German public broadcaster ARD quoted Bashar Assad as saying that America is partnering with those “terrorists … with weapons, money or public and political support at the United Nations.”
Assad was further quoted as saying that he won’t step down “in the face of national challenges.”
The uprising has led to the deaths of 14,000 people in the past sixteen months.
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Think you can keep a secret for 28 years? Beat this guy. David Hemler, 49, evaded capture for nearly three decades after going AWOL from the U.S. Air Force after becoming a peace activist. Hemler said he didn’t know what he was getting into with the military and that they wouldn’t dismiss him after he requested. So, in 1984, he left his Germany-based squadron and moved to Sweden, where he has a wife and kids. He’s lived there so long that, as you’ll hear in the video above, he has a pronounced Swedish accent. The Swedish government promised not to extradite him if he went public with his tale, according to Hemler. So here he is.
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Germany’s Bild newspaper is reporting that Luka Rocco Magnotta (disturbing details at the link; not for faint of heart), the lead suspect in a brutal killing in Montreal, has been arrested in an internet cafe in Berlin (story is in German). We’ll update when we learn more. (ht Matt)
EDIT: Now Reuters confirms, via police source, that Magnotta has been arrested.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel gets doused in ice cold beer after
an unemployed mana server leans a little too far forward.Poor Frau Merkel. She’s still recovering from this traumatizing incident:
In which Germans shower their leaders with both praise and alcoholic beverages.
German president resigns amid political favors scandal: Christian Wulff, shown with his wife Bettina, had to resign amid allegations of offering political favors while the premier of Lower Saxony. He faced calls for his resignation for weeks, and may not have legal immunity for any crimes committed. source
The return address was listed as a European central bank, which would likely increase the chances of him opening it.New York Deputy Police Commissioner Paul Browne • Discussing the package received by Josef Ackermann, the CEO of Germany’s Deutsche Bank, which contained a fully-functioning bomb. The bomb didn’t detonate and was intercepted before it reached the CEO. Officials are saying that mail rooms at financial institutions should tighter up their security after the incident. source (via • follow)
Watch: PCB gets a visual shout out on GMA’s Yahoo/Tumblr...
Wrote a thing.
Hat tip to this headline writer.
Congrats Tumblr!
Don’t screw this up Yahoo.
In 2007, I was...
I started tumblr when I was at one of the lowest points of...
» They were hiding in a river: In one of the weirder discoveries since the end of WWII, record-low water levels in the Western German city of Koblenz exposed old bombs from the latter part of the war — including a 1.8-ton bomb that would be big enough to destroy the city center. It’s a very sensitive situation and one that officials are very careful to handle only without people nearby. “Only when we are sure that all of the 45,000 Germans have left the town (can) the regional bomb-disposal squad start to operate,” said brigade spokesman Ronald Eppelsheim.
Its members are tech-savvy youngsters who wear hooded sweatshirts, throw cool parties and play up their group’s name with pirate boats. But don’t let the cool facade fool you. They won 9 percent of the vote in Berlin’s parliamentary elections. That puts them well ahead of the laissez-faire Free Democratic Party, a long-established party and part of Angela Merkel’s established coalition.
The rise of the Pirate Party, which started in Sweden in 2006 and initially gained strength around The Pirate Bay’s legal troubles, is now a multi-country political empire. And when someone up-and-up on international affairs like Fareed Zakaria is fascinated in your story (over such boring things as Palestine formally submitting a UN bid), that’s good news. Folks like Zakaria give credence and credibility to the party’s work.
Berlusconi’s back: In a move that probably won’t help German-Italian relations, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was caught on tape referring to German Chancellor Angela Merkel as an “unf@#kable lard-ass.” These are harsh words from the lothario Berlusconi; while he’s admitted to being “a bit mischievous” with his sexual exploits, he’s also insisted that he treats women with the utmost respect. Hopefully this won’t spark an international crisis (Reuters photo). source
We must make it very clear to people that the current problem, namely of excessive debt built up over decades, cannot be solved in one blow, with things like euro bonds or debt restructurings that will suddenly make everything okay. No, this will be a long, hard path, but one that is right for the future of Europe.German Chancellor Angela Merkel • Arguing, amidst much jeering from leftist opposition parties, that Europe needs to change the way it approaches its growing debt crisis. Merkel argues for long-term fundamental change. “I’m convinced that this crisis, if a great crisis of the western world is to be avoided,” she said, “cannot be fought with a ‘carry on’ attitude. We need a fundamental rethink.” Merkel is facing a parliamentary vote later this month that could prove a great threat to her power, and her party is sinking in the polls right now. She suffered a setback earlier in the day after a court put strict limitations requiring her to get approval from lawmakers to grant future bailout aid to other European countries. source (via • follow)
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