Sunday, August 08, 2010

Headlines Sunday 8th August 2010

=== Todays Toon ===
Rear Admiral Sir David James Martin KCMG, AO (15 April 1933 – 10 August 1990) was a senior officer of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) and later Governor of New South Wales.
=== Bible Quote ===
“For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king; it is he who will save us.”- Isaiah 33:22
=== Headlines ===
Six Americans on Medical Team Die in Taliban Ambush
Ten members of a Christian medical team — including optometrist Tom Little from New York and Dr. Karen Woo of London, pictured left — were killed by the Taliban after bringing medical care to isolated Afghan villagers.

Castro Speaks Before Cuban Parliament
Making his first official government appearance in four years, the former Cuban leader appeals to Obama to prevent a global nuclear war, raising questions about how much he will resume a leadership role

Kagan Sworn In as Supreme Court Justice
Chief Justice Roberts administers oath to Elena Kagan as she is sworn in as the fourth woman ever to serve on the Supreme Court, but won't be formally installed as a justice until the start of the court's new term in October

Under Fire, Angle Revamps Campaign
As Sharron Angle seeks to unseat Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, she has been cast as everything from conspiracy theorist to religious zealot, forcing GOP hopeful to kick it up a notch

Breaking News
No contact yet, 34 miners still trapped
RESCUERS are struggling to shore up ventilation ducts they hope can be used to reach 34 workers trapped in a mine in Chile since an underground collapse two days ago.

Snooki pledges to cut post-brekky booze
SNOOKI, the gorilla-huntin' guidette from MTV's Jersey Shore, plans to curb her boozing after last week's arrest for disorderly conduct while filming in Seaside Heights.

Nine boss apologises for Latham v Julia
THE Nine Network has apologised to Prime Minister Julia Gillard over her treatment by former Labor leader-turned-journalist Mark Latham on assignment for its flagship current affairs program.

Seven-hour spacewalk to fix ISS begins
TWO International Space Station astronauts have set out on the first of two spacewalks to fix a cooling pump that dramatically failed last week.

Saudis strike deal to spy on BlackBerrys
SAUDI Arabia and the makers of the BlackBerry smartphone have reached a deal on accessing users' data that will avert a ban on phone's messenger service.

Slaughtered doctors were mainly American
THE Taliban says it killed "Christian missionaries" working in remote northern Afghanistan where the bullet-riddled bodies of six Americans, one German and a British national were found.

Iceberg as big as 40 Ulurus breaks free
AN ice island more than 40 times the size of Uluru has broken off from one of Greenland's two main glaciers.

Prisoner found with pen lodged in skull
A PRISONER with a pen embedded in his skull has been flown to The Alfred hospital in Melbourne for surgery.

Man dies after car leaves road, hits tree
A MAN has died after his vehicle veered from the road and crashed into a tree in south-east Victoria, but another driver who ploughed into the wreckage escaped uninjured.

I saw Kiesha a week ago, claims witness
A WITNESS has come forward with fresh information about missing Sydney girl Kiesha Abrahams, saying she saw the six-year-old near her Sydney home a week before she went missing.

NSW/ACT
Fix these problems for Sydney
THESE are the projects western Sydney voters are crying out for their governments to deliver.

Police blitz hits ski fields
HUNDREDS of drivers have been caught speeding, drink-driving, texting and not wearing seat belts.

Albanese rejects air path plan
FEDERAL Transport Minister Anthony Albanese says Sydney airport will have no new flight paths.

Threat to gay parents
ADOPTION agencies could refuse gay couples under a plan to appease the churches.

Queensland
Save our kids' feet from glass
CHERBOURG'S Mayor wants to stop pubs and bottleshops from supplying alcohol sold in glass to stop an increasing injury toll on children's feet.

Masons square off over lodge sale
QUEENSLAND freemasons are at war amid a dwindling membership and a bitter dispute over the sale of one of the brotherhood's lodges.

Fraser dingoes not starving after all
CONSERVATIONISTS have slammed "do-gooders" for peddling misinformation about the plight of allegedly starving dingoes on Fraser Island.

Mortified by morgue mayhem
A FORMER morgue worker is so traumatised by the macabre scenes she witnessed at a Queensland hospital she is unable to give evidence at her own court hearing.

Kids' teeth in state of decay
QUEENSLAND'S tooth decay shame has been exposed in a leaked report revealing up to four in five children in one of the state's poorest areas have rotten teeth.

Slipper's $640k spending spree
FEDERAL Sunshine Coast MP Peter Slipper spent $30,000 on taxis in a $640,000 splurge that made him second only to Kevin Rudd for MP expenses.

Older mums a dangerous trend
A GENERATION of women are delaying childbirth, resulting in increased risk of fetal abnormalities and rising health care costs, experts say.

Health staff 'feared' flu jab
HEALTH professionals shunned the swine flu injection at the height of the pandemic because of fears of its side-effects, a study at a Queensland hospital shows.

Time to give back, rich listers told
THE state's most generous philanthropist has hit out at our richest men and women, saying some prefer to buy racehorses and jets than help our most needy.

Staff take off with passenger loot
QANTAS staff routinely keep thousands of dollars' worth of cameras, mobile phones, computers and other valuables left on planes by passengers.

Victoria
Biotech miracle looms
MELBOURNE is poised to become a biotechnology "miracle factory", with tailor-made body parts closer to reality.

Dining out on taxpayers
BUREAUCRATS responsible for Black Saturday reconstruction efforts have charged take-away food to taxpayers.

Buyback plan looks too costly
A RECOMMENDATION to buy people out of high bushfire risk areas could cover 53,000 properties and cost $10 billion.

Turtle war at bottle shop
IT'S the classic David and Goliath battle over a pair of turtles at a Yarraville bottle shop.

Divisions on health
THE Coalition has gained some ground with Victorian mums after unveiling its health policy.

Towns tire of talkfest
THE Brumby Government is bracing for a pre-election backlash as it prepares its response to the Bushfires Royal Commission report.

Touch scandal in junior footy
A JUNIOR football league has been embroiled in a sex scandal after two young footballers allegedly assaulted a female player.

Golden years
THEY thrilled us for two weeks, but after the cheers died down it was back to reality for the 2000 Sydney Olympics squad.

Radical scheme for Flinders St
A BOLD plan to revamp Melbourne's crumbling Flinders St Station will be put to transport bureaucrats on Monday.

A town betrayed
A VICTORIAN community is angry a child sex offender has been secretly placed in their midst, close to a school and kindergarten.

Northern Territory
Nothing new

South Australia
Pollies in flood of expenses
SA's federal politicians have claimed more than $5.2 million on the public purse, including reimbursement for traffic infringement notices.

Angel to to the homeless
TO many, Adelaide's homeless are the unremarkable faces that are easily forgotten.

Life rent scheme 'evicted'
THE era of people getting a Housing Trust home "for life" is over, with State Cabinet approving a plan to put applicants on a probation period.

Cathy writes her way to new fight
BANKRUPT property developer Cathy Jayne Pearce has chosen a bizarre publicity stunt for her new book.

Net closes on kingpin millions
POLICE have identified 30 criminal kingpins who will be the first targets of a law that will strip them of millions of dollars in unexplained wealth.

Mining threat to rare bird
THERE are fears a critical breeding ground for a vulnerable bird species found only in Australia could be threatened by mining on Lake Torrens.

Western Australia
Bid to crush Margaret River mine
GRAPE growers say a proposed coalmine in Margaret River could poison the water supply and decimate the region's world-famous wine industry.

More delays for Sunday shopping
WA'S status as the 'Wait Awhile' state is cemented following the Government's admission the Sunday shopping hours debate will draw-out.

Mandurah on riot squad alert
POLICE reinforcements, including the heavily armed riot squad, will be sent to Mandurah every weekend for the next month to quell youth rampages.

WA doctors 'too dangerous'
FIFTY-ONE WA doctors are considered so dangerous they are allowed to treat patients only under strict conditions.

School warns over bullying
A SCHOOL principal has taken the drastic step of writing to parents amid fears that terrified students are staying home to avoid bullies.

Humpback beached south of Broome
AUTHORITIES are unlikely to be able to save a 9.5m humpback whale found beached near 80 Mile Beach Caravan Park, 300km south of Broome.

Low water wreaks havoc on Avon
SOME of the lowest water levels in Avon Descent history wreaked havoc on competitors, with many forced to withdraw from the gruelling race.

Vandals 'smash up' shopping centre
VANDALS have stolen cash and smashed windows with bricks at a Cottesloe shopping centre this morning.

Van pursuit uncovers drug equipment
A SHORT pursuit in East Victoria Park this morning has uncovered a stolen van and drug making equipment.

Tasmania
Nothing new
=== Comments ===
The rotten core poisoning Labor
Piers Akerman
SIX weeks ago Kevin Rudd was a Labor rat who had to be publicly exterminated and Julia Gillard was the party’s saviour, a saint in the making. - The ALP are willing to say and possibly do anything to retain power, but some of their party men may not be able to sustain it. Della Bosca is no prince. He was one of the two, then ministers, who referred me to an abuser, and bragged about it to the senate when I asked the question about justice for dead school boy Hamidur Rahman. Hamidur’s parents were eventually blamed by the coroner for the accident, but it appeared to be a case of school neglect. Now the coroner won’t accept the testimony that might exonerate the parents because the parents may not want to be exonerated of the blame .. according to those who seem to be able to say or do anything to keep the ALP in power. This is why I must run for parliament .. to get the case looked at by the coroner .. when I have been so appallingly treated by the ALP.
Thank you Piers for showing the rotten core. I wish it weren’t so. I wish that it was just a misunderstanding, and that someone might put everything right. But sadly for the ALP, no one in power is competent. They have good people in the party, but no one in power is capable of saying why it is that they look inept and corrupt.
I have been privileged to have been friends with some very talented people in Fairfield who have made a feature film and plenty of action short movies in recent years. They have got attention from experienced film makers in Australia and abroad. There is a market for their material. However, the Australian film industry isn’t patronizing it, or exploiting it for mutual benefit. The Australian film industry is alone in the world in thinking that action does not produce profit. Statistics seem to show it, but when there is clear bias against action film production in favor of reality tv and other fads it becomes frustrating that the talent exists but the stars are not paid enough to maintain their gains for the industry.
It isn’t just the ALP that is inept in power, but sadly the ALP is inept. It isn’t just their supporters who lose out. - ed.

===
DOOR OPEN
Tim Blair
Government leaders are barely talking to each other, but unionists have a direct line:
Federal vehicle builder union secretary and Victorian left-winger Ian Jones says relations have never been better. ‘’In my 30 years this is the most accessible government. I can pick up the phone to the minister [Kim Carr] anywhere in the world and he will answer within an hour.’’
Yet it took more than 1000 hours for Prime Minister Julia Gillard to speak with Kevin Rudd after she’d colluded with unionists and Labor munters to chop him down. And wasn’t yesterday’s meeting pretty:
Contrast with the mood a couple of years ago:
The climate seems to have changed. Claire Harvey reports on Saturday’s One-Minute Hate:
Conducted in deep secrecy, with journalists whisked off to the other side of Brisbane and only photographers allowed to attend, the Rudd-Gillard meeting was supposed to be a show of harmony.

But the pair did not shake hands, speak or even make eye contact during the one minute photographers were allowed to attend, instead pretending to pore over a map of Queensland in a show of planning Mr Rudd’s statewide campaign blitz.
Will that blitz even happen? Labor may be wiser now to shun Rudd completely than to let him continue torturing them so. Gillard is already willing to shun journalists:
Responding to journalists’ criticism of the secretive meeting, Ms Gillard said: “I don’t think you should overestimate your role.

“Reality exists whether you are there or not.”
So much for the door always being open to a Labor government, as Rudd pledged upon his election. Reality exists, and so does Mark Latham, although his claims of Labor complaints about his new media role with the Nine Network are disputed:
60 Minutes executive producer Hamish Thompson said there had been no formal Labor complaint.

“Word has filtered back to us that she is not happy about Mark being there,” Mr Thompson said.
Nine executives are unhappier still:
Nine Network CEO David Gyngell told AAP last night he had personally apologised to Ms Gillard for the approach by Mr Latham while she was campaigning in Brisbane.

Mr Gyngell said the approach lacked proper respect.

After seeing the vision of Mr Latham’s questioning of the Prime Minister while representing the 60 Minutes program, the network boss said he believed the conduct of the interview was inappropriate.
The Prime Minister deserves respect. But, as Matthew Hayden points out: “Pity Gillard showed none to PM Rudd when knifing him.”
===
POPCORN TIME
Tim Blair
Superlove Saturday fell a little short of Labor expectations:
While they were being filmed, Ms Gillard and Mr Rudd did not make eye contact or shake hands.
“It’s understandable,” writes J.F. Beck, “that stabby and leaky are gaze avoiders.” Just as understandable:
Julia looked rattled when she looked over and saw Latham.
And now – as Latika Bourke reports – the ex-Labor leader (currently reporting for the Nine Network) is demanding to know why Labor wants him out of the picture:
Mark Latham confronts JG ... Asks why ALP have complained to 9 about him.
At least they made eye contact:
UPDATE. The secret text messages of Kev and Julia … and a mysterious third party named “laurie”.

UPDATE II. Quick takes:

• Susanne O’Brien: “Saw the meeting between rudd and gillard. Too awkward. now Latham is stalking Julia and gettin in her face. What a sideshow. Prefer libs.”

• Tory Maguire: “Has Latham just given Gillard a raft of sympathy votes?”

• Andrew Bolt: “This could be the day that finally sank Julia Gillard’s campaign. It’s been so farcical, so surreal, that grown journalists laughed on camera in describing it.”

• Claudia Hunt: “Abbott has proven today that he is the only one running for office in Aust. The ALP is running over a cliff.”

• Dominic Knight: “Next weekend: Gillard and Latham hold friendly map-viewing meeting. She’s confronted by Beazley afterwards.”

• Aesthine: “Mr Latham, you do realise that nobody takes you seriously anymore ...” Mr Cube: “And Gillard. And Rudd!”

• Miranda Devine: “Ms Gillard patted Mr Latham on the shoulder & said: ‘Nice to see you and I hope you enjoy yr life as a journalist’. Miaow.”

• Malcolm Turnbull: “Pity the Chaser. There is nothing they can write as bizarre or absurd as the Gillard/Rudd/Latham soap opera.”

• S_Dog: “So Abbott’ll take Labor’s NBN, superclinics & daycare centres off us? The ones that don’t actually exist yet? NO UNICORNS FOR YOU!”

UPDATE III. Thursday:
Mr Rudd vowed ‘’I can’t be silent’’
Saturday:
Mr Rudd wasn’t commenting.
===
The Liberal launch
Andrew Bolt
There’s a buzz to the Liberal launch, as if they believe they really can win this thing.

WA Premier Colin Barnett speaks in his typical plain but incisive style. He is surely the most adult of all the Premiers.

Julie Bishop does particularly well. There’s some nice, catty lines, and also a particularly effective riff about Liberals knowing how to fix Labor’s problems with boat people, debt and overpriced school buildings, since it’s fixed such Labor problems before.

Abbott arives with not only his wife and two of his daughters, but two of his sisters as well. He needs that female power, and his family’s lending of it has been invaluable.

A great opening line from Abbott:
Well, isn’t it great to lead a united political party with a deputy I can trust, a predecessor who’s a friend and a former Prime Minister who’s a hero.
John Howard in the audience smikes benignly. The crowd cheers and cheers.

Abbott goes straight into attacking Labor’s record:
Our task is nothing less than to save Australia from the worst government in our history.
He notes that Labor has already conceded the Rudd Government didn’t deserve re-election, since it’s just sacked Rudd.

Gillard’s 150-strong citizens’ assembly is rightly mocked. (How much of Labor’s woes are entirely self-inflicted?)

Some more good lines:
Give Australia back a grown-up government.
I think that line now sums up Labor’s woes and the sentiment that could sweep it from office. And:
Let’s bury an era of gutless spin.
(My wife says he’s a bit wooden.)

But where’s the vision thing?

Abbott promises a debt reduction task force immediately after the election to look at debt and waste.

It’s interesting that he feels it’s worth promising to visit out neighbours with Bishop after the election to restore “trust”. I wonder if research has picked this up as a concern among voters.

Again, how much has Labor damaged its own brand that Abbott can get such easy laughs by promising to attend national security committee meetings himself, rather than send some bodyguard.

A repeat of the promise to change parliamentary rules to get sharper answers from ministers.

Then there’s a promise to get tougher on people smugglers, with a minimum of a year in jail, and 10 years for repeat offenders. Our borders will be brought “back under control”.

Within three months preparation for an emissions reduction fund and his “green army” will be under way (groan). Then Abbott repeats a string of recent promises on gangs and health. He will stick with the Afghanistan committment.

Abbott declares it was the Howard-Costello reforms, not the Rudd-Gillard “spending spree”, that saved us from recession. As for the pink batts and overpriced school halls....

Abbott makes a big play about reviving the Murray Darling rescue plan. And goes on to explicitly appeal to Greens voters, claiming to be the other major party with an effective policy to reduce emissions, rather than just create symbols.

Then there’s more on the checklist of past promises, including the dreadfully overpriced parental leave scheme, which Abbott guarantees gets applause by adding the clap-line that it’s something he must do as the father of three politically savvy daughters.

There’s a vague promise to take up some of the neglected recommendations of the Henry tax review - lower taxes and an end to the money-go-round that traps people in poverty. No specifics though, just as there are no new promises so far at all, and nothing more uplifting than a promise to restore good, prudent government. Nothing of that “vision thing”. It’s just more of the small target strategy, inviting people to vote against Labor rather than vote for the Liberals.

The only like about industrial relations reform is this:
The only unfair dismissal anybody has talked to me about in this election campaign is Kevin Rudd’s.
A sturdy, safety-first and promise-lite campaign launch speech which entirely missed the opportunity to inspire and to thrill. Yet it may be all that’s required. Look at Labor’s record - what more reason do you need to vote them out?
===
Cameron taking the great out of Britain
Andrew Bolt
Britain disarms:
The RAF will shrink to its smallest size since the First World War, under unprecedented cuts being proposed at the Ministry of Defence.

In the most significant changes to Britain’s defences since the post-Suez review of 1957, ministers and officials plan to scrap large parts of the Armed Forces.

The Services will lose up to 16,000 personnel, hundreds of tanks, scores of fighter jets and half a dozen ships, under detailed proposals passed to The Daily Telegraph.

But the RAF will bear the brunt of the planned cuts. The Air Force will lose 7,000 airmen – almost one sixth of its total staff – and 295 aircraft. The cuts will leave the Force with fewer than 200 fighter planes for the first time since 1914…

The Army faces a 40 per cent cut to its fleet of 9,700 armoured vehicles and the loss of a 5,000-strong brigade of troops…

If implemented, the cuts will mean that Britain will almost certainly depart the world stage as a major military power and become what military chiefs call a “medium-scale player”.
Prime Minister David Cameron seems to be guaranteeing that his vision of the past will be inflicted on Britain in the future:
David Cameron faced a furious backlash yesterday for the astonishing claim that the UK was a ‘junior partner’ to America in 1940 - a year before the U.S. even entered the war.
I suspect Cameron will make conservatives yearn for the return of Tony Blair.
===
She’s complained before
Andrew Bolt

Kristy Fraser-Kirk’s reaction to an alleged grope and flirtatious comment - a $37 million lawsuit against retailer David Jones - did seem to me a spectacular overreaction, even if to admittedly desperately boorish behaviour.

And so it’s perhaps not surprising that she’s complained before:
KRISTY Fraser-Kirk filed a harassment complaint against her former boss, a police sergeant, when she worked as a civilian in the NSW Police Force. Sgt Michael Magill was transferred from the Operational Information Agency to the highway patrol after Ms Fraser-Kirk allegedly claimed he had invaded her personal space, made comments about her handbag and clothes and sent her inappropriate text messages… Several of Ms Fraser-Kirk’s former police colleagues are said to still be furious about the incident.
Several female columnists have been staggered by the amount of money Fraser-Kirk is seeking, seeing it out of all proportion to the alleged offence.

Rebecca Wilson:
It is the extent of the reaction from the complainant that is mystifying. She has her job. (Sacked DJ boss Mark) McInnes does not. She believes what he did - apparently fiddling with two bra straps and sending a couple of lurid text messages - is enough to glean $37 million.
Miranda Devine:
At a cosmetics function in Rose Bay, he “attempted to kiss [her] on the mouth while putting his arm around [her] waist”. He then placed “his hand on Fraser-Kirk’s stomach before moving it under her clothes so that his hand reached the bottom of [her] bra while [she] was pulling away from his unwelcome touch and turning her head to the left so that he could not kiss her on the mouth”.

Unpleasant, affronting, and unforgivable though McInnes’s alleged behaviour was, this is the worst of her complaints. Is it worth $37 million?
Women who are raped don’t get that kind of money as victims’ compensation - they’re lucky if they receive $100,000. A woman who was raped by a navy colleague at HMAS Cairns was awarded less than $500,000 in 2007 in a sexual harassment lawsuit.

A David Jones employee who sustained a serious brain injury at work would get less than $300,000 in compensation under Work Cover. So why does McInnes’s conduct qualify for such a grand cash grab?
Still, Fraser-Kirk has escaped much criticism for gold-digging by insisting that the $37 million she seeks in punitive damages would be donated to a charity to help victims of sexual harassment.

But the staggering size of her claim, her hiring of 60 Minutes producer turned spin doctor Anthony McClellan, the timing of her announcement to coincide with David Jones’ spring/summer fashion show - all this suggests a tactic to put pressure on David Jones to settle the case, rather than go to court. And such a settlement will not include a judgment of “punitive damages” - for which there is no legal precedent in Australia anyway for a sexual harassment claim.

Elizabeth Knight explains how Fraser-Kirk could still clean up:
It is a fair bet that punitive damages would not be part of any negotiated settlement with David Jones…

Whatever money Fraser-Kirk is likely to receive would come under the banner of the more normal ‘’general damages’’ that are paid in compensation for the kinds of breaches she has alleged under the Trade Practices Act.

Fraser-Kirk has not specified what she is hoping to extract as general compensation and she is not suggesting that whatever she receives will go to charity…

It pains me to say it, but the size of the damages claim appears to be more about getting sufficient publicity to pressure David Jones into offering a better settlement.
UPDATE

Would she donate this money to charity?

KRISTY FRASER-KIRK, the office junior suing David Jones and former chief executive Mark McInnes for sexual harassment, is understood to have received an offer to settle out of court… But the figure she has been offered is understood to be less than $1 million - or about 3 per cent of what she was hoping for.
===
Nine apologises for Latham
Andrew Bolt

Latham live may be as dangerously unreliable and as spiteful as the Latham diaries, or perhaps jus as indiscreet. First the former Labor leader menaces and apparently verbals the present Labor leader:
After following her for much of the day, a glowering Mr Latham yesterday afternoon accosted Ms Gillard as she campaigned in Brisbane.

Gripping her hand, he forcefully demanded to know why Labor had complained to the network about his presence in the media pack.
Then Channel 9 explains that Latham perhaps exaggerated his damaging claim:
Nine’s head of publicity and marketing, Michelle Stamper, last night confirmed: ‘’There has been no complaint from the Labor Party to Channel Nine about Mark Latham at all.’’
60 Minutes staff are less emphatic:
60 Minutes executive producer Hamish Thompson said there had been no formal Labor complaint.

”Word has filtered back to us that she is not happy about Mark being there,” Mr Thompson said.
But Channel 9 is embarrassed by Latham’s monstering - although sending Latham’s head rather than a note would have been a more appropriate response had Latham indeed made a false claim:
Nine CEO David Gyngell issued a personal apology to Ms Gillard last night, saying Mr Latham, working as a “reporter’’ for 60 Minutes at the time, had “crossed the line’’. Mr Gyngell said the approach lacked proper respect.
Let’s see if Nine backs up its remorse by canning the footage of the confrontation or exploiting it.
===
The Age frames Abbott
Andrew Bolt
There is something manic, almost sick, about this determination to find some way to take offence at Tony Abbott’s harmless words or banter:
Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has told Nauru’s President Marcus Stephen that Australia could use a more “guided democracy”.

Mr Abbott was overheard making the comment when a pack of media photographers disrupted their meeting in Brisbane this afternoon.

“Sometimes I think we need a guided democracy,” Mr Abbott joked as they wrapped up discussions, noting that the media in some other countries were “much less disruptive than they are here”.
And the headline The Age puts on what is clearly a joke, told privately:
Abbott leans to ‘guided democracy’
That’s deceitful. Abbott has not the slightest leaning to “guided democracy”, and I would bet good money that even the headline writer knows this. A joke has been turned by The Age into a declaration of policy.
===
At war with evil
Andrew Bolt

So what would such people do next, were they handed a country and its arms?
THE Taliban says it killed “Christian missionaries” working in remote northern Afghanistan where the bullet-riddled bodies of six Americans, one German and a British national were found.

Three women were among the group of foreign eye doctors working for the aid organisation International Assistance Mission (IAM), said its executive director Dirk Frans…

The Taliban later claimed responsibility… ”They were Christian missionaries and we killed them all...”

No comments: