The Washington Examiner – Sara A Carter

More than 500 suspected Taliban fighters detained by U.S. forces have been released from custody at the urging of Afghan government officials, angering both American troops and some Afghans who oppose the policy on the grounds that many of those released return to the battlefield to kill NATO soldiers and Afghan civilians.

And those numbers understate the problem, military officials say. They do not include suspected Taliban fighters held in small combat outposts or other forward operating bases throughout the region who are released before they ever become part of the official detainee population.

An Afghan official who spoke on condition of anonymity said that President Hamid Karzai’s government has personally sought the release of as many as 700 suspected Taliban fighters since July, including some mid-level leaders. “Corruption is not just based on the amount of money that is wasted but wasted lives when Taliban return only to kill more NATO forces and civilians,” said the official, who opposes what he considers corruption in the Karzai administration.

Read more »

FoxNews.com

Attorney General Eric Holder vigorously denied a “cover-up” by the Justice Department over “Operation Fast and Furious,” telling a House panel investigating the botched gun-running program that he has nothing to hide and suggesting the probe is a “political” effort to embarrass the administration.

“There’s no attempt at any kind of cover-up,” Holder told lawmakers well into a hearing about whether he had been forthright in responding to requests of the House Oversight and Government Relations Committee led by Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif.

“We’re not going to be hiding behind any kind of privileges or anything,” he said.

The hearing came after Issa and Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, his Senate partner in the probe, asserted that top Justice officials are covering up events surrounding the flawed gun-smuggling probe. Read more »

Reuters – Ros Krasney

Real estate mogul Donald Trump re-injected himself and his wealth into the Republican presidential race by endorsing Mitt Romney on Thursday, a day after the front-runner stumbled with remarks suggesting he was indifferent to America’s poor.

Trump, himself an on-again/off-again Republican presidential candidate and former member of the party, said he would back Romney in the race for the nomination to oppose President Barack Obama in the November 6 election.

Trump told reporters he got to know the former Massachusetts governor during several recent conversations and was impressed with his tough talk on China and said he was won over by Romney’s strong performance campaigning in Florida.

Read more »

BBC

Heavy snow has left at least 11,000 villagers cut off in remote areas of Serbia amid a European cold snap that has claimed more than 130 lives.

At least six people have died in Serbia, with emergency services expressing concern for the health of the sick and the elderly in particular.

Temperatures are below -30C (-22F) in parts of Europe and 63 people have died in Ukraine and 29 in Poland.

In Italy, weather experts say it is the coldest week for 27 years.

Emergency services in Serbia have described the situation, close to the country’s south-western borders with Kosovo and Montenegro, as very serious.

Read more »

BBC

Diplomats at the UN Security Council have watered down a resolution on Syria in an apparent attempt to overcome Russian objections to an earlier draft.

The new text drops explicit reference to a call for President Bashar al-Assad to hand over power, a key part of an Arab League plan.

The Russians have argued that this demand would impose regime change.

However the new text still supports what it calls the League’s “decision” to facilitate political transition.

Western diplomats say this means that while the draft no longer mentions the details of the Arab plan, it still clearly backs the substance.

Read more »

BBC - Wyre Davies

Demonstrators angered by the deaths of 74 people after a football match in the city of Port Said on Wednesday have clashed with police outside the Egyptian interior ministry in Cairo.

Hundreds have been injured, state-owned Egyptian TV reported.

Earlier, the Egyptian prime minister announced the sackings of senior officials in Port Said and at the Egyptian football association.

Funerals of some of the victims took place in Port Said.

Wednesday’s riot began when fans invaded the pitch after a football match involving top Cairo club al-Ahly and the Port Said side al-Masry.

Read more »

World Net Daily – Dave Tombers

The council for Baltimore County, Md., is working on a plan that would prevent “discrimination” cases that primarily involve men who dress as women and portray themselves as being female.

The idea gained notoriety as the “coed shower” plan when it was adopted several years ago in Montgomery County, Md., because of provisions that would allow men who dress as women to access women’s locker rooms, showers and restrooms.

Critics continue to call the formal adoption of such policies dangerous.

Bill 3-12 in Baltimore County, introduced and sponsored by four of the seven council members, takes aim at preventing discrimination against a person on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity or expression. Read more »

World Net Daily – Jerome R Corsi

The Department of Justice gun-tracing operation known as “Fast and Furious” originated in the first year of the Obama administration, when Mexico began complaining that its drug war was the responsibility of the United States.

Mexico calculated the U.S. could be blamed for the drug war because U.S. citizens create a market for the drug cartels by consuming drugs.

But even more ingeniously, Mexico began asserting that U.S. citizens were supplying the gun cartels with the weapons needed to fight the Mexican government in the drug war.

The gun-running, the Obama administration quickly realized, would be an excellent pretense under which to push for serious Second Amendment restrictions. Read more »

World Net Daily – Aaron Klein

An organization that helped craft President Obama’s environmental policies has recommended the reinstatement of the Fairness Doctrine, purportedly as a method of silencing critics of the theory of global warming.

The Presidential Climate Action Project, or PCAP, last year released an extensive list of recommendations for the White House in a 75-page paper titled “Building the Obama Administration’s Climate Legacy.”

Primary among the PCAP’s recommendations is that the Department of Energy should join the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Department of Transportation and the Environmental Protection Agency in what is known as the Partnership for Sustainable Communities. Read more »

World Net Daily – Bob Unruh

A Georgia resident contending Barack Obama is ineligible for the state’s 2012 presidential election ballot is asking that a court cite him with contempt.

In a motion filed in the case pending before Georgia Administrative Law Judge Michael Malihi, attorney Van Irion, representing David P. Weldon, urged the court not to overlook the fact that Obama had been subpoenaed for last week’s hearing. Obama’s attorney, he pointed out, acknowledged the subpoena by asking that it be quashed. But when the judge refused his request, he  but told a state elections official he would not participate.

Read more »

theblaze.com – Billy Hallowell

The drama over student rights and religious freedom continues to rage at Vanderbilt University, as the higher education facility doubled-down this week on enforcing strict rules that some say discriminate against campus religious groups.

At the center of debate is the university’s nondiscrimination policy, which bans student-led faith groups, among others, from requiring leaders to hold specific beliefs.

The policy, which in many ways contradicts theological requirements, has created angst among members of both the student body and the university’s faculty. These opponents see the ban as a crackdown on their freedom of religion and speech. School leaders, though, maintain that the policy is necessary to ensure that all students feel welcome at campus clubs and events.

Read more »

theblaze.com – Mike Opelka

A pro-life event at the Rhode Island State House was disrupted by Occupy Wall Street protesters who heckled speakers and dumped condoms on Catholic girls in the crowd.

Last Friday, an estimated crowd of 150 pro-life supporters (including a reported two dozen legislators) had assembled in the rotunda of the State House for the 39th annual Pro-Life Rally, but they were prevented from speaking by members of Occupy Providence and other OWS sympathizers who shouted and chanted during speeches, held signs in front of the faces of speakers and prevented the delivery of the closing prayer by local Catholic leader Father Bernard Healey.

Rhode Island’s Right-To-Life Executive Director Barth Bracy was the scheduled keynote speaker, but the chanting and shouted made it impossible for him to deliver his speech. Bracy told Fox News radio that one Occupier climbed to the third floor balcony and dumped a box of condoms on a group of Catholic girls gathered below. Mr. Bracy wondered:

“What kind of individual throws condoms on Catholic school girls?”

Read more »

theblaze.com – Liz Klimas

According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, adult stem cells — undifferentiated cells found in every human body that can transform into specialized cells with the medial potential to repair certain areas of the body damaged by disease or injury — fall under its jurisdiction for regulation as a drug.

The FDA states on its website:

Stem cells, like other medical products that are intended to treat, cure or prevent disease, generally require FDA approval before they can be marketed. At this time, there are no licensed stem cell treatments. Read more »

Reuters – David Alexander

The United States took Kabul by surprise by laying out plans to end its Afghan combat role earlier than expected, just after the leak of a secret report that the Taliban is confident of regaining control of the country.

U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said late on Wednesday the United States would stop taking the lead role in combat operations before the end of 2013 and step into a supporting role as it winds down its longest war.

He said U.S. forces would remain “combat-ready” but would largely shift to a train-and-assist role as Afghan forces take over responsibility for security ahead of a 2014 deadline for full Afghan control.

Read more »

abc NEWS – Gabriele Steinhauser AP

Greece’s international debt inspectors have discovered that the debt-ridden country still needs an extra euro15 billion ($20 billion) in help — on top of a promised euro130 billion bailout and a euro100 billion debt relief from private investors, a European official said Thursday.

The European Commission, the executive arm of the European Union, has asked the other 16 countries that also use the euro to help foot the bill for the missing euro15 billion, the official said, indicating that a limit has been reached of what can be achieved by Athens implementing further cuts and private investors taking losses on the bonds they hold in the country. Read more »

The Telegraph – Martin Evans

As well as the tragedy for the individual and their families, suicides on the Tube can create hours of chaos and disruption for millions of other passengers.

So to try to get the transport network up and running as soon as possible bodies are often moved to a secure room within the station until they can be taken away by an undertaker.

The shocking revelation was made by London Underground staff on a new documentary about the Tube.

The Telegraph – Nick Squires

According to Italian press reports, based on interviews with prosecutors, she said she had fallen deeply for the skipper – despite him having a wife and a teenage daughter.

“I love him, and it’s not right to destroy his reputation,” Ms Cemortan allegedly told investigators. “Everyone is hammering him.”

Passengers have claimed they saw the Moldovan being wined and dined by Capt Schettino, 52, shortly before the accident happened at around 9.40pm on Jan 13.

Ms Cemortan confirmed to prosecutors that the captain had invited her up onto the bridge as his guest, to see the ship perform a ‘salute’ of the island of Giglio. “I was on the bridge,” she reportedly said.

BBC - M Ilyas Khan

Pakistan’s Supreme Court is to charge Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani with contempt for failing to reopen corruption cases against the president.

Mr Gilani must appear before the court on 13 February. If convicted he faces jail and being barred from office.

The prime minister has refused to ask Swiss officials to reopen a corruption case against President Zardari, saying he has immunity as head of state.

The president rejects the corruption charges as politically motivated.

The BBC’s Orla Guerin in Islamabad says the Supreme Court decision is another twist in a case which could bring down the prime minister and his government.

Read more »

BBC

The Philippine military says it has killed three senior militants from al-Qaeda-linked groups in a raid in the south of the country.

The air raid took place on Thursday in an area known as a militant stronghold.

Officials said two Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) leaders and one Abu Sayyaf leader were among a total of 15 people killed.

Malaysian Zulkifli bin Hir, or Marwan, who was on the US FBI’s most wanted list with a $5m (£3.2m) reward offered for his capture, was reported killed.

According to the military, the militants were killed in the town of Parang on Jolo island, Sulu province, in the Mindanao region.

Read more »

BBC

Crowds are gathering in Cairo as tension rises after riots in the city of Port Said on Wednesday which left at least 74 people dead.

Angry fans blocked Tahrir Square. Others are marching in protest at the handling of the riots by police.

Three days of national mourning were declared over the riot, in which fans invaded the pitch after a football match involving top Cairo club al-Ahly.

The cabinet and parliament are meeting, and Port Said’s governor has resigned.

Egypt’s public prosecutor has ordered the questioning of 52 people arrested after the riots, as well as the Port Said governor and the city’s security chief, who was sacked earlier.

Read more »

IRNUSA News – Sean Scott Ferguson

Recently the BBC saw a secret NATO report which says that the Taliban in Afghanistan are being directly supported by the Pakistani security services – the ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence). There is nothing particularly new about this revelation, as we have heard much on this alignment before. It is the fact that the co-operation between the Pakistani ISI and Taliban is in black and white in a (formerly secret) NATO document.

What does the NATO document tell us?

-         Information garnered from over 27,000 interrogations of over 4,000 Taliban, Al-Qaeda and other Afghan insurgents.

-         The Taliban generally and more and more so have the backing of the people.

-        Pakistan knows the locations of the Taliban leadership. Read more »

BBC

Attacks by Afghan allies against US troops rose sharply over the past two years, Pentagon data has revealed.

Officials told a congressional committee most attackers were acting alone, not carrying out insurgent orders, although some attacker were insurgents disguised as soldiers.

Lawmakers said the screening process for Afghan forces was “tragically weak” and called for more stringent vetting.

Of 42 attacks since 2007, 75% took place in the last two years.

“The screening and vetting has been tragically weak in picking up signs of threats after the Afghans joined either the Afghan National Security Force, or a private security contractor,” Congressman Howard McKeon, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said.

Read more »

The Sacramento Bee

FoxNews.com – Dunstan Prial

The question of whether or not Greece will default seems moot at this point. Greece is in the process of defaulting. The only question is whether the default will be orderly or disorderly.

Make no mistake. The ongoing negotiations in which Greek debt holders are being asked to take losses estimated at around 70% of their original investment are tantamount to a default. Greece is acknowledging it can’t pay its debts, and that’s a default.

It’s the first phase of what all of Europe hopes is an orderly default.

The point has already been conceded by officials at two of the big three ratings firms. Last week a senior official at Standard & Poor’s told Bloomberg Television, “Greece will default very shortly.” And a Fitch official told Reuters, “It is going to happen. Greece is insolvent so it will default. So in that sense it shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone.”

Read more »

FoxNews.com – AP

Against a backdrop of loud opposition from protesters, Indiana has become the first Rust Belt state to enact the right-to-work labor law prohibiting labor contracts that require workers to pay union representation fees.

Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels signed the bill Wednesday after it passed the Senate following weeks of discord that saw House Democrats boycott the Legislature and thousands of protesters gather at the Statehouse.

“Seven years of evidence and experience ultimately demonstrated that Indiana did need a right-to-work law to capture jobs for which, despite our highly rated business climate, we are not currently being considered,” Daniels said in a statement.

Read more »

The Washington Examiner – Brian Murphy

It’s usually well after midnight before Bahrain takes a breather.

The thud of riot police stun grenades trails off, the stinging tear gas mist is carried away and the protest chants against the Gulf kingdom’s rulers go quiet until the next day. Then the cycle of unrest resumes in one of the longest-running — and perhaps most diplomatically complex — chapters of the Middle East uprisings.

“Egypt, Tunisia, Libya,” demonstrators now shout during running battles with security forces. “Bahrain’s leaders are next.”

A year ago this month, Bahrain’s majority Shiites took inspiration from the Arab Spring to sharpen long-standing grievances against the Sunni monarchy, accused by Shiites of relegating them to second-class status in the Western-allied nation. Within days of the first protest march, Bahrain was sliding into a crisis that would bring more than two months of martial law, more than 40 deaths, hundreds of arrests and ongoing clashes so disruptive that the U.S. Embassy last month relocated workers into safe haven neighborhoods. Read more »

The Telegraph

The Duke of Cambridge is to fly to the Falkland Islands for a six week tour of duty

HMS Dauntless, a Type 45 destroyer, is due to set sail for the South Atlantic on her maiden mission in the coming months to replace frigate HMS Montrose.

Today it was confirmed that the Duke of Cambridge will begin his six-week deployment as a helicopter pilot earlier than expected. He will fly out from RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, tonight.

He will be crewing one of two search-and-rescue helicopters on call 24 hours a day for missions flying out of a large British military base, 45 minutes from Stanley, the islands’ capital.

Conservatives have made much of Barak Obama’s connections to the leftist agitator Saul Alinski. Alinksi’s book “Rules for Radicals” is a veritable handbook for the hard left. Now there are reports that Alinksi’s ideas were well received by former Michigan Governor George Romney. Read more »

The Telegraph – Ambrose Evans-Pritchard

Germany’s Bundesbank has entirely exhausted its stock of private assets and run up a quarter of a trillion euros in liabilities propping up the eurozone system, testing the political limits of EMU solidarity in Germany.

“This is reaching the danger point. It is already one and a half times the total budget of the German government,” said Professor Frank Westermann of Osnabrück University. “If any of the crisis countries exits the euro or if there is an EMU break-up, the Bundesbank bears extreme risks.”

The Bundesbank – the dominant body in the euro system – used to keep a stock of €270bn of private securities (refinance credit) before the start of the financial crisis. This was depleted last year as it sold assets to meet growing demands on the TARGET2 scheme.

World Net Daily – Bob Unruh

An attorney who presented evidence to a Georgia judge last week on Barack Obama’s eligibility for the state’s 2012 presidential ballot believes she now has a right to demand to see his original Hawaii documents.

Obama last April released what he said was a copy of his original Hawaii birth documentation, but a number of imaging, document and computer experts contend it is a fraud.

The original birth documentation could undermine Obama’s claim to be a “natural-born citizen,” as the Constitution requires. Many of his critics, however, say the birth documentation doesn’t matter, because Obama’s father never was a U.S. citizen. The Founders likely understood “natural-born citizen” to mean the offspring of two U.S. citizens. Read more »

theblaze.com – Billy Hallowell

Many Cranston, Rhode Island, citizens likely found themselves frustrated over 16-year-old Jessica Ahlquist’s successful crusade against a prayer banner in her high school. Others, of course, supported her efforts.

But following the educational and theological debate surrounding the mural’s presence, there’s a new point of contention to debate over — the weighty cost of the legal battle she launched.

As we’ve reported, U.S. District Court Judge Ronald Lagueux ruled in Ahlquist’s favor last month. While the district hasn’t yet decided whether it will appeal, the current decision requires the mural to come down and the district to pay for the teenager’s legal feels. According to the final tally, the city of Cranston is being asked to dole out $173,000 in legal fees. This, of course, is on top of the costs the district incurred in both staff and legal fees for its own defense.

Read more »

theblaze.com – Christopher Santarelli

At least 40 Egyptians were killed Wednesday in violence following a soccer match in Port Said, when fans flooded the field seconds after a match against a rival team was over, Egypt’s Health ministry said.

It was one of the worst incidents of sports violence in Egypt in decades.

A security official and a medic said fans of the home team, Al-Masry, swarmed the field after a rare 3-1 win against Al-Ahly, Egypt’s top team. They threw stones, fireworks, and bottles at the fans and injured some players.

A medic at a morgue in Port Said, a city on the Mediterranean coast, said some of the dead were security officers. He was speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to reporters. Read more »

Reuters – Edward McAllister

Halfway through what might turn out to be the second mildest U.S. winter on record, major parts of the nation’s economy are feeling the impact, for better or worse.

Apparel sales have been dented, ski slopes are emptier, and there has probably been a modest impact on economic figures for everything from payroll numbers to housing starts.

But lower energy prices mean that some consumers and municipal governments will likely benefit as heating charges and snow removal costs decline. And some retailers are betting on the early sale of lawn mowers.

After two brutally long winters, the temperatures this year have been so balmy – forecasters say the average temperatures across the nation have been 3-4 degrees Fahrenheit above normal in January – that many Americans have been wondering whether the cold will arrive at all.

Read more »

BBC

Heavy snow has caused disruption across Europe, carpeting much of Italy to the south and Turkey to the east.

The freeze that has swept south through the continent has caused at least 80 deaths, mainly in Ukraine and Poland.

Temperatures were so low that some areas in Romania along the shores of the Black Sea froze.

In central Italy, heavy goods lorries were barred from motorways and several top-flight football matches have fallen victim to the wintry conditions.

Ukrainian officials reported that the number of deaths attributed to the freeze had risen to 43, with 13 people falling victim to hypothermia in the past 24 hours.

Read more »

BBC

Rival Libyan militia groups have fought a gun battle in the capital, Tripoli, officials say.

Exchanges of fire were heard and plumes of smoke seen coming from a district known as Tariq Al Shat in central Tripoli, eyewitnesses said.

A BBC reporter who drove past the area later said the fighting had ceased.

An interior ministry official told Reuters news agency the fighting was between militiamen from the city of Misrata, and a group from Zintan.

The two militia groups fought together to overthrow Muammar Gaddafi last year.

Read more »