US Government Begins Partial Shutdown After Deadline Passes

For the first time in 17 years, the US government has partially shut down after a midnight deadline passed without an agreement on measures to continue funding basic services.

Despite a last-gasp appeal by President Barack Obama,Federal agencies were ordered to begin closing at midnight on Tuesday [0400 GMT], meaning that over 800,000 US government workers have been forced to stay at home with no guarantee of back pay once the deadlock is over.

According to reports, the Republican-led House of Representatives attempted to draw up a replacement that blocks parts of President Barack Obama's health care reforms on Monday.

The House has passed two spending bills in recent days, both of which have been torpedoed by the Democratic-led Senate. the Democratic-led Senate voted 54-46 against a bill from House Republicans that would have funded the government only if President Obama's healthcare law - dubbed Obamacare - was delayed for a year.

The House asked for a conference on the budget with the Senate. However, the Senate's Democratic majority leader, Harry Reid, said it would reject the proposal, and called on the House to pass a budget law not linked to healthcare.

"The idea of putting the American people's hard-earned progress at risk is the height of irresponsibility, and it doesn't have to happen", President Obama had said on national television that Monday.

The national parks and Washington's Smithsonian museums will close; pension and veterans' benefit cheques will be delayed, and visa and passport applications will go unprocessed with the shutdown in place.

It could affect government services including food assistance for children and pregnant women and federal home loan programmes.

"The Americans don't want a shutdown and neither do I", Republican speaker of the House, John Boehner, responded a few hours later on the House floor, adding that the new health care law was having "a devastating impact... something has to be done".

Snowden: Ecuador Laments over US "Blackmail"

Ecuador has said that they're turning down the trade benefits the United States gives them as part of the Andean Trade Promotion and Drug Eradication trade pact with the United States, claiming it had become an instrument of "blackmail" against them while considering whistleblower Edward Snowden's asylum request.

Despite, voicing support for the former National Security Agency contractor, authorities in Ecuador have said that they won't bow to U.S. pressure even though they are yet to grant Edward Snowden's request for asylum.

The pact, which covers key Ecuadorean exports such as fresh-cut roses, fruits, vegetables and tuna, is set to expire on July 31 unless the US Congress renews it.

In a news conference on Thursday, President Rafael Correa said, "In the face of threats, insolence and arrogance of certain U.S. sectors, which have pressured to remove the preferential tariffs because of the Snowden case, Ecuador tells the world we unilaterally and irrevocably renounce the preferential tariffs."

"You request asylum when you are on a country's territory. Snowden is not on Ecuadorean territory, so technically we cannot even process the asylum request," he said.

"Would he be allowed to arrive on Ecuadorean territory? This is something that, in principle, we haven't considered," he added.

"It is outrageous to try to delegitimize a state for receiving a petition of asylum.We would probably examine it, but for now he is in Russia."

"Ecuador does not accept pressure or threats from anyone, and does not trade on principles or make them contingent on commercial interests, even if those interests are important", Ecuador's Communications Minister Fernando Alvarado announced earlier, adding  that the country "unilaterally and irrevocably renounces preferential customs tariff rights".

Snowden, who is seeking aslyum after he leaked classified information on a widespread secret surveillance programme, faces espionage charges in the United States, and has been slammed as a traitor by critics while being hailed as a hero by his supporters.

The Obama administration has revoked Snowden's passport, after he leaked documents pointing to a widespread US surveillance programme in early June.

Currently, he is believed to be hiding at the Moscow airport, where he arrived from Hong Kong on Sunday.

Retired US General Under Investigation for Stuxnet Leak

Reports from NBC news channel on Thursday has indicated that a high ranking military officer in the US has been placed under investigation for allegedly leaking top secret information about a cyber attack on Iran's nuclear programme.

The covert computer virus called Stuxnet, was used in 2010 to temporarily disable 1,000 centrifuges used for enriching uranium by Iran's nuclear facilities.

According to the report from NBC, Stuxnet is capable of both surveillance and harming computers, and was initally spread using infected removable drives.

Retired General James Cartwright, a former second-highest-ranking officer, was  in a New York Times article published last year as one of the men instrumental in the development of Stuxnet.

The article exposed that the Obama administration used it as a key weapon in fighting against the development of Iran's nuclear programme.

"My attitude has been zero tolerance for these kinds of leaks. These are criminal acts when they release information like this", President Barack Obama said, responding to the article.

While there was ongoing speculation about Cartwright's motive behind the leak,

"Sometimes to attack a programme, sometimes to defend it, sometimes we don't ever know", Director of the Federation of American Scientists Steve Aftergood told NBC while trying to explain that there are many reasons why people leak classified information.

Cartwright was the number two person in the joint chiefs of staff from 2007 to 2011. As at the time of this report, neither he nor his lawyer has responded to requests for comment.

Obama Justifies Use of Drone Strikes

Before an audience at the National Defence University on Thursday, US President Barack Obama defended the controversial use of drones by the country as an important weapon in the war against terrorism.

In a speech where he was expected to address the audience on a secretive program run by the government, he explained that he is haunted by those civilians who were caught in the attacks and tried to assure listeners that there must be “near certainty” that no more civilians will be killed in such strikes in a near future.

“We are at war with an organization that right now would kill as many Americans as they could if we did not stop them first,” he said. “So, this is just a war – a war waged proportionally, in last resort , and in self-defense.”

He added, “So America is at crossroads. We must define the nature and the scope of the struggle, or else it will define us.”

The speech also addressed the issue of the military prison at Guantanamo Bay which the Obama Administration had promised Americans it would shut down in its 2008 campaign promise

“When I ran for president the first time, John McCain supported closing Gitmo. No person has ever escaped from one of our super-max or military prisons in the United States,” Obama said.

“Our courts have convicted hundreds of people for terrorism-related offences, including some who are more dangerous than most Gitmo detainees….there is no justification beyond politics for Congress to prevent us from closing a facility that should never have been opened,” the president added.

While been interrupted by a woman protesting the use of drones and the current situation with the hunger strike at the prison, he pressed further, saying that he would lift a moratorium on prisoner transfers to Yemen and ensure the complete shutdown of the prison, urging Congress not to interrupt his efforts to ensure that the prisoners are transferred to American secured maximum prisons.

Although, a good number of lawmakers are of the opinion that the US authorities support for drone strikes be limited, the President has promised to share with the general public concerning matters about the drone strikes.

His speech came just a day after a letter was released by the attorney-general on behalf of the Obama Administration, revealing for the first time that four American citizens had been killed in covert drone strikes oversea.

It coincides with the signing of new “presidential policy guidance” on when drone strikes can be used, according to the White House.

Attorney-General Admits Deaths of Four Americans in Drone Attacks

The Obama Administration has formally admitted killing four of its citizens in authorized drone attacks in Yemen and Pakistan since 2009, according to a letter from US attorney-general Eric Holder.

The letter, which was addressed to congressional leaders on Wednesday, named three US citizens – Samir Khan, Abdulrahman al-Awlaki, and his father, Anwar al-Awlaki, the intended target of a drone strike in September 2011.

However, the fourth citizen, Jude Kenan Mohammed, was regarded as a victim of America’s efforts to combat terrorism through drone strikes.

The letter reads, “Since 2009, the United States, in the conduct of US counterterrorism operations against al-Qaeda and its associated forces outside of areas of active hostilities, has specifically targeted and killed one US citizen, Anwar al-Awlaki.”

“The decision to target Anwar al-Awlaki was lawful, it was considered and it was just,” he wrote.

“The United States is further aware of three other US citizens who have been killed in such US counterterrorism operations over that same time period,” Holder added, after which he named three citizens.

Holder refused to explain why Jude Mohammed and 16-year-old Abdulrahman al-Awlaki were killed. “These individuals were not specifically targeted by the United States,” he said.

“The administration is determined to continue these extensive outreach efforts to communicate with the American people. To this end, the president has directed me to disclose certain information that until now has been properly classified. You and other members of your committee have on numerous occasions expressed a particular interest in the administration’s use of lethal force against US citizens.”

“In light of this face, I am writing to disclose to you certain information about the number of US citizens who have been killed by US counterterrorism operations outside of areas of active hostilities.”

The letter came just a day before US President Barack Obama was scheduled to deliver a speech on the use of drones, and was addressed to Senator Patrick Leahy and the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Apparently, it was released with the purpose of defending the Obama Administration over allegations that it wasn’t holding up to its promise of utmost transparency as Obama’s campaign plans has stated.

Only a few months earlier, Senator Rand Paul led a marathon filibuster in an effort to criticize the drone program of the CIA, demanding the administration stand before lawmakers and justify the use of unmanned aerial vehicles in the execution of suspected enemies of the state while turning a blind eye to the innocent civilians killed in the process.

Erdogan Meets with Obama in Washington

At a scheduled meeting with US President Barack Obama at the White House in Washington on Thrusday, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is looking to find ways to end the two-year civil war ongoing in Syria.

During their joint news conference held in the Rose Garden of the White House, Obama said that his government will continue to increase the pressure on the Syrian regime. He explained that Assad will be out of office “sooner rather than later”, adding that he would do everything in his power to assist the Syrian opposition, while helping Turkey with the huge number of refugees coming in from Syria.

Turkish Minister for EU Affairs Egemen Bagis believes that, in as much as stopping Assad from violating human rights is a priority, the partnership between the US and Turkey can only make it happen if the UN Security Council officials are convinced that measures have to be taken.

In his own words, Bagis said, “I think President Obama and Prime Minister Erdogan will be able to discuss new challenges and opportunities to convince the international community in terms of taking the necessary measures to stop the bloody Assad regime.”

The visit comes just days after a series of car bombs killed dozens in Turkey, with no one claiming responsibility for the attack. However, with Turkish officials pointing accusing fingers at Syrian intelligence, Obama’s government remains skeptical about taking certain actions against Syria that would benefit Turkey.

Only recently, the administration negotiated a deal to repair ties between Turkey and Israel, whose feud began when an Israeli raid on an aid flotilla bound for Gaza led to the deaths of eight Turks and a Turkish-American.

What Nigerians Must Learn From The Capture of the Second Boston Bombing Suspect

After hours of breath-taking manhunt for the teenage suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has been caputred. The Police said they exchanged gunfire with Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, after cornering him in Watertown, near Boston. He was found hiding in a boat in a surbuban homeowner's backyard, looking injured.

It was a night of celebration for the people of Boston, as they can finally sleep better at night, knowing that the passionate, patriotic men and women of the Boston Police Department will always be there to guarantee their safety.

The search is over, but the sad memories of the bomb attack, the deaths of three innocent Americans, the injuries forced on hundreds of others, the adrenaline rush, the gunfights, the destruction of properties, and the unrelentless hunt for the culprits of the dastardly acts for the past of few days will forever linger in the heart of many.

US President Barack Obama has commended  the efforts of law enforcers and Bostonians, saying, ''Tonight, our nation is in debt to the people of Boston. They all worked as they should as a team''. He has ordered a full investigation into the reasons why men who grew up and studied as part of the community resorted to violence.

While Anzor Tsarnaev, father of slain Tamerlan and captured Dzhokhar, believes it was a terrorist attack carefully organised by secret services he is not certian of (in his words, he claims his son used to go to a mosque, so they once paid us a visit to ask why he is doing that.), Ruslan Tsarni, an uncle of the suspects who lives in Maryland, said he was "ashamed" at his nephews' alleged role in the bombings.

What do we really know about these men?. Dzhokhar, 19, was awarded a scholarship to pursue further education; he wanted to become a brain surgeon, according to his father.Tamerlan, 26, was an amateur boxer who had reportedly taken time off college to train for a competition; he described himself as a "very religious" non-drinker and non-smoker.

The elder brother comes across less social, not quite fitting into American life or making friends. As he is seven years older, could it be that he drew his younger sibling into his own world in which he seemed to be exploring radical Islamist ideology?.

The attack may not have been extreme like September 11 attacks, but it was seen as a threat to every breathing American, and the government unleashed on only two men its mostly deadly and unrelenting agents to ensure that justice is served cold. That is a government willing to do anything to ensure that every American can sleep well at night.

What have Nigerians learnt about the intense week Americans have gone through?. We have become a country where religious and tribal disasters have made enemies out of friends, ignorance has made its bed into the hearts of many, government has done little to ensure the safety and well-being of its citizens and parents do very little to bring up their children in the right way.

When will our intelligence services and police force set up to the challenge in the hunt for those who seek to destroy what's left our unity?. When will every tribe learn to trust and love one another?. When will parents put more efforts into bringing up their children in the right way so that their future will be bright?. When will the government stop being cowardly and ensure that Nigerians gain their trust again?. When will the youth open their eyes and kick ignorance and hate from their hearts?

Talk is cheap. Action will always speak louder than words even if the largest public address system was utilised. It is said that a word is enough for those wise enough to listen. Have we learnt anything at all?