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Armenian presidential candidate injured in assassination attempt


RT.com
Thu, 31 Jan 2013 17:52 UTC
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Paruyr Hayrikyan
An Armenian presidential candidate has been shot in the center of Yerevan, the country's capital, late Thursday. The 64-year-old Paruyr Hayrikyan of the Union for National Self-Determination party, was taken to hospital following the incident.

Hayrikyan was taken to the Saint Gregory the Illuminator medical center with two gunshot wounds, in the shoulder and in the chest. The chest wound is considered serious, but not immediately life-threatening, medics said.

Hayrikyan is conscious but has not yet been operated on. A number of high-profile figures visited the politician in his ward, including Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan, Yerevan Police Chief Vladimir Gasparyan and Speaker of Parliament Hovik Abrahamyan, Regnum news agency reports.
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Bulb

Republican Montana state rep wants 'corporal punishment' in lieu of incarceration

David Ferguson
Raw Story
Thu, 31 Jan 2013 17:46 UTC
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© Shutterstock
A Montana Republican state lawmaker wants to give criminals the option of choosing "corporal punishment in lieu of incarceration." According to Think Progress, the legislation is being proposed by Rep. Jerry O'Neil and would apply not just to misdemeanor crimes, but to some felonies as well.

The law states that "(f)or purposes of this section, 'corporal punishment' means the infliction of physical pain on a defendant to carry out the sentence negotiated between the judge and the defendant." The law states that the exact nature of that pain shall be "commensurate with the severity, nature, and degree of the harm caused by the offender."
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Pistol

To recruit cops, the NRA dangles freebies paid for by gun companies

Josh Harkinson
Mother Jones
Thu, 31 Jan 2013 15:26 UTC
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© NRA and Vagabond Shutterbug/Flickr
On May 20, 2010, on a highway in West Memphis, Arkansas, a father and son armed with a handgun and AK-47 assault rifle pumped 14 bullets into a police officer who'd pulled over their minivan on a routine traffic stop. The dead cop's partner took cover in his squad car but the AK-47 sliced through it and killed him too. A county sheriff and his chief deputy responded and were also hit. The last man standing was state wildlife officer Michael K. Neal, who sped his patrol car through the carnage, rammed the minivan, and opened fire through his broken windshield with an M-4 carbine. Within minutes, the suspects were dead.

Gun control advocates held up the horrific episode as a textbook argument for banning assault rifles. Officer Neal, meanwhile, soon found himself at a Virginia meeting of the National Rifle Association, accepting its "Officer of the Year" award - and a complimentary Smith & Wesson pistol.
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Bizarro Earth

UK's poorest families face hundreds of percent tax rise


RT.com
Thu, 31 Jan 2013 15:22 UTC
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© Reuters / Darren Staples
Under the UK government's austerity program millions of low income households are facing a hike in their council tax bills of up to 333% a year. New changes are to be introduced this April, while Scotland and Wales chose not to implement the cuts.

The UK benefits system is about to undergo it's most radical restructuring since the introduction of the welfare state after the Second World War and many families will be pushed further into poverty, a new report by the Resolution Foundation think tank reveals.

The biggest shakeup will be in Council Tax, a tax paid by households to local councils, which is not decided by income. Currently people on low paid jobs or the unemployed can apply for Council Tax Benefit (CTB), effectively exempting them from paying the tax.

All other means tested benefits will be streamlined into one national system, which will be called Universal Credit (UC), a move welcomed by the report's authors.
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Cowboy Hat

North Korea imposes martial law, orders troops to 'be ready for war' - report


RT.com
Thu, 31 Jan 2013 15:18 UTC
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© AFP Photo / KCNA via KNS
North Korea has allegedly been placed under martial law and its ruler Kim Jong-un has ordered the army to "prepare for war", a South Korean daily claims.

The North Korean leader issued a series of orders to his top defense and security officials on Saturday to conclude preparations for a new nuclear test, the Seoul based Korea JoongAng Daily alleges citing an unnamed source.

The source reportedly said that Kim Jong-un issued a secret order to "complete preparations for a nuclear weapons test ... and carry it out soon".

According to the source, Kim Jong-un also said, "The country will be under martial law starting from midnight January 29th and all the frontline and central units should be ready for war."

The source told the South Korean daily that the nuclear test could come earlier than expected. Other analysts have said it would likely be held on February 16th, the birthday of the former leader Kim Jong-il, who died in 2011.
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Eye 2

Shell continues spilling oil in North Sea despite efforts to improve

Terry Macalister
Guardian
Thu, 31 Jan 2013 15:16 UTC
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© Photograph: Royal Dutch Shell Ho/EPAShell's Gannet Alpha platform in the North Sea
Anglo-Dutch group has been responsible for over 20 pollution accidents in British waters over a six month period

Shell and other major companies are spilling crude, diesel or other contaminants into the North Sea on a daily basis despite the oil industry's efforts to improve its safety record.

On the day that Shell reported global annual profits of $27bn (£17 bn), government statistics revealed that the Anglo-Dutch group has been responsible for over 20 pollution accidents in British waters over a six-month period.

Shell said that "no spill is acceptable" and that it had been working hard to ensure its safety performance was improved by investing heavily in the maintenance of North Sea platforms.

But environmentalists said the latest spill statistics from the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) meant Shell and others needed to be threatened with a ban and kept out of the most sensitive waters of the far north.
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Light Saber

CNN host smacks down Senator for linking assault weapons to 'black-on-black violence'

David Edwards
Raw Story
Thu, 31 Jan 2013 14:53 UTC
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CNN host Soledad O'Brien on Thursday scolded Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and told him he should know better than to try to link assault weapons to "black violence on blacks" because most recent mass killings had been carried out by white men.

Following National Rifle Association chief Wayne LaPierre's Wednesday testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee that he opposed universal background checks at gun shows, O'Brien asked Grassley why not support something that seemed like an obvious part of the solution.

Grassley argued that universal background checks would burden people trying to buy a gun on Sunday.

"Obviously we have some background checks, it's how encompassing do you do it?" he explained. "Do you do it for one father selling to a son or another relative or how do you cover everything? I think that's the issue. And also, the extent to which you have private sales on Sunday between relatives, and maybe you can't access the system all the time and as fast as you want to do it."

O'Brien pressed Grassley on why he opposed an assault weapons ban, when even the temporary 1994 ban had reduced the number of crimes involving those firearms by between 17 percent and 72 percent, according to a 2004 study by the University of Pennsylvania.
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Eye 1

North Dakota debates slew of 'draconian' anti-abortion bills

Karen McVeigh
Raw Story
Thu, 31 Jan 2013 14:48 UTC
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© Flickr/Beechwood Photograph
The state rated one of the worst for access to women's reproductive services, is debating introducing 'draconian' bills

A new front in the battle over abortion and reproductive rights has opened in North Dakota, where state lawmakers are holding hearings into a series of draconian anti-abortion bills.

The state, one of four in the US with only one abortion clinic, has already been rated as one of the worst for access to women's reproductive services, according to a report by Naral Pro-Choice America published last month.

Among the measures introduced by five proposed bills in the state include: defining a "person" as a fertilised human egg; enforcing penalties on physicians who perform abortions after a foetal heartbeat is detected; restricting abortions to women only in the event of a threat to life; and criminalising physicians who perform them.
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Yoda

Military judge orders government to stop censoring 9/11 hearings


Raw Story
Thu, 31 Jan 2013 14:35 UTC
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© AFP PhotoCourtroom drawing shows Khalid Sheikh Mohammed
A military judge ordered the US government Thursday to stop censoring September 11 pre-trial hearings from outside his courtroom.

Judge James Pohl said the government must "disconnect the outside feed or ability to suspend the broadcast" from outside his court.

Proceedings are heard in the press room, and in a room where human rights groups and victims families sit, with a 40 second delay. This is done so that a security officer sitting next to the judge can block anything deemed classified.

The ruling means classified information could still be blocked, but only by order of the judge and not from outside the courtroom.
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Star of David

Russia denounces Israeli strike on Syria as unprovoked attack on sovereign country


RT.com
Thu, 31 Jan 2013 14:06 UTC
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© Reuters
The Russian Foreign Ministry has issued a statement expressing deep concern over Israel's airstrike on Syria saying that it violates the UN Charter.

The Ministry website says; if this information is confirmed that would mean that we have to deal with unprovoked attacks on the territory of a sovereign state which is inadmissible, whatever objectives are declared as a justification.

Russian diplomats are taking urgent measures to clarify the situation and to establish the details of the incident.

Russia has again called upon the international community to stop the violence in Syria, prevent foreign intervention in the conflict, and assist the start of a nationwide dialogue based on the Geneva agreements.
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