Fort Hood shooting trial: Jury gives Nidal Hasanhttp://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/ft-hood-shooting-trial-jury-nidal-hasan-death-penalty-article-1.1439534#ixzz2dK42SwP5
But it could be decades before it is carried out, as the former army shrink will have to go through a lengthy appeals process before he would die by lethal injection. Hasan had early on in his trial admitted to killing 13 people and wounding 30 others in the 2009 slaughter.
By Corky Siemaszko, New York Daily News, August 28, 2013
The Army shrink convicted of the Fort Hood massacre got what he wanted Wednesday — a chance to be a Muslim martyr.
Despite a housing crisis, a great recession, rising income inequality, and elevated poverty, there is some good news among the most vulnerable segment of American society. America’s homeless population – an estimated 633,000 people – has declined in the last decade.
By Nina Bernstein, New York Times, August 25/27, 2013
It is one of the most common components of emergency medicine: an intravenous bag of sterile saltwater. Luckily for anyone who has ever needed an IV bag to replenish lost fluids or to receive medication, it is also one of the least expensive. The average manufacturer’s price, according to government data, has fluctuated in recent years from 44 cents to $1.
By Claire Cain Miller, news analysis, New York Times Sunday Review, Aug. 24/25, 2013
[....] The first day I used Google Now, my phone buzzed to tell me I needed to leave in 15 minutes for my restaurant reservation, because there was traffic on the way.
By Winnie Hu & J. David Goodman, New York Times, August 23/24, 2013
[....] Though only 14, Shaaliver already had two gun-related arrests on his record when he was confronted by police officers early on Aug. 4 as he chased and shot at another teenager in the Bronx. The officers said they ordered him to drop the gun. Instead, he fired again. An officer shot and killed him.
The paper — which NSA leaker Edward Snowden deliberately avoided over his fear that it would cooperate with the United States government — is now working with the Guardian on a series of stories based on documents that detail National Security Agency cooperation with its British counterpart, the Government Communications Headquarters, known as GCHQ.
By Hwaida Saad and Ben Hubbard, New York Times, August 23/24, 2013
TRIPOLI, Lebanon — Car bombs exploded with catastrophic force outside two Sunni mosques in this northern Lebanon city on Friday [....] The bombings easily eclipsed the death toll and destruction from a bombing a week earlier in southern Beirut that had targeted Hezbollah, the Shiite militant organization that has aligned with Syria’s government against a Sunni-led insurgency, which has contributed to an increasing polarization in Lebanon.
By Nicole Winfield, Associated Press, August 23, 3013
VATICAN CITY — A word of warning to those who write personal notes to Pope Francis: He might just call you back.
Francis has charmed the masses with his informal style, simplicity and sense of humor — and a handful of strangers have gotten the treatment up close, receiving papal phone calls out of the blue after writing him or suffering some personal tragedy.
The Syria crisis reached another grim milestone as UN aid agencies reported that the number of registered child refugees had reached 1 million, most of whom were under 11. Within the country, more than 2 million children have been displaced, they said.
In the 70-plus days since Pakistan's new prime minister took office, the country has suffered roughly 70 terrorist attacks. So why doesn't Nawaz Sharif have a counterterrorism policy?
By Arif Rafiq, op-ed @ ForeignPolicy.com, August 22, 2012
Sixty-six years ago last week, Pakistan came into existence on the Night of Destiny, the holiest night in the Islamic calendar [....] For many Pakistanis, this was not mere coincidence, but evidence that the Muslim homeland was born of Providence [....]
By Jack Shafer, Opinion @ Reuters, August 21, 2013
[....]The rise of the Marquee Brothers is, as best as I can determine, unprecedented in American journalism [.....]
[....] the semi-independent scribe working directly inside a news operation with a staff and brand of his own, and substantial autonomy from the remainder of the organization, appears to be a new thing
By Michael Isikoff, Matthew Cole, and Richard Esposito, NBC News, August 20, 2013
More than two months after documents leaked by former contractor Edward Snowden first began appearing in the news media, the National Security Agency still doesn’t know the full extent of what he took, according to intelligence community sources, and is “overwhelmed” trying to assess the damage.
I think if you were to read only one thing about the situation in Egypt today, this little story should be it. I "get it" now, where I couldn't exactly before, why so many cries about "terrorists," why that resounds. That last sentence, that is the real kicker, that's why.
By Caitlin Dewey, The Switch @ washingtonpost.com, August 19, 2013
Nearly 20 percent of U.S. adults don’t use the Internet. That means that roughly 60 million people, many of them elderly, poor and minorities, have no access to technology the rest of us increasingly consider mission-critical to modern life.
By Ashfaq Yusufzai, Inter Press Services (via Asia Times Online,) August 19, 2013
PESHAWAR - Nervousness permeates the very air of Dera Ismail Khan these days. It has been more than a fortnight since militants attacked a high security prison here in a military-like operation and released about 200 inmates, including Taliban commanders.
