6), 1800 GMT/1 PM ET
--
NFC wild-card game
Seattle Seahawks (11-5) at Washington Redskins (10-6), 2130 GMT/4:30 PM ET
---
Saturday, Jan. 12
AFC divisional game
Wild-card game winner at Denver Broncos (13-3), 2130 GMT/4:30 PM ET
--
NFC division game
Wild-card game winner at San Francisco 49ers (11-4-1). 0100 GMT/8 PM ET
---
Sunday, Jan. 13
NFC divisional game
Wild-card game winner at Atlanta Falcons (13-3), 1800 GMT/1 PM ET
--
AFC divisional game
Wild-card game winner at New England Patriots (12-4), 2130 GMT/4:30 PM ET
---
Sunday, Jan. 20
AFC championship game
Teams and site to be determined
--
NFC championship game
Teams and site to be determined
---
Sunday, Feb. 3
Super Bowl, New Orleans

Read More..

NFL: Playoffs offer clash of generations

With Robert Griffin III, Andrew Luck and Russell Wilson set to make playoff debuts, the year of the rookie continues in the National Football League (NFL).
But defense and experience win championships and few know the road to the Super Bowl better than longtime quarterbacks Tom Brady and Peyton Manning.
The wild-card weekend kicks off on Saturday with the Cincinnati Bengals visiting the Houston Texans, followed by NFC North rivals the Green Bay Packers and Minnesota Vikings renewing hostilities on Lambeau Field's famous frozen tundra.
Sunday's games will be a rookie quarterback showcase. Luck, the number one overall pick in last year's draft, will lead the resurgent Indianapolis Colts against the Baltimore Ravens, with Griffin, selected number two by the Washington Redskins, going against the Seattle Seahawks and their brilliant first-year quarterback Wilson.
More intriguing, however, is the possibility of a clash of the generations in the divisional playoffs the following weekend when Manning and the AFC top seeded Denver Broncos join the action along with Brady and the number two seeded New England Patriots.
In the NFC, the top-seeded Atlanta Falcons and number two San Francisco 49ers await their conference's wild-card winners.
OLD GUARD
While NFL fans have been mesmerized by the dynamic talents of Griffin, Luck and Wilson, the old guard of Brady, Manning and the Packers' Aaron Rodgers have trophy cases that contain Super Bowl rings and most valuable player awards.
Rodgers and Manning finished the regular season with the top two quarterback ratings, generating plenty of MVP buzz. They were followed by Griffin and Wilson.
Luck completed his first campaign by grabbing the single-season rookie passing yards record as the Colts went from last place to the playoffs in one year.
Wilson tied Manning's single-season rookie record with 26 touchdown passes, leading an explosive Seattle offence that became to first in 62 years to register back-to-back 50 point games.
While the spotlight will be focused on the trio of rookies, the pressure will be on two other quarterbacks.
The apprenticeship and honeymoon is over for Atlanta's Matt Ryan, the third overall pick in the 2008 draft, and the Ravens' Joe Flacco, taken 18th overall in that same draft class. The two must prove they are finally ready to deliver a championship.
Texans veteran play caller Matt Schaub will also be under the microscope while San Francisco's second year man Colin Kaepernick maybe the one true wild card, after taking over first string duties mid-season from Alex Smith.
In Minnesota, the Vikings' offense does not revolve so much around quarterback Christian Ponder as bruising running back Adrian Peterson, who rushed for a staggering 2,097 yards, falling just nine yards shy of Eric Dickerson's single-season record.
TOP RUSHERS
The wild-card weekend will also feature the NFL's top three rushers with Peterson, Redskins' powerhouse rookie Alfred Morris (1,613 yards) who averaged over 100 yards a game and the Seahawks' Marshawn Lynch (1,590).
Along with Lynch and quarterback Wilson, the Seahawks enter the postseason with the league's top ranked defense, allowing just 15.3 points a game. They are followed closely by their West division rivals the 49ers.
With six wins in their last seven games, including five straight to close out the campaign, the NFC Seahawks carry considerable momentum, but no team is hotter than the AFC Broncos, who have reeled off 11 consecutive wins.
The Seahawks were the NFL's best home team, winning all eight home dates, but must do something they have not done since 1983 - win a playoff game on the road.
Atlanta, the NFC's number one seed, went 7-1 at home and will have home field advantage throughout the playoffs while second seeded San Francisco was nearly as dominant, going 6-1-1 on its own turf.
"It's about consistency when you get into this opportunity," Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said on the team's website. "You've got to bring what you've got. Don't show up without your stuff on that day.
"We know how to do that. Now we have to see if we can bring it to life and not get distracted by the fact it's the playoffs.

Read More..

Muslim scholars and clerics: suicide bombings are un-Islamic.

Suicide bombers in Afghanistan have shown little restraint: Wedding parties and even mosques and children have witnessed gruesome targeting by the Taliban against civilians.
But as attacks soared in the summer and fall, killing scores of civilians every week – including at least 40 Muslim devotees at a mosque in late October –public revulsion has turned into unprecedented condemnation.
For the first time in late January, Muslim scholars and clerics from around the world will come to Kabul specifically to condemn suicide bombings as un-Islamic. The conference will be the first to focus on suicide bombing, and its framers hope the result will reverberate beyond Afghanistan.
"Many times, scholars in Pakistan and Afghanistan have made statements but had no influence," says Mufti Shamsur Rahman Firotan, a religious scholar in Kabul. "This one will have influence, and will give the idea to the people that suicide attacks are forbidden. The message is for all: in Iraq, in Pakistan, all these [militant jihadist] groups."
Recommended: How well do you know global Christmas traditions? Take the quiz
Senior United Nations officials have challenged religious officials to speak more loudly against attacks carried out in the name of Islam, while Afghan religious scholars have long decried suicide attacks, with little response by the ultra-conservative Taliban. An official gathering this summer resolved that suicide attacks "have no legitimate foundation in Islam."
It had little effect at the time. But those declarations have now been further bolstered. Saudi Arabia’s Grand Mufti, the highest religious authority in the birthplace of Islam and respected by the Taliban, explicitly condemned suicide bombing.
Yet since Sheikh Abdulaziz bin Abdullah Al al-Sheikh issued such a high-profile public statement in late October, Taliban suicide attacks have continued, some with multiple bombers. But Afghan religious scholars say momentum is building against them.
One reason is because Mr. Abdulaziz “does have influence on the Taliban," says Mr. Firotan, who is a member of Afghanistan's Ulema Council of Islamic scholars, which has long campaigned against civilian deaths.
"The Taliban think we are their enemies, so they don't respect our declarations," says Mr. Firotan. "But Mufti Aziz is respected by them, and all around the Islamic world…. It has influence."
INVOKING MUHAMMED
The newsletter of Afghanistan’s religious scholars, called Al-Islam, publicized the Grand Mufti’s high-profile pronouncement against suicide bombing.
Invoking the Muslim prophet Mohammed, Abdulaziz noted that killing innocents has been forbidden for 14 centuries. He said justifying suicide attacks in the name of religion was a "misuse" of Islam.
Get our FREE 2013 Global Security Forecast now
"Attacks, suicide attacks, and killing of the innocent have no place in Islam, and whoever conducts these are not just deprived of Paradise, but they will go to hell," Abdulaziz said according to Al-Islam. "There is jihad in Islam, but it is very different from killing of the innocent and suicide attacks [which does] not benefit the people and humanity."
The Taliban claims it has not "officially" received Abdulaziz's fatwa (or religious decree), says Firotan, but only heard about it.
'THIS IS NOT THE WAY'
The Quran makes clear that self-defense is acceptable, says Firotan, providing "there is no other way to live, but that is not the situation now."
For those who want to fight US forces, says Firotan, there are methods. "But this is not the way – to go to mosques, banks, bazaars, or shops. There, are 100 percent, some Taliban who are [also] against these actions."
As the Taliban has waged its insurgency in recent years, it has also increasingly targeted civilians, along with US and NATO military forces, Afghan security, and the government. By early summer, the toll caught the attention of the UN Special Representative Jan Kubis, who lamented in a speech that every morning started with “very sad news” of civilian deaths.
Addressing an Islamic cooperation conference in June, he said the previous “typical” week had 200 civilian casualties, with 57 dead. The week before registered 244 casualties, with 90 killed. One day saw three suicide bombings; another single day left 107 casualties.
Such a soaring toll was "unacceptable," Kubis said. "We keep hearing reports of suicide bombings, intimidation, targeted killings, assassination of elders, religious leaders, teachers, and scholars, burning of schools – all done in the name of Islam."
Yet Kubis noted that different interpretations are also heard, based on the Quran, that show such acts to be un-Islamic. The result has been confusion and questions in the minds of many Afghans.
"They are not anymore sure what is the truth, what is right, what is wrong, what is Islamic, what is non-Islamic," said Kubis. He challenged the religious scholars to magnify their voices: "You have a major role, a major responsibility to help."
That message has been transmitted many times by many religious scholars and officials, over many years. But it has yet to break through to those who favor such attacks, as “religious” as their ideology is meant to be.
EASIER SAID, THAN DONE
Even the writ of Taliban chiefs is limited, as shown by the example of fugitive leader Mullah Omar. In 1998 he condemned the use of anti-personnel landmines as "un-Islamic" and "anti-human."
Despite that, the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) notes that improvised explosive devices (IEDs) placed by Taliban operatives are "by far the biggest killer of civilians" in Afghanistan. In the first nine months of this year, they caused 340 deaths – a nearly 30 percent increase from the same period the previous year.
Likewise, suicide attacks remain a pernicious killer, despite the volume of religious scholarship against it.
"Practically every family has suffered some form of attack by these suicide bombings or IEDs, and they don't look at it very kindly," says Massoumeh Torfeh, the director of strategic communications for UNAMA in Kabul.
Abdul Hakim Mujahid, a former Taliban ambassador to the UN who is now a member of the High Peace Council, tasked by the government of President Hamid Karzai with talking to the Taliban, says the opinions of religious figures can have an impact.
"Afghanistan is a religious country, and absolutely the majority are listening to their religious scholars," says Mr. Mujahid. About the Taliban, he says: "They are human beings, and also they have their religious scholars."
Mujahid quotes the Quran, saying: "You have to fight against those who are fighting against you. But do not cross the limit."
That limit is beyond "proportional reaction," says Mujahid: "It means that when someone is fighting against you with their fists, you should not use a Kalashnikov."
The Taliban see themselves as "being attacked, that war is being waged against [them]," adds Mujahid. The High Peace Council is "trying our best to convince them that war is not to the benefit of any party [and to] settle everything by negotiations, not by fighting."

Read More..

Letters To God: Kenyans appeal for peaceful election

Five years after a disputed presidential election unleashed interethnic violence that scarred this East African nation, Kenyans are bracing for a new election amid fears of a fresh outbreak of bloodletting.
But a growing number of Kenyans are challenging that fear with hope, with thousands taking up the call to “Write to God” with prayers that upcoming March 4 elections will be peaceful.
One of the best known Kenyans to join the effort is Sarah Onyango Obama, the US president’s step-grandmother. From her home in the western village of Nyang’oma Kogelo, Mrs. Obama wrote that Kenya had to take a path much different than that of Rwanda and its horrific 1994 genocide.
Recommended: The International Criminal Court's docket in Africa
"But when I see conflicts on TV, I keep wondering if Kenyans value peace," she said in her letter which was posted in English and a local dialect on a Facebook page created for the letter drive.
The participation of the 90-year-old Mrs. Obama, who is Muslim and is the third wife of President Obama’s grandfather, is seen as important for the effort, according to organizers, who include business leaders, nongovernmental organizations, and interfaith groups. Mrs. Obama is regarded as a minor celebrity in her home district for her relationship to the American president and for her charity work: a foundation to help children orphaned by AIDS has been started in her name.
As the elections approach, Kenyans face serious social and economic hardship. Unemployment in the country of 42 million is about 40 percent, up from 12.7 percent in 2006, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. Prices for food and other staple commodities have skyrocketed: corn, for example, has doubled in price in recent years, rising to about 60 Kenyan shillings (about 70 cents) a kilogram.
As many as 55 percent of Kenyans are worried about the political environment and potential violence, according to a poll by Strategic Research and Communication Consultants for Africa. The Dec. 17-19 poll surveyed 1,500 Kenyans in face-to-face interviews. No margin of error was given.
Get our FREE 2013 Global Security Forecast now
Hence the letter-writing campaign.
“Social studies show that writing is therapeutic, and when one writes to a higher power, a natural sense of peace is created in the person,” said Sr. Brahma Kumaris Vedanti, the regional director of the Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University, which is helping to organize the campaign. She spoke to reporters in Nairobi on Dec. 1 at a news conference to launch the initiative.
The campaign is considered unusual for Kenya, where about 82 percent of the country considers itself Christian, while about 11 percent are Muslim: most church-going Kenyans make their appeals to God in prayer, not in written form. But organizers say this is a peace initiative for all religions and ethnic groups.
FIVE YEARS OF RECONCILIATION EFFORTS
The election violence of five years ago was sparked after incumbent President Mwai Kibaki was declared the victor in 2007 and his challenger, Raila Odinga, now prime minister, rejected the results, saying they were rigged. The dispute triggered riots and clashes that resulted in more than 1,000 people being killed and tens of thousands displaced. The brutality dented Kenya’s image as a stable nation in East Africa and set back its economy.
Since that time, Kenyan and international organizations have undertaken numerous peace and reconciliation efforts, particularly in the Rift Valley and the Nyanza, Western, and Central provinces, which were the sites of the worst spasms of violence. More than 600,000 people who were displaced have returned, and for many villages, there is little outward sign of violence or strife.
Many of the initiatives have been led by the Roman Catholic Church in Kenya, as well as the Protestant National Council of Churches, especially in the Rift Valley. Church groups have helped to organize “peace committees,” getting people who stole property or burned houses during the violence to come forward and confess to their crimes, and offer repayment or compensation.
The government also set up a Truth, Justice, and Reconciliation Commission in 2008 to investigate not only the violence, but larger, historical injustices and human rights violations. The TJRC, which has yet to give its final report, has been criticized as lacking credibility, due to a leadership struggle involving its chairman, Bethuel Kiplagat. He has been accused of being a member of a government team whose orders led to the notorious 1984 Wagalla Massacre, when Army and police troops rounded up members of the Somali community protesting against the government. Thousands were tortured and are believed to have died, according to human rights groups.
There have also been several criminal prosecutions stemming directly from the post-2007 election violence. The International Criminal Court in The Hague has charged four Kenyans, including Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, with crimes against humanity, and local prosecutors have charged several others for involvement in the violence. Many, however, believe that the main perpetrators and organizers have so far gone unpunished.
Serious tensions remain in other provinces. At least 39 people were killed when farmers raided a village of herders in southeastern part of the country early Friday in renewed fighting between two communities with a history of violent animosity, according to The Associated Press.
The tit-for-tat cycle of killings may be related to a redrawing of political boundaries and next year's general elections, the US humanitarian coordinator for Kenya, Aeneas C. Chuma, said in late August. On the surface, however, the violence seems driven by competition for water, pasture, and other resources, according to the Associated Press.
With fears of renewed violence, many citizens have welcomed efforts that can help sustain peace. By Friday, more than 6,000 letters had been written, with some coming from senior politicians, the clergy, and local businessmen. In addition to mailing them, participants are being encouraged to post them on Facebook or Twitter.
More than 14 million people have registered to vote, of an anticipated 18 million. President Kibaki, who is not standing for reelection, has tried to assure Kenyans that the March vote will be free, fair, and peaceful, as has Odinga, who is a front-runner in a growing field of at least four other candidates.

Read More..

Egypt finishes constitutional vote, but irregularities delay final results

Egyptian judges were investigating opposition accusations of voting irregularities today before declaring the result of a referendum set to show that a contentious new constitution has been approved.
President Mohamed Morsi sees the basic law, drawn up mostly by Islamists, as a vital step in Egypt's transition to democracy almost two years after the fall of military-backed strongman Hosni Mubarak.
The opposition, a loose alliance of liberals, moderate Muslims and Christians, says the document is too Islamist, ignores the rights of minorities and represents a recipe for more trouble in the Arab world's most populous nation.
Recommended: Think you know the Middle East? Take our geography quiz.
Critics have also said the vote, conducted over two stages in a process that ended on Dec. 22, was marred by a litany of irregularities, and have demanded a full inquiry.
"The committee is currently compiling results from the first and second phase and votes from Egyptians abroad, and is investigating complaints," Judge Mahmoud Abu Shousha, a member of the committee, told Reuters.
Get our FREE 2013 Global Security Forecast now
He said no time had been set for an announcement of the final outcome, but it appeared unlikely to be today.
A tally by the Muslim Brotherhood, which lifted Mr. Morsi into the presidency, indicated a 64 percent "yes" vote, although only a third of the 51 million eligible Egyptians took part. An opposition count was similar, but they said the ballot had been marred by abuses in both rounds.
By forcing the pace on the constitution, Morsi risks squandering the opportunity to build consensus for the austerity measures desperately needed to kickstart an ailing economy.
Highlighting investor concerns, Standard and Poor's cut Egypt's longterm credit rating today and said another cut was possible if political turbulence worsened.
The low turnout also prompted some independent newspapers to question how much support the charter really had, with opponents saying Morsi had lost the vote in much of the capital.
"The referendum battle has ended, and the war over the constitution's legitimacy has begun," the newspaper Al-Shorouk wrote in a headline, while a headline in Al-Masry Al-Youm read: "Constitution of the minority."
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT
If the "yes" vote is confirmed, a parliamentary election will follow in about two months, setting the stage for Islamists and their opponents to renew their battle.
Under the new constitution, legislative powers that have been temporarily held by Morsi move to the Islamist-dominated upper house of parliament until a new lower house is elected.
The make-up of the Supreme Constitutional Court, which Islamists say is filled with Mubarak-era appointees bent on throwing up legal challenges to Morsi's rule, will also change as its membership is cut to 11 from 18.
Those expected to leave include Tahani al-Gebali, who has described Morsi as an "illegitimate president."
The head of the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party, Saad al-Katatni, wrote on Facebook that the group's members were "extending our hands to all political parties and all national forces," adding: "We will all start a new page."
But the opposition National Salvation Front says the new basic law deepens a rift between the liberals and Islamists who combined to overthrow Mubarak, and will extend the turbulence that has taken a heavy toll on society and economy.
The opposition said they would continue to challenge the charter through protests and other democratic means.
"We do not consider this constitution legitimate," liberal politician Amr Hamzawy said yesterday, arguing that it violated personal freedoms. "We will continue to attempt to bring down the constitution peacefully and democratically."
The run-up to the referendum was marred by protests, originally sparked when Morsi awarded himself broad powers on Nov. 22. At least eight people were killed when rivals clashed in protests outside Morsi's official palace in Cairo. Violence also flared in the second city, Alexandria.

Read More..

Lebanese border means little in Syria's civil war

The four rain-filled bomb craters all visible within 100 yards of Mahmoud Ismael’s house starkly illustrate how Lebanon’s northern border has become an active frontline in Syria’s civil war, drawing in rival Lebanese Shiite and Sunni factions.
A fifth shell had struck the edge of the roof, knocking out chunks of concrete and sending heavy steel shrapnel scything into the cement parapet and the soft earth below.
“It was a terrifying night. We all thought we would be killed,” says Mr. Ismael, surveying the damage.
The Lebanese government, which follows a policy of neutrality towards the war in Syria, has found itself almost powerless to prevent pockets of north Lebanon becoming either bastions of support for the Syrian regime or de facto safe havens for the armed Syrian opposition.
Recommended: Sunni and Shiite Islam: Do you know the difference? Take our quiz.
Tensions between Lebanon’s Sunni and Shiite communities have been running high for several years. But they have been aggravated further by the increasingly sectarian nature of the conflict in Syria, which has pitted the majority Sunni opposition against the Alawite minority, a subsect of Shiite Islam which forms the backbone of the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.
Nourat al-Tahta, like other Sunni-populated villages along the border in the northern Akkar province, is deeply supportive of the Syrian revolution and shelters refugees and Free Syrian Army militants alike. The villages in the area have been subjected to Syrian artillery shelling on a near nightly basis since May. The shelling is intended to hit FSA members who slip across the border into Syria at night as well as to punish those Lebanese who provide assistance and a safe haven for the militants.
Get our FREE 2013 Global Security Forecast now
Until recently, it was confined mainly to the scrubland outside the village, but in the past week, the bombardments have focused more closely on inhabited areas.
“If it carries on like this we will have to leave,” Ismael says.
According to a Lebanese member of the FSA who lives in the area, Nourat al-Tahta was the starting point three weeks ago for 20 Lebanese Sunni volunteers who set out to cross the border and join a rebel group. The volunteers fell into an ambush on the Syrian side of the border and 14 of them were killed, according to the militant. The shelling, he said, was the Syrian regime’s punishment on the village.
The Syrian shelling and clandestine FSA activities underline how little state control exists in the northern Akkar. The Lebanese Army has sent some additional reinforcements to the border, but its ability to contain the violence is limited. Returning artillery fire into Syria is politically impossible for the Lebanese army, while chasing after FSA militants operating in Lebanon risks incurring the anger of local Lebanese Sunnis.
Further east along the border, on the other side of 6,500-foot forested mountains that last week were lashed by torrential rain and capped in snow, lies the stony flatlands of the Shiite-populated northern Bekaa Valley, an area of strong support for the Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah, an ally of the Assad regime.
On a recent afternoon, the steady crump of artillery explosions and the sharp pop of outgoing mortar rounds just inside Syria reverberated through the border town of Qasr as Hezbollah vehicles – SUVs with tinted windows and no license plates – raced through the narrow potholed streets of the town.
Some 25 small villages populated by Lebanese Shiites lie just across the border from Qasr, in Syria. They have been the focus of repeated clashes in recent months, pitting the FSA against Syrian troops allegedly backed by Hezbollah militants.
The fighting is expected to grow more intense in the coming days because the FSA’s Omar al-Farouq brigade, one of the largest and most successful Syrian rebel units, has redeployed much of its manpower from the border area opposite north Lebanon to Damascus, according to Syrian opposition sources. Lebanese and Syrian FSA militants, who had been resting in the Bekaa, are said to be heading into Syria to reinforce the rebels’ depleted ranks.
The residents of Qasr believe that the Syrian rebels are seeking to empty the Shiite villages just over the border to create a corridor linking Sunni areas to facilitate movement across the top of north Lebanon.
“Those villages won’t go down easily. They will defend them to the last bullet. They are willing to fight to the end,” Abu Ali, a member of Qasr’s municipality, says.
The residents tell lurid tales of atrocities committed by the rebels whom they accuse of being Islamic extremists and many of whom they say are not even Syrians.
“There is no Free Syrian Army, they are all Salafists who are attacking us and robbing our homes,” says Minjad al-Haq, a resident of Safsafah, one of the Shiite villages inside Syria who moved across the border in September to escape the fighting. “They are decapitating their prisoners. They say Allahu Akhbar three times then cut off their heads.”
The emergence and growth of radical Islamist groups in Syria – such as Jabhat al-Nusra, which was recently proscribed by the US as a terrorist organization – and indications of Sunni radicalization in Lebanon have unnerved Lebanese Shiites who worry they could be targeted by triumphant Sunnis once the Assad regime falls. Some of those Sunni militants exist in the northeast corner of the Bekaa Valley, which has become a safe haven for the FSA and a conduit for militants to slip into Syria. All that separates Hezbollah and its Shiite supporters in the northwest pocket of the Bekaa from their Sunni FSA enemies in the northeast corner of the valley is a no-man's land of flat, stony earth.
Although Hezbollah has fought the FSA just north of the border inside Syria, a tense calm exists south of the frontier.
“The Shiites in Syria are in a defensive mode and the Sunnis are in attack mode,” says Abu Ali. “But if the Sunnis attack us here [inside Lebanon] we will attack them here.”
But the sense that the Assad regime’s days are numbered is emboldening some Sunnis to cast their mind toward the next conflict.
Khaled, a portly Lebanese Salafist from the Bekaa Valley who has fought with the FSA for 18 months, predicted that the Assad regime would collapse within eight weeks.
“When we are done there, we will come after Hezbollah here,” he says. “We are going to finish them completely. The Free Syrian Army will come and clean Lebanon of Hezbollah then leave, just like we helped them clean Syria of Assad.

Read More..

Could the US learn from Australia's gun-control laws?

Almost two weeks after a shooting spree stunned Australia in 1996, leaving 35 people dead at the Port Arthur tourist spot in Tasmania, the government issued sweeping reforms of the country’s gun laws. There hasn’t been a mass shooting since. Now, after the recent shooting at a Connecticut elementary school, Australia’s National Firearm Agreement (NFA), which saw hundreds of thousands of automatic and semi-automatic weapons bought back then destroyed, is being examined as a possible example for the US, to mixed reaction in Australia.
Recommended: Think you know Asia? Take our geography quiz.
Australians have been following the Connecticut tragedy closely, and many say the US solution lies in following Australia’s path, or at least reforming current laws. But a small but vocal number of Australia’s gun supporters are urging caution.
Get our FREE 2013 Global Security Forecast now
Just 12 days after the 1996 shooting in Port Arthur, then-Prime Minister John Howard – a conservative who had just been elected with the help of gun owners – pushed through not only new gun control laws, but also the most ambitious gun buyback program Australia had ever seen. Some 650,000 automatic and semi-automatic rifles were handed in and destroyed under the program. Though gun-related deaths did not suddenly end in Australia, gun-related homicides dropped 59 percent between 1995 and 2006, with no corresponding increase in non-firearm-related homicides. Suicides by gun plummeted by 65 percent, and robberies at gunpoint also dropped significantly. Many said there was a close correlation between the sharp declines and the buyback program.
A paper for the American Law and Economics Review by Andrew Leigh of the Australian National University and Christine Neill of the Wilfrid Laurier University reports that the buyback led to a drop in the firearm suicide rates of almost 80 percent, "with no significant effect on non-firearm death rates. The effect on firearm homicides is of similar magnitude but is less precise.”
Perhaps the most convincing statistic for many, though, is that in the decade before the Port Arthur massacre, there were 11 mass shootings in the country. Since the new law, there hasn’t been one shooting spree. In the wake of the shooting, polls indicated that up to 85 percent of Australians supported the measures taken by the government.
In the wake of the Newtown shooting, several Australian politicians are now suggesting that the US adopt Australia’s gun laws. “I implore you to look at our experience,” Labor Member of Parliament Kelvin Thomson wrote in an open letter to US Congress that he also posted on his official website. “As the number of guns in Australia reduced, so too did gun violence. It is simply not true that owning a gun makes you safer.”
MIXED VIEWS
But the nation still has some steps to take before becoming the perfect example, cautions Queensland Member of Parliament Bob Katter.
“I think we are absolutely reprehensible, we have done nothing, not one single overt act, to separate the guns from the people who are mentally unhinged," he told reporters recently. Although the laws imposed strict licensing rules, critics here point out that Australia has yet to actually ban semi-automatic handguns completely – they are still available for police and hunters – and that there are other loopholes. They also note that most of the guns used in violent crimes, both before and after the 1996 law, were unregistered.
“There weren’t that many deaths in the first place,” says President of the Sport Shooters Association of Australia (SSAA) Bob Green, cautioning against taking the causal link many draw between the NFA and a steep drop in gun deaths at face value. “Gun deaths were declining for the past 30 years before they brought the laws in.”
Though many point to declining gun violence statistics as further evidence of the effectiveness of Australia's 1996 law, gun supporters also use it to support their case: In 1979, there were 689 gun related deaths in Australia, or about 4.71 per 100,000 Australians. That rate began to decline in the 1980s and reached 2.82 per 100,000 Australians in 1996, with 516 killed that year. The number of deaths by firearms and the rate per people continued to drop until 2010, when 231 died and the rate was 1.04 per 100,000 people, according to the University of Sydney’s GunPolicy.org.
Still, says Mr. Thomson who was “horrified and disgusted” by the killing of so many small children, an Australian-inspired solution might be workable.
“There have been always been great differences between the number of weapons that Australians and Americans own – that is precisely why there are so many more deaths, on a per capita basis, in the United States. It is also true that there are differences in the way Americans and Australians view weapons – nevertheless … our experience is relevant and potentially informative – we had massacres, we acted, we no longer have massacres.

Read More..

Tax Deeds Deal Making Book for Real Estate Published Online by Ted Thomas

Tax deeds deal making book is now published online for real estate investors at TedThomas.com. This new book is written for beginners and includes advanced concepts for closing deals on tax deed sales that can help investors to purchase a property for a substantial discount from the market price.

Provo, Utah (PRWEB) December 27, 2012
Ted Thomas has authored a new tax deeds deal making book for real estate investors. This new book explores the concept of the tax deed and how it can be used effectively to purchase real estate. New investors that have an interest in this method of investing in properties could benefit from this information. This new book and video series can be accessed online at http://www.tedthomas.com/step2.
Real estate is one of few investments that men and women make that can appreciate in value annually. Market data has estimated that appreciation is about 8 percent for each year of property ownership. Men and women that purchase property as an investment could benefit from learning about the tax deed investing that is now included in the new book available.
“Local, state and federal taxation legislation has helped to ease the path for investors that purchase deeds,” said Ted Thomas inside of his new book. Taxation for real estate is updated annually at all levels of government to help with budget planning and revenue collection.
The new book includes a companion audio CD and DVD that helps to explain important concepts in greater detail. All of this information has been researched, arranged and used by Ted in his own real estate investments. This book and subsequent discs provides beginners and advanced real estate investors with little known information about tax deeds.
Apart from this new book release, over 30 books have been authored by Ted Thomas during his 25 years of teaching mortgage-free real estate methods. The new web store online at TedThomas.com includes the majority of the available books to help those interested in becoming educated about a range of topics. This new web store can be accessed at this link http://www.tedthomas.com/products.
About Ted Thomas
Ted Thomas is the author of more than 30 educational books and numerous DVDs about alternative forms of real estate investing. This educator and public speaker has used the past 25 years of his life to help others to succeed. Thousands of men and women in the U.S. and some foreign countries have attended Ted's in-person events. The concepts of tax certificates and tax deed sales are methods that Ted Thomas has perfected and studied to ensure that real estate beginners and professionals can learn to use these strategies effectively.

Read More..

Vacant Jacksonville, FL Rental Properties Now Added Online at ForRentJacksonville.com

Vacant Jacksonville, FL rental homes are now added online for renters to search at ForRentJacksonville.com. This property management company website is now listing its available properties in North Florida to help renters to find affordable housing quickly.

Jacksonville, Florida (PRWEB) December 27, 2012
The ForRentJacksonville.com website now has vacant Jacksonville, FL rental properties listed to help renters to find an available home. These company owned properties represent the two, three, four and five bedroom homes that are now available for lease in North Florida. These new listings are designed to remove the legwork involved with researching a property and going through the application process. More information can be found at http://www.forrentjacksonville.com.
Bankruptcies, poor credit and past foreclosures could complicate the approval process when someone applies for a mortgage. Banks and other lenders generally require an in-depth overview of personal credit to ensure that the loan amount can be repaid successfully.
Those that have been turned down in the past for a mortgage could find that the new property listings now available online provide easier to obtain occupancy due in part to new changes to the company application process.
The new elimination of the credit check policy with submitted rental applications is one way that the ForRentJacksonville.com website is helping to build more communities in and around Jacksonville. Applicants that do not have perfect credit no longer have to go through the process of credit approval upon submission of a completed application. A single background check for all that plan to live in an available property has taken the place of the credit review process.
The properties that are now offered online are easily accessed using the new search feature added to the company website. Instead of a simple list of property basics, this new search system is helping renters to filter out data that does not apply to a search. This system now makes it possible to search by rental price, bedrooms and other criteria that would normally be completed by a realtor. This new search tool can be accessed at http://www.forrentjacksonville.com/homes-for-rent.
To speed up the rental application process, a new 15-minute or less showings form is now installed on the company website. This form is designed for renters to use before an application is submitted. The basic information that this form requires renters to submit can secure a showing in 15 minutes or less for any available property guaranteed. This new showings system is helping more people to perform a walk through much faster when seeking vacancies.
About For Rent Jacksonville
The For Rent Jacksonville company is a subsidiary of the Peace of Mind Rental Homes company. This North Florida property management firm restructured its business in 2012 and now solely offers properties that are owned outright. This new business move has eliminated third party investors and other owners that complicated the rental process for renters. The For Rent Jacksonville company now provides affordable homes with short and long-term lease agreements for individuals and families. This company was recently named one of the fastest growing companies in Jacksonville.

Read More..