Kidnapped Nigerian schoolgirls: Australia offers SAS troops to help rescue students taken by Boko Haram

Australian special forces troops are on standby to assist with the rescue of more than 200 schoolgirls kidnapped in Nigeria, the Federal Government has confirmed.

The schoolgirls were kidnapped by Al Qaeda-linked Muslim extremist group Boko Haram in April, sparking international outrage and prompting the campaign "Bring Back Our Girls".

Overnight Nigeria banned the protests in the country's capital Abuja, citing security reasons, but protest organisers have questioned whether a political motive is behind the ban.

Britain and the US have offered help to the Nigerian government.

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has told Sky News thatAustralia has offered to lend its support but Nigeria is yet to respond.

"Australian troops, the SAS are always on standby for contingencies," she said.

"We have made an offer to the Nigerian government to provide whatever support they need to release the girls. We've made a specific offer to our UK and US allies ... that we are ready to assist in whatever way we can.

"We have not had a response from the Nigerian government. They've thanked us for our willingness to be involved in trying to rescue the girls but we haven't had any specific acceptance of the offers that we've made."

Greens demand more details of Nigerian mission

Greens leader Christine Milne is calling on the Government to provide more details before Australia gets involved.

"The Greens want to see the schoolgirls in Nigeria rescued," she said.

"It is shocking to think all those young women have been dragged away and we don't know the circumstances in which they find themselves but I think the PM needs to inform Australia fully as to what Australia would be getting into if we sent troops into Africa.

"Is this just about rescuing the schoolgirls or is this about joining a coalition to take on another terrorist war in sub-Saharan Africa?

"Australians deserve a full explanation of what the PM's thinking is before we can make any comment about it but I would be remembering that we went into Afghanistan ... and look where we ended up."

West African leaders met in Paris in May, vowing to wage "total war" on Boko Haram, saying the group had become a regional Al Qaeda that threatened them all.

The US, Britain, France and Israel are providing varying levels of support to Nigeria's military to help find the girls. French fighter jets based in the Chadian capital N'Djamena are being used for reconnaissance missions.

The European Union on Monday announced sanctions against Boko Haram. These include an arms embargo, asset freeze and travel ban on members and supporters.

This follows a decision by the United Nations to designate the group as a terrorist movement two weeks ago......

Chris Brown out of jail

The pop star chris Brown was released yesterday out of jail

Image courtesy of INFphoto.com

Yes, the entertainer was released from a Los Angeles County jail, as the Associated Press reports, at 12:01 a.m. Monday morning, according to L.A. Sheriff's deputy Tony Moore.

Brown was last taken into custody in mid-March when he was removed from rehab because he violated the rules and policies. That is not all, as the singer admitted to violating his probation when he got into a fight outside of a hotel in Washington, D.C. just last year.

It was on May 9 that Superior Court Judge James R. Brandlin ordered Brown to serve an additional 131 days in jail, but still Brown was expected to be released sooner than that. Brandlin ended up giving Brown credit for nearly eight months, including time spent in rehab and jail, plus credit for good behavior.

TMZ did the math, and reported that Brown only served 108 days, and acquired credit for 116 days spent in rehab and 59 days behind bars.

He may be out for now, but the singer still has his trial concerning the D.C. assault coming up, so he may not be home free just yet. Hopefully he enjoys some time at home before that comes up.

It looks like major computer makers are finally warming up to operating systems other than Microsoft Windows, and they are also experimenting with open source operating systems. Not onlly is Dell out with new tablet hybrid devices that run Ubuntu, but Hewlett-Packard has announced a new Android-only laptop. The 14-inch, Tegra-driven Android system is called the HP SlateBook 14, and will be available on August 6 for $399. HP actually mistakenly showed this system online before. As GigaOM notes: "Back in April, a notebook-style computer running Google Android software was spotted on the HP site. Although the post was quickly taken down, this weekend HP officially announced the SlateBook, a 14-inch Android laptop with a 1920 x 1080 screen. Its specs aren’t that different from a lot of Chromebooks: 2GB of RAM, up to 64GB of storage, and a Tegra 4 mobile processor. The SlateBook is covered in useful ports, including USB 3.0 and HDMI out options." What is interesting, though, is that HP has enough confidence in Android and its ecosystem of apps to offer computers that run the platform without also running another operating system. Android actually has fairly robust printer support, and Chromebooks have proven that users can get a lot of work done from browser-based applications, so this may not be a bad bet from HP. As we've covered before, users have been able to run Android apps on a desktop computer or laptop. BlueStacks App Player has been available for some time for Windows users who want to run Android apps on PCs. And, it has also arrived in a version for Mac users. However, BlueStacks simply does emulation. HP is offering systems that run Android natively. HP already chose Android over Chrome for its Slate 21 Pro all-in-one device, and it appears that the company wants to experiment with Android as a popular platform for devices other than phones. Android continues to win market share despite being a very young mobile operating system, and as that happens, the number of impressive applications for it is rising too. Deliver enough apps, and it looks like the big hardware providers will come.

It looks like major computer makers are finally warming up to operating systems other than Microsoft Windows, and they are also experimenting with open source operating systems. Not onlly is Dell out with new tablet hybrid devices that run Ubuntu, but Hewlett-Packard has announced a new Android-only laptop. The 14-inch, Tegra-driven Android system is called the HP SlateBook 14, and will be available on August 6 for $399.

HP actually mistakenly showed this system online before. As GigaOM notes:

"Back in April, a notebook-style computer running Google Android software was spotted on the HP site. Although the post was quickly taken down, this weekend HP officially announced the SlateBook, a 14-inch Android laptop with a 1920 x 1080 screen. Its specs aren’t that different from a lot of Chromebooks: 2GB of RAM, up to 64GB of storage, and a Tegra 4 mobile processor. The SlateBook is covered in useful ports, including USB 3.0 and HDMI out options."

What is interesting, though, is that HP has enough confidence in Android and its ecosystem of apps to offer computers that run the platform without also running another operating system. Android actually has fairly robust printer support, and Chromebooks have proven that users can get a lot of work done from browser-based applications, so this may not be a bad bet from HP.

As we've covered before, users have been able to run Android apps on a desktop computer or laptop. BlueStacks App Player has been available for some time for Windows users who want to run Android apps on PCs. And, it has also arrived in a version for Mac users.  However, BlueStacks simply does emulation. HP is offering systems that run Android natively.

HP already chose Android over Chrome for its Slate 21 Pro all-in-one device, and it appears that the company wants to experiment with Android as a popular platform for devices other than phones. 

Android continues to win market share despite being a very young mobile operating system, and as that happens, the number of impressive applications for it is rising too. Deliver enough apps, and it looks like the big hardware providers will come.