Unlikely with an election coming up in November. It's all about perceived image until then.
Ipad passport scan gets man across US border
Snip: The anecdote is troubling because a scanned copy of a passport "is not a secure document," said MP Brian Masse.
"That could be altered, and could also lead to some precedents that would jeopardize [border] security," said Masse, NDP critic for US-Canada border relations.
Three North Koreans killed while trying to flee to China
The three poor farmers were crossing the Yalu River. Witnesses on the Chinese border say they saw border guards carrying away the bodies. Surveillance measures enhanced after the death of Kim Jong Il: the new regime wants to give a message of severity.
France toughens citizenship gauntlet
Snip: Nicolas Sarkozy’s government has just thrown up some tough new hurdles for would-be French citizens, requiring them to pass a difficult language test (foreigners will need to speak French at the level of a French 15-year-old) and swear allegiance to "French values," the Los Angeles Times reports. The new rules, which went into effect on Jan. 1, also forbid the new citizens from claiming “allegiance to another country while on French soil,” though dual nationality is still permitted.
Only six women fined since France's veil ban enforced
Snip: Controversy surrounded the law. Muslim leaders, most of them opposed to burkas, say the it stigmatises all followers of Islam.
Mr Gueant said police cited a total of 237 women but only six were convicted. He expressed surprise that nearly a quarter of the women police questioned had converted to Islam.
Meanwhile back at the white hut:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2828275/posts
Taliban leaders held at Guantánamo Bay to be released in peace talks deal
guardian.co.uk ^ | 1/3/12 | Julian Borger, and Jon Boone
Posted on Tuesday, January 03, 2012 6:14:04 PM by ColdOne
The US has agreed in principle to release high-ranking Taliban officials from Guantánamo Bay in return for the Afghan insurgents’ agreement to open a political office for peace negotiations in Qatar, the Guardian has learned.
According to sources familiar with the talks in the US and in Afghanistan, the handful of Taliban figures will include Mullah Khair Khowa, a former interior minister, and Noorullah Noori, a former governor in northern Afghanistan.
More controversially, the Taliban are demanding the release of the former army commander Mullah Fazl Akhund. Washington is reported to be considering formally handing him over to the custody of another country, possibly Qatar.
The releases would be to reciprocate for Tuesday’s announcement from the Taliban that they are prepared to open a political office in Qatar to conduct peace negotiations “with the international community” – the most significant political breakthrough in ten years of the Afghan conflict.
The Taliban are holding just one American soldier, Bowe Bergdahl, a 25-year-old sergeant captured in June 2009, but it is not clear whether he would be freed as part of the deal.
“To take this step, the [Obama] administration have to have sufficient confidence that the Taliban are going to reciprocate,”
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Another gratuitous slap at our dead and wounded. The man is virtually dripping with the blood of Americans killed since he has been president. There is no forgiveness for murder.