Soldiers from Schweinfurt, Germany's 3rd Platoon of the 630th Military Police Company helped stop a bank robbery in Jalalabad, a city in eastern Afghanistan near the border with Pakistan.

According to details released by the public affairs office of NATO's International Security Assistance Force, 12 armed men entered a Jalalabad branch of Kabul Bank at 11 a.m. on Feb. 19. They quickly took over the four-story building and held several dozen civilians hostage.

In the second largest award ceremony since the reactivation of the 3rd Special Forces Group (Airborne), thirty-seven Soldiers were recognized for their valorous actions in combat in Afghanistan, in a ceremony on Feb 25th, at the John F. Kennedy Auditorium.

Five Soldiers from 3rd SFG (A) received the Silver Star, 19 Soldiers received the Bronze Star with Valor device, 18 Soldiers will receive the Army Commendation Medal with Valor device, and five Soldiers received the Purple Heart.

Knife Rights' lobbyist, Todd Rathner, was in Carson City today where he testified against anti-knife bill SB171. Todd pointed out to the Senate Committee on Judiciary the major flaws in the bill, including the introduction of the new term "dangerous knife" into Nevada law, contradictions in the bill with current law and flaws in the definitions. The bill was also strongly opposed in testimony by the Nevada ACLU, the Clark County Public Defenders Office and the Washoe County Public Defenders Office.

GLOBAL shipping chiefs are calling upon people power to help secure the release of hundreds of innocent seafarers snatched by Somali pirates.

Shipping companies and associations from around the world have joined forces in a major campaign to encourage over a million people to heap pressure on their national government to crackdown on piracy.

There is no longer a way for ships coming from the Middle East to avoid the Somali pirate gangs in the Indian Ocean, but with greater political will, governments can resolve this growing crisis.

Bad news for WA CeaseFire: ATF trace mechanism works fine as is

Yesterday’s arrest of three men in connection with the purchase of a gun in Texas that was used in the slaying of a federal agent in Mexico two weeks ago demonstrated that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ gun trace mechanism works just fine as is.

That probably won’t square well with Washington CeaseFire, which has long advocated removing protections that prevent agenda-driven politicians from accessing sensitive gun trace date for their own purposes.

VIETNAM ARRESTS DISSIDENT
Ngyuen Dan Que was arrested by Vietnamese authorities after an opinion piece ran in Saturday's Washington Post.
http://www.sofmag.com/vietnam-imprisons-dissident

Debate over establishing a no-fly zone over Libya has heated up as rebels against Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi repelled an attack by pro-Qaddafi forces.

Mexico's military has arrested the alleged regional head of the Zetas drug cartel in connection with the recent murder of a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement special agent.

The Vietnamese government has arrested Nguyen Dan Que after he posted a call on the internet for a revolution against the communist regime according to a report from the Washington Post.