One American Confirmed Dead in Algeria

U.S. officials told ABC News that at least one American has been killed in the hostage standoff at an Algerian gas plant, and the family of the deceased American has been notified.

An al Qaeda-linked group called the Masked Brigade and led by the one-eyed jihadi Mokhtar Belmokhtar raided the BP joint venture facility in In Amenas on Wednesday, taking an undetermined number of hostages from more than half a dozen nations, including at least two Americans.

On Friday, the group demanded the release of two convicted terrorists held in U.S. prisons, including the "blind sheikh" who helped plan the first attack on New York's World Trade Center, in exchange for the freedom of two American hostages, according to an African news service.

The terror group reportedly contacted a Mauritanian news service with the offer. In addition to the release of Omar Abdel-Rahman, who planned the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, they demanded the release of Aifia Siddiqui, a Pakistani scientist who shot at two U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan in 2008.

Asked about the unconfirmed report of a proposed swap, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said firmly, "The United States does not negotiate with terrorists." She repeated the statement again when questioned further. She also said she was not prepared to get into any details about the status of Americans in "an ongoing hostage situation."

At least three Americans were being held hostage by the militants when the Algerian military mounted a rescue operation at the facility Thursday that reportedly resulted in casualties.

Five other Americans who were at the facility when it was attacked by the terrorists are now safe and believed to have left the country, according to U.S. officials.

Algeria Hostage Situation: Military Operation Mounted Watch Video

Reports that dozens of hostages were killed during the Algerian military's attempt to retake the compound have not been confirmed, though Algeria's information minister has confirmed that there were casualties. It's known by U.S. and foreign officials that multiple British, Japanese and Norwegian hostages were killed.

According to an unconfirmed report by an African news outlet, the militants said seven hostages survived the attack, including two Americans, one Briton, three Belgians and a Japanese national. U.S. officials monitoring the case had no information indicating any Americans have been injured or killed, but said the situation is fluid and casualties cannot be ruled out.

On Friday, a U.S. military plane evacuated between 10 and 20 people in need of medical attention, none of them American, from In Amenas and took them to an American medical facility in Europe. A second U.S. plane is preparing to evacuate additional passengers in need of medical attention.

British Prime Minister David Cameron told parliament today that the terror attack "appears to have been a large, well coordinated and heavily armed assault and it is probable that it had been pre-planned."

"The terrorist group is believed to have been operating under Mokhtar Belmokhtar, a criminal terrorist and smuggler who has been operating in Mali and in the region for a number of years," said Cameron.

Cameron said Algerian security forces are still in action at the facility. On Thursday, he said that the situation was "very bad … A number of British citizens have been taken hostage. Already, we know of one who has died. ... I think we should be prepared for the possibility for further bad news, very difficult news in this extremely difficult situation."

The kidnappers had earlier released a statement saying there are "more than 40 crusaders" held "including 7 Americans."

U.S. officials had previously confirmed to ABC News that there were at least three Americans held hostage at the natural gas facility jointly owned by BP, the Algerian national oil company and a Norwegian firm at In Amenas, Algeria.

"I want to assure the American people that the United States will take all necessary and proper steps that are required to deal with this situation," said Panetta. "I don't think there's any question that [this was] a terrorist act and that the terrorists have affiliation with al Qaeda."

He said the precise motivation of the kidnappers was unknown.

"They are terrorists, and they will do terrorist acts," he said.

Read More..

Euro gains despite US economic data; yen loses

NEW YORK: The US dollar slipped against the euro Thursday despite encouraging US data on housing and jobs, while the yen slumped to new multi-year lows on speculation of new easing.

The euro benefited from more positive remarks from regional leaders and solid results of a Spanish bond auction, analysts said.

"The Euro rallied to 1.3376 as the European Central Bank and European Union President Herman Van Rompuy stirred hopes of seeing the euro-area return to growth in 2013, but optimism surrounding the single currency may fail to materialize as the debt crisis continues to drag on the real economy," said David Song of DailyFX.

Also helping was strong investor enthusiasm at a US$4.5 billion Spanish bond auction, pushing the troubled government's borrowing costs lower.

At 2200 GMT the euro was at US$1.3375, compared to US$1.3286 late Wednesday.

The US dollar failed to get a boost from a strong fall in weekly jobless claims, a sign of the pace of layoffs, and a rebound in housing starts in December, showing sustained strength in the housing sector.

The yen meanwhile fell to a fresh 30 month low. The dollar topped the 90 yen level briefly before slipping back to 89.86 yen, compared to 88.37 a day earlier.

The euro rose to 120.20 yen, its best level since April 2011, up from 117.42 Wednesday.

David Gilmore of Foreign Exchange Analytics, said speculation was rising that the Bank of Japan could add to stimulus measures in its next policy meeting on January 21-22.

The British pound fell to US$1.5992 from US$1.6006, while the US dollar gained to 0.9322 Swiss francs from 0.9309 francs.

- AFP/jc

Read More..

Mulayam threatens changes in LS candidate list

LUCKNOW: In yet another denunciation of AkhileshYadav governance in Uttar Pradesh, Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, on Thursday, said there were instances of those in power serving their "own interest" rather than focusing on "public interest". He also hinted the party may give a re-look to the list of 63 candidates it announced for the LokSabha elections scheduled in 2014.

"I am aware of what is going on in the state government," said the SP national president. Yadav's stern observation came during the party's state working committee meeting, attended not only by SP's top leaders including general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav, but also MLAs who are cabinet/state ministers in the Akhilesh's cabinet. This is the second time that Mulayam red-flagged working of the present dispensation headed by his son.

It was only three days ago, during a function in Saifai on January 14, that Mulayam had questioned the working of the state government saying it was being run by some handpicked bureacrats instead of the ministers. He also pointed out how some of the babus were handling more than one important department. The SP chiefs' observation led to a sudden reshuffle as in transfer of senior IAS officers Anil Kumar Gupta and Sanjeev Saran. Both these officers were considered to be one of the most powerful administrative officials in the Akhilesh Yadav team. While Gupta was shunted out as IIDC and principal secretary (energy) to an insignificant post, member revenue board, Saran, who was CEO of Noida, was put on the waiting list.

On Thursday, Yadav, reportedly went a step ahead and criticised even MLAs and MPs of ignoring the interests of party workers. His observation comes in the midst of raging speculation about some of the party workers getting restless and causing embarrassment to the leadership. Though the party assuaged some workers giving them chairman/vice-chairmanship of different boards and corporations, it left quite a few of them seething.

Speaking to reporters, SP general secretary Ram Asrey Kushwaha said: "Netaji (Mulayam) does have the right to assess the working of the state government as well as party affairs. It is our responsibility to see his observations are given full regard."

At the same time, the SP chief also asked workers not to get into the business of transfer and posting of officials and instead concentrate on problems faced by people in their respective areas. SP national general secretary, Ram Gopal Yadav had recently admitted that aspirations of the workers had risen significantly.

During the meeting, he was assured by chief minister Akhilesh Yadav that efforts will be made to make improvements in governance, said sources. At the meeting, the party also reviewed preparations for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections and discussed names of candidates. Later, SP's spokesperson, Rajendra Chaudhary said Mulayam Singh Yadav emphasised the state government to meet the target set in the election manifesto. He also gave necessary directions on how party workers should go about in a bid to achieve success in 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

Meanwhile, SP announced Kameshwar Upadhaya's son Ashutosh Upadhayay as candidate for by-elections in Bhatpar Rani constituency in Deoria district. The seat fell vacant following death of Kameshwar Upadhyay, a five times MLA from the seat in October last year.

Read More..

Opinion: Lance One of Many Tour de France Cheaters

Editor's note: England-based writer and photographer Roff Smith rides around 10,000 miles a year through the lanes of Sussex and Kent and writes a cycling blog at: www.my-bicycle-and-I.co.uk

And so, the television correspondent said to the former Tour de France champion, a man who had been lionised for years, feted as the greatest cyclist of his day, did you ever use drugs in the course of your career?

"Yes," came the reply. "Whenever it was necessary."

"And how often was that?" came the follow-up question.

"Almost all the time!"

This is not a leak of a transcript from Oprah Winfrey's much anticipated tell-all with disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong, but instead was lifted from a decades-old interview with Fausto Coppi, the great Italian road cycling champion of the 1940s and 1950s.

To this day, though, Coppi is lauded as one of the gods of cycling, an icon of a distant and mythical golden age in the sport.

So is five-time Tour winner Jacques Anquetil (1957, 1961-64) who famously remarked that it was impossible "to ride the Tour on mineral water."

"You would have to be an imbecile or a crook to imagine that a professional cyclist who races for 235 days a year can hold the pace without stimulants," Anquetil said.

And then there's British cycling champion Tommy Simpson, who died of heart failure while trying to race up Mont Ventoux during the 1967 Tour de France, a victim of heat, stress, and a heady cocktail of amphetamines.

All are heroes today. If their performance-enhancing peccadillos are not forgotten, they have at least been glossed over in the popular imagination.

As the latest chapter of the sorry Lance Armstrong saga unfolds, it is worth looking at the history of cheating in the Tour de France to get a sense of perspective. This is not an attempt at rationalisation or justification for what Lance did. Far from it.

But the simple, unpalatable fact is that cheating, drugs, and dirty tricks have been part and parcel of the Tour de France nearly from its inception in 1903.

Cheating was so rife in the 1904 event that Henri Desgrange, the founder and organiser of the Tour, declared he would never run the race again. Not only was the overall winner, Maurice Garin, disqualified for taking the train over significant stretches of the course, but so were next three cyclists who placed, along with the winner of every single stage of the course.

Of the 27 cyclists who actually finished the 1904 race, 12 were disqualified and given bans ranging from one year to life. The race's eventual official winner, 19-year-old Henri Cornet, was not determined until four months after the event.

And so it went. Desgrange relented on his threat to scrub the Tour de France and the great race survived and prospered-as did the antics. Trains were hopped, taxis taken, nails scattered along the roads, partisan supporters enlisted to beat up rivals on late-night lonely stretches of the course, signposts tampered with, bicycles sabotaged, itching powder sprinkled in competitors' jerseys and shorts, food doctored, and inkwells smashed so riders yet to arrive couldn't sign the control documents to prove they'd taken the correct route.

And then of course there were the stimulants-brandy, strychnine, ether, whatever-anything to get a rider through the nightmarishly tough days and nights of racing along stages that were often over 200 miles long. In a way the race was tailor-made to encourage this sort of thing. Desgrange once famously said that his idea of a perfect Tour de France would be one that was so tough that only one rider finished.

Add to this the big prizes at a time when money was hard to come by, a Tour largely comprising young riders from impoverished backgrounds for whom bicycle racing was their one big chance to get ahead, and the passionate following cycling enjoyed, and you had the perfect recipe for a desperate, high stakes, win-at-all-costs mentality, especially given the generally tolerant views on alcohol and drugs in those days.

After World War II came the amphetamines. Devised to keep soldiers awake and aggressive through long hours of battle they were equally handy for bicycle racers competing in the world's longest and toughest race.

So what makes the Lance Armstrong story any different, his road to redemption any rougher? For one thing, none of the aforementioned riders were ever the point man for what the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency has described in a thousand-page report as the most sophisticated, cynical, and far-reaching doping program the world of sport has ever seen-one whose secrecy and efficiency was maintained by ruthlessness, bullying, fear, and intimidation.

Somewhere along the line, the casualness of cheating in the past evolved into an almost Frankenstein sort of science in which cyclists, aided by creepy doctors and trainers, were receiving blood transfusions in hotel rooms and tinkering around with their bodies at the molecular level many months before they ever lined up for a race.

To be sure, Armstrong didn't invent all of this, any more than he invented original sin-nor was he acting alone. But with his success, money, intelligence, influence, and cohort of thousand-dollar-an-hour lawyers-and the way he used all this to prop up the Lance brand and the Lance machine at any cost-he became the poster boy and lightning rod for all that went wrong with cycling, his high profile eclipsing even the heads of the Union Cycliste Internationale, the global cycling union, who richly deserve their share of the blame.

It is not his PED popping that is the hard-to-forgive part of the Lance story. Armstrong cheated better than his peers, that's all.

What I find troubling is the bullying and calculated destruction of anyone who got in his way, raised a question, or cast a doubt. By all accounts Armstrong was absolutely vicious, vindictive as hell. Former U.S. Postal team masseuse Emma O'Reilly found herself being described publicly as a "prostitute" and an "alcoholic," and had her life put through a legal grinder when she spoke out about Armstrong's use of PEDs.

Journalists were sued, intimidated, and blacklisted from events, press conferences, and interviews if they so much as questioned the Lance miracle or well-greased machine that kept winning Le Tour.

Armstrong left a lot of wreckage behind him.

If he is genuinely sorry, if he truly repents for his past "indiscretions," one would think his first act would be to try to find some way of not only seeking forgiveness from those whom he brutally put down, but to do something meaningful to repair the damage he did to their lives and livelihoods.

Read More..

Officials: 5 Americans Escaped from Algeria Terrorists

Five Americans who were at an Algerian natural gas facility when it was raided by al Qaeda linked terrorists are now safe and believed to have left the country, according to U.S. officials. At least three Americans, however, were being held hostage by the militants when the Algerian military mounted an rescue operation earlier today that reportedly resulted in casualties.

Reports that as many as 35 hostages and 15 Islamist militants at a BP joint venture facility in In Amenas have been killed during a helicopter raid have not been confirmed, though Algeria's information minister has confirmed that there were casualties. According to an unconfirmed report by an African news outlet, the militants say seven hostages survived the attack, including two Americans, one Briton, three Belgians and a Japanese national.

British Prime Minister David Cameron said that Algerian forces had attacked the compound, and that the situation "was ongoing."

"We face a very bad situation at this GP gas compound in Algeria," said Cameron. "A number of British citizens have been taken hostage. Already we know of one who has died. ... I think we should be prepared for the possibility for further bad news, very difficult news in this extremely difficult situation."

An unarmed U.S. Predator drone is now above In Amenas and is conducting surveillance. A U.S. official says the U.S. was not informed in advance by the Algerians of the raid they launched today.

In a statement, BP, a joint owner of the facility, said it had been told by both the British and Algerian governments that "the Algerian Army is attempting to take control of the In Amenas site."

"Sadly, there have been some reports of casualties but we are still lacking any confirmed or reliable information," said the statement. "There are also reports of hostages being released or escaping."

Algerian troops had surrounded the compound in the Sahara desert, where hostages from the U.S., Algeria, Norway, Japan, France and other countries are being held by terrorists who claim to be part of Al Qaeda and are led by a one-eyed smuggler known as Mr. Marlboro.

SITE Intel Group/AP Photo

Leon Panetta on Americans Held Hostage in Algeria Watch Video

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta told ABC News that as many as 100 hostages are being held, and that there may be seven or eight Americans among them. "Right now, we just really don't know how many are being held," said Panetta, who said information about the situation, including the total number of hostages and where they are being held, is "pretty sketchy." The kidnappers have released a statement saying there are "more than 40 crusaders" held "including 7 Americans."

U.S. officials had previously confirmed to ABC News that there were at least three Americans held hostage at the natural gas facility jointly owned by BP, the Algerian national oil company and a Norwegian firm at In Amenas, Algeria.

"I want to assure the American people that the United States will take all necessary and proper steps that are required to deal with this situation," said Panetta. "I don't think there's any question that [this was]a terrorist act and that the terrorists have affiliation with al Qaeda." He said the precise motivation of the kidnappers was unknown. "They are terrorists, and they will do terrorist acts."

The terror strike came without warning Wednesday morning when an estimated 20 gunmen first attacked a bus carrying workers escorted by two cars carrying security teams.

At least one worker was killed. The terrorists moved on to the residential compound where they are now holed up with the American and other western hostages, including Norwegian, French, British, and Japanese nationals.

There is growing concern this morning about the fate of the hostages, and intelligence officials say the situation is tense. Without the element of surprise, they say, a raid to free them will be very dangerous.
"They are expecting an attack and therefore, it's going to be very, very difficult for Algerian special forces to sneak in without being seen," said Richard Clarke, a former White House counter terrorism advisor and now an ABC News consultant.

Mr. Marlboro: Kidnapper, Smuggler

Intelligence officials believe the attack was masterminded by Mokhtar Belmokhtar, a rogue al Qaeda leader who also runs an African organized crime network that reportedly has made tens of millions of dollars in ransom from kidnappings and smuggling. He is known as Mr. Marlboro because of his success smuggling diamonds, drugs and cigarettes. Officials think it unlikely that Belmohktar would actually be in the middle of the hostage situation, but would be calling the shots from his base in Mali more than 1,000 miles away.

Belmokhtar fought in Afghanistan alongside the mujahideen against the Soviets in the 1990s, and lost an eye. He was formerly associated with al Qaeda's North African affiliate, al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), and was said to be a liaison with al Qaeda's international leadership. Belmokhtar split with AQIM late last year over what other Islamist militants considered his preference for lucre over jihad. He remains affiliated with al Qaeda, however, heading a breakaway group that calls itself the "Signers with Blood Brigade" or the "Veiled Brigade."

According to a Canadian diplomat who was held hostage by Belmokhtar, Mr. Marlboro is "very, very cold, very businesslike."

Robert Fowler was a UN diplomat in Africa when he was kidnapped and held hostage by Belmokhtar for four months in 2009.

Read More..

FAA grounds 787 Dreamliner in US

WASHINGTON: The Federal Aviation Administration grounded all US-registered Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft Wednesday to address a possible battery fire risk.

"As a result of an in-flight, Boeing 787 battery incident earlier today in Japan, the FAA will issue an emergency airworthiness directive (AD) to address a potential battery fire risk in the 787 and require operators to temporarily cease operations," the regulator said in a statement.

"Before further flight, operators of US-registered, Boeing 787 aircraft must demonstrate to the Federal Aviation Administration that the batteries are safe," it said.

The FAA said it would work with Boeing and carriers to develop a corrective action plan "to allow the US 787 fleet to resume operations as quickly and safely as possible."

United Airlines, the world's biggest airline, is currently the only US airline operating the 787, with six airplanes in service.

The warning was prompted by a battery incident during an All Nippon Airways flight that resulted in an emergency landing in Japan Wednesday, following a January 7 battery incident on an ANA 787 that occurred on the ground in Boston.

"The AD is prompted by this second incident involving a lithium ion battery. The battery failures resulted in release of flammable electrolytes, heat damage, and smoke on two Model 787 airplanes," the FAA said.

"The root cause of these failures is currently under investigation. These conditions, if not corrected, could result in damage to critical systems and structures, and the potential for fire in the electrical compartment."

The FAA said that it also is alerting the international aviation community to the action so other civil aviation authorities "can take parallel action to cover the fleets operating in their own countries."

- AFP/jc

Read More..

Nothing to show CBI was biased: Court

NEW DELHI: Even as the accused alleged that the CBI's probe into the Junior Basic Trained (JBT) teachers recruitment scam was not fair, the special court on Wednesday supported the agency and said there was nothing to show that the CBI was biased against anyone for any reason.

All the 55 accused, including Om Prakash Chautala and his MLA son Ajay Chautala, had alleged that the probe was not fair as there was no mention of the former Haryana chief minister's name even in the FIR.

Coming in defence of the agency, the court said the probe into the case was fair and there may be "some deficiency" in the investigation but there was nothing on record to suggest that it was biased.

"In this case, the investigating officer (IO) might have committed some mistakes or at some points there may be some deficiency in the investigation, but, when a case is investigated after three years of the incident, the investigating officer has to work under many limitations.

"However, at the same time, I would say that investigation was fair and there is nothing on record that it was biased against any of the accused persons for any reason including the political one," special CBI judge Vinod Kumar said.

The court dismissed the defence counsel's contentions of bias, saying, "FIR is not an evidence, rather it is a starting point of the investigation. It appears name of Om Prakash Chautala was not written in the FIR because he was a respectable political leader holding the highest post in the state of Haryana."

The court convicted all the accused for offences under various sections of the IPC and under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act in the case relating to illegal recruitment of 3,206 junior teachers in the state in the year 2000.

Read More..

Colorful New Lizard Identified in Vietnam

Scientists have identified a new bright-blue lizard hiding in plain sight.

The lizard, found in Vietnam and named Calotes bachae, had long been thought to be another blue lizard species found in Myanmar and Thailand. A combination of genetic analysis and studying the size and scale characteristics of the animals revealed that the lizard belongs to a new species, according to an article in the January issue of the journal Zootaxa.

At first glance the new species looks more or less identical to another blue-headed lizard in Southeast Asia, Calotes mystaceus, said article lead author Timo Hartmann, and scientists had not taken a closer look until now. (Also see "Fantastic New Flying Frog Found—Has Flappy Forearms")

During mating season, the colors of the male lizards—which can measure up to 11 inches (28 centimeters)—become especially vivid, ranging from cobalt blue to bright turquoise. This serves to attract females and to intimidate other males, said Hartmann.

While by day the lizard's blue and green coloration is striking, at night it appears dark brown, "showing no bright coloration at all," said Hartmann, a Ph.D. candidate at the Herpetology Department at the Museum Koenig in Bonn, Germany. (Also see "New Self-Cloning Lizard Found in Vietnam Restaurant")

The newly identified animal was found in open areas of Cat Tien National Park, in dense tropical forests in Bu Gia Map National Park and, perhaps surprisingly, in parks in downtown Ho Chi Minh City.

The discovery grew out of a survey of reptiles and amphibians in Vietnam's Cat Tien National Park. Specimens from the project that were believed to be Calotes mystaceus were shared with Russian scientists working on a DNA barcoding database of all amphibian and reptile species from Vietnam.

Different Genes, Different Marks

The barcoding, which compares specific genetic markers, revealed a significant number of genetic differences between the previously known species and what is now known as Calotes bachae. The finding was unexpected, but not uncommon, said study co-author Nick A. Poyarkov, from the Department of Zoology of the Lomonosov Moscow State University in Moscow, Russia.

"In many cases two different species of frogs or lizards may look really similar but have profound genetic divergence," Poyarkov said.

Further research revealed that it's also possible to differentiate between the two species with the naked eye. (See more new species.)

Calotes bachae has faint brown blotches on its back, along with a yellowish moustache-like marking on its face. The Calotes mystaceus, by contrast, has dark brown spots and a white moustache. The differences become especially apparent during mating season, Hartmann said.

Hartmann suspects the surprising discovery points the way to other yet-to-be-identified lizard species: "I am sure that in Southeast Asia in general there are still many more new lizard species to discover."

Read More..

NRA President Defends Ad Attacking Obama

Jan 16, 2013 6:40pm

In an interview with ABC News this evening, NRA President David Keene said the gun-rights lobby is aggressively preparing for “battle” with the White House and Congress over President Obama’s sweeping new proposals to curb gun violence.

Keene criticized Obama’s announcement today, surrounded by four children from around the country, for “using kids to advance an ideological agenda.” And he expressed cautious confidence that few of the legislative measures would ultimately pass.

“It’s going to be very tough for the president to accomplish some of these things, but that doesn’t mean he can’t do it if he really turns it on,” Keene told ABC.

“All bets are off when a president really wants to go to war with you,” he said. “We’re gonna be there and we’re gonna fight it.”

Keene said passage of the 1994 assault weapons ban remains fresh in the minds of NRA leaders, noting that initial widespread congressional opposition gradually gave way to a narrow margin in favor, thanks in part to pressure from then-President Bill Clinton.

NRA members would hold accountable any politicians who “sell them out to some pie-in-the-sky scheme such as the president is proposing,” he said.

The group launched a new “Stand and Fight” advocacy campaign Tuesday night, opposing Obama’s gun control measures, anchored by a controversial new TV ad that began airing online and on the Sportsman Channel.

The ad calls President Obama an “elitist hypocrite” for sending his daughters to a private school with armed guards while questioning whether all other U.S. schools should have the same security measures. The White House blasted the ad as “repugnant and cowardly.”

“When the question is the protection of children, which is what this is all about… it’s perfectly legitimate to ask why some children should be protected and other children should not be protected,” Keene said, defending the ad.

“We were not talking about the president’s kids. We were talking about an elite class who criticizes others in their desire to be safe while making sure that they and their families and their children are always protected.

“We’re not talking about the Secret Service protection the president’s children enjoy — they ought to have that wherever they go,” he added.

Keene also ribbed Obama for using children as “props” for his announcement:  “We didn’t line them up on a stage and pat them on the shoulder while we were urging somebody to take our position,” he said.

The NRA has acknowledged some areas of common ground for curbing gun violence included the Obama proposal — namely beefed up resources for mental health care, better background check data and increased presence of school resource officers (police) at public schools.

But Keene said many of those steps were just “fig leaves.”

“What the president did is say … ‘I care about armed security.’ He can check off that box on the Gallup polls. He can say to the people concerned about it, ‘It’s part of my package.’ … He said the problem of severely, mentally ill — we’re going to study it.”

Obama called for federal aid to states for the hiring of up to 1,000 new resource officers and school counselors.  Currently, there are armed resource officers at 28,000 U.S. schools.

“That’s a drop in the ocean in terms of the problem,” Keene said. “It’s simply a fig leaf so he can pursue an anti-gun agenda. It has less to do with security and more to do with gun.”

SHOWS: World News

Read More..

At world’s largest gun show, few worries about tighter controls

LAS VEGAS — The tens of thousands of gun enthusiasts, sellers and manufacturers gathering here for the world’s largest firearms show are well aware of the political battle unfolding in Washington over tighter controls on assault rifles and ammunition clips. They are neither worried nor reassured.

A gun dealer from Indiana was happy to offer his view of what’s happening in Washington the day before President Obama is set to outline what is expected to be an ambitious effort to tighten controls.

“It’s ridiculous,” Steve Drake, the owner of the Gun Den in Shelbyville, Ind., said on Tuesday outside the show’s well-guarded entrance. “Newtown is a tragedy, but it goes back to insane people. You can’t control insane people. What we need to do is put more arms in sane people’s hands so insane people won’t be able to get so many shots off.”

Drake’s comments echoed the leaders of the National Rifle Association and other gun advocates who say that efforts should be focused on registering mentally ill people and putting armed guards in schools, not restricting access to assault weapons.

The 63-year-old father of four is one of 60,000 manufacturers, hunters, firearms dealers and gun-rights advocates expected at the 35th annual Shooting, Hunting, Outdoor Trade Show and Conference, known in the trade as “the SHOT show.” They come in business suits, camouflage and bluejeans.

Sprawling across two floors of the Sands expo and convention center and spilling into the luxury Venetian hotel next door, the show offers more than 1,000 exhibits featuring the newest and most sophisticated weapons and gear, from Bushmaster assault rifles and body armor to gun-cleaning kits and hunting vests.

The show is closed to the public and the mainstream press, though reporters from publications with names like Guns & Ammo and American Rifleman wander freely among the booths.

The Washington Post attended the show in 2010 and 2011 and was invited to attend again this year. But after the massacre of 20 children and six adults in Newtown, Conn., by a man with a Bushmaster assault rifle and high-capacity clips, show organizers would not allow The Post or other mainstream news organizations inside.

Many people in town for the show were equally publicity-shy, refusing to talk about the current debate. Even industry executives who did speak asked that their names not be used to avoid being singled out.

One arms manufacturing executive said he and many others do not believe that any new restrictions will pass Congress. The chief executive of another gun maker said he was disappointed by the debate in Washington.

“Lawmakers should put their efforts into harsher penalties for straw purchasers, more prosecutions of violators of gun laws already on the books and more treatment and sharing of state information about the mentally ill,” the executive said in an interview in his hotel suite where an armed guard was posted outside the door.

Promoted as “The Event That Keeps on Giving,” the show is sponsored by the National Shooting Sports Foundation, whose headquarters is about three miles from Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown. NSSF President Steve Sanetti, who was among the gun advocates who met with Vice President Biden last week, says the industry is misunderstood, particularly in the aftermath of Newtown.

Read More..