US State department statement
Ignatius Rigaskara's List: DGL Credibility - NBC News
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NBC News - Three Americans killed at Kabul rest
comparability & video & pictures & author, but no real evidence it was from the Taliban.
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Jan 19, 14
The Associated Press
January 18, 2014 Saturday 11:24 PM GMT
Afghan attack deadliest of war for foreign workers
BYLINE: PATRICK QUINN, Associated Press
SECTION: INTERNATIONAL NEWS
LENGTH: 933 words
DATELINE: KABUL, Afghanistan
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - A Taliban attack against a popular Kabul restaurant killed 21 people, authorities said Saturday, making it the deadliest single attack against foreign civilians in the course of a nearly 13-year U.S.-led war there now approaching its end.
The attack comes as security has been deteriorating and apprehension has been growing among Afghans over their country's future as U.S.-led foreign forces prepare for a final withdrawal at the end of the year.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who is deferring signing an agreement allowing U.S. forces to stay past the planned withdrawal until after the country's April 5 presidential election, criticized America while condemning the attack.
"If NATO forces and in the lead the United States of America want to cooperate and be united with Afghan people, they must target terrorism," he said without fully elaborating on what America should be doing. He added that the U.S. had followed a policy that "was not successful in the past decade."
The dead from Friday's assault against La Taverna du Liban included 13 foreigners and eight Afghans, all civilians. The U.S. Embassy in Kabul said late Saturday that three Americans were killed. Previously, those identified included two U.S. citizens working for the American University of Afghanistan and a victim identified by the United Nations as Basra Hassan, a Somali-American working as a nutrition specialist for UNICEF.
Others identified were two Britons - development specialist Dharmender Singh Phangura and close protection officer Simon Chase - two Canadians who worked for a financial services firm, two Lebanese, a Danish police officer, a Russian, and a Malaysian. Phangura, who along with the Malaysian worked as an adviser for Adam Smith International, was to run as a Labour Party candidate in upcoming elections for the European Parliament.
Also among the dead were the International Monetary Fund's representative, Khanjar Wabel Abdallah of Lebanon; Nasreen Khan, a UNICEF health specialist from Pakistan, and Vadim Nazarov, a Russian who was the chief political affairs officer at the U.N. Mission in Afghanistan. Nazarov was one of the U.N's most experienced officials, fluent in the country's languages and with experience dating back to the 1980s. .
The attack was condemned by the U.N. Security Council, NATO, the White House and the European Union.
"There is no possible justification for this attack, which has killed innocent civilians, including Americans, working every day to help the Afghan people achieve a better future with higher education and economic assistance," the White House said in a statement Saturday.
U.N. Secretary-General called the attack "totally unacceptable."
"This is a violation of international humanitarian law. All the perpetrators must be held accountable," Ban said, adding that the U.N. "remains committed to work for the peace, stability and development of Afghanistan."
Insurgents have frequently targeted foreign interests around the country and in Kabul. The deadliest previous attack against foreign civilians was in Sept. 8, 2012, when nine civilian employees of a private aviation company were killed in a suicide attack near the Kabul airport. They included eight South Africans and a Kyrgyz.
The assault began Friday with a suicide bomber detonating his explosives at the front door of the restaurant, located in an area housing several embassies, non-governmental organizations and the homes and offices of Afghan officials. As chaos ensued, the two other attackers entered through the kitchen and began shooting. They were later killed by security guards
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was in reprisal for an Afghan military operation earlier in the week against insurgents in eastern Parwan province, which the insurgents claimed killed many civilians.
Afghan officials previously said that attack killed a Taliban leader, three of his family members, seven Taliban fighters and five civilians in a neighboring home from which insurgents were also firing on the Afghan commandos. The Taliban frequently provide exaggerated casualty figures.
"The target of the attack was a restaurant frequented by high-ranking foreigners," Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in an emailed statement. He said the attack targeted a place "where the invaders used to dine with booze and liquor in the plenty."
He described the "revenge attack" as having delivered a "heavy admonitory blow to the enemy which they shall never forget."
The restaurant, like most places frequented by foreign diplomats, aid workers, journalists and businessmen in the war-weary country, has no signs indicating its location and is heavily secured. It sits on a small side street just off a bumpy semi-paved road in a house with low ceilings and an enclosed patio but has no windows.
Bags of dirt are piled up around it to act as blast walls and guests must go through a series of steel airlocks, where they are searched, before entering. The surrounding area is full of police and security guards to protect against insurgent attacks, which have increased in recent months around the country.
"The restaurant was known to be one of the more secure in the area and has therefore been given a green-light by many expatriate and official organizations," said Michael Smith, the president of the American University of Afghanistan.
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Associated Press writers Rahim Faiez in Kabul, Jan M. Olsen in Copenhagen, Denmark, and Cassandra Vinograd in London contributed to this report.
SUBJECT: TERRORIST ATTACKS (90%); TALIBAN (90%); INTERNATIONAL ASSISTANCE (89%); ELECTIONS (89%); UNITED NATIONS INSTITUTIONS (89%); POLITICS (89%); CAMPAIGNS & ELECTIONS (88%); FOREIGN LABOR (87%); INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS (87%); RELIEF ORGANIZATIONS (86%); TERRORISM (78%); RESTAURANTS (78%); EMBASSIES & CONSULATES (77%); LAW ENFORCEMENT (77%); INTERNATIONAL LAW (77%); LEGISLATIVE BODIES (76%); PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS (75%); EUROPEAN UNION (74%); POLITICAL PARTIES (69%); POLITICAL CANDIDATES (69%); INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ORGANIZATIONS (69%); BANKING & FINANCE (67%); EUROPEAN UNION INSTITUTIONS (67%); COLLEGES & UNIVERSITIES (65%); US PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS (54%); ARMED FORCES (54%) Afghanistan; General news; War and unrest; War casualties; Embassies; International relations; Government and politics; Terrorism
ORGANIZATION: NORTH ATLANTIC TREATY ORGANIZATION (59%); UNITED NATIONS (82%); UNITED NATIONS CHILDREN'S FUND (54%) United Nations; Taliban; North Atlantic Treaty Organization
PERSON: HAMAD KARZAI (73%); ADAM SMITH (54%) Hamid Karzai, POLITICIAN
LOAD-DATE: January 18, 2014
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
DOCUMENT-TYPE: Spot Development
PUBLICATION-TYPE: Newswire
Copyright 2014 Associated Press
All Rights Reserved
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IMF, UN officials among 21 killed in Kabul suicide attack
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KABUL (Reuters) - A Taliban suicide bomber and gunmen attacked a restaurant popular with foreigners in the heart of the Afghan capital Kabul, killing 21 people including three United Nations staff and the International Monetary Fund's top representative in Afghanistan.
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Kabul restaurant attack: three UN staff and local IMF head among 21 dead
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Taliban claims responsibility for strike in which two Britons, two Americans and two Canadians are among those killed
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Three Americans among 21 killed as Taliban targets popular Kabul restaurant
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main news site
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By Jamieson Lesko, Producer, NBC News
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U.S. condemns Taliban attack in Kabul that killed 3 Americans, 18 others
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By Masoud Popalzai. Greg Botelho and Michael Martinez, CNN
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Jan 18, 14
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Three Americans killed in Kabul, Afghanistan restaurant attack that left 21 dead
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A suicide bomber and two gunmen stormed a popular eatery in Afghanistan where foreign diplomats and wealthy Afghans congregate. The U.S. Embassy confirmed Saturday three American citizens were killed. It is the deadliest attack against foreign civilians in the country since the war started in 2001.
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opinion, no evidence
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NBC News - Obama strips NSA authority on phone surveillance
comparability & actual statements & picture & video
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Jan 19, 14
The New Zealand Herald
January 16, 2014 Thursday
Officials: Obama likely to OK surveillance changes
SECTION: NEWS; World
LENGTH: 782 words
WASHINGTON (AP) President Barack Obama is expected to endorse changes to the way the government collects millions of Americans" phone records for possible future surveillance, but he"ll leave many of the specific details to Congress, according to three U.S. officials familiar with the White House intelligence review.
In a highly anticipated speech Friday, Obama is also expected to announce broader oversight of the process that helps determine which foreign leaders the U.S. government monitors. And he"s likely to back increased privacy protections for foreign citizens, a step aimed at soothing international anger over U.S. surveillance programs.
The speech marks the culmination of a monthslong review sparked by former National Security Agency systems analyst Edward Snowden, who leaked classified documents about the secret surveillance programs last year.
Obama"s move would thrust much of the decision-making on Section 215 of the USA Patriot Act toward Congress, which is deeply divided over the future of the surveillance apparatus. And members of Congress are in no hurry to quickly enact broad changes.
In another revelation about NSA activities, The New York Times reported Tuesday that the agency has implanted software in nearly 100,000 computers around the world but not in the United States that allows the U.S. to conduct surveillance on those machines.
The NSA calls the effort an "active defense" and has used the technology to monitor units of the Chinese Army, the Russian military, drug cartels, trade institutions inside the European Union and sometime U.S. partners against terrorism like Saudi Arabia, India and Pakistan, the Times reported.
White House officials on Tuesday cautioned that the review Obama has been conducting is not complete and that the president could make additional decisions in the coming days. Obama is reviewing more than 40 recommendations from a presidential commission.
The U.S. judiciary has objected to one proposal Obama has indicated he supports: putting an independent privacy advocate on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which currently hears only from the government. Speaking for the entire judiciary, U.S. District Judge John D. Bates said Tuesday that appointing an independent advocate to the secret court is unnecessary and possibly counterproductive.
Officials familiar with the White House review say another panel recommendation that has proven challenging for Obama is one to strip the NSA of its authority to hold phone records from millions of Americans. The panel proposed moving the records to the phone companies or another third party and requiring the NSA to get separate authority from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court each time it wants to access the data.
Obama has suggested he is open to moving the data out of the NSA. But officials say he is unlikely to announce specific entities he believes should hold the records in the future, in part because telephone companies have hesitated at the proposal to bring the data back under their control. They"re worried about their exposure to lawsuits and the price tag if the U.S. government asks them to hold information about customers for longer than they already do.
Many privacy advocates support requiring Congress to codify any changes to Section 215, arguing that legislation is the only way to ensure they last beyond Obama"s presidency. And two phone executives said the cellular industry has told the government it would only accept changes to its role in the programs if they were legally required to do so.
The executives spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to disclose the private discussions with the government. The U.S. officials insisted on anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the White House review by name.
Section 215 has been one of the most controversial aspects of the Patriot Act, which passed shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and increased the government"s surveillance powers. Congress reauthorized the law in 2011.
The section allows the government to seize a wide range of documents. It requires the government to show that there are "reasonable grounds to believe" that the records are relevant to an investigation intended to "protect against international terrorism or clandestine intelligence activities."
Last month, a federal judge declared the program is probably unconstitutional and said there is little evidence it had thwarted any terror plot. The Justice Department has staunchly defended Section 215, saying it was narrowly written and has safeguarded liberties.
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Associated Press writers Stephen Braun and Nedra Pickler contributed to this report.
SUBJECT: US FEDERAL GOVERNMENT (90%); US PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES 2012 (90%); US PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES 2008 (90%); ESPIONAGE (89%); US PRESIDENTS (89%); INTELLIGENCE SERVICES (89%); LEGISLATIVE BODIES (78%); US PATRIOT ACT (78%); SPECIAL INVESTIGATIVE FORCES (77%); PRIVACY RIGHTS (77%); NATIONAL SECURITY (77%); MILITARY SURVEILLANCE (77%); ARMIES (76%); INFORMATION SECURITY & PRIVACY (75%); CARTELS (67%); EUROPEAN UNION (67%); COMPUTER SOFTWARE (66%); JUDGES (61%); TELECOMMUNICATIONS SERVICES (60%); TERRORISM (50%)
ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY (83%); EUROPEAN UNION (54%)
PERSON: BARACK OBAMA (91%); EDWARD SNOWDEN (71%)
GEOGRAPHIC: UNITED STATES (99%); INDIA (79%); SAUDI ARABIA (79%); CHINA (79%); RUSSIAN FEDERATION (79%); PAKISTAN (79%); EUROPEAN UNION MEMBER STATES (75%)
LOAD-DATE: January 15, 2014
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
PUBLICATION-TYPE: Newspaper
Copyright 2014 The New Zealand Herald
All Rights Reserved -
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Despite Obama's NSA changes, phone records still collected
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By Tom Cohen. Jim Acosta and Mariano Castillo, CNN
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Obama announces reforms to NSA phone surveillance
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video!
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"The reforms I'm proposing today should give the American people greater confidence that their rights are being protected, even as our intelligence and law enforcement agencies maintain the tools they need to keep us safe," he said.
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resident Barack Obama banned U.S. eavesdropping on the leaders of close friends and allies on Friday and began reining in the vast collection of Americans' phone data in a series of limited reforms triggered by Edward Snowden's revelations.
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Obama promised that the United States will not eavesdrop on the heads of state or government of close U.S. friends and allies, "unless there is a compelling national security purpose."
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Obama: Take NSA out of storing snooping data
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By Michael O'Brien, NBC News
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NBC News - Henry Jackson, armed teen got killed
statements & citation
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Jan 19, 14
CNN Wire
January 17, 2014 Friday 7:47 AM EST
Teen killed after shooting several people, including 2 ATF agents, police say
BYLINE: By Lateef Mungin, CNN
LENGTH: 220 words
DATELINE: (CNN)
(CNN) -- A teen was shot and killed Thursday night in Oklahoma after shooting several people, including two ATF agents, police said.
All the victims shot by the 19-year-old are expected to survive, police said.
The teen, identified as Henry Jackson, was killed at 9:30 p.m. Thursday after going on a two-day crime spree, said Sgt. Ryan Hunnicutt of the Ardmore Police Department.
Authorities say the incident started on Wednesday night when a 19-year-woman called 911 and said she had been shot in the arm.
About four blocks away from that shooting, another man was shot in the hip Thursday afternoon. Officers began to gather information that pointed to Jackson as a suspect in both incidents, Hunnicutt said.
Local police officers were searching for Jackson and two ATF agents in the area for a different matter joined the search.
The agents found Jackson in a car Thursday evening. He opened fire on them, wounding them, Hunnicutt said.
One of the agents was treated at the scene, the other was hospitalized with minor injuries.
Later, Ardmore police saw Jackson traveling in a Ford Taurus and a chase ensued. The suspect fired at officers, Hunnicutt said, and officers fired back, killing him.
CNN's Marlena Baldacci contributed to this report
TM & © 2014 Cable News Network, Inc., a Time Warner Company. All rights reserved.
SUBJECT: POLICE FORCES (90%); SHOOTINGS (90%); TELEVISION INDUSTRY (90%); LAW ENFORCEMENT (78%); WOUNDS & INJURIES (77%); CABLE TELEVISION (73%) oklahoma atf agents shot 2
GEOGRAPHIC: OKLAHOMA, USA (91%) UNITED STATES (91%)
LOAD-DATE: January 18, 2014
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
PUBLICATION-TYPE: Newswire
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'Armed and very dangerous' teen killed after shooting 3
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By Henry Austin, NBC News contributor
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Henry Jackson, 19, Killed By Police In Oklahoma After 2-Day Crime Spree
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Later that evening, Jackson opened fire on two Bureau of Alcochol, Tobacco and Firearms agents who happened to be in the area and recognized Jackson's vehicle. The suspect injured both agents.
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Teen who shot 4, including 2 ATF agents, is killed by cops, police say
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A teen on a two-day crime spree was shot and killed by Ardmore, Okla. police Thursday night after shooting at least four people, including two agents of the Bureau of Alcochol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF), Ardmore officers say.
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JOHNSTON & CARTER COUNTY, OK -- News 12 has received new information Friday afternoon about a homicide, kidnapping, and shooting case spanning two counties that left the suspect dead and investigators wounded.
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