UN envoy: Syria war is threatening the region

UNITED NATIONS (AP) ? Syria grabbed the spotlight as world leaders at the United Nations on Monday heard a dire warning from international envoy Lakhdar Brahimi that the war is getting worse and threatening to spill across the Mideast. But he also voiced a note of hope, saying he thinks there may be a way forward despite the deadlock in the U.N. Security Council.

Brahimi told reporters after briefing the council for the first time since he took over from Kofi Annan on Sept. 1 as the U.N.-Arab League special representative for Syria that he started to discuss a "way forward" with members.

He said the situation remains at a stalemate and "extremely difficult," with no prospect to move forward "today or tomorrow."

At the same time, Brahimi said he still held out hope for a solution, and told the council that "paradoxically now that I have found out a little more about what is happening in the country and the region, I think that we will find an opening in the not too distant future."

"I refuse to believe that reasonable people do not see that you cannot go backward, that you cannot go back to the Syria of the past," he said.

Brahimi said he has not yet crafted "a full plan" but he did have some ideas which he hopes to expand on after another visit to the region.

The Security Council, the only U.N. body that can impose global sanctions and authorize military action, has been bitterly divided by Syria's crisis. Russia, Syria's key protector, and China have vetoed three Western-backed resolutions aimed at pressuring the government of President Bashar to halt the violence and open talks with his opponents aimed at a transition of power.

According to a diplomat inside the council's private briefing, who demanded anonymity because he was not authorized to publicly to reveal details, Brahimi said he believed that Assad's goal was to return the country to "the old Syria," in which he and his father had ruled as dictators for four decades.

He said Brahimi had suggested Assad's intention was to portray the uprising as fueled by outside nations, in an attempt to discount protests which began in March 2011 to demand an end to his rule. The uprising was inspired by the other revolts around the Arab world against authoritarian rulers.

With deadlock over an international response, the situation in Syria has rapidly deteriorated with routine torture, looming food shortages due to a poor harvest and citizens fearing to seek hospital treatment when injured, Brahimi said, according to the diplomat.

The envoy told the meeting that about 2,000 schools had been damaged and others used as shelter by those who had lost their homes, while many factories and pharmaceutical laboratories were destroyed or falling into disrepair.

Activists claim nearly 30,000 people have died in the uprising, including in attacks Monday by Syrian warplanes in the northern city of Aleppo.

Brahimi told reporters that he does see "some signs" that the divided Syrian opposition may be moving toward unity, which is key for any political negotiations.

He said Annan's six-point peace plan ? which starts with a cease-fire and ends with a political transition ? and the declaration by world leaders in Geneva in June backing the peace process are still "elements in my toolbox." He said he will decide later how to use them.

Outside the briefing, which was attended by ambassadors, Germany's Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said that the failed six-point peace plan should not be abandoned.

Annan's plan never took hold and was largely ignored by the government and the rebels before it ultimately collapsed.

"I think the substance of this plan is still the best alternative," Westerwelle said. "We have to solve the conflict in Syria but we also have to avoid a conflagration in the region, and I think this explains why we seek and why we work for a political solution."

Westerwelle also called on Syria's opposition must unite and show that it stands for a pluralistic, democratic society.

Leaders in the region must follow the example of Egypt's President Mohammed Morsi and condemn the Assad regime, he said.

"I hope this will serve as a wakeup call to those who still hesitate to denounce the violence caused by the regime in Syria," Westerwelle said.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, meanwhile, said that Iran is neutral in the Syrian civil war, and denied that Tehran is providing weapons or training to Assad's regime.

"We like and love both sides, and we see both sides as brothers," he said. He referred to the conflict in Syria as "tribal" fighting and said that international "meddling from the outside has made the situation even harder." He refused to say whether Iran would accept a government not led by the Assad regime, which for years has been Iran's closest ally in the Middle East.

___

Associated Press writers Edith M. Lederer and John Daniszewski contributed to this report from the United Nations.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-09-24-UN-UN-General-Assembly-Syria/id-9344046220ae4460814f5efa929a56c1

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Libya orders 'illegitimate' militias to disband

Soldiers from the Libyan National Army get ready to enter Rafallah al-sahati Islamic Militia Brigades compound, one of the compound buildings can be seen behind the wall, in Benghazi, Libya, Saturday, Sept. 22, 2012. (AP Photo/Mohammad Hannon)

Soldiers from the Libyan National Army get ready to enter Rafallah al-sahati Islamic Militia Brigades compound, one of the compound buildings can be seen behind the wall, in Benghazi, Libya, Saturday, Sept. 22, 2012. (AP Photo/Mohammad Hannon)

Soldiers from the Libyan National Army get ready to enter Rafallah al-sahati Islamic Militia Brigades compound, one of the compound buildings which can be seen behind the wall, in Benghazi, Libya, Saturday, Sept. 22, 2012. On Friday evening hundreds of protesters angry over last week's killing of the U.S. ambassador to Libya stormed the compound of the Islamic extremist Ansar al-Shariah Brigade militia suspected in the attack, evicting militiamen and setting fire to their building. After taking over the Ansar compound, protesters then drove to attack the Benghazi headquarters of Rafallah Sahati where militiamen opened fire on the protesters, who were largely unarmed leaving at least 20 wounded, and several killed according to hospital sources. (AP Photo/Mohammad Hannon)

Soldiers from the Libyan National Army get ready to enter Rafallah al-sahati Islamic Militia Brigades compound, the compound buildings can be seen behind the wall, in Benghazi, Libya, Saturday, Sept. 22, 2012. On Friday evening hundreds of protesters angry over last week's killing of the U.S. ambassador to Libya stormed the compound of the Islamic extremist Ansar al-Shariah Brigade militia suspected in the attack, evicting militiamen and setting fire to their building. After taking over the Ansar compound, protesters then drove to attack the Benghazi headquarters of Rafallah Sahati where militiamen opened fire on the protesters, who were largely unarmed leaving at least 20 wounded, and several killed according to hospital sources. (AP Photo/Mohammad Hannon)

BENGHAZI, Libya (AP) ? Libya's president ordered all of the country's militias to come under government authority or disband, a move that appeared aimed at harnessing popular anger against the powerful armed groups following the attack that killed the U.S. ambassador.

The assault on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, which killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans, has sparked an angry backlash among many Libyans against the myriad armed factions that continue to run rampant across the nation nearly a year after the end of the country's civil war. On Friday, Benghazi residents staged a mass demonstration against the militias, and stormed the compounds of several armed groups in the city in an unprecedented protest to demand the militias dissolve.

Late Saturday, President Mohammed el-Megaref told reporters that the militias, which the weak central government has relied upon for providing security in neighborhoods and at state facilities since Gadhafi's ouster, must fall under the authority of the national government or be disbanded.

He said a joint operations room in Benghazi will coordinate between the various authorized armed brigades and the army. Armed groups operating outside the "legitimacy of the state" will be disbanded, and the military and police will take control over those militias' barracks, he said.

In a statement published by the official LANA news agency, the military asked all armed groups using the army's camps and outposts and barracks in Tripoli and other cities to hand them over. It warned that it will resort to force if the groups refuse.

Since Gadhafi's ouster and killing in October, a series of interim leaders in Libya has struggled to bring order to a country that was eviscerated during the eccentric dictator's 42-year rule, with security forces and the military intentionally kept weak and government institutions hollowed of authority.

The militias, which arose as people took up arms to fight Gadhafi's regime, bristle with heavy weapons, pay little attention to national authorities and are accused by some of acting like gangs, carrying out killings.

The government has brought some militias nominally under the authority of the military or Interior Ministry, but even those retain separate commanders and often are only superficially subordinate to the state.

A mass protest Friday against militias against the compounds of several armed groups in Benghazi lasted into early Saturday, as thousands stormed the headquarters of Ansar al-Shariah, an Islamic extremist group suspected in the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. Consulate.

They drove out the Ansar gunmen and set fire to cars in the compound ? once a major base for Gadhafi's feared security forces ? and then moved onto the base of a second Islamist militia, the Rafallah Sahati Brigade. Brigade fighters opened fire to keep the protesters at bay.

The state news agency said four protesters were killed and 70 injured in the violence.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-09-23-Libya/id-22d90a4047af4bc98cc9e7c7fac3b78f

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Denzel Washington: Eastwood still 'my hero'

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Clint Eastwood has taken a lot of barbs over his empty chair routine at the Republican National Convention, but Denzel Washington still holds the film legend in high regard.

"I have the utmost respect for him as an actor and as a director," Washington said. "He's my hero."

Although Washington supported Obama in 2008, he graciously declined to address an empty chair or do any "Eastwooding," as it's come to be known on the Internet. He calls himself an independent and said in this election he isn't committing to either side.

"I listen to both sides of the argument and try to make an assessment," he said.

Washington was in the nation's capital along with Olympic champion Michael Phelps and R&B singer Ashanti for an event sponsored by the Boys and Girls Club of America.

Source: http://www.seattlepi.com/entertainment/article/Denzel-Washington-Eastwood-still-my-hero-3883933.php

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The Price of Pleasure: Pornography, Sexuality & Relationships

?	?	Voting	Quality	Age	Views
putlocker.com ?		n/a	TV	17 hours	0
	?	Voting	Quality	Age	Views

Source: http://www.solarmovie.eu/watch-the-price-of-pleasure-pornography-sexuality-relationships-2008.html

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Curfew in north Nigeria cities after sect attacks

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Daily Kos: Caveats for Caretakers (6)

Shortly after my mother was brought into the emergency room, the nurse asked me if I had spoken with a social worker. ??Well, not today,? I replied. ?In all the previous times that I had been to the hospital with my mother, the social worker was someone who showed up the next day to discuss whether my mother lived alone, and what kind of care she would need, or whether I needed help selecting a skilled nursing facility. ?I had never talked to one in the emergency room, especially before a doctor had even seen my mother. ?But five minutes later, a social worker showed up, and the first question out of her mouth was, ?Have you considered palliative care?? ?As the name would indicate, palliative care focuses on making the patient comfortable rather than on treating the illness. ?It is like hospice, only you don?t have be diagnosed with a terminal disease with only six months to live to qualify for it.

Clearly, they had come to the conclusion that my mother?s health had declined to the point that ordinary treatment was no longer appropriate. ?They didn?t have to convince me. ?I had come to the conclusion that hospice was the best thing for my mother almost a year earlier. However, my mother was not ready, psychologically speaking. ?In her mind, hospice was a halfway house to euthanasia, and I was of the same opinion. ?It is for people who want to die as quickly and as painlessly as possible, and if that is not your attitude, you are not ready for hospice. ?Every social worker will deny this. ??People in hospice often live for years,? they will tell me. ??It?s just a different approach to end of life care.? ?But I knew better, and so did my mother.

She would sometimes tell me that she hated her life, that she wanted to commit suicide, but that she couldn?t figure out how to do it. ??Well, Mom,? I would say, ?if you are really tired of this, I can put you in hospice.? ?She would become silent, and then, after a couple of minutes, she would begin talking about something else. ?Nevertheless, such thoughts persisted. ?I usually was the one who gave my mother her medicine in the morning, explaining each pill to her as she took them. ??And this one is your stool softener,? I would say, while holding it in my hand. ?Suicide pill?? she would ask. ??No, Mom. ?Stool softener.? ?This happened on at least three different occasions. ?So, clearly it was on her mind. ?And yet, not surprisingly, she could not quite bring herself to go into hospice. ?Once, when she was really sick, she just barely managed to get the words out, ?I can?t take this anymore.? ??Do you want me to put you in hospice?? I asked. ?Without hesitation, she said, ?No.?

But palliative care was different. ?At least, it was a different term, one without the connotations of a death sentence. ?Of course, my mother already knew that she was dying. But it is one thing to accept the fact that you are going to die, and it is quite another to give up. ?Perhaps, with this concept of palliative care, I could get for my mother all the benefits of hospice without the disturbing connotations. ?As it turned out, however, my mother declined to the point that I realized she probably would no longer know the difference. ?So, notwithstanding my mother?s wishes, I decided hospice would be best for her. ?I had already signed a do-not-resuscitate order on a previous occasion, but now I signed a do-not-hospitalize order as well. ?I felt as though I was signing a death warrant.

Is there a term for the opposite of ?control freak?? ?Some would suggest ?easy going? or ?laid back,? but that is not what I have in mind. ?It is not merely that ?control freak? is a substantive, whereas ?laid back? and ?easy going? are modifiers that makes them inadequate. It is the fact that these latter terms fail to capture that strong aversion I have always had to deciding what is best for others, or telling them what to do. ?I once refused a promotion to manager for that reason. ?Instead, I recommended a coworker who was younger than me by a generation. ?He became manager, along with a raise, and I took my orders from him, which suited me just fine. ?I never wanted to be responsible for anything but my own actions, or for anyone but myself. ?Well, whatever the term for it might be, for the past year, I had been forced to make decisions for my mother, in some cases, contrary to her wishes. ?For starters, I had put her in a nursing home. ?On many occasions, at the end of a visit, she would ask me, ?Can?t I go home with you?? ?Saying ?No? was a soul-crushing experience. ?And now I had made a life and death decision for her.

Two weeks later, she became unresponsive again. ?But this time she did not go to the hospital. For a day and a half, she received nothing but morphine. ?And then she died. ?If I had let her go to the hospital, she would have received fluids intravenously. ?They could have intubated her to help her breathe. ?And I could have had a feeding tube installed. ?She might have recovered again, and then returned to the nursing home, after which she might have lived several more weeks, months, or even years. ?But she received none of those things, because I denied them to her.

Now I have dreams that I forgot about my mother and left her somewhere?how frantic I am that she is lost, and how relieved I am when she manages to find her way back to me.

Source: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/09/21/1134924/-Caveats-for-Caretakers-6

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Ariz. school lands free Mass. Christian campus

BOSTON (AP) ? The owners of an historic campus in the hills of western Massachusetts announced Friday that they'll give it away to a Christian college from Arizona that plans to eventually host 5,000 students there.

The Northfield campus will be a new home for Grand Canyon University, the first for-profit Christian school in the country.

Grand Canyon was the choice after the other finalist, the North American Missions Board of the Southern Baptist Convention, backed out of the running.

The two were the last standing after more than 100 organizations, from culinary schools to TV ministries, expressed interest in the free 217-acre property along the Connecticut River, which its owners value at about $20 million.

In the end, Grand Canyon's financial strength, growth and vibrant Christian life made it a great choice, said Steve Green, president of the Oklahoma City-based Hobby Lobby craft store chain, whose family owns the campus.

"We are excited about the opportunity to see Grand Canyon bring it to life," Green said.

The family hopes to close the deal by year's end, he said.

The campus once housed the Northfield Mount Herman prep school, founded by 19th-century evangelist D.L. Moody. The Greens bought it in 2009 and later offered to give it away to group that would honor Moody's commitment to traditional Christian teachings.

Grand Canyon University, based in Phoenix, has about 7,000 traditional students and 40,000 online students. With a base in the Northeast, Grand Canyon chief executive Brian Mueller said he thinks the online number can grow by 8 percent annually.

The school expects to spend $100 million to $150 million on infrastructure and other improvements in Northfield, with students arriving starting in 2014. The buildup to 5,000 students and full academic, athletic and arts programs will take place over several years and with full consultation with the community, he said.

"We want to build on what's there," Mueller said. "It's historic. It's beautiful."

The plan promises economic development, but there's uncertainty about the impact in Northfield, with a population just under 1,100. Residents have expressed concerns about the potentially restrictive beliefs of the new institution and the effects on their school system and even on the town's survival.

Corinne Allen, owner of Rooster's Bistro on Main Street, said some residents will undoubtedly be disappointed to lose "the Norman Rockwell-y feel of our small country town." But she said she was elated by Grand Canyon's pending arrival, citing benefits such as increased property values, more visitors and more business.

"I feel as though the town is sinking. This is going to save us," she said. "There's far more advantages than disadvantages."

The campus was built in 1879 and abandoned by the prep school, which consolidated at another nearby campus, in 2005. The school left behind a collection of dignified but deteriorating buildings and $1 million in annual utility costs.

The Greens spent $5 million on upgrades and repairs, intending to give it to a new college named for Christian scholar C.S. Lewis. But that project ran into financing problems in December, and the Greens made their unique offer.

Despite the broad interest, the number of organizations capable and willing to assume the steep costs of running the campus was relatively small. The Southern Baptist mission board, which proposed running the campus as a missionary training and pastoral retreat center, said Friday it decided the campus wasn't for it "after closely evaluating the potential uses, logistics and operating expenses."

Grand Canyon University was founded in 1949 as a private Christian university and was saved from bankruptcy in 2005 by a group of Christian investors.

Mueller said the school aims to provide a private Christian college education at an affordable cost, which is kept low in part by funds from its large online enrollment and investment in the publicly traded company. Tuition is $16,500, roughly half the average $32,617 tuition at a private four-year college, according to the National Center for Educational Statistics.

The business model has worked, as growth in its traditional and online student body has been exponential. But Green said it's important that, before the deal closes, the school shows how it intended to keep its Christian heritage central to its mission.

Mueller said the school's approach is to make its Christian identity a main but voluntary part of campus life in the hope people are attracted to what they see. It has worked to build a strong Christian community in Phoenix, and he said he believes it will work in Northfield.

"We are anxious for the opportunity," he said. "We are anxious to take it on."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ariz-school-lands-free-mass-christian-campus-165232053.html

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