U.S. military deaths

The plind ealer

07/06/08

In Iraq: At least 4,092 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count. The figure includes seven military civilians. At least 3,332 died as a result of hostile action, according to the military’s numbers.

The latest identifications reported by the military:

Three soldiers died Wednesday in Tikrit of wounds suffered from small arms fire and explosives in Sharqat. All were assigned to the 1st Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry), Fort Drum, N.Y. Killed were:

Army Sgt. Shane P. Duffy, 22, Taunton, Mass.

Army Spc. Jonathan D. A. Emard, 20, Mesquite, Texas.

Army Sgt. Cody R. Legg, 23, Escondido, Calif.

In Afghanistan: At least 443 members of the U.S. military have died in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan as a result of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, according to the Defense Department. Of those, the military reports 308 were killed by hostile action.

The latest identifications reported by the military:

Two Army soldiers died Tuesday in Zormat, Afghanistan, when their vehicle struck an explosive. Killed were Maj. Scott A. Hagerty, 41, Stillwater, Okla., and Pfc. Derek D. Holland, 20, Wind Gap, Pa. Hagerty was assigned to the 451st Civil Affairs Battalion, Pasadena, Texas. Holland was assigned to the 228th Brigade Support Battalion, Pennsylvania Army National Guard, Bethlehem, Pa.

In Operation Enduring Freedom: At least 65 more members of the U.S. military died. Of those, two are the result of hostile action. The military lists these other locations as: Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba; Djibouti; Eritrea; Jordan; Kenya; Kyrgyzstan; Philippines; Seychelles; Sudan; Tajikistan; Turkey; and Yemen. There was also one military civilian death and four CIA officer deaths.

SOURCE: Associated Press

Police face criminal charges for failing to protect vulnerable victims

By Richard Edwards, Crime Correspondent

07/06/08

Scotland Yard chiefs have warned frontline officers they face criminal trials for failing to protect vulnerable victims from known suspects after an urgent review of cases was launched.

Commanders have told detectives that they could face charges of malfeasance if they do not correctly “supervise” harassment victims or track down violent suspects who go on to murder.

The warning comes after criticism over several recent killings in London in which the suspect was drawn to the police’s attention weeks earlier.

The grieving mother of Arsema Dawit, the 15-year-old stabbed to death, has openly accused police of failing to protect her daughter. Tsehainesh Medhani, an Eritrean refugee, claimed she had been let down by the officers she turned to for protection.

Eritrean Refugees in uk grown over the past 60 years…

By Lucy Cockcroft

07/06/08

Although there is no exact census, the British Eritrean community has grown over the past 60 years to a population of around 20,000. More than 17,000 of that number live in London.

In recent years a surge in asylum applications from Eritreans has been attributed in part to traffickers smuggling them into Britain to work as domestic slaves.

The country, which has a population of around 4.5 million, was a former province of Ethiopia until it declared independence in 1993 after a long and bloody civil war.

Death toll rises to 16 in Mogadishu violence

07/06/08

By Abdi Sheikh

MOGADSIHU (Reuters) – Eight more people died in Somalia’s capital on Saturday, residents said, bringing the death toll in Mogadishu from two days of violence to 16.

The rubble-strewn city had been relatively peaceful this week during tentative U.N. peace talks in Djibouti between the interim government and opposition figures based in Eritrea.

But the calm was shattered on Friday when at least eight people were killed, and locals said eight more died on Saturday.

Witness Ismail Hussain said Ethiopian troops supporting the government shot dead three students in Waberi district.

“They were in school uniform but carried no books. I think the soldiers suspected them (of being insurgents),” he said.

Elsewhere, residents said five people, including two government troops, died overnight in a fierce battle in northern Mogadishu’s Industrial Area.

“Government forces came early this morning and took two of the dead, who were in uniform. The other three wore ordinary clothes and are unidentified,” local resident Fatuma Osman said.

In Qashadeere, a town in central Somalia, residents said another government soldier was killed by unknown assailants.

There was little progress at this week’s discussions in Djibouti, with opposition officials demanding Ethiopian troops leave Somalia before face-to-face negotiations could take place.

The International Committee of the Red Cross has warned that it sees no immediate improvement in the country’s humanitarian crisis, which aid workers say may be the worst in Africa.

At least a million people have been uprooted by fighting between the government and Islamist insurgents since early last year, and their plight has been worsened by record food prices, hyper-inflation and drought