DAVID CAMERON RESIGNS AS PM AFTER BREXIT VOTE (REVOLUTION)

DAVID CAMERON RESIGNS AS UK PRIME MINISTER AFTER BREXIT VOTE:

THE REVOLUTION IS TELEVISED GLOBALLY.

Sources:  ITV, Telegraph, Young Turks, YouTube

***** David Cameron resigns as prime minister after Britain votes Brexit

David Cameron has resigned as prime minister after Britain voted to leave the European Union.

The prime minister said Britain required "fresh leadership" to negotiate the country's exit from the EU.

"I do not think it would be right for me to be the captain that steers our country to its next destination," he said in a statement outside Downing Street.

He promised to "steady the ship" over the coming months before stepping down in October.

Mr Cameron said the result was the "will of the British people" which was an "instruction which must be delivered".

Mr Cameron was close to tears as he announced his decision.

The referendum, called by Mr Cameron, delivered a shock victory for the Leave campaign.

The Brexit vote immediately sent the pound tumbling and sparked calls for his resignation.

Boris Johnson is the favourite to replace Mr Cameron.

ARIEL SHARON'S 60-Minutes Interview: Feb 26, 1928 - Jan 11, 2014 (R.I.P.)

#SHARON

ARIEL SHARON; Born: Ariel Scheinermann, February 26, 1928, in Kfar Malal just outside of TEL AVIV.

Died: January 11, 2012, at a Hospital near TEL AVIV.

Former ISRAELI Prime Minister ARIEL SHARON is dead at the age of 85.

SHARON a Tel Aviv native, survived the last 8 years of his life in a Coma.

Prime Minister SHARON was a WAR Hero, who supported expanding ISRAEL'S borders and helping JEWISH Settlers.

His death was met with both Tears & Cheers from around the world.

In 2002 ARIEL SHARON was interviewed by 60-Minutes Journalist LESLIE STAHL.

During this interview SHARON stated that he felt NO HATRED toward anyone, including former Palestinian leader YASSER ARAFAT, but loved ISRAEL with all his heart.

SHARON also expressed deep regret for NOT having Killed YASSER ARAFAT when he had the chance to do so.

Last Saturday Pres OBAMA along with other World Leaders, publicly offered his Condolences to SHARON'S Family & to the people of ISRAEL.

R.I.P.






ARTICLE: "Ariel Sharon, Former Prime Minister Of Israel, Dies At 85"


Ariel Sharon's life was one of dramatic highs and lows. As a soldier, he was both a war hero and a national disgrace. As a politician, he was a brazen leader who fought for Israel’s security, but became despised for withdrawing unilaterally from the Gaza Strip and offering Palestinians a state of their own.

His son, Gilad Sharon, announced his death Saturday, saying "he went when he decided to go."

Vice President Joe Biden said in a statement that he will lead the U.S. delegation to Israel for Sharon's funeral, which was scheduled for Monday near his ranch in the Negev Desert.

In a statement released by the White House, President Obama called Sharon "a leader who dedicated his life to the state of Israel."

"We reaffirm our unshakable commitment to Israel's security and our appreciation for the enduring friendship between our two countries and our two peoples," Mr. Obama said. "We continue to strive for lasting peace and security for the people of Israel, including through our commitment to the goal of two states living side-by-side in peace and security."

The man Israel knew as "Arik" began serving as the nation's prime minister in March 2001. A highly controversial figure as both a longtime political and military leader, Sharon was also known as "the bulldozer" for his aggressive style.

Short and burly -- he was 5-foot-7 and weighed well over 250 pounds before his debilitating stroke in 2006 -- Sharon seemed larger than life. Proud and defiant, he liked to remind Israelis that he fought in every one of the country's five wars since its founding more than half a century ago.

Born in 1928 to Russian immigrants, Sharon first fought in the Jewish militia whose founding preceded statehood in 1948. Sharon then rose swiftly through the ranks of the Israeli army, making his name on the battlefield as he went. His bold advance across the Suez Canal helped turn the tide of the 1973 Mideast war.

But Sharon also masterminded Israel's disastrous invasion of Lebanon in 1982. The unapproved military strike stopped Yasser Arafat's Palestine Liberation Organization from using Lebanon to launch attacks against Israel, but it also resulted in the massacre of hundreds of innocent Palestinians.

An Israeli commission found Sharon indirectly responsible and in early 1983, he was removed from his post as defense minister. His political future seemed doomed, but he would gradually resurrect his career, serving in parliament and holding a variety of cabinet posts.

Sharon defied international protests, leading a push to build dozens of Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza. But after his party's election defeat in 1999, Sharon devoted more of his time to his sheep farm in southern Israel.

Failed peace talks and a Palestinian uprising, however, would draw him back onto the political stage. In 2001, Sharon was elected prime minister in a stunning landslide.

It was in his second term that Sharon stunned observers across the world -- including his domestic allies -- by offering Palestinians statehood and classifying Israel's rule over them an "occupation."

Prior to withdrawing from the Gaza Strip and giving 1.3 million Palestinians a degree of autonomy after decades of Israeli rule, Sharon had always maintained a contrarily hard line.

As a member of parliament, he had never voted in favor of any of Israel's peace agreements with neighboring Arab states. He consistently refused to shake the hand of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, who he called a murderer and a liar.

Sharon was a founding member and former head of the conservative Likud party. But in 2005, he broke away from the party and founded a new centrist party, Kadima ("Forward").

On Saturday, former President Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton noted Sharon's politics in a statement offering their condolences.

"Ariel Sharon gave his life to Israel - to bring it into being, to sustain and preserve it, and at the end of his long service, to create a new political party committed to both a just peace and lasting security," the Clintons said. "It was an honor to work with him, argue with him, and watch him always trying to find the right path for his beloved country."

In January 2006, Sharon's career was cut short when he suffered a massive stroke.

Ehud Olmert, the deputy prime minister and fellow Kadima party member, was confirmed as acting prime minister. Before suffering the incapacitating stroke, Sharon enjoyed enormous popularity and a wide lead in the polls. His Kadima party went on to win the largest number of seats in the March 2006 elections.

Supporters viewed Sharon as a leader who worked toward peace without compromising Israel's security. Many Israelis also consider him a war hero who helped defend the country during some of its greatest struggles.

Sharon's critics in Israel, however, say he undermined the peace process and surrendered too much security in exchange for peace with the Gaza pullout.

The divergent views on Sharon extended to the White House. Ronald Reagan, writing in his autobiography "An American Life," called then-defense minister Sharon "a bellicose man who seemed to be chomping at the bit to start a war."

In 2003, however, President George W. Bush referred to him as "a man of peace."

On Saturday, a spokesperson for U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon released a statement saying that Ban was "saddened" by Sharon's death.

"The Secretary-General calls on Israel to build on the late Prime Minister's legacy of pragmatism to work towards the long overdue achievement of an independent and viable Palestinian state, next to a secure Israel," the statement read. "At this time of national mourning, the Secretary-General renews the commitment of the United Nations to work alongside the Government and the people of Israel for peace and security."



Sources: 60-Minutes, AP, CBS News, Los Angeles Times, Reuters, Youtube

Pres. Obama Hosts Ireland's President Brian Cowen, Emphasizes Peace

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Sources: AP, Examiner, Google Maps

Haiti: "The World Has Come To An End!" Obama's Aid Speech

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Hundreds Of Thousands May Have Died In Haiti Quake, Prime Minister Says


The Haitian Prime Minister said Wednesday several hundred thousand people may have died in Haiti's powerful earthquake.

"I hope that is not true, because I hope the people had the time to get out," Jean-Max Bellerive told CNN.

"Because we have so much people on the streets right now, we don't know exactly where they were living. But so many, so many buildings, so many neighborhoods totally destroyed, and some neighborhoods we don't even see people."

He said the population is calm as authorities try to adjust to the scope of the destruction and reach a better conclusion on how many people were killed or injured.

"With maturity, people are trying to take care of themselves in some quiet places. People are trying to help each other on the streets," he said.

Earlier, Haiti's first lady, Elisabeth Debrosse Delatour, reported that "most of Port-au-Prince is destroyed," the Haitian ambassador to the United States, Raymond Joseph said. He called the quake a "major catastrophe."

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon spoke of the collapse of "basic services such as water and electricity."

Authorities braced for civil disturbances.

Edmond Mulet, the U.N. assistant secretary-general for peacekeeping operations, told CNN that the National Penitentiary collapsed and the inmates escaped, prompting worries about looting by escapees.

About 3 million people -- one-third of Haiti's population -- were affected by the quake, the Red Cross estimated. About 10 million people felt shaking from the earthquake, including 2 million who felt severe trembling, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated.

President Obama pledged Wednesday that the U.S. government would lead "a swift, coordinated and aggressive effort to save lives" in Haiti after the earthquake.

"For a country and a people who are no strangers to hardship and suffering, this tragedy seems especially cruel and incomprehensible," he said.

The president noted that "military overflights have assessed the damage" from the earthquake and that civilian disaster assistance team were beginning to arrive in Haiti.

Obama said U.S. relief efforts are currently focused on a quick accounting of U.S. Embassy personnel and their families in Port-au-Prince, as well as other American citizens living and working in Haiti. He urged Americans trying to locate family members in Haiti to telephone the State Department at 888-407-4747.





The main airport in Haiti appears to be operable. U.S. Embassy staff at the airport said the tower and the lights are working, Crowley said Wednesday.

The quake ripped apart buildings, shearing huge slabs of concrete off structures in the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Many buildings that remained standing were left open to the elements, pictures from the scene showed.

First rescuers on the scene were often local people trying to help dig people out of the rubble by hand or to comfort injured survivors.

Pictures from Haiti showed concrete buildings that had fallen onto themselves, broken and flattened. People in the streets were dusty from the concrete and in some cases bloody from their injuries.

"One woman, I could only see her head and the rest of her body was trapped under a block wall," said Jonathan de la Durantaye, who drove through Port-au-Prince after the quake. "I think she was dead. She had blood coming out of her eyes and nose and ears."

The 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck shortly before 5 p.m. Tuesday, centered about 10 miles (15 kilometers) southwest of Port-au-Prince, the U.S. Geological Survey reported. It could be felt strongly in eastern Cuba, more than 200 miles away.

Many of the concrete-block homes in Port-au-Prince are built "helter-skelter, all over the place," Joseph said. The earthquake damaged buildings as grand as the National Palace, pancaking scores of structures, trapping people inside those buildings, and knocking down phone and power lines.

Former U.S. Ambassador to Haiti Timothy M. Carney told CNN that Port-au-Prince was particularly at risk because it grew rapidly from a population of about 250,000 in the mid-1950s to more than 2 million today, all with little oversight.

More than 100 employees of the United Nations' mission in Haiti were unaccounted for Wednesday after the earthquake, U.N. officials said.

Among the missing were the chief of the U.N. mission in Haiti and the agency's deputy special representative, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told reporters in New York.

The destruction included the U.N. peacekeeper compound, a five-story building where about 250 people work every day.

Three Jordanian peacekeepers died and 21 were injured, according to Jordan's state-run Petra News Agency. An Argentine member of the peacekeeping team also is confirmed dead, the Argentine military said

Joseph Serge Miot, the archbishop of Port-au-Prince, died in the quake, according to the official Vatican newspaper.

None of the three aid centers run by Doctors without Borders in Haiti is operable following the earthquake, the group said Wednesday.

The group is focusing on re-establishing surgical capacity so it can deal with the crushed limbs and head wounds it is seeing, said Paul McPhun, an emergency management expert for Doctors without Borders.

CNN's Anderson Cooper, viewing Port-au-Prince from a helicopter, called the sight of the destroyed buildings in the quake-devastated city "incredibly shocking" and "eerie."

He said many people are "just kind of standing around on the streets, not really sure what to do or where to go, and for many, there is nowhere to go."

The disaster is the latest to befall the country of about 9 million people, roughly the size of Maryland, which is the poorest in the Western Hemisphere and among the poorest in the world.

Hurricane Gordon killed more than 1,000 people in 1994, while Hurricane Georges killed more than 400 and destroyed most of the country's crops in 1998. And in 2004, Hurricane Jeanne killed more than 3,000 people even as it passed north of Haiti, with most of the deaths in the northwestern city of Gonaives.

Gonaives was hit heavily again in 2008, when four tropical systems passed through.

With people cutting down trees for fuel and to clear land for agriculture, the mountainous countryside has been heavily deforested. That has led to severe erosion and left Haitians vulnerable to massive landslides when heavy rains fall.

Haiti shares the island of Hispaniola with the Dominican Republic. Buildings shook in the Dominican capital, Santo Domingo, during the earthquake, but no major damage was reported there, according to The New York Times.






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Sources: AP, CNN, MSNBC, Google Maps

Silvio Berlusconi Punched, Face Bloodied

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi struck in the face and badly bloodied at Milan Rally


A mentally ill man broke Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's nose and knocked two of his teeth out with a punch to the face at a rowdy rally in Milan Sunday.

Doctors said they will keep him in the hospital under observation for 24 hours. They said he was not badly injured.

It was not clear if the prime minister, who has confessed to having a face lift, will need more plastic surgery.

Italian TV showed the dazed premier - his face cut and his mouth a mass of blood - falling to the ground and then being hustled into a car.

The attacker, 42-year-old Massimo Tartaglia, a graphic designer with a history of mental problems, was quickly bundled away by police.

Berlusconi was gladhanding the crowd after delivering a tirade against the left at an evening rally in front of Milan's Duomo when he was hit.

Witness Doriano Riparbelli told Italian media that Tartaglia was holding a souvenir replica of the famously spikey cathedral and rammed it into Berlusconi's face.

Defense minister Ignazio La Russa, who also saw it happen, told the Corriere della Sera newspaper that the crowd was ready to lynch the attacker.

"Only scraps would have remained," he said.

Video of the aftermath showed a chaotic scene as crowds surged around the president, who is a hearty 73.

An aide was crawling on the roof of his limo as he was stuffed inside the car by security men.

At one point Berlusconi tried to climb out and hoist himself onto the car to show he was all right, but fell back, looking confused.

Distraught fans - some of whom appeared to believe he'd been shot - looked on in horror.

The Italian flair for drama quickly asserted itself.

"Democracy is at risk in this country," said Senate president Renato Schifani.

Far-right politician Umberto Bossi declared the punch "an act of terrorism."

Berlusconi spokesman Paolo Buonaiuti told CNN the growing political attacks on his boss led to the physical attack.

"There has been such a buildup of hatred toward the premier, and this is not good," Buonaiuti said. "This campaign of hatred has been building quite rapidly recently, and I am not surprised that what happened tonight took place."

Corriere della Sera said a handful of protesters heckled Berlusconi, shouting slogans that prompted him to tell the crowd, "They paint me as a monster, but I don't think I am one - firstly because I am good-looking and secondly because I'm a good guy."

Tartaglia was not among the protesters.

Berlusconi faces a number of bribery and corruption trials and has been caught up in a series of tawdry sex scandals.
His wife, actress Veronica Lario, announced in May she would seek a divorce amid allegations he was consorting with teenagers and prostitutes.

The Mail on Sunday in London reported that he spent Friday's European Union summit meeting doodling lady's underwear and then passing his sketches around to shocked world leaders.

The paper said Berlusconi drew a series of female undergarments through the ages - from Victorian bloomers to 21st Century thongs - as the leaders discussed climate change in Brussels.

Among those present: Britain's Gordon Brown, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen.

Berlusconi -- a billionaire who controls many Italian institutions, including the football team AC Milan and major TV networks -- is the longest-serving Prime Minister of Italy, a position he has held three times since 1994.



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Sources: NY Daily News, Google Maps