Horrific Footage Shows ‘Syrian Rebels’ Forcing Boy to Behead Captive with Sword

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It is perhaps the most disturbing piece of video footage to emerge out of the Syrian crisis to date.

A young boy is egged on by a group of older men, believed to be rebel fighters, and filmed hacking the head off a man who is lying on the ground. An older man is then seen picking up the head before placing it on top of the body like a macabre trophy. In the background militants can be heard chanting ‘Allahu Akbar’, or ‘God is great’.

The victim appears to be dead before the gruesome act begins as he is lying flat and unmoving with his head resting on a cinderblock.

The clip is one of thousands of graphic videos that have been uploaded onto the internet purporting to show the horrors of the ongoing conflict in Syria. Several videos allegedly to show Syrian rebel fighters carrying out summary executions on captured government soldiers or suspected informants have attracted strong criticism. Others show the dead bodies of dozens of civilians said to have been killed in Government attacks. It is impossible to verify if the footage is real.

The emergence of this latest clip comes just as Washington is said to have begun a secret operation to arm the Syrian rebel fighters following reports of movements at Syria’s chemical weapons sites.

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UN LOST Treaty: The Return of Gunboat Diplomacy

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Last September, China deployed six surveillance ships in response to the Japanese government’s attempt to buy the disputed Senkaku islands, which the Chinese call the Daioyus, from their current owner, a wealthy Japanese family. Both countries are signatories to the United Nations Convention of the Law of the Sea, better known as the Law of the Sea Treaty (LOST), which celebrated its 30th anniversary this year. LOST was supposed to settle disputes between countries over maritime boundaries, but China and Japan seem not to have gotten the memo.

More recently the Chinese province of Hainan ratified a new law that gives Hainanese officials jurisdiction to board vessels in an area where China currently has joint sovereignty alongside the Philippines, Vietnam, and Taiwan. Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Secretary General Surin Pitsuwan recently said that this new legislation could seriously aggravate tensions among these Asian nations and pose a threat to global trade.

American supporters of LOST argue that the treaty will reduce international tensions over disputed territories by helping to resolve potential conflicts. They also argue that the treaty will provide the legal certainty that U.S. companies need to exploit sub-sea floor resources that would otherwise go to competing nations like Russia and China, which are signatories to LOST. Five Republican former Secretaries of State—Henry Kissinger, George Shultz, James Baker III, Colin Powell, and Condoleezza Rice—argued in a May 2012 Wall Street Journal op-ed, “By becoming party to the treaty, we would strengthen our capacity to influence deliberations and negotiations in other nations’ attempts to extend their continental boundaries.” Yet, the problem lies in the treaty’s process itself.

LOST asserts jurisdiction over maritime boundaries that have been recognized and enforced for centuries. The treaty does this by creating a new global governing body—ominously named the Authority—for the high seas or “the Area,” which would remain “the common heritage of mankind.” To settle international disputes, LOST created the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS).

LOST was created to settle maritime disputes but has failed to do so. In fact, the dispute would probably not exist with LOST, which made the ownership of a group of small rocks a critical issue in determining the extent of the “exclusive economic zones” it sets out for signatory countries. Now it appears that at least one party, seemingly frustrated with the process, plans to return to gunboat diplomacy.

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$1.92B Settlement for ‘Too Big to Fail’ Bank Busted for Laundering Terrorist and Drug Cartel Money

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HSBC Holdings Plc (HSBA), Europe’s largest bank, agreed to pay $1.92 billion to settle U.S. probes of money laundering in the largest such accord ever.

The settlement includes a deferred prosecution agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice, the London-based bank said today in a statement. HSBC expects to complete an undertaking with the U.K. Financial Services Authority soon, it said, without providing specifics.

Chief Executive Officer Stuart Gulliver’s attempts to reduce costs and improve profitability have been hurt by the U.S. probes and by compensation claims from U.K. clients. A Senate committee said in July that lax oversight by top HSBC executives gave terrorists and drug cartels access to the U.S. financial system.

“This has removed an uncertainty, though it doesn’t clear the path completely for HSBC,” Lewis Wan, Hong Kong-based chief investment officer at Pride Investments Group Ltd., said by telephone today, adding that his company doesn’t hold HSBC shares. “Regulators have been tightening oversight of banks. Lenders like HSBC will have to continue to strengthen their compliance.”

In a deferred prosecution agreement, the government allows a target to avoid charges by meeting certain conditions — including the payment of fines or penalties — and by committing to specific reforms, either under the guidance of a monitor, or the creation of an internal compliance panel.

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Egyptian Reporter Given a Disturbing Look Inside the Muslim Brotherhood’s ‘Torture Chambers’

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A chilling report recently published in the Egyptian newspaper, al-Masry al-Youm, reveals that the torture chambers once utilized by the Hosni Mubarak regime to tamp down protesters are being put to the same if not greater use by the country’s new, self-proclaimed dictator, Mohammed Morsi.

Despite the Obama administration and worldwide media’s insistence that the election of the Muslim Brotherhood leader was a watershed moment for democracy in the Middle East, it would seem those hopes are on a rapid downward trajectory as reports of savage beatings and brutality against Egyptian protesters, abound.

This disturbing revelation came to light just days ago when an al-Masry al-Youm reporter, with the help of a Brotherhood-owned and operated television station, was given an exclusive tour of the torture chambers. While one might think the decision to grant a journalist access to such a chilling look into the way the Muslim Brotherhood treats its critics as counter-intuitive, it makes perfect sense. After all, what could possibly ever serve as better warning for those even thinking of resisting Morsi’s push for a totalitarian regime based on sharia law than to know what will happen to them if they do?

Al-Monitor reports that the central torture chamber is located near the Ittihadiya Palace, just opposite the gates facing the Omar Ibn Abdel Aziz Mosque. The street is reportedly “secured with a cordon and iron barriers, where the Central Security Forces (CSF) barr any and all access without the authorization of the Brotherhood.

During the three-hour visit, the al-Masry reporter explained that “protesters suspected of working against the Muslim Brotherhood are tortured and beaten with the knowledge of the police before being handed over for formal detention.”

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Insanity: Nearly Bankrupt US Lends Brazil $105 Million for … an Aquarium

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The U.S. Export-Import Bank, an agency of the federal government, is lending $105 million to the Brazilian state of Ceara to help build an aquarium in its capital city of Fortaleza.

“An anticipated tourist attraction, the aquarium will boast four floors housing 25 large tanks containing approximately 15 million liters of water and showcasing 500 marine species and 35,000 individual specimens,” the Export-Import Bank said in a press release.

“The aquarium will also feature interactive exhibits, two 4D cinemas, one 3D cinema, and an educational platform dedicated to the research and preservation of aquatic life along the Brazilian coastal regions,” said the U.S.-government-controlled bank. “When completed, Acquario will rank as the largest aquarium in the Southern Hemisphere and the third largest in the world.”

The bank says the $105 million loan for the project will “finance the export of American good and services” for construction of the aquarium.

In May, President Barack Obama signed legislation to reauthorize the Export-Import Bank through fiscal 2014, increasing its financing authority from $100 billion to $140 billion.

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North Korea Extends Rocket Launch Period Over ‘Prospect of Dialogue’

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SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea on Monday extended the launch period for a controversial long-range rocket by another week until Dec. 29, citing technical problems.

An unidentified spokesman for the North’s Korean Committee of Space Technology told state media that scientists found a “technical deficiency in the first-stage control engine module of the rocket.” The statement didn’t elaborate but said technicians were “pushing forward” with final preparations for the launch.

North Korea is making its second attempt of the year to launch a rocket that the United Nations, Washington, Seoul and others call a cover meant to test technology for missiles that could be used to strike the United States. They have warned North Korea to cancel the launch or face a new wave of sanctions.

The North Koreans call the launch a peaceful bid to advance their space program, and a last wish of late leader Kim Jong Il, who died a year ago, on Dec. 17. North Korea is also celebrating the centennial this year of the birth of national founder Kim Il Sung, current leader Kim Jong Un’s grandfather. An April launch broke apart seconds after liftoff.

The announcement of the planned rocket launch has sparked worry because of the timing: South Korea and Japan hold key elections this month, President Barack Obama begins his second term in January, and China has just formed a new leadership.

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US-Egyptian Christians Fear for Faith Under Morsi’s Islamist Agenda (+video)

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photo credit: argenberg

It seems like every Sunday, there’s a new face sitting in the pews of the Church of Saint Verena and the Three Holy Youth in Orange, Calif. Most are young professionals or families with small children and some have been living in the United States for a just few weeks.

“The first waves of immigration,” said Bishop Serapion of the Coptic Diocese of Los Angeles, Southern California and Hawaii.

These worshippers are Egyptian Christians, better known as Copts. Their church is Coptic Orthodox, the largest Christian church in Egypt and the Middle East with services similar to other Christian faiths. They perform sacraments like the Catholics and recite prayers many faithful Americans would recognize, including “Our Father” and “Hail Mary.” Mass is spoken in a mix of English, Arabic and the ancient Coptic language.

“We are Christians,” said Bishop Serapion. “We believe in the Holy Bible as the word of God.”

While small, the Coptic Christian population in the United States has been growing since the 1950s, particularly in Southern California, New York and New Jersey. But since the Arab Spring began in early 2011, Department of Homeland Security figures show the number of Egyptians seeking asylum has doubled. Unofficial estimates are that 100,000 Egyptians have so far sought refuge in the U.S. Many of them are believed to be Copts but there are no official statistics on their numbers.

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Chinese Investors Take 80% Stake in AIG Aircraft Leasing Unit

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American International Group agreed Monday to sell an 80.1% stake in its giant aircraft leasing business to a group of Chinese investors.

The investor group, which includes New China Trust, China Aviation Industrial Fund and P3 Investments, will pay $4.23 billion to acquire the stake in AIG’s International Lease Finance Corporation. The deal includes an option for the investors to purchase an additional 9.9% stake.

The acquisition is part of AIG’s (AIG, Fortune 500) drive to sell non-core assets, a strategy designed to help the insurance company emerge from the financial crisis, during which it required a government bailout, as a leaner business.

If the option to expand the purchase to 90% of ILFC is exercised, the investor group will grow to include New China Life Insurance and an investment arm of ICBC International.

ICBC International is a Hong Kong-based subsidiary of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China — a state-owned enterprise and one of the largest banks in the world.

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Chinese Buyers Lead Foreign Investment in US Housing Market (+video)

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As the U.S. housing market slowly starts to recover, foreign investment is helping it along.

According to the National Association of Realtors, non-American buyers accounted for $82 billion in home sales last year. More than $7 billion of that is by the Chinese, who are now the second largest foreign home purchasers after Canadians. They’re buying high-end, multimillion-dollar homes from California to New York and paying cash.

“They’re probably the top 1 percent of the Mandarin speakers that are coming from China,” said Brent Chang, a Coldwell Banker realtor in Southern California. “They’re really the people who have their own businesses or maybe were part of the government.”

Some of these homes are specifically catered to Chinese buyers. Fox News visited a home listed at $8 million in Pasadena, Calif., that had two kitchens, the smaller one had ventilation for the cooking for aromatic or “stinky” foods like fish. It also has a lower level in-law suite and even a koi pond.

“People from China do a lot more business in their homes so they want their homes to really scream that they’ve made it and they’re successful, ” said Chang.

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Israeli Ambassador: Syria Transfer of WMD to Militants Would Be ‘Game Changer’

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photo credit: upyernoz

Israel’s ambassador to the U.S. said that if Syria were to transfer chemical weapons to Hezbollah or other militant groups, it would be a “game changer.”

Ambassador Michael Oren, appearing on Fox News Sunday, said he could not confirm reports that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces had prepared sarin gas for use. But he said Israel was worried that Syria could transfer the weapons to Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group and political party that receives support from Syria and Iran.

“We are watching the situation very carefully,” Mr. Oren said. “Syria has a very varied, deep chemical weapons program. It is geographically dispersed as well. Were those weapons to pass in to the wrong hands, Hezbollah’s hands, for example, that would be a game changer for us.”

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