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Warnings of Violence Ignored in Nigeria, Clerics Say : "MAIDUGURI, Nigeria, Aug. 2 -- Nigerian authorities ignored dozens of warnings about a violent Islamist sect until it attacked police stations and government buildings last week in a bloodbath that killed more than 700 people, Muslim clerics and an army official said. More than 50 Muslim leaders repeatedly called Nigeria's police, local authorities and state security to urge them to take action against Boko Haram sect militants but their pleas were ignored, Imam Ibrahim Ahmed Abdullahi said. He spoke Saturday to the Associated Press along with several other Muslim scholars in the battle-ravaged city of Maiduguri. 'A lot of imams tried to draw the attention of the government,' Abdullahi said, drawing nods from other scholars sitting with him in a Maiduguri slum. 'We used to call the government and security agents to say that these people must be stopped from what they are doing because it must bring a lot of tro...

Al Jazeera English - Africa - Deadly clashes in South Sudan : "More than 185 people are reported to have been killed in heavily armed clashes between two rival groups in South Sudan, the latest in a series of bloody ethnic clashes. Sudanese officials said on Monday that tribal fighters from the Murle ethnic group attacked a camp in the Akobo area of the region's swampy Jonglei state, where oil exploration is under way, on Sunday morning. 'At least 100 women and children, 50 men and 11 SPLA [soldiers from the southern Sudan People's Liberation Army] are being buried by the riverside this morning,' Goi Jooyul Yol, the Akobo commissioner, said in a statement on Monday. Officials said most of the victims were from the Lou Nuer group, locked in a tribal war with the Murle that has already claimed over 700 lives this year in attacks and counter-attacks. 'We fear there may be more dead to find,' Yol said said from Bor, the capital of Jonglei. 'The situation in...

Al Jazeera English - Middle East - Israel evicts Palestinian families : "Israeli security forces have forcibily evicted two Palestinian families from their homes in East Jerusalem after a court rejected an appeal against their eviction. The al-Ghawi and al-Hanoun families who were evicted on Sunday have been living in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood since 1956. Israel has reportedly set aside the land their houses were built on for a planned hotel project."

Economist: U.S. More Permissive Of Torture Than China : "Six in 10 Americans approve of having an international convention saying that 'governments should never use physical torture' as a means of trying to get information, while 39 percent say such a ban is too restrictive, according to a new WorldPublicOpinion.org/Knowledge Networks poll. A majority also opposes nearly all methods for coercing detainees to give information, even when it might be critical to stopping a terrorist attack against the US. Respondents were presented a scenario in which a detainee is being held who is likely to have 'information about a possible terrorist attack on the US that may prove critical to stopping the attack.' They were then presented a series of methods for coercing the respondent to reveal the information."

The Hell of War Comes Home: Newspaper Series Documents Murder, Suicide, Kidnappings by Iraq Vets : "A startling two-part series published in the Gazette newspaper of Colorado Springs titled “Casualties of War” examines a part of war seldom discussed by the media or government officials: the difficulty of returning to civilian life after being trained to be a killer. The story focuses on a single battalion based at Fort Carson in Colorado Springs, the 2nd Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment. Soldiers from the brigade have have been involved in brawls, beatings, rapes, drunk driving, drug deals, domestic violence, shootings, stabbings, kidnapping and suicides. The Army unit’s murder rate is 114 times the rate for Colorado Springs. We speak with the reporter who broke the story and get the Army’s response. [includes rush transcript]"

Christopher Pyle, Whistleblower Who Sparked Church Hearings of 1970s, on Military Spying of Olympia Peace Activists : "The news of peace activists in Olympia, Washington exposing Army spying, infiltration and intelligence gathering on their groups may strengthen congressional demands for a full-scale investigation of US intelligence activities like those of the 1970s. We speak with law professor and former Army whistleblower Christopher Pyle, whose 1970 disclosure of the military’s widespread surveillance of civilian groups triggered scores of congressional probes, including the Church Committee hearings, where he served as an investigator. [includes rush transcript]"

Israeli Soldiers' Revelations from Gaza : Information Clearing House - ICH : "Israeli soldiers involved in the attacks on Gaza at the start of this year claim that they were ordered to fire, regardless of the risk to civilians. Alex Thomson reports."