Nigeria Islamists kill 24 vigilantes in ambush

100 of the vigilantes had participated in the raid, which turned sour when the insurgents, seen as the main security threat to Africa's top energy producer, ambushed them as they entered the town's outskirts.

A member of the government's mixed military and police Joint Task Force, who declined to be named, confirmed the death toll from the incident as 24.

"They were ambushed even before they got to the Boko Haram camps," one of the youth vigilantes Masta Moh'd, who was not present during the attack on Friday in the town of Monguno, but had heard from several of the survivors, told Reuters

source  reuters.com

NSA and the military cyber-operations

According to the US intelligence budget, by the end of this year a $652 million program named GENIE, which reportedly helps the US break into foreign networks to plant sophisticated malware in computers, routers and firewalls in tens of thousands of machines every year, will control at least 85,000 implants in strategically chosen computers around the world

US intelligence carried out 231 offensive cyber-ops in 2011, nearly three-quarters of them against key targets such as Iran, Russia, China and N. Korea, as well as nuclear proliferation, a classified report obtained by The Washington Post says.

The “most challenging targets” also include suspected terrorists “in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Iraq, Somalia, and other extremist safe havens,” according to one list of priorities. US budget documents describe the attacks as “active defense.

The NSA has nearly completed a large-scale new data center in Utah, which will manage “storage, analysis, and intelligence production.” This will allow intelligence agencies “to evaluate similarities among intrusions that could indicate the presence of a coordinated cyber-attack, whether from an organized criminal enterprise or a nation.

source rt.com

LG First All-in-One Desktop

The new V960 desktop from LG combines the 2560 x 1080-pixel display, with an NVIDIA GeForce GT 640M GPU, that's capable of handling most media and everyday tasks, at its resolution. Other hardware specs are known to include Intel Core i5 processor.

LG used the ultra-widescreen IPS LED panels from its EA93 29-inch monitor to create the first all-in-one desktops to feature the dizzying 21:9 display aspect-ratio.

The V960 also includes a standalone TV tuner, which lets you use it as a TV, while keeping the PC component powered down. You also get the option to PIP (picture-in-picture) both facets, watching TV, while working on the PC. In addition to all that, the V960 can work as a standalone monitor, taking input from HDMI and MHL.

Oppo teases plug-in camera lenses with OIS and up to 15x zoom

Electronics manufacturer OPPO is one of a few smartphone makers out of China who’s quality Android hardware has helped make a name for themselves in other parts of the world.

If you felt like the 13MP N-Lens “owl” sensor camera isn’t enough, Oppo is there to help you out. Today, the company teased a series of plug-in camera lenses that can be switched out and attached to its smartphones. The initial batch of these plug-in camera lenses use a 16MP Sony CMOS sensor with OIS (optical image stabilization), with one type featuring 10x optical zoom, and another thicker version boasting 15x optical zoom, along with support for NFC, WiFi, and SD card storage.

Xbox One Skype

Thanks to integration with Skype’s audio codec, which has a proven track record of high-quality voice through billions of hours of use within Skype, as well as dedicated audio processing (for Xbox One conversations via Skype and multiplayer party chats), Xbox One offers higher quality voice chat with the Xbox One Chat Headset compared to Xbox 360—whether you’re chatting in-game or through party chat with Skype on Xbox One.

Yemen PM escapes unhurt after gunmen shoot

Yemeni Prime Minister Mohammed Salem Basindwa escaped an assassination attempt on Saturday when gunmen opened fire on his motorcade in Sanaa and then fled, an aide said.
Ali al-Sarari, an adviser to Basindwa, said no one was injured in the attack, which happened in the evening while Basindwa was returning home from his office.

source reuters.com

How a military strike on Syria might unfold

The U.S. military could execute a strike against Syria very quickly, if it's ordered to, according to Pentagon sources.

There are currently five Navy destroyers positioned in the Mediterranean off the coast of Syria. All carry dozens of Tomahawk cruise missiles, the most likely weapon of choice in a punitive strike on Syria's regime.

Once the attack order hits the decks of these ships, missile launches would move "very fast," according to the sources. The crews on these vessels remain ready to fire, and target coordinates are likely already programmed into some of the missiles. The target list is likely under 50, including command-and-control sites and chemical weapons delivery systems, according to a U.S. official.

The Tomahawk is a land attack missile with a range of 1,000 miles. The newest Tomahawk variant can loiter over targets, circling for hours, and can be re-programmed mid-flight, instantly changing course.

source cnn.com

Barack Obama the proposed strike is not "time-sensitive"

The President insisted that he did not need the approval of the legislative assembly, but would it make the case for the strike “stronger”.

"Over the last several days, we have heard from members of Congress who want their voices to be heard. I absolutely agree," said Obama during a press statement outside the White House.

The peace candidate who became a war president

President Barack Obama called for an end to America's "perpetual war-time footing." Now he has ordered the U.S. military into position for an aerial strike in Syria.

With neither a United Nations mandate nor the expected British military support, the Obama administration faces the prospect of undertaking military action against Syria with even less international and domestic support than George W. Bush had for the Iraq war, which Obama voted against.

Once in the White House, he quickly turned the military's focus from Iraq to Afghanistan, which his aides had touted as the "good war" in the fight against Islamic militants.

In 2010, he surged 33,000 additional troops to Afghanistan, but gave his generals fewer troops and less time than they wanted. The last of the surge troops returned home a year ago, and Obama plans to have U.S. combat forces out by late 2014.

Obama sharply expanded the Bush administration's program of drone strikes, and the presidential "kill list" proved effective in taking out al Qaeda militants in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Yemen without putting U.S. forces in harm's way.

In May, against a background of civilian casualties, growing anti-American sentiment and escalating criticism of the drone strikes at home, Obama narrowed the targeted-killing campaign, saying it was time to step back from a "boundless global war on terror." But the strikes continued.

Obama also deployed the military in NATO's bombing campaign against Libya's Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, citing the need to avert a mass slaughter resulting from government assaults on rebel-held territory. His approach, predicated on Americans' war-weariness, was described by one White House adviser as "leading from behind," with U.S. forces supporting a British- and French-led air assault. But the mission succeeded

source  reuters.com