Abby Martin talks to journalist Max Blumenthal about the media frenzy and cover-up surrounding the Chris Dorner case.
Puppet Masters
Iranian Foreign Ministry rejects offer of eased sanctions in exchange for closure of underground nuclear bunker: "They want to take away the rights of a nation in exchange for allowing trade in gold."
Dubai - Iran criticized on Monday a reported plan by major powers to demand the closure of a uranium enrichment plant in return for an easing of sanctions on Tehran's trade in gold and other precious metals, Iranian media reported.
The Islamic Republic, which claims that its nuclear program is peaceful, started building the Fordow plant inside a mountain in secret as early as 2006, to protect it from air strikes.
Last week Reuters reported world powers were planning to offer to ease sanctions barring trade in gold and other precious metals with Iran in return for steps to shut down the Fordow plant.
On Monday Ramin Mehmanparast, a spokesman for Iran's foreign ministry, suggested the reported offer was unacceptable.
"Lately they have said 'Shut down Fordow, stop (uranium) enrichment, we will allow gold transactions'," Mehmanparast said, according to the Mehr news agency. "They want to take away the rights of a nation in exchange for allowing trade in gold."
Western officials said last week the offer to ease sanctions barring gold and other precious metals trade with Iran would be presented at talks between Iran and world powers scheduled to be held in Almaty, Kazakhstan, on Feb. 26, acknowledging that it represented a relatively modest update to proposals that the six major powers made in talks last year.
© IHS Jane's Analysis/GeoEye Satellite
A satellite image shows construction in a mountain near Qum, Iran, said to be a major military base.
A satellite image shows construction in a mountain near Qum, Iran, said to be a major military base.
The Islamic Republic, which claims that its nuclear program is peaceful, started building the Fordow plant inside a mountain in secret as early as 2006, to protect it from air strikes.
Last week Reuters reported world powers were planning to offer to ease sanctions barring trade in gold and other precious metals with Iran in return for steps to shut down the Fordow plant.
On Monday Ramin Mehmanparast, a spokesman for Iran's foreign ministry, suggested the reported offer was unacceptable.
"Lately they have said 'Shut down Fordow, stop (uranium) enrichment, we will allow gold transactions'," Mehmanparast said, according to the Mehr news agency. "They want to take away the rights of a nation in exchange for allowing trade in gold."
Western officials said last week the offer to ease sanctions barring gold and other precious metals trade with Iran would be presented at talks between Iran and world powers scheduled to be held in Almaty, Kazakhstan, on Feb. 26, acknowledging that it represented a relatively modest update to proposals that the six major powers made in talks last year.
Focus is on pushing forward on an international response to the impact threat of asteroids and other near-Earth objects (NEOs).
The Russian fireball and the close flyby of the asteroid 2012 DA14 on Friday came at a moment in time when the United Nations is discussing international response to the near-Earth object impact concern.
Detailed discussions about the Russian meteor explosion and Earth's encounter with asteroid 2012 DA14 were high on the Feb. 15 agenda of Action Team-14 during the 50th session of the Scientific and Technical Subcommittee of the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS), being held from Feb. 11 to 22 at the United Nations headquarters in Vienna.
The multi-year work of Action Team-14 (AT-14) is focused on pushing forward on an international response to the impact threat of asteroids and other near-Earth objects (NEOs).
Up for discussion at the Vienna gathering is the report: "Near-Earth Objects, 2011-2012, Recommendations of the Action Team on Near-Earth Objects for an International Response to the Near-Earth Object Impact Threat."
© Desconocido
Detailed discussions about the Russian meteor explosion and Earth's encounter with asteroid 2012 DA14 were high on the Feb. 15 agenda of Action Team-14 during the 50th session of the Scientific and Technical Subcommittee of the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS), being held from Feb. 11 to 22 at the United Nations headquarters in Vienna.
The multi-year work of Action Team-14 (AT-14) is focused on pushing forward on an international response to the impact threat of asteroids and other near-Earth objects (NEOs).
Up for discussion at the Vienna gathering is the report: "Near-Earth Objects, 2011-2012, Recommendations of the Action Team on Near-Earth Objects for an International Response to the Near-Earth Object Impact Threat."
© Agence France-Presse/Kevork Djansezian
San Bernardino County Sheriff's deputy Alex Cundieff (R) and Chris Kelley secure the scene where a P22 Walther Suppressor hand gun was found in the snow just off Glass Road near where former Los Angeles Police Department officer Christopher Dorner crashed a purple Nissan truck, before carjacking a second truck as he was fleeing from law enforcement on February 15, 2013 in Big Bear, California
San Bernardino County Sheriff's deputy Alex Cundieff (R) and Chris Kelley secure the scene where a P22 Walther Suppressor hand gun was found in the snow just off Glass Road near where former Los Angeles Police Department officer Christopher Dorner crashed a purple Nissan truck, before carjacking a second truck as he was fleeing from law enforcement on February 15, 2013 in Big Bear, California
As the cabin where Dorner was hiding was going up in flames, deputies heard one final gunshot inside, San Bernardino County sheriff's Capt. Sheriff John McMahon told reporters on Friday.
There is evidence that Dorner took his own life, McMahon said.
"The information that we have right now seems to indicate that the wound that took Christopher Dorner's life was self-inflicted," he said.
Earlier, authorities had confirmed that the human remains discovered in the burnt-out cabin belonged to Dorner, but were unsure whether he had burned to death, was killed by the police or committed suicide.
The manhunt for Dorner began last week after authorities claimed he had launched a deadly revenge rampage against the LAPD over his allegedly illegal firing. Police have accused him of killing three, and had formally charged him with one murder.
During the last days of the hunt, Dorner was hiding across the street from the search operation's command post. When discovered, he engaged in a deadly shootout with police, killing one deputy and injuring another.
Dorner spent his final moments inside the cabin, engulfed in flames. By some reports, police prevented any escape attempt, shelling the house with heavy gunfire and stopping firefighters from putting the blaze out. Although police have claimed they did not "deliberately" burn the cabin to ashes, they admit that the projectiles used to force Dorner out could have caused the flames.
© Photo from facebook.com/esawiah.forum
The Israeli Defense Forces have reportedly raided the house of Samer Issawi's family in the al-Issawiya neighborhood of East Jerusalem at around midnight GMT. Activists on twitter claimed that Issawi's brother Shadi had been arrested and released photos and video of the alleged incident
So far, with no official comment on the raid, the reports could not be independently verified.
© Photo from facebook.com/esawiah.forum
Palestinian medics reported wounds sustained from rubber bullets and said dozens of people suffered gas inhalation.
Also a number of people were reportedly injured in at least three separate clashes as violence spread across the West Bank.
A series of car bombs exploded in mainly Shi'ite neighbourhoods across the Iraqi capital Baghdad on Sunday, killing at least 20 people and wounding dozens, police and hospital sources said.
The bombs detonated in Sadr City, Habibiya, Qahira, and at least two other districts of the capital.
Bombings have increased since the start of the year with a wave of suicide attacks against Shi'ite targets and security forces as Sunni Islamist insurgents step up their campaign to revive widespread sectarian violence in Iraq.
A suicide bomber killed a top Iraqi army intelligence officer on Saturday after storming his home in a northern town and insurgents set off car bombs in Shi'ite areas across the country at the start of the month, killing 34 people.
No-one claimed responsibility for the weekend attacks but Iraq's al Qaeda affiliate, Islamic State of Iraq, has vowed to take back ground its fighters lost in their long battle with American and Iraqi forces.
Source: Reuters
© AFP Photo / Mark Ralston
Hanford nuclear site, Washington state
Hanford nuclear site, Washington state
The nuclear leak is the first confirmed case of this type since the federal government's introduction of a security program in 2005 to dispose of content from exposed single-shell tanks.
On Friday, the US Department of Energy announced that one of Hanford 's 177 radioactive waste tanks is disposing up to 300 gallons per year. The leaks have come from Tank T-111, built between 1943 and 1944, now holding some 447,000 gallons of highly radioactive slurry left from plutonium production of nuclear arms.
"The tank was classified as an assumed leaker in 1979," said the DOE. "In February, 1995, interim stabilization was completed for this tank. In order to achieve interim stabilization, the pumpable liquids were removed in accordance with agreements with the State of Washington."
The governor of the state was outraged by the announcement.
"I am alarmed about this on many levels," Washington's governor Jay Inslee said at a news conference. "This raises concerns, not only about the existing leak ... but also concerning the integrity of the other single shell tanks of this age."
Other tanks on the site are now been examined and currently there is"no immediate public health risk," the governor said.
© Reuters/Alessandra Tarantino/Pool
Pope Benedict XVI and his personal secretary Georg Gaenswein leave after meeting Guatemala's President Otto Perez Molina (not pictured), during a private audience at the Vatican February 16, 2013.
Pope Benedict XVI and his personal secretary Georg Gaenswein leave after meeting Guatemala's President Otto Perez Molina (not pictured), during a private audience at the Vatican February 16, 2013.
Less than two weeks away from a historic papal resignation, the Vatican also stressed again that the pope was not abandoning the Church in times of difficulties and urged the faithful to trust in God and in the next pope.
Five days after Benedict announced his resignation in Latin to a small group of cardinals, the Vatican was still in a state of spiritual and bureaucratic shock, groping for ways to deal with a situation without precedent for at least six centuries.
Some 117 cardinals under the age of 80 will be eligible to enter the secretive conclave to elect Benedict's successor. Church rules say the conclave has to start between 15-20 days after the papacy becomes vacant, which it will on February 28.
But since the Church is now dealing with an announced resignation and not a sudden death, Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said the Vatican would be "interpreting" the law to see if it could start earlier.
Cardinals around the world have already begun informal consultations by phone and email to construct a profile of the man they think would be best suited to lead the Church in a period of continuing crisis.
A bomb targeting Shiite Muslims in a busy market in Pakistan's insurgency-hit southwest killed 79 people including women and children and wounded 180 others.
The powerful bomb in a water tanker ripped through a packed bazaar in Hazara town, an area dominated by Shiites on the outskirts of Quetta - capital of oil and gas rich Baluchistan province - at around 6pm local time yesterday.
"We have recovered more dead bodies from the debris of a collapsed building. The death toll has now risen to 79,'' senior Quetta police official Wazir Khan Nasir said.
Quetta city police chief Zubair Mehmood said the water tanker, which officials said was packed with some 800 kilograms of explosives, was placed near a pillar of a two-storey building, which collapsed in the blast.
"We fear that several people have been trapped inside. Rescue work is ongoing but I see very little chance of their survival,'' Mr Mehmood said.
Mr Nasir said the bombing ''was a sectarian attack, the Shiite community was the target''.
A spokesman for the banned Sunni Muslim extremist group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi claimed responsibility for the bombing.
© Agence France-Presse
People gather after a bomb targeting Shiite Muslims exploded in busy market in Hazara town, an area dominated by Shiites, on the outskirts of Quetta.
People gather after a bomb targeting Shiite Muslims exploded in busy market in Hazara town, an area dominated by Shiites, on the outskirts of Quetta.
"We have recovered more dead bodies from the debris of a collapsed building. The death toll has now risen to 79,'' senior Quetta police official Wazir Khan Nasir said.
Quetta city police chief Zubair Mehmood said the water tanker, which officials said was packed with some 800 kilograms of explosives, was placed near a pillar of a two-storey building, which collapsed in the blast.
"We fear that several people have been trapped inside. Rescue work is ongoing but I see very little chance of their survival,'' Mr Mehmood said.
Mr Nasir said the bombing ''was a sectarian attack, the Shiite community was the target''.
A spokesman for the banned Sunni Muslim extremist group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi claimed responsibility for the bombing.
The body of Christopher Dorner has been identified by authorities searching through the remains of a California cabin.
One of the big questions now emerging is whether law enforcement set fire to the cabin in which Dorner was hiding.
Ben is investigating in a Reality Check you won't see anywhere else.
One of the big questions now emerging is whether law enforcement set fire to the cabin in which Dorner was hiding.
Ben is investigating in a Reality Check you won't see anywhere else.
