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WASHINGTON Laura Bush will undergo surgery on Saturday to relieve pain from pinched nerves in her neck, her press secretary said Friday. The problem prevented the first lady from accompanying President Bush to Australia this week for the annual meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Sydney. Bush will be in Australia on Saturday, returning to Washington around dawn Sunday. Spokeswoman Sally McDonough said Mrs. Bush was having elective outpatient surgery. She said the physician would use a minimally invasive procedure to take pressure off the nerve by enlarging the passageway where the nerve sits near the spinal column. The first lady has been in discomfort for some time. She rubbed her right arm repeatedly during a meeting with reporters on Wednesday. Mrs. Bush injured a nerve in her neck and shoulder earlier this year while hiking and has been treated with physical therapy since, McDonough said late last month. Her doctors strongly advised her to not travel overseas, saying such long flights could aggravate the problem and cause complications. When the physical therapy did not work, doctors suggested surgery. McDonough would not reveal where the surgery would be performed, saying that Mrs. Bush is a private citizen, not an elected official. ||||| WASHINGTON (CNN) -- First lady Laura Bush was "resting comfortably at the White House" on Saturday after successful surgery to relieve pressure on pinched nerves in her neck, her press secretary Sally McDonough said in a statement. First lady Laura Bush speaks at the White House in Washington on Wednesday. The surgical procedure -- called a posterior cervical foraminotomy -- lasted 2½ hours. It was described as minimally invasive. The surgery was conducted at the George Washington University Hospital, McDonough said. After the procedure, the first lady spoke with President Bush, who was aboard Air Force One on his way back from the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Australia, McDonough said. "He said she sounded very well," said White House deputy press secretary Dana Perino, according to The Associated Press. "He looks forward to getting back to help her in the recovery." Watch CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta explain the procedure » The pinched nerves led the first lady's doctors to recommend that she skip the trip because of the long flights, CNN's Ed Henry reported. Doctors aren't sure how long Bush has had the pinched nerves, but they were aggravated by hiking in Utah in the spring, McDonough said. "[Doctors] have been treating it conservatively for months," she said of the treatment that led to the decision to have the surgery. E-mail to a friend Copyright 2007 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report. All About Laura Bush • George W. Bush | United States First Lady Laura Bush. United States First Lady Laura Bush underwent elective surgery on Saturday at George Washington University Hospital and is now "resting comfortably at the White House," according to spokeswoman Sally McDonough. Last month, the First Lady injured her neck and shoulder during a hiking trip. The neck surgery, called posterior cervical foraminotomy, was performed to alleviate pressure on several pinched nerves in her neck. Laura was not able to accompany President George W. Bush for the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in Sydney, Australia because of the procedure. The spokeswoman said the outpatient surgery was a minimally invasive procedure, and lasted about two-and-a-half hours. After unsuccessful physical therapy treatments, doctors reportedly suggested surgery. The First Lady reportedly spoke with the President during his trip back from the APEC forum and according to White House deputy press secretary Dana Perino "he Bush said she sounded very well...He looks forward to getting back to help her in the recovery." |
One of Northern Ireland's largest paramilitary groups has completely disarmed itself, marking a milestone in the troubled region's peace process. The Ulster Defence Association (UDA) is the largest and last loyalist paramilitary group to lay down its arms after the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, which largely put an end to three decades of violence in the region. "Today the leadership of the Ulster Defence Association can confirm that all weaponry under its control has been put verifiably beyond use," said UDA political representative Frankie Gallagher. The disarmament was verified by two independent witnesses, the former Church of Ireland primate, Robin Eames, and the former chairman of the Ulster Bank, George Quigley. Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen welcomed the UDA's announcement as "a further significant milestone in the peace process." The loyalist Protestant UDA was responsible for about 400 murders between 1971 and 2001 in its fight with the Catholic Irish Republican Army, who wanted Northern Ireland to merge with the Republic of Ireland in the south. mk/dpa/AFP Editor: Trinity Hartman ||||| Northern Ireland's outlawed Ulster Defence Association says it has fully disarmed DUBLIN, Ireland — The major British Protestant paramilitary group in Northern Ireland, the Ulster Defence Association, announced Wednesday it has fully disarmed - finally meeting the key requirement of the province's 1998 peace accord. The international official overseeing Northern Ireland disarmament, retired Canadian Gen. John de Chastelain, said his officials recently "conducted a major act of decommissioning in which arms, ammunition, explosives and explosive devices belonging to the UDA have been destroyed." In a statement, de Chastelain said Ulster Defence Association leaders had assured him "that these armaments constitute the totality of those under their control." A UDA representative, Frankie Gallagher, told a Belfast press conference that the outlawed group regretted having killed more than 400 people, mostly Catholic civilians, from the 1970s to 1990s. "But we are determined and are willing to play our full part in ensuring that tragedy of the last 40 years will never happen again," he said. The governments of Britain and Ireland - which have spent more than a decade pressing all of Northern Ireland's underground armies to disarm - welcomed the move as a final piece of the peacemaking jigsaw. Irish President Mary McAleese called the disarmament "a very positive milestone on the journey of peace." McAleese, a Belfast-born Catholic, said the latest disarmament shows that Northern Ireland's militant traditions are "being replaced by a culture of consensus, democracy and good neighbourliness." Britain's secretary of state for Northern Ireland, Shaun Woodward, said the UDA move was spurred by his threat to withdraw the amnesty period for handing over weapons. After Feb. 9, anyone who fails to surrender illegally held weapons will face potential imprisonment. Woodward said the belated disarmament demonstrated "that firmness of government policy, with a clear deadline, have produced a startlingly strong outcome, removing some of the most dangerous weapons from the streets." Two community witnesses, retired Protestant Archbishop Robin Eames and former Ulster Bank chairman George Quigley, confirmed that they observed the surrender and destruction of UDA weapons. They, like the UDA and the Canadian general, offered no details on the locations or manner of the weapons handover. The Ulster Defence Association has broadly observed a 1994 cease-fire, but previously refused to surrender its arms - chiefly guns and grenades - citing the continuing threat from Irish Republican Army dissidents based in Catholic areas. De Chastelain has been seeking the disarmament of Northern Ireland's panoply of illegal groups since 1997. The Good Friday peace pact of 1998 called for all truce-observing groups to disarm by mid-2000, but none of the three major groups met that deadline. The Provisional IRA, the best-armed group, surrendered its largely Libyan-supplied weapons stockpile gradually from 2001 to 2005. The other major British Protestant gang, the Ulster Volunteer Force, completed its disarmament last year. The Ulster Defence Association has an estimated 2,000 members, making it by far the largest illegal group in Northern Ireland. It also is the most ill-disciplined, with rival "brigadiers" leading murderous internal feuds as part of power struggles over criminal rackets, including the sale of counterfeit goods and smuggled cigarettes. The IRA and its dissident offshoots spent decades trying to force Northern Ireland out of the United Kingdom, but the IRA's Sinn Fein party today takes part in a power-sharing government alongside the Protestant majority. The Good Friday accord reaffirmed that Northern Ireland would remain in the U.K. as long as a majority of its citizens desire this. The Ulster Defence Association and the Ulster Volunteer Force sought to terrorize the IRA's Catholic support base. Both typically targeted lone Catholics who lived or worked in predominantly Protestant areas and mounted gun-and-grenade attacks on social venues in Catholic districts, such as pubs and gambling shops. The UDA was created in 1971 as an umbrella group for Protestant vigilante groups, and used a cover name - the "Ulster Freedom Fighters" - when claiming responsibility for violence. The UDA often lashed out at Catholics following IRA attacks. In 1993, after the IRA killed nine Protestant civilians in a botched attempt to bomb a Belfast meeting of UDA commanders, the Ulster Defence Association and the Ulster Volunteer Force responded by killing 13 civilians. In the worst attack, a masked gunman shouted "Trick or treat!" before raking a pub filled with Halloween revelers. Copyright © 2010 The Canadian Press. All rights reserved. ||||| An Ulster Defence Association (UDA) mural is seen in south Belfast, Northern Ireland, November 12, 2004. BELFAST A major paramilitary group in Northern Ireland has scrapped all its weapons in front of independent monitors, completing the disarming of the main militant groups but still leaving dangerous dissidents active. The Ulster Defense Association (UDA), a 'loyalist' group which wants Northern Ireland to remain part of the United Kingdom, declared last June that its armed struggle was over and on Wednesday said it had got rid of all its weapons. "The Ulster Defense Association was formed to defend our communities," it said in a statement. "We state quite clearly and categorically that this responsibility now rests with the government and its institutions where legitimacy resides." The Independent International Commission on Decommissioning, set up by the British and Irish governments in 1997, confirmed the UDA's ammunition and explosives had been destroyed. "The leadership of the Ulster Defense Association has informed us that these armaments constitute the totality of those under their control," the commission said, adding that the deadline for other groups to dump arms they might still hold was February 9. The statements confirmed comments on Tuesday from a group close to the paramilitaries which said the UDA's announcement was imminent. Another group, the Ulster Volunteer Force, the most lethal pro-British militant organization, said in June it had disposed of all its weapons. More than 3,600 people were killed in violence between the late 1960s and the 1998 Good Friday peace agreement that led to a power-sharing executive run jointly by former foes. Ireland's Foreign Minister Micheal Martin said the latest move marked an important step in the peace process. "This is a statement of confidence in the political process and in the devolved institutions. Another obstacle to dialogue and partnership has been removed," Martin said in a statement. Efforts to consolidate peace have been challenged by attacks against police by dissident Republican splinter groups which do not recognize the Irish Republican Army's (IRA) ceasefire. Last March the Real IRA and the Continuity IRA killed two British soldiers and a policeman. There also have been signs that cooperation in the executive between Sinn Fein, the political ally of the IRA, and the Democratic Unionist Party could be breaking down due to a dispute over when to take over policing and justice powers from London. A meeting of Sinn Fein leaders in Dublin at the weekend is expected to discuss the future of the Belfast administration. (Writing by Andras Gergely in Dublin; editing by Jon Boyle) ||||| Dutch and international news roundup, distributed daily at 16.00 UTC. Please click the link and send the email message. Dutch Press Review: of the leading Dutch newspapers every weekday. Programme preview. What's on guide. Please click the link and send the email message. Media Network Newsletter, published each Thursday. You can find daily updates on the Media Network Weblog. Euro Hit 40, monthly newsletter about Europe's No. 1 chart show with Tim Fisher | The Ulster Defense Association (UDA), a paramilitary group in Northern Ireland that wants Northern Ireland to remain in the United Kingdom, said today that it has rid itself of its weapons. A statement by the group read, "The Ulster Defense Association was formed to defend our communities. We state quite clearly and categorically that this responsibility now rests with the government and its institutions where legitimacy resides." UDA spokesperson Frankie Gallagher spoke at a press conference in Belfast, stating that the group regrets the approximately 400 people, primarily Catholic civilians, that they were responsible for the murder of between 1971 and 2001. He added, "But we are determined and are willing to play our full part in ensuring that tragedy of the last 40 years will never happen again." The destruction of ammunition and explosives was verified by the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning, stating that other groups have a deadline of February 9 to destroy arms they may still hold, after which they may potentially face imprisonment. Ireland's Foreign Affairs Minister, Micheál Martin, said in a statement, "This is a statement of confidence in the political process and in the devolved institutions. Another obstacle to dialogue and partnership has been removed." Irish President Mary McAleese said the group's choice was "a very positive milestone on the journey of peace." The other main "loyalist" groups, the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) and Red Hand Commandos (RHC), are reported to have destroyed their arms last June, with the Irish Republican Army (IRA) having destroyed their arms four years ago. However, two republican splinter groups, the Continuity Irish Republican Army (CIRA) and the Real Irish Republican Army (RIRA), have refused to lay down their arms and have continued to undertake attacks including three murders in March of 2009. The Real IRA attacked the Massereene Barracks in Antrim, County Antrim on March 7 and killed two British soliders. Three days later, The Continuity IRA claimed responsibility for the murder of Police Service of Northern Ireland officer Stephen Carroll, who was shot by a sniper responding to a call. There is also concern that the power-sharing government between Sinn Féin and the Democratic Unionist Party may collapse because of disagreements between the parties on the issue of transferring policing and justice powers from London. |
Oklahoma turnpike crash kills 9 Investigators don't think the driver of a semi tried to stop before the crash that left eight adults and one child dead in Oklahoma. By SEAN MURPHY Associated Press Photos « 1 of 1 » Gary Crow/AP Photo Rescue workers and authorities work at the scene of a multiple-vehicle accident on Interstate 44 near Miami, Okla., Friday, June 26, 2009. Eight people were killed when a tractor-trailer slammed into a line of cars stopped in traffic on the northeast Oklahoma turnpike. MIAMI, Okla. —Nine people died Friday when a semi slammed into a line of cars stopped by an earlier accident on a northeast Oklahoma turnpike, leaving twisted metal and debris strewn on the highway and stranding miles of traffic in scorching heat. The final victim was found hours after the crash when tow trucks were finally able to dislodge the rig from a car it had crushed. Oklahoma Highway Patrol Lt. George Brown said east-bound traffic was stopped at about 1 p.m. on the Will Rogers Turnpike northeast of Miami because of an earlier crash when the semi slammed into at least three cars, which then crashed into more vehicles. "It looks like a war zone," he said. "There's mangled metal everywhere. There's debris, fluids, dead bodies." Investigators don't believe the driver of the semi tried to stop before the crash that left eight adults and one child dead, Brown said. The speed limit in the area is 75 mph. A criminal investigation was being conducted, as is routine after a fatal accident, and blood was drawn from the truck driver, Brown said. There was no indication alcohol was involved, he said. Tow truck driver Bob Garner of Miami, one of the first on the scene, said two people were rescued from mangled wreckage. "This is the worst one I've ever worked," said Garner, who has been a tow truck driver for 30 years. Jericho Malphrus, 17, was driving on the turnpike with his mom to his hometown of Orient, Ohio, after touring a Bible college in Broken Arrow. "Mainly what struck me was the amount of debris everywhere," Malphrus said. "There were clothes and snacks and debris. Someone's suitcase had busted open and a little girl's clothes were everywhere." His mother, Jodi Malphrus, said the accident happened about 30 car lengths ahead of her and her son. "It was like somebody had dropped a bomb," she said. "It was horrific." She said the first vehicle hit by the truck was an SUV, which was so mangled it could barely be identified as a vehicle. Brown said the truck driver was taken to an area hospital, as was a 12-year-old girl who was pinned for a time in a wrecked vehicle before emergency workers could free her. He did not know their medical conditions. Heather Collier, a spokeswoman for Freeman Hospital in Joplin, Mo., said her hospital saw eight patients from the accident, but she said she could not disclose their medical conditions. The turnpike's eastbound lanes were closed for hours after the accident, which ocurred near the state lines with Missouri and Kansas. Three more accidents happened in the eastbound lanes as cars slowed following the wreck, and there was later a four-car crash on the westbound side of the turn-pike. None of the subsequent accidents involved fatalities. Stalled traffic baked in 100-degree weather and emergency crews delivered water to some stranded motorists. Some got out of their vehicles and walked along the highway shoulder while they waited. Workers from a nearby casino brought bottled water, and emergency officials brought a tanker truck to spray people. Shortly after 5 p.m., one eastbound lane was opened and traffic slowly began to move. ||||| MIAMI, Okla. – A tractor-trailer slammed into a line of cars stopped on a northeast Oklahoma turnpike early Friday afternoon, killing at least nine people, authorities said. The Associated Press Tow trucks worked to lift a tractor-trailer off another vehicle on a northeast Oklahoma turnpike. to lift a tractor-trailer off another vehicle on a northeast Oklahoma turnpike. Traffic was stopped on the Will Rogers Turnpike northeast of Miami because of an earlier crash when the big rig slammed into at least three cars, which then crashed into more vehicles, Oklahoma Highway Patrol Lt. George Brown said. "It looks like a war zone," he said. "There's mangled metal everywhere. There's debris, fluids, dead bodies." Brown said the ninth victim was found hours after the accident when tow trucks finally lifted the truck from a car pancaked under the rig. Two others who died were in that car, but troopers could not tell earlier whether there were more victims in the vehicle. Brown said the wreckage was on a steep embankment, and two tow trucks were working to lift the truck up and off the car. Names of the victims were not available. The truck driver and a 12-year-old girl were taken to hospitals, but their conditions were not available. The girl had been pinned in a wrecked vehicle before emergency workers could free her, Brown said. Heather Collier, a spokeswoman for Freeman Hospital in Joplin, Mo., said her hospital saw eight patients from the accident, but she could not disclose their medical conditions. Investigators don't believe that the driver of the tractor-trailer tried to stop before the crash, Brown said. The speed limit in the area is 75 mph. Jodi Malphrus of Orient, Ohio, said the accident was about 30 car lengths in front of her. "It was like somebody had dropped a bomb," she said. "It was horrific." Eastbound lanes of the turnpike were closed after the accident, which occurred near the border with Missouri and Kansas. Stalled traffic baked in 100-degree temperatures, and emergency crews delivered water to stranded motorists. Shortly after 5 p.m., one eastbound lane was opened and traffic slowly began to move. The Associated Press ||||| Nine people — including a family from Oklahoma City and a 7-year-old boy from Texas — are among the dead after a tractor-trailer caused a seven-car pileup on the Will Rogers Turnpike Friday. Highway Patrol identifies crash victims Published - By Greg Grisolano news@joplinglobe.com Nine people — including a family from Oklahoma City and a 7-year-old boy from Texas — are among the dead after a tractor-trailer caused a seven-car pileup on the Will Rogers Turnpike Friday. Authorities released the names of the deceased on Saturday. A 12-year-old girl from Phoenix, Ariz., was in critical condition after being flown to Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Kan. Those killed include Ethan Hayes, 7; Randall Hayes, 38; both of Frisco, Tex.; and Cynthia Olson, 55, of Crossroads, Tex., who were all trapped in the same car for more than eight hours. Randall Hayes’ wife, Shelby Hayes, 35, was flown to Freeman Hospital in Joplin, where she was listed in critical condition. The Hooks family — 69-year-old Oral, 63-year-old Earlene, 42-year-old Antonio and 41-year-old Dione, all of Oklahoma City — also was pronounced dead on the scene. The Highway Patrol report said they were pinned for more than seven hours before rescuers could reach them. Ricardo Reyes, 39, and his wife Ernestina Reyes, age unknown, both of Phoenix, Ariz., were also pronounced dead at the scene. The couple’s daughter, 12-year-old Andrea Reyes, was flown to Children’s Mercy with head, arm, leg, trunk and internal injuries. She is listed in serious condition, according to a hospital spokesperson. The crash occurred at 1:16 p.m. Friday in the eastbound lane at mile marker 321, near the Oklahoma-Missouri border. The Highway Patrol report stated that traffic was already at a standstill due to a minor wreck when a tractor-trailer unit driving full speed allegedly failed to slow down and collided with another car. That vehicle was spun out of the way, and the truck struck two more cars, which set off a chain reaction in which seven vehicles were damaged or destroyed. The tractor-trailer unit eventually came to rest on top of three of the vehicles. The truck driver, Donald Creed, 76, of Willard, Mo., was treated and released from Freeman Hospital on Saturday, according to a hospital spokesperson. Also released from Freeman on Saturday was Marcella Smith, 62, of Tulsa. Another injury victim, Synthia Tate, 52, of Waynesville, Mo., was listed in fair condition by a hospital spokesperson. The turnpike’s eastbound lanes were closed for more than eight hours before they eventually reopened by 9 p.m. on Friday. | A crash has killed nine people on a turnpike (toll road) northeast of Miami, Oklahoma. The accident occurred on Friday when a semi-trailer truck struck a line of stationary traffic from behind on the Will Rogers Turnpike near state lines with Missouri and Kansas. Traffic had come to a standstill as a result of an earlier accident eastbound when the accident occurred. The road has a speed limit of 75 mph, and it is currently thought that the truck driver made no attempts to stop his vehicle. He was hospitalised. A spokesperson for the nearby Freeman Hospital said eight people were treated there, and it is reported a twelve-year-old girl is among the injured. The girl had to be cut free from the wreckage of her car, and was taken to the Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City where she was in critical condition. Her parents were both killed. The accident occurred at 1p.m., and it was four hours before any eastbound lanes re-opened, leaving vehicles stranded in high temperatures and prompting emergency services to distribute water to motorists. Also killed are an Oklahoma City family of four and a seven-year-old Texas girl and her father. The mother from that family is in a critical condition, and another woman was also killed in the same car. Interstate sign for the route on which the accident occured. Lt. George Brown of the Oklahoma Highway Patrol described the scene: "It looks like a war zone. There's mangled metal everywhere. There's debris, fluids, dead bodies." A man who has worked thirty years as a tow truck driver said the crash was "the worst one I've ever worked." A number of other smaller incidents occurred in the area afterwards. At least three accidents were caused by vehicles slowing down in response to the crash, and four cars collided with each other westbound. No-one was killed in the other accidents. It took hours to locate the last fatality, who was in a car pinned under the semi-trailer. Two tow trucks were required to separate the vehicles. A total of seven vehicles were involved, including three cars which were beneath the truck by the end of the accident sequence. A criminal investigation has been launched. A blood sample has been taken from the truck driver, 76-year-old Donald Creed, who has been released from hospital after treatment. There is no indication alcohol was a factor in the accident. |
Alaska Supreme Court justice Walter Carpeneti, right, questions attorneys during oral arguments before the Alaska Supreme Court in Anchorage, Alaska, Wednesday Oct. 8, 2008 on whether to shut down an abuse-of-power investigation into Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. Justices Robert Eastaugh, center and Warren Matthews, listen. The state Supreme Court refused Thursday, Oct. 9, 2008 to halt the ethics investigation into Gov. Sarah Palin. (AP Photo/Al Grillo) Alaska panel finds Palin abused power in firing ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Sarah Palin unlawfully abused her power as governor by trying to have her former brother-in-law fired as a state trooper, the chief investigator of an Alaska legislative panel concluded Friday. The politically charged inquiry imperiled her reputation as a reformer on John McCain's Republican ticket. Investigator Stephen Branchflower, in a report by a bipartisan panel that investigated the matter, found Palin in violation of a state ethics law that prohibits public officials from using their office for personal gain. The inquiry looked into her dismissal of Public Safety Commissioner Walter Monegan, who said he lost his job because he resisted pressure to fire a state trooper involved in a bitter divorce with the governor's sister. Palin says Monegan was fired as part of a legitimate budget dispute. The report found that Palin let the family grudge influence her decision-making even if it was not the sole reason Monegan was dismissed. "I feel vindicated," Monegan said. "It sounds like they've validated my belief and opinions. And that tells me I'm not totally out in left field." Branchflower said Palin violated a statute of the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act. "I disagree," said Palin attorney Thomas Van Flein. "In order to violate the ethics law, there has to be some personal gain, usually financial. Mr. Branchflower has failed to identify any financial gain." The statute says "any effort to benefit a personal or financial interest through official action is a violation of that (public) trust." Palin and McCain's supporters had hoped the inquiry's finding would be delayed until after the presidential election to spare her any embarrassment and to put aside an enduring distraction as she campaigns as McCain's running mate in an uphill contest against Democrat Barack Obama. But the panel of lawmakers voted to release the report, although not without dissension. There was no immediate vote on whether to endorse its findings. "I think there are some problems in this report," said Republican state Sen. Gary Stevens, a member of the panel. "I would encourage people to be very cautious, to look at this with a jaundiced eye." The nearly 300-page report does not recommend sanctions or a criminal investigation. The investigation revealed that Palin's husband, Todd, has extraordinary access to the governor's office and her closest advisers. He used that access to try to get trooper Mike Wooten fired, the report found. Branchflower faulted Sarah Palin for taking no action to stop that. He also noted there is evidence the governor herself participated in the effort. Wooten had been in hot water before Palin became governor over allegations that he illegally shot a moose, drank beer in a patrol car and used a Taser on his stepson. In proceedings revealed by the report, former Alaska State Trooper Col. Julia Grimes told investigators that Sarah Palin called her in late 2005 to discuss why Wooten hadn't been fired, and Grimes told her the inquiry was confidential by law. "Her questions were how can a trooper who behaves this way still be working," Grimes said. "I asked her to please trust me, that because I can't tell her details I would ask her to please trust me that I would take the appropriate action if and when I knew what the findings were. ... I couldn't have another conversation with her about it because, again, it's protected by law." Grimes said Todd Palin also contacted her by telephone in late 2005 to discuss the confidential investigation of Wooten. Wooten's disciplinary case was settled in September 2006 — months before Palin was elected governor — and he was allowed to continue working as a trooper. After Palin's election, her new public safety commissioner, Monegan, said he was summoned to the governor's office to meet Todd Palin, who said Wooten's punishment had been merely a "slap on the wrist." Monegan said he understood the Palins wanted Wooten fired. "I had this kind of ominous feeling that I may not be long for this job if I didn't somehow respond accordingly," Monegan told the investigator. For months afterward, Todd Palin filed complaints about Wooten, saying he was seen riding a snowmobile after he had filed a worker's compensation claim and was seen dropping off his children at school in his patrol car. Monegan said Wooten's doctor had authorized the snowmobile trip and his supervisor had approved his use of the patrol car. Monegan said Alaska's attorney general later called him to inquire about Wooten, and Monegan told him they shouldn't be discussing the subject. "This was an issue that apparently wasn't going to go away, that there were certainly frustrations," Monegan said. "To say that (Sarah Palin) was focused on this I think would be accurate." ||||| Al Grillo / Associated Press Palin's unhappiness that Mike Wooten, pictured on the right, had not been fired was "a likely contributing factor" in the firing of former Commissioner of Public Safety Walt Monegan, left, the report found. CAMPAIGN '08 Palin ethics lapse cited Email Picture Al Grillo / Associated Press Palin's unhappiness that Mike Wooten, pictured on the right, had not been fired was "a likely contributing factor" in the firing of former Commissioner of Public Safety Walt Monegan, left, the report found. Alaska investigators say it was OK to fire a state commissioner, but her efforts against a trooper went too far. The report found that his refusal to fire the trooper was "likely a contributing factor" in Monegan's termination in July, but it also concluded that the governor's decision was "a proper and lawful exercise of her constitutional and statutory authority" to hire and fire department heads. Though the findings partially vindicate Palin's claims that she had legitimate reasons for firing Monegan, their suggestion that she used her husband and staff to conduct a campaign against a state employee in what was perceived by some as a personal vendetta could damage her ability to portray herself as a reform-minded, experienced executive ready to step into the White House as John McCain's vice president. The Democratic Party was quick to use the report as fresh ammunition. "Gov. Palin has violated Alaskans' trust," said Patti Higgins, Alaska's state Democratic Party chairwoman. "I hope that in light of this finding, Gov. Palin will stop playing partisan politics to the detriment of Alaska's future." Your Vote Do you agree with the Alaska lawmakers' decision to release the 'Troopergate' report? Yes No Palin has insisted that Monegan was fired because he flouted her plans to limit spending in his department. Todd Palin has admitted he made several inquiries about Wooten because of concerns that the trooper had behaved improperly, by driving under the influence of alcohol, shooting a moose without a permit, threatening Palin's father and striking his own stepson with a low-level electric Taser. "We feel the governor is vindicated. . . . She had the authority and acted with the proper authority" in removing Monegan, Meghan Stapleton, a McCain-Palin campaign spokeswoman, said in an interview. She said neither the governor nor her husband had done anything "but what the state dictates" and had legitimate concerns about Wooten's behavior. "Todd will do what he has to do to protect his family and the community against an abusive trooper," Stapleton said. Yet the report documents a clear campaign within the governor's office to get rid of Wooten, despite Monegan's repeated warnings that the state was risking a lawsuit as a result of the contacts because Wooten had already been investigated and disciplined in connection with the same complaints. These contacts came not only from the governor herself -- who spoke to Monegan personally, by telephone and by e-mail -- but from her chief of staff, several other senior staff members and even the state attorney general. The report establishes for the first time that Palin deliberately set up Todd Palin to handle communications over the Wooten matter after Monegan warned her it was inappropriate for her to be making such contacts herself. The governor and her husband were motivated by "passion and frustration," Monegan testified. "They wanted severe discipline, probably termination, and . . . I had this ominous feeling that I may not be long for this job if I didn't somehow respond accordingly." Branchflower concluded in his report that these contacts were a breach of ethics and an abuse of the governor's office. "The evidence supports the conclusion that Gov. Palin, at the least, engaged in 'official action' by her inaction, if not her active participation or assistance to her husband in attempting to get Trooper Wooten fired," the investigation concluded, adding that "there is evidence of her active participation." The report found that Palin "knowingly, as that term is defined in the [ethics] statutes, permitted Todd Palin to use the governor's office and the resources of the governor's office, including access to state employees, to continue to contact subordinate state employees in an effort to find some way to get Trooper Wooten fired." The report also said that Todd Palin at one point asked to see Wooten's personnel file. The state Ethics Act holds that public officials have a duty of public trust that prevents them from attempting to benefit a personal or financial interest through official action. The report made no specific recommendations on penalties or how to proceed. Civil penalties range, theoretically, from impeachment by the Legislature to a reprimand or a fine of up to $5,000 by the state personnel board, but most legislative sources thought it unlikely any action would be taken. "We have the power to investigate. We have the power to change law based on the investigation. We don't have the power to convene a grand jury, for example, and seek an indictment," Sen. Kim Elton, the Democratic chairman of the legislative council, said in a telephone interview. "We understood at the beginning that we were on a fact-finding mission, but we don't have the power to prosecute." Twelve members of the Legislature's 14-member Legislative Council, the interim body that meets when the Legislature is not in session, deliberated in closed session over the findings for most of the day before voting unanimously to release the 263-page document publicly. Two members voted by telephone. | Sarah Palin, Republican nominee for Vice President. An Alaskan legislative investigation, nicknamed 'Troopergate', concluded Friday that Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin had abused her power during her time as Alaskan governor. The report, released by a bipartisan investigative committee, found that Palin had violated the state Ethics Act when she allowed her husband to pressure former Commissioner of Public Safety Walt Monegan into firing state trooper Mike Wooten; however, she was well within her rights to fire Monegan because of disagreement on budget cuts. Sarah Palin had "knowingly permitted a situation to continue where impermissible pressure was placed on several subordinates in order to advance a personal agenda," the report went on to say. Todd Palin, her husband, admitted to trying to forcefully remove Wooten because of alleged actions such as driving under the influence, threatening Palin's father, and using a Taser gun on his son. The pressure came after a hostile divorce between the governor's sister and ex-husband, who was accused of threatening the family. The governor's explanations of her reasons for firing Monegan had been inconsistent, from denying a "personality conflict" to insubordination and incompetence. She consistently denied, however, the firing being related to Wooten. "The Palins make no apologies," a statement released by her campaign said, "for wanting to protect their family and wanting to bring attention to the injustice of a violent trooper keeping his badge and abusing the workers' compensation system". While the investigative committee had agreed unanimously to release the report, a few Republicans on the panel had attempted to halt the investigation, citing political bias. Republican Senator Gary Stevens warned voters to be "cautious" and to "realize there's much more in it than just the one-page findings". |
North Korea 'ready for sacred war' with the South Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play. North Korea is ready for a "sacred war of justice" using a nuclear deterrent, its armed forces minister has said. Kim Yong-chun accused South Korea of making preparations for war by holding live-fire exercises near the border. The drills are one of the largest in South Korea's history, and come a month after North Korea shelled a Southern island killing four people. The US state department condemned the North's latest comments as returning to its "old belligerent tricks". "We need constructive actions, not heated rhetoric," said spokesman Philip Crowley on his Twitter page, without specifying any actions. South Korean President Lee Myung-bak has promised immediate retaliation to any further Northern attack. The BBC's John Sudworth says people on the Korean peninsula are used to fiery rhetoric from Pyongyang, but as the tension escalates, the danger is that one side will feel forced to act on its threats. 'Military provocation' The South Korean army acknowledged that the drill was aimed to display its firepower. Although the South has conducted 47 military drills this year, this is the largest winter live-fire exercise ever conducted on land. The North earlier branded Seoul's exercises "warmongering" but until now had not threatened the South with any retaliation. Continue reading the main story Analysis There is no doubt that the verbal ante is being upped by both sides here at the moment. I don't think we should read too much into it. It's the sort of thing we've heard from North Korea before. It's threatened to use its nuclear deterrent in the past. But I think there will be people who worry that what's happening is that as each side lays down this conditional threat, a line is being drawn in the sand and it's tempting the other side to cross over it. And the worry is that if you keep talking tough, both North and South Korea, eventually you may be forced to act on it. During a meeting in the North Korean capital, Mr Kim, quoted by Pyongyang's Korean Central News Agency, accused the South of preparing for a new Korean War. "The South Korean puppet forces perpetrated such grave military provocation as renewing their shelling against the DPRK [North Korea] during their recent exercises for a war of aggression in the West Sea [Yellow Sea] of Korea," he said. "This indicates that the enemy's scenario for aggression aimed at the start of another Korean War, has reached the phase of its implementation." "The revolutionary armed forces of the DPRK are getting fully prepared to launch a sacred war of justice of Korean style based on the nuclear deterrent at anytime necessary to cope with the enemies' actions deliberately pushing the situation to the brink of a war," he added. Despite possessing enough plutonium to create a bomb, the North is not thought to have succeeded in building a nuclear weapon. Both China and Russia have called on the South to defuse tensions and US officials too are privately expressing their concern about Seoul's new, more aggressive stance. South Korea and the US had already been conducting large-scale military exercises, following the apparent torpedoing of a South Korean warship by the North on 26 March, which killed 46 south Korean sailors. Efforts to redirect the Korean issue back to the negotiating table have been unsuccessful. China and the North say it is time to return to the six-nation talks about North Korea's nuclear programmes. But the US, South Korea and Japan have said they will not return to such talks, which have previously involved rewards for the North if it cuts back on nuclear development. North Korea walked out of the six-party talks in April 2009 and expelled UN nuclear inspectors from the country. ||||| North Korea Makes 'Sacred War' Threat To view this content you need Flash and Javascript enabled in your browser. Please download Flash from the Adobe download website. Pete Norman, Sky News Online North Korea has threatened to launch a "sacred war" against South Korea as tensions rise on the Korean peninsula. The threat from the North comes amid South Korea's largest ever live-fire military exercises near the heavily fortified border. North Korea says it is ready to launch the "sacred war", accusing South Korea of exacerbating tensions on the peninsula. The North's state media reports that defence chief Kim Yong Chun made the remarks during a national meeting in the capital of Pyongyang. The Korean Central News Agency quoted Kim as saying that North Korea is "fully prepared to launch a sacred war" because South Korea is deliberately pushing the peninsula to the brink of a war. The two Koreas are technically still at war The North, which has actively pursued a covert atomic programme also noted it has nuclear capabilities. North Korea's anger has been piqued by South Korea's staging of military drills near a front-line island Pyongyang attacked last month. Earlier in the week, however, North Korea said it would not deign to respond to the provocation. The drills, at mountainous training grounds about 20 miles from the Koreas' heavily fortified border, signalled South Korea's determination to demonstrate and hone its military strength at the risk of further escalation with North Korea. North Korea fired dozens of shells at the island last month International observers believe the military show of force was primarily to reassure South Koreans rather than threaten North Korea. President Lee Myung-bak, while separately visiting a front-line army base near their eastern land border, vowed a strong response to any new attacks by the North. "I had thought that we could safeguard peace if we had patience, but that wasn't the case," Lee told troops. "Now we should have a strong response to (North Korea's provocations), so that we can safeguard peace, deter aggression and prevent a war." South Korea is supported militarily with US-made equipment The military drills lasted less than 45 minutes and were the biggest-ever wintertime air and ground firing exercises, in terms of the number of weapons mobilised and fired officials said. "The latest drills were aimed at bolstering South Korea's capability of destroying the enemy at a single stroke by paralysing its combat capability with our powerful firepower and manoeuvring equipment," Brig. Gen. Joo Eun-sik said. Exactly one month ago, routine South Korean live-fire drills from Yeonpyeong Island in the Yellow Sea triggered a shower of North Korean artillery that killed two marines and two construction workers. It was the first military attack on a civilian area since the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce - the two Koreas remain technically at war because the conflict ended in a cease-fire, not a peace treaty. North Korea has warned the South of its nuclear capabilities North Korea, which claims the waters around the South Korean-held island lying just seven miles from its shores as its territory, accused the South of sparking the exchange by ignoring Pyongyang's warnings against staging the live-fire drills near their disputed maritime border. The military tension over the past month has soared, and comes on the heels of the March sinking of a South Korean warship that a Seoul-led international investigation blamed on Pyongyang, but which North Korea denies. Meanwhile, a former US ambassador who has returned from a peacekeeping trip to the Korean peninsula warned that the military exercises might inflame the region. New Mexico governor Bill Richardson said that tensions between North and South Korea could flare if the South continues military drills and the North abandons intentions to refrain from retaliation. The unofficial envoy said "that diplomacy is needed to get us out of this tinderbox." | A senior North Korean official said his country is prepared for a "sacred war of justice" with South Korea involving . The country's armed forces minister, , said the North Korean government considered the planned South Korean military exercises to be preparation for armed warfare. File photograph of North Korean troops. The official said there would be retaliation if the largest military exercises ever to be held by the South were to go ahead. North Korean state media reported that Yong-Chun, at a national meeting in Pyongyang, said his country was "fully prepared to launch a sacred war" because the South is purposefully provoking tensions on the . "The revolutionary armed forces of the DPRK North Korea are getting fully prepared to launch a sacred war of justice of Korean style based on the nuclear deterrent at anytime necessary to cope with the enemies' actions deliberately pushing the situation to the brink of a war," added Yong-Chun. The president of South Korea, , promised a strong response to any attack from the North. "Now we should have a strong response to North Korea's provocations, so that we can safeguard peace, deter aggression and prevent a war," he said. Tensions between the two countries have been increasing dramatically since last month, when the North shelled Yeonpyeong Island, killing four. South Korea held military exercises earlier this week in which the North had threatened "self-defensive blows" if they went ahead, but there was no retaliation from Pyongyang. |
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A fight to save the Uist to Barra air service will taken to the Scottish Parliament. Stornoway SNP councillors Rae Mackenzie and Gordon Murray have launched a petition to be lodged with the parliament’s public petitions committee. The petitions committee is coming to the Western Isles next month and the two councillors are urging all islanders to bback the campaign to reinstate the lifeline air link which connects Barra with the rest of the Western Isles. The petition reads:“To petition the Scottish Parliament that Comhairle nan Eilean Siar maintains its support for the lifeline air services between Stornoway, Benbecula and Barra” It adds: “The petitioners believing that the Comhairle’s current proposals risk the future of all internal flights within the Outer Hebrides and would severely undermine the transport connections which have been built up between the islands over the last forty years, with serious implications for the local economy and community. It seeks “the petitions committee of the Scottish Parliament to ensure the Comhairle fulfils its air transport Public Service obligations in the Hebrides and to examine the implications for people in all Scotland’s island communities of this appalling move.” Mr Murray has informally discussed the Barra plane petition with MSP David Stewart, the convenor of the Public Petitions Committee. On Thursday, Comhairle nan Eilean Siar voted to axe the Uist - Barra air link from the end of March and to use the saved £148,000 to shore up its budget. ||||| SNP STATEMENT (COMHAIRLE STATEMENT BELOW) PETITION LAUNCHED IN SUPPORT OF INTER ISLAND AIR SERVICES Angus B MacNeil MP and Alasdair Allan MSO, along with SNP Councillors Rae Mackenzie and Gordon Murray today attended the launch of a petition to maintain the inter island air services within the Hebrides. Comhairle Nan Eilean Siar last night voted to withdraw the subsidy for the flight between Benbecula and Barra and voted to cut back the Stornoway to Benbecula service to 3 days a week beginning from April 1st 2013. The petition will be lodged with the Scottish Parliament’s petitions committee with the aim of it being discussed by the committee when they visit Stornoway next month. Angus MacNeil commented: “I would urge everyone who can to sign this petition which will shortly be available on line and in local shops throughout the Hebrides over the coming days. This decision, if implemented, these cuts will severely undermine the current inter island connections, and will set back the transport connections that have been so important in connecting the North and South in the Hebrides over the past 40 years. Alasdair Allan commented: “I was delighted to be at the launch of this petition today, and I hope people will take the opportunity to sign it. Having used the service between Barra and Benbecula yesterday and between Benbecula and Stornoway today I know how vital this service is to linking the islands.This petition from Cllrs Murray and Mackenzie is illustration to the huge concern there is around this issue.” INTER ISLAND AIR SERVICES SEIRBHISEAN ADHAR NAN EILEAN “To petition the Scottish Parliament that Comhairle nan Eilean Siar maintains its support for the lifeline air services between Stornoway, Benbecula and Barra; the petitioners believing that the Comhairle’s current proposals risk the future of all internal flights within the Outer Hebrides and would severely undermine the transport connections which have been built up between the islands over the last forty years, with serious implications for the local economy and community; asks the petitions committee of the Scottish Parliament to ensure the Comhairle fulfils its air transport Public Service obligations in the Hebrides and to examine the implications for people in all Scotland’s island communities of this appalling move”. Petitioners: Cllr Gordon Murray and Cllr Rae Mackenzie, Stornoway AND NOW THE COMHAIRLE STATEMENT The Leader of Comhairle nan Eilean Siar has responded to comments from Western Isles MP Angus Macneil and Alasdair Allan MSP and Scottish Government Minister over the Barra/Benbecula air service. The Comhairle currently subsidises the route but is ending the funding because of the requirement for local government cutbacks. Local Authority funding has been frozen which means the Comhairle has to find the cost of inflation, some £3.2m over two years. The Comhairle is also faced with a grant reduction from the Scottish Government of £2.1m by 2014/15 These factors make up the bulk of a budget shortfall of £5.5m. “Three quarters of seats are flown empty” – comhairle claim MP Angus Macneil and MSP Alasdair Allan have both said the Comhairle should continue to fund the £148k Barra/Benebecula service which is mainly used for local authority, health board and tourism purposes. A recent study showed that in 2011 a third of passengers were sightseers, 14% were NHS employees and 4% were Council staff. The subsidy per passenger per one-way trip is £83. Three quarters of seats are flown empty. Passenger numbers on the Sound of Barra ferry are more than 20 times those on the air service. Mr Macneil has claimed the Comhairle has ‘pocketed the cash’ and has a ‘moral duty’ to continue the air service. Comhairle Leader Angus Campbell said: “I am extremely disappointed at the comments made by our MP in relation to the budget. The use of the term ‘pocketing the money’ shows a disrespect for the democratic process of local Government. “The matter of the air service to Barra cannot be taken in isolation but has to be part of the priorities expressed to us through the budget consultation process and considered against all the other areas of expenditure which have had to take their share of funding cuts. Having had to make £5.5m of savings on top of the £10 million in the past two years meant we had to look at all areas including home care, education and voluntary groups and it is disappointing that our MP has not identified where he would prefer to take that money from which is precisely the task councillors had to do. “I would ask both Mr Macneil and Dr Allan to stand shoulder to shoulder with the Comhairle to campaign for increased funding for the Western Isles to help deal with these issues rather than turning on their democratically elected local council over individual issues they don’t particularly like. Many of the cuts that had to be made were not things that any of us would want to do and in many cases were done very reluctantly. However councillors stood up to their responsibility and took these difficult decisions and I would suggest Mr Macneil has a moral duty to recognise that fact.” ||||| SNP councillors launched an inter island air services petition today (Friday 15th) following yesterday’s decision taken by the Comhairle to stop flights between Barra and Benbecula and reduce the service between Benbecula and Stornoway to just three days a week. The petition was launched by Cllr Gordon Murray and Cllr Rae Mackenzie. Western Isles MP Angus MacNeil and Cllr Philip Maclean were also present at the petition launch at Stornoway Airport today. The petition states: “the petitioners believe that the Comhairle’s current proposals risk the future of all internal flights within the Outer Hebrides and would severely undermine the transport connections which have been built up between the island over forty years...” Cllr Mackenzie said he was “disappointed but not surprised” at the decision to cut and reduce air services in the Western Isles. He explained that SNP had worked closely with the Director of Finance on their alternative budget that would have retained air service provision. “It was a competent alternative,” he said. Cllr Maclean said that the SNP group intend to present the petition at the Scottish Parliament Day to be held in Stornoway on March 15th. The SNP Group were clear that they believe this is a backwards step that will affect “the unity of the islands”. Angus MacNeil MP said: “The last people who should be questioning transport in the Western Isles is the Western Isles Council.” He said: “I do appreciate that ring fencing of this money has been removed but I feel that the Comhairle have a moral obligation to use this money on what it was intended for. Otherwise, the signal they will be sending to the Scottish Government is that they do not think transport subsidy is important. This would be a very dangerous road to go down, to signal that an island council does not value or understand the need for transport subsidies to the lesser populated areas of the islands.” Speaking at the budget meeting at full council yesterday Leader of the Comhairle Angus Campbell said: “Today’s budget, the first of this council, is the third year running that we have faced a cash reduction in funding. Having made savings of £10 million in the previous two years, including around £5 million from internal efficiencies, we were faced with much harder choices.” He added: “This budget has been the most difficult we have faced during my time as a councillor.” ||||| Anger over scrapping Uist - Barra plane link 15/2/13 The Comhairle’s decision to scrap the Benbecula to Barra air link has been condemned by the islands’ parliamenterians. SNP MP Angus B MacNeil said he was taken aback that six Southern Isles councillors voted to get rid of the plane service. Mr Macneil said: "I am disappointed that Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, despite SNP councillors voting against, have decided to axe part of Scotland's transport infrastructure. “The effective reduction of Stornoway to Benbecula air link and the complete axing of the Benbecula to Barra air link is a retrograde step. "Basically the Comhairle are given money by the Scottish government to run these services but are now axing these services while pocketing the cash.” He stressed: “It also has serious political consequences when the Comhairle can place such little importance on transport subsidies to its own outlying areas when we argue and defend our case in Edinburgh for the islands generally. "It seems quite amazing that six out of seven councillors from Uist and Barra except Donald Manford votes to cut air services for their communities." "I also hope that this does not lead to a reduction in numbers using the hospital in Stornoway given the Comhairle's transport cuts.” Speaking from Benbecula, Alasdair Allan said: "As someone who used the Barra to Benbecula flight today, it is clear to me what importance this service has in keeping the Western Isles connected. "I have recognised the financial pressure under which the council finds itself, but to effectively axe this lifeline service is a significant blow to the community. "The SNP council group did not vote for these cuts and proposed alternative budget measures. It is deeply disappointing that the council as a whole did not take the same view." ||||| Last call for boarding as island flights given the axe A Western Isles lifeline air service will be axed within weeks after the islands council voted to abolish its £148,000 subsidy as part of budget cuts agreed last night. The Barra to Benbecula service is to go, meaning islanders will face rough sea voyages by ferry to get anywhere else in the Western Isles. The threat to the Benbecula to Stornoway leg of the inter-island air service is suspended for just two weeks to try and persuade Western Isles NHS to pay more expensive, unsubsidised, fares. Otherwise, the plane service will be downgraded to three days a week from the end of March. For the full story, pick up a copy of today’s Press and Journal or read our digital edition now. ||||| Concerns raised by the public were reflected in a toned-down list of service cuts agreed by councillors as part of the budget for 2013/14 today (Thursday). Nearly £5million of savings had to be found for the next two years but a balanced budget has now been set. Itinerant teaching provision will remain in island schools to some degree with £260,000 committed with services allocated ‘based on educational need’. Smaller savings are to be made through the introduction of an Asymmetric Week and cuts initially proposed to Home Care will also be reduced. Flights between Barra and Benbecula will be stopped, however, and services between Stornoway and Benbecula will be reduced to three days a week unless NHS Western Isles will commit to paying cost price for flights. Cuts to the charity Penumbra were minimised as was support for the Local Area Coordinator post in Uist. The proposal for a Shared Headship between Tolsta and Sgoil a’Bhac will proceed. The plans put forward by Leader Angus Campbell were challenged in two amendments; one by the SNP Group who presented an alternative budget and a further amendment by Cllr DJ Macrae calling for a cut of just £2,000 to Penumbra over two years. The SNP’s amendment was defeated 24 votes to six, but was mistakenly supported by Labour councillor DJ Macrae. Mr Macrae’s amendment was defeated 23 votes to seven. The alternative budget proposal put forward by the SNP’s Cllr Rae Mackenzie included the retention of Itinerant teaching in full as well as the continuation of funding for air services, Community Transport, Additional Support Needs and more. This would be offset by the reduction in staffing in some Comhairle departments and service redesign. There would be reductions to Business Support; Arts Development; Tourism and Creative Industries – budget choices rejected by councillors previously. They would also make savings by scrapping ward funding for one year and using some reserves. The plan called for work to begin on restructure and redesign of the Comhairle’s organisational structures from 2014. The budget set by the Comhairle is for the next year as well as a provisional budget for next year. It retains a Council Tax level at Band D of £1024 in the Western Isles, the lowest inScotland. Comhairle Leader Angus Campbell said: “This budget has been the most difficult we have faced during my time as a councillor but with a lot of hard work and the support of our communities we have arrived at a balanced budget for 2013/14 that builds on our stable financial position. Provided we follow them through the proposals before us will also form a sound basis for the 2014/15 budget.” | In the Outer Hebrides of Scotland, two councillors from the Scottish National Party (SNP) began a petition Friday, the day after — the local government council for the Western Isles — said it would discontinue flight services between the islands of and as part of its 2013 / 2014 budget. File photo of plane at in September 2010. The petition — entitled "To petition the that Comhairle nan Eilean Siar maintains its support for the lifeline air services between , Benbecula and Barra" — has also been launched in response to another council decision to restrict flight services between the islands of Benbecula and to three days a week, although the move has been temporarily suspended for two weeks to allow for to provide funding for said services. Otherwise, the changes come into effect late next month. Gordon Murray and Rae MacKenzie, the two councillors who launched the petition, are both from the town of Stornoway in the isle of Lewis. At the council's meeting, Councillor MacKenzie suggested an alternative budget retaining flight service financing. The petition says the council's decisions "risk the future of all internal flights within the Outer Hebrides and would severely undermine the transport connections which have been built up between the islands over the last forty years, with serious implications for the local economy and community." The council's decision to remove the 148,000 (about 230,000 or 172,000) subsidy means Benbecula – Barra flights are to cease operation within the next few weeks. When the decision comes into effect, travelling between the islands will only be available through the use of ferry services. The council, which was trying to achieve about £5 million (US$7.75 million or €5.8 million) in spending reductions, said some 75% of seats on these flights were vacant. , for , and , for , both of whom are SNP members, have criticised the council's decision. MacNeil said he was "disappointed" about the move and claimed Comhairle nan Eilean Siar was "axing these services while pocketing the cash" provided to them by the . Meanwhile, Allan said the council's action was "a significant blow to the community". He said, from Benbecula: "As someone who used the Barra to Benbecula flight today, it is clear to me what importance this service has in keeping the Western Isles connected." Council leader Angus Campbell subsequently criticised MacNeil for his remarks, saying he was "extremely disappointed" by them. "The use of the term 'pocketing the money' shows a disrespect for the democratic process of local Government", he said. He also requested that MacNeil and Allan "stand shoulder to shoulder with the Comhairle to campaign for increased funding for the Western Isles to help deal with these issues rather than turning on their democratically elected local council over individual issues they don’t particularly like." Campbell described the council's 2013 / 2014 budget as "the most difficult we have faced during my time as a councillor." == Sources == * * * * * * |
Register for NYTimes.com. Breaking news and award winning multimedia New York Times newspaper articles Arts & Dining reviews Online Classifieds It's free and it only takes a minute! Member ID or E-Mail Address: Password: Forgot Your Password? Remember me on this computer. ||||| (CNN) -- President Obama lauded the U.S. military in Baghdad on Tuesday during an unannounced visit to Iraq, reminding troops that the next 18 months will be difficult as the United States plans to start withdrawing its forces. President Obama greets troops during a visit to Camp Victory on Tuesday. more photos » "I was just discussing this with your commander, but I think it's something that all of you know. It is time for us to transition to the Iraqis," Obama said, according to a transcript from the White House. "They need to take responsibility for their country and for their sovereignty. "And in order for them to do that, they have got to make political accommodations. They're going to have to decide that they want to resolve their differences through constitutional means and legal means. They are going to have to focus on providing government services that encourage confidence among their citizens." Obama reiterated that Iraqis must do those things themselves, and "we can't do it for them." "But what we can do is make sure that we are a stalwart partner, that we are working alongside them, that we are committed to their success," he added. Watch Obama thank the troops » Obama said that in terms of training the Iraqi security forces, the U.S. must make sure "they know that they have a steady partner with us." Obama's visit to Iraq was the last stop on his first trip overseas as president. The president thanked the troops for giving Iraq "the opportunity to stand on its own as a democratic country." Read the transcript The president addressed about 1,500 service members, civilians and contractors who gathered in the rotunda of the Al Faw Palace, one of dozens of palaces that were used by former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. The palace is now headquarters for the Multi-National Corps. Obama last month announced the United States' plan to withdraw most of its troops from Iraq by the end of August 2010. A residual force of between 35,000 to 50,000 troops will remain until December 31, 2011. There are 142,000 American troops in Iraq now. Gen. Ray Odierno, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, met Obama shortly after Air Force One landed Tuesday in Baghdad at about 4:42 p.m. The troops "are doing extraordinary work," Obama said shortly after landing. "They're just putting their heart and soul into this." About 600 troops assembled to greet the president at Camp Victory, near the Baghdad airport. Yassin Majid, the spokesman for Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, said Obama met with the prime minister, and they discussed bilateral relations and other issues. Obama also was to meet with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and the nation's two vice presidents. Ali Jalal, a businessman, called Obama's visit "a good sign to Iraqi people, and will solve the political crisis." "If God wills, he [Obama] should know that Iraq belongs to Iraqis," Jalal said, then added, "I ask the U.S. President Barack Obama to solve the problems of Iraqi people and to speed up the withdrawal of U.S. troops." Government employee Nazar Sami-a said, "His visit is for Americans' interest and not for Iraqi interest." Obama arrived in Europe last week for a series of summits, initially meeting with world leaders at the G-20 summit in London, England, to discuss the global financial crisis. At the NATO summit in France and Germany, the president was hoping to get a boost in resources for the war in Afghanistan. He did get allies to pledge about 5,000 troops, but in the form of police and security trainers, not combat troops. During the campaign season, Obama visited Iraq on a multi-stop overseas trip. That trip also included stops in Afghanistan, Jordan, Israel, Germany, France and the United Kingdom. A new CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll found that 79 percent of Americans surveyed feel that Obama has had a "more positive" effect on how people in other countries view the United States. Only 19 percent of those surveyed thought he's had a "more negative" effect. The poll also indicated that only 35 percent of Americans currently approve of the U.S. war in Iraq; 65 percent disapprove. Almost seven in 10 Americans agree with Obama's plan to remove most U.S. troops from Iraq by next August, while leaving a residual force of between 35,000 and 50,000 troops. CNN's Ed Henry and Mohammed Tawfeeq contributed to this report. All About Barack Obama • Turkey • NATO ||||| Obama lands in Iraq for first visit as president BAGHDAD (AP) — On a trip shrouded in secrecy, President Barack Obama flew into Iraq on Tuesday for a brief inspection of a war he opposed as a candidate and now vows to end as commander in chief. "There is still a lot of work to do here," he said. Obama's motorcade rolled past troops standing at attention, en route to a meeting with several hundred men and women among the 139,000 American forces stationed in the country. His gleaming white and blue Air Force One touched down hours after a car bomb exploded in a Shiite neighborhood of the capital city, a deadly reminder of the violence that has claimed the lives at least 4,266 members of the U.S. military and thousands more Iraqis since March 2003. Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | American President Barack Obama made an unannounced visit to Iraq today, ''The New York Times'' reported Tuesday. This is Obama's first visit to Iraq since he became president. Barack Obama, 2009 Air Force One touched down at 4:42 p.m. local time (1:42 p.m. UTC, 9:42 EDT), amid heavy security at Baghdad International Airport. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters that the trip to Iraq was due to Iraq's proximity to Turkey — where Obama was finishing a week-long visit to Europe — and that American soldiers in Iraq deserved the attention and appreciation of their president. "Our men and women who are in harm's way, either in Iraq or Afghanistan, deserve our utmost respect and appreciation," Gibbs told the ''New York Times''. CNN reports that Iraq's proximity to Turkey was the reason behind choosing Iraq over Afghanistan. Gibbs also said that Obama planned to meet with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, but poor weather in Baghdad means that Obama will likely talk to the prime minister and Iraqi President Jalal Talibani by telephone. American troops are slated to leave Iraq by August 2010, with ''The New York Times'' reporting that troop levels will continue to be high until Iraq's federal elections in December. Obama told a group of university students in Turkey that despite his original opposition to the war in 2003, he realized that the troop withdrawal must be done carefully. "I have a responsibility to make sure that as we bring troops out, that we do so in a careful enough way that we don't see a complete collapse into violence," Mr. Obama said, according to ''The New York Times''. "So some people might say, wait, I thought you were opposed to the war, why don't you just get them all out right away? Well, just because I was opposed at the outset it doesn't mean that I don’t have now responsibilities to make sure that we do things in a responsible fashion." |
Our Story: Two friends and teammates coming off a silver medal at the 2012 London Paralympics games in Wheelchair Basketball have turned their sights to the next challenge. In June 2013 they want to be part of the first tour group ever to ride the perimeter of Fiji. This is no ordinary ride for Leanne Del Toso, who developed a degenerative neurological condition when she was just 19. Leanne suffered muscle deterioration in both her legs and hands and rides a bike with the help of specially made orthotics that support her legs. Leanne's Teammate Shelley Chaplin will be seeing the roads around Fiji from a different standpoint. Born with a disability that has left Shelley an incomplete paraplegic, Shelley will be completing the ride from a Handcycle. Leanne and Shelley will ride 550km in just 10 days. Along the way they will be stopping at local villages, meeting and greeting and mentoring people with disabilities. The aims of the trip are: To use sport and recreation as a means to build capacity in-country to reduce the stigma associated with disability To benefit the local population who have disability in-country (eg. donation of sports wheelchairs) To provide disability awareness and education to locals through WheelTalk presentations at schools along the route To create positive role models in accessible and inclusive sport and recreation To facilitate greater participation in the competition/elite-level-sport from Asia-Pacific countries To identify the unique sport and recreation participation needs for people with disability abroad and develop strategies with partner organisations to enable participation Source: Cycle Power - Disability, Sport and Recreation Initiative http://cyclepower.org.au/ This is a cause that is very close to both their hearts: "Being introduced to wheelchair sports and in particular wheelchair basketball changed my life, it has created opportunities for me to excel in sport, to represent my country and to chase adventures around the world," Chaplin says. "It is so important for people with disabilities to realise they can do anything and do not have to be limited by disability." Del Toso echoes her sentiments and adds: "Sports for people with disabilities are not only important to the individual but also to the greater community who may also place imitations on people with disabilities. We are always looking to challenge ourselves as athletes, but also to challenge the way society think about people with disabilities." Your generous donations will also help provide sport and recreation opportunities for underprivileged Victorians with a Disability. Tour Itinerary Day 1: 07/06 Daytime Flight into Nadi Day 2: 08/06 Cycle Nadi to Sigatoka (60km) Day 3: 09/06 Cycle Sigatoka to Pacific Harbour (80km) Day 4: 10/06 Cycle Pacific Harbour to Lami, Suva (43km) Day 5: 11/06 Rest day Suva Day 6: 12/06 Cycle Suva to Lawaki (73km) Day 7: 13/06 Cycle Lawaki to Rakiraki (96km) Day 8: 14/06 Cycle Rakiraki to Ba (70km) Day 9: 15/06 Cycle Ba to Nadi (65km). Morning excursion to Navala Day 10: 16/06 Morning at leisure. Depart in afternoon & arrive 12:15 Incentives We've created some fun rewards to thank you for your donations. Please note that any rewards that require us to travel must be held in the Melbourne metro area. If you have any questions about any of the incentives, use the comments tab to get in touch with us. Diamond Valley Leader article about Leanne (28/3/13): Tweets about "#bikefiji" ||||| by Paralympians raise money for people with disabilities in both Australia & Fiji using crowdfunding to support their 550km bike ride around Fiji. Two friends and teammates who won silver in wheelchair basketball at the 2012 Paralympics have turned their sights to a new challenge – to be part of the first tour group ever to ride the entire perimeter of Fiji. Leanne Del Toso and Shelley Chaplin will ride 550km in just 10 days, a feat made all the more remarkable by their respective challenges. Chaplin – an incomplete paraplegic – will be riding a hand cycle for the entire journey, while Del Toso – who developed a degenerative neurological condition when she was just 19 – rides a bike with the help of specially made orthotics that support her legs. To raise the $13,000 required to complete the bike ride, the pair have turned to Team Bus, Australia’s first crowdfunding website. They aim to be the first athletes to crowdfund a sporting achievement, using the same fundraising tool that has become commonly used by filmmakers, artists and inventors to raise billions of dollars globally. The ride is not just about personal achievement, but it will also raise money to support the implementation of wheelchair sport programs as well as promote healthy and active lifestyles for people with disabilities in Fiji, something close to both their hearts. “It is so important for people with disabilities to realise they can do anything and do not have to be limited by disability,” said Chaplin. Del Toso echoes her sentiments and adds: “Sports for people with disabilities are not only important to the individual but also to the greater community who may also place imitations on people with disabilities. We are always looking to challenge ourselves as athletes, but also to challenge the way society think about people with disabilities.” While in Fiji the pair will be stopping at local villages, meeting and greeting and mentoring people with disabilities. As recognition, donors to the crowdfunding campaign will receive rewards ranging from a personally signed Fiji postcard, to a visit from the pair upon their return from Fiji. To find out more about the fundraising campaign and to support the team, visit teambus.com.au | Leanne Del Toso Shelley Chaplin Two Australian Paralympic wheelchair basketball players, Shelley Chaplin and Leanne Del Toso, are cycling around Fiji to raise money for people in Fiji with disabilities. They hope to cover the route, which is roughly 500 kilometers (300 miles) long, in just ten days. They started on June 7, 2013 and plan to finish by June 16. Along the way, they intend to do outreach, and mentor people with disabilities. They hope to raise 13,000. So far, they have raised over A$12,400. They are using to finance their sporting event. Del Toso suffered muscle deterioration in her legs and hands due to a degenerative neurological condition when she was 19, and rides her with the aid of . Chaplin was born a paraplegic, and is using a . They won silver medals at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London with the Australia women's national wheelchair basketball team, commonly known as the Gliders. Both also played for Victoria in Round One of the Australia Women's Wheelchair Basketball League (WNWBL) competition last weekend. Victoria won all four of its games. They expect to be back in action again in Round Two in Perth on June 21–23. |
WCNC A number of people called Lincoln County 911 to describe the object. LINCOLN COUNTY -- Countless calls were made to emergency centers from across the Carolinas from people who reported seeing an unexplained bright light falling from the sky. It was spotted around 8 p.m. Wednesday night. A number of people called Lincoln County 911 to describe the object. "It was unusually bright, like a comet coming down. They're usually straight down. This one went quite a ways across the sky and finally the light went out." It was an unidentified object that was seen by people from Greer, South Carolina to Asheville at the exact time. It was so vivid that the Lincoln County 911 dispatcher sent an officer to check it out. Dispatch: "Did you see it?" Officer: "10-4." Dispatch: "We've gotten several calls." Officer: "I'm out on 27 heading west. I don’t know what it was… like a shooting star or something." Lincolnton psychologist Granville Angell was with clients in a home office when it caught his eye. He immediately ran outside. "It was like a ball that grew a tail. It was about 20 to 30 degrees above the horizon. Uh, and it came from west to east. It was like a shallow arc across the sky and descended down," he said. At first Angell feared it might be an airplane crashing, but a former military pilot himself, he said the colors weren't right. The orb was a bluish-white and he said it moved too slowly to be a comet. "It was a very shallow descent and a glowing flare as it went down. It was visible for about, oh, 10-15 seconds," he explained. "Heaven only knows what it could be, but some type of a UFO. I'm not saying an alien but something." Then, just as suddenly as it appeared, all who saw it said it disappeared into the horizon without answers to what the strange sight was. Interestingly the National Weather Service fielded more than a dozen calls, and of course there was no report of a downed plane, so the strange object remains a mystery. ||||| Some people in the Charlotte area called 911 dispatchers and reported seeing a weird hovering light in the sky. Emergency dispatchers answered the calls in Iredell, Lincoln, Mooresville and Huntersville Wednesday night. One Lincoln County officer reportedly saw it, and the National Weather Service in Greer, South Carolina got similar calls. Even stranger - people in between the two areas in York, Gaston and Cleveland counties had no such 911 reports. The Federal Aviation Administration had no reports of plane crashes, and law enforcement officers said they didn't see any extra-terrestrials. George lund is the state director for the mutual UFO network - a group of amateurUFO investigators. He says the area around Lake Norman - and Mcguire Nuclear Plant - is a hot spot for UFO sightings. They think that they're coming in that area maybe to feed off some of energy that that plant is producing. Source: AP | North Carolina A turquoise colored UFO was reported by locals and an officer in and around Charlotte, North Carolina. Jim Neal said that the object was, "Bright blue-green ball with a white tail." Julie Bigham said that the object was, "A greenish-like light low in the sky. We thought a small plane or helicopter was going to crash." David Whitesides said that the object was, "A slow-moving bluish glow." Brett Lay said that the object was, "Large, bright green ball. Had a haze about it." Amy Bromberg said that, "Almost looked like a flare. Kind of creepy." An officer, who had been dispatched to confirm the object, said that object was visible and moving. :*Dispatch: "Did you see it?" :*Officer: "10-4." :*Dispatch: "We've gotten several calls." :*Officer: "I'm out on 27 heading west. I don’t know what it was… like a shooting star or something." Psychologist Granville Angell, who is also a former military pilot, said that, "It was like a ball that grew a tail. It was about 20 to 30 degrees above the horizon. Uh, and it came from west to east. It was like a shallow arc across the sky and descended down. It was a very shallow descent and a glowing flare as it went down. It was visible for about, oh, 10-15 seconds. Heaven only knows what it could be, but some type of a UFO. I'm not saying an alien but something." He noted that he initially thought it was an airplane crashing but noticed that the colors weren't right and he said it could not have been a comet because it moved too slowly. The National Weather Service said they received more than a dozen calls about the object. All planes and helicopters in the area were accounted for. |
JOE LIEBERMAN: MCCAIN FOR PRESIDENT By JOE LIEBERMAN February 3, 2008 -- On Tuesday, New Yorkers will go to the polls to vote in a highly tightly contested election that will help determine who will be the next president of the United States. In this election, we are not just choosing our next president. We are also choosing our commander-in-chief - the person whose responsibility will be to defend our nation at a time of war. And have no doubt: We are at war. Our enemy in this struggle is the latest in a long line of totalitarians that Americans have been called on to fight throughout our history: a loose alliance of terrorists and tyrants, bound together by the fanatical ideology of Islamist extremism Terrorism is the preferred weapon of these Islamist extremists, but it is not their ultimate aim. Their vision is far more ambitious and threatening: a vision of conquest in which huge swaths of the world fall under their vicious and repressive rule. The Islamist extremists are plotting attacks against us and our allies every day - from the deserts of Iraq to the mountains of Afghanistan, from London and Madrid to Jerusalem and Islamabad - and, if given the chance, right here at home in America. From the moment the next president steps into the Oval Office, he or she will face life-and-death decisions in this war. That is why we need a president who is going to be ready to be commander-in-chief from day one - a president who won't need on-the-job training. And that is why I have decided to cross party lines to endorse Sen. John McCain for president. I know that it is unusual for someone like me - an Independent Democrat - to support a Republican candidate for president. But the dangers we face as a nation are too profound, and the challenges we face too real, for us to let partisan politics decide who we will support. After all, the Islamist extremists we are fighting in this war don't distinguish between Democrats and Republicans. They want to kill all of us, because we are all Americans. ||||| Advisers say conservative ire pushed McCain away from picking Lieberman WASHINGTON: In the end, the choice of his running mate said more about Senator John McCain and his image of himself than it did about Sarah Palin, the little-known governor of Alaska whose selection has shaken up the presidential race. For weeks, advisers close to the campaign said, McCain had wanted to name as his running mate his good friend Senator Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut, the Democrat turned independent. But by the end of last weekend, the outrage from Christian conservatives over the possibility that McCain would fill out the Republican ticket with Lieberman, a supporter of abortion rights, had become too intense to be ignored. With time running out, and after a long meeting with his inner circle in Phoenix, McCain finally picked up the phone last Sunday and reached Palin at the Alaska State Fair. Although the campaign's polling on McCain's potential running mates was inconclusive on the selection of Palin — virtually no one had heard of her, a McCain adviser said — the governor, who opposes abortion, had glowing reviews from influential social conservatives. McCain was comfortable with two others on his short list, Governor Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota and former Governor Mitt Romney of Massachusetts. But neither was the transformative, attention-grabbing choice McCain felt he needed, top campaign advisers said, to help him pivot from his image as the custodian of the status quo to a change agent like his Democratic rival, Senator Barack Obama. Not least, Obama's decision to pass over Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton as his running mate opened the possibility for Republicans to put a woman on the ticket and pick off some of Clinton's supporters. At 11 a.m. on Thursday, at the McCain vacation compound near Sedona, Arizona, McCain invited Palin to join him on the ticket. He hardly knew her, and she had virtually no foreign policy experience, but Palin was a "kindred spirit," a McCain adviser said. McCain was betting, the adviser said, that she would help him reclaim the mantle of maverick that he had lost this year. The selection was the culmination of a five-month process, described by McCain's inner circle and outside advisers in interviews this past weekend, and offers a glimpse into how McCain might make high-stakes decisions as president. At the very least, the process reflects McCain's history of making fast, instinctive and sometimes risky decisions. "I make them as quickly as I can, quicker than the other fellow, if I can," McCain wrote, with his top adviser Mark Salter, in his 2002 book, "Worth the Fighting For." "Often my haste is a mistake, but I live with the consequences without complaint." McCain began the search for a running mate shortly after he secured the Republican nomination, with some 40 names on a list. By early spring he had cut it to 20, including, a top adviser said, at least five women: Palin; Meg Whitman, the former chief executive of eBay; Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice; Carleton Fiorina, the former chief executive of Hewlett-Packard; and Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, Republican of Texas. McCain cast the process, at least in those days, as orderly and said that the last thing he wanted was the kind of rushed decision that President George Bush had made in 1988 in selecting his running mate, Dan Quayle, then a senator from Indiana. But it was not until the last few weeks that McCain winnowed his list to five or six finalists. They included, a McCain adviser said, Pawlenty, Romney, Lieberman, Palin and Tom Ridge, the former governor of Pennsylvania who also supports abortion rights. Palin, unlike the others, was barely mentioned in news media speculation. The finalists, including Palin, were vetted, a campaign adviser said, and McCain then asked his inner circle — Salter, Rick Davis, Steve Schmidt and Charlie Black — to provide him with assessments of each. "He said, 'Give me plusses and minuses on each of these people,' " Black said. One of McCain's closest friends, Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, weighed in as well, pushing so hard for Lieberman — McCain, Graham and Lieberman are longtime traveling companions — that he vexed some of the other advisers. Others in the inner circle favored Pawlenty or Romney. Palin had no strong advocates in the group, an outside adviser said, but she had no detractors, either. Last Sunday, 24 hours after Obama announced his running mate, Senator Joseph Biden Jr. of Delaware, McCain met with his senior campaign team at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Phoenix. By then, campaign advisers said, the group had long decided that McCain's "experience versus change" argument against Obama had run its course, to the extent that it had worked at all. ||||| Remarks as prepared for delivery to the Republican National Convention on Tuesday by Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn.: Thank you for that warm welcome. I am honored to be here. We meet tonight in the wake of a terrible storm that has hit the Gulf Coast but that hurts all of us, because we are all members of our larger American family. At times like this, we set aside all that divides us, and we come together to help our fellow citizens in need. What matters is certainly not whether we are Democrats or Republicans, but that we are all Americans. The truth is, it shouldn't take a hurricane to bring us together like this. Every day, across our country, millions of our fellow citizens are facing huge problems. They are worried about their homes, their jobs, and their businesses; they are worried about the outrageous cost of gas and of health insurance; and they are worried about the threats from our enemies abroad. But when they look to Washington, all too often they do not see their leaders coming together to tackle these problems. Instead they see Democrats and Republicans fighting each other, rather than fighting for the American people. Our founding fathers foresaw the danger of this kind of senseless partisanship. George Washington himself -- in his Farewell Address to our country -- warned that the "spirit of party" is "the worst enemy" of our democracy and "enfeebles" our government's ability to do its job. George Washington was absolutely right. The sad truth is -- today we are living through his worst nightmare, in the capital city that bears his name. And that brings me directly to why I am here tonight. What, after all, is a Democrat like me doing at a Republican convention like this? The answer is simple. I'm here to support John McCain because country matters more than party. I'm here tonight because John McCain is the best choice to bring our country together and lead our country forward. I'm here because John McCain's whole life testifies to a great truth: being a Democrat or a Republican is important. But it is not more important than being an American. Both presidential candidates this year talk about changing the culture of Washington, about breaking through the partisan gridlock and special interests that are poisoning our politics. But only one of them has actually done it. Only one leader has shown the courage and the capability to rise above the smallness of our politics to get big things done for our country and our people. And that leader is John McCain! ||||| Thank you for visiting Stamford Advocate. We are sorry the article that you requested is no longer available. Please search for this article in our archive search. ||||| by Frank James The Democratic National Convention isn't even half over and already we're looking ahead to next week's Republican version which Republicans have dubbed the "Country First" convention to tie in with the overarching theme of Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign. As we've noted before, President Bush will speak the first night, and won't be lingering. Instead of overnighting in St. Paul, Minn., he'll be winging back east to relax at the Camp David presidential retreat. Sen. Joe Lieberman, the Connecticut independent, is also scheduled for Monday. The four nights are themed service, reform, prosperity and peace. McCain is including on the program just about everyone who ran against him in the Republican primaries except Rep. Ron Paul. No surprise there. During the debates when Paul would go into one of his diatribes against the war or arguments for a return to the gold standard, camera cutaways would often catch McCain with a smirk or incredulous look on his face. Cindy McCain is scheduled to speak on Wednesday, prosperity night, which seems appropriate. Wednesday is also when McCain's vice presidential choice will speak. Worth noting is that both Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, and Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas, are scheduled to speak that night. Here's the Republican National Convention's full press release: "Country First": 2008 Republican National Convention Announces Full Program Convention Announces Additional Speakers and Program Details SAINT PAUL, Minn. - The 2008 Republican National Convention today announced the names of additional speakers for the program of events that will run Sept. 1-4. The convention's overall theme, "Country First," reflects John McCain's remarkable record of leadership and service to America. Each day of proceedings will center on a touchstone theme that has defined John McCain's life and will be central to his vision for leading our nation forward as president. "The 2008 Convention program will bring together Americans who will speak to John McCain's vision for reforming our government, building prosperity and ensuring peace for future generations. We are excited about next week and we are looking forward to showcasing John McCain's life-long record of putting his country first," said Jill Hazelbaker, McCain 2008 communications director. Among the new speakers announced today are Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.), House Republican Leader John Boehner (Ohio), U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham (S.C.), U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (Texas), former U.S. Sen. Bill Frist (Tenn.) and Chairman of the Texas Railroad Commission Michael Williams. Their remarks will echo the themes that have been selected for each of the convention's four days: service, reform, prosperity and peace. "We are thrilled to announce our full program of speakers and program participants. We look forward to presenting a convention program that will share Senator McCain's unparalleled record of experience and service with millions of Americans," said Maria Cino, president and CEO of the 2008 Republican National Convention. The program of events follows. Additions to the program appear with an asterisk (*). Monday, Sept. 1 Service "Love of country, my friends, is another way of saying love of your fellow countryman." --Sen. John McCain John McCain's commitment to his fellow Americans, a commitment forged in service to his country, is one of the defining hallmarks of his life. Monday's events will highlight John McCain's record of service and sacrifice and reflect his commitment to serving a cause greater than one's own self-interest. Speakers will include: President George W. Bush Vice President Richard B. Cheney First Lady Laura Bush Gov. Tim Pawlenty (Minn.)* Gov. Rick Perry (Texas)* Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (Calif.) Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.)* U.S. Sen. Richard Burr (N.C.)* U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman (Minn.)* U.S. Sen. John Ensign (Nev.)* U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch (Utah)* U.S. Sen. Joseph Lieberman (Conn.) U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann (Minn.)* U.S. Rep. Tom Cole (Okla.)* U.S. Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart (Fla.)* U.S. Rep. Thelma Drake (Va.)* U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk (Ill.)* U.S. Rep. Kevin McCarthy (Calif)* Maria Cino, President and CEO of the 2008 Republican National Convention* Jo Ann Davidson, Chairman of the 2008 Republican National Convention Committee on Arrangements* Tommy Espinoza* Maj. Gen. Rick Goddard, U.S. Air Force (Ret.)* Bill Gross* Ashley Gunn* Chris Hackett* Doug Leatherdale* Jay Love* Cynthia Lummis* Erik Paulsen* Capt. Leslie Smith, U.S. Army (Ret.)* Program participants will include: Victoria Blackstone, Stars and Stripes Winner, will lead the Pledge of Allegiance Boy Scout Troop 738 of St Louis Park, Minn. will serve as the Color Guard Tuesday, Sept. 2 Reform "If you find faults with our country, make it a better one. If you are disappointed with the mistakes of government, join its ranks and correct them." --Sen. John McCain John McCain's life is a testament to the fundamental truth that every American can be a force for change. A restless reformer who has dedicated his career to taking on special interests and the status quo, John McCain will deliver the right kind of change and reform to meet the great challenges of our time. On Tuesday, the convention program will underscore his vision of a government that is transparent, principled and worthy of the American people it serves. Speakers will include: Former New York City Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani Gov. Jon Huntsman (Utah) Gov. Linda Lingle (Hawaii) Gov. Sarah Palin (Alaska) Former Gov. Mike Huckabee (Ark.) Former Gov. Tom Ridge (Pa.) Former Lt. Gov. Michael Steele (Md.) U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn (Okla.)* Former U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson (Tenn.) House Republican Leader John Boehner (Ohio)* U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn (Tenn.)* U.S. Rep. Luis Fortuño (Puerto Rico)* U.S. Rep. Adam Putnam (Fla.)* State Sen. Dennis Hollingsworth (Calif.)* Rosario Marin, California Secretary of the State and Consumer Services Agency and former Treasurer of the United States Chris Collins* Carolyn Dunn* Phil Hayes* Lisa Keegan* Ruth Novodor* Dr. Elena Rios * Shirley Sadler* Joe Watkins* Program participants will include: Mary Leavitt will lead the Pledge of Allegiance The VFW of Red Lake, Minn. will serve as the Color Guard Rabbi Ira Flax will lead the convention in prayer Dr. Robert Certain will lead the convention in prayer Wednesday, Sept. 3 Prosperity "America's best days are still to come." --Sen. John McCain The American story is one of perseverance. Even in the face of tough times, the ingenuity and spirit of the American people has ushered in a new era of prosperity. Wednesday's program will focus on John McCain's plans to get our economy back on track and continue our long tradition of meeting the challenges we face and using our prosperity to help others. The day will conclude with an address by the vice presidential nominee. Speakers will include: Mrs. Cindy McCain Republican Party's Vice Presidential Nominee Gov. Bobby Jindal (La.) Former Gov. Mitt Romney (Mass.) U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman (Minn.) U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (Texas)* U.S. Rep. Mike Pence (Ind.)* Mayor Mick Cornett (Okla.)* State Sen. Abel Maldonado (Calif.)* Carly Fiorina, Victory '08 Chairman for the Republican National Committee and former Chairman and CEO of Hewlett-Packard Co. Meg Whitman, National Co-Chair for McCain 2008 and former President and CEO of eBay Renee Amoore* Anne Beiler* Jessica Colon* Christy Swanson* Raul "Danny" Vargas* Program participants will include: Sharon Clahchischillage will lead the Pledge of Allegiance The Law Enforcement Memorial Association of Minnesota will serve as the Color Guard Father Edward Reese will lead the convention in prayer Rev. Eva Rodriguez will lead the convention in prayer Thursday, Sept. 4 Peace "Our next president will have a mandate to build an enduring global peace on the foundations of freedom, security, opportunity, prosperity, and hope." --Sen. John McCain John McCain understands the challenges that America faces in the world and the sacrifice necessary to defend our freedom in a way that few others can fathom. Thursday's events will reflect his vision of an America in pursuit of peace and seen as a beacon of goodwill and hope throughout the world. The evening will close with John McCain accepting the Republican Party's nomination for the Presidency of the United States. John McCain Gov. Charlie Crist (Fla.) Gov. Tim Pawlenty (Minn.) U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback (Kan.) U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham (S.C.)* U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez (Fla.) Former U.S. Sen. Bill Frist (Tenn.)* U.S. Rep. Mary Fallin (Okla.)* Michael Williams, Chairman of the Texas Railroad Commission* David Flaum* Christopher Fussner* Lt. Gen. Carol Mutter, U.S. Marine Corps (Ret.)* Charlie Smith* Program participants will include: The 934th Airlift Wing Air Force Reserves Joint Color Guard of Minn. Pastor Dan Yeary will lead the convention in prayer Archbishop Demetrios will lead the convention in prayer About the Republican National Convention The 2008 Republican National Convention will be held at Saint Paul's Xcel Energy Center from Sept. 1-4, 2008. Approximately 45,000 delegates, alternate delegates, volunteers, members of the media and other guests are expected to attend the convention. Minneapolis-Saint Paul is expected to receive an estimated $150-$160 million positive economic boost from the four-day event. For more information about the 2008 Republican National Convention, please visit our website at www.GOPConvention2008.com and join our social network sites on Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn. | Joseph Lieberman United States Senator (ID-CT) delivered an impassioned speech yesterday to Republicans at the 2008 Republican National Convention. His choice to do so angered numerous congressional Democrats, and may lead to sanctions by the party. Lieberman spent 18 years as a Democrat, winning his first Senate race in 1988. After three terms, Lieberman narrowly lost the Democratic primary in the lead-up to the 2006 election. Running instead under the "Connecticut for Lieberman" party banner, Lieberman beat his former democratic opponent Ned Lamont, Republican Alan Schlesinger and third-party candidates thereby retaining his seat. He promptly changed his official party affiliation to "Independent Democrat", which he continues to use. Lieberman, who had previously endorsed John McCain for the presidency and was long considered as a possible running mate, spoke to the Republican party about choosing a maverick: Lieberman also took shots at his own party, and its candidate, Senator Barack Obama: He also elicited booing when mentioning Obama's stance on ground-troop funding: Lieberman's decision to speak at the Convention sparked anger from many of his Democratic colleagues. A "Lieberman Must Go" petition, boasting over 50,000 signatures, was launched by filmmaker Robert Greenwald. Greenwald seeks to have Lieberman stripped of his chairmanship on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. Pundits consider this likely if Democrats gain Senate seats in the upcoming election, guaranteeing a safe majority. (The current makeup of the Senate is 49 Republicans, 49 Democrats, and two independents, Lieberman and Bernie Sanders of Vermont.) Lieberman's speech came on the first day of the convention, and followed that of Senator Fred Thompson and the televised appearance of U.S. President George W. Bush. The convention will conclude on Thursday, 4 September. |
Obama broadens Bush's faith-based programs A revised federal office will lend a hand to secular community groups focusing on issues from mortgage assistance to job training. Speaking at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington today, Obama said the office will help all community organizations -- religious and secular alike -- work on everything from helping people facing home mortgage foreclosure to providing job-training for those in need of work. "The goal of this office will not be to favor one religious group over another -- or even religious groups over secular groups," Obama said before signing an executive order establishing the office and an advisory council. "It will simply be to work on behalf of those organizations that want to work on behalf of our communities, and to do so without blurring the line that our founders wisely drew between church and state." The president also addressed the role of faith in his own life and the need to bridge the many beliefs of Americans, including those without a religious faith -- as Obama, a Christian, has acknowledged he was raised. Under Bush, who had campaigned for president in 2000 with a plea to "rally the armies of compassion," the Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives that he created early in office helped faith-based charities seek federal funding for the social services that they provide. The former president, who failed to persuade Congress to approve the work legislatively, carried it out with an executive order creating an office run by a series of leaders, including a devout Catholic, and Democrat, who had worked for Mother Teresa, Jim Towey, who served for four years and left to become president of a Catholic university in Pennsylvania.Obama has found a new leader for the recast Office for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships: Josh DuBois, 26, a Pentecostal minister who directed religious outreach for the Obama campaign. DuBois had been an associate pastor at a Pentecostal church in Massachusetts and holds a master's degree in public affairs from Princeton University."Joshua understands the issues at stake, knows the people involved, and will be able to bring everyone together -- from both the secular and faith-based communities, from academia and politics -- around our common goals," Obama said.The office will have four priorities, the White House says:* Making community groups an integral part of the nation's economic recovery and making poverty "a burden fewer have to bear when recovery is complete."* Offering advice on supporting women and children, addressing teenage pregnancy and reducing the need for abortion.* Supporting fathers "who stand by their families," helping young men find well-paying jobs and promoting "responsible fatherhood."* Working with the National Security Council to foster interfaith dialogue with leaders and scholars around the world.Speaking of his own faith In his prepared remarks today, Obama said: "I was not raised in a particularly religious household. I had a father who was born a Muslim but became an atheist, grandparents who were non-practicing Methodists and Baptists, and a mother who was skeptical of organized religion. . . . I didn't become a Christian until many years later, when I moved to the South Side of Chicago after college" and worked as a community organizer among churches. "It was on those streets, in those neighborhoods, that I first heard God's spirit beckon me."At the prayer breakfast, the president also addressed the role that faith plays in America."Too often, we have seen faith wielded as a tool to divide us from one another -- as an excuse for prejudice and intolerance," Obama said. "Wars have been waged. Innocents have been slaughtered. For centuries, entire religions have been persecuted, all in the name of perceived righteousness."There is no doubt that the very nature of faith means that some of our beliefs will never be the same," he said. "We read from different texts. We follow different edicts. We subscribe to different accounts of how we came to be here and where we're going next -- and some subscribe to no faith at all."But no matter what we choose to believe, let us remember that there is no religion whose central tenet is hate," he said. "There is no God who condones taking the life of an innocent human being. This much we know."Faith, the president said, also demands that Americans "lift up those who have fallen on hard times. This is not only our call as people of faith, but our duty as citizens of America, and it will be the purpose of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships that I'm announcing later today. . . ."This work is important," he said, "because whether it's a secular group advising families facing foreclosure or faith-based groups providing job-training to those who need work, few are closer to what's happening on our streets and in our neighborhoods than these organizations." ||||| Instead of deciding the issue, the president called Thursday for a legal review of the policy case by case before determining whether religious groups can receive government money and selectively hire employees based on their religious beliefs. Mr. Obama told an audience in Ohio last summer, “You can’t use that grant money to proselytize to the people you help and you can’t discriminate against them.” Joshua DuBois, a 26-year-old Pentecostal minister who led religious outreach for Mr. Obama during the presidential race, will direct the new White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. Mr. DuBois said in an interview, “The president is still very much committed to clear constitutionality and legality in this program. He’s committed to nondiscrimination.” But Mr. DuBois said that after Mr. Obama gave his speech in Ohio “we have realized there’s a tremendous lack of clarity in this area, so we’ll review on a case by case basis.” Newsletter Sign Up Continue reading the main story Please verify you're not a robot by clicking the box. Invalid email address. Please re-enter. You must select a newsletter to subscribe to. Sign Up You will receive emails containing news content , updates and promotions from The New York Times. You may opt-out at any time. You agree to receive occasional updates and special offers for The New York Times's products and services. Thank you for subscribing. An error has occurred. Please try again later. View all New York Times newsletters. “If we are consistently finding the same thing, and presenting the same recommendations to the president,” he said, then the administration might seek to recommend a change in the law. Asked whether his office would work with religious groups outside the mainstream, like the Church of Scientology, that may seek government grants for social services, Mr. DuBois said: “There’s no picking or choosing or cherry-picking of groups. That was allowed before, but it will not be the practice moving forward.” The president also announced the formation of a 25-member advisory council that includes religious leaders and heads of nonprofit groups, among them, several evangelical Christians, the president of Catholic Charities U.S.A., a rabbi, a Muslim community organizer and the openly gay director of a nonprofit group. Mr. Obama, who spoke about his Christian faith frequently during his presidential campaign, said Thursday at the National Prayer Breakfast that religion should not be “wielded as a tool to divide us from one another.” Advertisement Continue reading the main story He called on believers of all faiths to set aside divisions “to lift up those who have fallen on hard times.” “No matter what we choose to believe, let us remember that there is no religion whose central tenet is hate,” Mr. Obama told an audience of Republicans and Democrats, diplomats and members of the clergy. “There is no God who condones taking the life of an innocent human being. This much we know.” Mr. Obama signed the executive order on Thursday away from the view of television cameras or an audience. | United States President Barack Obama announced on Thursday that he was renaming and expanding an office created by former President George W. Bush, the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. Barack Obama at the National Prayer Breakfast. "No matter how much money we invest or how sensibly we design our policies, the change that Americans are looking for will not come from government alone," Obama said, while announcing the new office at the National Prayer Breakfast. "There is a force for good greater than government." "The goal of this office will not be to favor one religious group over another — or even religious groups over secular groups," Obama elaborated. "It will simply be to work on behalf of those organizations that want to work on behalf of our communities, and to do so without blurring the line that our founders wisely drew between church and state." Joshua DuBois, the 26-year-old Pentecostal minister who led the Obama campaign's religious outreach program, will direct the new White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. In an interview, DuBois said, "The President is still very much committed to clear constitutionality and legality in this program. He’s committed to nondiscrimination." When asked if the office would work with religious groups like the Church of Scientology, DuBois said, "There’s no picking or choosing or cherry-picking of groups. That was allowed before, but it will not be the practice moving forward." "President Obama has put the cart before the horse," said the American Civil Liberties Union's senior legislative counsel, Christopher Anders. "He is expanding the Bush administration's faith-based initiative without putting the most important safeguards in place. The President has created a more powerful office with a greater ability to shovel federal taxpayer dollars to religious groups, but civil-rights protections are being deferred for later study and decisions." |
By DUNCAN LARCOMBE SIMON HUGHES and JAMIE PYATT March 05, 2007 PRINCE Harry and his men will pose as hooded hostages in a training exercise after hate-filled threats to kidnap or kill him in Iraq. The Royal soldier, 22, will take part in role-play exercises where armed enemy kidnappers take hostages. Then troops storm a building in a rescue mission. Other drills will involve crack troops using tear gas and stun grenades. The threats to Harry were exposed by a Sun investigation into extremists websites. Last night internet terror expert Neil Doyle said the website messages represent clear incitement. The training will take place this week to prepare Harry and fellow soldiers from the Blues and Royals regiment to combat al-Qaeda hostage-takers in Iraq. Army chiefs fear that if Harry is kidnapped after he arrives to fight in the war-torn country he could be paraded on TV by insurgents. Harry third in line to the throne and his troop of 12 men will receive the training after the websites supporting exiled hate cleric Omar Bakri posted threats against him. One message crowed: Prince Harry will be sent to Iraq to be killed by Muslims. Another said: May Allah give him what he deserves like his fellow crusaders. And a fanatic calling himself Resistance4Islam added: He must be wishing for his death. Operation Hostage ... see table below Graphics: PAUL BATES Click picture to enlarge Harry is due to be sent in May to Iraq where more than 100 British soldiers have been killed. As the nearest men on the battlefield, the Princes Blues and Royals colleagues will act as his first line of defence. Last night they travelled from their base in Windsor, Berks, to the Armys Bodney Camp training area in Thetford Forest, Norfolk. Over the next few days they will be taken through exercises with other troops acting as a mock enemy. The training zone where soldiers prepared for fighting in Northern Ireland during the Troubles has been specially adapted to simulate conditions in Iraq. Army chiefs will set up a scenario where squaddies have been captured and held hostage in a building. Rescuers will then stage a rapid reaction mission. Rescue mission THE training zone in Norfolk has been adapted to simulate conditions Harry and his troops are likely to encounter in Iraq. The camp has a number of small built-up areas and outhouses which provide perfect enemy territory. 1. Army chiefs will set up a scenario where a soldier may be targeted as he is patrolling in his armoured reconnaissance vehicle in Iraq. 2. Troops from other regiments will play armed terrorists who snatch a squaddie and take him hostage to a small building nearby in the zone. 3. Harrys men will then storm the building in a rapid reaction rescue mission. As the hostage is held on the floor wearing a hood or blindfold other troops will be trained to bombard the insurgents with tear gas and stun grenades. As part of the training, Harry and his men will also hone their skills at avoiding ambush and roadside bombs. A Blues and Royals source said: Heaven forbid if Harry should be taken into enemy hands. It may well be the men next to him who make the difference between a swift solution or one of the biggest headaches of the conflict. Officially Harry is being treated just like any other soldier but in reality everyone knows how desperate the insurgents out there will be to get their hands on him. Terror expert Mr Doyle said: Harry would be the ultimate prize for one of these insurgent groups. He would be worth his weight in gold in propaganda terms if killed or captured. These website exchanges indicate a head of steam is starting to build up around his posting to Iraq. The training camp has a number of small built-up areas and outhouses perfect preparation for the dangers ahead. The Blues and Royals source said: The Thetford exercise could prove vital for Harry and his men. They will be taken through a number of scenarios they may have to face in Iraq. It is important the soldiers learn how to react. During the exercise the soldiers will also hone their skills at avoiding ambush and dealing with roadside bomb attacks. From the end of May, Harry and his men will patrol in Scimitar armoured reconnaissance vehicles in the hell zone of Maysan dubbed Mad Max Land because of the bloodthirsty locals. HARRYS uncle Prince Andrew has flown to Iraq to visit troops, it emerged yesterday. The Ministry of Defence said Falklands War veteran Andrew inspected a military base and field hospital near Basra and met troops from the 1st Battalion The Yorkshire Regiment, of which he is Colonel-in-Chief. d.larcombe@the-sun.co.uk CATCH up on Harrys march to Iraq here ||||| Terrorists have vowed to kidnap or kill Prince Harry when he fights in Iraq, it is reported. The 22-year-old is due to be sent out in May with colleagues from the Blues and Royals regiment. Threats have been posted on extremist websites since his deployment was revealed, The Sun says. One message said: "Prince Harry will be sent to Iraq to be killed by Muslims." Another added: "May Allah give him what he deserves - like his fellow crusaders." Army officials fear the Prince will be paraded on television if he is kidnapped. A Blues and Royals source told the paper: "Officially Harry is being treated just like any other soldier but in reality everyone knows how desperate the insurgents out there will be to get their hands on him." Internet terror expert Neil Doyle was quoted as saying: "Harry would be the ultimate prize for one of these insurgent groups. "He would be worth his weight in gold in propaganda terms if killed or captured." From the end of May, the prince will be patrolling in Scimitar armoured reconnaissance vehicles in Maysan. Harry will this week pose as a hooded hostage in a special training exercise, the paper says. His men will use tear gas and stun grenades to free him. More than 100 UK soldiers have been killed since the 2003 invasion. ||||| Harry was 'over the moon' at his deployment Harry was 'over the moon' at his deployment Al Qaeda Targets Prince Terrorists have vowed to kidnap or kill Prince Harry when he fights in Iraq, it is reported. The 22-year-old is due to be sent out in May with colleagues from the Blues and Royals regiment. Threats have been posted on extremist websites since his deployment was revealed, The Sun says. One message said: "Prince Harry will be sent to Iraq to be killed by Muslims." Another added: "May Allah give him what he deserves - like his fellow crusaders." Army officials fear the Prince will be paraded on television if he is kidnapped. The prince will serve in armoured vehicles The prince will serve in armoured vehicles A Blues and Royals source told the paper: "Officially Harry is being treated just like any other soldier but in reality everyone knows how desperate the insurgents out there will be to get their hands on him." Internet terror expert Neil Doyle was quoted as saying: "Harry would be the ultimate prize for one of these insurgent groups. "He would be worth his weight in gold in propaganda terms if killed or captured." From the end of May, the prince will be patrolling in Scimitar armoured reconnaissance vehicles in Maysan. Harry will this week pose as a hooded hostage in a special training exercise, the paper says. His men will use tear gas and stun grenades to free him. More than 100 UK soldiers have been killed since the 2003 invasion. ||||| Terrorists have vowed to kidnap or kill Prince Harry when he fights in Iraq, it is reported. The 22-year-old is due to be sent out in May with colleagues from the Blues and Royal regiment. Threats have been posted on extremist Web sites since his deployment was revealed, The Sun says. • Visit FOXNews.com's Iraq Center for more in-depth coverage. One message said: "Prince Harry will be sent to Iraq to be killed by Muslims." Another added: "May Allah give him what he deserves — like his fellow crusaders." Read the original report from SkyNews. Army officials fear the Prince will be paraded on television if he is kidnapped. Harry was 'over the moon' at his deployment A Blues and Royals source told the paper: "Officially Harry is being treated just like any other soldier but in reality everyone knows how desperate the insurgents out there will be to get their hands on him." (Story continues below) Advertise Here Advertisements Advertisements Internet terror expert Neil Doyle was quoted as saying: "Harry would be the ultimate prize for one of these insurgent groups. "He would be worth his weight in gold in propaganda terms if killed or captured." From the end of May, the prince will be patrolling in Scimitar armored reconnaissance vehicles in Maysan. Harry will this week pose as a hooded hostage in a special training exercise, the paper says. His men will use tear gas and stun grenades to free him. More than 100 British soldiers have been killed since the 2003 invasion. Complete coverage is available in FOXNews.com's Iraq Center. | Officer Cadet Wales (''in background'') and his intake of Juniors are inspected by the Chief of the Defence Staff. According to a report from the British newspaper ''The Sun'', Al-Qaeda members have issued a prominent threat on the Internet that Britain's Prince Harry will be killed or kidnapped when he is sent out to Iraq for his first tour of duty in the British Army in May this year. An Islamic website has messages which have been posted on the site since the 22 year old Prince's deployment to the gulf state was revealed at the start of February. The messages included: "Prince Harry will be sent to Iraq to be killed by Muslims." and "May Allah give him what he deserves — like his fellow crusaders." Another person commented: "He must be wishing for his death." Furthermore, The ''Sun'' reports that Harry and his troop of 12 soldiers will be trained this week to face hostage situations. He also has a group of SAS (Special Air Service) soldiers who will protect him. The Prince has requested his regiment, the Blues and Royals, to treat him like any other soldier, whether royalty or not. Commenting on the threat, an official of the Blues and Royals said: "Officially Harry is being treated just like any other soldier but in reality everyone knows how desperate the insurgents out there will be to get their hands on him." |
Login Enter your details below to login Email address Password Keep me logged in information Keeps you logged in for a rolling 15 days or until you logout Forgot your password? ||||| THE EUROPEAN Commission has suggested Iceland could be fast-tracked for EU membership, opening up the possibility that it could join the union in 2011. EU enlargement commissioner Olli Rehn said yesterday the country, which suffered a financial collapse last year, shared many of the values of the union and could potentially be allowed to join with Croatia, which expects to become the 28th member state in 2011. “The EU prefers two countries joining at the same time rather than individually. If Iceland applies shortly and the negotiations are rapid, Croatia and Iceland could join the EU in parallel,” Mr Rehn told the Guardian. “On Iceland, I hope I will be busier. It is one of the oldest democracies in the world and its strategic and economic positions would be an asset to the EU,” said Mr Rehn, the Finnish nominee to the EU executive and a strong supporter of Iceland joining. Iceland’s government collapsed this week amid continuing public protests sparked by the collapse of the country’s banking sector, which has forced the Nordic state to take a $10 billion IMF-led rescue package. Prime minister Geir Haarde of the Independence Party stepped down on Monday, the first political casualty as a direct result of the global credit crunch. Public support for EU membership has risen as a result of the economic collapse, with some politicians calling for entry to the euro zone. Johanna Sigurdardottir, leader of the Social Democratic party, is in talks with the Left-Green Party about forming a new administration. The Social Democrats support an application for EU membership, but the Left-Greens are sceptical. However, both parties believe there should be a referendum on whether to open EU accession talks. The biggest hurdle to membership is having to sign up to the common fisheries policy. Iceland is already a member of the European Economic Area, which means that it already adheres to roughly two-thirds of EU legislation. EU officials say this could speed up its accession talks to join the union and enable the country to catch up with the most advanced candidate Croatia. But commission president José Manuel Barroso sounded a note of caution yesterday, saying that so far the EU had not received an application from Iceland. But he also stressed the common bonds between Iceland and the union. “Iceland is a very friendly country – a member of the European economic space,” said Mr Barroso, who noted more and more countries were considering the benefits of EU membership because of the crisis. The prospects for any application by Iceland could be helped by the Czech Republic – the current president of the EU – and Sweden, which takes over the presidency in July. Both countries are firm supporters of further EU enlargement. However, Croatia and Iceland’s bid to join the union could also depend on whether Ireland ratifies the Lisbon Treaty in a second referendum. France and Germany both say there can be no more enlargement until the EU’s institutional structure is worked out. | A commissioner in Brussels has suggested that Iceland could be fast tracked to join the European Union (EU) by 2011. The European Commissioner for enlargement, Olli Rehn, said that if the country, stricken by the world financial meltdown, applied for membership to the 52-year-old international economic and social organization this year, it would be welcomed with open arms. The EU is expecting an application if the Social Democratic Alliance wins May's general election in the country. The next entrant to the union is to be Croatia. It has been rapidly making changes to its government and economy in order to join in 2011. The EU will then have 28 members. Iceland could join at the same time, making 29. Iceland could join quickly because it is already a member of the European Economic Area and therefore already complies with many EU directives. The main contention would be Iceland's rich fishing waters, which are contested by several nearby fishing countries. Iceland and the United Kingdom fought short naval wars in the 1950s and 1970s over the issue of fishing rights in the area. There is also an issue with Ireland's failure to ratify the Treaty of Lisbon, which was designed to streamline the union as more countries join. Without the unanimous ratification, further expansion is difficult. The EU has its roots in the six member European Coal and Steel Community, founded by France and then-West Germany in 1951. In 1957, the members of the Community formed the European Economic Community (EEC), a common market and customs union. The coal and steel organization was merged into the EEC in 1967. In 1993, the EEC became the European Union. The EU adopted a central banking system and single currency, the Euro, between 1999 and 2002. The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Turkey are all on the waiting list for entry to the EU. |
Ben S. Bernanke, at the first press conference by a Federal Reserve Chairman following a policy meeting, said the economy still requires monetary support while the need to contain inflation means further easing is unlikely. The 57-year-old former Princeton University professor stepped before the television cameras in a top-floor conference room in the Fed’s Washington headquarters yesterday and began a dialogue with the American public about the central bank’s goals and strategies. He explained the tension between reducing an 8.8 percent unemployment rate and keeping a lid on inflation. “It’s not clear that we can get substantial improvements in payrolls without some additional inflation risk,” Bernanke said to nearly 60 reporters. “Ultimately, if, if inflation persists or if inflation expectations begin to move, then there’s no substitute for action,” he said. “We would have to respond.” The Fed’s decision to have its chairman hold press conferences four times a year fulfills a key goal Bernanke has sought since he was a governor in 2002. The added transparency, already practiced by central banks from the U.K. to New Zealand, over time is likely to narrow the range of estimates on when the Fed will change course and reduce swings in short-term interest rates, said Julia Coronado at BNP Paribas. If the Fed can communicate its intentions better, “there would naturally be less volatility,” especially in money markets that are most affected by changes in the Fed’s policy rate, said Coronado, the firm’s New York-based North America chief economist. Five-Paragraph Statement The 46-minute press conference gave Bernanke a chance to explain yesterday’s five-paragraph statement by the Federal Open Market Committee, released less than two hours earlier. The FOMC agreed to finish $600 billion of Treasury purchases in June and said surging commodity prices will probably have a transitory effect on inflation. “While it’s very, very important for us to try to help the economy create jobs and to support the recovery, I think every central banker understands that keeping inflation low and stable is absolutely essential to a successful economy,” Bernanke said. Gross domestic product rose at a 1.8 percent annual rate in the first quarter, slowing from the 3.1 percent pace in the last three months of 2010, the Commerce Department said today in Washington. The Fed’s preferred price measure, the personal consumption expenditures index, minus food and energy, rose at a 1.5 percent annual rate. Treasury Yields Treasury 10-year yields approached the lowest in more than a month today as growth slowed more than forecast by economists. The yield dropped four basis points, or 0.04 percentage point, to 3.32 percent at 9:05 a.m. in New York. “You have to look at this in a broad sweep of history,” Stephen Stanley, chief economist at Pierpont Securities LLC in Stamford, Connecticut, said in reference to the press conference. “It is a matter of being more open and having another avenue to convey to the public what the basic strategy is.” Before yesterday, economists such as Stanley searched out changes of even a few words in the FOMC statement, trying to discern why policy makers decided to raise or lower interest rates or do nothing at all. While the statement provided hints about future moves, Bernanke placed the discussion yesterday in the context of prices and jobs, the Fed’s two mandates from Congress. Teaching the Public “He is teaching the American public about how monetary policy works and about the tradeoffs the Fed faces,” said Ethan Harris, head of North American economics at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in New York. Bernanke’s comments provided additional context to the statement that normally wouldn’t be available to investors until the minutes are released three weeks later, or in speeches or congressional testimony. The live press conferences depart from more staged events such as Bernanke’s interviews with CBS Corp.’s “60 Minutes” program in 2009 and 2010, and a town-hall-style discussion on PBS television. Once the Fed finishes its $600 billion bond-purchase program in June, “we are going to continue to reinvest maturing securities, both Treasuries and MBS, so the amount of securities that we hold will remain approximately constant,” Bernanke said, referring to mortgage-backed securities. “Monetary policy easing should remain constant going forward from June.” He added that “an early step” in reversing this policy “would be to stop reinvesting all or a part of the securities” maturing. ‘Marcel Marceau’ Policy As a professor and policy maker, Bernanke has been a promoter of central bank transparency. When he was a Fed governor in 2003, he said a central bank that didn’t explain itself had a “‘Marcel Marceau’ monetary policy, allowing its actions to convey all its intended meaning.” University of Chicago economist Robert Lucas, winner of the Nobel Prize in 1995, showed that government policies would be more effective if public expectations were aligned with credible goals. For Bernanke’s generation of central bankers, Lucas’s theory became a matter of creed. Central banks in the U.K., New Zealand, Canada, Australia and Sweden all adopted numerically specific inflation goals in the 1990s to help set public expectations. Central banks also enhanced their communications strategies. The Bank of England, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, the Bank of Japan and the European Central Bank all hold regular press conferences. ‘Big Believer’ “I personally have always been a big believer in providing as much information as you can to help the public understand what you’re doing, to help the markets understand what you’re doing, and to be accountable to the public for what you’re doing,” Bernanke said yesterday. Under Alan Greenspan in the late 1980s, the Fed began targeting the federal funds rate, achieving what economists call “instrument transparency.” Still, it would take about two decades for the Fed to give the public greater clarity about how it defined low inflation and full employment. The Fed decided in 1994 to release a statement when policy actions had been taken, and in 2000 to issue a statement after each meeting. “There was a view that there was some benefit to opaqueness” among Greenspan and his deputies at the Fed, even though modern macroeconomic theory pointed to the contrary, said Mark Gertler, a New York University economist who has co-written research with Bernanke. Press Officer Former Fed Vice Chairman Alan Blinder said in a 2002 paper that when he joined the Fed in 1994, the Board’s press officer discouraged him to speak about the economy. “Trust me, his briefing was not to extol the virtues of transparency,” Blinder wrote. “At one point, he informed me: ‘We don’t talk about the economy.’ I looked at him incredulously and replied, with just a trace of sarcasm: ‘Then what would you like me to talk about? The weather?’” Under Bernanke, who took over in 2006, the Fed began publishing quarterly forecasts of Federal Open Market Committee members. In 2009, FOMC members added longer-run estimates for growth, unemployment and inflation. Those estimates served as implicit targets. The Fed will now release those forecasts three weeks earlier than in the past, and the chairman explained them in his opening remarks. Policy makers lowered their forecasts for economic growth this year and raised estimates for a key gauge of inflation that excludes volatile food and energy prices. Marvin Goodfriend, an economist at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, said the press conferences will allow the Fed chairman to explain how the central bank plans to use its tools to achieve its longer-term goals. The former Richmond Fed policy adviser calls it “deliberative transparency,” where the Fed chairman provides “the public with a sense of the reasons for Fed policy and actions.” To contact the reporter on this story: Craig Torres in Washington at ctorres3@bloomberg.net. Joshua Zumbrun in Washington at jzumbrun@bloomberg.net. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Christopher Wellisz at cwellisz@bloomberg.net ||||| Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke went off script yesterday, but kept his foot out of his mouth in his inaugural news conference, watched closely by Wall Street investors and economists. Bernanke smoothly delivered the Fed’s latest statement on monetary policy and forecast a “moderate” pace to the economic recovery — with no market-shaking moments in the hour-long session. ||||| At a historic news conference Wednesday, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke defended the central bank's unprecedented and controversial actions to stabilize and revive the economy and tried to deflect concerns that inflation could derail the recovery. But Bernanke admitted during the hourlong session that inflation has been rising and promised that the Fed would watch it closely even as he acknowledged that average Americans were impatient with the slow recovery. "I think every central banker understands that keeping inflation low and stable is absolutely essential to a successful economy and we will do what's necessary to ensure that happens" Bernanke said, sitting at a desk in a Fed auditorium flanked by American and Federal Reserve flags. While saying long-term inflation projections remained stable, he said short-term price hikes, largely fueled by increased oil prices, have convinced the Fed not to continue its latest stimulus effort beyond its scheduled end in June. "The trade-offs are getting less attractive at this point," he said. "Inflation has gotten higher … it's not clear we can get substantial improvements in payrolls without some additional inflation risk." It was the first time a Fed chairman held a news conference after a meeting of the central bank's policymaking committee. At that meeting, Fed officials said they planned to stay the course of trying to boost the economy with monetary stimulus and near-zero interest rates despite concerns about rising inflation. Because of the Fed's unprecedented intervention in the economy during the financial crisis, lawmakers and the public have increasingly focused on its secretive practices. The Fed has been forced by Congress and media lawsuits to release for the first-time detailed information about who receives its money. Wednesday's news conference was a voluntary step by the Fed to become more transparent. The business media treated it like a royal wedding. Makeshift TV sets were erected outside the Fed's white marble headquarters in Washington, CNBC ran a countdown clock throughout the day ticking off the minutes to the event, and analysts speculated about what Bernanke would say and how it would affect financial markets. [Updated at 12:53 p.m.: “I think he knocked the ball out of the park,” Diane Swonk, chief economist at Mesirow Financial, said after the news conference. “He was well-prepared and did exactly what he wanted to do -– do no harm." Bernanke amplified the Fed’s projections without causing major movement in the financial markets, and did a good job of explaining the difference between short-term and longer-term inflation, she said. “Although he didn’t make any news, he did clarify a lot,” Swonk said. “He’s a teacher and that shows. He’s very good at explaining things without being too esoteric."] Bernanke was cautious in his answers. He began with a 10 minutes of remarks summarizing the policy statement issued earlier Wednesday by the Federal Open Market Committee. When reporters tried to pin him down on the ambiguous language used by the Fed, he gave little ground. Asked to explain exactly how long the Fed's "extended period" of near-zero interest rates would last, he said the term suggested it would be at least through a couple of policymaking meetings. "Unfortunately, the reason we use this vaguer terminology is we don’t know with certainty how quickly response will be required," he said. ||||| Democrats and their supporters have been crying out about Washington's lack of job creation, while Republicans are also concerned about blowing up the government's balance sheets. In his first-ever public news conference, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke revealed how the Fed has walked a fine line between both concerns. The Federal Reserve announced today that it is on track to end its Treasury-bond-buying program -- a program intended to stimulate the economy and create jobs but that received serious blowback from Republican politicians concerned about inflation. Bernanke danced around tough questions today about why job creation has been so slow. "We've made a lot of progress," Bernanke insisted, even as he acknowledged that there are still 7 million fewer jobs than before the economic crisis. He said the Fed went to "extraordinary measures" to try to create jobs with its security purchases. But, he added, "We were very clear this was not going to be a panacea and was only going to turn the economy in the right direction." That's unlikely to appease those who represent the labor force, like the AFL-CIO, which has kept the Fed on the hot seat, insisting on "keeping the agenda focused where it should be--on creating jobs, investing in America's future and rebuilding our middle class." Bernanke explained that the Fed is ending the program because of inflationary pressures. "Why not do more? The trade offs are getting less attractive at this point," Bernanke said. "It's not clear we can get substantial improvement in payrolls without some inflation risk... We've got to keep inflation under control." That move could appease Republicans who at a House Budget Committee hearing in February decried the program. The Associated Press reported at the time that Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), head of the committee, said he was worried the Fed wouldn't be able to detect inflation until "the cow is out of the barn" and was already spreading dangerously through the economy. Even as he defended the Fed's concerns about inflation, Bernanke said that the current inflation rate isn't a concern. For now, the Fed will reinvest its bond holdings, keeping interest rates low, but will tighten its interest rate policy eventually, depending on inflation and economic growth. | A meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee On Wednesday, at the first live public news conference ever given by the (Fed), Federal Reserve Chairman explained the recent policy to a small group of reporters and answered some questions. The conference was conducted two hours after the release of a report by the Fed's policymaking committee, the outlining its policies decided the day before. Until 1994 the Fed gave no information about the policy decisions made in its meetings pertaining to and other policies. The public was left to guess what decisions were. In 1994 the Fed began issuing brief reports. Unlike the US, the central banks in Europe, Japan, Canada and other countries have regularly meetings with the press after making such policy decisions. The public has increasingly been aware of the secretive practices of the Fed, especially after its unprecedented intervention with massive bailouts of large financial institutions during the recent financial crises. At Wednesday's meeting, it was decided that the Fed would maintain near-zero interest rates to stimulate the economy. It announced that it plans to end its program of buying back by the end of June, a program receiving criticism from concerned about the . Bernanke’s exchange with reporters, called "historic" by the ''Los Angeles Times'', was the first of a series of regular news conferences planned to be held quarterly by Bernanke to provided the Fed with more transparency. He was cautious in his remarks. He made no news but explained in general terms the Fed's policy. He said the Fed is attempting to revive the US economy by creating jobs and keeping low. "The trade-offs are getting less attractive at this point," Bernanke said. "Inflation has gotten higher … it's not clear we can get substantial improvements in payrolls without some additional inflation risk." During the conference, Bernanke said he recognized that the average American was unhappy with the increasing inflation and the slow job growth, but said the Fed projected that long-term inflation will remain stable while he acknowledged the effects of the short-term price increases which he said were driven largely by the increase in the price of oil. "There’s not much the Federal Reserve can do about gas prices, per se, at least not without derailing growth entirely, which certainly is not the right way to go," Bernanke said. "After all, the Fed can’t create more oil." When asked by reporters to explain his vague answers, he gave general replies. For example, when asked to clarify the Fed's intention to maintain near-zero interest rates for an "extended period" he said the wording suggested this period would probably continue through a couple more policymaking meetings at least. "Unfortunately, the reason we use this vaguer terminology is we don’t know with certainty how quickly response will be required," he said. Diane Swonk, chief economist at Mesirow Financial, said of Bernanke's performance at the press conference, "He was well-prepared and did exactly what he wanted to do - do no harm." == Sources == * * * * |
Tearful and wearing black, tens of thousands of Egyptian Coptic Christians joined a funeral mass for their patriarch, Pope Shenouda III, led by senior clerics at the main cathedral in Cairo. St Mark's Cathedral was packed with local clerics, visiting clergymen and dignitaries as deacons chanted sombre hymns and bearded, black-clad priests and monks recited prayers and dispensed incense smoke from censers. Shenouda's body lay in a white casket in the elaborate regalia he traditionally wore to oversee services, complete with an ornate golden crown. Shenouda died on Saturday aged 88 after 40 years at the head of the Coptic Orthodox Church, one of the world's oldest Christian denominations. Most of Egypt's estimated 10 million Christians are Orthodox Copts. Many in the congregation broke down in tears, while others frantically waved goodbye as the mass came to a close. Clerics, deacons and laypeople gathered around the casket, kissing it, standing in silence or bowing in respect. Tens of thousands more who could not get in followed the mass outside the cathedral, carrying crosses and portraits of Shenouda. Many wept, wiping tears off their faces as the melancholic tunes of the hymns reached them through loudspeakers. Scores of military police were deployed to maintain security outside the cathedral, on one of central Cairo's main arteries, with traffic backed up for hours because of the crowds. "I know he is now in a better place, but it is difficult now he's gone. We miss you," said a grief-stricken Marianne Saad as she stood in the crowd outside the cathedral. "After God, he was our only protector," lamented another young woman in the crowd. "We will miss him, but he will always be in our hearts," said a young Christian man, Hani Suleiman. After the mass, Shenouda's body was ferried to a military airport east of Cairo, from where it was to be flown later on Tuesday to the desert St Bishoy monastery north-west of the capital, where he will buried. The monastery, which dates back to the 4th century, was a favourite of Shenouda's. Egypt's military ruler, Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, declared a nationwide state of mourning on Tuesday. A successor to Pope Shenouda has yet to be found and it could take months before the complex process is completed. Egypt's Coptic Christians have long complained of discrimination by the nation's Muslim majority. The political ascent of Islamists since the ousting of Hosni Mubarak a year ago has added to their worries. "Words, my beloved, can never do Pope Shenouda justice. He left us an example of leadership that we should all follow," a senior cleric said in an address to the congregation. "It is because of him that we have national unity with our Muslim brothers." During his 40 years as patriarch, Shenouda strove to ensure his place among the Muslim powerbrokers, pressing demands behind the scenes while keeping Christians' anger over violence and discrimination in check. It was a delicate balancing act. Shenouda maintained a high media profile, giving interviews, speaking on key domestic and regional developments and never showing anger at times of crisis. Egyptian authorities deny any discrimination, but Christians say it happens in numerous and subtle ways. Christians, for example, rarely assume leadership jobs on the police force, particularly the security agencies. The Islamist-dominated parliament only has a handful of Christians, and there are never more than one or two Christians among 30-plus cabinet ministers. As Egypt grew more religiously conservative over the past 40 years, the discrimination became more manifest in everyday life, particularly when Christians came into direct contact with government departments or enrolled their children at state schools, where Islamists often dominate teaching staff. ||||| Tens of thousands of Egyptian Coptic Christians joined a funeral mass for their patriarch, Pope Shenouda III, led by senior clerics at the main cathedral in Cairo today. St. Mark's was packed with local clerics, visiting clergymen and dignitaries as deacons chanted sombre hymns and bearded, black-clad priests and monks recited prayers and dispensed incense smoke from censers. Shenouda's body lay in a white casket in the elaborate regalia he traditionally wore to oversee services, complete with an ornate golden crown. Many in the congregation broke down in tears, while others frantically waved goodbye as the mass came to a close. Clerics, deacons and lay people gathered around the casket, kissing it, standing in silence or bowing in respect. Tens of thousands more who could not get in followed the mass outside the cathedral, carrying portraits of Shenouda and crosses. Many wept, wiping tears off their faces as the melancholic tunes of the hymns reached them through loudspeakers. Scores of military police were deployed to maintain security outside the cathedral, with the normally congested traffic of central Cairo backed up for hours because of the crowds. The cathedral is located on a main downtown artery. Shenouda died on Saturday aged 88 after spending 40 years at the helm of the Coptic Orthodox Church, one of the world's most ancient Christian denominations. Most of Egypt's estimated 10 million Christians are Orthodox Copts. After the mass, Shenouda's body was ferried to a military airport east of Cairo, from which it was to be flown to the desert St. Bishoy monastery north-west of the capital where he will buried. The monastery, which dates back to the 4th century, has been a favourite of Shenouda's. He spent more than three years of exile there after he was banished in 1981 by late Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, who claimed the patriarch was fomenting sectarian strife. Sadat's successor, long-time authoritarian leader Hosni Mubarak, released the Pope in 1985. Egypt's military ruler, Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, declared a nationwide state of mourning. A successor to Pope Shenouda has yet to be found and it could take months before the complex process is completed. Egypt's Coptic Christians have long complained of discrimination by the nation's Muslim majority. The political ascent of Islamists since the ouster of Mubarak a year ago has added to their worries ||||| Pope Shenouda III, the patriarch of the Coptic Orthodox Church, has died aged 88 after 40 years spent leading Egypt's Christian minority during a time of increasing tensions with Muslims. Tens of thousands of Christians packed into the main Coptic cathedral in Cairo on Saturday evening hoping to see his body. Women in black wept and screamed. Some, unable to get into the overcrowded building, massed outside, raising their hands in prayer. His death comes as the country's estimated 10 million Christians are feeling more vulnerable than ever amid the rise of Islamic movements to political power after the toppling a year ago of President Hosni Mubarak. The months since have seen a string of attacks on the community, heightened anti-Christian rhetoric by ultra-conservatives known as Salafis and fears that coming goverments will try to impose strict versions of Islamic law. "He left us in a very hard time. Look at the country and what's happening now," said Mahrous Munis, a Christian IT worker in his 30s who was among the crowds. "Copts are in a worse situation than before. God be with us." An archbishop announced to the crowd that the funeral would be held in three days' and in the meantime Shenouda's body would be put on display in the cathedral, sitting in the Mar Morqos or St Mark throne from which the pope in his elaborate regalia traditionally oversaw services. Shenouda died in his residence at the cathedral, and the state news agency Mena said he had been battling liver and lung problems for several years. Yasser Ghobrial, a physician who treated Shenouda at a Cairo hospital in 2007, said he had prostate cancer that spread to his colon and lungs. Barack Obama paid tribute to Shenouda as "an advocate for tolerance and religious dialogue". "We will remember Pope Shenouda III as a man of deep faith, a leader of a great faith, and an advocate for unity and reconciliation," the American president said in a statement. "His commitment to Egypt's national unity is also a testament to what can be accomplished when people of all religions and creeds work together." "Baba Shenouda" as he was known to his followers, headed one of the most ancient churches in the world. The Copts traces their faith's origins to St Mark, who is said to have brought Christianity to Egypt in the 1st century. For Egypt's Christians he was a charismatic leader, known for his sense of humour. His smiling portrait was hung in many Coptic homes and shops. He was also a deeply conservative religious thinker who resisted calls by liberals for reform. Above all, many Copts saw him as the guardian of their community. Christians have long complained of being treated as second-class citizens, saying they face discrimination and that police generally fail to prosecute those behind anti-Christian attacks. Shenouda sought to contain Christians' anger and gave strong support to Mubarak's government, while avoiding pressing Coptic demands too vocally in public to prevent a backlash from Muslim conservatives. In return Mubarak's regime allowed the church wide powers among the Christian community. In the past year young and liberal Christians grew increasingly overt in their criticism of his approach, saying it brought little success in stemming violence or discrimination. Instead the church's domination over Christians' lives further ghettoized them, making them a sect first, Egyptian citizens second. "This was the mistake of Baba Shenouda and his predecessor. The state wanted to deal with Christians through one person," said prominent Christian columnist Karima Kamal. "We want the state to deal with Christians as citizens and for the church to step aside," she said. "Christians are increasingly dealt with just as a sect." After Mubarak's fall, ultraconservative Salafis grew older and more vocal, accusing Christians of seeking to convert Muslim women or even take over the country. Several churches were attacked by mobs. Christian anger was further stoked when troops harshly put down a Christian protest in Cairo, killing 27 people. In an unprecedented move aimed at showing unity, leaders from the Muslim Brotherhood along with top generals from the ruling military joined Shenouda for services for Orthodox Christmas in January at the Cairo cathedral. "For the first time in the history of the cathedral, it is packed with all types of Islamist leaders in Egypt," Shenouda told the gathering. "They all agree ... on the stability of this country and on loving it, working for it and working with the Copts as one hand for Egypt's sake." The Brotherhood's political party has offered its condolences "to the Egyptian people and its Christian brothers". Parliament speaker Saad el-Katatny, a Brotherhood member, praised the pope in an evening session, calling him a "man respected among Coptic Christians and Muslims" for his love of Egypt and his opposition to Israel's annexation of Jerusalem. Under a longstanding order Shenouda barred his followers from pilgrimage to Jerusalem as a protest against Israel's hold on the city. Under church law the process of choosing Shenouda's successor can take up to three months, though an interim leader will be picked within a week. A synod of archbishops, bishops and lay leaders will then form a committee to come up with three candidates. The names are then put in a box and a blindfolded acolyte picks one a step meant to be guided by the will of God. Two leading contenders are close associates of Shenouda. Archbishop Bishoy, head of the Holy Congregation, the main clerical leadership body, is seen as the more conservative figure; Archbishop Johannes, the pope's secretary, is younger in his 50s and seen as having a wider appeal among youth. Shenouda was born Nazeer Gayed on 3 August 1923 in the southern city of Assiut. After entering the priesthood he became an activist in the Sunday School movement, which was launched to revive Christian religious education. At the age of 31, Gayed became a monk, taking the name Antonious El-Syriani and spending six years in the monastery of St Anthony. After the death of Pope Cyrilos VI he was elected to the papacy in 1971 and took the name Shenouda. He kept a strict line on church doctrine including the ban on divorce, except in cases of adultery in the face of calls by secular and liberal Copts for reform, including reducing the role of clergymen in Christians' life. Archbishop Moussa told mourners at the cathedral that Shenouda would be buried at the Bishoy Monastery. | Pope Shenouda III of Alexandria in 2009 , the leader of Egypt's church, has died at the age of 88. His funeral was held at a packed in Cairo today. The mass featured hymns, prayers and incense-burning as crowds in and outside the cathedral paid their respects. A large police presence watched over the scenes as mourners wept. Field Marshal , presently leader of Egypt, has made today a day of mourning. The Coptic Church is among the world's oldest and traces its roots to St Mark in the first century. Shenouda spent 40 years as pope to the Coptics, who make up the majority of the nation's estimated ten million Christians. Much of this time was spent pacifying his followers in the wake of violence and perceived discrimination, whilst working with the majority Muslims. He spent three years exiled in the cathedral after claims of sectarian troublemaking from then-President in 1981. He was freed by Hosni Mubarak in 1985. With Mubarak gone, many Copts are concerned that Islamist political parties gaining new influence could mark a time of trouble for their religion. "He left us an example of leadership that we should all follow," a cleric told the congregation at the fourth-century cathedral. "It is because of him that we have national unity with our Muslim brothers." Traffic was congested around the cathedral, which the pope remained fond of, while services were ongoing today. Shenouda was dressed in full regalia, complete with a gold crown. His body was taken to a military airfield and was to be taken to desert monastery St Bishoy for burial. Tributes have been paid to Pope Shenouda as thousands of people mourned his death. President of the United States Barack Obama said in a statement "We will remember Pope Shenouda III as a man of deep faith, a leader of a great faith, and an advocate for unity and reconciliation... His commitment to Egypt's national unity is also a testament to what can be accomplished when people of all religions and creeds work together." |
The rocket took off under a clear blue sky Rocket's blast-off The rocket, a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), took off from the Sriharikota base in southern India at 1530 Indian time (1000 GMT). It is carrying a 352kg Italian satellite which will gather information about the origins of the universe, the AFP news agency reports. India's space programme includes an unmanned mission to the Moon which is due to take place next year. 'Twenty-three minutes' The BBC's Sanjoy Majumder in Delhi says that scientists at India's space centre broke out into spontaneous applause as the rocket lifted off into a clear blue sky. He says that India has been working for some time on developing a low-cost launch system which could take on more established players around the world. Reports say that India is being paid $11m to launch the Italian satellite. The rocket was due to send the satellite into orbit 23 minutes after takeoff. The PSLV model rocket was first launched in 1994. It puts satellites into orbits where they cross above the earth's poles. At present, the PSLV rocket only has the capability of carrying relatively lighter loads of under 1,500 kilograms. But officials at India's space programme are hoping that can change with time. ||||| Subject: /India-Space/Italy/ India's first commercial space launch successful New Delhi (dpa) - India on Monday successfully placed an Italian astronomical satellite into orbit, marking its entry into an exclusive group of nations conducting commercial space launches, officials said. The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) launched the 352-kilogramme Italian satellite AGILE atop its rocket, the PSLV-C8 from the Sriharikota spaceport, located 80 kilometres north of the India's southern city of Chennai. Some 22 minutes after the lift-off, the PSLV (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle) inserted the satellite into a 550 kilometre equatorial orbit, causing jubilation amongst Indian and Italian scientists at Sriharikota. The Italian satellite, costing approximately 59 million dollars, will be used to search for black holes and gather information about the origins of the universe. Besides the AGILE, the PSLV also placed into orbit an Advanced Avionics Module (AAM), weighing 185 kilogrammes, to test advanced launch vehicle avionics systems like mission computers, navigation and telemetry systems. With Monday's successful launch, India became the fifth country to enter the global commercial launch market. Only the US, Russia, China and France offer commercial satellite launch services in a market that is estimated at 2.5 billion dollars every year. Indian scientists said it was a moment of joy as a European country had selected the ISRO for the launch ahead of experienced players like France and Russia, which have more than 800 space missions between them. "It is a historic moment as far as the space community is concerned. A European satellite from Italy which will look into celestial objects has been placed into orbit by an Indian rocket," G Madhavan Nair, chairman of ISRO, told reporters. "We have made a good entry into the launch business and hope we will have more opportunities in the near future," he added. Giovanni Bignami, president of the Italian Space Agency, said, "It is an intense and emotional moment. It is a performance better than expected and an even more successful mission." "I think you (ISRO) have now made a very important score for India's launch into the space market," he added. The ISRO did not divulge the actual costs but indicated that they were charging 30 per cent less than the international price of 15,000 to 20,000 dollars per kilogramme of payload. According to the PTI news agency, the ISRO had charged 11 million dollars for the launch. "The cost of launch was negotiated on a commercial basis. We have to keep confidentiality to win a market," Nair had said earlier. The PSLV has emerged as the workhorse launch vehicle of the ISRO, with 10 consecutively successful flights so far. Since its first successful launch in 1994, PSLV has launched eight Indian remote sensing satellites, an amateur radio satellite, HAMSAT, a recoverable space capsule SRE-1 and small satellites for foreign customers into 550-800-kilometre-high polar Sun Synchronous Orbits (SSO). Capable of placing 1,500-kilogramme satellites into orbit, the 44 metre-tall PSLV rocket is also scheduled to fly India's first mission to the moon, Chandrayaan-1, in 2008. RSS Feed | print article MORE 16:42 PREVIEW: Concert marks 125 years of Berlin Philharmonic 16:11 Ukraine police tear gas Russian protestors at Estonian embassy 15:55 Merkel to urge Bush to reach out to Russia on missile defence 15:37 IST LEAD: Frankfurt exchange bids for New York's ISE 15:23 Frankfurt exchange bids for New York's ISE ||||| CHENNAI: Countdown is progressing smoothly for the first commercial launch of PSLV-C8 on Monday with a 352 kg Italian astronomical satellite onboard from Sriharikota spaceport, about 150 kms from Chennai. "Atmosphere is calm and quiet. Countdown is progressing as per schedule," an ISRO spokesman said. The launch vehicle is scheduled to lift off at 1530 hrs. The 42-hour countdown for the launch of 11th flight of Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle-C8 from the second launch pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, SHAR, at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh, began Friday evening. Apart from Italian satellite, AGILE, PSLV-C8 would also carry an Advanced Avionics Module (AAM), weighing 185 kg, to test advanced launch vehicle avionics systems like mission computers, navigation and telemetry systems. A workhorse launch vehicle of ISRO, PSLV has launched nine successful consecutive flights till now since the first launch in 1994. It would also launch India's first mission to the moon, Chandrayaan-1 in 2008. | The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) announced India’s first commercial launch of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV). It is carrying the Italian satellite AGILE which will gather information about the origins of the universe through imaging of distant celestial objects in the X-ray and Gamma ray regions of the electromagnetic spectrum. India joined the elite club of nations who have the capacity to deploy their space exploration resources for commercial use. Currently, only the United States, Russia, China, Ukraine and the European Space Agency have the capacity to deploy their space exploration resources for commercial use. These nations dominate the commercial satellite launch services segment which is estimated to be worth $2.5 billion a year. The PSLV rocket only has the capability of carrying relatively lighter loads of under 1,000 kilograms, but ISRO hopes to increase payloads soon. |
Protesters carry an effigy of Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo during a rally in Metro Manila on Friday. (Romeo Ranoco/Reuters) Thousands in Philippines call for Arroyo to resign MANILA: In one of the largest demonstrations against President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo since she took office in 2001, thousands of Filipinos took to the streets Friday, demanding her resignation over a corruption scandal. Two former presidents - Corazón Aquino, who led the first "people power" revolt in 1986, and Joseph Estrada, who was ousted in the second one in 2001 - joined priests, nuns, farmers, leftist activists and students in a march through the capital's financial district, as confetti made of shredded phone books rained down on them. Chants of "Gloria resign!" reverberated on the four avenues that led to the statue of Aquino's husband, Benigno Aquino Jr., whose assassination in 1983 sparked the protests that ousted the dictator Ferdinand Marcos and installed Corazón Aquino in the presidency 22 years ago this week. Tied to the statue was a placard that read "Gloria is evil," a reference to testimony in the Senate in which Arroyo was described as an "evil person" after allegations that her husband tried to influence the approval of a $330 million government contract with the Chinese company ZTE to build an Internet broadband network connecting government offices. Allegations of impropriety, among them that a principal Arroyo ally was going to receive a $30 million kickback out of the project, have led to a series of protests against Arroyo, who has repeatedly denied the allegations. She later canceled the telecommunications contract. The police estimated the crowd at 15,000, but organizers said more than 75,000 people took part. Opposition to Arroyo has created unlikely coalitions. Estrada, who was seated beside Aquino at the rally, was ousted in 2001 in the protests that brought Arroyo to power. Aquino herself led protests against Estrada, who was accused of pocketing money from illegal gambling and government taxes. Estrada was convicted of the charges last year but pardoned soon after. "Gloria, it's enough! Resign!" Aquino said in her brief speech. When it was Estrada's turn to speak, sections of the crowd shouted his name. "What should we do if someone is overstaying?" Estrada asked demonstrators, who shouted back, "Resign!" While Arroyo's critics and the political opposition had been trying to elicit broad public support for their call to remove Arroyo since 2004, when she was accused of cheating in the election that year, their cause was given a huge boost in early February when Rodolfo Lozada Jr., an official who had been tapped to review the broadband contract, gave testimony in the Senate that corroborated the overpricing and kickback allegations. In recent days Lozada had been trying to rally university students to join the protests and register their outrage against corruption in government. On Friday, the students - many of them still wearing their uniforms - seemed to have heeded Lozada's call. "We don't want evil! We've had enough!" shouted Jake Mecias, a student from Ateneo de Manila University, holding a sign that read "It's time to go!" Leftist activists and farmers held up effigies of Arroyo depicting her as a serpent. "I don't care what will happen to Arroyo after this or what she will feel about this," said Randy David, a sociology professor at the University of the Philippines who joined the march Friday. "The important thing is that Filipinos are outraged, as they should be." This week, Arroyo said in a radio interview that she learned about the alleged improprieties surrounding the contract the night before it was signed in China in April 2007, but felt it too late to cancel it. She said she immediately sought the contract's cancellation. It was finally canceled in October, but only after a rival bidder on the project, Jose de Venecia III, testified in the Senate on the alleged overpricing. ||||| 2 ex-presidents seek Arroyo resignation MANILA, Philippines Two former Philippine presidents, once bitter foes, joined tens of thousands of protesters at a rally Friday to press for President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's resignation over a raging corruption scandal. It was the largest crowd yet since Arroyo's latest crisis erupted weeks ago when the Philippine Senate heard testimony, broadcast on live television, that linked her husband to multimillion-dollar kickbacks in a government telecommunications deal. The crowd included former opponents ex-President Corazon Aquino, who ushered in democracy when the country's first "people power" revolt ousted dictator Ferdinand Marcos in 1986, and former President Joseph Estrada, who was forced out over massive corruption by a second "people power" uprising in 2001. "I thought my work was done because I am already old," said Aquino, 75. "But this is what the times ask for, for us to unite so that the deceit will end and we will find out the truth. Thankfully there are still many of us shouting, 'Gloria, enough, resign already.'" Aquino used to be one of Arroyo's biggest supporters before breaking away in 2005 amid allegations that the president had rigged the 2004 election. Soldiers and police went on high alert, setting up checkpoints at major highways as demonstrators braved a drizzle and gathered in Manila's financial district. Police estimated turnout at 15,000, while organizers estimated the crowd at about 80,000. The rally was organized by a loose coalition of opposition groups, business people, left-wing activists, Roman Catholic church-backed organizations and a large evangelical group, the Jesus is Lord Movement. The crowd included former opponents who, like Aquino and Estrada, have united to oppose Arroyo, who has fended off three impeachment bids and four coup plots in seven years in power. "No single group or person claims credit in leading this initiative," said Renato Reyes, secretary-general of the left-wing alliance Bayan. "Mrs. Gloria Arroyo made this possible. Her bankrupt and corrupt regime provided the urgency for everyone to set aside their differences and struggle together for truth and justice." In southern Iligan city, about 1,000 Muslim and Christian protesters -- including lawyers, teachers, priests, nuns and Muslim guerrillas in civilian clothes -- gathered in a public plaza to call for Arroyo's ouster. Smaller anti-Arroyo rallies were held elsewhere in the country. Arroyo's latest trouble stems from allegations of corruption in a $330 million broadband deal with China's ZTE Corp., which she was forced to cancel. Former consultants for the telecommunications contract have said the president's husband and the country's elections chief -- who has since quit -- benefited from huge kickbacks linked to the aborted contract. Both men have denied wrongdoing. Arroyo has not directly addressed the allegations against her and her husband but says she opposes corruption and that her family does no business with the government. ZTE also has denied the allegations. Aquino said growing public discontent over the scandal could force Arroyo to quit. "I am growing optimistic because I can see that more and more Filipinos are taking part in the effort to find the truth," Aquino said. "What came out in the Senate hearings was really shocking." Arroyo, who has ordered an investigation by the Justice Department and the government ombudsman, inaugurated the country's first public aquarium Friday and attended Mass at police headquarters. The powerful military and Roman Catholic bishops -- both of whom played key roles in the two "people power" revolts -- have refused to join calls for Arroyo to resign, although both have had to deal with dissension among their ranks for not doing so. Military chief Gen. Hermogenes Esperon warned troops they would face arrest if they joined the rally, saying such involvement could threaten the country's nascent democracy. Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Enlarge by Bullit Marquez, AP Students display messages during a rally at the University of Makati campus at the financial district of Makati city east of Manila, Philippines, Thursday Feb. 28, 2008, to call for the resignation of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. Various opposition groups, led by religious and left-wing activists, are holding a big rally Friday while the Philippine military warned Thursday that troops face arrest if they join the major rally to press for Arroyo's resignation over a raging corruption scandal. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez) ||||| 01/25/2008 | 04:50 PM Fifty-eight percent of Filipinos in Mindanao believed that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo cheated in the 2004 presidential elections, a survey conducted by Pulse Asia in Mindanao in December last year showed.The same survey released to media Friday showed that 70 percent of those polled believed that because of recurring allegations of election fraud, the credibility of the balloting process in Mindanao was at a record low.The Pulse survey - which was commissioned by Genuine Opposition (GO) through former Senator Sergio Osmeña III as part of GO’s continuing program to gauge public opinion and was conducted on 600 adults in northern and southern Mindanao - also showed that 70 percent of those polled believed that there was cheating during the 2004 presidential elections.“The same survey indicated that 58 percent of the respondents believe that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo cheated in Mindanao areas during the 2004 elections that saw here winning the presidential count undertaken by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) over then opposition candidate, the late movie actor Fernando Poe Jr," a statement of the GO read.The GO said that the same Pulse Asia survey showed that 26 percent of those surveyed showed none of the 2004 presidential candidates committed poll fraud in Mindanao, while nine percent said all of the candidates cheated.One percent of the respondents declined to give an answer.“An identical two percent of the respondents said they believed that then presidential candidates Panfilo 'Ping' Lacson and Eddie Villanueva also cheated while one percent said Poe and the late Senator Raul Roco were also involved in poll fraud," the GO statement quoted Pulse Asia.The GO said that 81 percent of the respondents belonging to the Classes ABC said there were cheating in the 2004 presidential polls, while 68 percent from Class D and 72 percent came from Class E.“It will be recalled that allegations of fraud during the 2004 presidential elections triggered by the ‘Hello, Garci’ wiretapping scandal have raised legitimacy questions against the Arroyo administration and have resulted in at least three impeachment attempts against the President before the House of Representatives" the GO said.The GO said that in the 2007 mid-term elections, poll fraud charges were again raised in Central Mindanao, particularly in the provinces of Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur where administration senatorial bets won under questionable circumstances.Covered by the survey, which was conducted from December 1 to 5 and has a margin of error of plus or minus four percent, include Butuan City, Cagayan de Oro, Iligan City, Maramag in Bukidnon, Prosperidad in Agusan del Sur, Tubod in Lanao del Norte, Cotabato City, Davao City, General Santos City, Isulan in Sultan Kudarat, Mati in Davao Oriental and Nabuntaran in Compostela Valley.The GO said 300 of the respondents came from the urban areas while the other half came from the rural areas. | World Economic Forum in 2007. Tens of thousands of Filipinos called for President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's resignation in the streets of Manila in the wake of a corruption scandal. Among the protesters were nuns, farmers, students, and even two former Presidents. Former Presidents Corazón Aquino and Joseph Estrada, known for being bitter rivals, joined the group in demanding that President Arroyo resign. "I thought my work was done because I am already old," said Aquino, 75. "But this is what the times ask for, for us to unite so that the deceit will end and we will find out the truth. Thankfully there are still many of us shouting, 'Gloria, enough, resign already.'" Soldiers and policemen were on high alert, setting up checkpoints at major highways as demonstrators gathered in Manila's financial district. Police estimated there to be about 15,000 protesters, while organizers estimated the crowd at about 80,000. Aquino was one of Arroyo's most loyal supporters until breaking away in 2005 amid allegations that she had rigged the 2004 election. In a recent survey of inhabitants of the island Mindanao commissioned by an opposition party, 58% of respondents believed Arroyo had rigged the elections. Arroyo has been criticised because her husband had attempted to influence the approval of a $330 million government contract with the Chinese company ZTE to build a broadband network connecting government offices. |
Strong earthquake hits Taiwan; injuries reported TAIPEI, Taiwan — A powerful 6.4-magnitude earthquake rocked southern Taiwan on Thursday, causing widespread damage and disrupting communications around the island. Local news reports said several people were injured. The quake was centered in the county of Kaohsiung, and struck at a depth of about 3.1 miles (5 kilometers). Kaohsiung is about 249 miles (400 kilometers) south of the capital Taipei. No tsunami alert was issued. Kuo Kai-wen, director of the Central Weather Bureau's Seismology Center, said the Taiwan quake was not geologically related to the temblor that hit Chile over the weekend, killing more than 800 people. In the southern Taiwanese city of Tainan, a fire broke out in a textile factory shortly after Thursday's quake struck, sending huge plumes of black smoke billowing into the air. At least one train in southern Taiwan shifted slightly off its tracks, and authorities suspended service throughout the region. Subway service in the city of Kaohsiung was temporarily disrupted. Power outages hit Taipei and at least one county to the south, and telephone service in some parts of Taiwan was spotty. Buildings swayed in the capital when the quake struck. The quake's epicenter was near the town of Jiashian, in the same area where a devastating typhoon struck last August. A Kaohsiung county official told CTI TV news that some temporary housing in the town collapsed as a result of the quake. The Ministry of Defense said troops were dispatched to Jiashian to report on damage. CTI reported one person was moderately injured by falling debris in Kaohsiung, and one woman was hospitalized after a wall collapsed on her scooter in the southern city of Chiayi. Also in Chiayi, one person was hurt by a falling tree, government-owned Central News Agency said. A spokesman for Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou said authorities had been instructed to follow the quake situation closely and take steps to mitigate damage and dislocation. Earthquakes frequently rattle Taiwan but most are minor and cause little or no damage. However, a 7.6-magnitude temblor in central Taiwan in 1999 killed more than 2,300 people. In 2006 a 6.7-magnitude quake south of Kaohsiung severed undersea cables and disrupted telephone and Internet service to millions throughout Asia. Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. ||||| TAIPEI (Reuters) - An earthquake of magnitude 6.4 shook Taiwan early on Thursday, injuring 11, stopping transport World | Natural Disasters and causing minor damage and fires in the southern half of the island. The quake caused a brief dip in the island's stock market, with semiconductor firms including TSMC, the world's No.1 contract chip maker, falling on concerns production could be hit. Falling objects, including a tree, injured people in south Taiwan after the 8:18 a.m. (0018 GMT) quake, said Liang Yu-chu, a spokesman with Taiwan's National Fire Administration disaster response center. The quake also set off five fires, including one at a textile factory, and caused 16 elevators to get stuck, Liang said. Services on the southern half of Taiwan's high-speed rail linking Taipei with the south were stopped pending safety checks. An official of the Tainan Science Industrial Park, which houses plants of many tech firms, including TSMC, UMC and Chi Mei, said no big production losses were likely and electricity supply remains normal. The epicenter of the quake was in the mountains northeast of the city of Kaohsiung at a depth of 5 km, the Central Weather Bureau said. No major damage was reported near the epicenter, a rural area hard hit in August by a deadly typhoon, Liang said. Taiwan uses the Richter scale to measure earthquake intensity. The U.S. Geological Survey put the quake's magnitude at 6.4, revised from an initial 6.5 and put the depth at 35 km. The quake was felt in the capital Taipei, where buildings shook for several minutes. Officials in the southern county of Chiayi reported some objects falling off roof tops. Earthquakes occur frequently in Taiwan, which lies on a seismically active stretch of the Pacific basin. One of Taiwan's worst-recorded quakes occurred in September 1999. Measuring 7.6, it killed more than 2,400 people and destroyed or damaged 50,000 buildings. (Reporting by the Taipei bureau; Editing by David Fox) ||||| (CNN) -- A 6.4-magnitude earthquake jolted southern Taiwan on Thursday morning, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. There were no immediate reports of injuries or deaths but some damage has occurred to buildings and major bridges, and power was cut off near the epicenter. The quake struck at about 8:20 a.m. (7:20 p.m. Wednesday ET) in a mountainous region about 25 miles northwest of Taitung, on the southeast coast, and 40 miles east of Tainan and Kaohsiung on the southwest coast. The region, which includes Maolin National Scenic Area, is recovering from a direct hit by Typhoon Morakot that killed hundreds in August. The typhoon dumped more than two feet of rain, causing serious mudslides in the south, including one that buried the village of Shiao Lin under 50 feet of mud. Thursday's quake was followed by several aftershocks, the largest reaching 4.8. The initial 6.4 quake rumbled to the surface from 14 miles deep. Were you there? Did you feel it? The Taiwan Ministry of Interior and the National Fire Agency said electricity was cut off near the epicenter but had no further information. Residents in southern Taiwan reported cracks in some buildings and major bridges. Train service was also disrupted in some areas, Taiwanese media reported. Albert Yu, communications manager of the humanitarian organization World Vision, told CNN he was about halfway through a 90-minute trip via high-speed train from Taipei to Tainan when the quake struck. Passengers did not feel the quake, he said, but operators stopped the train and announced what had happened. More than an hour later, the train had not resumed its journey. "The operator is examining the train and the tracks," he said, adding that there was a concern about the stability of the area, particularly after the typhoon. "Inside the train, people are calm and are waiting it out -- opening laptops, starting to work and chatting with people around them." Yu said World Vision "has already been on high alert responding to the quakes in Haiti and Chile, so we're closely monitoring reports in the earthquake in southern Taiwan." Residents in the capital Taipei, 155 miles to the north, also felt the shaking. Earthquakes are not uncommon in the 13,892-square-mile island -- about the size of the U.S. states of Maryland and Delaware combined -- which sits across the juncture of the Eurasian and Philippine tectonic plates. A 6.4-magnitude earthquake struck the same general region in December. The island took a double hit on December 26, 2006, when earthquakes of 7.1 and 6.9 magnitude hit eight minutes apart. The largest recorded quake to strike Taiwan was an 8.0-magnitude quake in 1920, but the worst earthquake disaster stemmed from a 7.1-magnitude quake in 1935 that killed more than 3,200 people -- followed by a 6.5-magnitude quake that killed more than 2,700 people three months later. More recently, a 7.6-magnitude earthquake killed more than 2,400 people in 1999. CNN's Christine Theodorou and Journalist Andrew Lee contributed to this report | Location of earthquake A powerful 6.4 magnitude earthquake hit southern Taiwan on Thursday. According to USGS the epicenter was 23.1 km (14.4 miles) deep. The quake struck at 8:18 a.m. (0018 UTC) in a mountainous region on the southeast coast and 40 miles east of cities of Tainan and Kaohsiung on the southwest coast. The earthquake was felt in capital Taipei which is 155 miles north of the epicenter. Several fires were started and Taipei's high-speed railway lines were stopped and are undergoing safety checks. CTI news agency reported one person was injured by falling debris in Kaohsiung, and one woman was hospitalized in the southern city of Chiayi. One person was hurt by a falling tree according to Central News Agency. A spokesman for Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou assured that the concerned authorities had been instructed to follow the situation closely and take steps so as to alleviate the damage caused and survey the dislocation. The Ministry of Defense has dispatched troops to report on the damage. The Taiwan Ministry of Interior and the National Fire Agency said electricity was cut off near the epicenter but further information was not possible. The quake was followed by many aftershocks, the largest of 4.8 on the Richter scale. Kuo Kai-wen who is the director of the Central Weather Bureau's Seismology Center denied presence of any geological relations between the Chile earthquake and this earthquake in Taiwan. |
There is no independent evidence that the letters are genuine - or whether they were written willingly. RELEASED FRIDAY 30 MARCH To British People I am writing to you as a British service person who has been sent to Iraq, sacrificed due to the intervening policies of the Bush and Blair governments. We were arrested after entering Iranian waters by the Iranian forces. For this, I am deeply sorry. I understand that this has caused even more distrust for the people of Iran and the whole area in the British (sic). The Iranian people have treated me well and have proved themselves to be caring, compassionate, hospitable and friendly. For this I am thankful. I believe that for our countries to move forward we need to start withdrawing our forces from Iraq and leave the people of Iraq to start re-building their lives. I have written a letter to the people of Iran apologising for our actions. Whereas we hear and see on the news the way prisoners were treated in Abo-Ghrayb (sic) and other Iraqi jails by British and American personnel, I have received total respect and faced no harm. It is now our time to ask our government to make a change to its oppressive behaviour towards other people. RELEASED THURSDAY 29 MARCH Representatives of the House of Commons, I am writing to inform you of my situation. I am a British Serviceperson currently being held in Iran. I would like you all to know of the treatment I have received whilst here. The Iranian people are kind, considerate, warm, compassionate and very hospitable. They have brought me no harm, but have looked after me well. I have been fed, clothed and well cared for. Unfortunately during the course of our mission we entered into Iranian waters. Even through our wrongdoing, they have still treated us well and humanely, which I am and always will be eternally grateful. I ask the representatives of the House of Commons after the government had promised that this type of incident would not happen again why have they let this occur and why has the government not been questioned over this? Isn't it time for us to start withdrawing our forces from Iraq and let them determine their own future. Faye Turney 27/3/07 RELEASED WEDNESDAY 28 MARCH (EXTRACT) Dear Mum and Dad, I am writing to you from Iran where I am being held. I will try to explain to you the best what has happened. We were out in the boats when we were arrested by Iranian forces as we had apparently gone into Iranian waters. I wish we hadn't because then I would be home with you all right now. I'm so sorry we did because I know we wouldn't be here now if we hadn't. I want you all to know that I am well and safe. I am being well looked after, I am fed three meals a day and I'm in constant supply of fluids. The people are friendly and hospitable, very compassionate and warm. I have written a letter to the Iranian people to apologise for us entering into their waters. Please don't worry about me. I'm staying strong. All my love Faye xxxxxxxxxxxxx ||||| The crewman says he has been well treated by the Iranians. The crewman, who introduces himself as Nathan Thomas Summers, says: "I would like to apologise for entering your waters without permission." Tony Blair said "parading" crew in this way would only "enhance people's sense of disgust with Iran". The UK denies Iranian claims the crew had been in its waters last Friday. At a meeting in Germany on Friday, European Union foreign ministers called for "the immediate and unconditional release" of the sailors and expressed "unconditional support" for Britain's position. 'Oppressive' Nathan Summers is seen alongside two colleagues, including Leading Seaman Faye Turney, 26, from Shropshire, who was shown apologising to Iran earlier in the week. A third letter allegedly from LS Turney was released on Friday in which she said she had been "sacrificed" to the policies of the UK and US governments. It also demanded an end to "oppressive behaviour towards other people", including prisoners at Abu Ghraib jail in Iraq. Meanwhile, the BBC has been able to confirm the names of six of the 15 captured sailors. Along with LS Turney and seaman Summers, who is from Cornwall, they are Paul Barton from Southport, Danny Masterton from Ayrshire, Joe Tindell from south London and Adam Sperry from Leicester. The UK prime minister said the only possible outcome to the situation was the release of the crew. Britain was pursuing the problem with "firmness and determination" but also with patience, he said. Mr Blair said: "I really don't know why the Iranian regime keep doing this. All it does is enhance people's sense of disgust at captured personnel being paraded and manipulated in this way. "It doesn't fool anyone. And what the Iranians have to realise is if they continue in this way they will face increasing isolation." 'Illegal act' UK Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett described the latest footage as "quite appalling" and "blatant propaganda". She also disclosed there was nothing in a formal letter from the Iranians to the UK that suggested they were looking for a solution to "this difficult situation". The note condemned the navy's "illegal act" and demanded guarantees against "the recurrence of such acts" in the future. It is perfectly obvious these people were in Iraqi waters under a United Nations mandate Tony Blair More reaction to Iran crisis Reaction from the region Earlier, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was quoted as telling Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan that Britain must apologise. "In recent years British forces have violated international law and crossed the Iranian border," he said. Meanwhile Whitehall sources told the BBC that procedures for patrolling in the Gulf close to the Iran-Iraq maritime border - and the equipping of British forces there - were both under review. 'No harm' In the latest video, the crewman says he has been in the navy for two years, "operating mechanical warfare". He then says: "Since we've been arrested in Iran our treatment has been very friendly. UK VERSION OF EVENTS 1 Crew boards merchant ship 1.7NM inside Iraqi waters 2 HMS Cornwall was south-east of this, and inside Iraqi waters 3 Iran tells UK that merchant ship was at a different point, still within Iraqi waters 4 After UK points this out, Iran provides alternative position, now within Iranian waters "We have not been harmed at all. They've looked after us really well. "The food they've been serving us is good and I am grateful that no harm has come to us. "I would just like to apologise for entering your waters without permission. And that happened back in 2004, and the government promised that it wouldn't happen again. IRANIAN VERSION OF EVENTS 1 Royal Navy crew stray 0.5km inside Iranian waters 2 Iran gives set of co-ordinates to back up their claims 3 According to seized GPS equipment, the Royal Navy crew had previously entered Iranian waters at several other points 4 Iran informs Britain of the position where the crew were seized, inside Iranian waters Both versions in more detail "Again I deeply apologise for entering your waters." Earlier, the UN Security Council agreed a statement voicing "grave concern" at Iran's actions. The statement also calls on Tehran to allow the UK consular access to the personnel and urges an "early resolution", including release of the crew, but stops short of "deploring" Iran's action, as requested by the UK. Iran's UN mission said Britain's attempt to involve other nations in the crisis was "not helpful". The Britons, based on HMS Cornwall, were seized a week ago by Iranian Revolutionary Guards as they returned from searching a vessel in the northern Gulf. | Iranian television has aired new video footage of three of the fifteen UK sailors and marines seized by Iran a week ago. On Thursday evening, the Iranian Embassy in London released a second letter purported to be written by detained servicewoman Faye Turney. The footage was released hours after Iran criticized yesterday's United Nations Security Council statement, which voiced “grave concern” over the incident and called for an "early resolution" of the matter. In the video footage, three crewmen are shown with one identified as Nathan Thomas Summers. Summers was seen confessing to being in Iranian waters and apologizing to the Iranian people. "We trespassed without permission," said Summers. "Since we have been arrested our treatment has been friendly. We have not been harmed at all." "I would like to apologize for entering your waters without any permission ... I deeply apologize," continued Summers. "They have looked after us really well." According to the BBC, the UK Foreign Office described the latest video as "disgraceful exploitation". A hand-written note, the second letter apparently written by Faye Turney, was released by Iran on Thursday evening. The letter requests the UK government to withdraw its troops from Iraq. "Isn't it time for us to start withdrawing our forces from Iraq and let them determine their own future," the letter states. In reply, a Prime Minister's office spokesman said: "It is wrong. It is wrong in terms of the usual conventions that cover this. It is wrong in terms of basic humanity". Iran has also released a third letter purporting to be from Leading Seaman Turney, addressed to the "British People". The letter states that she has been "sacrificed due to the intervening policies of the Bush and Blair governments" and repeats the call for the withdrawal of British and US forces from Iraq. British Prime Minister Tony Blair said in response: "I really don't know why the Iranian regime keep doing this. All it does is enhance people's sense of disgust at captured personnel being paraded and manipulated in this way." The BBC says it has been able to confirm the names of six of the 15 sailors and marines held by Iran. Apart from Leading Seaman Turney and Seaman Summers (from Shropshire and Cornwall respectively), they are: Paul Barton from Southport, Danny Masterton from Ayrshire, Joe Tindall from south London and Adam Sperry from Leicester. On March 23, the fifteen sailors and marines from the frigate HMS ''Cornwall'' had been inspecting a ship, in what the UK identified as Iraqi waters, when they were surrounded by Iranian gunboats and taken into Iranian custody. Iran claims the UK forces were in Iranian waters, and are still detaining the fifteen. |
Adjust font size: CHICAGO, Illinois (AP) -- In a case fraught with ethical questions, the parents of a severely mentally and physically disabled child have stunted her growth to keep their little "pillow angel" a manageable and more portable size. The uterus and breast tissue of the bedridden 9-year-old girl were removed at a Seattle hospital, and she received large doses of hormones to halt her growth. She is now 4-foot-5; her parents say she would otherwise probably reach a normal 5-foot-6. The case has captured attention nationwide and abroad via the Internet, with some decrying the parents' actions as perverse and akin to eugenics. Some ethicists question the parents' claim that the drastic treatment will benefit their daughter and allow them to continue caring for her at home. (Watch a bioethicist discuss Ashley's condition. ) University of Pennsylvania ethicist Art Caplan said the case is troubling and reflects "slippery slope" thinking among parents who believe "the way to deal with my kid with permanent behavioral problems is to put them into permanent childhood." Right or wrong, the couple's decision highlights a dilemma thousands of parents face in struggling to care for severely disabled children as they grow up. "This particular treatment, even if it's OK in this situation, and I think it probably is, is not a widespread solution and ignores the large social issues about caring for people with disabilities," Dr. Joel Frader, a medical ethicist at Chicago's Children's Memorial Hospital, said Thursday. "As a society, we do a pretty rotten job of helping caregivers provide what's necessary for these patients." The case involves a girl identified only as Ashley on a blog her parents created after her doctors wrote about her treatment in October's Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine. The journal did not disclose the parents' names or where they live; the couple do not identify themselves on their blog, either. Shortly after birth, Ashley had feeding problems and showed severe developmental delays. Her doctors diagnosed static encephalopathy, which means severe brain damage. They do not know what caused it. Her condition has left her in an infant state, unable to sit up, roll over, hold a toy or walk or talk. Her parents say she will never get better. She is alert, startles easily, and smiles, but does not maintain eye contact, according to her parents, who call the brown-haired little girl their "pillow angel." She goes to school for disabled children, but her parents care for her at home and say they have been unable to find suitable outside help. An editorial in the medical journal called "the Ashley treatment" ill-advised and questioned whether it will even work. But her parents say it has succeeded so far. She had surgery in July 2004 and recently completed the hormone treatment. She weighs about 65 pounds, and is about 13 inches shorter and 50 pounds lighter than she would be as an adult, according to her parents' blog. "Ashley's smaller and lighter size makes it more possible to include her in the typical family life and activities that provide her with needed comfort, closeness, security and love: meal time, car trips, touch, snuggles, etc.," her parents wrote. Also, Ashley's parents say keeping her small will reduce the risk of bedsores and other conditions that can afflict bedridden patients. In addition, they say preventing her from going through puberty means she won't experience the discomfort of periods or grow breasts that might develop breast cancer, which runs in the family. "Even though caring for Ashley involves hard and continual work, she is a blessing and not a burden," her parents say. Still, they write, "Unless you are living the experience ... you have no clue what it is like to be the bedridden child or their caregivers." Caplan questioned how preventing normal growth could benefit the patient. Treatment that is not for a patient's direct benefit "only seems wrong to me," the ethicist said. Dr. Douglas Diekema, an ethicist at Children's Hospital and Regional Medical Center in Seattle, where Ashley was treated, said he met with the parents and became convinced they were motivated by love and the girl's best interests. Diekema said he was mainly concerned with making sure the little girl would actually benefit and not suffer any harm from the treatment. She did not, and is doing well, he said. "The more her parents can be touching her and caring for her ... and involving her in family activities, the better for her," he said. "The parents' argument was, `If she's smaller and lighter, we will be able to do that for a longer period of time."' Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. ||||| Attenuating Growth in Children With Profound Developmental Disability A New Approach to an Old Dilemma Daniel F. Gunther, MD, MA ; Douglas S. Diekema, MD, MPH Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2006;160:1013-1017. Caring for children with profound developmental disabilities can be difficult and demanding. For nonambulatory children with severe, combined neurologic and cognitive impairment, all the necessities of life must be provided by caregivers, usually parents, and these tasks become more difficult as the child grows to adolescence and adulthood. Many parents would like to continue caring for their child with special needs at home but find it difficult to do so as the child increases in size. If growth could be permanently arrested while the child was still small, both child and parent would likely benefit because this would facilitate the option of continued care in the home. Treatment of the child with high-dose estrogen, initiated at an early age, could provide this option. High-dose estrogen both inhibits growth and rapidly advances maturation of the epiphyseal growth plates, bringing about permanent attenuation in size after a relatively short period of treatment. We present a case report and discuss the medical and ethical considerations of such an intervention strategy. We suggest that after proper screening and informed consent, growth-attenuation therapy should be a therapeutic option available to these children should their parents request it. Author Affiliations: Division of Pediatric Endocrinology (Dr Gunther) and Center for Pediatric Bioethics (Dr Diekema), Department of Pediatrics, Children's Hospital and Regional Medical Center, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle. RELATED ARTICLE Growth Attenuation: A Diminutive Solution to a Daunting Problem Jeffrey P. Brosco and Chris Feudtner Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2006;160:1077-1078. EXTRACT | FULL TEXT THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES Growth Attenuation: A Diminutive Solution to a Daunting Problem Brosco and Feudtner Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med 2006;160:1077-1078. FULL TEXT ||||| Growth Attenuation A Diminutive Solution to a Daunting Problem Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2006;160:1077-1078. Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings. Should hormone therapy be used to make children with profound impairment smaller? This questionhaving within it the key elements of a modern tragedyneeds to be handled with supreme care regarding both the predicament it addresses and the treatment it proposes. Consider the predicament: among the many extraordinary problems confronted by parents of children with profound cognitive and physical disabilities, figuring out how to provide care as the child grows into an adult is among the most difficult to solve and distressing to contemplate. When parents age and face disability themselves, many find increasingly difficult the tasks of bathing, diapering, and transferring their adolescent and adult children, who have grown larger, heavier, and perhaps stronger. Additionally, as the child transitions from the pediatric into the adult system of medical and social services care, parents often have less access to personal care aids or to useful but expensive devices such as mechanical . . . [Full Text of this Article] AUTHOR INFORMATION RELATED ARTICLES Attenuating Growth in Children With Profound Developmental Disability: A New Approach to an Old Dilemma Daniel F. Gunther and Douglas S. Diekema Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2006;160:1013-1017. ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT Tall Girls: The Social Shaping of a Medical Therapy Joyce M. Lee and Joel D. Howell Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2006;160:1035-1039. ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES Is It Appropriate to Attenuate Growth in Profoundly Developmentally Disabled Children to Facilitate Their Care? Ross AAP Grand Rounds 2007;17:2-3. FULL TEXT | Ashley in her double stroller.Photo credit: The Ashley Treatment blog An ethical controversy has surged in the United States and elsewhere around nine-year-old Ashley X (her family name has not been released). The disabled girl was operated upon at the request of her parents, to prevent her from growing, menstruating and developing breasts. The parents, who wish to remain anonymous, explain their situation on a blog entitled The "Ashley Treatment". There have been over 1000 reactions on the blog so far. Ashley suffers a condition termed ''static encephalopathy with marked global developmental deficits of unknown etiology'', which means brain damage of unknown cause leading to a kind of static condition. She can make sounds, move her arms and kick her legs, but she cannot change her position, eat, walk, talk etc. Many of these children are in poor health and die young, but Ashley is in good health. For all of these functions she depends on her caregivers. Most of the day she passes watching her surrounding, lying on a pillow. Her parents call her their "Pillow Angel", "since she is so sweet and stays right where we place her—usually on a pillow." Quote ---- Ashley can continue to delight in being held in our arms and will be moved and taken on trips more frequently and will have more exposure to activities and social gatherings.-Ashley’s Mom and Dad Ashley's parents want to keep her at home and care for her themselves, and they want to guarantee their daughter's quality of life. To this end, they say, Ashley underwent several surgical procedures and medical treatments during a period of three years. To attenuate her growth, Ashley was given high doses of the hormone estrogen. Ashley now measures 4ft 5 (1m 35cm) and weighs around 75 lbs (34 kg), which is below her expected length and weight. Her low body weight and size would improve her comfort, and at the same time facilitate the work of her caregivers. Surgery to remove her uterus (a procedure called a hysterectomy) and breast buds were performed, so Ashley does not menstruate and will not develop breasts, both of which parents think only would cause her discomfort. Since high estrogen levels can cause menstrual bleeding and breast development, the surgery was also meant to limit these effects. She also underwent surgery to remove her appendix, because it would be difficult to diagnose appendicitis given Ashley's low communication possibilities. |
Microsoft Corp.'s free web-based e-mail service and other sites have been unavailable for hours to internet users around the world Tuesday. Web surfers were unable to log on to Hotmail, along with other services that require a Microsoft login, such as the Xbox Live video game community site and the Windows Live Messenger instant messaging program. Microsoft confirmed the problem was international in scope but did not say how many people were affected or when it would be resolved. "We are aware that some customers may be experiencing difficulty accessing their Windows Live accounts," said Microsoft spokeswoman Samantha McManus in a statement. "We're actively investigating the cause and are working to take the appropriate steps to remedy the situation as rapidly as possible." ||||| Update 3 According to Reg readers on both sides of the Atlantic, Microsoft Hotmail and other parts of MSN are on the fritz. Two readers in the UK and one in the US shot us emails early in the California am, complaining that Steve Ballmer and company have lost control of their servers. "Has the rest of the world world noticed that Hotmail seems to have died today?" asked one Brit. "Hotmail appears to be down," wrote another. "All the people I've managed to contact are having problems. Either they can't sign in or they can't even access any MSN page. This has been going on for at least 6 hours. "University of Cardiff and University of West of England, Bristol are affected to my knowledge," this reader continues, "of course there could be more." And there is more. Others report that various parts of MSN, including Hotmail, are down across the US, from New York to LA. When we emailed Microsoft's PR firm, asking for comment on this massive outage, they said they'd get back to us. Then they asked if we could provide a deadline. We told them we needed an answer about as quickly as the world's MSN users need access to their email. And this seemed to work. "We are aware that some customers may be experiencing difficulty accessing their Windows Live accounts," a Microsoft spokesperson soon wrote back. "We’re actively investigating the cause and are working to take the appropriate steps to remedy the situation as rapidly as possible. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience and disruption this may be causing our customers." ® Update Microsoft has acknowledged that this MSN outage was worldwide, and it says the problem has been solved - though it won't say what the problem was. "Earlier today, an issue began that has caused some consumers worldwide to experience difficulty logging in to their Windows Live ID accounts," says Samantha McManus, Windows Live product manager. "This issue has since been resolved and normal operations have been restored to all customers." Update 2 Word has just arrived from my mother: "It is 7:30 pm in Raleigh, North Carolina. I still cannot connect with my Hotmail. The problem has not been resolved - no matter what Microsoft says." There you have it. Update 3 Just as Hotmail and Microsoft's MSN service get back on their feet, Yahoo!'s email service is having its own problems. It's almost like the Microhoo! merger has already happened. Hotmail had problems for much of yesterday on both sides of the Atlantic. Hotmail's problems appear to be caused by issues around logging in to Windows Live services. But this morning, UK time, Yahoo!'s email service was unavailable. No one from Yahoo! was available for comment at time of writing. | Users worldwide are reporting that they are unable to login to Microsoft's (MS) live services such as Hotmail, Windows Live Messenger, and in some cases Xbox Live. Problems reportedly began around 6:30 a.m. eastern time. "We are aware that some customers may be experiencing difficulty accessing their Windows Live accounts. We’re actively investigating the cause and are working to take the appropriate steps to remedy the situation as rapidly as possible. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience and disruption this may be causing our customers," said MS in a statement to the media. The exact number of users affected by the outage is not yet known. MS has not stated when the problem will be fixed. |
Full scorecard - Commentary - Wickets - 3D animation - Partnerships - Wagon wheels - Player v player - Over comparison - Over graphs - Career averages - Match home - Bulletin - Article index (7) - Photo index (18) Twenty20 Int. no. 41 - 22nd Match, Group F Australia v Sri Lanka 2007/08 season Played at (neutral venue), on 20 September 2007 (20-over match) Result Australia won by 10 wickets (with 58 balls remaining) Sri Lanka innings (20 overs maximum) R M B 4s 6s SR c Lee b Bracken 4 10 8 0 0 50.00 lbw b Lee 0 2 2 0 0 0.00 c Clarke b Clark 22 38 23 3 0 95.65 c Clark b Lee 1 2 2 0 0 50.00 c Lee b Clark 6 12 11 1 0 54.54 c Gilchrist b Clark 3 7 5 0 0 60.00 c Symonds b Watson 28 33 26 3 0 107.69 c Clarke b Clark 0 1 2 0 0 0.00 c Lee b Symonds 21 34 28 1 0 75.00 not out 12 13 10 0 1 120.00 c & b Bracken 0 2 2 0 0 0.00 Extras (lb 1, w 1, nb 2) 4 Total (all out; 19.3 overs; 81 mins) 101 (5.17 runs per over) Fall of wickets Bowling O M R W Econ 4 0 27 2 6.75 3.3 0 14 2 4.00 4 0 18 0 4.50 (1w) 4 0 20 4 5.00 (1nb) 3.2 0 19 1 5.70 (1nb) 0.4 0 2 1 3.00 Australia innings (target: 102 runs from 20 overs) R M B 4s 6s SR not out 31 44 25 4 0 124.00 not out 58 44 38 7 2 152.63 Extras (b 4, lb 2, w 6, nb 1) 13 Total (0 wickets; 10.2 overs; 44 mins) 102 (9.87 runs per over) Did not bat , , , , , , , , Bowling O M R W Econ 2 0 21 0 10.50 (1nb) 3 1 12 0 4.00 2 0 34 0 17.00 (1w) 2 0 13 0 6.50 (1w) 1 0 8 0 8.00 0.2 0 8 0 24.00 Toss Australia, who chose to field first Points Player of the match SR Clark (Australia) Umpires (Pakistan) and TV umpire (New Zealand) Match referee Reserve umpire Match notes Sri Lanka innings Sri Lanka: 50 runs in 10.4 overs (65 balls), Extras 1 Sri Lanka: 100 runs in 18.6 overs (117 balls), Extras 4 Innings Break: Sri Lanka - 101/10 in 19.3 overs (SL Malinga 12) Australia innings Australia: 50 runs in 5.4 overs (35 balls), Extras 7 1st Wicket: 50 runs in 35 balls (AC Gilchrist 20, ML Hayden 23, Ex 7) ML Hayden: 50 off 36 balls (7 x 4, 1 x 6) Australia: 100 runs in 10.2 overs (65 balls), Extras 13 1st Wicket: 100 runs in 65 balls (AC Gilchrist 31, ML Hayden 58, Ex 13) Twenty20 International Scorer: Binoy George Search for an international scorecard from the match/series archive: ||||| By Oliver Brett Stuart Clark made excellent use of helpful conditions Australia handed Sri Lanka a 10-wicket thrashing to march confidently into the ICC World Twenty20 semi-finals. The Aussies brushed aside two earlier defeats to bowl out the Sri Lankans for just 101 on a Cape Town wicket not nearly as bad as it was made to look. Stuart Clark excelled with 4-20 after wickets had fallen in the first three overs of an effective quarter-final. Openers Matt Hayden (58 not out) and Adam Gilchrist (31no) saw Australia home after just 10.2 overs. Hayden and Gilchrist never looked in a hurry but still raced to the target with barely a false shot played. Hayden finished the match with a huge six over long-on off the occasional bowling of Jehan Mubarak to end with 56 off 37 balls while Gilchrist was never out of second gear and faced just 25 deliveries. After Gilchrist had won an important toss - batting at 10am in Cape Town in springtime is not a friendly prospect - the Aussie bowlers were on the money throughout. Brett Lee (2-27) did win a fortunate lbw decision to get the ball rolling with the wicket of Sanath Jayasuriya. The rest of the Sri Lankan batsmen then found scoring opportunities severely limited with the swing on offer and the ball not quite coming onto the bat. They generally got out to rash shots, with three catches offered to third man and two to backward point - including a brilliant one-handed take by Michael Clarke. Brett Lee gets the ball rolling by ousting Sanath Jayasuriya The highest individual scorer was Mubarak, with 28. Sri Lanka would have been 11-4 in the fourth over if Brad Hodge had caught Kumar Sangakkara on six, the batsman finally out for 22. Clark struck consistently, however, the only downside for Australia being another injury for Shane Watson. The Queensland all-rounder, in for Ricky Ponting (hamstring), was making his first appearance of the tournament. But he has been dogged by injuries in his international career. And after Lasith Malinga hoicked the second ball of his final over beyond the rope for Sri Lanka's only six, Watson limped out of the fray. The over, the 19th of the innings, was completed by Andrew Symonds, who promptly had Chaminda Vaas (21) caught at deep mid-wicket. And the last wicket fell in the final over - Dilhara Fernando becoming a second victim for Nathan Bracken when he gave the bowler a simple return catch. "That was important... it would have been difficult chasing any sort of decent target on that sort of wicket. "We almost got knocked out in the initial stage but are now into the cut-throat part of the competiton. "A lot of teams would have preferred to see us go out but perhaps they are a little bit nervous now we are still here." "We knew it would be tough but we had to make sure we put a few runs on the board for our bowlers to defend. "It's always a challenge to face these guys - they are setting standards - but we never turned up for the game. "We need to play more Twenty20 cricket so we can learn to adjust to situations and conditions." | Australia have defeated Sri Lanka by ten wickets in the Super 8 stage of the 2007 ICC World Twenty20 at Newlands Cricket Ground, Cape Town, South Africa. The result qualifies Australia for the semi-finals, while Sri Lanka are eliminated from the tournament. Australia's bowlers dismissed Sri Lanka for just 101 runs. Three wickets fell in the first three overs while Stuart Clark took 4-20. Jehan Mubarak and Kumar Sangakkara were Sri Lanka's top scorers with 28 and 22 runs respectively, while Chaminda Vaas scored 21. However it was not enough to post a competitive total for Sri Lanka, who were bowled out in the final over having scored at a rate of just over five runs an over. Adam Gilchrist scored 31 not out and Matthew Hayden scored 58 not out as Australia cruised to victory without losing a wicket. They reached the target in just over ten overs to ensure progression to the semi-finals. '''Toss:''' Australia won, and chose to field first. '''Fall of wickets:''' 1-1 (Jayasuriya, 0.3 ov), 2-9 (Tharanga, 1.6 ov), 3-11 (Jayawardene, 2.4 ov), 4-21 (Silva, 5.3 ov), 5-30 (Dilshan, 7.3 ov), 6-43 (Sangakkara, 9.3 ov), 7-43 (Maharoof, 9.5 ov), 8-83 (Mubarak, 16.2 ov), 9-99 (Vaas, 18.5 ov), 10-101 (Fernando, 19.3 ov) '''Did not bat:''' B J Hodge, A Symonds, M E K Hussey, M J Clarke, S R Watson, B Lee, M G Johnson, N W Bracken, S R Clark '''Australia:''' A C Gilchrist (capt, wkt), M L Hayden, B J Hodge, A Symonds, M E K Hussey, M J Clarke, S R Watson, B Lee, M G Johnson, N W Bracken, S R Clark '''Sri Lanka:''' W U Tharanga, S T Jayasuriya, K C Sangakkara (wkt), D P M D Jayawardene (capt), L P C Silva, T M Dilshan, J Mubarak, M F Maharoof, W P U J C Vaas, C R D Fernando, S L Malinga '''Man of the Match:''' S R Clark (Australia) '''Umpires:''' Asad Rauf (Pakistan) and I L Howell (South Africa) '''TV Umpire:''' A L Hill (New Zealand) '''Match Referee:''' M J Procter (South Africa) '''Reserve Umpire:''' M Erasmus (South Africa) |
Three shot dead by court fugitive A MAN being escorted into a US court for his rape trial yesterday stole a deputy’s gun, killed the judge and two other people and carjacked a reporter’s vehicle to escape, setting off a massive manhunt and public panic. Hundreds of police officers in cars and helicopters swarmed Atlanta in search of IT technician Brian Nichols, 33. The suspect had raised alarm a day earlier when he was found in court with two handmade knives hidden in his shoes. The rampage led to chaos around the city, with schools, restaurants and office buildings locked down amid fears that the suspect might strike again. Nichols’ picture was shown continually on TV, and highway message boards issued descriptions of the stolen vehicle. This morning, police reported that the car had been found in a downtown Atlanta car park, not far from where it was stolen. "Mr Nichols is considered armed and extremely dangerous and should not be approached," Fulton County Sheriff Myron Freeman said. "We are not going to rest until we find him." Nichols got the semi-automatic pistol by overpowering the female deputy while he was being led down a corridor in the Fulton County Courthouse, Assistant Police Chief Alan Dreher said. After shooting the deputy in the face, the suspect went to the courtroom, held about a dozen people at bay for a short time and killed Superior Court Judge Rowland Barnes and court stenographer Julie Brandau, authorities said. Another deputy, Sgt Hoyt Teasley, was killed outside the courthouse when he confronted the suspect. The deputy shot while leading Nichols to court, Cynthia Hall, was in critical condition but expected to survive. Police said Nichols pistol-whipped an Atlanta Journal-Constitution writer, stole his car and sped away from a parking garage. Police Chief Richard Pennington said it was one of three or four carjackings he committed after the shootings. The shootings came a day after the judge and prosecutors had requested extra security for deputies when the sharp objects were found in Nichols’ shoes. The killings took place on the fourth day of Nichols’ re-trial on charges of rape, sodomy, burglary and false imprisonment after his first trial ended in a hung jury a week ago. ||||| Investigators believe Nichols was able to get a gun by overpowering the deputy who was escorting him into court Man apprehended after Atlanta court killings 11.44PM, Sat Mar 12 2005 The suspect in the Atlanta courtroom shootings has been apprehended. US television news said Brian Nichols, 33, was taken into custody in north Atlanta after a brief standoff. The siege took place approximately 15 miles away from the scene of yesterday's shootings which left a judge and two others dead. Superior Court Judge Rowland Barnes and a court reporter died from gunshot wounds. A deputy sheriff was also killed and another wounded, police said. The deputy who lost her gun was in critical condition but expected to survive, doctors said. Nichols gunned down a second deputy outside the building and then carjacked at least one vehicle. He also pistol-whipped a journalist during his escape, police and witnesses said. Tow truck driver Deronta Franklin was parked near the court in downtown Atlanta when a man he identified as Nichols opened the door and pointed a gun at him. "He was calm and cool," Franklin said. "He said 'Get out of the truck.'" Authorities in Georgia and neighbouring states launched a massive manhunt for Nichols, appealing to the public to report any sightings. Investigators believe Nichols was able to get a gun by overpowering the deputy who was escorting him into court, said Atlanta Assistant Police Chief Alan Dreher. Nichols was on trial before Judge Barnes for the rape, assault, and false imprisonment of his ex-girlfriend. His first trial ended in a hung jury last week, but prosecutors said Nichols was acting as if the second trial would end with a conviction. Sep 3, 2004: Manhunt teenager gets life Aug 15, 2004: Man arrested after massive police hunt ||||| Lawyers: Court security extensive Despite measures, defendant escapes after killing three ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- The shooting spree that started in an Atlanta courtroom, killing a judge and two others on Friday, occurred despite security measures common in courtrooms across Georgia and the United States, according to lawyers familiar with the incident. Howard Weintraub, a former federal prosecutor in Atlanta and now a criminal defense lawyer, said he doesn't think security personnel could have done anything differently. "Fulton County [courthouse] to me is as secure as any in the state, more secure than many," he said in a telephone interview. The suspect, 33-year-old Brian Nichols, was being retried for rape and kidnapping in Fulton County Superior Court Judge Rowland Barnes' courtroom. Nichols took a gun from a sheriff's deputy before shooting and killing Barnes and a court reporter, police said. The suspect fled the eighth-floor courtroom, shot and killed a deputy outside the building and carjacked several vehicles while making his escape, officials said. Police were still searching for him Friday night. Barnes told attorneys Thursday that he was concerned Nichols could pose a danger if he were convicted, the suspect's attorney said. (Full story) The judge pledged to bolster security for the remainder of the trial after a sheriff's deputy Wednesday found makeshift weapons in Nichols' shoes. Fulton County Superior Court officials were not available for comment, but some lawyers who practice in the courthouse said there are extensive security measures in place to prevent such attacks. "Their security is as strict as that at the airport," said B.J. Bernstein, a criminal defense attorney in Atlanta told CNN. Weintraub said the courthouse is equipped with electronic locks to secure the judicial chambers. Judges also have a "kick bar" below the bench at their feet to alert law enforcement in case of an incident. One or two sheriff's deputies are also on duty in most courtrooms, Weintraub said. It is unclear exactly how Nichols got the weapon from the deputy. Gun holsters used by sheriff's deputies have safeguards to prevent a weapon from being removed, said a spokesman for Smyrna Police Distributors, in Georgia, which sells the holsters. Nichols was reportedly not shackled. The treatment of defendants in courtrooms is at the discretion of judges, and defendants may only be handcuffed or restrained if a judge deems it necessary. The U.S. Supreme Court has held that people on trial can be shackled, but only if prosecutors have a strong argument for it. Nichols had been allowed to change from jail scrubs into street clothes, a normal occurrence when defendants face jurors. Some thought security in the courtroom was too lax. "I was a deputy sheriff and a police officer for 13 years," said Dennis Scheib, an Atlanta lawyer. "The security in the courthouse, the way they deal with prisoners, is absolutely atrocious ... I've spoken to judges, DA, deputies up there, and said this is what's going on." However, Bernstein cautioned against overreacting. "We need to be careful that we don't go over too far and give too much credence to something that is fairly drastic like shackling everyone that comes into the courtroom," she said. Bernstein added that many attacks occur during civil trials, such as divorce or child custody cases, instead of criminal cases. Some speculated that this incident would force judges to reconsider whether weapons should be allowed in court. While the public is prohibited from carrying firearms or weapons into courtrooms, many jurisdictions allow law enforcement and even judges to carry weapons. "Whether an officer should have a weapon when entering a court facility is a very controversial subject," according to the National Center for State Courts. "Each court is required to establish a local rule to determine what weapon policy best suits their court facility." The presence of guns in the courtroom has not always been as common as it is today, said Judge Lee Sinclair of the Stark County, Ohio, Common Pleas Court. He said judges need security training but said some already carry guns into their courtrooms beneath their robes. "Ten years ago, no one would have thought about that," he said. "You have seen that increase." | During the trial of a man yesterday for rape at an Atlanta court house, the man on trial allegedly stole the gun of a nearby deputy and shot dead the Judge, a reporter and another deputy. The suspect, Brian Nichols aged 33, was at court for the fourth day of his trial for numerous charges filed by a former girlfriend. Nichols was being tried a second time after his first trial ended in a hung jury (8-4 for acquittal). After fleeing the court house Atlanta police assumed he drove away in the reporters car and issued a nation wide "look out" for the vehicle. The car was found later parked in the courthouse garage. He is still at large, and a massive police hunt is under way. The prior day to the incident, Mr. Nichols was found to have two handmade knives hidden in his shoes. Georgia prisoners often make "shanks" to try to fend off gang rapes while in custody. There is a bounty of $60,000 for any information leading to Mr. Nichols' re-capture. |
July 19, 2008 - 8:54AM French anti-terrorist police are investigating after 28 kilograms of explosives were stolen from a security services bomb disposal depot. A police official said plastic explosives, almost certainly Semtex, had been taken from the facility along with detonators. France's Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said in a statement that the incident stemmed from "known failings within the site's own security", adding that the site chief had been "immediately suspended" and a full probe ordered. The incident comes just weeks after a French special forces soldier fired live bullets into a crowd of families attending a demonstration at a base open day in the country's southwest. The explosives were found to have "disappeared" on Friday, with police adding that the materials could have been removed as long as a week ago. The official refused to comment on a newspaper website's accusation that the depot at Corbas near Lyon was unguarded at the time. "A theft of explosives used by bomb disposal experts to destroy munitions retrieved from former battlefields has taken place on a site adjacent to the supply depot...," the minister's statement said. "The investigation has to find out how they could have been stolen," said the police source, adding that the authorities in Paris are "taking this case very seriously". Detectives in Lyon are investigating along with the country's anti-terrorist squad. Police described Semtex as a powerful explosive, odourless and practically impossible to detect, which is regularly used by terrorist organisations. ||||| PARIS (Reuters) - French anti-terrorism police are investigating the theft of 28 kg (61 lbs) of plastic explosives from a site near the southeastern city of Lyon, officials said on Friday. Staff at a mine clearance centre at Corbas, near Lyon, noticed that thieves had apparently broken into the site, which was not guarded, and taken explosives and detonators. Interior ministry spokesman Gerard Gachet told France’s LCI television that the director of the centre had been suspended for allowing the explosives to be stored at the unsecured site. ||||| Semtex has been used by various terrorist groups French anti-terrorist officers are searching for 28kg (61lb) of Semtex explosive missing from a depot in the suburbs of the city of Lyon. France's interior ministry confirmed an investigation was underway, saying the manager of the site had been suspended. Semtex is a powerful explosive favoured by terrorist groups as it is odourless and practically impossible to detect. Police said detonators were also missing and that they are treating the theft "very seriously". The depot, in a disused 19th century fort at Corbas, is used for storing explosives by a civil defence unit charged with the job of blowing up bombs and ammunition left over from the two world wars. Police said the discovery that the Semtex was missing was made on Friday but admitted the explosives could have been taken up to a week ago. In a statement released late on Friday the interior ministry said there had been "security failings" which had made the theft possible. Police sources have declined to confirm a newspaper website report which said that the store had been unguarded. ||||| PARIS, France (CNN) -- Explosives used to destroy land mines have disappeared from a site near Lyon, France, the French Interior Ministry said Friday. About 62 pounds (28 kilograms) of explosives were stolen from a depot at the civil security site at Fort de Corbas, the ministry said in a written statement, because of an apparent breach in the site's protection. Michele Alliot-Marie, France's minister of the interior, immediately suspended the head of the security center and started an investigation. French anti-terrorism authorities and the Lyon police also are participating in the investigation, the statement said. Journalist Leonard Schoenberger contributed to this report. All About France • Michele Alliot-Marie | Counter-terrorism police in France are searching for 28 kg (~61 lbs) of the plastic explosive Semtex and detonators that have gone missing. The explosives were discovered to be missing on Friday, but could have left the facility up to a week ago. They were stored at a site in Corbas, near Lyon in east-central France, which disposes of left-over munitions from the two world wars. Rhône department. The Minister of the Interior, Michèle Alliot-Marie said that the incident was due to "known failings within the site's own security." She added that the director of the site, which was originally a 19th century fort, has been "immediately suspended." "A theft of explosives used by bomb disposal experts to destroy munitions retrieved from former battlefields has taken place on a site adjacent to the supply depot," read a statement from the ministry, officially calling it a theft. "The presence of explosives in this site is normal, but the investigation has to find out how they could have been stolen," an unnamed source told Agence France-Presse. Semtex was invented in 1966 and is a malleable plastic explosive. It is noted for being odorless and notorious for its involvement in the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing in 1988. |
WTO chief calls meeting to discuss crisis impact on trade finance GENEVA (AFP) — The World Trade Organisation chief on Friday invited heads of development and commercial banks to a meeting in Geneva next month to discuss the impact of the economic crisis on trade finance. "A number of WTO members, in particular developing countries, have flagged the problems they are facing in arranging trade financing," WTO Director General Pascal Lamy said in his letter. "The purpose of our next meeting will be to review how the international market for trade-financing is faring in view of the current very difficult conditions on international financial markets," Lamy said. The meeting will be held on November 12 at WTO headquarters in Geneva. Among the invitees are World Bank head Robert Zoellick, International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn and the presidents of the Inter-American, Asian and African development banks. They may not attend in person however but send specialists who are well-versed in trade finance matters, trade sources said. Representatives from Citigroup, Commerzbank, the Royal Bank of Scotland, JP Morgan and HSBC have also been invited because they are the most active banks in the field of trade finance, the sources added. Lamy also told a meeting of the WTO's Trade Negotiating Committee that the organisation could act as a model of how to regulate anew the global financial system in the wake of the crisis that has seen Wall Street titans humbled and unprecedented levels of state intervention in the banking sector. "At a time when there are renewed calls for a better regulation in the financial area, the WTO system provides an example of how the lessons of history and experience have led to the construction of a system of international governance," Lamy said. He warned against countries adopting protectionist measures in the wake of the crisis despite political temptations. "The role of the WTO as a firewall against protectionist responses is thus vital," he said. Copyright © 2013 AFP. All rights reserved. More » ||||| By Jonathan Lynn GENEVA (Reuters) - The World Trade Organization (WTO) is inviting a dozen financial institutions and banks to a meeting next month to discuss the impact of the credit crunch on trade finance, the lifeblood of global commerce. A letter from WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy, a copy of which was made available to the media, said several WTO members especially developing countries, had flagged problems in arranging trade finance. "The purpose of our next meeting will be to review how the international market for trade-financing is faring in view of the current very difficult conditions on international financial markets," Lamy's letter said. The November 12 meeting would also examine how to maintain and improve the availability and accessibility of trade finance at affordable rates for developing countries. Around 90 percent of the $14 trillion in world trade is financed by credit, drawing on simple and traditional banking instruments dating back to the Middle Ages. Because such loans are clearly collateralized -- they are effectively backed by the cargoes they are funding -- they are usually straightforward to organize. As a result, despite the financial crisis, bankers active in this market say they have been doing a roaring trade this year. But now some trade finance bankers say they are running out of capacity to handle deals, and furthermore in recent weeks the price has shot up, squeezing some exporters and importers, especially from developing countries, out of the market. Continued... ||||| Talking points for the Director-General Thank you all for coming to this meeting. Now that we have had a few weeks of renewed activity, I think it is useful to review, before the General Council next week, where we are in the DDA negotiations and consider the next steps. We are meeting at a time of global financial crisis. This gives added importance and urgency to our work here. The WTO has over 60 years of solid experience in regulating trade opening. At a time when there are renewed calls for a better regulation in the financial area, the WTO system provides an example of how the lessons of history and experience have led to the construction of a system of international governance. And we have an opportunity to send a signal of our desire to strengthen it by concluding the Doha Round. Against this sombre backdrop, it is encouraging that negotiators here have got back to work quickly and seriously after our July setback. We have two new Negotiating Group Chairs, and I would like to welcome Luzius and Trevor to their new roles as NAMA and TRIPS Chairs respectively. They will both be working in key areas of the negotiations and I know we can count on them to provide the necessary leadership. I would also like to welcome the new colleagues who have joined a number of delegations since the summer break. When we last met at the end of July, many delegations signalled very clearly their determination to press ahead with the negotiations and not to throw in the towel. Since then, the responses I have had in my contacts with a wide range of members have been measured and constructive. The collective commitment to the Round remains strong. Nonetheless, it is clearly necessary to face the reality that the Round cannot be concluded this year. However, I believe it is still possible to reach agreement on modalities and the Ministers with whom I have spoken are all determined to push ahead. Since July, I have had intensive extensive contacts with Ministers and Senior Officials in all regions, including during my visits to Delhi and Washington. I will continue this campaign with the objective of keeping the focus on the need to advance the Round. Looking back in history, we can see that the type of uncertainty which is now infiltrating the international scene can be a precursor to rising protectionist tendencies. Raising barriers at the frontier, starting with barriers to trade in goods or services, is often a tempting political option under such circumstances. The role of the WTO as a firewall against protectionist responses is thus vital. It is not so much about any direct effect on markets as for sustaining confidence in global co-operation and institutions. The financial crisis may also be having an impact on developing country access to financing of imports and exports. As you know we have held a number of meetings on this issue at the WTO with both multilateral institutions and private banks, the last one last April, to check availability of trade financing at affordable rates. Up until then, the situation seemed to be stable with volumes and rates at normal levels. But just this week Brazil brought this issue to the forefront. Given the deterioration of the financial landscape, and despite the welcomed announcement yesterday by the World Bank IFC of an increase in its trade financing programme by $ 500 million, I have today convened major providers of trade finance to a meeting on 12 November to examine this issue and find ways to alleviate the situation if it was to deteriorate. We will follow this up in the Working Group on Trade Debt and Finance at the end of November, together with Martin Glass. If there are indications that the financial situation could be having serious implications more generally for trade or the trading system, I shall consult with the GC Chairman on the possibility of convening a GC meeting on our Coherence mandate. Let us keep the situation under review, and act as necessary. Apart from the financial crisis, there are other external influences which are tending to affect our work here, or perhaps the optimism with which we are investing ourselves in it. Maybe any of these factors could provide an excuse to be tempted to throw in the towel, but in fact the reverse is true: they are all the more reason to do the deal rapidly. The increasing level of activity in the negotiations shows that you share this view. Governments have also been very active in their contacts among themselves and they continue to be. Everyone is aware of the G7 Senior Officials' meetings two weeks ago. They made some progress, but not yet enough to contribute possible solutions on key issues. However, the governments involved have shown the commitment to keep working together and with others. The main item on their agenda was the SSM in Agriculture. It is, of course, important to resolve this question, but we all know it is not the only issue in Agriculture, and Crawford has now taken up the gauntlet again in this area. There are also key issues in NAMA and the other areas of negotiation which all need attention. I continue to work with the Negotiating Group Chairs and the General Council Chairman to coordinate our activities. I also continue to consult regularly with members here, both individually and in groups. The focus is now, as it should be, on the multilateral process, which will continue in all areas of the negotiations in the spirit with which we have worked up to now — a step-by-step and bottom-up approach. All the Negotiating Groups have programmes of meetings and consultations over the coming weeks. Agriculture and NAMA remain key to further progress across the board, so I will shortly give the floor to Crawford and Luzius so they can outline their plans in their respective areas. We do not have much time available — the end of the year is approaching rapidly. Work will continue in the Negotiating Groups over the next few weeks, and any ministerial involvement which might be necessary will take place when the moment is right. Considerable progress has been made, in July and earlier, and I believe a renewed effort can bring us to the point where agreement on modalities is possible. There should be no doubt — we are working on Plan A, establishment of modalities. Our chances of achieving our goal are clearly less than they were in July, but they are still good enough to warrant a major effort. Speculation about other possible scenarios may be going on, but I would suggest that this is not where we should focus our minds as long as we have a realistic chance of achieving our primary objective — which we do. Before I open the floor for your comments, I would like to invite Crawford and then Luzius to take the floor. | The head of the World Trade Organization, Pascal Lamy, has called for a meeting to assess the trade finance situation, including the impact on developing countries. The meeting, which is schedule for November 12, will allow credit institutes and government officials to review the current trade credit situation. Pascal Lamy in 2003 "A number of WTO members, in particular developing countries, have flagged the problems they are facing in arranging trade financing," wrote WTO Director-General Lamy. "The purpose of our next meeting will be to review how the international market for trade-financing is faring in view of the current very difficult conditions on international financial markets," he continued. Credit is vital to trade with around 90 percent of the US$14 trillion in world trade financed by credit. While this market has done well compared to other credit markets, bankers are suggesting that problems might occur shortly. Rates on these trade loans have increased by 3 percent. Developing countries have seen several recent years of positive growth but the effects of the global financial crisis on these countries have pushed growth levels down. Lamy has asked that the heads of the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, and other regional development banks to attend. He also invited the five leading commercial banks in trade finance: Citigroup, Commerzbank, Royal Bank of Scotland, JPMorgan Chase, and HSBC. Lamy also said that work on the Doha Development Round of trade is continuing but did not say if it would be finished this year. |
PARIS, May 15 (Xinhua) -- French President Nicolas Sarkozy Friday promised 12 million euros (16 million U.S. dollars) in humanitarian aid for Pakistan at a meeting with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari in Paris, a French source said. According to the source, Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari visited Nicolas Sarkozy on Friday as part of a trip to seek support on fight against Taliban extremism. After a meeting between the two leaders, the Elysee Palace announced that France pledged 12 million euros "in response to gravity of the ongoing humanitarian crisis in the valley of Swat." Zardari said Sarkozy had been very generous during the meeting at the Elysee Palace. "We've come to an understanding for a larger cooperation for the strengthening of Pakistan, strengthening of the war ... the war going on in this region," the president of Pakistan said. Zardari emphasized the need for Pakistan and its neighbor countries to cooperate closely to against the Taliban extremism and all other terrorist threat. "It is a war against a mindset and there is no time limit for the offensive," he said. Zardari visited Paris after his tour to Washington and London. It was his first official trip to France since he became president in 2008. There are about 50,000 Pakistani people in France, as France is not a traditional major player with Pakistan on diplomacy and economy. ||||| PARIS, May 15 (Xinhua) -- French President Nicolas Sarkozy Friday promised 12 million euros (16 million U.S. dollars) in humanitarian aid for Pakistan at a meeting with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari in Paris, a French source said. According to the source, Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari visited Nicolas Sarkozy on Friday as part of a trip to seek support on fight against Taliban extremism. After a meeting between the two leaders, the Elysee Palace announced that France pledged 12 million euros "in response to gravity of the ongoing humanitarian crisis in the valley of Swat." Zardari said Sarkozy had been very generous during the meeting at the Elysee Palace. "We've come to an understanding for a larger cooperation for the strengthening of Pakistan, strengthening of the war ... the war going on in this region," the president of Pakistan said. Zardari emphasized the need for Pakistan and its neighbor countries to cooperate closely to against the Taliban extremism and all other terrorist threat. "It is a war against a mindset and there is no time limit for the offensive," he said. Zardari visited Paris after his tour to Washington and London. It was his first official trip to France since he became president in 2008. There are about 50,000 Pakistani people in France, as France is not a traditional major player with Pakistan on diplomacy and economy. | French president Nicolas Sarkozy In a meeting with Pakistani president Asif Ali Zardari in Paris on Friday, French president Nicolas Sarkozy pledged to give twelve million Euro (US$16.2 million) in humanitarian aid to Pakistan. The funds will be given to more than one million internally displaced persons (IPD) in Pakistan who have been forced to flee from their homes following heavy violence between Taliban militants and the Pakistani army in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province. "We've come to an understanding for a larger cooperation for the strengthening of Pakistan, strengthening of the war ... the war going on in this region," President Zardari said. Zardari stressed that Pakistan and its neighbours needed to cooperate against the Taliban and other terrorist threats, saying that, "it is a war against a mindset and there is no time limit for the offensive". |
Measure T will be “declared unconstitutional, and therefore wholly null and void” according to a settlement filed in federal court Monday between Humboldt County and the Pacific Legal Foundation. The settlement, which awaits a judge's ruling to become final, would guarantee that Measure T would not be enforced by the county, and conclude the lawsuit that Pacific Legal Foundation attorneys filed in August on behalf of Mercer Fraser Co. and O&M; Industries. Passed by a majority of county voters in 2006, Humboldt's Measure T sought to ban political contributions from out-of-county corporations to local races. But, in issuing a temporary injunction against the measure in September, U.S. District Court Judge Susan Illston said the measure may have gone too far, possibly running afoul of the U.S. Constitution. ”Plaintiffs have demonstrated that Measure T likely violates the First Amendment because it burdens corporations' First Amendment right to make political expenditures and campaign contributions,” Illston wrote, “yet it is neither narrowly tailored nor closely drawn as the case law requires.” According to the Pacific Legal Foundation, Measure T also violates the Constitution's equal protection guarantees, as it does not impose the same campaign donation restrictions on unions as it does on corporations. Reached Monday, Interim Humboldt County Counsel Wendy Chaitin said the county felt compelled to fight Advertisement the case because it stemmed from a citizen-passed initiative, despite the fact that many worried from the beginning that the measure may not past constitutional muster. ”The county felt it was necessary to defend Measure T and they did,” Chaitin said. “But, there's a point where you have to balance the reasonable likelihood of winning the lawsuit versus what kind of effort and county funds -- basically taxpayer money -- you want to put toward that effort.” Illston's initial ruling on the injunction, Chaitin said, plainly showed the proverbial writing was on the wall. ”It was clear from the preliminary injunction ruling that the U.S. District Court Judge Illston, in granting that preliminary injunction, was pretty strong and clear in her language that there were many distinct grounds on which she concluded that Measure T violated the Constitution, both on First and 14th Amendment grounds,” Chaitin said. Under the terms of the proposed settlement, the county will have to pay $44,000 in Pacific Legal Foundation legal fees, but Chaitin said the total cost of the case for the county is closer to $100,000, not including county staff time. The Humboldt Coalition for Community Rights, the group that ran the measure, issued a press release Monday afternoon accusing the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors of caving to corporate pressure in agreeing to the settlement. ”We are deeply dismayed that our elected officials bowed so easily to the pressure from the corporate-backed Pacific Legal Foundation,” said Kaitlin Sopoci-Belknap, the coalition's spokeswoman, in the release. “We have offered help and support to the Board of Supervisors to do the right thing every step of the way -- instead they chose to make this decision without soliciting input from the people of Humboldt County who were looking to them to defend our rights and respect our authority to determine what is best for our local elections.” Reached Monday afternoon, Sopoci-Belknap declined to comment further until she had a chance to personally speak with representatives from the county about the proposed settlement. But, in the press release, Sopoci-Belknap made clear that the Humboldt Coalition for Community Rights' fight against corporate personhood and corporate control will continue. ”All movements have their wins and losses,” she said in the release, “and the movement for local democracy and citizen sovereignty over large corporations will prevail. Humboldt County will play a role regardless of whether the current Board of Supervisors have the integrity to stand with us.” In a press release from the Board of Supervisors, Chair Jill Geist wrote that the board “continues to recognize the fundamental values embodied by Measure T,” but could not proceed with its “vigorous defense” of the measure. ”In light of the recent federal court ruling, and the judge's strong likelihood to declare Measure T unconstitutional, the Board of Supervisors has decided that it would be fiscally irresponsible and futile to spend more county funds in hopes of defending Measure T as currently drafted,” Geist writes. “The Board of Supervisors believes that county efforts would be better spent in looking at new and creative ways to further the goals of Measure T in a manner that can withstand legal challenge.” Thadeus Greenson can be reached at 441-0509 or tgreenson@times-standard.com ||||| News Articles FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 10, 2008 CONTACT: Kaitlin Sopoci-Belknap, Humboldt Coalition for Community Rights, (707) 362-0626 HUMBOLDT COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS CAVE TO CORPORATE PRESSURE: AGREEMENT TO SETTLE OVER MEASURE T FILED IN FEDERAL COURT EUREKA, CA - Humboldt County Board of Supervisors and the Pacific Legal Foundation filed a joint settlement proposal in Federal Court today to label the county's ban on corporate campaign contributions "null and void". Known locally as Measure T, the Humboldt County Ordinance to Protect Our Right to Fair Elections and Local Democracy was a groundbreaking county-wide law that banned non-local corporations from contributing money to local elections and challenged the legal doctrine of Corporate Personhood - the idea that corporations can legally claim constitutional rights such as the First Amendment. Measure T passed by citizen's initiative in 2006 by 55%. "We are deeply dismayed that our elected officials bowed so easily to the pressure from the corporate-backed Pacific Legal Foundation," said Kaitlin Sopoci-Belknap, the spokesperson for the Humboldt Coalition for Community Rights, the group that ran the Measure. "We have offered help and support to the Board of Supervisors to do the right thing every step of the way - instead they chose to make this decision without soliciting input from the people of Humboldt County who were looking to them to defend our rights and respect our authority to determine what is best for our local elections." Measure T was passed in June 2006 in reaction to repeated local campaigns with involvement from large corporations. The Measure received national attention when Humboldt County became the largest jurisdiction to directly challenge Corporate Personhood, and joined with dozens of communities across the country that have rejected the idea that a corporation can claim rights to overturn local laws that restrict their behavior. "While this is a sad day for democracy, the fight is far from over. Past social movements like the civil rights struggle, the abolitionists, women's suffragists and the trade unionists have shown us that when people don't back down, justice ultimately prevails," said Sopoci-Belknap. "All movements have their wins and losses, and the movement for local democracy and citizen sovereignty over large corporations will prevail. Humboldt County will play a role regardless of whether the current Board of Supervisors have the integrity to stand with us." Pacific Legal Foundation, the organization that initiated the lawsuit against Humboldt County, is a Sacramento-based law firm backed by the types of corporations Measure T sought to restrict - companies like ExxonMobile and Philip Morris. In response to the lawsuit, many candidates in the recent local election races took a pledge to follow Measure T, regardless of the outcome. Many candidates declined contributions from companies that attempted to make political contributions to their campaigns and also pledged to publicly oppose the doctrine Corporate Personhood and to uphold the rights of citizens over those of corporations during their time in office. The majority of candidates taking the pledge were elected last Tuesday. ### Read proposed settlement (pdf) For more information go to the Measure T campaign website - http://www.VoteLocalControl.org or the website of Democracy Unlimited - http://www.DUHC.org. Return to News ||||| News Articles FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 23, 2006 CONTACT: Kaitlin Sopoci-Belknap, Humboldt Coalition for Community Rights, (707) 362-0626 FEDERAL COURT ISSUES INJUNCTION AGAINST MEASURE T SAN FRANCISCO – Federal Court judge Susan Illston ruled against the people of Humboldt County in yesterday’s hearing on Measure T, the local law passed in 2006 by citizen’s initiative. Measure T bans non-local corporate contributions in local elections. The Pacific Legal Foundation sought a preliminary injunction against Measure T, arguing that the law violates the First Amendment rights of corporations. The judge granted the injunction, allowing corporate money back into local elections. The proponents of the Measure were disappointed by the ruling, but unfazed. "The court is wrong - and this isn’t the first time,” said Kaitlin Sopoci-Belknap, spokesperson for the Humboldt Coalition for Community Rights (HCCR). “Measure T follows in the footsteps of the suffragists, the abolitionists and Civil Rights activists who fought against Supreme Court decisions that upheld unjust laws. The majority of Humboldt citizens believe corporations have too much power in our society, especially in elections. Our democracy is deteriorating. We have an obligation to stand up for what’s right, even if the courts are not currently with us.” Democracy Unlimited, one of the member organizations of HCCR, is holding a community meeting this Wednesday to invite residents to get involved in defending Measure T. “This ruling proves how undemocratic it is to allow a corporation to claim to be a person with constitutional rights,” said Megan Wade Antieau of Democracy Unlimited, an organizer of the event. "Apparently the judge believes upholding corporate influence in elections is more important than the rights of the people of Humboldt County." “We don’t need to depend on the courts to tell us the difference between right and wrong. We have candidates running for office in November who should respect the will of the voters,” said Wade Antieau. The meeting will be at the Labor Temple in Eureka (840 E Street) from 6:30pm to 9:30pm. Light dinner will be served. Carpooling is available from Arcata. For more information contact Democracy Unlimited: 269-0984. Read Judge Illston's Ruling (pdf) ### For more information go to the Measure T campaign website - http://www.VoteLocalControl.org or the website of Democracy Unlimited - http://www.DUHC.org. Return to News | Yesterday, a settlement agreement was filed in court that effectively brings to an end a two-year-old law banning many election-related activities by corporations in a north-western county of California. The County of Humboldt and Pacific Legal Defense Foundation agreed to a settlement declaring a law banning corporate political contributions, Measure T, null and void. If approved by a US District Court judge, this will end the lawsuit against the County that stems from allegations that the law, if enforced, is a violation of the 1st and 14th Amendments of the US Constitution. The location of Humboldt County within California In California, the voters have the ability to propose laws at general elections subject to certain restrictions. In 2006, a group called Democracy Unlimited (DU) sponsored a ban on political contributions from non local corporations. DU was able to acquire the signatures necessary to qualify the measure and it was listed on the ballot as Measure T. Despite it qualifying for the ballot, many individuals campaigned against it. They argued that it was unconstitutional. Opponents pointed out that in order for a corporation to be considered local, everything about it must be based in Humboldt County. However, unions, which tend to be corporations, only needed one member in the County. Opponents drew upon the 1st and 14th Amendments to support their contentions, arguing that since corporations have been held as persons, the measure infringes on free speech, and that since the measure gives preference to some corporations and not others, it violates the Equal Rights provisions of the 14th Amendment. Notwithstanding these arguments, the measure was passed easily at the polls. Earlier this year, the Pacific Legal Foundation sued the County on the behalf of Mercer-Fraser and O&M, two companies that did business locally, but did not meet the local corporation standard. The lawsuit sought a preliminary injunction against enforcement on the grounds that it was most likely unconstitutional. Judge Susan Illston granted the motion for an injunction in September, agreeing with the plaintiffs that the measure as written was most likely a violation of the 1st and 14th Amendments. According to county officials, this settlement was prompted by an assessment of the merits of continuing litigation and the costs that such litigation would entail. The settlement would declare Measure T null and void and unconstitutional. Additionally, the County would be required to pay $44,000 in legal fees to Pacific Legal Foundation. Supporters of Measure T expressed disappointment accusing the county of caving to corporate pressure and not utilizing available resources. County officials have stated that the only reason why they fought the suit was because the measure was a voter initiative, that the costs of litigation would be high, and the end result would most likely remain the same. |
A police officer looks through a subway passenger's bag while New York City remains on alert for a possible terrorist attack. New York City police officers from Emergency Service Unit stand guard outside the New York Stock Exchange on Friday, Oct. 7, 2005. (AP Photo / John Smock) New York subway threat still not validated Associated Press NEW YORK A reported plot to bomb city subways with remote-controlled explosives has not been corroborated after days of investigation, law-enforcement officials said Sunday amid an easing sense of concern. Interrogations of suspects captured in Iraq last week after an informant's tip about bomb-laden suitcases and baby carriages have yet to yield evidence that the plot was real, officials said. "The intelligence community has been able to determine that there are very serious doubts about the credibility of this specific threat," Homeland Security Department spokesman Russ Knocke said. "This is after ongoing review and analysis." Homeland Security officials have been skeptical about the threat since it was publicly announced Thursday, but officials who were more assertive about the potential danger last week also appeared to be softening their assessment. "I believe in the short term we'll have a much better sense of whether or not this has, you know, real substance to it," Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said on CNN's Late Edition. A Homeland Security memo said the attack might have been planned to take place on or around Sunday. The city has no immediate plans to pull extra officers out of the subway system or reduce the number of bag searches, according to Kelly and Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Police doubled the number of daily bag checks and sent thousands of extra officers into the transit system, some in plainclothes and many others in uniform. Bloomberg said he had no regrets. "We've got to take every threat seriously and that is what we are going to do," he said. The mayor said he planned to ride the subway to Yankee Stadium Sunday night for Game 4 of the American League Divisional Series. The informant who prompted the plot investigation has provided a mix of true and false information in past investigations, Kelly said on CNN. Asked whether the informant had passed a polygraph test, he replied, "That source was deemed to be, yes, believing in the information that was put forward." The commissioner said he remained confident that the city acted properly. "This threat was very, very specific. It had specific time, specific object and modality. So, you know, we had to do what we did," Kelly said. The informant, who had spent time in Afghanistan, told U.S. intelligence that a group of men were plotting to attack New York subways with timed or remotely detonated bombs in strollers and bags. U.S. forces in Iraq arrested two plotters Thursday, prompting Bloomberg, Kelly and the FBI's New York office to announce security was being increased in the subways. A third suspect was arrested Friday. ||||| N.Y. officials defend response Sources: Subway threat tip a hoax From Kelli Arena CNN Washington Bureau WASHINGTON (CNN) -- New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Tuesday he and other city officials weren't about to wait until a security threat materialized before acting. "We have to protect this city. We can't just sit around with your fingers crossed," said Bloomberg, whose critics say he overreacted to information of a possible terrorist attack on the city's transit system. "We have to make decisions and show leadership. And that is exactly what we have done. And if given the same situation, we would do exactly the same thing," he said. Government sources said Tuesday information from an informant in Iraq about a terrorist plot involving New York's subway system was a hoax. After various investigations, the sources said, officials determined the informant's tip was false. New York Police Department Commissioner Ray Kelly acknowledged the need to improve communications about intelligence information between federal and local law enforcement officials. "I think we have got to get together with federal agencies, and they have a responsibility in Washington to speak with one voice to proactively put out information that's going to help localities," he said Tuesday. Much of the information that led to the heightened security in New York "was gleaned from our initiative and our contacting federal authorities," he said. "So, yeah, I think that there are lessons here to be learned. I think some congressional committees will, in fact, look into this whole matter and hopefully the system will be improved as a result," he added. 'Specific threat' According to one official knowledgeable about the investigation, the threat listed this past Friday and Sunday as possible days for an attack. Friday was three months to the day after four bombers carried out attacks on three London, England, subways and a double-decker bus, killing 52 people and wounding 700. (Full story) Bloomberg cited information from the FBI about a "specific threat" when he heightened subway security Thursday. Some intelligence officials downplayed that information, saying it was not credible, and by Monday, law enforcement officials said they could not corroborate any of the informant's claims. Bloomberg said he was also told that when three men allegedly linked to the supposed New York plot were arrested in Iraq, one of them had shouted, "You are too late to stop us!" The three men were later interviewed and given lie detector tests that showed they knew nothing about such a plan, according to government sources. In addition, information alleging that someone involved in a possible New York plot had entered the United States has not been corroborated. "We still do not know if such a person even exists," an official said. The New York Police Department has since scaled back tlast week's increased security measures on the city's subways. (Watch: Report on false threat -- 1:04 ) ||||| By MICHAEL WEISSENSTEIN, Associated Press Writer Sun Oct 9, 6:39 PM ET NEW YORK - A reported plot to bomb city subways with remote-controlled explosives has not been corroborated after days of investigation, law-enforcement officials said Sunday amid an easing sense of concern. Interrogations of suspects captured in Iraq last week after an informant's tip about bomb-laden suitcases and baby carriages have yet to yield evidence that the plot was real, officials said. "The intelligence community has been able to determine that there are very serious doubts about the credibility of this specific threat," Homeland Security Department spokesman Russ Knocke said. "This is after ongoing review and analysis." Homeland Security officials have been skeptical about the threat since it was publicly announced Thursday, but officials who were more assertive about the potential danger last week also appeared to be softening their assessment. "I believe in the short term we'll have a much better sense of whether or not this has, you know, real substance to it," Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said on CNN's Late Edition. A Homeland Security memo said the attack might have been planned to take place on or around Sunday. The city has no immediate plans to pull extra officers out of the subway system or reduce the number of bag searches, according to Kelly and Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Police doubled the number of daily bag checks and sent thousands of extra officers into the transit system, some in plainclothes and many others in uniform. Bloomberg said he had no regrets. "We've got to take every threat seriously and that is what we are going to do," he said. The mayor said he planned to ride the subway to Yankee Stadium Sunday night for Game 4 of the American League Divisional Series. The informant who prompted the plot investigation has provided a mix of true and false information in past investigations, Kelly said on CNN. Asked whether the informant had passed a polygraph test, he replied, "That source was deemed to be, yes, believing in the information that was put forward." The commissioner said he remained confident that the city acted properly. "This threat was very, very specific. It had specific time, specific object and modality. So, you know, we had to do what we did," Kelly said. The informant, who had spent time in Afghanistan, told U.S. intelligence that a group of men were plotting to attack New York subways with timed or remotely detonated bombs in strollers and bags. U.S. forces in Iraq arrested two plotters Thursday, prompting Bloomberg, Kelly and the FBI's New York office to announce security was being increased in the subways. A third suspect was arrested Friday. ||||| ADVERTISEMENT NEW YORK -- The information that triggered heightened security in the nation's largest subway system was untrue and probably a hoax, federal officials said today.Last week's threat, which has caused friction between local and some federal officials, was based on an informant who went to U.S. officials with a detailed story about a terrorist plot directed at the New York subway system, according to law enforcement sources.The informant said several men would travel from Iraq to Syria and on to New York, where they would detonate bombs hidden in child strollers and other devices.But after interrogating the alleged co-conspirators, federal authorities now believe the account was false."It all appears to be falling apart," a federal law enforcement said of the informant's story. "The guy … made something up that he thought we wanted to hear."New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said he had not seen any evidence that the subway threat was a hoax.But even if it was, he said, the city acted properly in alerting the public and increasing mass transit security. He also dismissed allegations that he issued the warning for political reasons connected to his November bid for re-election.Critics noted the mayor revealed the alleged plot on Thursday afternoon, hours before a mayoral campaign debate in Harlem that he had decided not to attend.Bloomberg's Democratic challenger Fernando Ferrer, called on the mayor to disclose why he opted to warn the public."I believe that we need to take every threat seriously. And now that we are no longer on high alert, it is appropriate for the mayor to tell us what he knew about the threat, when, and why he chose to act in the way he did," Ferrer's campaign said in a statement this week.Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly have repeatedly defended their actions, saying the reports they received from the Federal Bureau of Investigation were specific and credible and the most detailed since the terror attack on the World Trade Center on 9/11. They also said they had no choice but to increase security and to inform the public because anything else would be irresponsible."It's very different being an analyst in Washington as opposed to being here in New York, where you have a responsibility to protect lives," Bloomberg said.Officials at the Department of Homeland Security immediately poured cold water on the information, arguing it was uncorroborated.On Monday, the city canceled the increased security since the presumed date of the attack, Sunday, Oct. 9, had passed without incident."Since the period of the threat now seems to be passing, I think over the immediate future we'll slowly be winding down the enhanced security," Bloomberg said.The mayor said the city remained on orange alert -- the second highest level. That level has been in effect since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that destroyed the World Trade Center. | The US news agency ''CNN'' is reporting that the recent New York subway terrorist threat this past weekend was based on "false information." The original tip lead to the arrest of three men in Iraq with suspected ties to the plot; however, under interrogation which included lie detector tests, investigators discovered they had no knowledge of any planned terror attacks on the New York subway system. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was skeptical of the threat since it was first announced last week. More recently, Russ Knocke, a spokesman for the DHS, said "The intelligence community has been able to determine that there are very serious doubts about the credibility of this specific threat." Responding to the new comments from the DHS, New York City Mayor Bloomberg replied, "We've got to take every threat seriously and that is what we are going to do." Even before the new questions about the tip's accuracy, Mayor Bloomberg was already defending his decision to increase security and promised that the measures will remain in place for at least the near future. Mayor Bloomberg explained that, while he did not believe he made a mistake in calling for increased security, "If I'm going to make a mistake you can rest assured it is on the side of being cautious." New York City Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly agreed, adding, "We did exactly the right thing." Critics of Bloomberg have charged that the threat was a bid to "look strong" in support for his upcoming re-election attempt. |
[Updated 11:37 a.m.] See full story on CNN.com [Updated 11:02 a.m.] At least 60 people were injured when a ferry crashed into the Staten Island Ferry terminal Saturday morning in New York, authorities said. Most of the injuries were said to be minor [Updated 10:03 a.m.] A ferry boat crashed into the Staten Island Ferry terminal Saturday morning, the New York Police Department said. Some minor injuries have been reported, the New York Fire Department told CNN. Emergency crews were on the scene. The fire department said no major injuries have been reported and the cause of the crash was under investigation. ||||| Breaking news alerts (about 1 per day) Click here to sign up or text NEWS to MSNBC (67622). Submerged cars in rain-soaked Tennessee, a child monk’s initiation in South Korea, a moose on the loose in the streets of Poland, watermelon-toting camels in India and more news and feature pictures from around the world. msnbc.com news services NEW YORK - A Staten Island ferry with a history of accidents malfunctioned as it approached its terminal Saturday and smashed into a pier with a jolt that tossed passengers to the deck and hurt as many as 37 people. The accident happened at around 9:20 a.m. as the Andrew J. Barberi arrived at the St. George Ferry Terminal on Staten Island, carrying 252 passengers and 18 crew. The accident appeared to be the result of a mechanical failure, New York City Department of Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan said. Passenger Jason Watler, 30, of St. George, said he became alarmed when the ferry approached the shore faster than usual and ran toward the back of the boat. "It was not slowing down," he said. "He was going too fast." Then, he heard a "a real big boom." "I stumbled a little bit," he said. "People were screaming. People were crying." Mike Cane, a writer who lives on Staten Island, was also on the ferry. He told msnbc.com that he escaped injury and rushed to help others. He described the scene as "a mess." “I get up to stretch and I notice this guy who is supposed to driving the ferry. He’s walking very quickly and he’s yelling ‘brake, brake, brake!’ I look out the window and I notice the dock is suddenly at the side. ... That’s when it hit me: We’re going to crash,” he said. “I opened the window to look out and the front of the ferry was driven straight into the concrete of the terminal," Cane said. "There was no damage to the ferry, other than to the front. Thank God we went straight in (to the dock) because if we had gone in sideways, there would have been a lot more injuries. It was a mess.” Passengers were shaken, he said. "They were holding their legs and their heads. You could smell the smoke. Within 10 to 15 minutes, firemen and police arrived and they set up ramps so they could get on the ferry and attend to the injured, and then they let us off.” Mechanical failure blamed The ferry's throttle failed to engage as it prepared to dock, she said, meaning the crew was unable to use the engines to apply reverse thrust and slow down. The cause of the malfunction is still unknown, she said. The ferry was moving at about 5 knots, or 5.8 miles (10 kilometers) per hour, when it hit. Coast Guard officials said the ferry suffered serious damage to its ramps and gouges in the decks above the waterline. Ramps on the pier were also damaged. The Department of Transportation described the damage to the vessel and terminal and slip as minor and said the Barberi would be taken out of service. Video Coast Guard: 'Ferry lost propulsion' May 8: Msnbc's Alex Witt talks with U.S. Coast Guard's Barbara Miller about the Staten Island ferry accident. msnbc tv The Fire Department said 17 passengers were initially taken by ambulance to hospitals, but that none had life-threatening injuries. Later, they said 33 had been checked out at hospitals, after first being treated at the scene. One person complained of chest pains. Two police officers providing ferry security were among the injured, officials said, but no crew members were hurt. The National Transportation Safety Board said it had dispatched a team to investigate the ferry accident. The Andrew Barberi was also involved in a 2003 wreck that killed 11 people. That accident occurred when the pilot, suffering from extreme fatigue and on painkillers, passed out at the wheel and the boat hit the terminal in St. George at full speed. The ferry returned to service after a multimillion-dollar rehabilitation. The pilot pleaded guilty to negligent manslaughter and lying to investigators. He was sentenced to 18 months in prison. The city ferry director was sentenced to a year in prison after pleading guilty to negligent manslaughter and admitting he failed to implement or enforce a rule requiring two pilots during docking. On July 1, 2009, a different ferry lost power and slammed into a pier at the St. George terminal, causing more than a dozen minor injuries among passengers. That accident was blamed on the failure of a transformer, which regulates power to the main propulsion engine. The ferry runs across New York harbor between Manhattan and Staten Island. Ferries landing at the terminal approach fairly quickly, then slow by putting the engines in reverse. The boat coasts into a U-shaped slip and workers extend large ramps that allow passengers to exit. Most passengers assemble at the front as the ferry arrives. According to city officials, the ferry captain had 15 years experience, but was newly assigned to the Barberi. They did not release the captain's name. The crash might have been worse if it had happened during rush hour rather than on a sleepy Saturday morning. The Barberi, an orange behemoth of a boat, can carry up to 6,000 passengers. Plagued by problems The Barberi has had other problems since being put into service in 1981, including corrosion and a roach infestation. On its maiden voyage, it suffered a temporary loss of engine power and drifted into some mud near Governor's Island. The vessel passed annual inspections in 2009 and a quarterly inspection in April, according to the Department of Transportation. In Saturday's accident, Sadik-Khan said, the crew discovered the mechanical problem in time to alert passengers to brace for a hard landing and move back, although it is unclear how many heard or understood the warning. Service on the ferry line was suspended after the accident, then restored by late morning. Click for related content For more U.S. news, click here The ferry itself was dislodged from the dock at the terminal about five hours after the crash, with the help of a tugboat, and taken to another nearby pier area. The crash will be investigated, Gov. David Paterson said at the scene. He said it was important for him to be on site after the events of the past week had raised tensions in New York City. "That's the byproduct of harmful acts, and it causes people to be worried about things like transportation," Paterson said. Msnbc.com's Elizabeth Chuck contributed to this report, as did The Associated Press. More from msnbc.com She founded Mother's Day, turned against it Around the world and a mother at last Why the Greeks are mad Along Gulf Coast, a rising tide of suits World Blog: In Shanghai, it’s a small, small world Cosmic Log: Strange shapes in space Just in: Follow BreakingNews on Twitter © 2010 msnbc.com ||||| Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play. Advertisement A ferry has crashed into a pier on New York's Staten Island injuring 37 people, officials say. None were seriously hurt in the collision, which was said to have been caused by a mechanical fault. The Andrew J Barberi ferry has a history of accidents. In 2003, 11 people were killed when it crashed into a pier on Staten Island. The ferry, which connects the island with Manhattan, hit the St George Ferry Terminal at 0920 (0320GMT) on Saturday. Janette Sadik-Khan, commissioner of the New York City Department of Transportation, said that it appeared that the captain could not slow down as the boat approached the dock because the throttle did not engage. "It looks like there was a mechanical problem," she said. She said 17 of the 37 people injured were taken to hospitals, but none suffered serious injuries. The ferry was carrying 252 passengers and 18 crew. 'Brake, brake' Passenger Jason Watler, 30, said he noticed the ferry was approaching the shore at a faster speed than usual. He says he then ran to the back of the boat, before hearing a "real big boom". "I stumbled a little bit," he told AP news agency. "People were screaming. People were crying". A New York City Police Department (NYPD) spokesman told the BBC that the ferry had made a "hard landing". The ferry was dislodged from the dock about five hours after the crash and taken to a nearby pier. The service was suspended following the collision, but back in operation by late morning. Alex Gonzalez, 36, said he saw a woman and a child thrown about 10 feet (3m) from the impact. "It was the scariest thing of my life," he said. Another passenger, quoted by Reuters, said the ferry was going too quickly as it approached the dock. "I heard over the loudspeaker someone say 'brake, brake,' and it just bounced off," he said. The same ferry crashed into the same terminal in 2003 at full speed, killing 11 people and injuring 70. The captain at the time was sentenced to 18 months in prison, after it was found that he had passed out due to doses of painkillers. The city ferry director was also found guilty of failing to enforce a rule of two drivers for docking and charged with negligent manslaughter. The Staten Island Ferry transports 20 million people a year between Staten Island and lower Manhattan. Bookmark with: Delicious Digg reddit Facebook StumbleUpon What are these? E-mail this to a friend Printable version | Staten Island Ferry terminal, Lower Manhattan. According to the (NYPD), New York City's has crashed into a passenger terminal, causing over 60 injuries. The (NYFD) reports to the press that they are on the scene and are giving emergency treatment. No life-threatening injuries have been reported, although a few of the passengers were transported by the NYFD to local city hospitals. The accident is still under investigation by the NYPD. In all, 252 passengers were aboard the ship, along with eighteen various crew members. According to some of the passengers that were on the ship, the boat sped up right before hitting the dock, when it should have actually been slowing down so that it could let passengers on from the station. An early report of the investigation is that the captain of the ship mistakenly lost engine control. The Staten Island Ferry is a major form of transportation between the two New York city boroughs of Manhattan and . Five different ships carry approximately 60,000 passengers each day across the . The ship, the , was also involved in another crash in 2003, where it crashed into the same dock and killed eleven people. |
The fatal shooting of eight people at day spas in and around Atlanta have intensified fears in Asian-American communities that have been the target of attacks since the onset of the coronavirus. Six of the eight victims were Asian women. The 21-year-old suspect, Robert Aaron Long, has been charged with four counts of murder according to media reports. ||||| CIA papers: U.S. failed to pursue Nazi West Germany gave location of Eichmann, historian says From Pam Benson CNN Adolf Eichmann is shown imprisoned in 1961 in Israel, where he was tried, convicted and hanged in 1962. RELATED YOUR E-MAIL ALERTS Germany Argentina Adolf Eichmann Konrad Adenauer or or Create Your Own WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The United States was told the location and approximate alias of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann more than two years before his capture but did nothing to pursue him, according to CIA documents released Tuesday. The release of the latest set of intelligence records is part of an ongoing effort to declassify documents as part of the Nazi War Criminals Disclosure Act of 1998. Eichmann, mastermind of the "final solution" to exterminate Jews, was captured by Israel and executed in 1962. (Watch compromises made by intelligence agencies -- 1:46) However, in 1958 the West German intelligence service informed the CIA that Eichmann was living in Argentina using the alias Clemens, University of Virginia historian Timothy Naftali said the newly released CIA materials indicate. The West Germans did not want to see Eichmann captured because they feared what he might say about Chancellor Konrad Adenauer's national security adviser, Hans Globke, Naftali said. Globke had served in the Jewish Affairs department of the Nazi government during World War II and was involved in writing laws designed to remove Jews from German society. "The CIA, which worked closely with Globke, assisted the West Germans in protecting him from Eichmann," said Naftali. Eichmann remained at large until May 1960, when the Israeli government discovered his whereabouts and captured him in Argentina, where he was living under the name Klement. Israeli agents kidnapped him from his Argentine hideout and smuggled him to Israel, where he was tried, convicted and hanged in 1962. The Eichmann revelation is one of several outlined by historians who are working with members of the Interagency Working Group responsible for locating, declassifying and releasing U.S. documents related to Nazi war crimes. In another case, Ohio University historian Norman Goda discussed records showing how former Nazi SS intelligence officer Heinz Felfe, who was recruited by the Soviet KGB after the war, was able to join the West German intelligence service set up by the United States. He eventually rose to become chief of the division responsible for surveillance of the Soviets, the records show. "He was no common mole," Goda said in a press briefing at the National Archives Building. Felfe was in charge of operations against the Soviets while "he took his orders from the Soviets." Goda said Felfe caused "massive damage ... as large an intelligence disaster as occurred during the Cold War." Unlike previous releases, the documents made available Tuesday were largely unredacted. The interagency group credited former CIA Director Porter Goss for changing the level of cooperation and allowing the release of documents. The group, chaired by Steven Garfinkel of the National Archives and Records Administration, expects to complete its declassification efforts early next year. "We are not yet done, but we are continuing with the important work of finding out what was done in the past so we can learn from it for the future," said one of the 1998 bill's co-sponsors, Republican Sen. Mike DeWine of Ohio, at Tuesday's briefing, according to prepared remarks. The group includes representatives from eight federal agencies and three public members. Since 1999, the group says, it has overseen the release of some 8 million pages of U.S. government records related to crimes committed by the Nazi and Japanese governments during World War II. ||||| The CIA knew the whereabouts of the Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann in Argentina more than two years before his capture by Israeli agents, but kept the fact secret to protect its anti-Communist efforts in West Germany, according to newly declassified agency documents. The documents, among 27,000 pages of CIA records released by the National Archives here, indicate that the agency was told in 1958 by then West German intelligence that Eichmann was living under an alias in the Buenos Aires area. But the CIA did nothing, and Eichmann - the infamous organiser of the trains that carried Jews to the Nazi extermination camps - was eventually seized by Mossad agents in 1960, and flown back to Israel where he was tried and, in 1962, executed. Article Length: 337 words (approx.) ||||| Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, June 7, 2006; Page A21 The CIA organized Cold War spy networks that included former Nazis and failed to act on a 1958 report that fugitive Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann was living in Argentina, newly released CIA records show. The records were among 27,000 pages of documents made public yesterday at the National Archives. They shed new light on the secret protection and support given to former Nazi officials and Nazi collaborators by U.S. intelligence agencies as fighting communism became the central aim of American foreign policy in the years after World War II. "It was not U.S. policy to track Nazi war criminals once the Cold War began," said historian Timothy Naftali of the University of Virginia, a Cold War expert who has studied the new documents. "The CIA based its decisions about using former SS men or unreconstructed Nazis solely on operational considerations. . . . Hiring these tainted individuals brought little other than operational problems and moral confusion to our government's intelligence community," he added. The subject of postwar collaboration between U.S. intelligence and former Nazis that the government sought to use in the struggle against the Soviet Union has been documented, but historians said the previously inaccessible documents have enabled them to fill in many blanks in the historical narrative. About 60,000 pages of CIA records had already been released since 1999, after a 1998 federal law opened up secret government files relating to war crimes by the German and Japanese governments during World War II. Historians reviewing the records for the government published a 2004 book, "U.S. Intelligence and the Nazis," based on 240,000 pages of FBI records, 419 CIA files and 3,000 pages of U.S. Army information. It detailed the Army's postwar relationship with former officers of the German Wehrmacht's intelligence service, which are available at the National Archives. The materials released yesterday include operational documents detailing the activities of the CIA and its contacts abroad, historians and other officials said during a news conference at the National Archives. "It's a rare release of operational files," said Allen Weinstein, head of the National Archives and chairman of the interagency working group overseeing the declassification of records about World War II crimes and criminals. "The files are also more inclusive than any other CIA files made public before. . . . This time, the documents are nearly all without redactions, providing researchers and historians the clearest view yet of the postwar intelligence world." The release of the records stalled last year with the deadline for the interagency project approaching when the CIA balked at declassifying more detailed documents about the agency's postwar ties to Nazis. But the CIA caved in under pressure from Sen. Mike DeWine (R-Ohio), an author of the original legislation, and other prominent backers of that law. Congress passed a new law extending the life of the interagency panel by two years, to early 2007. Some of the newly released documents show that between 1949 and 1955, the CIA organized "stay-behind" networks of German agents to provide intelligence from behind enemy lines, should the Soviet Union invade western Germany. One network included at least two former Nazi SS members -- Staff Sgt. Heinrich Hoffman and Lt. Col. Hans Rues -- and one was run by Lt. Col. Walter Kopp, a former German army officer referred to by the CIA as an "unreconstructed Nazi." The network was disbanded in 1953 amid political concerns that some members' neo-Nazi sympathies would be exposed in the West German press. In a March 1958 memo to the CIA, the West German foreign intelligence services (BND) wrote that Eichmann, a top Gestapo official who helped orchestrate the mass murder of Jews, "is reported to have lived in Argentina under the alias CLEMENS since 1952." The memo also mentioned a rumor that Eichmann lived in Jerusalem. In fact, Eichmann was in Argentina and was using the name Ricardo Klement -- but apparently neither the CIA nor the West Germans acted on the information, Naftali said. "Tragically, at the moment the CIA and the BND had this information the Israelis were temporarily giving up their search for Eichmann in Argentina because they could not figure out his alias," Naftali wrote in an analysis of the documents. Eventually, Israeli Mossad agents abducted Eichmann in Buenos Aires on May 11, 1960. He was tried in Jerusalem, sentenced to death and hanged on May 31, 1962. Robert Wolfe, a former federal archivist and an expert on captured German records, said the new CIA documents illustrate the "sorry results" of recruiting former Nazi intelligence personnel to U.S. efforts to keep the Soviet Union in check. "The alleged intelligence those recruits peddled was mostly hearsay and gossip designed to tell their American interrogators what they wanted to hear, in the hope of escaping retribution for past crimes, or for mercenary gain, or for political agendas not necessarily compatible with American national interests," Wolfe said. | The 27,000-pages of documents released on Tuesday reveal that while the United States and West Germany knew the location of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann two years before his capture, the fact was kept secret. The documents were declassified as part of the Nazi War Criminals Disclosure Act of 1998. West German Intelligence informed the US in March 1958 of the whereabouts of the senior Gestapo officer, who was living under the alias "Clemens" in Argentina where he had arrived seven years earlier. It was not US policy at the time to go after Nazi criminals since they were still recruited for Cold War operations. "It now appears that West Germany could have captured him in 1958, if it wished to," said University of Virginia historian Timothy Naftali. He also said that CIA helped West Germany at the time to suppress part of Eichmann's diary - which was in the possession of Life magazine - that would have embarrassed West German national security adviser Hans Globke, himself a former Nazi. Eichmann was captured by Israelis in 1960 in Argentina. He was tried in Jerusalem and received the death penalty. |
Six dead in Japan quake: officials KURIHARA, Japan (AFP) — Six people were killed in Saturday's powerful earthquake in northern Japan, officials said. Two workers, aged 53 and 54, were working on a construction project when they were hit by a landslide, said a local official in the hard-hit northern town of Kurihara. Rescue teams scouring by helicopter also found a body in a smashed vehicle in the mountains, said Yuichi Hachiya, a fire department official in Kurihara. "We suspect the person was a visitor, but that's just speculation. The person has yet to be identified as the body is now being transferred," Hachiya told AFP. The other dead included a 48-year-old construction worker on a dam project who was hit by falling rocks and a 55-year-old man buried by a landslide while out fishing, officials said earlier. A 60-year-old man also died after running out of his home in fright and getting hit by a truck. More than 100 people were injured and 12 people missing in the 7.2 Richter-scale tremor, according to officials and media tallies. Copyright © 2013 AFP. All rights reserved. More » ||||| Strong quake jolts Iwate, Miyagi; 2 killed Chunks of concrete that were shaken loose from a wall during the earthquake Saturday morning lie on the sidewalk in Yuzawa, Akita Prefecture. A powerful earthquake registering a preliminary magnitude of 7 jolted extensive areas of northeastern Japan on Saturday morning, killing two people and overturning a bus in Sendai carrying at least 30 passengers, the Meteorological Agency said. The 8:43 a.m. quake measured upper 6 on the Japanese seismic intensity scale of 7 in some areas of Iwate and Miyagi prefectures, according to the agency. No tsunami warnings were issued. According to Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura, two people were confirmed dead in the earthquake. According to the Natori Municipal Fire Department in Miyagi Prefecture, 25 passengers on the bus were injured, three of them seriously. Firefighters in Kurihara, Miyagi Prefecture, said at least six people were injured in the quake. The earthquake did not affect operations at nuclear power plants in Fukushima Prefecture, Tokyo Electric Power Co. said. The Onagawa nuclear power station in Miyagi Prefecture and the Higashidori nuclear power station in Aomori Prefecture, both of which are operated by the Tohoku Electric Power Co., were operating normally, according to the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency. East Japan Railway Co. said it had suspended train services between Omiya and Hachinohe stations on the Tohoku Shinkansen Line. All expressways in Miyagi Prefecture have been closed, police said. The quake was felt as far away as the Kanto region and Hokkaido. The focus of the quake was about 10 kilometers below ground in southern Iwate Prefecture, the agency said. The agency said another earthquake measuring lower 5 on the seismic intensity scale hit Osaki, Miyagi Prefecture, at 9:20 a.m. In Ichinoseki, Iwate Prefecture, one person was injured when their car was buried by a landslide. ||||| Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play. Advertisement Rescuers in northern Japan have found three more bodies, bringing the confirmed death toll from Saturday's earthquake to nine, officials say. Four more people are feared buried by a mudslide at a hot spring hotel near the town of Kurihara, Miyagi region. With major roads buckled and unusable, rescuers are hiking through mountain trails to reach isolated towns. Twelve people are still missing and more than 200 have been injured after the 7.2 magnitude earthquake. There have been more than 200 aftershocks since Saturday. Helicopters The quake was centred on Iwate, a rural mountainous region on Japan's main island, Honshu. Military helicopters have been taking in supplies and flying the injured to hospitals. A small amount of radioactive water was leaked at a nuclear power station. But officials said there was no danger to the public from the minor spillage at the facility in Fukushima. Seismologists issued a warning of the earthquake moments before it struck at about 0845 (2343 GMT) on Friday Footage from NHK television showed surveillance cameras in the city of Sendai being shaken violently for about 30 seconds. Japan is one of the world's most earthquake-prone countries and experiences thousands of minor tremors each year. An earthquake last year caused a small radioactive leak from the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant. | A magnitude 7.2 earthquake has hit the region of Tohoku, a rural area of Northern Japan, killing nine people, injuring over 200, triggering land slides with reports of a bridge destroyed by the quake, several press reports. Mainichi Shinbun reports many land slides happened in mountainous areas, cutting down roads and several neighborhoods are separated from the others. The quake struck at 8:43 am local time, located about 5 miles (8 km) underground, approximately 280 miles (451 km) north of Tokyo in the northern prefecture of Iwate, which was felt as far away as the Capital. Mainichi indicated that Iwate and Miyagi Prefectures are severely damaged so that both governors invoke Disaster Aid Act to be effective in Ichinoseki and Kurikoma respectively. Japan is particularly prone to earthquakes due its position on the Ring of Fire as well as being made of volcanic islands. An earthquake last year caused a radioactive leak from the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant. |
Offentliggjort 26. januar 2006 22:30 - opdateret 14:30 Tip en ven Print-version Frygt for total handelsboykot LÆSER SERVICE Se hele artiklen i: E-avisen (JP Master) Morgenavisen (Abonnent) Abonnementsfordele: JP Master - fri adgang til E-avis og arkiv. Læs mere Fuldt betalende - fri adgang til Morgenavisen og 3 mdr. arkiv Øvrige - 24 timers dagsadgang til hele E-avisen. Pris: 15,00 kr. Læs mere Jorden slår revner under Arla Foods i Mellemøsten. Fire af de største saudiarabiske detailkæder smed i går Arlas produkter ud af deres butikker. Mejerikoncernen frygter, at krisen eskalerer til hele regionen, der er et af Arlas vigtigste markeder. Samtidig blev reaktionerne mod danske produkter yderligere optrappet i går, da en bil med Arla-produkter blev udsat for stenkast, og Arla-medarbejdere blev smidt ud af en butik. Samtidig valgte nogle butikker at sætte advarsler i form af gul tape på de danske mejerivarer. Også andre danske virksomheder trues af boykot som følge af den muslimske vrede over tegningerne af profeten Muhammed. Ifølge Dansk Industri er der stor fare for, at handelskrisen breder sig. »Vi får nu rapporter fra både fødevare- og industrivirksomheder, der fortæller, at ordrer og aftaler bliver aflyst. Kunderne i Saudi-Arabien venter på en officiel dansk undskyldning for tegningerne. Der er en betydelig risiko for, at krisen breder sig til hele regionen,« vurderer Marianne Castenskiold, chefkonsulent i Dansk Industri (DI). ||||| Prophet drawings anger Saudi consumers JP extra Arla Foods is concerned that a boycott of the company's products in Saudi Arabia could cost billions if it takes widespread effect. Saudi Arabian religious and political leaders encouraged consumers to boycott Danish-based Arla Foods' products during last Friday's weekly prayer service. Since then, the call to has been repeated on national TV stations and newspapers accompanied by pictures of Arla products. Arla, one of the world's largest producers of dairy products, has earnings worth DKK 3b in the Middle East and expected to open a major dairy facility in two weeks in Saudi Arabia. Religious leaders called for the boycott as a way to respond to drawings of the prophet Mohammed printed in daily newspaper Jyllands-Posten last September. The newspaper printed 12 drawings of the prophet Mohammed last year as a way to challenge what it considered the intimidating tactics of fundamental islamists. One Saudi Arabian chain of supermarkets has already removed Arla products from its shelves and called for an official apology. Arla company feared the boycott could spread. 'The situation is escalating very quickly right now.' said Finn Hansen, a department head for Arla. 'The development in the last hours is quite worrisome.' Hansen said that major partners in Saudi Arabia had summoned Arla employees to meetings in the next days. 'They have attempted to make us denounce the drawings. The situation is critical because the Saudi consumers react collectively. We're afraid of being hit by a wave of consumer anger,' he said. Denmark's ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Hans Klingenberg, confirmed that the threat of a widespread boycott had increased in recent days and that Danish companies were concerned. 'There's a risk that in Denmark, we have underestimated the offence that the drawings have caused - not just among Muslims in Denmark but in the whole Muslim world. We should take the threat very seriously,' said Klingenberg. ||||| Udenrigsminister Per Stig Møller har hasteindkaldt Udenrigspolitisk Nævn til et møde fredag, efter at Saudi-Arabien har valgt at trække sin ambassadør hjem på grund af striden om Muhammed-tegningerne. Ministeren ved endnu ikke nøjagtig, hvad baggrunden er for den diplomatiske krise, men det undersøger den danske ambassadør i Saudi-Arabien nu. Vil undersøge årsag til hjemkaldelse - Jeg er overrasket over dette skridt fra saudisk side, men vil gerne understrege, at der ikke er tale om en afbrydelse af de diplomatiske forbindelser, siger Per Stig Møller. - Jeg har nu anmodet vores ambassadør i Riyadh om at tage kontakt til de saudiske myndigheder for at undersøge årsagen til hjemkaldelsen, siger han. Udenrigsministeriet vil desuden orientere repræsentanter for erhvervslivet om de aktuelle problemer for danske eksportører på det saudi-arabiske marked. Opposition kritiserer regering Oppositionen på Christiansborg beklager Saudi-Arabiens beslutning. Men Det Radikale Venstre, Socialdemokraterne og SF mener samtidig, at statsminister Anders Fogh Rasmussen bærer en del af skylden for, at det er kommet så vidt. - Det er klart, at vi kunne have undgået meget - og mange misforståelser - hvis statsministeren oprindeligt havde taget det møde med ambassadørerne, som de bad om, siger Socialdemokraternes udenrigsordfører, Mogens Lykketoft. SF: Fogh må tage møde nu Den samme melding kommer fra De Radikales udenrigsordfører, Niels Helveg Petersen. - Sagen kunne have været klaret ved, at man forklarede, at man ikke havde mulighed for at gribe ind, men at man var interesseret i at udveksle synspunkter, siger Niels Helveg Petersen. SF's formand, Villy Søvndal, mener, at "statsministeren nu må ud af sin hule og tage det møde med ambassadørerne fra de muslimske lande, som han sagde nej til fra start". DF vil forklare danske regler Dansk Folkepartis udenrigsordfører, Søren Espersen, tilbyder til gengæld, at den saudiske ambassadør kan få et brev med, hvor reglerne i det danske samfund er opridset. Han er oven i købet villig til at få brevet oversat til arabisk. - Jeg har været meget gal på de der ambassadører, fordi de ikke har gjort deres pligt ved at fortælle om, hvad der egentlig sker her i landet. Jeg vil give dem skylden for, hvad der er sket. Det er de her uduelige arabiske ambassadører, som ikke har fortalt deres egne befolkninger, hvordan vores system er opdelt i forskellige institutioner, siger Søren Espersen. ||||| Leder: Muslimers ansigt Det har vist sig, at Islamisk Trossamfund under sin såkaldte informationsvirksomhed i Mellemøsten har kolporteret lodret forkerte påstande om danske forhold for at ophidse sine venner i arabiske diktaturer: om Jyllands-Postens ejerforhold og uafhængighed og om en påstået censureret dansk oversættelse af Koranen, som er en alvorlig synd ifølge islam. Desuden praler imam Abu Laban over for dagbladet Information med, at det var ham, der fik ambassadører fra de muslimske lande til at rejse sagen over for statsminister Anders Fogh Rasmussen. Han har desuden advaret om, at der er risiko for politiske mord i Danmark, hvis ikke man bøjer sig for islamiske tabuer. Det er den samme Abu Laban, der for fem år siden i et interview med Jyllands-Posten stemplede USA's jagt på terrorist Osama bin Laden som tegn på Vestens islamofobiske propaganda, og han tilføjede, at bin Laden var et godt menneske med en asketisk livsførelse. Tidligere havde han som forsvar for islamisters mord på syv kristne munke og en række udlændinge i Algeriet erklæret: »Måske spreder turisterne aids i Algeriet, ligesom jøderne spreder aids i Egypten.« Det er altså manden bag disse udtalelser og initiativer og hans allierede, der brøler op om muslimernes krænkede følelser, selv om deres menigheder kun tæller en lille gruppe af de muslimer, der bor i Danmark. Og det er denne mand, som 22 pensionerede ambassadører og en række andre naive og arrogante debattører har ladet sig trække rundt i manegen af i en grad, så der meget snart kan blive kø ved håndvasken. Abu Labans og hans allierede har efterhånden bevæget sig så langt væk fra det fundament, som det danske samfund bygger på, at det nærmer sig det groteske. Læg hertil at han selv og hans forbundsfæller finder det naturligt, at fremmede, muslimske landes ambassadører optræder som talsmænd for danske muslimer. Det er en grov krænkelse af de muslimer, der ser sig selv som del af det danske samfund. Ved at acceptere at muslimske lande kan tale deres sag, siger man: muslimer er ikke en del af det danske samfund, de er fremmede, de kan godt lade lande i Mellemøsten tale på deres vegne. Nu er det heldigvis blevet for meget for en gruppe danskere med muslimsk baggrund. Folketingsmedlem Naser Khader, it-konsulent Nadi Khan og professor Moustapha Kassem har samlet foreløbig 40 mennesker i et netværk, der skal vise den danske offentlighed og trosfæller, at der findes andre muslimer med andre holdninger, end dem Abu Laban og hans folk bringer til torvs. Ophavsmændene håber inden månedens udgang at have samlet 100 mennesker. De er trætte af, at danske muslimer skal repræsenteres af radikale stemmer. Desuden ønsker de at optræde som rollemodeller for unge mennesker med muslimsk baggrund på jagt efter identitet i Danmark. Betydningen af dette initiativ kan dårligt overvurderes. Det er opmuntrende tegn, som kan være med til at skabe en mangfoldighed af muslimske ansigter i den offentlige debat. De har ikke været synlige før, fordi mange moderate muslimer føler sig intimideret af mere radikale elementer, der hænger trosfæller ud som dårlige muslimer, hvis de ikke ser nogen modsætning mellem deres tro og et moderne, sekulært samfund som det danske. Men nu er der nogen, der viser vejen, og de fortjener vores støtte og opbakning. Denne kulturkamp om muslimske sjæle kan få afgørende indflydelse på det danske samfunds udvikling i de kommende år. | On January 26, 2006, a massive boycott of dairy produce from Arla Foods started in Saudi Arabia over what is perceived as a Danish attack on Muslim values. The Saudi ambassador to Denmark has been recalled for consultations. The Danish/Swedish dairy company Arla is facing a massive loss after a spreading boycott of its produce in Saudi Arabia. Four Saudi retail chains have already removed Arla products from the shelves. One retail chain has placed yellow warning tape (common fare for accidents and crime scenes) over Arla products. There have been cases reported of Arla delivery trucks being attacked by stones thrown from bystanders. Marianne Castenskiold, a senior consultant for Dansk Industri, expressed a fear that the boycott will spread to other countries in the region and have detrimental effects on other Danish products. Denmark is one of the leading exporters of agriculture in northern Europe, whose economy is heavily dependent on foreign trade and investment. The boycott has been announced at Friday prayer services in Saudi mosques since January 20, 2006, obviously helping to foment popular support of the nation's response to Denmark's alleged ignorance of Muslim values. On at least one occasion, a delivery truck has been greeted by thrown stones. === Background === The boycott is a response to the publication of an article in a major Danish newspaper, Jyllands-Posten. In its September 30, 2005 issue, the paper printed 12 drawings of the Muslim prophet Muhammed, as a response to previous news reports that the publisher of a forthcoming childrens' book about the prophet had had difficulty in finding an illustrator, due to fear of extremist reactions; drawings of the prophet are prohibited by Islamic Law (see aniconism). In an attempt to start a debate over freedom of speech in Denmark, the newspaper printed 12 drawings of the prophet. Four of these were of a satirical nature, with one showing the prophet with a turban hiding a lit bomb. The immediate reactions to the publication of the drawings included ambassadors from 12 Muslim countries demanding that the Danish Prime Minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, denounce the newspaper. Rasmussen rejected this demand, stating that "Danish freedom of speech does not allow the government to control what newspapers print". He further noted that the only possible legal action against the newspaper would be one under the charge of blasphemy. A debate ensued over the following months about freedom of speech and its value in relation to avoiding religious taboos. In mid-December 2005, a delegation from several Danish Muslim organizations went on a tour in several Middle-Eastern and Arabic countries, reportedly to gain sympathy for their point of view. Several reports state that during the tour the difficulties faced by Muslims in Denmark were grossly overstated. |
Coleen McLoughlin is promoting the draw to players in the UK The draw, run by the National Lottery and operators in eight other countries, looks set to be worth £100m next week. Ticket sales were running at quadruple the usual rate ahead of Friday's draw, UK organiser Camelot said. The winning numbers in the draw were 12, 15, 33, 44 and 50. The Lucky Stars were two and six. No-one won the prize for the 10th week in a row and the potential jackpot is now the biggest in European lottery history. It beats the £79m won by Ireland's Dolores McNamara in the EuroMillions draw last July. Sales soar Players are required to match five main numbers from one to 50, plus two Lucky Star numbers from one to nine. Coleen McLoughlin, girlfriend of England footballer Wayne Rooney, has been chosen to promote the draw in the UK. The EuroMillions draw is also open to players in Austria, Belgium, France, Ireland, Luxembourg, Portugal, Spain and Switzerland. Tickets for the draw can be bought in nine European countries If a single UK ticket-holder had won the jackpot, they would have become the biggest winner in National Lottery history. The UK's top EuroMillions jackpot winner is Marion Richardson, from Gateshead, who won £16.7m on 9 April 2004, two months after the game was launched. The largest UK National Lottery jackpot win in history was £42m shared by three ticket holders in January 1996. The UK's biggest single winner revealed to date is Iris Jeffrey, from Belfast, who won £20.1m in July 2004. Proceeds from the EuroMillions tickets, which cost £1.50 in the UK, raise money for good causes. ||||| Optimistic Britons are expected to snap up tickets lottery tickets at a rate of 1.5m an hour this afternoon in a bid to win a record £85m jackpot in tonight's EuroMillions draw. The prize, which has built up following nine rollovers, is the biggest in the lottery's history, beating the £79m won by Ireland's Dolores McNamara in the draw last July. The biggest prize won by a UK player so far is £16.7m. Ticketholders from nine countries take part in the draw and the chance of winning the jackpot is one in 76m, but that has not deterred UK players who have been turning out in force all week. A National Lottery spokeswoman said sales were up 400% on a normal week, when the jackpot is a paltry £10m, and that the figure could rise to 500%. On Wednesday and Thursday sales were averaging 100,000 an hour, and traditionally sales peak on the day of a draw. Lottery organisers hired Wayne Rooney's fiancé, Coleen McLoughlin, to promote the draw and she was heavily featured in the tabloid press this morning telling readers she would be buying her ticket and that she had her "fingers crossed for a UK winner". The National Lottery said the £85m jackpot outstripped the estimated fortunes of George Michael, the Beckhams or Gwyneth Paltrow and her husband Chris Martin, and that a lone winner would leap to the top of its rich list. A spokesperson added: "Winning this much cash could open up a whole new world of opportunity." Tickets for the draw cost £1.50 and can be bought online or on the high street until 7.30 this evening, with the draw set to take place at 9.55pm. To win the jackpot players need to match five main numbers from one to 50 plus two "Lucky Star" numbers from one to nine. Eleven other levels of prize are on offer, ranging from a few pounds to hundreds of thousands, and the chance of winning some sort of cash prize is a far less mind-boggling one in 24. The jackpot is dwarfed by the biggest ever US lottery jackpot, $363m (£206m), which was split between two ticket holders in Illinois and Michigan in 2000. | Despite lots of publicity and media attention causing a last minute rush to buy tickets, there was no winner of the £85m jackpot in this week's 'Euromillions' lottery. This is the tenth week that no-one has won the top prize, which has 'rolled-over' to create bigger and bigger jackpots each week. Next week's jackpot now looks set to be worth around £100m, the biggest in European lottery history. To win the jackpot, Players must match five main numbers from 1 to 50, plus two 'Lucky Star' numbers from one to nine. This week's winning numbers were 12, 15, 33, 44 and 50, with the Lucky Stars being 2 and 6. The pan-Europe lotter is open to players in Austria, Belgium, France, Ireland, Luxembourg, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. The odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 76,275,360. If the estimated £100 million jackpot were to be shared equally amongst the populations of the countries participating, each person would receive 50p. |
Witnesses say light was green just before Metrolink train crashed Three observers who were at the Chatsworth station -- a security guard and two train enthusiasts -- insist that the engineer had a green light. The safety agency has said its evidence shows the signal was red when the Metrolink train, driven by engineer Robert M. Sanchez, barreled over a switch that merges two tracks into one and slammed into a Union Pacific train, leaving 25 dead and 135 injured. Experts say it is common for investigators to get sharply differing witnesses' accounts during inquiries into catastrophic accidents. But the three witnesses were insistent. "I saw the light was green. Everything seemed all right," said Chris Watson, 20, the station security guard. Watson said he was standing midway down the platform on Sept. 12 as Metrolink 111 pulled out of the station. Bob Atkinson also said he saw the signal as the train departed. "That light was green," said Atkinson, 65, a retired movie projector repairman and train enthusiast who regularly visits the station and knew Sanchez. Another train buff, Chris Cassel, 56, said he was standing near Atkinson as they both looked down the track. "He had a full-blown green light when he left," he said. All three were interviewed by The Times this week at the station. If the track signal was green, it would raise the possibility that a combination of factors were at work in the deadliest train crash in modern California history. NTSB investigators said earlier this week that the engineer had sent and received cellphone text messages about the time of the crash. But could he also have received a false signal that the track ahead was clear? An NTSB spokesman said Friday that he could not comment on the witnesses' accounts. It was not clear whether federal investigators were pursuing or had ruled out the possibility that the light was green as Sanchez approached the fateful section of single, shared track. "In many situations, witnesses will talk about diametrically opposed things," said Barry M. Sweedler, who spent 30 years with the NTSB as an investigator and administrator. "Maybe if you spoke to three others, they would say the opposite." But he also said he would consider the two rail enthusiasts to be more credible than an average observer because they're familiar with rail operations. Sweedler said the preliminary signal tests used to support investigators' initial conclusions are "pretty reliable." In the days after the crash, investigators conducted three tests to check whether the signals were functioning properly. The first was an electronic test of several signals before and after the Chatsworth station. The second was a "sight distance" survey that, among other things, checked whether Sanchez would have had a clear view of the signals. Investigators also examined computer data to see if the signals were working correctly on the day of the crash. NTSB board member Kitty Higgins has said all the signals -- including two south of the Chatsworth station and one north of the station near the track switch mechanism -- were visible and working. Not only was the final signal red, Higgins said, but the light just before the station was solid yellow. "That indicates that the third signal is red, that you stop," she said. "We can say with confidence that the signal system was working," Higgins said at a news conference after the tests. NTSB officials have said a final test was planned to confirm that the two yellow signals and the red stop signal were all functioning properly. Results have not been announced. The safety board also says that on the day of the crash, Sanchez sent and received dozens of text messages while on duty, including a final message 22 seconds before impact. William Keppen, a former locomotive engineer and Maryland-based railroad consultant, said that false track signals can occur but that they are exceedingly rare. In 13 years as an engineer, he said he encountered false green signals twice, but did not proceed because he knew another train was on the tracks in front of him. He noted that in the Sept. 12 Metrolink crash, the NTSB reported that the switch near the final signal was set so the freight train could move off the main track in front of the stopped Metrolink train. Normally, the switch and the track signals are coordinated, he said, which would also suggest Sanchez had a red light. All sides, including the NTSB, agree that the signal is visible from the station platform, about a mile away. "We see it every day," said Watson, the security guard. "I don't wear glasses, and at 4:16 [Metrolink 111's approximate arrival time] it's pretty visible." ||||| Metrolink Witnesses: Signal Was Green Before Crash LOS ANGELES Three witnesses, including the security guard at the Chatsworth Metrolink Station, insist that Train 111 had a green signal to proceed just before it slammed head-on into a freight train, killing 25 people, the Los Angeles Times reports Saturday.If true, those statements contradict findings by the National Transportation Safety Board that the signal was red, and that engineer Robert M. Sanchez was responsible for the Sept. 11 wreck, the worst train disaster in Los Angeles in five decades.The Times quotes Chris Watson, a 20-year-old security guard who says he was standing on the platform looking north at the signals that governed the train. His statement is corroborated by two others."I saw the light was green," he told The Times. "Everything was all right.""The light was green," said Bob Atkinson, 65, a retired movie projector technician and a train buff who knew the train's engineer, Robert Sanchez.Another train buff, 56-year-old Chris Cassel, told The Times that Sanchez "had a full-blown green light when he left."NTSB experts have said that eyewitnesses to major disasters often disagree as to major details. But the three statements, made to The Times in joint interviews at the Chatsworth station, cast doubts on claims that Sanchez was attending to a text messaging device and missed seeing the red light.NTSB officials would not comment to The Times on the witness reports. (© 2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services contributed to this report.) | Two railfans and a security officer who were at the Metrolink station in Chatsworth, California on the afternoon of Friday, September 12, when Metrolink Train 111 collided with an oncoming freight train, say the train had received a green signal just before the collision. The witness accounts were published in a recent ''Los Angeles Times'' article. The wreck killed 25 passengers and injured dozens more. The accounts, if true, contradict the preliminary findings of officials investigating the crash, who have said that a red light was ignored. It was estimated that 350-400 passengers were aboard the Metrolink train when it crashed. Union Pacific freight train near Chatsworth, California. The signal in question is located about a mile from the Chatsworth train station but, according both to witnesses and to investigators, is clearly visible from the station platform. One of the civilian witnesses, a railfan, was expecting the oncoming freight train, but says that when he looked at the signal to see whether the train engineer had an indication to proceed or not, he saw that it was green. A few days later, both he and the other civilian witness told a Federal investigator what they had seen. According to an expert interviewed by the ''Los Angeles Times'', false green railway signals are an extremely rare event, but they do occur. It is not uncommon for eyewitness reports to disagree with each other or to be unreliable. However, in this case, the accounts of three witnesses agree with each other, and one of the witnesses is a professional security guard. It is not known whether there are other witnesses who disagree with the three. Federal investigators have been focusing their investigation on cellphone records, which show that the engineer of the ill-fated Metrolink 111 commuter train had been sending and receiving text messages, including one only 22 seconds before the crash. They also conducted extensive tests of the signaling system. The signaling system functioned normally during the tests, and computer records show that the signal in question had been red immediately prior to the collision. Federal regulations require railroads to notify the Federal Railroad Administration any time that a false signal to proceed is known to have occurred. A number of different conditions can cause false proceed signals, including communication circuit failures, wiring errors or, more rarely, software bugs. In one instance, such a design flaw on an Amtrak line went undetected for nearly 35 years. |
Ruapehu lahar goes according to plan 18 March 2007 Media Statement Ruapehu lahar goes according to plan Minister of Conservation Chris Carter is praising all the agencies involved in managing the Mt Ruapehu lahar today. “I am delighted with the way things have gone today on Mt Ruapehu”, said Mr Carter. “The lahar travelled down the path as predicted, and the early warning response system that this government provided worked exactly as planned,” said Mr Carter. The bund built to divert the path of the water and mud from the crater lake on Mount Ruapehu withstood the lahar, and the lahar continued down the Whangaehu Valley away from the Tongariro catchment. The lahar also continued safely down the valley and underneath the Tangiwai Bridge. “I am pleased that we now have a robust system in place to manage this kind of natural event, and to do so with a great degree of advance warning, with the least amount of damage to people and property is the ideal situation.” The management system for the Mount Ruapehu lahar is the international best practice for this type of natural event. The response plan triggered today involved officials from the Department of Conservation, Civil Defence, Police, Horizons Manawatu and the Ruapehu District Council. ENDS ||||| Lahar spills from Mount Ruapehu It has been confirmed that a lahar has burst forth from Mount Ruapehu this afternoon. Department of Conservation staff have been monitoring Mount Ruapehu crater lake after alarms went off this morning, signalling a lahar was imminent. DoC have now confirmed a "moderate lahar" is moving down the mountain. The bursting of the crater lake has been long anticipated and the wild weather in the North Island may have brought on the current activity. Ohakune police have confirmed that there is activity on the mountain and are setting about closing highways in the area and getting helicopters in the air, which has been difficult due to poor weather. The crater lake of Mount Ruapehu has been rising steadily, since the last eruptions in 1995 and 1996. The lahar kicked up a 3 to 4 metre wave as it passed down the Whangaehu River. Ruapehu District Mayor Sue Morris says authorities have snapped into action. More on this story: ||||| Activity on Mount Ruapehu Department of Conservation staff are monitoring Mt Ruapehu crater lake after alarms have gone off signalling a lahar was imminent. The bursting of the crater lake has been long anticipated and the wild weather in the North Island may have brought on the current activity. Ohakune police have confirmed that there is activity on the mountain and are setting about closing highways in the area and getting helicopters in the air, which has been difficult due to poor weather. The crater lake of Mount Ruapehu has been rising steadily, since the last eruptions in 1995 and 1996. ||||| Opinion Poll Do you think it will be difficult to get compo if you are delayed or 'bumped' from a domestic flight? See story Yes No | A lahar at New Zealand's Mount Ruapehu is all but over, without causing anywhere the level of havoc for which authorities were prepared. The event was first confirmed by a 3 News helicopter, and then the Department of Conservation. The Department of Conservation had said that a "moderate lahar" was moving down the side of Mount Ruapehu. The lahar travelled down the Whangaehu Valley, past the Tongariro catchment; and then continued on to the Tangiwai Bridge, the site of the 1953 Tangiwai disaster, which was itself caused by a lahar. The crater lake is currently being reported by a free phone number as at a warning level of 3a. The crater lake is also being reported at a level between 5.7-6.7 metres up the Crater Lake tephra dam. The lahar emergency plan was activated by Civil Defence. The district mayor of Ruapehu, Sue Morris, and conservation minister, Chris Carter, said that the authorities had been very quick to respond to the emergency. All three electronic surveillance technologies had their alarms activated. Mr Carter said, "The lahar travelled down the path as predicted, and the early warning response system that this government provided worked exactly as planned." Highways near Mount Ruapehu were closed by the Ohakune police, including the Desert Road. The roads have now been re-opened. A lahar has been expected for a long time now, and scientists say the lahar could have been caused by, among other things, the bad weather New Zealand has been having lately. Since 1996 the water level in the crater lake at the top of Mount Ruapehu has been rising, which created a risk of a lahar last year. |
The earthquake was centred in the Hindu Kush mountains of Afghanistan, according to the US Geological Survey. The quake was felt in the Afghan capital, Kabul, and in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, Al Jazeera's correspondents reported. There were no initial reports of damage or casualties from the quake, which struck at about 12.21am Afghan time on Friday (19:51GMT Thursday), although information from rural areas is expected to take some time to filter out. Alan Fisher, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Islamabad, said: "It shook large parts of Islamabad, for at least eight or nine seconds and then there was a very strong aftershock immediately afterwards. "It wasn't just felt here in Islamabad, but also in Kabul and Karachi. "The concern, of course, will be how much damage has it done to the epicentre and the towns there. Resources stretched "At the moment, as the Pakistani army is fighting a major offensive in South Waziristan, they may have to put a great deal of resources into the area where the earthquake may have caused damage," Al Jazeera's correspondent said. "That might affect the operation ... not just in South Waziristan but the security operation that has been mounted all around the country." James Bays, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Kabul, said: "The whole building where I am shook. It's a place where we have a lot of seismic activity, a place prone to earthquakes. "Those people who are there in the area where the quake struck will be on their own for a very long time. It is a highly mountainous area, so initial impressions are that there won't be a huge number of casualties. "On the other hand, if it has hit a village, and there are casualties, it is going to take a very long time to get them assistance." A 7.6-magnitude earthquake in northwest Pakistan and Kashmir in October 2005 killed 74,000 people and displaced 3.5 million others. ||||| KABUL, Oct. 23 (Xinhua) -- A powerful earthquake struck the Hindu Kush mountains along Afghanistan's northeast border with Pakistan early Friday. The quake was magnitude 6.2 on the Richter scale, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), and the epicenter is 70 kilometers far from Feyzabad, capital of Badakhshan province in northeast Afghanistan. "We have a very strong feeling," a resident in Feyazabad told Xinhua by telephone. "Almost all the residents rushed out of houses." However, local officials refused to speculate on casualties. The quake has also strongly shaken buildings in Afghan capital Kabul and other provinces. Some Kabul residents dashed from their houses in their nightclothes when the houses were shaking. In northern provinces Kunduz and Baghlan, Xinhua reporters said the tremor was strongly felt. Badakhshan, the most remote area in Afghanistan, is a region prone to earthquakes. Damage reports from this area are often slow because of remoteness and lacking communication facilities. In 1998, a 6.9-magnitude quake in Badakhshan caused mud slides and flooding, killing more than 5,000 people. Another quake left some 1,000 dead in northeast Afghanistan in 2002. | An earthquake with a magnitude of 6.2 struck the Hindu Kush mountains of Afghanistan along the border with Pakistan early on Friday, the US Geological Survey reported. Hindu Kush mountains The tremors, which started at 00.21 local time (19.51 UTC), were felt in the capitals of both countries. There were no immediate reports of deaths or destruction from the earthquakes. A reporter for the Al Jazeera news agency said that the initial earthquake lasted for several seconds, and was followed by a heavy aftershock. In October 2005, a heavy 7.6 magnitude earthquake struck northwestern Pakistan, displacing over three million people and killing almost 75,000. A 6.9 magnitude tremor in 1998 killed over 50,000 and caused flooding and mudslides. |
Pay based on use Get Started Purchase a Team or Enterprise subscription for per week You will be billed per month after the trial ends ||||| In a country where most big corporate decisions are hammered out through weeks of closed-door compromises between dark-suited officials, Tuesday’s vote by shareholders of China Eastern Airlines will provide a rare moment of semi-public drama. Investors in the Shanghai-based airline will have a choice between voting for Singapore Airlines’ HK$7.16bn ($917m) offer for a 24 per cent stake in the carrier, or holding out for a potentially larger – but yet to be tabled – bid from rival Air China. The extraordinary general meeting, to be held in a Shanghai hotel but closed to the media, will bring to a head a public dispute that has demonstrated the increasingly assertive corporate tactics that some of China’s once-stolid state-owned companies are willing to use. It will also have a huge influence over the future direction of the Chinese airline sector. ||||| In a rare movement, China Eastern Airlines said it foresaw "a gloomy results from a vote on the proposed sale of shares to Singapore Airlines and Temasek." In an email delivered to China Daily this morning, China Eastern said that the sales proposal will "very likely be put off temporarily". According to the email, a vast number of shareholders that previously supported the deal have "changed their minds" after China National Aviation Corp (CNAC), Air China's parent company, said on Sunday it plans to make a counter offer of 5 HK dollars per share for China Eastern Airlines. The counter offer is a third higher than the 3.8 HK dollars offered by Singapore Airlines if the China Eastern-Singapore Airlines deal is rejected. In addition, CNAC, which owns a 12.07 percent stake in China Eastern, is expected to vote against the deal, and as such the deal is not likely to pass, said China Eastern in the statement. The shareholder meeting to discuss the deal will be held at 1:30 pm today as scheduled. Trading of both A and H shares of China Eastern is suspended today. China Eastern said in a statement to the Shanghai Stock Exchange today that the company has not received any "formal" similar proposal from other suitors. In a statement last night, China Eastern challenged the authenticity of the proposal raised by CNAC and suggesting CNAC hopes to block cooperation with Singapore Airlines. Source: China Daily ||||| '); //--> E-Mail | Comments | E-Mail Newsletters | RSS AFX News Limited China Eastern stake sale to boost efficiency, consolidation in the sector HONG KONG (Thomson Financial) - The sale of 24 percent of China Eastern Airlines to Singapore Airlines Ltd and Singapore state-owned investment company Temasek Holdings will likely accelerate the consolidation in mainland China's aviation market and should strengthen the third-biggest carrier's competitive position, analysts said Monday. The deal will improve earnings for China Eastern, which will have as a strategic partner Singapore Airlines (other-otc: SGPJF.PK - news - people ), one of the world's most efficient airline operators and currently the largest in terms of market capitalization, they said. The acquisition is a direct challenge to China's No 2 operator China Southern Airlines, which has yet to forge an alliance with an international carrier, and to Beijing-based Air China, the mainland's largest airline operator. Air China sold a 17.5 percent stake to Cathay Pacific Airlines in 2006. China Eastern Airlines is the weakest of the three major state-owned carriers. The acquisition of loss-making regional carriers, increased competition from rivals at its Shanghai hub, huge debt and high fuel prices have weighed on the company's finances for years. But China's economy, which grew at 11.9 percent in the second quarter, is fuelling demand for air travel in the mainland and forcing companies like China Eastern to consolidate resources and seek alliances to fund expansion and prepare for the competition ahead. Fresh capital Under the terms of the much-anticipated agreement, Singapore Airlines will buy 1.235 billion China Eastern shares for 4.70 billion Hong Kong dollars, or 3.80 Hong Kong dollars a share -- a 1.9 percent premium over the price of the carrier's Hong Kong shares last May 22. That's the date that the shares last traded before they were suspended due to the acquisition talks. Singapore Airlines will hold a 15.7 percent stake in the Chinese airline while Temasek Holding will buy 649.4 million H-shares, or 8.3 percent of the airline's enlarged capital, for 2.5 billion dollars. China Eastern will also sell 1.1 billion new shares to its own parent company, China Eastern Holding, for 4.2 billion dollars, allowing the state company to retain ownership over 51 percent of the airline's enlarged capital. Shanghai-based China Eastern, which trades in Shanghai, Hong Kong and New York, said in a statement the deal 'will directly improve the capital structure of China Eastern Airlines and reduce its debt ratio.' 'The cooperation between China Eastern Airlines and Singapore Airlines will make China Eastern bigger and stronger,' Li Fenghua, chairman of China Eastern said at a briefing Sunday. The two carriers pledged to work together in a strategic cooperation and said they would avoid teaming up with the other's competitors. 'What was slightly different from expectations...(was) the measure (giving) Singapore Air the right to increase its shareholding once ownership rules are liberalized,' said HSBC (nyse: HBC - news - people ) analysts Mark Webb, Eric Lin and Azura Shahrim in a note. China Eastern is expecting cost savings of up to 500 million yuan per year from the deal. The largest contribution to those savings seems to be the fall in interest costs the airline will enjoy as a result of the new capital raised, said the note. China Eastern Airlines has been losing money due to rising operating costs and debt. The company posted a loss of 3.3 billion yuan in 2006 under international accounting standards, widening from a loss of 467.31 million a year earlier. A win-win Analysts welcomed the deal as a positive for China Eastern and Singapore Airlines. 'China Eastern Airlines will gain financial support and some industrial expertise from an industry leader,' said Philip Chan, research head at CAF Securities Co Ltd, a unit of Agricultural Bank of China. 'I expect the acquisition to bring a lot of synergy to China Eastern, while providing Singapore Air a foothold in China as it competes with other airlines in the mainland,' Chan said. The strategic partnership is also expected to boost operating revenues for the mainland carrier. 'By leveraging on Singapore Air's yield management expertise and the Shanghai hub, we see significant potential for operating revenue improvement for China Eastern, particularly for the long-haul routes, which currently are losing money,' said Morgan Stanley (nyse: MS - news - people ) analysts Edward Xu and Chin Lim. At the same time, the improvement in operational efficiency should strengthen China Eastern's competitive position against Air China and China Southern Airlines, they said. Xu and Lim raised their rating on the stock to 'overweight' from 'underweight' and set a stock price target at 7.10 Hong Kong dollars. Morgan Stanley is expecting China Eastern to have net profit of 746 million yuan for 2007, and 1.17 billion yuan for 2008. Singapore Air is expected to act as an 'active investor' in the mainland carrier. The airline and government-sponsored Temasek will have three seats on an expanded board of 14 directors. Singapore Air will have the right to nominate and consent to key executive positions in China Eastern. 'Singapore Airlines will gain significant influence in the operations of China Eastern,' said Merrill Lynch (nyse: MER - news - people ) analysts. Singapore Airlines and China Eastern will also set up working teams to improve the latter's service delivery, procurement, training, and flight scheduling. But while the deal has brought the mainland carrier closer to a solution to its ailing operation, much has to be done to turn its finances and operations around, analysts said. 'The new equity should have an immediate effect on China Eastern's bottom line by lowering financing expenses sharply and cutting net gearing to three times from 17 times. (But) given Singapore Air's small equity stake, it may not be able to do much to improve China Eastern's operational margin and cash flow,' said Ally Ma, analyst with Citigroup (nyse: C - news - people ). 'A major revamp is needed at China Eastern, in our view. If not, it could again face equity depletion considering its huge 50-60 billion yuan aircraft capital commitment through 2010,' Ma said. Air route synergies could also boost China Eastern's presence in the international aviation market, however there may be obstacles, said Ma. Singapore Air is likely to use its alliance with China Eastern to connect more Chinese passenger and cargo flow to its network. At present, 50 percent of outbound Chinese air passengers are transferred at Tokyo and 10 percent at Hong Kong, leaving only a small percentage to Singapore. But Shanghai and Singapore are five hours apart and the synergies of overlapping airline routes between the China Eastern and Singapore Airlines are limited, since they are likely to belong to different global aviation alliances. Singapore Air is a Star Alliance member, which will likely take in major Chinese rivals, Air China and Shanghai Airlines in the second half. That would leave China Eastern with the option of joining Oneworld, another global alliance that is unlikely to include Singapore Air. Star Alliance and Oneworld offer members an extensive global route network allowing cooperation among members. But Ma believes China Eastern will require management expertise more than route synergies from Singapore Airlines. China Eastern closed Monday up 2.80 dollars or 75.1 percent at 6.53. (1 US dollar = 7.8 Hong Kong dollar) leonora.walet@thomson.com lw/cl . lw/cl COPYRIGHT Copyright AFX News Limited 2007. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of AFX News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of AFX News. Neither the Subscriber nor AFX News warrants the completeness or accuracy of the Service or the suitability of the Service as a trading aid and neither accepts any liability for losses howsoever incurred. The content on this site, including news, quotes, data and other information, is provided by AFX News and its third party content providers for your personal information only, and neither AFX News nor its third party content providers shall be liable for any errors, inaccuracies or delays in content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. More On This Topic Companies: 670 | 293 | 601111 | 1055 | SGPJF.PK Article Controls E-Mail | Comments | E-Mail Newsletters del.icio.us | Digg It! | My Yahoo! | Share | RSS Related Sections Home > News & Analysis '); //--> News Headlines | More From Forbes.com | Special Reports Subscriptions > ||||| Singapore Airlines, China Eastern halt share trading SINGAPORE: Singapore Airlines (SIA) and China Eastern Airlines suspended trading of their shares on Tuesday amid reports of a possible investment deal. SIA did not state a reason for their suspension of trade at the Singapore Exchange but said it would make an announcement after the stock market closes at 5:00 pm (0900 GMT). The stock last traded at 18.40 Singapore dollars (12.1 US). Trading of China Eastern Airlines was also halted at the Hong Kong stock exchange, where the stock last traded at 3.73 Hong Kong dollars (48 US cents). China Eastern said it requested the trading halt pending the release of a "price-sensitive" announcement. SIA chief executive Chew Choon Seng said on May 11 the Singapore carrier was in discussions with China Eastern, but that the talks "have not progressed to a stage where we have any announcements to make". The Shanghai Securities News reported from Beijing on Monday that talks were going on smoothly. "So far, the talks with Singapore Airlines are smooth ... but the conclusion of an agreement will depend on the support of the government," the newspaper quoted China Eastern chairman Li Fenghua as saying. Li said China Eastern plans to sell up to a 25 percent stake to a foreign strategic investor. - AFP/so | A bid made by Singapore Airlines for a 24% stake in China Eastern Airlines was turned down by minority shareholders. Talks about a sale started in March 2007 when Singapore Airlines and China Eastern started negotiations about a possible deal. According to ''Forbes'' the deal would have helped China Eastern's earnings and accelerate the consolidation and would have improved the market position of China's third-largest airline. Talks went on throughout the year and both companies suspended trading of their shares on May 21, 2007, according to a ''AFP'' press release. The vote took place at a shareholder meeting in Shanghai, People's Republic of China. According to ''Financial Times Online'', the blocking of the SA bid by minority shareholders is bad news for China Eastern Airlines managers, who were and still are in full support of Singapore Airlines, which the Singaporean government owns a 55% stake in via Temasek Holdings. ''Financial Times Online'' says this is most likely due to the fact that Air China not having made any formal bids yet, instead creating many media rumors about a possible purchase. The bid by Air China, that is likely to be larger than that of Singapore Airlines, may be supported by Cathay Pacific, who are in a cross-shareholding relationship with China National Aviation Corp., the parent company of Air China. |
Fury as goal-line technology plans are shelved By Andrew Warshaw Last Updated: 12:13am GMT 09/03/2008 Have your say Read comments Football's lawmakers performed a stunning U-turn by kicking out goal-line technology for the foreseeable future, a crushing blow to the Football Association and Premier League who had jointly championed scientific methods for ending decades of controversy. A year after giving a conditional thumbs up either to the Hawk-Eye system widely used in tennis and cricket or a painstakingly researched micro-chipped ball, the International FA Board unexpectedly turned their back on both systems and voted instead for experimenting with two additional linesmen. advertisement The IFAB's 11th-hour change of heart, at a conference in Gleneagles, was clearly a shock to a red-faced FA chief executive Brian Barwick, who described goal-line technology as "dead in the water" 42 years after Geoff Hurst's hotly disputed extra-time goal in the 1966 World Cup final. "It's a big disappointment to us but we have to respect the decision," Barwick said after the unprecedented IFAB split. "The FA has always been in the vanguard of helping referees make the right decisions. The two experiments that were being undertaken went a long way to making it work. One was very close to being successful and the other two-thirds of the way. We are disappointed they have now been shelved. It's hard enough to recruit referees already." Barwick, who was supported by the Scots but outvoted by the two other home associations and Fifa, was at a loss to explain why years of effort had suddenly been scuppered. The Sunday Telegraph has learned, however, that IFAB members were persuaded, after a strongly-worded intervention from Uefa president Michel Platini, to change direction and shelve all further work on goal-line technology. Platini is a staunch opponent of any kind of technology and managed to convince the panel that adopting two more match officials was a better way for deciding whether the ball had crossed the line as well as monitoring fouls in the penalty area. "There is a philosophical debate, it's very simple," Platini told The Sunday Telegraph. "Either you help them with additional pairs of eyes or with technology and I'm against technology. Once you start, who knows where you might stop. The 18-yard line, the offside trap? All I'm saying is let's try my idea." FIFA general secretary Jerome Valcke said Platini's idea would now undergo tests at either a Uefa or a FIFA tournament within the next 12 months to make sure a final decision can be made at next year's IFAB meeting. The shelving of goal-line technology infuriated the Premier League, who have spent hundreds of thousands of pounds backing the Hawk-Eye system. A Premier League spokesman said: "A lot of time, money and effort has gone into developing a system that meets all the criteria laid down last year." Minutes before yesterday's announcement, the IFAB were given a detailed demonstration by Premier League general secretary Mike Foster, who ironically told reporters beforehand that he hoped to have the Hawk-Eye system in place by the start of the 2009-10 season. "It's not yet the finished product but I have seen enough of it to have confidence that it will do the job," Foster said. Premier League clubs, he said, had been 100 per cent behind the system, believed to be both accurate and reliable. "They have been driving it since day one," Foster said. Most angry of all was Hawk-Eye managing director Paul Hawkins, who was encouraged 10 days ago to press ahead with his research during a private showing for IFAB members at Reading's Madjeski Stadium. "I am livid," Hawkins said. "This decision is completely out of the blue. A year ago they laid down four specific criteria and now they change their minds. My company has invested an awful lot of money and now we will get no return on our investment." Later Fifa president Sepp Blatter insisted there had been no move to deliberately take a stand against the FA's position but that the technology put forward was simply too complicated. "There has been no change of heart. Referees make decisions, not machines," he said. "I have defended goal-line technology but it has become clear that such systems are too complicated and very costly. Nor would they necessarily add anything positive to the game and could harm the authority of the referee. "We have to maintain the laws of the game in their simplicity. Do you want technical devices to take decisions? That's why, after three years of tests with no conclusions, I am in favour of putting the whole thing on ice." Have your say Post this story to: del.icio.us | Digg | Newsvine | NowPublic | Reddit | Fark Comments Seriously how long do the governing bodys of this beatiful game believe they can go against technology! Weather the ball had crossed the line or not is always up for debate but the ref's need all the help they can get in order for them to make the right desicion and not to be givin the yellow card as they say! Many is the times that i have screamed at the ref or linesman for rediculous desicions! So instead of making absoultly sure with goal line technology lets spread the blame and put more linesman in the mix! Michel Platini must be mad! How can the face of an international sport like football make a desicion on his own based on his own personnel feelings regarding technology! Its a shame that his lack of fore sight will bring more controvesy to the game that has enough all ready! WAKE UP! Michel Platini think about what would be good about football! Posted by Richard Crowder on March 9, 2008 1:13 PM Report this comment platini is a disgrace. More than 70 years after Herbert Chapman suggested goal line assistants, he and his ilk have finally managed to get their heads around it. The problem is, Herbert Chapman proposed that when there was little technology available, and it was the best solution available at the time. That these dinosaurs have only just got their heads around it now, speaks volumes. Are we to expect the adoption of technology around 2078 perhaps? Honestly, the stupidity of the man knows no bounds. "Against technology"? But not when television rakes in millions for your "product"? Or doesn't that count as "technology"? I take it the man starts fires by rubbing twigs to cook? And as for the rubbish about "where it stops"! People are looking at the "beautiful game" surely? Surely anything that makes football a genuine contest of skill, tactics and strategies on the pitch should be welcomed? Or does platini think (now there's a generous interpretation) that the game should amount to little more than a game of roulette in the casino? The idiocy is mind-boggling! What is this person doing in a senior position in football? Heaven help us! Posted by Mike on March 9, 2008 11:21 AM Report this comment Platini continues to be an administrative luddite. What baffles me though is how one individual can be so intimidating. I avoid using "persuasive" because that implies a level of mental dexterity sadly missing in the man. Just what hold does he have over these malleable wimps? Posted by Richard on March 9, 2008 4:15 AM Report this comment Post a comment Please remember that the submission of any material to telegraph.co.uk is governed by our Terms and Conditions (clause 5 in particular) and by submitting material you confirm your agreement to these Terms and Conditions. Your name: * Your email address: * (We won't publish this.) Your site's URL: (If you have one.) Please click the post button only once - your comment will not be published immediately. * = Required information ||||| FA chief executive Brian Barwick is disappointed with the decision The English Football Association and Premier League chiefs had hoped to introduce the 'Hawkeye' system in 2009. But world governing body Fifa have ordered a freeze on tests and will now push ahead with trialling two assistant referees behind each goal instead. FA chief executive Brian Barwick, who supported the experiments, admitted: "The idea is now dead in the water." Speaking at the annual meeting of Fifa's International FA Board (IFAB) in Gleneagles, Barwick said: "We are very disappointed. "The FA has always been in the vanguard of wanting to help the referee and the assistant referee make the right decisions. We've always been champions of this. 606: DEBATE "We were in favour of goal-line technology but there will be no more experiments and it will not be back on the agenda next year, or in the foreseeable future." Scottish FA chief executive Gordon Smith said he was surprised at the decision but added that he did not think the idea was completely dead. "If people can prove the technology works, I don't see why it can't be raised again," he told BBC Sport. Former Celtic and Scotland midfielder Murdo McLeod said he had yet to be convinced that goal-line technology would work, but he was highly critical of the idea of employing extra referees. "It's absolute nonsense," said the BBC football pundit. "No matter where he (the extra linesman) stands, at some point his view is going to be obscured. "It's a waste of money to have to employ two extra referees at every game." The English Premier League had been big advocates of goal-line technology. The clubs had been driving this and they had been more anxious than anyone to have a system in place... the referees were all in favour as well Premier League general secretary Mike Foster General secretary Mike Foster insisted: 'It is not the finished product, but I've seen enough of it to have confidence that it will do the job. "The clubs had been driving this and they had been more anxious than anyone to have a system in place. The referees were all in favour as well." The IFAB's technical committee witnessed tests at Reading's Madejski Stadium last month and had been considering two technological systems: a "smart" ball with a microchip developed by adidas and the German company Cairo; and a camera-based system developed by the Hawkeye company, whose system is used in tennis and cricket. However, Fifa president Sepp Blatter has long been against using technology in the game while the Welsh FA were also against the idea. Jerome Valcke, Fifa's general secretary, said experiments using the additional linesmen, proposed by Uefa president Michel Platini, would now take place in either a Uefa or Fifa tournament later this year. We have invested an awful lot of money and now we have no return on that... I am livid Paul Hawkins, managing director of Hawkeye "We have decided to freeze the goal-line technology and all experiments," Valcke confirmed. "We will look at two additional referees and avoid considering any goal line technology during this time." Paul Hawkins, managing director of Hawkeye, said: "I am gobsmacked and it's completely out of the blue. "A year ago they seemed to want it. We have invested an awful lot of money and now we have no return on that. I am livid." The IFAB, formed in 1886, determines the laws of the game and comprises delegates from the four British associations and four from Fifa. Proposals need a three-quarter-majority vote to be approved. The IFAB also agreed to standardise the dimensions of a pitch used for full international men's matches to 105 x 68 metres. ||||| At its Annual General Meeting today in Gleneagles, Scotland, the International Football Association Board (IFAB) has decided to put on ice goal-line technology and to stop tests in this area until further notice. Amongst others, the questions of the human aspect of the game, the universality of the Laws of the Game, as well as the simplicity and efficiency of the technology were taken into consideration. However, the IFAB has approved a proposal from FIFA to conduct an experiment involving two additional assistant referees who will mainly focus on fouls and misconduct in the penalty area. The competition in which this test will be conducted will be decided at a later stage. The Board also discussed a proposal from the Scottish FA regarding the use of video evidence to sanction simulation after the game. Although the suggestion was not approved, the IFAB members agreed that simulation is an act of cheating which must be intensively fought and sanctioned during the game and that all member associations would be encouraged to do so. Furthermore, a proposal submitted by the FA and called Fair Play Convention, aimed at dealing with injured players while the game is in progress ,was acknowledged but not approved, mainly on the grounds that fair-play is an instinct behaviour rather than an attitude to rule. Regarding the Laws of the Game, the IFAB approved the following amendments: Law 1 - The Field of Play In order to standardize the size of the football pitch for A international matches, the IFAB has decided to set a fixed size of 105m long and 68m wide (instead of a minimum and maximum length - from 100m to 110m - and a minimum and a maximum width - from 64m to 75m - as mentioned in the present text). Law 2 - The Ball Within the FIFA Quality Concept for footballs, the IFAB has agreed that the new 'FIFA APPROVED', 'FIFA INSPECTED' and 'International Matchball Standard' logos, which were launched in May 2007, will replace the former logos displayed in the present text. Revision of the Laws of the Game The last major revision of the text of the Laws of the Game was one 11 years ago. Since then, many additions and amendments have been made to the Laws themselves and various publications as well as teaching materials have been produced. As a result, a further revision was overdue. The IFAB has approved the revision which contains no major change in content but simplifies the wording of the Laws. On other business, it's been agreed that a discussion about the look and design of the ball will be submitted to the agenda of the next sub-committee meeting. Also, as it already did last year, the Board stressed that people in the technical areas should have no access and view to pitch-side monitors. Finally, the FIFA President made a strong appeal against violent tackles on the field of play, reiterating that "players committing such acts should be banned". The123rd Annual General Meeting of the International Football Association Board will take place next year in Northern Ireland. The International F.A. Board, the custodian of the Laws of the Game, is composed of The Football Association (England), The Scottish Football Association, The Football Association of Wales, The Irish Football Association (Northern Ireland) and FIFA. Representing its 204 other members, FIFA has four votes on the body, while the four British associations have one vote apiece. A proposal requires a three-quarter majority (i.e. six of the eight votes) to be passed. ||||| FIFA ends goalline idea after inconclusive tests (adds Blatter quotes, details) By Mike Collett GLENEAGLES, Scotland, March 8 (Reuters) - FIFA president Sepp Blatter said on Saturday that goal-line technology would not be used in football for the foreseeable future because no accurate system had been developed after three years of trials. World soccer's governing body decided, through its law-making body, the International Football Association Board (IFAB), not to sanction any further experiments into technological aids to determine whether the ball had crossed the line for a goal. "For the third year in a row the International Board discussed goal-line technology. We looked at two systems and they were not 100 percent accurate," said Blatter. "One was very complicated, needing electrified lines on the field of play and other devices including antennae and when we tested it in Tokyo last year there was one mistake during the seven matches we used as an experiment at the Club World Championship. "The second system, using cameras, was not fully developed yet, but there were problems with players obscuring the views of the cameras, or of flares or weather conditions. "We felt that neither system added anything positive and harmed the authority of the referee. We have to live with errors, football has to keep its human face." Brian Barwick, the chief executive of the English FA who supported the experiments, told a news conference earlier that he was disappointed by the decision and that "the idea is now dead in the water". IFAB gave its approval for experiments to start this year with an additional assistant referee placed behind each goal to help the referee rule on contentious decisions. ADDITIONAL LINESMEN Formed in 1886, IFAB determines the laws of the game and comprises delegates from the four British associations and four from FIFA. Proposals need a three-quarter-majority vote to be approved. The proposal for goal-line technology was defeated by a 5-3 vote with the four FIFA votes and one from Wales outweighing England, Scotland and Northern Ireland who were in favour. Jerome Valcke, FIFA's general secretary, said experiments using the additional linesmen would take place in either a UEFA or FIFA tournament later this year. The IFAB had been considering two technological systems: a "smart" ball with a microchip developed by Adidas and the German company Cairos, and a camera-based system developed by the Hawkeye company whose system is used in tennis and cricket. After making a presentation to the Board on Saturday and then being told of their decision, Hawkeye's managing director Paul Hawkins said he was stunned by it. "It is completely out of the blue. A year ago they met and gave us four criteria to meet and we have met all of them, yet they have kicked it out now," he said. "A lot of money has been invested, a lot of time and effort and I am staggered." Welsh FA general secretary David Collins said: "We believe football is a game played by human beings, it's a game with a human face and there was a feeling it would hinder the flow of the game." In other decisions, the IFAB agreed to standardise the dimensions of a pitch used for full international men's matches to 105 x 68 metres. (Editing by Sonia Oxley) | Wembley stadium in 2007. The International Football Association Board (IFAB), the body that decides on the laws of the game, has decided to discontinue all experiments involving technology, and for the first time has also decided on the exact size of a soccer field. Instead of pursuing the idea of using cameras or microchips in the ball to see if it has crossed the goal-line, the International Board wants to see if the introduction of two extra assistant referees can improve the quality of referee's decisions. FIFA general secretary Jerome Valcke declared: "We have decided to freeze for the time being the goal-line technology and all technology experiments. We will look on these two additional referees and we avoid considering any goal-line technology during this time." FIFA President Sepp Blatter said the move was necessary to maintain the universal spirit of the game: "We have 260 million people directly involved in the game. If we maintain the laws of the game ... it's so easy to understand ... We have to live with errors, football has to keep its human face." "We have to maintain the laws of the game in their simplicity. Do you want technical devices to take decisions? That's why, after three years of tests with no conclusions, I am in favour of putting the whole thing on ice," Blatter explained. An assistant referee. UEFA president Michel Platini agreed: "Football should stay human, but two more officials can help, especially around the goal." Platini made the suggestion to freeze all investigations into technology and to try two additional assistants behind each goal. Blatter said the system using the microchip "was very complicated, needing electrified lines on the field of play and other devices including antennae and when we tested it in Tokyo last year there was one mistake during the seven matches we used as an experiment at the Club World Championship." With regards to the system using cameras, he pointed to "problems with players obscuring the views of the cameras, or of flares or weather conditions." The system of the extra referees will be tested at an upcoming FIFA or UEFA tournament, and a final ruling is expected at next year's meeting, according to FIFA's Jerome Valcke. Hawk-Eye, the company that was working on the goal-line technology that is already being used for line calls in tennis, reacted with disappointment: "I'm livid, it is completely out of the blue... A year ago they met and gave us four criteria to meet and we have met all of them, yet they have kicked it out now... We have invested an awful lot of money and now we have no return on that investment," director Paul Hawkins said. He said he was encouraged to continue research on the project only 10 days ago at a private showing for IFAB members at Reading's Madejski Stadium. While the Welsh FA were also against the idea, the English Football Association supported the use of technology and was hoping to start using it by next season. The FA clubs and referees supported the use of Hawk-Eye technology, said Mike Foster, general secretary of the English Premier League. A spokesperson of the Premier League said that "A lot of time, money and effort has gone into developing a system that meets all the criteria laid down last year." The Scottish and Northern Irish FA also voted in favour of the goal-line technology. FA chief executive Brian Barwick expressed his disappointment at the annual meeting of the IFAB in Gleneagles, Scotland: "We were in favour of goal-line technology but there will be no more experiments and it will not be back on the agenda next year, or in the foreseeable future." FIFA President Blatter denied ulterior motives for the decision: "There has been no change of heart. Referees make decisions, not machines... I have defended goal-line technology but it has become clear that such systems are too complicated and very costly. Nor would they necessarily add anything positive to the game and could harm the authority of the referee." |
Fernando Alonso dominated Sundays Italian Grand Prix to head a McLaren one-two that must have come as intense relief for the beleaguered team. Alonso won by six seconds on a day when Lewis Hamilton had no answer to the world champions relentless pace. But Kimi Raikkonen was even further back - 27.3s - in third place. At the start the Ferraris were all over Hamiltons McLaren, Felipe Massa literally exploding off the grid to snatch second place as Alonso led, but Hamilton dealt with him in the chicane, despite a slight tap from behind from the Brazilian. Then the race was neutralised behind the safety car as Red Bulls David Coulthard suffered a front wing failure (as the result of damage after hitting Giancarlo Fisichella in the first chicane) and speared hard into the wall at the first Lesmo. Coulthard, unhurt, the race resumed at the end of lap six, and quickly the two McLarens drew clear. Massa made an unscheduled early pit stop on the ninth lap, and came in again for good next time around, so Ferrari were down to one car. Hamilton was the next to stop, on lap 18, so clearly McLaren were on a two-stop strategy, which explained some of their qualifying speed. Alonso stopped two laps later, handing the lead to Ferrari for the first time. Raikkonen stopped on lap 25, for the sole time, and Alonso and Hamilton resumed first and second places. But they still had to stop again. Hamilton did so on the 40th lap, and this time he did not stay ahead of the Ferrari. Alonso, who stopped on lap 43, did. His first victory at Monza was thus never in doubt. And he was elated by it. Further back, Hamilton used his soft Bridgestone tyres to the full and reeled in medium-shod Raikkonen at a terrific rate. And when they arrived at the first chicane at the beginning of lap 43, he made no bones about diving inside the red car and exiting the first part of the chicane sideways. Wonderful stuff! Behind them, Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica took fourth and fifth places for BMW Sauber, the German driving his customary impeccable race, the Pole driving a stormer to recover from a fudged first pit stop, when his car appeared to fall from its jacks. He passed another race hero, Nico Rosberg, for fifth place on the 46th lap. The young German drove superbly in an initial fight with Jenson Button, who scored the final point for Honda in the wake of Heikki Kovalainen, who flew for Renault. The Briton was also in feisty form with a halfway decent car beneath him, but could not hold the Williams at bay. Red Bulls Mark Webber and Hondas Rubens Barrichello duelled throughout, chased to the line by Jarno Trulli who lost many places on the opening lap in his Toyota. A dismal day left Renaults Giancarlo Fisichella lapped in 12th place ahead of Williams Alex Wurz, Super Aguris Anthony Davidson and Toyotas Ralf Schumacher. Super Aguris Takuma Sato recovered from troubles on the opening lap for 16th, to head home the Toro Rossos of Tonio Liuzzi and Sebastian Vettel, and the Spykers of Adrian Sutil and Sakon Yamamoto. In the driver title stakes, Alonso is now only three points behind Hamilton, with four races left. In the constructors championship, McLaren extended their advantage over Ferrari to 23 points. ||||| By Andrew Benson Hamilton and Alonso celebrate their one-two on the Monza podium Hamilton finished second, overtaking Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen 11 laps from the end after the Finn passed him thanks to doing one pit stop fewer. Raikkonen's team-mate Felipe Massa is effectively out of the title battle after retiring after just nine laps. The Brazilian is 23 points off the lead with a maximum of 40 still available. Alonso led from the start, and appeared comfortable throughout. The double world champion was only a second ahead of Hamilton when the Englishman made his first stop for fuel and tyres on lap 18. I put in two really good laps and I had an opportunity and I really wanted to make sure it stuck Lewis Hamilton But Alonso did not stop for a further two laps, and was nearly two seconds ahead when he rejoined. He proceeded to inch away for much of the second part of the race, extending his lead by around 0.3secs most laps. By the time of their second stops, Alonso was more than six seconds in the lead, and out of Hamilton's reach. "Sometimes everything seems to go in the right direction and you need to keep the momentum," Alonso said. "The whole weekend has been good for me. "But here at Monza [in the past] I have had some problems in the race and missed the win. 606: DEBATE "All the people here maybe they are Ferrari fans but they are also F1 fans. They love F1 here." And instead of thinking about beating his team-mate, Hamilton had to focus on beating Raikkonen. The Finn's Ferrari ran four laps longer than Alonso before his sole pit stop, and Raikkonen kept close enough to the McLarens to pass Hamilton while the Englishman made his second pit stop on lap 40. But the 22-year-old underlined his abilities as a never-say-die racer by catching the Ferrari and pulling off an audacious overtaking move just two laps later. I couldn't keep my head up under braking - my neck was in not very good shape after my crash yesterday Kimi Raikkonen "But I put in two really good laps and I had an opportunity and I really wanted to make sure it stuck." Raikkonen, who admitted his neck was still sore after his crash in Saturday practice, said: "We just didn't have the speed today. "I couldn't keep my head up under braking. My neck was in not very good shape after yesterday." Raikkonen's third place means he has slipped to 18 points behind Hamilton, leaving his title hopes hanging by a thread as well. But McLaren now head on Thursday to a hearing of motorsport's governing body into the spy scandal that has engulfed the sport, and could yet be hit with a points deduction, or even banned from the championship. Massa pulls into the pits to retire with suspension problems Hamilton was given some breathing space on the second lap when the safety car was deployed following an accident to David Coulthard. The Scot's Red Bull speared off the track at the 180mph Curva Grande following a rear wing failure. The race restarted on lap six, and Massa's hopes of repeating his victory in Turkey two weeks ago ended just three laps later when he pulled into the pits with a so-far unspecified mechanical failure at the rear of his car. Nick Heidfeld was best of the rest in fourth place in his BMW Sauber, ahead of his team-mate Robert Kubica, who grabbed fifth place from Williams's Nico Rosberg with just seven laps to go. Renault's Heikki Kovalainen was seventh, ahead of Jenson Button's Honda. The Englishman repeated his season-best result from the French Grand Prix, but his Honda looked more competitive at Monza than it had at Magny-Cours. The Englishman fought an intense battle with Rosberg in the first part of the race, but had in the end to concede defeat to the faster car. Italian Grand Prix result after 53 laps of Monza circuit: 1. Fernando Alonso (Spa) McLaren-Mercedes 1hr 18min 37.806secs 2. Lewis Hamilton (GB) McLaren-Mercedes +6.062 seconds 3. Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari +27.325 4. Nick Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber +56.562 5. Robert Kubica (Pol) BMW Sauber +1:00.558 6. Nico Rosberg (Ger) Williams-Toyota +1:05.810 7. Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) Renault +1:06.751 8. Jenson Button (GB) Honda +1:12.168 9. Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault +1:15.879 10. Rubens Barrichello (Brz) Honda +1:16.958 11. Jarno Trulli (Ita) Toyota +1:17.736 12. Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) Renault one lap behind 13. Alexander Wurz (Aut) Williams-Toyota one lap 14. Anthony Davidson (GB) Super Aguri-Honda one lap 15. Ralf Schumacher (Ger) Toyota one lap 16. Takuma Sato (Jpn) Super Aguri-Honda one lap 17. Vitantonio Liuzzi (Ita) Toro Rosso-Ferrari one lap 18. Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Toro Rosso-Ferrari one lap 19. Adrian Sutil (Ger) Spyker-Ferrari one lap 20. Sakon Yamamoto (Jpn) Spyker-Ferrari one lap R Felipe Massa (Brz) Ferrari 10 laps completed R David Coulthard (GB) Red Bull-Renault one lap Fastest lap: Alonso 1:22.871, lap 15. | Fernando Alonso at the 2006 Malaysian Grand Prix Fernando Alonso driving on 2007 British Grand Prix Autodromo Nazionale Monza Fernando Alonso wins the 2007 FIA Formula-1 Italian Grand Prix at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza, Monza, Italy, with his teammate, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton second. The pair won the top two places of the 78th Grand Prix held in Monza, starting from the front line. This win became the first for Fernando Alonso on this track and his another hat-trick. During most of the free practice and the qualification McLaren seem to be clearly ahead of their rivals from Ferrari, resulting in that Alonso easily took the pole position. Since the start the defending World Champion performed extremely well and stayed in full control of the race. Hamilton's position was not as stable, however, when Felipe Massa overtook him on the start, but the Londoner took back his position on the first chicane. After ten laps Massa drove his car to the pits, possibly too soon, then suddenly slowed down on the track. It became clear that the race was spoiled for Ferrari team, with only the red car of Kimi Räikkönen, doing his best not to fall too far behind Hamilton, remaining in the race. His risky single pit-stop strategy allowed him to stay ahead of Hamilton for a couple of laps, but the fresh tyres of McLaren after their second pit-stop left no additional chances to Raikonnen who suffered a crash into the wall of tyres in the Friday practice session. Both BMW Saubers of Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica took 4th and 5th places. Top eight closed by Nico Rosberg's Williams-Toyota, Heikki Kovalainen's Renault and Jenson Button's Honda. As a result, McLaren strengthen the lead over Ferrari to 23 points, with 166 points total. Alonso is now only 3 points close to Hamilton, who has 92 points. |
Iraq is considering building a giant observation wheel in Baghdad in an attempt to promote the city as a potential tourist destination. The country was looking for companies to submit designs to build the giant wheel - dubbed 'The Baghdad Eye'. It will soar more than 650ft over the city and feature air-conditioned compartments that would each carry up to 30 passengers, Baghdad municipality spokesman Adel al Ardawi said. Mr Ardawi declined to give an estimated construction cost or timeline, but was confident about the viability of the wheel. "This wheel will be taller than the iconic 443-foot London Eye," he said. "We hope to attract a great number of customers who will be able to see the whole city and enjoy the restaurants and pools on ground below." Three possible locations in Baghdad have been selected for the 'Eye', but officials are waiting to see what proposals are submitted before picking one. The London Eye is world's largest cantilevered observation wheel and stands more than 400ft above the River Thames. It took seven years to build and was completed in 2000 at a cost of more than £30m. It is one of London's premier tourism sites, attracting more than 27 million visitors since its launch. But pulling visitors to Iraq will be a difficult task - suicide attacks and bombings are still regular occurrences and the Foreign Office advises against all travel to Baghdad. "The security situation in Iraq remains highly dangerous with a continuing high threat of terrorism throughout the country," the FCO advises. But this has not stopped Iraq's tourism board trying to pull in the visitors. Last week the US military announced the board were seeking investors to develop a resort island for the Tigris River. A statement said the project would include a six-star hotel, spa, an 18-hole golf course and a country club. ||||| Iraq plans giant Ferris wheel, hopes to lure tourists to Baghdad Iraq's (Ferris) Wheel of Fortune! The war-torn country is soliciting plans for a giant amusement park ride. BAGHDAD - It's probably going to take more than this to turn Baghdad into a tourist destination. Iraq is inviting companies to submit proposals for a giant Ferris wheel called the Baghdad Eye. It would be 650 feet high - even taller than the wheel that overlooks London's River Thames. "We hope to attract a great number of customers who will be able to see the whole city and enjoy the restaurants and pools on the ground below," city spokesman Adel al-Ardawi told The Associated Press. The amusement will feature air-conditioned compartments that would carry up to 30 passengers. Three possible locations have been selected. The wheel is the latest in a string of lavish proposals aimed at turning the war-torn Iraqi capital into a leisure location. It's a tough sell because suicide attacks still kill dozens, but insurgent attacks and sectarian bloodshed have declined over the past year. The Ferris wheel - which would cost tens of millions of dollars to build - would likely be in a security zone where suicide attacks are rare. An American businessman has announced plans to build a luxury hotel in the Green Zone, and the Iraqi Tourism Board wants to develop a "romantic" island on the Tigris River with an 18-hole golf course. News Wire Services | Iraqi officials are planning on having a Ferris wheel built as a tourist attraction to the nation's capital, Baghdad. The wheel would be called '' and is planned to sit over 650 ft above the . Adel al Ardawi, a Baghdad municipality spokesman said that "this wheel will be taller than the iconic 443-foot ." He failed to comment on construction cost or a time line of how long it would take to build the wheel. The London Eye in 2005.The London Eye in , England sits 443 ft over the . It has attracted more than 27 million visitors since its formal opening on December 31, 1999. Each compartment is set to be air-conditioned and hold up to 30 people. Three possible locations for the wheel to sit have been selected. This is not the first attempt by the Iraqi Tourism Board to bring tourists into the capital. The board are seeking investors for a resort island. The island would include a six star hotel and a 18 hole golf course. The United Kingdom's advises against all travel to Baghdad. A spokesperson said "The security situation in Iraq remains highly dangerous with a continuing high threat of terrorism throughout the country." |
We've noticed you're adblocking. We rely on advertising to help fund our award-winning journalism. We urge you to turn off your ad blocker for The Telegraph website so that you can continue to access our quality content in the future. Thank you for your support. ||||| I am excited by the prospect of leading the company back to a position of strength Gary Hoffman Northern Rock has appointed the vice chairman of Barclays, Gary Hoffman, as its new chief executive. Mr Hoffman replaces current chief executive Andy Kuipers, who will leave on August 31 after 20 years at the Newcastle-based lender. Mr Kuipers is the final member of Northern Rock's original board to leave the bank after last year's crisis. Northern Rock was nationalised in February following the first run on a British bank in more than a century. Mr Hoffman's basic salary is £700,000 and he will also receive three separate payments of £400,000 in compensation for the loss of his participation in Barclays' long-term incentive plans. "I am excited by the prospect of leading the company back to a position of strength," Mr Hoffman said. Educated at Cambridge University, Mr Hoffman, 47, joined Barclays 1982 and previous roles include chairman of UK banking and chairman of Barclaycard. Shake-up Since being nationalised in February, Northern Rock has said it will cut about 2,000 jobs by 2011 and reduce its residential mortgage lending by half. Ron Sandler, the former Lloyds of London boss appointed by the government to run the bank as executive chairman when it was nationalised, will became non-executive chairman when Mr Hoffman takes up his role in October. Northern Rock's previous chief executive, Adam Applegarth, resigned in December following fierce criticism of his role in expanding the former building society too quickly. Northern Rock doubled its share of UK mortgage lending under Mr Applegarth, but ran into difficulties in September when it was no longer able to fund that mortgage lending by borrowing in wholesale money markets. ||||| Barclays top man to take the Rock helm Northern Rock today hired Barclays vice-chairman Gary Hoffman as its new chief executive, 10 months after it collapsed. Tough decision: Gary Hoffman will be in a 'political fishbowl' as head of Northern Rock Hoffman, 47, takes over from Andy Kuipers on 1 October, and will earn £1.5m plus bonus in his first year in charge. Ron Sandler, who was parachuted in by the Government to lead the stricken mortgage lender when it was nationalised earlier this year, will become non-executive chairman. Hoffman, who joined Barclays 26 years ago and is also vice-chairman of Coventry City FC, said: 'This was a very tough decision for me. My affection for Barclays is deep and built over many years. Yet the opportunity to help lead Northern Rock back to strength is both compelling and exciting.' He today pledged to return the bank to private ownership 'as a thriving, stable businessî although it is not thought this could happen for at least three years. Northern Rock ran out of funds in September, and was forced to go cap in hand to the Bank of England for an emergency £26bn loan. It sparked the first run on a British bank since Victorian times. Hoffman had been one of the biggest whiz-kids within Barclays, rapidly rising-through the ranks to run Barclaycard between 2001 and 2005 when it, along with other credit-card companies, suffered from a surge of people getting snowed under by debt, and entering IVAs. He was then made chairman of UK banking before becoming vice-chairman of the group in 2006. Barclays insiders denied he had been sidelined after leaving Barclaycard, saying he had been doing important, albeit low-profile, public-policy and regulatory work. Leigh Goodwin at Fox-Pitt, Kelton said: "This job is a real challenge. Northern Rock is a political fishbowl - every politician and journalist will watch his every move. "His main jobs will be managing foreclosures and arrears, controlling costs and dealing with the political process. It will be very stressful and all in the public domain.î Hoffman will earn a basic salary of £700,000 a year but will get three payments of £400,000 to compensate his loss of long-term incentive programmes at Barclays - one on arrival and the others on his first and second anniversaries. He will also be entitled to a bonus. It means he will earn at least £1.5m in his first year at Northern Rock and £1.1m in his second year - making him the highest-paid public servant in Britain, ahead of Royal Mail chief executive Adam Crozier. Hoffman's top priorities Hoffman's Newcastle in-tray will be bulging. Here is a flavour of his to-do list: •1) Decide how to run a bank that is facing growing accusations from rival banks of unfair competition because of the Government's 100% guarantee on savings. •2) Work out what to do with Rock's shareholders. •3) Find a reputable executive prepared to value the business (and probably get sued whatever he says). •4) Run down the mortgage book to £50bn from £100bn. •5) Repay the Bank of England's £25bn loan by 2010. •6) Manage a rapidly rising number of bad debts and foreclosures as house prices fall. | British bank Northern Rock has appointed the vice chairman of Barclays as its new chief executive. After 26 years at Barclays—the last two of which were as vice chairman—Gary Hoffman will replace Andy Kuipers. Kuipers, who has been with Northern Rock for 20 years, will be replaced at the beginning of October. Customers queue in front of a Northern Rock branch in London on September 14, 2007. Last September, Northern Rock suffered the first run on a British bank in over 100 years, and was forced to become nationalised. Today, Hoffman stated he would return the bank to private ownership "as a thriving, stable business". Some of his past roles include chairman of banking and chairman of Barclaycard. In his new role, he is expected to cut 2,000 of the 6,000 jobs provided by the company in an attempt to be able to pay back money owed to the Bank of England. He is to earn £700,000 per year, plus £400,000 in compensation from losses due to his moving. Including a bonus, he is expected to earn £1.5 million in his first year, making him Britain's highest paid public servant. Among other tasks, he will be working to pay back the £25bn loan Northern Rock got from the Bank of England by 2010, and reducing its mortgage lending from £100bn to £50bn. Northern Rock hit problems in September 2007. Issues in the mortgage market and public concern over the stability of the bank saw queues form with people keen to withdraw their funds following emergency support being provided by the Bank of England. With share prices plummeting as a result of issues in the United States sub-prime mortgage market, an unprecedented crisis struck one of the UK's largest banks. By February 2008, the decision was taken to move the bank into public ownership and it was nationalised. Today's appointment is the first step on a road to returning the bank to private ownership with significant measures required to cut the bank's costs, repay loans from the Bank of England, and transform the institution into one which is attractive to the stock market. |
London’s busiest subway line was closed today after a runaway engineering train traveled for almost four miles (6.4 kilometers) toward the center of the U.K. capital without a driver. The train became defective near Archway station in north London after undertaking maintenance work and was being dragged away from the city by an empty passenger unit when it became detached and began to roll southward. It passed six stations before halting at Warren Street as the gradient leveled out. Britain’s RMT union, which represents Tube workers, said it understood that a collision with a passenger service “was only narrowly avoided” as the train left Archway. Matt Brown, a spokesman for Transport for London, said the incident on a stretch of line maintained by Amey Plc was “serious,” while declining to comment on the RMT allegation. The subway’s Northern Line, which carries more than 500,000 people a day, was still partially closed at 4.45 p.m. local time following the incident, which occurred at 6.44 a.m. Services should be restored by the end of the evening, Brown said. London Underground staff undertook a “swift assessment” as the incident developed, diverting passenger trains to the City branch of the Northern Line and sending the engineering train along the Charing Cross route, where normal services had been stopped and cleared, TfL said in a statement. RAIB Probe “We have of course launched an immediate and thorough investigation into this incident to establish the cause,” London Underground Director Richard Parry said in the release. Parry told the British Broadcasting Corp. that the train was traveling no faster than 40 miles (64 kilometers) an hour and that he understood the nearest passenger unit was at least a kilometer away. The Rail Accident Investigation Bureau has also begun a probe and the use of engineering trains of the type involved has been suspended. Amey spokeswoman Susie Carter said she couldn’t immediately comment on whether the train was owned by the company, a unit of Spanish construction company Ferrovial SA, or was being operated by a sub-contractor. “Amey are contracted for maintenance on that part of the line but it’s far too early to draw any conclusions,” TfL spokesman Brown said. “With this type of situation there is never any sense in pointing fingers or apportioning blame until after a thorough investigation.” ‘Appalled’ RMT Assistant General Secretary Pat Sikorski said in a statement that he was “appalled and horrified” at the incident and that TfL should halt job cuts and procedural changes that have affected safety standards. “When I heard the news I was stunned,” said Alex Walters, a student at City University who was diverted onto the City branch of the Northern Line at 7:15 a.m. “The service is slow enough as it is; now it appears to have become some macabre form of Russian roulette into the bargain.” The Northern Line serves southwest London suburbs including Wimbledon and Clapham Common, as well as Hampstead and Highgate in the north. The line divides in the center of the capital, with one branch running through the West End entertainment district and the other via the City financial quarter. The route also serves busy surface rail stations including Waterloo, Euston, London Bridge and Kings Cross. The Charing Cross branch between Camden and Kennington was still closed this afternoon, according to the Transport for London website. To contact the reporters on this story: Steven Rothwell in London at srothwell@bloomberg.net; Francesca Angelini in London fangelini1@bloomberg.net ||||| Runaway train on London Tube's Northern Line Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play. A runaway train went through six stops on a 13-minute journey on London's Tube with other trains having to be cleared out of its path. The engineering train became uncoupled as it was towed on the Northern Line near Archway station on Friday morning. Passenger trains were diverted to another branch of the Northern Line while trains were cleared from the Charing Cross branch. The train ran for nearly four miles before it stopped at Warren Street. It came to a rest only because there is a slight incline at the station. Tom Redfern joined the line in Archway on the train in front of the runaway vehicle. He said: "As soon as we pulled away the driver came on the tannoy and said, 'There is an emergency, will everyone move towards the front of the train'. Continue reading the main story “ Start Quote I thought, 'Is this it?'” End Quote Tom Redfern Passenger "There was a ripple of panic. I went from half asleep to a big adrenaline rush. I thought, 'Is this it?'" The train bypassed all stations until Moorgate in an attempt to keep ahead of the other vehicle. Mr Redfern said: "We went full speed. We knew the situation was dangerous because we were going fast. "Even by the driver's voice, we could tell it was serious." Pat Sikorski, of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union, said: "We are appalled and horrified at this major incident which could have very easily resulted in disaster. "The runaway train represents a safety failure of the highest order. "We understand a collision with a passenger service train leaving Archway was only narrowly avoided." The engineering train, which was undertaking rail maintenance work, had been travelling southbound on the High Barnet branch of the Northern Line. LU staff took the decision to divert passenger trains to the City branch while directing the engineering train to the cleared Charing Cross branch. But at 0644 BST the vehicle, which does not carry passengers, became detached from the towing train and began to move southbound. London Underground (LU) staff diverted passenger trains to the City branch while directing the engineering train to the cleared Charing Cross branch. The engineering train came to a halt at 0657 BST. LU's Richard Parry said he "could not speculate" about how fast the train had been travelling. "Northern line trains will travel even at full propulsion at 35mph," he added. "I'm confident it would have been at a lower speed than that." Safety 'top priority' He said no passenger trains were closer than a kilometre (0.6 miles) from the runaway train. "It was no closer than a kilometre away. That was the closest any train was in the area to where this train was," he said. The line was suspended between Finchley Central and Archway and between Camden Town and Kennington via Charing Cross, leading to widespread disruption. Mr Parry added: "Safety is our top priority and we have launched an immediate and thorough investigation into this incident." ||||| London Underground has ordered an inquiry into a runaway train on the Northern line Photograph: Oli Scarff/Getty Images A runaway train travelled four miles through five stations on the London underground without a driver yesterday. Following what was described by the RMT union as a major safety failure, passenger services on the line running through the heart of the city were diverted to clear the way for the train, which had broken free while being towed by another. It only narrowly missed a passenger service at Archway station in north London, according to the union. Passengers faced big delays after the train rolled south for 13 minutes before coming to a halt at Warren Street station just before 7am. The engineering train was being used for works on the High Barnet branch of the Northern line, near Archway, when it broke down at 5.25am. Engineers coupled it to an out-of-service passenger train, and began to tow it northwards. But at 6.44am the defective train broke free and began rolling southwards. London Underground staff quickly diverted passenger trains to the Bank branch of the Northern line, and sent the runaway train through the Charing Cross branch. It passed through five underground stations before coming to a halt at a sixth, Warren Street, four miles from where it had become loose. London Underground, which pledged a full investigation, has suspended the use of all similar engineering trains until further inquiries can be made. It said the trains were operated by a contractor. An RMT spokesman said: "We are appalled and horrified at this major incident during passenger traffic hours which could have very easily resulted in disaster." | A London engineering train ran away and travelled four miles on the Underground's early on Friday morning, resulting in part of the Northern Line, which carries 500,000 passengers daily, being closed for much of the day. The runaway train apparently had an engineering defect. The London Underground, also known as the Tube, reported that the engineering train had been working on the High Barnet branch of the Northern Line when it broke down at 5.25 a.m. BST (0425 UTC). It was attached to an out-of-service passenger train to be dragged northwards when, for reasons which are being investigated by the , it broke free near at 6.44 a.m. and started rolling southwards. The train ran through six stations before it was finally brought to a halt by a slight incline in the track at at 6.57 a.m. Passenger Tom Redfern, on the preceding train at Archway, described what happened to the BBC: "As soon as we pulled away the driver came on the tannoy and said, 'There is an emergency, will everyone move towards the front of the train'. There was a ripple of panic. I went from half asleep to a big adrenaline rush. I thought, 'Is this it?'" The passenger train was rerouted onto the City Branch of the Northern Line, and bypassed all stations until Moorgate in an attempt to keep ahead of the runaway, while the runaway was routed down the Charing Cross Branch. Mr Redfern said: "We went full speed. We knew the situation was dangerous because we were going fast. Even by the driver's voice, we could tell it was serious." London Underground director Richard Parry said that at no time was the runaway closer than 1 kilometre (0.6 miles) to a passenger train. Service was suspended between and Archway, and between and via Charing Cross, while investigations into the cause of the runaway took place. |
Reporting from Islamabad, Pakistan, and Peshawar, Pakistan -- A suicide bombing at a crowded courthouse in Peshawar killed 19 people Thursday, the 10th such attack in six weeks for a city bearing the brunt of retaliation from Taliban militants battling Pakistani troops along the Afghan border.Now in its fifth week, Pakistan's military offensive has succeeded in retaking much of the ground held by Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters in South Waziristan, for years the militants' primary stronghold. That success, however, has been tempered by a wave of militant attacks since early October that has claimed more than 300 lives across Pakistan.Peshawar, a city of 3 million people on the fringe of Pakistan's largely ungoverned tribal areas, has been hardest hit by the violence. Suicide bombers have struck bustling markets, police stations and checkpoints, and even the regional headquarters of the country's vaunted intelligence agency.With Thursday's strike, the death toll from the attacks around the city since early October has reached at least 247.Authorities said the attacker tried to push his way into the city's judicial complex but was stopped by police officers at the courthouse's main gate. When they tried to search him, he detonated a jacket filled with explosives, said Sahibzada Muhammad Anees, a Peshawar city official.At least three of those killed were police officers. The blast occurred about 10:30 a.m., when the building was filled with people shuttling between courtrooms. Doctors said several lawyers were among the critically injured taken to the city's Lady Reading Hospital. At least 51 people were injured.Authorities said the toll would have been far higher if the police officers at the gate had not stopped the attacker. It was the third time in five days that police in the Peshawar region kept an attacker from causing far greater loss of life. Suicide car bomb attacks Saturday and Monday occurred at police checkpoints on the outskirts of the city, which authorities believe were not the intended targets.Nevertheless, the wave of attacks has cast a pall on Peshawar, where residents are limiting their trips to markets and many parents are keeping their children home from school. Dozens of streets have been closed off with barricades.Local officials blame much of the violence in Peshawar on the national government's decision to announce its intent to launch an offensive against the Taliban in South Waziristan weeks before sending troops into the region. That gave militants ample time to escape and seek refuge in places such as Peshawar's suburbs. Many of the attacks in the city are being launched from those suburbs."If you look at Peshawar, it's a hub for dozens of smaller towns," said Imtiaz Gul, a security analyst based in Islamabad, the Pakistani capital. "To create a scare, the easiest place to hit is Peshawar. What you need is penetration into the militants' networks in the suburbs, and that's missing right now. We don't have the required intelligence resources. There have been arrests, but that's not enough."Authorities have beefed up security throughout the northwestern city and have begun using sophisticated explosives-detection equipment at checkpoints, but the large number of entry points to the city -- at least 110 -- makes it extremely difficult to thwart every potential bomb attack."We are facing an extraordinary situation," said Anees, the city official. "Police are there, but it's not humanly possible to check each and every person."Ali is a special correspondent. ||||| Thursday's attack was the seventh deadly explosion to hit the northwestern Pakistani city in less than two weeks. Officials said about 30 people were wounded in the attack, which occurred during rush hour when the area is normally crowded with lawyers, administrative personnel and the public. At least 19 people have been killed in a suicide bomb blast outside the main gate of a court building in Peshawar. Later in the day, a second attack targeted a police patrol vehicle in the city, police said. "One policemen has been martyred and four injured in the attack," Mohammad Karim Khan, a senior police official, said. The court building were the first blast took place is located on Khyber Road, across the street from the Pearl Continental Hotel, which was the target of a deadly bomb attack in June. "It happened outside the judicial complex," Abdul Wali, a police officer, told the Reuters news agency. 'Attacker on foot' Sahibzada Anees, the head of Peshawar city administration, said that a suicide bomber carried out the attack. "The attacker was on foot and blew himself when guards tried to search him at the gates of the court," he said. Three policemen were among the dead, Anees said. Up to 17 bodies had been brought to Peshawar's Lady Reading Hospital, Sahib Gul, the most senior official, said. Al Jazeera's Kamal Hyder, reporting from Islamabad, said the attacker was trying to enter the court's complex when he was stopped by security personnel. "The attack took place at 10:20am [local time] when the Khyber Road is jam packed with traffic as well as people," he said. "As that suicide bomber tried to enter the court, the police decided to conduct a search at which point he detonated the device, with devastating consequences." A wave of attacks have targeted police checkpoints, police stations and the provincial headquarters of Pakistan's spy agency, ISI, this month, killing dozens of people. The Pakistani Taliban has claimed responsibility for several of the attacks, but Yusuf Reza Gilani, Pakistan's prime minister, said that many of the group's commanders were on the run. "They are using the weapons they have scattered here and there," he said. "God willing, it will take some time, but I assure you things will return to normal soon." The blast comes as military battles members of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, one of the main anti-government groups, in the country's semi-autonomous tribal region of South Waziristan. The military launched its offensive nearly three weeks ago, pitting about 30,000 troops against an estimated 10 to 12,000 Taliban fighters in South Waziristan. | Peshawar is located in the North-Western Frontier Province of PakistanA suicide bomber has killed at least 19 people around a courthouse in the city of Peshawar, Pakistan. Witnesses said that the powerful explosion occurred during rush hour. Several security personnel and lawyers are among the victims, and doctors reported that some of those injured are in a critical condition. "One policemen ''sic'' has been martyred and four injured in the attack," said a senior police official, Mohammad Karim Khan. Senior police officer Sahibzada Anis, speaking to reporters, said that the suicide bomber was on foot and detonated the device when security guards stopped him for a search at the main entrance. The blast damaged several cars parked nearby. "The attacker was on foot and blew himself when guards tried to search him at the gates of the court," he said. Thursday's suicide attack in Peshawar took place hours after missiles fired by a suspected American drone killed at least four suspected militants and wounded five others in the North Waziristan region, on the Afghan border. The area is a known stronghold of Afghan and al-Qaeda militants. Taliban insurgents have intensified attacks in the country — particularly in and around Peshawar — after the Pakistani army launched an offensive against militant bases in South Waziristan. Officials said that since early last month more than 300 people have died in bombings and militant raids on government, civilian, and Western targets in the country. |
ABOUT BUSINESS PLUS Trial Offer applies only to business addresses in Ireland. Get 3 FREE Trial issues of Business Plus Magazine. News Home » News Restricted Access To access this section of the Business Plus website you must have registered and logged in. To login please enter your username and password in the fields above and click Log In. Need to register first? Click here Forgot your username or password ? Click here ||||| Annual inflation increases to 2.2% in April 12/05/2005 - 11:17:51 Consumer prices in April, as measured by the Consumer Price Index, increased by 0.5% in the month. This compares to an increase of 0.4% in April of last year and, as a result, the annual rate of inflation rose slightly to 2.2%, up from 2.1% in March. The EU Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) increased by 0.6% in the month, compared to an increase of 0.3% in April 2004. The annual rate of inflation as measured by the HICP rose from 1.9% in March to 2.2% in April. The most notable changes in the year were increases in housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels (+10.6%), education (+6.3%), health (+5.9%), restaurants and hotels (+3.6%) and transport (+2.9%). There were decreases in clothing and footwear (-2.8%), furnishings, household equipment and routine household maintenance (-1.4%), miscellaneous goods and services (-1.3%) and food and non-alcoholic beverages (-0.5%). The annual rate of inflation for goods was 0.7% in April while the corresponding rate for services was 3.7%. The most significant monthly price changes were increases in housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels (+2.0%), transport (+1.2%) and restaurants and hotels (+0.8%). These increases were partially offset by a decrease in miscellaneous goods and services (-0.3%). Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels rose due to increases in prices for home heating oil and electricity and higher average mortgage interest repayments. Transport rose with higher prices for petrol and diesel. Restaurants and hotels rose due to higher accommodation costs and increased prices for eating out. Miscellaneous goods and services decreased due to falling house and motor insurance costs. The CPI, excluding tobacco, index for April was 110.1, up 0.5% since March and up 2.4% in the year. Get your FREE Ringtones, Java Games & Colour Logos from IOL 's NEW My Mobile site Business News | Messageboards | Print Version | Email to friend | Previous Page © Thomas Crosbie Media, 2005. ||||| The annual rate of inflation rose slightly to 2.2% in April from 2.1% in March, according to a report released today by the Central Statistics Office. Consumer prices in April, as measured by the Consumer Price Index, increased by 0.5% in the month. This compares to an increase of 0.4% in April of last year. As a result, the annual rate of inflation rose to 2.2%. The annual rate of inflation for goods was 0.7% in April, while the corresponding rate of services was 3.7%. In April, the price of home heating oil, electricity and mortgage interest repayments were higher, while transport costs rose by 2% as petrol and diesel became more expensive. Hotels charged higher accommodation costs while restaurants also charged more for eating out. The EU Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices increased by 0.6% in the month, compared to an increase of 0.3% the same time last year. The annual rate of inflation, as measured by the HICP, rose from 1.9% in March to 2.2% in April. The main factors contributing to the monthly change were as follows: Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas & Other Fuels rose due to increases in prices for home heating oil & electricity and higher average mortgage interest repayments. Transport rose with higher prices for petrol and diesel. Restaurants & Hotels rose due to higher accommodation costs and increased prices for eating out. Miscellaneous Goods & Services decreased due to falling house and motor insurance costs. The CPI excluding tobacco index for April was 110.1, up 0.5% since March and up 2.4% in the year. ||||| The annual rate of inflation rose slightly to 2.2% in April from 2.1% in March, the latest figures from the Central Statistics Office show. Consumer prices in April, as measured by the CPI, increased by 0.5% in the month. This compares to an increase of 0.4% in April of last year and as a result, the annual rate of inflation rose to 2.2%. The annual rate of inflation for goods was 0.7% in April, while the corresponding rate of services was 3.7%. In April, the price of home heating oil, electricity and mortgage interest repayments were higher, while transport costs rose by 2% as petrol and diesel became more expensive. Hotels charged higher accommodation costs while restaurants also charged more for eating out. These increases were partially offset by a decrease in falling house and motor insurance costs, the CSO added. The EU Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices increased by 0.6% in the month, compared to an increase of 0.3% the same time last year. The annual rate of inflation, as measured by the HICP, rose from 1.9% in March to 2.2% in April. Commenting on the figures Austin Hughes, Chief Economist at IIB Bank said that the slight uptick in April inflation indicates that when inflation is low it is difficult to avoid some degree of increase in prices. He said that while last month's rise was due to higher energy prices, in a number of other areas there are signs that the extent of downward pressures may not be as intensive as last year. He said the general trend in Irish consumer prices remains subdued but the he expects a slight uptick in prices to leave average inflation rate around 2.5% in 2005. Eugene Kiernan, Head of Asset Allocation at Irish Life Investment Managers said that while goods inflation is almost absent it's on the services side of the economy that we are seeing the price pressures with 4% inflation. He said while food and clothing prices are down on the year the cost of running a home continues to escalate with housing, water and electricity costs up over 10% on the year. | Ireland's heavy reliance on imported oil is starting to cause a rise in inflation According to new figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO), the annual rate of inflation in Ireland has begun to rise again after a period of decline. Annualised inflation is now running at 2.2%, up from 2.1% in March. The figures are derived from the ''Consumer Price Index'' which is monitored by the CSO. Despite the increase, inflation remains significantly below the figure for recent years. Annualised inflation peaked at 5.1% in February 2003. The major contributor to the rise was the cost of heating and housing with the ''Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other Fuels'' group rising 10.6% in the past 12 months - with 2% of that rise in the last month alone. The cost of clothing and footwear has dropped almost 3% in the past yearWhen broken down more the section marked ''Energy Products'' showed a massive 5.3% rise in the past month alone. This sharp rise in energy costs was offset somewhat by decreases (over the past 12 months) in the following groups: * Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages (-0.5%) * Clothing and Footwear (-2.8%) * Furnishings, Household Equipment and Routine Household Maintenance (-1.4%) * Communications (-0.2%) * Miscellaneous Goods & Services (-1.3%). According to the CSO the Consumer Price Index is made up of ''over 55,000 prices'' ''consisting of 613 headings which cover over 1,000 different items''. |
Judge blocks 1998 online porn law PHILADELPHIA Software filters work much better than a 1998 federal law designed to keep pornography away from children on the Internet, a federal judge ruled Thursday in striking down the measure on free-speech grounds. Senior U.S. District Judge Lowell Reed Jr. also said the Child Online Protection Act fails to address threats that have emerged since the law was written, including online predators on social-networking sites like News Corp.'s MySpace, because it targets only commercial Web publishers. "Even defendant's own study shows that all but the worst performing (software) filters are far more effective than COPA would be at protecting children from sexually explicit material on the Web," said Reed, who presided over a month-long trial in the fall. The never-enforced law was Congress' second attempt to protect children from online porn. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld in 2004 a temporary injunction blocking the law from taking effect; Reed on Thursday issued a permanent injunction. The law would have criminalized websites that allow children to access material deemed "harmful to minors" by "contemporary community standards." The sites would have been expected to require a credit card number or other proof of age. Penalties include a $50,000 fine and up to six months in prison. Sexual health sites, the online magazine Salon.com and other websites backed by the American Civil Liberties Union had challenged the law on grounds it would have a chilling effect on speech. Joan Walsh, Salon.com's editor in chief, said the law could have allowed any of the 93 U.S. attorneys to prosecute the site over photos of naked prisoners at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison. "The burden would have been on us to prove that they weren't" harmful to minors, Walsh said Thursday. In his ruling, Reed warned that "perhaps we do the minors of this country harm if First Amendment protections, which they will with age inherit fully, are chipped away in the name of their protection." Daniel Weiss of Focus on the Family Action, a lobbying arm of the conservative Christian group, said it would continue to press Congress for a workable law. "The judge seems to indicate there's really no way for Congress to pass a good law to protect kids online," Weiss said. "I just think that's not a good response." To defend the nine-year-old law, government lawyers attacked software filters as burdensome and less effective, even though they have previously defended their use in public schools and libraries. That case was over a 2000 law requiring schools and libraries to use software filters if they receive certain federal funds. The high court upheld that law in 2003. The plaintiffs expect the Justice Department to appeal. Justice spokesman Charles Miller said the department still was reviewing the decision and has "made no determination as to what the government's next step will be." "I would hope that Attorney General (Alberto) Gonzales would save the U.S. public's money and not try to further defend what is an unconstitutional statute," said John Morris, a lawyer with the Center for Democracy and Technology, which wrote a brief in the case. "That money could better be used to help educate kids about Internet safety issues," he said. The plaintiffs argued that filters work best because they let parents set limits based on their own values and a child's age. Reed concluded that filters have become highly effective and that the government — if it wants to protect children — could do more to promote or subsidize them. The law addresses material accessed by children under 17, but only applies to sites hosted in the United States. The websites that challenged the law said fear of prosecution might lead them to shut down or move their operations offshore, beyond the reach of U.S. law. They also said the Justice Department could do more to enforce obscenity laws already on the books. Reed noted in his 83-page ruling that, since 2000, the Justice Department has initiated fewer than 20 prosecutions for obscenity that did not also involve other charges such as child pornography or attempts to have sex with minors. Although the government argued for the use of credit cards as a screening device, Reed said he saw no evidence of any accurate way to verify the age of Internet users. And he agreed that sites that require a credit card to view certain pages would see a sharp drop-off in users. The 1998 law followed the Communications Decency Act of 1996, Congress' first attempt to regulate online pornography. The Supreme Court in 1997 deemed key portions of that law unconstitutional because it was too vague and trampled on adults' rights. COPA narrowed the restrictions to commercial websites and defined indecency more specifically. "This is the second time Congress has tried this, and both times the courts have struck it down," said the ACLU's Chris Hansen, a lead attorney on the case. "I don't see how Congress could write a constitutional statute." Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. ||||| For a one-stop snapshot of the latest legal news that matters, with breaking documents, new legal videos, live law-related webcasts, commentary by expert law professors and more - all updated through the day in real time, with no ads and no registration barriers - visit JURIST's homepage and check back often... | Senior Judge Lowell Reed Jr. of the U. S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania issued a permanent injunction on Thursday against the Child Online Protection Act (COPA) passed in 1998 that says it is a crime to make online pornography accessible for underage children. Reed expressed "personal regret at having to set aside yet another attempt to protect our children from harmful material" but said that adults would "do the minors of this country harm, if First Amendment protections, which they will with age inherit fully, are chipped away in the name of their protection." He added that software filters would be more effective in protecting children than the COPA. Chris Hansen of the ACLU, the plaintiffs, said that were the law to go into effect, "all Internet would have had to be brought down to a level that is acceptable to a 6-year-old and that would have had a devastating effect on the kind of interactions that take place on the Internet." According to the law, which became effective in 1998 but had been barred from enforcement by the Supreme Court, websites containing "commercial" pornography are required to verify that the person looking at the material is of age, by asking for a credit card number. The law says that it would stop minors from viewing material that is "harmful by contemporary community standards." One advocacy group, Enough is Enough which tries to protect underage children from Internet predators and pornography, spoke out against the ruling. "It’s a very frustrating decision. We have an epidemic problem of kids accessing pornographic material online. Pornographers continue to get a free pass on the Internet from our federal courts, and efforts by Congress keep getting trumped," said president of the organization, Donna Rice Hughes. If websites were caught not following the law, penalties could range from a 6 month jail sentence and fines of up to $50,000 USD. The United States Attorney's office is reported to be looking over the ruling and trying to make a decision on whether to try and appeal the decision in Supreme Court. |
President Bush asked Congress yesterday to approve $770 million in new global food aid for the coming fiscal year, the centerpiece of an evolving administration response to a crisis that has sparked increased violence and hunger around the world. Overall, he said, the United States is on track to spend nearly $5 billion on foreign food assistance in 2008 and 2009. "With the new international funding I'm announcing today, we're sending a clear message to the world that America will lead the fight against hunger for years to come," Bush said at the White House. The president said he is asking Congress to include the money in a broader Iraq war funding bill for fiscal 2009 that the administration sent to Capitol Hill yesterday. The proposal came under immediate criticism from some congressional Democrats and outside experts, who said additional money would do little to alleviate the current crisis if it is not available until the 2009 budget year, which starts in October. Bush has also requested $350 million in additional food aid as part of the 2008 supplemental Iraq war budget, an amount that top Democrats say is too little. "That is far too late for the urgency of this problem," said Sen. Robert P. Casey Jr. (Pa.), who along with Majority Whip Richard J. Durbin (Ill.) has asked Bush for at least $550 million in emergency food aid now. "If you're hungry and your government is collapsing, waiting until December 2008 or January 2009 for food to hit the ground is just too late." House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said in a statement that lawmakers "will respond rapidly to the growing urgent need for international food assistance," but she did not opine on Bush's latest request. Pelosi also urged the president to support new spending for food stamps and other domestic aid contained in a proposed farm bill, which he has called "bloated." Bush's announcement comes as U.S. policymakers scramble to respond to an unexpectedly dramatic worldwide food panic spurred by skyrocketing prices for corn, rice, wheat and other staples of diets in the developing world. In some of the poorest countries in Africa and Asia, where food costs can consume three-quarters of incomes, prices have more than doubled in six months. Droughts, increasing energy costs and growing food demand in poor nations have contributed to higher prices in recent months. The rising costs have prompted violent protests in more than a dozen countries and warnings from the United Nations and the World Bank that up to 100 million people could be plunged into poverty. The U.N. World Food Program has issued an urgent plea for money to keep up with the crisis. "We thank the President of the United States for his urgent call to action to combat the advance of hunger among the world's most vulnerable," Josette Sheeran, executive director of the program, said in a statement after Bush's announcement. White House officials said that the $770 million would include about $395 million for direct food assistance; $150 million for agricultural development; and $225 million for local crop purchases, vouchers and other special programs. The money is separate from the $350 million in emergency food aid that the administration has proposed for the current budget year, officials said. The administration also released $200 million worth of emergency wheat reserves from a special humanitarian trust two weeks ago. If all of Bush's emergency requests are approved, officials said, the current year's budget for overseas food aid would grow 18 percent, to $2.3 billion, and next year's would jump about 40 percent, to nearly $2.7 billion. Historically, the United States has provided about half of all global food assistance. Stephen McMillin, deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget, told reporters yesterday that in addition to achieving humanitarian goals, the funding "contributes to stabilizing unstable regimes in the developing world." Bush also urged nations to remove emergency trade barriers that have been erected in recent weeks to protect domestic food stores, arguing that they only increase pressure on commodity prices. Lael Brainard, a Clinton administration economic adviser who is now with the Brookings Institution, applauded the proposal. "We should use this moment to improve not just the quantity but the quality of our foreign aid by making the reforms that are long overdue," she said. One factor in the crisis is the growing demand for corn used to make ethanol. Joseph Glauber, the Agriculture Department's chief economist, told Congress yesterday that prices for corn and other food commodities will remain at "historically high levels" in coming years as the U.S. ethanol industry expands, the Associated Press reported. While nearly all experts agree that increased biofuel production has contributed to escalating food prices, there is little consensus on the scope. Edward Lazear, chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, argued yesterday that the impact of ethanol on prices was minimal, because corn is a small portion of global food consumption . ||||| We'll be in touch with the latest information on how President Biden and his administration are working for the American people, as well as ways you can get involved and help our country build back better. | Bush speaking on Food Aid yesterdayGeorge W. Bush, the President of the United States recently discussed Food Aid in the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House. He called for extra funds to be allocated by Congress to support food aid. "I am calling on Congress to provide an additional $770 million to support food aid and development programs. Together, this amounts to nearly $1 billion in new funds to bolster global food security," he said. His reasoning for asking for the increased funding was that the "funding will keep our the US's existing emergency food aid programs robust." Bush declared that food aid in the past had been successful; he claimed that the US has "been the leader for providing food to those who are going without in the past, and we will continue to be the leader around the world." On the topic of the delivery of food aid, the President commented, "as America increases its food assistance, it's really important that we transform the way that food aid is delivered. In my State of the Union address this year, I called on Congress to support a proposal to purchase up to nearly 25 percent of food assistance directly from farmers in the developing world. " Bush then claimed that "America is in the lead" in delivering food aid, and that America will continue to be the lead in delivering Food Aid. Furthermore, he stated that the US is "also working toward the conclusion of a successful Doha agreement that will reduce and eliminates tariffs and other barriers, as well as market-distorting subsidies for agricultural goods." As his speech drew to a close, Bush asserted that people is the US "are generous people" and are "compassionate people." |
Medvedev, Putin congratulate Bilan on Eurovision win: "One more triumph for all Russia" MOSCOW: In sports and pop music, Russia is on a roll — and its leaders made the most of it Sunday. A winning performance in the Eurovision Song Contest by singer Dima Bilan followed a series of sports victories that have fed the resurgent country's increasing self-confidence. President Dmitry Medvedev reached Bilan on a mobile phone in the middle of the night to congratulate the singer, and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin sent him a telegram calling the victory "one more important triumph for all of Russia," officials said. Putin just finished eight years as president during which an oil-fueled economic recovery has boosted Russia's clout and put the swagger back into its step. "Russia is the favorite now, it's just tearing everybody up — in basketball, football, hockey, and Eurovision!" said Evgeni Plushenko, the Olympic champion figure skater and now a politician, who helped Bilan to the prize by pirouetting on artificial ice during the performance in Belgrade, Serbia. In the past month, Russian teams have won the European basketball championship, the world ice hockey championship and soccer's UEFA Cup. Putin's successor, Medvedev, was not to be left out of the celebrations. He called Bilan shortly after the singer brought Russia its first-ever title in the glitzy annual contest, the Kremlin said. State-run Rossiya television showed what it said was one side of the conversation: Bilan, a flag-waving Plushenko and others sitting on the back seat of a bus and shouting "Russia! Russia! Russia!" into a mobile phone. "Thank you," Bilan said more quietly into the phone. "I've never spoken to the president in my life, and I don't know how it's done, but it's very, very pleasant for me, and I think for the whole team sitting in the back of this bus," he said. "It's so great that the prize is coming to Russia," Medvedev said, according to the presidential press service. He promised that Russia would do a first-class job hosting the contest next year. One detail that detracts from the victory as a celebration of Russia: Bilan sang in English. But state-run Channel One television approvingly noted that Bilan gave a rendition in Russian for its viewers during the post-prize festivities, and showed part of it on the news at noon Sunday. ||||| Exasperated Terry Wogan may quit Eurovision after blatant bloc voting By Olinka Koster Last updated at 2:37 AM on 26th May 2008 It had all the usual ingredients. . . cheesy songs, strange costumes, waspish comments from Terry Wogan - and tactical voting. Russian heartthrob Dima Bilan became the 2008 winner of the Eurovision Song Contest after many Eastern European countries awarded him the maximum 12 points, while Ukraine came second. Saturday night's blatant bloc voting so upset presenter Wogan that he is wondering whether to quit the contest for good. He had been rooting for Britain's entrant, former binman Andy Abraham, whose song Even If finished joint last with 14 points. Only San Marino and Ireland voted for him. Terry Wogan: 'Eurovision is no longer a music contest Dissapointing: UK entrant Andy Abrahams came in last place A clearly exasperated Wogan, who has been commentating on the contest every year since 1973, said: 'I have to decide whether I want to do this again. 'Western European participants have to decide whether they want to take part from here on in, because their prospects are poor.' Wogan spoke out as Russia's entry Believe received the maximum 12 points from former Soviet states Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine, Belarus and Armenia, as well as Israel. Eastern European votes also helped gain second place for Ukraine's Ani Lorak, dressed in a shiny Las Vegas showgirl outfit to perform an energetic disco-fuelled dance track. Wogan said that Abraham, 43, who found fame on the TV talent show The X Factor, deserved more votes from other countries. 'It's a disappointment, considering that Andy Abraham gave, I think, the performance of his life with a song that certainly deserved more marks than it got,' he said. 'What a blinding performance he gave for the UK.' Bookmakers had already predicted Abraham's fate, however, making its chances of winning 66-1. 'I'm afraid nobody loves the UK,' added Wogan sadly. 'It just isn't funny any more.' Heart throb: Russia's Dima Bilan scored a massive 272 points to win this year's Eurovision title The UK has finished in the top ten only once in the last ten years, and has finished outside the top 20 four times in that period. Referring to certain other songs in the competition, the TV and radio host added: 'You have to say that this is no longer a music contest.' The last UK winner was Katrina and the Waves who triumphed in 1997 with Love Shine A Light. Last week the Daily Mail published research which analysed Eurovision voting patterns and suggested that the same countries can be relied on to vote for each other every year for geographical and political reasons. Close finish: Ukraine's Ani Lorak (left) and Greece's Kalomira (right) came in at second and third place respectively The former Soviet satellite states, for example, have been dubbed the Warsaw Pact. There is also the Balkan Bloc and, in Scandinavia, the Viking Empire. Holland and Belgium tend to vote for each other as members of the Partial Benelux, while the Pyrenean Axis is made up of Spain and Andorra. Britain has only one ally - Ireland - in what has been dubbed the Anglo-Irish Agreement. Saturday night's contest, held in the Serbian capital, Belgrade, attracted an estimated TV audience of 150million across Europe, including 9.3million in the UK. The strangest entry was from Bosnia-Herzegovina, described by Wogan as 'the four brides of Frankenstein and a loony with a clothes line'. Observers noted that several other contestants appeared to have entered a Mariah Carey lookalike contest Wogan, who earns a reported £150,000 a time for his Eurovision stints, has often got into trouble for his acerbic comments about other countries and their commentators. Last year's political voting was so blatant that he described it as 'ridiculous'. 'Ridiculous': Terry Wogan was unimpressed with Bosnia and Herzegovina's entrants Laka, who landed in 10th place ||||| Remember Me TESTAMENT "The Formation of Damnation" CHILDREN OF BODOM "Blooddrunk" GRAVE "Dominion VIII" KORPIKLAANI "Korven Kuningas" TO-MERA "Delusions" Last Updated: May 27, 2008 3:53 PM TERÄSBETONI Places 22nd In EUROVISION Finals - May 25, 2008 TERÄSBETONI — which represented Finland in this year's Eurovision song contest — placed 22nd (out of a total of 25 contestants) in the event's finals, which was held last night (Saturday, May 24) in Belgrade, Serbia. Watch video footage of the band's performance on last night's broadcast below. Dima Bilan, one of Russia's biggest pop stars, won the 53rd Eurovision song contest with his song "Believe". "Myrskyntuoja", the third and latest album from TERÄSBETONI, was recently certified gold in the band's home country for sales in excess of 15,000 copies. The CD was produced by Hiili Hiilesmaa (HIM, APOCALYPTICA, THE 69 EYES), who previously worked with TERÄSBETONI on the group's last LP, the gold-certified (in Finland) "Vaadimme metallia", which came out in 2006. For more information, visit (Thanks: Siria / www.konzi-tip.de) Finnish metal group— which represented Finland in this year'ssong contest — placed 22nd (out of a total of 25 contestants) in the event's finals, which was held last night (Saturday, May 24) in Belgrade, Serbia.Watch video footage of the band's performance on last night's broadcast below., one of Russia's biggest pop stars, won the 53rdsong contest with his song, the third and latest album from, was recently certified gold in the band's home country for sales in excess of 15,000 copies. The CD was produced by), who previously worked withon the group's last LP, the gold-certified (in Finland), which came out in 2006.For more information, visit www.terasbetoni.com (Thanks: To report any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, please send an e-mail to bmouth@bellatlantic.net with pertinent details. Anyone posting such material will be immediately and permanently banned. IP addresses are recorded to aid us in enforcing these conditions. COMMENT | Don't worry TERÄSBETONI posted by : CarcassRule 5/25/2008 5:39:14 AM it's all about politics. You could get up there and fart for three minutes, but if enough countries want to suck up to you, you'll win. Well done Russia, I guess you are feared once more COMMENT | ^ posted by : Guillotine 5/25/2008 5:43:57 AM yeah, i mean lordi would have induced a lot of fear. COMMENT | Lordi posted by : 5/25/2008 6:06:38 AM the metal block vote mobilzied behind lordi with global Vote Lordi parties...and I vote lordi tshirts there werent any for this band... great song tho.. I voted for em. Contest crap, UK entry even worse, but it aint worth getting your knickers in a twist!! What does it all mean and who indeed cares, apart from a bunch of gay guys in old compton st! COMMENT | Terebotsoni! posted by : 5/25/2008 6:07:23 AM lets see them added to the Wacken bill and maiden support!! He he he! (soory spelt band name wrong!) COMMENT | posted by : 5/25/2008 6:16:56 AM It could be worse they could be part of Rockstar Supernova reunion gig. Beyond that I will add NEVER send a boy to do a man's job. Finland has many better metal export than Terasbetoniiann. Finland should have reformed Sentenced for sappy gloom and doom love ballad, that would be surefire championship concoction. COMMENT | Come on... posted by : 5/25/2008 6:24:35 AM Maiden for UK entry 09. COMMENT | posted by : Meaney 5/25/2008 6:38:18 AM "Maiden for UK entry 09." we'd still lose cos were not eastern european COMMENT | posted by : Lord of Noise 5/25/2008 7:46:53 AM C'mon, the UK has been out of the running since we invaded Iraq. Lordi had a number of things going for them - a few friendly countries in their bit of Europe, massive exposure from controversy, vote Lordi campaigns, a catchier song, they sang in English, they look cool. Terasbetoni (sorry guys but B-mouth doesn't like the only way of putting the punctuation up that I know of) had a song that wasn't that far behind Lordi's, but the only one of those above points they had was a few Nordic mates. Lordi could be remembered as the last non-Eastern-European entry to win Eurovision. COMMENT | posted by : 5/25/2008 7:57:08 AM i can't believe all you metal fans debating this so fiercely my gf made me watch it and it was lame those guys were the highlight and far better than lordi COMMENT | Susperia posted by : 5/25/2008 8:42:48 AM I quite enjoyed this song but Finnish is NOT a Metal language. It sounds laboured and overcomplicated. I listen to Pagan/Viking Metal and even I will admit it is mostly the music that draws me in. Eurovision is a cankered event with no redeeming features whatsoever. COMMENT | next time posted by : 5/25/2008 9:08:32 AM i enjoyed both songs from turkey and suomi which had a hard rocking edge. but the winner´s song says everything about this event. hope to see some good metal from russia next time ;) COMMENT | Eurovision 2009 posted by : 5/25/2008 11:17:34 AM Finland should keep on going with their current theme, and as such I would like to officially start the "Children of Bodom for Eurovision 2009" campaign. COMMENT | posted by : Avenger 5/25/2008 1:49:57 PM This contest is a disgrace for europe and so ridiculous that anyone who watches it should feel embarresed of being a human. If you're going to make a living by humiliating yourself in public for millions of viewers try at least to do it with some dignity instead of this crap. And yes, my english sucks so dont point that out. Metal has nothing to do with eurovision and i think they should be ashamed that they didnt end up at the last place. COMMENT | posted by : 5/25/2008 3:49:50 PM just another European band for GWAR to kill onstage lol BLABBERMOUTH.NET is run and operated independently of Roadrunner Records. The accuracy of the information contained herein is neither confirmed nor guaranteed by Roadrunner Records, and the views and opinions of authors expressed on these pages do not necessarily state or reflect those of Roadrunner Records or its employees. Latest News | News Archive | CD Reviews | DVD Reviews | Contact | Submit News | | Advertise | Wireless | Privacy Policy | ||||| Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play. Advertisement Russian singer Dima Bilan has won this year's Eurovision Song Contest. Bilan is one of Russia's biggest pop stars and his heartfelt ballad Believe, produced by US R&B; star Timbaland, gave Russia its first ever Eurovision win. Ukraine's Ani Lorak came second with her energetic disco track Shady Lady, followed by Greece with upbeat pop song Secret Combination by Kalomira. But British talent show runner-up Andy Abraham came last with his song Even If, gaining just 14 points. EUROVISION TOP FIVE 1. Russia: 272 points 2. Ukraine (above): 230 3. Greece: 218 4. Armenia: 199 5. Norway: 182 Germany and Poland also received 14 points each, but they officially finished above the UK because their top scores in a single round were higher. Dima Bilan won with a stage show that included Olympic figure skating champion Evgeni Plushenko performing on a small ice circle. Bilan is a well-known performer throughout Russia and beyond, having been named best artist at the country's MTV Awards for the past three years in a row. He took part in Eurovision in 2006, finishing second behind Finnish rock monsters Lordi. He has recorded an album in English with Timbaland, including a duet with Canadian singer Nelly Furtado, and hopes to use it to break into the international market later this year. I was sitting with a group of Russians and they were going absolutely crazy as the results were being announced The BBC's Fiona Pryor in Belgrade Read the reporter's log This year's other entrants included Latvian pirates, a Finnish heavy rock group, a 75-year-old Croatian rapper and French dance musician Sebastian Tellier, who has worked with Daft Punk and Air. Swedish singer Charlotte Perrelli, who won the event in 1999, was another hot tip and was picked as the winner in a Europe-wide BBC poll before the event. But she failed to become the first female singer to win the contest twice. The show was opened in front of 20,000 fans at the Belgrade Arena by last year's winner Marija Serifovic. The 20 countries that came through the semi-finals joined hosts Serbia plus the UK, France, Germany and Spain - the contest's four biggest backers. E-mail this to a friend Printable version Bookmark with: Delicious Digg reddit Facebook StumbleUpon What are these? ||||| Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play. Advertisement By Michael Osborn Entertainment reporter, BBC News Sweden's Eurovision entry has emerged as the favourite to win this year's contest in a Europe-wide BBC vote. Charlotte Perrelli, who won the event in 1999, was the convincing victor with her song Hero, ahead of Ukraine, Switzerland and host nation Serbia. The United Kingdom's Andy Abraham polled only enough votes to finish in 33rd place in a field of 43 songs. One Eurovision fan from each country chose their Top 10 songs ahead of tonight's first semi-final in Belgrade. BBC EUROVISION VOTE - TOP FIVE 1 Sweden - 245 points 2 Ukraine - 183 points 3 Switzerland - 159 points 4 Serbia - 152 points 5 Russia (pictured) - 122 points Eurovision vote: Top 10 The final scoreboard Their choices were awarded Eurovision-style points, with one point for 10th place, up to a maximum of 12 points for their favourite songs. The points were combined to create the final standings, from 1st to 43rd place. Montenegro came last with just two points. The Swedish star finished 62 points clear of Ukraine's Ani Lorak, and was awarded maximum points by several fans from all parts of Europe. Perrelli - who won Eurovision in 1999 as Charlotte Nilsson - would secure Sweden's fifth win if successful, and become the first woman to win two contests. Ireland's Johnny Logan is the only singer to have won twice in the competition's 53-year history, in 1980 and 1987. For the first time this year, two semi-finals are being staged - and most of the 43 competing countries will have to fight for a place in the final. The only automatic finalists are the host nation and last year's winner Serbia, plus the UK, France, Germany and Spain - the biggest financial contributors to the event. Nineteen countries will take part in both Tuesday and Thursday's semi-finals, with a public vote determining nine qualifiers from each pool. 'Neighbourly' voting A jury will choose one more country in each semi-final to pass into the 25-strong grand final. The biggest change to the contest since 2004 has partly been made to accommodate the growing numbers of song contest participants. But organisers have responded to severe criticisms of the 2007 semi-final, which resulted in only eastern European countries making the final cut. Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play. Advertisement Semi-finalists have been divided into two groups based on their usual voting preferences in a bid to lessen the impact of "neighbourly" voting. Traditional voting allies Greece and Cyprus have been split up, the former Yugoslav, Baltic and Scandinavian countries have been separated, while the UK will not be able to vote for Ireland. The UK has been given voting rights in Thursday's semi final, while both preliminary competitions are being screened on BBC Three. Organisers hope a broader range of countries will contest the final. The outcome, however, will rest solely on public voting, as in previous years. The Eurovision Song Contest semi-finals take place on 20 and 22 May and will be shown on BBC Three at 2000 BST. The grand final is on 24 May and will be screened on BBC One from 2000 BST. E-mail this to a friend Printable version Bookmark with: Delicious Digg reddit Facebook StumbleUpon What are these? | Dima Bilan has won the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest, the 53rd, for Russia with his song ''Believe''. The song was developed by US R&B artist Timbaland. The song won the competition with 272 points; 42 points ahead of Ukraine's Ani Lorak in second place with 230 points for the song ''Shady Lady''. Third was Kalomira for Greece with ''Secret Combination'' The voting for the competition came from 43 countries across Europe, but with 25 countries competing, the others having failed to get through the semi finals. Russia has never won the contest before, Bilan having come second in 2006, losing out to Finnish hard rock band Lordi with ''Hard Rock Halellujah''. Dima Bilan (centre) performing in the first semi final of the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest Furtherdown the scale Germany's No Angels with ''Disapear'', Poland's Isis Gee with ''For Life'' and the United Kingdom's Andy Abraham with ''Even If'' came joint last with 14 points. Fourth last was Teräsbetoni, a Finnish heavy metal band performing in their native language with ''Missä Mihet Ratsastaa'' (Where Men Ride). Sweden's Charlotte Perrelli had been predicted to repeat her 1999 victory, this time with ''Hero'', but also received a low score. There was an estimated 100 million television viewers from across Europe. UK commentator Terry Wogan has garnered significant media attention for criticising the contest live towards the end of the broadcast for being overly political. "It's a disappointment, considering that Andy Abraham gave, I think, the performance of his life with a song that certainly deserved more marks than it got when you look at the points that Spain got, that Bosnia-Herzegovina got - some really ridiculous songs," he said. "You have to say that this is no longer a music contest... I have to decide whether we (himself and his producer, who already announced he wanted to leave) want to do this again. Western European participants have to decide whether they want to take part from here on in, because their prospects are poor." He called the contest "political". Spain was represented by Rodolfo Chikilicuatre with ''Baila el Chiki Chiki'' (Dance the Chiki Chiki) and Bosnia and Herzegovina by Elvir Laković Laka with ''Pokušaj'' (try). Bilan, who received the maximum 12 points from Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine, Belarus and Armenia, all of which are former Soviet countries, was sent a telegram from Putin to congratulate him after his victory. Mevedev also contacted him later by phone to congratulate him. "Russia is the favorite now, it's just tearing everybody up — in basketball, football, hockey, and Eurovision!" commented champion figure skater Evgeni Plushenko, who had joined Bilan onstage to skate as part of the winning performance. He is now also a politician. Next year's contest will be held in Russia. |
40-year-old suspect held in gruesome Manitoba bus killing Passenger decapitated, witnesses say; story contains graphic details A 40-year-old man is in custody in Manitoba after a young man was stabbed — and, witnesses said, decapitated — aboard a Greyhound bus travelling through the province overnight. Police officers spent Thursday examining a Greyhound bus where a passenger was reportedly stabbed and decapitated late Wednesday. (CBC)The RCMP would not confirm the reports of beheading, saying only that a stabbing took place around 8:30 p.m. CT on an eastbound Greyhound bus on the Trans-Canada Highway about 20 kilometres west of Portage la Prairie. The suspect, believed to be from outside Manitoba, was arrested early Thursday morning after a standoff lasting several hours and remains in RCMP custody . Charges have not yet been laid, and the suspect has not yet been interviewed, said RCMP spokesman Staff Sgt. Steve Colwell, adding that he could release no further information on the investigation. The RCMP declined to identify either the suspect or the victim. Thirty-seven people were aboard the bus en route to Winnipeg from Edmonton. Colwell said the "brave" behaviour of the passengers and driver probably prevented anyone else from being hurt. "It's not something that happens regularly on a bus," he said. "You're sitting there enjoying your trip and then all of a sudden somebody gets stabbed. I imagine it would be pretty traumatic … the way they acted was extraordinary." Victim 'just a kid': witness Passenger Cody Olmstead, 21, told CBC News he had smoked a cigarette earlier in the trip with the victim, whom he described as a man in his late teens or early 20s. The victim got on the bus in Edmonton, he said. "I never took the time to know him, but he seemed to be OK, right, just a kid," said Olmstead, a Nova Scotia man who had been taking the bus from Alberta to Montreal. "He just said he was going to Winnipeg … going home, that's where he was from." Garnet Caton said he heard a 'blood-curdling scream' and turned around to see a man repeatedly stabbing the passenger sitting next to him. (CBC)Garnet Caton, who was sitting in the seat in front of the victim, said he saw the attacker stab his seatmate, a young man sleeping with his headphones on. Caton said he heard a "blood-curdling scream" and turned around to see the attacker holding a large "Rambo" hunting knife above the victim, "continually stabbing him in the chest area." "He must have stabbed him 50 times or 60 times," said Caton. "Like, just everywhere, arms, legs, neck, chest, guts, wherever he could swing it, he got it," said Olmstead. "It looked kind of like a scuffle or an argument, you know, and then somebody's, like, 'Knife! Knife! Run!' so I was running up the alleyway, slapping people telling them to get going, move, get off the bus. I got pushed over, some lady got pushed over, I was just making sure everybody was OK, and we all got off the bus," said Olmstead As panicked passengers fled the bus, "the attacker was over top of the victim … continually cutting him. I think the victim was gone at that point," Caton said. Trio tried to check on victim Caton, the driver and a trucker who had stopped at the scene later boarded the vehicle to see if the victim was still alive. "When we came back on the bus, it was visible at the end of the bus he was cutting the guy's head off and pretty much gutting him up," said Caton. The attacker ran at them, Caton said, and they ran out of the bus, holding the door shut as he tried to slash at the trio. When the attacker tried to drive the bus away, the driver disabled the vehicle, Caton said. "While we were watching the door, he calmly walks up to the front with the head in his hand and the knife and just calmly stares at us and drops the head right in front of us," said Caton. "They did an awesome thing, holding him in there, because if not, what would have happened?" said Olmstead. RCMP crisis negotiators communicated with the suspect for several hours while he was on the bus. Around 1:30 a.m., he attempted to jump from a bus window and was subdued and arrested, RCMP said. Acted 'like he was a robot' Caton described the attacker as surprisingly calm. "It was like he was at the beach or something. There was no rage in him. He wasn't swearing or cursing or anything. It was just like he was a robot or something." The suspect remained on the bus for several hours and was arrested around 1:30 a.m., RCMP said. (John Woods/Canadian Press)Police cruisers arrived about 10 minutes after the attack began, he estimated, and officers began directing passengers to school buses to take them to a hotel in Brandon. "While we were waiting on the side of the road, [the attacker] was taunting the police with the head in his hand," said Caton. Caton described the attacker as appearing "totally normal" earlier in the journey, even chatting with a young woman as he smoked a cigarette during a break. But when he got back on the bus, he moved his belongings from the front to a seat beside the victim in the back and about 20 minutes later began attacking the man, said Caton. "He didn't say anything to the victim at all," said Caton. Counsellors, chaplains aid passengers A six-year-old and other children were among the passengers who saw the horrific incident unfold, said Caton. "It was pretty traumatic," he said, adding that some passengers said they have been unable to sleep or eat since it happened. "It's disturbing," Olmstead agreed, adding that images of the previous night haunted him when he tried to fall asleep early Thursday morning. "I closed my eyes and I seen him in the window there, just like a madman." Bev Cumming, head of acute care services for the Brandon Regional Health Authority, said chaplains and psychiatric nurses have been working with dozens of passengers on the bus since they arrived in Brandon. Bus violence Recent violent incidents that have occurred on Greyhound buses in Canada: Dec. 24, 2007: A 27-year-old man is stabbed after an argument with another passenger on a bus near Tweed, Ont. Feb. 16, 2007: A group of people in their 20s attack and beat the driver of a bus in Lloydminster, Alta. Dec. 23, 2000: A man attempts to take control of a bus near Thunder Bay, Ont. Thirty-two passengers are injured when the bus lands on its side in a ditch. One woman later dies of her injuries. March, 2000. A pregnant woman is attacked by a man on a bus in London, Ont. The woman suffered injuries to her arms. "When you see something as horrifying as that, the brain locks on to those images. It's very difficult to release those images," Cumming said. "The assistance that people will get will be along the lines of coping in the immediate phase, learning what to do to reduce the profound effect this experience will have." Tim Sen, president of Trauma Management Group, which offers counselling and post-traumatic support in Ontario, said it will take time for bus passengers to come to terms with what they've seen. "They will experience very, very vivid flashbacks of that occurrence. Those will usually dissipate over a period of time, but right now it's going to be very vivid [as] they're still dealing with the shock and processing this horrific event," he said. "There's not a right or wrong way to go through this. Some people will still be in shock and being very flat in presentation, like nothing's happened. Other people may not get out of bed and not want to move for a while, or be having what we call very acute [responses], so they'll be maybe crying and not wanting to calm down at all. Everybody's going to go through this very difficult journey in a very different way." For children on the bus, Sen said, the response will depend on the age and maturity of the child. Generally, the key message caregivers should try to convey is that the situation is over and the child is now safe. If intense feelings and emotions and symptoms such as flashbacks don't subside within a few months, Sen said, the passengers should consider seeking professional help. Investigation is in 'full motion': minister Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day commented on the killing, saying that like most Canadians, he was horrified to hear witness accounts of the homicide. "The horrific nature of it is probably one of a kind in Canadian history," he told reporters late Thursday morning in Lévis, Que. The minister said he didn't want to say anything that would compromise the investigation, but "I can assure people that everything is in full motion and momentum to getting to the bottom of this incident." Questioned about whether weapons regulations should be put into place for buses, Day said it would be premature to look at such precautionary measures but added that the legal process will be followed as "aggressively as possible." The union that represents Greyhound drivers says the company must move to improve its security measures. "All we can do is physically observe the individual's behaviour, but obviously the item of destruction got on the bus somehow, and if it was visible to any driver, he would not have boarded the bus just for that simple reason," said Jim Higgs, a spokesman for the Amalgamated Transit Union. "There has to be some reactive measures taken, whether it be metal screening, or whether we design differently our loading policies at various depots [so] you have to funnel down a chute as your only way onto the bus…. At major terminals, I really believe now we have to do something — not only that, we have to be investigating carry-on luggage and certain things like that." Greyhound spokeswoman Abby Wambaugh said the company is examining security on buses. "We are working with Transport Canada to review inter-city bus security," she said. "Due to the rural nature of our network, airport-type security is not practical for bus travel. It's just a completely different system." With files from the Canadian Press ||||| RCMP officers investigate a "major incident" that occured on a Greyhound bus Thursday morning, July 31, 2008 about 18km west of Portage La Prairie, Man. There are unconfirmed reports of a passenger being stabbed then decapitated onboard the bus late Wednesday, July 30, 2008. THE CANADIAN PRESS/John Woods Victim of horrific attack on bus in Manitoba was easy-going, says friend WINNIPEG — A quiet, easy-going carnival worker who was heading home to Winnipeg has been identified as the victim of an unthinkably horrific and random slaying on a Greyhound bus. Friends said Tim McLean, 22, was the young man who was stabbed repeatedly and then decapitated by a man sitting next to him, who then carved up his body in front of terrified passengers. William Caron, 23, of Winnipeg, said that contrary to some reports, McLean was not asleep when the attack happened. "I was talking to one of his ex-girlfriends not too long ago, and she was texting him the whole way back from Edmonton until 10 minutes before this accident happens," Caron told The Canadian Press. "He was just sitting there texting her, listening to music on his cellphone." Manitoba RCMP had few answers Thursday as to what prompted the attack. Police would only say that a victim was stabbed on the bus that had left Edmonton for Winnipeg, but passengers described a gruesome, unprovoked attack that left them shaken. "It's not something that happens regularly on a bus," said Staff Sgt. Steve Colwell. "You're sitting there enjoying your trip and then all of a sudden somebody gets stabbed." Passengers gave a much more graphic account of events. "We heard this blood-curdling scream and turned around, and the guy was standing up, stabbing this guy repeatedly, like 40 or 50 times," Garnet Caton said from a hotel in Brandon, Man., where he and other passengers had been taken to rest. "There was no rage or anything. He was like a robot, stabbing the guy." Caton said the bus stopped immediately, just west of Portage La Prairie on Wednesday night, and everyone scrambled to get out while the attacker started methodically carving up the victim's body, not paying attention to anyone else. There have been several media reports that the man was seen to consume some of the victim's flesh. Caton and the driver shut the bus door from the outside while they waited for police to arrive. "We put our bodies up against the door, waiting for him to come out ... and he went back and brought the head to the front and pretty much displayed it ... and dropped it on the ground in front of us," Caton said. "All very calmly. He was wearing sunglasses. It was no big deal to him." Fellow passenger Cody Olmstead from Kentville, N.S., also recalled the chilling scene. "The guy came to the front of the door with buddy's head in his hands, decapitated. He dropped the head and went back and started cutting the body back up," Olmstead said. When police arrived a few minutes later, passengers were taken away and the officers tried to get the attacker to surrender. The man, described as a 40-year-old from outside the province, eventually tried to flee by breaking a bus window and jumping out, Colwell said. "He was immediately subdued and arrested without incident." Both Olmstead and Caton said the attacker and McLean appeared not to know each other. They said the attacker boarded the bus in Brandon on Wednesday night. McLean had been on the bus since it left Edmonton. McLean's father, Tim McLean Sr., told CBC News Thursday night that he was in the process of trying to get confirmation from the police that his son was, in fact, the victim of the attack. The father said that his son had sent him a text message as the bus was leaving Brandon, the last leg of its journey, to ask if he could come home for the night. McLean told his son that, of course, he could come home, and that was the last contact he had with him. A Facebook website called "R.I.P. Tim" quickly sprang up after news of the attack. "I can't believe this is happening," wrote Leah Dryburgh of Winnipeg. "Tim, you were the best guy ever. You didn't deserve this at all." Caron said he was one of McLean's best friends, having known each other since they were in Grade 7. "I knew he was coming back ... from the (exhibition)," said Caron, who said his buddy worked a carnival booth at fairs around western Canada. "My brother was supposed to go meet him at the bus depot and he never showed up." Caron said his three children all loved McLean, who he described as a quiet, easy-going guy. "I was completely shocked cuz Tim has never been a roughhousing guy," he said. "He's always been a quiet guy, just kind of socialized with his buddies and that was it." He said his friend was small, around five-foot-four and weighing maybe 130 pounds. "From what I hear, this other guy is three times his size," Caron said. "All the time I've known Tim, he's never been the type of guy to get into a fight with. He always kept to himself when there's strangers around." Federal Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day said the full weight of the law must be brought to bear on the perpetrator. "We want to make sure the process is followed as aggressively as possible, the full legal process ...." Day said from Levis, Que., where Conservative MPs are gathered for a summer planning session. "This particular incident, as horrific as it is, is obviously extremely rare. Certainly the horrific nature of it is probably one-of-a-kind in Canadian history." Greyhound called the event tragic but isolated. A company spokeswoman said bus travel is the safest mode of transportation, despite the fact bus stations do not have metal detectors and other security measures used at airports. "Due to the rural nature of our network, airport-type security is not practical. It's a very different type of system," Abby Wambaugh said from Greyhound's corporate offices in Texas. Passengers had no explanation either as to what might have prompted the attack. The suspect had been on the bus for only about an hour and didn't even sit near McLean at first. "He sat in the front at first, everything was normal," Caton said. "We went to the next stop and he got off and had a smoke with another young lady there. When he got on the bus again, he came to the back near where I was sitting. "He put his bags in the overhead compartment. He didn't say a word to anybody. He seemed totally normal. About a half an hour later, we heard this blood-curdling scream." RCMP had not yet talked to the suspect, Colwell said. ||||| 40-year-old suspect held in gruesome Manitoba bus killing Passenger decapitated, witnesses say; story contains graphic details A 40-year-old man is in custody in Manitoba after a young man was stabbed — and, witnesses said, decapitated — aboard a Greyhound bus travelling through the province overnight. Police officers spent Thursday examining a Greyhound bus where a passenger was reportedly stabbed and decapitated late Wednesday. (CBC)The RCMP would not confirm the reports of beheading, saying only that a stabbing took place around 8:30 p.m. CT on an eastbound Greyhound bus on the Trans-Canada Highway about 20 kilometres west of Portage la Prairie. The suspect, believed to be from outside Manitoba, was arrested early Thursday morning after a standoff lasting several hours and remains in RCMP custody . Charges have not yet been laid, and the suspect has not yet been interviewed, said RCMP spokesman Staff Sgt. Steve Colwell, adding that he could release no further information on the investigation. The RCMP declined to identify either the suspect or the victim. Thirty-seven people were aboard the bus en route to Winnipeg from Edmonton. Colwell said the "brave" behaviour of the passengers and driver probably prevented anyone else from being hurt. "It's not something that happens regularly on a bus," he said. "You're sitting there enjoying your trip and then all of a sudden somebody gets stabbed. I imagine it would be pretty traumatic … the way they acted was extraordinary." Victim 'just a kid': witness Passenger Cody Olmstead, 21, told CBC News he had smoked a cigarette earlier in the trip with the victim, whom he described as a man in his late teens or early 20s. The victim got on the bus in Edmonton, he said. "I never took the time to know him, but he seemed to be OK, right, just a kid," said Olmstead, a Nova Scotia man who had been taking the bus from Alberta to Montreal. "He just said he was going to Winnipeg … going home, that's where he was from." Garnet Caton said he heard a 'blood-curdling scream' and turned around to see a man repeatedly stabbing the passenger sitting next to him. (CBC)Garnet Caton, who was sitting in the seat in front of the victim, said he saw the attacker stab his seatmate, a young man sleeping with his headphones on. Caton said he heard a "blood-curdling scream" and turned around to see the attacker holding a large "Rambo" hunting knife above the victim, "continually stabbing him in the chest area." "He must have stabbed him 50 times or 60 times," said Caton. "Like, just everywhere, arms, legs, neck, chest, guts, wherever he could swing it, he got it," said Olmstead. "It looked kind of like a scuffle or an argument, you know, and then somebody's, like, 'Knife! Knife! Run!' so I was running up the alleyway, slapping people telling them to get going, move, get off the bus. I got pushed over, some lady got pushed over, I was just making sure everybody was OK, and we all got off the bus," said Olmstead As panicked passengers fled the bus, "the attacker was over top of the victim … continually cutting him. I think the victim was gone at that point," Caton said. Trio tried to check on victim Caton, the driver and a trucker who had stopped at the scene later boarded the vehicle to see if the victim was still alive. "When we came back on the bus, it was visible at the end of the bus he was cutting the guy's head off and pretty much gutting him up," said Caton. The attacker ran at them, Caton said, and they ran out of the bus, holding the door shut as he tried to slash at the trio. When the attacker tried to drive the bus away, the driver disabled the vehicle, Caton said. "While we were watching the door, he calmly walks up to the front with the head in his hand and the knife and just calmly stares at us and drops the head right in front of us," said Caton. "They did an awesome thing, holding him in there, because if not, what would have happened?" said Olmstead. RCMP crisis negotiators communicated with the suspect for several hours while he was on the bus. Around 1:30 a.m., he attempted to jump from a bus window and was subdued and arrested, RCMP said. Acted 'like he was a robot' Caton described the attacker as surprisingly calm. "It was like he was at the beach or something. There was no rage in him. He wasn't swearing or cursing or anything. It was just like he was a robot or something." The suspect remained on the bus for several hours and was arrested around 1:30 a.m., RCMP said. (John Woods/Canadian Press)Police cruisers arrived about 10 minutes after the attack began, he estimated, and officers began directing passengers to school buses to take them to a hotel in Brandon. "While we were waiting on the side of the road, [the attacker] was taunting the police with the head in his hand," said Caton. Caton described the attacker as appearing "totally normal" earlier in the journey, even chatting with a young woman as he smoked a cigarette during a break. But when he got back on the bus, he moved his belongings from the front to a seat beside the victim in the back and about 20 minutes later began attacking the man, said Caton. "He didn't say anything to the victim at all," said Caton. Counsellors, chaplains aid passengers A six-year-old and other children were among the passengers who saw the horrific incident unfold, said Caton. "It was pretty traumatic," he said, adding that some passengers said they have been unable to sleep or eat since it happened. "It's disturbing," Olmstead agreed, adding that images of the previous night haunted him when he tried to fall asleep early Thursday morning. "I closed my eyes and I seen him in the window there, just like a madman." Bev Cumming, head of acute care services for the Brandon Regional Health Authority, said chaplains and psychiatric nurses have been working with dozens of passengers on the bus since they arrived in Brandon. Bus violence Recent violent incidents that have occurred on Greyhound buses in Canada: Dec. 24, 2007: A 27-year-old man is stabbed after an argument with another passenger on a bus near Tweed, Ont. Feb. 16, 2007: A group of people in their 20s attack and beat the driver of a bus in Lloydminster, Alta. Dec. 23, 2000: A man attempts to take control of a bus near Thunder Bay, Ont. Thirty-two passengers are injured when the bus lands on its side in a ditch. One woman later dies of her injuries. March, 2000. A pregnant woman is attacked by a man on a bus in London, Ont. The woman suffered injuries to her arms. "When you see something as horrifying as that, the brain locks on to those images. It's very difficult to release those images," Cumming said. "The assistance that people will get will be along the lines of coping in the immediate phase, learning what to do to reduce the profound effect this experience will have." Tim Sen, president of Trauma Management Group, which offers counselling and post-traumatic support in Ontario, said it will take time for bus passengers to come to terms with what they've seen. "They will experience very, very vivid flashbacks of that occurrence. Those will usually dissipate over a period of time, but right now it's going to be very vivid [as] they're still dealing with the shock and processing this horrific event," he said. "There's not a right or wrong way to go through this. Some people will still be in shock and being very flat in presentation, like nothing's happened. Other people may not get out of bed and not want to move for a while, or be having what we call very acute [responses], so they'll be maybe crying and not wanting to calm down at all. Everybody's going to go through this very difficult journey in a very different way." For children on the bus, Sen said, the response will depend on the age and maturity of the child. Generally, the key message caregivers should try to convey is that the situation is over and the child is now safe. If intense feelings and emotions and symptoms such as flashbacks don't subside within a few months, Sen said, the passengers should consider seeking professional help. Investigation is in 'full motion': minister Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day commented on the killing, saying that like most Canadians, he was horrified to hear witness accounts of the homicide. "The horrific nature of it is probably one of a kind in Canadian history," he told reporters late Thursday morning in Lévis, Que. The minister said he didn't want to say anything that would compromise the investigation, but "I can assure people that everything is in full motion and momentum to getting to the bottom of this incident." Questioned about whether weapons regulations should be put into place for buses, Day said it would be premature to look at such precautionary measures but added that the legal process will be followed as "aggressively as possible." The union that represents Greyhound drivers says the company must move to improve its security measures. "All we can do is physically observe the individual's behaviour, but obviously the item of destruction got on the bus somehow, and if it was visible to any driver, he would not have boarded the bus just for that simple reason," said Jim Higgs, a spokesman for the Amalgamated Transit Union. "There has to be some reactive measures taken, whether it be metal screening, or whether we design differently our loading policies at various depots [so] you have to funnel down a chute as your only way onto the bus…. At major terminals, I really believe now we have to do something — not only that, we have to be investigating carry-on luggage and certain things like that." Greyhound spokeswoman Abby Wambaugh said the company is examining security on buses. "We are working with Transport Canada to review inter-city bus security," she said. "Due to the rural nature of our network, airport-type security is not practical for bus travel. It's just a completely different system." With files from the Canadian Press ||||| Knife-wielding man beheads fellow passenger on Canadian bus OTTAWA (AFP) — A passenger travelling across Canada's Western plains on a bus stabbed, gutted and decapitated a man seated next to him, and then taunted police with the head, a witness told media Thursday. The victim, believed to be 18 years old, had been sleeping with headphones on his ears before he was repeatedly stabbed in the chest by the man with a "big Rambo knife," witness Garnet Caton told public broadcaster CBC. The other 34 passengers and the driver were jolted by "blood-curdling screams" and fled, bracing the door on their way out to trap the assailant inside the bus, he said. "He must have stabbed him 50 times or 60 times," said Caton. When Caton and two others returned to check on the victim, he said they saw the attacker "cutting the guy's head off and gutting him." "While we were watching ... he calmly walked up to the front (of the bus) with the head in his hand and the knife and just calmly stared at us and dropped the head right in front of us." "There was no rage in him and he wasn't swearing or cursing or anything, it was just like he was a robot or something." Moments later, police surrounded the bus and arrested the man after a nearly three-hour standoff, an official said. "He was taunting police with the head in his hand out the window," said Caton. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said they were investigating a "major incident" that occurred at 9 pm Wednesday (0200 GMT Thursday) on a Greyhound bus travelling east from Edmonton to Winnipeg, but offered few details. A 40-year-old man was subdued after he jumped out of a broken window of the bus parked on the side of the desolate highway, RCMP Sergeant Steve Colwell told a press conference. "At this time, I'm not aware of what may have provoked this attack," Colwell said, refusing to confirm or deny eyewitness accounts. "I can confirm the victim was stabbed, and that the victim was pronounced dead at the scene." Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day called the attack "horrific." ||||| Day decries bus stabbing as one-of-a-kind in Canadian history LEVIS, Que. — Public Safety Minister Stockwell is expressing shock at what he calls a "horrific" bus stabbing that he's calling one-of-a-kind in Canadian history. Day was reacting to what witnesses say was a savage knife attack on a Greyhound bus in Manitoba that resulted in a person being killed and later beheaded. Day, in Levis, Que., for a summer planning session of Conservative MPs, says the full weight of the law must be brought to bear on the perpetrator. But he says such an incident is, thankfully, extremely rare - in fact he's calling it "probably one-of-a-kind in Canadian history." Day says he wouldn't even entertain the notion of registering knives as dangerous weapons, noting that millions of kitchen knives alone are likely sold each year. ||||| Police investigate the scene around a Greyhound bus Thursday July 31, 2008 near Portage La Prairie, Manitoba, Canada. Witnesses say a man aboard a Greyhound bus repeatedly stabbed and then decapitated a seat mate, pausing during the attack to display the head to passengers who had fled in horror on Wednesday night. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Winnipeg Free Press, Ken Gigliotti) Canada bus passenger stabs, decapitates seat mate PORTAGE LA PRAIRIE, Manitoba (AP) — A traveler aboard a Greyhound bus repeatedly stabbed and then decapitated his seat mate, pausing during the savage attack in central Canada to display the head to passengers who had fled in horror, witnesses and officials said Thursday. A 40-year-old man was arrested after the grisly slaying late Wednesday night aboard a bus en route from Edmonton, Alberta, to Winnipeg, Manitoba, Royal Canadian Mounted Police Sgt. Steve Colwell told reporters. Police apprehended the suspect early Thursday as he tried to escape from the bus about three hours after the attack, Colwell said. Authorities said a motive had not been determined. They declined to identify the suspect or the victim, and provided few details about the attack. But passenger Garnet Caton said the victim, who appeared to be about 19, was sleeping with headphones on when his seat mate suddenly began stabbing him as the bus traveled a desolate stretch of the TransCanada Highway, a dozen miles from Portage La Prairie. Caton, sitting just one seat in front of the two men, said he heard no exchanges between them prior to the violence. "We heard this bloodcurdling scream and turned around, and the guy was standing up, stabbing this guy repeatedly, like 40 or 50 times," Caton said from a hotel in Brandon, Manitoba, where he and other horrified passengers were taken. Caton said the driver stopped the bus when he became aware of the savagery going on aboard and passengers scrambled off. He said the suspect appeared to be methodically cutting into the victim's body. "When he was attacking him, he was calm ... like he was at the beach," said Caton. "There was no rage or, or anything. He was just like a robot stabbing the guy." The bus driver, Caton and a trucker at the scene re-boarded to see what was happening. Caton said he saw the suspect had the victim on the floor of the bus and "was cutting his head off and pretty much gutting him" with a large hunting knife. The attacker turned toward them and the three men quickly left the bus, blocking the door as the attacker slashed at them through an opening. The three secured the door to prevent the man from fleeing. Caton said the driver disabled the vehicle after the attacker tried to drive it away. As the three guarded the door with a crow bar and a hammer, the attacker went back to the body and calmly came to the front of the bus to show off the head. Fellow passenger Cody Olmstead said the man "dropped the head and went back and started cutting the body." Olmstead said the man later taunted police and dropped the head in front of them. Greyhound spokeswoman Abby Wambaugh said 37 passengers were aboard, many watching the on-board movie "Zorro" when the violence erupted. "You're sitting there enjoying your trip and then all of a sudden somebody gets stabbed. I imagine it would be pretty traumatic," Colwell said. He said the actions of truck driver, bus driver and Caton probably prevented anyone else from being hurt. They "were very brave." The victim had been on the bus since Edmonton. Caton said the attacker boarded the bus in Brandon, Manitoba, about 80 miles west of Portage La Prairie. The suspect had been on the bus about an hour and initially did not sit near the victim, Caton said. "He sat in the front at first, everything was normal," Caton said. "We went to the next stop and he got off and had a smoke with another young lady there. When he got on the bus again, he came to the back near where I was sitting. "He put his bags in the overhead compartment. He didn't say a word to anybody. He seemed totally normal," Caton said. Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day called the attack bizarre, but did not discuss details, saying he did not want to jeopardize the investigation. (This version CORRECTS Note graphic contents throughout. UPDATES with further details. corrects spelling of first name of witness to Garnet. Adds more photos) | According to a Canadian Press report published Thursday and a CNN report Friday, 40-year-old Vince Weiguang Li of Edmonton, Alberta has been arrested for allegedly stabbing and decapitating a fellow passenger on a Greyhound bus in Manitoba, Canada on Wednesday night. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) has not confirmed a beheading, which witnesses have described to the press, saying only that the suspect allegedly stabbed the victim around 8:30 p.m. CT on a Greyhound bus traveling east on the Trans-Canada Highway about 20 kilometers west of Portage la Prairie, Manitoba. Canadian Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day described the attack as "horrific" according to Agence France-Presse and "probably one-of-a-kind in Canadian history" according to the Canadian Press. While the RCMP has not released the victim's name, the Canadian Press and CNN have reported that the deceased is Tim McLean, 22, who had been traveling from Edmonton to Winnipeg, where he lived. Two witnesses described the attack to CBC News: Garnet Caton, who was sitting in the seat in front of the victim, and Cody Olmstead, who smoked a cigarette with the victim just minutes shortly before the attack. "He must have stabbed him 50 times or 60 times," Caton told CBC News. Olmstead described the attack: "Like, just everywhere, arms, legs, neck, chest, guts, wherever he could swing it, he got it." Caton and Olmstead said that the other passengers fled. When the bus driver, a passing trucker and Caton returned to check on the victim, Caton noticed the victim's head was gone. Caton said that the attacker then chased them off the bus. CBC News reported that the suspect tried to drive the bus away from the scene, but the driver disabled the engine. Witnesses have said that the attacker then paraded the removed head from a bus window. "While we were watching the door, he calmly walks up to the front with the head in his hand and the knife and just calmly stares at us and drops the head right in front of us," Caton told the CBC. "The guy came to the front of the door with buddy's head in his hands, decapitated. He dropped the head and went back and started cutting the body back up," Olmstead described to the Canadian Press. RCMP arrested the suspect at about 1:30 a.m. local time after a three-hour standoff. As of about 3:00 p.m. Thursday, the Canadian Press reported that the RCMP has not yet questioned the subject and had laid no charges, though he was due Friday morning in the Provincial Court of Manitoba in Portage la Prairie, according to a statement posted on the RCMP web site. Greyhound spokeswoman Abby Wambaugh told the Associated Press that 37 passengers were aboard the bus. |
UN Endorses Israel-Palestinian War Crimes Report Palestinian woman walks past house destroyed during Israel's 22-day offensive in Jabalia in northern Gaza Strip, 15 Feb 2009 After two days of debate, the U.N. General Assembly has overwhelmingly endorsed a report from the Human Rights Council calling for domestic investigations into alleged war crimes committed by both Israel's military and Palestinian militants during the Gaza conflict that began last December. The final vote was 114 in favor, 18 against and 44 abstentions. Strong support came from the Arab and non-aligned countries, many of whom co-sponsored the draft resolution. Palestinian Ambassador Riyad Mansour welcomed the vote, saying the implementation of Justice Richard Goldstone's report will now begin in stages. "In three months we will come back to General Assembly to consider the report of the Secretary-General for further action, including in all parts of the United Nations, including in the Security Council," said Riyad Mansour. The non-binding resolution requests the secretary-general report to the General Assembly within three months on the implementation of the resolution, with a view to considering further action, if necessary. Of the countries abstaining or voting no, several said that although they agreed with the essence of the resolution - that the parties should conduct their own independent, credible investigations into alleged violations as called for in the Goldstone report - they could not vote in favor because they had difficulty with two specific items in the resolution. Britain's Deputy U.N. Ambassador Philip Parnham echoed that sentiment to reporters after the vote. "We have abstained, because in particular, we can't support the endorsement of the Goldstone report," said Philip Parnham. "But we do, we do support the core practical element of the resolution - which is the call for credible and thorough investigations." Former Judge Richard Goldstone, left, Head of the UN Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict, and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights South African Nava Pillay in Geneva, Switzerland (File) The other point of some contention is that the resolution leaves the door open for future action in the U.N. Security Council. The Palestinians have made clear they plan to pursue that option, but most of the council's five permanent veto-wielding members oppose the idea, saying the right forum for the Goldstone report is where it started - in the Human Rights Council in Geneva. The United States was the only permanent Security Council member to vote against the resolution. Deputy U.N. Ambassador Alejandro Wolff said that although it opposed the resolution, the United States strongly supports accountability for human rights and humanitarian law violations relating to the Gaza conflict. "We believe that the Goldstone report is deeply flawed-including its unbalanced focus on Israel, its sweeping conclusions of law, the excessively negative inferences it draws about Israel's intentions and actions, its failure to deal adequately with the asymmetrical nature of the Gaza conflict, its failure to assign appropriate responsibility to Hamas for its decision to base itself and its operations in heavily civilian-populated urban areas, and its many overreaching recommendations," said Alejandro Wolff. Israel, which did not cooperate with the Goldstone commission, voted against the resolution, saying it legitimized a "deeply flawed, one-sided" report, and disregarded Israel's right to defend its citizens. During the three-week-long Israeli military incursion into the Gaza Strip, at least 1,300 Palestinians and 13 Israelis were killed. The Goldstone Commission criticized both sides for violations of international humanitarian law. After two days of debate, the U.N. General Assembly has overwhelmingly endorsed a report from the Human Rights Council calling for domestic investigations into alleged war crimes committed by both Israel's military and Palestinian militants during the Gaza conflict that began last December.The final vote was 114 in favor, 18 against and 44 abstentions.Strong support came from the Arab and non-aligned countries, many of whom co-sponsored the draft resolution.Palestinian Ambassador Riyad Mansour welcomed the vote, saying the implementation of Justice Richard Goldstone's report will now begin in stages."In three months we will come back to General Assembly to consider the report of the Secretary-General for further action, including in all parts of the United Nations, including in the Security Council," said Riyad Mansour.The non-binding resolution requests the secretary-general report to the General Assembly within three months on the implementation of the resolution, with a view to considering further action, if necessary.Of the countries abstaining or voting no, several said that although they agreed with the essence of the resolution - that the parties should conduct their own independent, credible investigations into alleged violations as called for in the Goldstone report - they could not vote in favor because they had difficulty with two specific items in the resolution.Britain's Deputy U.N. Ambassador Philip Parnham echoed that sentiment to reporters after the vote."We have abstained, because in particular, we can't support the endorsement of the Goldstone report," said Philip Parnham. "But we do, we do support the core practical element of the resolution - which is the call for credible and thorough investigations."The other point of some contention is that the resolution leaves the door open for future action in the U.N. Security Council. The Palestinians have made clear they plan to pursue that option, but most of the council's five permanent veto-wielding members oppose the idea, saying the right forum for the Goldstone report is where it started - in the Human Rights Council in Geneva.The United States was the only permanent Security Council member to vote against the resolution.Deputy U.N. Ambassador Alejandro Wolff said that although it opposed the resolution, the United States strongly supports accountability for human rights and humanitarian law violations relating to the Gaza conflict."We believe that the Goldstone report is deeply flawed-including its unbalanced focus on Israel, its sweeping conclusions of law, the excessively negative inferences it draws about Israel's intentions and actions, its failure to deal adequately with the asymmetrical nature of the Gaza conflict, its failure to assign appropriate responsibility to Hamas for its decision to base itself and its operations in heavily civilian-populated urban areas, and its many overreaching recommendations," said Alejandro Wolff.Israel, which did not cooperate with the Goldstone commission, voted against the resolution, saying it legitimized a "deeply flawed, one-sided" report, and disregarded Israel's right to defend its citizens.During the three-week-long Israeli military incursion into the Gaza Strip, at least 1,300 Palestinians and 13 Israelis were killed. The Goldstone Commission criticized both sides for violations of international humanitarian law. E-mail Print Digg Yahoo Buzz Facebook del.icio.us StumbleUpon ||||| Security Mideast: UN endorses Gaza 'war crimes' report New York, 6 Nov. (AKI) - The United Nations General Assembly on Thursday approved a resolution endorsing a recent report that accused both Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas of war crimes. The resolutaion is now expected to be sent to the UN Security Council. "In three months we will come back to the General Assembly to consider the report of the secretary-general for further action, including in all parts of the United Nations, including in the Security Council," said Palestinian ambassador to the UN Riyad Mansour, quoted by Voice of America. The resolution supporting the report by South African prosecutor Richard Goldstone passed the UN's largest body with 114 votes in favour to 18 opposed. Forty-four states abstained. "The results of the vote and the large number of member states who voted against or abstained, demonstrate clearly that the resolution does not have the support of the 'moral majority' of UN members," said a statement in Israel's ministry of foreign affairs website. "Israel rejects the resolution of the UN General Assembly, which is completely detached from realities on the ground." The report - widely criticised by Israel and backed by the Palestinians - accused both Israel and the militant Palestinian movement Hamas of committing war crimes during the Israeli army's three-week assault on the Gaza Strip in late December and early January. Around 1,400 Palestinians were killed in the Israeli offensive, according to rights groups. Israel, however, puts the death toll at 1,166. The report said Israel used disproportionate force, deliberately targeting civilians, used Palestinians as human shields and destroyed civilian infrastructure. The report also said that Palestinian militant groups including the Islamist Hamas had committed war crimes in their rocket attacks against civilians in southern Israel. During the Israeli offensive, termed 'Operation Cast Lead', more than 50,000 Palestinian homes were destroyed by the Israeli army, as well as 29 mosques, two churches and 200 schools. The 22-day Israeli military operation, launched with the stated aim of ending Hamas rocket attacks against Israel, killed some 1,400 Palestinians and injured more than 5,400 others, according to UN figures. Ten Israeli soldiers and three civilians hit by cross-border rocket fire were killed in the conflict. ||||| Most of the report's criticism was directed towards Israel's conduct during the Gaza offensive [AFP] Most of the report's criticism was directed towards Israel's conduct during the Gaza offensive [AFP] Most of the report's criticism was directed towards Israel's conduct during the Gaza offensive [AFP] The Goldstone report, which accuses both Israel and Hamas of war crimes, was endorsed by the assembly on Thursday by a margin of 114 to 18, after two days of debate. The United Nations General Assembly has voted in favour of resolution endorsing a UN-sponsored report into war crimes committed during Israel's war on Gaza. Forty-four member-nations abstained from voting. The report, which was compiled by a panel led by Richard Goldstone, a South African judge, had already been endorsed by the UN Human Rights Council, which sponsored the fact-finding commission. The report calls on both Israel and the Palestinians to investigate within three months accusations of human-rights violations during the 22-day conflict in December and January. Most of the criticism in the Goldstone report was directed towards Israel's conduct during the offensive, in which human rights organisations say about 1,400 Palestinians - many of them women and children - were killed. Thirteen Israelis, including three civilians, were killed over the course of the war. The report concluded that Israel used disproportionate force in the war, deliberately targeting Gaza civilians, using them as human shields, and destroying civilian infrastructure. Offensive conduct Apart from Israel and the US, a number of European countries including Italy, the Netherlands, Poland and the Czech Republic, voted against the resolution. Britain and France were among EU member nations who abstained. Most developing countries voted in favour of endorsing the report. Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian UN observer called it "an important night in the history of the General Assembly and the history of fighting against impunity and seeking accountability." Earlier, speaking ahead of the final UN vote, he said Goldstone report had concluded that the Israeli military onslaught "was planned in all of its phases as a deliberately disproportionate and systematic attack aimed at punishing, humiliating and terrorising the Palestinian civilian population". But Daniel Carmon, Israel's deputy ambassador to the UN, told the assembly that the resolution "endorses and legitimises a deeply flawed, one-sided and prejudiced report of the discredited Human Rights Council and its politicised work that bends both fact and law". Alejandro Wolff, the US deputy ambasssador to the UN, also accused the the resolution of being flawed, saying that it failed to name Hamas, the Palestinian group that has de facto control of Gaza. The non-binding resolution passed on Thursday by the General Assembly asks Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, to pass the report to the UN Security Council. However, diplomats have said that the five permanent members of the 15-member Security Council have signalled that they are opposed to council involvement - meaning that it is unlikely that the 15-nation body would take action. The debate at the General Assembly, which began on Wednesday, was called for by the Arab UN group, with the backing of the 118-member Non-Aligned Movement (NAM). Al Jazeera's Kristen Saloomey, reporting from the UN in New York ahead of Thursday's vote, said the debate represented a push to keep the Goldstone report alive. "The resolution endorses the report and also attempts to force it upon the Security Council, by getting the secretary-general involved," she said US House vote On Tuesday the US House of Representatives dismissed the Goldstone report as being "irredeemably biased" against Israel. The house voted in favour of a non-binding resolution calling on Barack Obama, the US president, to maintain his opposition to the report. Richard Goldstone himself last week sent a letter to the US House of Representatives saying that the text of the US resolution had "factual inaccuracies and instances where information and statements are taken grossly out of context". He offered several rejections and clarifications of the ideas expressed in the resolution. In response to Goldstone's criticism, three parts of the resolution were amended on Tuesday to clarify that Goldstone had sought an expansion to the commission's mandate so that his team could investigate claims that Hamas had violated international law during the Gaza war. The report called for cases to be referred to the ICC in The Hague if Israel and Hamas do not investigate the war crimes allegations against them within six months. Hamas has agreed to hold such an investigation, but Israel has not. ||||| Israel was heavily criticised in Richard Goldstone's report into the 22-day war [File: EPA] Israel was heavily criticised in Richard Goldstone's report into the 22-day war [File: EPA] Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, urged the Palestinian Authority (PA) not to accept the findings of a UN report into Israel's war on Gaza because of fears it might scupper attempts to restart peace talks, Palestinian sources have told Al Jazeera. Clinton reportedly called Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, on Thursday to encourage him to withdraw PA support for the report, which heavily criticised the conduct of Israeli forces during the December-January conflict. The UN Human Rights Council had been due to vote on Friday on the report by Richard Goldstone, an investigator appointed by the world body. Though the PA did not reject the Goldstone report, it backed moves to postpone a vote on the findings until March, triggering widespread condemnation from Palestinian groups and human rights organisations. Gaza crimes More than 1,400 Palestinians, at least one-third of them women and children, were killed in the December-January conflict, when Israel attacked Gaza to ostensibly end Palestinian rockets from being intermittently fired into its territory. Ten Israeli soldiers and three Israeli civilians were killed during the 22-day conflict. Goldstone's 575-page report blamed both the Israelis and the Palestinian group Hamas for war crimes, but was more critical of Israeli troops for "targeting and terrorising civilians". Of its 31 chapters, only one related to alleged war crimes by Palestinian fighters. Analysts say the postponement in the vote lets Israelis off-the-hook for alleged war crimes. Goldstone's findings were meant to be passed on to the UN Security Council after the planned vote. Israel and the Palestinians would have then got six months to impartially investigate the war crimes allegations. While Hamas has already promised investigations, Israel has been loath to undertake any such exercise, fuelling accusations that Tel Aviv is indifferent to "excesses committed by its troops". Hamas 'shocked' Various Palestinian groups and human rights bodies have reacted strongly to the PA decision to back a delay in the vote. "We were shocked today," Khaled Meshaal, the political chief of Hamas, said. "Is it reasonable for Israel to commit all these crimes against Gaza, all this destruction, all this devastation, all this killing of civilians, all these institutions, mosques, and universities it has demolished, these war crimes which Israel has committed and the white phosphorus? "We wanted this process to be carried through to label the Israeli actions as criminal and the Israelis as war criminals" Sameh Habeeb, Palestine Telegraph founder and editor "... after this a Palestinian voice emerges and asks for delaying looking into the results reached by the fact-finding committee, despite the few reservations we have on it, but a Palestinian voice comes to ask the world to postpone discussing it? What a shame" Another Palestinian group, the Islamic Jihad, in a statement said the postponement was against Palestinian interests. It said the move underlined "the Palestinian Authority's defeatism, lack of will and inability to shoulder responsibility towards the suffering of our people". Ekmaluddin Ihsan Oglu, the secretary-general of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference, said that the delay was agreed after a deal was reached between the US and the PA. Lamis Andoni, a Middle East expert, observed that Abbas had succumbed to US pressure. "The deferment has relieved the unprecedented pressure on Israel to face the consequences of its actions," she said. "The decision has only given Israel and the US time to defuse the international outcry." She said that many in the PA had been against the move and that Abbas had broken an agreement with the Fatah Central Committee by failing to consult the the newly elected body before making his decision. "Abbas may have not wanted to alienate Obama, but the American president already squandered his credibility among the Palestinians when he dropped his demand for an Israeli settlement freeze as a prerequisite for the resumption of peace negotiations," she said. 'Betrayal' The PA insists the delay was aimed at achieving greater consensus on the report. Nimr Hamad, an aide to Abbas, said: "The report wasn't withdrawn ... It's still there." But condemnation of the PA move has got louder and a Hamas legislator went to the extent of saying it amounted to "betrayal". "This ... represents a betrayal of the Palestinian cause and confirms the extent of the collaboration between Abbas and his aides with the Zionist enemy, against the Palestinian people," Mushir al-Masri said. Mustafa Barghouti, a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, said that the move "was totally unacceptable, unjustified..." "There is no justification for postponing the approval of that report and all human rights organisation, most political organisations in Palestine are against that decision. Sameh Habeeb, founder and editor of the Palestine Telegraph online newspaper, told Al Jazeera that an opportunity had been missed to raise awareness about "Israeli crimes". "We wanted this process to be carried through to label the Israeli actions as criminal and the Israelis as war criminals," he said. "The decision to delay the report to March is a method to make the Palestinians forget it, this is simply biding time." The US, however, welcomed the delay, saying Washington would now concentrate on working towards renewing negotiations between the two sides. "We appreciate the decision to defer consideration of the Goldstone report,"Esther Brimmer, the US assistant-secretary of state for international organisation affairs, said. "And will continue to focus on working with Israel and the Palestinian Authority to relaunch permanent status negotiations as soon as possible." ||||| Mr Goldstone called on both sides to carry out investigations Israel has rejected a UN resolution calling on it to independently investigate suspected war crimes during its military offensive in Gaza. An Israeli foreign ministry statement called the UN endorsement "completely detached from realities on the ground". It also said the 18 votes against the resolution, including the US, and the 44 abstentions, including many European countries, were the "moral majority". The resolution passed on Thursday with 60% of the assembly voting in favour. Human shields The resolution's wording asks Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to report on its implementation to the General Assembly within three months, "with a view to considering further action, if necessary, by the relevant United Nations organs and bodies", and to send the report to the Security Council. The endorsement came after a two-day debate on a report by former war crimes prosecutor Richard Goldstone, which condemned the conduct of both sides during the war in Gaza last December and January. The Goldstone report accuses Israel of deliberately targeting civilians UN seeks close Gaza scrutiny Key extracts from UN statement Full UN report on Gaza war The Goldstone report concluded that Israel had "committed actions amounting to war crimes, possibly crimes against humanity" by using disproportionate force, deliberately targeting civilians, using Palestinians as human shields and destroying civilian infrastructure during its Gaza offensive. It also found there was evidence that Palestinian militant groups - including Hamas, which controls Gaza - had committed war crimes, and possibly crimes against humanity, in their repeated rocket and mortars attacks on southern Israel. The Palestinians backed the report but Israel rejected it from the outset, claiming it was biased and did not promote peace. Unlike Security Council resolutions, General Assembly resolutions are not legally binding and correspondents say the Security Council would be unlikely to take any action if the case were ever referred to it. Palestinians and rights groups say more than 1,400 Gazans died in the 22-day conflict, but Israel puts the figure at 1,166. Thirteen Israelis, including three civilians, were killed. Bookmark with: Delicious Digg reddit Facebook StumbleUpon What are these? E-mail this to a friend Printable version | After two days of debate, the United Nations has overwhelmingly endorsed a report from the Human Rights Council calling for domestic investigations into alleged war crimes committed by both Israel's military and Palestinian armed forces during the Gaza conflict that began last December. The controversial report concluded that Israel used disproportionate force in the war, deliberately targeted civilians, used them as human shields, and destroyed civilian infrastructure. One of the 31 chapters of the report discussed crimes by for firing rockets into Israeli towns. The remains of a mosque and an orphanage after being shelled by Israeli forcesThe final vote was 114 in favor, 18 against and 44 abstentions. Strong support came from the Arab and non-aligned countries, many of whom co-sponsored the draft resolution. Palestinian Ambassador Riyad Mansour welcomed the vote, saying the implementation of Justice Richard Goldstone's report will now begin in stages. Ali Treki, the General Assembly president, called the vote "an important declaration against impunity. It is a call for justice and accountability". Without justice, there can be no progress towards peace. A human being should be treated as a human being, regardless of his or her religion, race or nationality," he said. "In three months we will come back to General Assembly to consider the report of the Secretary-General for further action, including in all parts of the United Nations, including in the ," said , a Palestinian-American diplomat. The non-binding resolution requests the secretary-general report to the General Assembly within three months on the implementation of the resolution, with a view to considering further action, if necessary. Israel's deputy ambassador to the UN, Daniel Cameron said that the resolution, "endorses and legitimizes a deeply flawed, one-sided and prejudiced report of the discredited and its politicised work that bends both fact and law". Of the countries abstaining or voting no, several said that although they agreed with the essence of the resolution - that the parties should conduct their own independent, credible investigations into alleged violations as called for in the Goldstone report - they could not vote in favor because they had difficulty with two specific items in the resolution. Another point of some contention is that the resolution leaves the door open for future action in the UN Security Council. The Palestinians have made clear they plan to pursue that option, but most of the council's five permanent members opposed the idea, saying the right forum for the Goldstone report is in the Human Rights Council in Geneva, where it started. The United States was the only permanent Security Council member to vote against the resolution. Deputy Ambassador Alejandro Wolff said that although it opposed the resolution, the US strongly supported accountability for human rights and humanitarian law violations relating to the Gaza conflict. "We believe that the Goldstone report is deeply flawed-including its unbalanced focus on Israel, its sweeping conclusions of law, the excessively negative inferences it draws about Israel's intentions and actions, its failure to deal adequately with the asymmetrical nature of the Gaza conflict, its failure to assign appropriate responsibility to Hamas for its decision to base itself and its operations in heavily civilian-populated urban areas, and its many overreaching recommendations," said Alejandro Wolff. Israel, which did not cooperate with the Goldstone commission, voted against the resolution, saying that it legitimised a "deeply flawed, one-sided" report, and disregarded Israel's right to defend its citizens. "The results of the vote and the large number of member states who voted against or abstained, demonstrate clearly that the resolution does not have the support of the 'moral majority' of UN members," read a statement on the website of Israel's ministry of foreign affairs. "Israel rejects the resolution of the UN General Assembly, which is completely detached from realities on the ground." During the three-week-long Israeli military incursion into the Gaza Strip, at least 1,400 Palestinians died according to Palestinians and human rights groups, although Israel says 1,166, and 13 Israelis also died. The Goldstone Commission criticized both sides for violations of international humanitarian law. |
Home New species found in Vietnam's green corridor The new snake species, known as the white-lipped keelback, tends to live by streams where it catches frogs and other small animals. © Raoul Bain / WWF Greater Mekong One of the five new orchid species found in Vietnam. © Leonid Averyanov / WWF Greater Mekong The new species were found in the dense rainforests of Vietnam's Central Annamites. © Leonid Averyanov / WWF Greater Mekong For further information: 26 Sep 2007Hanoi, Vietnam – Scientists have discovered 11 new species of animals and plants in a remote area in central Vietnam.The species were found in the Thua Thien Hue Province – a region known as the Green Corridor. They include two butterflies and a snake, as well as five orchids and three other plants, all of which are exclusive to tropical forests in Vietnam’s Annamites Mountain Range. Ten other plant species, including four orchids, are still under examination but also appear to be new species.“You only discover so many new species in very special places, and the Green Corridor is one of them,” said Chris Dickinson, WWF’s Chief Technical Adviser in the area. “Several large mammal species were discovered in the 1990s in the same forests, which means that these latest discoveries could be just the tip of the iceberg.”The rainforests of the Central Annamites likely existed as continuous undisturbed forest cover for thousands of years, and, as a result, offer unique habitats for many species.The new snake species, called the white-lipped keelback, tends to live by streams where it catches frogs and other small animals. It has a beautiful yellow-white stripe that sweeps along its head and red dots cover its body. It can reach about 80 centimetres in length.The butterfly species are among eight discovered in the province since 1996. One is a skipper – a butterfly with quick, darting flight habits – from the genus Zela, the other is a new genus in the subfamily of Satyrinae.Three of the new orchid species are entirely leafless, which is rare for orchids. They contain no chlorophyll and live on decaying matter, like many fungal species. The new other plants include an aspidistra, which produces a flower that is nearly black. Aspidistra-relatives plants are used as houseplants and are able to withstand very low light conditions. And a newly discovered species of arum has beautiful yellow flowers. Arum plants have funnel-shaped leaves surrounding the flowers.All these species are at risk from illegal logging, hunting, unsustainable extraction of natural resources and conflicting development interests. However, the Thua Thien Hue Province authorities – in particular the Forest Protection Department – have committed to conserve and sustainably manage these valuable forests.“The area is extremely important for conservation and the province wants to protect the forests and their environmental services, as well as contribute to sustainable development,” said Hoang Ngoc Khanh, Director of Thua Thien Hue Provincial Forest Protection Department.Recent surveys have shown that many threatened species are found in the Green Corridor, including 15 reptiles and amphibians and six bird species. The area is also home to Vietnam’s greatest number of white-cheeked crested gibbons, one of the world’s most endangered primates. The Green Corridor is believed to be the best location in Vietnam to conserve the saola, a unique type of wild cattle only discovered by scientists in 1992.Forests in the Annamites also help preserve critical environmental services, such as water supplies for thousand of people who depend on the region’s rivers. They also provide non-timber forest resources for local ethnic minority groups who earn more than half of their income from these products.Dr Chris Dickinson, Technical AdviserWWF Greater MekongE-mail: chris.dickinson@wwfgreatermekong.org ||||| New Animal And Plant Species Found In Vietnam Science Daily World Wildlife Fund scientists have just announced the discovery of 11 new animal and plant species in a remote area in central Vietnam. They say this underscores the importance of conservation efforts in the ancient tropical forests of the region. Gastrodia theana -- A very rare leafless orchid discovered in Vietnam. (Credit: Copyright Leonid Averyanov / WWF Greater Mekong) Gastrodia theana -- A very rare leafless orchid discovered in Vietnam. (Credit: Copyright Leonid Averyanov / WWF Greater Mekong) Within the ancient tropical forests of a region known as Vietnam's "Green Corridor," scientists found a snake, five orchids, and two butterflies as well as three other plants new to science and exclusive to the Annamites Mountain Range. Ten other plant species, including four orchids, are still under examination but also appear to be new species. "Discoveries of so many new species are rare and occur only in very special places like the Green Corridor," said Dr. Chris Dickinson, WWF's chief conservation scientist in the Green Corridor. "Several large mammal species were discovered in the 1990s in the same forests so these latest discoveries may be just the tip of the iceberg." The rainforests of the Central Annamites likely existed as continuous undisturbed forest cover for thousands of years, and, as a result, offer unique habitats for many species, said WWF experts. The new snake species, called the white-lipped keelback, prefers living by streams where it catches frogs and other small animals. With a beautiful yellow-white stripe sweeping along its head and red dots covering its body, the white-lipped keelback can reach 31 inches--almost a yard in length. Three of the new orchid species are entirely leafless, a rarity even among orchids. Containing none of the chlorophyll or green pigment commonly found in plants, these orchids live on decaying matter like many fungal species. The other new plants include an aspidistra which produces a nearly black flower and a newly-discovered species of arum with beautiful yellow flowers. Arum plants have funnel-shaped leaves surrounding the flowers. The two new butterfly species are among eight discovered in the province since 1996. One is a skipper -- a butterfly with quick, darting flight habits--from the genus Zela and the other is a new genus in the subfamily of Satyrinae. According to WWF experts, all of these species are at risk from illegal logging, hunting, unsustainable extraction of natural resources and conflicting development interests. However, local authorities -- in particular the Thua Thien Hue Provincial Forest Protection Department -- have committed to conserve and sustainably manage these valuable forests. "The area is extremely important for conservation and the province wants to protect the forests and their environmental services, as well as contribute to sustainable development," said Hoang Ngoc Khanh, director of Thua Thien Hue Provincial Forest Protection Department. Stretching from the mountainous forests of the Annamites to one of the last remaining lowland wet evergreen forests, the Green Corridor supports significant populations of threatened species and includes some of the longest remaining stretches of lowland river with intact forest habitat in Vietnam feeding into the Perfume River. Recent surveys found 15 reptiles and amphibians and six bird species among the threatened species living there. It is also home to one of the world's most endangered primates--white-cheeked crested gibbons--and the best location in Vietnam to save the saola--a unique type of wild cattle just discovered by scientists in 1992. According to WWF experts, the forests of the Annamites are important water catchments, supplying water for thousands of people who depend on the region's rivers. Local ethnic minority groups earn more than half of their income from the non-timber resources of these same forests. Note: This story has been adapted from material provided by World Wildlife Fund. New! Search Science Daily or the entire web with Google: | At least 11 new species of life have been discovered in the of in Vietnam in a region of the forest described as the "." The discovery was made by researchers from the (WWF). Among the new species are five and at least three other species of plants, two and a snake. At least ten more species of plants are believed to be new species but are still being studied. "You only discover so many new species in very special places, and the Green Corridor is one of them. Several large mammal species were discovered in the 1990s in the same forests, which means that these latest discoveries could be just the tip of the iceberg," said a technical adviser in Vietnam for the WWF, Chris Dickinson. The new species of life are exclusive to the rainforest in Thua Thien-Hue Province. The new snake, which can grow to 80 centimeters long, has been given the name '''' because of a yellow-white stripe on the top of its head and makes its home near small streams and feeds on small animals and . The new species of butterflies are one subfamily of the species and the other a species of the . The orchids, all of which are considered very rare because they were found to have no leaves whatsoever on the plant, grow in "matter" that is rotting and also contain no . The other two new plant species are of and . The WWF is concerned that civilization may move closer into the rainforest, destroying the homes of these new species, but the government of Thua Thien-Hue Province says it's dedicated to making sure that they are protected, along with the rainforest. "The area is extremely important for conservation and the province wants to protect the forests and their environmental services, as well as contribute to sustainable development," said Provincial Forest Protection Department Director for the province, Hoang Ngoc Khanh. The species were found in the rainforest in 2005 and 2006. |
The pregnant elephant died standing in the river Velliyar in Palakkad. The pregnant elephant that died in Kerala's Palakkad district had consumed crackers stuffed in a coconut, Mannarkkad Divisional Forest Officer Sunil Kumar told NDTV, hours after the arrest of the first accused in the case that has horrified the nation. Officials, as part of evidence collection, took the arrested person to the location where he used to assist in making explosives. "As part of the probe and evidence collection, the arrested person was taken to the plantation shed where he would help two others in making the crackers," Forest officer Aashique Ali U said. The person arrested, Wilson, is a rubber tapper, in his forties. The other two suspects in this case are on the run. Officials say they are close to tracking them. Locally-made explosives are often stuffed in fruits or animal fat by locals as traps to scare away wild animals like boars, in a bid to protect their produce. The elephant, according to officials, would have broken the coconut and eaten a portion including the explosive substance - that left the elephant's mouth completely injured, incapacitating it in a way that it could not eat or drink water for days. The elephant walked for days with the severe mouth injuries, before wading into a river and dipping its trunk, as if for relief from the agony. It died standing in the river Velliyar in Palakkad. The animal may have suffered the injury 20 days ago and had starved since, officials guessed from her shrunken form. "Justice will prevail," Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan promised in tweets on Thursday, responding to the tide of anger and grief after visuals of the elephant, dead in a river, emerged in a forest officer's post earlier this week. The probe is still underway. ||||| Amid massive outrage over the death of a pregnant elephant in Kerala, the state government has made the first arrest in the case. Kerala Forest Minister K Raju informed that one accused has been arrested in connection with the case. The arrested man has been identified as P Wilson, an employee of an estate that cultivates cash crops and spices, media reports said. The minister has said that more arrests will be made by evening. Earlier on Thursday, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had informed that an investigation is underway “focusing on three suspects” while adding that the government “will do everything possible to bring the culprits to justice”. The incident is of Palakkad when a pregnant elephant had entered into a village in search of food on May 27. The villagers allegedly fed a pineapple stuffed with crackers to it. As the crackers exploded, the elephant suffered serious injuries on its tongue and mouth. Later she walked into a river and waited for three days as its life was slowly snuffed out. Meanwhile, it is alleged that the killing was not deliberate as the elephant had walked into a trap laid for wild boars that come to destroy the crops frequently. The same has been told to the investigators by the man arrested. The investigation is being jointly carried out by the police and the forest department. Terming it as “unfortunate”, he said that some people were using this tragedy to unleash a hate campaign. “Having said that, we are saddened by the fact some have used this tragedy to unleash a hate campaign. Lies built upon inaccurate descriptions and half truths were employed to obliterate the truth. Some even tried to import bigotry into the narrative. Wrong priorities,” Vijayan tweeted. He further asserted that “Kerala is a society that respects the outrage against injustice.” The Kerala Forest department had launched a ‘manhunt’ for those responsible for the death of the 15-year-old pregnant wild elephant. The Central government has also taken a serious note of the incident. “We will not leave any stone unturned to investigate properly and nab the culprits, Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar said, while adding that “it is not an Indian culture to feed fire crackers and kill”. “Environment Ministry has taken a serious note of the death of an elephant in Kerala. Has sought complete report on the incident. Stern action will be taken against the culprit(s),” he said. The incident has attracted huge condemnation on social media, where the memes showed the mother elephant saying it was her fault to trust the human race, while the unborn child in her womb kept asking: “What is my fault, Ma?” ||||| Palakkad, June 5 In a major breakthrough in the case relating to the death of a pregnant wild elephant in Kerala, one person was arrested on Friday. “One person was arrested today. There are more accused in the case and efforts are on to nab them," Kerala Forest Minister K Raju told reporters. Forest and police officials are conducting a joint probe into the elephant’s death and a ‘very fruitful investigation’ is going on, he said. The Kerala Forest Department in a tweet said: “KFD has zeroed in on the culprits and recorded the first arrest in the wild elephant death case”. The incident had triggered a national outrage, with Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar and BJP MP and former union minister Maneka Gandhi, among others, reacting to it. Forest department sources had said yesterday that three people were under the scanner of the joint investigation team of their personnel and Kerala police and a search was on for two more people. The department had said that there was no conclusive evidence that the injury to the elephant’s lower jaw was caused by a pineapple stuffed with crackers and “it might be a possibility.” The 15-year-old elephant is suspected to have consumed a pineapple filled with powerful fire crackers which exploded in its mouth in the Silent Valley forest. It died in the Velliyar River a week later on May 27. The pachyderm’s tragic end came to light after a forest officer posted an emotional note on his Facebook page, narrating it. —PTI ||||| Image copyright MOHAN krishnan Image caption The elephant stood in the river for four days Wildlife officials in India are investigating the death of a pregnant elephant after it ate a pineapple containing firecrackers. The incident in Kerala caused outrage after a forest official posted about the death on social media. It's unclear if it was an accident, who planted the explosives or why. The animal spent days in pain before dying. Vets tried but failed to save her. India has some 27,000 wild elephants and another 2,500 in captivity. The Kerala forest department said on Thursday that "several suspects" were being questioned in connection with the incident. It earlier said there was no "conclusive evidence" to link the death to firecrackers. Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar said the government had taken a "serious note of the killing" and tweeted that it would investigate. Skip Twitter post by @ForestKerala In the offence registered as per the sections of WL(P)A for hunting the elephant, several suspects are being interrogated. SIT formed for the purpose is making a significant headway in this regard.Forest Dept will leave no stone unturned to ensure max punishment to the offenders — Kerala Forest Department (@ForestKerala) June 4, 2020 Report Skip Twitter post 2 by @ForestKerala There's no conclusive evidence that injury to lower jaw was caused by pineapple stuffed wd cracker. However this may be a possibility. Dept. has booked offence against unknown offenders, whose identity is being established. — Kerala Forest Department (@ForestKerala) June 3, 2020 Report The incident has sparked outrage on social media. Ratan Tata, chairman of Tata Sons and one of India's leading businessmen, said "justice needs to prevail". Indian cricket captain Virat Kohli described the killing as a "cowardly act". The 15-year-old elephant, which was two months pregnant, apparently strayed into a village near the Silent Valley National Park in Palakkad district last week and ate a pineapple containing firecrackers. In a Facebook post, forest official Mohan Krishnan said the firecrackers exploded in the animal's mouth and the elephant walked for days in pain before dying on 27 May, standing in a river. He wrote that the animal "didn't harm a single human being even when she ran in searing pain in the streets of the village". "When I saw her, she was standing in the river without making any noise. She was possibly getting some relief from immersing her trunk and mouth into the water," Mr Krishnan told the BBC. A senior local forest official said the elephant stood in water for four days even as wildlife workers and vets tried to save her. "We tried our best to save the lives of both the mother and the child, but we failed," KK Sunil Kumar told the BBC. However, it is not clear whether the elephant was fed the firecracker spiked fruit or accidentally ate it. Image copyright AFP Image caption The elephant died in a river in Kerala Farmers often scatter such fruits in the area to keep animals - mainly wild boar and pigs - away from damaging their crops, officials say. Reports say that elephants are at risk when they stray into human settlements to look for food. "People are getting into conflicts and they resort to different mitigation methods - they put up electric fences, build trenches or become more brutal and use a crude bomb [to keep the animals away]," OP Nammeer, a professor of wildlife at Kerala Agriculture University, told the Mint newspaper. ||||| Kerala Elephant Incident: Fruit exploded in her mouth, leading to the inevitable tragedy. No arrests have been made a week after a pregnant elephant died in Kerala's Palakkad district, standing in a river. She had eaten a pineapple stuffed with crackers, allegedly placed by some locals. The death of the elephant and the trauma she went through has caused a huge outrage, with thousands calling for strong action against the perpetrators. The police have launched a probe to catch the culprits and have filed a First Information Report against unknown persons. The incident came to light after a forest officer narrated the details of the horrific death on social media. Officials now suspect that the elephant ate the fruit either in the end of April or the beginning of May. "We don't know when the incident happened. But because of the starvation and shrinking of the elephant, we suspect that it would have happened around 20 days ago," forest officer Aashique Ali U told NDTV. The injured elephant walked for days, in searing pain and in hunger. The elephant's autopsy report came out only yesterday. The wild elephant had left the forest of Silent Valley, meandering into a nearby village in search of food. Pineapples with country-made crackers are usually used by locals to protect their fields against wild boars. According to forest officials, the elephant is suspected to have eaten one of the pineapples. The fruit exploded in her mouth, leading to the inevitable tragedy. So powerful was the cracker explosion in her mouth that her tongue and mouth were badly injured. The elephant walked around in the village for days, in searing pain and in hunger. She was unable to eat anything because of her injuries. She even went back into the wild. So powerful was the cracker explosion in her mouth that her tongue and mouth were badly injured. Officials got to know about the elephant only on May 25, two days before she died. The elephant eventually walked up to the Velliyar River and stood there. Photos showed the elephant standing in the river with her mouth and trunk in water, perhaps for some relief from the unbearable pain. Forest officer Mohan Krishnan, who narrated the details and shared the photos on Facebook, said she must have done this to avoid flies and other insects on her injuries. The forest officials brought two captive elephants, who were called Surendran and Neelakanthan, to lead her out of the river. After attempts by the officials to rescue the elephant, she died at 4 pm on May 27, standing in water. The elephant was taken back inside the forest in a truck, where the forest officials cremated her. | On Friday, Indian officials in Kerala arrested a man in connection with the death of a pregnant female elephant suffering from explosive injuries. Authorities said they believed a fruit filled with firecrackers had exploded in her mouth, damaging her jaw and ultimately leading to her death. According to wildlife officials, the 15-year-old elephant's injuries were discovered on May 25 after she was observed standing in the . Despite attempts by officials to lure her out using two other elephants, the injured elephant remained in the river and died two days later. An autopsy determined the elephant was pregnant before she was cremated. Citing the elephant's reduced body size, officials estimated she may have starved for up to 20 days or longer. The incident gained media attention after local wildlife officer Mohan Krishnan shared his experience on Facebook. Some people expressed their outrage on social media as the incident became known. Officials later announced an arrest of a — a man in his forties identified only as "P Wilson" — in the elephant's death while as of yesterday two other suspects were reportedly at large. Initial reports stated the firecracker-laden fruit was a ; later reported officials, following an investigation, stated it was a . Forest officials suggested the elephant may have tried to eat a "pig cracker" meant to repel wild boars. |
A British businessman is facing extradition from the UK to Russia after Moscow issued a request for an Interpol “blue notice” to locate and arrest him. William Browder, a US-born businessman based in London who is campaigning against Russian officials implicated in the death of Sergei Magnitsky, his former lawyer, said the warrant meant that he risked being sent to Russia, tortured and killed if he were to travel anywhere in the world. The move came to light on a day in which President Putin’s use of the courts to constrain freedom of speech was highlighted, with the L ||||| The couple, pictured in south Wales, were on the last day of the honeymoon A husband has died in hospital, a week after he and his wife were shot while on honeymoon in the Caribbean. A spokesman for the hospital in Swansea said following brain stem testing Ben Mullany "has now passed away". His wife Catherine, 31, was killed at their rented holiday cottage in Antigua during an attempted robbery. Mr Mullany, 31, from Pontardawe, was flown home in a critical condition early on Saturday. Mrs Mullany's body was also returned to the UK separately. A spokesman for Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University NHS Trust added: "The thoughts of all the staff who were involved in Ben's care are with his family at this very sad time. "We would now ask the media to respect his family's wishes, and allow them privacy to grieve for Ben." Mr Mullany, who had been studying to be a physiotherapist, had been transferred to Morriston Hospital in Swansea, where his late doctor wife had trained. Earlier, prayers have been said at services in the couple's home town. At the Tabernacle Chapel in Pontardawe, the Rev Gareth Morgan Jones paid a eulogy to Catherine, who he had known since she was at school. "Catherine was a talented person but more than that she was a person full of love," said Mr Morgan Jones. "She was a caring person, loving people and that's why she was an asset to the [medical] profession." Chapel-goers in Pontardawe on Sunday He said the congregation also held a "very moving" minute's silence, then sang a hymn, which Catherine would have once sung in the choir at her school, Ysgol Gyfun Ystalyfera, about turning the night into day. Mr Morgan Jones said after the service that prayers were said for both "close knit" families. Mr Mullany had a fractured skull and a bullet lodged in the back of his head. Doctors said yesterday they were considering brain stem testing if he remained in a coma. His wife's body was flown home separately, accompanied by her parents. Meanwhile, five British police officers in Antigua to help local police have visited the scene of the shooting. The police team, led by Superintendent Keith Niven, were invited to the Caribbean island by the local police chief, who has admitted that his force has been stretched by the investigation. 'Code of silence' The couple, both 31, were attacked last Sunday, the last day of their two-week honeymoon, in what is believed to have been a bungled robbery. Antigua police say a "person of interest" is being interviewed. Island police commissioner Gary Nelson said he is confident of catching the gunman. "We are turning over all the stones to find the person responsible," he told the BBC News Channel. Mr Nelson has also said the police were being hampered by a "code of silence" or lack of trust in police on the island. Police have now questioned more than 30 people in the investigation. A reward of £67,000 has been offered for information leading to the conviction of the killer. E-mail this to a friend Printable version Bookmark with: Delicious Digg reddit Facebook StumbleUpon What are these? | Benjamin Mullany, the British man who was shot along with his wife while on holiday in Antigua has died. He and his wife, Catherine had been on the last day of their honeymoon when both were shot during what seems to be a botched robbery on July 29. Catherine died instantly while Ben fell into a coma. Doctors were unaware if he knew that his wife did not survive the attack. Ben was flown back to Britain on August 2 after a 22 hour operation to try and save his life. He died at Morriston Hospital, in Swansea, Wales where he remained unresponsive. The couple married on July 12 and later flew out to the holiday island. With the death of both Catherine and Ben the murder figures for Antigua have been placed into double figures. Prime minister Baldwin Spencer has asked for Britain's help during the investigation. The suspects are still at large. |
Volvo: Car manufacturer goes electric, ditches vehicles powered solely by internal combustion engine Updated Volvo plans to build only electric and hybrid vehicles starting in 2019, making it the first major automaker to abandon cars and SUVs powered solely by the internal combustion engine. Key points: Global auto industry slowly moves toward electric-powered vehicles The transition to fully electric vehicles will take years Audi and Mercedes-Benz already rolling out mild hybrid cars in Europe. Chief executive Hakan Samuelsson said the move was dictated by customer demand. It means that in two years, all new Volvo vehicles will have some form of electric propulsion. The announcement comes as the global auto industry slowly moves towards electric-powered vehicles after more than a century of using engines that burn only fossil fuels. Even though sales are a fraction of conventional autos, companies must sell them to meet fuel economy and emissions regulations. In some markets, electric vehicles are seeing increased demand. Yet, the transition to fully electric vehicles will take years. Although Tesla Inc. announced a $46,000 electric car for the masses and General Motors Co. is selling the all-electric Chevy Bolt for a similar price, less-expensive hybrids are likely to sell more at least in the short run. Other automakers are likely to follow Volvo's announcement in a few years, with luxury automakers leading the way, senior analyst for Navigant Research Sam Abuelsamid said. "I think we'll probably see most of the premium brands do the same thing in roughly the same time frame," he said. "More high-volume mainstream brands will be a little slower." Manufacturers moving toward hybrids In order to meet government fuel-economy requirements worldwide, automakers are developing more hybrid systems. Many are 48-volt "mild hybrids" that assist a gas engine to move a car to make it more efficient, improving gas mileage by 10 or 15 per cent, Mr Abuelsamid said. Such systems generate enough electricity to allow automakers to move functions, such as air conditioners and water and oil pumps, to electric power, getting rid of mechanical belts that are a drag on the engine. Those systems can run only when needed, and that can save another 2 or 3 per cent on fuel consumption. European luxury brands, such as Audi and Mercedes-Benz, are already rolling out mild hybrid cars in Europe. All manufacturers are moving towards more hybrids, but the transition to 100 per cent electric vehicles is still years away, said Darren Jukes, head of industrial products for accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers. "I don't think we're seeing the end of combustion engines just yet," he said. Volvo, which is based in Sweden but owned by Chinese firm Geely, will launch five fully electric cars between 2019 and 2021. AP Topics: business-economics-and-finance, industry, road-transport, environmentally-sustainable-business, sweden First posted ||||| When it comes to socially responsible car companies, Volvo appears to be leading the pack. The Swedish automaker, which built its reputation on safety, has already committed to a goal of reducing the number of deaths or serious injuries in a new Volvo to zero by the year 2020. And it looks like that concern extends beyond the wellbeing of its customers to the rest of us as well. In May it announced that diesel engines have no future with the brand, in part because of ever-stricter EU carbon emissions targets, but also because of the growing concern over the health effects of diesel exhaust, which is loaded with particulates and nitrogen oxides. Today, the company followed up with news that widespread electrification of its model range is the solution. Between 2019 and 2021, Volvo plans to launch five new electric vehicles. Details about the new EVs are scarce at present, but the company says that three of them will be badged as Volvos, and the other two will be high-performance EVs badged as Polestars. (Polestar is Volvo's in-house tuning operation, and you'll be able to read a review of the S60 Polestar here at Ars in a few weeks.) Further Reading 48-volt mild hybrids: A possible cure for diesel emissions cheats? In addition to the five new EVs, the company announced that every other new Volvo from 2019 will feature some form of hybridization, whether that's a plug-in hybrid (like the XC90 T8 we tested last year) or a 48-volt "mild hybrid" system. "This announcement marks the end of the solely combustion engine-powered car. Volvo Cars has stated that it plans to have sold a total of 1m electrified cars by 2025. When we said it we meant it. This is how we are going to do it," said Håkan Samuelsson, president and chief executive of Volvo Cars. (Volvo Cars is a separate company to Volvo Trucks, so this announcement does not concern any heavy duty vehicles.) ||||| Volvo Car Group will cease producing petrol-only vehicles from 2019 as the manufacturer seeks to woo customers to battery-powered models with longer driving ranges and more attractive designs. The company announced on Wednesday it would also offer hybrid options across its product line, marking "the historic end of cars that only have an internal combustion engine." The automaker will also offer a range of five electric cars by the start of the next decade and will introduce the vehicles between 2019 and 2021. The move expands on earlier plans that included a battery-powered compact car as well as an all-electric version of its XC90 sport utility vehicle. SHARE Share on Facebook SHARE Share on Twitter TWEET Link The next model of the Volvo XC90 will include an all-electric version. Photo: Mark Bean The e-cars will fight for buyers in an increasingly crowded market. Segment pioneer Tesla will start manufacturing its third model this week, while German brands Mercedes-Benz and Audi and British producer Jaguar Land Rover have presented prototypes capable of driving 400 kilometres (310 miles) or more on a fully-charged battery. Advertisement Some of the cars are slated to go on sale as early as next year. Automakers are speeding up development of green vehicles as emissions regulations tighten and city governments get serious about banning polluting traffic. "People increasingly demand electrified cars," Volvo chief executive officer Hakan Samuelsson said in a statement. SHARE Share on Facebook SHARE Share on Twitter TWEET Link The XC90 T8 offers plug-in hybrid power. Photo: Supplied "Volvo Cars has stated that it plans to have sold a total of one million electrified cars by 2025. This is how we are going to do it." Volvo Cars, which is owned by Chinese billionaire Li Shufu, said in April that its first electric vehicle will be a Chinese-made compact car that starts deliveries in 2019. The model will be exported globally and be based on the platform of the company's XC40 compact SUV. Of the five new cars, two will be part of Volvo's high-performance Polestar sub-brand. China is becoming the biggest market for electric cars, and authorities are looking at ambitious production quotas that would be enforced with fines on manufacturers. Bloomberg | On Wednesday, automobile company announced all of its cars to be released in 2019 onwards are to use some form of battery-powered engine, leaving conventional petrol-only vehicles altogether. The decision comes after Volvo announced in May their intent to cease production of diesel vehicles. The Volvo S90, one of Volvo's current cars available in hybrid. The chief executive of Volvo Cars, , said, "People increasingly demand electrified cars". Volvo aims to release five new electric vehicle models between 2019 and 2021. While little has yet been revealed about them, the company has stated two of them are to be high-performance electric vehicles, branded as Polestars. Other car models from 2019 may be or 48-volt "" systems. and are also releasing mild hybrid cars for the European market. "This announcement marks the end of the solely combustion engine-powered car. Volvo Cars has stated that it plans to have sold a total of 1m electrified cars by 2025. When we said it we meant it. This is how we are going to do it," Samuelsson said. Volvo is owned by Chinese automotive giant , and China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has said by 2025 they want new vehicle sales to be 20 percent "new energy vehicles". == Sources == * * * |
MIAMI, Florida (CNN) -- Power was restored Tuesday for most of Florida after a failed switch and fire at an electrical substation outside Miami triggered widespread blackouts across the state. Problems at an automated substation knocked out power Tuesday to millions of customers across Florida. more photos » Utility workers were still trying to piece together exactly what happened, Florida Power and Light President Armando Olivera said. Olivera said disconnect switch failed at 1:08 p.m. at the automated substation west of Miami, and a piece of equipment that controls voltage caught fire about the same time. Neither failure by itself would have caused a widespread outage, he said. While the outages cut power to more than two million people at its peak, power was quickly restored to most parts of the state and authorities said no injuries were reported. Watch why Floridians were briefly in the dark » The "initiating event" was the failure of the disconnect switch, Olivera said. "These systems are all designed so that you can handle two contingencies," Olivera said. "If you had a switch that failed, protective devices would have isolated the problem. That did not occur today. That's the part we don't have an answer for." Olivera said about 475,000 Florida Power and Light customers and about the same number of customers from other utilities lost power as a result. The affected region ranged from Miami to Tampa, throughout Orlando and east to Brevard County, home to Cape Canaveral and the Kennedy Space Center. See a map of the areas affected » The substation trouble set off a sequence of events that within two to three minutes had knocked numerous power plants off-line -- including the Turkey Point nuclear power plant south of Miami. Olivera said Turkey Point's two nuclear reactors and a natural gas-powered generation unit automatically shut down when the plant's systems detected a fluctuation in the power grid. Learn more about power grids and blackouts » "In a fraction of a second, the demand was far greater than the power plants that were on line generating electricity could handle," he said. "When you have that kind of imbalance, we have a system that kicks in and it starts turning people's lights off, essentially balancing the demand with what's available." Mike Stone, a Florida Department of Emergency Management spokesman, said 2 million to 3 million people were affected at the height of the outage. Detective Robert Williams, a Miami-Dade County police spokesman, said power was out across the entire county within 20 minutes of the initial failure. Outages extended into neighboring Broward County, which includes Fort Lauderdale, and north to Palm Beach County -- a region of about 6 million people. But Miami International Airport, which has emergency generators, reported fewer than a dozen delays and had normal electric service back on within half an hour. Schools remained in session during the blackout, said Cmdr. Charles Hurley, a spokesman for the Miami-Dade school system's police department. And Delrish Moss, a county police spokesman, said no major traffic problems had been reported. "Most of the calls that we're getting have to do with people being stuck in elevators and things of that nature, and people concerned about what is going on." Moss told CNN. He advised people "not to panic, and if you go out, be courteous to other drivers." "If you come to a place where there is a no light and no policemen ... be courteous," he said. "If you're not courteous, that's when accidents occur." The outage struck as a strong cold front and scattered thunderstorms passed through the region -- including one that prompted a tornado warning for Fort Lauderdale, the National Weather Service reported. Stan Johnson, a spokesman for the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, said a total of eight generating units were off-line across the region. Ken Clark, a spokesman for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, said Turkey Point's nuclear reactors are likely to remain off-line for 12 to 24 hours. Both were in "hot standby," and operators kept them in that condition without resorting to emergency diesel generators, Clark said. In Washington, a Department of Homeland Security official said there was no indication that terrorism was behind the blackout. E-mail to a friend CNN's Susan Candiotti, John Zarrella, Rich Phillips, Cristy Lenz, John Couwels, Allan Chernoff and Jeanne Meserve contributed to this report. ||||| By JESSICA GRESKO, Associated Press Writer Tue Feb 26, 6:43 PM ET Florida Daytona Beach Florida Keys MIAMI - A problem with's electrical grid caused a nuclear plant to automatically shut down Tuesday and intermittently cut power to up to 3 million people fromthrough the Authorities said there were no safety concerns at the nuclear plant. While many areas were hit hard, the outages were short lived and only about 20,000 people lacked electricity during the evening commute home. Most of the evening outages were due to bad weather, not the grid problem, officials said. Traffic was even more miserable than usual in the Miami area as many stop lights briefly were without power. The outages occurred on a day when temperatures soared into the mid-80s and Floridians needed their air conditioning. An equipment malfunction in a substation near Miami disabled two power distribution lines between Miami and Daytona Beach, and in response, Florida Power & Light's Turkey Point nuclear plant south of Miami stopped operating around 1 p.m., Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokesman Kenneth Clark said. The utility said it was trying to determine what caused equipment failure and a fire at the substation that led to the outage. The company said such equipment failure should not have caused the widespread blackouts. A FPL spokesman initially said its nuclear plant caused the outages to about a fifth of Florida's population. But the utility's nuclear spokesman, Dick Winn, later said grid problems caused both Turkey Point reactors to shut down. "All the safety systems worked just like they were supposed to and both of those units are in stable condition right now," he said. Clark agreed that there were no safety concerns. The outages have no connection to terrorism, Homeland Security Department spokeswoman Laura Keehner said. Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Alvarez said the outages were technical, not criminal. "It's a matter of just a cascading effect," he said. Florida emergency management officials said the outages cut power to about 2-3 million people. The federal nuclear commission said based on reports from its resident inspectors at the plant, it was not immediately known what caused the initial drop in voltage from outside Turkey Point. But when the two reactors shut down it would have worsened the problem, the panel said. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which has responsibility for electricity grid reliability, said it wants to know whether there were any violations of federal grid reliability rules. Outages were concentrated in the southeast portion of the state, including Miami, but were also reported in the southwestern and northeastern parts of the state as well as in the Florida Keys. Jaime Hernandez, a spokesman for Miami-Dade County Department of Emergency Management, said no injuries have been reported. Officials said Miami International Airport, the Port of Miami and the area's rail and bus transportation were working normally. Several Miami-area hospitals switched to backup generators when the power went out. Miami-Dade schools were scheduled to be dismissed on time, and officials said school buses would be running. By 2 p.m., most of northern downtown Miami appeared to be back to normal operation, including a campus of Miami Dade College and numerous stores and businesses. In the Florida Keys, spokesman Andy Newman said areas were without power for about 30 minutes, but it was back up as well. Bob Wild, a sports marketing consultant who lives in Miami's southern Kendall neighborhood, said he didn't even notice the outage, thanks to his home's generator. "We're a hurricane family. We've been though Hurricane Andrew and everything before and since," he said. "Our daughter called us from Washington and said she'd seen the blackouts on TV. That's when we found out." In Miami's western suburb of Doral, disappointed office workers sat under an awning at a strip mall, unable to buy lunch nor go anywhere else due to a sudden downpour. At Starbucks Coffee Co., employees began handing out sandwiches they feared would go bad. Nelson Suarez, 35, a manager for Asia sales at World Fuel Services, enjoyed the free lunch. "I can't work anyway since all the power is out, so at least something good came out of this," he said. In central Florida, the sheriff's office in the Daytona Beach area confirmed power outages at traffic signals across its jurisdictions. The first of Turkey Point's two nuclear power units started operation in 1972. In March 2006, a tiny hole was found in a coolant pipe at the plant. The FBI determined it was vandalism, not sabotage. An out-of-state contractor hired to do routine maintenance was suspected of drilling the hole, the FBI said at the time. The public's health and safety were not at risk, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said then. ___ Associated Press Writers Suzette Laboy, Damian Grass and Laura Wides-Munoz in Miami, Travis Reed in Orlando, Brian Skoloff in Juno Beach, Mitch Stacy in Tampa and H. Josef Hebert in Washington, D.C., contributed to this report. | Florida highlighted in red. Massive blackouts occurred throughout the US state of Florida shortly after 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time (18:00 UTC) on Tuesday afternoon. Out of the 4.4 million customers served by Florida Power & Light, Co. (FPL), about 680,000 residents were affected, with an additional two million-plus customers affected in other parts of the state. It is estimated that as many as four million customers throughout Florida were affected, with many different power companies losing control of their specific grids. Power outages were reported as far south as the Florida Keys, on the original FPL grid, and as far north as Orlando and Daytona Beach, nearly away on the Progress Energy grid. Most of Miami-Dade and parts of Broward and Palm Beach counties suffered the worst outages. FPL President Armando Olivera said that a disconnect switch failed at 1:08 p.m. at the automated substation west of Miami, and a piece of equipment that controls voltage caught fire about the same time. Neither failure by itself would have caused a widespread outage. The event at the utility's Flagami substation consequently led to the rolling blackouts. Originally the first failure was thought to have occurred at the utility's nuclear plant at Turkey Point. It is still unclear how failure at this site spread, but with power turning off at the main Turkey Point location, which serves all of south Florida, FPL's grid shut down as well. It contributed to a domino effect which ended up sapping energy from bordering grids all over Florida. Police reported several people were stuck in the elevators of high-rise buildings in downtown Miami and several hospitals were running on backup power, although no injuries or fatalities have been reported. The blackouts caused major traffic jams and a few accidents, but the original outage was contained shortly after it occurred. All customers affected had power restored to them by 6:30 p.m. (23:30 UTC). |
Wolfgang Van Halen: The Grammys Almost Had Bigger Eddie Van Halen Tribute Posted in: Music News Guitarist's son, who says he's disappointed with the Grammys' tribute to Eddie Van Halen, wants to talk to the Academy about "the legacy of the rock genre going forward" ||||| Last month, Billy Corgan scoffed at the notion of his former band, the Smashing Pumpkins, ever reconciling and regrouping. "You won't see the four Smashing Pumpkins onstage again," he told MTV News (see Now it seems Corgan is singing a different tune. In a full-page advertisement in the Tuesday (June 21) morning edition of his hometown newspaper, the Chicago Tribune, the alt-rock leader declared his plans to bring back the band. "For a year now, I have walked around with a secret, a secret I chose to keep," the ad — signed "Rock on and may God bless you! Billy Corgan" — reads. "But now I want you to be among the first to know that I have made plans to renew and revive the Smashing Pumpkins. I want my band back, and my songs, and my dreams." The ad, essentially a love letter to the Windy City, doesn't provide any additional information on what form the resurrected band might take, or whether Corgan would be rekindling the fire with the Pumpkins' original lineup — drummer Jimmy Chamberlin, guitarist James Iha and bassist D'Arcy Wretzky. There also was no indication in the missive as to a timeline for the Pumpkins' rebirth. The group disbanded in 2000 (see The Pumpkins' final performance — a four-and-a-half hour, 36-song extravaganza — came on December 2, 2000, with fans traveling from as far away as Japan to send Corgan's crew off (see Corgan's solo debut, TheFutureEmbrace, hit record store shelves Tuesday. A spokesperson for Corgan could not be reached at press time. "Billy Corgan Tries To Sound Un-Pumpkins, But Not Totally, Just A Bit, Maybe" ).Now it seems Corgan is singing a different tune.In a full-page advertisement in the Tuesday (June 21) morning edition of his hometown newspaper, thethe alt-rock leader declared his plans to bring back the band. (Click here to see the ad). "For a year now, I have walked around with a secret, a secret I chose to keep," the ad — signed "Rock on and may God bless you! Billy Corgan" — reads. "But now I want you to be among the first to know that I have made plans to renew and revive the Smashing Pumpkins. I want my band back, and my songs, and my dreams."The ad, essentially a love letter to the Windy City, doesn't provide any additional information on what form the resurrected band might take, or whether Corgan would be rekindling the fire with the Pumpkins' original lineup — drummer Jimmy Chamberlin, guitarist James Iha and bassist D'Arcy Wretzky. There also was no indication in the missive as to a timeline for the Pumpkins' rebirth.The group disbanded in 2000 (see "Smashing Pumpkins To Disband At Year's End" ), with two Grammys and millions in record sales to their credit. Corgan and Chamberlin worked together post-Pumpkins in Zwan, which split shortly after releasing its debut album in 2003 (see "Zwan Gone: Billy Corgan Opts For Solo Career" ).The Pumpkins' final performance — a four-and-a-half hour, 36-song extravaganza — came on December 2, 2000, with fans traveling from as far away as Japan to send Corgan's crew off (see "Pumpkins Circus Folds Up With Epic Show" ).Corgan's solo debut,hit record store shelves Tuesday.A spokesperson for Corgan could not be reached at press time. | Billy Corgan On the same day he released his debut solo album, former Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan announced, "I want my band back, and my songs, and my dreams." Those words appeared in a full-page ad that ran in Tuesday's edition of the Chicago Tribune under the title, ''A Message to Chicago From Billy Corgan''. The alternative-rock icon also wrote, "For a year now I have walked around with a secret, a secret I chose to keep. But now I want you to be among the first to know that I have made plans to renew and revive The Smashing Pumpkins." The group, which included guitarist James Iha, drummer Jimmy Chamberlin, and bassists D'Arcy Wretzky and Melissa Auf der Maur, last played together in 2000. On February 17, 2004, Corgan posted a bitter message on his personal blog calling Wretzky a "mean spirited drug addict" and blaming Iha for the breakup. It was not clear if Corgan's former band members knew of his plans, or who would be involved with the new group. No other details on the plans were forthcoming from the singer, who lives in the Chicago area. |
Mr Rudd praised Mr Howard's dignity in defeat Rudd victory speech Mr Howard said he had telephoned Labor leader Kevin Rudd "to congratulate him on an emphatic victory". Mr Rudd said the country had "looked to the future" and he pledged to be a prime minister "for all Australians". With 70% of votes counted, Labor were on course to win the 76 seats needed to form a government. More than 20 constituencies from a total of 150 are still to produce a result, but Labor already has 72 seats compared with 48 for Mr Howard's Liberal-National coalition. Rare fate Amid cheers from Liberal Party faithful, Mr Howard said it had been a privilege to have served as prime minister since 1996. AUSTRALIAN ELECTION More than 13.5m of Australia's roughly 21m people are registered to vote Electors will choose candidates for all 150 seats in the lower House of Representatives and 40 of the 76 seats in the upper house, the Senate PM John Howard has led the conservative Liberal-National party coalition to four election wins since 1996 and is seeking a final term Kevin Rudd is taking the centre-left Labor Party to the polls for the first time as leader Election issues are the economy, environment and war in Iraq Profile: John Howard Profile: Kevin Rudd Election in pictures "We've bequeathed to [Mr Rudd] a nation that is stronger and prouder and more prosperous than it was 11 and a half years ago," he said. Mr Howard, who had been bidding for a fifth term in office, conceded the national election and accepted it was "very likely" he would also be defeated in his Bennelong constituency. If unseated, the 68-year-old would be only the second prime minister in Australia's history to suffer such a fate. Voters in Bennelong had elected Mr Howard in 13 consecutive elections over 33 years. But with more than 50% of the votes counted in the constituency, figures from the electoral commission suggested he had lost the seat to Maxine McKew, a former TV journalist. An exit poll conducted by Sky News and Channel 7 suggested a similar result. Anti-government backlash Labor leader Mr Rudd, a 50-year-old former diplomat, had led in opinion polls throughout the election campaign. In his victory speech, he thanked Mr Howard for his "dignity" in defeat and for his "extensive contribution to public service". He promised to "forge a new consensus" by ending the "old battles of the past" between business and unions, and between economic growth and environmental concerns. HAVE YOUR SAY After too many years I can finally hold my head up and be proud to call myself Australian again Anne, Brisbane Send us your comments During the campaign, Labor sought to capitalise on the Howard administration's refusal to sign the Kyoto protocol on climate change. Mr Howard campaigned on his record of sound economic management. The BBC's Nick Bryant, in Sydney, said Labor had swept back into power by harnessing an anti-government backlash. Mr Howard had found himself on the wrong side of public opinion on the Kyoto protocol and the war in Iraq, our correspondent said. Many people also seemed to be simply tired of Mr Howard after 11 years of his rule. Participating in elections is compulsory under Australian law and more than 13.5 million people were expected to vote. ||||| House of Representatives FIRST PREFERENCES BY PARTY View results for... NATIONAL NSW VIC QLD WA TAS ACT NT First Preferences Enrolment: 13,645,073 Turnout: 94.75% Party Votes Percentage % Swing % Liberal 4,505,415 36.28 -4.19 Australian Labor Party 5,387,408 43.38 +5.74 The Greens 967,708 7.79 +0.60 The Nationals 682,429 5.50 -0.39 Family First 246,761 1.99 -0.02 Democrats 89,813 0.72 -0.52 One Nation 32,658 0.26 -0.93 CDP Christian Party 104,746 0.84 +0.22 Citizens Electoral Council 27,900 0.22 -0.14 CLP - The Territory Party 40,298 0.32 -0.02 Socialist Alliance 9,990 0.08 -0.04 The Fishing Party 2,083 0.02 +0.00 DLP - Democratic Labor Party 6,018 0.05 +0.04 Climate Change Coalition 9,473 0.08 +0.08 Conservatives for Climate and Environment Incorporated 3,239 0.03 +0.03 Liberty and Democracy Party 17,047 0.14 +0.14 Non-Custodial Parents Party 794 0.01 +0.00 Socialist Equality Party 4,287 0.03 +0.03 What Women Want (Australia) 3,870 0.03 +0.03 Independent 275,147 2.22 -0.24 Non Affiliated 1,238 0.01 -0.02 .... 0 0.00 -0.40 FORMAL 12,418,322 96.06 +1.24 INFORMAL 509,990 3.94 -1.24 TOTAL 12,928,312 94.75 Two Party Preferred Enrolment: 13,645,073 Turnout: 93.52% Coalition Votes Percentage % Swing % Liberal/National Coalition 5,771,830 47.11 -5.63 Australian Labor Party 6,479,045 52.89 +5.63 ||||| House of Representatives FIRST PREFERENCES BY PARTY View results for... NATIONAL NSW VIC QLD WA TAS ACT NT First Preferences Enrolment: 13,645,073 Turnout: 94.75% Party Votes Percentage % Swing % Liberal 4,505,415 36.28 -4.19 Australian Labor Party 5,387,408 43.38 +5.74 The Greens 967,708 7.79 +0.60 The Nationals 682,429 5.50 -0.39 Family First 246,761 1.99 -0.02 Democrats 89,813 0.72 -0.52 One Nation 32,658 0.26 -0.93 CDP Christian Party 104,746 0.84 +0.22 Citizens Electoral Council 27,900 0.22 -0.14 CLP - The Territory Party 40,298 0.32 -0.02 Socialist Alliance 9,990 0.08 -0.04 The Fishing Party 2,083 0.02 +0.00 DLP - Democratic Labor Party 6,018 0.05 +0.04 Climate Change Coalition 9,473 0.08 +0.08 Conservatives for Climate and Environment Incorporated 3,239 0.03 +0.03 Liberty and Democracy Party 17,047 0.14 +0.14 Non-Custodial Parents Party 794 0.01 +0.00 Socialist Equality Party 4,287 0.03 +0.03 What Women Want (Australia) 3,870 0.03 +0.03 Independent 275,147 2.22 -0.24 Non Affiliated 1,238 0.01 -0.02 .... 0 0.00 -0.40 FORMAL 12,418,322 96.06 +1.24 INFORMAL 509,990 3.94 -1.24 TOTAL 12,928,312 94.75 Two Party Preferred Enrolment: 13,645,073 Turnout: 93.52% Coalition Votes Percentage % Swing % Liberal/National Coalition 5,771,830 47.11 -5.63 Australian Labor Party 6,479,045 52.89 +5.63 ||||| House of Representatives PARTY REPRESENTATION Party Representation - Summary of Divisions Won Party NSW VIC QLD WA SA TAS ACT NT Total Divisions Won This Election Last Election Liberal 15 13 9 10 5 0 0 0 52 74 Australian Labor Party 28 21 14 4 6 5 2 2 82 60 The Greens 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 The Nationals 5 2 3 0 0 0 0 0 10 12 Family First 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Democrats 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 One Nation 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 CDP Christian Party 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Citizens Electoral Council 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 CLP - The Territory Party 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 Socialist Alliance 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 The Fishing Party 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 DLP - Democratic Labor Party 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Climate Change Coalition 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Conservatives for Climate and Environment Incorporated 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Liberty and Democracy Party 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Non-Custodial Parents Party 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Socialist Equality Party 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 What Women Want (Australia) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Independent 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 3 Non Affiliated 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 DOUBTFUL 0 1 2 1 0 0 0 0 4 0 TOTAL 49 37 29 15 11 5 2 2 150 150 TURNOUT % 93.11 95.11 91.27 93.28 95.40 95.75 95.86 86.64 93.52 ||||| House of Representatives FIRST PREFERENCES BY PARTY View results for... NATIONAL NSW VIC QLD WA TAS ACT NT First Preferences Enrolment: 13,645,073 Turnout: 94.75% Party Votes Percentage % Swing % Liberal 4,505,415 36.28 -4.19 Australian Labor Party 5,387,408 43.38 +5.74 The Greens 967,708 7.79 +0.60 The Nationals 682,429 5.50 -0.39 Family First 246,761 1.99 -0.02 Democrats 89,813 0.72 -0.52 One Nation 32,658 0.26 -0.93 CDP Christian Party 104,746 0.84 +0.22 Citizens Electoral Council 27,900 0.22 -0.14 CLP - The Territory Party 40,298 0.32 -0.02 Socialist Alliance 9,990 0.08 -0.04 The Fishing Party 2,083 0.02 +0.00 DLP - Democratic Labor Party 6,018 0.05 +0.04 Climate Change Coalition 9,473 0.08 +0.08 Conservatives for Climate and Environment Incorporated 3,239 0.03 +0.03 Liberty and Democracy Party 17,047 0.14 +0.14 Non-Custodial Parents Party 794 0.01 +0.00 Socialist Equality Party 4,287 0.03 +0.03 What Women Want (Australia) 3,870 0.03 +0.03 Independent 275,147 2.22 -0.24 Non Affiliated 1,238 0.01 -0.02 .... 0 0.00 -0.40 FORMAL 12,418,322 96.06 +1.24 INFORMAL 509,990 3.94 -1.24 TOTAL 12,928,312 94.75 Two Party Preferred Enrolment: 13,645,073 Turnout: 93.52% Coalition Votes Percentage % Swing % Liberal/National Coalition 5,771,830 47.11 -5.63 Australian Labor Party 6,479,045 52.89 +5.63 | __NOTOC__ Early results in the Australian federal election held today show that the opposition Labor Party led by Kevin Rudd looks set to take government. Such a result would end 11 years under the leadership of the Liberal/National coalition led by John Howard. Early results indicate a 5.25 percent swing to Labor, with 12 percent of the vote counted. If the pattern is continued through the night, Labor could end up with a ten seat majority in the Australian House of Representatives allowing Mr Rudd to form government. Mr Howard may also face an uphill battle to hold onto his Sydney seat of Bennelong, with Labor recruit Maxine McKew 47.3 percent of the primary vote to Mr Howard's 42.7 percent. |
Policemen are often targeted by militants in Pakistan At least four policemen have been killed in an attack by suspected militants in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province, police say. They say the attackers fired bursts from automatic weapons on a police van, and then set it on fire. Attacks on security personnel continue despite reports of peace talks between the government and militants. Observers say local groups have been staging such attacks to avenge the killing or arrest of their comrades. Police and witnesses told the BBC Urdu service that the police patrol came under attack at about midnight on Sunday in the southern suburbs of Peshawar, the capital of NWFP. Four policemen were killed but their team leader, Station House Officer Haji Gulab Khan, survived with injuries. It is not clear how he evaded detection by the militants who left the scene only after the police van had been set on fire. ||||| ISLAMABAD, June 9 (Xinhua) -- At least four policemen were killed and two others were injured in attack on their van in northwestern Pakistan, local media reported Monday. The police mobile van came under attack at the outskirts of Peshawar, capital of North West Frontier Province, while patrolling late Sunday night, the News Network International (NNI) news agency quoted police as saying. The police said that unidentified gunmen opened fire at the mobile van, killing four policemen at the spot and injuring two others. No group claimed responsibility for the attack. The attack on police mobile was the second near Peshawar in less than a month. ||||| Posted Mon, 01 Jul 2019 17:13:00 GMT by Samantha WaitesWe present some business ideas for those of you who think that the future is greener than the present- we can think of some who don't ---. The advice is general and does not apply exclusively to any one nation. Posted Mon, 29 Apr 2019 14:30:00 GMT by Jane GoodallWe use the tiger (this is a prime Siberian example) to show up our failure to conserve wild species, but while we monopolise all the food that animals require, we could remember that it is not only their conservation we urgently need to cover. It is also our own indulgences. Posted Wed, 05 Dec 2018 00:00:00 GMT by JW. DoweyHow can you describe the threats existing to species, both large and small? Using the highly-threatened primates, we can perhaps see how they have contrived to exist until the current time. Then we can better understand just how we can prevent factors simply wiping them from the face of the earth, often through ignorance, lack of care, prejudice and of course the universal profit motive. Conservation begins in our minds, but demands much more than that. Posted Wed, 12 Sep 2018 13:31:00 GMT by JW, DoweyWhat does that blue butterfly do when you are not watching. We still have to discover exactly how the Eurasian large blue exploits Myrmica ants, but many of its relatives are either cuckoos (eg. (Phengaris alcon), or outright predators like the AustralasianLiphyra brassolis larvae ,eating the whole brood of the green ants they live with. How did such diverse habits evolve? Well, start reading here. Posted Wed, 20 Jun 2018 08:35:00 GMT by Dave ArmstrongFor several years, excitement has been building over the Atlantic presence of Manta birostris and Manta cf birostris/ this is the classification system trying to tell us of a potential new species that is related to genus Manta. Little progress has been made on this W. Atlantic species of oceanic manta, but it cant be long before we can confirm new knowledge of parenting and juvenile growth in at least the main species, which seems to live alongside the potential new manta. Posted Fri, 01 Jun 2018 12:10:00 GMT by Stefan RanstrandOcean plastic pollution could triple in a decade without action by the ocean economy. TOMRA CEO Stefan Ranstrand responds to the UK Governments Foresight Future of the Sea report and explains how container deposit schemes and sensor-based recycling sorting could provide a solution. Posted Wed, 02 May 2018 07:50:00 GMT by JW. DoweyLook at those modified wings and the bee antennae. But this is no stinger or biter. Its a clearwing moth, and you can find similar species near your own location worldwide. Its all about the mimic, and its model- in this case a generalised stingless bee. Trouble is, you wont find this guy. Good luck, but he seems to be almost extinct. One of those many new species that will disappear rapidly, just like many others that have been seen just as we destroy their habitat. Posted Wed, 04 Apr 2018 08:39:22 GMT by Dave ArmstrongThere is a songster we have missed. He sings far beneath the ice in the dark of a polar winter, so maybe its about time we listened to the incredible songs that this whale concocts every winter, every month and possibly each day! Posted Tue, 19 Dec 2017 11:15:00 GMT by Bobbi PetersonYou can deny climate change as much as you like. The evidence contradicts you. Any logical study takes account of scientific data which can be reproduced. That is the difference between media reports and the global warming reality. Here we have an up-to-date report on the state of one nation, with many others also recognising and acting on how to combat climate change in a coordinated global response. Posted Fri, 08 Dec 2017 12:30:00 GMT by JW.DoweyIUCN must be listened to, unless you are one of those who disregards any science on the grounds that it could be fake. Acting is the opposite to disinterest, but what can we do to counter the actions of great industries or the governments of large populations of people? The answer seems bland, but it proves individuals are always important. Posted Mon, 13 Nov 2017 10:10:01 GMT by JW. DoweyFrom Myanmar, through the Congo to the Atlantic forests of Brazil, we are neglecting our rainforests, but temperate forests are also suffering, often from pest influences as global warming really takes hold in certain regions. How to help prevent a treeless future - as always, take these pieces of well-informed, well-rounded and interesting advice. Posted Tue, 26 Sep 2017 09:34:49 GMT by Dave ArmstrongWhere will you wander? The world may be becoming smaller but there are many spots to choose from if you love to explore. A new book reveals many possibilities for those who hanker after a getaway. Whether you imagine shivering in the Antarctic or sweltering in a swamp, this is the ideas factory for you. Posted Wed, 06 Sep 2017 07:15:00 GMT by JW.DoweyDoes the dog in your living room have any similarity to those wild species that we are losing from our savanna and forests? This new discovery of signalling a hunt could lead us to more understanding of much more than our domestic animals. The beauty of the painted dog lies in intricate behaviour and care systems which maintain a society we should envy. Posted Mon, 04 Sep 2017 14:58:01 GMT by Dave ArmstrongZero waste organisations have been spreading to many nations over the last 10 years. Now weve been asking the UK population just how much they care about waste. Posted Wed, 30 Aug 2017 09:45:00 GMT by Dave ArmstrongFor the first time, two otters have a comparative study on their ability to learn from others in their clan. This could lead to study of more animals in this area, providing valuable evidence of evolutionary trends in sociability. Posted Tue, 29 Aug 2017 09:25:00 GMT by JW.DoweyHow can we fight the build-up of plastic on landfill, shores and in the middle of the ocean, as well as inside the fish we eat! Fashion can provide a small part of the answer with this new crowd-funded company called Asanox. Plus, you can actually go and pick up the plastic contaminating our best shorelines, alongside sas.org. Posted Mon, 28 Aug 2017 08:59:00 GMT by Dave ArmstrongOCEANA are fishing closer to home on this occasion, hoping to catch governments and those who wish to destroy our precious, and decreasing stocks of habitats , fish and even sea grass, mud and bivalves. Posted Wed, 23 Aug 2017 09:25:00 GMT by JW. DoweyPeople wonder why and how hunted animals became the quieter beasts of burden and table fodder of modern times. Here is an interesting moment in time, 14,500 years ago as Jordanians hunted sheep and goats with simple bone and stone weapons, prior to their domestication. Posted Wed, 16 Aug 2017 07:45:00 GMT by TalatGreen web hosting is a simple, inexpensive step businesses can take to reduce the environmental impact of their websites. This is how it works... Posted Mon, 31 Jul 2017 08:59:00 GMT by Dave ArmstrongXmas comes very early for us this year, with a tremendous guide to all our ancestors and their evolution into modern forms. You will need a subscription to Nature to read the details but we have the lowdown on the nitty-gritty of fishies and birdies too! The Earth Times site and content have been updated. We do apologise, as this may mean that the article or page you were looking for has changed. The Earth Times now focuses on producing and publishing our own unique content on environmental issues, which is written by our own team of expert authors and journalists. We now publish environmental news articles and information on various environmental problems. You can use the site search at the top of each page, otherwise there are links to some of the main site categories and green blogs we publish included on this page. Some of the environmental topics and categories that we now focus on include climate change and the effects of global warming, including their various impacts on both people and the planet as well as conservation issues and news articles relating to nature and wildlife. The site puts an emphasis on sustainability issues, including the use and technological progress made with various types of alternative or renewable energy. Earth Times runs several eco friendly blogs (environmentally friendly) on various topics such as ecotourism (sustainable travel and tourism), eco fashion, green living, green gadgets and clean technology, plus various other environment based news categories including pollution and science news. If you have any questions or queries please contact us. | Four Pakistani police officers have been shot dead by suspected militants, according to police. The attackers allegedly shot into a police car before setting it on fire. Two officers were also injured in the shooting, which was the region's second such attack in less than a month. The local police chief commented on the incident. "An unknown number of gunmen used automatic rifles and rocket-propelled grenades to target the police party," he said. An adviser to the Pakistani Prime Minister said that the peace deal signed with militants last month may be discontinued if incidents like this occur. He said that if there are incidents like this, there is "no point" in the government attempting to follow the agreement. |
Growing pains within Fred Thompson's "non-campaign" for president in 2008 revealed themselves in a big way Tuesday. For months, the former Tennessee senator has been rising in the polls by merely "testing the waters" and refusing to undertake the traditional trappings of a presidential campaign. But there has been much speculation about the role of Thompson's wife, Jeri Kehn Thompson, and today, a senior adviser to Fred Thompson today stepped out of a day-to-day role in the campaign because of friction with her. • Get the latest campaign news in FOXNews.com's You Decide 2008 Center, learn about the candidates in the Eye on the Issues Center and read the daily Update '08 newsletter. When asked to confirm reports that Tom Collamore would reduce his role to senior adviser, two senior Thompson insiders adamantly denied it to FOX News today, insisting that the emergence of Randy Enright as campaign manager and the reduction of Tom Collamore's role had always been part of the plan. (Story continues below) Advertise Here Advertisements Advertisements But multiple sources close to Thompson now tell FOX News that denial was inaccurate. In fact, Collamore and Kehn butted heads, and that was partially responsible for Collamore's move. Thompson's wife Jeri is a hard-nosed former Republican party operative and a long time political professional with a strong will. Insiders have long speculated that her personality would play a big role in the narrative of Thompson's candidacy. Get full election coverage in FOXNews.com's You Decide 2008 Center, learn about the candidates in the Eye on the Issues Center and get the daily Update '08 newsletter. ||||| With vaccinations underway across the U.S. and world, Illinois is still in the first phase of its program. Here’s where the state stands. ||||| The Fred file: money and the Jeri factor Posted: Wednesday, July 25, 2007 12:01 PM by Mark Murray From NBC's Kelly O'Donnell Sources close to the presumptive campaign tell NBC News thatfundraising is down "markedly." One claimed it has "slowed down big-time." The pace is described as a consequence of the delayed announcement to enter the race."The Friends of Fred, Inc." will report to the IRS its revenue by July 31st. Sources reveal to NBC News that number will be in the range of about $3 million. Five million dollars had been the talked-about June goal. Sources describe an early burst of donations in June and say the summer fundraising has fallen off. While additional fundraisers are planned, sources say the scheduling of fundraisers was "frozen" for a time while the team was going through some internal strains. The Jeri Factor Some sources describe the role of the presumed candidate's wife, Jeri, as vast and powerful. Sources say "she's integrally involved in every decision" and that Fred Thompson has "set it up so everything goes through her." Critically, that was cast as "running it like a congressional campaign" and from the "kitchen table." Sources also describe Jeri favorably as smart, and that her level of involvement could be an asset. However, they also claim she is "reluctant" to shift to the eventual front-stage role she would have to assume as the candidate's spouse with her own events and public responsibilities. An interpretation of Jeri's role was described as a "scattershot management style" that "lacks prioritization." At present, those close to the planning say Jeri is involved in hiring, salaries, schedule, office assignments at the two headquarters, and small details like the color of bumper stickers. Some sources defend her, adding that "it's easy to say she's controlling things." Sources describe that she, like many in Washington, knows many people in politics. They acknowledge Jeri meets with and interviews senior staff candidates and is clearly a key adviser. Another Staff Departure Senior staffer J.T. Mastranadi is said to be out according to sources. Others near the Fred camp say word of Mastranadi's departure is "not accurate" and as of last evening "everything was fine." (But the Atlantic's Marc Ambinder has the campaign confirming Mastranadi's departure.) Announcement Plans Sources say September 4th in Nashville is the working plan, with Thompson possibly heading to South Carolina (if time permits) and then to New Hampshire for the September 5th GOP debate. The talk about a stop in Thompson's boyhood hometown seems unlikely. Yet sources acknowledge the launch could still change and that only a tiny group of advisers know the thinking. Advisers contend it's better to have the "shake-ups and shake-downs now" than a month from now when they'd be in a "very different environment" with high scrutiny from media and other campaigns. One interpretation was, "a seamless pre-campaign does us no good if the official thing is a mess." Structure And Organization Roughly two dozen and "no more than 30" senior staffers are in place aside from those in state operations. Advisers say Tom Collamore (who is gone now) was brought in for his organizational skills, and that he did set up the needed structure for two headquarters and hiring. Randy Enwright will be the political director and effectively running the operation. Former US Senator Spencer Abraham's role is being compared to the way Don Evans served George W. Bush as a confidant/counselor in 1999 and 2000. The Fred team's internal research on the candidate to anticipate what opponents may dig up in their oppo shops has been going on for about a month and it's centered in Knoxville where the Senator's papers are housed. | Fred Thompson On Tuesday and Wednesday, two of Fred Thompson pre-campaign staffers resigned. J.T. Mastranadi, who was hired less than two weeks ago as the campaign's director of research, resigned this morning. Whereas, yesterday Thompson's top adviser, Tom Collamore, resigned "because of differences with Thompson's wife, Jeri Kehn, a Naperville native." While some reports have noted Thompson's success, according to Mark Murray, "Sources close to the presumptive campaign tell NBC News that Fred Thompson's fundraising is down 'markedly.' One claimed it has 'slowed down big-time'." In the polls, Thompson continues to be a major contender. A July 24th poll by Washington Post-ABC News has: Rudy Giuliani 37%, John McCain 16%, Fred Thompson 15%, and Mitt Romney 8%. While a July 17th poll by FOX News/Opinion Dynamics has: Rudy Giuliani 27%, John McCain 17%, Fred Thompson 17%, and Mitt Romney 10%. |
A reality TV star is reportedly wanted by police after the body of a former US swimsuit model was found stuffed in a suitcase. Fiore in Las Vegas, Nevada, in 2006 Jasmine Fiore's remains were packed in the case and then dumped in a rubbish bin in Buena Park, Orange County, California. Police said the 28-year-old, who disappeared over the weekend, had been strangled. Lieutenant Gary Worrall said officers want to speak with Ryan Jenkins, from Alberta, Canada, who reported her missing on Saturday. Fiore is said to have vanished after Jenkins took her to a poker party in San Diego the night before. Real estate developer Jenkins, 32, was a contestant on VH1 reality show Megan Wants a Millionaire, according to showbiz website TMZ. TMZ said the show, in which the winner has not yet been announced, was currently airing on the TV channel. View Larger Map Megan Wants a Millionaire involves a woman dating various men in the hope she finds a wealthy bachelor. On the show, Jenkins was described as an "investment banker", the Los Angeles Times added. Fiore had recently moved to Los Angeles from Las Vegas and had appeared in an advertisement for Howard Stern's radio show. Her body was found by a man who was searching for recyclables. ||||| Jasmine Fiore, a 28-year-old model whose body was found stuffed in a suitcase and dumped in a Californian dumpster, had been strangled, US police say. Now the hunt is on for the man who reported her missing - 32-year-old Ryan Alexander Jenkins. Entertainment website TMZ.com reported today that Jenkins had married Fiore just two days after they met in Las Vegas earlier this year. Jenkins, a contestant on the VH1 reality show Megan Wants a Millionaire, told police she was missing on Saturday night after he reportedly took her to a poker party in San Diego the night before. The reality show features a woman, Megan Houserman, who dates a group of millionaire bachelors in the hope that one of them will win her heart by the end of the series. The suitcase with her body inside was discovered in the dumpster in Buena Park by someone looking for things to recycle. It was apparently not zipped up. Fiore, who had worked as a Playboy representative, had recently moved to the Los Angeles area from Las Vegas to start a personal training business and had been planning to go to San Diego for a poker tournament, examiner.com reported. She had last been seen at her home about 8.30pm on Friday and did not have any contact with family members after that time, the Los Angeles Times reported. smh.com.au and agencies ||||| A former Calgary realtor is wanted for questioning in connection to the gruesome murder of a Los Angeles area swimsuit model. American authorities are looking for Ryan Alexander Jenkins and say he might be on the run. The 31-year-old Calgary man is a person of interest in the investigation into the death of Jasmine Fiore. Her body was found stuffed in a suitcase on Saturday August 15th in Buena Park, California. The 28-year-old was strangled and dumped into a trash bin southeast of Los Angeles. Police say Jenkins reported Fiore missing several hours after police found her body. He had moved to L.A. to be a contestant on the VH-1 reality show "Megan Wants A Millionaire." On the show's website Jenkins' bio states he is an investment broker. It's not clear how Jenkins knew Fiore, but the entertainment website TMZ reported the pair met at a Las Vegas strip club and got married two days later. CTV News spoke with police in Buena Park and they confirm they've been looking for Ryan Jenkins since Saturday, but have not been able to locate him. Jenkins is a Canadian resident, and it's believed he may have fled the U.S. and returned to Canada. Police believe he was the last person to see Fiore alive. Jenkins was seen with the victim in San Diego last Friday, the night before she was found murdered. They are also looking for a vehicle, a white and black Mercedes that might have belonged to Fiore, that Jenkins was also seen driving. At this time, Jenkins is not considered a suspect but investigators say his behaviour has raised many questions. Jenkins has not returned any of their calls. Jenkins was a former Calgary realtor, and according to one website, he once owned Skyhomes Calgary in Kensington. In what appears to be a more recent website posting, Jenkins listed himself as an employee with Concrete Equities, a Calgary real estate investment firm. Late Tuesday night, TMZ reported on its website that Jenkins' publicist said he will co-operate with police, but is currently speaking to his lawyer. Buena Park Police are asking anyone with information on Jenkins' whereabouts to contact them at 714-562-3992. | A millionaire reality TV star is being sought by police over the murder of a model whose body was found in a Californian dumpster. 28-year-old Jasmine Fiore was found dead in an unzipped suitcase in Buena Park, Orange County. Police are seeking real estate tycoon Ryan Jenkins, 32, a contestant on the reality show ''Megan Wants a Millionaire'', in which former ''Rock of Love'' hopeful Megan Hauserman dates several rich men with the aim of ultimately becoming the girlfriend of one of them. Jenkins reportedly met Fiore at a Las Vegas strip club and married her two days later. Jenkins reported the swimsuit model missing hours after the discovery of her body. Since then he has not returned calls from investigators and is considered a person of interest. Police suspect he may be on the run and are trying to trace him as well as a black and white Mercedes car he may be driving. It is thought that Jenkins may have returned to his homeland of Canada. Fiore, who had worked for Playboy, had been strangled according to police. Her body was found by someone searching for goods to recycle. She was last seen alive at 8:30 p.m. on Friday and had not contacted her family since then. |
TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) - An interim government set up after a military coup in Honduras said on Thursday it would be open to bringing forward a November general election to resolve a crisis over the ouster of President Manuel Zelaya. Roberto Micheletti, head of the caretaker government, also told reporters it would be possible to hold a national referendum on reinstating Zelaya, although it would be difficult to do so right away. ||||| New President of Honduras Roberto Micheletti, 28 Jun 2009 The interim Honduran president has rejected an ultimatum from American governments to reinstate ousted leader Manuel Zelaya to the presidency. The ongoing political crisis has sparked new protests. Interim President Roberto Micheletti is facing new foreign pressure to allow the return of President Manuel Zelaya, who was forced to leave the country on Sunday. The United States, United Nations and many Latin American nations have refused to acknowledge the government that took control from Mr. Zelaya, who has been accused of criminal charges. The Organization of American States (O.A.S.) went a step further Wednesday and said Honduras has 72 hours to reinstate Mr. Zelaya or the regional group may suspend the nation's membership. In Tegucigalpa, Mr. Micheletti said his government will not bow to outside pressure, and that he is not fazed by the overwhelming negative reaction from foreign governments. The interim leader said he is confident that Honduras will not be isolated for long, and that other countries will begin to understand how the new government has saved the country. He added that God is with the new government to help it resolve the crisis. He said officials from the new government were beginning to reach out to Washington and other foreign partners to offer details on why Mr. Zelaya was removed from power. Officials have announced a criminal investigation into the ousted leader, who is accused of 18 offenses including treason and abuse of power. Still, pressure is mounting on the interim government, as Spain and France recalled their ambassadors to Honduras. In Washington, the Pentagon said it was suspending military activities while officials reassess the situation. U.S. military forces operate a security and counter-drug operation from the Soto Cano airbase outside the Honduran capital. Meantime, the president of the Honduran Commission for Human Rights offered a proposal aimed at easing the political crisis between the interim government and foreign allies. Ramon Custodio said election officials should consider holding a referendum on whether to allow Mr. Zelaya to return to power or not. Custodio said the vote would offer a response to the international community, and show that only the Honduran people can decide the country's future. The announcement marked a shift from the human rights chief, who has said officials acted properly in removing Mr. Zelaya and that the interim government has full authority. Custodio says he has received scores of threats for his actions, but says he will not be intimidated. Supporters of the interim government held a large rally in the southern city of Choluteca on Wednesday, and smaller rallies took place in the capital. Also, some medical workers and school employees walked off their jobs after labor unions called for a strike until Mr. Zelaya is returned to power. Many schools have been closed since the coup, but businesses in the capital continue to operate ||||| ・Honduras' post-coup government will not negotiate with OAS and allow Zelaya to return. ・OAS gave Honduras an ultimate 72 hours to reinstall Zelaya on Tuesday. ・Zelaya will delay return after OAS gave Honduras an ultimatum to restore him to power. TEGUCIGALPA, July 1 (Xinhua) -- Honduras' post-coup government will not negotiate with the OAS and allow ousted President Manuel Zelaya to return to office, the interim government said Wednesday. Supporters of Honduras' President Manuel Zelaya stage a rally in Tegucigalpa, capital of Honduras, July 1, 2009. Honduras' President Zelaya said he will postpone his return to Honduras 72 hours to the weekend, instead of Thursday, as originally planned. (Xinhua/David De La Paz) Photo Gallery>>> "Anyone who has violated the law cannot be reinstated," the newly-appointed foreign minister Enrique Ortez Colindrez told the media. "Honduras' sovereignty cannot be negotiated with the Organization of American States (OAS), nor with anyone," said the minister, who was named by the acting president Roberto Micheletti immediately after the coup. Ortez said "international commitments signed with Honduras are being respected." On Tuesday, the OAS gave Honduras an ultimate 72 hours to reinstall Zelaya or face expulsion from the bloc. see the story Honduras' neighboring countries have closed their borders with it, and the Central American Integration System barred Honduras from receiving disbursements or new loans from its bank, the Central American Bank for Economic Integration. Zelaya plans to return to Honduras at the weekend accompanied by Jose Miguel Insulza, the OAS secretary general. The president was driven out of Honduras on Sunday after hooded and heavily armed soldiers seized him from bed at the presidential palace and forced him into exile in Costa Rica. A new government was appointed hours later by a legislative session that began with the reading of a letter, allegedly by Zelaya, saying Zelaya had resigned on health grounds. A large number of international organizations, including the United Nations and the OAS, have denounced the coup. Many governments, particularly those in Latin America, insist they would not recognize the post-coup Honduran leadership. Interim Honduran president accuses Venezuela of intervening affairs TEGUCIGALPA, July 1 (Xinhua) -- Interim Honduran President Roberto Micheletti Wednesday accused Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez of intervening Honduras' affairs. "The intervention of the government of Hugo Chavez is clear and definite in the situation that Honduras is experiencing," Micheletti said. Full story Honduras president postpones return home after OAS ultimatum The ousted President of Honduras Manuel Zelaya speaks during a press conference at the UN headquarters in New York, the United States, June 30, 2009. Manuel Zelaya expressed his gratitude toward the international community and tearfully described the last moments in his home country before being thrown onto a plane and whisked away. (Xinhua/Gu Xinrong) Photo Gallery>>> WASHINGTON, July 1 (Xinhua) -- Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya said here on Wednesday that he would postpone his plan to return home after the Organization of American States (OAS) gave the country an ultimatum to restore him to power. Full story Coup-deposed Honduran president vows to return despite arrest warrant TEGUCIGALPA, June 30 (Xinhua) -- The deposed Honduran President Manuel Zelaya on Tuesday vowed to return to the country despite an arrest threat that could put him in jail for 20 years. Zelaya has won wide international supports, and he will make a high-profile comeback flanked by the president of the UN General Assembly, the secretary-general of the Organization of American States (OAS) and presidents of Argentina and Ecuador on a flight to Honduras on Thursday. Full story General Assembly condemns military coup in Honduras UNITED NATIONS, June 30 (Xinhua) -- The UN General Assembly on Tuesday adopted a resolution to condemn the military coup in Honduras and demand the immediate restoration of the government of ousted President Manuel Zelaya. The resolution also asked all the countries not to recognize the military regime that took power by force. Full story ||||| Mr Zelaya has postponed his return home until the deadline expires The newly installed government in Honduras has rejected international calls to reinstate deposed President Manuel Zelaya. The Organization of American States has given Honduras a 72-hour deadline for reinstatement or warned it could face suspension from the regional group. Mr Zelaya has delayed his planned return home on Thursday, until the deadline expires at the weekend. Interim leaders said he would be arrested for treason on his return. The army ousted Mr Zelaya on Sunday over his plans for constitutional reform, which his critics said were aimed at prolonging his presidency. Roberto Micheletti, the Speaker of Congress who was sworn in as interim president, said of the OAS deadline: "We can't negotiate anything. "We can't reach an agreement because there are orders to capture the ex-President Zelaya here for crimes he committed when he was an official." Troops guarded government buildings during pro- and anti-Zelaya protests He told the Associated Press: "He can no longer return to the presidency of the republic unless a president from another Latin American country comes and imposes him using guns." The president's expulsion has been widely condemned by leaders ranging from US President Barack Obama to Mr Zelaya's regional allies, including Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Mr Zelaya, in Panama for the presidential inauguration, said: "I'm going to respect those 72 hours that the OAS asked for." The US has suspended military co-operation with Honduras and says it will decide next week whether to cut aid. Mr Zelaya's decision to postpone his return was described as "wise" by a senior official from US President Barack Obama's administration, quoted by Reuters news agency. Protests The World Bank and Inter-American Development Bank have cut new loans and some European countries have recalled their ambassadors. The head of the OAS, Jose Miguel Insulza, condemned what he described as "an old-fashioned coup" in Honduras, after an emergency meeting of the regional grouping on Tuesday. "We need to show clearly that military coups will not be accepted," he said. But thousands of people demonstrated in the capital, Tegucigalpa, against the return of the ousted leader, whose popularity has slumped in opinion polls to around 30% in recent months. Bookmark with: Delicious Digg reddit Facebook StumbleUpon What are these? E-mail this to a friend Printable version ||||| July 1 (Bloomberg) -- Honduras’s interim president Roberto Micheletti said his government is open to “dialogue” with Manuel Zelaya, who was forced from the presidency in a military coup on June 28 and flown out of the country. Micheletti, appointed president by congress after the coup, told reporters in Tegucigalpa today that Zelaya would still face treason, abuse of power and other charges if he returns. Zelaya repeatedly breached the constitution by pushing ahead with a vote about changing the nation’s charter that the Supreme Court ruled illegal, Justice Rosalinda Cruz said today. “Zelaya will be met by justice,” said Micheletti. “We would be open to dialogue but there are separate measures in our justice system that will deal with him.” Zelaya is “not afraid” to stand trial, said Honduras’s Ambassador to Panama, Juan Alfaro Posadas. The deposed president is willing to negotiate with anyone who wants to cooperate, Posadas told reporters in Panama City. “He is willing to appear before any court if he is presented with a charge,” Posadas said. “He is a brave man and he has no fear.” “What he wants is unity,” Posadas continued. “When he arrives in Honduras, he is willing to negotiate because he doesn’t want a divided country.” Zelaya, who plans to reenter the Central American nation within three days, received backing yesterday from the United Nations General Assembly, which called for his reinstatement and asked that no government recognize Micheletti as the legitimate president. The U.S. was a co-sponsor of the resolution. Gunpoint Arrest The U.S. also joined 33 other countries in an emergency session of the Organization of American States to demand Zelaya’s reinstatement within 72 hours or face suspension from the Washington-based group. Zelaya was seized at gunpoint and flown to Costa Rica from a military base in the early hours of June 28. The arrest came after the country’s armed forces commander, General Romeo Vasquez, said he would remain at his post after the Supreme Court overturned the president’s decision to fire him. Zelaya is currently in Panama. “Eighty percent of the nation agrees with what happened,” Micheletti said. “I won’t allow for people to call this a coup. This was a constitutional succession that happened after the Supreme Court took action.” Israel, Taiwan Micheletti said his government has received support from Israel and Taiwan and intermediaries have made contact with U.S. officials. President Barack Obama rejected the new government without closely reviewing the situation, he said. “I am very worried that President Obama rejected us without hearing our opinions,” he said. Dozens have been injured in protests during the days following Zelaya’s forced exit from Honduras. The interim government extended for 72 hours a 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew in a bid to stem scattered violence. The right to protest hasn’t been suspended, Micheletti said. Authorities detained journalists during June 29 protests because they incited violence, he said. Fuel and food supplies are guaranteed, he added. “I want to say that there is peace and calm in the nation,” Micheletti said. “No citizen will have his rights suspended. I don’t think the military will go beyond the curfew that we ordered.” Some 25,000 supporters marched in favor of the interim government today in the city of Choluteca, he said. To contact the reporter on this story: Andres Martinez in Tegucigalpa at amartinez28@bloomberg.netHelen Murphy in Bogota at Hmurphy1@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andrew J. Barden at barden@bloomberg.net ||||| By Patrick Markey TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) - Honduras faced growing pressure to reinstate ousted President Manuel Zelaya on Wednesday after the Organization of American States set a 72-hour deadline to end a crisis triggered by a military coup. The coup has spiraled into the worst political turmoil in Central America since the U.S. invasion of Panama in 1989, after troops captured Zelaya and whisked him out of the country to Costa Rica in a dawn raid on Sunday. The ouster of Zelaya -- a timber magnate forced out over his push to extend presidential re-election beyond a single four-year term -- was widely condemned by figures ranging from U.S. President Barack Obama to Zelaya's left-wing allies in Latin America. Zelaya has vowed to return, accompanied by foreign leaders, to serve out his term ending in 2010, defying a warning from an interim government that he faces arrest if he arrives in Honduras, a major coffee producer. The OAS resolution, formally agreed in the early morning hours of Wednesday in an emergency session at its headquarters in Washington, D.C., condemned the coup and demanded the "immediate, safe, and unconditional return of the president to his constitutional functions." It declared that "no government arising from this unconstitutional interruption will be recognized." 'CRUEL, BLOODY, BACKWARD STEP' Zelaya, who was at the session, denounced the coup as a "cruel, bloody, backward step" and offered his "heartfelt thanks" to the 34-member OAS. "It is the very first time that this organization has spoken so vehemently, with such conviction, condemning an aggressive act, where power has prevailed over reason and where the peace of a society has been broken." After earlier vowing to return to Honduras on Thursday, Zelaya told reporters that because of the 72-hour time frame in the resolution, he did not now expect to go back before the weekend. "Basically, the decision is to condemn, very clearly, the military coup," OAS chief Jose Miguel Insulza earlier told reporters during the meeting of the region's top diplomatic body over the crisis in Honduras. The resolution instructed Insulza to undertake "diplomatic initiatives aimed at restoring democracy and the rule of law and the reinstatement" of Zelaya. "Should these prove unsuccessful within 72 hours, the Special General Assembly shall forthwith ... suspend Honduras' membership," it said. Zelaya had said on Tuesday the Argentine and Ecuadorean presidents and the U.N. General Assembly and OAS chiefs would accompany him back to Honduras. The U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday called on its 192 member states to recognize only Zelaya's government, calling in a resolution for "the immediate and unconditional restoration of the legitimate and constitutional government." Continued... ||||| US Warns Honduras of Cascade of Consequences if Coup is Not Reversed Ousted Honduran Pres. Manuel Zelaya speaks at an Organization of American States meeting in Washington 01 Jul 2009 The United States is warning Honduras that there will be a cascade of negative consequences for the Central American state if the coup that ousted elected President Manuel Zelaya on Sunday is not reversed. The Obama administration is backing mediation on the situation by the Organization of American States, the OAS. Officials here say the removal of President Zelaya was unconstitutional, illegal and cannot be tolerated, and they say the country faces severe penalties from its hemispheric neighbors if the ousted leader is not restored. A senior Obama administration official who briefed State Department reporters said if the coup is not reversed within 72 hours, as the regional body demanded late Tuesday, it would clearly mean the expulsion of Honduras from the OAS. He said that would trigger a cascade of events in which Honduras would find itself thrown out of many components of the inter-American system. He said that given how interconnected the region is, Honduras can isolate, and hurt itself, in as he put it, some pretty dramatic ways. The United States had tried to mediate in the simmering dispute that led to the coup, centering on what Mr. Zelaya's opponents saw as an effort to remain in power even though obligated by term limits to leave office in January. But the Obama administration was quick to condemn his ouster by the military, and replacement with an interim government led by Roberto Micheletti, as an illegal coup. The senior official said despite the complaints against Mr. Zelaya at home, the United States wants his unconditional return to power with all powers and privileges of office. The official also commended Mr. Zelaya for what he said was his wise decision to postpone returning home to give time for OAS diplomacy, which State Department Spokesman Ian Kelly said earlier Wednesday is showing some progress. State Deptartment Spokesman Ian Kelly (File) "I think this is an important moment for the OAS, for the principles of the states of the Western Hemisphere, the democratic principles," said Ian Kelly. "And we believe the best way to work through this is through this OAS process. And we're seeing great progress through the OAS. And I think we should just give this process a chance to play out. The multi-lateral route is the way to go." Unlike Spain and several other concerned countries, the United States has not recalled its ambassador from Tegucigalpa, stressing the need to keep channels of communication open with the Honduran people. The Pentagon has cut off military contacts with Honduras but the State Department says it is still involved in a legal review of a cut-off of U.S. aid to Honduras, with officials saying privately that they hoped an early reversal of the coup would obviate the need for such a step. An act of Congress requires a cut-off of most U.S. aid to countries where elected governments are unseated by the military. The United States is warning Honduras that there will be a cascade of negative consequences for the Central American state if the coup that ousted elected President Manuel Zelaya on Sunday is not reversed. The Obama administration is backing mediation on the situation by the Organization of American States, the OAS.Officials here say the removal of President Zelaya was unconstitutional, illegal and cannot be tolerated, and they say the country faces severe penalties from its hemispheric neighbors if the ousted leader is not restored.A senior Obama administration official who briefed State Department reporters said if the coup is not reversed within 72 hours, as the regional body demanded late Tuesday, it would clearly mean the expulsion of Honduras from the OAS. He said that would trigger a cascade of events in which Honduras would find itself thrown out of many components of the inter-American system.He said that given how interconnected the region is, Honduras can isolate, and hurt itself, in as he put it, some pretty dramatic ways.The United States had tried to mediate in the simmering dispute that led to the coup, centering on what Mr. Zelaya's opponents saw as an effort to remain in power even though obligated by term limits to leave office in January.But the Obama administration was quick to condemn his ouster by the military, and replacement with an interim government led by Roberto Micheletti, as an illegal coup.The senior official said despite the complaints against Mr. Zelaya at home, the United States wants his unconditional return to power with all powers and privileges of office.The official also commended Mr. Zelaya for what he said was his wise decision to postpone returning home to give time for OAS diplomacy, which State Department Spokesman Ian Kelly said earlier Wednesday is showing some progress."I think this is an important moment for the OAS, for the principles of the states of the Western Hemisphere, the democratic principles," said Ian Kelly. "And we believe the best way to work through this is through this OAS process. And we're seeing great progress through the OAS. And I think we should just give this process a chance to play out. The multi-lateral route is the way to go."Unlike Spain and several other concerned countries, the United States has not recalled its ambassador from Tegucigalpa, stressing the need to keep channels of communication open with the Honduran people.The Pentagon has cut off military contacts with Honduras but the State Department says it is still involved in a legal review of a cut-off of U.S. aid to Honduras, with officials saying privately that they hoped an early reversal of the coup would obviate the need for such a step.An act of Congress requires a cut-off of most U.S. aid to countries where elected governments are unseated by the military. E-mail Print Digg Yahoo Buzz Facebook del.icio.us StumbleUpon ||||| The sharply divided political climate in Honduras may make any quick resolution difficult. But a senior Obama administration official predicted that Honduras’s interim government would not be able to withstand the mounting international pressure very long. “In the 21st century, these kinds of coups don’t last long,” the official said. “It’s very hard for a country like Honduras to maintain this kind of position in the face of overwhelming rejection by the world, and especially by the region and its major trading partners.” Image Supporters of the deposed president of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya, used an umbrella to collect money for their cause in the capital, Tegucigalpa. Credit... Esteban Felix/Associated Press Even so, a resolution appeared to be a long way off in Honduras on Wednesday. Demonstrations for and against the new government continued in Tegucigalpa and other cities across the country. Then, in a move to crack down on the opposition, the nation’s Congress approved a decree on Wednesday that applies during the overnight curfew and allows security forces to arrest people at home and hold them for more than 24 hours. “It’s for the tranquillity of the country,” said the new president, Roberto Micheletti. The government has accused pro-Zelaya demonstrators of vandalism and violence, noting that a grenade, which did not explode, was hurled at the Supreme Court on Tuesday. Those who oppose the government, meanwhile, accuse the security forces of stifling dissent through brutality. Mr. Micheletti suggested Wednesday that he was open to negotiations, but gave up no ground. “We are open to dialogue,” he told a group of international journalists, adding in the next breath that the courts would insist on Mr. Zelaya’s arrest if he returned. Mr. Zelaya had initially vowed to go back to Honduras on Thursday, but he agreed to postpone his return at least 72 hours after the O.A.S. set a deadline for his reinstatement. Pressure has already been put on the new Honduran government to reach a compromise. The World Bank has said it will suspend $270 million it approved for Honduras, one of the poorer countries in the region, and hold off pursuing any new projects there until the crisis is resolved. The Inter-American Development Bank has also paused its programs in Honduras. | The interim government of Honduras has rejected calls from the Organization of American States (OAS) and other governments to reinstate ousted President Manuel Zelaya, who was forced out of the country on Sunday in what has been labelled a military coup. The Organization of American States, which includes all 35 independent states of North and South America, has refused to recognize the legitimacy of the newly-installed Honduran government. On Wednesday, the organization threatened to suspend the country's membership if Zelaya was not reinstated within 72 hours. Manuel Zaleya plans to return to Honduras within three days. The Honduran government has defied these threats, saying there is "no chance at all" of Zelaya's return to the presidency. "We are not negotiating national sovereignty or the presidency," said Enrique Ortez, interim foreign minister. Roberto Micheletti, president of the interim government, says he "won’t allow for people to call this a coup. This was a constitutional succession that happened after the Supreme Court took action." Micheletti vowed to prosecute Zelaya under charges of treason and abuse of power if he returns to Honduras. Zelaya was accused of breaching the constitution by attempting to extend his term limits. He was arrested after the Supreme Court overturned his decision to fire the armed forces commander. "Zelaya will be met by justice," Micheletti told reporters on Wednesday. "We would be open to dialogue but there are separate measures in our justice system that will deal with him." Zelaya, who was flown to Costa Rica after being ousted and is now in Panama, plans to return to Honduras at the end of the three-day deadline. The Honduran ambassador to Panama, Juan Alfaro Posadas, said that Zelaya is willing to appear in court and cooperate with the interim government. "What he wants is unity ... he is willing to negotiate because he doesn’t want a divided country," Posadas said. At an emergency session of the OAS, all other member states were in agreement over their refusal to recognize the Honduran government. Although Micheletti counts Israel and Taiwan as his supporters, a United Nations General Assembly resolution called for Zelaya's reinstatement and asked all countries to refrain from legitimizing Micheletti's presidency. The United States has canceled its joint military operations with Honduras, and it plans to decide next week whether to cut off all aid to the country. Although the Obama administration has condemned the new government's actions, State Department officials say they want the OAS to play a larger role in mediation. "The multi-lateral route is the way to go," said State Department spokesman Ian Kelly. Advancing the November 29 general election to an earlier date is an option Micheletti is considering to ease strife. |
Man charged with stealing Wi-Fi signal RELATED YOUR E-MAIL ALERTS Computer Networking or or Create Your Own ST. PETERSBURG, Florida (AP) -- Police have arrested a man for using someone else's wireless Internet network in one of the first criminal cases involving this fairly common practice. Benjamin Smith III, 41, faces a pretrial hearing this month following his April arrest on charges of unauthorized access to a computer network, a third-degree felony. Police say Smith admitted using the Wi-Fi signal from the home of Richard Dinon, who had noticed Smith sitting in an SUV outside Dinon's house using a laptop computer. The practice is so new that the Florida Department of Law Enforcement doesn't even keep statistics, according to the St. Petersburg Times, which reported Smith's arrest this week. Innocuous use of other people's unsecured Wi-Fi networks is common. But experts say that illegal use often goes undetected, such as people sneaking on others' networks to traffic in child pornography, steal credit card information and send death threats. Security experts say people can prevent such access by turning on encryption or requiring passwords, but few bother or even know how to do so. Wi-Fi, short for Wireless Fidelity, has enjoyed prolific growth since 2000. Millions of households have set up wireless home networks that allow people to use the Web from their backyards but also reach the house next door or down the street. Prosecutors declined to comment, and a working phone number could not be located for Smith. ||||| Wi-Fi cloaks a new breed of intruder Though wireless mooching is preventable, it often goes undetected. ST. PETERSBURG - Richard Dinon saw the laptop's muted glow through the rear window of the SUV parked outside his home. He walked closer and noticed a man inside. Then the man noticed Dinon and snapped his computer shut. Maybe it's census work, the 28-year-old veterinarian told his girlfriend. An hour later, Dinon left to drive her home. The Chevy Blazer was still there, the man furtively hunched over his computer. Dinon returned at 11 p.m. and the men repeated their strange dance. Fifteen minutes later, Dinon called police. Police say Benjamin Smith III, 41, used his Acer brand laptop to hack into Dinon's wireless Internet network. The April 20 arrest is considered the first of its kind in Tampa Bay and among only a few so far nationwide. "It's so new statistics are not kept," said Special Agent Bob Breeden, head of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement's computer crime division. But experts believe there are scores of incidents occurring undetected, sometimes to frightening effect. People have used the cloak of wireless to traffic in child pornography, steal credit card information and send death threats, according to authorities. For as worrisome as it seems, wireless mooching is easily preventable by turning on encryption or requiring passwords. The problem, security experts say, is many people do not take the time or are unsure how to secure their wireless access from intruders. Dinon knew what to do. "But I never did it because my neighbors are older." A drive through downtown St. Petersburg shows how porous networks can be. In less than five minutes, a Times reporter with a laptop found 14 wireless access points, six of which were wide open. "I'll guarantee there are tons of people out there who have their wireless network being exploited but have no idea," Breeden said. "And as we see more people utilizing wireless, we'll see more people being victimized." Prolific Wi-Fi growth Wireless fidelity, or "Wi-Fi," has enjoyed prolific growth since catching on in 2000. More than 10-million U.S. homes are equipped with routers that transmit high-speed Internet to computers using radio signals. The signals can extend 200 feet or more, giving people like Dinon the ability to use the Web in the back yard of his Crescent Heights home but also reaching the house next door, or the street. Today someone with a laptop and inexpensive wireless card can surf the Web via Wi-Fi at Starbucks or eat a bagel and send instant messages at Panera Bread. Libraries, hotels, airports and colleges campuses are dotted with Wi-Fi "hotspots." Even entire cities are unplugging. "The information age is over. The information is out there," said Jim Guerin, technology director for the city of Dunedin, which will soon be the first city in Florida to go completely Wi-Fi. "Now it's the connectivity age. It opens up a whole new area for ethics, legal boundaries and responsibilities. It's a whole new frontier." There's a dark side to the convenience, though. The technology has made life easier for high-tech criminals because it provides near anonymity. Each online connection generates an Internet Protocol Address, a unique set of numbers that can be traced back to a house or business. That's still the case with Wi-Fi but if a criminal taps into a network, his actions would lead to the owner of that network. By the time authorities show up to investigate, the hacker would be gone. "Anything they do traces back to your house and chances are we're going to knock on your door," Breeden said. Breeden recalled a case a few years ago in which e-mail containing death threats was sent to a school principal in Tallahassee. The e-mail was traced back to a home, and when investigators arrived, they found a dumbfounded family. The culprit: a neighborhood boy who had set up the family's Wi-Fi network and then tapped into it. In another Florida case, a man in an apartment complex used a neighbor's Wi-Fi to access bank information and pay for pornography sites. But he slipped up. The man had sex products sent to his address. "The morning we did a search warrant, we found an antenna hanging out his window so he could get a better signal from his neighbor's network," Breeden said. Last year, a Michigan man was convicted of using an unsecured Wi-Fi network at a Lowe's home improvement store to steal credit card numbers. The 20-year-old and a friend stumbled across the network while cruising around in a car in search of wireless Internet connections - a practice known as "Wardriving." (The name has roots in the movie WarGames, in which Matthew Broderick's character uses a computer to call hundreds of phone numbers in search of computer dialups, hence "war dialing.") A more recent threat to emerge is the "evil twin" attack. A person with a wireless-equipped laptop can show up at, say, a coffee shop or airport and overpower the local Wi-Fi hotspot. The person then eavesdrops on unsuspecting computer users who connect to the bogus network. At a technology conference in London this spring, hackers set up evil twins that infected other computers with viruses, some that gather information on the user, the Wall Street Journal reported. Not all encryption is rock solid, either. One of the most common methods called WEP, or Wired Equivalent Privacy, is better than nothing but still can be cracked using a program available on the Web. "Anybody with an Internet connection and an hour online can learn how to break that," said Guerin, the Dunedin network administrator. Two years ago when the city of Dunedin first considered Wi-Fi, Guerin squashed the idea because of WEP's inadequacy. Dunedin's network, however, will be protected by the AES encryption standard, used by the Department of Defense. Passwords will be required, and each computer will have to be authenticated by the network. There also will be firewalls. "I'm confident to say our subscribers are at zero risk for that kind of fraud," Guerin said. Leaving the door open Not everyone has sinister intentions. Many Wardrivers do it for sport, simply mapping the connections out there. Others see it as part public service, part business opportunity. When they find an unsecured network, they approach a homeowner and for a fee, offer to close the virtual door. Some Wi-Fi users intentionally leave their networks open or give neighbors passwords to share an Internet connection. There is a line of thought that tapping into the network of a unsuspecting host is harmless provided the use is brief and does not sap the connection, such as downloading large music files. "There is probably some minority of people who hop on and are up to no good. But I don't know there is any sign it's significant," said Mike Godwin of Public Knowledge, a public interest group in Washington, D.C., focused on technology. "We have to be careful," Godwin said. "There's a lot of stuff that just because it's new triggers social panic. Normally the best thing to do is sit back and relax and let things take their course ... before acting on regulation." Randy Cohen, who writes "The Ethicist" column in the New York Times Magazine , was swayed by Godwin's thinking. When asked by a Berkeley, Calif., reader if it was okay to hop on a neighbor's Wi-Fi connection, Cohen wrote: "The person who opened up access to you is unlikely even to know, let alone mind, that you've used it. If he does object, there's easy recourse: nearly all wireless setups offer password protection." But, Cohen went on to ask, "Do you cheat the service provider?" Internet companies say yes. "It's no different if I went out and bought a Microsoft program and started sharing it with everyone in my apartment. It's theft," said Kena Lewis, spokeswoman for Bright House Networks in Orlando. "Just because a crime may be undetectable doesn't make it right." "I'll probably never know' In a way Dinon was fortunate the man outside his home stuck around since it remains a challenge to catch people in the act. Smith, who police said admitted to using Dinon's Wi-Fi, has been charged with unauthorized access to a computer network, a third-degree felony. A pretrial hearing is set for July 11. It remains unclear what Smith was using the Wi-Fi for, to surf, play online video games, send e-mail to his grandmother, or something more nefarious. Prosecutors declined to comment, and Smith could not be reached. "I'm mainly worried about what the guy may have uploaded or downloaded, like kiddie porn," Dinon said. "But I'll probably never know." --Times staff writer Matthew Waite contributed to this report. Alex Leary can be reached at 727 893-8472 or leary@sptimes.com [Last modified July 4, 2005, 04:46:58] Tampa Bay today Letters to the Editor: Roadways unfriendly to drivers | A Florida man is being charged with 3rd degree felony for logging into a private Wi-Fi (Wireless Fidelity) Internet access point without permission. Benjamin Smith III, 41, is set for a pre-trial hearing this month in the first case of its kind in the United States. This kind of activity occurs frequently, but often goes undetected by the owners of these wireless access points (WAPs). Unauthorized users range from casual Web browsers, to users sending e-mails, to users involved in pornography or even illegal endeavours. According to Richard Dinon, owner of the WAP Smith allegedly broke into, Smith was using a laptop in an automobile while parked outside Dinon's residence. There are many steps an owner of one of these access points can take to secure them from outside users. Dinon reportedly knew how to take these steps, but had not bothered because his "neighbors are older." |
1 DAY TO GO Bangkok on high alert for violence 13,000 soldiers, police to be deployed in areas considered to be flashpoints; Democrats, TRT deny mobilising supporters Security will be tightened in areas likely to be flashpoints for violence ahead of tomorrow's landmark rulings of the Constitution Tribunal on the electoral fraud cases against the country's two largest political parties. A 13,000-strong combined force of police and soldiers will be deployed to maintain order and prevent violence, Council for National Security chairman General Sonthi Boonyaratglin said. He was speaking after a meeting of officials in preparation for judgement day. There has been concern that supporters of the rival parties are likely to gather in great numbers in the capital and could cause trouble if they find the rulings disappointing. From this afternoon, police will seal off the Constitution Tribunal building and search its compound to ensure no explosive devices have been planted, Police Lt-General Adisorn Nonsee, the Metropolitan Police commissioner, said. He said the police would also secure nearby bridges tomorrow, when the tribunal is scheduled to read its verdicts on the separate cases against the Democrat and Thai Rak Thai parties, as well as three smaller political parties. Police will work with military officers and city officials to prevent any violent incidents, Police General Vichien Pojphosri, a senior police commander in charge of security, said. Hundreds of police officers will be stationed at Sanam Luang and the Royal Plaza, where Thai Rak Thai supporters are expected to gather, and at the headquarters of both the Democrat and Thai Rak Thai parties. Authorities have been on alert after receiving intelligence that party supporters from the provinces are travelling to the capital. However, the Democrat and Thai Rak Thai parties have dismissed reports that they are mobilising their supporters. Thai Rak Thai's caretaker leader Chaturon Chaisang yesterday accused the junta of spreading rumours to paint a bad image of the "old power clique" of which the party was a part. The use of a backup military force, comprising another 43 companies from Bangkok-based Army units, if needed, would be "decisive" and "lawful", Army commander General Sonthi said yesterday. Sonthi said he gave direct orders during yesterday's meeting with unit commanders that all soldiers participating in all security operations "must be unarmed" and would not be positioned in areas involving direct confrontations with protesters. The 13,000-strong force comprises soldiers from 29 companies, Bangkok-based policemen and municipal policemen. Its main duty is to guard against possible violent incidents between supporters of Democrat and Thai Rak Thai parties, or anti-junta activists and the soldiers themselves. Police will concentrate their efforts on curbing anti-junta movements that could be supported by taxi motorcyclists and taxi drivers. A police intelligence report warned that the groups, referred to as "mobs in red shirts", might operate across the capital to create disorder if the verdicts dissolve any of the parties, or both. Bangkok police chief Pol Lt-General Adisorn Nonsee said all 88 police stations had been observing the group's ongoing movements and their expected activities in the next few days. Checkpoints will be set up on major city streets to intercept their vehicles or make arrests in case the group members showed signs of disobedience. Elephants will also be barred from entering Bangkok at this time. A bomb threat was received on telephone at the Thai Rak Thai Party's former headquarters on New Phetchaburi Road yesterday morning. The caller said explosives would be set off but did not specify at which TRT office the attack would take place. The official who received the call at 10am then telephoned the party's new headquarters at Navasorn Building on Rama 3 Road. Security officials and two sniffer dogs were called in to search the building but found nothing suspicious. Meanwhile, Chaturon has called a meeting of party members to ensure there are no disturbances tomorrow when the Constitution Tribunal rules on the party's possible dissolution. Chaturon is worried that if there is any disorder following the ruling, or if ill-intentioned people disguise themselves as Thai Rak Thai Party supporters and create disturbances, the Council for National Security may blame the party for any turmoil. The party plans to send a few members to hear the verdict but Chaturon has instructed all other party members and supporters not to go to the tribunal but to hear the verdict at the party's headquarters. TRT has also asked the police to deploy 200 officers at its headquarters tomorrow to maintain security. Areas where trouble could possibly erupt Sanam Luang: Tomorrow, when the Saturday People Against Dictatorship plans an anti-coup rally. Popular Jatukam Ramathep amulets will be given away to gatherers. The Royal Plaza: Thursday, when PTV plans a rally at a nearby location. Headquarters of the two main parties involved: the Democrats, off Rama VI Road, and Thai Rak Thai at the Navasorn Building on Rama III Road. Checkpoints will be set up at Pok Klao, Pin Klao and Krung Thon bridges and on all roads connecting to them. These bridges and certain sections of the roads will be closed if the protest becomes too large. ------------------------------------------------ Places to avoid Areas with heavy police presence l Within the Constitution Court compound on Chakra Phet Road, where only 500 people will be permitted inside. l Around the compound, where 900 policemen and a back-up force comprising an unspecified number of soldiers and municipal police will be on duty. Only 3,000 supporters of both parties and onlookers will be allowed near the compound Source: the Royal Thai Police ||||| ANALYSIS Bombs 'like those in Bangkok' Blasts created a lot of noise but not much physical damage, police say The latest spate of bombs in Hat Yai will certainly shove this southern commercial centre further towards a crisis and prolong its attempt to regain its status as a popular destination for Malaysian and other tourists. This culturally rich town where Malay, Chinese and English languages are spoken, has never been the same since it was rocked by bombings in April 2005 and September last year. But unlike previously, Thailand's top security officials have refrained from speculating that insurgents from the deep South were behind the attacks on Sunday night. This differs greatly from before, when police were quick to point the finger at a group of zealous militants for a string of high profile attacks, including the April 2005 Hat Yai Airport bombing, and the blitz in Yala three months after. Police named Faisal Haji Isma-ae and Abdul Kamae Saleh as the heads of this militant cell. Because of the choice of targets and the scale of the damage, authorities said the 2006 Hat Yai attacks had crossed a new threshold. The six simultaneous bomb blasts killed four and injured about 70 people in crowded areas popular among local and foreign visitors. The implications went far beyond the Muslim-majority South, where the ongoing violence has claimed more than 2,200 lives since January 2004. Some speculated that the 2006 "hit" was a sign of things to come: militants would target high-profile places to create the greatest possible psychological impact, now that they had struck in Hat Yai. History has shown that successful attacks usually lead to bigger, more lethal dramas. But the seven bombs last Sunday didn't seem to fall in that pattern. However, this could well be a simple exercise in tactics. Hat Yai streets were more or less emptied of Malaysian tourists, who were well on their way back home when the bombs went off. Moreover, none of the bombs had shrapnel and all appeared to have been small and quickly assembled. Authorities said Sunday night's bombs were similar to those in Bangkok recently: lots of noise and political headaches, but not much physical damage. With or without the insurgency in the far South, history has shown that Hat Yai, like many other border towns, has long been a battleground for influential figures fighting over control of illicit activities. Given the fact that Hat Yai is not far from the boundaries of the troubled region - about 100km north of Pattani and about 50km east of Saba Yoi district, where another fatal bomb was detonated at a fresh market yesterday - it is understandably tempting to link any disturbances to the ongoing insurgency. Coming up with a convincing answer as to how the mess in Hat Yai can be understood will be just as difficult in finding the culprits behind these attacks, who not only inflict death and injuries, but also cripple the local economy. Don Pathan The Nation ||||| Sunday's blasts in Hat Yai deal further blow to Thai tourism The series of explosions in Hat Yai on Sunday has had an immediate effect on tourism. Travellers from Singapore and Malaysia have cancelled trips, while those from Australia and the Middle East are considering postponing. There are calls for government assistance to boost local and foreign investor confidence and that of consumers. State agencies and other organisations yesterday agreed the attacks would hit tourism but expect a limited overall economic affect. Bank of Thailand Governor Tarisa Watanagase admitted confidence in the South has been low for some time, but the bombs aggravate the psychological effects. Her deputy Atchana Waiquamdee said the bombs worsened fragile confidence and would dampen tourism in the region, which had started to recover at the beginning of the year. She expected a similar impact on the industry to that felt after the 2005 Hat Yai International Airport bombing. Trade will remain sluggish, as usual, she said. Association of Thai Travel Agents (ATTA) president Apichart Sankay said hotels, restaurants and entertainment businesses in Hat Yai would see a slow down. Many of the centre's visitors are from Singapore and Malaysia and have already cancelled bookings weeks ahead. Moreover, many arrivals cut short visits and are returning home, he said. Singapore and Malaysia are the region's biggest markets and often make weekend visits to enjoy entertainment. According to Apichart, the number of local meetings and conferences in Hat Yai had gradually declined as a result of political uncertainty in the South. "Hat Yai has been in its low season for months. Average hotel occupancy is below 40 per cent. These explosions will reduce that," Apichart said. He added seasonal tourists - particularly from Australia and the Middle East - worry about the blasts. Many are taking a wait-and-see approach and others will cancel trips. "So far, ATTA has not received any cancellations from overseas,'' Apichart said. ATTA reported it was business as usual at tourist destinations such as Phuket, Samui and Krabi. Arrivals are increasing. Hat Yai and Songkhla Hotels Association president Somchart Pimthanapoonporn said the explosions would damage tourism in the long term. "It's just the next morning and the tourists are gone. I believe the business will be hit hard in the long term, too," Somchart asserted. Hotel occupancy is less than 20 per cent and the blasts could chop that by 5 per cent, he said. Hat Yai hotels have increased security measures. Thai Chamber of Commerce and Board of Trade chairman Pramon Sutivong noted the blasts could hamper economic growth in the South. The chamber's chairman in charge of deep-South economic development Somkiat Anuras said Songkhla wanted its 12 districts not in the government's special economic zone to be included. The chamber will ask the government to provide more soft loans to hotels and manufacturers. The chamber wants to meet with Deputy Prime Minister Kosit Panpiemras to discuss South worries. The chamber and 107 associations will demand measures to boost consumer confidence "because the economy relies on sentiment". Federation of Thai Industries chairman Santi Vilassakdanont said the bombs would definitely affect tourism and other economic sectors. "People in the area want government confidence boosters for life safety and asset security rather than tax incentives for investment," he said. He suggested the government speeded installation of closed-circuit television cameras at Hat Yai and enforced regulations such as banning motorcycle pillion passengers. Deputy Industry Minister Piyabutr Cholvijarn believed the blasts would not affect the overall investment picture. Foreign investors usually adopt a long-term plan, he said. More worrying for them is labour skills, government policy and investment support. In the first four months of this year, the Board of Investment received applications for tax breaks for Bt200 billion in projects. Machinery imports totalled Bt120 billion. Piyabutr said throughout the year the combined value of all applications would reach Bt500 billion. Suchat Sritama, Petchanet Pratruangkrai The Nation ||||| PHUKET, Aug 5 (TNA) --- Thailand is stepping up measures to prevent illegal workers entering the country from neighbouring countries. The immigration police and border patrol soldiers will work jointly to block their entry into the country, the chief of the Immigration Police, Lt. Gen. Charnvuth Vajarabhuk told TNA. Immigrant officials will be stationed at checkpoints on all cross-border routes, he said. The national crack down on illegal workers started on 1st August. Immigrants working in Thailand without permission were ordered to register with the local authorities during July. The government has warned foreign workers that if they failed to register they faced arrest and deportation. More than a million illegal workers registered with the authorities in July. So far, only a few non-registered workers have been arrested, Lt. Gen Charnvuth said. However, the police will continue their sweep against illegal immigrants. The operation is part of the Thai governments attempt to effectively manage the number of foreign labourers in the country. (TNA)--E112 ||||| BANGKOK, Aug 5 (TNA) Thailand is to study the feasibility of producing and exporting longan ice cream. The idea has been proposed to help the countrys farmers because of the oversupply of longan on the domestic market. Under the proposed plan, dehydrated longans would be used as the main ingredient in the dessert. Longan ice cream would then be exported through Thai restaurants abroad, a senior Agriculture and Cooperatives Ministry official Banpot Hongthong, told TNA yesterday. There are more than 5,000 Thai restaurants around the world. The government expects there will be a major oversupply of longans on the domestic market over the next two weeks because recent heavy rain has forced farmers to harvest early. This will also affect the governments plan to subsidise the process of longan dehydration, as there will be more fresh longans available than can be processed before they rot. The Agriculture and Cooperatives Ministry has increased the cold storage space to keep 30,000 tonnes of fresh longans until they can be put through the dehydration process. So far, 11,000 tonnes of longans have been put into the governments cold storage. The government is studying the prospects of Thai longan production over in the next three years. The report is expected to be finished by the end of this month. Although the domestic market is unlikely to increase, Thailand believes the prospects for the export of longan remains good. Experts believe the Chinese demand for Thai longans is likely to increase. China is currently Thailands largest customer. But the government hopes to promote longan exports to Indonesia, Australia, Canada and Europe. (TNA)-E113 ||||| Thai police search for culprits after bombs wound 13 HAT YAI, Thailand : Thai police on Monday began scouring security camera footage to find out who was behind a string of seven bomb blasts that wounded 13 people in a southern tourist town overnight. The small bombs hit hotels, shops and restaurants across Hat Yai, the main tourist hub in a southern region beset by separatist violence that has killed more than 2,200 people since January 2004. Police Lieutenant General Jetanakorn Napeephat, chief of police in lower southern Thailand, refused to speculate on whether the bombs, which went off late Sunday, were planted by separatist rebels. "We have to investigate first ... we are starting by checking the CCTV (closed-circuit television) in town," he told AFP, adding that the bombs were mostly hidden in garbage bags and flower pots away from crowded areas. The blasts occurred just days ahead of a crucial court decision affecting the future of Thailand's two main political parties. Junta chief General Sonthi Boonyaratglin told Thai television shortly after the blasts that the attackers wanted to create a disturbance rather than cause destruction, and urged people not to panic. One person remains seriously hurt after the explosions, which came as Hat Yai, 933 kilometres (580 miles) south of the capital Bangkok, was struggling to recover after bombings that killed four people, including a foreign tourist, last year. Those attacks were widely blamed on militants who are fighting for a separate state in the Muslim-majority region bordering Malaysia. The separatist unrest has generally occurred in the provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat, where both Muslims and Buddhists are being killed in almost daily shootings, arson attacks and bombings. But the violence has begun to spread into Hat Yai, which is in Songkhla province, bordering Yala and Pattani. In April 2005, Hat Yai's airport was bombed, killing two people and denting tourism in a town particularly popular with Malaysians and Singaporeans. A series of small bombs also hit Bangkok following a coup in Thailand last September, with the largest attack on December 31 killing three and wounding more than 40. Authorities were quick to deny any links to the southern insurgency, and so far no one has been charged in connection with the attacks. The motives for the New Year's Eve bombs and three similar attacks in the capital since then remain unclear. - AFP | Four people were killed and about two dozen injured in a bombing at a crowded market in Saba Yoi, Songkhla Province, Thailand. The day before, a series of bombings in Songkhla's main city Hat Yai injured 13 people. Police are investigating those attacks, which occurred at around 9 p.m. (1400 GMT) on Sunday, when seven coordinated explosions went off at stores, hotels and restaurants in a city that is popular with tourists. In Monday's bombing, the dead were two women and two girls, ages 4 and 8. The bomb, which exploded shortly after 4 p.m. local time (0900 GMT), was hidden in a motorcycle parked in front of the market next to a railway station. The troubled provinces of southern Thailand. Authorities have not concluded if the blasts are linked to the ongoing insurgency by Muslim separatists in southern Thailand. The past year has seen an escalation of violence, with almost daily fatal shootings of civilians and frequent ambush attacks on soldiers. Since early 2004, more than 2,200 people have been killed, mainly in the southernmost provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat. Thailand is predominantly a Buddhist country, but in those three provinces, the majority of residents are Islamic. Council for National Security chairman General Sonthi Boonayaratkalin said he believed Sunday night's bombings were only meant to cause a disturbance. Other officials compared the Hat Yai blasts to the Bangkok New Year's Eve bombings, which they say were caused to create political tensions, though in those blasts, three people were killed. Business analysts believe Sunday night's bombings will hurt Hat Yai's tourist trade, which has been struggling since a spate of bombings in 2005, including one that killed two people at Hat Yai International Airport, as well as blasts in a department store and hotel, with about 70 people wounded. In September 2006, four people were killed in a series of bombings in Hat Yai. The latest bombings come at a tense time for Thailand. In the nation's capital, Bangkok, security forces are on alert ahead of a court ruling expected on Wednesday that could lead to the dissolution of the former ruling Thai Rak Thai party and the main opposition Democrat Party. Since a military-led coup d'état last year, in which prime minister and Thai Rak Thai leader Thaksin Shinawatra was ousted, all political activity has been banned by the junta. Last week, King Bhumibol Adulyadej made a rare televised address as he granted an audience to the administrative court judges. He urged them to use care in their verdict. "You have the responsibility to prevent the country from collapsing," he told them. Authorities believe supporters of the political parties may cause trouble if they are displeased with the verdict. Meanwhile, the nation's constitution is being rewritten, and Buddhists are demanding that Buddhism be made the national religion, a move that experts believe will lead to an even bigger increase in violence in Muslim-dominated southern Thailand. |
Police find the bodies of 4 adults and 2 children in a home along with 3 other badly wounded children. On Monday night, Tennessee pastor Keith Norman was at home having dinner when he got the call about the six bodies -- and the three wounded children -- found in a neighborhood on Memphis' north side.He rushed to the crime scene, gathered onlookers in the rain and prayed to God.On Tuesday morning, Memphis police were pleading for help from anyone who would listen. During a news conference about one of the worst mass killings in their violence-racked city, they had no suspect photos or motive."This is a stain on our community, and we really need the community's help," Lt. Joe Scott said. "These were children that were brutally killed and injured.""If you heard something -- anything -- saw a suspicious vehicle, this is not a time to ignore it," Det. Monique Y. Martin added.Martin described the scene at the modest brick house as "horrific," but the details police offered Tuesday were hazy:Someone had called authorities Monday evening and asked them to check on the well-being of the occupants. Inside, they found the four slain adults -- two men and two women -- and two dead children.Three other children were badly wounded. They remained hospitalized Tuesday, one in serious condition and the other two described as "very critical."Police did not release the victims' names or say whether they were related. The children, they said, appeared to be 18 months to 12 years old.Details concerning the suspect or suspects were equally vague. Police said there was no sign of a break-in. One local TV station reported that the adults had been shot and the children stabbed, though police would not confirm those details.The Memphis Commercial Appeal newspaper reported that Cecil Dotson had rented the Binghampton neighborhood house at 722 Lester St. with his girlfriend and that at least two children lived with them.In a telephone interview Tuesday, neighbor Leo Baker, 54, said he heard shots coming from the direction of the house Saturday night. Five shots at first, he said, then two or three more. Baker said he went outside but didn't see anything amiss. He said he didn't know the people who lived in the house; he had just seen them in their backyard.The Memphis metropolitan area had the nation's highest violent crime rate in 2006, according to the FBI, and the city has struggled with endemic poverty for decades. Neighborhoods like Binghampton have a tough reputation: Rapper Project Pat called North Memphis the place "where dem killers hang."On Tuesday night, there was a weariness in Baker's voice. His neighborhood had been full of TV news vans, police tape and people standing on front lawns crying."I don't know, man," he said. "I really hate it, for the kids' sake." ||||| MEMPHIS, TN (WMC-TV) - Six people, including two children, were found dead Monday night in a home on Lester Street in Memphis. Memphis Fire Department spokeswoman Melanie Young said firefighters responded to a 911 call at a home at 722 Lester at 6:11 p.m. Monday, where the bodies and wounded children were found. The wounded children - a 7-year-old boy, a 10-month-old girl and a 4-year-old whose gender wasn't immediately known - were transported to Le Bonheur Children's Medical Center. According to hospital spokeswoman Jennilyn Utkov, the children were taken to the emergency room to be treated. No further information was available about their conditions. Sources told Action News 5 the four adults found dead suffered from gunshot wounds, while the two children were found stabbed to death. The three children found alive were also stabbed. All nine victims were found in the same room. Neighbors identified the person living at the home as Cecil Dotson. Dotson's sister Nicole was frightened for her family members. "You know when you come to stuff like this you think the worst," she said. "You think someone is dead. I am scared to death, all my nieces and nephews are in there." Police were uncertain whether Dotson was among the bodies. Though the bodies were discovered Monday night, it was unclear exactly when the murders took place. Neighbors in the area reported hearing a disturbance at the home over the weekend, including the sound of gunshots around 8:30 p.m. Sunday. As news of the grisly find spread though the neighborhood, residents gathered in spite of the rainy weather to watch from afar as police conducted their investigation. Homicide detectives could be seen speaking with relatives sitting in a car near the house where the killings happened. "It's sad you come home to find out something like this has gone on," neighbor Leo Baker said. "I've been living here for 10 years. It's kind of sad, and scary too." Baker said he didn't know the family living in the house. Wayne Bolden, who lived across the street from where the shooting happened, told The Associated Press that the male occupant of the house periodically fired shots in his yard. "He'd shoot on the 4th of July and New Year's Eve," Bolden said. "He'd have company over and I'd hear the shots." He said the family there kept to themselves, but he would see four or five children from the house riding bicycles occasionally. "It's a pretty quiet neighborhood; nothing of this magnitude has ever happened here," Bolden said. Rev. Keith Norman, Senior Pastor of First Baptist Church on Broad Avenue, planned a prayer service for 8:00 a.m. Tuesday morning to lend support to the victims' families. (CNN and the Associated Press contributed to this report.) Stay with Action News 5 and wmctv.com for more on this developing story. | Six people, including two children, were found dead in a Memphis, Tennessee home in the United States on Monday. Three wounded children were also found at the scene, a 7-year-old boy, a 10-month-old girl and a 4-year-old whose gender was not reported, were sent to Le Bonheur Children's Medical Center. Two were last reported in very critical condition, while the other was in serious condition. All of the victims had either gunshot or stab wounds, or both, and were all found in the same room. Its unclear as to the day it happened, but a neighboor from across the street said he heard gunshots being fired at around 8:30 p.m. on Sunday night. The killer is still at large. "This is a stain on our community, and we really need the community's help," said Lt. Joe Scott of the Memphis Police Department at a press conference today. "I don't know the answer," Mayor Willie Herenton told local television. "I don't think anybody knows the answer. I don't think more police officers, more jails, more people marching in the streets, praying — I don't think all of those things are the answers." |
In a rare astronomical phenomenon, planets Jupiter, Mercury and Mars are visible to the naked eye up to December 14. These planets in conjunction can be seen early Sunday morning, 40 minutes before sunrise. These three will stage the closest planetary threesome until the year 2053. Naked-eye viewing is fine, but binoculars or a telescope are even better. A telescope is not reccomended, because they will appear to be so close to the Sun that you risk gazing at it through the telescope and damage your eyesight. Jupiter shines more brilliantly than any star. With the exception of the Sun, Moon and Venus, Jupiter is the brightest celestial body in the heavens. If you spot only one point of light by Jupiter, thats probably Mercury. Its considerably brighter than fainter Mars. About 45 minutes before dawn on Sunday those three planets will be so close that the average person's thumb can obscure all three from view. They will be almost as close together on Saturday and Monday, but Sunday they will be within one degree of each other in the sky. Three planets haven't been that close since 1925, said Miami Space Transit Planetarium director Jack Horkheimer quoted by AP. "Jupiter will be very bright and it will look like it has two bright lights next to it, and they won't twinkle because they're planets," said Horkheimer, host of the television show "Star Gazer. "This is the kind of an event that turns young children into Carl Sagans." "When I look at something like this, I realize that all the powers on Earth, all the emperors, all the money, cannot change it one iota. We are observers, but the wonderful part of that is that we are the only species on this planet that can observe it and understand it," he said, as quoted by AP. Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest within the solar system. Jupiter and the other gas giantsSaturn, Uranus, and Neptuneare sometimes referred to as "Jovian planets". Jupiter is 2.5 times more massive than all the other planets combined, so massive that its barycenter with the Sun actually lies above the Sun's surface (1.068 solar radii from the Sun's center). It is 318 times more massive than Earth, with a diameter 11 times that of Earth, and its volume is 1300 times as great as that of Earth. Mercury is the innermost and smallest planet in the solar system, orbiting the Sun once every 88 days. Comparatively little is known about the planet: the only spacecraft to approach Mercury was Mariner 10 from 1974 to 1975, which mapped only 40%45% of the planet's surface. Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in our solar system and is named after Mars, the Roman god of war. Mars is also known as the "Red Planet" due to its reddish appearance when seen from Earth. The prefix areo-, from the Greek god of war, Ares, refers to Mars in the same way geo- refers to Earth. Mars has two moons, Phobos and Deimos, which are small and oddly shaped. These may be captured asteroids similar to 5261 Eureka , a Mars Trojan asteroid. Mars can be seen from Earth with the naked eye. * This article is using information from Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki /Mars "This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license", http://www.gnu.org/copyleft /fdl.html. ||||| CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Stargazers will get a rare triple planetary treat this weekend with Jupiter, Mercury, and Mars appearing to nestle together in the predawn skies. About 45 minutes before dawn tomorrow those three planets will appear so close that the average person's thumb could obscure all three from view. They will look almost as close together today and Monday, but tomorrow they will be within one degree of each other in the sky. Three planets haven't been that close since 1925, said Miami Space Transit Planetarium director Jack Horkheimer. The planets are actually hundreds of millions of miles apart, but the way the planets orbit the sun make it appear they are neighbors in the east-southeastern skies. They'll be visible in most of the world -- in the Western Hemisphere, as far south as Buenos Aires and as far north as Juneau, Alaska, Horkheimer said. The way to find the planets, which will be low on the east-southeast horizon, is to hold your arm straight out, with your hand in a fist and the pinky at the bottom. Halfway up your fist is how high the planets will appear above the horizon, Nichols said. Jupiter will be white, Mercury pinkish, and Mars butterscotch-colored. In ancient times, people thought the close groupings of planets had deep meaning, Krupp said. Now, he said, "it's absolutely something fun to look for." © Copyright 2006 Globe Newspaper Company. | rightStargazers in Massachusetts will get a rare show on Sunday night, just before the local . The planets Mars, Mercury and Jupiter will line up and will be seen in clear skies at least 45 minutes before sunrise, and will be seen each morning until December 14, 2006. "Jupiter will be very bright and it will look like it has two bright lights next to it, and they won't twinkle because they're planets. When I look at something like this, I realize that all the powers on Earth, all the emperors, all the money, cannot change it one iota. We are observers, but the wonderful part of that is that we are the only species on this planet that can observe it and understand it," said television show host of ''Star Gazer,'' Jack Horkheimer. He is also director of the Space Transit Planetarium in Miami, . This will be the closest planet-lineup to until 2053. The previous closest viewing occurred in 1925. |
Russia’s Maria Sharapova and America’s Andre Agassi have been voted the sexiest female and male champions of in the last twenty years. A survey conducted by GetMeATicket.co.uk for The All England Tennis Club says Sharapova and Agassi scored 68 and 77 percent, respectively. Maria Sharapova won with an overwhelming majority ahead of Chris Evert (21 percent of the vote), Steffi Graf (15 percent), Maria Bueno (11 percent), Serena Williams (11 percent), Martina Hingis (10 percent) and the reigning champion Venus Williams (8 percent).Andre Agassi beat Pat Cash (23 percent), Bjorn Borg (19 percent), Pete Sampras and Roger Federer (14 percent both) and Boris Becker and Goran Ivanisevic (8 percent). The votes in sum make up more than 100 percent as those polled were allowed to name several players.The Russian world number two won her title in 2004 while the American Grand Slam champ was first in 1992. ||||| Press Releases PR Companies Jobs journo home pr home contact about help Press Release Print | Email Submitter: Blunt Communications Release Date: 09-07-2007 664 views on Response Source on Response Source View all releases submitted by Blunt Communications Use Response Source to send requests to all PR contacts. to send requests to all PR contacts. View Response Source PR Company Listings Submit this release to: facebook Digg | Del.icio.us | what is this? The Sexiest Wimbledon Tennis Champions survey: And the Winners are.......... Roger Federer may have been crowned Champion yesterday in the 2007 Wimbledon menís singles finals but Andre Agassi and Maria Sharapova have been voted the sexiest male and female champions of Wimbledon from the last 20 years. A survey conducted by GetMeATicket.co.uk asked which of the champions from the famous All England Tennis club were the sexiest and an overwhelming majority, 77%, voted Agassi as the sexiest male and 68% for Maria Sharapova as the sexiest female. Perhaps it was Agassi's flowing locks (in the early days) and thrilling shot-making that helped take him to the top of the sexiest male champion poll? Whilst Sharapova's model-looks, boundless energy and short skirts would not have hurt her cause in this survey. The full list of survey reults: Female Champion ---------- % voted as the sexist Maria Sharapova -- 68% Chris Evert -- 21% Steffi Graf -- 15% Maria Bueno -- 11% Serena Williams --11% Martina Hingis -- 10% Venus Williams -- 8% Martina Navratilova -- 7% Evonne Goolagong Cawley -- 7% Karen Susman -- 6% Angela Mortimer -- 6% Margaret Smith -- 6% Lindsay Davenport -- 5% Billie Jean King -- 4% Amelie Mauresmo -- 4% Virginia Wade -- 3% Conchita Martinez -- 3% Jana Novotna -- 2% Ann Jones -- 1% Margaret Court -- 1% Male Champion --------- % voted as the sexist Andre Agassi -- 77% Pat Cash -- 23% Bjorn Borg -- 19% Pete Sampras -- 14% Roger Federer -- 14% Boris Becker -- 8% Goran Ivanisevic -- 8% Jimmy Connors -- 7% Stefan Edberg -- 7% Arthur Ashe -- 6% John McEnroe -- 6% Rod Laver -- 6% Lleyton Hewitt -- 5% Roy Emerson -- 3% John Newcombe -- 2% Richard Krajicek -- 2% Manuel Santana -- 2% Michael Stich-- 2% Stan Smith -- 1% Jan Kodes -- 1% GetMeATicket.co.uk is the leading UK website for free competitions, games and quizzes. GetMeATicket.co.uk distribute thousands of pounds worth of prizes every month, including cash payouts, cars, PS3 consoles, LDC TVs, portable DVD players, holidays and designer gear. The GetMeATicket.co.uk survey was conducted between 2-6 July 2007 with a consumer panel of 2,536 members. For further information: CJ Brough Email: cj@bluntcommunications.com +44 (0) 20 8123 4913 www.BluntCommunications.com << Go back | in 2006 in the tournament of . Maria Sharapova during the same event. and Maria Sharapova have been voted the sexiest Wimbledon champions from the last twenty years according to a survey conducted by the U.K. commercial website GetMeATicket. Agassi and received 77% of the votes as the sexiest champion amongst names such as and . Maria Sharapova racked up 68% of the votes. Agassi won the single's title at Wimbledon in 1992, Sharapova lifted the women's trophy in 2004. In the survey, 2,536 were cast between July 2 and 6. |
To use this website, cookies must be enabled in your browser. To enable cookies, follow the instructions for your browser below. Enabling Cookies in Internet Explorer 7, 8 & 9 Open the Internet Browser Click Tools> Internet Options>Privacy>Advanced Check Override automatic cookie handling For First-party Cookies and Third-party Cookies click Accept Click OK and OK Enabling Cookies in Firefox Open the Firefox browser Click Tools>Options>PrivacyOptions>Under the Hood>Content Settings Check Allow local data to be set Uncheck Block third-party cookies from being set Uncheck Clear cookies Close all Enabling Cookies in Mobile Safari (iPhone, iPad) ||||| ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Publishing legend Ita Buttrose has joined a chorus of former top editors voicing concern at an "extreme" proposal by magazine giant Bauer Media to merge the reporting staffs of its iconic titles Cleo and Dolly. Bauer staff are also alarmed by the company's handling of the move, in which the current editors of the magazines have been portrayed as being in a "showdown" and a "fight to the death". Under the proposal announced to Bauer Media staff yesterday, the titles would remain separate publications but with only one pool of staff. There would be one editor-in-chief, one managing editor and one publisher overseeing both titles. All staff would have to reapply for their positions, with around half expected to lose their jobs. Either Cleo editor Sharri Markson or Dolly editor Tiffany Dunk is expected to become editor-in-chief. Buttrose, the founding editor of Cleo, told Crikey: "I know everybody is cost-cutting at the moment, but this seems a bit extreme. You'd have to be a very experienced, very talented editor to put out both titles. "I ran the women's division at ACP Magazines, but all the titles had their own clearly defined editors. For one person to edit two magazines — that may be something they do in Germany, but it's new for me ... I'd like to see their business plan." Buttrose adds it would be extremely difficult for journalists to write across both titles given Dolly is aimed at teenagers while Cleo is targeted at women in their 20s and 30s. "It could add to the uncertainty that I hear exists in the company over the future of some of the titles," she added. "People get very jittery in the when they hear these things are going on." A Bauer insider said: "As a strategy, it's kind of nuts. It's a silly thing to set the two editors up against each other. They should have made a decision and moved the other one on or found them another role." Unsurprisingly, the tabloids are revelling in the potential stoush — see yesterday's Daily Telegraph headline "Battle of the teen mag editors". Markson, a former Sunday Telegraph political journalist and Seven News reporter, was appointed editor of Cleo in December 2012. She has overseen a relaunch of the magazine and de-emphasised stories about orgasms and sex positions. Markson is regarded as extremely ambitious and competitive — in June it was revealed she had rifled through the bin of sister title Cosmopolitan to see if the mag was working on a similar story. Before editing Dolly, Dunk was a deputy editor at TV Week and entertainment editor at NW. Marina Go, a former editor of Dolly, said: "I was shocked ... The consumer magazine business model assumes deeply engaged audiences. But that requires editorial teams who are deeply passionate and engaged in their magazine's unique spin on content. I'm not sure how that will continue to be the case when one team produces two products for what should be distinct audiences." Go is CEO of Private Media which publishes websites including Women's Agenda and Crikey. Channel Nine Today host Lisa Wilkinson, a former editor of Cleo and Dolly, told Fairfax Media yesterday: "I just hope the magazine publishers in this country have been mentoring that new talent, otherwise it simply will not work." And former Vogue Australia editor Kirstie Clements wrote yesterday: "Stretching staff across two titles such as Cleo and Dolly is a dangerous exercise in creating sameness; something that resembles an soulless exercise in frugality rather than the exciting labour of love a magazine should always be about." Bauer CEO Matthew Stanton said yesterday that "it makes sense to bring the staff creating these young women's lifestyle titles together. The single publishing unit enables us to tap the synergies and expertise between the mastheads to further enhance the reach and relevance of these two much-loved Australian magazine brands." The latest circulation results showed Cleo sold 76,163 copies a month, down 17.4% on the same period last year; Dolly sold 80,315, down 12.8%. Both are seen as endangered species because younger readers are turning to the internet for the content — celebrity stories and sex advice — that has long been their speciality. "I don't know whether anyone can save these titles," a senior magazine industry figure said. ||||| PARK St is going to be the setting of a fight to the death with two editors of Australia's most iconic teen magazines told one must pack up their desk. Bauer has announced the staff from two of its youth mastheads, Cleo and Dolly, are set to merge and form one newsroom by early next year. And editors Sharri Markson and Tiffany Dunk will battle it out for a single editor-in-chief position. Markson's career includes 11 years at The Sunday Telegraph, a Walkley Award and just under two years at Seven as their news editor. Dunk's experience includes successful roles at TV Week and NW magazine and just under four years at the helm of Dolly. "An editor-in-chief would be responsible for both titles, with other team members either working directly on the brand or where possible across the two brands," a statement from Bauer media said. The iconic magazines will continue to be produced as separate titles, however the move will see the "expected loss of half their combined staff". Bauer CEO Matthew Stanton said that "it makes sense to bring the staff creating these young women's lifestyle titles together. Former editor's of the magazine's took to social media yesterday to show their support for the magazine's employees. "Sad for all the girls who dream of working in magazines. The dream is sadly very much over. No joy today. Thinking of Dolly & Cleo staff," posted Mia Freedman. While Lisa Wilkninson said, "Very sad to hear news that Dolly & Cleo magazines are merging, with expected losses of half the staff. End of an era. And a personal one ..." The move comes after Bauer closed women's magazine titles Madison and Grazia earlier in the year due to financial pressures and to make way for the launch of Elle magazine in September. ||||| Private Sydney Private Sydney Cleo targets women in their 20s and 30s. Fear and loathing has again descended on Australia's once glamorous women's magazine industry as German-based Bauer Media confirms it is considering merging the teams that create iconic Australian titles Dolly and Cleo. Word has spread fast across the publishing landscape, especially as the move could see at least one of the magazines' high profile editors being axed. "The idea is to have one editor-in-chief, one managing editor and one publisher overseeing both titles, but nothing is a done deal; it is simply an idea we are looking at," Bauer spokeswoman Deborah Thomas said this morning. Dolly targets a teen audience. It would mean either Dolly's Tiffany Dunk or Cleo's Sharri Markson could be out of a job in a matter of weeks, setting the stage for a showdown between the two. Advertisement Both titles were launched under the reign of Kerry Packer and have been part of the media landscape for decades. Bauer bought the Packer magazine publishing business for $500 million just over a year ago and has been ruthless in axing titles, such as Grazia and Madison. It was Cleo that cemented Ita Buttrose's status as a feminist in Australia. Her introduction of male centrefolds and stories covering previously taboo subjects about sex and women's rights were considered revolutionary. However, observers have questioned how efficient it would be to have one team producing both titles when they have been skewed at distinctly different audiences: Dolly is aimed at teenagers, Cleo at women in their 20s and 30s. Bauer chief executive Matthew Stanton said: "Cleo and Dolly are quickly evolving to meet the needs of a target audience which is itself rapidly changing. "In such a dynamic environment, it makes sense to bring the staff creating these young women's lifestyle titles together. The single publishing unit enables us to tap the synergies and expertise between the mastheads to further enhance the reach and relevance of these two much-loved Australian magazine brands." He said staff would be advised of changes as soon as possible with the new model implemented by early next year. While Bauer management said nothing had been confirmed, staff on both magazines, including the editors, were told by the company that they must reapply for their current positions, suggesting it was inevitable. Former Cleo editor and Today co-host Lisa Wilkinson took to her Twitter feed to lament the potential merge. She tweeted: "Very sad to hear news that Dolly & Cleo magazines are merging, with expected losses of half the staff. End of an era. And a personal one." ||||| Bauer announced in a statement that it was "continually reviewing every aspect of its business, looking at new opportunities for growth and investment, whilst ensuring all divisions are working as efficiently and effectively as possible. This process has revealed the logic of grouping complementary magazine brands within single publishing units to take full advantage of editorial, digital and production resources that further strengthen our mastheads... Publishers - both in Australia and overseas - have made similar changes as they respond to new opportunities to create strong multi-platform brands across print, web, mobile, social media and events. The company is now discussing with staff a proposal to bring the teams behind Cleo and Dolly together. An editor-in-chief would be responsible for both titles, with other team members either working directly on the brand or where possible across the two brands." Bauer CEO Matthew Stanton added that "it makes sense to bring the staff creating these young women’s lifestyle titles together. The single publishing unit enables us to tap the synergies and expertise between the mastheads to further enhance the reach and relevance of these two much-loved Australian magazine brands." Also being further enhanced: the workload and stress inflicted on a single team to maintain the success of two separate titles in an industry evidently already experiencing considerable pressure. Sharri Markson and Tiffany Dunk respectively, will now go on to compete in the hopes of becoming the sole surviving editor-in-chief. All staff, who The merger also means that the existing editors of Cleo and Dolly,andrespectively, will now go on to compete in the hopes of becoming the sole surviving editor-in-chief. All staff, who according to The Australian will reportedly have to re-apply for their current jobs, are being consulted on the changes prior to their likely implementation in 2014. Former editors Lisa Wilkinson and Mia Freedman had the following to say. Sad for all the girls who dream of working in magazines. The dream is sadly very much over. No joy today. Thinking of Dolly & Cleo staff. — Mia Freedman (@MiaFreedman) November 4, 2013 Very sad to hear news that Dolly & Cleo magazines are merging, with expected losses of half the staff. End of an era. And a personal one... — Lisa Wilkinson (@Lisa_Wilkinson) November 4, 2013 Cleo and Dolly staying separate mags but working from the same pool of staff. Another example of the dwindling number of jobs for journos. — Lisa Wilkinson (@Lisa_Wilkinson) November 4, 2013 This morning's merger of theandmastheads sounds a hollow death knell for the dreams of those aspiring to a long and fruitful career in either glossy magazines or the intrepid hunt for models and bachelors alike, as German parent companyannounced that the union of two mastheads will result in job losses for half the staff responsible for producing two of the group's highest circulating and iconic titles. ||||| LifeStyle PRIVATE SYDNEY "My bedrock and my heart and soul as a journalist came from magazines": Lisa Wilkinson. Photo: Janie Barrett Lisa Wilkinson was 21 years old when she began editing Dolly, and just 25 when she took over the reins at Cleo. The Today co-host did not welcome news on Monday that the magazines’s editorial teams would be merged and one editor overseeing both titles, saying it was the result of poor decisions made 15 years ago. I just hope the magazine publishers in this country have been mentoring that new talent otherwise it simply will not work. "Magazine publishers made strategic errors 15 years ago when the internet came along,’’ Wilkinson told PS. Fresh face: Lisa Wilkinson as Dolly editor in 1984. Photo: Supplied "They felt very threatened by the internet ... a bit like a fourth grader putting their arm around their homework saying you can’t look. They failed to recognise that the one thing the internet needed more than anything was content, and that's what magazines had plenty of ... they didn’t recognise the gold they already had." Advertisement "My bedrock and my heart and soul as a journalist came from magazines, and I still love magazines and like many women aged 35 and over, so many of us grew up on Dolly and progressed on to Cleo. Today’s young women are more connected to the digital world than ever before and it is going to be a real challenge for those magazines to remain relevant.’’ German-based Bauer Media, which owns both titles, said nothing was confirmed, although spokeswoman Deborah Thomas said the idea being considered was ‘‘to have one editor-in-chief, one managing editor and one publisher overseeing both titles.’’ Revolutionised the female magazine: Ita Buttrose as Cleo editor in 1980. Photo: Bob Finlay This would likely mean either Cleo’s Sharri Markson or Dolly’s Tiffany Dunk could be out of a job in a matter of weeks, setting the stage for a showdown between the two. While nothing was being confirmed, staff on both magazines, including the editors, were told by the company that they must reapply for their current positions, suggesting it was inevitable. Wilkinson took to Twitter as the news broke, lamenting the likely merge. Background in magazines: Mia Freedman. Photo: Jason Ierace She tweeted: ‘‘Very sad to hear news that Dolly & Cleo magazines are merging, with expected losses of half the staff. End of an era. And a personal one.’’ Like her colleagues Mia Freedman and Ita Buttrose, Wilkinson has built a major media career off the back of their years editing magazines, including Cleo. Speaking later, she told PS it was going to take ‘‘somebody who is an incredibly smart magazine editor and someone who understands the subtle but very important differences that are going to have to exist between those two magazines.’’ ‘‘I just hope the magazine publishers in this country have been mentoring that new talent otherwise it simply will not work,’’ she said, expressing a mix of hope and doubt about the existence of a generation of new female magazine firebrands. Both titles were launched under the reign of Kerry Packer and have been part of the media landscape for decades. Bauer bought the Packer magazine publishing business for $500 million just over a year ago and has been ruthless in axing titles, such as Grazia and Madison. It was Cleo that cemented Ita Buttrose’s status as a feminist in Australia. Her introduction of male centrefolds and stories covering previously taboo subjects about sex and women’s rights were considered revolutionary. However, observers have questioned how efficient it would be to have one team producing both titles when they have been skewed at distinctly different audiences: Dolly is aimed at teenagers, Cleo at women in their 20s and 30s. Bauer chief executive Matthew Stanton said: "Cleo and Dolly are quickly evolving to meet the needs of a target audience which is itself rapidly changing. ‘‘In such a dynamic environment, it makes sense to bring the staff creating these young women’s lifestyle titles together,’’ he said, adding staff would be advised of changes as soon as possible. | Logo Bauer Media Group Senior Editor for Australia's ''Cleo'' magazine Sharri Markson confirmed on Wednesday that she will not be competing for the role of editor between the sudden merger of '''' and '''' titles. The news came only days after German-based announced the merger of two of their most popular Australian magazines, with an expected loss of half the production staff by early next year. The production team was informed of the merge in a staff meeting on Monday. Chief executive Matt Stanton and publisher Sebastian Kadas explained the merger process, which will see the separate mastheads continue under the one production team and half the size of the normal magazine printing dimensions. Both current editors Sharri Markson and Tiffany Dunk, along with the entire production team, were required to re-apply for their positions and compete against one another to secure a position. However, according to '''', after only three days of consideration, Markson informed staff that she is not prepared to accept the role given it would mean producing two magazines with half the staff. Former editors of both ''Dolly'' and ''Cleo'' are turning to Twitter to show support for the staff in danger of unemployment. posted; "Sad for all the girls who dream of working in magazines. The dream is sadly very much over. No joy today. Thinking of ''Dolly'' & ''Cleo'' staff", and posting "Very sad to hear news that ''Dolly'' & ''Cleo'' magazines are merging, with expected losses of half the staff. End of an era. And a personal one ..." Wilkinson told ''''. "I just hope the magazine publishers in this country have been mentoring that new talent otherwise it simply will not work". Bauer Media have released a statement addressing the situation, claiming to be “continually reviewing every aspect of its business, looking at new opportunities for growth and investment, whilst ensuring all divisions are working as efficiently and effectively as possible”. Bauer’s CEO who addressed the staff on Monday continued, saying "it makes sense to bring the staff creating these young women’s lifestyle titles together. The single publishing unit enables us to tap the synergies and expertise between the mastheads to further enhance the reach and relevance of these two much-loved Australian magazine brands." The production staff along with popular media personalities are publicly questioning the efficiency of the merge, as both titles have distinctly different audiences; with ''Dolly'' aiming at teenager readers and ''Cleo'' at women in their 20s and 30s. This combined with the ever increasing stress of publishing will only maximise the pressure on the new production team. highlighted the concern, telling '''', "I know everybody is cost-cutting at the moment, but this seems a bit extreme. You'd have to be a very experienced, very talented editor to put out both titles. I ran the women's division at , but all the titles had their own clearly defined editors. For one person to edit two magazines — that may be something they do in Germany, but it's new for me ... I'd like to see their business plan." The move comes closely after Bauer discontinued women's magazine titles ''Madison'' and '''' in Australia earlier this year due to continuing financial pressures. == Sources == * * * * * * * * |
Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play. Advertisement A police officer has been swept away after a bridge collapsed as major floods struck across Cumbria. A major search is being carried out for Pc Bill Barker, 45, who fell into the River Derwent when the A597 bridge was destroyed by floods in Workington. Cumbria Police said father-of-four Pc Barker had been directing motorists off the bridge when it collapsed. Meanwhile, about 200 people have been rescued by emergency services in the flooded town of Cockermouth. Pc Barker has been an officer with the Cumbria force for 25 years. Assistant Chief Constable Jerry Graham said: "I'm devastated by the events of the last few days and particularly the news this morning that one of our officers is unaccounted for following the collapse of a bridge at Northside in Workington. "Pc Bill Barker was directing motorists off the bridge, saving lives, when the tragic incident occurred. "A full and thorough search is underway and we are not losing hope of finding him." Pc Bill Barker was swept off a bridge in Workington Essential weather information In pictures: flooding in Cumbria RNLI lifeboat operations manager Captain Brian Ashbridge said the lifeboat searching for the missing officer was forced back because of bad weather after three hours of Friday. He said: "There is a massive current coming down through the Derwent so, although the sea isn't very rough, conditions for the RNLI volunteers searching in the river basin have been very challenging. "It's absolutely horrendous. There is a huge amount of debris around in the water at the moment as well, which adds to the difficulties." Officers have warned people to stay away from bridges after water pressure also destroyed the Southwaite footbridge in Cockermouth and the nearby Lorton Bridge. Police have received a high volume of calls about missing people and more than 1,200 people were left without electricity overnight. 'Bumps and scrapes' The Environment Agency said the scale of the flooding was "unprecedented" and the Met Office said rainfall in some parts of the county had been some of the heaviest on record. By 0400 GMT police said floodwater levels in Cockermouth had stabilised, with rescuers able to reach people trapped in their homes by boat. Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play. Water levels in Keswick, which was also badly hit, were not expected to rise any further, police added. A police spokesman said: "The flood levels have stabilised enough to get boats in which is making the operation a lot easier." He added: "There have been no serious injuries as a result of the floods, just a few people treated at the scene for minor bumps and scrapes." RAF squadron leader Dave Webster said the air search and rescue operation was beginning to wind down, although a helicopter would remain on standby. Earlier, up to 20 people were thought to be trapped in their homes in the Main Street area of Cockermouth. Water levels in some parts of the town centre were more than 2.5m (8ft 2in). Lifeboat crews helped the RAF and mountain rescue teams to carry out evacuations in the town. 'Raging torrents' Don Hindmoor, who was trapped inside a flat, said: "There's three people trapped in a one-bedroom upstairs flat. We've been stuck here all day. "We're not in any danger, it's warm enough, we still have electricity and so we're OK where we are for the time being, but there's a lot of people stuck in upstairs flats in this area. "It's not just water outside, it's raging torrents. It's like white water rapids." Policeman missing in floods chaos Eyewitness: Cockermouth floods More than 200 Cockermouth residents spent the night in emergency reception centres. The centres have been opened at Cockermouth School, Keswick Convention Centre, Southey Street Methodist Hall and Skiddaw Hotel. Cumbria Police have opened a casualty bureau, for members of the public to telephone should they have any concerns regarding relatives, friends and family involved in the flooding incident. David Falcon, of the Environment Agency, said: "It is an improving situation across the county as most of our river levels are falling, albeit slowly. "The outlook for today is pretty good as it is just showers, our only concern at present is the rainfall that is forecast for tomorrow. "About 40mm is predicted, which is nothing like the levels experienced over the past 48 hours, but of course it is falling on saturated ground." 'Wettest ever' Four severe flood warnings remain in place on rivers in Cockermouth, Keswick and Eamont Bridge. There are reports of 370mm (14.5in) of rain falling in 24 hours at Seathwaite in the Lake District. Environment Minister Hilary Benn, who visited Cockermouth on Friday morning, said it may have "the wettest day ever recorded" in the county and that many defences built after the floods of 2005 had not been able to withstand the downpour. He said: "What we dealt with last night was probably more like one-in-a-1,000 flood, so even the very best defences, if you have such quantities of rain in such a short space of time, can be over-topped." Several major roads are closed and more than 70 schools have been shut, Cumbria County Council said. Scores of police officers and mountain rescue volunteers helped evacuate others in the town, where the River Derwent burst its banks. Are you in one of the flooded areas? What are conditions like where you live? Send us your comments and pictures. Send your pictures to yourpics@bbc.co.uk, text them to 61124 or you have a large file you can upload here. Read the terms and conditions At no time should you endanger yourself or others, take any unnecessary risks or infringe any laws. Name Your E-mail address Town & Country Phone number (optional): Comments The BBC may edit your comments and not all emails will be published. Your comments may be published on any BBC media worldwide. Terms & Conditions Bookmark with: Delicious Digg reddit Facebook StumbleUpon What are these? E-mail this to a friend Printable version ||||| Evacuations have taken place in towns and villages across Cumbria, with floodwater driven by heavy rainfall, saturated ground and swollen rivers. The Environment Agency, emergency services and local authorities responded to rapidly changing conditions to coordinate community groups that went house-to-house evacuating residents in Keswick, Kendal, Cockermouth, and ensuring people are taking precautions in Carlisle, Appleby, and Low Crosby. Catchments across the Lake District in Cumbria were inundated with 175mm of rain between 21:00 last night and midday today. An additional 100mm of rain is expected over the North West by early Friday. Hundreds of properties have now been affected by flooding in Cumbria. Robert Runcie, Environment Agency Director of Flood and Coastal Risk, said: "After persistent heavy rain combined with saturated ground and full rivers across Cumbria, the decision was taken to evacuate residents in towns and villages across the Lake District, before the onset of serious flooding. “Since this morning Environment Agency officers have been helping emergency services coordinate community groups that are going house-to-house ensuring people were taking precautions and evacuated where necessary. “These emergency plans were established following the Cumbria floods of 2005 and have worked successfully. The last thing we want is floodwater putting lives at risk. “We urge people to take care and check the latest flooding situation and sign up to our free flood warnings service or by calling 08459 881188.” The Environment Agency currently has 6 severe flood warnings, 25 flood warnings and 51 flood watches in place across the country. Flood defences at Cockermouth on the River Cocker and Derwent have been overtopped. But in Carlisle, where new flood defences are providing protection to over 2500 properties following a £38 million investment, Environment Agency and local authority staff worked throughout last night to erect temporary defences for an extra 400 properties. But pockets of Carlisle are still at risk. New flood defences on the River Conwy in north Wales protected almost 100 properties in the villages of Llanrwst and Trefrw last night, where river levels were the highest recorded for 25 years. The Environment Agency Floodline service has received more than 7,000 calls from members of the public over the last 36 hours and issued over 31,000 flood alerts via phone, text, email and fax. There are now 6 Severe Flood Warnings for: River Kent at Burneside, Bournville, Bridge St, Carling Dale, Ivy Cresent, New Road and St. River Kent at Burneside, Steeles Row and Carling Steps. River Greta at Keswick, Crosthwaite and Limepots Road, High Hill and Church Lane Areas. River Cocker at Cockermouth. River Eamont at Eamont Bridge, Kemplay Foot, Skirsgill Lane and Southwaite Green Mill. River Cocker at Southwaite Bridge. ENDS Media enquiries: 020 7863 8710 or outside normal office hours on 07798 882 092. Notes to editors What should people do to prepare for flooding? Check if you are in a flood risk area: Go to our flood section and enter your postcode to see if your property is in an area at risk of flooding from rivers and the sea. Find essential information on what to do before, during and after a flood in our flood section. Sign up to Floodline Warnings Direct: Our free service provides flood warnings direct to homes at risk of sea or river flooding by telephone, mobile, email, SMS text message, fax or pager. As well as signing up for warnings, you can get simple advice on what to do before, during and after a flood. Call 0845 988 1188 to find out if you are at risk. Make an emergency flood plan: Flooding happens quickly and often when you least expect it. It's easy to lose each other at time like this. Preparing an emergency flood plan will help you through a serious situation. Creating the plan with your children, explaining what to do and even practising the plan will prepare them for the time when you may need it. Check your insurance cover and confirm that you are covered for flooding. Know how to turn off your gas, electricity and water mains supplies Prepare a flood kit of essentials items – this could include copies of insurance documents, a torch, a wind up or battery radio, warm waterproof clothing and blankets, prescription medication, bottled water and non-perishable foods, baby food and baby care items, important contact details. Keep a list with all your important contacts to hand. Think about what you can move now - move items of personal value such as photo albums, family videos and treasured mementos to a safe place. Flood-proof your home: There are things you can do to your property that will make it easier and cheaper to clean up after a flood: Raise the height of electrical sockets to 1.5 metres above ground floor level. Use lime plaster instead of gypsum on walls. Fit stainless steel or plastic kitchens instead of chipboard ones. Position any main parts of a heating or ventilation system, like a boiler, upstairs. Fit non-return valves to all drains and water inlet pipes. Replace wooden window frames and doors with synthetic ones. Read our information on preparing your home for flooding. Use temporary flood protection equipment: Flood protection equipment can help restrict flood water. Plastic covers to seal airbricks can stop flood water coming in through your airbricks. Sandbags may be provided by your local council or you can buy your own, or fill pillowcases and plastic bags with earth. Floodboards fix to frames around windows and doors. They can be washed, stored and used again. ||||| See It. Snap It. Send It Text your news to 80360, start your message with KENEWS Click here for more... » ||||| Cumbria flooding: Police urge against unnecessary travel or fell walking 4:28pm Thursday 19th November 2009 Comments (0) Have your say » PEOPLE are being advised not to travel in Cumbria unless absolutely necessary and to avoid fell walking completely. A multi-agency task force has been set up at Penrith to co-ordinate the response to flooding incidents across the county. Cumbria Police say they have received 90 calls for help because of the floods. Fire and Rescue have also been out to 150 incidents - including rescues of vulnerable people. Chief Superintendent Kevin McGilloway, of Cumbria Constabulary, is Chair of the Multi-agency Gold Group. He said: “All the agencies are working together with local people to ensure they are kept as safe as possible during the severe weather which is hitting some parts of the county. We are asking people not to travel unless it is absolutely necessary. “Pedestrians in areas where there are floods, such as Cockermouth, Keswick, Penrith and Kendal, are being urged not to attempt to walk through flood waters. Anyone who notices blocked drains are also being urged not to put themselves at risk by attempting to unblock them. “The key message is for people who are affected by the floods to be prepared, to try and protect any properties that are liable to flooding. Look out for one another including vulnerable friends and neighbours. Anyone in affected areas should ensure they carry mobile phones, torches, waterproofs and other equipment they may need and ensure they have all essential medication with them.” Members of the public are being advised to avoid fell walking in Cumbria as the combination of high winds and rain will be worst on high ground, and they do not want people to put themselves at undue risk. The Coastguard are also urging people to avoid fishing on sea walls or taking light craft out to sea while the weather remains poor. They are also discouraging people from attempting to sightsee and anyone considering venturing to the coast is advised to exercise extreme caution. ||||| About Cookies We want you to enjoy your visit to our website. That's why we use cookies to enhance your experience. By staying on our website you agree to our use of cookies. | Open Street Map Parts of the English Lake District in the county of Cumbria have suffered severe flooding on Thursday, with forecasters predicting further rain. As of 21:09 GMT there were six severe flood warnings (the highest alert in the UK Flood Warnings system) in force in the county, with a large number of flood warnings and watches also in force across the region. According to BBC News, the main street in the town of Cockermouth is under several feet of water, and around 200 people were being evacuated by helicopters. At least 350 homes in the Elliot Park district of Keswick are also reported to be without power. A number of local roads are flooded (including the A6 in Kendal). The West Coast Main Line railway is also reported as subject to disruption due to flooding between Oxenholme and Carlisle. Some mainline services are terminating at either Carlisle or Preston. Local services between Carlisle and Barrow are also reported to have delays. Some properties in Keswick, Cockermouth and Kendal had already been evacuated under pre-existing emergency plans. Robert Runcie, the Environment Agency's director of flood and coastal risk was quoted as saying: "After persistent heavy rain combined with saturated ground and full rivers across Cumbria, the decision was taken to evacuate residents in towns and villages across the Lake District, before the onset of serious flooding." "Since early on Thursday we have been helping emergency services coordinate community groups that are going house-to-house ensuring people were taking precautions and evacuated where necessary. These emergency plans were established following the Cumbria floods of 2005 and have worked successfully. The last thing we want is floodwater putting lives at risk." "We urge people to take care and check the latest flooding situation and sign up to our free flood warnings service or by calling 08459 881188." Earlier Cumbrian police had advised against non essential travel, and against fell-walking entirely. Chief Superintendent Kevin McGilloway of Cumbria Constabulary stating "All the agencies are working together with local people to ensure they are kept as safe as possible during the severe weather which is hitting some parts of the county. We are asking people not to travel unless it is absolutely necessary." He also gave some advice, "Pedestrians in areas where there are floods, such as Cockermouth, Keswick, Penrith and Kendal, are being urged not to attempt to walk through flood waters. Anyone who notices blocked drains are also being urged not to put themselves at risk by attempting to unblock them. The key message is for people who are affected by the floods to be prepared, to try and protect any properties that are liable to flooding. Look out for one another including vulnerable friends and neighbours. Anyone in affected areas should ensure they carry mobile phones, torches, waterproofs and other equipment they may need and ensure they have all essential medication with them." In Kendal, demand for sandbags has been high. A spokesperson for South Lakeland council stated: "More than 1,000 sandbags have already been collected from our depot and we have ordered 4,000 more to meet the demand." The Mayor of Keswick praised efforts by those involved in the flood response. "It is all hands to the pump, really" he said. "The emergency services are well co-ordinated and have been fantastic." |
A rescuer rests after a search operation at Tonghua Coal Mine where a colliery gas burst, in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality, on May 30, 2009. The accident has killed 30 and injured 59 miners. (Xinhua/Liu Chan) Photo Gallery>>> CHONGQING, May 30 (Xinhua) -- Death toll rose to 30 after five more bodies were recovered in a colliery gas burst Saturday in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality, according to local coal mine safety authorities. The accident happened around 11 a.m. at Tonghua Coal Mine in Anwen Town of Qijiang County, when 131 miners were working underground. One hundred and one miners were rescued. Of the rescued, 59 miners were injured, including four in serious condition. The cause of the accident is being investigated. The Tonghua Coal Mine, with a history of more than 50 years, is affiliated to the state-owned Songzao Mining Bureau of Chongqing. The colliery's designed production capacity is 300,000 tonnes per year, which now has been expanded to 600,000 tonnes. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] ||||| News Asia-Pacific China mine blast 'kills dozens' China's coal mines are the dealiest in the world, with about 3,000 deaths in 2008 [File: EPA] At least 25 people have been killed after a gas leak caused an explosion at a coal mine in central China, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported. Another 20 miners were reportedly trapped underground following the blast in Sichuan province on Saturday. There were 131 people working at the Tonghua mine, but 86 were able to escape, Xinhua said. China's coal mines are the deadliest in the world, with about 3,000 fatalities across the country in 2008. Source: Agencies ||||| Twenty-five killed in China mine blast BEIJING (AFP) — Twenty-five miners were killed and 20 trapped by a gas explosion at a coal mine in southwest China on Saturday, state media reported. The accident occurred at 11:00 am (0300 GMT) when 131 miners were working underground at the Tonghua Coal Mine in Anwen town, Chongqing municipality, but 86 escaped, Xinhua news agency said, citing local officials. Rescuers had recovered 25 bodies but had not yet been able to reach the 20 trapped miners due to the dangerous levels of gas, it said. The cause of the accident was being investigated. China's coal mines are notoriously dangerous. Official figures show that more than 3,200 workers died in collieries last year, but independent observers say the actual figure could be much higher, as many accidents are covered up. Copyright © 2010 AFP. All rights reserved. More » | According to Chinese state media, at least 30 people were killed and a further 57 were injured, 4 in critical state, after a gas leak resulted in an explosion in a coal mine in the country The incident occurred on Saturday in a mine in Chongqing, lcoated in central China. The Xinhua news agency reports that rescuers have managed to recover 30 bodies, but have not managed to reach twenty other trapped miners due to dangerously high levels of gas in the mine. An investigation is currently ongoing as to what caused the explosion. China has among the most dangerous coal mines in the world. Over three thousand workers died in China's mines last year, official statistics say. |
Jury: Moussaoui is eligible for death Al Qaeda operative testified he knew in advance of attacks From Phil Hirschkorn CNN Zacarias Moussaoui is the only person to stand trial in the U.S. in connection with the 9/11 attacks. QUICKVOTE Do you think Zacarias Moussaoui should get the death penalty? Yes No or View Results RELATED YOUR E-MAIL ALERTS Trials Capital Punishment September 11 attacks Zacarias Moussaoui or or Create Your Own ALEXANDRIA, Virginia (CNN) -- Al Qaeda conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui is eligible for the death penalty, a federal jury decided Monday in the first U.S. trial about the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Jurors agreed with federal prosecutors that Moussaoui's lies to FBI agents resulted in 9/11 deaths. The nine men and three women reached their verdict on the fourth day of deliberations. (Watch how jury decided points of verdict -- 2:09) Surrounded by U.S. Marshals, Moussaoui refused to stand and showed no reaction as the verdict was read. After jurors left the courtroom he shouted, "You'll never get my blood. God curse you all." Six 9/11 family members were in court for the verdict. Lisa Dolan pumped her fist slightly as it was announced. Her husband, Bob, a U.S. Navy captain, was killed at the Pentagon. "It was important to all the family members that it go onto the next phase so the impact statements are heard," she said. Carie Lemack, whose mother, Judy Larocque, was aboard the first plane that crashed into the trade center, watched the verdict on a closed-circuit broadcast to families in Boston, where both trade center flights originated. "We don't want to make him a martyr," she told CNN. "The last thing that a lot of us want to see happen is to allow him to die with the name martyr by his side." (Full story) Trial continues "We are pleased with the jury's ruling in this important case," said Justice Department spokeswoman Tasia Scolinos. "Our efforts on behalf of the victims of 9/11 will continue as we pursue the next phase of this trial." The verdict means the trial, held only to determine Moussaoui's punishment, will proceed to a second phase, with additional witnesses and evidence, beginning Thursday. The jurors now must decide whether Moussaoui will be executed for his role in the 9/11 deaths. Moussaoui, 37, a Frenchman of Moroccan descent, admitted last year that he conspired with al Qaeda, the terrorist group responsible for September 11, to hijack and crash planes into prominent U.S. buildings. Until he testified at the trial, Moussaoui insisted he had no advance knowledge of or role in the plot. But on the witness stand, Moussaoui claimed he knew the World Trade Center was a target and that he would have piloted a fifth jetliner into the White House. (Full story) In the second phase of the sentencing trial, prosecutors plan to tell the jury stories of dozens of September 11 victims. About 40 relatives will describe the impact of their losses. Defense witnesses are expected to describe Moussaoui's troubled family history, his struggles with racism and relocation in France and his vulnerability to radical fundamentalist Islamic recruiters. Mental health experts are expected to say Moussaoui is schizophrenic. (Watch Moussaoui's mom talk about his fondness for American films -- 2:22) Focus on statements The first phase of the trial revolved around Moussaoui's statements to the FBI following his arrest in mid-August 2001 after arousing suspicions at a Minnesota flight school. Moussaoui said he was in flight school for fun and was visiting the United States as a tourist. Moussaoui concealed his al Qaeda ties, his real reason for jet simulator training and the hijackings conspiracy itself. Prosecutors needed to prove Moussaoui lied intentionally and with lethal intent. His surprising testimony, as the last defense witness, became the centerpiece of the trial. "I didn't say the truth," Moussaoui testified. "Because I am al Qaeda. Because I am at war with this country." Prosecutor Robert Spencer asked him, "The reason you lied was to allow the people that you knew were in the United States to go forward with the hijackings, right?" Moussaoui replied, "You can say that." Moussaoui testified that the Prophet Mohammed, the patriarch of Islam, taught, "War is deceit." Lying is permissible during jihad, or holy war, Moussaoui added. "You are allowed any technique to deceive your enemy." Although there was no evidence Moussaoui had any contact with the 19 September 11 hijackers in the United States, his actions -- attending flight schools, joining gyms, wearing casual Western clothing, trimming his beard -- echoed theirs. Moussaoui 'in the middle of it' "These similarities can't be dismissed as mere coincidence," prosecutor David Raskin said in closing arguments. "He was in the middle of it, just like he told you from the witness stand." A top aviation security official, Robert Cammaroto, testified that had Moussaoui told the truth in August, the Federal Aviation Administration could have issued security directives banning passengers from carrying short knives, screening luggage and conducting physical searches of passengers and carry-on bags. (Full story) Cammaroto said had the hijackers' names been revealed, they could have been added to a "no-fly" list. "Between the FBI and the FAA, none of them would have been able to get on any of those planes," prosecutor Raskin told the jury. Prosecutors argued that Moussaoui's lies directly resulted in deaths because one hijacking pilot or crew could have been stopped, and some of the 2,973 people killed on September 11 would be alive today. Defense attorney Edward MacMahon portrayed his client as an untrusted "grifter" who traveled alone, not in pairs like the real hijackers, and did not participate in any coast-to-coast dry run flights. He told jurors to discount Moussaoui's testimony. 'Headache' for al Qaeda "Moussaoui was never slated other than his dreams to be involved," MacMahon said. "Moussaoui was useless to al Qaeda, a headache, obnoxious to everyone he encountered." MacMahon told jurors the September 11 attack date was not fixed until after Moussaoui's arrest, and there was no evidence of a fifth targeted plane. The defense sought to poke holes in the government theory that the pre-9/11 "dysfunctional" government would have responded rapidly to Moussaoui's "truth." MacMahon said the "could have" scenario is "nothing but a dream" and admonished jurors not to view the case through "post-9/11 glasses." FBI headquarters thwarted Agent Harry Samit's efforts to obtain search warrants, the evidence showing he sent 70 warnings about Moussaoui. Two supervisors Samit labeled "criminally negligent" were later promoted. One wrote in an early Moussaoui assessment: "There's no indication of nefarious activity here." (Full story) ||||| Jury: Moussaoui is eligible for death Al Qaeda operative testified he knew in advance of attacks From Phil Hirschkorn CNN Zacarias Moussaoui is the only person to stand trial in the U.S. in connection with the 9/11 attacks. QUICKVOTE Do you think Zacarias Moussaoui should get the death penalty? Yes No or View Results RELATED YOUR E-MAIL ALERTS Trials Capital Punishment September 11 attacks Zacarias Moussaoui or or Create Your Own ALEXANDRIA, Virginia (CNN) -- Al Qaeda conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui is eligible for the death penalty, a federal jury decided Monday in the first U.S. trial about the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Jurors agreed with federal prosecutors that Moussaoui's lies to FBI agents resulted in 9/11 deaths. The nine men and three women reached their verdict on the fourth day of deliberations. (Watch how jury decided points of verdict -- 2:09) Surrounded by U.S. Marshals, Moussaoui refused to stand and showed no reaction as the verdict was read. After jurors left the courtroom he shouted, "You'll never get my blood. God curse you all." Six 9/11 family members were in court for the verdict. Lisa Dolan pumped her fist slightly as it was announced. Her husband, Bob, a U.S. Navy captain, was killed at the Pentagon. "It was important to all the family members that it go onto the next phase so the impact statements are heard," she said. Carie Lemack, whose mother, Judy Larocque, was aboard the first plane that crashed into the trade center, watched the verdict on a closed-circuit broadcast to families in Boston, where both trade center flights originated. "We don't want to make him a martyr," she told CNN. "The last thing that a lot of us want to see happen is to allow him to die with the name martyr by his side." (Full story) Trial continues "We are pleased with the jury's ruling in this important case," said Justice Department spokeswoman Tasia Scolinos. "Our efforts on behalf of the victims of 9/11 will continue as we pursue the next phase of this trial." The verdict means the trial, held only to determine Moussaoui's punishment, will proceed to a second phase, with additional witnesses and evidence, beginning Thursday. The jurors now must decide whether Moussaoui will be executed for his role in the 9/11 deaths. Moussaoui, 37, a Frenchman of Moroccan descent, admitted last year that he conspired with al Qaeda, the terrorist group responsible for September 11, to hijack and crash planes into prominent U.S. buildings. Until he testified at the trial, Moussaoui insisted he had no advance knowledge of or role in the plot. But on the witness stand, Moussaoui claimed he knew the World Trade Center was a target and that he would have piloted a fifth jetliner into the White House. (Full story) In the second phase of the sentencing trial, prosecutors plan to tell the jury stories of dozens of September 11 victims. About 40 relatives will describe the impact of their losses. Defense witnesses are expected to describe Moussaoui's troubled family history, his struggles with racism and relocation in France and his vulnerability to radical fundamentalist Islamic recruiters. Mental health experts are expected to say Moussaoui is schizophrenic. (Watch Moussaoui's mom talk about his fondness for American films -- 2:22) Focus on statements The first phase of the trial revolved around Moussaoui's statements to the FBI following his arrest in mid-August 2001 after arousing suspicions at a Minnesota flight school. Moussaoui said he was in flight school for fun and was visiting the United States as a tourist. Moussaoui concealed his al Qaeda ties, his real reason for jet simulator training and the hijackings conspiracy itself. Prosecutors needed to prove Moussaoui lied intentionally and with lethal intent. His surprising testimony, as the last defense witness, became the centerpiece of the trial. "I didn't say the truth," Moussaoui testified. "Because I am al Qaeda. Because I am at war with this country." Prosecutor Robert Spencer asked him, "The reason you lied was to allow the people that you knew were in the United States to go forward with the hijackings, right?" Moussaoui replied, "You can say that." Moussaoui testified that the Prophet Mohammed, the patriarch of Islam, taught, "War is deceit." Lying is permissible during jihad, or holy war, Moussaoui added. "You are allowed any technique to deceive your enemy." Although there was no evidence Moussaoui had any contact with the 19 September 11 hijackers in the United States, his actions -- attending flight schools, joining gyms, wearing casual Western clothing, trimming his beard -- echoed theirs. Moussaoui 'in the middle of it' "These similarities can't be dismissed as mere coincidence," prosecutor David Raskin said in closing arguments. "He was in the middle of it, just like he told you from the witness stand." A top aviation security official, Robert Cammaroto, testified that had Moussaoui told the truth in August, the Federal Aviation Administration could have issued security directives banning passengers from carrying short knives, screening luggage and conducting physical searches of passengers and carry-on bags. (Full story) Cammaroto said had the hijackers' names been revealed, they could have been added to a "no-fly" list. "Between the FBI and the FAA, none of them would have been able to get on any of those planes," prosecutor Raskin told the jury. Prosecutors argued that Moussaoui's lies directly resulted in deaths because one hijacking pilot or crew could have been stopped, and some of the 2,973 people killed on September 11 would be alive today. Defense attorney Edward MacMahon portrayed his client as an untrusted "grifter" who traveled alone, not in pairs like the real hijackers, and did not participate in any coast-to-coast dry run flights. He told jurors to discount Moussaoui's testimony. 'Headache' for al Qaeda "Moussaoui was never slated other than his dreams to be involved," MacMahon said. "Moussaoui was useless to al Qaeda, a headache, obnoxious to everyone he encountered." MacMahon told jurors the September 11 attack date was not fixed until after Moussaoui's arrest, and there was no evidence of a fifth targeted plane. The defense sought to poke holes in the government theory that the pre-9/11 "dysfunctional" government would have responded rapidly to Moussaoui's "truth." MacMahon said the "could have" scenario is "nothing but a dream" and admonished jurors not to view the case through "post-9/11 glasses." FBI headquarters thwarted Agent Harry Samit's efforts to obtain search warrants, the evidence showing he sent 70 warnings about Moussaoui. Two supervisors Samit labeled "criminally negligent" were later promoted. One wrote in an early Moussaoui assessment: "There's no indication of nefarious activity here." (Full story) ||||| Kurt Russell turns 70: a look back Hawn (L) and Russell appear at a hands and footprint ceremony for outgoing Warner Bros. co-CEO's Terry Semel and Robert Daly in Los Angeles, on September 30, 1999. Almost 20 years later, the couple appeared together in Netflix's "Christmas Chronicles" film as Santa and Mrs. Claus. Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI Cast members Dakota Fanning (L) and Russell (R) smile at the premiere of "Dreamer" in Los Angeles on October 9, 2005. The horse, named Benny, is also in the film. Earlier that year, Goldie Hawn said that the strength of her and Russell's relationship comes from not getting married . Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI Cast member Russell arrives at the Tribeca Film Festival debut of "Poseiden" at the Tribeca Performing Arts Center in New York City, on May 6, 2006. Photo by Laura Cavanaugh/UPI Russell (C) arrives accompanied by his son Wyatt Russell (L) and his de facto stepson Oliver Hudson for the premiere of "Poseidon" in Los Angeles, on May 10, 2006. Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI Cast member Russell (L) and director Quentin Tarantino (R) arrive for the premiere of "Grindhouse" in Los Angeles, on March 26, 2007. Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI Russell (C) turns round for the wall of photographers behind him as his co-stars, left to right, Tracie Thoms, Zoe Bell and Rosario Dawson face photographers during a photo call for "Death Proof" at the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, France, on May 22, 2007. Photo by Christine Chew/UPI Actress Kate Hudson (L) and de facto stepfather Russell watch the New England Patriots and the New York Giants warm-up on the field prior to Super Bowl XLII in Glendale, Ariz., on February 3, 2008. Photo by Gary C. Caskey/UPI Russell arrives at the first tee during the Bob Hope Classic at PGA West in La Quinta, Calif., on January 24, 2009. The tournament teams professional and amateur golfers with celebrities and has been raising money for a variety of charities since 1960. Photo by David Silpa/UPI Russell watches batting practice before the New York Yankees play game 2 of the ALDS against the Minnesota Twins at Yankee Stadium in New York City, on October 9, 2009. Photo by John Angelillo/UPI Russell warms up before the Bob Hope Classic at PGA West in La Quinta, Calif., on January 23, 2010. Photo by David Silpa/UPI Russell attends the AFI Night at the Movies in Los Angeles, on April 24, 2013. Photo by Phil McCarten/UPI From left to right, Oliver Hudson, Hawn and Russell arrive at the amfAR Inspiration Gala in Los Angeles, on December 12, 2013. Photo by David Silpa/UPI Hawn (L) and Russell arrive at the Academy Awards in Los Angeles, on March 2, 2014. Earlier that year, Russell spoke about Paul Walker's death and the "Fast & Furious" franchise. Photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI Russell arrives for the Hollywood Film Awards in Beverly Hills, Calif., on November 1, 2015. Earlier that year, his de facto stepdaughter, Kate Hudson, shared an Instagram post celebrating him for Father's Day. Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI From left to right, cast member Russell (L), Hawn and their son, Wyatt Russell, attend the premiere of "The Hateful Eight" in Los Angeles, on December 7, 2015. A few days later, Russell appeared in Jimmy Kimmel's "Mean Tweets" segment. Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI Cast member Russell (L) speaks with Carly Steel before the premiere of "Deepwater Horizon" in New Orleans, on September 19, 2016. Photo by AJ Sisco/UPI Russell and Hawn attend the Golden Globe Awards in Beverly Hills, Calif., on January 8, 2017. Later that year, Russell's film "Fast 8" premiered . Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI Cast member Russell attends the premiere of "Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2" in London, on April 24, 2017. Photo by Rune Hellestad/ UPI Hawn and Russell pose beside their respective stars during a double star unveiling ceremony honoring them with the 2,609th and 2,610th stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles, on May 4, 2017. Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI ||||| If you’re the proud owner of a cast-iron pan , then you already know what a good investment it is. Once well-seasoned, it can cook just about anything from pancakes to fried chicken, it can go from stovetop to oven with ease, it’s nearly indestructible, it’s inexpensive and it holds its heat like a dream. But if you’re just using your pan to cook the occasional burger, then you’re missing out; you really can cook pretty much anything in it. | A United States federal fuckin' damned jury found that self-confessed al-Qaida conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui may, according to U.S. law, be put to death after deciding that his statements to FBI agents led directly to at least one death in the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. Moussaoui is alleged to have had prior knowledge of the 9/11 attacks, but did not inform FBI agents of it. Evidence of Moussaoui's knowledge of 9/11 attacks are based on Moussaoui's own testimony, and some al-Qaida members have said that "he knew nothing" and is "boasting" of it and that Ramzi Binalshibh is the actual '20th hijacker'. Aaron Zebley, one of the FBI's two chief case agents on the Moussaoui investigation, also testified that "Moussaoui knew nothing about some key elements" of the 9/11 plot. Moussaoui is the only person to face charges in connection with the 9/11 attacks. It was not expected that Moussaoui would testify on his own behalf during the trial, but he changed his mind and testified in the last week of March that he was supposed to fly a plane with the "shoe bomber" on 9/11. Moussaoui's lawyers said that his claim was absurd and that Moussaoui was intentionally trying to elicit an execution for martyrdom purposes. Moussaoui refused to stand and prayed silently as the verdict was read. "You'll never get my blood, God curse you all," Moussaoui said after the jurors had left the courtroom. The jury took four days to arrive at the verdict. "By this verdict, the jury has found that death is a possible sentence in this case," a court spokesman said. On the key question before the jurors, they answered yes on whether at least one victim died on 9/11 as a direct result of Moussaoui's actions. If the jury had voted against his eligibility for the death penalty, Moussaoui would have been sentenced to life in prison. The jury began weighing Moussaoui's fate last Wednesday. During its deliberations, jurors asked only one question, seeking a definition of a "weapon of mass destruction." One of the three convictions for which Moussaoui could be put to death is conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction. The jurors were told that a plane used as a missile (the tactic employed on 9/11) qualifies as a weapon of mass destruction. Moussaoui pleaded guilty April 2005 to conspiring with al-Qaida to hijack aircraft and other crimes. At the time, he denied being part of the 9/11 plot, saying he was being trained for a separate attack, but he changed his testimony when he took the stand and claimed he was supposed to have flown a hijacked jetliner into the White House that day. Moussaoui was in jail at the time of the attacks, but prosecutors argue federal agents would have been able to stop or at least minimize the attacks if he had revealed his al-Qaida membership and his terrorist plans when he was arrested and interrogated by federal agents. The last people executed without killing anyone were Julius and Ethel Rosenberg fifty years ago. |
Sarah Telford United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) In a world awash with data, aid workers contend with gaps With nearly 168 million people in need of humanitarian assistance in 2020 -- the highest figure in decades -- there is no time, or data, to lose ||||| Fight heating up over no-fly lists (CP) The price of airline tickets between Canadian cities could go up if the United States implements an anti-terrorist strategy that would force domestic airlines to fly new routes far north of the American border, Transport minister Jean Lapierre said yesterday. The minister said he is fighting hard to keep Washington from getting its hands on Canadian passenger lists for domestic flights that stray into U.S. airspace. But if he fails, added Lapierre, Canadian carriers might have to take pains to avoid conventional routes that cross over northern U.S. states. Calling it a very hot issue, Lapierre said Washington hasnt finalized its proposed new rules but hes already lobbying to protect Canadians privacy. Im very worried about it, he said outside the Commons. We dont think its a good idea that Canadians travelling from one city to another would have to be checked under the American no-fly list. Washington warned recently that, as an added security measure against terrorism, it intended to require that all foreign airlines passing over the U.S. check the names of passengers against American government watch lists. The proposal mostly would affect airlines in Canada and Mexico since flights within those countries have the greatest chance of passing over American states. Lapierre reckons that as many as two-thirds of the roughly 278,000 flights within Canada each year likely cross into American airspace at some point. To save time and fuel, flights from Montreal to Halifax pass over Maine while flights on the Toronto-Calgary route almost always cut across northern U.S. states. Our majority cities are right on the border, so if the winds push you this way, you will be over the American airspace, said Lapierre. If Washingtons proposed new regulation is allowed to stand, that could force Canadian air carriers to find newand longerroutes further north of the American border, he added. We would have to take a northern route, which would be much more expensive. Washington is pushing its way into Canadian security matters where it doesnt belong, charged NDP leader Jack Layton. This is certainly a step towards the kind of deeper integration between our two countries that I think a lot of Canadians are concerned about. The proposed American change stems from an incident April 8 when U.S. authorities denied a KLM Amsterdam-to-Mexico flight the right to fly over U.S. airspace after learning that two Saudi passengers aboard the plane were on Washingtons no-fly list of suspected terrorists. The Dutch carrier has said it was five hours into its flight and was in Canadian airspace when American authorities refused it entry. Post your comment here! - 2005-06-02 19:53:51 - I don't see a problem with the American Government having a copy of passeng... - 2005-06-06 11:03:51 - You don't see some kind of privacy issue here? We're basically demanding to... Comments are the property of their respective authors. The Fort Frances Times is not responsible for them in any way, and reserves the right to remove any comments it deems offensive or inappropriate. Mill shutting down over holidays Non-confidence motion introduced Klein predicts another Liberal minority Wayward moose on loose Legends change lineup Fischer released from hospital Clinic faces fine over private MRI Women spend 60 days lying down for science Healthy skillet dinner of pork chops with peppers and onions is fast and easy ||||| DEAR ABBY: I recently realized I have a fair-weather family. My husband got in trouble with the law and is now in a drug treatment facility. This had been hard on me, but I love him. His crime was being in possession of illegal drugs that were intended only for himself. His family has turned their… ||||| World BBC On the morning of 5 October last year, I headed to a village in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh to cover what had come to be known as "the Hathras case". A few days earlier, a 19-year-old Dalit woman had died after she was allegedly gang-raped by four of her upper-caste neighbours in the village of Bhulgarhi in Hathras. On the same morning, Sidhique Kappan, a 41-year-old journalist for the Malayalam-language news portal Azhimukham, also set out for Bhulgarhi, travelling from Delhi where he had been based for nine years. ||||| U.S. bars KLM flight entry into airspace Names of 2 passengers appear on 'no-fly' terrorist list (CNN) -- U.S. authorities refused to allow a KLM Royal Dutch Airlines 747 to fly over the United States, officials said Sunday. Flight 685 from Amsterdam to Mexico City was denied permission to fly south across the Canada-U.S. border on Friday because the names of two passengers aboard were included on a U.S. "no-fly" terrorist watch list, KLM spokesman Bart Koster said. The flight, carrying 278 passengers, returned to Amsterdam, Koster said. He told The Associated Press that on Saturday, a flight without the two listed passengers departed Amsterdam and arrived in Mexico City. "I hope this was a once-in-a-lifetime incident," Koster said. "It's, of course, very frustrating for passengers and crew to be more than 10, 11 hours in the air, to come back where you departed." The Department of Homeland Security and the FBI decided to bar the flight because of security concerns involving certain passengers, said Transportation Security Administration spokeswoman Andrea McCauley. She would not elaborate. U.S. anti-terrorism laws require airlines to provide passenger manifests to the U.S. government before their planes enter U.S. airspace. Koster said the two listed passengers -- who he said were not Dutch citizens -- returned to their home countries. Citing privacy concerns, Koster wouldn't disclose any other information about the two passengers. | NDP party leader, Jack Layton who opposes the idea, claimed; “This is certainly a step towards the kind of deeper integration between our two countries that I think a lot of Canadians are concerned about." The government of Canada is fighting to keep Washington from having access to passenger lists for Canada's domestic flights. The Canadian transport minister Jean Lapierre said two-thirds of Canada's domestic flights at some point cross through American air space. The Minister said he may have to re-route them (around U.S. airspace) rather than breach the privacy rights of domestic Canadian passengers. In plans which are not yet finalized, Washington recently warned Canada (and other countries) the U.S. intends to require that its no-fly list procedures apply to all foreign airlines which pass through U.S. airspace. After 9/11, a watch list of suspected terrorists was created by the U.S. that bars those on the list from air travel within its borders. On Wednesday, Lapierre said it's a “very hot issue,” and that he’s working to protect the privacy of Canadians. “I’m very worried about it. We don’t think it’s a good idea that Canadians travelling from one (Canadian) city to another would have to be checked under the American no-fly list.” Lapierre said. He estimates that nearly two-thirds of the 278,000 yearly flights between Canadian cities cross over the U.S. border. Most major flight zones from urban centers in Canada are in its southern portion, close to the U.S. where even winds might push a plane across the border. If the matter can not be resolved, Lapierre said, “We would have to take a northern route, which would be much more expensive.” ''Yahoo! News Canada'' reports that Lapierre intends to lobby U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta against the changes. Last year, the Canadian province of British Columbia put controls on firms that handle an individual's personal data that prevents them from sharing private information on Canadians with U.S. authorities. The issue goes to Canada's sovereignty of its citizens and the U.S. sovereignty of its airspace. The historically close relations between Canada and the U.S. was evident during the recent Virgin Atlantic incident, where a flight was intercepted by 2 Canadian CF-18 jet fighters. They were scrambled from Quebec to escort the inter-continental flight originating from London to the Halifax International Airport after a hijacking signal, an apparent accident, was sent from the plane. The plane was detained in Halifax on Friday for approximately four hours. Ultimately it was cleared, and landed safely at its original destination in John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City. Both the ACLU and the Electronic Privacy Information Center are involved in lawsuits against the U.S. government relating to no-fly lists. EPIC has received documents under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act which it says "establish that the TSA administers two lists: a "no-fly" list and a "selectee" list, which requires the passenger to go through additional security measures. The names are provided to air carriers through Security Directives or Emergency Amendments and are stored in their computer systems so that an individual with a name that matches the list can be flagged when getting a boarding pass. A "no-fly" match requires the agent to call a law enforcement officer to detain and question the passenger. In the case of a Selectee, an "S" or special mark is printed on their boarding pass and the person receives additional screening at security." |
AP Photo/S.S. Hecker Buy AP Photo Reprints SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- North Korea criticized the U.S. on Monday for positioning missile defense systems around Hawaii, calling the deployment part of a plot to attack the regime and saying it would bolster its nuclear arsenal in retaliation. U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has said he ordered the deployment of a ground-based, mobile missile intercept system and radar system to Hawaii amid concerns the North may fire a long-range missile toward the islands, about 4,500 miles away. "Through the U.S. forces' clamorous movements, it has been brought to light that the U.S. attempt to launch a pre-emptive strike on our republic has become a brutal fact," the North's main Rodong Sinmun newspaper said in a commentary. The paper also accused the U.S. of deploying nuclear-powered aircraft and atomic-armed submarines in waters near the Korean peninsula, saying the moves prove "the U.S. pre-emptive nuclear war" on the North is imminent. The commentary, carried by the official Korean Central News Agency, said the North will bolster its nuclear arsenal in self-defense. The North routinely accuses the U.S. of plotting to invade the North. But the U.S., which has 28,500 troops in South Korea, has said it has no such plan. Tensions on the Korean peninsula have been running high since the North defiantly launched a rocket in April and conducted an underground nuclear test last month, prompting U.N. Security Council sanctions. North Korea responded to the U.N. resolution on the nuclear test with threats of war, and pledged to expand its nuclear bomb-making program. In what could be the first test of the U.N. sanctions, an American destroyer has been tracking a North Korean ship sailing off China's coast amid suspicions that it is carrying illicit weapons. The Kang Nam, which left a North Korean port on June 17, is the first vessel monitored under U.N. sanctions that ban the regime from selling arms and weapons-related material. The resolution requires member nations to request permission to inspect the cargo of ships suspected of carrying banned goods. The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, said on CBS television Sunday that Washington is "following the progress of that ship very closely." Rice would not say whether the U.S. would confront the Kang Nam. North Korea has said it would consider any interception of its ships a declaration of war. © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy. ||||| SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Singapore will take action against a North Korean ship that the United States is monitoring, if the vessel heads to its port with a cargo of weapons, the government said on Saturday. "Singapore takes seriously the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, their means of delivery and related materials," said a spokeswoman from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. "If the allegation is true, Singapore will act appropriately." The U.S. Navy is monitoring a vessel called Kang Nam at sea under new U.N. sanctions that bar North Korea from exporting weapons, including missile parts and nuclear materials. Fox News quoted a senior U.S. military source saying the ship appeared to be heading toward Singapore and that the navy destroyer USS John McCain was positioning itself in case it gets orders to intercept, according to a story on its website. Singapore, a U.S. ally, has the world's busiest shipping port, with most containers being trans-shipments between East and West, and it is also the world's top ship refueling hub. Singapore government agencies could not give information on the current location of the ship. "We don't know even whether she is coming to Singapore," said a source at the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore, which is responsible for security in Singapore waters and at its port. The U.S. officials said the ship became "a subject of interest" after leaving a North Korean port on Wednesday. The Kang Nam is the first ship to be monitored under the U.N. sanctions adopted last week after Pyongyang raised tensions by test-firing missiles, restarting a plant to produce arms-grade plutonium and conducting a nuclear test. The U.S. has deployed anti-missile assets to the Pacific in case Pyongyang launches more missiles, U.S. officials have said. North Korea's media on Saturday said it was not threatened by new sanctions after a U.N. committee said it was considering blacklisting more North Korea companies, and individuals, for supporting Pyongyang's nuclear and missile programs. "It is foolish and ridiculous of our enemy powers to call for more sanctions and isolation... (do they think) it could make us even raise our eyebrows one bit?" North Korea's Rodong Sinmum newspaper said in a commentary. "If they point a gun at us, we will get back with a cannon. If they point a cannon, we will point missiles and for sanctions, we will give them revenge. Getting back with a nuclear weapon for a nuclear weapon is what we do." (Reporting by Neil Chatterjee; Editing by David Fox) ||||| N.Korea accuses Obama of nuclear war plot SEOUL (AFP) — North Korea has accused US President Barack Obama of plotting a nuclear war on the communist nation by reaffirming a US assurance of security for South Korea, the North's state media said. In a first official response to last week's US-South Korean summit, the state-run weekly Tongil Sinbo said in its Saturday edition Obama and South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak "are trying to ignite a nuclear war". "The US-touted provision of 'extended deterrence, including a nuclear umbrella' (for South Korea) is nothing but 'a nuclear war plan,'" Tongil Sinbo said. It said it wasn't a coincidence that the United States has brought "nuclear equipment into South Korea and its surroundings and staged massive war drills every day to look for a chance to invade North Korea." Pyongyang has created weeks of tension by conducting a second nuclear test and test-firing missiles. At a summit with Lee in Washington Wednesday, Obama warned that North Korea is a "grave threat" and vowed to defend South Korea. A Seoul presidential official told Yonhap news agency Lee would seek a written US commitment to provide a nuclear "umbrella" for Seoul as part of "extended deterrence" against Pyongyang. North Korea detonated its second nuclear device on May 25, following the first one in 2006. It also went ahead with what Washington said was a disguised test of a long-range missile in April. The United Nations Security Council in response agreed to tighter cargo inspections, a stricter arms embargo and new targeted financial curbs to choke off revenue for the North's nuclear and missile sectors. In response Pyongyang has vowed to build more nuclear bombs and start enriching uranium for a new atomic weapons program. Some analysts say the sabre-rattling is part of an attempt by 67-year-old ailing North Korean leader, Kim Jong-Il, to bolster a succession plan involving his youngest son, Kim Jong-Un. Copyright © 2009 AFP. All rights reserved. More » | Tensions have started to rise again between the United States and North Korea. North Korea claims that the United States have planned to start an atomic war against them due to President Barack Obama recently reaffirming the nuclear protection of South Korea. A South Korean Foreign Ministry official on Saturday stated that Seoul has proposed five-way talks with the U.S., China, Russia and Japan to find a way to deal with the threats given by North Korea. The United States and Japan agreed to attend the 5-way talks but China and Russia have yet to respond. Singapore has stated that if the Korean flagship the ''Kang Nam'' is carrying a weapon that is in violation of the United Nations sanctions it would take immediate action. According to a senior member of the United States military, the ''USS John McCain'' is ready to intercept the ''Kang Nam''. |
D'Alema tra i ministri Chiti, Mastella e Turco, sconfitto al Senato (Ansa) ROMA - Alla fine sono arrivate le dimissioni. Dopo tante minacce di crisi il governo Prodi va in testa coda e cade quando (forse) meno se lo aspettava, i PRECEDENTE - A nulla, dopo la bocciatura a Palazzo Madama, sono valse le pressioni della sinistra a tirare il freno, a non dimettersi e trovare una soluzione per andare avanti. In serata � uscita anche una nota ufficiale del Prc in cui si chiede a Prodi �di non interrompere la sua azione�. Niente da fare. La disfatta della maggioranza va in scena ancora una volta a Palazzo Madama, che si conferma la bestia nera del governo Prodi. A distanza di una ventina di giorni, dopo lo scivolone sulla mozione della Cdl sulla base Usa di Vicenza, infatti, il governo viene battuto di nuovo sulla risoluzione che approva la relazione del ministro degli Esteri. E si apre la crisi. �COLPA DI ANDREOTTI E PININFARINA� - �La colpa di tutto � di Pininfarina e Andreotti che si sono astenuti e di Rossi e Turigliatto che non hanno votato�, hanno commentato i senatori dell'Unione all'uscita dell'Aula dove, dopo il risultato, � scoppiata la solita bagarre con il centrodestra in piedi che gridava � ULIVO PRONTO A PRODI-BIS - A sera, l'Unione si interroga sullo sviluppo della crisi. L'Ulivo (dopo un vertice con Rutelli, Fassino e D'Alema a Palazzo Chigi), si dice pronto a confermare la fiducia a un governo Prodi-bis. �Siamo consapevoli della difficolt� della situazione - afferma il capogruppo alla Camera Dario Franceschini- ma siamo pronti a riconfermare la piena fiducia al Governo Prodi. Ci auguriamo che le consultazioni servano a un chiarimento profondo per superare non solo un nuovo ed eventuale voto di fiducia ma perch� il governo abbia una maggioranza che lo sostenga convintamente�. Prc, Pdci e Verdi insistono perch� la maggioranza vada avanti. E anche i Ds, dopo l'ufficio di presidenza, ripropongono il nome di Romano Prodi per la guida del Paese e lo invitano a chiedere di nuovo la fiducia in Parlamento. Anche se, afferma una nota della Quercia, � �necessario un chiarimento politico che ripristini la coesione della maggioranza di centrosinistra e consenta al governo di ottenere la fiducia e proseguire stabilmente la propria attivit�. Il segretario dei Ds, Piero Fassino, aggiunge poi: �Adesso tutta l'Unione sia leale con Prodi�. RUTELLI: DUE DOVERI - �La maggioranza ha due doveri: assicurare al paese una politica estera credibile, coerente, affidabile. Il secondo � servire il paese con la maggioranza ricevuta dagli elettori e scongiurare il ritorno della destra�. Cos� il vicepresidente del consiglio, Francesco Rutelli sulle prospettive che si aprono per governo e maggioranza: �Senza una maggioranza in politica estera, non si governa il Paese e bene ha fatto, il premier Romano Prodi, a dirlo con grande nettezza, fino a rimettere il mandato nelle mani del Capo dello Stato. Vedremo nei prossimi giorni - ha aggiunto il vicepremier - se le forze della sinistra radicale e quelle che hanno gi� perso dei rappresentanti sapranno riportare una affidabile disciplina nelle loro fila parlamentari e scongiurare nuovi episodi di infedelt� come quello registrato oggi al Senato�. Alla fine sono arrivate le dimissioni. Dopo tante minacce di crisi il governo Prodi va in testa coda e cade quando (forse) meno se lo aspettava, i nciampando sulla politica estera: la mozione sul discorso di D'Alema non � passata al Senato per due voti. A stoppare la maggioranza � stata una inedita cinquina composta da tre senatori a vita e due �irriducibili� della sinistra radicale. Rossi e Turigliatto . Dopo la bocciatura, seguita da un vertice di maggioranza e da un consiglio dei ministri, Romano Prodi ha rimesso il mandato al Quirinale. Il presidente Napolitano, rientrato in tutta fretta a Roma interrompendo una visita ufficiale a Bologna , si � riservato di accettare dopo un colloquio di 25 minuti e ha indetto subito (cominceranno gioved� alle 10.30) le consultazioni per affidare l'incarico di formare il nuovo governo. Era stato proprio Napolitano a chiedere a Prodi di tornare al Senato dopo la sconfitta sulla base di Vicenza, proprio per provare il sostegno della maggioranza alla politica estera del governo. E D'Alema aveva detto chiaro, da Ibiza, che �senza la maggioranza, si va tutti a casa� ( guarda il video ). In sostanza, il capo della Farnesina aveva chiesto una sorta di voto di fiducia, sfidando i rapporti di forza (che al Senato sono ormai paritari tra maggioranza e centrodestra) e le tante incognite di una votazione al cardiopalma.- A nulla, dopo la bocciatura a Palazzo Madama, sono valse le pressioni della sinistra a tirare il freno, a non dimettersi e trovare una soluzione per andare avanti. In serata � uscita anche una nota ufficiale del Prc in cui si chiede a Prodi �di non interrompere la sua azione�. Niente da fare. La disfatta della maggioranza va in scena ancora una volta a Palazzo Madama, che si conferma la bestia nera del governo Prodi. A distanza di una ventina di giorni, dopo lo scivolone sulla mozione della Cdl sulla base Usa di Vicenza, infatti, il governo viene battuto di nuovo sulla risoluzione che approva la relazione del ministro degli Esteri. E si apre la crisi.- �La colpa di tutto � di Pininfarina e Andreotti che si sono astenuti e di Rossi e Turigliatto che non hanno votato�, hanno commentato i senatori dell'Unione all'uscita dell'Aula dove, dopo il risultato, � scoppiata la solita bagarre con il centrodestra in piedi che gridava � dimissioni, dimissioni �. Mentre sui due dissidenti si abbatteva �il disprezzo totale� della capogruppo dei Verdi-Pdci Manuela Palermi, che aveva ottenuto la marcia indietro di Bulgarelli.- A sera, l'Unione si interroga sullo sviluppo della crisi. L'Ulivo (dopo un vertice con Rutelli, Fassino e D'Alema a Palazzo Chigi), si dice pronto a confermare la fiducia a un governo Prodi-bis. �Siamo consapevoli della difficolt� della situazione - afferma il capogruppo alla Camera Dario Franceschini- ma siamo pronti a riconfermare la piena fiducia al Governo Prodi. Ci auguriamo che le consultazioni servano a un chiarimento profondo per superare non solo un nuovo ed eventuale voto di fiducia ma perch� il governo abbia una maggioranza che lo sostenga convintamente�. Prc, Pdci e Verdi insistono perch� la maggioranza vada avanti. E anche i Ds, dopo l'ufficio di presidenza, ripropongono il nome di Romano Prodi per la guida del Paese e lo invitano a chiedere di nuovo la fiducia in Parlamento. Anche se, afferma una nota della Quercia, � �necessario un chiarimento politico che ripristini la coesione della maggioranza di centrosinistra e consenta al governo di ottenere la fiducia e proseguire stabilmente la propria attivit�. Il segretario dei Ds, Piero Fassino, aggiunge poi: �Adesso tutta l'Unione sia leale con Prodi�.- �La maggioranza ha due doveri: assicurare al paese una politica estera credibile, coerente, affidabile. Il secondo � servire il paese con la maggioranza ricevuta dagli elettori e scongiurare il ritorno della destra�. Cos� il vicepresidente del consiglio, Francesco Rutelli sulle prospettive che si aprono per governo e maggioranza: �Senza una maggioranza in politica estera, non si governa il Paese e bene ha fatto, il premier Romano Prodi, a dirlo con grande nettezza, fino a rimettere il mandato nelle mani del Capo dello Stato. Vedremo nei prossimi giorni - ha aggiunto il vicepremier - se le forze della sinistra radicale e quelle che hanno gi� perso dei rappresentanti sapranno riportare una affidabile disciplina nelle loro fila parlamentari e scongiurare nuovi episodi di infedelt� come quello registrato oggi al Senato�. BINDI: �MALEDETTA LEGGE ELETTORALE� - Tra i primi commenti a caldo dopo il voto quello di Rosy Bindi. �Maledetta legge elettorale... questo � il primo pensiero che mi viene in mente - ha detto il ministro per la Famiglia - Non c'erano i motivi e le condizioni per votare cos� - ha aggiunto la Bindi riferendosi ai senatori "dissidenti" della maggioranza - si sono presi una gravissima responsabilit� nei confronti del Paese�. 22 febbraio 2007 ||||| Romano Prodi resigned last night as Italy's prime minister after his government had suffered an unexpected defeat in parliament over its alliance with the United States and its role in Nato. Giorgio Napolitano, who as Italy's president oversees the making and breaking of governments, is to open consultations on the political future today. It was not ruled out that Mr Prodi could be asked to form a new government, and a grouping of core parties in his coalition said last night that they were prepared to back him again. But his spokesman said: "He is ready to carry on as prime minister if, and only if, he is guaranteed the full support of all the parties in his majority from now on." That support was signally lacking in the senate a few hours earlier, when the government sought a vote of approval for its foreign policy. Discontent on the left of his sprawling, nine-party coalition over the extension of an American military base and Italy's open-ended commitment to the Nato-led force in Afghanistan lay behind a two-vote defeat. Since he had not lost a formal confidence vote, Mr Prodi was not obliged to stand down. But, amid raucous scenes, members of the rightwing opposition claimed he had been stripped of his credibility. "There is no majority any more," declared a jubilant Renato Schifani, chief senate whip to Silvio Berlusconi, whom Mr Prodi defeated in a general election last year. "There is no Prodi government any more." In the chamber of deputies, the lower house of parliament, scuffles broke out between MPs of rival parties. As Mr Prodi prepared to see President Napolitano after a crisis cabinet meeting, a crowd of young opposition supporters gathered below the windows of his office chanting for his resignation. The foreign minister, Massimo D'Alema, had said on the eve of the vote that the government should go if it lost. Seeking backing for his policies after weeks of growing controversy, Mr D'Alema told the senate that to have rejected a US request to double the size of its facilities at Vicenza in northern Italy would have been a "hostile act" towards an ally. Last weekend, 70,000 demonstrators marched through the city in protest. Several members of the governing majority said afterwards that the issue should be put to a local referendum, but Mr Prodi dismissed the suggestion. Two radical left senators withheld their votes on a broad motion supporting the government's foreign policy, robbing the centre-left of the outright majority it needed. But there was also speculation that the outcome might have been different had not the legendarily Machiavellian Giulio Andreotti, a former prime minister and now life senator, wrong-footed the governing coalition by saying he would back it, but abstaining. The vote, in fact, was the government's favour, 158 to 136 with 24 abstentions; but, in the senate, abstentions effectively count as votes against. It was the second time Mr Prodi had fallen victim to the far left, which brought down his last government in 1998. The row over the US base had become linked to demands for an exit strategy in Afghanistan, where Italy has 1,900 troops in the UN-mandated but Nato-led International Security and Assistance Force. Since Italy's withdrawal of its troops from Iraq last year, the radical left of Mr Prodi's coalition had become increasingly critical of the presence in Afghanistan. The issue became urgent last month when discussions began on renewed funding for Italy's contingent there. Three ministers from the Green party and two communist groups left a cabinet meeting to avoid having to put their signatures to the government decree that supplied the cash. Alarmed by the level of resistance in the governing coalition, the ambassadors of six of Italy's partners in Afghanistan, including Britain and the US, published an open letter earlier this month, appealing for unity. The funding decree has yet to be endorsed by parliament and it was in an attempt to get an agreed policy that Mr Prodi and his foreign minister tabled the motion that brought them to grief. Backstory The centre-left government relied on a range of supporters, from middle-of-the-road Christian Democrats at one extreme, to unreconstructed Communists at the other. Afghanistan and the US base at Vicenza were not the only clashes. Other flash points included: the 2007 budget which drew criticism from the coalition's right for using tax hikes not spending cuts to trim budget deficit; a rail link, a proposed high-speed line through the Alps disliked by Green party and leftists; a rights bill with rights for unmarried couples, including gay people, condemned by Christian Democrats, including justice minister Clemente Mastella, who threatened to vote against it. | Romano Prodi (Image credit: Beppe Moro, GFDL) Italian Prime Minister, Romano Prodi, delivered his resignation today to the country's President Giorgio Napolitano. The decision came following an embarrassing loss suffered by the Italian government on a foreign policy vote in the Italian Senate, concerning the engagement in Afghanistan and after a political split in the government coalition about the planned expansion of a U.S. Army base in Vicenza, in Northern Italy. President Napolitano will begin consultations among Italian party Leaders on the next Thursday: according to the Italian Constitution, the President can send back Prodi to the Chambers for a vote or might choose another Prime Minister who might have enough support to put together a new government, or could be forced to dissolve the Parliament and call for new elections. In the meantime, the President asked the government to stay on in a caretaker role. Prodi has been Prime Minister for nine months. |
Reggae star Smiley Culture dies in police raid British reggae star Smiley Culture has died during a police raid in Surrey. The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) has said it will investigate the death of the musician, whose real name is David Emmanuel. The IPCC said he died of a suspected stab wound when Met Police officers carried out an arrest warrant at a house in Warlingham at 0700 GMT. Mr Emmanuel, 48, had been due to face trial next week accused of conspiracy to supply cocaine. His biggest hit was 1984's Police Officer. The record reached number 12 in the UK charts. His other singles included Cockney Translation and Schooltime Chronicle. Rise of reggae A Met spokesman said officers from the Serious and Organised Crime Command were carrying out the raid in Hillbury Road. He said: "While they were at the address, an incident occurred during which a 48-year-old man died. "Officers from Surrey Police attended the incident and it has been formally referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission." IPCC Commissioner for the South East Mike Franklin said: "We will be looking into the planning of the arrest, the way in which it was carried out and the actions of all the officers who were present at the time of the incident." Smiley Culture made a cameo appearance in the David Bowie film Absolute Beginners in 1986, but failed to achieve mainstream exposure. He recently featured in the BBC4 documentary Reggae Britannia which explored the rise of UK reggae. ||||| The police watchdog is investigating the death of the British reggae star Smiley Culture during a Metropolitan police raid. The 48-year-old singer and MC, whose real name was David Emmanuel, died on Tuesday from a stab wound sustained as officers visited his house in Warlingham, Surrey to make an arrest. Although it is unclear how Emmanuel was injured, investigators are understood to be looking into whether the wound was self-inflicted. A Scotland Yard spokesman said: "As part of an ongoing operation, officers from the Metropolitan police service's serious and organised crime command attended a residential address in east Surrey to carry out an arrest warrant. "While they were at the address, an incident occurred during which a 48-year-old man died. Officers from Surrey police attended the incident and it has been formally referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission." The IPCC confirmed that it was looking into the death. Mike Franklin, IPCC commissioner for the south east, said: "We will be looking into the planning of the arrest, the way in which it was carried out and the actions of all the officers who were present at the time of the incident." Emmanuel had appeared before magistrates charged with conspiracy to supply cocaine last September. He shot to fame in the 1980s with songs such as Cockney Translation — an explanation of rhyming slang — and Police Officer, an autobiographical song of how he was caught in possession of cannabis but let off when the officer recognised him as a reggae artist. Although he made a cameo appearance in the David Bowie film Absolute Beginners in 1986, he went on to have little mainstream exposure. In an interview with the Guardian last year, he spoke of his time in the music business and his musical legacy. "Police Officer was a true story – the police used to take my weed," he said. "It was better than being arrested and I made that into a hit. With Cockney Translation, I was a black man talking cockney. I integrated cultures even though I didn't understand it at the time. I was invited to meet the Queen, who said she listened to my records in the palace. "Although I paved the way for people like the Streets and Dizzee Rascal, I left the music business because I wasn't rich." Ricky Belgrave, the chairman of the British Association of Sound Systems, said Emmanuel's death was a sad loss for British reggae. "He was a lively personality and one of the first wave of UK talent like Maxi Priest, Tippa Irie and Aswad, to cross over to the mainstream," he said. "His tracks, like Police Office and Cockney Translation are well remembered and are still played at the Notting Hill carnival. I think there's a direct line between the UK talent of the 80s and MCs today and he did pave the way for that. We offer our condolences to his family at this tragic time." • This article was amended on 16 March 2011. The original referred to the British Association of Static Systems. This has been corrected. | Emmanuel died in a raid by the Metropolitan police force. David Emmanuel, a British reggae singer known as , has died during a at his home in , England. The singer is believed to have died from a stab wound when the arrived at his house at 07:00 (GMT). Emmanuel, aged 48, was due to face trial for conspiracy to supply cocaine next week. It is unclear how Emmanuel received the stab wound but investigators from the are looking to see if it was self-inflicted. Mike Franklin, the South East IPCC commissioner, released a statement saying "We will be looking into the planning of the arrest, the way in which it was carried out and the actions of all the officers who were present at the time of the incident." A spokesman at made a statement, "As part of an ongoing operation, officers from the Metropolitan police service's serious and organised crime command attended a residential address in east Surrey to carry out an arrest warrant. While they were at the address, an incident occurred during which a 48-year-old man died. Officers from Surrey police attended the incident and it has been formally referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission." Emmanuel reached fame during the 1980s. His two biggest hits were "Cockney Translation" and "Police Officer", the latter reaching number 12 in the UK singles chart. |
Monday, June 2, 2008 - Page updated at 06:55 PM E-mail article Print view Share: Digg Newsvine SEATTLE — Half a century after a U.S. Senate committee identified him as an organized crime figure, Seattle's 90-year-old strip club magnate and convicted racketeer is still at it, federal authorities say. Agents on Monday raided four clubs owned by or affiliated with Frank Colacurcio Sr., and his son, Frank Jr., as well as their homes and offices, heralding what could be the final round in the family's six-decade fight with the law. Documents filed in U.S. District Court said the Colacurcios have been underreporting attendance, cheating the city out of more than $3,000 a month in taxes, and skimming money their dancers earned performing illegal sex acts. And as recently as last fall, Colacurcio Sr. continued to pay his own dancers as much as $1,000 for sex, an FBI agent wrote in an affidavit. The clubs have not been shut down, and no current criminal charges have been brought against the Colacurcios. However, Seattle U.S. Attorney Jeff Sullivan said investigators have uncovered extensive evidence of racketeering, mail fraud and money laundering. Typically, such evidence is never made public prior to an indictment. But in this case, prosecutors on Monday obtained a temporary restraining order preventing the Colacurcios or their associates from selling or transferring three strip clubs - Rick's in Seattle, Sugar's in Shoreline, and Honey's in Everett - or their hiring and bookkeeping offices. Sullivan said he intends to use the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, commonly known as RICO, to have the properties forfeited to the federal government. "For far too long, the Colacurcios' organization has made big money operating their clubs as fronts for prostitution," he said. "The Colacurcios have designed the clubs, the payment methods and the policies that encourage prostitution and to ensure they are the ones getting rich off these illegal sex acts." Lawyers for the Colacurcios did not return calls seeking comment. They have 10 days to ask for a hearing to challenge the restraining order. In the past, one lawyer, Gilbert Levy, has noted that the pair has never been charged with violent criminal acts. That's not to say they don't have a past. Frank Sr., the son of a King County farmer, received his first conviction in the 1940s, for having sexual relations with a 16-year-old girl. He entered the topless nightclub business after making a name for himself in Seattle's pinball industry in the 1950s. In 1957, hearings before a U.S. Senate organized crime committee identified him as a racketeer. In 1971 he was convicted federally of running a bingo racket and sentenced to three years; in the mid-1970s he served more than two years on a tax evasion conviction that was eventually overturned on appeal. In 1981 he was convicted of tax fraud for skimming profits from a Bellevue club, and in 1991 he and Frank Jr. were convicted in a similar scheme, this time involving clubs they operated in Alaska. This year, the Colacurcios pleaded guilty to felony criminal charges in Seattle's 2003 "Strippergate" campaign-finance scandal. They each agreed to each pay $75,000 in criminal and civil penalties. The pair secretly funneled thousands of dollars in illegal campaign contributions through friends, relatives and business partners to the re-election campaigns of three Seattle City Council members, shortly before a vote on a rezone to allow for more parking at Rick's. It was that last incident that gave rise to the current investigation, which has included a Seattle police officer who infiltrated the organization as a club manager last summer; confidential informants; and undercover vice cops who posed as customers or secretly filmed acts of prostitution - though Sullivan was quick to note that none participated in prostitution. A 99-page affidavit filed in support of the restraining order is chock full of incidents where dancers were observed performing sex acts or offering to do so, for prices ranging from $40 to $500. In some cases, the document said, undercover agents watched as the Colacurcios saw what was going on and did nothing to stop it, or in which they freely discussed prostitution at the clubs. Dancers told the agents that if they were arrested for prostitution at Rick's, they were simply moved to another club until the charge was resolved. Seattle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske called it "the most significant organized crime investigation we have ever undertaken," and added that the enterprise had "done considerable damage to this city." "It's an organization that has made its money on the backs of women," he said. "It's about violence and organized crime. It's not about the morals police." Six cold-case homicides were reopened as part of the investigation, he said, and three were solved - though none was tied to the Colacurcios. Investigators estimate that the chronic underreporting of attendance at Rick's cost the city of Seattle more than $3,000 per month in lost tax revenue. That was based on data from a surveillance camera installed outside the club in June 2006 to count customers entering the establishment. In July 2006, while Rick's reported 7,929 customers, the camera recorded nearly 14,000, the affidavit said. The affidavit also said ATMs and credit card machines in the clubs dispensed tokens instead of cash that customers would use to pay dancers. But when dancers redeemed the tokens, they were given less cash than the tokens' face value - evidence of skimming, the affidavit said. ||||| Colacurcio Family Enterprise under Federal Probe Ruby de LunaMP3: High Calling it the most significant organized crime investigation in Seattle's history, local police and federal agents yesterday (Monday) raided strip clubs in three Puget Sound counties. The club owners face racketeering charges that include prostitution, money laundering and mail fraud. KUOW's Ruby de Luna reports. IN ADDITION TO THE RAID, FEDERAL PROSECUTORS HAVE ASKED THE COURT TO FREEZE ASSETS BELONGING TO FRANK COLACURCIO SR., HIS SON FRANK COLACURCIO JR AND THEIR BUSINESS ASSOCIATES. THOSE INCLUDE STRIP CLUBS IN SEATTLE, SHORELINE, EVERETT, AND TACOMA. US ATTORNEY JEFF SULLIVAN TOLD REPORTERS MONDAY THE CLUBS WERE A FRONT FOR ILLEGAL ACTIVITY. FROM THE DIMLY LIT PRIVATE BOOTHS TO PAYMENT METHODS, SULLIVAN SAYS THE CLUBS WERE SET UP FOR PROSTITUTION. SULLIVAN: "The credit card machines and the ATM machines when they're used by a customer, hand out tokens, not the cash. The tokens in turn are used at face value to pay the dancers, the young women who are called upon to become involved in prostitution, but when they go to cash in their tokens at the end of the night, the club takes a cut from those proceeds." SULLIVAN SAYS THE CLUBS NOT ONLY TOOK A CUT, BUT THEY ALSO CHARGED AS MUCH AS 130 DOLLARS FOR WHAT THEY CALLED "RENT." NOT EVERY DANCER WAS INVOLVED IN ILLEGAL SEX ACTS. BUT THOSE WHO WERE, TOLD UNDERCOVER POLICE IT WAS THE ONLY WAY TO MAKE MORE MONEY AT THE CLUB. CALLS TO LAWYERS FOR THE COLACURCIO FAMILY WEREN'T IMMEDIATELY RETURNED. MONDAY'S RAID CULMINATES YEARS OF FEDERAL AND LOCAL INVESTIGATION, FOLLOWING THE SO–CALLED STRIPPERGATE SCANDAL. IN 2003 BOTH FATHER AND SON PLEADED GUILTY TO MAKING ILLEGAL CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS IN THE RE–ELECTION BIDS OF 3 FORMER CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS. SEATTLE POLICE CHIEF GIL KERLIKOWSKE SAYS THE CITY'S NOT INTERESTED IN CLOSING DOWN LEGALLY RUN STRIP CLUBS. KERLIKOWSKE: "Let me be clear about this part: the investigation's about organized crime. It's about tax dollars that due the city of Seattle, that have never been properly paid, it's about organized prostitution and the other types of crime." THE RAIDS WON'T STOP THE STRIP CLUBS' OPERATIONS. IN FACT, PROSECUTORS HAVEN'T FILED CHARGES YET. BUT THEY SAY THE SEARCHES WILL PROVIDE MORE EVIDENCE AS THEY PUT THEIR CASE TOGETHER. THE COLACURCIOS HAVE 10 DAYS TO CHALLENGE THE COURT ORDER. I'M RUBY DE LUNA, KUOW NEWS. ℗ Copyright 2008, KUOW News ||||| Monday, June 2, 2008 - Page updated at 02:30 PM E-mail article Print view Share: Digg Newsvine SEATTLE — Federal prosecutors Monday obtained a temporary restraining order against three Seattle-area strip clubs and their owners, alleging, among other things, that they failed to report income, costing the city of Seattle thousands of dollars in tax revenue. The affidavits also allege that agents found owners Frank Colacurcio Sr. and his son, Frank Jr., took a cut of money dancers received for illegal sex acts. The court documents name the clubs Rick's in Seattle, Sugar's in Shoreline, and Honey's in Everett, along with the Colacurcios, the Talents West talent agency and Accurate Bookkeeping in Seattle. Warrants were served at those locations Monday, and at Fox's, a club in Parkland, south of Tacoma, FBI spokeswoman Robbie Burroughs said. The restraining order prohibits the Colacurcios and their associates of selling the clubs or doing anything to lessen their value. Prosecutors said at a news conference that it's the first step in freezing assets pending the conclusion of a racketeering investigation that alleges the clubs were run by a criminal enterprise. "For far too long, the Colacurcios' organization has made big money operating their clubs as fronts for prostitution," U.S. Attorney Jeff Sullivan said. "The Colacurcios have designed the clubs, the payment methods and the policies that encourage prostitution and to ensure they are the ones getting rich off these illegal sex acts." No criminal charges have been filed. Lawyers for the Colacurcios didn't immediately return phone calls for comment. They can ask for a hearing to challenge the restraining order. Other charges being contemplated include money laundering and mail fraud, in reference to alleged chronic underreporting of attendance at Rick's, Sullivan said. Investigators estimate that cost the city of Seattle more than $3,000 per month in lost tax revenue. That was based on data from a surveillance camera installed on a utility pole outside Rick's in June 2006 to count customers entering the establishment. Officials said they were conservative in counting "customers" - for example, women were not counted. But in July 2006, while Rick's reported 7,929 customers, the camera recorded nearly 14,000, the affidavit said. The affidavit also says ATMs and credit card machines in the clubs dispensed tokens instead of cash that customers would use to pay dancers. But when dancers redeemed the tokens, they were given less cash than the tokens' face value - evidence of skimming, the affidavit says. Authorities say that as part of the investigation, a police undercover officer infiltrated the organization, first through Talents West to be a waitress at Sugar's. Five weeks later she was named a manager at Rick's. Seattle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske called it "the most significant organized crime investigation we have ever undertaken," and added that the enterprise had "done considerable damage to this city." "It's an organization that has made its money on the backs of women. It's about violence and organized crime. It's not about the morals police," he said. Colacurcio Sr. has been a controversial figure in Seattle for six decades. He was even named a racketeer before a U.S. Senate committee in the 1950s. In January, the Colacurcios pleaded guilty to felony criminal charges in Seattle's "Strippergate" campaign-finance scandal. They each agreed to each pay $75,000 in criminal and civil penalties. That scandal erupted at City Hall in 2003 after the Colacurcios secretly funneled thousands of dollars in illegal campaign contributions through friends, relatives and business partners to the re-election campaigns of three Seattle City Council members. The contributions came shortly before the council approved a rezone allowing Rick's to add parking spaces. | Yesterday, federal agents, assisted by local police, raided the businesses, homes, and offices of Frank Colacurcio Sr., and his son, Frank Junior in Washington, in the United States Pacific Northwest. Approximately 50 years after federal authorities first labeled Colacurcio Sr. as an organized crime figure, they allege the 90-year-old strip club magnate and convicted racketeer is still active in violating the law. Local police with federal authorities enacted their raids in three separate counties along Puget Sound. Local police have described it as the most significant probe into organized crime in Seattle, Washington's history. The Colacurcios face allegations that include evidence of prostitution, money laundering and mail fraud. According to Robbie Burroughs of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), court documents have named the clubs "Rick's" in Seattle, "Sugar's" in Shoreline, "Fox's" in Parkland, and "Honey's" in Everett, as well as the businesses "Talents West" talent agency and "Accurate Bookkeeping" in Seattle. The Colacurcios themselves were named as subjects of the investigation and raids. The Federal government additionally enacted a restraining order, unusually, as evidence in similar investigations is normally not made public prior to any indictments being issued. The restraining order, which can only be contested for ten days, bars the Colacurcios or their agents from selling, reducing the value of, or transferring three strip clubs, Rick's, Sugar's, and Honey's, or the related hiring and bookkeeping offices. Seattle U.S. Attorney Jeff Sullivan has stated he plans to pursue the forfeiture of all the properties and businesses under the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO). "For far too long, the Colacurcios' organization has made big money operating their clubs as fronts for prostitution," he said. "The Colacurcios have designed the clubs, the payment methods and the policies that encourage prostitution and to ensure they are the ones getting rich off these illegal sex acts." As of June 3, neither the Colacurcios nor their attorneys had spoken with the media or in public about the raids and investigation. The Colacurcios have a long history involving law enforcement. Frank Sr. was convicted in the 1940s for having sexual relations with a 16-year old girl. In 1957, a United States Senate hearing on organized crime identified him as a racketeer. In 1971 he was convicted on the federal level of running a bingo racket, and received a three year sentence. In the mid-70s, he served two years in custody for a tax evasion that was overturned in an appeal. In 1981, he received a conviction for tax fraud from skimming profits on a night club, and in 1991 he and his son, Frank Jr., were convicted of a similar crime for clubs they ran in Alaska. In January 2008, they both plead guilty for their role in Seattle's "Strippergate" campaign-financing scandal which erupted in 2003. The scandal involved funnelling illegal campaign finances through various associates to the re-election campaigns of various Seattle City Council members, before a zoning election for a club they owned. The event is what led to the current raids and investigations. |
In a four-page written order (download here), the Florida Supreme Court today affirmed a referee's recommendation to permanently disbar controversial Miami attorney Jack Thompson. The action, which takes effect in 30 days, means that Thompson will no longer be licensed to practice law and may not apply for reinstatement. Ever. In citing a litany of offenses, the Court noted Thompson's extensive pattern of misconduct and cited a "complete lack of remorse." The Court also quoted extensively from the June, 2008 report of Judge Dava Tunis, who served as referee at Thompson's November, 2007 trial on charges brought by the Florida Bar: In her report, the referee states: Over a very extended period of time involving a number of totally unrelated cases and individuals, [r]espondent has demonstrated a pattern of conduct to strike out harshly, extensively, repeatedly and willfully to simply try to bring as much difficulty, distraction and anguish to those he considers in opposition to his causes. He does not proceed within the guidelines of appropriate professional behavior, but rather uses other means available to intimidate, harass, or bring public disrepute to those whom he perceives oppose him. Noting that "The Court concludes that the facts, as even more extensively detailed in the referee's report, support the referee's numerous recommendations as to guilt," the justices of the Florida Supreme Court affirmed Thompson's offenses as delineated by Judge Tunis. Some of these include findings that Thompson made false statements and accusations, repeatedly harassed those he considered opponents, and, while falsely accusing others of "the criminal distribution of sexual materials to minors," himself attached pornography to court filings. [Thompson] made false statements of material fact to courts and repeatedly violated a court order [Thompson] communicated the subject of representation directly with clients of opposing counsel [Thompson] engaged in prohibited ex parte communications [Thompson] publicized and sent hundreds of pages of vitriolic and disparaging missives, letters, faxes, and press releases, to the affected individuals [Thompson] targeted an individual who was not involved with respondent in any way, merely due to "the position [the individual] holds in state and national politics" [Thompson]falsely, recklessly, and publicly accused a judge as being amenable to the "fixing" of cases [Thompson] sent courts inappropriate and offensive sexual materials [Thompson] falsely and publicly accused various attorneys and their clients of engaging in a conspiracy/enterprise involving "the criminal distribution of sexual materials to minors" and attempted to get prosecuting authorities to charge these attorneys and their clients for racketeering and extortion conspiracy/enterprise involving "the criminal distribution of sexual materials to minors" and attempted to get prosecuting authorities to charge these attorneys and their clients for racketeering and extortion [Thompson] harassed the former client of an attorney in an effort to get the client to use its influence to persuade the attorney to withdraw a defamation suit filed by the attorney against respondent [Thompson] retaliated against attorneys who filed Bar complaints against him for his unethical conduct by asserting to their clients, government officials, politicians, the media, female lawyers in their law firm, employees, personal friends, acquaintances, and their wives, that the attorneys were criminal pornographers who objectify women. The Court also upheld a fine of $43,675 against Thompson. For his part, Thompson offered his standard-issue bluster, announcing his disbarment in an e-mail which carried the subject line "Now the Fun Begins." Thompson has also filed a request with the U.S. District Court for an emergency stay of the FLSC's order disbarring him. ||||| Florida judge rules that the attorney, who has repeatedly attacked the games industry for violence and sexual content, stepped over the line too many times, and in too many ways. Executives throughout the video game industry may be breathing a big sigh of relief. That's because it looks like one of the industry's biggest critics , Florida lawyer Jack Thompson, has had his voice cut off at the knees, to mix a metaphor or two. According to a Thursday report on the popular video game blog Kotaku, Thompson has been disbarred by a Florida judge who ruled he has been guilty of some seriously unbecoming conduct. Essentially, according to Kotaku, the court ruled that Thompson "made false statements of material fact to courts and repeatedly violated a court order...communicated the subject of representation directly with clients of opposing counsel...engaged in prohibited ex parte communications...publicized and sent hundreds of pages of vitriolic and disparaging missives, letters, faxes and press releases to the affected individuals...targeted an individual who was not involved with (Thompson) in any way, merely due to 'the position (the individual) holds in state and national politics'...falsely, recklessly and publicly accused a judge of being amenable to the 'fixing' of cases," and so on. Thompson might best be known for his withering attacks of Rockstar Games for the sexual content that was hidden in its hit game, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. But he has also been vocal in his criticism of countless other games for what he saw as too much violence and sexual content. Kotaku also said Thompson sent it a note explaining his situation and including the following language: "The timing of this disbarment transparently reveals its motivation: This past Friday Thompson filed a federal civil rights action against The Bar, the Supreme Court and all seven of its Justices. This rush to disbarment is in retribution for the filing of that federal suit. With enemies this foolish, Thompson needs only the loyal friends he has." A big question, of course, is whether Thompson's disbarment will do anything to stop his broadsides against the video game industry. His stark anti-game press releases don't require a law degree, and he's still going to be famous and the source of good quotes, so don't expect him to go silent just because he can no longer take law clients. Still, his inability to make a living as a lawyer may force him to take up other pursuits that could occupy his time and leave him little room for pursuing his anti-game agenda. Knowing him to be a fan of publicity, I would expect no less. ||||| The Supreme Court of Florida approved on Thursday an earlier recommendation filed by Judge Dava Tunis and has permanently disbarred Florida anti-video game attorney Jack Thompson. Mr. Thompson has been an outspoken opponent against what he deems as inappropriate games such as the Grand Theft Auto series or Bully. The complaint against Mr. Thompson credits his disbarment to cases such as “respondent made false statements of material fact to courts and repeatedly violated a court order,” “respondent publicized and sent hundreds of pages of vitriolic and disparaging missives, letters, faxes, and press releases,” and “respondent sent courts inappropriate and offensive sexual materials.” And the list goes on. Mr. Thompson’s behavior in and out of court has led to a less-than-stellar reputation among video gamers and judges alike. His actions have even led to Take-Two (whose subsidiary, Rockstar, is responsible for GTA and Bully) suing him last year, citing violation of the company’s First Amendment rights (ironic, considering that Fox News labeled Mr. Thompson as a “First Amendment Attorney”). As such, Judge Tunis recommended disbarment because she felt that Mr. Thompson had “repeatedly stated…that he will not change his conduct” and that she “finds no evidence whatsoever to indicate that [r]espondent is amenable to rehabilitation.” The ruling dictates that Mr. Thompson be permanently disbarred 30 days from today, and that he pays the Court for “recovery of costs” in the sum of $43,675.35. ||||| Jack Thompson, a controversial crusader against violence in games, will be permanently disbarred as of October 25, reports GamePolitics. In handing down its decision, the Florida Supreme Court cited Thompson's extensive history of public misconduct, along with recommendations from Judge Dava Tunis, the official who presided over Thompson's 2007 ethics trial. Along with disbarring Thompson, the official court order (pdf) also demands monetary restitution of $43,675. In response, Thompson has filed a request with the U.S. District Court seeking an emergency stay of the Florida Supreme Court's decision, as well as publishing a press release that claims the Court's decision is "in retaliation for Thompson’s Tyndale House book Out of Harm’s Way, published in 2005, which blew the whistle on the Florida Supreme Court’s earlier efforts in the 1990’s to literally pathologize his faith-based and successful activism against the American entertainment industry." Image: Brymo/Flickr DISBARRED! [GamePolitics] See Also: ||||| The Florida State Supreme Court has ruled in favor of the Florida Bar in its motion to disbar Jack Thompson, stripping the notoriously anti-videogame Thompson of his ability to practice law in the state of Florida. The court order gives Thompson 30 days to shut his practice down and take care of his existing clients (does he really have normal clients anymore?). Thompson can accept no new clients as of the order’s issue, which is earlier today. Further, the order stipulates that a retrial is a possibility--if a lawyer in good standing with the Florida Bar files the appropriate motion on Thompson’s behalf. Which means that Thompson cannot file it on his own. However, hours after the highest court in the state’s decision against him, Thompson filed that very motion. No word yet on what (if any) repercussions there might be. Following the decision, Thompson issued a gem of a press release, which included the following: "The timing of this disbarment transparently reveals its motivation: This past Friday Thompson filed a federal civil rights action against The Bar, the Supreme Court, and all seven of its Justices. This rush to disbarment is in retribution for the filing of that federal suit. With enemies this foolish, Thompson needs only the loyal friends he has. Thompson looks forward to successfully litigating his federal claims, now before US District Court Judge Marcia Cooke in the Southern District of Florida." If that doesn’t have the Florida Bar and Supreme Court shaking in their boots, this zinger from the end of the release will: "Thompson always wanted to own a Bar. Now, armed with multiple US Supreme Court rulings that no state bar can do what it has done to Thompson, he is set to own that Bar." Thompson is going to "own" the Florida Bar. It’s nice to see he’s picking up some gamer parlance. ||||| By Ben Kuchera | Published: September 25, 2008 - 01:35PM CT Jack Thompson is a master of self-promotion. The Florida resident has made a career out of talking to anyone who will listen about the evils of video gaming, the violent ideas and passions that gaming puts into the minds and hearts of children, and the soulless industry that cranks out these terrible games. Whenever there is a tragedy he's there to jump in front of the camera and find a tenuous link between real-world violence and gaming. The legal system finally decided the man went too far, however, and has made it official: Thompson has been disbarred. This is the culmination of a 2007 case brought against Thompson by the Florida Bar covering a number of complaints about his professional conduct. The list is long—and damning—but it's worthwhile to look at some of the issues that led to this decision. The official document lays out the charges: Respondent made false statements of material fact to courts and repeatedly violated a court order Respondent publicized and sent hundreds of pages of vitriolic and disparaging missives, letters, faxes, and press releases, to the affected individuals Respondent falsely, recklessly, and publicly accused a judge as being amenable to the "fixing" of cases Respondent sent courts inappropriate and offensive sexual materials; Respondent falsely and publicly accused various attorneys and their clients of engaging in a conspiracy/enterprise involving "the criminal distribution of sexual materials to minors" and attempted to get prosecuting authorities to charge these attorneys and their clients for racketeering and extortion Respondent harassed the former client of an attorney in an effort to get the client to use its influence to persuade the attorney to withdraw a defamation suit filed by the attorney against respondent. Oddly, Thompson doesn't seem to be aware of the fact the Florida court won't allow him to deal with the courts directly; he had been ordered to submit all filings through another lawyer. "Ignoring this bar on self-submitted filings, respondent has submitted numerous filings in violation of the sanction opinion, including the petition for review of the referee's report. The Clerk properly rejected each of these submissions. Thus, there being no authorized petition for review filed, and the time period to seek review has passed, the Court has treated this as an uncontested case," the official document stated. There could still be a retrial, but it would most likely be an uphill battle to find another lawyer who would be willing to file the paperwork. Thompson's antics have become increasingly erratic and unprofessional over the past couple of years. Filing pornography, creating picture books, and writing letters filled with rambling hyperbole to Ars and other sites are just a few of issues that undermined his credibility. While Thompson will no longer be able to practice law in Florida, there is nothing keeping him from speaking about video games, writing about the practices of the industry, or accepting invitations to speak to the media about his cause. It's safe to say this won't be the last of the gaming industry's favorite opponent. ||||| Today's stunning news that controversial attorney and anti-gaming zealot Jack Thompson will be disbarred for life from practicing law by the Supreme Court of Florida seems to have done little to faze the attorney himself. In response to our request for comment Thompson sent Kotaku a copy of an emergency motion he filed with the court, this despite the ruling which states that only another attorney in good standing with the Florida Bar could file a motion for rehearing on Thompson's behalf. In the motion Thompson outlines what he hints at as a perversion of justice, one that won't allow him, for instance, to meet with a potential client who he says is an inmate in a state prison. Thompson also sent over a press release saying that the disbarment is in retaliation for, among other things, Thompson's Tyndale House book Out of Harm's Way which he says blew the whistle on what he describes as the Florida Supreme Court's attack on his activism against the American entertainment industry. The timing of this disbarment transparently reveals its motivation: This past Friday Thompson filed a federal civil rights action against The Bar, the Supreme Court, and all seven of its Justices. This rush to disbarment is in retribution for the filing of that federal suit. With enemies this foolish, Thompson needs only the loyal friends he has. The emails from Thompson wrap up with: "...this should be fun, starting now" Full press release and motion are on the jump for your perusal. Immediate News Release – Sept. 25, 2008 Miami Attorney Jack Thompson Disbarred by Florida Supreme Court Miami attorney Jack Thompson, nationally and internationally known by virtue of his effective and successful opposition over the last 20 years to the broadcast, marketing, and sale of adult-rated entertainment to children, has just been informed by the Florida Supreme Court that he has been disbarred from the practice of law today. This disbarment is in retaliation, among other things, for Thompson’s Tyndale House book Out of Harm’s Way, published in 2005, which blew the whistle on the Florida Supreme Court’s earlier efforts in the 1990’s to literally pathologize his faith-based and successful activism against the American entertainment industry. The Florida Bar’s insurance carrier was forced to pay Thompson money damages for that earlier assault upon his First Amendment rights, which is the only known payment of damages by any state bar to any lawyer for improper disciplinary efforts. It appears that the State of Florida will be paying Thompson more damages this time around for its illegal, now repeated, use of “discipline” to punish a Christian lawyer for his activism in the public square. The timing of this disbarment transparently reveals its motivation: This past Friday Thompson filed a federal civil rights action against The Bar, the Supreme Court, and all seven of its Justices. This rush to disbarment is in retribution for the filing of that federal suit. With enemies this foolish, Thompson needs only the loyal friends he has. Thompson looks forward to successfully litigating his federal claims, now before US District Court Judge Marcia Cooke in the Southern District of Florida. Thompson always wanted to own a Bar. Now, armed with multiple US Supreme Court rulings that no state bar can do what it has done to Thompson, he is set to own that Bar. IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT IN AND FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF FLORIDA CASE NO. 08-22603-CIV-JUDGE COOKE/MAGISTRATE BANDSTRA JOHN B. THOMPSON, Plaintiff, v. THE FLORIDA BAR; THE SUPREME COURT OF FLORIDA; RAOUL G. CANTERO, INDIVIDUALLY; THE FOLLOWING INDIVIDUALLY AND IN THEIR OFFICIAL CAPACITIES: CHIEF JUSTICE PEGGY A. QUINCE, JUSTICE CHARLES T. WELLS, JUSTICE HARRY LEE ANSTEAD, JUSTICE BARBARA J. PARIENTE, JUSTICE R. FRED LEWIS, JUSTICE KENNETH B. BELL, JUSTICE CHARLES T. CANADY; THE FOLLOWING INDIVIDUALLY: REFEREE DAVA J. TUNIS, BENEDICT KUEHNE, THE ESTATE OF STEVE CHAYKIN, BARNABY MIN, SHEILA TUMA, KEN BRYK, JAN WICHROWSKI, BARRY RICHARD; THE FOLLOWING FLORIDA BAR EMPLOYEES INDIVIDUALLY AND IN THEIR OFFICIAL CAPACITIES: JACK HARKNESS, JOHN BERRY, KEN MARVIN, PAUL HILL, MARY ELLEN BATEMAN; THE FOLLOWING FORMER FLORIDA BAR OFFICERS INDIVIDUALLY: KELLY OVERSTREET JOHNSON, ALAN BOOKMAN, HENRY COXE, FRANK ANGONES; THE FOLLOWING INDIVIDUALLY AS WELL AS IN THEIR OFFICIAL CAPACITIES WITH AND FOR THE FLORIDA BAR: PRESIDENT JOHN G. WHITE, PRESIDENT-ELECT JESSE DINER, BAR GOVERNORS RAMON ABADIN, ALVIN ALSOBROOK, ALLISON BETHEL, ROBERT BRUSH, ARNELL BRYANT-WILLIS, BRIAN BURGOON, DOMINIC CAPARELLO, JAY COHEN, JEWEL COLE, GREGORY COLEMAN, IAN COMISKY, DANIEL DECUBELLIS, MAYANNE DOWNS, CHARLES EBBETS, STEPHEN ECHSNER, EVIN GONZALEZ, NANCY GREGOIRE, ROGER HAUGHEY, SCOTT HAWKINS, JACK HICKEY, DENNIS KAINEN, WILLIAM KALISH, LAIRD LILE, DENISE LYN, CLIFTON MCCLELLAND, SCOTT MCMILLEN, ERIC MEEKS, EUGENE PETTIS, DAVID PRATHER, ANDREW RINGERS, DAVID ROTHMAN, JULIET ROULHAC, CLIFFORD SANBORN, ANDREW SASSO, EDWIN SCALES, JOHN SCHICKEL, WILLIAM SCHIFINO, CLAY SCHNITKER, CARL SCHWAIT, LAWRENCE SELLERS, MURRAY SILVERSTEIN, LISA SMALL, JOHN STEWART, RICHARD TANNER, NORMAN VAUGHAN-BIRCH, FRANK WALKER, SAMUEL WELLS, and GWYNNE YOUNG. Defendants. PLAINTIFF’S EMERGENCY MOTION TO STAY FLORIDA SUPREME COURT’S PERMANENT DISBARMENT ORDER OF SEPTEMBER 25, 2008 COMES NOW PLAINTIFF, on his own behalf, and moves this federal court, pursuant to the applicable Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, for the following emergency relief on the following grounds, stating: 1. All seventy-seven defendants have been served with the complaint herein; thus, they are all fully on notice as to the nature of this suit, the relief sought, and the basis therefor. 2. Today, at approximately 11 am, on September 25, 2008, the Florida Supreme Court, has entered an order, a copy of which is attached hereto, permanently disbarring plaintiff Thompson, the respondent therein, effective in thirty days. Thus, the clock is now running on those thirty days. This is an emergency. 3. Under this order, Thompson is unable, for example, to meet, as he is scheduled to do next Friday, with Richard Gorman, who is an inmate in a state prison for the purpose of being retained by him as his lawyer. Mr. Gorman is sitting in his prison cell solely because of the unethical conduct of Assistant State Attorney Matthew Alex Smith and the obstruction of justice by the Board of Governors of The Florida Bar. The attached Report of No Probable Cause is a smoking gun document that proves that the entire Board of Governors of The Florida Bar is involved in a cover-up in order to keep this innocent man in jail, all for the purpose of protecting the corrupt Leon County State Attorney’s Office. It is the single most remarkable document Thompson has ever seen in his 31-year legal career. It indicts the entire Bar’s disciplinary process which in that instance is being perverted to keep an innocent man in jail. It is little wonder that these same Governors would then do to Thompson what they have demonstrably done over the past four years. 4. Thompson was to meet with Mr. Gorman for the purpose of securing his release from jail, and now Thompson cannot be retained by Mr. Gorman for that or for any other purpose. Thus, one of the consequences of this disbarment order is not only Thompson’s inconvenience, to say the least, but more importantly the thwarting of the retention of Thompson by an innocent man in jail who is the victim of the obstruction of justice of The Florida Bar and its Governors. 5. Plaintiff herein thus seeks an immediate stay, on an emergency basis, of the Florida Supreme Court’s disbarment order because he can show a substantial likelihood of success on the merits, irreparable harm unless the injunction issues, including public damage to his career and to the rights of others, such as those of Mr. Gorman, that this harm far outweighs any conceivable harm to defendants if the injunction issues, and that the injunction will not disserve but actually serve the public interest. 6. Further, there are demonstrable factual errors in the disbarment order itself, which provide the basis for the disbarment, which can be easily and quickly proven. Additionally, it is fascinating that Justice Cannady, who has undoubtedly reviewed absolutely nothing about this disciplinary case, has put his name to this disbarment order on the day that he was served with the federal civil rights action. What a coincidence. WHEREFORE, plaintiff respectfully seeks an order, on an emergency basis, staying the Florida Supreme Court’s disbarment order until such time as an evidentiary hearing, either before Judge Cooke or Magistrate Bandstra, can be secured as to the granting of apreliminary injunction sought in the complaint. I HEREBY CERTIFY that this pleading has been provided to all defendants and/or their counsel by various means, including fax and e-mail, this September 25, 2008. JOHN B. THOMPSON, Plaintiff Attorney, Florida Bar #231665 | Jack Thompson at the California University of Pennsylvania in 2007 Florida attorney Jack Thompson was disbarred by a ruling of the Florida Supreme Court on Thursday for a variety of offenses, and has been banned from practicing law in Florida. The proceedings listed ten distinct behaviors by Thompson that led to his disbarment, including making false statements to a court, and violating a court order. Judge Dava Tunis said that Thompson had "abused the legal system by submitting numerous, frivolous and inappropriate filings". The judge also noted that Thompson had shown no remorse for his actions and had refused to cooperate with the disbarment hearing. Tunis concluded that the probability of rehabilitation was small. In addition to this disbarment, Thompson is required to pay the court $43,675.35 as a recovery for the court's time and expense. Thompson had previously come to public attention in 1988 when he ran for Dade County prosecutor against then incumbent Janet Reno. Thompson made repeated accusations that Reno was a lesbian and subsequently filed battery charges against Reno. These charges were found to be without merit. After he lost the election to Reno, Thompson engaged in a variety of moral campaigns. Thompson targeted rap music and Howard Stern. Over the last decade Thompson has focused most of his effort against video games and computer games, accusing them of promoting violence and encouraging children to engage in violent behavior. His most recent media attention came when he criticized Grand Theft Auto series of games for sexual and violent content and Bully for violent content. Thompson responded to the disbarment by issuing a press release claiming it was politically motivated. "The timing of this disbarment transparently reveals its motivation: This past Friday Thompson filed a federal civil rights action against The Bar, the Supreme Court, and all seven of its Justices. This rush to disbarment is in retribution for the filing of that federal suit." Thompson went on to say that "this should be fun, starting now." |
UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 24 (UPI) -- The president of Djibouti has called for a joint demilitarization of the tense border region with Eritrea in a statement at the United Nations Thursday. Djiboutian President Ismail Guelleh, who addressed the U.N. Security Council in New York Thursday, called on Eritrea to halt a military buildup in the disputed border region between the countries. Guelleh, whose country called for the U.N. meeting, said if Eritrea does not move to end the dispute, he would call for U.N. sanctions, the United Nations reported. In response Ambassador Araya Desta, Eritrean permanent representative to the United Nations, said that Eritrea has not taken any land belonging to Djibouti and that it was Djibouti that sparked the original confrontation. In June, violence broke out between Eritrea and Djibouti over the unmarked border between the countries called Doumeira. The United Nations has estimated that as many as 35 people were killed in the confrontation. A subsequent buildup of troops on both sides has left the situation tense. In his statement, Guelleh said Djibouti's priority was to re-establish trust between the countries through a joint demilitarization of the border region. Desta said his country would not continue on in what he called a "fabricated conflict." The Security Council called for restraint from both Djibouti and Eritrea. © 2008 United Press International. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be reproduced, redistributed, or manipulated in any form. ||||| Djibouti's president has said his country will have to go to war with Eritrea unless the UN acts to resolve growing tension over a border dispute. Djibouti has accused Eritrea of invading its territory. The Eritrean ambassador to the UN denied that his country had taken any land from Djibouti. Both France and the US have troops in Djibouti, and its border with Eritrea lies at a key strategic point at the mouth of the Red Sea. Eritrea's ambassador instead accused Ethiopia of moving troops to the border of the three countries. Since Eritrea gained independence in 1993, the Horn of Africa country has been involved in two serious conflicts over territory with its neighbours. Clashes between Eritrea and Djibouti earlier this year left nine Djiboutian troops dead and 60 injured. On Thursday, Djibouti's President Omah Guellah appealed to the UN Security Council to help resolve the dispute. "Continued inaction in whatever form not only will encourage but will benefit Eritrea's attitude," he said. "This would only give my country one option, the option of war." In June the UN Security Council called on Eritrea and Djibouti to agree to a ceasefire, stressing that Eritrea should pull its forces back, the BBC's Laura Trevelyan reports from the United Nations. France, the former colonial power in Djibouti, is working on presenting a plan to the Security Council reiterating demands for Eritrea to withdraw its forces, she says. France also wants the two sides to talk to each other about their disputed border. | Djibouti and Eritrea have spoken to the United Nations security council on Thursday to discuss a border dispute. Djibouti has said that unless the UN intervenes there will be war. The dispute dates back to June when violence erupted between the nations in the border region of . The resulting clashes killed an estimated 35 people. The unmarked border remains disputed, and the nations have built up troops on each side of the border, keeping the situation tense. Djibouti's ambassador to the UN, Roble Olhaye, has accused Eritrea of avoiding mediation on the problem. Djibouti's President told the UN security council "Continued inaction in whatever form not only will encourage but will benefit Eritrea's attitude. This would only give my country one option, the option of war." The Eritrean ambassador to the UN, Araya Desta, claimed to have peaceful intentions and that his nation had no wishes to take new territory. He claimed his country desired "the cultivation of good neighbourly relations with Djibouti," and said that "Contrary to the claims made, Eritrea has not taken any land that belongs to Djibouti and it does not have any territorial ambitions." Desta accused Ethiopia of worsening the situation by preparing military forces to help Djibouti. "Ethiopia has built from the Djiboutian side a network of winding roads up the mount and deployed offensive long-range artillery and heavy equipment directed at Eritrea," he said. Olhaye dismissed the idea of Ethiopia's involvement with the claim "Whatever the Eritrean ambassador has said is hogwash." The UN security council has urged both nations to show restraint; it was the UN who called on the nations to agree to a ceasefire in June. |
Egyptian political leader Mohamed ElBaradei said former President Hosni Mubarak must face trial, a demand of many of the protesters whose uprising ended Mubarak’s three-decade rule. “There is no other option,” ElBaradei said in an interview with Charlie Rose, according to a transcript. “I think he will not be able to get away without being put to trial.” ElBaradei reiterated his intention to contest Egypt’s first presidential elections since Mubarak’s ouster. He added that he won’t run “unless I am satisfied that this is a free and fair election.” Among the politicians who have announced plans to run for president, ElBaradei had a 25 percent “very favorable” rating, behind Arab League chief Amre Moussa with 41 percent and opposition activist Ayman Nour with 32 percent, according to a survey by Pew Research Center’s Global Attitudes Project whose findings were released on April 25. ElBaradei has helped reinvigorate an Egyptian opposition that forced Mubarak from office in February after 18 days of mass demonstrations. In the interview, the former director of the International Atomic Energy Agency urged the West to engage Iran. “Iran could be a very positive force -- clearly in Iraq, clearly in Afghanistan, Syria, Lebanon, Gaza,” he said. “We need to find finally a solution to the standoff between Iran and the West. It’s a win-win situation.” He also called for “somebody in the chain of command” in the U.S. and U.K. to “be held accountable” for waging what he said was “an illegal war that resulted in war crime” in Iraq. To contact the reporters on this story: Mariam Fam in Cairo at mfam1@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andrew J. Barden at barden@bloomberg.net. ||||| Presidential candidate Mohamed ElBaradei has asked the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces to include an article in the constitution protecting the status of Egypt as a secular state. He said Egypt must be ruled by institutions and not by individuals, adding that the current transition period should not be rushed, as decisions made now will determine Egypt’s political system for the coming 50 years. He also said the country needs a new constitution and a parliament that truly represents the people, pointing out that the next parliamentary elections would not give all Egyptians an equal say, as most parties are not prepared for an election battle. “The well-organized forces, such as the remnants of the former regime and the Muslim Brotherhood, have a better chance,” he said, calling for the formation of a presidential council to implement democratic changes and social justice. He said he would start his presidential campaign once he is ready. “I want to come up with a renaissance project for Egypt and not an electoral program for ElBaradei,” he said. Translated from the Arabic Edition ||||| Islam Times reports from Der Spiegel: “The Americans and the Europeans withheld important documents and information from us. They weren't interested in a compromise with the government in Tehran, but regime change -- by any means necessary,” Mohamed ElBaradei said on Tuesday.The US and its Western allies accuse Iran of seeking to develop nuclear arms, and used this as a pretext to pressure the UN Security Council into adopting a fourth round of sanctions against Tehran in 2010.Iran says that as a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency and a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, it has the right to use the peaceful applications of nuclear energy for electricity generation and medical research.Regarding former Egyptian ruler Hosni Mubarak's arrest, ElBaradei said Egypt's ruling military council “should have acted much earlier. Instead, Mubarak had too great an opportunity to cover up anything incriminating. The mere fact that, before stepping down, Mubarak allegedly issued the order to shoot at the protesters would have been reason enough to arrest him immediately.”In answer to a question about the fate of the former Egyptian ruler and his sons, ElBaradei said, “The military council has no other option than to try Mubarak and bring everyone else to justice who is responsible for human rights violations or corruption.”ElBaradei described Mubarak's denial of the allegations against him as outrageous, and criticized the military council for giving the former president enough time to move his assets.“First the military leadership gives him enough time to move his money, and then he's allowed to claim poverty. Giving Mubarak the opportunity to make this statement was a serious mistake.”He, however, added that Mubarak would have to stand trial and “if the military leadership hopes to remain credible, it cannot stand in the way of a trial.”Commenting on the people's disagreement with the military council, ElBaradei said since the “council is the only institution that still works well in Egypt… it is all the more important that the military leaders do not gamble away the trust of the people.”He also said the arrest of council's critics “increases the loss of trust in the military.”Regarding the military council's promises to relinquish power by the end of the year, ElBaradei said it was important how long the transition of power would take “as long as the military leaders do their jobs honestly.”“We shouldn't rush the preparations for the parliamentary election and the discussion about a new constitution,” he concluded. ||||| RELATED: Leading Egyptian opposition figure Mohammed ElBaradei on Friday said that he did not believe that newly resigned Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak should be tried for crimes he committed against the Egyptian people during his 30 year dictatorship."We don't need to worry about retribution at this stage. Mubarak needs to go with dignity. Let's focus on the future. We need a country at peace with itself," ElBaradei said in an interview with CNN.ElBaradei did, however, say that he believed Mubarak and other Egyptian officials should be forced to give money back that was taken from the Egyptian people. "This is money that is owed to the Egyptian people. We don't need a trial, but that money is one of our priorities. We need the money for development," ElBaradei stated.The opposition leader said that he hoped the Obama administration would say "loud and clear" that the US supports the Egyptian people and would never support an authoritarian regime in the country again. He added that the Egyptian people needed their confidence in the US government and its commitment to democracy restored.ElBaradei said that he felt "a sense of liberation" for himself and all Egyptians when Omar Suleiman made the announcement that Mubarak was stepping down.He said that he hoped the army, who were handed the reins of the country by Mubarak, will realize that the people are in control. ElBaradei said that the Egyptian people would have to be "vigilant" to guarantee fair and free elections."We need to go back to law and order," said ElBaradei. "We need to go back from a country that was going down the drain to a country that is looking to the future."ElBaradei said that he believed the country would need a year-long period to prepare the infrastructure for free elections. | Hosni Mubarak in Rome in 2009. Egyptian politician Mohamed ElBaradei said that ousted President Hosni Mubarak must stand trial. His statement follows the recent ratification by Egyptian Foreign Minister of a statute that ensures Egypt will join the jurisdiction of the (ICC). If ElBaradei assumes power in the coming October/November 2011 elections, Mubarak and other former high-ranking corrupt Egyptian officials could potentially be tried in The Hague. In an interview with the ''Islam Times'', ElBaradei cited reasons as to why the trial of Hosni Mubarak will be necessary to undertake if he chooses to run for Egypt's top job. "Mubarak allegedly issued the order to shoot at the protesters. That should have been reason enough to arrest him immediately...The Military Council has no other option than to try Mubarak and bring everyone else to justice who is responsible for human rights violations or corruption," he said. ElBaradei's previous statement to during the 2011 Egyptian Revolution which began on the 25th of January, according to '''', was that a trial was unnecessary and that what primarily needed to be done was for Mubarak to hand back money, speculated to be as much as 70 billion, which Mubarak illegally took over the course of his 30 year reign and now owes to the Egyptian people in order for economic progress to emerge. ElBaradei has stated he believes Egypt should be run by 'institutions' rather than 'individuals' and has said, "I want to come up with a renaissance project for Egypt and not an electoral program for ElBaradei". == Sources == * * * * |
You can join the debate and post your own views in the lively Daily Star Forums! A JUNK food addict lost eight stone after spotting she was listed as Fat Steph in a pal’s mobile phone address book. Apprentice boss Alan Sugar has boasted he can write a cheque for £100million. DAVID BECKHAM KIDNAP FEARS AT TRINIDAD FOOTBALL FEST ABOVE: FIFA vice-president Jack Warner By Jonathan Corke BECKS touched down in Trinidad & Tobago amid a huge security operation – over fears he could be a kidnap target. The former England skipper arrived in the Caribbean yesterday morning to help swing the 2018 World Cup bid. And we can reveal that a huge police presence, with scores of plain-clothes bodyguards, was put in place. WIN A 2010/11 SEASON TICKET TO YOUR FOOTBALL CLUB! As well as being a tourism hotspot Trinidad is one of the world’s kidnap and murder capitals. And ex-Manchester United ace Becks – worth an estimated £125million – is a prime target for a megabucks ransom. A senior police officer told the Daily Star Sunday: “We will be taking no risks with our dignitaries. Security is at its highest.” This year alone there have been a staggering 354 murders, among a population of around 1.1million. Although the number of kidnappings is well down from the 2007 high of 155, it remains a “constant threat”. As we revealed earlier this year around 100 UK police officers have been interviewed for jobs on the two islands to help stem crime rates. Up to £100,000 was on offer to some of our top sleuths to join the crack Special Anti-Crime Unit. Becks, 35, arrived in Trinidad by private jet. He then watched the women’s U17 World Cup final alongside Fifa president Sepp Blatter – and will today launch a football festival for youngsters on the islands. But the festival – a long-standing promise he made to Fifa vice-president Jack Warner – could be marred by the choice of venue. It kicks off at the Marvin Lee Stadium – named after a Trinidad & Tobago captain who died after an on-pitch collision with Becks’ LA Galaxy team-mate Landon Donovan. Marvin, 21, suffered neck and spinal injuries in the incident in 2003. A source said: “Landon was in no way to blame for what happened but, considering he is a team-mate of David’s, maybe a different stadium could have been chosen.” Becks also unwittingly walked into a row with former Manchester United team-mate Dwight Yorke. Yorke, 38, was furious that Becks was favoured over the likes of him and cricket legend Brian Lara to attend the women’s final and encourage youngsters to take up the game. The Trinidad star said: “If we are talking about inspiring youths, then why do we have to turn to Beckham when we already have someone from here who has achieved everything in the game.” ||||| The Matildas’ bid to qualify for the Rio Olympics got a helping hand from the referee when a pass was deflected off the official to help set up a vital goal in their win over Japan. | Beckham during his time as England captain British footballer has arrived in Trinidad and Tobago amid fears of kidnapping. Beckham travelled to the island of Trinidad to watch the final of the and to launch a football festival for children. The stars arrival is also speculated to help England's bid for the . Beckham's safety has come into question while he is visiting the island. Trinidad and Tobago have one of the highest murder and kidnap rates in the world. Beckham, who is reported to have a 125m fortune, could be a high target for a ransom kidnap. Upon his arrival, there were a numerous amount of police on scene as well as Beckham's own personal security team. Along with president , Beckham watched the women's Under 17s World Cup final which saw South Korea defeat Japan to win the cup. The football festival he will host on Monday has gained criticism from officals. The host of the festival is the Marvin Lee Stadium; Lee was the captain of the and died during a match in 2003 when he collided with , a current teammate of Beckham. Critism was also brought up over the choice of Beckham to host the festival. Trinidadian footballer is reported to have been upset with the choice of Beckham over himself or cricketing legend . newspaper said "If we are talking about inspiring youths, then why do we have to turn to Beckham when we already have someone from here who has achieved everything in the game." |
Transits of the Sun Photograph of the Transit of Mercury on 1970 May 09. ©1973 Fred Espenak. The transit or passage of a planet across the disk of the Sun may be thought os as a special kind of eclipse. As seen from Earth, only transits of the inner planets Mercury and Venus are possible. Planetary transits are far more rare than eclipses of the Sun by the Moon. On the average, there are 13 transits of Mercury each century. In comparison, transits of Venus occur in pairs with more than a century separating each pair. The first transit ever observed was of the planet Mercury in 1631 by the French astronomer Gassendi. All transits of Mercury fall within several days of May 8 and November 10. Since Mercury's orbit is inclined seven degrees to Earth's, it intersects the ecliptic at two points or nodes which cross the Sun each year on those dates. If Mercury passes through inferior conjunction at that time, a transit will occur. During November transits, Mercury is near perihelion and exhibits a disk only 10 arc-seconds in diameter. By comparison, the planet is near aphelion during May transits and appears 12 arc-seconds across. However, the probability of a May transit is smaller by a factor of almost two. Mercury's slower orbital motion at aphelion makes it less likely to cross the node during the critical period. November transits recur at intervals of 7, 13, or 33 years while May transits recur only over the latter two intervals. The following table lists all transits of Mercury from 1901 through 2050. Transits of Mercury: 1901-2050 Date Universal Separation* Time (Sun and Mercury) 1907 Nov 14 12:06 759" 1914 Nov 07 12:02 631" 1924 May 08 01:41 85" 1927 Nov 10 05:44 129" 1937 May 11 09:00 955" 1940 Nov 11 23:20 368" 1953 Nov 14 16:54 862" 1957 May 06 01:14 907" 1960 Nov 07 16:53 528" 1970 May 09 08:16 114" 1973 Nov 10 10:32 26" 1986 Nov 13 04:07 471" 1993 Nov 06 03:57 927" 1999 Nov 15 21:41 963" (graze) 2003 May 07 07:52 708" 2006 Nov 08 21:41 423" 2016 May 09 14:57 319" 2019 Nov 11 15:20 76" 2032 Nov 13 08:54 572" 2039 Nov 07 08:46 822" 2049 May 07 14:24 512" * distance (arc-seconds) between the centers of the Sun and Mercury Edmund Halley first realized that transits could be used to measure the Sun's distance, thereby establishing the absolute scale of the solar system from Kepler's third law. Unfortunately, his method is somewhat impractical since contact timings of the required accuracy are difficult to make. Nevertheless, the 1761 and 1769 expeditions to observe the transits of Venus gave astronomers their first good value for the Sun's distance. Photograph of the Transit of Venus on 1882 Dec 06. Taken by students at Vassar College (Sky & Telescope Feb. 1961). Because Venus's orbit is considerably larger than Mercury's orbit, transits of Venus are much rarer. Indeed, only six such events have occurred since the invention of the telescope (1631,1639, 1761,1769, 1874 and 1882). Transits of Venus are only possible during early December and June when Venus's orbital nodes pass across the Sun. Transits of Venus show a clear pattern of recurrence at intervals of 8, 121.5, 8 and 105.5 years. The following table lists all transits of Venus during the 600 year period from 1601 through 2200. Transits of Venus: 1601-2200 Date Universal Separation Time (Sun and Venus) 1631 Dec 07 05:19 940" 1639 Dec 04 18:25 522" 1761 Dec 06 05:19 573" 1769 Jun 03 22:25 608" 1874 Dec 09 04:05 832" 1882 Dec 06 17:06 634" 2004 Jun 08 08:19 627" 2012 Jun 06 01:28 553" 2117 Dec 11 02:48 724" 2125 Dec 08 16:01 733" 2247 Jun 11 11:30 693" 2255 Jun 09 04:36 492" 2360 Dec 13 01:40 628" 2368 Dec 10 14:43 835" The 2004 transit of Venus will be visible from eastern Canada and the USA. Since Venus will subtend 61 arc-seconds, it should be visible to the naked eye using suitable filtration. The first transit of Venus in 121 years is most eagerly anticipated. Transit predictions were generated on a Toshiba Libretto PC and a Macintosh 8500 PowerPC using algorithms developed from the Explanatory Supplement [1974] and Meeus [1989]. Ephemerides for the Sun and Mercury were generated from the JPL DE-200. The next transit of Mercury occurs on 2003 May 07 and is visible from Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia. All calculations and diagrams presented in this section are those of the author and he assumes full responsibility for their accuracy. Explanatory Supplement to the Astronomical Ephemeris and the American Ephemeris and Nautical Almanac , 1974, Her Majesty's Nautical Almanac Office, London. , 1974, Her Majesty's Nautical Almanac Office, London. Meeus, J., 1956,"Transits of Mercury, 1920 to 2080", J.B.A.A., 67, 30. 67, 30. Meeus, J., 1958,""Transits of Venus, 3000 BC to AD 3000", J.B.A.A., 68, 98. 68, 98. Meeus, J., 1989, Transits , Willmann-Bell, Inc., Richmond. , Willmann-Bell, Inc., Richmond. Newcomb, S., 1895,"Tables of the Motion of the Earth on its Axis Around the Sun", Astron. Papers Amer. Eph. , Vol. 6, Part I. , Vol. 6, Part I. Newcomb, S., 1898,"Transits of Mercury, 1677-1881", Astron. Papers Amer. Eph., Vol. 6, Part IV. Berry, Arthur. " A Short History of Astronomy " (1898) Good general information. Includes detailed description of 1761-69 transits. " " (1898) Good general information. Includes detailed description of 1761-69 transits. Chapman, Allan. " Jeremiah Horrocks, the Transit of Venus, and the 'New Astronomy' in early seventeenth-century England ". Qtrly. J. Royal Astr. Soc, 31 (1990) pp 333-357. An appraisal of Horrocks' achievement; an attempt to dispel some myths which surround him, and a discussion of his methods. " ". Qtrly. J. Royal Astr. Soc, 31 (1990) pp 333-357. An appraisal of Horrocks' achievement; an attempt to dispel some myths which surround him, and a discussion of his methods. Ferris, Timothy " Coming of Age in the Milky Way ", esp. pp 130-135 A very readable account of 17th century attempts to use the transit of Venus to measure the solar parallax. " ", esp. pp 130-135 A very readable account of 17th century attempts to use the transit of Venus to measure the solar parallax. Gaythorpe, S.B. " Horrocks Observations of the Transit of Venus 1639 November 24 (O.S.) ". J.Brit.Astr.Assoc., 47 (1936-7) pp 60-68. This paper gives a detailed quantitative account of Horrocks' observations and the circumstances in which they were made. " ". J.Brit.Astr.Assoc., 47 (1936-7) pp 60-68. This paper gives a detailed quantitative account of Horrocks' observations and the circumstances in which they were made. Halley, Edmond. " A new Method of determining the Parallax of the Sun " (Phil.Trans., Royal Soc., Vol xxix, 1716 pp 454-464) " " (Phil.Trans., Royal Soc., Vol xxix, 1716 pp 454-464) Hetherington, Barry. " An Astronomical Anniversary: The Transit of Venus 1769 June 3 ". J.Brit.Astr.Assoc., 80 (1969) pp 52-53. A short summary of various expeditions. " ". J.Brit.Astr.Assoc., 80 (1969) pp 52-53. A short summary of various expeditions. Horrocks, Jeremiah. " Venus in sole visa " (1662) translated as "The Transit of Venus over the Sun" and published in " Memoir of the Life and Labors of the Rev.Jeremiah Horrox " by Rev.A.B.Whatton (London, 1859) " " (1662) translated as "The Transit of Venus over the Sun" and published in " " by Rev.A.B.Whatton (London, 1859) Maor, Eli , 1999, " Transits of Venus ", To be published in late 1999.. , 1999, " ", To be published in late 1999.. Newcomb, S. , 1898,"Transits of Mercury, 1677-1881", Astron. Papers Amer. Eph. , Vol. 6, Part IV. , 1898,"Transits of Mercury, 1677-1881", , Vol. 6, Part IV. Pannekoek, Anton. " A History of Astronomy " (1961) Good general information. Includes detailed description of 1761-69 transits. " " (1961) Good general information. Includes detailed description of 1761-69 transits. Porter, J.G. " Transits of Mercury and Venus ". J.Brit.Astr.Assoc., 80 (1970) pp 183-189. A very useful discussion of the theory of transits, with some reference to Halley's method of determining the solar parallax. " ". J.Brit.Astr.Assoc., 80 (1970) pp 183-189. A very useful discussion of the theory of transits, with some reference to Halley's method of determining the solar parallax. Ruddy, H.E. " The Transit of Venus, 1874 ". J.Brit.Astr.Assoc., 64 (1954) pp 304-309. A diary style account of the expedition of Lt. C.Corbet to Kerguelen Island. " ". J.Brit.Astr.Assoc., 64 (1954) pp 304-309. A diary style account of the expedition of Lt. C.Corbet to Kerguelen Island. Westfall, Richard S. "Jeremiah Horrocks" + "Edmond Halley". Internet, Galileo Project. Key facts relating to these two astronomers. Useful bibliographies. Return to Eclipse Home Page Transit Predictions & WebMaster: Fred Espenak e-mail: espenak@gsfc.nasa.gov Planetary Systems Branch - Code 693 NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland 20771 USA Last revised: 2000 Aug 04 - F. Espenak ||||| The planet Mercury has just finished up a very poor apparition in which it is has dawdled low in the western evening sky for the past few weeks. It has now disappeared into the bright evening twilight, but by later in November, in contrast to its recent poor evening performance, it will be readily visible as an increasingly bright starlike object low in the eastern sky around the break of dawn. Mercury is also scheduled to make a most unusual — albeit brief — appearance on Wednesday. On that day, more than half the world will get to see a rare event: Mercury crossing the face of the sun at inferior conjunction. Observers throughout the Americas, as well as across eastern Asia, Australia and New Zealand, will be able to observe all or at least part of this striking celestial phenomenon with small telescopes, as the innermost planet slowly crosses in front of the solar disk. Such a phenomenon is known to astronomers as a transit. Mercury and Venus are the only major planets we can ever see crossing the face of the sun. Transits of Venus happen less than twice a century (the next one is scheduled for June 6, 2012). Those of Mercury are about 10 times more frequent. Nonetheless, only 14 transits of Mercury occur during the 21st century — or seven years apart on average. The Nov. 8 event will be the second Mercury transit in this century, the first having occurred in May 2003. The entire transit will be an east-to-west passage taking just 4 hours and 58 minutes. The sun will be above the horizon for the entire transit over western sections of North America, much of the Pacific Ocean (including Hawaii), New Zealand and a small slice of eastern Australia and adjacent Tasmania. Take note that since they are all located to the west of the International Date Line, eastern Asia, Australia, Tasmania and New Zealand will experience the transit on the calendar date of Nov. 9. For all of these locations, it will be morning, and with the exceptions of New Zealand, easternmost Australia and Tasmania, the sun will rise with Mercury already on its disk. From the United States, those situated to the east of a line running from roughly Bonners Ferry, Idaho, to El Paso in Texas will be able to see the beginning stages of the transit, as Mercury moves onto the lower left part of the sun. Mercury's transit will begin within a minute of 2:12 p.m. ET (11:12 a.m. PT) at every site from which it is visible. Unfortunately, for most of the United States, local sunset will intervene before Mercury can move off the sun's disk. Prior to sundown, however, the speedy planet should be recognizable moving across the lower portion of the sun as a tiny, black, sharp-edged dot, having only one-194th the sun's diameter. Searching for 'Contact' As you watch, the gradual travel of this dot will bring it toward the sun's right edge. This will be an especially interesting time. The moment when the two disks become internally tangent is known as Contact III. For those western U.S. and Canadian locations where the end of the transit will be visible, Contact III should occur within several seconds of 4:08:16 p.m. PT. Egress then lasts just short of two minutes until the last notch in the sun's limb disappears, marking Contact IV, which should occur within several seconds of 4:10:08 p.m. PT. With a large, filtered telescope at high power (see the "Warning About Eye Safety" below), see if you can time when Mercury's edges cross the limb of the sun. This graphic shows where Wednesday's transit of Venus will be visible in its entirety, where it will be seen starting at sunrise or ending at sunset, and where it will not be visible at all. Perhaps you might briefly catch sight of the so-called "black drop" illusion around the moment of Contact III, where Mercury's disk appears stretched like taffy (by atmospheric seeing) toward the sun's limb. Another way to describe it is that the planet will seem attached to the sun's limb by a thin black column or thread. For Europe, Africa, and the western two-thirds of Asia, the bad news is that absolutely none of the transit will be visible, since the sun will have set some hours before it gets under way. At NASA's Eclipse home page there is a listing of predicted contact times and the corresponding altitude of the sun for more than 100 cities around the world, with an emphasis on Canada and the United States. Warning about eye safety Transits of Mercury are not visible with the unaided eye. A telescope must be used, magnifying at least 30 to 100 power to bring out the "dark dot" of Mercury in silhouette against the sun's disk. To see Mercury as an actual disk will be a challenge because its angular diameter is small, only 10 seconds of arc at this inferior conjunction. As Mercury moves across the face of the sun, it will appear absolutely jet black in contrast to the lighter gray of any sunspots that may also be present on the solar disk. Eye safety is always a prime concern when dealing with the sun. Observing a transit is a lot like studying sunspots — because, after all, you are looking at a dark spot on the sun. But trying to see a transit is also like trying to view a solar eclipse. You have to be ready at a particular time, and you may have to travel far from home. Your exact location, however, is much less critical than it is at a total solar eclipse. For those in North America where this will be an early morning event, your observing site should have a low horizon to the east-northeast. It is a good precaution to check the sun's rising point a day or two beforehand, to verify that trees or buildings do not block your view. Projecting the sun's magnified image through a telescope and onto a white card or screen is relatively safe and can be used for group viewing, but remember that Mercury's disk will be quite tiny. For serious transit observing, a telescope with a full-aperture solar filter is much better. Such filters are attached on that side of the telescope that is facing the sun, not the side facing your eye. This will cause most of the sunlight to be filtered out before entering your telescope. The transit should be watched only with an appropriate solar filter — a solar filter that is sold by a reputable outlet of astronomical equipment. If your telescope comes with a filter that screws into the eyepiece, discard it immediately! Such filters have been known to crack under the intense heat of the sun's magnified image. Lastly, never look at the sun directly through your telescope, even through your finder scope. It is strongly advisable to cover the finder before the transit, so as to avoid looking through it accidentally. Should poor weather hinder or completely obscure your view of Mercury's transit, the next one will come nearly a decade from now on May 9, 2016, and will be visible from the Americas, Europe, Africa and central Asia. | A rare, but normal, astronomical event occurred today as the planet Mercury passed in front of the Sun from the perspective of the Earth. The event, called a was at least partially visible from most of the planet, except from Europe when the transit happened during local nighttime. Visible as a perfectly round dot only 1/195th the diameter of the Sun, Mercury took about an hour and a half to move across the southern limb of the Sun, starting at 7:12PM UTC and ending at 9:41PM UTC. From the point of view of the Earth, transits of this type can only occur with the two innermost planets - Mercury and Venus. Due to the orbital inclination of Mercury - 7° relative to the Earth - transits do not happen every time Mercury passes the Earth every 116 days. Only once every 23 times does a transit happen. The last time Mercury transited the Sun was May 7, 2003. The next transit will occur on May 9, 2016. Such rare events have fascinated astronomers since the invention of the telescope first allowed them to view them. , for example, found Australia's east coast while on a voyage to track the transit of in 1769. Recording these transits allowed astronomers to make the first accurate calculations of the distance between the Sun and the Earth. While not scientifically used for this purpose anymore, transits provide a glimpse into one way astronomers can currently search for extra-solar planets. Astronomers using this method of searching will monitor other stars to see if the star dims ever so slightly as an extra-solar planet passes between the star it is orbiting and the Earth. Being able to detect such a small, temporary drop in brightness may indicate the presence of such a planet. Viewing solar transits are fascinating, but only if done safely. People must never look directly at the Sun at any time! The safest way of viewing a transit is to project the image of the Sun as seen through a telescope onto a screen. It may also be viewed with properly made and placed solar filters. |
Seventeen protesters arrested, two police hurt Several thousand continued to march peacefully Full coverage of the APEC protest and climate deal SEVENTEEN protesters were arrested and two officers left injured after clashes between police and demonstrators during yesterday's anti-APEC rally. Police said one officer suffered a head wound when hit with an iron bar while another was hit in the head with a dart during the protest which attracted about 5000 demonstrators. NSW Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione said that it was unfortunate that a few people decided to become violent. “I am extremely happy with the police operation and the fact that the majority of protesters complied with the wishes of police,” Mr Scipione said. “That said, I am not happy that police were targeted and assaulted in such a violent manner.” Bush flies home Meanwhile, US President George W. Bush left Australia last night for Washington to prepare a crucial White House report on the war in Iraq. Mr Bush flew out of Sydney Airport after a four-day visit which included a raft of meetings with other leaders before he attended the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation leaders' meeting yesterday. The President left his fellow leaders at a cultural show at Sydney's iconic Opera House and headed straight to the airport where he boarded his Air Force One jet for the trip back to the US (more). Protestors to face charges The 17 protesters arrested at yesterday's protest will face charges of assaulting police, offensive behaviour and resisting arrest. NEWS.com.au witnessed two men being slammed onto the ground after police spotted them in the middle of the angry, vocal mob as it headed along Park St towards Hyde Park. Live coverage from the scene of the protest However, the majority of the thousands who took part avoided any violence, and the gathering took on a carnival atmosphere upon reaching Hyde Park North. Police were ready Police had feared a full-scale riot could break out and riot squad officers were out in force, fanning along the entire march route. Police dogs and the water cannon were stationed on side streets. As the arrests were made, other protesters began shouting, "The whole world's watching, the whole world's watching." In the first arrest, a shout of "Watch out for that man" was heard before police sprinted nearly the entire length of a city block to crash-tackle him into the gutter. Other protesters rushed over to watch the action. In the second arrest, police again rushed into the crowd, dragging a tall man wearing a black mask from the middle of the road and slamming him heavily onto the footpath. He was then marched to a waiting police van. A third man - wearing nothing but a nappy - was also arrested and taken away. Another four arrests took place at Town Hall station, while another was person was arrested by plain-clothed officers near the southern exit of Hyde Park. The protesters gathered at Sydney's Town Hall from about 9.30am (AEST) yesterday before proceeding along Park Street on the route approved by police following a court action banning access to Martin Place. - with AAP, AFP Share this article (What is this?) NEWS.com.au is not responsible for the content for external internet sites ||||| Injuries, arrests as thousands protest against Bush SYDNEY (AFP) — Two policemen were injured and 17 protesters arrested as thousands marched in Sydney against visiting US President George W. Bush Saturday, although police fears of a full-scale riot proved unfounded. Police officers, many in riot gear, lined the streets in a show of force as 5,000 people marched from Town Hall to the city's Hyde Park in a protest that remained peaceful aside from isolated scuffles. State police commissioner Andrew Scipione said two of his officers were treated in hospital for head injuries after one was struck with an iron bar and another was hit by a dart. "I am not happy that police were targeted and assaulted in such a violent manner," Scipione said, adding the demonstrators were arrested for a variety of offences including assaulting police, resisting arrest, offensive behaviour and throwing missiles. With heavy rain in Sydney, numbers at the protest were well down on the 20,000 anticipated by police. Organisers estimated 10,000 people took part while authorities put the number at 3,000. The march, which coincided with a summit of Asia Pacific leaders attended by the US president, was organised by a group called the Stop Bush Coalition and featured scores of anti-war banners calling for peace in Iraq. Australian Prime Minister John Howard, who is a close Bush ally and has contributed troops to the US-led coalition in Iraq, was also targeted, with placard showing him as Bush's puppet. As they set off, the protesters chanted: "Howard, Bush, USA, how many kids did you kill today?" But Bush and 20 other world leaders were well out of earshot some 20 minutes walk away at Sydney's iconic Opera House on the harbour, where they were attending this year's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit. The leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Hu Jintao, were protected by a three-metre high fence snaking through the city and 5,000 police and soldiers patrolling by land, sea and in the air. The security operation, the largest ever mounted in Australia, included overflights by air force jets, police on jet skis in Sydney's famous harbour and special laws aimed at cracking down on protesters near the summit. Police, fearing a repeat of violent protests at a meeting of economic leaders in Melbourne last year, bought a water cannon specially for the summit but the largely peaceful protest meant it was not fired. "George Bush is a great evil -- he should get out of this country," said one of the protesters, former Guantanamo Bay detainee Mamdouh Habib, who was released without charge in 2005. Deanna Adam, who attended the protest with her two children, India aged seven and Kyle, eight, told AFP: "We are here because we oppose the war in Iraq. It's costing too many lives. I have children and I am worried about their future." A large banner carried by a group of marchers read: "War criminals not welcome here -- Bush go home". But the demonstration also attracted activists concerned with a range of issues including climate change, workers' rights and globalisation and most were content to beat drums, blow whistles and chant, with some turning up dressed as polar bears, kangaroos and Britain's Queen Elizabeth II. One group dressed in scarlet dresses demanded "Work Rights for Whores," while a protester carried a placard declaring "I don't believe in anything, I'm just here for the violence." ||||| 17 charged following APEC protest Posted Updated New South Wales Police have charged 17 people following today's anti-APEC protest in central Sydney. The charges range from assaulting police, hindering police, resisting arrest, offensive conduct and breaching a secure area. Two police officers were also injured during the protest march. One police officer who was injured after being hit with an iron bar during the protest has now left hospital. Despite this, police say most demonstrators who attended the APEC protest acted responsibly. Police estimate about 3,000 people attended the protest march to Hyde Park, however protest organisers estimate about 10,000 people attended. Assistant Police Commissioner Dave Owens has defended a move to restrict people leaving Hyde Park after the march, saying it was for their own safety. But he says on the whole the police orders were followed. "It was very good, the protesters complied with all of the directions that were given by police in the vast majority of circumstances," he said. "They had the chance to voice their opinion and thankfully we didn't have to accommodate many of them by arresting them." Also, NSW Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione says although no major demonstrations are planned tomorrow, police will remain vigilant. "Today's events are not finished. We've got another day-and-a-half of the APEC leaders' summit still to run," he said. "There are 21 heads of nations still in the country - still in this city - so in terms of the intelligence we're talking about, it's too early to suggest its all over." ||||| Anti-APEC march ends with 9 arrests Posted Updated The biggest march scheduled during the APEC summit has ended in central Sydney with nine arrests and injuries to two police officers. In a statement, police say those arrested face charges of assaulting police, throwing projectiles, offensive behaviour and resisting arrest. The two officers injured during the protest received head injuries. One police officer who was injured after being hit with an iron bar during the protest has now left hospital. Thousands of people protested against a range of issues - from the presence of US President George W Bush at the meeting to uranium mining - and were flanked by prison buses and human chains of police. Police estimate about 3,000 people attended the protest march to Hyde Park, however protest organisers estimate about 10,000 people attended. There were scuffles at the back of the march, which was organised by the Stop Bush Coalition and included anti-war groups and unions, after police made a number of arrests. Two of the other protesters arrested were practically nude. The people involved faced off against armour-covered members of the riot squad, backed by a water cannon, before leaving the march. Despite the arrests, NSW Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione says the majority of the thousands of protesters in central Sydney behaved peacefully. Commissioner Scipione says the massive show of force by police and the poor weather led to today's successful outcome. "It certainly caused numbers to dwindle, in fact it surely caused numbers not to turn up," he said. "But more importantly, I think it was the combination of the show of force, the police were out there in big numbers, and we don't apologise for that. "We always indicated that we would be there, in sufficient numbers to be able to act swiftly against those that broke the law. "So was that overkill? I don't think so." But the Commissioner says reports of police failing to wear identification badges, and using APEC powers outside restricted zones could be investigated. Operation chief Dave Owens also defended restrictions on people entering and leaving Hyde Park after the protest. "We had intelligence that small groups of the protesters would break away and start causing trouble, smashing windows," he said. Squads of police remain at posts around the city, the Commissioner saying the operation is not over yet. Meanwhile, about 1,000 people from the Vietnamese and Tibetan communities held a protest against the Chinese President at Sydney's Belmore Park. Rally organiser Tenpa Dugdak has called on Prime Minister John Howard to make human rights in China an APEC issue. "It's so important - this meeting that happened, 21 leaders - great, but [don't] just discuss about trade, discuss about human rights, environmental problems that can really impact on a global scale," he said. | Police constructing a security perimeter at the rally An anti-APEC rally through the streets of Sydney has attracted around 5000 demonstrators, with up to 18 arrests and two police injured. In the days leading up to the rally, police had warned that the demonstration could attract up to 20,000 people and turn into a full scale riot, however these fears were not realised. The mostly peaceful demonstration marched from Sydney's Town Hall to Hyde Park where they were greeted with a carnival atmosphere. The demonstrators protested against the 2003 Iraq invasion, climate change, workers' rights and globalisation with many blowing whistles, yelling chants and beating drums. While reports in the media vary, up to 18 people were arrested when they turned violent. Two police officers were injured, one when hit by an iron bar and another when he was hit with a dart. Those arrested have been charged with offences ranging from assaulting police, hindering police, resisting arrest, offensive conduct and breaching a secure area. Despite the arrests, NSW Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione praised the conduct of the majority of protesters. Mr Scipione credited the huge numbers of police and poor weather for the successful outcome of the rally. "It certainly caused numbers to dwindle, in fact it surely caused numbers not to turn up," he said. "But more importantly, I think it was the combination of the show of force, the police were out there in big numbers, and we don't apologise for that. "We always indicated that we would be there, in sufficient numbers to be able to act swiftly against those that broke the law. "So was that overkill? I don't think so." Security surrounding the APEC summit is the tightest ever seen in Australia with a 5 km fence restricting access to Northern parts of Sydney's CBD, overflights by airforce jets, police on jet skis, snipers, riot squad members and special laws to crack down on security during the summit. There have been complaints about the conduct of police which are alleged to of misused special search powers which only apply to the fenced zone surrounding APEC facilities and of heavy-handedness by police. Several protesters claimed that Sydney had been turned into a "police state" as a result of the security measures. Commissioner Scipione said "all allegations of police misconduct would be investigated". A second protest, held in Belmore Park attracted around 1,000 people from Vietnamese and Tibetian backgrounds protested against Chinese President Hu Jinato's human rights record. Organiser of the protest, Tenpa Dugdak said Australian Prime Minister John Howard should make human rights in China an APEC issue. "It's so important - this meeting that happened, 21 leaders - great, but don't just discuss about trade, discuss about human rights, environmental problems that can really impact on a global scale," he said. |
THE key suspect for the attempted suicide bombing at Shepherds Bush has claimed that the device in his rucksack was nothing more than a flour bomb. Hussain Osman, who escaped from Britain on a Eurostar train and was arrested last week in Rome, has told his Italian lawyer that he had no intention of killing anyone. Antonietta Sonnessa, who says that she will fight attempts to extradite her client back to Britain, claimed that her client intended to make a demonstrative gesture. She said: What he said is that there were harmless materials, that is, flour. And then there was [the detonator] to make it explode but only to create a bang. Thats what my client said. Now I dont know how it was made. That I cant say. The claims by Mr Osman, who has told the Italian authorities that his real name is Hamdi Isaac, have been dismissed by Scotland Yard. Police chiefs in Britain say the devices made by the would-be bombers on July 21 would have caused carnage on three Tube trains and a bus in East London but for one mistake in their configuration. An Italian judge will today set a date for the first hearing on Britains request for the extradition of Mr Osman, who had been living in Stockwell, South London, with his partner and three children. Mr Osman, an Ethiopian who used false Somali documents to claim asylum in Britain, is believed to have converted his partner and some members of her family to Islam. The final documents completing Britains extradition request have been delivered to the Italian authorities, and Domenico Massimo Miceli, the judge in charge of the extradition proceedings, is expected to hold the hearing at the end of this month or early next month. The British Embassy in Rome said it believed that Mr Osman would be returned to London by December and denied being concerned that Italian investigations and legal procedures were slowing the extradition process. All requests made by the UK authorities have been acted on promptly by their Italian counterparts, an embassy spokesman said. Mr Osman also faces separate accusations in Italy over alleged involvement in international terrorism and possession of false documents and it is not clear how they will be dealt with. Italian police are also investigating the activities of two of Mr Osmans brothers, Fati and Remzi Isaac, in Rome and Brescia. But Pietro Saviotti, one of the two investigating magistrates leading the Italian inquiry, said the inquiry would not block extradition, and the British and Italian legal processes were perfectly compatible. For the moment I see the needs of the judicial system in Britain, where the crimes committed are the most serious, as being dominant, Signor Saviotti said. ||||| Bomb suspect: 'No al Qaeda links' Bombs 'meant to draw attention to anger over war in Iraq' ROME, Italy (CNN) -- The failed July 21 bombings in London were not linked to the lethal attacks of July 7 or al Qaeda, a bombing suspect in Italian custody has told his interrogators, a source who was present during the interrogations told CNN Sunday. Hussain Osman, who is also known as Hamdi Issac, said the four men who partially detonated backpack bombs before running from their targets on July 21 were not working with the July 7 bombers who killed themselves and 52 travelers on three London Underground trains and a bus, the source said. Osman also claimed the July 21 group was not working for al Qaeda, the Islamic terrorist organization behind the September 11, 2001, terror attacks on the United States, last year's Madrid train bombings and numerous atrocities worldwide. Further, the source said, Osman told authorities the bombs were meant to draw attention to anger over the war in Iraq and not to kill anyone. "I am against war," the source quoted Osman as saying. "I've marched in peace rallies and nobody listened to me. I never thought of killing people." The Italian Interior Ministry declined to comment on the published statements, which first appeared in two Italian newspapers, La Repubblica and Corriere della Serra. Osman was arrested in Rome on Friday after investigators traced his travels by monitoring cell phone activity from England to France to Italy. He left from London's Waterloo train station on July 26, five days after the failed attacks, according to Italian authorities. Osman, 27, is a naturalized British citizen from Ethiopia, according to the Italian Interior Ministry and his court-appointed defense attorney, Antonetta Sonnessa. Scotland Yard has accused him of being the would-be bomber at the Shepherd's Bush Underground station, the man seen in closed-circuit television images wearing a backpack at a nearby tube station before he boarded the train, and later, wearing a tank-top T-shirt as he fled on a bus. Osman was arrested at his brother's apartment in Rome. That brother, Ramzi Issac, was also arrested on charges of possessing false documents. He owns an Internet cafe and phone-calling center in Rome. Late Saturday, Italian police arrested another of Osman's brothers, Fati Issac, in the northern Italian province of Brescia, officials announced Sunday. Fati Issac was charged with destroying documents sought by investigators. An Italian judge Sunday validated Osman's arrest and detention under Britain's extradition request, meaning that he must remain in jail until the court decides if the extradition can proceed. But Osman's court-appointed defense attorney, Antonetta Sonnessa, told CNN that Osman would refuse the extradition, which would throw the extradition into a lengthy appeal process and prevent any possible transfer to London for months. Britain is seeking Osman's rapid extradition under a newly available fast-track European arrest warrant. He is being held at the Regina Coeli prison in central Rome, and his interrogations are being videotaped. He speaks in "comprehensible" but not fluent Italian, according to Italian anti-terrorism officials. The other three suspected bombers -- Ibrahim Muktar Said, accused of an attempt to bomb a double-decker bus; Ramzi Mohammed, accused of attempting to bomb a train in the Oval Station in South London; and Yasin Hassan Omar, who has been accused of attempting to detonate a bomb in the Warren Street rail station -- have been arrested. Omar was the first July 21 suspect taken into custody, arrested on Wednesday in Birmingham, 160 kilometers (100 miles) north of London. British police are also holding a fifth suspected July 21 bomber who was arrested in a raid Friday in the Notting Hill neighborhood, about a 1.5 kilometers (one mile) away from where Ibrahim and Mohammed were arrested. On July 23, police recovered a fifth undetonated device, identical to the plastic container-held explosives used by the other men in custody, in a west London park called Little Wormwood Scrubs that is in the neighborhood of Friday's arrests. Scotland Yard would not comment on British media reports that the fifth man was Mohammed's brother. The four alleged bombers in British custody are being held at the high-security Paddington Green police station in London. British police have arrested more than 35 people in connection with the July 21 bombing, including seven more Sunday. Eighteen are still in custody in Britain. A Scotland Yard spokeswoman said no armed officers were present as police Sunday executed search warrants in Sussex, a county south of London. She gave no other details of the arrests. The July 21 devices, like the July 7 ones, were homemade bombs believed to contain white peroxide-based explosive, a description consistent with the highly volatile TATP, which stands for triacetone triperoxide. Britain is a seeking extradition of a suspected facilitator of the July 7 cell, Rashid Haroon Aswat, who was arrested in Zambia on July 20. Aswat entered the country from neighboring Zimbabawe on July 6, according to Zambian officials. Aswat, 30, a British citizen of Indian descent from the Leeds area, is a suspected al Qaeda operative. He has been accused by U.S. prosecutors of plotting to organize a "jihad" terror training camp in the U.S. Zambian officials were in discussions with U.S. and UK officials about which nation should take custody of Aswat. A spokesman for the British Foreign Ministry said Sunday the UK was seeking consular access to him in Zambia. ||||| Police will focus on forensic evidence from the scenes Streets were cordoned off, parts of the transport network closed and stations evacuated, but no-one was badly hurt. Three of the devices are the same size and weight as those used for the 7 July London bombings. The same chemicals also appear to have been used. Analysts say evidence from the scenes may hold clues to the previous attacks. Thursday's attacks began at about 1230 BST, with bombs at Warren Street station, central London, Shepherd's Bush station in the west, Oval in the south and on a bus in Shoreditch, east London. The bus driver found a rucksack split open on the top deck Enlarge Image CCTV pictures from the scenes are expected to be released soon. Police will focus on forensic evidence from the scenes as well as CCTV footage. As on 7 July, the bombs are believed to have been carried in rucksacks. Three are thought to have been of a similar size to the previous bombs, while the fourth was smaller and appeared to have been contained in a plastic box. Bombers' plan BBC security correspondent Gordon Corera said it was too early to determine how closely connected Thursday's bombings were with those of 7 July. However, he added: "Whilst the bombs of two weeks earlier had to be reconstituted from fragments, the new explosive devices will yield clues to the origin and manufacture much faster. "This will also make it possible to see how similar the explosive is to that found in previous blasts or that found in Leeds or Luton." Meanwhile, commuters faced difficult journeys to work with some roads still closed early on Friday. Transport for London service director Nigel Holness told BBC Radio 4's Today programme good services were running on all Tube lines except where they remained suspended after the 7 July bombings. "We have the maximum deployment possible of the British Transport Police," he added. "We have started to use sniffer dogs around the Underground. "And we are looking at deploying staff in different ways." Mr Holness told Today it would be impossible to "search and scan" all Tube passengers. Clearly the intention must have been to kill. You don't do this with any other intention Sir Ian Blair "We have three million journeys on the Tube every day and half a million people using the Tube during peak periods." "We have to keep moving." Arrests made Two men, one arrested in Whitehall, close to Downing Street, and another around Tottenham Court Road, have been released without charge. A wealth of witnesses have also come forward with first hand accounts of events, descriptions of the bombers and photographs of scenes. Some said the attackers seemed "scared" or "surprised" when their bombs failed to explode properly. Oval attack witness Kate Reid describe hearing a "pop" as if a big balloon had burst before seeing a young, dark-skinned man with a bag at his feet looking "really scared". People were kept well away from the sites of the attacks Met Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair said the fact devices remained unexploded at the scenes would be "very helpful". "Clearly the intention must have been to kill. You don't do this with any other intention," he told a press conference on Thursday. Sir Ian said there was a "resonance" with the 7 July attacks but it was too early to tell if they were linked. Former government intelligence analyst Crispin Black said the chance to examine the bombs themselves was "forensic bingo", saying: "This is as good as it gets." As investigators swung into action, Prime Minister Tony Blair urged Londoners to go about their business as normal, saying: "We have just got to react calmly." World leaders joined in condemning the attacks and urging unity in the face of terrorism. Details started emerging on Thursday afternoon about the events at each of the attack scenes: | Hussain Osman, the suspect for the July 21 incident at Shepherds Bush who the UK authorities wish to extradite from Italy, claims that the device in his rucksack was merely a bag of flour with a detonator in it. Osman escaped from Britain via the Channel Tunnel and was arrested last week in Rome. He told his Italian lawyer that he was only staging a demonstration and had no intention of killing anyone. Osman's claim contrasts starkly with Sir Ian Blair's statement shortly after the bombings. At that time Commissioner Blair said: : ''"Clearly the intention must have been to kill. You don't do this with any other intention."'' Osman is reported to have said: : ''"I am against war... I've marched in peace rallies and nobody listened to me. I never thought of killing people."'' |
Home|Columnists|Nick Coleman Until 30 years ago, visitors to the Rotunda of the Minnesota State Capitol could admire a painting of white soldiers vanquishing Sioux Indians at the battle of Killdeer Mountain, out in the western part of what later became North Dakota. But these Sioux weren't fighting. They were fleeing. That 1864 incident was more massacre than battle, costing the lives of two soldiers and 150 Indians, including women and children. The soldiers destroyed the Indians' village and possessions, and made the Sioux refugees in their own land. It was the culmination of a punitive military campaign that followed the Dakota Conflict of 1862, in which the eastern Sioux, or Dakota, attempted to drive white settlers from Minnesota. That war led to an official state policy of banishing or killing all Sioux, wherever they were found, even those who knew nothing of the war, such as those at Killdeer Mountain, whose bitter experiences would fuel the wars that stretched from George Armstrong Custer's last ride all the way to Wounded Knee. It's a story too big for a painting, even one as large as 10 feet wide by 7½ feet high. But those kinds of paintings weren't supposed to represent the complicated history of relations between American Indians and white Americans. Such paintings were meant to celebrate white triumph. The 1914 painting, by Norwegian-born artist Carl Boeckmann, was displayed in the House of Representatives until the 1930s, when it was moved to the Rotunda. Then something happened that changed everything: The "vanquished" started demanding that their story be told, too. That change was painful, and is still incomplete. But it was necessary, and some of the credit for making it happen goes to Vernon Bellecourt. Bellecourt -- Indian activist, citizen of the world, politician, provocateur and ambassador for the dispossessed -- was a giant force in helping to end the triumphal approach to the history of this state. Bellecourt died last weekend at 75, and is being buried today on his native White Earth Indian Reservation. During his life he helped change the way we see the world, and the way we see ourselves. Along with his brother, Clyde, Vernon helped found the American Indian Movement in 1968. Sometime in the 1970s, the Bellecourts objected to celebrating a race war in the Capitol of all Minnesotans. The painting was removed, and the state's consciousness was raised. Vernon was a catalyst for change. He campaigned endlessly against the use of stereotypical names and emblems, angering sports fans who think Indians are gone and that, if they weren't, they'd be honored by being called the "Fighting Sioux," and worse. For nine years, this newspaper tried not to use names such as the nickname of the Washington football team. I won't mention it. You know what it is. In a backward move, that policy was relaxed four years ago, when editors decided that they would use the offensive nicknames, but only with "care and judgment." The Washington nickname has appeared 750 times since. Are nicknames the most urgent problem Indians face? No. But racism is real, and the nickname problem shows how far we have to go (Cleveland's "Indians" may be headed to the World Series) to understand how we all are affected by racist ideas. In the long run, however, I think WaBun-Inini, (Man of Dawn, which was Vernon's Ojibwe name), will win. Until the 1970s, the bones of the Indian leader Little Crow were in a drawer in the Historical Society. Those days are gone. And Vernon Bellecourt helped end them. Today, if you want to view the painting of the battle of Kildeer Mountain (its official name is "The Eighth Minnesota Infantry In The Battle of Ta-Ha-Kouti"), you need to make your way to the third floor of the state Capitol and go down a long hallway to a conference room behind another conference room. There, in Room 316, Carl Boeckmann's painting can still be seen -- a picture from a world that no longer exists. For that, we can give thanks. Nick Coleman ncoleman@startribune.com ||||| Colleges on the list can still appeal. "I suspect that some of those would like to having a ruling on that," Brand said. "But unless there is a change before Feb. 1, they will have to abide by it." | , once the primary spokesperson for the , died recently at age 75. Bellecourt, an who fought for Native rights, was perhaps best known for his . First in the headlines in 1972, Bellecourt organized a cross-country caravan of the Movement, to Washington. Once there, members of the group occupied the offices. His goal of international recognition for nations and their treaties found him meeting with figures like Libyan Colonel Muammar el-Qaddafi, and Palestine's . In 1977 was convicted and sentenced to two consecutive life terms for the murder of two FBI Agents during a 1975 shoot-out on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation; Bellecourt led the campaign to free him. Most recently, he visited Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, to discuss getting free or cheap heating oil for reservations. His work as president of the made a much wider known mark, though. Bellecourt emphasized that he believed such names perpetuated racial stereotypes, clouding the real identities and problems facing natives. Teams with native-related names could almost guarantee on Bellecourt showing up at major games. He twice burned an effigy of , the baseball team mascot, and both times was arrested. When the Washington Redskins of the National Football League made the , Vernon was there to protest. The was critical of such names by 2001, calling them "insensitive in light of the long history of forced assimilation". Some newspapers have stopped using the names of teams with Native origins. None of his "big four" targets have shown any indication of changing: the , the , the Cleveland Indians or the . Post-season use of American Indian mascots were banned by the in 2005, suggesting the names are "hostile or abusive". Bellecourt was pleased with the NCAA sanctions, but suggested such actions were only going "half way". The Florida State Seminole and the Illinois Illini were among the 18 colleges affected by the ban. Florida president T.K. Wetherell threatened legal action in response. The Florida tribes have endorsed the University's usage of the name, but some out-of-state tribes were "not supportive", according to the NCAA vice president for diversity and inclusion. Born WaBun-Inini, Bellecourt died from complications of pneumonia on October 13, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. |
Razno Umro Ibrahim Ferer Havana -- Kubanski pevač Ibrahim Ferer, član svetski poznate kubanske atrakcije "Buena Vista Soušal Klaba", umro je u subotu u Havani, u 79. godini. Izvor: Beta nedelja, 7.08.2005. | 11:10 -> 15:38 Tweet Podeli Ibrahim Ferer, čiji će lik ostati upamćen po "večitom" kačketu i sedim brkovima, umro je po povratku s evropske turneje, od višestrukog otkazivanja organa, naveo je njegov menadžer Danijel Florestan. Pevač je svetsku slavu stekao tek posle penzionisanja, zahvaljujući muzici i filmu Vima Vendersa, dok je u mladosti je bio čistač cipela na ulicama Havane. Grupa, koju su činili i Kompaj Segundo, koji je umro jula 2003, Ruben Gonsales, koji je umro decembra 2003, Elijades Očoa i Omara Portuondo, snimila je sa američkim gitaristom Rajom Kuderom istoimeni album koji ih je proslavio. Rođen 20. februara 1927. u San Luisu, u blizini Santjaga, Ibrahim Ferer, koji je sa 12 godina ostao siroče, bio je primoran da se sam izdržava radeći kao prodavac novina, slatkiša, kao berač kafe, nosač vreća šećera, a radio je i na brodogradilištima. Paralelno sa tim pevao je po lokalnim kafanama, gde ga je zapazio slavni orkestar "Čepin-Čoven". Njegova pesma "El Platanar de Bartolo", sa tom grupom, doživela je lokalni uspeh, ali nije njemu pripisana. Kasnije se pridružio orkestru "Ritmo Orijental". Pevač, koji je svetsku slavu stekao tek posle penzionisanja, zahvaljujući albumu i filmu "Buena Vista Soušal Klab", u mladosti je bio čistač cipela na ulicama Havane. Posle ogromnom uspeha filma Vima Vendersa, Ferer je snimio dva solo albuma - "Buena Vista Soušal Klab prezents Ibrahim Ferrer" i "Buenos Ermanos". Ferer je ovacijama dočekivan u Karnegi Holu u Njujorku, Rojal Albert Holu u Londonu, i dvoranama u Parizu, Sidneju i Tokiju, a u beogradskom Sava Centru je nastupio u aprilu prošle godine. ||||| Ibrahim Ferrer was a master of the traditional bolero and son styles A master of the traditional son and bolero styles, Ferrer began singing professionally at the age of 14 and was a member of several well-known groups. But it was joining Buena Vista in the 1990s that took him from a retirement shining shoes to international renown. He died, aged 78, after returning ill from a month-long tour of Europe. Ferrer was born in 1927 in the south-eastern city of Santiago de Cuba, an area known for its musical tradition. Cuban scene Following his mother's early death he worked as a street vendor, forming his first group when he was in his early teens to entertain people in his neighbourhood. Ferrer performed all over the world after winning fame in his 70s He soon began to appear with various bands in Santiago and by the 1950s was a well-established figure on the Cuban music scene. In 1957, Ferrer moved to the capital, Havana, to perform with the Cuban music legend Benny More. He went on to play for years with Los Bocucos, a band he formed with singer Pacho Alonso. But Ferrer had fallen into obscurity and was shining shoes to supplement his income when US guitarist Ry Cooder recruited him for the Buena Vista Social Club. The 1997 record of the same name gave him an international reputation in his 70s, and led to numerous tours. The album won a Grammy award in 1998. Grammy awards In 1999, a film directed by Wim Wenders was released, showing Ry Cooder's work with the group of veteran Cuban musicians. After launching a solo career, Ferrer himself was awarded a Grammy for his salsa album Buenos Hermanos. However, the Cuban artist was unable to attend the awards ceremony because the US refused to grant him a visa. He also won two Latin Grammys. His latest European tour, showcasing boleros Ferrer planned to release in 2006, took him to the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland, Britain, the Netherlands, Austria, France and Spain. Two of his fellow Buena Vista stars, pianist Ruben Gonzalez and guitarist Compay Segundo, died in 2003. Ferrer leaves a widow, Caridad Diaz. | Cover of one of Ferrer's albums The famous Cuban singer and member of the ''Buena Vista Social Club'', Ibrahim Ferrer, died Saturday in Havana, Cuba, at the age of 78. The cause was an illness with which he returned from a tour of Europe. Ferrer was born February 20, 1927 near Santiago de Cuba. He became an orphan at 12 and started working in coffee fields, carried sugar, worked in shipyards, sold newspapers and candy, and cleaned shoes. He was also singing in local bars and Orquesta Chepin-Choven noticed him. They recorded a locally successful song ''El Platanar de Bartolo'', but he did not get much credit for it. He got world famous only when he got old, as a part of ''Buena Vista Social Club''. He recorded two solo albums: ''Buena Vista Social Club presents Ibrahim Ferrer'' and ''Buenos Hermanos''. |
13 cases of 'super TB' strain found Thailand has 13 confirmed cases of the dangerous and highly drug-resistant form of tuberculosis, according to the chairman of the Drug Resistant TB Research Fund. Dr Manoon Leechawengwong said yesterday the fund, under the patronage of the Siriraj Foundation, started research into drug-resistant forms of TB in 2001 and had found 13 cases identified as XDR-TB. This definition means the TB strain is extremely drug-resistant, especially to first- and second-line drugs. Treatment options for patients with XDR-TB are severely limited. However, Dr Mongkol na Songkhla, the public health minister, said he had not yet been informed of the XDR cases here. He claimed the ministry monitored drug-resistant forms of TB, but only multi-drug-resistant MDR had been found. The difference between patients with MDR-TB and XDR-TB is that the first group has more treatment options than the latter. MDR-TB is resistant only to first-line drugs. XDR-TB recently became world news after a law, unused for 44 years, was invoked to isolate a man in the United States last month. Currently there is no treatment for XDR-TB. Manoon's disclosure about the confirmed XDR-TB cases contradicted information from the ministry. Last week, Dr Tawat Suntra-jarn, head of the Disease Control Department, insisted there were no cases of Thais infected with XDR-TB. But Manoon claimed the Health Ministry did not pay enough attention to monitoring and preventing the spread of drug-resistant TB. "We have to speak the truth and look for a way to prevent the spread of the disease," he said. In order to identify drug-resistant forms of TB, Manoon said hospitals nationwide had cooperated by sending TB germ samples from patients. While there are about 80,000 new TB cases each year, he had only been sent 15,000 samples over five years of his research project. Besides the 13 cases of XDR-TB, his lab tests also found about 500 cases of MDR-TB. Manoon wants the ministry to be more proactive in controlling the spread of TB, especially the strains resistant to drugs. He suggested it seriously examine TB cases to identify XDR and MDR cases. "If possible, the government should have the power to restrict the movement of those infected with drug-resistant forms of TB - to reduce the chance of them spreading the disease." He said the main concern was how the country prevented the spread of the disease. Pennapa Hongthong The Nation ||||| BANGKOK, Aug 16 (TNA) -- Thailand's southern resort province of Phuket plans to open two duty-free zones to attract more foreign tourists. These planned shopping zones are expected to help boost Phukets tourism revenue by more than 25 percent, the provincial governor, Udomsak Assavarongkul, told TNA on Sunday. The duty-free shops are being built, and should be completed by the end of this year, he said. Eighty percent of the resort islands revenue comes from the tourism sector, according to Mr. Udomsak. But tourists to Phuket spend far less than visitors to Singapore, an island of comparable size, he explained. Currently, Phukets tourism industry generates some 73 billion baht in revenue. This is expected to rise to more than 100 billion a year after the two shopping zones are opened, the governor said. The provincial authorities are still seeking permission to open the two duty-free zones from the Customs Department. Since low cost airlines started flying to Phuket recently, the number of tourists visiting the island resort has surged by more than 20 percent, said Patanapong Akevanich, President of Phuket Tourism business Association. Further growth is expected, he said. Phuket is a major part of the governments plans to boost the countrys tourism industry. The government wants to attract 20 million tourists in the next four years. But the government should improve the overall management of the tourism sector, urged Mr. Patanapong, especially environmental protection. Experts have warned, however, that a huge number of visitors poses a major potential threat to Phuket's environment and ecology. (TNA)--E112 | X-ray of a tuberculosis patient. Thirteen cases of a drug-resistant form of , , have been reported by a prominent doctor in Thailand. The 13 cases were first reported yesterday by Dr. Manoon Leechawaengwong, chairman of the Drug Resistant TB Research Fund of the Siriraj Foundation at in Bangkok. Manoon's disclosure, reported on the website of '''' newspaper, was contradicted by Dr , the public health minister, who said he had not yet been informed of the XDR cases. Another doctor, Dr Tawat Suntrajarn, director-general of the Ministry of Public Health's Disease Control Department, had insisted last week that there were no cases of XDR-TB in Thailand. But today, Thawat said in a report by the government-run that the ministry would request the TB samples from Siriraj Hospital to verify that they are XDR-TB, and the result would be forwarded to the World Health Organization. The XDR strain is the same that sparked a in the United States and Europe, when a Georgia man took from the U.S. to Greece, and then to Canada, passing through international borders without being stopped. Manoon said government health officials weren't paying enough attention to tuberculosis. "We have to speak the truth and look for a way to prevent the spread of the disease," he was quoted as saying by ''The Nation''. "If possible, the government should have the power to restrict the movement of those infected with drug-resistant forms of TB – to reduce the chance of them spreading the disease." Neither of the news reports gave the whereabouts of the patients, or whether they had in fact been isolated. The World Health Organization (WHO) has reported that so far 269 XDR-TB patients from 35 countries worldwide have been found. Of the total patients, South Korea ranked first with 136. Thailand is ranked 17th worldwide on the number of patients suffering from every type of TB disease out of 22 countries. |
British police arrested four men overnight after recovering a stolen Leonardo Da Vinci painting worth more than 15 million pounds ($34 million) in the Glasgow area of Scotland. Madonna with the Yarnwinder had been stolen in August 2003 from Drumlanrig Castle in Scotland's south-west by thieves posing as tourists. They snatched the Da Vinci from its fireproof case in the castle's oak staircase gallery, then fled in a waiting car. "We are extremely pleased to recover the Madonna Of The Yarnwinder painting," said Detective Chief Inspector Mickey Dalgleish, after what was described as a major police operation in the Glasgow area. "Through careful investigations and intelligence-led police work we were able to locate the painting and make four arrests. "I would like to thank all staff involved in this investigation, partner police forces and agencies, as well as members of the public for supplying crucial information." The theft of the painting, dated 1501, was listed by the FBI as one of the world's top 10 art crimes of recent years. - AFP ||||| Oct. 5: Scottish police recover the 16th century da Vinci painting "Madonna of the Yarnwinder" four years after it was stolen. Msnbc.com's Dara Brown reports. LONDON - Detectives on Thursday recovered a Leonardo da Vinci painting that was stolen from a Scottish castle in a daring daylight raid four years ago. Officers raided an address in Glasgow and seized “Madonna with the Yarnwinder,” Scotland’s Dumfries and Galloway police said. Three men from England and one man from Scotland were arrested. The painting appeared on the FBI’s 10 most-wanted list of stolen art and on the Art Loss Register’s list of stolen masterpieces, where it was valued at $65 million. Story continues below ↓ advertisement advertisement Police said art experts had confirmed the recovered painting was the Leonardo masterpiece, stolen from Drumlanrig Castle in southern Scotland in August 2003. The lead investigator, Detective Chief Inspector Mickey Dalgleish, said the painting had been tracked down in a combined operation by Scottish police and national crime agencies, with help from the public. “We are extremely pleased to recover the ’Madonna with the Yarnwinder’ painting,” he said. “Madonna with the Yarnwinder” was stolen from the castle while it was on public display. Two thieves posing as tourists overpowered a guide before escaping with the painting. The oil-on-wood painting, which shows the Virgin Mary with the baby Jesus on her lap holding a cross-shaped spindle for yarn, is one of several versions of the same scene painted between 1500 and 1510. Some scholars have suggested the painting is the work of Leonardo’s assistants, but Scottish experts have said that the central figures of the Madonna and child are the artist’s own work, and that the overall design is likely to be his. Drumlanrig Castle, which houses one of the finest private art collections in Britain, also contains masterpieces by Rembrandt and Holbein. The structure, completed in 1691, is one of the most important Renaissance buildings in Scotland and is home to one of Scotland’s richest landowners, the Duke of Buccleuch. The painting had been in the Buccleuch family for more than 200 years. Its recovery comes a month after the death at 83 of the ninth Duke of Buccleuch. He was succeeded by his son. © 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. ||||| Four men charged with £50m Da Vinci masterpiece theft appear in court Last updated at 15:28 05 October 2007 Four men appeared in court today charged in connection with the theft of a Leonardo da Vinci masterpiece. The Madonna With The Yarnwinder was taken from Drumlanrig Castle, near Thornhill in Dumfries and Galloway, in August 2003. Police retrieved the 500-year-old artwork, which has been valued at between £15 million and £40 million, in a swoop on a solicitors' office in the centre of Glasgow yesterday morning. Scroll down for more... Four men were arrested and appeared in private today on petition at Dumfries Sheriff Court. Calum Jones, 52, from Kilmacolm in Renfrewshire, Robert Graham, 55, of Aughton, Ormskirk, Lancashire, John Doyle, 58, from Halsall, Ormskirk, and 51-year-old Marshall Ronald, of Upholland, Skelmersdale, Lancashire, were charged with conspiracy to rob and extort money. All four made no plea or declaration at the private appearance before Sheriff Kenneth Barr. They were committed for further examination and granted bail with special conditions. The Madonna with the Yarnwinder, painted in 1501, was taken from a castle belonging to the 9th Duke of Buccleuch, Britain's largest landowner, four years ago. Scroll down for more... The thieves allgedly joined a tour party at Drumlanrig Castle, near Dumfries in south-western Scotland, waited until it moved on, then overpowered the woman member of staff who was there to guard the painting. An alarm was set off but the raiders jumped into a waiting car. They are said to have thrown away the frame just beyond the castle perimeter. Minutes later, it's claimed they changed vehicles and vanished. The 9th Duke of Buccleuch said at the time he was devastated at the loss of an artwork that had been in his family for generations. He died last month and a family friend said: "Right up until the end, he hoped his masterpiece would come home." His son, the 10th Duke, said news of the painting's recovery was "warmly welcomed" and he praised officers for the way in which they pursued the case. Detectives took the painting to a secure vault, where experts were examining it last night. A spokesman for the international Art Loss Register, which records the theft of significant works, said: "This will be highly significant." Scroll down for more... Drumlanrig Castle is a £ 403million treasure trove boasting works by Leonardo, Rembrandt and Holbein. The Leonardo was bought in Italy in the 18th century by the 3rd Duke. Police insiders believed the painting was being used as collateral for drug deals and those who stole it had little idea of its value or importance. Sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article. | da Vinci's ''The Madonna of the Yarnwinder'' (c. 1501). Police in Britain have recovered a stolen Leonardo da Vinci painting worth, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), £65 million (US$133 million). "Through careful investigations and intelligence-led police work we were able to locate the painting and make four arrests. We are extremely pleased to recover the ’Madonna of the Yarnwinder’ painting," said Mickey Dalgleish, the chief Inspector for Scotland Yard. A drawing of Drumlanrig Castle. The famous painting, ''Madonna of the Yarnwinder'', painted by da Vinci in 1501, had been stolen from Drumlanrig Castle in Scotland, in August 2003, by two thieves who aimed to sell the painting in the future. Police raided a house in Glasgow, Scotland and seized the painting, making four arrests. The FBI listed the theft of the painting as of one of the world's top ten art crimes in recent years. |
El régimen sirio aseguró este sábado que muchos de sus soldados "vieron elementos químicos y sufrieron asfixia" cuando entraban en refugios de los rebeldes en Yobar, en la periferia de Damasco, según dijo una fuente oficial a la televisión estatal. "Los héroes de las Fuerzas Armadas han entrado en los túneles de los terroristas en Yobar y han visto elementos químicos. Muchos soldados han sufrido asfixia", señaló la fuente, que no fue identificada. La televisión no ofreció más detalles adicionales acerca de esta información. Llega a Damasco la representante de la ONU La acusación del régimen llega poco después de la llegada este sábado a Damasco de la representante de la ONU para Asuntos de Desarme, Angela Kane, para intentar persuadir a las autoridades sirias de que permitan el acceso inmediato a la zona del supuesto ataque con armas químicas en la periferia de la capital. Kane llegó a Damasco a través de la carretera que une esta ciudad con Beirut, y entró en el hotel sin querer hacer declaraciones a la prensa, informaron fuentes oficiales. La representante de la ONU tiene previsto reunirse de urgencia con altos cargos del Gobierno La representante de la ONU tiene previsto reunirse de urgencia con altos cargos del Gobierno, a quienes instará a que permitan de inmediato la entrada de la misión de las Naciones Unidas que investiga si hubo uso de armas químicas en el suburbio de Guta Oriental, donde habrían muerto más de 1.300 personas según la oposición. Hasta el momento, las autoridades sirias, que negaron inmediatamente ser responsables de esa acusación, no han ofrecido una respuesta a las demandas de la comunidad internacional a que se permita el acceso de los investigadores de la ONU al lugar. El equipo, encabezado por el sueco Ake Sellstrom, ya estudia si se utilizaron armas químicas en tres diferentes ubicaciones en la guerra siria, aunque la ONU ha recibido hasta 14 informes de su posible uso. La opositora Coalición Nacional Siria (CNFROS) garantizó este viernes a la comisión de investigación su seguridad en su nombre y en el del Ejército Libre de Siria que combate en la zona. "La comisión está a apenas 10 kilómetros de la zona: lo más razonable es que investiguen inmediatamente el suceso", señaló Badr Yamus, secretario general de la Coalición, durante una rueda de prensa celebrada en Estambul. La oposición lo niega La Coalición Nacional Siria (CNFROS), la mayor alianza opositora siria, negó este sábado que los rebeldes posean armas químicas en su lucha contra las fuerzas del régimen del presidente sirio, Bashar al Asad. "Las informaciones falsas que divulga el régimen suponen intentos fallidos y desesperados por disfrazar y encubrir sus reiterados y sistemáticos crímenes contra la población civil siria mediante sus medios de información", subraya la alianza en un comunicado. ||||| The Syrian army found Saudi-made chemical containers in Jobar district on August 24, 2013. The Syrian TV showed a number of Saudi-made containers of materials used by the militants in the production of chemical gases. The Syrian army found these containers in a warehouse in Jobar district on Saturday. The discovery came after the government forces surrounded a sector of militant-held district of Jobar on Saturday. Syrian army soldiers also found chemical agents in tunnels dug by the foreign-backed militants in the northeastern suburb of the capital, Damascus, the Syrian TV said. "Army heroes are entering the tunnels of the terrorists and saw chemical agents," Syria television said, adding, "In some cases, soldiers are suffocating while entering Jobar.” It added that ambulances arrived in the region to rescue the people who were suffocating in Jobar and the area is now controlled by Syrian army forces. On Wednesday, Syrian opposition claimed that hundreds were killed in a government chemical attack on militants’ strongholds in Damascus suburbs of Ain Tarma, Zamalka and Jobar before dawn. The Syrian army has vehemently denied allegations that it used chemical weapons against Takfiri militants in the suburbs of the Ghouta region, saying the accusations were fabricated to distract the visiting team of UN chemical weapons experts and to cover up militants’ losses. Syria has been gripped by deadly unrest since 2011. A very large number of the militants operating inside Syria are foreign nationals. According to reports, the West and its regional allies - especially Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey - are supporting the militants inside Syria. HH/HH ||||| Damascus, Syria (CNN) -- As Western powers try to verify claims that the Syrian government used chemical weapons this week in a northeastern suburb of Damascus, the Syrian government is accusing rebel forces of doing the same. State-run television reported Saturday that Syrian armed forces had surrounded Jobar, the opposition-held district on the edge of Damascus that saw some of the 1,300 reported dead in Wednesday's early morning attack. Several of the soldiers were "suffocating" from exposure to gases as they entered the city, according to state TV. "It is believed that the terrorists have used chemical weapons in the area," Syrian TV reporting, citing anonymous source. The government uses the term "terrorists" to describe rebel forces. It showed video of a room containing gas masks and gas canisters that the Army said were discovered in a storage facility in Jobar. CNN could not independently confirm the veracity of the claims or the authenticity of the video. Opposition leaders deny involvement in the attack, which they say killed hundreds near the capital. The competing claims surfaced as a White House official told CNN that President Barack Obama was meeting with his national security team to discuss the alleged chemical weapons attack "Once we ascertain the facts, the president will make an informed decision about how to respond," the official said on condition of anonymity. "We have a range of options available, and we are going to act very deliberately so that we're making decisions consistent with our national interest as well as our assessment of what can advance our objectives in Syria." In an exclusive interview with CNN that aired Friday, Obama said the United States and United Nations inspectors were gathering information on the attack, but that preliminary signs pointed to a "big event of grave concern." "It is very troublesome," he said. "That starts getting to some core national interests that the United States has, both in terms of us making sure that weapons of mass destruction are not proliferating, as well as needing to protect our allies, our bases in the region." Syrian National Coalition Secretary General Badr Jamous said Friday that rockets -- some with chemical warheads and others conventional weapons -- had been fired into a heavily populated civilian area. Most of the more than 1,300 reported dead were killed by chemical weapons, said Khaled al-Saleh, a spokesman for the umbrella opposition group. Al-Saleh said that medical teams in the affected area had administered 25,000 shots of atropine -- a medication used to treat people exposed to the nerve gas sarin -- after the attack. Video showed rows of bodies without apparent injury, as well as people suffering convulsions or apparently struggling to breathe. CNN could not verify where or when the videos were recorded, and could not confirm the number of casualties. Adding weight to the assertions that chemical weapons were used was a statement Saturday by Medecins Sans Frontieres, also known as Doctors Without Borders. Three hospitals -- all supported by the international organization -- in Syria's Damascus governorate reported having received some 3,600 patients displaying neurotoxic symptoms last Wednesday morning, the statement said. Of them, 355 reportedly died, it said. "Medical staff working in these facilities provided detailed information to MSF doctors regarding large numbers of patients arriving with symptoms including convulsions, excess saliva, pinpoint pupils, blurred vision and respiratory distress," said Dr. Bart Janssens, MSF director of operations. Patients were treated using atropine. "MSF can neither scientifically confirm the cause of these symptoms nor establish who is responsible for the attack," said Janssens. "However, the reported symptoms of the patients, in addition to the epidemiological pattern of the events—characterized by the massive influx of patients in a short period of time, the origin of the patients, and the contamination of medical and first aid workers—strongly indicate mass exposure to a neurotoxic agent. This would constitute a violation of international humanitarian law, which absolutely prohibits the use of chemical and biological weapons." How will the world respond? If the claims that Syria used chemical weapons prove true, a speedy response will be needed to prevent another such attack, U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said. Hagel's comments Friday came after a senior Defense Department official told CNN that military planners have updated Syrian target lists. And it was disclosed that a fourth U.S. ship armed with cruise missiles has arrived in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Hagel addressed the issue aboard a military plane headed to Malaysia. "We will determine at some point here very shortly what did happen," he said, according to a transcript posted on the Defense Department's website. "If, in fact, this was a deliberate use and attack by the Syrian government on its own people using chemical weapons, there may be another attack coming," Hagel said. "A very quick assessment of what happened and whatever appropriate response should be made." Hagel said the American military provided Obama "with options for all contingencies, and that requires positioning our forces, positioning our assets to be able to carry out different options, whatever options the president might choose." He did not specify what those options might include. Hagel predicted other nations would lend their support if the investigation finds that the Syrian government used chemical weapons against its people. "This is an international community issue; it violates every standard of international behavior," he said. "That said, the United States has never given up its own sovereign right to protect its own interests." The president has said he does not anticipate using ground forces in Syria. Other military options could include airstrikes by fighter jets or cruise missiles. The Navy destroyer USS Ramage has arrived in the region, a defense official said late Friday. It was intended to replace the USS Mahan, but the Mahan will remain temporarily along with the USS Gravelly and USS Barry. All four are equipped with cruise missiles. The president has authorized a limited amount of military hardware for the rebels in addition to logistical and humanitarian assistance. A senior Defense Department official told CNN that options for direct military action include targeting al-Assad's capability to deliver chemical weapons. Target lists could include government buildings and military installations, the official said, but the military must have flexible plans to target forces and equipment which "continue to move." Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, an advocate for a more forceful U.S. response to the Syrian conflict, has suggested that American air power could take out runways and planes used by al-Assad's forces that he said are "dominating the battlefields and the towns and the cities." McCain also has advocated giving rebels anti-aircraft and anti-missile weapons to establish a no fly zone. But administration officials have cautioned that some Syrian rebel factions have ties to al Qaeda terrorists. Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey said this week in a letter to a member of Congress that arming rebels requires "choosing one among many sides." "It is my belief that the side we choose must be ready to promote their interests and ours when the balance shifts in their favor," Dempsey wrote. "Today, they are not." Also Saturday, a top U.N. official arrived in Damascus to press the government to cooperate in the investigation into its alleged use of chemical weapons. Angela Kane, the United Nations high representative for disarmament affairs, has been instructed by U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to push the government to cooperate with the U.N. team already on the ground. U.N. inspectors want to reach the site of the alleged chemical weapons attack quickly in order to gather evidence while it is still fresh. Opposition leaders say the reported attack killed more than 1,300 people in a Damascus suburb. French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said Saturday the inspectors should be granted immediate access to the site "if the Syrian regime has nothing to hide." "All the information available to us converge to say that there has been a chemical massacre in Syria, near Damascus, and to indicate that it is the regime of Bashar al-Assad who is at the origin," Fabius told reporters after meeting with Palestinian officials in the West Bank city of Ramallah. Earlier, British Foreign Secretary William Hague suggested the delay in granting access was suspicious. "This is not something that a humane or civilized world can ignore," Hague said. Our priority is to make sure the world knows the facts of what has happened, and that means the U.N. team that is in Damascus, only 20 minutes away, being able to get there and to investigate." Rapid access is critical, since any evidence would deteriorate "over a matter of days," Hague said. The Syrian government has denied using chemical weapons. Frederik Pleitgen reported from Damascus. Hamdi Alkhshali, David Simpson and Pierre Meilhan contributed from Atlanta. ||||| Add a location to your Tweets When you tweet with a location, Twitter stores that location. You can switch location on/off before each Tweet and always have the option to delete your location history. Learn more | According to state-run (SANA), during a battle with rebels yesterday the Syrian army seized a stockpile of chemicals, canisters, weapons and gear located in a warehouse tunnel in , a suburb of Damascus. In a post on the social networking website Twitter, SANA claims some soldiers involved in the battle were exposed to some kind of chemical agent and in some cases "suffocated," but the number of those killed, if any, was not reported. "Army heroes are entering the tunnels of the terrorists and saw chemical agents", said SANA, as quoted by . "It is believed that the terrorists have used chemical weapons in the area", quoted by . The Syrian government often labels members of the and other rebels as "terrorists." SANA says government forces were fighting rebels and pushed into Jobar where they seized the items in a warehouse. In a video by SANA and published by , at least one of those items, a box labeled "coverall - CW protective," was made in the United States. Antidotes for chemical agents allegedly from the "The Qatari-German Company for Pharmaceutical Industries" and materials from Saudi Arabia were also among the items seized. Pictures also show grenades, rockets and what appear to be several other unknown chemical agents. Government forces say the stockpile belonged to rebels and opposition forces. The country's largest opposition group, The Syrian National Coalition (CNFROS), released a statement denying the use of chemical weapons in both today's and Wednesday's battles. They deny even possessing chemical weapons saying the "information disclosed by the regime is false" and the accusations attempt "to disguise and conceal his Assad's repeated and systematic crimes against Syrian civilians." The seizure comes just days after government forces were accused of carrying out a large-scale chemical attack in the region of Damascus on Wednesday. Reports say anywhere between 100 and 1,300 people were killed in the attack. Prior to today's incident and after Wednesday's alleged chemical attack, government forces heavily bombed the area. The fighting comes as United Nations observers arrived to investigate claims of chemical weapons use elsewhere in the nation. According to one report, government forces have retaken control of Jobar. |
Correction to This Article A Jan. 12 map showing a city commission's proposal for rebuilding New Orleans incorrectly labeled the Lake Terrace and Oaks neighborhood as Lakeview. Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday, January 12, 2006; Page A03 NEW ORLEANS, Jan. 11 -- Angry homeowners screamed and City Council members seethed Wednesday as this city's recovery commission recommended imposing a four-month building moratorium on most of New Orleans and creating a powerful new authority that could use eminent domain to seize homes in neighborhoods that will not be rebuilt. Hundreds of residents packed into a hotel ballroom interrupted the presentation of the long-awaited proposal with shouts and taunts, booed its main architect and unrolled a litany of complaints. One by one, homeowners stepped to a microphone to lampoon the plan -- which contemplates a much smaller city and relies on persuading the federal government to spend billions on new housing and a light-rail system -- as "audacious," "an academic exercise," "garbage," "a no-good, rotten scheme." "You missed the boat," homeowner Fred Yoder, who lived in heavily flooded Lakeview, told committee members. "Give me a break: We don't need a light-rail system. We're in the mud." The plan released Wednesday is the first stage of what is sure to be a multi-layered, multi-level effort to resuscitate New Orleans. Mayor C. Ray Nagin, who can accept or alter the proposal, will have to present the plan to a state commission that will control allocation of billions of federal dollars, as well as to Donald E. Powell, President Bush's hurricane recovery coordinator, and the White House. The commission's recommendations are heavily dependent on federal money, counting on $12 billion to buy storm-damaged homes and $4.8 billion for infrastructure improvements, including an ambitious light-rail proposal to connect downtown New Orleans with the city's airport, Baton Rouge and the Mississippi Gulf Coast. The furious reaction to the plan is the latest agonizing episode in this city's troubled campaign to reinvigorate itself after the devastating floods caused by Hurricane Katrina last August. Nagin, already politically weakened by widespread criticism of his response to the flooding, now faces the difficult challenge of guiding decisions about whether some parts of the city will cease to exist. Some activists have long accused the commission -- which was appointed by Nagin -- of trying to find ways to abandon predominantly black neighborhoods, such as the Lower Ninth Ward. Wednesday's unveiling did nothing to assuage their fears, even though commission members promised to give all neighborhoods an opportunity to prove that they should be rebuilt by convening planning groups in coming months. The proposed moratorium would be in the city's most damaged neighborhoods, and officials would use the four-month period to gauge whether enough residents will come back to make the areas viable. "If this plan goes forward as it is, many people's worst fears about our African American heritage and population will come true," said Sue Sperry of the New Orleans Preservation Resource Center. "It's almost like it will be extinguished from this earth." Within minutes of the plan's unveiling, Nagin was already showing signs that he might back away from the commission's most controversial proposal. He told WWL-AM that he had some "hesitancy" about the building moratorium. He promised to seek more public input before making a final decision. At least two of the commission's proposals -- the creation of the Crescent City Rebuilding Authority to buy flood-damaged homes and the implementation of a master redevelopment plan -- will require changes to the city charter, a prospect sure to be contentious because of the mayor's long-standing animosities with the New Orleans City Council. The city is also waiting on the Federal Emergency Management Agency to determine base elevation levels required before flood insurance can be issued. The commission is hoping that Congress will approve a quasi-public recovery authority proposed by U.S. Rep. Richard H. Baker (R-La.) that would sell bonds to buy flood-damaged homes, then work with private developers to rebuild neighborhoods. Despite the hurdles ahead, the commission urged fast action on a broad set of recommendations, including stronger levees and a restructured school system. John Beckham, a consultant who helped devise the plan, urged residents to "imagine the best city in the world." Beckham -- who declined repeated requests Wednesday to identify the private foundation that hired him to draw up the plan for the commission -- told the audience that New Orleans could have "a park in every neighborhood," "a bustling downtown" and a city connected by bike paths and public transportation systems. Beckham was introduced by the commission's urban planning chairman, Joseph C. Canizaro, a real estate developer and major fundraiser for Bush, who chuckled when he was booed by some in attendance. "This is just a beginning," Canizaro told the audience. Mindful that Bush will have a tremendous influence on how much money finds its way to Louisiana, Beckham displayed some of the president's pledges on large screens. He reminded the crowd that Bush said Sept. 15 that "we will do what it takes" to rebuild New Orleans and of his promise in December to build levees that are better and stronger than before. On Thursday, Bush will visit the city for the first time in three months. The commission's recovery plan anticipates a city that will be only a fraction of its pre-Katrina size of nearly half a million residents. Beckham said the city now has about 144,000 residents and is projected to grow to 181,000 by September and 247,000 by September 2008. The shrunken city will need a restructured and more efficient local government, Beckham said, drawing smirks from City Council members seated behind the committee. The City Council, which has clashed with Nagin repeatedly -- most recently trying to use zoning laws to block sites he selected for temporary housing trailers -- has effectively been cut out of the power loop in the recovery process and does not have authority over the recovery plan. Before the commission's report had even been announced, five City Council members -- responding to leaks of the plan's main components to the city's influential newspaper, the Times-Picayune -- held a news conference to condemn the committee in the same hotel where the recovery plan was to be unveiled. Council member Jackie Brechtel Clarkson called the proposal "a blatant violation of property rights." "I think it's unprecedented in America," said Clarkson, who is also a real estate agent. The council members were flanked by leaders of the large Vietnamese community that flocked after the Vietnam War to New Orleans East, one of the areas that would be affected by the moratorium. "It just hurt us -- again," said the Rev. Luke Nguyen of Mary Queen of Vietnam Church. "We have 700, 800 families already returned, ready to gut and fix their houses." Nguyen streamed into the reception hall, shouldering past activists and homeowners bristling with anger. On a table nearby, the commission had placed placards, declaring, "We're Home." Nguyen did not bother to pick one up. ||||| But ultimately, the areas that fail to attract a critical mass of residents in 12 months will probably not survive as residential neighborhoods, Mr. Canizaro said, and are likely to end up as marshland as the city's population declines and its footprint shrinks. People who rebuild in those areas will be forced to leave, according to the proposal. Though such a requirement would be emotionally wrenching, the commission will propose a buyout program to compensate those people at the market price before Hurricane Katrina, but it is not clear whether there will be federal financing for such a program. Assuming the commission's recommendations are formally adopted by Mayor C. Ray Nagin, the plan will defer for a year one of the most contentious issues in the city's struggle to recover from the flooding that followed the hurricane: the fate of the most heavily damaged and flood-prone neighborhoods. Many residents of low-lying neighborhoods like the Lower Ninth Ward and New Orleans East have said they are determined to rebuild their ravaged blocks, while some experts have argued that such areas are better returned to marshland for safety and economic reasons. Some civic leaders who had hoped the mayor's panel, the 17-member Bring Back New Orleans Commission, would take a firm stand on the issue expressed disappointment. "There are some very tough decisions that have to be made here, and no one relishes making them," said Janet R. Howard, chief executive of the Bureau of Governmental Research, a nonprofit policy organization based in New Orleans. "But to say that people should invest their money and invest their energies and put all their hope into rebuilding and then in a year we'll re-evaluate, that's no plan at all." ||||| Their report also outlines plans for how levees and flood defences will be shored up and improved to prevent large-scale floods happening again. FLOOD DEFENCES The US Army Corps of Engineers aims to have temporary repairs to New Orleans flood defences complete by June, when the next hurricane season starts. The Bush administration has promised some $3.1bn (£1.7bn) towards repairs and limited improvements of flood defences over the next few years. Many local officials want the city's storm protection system upgraded to the extent that it can withstand a Category 5 storm - the strongest possible hurricane. Army engineers are working to effect temporary repairs The commission calls for a "comprehensive system with multiple lines of defence to protect the city". It outlines a need for perimeter levees, improved pumping system, flood gates, internal levees with separate pumps, and the restoration of coastal wetlands to absorb the worst of future storm surges. A storm barrier would be installed on 17th Street Canal, which suffered a 465ft (141 metres) wide breach in its floodwalls in the aftermath of Katrina causing some of the worst flooding. The Mississippi River Gulf Outlet was built in the 1960s to allow ships easier access to the Gulf of Mexico via the Port of New Orleans. However, what was once a 300ft (91 metres) wide channel has been expanded to a width of some 3,000ft, (914 metres) through a combination of the natural action of passing ships and deliberate widening to allow larger vessels to use it. This canal allowed Katrina's storm surge to penetrate the heart of the city. Reducing its size - or closing it altogether - are being actively considered. NEIGHBOURHOOD REDEVELOPMENT The commission report divides the city into three types of area according to severity of flood damage. Immediate Opportunity Areas have little or no flood damage. The report recommends that reconstruction can begin there immediately under existing planning regulations. To assist with recovery, city authorities will: Identify vacant and underused property for new construction Issue planning permits for repairs and construction of new housing Provide and support community, cultural facilities and services Address the immediate needs of schools and hospitals Neighbourhood Planning Areas contain severely damaged properties. The report suggests that a full planning and consultation process takes place to decide on the future of each, beginning on 20 February. Severely damaged areas must prove their viability Residents and officials including urban planners, historic preservation experts and environmental health consultants will work together to produce a redevelopment plan. The number of residents committed to returning, population needed to support facilities and the existing history and character will determine the scope and scale of redevelopment in each area | In a community congress in January, residents of the devastated city of New Orleans offered their support for a sweeping plan to rebuild the city, its districts and its neighborhoods. The “Unified New Orleans Plan” is a multi-faceted document that incorporates a number of different recovery planning efforts, including federal infrastructure plans and specific small-scale blueprints developed by individual neighborhoods. Residents overwhelmingly approved the comprehensive recovery and rebuilding plan, which is expected to be reviewed and ratified by the city in February. The plan offers incentives for raising houses. Concerns have been raised over whether some of the hard lessons taught by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita have been learnt. ''The Washington Post'' reports that some residents are beginning to rebuild their homes in the same vulnerable floodplains that in Fall 2005 were under 10 to 20 feet of water. Despite the threat, a surprising amount of the new development in New Orleans is being built without raised foundations. Mayor C. Ray Nagin has been a proponent of allowing people to return to their old neighborhoods, even if they are particularly vulnerable. But as rebuilding continues, planning officials recognize that encouraging people to return to susceptible floodplains could pose another big problem down the road. The Bush administration wants to dedicate 3.1 billion dollars to the repairs of flood defences. According to a study by the Rand Corporation in three years the city will have a population of only 275,000 compared to 465,000 inhabitants before Hurricane Katrina. The disaster also brings the unique opportunity for modernization. Ecological activist organizations have been writing green guidelines for New Orleans schools that the Louisiana Recovery Authority wants to incorporate into its plan. In American history, the challenge to rebuild vast swaths of a city is comparable to the great Chicago Fire of 1871 and the San Francisco earthquake of 1906. Both projects were much further along in their recovery 18 months after the tragedy than New Orleans is today. |
The shooting death Friday of a Laval police officer who was the father of two young daughters and was on the drug squad for less than two weeks has left the Quebec force in shock. Sgt.-Det. Daniel Tessier, 42, was one of two officers shot during a drug raid on Montreal's South Shore. His partner, Const. Stéphane Forbes, was shot in the arm but is in stable condition. Sgt.-Det. Daniel Tessier, a 17-year veteran of the force, was shot in the head Friday. He leaves behind his wife, who is also a police officer, and two daughters. (Laval Police) A civilian was also shot during the raid, and police arrested a man and a woman who were in the home at the time, but no charges have been laid yet in the incident. Tessier was shot in the head during a pre-dawn raid in the suburb of Brossard, where Laval police were executing search warrants to break up what they say was a cocaine trafficking ring. Tessier was a 17-year veteran of the force, joining the drug squad less than two weeks ago, said Laval police director Jean-Pierre Gariépy. Gariépy said Tessier was fully capable of handling a raid, even though he was a rookie on the drug squad. "He was in shape, and he was able to manage that situation," he said. "We're facing a difficult profession. Sometimes when we deal with those kinds of people, it's like flipping a coin. You get lucky, or it turns out to be the other way. This morning it turned out to be the other way." Word of the shootings spread quickly through the Laval police force and brought back painful memories, Gariépy said. Fifteen months ago, Laval Const. Valérie Gignac, 25, was shot dead with a rifle when she responded to a routine domestic disturbance call, becoming the first Laval police officer to die on the job. Her death left scars on the force that "haven't healed," Gariépy said. "I would say that the healing process has not ended with Valérie, and we are already facing another death. It's quite difficult. This morning I was making a tour of some of our detachments. I would say our people are in very deep shock." Tessier leaves behind his wife, who is also a police officer, and his two daughters, aged 10 and 12. His funeral services could be held as early as March 8. 30 officers involved About 30 police officers from the Laval and Longueuil forces were carrying out eight search warrants in Laval and Brossard when the shooting occurred. The raids capped an investigation that started in March 2006 when police say they discovered a cocaine trafficking ring operating in both municipalities. One of the search warrants brought Tessier, Forbes and 10 other Laval officers to a house on Rimouski Street in Brossard, where they entered the home just after 5 a.m. ET. Moments later, the shots rang out inside the home. The injured officers and the shot civilian were rushed to hospital in ambulances, while police on the scene arrested the two people in the house, said provincial police spokesman François Doré. The provincial police force, the Sûreté du Québec, took over the shootings investigation because Quebec law requires an outside force to review police operations in which a civilian or officer is hurt or killed. The investigation will "determine the sequence of events that led up to Mr. Tessier's death, and the circumstances that surrounded it," Doré said. It's not clear how many shots were fired or where the 12 officers were located when the gunfire erupted, but ballistics tests should provide more clues, he said, while cautioning it may be some time before police have any answers about what happened. Investigators with the provincial force's major crimes squad questioned police officers involved in the fatal raid and other witnesses in the area, SQ spokesman Marc Butz said. With files from the Canadian Press ||||| Published: Friday, March 02, 2007 LAVAL, Que. — A veteran Laval police officer has been shot to death, and another wounded in an early morning drug raid Friday in Brossard, Que. The slain officer was shot in the head and pronounced dead on arrival at a local hospital, said Laval police officials; the other officer was shot in the shoulder. Two suspects have been arrested. One suspect, a woman, was reportedly shot in the incident. Const. Daniel Tessier, 42, was a 15-year-veteran of the Laval police force. Married to Repentigny police Const. Dominique Lapointe, he had two young daughters aged 10 and 12. Laval Police Chief Jean-Paul Gariepy confirmed the death Friday afternoon at a press conference in Laval. "We have found ourselves once again in a very painful situation," Gariepy told reporters Friday. "Our people are in a very deep, very heavy shock." The Laval force lost another officer in a shooting 15 months ago. Const. Valerie Gignac, 25, was killed after she was shot while answering a routine noise call in an apartment building in Laval. Two shots were fired from behind an apartment door from a long rifle, one of which tore through Gignac’s protective vest and into her abdomen. She died shortly thereafter in hospital. At least eight police officers across Canada have been murdered in the line of duty since 2004. Friday’s shootings came as the officers were cracking down on a drug-dealing network and had warrants in eight locations — six in Laval and two in Brossard, north of Montreal. As many as 30 officers were involved in the raids. When the officers showed up at a home in Brossard about 5 a.m., gunshots were fired. A man and a woman were inside the house at the time; the woman was also injured in the clash, said Const. Marc Butz of the Surete du Quebec, who have taken over the investigation. Tessier was shot in the head and rushed to hospital suffering critical wounds. The other officer was shot in the shoulder and has received treatment for the wound. Tessier had formerly been a civil engineering student who gave up his studies to fulfill his dream of becoming a police officer, despite knowing the dangers involved, Gariepy said at a press conference Friday. He had been assigned to the morality and drug squad only one week ago, Gariepy added. His partner, Const. Stephane Forbes, 46, was shot in the arm during the operation but will survive his injury. The home is located in an upscale area of Brossard where some houses are valued at upwards of $450,000. Neighbours called the district very quiet. "It's the kind of neighbourhood where you can take a walk at 2 a.m.," said Peter Koutsis, expressing shock at this morning's shooting. © CanWest News Service 2007 | A 17-year veteran of the Laval, Quebec police force was shot dead and another injured during a drug raid in Brossard, Quebec. Constable Daniel Tessier was shot in the head and was pronounced dead on arrival at hospital. The second officer, Constable Stephane Forbes, was shot in the shoulder and is reported to be in stable condition. The officers were taking part in concurrent drug raids in the Montreal area, which involved as many as 30 officers at 8 locations. The wounded officers were shot while taking part in a 5 a.m. raid at a Brossard home. Tessier and Forbes were shot after entering the house with 4 other officers. A woman was injured during the skirmish, according to Constable Marc Butz of the Surete du Quebec, the provincial force who have taken over the investigation. Two suspects were arrested at the scene. The coordinated police raids were the follow-up to investigations into cocaine drug rings, according to Jean-Pierre Gariepy, a Laval Police spokesman. The funeral for Tessier, when it takes place, will be attended by fellow police officers from across the country. |
But the slow reversal of years of easy credit by the central bank has markets on edge, with traders and investors having grown used to very cheap borrowing costs. “It comes down to a shift in policy, and this will be a watershed event,” Mr. Anderson said. “Investors are looking beyond the first rate hike to where rates will be two, three or four years down the road.” ||||| The July jobs report came in right in line with expectations. The US economy added 215,000 jobs in July, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 5.3%. Wages also grew modestly in July, rising 0.2% over the prior month and 2.1% over the prior year. June's payrolls gains were also revised up to 231,000 from an initial estimate of 223,000. Payroll gains have averaged 246,000 over the past year and 235,000 over the past three months. The broader "U-6" measure of unemployment, which also counts those who are underemployed or want full-time work but can't find any, fell 0.1% to 10.4%. The length of the average workweek grew by 0.1 hours to 34.6. Ahead of the report, here's what Wall Street was looking for: Nonfarm payrolls: +225,000 Unemployment rate: 5.3% Average hourly earnings, month-over-month: + 0.2% Average hourly earnings, year-over-year: + 2.3% Average weekly hours worked: 34.5 The big implications of Friday's report is that another month of job gains over 200,000 could further convince markets that the Fed is ready to raise interest rates — it could do so as soon as September. Ahead of the report, Peter Tchir at Brean Capital said the bar for convincing the market that rate hikes would come in September "seems low." And in notes earlier this week, Citi's Steve Englander said payroll gains over 200,000 could be enough to get the Fed moving next month. And so it seems as if the report at least met this criteria. After the report, stock futures were lower and short-term bond yields were rising while longer-term US Treasury yields were little changed. ||||| WASHINGTON U.S. employment rose at a solid clip in July and wages rebounded after a surprise stall in the prior month, signs of an improving economy that opened the door wider to a Federal Reserve interest rate increase in September. Nonfarm payrolls increased 215,000 last month as a pickup in construction and manufacturing jobs offset further declines in the mining sector, the Labor Department said on Friday. The unemployment rate held at a seven-year low of 5.3 percent. Payrolls data for May and June were revised to show 14,000 more jobs created than previously reported. In addition, the average workweek increased to 34.6 hours, the most since February, from 34.5 hours in June. "We view this report as easily clearing the hurdle needed to keep the Fed on track for a September rate hike. The bar for not moving now is much higher," said Rob Martin, an economist at Barclays in New York. The Fed last month upgraded its assessment of the labor market, describing it as continuing to "improve, with solid job gains and declining unemployment." The U.S. central bank said its policy-setting committee anticipated it would be appropriate to raise lending rates when it has seen "some further improvement" in the jobs market. It has not raised rates since 2006. U.S. stocks fell after the jobs data as traders saw a greater chance of a rate hike next month. The dollar rose to near a four-month high against a basket of currencies before weakening. Prices for longer-dated U.S. Treasuries were up. Though hiring has slowed from last year's robust pace - mostly because of job losses in the energy sector - it remains at double the rate needed to keep up with population growth. Average hourly earnings increased five cents, or 0.2 percent, last month after being flat in June. That put them 2.1 percent above the year-ago level, but well shy of the 3.5 percent growth rate economists associate with full employment. Still, the gain supported views that a sharp slowdown in compensation growth in the second quarter and consumer spending in June were temporary. The aggregate weekly payrolls index, a proxy for take-home wages, rose 0.6 percent in July and was up 4.9 percent from a year ago. Economists had forecast nonfarm payrolls increasing 223,000 last month and wages rising 0.2 percent. WAGE VIGIL Wage growth has been disappointingly slow. But tightening labor market conditions and decisions by several state and local governments to raise their minimum wage have fueled expectations of a pickup. In addition, a number of retailers, including Walmart, the nation's largest private employer, Target and TJX Cos have increased pay for hourly workers. The jobless rate is near the 5.0 percent to 5.2 percent range most Fed officials think is consistent with a steady but low level of inflation. A broad measure of joblessness that includes people who want to work but have given up searching and those working part-time because they cannot find full-time employment fell one-tenth of a percentage point to a seven-year low of 10.4 percent in July. The short-term unemployment rate slipped to 3.8 percent from 3.9 percent in June, while the jobless rate for the long-term unemployed held steady at 1.4 percent. But the labor force participation rate, or the share of working-age Americans who are employed or at least looking for a job, held at a more than 37-1/2-year low of 62.6 percent. The fairly healthy employment report added to robust July automobile sales and service industries data in suggesting the economy continues to gather momentum after growing at a 2.3 percent annual rate in the second quarter. Last month's increase in the workweek together with the solid payrolls gain lifted the index of total hours worked by 0.5 percent, the largest rise since October. The hours worked index is seen as a proxy for gross domestic product. "We think this represents another solid employment report that meets the criteria for 'some further improvement' in the labor market and keeps the Fed in play for September," said Michelle Girard, chief economist at RBS in Stamford, Connecticut. Employment gains in July were broad-based, with the share of industries adding jobs hitting a seven-month high. Construction payrolls rose 6,000 thanks to a strengthening housing market, after being unchanged in June. Factory payrolls increased 15,000 after rising 2,000 in June. The retail sector added 35,900 jobs. Professional and business services payrolls gained 40,000 after increasing 69,000 in June. The slowdown reflected a drop of 8,900 in temporary employment, which was the weakest reading since September 2012. More layoffs in the energy sector, which is grappling with last year's sharp decline in crude oil prices, were a drag on mining payrolls, which shed 4,000 jobs in July. The mining sector has lost 78,000 jobs since December. Oilfield giants Schlumberger and Halliburton and many others in the oil and gas industry have announced thousands of job cuts in the past few months. (Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Clive McKeef and Paul Simao) ||||| America's economy is in good but not great shape this year. The U.S. economy added 215,000 jobs in July. Economists surveyed by CNNMoney predicted the economy would add 216,000 jobs. Anything above 200,000 is considered very solid. The unemployment rate stayed the same at 5.3%, which is its lowest point since April 2008, according to the Labor Department. That's considered near full employment. "Job growth is quite strong," says Jim O'Sullivan, chief economist at High Frequency Economics, a research firm in New York. "This pace of employment growth is clearly strong enough to keep the unemployment rate trending down." Wage growth -- the missing piece to America's economic progress -- remained sluggish in July. Average hourly earnings only rose 2.1% compared to the prior year. Wage growth is the reason many Americans haven't felt the benefits of the economy's recovery. The Federal Reserve wants to see annual wage growth closer to 3.5%. "Wage growth numbers are still tame," says O'Sullivan. Related: America's persistent problem: Unskilled workers What will the Fed do? The jobs report is extra important now because the Fed is close to raising its key interest rate for the first time in over nine years. The Fed has said it will only hike rates if it believe the economy is healthy enough, especially for workers. A rate increase would be a good sign for the economy's health, and how far it's come since the recession ended. Many experts believe this jobs report was strong enough to justify the Fed's first rate hike taking place in September. "It's good enough to allow the Fed to begin tightening policy," says Jeremy Lawson, senior economist at Standard Life Investments. Although the Fed wants to see better wage growth before raising rates, wage growth isn't a requirement. The Fed raised its key interest rate in June 2004 when average weekly earnings were 1.7% compared to the prior year, according to the Labor Department. Average weekly earnings in July were 2.4%. Related: Are Republicans becoming econ nerds? The takeaway: Economic growth has been okay this year -- solid but nothing to get excited about. Last year, the economy added 240,000 jobs a month on average between January and July. This year that figure is 178,000 -- a sign that job growth in isn't as stellar. However, there were some encouraging employment signs in July. The number workers who have part-time jobs but want full-time jobs fell to 6.3 million workers. A drop in the number of these so-called involuntary part-time workers means more people are finding full-time (and better paying) jobs. The black unemployment rate moved down too. It fell to 9.1%, its lowest mark since April 2008. As recently as May, the rate was over 10%. Blacks have suffered from the highest rates of unemployment. More job growth for blacks bodes well for the rest of the job market. Related: The Obama economy has problems | The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the US economy added 215,000 jobs in July. Job growth has averaged 242,000 per month for the past year. Continuing a trend of steady employment growth, the United States economy added 215,000 jobs in July, the said on Friday. The remained unchanged at 5.3%. "Job growth is quite strong," stated Jim O'Sullivan, chief economist at , a data analysis firm in New York. "This pace of employment growth is clearly strong enough to keep the unemployment rate trending down." Average hourly earnings rose 0.2%, marking a rebound after growth stalled in June. Wages have grown by 2.1% over the past year, below the target of 3.5% annual wage growth, and not much more than the underlying rate of inflation. While sluggish wage growth remains a pocket of weakness in the economic recovery, steady payroll gains averaging 242,000 per month over the past twelve months have led observers to consider a Federal Reserve interest rate hike as increasingly likely, according to ''The New York Times''. "We view this report as easily clearing the hurdle needed to keep the Fed on track for a September rate hike," said Rob Martin, an economist at in New York. "The bar for not moving now is much higher." Although the Federal Reserve has not explicitly stated that they plan to raise interest rates in the near future, the US central bank has stated that it would raise rates when it has seen "some further improvement" in the jobs market. The Fed has not increased interest rates since 2006, and during the , it lowered rates to historically low levels. == Sources == * * * * * |
American archaeologists have made the first discovery of a new tomb in the Valley of the Kings since King Tutankhamun's was uncovered in 1922, debunking the view that there was nothing left to find at the site in eastern Egypt, it emerged yesterday. The tomb, the 63rd discovered since explorers first started mapping the area more than 300 years ago, included five mummies in intact sarcophagi and more than 20 large storage jars bearing intact pharaonic seals, according to Zahi Hawass, the head of the supreme council of antiquities. It was found four metres below ground level by a team of archaeologists from the University of Memphis, led by Otto Schaden. The burial site was under rubble and stones, about five metres away from Tutankhamun's tomb. The occupier of the tomb remains unknown. One expert not involved in the excavation said images suggested that it was probably not that of a king. "It could be the tomb of a king's wife or son, or of a priest or court official," Kent Weeks said. "It clearly proves that the Valley of the Kings is still not exhausted. There are probably more tombs to be found in it." The new tomb is a single chamber, meaning it was probably intended for a single mummy, he said. Other sarcophagi may have been put in at a later time. "The objects could be 200 to 400 years later than the original cutting of the tomb. Some could be original, some may have been introduced later." The tomb dates to the 18th dynasty kings, who ruled for 500 years. It was the first dynasty of the New Kingdom, the pharaonic empire that lasted until about 1000 BC and made its capital in Thebes - the present day city of Luxor, 300 miles (500 km) south of Cairo. The Valley of the Kings was used as a burial ground throughout the New Kingdom, though not all the tombs are of kings. The new tomb will be called KV63 by archaeologists, adding to the previously known sites labelled from KV1 to KV62, which is the tomb of Tutankhamun, uncovered by Howard Carter in 1922. Treasure trove The Valley of the Kings was used for burials for around 500 years from 1540BC onwards. The site was not properly charted until the 18th century, when the early Egyptologists confirmed the presence of 47 tombs - although many artifacts were plundered. In 1922 Howard Carter found King Tut's tomb, the first that was still largely intact. ||||| Five mummies found at famed Egyptian site Discovery challenges belief that Valley of the Kings is empty Sarcophagi and pharaonic jars from the newly found tomb are shown in this image released by the Egyptian antiquities authority. YOUR E-MAIL ALERTS Egypt Howard Carter Zahi Hawass or or Create Your Own CAIRO, Egypt (AP) -- The first tomb to be discovered in the Valley of the Kings since King Tut's in 1922 contains five sarcophagi with mummies, breaking the nearly centurylong belief that there's nothing more to find in the valley where some of Egypt's greatest pharaohs were buried. The tomb's spare appearance suggests it was not dug for a pharaoh, said American archaeologist Kent Weeks, who was not involved in the University of Memphis team's find but has seen photographs of the site. "It could be the tomb of a king's wife or son, or of a priest or court official," he told The Associated Press on Thursday. So far, authorities haven't had a close enough look to know who is in the tomb. Workers have been clearing rubble to allow archaeologists to examine it. Egypt's antiquities authority has said only that the single-chamber tomb contains five wooden sarcophagi, in human shapes with colored funerary masks, surrounded by 20 jars with their pharaonic seals intact -- and that the sarcophagi contain mummies, likely from the 18th Dynasty, some 3,500-3,300 years ago. Further details were expected Friday, when antiquities chief Zahi Hawass was to unveil the tomb. Officials were tightlipped Thursday, a day after announcing the find. Calls to Hawass and other officials were not answered. American archaeologist Otto Schaden, who headed the team that uncovered the site, declined to answer questions when contacted by The Associated Press. Photos released by the Supreme Council of Antiquities showed the interior of the tomb -- the bare stone walls undecorated -- with at least five sarcophagi of blackened wood amid white jars, some apparently broken. What appeared to be a sixth sarcophagus was set on top of two of the other coffins, though the council's statement mentioned only five. The Valley of the Kings is perhaps best known as the site of King Tutankhamun's tomb, which was opened in 1922 by British archaeologist Howard Carter and revealed a treasure trove of gold artifacts along with the boy-king's mummy. The new find raises hopes that more burial sites will be found there, which experts believed held only 62 tombs, labeled KV1-KV62 by archaeologists. "I wouldn't be surprised if we discover more tombs in the next 10 years. For a long time, people thought there was nothing left to find and excavations seemed unlikely to produce much. So instead, they concentrated on recording what was already there," Weeks said. Weeks made the last major discovery in the valley. In 1995, he opened a previously known tomb -- KV5 -- and found it was far larger than expected: more than 120 chambers, which he determined were meant for sons of the pharaoh Ramses II. "It's ironic. A century ago, people said the Valley of the Kings is exhausted, there's nothing left," he said. "Suddenly Carter found Tutankhamun. So then they said, 'Now there's nothing to find.' Then we found KV5. Now we have KV63." The 18th Dynasty, which lasted from about 1500 B.C. to 1300 B.C., was the first dynasty of the New Kingdom, the pharaonic empire that lasted until about 1000 B.C. and made its capital in Thebes -- the present day city of Luxor, 300 miles south of Cairo. Tutankhamun is believed to have been the 12th ruler of the 18th Dynasty. The Valley of the Kings was used as a burial ground throughout the New Kingdom, though contrary to its name, not all the tombs found there have housed kings. Schaden's team uncovered shafts leading to the tomb -- about 15 feet from Tut's tomb -- while conducting "routine digs," the antiquities council said in a statement Wednesday. The haphazard placement of the jars and coffins suggested the burial was completed quickly, it said. The fact that the tomb contains a single chamber likely means it was meant for only one mummy, Weeks said. More likely is that the tomb was used as a storeroom for sarcophagi moved from other tombs later -- either by priests to protect them from thieves, or by thieves to stash before removing them completely. The jars, he said, appear to be meat jars for food offerings. Archaeologists will have to determine not only the date of the tomb's creation but also the dates of the individual sarcophagi and mummies to find which -- if any of them -- are the tomb's owner. The tomb's architecture will give hints on when it was dug. Early New Kingdom tombs have doors of different width and height than later ones, Weeks said. Inscriptions on the sarcophagi -- if present -- and the wrappings and other materials used in the mummies help determine their age. "The objects in the tomb don't necessarily date to the original tomb," Weeks said. "The objects could be 200 to 400 years later than the original cutting of the tomb." | Luxor Archaeologists have discovered a tomb, referred to as KV63, in Egypt's Valley of the Kings. It is the first such discovery since Howard Carter's 1922 discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb. The discovery was made by a team from the University of Memphis. Zahi Hawass, head of the Supreme Council of Antiquities said in a statement that five intact sarcophagi that all contained mummies and 20 large storage jars that were sealed with pharaonic seals had been recovered. American archaeologist Kent Weeks, who was not part of the team but had seen photographs of the site, told the Associated Press that ''"It could be the tomb of a king's wife or son, or of a priest or court official"''. The find refutes the long held belief that the Valley of the Kings has little left to discover. According to Weeks: ''"It's ironic. A century ago, people said the Valley of the Kings is exhausted, there's nothing left,"'' he said. ''"Suddenly Carter found Tutankhamun. So then they said, 'Now there's nothing to find.' Then we found KV5. Now we have KV63."'' KV63 is located in the area between KV10 (Amenmesse) and KV62 (Tutankhamun), in the very centre of the Valley's eastern branch and near the main crossroads of the network of paths traversed by thousands of tourists every day. The tomb was found at a depth of some three metres beneath the ground. The burial site is believed to date from the latter portion of the 18th dynasty (ca. 14th century BC), but the occupants have not yet been identified. |
GHAZNI, Afghanistan, Feb 27 (Reuters) - Six people were hurt when Afghan police opened fire on demonstrators who claimed U.S. troops had desecrated a Koran during a raid on a mosque.The incident took place in Deh Khodaidad village in Ghazni, southwest of the capital, Kabul.Police said a government team had been sent to investigate claims that foreign troops had raided the mosque, rounded up worshippers and tore apart copies of the Koran on Thursday night.A spokesman for the U.S. military said he was aware of a "peaceful protest". Afghan police said any injuries had been caused by "saboteurs" in the crowd.Afghanistan has seen a series of violent protests in recent years over reports of insults to Islam.More than 74,000 foreign troops operate under NATO and U.S. military's command in Afghanistan, fighting the al Qaeda-backed Taliban.(Writing by Sayed Salahuddin; Editing by David Fox) ||||| Rocks were thrown at police and at least three demonstrators were wounded by gunfire after about 500 people demonstrated in Ghazni on Friday, said Mohammad Zaman, the province's police chief. Hundreds of protesters have clashed with police in southern Afghanistan amid claims international forces opened fire inside a mosque and copies of the Quran were ripped up. The protest came a day after Polish troops were accused of shooting their weapons inside the mosque in Dhi Khodaidad village and beating local residents. "We don't know if the Polish forces entered a mosque or not, but the protesters are claiming that," Zaman said. Investigation launched One of the protesters told the Associated Press that he was in the mosque when troops entered and opened fire, although no-one was injured. At least two bullets hit the door of the mosque, said Kazim Allayar, deputy provincial governor, during a visit to the site of the alleged incident. Government officials will meet with Polish forces on Saturday to find out if they were involved, he said. Lieutenant Commander Chris Hall said, a Nato spokesman, said they were no reports of international troops being in the area where Thursday's incident allegedly occurred. Civilian deaths Robert Rochowicz, a spokesman for Poland's defence ministry, said he had "no information at all about any kind of incident concerning Polish troops in Afghanistan". International forces have been battling fighters loyal to the Taliban, which has been resurgent in Afghanistan's southern provinces in recent months. Nato and the US have both been criticised by the Afghan government over a series of raids in which civilians were killed. Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, has urged international forces to do more to respect the local population and prevent civilian deaths. ||||| The protests in the village of Dhi Khodaidad turned violent There have been angry protests in the Afghan province of Ghazni at what locals say was a raid on a mosque by international forces. A number of people were hurt when police clashed with protesters. A Nato spokesman said there were no indications its troops were in the area on Thursday when the incident was said to have occurred. Some reports say shots were fired in the mosque and also that a Koran in the building was damaged. One protester told Associated Press he saw Polish forces at the mosque in the village of Dhi Khodaidad. A Polish defence ministry spokesman told the news agency he had "no information at all about any kind of incident concerning Polish troops in Afghanistan". Ghazni police chief Mohammad Zaman said that the protest turned violent as the crowd threw rocks at police who responded with gunfire. He said the situation had now calmed down. "We don't know if the Polish forces entered a mosque or not, but the protesters are claiming that," Mr Zaman said. Afghanistan's southern provinces continue to be Taleban strongholds. ||||| Support for foreign troops in Afghanistan is falling, a survey says Afghan support falls for US-NATO presence WASHINGTON (AFP) — A nationwide survey of Afghans out Monday shows plummeting support for US and NATO/ISAF forces in Afghanistan, and a rise in the number who believe attacks on those troops are acceptable. The poll of 1,500 people in Afghanistan's 34 provinces, conducted by three Western broadcast networks -- ABC News, the BBC and Germany's ARD -- also shows lower support for President Hamid Karzai and the Afghan central government. Forty percent of Afghans surveyed say their country is heading in the right direction, down 77 percent from 2005, according to the poll. Afghan opinion of the United States has nosedived: 47 percent had a favorable opinion, down from 83 percent in 2005. US favorability plunged 18 percent in 2008 alone, according to the survey. "For the first time slightly more Afghans now see the United States unfavorably than favorably," ABC News said. The biggest complaint: civilian deaths resulting from US and NATO air strikes, which 77 percent say is unacceptable because the risk to civilians outweighs the strikes' value in fighting insurgents. Forty-one percent blame Western forces for poor targeting, while 28 percent blame the insurgents for hiding among civilians. More worrisome, 25 percent say that attacks on US troops or soldiers with the ISAF -- the NATO-led multinational force in Afghanistan -- can be justified, up from 13 percent in 2006. The survey comes as US President Barack Obama considers plans to nearly double the number of US troops in Afghanistan, and as the new administration in Washington reviews overall strategy in the region. Only 18 percent of the Afghans surveyed believe that the number of US and NATO/ISAF forces should increase, while 44 percent want the number of foreign troops to drop. Just 37 percent say that most people in their area supported the NATO forces, down from 67 percent in 2006. Obama's election seems to offer little respite: only 20 percent believe his policies will improve things in Afghanistan. "Thirty-six percent of those surveyed mostly blame US, Afghan or NATO/ISAF forces or the US or Afghan governments for the violence that's occurring, up by 10 points from 2007," ABC said. Only 27 percent mainly blame the Taliban for the violence, down by 9 points. Confidence in the Afghan government has also plunged: in 2005, 83 percent of Afghans approved of Karzai's work and 80 percent approved of the national government. That has dropped to 52 and 49 percent respectively. The survey was conducted in late December and early January in personal interviews with a nationwide sample of 1,534 Afghan adults. Field work was done by the Afghan Center for Socio-Economic and Opinion Research in Kabul, ABC said in a statement. | As many as six protesters were wounded in the Afghan province of Ghazni while protesting an alleged raid by NATO troops on a mosque. Protesters claimed that NATO troops entered a mosque, opened fire on those inside, and tore up copies of the Qur'an. Video from Al Jazeera cameramen show Afghan security forces firing their weapons at the crowd of protesters. United States officials have said that they believe all injuries resulted from "saboteurs" acting from inside the crowd. However, Afghan officials admit that they fired on the protesters. Protesters marched along the main highway, throwing stones at the police who tried to stop them. When the police could no longer hold the protesters back they opened fire, injuring as many as six. This marks another protest against U.S and NATO forces operating in Afghanistan after recent raids resulting in civilian deaths have sparked unrest. A recent poll of Afghans shows declining support for NATO and U.S forces. Just 47% of Afghans have a favorable opinion of the U.S down from 83% in 2005. Only 18% of Afghans surveyed thought that U.S and NATO forces should increase. 25% of Afghans say they think attacks on foreign troops can be justified, up from 13% in 2006. |
Poll brandishes one of three yellow cards at Simunic The English referee has paid the price for his yellow-card blunder in the Australia versus Croatia game when he booked Josip Simunic three times. Russian Valentin Ivanov, who issued a World Cup record 16 yellow and four red cards in Portugal's fiery game against Holland, is also on his way home. Argentine Horacio Elizondo will referee England's quarter-final with Portugal. Poll, 42, had been tipped as a possible World Cup final referee prior to the tournament getting under way. But a series of errors in Australia's crucial final Group F match ended any such hopes of being given the showpiece final. Poll's biggest mistake led to him cautioning Croatia's Simunic three times before finally sending him off. Graham Poll is an exceptional referee, who will be able to overcome the situation Fifa referees chief Angel Maria Villar Llona But the Tring official also dismissed Australia's Brett Emerton and Croatia's Dario Simic. And Poll awarded the Socceroos a first-half penalty for handball by Stjepan Tomas but failed to spot an even more blatant handball by the same player after the break. Mark Viduka also seemed to be bundled to the ground in the box during the first half, while it appeared that Harry Kewell was offside when he scored Australia's second equaliser. A statement from Fifa referees committee president Angel Maria Villar Llona defended Poll but also conceded he had made a mistake. The statement read: "Graham Poll is an exceptional referee and a great sportsman, who will be able to overcome the situation thanks to his strong personality and love of the game. Viduka had strong penalty claims waved away "Thursday evening's 2-2 draw between Croatia and Australia in Stuttgart saw referee Graham Poll make an error. "The experienced official is disappointed at having committed the error, the first such mistake in his 26-year career. "The Fifa referees committee also recognised the oversight and the fact that none of the match officials at the stadium picked up on the error. "In explaining his actions to the committee, Poll said he incorrectly noted down the name of the Australia number three Craig Moore when booking Simunic for the second time and failed to realise his error." Poll's assistant referees Philip Sharp and Glenn Turner will also not be involved in the latter stages of the tournament in Germany. Referees for World Cup quarter-finals: Germany v Argentina (Lubos Michel, Slovakia) Italy v Ukraine (Frank de Bleeckere, Belgium) England v Portugal (Horacio Elizondo, Argentina) Brazil v France (Luis Medina Cantalejo, Spain) Other retained referees: Toru Kamikawa (Japan), Coffi Codjia (Benin), Benito Archundia (Mexico), Jorge Larrionda (Uruguay), Mark Shield (Australia), Massimo Busacca (Switzerland), Markus Merk (Germany), Roberto Rosetti (Italy). ||||| Kewell celebrates his crucial equaliser for Australia Darijo Srna's precise free-kick gave Croatia an early lead. Australia were level through Craig Moore's penalty after Stjepan Tomas handled a cross, but Croatia hit back through Nico Kovac's bobbling drive. Kewell was on hand to fire home from close range to send the Socceroos through, while Dario Simic, Brett Emerton and Josip Simunic all saw red. Australia's draw sets up a second-round clash with Group E winners Italy as Japan failed to overhaul group winners Brazil. The Socceroos surprisingly opted to leave out first-choice goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer in favour of the taller Zeljko Kalac. And the replacement keeper's first touch was to pick the ball out of the net after Srna's bending set piece caught him out. Mark Viduka's mistimed lunge on Nico Kovac on the edge of the area brought about the free-kick and Srna sweetly dispatched Croatia's first goal of the tournament. Nico Kovac reacts to Croatia's exit from the World Cup But far from being rocked by the early setback, the Australians pressed forward and took control of possession. And Viduka almost made up for his error when he burst through on goal, but he was left fuming when Josip Simunic appeared to have wrestled the Middlesbrough striker to the ground. Kewell and Tim Cahill both went close with long-range efforts as the Socceroos camped inside the Croatian half. And they were rewarded for their endeavour on 38 minutes when Tomas' moment of madness handed Australia a penalty. Tomas rose to deal with an in-swinging cross and his outstretched arm just clipped the ball which was cleverly spotted by English referee Graham Poll. Newcastle defender Moore stepped up to coolly slot home the resulting spot-kick. Dado Prso wasted a decent chance to put Croatia back ahead but blasted over a close-range effort, and it was the Aussies who would have been the most satisfied going in level at the break. Ten minutes after the interval Australia returned the favour for Tomas' earlier kindness when the unimpressive Kalac misread Kovac's tame drive, allowing the ball to hop over him into his net. Graham Poll sends off Josip Simunic after the full-time whistle With Australia streaming forward for the vital equaliser the game became stretched and Kewell took advantage of some space, forcing an instinctive reflex save from Stipe Pletikosa. And moments later the keeper bravely threw himself underneath two Australian challenges to heroically keep Aloisi out. But he was helpless to prevent the Australia equaliser as Kewell, who looked to be in an offside position, turned home John Aloisi's flick from Marco Bresciano's in-swinging cross. Simic and Emerton were both dismissed for two bookable offences in the final 10 minutes, while Simunic, who received a second caution, was mistakenly not shown a red by referee Poll. To add to the drama, Cahill had a goal disallowed as Poll had already blown for full time and as Simunic complained, the referee handed him his third yellow of the match and an overdue red card. Croatia: Pletikosa, Simic, Tudor, Tomas (Klasnic 84), Simunic, Srna, Nico Kovac, Babic, Kranjcar (Jerko Leko 65), Prso, Olic (Modric 73). Subs Not Used: Balaban, Bosnjak, Butina, Didulica, Ivan Leko, Seric, Tokic, Vranjes. Sent Off: Simic (85), Simunic (90). Booked: Simic, Tudor, Simunic, Pletikosa. Goals: Srna 3, Nico Kovac 56. Australia: Kalac, Neill, Moore, Chipperfield (Kennedy 75), Emerton, Grella (Aloisi 63), Culina, Cahill, Sterjovski (Bresciano 71), Kewell, Viduka. Subs Not Used: Beauchamp, Covic, Lazaridis, Milligan, Popovic, Schwarzer, Skoko, Thompson, Wilkshire. Sent Off: Emerton (87). Booked: Emerton. Goals: Moore 39 pen, Kewell 79. Att: 52,000 Ref: Graham Poll (England). Fifa man of the match: Harry Kewell TRIVIA Australia progress from the group stages of a World Cup for the first time, while coach Guus Hiddink has successfully negotiated the first round group phase for the third time. In 1998 and 2002 he reached the semi-finals with the Netherlands and South Korea. Only seven trainers have reached the same milestone, with Helmut Schon and Bora Milutinovic the record holders, having progressed on four occasions. Croatia-Australia was only the fourth match in the history of the World Cup with three red cards. Dario Simic and Josep Simunic (both Croatia) and Brett Emerton (Australia) were all dismissed. Emerton will be suspended for Australia's second round match against Italy. Dario Simic received his fourth and fifth career yellow cards at the World Cup, equalling the record held by Lothar Matthaus, Eddie Pope and Cafu. Darijo Srna's opening goal was Croatia's first in four World Cup matches, since Milan Rapaic's winner against Italy on 8 June 2002 in a group phase match. Trivia stats source: Infostrada Sports ||||| Unfortunately we are unable to process your request at this time. This error is usually temporary. Please try again later. If you continue to experience this error, it may be caused by one of the following: You may want to scan your system for spyware and viruses, as they may interfere with your ability to connect to Yahoo!. For detailed information on spyware and virus protection, please visit the Yahoo! Security Center. This problem may be due to unusual network activity coming from your Internet Service Provider. We recommend that you report this problem to them. While this error is usually temporary, if it continues and the above solutions don't resolve your problem, please let us know. Return to Yahoo! | 50px Australia drew with Croatia 2-2 in a drama-packed final Group F game in Stuttgart, Thursday. The draw put Australia on four points and Croatia on two, allowing the Australian team, nicknamed "The Socceroos", to progress into the Fifa World Cup round of sixteen. Gottlieb Daimler Stadion, Stuttgart The action-packed match, which was witnessed by 52'000 at Gottlieb Daimler Stadion, had controversy throughout the game. Croatian defender Stjepan Tomas handballed two Australian crosses within the Croatian penalty area; but only one penalty was given. This was inconsistent with matches such as the clash between Serbia and Montenegro against Côte d'Ivoire (The Ivory Coast), where Milan Dudic of Serbia and Montenegro committed two fouls against Côte d'Ivoire the previous day and both penalties were awarded on that occasion. There was high tensions in the last moments of the match, as Croatia was desperate to get a winner while Australia did not want to concede. This is reflected by the fact that this game was only the fifth time in World Cup history (and the second time in the 2006 World Cup) where three players had been shown a red card in one match. The other times were 1938 - Brazil vs. Czechoslovakia, 1954 - Brazil vs. Hungary, 1998 - Denmark vs. South Africa, and 2006 - USA vs. Italy. Three players were shown two yellow cards, but in the confusion of the last few minutes of the match, English referee Graham Poll had only sent two of those players off the field. Dario Simic was first to go after fouling Harry Kewell, halting an Australian breakaway. Australian Brett Emerton walked when he committed a handball foul, preventing an attacking pass by Croatia. Josip Simunic should have gone at the 90 minute mark when Poll flashed him a second yellow card for what may be described as a rugby tackle in a last ditch attempt to stop another Australian breakaway. The referee failed to realise that he had booked Simunic 61 minutes into the game and allowed him to stay on until he was booked a third time after the end of injury time three minutes later. In the Fifa match report, the last booking was also officially recorded. Poll later claimed to the Fifa referee committee when he booked Simunic for the second time he had marked down the number of Australian Craig Moore instead. An earlier drama in a second half saw Croatia's go-ahead goal. Tim Cahill fail to challenge Niko Kovac until the edge of the Australian penalty area; this resulted in Kovac using the space for a low shot at Australian goalkeeper Zeljko Kalac. Kalac's egregious attempt at the save seemed almost like a dive out of the way when the ball hit a bad bounce in front of him, and rolled into the net. The game started spectacularly with arguably the best freekick goal the tournament seen to this point, scored by Darijo Srna. Right footed, 30 yards out, he curled it over the wall and past the out-stretched right hand of Kalac into the top left corner of the Australian net. On 37 minutes Poll penalised Tomas' handball and Craig Moore converted the penalty shot easily down the middle. Stipe Pletikosa gave plenty of space for Moore to shoot, having committed his dive a metre left while Moore was still having his run up. Pletikosa later made two outstanding saves, a reaction stop from Kewell and then to grab a low cross amidst flying legs on his goal line. Australia had more shots at goal and ball possession in the match, and their second equaliser came 11 minutes from time. Marco Bresciano's cross was flicked onward by John Aloisi, allowing Kewell to strike past Pletikosa near the far post. Australia manager Guus Hiddink might think the match was a rather surreal affair, but the reality is he has progressed Australia into the round of sixteen for the first time at the World Cup finals. Italy, winners of Group E, will meet them in the round of sixteen. |
To view our videos, you need to enable JavaScript. Learn how. install Adobe Flash 9 or above. Install now. Then come back here and refresh the page. CHARLOTTE – Information has been released on what was a near collision on the runway at Charlotte-Douglas International Airport last week. The National Transportation Safety Board says a PSA Airlines jet, operated by US Airways, and a smaller turboprop plane came within 10 feet of running into each other on the same runway Friday. Officials first released the information on Tuesday. The jet, with 43 passengers onboard and three crew members, was rolling down the runway for takeoff when the smaller plane pulled onto the same runway. A warning system alerted air traffic controllers, who cancelled the jet’s takeoff. No one was hurt in the incident. ||||| Why did this happen? Please make sure your browser supports JavaScript and cookies and that you are not blocking them from loading. For more information you can review our Terms of Service and Cookie Policy. ||||| NTSB Advisory National Transportation Safety Board Washington, DC 20594 June 2, 2009 NTSB INVESTIGATING RUNWAY INCURSION AT CHARLOTTE DOUGLAS INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating a runway incursion that occurred on Friday morning at the Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT) involving a general aviation aircraft and a regional jet airliner bound for New Bern, NC (EWN). At about 10:17 a.m. on May 29, a PSA Airlines CRJ-200 regional jet operated as US Airways Express flight 2390, was cleared for takeoff on runway 18L. After the regional jet was into its takeoff roll, a Pilatus PC-12, a single engine turboprop aircraft, was cleared to taxi into position and hold farther down the same runway in preparation for a departure roll that was to begin at the taxiway A intersection. After the ground-based collision warning system (ASDE-X) alerted controllers to the runway incursion, the takeoff clearance for the regional jet was cancelled. The pilot of the PC-12, seeing the regional jet coming down the runway on a collision course, taxied the PC-12 to the side of the runway. The FAA reported that the regional jet stopped approximately 10 feet from the PC-12. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed with 9 miles visibility. There were no reported injuries to any of the 42 passengers or crew of three aboard the jet, or to any of those on the PC-12. NTSB Media Contact: Peter Knudson (202) 314-6100 peter.knudson@ntsb.gov NTSB Home | << Back to Press Releases Page << | News & Events | A file photo of a Pilatus PC-12 Investigators with the United States National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) are looking into a serious runway incursion at Charlotte Douglas International Airport in North Carolina. A regional jet came within ten feet of striking a private turboprop. The other aircraft was a CRJ-200 The incident occured on May 29. A Bombardier CRJ-200 owned by US Airways subsidiary PSA Airlines was cleared to take off. As the jet moved off down the runway a Pilatus PC-12 was cleared to move onto the same runway and await permission to begin its own takeoff. As the jet headed towards the other aircraft a monitoring system called ASDE-X alerted air traffic control that the aircraft was on a collision course. The controllers immediately informed the PSA jet. As the aircraft approached the PC-12 the turboprop's pilot also realised the danger and moved his aircraft to one side of the runway. The jet was able to come to a stop just ten feet from the other plane. The CRJ-200 had 42 passengers and three crew on board, and it is unclear how many people were on the PC-12. |
Six Senegalese Soldiers Killed in Ambush Senegal Map Six Senegalese soldiers were killed in an ambush near the country's border with Guinea-Bissau late Friday. Senegalese rebels in the area have been stepping up their attacks. The soldiers were returning from patrol late Friday when they were ambushed in an attack thought to have been carried out by rebels from the Casamance Movement of Democratic Forces (MFDC). Six soldiers were killed and three injured in the ambush in the Niagha district along Senegal's border with Guinea Bissau, about 120 kilometers east of the regional capital Ziguinchor. It is one of the deadliest attacks against Senegalese troops in recent years and comes a day after gunmen killed one person and wounded three others in an attack on a taxi in the region. A reporter for VOA in Casamance says more than 1,000 civilians have fled the area near the Bissau border and are camping along the national highway toward Ziguinchor. The Senegalese air force last month bombed rebel bases near Ziguinchor after suspected MFDC fighters killed a soldier at an army outpost. Two people were killed in an attack on a bus in August. The Casamance is Senegal's southern district, separated geographically from the rest of the country by Gambia. The rebellion there is one of Africa's longest-running conflicts. It was originally begun as a separatist movement of ethnic Dioula fighting for greater autonomy from the government in Dakar. A 2004 peace accord restored order in Casamance and led to hopes that the region might once again become a valuable tourist destination. Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade But attacks have grown this year with rebels accusing President Abdoulaye Wade's government of neglecting the people of Casamance, who produce much of the nation's grain. Local government officials are calling for renewed talks with the MFDC movement. A communiqué last month, attributed to the head of one of the group's factions, said the rebels prefer negotiations but were provoked by the military in recent clashes. In a nation-wide address last month, President Wade deplored the recent violence and vowed to pursue peace efforts with the MFDC. Six Senegalese soldiers were killed in an ambush near the country's border with Guinea-Bissau late Friday. Senegalese rebels in the area have been stepping up their attacks.The soldiers were returning from patrol late Friday when they were ambushed in an attack thought to have been carried out by rebels from the Casamance Movement of Democratic Forces (MFDC).Six soldiers were killed and three injured in the ambush in the Niagha district along Senegal's border with Guinea Bissau, about 120 kilometers east of the regional capital Ziguinchor.It is one of the deadliest attacks against Senegalese troops in recent years and comes a day after gunmen killed one person and wounded three others in an attack on a taxi in the region.A reporter for VOA in Casamance says more than 1,000 civilians have fled the area near the Bissau border and are camping along the national highway toward Ziguinchor.The Senegalese air force last month bombed rebel bases near Ziguinchor after suspected MFDC fighters killed a soldier at an army outpost. Two people were killed in an attack on a bus in August.The Casamance is Senegal's southern district, separated geographically from the rest of the country by Gambia. The rebellion there is one of Africa's longest-running conflicts.It was originally begun as a separatist movement of ethnic Dioula fighting for greater autonomy from the government in Dakar. A 2004 peace accord restored order in Casamance and led to hopes that the region might once again become a valuable tourist destination.But attacks have grown this year with rebels accusing President Abdoulaye Wade's government of neglecting the people of Casamance, who produce much of the nation's grain.Local government officials are calling for renewed talks with the MFDC movement. A communiqué last month, attributed to the head of one of the group's factions, said the rebels prefer negotiations but were provoked by the military in recent clashes.In a nation-wide address last month, President Wade deplored the recent violence and vowed to pursue peace efforts with the MFDC. E-mail Print Digg Yahoo Buzz Facebook del.icio.us StumbleUpon ||||| DAKAR (Reuters) - At least six soldiers were ambushed and killed in Senegal in a flareup of suspected separatist violence in the Casamance region, media reported on Saturday. The attack took place late on Friday in the Niagha district close to the West African country's border with Guinea-Bissau, the Sud newspaper reported on its website. It came a day after gunmen killed one person and wounded three in an attack on a taxi in Casamance, which has become a tourist hotspot despite continuing unrest. Army officials could not be reached to confirm the attack in the region where the Movement of Democratic Forces of Casamance (MFDC) for decades has waged a low-level insurgency. Suspected MFDC guerrillas killed a soldier in an attack last month on an army outpost near the regional capital Ziguinchor. Two people died in an attack on a bus in August. The rebels accuse the government of neglecting Casamance. Numerous deals have failed to secure lasting peace for the region, which is also an important grain producer. Analysts worry that tensions in neighbouring Guinea -- where authorities killed scores of anti-government protesters in a security crackdown on Monday -- could unsettle neighbouring countries such as Senegal, Liberia and Sierra Leone. | Six Senegalese soldiers were killed in an ambush near the country's border with Guinea-Bissau late on Friday, according to reports. The clashes come after Senegalese rebels in the area started stepping up their attacks. The soldiers were returning from patrol in the Niagha district along Senegal's border with Guinea Bissau when they were ambushed in an attack thought to have been carried out by rebels from the Casamance Movement of Democratic Forces (MFDC). It was one of the deadliest attacks against Senegalese troops in recent years, and comes a day after gunmen killed one person and wounded three others in an attack on a taxi in the region. A reporter for Voice of America in Casamance said that more than 1,000 civilians have fled the area near the Bissau border and are camping along the national highway toward Ziguinchor. The Senegalese air force last month bombed rebel bases near Ziguinchor after suspected MFDC fighters killed a soldier at an army outpost. Two people were killed in an attack on a bus in August. The Casamance is Senegal's southern district, separated geographically from the rest of the country by Gambia. The rebellion there is one of Africa's longest-running conflicts. It was originally begun as a separatist movement of ethnic Dioula fighting for greater autonomy from the government in Dakar. A 2004 peace accord restored order in Casamance and led to hopes that the region might once again become a valuable tourist destination. But attacks have grown this year, with rebels accusing President Abdoulaye Wade's government of neglecting the people of Casamance, who produce much of the nation's grain. Local government officials are calling for renewed talks with the MFDC movement. A communiqué last month, attributed to the head of one of the group's factions, said the rebels prefer negotiations but were provoked by the military in recent clashes. In a nation-wide address last month, the president denounced the recent violence and vowed to pursue peace efforts with the MFDC. Some analysts have also voiced concerns that recent conflicts in the neighbouring country of Guinea-Bissau, where dozens of anti-government demonstrators were killed by government security forces, could spill over into Senegal and other states such as Liberia and Sierra Leone. |
MOSCOW (Reuters) - A Russian journalist died on Wednesday after being beaten in police custody, authorities and colleagues said, deepening concern about police abuses after a string of scandals involving violence and corruption. Journalists in the Siberian city of Tomsk, some 3,100 km (1,900 miles) east of Moscow, said Konstantin Popov, 47, was also tortured by his assailant. They also called for the dismissal of top regional police officials. The federal Investigative Committee, which did not identify the victim except by age, said he was hospitalized on January 4 with severe injuries to internal organs after being beaten by an officer in a police holding cell for drunks. He died without emerging from a coma, the committee said. The chairman of the Tomsk branch of the Union of Journalists of Russia, Alexei Sevastyanov, said Popov was violated with an object he would not identify. “He was tortured,” he said. The alleged assailant, police officer Alexei Mitayev, 26, was charged with aggravated assault and abuse of authority, the committee said. Mitayev admitted to the beating, citing stress, media said. He has been dismissed from the police force. Popov was a co-founder of regional newspaper publisher and magazine, Tema. Its editor-in-chief Konstantin Karpachyov said it was unlikely Popov was killed because of his work. “This could happen to absolutely anyone,” Karpachyov said. “It demonstrates the police terror is aimed against everybody.” STATE-RUN MEDIA SPEAKS OUT In an unusual outcry by the Russian media, which Kremlin critics say panders to the authorities, journalists on Wednesday condemned police and a Moscow court which fined a photographer for taking part in an unsanctioned opposition protest. State-run RIA Novosti news agency denied its photographer, Andrei Stenin, took part in the protest and said he there was “on assignment”. The court could not be contacted for comment on Wednesday. More than 20 Russian editors, from state-run television channels, to popular daily newspapers, signed a petition asking Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev to check the behavior of the police who detained Stenin, news site newsru.com said. “Hands off journalists!”, the non-governmental Union of Journalists said in a statement on its website. Since 2000, at least 17 Russian journalists have been killed due to their work, and the killers have been convicted in only one case, the U.S.-based Committee to Protect Journalists said. Recent outbursts of police violence, from drunken shooting sprees to bludgeoning a man to death, have added to widely negative perceptions of law enforcement officers in Russia, fueled by mounting evidence of corruption. President Dmitry Medvedev said last month police misconduct was sparking public anger and undermining the state’s authority. He called for serious reform and ordered the 1.4 million-strong Interior Ministry staff cut by one-fifth by 2012. ||||| A Russian journalist who was thrown into a Siberian drunk tank and savagely beaten by a young police officer died Wednesday, in a case that has sparked a national conversation about the latent alcoholism and casual violence that wind their way through life in this winter-hardened land. Konstantin Popov was a little-known journalist who specialized in writing about economics. A few days into the new year, in the thick of a 10-day Russian holiday known for its debaucheries, the 47-year-old was arrested and placed in the police holding cell reserved for the drunk and disorderly. He was taken home the next day, but he had been beaten so badly that his wife grew alarmed and took him to a hospital. His internal organs had been damaged, and he soon lapsed into a coma. Attacks on journalists are not uncommon in Russia, and Popov’s death drew national attention. News conferences were called. The Tomsk drunk tank was closed down. The deputy police chief resigned, along with the supervisor of the holding cell. The police chief apologized. The young officer was arrested and confessed. Advertisement But human rights activists warn that the case is just one small story in a tapestry of alcoholism, police brutality and expected impunity for authorities that bedevils today’s Russia. “The only thing different about this case is that he happened to be a journalist, so it became a high-profile public case. But the same thing happens every day,” said Svetlana Gannushkina, a human rights lawyer and chairwoman of Russia’s Civic Assistance committee. “Usually the cases are just closed down because there’s no evidence, nobody testifies, and it’s impossible to get to the bottom of it.” There’s no indication that Popov’s death was the deliberate killing of a journalist. He had worked for years as a spokesman for the now-bankrupt Yukos oil company; more recently he had opened a publishing company and printing plant, and wrote columns about economics. “Anybody could be beaten like that,” said Konstantin Karpachyov, editor of the Tomsk edition of the Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper. “He was not a high-profile journalist and he was not publicly known. We can’t say he had a big name in local journalism.” Advertisement Popov wound up in one of the many drunk tanks that exist across Russia, holding pens for people who have drunk themselves blind, beaten up their wives or girlfriends -- or both. The tanks are notoriously harrowing places. People who wash into police custody during the wee hours are sometimes beaten, forced into cold showers or lashed to cots; they often lose their wallets or cellphones for good. The 26-year-old police officer told investigators that he lost control of himself because of stress, a Tomsk investigator said at a news conference Wednesday, according to the Interfax news agency. The policeman, Alexei Mitayev, will undergo a string of psychiatric tests next month. The investigator told reporters that Mitayev was suffering “a lengthy, traumatizing situation” because he had fathered children with two women. Advertisement “Essentially, he lived between two families,” investigator Andrei Gusev told reporters. “He says the stress is due to family problems.” megan.stack@latimes.com | A middle-aged Russian journalist in Tomsk, Siberia, died Wednesday. He succumbed to injuries suffered when a young police officer allegedly beat him into a coma earlier in the month while in a holding cell reserved for the drunk and disorderly. The injuries included severe damage to many of his internal organs. Authorities identified this little-known reporter who specialized in economics as Konstantin Popov. Popov was one of the cofounders of a small regional newspaper publisher and a local magazine called ''Tema''. In a country where police brutality and corruption—especially against journalists—is not uncommon, the editor-in-chief of ''Tema'', Konstantin Karpachyov, said it was unlikely Popov's murder was in any way related to his work. Russian police vehicle. (Circa 2005) However, Karpachyov went on to say that, "This could happen to absolutely anyone. It demonstrates the police terror is aimed against everybody." "The only thing different about this case is that he happened to be a journalist, so it became a high-profile public case. But the same thing happens every day," said Svetlana Gannushkina, of Russia's Civic Assistance committee. "Usually the cases are just closed down because there's no evidence, nobody testifies, and it's impossible to get to the bottom of it." Upon learning Popov's identity, numerous members of the state-controlled media strongly criticized the police for their passive response to the actions allegedly committed by one of their own. Following which, news conferences were called, and before long Popov's case began to draw national attention. This resulted in the holding cell where Popov's beating occurred being closed down. In addition, the deputy police chief resigned as well as supervisor of the precinct in question. The Tomsk police chief apologized. The suspected officer, Alexei Mitayev, was dismissed from the force, arrested, and is said to have since confessed to this crime. Mitayev cited that "stress due to family problems" is what led to his actions against Popov. The chairman of the Tomsk branch of the Union of Journalists of Russia said that a source close to the investigation told him that Popov was not only beaten but was also "tortured" and "violated" with a foreign object. "Hands off journalists!" the journalist union said in a statement on its website. According to the United States-based Committee to Protect Journalists, as far as they know, "since 2000, at least seventeen Russian journalists have been killed due to their work, and the killers have been convicted in only one case." President Dmitry Medvedev said that such police misconduct was not only angering the Russian public, but was also undermining the state's authority. He called for comprehensive reform and ordered the Interior Ministry to cut its staff by one-fifth by 2012. |
Review Against Zidane and Lizarazu: Bayern win the UEFA Cup in 1996 FC Bayern had to wait 20 years until 15 May 1996: Winning the UEFA Cup was the first European title... Bundesliga Restart Recap: Bayern's season so far Bundesliga action returns this weekend following the coronavirus disruption. Here's a reminder ... Matchdays 27-29 scheduled Klassiker in Dortmund on 26 May The DFL announced the exact dates and kick-off times for Bundesliga Matchdays 27-29 on Thursday... Diary A day in the life of esports pro Miguel Mestre Ever wondered what a normal day looks like for a professional esports player? Miguel Mestre reveals... ||||| FC Bayern appeals to reason and sense of responsibility of fans: Please stay away from the stadium... FC Bayern appeals to reason and sense of responsibility of fans Please stay away from the stadium Matches behind closed doors, personnel and more - Hansi Flick’s key statements ahead of the match...... Live ticker, web radio & more How to follow the Union game live on fcbayern.com and on the App You can keep in touch with all the action in Berlin on Sunday. | Bayern Munich and drew 2-2 today. Bolton Wanderers opened the scoring after only eight minutes when scored on a deflected shot. After taking 15 minutes to settle in, Bayern Munich started to attack more frequently and it paid dividends after 30 minutes when Lukas Podolski equalized. Early in the 2nd half Bayern Munich took the lead when Podolski got his 2nd goal of the game. However, with 8 minutes left, Bolton equalized which earned Bolton's 2nd point in the group stage while Bayern lead Group F with 4 points. If Bayern Munich wins their next UEFA Cup match, they are all but assured their place in the next round. |
EDMONTON — Police have received more than a dozen tips since EnCana’s offer Tuesday of a $500,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the pipeline bomber near Dawson Creek, B.C. RCMP spokesman Sgt. Tim Shields said of as 5 p.m. Tuesday, 11 phone calls were logged through its dedicated tip line — 1-866-994-7473 — “and there have been more today but I know don’t exactly how many.” The reward was called an “act of desperation” by terrorism expert Paul Joosee, who pointed to a lengthy investigation by police which has netted few solid leads and no prime suspect. Since mid-October, a total of four explosions targeted EnCana’s sour gas operations in northeastern B.C., the most recent on Jan. 4 when a bomb blew apart a wall of a shed housing a sour-gas pipe. Police say although no one has been injured yet, each successive bombing is getting closer to populated areas around the Tomslake community, prompting investigators to label the attacks “increasingly violent.” Shields said police are also increasingly frustrated by the continued lack of co-operation shown by the “persons of interest” first identified during a press conference in early December. Shields said the “small group” of individuals — he declined to say how many there are — either won’t talk to police at all anymore or, if they are still talking, “won’t talk about what we want to talk about.” “They know who they are,” said Shields. He stressed that they are not only hindering the overall investigation, but are stopping police from eliminating them as suspects once and for all. “It’s proving to be difficult because we recognize the vast majority of people who have surfaced during the course of the investigation are going to be innocent, and our goal is to clear these people and eliminate them as quickly as possible,” said Shields. “So, since we have a group of ‘persons of interest,’ we know that we want to be able to clear them, so, please, help us clear you.” Shields characterized at least some of the tips received so far as being "very low quality,” but investigators are hopeful more substantive information will soon be forthcoming. “We’re continuing to process all information, and all leads,” said Shields. “It’s been a long and intense investigation, but we are still moving forward.” jhall@thejournal.canwest.com © Copyright (c) The Edmonton Journal ||||| EnCana offers up to $500,000 for info in B.C. pipeline bombings VANCOUVER, B.C. — The RCMP has identified "persons of interest" in connection with four gas pipeline bombings in northeastern British Columbia as the company being targeted offered a $500,000 reward Tuesday. However, those people and others are not co-operating with the police investigation, RCMP Sgt. Tim Shields said. "And to those people, we are asking that they do the right thing," Shields said. "They know who they are because we've spoken to them." Shields made the comments at a news conference in which EnCana Corp. (TSX:ECA), one of Canada's largest energy companies, offered the reward for information directly leading to the arrest and prosecution in the recent bombings of its facilities in the gas-rich region. There have been four bombing attacks on EnCana facilities near Dawson Creek since October. The latest incident was discovered last week, when a metering shed near the community of Tomslake was damaged by a blast. The first three explosions last October involved pipelines or wellheads carrying sour gas, which contains toxic hydrogen sulphide. Nobody has been injured but police have warned that the last blast was only about 250 metres from a residence. The RCMP is making an appeal to family and friends of the "persons of interest" and asking them to come to police with their suspicions, Shields told a packed news conference at RCMP headquarters in Vancouver. He refused to elaborate on the degree of resistance investigators have met with, but said "they are being less than co-operative." Police have theories about why they are not co-operating but Shields again refused to elaborate. With the most recent attack so close to a home, EnCana executive Mike Graham said they feel extremely fortunate that no one has been seriously hurt so far. "But if the attacks continue there is a serious risk of injuries or even death," Graham said at the news conference. He said the reward may not be for only one tip, but could be paid out in smaller increments depending on the quality of the information. "After consulting with the RCMP and the Crown assigned to the prosecution, EnCana will determine the monetary value, if any, of the information provided to the investigation." Mounties hit a dead end after identifying and ruling out eight people spotted on video surveillance in a store with a postal outlet on the same day a threatening letter was mailed. The letter was sent to local media and EnCana, calling oil and gas companies, and EnCana in particular, "terrorists" and demanding the company stop natural gas operations in northeastern B.C. EnCana, a major natural gas producer and oilsands operator, announced in December that it had cut its cash-flow expectations and announced a "conservative, prudent and flexible" 2009 capital budget of about US$6.1 billion, down 13 per cent from $7 billion this year. EnCana is the major play in the oil and gas sector in northeastern B.C. There are more than 4,000 producing oil and gas wells in British Columbia, all in that area of the province. The industry has seen massive growth since the mid-90s, with provincial revenues jumping from $370 million in 1996 to $2.5 billion in 2006 - mostly related to natural gas projects. ||||| EnCana offers $500,000 reward for tips on B.C. pipeline bombings EnCana vice-president Mike Graham says the company is offering $500,000 for tips that lead to an arrest and conviction in the recent bombing of its facilities in northeastern B.C. (CBC) EnCana vice-president Mike Graham says the company is offering $500,000 for tips that lead to an arrest and conviction in the recent bombing of its facilities in northeastern B.C. (CBC) One of Canada's largest oil and gas companies is offering a cash reward of up to $500,000 for tips leading to an arrest and prosecution in the recent series of bombings targeting its natural gas facilities in northeastern B.C. "We take the bombings of our facilities very seriously. The safety of our workers and the people who live in the communities where we operate is of paramount importance," said EnCana executive vice-president Mike Graham on Tuesday. "That's why we are putting up this reward to help stop these bombings and end the threat that they pose to people in the Dawson Creek area," he said. CBC News first broke the news of the planned reward on Monday, but the actual value was revealed by Graham at RCMP headquarters in Vancouver on Tuesday morning. Since October, four bombs have been detonated: at two of the company's remote natural gas pipelines, a wellhead and a metering shed in the Tomslake area near Dawson Creek in northeastern B.C. Unco-operative residents thwarting investigation: RCMP After months of investigation, including a dedicated website, RCMP said Tuesday that its work was being thwarted by unco-operative residents who are opposed to sour gas exploration. Police experts at the scene of a bombing near an EnCana sour gas line outside of Dawson Creek, B.C., in October. (CBC) Police experts at the scene of a bombing near an EnCana sour gas line outside of Dawson Creek, B.C., in October. (CBC) RCMP Sergeant Tim Shields said there are many individuals of interest in the case but so far, not enough evidence to consider anyone a suspect. "There is a small group of individuals within the community who we have spoken to many times," he said. "They know full well who they are, and they have not been co-operative. And we are appealing to those people to do the right thing and come forward to our investigators and tell us what they know." Both RCMP and EnCana officials said they are not concerned about a possible backlash in the community over the reward offering cash to people to turn in a loved-one or a friend to police. No one injured in bomb attacks The latest bombing incident took place last week, when a metering shed near Tomslake was damaged. The first three explosions last October involved pipelines or wellheads carrying sour gas, which contains toxic hydrogen sulphide. "It is fortunate that no one has been seriously hurt during the bombings, but if they continue, there is a serious risk of injuries or death," Graham said. "Whoever is responsible for these bombings has to be stopped before someone gets hurt. We hope this reward will encourage anyone who has knowledge of those responsible for the bombings to come forward and help put an end to these dangerous attacks," Graham said. Anyone with information about the bombings is encouraged to contact the RCMP. The legal terms of the reward published on EnCana's website say anyone who colluded in the bombings is not eligible for the reward. | A gas pipeline in British ColumbiaOn Wednesday, Canadian energy company EnCana announced that it would pay a C$500,000 cash reward for information leading to an arrest and prosecution in four bombings of its natural gas pipelines. The explosions have occurred over the past three months in northeastern British Columbia. While the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) has been investigating the situation since the first explosion in October, there are still no suspects. Some residents in the area are vocally opposed to EnCana's gas exploration, and have not been cooperative, according to the RCMP. "There is a small group of individuals within the community who we have spoken to many times," RCMP Sergeant Tim Shields noted. "They know full well who they are, and they have not been co-operative. And we are appealing to those people to do the right thing and come forward to our investigators and tell us what they know." The four bombings, which targeted pipelines, wellheads and a metering shed in the Tomslake community, have not injured anyone. Encana fears that residents or its employees may not be so lucky if there are further bombings. EnCana executive vice-president Mike Graham commented that, "Whoever is responsible for these bombings has to be stopped before someone gets hurt. We hope this reward will encourage anyone who has knowledge of those responsible for the bombings to come forward and help put an end to these dangerous attacks." The reward has elicited over a dozen tips since its announcement. While some of the tips have been "very low quality," the RCMP remains hopeful and will continue to process all leads. Rewards of smaller amounts may be paid out for information that aids the investigation but does not directly lead to an arrest. "After consulting with the RCMP and the Crown assigned to the prosecution, EnCana will determine the monetary value, if any, of the information provided to the investigation," noted Graham. |
(Updates with call for power sharing deal in Kenya) By Tabassum Zakaria and Samuel Elijah COTONOU, Feb 16 U.S. President George W. Bush began a visit to Africa on Saturday with a call for a power sharing agreement in Kenya to end the post-election conflict there that has killed 1,000 people. Bush, whose five-nation trip does not include Kenya, is sending Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to Nairobi on Monday to back mediation efforts between Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki and his opponents by former United Nations chief Kofi Annan. "Kenya's an issue ... that's why I'm sending Secretary Rice there to help with the Kofi Annan initiative," Bush told reporters after arriving in Benin on the first stop of his six-day tour, his second to the world's poorest continent. Rice's mission was "all aimed at having a clear message that there be no violence and that there ought to be a power sharing agreement," Bush said after holding talks with Benin President Thomas Boni Yayi in a brief stopover at Cotonou airport. He later left for Tanzania, the next stop on a tour that will also take him to Rwanda, Ghana and Liberia. Former U.N. Secretary-General Annan is trying to end turmoil in Kenya over the disputed Dec. 27 election that has also uprooted 300,000 people, plunging East Africa's biggest economy into its most turbulent episode since independence in 1963. Bush, who was accompanied by his wide Laura, is avoiding Africa's conflict hotspots and visiting five states carefully chosen to show a different face from the poverty-plagued and war-stricken continent normally portrayed by the world's media. The presidents of Benin, Tanzania, Rwanda, Ghana and Liberia are viewed by Washington as a new generation of democratic African leaders and the United States is backing them with health and education support and also some military cooperation. But the crises in Kenya and Sudan's Darfur still loom large over Bush's visit. Speaking in Cotonou, he reiterated U.S. backing for the African Union/United Nations peacekeeping force being deployed in the western Sudanese region of Darfur, where political and ethnic conflict since 2003 has killed around 200,000 people. NEED FOR COLLBORATION ON DARFUR "No question, Sudan is a real difficult situation which we have labelled a genocide ... We are sanctioning some, rallying others to provide aid in the hopes there will be a robust U.N. force in Darfur to help relieve the suffering," Bush said. He added the U.S. was ready to "help facilitate" the movement of the peacekeeping force for Darfur. Bush said he had also been speaking with President Hu Jintao of China -- the main backer of oil-rich Sudan -- about "the need for us to act collaboratively on Darfur." Earlier, Bush was presented by Yayi with the Grand Cross of the National Order of Benin, the country's highest award. He and his wife were greeted on arrival by a military honour guard and colourfully-dressed women dancers. Commenting on Rice's planned trip to Kenya, a senior U.S. administration official said she would back Annan's settlement plan. While some issues had been resolved, the power sharing deal will "take a little bit more time," the official added. The United States had made clear it would not support a Kibaki government that carried on "business as usual" while the turmoil over the disputed polls continued, the official said. Annan has said that considerable progress was made this week, including agreement for an independent review of the polls. He is also seeking constitutional and electoral reforms. The former U.N. chief will meet Kenyan President Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga on Monday -- Rice is due in Kenya on that day -- before negotiations resume on Tuesday. White House national security adviser Stephen Hadley said Rice's visit to Kenya would last "a matter of hours". "It's basically to go in, give some impetus, but then step out and let Kofi Annan continue his diplomacy," he told reporters aboard Air Force One before Bush arrived in Benin. Bush's visit to Africa will showcase U.S. projects backing hospitals, schools and anti-AIDS and anti-malaria initiatives considered a success in a Bush foreign policy scarred by controversy over his handling of Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan. It will stress Washington's desire for a new partnership based on trade and investment and not purely on aid handouts. The visit follows the creation late last year of a U.S. military command for Africa, Africom, aimed at increasing the U.S. presence on the African continent, which provides a significant portion of America's oil needs. (Additional reporting by Deborah Charles; Writing by Pascal Fletcher; Editing by Giles Elgood) ||||| President Bush is in Africa at the start of a five-nation trip focusing on economic development and the fight against HIV/AIDS and malaria. VOA White House Correspondent Scott Stearns reports, Mr. Bush began his trip in Benin for talks with President Boni Yayi. President Bush and Benin's President Boni Yayi after joint news conference at Cadjehoun International Airport in Cotonou, Benin, 16 Feb 2008 "I am here to really confirm to the people of Benin and the people on the continent of Africa that the United States is committed to helping improve peoples' lives," he said. The Bush administration is funding primary education and family health projects in Benin including a program to provide anti-malarial bed nets to every family. President Yayi says his country's cotton-based economy is also helped by lower tariffs under the U.S. African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). "My country is also benefiting from the president's Millennium Challenge Account initiative as well as the AGOA whose ultimate goal is to create the conditions favorable to economic growth in a sustainable manner in order to reduce poverty and build an emerging nation," he said. President Yayi, who is the former director of the West African Development Bank, says he and President Bush discussed diversifying Benin's economy away from its dependence on cotton, which accounts for 40 percent of Gross Domestic Product and roughly 80 percent of official exports. One-third of Benin's nearly seven million people live in poverty. Building on reforms which began in the 1990's, Benin signed a $307-million compact with the U.S. Millennium Challenge Account in 2006. Those funds are meant to improve property rights by reducing the time and cost of obtaining a land title. The program also intends to expand access to financial services, train more members of the judicial system, and boost imports and exports through the port of Cotonou. U.S. officials say the compact is expected to lift nearly a 250,000 Beninois out of poverty by 2015. After Benin, President Bush spends two days in Tanzania before visiting Rwanda, Ghana, and Liberia. ||||| DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania (CNN) -- Billboards and dancers wearing President Bush's likeness on Saturday welcomed the U.S. leader to Tanzania, the second stop on his and first lady Laura Bush's five-nation African tour. Benin President Thomas Yayi Boni embraces President Bush on Saturday in Cotonou. Enthusiastic crowds lined the road from Dar es Salaam's airport to the hotel where the Bushes were to stay. Billboards along the road expressed thanks to the president for anti-AIDS efforts and other U.S. help. The tour began Saturday morning in the West African nation of Benin. Bush also will visit Rwanda, Ghana and Liberia. President Thomas Yayi Boni of Benin thanked Bush for the hundreds of millions of dollars in U.S. aid aimed at fighting poverty, malaria and HIV/AIDS in his country. He also asked for help with Benin's struggling cotton exports. Bush said he chose Benin to start his six-day Africa tour because its leaders were determined to fight corruption and were careful to make sure U.S. aid dollars were properly spent. "This is such a good lesson. One of the reasons I've come here, sir, is that leaders around the world have got to understand that the United States wants to partner with leaders and their people, but we're not going to do so with people who steal money, pure and simple," Bush told Boni. With the first lady at his side, Bush was inducted into the National Order of Benin, and Boni gave the U.S. president a sash, medal and lapel pin to match his own. Watch as Bush looks to Africa as part of his legacy » "I stand here by your side as a friend, a believer in your vision and a partner in your willingness to confront the disease and poverty that affect mankind," Bush said to Boni. "We would not be standing here if you and your government was not committed to your people." He continued, "You mentioned some of the money we're spending with you, but those dollars come with great compassion for your people. We care when we see suffering." At a news conference later, Boni said it was tough for Benin to compete with Asian cotton producers because of their superior infrastructure and with U.S. cotton growers because of government subsidies. Bush said the United States is willing to make concessions as part of the World Trade Organization's Doha negotiations that would help Benin, but he added the country's best strategy might be to develop industry with its cotton instead of exporting raw materials. The United States has given Benin $307 million in a five-year grant to fight poverty, part of Bush's Millennium Challenge Account, which provides aid to countries that the administration says practice democratic principles and sound economic policy. The trip -- Bush's second to the continent and his wife's fifth -- largely will focus on U.S. aid programs, which include initiatives to combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and poverty. On Sunday, Bush will sign a compact with Tanzania through which the United States will provide a $698 million Millennium Challenge grant. Also while in Tanzania, Bush will attend a roundtable on another one of his programs, Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. The administration has said it's the "largest commitment ever by any nation for an international health initiative dedicated to a single disease." Bush said he has requested $30 billion over the next five years for the program. The plan has helped produce a "dramatic increase in anti-viral drugs," with a "significant" number of people being exposed to U.S. programs for AIDS prevention, said Joel Barkan, a senior associate for the Center for Strategic and International Studies. But Barkan said the program remains controversial because fewer condoms are provided now than under the Clinton administration and because the United States does "virtually nothing on sex education." From Tanzania, the Bushes will head to Rwanda, where they will meet with President Paul Kagame. The United States has provided nearly 7,000 Rwandan troops with training and spent more than $17 million to equip and transport Rwandan troops for service in Sudan, according to national decurity adviser Stephen Hadley. Years of violence in Sudan's western Darfur region have killed roughly 200,000 people and displaced at least 2 million. Nomadic Arab militias -- allegedly allied with the Sudanese government -- have targeted black Africans in what Bush has called genocide. After Rwanda, the Bushes will travel to Ghana and then to Liberia. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who also is on the trip, will veer off Monday to Kenya to support efforts to reach a political conciliation there. The country erupted in ethnic violence after its December 27 presidential vote. Oppositon leader Raila Odinga has blasted President Mwai Kibaki, saying his re-election was rigged and declining to recognize it as valid. Violence has declined as former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan mediates talks between the two groups. Bush's trip to Africa is "basically an effort to celebrate successes," Barkan said. Most Americans picture Africa as a "continent of gloom and doom," and the president's message is that the bigger picture is one of "making progress." But Barkan added, "The question might be asked why he's not going to a number of countries," in particular the regional powers of Kenya, South Africa and Nigeria. "If the election in Kenya had gone well," the analyst said, "I'm sure Kenya would have been included. That's not possible now." E-mail to a friend All About Africa • HIV and AIDS • George W. Bush • U.S. Government | Laura Bush, First Lady of the United States, upon arrival in Benin, with Chantal de Souza Yayi, First Lady of Benin. Yayi and Bush previously met at the White House in December 2006. U.S. President George W. Bush, accompanied by his wife , began his five-nation trip to Africa today in Benin, where he met with President and participated in a joint press conference. This is Bush's second visit to Africa and the first time any US president has visited Benin. Topics that were discussed included , , and the crises in Kenya and Darfur. At the press conference, held at Cadjehoun International Airport in , Yayi thanked Bush for coming to visit and praised him for his "great concern for Africa, its well being, and of the development of its people." Bush then commended the government of Benin for their "fight against corruption" and "firm commitment to the investment in its people". "Your fight against corruption is visible and easy for the people to see," Bush said. "This is such a good lesson ... because leaders around the world have got to understand that the United States wants to partner with leaders and the people, but we're not going to do so with people that steal money, pure and simple." Benin is one of the recipients of the , which aims to foster economic growth in countries that are deemed to have effective governments and economic freedom. On the topic of malaria, Bush mentioned the Malaria Initiative, which intends to provide a for every child to prevent the spread of the disease. He also mentioned initiatives to facilitate the spread of HIV and AIDS. "We can save lives with an aggressive, comprehensive strategy," Bush said. "And that's exactly what you're putting in place here in Benin." The economy was also an important issue. President Yayi said he and President Bush discussed diversifying Benin's economy away from its dependence on cotton. "He shared his vision with us, and he is encouraging us to diversify the sources of solutions to the problem that we have today, namely the cotton industry." Yayi says it is hard competing with cotton markets in Asia and the United States. Bush said the World Trade Organization is willing to help Benin's economy, but he also suggested exporting more cotton-based products in addition to raw cotton. Bush said the United States will help facilitate a peacekeeping force in Darfur, but will not send troops to the region. "I made the decision not to send troops, upon the recommendation of a lot of the groups involved in Darfur, as well as other folks ... once you make that decision, then there's not many other avenues except for the United Nations and the peacekeeping forces." When asked about the situation in Kenya, Bush said he has sent Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to visit the country on Monday to support former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan in mediating the conflict. "Kenya is an issue ... and that's why I'm sending Secretary Rice there to help the Kofi Annan initiative - all aimed at having a clear message that there be no violence and that there ought to be a power-sharing agreement," said Bush. White House national security adviser Stephen Hadley said Rice's visit will only last a few hours. "It's basically to go in, give some impetus, but then step out and let Kofi Annan continue his diplomacy," he said. At a press briefing aboard , one reporter questioned what could be accomplished in a few hours and asked why the President didn't go to Kenya instead. Ambassador Jendayi Frazer answered with, "Secretary Rice's engagement on Kenya has been much longer than a few hours. She has been talking to President Kibaki and Raila Odinga before the election, right on the eve of the announcement, immediately after that. And so she's been very much engaged over the last three or four months on dealing with electoral crisis." "The purpose of her going is to back Kofi's mediation, it's not to take over that mediation," Frazer continued. "President Bush does not need to go to Kenya at this point. At the right moment in time, the President will engage, but right now it's occurring in a very systematic way to back Annan's mediation, not to try to supplant Annan's mediation." After spending three hours in Benin, Bush flew to Tanzania, where he will stay for three nights. He will then continue his trip in Rwanda, Ghana, and Liberia. |
Unions have expressed anger at the scale of the cuts France will be worst hit with 4,300 job losses. Germany will see 3,700 jobs go while the UK and Spain will see 1,600 and 400 jobs cut respectively. Airbus said it would not force any compulsory redundancies but unions have pledged to fight the cuts. Airbus boss Louis Gallois said the firm was "facing huge challenges" and "was not efficient enough". Factory options Mr Gallois said the prolonged weakness of the US dollar had made the restructuring necessary, while the production delays to the flagship A380 superjumbo project had provided the "trigger" for the cutbacks. Half of the 10,000 cuts will come from temporary staff and sub-contractors not having their contracts renewed. We totally oppose the closure of any site and we won't accept any firings Peter Scherrer European Metalworkers Federation German workers' anger Q&A;: Job cuts explained Mr Gallois said the job cuts would be "fairly shared" between Airbus's four national partners. Airbus is reviewing the future of three of its plants, at Laupheim, Saint-Nazaire and Varel, with options including their sale to suppliers or management. It is also seeking investment partners for sites at Filton in the UK, Meaulte in France and Nordenham in Germany. Airbus said the changes would reduce the time it took to develop new planes from seven-and-a-half years to six years, improve customer service and aircraft reliability. Union response Union officials, who were informed of the proposals earlier on Wednesday, expressed anger at the scale of the cuts. "We totally oppose the closure of any site and we won't accept any firings," said European Metalworkers Federation head Peter Scherrer. French workers earlier downed tools in protest at the firm's plans to review the future of two of its sites. Airbus says the proposed changes will speed up production EADS, Airbus' Franco-German parent, approved the controversial plan on Monday. Disagreement between Germany and France, both home to key Airbus factories, has delayed progress on the restructuring. France - home to the firm's Toulouse headquarters - will be worst affected by the cuts, both at individual factories and in central management and administrative functions. But, at the same time, some work will be transferred from Hamburg to Toulouse. Political reaction German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she regretted the job losses but said the proposals ensured "a balanced distribution of risks and opportunities" across different sites. In France, presidential candidate Segolene Royal said she would seek to freeze the job cuts if elected, but rival Nicolas Sarkozy said politicians should stay out of the company's affairs. In Britain, more than 10% of jobs at the firm's factories in Filton, Bristol, and Broughton, North Wales are set to go. But it is understood the Filton plant has won extra work on part of the wing for the new Airbus A350, which uses hi-tech composite materials. The new contracts would help Airbus in the UK maintain its position as a specialist in the design and manufacture of aircraft wings. British Prime Minister Tony Blair said this would add "valuable new capability" to the country's aerospace industry. Politicians from Germany, France, the UK and Spain have been lobbying Airbus bosses furiously in recent weeks in an effort to protect jobs in their countries. Airbus said its current financial situation was "unsustainable". Production problems with the giant A380 have pushed back deliveries of the plane by two years and cost Airbus about 5bn euros (£3.4bn; $6.6bn). AIRBUS EUROPEAN PLANTS FRANCE 1. Toulouse: (11,500 staff). Cabin and cargo. Electrics, nose, fuselage, wings. 2. Saint Nazaire: (2,300) Nose, centre fuselage. *Faces sell-off or closure 3. Nantes: (2,000) Nose, centre fuselage. 4. Meaulte: (1,200) Nose, centre fuselage. *Open to investors GERMANY 5. Hamburg: (10,000) Cabin and cargo. Electrics. Fuselage assembly. 6. Buxtehude: (350) Cabin and cargo. Communication systems. 7. Stade: (1,500) Vertical tail. Design, manufacture, assembly. 8. Bremen: (3,100) Cabin and cargo. Fuselage design, production. 9. Nordenham: (2,100) Manufacture of fuselage. *Open to investors 10. Varel: (1,100) Machining fuselage parts. *Faces sell-off or closure 11. Laupheim: (1,100) Cabin and cargo. Design and manufacture. *Faces sell-off or closure SPAIN 12. Getafe: (2,000) Horizontal tail, A380 rear fuselage. Assembly. 13. Puerto Real: (500) Horizontal tail and A380 rear fuselage. Production. 14. Illescas: (500) Horizontal tail and A380 rear fuselage. Development. UK 15. Filton: (6,500) Electrics and wing. Design. *Open to investors 16. Broughton: (5,000) Wing. Assembly, manufacture. Have you been affected by these events? Have you ever worked for Airbus? If you would like to tell us your story you can do so using the form below: Name: Email address: Town and Country: Phone number (optional): Comments: The BBC may edit your comments and cannot guarantee that all emails will be published. ||||| Airbus confirms 10,000 job cuts and unions vow protests PARIS: The confirmation by Airbus on Wednesday of its plans to shed 10,000 jobs and sell as many as six factories over the next three to four years raised the specter of labor action by the company's unions across Europe. Union officials said nearly 14,000 employees at four French sites, both blue- collar and white-collar workers, stopped work for up to two hours Wednesday afternoon to protest the cuts. The cuts are part of a turnaround plan aimed at achieving billions of euros in savings amid costly delays to the flagship A380 superjumbo, a weak dollar cutting into profits, and the need to meet the challenge from a resurgent Boeing. "The response has been massive," said Julien Talavan, a spokesman for Force Ouvrière, the main Airbus union in France. "This is just the beginning." He added that French and German workers were discussing the possibility of coordinated protests in mid-March. "We will not simply accept the concept of the EADS board," said Rüdiger Lütjen, the head of the Airbus Germany works council, referring to European Aeronautic Defense & Space, the parent of Airbus, which unanimously approved the restructuring plan on Monday. "We will fight for every job." Louis Gallois, the Airbus chief executive, said the company expected to eliminate around 4,300 jobs in France, 3,700 in Germany, 1,600 in Britain and 400 in Spain. He said about half of those cuts would come from in-house subcontractors and temporary workers, limiting the losses among Airbus employees to 5,000, or 9 percent of the total European work force of 55,000. Gallois said the company expected the cost of these job cuts to be around €680 million, or $900 million. He emphasized that Airbus would seek to achieve the cuts through attrition, early retirements and other negotiated voluntary severance agreements. But Gallois did not rule out the possibility of forced layoffs if these measures failed to achieve the desired reductions. The painful measures at Airbus follow a devastating two-year delay in deliveries of the A380, the result of manufacturing problems linked to the installation of the plane's electrical wiring. Last month, the company said the delays, combined with the weakness of the dollar versus the euro, would push Airbus into a significant financial loss for 2006. Commercial planes are priced in dollars internationally, but most of Airbus's costs are in euros. On Wednesday, Gallois emphasized the impact of exchange rates and argued that European Central Bank policies favoring a stronger euro had worsened Airbus's financial troubles. "A strong euro is a choice," Gallois said. "Unfortunately, I am not in charge of the currency policy of Europe." In addition to the job cuts, Airbus said it was already in discussions with third-party investors about the sale of three factories: a wing-assembly plant in Filton, England; a nose and cockpit assembly site in Méaulte, France; and a fuselage shell manufacturing site in Nordenham, Germany. Three other sites — in Laupheim and Varel, Germany, and Saint-Nazaire, France — are also expected to be spun off. Airbus said it was considering several options, including outright sales or a management buyouts. "Options will be examined on a case-by-case basis," the company said. Airbus said that the eight-point restructuring plan would also involve a redistribution of future production among its plants to increase efficiency. On the future of the midsize jet A350- XWB, France and Germany would each receive 35 percent of the workload, while 20 percent of the work on the plan would go to Britain and 10 percent to Spain, the company said. The high-profile final assembly work on the A350 will take place at Airbus headquarters, in Toulouse, France. Meanwhile, all work on the company's popular A320 family of single- aisle aircraft will gradually be migrated to sites in and around Hamburg, with an eye to eventually locating all work on the next-generation A320s there. German official faults Royal Ségolène Royal, the French Socialist presidential nominee, made a "fatal signal" in calling for changes in Airbus management to avert job cuts, a German government official said Wednesday, Bloomberg News reported from Berlin. Royal told the French television station i$>Tele that if elected, she would seek support from the Chancellor Angela Merkel to solve "a crisis in command" at Airbus. The official, Peter Hintze, the newly appointed German aerospace envoy, said during an interview: "I consider this a fatal signal. Airbus is a European project that needs the backing of governments involved." Airbus, he added, needs "reliability from politics — that's why I'm concerned about Royal's remarks." | 150px Airbus, Europe's biggest aircraft manufacturer, has announced 10,000 job cuts over the next four years. The news comes as its parent company, EADS starts a major restructuring programme because the company is not efficient enough. Louis Gallois, the Airbus chief executive, said the company expects to cut approximately 4,300 jobs in France, 3,700 in Germany, 1,600 in UK and 400 in Spain. About half of those cuts will be made among subcontractors and temporary workers. Actual Airbus employee reduction would be about 5,000, or 9% of the total European work force of 55,000 full-time Airbus employees. Although Gallois said he hoped to achieve this mainly through attrition, the unions were displeased. Union officials said nearly 14,000 employees at four French sites had a two hour work stoppage Wednesday afternoon to protest the cuts. "The response has been massive," said Julien Talavan, a spokesman for Force Ouvrière, the main Airbus union in France. "This is just the beginning," he said, hinting at future labor action. This move comes after well-publicized delays on its A380 super-jumbo commercial airliner. The restructuring announcement also includes the proposed sale or closure of 3 plants. |
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