Eideard

Daylife/AP Photo used by permission

A suspected leader of the Juarez drug cartel told authorities he had ordered the deaths of about 1,500 people.

Federal police detailed accusations against Jose Antonio Acosta Hernandez, known as “El Diego,” a day after authorities announced his capture. He was one of the country’s most wanted criminals, with officials offering a reward of 15 million pesos for his arrest…

Acosta is accused of being a leader of the drug gang known as La Linea, the enforcement arm of the Juarez cartel, Mexican authorities have said. Eduardo Pequeno told reporters that Acosta “said he ordered the killings of about 1,500 people, mostly in Ciudad Juarez and Chihuahua’s capital…”

Pequeno…accused Acosta of having connections with some of the border city’s most notorious violence over the past two years, including the 2010 killing of a state prosecutor, a car bombing outside a police station and a massacre at a house party that killed 15 people — most of them students with no ties to organized crime…

The northwestern Mexican state of Chihuahua, which contains the namesake capital city as well as Juarez, has been a hotbed for drug-related violence.

Mexico’s revolutions against foreign rule, against elitist class rule are a dim footnote in history except on celebration days. The ruling PRN instituted a system of strict corruption and payoffs, police departments founded on bribery and kickbacks – that ran on and on for decades. There are no surprises remaining about the depths into which the Mexican government descended into over time.

So, we’re all surprised when it’s difficult to turn things around. When dozens and hundreds are murdered with no more diligence than required by any slaughterhouse – we gasp. But, still, how much help have we offered from our world-class intelligence services when a thug like this has stayed alive on the streets, killing so many for so long?

Daylife/Getty Images used by permission

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown says he would step down this year, sacrificing himself to give his Labor Party a chance of forming a government with the smaller Liberal Democrats.

The Lib Dems are already being courted by the Conservatives, who did best in an election last week. But Brown said in a statement in front of his official residence at 10 Downing Street that the Lib Dems now wanted to talk to Labor too.

The center-right Conservatives, led by David Cameron, won most seats in parliament but fell short of a majority.

Labor, in power since 1997, came second and the Liberal Democrats, led by Nick Clegg, a distant third. It is the first time since 1974 that a British election has put no party in overall control.

Brown’s announcement could make it easier for Labor to lure the Lib Dems away from the Conservatives, since Clegg had signaled strongly during the election campaign that he did not wish to keep the unpopular Brown, 59, in office.

“Mr Clegg has just informed me that while he intends to continue his dialogue that he has begun with the Conservatives, he now wishes also to take forward formal discussions with the Labor Party,” Brown said, adding that he would facilitate that.

“I have no desire to stay in my position longer than is needed,” Brown said.

If he truly meant that – he would have resigned a year ago.

The arrest of a top Taliban commander in Pakistan highlights the militant nexus in Karachi, where crime bankrolls violence and the teeming metropolis offers the perfect hiding place.

Karachi, home to 16 million people, has two sea ports which are a gateway to the world and transit hub for NATO supplies heading to the war effort in neighbouring Afghanistan.

For decades Karachi has been connected with the criminal underworld and since the September 11, 2001 attacks, with extreme Islamist networks too…

While officials refuse to confirm details of how, when and where Taliban number two Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar was arrested, American media reported that US and Pakistani spies captured him in Karachi.

“The arrest of a top Afghan Taliban commander proves the premise that some Afghan Taliban are present in Pakistan,” said security analyst Hasan Askari.

“Karachi has become the most attractive hideout for militants because it is a massive city and there are all kinds of ethnic and linguistic groups, where Pakistani and Afghan Taliban can disappear,” he added.

Around 2.5 million Pashtuns from the northwest are estimated to live in Karachi, a migration that began in the 1950s but accelerates with each successive offensive against Pakistani Islamists in the region…

This also serves to illustrate the steady turnaround in Pakistan’s commitment to a fight for democracy and modernity in their own land – since the departure of Musharraf and his Bush League lackeys.

Hakeemullah Mehsud (L) poses for the media – last November

The Pakistani Taliban announced a successor to slain commander Baitullah Mehsud, but intelligence officials said it was probably a smokescreen meant to hold together a movement left leaderless for almost three weeks.

Taliban officials rang journalists…to say Hakeemullah Mehsud, a young militant who commands fighters in the Orakzai, Khyber and Kurram tribal regions, had been chosen as the new chief by a leadership council, or shura…

A BBC report quoted Faqir Mohammad, head of the Taliban in the Bajaur tribal region, as saying Hakeemullah was selected…

Two days ago, Fariq Mohammad claimed he’s acting chief and now he says Hakeemullah is,’ one senior intelligence officer in northwest Pakistan said. ‘It’s a trick.’

Intelligence officials insisted Hakeemullah was killed or gravely wounded in a shootout with a rival days after Baitullah Mehsud was killed by a US missile strike on Aug. 5.

‘The announcement is real, but the man isn’t,’ the officer said. ‘The real Hakeemullah is dead.’

Another senior officer, who requested anonymity, speculated that the Taliban leadership was trying to buy time until one of Hakeemullah’s brothers returned from fighting in the Afghan insurgency to take command of his men.

Sounds like some leftover hack from Bush’s 2004 campaign is leading the disinformation campaign on behalf of the Pak Taliban. Same style. Same sort of lies.

Next, they’ll be claiming they have WMD’s.

UPDATED: A big “oops!” from DAWN, this morning – because Hakeemullah is alive and showed up at a press conference.

Another lame Republican governor ready to lead the nation into Nowhereland

Gov. Mark Sanford of South Carolina, who has refused to accept $700 million in federal stimulus money, was dealt a major blow when a federal judge said two lawsuits seeking to require him to take the money should be heard in state court. The legislature has ordered Mr. Sanford to request the money, most of which would pay for education, but he has refused.

In a news conference after the ruling, Mr. Sanford said he would accept whatever decision the state court made, and acknowledged that he faced long odds in a state with a notoriously weak governorship and several previous court rulings that favor the legislature’s authority over the governor’s.

“It looks like we will be bound to spend that money,” Mr. Sanford said.

Molly Spearman, the executive director of the South Carolina Association of School Administrators, which filed one of the lawsuits against the governor, applauded the announcement.

“Thank goodness for the people of South Carolina,” Ms. Spearman said. “He’s realizing that he’s going to lose and there’s no reason to try and delay this any longer…”

The Republican-dominated legislature passed a budget that included the $350 million the stimulus would have brought this year. Mr. Sanford vetoed that part of the budget, but the legislature overrode his veto.

Mr. Sanford’s critics say he has used his opposition to the stimulus package to boost his national profile for a presidential run while South Carolina suffers from the nation’s second-highest unemployment rate.

What a thug! The worst best example of the so-called leadership of the Republican Party ready and willing to screw the schoolchildren of America to advance their ideology.

Go get an honest job, Sanford!

UPDATE: The courts vindicated the people.

Canada leads the world in illegal computer file-swapping and the government needs to address the situation, says the Canadian Conference Board.

The independent, not-for-profit applied research organization in Ottawa said as a result of lax regulation and enforcement, Internet piracy is on the rise in Canada. The board said it agreed with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s conclusion that Canada has the highest per capita incidence of unauthorized file-swapping in the world.

The board said the estimated 1.3 billion illicit downloads in Canada outnumber the 20 million legal ones by 65 times…

Board Vice-President of Public Policy Gilles Rheaume said, “Canada is earning a reputation, one that is not to be envied, as the file-swapping capital of the world.”

I’ll have to nudge some of my geek mates in the Great White North about their world-class reputation. Har!

Daylife/AP Photo by Jens Meyer

The Green party, one of Germany’s main political parties, has elected the son of Turkish immigrants to its top political post, the first time any party here has chosen a leader with an immigrant background.

The election Saturday of Cem Ozdemir, 42, born in southern Germany of parents who had come from Turkey to work as “Gastarbeiter,” or guest workers, during the 1960s, marks a major turning point not only for the opposition Greens, but also for the country as a whole.

Even though more than 2.6 million Turks live in Germany, accounting for 3 percent of the population, few have managed to make it to the higher ranks of the professions, including politics and the civil service.

But with a conservative party that had chosen Angela Merkel to run as chancellor in 2005 – a successful gambit – and now an ethnic Turk at the helm of an influential party, it appears that German society is slowly breaking with the past, when women were inconspicuous in public and immigrants’ voices were seldom heard.

Good article. Thorough – as I would expect from the IHT.

Kind of where a lot of the world was going until Reagan-Populism took over the United States.

With 10 days until Election Day, long-brewing tensions between GOP vice presidential candidate Gov. Sarah Palin and key aides to Sen. John McCain have become so intense, they are spilling out in public, sources say.

Several McCain advisers have suggested to CNN that they have become increasingly frustrated with what one aide described as Palin “going rogue.” A Palin associate, however, said the candidate is simply trying to “bust free” of what she believes was a damaging and mismanaged roll-out…

A McCain source says she appears to be looking out for herself more than the McCain campaign. “She is a diva. She takes no advice from anyone,” said this McCain adviser. “She does not have any relationships of trust with any of us, her family or anyone else.

“Also, she is playing for her own future and sees herself as the next leader of the party. Remember: Divas trust only unto themselves, as they see themselves as the beginning and end of all wisdom.”

Interesting; but, only barely.

If you want to rebuild the Republican Party after letting it be captured by 19th Century nutballs – then, you have reason to be concerned.

The outskirts of Rongcheng City, Shangdong Province

China is the world’s leading producer of energy from renewable sources and is on the way to overtaking developed countries in creating clean technologies, according to a report by the Climate Group.

The group’s report, China’s Clean Revolution, shows that supportive government policies investing billions of dollars in energy efficiency and renewables are driving huge levels of innovation in China.

Despite its coal-dependent economy, China has become a world leader in the manufacture of solar photovoltaic technology – its six biggest solar companies have a combined value of over $15 billion. Around 820 megawatts of solar PV were produced in China in 2007, second only to Japan.

The country already leads the world in terms of installed renewable capacity at 152 gigawatts. In the next year, China will also become the world’s leading exporter of wind turbines and it is also highly competitive in solar water heaters, energy efficient home appliances, and rechargeable batteries.

The reality is that China’s government is beginning to unleash a low-carbon dragon which will power its future growth, development and energy security objectives.

I consider myself more knowledgeable on China than most – but, the surprise is what has been accomplished in such a short time. I’m familiar with many planned goals and even knew that some of these were being realized early.

The sad part – for an American, of course – is that my own nation has the capacity to match any nation on Earth for innovation, engineering and design; but, has been confounded by governments perpetually fascinated with achieving the worst of all possible politics and economics.

The United States leads the world in rates of experimenting with marijuana and cocaine despite strict drug laws, say World Health Organization researchers.

Countries with looser drug laws have lower rates of abuse, the researchers report in the Public Library of Science journal, PLoS Medicine.

The survey of 54,000 people in 17 countries found that 16 percent of people in the United States had used cocaine in their lifetimes — far higher than the next highest rate, found in New Zealand, where 4.3 percent of people reported having used cocaine.

More than 42 percent of Americans admitted to having tried cannabis, closely followed by 41 percent in New Zealand.

Americans were also the most likely to have smoked, with 74 percent saying they used tobacco at some time in their lives, although current smoking rates are far lower at 21 percent.

Feels great to be in first place, doesn’t it?