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Ahmed Jibril was the leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - General Command (PFLP-GC) (see P). He enjoyed the protection of the Syrian government. Intelligence agents reported that Jibril had been assigned by a furious Iran to avenge the shooting down of an Iranian airbus by a US warship in 1988 ... |
In 1990 Kuwait was invaded by Saddam Hussein. Anglo-American attitudes to the Middle East were transformed. Paul Foot and John Ashton argue that theories about Lockerbie are inextricably linked to this changing political situation. |
In 1989 intelligence-based evidence fitted snugly with US and British foreign policy in the Middle East. Both countries had severed relations with Syria, and the Iraq-Iran war ended in 1988 with America and Britain continuing to be hostile to Iran and supportive of Iraq. The US and British governments were content with... |
But in 1990, the impending Anglo-American war against Iraq necessitated neutralising Iran and winning the support of Syria. Britain's diplomatic relations with Syria were duly restored in November 1990 and the Gulf war commenced in 1991. Sure enough, the credibility of intelligence theories about the Lockerbie bombing ... |
In November 1991, the American and British governments charged two Libyan airline officials, Abdel Basset Ali Al-Megrahi and Lamen Khalifa Fhimah, with planting the Lockerbie bomb. To justify the radical change in the investigation's focus away from the Palestinians, the US State Department said: "Fresh evidence underm... |
A series of Sunday Times investigative pieces reported that the Lockerbie bomb had first been put on a plane in Malta. The bombing had been carried out by the Palestinian group (see P), after a gang member, Abu Talb, visited Malta. He was identified by a Maltese boutique owner as the man who bought clothes later found ... |
A bag which ended up on Pan Am 103 was identified by a baggage handler as coming from an Air Malta flight. When a Granada TV documentary repeated the allegations, Air Malta sued Granada for libel. A hitherto unpublished document from Air Malta's lawyers demonstrated that there were no bags on the flight which went on t... |
Legally defined as "a criminal verdict, somewhere between guilty and not guilty, the consequences of which are that the accused is treated as if found not guilty". Britain and the US fear that if attention is paid to the conflicting conspiracy theories, the case against the Libyans in The Hague could only be "not prove... |
Five weeks before the Palestinian warning (see I) was received, a German anti-terrorism campaign, Operation Autumn Leaves, arrested a "team of Palestinians not associated with the PLO" in possession of a bomb in a cassette recorder (see T) strikingly similar to the Lockerbie bomb. |
These Palestinians, including Hafez Dalkamoni (see J) and Marwan Khreesat (see B) had been arrested outside a flat in Neuss - two hours' drive from Frankfurt, from whose airport Pan Am 103's feeder flight had originated. They were released after five days because there was not enough evidence against them. |
Operation Autumn Leaves led to the arrest of a gang associated with a splinter group of the Palestinian movement the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - General Command (PFLP-GC). Was Pan Am 103 blown up by a Palestinian gang, protected by Syria and paid for by Iran? |
The official air accident report concludes: "The detonation of an improvised explosive device led directly to the destruction of the aircraft". If it was a bomb why wasn't it called a bomb in plain English? |
On the night of the disaster teams of rescue volunteers scouring the area discovered a large object under a red tarpaulin. As they approached it, they were warned off by gunmen in the doorway of a hovering helicopter. A local farmer, Innes Graham, was also warned by US investigators to stay away from a small wooded are... |
A central piece of evidence which pointed to the Libyans (see L) was a tiny fragment of a circuit board found among the Lockerbie debris. This was traced to a firm in Switzerland which exported timers to Libya. |
Apart from the confusion over when and where the circuit board was found (reports vary between June and November 1990), the Libyan connection to the timers is not as clear-cut as investigators have claimed. The US state department maintained that all timers from the Swiss firm had been delivered to Libya, but a BBC rad... |
The German anti-terror campaign Operation Autumn Leaves (see O) discovered a Toshiba cassette recorder packed with semtex. Pieces of a similar model of recorder had been found in the wreckage at Lockerbie. |
There have been several claims that the bomb was planted on Pan Am 103 by a crack team of US intelligence agents. A Radio Forth journalist reported the claim and, within an hour, was threatened with prosecution or, bizarrely, invited to disclose his source to the Prime Minister. |
The Interfor report (see I) also alleged that Major Charles McKee, the head of the US intelligence team, who was travelling on the plane, was shocked by his colleagues' deal with Syrian drug smugglers and was returning on Pan Am 103 to report them. The inference was obvious - Pan Am 103 was sacrificed by the intelligen... |
In the early 1990s the Lockerbie investigation shifted from the Scottish Borders to the CIA base in America. The man in charge there was Vincent Cannistraro. Mr Cannistraro had worked with Oliver North in President Reagan's National Security Council and, Paul Foot and John Ashton argue, he "specialised in the US vendet... |
Mr Cannistraro was part of a secret programme to destabilise the Libyan regime which culminated in the US bombing of Libya in 1986. He retired from the CIA in September 1990 but by then had helped lay the foundations for a completely new approach to the bombing investigation, in which the chief suspect was not Iran or ... |
Three days before the Helsinki threat (see H), an intelligence source in the US state department's office of diplomatic security warned that a team of Palestinians, not associated with the PLO, was targeting Pan Am airline and US military bases in Europe. The comment attached to the message read: "We cannot refute or c... |
In 1989 Anglo-American intelligence services and politicians widely blamed the Lockerbie bomb on a Palestinian terror group (see P), backed by Syria and Iran. In 1990, (see K) Iraq became the Anglo-American Arab enemy number one in the run-up to the Gulf war; Iran became neutral and Syrian troops joined the Allied forc... |
PC Yvonne Fletcher was shot dead outside the Libyan embassy in London in 1984, causing diplomatic relations between Britain and Libya to be severed. The file on Yvonne Fletcher is still open and Britain continues to demand Libyan co-operation on the matter. The fairness of the trial of the two Libyan suspects could yet... |
Camp Zeist is the former US air base in The Hague where the two Libyans are being tried under Scottish law. But even the conviction of Abdel Basset Ali Al-Megrahi and Lamen Khalifa Fhimah seems unlikely to still the disquiet and conspiracies that continue to surround flight Pan Am 103. |
Ottawa 5, Durham 4: Tim Raines Jr. scored on a wild pitch in the bottom of the ninth as the host Lynx (29-26) rallied to defeat the Bulls (27-32). Ottawa trailed 4-0 before Walter Young hit a two-run homer in the sixth inning to cut the lead in half. In the seventh, Raines doubled in two runs to tie the game at 4. |
Lake County 18, Delmarva 7: The Captains (33-25) had 22 hits as they rolled over the visiting Shorebirds (25-33). |
Lexington 7, Hagerstown 4: The Suns led 3-0 after 2 1/2 innings, but the Legends (35-23) rallied to beat first-place Hagerstown (36-22). |
Lexington scored four times to take a 4-3 lead after three innings, and added two in the fifth and one in the eighth after Louis Santangelo's home run. Mike Carp's 15th homer, a bases-empty shot in the sixth, was the last Suns run. |
As relief efforts continue in Haiti, the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times both have assessments of the cultural impact of the disaster on the island. |
Interactive theater, as imagined by the American Repertory Theater, is a big hit in Boston. Creative re-takes of classics like “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and “MacBeth” turn audience members into participants. |
To text during a performance or not to text? Terry Teachout had this commentary on a different kind of interactive art experience. |
Yet the Lindau Meeting excluded discussion on cosmic dust in cosmology, instead focusing on dark matter based on the anticipated discovery of exotic WIMPs from the LHC experiments. But cosmic dust is of greater importance to cosmology because light from a distant galaxy is redshift upon absorption in cosmic dust withou... |
QED induced redshift holds in question the Hubble redshift as proof the Universe is expanding beginning with the Big Bang suggesting a return to a static Universe in dynamic equilibrium once proposed by Einstein. Moreover, astrophysical measurements that rely on Hubble redshift by the Doppler effect grossly over-estima... |
The Lindau Meeting on cosmology by elementary particles is trumped by cosmic dust. There is no connection between any findings forthcoming from the LHC on how WIMPS or other exotic particles are related to dark matter. Smoot’s comment on how tiny particles dictate what the Universe looks like was misinterpreted by all ... |
University won zero games in its first year of playing baseball. Zero games in its second year. The team plays Saturday for a state title. |
Carmel – Chris Estep was not sure what he had gotten himself into. By 2008, the former minor league baseball player had built his RoundTripper Sports Academy in Westfield into an established baseball training facility for youth players up to the professional level. |
That spring, after saying no several times, Estep finally agreed to become baseball coach at tiny University High School, a fledgling program. |
Estep finally said yes. After the first game – a 32-0 loss – Estep was realistic with his players. |
The next day, all of the players showed up for practice. The wins did not show up. University lost every game. “The greatest feat was playing a full seven-inning game, which we did once or twice,” Estep said. University lost every game the next year. |
It was not until the third season that the Trailblazers finally won a game, at Sheridan. |
Sprouting from those inauspicious and humble beginnings, University’s baseball team will play for the school’s first state championship in any sport on Saturday at Victory Field. The unranked Trailblazers (28-6) will face sixth-ranked Daleville (21-9) in the Class A state final at 11 a.m. |
University’s rise might not qualify as the most underdog story of all-time. The private school program does not have an on-campus field of its own, but it does have the luxury of calling Estep’s Roundtripper facility home. Estep, who built his baseball training business from scratch 25 years ago, has batting cages, pit... |
Estep, who graduated from Carmel in 1985, downplays the impact Roundtripper has on his team. Other top players in the area are also often spotted in Roundtripper. Major leaguers such as Lance Lynn, Drew Storen and Tommy Hunter have trained at the facility, among many college and professional players. |
Estep, a 12th round draft pick of the Pirates in 1988, played five seasons in the minor leagues. It was during the offseason – while working for Blanton Roofing Company – that he was approached by a father who was looking for someone to work with his son on hitting. |
Coaching high school baseball was not really in his sights at all. But after those difficult first three years, University has become a consistent winner. The Trailblazers, which played in the sectional for the first time in 2007, won Class A sectional titles in 2012 and ’13. |
This year’s team is deep and talented. Upperclassmen such as Garrett Hill (.473, 10 home runs and 43 RBIs) and Cade Carlson (7-2, 2.49 ERA) and juniors Brock Moore (.347, 25 RBIs) and Estep are interspersed with talented freshmen – Tyler Galyean (.483, 25 RBIs) and Ben Ewer (.313, 20 RBIs) and Asher Thompson (.277, 27 ... |
The Trailblazers have won 16 consecutive games, including a wild 7-4 comeback victory in the semistate over Tecumseh. |
Estep has not forgotten those teams from a decade ago that struggled to extend games before the 10-run rule was enforced. Dawson Estep, the coach’s son, remembers watching those games. |
Beethoven fans should be flocking to Bass Performance Hall this weekend for the Fort Worth Symphony’s three-day festival saluting the popular German composer. A different symphony will be heard each night: the Third, “Eroica,” on Friday; the Sixth, called the “Pastoral,” on Saturday; and the walk-away favorite, No. 5, ... |
For the musically hardy, two all-Beethoven chamber music programs have been added to the festival: Wednesday and Thursday evenings in the Van Cliburn Recital Hall across from Bass Hall. Wednesday’s program surveys excerpts from four of the composer’s string quartets, featuring FWSO concertmaster Michael Shih and three ... |
The chamber programs are Wed-Thu at Van Cliburn Recital Hall, 330 E 4th St, FW. The orchestra programs are Fri-Sun at Bass Performance Hall, 555 Commerce St, FW. Tickets are $10-65. Call 817-665-6000. |
With credit cards, you pay to play. There are rewards, promotions and other perks for the taking, but you have to use them to reap any benefits. Minimizing fees and finance charges are just part of the game. |
So how can you get the most from your cards while avoiding all the pitfalls? |
The good news is there's plenty you can do to make your credit cards work for you. By utilizing little-known perks, taking advantage of lower interest rates and using other strategies, you can get control of your plastic and actually profit from it. |
Here are five tips for getting the most bang for your hard-earned bucks. |
If you're going to carry a balance on a new credit card, look for a low interest rate. |
For many people, credit card annual percentage rates, or APRs, are averaging between 13% to 15%, says John Ulzheimer, president of consumer education for SmartCredit.com. "But some issuers are going as deep as 7.9% on their rates." |
You can also use zero percent introductory rates to your advantage. |
Thanks to the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009, or CARD Act, introductory rates have to stay in place at least six months, as long as you pay on time. So you have that period to put your entire payment toward your balance, he says. |
If you're taking advantage of a balance-transfer offer, make sure you understand how the transfer affects your credit score. |
Pro tip: Don't close the old account after you transfer that balance, says Ulzheimer. |
While your credit score could take a small hit when the new credit card issuer checks it, having additional credit at your disposal could actually improve your score over time. |
Remember not to start running another balance on the old card. Use it just enough -- once every few months for something small, and pay it off in full -- to keep it active. |
What's the Best Way to Use Credit Cards? |
Use your credit cards wisely, and you can gain a free short-term loan on purchases. Pile up balances or pay late, and suddenly you can face expensive debt, fees and other penalties. The secret of smart card use: Take advantage of the perks, and avoid the penalties. |
"If you want to maximize the value (of your cards), you don't want to rack up costs," says Josh Frank, senior researcher at the Center for Responsible Lending. "And with a balance, you rack up costs." |
Also important: making payments on time, he says. Not only do you avoid penalty fees, but you also avoid onerous penalty-rate hikes. |
Some issuers also put your rewards at risk when you pay late, says Frank. You may stop accruing rewards, lose the rewards you've already accumulated or get charged a fee to regain them, he says. |
Paying late can even lower your credit score if the delinquency winds up on your credit report. |
Want to save money? If you carry a balance, you're probably better off with a lower rate than a rewards card, says Frank. Often what you pay in interest is more than what you make in rewards, he says. |
And forget using your card at the ATM. Skip those cash advances, says Dave Jones, president of the Association of Independent Consumer Credit Counseling Agencies. |
"The interest rates on those are always very high," he says. |
Put credit card rewards out of your mind. |
Use the cards as you normally would, giving no thought to rewards programs, says John Ulzheimer, president of consumer education for SmartCredit.com. |
Instead of monitoring the rewards account, let it build and make a note to check on it after a few months. |
"It's a nice surprise," he says, and you don't end up funding your own credit card rewards program. |
When you focus on spending to maximize rewards, there's a good chance you'll start running a balance, says Ulzheimer. When you run a balance, you're paying the credit card issuer far more than you're receiving in rewards -- so that's a losing proposition, he says. |
One caveat: Check in often enough that they don't expire, says Josh Frank, senior researcher at the Center for Responsible Lending. |
Everyone knows about miles, points, cash back and other credit card rewards. However, some credit cards offer other perks that can be just as valuable. |
Here are a few credit card benefits that can save stress and cash. |
Extended warranties. You can often secure an extra year on a warranty just by buying with the right credit card, says Linda Sherry, director of national priorities for Consumer Action. That means you don't have to spend your own money to extend the warranty, she says. |
Traveler's services, such as roadside assistance, travel insurance and lost-bag coverage. |
Theft, breakage and loss protection, or purchase protection, for items bought with your credit card. |
If you familiarize yourself with the fine print or make a quick phone call, you may discover a few hidden perks on your credit cards that can save you money. |
If you're a savvy shopper, you've probably figured out how to scope out the sales, score the deals and get goods and services for less. |
However, you might be able to get even better deals using some of the credit cards that are already in your wallet. That's because some credit card issuers and payment networks offer special discounts to cardholders. |
The specials vary, and the steps you take to get the deal may differ with each credit card. |
You may have to start your online shopping at your card issuer's website before you go to the store sites you like to shop at, says Linda Sherry, director of national priorities for Consumer Action. You may have to register or enroll to get the deals, she says. |
The issuer may also use social networking to deliver discounts, such as the recent partnership between American Express and Foursquare. |
To find out what's available, visit your issuer's website and/or the payment network's site -- such as Visa or MasterCard -- periodically. Read those inserts that come with your bill, since they can alert you to special promotions. |
If you have general credit cards affiliated with certain stores, using them when you shop at those venues can often earn you "preferential treatment," says Sherry. Frequently, "you can get some perks." |
ARSENE WENGER has hailed Arsenal striker Olivier Giroud ahead of the striker's return against Aston Villa. |
Giroud is fit again after missing Arsenal's last two games through illness and injury. |
And while the Gunners continue to be linked with a new strikers in the January transfer market - including £32million-rated Diego Costa - Wenger is just glad to have Giroud back. |
"People want always new names, but what is important for us is that Giroud is back," said Wenger, who has likened the Frenchman's style to former Arsenal striker Alan Smith. |
"He was a bit tired recently, but now he is refreshed and I am sure he will have a major impact on the second part of the season. |
"When you speak to the coaches after the game they say 'oh, what a client he is'. |
"Giroud has qualities that the rest of the squad has not got, he always gives us that strength. |
"We have small players who combine quickly, so to find someone who can hold it, keep the ball, make some room for other players, he does that very well and gives us a very good balance." |
Wenger admits it is something of a "gamble" to rely on Giroud remaining fit all season though. |
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