Porch Killer Defends Action But Cries On Stand

A suburban Detroit man has wept as he told a jury how he shot to death an unarmed teenage girl on his porch thinking she was an intruder.

Theodore Wafer, 55, is accused of killing Renisha McBride, 19, with a shotgun blast to her face through a screen door after she knocked looking for help last November.

Wafer said he was afraid when someone showed up on his porch before dawn and started banging on his doors.

He said he was not going to be a victim in his own home.

Renisha McBride was 19 when she was shot to death

"I wasn't going to cower in my house," he told the jury.

The case, which has sparked protests in the Dearborn Heights suburb, is rife with racial undertones as Wafer is white while his victim was black and unarmed.

Some have drawn parallels with the case of Trayvon Martin, the black unarmed teenager who was shot and killed in Florida in 2012.

Wafer, taking the stand, spoke in a soft voice and at one point broke into tears.

"It's so devastating," he said.

"This poor girl. She had her whole life in front of her. I took that away from her."

He said he had left his cell phone in jeans he had removed earlier and could not find it to call 911.

"I knew I had to get my gun," Wafer said. "I didn't know where this was going."

The racially-charged killing has sparked protests

He said he pulled the trigger as a "total reflex reaction" in self-defence when he saw a figure coming fast toward the door.

"I raised the gun and shot," he said.

Prosecutors have called the defendant's actions unjustified and unreasonable, and they said he had other options besides shooting, including calling police.

Wafer said he makes $30,000 a year and bought the Mossberg 12-gauge shotgun in 2008 because he couldn't afford home security.

McBride had been in a car accident and was intoxicated when she came to Wafer's door, according to previous testimony and alcohol tests.

Wafer, an airport maintenance worker who is charged with second-degree murder, faces up to life in prison if convicted.

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'American General Killed' In Afghan Base Attack

An American two-star general has been killed and 15 other soldiers injured in a shooting at a British-run military academy near Kabul, US officials say.

A German brigadier general was among those wounded in the attack by a man dressed in an Afghan military uniform at Camp Qargha, west of the capital.

A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the gunman fired his weapon at fairly close range, meaning some of the victims sustained serious injuries.

The Pentagon has not commented on the attack.

The insider attack took place at Camp Qargha, west of Kabul

If confirmed, the US general's death would be the highest-ranking member of the American military to die in Afghanistan.

The German general was flown to a US base in Bagram, where he is receiving medical treatment, German magazine Der Spiegel reported.

He is no longer thought to be in a life threatening condition.

Fourteen other military personnel were wounded, half of which were Americans, US officials said.

Reports suggest an argument erupted between some Afghans and an Afghan soldier, prompting the shooting.

The academy began taking its first officer cadets in October

A Ministry of Defence spokesman said: "We are aware of reports of an incident at Qargha.

"The incident is under investigation and it would be inappropriate to comment further at this time."

The officer training academy in Qargha received its first cadets in October and will be the only British military presence remaining in Afghanistan after operations end this year.

A spokesman for the International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) said: "We can confirm that an incident occurred involving local Afghan and Isaf troops at Camp Qargha in Kabul City, Afghanistan.

"The camp, also known as the Kabul ANA Officer Academy, is an Afghan National Security Forces facility.

"We are in the process of assessing the situation. More information will be released as we sort out the facts."

General Mohammed Afzal Aman, chief of staff for operations at the Afghan Ministry of Defence, said: "We are investigating, but it appears that an Afghan army officer opened fire.

"Isaf have quarantined the site, allowing nobody including Afghan forces to approach."

The facility is loosely modelled on the UK's officer training school Sandhurst, and has been dubbed the "Sandhurst in the sand".

The number of "insider attacks" - where Afghan troops turn on Isaf partners - has dropped in the last year.

Last year, there were 16 deaths in 10 separate attacks. In 2012, similar attacks killed 53 Isaf troops in 38 attacks.

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Israel-Hamas Ceasefire As Troops Exit Gaza

The Battle To Win The War And Keep The Peace

Updated: 5:07pm UK, Monday 04 August 2014

By Sam Kiley, Foreign Affairs Editor

Israeli tanks chew through the rubble at Rafah. Another child is killed. Some ceasefire. Some war.

For all the bluster and public relations stunts attached to several 'humanitarian truces', the claims to be the 'most moral army in the world', and the blaming of Hamas for deliberately getting fellow Palestinians killed, the Israel Defence Forces prosecute conflict with a bald honesty.

The purpose of war is to bend an enemy's will to one's own.

It's about smashing and maiming, dismemberment and mass grief.

When the threat is perceived as existential, it's conducted without rules but with great deliberation.

The firebombing of Dresden and the nuclear attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki targeted women and children, the innocent, their homes, parks and pets - on purpose.

The Allies intended to break the will of the Axis powers utterly.

And that is the intent of the Israelis in Gaza.

The aim of the IDF is officially to 'dismantle the military capacity of Hamas (and other militant groups)'. It is to rid Israel of the threat posed by Gaza's rocket arsenal, and of its tunnel network with its tentacles that extend inside Israel.

The vast majority of Palestinian casualties, now numbering more than 1,700, are civilians, and many of them are women and children.

Israel's 'pinpoint accurate' munitions have been used to target hospitals and United Nations schools housing thousands of refugees with monotonous regularity.

It is true that Hamas has stored weapons in schools, fired rockets from close to playgrounds and hospitals, and used mosques as combat operations rooms.

Nonetheless Israel has come in for some bitter criticism from long-time ally the United States, from the United Nations, which the Israelis see as a hostile entity, and now from France.

On Monday French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius called for a political solution to be "imposed" by the international community in the Gaza conflict.

"How many more deaths will it take to stop what must be called the carnage in Gaza?" Mr Fabius stormed.

"The tradition of friendship between Israel and France is an old one and Israel's right to security is total, but this right does not justify the killing of children and the slaughter of civilians."

The cold truth is that Mr Fabius has missed the point here.

Israel sees itself engaged in a near-perpetual existential struggle against Palestinian militants, especially Hamas, which is committed to the destruction of the 'Zionist entity'.

Israelis are generally horrified and outraged by any suggestion that civilians are deliberately targeted by the IDF which, they point out, regularly conducts investigations into the actions of its forces when they are accused of egregious killing.

But Israel's tactical aims are clear.

To crush Hamas and to send a clear message to Gazans that their future does not rest with the militant group.

The IDF has used devastating force to deliver that message and to try to wreck Hamas' military and civil structures.

And the Israeli government enjoys overwhelming support for the way that Operation Protective Edge has been conducted.

It accepts that war is not a sport.

But does not, yet, appear to comprehend that in Gaza Israel may have won another battle but is very far from winning the war - much less the peace it so craves.

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Digger Topples Bus In Israel 'Terror Attack'

Key Dates In The Gaza-Israel Conflict

Updated: 10:36am UK, Monday 04 August 2014

Israel's ground offensive in the Gaza Strip continues with forces attempting to destroy Hamas' weapons arsenal and rocketing-firing capabilities.

Here are the key events from the fighting that preceded and have followed Israel's operation:

:: July 8 - Israel launches "Operation Protective Edge" in a bid to quell near-daily militant rocket attacks in the aftermath of the abduction and killing of a Palestinian teenager in what appeared to be a revenge attack for the seizure and slaying of three Israeli teenagers in the West Bank in June.

:: July 9 - Hamas rockets rain deep into Israel as the military pummels Palestinian targets. The military says 74 rockets landed in Israel, including in the northern city of Hadera, the deepest rocket strike ever from Gaza. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Hamas will pay a "heavy price".

:: July 10 - Israel intensifies its bombardment. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urges an immediate ceasefire but neither side shows much interest in halting the fighting.

:: July 11 - Mr Netanyahu vows to press forward with a broad military offensive. The Israeli military says it has hit more than 1,100 targets, mostly rocket-launching sites, while Palestinian militants fired more than 600 rockets at Israel. The Lebanese military says militants there fired three rockets toward Israel and the Israelis retaliated with about 25 artillery shells.

:: July 12 - Gaza City becomes a virtual ghost town as streets empty, shops close and hundreds of thousands of people keep close to home. The death toll rises to more than 156 Palestinians after more than 1,200 Israeli air strikes.

:: July 13 - Israel widens its campaign, targeting civilian institutions with suspected Hamas ties, and briefly deploys ground troops inside Gaza to raid a rocket launching site. Four Israeli soldiers are hurt during the brief incursion. Egypt, a key mediator between Israel and Hamas, continues to work behind the scenes.

:: July 14 - Israel says it's downed an unmanned drone along its southern coastline. Egypt presents a cease-fire plan that is praised by President Barack Obama at a White House dinner celebrating the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

:: July 15 - Israeli Cabinet accepts Egypt's truce plan, halting fire for six hours but Hamas rejects the proposal, instead unleashing more rockets at Israel and prompting Israel to resume heavy bombardment. Rocket fire kills an Israeli man delivering food to soldiers, the first Israeli fatality in the fighting. Four Gaza boys, all cousins, are killed on a beach by shells fired from a navy ship.

:: July 16 - Hamas fires dozens of rockets into Israel, vowing not to agree to a ceasefire until its demands are met. The Gaza Interior Ministry's website says Israeli warplanes carried out dozens of airstrikes, targeting 30 houses, including those of four senior Hamas leaders. Later, both Israel and Hamas agree to a five-hour UN brokered "humanitarian" pause to start the following day.

:: July 17 - both sides trade fire in run-up to the brief truce, which Gazans use to restock on food and other supplies. Israel says it foiled an attack by 13 Gaza militants who infiltrated through a tunnel. Fierce fighting resumes after the truce expires, including an airstrike that kills three Palestinian children. After nightfall, the Israeli military launches a ground invasion into Gaza Strip.

:: July 18 - eight members of the same Palestinian family - two men, two women and four children - are killed by Israeli tank fire as the ground offensive to date claims the lives of 51 Palestinians and one Israeli soldier.

:: July 19 - Mr Ban says he wants to meet both sides to try to secure a truce as Israel pledges to step up its ground offensive. Hamas says its fighters are "behind enemy lines" as security alerts are triggered in southern Israel.

:: July 20 - Fresh airstrikes, artillery shelling and gun battles overnight kill 12 Palestinians and two more Israeli soldiers, as Israel intensifies its ground offensive in Gaza. Israeli minister Naftali Bennett defends the ground offensive in Gaza and accuses Hamas of "self-genocide" by using women and children as human shields.

:: July 21 - another airstrike kills 26 members of the same family, while seven more Israeli soldiers die in gun battles with Hamas fighters. Thirty of those wounded in the attack are reportedly medical staff.

:: July 22 - the Palestinian leadership proposes a ceasefire plan to mediators in Egypt which would be followed by five days of negotiations to stop the fighting which has claimed the lives of more than 600 Palestinians, many of them women and children, and 29 Israelis, including 27 soldiers.

:: July 23 - an international inquiry into Israel's actions in Gaza is launched, after the UN's Human Rights Commissioner says there is a "strong possibility" the country is guilty of war crimes. Several major airlines from the US, Europe and Canada suspend flights to and from Israel after a rocket fired from Gaza lands near Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion international airport.

:: July 24 - British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond warns Mr Netanyahu the West is losing sympathy for Israel amid the rising number of civilian deaths during its offensive in Gaza, as international efforts to end the conflict intensify. However, hopes of an effective ceasefire quickly diminish after Israel vows to continue hunting Palestinian cross-border tunnels under any humanitarian truce, while Hamas also rejects a truce without the lifting of Israel's eight-year blockade of Gaza.

:: July 26 - the number of Palestinians killed in the Gaza offensive reaches 1,000, according to the territory's health ministry. Meanwhile, Israel agrees to extend a temporary humanitarian ceasefire for a further day.

:: July 27 - Hamas agrees to a 24-hour temporary truce ahead of the Muslim festival of Eid.

:: July 28 - the UN Security Council calls for an "immediate and unconditional humanitarian ceasefire" in Gaza following an emergency session in New York. Both sides criticise the presidential statement, which is one step below a legally-binding resolution.

:: July 30 - a reported 128 Palestinians die in the bloodiest day of the three-week conflict. One attack, on the Jebalya refugee camp, provokes international condemnation, with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon saying there is "nothing more shameful than attacking sleeping children".

:: July 31 - the UN says the total number of displaced people in Gaza now stands at 440,000.

:: August 1 - the Israeli army says 23-year-old Second Lieutenant Hadar Goldin has been kidnapped as a three-day ceasefire collapses within minutes.

:: August 2 - tanks and troops begin withdrawing from some parts of the Gaza Strip as an army spokesman says Israel is "quite close to completing" the destruction of Hamas' tunnels.

:: August 3 - Israel confirms missing soldier Second Lieutenant Hadar Goldin died in combat.

:: August 3 - Ban Ki-moon describes an apparent Israeli airstrike on a UN school-turned-shelter in Rafah as a "moral outrage and a criminal act". The US says it is "appalled" by reports of a "disgraceful shelling" in which 10 casualties are reported.

:: August 4 - Israel begins a seven-hour humanitarian truce but is immediately accused of breaching it with an attack on a refugee camp in Gaza City.

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Nigerian Military 'Cut Throats' Of Detainees

Amnesty International has accused the Nigerian military and civilian militias of "extensive human rights violations" in their fight against extremists in the northeast of the country.

The global rights watchdog said gruesome video footage, images and witness testimonies collected during a research mission in Borno state found "fresh evidence of extrajudicial executions and serious human rights violations" in the region.

The footage includes detainees having their throats cut one by one and then dumped in mass graves by men who "appear to be members of the Nigerian military and the Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF)", it said.

Salil Shetty, secretary general of Amnesty International, said: "The ghastly images are backed up by the numerous testimonies we have gathered which suggest that extrajudicial executions are, in fact, regularly carried out by the Nigerian military and CJTF.

Soldiers have been accused of executing captured Boko Haram militants

"These are not the images we expect from a government which sees itself as having a leadership role in Africa."

The video also shows the aftermath of a Boko Haram raid on a village, in which nearly 100 people were killed by the militants and scores of houses and buildings destroyed.

More than 4,000 people have been killed this year in the conflict between Boko Haram and the Nigerian military. More than 600 of these were extrajudicially executed, Amnesty said.

In April, the Boko Haram abducted 276 schoolgirls from Chibok in northeastern Nigeria. Some have managed to escape, but the militants are still holding 219 captive.

Boko Haram has staged attacks on villages in the remote northeast, where it aims to create a strict Islamic state.

Amnesty has called on Nigerian authorities to stop human rights violations in the military and urged it to hold investigations into the most serious allegations.

In a statement, Nigeria's defence ministry said it took the allegations "very seriously".

It said: "Much as the scenes depicted in these videos are alien to our operations and doctrines, (they have) to be investigated to ensure that such practices have not crept surreptitiously into the system."

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Flight Cost Fear As Russia Considers Airspace

Russian prime minister Dmitry Medvedev says the government must discuss possible measures of retaliation after the European Union (EU) imposed sanctions on one of the nation's low-cost airlines.

The response to sanctions over the crisis in Ukraine could mean restrictions on European airlines using trans-Siberian routes.

The move would see the cost of flights to Asia increase and could effect major carriers such as British Airways, Lufthansa and Air France.

It has been reported that those airlines could stand to lose up to £1bn over a period of three months.

The restrictions would lead to longer flights and higher fuel usage, pushing ticket prices up for European airlines and putting them at a competitive disadvantage to Asian rivals.

Russian firms have been hit by sanctions imposed after the MH17 disaster

It comes after more than 27,000 Russian tourists were left stranded abroad after a tour operator collapsed at the weekend.

Labirint announced it was halting operations on Saturday, with the Tourhelp service attempting to find seats on flights chartered by other travel companies for stranded passengers.

Tourhelp said: "All the tourists are abroad without return tickets."

Labirint is the fourth Russian travel company to go bust in the past three weeks as the Ukraine crisis was blamed for a slump in bookings for Russians wanting to travel abroad.

A drop in the value of the ruble has also affected tour operators - it has fallen by 11% against the dollar since September last year.

In a statement, Labirint said: "The negative political and economic situation has influenced the number of bookings."

A spokeswoman for Russia's Federal Tourism Agency told Echo of Moscow radio: "We worry that this is only the beginning and that there will be a domino effect."

Russia's federal investigative service said on Monday it was examining the closure of Labirint and another tour operator which failed last month - Neva - over allegations of fraud.

EU sanctions have forced Aeroflot's low-cost airline Dobrolet to suspend operations due to its flights to Crimea.

Western leasing companies cancelled contracts for the carrier's Boeing aircraft after the airline operated flights to the annexed peninsula.

Last month, Crimean Minister of Resorts and Tourism Yelena Yurchenko said more than one million tourists have visited the peninsula this year.

Russia annexed the mainly Russian-speaking Crimea in March, sparking sanctions from the EU and the US which have been stepped up since the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 on July 17.

All 298 people on board were killed when the plane came down over rebel-held territory in eastern Ukraine.

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Google Pulls 'Bomb Gaza' Game After Backlash

Google has withdrawn a mobile phone game called "Bomb Gaza" from its app store after an angry backlash online.

The game invites players to "drop bombs and avoid killing civilians", and sees users control a fighter jet while dodging missiles from masked Hamas militants.

The game, which was developed by Play FTW, simulates the continuing violence between Israel and Hamas fighters in Gaza.

A spokesman for Google confirmed the game had been removed from the Google Play app store, saying: "We remove apps from Google Play that violate our policies".

The game invites users to control a fighter jet and dodge missiles

Many users took to Play FTW's Facebook page to express their outrage at the game.

Carly Hassan Ali Madden wrote: "This is disgusting and sick!!! What is wrong with you people?"

Another user, Deen Mohammed Shajeeb, wrote: "plz quit this game from facebook".

Israel launched a military operation in Gaza on July 8 with the stated intention of ending "persistent" Hamas rocket attacks over the border.

It subsequently launched a ground offensive aimed at destroying cross-border Hamas tunnels.

More than 1,880 Palestinians and 64 Israeli soldiers have lost their lives since the conflict began.

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German Court Ends F1 Boss's Bribery Trial

A German court has ruled that Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone can pay a £60m ($100m) settlement to end his trial on bribery charges.

"The proceedings will be temporarily suspended with the agreement of the prosecution and the accused," pending payment of the ... settlement, presiding judge Peter Noll said.

Mr Ecclestone, 83, went on trial in Munich in April over allegations that he bribed a former German banker as part of the sale of a major stake in the motor sport business eight years ago.

The state prosecutor told the court on Tuesday Mr Ecclestone's age and other circumstances supported the acceptance of a settlement.

The British billionaire could have faced up to 10 years in jail and would have had to relinquish control of a business he has built up over the past four decades.

Under German law, judges, prosecutors and the defence can agree to dismiss a case or settle it with a light punishment, although terms for such an agreement are strictly defined.   

Mr Ecclestone has previously admitted making the payment to Gerhard Gribkowsky, who is now serving a jail sentence, but denied all charges of bribery.

"Gribkowsky did not tell the truth at crucial points," Mr Ecclestone told the court at the start of his trial in April.

His words were in a 100-page statement read out in German on his behalf by his lawyer Sven Thomas.

Mr Ecclestone maintains he was the victim of coercion by Gribkowsky and that the ex-banker was threatening to make damaging claims about his tax affairs that could have cost him and his family much of their fortune.

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Ukraine: Pro-Russians 'Hampering Medics'

Pro-Russian supporters in eastern Ukraine are preventing civilian casualties getting help because they are threatening doctors, hijacking ambulances and looting medical equipment, according to Human Rights Watch.

"The pro-Russian insurgents' attacks on medical units and personnel are putting sick and vulnerable people and those who care for them at risk," said HRW's Yulia Gorbunova in a statement.

"This appalling disregard of people who are sick or wounded can be deadly and needs to stop immediately," the representative of the New York-based group said.

Pro-Russian rebels have positioned high numbers of fighters around hospitals and have taken control of wards in at least two hospitals so that their fighters can be treated, HRW said.

A Ukrainian guards an area from pro-Russian separatists

That has increased the likelihood of hospitals becoming targets, it said, adding two medics had been killed by Ukrainian rockets or mortars fired from government positions at five hospitals in rebel-held territory.

UN figures estimate around 1,150 people have been killed and around 3,450 injured since fighting over Crimea started in April, with more than 100,000 fleeing to other parts of Ukraine - Russia says 500,000 have crossed over its border.

Pro-Russian separatists stand near Dutch and Australian forensic experts

The Red Cross has defined Ukraine as being in a civil war, meaning all parties in the conflict could be liable for prosecution for war crimes.

Water, electricity and food are in very short supply in besieged rebel-held cities and fuel supplies have also been restricted, making it harder for the already overstretched medical services to reach injured civilians.

HRW's claims came as Ukraine said its forces were closing in on the main rebel-held bastion of Donetsk and urged rebels to allow civilians to leave.

Meanwhile, more remains from the downed MH17 plane have been flown to the Netherlands for identification, with Malaysian experts joining the Dutch and Australian investigations at the site of the July 17 crash.

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Second American Ebola Patient Lands In US

A second American aid worker infected with ebola in West Africa has arrived at an air base near Atlanta, Georgia.

A plane believed to be carrying missionary Nancy Writebol, 59, reached its destination after a refuelling stop in Maine.

She will be treated in a special isolation ward at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, according to her aid group.

Her fellow medical missionary, Dr Kent Brantly, was admitted to the same facility on Saturday.

Nancy Writebol was a hygienist at the Liberian hospital

Ms Writebol, a mother of two from Charlotte, North Carolina, took off in an air ambulance on Monday from Liberia's capital, Monrovia.

She is in a serious but stable condition, said her employer SIM USA.

She and Dr Brantly, 33, from Texas, contracted ebola while working on the same team treating patients at a hospital near Monrovia.

Ms Writebol was a hygienist whose job it was to decontaminate those entering or leaving the ebola treatment area.

Dr Kent Brantly is being treated in a special isolation ward

Both Americans are being treated with an experimental drug never tested for safety in humans.

The drug, ZMapp, was identified as a possible treatment in January after research by the US government and the military.

Manufactured by San Diego's Mapp Biopharmaceutical, it works by boosting the immune system and is made from antibodies produced by lab animals exposed to parts of the virus.

Ms Writebol's arrival came a day after a New York hospital said it was testing a man for ebola after he turned up at the emergency department.

New York's Mount Sinai Hospital, where a man is being tested for ebola

The man - who was admitted to New York's Mount Sinai Hospital - was placed in isolation after displaying fever and gastrointestinal problems.

Health officials cautioned that the patient was probably suffering from a much more common condition.

But the incident underscored the heightened state of alert in the US as an ebola outbreak that has killed nearly 900 people rages in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea.

British Airways has suspended flights to Liberia and Sierra Leone until the end of August over concerns about the outbreak.

The ebola outbreak has killed nearly 900 people in West Africa

Nigeria has now confirmed it has eight suspected and one confirmed case of ebola, while Saudi Arabia said it was also testing a man for the virus.

US border officials say they are screening airline passengers from Africa for symptoms of the viral haemorrhagic fever.

Border patrol agents at Washington's Dulles International and New York's JFK airports are on ebola watch as delegations from some 50 African countries arrive in the nation's capital for an economic summit this week.

Officials have been told to ask travellers about possible exposure to the virus and to look out for anyone with a fever or signs of sickness.

Real estate tycoon Donald Trump meanwhile sparked controversy by lambasting "incompetent" US authorities for allowing the repatriation of the two ebola-infected Americans.

Symptoms of the virus include fever, vomiting, severe headaches, muscular pain and, as the patient nears the end, profuse bleeding.

It is spread by contact with blood or other bodily fluids and is not passed on through the air.

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