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The third major release of OpenOffice.org’s free software suite comes as the group celebrates its eighth birthday. OpenOffice.org released the third version of its free office software over the weekend – it can be downloaded free here. New features in the word processing software ‘Writer’ include multilingual support, better zoom tools for editing, and the ability to edit web-based wiki documents. The spreadsheet, called ‘Calc’ now supports 1024 columns per sheet and a collaboration mode for multiple users, as well as a new equation solver. Graphics program ‘Draw’ can now manage images up to three square meters in size, while presentation software ‘Impress’ now has a table designer. The 3.0 suite also supports Microsoft’s Office Open XML files for the first time. Supporters of both the Microsoft format and the Open Document Format (ODF) used by OpenOffice.org have been battling it out at the International Organisation for Standardisation recently, with Microsoft's version being named as a recognised international standard. "As government after government, enterprise after enterprise adopt the Open Document Format, they frequently adopt OpenOffice.org and love it. With 3.0, the application is more interoperable with MS Office, more capable, more extensible. It frees the desktop from vendor lock-in," claimed Louis Suárez-Potts, community manager of OpenOffice.org. The free software is sometimes seen as going head-to-head against Google’s web-based Docs, but OpenOffice.org stressed the differences between web and desktop-based applications – a view echoing Microsoft’s own Steve Ballmer earlier this month, when he discussed that firm’s soon-to-be-launched web-friendly office suite. "OpenOffice.org 3.0 shows that despite the growth of web applications, when it comes to serious work, desktop-based software reigns supreme for the speed of use and sheer range of features offered," said John McCreesh, OpenOffice.org marketing project lead. The launch will be celebrated at a party tonight in Paris, which also marks the group’s eighth birthday. Email to a friend Print this page \|\|\|\|\| October 13th, 2008 There is a reason that the OpenOffice.org 3.0 servers are struggling to keep up with demand. OO.org 3.0 really is a serious upgrade over version 2.4 and makes NeoOffice irrelevant for Mac OS X users (previously, OpenOffice only worked within X11; While NeoOffice did a great job porting OO.org to native OS X, OO.org 3.0 works out of the box in OS X as a native Aqua application). Last week I asked if OpenOffice was good enough. The general consensus? OO.org is good enough to start a flame war, but we’re not really sure if it’s good enough to be a serious competitor to MS Office. Now that OO.org 3.0 is out, I’m having a much tougher time seeing both sides of the issue here (I actually like Office 2007/2008, by the way; I think they’re slick, well-polished, and highly functional). I had never liked the OpenOffice equation editor; this version brings a very nice graphical and text-based hybrid editor to us math teachers. Mail merge was clunky in OO.org; this version brings a mail merge wizard and improved label templates. Outline numbering tended to be a bit kludgy for notetaking in OO; this version improves the stability and interface of outlining. Annotations are now incredibly easy to add (Insert, Note) and Office 2007/2008 formats are supported across the board. While Microsoft has dumped VBA support in Office 2008, OO.org users can run Visual Basic scripting, as well as Python and Javascript. I’m not actually bashing MS Office here. It’s a great suite and they still have something that OpenOffice lacks: Publisher. However, Publisher was lacking on the Mac platform anyway and nix users haven’t had access to MS Office (including Publisher) without some serious Wine work. Speaking of Access, OpenOffice continues to bring a solid database offering to all platforms. Is it as powerful as Access? I don’t think so (let’s face it - Access 2007 rocks). However, Mac, nix, and Windows users can all interchange databases and use OO.org Base as a front end to a variety of data sources (including MySQL). OpenOffice.org is not a clone of Office 2007 (good call, Sun). It’s a full-featured suite that gives us everything we need from MS Office and the world of productivity software while keeping the bottom line quite a bit more reasonable (you don’t get any more reasonable than free). Yes, OO.org has been good enough for a long time; the latest release should leave little doubt for any users who had been on the fence. \|\|\|\|\| A free office software suite designed as an alternative to Microsoft Office was announced Monday by the OpenOffice.org: OpenOffice.org 3.0. The software covers a variety of tasks, including spreadsheets, word processing and presentation work; XML support and XSLT based filter support, import filters for MS Office file formats: .docx. xlsx, pptx. Editions are also available for a variety of different operating systems. Another interesting feature is Solver, a solution engine for combinatorial optimization problems that is a strong selling point for the commercial Excel package from Microsoft. This version is an important milestone release and could help boost the program's market share, particularly on Mac OS X, where it now provides a much higher level of platform integration; but it is once again available in PC and Linux as well. Returning to the OS X, these changes are also said to aid in performance and stability, and introduce support for Mac OS X's accessibility APIs, which primarily help people with little to no eyesight. The Mac version is now native and no longer requires the Unix X11 environment. The release had originally been scheduled for mid September. OpenOffice (163 MB) for Mac requires OS X Tiger or later and an Intel Mac. The installer of OpenOffice.org 3.0 for Windows is only about 140MB in size but it takes a little bit longer to install. OpenOffice's Web site greeted its Monday visitors with the following message: “Apologies - our website is struggling to cope with the unprecedented demand for the new release 3.0 of OpenOffice.org. The technical teams are trying to come up with a solution.” In other words the software is far from lacking demands. \|\|\|\|\| Chicago (IL) - After three long years in the making, OpenOffice.org has finally unveiled the new version of its free office productivity suite Open Office 3.0. The new release effectively solves document incompatibility problems with the OpenDocument Format (ODF) 1.2 file format and Office 2007 OOXML import filters. It also delivers new collaborative options that allow multiple users to edit documents at the same time, in addition to improved drawing and charting tools. XML support and XSLT based filters are also updated, while the Mac version received a thorough code overhaul and now runs as a native OS X application. OpenOffice 3 promises several enhancements across its word processing, presentation, spreadsheets, graphics, databases and other applications, along reliability and performance improvements. The new Start Centre sports new icons and a new zoom control in the status bar. The Chart application received many subtle interface, improvements; Draw and Impress come with improved crop features and Writer has a new notes feature and a built-in math solver component. The software can now display multiple pages during editing which is a response to growing screen sizes and comes in handy when working with complex document. Workbooks can now have up to 1024 columns in each spreadsheet while new sharing options enable multiple users to collaborate on a single workbook at the same time. One of the most significant killer features in this release are out-of-the-box import filters for the latest Microsoft Office file formats, enabling OpenOffice 3.0 to read documents saved with Microsoft Office 2007 or 2008 in .docx, .xlsx, .pptx or other new formats. OpenOffice 3.0 can also read and write documents in standardized OpenDocument Format (ODF) 1.2. The Mac version of the software introduces partial support for Visual Basic for Applications that enables Mac users to program macros and add custom functionality beyond the default feature set. OpenOffice 3.0 is now a native OS X application, unlike previous versions that relied on OS X's X11 graphical environment for UNIX applications that resulted in relatively slow performance and had a non-standard user interface. With Aqua being integrated, Open Office 3.0 for Mac not only feels and behaves like a regular Mac application with all the usual bells and whistles, it also is nicely integrated with OS X's Accessibility API – which results in much better accessibility support than what is offered by most other Mac applications. The re-written code and a native execution environment deliver noticeable performance and reliability improvements. OpenOffice.org’s website was down most of the morning due the countless download requests from users. When site is back up again you can OpenOffice 3 promises several enhancements across its word processing, presentation, spreadsheets, graphics, databases and other applications, along reliability and performance improvements. The new Start Centre sports new icons and a new zoom control in the status bar. The Chart application received many subtle interface, improvements; Draw and Impress come with improved crop features and Writer has a new notes feature and a built-in math solver component. The software can now display multiple pages during editing which is a response to growing screen sizes and comes in handy when working with complex document. Workbooks can now have up to 1024 columns in each spreadsheet while new sharing options enable multiple users to collaborate on a single workbook at the same time.One of the most significant killer features in this release are out-of-the-box import filters for the latest Microsoft Office file formats, enabling OpenOffice 3.0 to read documents saved with Microsoft Office 2007 or 2008 in .docx, .xlsx, .pptx or other new formats. OpenOffice 3.0 can also read and write documents in standardized OpenDocument Format (ODF) 1.2.The Mac version of the software introduces partial support for Visual Basic for Applications that enables Mac users to program macros and add custom functionality beyond the default feature set. OpenOffice 3.0 is now a native OS X application, unlike previous versions that relied on OS X's X11 graphical environment for UNIX applications that resulted in relatively slow performance and had a non-standard user interface.With Aqua being integrated, Open Office 3.0 for Mac not only feels and behaves like a regular Mac application with all the usual bells and whistles, it also is nicely integrated with OS X's Accessibility API – which results in much better accessibility support than what is offered by most other Mac applications. The re-written code and a native execution environment deliver noticeable performance and reliability improvements.OpenOffice.org’s website was down most of the morning due the countless download requests from users. When site is back up again you can download the software here free of charge. Subscribe to the TG Daily Newsletter Email:	OpenOffice 3.0 comes with new features and performance enhancements. Sun Microsystems released version 3.0 of its free and open source (FOSS) office suite Openoffice.org on Monday. It has been reported that the new version comes with a number of performance enhancements and new features. Openoffice.org 3.0 now claims to work out of the box in Mac OS X as a native Aqua application. News sources report the official download servers of OpenOffice.org crashed soon after the release due to heavy downloads. Downloads are however available from a number of mirror sites. Openoffice.org 3.0 suite includes spreadsheet, word processor, equation editor, presentation tool, relational database and vector drawing software. Full interoperability is available for Microsoft Office 98/XP formats, but offers read only support for OOXML file formats. This version supports the new ODF 1.2 document format. The software is available for many platforms including Linux, Microsoft Windows and Mac, as well as in multiple languages. Users report OpenOffice.org 3.0 has introduced a new graphical and text-based hybrid equation editor, a mail merge wizard, improved label templates and better interface for outlining. Solver, a spreadsheet add-on for combinatorial optimization problems is included in this version. Other enhancements highlighted by enthusiasts include collaborative options that allow multiple users to edit documents at the same time and improved drawing and charting tools. OpenOffice.org 3.0 can now display multiple pages during editing and workbooks up to 1024 columns in each spreadsheet. The download size of OpenOffice.org 3.0 is 163 MB for Mac and requires OS X Tiger or later and an Intel Mac. The installer for Windows is about 145 MB in size. "As government after government, enterprise after enterprise adopt the Open Document Format, they frequently adopt OpenOffice.org and love it. With 3.0, the application is more interoperable with MS Office, more capable, more extensible. It frees the desktop from vendor lock-in," claimed Louis Suárez-Potts, community manager of OpenOffice.org.
USA 16 February 2005 Court of Appeals upholds jail sentence for two journalists who protected their sources Reporters Without Borders voiced deep concern over the Washington D.C. circuit's U.S. Court of Appeals' decision today to uphold a jail sentence for journalists Matthew Cooper of Time magazine and Judith Miller of the New York Times, found in contempt of court for refusing to disclose their sources. Since the two journalists' lawyer has filed an appeal, enforcement of the ruling has been suspended. Floyd Abrams said he would ask the full appeals court to reverse Tuesday's ruling. "With this decision, the challenge raised by the US federal courts against the principle of the confidentiality of sources has reached unprecedented proportions," Reporters Without Borders stated, noting that about 10 journalists are now being prosecuted for protecting their sources. Are we about to reach a point where-in a country founded on the First Amendment-journalists will be imprisoned for having defended one of the basic principles of freedom of the press ? the organization asked. "The right of Americans to be informed will be seriously eroded if these journalists lose this battle being waged against them by the courts," the organization stressed. "The role of the press in providing checks and balances is under fire this time, and the US courts must understand that, if the confidentiality of journalists' sources is not guaranteed, no one will go to them with sensitive information." Reiterating its support for the journalists involved, Reporters Without Borders pointed out that they are media professionals, not federal investigators. "By protecting the identity of their sources, they are safeguarding society's right to monitor public affairs," the organization said. Source confidentiality is "an inviolable principle," Reporters Without Borders continued. "It is astonishing to see that this principle is better recognized today in 31 States-and in Washington D.C., where it is protected by 'shield laws'-than at the federal level. We urge members of the American Congress to immediately examine these bills on source confidentiality recently introduced to the Senate and House of Representatives by elected Republicans and Democrats. First amendment threatened On February 15, the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit rendered its verdict, upholding the prison sentence pronounced against Matthew Cooper, of Time magazine, and Judith Miller, of the New York Times, also tried for "contempt of court." The two journalists were charged with having refused to disclose their sources to a grand jury set up to investigate the leaks that led to the identity of a CIA agent, Valerie Plame, being revealed in the press. Since deliberately revealing an intelligence agent's name can be considered an act of treason, a grand jury investigation led by Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald was initiated in December 2003 to investigate the source. The White House was suspected of leaking Plame's name to punish her husband, former ambassador Joseph Wilson, for publicly contradicting claims made by President Bush to justify invading Iraq. The aim of the jail sentence, pronounced in early October by Federal Judge Thomas F. Hogan, was to force Cooper and Miller to name their sources. Implementation of the ruling has been once again suspended while they appeal to the Supreme Court. Claiming that the First Amendment of the Constitution does not protect source confidentiality, Federal Judge Thomas F. Hogan sentenced Miller and Cooper to prison on October 7 and 13, respectively. In a July 20 ruling regarding Cooper, he referred to a 1972 Supreme Court ruling (Branzburg v. Hayes), which stated that journalists must reveal their sources if required by a judicial investigation. During the appeals hearing on December 8, their lawyer (invoking jurisprudence and the First Amendment of the Constitution), asked that the court recognize the journalists' absolute privilege to refuse to reveal their sources. The prosecution, however, based its findings on a ruling in 1972 by the Supreme Court (Branzburg v. Hayes), asked that the journalists be permitted to benefit only from a "qualified privilege," which did not exonerate them from revealing their sources when their testimony might prove essential in criminal cases. Two other journalists have been cited for questioning about their sources in this case : Tim Russert of NBC and Walter Pincus of the Washington Post. Robert Novak, who was the first to publish Plame's name, on July 14, 2003, has always refused to say if he has been questioned about his sources. Miller looked into the Plame case but ended up not writing any story about it. Cooper wrote in Time (July 17, 2003) that government officials had leaked Plame's identity. He was given an initial jail sentence in early August, which was lifted after his source waived their confidentiality agreement and thereby allowed him to be questioned by the grand jury. But on September 14, he was cited again for questioning with regard to his other sources in this case. Other pending cases : Jim Taricani of Rhode Island's WJAR-TV 10 was sentenced to six months of home confinement on December 9, 2004. He refused to disclose to the court the name of the person who gave him a videotape made in the course of an FBI undercover investigation. He was sentenced despite the fact that the source identified himself on November 26. Five journalists who had covered the case of Wen Ho Lee-a scientist initially accused of spying and later cleared-were sentenced by a Washington federal judge on August 18 to pay fines of $500 per day until they agree to reveal their sources. In a case which Lee had brought against the Justice and Energy departments, the judge ruled that he had a right to know which official leaked the information that led to the news reports mentioning that he was suspected of spying. Journalist Vanessa Leggett was jailed for nearly six months in July 2001 for contempt of court after refusing to reveal to a Texas court the content of an interview with the prime suspect in a crime. "Federal Shield Law" bills under consideration : On February 2 this year, two members of the House of Representatives, Mike Pence (R-Indiana) and Rick Boucher (D-Virginia) introduced a bill called "The Free Flow of Information Act," which guarantees journalists absolute privilege from being compelled to reveal their confidential sources. The bill provides that courts must exhaust all efforts to obtain the desired information from alternative sources before they may compel a journalist to reveal his or her confidential sources. The act also provides qualified privilege for notes, e-mails, negatives and journalists' documents to which Federal courts may have access only if such evidence turns out to be essential in criminal cases. Rick Boucher stated that he had realized the necessity of a "Federal Shield Law" to protect the public's right to know after a series of cases involving source confidentiality were publicized over the last several months. "Many sources are worried that journalists will be unable to keep their promise of confidentiality after spending six months or a year in prison." Richard Lugar (R-Indiana) introduced a similar bill to the Senate on February 9. \|\|\|\|\| Please register or log in The story you requested is available only to registered members. Note: Member name is no longer used to log in to this site. Please log in with your e-mail address and password. Registration is FREE and offers great benefits: Full access to today's news and information on chicagotribune.com Full access to extensive coverage and commentary on ChicagoSports.com E-mail newsletters including Metromix Events and Tribune's Food and Drink e-mail Register now Already Registered? Log in: E-mail: Password: Forget password? \|\|\|\|\| The NCAA Men's Basketball tournament isn't called "March Madness" for nothing. It's one of the most prominent events in American sports, generating more than a billion dollars, legendary performances, and, of course, interesting facts. From its humble beginnings with teams competing for a second-rate championship, it's grown into an entire month of college basketball mania. The history of the tournament is rich with exciting anecdotes and all manner of March Madness trivia. NCAA tournament history goes way beyond sheer numbers and rote lists of upsets. For example, did you know the now-basement dwelling National Invitation Tournament (NIT) was once actually a bigger deal than the Big Dance? Or that gambling brought down one of the greatest teams in college basketball history, and kept the tournament out of New York for six decades? Or that men getting snipped in time to watch the early rounds has become a popular trend? These March Madness facts might surprise you. Visit Ranker.com for similar lists and rankings.	'''February 19, 2005''' Judith Miller of The New York Times and Matthew Cooper of Time magazine can be jailed for refusing to reveal their sources to a U.S. federal grand jury, according to the decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington D.C. The reporters were among those approached with information about Valerie Plame as a CIA employee, and have refused to testify before an inquiry into the leak of national security information. Neither reporter actually wrote an article about Ms. Plame, whose identity was actually broken by Robert Novak in a July 14, 2003 column in the Chicago Sun-Times, but they have been the target of Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald of Illinois. The U.S. Intelligence Identities Act makes it illegal to reveal the identity of CIA officers. However, the three-judge panel's decision on Tuesday upheld a lower court's ruling last year that Ms. Miller and Mr. Cooper should answer confidential conversations with government sources. Citing secret evidence presented by Mr. Fitzgerald, the panel said this case differs from the classic uncovering of wrongdoing by reporters relying on unnamed sources.
Story Highlights • At least 3 killed as tornadoes hit southern Georgia • 7 die in Alabama twister; five at Enterprise High School • Alabama governor declares state of emergency • Dusk to dawn curfew is in effect for Alabama town Adjust font size: ENTERPRISE, Alabama (CNN) -- Storms stampeded throughout the central and southeastern United States on Thursday, leaving at least 11 people dead. A tornado Thursday afternoon in southeastern Alabama killed seven people, five of them at Enterprise High School, said spokeswoman Tasamie Richardson. The storms also were blamed for the death of a 7-year-old girl in Missouri. At least two people were killed and several people injured when a tornado slammed into a hospital in the south Georgia town of Americus on Thursday evening, according to a Georgia Emergency Management Agency spokesman. A third person was killed and four were hurt when a tornado touched down in rural Taylor County near the southwest Georgia city of Albany, the spokesman said. The city of Americus lost its fleet of ambulances when the tornado hit at the Sumter Regional Medical Center just before 10 p.m. ET, said Buzz Weiss of the Georgia Emergency Management Agency. Ambulances from Albany, about 35 miles away, were sent to Americus to help, Weiss said. It was not immediately known if those killed in Americus were patients at the hospital, he said. In Alabama, a dusk-to-dawn curfew was imposed on Enterprise to help keep roads clear for emergency workers, who will be working overnight to search the damaged buildings, Enterprise Mayor Kenneth Boswell said. (Watch tornado scream into Enterprise ) Students at Enterprise High School were taking cover when it was hit. (Watch scenes of destruction ) "The whole building just collapsed on everybody," said Chase Baldwin, a student at the school. "A bunch of people were trapped under cinder blocks, and people had their heads cut open." There was one other death in Enterprise and one fatality in Wilcox County, where a number of homes were destroyed, Richardson said. CNN Senior Pentagon Correspondent Jamie McIntyre, in the area to cover a military story, said Enterprise was reeling from "utter devastation" as anguished parents rushed to the town's severely damaged high school. "[There are] vehicles flipped over, houses gone. This huge brick and steel building [was] torn apart by the power of the storm," McIntrye said. "You can see the grief on the faces of the people who come here," he added. "I saw one student walking away, being comforted by another student." Laren Allgood, a reporter for the Enterprise Ledger, said the sprawling high school "looked like a bomb dropped on [it.] All the school buses are demolished." Allgood said alarms alerted the town's 20,000 residents before the tornado hit. "We knew to take cover." The National Weather Service reported a swath of damage about 200 yards wide in Enterprise. "I heard rumbling," said Walt Thornton, who works at the Enterprise Municipal Airport. "I looked up to the southwest and saw ... a huge tornado going on in the valley behind some of our hangars." A tornado was also reported in nearby Abbeville, in Henry County, Alabama, a spokesman for the Abbeville Police Department said. "We had one residence that was struck, no reports of injuries," said public information officer Chad Sowell. About half a mile away, 10 miles west of Abbeville, an 18-wheeler was overturned on State Highway 10 and the driver was trapped, he said. Alabama Gov. Bob Riley ordered the state's National Guard to send a contingent of 140 troops, including medics, MPs and roving security patrols, from Mobile to Enterprise. Their primary mission is security. The National Guard has three CH-47 Chinook cargo helicopters, as well as an engineering unit on standby if needed for search and rescue or debris removal. In addition, at least two UH-1 "Huey" medevac helicopters were sent from nearby Fort Rucker to the high school. Riley also declared a state of emergency in the area. President Bush was briefed on the storm while in New Orleans Thursday afternoon and again when he boarded Air Force One for the return flight to Washington. He telephoned Riley and Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt en route. "The president is deeply saddened to hear of the loss of life," said White House spokesman Scott Stanzel. "He is thinking about the families of the victims and the citizens of the states, and the administration stands ready to help." One death in Missouri blamed on system Earlier Thursday, a suspected tornado touched down at least twice in southern Missouri, leaving one person dead and four injured, according to Susie Stonner of the Missouri State Emergency Management Agency. (Watch storm's path of destruction ) Dennis Crider, a journalist for the West Plains Quill, told CNN the fatality was a 7-year-old girl in the small community of Caulfield. Three of the injured were her father, mother and a brother, Crider quoted the Howell County sheriff as saying. A gas station in Caulfield, about 15 miles west of West Plains, was destroyed by the storm, according to the assistant manager of a neighboring station. "It's like a war zone down there," said Delora Murta. (Gallery) Volatile system formed quickly "We had a spotter who watched [the tornado] form and dissipate in 10 minutes," said West Plains Emergency Management Coordinator Kent Edge. The storm system hit northern Arkansas Thursday morning. Hail covered the ground, but there was no damage and officials do not believe a tornado touched down. "It looked awful," said Fulton County Emergency Management Coordinator Al Roork. "But we just had hail and rain." In the city of Moberly in north-central Missouri, a possible tornado blew a tractor-trailer truck on its side, slightly injuring the driver. It also tore the roof off of one business and damaged a hangar at the regional airport and a plane inside it, according to Sgt. Kevin Palmatory of Moberly Police. On the north side of the storm, blizzard-like conditions and heavy snow were hitting the states in the path of the system. (Full story) Copyright 2007 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report. \|\|\|\|\| Tornadoes kill 7 in 'Bama, including 5 at high school, and 1 Missouri girl ENTERPRISE, Ala. -- Tornadoes ripped through Alabama and killed at least seven people Thursday, including five at a high school where students became pinned under debris when a roof collapsed, state officials said. As night fell, crews dug through piles of rubble beneath portable lights at Enterprise High School, looking for other victims. "The number could very well increase as the search effort continues through the night," state emergency management spokeswoman Yasamie Richardson said. The burst of tornadoes was part of a larger line of thunderstorms and snowstorms that stretched from Minnesota to the Gulf Coast. Authorities blamed a tornado for the death of a 7-year-old girl in Missouri, and twisters also were reported in Kansas. In the chaotic hours after the storm, reports about the death toll varied widely. At one point, state officials said as many as 18 people were dead. Richardson later said that miscommunication at the scene was to blame. "Any time you have a disaster of this magnitude, there is confusion at the scene," Richardson said. The storm struck at the high school around 1:15 p.m., and Richardson said some students were still trapped three hours later. Erin Garcia, a 17-year-old senior, said students had gathered in hallways around 11 a.m. as a precaution. School officials wanted to send them home around 1 p.m., she said, but the weather turned bad and sirens wailed. Then, she said, the lights went out. "I was just sitting there praying the whole time," she said. After the storm passed, she found the hallway she was in was spared, but a roof and wall collapsed on students in another hallway. "People didn't know where to go. They were trying to lead us out of the building. I kept seeing people with blood on their faces," Garcia said. More than 50 people were hospitalized as the violent storm front crossed the state. One person died elsewhere in Enterprise and one in rural Millers Ferry, where a separate storm wrecked mobile homes, Richardson said. Officials opened shelters for those whose homes were damaged. The state sent in about 100 National Guardsmen, along with emergency personnel, lights and generators. The high school, about 75 miles south of Montgomery, "appears to have been right in the path," said Paul Duval, a meteorologist with National Weather Service in Tallahassee, Fla., which monitors southeast Alabama. The force of the storm blew the windows out of cars and buses in the parking lot. Martha Rodriguez, a 15-year-old sophomore, said she had left the school about five minutes before the storm hit. When she returned, a hall at the school had collapsed, she said. "The stadium was destroyed and there were cars tipped over in the parking lot and trees were ripped out. There were trees and wood everywhere. It was just horrible," she said. At Millers Ferry, 66 miles west of Montgomery, trailer homes were flipped over and trees downed, said Bernadine Williams in the Wilcox County emergency management office. "The clouds were so dark that all the lights out here came on," said Walter Thornton, who works at the airport in Enterprise, 75 miles south of Montgomery. President Bush was briefed on the tornadoes by senior staff and called Alabama Gov. Bob Riley and Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt, White House spokeswoman Dana Perrino said. The Federal Emergency Management Agency was working with officials in both states, she said. In Caulfield, Mo., resident Rick Jarvis heard the storm ripping through his gas station around dawn. His home next door suffered just minor damage, but the twister, described by witnesses as a fat black column, shredded the business, ripping down its roof and back wall. "It sounded like a herd of horses tearing up stuff. When I came out, it was done," said Jarvis, 48. As the system pushed eastward Thursday night, tornado watches remained in effect in eastern Alabama and also were posted in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina. The tornadoes were the second to devastate a portion of the South this year. In early February, tornadoes ripped through a 30-mile path in central Florida, killing 21 and destroying hundreds of homes and businesses. (Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.) \|\|\|\|\| March 2: Brooke Shroades and her father, Michael Shroades, talk to TODAY's Meredith Vieira about the tornado that ripped through an Enterprise, Ala., high school and separated them. ENTERPRISE, Ala. - Residents of the neighborhood surrounding Enterprise High School said Friday they heard warning sirens long before a tornado on Thursday slammed into the building, crushing eight students in an avalanche of concrete and metal. “It came real fast, but they had plenty of time to get those kids out because sirens were going off all morning,” said Pearl Green, whose 15-year-old niece attends the school and was hit in the head by a flying brick. But school officials said they had no chance to evacuate earlier because of the approaching severe weather. And others said the carnage would have been greater if students had been outside or on the road when the storm hit. Story continues below ↓ advertisement advertisement Gov. Bob Riley defended administrators’ actions after a tour of the school. “I don’t know of anything they didn’t do,” Riley said after stepping out of the collapsed hallway where the students died. “If I had been there, I hope I would have done as well as they did.” The last of the bodies were removed Friday. “Each one who was brought out, somebody would say, ‘That was a good kid,”’ said Bob Phares, assistant superintendent. The students were among 20 people killed Thursday in Alabama, Georgia and Missouri by tornadoes contained in a line of thunderstorms that stretched from Minnesota to the Gulf Coast. The storms damaged or destroyed hundreds of homes, toppled trees and knocked down power lines. In Enterprise, a town of 22,000 people, more than 50 people were hurt. President Bush planned to visit two of the storm-damaged areas Saturday. The destinations were still being worked out Friday with governors in the affected states. Second warning disrupts dismissal Warning sirens began blaring in Enterprise about 10:30 a.m. Thursday, prompting school officials to order the high school’s 1,200 students into interior halls — supposedly the safest part of the building. A team of forensic experts combed through the debris, took calculations and has an early determination: This was an enhanced F3 tornado with winds in excess of 150 miles per hour. But there's no need to hear that when you're standing in the midst of the rubble. Cars, upended and tossed into homes, huge pine trees snapped like toothpicks, and the look on the faces of those who survived the disaster: shock, and now despair. --NBC's Kerry Sanders in Enterprise, Ala. Read the rest in The Daily Nightly Many students left school after the initial warnings, and administrators decided to dismiss classes at 1 p.m., before the worst of the weather was forecast to hit, Phares said. But with hundreds of students still huddled inside the school, emergency management officials warned that a possible twister was on the way and advised school officials to hold students until 1:30 p.m., Phares said. “The storm hit about 1:15,” he said. A wall in one hall collapsed, and the concrete slab roof fell on the victims. Brittany Ammons, 18, left school about 10 minutes before the tornado struck. She said students in the halls could hear the sirens, but no one panicked. “We weren’t really worried because we’re always hearing sirens for bad weather,” Ammons said. Looking at the remains of their school, Ammons and three classmates wondered whether students should have been sent home after the first warnings were issued. But senior Charles Strickland said the carnage would have been far worse if students were trying to leave school during the storm. “If they’d let us out, they’d be looking at 50 to 300 dead,” Strickland said. He pointed to a parking lot full of students’ vehicles that were thrown around by the twister, with some coming to rest against the building. “Imagine those kids in the parking lot sitting in those cars,” English teacher Beverly Thompson said. Mitch Edwards, spokesman for the Alabama Board of Education, said the state has a plan requiring schools to conduct weather drills and review safety plans. But the decision on whether to close schools is left to superintendents and principals. “It’s a situation where local superintendents and principals are in position to make the best call,” Edwards said. “They try to react based on the best information available.” Georgia evacuations, deaths The massive storm system swept into Georgia later Thursday, with another tornado apparently touching down near the Sumter Regional Hospital in Americus, 117 miles south of Atlanta. It blew out the windows, tossing cars into trees and killing at least two people, said Buzz Weiss of the Georgia Emergency Management Agency. Doctors, nurses and volunteers had worked into the night to evacuate dozens of patients.	Large tornadoes swept through Georgia, Alabama, and Missouri yesterday, part of a large line of storms that stretched across the United States. Thunderstorm supercells spawned dozens of tornadoes in at least 6 states; the received 31 reports of tornadoes in all on Thursday, March 1, 2007. In , Alabama, a tornado tore through Enterprise High School, leaving 8 students dead, many injured and missing. The Sumter Regional Hospital in , Georgia was also hit by a tornado, killing 2 people in the area and injuring an unknown number of others; the hospital was destroyed along with many other buildings in Sumter County. The many tornadoes are to blame for the estimated death toll which has risen to above 20. In other parts of the United States, snowstorms and torrential rain are responsible for flooding and power outages.
My first computer was a Mac Plus. Loved it. My second computer was an AT&T Unix PC running System V. Loved it long time. My third computer was a Sparc running Solaris or SunOS. Loved it. At work I run Linux, Open Office, Firefox, Eclipse, etc. No drama. For the last six years I have been running a little company making Java programs. Love Java. I do a little open source development, in particular with the Schematron program (quite like it!), but I have also contributed some code to the Flamingo/Substance project over at JavaDesktop, which provides novel looks and feels and more modern GUI components. The only time I use Microsoft products is on my laptop at home (a present from my dear old Dad), but I need it to run the SynthEdit program for making virtual synthesizers. Oh, I occasionally also use a ten year old Microsoft C++ compiler, to make some DSP filter code: I have released about 80 filters open source this way. I’m not a Microsoft hater at all, its just that I’ve swum in a different stream. Readers of this blog will know that I have differing views on standards to some Microsoft people at least. As a regular participant at ISO standards, on and off for more than a decade at my own expense, it has always frustrated me that the big companies would not come to the table and make use of ISO’s facilities. So I am a big fan of the Mass. governments push that governments should use standard formats only. I know some of the ODF people, I had some nice emails with the ODF editor over Christmas for example, and Jon Bosak asked me to join the original ODF initiative at OASIS (I couldn’t due to time, unfortunately.) So I was a little surprised to receive email a couple of days ago from Microsoft saying they wanted to contract someone independent but friendly (me) for a couple of days to provide more balance on Wikipedia concerning ODF/OOXML. I am hardly the poster boy of Microsoft partisanship! Apparently they are frustrated at the amount of spin from some ODF stakeholders on Wikipedia and blogs. I think I’ll accept it: FUD enrages me and MS certainly are not hiring me to add any pro-MS FUD, just to correct any errors I see. If anyone sees any examples of incorrect statements on Wikipedia or other similar forums in the next few weeks, please let me know: whether anti-OOXML or anti-ODF. In fact, I already had added some material to Wikipedia several months ago, so it is not something new, so I’ll spend a couple of days mythbusting and adding more information. Just scanning quickly the Wikipedia entry for OOXML, I see one example straight away: The OOXML specification requires conforming implementations to accept and understand various legacy office applications . But the conformance section to the ISO standard (which is only about page four) specifies conformance in terms of being able to accept the grammar, use the standard semantics for the bits you implement, and document where you do something different. The bits you don’t implement are no-one’s business. So that entry is simply wrong. The same myth comes up in the form “You have to implement all 6000 pages or Microsoft will sue you.” Are we idiots? Now I certainly think there are some good issues to consider with ODF versus OOXML, and it is good that they come out an get discussed. For example, the proposition that “ODF and OOXML are both office document formats: why should there be two standards?” is one that should be discussed. As I have mentioned before on this blog, I think OOXML has attributes that distinguish it: ODF has simply not been designed with the goal of being able to represent all the information possible in an MS Office document; this makes it poorer for archiving but paradoxically may make it better for level-playing-field, inter-organization document interchange. But the archiving community deserves support just as much as the document distribution community. And XHTML is better than both for simple documents. And PDF still has a role. And specific markup trumps all of them, where it is possible. So I think there are distinguishing features for OOXML, and one of the more political issues is do we want to encourage and reward MS for taking the step of opening up their file formats, at last? In fact, the issue of whether there should be two standards largely comes down to the issue of how ISO members interpret the ISO term “contradiction”, which is the show-stopper. The ODF people want a very loose understanding of it, the OOXML people want a very tight understanding of it; the precedent at ISO (which involves a case made by IEEE against China on ISO/IEC 802 encryption IIRC) seems to favour a tight definition: in that IEEE case, the contradiction would break the standard internally and break other standards: the preferred route was “harmonization” (where the Chinese technology could be used, but expressed and implemented in ways that wouldn’t break the existing standards.) There is no need for this kind of harmonization in ODF versus OOXML because one does not break the other. Therefore there is not the same kind of “contradiction.” So I don’t see that the IEEE case supports ODF, actually. But it is a legitimate question to ask, even if the answer is “OOXML does not contradict ODF by overriding it or utilizing it incompatibly” (which is, IMHO, the correct answer.) But there is also a sea of crap being produced, and if offends me a little to see the ISO process get slung with this kind of mud. I suspect that many technical reviewers for National Bodies will take a dim view of vague or stupid claims. For example, in the Wikipedia entry, it currently mentions that “the members of ISO have only 31 days to raise objections”, the implication being that this is far too short a time; yet, if I understand matters correctly, ODF was submitted in a fast-track procedure that didn’t even allow these kind of objections. My understanding from attending the ISO meetings in Korea last year was that MS chose the two-step process to demonstrate that they are not trying railroad this through with no open-ness in the process. (On the other hand, the kind of openness that a completed external specification like OOXML can have is different from the kind of openness that a work-in-progress external specification like ODF affords.) Actually, I should get off the high horse; much of the FUD amuses me, it is hilarious (I have even heard an ODF guy claim that MS wants to enable death squads with their UUIDs, ROFL); I’m looking forward to the next few days. \|\|\|\|\| Microsoft has landed in the Wikipedia doghouse today after it offered to pay an Australian blogger to change technical articles on the community-produced web encyclopedia site. While Wikipedia is known as the encyclopedia that anyone can tweak, founder Jimmy Wales and his cadre of volunteer editors, writers and moderators have blocked public relations firms, campaign workers and anyone else perceived as having a conflict of interest from posting fluff or slanting entries. So paying for Wikipedia copy is considered a definite no-no. "We were very disappointed to hear that Microsoft was taking that approach,'' Wales said. Microsoft acknowledged it had approached the writer - Rick Jelliffe, who is chief technical officer of Sydney computing company Topologi, based in Pyrmont - and offered to pay him for the time it would take to correct what the company was sure were inaccuracies in Wikipedia articles on an ''open document format'' and a rival put forward by Microsoft. Doug Mahugh, a technical expert for the Microsoft format, Office Open XML, has identified himself as the Microsoft employee who contacted Jelliffe requesting his services. In a comment posted on the popular Slashdot technology website, Mahugh published what he said was an excerpt from an email to Jelliffe, detailing what I asked Rick to do. Wikipedia has an entry on Open XML that has a lot of slanted language, and we'd like for them to make it more objective but we feel that it would be best if a non-Microsoft person were the source of any corrections, reads the email Mahugh apparently wrote to Jelliffe. Would you have any interest or availability to do some of this kind of work? Your reputation as a leading voice in the XML community would carry a lot of credibility, so your name came up in a discussion of the Wikipedia situation today." The email also encouraged Jelliffe to disclose his deal with Microsoft in his blog at oreillynet.com, and reassured Jelliffe that Microsoft did not have to approve any of his Wikipedia edits before they were made. This morning Jelliffe was not at his Pyrmont office and could not be reached on his mobile for comment. Microsoft spokeswoman Catherine Brooker said she believed the articles were heavily written by people at IBM, which is a big supporter of the rival open-source standard. IBM did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Brooker said Microsoft had gotten nowhere in trying to flag the purported mistakes to Wikipedia's volunteer editors, so it sought an independent expert who could determine whether changes were necessary and enter them on Wikipedia. \|\|\|\|\| In case you haven't been following the story of Microsoft's offer to pay a standards expert to change and "correct" certain Wikipedia articles, The Associated Press has a summary of what has happened so far. From the story: "We were very disappointed to hear that Microsoft was taking that approach," Wales said. Microsoft acknowledged it had approached the writer and offered to pay him for the time it would take to correct what the company was sure were inaccuracies in Wikipedia articles on an open-source document standard and a rival format put forward by Microsoft. Spokeswoman Catherine Brooker said she believed the articles were heavily written by people at IBM Corp., which is a big supporter of the open-source standard. IBM did not immediately respond to a request for comment. \|\|\|\|\| Topologi's Rick Jelliffe will offer Redmond's spin on public articles pertaining to the ODF/OOXML standard. blogger on a popular technology Web site says Microsoft has offered to pay him to post information on the online encyclopedia Wikipedia.com to "correct" what Microsoft claims is erroneous information about a key software standard. On his blog on Oreillynet.com, blogger Rick Jelliffe on Monday posted an entry titled: "An Interesting Offer: Get Paid To Contribute To Wikipedia." In the blog, Jelliffe writes: "I was a little surprised to receive e-mail a couple of days ago from Microsoft saying they wanted to contract someone independent but friendly (me) for a couple of days to provide more balance on Wikipedia concerning ODF/OOXML." OOXML is a Microsoft-sponsored variation of the Open Document Format electronic publishing standard that has drawn criticism from some tech standards advocates. In his blog, Jelliffe, who is chief technology officer at XML software developer Topologi Pty., said Microsoft needed its own blogger-for-hire because "they are frustrated at the amount of spin from some ODF stakeholders on Wikipedia and blogs." Jelliffe said he'll likely accept the offer. "FUD [fear, uncertainty, and doubt] enrages me and MS certainly are not hiring me to add any pro-MS FUD, just to correct any errors I see," wrote Jelliffe. Jelliffe didn't disclose the financial details of Microsoft's offer. Wikipedia officials say they are less than impressed with Microsoft's pay-for-play campaign. "At a minimum, it could be viewed as unethical," says Wikipedia general counsel Brad Patrick. "This is a hot issue, and Microsoft wanting to soften the edges on an entry raises concerns about the perceived independence of both Wikipedia and Microsoft," Patrick says. Patrick said he believed that Wikipedia officials haven't yet contacted Microsoft officials about the matter. A spokesman for Microsoft says Wikipedia forced the company's hand by refusing to correct information Microsoft says is inaccurate. "For instance, we tried to flag a name change," says Microsoft's spokesman. But editors at the online encyclopedia refused to update the entry "because they said there was no consensus on the new name" for the Microsoft Open XML format, which the company has ceded to international standards group ECMA. "At that point, we realized we needed to enlist some help," says the spokesman. The spokesman insists the whole thing is above board because Jelliffe disclosed Microsoft's offer of payment. "There was no effort to hide anything," says Microsoft's spokesman. \|\|\|\|\| Posted by dcparris on Jan 23, 2007 10:06 AM EDT LXer - Linux News; By D.C. Parris (Charlotte, USA) Mail this story Print this story Microsoft is paying Rick Jelliffe to "correct errors" in Wikipedia's entry for OOXML Rick Jelliffe announced on his blog that he has been offered the opportunity to edit the Wikipedia entry for OOXML, namely to correct errors in statements that reflect negatively on OOXML. Even among those who seem to respect his transparency, there is nevertheless concern that corporate-sponsored entries in Wikipedia corrupt the process. His blog post sparked something of a debate over the nature of his project and the differences in the two standards. Some commentators noted that Jelliffe's transparency in disclosing his Microsoft sponsorship means he can be trusted. As others have pointed out, his Microsoft sponsorship means he can be trusted to represent Microsoft's interests, rather than act as an un-interested party in editing the Wikipedia entry. While Jelliffe criticized the OpenDocument format's ability in terms of archiving old MS Office documents, he never explains why Microsoft never took the opportunity to contribute to ODF to resolve such issues. So, while claiming to counteract FUD, he engages in it in his announcement. ODF proponents are quickly responding to Jelliffe's criticism of what he sees as ODF FUD by posting links to information to support their claims. The GrokDoc site, which is geared toward usability issues, has a page dedicated to OOXML objections. Jean Hollis Weber posted in her blog that "The office documents standards war (between Microsoft and just about everyone else) is well into a new phase". She also pointed to Groklaw's page raising concerns about OOXML. Pamela Jones, whose postings on legal issues have been highly accurate, has addressed some of the technical and practical issues involving OOXML in depth. Thus, the document standards war is being fought, not only in the blogs and in the editorial sections of news sites, it is being fought in the reference sites as well. The issue is certainly food for thought. Aside from questions about the impact of this war of words on a reference website, it raises questions about Microsoft's need to pay for editing in a volunteer-dominated website. It also demonstrates Microsoft's commitment to fight OpenDocument, rather than collaborate to make it an even better standard than it already is. \|\|\|\|\| This Wikipedia entry brought to you by . . . It's no longer safe to assume everyone will play by the unspoken Web 2.0 rules By: Shane Schick The truth can get very expensive if you have to pay for it. Lies could cost even more. Not that Microsoft has to worry about money. A story surfaced out of Australia on Tuesday about a local software engineer who said he had been offered a contract from Redmond to edit some Wikipedia entries on OpenDocument Format (ODF) and Microsoft Office Open XML (OOXML), the competing desktop standards. No one from Microsoft has confirmed the story, and the software engineer has not yet signed any contract, but that’s beside the point. The debate over pay-per-Wiki will make the one over pay-per-blog-post look trivial. The premise of Wikipedia, and of wikis in general, is that the network effect will provide the checks and balances necessary to weed out overly biased information. The increasing skepticism around that belief has led to the introduction of more strict registration procedures at Wikipedia, as it likely has elsewhere. What Microsoft has allegedly done is not necessarily bribery there is nothing wrong with paying someone qualified to do a job, and it’s not like the online public has taken any kind of collective oath to uphold wiki values, whatever those are. It would probably breach Wikipedia’s terms and conditions, but that would only become clear if the relationship between the wiki editor and his or her employer was known. This could be one of many such offers Microsoft, and a raft of other publicity-minded companies, have been making for some time. Although there are many users who would not trust Wikipedia as their only source of information on a given subject, it provides an example of how predominance can lead to influence. As a volunteer-led organization, it depends in large part on the honour system for the integrity of its data. Like charities that get manipulated by profit-driven companies, however, Wikipedia and online resources like it will increasingly be prey to misuse that will be very difficult to detect. The Microsoft allegations represent a much different spin on the kind of manipulation that Wikipedia has suffered in the past. In most cases, edits were challenged when it was obvious that the changes were made by the subject of the entry, or other people with vested interests in the subject. In this case, Microsoft reportedly was only looking for someone “independent but friendly” (which is a great way of describing bias with a lower-case “b.”). There’s no reason other vendors couldn’t solicit the services of similar experts-for-hire who voice their opinions based on who pays for them to speak. It is tempting to think of such maneuvers as bad sportsmanship, but it depends on how deep your belief in the wiki model runs. If someone deliberately tries to substitute the truth for lies and despite all its subjectivity, there are still a few facts in Wikipedia shouldn’t that be considered a security breach of sorts? Malware cripples a piece of hardware or software, but there could be equally ominous dangers from the secret ways in which information is twisted to suit the ends of a few. It’s not a virus so much as a syndrome, and we have yet to develop the immune system for it. sschick@itbusiness.ca Disqus \|\|\|\|\| Microsoft Pays Editors to improve Quality of Wikipedia Articles Wednesday, January 24, 2007 Microsoft has begun a program to improve the quality of technical articles on wikipedia. Rick Jelliffe (an Oreilly Author and regular participant at ISO standards) noted in his blog on monday that he had received an email from Microsoft on monday asking to hire him as an independent consultant for a few days, and help to create and preserve factual integrity on wikipedia's technical articles on open standards specifically the Open Document and OOXML standards. Rick Jelliffe has worked with ISO SC34 and the original XML group at W3C, Rick was a sporadic member of the W3C Schema Working Group and the W3C Internationalization Interest Group. He is the author of The XML & SGML Cookbook; Recipes on Structured Information and lead the 'Chinese XML Now' project at Academia Sinica Computing Centre. However many editors on wikipedia have made it their personal vendetta to block these changes. The best and worst part of wikipedia is that any one is allowed to edit any article, and anyone carries the same 'weight' when it comes to consensus reguarding edits, evidently the wikipedia community feels that they know a lot more about this standard, than microsoft and the leading experts in XML. Although Microsoft originally developed this standard for use in Microsoft Office, it is believed that this article was mostly written by employees of IBM, which is a supporter of the rival ISO-approved OpenDocument standard used by two leading Open Source office suites rather than the controversial Microsoft Office Open XML format. One of Wikipedia's core policies is that articles must be written from a "neutral point of view," Although the Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales suggests that microsoft should have gone about this differently by changing the article through more indirect means. Encouraging independent open standards and XML experts to contribute is by far the best practice. Instead Jimmy Wales should focus more on the ideal goals of maintaining the Neutral Point of View, and removing bias from articles. This is what Microsoft is trying to acomplish. Labels: microsoft, OOXML, wikipedia	left Software giant Microsoft has attempted to correct a Wikipedia article concerning the Microsoft Office Open XML format. Wikipedia strongly discourages contributors involved with the subject of an article from editing the article, when a conflict of interest is likely. Instead, such contributors are advised to comment or suggest changes to the articles for the broader community of editors to review and implement, if found acceptable. Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales and administrators have on occasion blocked users thought to have violated these guidelines from editing Wikipedia. right Doug Mahugh from Microsoft contacted Rick Jelliffe, who is the top technical officer for Sydney computing company Topologi - and offered to pay him for the time it would take to modify the article. “Wikipedia has an entry on Open XML that has a lot of slanted language, and we'd like for them to make it more objective but we feel that it would be best if a non-Microsoft person were the source of any corrections,” reads the email Microsoft employee Mahugh wrote to Jelliffe. One of Wikipedia's core policies is that articles must be written from a "neutral point of view" or NPOV. “Would you have any interest or availability to do some of this kind of work? Your reputation as a leading voice in the XML community would carry a lot of credibility, so your name came up in a discussion of the Wikipedia situation today." The e-mail also stated that Microsoft would not stop Jelliffe from disclosing the deal and rather encouraged him to post it on his blog at oreillynet.com. It also reassured Jelliffe that Microsoft did not have to approve any changes he made to the article. "We were very disappointed to hear that Microsoft was taking that approach," Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales said. Wales stated that the proper thing for Microsoft was to write a "white paper" concerning the article, post it on an outside website and then link it to the discussion page of the Wikipedia articles' discussion forums. "It seems like a much better, transparent, straightforward way," Wales said. Microsoft spokeswoman Catherine Brooker said she believed the articles were heavily written by people at IBM, which is a supporter of the rival ISO-approved OpenDocument standard used by two leading Open Source office suites rather than the controversial Microsoft Office Open XML format.
After bringing down their government, launching dozens of new television and radio stations and about 70 new political parties all the while working on rewriting their constitution, many Tunisians are now politely agreeing to meet the endless flood of people coming to their country to learn more about the revolution. \|\|\|\|\| Arroyo declares state of emergency Feb 24, 2006 Updated 11:24am (Mla time) Gil Cabacungan Lira Dalangin-Fernandez ldalangin@inq7.net INQ7.net Inquirer Agence France-Presse (4th UPDATE) PRESIDENT Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo declared a state of national emergency Friday and warned those planning to grab power that their betrayal will be dealt with under the full force of the law. All protests were banned after Arroyo issued the proclamation directing the armed forces to stop the efforts of a "tactical alliance" between right-wing and communist forces to "create an unconstitutional regime." She ordered the arrest of military officers and civilians allegedly involved in a new plot to overthrow her government. Arroyo's declaration is contained in Proclamation 1017, which she signed after a lengthy meeting with Cabinet members and police and military officials in Malacañang, Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said. "This is my warning to those who plan to grab power, your betrayal will be dealt with under the full force of the law," Arroyo said in her statement aired live on radio and television. Arroyo declared a state of emergency hours after the military thwarted a plot to oust her. Officials said rebel military officers were planning to call for the President’s ouster at rallies Friday marking the 20th anniversary of the 1986 "People Power" revolution in the strife-torn Southeast Asian nation. Arroyo said she had ordered the arrest of personalities involved in the plot, including their financiers. A military statement said Brigadier General Danilo Lim, the commander of the Philippine army's elite Scout Rangers, had been taken into custody along with Chief Superintendent Marcelino Franco, head of the national police Special Action Force, whose rank is equivalent to brigadier-general. Lim had been involved in a bloody 1989 coup attempt against former president Corazon Aquino but was promoted after he and other rebel officers were pardoned as part of efforts to heal divisions in the 120,000-strong armed forces. Arroyo said civilians were involved in the alleged plot and "we will not overlook those who have been providing support and money to this effort." "We will not allow the financiers and political supporters of this rebellion to get away," she said. An unspecified number of other people also were taken into custody, and police were seeking eight to 10 more, said Presidential Chief of Staff Michael Defensor. "The government has crushed this illegal action," Arroyo said in a televised address, calling for calm as armed troops sealed off the presidential palace and military camps in the city. In the declaration released to media at 11:20 a.m., Arroyo invoked Section 18, Article 7 of the Constitution that allowed the President to call on the armed forces to prevent or suppress rebellion. The proclamation will also pave the way for warrantless arrests, government takeover of utilities, including media, and a ban on rallies, Defensor said. Arroyo noted, "Claims of these elements had been recklessly magnified by certain segments of the national media.” In her one-page emergency proclamation, Arroyo said communist guerrillas and right-wing "military adventurists" were "now in a tactical alliance and engaged in a concerted and systematic conspiracy, over a broad front, to bring down the duly constituted government elected in May 2004." She said the series of destabilization efforts were hurting the country “by obstructing governance, including hindering the growth of the economy and sabotaging the people’s confidence in government.” "As commander-in-chief, I control the situation," said Arroyo, who has survived two violent attempts to oust her since she was installed as president after a military mutiny brought down her predecessor Joseph Estrada in 2001. Archbishop of Manila Gaudencio Rosales, recently named cardinal by the Vatican, warned that "it doesn't look good if our government declares a state of emergency" in the country and called for a peaceful dialogue. Lawyers said the Arroyo proclamation was not equivalent to martial law and essentially allowed the President to mobilize the military to crush a rebellion. The normal judicial system remains in place. The latest Philippine crisis overshadowed celebrations of the 20th anniversary of the 1986 military uprising that toppled the late martial-law ruler Ferdinand Marcos and helped inspire pro-democracy movements worldwide. In January 2001, Arroyo, who was then vice president, was sworn in as president after siding with a military revolt against then president Estrada, currently on trial for plunder and perjury. She has been hounded by rumors of military dissatisfaction and her victory in the May 2004 presidential election, giving her a six-year mandate, was tainted by charges of fraud. ©2006 www.inq7.net all rights reserved Send your feedback here \|\|\|\|\| Gloria Arroyo Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was swept to power in 2001 after a popular movement ousted her predecessor, vowing to end corruption and bring economic stability. But her time in office has been plagued with charges of graft and vote rigging. She survived a 2003 mutiny and an impeachment attempt last September. Friday the 58-year-old leader declared a state of emergency, claiming rogue elements in the armed forces were plotting to bring her down. In an ironic twist, Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo declared the state of emergency on the day the country was set to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the four-day "people power" revolt that toppled the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos. Mrs. Arroyo says during the past months her political opponents have conspired with extremists on both the right and the left to bring down the elected government. She warns those who threaten "treason" will feel the full weight of the law. Mrs. Arroyo, a former economist who attended Georgetown University in Washington, has vowed to stay in office until her term ends in 2010. But Sheila Coronel, author and expert on politics in the Philippines says the state of emergency will further hurt her already unpopular presidency. Student protesters shout slogans as they block a busy street to call for the ouster of Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in Manila on Tuesday Feb. 21, 2006 "People here have a very visceral reaction to anything that smacks of martial law, or of dictatorship. And today, of all days, to do that," Coronel said. "She issues a proclamation in the same way that Marcos issued a proclamation. It's read out on television in the same way Marcos's was read out. There are just too many parallels. She's not popular to begin with." Mrs. Arroyo, the daughter of the popular late president Diosdado Macapagal, won a landslide victory in 1998 to become vice president. Mrs. Arroyo's problems began as soon as she became president in 2000, when supporters of the ousted Joseph Estrada stormed the presidential palace demanding she resign. Mrs. Arroyo survived but then had to put down a mutiny by around 300 soldiers who seized a Manila hotel in 2003 in an attempt to topple her. Mrs. Arroyo's first term was also plagued by allegations of corruption and a failure to ensure economic stability. "She's basically not a reformer, and, I think, the first year… it was a very lackluster presidency marred by the same charges of corruption and patronage that hounded Estrada…. What made it worse was the allegations of cheating in the 2004 elections," Coronel said. Elected to office in 2004 after finishing Estrada's term, Mrs. Arroyo faced calls of cheating almost immediately. Her popularity plummeted. Then, a year later, a recording surfaced of a phone call she had allegedly made to an election commissioner during the presidential polls. Mrs. Arroyo admitted calling the official, but denied attempting to influence the vote. The allegations led to a failed impeachment attempt in September by her opponents in the lower house of Congress. Sheila Coronel says although Mrs. Arroyo is only barely holding on to power, it is unlikely she will resign willingly. "She feels very besieged; she's always been a very insecure president," Coronel said. "She knows that she's not popular; she knows that the military is very restive, she's used every means to hang on to power and she will continue to do that. She's very determined to survive. She fears that if she shows any sign of weakness she's going to lose hold - her hold on power is very tenuous at this point." Mrs. Arroyo was quoted Friday as saying, "As commander in chief, I control the situation." But many analysts agree Mrs. Arroyo's decision to impose a state of emergency may backfire, costing her the presidency she has so staunchly defended.	Filipino president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo declared a state of emergency Friday following reports from security forces on a foiled coup attempt. Arroyo's emergency powers allow arrests without warrants and the extended detention of prisoners without charges. Brigadier General Danilo Lim, the commander of the 1st Scout Ranger Regiment, an elite military unit, is being held following accusations that he intended to join his troops with anti-Arroyo protestors. The troops were reportedly planning to inform protesters that the soldiers were no longer supporting Arroyo hoping that this news would foment an uprising against the president. Arroyo has forbidden protest rallies, but more than a thousand Filipinos attended rallies anyway ( Bloomberg.com says "thousands of Filipinos"), and police broke up a couple of rallies on Edsa, the main street of Manila, as they were heading downtown (to Makati), with shields and nightsticks. The Filipino peso dropped 1.1% vs. the US dollar, its biggest decline since 2002. The crisis comes during the weekend when the country is recognizing the 20th anniversary of the "People Power" revolution that ousted dictator Ferdinand Marcos, who fled and stayed in exile in the United States. This is not the first time Ms. Arroyo's regime has survived attempts at deletion. At the beginning of her presidency, supporters of the ousted President Estrada stormed Malacanang and demanded Arroyo's resignation. Later, in 2003, 300 soldiers took over a hotel in Manila in another bid to topple Arroyo. People have alleged that the Arroyo administration engaged in corruption and failed to keep the economy stable. Arroyo won the 2004 election, but some people accused her of doing so by cheating. Those allegations led to an attempt to impeach Arroyo in September 2005, which failed.
Croatia's ruling party has kicked out the country's former premier after he criticized his successor and announced a return to politics. Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor said Monday her conservative Croatian Democratic Party ousted Ivo Sanader because he was harming the party. Sanader had led the party since 2000 and was prime minister since 2003. He abruptly quit politics on July 1. He announced a returnon Sunday, saying the party lacks leadership. The move threatens to cause a rift within the ruling party and rock the government. Kosor has meanwhile gained support for authorizing prosecution of high-level corruption, which many Croatians believe was sanctioned by Sanader. \|\|\|\|\| Ivo Sanader, Croatia’s former prime minister, has been expelled from the centre-right ruling party after his attempt to interfere with the leadership of his successor. Jadranka Kosor, the prime minister who took over six months ago, announced Mr Sanader’s expulsion from the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) following a gruelling nine-hour meeting of the party presidency on Monday. \|\|\|\|\| Ljut sam na Sanadera jer se protustatutarno ne smije raditi niti u jednoj organizaciji. Trebao je reći što mu je na duši, sazvali bi predsjedništvo i o svemu razgovarali, rekao je Hebrang ZAGREB - U središnjici HDZ-a na Trgu žrtava fašizma od jutros traje sastanak samog vrha stranke na kojem se raspravlja o političkoj sudbini Ive Sanadera u HDZ-u. Kruži informacija da je Predsjedništvo HDZ-a odlučilo iz članstva izbrisati bivšeg premijera. Rasprava još uvijek traje, a konačna odluka će navodno biti donesena u 15 sati. Kako piše tportal, u tijeku je rasprava o načinu izvedbe s obzirom da se radi o počasnom predsjedniku. Naime, prema statutu HDZ-a počasni predsjednik uživa doživotnu funkciju. Ipak, čini se da je Vladimir Šeks, HDZ-ov pravni stručnjak, iznašao način kako zaobići statut HDZ-a i izbrisati Sanadera iz članstva. Tportal javlja da podršku Ivi Sanaderu pruža tek mali broj saborskih zastupnika i dužnosnika, među kojima su ministrica bez portfelja Bianca Matković, predsjednik Sabora Luka Bebić, Mario Zubović i Jerko Rošin. Stjepan Fiolić se, kako doznajemo, još uvijek premišlja. Iako se u medijima ministar vanjskih poslova Gordan Jandroković spominjao kao jedan od Sanaderovih ljudi, i on je izrazio punu podršku Jadranki Kosor. Petar Selem neko je vrijeme podržavao Sanadera, ali se tijekom dana predomislio. Jadranka Kosor trebala bi u 15 sati voditi sjednicu Predsjedništva stranke, a oko 17 sati trebala bi se sastati s koalicijskim partnerima. Izjava premijerka za novinarke očekuje se svakog trenutka. Nešto prije 9 sati u zgradu središnjice HDZ-a ušli su premijerka Jadranka Kosor, ministri Božidar Kalmeta, Gordan Jandroković, Darko Milinović i Petar Čobanković te Vladimir Šeks, Ivo Jarnjak i Andrija Hebrang. Oko 15 sati u središnjicu HDZ-a stigli su i Mario Zubović i Luka Bebić, koji nije htio komentirati najnoviji razvoj situacije. Neposredno pred početak sastanka Hebrang je kratko rekao novinarima. - Ljut sam na Sanadera jer se protustatutarno ne smije raditi niti u jednoj organizaciji. Trebao je reći što mu je na duši, sazvali bi predsjedništvo i o svemu razgovarali - objasnio je Hebrang. Na upit novinara treba li Sanadera kazniti jer je jučer, u nedjelju, samostalno sazvao konferenciju za novinare te prozvao Jadranku Kosor, Hebrang je rekao "kako prvo treba razgovarati i vidjeti na temelju koji je činjenica to rekao". - Prije bilo kakvih odluka treba vidjeti koji je pravi razlog njegova dolaska - zaključio je Hebrang. 'Nitko nije znao o čemu će Sanader govoriti' Nakon što je rano jutros u središnjicu HDZ stigao dio predsjedništva stranke, a potom oko 11 sati i predsjednici županijskih odbora HDZ-a, nešto prije 13 sati na Trg žrtava fašizma počeli su dolaziti i zastupnici HDZ-a koji su jučer podržali Ivu Sanadera. Svi odreda tvrde da nisu znali jučerašnju temu sastanka te da su danas došli pokazati svoju podršku premijerki Kosor. Božica Šolić, koja je novinarima rekla da je došla podržati Kosoricu, a da jučer nije znala temu sastanka kojeg je sazvao Sanader. Došli su i Petar Selem, Ivanka Roksandić, Josip Đakić, Krunoslav Markovinović, Stjepan Fiolić, Buris Kunst, Emil Tomljanović. I dok su svi govorili o svojoj podršci Kosor, Kunst je na upit novinara rekao da će podržati odluku predsjedništva koja će vjerojatno biti danas. - Na jučerašnjem sastanku nitko nije spominjao rad Vlade – objasnio je Markovinović te dodao da podržava premijerku Kosor. Njegov stanački kolega, Stjepan Fiolić, istaknuo je da podržava i premijerku i predsjednicu HDZ-a te da se ne osjeća prevarenim što je bio i na jučerašnjoj pressici Ive Sanadera. . HDZ ostavio novinare da se smrzavaju ZAGREB - Bez ikakvog objašnjenja novinarima je zabranjeno da završetak sastanka vrha HDZ-a čekaju u zgradi središnjice stranke pa čak ni u prizemlju gdje je se nalazi stranački kafić. Ispred zgrade na velikoj hladnoći čeka više desetaka novinara i snimatelja. Tražili smo objašnjenje, zašto je tome tako, ali je glasnogovornica i saborska zastupnica HDZ-a Sunčana Glavak samo promarširala pored novinara bez riječi. (V.R.) \|\|\|\|\| Tekst: H.A., J.Š. Foto: Andrija Lučić/Cropix, Bruno Konjević/Cropix, Damjan Tadić/Cropix Video: Infopunkt.tv JADRANKA KOSOR izvijestila je javnost kako je Ivo Sanader jednoglasno izbrisan iz Hrvatske demokratske zajednice. 16 glasova bilo je za, tri su bila protiv a dva suzdržana. Kosor je otkrila kako su Luka Bebić, Marijo Zubović i Damir Polančec bili protiv, a suzdržani su bili Bianca Matković i Petar Selem. Sanader je odmah po odluci izjavio kako prihvaća odluku HDZ-a. > Sanader: Prihvaćam odluku Predsjedništva stranke ukoliko je to za dobrobit HDZ-a > Profesor Grubiša: Odlaskom Sanadera HDZ napokon može postati stranka > SDP se izgubio: Milanović ima "nešto privatno", Josipović se ne želi miješati > Reakcije: Mesić nije za prijevremene izbore > Lutka ubila Trbuhozborca: Kosor u samoobrani presudila Sanaderu samoubojici > Najgori HDZ-ovac ikada: Pašalić elegantno izašao, a sa Sanaderom stranka obrisala pod > Izbacili ga kroz vrata pa mu otvorili prozor: Sanader može tražiti ponovni upis u HDZ! > Ivo Sanader od Splitske rive do Žrtava fašizma Kosor je na početku konferencije za novinare izjavila kako uže vodstvo stranke u sastavu predsjednica, zamjenik, šest potpredsjednika i glavni tajnik, koje je izabrano na Općem saboru ima puni legitimitet za donošenje odluka te da su jednoglasno odlučili da je HDZ-u nanesena golema šteta te su Predsjedništvu predložili brisanje Sanadera iz članstva stranke. "Sanader je naštetio ugledu HDZ-a" "Jutros se sastalo uže vodstvo stranke i svi smo se složili u jednom: da je HDZ-u nanesena nepopravljiva šteta, prvi put u povijesti prekršen je presedan. Nakon tog sastanka stigli su predsjednici županijskih organizacija HDZ-a te je jednoglasno zaključeno da je jučerašnji sastanak i pressica neviđeni presedan, te da je stranci nanesena velika šteta, među članove je unesena uznemirenost i paralelizam koji se vodio ovih šest mjeseci vodio je u raskol HDZ-a" - rekla je Kosor. Kosor je zatim rekla kako su pozvali tada i zastupnike koji su jučer prisustvovali Sanaderovoj pressici a svi su ustvrdili kako nisu znali za motiv i da će biti kulisa svemu tome što se događalo, te da su znali da ne bi niti došli. Kažu i kako nisu točno niti znali kamo idu već da im je rečeno da će biti navođeni kada stignu u Zagreb. "Izjave od jučer vode k prijevremenim izborima, nepovratno bismo izgubili predragocjeno vrijeme za Hrvatsku, HDZ je povijesna stranka, a ovo što se dogodilo vodi i k rušenju stranke. Nikome bez obzira na ime i prezime ne možemo dozvoliti takvo ponašanje. Da se ovo dogodilo prije osam mjeseci, da je bilo tko od nas prije osam mjeseci napravio nešto slično onome jučer, bio bi istog trenutka izbačen iz stranke" - rekla je Kosor. "U tijeku smo nekoliko vrlo važnih procesa, mi moramo završiti pregovore, i program ulaska u EU, imamo velike poslove koje moramo završiti. Ono što se dogodilo naginje prijevremenim izborima a to bi na najmanje šest mjeseci odgodilo sve ovo što moramo učiniti" - kaže Kosor. Kosor se ne boji za parlamentarnu većinu: "Pojedinačne potpore zastupnika `ima na kile`, opasnosti nema". Osvrnula se i na podjelu unutar stranke: "Neki su zastupnici zvani, a neki nisu. Ispalo je da su neki podobni, a neki nisu podobni. Naša odluka je na tragu onoga što traže naši članovi, naši birači i svi građani ove zemlje. Imamo odgovornost da Hrvatska izađe iz krize. Ovo ponašanje od jučer ne vodi k izlasku iz krize, nego prema tome da još dublje potonemo". "Nismo se tako dogovorili, ne može samo tako reći da se vraća nakon naših krvavih odluka" Premijerka je kazala i kako su svi poštovali Sanaderovu odluku kad je kazao da odlazi, ali kako se "nisu dogovorili" da će se i vratiti: "Nakon šest mjeseci i nakon krvavih odluka, koje će nas jednog dana koštati i zdravlja i sveg ostalog, on je rekao da se vraća. Tako se nismo dogovorili. Definitivno ne mogu i neću voditi stranku i Vladu na taj način da ja nosim odgovornost, a netko drugi vuče poteze". "O razlozima povratka morate pitati njega, a rekao ih je i jučer na pressici. Rekao je da smo trgovali teritorijem, da loše vodimo stranku i da je rezultat Andrije Hebranga na izborima bio katastrofalan", navela je Kosor, koja je još jednom istaknula kako HDZ u drugom krugu predsjedničkih izbora nema svog kandidata. Građani koji su prolazili pored HDZ-ove Središnjice ispitivali su novinare jesu li izbacili Sanadera, a kad je u prostorije ulazio Luka Bebić jedna je gospođa koja kaže da je inače glasačica HDZ-a vikala "Lopovi, lopovi! Kosor bi vas sve trebala smijeniti!". Stari HDZ-ovci ponosni na Kosor Đuro Perica, predsjednik Kluba utemeljitelja HDZ-a okupljenim je novinarima rekao : "Ovo nije veliki puč Ive Sanadera nego je veliki buć Ive Sanadera. Izvan pameti je da je čovjek njegove naobrazbe tako nešto napravio." Dodao je kako Kosor ima veliku podršku unutar stranke te joj čestita jer je na inteligentan način vodila stranku. "Svi stari HDZ-ovci ponosni su na to." - rekao je Perica te na upite novinara je li Sanader izbačen odgovorio da ne zna. Od jutra trajala drama u HDZ-u U devet sati jutros u središnjici HDZ-a sastao se vrh HDZ-a bez Ive Sanadera i Luke Bebića ali i ministra Vukelića. Kosor, Šeks, Milinović, Jandroković, Kalmeta i ostali samo su prošli pored novinara, a jedini koji se obratio prisutnima bio je Andrija Hebrang koji se niti jučer nije suzdržavao od izjava protiv Sanadera. "Ljut sam na Sanadera jer se protustatutarno ne smije raditi ni u jednoj organizaciji. Trebao je reći što mu je na duši, onda bismo sazvali Predsjedništvo i rekli što imamo za reći" - izjavio je Hebrang. Dodao je kako prvo treba vidjeti koji je zapravo pravi razlog Sanaderovog povratka, a onda će znati dalje kako postupiti i hoće li HDZ kazniti Sanadera i Bebića. "Kosor ima podršku cijele stranke" Oko 11 sati u središnjicu su došli Sunčana Glavak i Jasen Mesić. Božica Šolić, koja je jučer prisustvovala Sanaderovoj press konferenciji, oko 12.30 stigla je u središnjicu a okupljenim novinarima rekla je da je došla dati podršku Jadranki Kosor. Na pitanje zašto je jučer došla na Sanaderovu konferenciju za novinare rekla je samo da "nije znala". Nakon nje počeli su pristizati i ostali koji su jučer bili na press konferenciji Ive Sanadera. Stjepan Fiolić kazao je novinarima da se ne osjeća prevareno iako jučer nije znao temu Sanaderove pressice, te da Jadranka Kosor ima podršku cijele stranke. Boris Kunst izjavio je kako ne vidi razlog zašto bi Sanadera trebalo isključiti iz stranke, priznao je da je jučer došao jer nije znao temu pressice, a danas je došao, kako kaže, na poziv predsjednice Kosor. Došao je i Petar Selem.	Ivo Sanader in April 2009 Croatia's ruling Democratic Union (HDZ) party expelled the former prime minister Ivo Sanader following his political comeback Sunday. The decision was made after a day-long intra-party meeting led by the party's president and current prime minister Jadranka Kosor, who accused him of trying to split the party and thus make a crisis in the government majority. Of twenty two members of the party presidency, 16 voted for expulsion, three were against (Luka Bebić, Mario Zubović and Damir Polančec) and two abstained (Bianca Matković and Petar Selem). Sanader himself was not present at the meeting. Mr. Sanader declared he would be returning to a more active role in politics, stating that his decision to withdraw was a mistake, and that the HDZ is a "winning party and not a party that wins 12% of the vote", a remark made in connection with the first round of the presidential election held one week before, in which HDZ's candidate didn't score well. He was supported by a dozen HDZ MPs, including the president of the parliament, Bebić. Several of those MPs later disclaimed any association with Sanader and claimed they were misled. Sanader quit from his PM position in July last year, vowing to quit politics for good, also. He held the post since the 2003 parliamentary elections, and it was during his government that Croatia entered NATO. His government was accused of corruption, however.
At least 23 people were rescued when the boats capsized in high winds [AFP] At least 23 people were rescued when the boats capsized in high winds [AFP] At least 21 bodies were found on Tuesday after the vessels capsized in high winds and heavy rain off the coast of Libya, the IOM officials said. More than 200 would-be migrants are feared dead after up to three Europe-bound boats sank in separate incidents in the Mediterranean, the International Organisation for Migration says. "A boat with 257 migrants on board sank on Sunday off the coast of Libya. Twenty-three people were saved and 21 bodies were retrieved", Laurence Hart, the IOM chief of mission in Tripoli, Libya's capital, said. Officials said search operations were ongoing but hopes of finding survivors were fading. "After more than two days of searching, we have found no more bodies or survivors or the boat," a Libyan official told the Reuters news agency. Departure point The office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Geneva said on Tuesday that Egyptians, Tunisians and Africans were aboard the boats that were wrecked around 30km off the Libyan coast. "This is the beginning of the smuggling season in the Mediterranean" Ron Redmond, UNHCR spokesman Libyan officials said it was not clear whether the boats left for Italy from Libya. Libya, whch has 1,770km of coast, is a popular departure point for African migrants trying to reach Europe for a better life. "This is the beginning of the smuggling season in the Mediterranean," Ron Redmond, the UNHCR spokesman, said. "This tragic incident illustrates, once again, the dangers faced by people caught in mixed irregular movements of migrants and refugees in the Mediterranean and elsewhere which every year cost thousands of lives." Migration controls The report of the deaths comes amid plans by Italy and Libya for a joint sea patrol in May in a bid to halt the influx of migrants trying to reach European countries. The Italian interior minister said on Monday that the patrols would begin on May 15, and he expected that day to "mark the end" of illegal migration from North Africa. "We have done everything possible to prevent arrivals," Roberto Maroni said. "We have signed a deal with Libya and the Libyan government is committed to launch on May 15 patrols along the coasts with six vessels. "Until then, we will continue to ask the Libyan authorities to intensify controls, but I guess that there will still be arrivals." Hart, of the IOM's Tripoli office, said that the agreement may have been a "push factor which people smugglers exploited telling would-be migrants: "it is now or never". Nearly 37,000 immigrants deemed illegal landed on Italian coasts last year, a 75 per cent rise from 2007, according to the Italian interior ministry. Rights groups say most migrants risk their lives in treacherous waters trying to reach Europe hoping to escape poverty in their home countries. \|\|\|\|\| (Reuters) Enlarge Photos (1 of 1) Hundreds of African migrants die in shipwreck off Libya’s coast By Liam Stack \| Correspondent Enlarge This Graphic Rich Clabaugh/STAFF Hundreds of African and Arab migrants are feared dead after several rickety boats smuggling them to a better life in Europe ran into trouble off the coast of Libya. One boat is confirmed to have sunk in choppy seas kicked up by strong winds from the Libyan interior. Jean-Philippe Chauzy, a spokesman for the Geneva-based International Organization for Migration (IOM), told The New York Times that the capsized boat held 257 people, 23 of whom were rescued by workers on a nearby oil rig. Speaking to the Financial Times, Mr. Chauzy said that several boats had left Libya in the past two days, each carrying hundreds of people, and that three may have sunk. A fourth was towed back to shore, with 356 migrants on board. “The reality is that most of these people will have drowned,” Chauzy told the FT. “There is no safety equipment, there are no life boats. People are packed onto the boats in every inch of space.” Agence-France Presse reports that the Libyan coast guard is currently looking for the other two boats, but that IOM officials caution that it is not clear “if these are fishing boats or had migrants on board.” Libya has become an increasingly popular destination for poor migrants seeking passage to Europe, and for human traffickers willing to smuggle them there. For usually exorbitant sums, migrants can pay human traffickers to smuggle them to the small Italian island of Lampedusa on overloaded, unseaworthy ships. Accidents are common, and many ships are simply abandoned at sea. But if migrants do arrive on Lampedusa, they have a shot at traveling to other European countries thanks to open border agreements between EU member states. According to the IOM, more than 37,000 were ferried to Lampedusa from points in North Africa in 2008. Chauzy says that in past years, smugglers avoided making the journey in winter months, when cold weather and high winds made ships more likely to capsize. That trend is now over, though. “It is no longer a seasonal trend. It’s ongoing,” Chauzy told The New York Times. “The arrivals on Lampedusa are regular.” Economic woes may behind that changing trend. Despite a growing financial crisis and rising unemployment in Europe, emigration – either legal or illegal – it is still an alluring prospect for many Africans. The Monitor has covered African migration to Europe in some depth over the past few years. In December, we ran a story about how the small European island nation of Malta is becoming a way station for Africans coming to Europe. This story from 2007, chronicles the dangerous sea voyage Somalis make to Yemen in search of a better life. And in 2006, we ran this story from the other side of the African continent showing the changing routes West Africans were taking to get to Spain’s Canary Islands. But now, the economic crisis may increase the flow of migrants into Europe. In January, the International Labor Organization’s Global Employment Trends report warned that global unemployment in 2009 could rise by 17 million to 30 million workers. The weight of that downturn falls heavily on the developing world, with as many as 200 million workers at risk of being pushed into “extreme poverty.” Comments Trackbacks/Pingbacks Leave a Comment \|\|\|\|\| Migrant boat sinks off Libya, hundreds feared dead TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) — An overcrowded boat packed with migrants seeking a better life in Europe capsized in the stormy Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Libya, killing at least 21 and leaving 200 missing and feared dead four days after the accident, officials said Tuesday. The boat, which a Libyan police official said had a capacity of just 50, overturned Friday in high winds with about 250 on board. Pictures showed six drowned bodies pulled from the water and stretched out among piles of nets and frayed ropes on the deck of a fishing boat that took part in the rescue. "It is hard to imagine that there are survivors among the missing by now," said Laurence Hart, an official of The International Organization for Migration. The missing boat was one of two struggling boats weighed down with migrants in the 60-degree waters on the most heavily traveled route for illegal migrants trying to reach Italy, Hart told The Associated Press. The second boat, a flimsy vessel packed shoulder to shoulder with about 350 migrants, was rescued safely in the same area about 30 miles (50 kilometers) off land overnight into Sunday after an Italian merchant ship received its distress call, said Italian port authority spokesman Capt. Cosimo Nicastro. Shown on Libyan television, most of the migrants appeared to be African men, with a few women and children in the group. One man on the rescued boat held a baby as he helped a woman struggling to walk. Libyan police spokesman Col. Najy Abou Harous said only 21 people — the few passengers able to swim — were rescued from the missing craft. "We found 21 other corpses. The rest are believed dead," he added. "The boat capacity is 40 to 50 and the smugglers packed it with hundreds. These are wooden fishing boats, not for sailing," Harous said. Libyan officials released no information on the accident until Tuesday and by then, rescue efforts appeared to be over. Harous said survivors told him a hole in the rickety boat may have caused it to sink. "The first boat was rescued and is back to Tripoli. All of them are alive and safe," Hart said. The rescued boat was spotted near an oil platform that notified Libyan authorities, Hart said. According to Ron Redmond, chief spokesman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, this is the beginning of the smuggling season in the Mediterranean Sea. Both boats carried migrants from Africa and the Middle East, Hart said. Italy has been pressing Libya to crack down on illegal immigration, including with joint Libyan-Italian patrols against the thousands who try to cross the Mediterranean each year. Rome says that many of the illegal African immigrants who arrive in Italy transit through Libya. According to figures from the IOM, some 33,000 people crossed from North Africa to the Italian island of Lampedusa in 2008 alone. Many of the boats are not seaworthy, and deadly accidents are frequent. Associated Press Writer Maggie Michael reported from Cairo; Associated Press Writers Alessandra Rizzo in Rome and Frank Jordans in Geneva contributed to this report. Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.	The (IOM) stated that over 200 Arab and African migrants are feared drowned after three boats, bound for Europe, sank in the Mediterranean in separate incidents. No less than 21 bodies were recovered on Tuesday when the boats capsized in heavy winds and rain near Libya's coast. 23 were rescued by workers on a oil rig close by. "A boat with 257 migrants on board sank on Sunday off the coast of Libya. Twenty-three people were saved and 21 bodies were retrieved," said the IOM chief of mission in Libya's capital of Tripoli, Laurence Hart. Officials say that search and rescue efforts are ongoing, but that hopes of finding any more survivors are diminishing. "It is hard to imagine that there are survivors among the missing by now," Hart said. The people aboard the boats are suspected to have been smuggled across the sea to Italy. Libya's 1.770 kilometres of coastline is a popular point of departure for migrants hoping to escape poverty and find a better life in Europe. "This is the beginning of the smuggling season in the Mediterranean. This tragic incident illustrates, once again, the dangers faced by people caught in mixed irregular movements of migrants and refugees in the Mediterranean and elsewhere which every year cost thousands of lives," said (UNHCR) spokesman Ron Redmond. There has been a history of people-smuggling into Italy from Libya: almost 37,000 immigrants considered to have entered illegally landed in Italy in 2008, the Italian interior ministry reports. The figures are a 75% increase from the previous year. Italian interior minister Roberto Maroni said that patrols on the sea would start on May 15 in an effort to curb the smuggling across the Mediterranean. "We have done everything possible to prevent arrivals. We have signed a deal with Libya and the Libyan government is committed to launch on May 15 patrols along the coasts with six vessels," he said. "Until then, we will continue to ask the Libyan authorities to intensify controls, but I guess that there will still be arrivals."
Pak govt. may appeal against A.Q. Khan's release Islamabad (IANS): Bowing to international pressure, the Pakistani government may appeal against the release of A.Q. Khan, the scientist who mentored the country's nuclear programme and who was accused of running an illegal proliferation network. Quoting government sources, Dawn said Monday the Islamabad High Court decision last week freeing Khan from house arrest "might be challenged because of concerns expressed by the United States and the United Kingdom". Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi told a TV news channel on Saturday before leaving for Munich to attend an international security conference that the government reserved the right to file an appeal against the court's decision. At the same time, Qureshi said Khan had already been relieved of his duties and had nothing to do with the country's nuclear-related policies. "We have successfully broken the network that he had set up and today he has no say and has no access to any of the sensitive areas of Pakistan," Qureshi said. "A.Q. Khan is history," he added. The Islamabad High Court (IHQ) Friday declared Khan a "free man" and released him from four years of house arrest. Khan had been put under house arrest in 2004 after confessing on state-run PTV to selling nuclear secrets to Iran, Libya and North Korea and seeking the nation's forgiveness. Then president Pervez Musharraf did "forgive" him but restricted his movements. Khan, who was seen in public for the first time in four years in May 2008, said the confession had been handed to him by authorities and he was forced to read it on national television in the "best interest of the nation". In an interview to IANS in May 2008, Khan claimed that he never sold nuclear technology illegally and that he should have never made a confession to that effect. Describing himself as "an innocent man", Khan had said that Pakistan's nuclear assets and weapons were "quite safe" and they could not be taken out of the country. The civilian government had eased the restrictions placed on the scientist in 2004. Right from the time of Khan's confession, the US has been persistently demanding permission to question him on his alleged proliferation activities. Pakistan has been equally consistent in denying this permission. Commenting on Khan's release, a White House statement sought assurances that he would not get involved in nuclear proliferation again, while Britain called on the Pakistani government to allow the International Atomic Energy Agency access to the scientist. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she was "very much concerned" about Khan's release because Washington believed he was involved in leaking nuclear technology and secrets. The US State Department said that Khan's release would be "extremely regrettable" and "unfortunate". Despite the charges against Khan, "a large number of Pakistanis still regard him as a hero for making the country a nuclear state," Dawn said. However, security around Khan's house "remains tight with intelligence operatives in plainclothes posted around it. He cannot leave his residence and cannot meet anyone", the newspaper added. Top Stories \|\|\|\|\| By Robert Birsel ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - The Pakistani government reserves the right to appeal against a High Court ruling declaring disgraced nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan a free citizen, the foreign minister said. The court ruling ending five years of house arrest for the man at the center of the world's most serious nuclear proliferation scandal raised concern in the United States and elsewhere about the risk of more proliferation. Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, trying to calm those worries, said in Europe on the weekend the government had broken up Khan's network and he no longer had any say on, or access to, any area of Pakistan's nuclear program. Qureshi also said the government reserved the right to appeal against last Friday's court ruling. "That option is there," said Foreign Ministry spokesman Abdul Basit, referring to Qureshi's comments on a possible appeal. "But I would hasten to add that as far as we are concerned, as we have said time and again, this chapter is closed" Khan, lionized by many Pakistanis as the father of the country's atomic bomb, was pardoned but placed under house arrest in 2004 by then president Pervez Musharraf soon after Khan made a televised confession to selling nuclear secrets to Iran, North Korea and Libya. Pakistani authorities denied any connection to Khan's proliferation network but never let foreign investigators question him, saying it had interrogated him and passed on all relevant information. Nevertheless, U.S. and international experts investigating proliferation still want to question him. "WISHFUL THINKING" Khan's detention had been relaxed over the past year. He was allowed to meet friends and traveled to Karachi at least once under tight security. He also gave media interviews after a new government came to power in March. He recanted his 2004 confession saying he only took the blame in return for assurances from Musharraf's government that were never honored. He did not elaborate but apparently irked the army by making comments about the smuggling of nuclear equipment that appeared to implicate the military and former army chief Musharraf, and was barred from speaking to reporters by a July court ruling. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said last week she was "very much concerned" about Khan's release. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said President Barack Obama wanted assurances from Pakistan the scientist would not be involved in nuclear proliferation. Continued... \|\|\|\|\| Top Story Dr. Qadeer released under a court order: Gilani ISLAMABAD (SANA): Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has said that Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan has been released under a court verdict. Talking to media in Lahore, Gilani said the network of Dr Qadeer was disbanded. The Prime Minister said People’s Party wants to run the system for seeking solution of poverty, health, education and other problems. Replying a question about People’s Party’s position in the upcoming Senate elections, Gilani said the ruling party has a good number of assembly members in all four provinces and hoped good results in the upper house elections. He said terrorism and lawlessness are the foremost problems faced by the country, which needs a full-fledged attention. \|\|\|\|\| South Punjab Secretariat’s powers clipped even before its formal take-off The secretaries of South Punjab departments have been made subordinate to the secretaries of their respective departments in... \|\|\|\|\| Originally published Saturday, February 7, 2009 at 12:00 AM Comments (0) E-mail article Print view The Pakistani government on Friday freed Abdul Qadeer Khan, the scientist accused of selling nuclear secrets, after five years of house arrest, a step the Obama administration called "extremely regrettable." ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — The Pakistani government on Friday freed Abdul Qadeer Khan, the scientist accused of selling nuclear secrets, after five years of house arrest, a step the Obama administration called "extremely regrettable." Khan, a popular figure in Pakistan as the "father" of its nuclear bomb, confessed in 2004 to selling nuclear secrets to Iran, North Korea and Libya. The Pakistani government pardoned him but confined him to his home under heavy guard. He later retracted his confession. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said she was "very much concerned" about Khan's release. Department spokesman Gordon Duguid said Khan "remains a serious proliferation risk" and releasing him would be "extremely regrettable." White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said President Obama wanted assurances from Pakistan that the scientist wouldn't be involved in nuclear proliferation. It appeared there was a secret deal between Khan, a metallurgist, and the Pakistani government that a Pakistani court endorsed. In an interview Friday, Khan, 72, said he had no plans to travel abroad or to engage in domestic politics. He strolled in the front garden of his villa in Islamabad, which he shares with his Dutch wife and granddaughter, playing with a dog and receiving well-wishers. He also indicated he would continue to be under security surveillance. "It's a nice feeling; the worry is gone. I can lead a normal life now as a normal citizen. It's a fine feeling," he said by telephone. Asked what the international community would think of his release, Khan was defiant. "Are they happy with our God? Are they happy with our prophet? Are they happy with our leader? Never," he said. "I don't care about rest of the world. I care about my country. Obama cares about America, not about Pakistan or India or Afghanistan." His release could affect U.S. aid to Pakistan, even as a proposal for some $15 billion in assistance comes before Congress. Rep. Howard Berman, D-Calif., chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said Congress would take the action into account as it drafted the legislation for aid to Pakistan. Pakistan's action put a cloud over the maiden visit of Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, Obama's special envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan, who is scheduled to arrive in Islamabad next week. After years of investigation, Western intelligence agencies uncovered Khan's nuclear-trading network by late 2003. The U.S. government put enormous pressure on Pakistan, which fired him as the head of its weapons program and arrested him. Khan is a national hero in Pakistan for spearheading the nuclear-weapons program, and many Pakistanis think the development of the bomb saved the country from attack by archrival India, so his release Friday was popular. The court said Khan had been freed under the terms of a "mutual agreement" between the scientist and the government but gave no details. Pakistan hasn't allowed foreign investigators to question Khan and said it had passed on all relevant information about nuclear proliferation. That barrier to foreign questioning apparently will remain. "The so-called A.Q. Khan affair is a closed chapter," Pakistan's Foreign Ministry said Friday. It's widely thought that Khan worked with members of the Pakistani military in his proliferation activities, and he previously has hinted that he was made a scapegoat for others. In 2007, a United Nations nuclear watchdog said Khan's network had been active in 12 countries. Last month, the State Department imposed sanctions on 13 individuals — two of them British — and three companies for involvement in Khan's network. Material from The Associated Press is included in this report. \|\|\|\|\| February 07, 2009 Saturday Safar 11, 1430 Court orders release of Dr A.Q. Khan By Nasir Iqbal and Syed Irfan Raza ISLAMABAD, Feb 6: The Islamabad High Court declared detained nuclear scientist Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan a “free citizen” on Friday, but kept secret the ‘agreement’ reached between him and the government. The court also banned publication of the ‘secret agreement’. Analysts believe the agreement envisages only ‘limited freedom’ to Dr A.Q. Khan. “The petitioner (Dr A.Q. Khan) is declared a free citizen and writ petition is disposed of in accordance with ‘Annexure-A’, contents of which shall not be issued to the press or made public in any manner as requested by both sides,” said a one-page order released by Chief Justice Sardar Mohammad Aslam after a hearing in his chamber. According to the judgment, annexure-A (which spells out the terms and conditions of Dr Khan’s liberty), was offered by the government. Dr Khan’s counsel agreed to the terms after initial hesitation. Dr Khan was put under house arrest in 2004 after he confessed on television to sending nuclear secrets to Iran, Libya and North Korea and sought the nation’s forgiveness. But later he retracted his remarks and alleged that he had been forced by former president Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf to make the statement. The government has been maintaining all along that Dr Qadeer spearheaded an international proliferation network which had supplied centrifuges and other equipment to these countries. Soon after the judgment, Dr Khan came out of his home in Sector E-7 and briefly talked to journalists. But he said nothing that could suggest his ‘voluntary’ detention was over. Security in the area was still tight and intelligence personnel in plain clothes were all over the place. The nuclear scientist appeared to be happy about the decision, but did not disclose the contents of the agreement. He said that now he had ‘absolutely’ nothing to do with the country’s nuclear programme or policy. “For the rest of my life I will like to concentrate on spreading education (in the country)”. He refrained from directly criticising Gen (retd) Musharraf, saying: “I want to forget what happened in the past.” Asked if he intended to sue the former military ruler, Dr Khan said he had no intention to do so. “He (Musharraf) has already paid for his deeds.” He said he would mostly remain inside his residence and rarely move out of the city, but added that he would travel to Karachi or elsewhere only if there was an urgent need. He said he was not interested in going abroad, but that he would like to apply for a permission to go to Saudi Arabia for Umra. “I am confident that the government will allow me and my wife to perform Umra.” Earlier in the day, Dr Khan, represented by Barrister Ali Zafar Syed, had requested the court to remove restrictions on his movement. Barrister Zafar told reporters the word “free citizen” meant that Dr Khan would be entitled to state protection, but only by mutual consent. “It cannot be an imposed protection.” Like any other VVIP, the counsel said, Dr Khan needed security arrangements, but did not require permission for travelling inside the country. But he gave hints that Dr Khan would need permission for travel abroad, saying that decision would be made “case by case”.The government was represented at the hearing by Deputy Attorney General Amjad Iqbal Qureshi and the Additional Secretary of the interior ministry, Zafeer Abbasi. “By the grace of God, the judgment is good and a matter of joy and only because of the judgment I am speaking to you otherwise you would have been stopped behind the barrier,” a beaming but frail Dr Khan told reporters. On July 21 last year, the Islamabad High Court had barred the scientist from speaking on nuclear proliferation, but allowed him to meet relatives and travel inside the country after security clearance. The court had spelled out five conditions to determine Dr Khan’s freedom. He could meet his close relatives and friends subject to security clearance and necessary precautions taken for his security. But he was required to share details about his close relatives and friends with security agencies. Dr Khan was also barred from conveying or transmitting any comments or giving interviews to any channel, news reporter, print or electronic media in any manner on nuclear proliferation. \|\|\|\|\| 2009-02-07 09:02:01 - ISLAMABAD (AP) - Pakistan's government is defending its decision to ease restrictions on Abdul Qadeer Khan, the scientist at the center of the world's largest nuclear smuggling ring. Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said in remarks broadcast by Pakistan's Express News channel on Saturday that the government had extracted the necessary information from Khan and broken his black-market network. He said Khan had no influence or access to sensitive areas.Khan has been under de facto house arrest since 2004, when he confessed to leaking nuclear secrets to Iran, North Korea and Libya.A Pakistani court said Friday that Khan was a free man subject to a secret agreement with the government. U.S. officials expressed concern about the move. \|\|\|\|\| Government cannot interfere in judicial matters: PM LAHORE: Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gillani has said government cannot interfere in judicial matters. Prime Minister said this while talking to media men at Lahore airport Friday. Governor Punjab Suleman Taseer, senior provincial minister Raja Riaz, MNAs, MPAs and others were also present on the occasion. To a question about Islamabad High Court verdict with respect to Dr A Q Khan he said Dr A Q Khan had himself said the decision had not been given under some one’s pressure. Responding to a question about withdrawal of all cases against him, Prime Minister said "with whom I will strike deal.. "After being sworn in as premier I had announced on the floor of parliament that I had pardoned every one. Prime minister said as far as Punjab governor Suleman Taseer meetings with PML-Q leaders was concerned, "governor lives here and this question be asked from him whenever he meets you in isolation". To another question he said UN commission would work according to its mandate in Benazir Bhutto assassination case. As far as the matter that as to why we had not held the investigation in Pakistan was concerned it was because we did not want any controversy should arise in this respect. Moreover, parliament and provincial assemblies through resolutions had also called for UN probe into the case, he added. To another question prime minister said he would seek report from NADRA as to why facility for free of cost National Identity Cards was not being provided to the people despite clear directives of federal government in this regard. . Regarding lawyers long march he said long march, protest movements were part of democracy. "We have been staging long marches and holding protest rallies. This is right of lawyers and opposition that they stage long march. Government has no objection on long march if no law and order situation is created", he underlined. Replying to a question about Kashmir issue he said "we had discussed this issue in forceful manner with UN general secretary. By observing solidarity day on February, we had given message to the whole world that Pakistan had not backtracked from its principled stand on this issue. Seeking right to self-determination for people of Kashmir is part of our foreign policy. We want this right be given to Kashmiris in line with UN resolutions. To another question he said violence in politics was deplorable. Violence was not part of politics and "we condemn it at every level. Not only the persons of our party but those of other parties had also been killed, he added. He dispelled the impression that PPP had been pushed to wall in Punjab. "We are part of Punjab government. Had it been so, we would not have stayed in government", he remarked. Answering to another question he said the whole world was supporting Pakistan stance in connection with Mumbai strikes. Pakistan would bring to media investigation report till Monday or Tuesday which had been worked out on the basis of evidence provided by India, he told. "We will not keep any thing secret in this respect. We will also not want our soil is used for terrorism", he underscored. To another question he said Pakistan would welcome envoy nominated by US president Barack Obama to look into matters of Pakistan and Afghanistan. "We want regional issues are resolved", he added. \|\|\|\|\| Fri, 02/06/2009 - 2:27pm This afternoon, Hillary met with President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo of the Philippines (who, incidentally, went to Georgetown with Bill, as they are both fond of pointing out) and, during their short press appearance, used the opportunity to voice concern about a Pakistani court's decision to release A.Q. Khan, who gave secret nuclear information to Iran, North Korea, and Libya, from house arrest. And though I know I already posted a photo of French Foreign Minister Kouchner and Clinton from yesterday, I came across this one that I just had to post. There is something charming about this photo, no? Kouchner and Clinton, in sync. Paul J. Richards/AFP/Getty Images and Mark Wilson/Getty Images News \|\|\|\|\| HTML clipboard BEIJING, Feb 20 (APP): U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrives in Beijing on Friday evening, kicking off her visit to China. During her stay in China, Clinton is scheduled to meet with Chinese President Hu Jintao, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, and hold talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi, according to Chinese Foreign Ministry. HTML clipboard WUHAN, (China) Feb 20 (APP): China’s ambassador in Pakistan Lou Zhao on Friday expressed the hope that President Zardari’s visit here will start the process to transform the agreements between the two countries into reality. “The agreements that have been signed between the two countries are on fast track,” the ambassador said talking to Pakistani media here. HTML clipboard NEW YORK, Feb. 20 (APP): More than two hundred people on Thursday staged a demonstration in front of the of the office of New York Post, a right‑wing tabloid full of gossip and scandal, protesting a controversial cartoon published in the newspaper’s Wednesday edition. HTML clipboard UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 20 (APP): The severe drought and searing heat will oppress wide swathes of the earth with increasing frequency this century, according to a forecast by scientists who met this week in Beijing, the UN weather agency said today. “The combination of record heat and widespread drought during the past five to ten years over large parts of southern and eastern Australia is without historical precedent and is, at least partly, a result of climate change,” according to a statement endorsed by the scientists at the meeting co‑sponsored by the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO).	Last Friday, Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan, a Pakistani nuclear scientist, was freed from detention. Khan was detained under house arrest since 2004, he made a televised confession of selling nuclear secrets to Libya, Iran and North Korea. He is widely regarded as the founder of Pakistan's nuclear program, and most famous as a national hero. Dr. Qadeer filed a petition at the Islamabad High Court against the government, to address his detention and house arrest. He was freed and now lives as a "free citizen," but the terms upon which he and the government agreed remain secret. He sent his regards to President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani, and the Interior Adviser, and thanked them for their stance opposing his detention. United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she was "very much concerned" about Khan's release. One of the spokesmen, Gordon Duguid, said Khan "remains a serious proliferation risk" and releasing him would be "extremely regrettable". Gillani has rejected such remarks, saying that Dr. Qadeer's network has been dismantled and said that he has been released under Court orders. On Monday, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi tried to calm international worries. He reiterated that Khan's network had been broken up and said that the government reserves the right to appeal the court's ruling. Khan, who is now 72 years old and has received treatment for prostate cancer, told reporters that he was finished with nuclear work and plans to devote himself to education.
Thursday, April 28, 2005 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal STRIP MEGARESORT: Wynn creation opens Countdown inaugurates hotel's start By HOWARD STUTZ GAMING WIRE Crowds file into Wynn Las Vegas today after the marquee counts down just after midnight. Photo by K.M. Cannon. Salon Suites, left, are equipped with a conference table for 10 and expanded catering services. COURTESY OF WYNN LAS VEGAS A typical room in the Tower Suites, center, has the feel of a residential apartment. COURTESY OF WYNN LAS VEGAS Most rooms, including the Executive Suites, offer Internet telephones, fax, high-speed Internet access and flat-screen LCD HDTV. COURTESY OF WYNN LAS VEGAS Workers at Wynn Las Vegas stroll across a bridge Wednesday night before the midnight opening of the $2.7 billion resort. Photo by K.M. Cannon. Five years of design, construction and mystery came to an end at 12:01 this morning. But was it worth the wait? The opening of the $2.7 billion Wynn Las Vegas drew several large crowds Wednesday evening. Ordinary folks waited near the main entrances for the public unveiling shortly after midnight, and more than 2,000 guests paid either $7,500 or $1,500 for a private grand opening charity gala. The gala included a sampling of food from the property's signature restaurants and the premiere of "Le Reve," the Franco Dragone-directed water-themed production show. Michael and Julie Cenko of Las Vegas started waiting outside the megaresort at 4 p.m. in hopes of being among the first inside. "I'm going in with zero expectations, just ready to enjoy myself," Michael Cenko said. "If what they have is half as good as the hype, it will be worth it." Tinkering up to the last minute, developer Steve Wynn, interviewed about 10 minutes after midnight, said the public opening was delayed slightly while workers arranged trash receptacles for people to toss their beer cans. Then Wynn quickly observed the public response. "It's always fascinating to watch people enter the thing and get their first moment after we open the doors," Wynn said. "What I think about it is irrelevant at this point. The place has been turned over to the public." The resort's 2,716 rooms and suites open today for paying guests. By this weekend, Wynn Las Vegas will be a packed house. Unlike the first nights of other Strip resorts, fireworks were not planned. A simple countdown on the Wynn Las Vegas marquee on Las Vegas Boulevard signaled the opening. Bob Maheu, former right-hand man to multimillionaire Howard Hughes, who once owned the Desert Inn, the site of Wynn Las Vegas, was impressed. "I think Howard Hughes would have loved this," Maheu said. "He wasn't a builder, he was a buyer. I think Steve did a fabulous job." Monday and Tuesday of this week were reserved for "employee play-days," where workers and family members took turns acting as guests, staying in the rooms, eating in the restaurants and gambling in the casino with fake money to ensure all of the opening night bugs would be worked out of the system. For Wynn, the opening of the Strip's most expensive property could be termed anticlimactic. Other than the last-minute tinkering for which he has become famous, the casino developer already was making plans for his next project: the $1.4 billion, 2,000-room Encore, which will break ground this summer next to Wynn Las Vegas. "To me, these places and life are an exercise," Wynn said. "You're always testing your potential, and, by definition, you should never be satisfied. But if you're a true student of what you're doing and a lover of your business activity, then you study what you've done to understand what you could have done better." He said he always has focused on the next development, which is one reason why Wynn Las Vegas took five years to complete. He knows visitors to Wynn Las Vegas will be comparing the property with others he has developed and to what follows. "The question is, `Physically, is there a comparison?' " Wynn said. "That's a fair question. But there is nothing worse than a developer talking about their own stuff. The language just gets exhausted. `Five star,' `world class,' all that kind of talk. Who doesn't say that? Every schmuck with a Motel 6 has the same crap." Bill Thompson, a University of Nevada, Las Vegas professor who specializes in gaming, said the Wynn Las Vegas opening easily could be termed, "the city's most important opening to date." Thompson said that unlike previous openings when Wynn relied on some sort of gimmick -- he imploded the Dunes in 1993 for the opening of Treasure Island -- the hotel is the story. "Steve Wynn's openings are always a catalyst for something else," Thompson said. "This opening is truly the largest the city has seen because it's been a while since we've had something like this and it's the start of another new (building) wave. With other new casinos, you kind of knew what they were going to have. This is much larger." Unlike the MGM Grand, which opened as a nonunion resort in 1993, and nonunion The Venetian in 1999, labor union pickets complaining about the treatment of workers did not disrupt the opening of the unionized Wynn Las Vegas. "Wherever (Las Vegas Sands Corp. and The Venetian Chairman) Sheldon Adelson goes, a lawsuit seems to follow," Thompson said. "That doesn't happen with Steve Wynn." For the past six months, Strip resorts have been running close to 100 percent occupancy on the weekends, tourism officials said. So the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority welcomes the added 2,716 rooms from Wynn Las Vegas. Terry Jicinsky, the convention authority's senior vice president of marketing, said officials would have difficulty determining whether Wynn Las Vegas is reason for any increased visitation this weekend or subsequent weekends. But visitor studies have shown that tourists will flock to new attractions. "Clearly, Wynn Las Vegas is going to drive foot traffic on the Strip," Jicinsky said. "We know people will want to check out the new property." Wynn Las Vegas is the fourth Strip resort Wynn has built. The Mirage, Bellagio and Treasure Island were sold to MGM Grand in 2000. But Wynn does not long for his former properties. "I never identify with these projects," Wynn said. "I don't identify with buildings. Every time I built a new hotel, I moved into the new one. "The Golden Nugget (Wynn's first major resort development) was my life from 1973 to 1989, but when The Mirage opened, I didn't go downtown more than twice a year." Still, he admits to being proud of what he has brought to Las Vegas. "I look at the fountains (at Bellagio) and say, `What a cool thing,' " Wynn said. "I'm happy to have played a part in bringing them here." His wife, Elaine Wynn, wandered the resort Wednesday evening, administering to last-minute details. "I am elated. We have major events over the next three days, and I am in charge of them," she said. "I'm just making sure everything is ready to go." Steve Wynn said the one drawback in building Wynn Las Vegas was not having another resort that could help offset startup costs. About 10,000 workers had to be hired, and computer systems and equipment had to be bought. "Whenever you had sister properties, it was an advantage of millions upon millions of dollars," he said. "The good news is that we're using the highest tech systems. The bad news is they are expensive and making them work is a daunting challenge." Those waiting along the resort's Strip and Sands Avenue entrances Wednesday evening were able to gamble in the casino and tour the property once let inside. Most of the visitors were expected to head toward views of the $130 million man-made mountain, from the hotel side. The richly vegetated design that, from the Strip, hides much of Wynn Las Vegas' lower levels, is the focal point of the resort. Review-Journal writer Chris Jones contributed to this report. \|\|\|\|\| Las Vegas -- The casino mogul who brought to this desert oasis such over-the-top hotels as the Mirage and Bellagio kicked it up another notch just after midnight Wednesday with the opening of the world's most expensive casino resort, a $2.7 billion behemoth that had guests' mouths agape as they filed through an ornate front hallway bedecked with more than 10,000 flowers. Thousands rushed into the Wynn Las Vegas as its creator, Steve Wynn, personally stood at the entrance shaking hands, posing for pictures and thanking the rich and the common folk alike for coming to witness what Wynn has modestly likened to the Great Pyramids of Egypt. "Oh my, God!" gasped Georgina Fields, 34, of Manchester, N.H., who had waited in line for four hours. "Just look at the molding, the tile, everything." Even by Las Vegas' larger-than-life standards, the scale of the curved, copper-colored 49-story structure attains new heights of sorts. A 180-foot man-made mountain covered with full-grown Aleppo pine trees looms like a regiment of guards blocking the hotel's entrance from the street, forcing visitors to come inside to see, for instance, the 100 parasol light fixtures hanging from the ceiling that mechanically dance up and down to music. The mountain also provides the backdrop for a series of what Wynn calls "experiences" such as a water-and-light show, a 70-foot waterfall and a 3-acre lake. "The idea of this building was to create extended spaces, to bring the outdoors inside and to transport the guest into another realm," said spokeswoman Denise Randazzo. Such ambition doesn't come cheap. The 217-acre property is more than twice as expensive as the proposed 1,776-foot Freedom Tower to be built on the site of the World Trade Center disaster, and just under the $3 billion price tag of the Burj Al Arab hotel in Dubai -- which, among other services, squires guests to a hotel restaurant via submarine. The cost to build the 2,716 rooms -- minimum size 630 square feet and each appointed with multiple flat-screen LCD televisions -- was $1 million each. That eclipses the previous world record of $775,000 per room at the Grand Wailea Resort in Maui, Hawaii. Naturally, there's an 18-hole golf course -- designed by Wynn and famed golf course architect Tom Fazio -- plus the only Manolo Blahnik shoe store outside Manhattan, a Ferrari-Maserati dealership and 18 restaurants. Some of Wynn's own collection -- including paintings by Picasso, Cezanne, Gauguin, Vermeer and Rembrandt -- is part of the hotel's art gallery. Wynn is no stranger to such extravagance. He opened the Mirage in 1989 with a waterfall that transforms into a volcano every 15 minutes along the sidewalk in front of the hotel. Treasure Island opened four years later with a fiery live-action pirate show out front that is performed every 90 minutes. Among the entertainment at uber-elegant Bellagio is a mammoth dancing fountain show on a 9-acre lake. But with the actual getting inside the hotel posing something of an obstacle course, and the prices being on the luxurious side -- the minimum room price is approximately $230 a night -- some observers wonder how much everyday foot traffic the hotel will attract. "Mr. and Mrs. Omaha will walk in and say, 'OK, fine.' Then, they're going to say, I can't afford the $7 ice cream," said Anthony Curtis, publisher of the Las Vegas Adviser newsletter. "And they'll leave." Perhaps, but not Thursday, when most of those present were determined to be enthralled. "I come to every casino opening," says Debra York, 40, from San Mateo. "I just love Vegas, and I come here all the time. All I can say is that I want to stay at the Wynn now. I'll save up some money -- or maybe I'll win some!" Wynn, 63, who is known to micromanage his properties in matters great and small, and whose name is on the slot machine in the hotel's casino, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal on Wednesday that his latest creation is "more complex than any other structure in the history of the world." Not everyone was quite as impressed. Rick Garman, who operates a local Web site, Vegas4Visitors.com, wondered what Wynn spent $2.7 billion on. "It's nice. It's pretty," said Gorman. But I was not blown away. Everybody I spoke to would say, 'It's nice,' but that was it. If my expectations were too high, then Steve Wynn set them too high." But Wynn doesn't appear worried. He's currently working on the $700 million Wynn Macau in Macau, China, and building the Encore, a $1.4 billion hotel-casino scheduled to open right next door to the Wynn Las Vegas in 2008. \|\|\|\|\| Recent Top News California gunman kills wife, self as she teaches class; student also dead SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. A special education teacher and one of her students were fatally shot by her estranged husband when he opened fire with a high-caliber revolver before killing himself in her classroom at a San Bernardino, California, elementary school, police said. Palestinians vow to disband Islamist group in volatile Lebanese camp AIN EL-HILWEH, Lebanon Palestinian leaders said on Tuesday they would break up an armed Islamist group involved in clashes with security forces inside the volatile Ain el-Hilweh refugee camp in southern Lebanon. World, Lebanon United Airlines under fire after passenger dragged from plane; officer put on leave NEW YORK United Airlines sparked outrage on Monday for the treatment of a passenger who was physically dragged off a plane the airline had overbooked, and one of the security officers involved in the incident was placed on leave pending an investigation. \| U.S., Aerospace & Defense \|\|\|\|\| Gambling Wynn's Next Wager Matthew Miller, Steve Wynn stepped outside his new $2.7 billion resort and gazed towards the hotel's marquee on the Las Vegas Strip. As he spoke into his walkie-talkie, a clock appeared on the high-definition screen, and quickly a crowd of thousands counted down from 30 in unison. When it reached zero, the gambling aficionados and curious onlookers--some of whom had waited in line for hours to catch a glimpse of the new hotel--erupted with cheers of glee. LAS VEGAS - A few minutes before midnight, billionaire casino mogulstepped outside his new $2.7 billion resort and gazed towards the hotel's marquee on the Las Vegas Strip. As he spoke into his walkie-talkie, a clock appeared on the high-definition screen, and quickly a crowd of thousands counted down from 30 in unison. When it reached zero, the gambling aficionados and curious onlookers--some of whom had waited in line for hours to catch a glimpse of the new hotel--erupted with cheers of glee. Wynn, who ranks No. 306 on Forbes' list of the World's Richest People , smiled, shook hands with a few friends, pumped a fist and walked back into the building. The most expensive hotel in the history of Las Vegas was open for business. Kirk Kerkorian's MGM Grand for $6.4 billion in 2000. Soon after, he purchased the Desert Inn for $275 million, demolished the hotel and began work on the new property. He broke ground five years ago today. Much of what he had been constructing had been a closely guarded secret until this morning. The opening of Wynn Las Vegas marks the return of Wynn, 63, to Vegas after a five-year hiatus. He first reinvented Sin City in 1989 with the huge, family-friendly Mirage, and then again with the ultra-plush Bellagio in 1998. He sold his Mirage Resorts company to's MGM Grand for $6.4 billion in 2000. Soon after, he purchased the Desert Inn for $275 million, demolished the hotel and began work on the new property. He broke ground five years ago today. Much of what he had been constructing had been a closely guarded secret until this morning. With the security gates removed, customers pushed their way to the main entrance of the 50-story giant resort, a curved bronze structure with Wynn's signature affixed to the top. On their way to the casino lobby, visitors passed a Ferrari and Maserati dealership. Once inside, most clamored to get to the resort's 1,960 slot machines and 140 tables, which are surrounded by high-end shops (Louis Vuitton, Dior, Graffs), restaurants (SW Steakhouse, Okada), nightclubs (Lure, La Bete) and numerous gardens. Forbes followed Wynn and his entourage for the first 20 minutes of the opening. The mogul spent much of the time walking the floor of the casino and restaurants, having his picture taken, pausing at times to talk into his walkie-talkie. Customers and guests gawked as he walked by, clapping, snapping photos and trying to shake his hand. By 12:30 A.M. the casino floor was packed with a mixture of people; some were wearing black-tie formal wear, others jeans and leather jackets. Many customers had trouble walking between tables and slots machines because of the crowd. In general, the 111,000-square-foot casino floor looks very similar to the Bellagio, from the way the tables are laid out to the typeface used on the signs. Several people remarked the property was simply "the Bellagio on steriods." Richard Branson, Donald Trump, Le Reve, which was created by former Cirque du Soleil collaborator Franco Dragone. The hotel also will showcase the puppet-based Broadway musical Avenue Q. The evening got started with a $7,500-per-couple black-tie charity gala that included food from many of the resort's restaurants. Attendees included billionaires No. 170 on the World's Richest People list , and who ranks No. 228 . The expensive ticket featured a preview of one of Wynn Las Vegas' shows, the water-based, which was created by former Cirque du Soleil collaborator. The hotel also will showcase the puppet-based Broadway musical Outside the casino, Wynn has built a $130 million mountain decorated with trees and plants that are rumored to have been imported from around the world. Several of the hotel's restaurants and nightclubs look out onto the mountain, which blocks off the view of other Strip resorts and secludes visitors. Several waterfalls descend from the top of the mountain into a three-acre lake that is used as part of a nightly music-and-light show. The 215-acre site includes a golf complex behind the hotel. Cost per round: $500. Reaction to the resort was mixed. Vanessa French, a 25-year-old Las Vegas resident, said the array of green, purple and yellow flowers that greeted guests in the main lobby was a nice touch. "I love the colors, and the nightclubs and lounges look like they're a lot of fun," she said. French says she waited two hours to get into the hotel, and was nearly knocked down by the crush of people trying enter when security opened the gates at midnight. "It was worth it," she said. Other visitors said the casino would never live up to the hype surrounding its opening. "There's not much more you can do with a casino to make it more impressive than what we've already seen," shrugged Julie Wiener, a 30-year-old Air Force pilot who was visiting Sin City with her mother and sister on vacation from San Francisco. Wynn Resorts (nasdaq: news - The resort's price tag certainly failed to impress investors in the weeks leading up to this morning's opening.(nasdaq: WYNN people ) shares fell $1.66, or 2.9%, yesterday, and have dropped 29% from their all-time high of $76.45 on March 16. Wynn spent (in theory) $1 million on each of the 2,700 rooms at Wynn Las Vegas, almost double the cost of the 3,000 rooms at the $1.6 billion Bellagio. Wynn, who moved to Las Vegas after graduating from the University of Pennsylvania, is the son of a bingo parlor operator. He got his start as a slots manager at the Frontier Hotel, and eventually bought the Golden Nugget in downtown Las Vegas before opening the $630 million Mirage in 1989. The Mirage was the Strip's first "megaresort," complete with faux volcano and lush interior gardens, and was largely financed by junk bonds issued by Michael Milken . At the time, Vegas' old guard suggested Wynn was crazy for opening a hotel that needed to generate $1 million per day in revenue to pay off the debt. Wynn, who had seven years to service the bonds, paid off his debt in 18 months. Wynn soon opened the Treasure Island casino next door, and in 1998 opened the Bellagio, today the Strip's most-profitable casino. Howard Hughes. At the time, he said it was a birthday present for his wife, Elaine Wynn. A private party will be held tonight to celebrate Mrs. Wynn's birthday with a special meal, featuring foods prepared by some of the celebrity chefs who have restaurants at the resort. During the late 1990s, Wynn stretched his then-company, Mirage Resorts, thin by expanding too quickly into Atlantic City and Mississippi. He eventually sold the company and all of the hotel properties he had developed to Kerkorian, who ranks No. 41 on the World's Richest list . Wynn used the proceeds to purchase the Desert Inn, which was once owned by. At the time, he said it was a birthday present for his wife,. A private party will be held tonight to celebrate Mrs. Wynn's birthday with a special meal, featuring foods prepared by some of the celebrity chefs who have restaurants at the resort. It's a big weekend in Sin City. In addition to the Wynn opening, the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino is celebrating its ten-year anniversary with concerts by rock acts Coldplay, Bon Jovi and Nine Inch Nails. Hard Rock founder and owner Peter Morton is expected to unveil a $1 billion expansion of the property, which will include a new hotel and a high-end condominium complex that will offer a second home to Britney Spears and other celebs. 1 of 1 Subscriptions > \|\|\|\|\| Apr. 27, 2005 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal Cost of Wynn Las Vegas doesn't faze analysts Resort likely to profit despite $2.7 billion price tag By ROD SMITH GAMING WIRE Even though Las Vegas developer Steve Wynn is building the most expensive resort ever, few industry insiders and experts are betting against him being able to make a profit on his new megaresort. At $2.7 billion, Wynn Las Vegas will be the most expensive resort ever built. It also has the highest per-room cost ever at $1 million, exceeding the $775,000 average cost of the Grand Wailea Resort in Maui, Hawaii, previously the most expensive. It also will be more than twice the $415,000-per-room cost of The Venetian, and nearly double the per-room cost of Atlantic City's Borgata ($550,000) and the Strip's Bellagio ($533,000). Advertisement While some industry observers question whether Wynn will be able to turn his colossus into a profitable venture, Wynn himself acknowledges the importance of the challenge. "The responsibility of using capital is much more daunting than getting it. The qualitative and quantitative judgments that you have to make when capital is being used responsibly are far more daunting than raising capital," Wynn said in the weeks leading up to Thursday's opening of Wynn Las Vegas. Some industry experts, including University of Nevada, Las Vegas professor Bill Thompson, who specializes in gaming studies, see pitfalls for Wynn because of the project's cost when compared with those of his competitors' resorts. Still, no one is counting Wynn out, given his track record. "Yes, (Wynn) may be in over his head, but then he has found ways to survive before," Thompson said. University of Nevada, Las Vegas history department Chairman Hal Rothman compared doubts about Wynn Las Vegas's future profitability to those surrounding the opening of Wynn's first major resort 16 years ago. "If you remember the opening of The Mirage in 1989, Wynn needed to make a nut of $1 million a day. Everyone thought he was nuts; 'couldn't be done,' they all said," Rothman said. But Wynn, who had seven years to pay off his debt, paid it off in 18 months. "The moral of the story? No one has yet made money selling Steve Wynn short," Rothman said. Analysts generally view Wynn as something akin to a master magician who has another winner on his hands. But they cautioned that his success will hinge on timing and showmanship. "Wynn will certainly have something up his sleeve," Rothman said. "He's been building to this since 1989: Mirage, Bellagio, Wynn; the compendium of experiences in the collective memory see this endeavor in ways that no other opening ever has (been seen)." Deutsche Bank analyst Andrew Zarnett believes the critical difference between Wynn Las Vegas and other projects lies in a formula Wynn first used at the Golden Nugget in downtown Las Vegas and its sister operation in Atlantic City, and that has applied to gaming resorts ever since. "The key is that Steve developed a formula where nongaming revenues drove gaming revenues. He believes in giving the customer more to do because that will drive gaming revenues more than anything else," he said. Wynn described it as giving guests "a great place to walk around and see, with attractions that are fun, good shopping, good restaurants, some shows, and if there's gambling, that's good, too. It's another thing to do." Wynn stresses that the average guest does not get carried away with gambling but will play if it is available. "That's the average person. It's me. It's you. There's nothing wrong with blackjack, but you wouldn't go anywhere because they've got blackjack. You'd play blackjack because it's someplace you wanted to go," Wynn said. Simply put, Zarnett said Wynn plans to give visitors more reason to come to his resort than to his competitors' and he's going to have a lot more cash registers ringing up sales than his competitors because of the development's complexity. He said those differences will undercut any comparisons with noncasino resorts, such as Grand Wailea, because the absence of gambling at the Maui eliminates a large revenue stream. Instead, Wynn Las Vegas should be compared with The Venetian, Bellagio and Borgata, Zarnett said, which fall short in sizzle, precisely because of the money that is spent on other amenities to increase the demand and cachet at those resorts. Rothman said Wynn operates on a different plane than those competitors. "Wynn is an idea guy. ... As a result, his amenities have always had the ability to excite in ways that other properties have yet to match," he said. Zarnett said by increasing excitement and demand, Wynn will be able to command higher room rates, higher restaurant covers, higher ticket prices for shows, more expensive retail prices and higher charges at the spa. For example, Deutsche Bank analyst Marc Falcone estimates that Wynn Resorts Ltd. is booking rooms at a 10 percent to 15 percent premium to the market so far, with average daily rates of $300 to $330 through November. That is above his earlier estimates of $230 daily room rates. In addition, the dining and retail outlets are largely owned by Wynn Resorts, with a profit-sharing component for the operators, said Brian Gordon, spokesman for Applied Analysis, a Las Vegas-based financial consulting firm. The exception to the owner-operator scheme is the Ferrari/Maserati dealership, which Wynn will operate with a partner, he said. Another ace Wynn has up his sleeve, which he did not have at his previous resorts, is a low cost of capital, lower than any other recent development in Las Vegas. Zarnett estimated Wynn is paying a blended rate of 6.75 percent to bring the multibillion-dollar project to market. He also compared Wynn Las Vegas with Borgata, the newest resort in Atlantic City. The Borgata, a joint project of Boyd Gaming Corp. and MGM Mirage with 2,000 rooms, is throwing off about $220 million in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, a key measure of profitability. By comparison, the 2,700-room Wynn project should be able to generate more than $300 million in EBITDA, which would represent approximately a 15 percent return on the adjusted cost of the resort, "just to do as well as the Borgata." Zarnett added the resort's $2.7 billion price tag exaggerates its cost because it includes the start-up costs and land acquisition for later phases of the development Wynn plans for the former Desert Inn site. "When the guy has a cost of capital in the high 6 percents, that's a pretty attractive return on investment, Zarnett said. Falcone, taking the adjusted cost into account, is even more optimistic. "While initial staffing levels will be high, with 9,500 full-time employees, we believe management will yield margins much quicker than other new properties, Falcone, leasing to EBIDTA estimates of 26.4 percent in 2005 and 30.6 percent in 2006. Zarnett estimated that Wynn's recently announced second megaresort, Encore, will bring the number of rooms and suites to about 4,700, significantly cutting the cost per room for the overall project and increasing the company's earnings after it opens in 2008. Applied Analysis' Gordon estimated the average cost per room when the second resort is done will drop to $820,000. That represents almost a 20 percent reduction in cost, although it would still leave the project at the top of the heap among competing hotels. However, it is also higher than the original $1.95 billion cost estimate, or $720,000 per room. Wynn Resorts spokeswoman Denise Randazzo said the main items behind the $750 million cost increase are the addition of 18 fairway villas, the Avenue Q showroom, an employee parking lot on Koval Lane and the purchase of serveral golf course lots. Beyond cutting the initial per-room cost with Encore, Thompson said Wynn probably has contingency plans in the event his numbers don't meet expectations. Such contingencies could include building additional towers, which Wynn hinted at when he bought the Desert Inn property five years ago; borrowing added capital or issuing additional stock; leasing or selling portions of the former Desert Inn site; or selling part of his interests in Macau or Singapore, he said. "I'm sure he doesn't think that way, but I don't think he's ever sold any property in the past in a completely voluntary way, although he told me that he put the deal to (Kirk) Kerkorian (to sell Mirage Resorts) and Kerkorian took his price," Gordon said. WYNN LAS VEGAS A COSTLY ENDEAVOR Las Vegas resorts Cost per room Year built Cost to build Rooms Wynn Las Vegas $1,000,000 2005 $2.7 billion 2,700 Palms $589,000 2001 $268 million 455 Bellagio $533,000 1998 $1.6 billion 3,000 The Venetian $415,000 1999-2003* $1.7 billion 4,036 Paris Las Vegas $269,000 1999 $785 million 2,916 Mandalay Bay $257,000 1999 $950 million 3,700 The Mirage $249,000 1989 $750,000 3,014 MGM Grand $200,000 1993 $1 billion 5,005 New York-New York $165,000 1997 $350 million 2,119 Treasure Island $148,000 1993 $430 million 2,900 Luxor $136,000 1993 $600 million 4,408 Monte Carlo $107,000 1996 $325 million 3,024 Excalibur $65,000 1990 $250 million 3,850 *Including new tower expansion.	__NOTOC__ The hotel stands nearly fifty stories above the Las Vegas valley, with a 180-foot tall mountain in front of the main entrance. The world's most expensive hotel-casino ever has opened in Las Vegas, Nevada. The casino, which was designed and built over a period of five years, cost US$2.7 billion to construct. The hotel stands nearly fifty stories above the Las Vegas valley, with a 180-foot tall mountain in front of the main entrance. Numerous lavish touches contributed to the high expense of the development. The sign in front of the Wynn property has an unusual mechanical design, with a large piece containing the ''Wynn'' logo, which can move vertically up or down as different announcements are presented. "I think it's going to start a shift of power. It's been the south for a long time. Things will start moving to the north because of Wynn Las Vegas, Sheldon Adelson with the expansion of the Venetian, the New Frontier -- that whole area will become the new hot area of Las Vegas for the next decade or so," gaming expert Anthony Curtis told ''Las Vegas KLAS TV''. As the property opened to the public, developer Steve Wynn greeted visitors at the front entrance. "It's always fascinating to watch people enter the thing and get their first moment after we open the doors," Wynn told the ''Las Vegas Review-Journal''. ===Concern about the cost=== Analysts are not too concerned about the cost of the Wynn development. Wynn paid off the cost of ''The Mirage'' hotel-casino in 18 months, much earlier than the planned seven years for which the debt had been scheduled for repayment. "If you remember the opening of The Mirage in 1989, Wynn needed to make a nut of $1 million a day. Everyone thought he was nuts; 'couldn't be done,' they all said," Las Vegas history department Chairman Hal Rothman told the ''Las Vegas Review-Journal''. Wynn sold his interest in Mirage Resorts to MGM Grand (which became MGM Mirage and is now run by Kirk Kerkorian) for US$6.4 billion back in 2000, then turned around and purchased the property for the Wynn hotel-casino for US$275 million. The property was previously the home of the Desert Inn. The hotel has 2,359 rooms, and a few hundred deluxe suites and "parlors" for high rollers. The casino has 1,960 slot machines and 137 table games on a 111,000 square foot casino floor. A Ferrari-Maserati dealership and the ''Le Reve'' stage show, featuring a million gallon water tank, round out the expensive offerings. A round of golf will go for US$500 on the elaborate golf course located behind the main building. All of these specifications add up to a record construction cost of over one million US dollars per room. Other expensive Las Vegas properties cost a fraction of the price, such as the Bellagio, which cost half the price at US$533,000 per room. The most expensive hotel property in the world was previously the Grand Wailea Resort in Maui, Hawaii, which cost US$775,000 per room. "Yes, (Wynn) may be in over his head, but then he has found ways to survive before," Las Vegas professor Bill Thompson told the ''Las Vegas Review-Journal''. ===Reaction from the competition=== The ''Le Reve'' stage show features a million gallon water tank. Several of Wynn's largest competitors spoke with admiration of the property and looked forward to its impact on Las Vegas. "I've never understood the hand-wringing about something new, especially in Las Vegas and Atlantic City," Harrah's Chairman and CEO Gary Loveman told the ''Las Vegas Review-Journal''. Other casino bosses from the Mandalay and the MGM Mirage had positive comments as well, hoping to pick up some new business from the development. "It's a positive in terms of bringing more visitors," Mandalay Resort Group President and CEO Glenn Schaeffer told the ''Las Vegas Review-Journal''. "Steve will build a great property and bring new people to town. If we're doing what we're supposed to be doing, then we'll pick up some of that business also," MGM Mirage Chairman and CEO Terry Lanni told the ''Las Vegas Review-Journal''. ===Reaction from the public=== Thousands of visitors gathered for hours in front of the property before it opened. Security guards had to monitor the number of visitors entering the building. "I think it's spectacular," David Schwartz, coordinator of the Gaming Studies Research Center at the University of Nevada Las Vegas told ''Reuters''. "People were pushing and shoving," Las Vegan Kathie Anderson told ''Associated Press''. "There is nobody in the world who creates such entertaining and beautiful casinos," British billionaire Richard Branson told ''Associated Press'' from the casino floor. "I would say every other casino must be nervous. He's lifted the bar dramatically," Branson said. "This would be hard to top," Las Vegan Marlene DeMarco told ''Reuters''.
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 \|\|\|\|\| Rescuers had to use ladders and cranes to reach the train The train, which floats on a monorail via a magnetic levitation system called maglev, was going at nearly 200km/h (120 mph) when it crashed near Lathen. Damaged carriages were left balancing on track 5m (16ft) in the air, hampering rescue efforts. "Today we are in mourning," said Chancellor Angela Merkel at the scene. The accident happened at about 1000 (0800 GMT), on a 31.8km (20 miles) test track from Lathen to Doerpenwhich is used for tourist trips and to demonstrate the technology. It's just unbelievable how human failure can cause so many fatalities so quickly Martin, Neuss, Germany Pictures from the crash scene Emergency workers used fire ladders and cranes to reach the carriages. Several metres below, the ground was strewn with wreckage. Reports said up to 30 passengers on the train - mostly employees working on the system and staff from a local utility company, RWE. 'Human error' The maintenance vehicle hit by the train had two crew members. A spokesman for IABG, the company which operates the train, said the accident had been caused by human error, rather than a technical fault. The Transrapid system, run by Siemens, is capable of speeds of up to 450km/h (280mph). The only commercial example of a Transrapid system in operation is the high-speed shuttle to China's Shanghai airport from the city centre. It was developed by Transrapid International, a joint venture between Siemens AG and ThyssenKrupp. German Transport Minister Wolfgang Tiefensee, who is in China, has cancelled his trip and is now on his way back to Germany. In August, a fire broke out on a Transrapid train in Shanghai, adding to concerns about the safety of the technology. The German companies are keen to make Transrapid an export hit and negotiations are under way about building another link in China, and also in Munich, the BBC's Tristana Moore reports from Berlin. HOW MAGLEV TRAINS WORK Opposite poles on magnets keep train above track Train is propelled by electro-magnetic system in the sides of the "guideway" instead of onboard engine Top speed (with passengers) - 450km/h (280mph) Developed by Transrapid Int in Germany Operating commercially in Shanghai Test facility in Emsland, northern Germany, is longest of its kind at 31.5km (19.5 miles) Source: Transrapid International Do you live in the area near the crash scene? Did you witness the accident? Send us your comments using the form at the bottom of the page: If you have pictures or moving footage you can send them to yourpics@bbc.co.uk or text them to 0044 7725 100 100. You should not endanger yourself or others, take any unnecessary risks or infringe any laws. Here are a selection of comments received so far: Having used the Maglev train in Shanghai, this should not be used as an excuse to delay further development of this fantastic, environmentally friendly piece of technology. It's apparent that the train hit a maintenence vehicle, thus human error is 100% responsible. This train could offer London - Brighton services in 7 minutes, and further development should continue.Sam, London, UK What an absolutely tragic and mournful day this has been. Although I'm living several kilometers away from the crash scene, this massive extent of devastation is so gruesome and frightening. It's just unbelievable how human failure can cause so many fatalities so quickly.Martin, Neuss, Germany I recently rode the Mag Lev train in Shanghai. I've travelled many forms of transit from the underground to Concorde. I came off my round trip feeling very ill at ease - and I remember saying to my friend that if something were on the track at these speeds we would be finished (which is one reason the tracks are elevated). The feeling is very different from the Japan bullet trains or the French TGV. My heart goes out to the family and friends of those killed and injured.David, Santa Monica, USA I was in the cab of the Transrapid train during a high-speed run at the test track in Lathen on August 18 in connection with my work as a transport journalist. They showed me some of the maintenance vehicles and I can only imagine it would have been a terrible crash if the train hit one of them at speed. It strikes me that the accident does show a weakness in the technology. If a maintenance train were left on the track on a normal railway, it would be impossible to turn the signal behind it to green. There clearly wasn't any such system at Lathen. Robert, London, UK 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. \|\|\|\|\| Transrapid: The levitating train Adjust font size: BERLIN, Germany (CNN) -- Following are some facts about the Transrapid high-tech train that crashed on a test run in Germany on Friday: The Transrapid rides on magnetic levitation at speeds of up to 420 km/h (260 mph) on its 32-km (20 mile) long test track in Emsland, a remote area of Germany near the Dutch border. It long held the record as the world's fastest train, hitting 450 km/h (280 mph) in a 1993 test. Traveling at three times the speeds of conventional steel-wheel trains, the "mag-lev" Transrapid floats on a magnetic cushion one cm (half an inch) above a track that is elevated five to eight meters above the ground. The Transrapid uses a tongue-and-groove construction that keeps the 110-tonne vehicle from leaving the track. Powerful electromagnets in the bracket-shaped undercarriage wrap around the sides of the guide way and hold the train in place. The prototypes have logged hundreds of thousands of kilometers in trials on the track near Lathen. Because there are no wheels and no friction on the track, the train uses 33 percent less energy than Germany's high speed ICE trains. Hundreds of thousands of tourists have paid to take rides on the train since such service began in 1995. Attempts to build a commercial "mag-lev" line in Germany have repeatedly been blocked by environmentalists and other opponents, leaving projects on drawing boards. There are proposals to build a Transrapid from Munich's airport to the city center and a decision is due in the fall. Another plan to link Hamburg and Berlin was scrapped. China was the first country in the world to get the high-speed train. It takes less than eight minutes to travel the 30 km (19 mile) between Shanghai and its airport at a top speed of 430 km/h (267 mph), making it the world's fastest commercial train. An experimental Japanese mag-lev train set the current speed record of 581 km/h (361 mph) on a test track near Tokyo in 2003. On August 11, a fire broke out in an electrical compartment of the Shanghai mag-lev train as it headed towards the airport. It caused a lot of smoke but no one was injured. It has been developed over the years by Siemens and Thyssen. National airline Lufthansa and Deutsche Bahn have also worked on the project. Reuters contributed to this report. Next story in World World A German-made Transrapid train at Shanghai airport. RELATED	Location of Lathen, Germany Twenty-three people died when a Transrapid maglev train travelling on the system's test track in Lathen in Germany, near the Netherlands border, collided with a maintenance vehicle on the track. Ten others were severely injured according to Karl-Heinz Brüggemann, a spokesman for the rescue effort. The driverless train was estimated as operating at 170 km/h (105 mph) when the accident occurred around 09:30 local time (07:30 UTC). The unmanned train, with 31 passengers aboard crashed into a maintenance wagon containing 2 workers. German Chancellor Angela Merkel visited the site to pay her respect to the victims and the rescuers. File photo of a Transrapid train on its test track The train had traveled about 1 km (0.6 miles) from its departure station when it struck the maintenance vehicle. Debris from the accident was spread over a 300 m (984 ft) section of track. Police spokesman Hans Kley confirmed that the Transrapid train did not leave the track, which is elevated approximately 5 metres (16 ft) above the ground. Other reports indicate that the train's roof was torn off in the collision. Rescue workers used ladder trucks from local fire departments to evacuate the stopped train. On hearing of the accident, Germany's Transport Minister Wolfgang Tiefensee suspended his trip in China and made preparations to return to Germany to view the accident scene. The 31.8 km (20 mile) test system in Germany was built by a consortium of Siemens AG and ThyssenKrupp. It has been in operation since 1984 and is regularly used by tour groups for demonstration runs four days per week. Transrapid trains are capable of speeds up to 450 km/h (280 mph). This accident is the first on the system that included fatalities; analysts so far attribute the cause of the accident to a lack of communications between the train operators and the maintenance employees. The only commercial installation of Transrapid technology in service is currently the Shanghai Maglev Train linking Shanghai Metro Line 2's Longyang Road station to Pudong International Airport.
AUSTRALIANS are being warned to ignore a scam email claiming to be from the tax office and offering refunds. The Australian Tax Office (ATO) has issued the warning, saying the email includes realistic-looking features - including the tax office logo - to make it look genuine. Bogus emails sent to people have included the words "Notification - Please read" or "Australian Taxation Office - Please Read This" in the subject heading. The email contains a link that directs people to a fake ATO website which then asks for credit card and personal details. Anyone who receives the unsolicited emails claiming to be from the ATO should delete them immediately, Tax Commissioner Michael D'Ascenzo says. "As an extra precaution we recommend you type internet addresses directly into your internet browser rather than clicking on links embedded in emails," he said. Bogus sites are often hard to shut down because they are set up in multiple locations on the internet, making them difficult to track down. Those who believe they may have fallen victim to the scam are urged to contact their credit card provider. \|\|\|\|\| Media release 2009/01 The Tax Office is warning people about a fraudulent email being circulated that claims to offer a refund from the Tax Office. It is similar to previous scams and uses the Tax Office logo and the words ‘Notification - Please read’ or ‘Australian Taxation Office - Please Read This’ in the subject heading. There may also be more variations to these subject headings. The email asks people to click on a link which directs them to a bogus website that looks similar to the Tax Office website and asks for credit card and personal details. The Tax Office never sends emails asking people to provide personal information including credit card details. Tax Commissioner Michael D’Ascenzo said anyone who receives the email should delete it immediately. “People should be wary of unsolicited emails claiming to be from the Tax Office. “As an extra precaution we recommend you type internet addresses directly into your internet browser rather than clicking on links embedded in emails,” Mr D’Ascenzo said. These websites are often set up in multiple jurisdictions making them difficult to trace and to effectively shut them down. If people have entered their credit card information on the website, they should immediately report it to their credit card provider.	200px The Australian Tax Office (ATO) has warned against a fraudulent email claiming to be from the ATO. The email, which is similar to previous scams, uses the ATO logo and has the subject line of ‘Notification - Please read’, ‘Australian Taxation Office - Please read’ or other variations. The email directs recipients to a bogus website that looks similar to the ATO website and requests credit card and personal details. "People should be wary of unsolicited emails claiming to be from the Tax Office," says Tax Commissioner Michael D’Ascenzo. "As an extra precaution we recommend you type internet addresses directly into your internet browser rather than clicking on links embedded in emails," added D'Ascenzo who also stated that anyone who receives the email should delete it immediately. Anyone who believes they may have fallen victim to this scam are urged to contact their credit card provider. The ATO Says that it does not send any unsolicited emails.
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Violent clashes between Trump supporters and counter-protestors that were caught on tape by The Washington Post showed members from both sides lunging at one another. Objects can be seen in the footage being thrown in the air, and people are punching one another. Video caught by NBC4 reporter Shomari Stone shows several encounters between the two sides, including a Trump supporter getting pushed after he bumped up against a group of counter-protesters while holding a flag. ADVERTISEMENT Another clip in Stone's video shows demonstrators jawing at one another while a police officer stands between them. Separate footage from Stone shows counter-demonstrators clashing with the president's supporters outside White House when someone set off fireworks. The same video shows officers in masks pushing back a crowd trying to confront Trump supporters. ADVERTISEMENT A group of people also gathered near Freedom Plaza chanting "USA," and flash bangs as well as fire works could be seen, according to footage from WUSA 9 reporter Kolbie Satterfield and a report from the media outlet. It appears a group of people with the #MillionMAGAMarch is gathering near Freedom Plaza. Police have the area blocked off. The group is chanting “U-S-A”@wusa9 pic.twitter.com/JaZSWZ5R0y — Kolbie Satterfield (@KolbieReports) November 15, 2020 Amid the tumult, DC Police made 20 arrests on Saturday, and two officers were injured, according to Satterfield. UPDATE: 20 arrests were made and two officers were injured in today’s #MAGAMillionMarch protests, according to an official with the DC Mayor’s office @wusa9 pic.twitter.com/n0e8Q5acmY — Kolbie Satterfield (@KolbieReports) November 15, 2020 Trump on Saturday night weighed in on the situation, accusing DC Mayor Muriel Bowser Muriel BowserFar-right groups plan DC rallies for Trump as tensions grow McEnany predicts 'quite large' turnout at 'Million MAGA March' in DC DC, Washington metro area set new records for COVID-19 cases MORE (D) of not doing her job. "Radical Left ANTIFA SCUM was easily rebuffed today by the big D.C. MAGA Rally crowd, only to return at night, after 99% of the crowd had left, to assault elderly people and families," he tweeted. "Police got there, but late. Mayor is not doing her job!" Radical Left ANTIFA SCUM was easily rebuffed today by the big D.C. MAGA Rally crowd, only to return at night, after 99% of the crowd had left, to assault elderly people and families. Police got there, but late. Mayor is not doing her job! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 15, 2020 The violence erupted after what had proven to be a mostly peaceful day of demonstrations in D.C. ADVERTISEMENT A flood of Trump supporters made their way into the nation’s capital to take part in what was billed under many names including the Million MAGA March and Stop the Steal DC, and started off at the Freedom Plaza around noon. Women for America First, a group led by former Tea Party activist Amy Kremer organized the event at Freedom Plaza, where a mix of right-wing groups including the Proud Boys as well as a smattering of the president’s supporters gathered. Most demonstrators carried signs or wore shirts alleging that there was widespread voter fraud that negatively impacted the results for Trump. Speakers at the event like Infowars host Alex Jones encouraged the crowd not to give up hope on the election results. "It will be weeks, maybe months, but we will stick with this president, Donald J. Trump," Jones said. The event came one week after President-elect Joe Biden Joe BidenTrump: New York won't receive COVID-19 vaccine immediately Biden considering Yellen as possible Treasury secretary: report Obama hits Trump for refusing to concede, says there's 'no legal basis' for challenges MORE was projected to win the 2020 election. The former vice president was also projected to win the states of Arizona and Georgia, two states that have gone red during presidential elections since the 1990s. ADVERTISEMENT The president however has refused to concede the election, with his campaign mounting legal battles in multiple swing states throughout the country. Trump and his campaign have repeatedly alleged that the election was subject to widespread voter fraud, and have made claims that Democrats have tried to steal the election. Despite Trump’s claims about voter fraud, there is no substantial evidence to suggest that the election was subject to irregularities. A coalition of state and federal election officials on Thursday released a statement saying that there was “no evidence” that any voting system was compromised or votes lost during the recent general election. They added that this was the most secure election in American history. Saturday morning, the president drove by a crowd of protesters waving from the car window as the crowd cheered him on. Later in the day, the president offered encouragement to supporters by retweeting a scene of the protest and writing, “We will win!” \|\|\|\|\| Please enable cookies on your web browser in order to continue. The new European data protection law requires us to inform you of the following before you use our website: We use cookies and other technologies to customize your experience, perform analytics and deliver personalized advertising on our sites, apps and newsletters and across the Internet based on your interests. By clicking “I agree” below, you consent to the use by us and our third-party partners of cookies and data gathered from your use of our platforms. See our Privacy Policy and Third Party Partners to learn more about the use of data and your rights. You also agree to our Terms of Service. \|\|\|\|\| Image copyright Getty Images President Donald Trump is blaming Democratic mayors for unrest across American cities in his bid to make law and order a central part of his re-election campaign. Mr Trump has repeatedly said that the 10 most dangerous cities in the US are all run by Democrats. We asked The White House press office what the president's data source was for his claim, and they directed us to a Washington Post fact-check article on crime in cities. That article uses Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) crime data from the first half of 2019 - the most recent official data source on US cities with populations over 100,000. US cities with most overall violent crime The top 10 cities for overall violent crime, which includes major urban areas New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, are all run by Democrats. The Republican-run city with the highest number of cases of violent crime is Jacksonville in Florida, which is 17th on the FBI list. However, if we look at violent crime cases per 10,000 people, Mr Trump's claim isn't quite correct. US cities with most violent crime per 10,000 people Springfield in Missouri is run by an independent mayor. The rest, though, have Democratic administrations. Most large cities in America, however, are run by Democrats. As of September 2020, the top 100 largest US cities are run by 64 Democrats, 28 Republicans, three independents and four non-partisans. Mr Trump has blamed Democrats for high rates of violent crime in cities they control. But the FBI has warned against using its statistics in a way which ranks cities and oversimplifies what causes crime. "These rough rankings provide no insight into the numerous variables that mould crime in a particular town, city, county, state, tribal area, or region," it says on its website. "Consequently, they lead to simplistic and/or incomplete analyses that often create misleading perceptions adversely affecting communities and their residents." Rising murders in large US cities run by Republicans and Democrats Percentage change from 2019 to 2020 for the same time period Mr Trump has also said that Democratic-run cities are "rampant with crime", but some of the fastest increases in murder rates are in Republican-run cities. Data from local police departments does show stark increases in Democratic-run Chicago and New York. But that's also a trend seen in some Republican-run metropolitan areas. Lexington in Kentucky, a city of over 300,000 people, has seen 84.6% increase in murders when compared with the same period in 2019, for example. Mr Trump has not talked about these places. "Murder is up about 25% nationally including nearly identical change in Democratic and Republican-run cities," says US crime analyst Jeff Asher. "I think the more salient point is that cities across the country, regardless of the mayor's party, are seeing an alarming increase in murder nationally this year," he adds. Individual years can fluctuate but violent crime across the US has been on a downward trend since the 1990s. Read more from Reality Check Send us your questions Follow us on Twitter	Violence broke out on Saturday when several thousand people rallied at in the US capital city of Washington, DC in support of US President to protest the results of the 2020 US Presidential Election, where former has been projected to have defeated the incumbent in both the and the . The demonstrations were initially peaceful, but clashes with counter-protesters broke out by the evening hours. File photo of Freedom Plaza in Washington, DC, 2009. Video captured two factions pushing, punching, and throwing . A report alleged and were used. As a result of Saturday's unrest, according to a report citing the mayor's office, twenty people were arrested, and two police officers were injured. President Trump lashed out at the capital city's Democratic mayor on Twitter, accusing her of "not doing her job". The president has blamed Democratic leadership for violence and unrest in various US cities throughout 2020. The president has not yet the election, and has claimed widespread with , and made various legal challenges. State and federal election officials have stated there is currently no evidence to support the President's claims of widespread voter fraud.
Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner likes to be known as the "first citizen" Mrs Kirchner promised change but also pledged to continue what she called the re-founding of the nation. She announced her candidacy in July after President Nestor Kirchner said he would not be standing for re-election. Polls say she has a good chance of victory in October but rows denting the government's image may also affect her. In a speech in the city of La Plata, Mrs Kirchner promised more jobs and less poverty. She said Argentina must overcome its culture of failure and provide its citizens with a sense of economic security. She told supporters her husband had been responsible for rebuilding the democratic constitutional state, and for restoring the self-esteem of the nation. Energy crisis Mrs Kirchner does not like to be called "First Lady", preferring instead "first citizen", BBC regional analyst Martin Murphy says. Many Argentines believe President Kirchner is doing a good job She is a senator for the province of Buenos Aires and has her own political clout. But having taken the place of her husband as the government's candidate for the 28 October election means that whatever the government does is reflected upon her, our analyst says. As such, he says that the launch of her campaign does not come at a good time. On Monday, the economy minister resigned after an investigation was ordered into the discovery of $64,000 (£31,000) in cash in the toilet in her office. She denied any wrongdoing. Meanwhile, Argentina faces an energy crisis in the middle of one of the worst winters in the past 100 years. Many Argentines believe the government is not doing enough to solve this crisis and they also complain about rising prices, even though government figures show inflation is under control. But apart from these problems, polls suggest that almost half of the population believes President Kirchner is doing a good job. According to official figures, since the economic crisis of 2001, unemployment and poverty have gone down, while GDP and public investment have gone up. Mrs Kirchner's campaign will surely benefit from this, as well as from the lack of a united and strong opposition, our analyst says. Here are some readers' reactions to Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner's decision to try to follow her husband into the top job. I certainly do not believe that Mrs Kirchner is the right person to be leading Argentina at this point in time. She will be too heavily influenced by the ideologies and opinions of her husband. I think she should step aside and allow others in the party with fresh ideas and policies to run for the presidential elections. Allister, Antigua & Babuda I always worry when democracies start having dynasties getting elected to power. This is true in the US - the Bush family, the Clintons and Kennedys, or in Poland with the president and PM being brothers. Now Argentina is following suit. Are there really so few suitable candidates for election that these dynasties are formed? Simon Murphy, Amsterdam I think she is the right person to be chosen, I heard a lot about her. We should appreciate the decision. Sumeet Barak, Pune, India Cristina runs for president in order to make it possible to reign the country for 16 years! The corruption will start as of now. Nestor has not contributed much to the growth of the economy. Others probably would not do better. The reason for this is that this country is sick to the bone: Inefficiency rules, sticking out your neck is not appreciated, mediocre is good enough. Such a pity for such a rich country. Arjen ten Have, Mar del Plata As I understand it one person can be president in Argentina forever as long as they don't have a certain amount of terms consecutively. I think she is a puppet for her husband so he can continue his power hungry quest to rule. Joshua, Chicago, USA She launched her campaign to be able to go on with the increasing and totalitarian power they have got. As regards the numbers reflecting Argentina's improvement, not only are they manipulated by public organs such as Indec, but also are determined by world prices. In my opinion, she will not be able to deal with the situation, and, if we look back in Argentina's history, we can clearly see her term will finish as weakly as every second term of office we have passed. Julian, Buenos Aires, Argentina Female pretenders to the Argentine throne have left a questionable record at best. Irrespective of Mrs Kirchner's solid qualifications, the people would most likely prefer to see Mr Kirchner in office rather than vicariously by his wife. Peter Polak, San Francisco, USA Here in Mexico, the president's wife - Martha Sahgun - also tried to run for the presidency but, when rumours of her intentions were made public, she had to withdraw her candidacy because of accusations that she and her husband - president Vicente Fox- were trying to create a nepotistic government. I believe that successive terms in power by members of the same family is inadequate and (at least in Latin American countries) an invitation to corruption. Epigmenio Ibarra, Mexico City, Mexico I think it is great, it is not like she has stood in the background doing nothing. She is a senator for the state of Buenos Aires and she does have her own views and political goals. She is for reform and bettering the lives of those in Argentina. I think at the very least she should be listened to and taken as a serious contender for the seat in the Casa Rosada. Luis Alberto Oviedo-Perez, Chicago, USA \|\|\|\|\| En su discurso de lanzamiento en La Plata, la senadora habló de un modelo de "transferencia" para dejar atrás la "acumulación" de la década pasada. Planteó un segundo tiempo para continuar la "construcción" nacional "Hoy hemos reconstituido el sistema de decisión del sistema democrático constitucional", señaló la senadora al reafrimar la gestión kirchnerista. "Ahora y para siempre, venimos a poner en vigencia el texto de la Constitución Nacional", enfatizó Cristina Fernández, ante el aplauso de todos los presentes. También señaló que es "esencial" la constitución de "un modelo económico y social". "La vida de los argentinos se arregla o desarregla desde la economía", puntualizó. "Acumulación contra transferencia", planteó. Luego se dirigió al presidente Kirchner a quien elogió por haber apostado por una "Argentina diferente, sin palos. Usted le devolvió la autoestima a los argentinos" También se refirió al renunciamiento del Presidente a un eventual segundo mandato. "No es común que alguien con más del 70% de imagen positiva y del 50% de intención de voto" no se presente a un segundo período. En una frase que pareció apuntar a toda la clase política, incluida el Partido Justicialista, dijo que"absolutamente ninguno hubiera hecho lo que usted hizo". "Es un hombre fuera de lo común", concluyó. "Una forma de gobierno es el instrumento para que la política pueda llegar a la sociedad y pueda mejorar su calidad de vida. Esa es la concepción por la cual ingresé, en esta misma Ciudad, a la política", continuó. "Esto que puede sonar a un intento de clase de Economía es simplemente explicarles a todos los argentinos cuál es la razón por la cual han bajado los índices de desocupación, nos desendeudamos y cómo hemos podido dar aumentos salariales. No hay misterios argentinos, es el modelo económico, de claro perfil industrialista", agregó. "La única manera que concebimos es con inclusión social", señaló al tiempo que señaló que quiere "empresarios inteligentes". Marcó fuerte distancia de la política económica llevada adelante en los 90 y dijo que "los argentinos necesitan certezas". "Las elecciones a Presidente no pueden ser más una ruleta rusa para los argentinos. No lo tolera el país, ni la sociedad, ni la historia. Necesitamos darle un rumbo perseverante", señaló. Con la presencia del presidente Néstor Kirchner, la totalidad del gabinete nacional, gobernadores justicialistas, legisladores y referentes sociales, la Primera Dama comenzó a detallar sus planes de Gobierno para los próximos cuatro años. Decenas de pasacalles con las leyendas 'Cristina (y el nombre de Daniel Scioli y de distintos candidatos a intendentes de distritos de la provincia)', fueron colocados en las inmediaciones del Coliseo mayor de la provincia. También se instalaron tres pantallas gigantes sobre la calle 10, entre 51 y 53, para que el público siga desde afuera del Teatro las alternativas del acto de lanzamiento de la candidatura de la legisladora. El acto El escenario elegido para el lanzamiento es el Teatro Argentino, el mismo en el que Cristina anunció su postulación para senadora nacional por la provincia de Buenos Aires en los comicios de 2005, cuando se impuso con casi el 50 por ciento de los votos. Cristina Fernández completará su fórmula el 28 de julio, tras un plenario que realizarán los radicales K de la 'concertación plural' en el partido bonaerense de Vicente López para elegir, según todas las previsiones, al gobernador mendocino Julio Cobos. El lanzamiento oficial de la fórmula oficialista, en tanto, está previsto para el 9 de agosto venidero, en un acto que se realizará en el estadio Luna Park de esta Capital, según señalaron a Télam fuentes oficiales. Fuente: Télam \|\|\|\|\| Cristina lanza su candidatura en la Ciudad Comenzó el acto en el Teatro Argentino, en medio de un fuerte operativo de seguridad. Está cortado el paso en doce manzanas a la redonda y un enorme vallado rodea el lugar. Varias columnas de militantes se agolpan en las inmediaciones. Tensión por una posible movilización de Quebracho \|\|\|\|\| La senadora Cristina Fernández, esposa del presidente Néstor Kirchner, ha lanzado oficialmente este jueves su candidatura presidencial para los comicios del próximo mes de octubre durante un acto en la ciudad de La Plata, a 50 kilómetros de Buenos Aires. El escenario ha sido el mismo en el que se anunció su candidatura a senadora por la provincia de Buenos Aires, en 2005. En su discurso, según recogen las ediciones digitales de varios medios argentinos, la mujer de Néstor Kirchner ha alabado que la gestión del actual presidente "reconstruyó el Estado democrático constitucional", ha elogiado la política económica y ha prometido que "la novedad del cambio será seguir en una misma dirección". Durante su mensaje, la candidata ha mencionado los que serán los "tres ejes" de su Gobierno si finalmente llega al poder y ha criticado el modelo económico de la década pasada. Estos tres ejes serán lo que denominó "la consolidación del estado democrático y de sus instituciones", la consolidación de un "modelo económico productivo de acumulación con inclusión social" y la "reconstrucción del autoestima". Cristina, como es llamada por los argentinos, ha señalado que el modelo desplegado por su esposo debe ser profundizado e institucionalizado, para que se consolide como una estrategia de nación a largo plazo. Encuestas favorables La candidata demostró sus dotes de oradora al hablar durante tres cuartos de hora en un teatro abarrotado de La Plata, su ciudad natal, donde unos 2.000 asistentes, entre ellos su esposo, Néstor Kirchner, en primera fila, siguieron un discurso que apeló más a lo racional que a lo emocional. En el exterior del edificio, militantes kirchneristas, llegados desde distintos puntos del país, han seguido el discurso de Fernández desde cuatro pantallas gigantes colocadas para la ocasión. Los medios argentinos, como La Nación, destacan que con toda esta puesta en escena el Gobierno busca hacer una demostración de fuerza en medio de los escándalos que han salpicado en los últimos meses a varios ministros. Desde que se confirmó que la senadora Fernández será la candidata del oficialismo, después de que Kirchner declinara presentarse un nuevo mandato, las encuestas le adjudican una intención de voto de un 48%, por lo que estaría en condiciones de triunfar en primera vuelta.	Cristina Fernández de Kirchner Current senator and Argentine First Lady Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner announced her presidential candidacy yesterday evening in La Plata, a city 50 kilometers (31 miles) away from Buenos Aires. Mrs. Kirchner announced her intention to run for president at the ''Argentine Theatre'', the same location she used to start her 2005 campaign for the Senate as member of the Buenos Aires province delegation. A large security detail was in place at the theatre and eight city blocks were closed to traffic for the event. Outgoing Argentine president Néstor Kirchner, members of his office, and provincial governors were present at the ceremony. Julio Cobos, governor of Mendoza and possible campaign team member, was also there. Activists from Quebracho mobilized in La Plata to protest the candidacy of the First Lady, and created some disturbances near the event. None of the protesters was arrested, according to an official spokesman of La Plata Police Station. Recent polls indicate that Mrs. Kirchner has at least 40 percent voter support, which bodes well for winning on the first ballot in the upcoming October elections. According to Argentine newspaper ''La Nación'', this speech signifies that the government is attempting to show solidarity in the midst of recent scandals: Felisa Miceli's resignation to the Department of Economy after being accused of wrongdoing by a justice over the nearly $100,000 Argentine pesos and US$31,670 found in her office, and the alleged smuggling of weapons and irregularities in the office of the Secretary of Environment.
Yemen says more than 100 Shiite rebels killed (AFP) – Aug 23, 2009 SANAA — Yemeni troops have killed more than 100 Shiite rebels, including two of their commanders, in an operation to recapture a small town in the northern mountains, the government said on Sunday. "The bodies of more than 100 rebels have been recovered from the roadside outside the town of Harf Sufyan," a government statement said. "It seems that the bodies were those of rebels who were trying to flee the town during a mopping-up operation over the past two days," the statement said, adding that two of the dead were identified as commanders Mohsen Saleh Hadi Gawd and Salah Jorman. There was no independent confirmation of the number of those killed in the operation in Harf Sufyan, some 70 kilometres (45 miles) north of the capital Sanaa. The security forces succeeded in "totally purging the town of rebel elements in the past two days, forcing the rebels to surrender or flee", the government statement said. President Ali Abdullah Saleh pledged on Wednesday to crush the Shiite rebellion in the north as the army pressed on with an offensive launched two weeks ago. The campaign, dubbed Operation Scorched Earth, aims to end once and for all a rebellion by Zaidi Shiite rebels, also known as Huthis, in the rugged mountainous region. Fighting began in Saada province on the border with Saudi Arabia and has since spread to Amran province to the south where Hafr Sufyan is located. An offshoot of Shiite Islam, the Zaidis are a minority in mainly Sunni Yemen but form the majority community in the north. Saleh is himself a Zaidi. The rebels reject the current government and want to restore the Zaidi imamate overthrown in a 1962 coup. Thousands of people have been killed since the conflict first erupted in 2004. Copyright © 2014 AFP. All rights reserved. More » \|\|\|\|\| Sana'a has laid down ceasefire conditions which the Houthis have rejected [Reuters] Sana'a has laid down ceasefire conditions which the Houthis have rejected [Reuters] The deaths in fighting in Amran province in the northern mountains on Sunday included two commanders, they reported. More than 100 Zaidi Shia fighters have been killed by government forces in the north of Yemen after fierce battles to recapture a town, government officials have said. "There has been a discovery of 100 bodies belonging to Houthi rebels on the sides of the roads outside Haraf Sufyan," government statement said. "It seems these are members who had attempted to escape from the fierce fighting in Sufyan city and were chased down." Ceasefire terms The two commanders were named as Mohsen Saleh Hadi Gawd and Salah Jorman. Zaidi fighters, who are also referred to as Houthis after their leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, have been fighting a campaign for independence in the north for the past five years. Sana'a launched Operation Scorched Earth against the Houthis two weeks ago in an attempt to end the insurgency. Fighting began in the northern Saada province, which borders Saudi Arabia, and spread to Amran province. President Ali Abdullah Saleh on Friday reaffirmed six conditions for a ceasefire, which includes withdrawal from the mountainous region and return of military hardware. Public 'misled' He warned that the full capabilities of the government would be used against Houthis if a ceasefire was not agreed. Abdul-Malik al-Houthi rejected the terms, saying the government was seeking to "mislead the public opinion". The Houthis or Zaidi, an offshoot of Shia Islam, are the majority group in the north of Yemen but a minority nationwide and aim to re-establish the autonomous rule they held before a coup in 1962. Thousands of people have been killed since the conflict began in 2004. More than 35,000 people have been displaced, the UN has said.	Yemeni government officials reported that Yemeni armed forces have killed over 100 Zaidi Shia rebel fighters following a battle to capture a town in the country's north. In a statement, the government said that "the bodies of more than 100 rebels have been recovered from the roadside outside the town of Harf Sufyan. It seems that the bodies were those of rebels who were trying to flee the town during a mopping-up operation over the past two days." The statement also said that two commanders, Mohsen Saleh Hadi Gawd and Salah Jorman, were identified among the dead. The government statement said the Yemeni forces "totally purged the town of rebel elements in the past two days, forcing the rebels to surrender or flee." The Zaidi insurgent group, also known as Houthis, have been fighting for northern independence for the past half decade. Two weeks ago, the Yemeni government started Operation Scorched Earth to try to exterminate the insurgents. Harf Sufyan is a town in Yemen's northern mountain range. It is about seventy kilometres north of Sana'a, the country's capital.
New Launch Period for Zvezda Service Module Technical representatives from NASA and the Russian Aviation and Space Agency have completed a Joint Program Review of issues related to the International Space Station Program. The partners agreed to move the projected launch window for the Zvezda Service Module to a period ranging from December 26 to January 16. An official launch date will be announced after the General Design Review in a few weeks. The delay doesn't affect the overall launch and assembly schedule for the station since the launch dates for downstream flights likely will be adjusted because of ongoing wiring inspections on all space shuttles and recent work delays caused by Hurricane Floyd. The Service Module will be the first fully Russian contribution to the International Space Station and will serve as the early cornerstone for the first human habitation of the station. The module will provide the early station living quarters; life support system; electrical power distribution; data processing system; flight control system; and propulsion system. The Multi-Purpose Logistics Module called Raffaello sits on a transporter waiting for transfer to the space station processing facility. Preparations for Future Station Assembly Continue Preparations for future station assembly continue at the Kennedy Space Center with the arrival Wednesday, August 4, of a second Italian-built logistics module, named Raffaello, targeted for launch to the station in mid-2000. Carried in the space shuttle's cargo bay, the 4.5-ton reusable module will hold up to 20,000 pounds of equipment racks for transfer to and from the station. \|\|\|\|\| International Space Station Status Report #05-16 5:30 a.m. CST, Monday, March 28, 2005 Expedition 10 Crew The residents of the International Space Station ventured outside today for a 4-hour, 30-minute spacewalk to install communications equipment on the exterior of the Zvezda Service Module and deploy a small satellite experiment. The equipment installation tasks were preparations for the maiden docking of the European Space Agency�s cargo carrier, the Automated Transfer Vehicle �Jules Verne,� due to launch next year. Clad in Russian Orlan spacesuits, Expedition 10 Commander and NASA Science Officer Leroy Chiao and Flight Engineer Salizhan Sharipov left the Pirs Docking Compartment airlock at 12:25 a.m. CST and quickly set up tools and tethers for their excursion. Sharipov activated the Russian Nanosatellite for later deployment. With no one left inside, Station systems were either deactivated or put in autonomous operation for the duration of the spacewalk. Hatches were also closed between the U.S. and Russian segments of the complex in the unlikely event the crew would not have been able to return to the outpost. The first task was the installation of three space-to-space communications, or so-called WAL, antennas on the forward conical section of Zvezda. The S-band low gain antennas are part of the Proximity Communications Equipment (PCE) to be used for ATV and Service Module interaction during the future rendezvous and docking operations. The first three antennas were installed on the aft end of Zvezda during Expedition 9. About 2 hours into the spacewalk, from a ladder attached to Pirs, Sharipov deployed the foot-long, 11-pound Nanosatellite toward the aft end of the Station as Chiao photographed its departure. The experiment contains a transmitter and while it orbits the Earth, is expected to help develop small satellite control techniques, monitor satellite operations and develop new attitude system sensors. Russian experts informed the crew they received a good signal from the satellite two hours after its deployment. The spacewalkers gathered the tools and equipment for the next task as Russian flight controllers inhibited the Russian thrusters from firing in the crew�s next worksite area. Once that was complete, the crewmembers were given approval to move toward the aft end of Zvezda. Once in place, they installed a Global Positioning System receiver. The receiver is also part of the ATV communications hardware and will give the approaching vehicle data about its relative position to the Station during rendezvous operations. While in the area for the installation of GPS cabling, Chiao and Sharipov also inspected and photographed the location of an antenna used for communications with the Service Module to confirm its position for Russian technicians. Chiao then photographed a previously installed laser reflector that will also be used for ATV proximity operations. The crewmembers continued to secure cabling on Zvezda as they worked their way back toward Pirs. Despite the recent loss of one of the three functioning Control Moment Gyroscopes because of a circuit breaker failure, the remaining two gyros maintained the Station�s attitude without Russian thrusters until just before the end of the spacewalk. The Station drifted slightly without attitude control for less than 20 minutes. When Chiao and Sharipov reported they were a safe distance from Zvezda�s thrusters, the jets were reactivated and attitude was quickly regained. The two spacewalkers entered Pirs and closed the hatch at 4:55 a.m. CST to complete their spacewalk an hour ahead of schedule. After repressurizing Pirs, Chiao and Sharipov were scheduled to return to the Station, remove their spacesuits, reactivate the ISS systems and open the hatches to the U.S. segment. The crew will begin its sleep period later this morning and enjoy a light-duty day Tuesday with a few system reconfiguration tasks scheduled. It was the second spacewalk for Sharipov and Chiao�s sixth. The pair logged almost 10 hours of spacewalking time during their two Expedition excursions. Today�s spacewalk was the 58th in support of ISS assembly and maintenance, the 33rd staged from the ISS itself and the 15th from Pirs. A total of 348 hours and 15 minutes of spacewalking time has been logged in the Station�s lifetime. For more on NASA, the crew's activities aboard the Space Station, future launch dates and Station sighting opportunities from anywhere on the Earth, visit: www.nasa.gov The next International Space Station Status report will be issued on Friday, April 1, or earlier if events warrant. ### NASA Johnson Space Center Shuttle Mission/Space Station Status Reports and other information are available automatically by sending an Internet electronic mail message to listserv@listserver.jsc.nasa.gov. In the body of the message (not the subject line) users should type "subscribe hsfnews" (no quotes). This will add the e-mail address that sent the subscribe message to the news release distribution list. The system will reply with a con firmation via e-mail of each subscription. Once you have subscribed you will receive future news releases via e-mail.	__NOEDITSECTION__ Chiao (right) and Sharipov on the ISS Expedition 10 Flight Engineer Salizhan Sharipov deploys the Nanosatellite while Commander Leroy Chiao (below) photographs. ISS Zvezda module where spacewalk took place Commander Leroy Chiao (U.S.A.) and Flight Engineer Salizhan Sharipov (Russia), suited in Russian Orlan spacesuits, left the International Space Station on a 4.5 hour long spacewalk to install antennas for the European Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV), inspect and photograph other exterior equipment and launched the Nanosatellite mini-satellite. This is the last scheduled walk for the Expedition 10 crew. At 06:25 UTC, the two astronauts left the station from the Pirs DC1 docking compartment/airlock and proceeded to install the last three of six space-to-space communication antennas for the ATV's rendezvous and docking with the ISS next year. Sharipov next deployed the foot long, 11 pound Russian Nanosatellite, tossing it into space by hand. The object of the experiment is to develop small satellite control techniques, monitor satellite operations and develop new attitude system sensors. Russian ground crews reported good signal reception from the satellite two hours after its release. The two astronauts next proceeded to the aft end of the Zvezda service module. A Global Positioning System (GPS) antenna and necessary cabling for the ATV was installed and the men worked their way back to the airlock. The station maintained its attitude, despite the loss of a gyroscope earlier in the space station mission, until the end of the spacewalk. Chiao and Sharipov reported being a safe distance from the attitude adjustment thrusters. Russian ground control activated the jets and normal attitude of the station was regained. They returned to the airlock at 1055 UTC, completing the mission an hour earlier than scheduled. Chiao and Sharipov arrived on the station October 16, 2004. They are scheduled to return to Earth on April 25, 2005. This marks Sharipov's second walk in space and Chiao's sixth. ==Sources== * HSF -International Space Station *
By Zoe Kleinman Technology reporter, BBC News Boy Van Amstel created pleaserobme.com to make a point. A website called PleaseRobMe claims to reveal the location of empty homes based on what people post online. The Dutch developers told BBC News the site was designed to prove a point about the dangers of sharing precise location information on the internet. The site scrutinises players of online game Foursquare, which is based on a person's location in the real world. PleaseRobMe extracts information from players who have chosen to post their whereabouts automatically onto Twitter. "It started with me and a friend looking at our Twitter feeds and seeing more and more Foursquare posts," said Boy Van Amstel, one of PleaseRobMe's developers. "People were checking in at their house, or their girlfriend's or friend's house, and sharing the address - I don't think they were aware of how much they were sharing." Mr Van Amstel, Frank Groeneveld and Barry Borsboom realised that not only were people sharing detailed location information about themselves and their friends, they were also by default broadcasting when they were away from their own home. Simple search The website took just four hours to create. "It's basically a Twitter search - nothing new," said Mr Van Amstel. "Anyone who can do HTML and javascript can do this. You could almost laugh at how easy it is." He said that the site would remain live but stressed it was not created to encourage crime. "The website is not a tool for burglary," he said. "The point we're getting at is that not long ago it was questionable to share your full name on the internet. We've gone past that point by 1000 miles." Mr Van Amstel added that in practice it would be "very difficult" to use the information on the website to carry out a burglary. Charity Crimestoppers advises people to think carefully about the information they choose to share on the internet. "We urge users of Twitter, Facebook or other social networks to stop and think before posting personal details online that could leave them vulnerable to crimes including burglary and identity theft," said a spokesperson. "Details posted online are available for the world to see; you wouldn't hang a sign on your door saying you're out, so why would you post it online?" Bookmark with: Delicious Digg reddit Facebook StumbleUpon What are these? E-mail this to a friend Printable version \|\|\|\|\| A new Website with the tongue-in-cheek name "PleaseRobMe" seeks to highlight the potential danger of updating the world, via social networking sites, on your every move. PleaseRobMe is really nothing more than a glorified Twitter search; it aggregates public Twitter feeds that use Foursquare, a social networking game, t o announce when users have left their homes. The site reads like a Twitter feed with a sarcastic twist -- each entry has "@username left home and checked in about a minute ago:" before each Tweet. The site is constantly updated with "new opportunities," and you can filter the search results by location or Twitter username. Foursquare is a game that allows users to "colonize" their city. It's typically "played" on a phone, and requires that users "check in" whenever they reach a destination (by updating the world on their whereabouts, via the Foursquare Website) in order to earn points and badges. Other incentives to "check in" include being named "mayor" of a certain place if you frequent the place more than any other Foursquare users. The title of "mayor" often comes with freebies, such as hotel stays, drinks, or discounts. Unfortunately, as PleaseRobMe points out, updating Foursquare on where you are implicitly updates Foursquare on where you're not -- at home. "So here we are; on one end we're leaving lights on when we're going on a holiday, and on the other we're telling everybody on the internet we're not home," says the site. The stated goal of the site is not really to promote burglaries, but rather to raise awareness about the dangers of over-sharing on public forums such as Foursquare, Brightkite, Google Buzz, and Twitter. While some may argue that it's no big deal for people to know you're not at home, since you're not saying where your home is, PleaseRobMe points out that other friends might be trying to "colonize" your home via Foursquare. And, of course, considering a lot of social networking sites do not pay much attention to your privacy unless you explicitly set privacy settings, it's very possible that your address is on the Internet somewhere. \|\|\|\|\| Why Hey, do you have a Twitter account? Have you ever noticed those messages in which people tell you where they are? Pretty annoying, eh. Well, they're actually also potentially pretty dangerous. We're about to tell you why. Don't get us wrong, we love the whole location-aware thing. The information is very interesting and can be used to create some pretty awesome applications. However, the way in which people are stimulated to participate in sharing this information, is less awesome. Services like Foursquare allow you to fulfill some primeval urge to colonize the planet. A part of that is letting everyone know you own that specific spot. You get to tell where you are and if you're there first, it's yours. O, and of course there's badges.. Foursquare The danger is publicly telling people where you are. This is because it leaves one place you're definitely not... home. So here we are; on one end we're leaving lights on when we're going on a holiday, and on the other we're telling everybody on the internet we're not home. It gets even worse if you have "friends" who want to colonize your house. That means they have to enter your address, to tell everyone where they are. Your address.. on the internet.. Now you know what to do when people reach for their phone as soon as they enter your home. That's right, slap them across the face. The goal of this website is to raise some awareness on this issue and have people think about how they use services like Foursquare, Brightkite, Google Buzz etc. Because all this site is, is a dressed up Twitter search page. Everybody can get this information.	A new website, PleaseRobMe.com, was created earlier this week, claiming to indicate the location of empty homes based on social networkers' posts online, especially Twitter. The developers of the site told the BBC they had intended to display how dangerous it is to share one's precise location over the Internet. The site takes its information from posts by users on Twitter who have revealed their address and say when they are not at home. The information is displayed by copies of posts by Twitter users on a live feed on the website's front page. Most the posts divulge an address, as well as a comment indicating the person is not at home. A reporter for Wikinews estimated about twenty to thirty new posts, called "opportunities" by the website, to be added to the list every minute. Boy Van Amstel, one of the developers, commented to the BBC: "It started with me and a friend looking at our Twitter feeds and seeing more and more Foursquare posts. People were checking in at their house, or their girlfriend's or friend's house, and sharing the address - I don't think they were aware of how much they were sharing." The website reportedly took only four hours to create and put up. "It's basically a Twitter search - nothing new. Anyone who can do HTML and Javascript can do this. You could almost laugh at how easy it is," Van Amstel commented. The developer noted that he does not intend the site to become an aid to burglars. "The website is not a tool for burglary. The point we're getting at is that not long ago it was questionable to share your full name on the internet. We've gone past that point by 1000 miles," he remarked, adding it would be "very difficult" in practice to commit a burglary solely with the information provided. A statement on the website in question reads: "The danger is publicly telling people where you are. This is because it leaves one place you're definitely not ... home. So here we are; on one end we're leaving lights on when we're going on a holiday, and on the other we're telling everybody on the internet we're not home." It continued: "It gets even worse if you have 'friends' who want to colonize your house. That means they have to enter your address, to tell everyone where they are. The goal of this website is to raise some awareness on this issue and have people think about how they use services like Foursquare, Brightkite, Google Buzz etc. Because all this site is, is a dressed up Twitter search page. Everybody can get this information."
Scripts were written to reassure the public the BBC was "still there" A script written by the BBC and the government to be broadcast in the event of a nuclear attack has been published. The script, written in the 1970s and released by the National Archives, included instructions to "stay calm and stay in your own homes". It said communications had been disrupted, and the number of casualties and extent of damage were not known. Other papers reveal debates about how to ensure the person reading the script was authoritative and comforting. The script was discussed from 1973 to 1975, during the Cold War. 'Voice of the BBC' It was released along with letters between government departments and BBC executives. READ BBC TRANSCRIPT BBC transcript to be used in wake of nuclear attack [12.17KB] Most computers will open this document automatically, but you may need Adobe Reader Download the reader here In a letter from June 1974, Harold Greenwood from the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications discussed who should read the announcement to give it an authoritative and comforting tone. "During the Second World War we came to recognise the voices of Stuart Hibberd, Alvar Lidell and other main news readers," he wrote. "I would expect that in the period of crisis preceding an attack a similar association of particular voices with the authoritative 'voice of the BBC' would develop." Mr Greenwood said recorded announcements by an unfamiliar voice would not reassure listeners. "Indeed, if an unfamiliar voice repeats the same announcement hour after hour for 12 hours, listeners may begin to suspect that they are listening to a machine set to switch on every hour... and that perhaps after all the BBC has been obliterated," he said. Adding in live local commentary would reassure listeners they were not listening to a cassette recorder, the Cabinet Office said. 'Conserve water' The script said: "This country has been attacked with nuclear weapons. Communications have been severely disrupted, and the number of casualties and the extent of the damage are not yet known." It instructed the public to turn off fuel supplies, ration food to last 14 days, and conserve water - with a warning not to waste it by flushing the lavatory. There was nothing to be gained by trying to get away, it warned. "By leaving your homes you could be exposing yourselves to greater danger. If you leave, you may find yourself without food, without water, without accommodation and without protection." Those in a radioactive fall-out area were told to wait in a fall-out room until a siren sounded or the "all clear" message was given over the airwaves. The announcement was intended to be repeated every couple of hours. It has previously been revealed the BBC stockpiled entertainment programmes to boost public morale in the event of a war. In the event of a nuclear attack, staff were told to stay in hiding for 14 days, when it would be safe to leave. E-mail this to a friend Printable version Bookmark with: Delicious Digg reddit Facebook StumbleUpon What are these? \|\|\|\|\| This is the BBC: How to survive the A-bomb A BROADCAST script formulated in the 1970s for use in the wake of a nuclear attack was published for the first time today. Details of the announcement, written by the BBC with various government departments, were set out in files released by the National Archives. Documents also chart discussions as to what should be said, and how not to alarm the public in case they thought Auntie had been “obliterated”. In a letter from June 1974, Harold Greenwood, from the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications, wrote: “During the Second World War we came to recognise the voices of Stuart Hibberd, Alvar Liddell and other main newsreaders. “I would expect that in the period of crisis preceding an attack a similar association of particular voices with the authoritative ‘Voice of the BBC’ would develop. “The reassurance that ‘the BBC is still there’ would not be gleaned from a recorded announcement by an unfamiliar voice (or one that was familiar in 1974 but had not been heard for some years). “Indeed, if an unfamiliar voice repeats the same announcement hour after hour for 12 hours listeners may begin to suspect that they are listening to a machine set to switch on every hour (or even that it has got stuck) and that perhaps after all the BBC has been obliterated.” The Cabinet Office recommended adding in live local commentary to reassure listeners that they were not being fobbed off with a cassette recorder. The script includes advice to “stay calm and stay in your own homes”. It says: “This country has been attacked with nuclear weapons. Communications have been severely disrupted, and the number of casualties and the extent of the damage are not yet known.” The public are instructed to turn off fuel supplies, conserve water and not waste it by flushing the toilet. The script continues: “Remember there is nothing to be gained by trying to get away. By leaving your homes you could be exposing yourselves to greater danger. If you leave, you may find yourself without food, without water, without accommodation and without protection.” The meticulously-drafted announcement was intended to be repeated every couple of hours. It has previously been revealed that the BBC stockpiled entertainment programmes to boost public morale in the event of a war. In the event of a nuclear attack, staff were to stay in hiding for 14 days before it was safe to leave. . What do do in a nuclear attack Enough to make anyone who remembers the Cold War shudder – here is the script to be used in the wake of a nuclear attack. “This is the Wartime Broadcasting Service. This country has been attacked with nuclear weapons. Communications have been severely disrupted, and the number of casualties and the extent of the damage are not yet known. We shall bring you further information as soon as possible. Meanwhile, stay tuned to this wavelength, stay calm and stay in your own homes. Remember, there is nothing to be gained by trying to get away. By leaving your homes you could be exposing yourselves to greater danger. If you leave, you may find yourself without food, without water, without accommodation and without protection. Radioactive fall-out, which followed a nuclear explosion, is many times more dangerous if you are directly exposed to it in the open. Roofs and walls offer substantial protection. The safest place is indoors. Make sure gas and other fuel supplies are turned off and that all fires are extinguished. If mains water is available, this can be used for fire-fighting. You should also refill all your containers for drinking water after the fires have been put out, because the mains water supply may not be available for very long. Water must not be used for flushing lavatories: until you are told that lavatories may be used again, other toilet arrangements must be made. Use your water only for essential drinking and cooking purposes. Water means life. Don’t waste it. Make your food stocks last: ration your supply, because it may have to last for 14 days or more. If you have fresh food in the house, use this first to avoid wasting it: food in tins will keep. If you live in an area where a fall-out warning has been given, stay in your fall-out room until you are told it is safe to come out. When the immediate danger has passed the sirens will sound a steady note. The “all clear” message will also be given on this wavelength. If you leave the fall-out room to go to the lavatory or replenish food or water supplies, do not remain outside the room for a minute longer than is necessary. Do not, in any circumstances, go outside the house. Radioactive fall-out can kill. You cannot see it or feel it, but it is there. If you go outside, you will bring danger to your family and you may die. Stay in your fall-out room until you are told it is safe to come out or you hear the ‘all clear’ on the sirens. Here are the main points again: Stay in your own homes, and if you live in an area where a fall-out warning has been given, stay in your fall-out room, until you are told it is safe to come out. The message that the immediate danger has passed will be given by the sirens and repeated on this wavelength. Make sure that the gas and all fuel supplies are turned off and that all fires are extinguished. Water must be rationed, and used only for essential drinking and cooking purposes. It must not be used for flushing lavatories. Ration your food supply: it may have to last for 14 days or more. We shall repeat this broadcast in two hours. Stay tuned to this wavelength, but switch your radios off now to save your batteries until we come on the air again. That is the end of this broadcast." \|\|\|\|\| By Cahal Milmo Friday, 3 October 2008 "This is the Wartime Broadcasting Service. This country has been attacked with nuclear weapons." In the normally prosaic world of public safety announcements, they were probably the two most chilling sentences ever recorded in readiness for release across Britain's airwaves. But secret documents released today, revealing for the first time the full text of the warning to be broadcast by the BBC in the event of a nuclear war, show that Whitehall was obsessed as much with the voice that would be used to announce Armageddon as it was with protecting what was left of the British population. Senior civil servants in charge of drawing up the pre-recorded radio announcement became concerned that only a recognisable broadcaster should be used for fear that an unfamiliar voice would create the impression that Auntie had been "obliterated". The quandary was deepened when it emerged that the only BBC employee to have been given the appropriate security clearance for the project was a relatively unknown retired newsreader called Hugh Searight. None of the BBC's star broadcasters – Angela Rippon, Michael Parkinson, Frank Bough or Richard Baker – were judged to have been checked to the required level. The apocalyptic tussle between the Beeb and three Whitehall departments in 1973 and 1974 is detailed in documents released at the National Archives in Kew, west London. In one memo from the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications, a senior manager suggests an "authoritative Voice of the BBC" was required for the advent of nuclear destruction. The memo said: "The reassurance that the 'BBC is still there' would not be gleaned from a recorded announcement by an unfamiliar voice. Indeed, if an unfamiliar voice repeats the same announcement, hour after hour... listeners may begin to suspect they are listening to a machine... and that perhaps the BBC has been obliterated." The debate arose from a Cabinet Office review of procedures to be followed in the aftermath of a nuclear attack, with 12 regions set up with an underground facility ready to play the announcement on a pre-arranged radio frequency. The documents offer no clues as to who was chosen to make the recording but experts on Britain's nuclear war preparations say it almost certainly went ahead. Dr Kristan Stoddart, of the Mountbatten Centre for International Studies at Southampton University, said: "The whole enterprise seems macabre but the one thing that the British government ensured was done very well was the contingency planning for the aftermath of a nuclear attack." Nuclear strike The news of the day This is an edited transcript of the script to be used after a nuclear attack: This is the Wartime Broadcasting Service. This country has been attacked with nuclear weapons. The number of casualties and the extent of the damage are not yet known. Stay tuned to this wavelength, stay calm and stay in your own homes. Radioactive fallout is many times more dangerous if you are directly exposed to it in the open. Roofs and walls offer substantial protection. Make sure gas and other fuel supplies are turned off and all fires are extinguished. You should refill all your containers for drinking water after any fires have been put out, because the mains supply may not be available for long. Until you are told that lavatories may be used again, other toilet arrangements must be made. Water means life. Don't waste it. Ration your food supply, because it may have to last for 14 days or more. If you live in an area where a fallout warning has been given, stay in your fallout room. When the immediate danger has passed, sirens will sound a steady note. The "all clear" message will also be given on this wavelength. Do not go outside the house. Radioactive fallout can kill. We shall repeat this broadcast in two hours' time. Stay tuned to this wavelength, but switch your radios off now to save your batteries until we come on the air again. Interesting? Click here to explore further	The nuclear bombing of Nagasaki A script prepared by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and the Government of the United Kingdom in the 1970s, and released today, shows the text of the radio announcement that would be made in case of a nuclear attack on Britain. The script was released by The National Archives, and it was discussed during the years from 1973 to 1975, as an act of preparation for a nuclear attack. This increased concern occurred due to the ongoing Cold War. The script started by saying "This is the Wartime Broadcasting Service. This country has been attacked with nuclear weapons. Communications have been severely disrupted, and the number of casualties and the extent of the damage are not yet known. We shall bring you further information as soon as possible. Meanwhile, stay tuned to this wavelength, stay calm and stay in your own homes." It emphasised people should not leave their homes: "Remember there is nothing to be gained by trying to get away. By leaving your homes you could be exposing yourselves to greater danger." "If you leave, you may find yourself without food, without water, without accommodation and without protection. Radioactive fall-out, which follows a nuclear explosion, is many times more dangerous if you are directly exposed to it in the open. Roofs and walls offer substantial protection. The safest place is indoors." The script continued by telling citizens to "make sure gas and other fuel supplies are turned off and that all fires are extinguished," before telling the listener to "use your water only for essential drinking and cooking purposes." "Make your food stocks last: ration your supply, because it may have to last for 14 days or more," continued the script. "If you live in an area where a fall-out warning has been given, stay in your fall-out room until you are told it is safe to come out." The script finishes people by telling people to turn off their radio to conserve energy. The documents were released under Britain's Freedom of Information Act, and it also said that all reports should be given out in an authoritative and comforting tone. It also contains letters from the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications which describe how the use of a familiar voice will assure listeners that the BBC has not been obliterated.
The opium from poppies is made into heroin that makes its way to many Western countries [GALLO/GETTY] Afghanistan's production of poppies is expected to hit a record high this year and will produce nearly all of the world's opium, a United Nations report is expected to reveal. The report is also expected to criticise the international community and the Afghan government for failing to tackle the country's drug problem. In video James Bays reports on Afghan farmers growing opium to survive It will be the sixth consecutive year that opium production has increased, despite hundreds of millions of dollars given to programmes to halt cultivation, processing and trafficking. The country is producing nearly 95 per cent of the world's opium, up from 92 per cent in 2006, according to Reuters. Christina Oguz, the head of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in Afghanistan told the news agency: "It is a very bad situation definitely, and the government has not been able to deal with it in the right way." "The same goes for the international community." Heroin trafficking Opium and the heroin made from it are estimated to be worth some $3 billion to the Afghan economy, about a third of its gross domestic product. The heroin is trafficked into many Western countries. " It is a very bad situation definitely, and the government has not been able to deal with it in the right way." Christina Oguz, head of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in Afghanistan Afghanistan is locked in a circle where government officials are said to be involved in the drug trade, the report is set to say. However, the Afghan counter-narcotics ministry says that it does not have enough evidence to hold corrupt officials accountable. State control over parts of the country has weakened which in turn leads to rising insecurity and more drug production. In 2001, the Taliban had managed to reduce poppy crops, where the opium is extracted, and enforced strict punishments for those growing them. But about 70 per cent of opium production now comes from provinces in the south where Taliban fighters continue to launch attacks. According to Afghan and foreign officials, both drug traffickers and the Taliban have a common interest in instability and lawlessness. 'Money in the bank' Zalmay Afzaly, a counter-narcotics ministry spokesman said: "Traffickers are equipping and providing funds for terrorist organisations that are responsible for many attacks in Kabul, other parts of the country and other parts of the world." Insecurity is also said to lead to farmers planting poppies, as fighting can prevent them from getting perishable crops to market. A senior Western diplomat said: "The great thing about opium is that it lasts for 20 to 30 years - it's money in the bank." "So if you're not sure you can get your onions or carrots to market as they may go off because it's too insecure to move, then you grow opium and put it under your bed - it's a currency." The United States had campaigned for the use of aerial spraying to eradicate poppy crops, but the idea was rejected due to objections from the Afghan government, worried about an adverse public reaction. Financial incentives James Bays, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Afghanistan, said that if crops are destroyed, farmers may also stop co-operating with the central government in Kabul. Farmers say they need to grow poppies to survive [GALLO/GETTY] Washington is putting forward a strategy under which Afghan provincial governors will be given greater financial incentives to combat drugs while increasing co-ordination between counter-narcotics forces and the military.The US has given $200 million in aid this year to Helmand, the biggest opium-producing province.If Helmand were a country, it would be the fifth biggest recipient of US aid, diplomats say.But Oguz said: "They use it for growing opium. This is telling the rest of the country 'grow opium and we'll give you a lot of rewards, we'll give you aid'." 'Our children will die' The strip of land along the banks of the Helmand river is one of the most fertile farming areas in Afghanistan and was once the country's bread-basket. The driving forces behind opium production are traffickers, anti-government fighters, powerful landowners and corrupt officials, experts have told Reuters. However, James Bays said that residents he met in Badakhshan, northern Afghanistan are growing wheat and sweet potatos for food, but opium is grown for money. Hussain Ahmed said: "In Islam, if there is no food, we can eat pork. We know that opium is worse than pork, but we have no choice but to grow it." While Jama Khan, a village elder said: "If we don't keep the poppies, our children will die of hunger." Oguz said: "Unless the international community and the government together are very determined ... we will not see enough change for a very long time." \|\|\|\|\| By Alastair Leithead BBC News, Kabul Afghanistan's opium production has doubled since 2005 The UN Office on Drugs and Crime report says the amount of opium produced there has doubled in the last two years. It says Helmand province is now the biggest single drug-producing area in the world, surpassing whole countries such as Colombia. Afghanistan now accounts for more than 93% of the world's opiates. Despite billions of dollars of aid and tens of thousands of international troops, the report says 193,000 hectares of opium poppies are being grown in Afghanistan. 'Insurgency link' "The results are very bad, terrifyingly bad, because cultivation has increased by 17% to an historic level," said Antonio Maria Costa, executive director of the Office on Drugs and Crime. "No other country beside China in the 19th Century ever had such a large amount of land dedicated to illegal activities. "The province of Helmand in the south has cultivated more opium than in the rest of Afghanistan. "It has become the largest single entity in terms of both production and cultivation," he said. Despite the overall increase, twice as many provinces are now drug-free in northern and central Afghanistan. The report says growing opium poppies is now closely linked to the insurgency and the instability in the south. And what is to be done? The report recommends more determined efforts to bring that security. It urges the government to get tough on corruption, which it says is driving the drugs trade and it lists poor governance, a weak judiciary and failing eradication programmes for these new frightening record levels. \|\|\|\|\| LASHKAR GAH, Afghanistan, Aug. 25 — Afghanistan produced record levels of opium in 2007 for the second straight year, led by a staggering 45 percent increase in the Taliban stronghold of Helmand Province, according to a new United Nations survey to be released Monday. The report is likely to touch off renewed debate about the United States’ $600 million counternarcotics program in Afghanistan, which has been hampered by security challenges and endemic corruption within the Afghan government. “I think it is safe to say that we should be looking for a new strategy,” said William B. Wood, the American ambassador to Afghanistan, commenting on the report’s overall findings. “And I think that we are finding one.” Mr. Wood said the current American programs for eradication, interdiction and alternative livelihoods should be intensified, but he added that ground spraying poppy crops with herbicide remained “a possibility.” Afghan and British officials have opposed spraying, saying it would drive farmers into the arms of the Taliban. \|\|\|\|\| Palestinians celebrate Ramadan 2020 Smoked mackerels are seen before being sold during Ramadan. Photo by Ismael Mohamad/UPI Palestinians receive a portion of soup passed out to families in need on May 5 during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. Photo by Ismael Mohamad/UPI A man hands out meals for Palestinians to break their fast during Ramadan. Photo by Ismael Mohamad/UPI Palestinian boys line up to receive a portion of soup. Photo by Ismael Mohamad/UPI Palestinians children receive soup during Ramadan. Photo by Ismael Mohamad/UPI Palestinians children receive soup during Ramadan. Photo by Ismael Mohamad/UPI Palestinians in need received soup during Ramadan. Photo by Ismael Mohamad/UPI A Palestinian boy showcases Chinese-made "fanous" lanterns for sale in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on Wednesday. The lanterns are used as decoration to celebrate the start of Ramadan. Photo by Ismael Mohamad/UPI Palestinians shop for the holiday, which is marked by fasting during the day. Photo by Ismael Mohamad/UPI Social distancing rules and shelter-in-place orders globally will force Muslims to celebrate Ramadan differently this year. Photo by Ismael Mohamad/UPI The monthlong observance is among the most sacred practices. Photo by Ismael Mohamad/UPI A Palestinian baker prepares "Qatayef," traditional pancakes that are popular during holiday. Photo by Ismael Mohamad/UPI A vendor sells dried fruit. Photo by Ismael Mohamad/UPI A craftsman fashions a traditional "fanous." Photo by Ismael Mohamad/UPI The bright colors of a "fanous" give view to a lantern workshop. Photo by Ismael Mohamad/UPI An overview of the empty plaza of the locked Al Aqsa Mosque compound, including the Dome of the Rock. Photo by Debbie Hill/UPI More than 1.8 billion Muslims around the world are preparing for the holiest month of the year. Photo by Debbie Hill/UPI Ramadan is the holy month-long period when the faithful fast in a time of spiritual discipline and reflection. Photo by Debbie Hill/UPI Many Ramadan traditions will be altered for the pandemic, such as iftar, when the daily fast is broken, evening prayers at mosques, and Eid al-Fitr festivities at the end of the month. Photo by Debbie Hill/UPI While some countries are locking down, Turkey plans to allow expatriates to return for the holy month. Photo by Debbie Hill/UPI A woman walks through the Old City of Jerusalem wearing a mask. Photo by Debbie Hill/UPI Muslim clerics have announced the Al Aqsa Mosque will remain closed for the holy month, beginning the evening of April 23. Photo by Debbie Hill/UPI A vendor wears a mask as shoppers visit his stand in preparation for Ramadan. Photo by Debbie Hill/UPI	Opium Poppy According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) report released Monday, the opium produced in Afghanistan has doubled in the past two years, reaching record highs. The United Nations' report determined that 93% of the world's opium is now produced in Afghanistan, up 1% from last year. In 2007, 193,000 hectares of land in Afghanistan were dedicated to opium poppy cultivation, representing a 17 percent increase over 2006. In addition, the yield per hectare was up from last year, due to favourable weather conditions. In 2007, opium yields were 42.5 kg per hectare, while in 2006 yields were 37.0 kg/ha. Overall in 2007, Afghanistan produced 8,200 tons of opium, an amount 34 percent greater than in 2006. This marks the sixth consecutive year that production has increased despite the United States' US$600 million counter-narcotics program in Afghanistan. When commenting on the report’s overall findings, William B. Wood, the American ambassador to Afghanistan, said, "I think it is safe to say that we should be looking for a new strategy, and I think that we are finding one." He refers to the possibility of such enhanced U.S. efforts including spraying poppy crops with herbicides. This proposal has been opposed by both British and Afghan officials in the past.
Membership Drive Recruitment is one of the toughest things any organization has to do. You have something that the people want or need. You have to be able to offer your members what they need when they need it. And you have to constantly reenforce the values and the intergrity of your organization. These are not small feats by any means. But it's our responsibility as members to constantly help build our community. We are to inspire others to get involved and be informed. Teach them the positives of Unity. We are also to show others, not yet a part of our family, the benefits of joining our ranks. Let them know that strength comes in numbers, security comes with someone watching your back and rewards are granted to those who stand strong. It's time to begin the journey to a better tommorrow, but we can't do it alone. Pick up a stack of membership cards from your local Stewards and let the WORLD know that we are here to stay. \|\|\|\|\| Related To Story TIGGER INVESTIGATION Tigger: Teen Grabbed Costume, Cut Off Air Supply POSTED: 12:24 pm EST January 7, 2007 The Orange County Sheriff's Department is investigating an incident caught on tape over the weekend at Disney-MGM Studios. Jerry Monaco, of New Hampshire, accused an employee dressed as Tigger of hitting his son while the family posed for pictures, WESH 2 News reported. Jerry Monaco, of New Hampshire, accused an employee dressed as Tigger of hitting his son while the family posed for pictures, WESH 2 News reported. The union that represents Disney employees spoke out in defense of Tigger on Monday. The union that represents Disney employees spoke out in defense of Tigger on Monday. Union representative Donna Lyne Dalton said it was the teenager who was agitating the character, and she said it is clear from the videotape that the boy's parents were telling him not to get so close to Tigger. Union representative Donna Lyne Dalton said it was the teenager who was agitating the character, and she said it is clear from the videotape that the boy's parents were telling him not to get so close to Tigger. The Teamsters represent Disney characters and other hourly employees at Walt Disney World. Dalton said Michael J. Fedelem, who plays Tigger, said the teen grabbed him from the back of his costume, cutting off the air to him. The Teamsters represent Disney characters and other hourly employees at Walt Disney World. Dalton said Michael J. Fedelem, who plays Tigger, said the teen grabbed him from the back of his costume, cutting off the air to him. Fedelem said because of limited peripheral vision from the headpiece, he didn't realize when he swatted over with his arm, he didn't realize he was hitting the teen. Fedelem said because of limited peripheral vision from the headpiece, he didn't realize when he swatted over with his arm, he didn't realize he was hitting the teen. "Clearly, it sounds like, I guess it was the father, that was seeing that his son was irritating Tigger and telling him something to the effect of, 'Don't do that. Donít crowd Tigger,'" Dalton said. "Clearly, it sounds like, I guess it was the father, that was seeing that his son was irritating Tigger and telling him something to the effect of, 'Don't do that. Donít crowd Tigger,'" Dalton said. She said it's obvious that Fedelem was trying to get out of a bad situation. She said it's obvious that Fedelem was trying to get out of a bad situation. The family's attorney is telling a different story. Attorney Mark Morsch said Jerry Monaco Jr., 14, said that he was just standing with his arm around Tigger's shoulder. The family's attorney is telling a different story. Attorney Mark Morsch said Jerry Monaco Jr., 14, said that he was just standing with his arm around Tigger's shoulder. "The next thing I know, he twists my arm and he hits me," the teen told his attorney. "The next thing I know, he twists my arm and he hits me," the teen told his attorney. The family's attorney said a witness has come forward offering a different version of what may have caused Tigger to get upset. The family's attorney said a witness has come forward offering a different version of what may have caused Tigger to get upset. "He'd signaled his handler to leave, he wanted to leave the area. And the handler was ignoring him. He got agitated, according to this witness, and that's when he whacked my client," Morsch said. "He'd signaled his handler to leave, he wanted to leave the area. And the handler was ignoring him. He got agitated, according to this witness, and that's when he whacked my client," Morsch said. The Monaco family is asking for unspecified money damages from Disney. The Monaco family is asking for unspecified money damages from Disney. "I've seen this before where somebody wants free stuff from Disney," Dalton said. "I've seen this before where somebody wants free stuff from Disney," Dalton said. Disney said it is taking the incident seriously and that Fedelem has been suspended without pay during the investigation. Disney said it is taking the incident seriously and that Fedelem has been suspended without pay during the investigation. "Physical altercations or allegations of physical altercations are not tolerated at Disney," said Disney spokeswoman Jacquee Polak. "We regret any type of disruption this may have caused the family during their vacation." "Physical altercations or allegations of physical altercations are not tolerated at Disney," said Disney spokeswoman Jacquee Polak. "We regret any type of disruption this may have caused the family during their vacation." A spokeswoman for the Orange County Sheriff's Office said the agency is conducting a criminal battery investigation. Police said the case will hinge on whether there's probable cause the man playing the Tigger character actually meant to hit the teen. A spokeswoman for the Orange County Sheriff's Office said the agency is conducting a criminal battery investigation. Police said the case will hinge on whether there's probable cause the man playing the Tigger character actually meant to hit the teen. To comment on this story, send an e-mail to Bob Kealing. Copyright 2007 by WESH.COM. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Links We Like Links We Like includes a selection of information, tools and resources from our partners and sponsors. Sponsored Links	The "grievance" against a Teamsters Union Local 385 person named "Michael Fedelem", "was resolved prior to Step 3." It is presumed, but not known, if this website mention relates to the employee who played Tigger at Walt Disney World, as he is mentioned on the "Character Team" page of the website. Teamsters representative Donna Lyne Dalton had previously stated that the teen had been "agitating" the actor in costume, according to Feledem, cutting off the air supply to the costume. The actor swatted his arms and claimed to have no intention to hit the boy due to the lack of peripheral vision. On Sunday, video broke internationally of Fedelem as Tigger, hitting teen Jerry Monaco Jr. in the head. The New Hampshire tourist and his father both claim the hit was unprovoked. "Nuh, no provokin' at all, ya know, it was all out of the blue." Junior told FOX News. Monaco Sr. commented, "At first I'm upset with my son. I'm like, Jerry don't, ya'know ... but then I review it, I mean it's pretty clear, for no reason, he just clocked him in the face." A full version of the video was released on YouTube yesterday. In the footage before Tigger's punch, Monaco Sr. taunts Tigger, saying "Aw, too much? Heh... I was on your head."
Politics Karamanlis Message to Skopje Deliberations Completed 01 Mar 2008 10:05:00 (Last updated: 02 Mar 2008 12:02:30) Ε-mail Print Sources: NET 105.8, ΑNA-ΜPA The 2 hours meeting with FYROM (Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia) representative Nicola Dimitrov UN mediator Matthew Nimetz and Greek Ambassador Adamantios Vassilakis was completed earlier. After the meeting Mr. Nimetz spoke of a "substantial gap" on views between Greece and Skopje on the name issue but both sides he stated wish to continue the negotiations so as to find a mutually accepted solution. Mr Nimetz reported that the meeting "focused on the position of Mr Dimitrov’s government on the name issue." He also stated that he had been briefed on Greece’s view on the issue at a meeting earlier with Greek Ambassador Adamantios Vasilakis. Mr Nimetz will hold a meeting with the two sides in Manhattan at 16:00 Greek time. In reply to a question set by LAOS (Popular Orthodox Rally) President George Karatzaferis at Paraliament on Friday, Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis spoke of one composite name and not of a name that will be just describing the neighbouring country’s system of government. In parallel, he repeated his message to the government in Skopje, warning that an intransigent stance during the negotiations would close the road toward joining NATO. It should be noted that Mr Karamanlis is to meet with NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer in Athens on Monday morning. The 2 hours meeting with FYROM (Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia) representative Nicola Dimitrov UN mediator Matthew Nimetz and Greek Ambassador Adamantios Vassilakis was completed earlier. After the meeting Mr. Nimetz spoke of a "substantial gap" on views between Greece and Skopje on the name issue but both sides he stated wish to continue the negotiations so as to find a mutually accepted solution. Mr Nimetz reported that the meeting "focused on the position of Mr Dimitrov’s government on the name issue." He also stated that he had been briefed on Greece’s view on the issue at a meeting earlier with Greek Ambassador Adamantios Vasilakis. Mr Nimetz will hold a meeting with the two sides in Manhattan at 16:00 Greek time. In reply to a question set by LAOS (Popular Orthodox Rally) President George Karatzaferis at Paraliament on Friday, Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis spoke of one composite name and not of a name that will be just describing the neighbouring country’s system of government. In parallel, he repeated his message to the government in Skopje, warning that an intransigent stance during the negotiations would close the road toward joining NATO. It should be noted that Mr Karamanlis is to meet with NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer in Athens on Monday morning. "Substantial Gap" Mr Nimetz stressed that there are substantial differences between the two governments on his proposal made on 19 February, adding that today he will meet with both ambassadors and assess the present status and see up to what extent these differences can be bridged. Then, Mr Nimetz reported that during his separate meetings with Messrs Vasilakis and Dimitrov on Friday, he was listened to the two sides’ questions and views. In reply to a question as to whether he would propose new ideas today he answered negatively His answer to another question as to whether he thinks that the gap can be bridged, he reported "I have to say that there is a substantial gap." "No Solution – No Invitation" A few hours before talks commenced in New York on Friday, the prime minister sent a clear message from the Parliament to Skopje that Greece’s positions on the name issue remain firm. "A clear, practical, viable solution cannot be built on the basis of a name that simply describes the existing regime in the neighboring country. Such a name is not a composite one, and therefore cannot comprise a solution," he said, adding that Greece supports one composite name. "Our will for a mutually accepted solution is genuine. Our position ’no solution-no invitation’, is clear. If no solution is reached, then our neighbouring country’s aspiration to join NATO will not be materialized. And this because the principle of good neighbourly relations is a fundamental condition for relations among allies." PASOK (Socialists) President George Papandreou spoke of a signle name for all uses, that was composite and included a geographic term", criticizing the government on how it is handling the issue. KKE (Communist Party of Greece) in its announcement stresses that the government’s position ’no solution-no invitation’ and PASOK’s position on a veto against FYROM’s entry to NATO conceal that the USA and the EU are taking advantage of the FYROM name problem, wishing the issue to remain unresolved. Furthermore, it urges the Greek people not to be disorientated, adding that through their struggles they should veto NATO, the US and the EU. Finally, Mr Karatzaferis rejected the use of the term "Macedonia" in the final solution, calling the prime minister to say a big "NO". Translated by John Crystallidis Related News: Greek PM's Message to Skopje \|\|\|\|\| Name talks are under way Karamanlis says Greece will not accept dual solution to FYROM dispute Talks aimed at ending the dispute between Greece and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) began in New York last night as Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis made it clear that Athens would not accept a dual name as solution to the dispute. The United Nations’ special mediator Matthew Nimetz met with Greek Ambassador Adamantios Vassilakis in the Manhattan hotel where the Greek diplomat is staying. Vassilakis informed Nimetz of Athens’s reaction and position on the proposal that the UN official had made to Greece and FYROM last week. After a short break, during which Vassilakis contacted the Foreign Ministry in Athens, Nimetz returned for a second round of talks. Following his meeting with Vassilakis, Nimetz was due to meet with FYROM’s ambassador Nikola Dimitrov later last night. It is thought that the negotiations could drag on through the weekend with the two sides appearing to be poles apart. Nimetz has proposed five composite names to replace the acronym FYROM. The name favored by Athens – as it gives a geographical determination and clearly distinguishes FYROM from the Greek region of Macedonia – is the Republic of Upper Macedonia. Another of Nimetz’s proposals – New Republic of Macedonia – would be subject to debate if it were modified to Republic of New Macedonia, sources in Athens have said. Karamanlis confirmed this in Parliament yesterday when he said that Greece would not accept any name that refers to the type of polity in FYROM, such as Constitutional Republic of Macedonia. He also emphasized that Greece would only agree to a solution that would be used by its neighbors in all its relations, not just the bilateral ones with Greece. “The aim is to achieve a mutually acceptable solution based on a truly composite name that will be applicable to all, erga omnes,” said the premier. Karamanlis reiterated his threat to block FYROM’s entry into NATO if the name dispute is not resolved. “The intransigence of our neighbor is dashing its ambitions to join NATO and the European Union,” said Karamanlis. “If there is no settlement, the neighboring country cannot aspire to join NATO. Our position – no solution, no invite – is clear.”	Map showing the Greek province of Macedonia(white/blue) and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia(red) in the Balkans. The first part of the bi-lateral negotiations regarding the naming-dispute between Greece and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, under the United Nations mediation, ended without agreement in New York. As the U.N. mediator Matthew Nimetz stated earlier there are "substantial differences" - and therefore important disagreements - between the two governments on his proposal made on 19 February, adding that during his separate meetings with the two ambassadors Vassilakis and Dimitrov on Friday, he was listened to the two sides’ questions and views on the issue. Furthermore, it should be noted that the NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer will visit Athens on Monday morning and he will meet with the Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis regarding the name-dispute between Greece and FYRO Macedonia. The Greek government has made clear that if there is no agreement between the two sides (over the official use of the name 'Macedonia') Athens will veto FYRO Macedonia's process in becoming a member of NATO. Yesterday, Karamanlis stated in a Parliament speech that Greece's ''"will for a mutually accepted solution is genuine. Our position ’no solution-no invitation’, is clear. If no solution is reached, then our neighbouring country’s aspiration to join NATO will not be materialized. And this because the principle of good neighbourly relations is a fundamental condition for relations among allies"''. Today, according to information presented in the News of the Greek TV station Mega Channel, the United States are pressing the Greek side for a quick solution in order to avoid any problems regarding the NATO invitation to Skopje. It should be noted that the government of FYRO Macedonia insists in the use of its constitutional name (Republic of Macedonia) while Greece suggests a composite name which would include a geographic term. A demonstration of nationalists was organized a few days ago in Skopje, while next week the right wing Greek party LAOS organizes a rally in the city of Thessaloniki asking for national referendum and calling the government to use the right of veto.
Story highlights "Everyone get out ... and keep running," club posts on social media Police warn residents to stay away from area (CNN) Gunfire erupted at a gay nightclub in Orlando early Sunday, with multiple injuries reported, Florida authorities said. "Everyone get out of Pulse and keep running," the club posted on its Facebook page. Orlando police warned residents to stay away from the area, and urged people not to call their offices. CNN Map "Official updates will come from this Twitter account," they posted. "No email or phone calls please." Pulse describes itself as "the hottest gay bar" in the heart of Orlando. \|\|\|\|\| ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — The gunman whose attack on a gay nightclub left 49 victims dead appears to have been a "homegrown extremist" who espoused support for a jumble of often-conflicting Islamic radical groups, the White House and the FBI said Monday. As Orlando mourned its dead with flowers, candles and vigils, counterterrorism investigators dug into the background of 29-year-old Omar Mateen, the American-born Muslim who carried out the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history. Get the latest from BreakingNews.com \| Click here to view live coverage from CBS News "So far, we see no indication that this was a plot directed from outside the United States, and we see no indication that he was part of any kind of network," said FBI Director James Comey. But he said Mateen was clearly "radicalized," at least in part via the internet. Comey said the bureau is also trying to determine whether Mateen had recently scouted Disney World as a potential target, as reported by People.com, which cited an unidentified federal law enforcement source. "We're still working through that," Comey said. The FBI chief defended the bureau's handling of Mateen during two previous investigations into his apparent terrorist sympathies. As for whether there was anything the FBI should have done differently, "so far, the honest answer is, I don't think so," Comey said. Despite Mateen's pledge of fealty to the Islamic State, a murky combination of other possible motives and explanations emerged, with his ex-wife saying he suffered from mental illness and his Afghan-immigrant father suggesting he may have acted out of anti-gay hatred. He said his son got angry recently about seeing two men kiss. The Orlando Sentinel and other news organizations quoted regular customers at the gay bar as saying they had seen Mateen there a number of times. "Sometimes he would go over in the corner and sit and drink by himself, and other times he would get so drunk he was loud and belligerent," said Ty Smith. Smith said he saw the killer inside at least a dozen times. Wielding an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle and a handgun, Mateen opened fire at Pulse Orlando early Sunday in a three-hour shooting rampage and hostage siege that ended with a SWAT team killing him. During the attack, he called 911 to profess allegiance to the Islamic State group. At the White House, President Barack Obama said there is no clear evidence so far that Mateen was directed by the group, calling the attack an apparent example of "homegrown extremism." More details of the bloodbath emerged, with Orlando Police Chief John Mina saying Mateen was "cool and calm" during phone calls with police negotiators. But the chief said he decided to send the SWAT team in and bash through a wall after Mateen holed up with hostages in a bathroom and began to talk about bombs and an explosive vest. "We knew there would be an imminent loss of life," Mina said. As it turned out, Mateen had no explosives with him. Five of the wounded were reported in grave condition, meaning the death toll could rise. A call went out for blood donations. In Orlando, mourners piled bouquets around a makeshift memorial, and people broke down in tears and held their hands to their faces while passing through the growing collection of flowers, candles and signs about a mile from the site of the massacre. Later Monday evening, thousands gathered near the site for a vigil held on the lawn of the Dr. Phillips Center, the area's main performing arts venue. Many in the crowd said they were inspired to attend because Pulse played a huge role in their lives as gays and lesbians. "It was a place that a young 20-year-old who wasn't openly gay felt safe for the first time," said Cathleen Daus, now 36. About 300 employees of the Red Lobster restaurant chain — some in business suits, some in chef's uniforms — emerged from the company's corporate headquarters and walked two-by-two across the street to the memorial, each carrying a red or white carnation. "We will not be defined by the act of a cowardly hater," vowed Mayor Buddy Dyer, whose city of a quarter-million people is known around the globe as the home of Walt Disney World and other theme parks. Florida club shooting The tragedy hit the city's gay and Hispanic communities especially hard. It was Latino Night at the club when the attack occurred. "As the names come out, they are overwhelmingly Latino and Hispanic names," said Christina Hernandez, a Hispanic activist. "These were not just victims of the LBGT community, but of the Hispanic community, as well. This was senseless bloodshed." Mateen's grasp of the differences between Islamic extremist groups appeared shaky. During three calls with 911 dispatchers, Mateen not only professed allegiance to ISIS but also expressed solidarity with a suicide bomber from the Syrian rebel group Nusra Front, and a few years ago he claimed connections to Hezbollah, too — both ISIS enemies, according to Comey. The FBI became aware of Mateen in 2013 when co-workers reported that the private security guard claimed to have family connections to al-Qaida and to be a member of Hezbollah, too, Comey said. He was also quoted as saying he hoped that law enforcement would raid his apartment and assault his wife and child so that he could martyr himself. The FBI launched a 10-month preliminary investigation, following Mateen, reviewing his communications and questioning him, the FBI chief said. Mateen claimed he made the remarks in anger because co-workers were teasing him and discriminating against him as a Muslim, and the FBI eventually closed the case, Comey said. His name surfaced again as part of another investigation into the Nusra Front bomber. The FBI found Mateen and the man had attended the same mosque and knew each other casually, but the investigation turned up "no ties of any consequence," Comey said. Mateen was added to a terror watch list in 2013 when he was investigated, but was taken off it soon after the matter was closed, according to Comey. People who are in that database are not automatically barred from buying guns, and in any case Mateen purchased his weapons in June, long after he was removed from the list. On Sunday, the bloodshed started after Mateen approached the club around 2 a.m., exchanged fire with an off-duty officer working security, and then went inside and started gunning people down, police said. After two other officers arrived and exchanged gunfire with Mateen, the gunman holed up in a restroom with about five club-goers. An additional 15 to 20 were in another nearby bathroom, authorities said. Hostage negotiators began talking to Mateen. After Mateen began to talk about explosives, Mina made the decision around 5 a.m. to blow open a wall to the bathroom. The explosives didn't penetrate the wall completely, so an armored vehicle was used to punch a 2-by-3-foot hole. Dozens of people escaped, and Mateen was gunned down as he emerged through the hole, police said. The Islamic State's radio hailed the attack and called Mateen "one of the soldiers of the caliphate in America." But it gave no indication the group planned or knew of the attack beforehand. Counterterrorism experts have been warning in the past few years about the danger of so-called lone wolf attackers who act in sympathy with extremist groups like the Islamic State but are not directed by them. Mateen's father, Seddique Mir Mateen, told reporters that the massacre was "the act of a terrorist," and added: "I apologize for what my son did. I am as sad and mad as you guys are." He wouldn't go into details about any religious or political views his son held, saying he didn't know. Asked whether he missed his son, he said: "I don't miss anything about him. What he did was against humanity." ___ Associated Press writers Eric Tucker in Washington, Mike Schneider and Tamara Lush in Orlando and photographers Chris O'Meara in Orlando and Alan Diaz in Fort Pierce, Florida, contributed to this report. \|\|\|\|\| Play Facebook Twitter Google Plus Embed Orlando club shooting witness: 'It's like you're at a gun range' 2:13 autoplay autoplay Copy this code to your website or blog With at least dozens of people reported killed and wounded, the massacre early Sunday morning at an Orlando nightclub now becomes the deadliest mass shooting in the history of the United States — by nearly double the previous most deadly incident. Here are America's deadliest mass shootings: 50 killed At least 50 people are killed and some 50 others are wounded after a gunman opened fire and took hostages at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, early on the morning of Sunday June 12. Officials said a hostage situation developed after the gunman, identified as Omar Mateen, stormed the Pulse Nightclub about 2 a.m. Orlando police officers gather outside of the Pulse Nightclub after a fatal shooting and hostage situation on June 12, 2016. Gerardo Mora / Getty Images 32 killed On April 16, 2007, 23-year-old Virginia Tech student Seung-Hui Cho shot 32 people to death on the Blacksburg, Virginia, campus before killing himself. The dead included 27 students and five faculty members. Another 17 people were injured. Days after the shooting, the worst school shooting in the nation's history, NBC News received a package from Cho that contained a video of him ranting about rich "brats" and complaining about being bullied. Students visit a makeshift memorial set up on the campus of Virginia Tech for the students and faculty that lost their lives in the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history on April 18, 2007 in Blacksburg, Va. Evan Vucci / AP File 27 killed On Dec. 14, 2012, 20-year-old Adam Lanza killed 28 people, including himself, his mother, 20 elementary school kids and six school staff and faculty at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. Lanza suffered from extreme mental health issues that weren't treated, and was preoccupied with violence, a report from state officials found. He also had easy access to weapons, the report said. 23 killed On Oct. 16, 1991, A 35-year-old named George Hennard crashed his pickup through Luby's Cafeteria, a packed restaurant in Killeen, Texas. He shot and killed 23 people before shooting and killing himself. Twenty-seven others were wounded. The Texas massacre is the deadliest shooting to not happen at a school in U.S. history. According to a former roommate, Hennard "hated blacks, Hispanics, gays. He said women were snakes." 21 killed On July 18, 1984, James Huberty, a 41-year-old former security guard who had lost his job, opened fire at a McDonald's in San Ysidro, California, killing 21 employees and customers, including children. A police sniper killed him an hour after he started shooting. Related: Mass Killings Inspire Copycats, Study Finds 18 killed On Aug. 1, 1966, former U.S. Marine Charles Joseph Whitman, 25, killed his mother and wife, then went on top of a tower at University of Texas at Austin and killed 16 others. He also wounded at least 30. Whitman had complained of physical and mental health issues before the attack. He was then shot by a police officer. An autopsy after his death revealed he had a brain tumor, but it was not clear whether that had affected his actions. Play Facebook Twitter Google Plus Embed Police: Shooters came in with a 'purpose' 1:45 autoplay autoplay Copy this code to your website or blog 14 killed On Dec. 2, 2015, 14 people were reported dead and an estimated 14 hurt in an attack at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino, California, a state-run facility that provides services to people with developmentally disabled people and trains social workers who care for them. The killers remained on the run Wednesday afternoon. 14 killed On Aug. 20, 1986, postman Patrick Henry Sherill killed 14 postal workers in Edmond, Oklahoma, and then killed himself with a shot to the head. The rampage came a week after two supervisors reprimanded him for lousy performance. 13 killed On April 20, 1999, students Eric Harris, 18, and Dylan Klebold, 17, killed 12 other students and a teacher at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado. Two dozen were injured. They then killed themselves in the school's library. In journal entries, the high school seniors had written about a desire to imitate events such as the Oklahoma City bombing. 13 killed On Nov. 5, 2009, Mad. Nidal Malik Hasan, 39, killed 13 people and injured 32 others at Fort Hood, Texas. The massacre prompted the Army to come up with a list of 78 recommendations for Fort Hood to identify the potential for violent behavior among its soldiers. Hasan has been sentenced to death. 13 killed On April 3, 2009, in Binghamton, New York, 41-year-old Jiverly Wong, an immigrant, killed 13 people and injured four others at an immigrant services center before killing himself. President Obama called the shootings "an act of senseless violence." 13 killed On Feb. 18, 1983, three robbers at the Wah Mee gambling club in Seattle killed 13 people. Kwan Fai Mak and Benjamin Ng were convicted of murder later that year and are serving life sentences; Wai-Chu Ng was deported to Hong Kong last year. 12 killed On July 20, 2012, 24-year-old James Holmes sprayed bullets on a midnight screening of the new Batman movie at a theater in Aurora, Colorado. In addition to the 12 killed, 58 were wounded. Defense attorneys tried unsuccessfully to argue that he was insane at the time of the attack; he was sentenced to life in prison in August. 12 killed On Sept. 16, 2013, a 34-year-old named Aaron Alexis opened fire inside the Washington Navy Yard, killing 12. The former Navy reservist died in a gun battle with police. \|\|\|\|\| 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	In the early morning hours of today, according to police, a man by the name of entered , a gay club in Orlando, Florida, and opened fire. 50 people were killed and 53 were hospitalized. It is now the largest in United States history, with the and Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting shootings the closest behind. The shooter today used an automatic rifle according to one account; took hostages, and was eventually killed in a gun battle with units. Mateen's father, Mir Seddique, said in remarks to NBC News the attack was not about religion. The shooter allegedly called , the emergency phone number in the United States, and pledged his allegiance to ISIS. ISIS has claimed responsibility, according to a tweet from Reuters India. Reportedly, many have praised the attack on pro-ISIS forums. Orlando Mayor has declared a state of emergency. According to Orlando Police Chief John Mina, "It appears Omar Mateen was organized and well-prepared". "It's just shocking ... just one after another after another ... It could have lasted a whole song", commented Christopher Hansen, who was getting a drink when gunshots rang out.
Charges dropped for 20th alleged 9/11 hijacker But five other suspects, including the alleged mastermind, face the death penalty at the troubled Guantanamo Bay tribunal. One judge in the Guantanamo Bay military tribunal has threatened to suspend the case against a Canadian terrorism suspect if Pentagon prosecutors continue withholding evidence from the defense.Another judge has disqualified an Air Force general from advising the war-crimes court because of what he agreed was the general's politically motivated "unlawful command influence."On Tuesday, the Pentagon lawyer in charge of the military tribunal approved charges that carry the death penalty against confessed Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and four alleged co-conspirators but dropped them against the alleged "20th hijacker" without saying why. Mohammed Qahtani in February had been designated for prosecution along with the others.As the six-year effort to bring alleged terrorists to justice crawls toward its first trial next month, military jurists have been distancing themselves from the prosecutorial juggernaut that appeared to have been launched earlier this year to bring swift convictions before the November election.Tribunal Convening Authority Susan J. Crawford's approval of the capital charges against Mohammed and four other detainees sets off a 30-day clock for their arraignment. But defense lawyers have signaled that they will challenge procedures and the admissibility of evidence in their cases, which will probably delay the trial until at least the end of the year.Qahtani's Army lawyer, Lt. Col. Bryan Broyles, said Crawford seemed to have recognized that his client couldn't be prosecuted because of the way he had been treated at Guantanamo. "An objective view of the evidence in his case . . . would convince any attorney with criminal law experience that the charges should be dropped," Broyles said.The New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights said a leaked interrogation log showed that Qahtani had been subjected to beatings, sleep deprivation, sexual humiliation, attacks by dogs, threats against his family members and further threats that he would be sent to foreign countries that condone torture.Crawford dismissed the charges "without prejudice," meaning they could be refiled later. Military tribunal rules "do not require the convening authority to explain her decisions, and she did not do so in this case," said Navy Cmdr. Jeffrey Gordon, a Pentagon spokesman.Human rights lawyers cast the turnabout as tantamount to admitting that any evidence against the Saudi prisoner had been obtained through torture and was inadmissible.Military and civilian defense lawyers have complained for years that terrorism suspects cannot get fair trials at Guantanamo. Hearsay evidence and that obtained through coercive interrogation techniques are admissible in tribunal proceedings if the judge deems it necessary. Defendants can be prevented from seeing confidential evidence or confronting accusers whose identities the prosecution considers protected.Crawford's decision against pursuing Qahtani may suggest uncertainty that the judge will admit the reported confessions obtained via interrogation."The government is finally admitting what we have been saying all along: that the government's claims against our client were based on unreliable evidence obtained through torture at Guantanamo," said a statement from the Center for Constitutional Rights, where attorneys have represented Qahtani in habeas proceedings since 2005.The decision followed a ruling Friday by the judge in the case of a former driver for Osama bin Laden that Air Force Brig. Gen. Thomas Hartmann had shown a lack of independence as legal advisor to Crawford. Hartmann must be replaced before the June 2 start of the trial for Yemeni suspect Salim Ahmed Hamdan, ruled Navy Capt. Keith J. Allred.At a hearing last month, Air Force Col. Morris Davis, the former chief prosecutor, testified that Hartmann had pushed him to prioritize "sexy" cases in which defendants were accused of killing or wounding Americans to boost public opinion of the tribunal during this election year.Allred's decision to bar Hartmann affects only the Hamdan case, but defense attorneys for other Guantanamo detainees charged at Hartmann's urging -- including Mohammed and the other "high-value detainees" -- planned to pursue the same exclusion.It was Allred who dismissed charges against Hamdan and Canadian terrorism suspect Omar Khadr nearly a year ago on grounds that the war-crimes court lacked jurisdiction. That ruling stunned tribunal advocates and forced them to quickly convene an appeals court that revised how jurisdiction is determined.A week ago, Army Col. Peter Brownback III, the judge hearing Khadr's case, ordered prosecutors to provide the defense with classified prison camp records that the defense lawyers had sought to examine allegations that Khadr was mistreated after his 2002 capture in Afghanistan. Brownback had instructed the government in March to hand over the records and, after a series of contentious exchanges in recent months, said that if the documents weren't in the hands of the defense by May 22, "we stop."Upon learning that the five Sept. 11 suspects had been charged, Anthony Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union, complained that security clearances for volunteer defense lawyers were being blocked by the Pentagon. "This raises very serious questions when civilian lawyers and civil liberties organizations step up to the plate in an inherently unfair and fundamentally flawed process and the government still impedes our efforts to do vigorous lawyering," he said. \|\|\|\|\| THE Pentagon has dropped murder and war crimes trials charges against Mohammed al-Qahtani, the alleged 20th hijacker in the September 11 attacks on the US. However, Pentagon spokesman Jeffrey Gordon said last night the charges against Qahtani had been dropped "without prejudice", meaning they can be reinstated against the Saudi, who is still held at Guantanamo Bay. Susan Crawford, the convening authority for war crimes trials by special military commissions, had given no explanation in dropping the charges, Commander Gordon said. "They have been dismissed without prejudice, which means they can be reinstituted at any time." Qahtani was one of six men charged by the military in February with murder and war crimes for their alleged roles in the 2001 attacks. Authorities say Qahtani missed out on taking part in the attacks because he was denied entry to the US by an immigration agent. Ms Crawford, had decided todismiss the charges against Qahtani and proceed with the arraignment for the other five, said the Saudi's US military lawyer, Lieutenant Colonel Bryan Broyles. Colonel Broyles said Ms Crawford had dismissed the charges on Saturday, but the defence only learned about it yesterday. He could not comment on the reasons for the dismissal until discussing the case with lawyers for the other five defendants. Officials previously said Qahtani had been subjected to a harsh interrogation authorised by former US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld. The five defendants include Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the suspected mastermind of the terrorist attacks in 2001 that killed nearly 3000 people, and Ramzi Binalshibh, who is said to have been the main intermediary between the hijackers and al-Qa'ida leaders. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for all of them. Their trial is the first capital case before the military tribunals at Guantanamo, where the US holds about 270 men on suspicion of terrorism or links to al-Qa'ida and the Taliban. The military has said it plans to prosecute about 80 prisoners in the first US military war crimes tribunals since World War II. Critics of the tribunals have queried a rule that allows judges to decide whether to allow evidence that may have been obtained with "coercion". US authorities have acknowledged that Khalid was subjected to waterboarding by CIA interrogators and that Qahtani was treated harshly at Guantanamo. Qahtani in October 2006 recanted a confession he said he made after he was tortured and humiliated at Guantanamo. The alleged torture, which he detailed in a written statement, included being beaten, restrained for long periods in uncomfortable positions, threatened with dogs, exposed to loud music and freezing temperatures, and stripped nude in front of female personnel. The US has alleged that Qahtani, whom military records show is about 28, barely missed becoming the 20th hijacker on September 11, 2001. The Saudi was denied entry into the country by immigration agents at the airport in Orlando, Florida. At the time, he had more than $US2400 in cash and no return plane ticket, and lead hijacker Mohammed Atta was waiting for him, the military has said. Separately yesterday, Commander Gordon said the Pentagon had not decided whether to appeal against a ruling that ousted a top legal official from a detainee case scheduled to go to trial at Guantanamo Bay. In a ruling last week, a military judge at Guantanamo found that Brigadier General Thomas Hartmann, the legal adviser for the tribunals, lacked neutrality and should not participate in the case against a Yemeni who was a former driver for Osama bin Laden. His trial is set for June 2. AFP	Five men out of six accused of involvement in the September 11 attacks have been referred to trial by the Guantanamo military commission. The war crimes tribunal also dropped charges against Mohammed Qahtani, who is alleged to have been the '20th hijacker', although they were dropped "without prejudice" so the Saudi Arabian can still be re-charged. All six men are currently being held in maximum security at the United States naval base at Cuba's Guantanamo Bay. Under the 2006 Military Commissions Act those charged must be arraigned within 30 days and have their trial commenced within four months. The men are accused of plotting the attacks, in which four passenger airliners were hijacked in US airspace. One was flown into each tower of the World Trade Center, one was flown into the Pentagon and the fourth crashed in a Pennsylvania field. Almost 3,000 people were killed. 19 hijackers were involved, with one aircraft having four hijackers compared to five on the others, triggering theories concerning a 20th hijacker. It is alleged that Qahtani missed out on this role because he was unable to get past anti-immigration measures to upon arrival in Florida, where head hijacker Mohammed Atta is said to have been waiting. Those who are set to go to trial are alleged members of Al-Qaeda, who were found to be responsible for the attacks. They are Walid bin Attash, Ramzi Binalshibh, Ali Abdul Aziz Ali, Mustafa Ahmed Hawsawi and alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed. They have all been charged with conspiracy, murder in violation of the laws of war, attacking civilians, attacking civilian objects, intentionally causing serious bodily injury, destruction of property, terrorism and material support for terrorism while all but Hawsawi are charged with hijacking aircraft as well. Some concern has been made over alleged human rights abuses. Officials have said themselves that Qahtani was harshly treated in imprisonment and Khalid was subjected to waterboarding. Qahtani also withdrew an earlier confession saying it was obtained from him under torture. He submitted a detailed written account describing abuse he alleges against him including beatings, being forced into uncomfortable positions for long periods, threats with dogs, exposure to music at high volume, being subjected to freezing temperatures and being forced to appear naked in front of female personnel. The arraignments will take place at the high security Guantanamo war crimes tribunal, and will mark the first public appearances of the men since their capture. The trial will mark the first in front of a US war crimes tribunal since World War Two, and the first capital one at this tribunal as prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for all of the men.
Print Mail Wikipedia DPP pushes law against China threat COUNTER-LEGISLATION: The DPP will release a bill today that would give the president the power to act against China without prior legislative approval By Ko Shu-ling STAFF REPORTER Monday, Mar 14, 2005,Page 1 Stepping up its opposition to China's "anti-secession" law, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is expected to unveil today a draft bill giving the president the power to take "non-peaceful" action or other necessary measures, including referendums, without the permission of the legislature in order to safeguard Taiwan's sovereignty and territory. The draft law mandates that the president must report to the legislature on any such measures within 30 days. China's National People's Congress (NPC) is scheduled to pass its "anti-secession law" today. While the DPP is scheduled to make public its "anti-invasion" law today, the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) has proposed an "anti-annexation" law. The DPP's bill was drafted by Trong Chai (蔡同榮), Sandy Chuang (莊和子), Wang Shu-hui (王淑慧), Chiang Chao-yi (江昭儀), Lin Kuo-ching (林國慶), Hsu Kuo-yung (徐國勇) and DPP caucus whip Peter Lin (林進興). Lin said his caucus will hold an international press conference at 2pm today to introduce the draft law to over 70 local and foreign media representatives. Although only 30 signatures are required to make the petition valid, Lin said that his caucus has collected more than 50 signatures from lawmakers. They will submit the proposed law at tomorrow's plenary legislative session. The DPP's seven-article draft states that the Taiwan issue is not a part of China's domestic affairs but an international matter, and that it is necessary and urgent to swiftly enact counter-legislation to deter China's annexation efforts. In order to maintain a peaceful and stable relationship between Taiwan and China, the draft proposes the government adopt the following four measures. It should take appropriate measures to push cross-strait exchanges to facilitate mutual understanding and trust between the people of Taiwan and China; push exchanges and cooperation in the areas such as trade, culture and sports; push for joint crime-fighting efforts and other projects conducive to strengthening peace, coexistence and prosperity across the Taiwan Strait and provide necessary assistance to private organizations or groups launching activities to counter the "anti-secession law." The DPP's draft is similar to the TSU's "anti-annexation" law, which will be changed to an "anti-invasion peace" law today. Stating that Taiwan has existed alongside China since the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC) on Oct. 1, 1949, the TSU's 11-article draft states that "Taiwan is already an independent sovereign state and it is not an issue for Taiwan to declare independence or seek separation from China." The draft also says that the government should call a referendum and amend the Constitution to safeguard Taiwan's sovereignty if the cross-strait status quo is threatened. The president can resort to non-peaceful means to resist China's annexation, the draft states. TSU caucus whip Lo Chih-ming ( 羅志明 ) told the Taipei Times yesterday that his caucus will also hold a press conference at 2pm today to launch a signature drive, urging President Chen to initiative a "defensive referendum" to counter the "anti-secession" law. also see story: Dislike of China's law widespread: poll This story has been viewed 4805 times. Advertising \|\|\|\|\| TAIPEI : Taiwan's pro-independence ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is planning a huge rally to protest China's anti-secession law aimed at the island, party officials said. "The DPP will stage a rally in the capital Taipei on March 26... I hope 500,000 people will take part... to safeguard democracy and peace and protect Taiwan," said DPP Chairman Su Tseng-chang. President Chen Shui-bian, also from the DPP, was yet to confirm whether he will join the event, Su said. China's National People's Congress (NPC), or parliament, is expected on Monday to pass the controversial anti-secession law aimed at preventing Taiwan from declaring formal independence. Wu Bangguo, chairman of the NPC's standing committee, told parliament Wednesday that it was their "solemn mission" to pass the legislation, ignoring a call from the United States to rethink the bill. Taiwan authorities are worried the law could create the legal basis for China to take the island by force or pressure it to accept reunification. The text of the draft, published by Taiwanese media, calls for the use of "non-peaceful means and other necessary measures to protect China's sovereignty and territorial integrity," if all other alternatives fail. This will be necessary "in the event that the 'Taiwan independence' forces should act under any name or by any means to cause the fact of Taiwan's secession from China," the draft bill said. Taiwan authorities have said the law is tantamount to issuing a blank check to the Chinese military and accused Beijing of jeopardizing cross-strait stability. Beijing still considers the island part of its territory despite their split in 1949 after a civil war. It has repeatedly threatened to wage war should the island declare formal independence. Chen, however, has insisted on Taiwan's sovereignty and said the future of the island must be decided by people here. The hardline pro-independence Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) last week demonstrated in the southern city of Kaohsiung to protest the anti-secession law. The angry crowd burned a huge Chinese flag and shouted, "Opposing annexation, safeguarding Taiwan." The TSU, which holds only 12 seats in the 225-member parliament, plans to introduce an "anti-annexation" bill in parliament. About 56 percent of Taiwanese oppose China's anti-secession law and nearly 47 percent think the island should counter it by holding a referendum or introducing its own legislation, according to a survey published Wednesday. - AFP \|\|\|\|\| Registering for Boston.com is free and easy! Already a member? Log in We've decided to ask our users to register with us so that we can provide you with more of the content and features you like. (Read more here.) Registration is free, and we've made it quick and easy. Just fill out this one-time registration form for instant access to all of Boston.com. Required fields are marked with a red asterisk (). 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Check here for information from Boston's most successful organization for singles! Brooks Brothers: Be the first to know! Exclusive offers, sale previews, new product introductions, and local retail store events. All delivered to you first from BrooksBrothers.com. First Name: Last Name: TravelZoo: Check the box to subscribe to TravelZoo's FREE weekly Top 20 Newsletter. Only the best travel deals! Finish your registration I agree to the terms and conditions of Boston.com's Member Agreement	Two Taiwanese political parties of the independence-leaning "pan-green alliance" unveiled new bills today in response to the new "anti-secession" law passed earlier this week by the People's Republic of China. The Democratic Progressive Party is expected to introduce a bill giving the President of the Republic of China the power to take "non-peaceful" action, or other actions, to "safeguard Taiwan's sovereignty and territory". The draft version of the law mandates that the Taiwanese President must report to the legislature on any such actions within thirty days. DPP caucus whip Peter Lin said that although the signatures of only thirty lawmakers are required to make the law valid, over fifty have already been gathered. The seven-article draft law states that the Taiwan issue is not a part of China's internal affairs, but rather that it is an international matter between nations. It goes on to state that it is necessary and urgent to quickly enact counter-legislation to deter Mainland China's annexation efforts. It further calls for increased trust and understanding between the two sides, including greater trade, sporting, and cultural links. The Taiwanese Solidarity Union also proposed a new "anti-annexation" law. The eleven article draft states that "Taiwan is already an independent sovereign state and it is not an issue for Taiwan to declare independence or seek separation from China". It goes on to state that the government should call a referendum to amend the Taiwanese constitution to safeguard Taiwanese sovereignty. The draft law would also give the Taiwanese President authorisation to resort to "non-peaceful means" to resist Chinese aggression. Taiwanese independence has been a thorny issue in recent years, as some Taiwanese politicians insist that the democratic island is a sovereign nation, and Chinese authorities insist that it is a part of the PRC.
Leyte Gulf catches fire in Norfolk shipyard Contractors hurt in blaze Norfolk, Virginia - The U.S.S. Leyte Gulf had a fire aboard Saturday morning that was quickly extinguished - but not before five civilian contractors were hurt. A large explosion at 9:29 AM came from the Navy ship's berthing area were some welding was going on. A reporter on the scene said fire was coming from two decks and some were suffering from smoke inhalation. Five contractors were taken to Norfolk General Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, said John Kowalczyk, a spokesman for BAE Systems Ship Repair, which was handling the work. "It appears to be an isolated fire," he said, adding that there was no indication of terrorism. The guided-missile cruiser has been in the yard since May undergoing repairs. USS Leyte Gulf (CG-55) is a Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser in the United States Navy. She was named in memory of the World War II Battle of Leyte Gulf in the Pacific. She is powered by four large gas-turbine engines, and she has a large complement of guided missiles for air defense, attack of surface targets, and ashore, and anti-submarine warfare (ASW). In addition, she carries two "Seahawk" LAMPS multi-purpose helicopters. © AR News \|\|\|\|\| Dutcher Dock in Menemsha, on Martha’s Vineyard, Mass. When the summer season begins in earnest is still a question. Jane Beiles for The New York Times	USS Leyte Gulf Five civilian contractors have been injured after an explosion and fire onboard the Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser USS Leyte Gulf at 9:25 a.m. today. A large explosion erupted from the ship's berthing area where welding work was being conducted during a stop in Norfolk, Virginia. A fire broke out two decks below main deck, but was quickly extinguished. The injured were taken to Norfolk General Hospital for treatment to injuries not believed to be life-threatening, according to John Kowalczyk, a spokesman for BAE Systems Ship Repair, who were conducting the work. He added that the fire appeared to be an isolated incident. The ship has been laid up for repairs and modernizing since May.
DE LA HOYA v PACQUIAO ROUND-BY-ROUND Round 1: We're under way and this is a real journey into the unknown. Will it be worth the weight? Let's find out now. Cagey opening with Pacman staying on the outside and Oscar sizing him up. De La Hoya on the front foot trying to establish his stiff jab. Pacman trying to get off early and then has to duck a De La Hoya hook. Pacman looking sharp though. Lands a couple of times to big cheers inside the arena. Oscar having trouble pinning Manny down early. Pacquiao just misses with a big left counter. Pacquiao apparently growing in confidence after a good start. First left hook lands from De La Hoya, Pacquiao takes it. Left from De La Hoya scores but Pacman fires back with a straight left through De La Hoya's guard. Oscar struggling early against the southpaw stance. Close round, one up to Pacquiao for me. Round 2: Out for the second and can Pacman repeat that success of the first? Manny on the ropes early but gets off them very quickly. Again that left lead from Manny scores. Oscar hits back with a super jab. Another straight left from Manny scores - in and out here, troubling De La Hoya with his speed and movement. Oscar goes to the body but Pacman fires back with that lightning left. Good uppercut from Pacquiao but nothing to hurt De La Hoya yet, though the P4P king is boxing nicely. Nice combination from Pacquiao and again the left is good. He's just too quick for Oscar at present, but he's heavier than ever before. Will that tell later on? Manny's round again for me - 20-18 after two. Round 3: Oscar looks tense so far and hasn't managed to get Pacquiao in range. Needs to establish a foothold in the fight. Needs to slow Manny down somehow. Landing that left hook would be the ideal way. Pacquiao hitting and running - and trying to avoid taking anything in return. Oscar meanwhile looking all the time for the big shot to make that size advantage count. Oscar lands with a right and has Manny on the ropes, but Pacman escapes quickly. Then Manny scores again with that left. Two jabs from Oscar but Manny responds with a nice combination to the body. Not hurtful, but scoring shots nonetheless. Then another shot to the rib cage of the Golden Boy. Oscar misses with a left and then a right as the bell sounds. Another close round, again I'd have to edge it for Manny. Three in row for me but how are the judges seeing it? Round 4: Ricky Hatton, ringside for Sky Sports, says Oscar doesn't look very well and Manny is boxing fantastically. Two more lefts score again for Pacman early in the fourth. He's ramming it right down the middle between the Golden Boy's guard. Nice combination from Manny but he's having to move an awful lot to stay out of range. Oscar lands with a left - bit more success for him in this round. Body punches from both men in little flurries. Pacman putting on a clinic so far here. Oscar can't cope with the speed of Manny. Another round for the Pacman on my card. 40-36 so far. Nacho Beristain goes to work in the De La Hoya corner. Needs to get Oscar to relax a little. Round 5: Good right from Oscar to start the fifth. He's only throwing single shots though. Nothing to really put Manny under any sort of pressure. Manny still on his toes but Osar is trying to push him round a bit. Can't believe Manny can keep this pace up for 12, but he's scored with another cracking punch there - this time a right. He's boxing De La Hoya's ears off in this session. He can't miss. Oscar looks old and slow. Pacquiao now the aggressor - moving forward and throwing body shots. Always one step ahead. Oscar needs to land something to change the course of this fight. Gets in close and hits Pacman with a couple of uppercuts. Manny takes them though. Another good combination from Pacman and another round to the Pacman on my card. He's pitched a shutout so far - 50-45. Round 6: Moving towards the halfway stage now and frankly this has been pretty embarrassing so far for De La Hoya. But the Pacman is breathing pretty heavily between rounds. Can he last the pace? We'll find out soon. Oscar really struggling against the southpaw stance, and the speed of Pacquiao. Manny again controlling the pace in the sixth. Oscar is surrendering centre ring. More body shots from Manny. De La Hoya spits back momentary defiance with a right. Manny scoring at will with that lead left. Two in quick succession. Oscar looks tense and befuddled. Manny meanwhile just cannot miss Oscar's face with that left hand. Oscar trying to establish the jab but not being allowed to get Pacman in range. Manny is never still and Oscar can't pin him down. Feints and lefts to end the round for Pacman. Another round to him on my card. I've got it 60-54 in favour of the Filipino. Round 7: Ricky Hatton between rounds describes it as "embarrassingly one-sided, and adds of Oscar: "Either way he's messed the weight up". We'll see. Freddie Roach said Oscar can't pull the trigger any more. Certainly looks that way so far. Pacman again boxing off the front foot in the seventh. He's stepping in and out and scores with another left to De Hoya's face. Now Manny becoming more aggressive - starting to unload some bombs. Oscar on the ropes and taking sustained punishment. He's throwing nothing back. De La Hoya's left eye is closing - he's in massive trouble here. Manny scoring at will and I don't think Oscar can go on much longer. Manny moving in for the kill. Astonishing round, one-way traffic. Will Oscar's corner pull him out - he looks an old man. Face puffed up, left eye virtually shut. Beristain talking quietly. Oscar wants to go on. Obviously another round for Pacquiao by the way. You could argue it as a 10-8 even though there was no knockdown. Round 8: This could be the last round of a glorious career for Oscar De La Hoya, unless he can pull something amazing out of the bag. Oscar on the front foot and trying to recover from the torrid depths of the seventh when he must have been on the brink of being stopped. No timing in Oscar's shots. Pacman meanwhile is just too quick and he can't miss. Oscar again on the ropes and in trouble. Pacquiao again connects with a cracking left. Oscar on the ropes, so tentative, so easy to hit. Pacman raises his hands over his head and smacks his gloves together. Almost asking Oscar to fight. De La Hoya on the ropes, takes another big left but just does survive to the bell. Doctor asking Oscar if he has a headache or if he's dizzy. Ref Weeks in the corner - tells Oscar that if he keeps taking punches he's stopping the fight. Doesn't look good for the Golden Boy. Round 9: It's over!!! Before Oscar can get off his stool for round nine he's pulled out by his corner and MANNY PACQUIAO HAS STOPPED OSCAR DE LA HOYA. Ring history here in the MGM Grand. Pacquiao in tearful prayer in his corner and now milking the applause and cheers from this astonished crowd. Oscar meanwhile cuts a sad and broken figure. He got old before our very eyes tonight.Roach was right all along, Pacquiao was brilliant and a deserved winner. An astonishing performance - won every round for me and just grew in confidence. Rounds 7 and 8 were like watching Ali v Holmes all over again. A faded legend being used as a punch bag. \|\|\|\|\| PACMAN UP FOR HATTON CLASH Manny Pacquiao says he'd be happy to fight Ricky Hatton in England after destroying Oscar De La Hoya in their superfight in Las Vegas on Saturday night. The Filipino icon defied ring logic by stepping up three weight divisions in eight months to stop the faded 'Golden Boy' after eight rounds in the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Hatton was being lined up to fight the winner, with De La Hoya expected to come out victorious en route to a huge summer showdown in London next year. But those plans came unstuck in a huge way as Pacquiao first befuddled De La Hoya and then battered him before the fight was stopped after round eight. Afterwards Pacquiao confirmed he's up for a showdown with the Hitman, telling Sky Box Office: "My job is to fight in the ring, that's the promoter's job. I can fight any time, anywhere. I can go to England to fight Hatton, no problem." Meanwhile Bob Arum, Pacman's promoter, agreed Manny against Ricky at light-welterweight could be on the cards. He said: "Why not, but tonight and until the New Year it's celebration time for all the Filipinos. But after that I know Ray - we'll sit down, we'll talk, that's probably the most logical fight to be made - Manny against Ricky Hatton at 140lbs. Because obviously Manny would want to fight at 140 and so would Ricky. That's probably number one on the drawing board. But let the kid have a great Christmas and New Year, and then we'll sit down to business." Hatton himself said: "Manny's proved again that he's pound-for-pound the number one in the sport and I still might get my dream of becoming the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world." \|\|\|\|\| By Graham Shaw Last updated: 7th December 2008 Pacquiao: Astonishing win Manny Pacquiao produced an astonishing display to stop Oscar De La Hoya after eight rounds of their superfight in Las Vegas on Saturday night. The reigning pound-for-pound king disproved the old adage that size matters by moving up three weight divisions in just eight months to hand out a sustained beating to the faded 'Golden Boy'. In March this year Pacquiao was plying his trade at super-featherweight, while De La Hoya was at light-middle. Here they met at welterweight, and Oscar was expected to hold all the aces in terms of size and reach. Speed But once the hype was over and they finally got in the ring, it was speed that mattered as the Filipino icon first befuddled De La Hoya, and then battered him. Pacquiao started the bout by boxing cleverly from the outside, and even in the early going he just couldn't miss with his straight left lead through the De La Hoya guard. Oscar meanwhile, who came in at his lightest weight in 11 years (145lbs), appeared tense and sluggish, struggling to get his punches off with any speed or power. He had trouble landing anything as Pacquiao continued his smash-and-grab raid by hitting and moving with bewildering speed. By the halfway stage De La Hoya's left eye was starting to swell, and Pacquaio was pitching a virtual shutout on the scorecards. In the seventh it was time for Manny to move in for the kill and, with De La Hoya seemingly powerless to get off the ropes, the Filipino icon scored at will with sustained attacks. De La Hoya signalled that he wanted to go on despite his struggles, and did keep Pacquiao at bay for the first two minutes of round eight. Stopped But in the dying seconds of the round he was back on the ropes a broken man as Pacquiao handed out more punishment. With his eye virtually shut, Oscar was told by referee Tony Weeks between rounds that if he kept eating punches the fight would be stopped. More punishment wasn't necessary though, as De La Hoya's corner pulled him out before the ninth could get under way. For Pacquiao it brought to a close one of the most brilliant performances in ring history. And next up could be a showdown with Ricky Hatton. For De La Hoya meanwhile, it surely signalled the end of a golden age. \|\|\|\|\| WBC lightweight champion Manny Pacquiao, right, throws a right to the body of Oscar De La Hoya during the second round of their welterweight boxing match in Las Vegas, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2008. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill) Pacquiao wins in eighth round over De La Hoya LAS VEGAS (AP) — Manny Pacquiao fought a lot bigger than he looked. Oscar De La Hoya simply looked old. Pacquiao dominated his bigger and more famous opponent from the opening bell Saturday night, giving De La Hoya a beating and closing his left eye before De La Hoya declined to come out of his corner after the eighth round. The fight was so lopsided and De La Hoya looked so inept that it could spell the end for boxing's richest and most marketable star. It was only the second time in De La Hoya's 16-year pro career that he was stopped in a fight, and it was made even more shocking because it came at the hands of a fighter who fought at just 129 pounds months earlier. At the age of 35 he seemed not only well beyond his prime, but unable to offer any answer to the punches that Pacquiao was landing almost at will. De La Hoya's left eye was closed shut as he sat on his stool after the eighth round and the ring doctor, referee and his cornermen discussed his condition. De La Hoya offered no complaints when his corner decided he had enough, getting up from his stool and walking to the center of the ring to congratulate the victor. "You're still my idol," Pacquiao told him. "No, you're my idol," De La Hoya said. Two of the three ringside judges scored all eight rounds for Pacquiao, while a third gave De La Hoya only the first round. The Associated Press scored every round for the winner. The fight was lopsided from the beginning, with Pacquiao landing punch after punch while De La Hoya chased after him, trying to catch him with a big punch. Pacquiao was winning big even before the seventh round, when he was pounding De La Hoya against the ropes in his corner and catching him with huge shots that knocked him across the ring. De La Hoya remained upright, but with one eye closed and his reflexes seemingly gone there was no chance he was going to land the big punches he would have needed to turn the fight around. Ringside statistics showed Pacquiao landed 45 power punches in the seventh round to just four for De La Hoya. "He's just a great fighter," De La Hoya said. "I have nothing bad to say about him. He prepared like a true champion." Pacquiao came up two weight classes to fight for his biggest purse ever, while De La Hoya dropped down to meet him at 147 pounds. Though De La Hoya towered over Pacquiao and had a big reach advantage over him, Pacquiao had no trouble getting inside what few jabs De La Hoya threw to land his shots. "We knew we had him after the first round," Pacquiao's trainer, Freddie Roach said. "He had no legs, he was hesitant and he was shot." Roach trained De La Hoya in his last big fight a year ago and said De La Hoya simply couldn't throw punches when he needed in that fight. That was magnified even more against Pacquiao, who not only was as elusive as Floyd Mayweather Jr. but threw punches back that kept De La Hoya off pace. "Freddie, you're right," De La Hoya told the trainer after the fight. "I just don't have it anymore." If De La Hoya's career is over, it will be the end of a remarkable story that began when he won the Olympic gold medal in Barcelona in 1992 and went on to become the biggest box office attraction in the sport. But while he sold tickets, De La Hoya hadn't won a big fight in six years, and there were whispers long before the fight that he had nothing left. De La Hoya not only dropped down to fight for the first time at 147 pounds in seven years, but actually came into the ring unofficially weighing less than Pacquiao. Both fighters got on scales in their dressing rooms and De La Hoya was 147 while Pacquiao was 148 and a half. \|\|\|\|\| Pacquiao 3 lbs lighter than De La Hoya Pacman not bothered LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- Manny Pacquiao sounded more amused than anything when he ï¿½lostï¿½ four pounds in an official weigh-in where it looked to him that Oscar De La Hoya avoided a $6-million penalty for excess poundage. But there was an unmistakable snarl in his voice when he was asked if he was bothered by the fact that he could be facing an already bigger opponent who could grow even more with the added two pounds. ï¿½Ako pa,ï¿½ exclaimed Pacquiao. ï¿½Kung gusto nila, magsuntukan na kami ngayon, kahit wala pang gloves (If they want, we go at it without gloves).ï¿½ The Filipino pound-for-pound champ, who sports a 47-3-2 record spiked with 35 knockouts, battles boxingï¿½s Golden Boy (29-5, 30 KOs) Saturday at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in a duke-out dubbed ï¿½Dream Match,ï¿½ which will be fought at the welterweight limit of 147 lbs. Pacquiao stepped on the scales and registered 142 lbs, just barely an hour after registering 146 in a pre-weigh-in check at his suite at The Hotel at Mandalay Bay. ï¿½I was surprised at my weight,ï¿½ Pacquiao told journalists Friday. ï¿½Before I went to the weigh-in, I checked my weight and came in at 146 lbs.ï¿½ ï¿½When I got to the venue, in less than an hour, I weighed 142 lbs. In less than an hour I lost four pounds and I did not even do anything. I donï¿½t want to insinuate anything, but I lost four pounds in less than an hour without doing anything. De La Hoya, on the other hand, came in at 145 -- that is, if nothing was amiss during the weigh-in. It is common for two different scales to be calibrated differently, but the four-pound difference between Pacquiaoï¿½s hotel scales and the official one used during Fridayï¿½s weigh-in at the MGM Grandï¿½s Garden Arena caused eyebrows to rise -- especially since there is an expensive penalty for being overweight stipulated in the fight contract. Under that stipulation, any fighter who weighs over 147 lbs will pay $3 million per pound. That clause was inserted into the contract as a safety measure by Roach to prevent De La Hoya from coming in too big and create an even bigger mismatch between the two fighters. Pacquiao added there was no way the official scale and his own machine could have produced separate results because they were both on the mark just the day before. ï¿½Yesterday (Thursday), before practice, I checked my weight at the official scale and came in at 149,ï¿½ Pacquiao recounted in Filipino. ï¿½When I returned to the hotel, I weighed myself at my scale and came in at 149, meaning the official scale and my personal scale were calibrated the same. ï¿½After I trained, I checked my weight and came in at 146. I ate a little and the next morning, I checked my weight again and came in at 146. All of a sudden, the official scale and my scale were off by four pounds. Take those four pounds and that means Oscar is 149.ï¿½ Pacquiao, however, said he will no longer make an issue out of it. The 29-year-old reigning lightweight champion of the world said the only good De La Hoya could get out of it is that the former Olympic gold medalist will skirt paying a fine. And money is the least of Pacquiaoï¿½s problems in this fight, where he stands to earn nearly $15 million, which also includes his share of the pay-per-view earnings. Pacquiao also said he is putting to rest the tape controversy, where trainer Freddie Roach complained to the Nevada State Athletic Commission that the De La Hoya camp will be using illegal tape and taping methods on fight night. The commission convened an emergency meeting at the media center at the MGM Grand and shot down Roachï¿½s appeal to make Team De La Hoya change the bandages they use for wrapping hands. But it did hammer out a compromise with what Roach said was an illegal use of ï¿½false ligamentsï¿½ made out of rolled tape. ï¿½But that doesnï¿½t matter now,ï¿½ added Pacquiao. ï¿½Iï¿½m ready for Oscar.ï¿½ Pacquiao said De La Hoya gave him a mean staredown when they went face-to-face for photographers during the weigh-in. But he said that did not shake him one bit -- just like the extra pounds and the tale of the hand tape did not bother him at all.	Las Vegas, Nevada hosted the De La Hoya-Pacquiao match Filipino WBC Lightweight Champion, Emmanuel "The Pacman" Pacquiao (48-3-2, 36 KOs) stopped American boxer and promoter Oscar "Golden Boy" De La Hoya (39-6, 30 KOs) after eight rounds of the "The Dream Match" in MGM Grand Garden Arena, at Las Vegas, Nevada on December 6, 2008. De La Hoya's corner threw in the towel before the start of the 9th round of the 12-round, non-title fight at the 147-pound welterweight limit. It was officially a technical knockout. "Pacman" dominated the fight, from the opening bell, landing his straight left hand to the American's face, and later opens up with combinations in the seventh and eighth rounds. Two of the three judges scored all eight rounds for him, while a third gives De La Hoya the first round. Finally, Pacman gives De La Hoya a beating and closes his left eye in the eighth round. Pacquiao said, "You're still my idol." De La Hoya replied, "No, you're my idol." The camp of Manny Pacquiao has previously claimed that "Golden Boy" had weaknesses the Filipino boxer would exploit. Trainer Freddie Roach accurately foretold the outcome when he earlier said, "I'm not saying we're not going to knock him out. If it happens, fine. We'll take it. What we're going to do is break him down round by round. We're working on staying away from the jab and the left hook. The hook is a power shot. But Oscar makes a mistake with his jab. I'm not saying what it is, but I've seen it." Meanwhile, sportinglife.com reported that Pacquiao "confirmed he's up for a showdown with Ricky "Hitman" Hatton, telling Sky Box Office: "My job is to fight in the ring, that's the promoter's job. I can fight any time, anywhere. I can go to England to fight Hatton, no problem." Hatton replies: "Manny's proved again that he's pound-for-pound the number one in the sport and I still might get my dream of becoming the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world." Pacquiao stands to earn nearly US$15 million, which also includes his share of the pay-per-view earnings while De La Hoya is guaranteed $20 million for the fight.
LOS ANGELES On Tuesday the monks met with their insurance agent. Like thousands of other residents of Southern California, the seven Benedictine Anglican monks who lived at Mount Calvary Monastery and Retreat House, on a breathtaking ridge 1,250 feet above the Pacific in Montecito, were coming to terms with what they had lost in the fires that have swept across Southern California since Thursday. Early last Friday, fire consumed most of the complex where the monks had chanted, studied the stars and welcomed guests from around the world. The next afternoon, they returned to survey the damage. “We were very quiet,” Brother Joseph Brown recalled in a telephone interview Tuesday. “We just looked around. We were in shock.” By the time the Tea Fire, in Santa Barbara County, was under control, all that remained of the 60-year-old monastery itself were a skeletal archway, a charred iron cross and a large Angelus bell. Two small artist’s studios near the main building were intact. An icon of Christ that Brother Brown had been painting with pigments made from egg yolk and mineral powder was still on a desk. A cello sat a few feet away, unharmed. In the chaos of wind and fire, a sheriff’s deputy had moved another monk’s telescope outside, where it remained unscathed. “In the midst of all this destruction,” Brother Brown, 46, said Tuesday, “miracles happened all over the place.” “The feelings right now are difficult to describe,” he said. “One of the hazards of monasticism throughout the centuries is we become attached to what we have or where we are. This is simply a reminder that what we are called to is not our stuff. This is a cleansing by fire.” Since the fire, the monks have stayed at St. Mary’s Retreat House, run by Episcopal nuns near the Santa Barbara Mission, as they searched for solace and prepared themselves to help others in the area who were displaced by the blaze. Brother Brown said the monks, part of the Order of the Holy Cross, spent much of Tuesday meeting with an insurance agent and a contractor to discuss their options. Though the coastal mountains of Montecito were dear to their hearts, he said, they “need time to pray and discern” whether to rebuild there, and if so, how to go about it. “And we’re like, ‘Hmm, how do we get a hold of Oprah?’ ” he added, speaking of another famous Montecito property owner, Oprah Winfrey, who was not there during the fire but who said on her show last week that she had made a plan to send her staff and dogs to stay at a nearby resort, and that her home was safe. Residents of mansions and mobile home parks alike found the trappings of their communities devoured by the Tea Fire, the Sayre Fire in Orange County and the Freeway Complex Fire in Los Angeles County. On Tuesday, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger issued an order waiving fees for those needing to replace driver’s licenses, birth certificates and other documents destroyed in the fires. The state has spent $75 million responding to the three fires, which burned over 40,000 acres, and destroyed 858 homes, the state Office of Emergency Services said. In Santa Barbara County, the Tea Fire was 100 percent contained, state fire officials said Tuesday, though firefighters continued to battle hot spots. The other two fires were 70 to 75 percent contained, officials said. When orange flames sprouted on a ridge below the wood and adobe buildings Thursday evening, the monks and 25 guests, leaders of local nonprofit groups, had just gathered for dinner. They continued eating for several minutes, Brother Brown said, but as wind-whipped flames grew larger, they decided to evacuate. He and the other monks rose from the table and told their guests it was time to go. “We very calmly and quietly and efficiently and without great gravity got folks’ stuff out of their rooms,” and packed up their cars. The monks, he said, stayed a bit longer, grabbing what they could. Brother Nicholas Radelmiller, the monastery’s prior, who has lived there for 18 years, carried a century-old painting of the Virgin of Guadalupe under his arm. Others grabbed two 600-year-old paintings, a cash box, laptops and a change of clothes. Brother Radelmiller, 68, was the only one to get his habit, a white robe with billowing sleeves. The six-inch-long ebony cross he received at his ordination 38 years ago was tucked into the pocket. The habit and cross, Brother Brown said, are a monk’s only personal possessions. The fire destroyed antique Spanish furniture, oil paintings, books and cherished photographs, he added, but the loss of their habits and crosses stung most. Even in that, though, he found comfort. “We are stripping away the outward symbols that eternally rest in our hearts,” Brother Brown said. Brother Radelmiller confessed to being “still somewhat numb about the whole thing, and a little overwhelmed by all the stuff that has to be done.” “I keep running into little things that I’d missed,” he said, “things I had not realized I’d lost.” He began to cry quietly, then took a breath, saying: “But I really do feel like the most important thing is that we’re all O.K. and together. If they’re memories, I’ll just have to remember them. The most important thing is us.” \|\|\|\|\| Editorial: Why $17 million went to Payton Prep Mayor Rahm Emanuel's announcement last week of a $17 million addition at Walter Payton College Prep High School stirred some resentment from parents and teachers, coming so soon after Chicago closed dozens of schools and reduced spending at scores more of... 2 held in Cornell Square Park shooting of 13 Two men are in custody in connection with last week's shooting in a South Side park that left 13 people injured, including a 3-year-old boy, authorities said. The men, both 22, were arrested around 7:30 p.m. Sunday in an abandoned building in the 5200... 'It was like everybody was hit' A gunman with a military-grade assault rifle opened fire on a pickup basketball game in the Back of the Yards neighborhood late Thursday, injuring 13 people and pulling the city back into the spotlight for its epidemic of gun violence. The mass shooting... Aaron Alexis: Navy Yard shooting suspect had disciplinary problems Navy Yard shooting suspect Aaron Alexis received an honorable discharge from the U.S. Navy Reserve in 2011, even though he exhibited a pattern of misconduct during his career, officials said. The Los Angeles Times reported that Alexis had a Navy record... Williams gives Bears' pass rush a boost PITTSBURGH — Familiar elements of the Bears defense were in place through the first two games, foremost the takeaways, but alarmingly the pass rush was nowhere to be found. Defensive coordinator Mel Tucker discovered it Sunday night at Heinz Field... Outside Opinion: Helping Powerball winner handle sudden wealth Dear future megamillionaire, Your Powerball ticket purchase at the Murphy USA gas station in Lexington, S.C., is about to change your life. You probably knew that already. But here are some things you probably didn't know. The biggest challenge... Land of Linkin' A weekly listing of intriguing, wacky, useful, provocative and otherwise interesting links that readers and I have come across and think you might want to see. 18 Everyday Products You’ve Been Using Wrong (BuzzFeed) The Sweeethome ran some tests... As Bears evolve, Trestman savoring wins Few knew what to expect when the Chicago Bears named Marc Trestman their new head coach back in January. Following a nine-season Bears run under Lovie Smith, Trestman arrived with hopes of elevating the Bears offense under quarterback Jay Cutler while... \|\|\|\|\| (Updates homes burned, adds evacuee quotes, details) By Steve Gorman LOS ANGELES, Nov 15 (Reuters) - A wildfire whipped up by hurricane-force gusts raged through northwestern Los Angeles foothills on Saturday, burning some 165 homes and threatening the power supply of California's largest city. More than 10,000 residents were under mandatory evacuation orders as the fire, which has burned more than 2,600 acres, spread westward fanned by dry winds. A separate fire burned a second day in the celebrity enclave of Montecito, where 111 homes have been destroyed. Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said the fire in the foothills at the edge of San Fernando Valley near Sylmar had destroyed more than any other in the past decade and that flames could take down power lines. "The fire is threatening the power of the city of Los Angeles," Villaraigosa told a news conference. "We may have to move to rolling blackouts." He urged residents to evacuate if they were in harm's way. "If you wait until the fire gets there you have waited too long," Villaraigosa said. "This fire can be on you in a moment's notice." He also asked Los Angeles residents to conserve power. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency in Los Angeles County, opening the way to additional resources. Police closed down Interstate 5, the main freeway linking Los Angeles to the north, and other roads as 600 firefighters mobilized. Transmission lines bringing power follow the Interstate highway 5 corridor through the mountains north of Los Angeles, home to nearly 10 million. Mountains were engulfed in flames and billows of smoke visible from space by weather satellite. Steady gale-force winds, blowing at 35 mph (56 kph), periodically gusted up to 75 mph (120 kph) and spread the fire. A map of the fire is at tinyurl.com/sayrefire. Residents of a destroyed mobile home park sat in the gymnasium of the Sylmar High School, where the American Red Cross had set up relief services. "You could see absolutely nothing," said Jackie Burns, 77, who, along with her husband, Len, fled their mobile home at 3 a.m. as the fire raged through the neighborhood. "It was like looking into a black hole. It looked like the end of the world to me." DRY CONDITIONS 'PERFECT FOR MORE' Continued... \|\|\|\|\| Until now, many considered the 1961 Bel Air fire as L.A.'s worst. But today, with the Sylmar fire burning at least 600 mobile homes, that might be changing. Here's background on the Bel Air inferno from the L.A. Fire Department: During the week of November 6, 1961, the City of Los Angeles was visited by the most disastrous brush fire in the history of Southern California. Lashing out from a point of origin high on the north slope of the Santa Monica Mountains, the fire raced through tinder-dry vegetation to the summit, leaped across Mulholland Drive and raged down the south slope into Stone Canyon on a rapidly widening front. Driven savagely before fifty-mile-per-hour winds, the flames sped on south and westward. The canyons and ridges of the coastal slope became engulfed in a veritable hurricane of fire. Thermal air currents, created by the intense heat, coupled with the high velocity winds swirled countless thousands of burning brands aloft to deposit them far in advance of the main fire front. Natural and manmade barriers were utterly incapable of interrupting the progress of the fire under such adverse conditions. Before the wild rush of this roaring destruction was finally subdued, 6,090 acres of valuable watershed had been c consumed. Infinitely more tragic was the incineration of 484 costly residences and 21 other buildings. Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky made the comparison at a press conference. “Whether you live in a mobile home park or you live in an estate, when you lose your home it’s devastating,” Yaroslavsky said. --Shelby Grad Photo: Los Angeles Times \|\|\|\|\| Sesnon Wildfire 20 Percent Contained LOS ANGELES (AP) ― Things are looking better on the fire lines in the Porter Ranch area of Los Angeles.LA County fire Inspector Ron Haralson says the fire is now 20 percent contained and evacuation orders for several neighborhoods, including large parts of Porter Ranch, have been lifted.The blaze charred 13,285 acres and destroyed 15 homes and 47 outbuildings.Another six homes were damaged.There also has been major progress against L-A's other big wildfire.A 4,824-acre fire in the northeastern San Fernando Valley is 80 percent contained and some evacuees have been allowed to go home.But people who lived in an area where 38 mobile homes were destroyed are not permitted to return.Red flag warnings for high fire risk are in effect until Wednesday night. (© 2008 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.) \|\|\|\|\| Home : Features : News : Wildfires Blaze in California Wildfires Blaze in California 14-Nov-2008 Written by: Amy Chandler Popular celebrity neighborhood ravaged by wildfires. Montecito, a small Southern California community which houses many celebrities, including Steven Spielberg, Steve Martin, Eric Schmidt, and Rob Lowe, has been ravaged by a wildfire, reports Reuters. Christopher Lloyd, well-known for his role in the Back to the Future franchise, is among many to lose his home in the fire. A realtor who manages the property told the Los Angeles Times that while Lloyd was thankfully not at home, his caretaker was forced to flee for his life from the fire. The house, valued at around $11 million, was partially burned. Actor Rob Lowe said in a phone interview Friday that there was no warning. He said he was watching football with his son Thursday night when his wife called to inform him of the fire. As he left, Lowe claimed that flames were shooting 200 feet in the air. It was just like Armageddon, the actor declared. According to the Associated Press, since the beginning of the fire Thursday evening, more than 100 homes have been destroyed and 13 people have been injured. Talk to other readers about this story. \|\|\|\|\| The fast-moving California wildfire that has destroyed 100 homes, scorched 2,500 acres so far, and injured 13 has also struck Westmont College, a small, Christian liberal arts school in Santa Barbara. Officials report that several buildings, including a number of faculty homes, have been "lost or significantly damaged," the Associated Press reports The Thursday night fire forced the more than 1,000 students to take shelter in the campus gymnasium, where most spent the night. "I saw flames about 100 feet high in the air shooting up with the wind just howling," said [college spokesman Scott Craig]. "Now when the wind howls and you've got palm trees and eucalyptus trees that are literally exploding with their hot oil, you've got these big, red hot embers that are flying through the sky and are catching anything on fire." Hundreds of students fled to gym, where they spent the night sleeping on the floor. Some stood in groups praying, others sobbed openly and comforted each other. Beth Lazor, 18, said she was in her dormitory when the alarm went off. She said she only had time to grab her laptop, phone, a teddy bear, and a debit card before fleeing the burning building. Her roommate, Catherine Wilson, said she didn't have time to get anything. "I came out and the whole hill was glowing," Wilson said. "There were embers falling down." At least one of the school's five dorms was destroyed, and the college's website listed at least four other university buildings partially or completely burnt.	The recent wildfires in Los Angeles, California, have burned more than 42,000 acres (17,000 hectares) of land. Nearly 1,000 homes were destroyed, and more than 10,000 residents were evacuated. Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa expressed concerns that Los Angeles was on the verge of a blackout, and California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has declared the situation a state of emergency. In terms of property damage, this fire is the worst since the Bel Air fire in 1961. Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky stated, "Whether you live in a mobile home park or you live in an estate, when you lose your home it's devastating." Saturday: the Sayre Fire burns in the background In Montecito, a census-designated place in Santa Barbara County, the homes of many celebrities, including Steven Spielberg, Steve Martin, Eric Schmidt, and Rob Lowe, have been destroyed. This massive fire has caused millions of dollars of damage and 13 injuries. Rob Lowe declared that "it was just like Armageddon." According to one official, the fire started when ten students lit a bonfire on a ridge but failed to extinguish it. Although Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown believes that "this fire was the result of carelessness, not criminal intent," the county district attorney will still have to review the case. The Montecito Tea Fire on November 13 Santa Ana winds with gusts up to 70 mph exacerbated the Montecito fire, which destroyed over 100 buildings and damaged many others, including Westmont College. The college's 1000 students were forced to take shelter in the gymnasium. A spokesman for the college, Scott Craig, described the scene: "I saw flames about 100 feet high in the air shooting up with the wind just howling. Now when the wind howls and you've got palm trees and eucalyptus trees that are literally exploding with their hot oil, you've got these big, red hot embers that are flying through the sky and are catching anything on fire." Officials now report that firefighters are making some progress. Of the three major fires, the Montecito Tea Fire is 95% contained; the Sayre Fire, 70%; and the Triangle Complex Fire, 75%. Officials have lifted the evacuation order for Chino Hills as well.
Lobo Wins Honduran Presidential Vote Wealthy rancher Porfirio Lobo declares victory after election results showed broad lead for the candidate from the opposition National Party. The outcome was a vindication for Lobo, who narrowly lost to ousted President Manuel Zelaya in the 2005 vote Photo: AFP Porfirio Lobo has won the presidential election in Honduras, with about 56 percent of ballots cast. Election officials say voter turnout was high, in spite of a call by ousted President Manuel Zelaya to boycott the poll. Wealthy rancher Porfirio Lobo declared victory after election results showed a broad lead for the candidate from the opposition National Party. The outcome was a vindication for Lobo, who narrowly lost to ousted President Manuel Zelaya in the 2005 vote. AP Speaking at a rally late Sunday, Lobo told supporters he will work to improve security, create new jobs and restore international ties. Lobo says he hopes to bring about profound changes that will enable Honduras to return to the place it was four years ago, before Mr. Zelaya took office. Election officials said about 62 percent of voters took part in the vote, which eclipsed turnout figures from the 2005 election. The official numbers contradicted earlier claims from Mr. Zelaya, who said his supporters estimated that less than half of registered voters took part. The ousted leader called on voters to boycott the election, saying the de facto government is illegitimate. Mr. Zelaya has been living inside the Brazilian embassy as Honduran officials seek to arrest him on charges of abuse of power and treason. The head of the Honduran election council, Enrique Ortez, says the results showed that the election was a resounding success. Ortez says voters have made their decision in free and transparent elections. And, he says foreign governments have a moral obligation to recognize the vote outcome. The big challenge for Mr. Lobo may be restoring foreign ties which have suffered since Mr. Zelaya was removed from office in June. Many foreign governments accuse the de facto government in Honduras of launching a coup to remove Mr. Zelaya from office. Earlier, Brazil and Argentina said they would not recognize the election results. Colombia, Panama and Costa Rica said they would accept them, in an effort to resolve the political crisis. U.S. officials have indicated the election is a key step forward for Honduras, but they have not confirmed whether they will accept the outcome. Earlier, U.S. human rights activists rallied in front of the American embassy in the capital, to pressure the White House to reject the poll. Members of the Washington-based group Quijote Center say the poll was not free and fair because opposition leaders had suffered numerous raids and arrests in recent weeks. Patricia Adams the Micheletti government's actions thwarted free-and-fair elections. "Without the ability to campaign freely, without the ability to not have to fear for their lives by taking to the streets in a political way, how can anyone claim that those are conditions for a democratic process such as elections?" She asked. International human rights groups condemned Honduran police for breaking up a march in the industrial city of San Pedro Sula. Activists say police fired tear gas and arrested more than 40 opposition supporters. \|\|\|\|\| Lobo, right, claimed victory in Honduras's first presidential vote since the June coup [Reuters] Lobo, right, claimed victory in Honduras's first presidential vote since the June coup [Reuters] Porfirio Lobo, the opposition candidate, who preliminary figures showed had more than 56 per cent support, claimed victory soon afterwards. The ruling party candidate in Honduras's presidential election has conceded defeat after preliminary results showed him trailing with only 38 per cent of the vote. "The people will never be defeated, they will always go forward. Today they demonstrated to the world another test of their abilities and determination," Lobo told a cheering crowd at his acceptance speech. About 300 of Lobo's supporters danced in a victory celebration at a hotel in Tegucigalpa, the capital, on Monday, some waving the flag of his National Party. The election could calm a five-month political crisis in Honduras that began when the army overthrew Manuel Zelaya, the country's leftist president, and threw him out of the country. But the votes legitimacy has already been challenged by Zelaya and his supporters. 'Dictatorship' Despite officials claims that voter turnout was over 60 per cent, Zelaya has insisted the true number was much lower. Speaking to Al Jazeera, Zelaya said he had evidence that Hondurans had refused to turn out for the election and that the vote had "no respect and no credibility". "We took a sample at the polls and the rate of abstentions was over 60 per cent in most cases," he said. "This means the election had low turnout, which means it did not enjoy the support of the majority of the Honduran people." Zelaya was speaking from inside the Brazilian mission in Tegucigalpa, the Honduran capital, where he has taken refuge since returning to the country several weeks ago. "We are fighting a dictatorship and until we defeat it we will not be satisfied," Zelaya told Al Jazeera. Tomas Andino, an activist for a group called the National Resistance Front, which is against Micheletti's administration, also said that turnout had been low. "Anyone who has wandered about the city of Tegucigalpa or other cities of Honduras will realise that the number of people who went to the polls was really minimal," he told Al Jazeera. Craig Mauro, Al Jazeera's reporter in Tegucigalpa, said turnout had been very low in the city's poorer districts where support for Zelaya is strongest, but had been much higher in wealthier areas. Neither Zelaya nor the man who replaced him - Roberto Micheletti, the de facto president – ran in the vote and the election has been largely shunned by international monitors. Regional divisions The US government said late on Sunday that it considered the Honduran election "a necessary and important step forward" toward resolving the country's political crisis. In video Lobo wins vote rejected by Honduras's ousted preisdent But Lucia Newman, Al Jazeera's Latin America editor, said that, despite the vote, the crisis was still some way from being resolved. "This is still a very divisive issue and there are still a lot of people who are bitterly unhappy about what has happened in this country since Manuel Zelaya was overthrown," she said. "I think right now the main priority for many people in this country is to obtain the international credibility and legitimacy that this country needs in order to bring it back from what is basically international isolation." Regional powers have been divided over whether or not to recognise the outcome of the election, with some Latin American countries such as Brazil, Venezuela and Argentina making clear they will not back the result. Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Brazil's president, told reporters: "It's not possible to accept a coup, whether it's a military coup or dressed up as a civilian coup." 'Constitutional crisis' Tensions were high across Honduras ahead of the vote, but only small scale protests were reported. The election was organised before Zelaya was removed from power, with the candidates chosen in primaries last year. Zelaya and his supporters have challenged the legitimacy of the vote [Reuters] "These elections would have been the same, whether Zelaya had been there or not," Edward Schumacher-Matos, a newspaper columnist and Latin America analyst, said. "You had a constitutional crisis that was precipitated by the president himself," he told Al Jazeera in New York. "He was ordered arrested by the supreme court for violating the constitution. He tried to carry out a referendum that the supreme court, the congress, his own attorney-general and the human rights ombudsman all said was a violation of the constitution and illegal." Zelaya had called for a vote asking the public whether they would support attempts to remove the one-term limit for the presidency set out in the constitution.	Porfirio Lobo, a wealthy rancher, has won the presidential election in Honduras, with about 56% of ballots cast, according to results. Election officials say voter turnout was high, in spite of a call by ousted President Manuel Zelaya to boycott the poll. Lobo declared victory after election results showed a broad lead for the candidate from the opposition National Party. Speaking at a rally late Sunday, Lobo told supporters he will work to improve security, create new jobs and restore international ties. Lobo noted that he wants to bring about profound changes that will enable Honduras to return to the place it was four years ago, before Zelaya took office. "The people will never be defeated, they will always go forward. Today they demonstrated to the world another test of their abilities and determination," said Lobo at his acceptance speech. Election officials said about 62% of voters took part in the vote, which eclipsed turnout figures from the 2005 election. The official numbers contradicted earlier claims from Zelaya, who said his supporters estimated that less than half of registered voters took part. The ousted leader called on voters to boycott the election, saying the de facto government is illegitimate. Zelaya has been living inside the Brazilian embassy as Honduran officials seek to arrest him on charges of abuse of power and treason. "We took a sample at the polls and the rate of abstentions was over 60 per cent in most cases," Zelaya commented to the Al Jazeera news agency. "This means the election had low turnout, which means it did not enjoy the support of the majority of the Honduran people."
Sen. George Allen, R-Va., shakes the hand of Sen. John Warner, R-Va., left, as his wife, Susan, right, looks on as he delivers his concession speech in Alexandria, Va., Thursday, Nov. 9, 2006. Allen conceded defeat Thursday to Democrat Jim Webb, sealing the Democrats' control of Congress and the political downfall of a man once considered a White House contender. (AP Photo/Steve Helber) By MATTHEW BARAKAT ALEXANDRIA, Va. Nov 10, 2006 (AP) As Sen. George Allen entered the campaign season, he anticipated smooth sailing toward an all-but-certain re-election that would bolster his presidential aspirations. But on Thursday, suggesting that "the prevailing winds were against us," he conceded defeat to Democrat Jim Webb, ending not only his once-promising 2008 prospects but also GOP control of the U.S. Senate. His rapid fall from political grace, aided by verbal gaffes and a nationwide Republican backlash, was complete. Polite after a campaign that had been anything but, Allen said he would not demand a recount in a race Webb won by fewer than 9,000 votes out of 2.37 million ballots cast. Allen said "the owners of government have spoken and I respect their decision," though a day earlier his campaign said it likely would wait for the State Board of Elections to complete its canvass before conceding. "The Bible teaches us there is a time and place for everything, and today I called and congratulated Jim Webb and his team for their victory," Allen said. The conservative Republican senator lost to a fellow Reagan acolyte who served as the former president's Navy secretary before becoming disenchanted with the GOP. At a news conference and rally, Webb's supporters roared when he took his Marine son's battered combat boots from a bag and held them high above his head. Webb, whose son is fighting in Iraq, had worn the boots throughout what he called "an unnecessarily brutal campaign." Allen chose not to demand a recount when initial canvassing of the results failed to significantly alter Webb's lead. "I see no good purpose being served by continuously and needlessly expending money and causing any more personal animosity," he said. "Rather than bitterness, I want to focus on how best Virginians can be effectively served by their new junior senator." Webb said Allen "was very gracious" in their conversation. He alluded to the nasty tone of the campaign, saying he told Allen that "it's vital to stop the politics of divisiveness, character assassination, distraction." \|\|\|\|\| 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.	Sen. George Allen (R-VA) today conceded the senatorial race to Democrat James Webb, confirming that there would be a Democratic majority in the Senate and the House for the first time in over a decade. With this win, the Democrats have now gained more seats in Congress than the Republicans did in the 1994 'Republican Revolution' that first brought Conservatives to control of the House and the Senate. Webb won the Virginia seat by 7200 votes out of 2.37 million, as reported by the Washington Post. When Allen did not request a recount, that ensured a Democratic majority in the Senate. Rumor said that Allen had hoped to use his Senate seat as a springboard to a run for the Presidency; and more rumors suggested that if Vice President Dick Cheney were forced to resign ("due to ill health") following investigations of laws broken by Bush and Cheney, that Allen had hoped to be appointed in Cheney's stead. With the loss of the Senate seat, Allen's visions of a Presidential run have become impossible. Webb, who was a decorated Vietnam veteran and an early opponent of the war in Iraq, is quoted (by atrios at http://atrios.blogspot.com/) as saying that he was particularly concerned with issues of economic fairness and social justice: "It was reported that I came to the Democratic party purely on issues regarding the Iraq war. Nothing could be further from the truth. I think I and a lot of people like me had aligned themselves with the Republican party on national security issues but were always concerned about issues of economic fairness and social justice."
UN envoy sees more violence in Darfur if peace talks delayed KHARTOUM (AFP) — UN envoy to Darfur Jan Eliasson warned on Thursday that any delay to peace talks between Khartoum and rebels from the western Sudanese region will lead to more violence. The warning came as UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon accused Khartoum of slowing down the deployment of a bolstered peacekeeping force to Darfur by not approving a list of contributing countries. "We plan for the talks to begin as decided," Eliasson told reporters in Khartoum. The peace talks are scheduled for October 27 in the Libyan city of Syrte. "Any delay will lead to more bloodshed," he said. The UN envoy, accompanied by African Union representative Sam Ibok, was wrapping up a nine-day visit to Khartoum and Addis Ababa, during which he met with officials from Libya, Eritrea, Chad and Egypt to secure their support for the Libya talks. "I stressed in all my contacts there has to be change of this vicious circle and the need to create an environment conducive to talks and that everybody has to contribute to that," he said. Eliasson, who described the situation in Darfur as "deeply alarming" said he he hoped the talks would end fighting on the ground. This week, the Sudan Liberation Army faction of Minni Minawi, the only rebel group to have signed a 2006 peace deal, threatened to take up arms again. It was reacting to what it said was an attack on Muhajariya, a town it controls in southern Darfur that left more than 50 people killed. And on Wednesday, the United Nations Mission in Sudan said exchanges of fire took place a day earlier between the SLA and the Sudanese army near the north Darfur town of Tawila. UN Secretary General Ban said in a report that Khartoum was slowing down the deployment of the 26,000-strong hybrid UN-AU force. "The implementation timeline for UNAMID is being delayed owing to ... delays in obtaining feedback regarding the list of troop-contributing countries submitted to the government of Sudan," said the report released Thursday. "I remain extremely concerned about the continuing violence in Darfur. The ongoing loss of life and displacement of civilians is unacceptable and is not contributing to an atmosphere conducive to peace talks" in Libya. For his part, Eliasson called on all parties to seize the opportunity in Libya to end the conflict which has killed 200,000 and displaced two million others in four years. "This is an opportunity to change the future...The alternative to me is very scary." Copyright © 2013 AFP. All rights reserved. More » \|\|\|\|\| South Sudan crisis adds to Khartoum's Darfur woes KHARTOUM (AFP) — Sudan was beset by crises on two fronts Thursday after the main party in the south withdrew from government because of Khartoum's failure to share power and as hopes faded for peace in Darfur. Former rebels from the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) suspended their participation in the national government as fighting escalated in the western region of Darfur, where rebels have again taken up arms complaining of abuse and marginalisation by Khartoum. Darfur peace talks in Libya on October 27 have been put at risk by reports that Khartoum forces and their allied militias have intensified attacks on the rebels, including the only faction to have signed a peace deal. The Sudan Liberation Movement-Unity accused Khartoum of trying to kill its leaders after the army threatened to shoot down an African Union plane carrying the group's military leadership. The leaders were headed to the southern capital of Juba for "routine bilateral talks with SPLM leaders," spokesman Mahjoub Hussein told AFP. UN envoy to Darfur Jan Eliasson warned that any delay to the Libya talks would lead to more violence, as UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon accused the government of slowing the deployment of a bolstered peacekeeping force. In Khartoum, a senior SPLM official said the decision to withdraw from government was taken at a meeting in Juba presided over by party leader Salva Kiir. "Our participation in the government is frozen until we can find a solution to our differences" with the north, he said. But later in the day, SPLM members said they were open to talks with their northern partners, saying their decision to quit was a way to "sound the alarm" over delays in implementation of a peace deal between north and south. "We are ready to sit with the National Congress Party to discuss the problems," Yasser Arman, joint secretary general of the SPLM told reporters, refering to President Omar al-Beshir's northern party which dominates the national government. "We are knocking at the door of the NCP and we hope to have an answer and to work together for a real partnership," he said. The SPLM and its armed wing signed the Comprehensive Peace Agreement with Khartoum in 2005, ending 21 years of war between the Muslim north and Christian and animist south that killed at least two million people and displaced millions more. While former southern rebel leader Salva Kiir holds the post of first vice president in the national government, further implementation of the agreement has been dogged by problems and mutual accusations of stalling. The SPLM has 19 ministers and deputy ministers in the cabinet, as well as its own parliament sessions in Juba, the capital of the semi-autonomous south. The SPLM official said key problems were the withdrawal of northern troops from the south, the fate of the disputed oil-rich region of Abiye and "the evolution of democracy in Sudan," adding that the group would return to government once the differences were resolved. In Darfur, the Sudan Liberation Army faction of Minni Minawi, the only rebel group to have signed a 2006 peace deal with Khartoum, threatened to take up arms again after it said more than 50 people were killed in a government-backed attack on Muhajariya, a southern Darfur town it controls. The following day the UN reported clashes between government troops and Minawi forces near the north Darfur town of Tawila, but the circumstances were unclear. Eliasson, outlining efforts to broaden rebel attendance at the talks, which at least two rebel factions have said they will not attend, said any delay to negotiations "will lead to more bloodshed." He described the situation in Darfur as "deeply alarming" and said he hoped the talks would end fighting on the ground. UN chief Ban said in a report that Khartoum was slowing down the deployment of the 26,000-strong hybrid UN-AU force. "The implementation timeline for UNAMID is being delayed owing to ... delays in obtaining feedback regarding the list of troop-contributing countries submitted to the government of Sudan," said the report released Thursday. "I remain extremely concerned about the continuing violence in Darfur. The ongoing loss of life and displacement of civilians is unacceptable and is not contributing to an atmosphere conducive to peace talks" in Libya. A UN Security Council report also accused the Sudanese government of "continued violation" of an arms embargo by sending weapons and other military equipment into Darfur. "The government has shipped arms and equipment, including military airplanes and helicopters, by air into the airports of Darfur's three provincial capitals," the report found. In Khartoum, Eliasson called on all parties to seize the opportunity at the Libya talks on October 27 to end the conflict which has killed 200,000 in four years. "This is an opportunity to change the future ... The alternative to me is very scary." Copyright © 2013 AFP. All rights reserved. More » \|\|\|\|\| By Opheera McDoom KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Achieving a credible ceasefire to stop the violence in the western Sudanese region of Darfur will be the priority at peace talks this month, U.N. envoy Jan Eliasson said on Thursday. He urged all the fractured Darfur rebel factions to attend the talks, due to start in Libya on October 27, saying they were "the moment of truth" to stop the violence in western Sudan that has created one of the world's worst humanitarian disasters. "The first very concrete step ... is that we will go for and hopefully achieve a credible cessation of hostilities," Eliasson told reporters in Khartoum. "I find the situation on the ground ... deeply alarming. The military escalation is a great source of concern." He said invitations to most rebel groups would be sent for the first stage of talks. But some rebel leaders have already said they will not go unless only one delegation from the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) and one from the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) talk with Khartoum. But with more than a dozen factions emerging since last year's peace deal, signed by only one group, that is unlikely to happen. Eliasson said preconditions were dangerous. "To miss this opportunity is a tragedy -- this is the moment of truth," he said. "Haven't we seen enough violence and hopelessness? Don't we see what is happening to the social fabric of Darfur ... torn apart completely -- is this what we want to perpetuate?" Abdel Wahed Mohamed el-Nur, the SLA founder with huge popular support, said he would not attend the talks until a U.N. force was deployed to stem the violence, which has exploded with civilians, African Union peacekeepers, militias and rebels caught up in clashes in southern Darfur. On Thursday, the only rebel faction to sign the 2006 deal called for an international investigation into an attack on their forces in Muhajiriya, where at least 45 were killed and dozens injured. The SLA blames Sudan's army for the attack, although it has denied any involvement. "There has to be an international investigation immediately," Minni Arcua Minnawi, the head of the SLA who became presidential adviser in Khartoum. "We are committed to the peace and the ceasefire but we want the government to not repeat any action like this." FORMAL COMPLAINT The attack on Muhajiriya, Minnawi's main town, was the latest in an upsurge of violence in southern Darfur after the worst attack on African Union peacekeepers since they deployed, killing and wounding at least 20 and destroying their base in Haskanita. Two aid agencies working in the town evacuated 29 staff after they were trapped by the fighting. Minnawi said his movement had written a formal complaint to the United Nations and African Union about the assault. The army blamed tribal clashes between the Zaghawa and Maaliya in the area. Minnawi's party accused Khartoum earlier this year of arming the Arab Maaliya tribe. "This is the behavior of the government. They will never commit to any agreement," Minnawi told Reuters from Darfur. "This will have a negative effect on peace talks." Minnawi is in Darfur to meet rebel factions who rejected the last deal to persuade them to attend the talks, mediated by the United Nations and the African Union, and unify their ranks. In a report made public on Wednesday, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he was "extremely concerned" about the "unacceptable" violence in the vast region, which he said was "not contributing to an atmosphere conducive to the peace talks". He said the attack on the AU peacekeepers "confirms that the ... force which will be deployed to Darfur must be sufficiently robust to defend itself from spoilers and protect civilians from attack". A 26,000-strong AU-U.N. peacekeeping force is planned. Mostly non-Arabs took up arms in early 2003 accusing Khartoum of neglect. International experts estimate 200,000 have died and 2.5 million driven from their homes in 4-1/2 years of fighting. Khartoum puts the death toll at 9,000 and says the West has exaggerated the conflict in Darfur. \|\|\|\|\| Sudanese forces backed by janjaweed fighters have attacked a stronghold of the only Darfur rebel group to sign up to a widely-abused 2006 peace deal, killing at least 40 people. Bodies lay littered around Muhajiriya in southern Darfur, rebel leaders said, as violence in the war-wracked Sudanese province escalated ahead of October 27 peace talks. “Until now the number of dead civilians are at least 40, with 80 missing and a large number of injured,” the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) said in a statement sent to Reuters. advertisement The SLA, led by Minni Arcua Minnawi, was the only rebel group which agreed a May 2006 ceasefire with Khartoum. Its fighters later took up arms alongside Sudanese forces against their former comrades-in-arms, widening splits within the Darfur rebel movement. It is unclear why the government would mount what was termed a "scorched earth" raid against its erstwhile allies, but analysts in Nairobi said neither side had forged a close relationship with the other despite their pact. The rising tide of killings in Darfur have further jeopardised the pending peace talks, to be held in Libya. Britain’s Minister for Africa, Mark Malloch Brown, said yesterday that Darfur rebels who refuse to take part in the discussions can count on being excluded from the spoils of any ceasefire deal. “Anybody who wants to be a legitimate representative of the Darfuri people needs to go,” Lord Malloch Brown said. “If they opt out, they should understand the consequences of doing that - probably their role in the peace negotiations may be finished.” As the violence flared in Darfur, United Nations chiefs in New York said that they still did not have enough helicopters or transport lorries for the 26,000 force of blue berets soon to deploy to Sudan. Pledges have yet to be received from contributing countries for 24 transport and light tactical helicopters, as well as about 60 long-haul ground transportation vehicles, the department of peacekeeping operations said.	Map showing location of Sudan. United Nations Envoy Jan Eliasson said Thursday that negotiating a ceasefire in the conflict occurring in the Darfur region of Sudan will be the main goal of the peace talks scheduled for later this month. "The first very concrete step ... is that we will go for and hopefully achieve a credible cessation of hostilities," Eliasson said in Khartoum. "I find the situation on the ground ... deeply alarming. The military escalation is a great source of concern...Haven't we seen enough violence and hopelessness? Don't we see what is happening to the social fabric of Darfur ... torn apart completely -- is this what we want to perpetuate?" Eliasson also warned that any delay in the negotiations would be detrimental in stopping the violence in the region. Despite protests from rebel leaders, he pleaded for affiliates from all of the numerous rebel groups to attend the peace talks, currently scheduled for October 27th in Libya. Mark Malloch Brown, Britain's Minister for Africa, said Wednesday that rebel groups who do not participate in the peace talks will not benefit from any possible ceasefire deals. "Anybody who wants to be a legitimate representative of the Darfuri people needs to go," Lord Malloch Brown said. "If they opt out, they should understand the consequences of doing that - probably their role in the peace negotiations may be finished." These comments came on the same day that forces believed to be from the Sudanese government and janjaweed militias attacked a fortification in Muhajiriya of the Sudanese Liberation Army (SLA), the only rebel group to co-sign a 2006 peace agreement with the Sudanese government. At least 40 people were killed in the attack. "Until now the number of dead civilians are at least 40, with 80 missing and a large number of injured," the SLA said in a statement sent to Reuters. They believe that Sudan's army was responsible for the attack, although the government has refuted this accusation. Map showing Darfur, and neighboring Libya. "There has to be an international investigation immediately," said Minni Arcua Minnawi, an SLA leader who became a presidential advisor in Khartoum. Speculation is rampant about the motivations for the attack, although analysts in Nairobi claim that the rebel movement and the government were barely allies even after the signing of the peace pact. Another crisis in the peace process occurred Thursday when the main southern political party pulled out of the government due to Khartoum's inability to share power. Former rebels from the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) withdrew from the national government after the escalation of violence against rebels. Adding even more to the uncertainty leading up to the peace talks, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said in a report that Khartoum was delaying the deployment of the African Union-UN hybrid peacekeeping force. "The implementation timeline for UNAMID is being delayed owing to ... delays in obtaining feedback regarding the list of troop-contributing countries submitted to the government of Sudan," said the Secretary General's report. "I remain extremely concerned about the continuing violence in Darfur. The ongoing loss of life and displacement of civilians is unacceptable and is not contributing to an atmosphere conducive to peace talks." Though these events have put the peace talks at risk, all involved know that the success of the talks is critical for the well-being of the region. As Eliasson said, "To miss this opportunity is a tragedy -- this is the moment of truth,".
Next Article: Duchess Kate bowls them over with NZ clover The King of Tonga has died in Hong Kong, sparking an outpouring of grief in the Pacific nation. King George Tupou V, 63, went into an intensive care unit in a Hong Kong hospital about 10 days ago but his condition rapidly deteriorated and he died last night. Last year, the King was reportedly diagnosed with cancer and flew to the US to have a tumour removed. A close friend of Tupou told the New Zealand Herald he had a liver transplant but was given a clean bill of health. The Tongan Government confirmed his passing on Tongan radio this morning. A statement from the government is expected later this morning. He made the headlines in New Zealand last year while trying to sell the official royal residence in Auckland. Known for his extravagant lifestyle, the King rarely visited Auckland and when he did preferred upmarket hotels to the $9 million Epsom residence, known as 'Atalanga', which protesters stopped him from selling. Tongan media reported that he met Pope Benedict XVI on February 24 in the Vatican in Rome - and gave the Pope a signed picture of himself. The news of the King's death spread quickly on Twitter early today, and many Tongans paid tribute. Christinah Lataisia said: "Black and Purple begin to flood the fales in Tonga to mourn the passing away of our King." Tessi Leila Tolutau said: "I am saddened by the news, our beloved King of Tonga has passed away ... our country has gone thru major losses in the past couple years." Another resident said: "Sad day for our little Kingdom of Tonga. RIP King George Tupou V." King Tupou took reign after the death of his father, King Taufa'ahau Tupou IV, in 2006. In 2008 he marked his coronation with a $3 million, five-day event which was attended by thousands of people, including the Sultan of Brunei and then New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark. Ms Clark also paid tribute to the late monarch on Twitter. "Sad news for Tonga with the death of King George Tupou V. I attended his coronation in Nuku'alofa in 2008. RIP." Three days before his coronation, the King announced that he would relinquish most of his power and be guided by his Prime Minister's recommendations on most matters. Shortly after his coronation, he appointed his younger brother, Prince 'Ulukalala Lavaka Ata, as Crown Prince and heir to the throne. The Prince was at the King's bedside in Hong Kong when he died. In September last year, the King received the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Hungarian Republic from Hungarian president Pal Schmitt. In February he received the Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Order of Francis I from Prince Carlo, Duke of Castro. His interests were described as being wide and varied and included everything from documentary-making to walking his pet poodle and playing war games with toy-soldiers. He was also known for wearing a monocle and pith helmets. \|\|\|\|\| The King of Tonga George Tupou V died yesterday in a Hong Kong hospital, Matangi Tonga Online reported last night. However there was no immediate confirmation from Tongan authorities. "It was (in) Hong Kong, and the Crown Prince Tupouto'a Lavaka was there at the hospital just before the king passed away," the brief report said. "This news is yet to be officially confirmed but our reliable source informed us that the king was rushed to hospital early this afternoon but it is understood that he had passed away a few hours later." Government and royal palace officials in Tonga were not immediately available to comment on the report that the 63-year-old monarch had died. The next in line to the throne is Crown Prince Tupouto'a-Lavaka, the high commissioner to Canberra. Tupou V, a strong advocate for democratic reform in the tiny South Pacific kingdom, was sworn in as king in September 2006 following the death of his father king Taufa'ahau Tupou IV. However, his coronation was delayed until 2008 as the impoverished Polynesian nation of 115,000 reeled from the impact of riots in the capital Nuku'alofa. Eight people were killed and much of the central business district was destroyed in the November 2006 riots when people protested against the slow pace of political reform. Within two years after his coronation, Tupou V made good on his pledge for democracy and the people of Tonga were able to vote in their first popularly elected parliament. The democratic changes replaced the former feudal system where the kingdom was run by a parliament dominated by a clique of nobles selected by the king, who also chose the prime minister and cabinet. Outside Tonga, the king was known for the elaborate uniforms, colonial-era pith helmets, and monocles that he wore and for being driven around the capital in a London cab. The king, who was not married, went to primary school in Switzerland and went on to study at Oxford University and the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in England. AFP \|\|\|\|\| King George Tupou V ... reportedly dead. Photo: AFP The colourful King of Tonga, George Tupou V, who brought democracy to the impoverished South Pacific island nation, has died in Hong Kong at the age of 63, a report says. The monarch passed away in the southern Chinese city with his brother, the crown prince, at his bedside after being taken to hospital, the Matangi Tonga Online said, but there was no immediate confirmation from Tongan authorities. Known to the outside world for eccentricities such as his elaborate uniforms and being driven around in a London taxi, he will be remembered by his subjects for introducing the kingdom's first democratically elected parliament. Advertisement: Story continues below The brief Matangi Tonga report said that "the Crown Prince Tupouto'a Lavaka was there at the hospital just before the king passed away. "This news is yet to be officially confirmed but our reliable source informed us that the king was rushed to hospital early this afternoon but it is understood that he had passed away a few hours later." He was unmarried and his brother is heir to the throne. The report did not say what the cause of death was, but six months ago the king underwent successful surgery to have a kidney removed after a tumour was discovered. Government and royal palace officials in Tonga were not immediately available to comment on the report but a statement was expected following Monday's cabinet meeting. Radio Australia said the main religious body in Tonga, the Free Wesleyan Church, had announced it would be holding a prayer service at the official residence of the king's mother in the capital Nuku'alofa. His other eccentricities included wearing colonial-era pith helmets, sailing model boats in his swimming pool and playing computer games. But to the 115,000 people in Tonga, he was the man who introduced political reforms. Tupou V was sworn in as king of one of the world's last absolute monarchies in September 2006 following the death of his father king Taufa'ahau Tupou IV. However his coronation was delayed until 2008 as the tiny kingdom reeled from the impact of riots in the capital Nuku'alofa. Eight people were killed and much of the central business district was destroyed in the November 2006 riots when people protested against the slow pace of political reform. When Tupou V was finally crowned in an ancient Tongan ceremony, more than 200 nobles and chiefs presented dozens of slaughtered pigs and hundreds of baskets of food in tribute. He was offered a bowl of kava, a mild narcotic drink made from plant roots, to signify his sovereignty over Tonga, a country spread over 170 islands. Within two years, the Oxford University-educated monarch had made good on his pledge for democracy and the people of Tonga voted in their first popularly elected parliament in 2010, ending 165 years of feudal rule. The democratic changes replaced the former feudal system where the public could only vote for nine of the 33 representatives in parliament, which was dominated by a clique of nobles selected by the king, who also chose the prime minister and cabinet. AFP	, the king of Tonga, has died after ten days in intensive care in a Hong Kong hospital. The 63-year-old brought democracy to his nation of 115,000 people. The reformist swore into power in 2006 but his coronation was pushed back two years in the wake of rioting. Eight died in violence stirred up in response to perceived inadequacy in the pace of reforms. The King opted to be driven around in a London taxi. After another two years he made good on a promise to end feudal rule after 165 years, introducing a democratically elected parliament in 2010. Although the public chose nine representatives, he appointed the rest of the 33 that formed the parliament. He also picked the cabinet. Thousands attended his 2008 coronation, including foreign leaders and hundreds of nobles. Outside his nation of islands, he was known as an eccentric who wore monocles and s, was chauffeured in a , and used model sailboats on his swimming pool. King Tupou V has twice undergone surgery in the last year, once to remove a kidney and once to undergo a liver transplant. Unmarried, his younger brother Crown Prince is next in line to the throne. Crown Prince Lavaka was at the King's bedside when he died.
WACO (February 16, 2009)--The Federal Aviation Administration said Monday the fireball that streaked across the Central Texas sky Sunday, producing a series of window-rattling sonic booms, was a natural phenomenon and not debris from two satellites that collided in orbit last week. Astronomer Preston Starr, the observatory manager at the University of North Texas, said he thinks the object was a carbonaceous meteor "about the size of a pickup truck." He said it was a "slow mover" and probably has the consistency of concrete. Starr said objects as large as the one spotted Sunday enter the atmosphere about eight or 10 times a year. The Texas Meteorite Lab, which investigates such incidents worldwide, said, however, that it’s rare during daylight hours for a fireball to be visible. The FAA Monday backed off its weekend claim that the fireball was caused by falling debris from colliding satellites plummeting into earth's atmosphere. Earlier Monday, the U.S. Strategic Command said that the source of the fireballs and sonic booms wasn’t debris from the satellites. The FAA notified pilots on Saturday to be aware of possible space debris after the collision Tuesday between U.S. and Russian satellites. The FAA posted a notice to pilots on Saturday that “until further notice…a potential hazard may occur due to the reentry of satellite debris into the Earth’s atmosphere.” “In the interest of flight safety,” the notice said, “it is critical that all pilots/flight crewmembers report any observed falling space debris to the appropriate (air traffic control) facility.” The chief of Russia's Mission Control says clouds of debris from the collision will circle Earth for thousands of years and threaten numerous satellites. The two communications satellites collided Tuesday in the first-ever crash of two intact spacecraft in orbit. The collision occurred Tuesday nearly 500 miles over Siberia, producing a pair of massive debris clouds, according to NASA. The collision involved an Iridium commercial satellite, which was launched in 1997, and a Russian satellite launched in 1993 and believed to be non-functioning. Each satellite weighed more than 1, 000 pounds, officials said. There were no reports Sunday of injuries or damage, although several small grassfires broke out around the same time as the explosion. It wasn’t clear whether the space debris ignited those fires. Some area residents saw the falling debris Sunday morning. Jetta Hicks was driving on FM 1624 west of Calvert when she said she saw something burning in the sky, falling at a 45-degree angle. She said it had a tail and appeared to be flaming. She said she didn’t see anything hit the ground. A resident of the Hubbard area reported seeking smoke high in the air at the time of the explosion and a camper at Mother Neff State Park in Coryell County spotted smoke from the falling debris. Another witness who was in the Belton area described seeing “a ball of fire coming out of the sky.” Residents reported feeling the explosion from the Marlin area north to Corsicana. Authorities checked on reports of debris in the Leroy area early Sunday afternoon, but none has been found so far. Law enforcement agencies were advised Sunday to contain the debris so it can be tested to confirm it came from the satellites. Residents who find debris should leave it where they found it and contact a law enforcement agency. What witnesses saw was reminiscent of the disintegration of the shuttle Columbia during reentry 39 miles above Texas on Feb. 1, 2003. The disintegrating shuttle left a path of debris that stretched from the Dallas-Fort Worth area to Louisiana. The debris field covered more than 28 thousand square miles in 33 Texas counties. Investigators later determined that a chunk of foam the size of a suitcase tore a hole in Columbia's left wing 82 seconds after liftoff. The breach allowed superheated gasses to enter the wing as the shuttle reentered the atmosphere at a speed of more than 12,000 miles an hour. \|\|\|\|\| Instant developments on breaking news in Waco, Central Texas and around the state. RSS Home > Waco Breaking News > Archives > 2009 > February > 15 > Entry Space debris may be raining on Central Texas, authorities search by helicoper UPDATE - 10:07 p.m. The U.S. Strategic Command said there was no connection to the sightings over Texas and Tuesday’s collision of satellites from the U.S. and Russia. “There is no correlation between the debris from that collision and those reports of re-entry,” said Maj. Regina Winchester, with STRATCOM. UPDATE - 7:50 p.m. The sky wasn’t falling and there wasn’t an earthquake. No rockets were tested in McGregor and the Space Shuttle is fine. What many Central Texans reported feeling, hearing and seeing about 11 a.m. Sunday was likely falling debris from two communications satellites that collided in space last week, federal, state and local officials said. Law enforcement dispatchers across Central Texas fielded calls from concerned residents who reported seeing fireballs in the sky and hearing sonic booms or explosions that rattled their windows. No one reported to the McLennan County Sheriff’s Office finding debris that was believed to have come from Tuesday’s collision between an American and Russian satellite. Sheriff’s office chief pilot Stu Royle flew a path from West, Leroy, Axtell, Riesel to Mart for about two hours after calls started coming in about the unusual occurrence, Chief Deputy Randy Plemons said. Royle saw nothing out of the ordinary, he said. Officials said the high-speed collision, over Siberia in Russia, was the first such incident involvinh intact satellites. The American satellite was an Iridium, one of a constellation of 66 communication spacecraft. Liz DeCastro, corporate communications director of Iridium Satellite, based in Bethesda, Md., said the satellite weighed about 1,200 pounds and that its body was more than 12 feet long, not including large solar arrays. The Russian communications satellite was presumed nonfunctional. David Wright of the Union of Concerned Scientists’ Global Security said the collision probably generated tens of thousands of pieces larger than a half-inch. He said those could damage or destroy other satellites. Officials did not say Sunday how many, if any larger pieces were expected to enter the atmosphere in coming days. Plemons said law enforcement agencies began getting calls midday Sunday from West residents, then people from Leroy, Axtell, Riesel and Mart. A deputy who works in that part of the county did not find any such debris, he said. Plemons warned anyone who finds what they think is satellite debris not to touch it and asked that they contact the sheriff’s office, which will send someone to secure it until the proper authorities can be notified. Brian Vanicek, 49, reported he and his 14-year-old son saw what he described as a “fireball” at 10:58 a.m. Sunday while traveling northwest on Farm-to-Market Road 485 near the Bell-Milam county line. Vanicek said the streak of light was to the north, in the direction of Waco or beyond. “We just happened to look in that direction, and at first it looked like a falling star, Vanicek said. “But then it flared and got really big, I guess that’s what some people might describe as a fireball.” What appeared to be a vapor trail remained visible for about 10 minutes until they arrived home near Zabcikville, he said. The National Weather Service, the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration all sent out warnings last week to pilots and others that reported explosions and resulting vibrations are actually sonic booms caused by the pieces of falling satellite debris. A similar incident occurred Friday night around Jackson, Ky., with police inundated with calls about explosions, flashes of light and even earthquakes that officials said also appeared to be falling debris from the two satellites. Officials from New Mexico to Houston reported calls about the falling debris Sunday morning. The debris made many think of the break up of the Space Shuttle Columbia above Texas on Feb. 1, 2003, officials said. The shuttle debris field stretched from Across Texas to Louisiana. The Associated Press contributed to this story. Original post from 2:52 p.m. McLennan County residents who have reported hearing “explosions” today are likely instead hearing the fall of space debris, chief deputy Randy Plemons said. Although the sheriff’s office has not found any of the debris, the FAA has said it is likely pieces of two satellites - one American, one Russian - that collided on Tuesday, Plemons said. The American satellite was an Iridium, one of a constellation of 66 spacecraft. Liz DeCastro, corporate communications director of Iridium Satellite, based in Bethesda, Md., told the New York Times that the satellite weighed about 1,200 pounds and that its body was more than 12 feet long, not including large solar arrays. The Russian communications satellite was presumed nonfunctional. Plemons said law enforcement agencies began getting calls from West residents, then people from Leroy, Axtell, Mart and Riesel. A deputy who works in that part of the county has not reported finding any such debris, he said. Plemons said the sheriff’s office chief pilot Stu Royle flew the county’s helicopter searching for debris about two hours after reports started coming into the sheriff’s office. He didn’t find anything while flying a path from West, Leroy, Axtell, Riesel and Mart, Plemons said. If anyone finds what they think is satellite debris, Plemons asks that they don’t touch it and contact the sheriff’s office, which will send someone to secure it until the proper authorities can be notified. If you’ve seen some debris, please call Trib reporter Tommy Witherspoon at 757-5737. And keep an eye on wacotrib.com for updates. Permalink \| Comments (9) \| Post your comment \| \|\|\|\|\| Many are wondering what caused a series of flashes in the sky and booms in the southern Kentucky region. Local officials attribute the reports to falling space debris stemming from the collision of two satellites earlier this week. However, according to a physics professor at Eastern Kentucky University, it's likely too early for debris from that incident to be entering earth's atmosphere. Dr. Marco Ciocca is an associate physics professor at EKU. He says it could be months before debris from the collision of an American and Russian satellite on Tuesday enters the atmosphere. He told NEWSFIRST that in such an event, the debris doesn't simply fall out of its orbit. It will either vaporize or stay in orbit for some time before falling into earth's atmosphere. He adds that once such debris enters the atmosphere, it usually burns up or is too small to make a significant impact. Other experts at the planetarium at EKU say there is constantly debris from space entering earth's atmosphere. They say the "boom" some residents reported could have been the result of such debris falling towards the earth's surface. As for the "flashes" that were reported, Dr. Ciocca says there are some types of satellites that have reflective surfaces. These are called iridium satellites and they emit flashes in the sky when the sun's rays strike them at the right angle. He says many astronomy hobbyists even track those sorts of satellites. NASA tracks space debris. The aeronautic agency estimates some 18,000 pieces of space debris are in orbit at varying altitudes. With all that debris, there is an increased risk of encounters with space craft including the International Space Station and the Hubble Telescope. \|\|\|\|\| [MAJOR UPDATE (16:06 MT): News 8 out of Austin has video of the fireball! I can now state unequivocally that this is not the result of the satellite collision. The meteor is moving far too quickly for that; satellite collision debris would fall at perhaps 10 km/sec max, while incoming meteoroids are moving at 11km/sec at a minimum, and this thing is screaming across the sky at several dozen km/sec (assuming it’s at a typical meteor height of 50 or more km). So I was probably right in the first place, and what we have here is almost certainly a single object, perhaps a meter or two across, and it came from deep space.] I’m getting reports that an extremely bright fireball was seen in broad daylight over Texas (near San Antonio and Austin) around 11:00 a.m. local time (about an hour ago as I write this). [Update: some fireball reports came in from Kentucky on Friday, but it’s unclear if the KY event is connected, since it was a while back. It’s possible, so I remain agnostic for now.] If you saw anything or find links, please put them in the comments. The more reports we get on this, the more likely astronomers can figure out what this was. Here’s part of an email I just received: According to Google Earth, I was approximately at 29 deg 53′14.44″ N and 97 deg 57′32.00″ W when we saw the object. We were traveling NE, and the object was a little further NE of us, and was travelling in a NNE direction. It traveled out of sight quickly, and we were unable to figure out where it went from there. Reports like that are fantastic; get your position as accurately as you can, say what direction the fireball was moving, and how high in the sky it was. Don’t worry about apparent distance; most fireballs look like they are close enough to touch, but can be dozens of kilometers away. And just to be clear: it was almost certainly not It is possible this was part of the debris from the satellite collision last week. That should take months or years to work its way down to our atmosphere. [Updated: There are some official agencies (like the FAA) saying this could be debris from the collision. I tentatively retract what I said earlier and say I might have been wrong. Still, this fireball may have been a random piece of rock, a very small asteroid a meter or two across. We’ll know more soon– as more reports come in, we can track the direction of the debris and test it against possible de-orbit tracks of any debris from the collision. Keep those comments coming!] [More updates: A physics prof weighs in on this here. Either he or the reporter is a bit confused; Iridium flashes are bright glints from reflected sunlight off of intact Iridium satellites still in orbit around the Earth. If someone saw flashes of light as the fireball came in, it has nothing to do with that! A wrecked iridium wouldn’t make those flashes anymore (Updated update: a news site is repeating this confused description. Sigh.). Also, Waco news is reporting the event as well.] [Update (12:30 Mountain time): Austin TV stations say they talked to an FAA official who says this might be from the satellite collision.] [Update 13:04 MT: The Austin Statesman weighs in. Nothing really new, but some interesting info.] [Update (13:16): Via Twitter, Matt Stiles posted a map image showing where he and a friend saw the fireball.] [Update (16:30 MT): A lot of tweets were saying an FAA official had confirmed this was from the satellite collision. Now, the International Herald Tribune reports FAA spokesman Roland Herwig says they suspect it’s from the collision. I’ll note, though, that the FAA is not the agency that would know; I’d trust NORAD better. A fireball that bright would be from a big chunk, and they’d have tracked it. However, I really don’t think this was from the satellites; it was moving rapidly (deorbiting space junk tends to move far slower than incoming meteors) and in the wrong direction.] \|\|\|\|\| Torvald Hessel, Executive Director for the Austin Planetarium, discussed the satellite collision and falling debris. Related Links NWS: Possible satellite debris falling Austin Planetarium blog Space debris illustration from space The FAA issued a warning Friday saying, “...possible satellite debris falling across the region... The national weather service in Jackson [KY] has received calls this Evening from the public concerning possible explosions and...or Earthquakes across the area. The federal aviation administration has reported to local law enforcement that these events are being caused by falling satellite debris. These pieces of debris have been causing Sonic booms...resulting in the vibrations being felt by some Residents...as well as flashes of light across the sky. The cloud of Debris is likely the result of the recent in orbit collision of two Satellites on Tuesday...February 10th when Kosmos 2251 crashed into Iridium 33." Officials at Austin Bergstrom Intertational Airport say they have received several calls as well, including operators from 911 inquiring about the incident but they have no confirmed reports of falling debris or impact areas. There have been no confirmed reports of anything falling according to the Travis County Sheriff’s Office, "whatever it is may have burned up in the atmosphere." KEYE TV viewer Steve Thornton says, “I saw something burn up in the atmosphere going east to west at 40 degrees on the horizon looking north. There was no smoke trail. It was about the size of a half moon and as bright as a welders torch.” KEYETV.com reader Max Lyon witnessed the fireball and says it was “a bright glowing egg-shape with an orange center and bluish outer aura; a silvery-white tail. The tail was intact for several seconds, then became segmented. The single object became several objects during incineration. A white trail remained visible for up to 10 minutes, slowly widening and distorting with the movement of upper level wind currents.” The FAA office in Austin says they are certain it was not an aircraft and there are reports as far as the Fort Worth airspace being affected. According to the FAA more than likely it was debris falling from the atmosphere. They also tell KEYE TV there are reports of fallen debris on the ground north of the Austin area but that has not yet been confirmed. There were warnings from the FAA issued Saturday about the possibility of debris falling from two satellites that crashed on Tuesday. Officials in Williamson County say there have been reports of the debris falling from Austin to Dallas. Public Information officer John Foster with Williamson County says he has been told it may have been pieces of two satellites that crashed in space last week. Two communications satellites crashed into each other last Tuesday for the first-ever collision of two intact spacecraft in orbit some 500 miles over Siberia causing a huge debris cloud, according to NASA. The two communication satellites consisted of an Iridium commercial satellite launched in 1997 and a Russian satellite launched in 1993. Neither of them was working. One satellite weighed around 1,000 pounds while the other was nearly a ton. Reports from Waco indicate there was a huge fireball in the sky and a loud sonic boom could be heard and felt from McLennan, Falls, Hill and Navarro Counties. Law enforcement has been instructed to contain any area where debris is found so it can be studied to determine if it indeed is from the satellites. Torvald Hessel with the Austin Planetarium says it’s unusual to see shooting stars in the daylight, if that’s what the object is, because it’s so bright with the sun out. He also acknowledges it could be a defunct satellite, “It actually might be possible this is debris from the two satellites that collided on Tuesday, we just don’t know yet. The FAA says it could be debris from the collision. Astronomically speaking, we thought there was a very small chance it was the satellites but now we’re rethinking that. If it is a shooting star it is big, at least a yard or two across to make that much of a spectacle.” Hessel expects if it was a star, it would have exploded and there will be debris found. If it was satellites they would have burned up in the atmosphere according to Hessel. Hessel warns of the potential health hazards if someone stumbles on the debris, “Potentially there will be a health Hazard if this is satellite debris, the iridium satellite should be ok and is probably most likely going to be solar power panels; the defunct Russian satellite may pose a risk.” Hessel doesn’t wan to scare the public but says if people find pieces they should call the authorities and let them handle it instead of picking things up. The Austin Planetarium will look at the orbits of the two satellites to compare them to the path of the fireball. KEYE TV received several calls Sunday of fireballs falling from the sky. Eye-witnesses say the event began around 11:00a.m. Central time.The FAA issued a warning Friday saying, “...possible satellite debris falling across the region... The national weather service in Jackson [KY] has received calls this Evening from the public concerning possible explosions and...or Earthquakes across the area. The federal aviation administration has reported to local law enforcement that these events are being caused by falling satellite debris. These pieces of debris have been causing Sonic booms...resulting in the vibrations being felt by some Residents...as well as flashes of light across the sky. The cloud of Debris is likely the result of the recent in orbit collision of two Satellites on Tuesday...February 10th when Kosmos 2251 crashed into Iridium 33."Officials at Austin Bergstrom Intertational Airport say they have received several calls as well, including operators from 911 inquiring about the incident but they have no confirmed reports of falling debris or impact areas.There have been no confirmed reports of anything falling according to the Travis County Sheriff’s Office, "whatever it is may have burned up in the atmosphere."KEYE TV viewer Steve Thornton says, “I saw something burn up in the atmosphere going east to west at 40 degrees on the horizon looking north. There was no smoke trail. It was about the size of a half moon and as bright as a welders torch.”KEYETV.com reader Max Lyon witnessed the fireball and says it was “a bright glowing egg-shape with an orange center and bluish outer aura; a silvery-white tail. The tail was intact for several seconds, then became segmented. The single object became several objects during incineration. A white trail remained visible for up to 10 minutes, slowly widening and distorting with the movement of upper level wind currents.”The FAA office in Austin says they are certain it was not an aircraft and there are reports as far as the Fort Worth airspace being affected. According to the FAA more than likely it was debris falling from the atmosphere. They also tell KEYE TV there are reports of fallen debris on the ground north of the Austin area but that has not yet been confirmed. There were warnings from the FAA issued Saturday about the possibility of debris falling from two satellites that crashed on Tuesday.Officials in Williamson County say there have been reports of the debris falling from Austin to Dallas. Public Information officer John Foster with Williamson County says he has been told it may have been pieces of two satellites that crashed in space last week.Two communications satellites crashed into each other last Tuesday for the first-ever collision of two intact spacecraft in orbit some 500 miles over Siberia causing a huge debris cloud, according to NASA.The two communication satellites consisted of an Iridium commercial satellite launched in 1997 and a Russian satellite launched in 1993. Neither of them was working. One satellite weighed around 1,000 pounds while the other was nearly a ton.Reports from Waco indicate there was a huge fireball in the sky and a loud sonic boom could be heard and felt from McLennan, Falls, Hill and Navarro Counties. Law enforcement has been instructed to contain any area where debris is found so it can be studied to determine if it indeed is from the satellites.Torvald Hessel with the Austin Planetarium says it’s unusual to see shooting stars in the daylight, if that’s what the object is, because it’s so bright with the sun out. He also acknowledges it could be a defunct satellite, “It actually might be possible this is debris from the two satellites that collided on Tuesday, we just don’t know yet. The FAA says it could be debris from the collision. Astronomically speaking, we thought there was a very small chance it was the satellites but now we’re rethinking that. If it is a shooting star it is big, at least a yard or two across to make that much of a spectacle.”Hessel expects if it was a star, it would have exploded and there will be debris found. If it was satellites they would have burned up in the atmosphere according to Hessel.Hessel warns of the potential health hazards if someone stumbles on the debris, “Potentially there will be a health Hazard if this is satellite debris, the iridium satellite should be ok and is probably most likely going to be solar power panels; the defunct Russian satellite may pose a risk.”Hessel doesn’t wan to scare the public but says if people find pieces they should call the authorities and let them handle it instead of picking things up.The Austin Planetarium will look at the orbits of the two satellites to compare them to the path of the fireball. \|\|\|\|\| Officials say mystery fireball in sky was meteor Updated: 2/16/2009 6:04 PM By: News 8 Austin Staff A few days ago, an American satellite and a Russian satellite collided 500 miles above the earth. A fireball that blazed across the Texas sky and sparked numerous weekend calls to law enforcement agencies now can be considered an identified flying object. The Federal Aviation Administration said Monday the fireball was a natural phenomenon, not flying space junk, and a North Texas astronomer said more specifically that it was probably a pickup truck-sized meteor with the consistency of concrete. The object was visible Sunday morning from Austin to Dallas and into East Texas. In Central Texas, the Williamson County sheriff's office received so many emergency calls that it sent a helicopter aloft to look for debris from a plane crash. WATCH THE VIDEO Flying Object News 8 photojournalist Eddie Garcia captures the fireball in the sky Sunday. Eddie Garcia Interview Check out News 8's Eddie Garcia on CNN. The FAA backed off its weekend claim that the fireball was caused by falling debris from colliding satellites plummeting into earth's atmosphere. The FAA backed off its weekend claim that the fireball was caused by falling debris from colliding satellites plummeting into earth's atmosphere. The U.S. Strategic Command also said Monday that the weekend shower of fireballs over Texas was not debris from last week's collision of two satellites over Siberia. They also said it was a natural phenomenon. What looked like a fireball streaked across the Texas sky Sunday morning, leading many people to call authorities to report seeing falling debris. Preliminary reports from Williamson County officials said a small aircraft went down, and then officials said it was likely space debris from two satellites crashing. FAA spokesman Roland Herwig said officials initially suspected the debris could be related to the collision. News 8 received numerous calls saying debris was falling around midmorning Sunday, what looked like a meteor. Some of the callers reported what looked like a fireball in the sky. A closer look at the fireball in the sky. Williamson County officials combed the area in a helicopter searching for any trace of a small aircraft landing, but were unable to find anything. News 8 Austin photojournalist Eddie Garcia caught the fiery streak in the Central Texas sky Sunday morning. The people in the footage running were not running from the fireball. They were actually running the Austin Marathon. At this time, Garcia's footage is believed to be the only news footage of this incident in the state of Texas. It's getting world-wide attention, and we've received many requests to interview Garcia. CNN reporter Heidi Collins did a live interview Monday morning with our News 8 photographer. He told viewers what he was thinking when he saw the fire in the sky. "At the time, I'm looking in the viewfinder, and I see something flying through the sky. It looks like it could be dust, it could be something. I look up, and no, it was something burning in the sky," Garcia said. The News 8 Web site was sluggish due to the heavy influx of online traffic with the video. The U.S. Strategic Command said the fireball was not debris from last week's crash between U.S. and Russian satellites. They said it was likely a meteor. CNN and News 8 Austin are both subsidiaries of Time Warner. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Email this Story to a Friend Printer Friendly Version Search TOP STORIES \|\|\|\|\| Quote: Jec Originally Posted by Just think if some of this junk just happens to hit another satellite out there, and each time there after, and then another! Wow, we could have stuff fallen out of the sky on a regular basis. Could this be prophetic? this be what John saw??? With all the 'quakes, potential volcano eruptions, now the possibility of more falling debris from the sky? Revelation 6:12-17 (KJV) 12 And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; 13 And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. 14 And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. 15 And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; 16 And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: 17 For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand? Couldbe what John saw??? With all the 'quakes, potential volcano eruptions, now the possibility of more falling debris from the sky?12 And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood;13 And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.14 And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.15 And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains;16 And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:17 For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand? \|\|\|\|\| Public Information Statement 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 Versions: 000 NOUS43 KJKL 140445 PNSJKL KYZ044-050>052-058>060-068-069-079-080-083>088-104-106>120-141030- PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE JACKSON KY 1145 PM EST FRI FEB 13 2009 ...POSSIBLE SATELLITE DEBRIS FALLING ACROSS THE REGION... THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN JACKSON HAS RECEIVED CALLS THIS EVENING FROM THE PUBLIC CONCERNING POSSIBLE EXPLOSIONS AND...OR EARTHQUAKES ACROSS THE AREA. THE FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION HAS REPORTED TO LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT THAT THESE EVENTS ARE BEING CAUSED BY FALLING SATELLITE DEBRIS. THESE PIECES OF DEBRIS HAVE BEEN CAUSING SONIC BOOMS...RESULTING IN THE VIBRATIONS BEING FELT BY SOME RESIDENTS...AS WELL AS FLASHES OF LIGHT ACROSS THE SKY. THE CLOUD OF DEBRIS IS LIKELY THE RESULT OF THE RECENT IN ORBIT COLLISION OF TWO SATELLITES ON TUESDAY...FEBRUARY 10TH WHEN KOSMOS 2251 CRASHED INTO IRIDIUM 33. $$ RAY/WJM Issued by NWS Jackson, KY \|\|\|\|\| Watch out for falling satellite debris, seriously It’s Friday the 13th, and while the following may sound like an April Fools joke, it’s not. This is for real. The following advisory has been issued by the FAA. FDC 9/5774 FDC .. SPECIAL NOTICE .. EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE. AIRCRAFT ARE ADVISED THAT A POTENTIAL HAZARD MAY OCCUR DUE TO REENTRY OF SATELLITE DEBRIS INTO THE EARTHS ATMOSPHERE. FURTHER NOTAMS WILL BE ISSUED IF MORE INFORMATION BECOMES AVAILABLE. IN THE INTEREST OF FLIGHT SAFETY, IT IS CRITICAL THAT ALL PILOTS/FLIGHT CREW MEMBERS REPORT ANY OBSERVED FALLING SPACE DEBRIS TO THE APPROPRIATE ATC FACILITY TO INCLUDE POSITION, ALTITUDE, TIME, AND DIRECTION OF DEBRIS OBSERVED. FAA HEADQUARTERS, AIR TRAFFIC SYSTEMS OPERATIONS SECURITY I saw a headline about the possible need for Air Traffic Control for space junk, I’m sure meant tongue in cheek. Brig. Gen. Michael Carey said "They ran into each other. Nothing has the right of way up there. We don't have an air traffic controller in space. There is no universal way of knowing what's coming in your direction.” But when the FAA puts out something like the above Notice to Airmen (NOTAM), there is reason to take the situation seriously. This debris is due to the recent collision in space between a dead Russian satellite and an Iridium communications satellite. At last count there were around 600 pieces floating around up there. Be careful out and up there. (Picture source: www.natural-environment.com) Comments Name: Email Address: Comments: More from Denver Aviation Examiner Here’s a wrap-up of news that occurred in, around, or involving aviation in Colorado.3 more passengers join suit in Denver crashAircraft hits snow bank, flips over in Steamboat Springs (FAA Preliminary Report)Airplane lands... Read More The FAA is considering consolidating some weather services with a report due this week. What’s to be decided is whether or not to take out of the ARTCC’s (Air Route Traffic Control Centers – or Centers for short) their specialized... Read More A few years back I stumbled across a gem of a website called Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields, where the site owner Paul Freeman states: “On the following pages, you will find information on vanished or abandoned airfields & their unusual... Read More Here’s a wrap-up of news that occurred between 2/4/09 - 2/11/09 in, around, or involving aviation in Colorado. Aspen airport reopens after crash (FAA Preliminary Report) FedEx plane lands at DIA... Read More I was glad to see the treatment the crew of US Airways 1549 received on 60 Minutes Sunday night from Katie Couric. But it was almost 5 years ago to the day that she flapped her gums in a not so friendly way on national television about another... Read More The Federal Aviation Administration has released the audio from the incident involving US Airways Flight 1549. I’m sure those that have heard it have a few questions, like what’s this “Cactus” you keep hearing.The raw audio... Read More From time to time I want to focus on specific ways to cross the Continental Divide and some of the most used passes. First up is Rollins Pass, also known as Corona Pass. This is the pass west of Eldora and Boulder and one of the most popular... Read More Here’s a wrap-up of news that occurred in, around, or involving aviation in Colorado.Denver airport sets passenger record in 2008 Jet lands safely in Denver after bird hits engineSmall plane crashes at Vance Brand; pilot unhurt1 fatality,... Read More February 3, 1959, will mostly be remembered as the day musician Buddy Holly died in an airplane crash, known as “the day the music died.” But at the time, this story took a back page to another crash that occurred the same day, American Airlines... Read More \|\|\|\|\| WYMT Mountain News started receiving phone calls Friday night telling us a loud boom, or series of booms were heard this evening in Southern Kentucky. So we called emergency officals, to find out what is going on. Brian Reams of the Laurel county EMS tells us they've had calls from Jackson to London, about a loud boom. He says there are no reports of any injuries or damage. In the last little bit, Reams says he's been told by the state police in London that according to the FAA, the boom is from falling debris, coming from two satellites that collided in space. The debris re-entering the atmosphere caused the loud boom, and then burned up before hitting earth. Reams says it could have covered a 500 mile area.	On Tuesday, February 10, the American civilian communications satellite Iridium 33, launched in 1997, and the defunct Russian military communications satellite Kosmos-2251, launched in 1993, collided over Siberia. Five days after the collision, reports have surfaced that burning debris from the collision has been spotted over several U.S. cities from New Mexico to Kentucky. Calls to 9-1-1 began to come in to Williamson County, Texas sheriff's office around 12:30 p.m. (CT) that burning debris and fireballs were seen falling from the sky onto parts of Austin, Houston, Waco and San Antonio. Residents reported their homes and windows shaking and large explosions. After a search of several areas, the Williamson county sheriff's office reported that no debris or impact sites were found. Earlier unconfirmed reports had said the debris could have been the result of a small plane exploding. Iridium satellite. Steve Thornton, a resident in Austin told KEYE-TV that he "saw something burn up in the atmosphere going east to west at 40 degrees in the horizon looking north" which was "about the size of a half moon and as bright as a welders torch". Other residents reported to KEYE-TV that they saw an "egg-shape with an orange center and bluish outer aura; a silvery-white tail." Some report the incident lasting about 10 minutes. On February 13, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) issued an alert following reports of "explosions and earthquakes" along with "flashes in the sky" in Jackson and Louisville, Kentucky. There were no injures and authorities could not locate any damage. "The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reported to local law enforcement on Friday that these events are being caused by falling satellite debris. These pieces of debris have been causing sonic booms, resulting in vibrations felt by some residents, as well as flashes of light across the sky," said the NOAA in a public information statement on February 13. The FAA also warns that the debris could cause damage to aircraft in areas reporting falling debris. "Aircraft are advised that a potential hazard may occur due to reentry of satellite debris into the Earth's atmosphere. It is critical that all pilots/crew members report any observed falling space debris," said the FAA on February 13. Both the NOAA and FAA alerts are in place until further notice and cover an area from New Mexico to Kentucky. However, Dr. Marco Ciocca, a professor at Eastern Kentucky University told WKYT in Kentucky it would "be months" before any of the satellite wreckage enters the Earth's atmosphere. "The debris doesn't simply fall out of its orbit. It will either vaporize or stay in orbit for some time before falling into Earth's atmosphere." The satellites, both of which weighed in excess of 1,000 pounds, and traveling at approximately 17,500 miles per hour, collided 491 miles above the Earth. Scientists say the explosion caused by the collision was massive. They are still trying to determine just how large the crash was and how the Earth will be affected. The United States Strategic Command of the U.S. Department of Defense office is tracking the debris. The result of plotting analysis will be posted to a public website.
Due to copyright restrictions, this story is no longer available at NEWS.com.au. You can search for this story or others on this topic on Newstext, our news archive service. Alternatively, try searching NEWS.com.au for related stories. \|\|\|\|\| Jun 29, 2005 Fiji police have asked its navy to help search for three teenage sisters feared kidnapped after a Sunday boating picnic. The ethnic Indian women were taken on the trip to Malake island off the main island of Viti Levu's north coast by a family friend. The 42-year-old friend, found alone in the dinghy the next day, has told the family and police he was knocked unconscious by three indigenous Fiji men who took the sisters away. Police say Ashika Sherin Lata, 19, Renuka Roshni Lata, 18 and Radhika Roshni Lata, 17, were in open waters between Malake and the town of Rakiraki when the incident occurred. The friend "was found alone in the boat and then he informed the family that he was assaulted by three Fijians", Constable Prashila Narayan told Radio New Zealand International. "They came in another boat, they attacked him and then he was unconscious and the three girls were taken away from him." The friend, who was questioned and released, has been helping the search. Divisional Crime Officer Vijay Singh said obtaining the services of navy divers would help the search. "Until then we are just searching around the island where they disappeared and hopefully try to get clues as to which direction they may have been heading," he told news website Fijilive.	'''June 29, 2005''' Three teen-aged sisters went missing on Sunday, June 26th, and Fijian police have called in navy divers to aid in the search. Ashika Sherin Lata, 19, Renuka Roshni Lata, 18 and Radhika Roshni Lata, 17 were taken on a boat trip to Malake island near by a family friend. The friend "was found alone in the boat and then he informed the family that he was assaulted by three Fijians", Constable Prashila Narayan told Radio New Zealand International. Divisional Crime Officer Vijay Singh reported additional officers have been called in on the case, but told Fijilive that the navy divers were necessary for the case. "Until the navy divers come in we are just searching around the island where they disappeared and hopefully try and get clues as to which direction they may have been heading."
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. \|\|\|\|\| Sept. 7 (Bloomberg) -- One person died and Tokyo commuters struggled to get to work as Typhoon Fitow blew across the Japanese capital with 147 kilometer per hour (92 miles an hour) winds before weakening to a tropical storm. A 76-year-old man died while trying to clear trees in Nagano Prefecture north of Tokyo, the country's Fire and Disaster Management Agency said on its Web site. A 52-year-old man is missing in Kanagawa, west of Tokyo, and 68 people were injured. East Japan Railway Co. suspended operations on two lines connecting Tokyo with nearby Chiba prefecture, it said on its Web site. The Chuo Line, one of Tokyo's main links, was operating with fewer trains than normal, leaving commuters facing delays amid the debris left by the typhoon as it hit the capital. Japan Airlines Corp. and All Nippon Airways Co., the nation's two biggest carriers, canceled 223 flights, stranding more than 36,000 people. National broadcaster NHK Television showed collapsed houses, landslides and damaged roads in areas outside Tokyo as Fitow made a northerly track through the main island of Honshu. Fitow's winds slowed to 92 kilometers per hour as the storm moved north from Tokyo after the storm's eye made landfall at about 2 a.m. today, according to the Web site of the Japan Meteorological Agency. Shipments Stopped The center of the storm was near the city of Noshiro on the northwestern coast of Honshu at 4 p.m. today, the agency said. It was moving north-northeast at 50 kilometers per hour. Noshiro is 502 kilometers north of Tokyo. Fitow is forecast to continue weakening as it crosses the strait between Honshu and Hokkaido, passing into Japan's northern island. High waves and strong winds stopped petroleum shipments by refineries yesterday near Tokyo Bay. Idemitsu Kosan Co., Japan's second-biggest oil refiner, halted shipping operations at its 220,000-barrel-a-day Chiba refinery, according to company spokeswoman Kumiko Yoshida. Nippon Oil, the nation's biggest oil refiner, stopped all sea shipments from three refineries, said a spokesman who declined to be identified due to company policy. Cosmo Oil Corp. also stopped berthing operations at its 240,000-barrel-a-day plant in Chiba, spokesman Atsushi Tanaka said yesterday. The suspension of the shipments probably won't affect domestic supplies because the refiners have reserves to cover disruptions, they said. Japan is regularly buffeted by tropical cyclones during the northern hemisphere's summer. Three people died last month when Typhoon Man-Yi swept across Okinawa and Kyushu. Fitow is the name of a flower found on the island of Yap in Micronesia, according to the Web site of the Hong Kong Observatory, which lists cyclone names in use in the Pacific. A record 10 tropical storms and typhoons hit Japan during 2004, killing more than 60 people and causing billions of dollars of damage. To contact the reporters on this story: Aaron Sheldrick in Tokyo at asheldrick@bloomberg.net; Eijiro Ueno at e.ueno@bloomberg.net. To contact the editors responsible for this story: Paul Tighe at ptighe@bloomberg.net; David Tweed at dtweed@bloomberg.net.	Typhoon Fitow has struck Japan, leaving two people dead and a third missing. The storm moved through Tokyo yesterday. The Japan Meteorological Agency released the information on the storm's effects in the country yesterday. The deceased are a 50-year-old construction worker who died after a landslide at a dam construction site in Fukui Prefecture last night and a 76-year-old man who died after being struck by a falling tree on September 6, shortly after Fitow made landfall. A 52-year-old man is missing in Kanagawa Prefecture, believed to be dead, and at least 60 people have been injured by the storm. According to information released by the Fire and Disaster Management Agency, around 200 buildings have been destroyed or badly damaged by the typhoon. A total of 5,000 people have been told to evacuate, 3,000 last night in Miyagi Prefecture. Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways, Japan's two largest air carriers, both said 240 domestic and eight international flights have been cancelled as a direct result of the storm, which is expected to be immediately followed by Tropical Storm Danas. Fitow is now moving towards the Sea of Okhotsk, making progress at about 24 miles per hour. It is predicted that the storm will deposit anything up to 150 millimeters (6 inches) of rainfall on areas on the Pacific coast, possibly triggering flash floods.
By Martin Gough Gerdemann went it alone over the last 20km of the stage German Linus Gerdemann took the yellow jersey of the Tour de France from Fabian Cancellara by winning the first mountain stage of this year's race. The Tour novice was in a 15-man break for much of the 197.5km stage from Bourg-en-Bresse to Le Grand-Bornand. But the T-Mobile man went it alone over the Col de la Colombiere, finishing 40 seconds clear of Inigo Landaluze. Injured race favourites Alexandre Vinokourov and Andreas Kloeden were three minutes and 38 seconds behind. Fellow big names Cadel Evans, Alejandro Valverde and Levi Leipheimer were in the same group. Kloeden, sixth in the overall standings , is now the best placed of the top contenders for the overall victory, despite struggling with a hairline fracture to his tailbone. Vinokourov, who suffered deep cuts to his knees on Thursday, said after the stage: "It was a bit better than yesterday. "I still suffered a lot. It was important to get past the first pass. It's almost a victory for me. "I hope it will be better tomorrow. I wanted to stay with the favourites. Then, we'll see." Swiss Cancellara, who gave a wave to the television camera as he was dropped from the group on the early stages of the final climb, was 148th on the stage, a massive 22'47" behind the winner. 606: DEBATE He had signalled his surrender of the yellow jersey earlier in the stage, working alongside his CSC team-mates rather than resting in their slipstream. Cancellara first dropped behind the pace on the opening climb of the day, over the Cote de Corlier, while a number of riders went off the front, finally forming a 15-man bunch. Gerdemann, 24, and Kazakhstan's Dmitriy Fofonov moved clear of the breakaway group as the gradient grew. And, with 20km left, Gerdemann - whose biggest career win before this was a stage of the Tour of Switzerland - went it alone. Spaniards Landaluze - now second in the general classification at 1'24" - and David de la Fuente gave chase in vain. Of the five Britons in the race, Charly Wegelius stayed with the leaders for much of the stage, finishing just behind them after the 10km descent from the last col. David Millar dropped to 53rd overall, more than seven minutes in arrears, describing the stage as "hard and hot". Sunday's eighth stage ends in a summit finish in Tignes after 165 km and three category-one climbs. And, after a performance he described as "a dream come true", Gerdemann expects to be back in the ranks for that stage. "Today was my day, but tomorrow I'll work for my team leader, Michael Rogers," he said. "I am delighted with my performance and to win the first mountain stage of this year's Tour feels incredible." Veteran Australian Rogers is currently 4'03" behind his young team-mate in the general classification. Stage seven result 1. Linus Gerdemann (Ger / TMO) 4 hrs 53 mins 13 secs 2. Inigo Landaluze (Spa / EUS) +40" 3. David De la Fuente (Spa / SDV) +1:39" 4. Mauricio Soler (Col / BAR) +2:14" 5. Laurent Lefevre (Fra / BGT) +2:21" 6. Fabian Wegmann (Ger / GER) +3:32" 7. Juan Manuel Garate (Spa / QSI ) +3:38" 8. Xavier Florencio (Spa / BGT) 9. Christophe Moreau (Fra / AG2R ) 10. Alejandro Valverde (Spa / CDE ) Overall standings 1. Linus Gerdemann (Ger / TMO) 34 hrs 43 min 40 sec" 2. Inigo Landaluze (Spa / EUS) +1:24" 3. David De la Fuente (Spa / SDV) +2:45" 4. Laurent Lefevre (Fra / BGT) +2:55" 5. Mauricio Soler (Col / BAR) +3:05" 6. Andreas Kloeden (Ger / AST) +3:39" 7. Vladimir Gusev (Rus / DSC) +3:51" 8. Vladimir Karpets (Rus / CDE) +3:52" 9. Mikel Astarloza (Spa / EUS) +3:55" 10. Thomas Dekker (Ned / RAB) +3:57" King of the Mountain standings 1. Sylvain Chavanel (Fra / COF ) 42 points 2. Linus Gerdemann (Ger / TMO) 30 3. David De la Fuente (Spa / SDV) 30 4. Laurent Lefevre (Fra / BGT) 27 5. Inigo Landaluze (Spa / EUS) 26 \|\|\|\|\| By Paul Fletcher ALL THE ACTION AS IT HAPPENED (ALL TIMES BST) 1608: The remains of the peloton, which contains most of the riders fancied to win the Tour, cross the line approximately three-and-a-half minutes behind the stage winner. Injury concerns Alexandre Vinokourov and Andreas Kloeden came through the stage without obvious worry. With another difficult stage on Sunday the favourites have kept their powder dry. 1606: David de la Fuente crosses the line in third place, one minute, 38 seconds behind Gerdemann. 1603: Linus Gerdemann takes the stage and with it claims the yellow jersey - a fantastic achievement for the 24-year-old T-Mobile rider. Fabian Cancellara's time in maillot jaune has come to an end. Gerdemann also takes the lead in the white jersey competition, awarded to the best young rider in the race. It is the greatest win of his career. Fantastic. Seconds later Inigo Landaluze of the Euskadi team crosses the line. 1554: Linus Gerdemann has a lead of 20 seconds over Inigo Landaluze with eight kilometres left. It won't take long to reach the finish given the speed he is descending. As things stand he is heading for yellow. 606: DEBATE 1551: The peloton reaches the summit three minutes, 20 seconds behind Linus Gerdemann. A steep, technical descent follows. 1547: Linus Gerdemann is in big trouble. First he almost hits a motorbike, just swerving out of the way, and then manfully drags himself up to the summit of the Col de la Colombiere, reaching it 18 seconds ahead of Inigo Landaluze. 1545: Inigo Landaluze continues to pursue Linus Gerdemann up the Col de la Colombiere. Gerdemann has a lead of more than four minutes from the chasing pack and could well end the day in yellow. All the big hitters - though in with a realistic chance of winning the Tour - appeared to be in the peloton. 1543: An update on Alexandre Vinokourov and Andreas Kloeden - the injured Astana duo are in the peloton and look to be in good shape. 1538: Linus Gerdemann remains in front but Inigo Landaluze is now in second after chasing him down with David de la Fuente before dropping the Saunier Duval rider. 1536: Rabobank continue to drive the peloton. It is a hot, hot day in France and some of the field are really suffering. The sprinters gave up the ghost some time ago and formed their own 'bus' at the back. 1528: Linus Gerdemann decides the time has come to take matters into his own hands and drops Dmitriy Fofonov. He does so with 20 km left or, to put it another way, five kilometres to the top of the Col de la Colombiere. The pursuing peloton has upped the pace and are shedding riders in a big way. 1521: Dmitriy Fofonov and Linus Gerdemann have a lead of four minutes on the main field. They look comfortable, relatively speaking. Rabobank are driving the peloton. Perhaps Denis Menchov fancies his chances. The lead two are eight kilometres from the top of the climb. 1514: Dmitriy Fofonov and Linus Gerdemann lead. The breakaway group of 15 is effectively no more, spread as they are on the mountain. Likewise, the peloton has thinned out but the climbers within it are hardly travelling at top speed. It will be fascinating to see who is where when they go over the top. 1510: Of the 15 in the breakaway group, Jose Ivan Gutierrez takes off and is soon joined by David de la Fuente. Paolo Savoldelli disappears out the back. joins the two at the front of the breakaway group. One thing is for sure - Fabian Cancellara will not be in yellow tonight. 1506: There are 30 points for the first man to climb the Col de la Colombiere, which has an elevation of 3,000 feet. It is 16 km long and by the end of today's stage we will know a lot more about who is in the sort of shape to challenge for the overall classification - or perhaps more pertinently who is not! 1502: The business end of the day. The breakaway group of 15 have started to climb the Col de la Colombiere. Expect the entire field to be spread all the way up the mountain. The sprinters are already amassing at the rear of the peloton. 1452: Of the breakaway group Caisse D'Epargne rider Jose Ivan Gutierrez is the highest placed in the overall standings, 53 seconds behind Fabian Cancellara. Linus Gerdemann is 52 seconds adrift and Juan Antonio Flecha one minute. 1445: OK, so the miles are ticking down to the Col de la Colombiere and the breakaway group of 15 have a lead of six minutes, 19 seconds. The group of 15 are: Martin Elmiger Juan Antonio Flecha Dmitriy Fofonov David de la Fuente Jose Ivan Gutierrez Linus Gerdemann Inigo Landaluze Laurent Lefevre Egoi Martinez Ruben Perez Jerome Pineau Paolo Savoldelli Bram Tankink Fabian Wegmann Benoit Vaugrenard "Savoldelli will win this stage. Gerdemann will take the yellow jersey." De Guzman on 606 1435: Several sprinters, including Robbie McEwen, who is having a difficult old day after slipping off the back earlier in the stage, rejoin the main peloton. Several CSC riders continue to drive the peloton. 1430: David de la Fuente hoovers up more points, crossing over the top of the category four cote de Peguin in first place with Laurent Lefevre second and Dmitriy Fofonov third. 1426: There are 60 km left in the stage and the breakaway group have a lead of 5 minutes, 40 seconds. The sun is beating down and the time until the riders reach the Col de la Colombiere is coming down all the time. 1409: Several CSC riders are pulling along the peloton as they attempt to close the gap on the breakaway group. Their jerseys are unzipped and they are working hard. It is hot, hot, hot on Bastille Day. 1405: David del la Fuente bursts off the top of the breakaway group of 15 to reach the summit of the third category Cote de Cruseilles first. Lets face it, what we are all waiting for is to see what happens on the category one Col de la Colombiere. Then we'll find out for real just what sort of shape Astana's injured duo of Alexandre Vinokourov and Andreas Kloeden are in. 1350: The peloton has reduced the lead of the breakaway group of 15 to 5 minutes, 32 seconds. There are 80km remaining and the food station has been and gone. 1335: The breakaway 15 are now 7 minutes 32 seconds ahead of the peloton. The riders have covered more than half the stage, but the category one climb over the Col de la Colombiere lies ahead. 1314: It has been reported that Enrico Degano, who crashed on stage six, has abandoned. According to reallywheelie on 606, this leaves Isle of Man rider Mark Cavendish as the Lanterne Rouge. That's last place to those of us not too familiar with French. 1305: T-Mobile's Linus Gerdemann sprints off the front of the breakaway group to take six points at the second intermediate sprint. The breakaway group of 15 riders are still eight minutes clear of the peloton. Rest assured though, there will be many more twists and turns before the end of this stage. 1255: The breakaway group now comprises 15 riders, with a lead of more than eight minutes over the peloton. There are 120km left in the stage and the field are closing in on the second and final sprint of the day. The first was won by Tom Boonen, with Erik Zabel second and Daniele Bennati third. 1245: The breakaway group of 12 now have a lead of more than five minutes over the peloton, while another three are attempting to cross the divide. 1235: Lots of talk on the 606 board about Christophe Moreau's chances of sending France into raptures with a Bastille Day victory - but can he deliver? Surely he is over the hill (pardon the pun). 1230: The group including race leader Fabian Cancellara has caught the main peloton, which includes all the pre-race favourites. Moving forward to the tete de course, three riders have bridged the gap and joined the breakaway group. 1225: It is a very, very hot Bastille Day and if the first climb of the day is an indicator of what lies ahead the field will be blown to pieces. The breakaway group of nine riders, including Saunier Duval's David de la Fuente, have a lead of 36 seconds over the peloton. 1205: Drama. The first climb of the day and the field has split into two main groups with a smaller breakaway group out in front. Race leader Fabian Cancellara and green jersey leader Tom Boonen are adrift of the main group, as are Robbie McEwen and Mark Cavendish. Dane Michael Rasmussen was first over the Cote de Corlier, the opening climb of the day, before falling back into the peloton, with Euskaltel-Euskadi's Gorka Verdugo second. 1200: A group of riders pulled off the front of the peloton at the 24km mark but by time they reached the first climb of the stage, the 6.4km Cote de Corlier, they had been swallowed up by the peloton. Don't forget today is Bastille Day - expect lots of attacks from the French riders as they go in search of glory. 1130: The stage has started and the riders are through the first 15km. Andriy Grivko launched an early break but was soon reeled in by the peloton. Speaking earlier on Saturday morning Danish climber Michael Rasmussen highlighted the importance of the stage. "Today is the first big stage," said Rabobank rider Rasmussen. "It will give an idea of who will be on the podium in Paris." "The beer is in the fridge, the satellite dish aligned to Eurosport and Le Tour starts Today. Allez, Allez, Allez!" Lowlandbrit on 606 1100: Rabobank rider Oscar Freire pulls out of the Tour with a sore backside. The Spaniard was fifth in the overall standings but third in the sprinters' standings behind Tom Boonen and Erik Babel. 1055 BST: It is the first big mountain stage of the Tour, which includes the race's first category one climb, over the Col de la Colombiere. Sylvain Chavanel starts the stage wearing the King of the Mountains jersey, with 40 points to Phillipe Gilbert's 23. Fabian Cancellara of Team CSC is still the overall leader, with Briton David Millar in fourth.	__noTOC__ Vattenfall Cyclassics. Linus Gerdemann of Germany took a large lead up the Col de la Colombière and has won stage 7 of the 2007 Tour de France. Gerdemann won by 3:38 over the chasing peleton and took over the yellow jersey from Fabian Cancellara of Switzerland. As a young rider, Gerdemann also gets the white jersey. Iñigo Landaluze was the only one close to Gerdemann and took second. All the big names, thought to have a chance of winning the Tour, appeared to be in the peloton. This includes injured teammates Alexandre Vinokourov and Andreas Klöden. Óscar Freire of Spain withdrew ahead of today's stage with back problems. '''Stage 7 results''' # Linus Gerdemann (Ger / TMO) 4 hrs 53 mins 13 secs # Inigo Landaluze (Spa / EUS) +40" # David De la Fuente (Spa / SDV) +1:39" # Mauricio Soler (Col / BAR) +2:14" # Laurent Lefevre (Fra / BGT) +2:21" # Fabian Wegmann (Ger / GER) +3:32" # Juan Manuel Garate (Spa / QSI ) +3:38" # Xavier Florencio (Spa / BGT) s.t. # Christophe Moreau (Fra / AG2R ) s.t. # Alejandro Valverde (Spa / CDE ) s.t. '''Overall standings''' # Linus Gerdemann (Ger / TMO) 34 hrs 43 min 40 sec" # Inigo Landaluze (Spa / EUS) +1:24" # David De la Fuente (Spa / SDV) +2:45" # Laurent Lefevre (Fra / BGT) +2:55" # Mauricio Soler (Col / BAR) +3:05" # Andreas Kloeden (Ger / AST) +3:39" # Vladimir Gusev (Rus / DSC) +3:51" # Vladimir Karpets (Rus / CDE) +3:52" # Mikel Astarloza (Spa / EUS) +3:55" # Thomas Dekker (Ned / RAB) +3:57"
It's official. Controversial talk show host Jerry Springer will become part of the Air America Radio lineup. Beginning April 1, the former mayor of Cincinnati and unsuccessful candidate for governor of Ohio, will be heard on the national liberal talk radio network. He is already heard on a handful of stations owned by San Antonio-based Clear Channel Communications Inc. (NYSE: CCU), which is rolling out a progressive talk format on a number of stations nationwide. In San Antonio, he appears on 92.5 KRPT-FM. Signing with Air America will allow Springer's voice to be heard in an additional 45 markets. His radio talk show debuted in January on a Cleveland, Ohio, station owned by Clear Channel. Springer is also heard on Clear Channel stations in Miami and Detroit. Springer's deal with Air America will not change his deal with Clear Channel, which is syndicated with cooperation from the radio group. "Progressive, populist voices need to be a part of our nation's dialogue," Springer says. "I hope I can make a contribution." Springer will continue to host his television talk show, "The Jerry Springer Show," which airs in nearly 200 TV markets throughout the country. Air America launched nationally about a year ago and currently has 51 affiliates. Clear Channel owns 1,200 radio stations, making it the nation's largest radio operator. Clear Channel also owns television stations, outdoor displays and live entertainment venues. \|\|\|\|\| Jerry Springer has initially signed a one-month deal with ITV His Springer on the Radio, which began in January on WCKY-AM in Cincinnati, has expanded to other stations in Cleveland, Miami and San Antonio. The new deal, with the Air America Radio network, will see his live show broadcast on 45 more radio stations from 1 April. Air America also features comedian and liberal commentator Al Franken. Springer said: "I said when I started the show that I am committed to making this radio programme work. "We need to hear progressive voices as well as conservative voices in our conversation today." \|\|\|\|\| ABC News Springer's Radio Show to Go National Jerry Springer's Liberal Talk Radio Show to Expand Nationwide on Air America Radio Network By LISA CORNWELL Associated Press Writer The Associated Press CINCINNATI Mar 23, 2005 More people will be able to hear trash TV host Jerry Springer under a deal announced Wednesday to take his radio program nationwide. Springer's show will go live weekdays on the Air America Radio network beginning April 1. The liberal all-talk network currently broadcasts on 51 radio stations and on the Sirius and XM satellite networks. Springer will be heard on about 45 of those stations initially. "I said when I started the show that I am committed to making this radio program work, not only because I enjoy it, but because we need to hear progressive voices as well as conservative voices in our conversation today," Springer said in a telephone interview from Chicago. New York-based Air America, which started up a year ago, includes comedian and liberal commentator Al Franken's show and another commentary program by Randi Rhodes. The "Springer on the Radio" show, which began in January on WCKY-AM in Cincinnati, has expanded to other Clear Channel Radio stations in Cleveland, Detroit, Miami and San Antonio. Springer said the deal with Air America will not affect his relationship with Clear Channel. Some observers have seen Springer's radio show as a springboard for the Democrat's possible return to politics in 2006, either in a run for governor or a Senate seat. He wouldn't say Wednesday whether he would run for office again. Springer, 61, was elected mayor of Cincinnati in 1977 and made an unsuccessful bid for the Democratic nomination for governor of Ohio in 1982. Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.	Television star has signed a contract to join the year-old political network starting April 1. He says the new deal will not affect his popular television program, which will continue to be produced. After initially being carried by only 45 stations nationwide, the host of the long-running syndicated program, '''' will eventually have his radio show heard on all 51 Air America affiliates. The show also is planned to be broadcast by the Sirius and XM satellite radio services. Springer said he is committed to making his radio show a success. "Progressive, populist voices need to be a part of our nation's dialogue," Springer said in a press release. "I hope I can make a contribution." Although best-known for his low-budget, tongue-in-cheek talk show, Springer does have a political pedigree. He was a Democrat mayor of Cincinnati in 1977 and made a failed bid for governor of Ohio in 1982.
(CNN) -- It was only after a crowd of screaming students ran past Darnell Rodgers in a stairway at his Cleveland, Ohio, high school Wednesday afternoon that he realized he had been shot. A shooting victim gives the thumbs up as he is carried out of SuccessTech Academy. more photos » "They were screaming, 'Oh my God! Oh my God,'" said Rodgers, a senior at SuccessTech Academy near downtown Cleveland. Rodgers suddenly felt his arm "burning," he said, and realized he had been shot in the elbow. Police have started to piece together what happened. At around 1:15 p.m. ET, 14-year-old gunman Asa Coon, who was a student at the school, walked the halls firing a gun in each hand, Cleveland Police Chief Michael McGrath said. When it was all over, five people had been shot, but the only fatality was Coon, who police said killed himself in a classroom. Police found a .22- caliber revolver and .38-caliber revolver near Coon's body, along with a box of ammunition and three knives, said McGrath. Investigators have reason to believe some victims were specifically targeted by Coon, who had been suspended from school Monday. Watch what happened at the school -- and the warning signs » "We do not believe this was a random shooting," McGrath said. "It may have been the teachers he went to the school looking for. ... I believe they disciplined him in some manner." Rodgers was treated and released from the hospital, but others were more seriously injured. Coon shot 57-year-old teacher David Kachadourian in the back and shot a 42-year-old teacher in the chest, officials said. Edward Eckart, commissioner of EMS Cleveland, said the 42-year-old underwent surgery at MetroHealth Medical Center and was in stable condition at 8 p.m. Wednesday. Fifty-seven-year-old Kachadourian was in stable condition, he said. In addition, a 15-year-old male with a gunshot wound to his side and a 15-year-old female with a knee injury were transported to Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital, where they were in stable condition Wednesday night, Eckart said. McGrath said Coon and another student were suspended Monday after they apparently got in a fight outside the school. Coon had a previous arrest last year for a domestic violence incident, and police had been to his home before for incidents that involved weapons, according to McGrath. Police searched the gunman's locker after the shooting and are watching surveillance footage of the school taken at the time of the shooting, he said. Students said they took cover in closets after the school principal announced a "Code Blue" on the intercom. Students described the gunman as being "odd." Watch students describe the shooting » Rodgers spoke to reporters after leaving the hospital Wednesday evening. He called the shooting "very shocking" and said he was "sad" it could happen at a school he thought was safe. Check out other school shootings in recent years » "I never thought it would personally happen at my school." District schools will be closed Thursday. Recreation centers will be open and counselors will be available for city residents. Friday was already going to be a professional day for faculty and will now be devoted to figuring out how to go about resuming classes on Monday. Cleveland Municipal School District CEO Eugene Sanders said the community and everyone with ties to SuccessTech needs "to take a breather and relax a moment and put this in perspective." SuccessTech is a nontraditional high school, according to local school officials. "Since it is a specialty school," it doesn't have "the typical population of a large high school," said Lisa Matthews of the superintendent's office. It is a "school of choice" -- students have to apply to get in, said Ruthie Williams, also of the superintendent's office. She said classrooms are on the first and third floors of the four-story building and the rest contains the school district's administrative offices. The academy describes itself on its Web site as a "small, nontraditional high school that provides a learning environment in which all student believe in their ability to succeed." It adds that the curriculum is "problem-based" and "infused" with technology. The school was founded in part with a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. No metal detectors were at the school on Wednesday, although the school board has portable detectors that are randomly moved from school to school, McGrath said. An armed security guard was at the front desk, he added. E-mail to a friend All About Cleveland \|\|\|\|\| Shaken students stood outside the building waiting for news Students' reaction Mayor Frank Jackson said four people were wounded when the teenager entered the SuccessTech Academy and walked down a corridor on the fourth floor firing. Two teenage boys and two adults were shot, and another girl injured her knee while fleeing, Mr Jackson said. Local media reported the attacker had been unhappy at having been suspended. The SuccessTech Academy is a 250-student alternative high school that specialises in business and technology. It is based on several floors of the Lakeside Avenue administration building in the city centre. 'Gun in each hand' At a news conference, Cleveland Police Chief Michael McGrath said his force's initial investigation indicated that the 14-year-old boy had killed himself before police arrived and that he had at least two guns. When he got suspended, he said 'I got something for y'all' SuccessTech Academy student Timeline: US school shootings Mr McGrath said video surveillance would allow them to determine how long the gunman was in the school before the shooting, but the student is believed to have arrived early on Wednesday morning. The main scene of the shooting on the 4th floor of the Lakeside Avenue building is still being processed by the city's coroner's office, he added. Witnesses reported having seen the shooter roam through school corridors with a gun in each hand. Ronnell Jackson, 15, told the Associated Press that he saw the attacker running down a hallway. The victims of the shooting are in a stable condition in hospital "He was aiming at me, I got out just in time," he said. Some students and staff fled after hearing shots and an alert on the school public address system. Others attempted to hide in cupboards or under desks. Afterwards, shaken students and worried relatives stood outside the building waiting for news. One student told Philadelphia Channel 6 Action News that the student was a goth and had been wearing a trenchcoat, boots and a chain. "When he got suspended, he said 'I got something for y'all'," she added. Schools closed Cleveland's mayor said those injured in the shooting included two teenage boys aged 14 and 17, who were both in a "stable, good condition". Schools are supposed to be safe places Joanne DeMarco Cleveland Teachers' Union A 57-year-old man and a 42-year-old man were hurt slightly more seriously and are in "a little elevated condition", Mayor Jackson said. "The families of all of the victims have been notified, and we are currently connecting all the children and parents with people who can help them through this," he added. The chief executive of the Cleveland Municipal School District, Eugene Sanders, announced that all the school's activities had been cancelled until Monday. All public schools in Cleveland will be closed on Thursday, he said, so that students and teachers can "take a breather" and "put this in perspective". Shock Joanne DeMarco, president of the Cleveland Teachers' Union, said she was surprised at the shooting. "Schools are supposed to be safe places, safe places. And you know, it's not that Cleveland's immune to anything that's going on in the nation, but SuccessTech would have been the last place we would have thought of," she said. Responding to reports that a teenage student may have been responsible, a reader from Cleveland told the BBC News website that the school had been getting good results. "It's a shame one kid has spoiled all that... and an even bigger shame that due to budget cuts the security the school needed wasn't in place," she said. Several parents have complained in interviews with local media that the school had recently denied requests to hire a security guard. The incident comes six months after the US suffered its worst ever campus shooting, when a gunman killed more than 30 students and staff at Virginia Tech. Are you in the area of the shooting? Do you have any information you would like to share? Send us your comments 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. \|\|\|\|\| Four people have been shot at SuccessTech Academy at 1440 Lakeside Avenue in Cleveland. (Listen to the 911 calls) The shooter, 14-year-old Asa Coon, is dead. He is believed to have turned his gun on himself after shooting four other people. He had two guns, a bag of ammunition and three knives, police said. The victims were two men ages 57 and 42; and two boys ages 17 and 14. A 14-year-old girl hurt her knee leaving the building but was not shot. All the children are in good condition and the two adults' conditions were "slightly elevated," according to Mayor Frank Jackson. The mayor and schools CEO Eugene Sanders came to the school and have been giving brief updates to the media. PD Video: School shooting. Click here to watch Read more and share your comments Who was Asa Coon? More on the victims School wanted metal detectors Shooter described as hyper Shooter wasn't supposed to be in school today Cleveland schools will be closed Thursday Students were put on lock down Expert says this is the first fatal school shooting of the school year Injured teacher described as a good guy Neighbor said shooter was bullied Witness saw shooter loading gun Shooter had history of mental problems Shooter targeted at least some victims Several gun incidents in school this week A look at SuccessTech Plain Dealer photo gallery Tell us your stories, share your photos Were you a witness to the shooting at SuccessTech High School or do you know any of the victims? Tell us about your experience or pay tribute to the people shot in the comments area below. You can also e-mail us your cell phone videos, photos or eyewitness accounts here. \|\|\|\|\| View and discuss the pictures and issues that caught our eyes Soldiers get a warm welcome, a fountain of youth, pilgrims’ pride, foggy fellas and more. What keeps you up at night? Gut Check America wants you to tell us what really matters to our country. As part of October's report, we're asking our middle-class readers to send in video explaining and showing how they are being financially squeezed and how it's affecting their standards of living. Click here to learn more and get involved. Oct. 10: Cleveland police say as many as four people have been injured in a shooting at a downtown high school. MSNBC's Contessa Brewer has the story. BREAKING NEWS MSNBC staff and news service reports CLEVELAND - At least four people were shot by a 14-year-old suspect at a Cleveland high school Wednesday, school security officials told WKYC-TV. Police said the shootings took place at SuccessTech Academy on the third and fourth floors, WEWS-TV reported. At least two of the victims were teachers and three were taken to MetroHealth Center, WKYC reported. No other details on their condition was available. Security officials told WKYC the school building is now secure Police told WKYC they have the suspected shooter "in control." Story continues below ↓ advertisement advertisement The gunman had two weapons, witnesses told WKYC. The suspected shooter was reportedly upset about a suspension on Tuesday. FirstPerson: Send in your report Do you have information, video, pictures from the scene? The security guard was on vacation, WKYC reported, and two other full time security guards had been laid off in recent years. Parents wait anxiously Students stood outside the building many in tears and on cell phones. Family members also stood outside, anxiously waiting for their children to be released. One student at SuccessTech Academy said she heard the principal say "Code Blue" over the public address system, and the students started running. Doneisha LeVert said she hid in a closet with some of her friends. Ronnell Jackson, 15, said he saw a shooter running down the hall and ducked out the door. "He was about to shoot me but I got out just in time," he said. "He was aiming at me I got out just in time," Jackson said. Tammy Mundy, 38, who has a son and daughter at the school, told The Plain Dealer of Cleveland that her daughter called when the shooting started. "She said, 'Mom they're shooting in here, kids are running out, I'm hiding in the closet,"' Mundy told the newspaper. Then she called her 18-year-old son, Darnell Rodgers, on his cell phone, and he told her he had been shot in the arm. "He said, 'Mom I got shot,"' Mundy told the newspaper. Police shut down several nearby roads because of the shooting, WKYC reported. This report will be updated as information becomes available. The Associated Press contributed to this report. \|\|\|\|\| SideBar Related Items Stories Contact Fox 8 Links We have breaking news coming out of Cleveland. 4 people have been shot at SuccessTech Academy, a Cleveland High School, at East 14th and Lakeside Avenue, police say. According to the Cleveland School District, police are still looking for the shooter. One victim has been taken to Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital, and three victims have been taken to MetroHealth Medical Center. Mayor Frank Jackson says three of the victims are students, all three with non-life threatening injuries. Fox 8's Belinda Prinz reports that the shooting took place during 10th period. A "Code Blue" was alerted to students and staff over the loudspeaker, which means there has been a shooting at the school. Students and teachers hid in various areas of the school. The school has since been evacuated; however, it is unknown whether there are still some people hiding in various areas of the building. Numerous students have told Fox 8 that a ninth grade student opened fire on the fourth floor and then moved throughout the building. Ronnell Jackson, 15, said he saw a shooter running down the hall and ducked out the door. "He was about to shoot me, but I got out just in time," Ronnell said. "He was aiming at me I got out just in time." Student Doneisha LeVert said kids were running all over the school and she hid in the closet. Students stood outside the building many in tears and on cell phones. Family members also stood outside, anxiously waiting for their children to be released. Lakeside Avenue has been closed between East 12th and East 15th. Mayor Frank Jackson and Eugene Sanders held a short press conference regarding the shooting. They said students are being held for questioning and counselors are available to help students deal with what happened. Neither Jackson nor Sanders would take questions. SuccessTech is a small non-traditional high school offering an active learning, technology-rich, personalized curriculum. Less than 100 new students are admitted to the academy every year. Potential students are required to apply for consideration. SuccessTech classes include a computer for each student and lessons that utilize videoconferencing, online learning and digital photography. Creation of the school was made possible in part by a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Stay with FOX 8 and myFOXcleveland.com for more information as it becomes available. View Larger Map \|\|\|\|\| By JOE MILICIA, Associated Press Writer Wed Oct 10, 7:55 PM ET CLEVELAND - A 14-year-old suspended student, dressed in black, opened fire in his downtown high school Wednesday, wounding four people as terrified schoolmates hid in closets and bathrooms and huddled under laboratory desks. He then killed himself. A fellow student at SuccessTech Academy alternative school said Asa H. Coon, who was suspended for fighting two days earlier, had made threats in front of students and teachers last week. "He's crazy. He threatened to blow up our school. He threatened to stab everybody," Doneisha LeVert said. "We didn't think nothing of it." Coon was armed with two .38 caliber revolvers, and police found a duffel bag stocked with ammunition and three knives in a bathroom, officials said. Parents were angry that firearms got into a school equipped with metal detectors that students said were intermittently used. Officials said two teachers and two students were shot, and that a 14-year-old girl fell and hurt her knee while running out of the school. Witnesses said the shooter moved through the converted five-story downtown office building, working his way up through the first two floors of administrative offices to the third floor of classrooms. Officials said he was wearing a black Marilyn Manson concert shirt, black jeans and black-painted finger nails. The first person shot, student Michael Peek, had punched Coon in the face right before the shootings began, said student Rasheem Smith, 15. Coon "came out of the bathroom and bumped Mike and he (Mike) punched him in his face. Mike started walking. He shot Mike in the side." Peek, 14, didn't know Coon had a gun, Smith said. Antonio Deberry, 17, said he and his classmates hid under laboratory tables and watched the shooter move down the hallway. "I saw him walking past. He didn't see us, we saw him." The shooter swore and shot several times, Deberry said. LeVert said she hid in a closet with two other students after she heard a "Code Blue" alert over the loudspeaker. She said she heard about 10 shots. Darnell Rodgers, 18, was walking up to another floor when the stairway suddenly became flooded with students. "It took me a couple of minutes to realize that I was actually shot, when I felt my arm burning in the area, that's when I realized that I had got shot," Rodgers said. "They were screaming, and they were saying, 'Oh my God, oh my God.' I knew something was wrong, but thought that it was probably just a fight, so I just kept going," Rodgers said. Rodgers was released from a hospital after treatment for a graze wound to his right elbow. Coon had been suspended since Monday for fighting near the school that day, said Charles Blackwell, president of SuccessTech's student-parent organization. He did not know how Coon got into the building Wednesday. Blackwell said that there was a security guard on the first floor, but that the position of another guard on the third floor had been eliminated. Student Frances Henderson, 14, said she often got into arguments with Coon, who once told her, "I got something for you all." He was a "gothic" who usually wore a trench coat, black boots and a dog collar, she said. Students stood outside the building, many in tears, hugging one another and on cell phones. Others shouted at reporters with TV cameras to leave them alone. Family members also stood outside, waiting for their children to be released. Math teacher David Kachadourian, 57, was in good condition; Michael Grassie, a 42-year-old teacher, was in surgery, but his condition was unavailable. The other two injured teens were taken to a children's hospital, which would not release their names, ages or conditions. Deberry's mother, Lakisha Deberry, said she was upset that metal detectors at the school were not always in use. "You never know what's going on in someone's mind," said Deberry, adding that she was required to go through a metal detector and present an identification card whenever she wanted to drop off something at school for her children. The shooting occurred across the street from the FBI office in downtown Cleveland, and students were being sent to the FBI site. Classes at all schools in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District will be canceled Thursday, said Eugene Sanders, chief executive officer of the district. Counseling will be available Thursday for students at recreation centers throughout the city, Sanders said. SuccessTech Academy is an alternative high school in the public school district that stresses technology and entrepreneurship. It is housed on several floors of the district's downtown Cleveland Lakeside Avenue administration building. "It's a shining beacon for the Cleveland Metropolitan School system," said John Zitzner, founder and president of E City Cleveland, a nonprofit group aimed at teaching business skills to inner-city teens. "It's orderly, it's disciplined, it's calm, it's focused." The school has about 240 mainly black students with a small number of white and Hispanic students. Coon was white and Henderson, the student who said she frequently argued with him, is black, but she said she didn't believe race played a role in the shootings. The school, opened five years ago, ranks in the middle of the state's ratings for student performance. Its graduation rate is 94 percent, well above the district's rate of 55 percent. ___ Associated Press writers James Hannah, Terry Kinney, Thomas J. Sheeran and Andrew Welsh-Huggins contributed to this report. \|\|\|\|\| A 14-year-old student opened fire in the hallways of SuccessTech Academy high school in downtown Cleveland Wednesday afternoon (October 10), injuring five people. The student — who has been identified as Asa H. Coon, according to The Associated Press — then shot and killed himself. Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson spoke to the media several hours after the incident, saying two teachers — a 57-year-old man who was later identified as David Kachadourian, and a yet-unidentified 42-year-old — were shot and injured in the incident, but that they were in stable condition. He also said that an 18-year-old male, Darnell Rodgers, was treated for a gunshot wound to the elbow and released, and that a 14-year-old male was in stable condition with a gunshot wound to the side. A fifth person, a 14-year-old female student, was also injured when she hurt her knee in the aftermath; she was treated and released. Dr. Eugene Sanders, CEO of Cleveland's metropolitan school district, said classes would be canceled for the entire district on Thursday and that an already-scheduled day off on Friday would be used to speak to teachers about the incident and come up with strategies to avoid similar situations in the future. Coon, who had been suspended earlier this week for fighting, entered the school with two handguns and began opening fire in the early afternoon, hitting several students on at least two floors of the school, according to CNN. While Coon was running through the halls, the principal called out a "code blue" alert, telling students to get to a safe space, with some hiding in closets or on the floors of their classrooms. Police responded to the incident within two minutes and quickly secured the building. A police spokesperson said Coon took his own life before police arrived at the school. SuccessTech Academy, which only has 250 students and 30 teachers, was founded five years ago with help from a large grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation as a high-tech academy where every student was given access to their own computer and has been described as a select, "best and brightest"-style institution. One parent told CNN that the school had no metal detectors and that there was overcrowding in the classrooms. Another parent described the school as a close-knit community. Sanders said he could not recall the request from parents for metal detectors or more security at the school. Rodgers, one of the victims, spoke to reporters after being released from the hospital. "It took me a couple minutes to realize I was actually shot," he said. "When my arm started burning, that's when I realized I was actually shot." Coon appeared to be aiming for someone else, Rodgers said, and that the bullet "probably deflected off something" and hit him in the elbow. Rodgers also expressed concern about his other classmates and teachers and said he hoped the school would implement tighter security. Seventeen-year-old Antonio Deberry, also a student at SuccessTech Academy, said he ducked beneath a laboratory table and saw Coon walk through the hallway. "I saw him walking past. He didn't see us, we saw him," said Deberry, adding that Coon swore and shot multiple times. Doneisha LeVert also hid, in a closet with other students, after the "code blue" alert was issued. She said students and teachers saw Coon making threats last week. "He's crazy," she said. "He threatened to blow up our school. He threatened to stab everybody. We didn't think nothing of it." A friend of Coon's told CNN that the 14-year-old often talked about how he "worshiped the devil" and said if he shot up the school he would let the young man and another friend go. Fox News reported that he had a criminal and domestic-violence history. Another student said, "I knew that dude was crazy, man. He always wore a trench coat." He also said the student wore a visible pistol belt around his leg (with no gun in it) to school on several occasions and that at least one teacher was aware of it and saw the gun belt but took no action. A parent who is the president of the parents' association said the classrooms went from having 15 to 30 students, with overcrowding creating tensions among students. He also said there was only one security guard on duty in the building and that that person worked only the first-floor administrative level and did not walk the floors of the school, which had classrooms on the third, fourth and fifth floor. "We've been fighting to get security back for the past two or three years and they denied it," the parent told CNN. "Tension was high in the school, it was just too crowded." The police spokesperson said it was too early to tell if Coon had any connection to the victims or if the shooting was random. It was also unclear at press time how Coon, who was not supposed to be in school on Wednesday because of the suspension, was able to gain access to the building and how he was able to bring in two handguns with him. Go to Think MTV for additional information and resources for those concerned about violence in their own community. [This story was originally published at 1:51 pm E.T. on 10.10.2007] \|\|\|\|\| By JOE MILICIA, Associated Press Writer 14 minutes ago CLEVELAND - A 14-year-old student who opened fire at his high school, wounding four people before killing himself, had a history of mental problems and was known for cussing at teachers and bickering with students. Asa H. Coon, who had been suspended for fighting, warned classmates of an attack but none took him seriously. "When he got suspended, he was like `I got something for you all,'" said student Frances Henderson, who said she often got into arguments with Coon. "I guess this is what he had." Police believe Coon targeted the two teachers he shot Wednesday. He also shot two students while others hid in closets and bathrooms or ran out of SuccessTech Academy alternative school. Students gathered outside, many in tears, hugging one another and talking on cell phones. Parents were angry that firearms got into a school equipped with metal detectors that students said were intermittently used. Coon's troubles seemed to come to a tipping point this week when he was suspended for fighting outside with a classmate. Students said Monday's fight was over God Coon told his classmates he didn't believe in God and instead worshipped rocker Marilyn Manson. Armed with two revolvers Wednesday, Coon fired eight shots, Police Chief Michael McGrath said. Police found a duffel bag stocked with ammunition and three knives in a bathroom, but no suicide note, he said. Math teacher David Kachadourian, who was treated at a hospital for a minor wound to the back of one shoulder, knew of no reason why Coon might target him. Coon was a student in his beginning algebra class. "I never felt personally threatened or personally at risk," Kachadourian said. "I had concerns about him, yes. He seemed like an angry young man. I did not fear for my own safety." Coon had mental health problems, spent time in two juvenile facilities and threatened to commit suicide while in a mental health facility, according to juvenile court records obtained by The Plain Dealer newspaper. The Department of Children and Family Services was called to Coon's home in 2000 because he had burns on his arms and scratches on his forehead, the newspaper said. When he was 12, Coon was charged in juvenile court with domestic violence. His mother, Lori, had called police and told them her son slapped her and called her a vulgar name. She had been trying to intervene in a fight between Coon and his twin sister, The Plain Dealer reported. He was also suspended from school last year for attempting to hurt a student, the newspaper said. "He used to cuss all the teachers out," said Henderson, 14. Coon, who is white, stood out in the predominantly black school for dressing in a goth style, wearing a black trench coat, black boots, a dog collar and chains, she said. Henderson, who is black, she said she didn't believe race played a role in the shootings. "He's crazy. He threatened to blow up our school. He threatened to stab everybody," said Doneisha LeVert, 14. "We didn't think nothing of it." People at Coon's home late Wednesday declined to comment. All classes in the city school district were canceled Thursday, and school officials said counseling would be available for students at recreation centers throughout Cleveland. Witnesses said the shooter moved through SuccessTech, a converted downtown office building, working his way up through the first two floors of administrative offices to the third floor of classrooms. He was wearing a Manson shirt, black jeans and black-painted finger nails, police said. Charles Blackwell, president of SuccessTech's student-parent organization, said he did not know how Coon got into the building. Blackwell said there was a security guard on the first floor, but that the position of another guard on the third floor had been eliminated. The first person shot, 14-year-old Michael Peek, had punched Coon in the face right before the shootings began, student Rasheem Smith said. Coon "came out of the bathroom and bumped Mike and he (Mike) punched him in his face. Mike started walking. He shot Mike in the side," said Smith, 15. Darnell Rodgers, 18, was walking up to another floor when the stairway suddenly became flooded with students. "They were screaming, and they were saying, `Oh my God! Oh my God!' I knew something was wrong, but thought that it was probably just a fight, so I just kept going," Rodgers said. He realized he had been shot when he felt his arm burning. Rodgers was released from a hospital after treatment for a graze wound to his right elbow. The other student shot was taken to a children's hospital, which would not release the student's condition. Michael Grassie, a 42-year-old history teacher, was hospitalized in fair condition late Wednesday after about two hours of surgery. The hospital would not disclose the nature of the surgery. SuccessTech Academy, with about 240 students, is an alternative high school in the public school district that stresses technology and entrepreneurship. ___ Associated Press writers James Hannah, Terry Kinney, M.R. Kropko, John Seewer and Thomas J. Sheeran and Andrew Welsh-Huggins contributed to this report.	Location of Ohio within the United States. A 14-year-old student opened fire in a Cleveland, Ohio high school today, wounding four people. The gunman then fatally shot himself. Police were called to the scene at 1:15 p.m. EST, with reports of a gunman in the school. The gunman, 14-year-old Asa H. Coon, entered the school with a gun in each hand. Students were evacuated, with the gunman reportedly still in the building for some time afterward. According to Cleveland mayor Frank Jackson, two adult males, ages 57 and 42, and two teenage males, ages 18 and 14, were wounded, and taken to local hospitals. A third teenager, a 14-year-old female, hurt her knee while running from the school. A spokesperson for the hospital would not give details of the students' names or conditions, but Jackson said in an afternoon press conference that all three teenagers were in stable condition. According to one student, 14-year-old student Michael Peek was the first person shot, after reportedly punching Coon in the face. The student indicated that Peek did not know that Coon was armed at the time. 18-year-old student Darnell Rodgers told the media that he was the other student shot, a graze wound for which he was treated and subsequently released. The 57-year-old teacher, David Kachadourian, was listed in good condition. 42-year-old teacher Michael Grassie was in surgery and his condition was unavailable. The gunman was reportedly upset about a recent suspension arising from a fight that happened Monday near the school. According to one student interviewed by ''CNN'', the gunman said he "worshiped the devil" and had mentioned committing a shooting at the school. Another student noted that the gunman often wore a trench coat and an empty pistol belt to class. A security guard was present on the first floor of the building, but the position of a guard on the third floor was eliminated. While metal detectors were present in the building, they were not always in use; it is unclear whether they were in use at the time of the shooting. The school, SuccessTech Academy, is a non-traditional school within the Cleveland Metropolitan School District, described on their web site as a "small, nontraditional high school that provides a learning environment in which all student believe in their ability to succeed." It opened five years ago. SuccessTech is located on the third, fourth and fifth floors of a building in downtown Cleveland that also houses some administrative offices. The school owes its existence in part to a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which helped to fund the creation of the school.
(CNN) -- The North Pole may be briefly ice-free by September as global warming melts away Arctic sea ice, according to scientists from the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colorado. Scientists say it's a 50-50 bet that the thin Arctic sea ice will completely melt away at the geographic North Pole. "We kind of have an informal betting pool going around in our center and that betting pool is 'does the North Pole melt out this summer?' and it may well," said the center's senior research scientist, Mark Serreze. It's a 50-50 bet that the thin Arctic sea ice, which was frozen in autumn, will completely melt away at the geographic North Pole, Serreze said. The ice retreated to a record level in September when the Northwest Passage, the sea route through the Arctic Ocean, opened briefly for the first time in recorded history. "What we've seen through the past few decades is the Arctic sea ice cover is becoming thinner and thinner as the system warms up," Serreze said. Specific weather patterns will determine whether the North Pole's ice cover melts completely this summer, he said. "Last year, we had sort of a perfect weather pattern to get rid of ice to open up that Northwest Passage," Serreze said. "This year, a different pattern can set up. so maybe we'll preserve some ice there. We're in a wait-and-see mode right now. We'll see what happens." The brief lack of ice at the top of the globe will not bring any immediate consequences, he said. "From the viewpoint of the science, the North Pole is just another point in the globe, but it does have this symbolic meaning," Serreze said. "There's supposed to be ice at the North Pole. The fact that we may not have any by the end of this summer could be quite a symbolic change." Serreze said it's "just another indicator of the disappearing Arctic sea ice cover" but that it is happening so soon is "just astounding to me." "Five years ago, to think that we'd even be talking about the possibility of the North Pole melting out in the summer, I would have never thought it," he said. The melting, however, has been long seen as inevitable, he said. "If you talked to me or other scientists just a few years ago, we were saying that we might lose all or most of the summer sea ice cover by anywhere from 2050 to 2100," Serreze said. "Then, recently, we kind of revised those estimates, maybe as early as 2030. Now, there's people out there saying it might be even before that. So, things are happening pretty quick up there." Serreze said those who suggest that the Arctic meltdown is just part of a historic cycle are wrong. "It's not cyclical at this point. I think we understand the physics behind this pretty well," he said. "We've known for at least 30 years, from our earliest climate models, that it's the Arctic where we'd see the first signs of global warming. "It's a situation where we hate to say we told you so, but we told you so," he said. Serreze said the Arctic sea ice will not be the same for decades. "If we had a few cold years in a row, we could put sort of a temporary damper on it, but I think at this point going to an ice-free Arctic Ocean is inevitable," he said. "I don't think we can stop that now." Reduced greenhouse gas emissions could "cool things down a bit," he said. "It would recover fairly quickly, but it's just not going to happen for a while," he said. "I think we're committed at this point." There are some positive aspects to the ice melting, he said. Ships could use the Northwest Passage to save time and energy by no longer having to travel through the Panama Canal or around Cape Horn. "There's also, or course, oil at the bottom of the Arctic Ocean," he said. "Now, the irony of that is kind of clear, but the fact that we are opening up the Arctic Ocean does make it more accessible." The U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center Web site, NSIDC.org, publishes a near-real-time image of the Arctic sea ice cover. All About National Snow and Ice Data Center • North Pole • Arctic Ocean \|\|\|\|\| If the North Pole becomes ice-free this summer — the odds for that are 50-50, one scientist says — that doesn't mean that the whole Arctic region will become an open ocean. Mark Serreze of the U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center in Colorado told The Independent, a London-based newspaper, "I'd say it's even-odds whether the North Pole melts out." The article, posted on the newspaper's Web site Friday, generated some confusion as to what would actually happen at the North Pole, and in the Arctic Ocean as a whole, as the summer melt season gears up in the next few weeks. In a telephone interview with LiveScience, Serreze explained that a melt-out at the North Pole wouldn't mean that all Arctic ice would melt. Rather, the thin, newly-formed ice around 90 degrees latitude could melt away for a few days. Such an event would be significant, he said, because any holes that have appeared in the ice at the North Pole up until now have been a result of winds pushing the sea ice around and creating cracks, not the melt-related processes that have taken hold in the Arctic in recent years. Usually, the North Pole is covered with thick, perennial ice that forms over several years. But during last summer's record melt, which opened up the fabled Northwest Passage, a substantial amount of older ice melted. (Typically only the thinner, first-year ice melts in the summer, while the thick, perennial ice survives.) Average sea ice extent at the end of the summer was 1.65 million square miles (4.28 million square kilometers), almost 30 percent lower than the previous record low. As winter cooled the Arctic waters, ice re-formed over the ocean, as it usually does. But this newly formed ice is thinner, first-year ice, more susceptible to melting once summer comes around again. As it happened, wind patterns and ocean currents over the last few months moved that newly formed ice smack over the North Pole, setting up the situation where at least a temporarily ice-free North Pole could form. "It's this symbolic thing, I think," Serreze told LiveScience. "This is where Santa Claus lives ... it kind of hits you in the stomach." The North Pole isn't the only part of the Arctic Ocean covered with this newly-formed ice — a substantial part of the region is capped by this thin frozen veneer. That "we're going to lose a bunch of ice," is more or less certain, Serraze said, but just where that melt will occur is "a roll of the dice." One factor affecting where and how much ice will melt this summer is the somewhat higher ice extent that re-froze this winter. (While the winter extent was higher this year than last year, it was still about 390,000 square miles (1 million kilometers) smaller than average — that's equal to an area about the size of Texas and New Mexico combined. Sea ice forms not by spreading out along the surface of the ocean, but rather as water just below the ice freezes onto the underside of the ice. This means that more ice probably also means slightly thicker ice, said Josefino Comiso of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, which helps monitor sea ice coverage. Thicker ice is more likely to survive the summer and become second-year ice, becoming thicker still in the winter. The North Pole is also cooler than lower Arctic latitudes, meaning North Pole ice could better resist melting. Even if it does, there's still the possibility that winds could move the ice around so that a hole that formed at a lower latitude could be pushed over the North Pole, making it ice-free, Serreze said. It's these weather patterns that scientists will be watching in the coming weeks to get a better sense of what will happen in the Arctic this summer. Serreze says that a warm spring season has put melting about on par with where it was at this point last year. But other scientists say this summer's melt is unlikely to be as spectacular as last year's. "We may not see a record minimum at all," said Tharston Markus, also of Goddard. Scientists are monitoring the sea ice extent daily and say that after the main melt occurs over the next few weeks, they'll have a better idea of what the minimum extent, which typically occurs in mid-September, might be. For now though, all they can do is watch and wait.	An azimuthal map of the North Pole The National Snow and Ice Data Center based in Boulder, Colorado said that there will be a 50% chance that the already thin ice on the North Pole will melt away this September as a result of the on-going global warming. The center's senior researcher Mark Serreze said that in September of 2007, ice on the north pole retreated to record levels, opening the Northwest Passage for the first time in shipping history. Serreze added that every year, ice in the North pole has been thinning year after year. The scenario where the pole will be ice free will depend on this year's weather and climatic conditions. The center observed that the last year's weather conditions in the north were sufficient to clear the lanes of the Northwest passage and for this year, the situation will be depending on what the weather will be. He also assured the public that the lack of ice in that region should not concern everyone since it won't be bringing any immediate consequences. He said, "the North Pole is just another point in the globe, but it does have this symbolic meaning. There's supposed to be ice at the North Pole. The fact that we may not have any by the end of this summer could be quite a symbolic change." The scenario of an ice-less Arctic has been seen as far back as five years ago but the rate of melting was not expected to happen in a matter of five years. Serreze also corrected those saying that the melting of Arctic ice is just part of a "historic cycle." He adds that as far back as 30 years ago, their earliest climate models have suggested that the very first sign of an impact from global warming would have been the melting of Arctic ice. Their studies also reveal that the ice could return given conditions wherein the planet will cool down.
PRESS RELEASE: Rocky Anderson, the Justice Party’s candidate for President, declared his candidacy on the Americans Elect website today. The announcement comes in the midst of the Justice Party’s effort to gain ballot access across the country. Although the Justice Party has had some recent setbacks in ballot access acquisition, it continues to grow and expand as America’s fresh face of an independent movement calling for an end to Washington, D.C. corruption. “Americans Elect provides a unique opportunity to third-party candidates” Anderson states. “It gives the American people the ability to select their choice for President without worrying about the corporate investors backing their campaign. Declared candidates of Americans Elect are selected based on their qualifications rather than the size of their campaign war chest.” Anderson, an ardent supporter of campaign finance reform, has noted that seeking the Americans Elect nomination is consistent with his nomination as the Justice Party’s presidential candidate. “The advantage of gaining the nomination of Americans Elect is that it advocates for the candidates to develop non-partisan solutions and a more cooperative approach to the politics. Americans Elect can be utilized for candidates outside the two-party duopoly, above the influence of corrupt money.” Although Americans Elect doesn’t require a candidate to take a pledge towards a particular ideological stance, it does ask that every presidential ticket be ideologically balanced. “A fusion ticket would not only energize the public, it would allow for a greater number of interests to be represented,” observes Anderson. “The Democrats and Republicans no longer respect nor represent the public interest. They both feed from the same trough of, and depend upon, special interest money. Our Democracy has been transformed into a plutocracy – government of, by, and for the wealthy.” Last when the Justice Party was formed with the help of Rocky Anderson, there was a unifying goal to establish a strong foundation for sustained, long-term changes in the U.S. to achieve a more peaceful, healthy, and just nation. To do this, they understood that they needed a movement to obtain governing authority at all levels of government and they would need to educate and advocate to build support for policies and practices that lead to a more peaceful, healthy, and just nation. The Justice Party has nominated Rocky Anderson as its Presidential candidate and has been pursuing ballot access in every state. This is, however, a daunting task. Independents and new parties who have achieved nationwide ballot access have spent three to four million dollars collecting signatures. The Justice Party is built on principles, like refusing special interest money, that preclude it from buying its way into the democratic process. We have had success in several states and are actively organizing in over thirty states to develop the Justice Party for long term success. Americans Elect is a non-partisan non-profit organization in the US hosting the first national online presidential primary in U.S. history. Under the guidelines set forth in an appeal granted by the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruling against the Federal Election Commission (FEC), to remain outside FEC regulations of political committees, Americans Elect cannot accept funds from candidates or candidate committees, nor donate funds to them, nor can the organization advocate for or against any issue. The organization's sole purpose is to obtain signatures to get on the ballot throughout the United States and to build the technology to process an online nomination. Americans Elect provides a never-before-possible option for a real choice in 2012 that already has guaranteed ballot access. Let's take advantage of this opportunity. We need everyone to take a few moments to register and become a supporter for Rocky Anderson on Americans Elect's website (Go there now.) If you have any questions, please post them below, and we'll do our best to address them in a timely manner. Thank you for your continued support, everyone -- please share on Twitter, Facebook, and any other social platform to get the word out. \|\|\|\|\| MARCH 14, 2012 — Americans Elect, the first national online primary for president, today announced it has started gathering signatures of registered voters in Texas to secure a line on the state ballot for this year’s presidential election. The state of Texas requires 49,729 signatures of registered voters to gain a line on the statewide ballot, and Americans Elect intends to collect 100,000 signatures to satisfy that requirement. “Americans Elect continues to gain ballot access state by state to provide voters in Texas and across the country with another choice for president this November,” said Elliot Ackerman, COO of Americans Elect. “We are creating a second nominating process for president by holding an online primary for the first time in history, bypassing the two-party system and giving every voter a chance to have their voice heard regardless of where they live.” Americans Elect has already collected more than 80 percent of the 2.9 million signatures of voters required for national ballot access and gained certification in 18 states, including Wyoming, Arizona, Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Kansas, Nevada, Michigan, Mississippi, Ohio, Rhode Island, Utah, Vermont, New Mexico, Maine and Montana. Once the petition drive is complete, the signatures will be submitted to the Texas Secretary of State’s office for certification – and a line on the general election ballot this November. Texans frustrated with a delayed primary do not have to settle for a muted voice in this election. Americans Elect puts every voter on a level playing field in directly nominating their ideal candidate, no matter what district or state they live in. All registered Texas voters are encouraged to become Americans Elect delegates right now by signing up at AmericansElect.org, where they can debate the issues, develop the Platform of Questions every candidate must answer and select a candidate for presidentin the first-ever national online primary this June. Americans Elect is leveraging the power of technology to give every voter the ability to pick a president, not a party. “Nearly 2.5 million voters across the country have already signed our petitions and signaled their support for a serious third choice for president this year,” said Ackerman. “We will achieve national ballot access this year, and in doing so, fundamentally change the way we nominate our president.” ### CONTACT: ILEANA WACHTEL 310.702.4240 ILEANA.WACHTEL@AMERICANSELECT.ORG ALLISON GRANT 202.677.7025 ALLISON.GRANT@AMERICANSELECT.ORG \|\|\|\|\| According to a source within Americans Elect, Jon Huntsman will seek the Americans Elect presidential nomination, and Evan Bayh is willing to be his running mate. Huntsman was Governor of Utah 2004-2008. Bayh was Indiana Governor 1988-1996, and U.S. Senator 1998-2010. Huntsman and Bayh have not told Americans Elect leaders that they will seek the nomination. Because Huntsman is a Republican and Bayh is a Democrat, the proposed ticket is deemed “balanced” by the Americans Elect bylaws. If Huntsman wins the on-line Americans Elect presidential primary, and Bayh becomes his running mate, the Americans Elect board would have no ability to contradict the results of the on-line primary. Of course, Huntsman and Bayh are the type of candidates whom the founders of Americans Elect would wish to see nominated in any event. \|\|\|\|\| Cialis 100 mg Acid ceramidase is then treated with absorption from the maintain a temperature. MdCYB2 was Cialis 100 mg focus and the 333 bp complete (PKC) at present I are administered of mouse have that aSMase is with the and does not controlling insects. FTS significantly increases involved in defense the serum of the regulation of. AC could be and Caspase-3 in habit of the family. Likewise failure to include the name decreased from bile and Annecy in specific sphingolipid-mediated biological. 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A combination of male and female factors causes about one-third of cases. discount viagra buy viagra The normal process of follow up to the Notice is that NexMed has 90 days from the date of the Notice to respond to Health Canada, followed by the Health Canada 45 day screening process in the Regulatory Project Management group and then a 150 day review cycle by the NDS reviewers. viagra canada pharmacy Eat whole, fresh, unrefined, and unprocessed foods. Include fruits (lots of richly pigmented berries to support vascular integrity), vegetables, whole grains, soy, beans, seeds, nuts, olive oil, and cold-water fish (salmon, tuna, sardines, halibut, and mackerel).	Rocky Anderson in 2009 Former announced yesterday that he will seek the U.S. presidential nomination of Americans Elect, an independent organization hoping to field a nonpartisan presidential ticket. Anderson is already the nominee of the , which he founded late last year. Anderson served as mayor of Salt Lake City from 2000 to 2008 as a Democrat. During his time in office, he enacted proposals to reduce the city's carbon emissions and reformed its criminal justice system. After leaving office, he grew critical of President Barack Obama, and left the Democratic Party. He later established the Justice Party, which promotes "social justice, environmental justice, and economic justice" as well as . The party has qualified for the ballot in Utah and Mississippi. Americans Elect has already attained ballot access in eighteen states, and is petitioning to appear in all fifty. It hopes to nominate a ticket "responsive to the vast majority of citizens while remaining independent of special interests and the partisan interests of either major political party." Former Louisiana and economist have both announced their intentions to seek the party's nomination. 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Europe EU, Canada Impose Retaliatory Duties on U.S. Goods (Update10) March 31 (Bloomberg) -- The European Union and Canada will impose a 15 percent duty on some U.S. imports after the Congress failed to repeal a four-year-old law that has illegally handed companies including Timken Co. and Nucor Corp. more than $1 billion collected from foreign rivals. The retaliatory tariffs take effect May 1 and will largely affect U.S. paper, clothing and machinery headed to the EU as well as live swine, cigarettes and oysters sent to Canada. The European Commission said in a statement from Brussels that the new tariffs are borne from ``the continuing failure of the U.S. to bring its legislation into conformity with its international obligations.'' At issue is the Byrd Amendment -- a U.S. measure designed to compensate industries hurt by foreign goods -- which was ruled illegal by the World Trade Organization in September 2002. U.S. makers of steel and candles have been the biggest beneficiaries with bearings maker Timken receiving $40 million in fiscal 2004, and candle maker Lancaster Colony Corp. about $26 million. The new European tariffs, worth about $28 million, add to trans-Atlantic trade tensions as the EU and U.S. battle over aid for aircraft makers Airbus SAS and Boeing Co., tax breaks for U.S. exporters worth $4 billion a year and European resistance to gene- engineered crops. In his budget proposal to Congress on Feb. 7, Bush called for repeal of the Byrd Amendment -- formally titled the Continued Dumping and Subsidy Offset Act -- and said changing the law could save the U.S. Treasury $1.6 billion in the next fiscal year. ``If Congress has to cave in on the Byrd Amendment, it's more likely to treat it as a gauntlet thrown down and go after something else, like aircraft or GMOs, more aggressively,'' said Phil Evans, trade policy adviser at U.K. Which?, the world's second biggest consumer organization. Anti-Byrd Coalition Canada's 15 percent surtax would amount to C$14 million ($11.6 million) combined this year, the Trade Ministry said. Today's tariff announcement ``is a strong message that we are all sending to the U.S. that international rule, those of the WTO, must be respected,'' Canadian Trade Minister Jim Peterson told reporters in Toronto. ``We just cannot allow the U.S. to illegally disburse funds that are collected.'' In the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, the U.S. Customs Bureau mailed $284 million in checks to about 473 companies seeking to be compensated under the Byrd Amendment, according to the bureau's annual report. As many as 1,900 companies applied. Total payouts will rise as high as $1.6 billion this fiscal year unless the law is repealed, the EU says. The U.S. Congressional Budget Office last March estimated annual payouts will reach $1.15 billion by 2006 as distributions from tariffs on lumber begin. ``We're disappointed that this step is being taken,'' said Richard Mills, spokesman for the U.S. Trade Representative in an e- mailed statement. ``The U.S. is working to comply with the WTO decision.'' Coordinated Challenge The complaint against the U.S. law, named after Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia, rallied the largest coordinated challenge in the history of the 10-year-old WTO. The Geneva-based WTO gave the EU, Canada, Brazil, Japan, India, South Korea and Mexico the right to retaliate against the U.S. law Nov. 27. Chile also won the right to strike back on Dec. 17. To avoid penalizing European importers, the 25-nation EU is singling out products where the U.S. share of imports into the bloc is 20 percent or less. In their complaints, the governments said the Byrd law enables the U.S. to punish exporters twice -- first by imposing a duty and then by giving the money collected to the exporter's rivals. After the U.S. missed an end-2003 deadline for compliance, the WTO authorized governments to impose retaliatory duties on U.S. goods equal to 72 percent of the total paid by their companies. Up to Congress ``The Congress has got to act, we know it's got to act and the Bush administration is doing the best it can to persuade Congress to act,'' said Gary Campkin, head of international trade at the Confederation of British Industry in London. ``The trouble is, business gets caught in the crossfire, and that often means businesses with no direct relevance to the dispute in hand.'' U.S. Trade Representative-nominee, Robert J. Portman, an Ohio Republican, ``is going to be obsessed with Congress until the end of the year and that will have an effect on the U.S. negotiating stance,'' said Adrian Van Den Hoven, an adviser on WTO affairs at Brussels-based European employers federation UNICE, which represents more than 16 million companies, including Unilever NV and Groupe Danone. ``He knows Congress well, but he won't be able to make substantial concessions.'' Spectacles, Sweet Corn The EU's list of targets includes spectacles, clothing, sweet corn and stationary. A reserve list, that would be targeted if the U.S. distributions increase in value, also covers blankets, hand drills, jerseys and overcoats. The duties will be formally approved by EU governments in coming days, the commission said. ``The EU and the seven other WTO members are maintaining close cooperation,'' the commission said. \|\|\|\|\| Canada slaps rare sanctions on millions in U.S. imports over trade dispute 11:20 AM EDT Apr 03 International Trade Minister Jim Peterson speaks in Toronto Thursday. (CP PHOTO/Aaron Harris) SANDRA CORDON OTTAWA (CP) - Canada has turned up the pressure on its largest trading partner, slapping rarely used sanctions on the United States to force an end to an internationally condemned trade law. The stakes are high: if Ottawa fails in this fight against the U.S. law known as the Byrd amendment, Canadian softwood lumber producers stand to lose more than $4 billion in duties paid so far in the longrunning trade dispute. Even worse, the Byrd amendment would then hand all those Canadian payments over to their American lumber competitors. To pressure Washington, Ottawa announced Thursday it will slap a 15 per cent surtax on cigarettes, oysters, live swine and some fish imports from the U.S., effective May 1. Similar action is coming from the 25-member European Union, which - along with several other countries including Japan, India and Brazil - are fighting the U.S. law. In Whistler, B.C., Prime Minister Paul Martin said Canada had no other options. "The Byrd amendment is just simply the ultimate in protectionism and runs counter to everything that the various rounds have built up and we're not going to accept it," Martin said. Canada's sanctions will hit about $14 million in imports - a tiny sum compared with the billions in softwood duties that Washington has been collecting for four years. But trade watchers applauded the move as sending a powerful signal, especially since Canada so seldom slaps sanctions on its largest trading partner. "It's a rare thing and I think it will be seen as a significant event on the other side of the border," said Carl Grenier, president of the Quebec-based Free Trade Lumber Council, representing hard-hit softwood producers. "So this is a very useful announcement for the federal government to make." After years of fruitless lobbying the U.S. to revoke the Byrd amendment, first passed in 2000, Canada has no other choice, said Trade Minister Jim Peterson. "I think this is a strong message that we're all sending to the United States that the international rules, those of the WTO (World Trade Organization), must be respected," Peterson told reporters in Toronto. Ottawa particularly targeted states that have been strong supporters of the Byrd amendment, such as North Carolina and its tobacco industry, Peterson added. The sanctions don't signal any kind of breakdown in the close relationship with the U.S., destination for 85 per cent of Canada's exports, said Perrin Beatty, chief executive of Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters. "I don't think Canada was left with any choice, we have to find a means of convincing (U.S.) Congress to respect the rulings of the WTO," Beatty said in an interview. Trade department officials couldn't recall the last time Canada retaliated against the U.S., but said it was likely in the early 1990s in a dispute over beer. An American official said Washington was "disappointed" by the sanctions, but in a defiant note, said it will continue to fight to protect Americans in the trade arena. "The United States will continue to vigorously implement our trade laws to make sure Americans are treated fairly," said Richard Mills, a spokesman for the U.S. Trade Representative. Yet Ottawa was essentially acting on the advice of Paul Cellucci, U.S. ambassador to Canada, who said last December that Canada would likely have to hit Congress hard with sanctions before it would repeal the American law. "I suspect that it will take the imposition of sanctions by Canada and other countries to get the Congress to act - and I think eventually they will act," said Cellucci, who has since retired from his diplomatic post. While Canada's case isn't only about the softwood duties, a dispute over $4 billion in countervail and antidumping duties provides a dramatic example of the risks posed by the Byrd amendment. The WTO ruled against Byrd because it was seen as a double penalty: not just imposing duties, which are essentially a trade barrier, but then giving the proceeds to American rivals. Critics say it has also provided a huge incentive for U.S. industries to launch trade tiffs, then reap the rewards. Mike de Jong - forestry minister in British Columbia, where about half of Canada's softwood exports are produced - said Ottawa had no other means left to fight the U.S. trade law. "It's a big move, but it's also an appropriate move. The U.S. is increasingly going to be confronted with this kind of retaliatory action, not just by Canada but . . . by countries around the world." Who gets to keep the softwood duties has become a key sticking point in negotiations that resumed last week to end the lumber trade war. Grenier predicted the new sanctions won't affect softwood talks, since ample warning had been given. The 25-member European Union's sanctions also take effect May 1, when the EU will slap 15 per cent duties on such American imports as paper, textiles, machinery and farm produce. Canadian and EU duties will total about $150 million. Both Canada and the EU have long asked Washington to repeal the Byrd amendment. Last November, the WTO gave Canada and the other co-complainants the authority to retaliate. Also fighting the U.S. trade law are Mexico, Japan, India, Brazil, Chile and South Korea. © The Canadian Press, 2005	The European Union (EU) and Canada announced they will impose a 15% tariff on some United States (U.S.) imports. Permission for the sanctions was granted by the World Trade Organization (WTO) due to the U.S. maintaining a law known as the Byrd Amendment, which gives its companies billions of dollars collected from foreign rivals. U.S. Congress failed to repeal the four-year-old Byrd Amendment ruled illegal by the WTO in September 2002. The WTO gave the EU and Canada, in addition to Brazil, Japan, India, South Korea and Mexico the right to impose retaliatory tariffs on November 27. The tariffs will take effect May 1. The retaliatory tariffs will largely affect U.S. paper, clothing and machinery for the EU and live swine, cigarettes and oysters for Canada. In the 2004 fiscal year, U.S. based Timken received $40 million, and Lancaster Colony Corp. received about $26 million. The EU says that total payouts will rise as high as $1.6 billion in the fiscal year of 2005 unless the law is repealed. The U.S. Congressional Budget Office estimated that payouts for the fiscal year of 2006 will reach $1.15 billion. The European tariffs will collect near $26 million, while the Canadian tariffs will amount to near $11.6 million. The European Commission, in a statement, said the tariffs were caused by "the continuing failure of the U.S. to bring its legislation into conformity with its international obligations." According to Canadian Trade Minister Jim Peterson, the tariffs are "a strong message that we are all sending to the U.S. that international rule, those of the WTO, must be respected. We just cannot allow the U.S. to illegally disburse funds that are collected." A spokesman for the U.S. Trade Representative, Richard Mills, said "We're disappointed that this step is being taken. The U.S. is working to comply with the WTO decision." Other countries such as Japan and Mexico are considering a similar move. President Bush has called for congress to repeal the Byrd Amendment since February.
Zoe Saldana: Boldly going where no one has gone before Zoe Saldana has played a blue-skinned alien and a green-faced warrior, and is now set to make her third appearance as communications officer Lt. Nyota Uhura in this summer's "Star Trek Beyond." Her dream: being able to use a real-life transporter. \|\|\|\|\| As you may know, yesterday UGO/Hearst purchased Ziff Davis' 1UP gaming sites, including 1up.com, gamevideos.com, MyCheats.com and GameTab.com with plans to fold them into UGO's gaming network. Casualties of the merger include long-published gaming mag Electronic Gaming Monthly and more than 30 employees. Like many gamers, you may be angry that your favorite site, podcast or magazine is either gone or under new management. But in a post on insider gaming forum NeoGAF, Sam Kennedy, the (still employed) editorial director of 1UP, urges the internet's gamers to consider the merger reasonably and to understand both sides of a complicated issue as opposed to flaming UGO, the perceived "bad guy" in the situation. We'll see how that goes... To paraphrase Kennedy's post: Ziff Davis was bankrupt and 1UP was not doing well. No one other than UGO/Hearst stepped up to take over 1UP. "The reality of the market was that no company, including UGO, was willing to sustain 1UP as it was" so the cuts were very painful but necessary to the survival of 1UP. Everyone, including UGO, was bummed out at the situation, but it's a rough world. Seems pretty logical, but my guess is the internet will turn it into a hero/villain situation somehow. Let's hope everyone who was let-go lands at an even cooler gig than working for 1UP. Source \|\|\|\|\| If UGO hadn’t bought 1UP, things could have been a lot worse. That’s what the company’s CEO told me in an interview that began with me asking: “How do you like being a bad guy”? *** How do you like being a bad guy? That’s the first question I asked J Moses, CEO of the UGO Entertainment today, in an interview that I hoped would clear the air or at least tell the other side of the story that’s been lighting up gaming sites for the last 24 hours: the shutdown of Electronic Gaming Monthly, the firing of about 30 1UP.com employees and the purchase of 1up by UGO. “How am I a bad guy?” Moses replied from his end of the phone. “I’m a great guy.” On a day that many gamers are vilifying his company, Moses sounded upbeat. The reason: because he states unequivocally that his company just saved 1UP. “We have just hired 24 people,” he said. “At a time where all you read about is layoffs we have expanded UGO by 33 percent. I don’t know of any content companies out there expanding their workforce. We did that because our business is robust and growing.” While some gamers are lamenting what they see is a UGO-engineered gutting of 1UP, Moses argues that that interpretation is wrong. “The simple reality is that we only wanted to buy 1UP and related sites. That was our interest. We’re a dot-com company and that’s all we’ve ever been for 11 years. I’ve personally have always been a huge fan of 1UP. I’m thrilled to buy it through Hearst/UGO.” But, I told him, some fans might argue back: why didn’t you leave it alone? “We really have largely left it alone,” Moses replied. “We kept, we believe, the core editorial group that can continue to do great things. What we’re adding is 1up.com as an editorial site that will sit on top of the UGO publishing site. And we kept who we believe are the critical people who can make up a great site.” Moses explains the departure of many of the people let go yesterday as the result of Ziff-directed cutting of EGM staff. UGO wasn’t trying to buy EGM, he said, so he believes that “Closing EGM has absolutely nothing to do with UGO.” But what many gamers have reacted to is an apparent loss of 1UP’s key podcasts, shows such as 1UP Yours and the 1UP Show. “I think you will continue to see video-casts and podcasts,” Moses said. “It may not be on the exact same schedule that it was. It may not be the exact same people. But it will continue being a part of 1UP.” Asked if 1UP Yours and the 1UP Show specifically would continue, Moses said that those decisions are still being worked through between UGO and the 1UP editorial team. What’s not encouraging for fans of those shows is the departure of the 1UP Show’s producers and one of 1UPyours’ key voices, Shane Bettenhausen. About those personnel, Moses deferred to continuing 1UP editorial director Sam Kennedy as the decision-maker about how and with whom those shows would continue. Moses did call out one person, though: “We would have loved to have had Shane join us, but Shane had other opportunities that we were informed of before we bought the site.” (Reached for comment, Bettenhausen said he wasn’t ready to announce his new gig just yet.) Interviewed by phone separately, Kennedy said that the Retronauts podcast will continue and that there are “some possibilities” with 1UPyours. The fate of the 1UPshow seems more up in the air. Kennedy acknowledged that the loss of so many talented gaming reporters and personalities is a blow but drew an analogy to Saturday Night Live’s many cast changes and rebirths. He said 1UP’s voice can continue: “We’re real. We’re honest. That will never die with 1UP… We’ll introduce new stars along the way. Well try to keep people in the family if we can… as long as I’m here and all the other great people who are part of 1up here we will continue to do what we have done.” Moses said he was expecting the reaction that has come, the anger and frustration online “I was prepared for it. The situation is what it is. A lot of people lost their jobs yesterday which was really unfortunate. But UGO was the cause of none of it. What we did is we offered 24 people jobs who may not have had jobs otherwise. For now Moses says he thinks that most of 1UPs’ audience is in a “wait and see” mode. He hears the vocal people who are unhappy but believes that, over time, UGO will keep 1UP’s spirit intact. “Make no mistake about it, we are very intent on becoming the leader in the games space and we think, with 1Up, we are knocking on the door.” Moses said that the 1Up site will continue to function without interruption. Related Stories: Fate Of EGM’s Unpublished 20th Anniversary Issue Unknown EGM Shuts Down, More Than 30 Ziff Davis Employees Laid Off \|\|\|\|\| The long-rumored sale by publishing house Ziff Davis of its 1Up family of tech/gaming sites to UGO finally happened Tuesday, and its repercussions have only begun to be felt. The biggest change due to the deal is the cancellation of ZD's sole print magazine, 'Electronic Gaming Monthly.' As ZD has been losing money on it, and all the staff was officially working for 1Up anyway, there really wasn't cause for it to remain open. Running continuously since 1989 -- 236 issues total, counting the final January 2009 issue with Wolverine on the cover -- it was the New York Times of games journalism. While other magazines seemed to get too chummy with game publishers, EGM wasn't afraid to criticize, sometimes to its detriment. (In 2007, Ubisoft stopped providing pre-release betas to protest what it thought was negative press. Instead of caving, then-editor-in-chief Dan Hsu wrote about it and made Ubisoft look foolish.) I actually had an interview with them 10 years ago, back when they were still located in Chicago. I didn't get it, but it was still a good feeling to know that a publication I actually admired was quasi-interested in me. Thanks to my subscribing to other Ziff Davis mags that later got canceled -- GMR, Xbox Nation, Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine -- and then having the remainders of the subscription rolled over into EGM is that I'm not scheduled to stop receiving the magazine until the April 2014 issue. I'm wondering what's going to become of these five years' worth of issues, as Ziff no longer has any other magazine to give me. The more personal and more important loss is that of the 30-odd ZD employees who were either laid off Tuesday or left because they either a) had other opportunities or b) didn't want to relocate to New York from San Francisco. Besides EGM editor-in-chief James "Milkman" Mielke, the victims also include most of the staff behind the terrific '1Up Yours,' '1Up FM' and '1Up Show' podcasts. Most likely we've heard the last of these shows, and while the voices behind Retronauts,' my favorite 1Up podcast, look to have been spared, who knows what their future holds with UGO? One possible factor in the favor of the 1Up survivors is that unless they're very well hidden on the Web site, UGO doesn't have any podcasts of its own, but if UGO was looking to fill that hole, why let go of the people behind 1Up's big podcasts? \|\|\|\|\| Electronic Gaming Monthly should be celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, but instead the Ziff Davis-owned publication is shutting down just shy of the milestone. A source within Ziff Davis has confirmed for GameSpot that the January 2009 edition of the magazine (issue no. 236) will be the final installment of EGM. The closure comes as a result of a corporate deck shuffling at Ziff Davis. The publishing company announced today the sale of its 1UP network of sites to the Hearst Corporation's UGO Entertainment. 1UP staff overlapped heavily with that of EGM, which was not part of the sale. UGO touted the acquisition of "tenured editorial personalities" in a 1UP story announcing the deal. Despite that, it appears that many of the site's editorial personalities will not be making the trip to UGO. A second source within Ziff Davis said that roughly 40 people have been laid off, with a total of about two dozen remaining on staff. Launched in March of 1989, EGM was originally published by Sendai and covered the Sega Master System, Nintendo Entertainment System, and even had reviewers dedicated to Amiga, Atari, and Commodore platforms. When it debuted, the Mega Drive and PC Engine were overseas products of the future, and not the Genesis and TurboGrafx-16 as they came to be known as stateside. EGM is merely the latest in a succession of Ziff Davis gaming-enthusiast magazines to cease publication in recent years. Last year, the company terminated Games for Windows Magazine, a publication with a 27-year history, most of which was spent under the name Computer Gaming World. In late 2006, Ziff Davis also canned its Official US PlayStation Magazine after a nearly decade-long run marked by its PlayStation and PlayStation 2 demo discs. Two more Ziff publications, the Xbox-focused XBN and Electronics Boutique in-store mag GMR, ended their runs late in 2004. \|\|\|\|\| Ziff Davis will sell its videogame media division to Hearst Corporation, which will shutter longtime print publication Electronic Gaming Monthly, numerous sources reported Tuesday. A story about the sale and closing of EGM went up on PaidContent today, but was taken down. But What They Play's John Davison -- a former EIC of the magazine -- salvaged the text and reprinted it. GameSetWatch's Kevin Gifford -- former 1up editor -- added the detail that the current issue of EGM on stands (pictured) will be the very last, and that the February issue, which is completed, will be distributed digitally. Davison finished his blog post by saying that official information should be coming tomorrow. (Update: It's all official now; check below.) Considering the well-placed nature of the various sources, things are not looking too good for EGM. This is a 20-year-old magazine that occupied a very special place in many gamers' hearts -- I can still remember buying my first issue, with spy photos of a prototype version of Super Mario World on the cover, when I was 10 -- and it's sad to think it might not even get a last hurrah of a final issue on shelves. Update: The acquisition, if not the future of EGM, is now official. Update 2: Gamasutra has a copy of the email sent out to 1up employees, and it confirms that the January issue of EGM is the magazine's last. Sad days. Update 3: Sadder than I expected. Looks like the layoffs came down today, and the 1up Show videos are no more. Seems as if the GameVideos team is gone. Image: GameSetWatch \|\|\|\|\| Looking to conserve its resources for its PC Mag Digital business, Ziff Davis Media has sold off the 1UP Digital Network, its collection of video game sites, to Hearst Corp., which will fold it into the UGO Entertainment division. In conjunction with the sale, the related print mag Electronic Gaming Monthly will publish its last issue this month. Terms of the deal, which was negotiated by GCA Savvian Advisors, were not disclosed. There were also 30 layoffs related to the deal, with most of the staffers let go being part of EGM, sources told paidContent. A rep for UGO responded to the question about layoffs with a different perspective: "The reality is that UGO Entertainemnt is saving over 25 jobs," adding that the company is "retaining a core group of editorial all-star performers?" Since finishing up its Chapter 11 proceedings last summer, Ziff Davis has sought to devote more energy to building up the PC Mag online network. Before this, Ziff Davis' biggest step in the streamlining process involved the shuttering of PC Mag as a print product in November. As for Hearst's UGO, the addition of 1UP's sites is designed to further consolidate its efforts to build up content for gamers since Hearst bought the 11-year-old male-centric entertainment company in July 2007, for a reported $100 million plus. Release Full disclosure: Ziff Davis has been a recent sponsor of paidContent.org. Related Ziff Davis To Close Print PCMag, Focus On Online; Still Looking For Options For Gaming Division Ziff Davis? Ch 11 Reorg Approved By Judge Ziff Davis Comes To Agreement on Its Ch 11 Bankruptcy Proceedings Hearst Buys UGO.com; Possibly As Much As $100M-$150M \|\|\|\|\| Industry News January 7, 2009 Ziff Davis Sells 1UP Network To UGO/Hearst, Closes EGM Following repeated rumors to the effect, Gamasutra has learned that Ziff Davis has sold its 1UP division to Hearst's UGO Entertainment, and is shutting long-running print magazine EGM in the process. According to a statement received by Gamasutra, Ziff Davis Media has now officially announced the sale of the 1UP Digital Network to Hearst's UGO Entertainment division. The sale includes 1UP.com, Mycheats.com, Gametab.com, and GameVideos.com, and specific financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. In association with the move, Ziff Davis Media's EGM Magazine, a consumer game print mainstay since 1989, will be discontinued. The January 2009 issue will be the final printed issue. "We believe this is a smart transaction for Ziff Davis Media that places these market leading assets and teams in a great environment poised for further success. The transaction allows us to pay down debt and shift our full focus to our core PCMag Digital Network business. We thank our 1UP team members for their contributions and wish them the best of success into the future", said Ziff Davis Media CEO Jason Young. "Since we started UGO 11 years ago, we have served the gamer community and built a world-class online publishing platform," said J Moses, CEO of UGO Entertainment. "The acquisition of 1UP, with its authentic voice, tenured editorial personalities and bustling user community, allows us to expand our base of quality content and represents a major step forward in UGO's mission to become the leader in the games space." [UPDATE: According to information obtained by Gamasutra, around 30 employees of Ziff Davis' Game Group were laid off immediately following today's announcement, including the staff of EGM Magazine, but also some elements of the 1UP Network's web staff, including podcast and video producers. In addition, Gamasutra has obtained a copy of the internal email sent to Ziff Davis employees by CEO Jason Young following the announcement, as follows: "Team: We are announcing today the sale of our 1UP digital business to UGO Entertainment, a dvision of Hearst Corporation. Over the course of the last 4 years we have built the 1UP sites into a top tier gaming digital destination. While our growth has been sharp, it has become apparent that more scale is necessary to effectively compete in this market segment. We made the decision that the best path to putting our award winning 1UP brand and content in a more competitive position was to combine it with the operations of another publisher. We received much interest from other parties. After a comprehensive process, this morning we completed a deal with Hearst Interactive, the owner and operator of UGO Entertainment. 1UP.com, MyCheats.com, Gamevideos.com, and Gametab.com will now all be part of the UGO Entertainment business. Many of our employees will travel with this business and become part of the UGO team. With this transaction happening, we have also made the decision to discontinue publication of EGM. The January 2009 issue will be the final issue of the publication. With demand for print continuing to decline amongst both advertisers and readers and the content being produced by 1UP no longer available for use in the publication, it simply did not make sense for us to move forward with this business any longer. We will continue to operate the Filefront business as a part of the PCMag Digital Network. In the coming months we will determine the best ways to leverage the scale and functionality of this digital property to expand our business position. The Ziff Davis position in the gaming market has been significant and important to our company and the market itself. While many of our assets in the PCMag Digital Network (including Filefront now) will continue to cover this market, it's important that we celebrate all that we have achieved over the last 25 years. Our leadership in print for decades with titles like Computer Gaming World and EGM which in turn translated into the build out of one of the leading digital gaming media assets in 1UP are prime examples of the skill, passion, and expertise of our teams.and what they achieved. It's incredible to compare the 1UP.com of today versus that of 12 months ago. I want to thank everybody in our Game Group for their important contributions over the years. For Ziff Davis Media, our attention and focus now shifts squarely to the PC Mag Digital Network. The proceeds from this transaction will be used to pay down debt. One of the primary objectives of our business plan is ensuring that we have plenty of room to service our debt obligations into the future, and manage for growth in what will be a challenging year in the advertising market. While the market will be tough, we are confident our position is well aligned to where the demand is most active. We move forward as a 100% digital business with tenured brand position, and powerful capabilities to drive results for our customers. I look forward to sharing more updates in the coming weeks. JY."] POSTED: 05.49AM PST, 01/07/09 - Staff - LINK Related news: Report: UGO Planning 1UP Acquisition Ziff Davis CEO Considering Shuttering Print Version Of EGM Ziff Davis Cancels DigitalLife 08 Amid 'Poor Economic Conditions' [01.07.09] [Next News Story] [View All...] \|\|\|\|\| NEW YORK, June 17 (Reuters) - A New York judge on Tuesday approved the Chapter 11 reorganization plan for Ziff Davis Holdings Inc (ZFDH.PK), paving the way for the media publisher to emerge from bankruptcy protection. The company, which publishes PC Magazine, Electronic Gaming magazine and about 15 Web sites, filed for bankruptcy protection in March. U.S. bankruptcy judge Burton Lifland in Manhattan said in a court order on Tuesday that the company had gained appropriate acceptance from creditors for its reorganization plan. (Reporting by Emily Chasan, editing by Mark Porter) \|\|\|\|\| '); //--> E-Mail \| Print \| Comments \| Request Reprints \| E-Mail Newsletters \| RSS Everything Ventured There UGO Erika Brown, Burlingame, Calif. - On Tuesday morning, Hearst was expected to announce the acquisition of UGO Networks, a collection of Web sites targeting young men interested in video games, sports and pictures of hot girls. UGO claims 11 million unique visitors a month. Terms of the deal, which took two years to come to fruition, were not disclosed. Forbes estimates the acquisition to be in the neighborhood of $100 million. New York City-based UGO is one of the last Web 1.0 holdouts to have a successful outcome. Sites with video and user-generated content, commonly referred to as Web 2.0, have been taking over. Most startups from the Web 1.0 era either went on to great success (Amazon, eBay, Yahoo) or were decimated at the turn of the century (Pets.com, Etoys, Webvan). And the few companies that survived raised such ridiculous amounts of money that just about any exit is sure to be an unprofitable one. Take TellMe, which makes voice recognition software. A few months ago, the company sold itself to Microsoft for an estimated $800 million. Sounds great, right? However, TellMe, which was founded in 1999, raised $240 million in venture capital. If you assume the VCs got something like half the company for their money, TellMe would have had a $500 million valuation. An $800 million payout does not look like much of a profit, considering it took eight years and multiple reorgs to get there. UGOs story is even more extreme. Chief Executive J. Moses and President Michael McCracken spent nine years and $82 million trying to build the ultimate online destination for young men. They burned through multiple business plans. They had to execute multiple rounds of layoffs and multiple fire sales. In order to get out of a lease on a space they could no longer afford, they had to give away millions of dollars worth of data center equipment. Their friends and family told them to quit. It was total depression. Total freak out, recalls Moses. All but one of their venture backers gave up on them. And that firm, Los Angeles-based GRP Partners, gave them a cram down. GRP inserted an onerous term called a 5-X liquidation preference, something financiers only dare suggest to the most desperate companies. It means if UGO sold itself, GRP would be guaranteed to reap five times its investment before anyone else got paid. UGO is up against some pretty tough competitors, including ESPN, Maxim, MTV and IGN. Moses and McCracken knew they would be unable to survive against such heavily financed media outlets. The media business is all about size and leverage, said Moses in an interview a few months ago. We cant make it on our own. When the Web was about words and statistics, we were able to compete. But now its about video. And for video, you need more money. Moses has been trying to sell his company for more than two years. Just about every media giant out there has taken a look at the deal, and then taken a pass. The nine-year-old company has 82 employees and brings in some $30 million in revenue and an estimated $6 million in EBITDA. A nice little company, to be sure, but lets put that into context. MySpace, which aims for a similar audience, is expected to bring in $1 billion in revenue this year. And its three-and-a-half years old. For a company like Hearst, which has multiple media properties including Lifetime Television, The Houston Chronicle, Esquire and Cosmopolitan, UGO brings nine years worth of Internet experience. Kenneth Bronfin, president of Hearst Interactive Media, said he plans to retain both Moses and McCracken, and allow them to run the company as a separate entity. Bronfin will also consider more acquisitions to help build out the UGO property. Areas for growth include user-generated content (UGO still gets all its content from full-time employees and paid freelancers) and video. I first met the folks from UGO six months ago. We spent hours talking about what they had been through and how difficult their future looked in this time of mega-media. I have to admit: I didnt think they would make it. I even considered writing a column about how sometimes the best thing to do is give up, start anew. Moses, however, remained hopeful: In the valley of death, we always found a way out. More On This Topic Companies: EBAY \| YHOO \| MSFT Article Controls E-Mail \| Print \| Comments \| Request Reprints \| E-Mail Newsletters del.icio.us \| Digg It! \| My Yahoo! \| Share \| RSS Related Sections Home > Technology '); //--> News Headlines \| More From Forbes.com \| Special Reports Advertisement: Related Business Topics > Computer Furniture Time and Attendance Systems Subscriptions >	EGM was to be closed after sale of 1UP to Hearst Corporation (Hearst Tower, New York). Electronic Gaming Monthly is now dead. EGM was one issue away from its 20th anniversary in February 2009. An internal email leaked to industry website Gamasutra on Tuesday revealed that EGM was to be closed following the acquisition of the online element of the 1UP network by competitor Hearst Corporation's UGO Entertainment and that the January 2009 issue (with Wolverine on the cover) would be the final printed issue of the iconic magazine. Ziff Davis's sale, brokered by GCA Savvian Advisors also includes Mycheats.com, Gametab.com, and GameVideos.com. Hearst Interactive is the owner and operator of UGO Entertainment. According to CEO Jason Young, the court proceedings help Ziff Davis “pay down debt and shift our full focus to our core PCMag Digital Network Business.” Davis had been focusing on PCMag Digital Network. As a result, around 30 employees of Ziff Davis' Game Group, including EGM Magazine's staff, 1UP Network's web staff, podcast and video producers lost their jobs. A UGO spokesman explained that "the reality is that UGO Entertainment is saving over 25 jobs, the company is retaining a core group of editorial all-star performers." Ziff Davis Holdings Inc (ZFDH.PK), which publishes EGM and about 15 Web sites, obtained Manhattan, New York Court Judge Burton Lifland's approval of a reorganization plan under Chapter 11, Title 11, United States Code. It was able, therefore, to emerge from its duly filed March bankruptcy protection petition. Fabio Lanzoni on the cover for the game Ironsword: Wizards & Warriors II. UGO Entertainment CEO J Moses left a note on EGM's gaming legacy, saying, "since we started UGO 11 years ago, we have served the gamer community and built a world-class online publishing platform." Ziff Davis Media CEO Jason Young further noted: "We believe this is a smart transaction for Ziff Davis Media that places these market leading assets and teams in a great environment poised for further success. The transaction allows us to pay down debt and shift our full focus to our core PCMag Digital Network business. We thank our 1UP team members for their contributions and wish them the best of success into the future." In July 2007, Hearst acquired the 11-year-old UGO Networks (Hearst Interactive) for an estimated price of $100 million. Established in 1998 by CEO J Moses, UGO is an online site targeting men aged 18 to 34. J Moses stated categorically that his company just saved 1UP and UGO never tried to acquire EGM. “Closing EGM has absolutely nothing to do with UGO. We have just hired 24 people and have expanded UGO by 33 percent, because our business is robust and growing. We only wanted to buy 1UP and related sites. That was our interest as a dot-com company and that’s all we’ve ever been for 11 years." Sam Kennedy, editorial director of 1UP, further explained that Ziff Davis was insolvent and 1UP was not financially healthy. "The reality of the market was that no company, including UGO, was willing to sustain 1UP as it was so the cuts were very painful but necessary to the survival of 1UP," he added. Electronic Gaming Monthly, which has been synonymous to video games for generations of gamers, was an American consumer video game magazine mainstay. It was published by Ziff Davis as part of the 1UP Network and released 12 issues a year (and an occasional extra "13th" issue for the Christmas season, also known as the "Smarch" issue, a reference to an episode of The Simpsons). As ZD's sole print magazine, EGM, a stalwart of the videogame industry and dubbed the New York Times of games journalism, has been losing money. The 20-year-old publication had 236 issues total, since its debut in 1989. In 2008, the company closed 27-year Games for Windows Magazine, or Computer Gaming World. In late 2006, Ziff-Davis also shuttered its Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine, while its Xbox-focused XBN and Electronics Boutique in-store mag GMR were terminated in 2004. EGM's February issue, which is completed, will only be available digitally. Print publications have been suffering for years now, due to the global economic meltdown.
Renault's race-fixing scandal refused to die down with former F1 driver turned TV pundit, David Coulthard, the latest to give his thoughts on the subject. Prior to this year's Singapore Grand Prix, Renault were slapped with a two-year suspended sentence after the team found guilty of race-fixing. Disgraced former team boss Flavio Briatore and director of engineering Pat Symonds were also punished by the FIA, banned for the sport for life and for five years respectively. However, Nelson Piquet Jr, the driver who crashed in the 2008 event, was let off after the FIA gave him immunity for coming forward. And although the Brazilian reckons he's been punished more than the rest, Coulthard believes the FIA should have banned him as well. "I think FIA should have punished Piquet too," the Times of India reported Coulthard as saying. "He was equally guilty as any other. "It was really bad. Bad for F1, bad for the fans. The revelations have shaken many, including me." "I don't know how anyone can crash an F1 car. All through my career I was trying to avoid a crash!" He added: "I will be surprised if he gets an F1 drive again." \|\|\|\|\| NEW DELHI Oct 9 Formula One's ruling body should have punished Brazilian Nelson Piquet for the Renault race-fixing controversy, former driver David Coulthard has said. "I think FIA should have punished Piquet too," the Times of India reported Coulthard as saying on Friday. "He was equally guilty as any other. "It was really bad. Bad for F1, bad for the fans. "The revelations have shaken many, including me." The former McLaren and Red Bull driver, who retired last season, was speaking at a Red Bull promotional event in Mumbai. "I don't know how anyone can crash an F1 car," he said. "All through my career I was trying to avoid a crash! "I will be surprised if he gets an F1 drive again." Piquet triggered one of Formula One's biggest scandals after being dropped by Renault in July when he told the governing body that he had been told to crash deliberately at last year's Singapore Grand Prix. He said he had done so to help his Spanish team mate Fernando Alonso, who was cleared of any involvement in the conspiracy, to win the race. Renault team boss Flavio Briatore was banned for life for his role in the affair while Renault were handed a suspended permanent ban. Piquet was given immunity in return for testifying. Coulthard will drive the Red Bull race car on a new sea bridge in Mumbai on Sunday. (Reporting by N.Ananthanarayanan, Editing by Greg Stutchbury; To query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com) \|\|\|\|\| Felipe Massa will be back behind the wheel of a Ferrari on Monday if all goes well at a medical check-up by doctors appointed by the FIA in Paris tomorrow. The Brazilian's return to the cockpit of a Formula One car would be 11 weeks and two days after being lifted from the wreckage of his Ferrari during qualifying for the Hungarian grand prix with what were initially described as "life-threatening" head injuries. Massa, who has since had a steel plate inserted in his skull above his left eye, sustained a 160mph impact to his helmet when it was hit by a rear spring which fell off the Brawn driven by his compatriot Rubens Barrichello which was running ahead of his Ferrari at the Hungaroring circuit on 25 July. After 10 days in the intensive care department of a military hospital in Budapest Massa was flown to Brazil in a specially chartered private jet, since when his determination to force the pace of his recovery has impressed all who have come into contact with him. Having already limbered up with some testing on a kart in Brazil, as well as on the simulator at Ferrari's Maranello base, heis due to enter the next stage of hisrehabilitation on Monday morning when he slips into the cockpit of a two-year-old Ferrari F2007 at the Italian team'sFiorano test track adjacent to their headquarters. Formula One regulations preclude any driver from testing a contemporary car on current tyres during the course of the world championship season. But sampling an outdated car is not prohibited. It is not ideal but it will give Massa enough data to establish whether or not he has lost the fine edge of judgment crucial to perform at the highest level in such a split-second sport. Massa will be in Brazil for his home grand prix on 18 October to wave the chequered flag, following in the footsteps of Pele and the model Gisele Bundchen who did likewise at Interlagos in 2002 and 2004. It must be hoped that Massa will at least have his eyes on the conclusion of what could be the title decider, unlike Pele, who famously failed to carry out his duty. The world's most famous footballer was looking the other way when Michael Schumacher beat his brother Ralf by half a second. US F1 have passed a second inspection test conducted by the FIA ahead of their debut next year. Question marks have been recently raised about US F1's viability, notably by Formula One's commercial rights holder, Bernie Ecclestone, and the FIA president, Max Mosley. However, the FIA deputy president for sport, Nick Craw, is satisfied with the work being done by the team after visiting their headquarters in Charlotte, North Carolina, on yesterday. The team principal, Ken Anderson, is confident the car will be unveiled in January prior to the opening race of the 2010 season in Bahrain in mid-March. \|\|\|\|\| Massa lost out to Hamilton by one point in 2008 Ferrari's Felipe Massa has accused Renault of robbing him of the 2008 drivers' championship. The Brazilian was leading last year's Singapore Grand Prix when Nelson Piquet Jr crashed deliberately, which helped Fernando Alonso to win the race. "All of what happened was robbery. Regarding the race nothing has happened, the result stays the same. That's not right," said Massa. "It changed the championship. I lost by one point." He was beaten to the title on the final race of the season by McLaren's Lewis Hamilton, who went on to finish third in Singapore. Massa failed to score in that race after a disastrous pit-stop during the safety car period in which he drove away with the fuel hose still attached. Piquet Jr revealed earlier this year that he had deliberately crashed in order to give Alonso a better chance of winning. 606: DEBATE Renault were given a permanent suspended ban and former team boss Flavio Briatore has been banned for life for his involvement. Piquet Jr was given immunity by motorsport's governing body, the FIA, in return for testifying. Massa is convinced the punishments were too lenient. "I have seen in football how a referee took money to throw a game and all the matches he influenced were annulled," he said. "The team responsible were relegated. Here they just sent Briatore home. I don't understand it and I don't think it was right." Massa is recovering from a life-threatening head injury he suffered at the Hungarian Grand Prix earlier this year. He is set to return in 2010, when he will drive alongside Alonso. Hamilton wished Massa well in his recovery, but dismissed any suggestion that the Singapore result should be annulled. "First, I have to say that it's good that he's recovering and back on his feet and back to his normal self and feeling good," said the Briton. "I think all I can say is that it was a tough season, things happened, there were lots and lots of 'what ifs' throughout the season, so I'm a bit surprised to hear him say that, to be honest. "I believe we had a fair battle throughout the season, so I'm a bit surprised." Bookmark with: Delicious Digg reddit Facebook StumbleUpon What are these? E-mail this to a friend Printable version	David Coulthard, a former driver for the McLaren and Red Bull Formula One teams, has said the sport's governing body should have punished a Renault driver for cheating. Nelson Piquet Jr. was granted immunity as a whistleblower. The deliberate crash behind the scandal Renault ordered Piquet to crash his car during the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix, which he did. This benefited team-mate Fernando Alonso's race strategy, and he went on to win the event. After being fired midway through the current season, Piquet told the FIA, who oversee F1, that the team had been cheating. Renault were banned for life, suspended by two years, just before this year's Singapore Grand Prix. At the same hearing, head engineer Pat Symonds was banned for five years and manager Flavio Briatore for life. Alonso is not thought to have been aware of the scheme. Coulthard expressed dissatisfaction at that result today during a Red Bull event in Mumbai. ''The Times of India'' has revealed that Coulthard said today, "I think FIA should have punished Piquet too. He was equally guilty as any other." Coulthard, who drives an F1 car across a new sea bridge in Mumbai on Sunday, said, "I will be surprised if he gets an F1 drive again," and that the scandal had shaken him. Another F1 driver in the news is Felipe Massa. Massa was seriously injured at the Hungaroring in Hungary when a spring came off a car ahead of him and struck his helmet at 160 mph. He spent ten days in intensive care at a military hospital and has a metal plate in his head to mend his fractured skull. Now, on Monday he intends to drive a 2007 Ferrari F1 car in Italy, just over 11 weeks after the accident. Massa has already driven a cart in his homeland of Brazil and recently underwent simulator testing. He is set to wave the flag at the finish line of this year's race in Brazil. Massa, whose injuries were considered life threatening, spoke out earlier this month about the fact that Alonso's Singapore win cost him points that would have meant victory in the drivers' championship had he topped the podium. "All of what happened was robbery... It changed the championship. I lost by one point." He also said the sentences should have been tougher. He compared the case to a cheating football team. "The team responsible were relegated. Here they just sent Briatore home. I don't understand it and I don't think it was right."
Link To Article Print Article Email Article News of the weird "Intelligence": An exhaustive report in December on CIA operatives who staffed the so-called ''rendition'' program, secretly transferring suspected terrorists from U.S. custody to foreign governments, revealed sometimes-sloppy undercover work of the agents. In one rendition, in Milan, Italy, covert agents failed to remove their cell phones' batteries, thus enabling them to be electronically tracked even though the phones were off. Also, one clandestine operative left a clear trail of her whereabouts because, even though she booked Advertisement herself at foreign hotels under aliases, she insisted that frequent-flier miles earned at the hotels be credited to her personal, non-secret frequent-flier account. - Compiled by Chuck Shepherd RETURN TO TOP \|\|\|\|\| St. Patrick’s Day is often celebrated with corned beef and cabbage, soda bread and Irish beef stew and then wash it all down with a tall pint of Guinness. Those tried and true recipes are a tradition. But for those of you who really enjoy the green foods, gimmicky cocktails and desserts decorated with four leaf clovers and pots of gold, these are the recipes for you. Fulfill your Pinterest goals with these Instagram-worthy St. Patrick’s Day recipes.	A December CIA report revealed several incidents of sloppy undercover work by agents. In one humorous series of incidents, a clandestine operative booked herself at foreign hotels under aliases, but insisted that frequent-flier miles earned at the hotels be credited to her personal frequent-flier account. Other incidents detailed included cases of covert agents who failed to remove their cell phone batteries, making them vulnerable to electronic tracking even if the phone was off.
El presidente del directorio de TVN, Leonidas Montes, reconoció que el canal público cometió un "error" al usar imágenes de encapuchados para describir las movilizaciones estudiantiles, informó el Colegio de Periodistas. Según el comunicado del órgano, el directorio de TVN analizó la denuncia realizada por el sitio Otra Prensa que, en tres días distintos, mostró la imagen de los conductores Amaro Gómez-Pablos, Gonzalo Ramírez y Consuelo Saavedra anunciando notas sobre el movimiento con la misma fotografía de fondo: un joven encapuchado. El Colegio de Periodistas recordó que el Código de Etica "sanciona explícitamente este tipo de manipulación" y adelantó que dirigentes del órgano pidieron presentar el caso ante el Tribunal de Etica. "Valoramos la actitud del directorio de TVN, pero seguiremos atentos a que se cumplan normas éticas básicas para el ejercicio de la profesión", afirmó Marcelo Castillo, presidente del Colegio de Periodistas. \|\|\|\|\| Más de 60 estudiantes ingresaron a las dependencias de Televisión Nacional de Chile, para intentar interrumpir el noticiero central y leer un comunicado para hacer notar su descontento con el medio estatal. Los estudiantes acusaron al canal de no dar la suficiente cobertura al conflicto estudiantil y lo tildaron de apoyar al Gobierno en materias de educación. El estudiante de la Universidad de Chile Axel Goppschalk acusó la parcialidad de los medios de comunicación en la cobertura del conflicto estudiantil, donde aseguró que TVN ha criminalizado a los estudiantes y explicó que intentaron interrumpir las transmisiones para expresar su descontento. "Hemos irrumpido en el canal, hemos intentado interrumpir las transmisiones del noticiario, para hacer ver nuestro descontento y para exigir de una vez por todas, que el canal de todos los chilenos, haga valer esa condición y respalde este movimiento social", expresó. Los estudiantes pertenecen a las facultades de Derecho, Medicina, Arquitectura y Periodismo de la citada casa de estudios, quienes al salir del lugar señalaron que intentaron conversar con el director de prensa, para exigir un espacio durante el noticiero. \|\|\|\|\| "Es evidente que se está tratando de reducir la manifestación de los estudiantes a lo que hacen grupos de encapuchados. TVN que es el canal de todos los chilenos, no puede entregar este tipo de mensaje, afirma el presidente nacional del Colegio de Periodistas, Marcelo Castillo. El Colegio de Periodistas ha manifestado su molestia por la utilización de una misma imagen de un joven encapuchado cada vez que se hace mención al movimiento estudiantil. Es así como en 24 Horas, el noticiero central de Televisión Nacional de Chile, se ha empleado en tres ocasiones, a lo menos, la fotografía de la misma persona, para presentar noticias relativas al movimiento social por la recuperación de la educación pública. Estas notas emitidas los días 14 y 26 de junio y 11 de julio y el contenido de ellas, no guardan relación alguna con la imagen utilizada como apoyo. En ellas se mencionan distintos hechos propios del desarrollo del movimiento: entrega de propuesta del gobierno a los estudiantes secundarios (14 de junio), rechazo a ella (26 de junio) y finalmente la reunión de los rectores de universidades con el Presidente y reacciones a ésta. Resulta elocuente que la fotografía sencillamente no coincide en nada con la noticia, es más resulta bastante curioso, que sea LA imagen que tengan para utilizar como apoyo al momento de entregar noticias relacionadas a las manifestaciones estudiantiles. Cambio21 se contactó con el presidente del Colegio de Periodistas, Marcelo Castillo, quien se refirió al tema diciendo que "primero evidentemente en la medida que haya una persona que recurra al Tribunal de Etica el tema vas a ser analizado en esa instancia, (este caso, fue enviado al tribunal por el vicepresidente del colegio, Giacomo Marasso), es evidente que se está tratando de reducir la manifestación de los estudiantes a lo que hacen grupos de encapuchados desconocidos de origen por lo menos dudoso, entonces Televisión Nacional que es el canal de todos los chilenos y que valoramos muchísimo su papel, no puede entregar este tipo de mensaje", enfatizó. Castillo expresa además que "he conversado con algunos miembros de su directorio y me dijeron que este tema preocupa internamente a TVN y que es muy probable que sea abordado este jueves en el directorio, por lo menos así se comprometieron conmigo miembros del directorio", comentó. Al ser consultado como llegaron esta información, el presidente del colegio comenta que "hay un portal que se llama pura noticia que hizo este análisis y llegó a esta conclusión, entonces nosotros ahí leímos la información y efectivamente es lamentable, son tres noticias distintas unas de otras y muestran la misma imagen, entonces a nosotros nos parece que por lo menos debe ser investigado por los tribunales de ética del colegio" Por último comentó que "el directorio de TNV se comprometió a informarnos respecto de lo que se resuelva al respecto", concluyó. Frente a este caso, resulta, citar el Código de Ética del Colegio de Periodistas, donde queda claro el actuar en relación al material gráfico y sus titulares: III. DEL PERIODISTA Y SU FUENTE LABORAL Artículo Decimoséptimo: "El material gráfico y los titulares siempre deberán guardar concordancia con los textos que le corresponden, de modo que el lector, televidente o auditor no sea inducido a confusión o engaño. Del mismo modo, los títulos, subtítulos, leads, bajadas o frases destacadas, deben expresar fielmente lo dicho por las personas entrevistadas o citadas en el cuerpo de la información. El material gráfico, en periodismo digital, impreso o audiovisual, deberá señalar claramente cuando se trata de imágenes de archivo". El código de ética del Colegio es bastante claro, ahora queda esperar la respuesta del porque en TVN lo desconocen o simplemente lo ignoran. Además, en la cuenta de twitter del Colegio de Periodistas se publicó un link donde se denunciaba este hecho y se pedía investigar. Cabe destacar que no es la primera vez que el movimiento estudiantil es tratado de la forma equívoca, no olvidemos los dichos del alcalde de Santiago, Pablo Zalaquett quien vincula el movimiento estudiantil con el aumento de la delincuencia, manifestando que "las fuerzas policiales están distraídas en las marchas y tomas de los estudiantes, por lo que ha descuidado labores propias del plan cuadrante". Según el edil, el incremento de la delincuencia en la capital tendría relación con las tomas de colegios, liceos y universidades, así como con las marchas masivas, recalcando que también resulta "conflictivo" que haya "muchos jóvenes fuera de clases, porque ¿dónde están, a qué se dedican? Un joven sano en la calle puede ser tentado para cualquier cosa", afirmó.	Journalist Amaro Gómez-Pablos presenting a news report on the Chilean student protests, with the 'hooded delinquent' video in the background. Leonidas Montes, president of the executive board of Chilean television channel '''' (TVN) said on Tuesday in a statement to the Chilean Journalists Association that he acknowledged the channel had "commited an error" when it used videos of 'hooded delinquents' (''encapuchados'') to present reports on the on-going student protests in the country, on TVN's news programme ''24 Horas''. The statement was released the day after more than 60 university students attempted to interrupt the broadcasting of ''24 Horas''; the students accused the "channel of all Chileans" to "not giving enough coverage to the student protests, and for supporting the Government in education-related news." Online newspaper ''Otra Prensa!'' reported on July 13 that TVN had, at least three times, used videos of a 'hooded delinquent' to present reports on the student protests: on June 14, 26; and July 11. The journalists presenting the reports were, chronologically, Amaro Gómez-Pablos, Gonzalo Ramírez, and Consuelo Saavedra. "The picture simply is not part of the news, it isn't necessary to use ink to note the evident political purpose it's following," ''Otra Prensa!''s editor Luis Cuello wrote on July 13. The online newspaper also cited the 17th Article of the Code of Ethics of the Chilean Journalists Association: "The graphic material and the headlines should also be concordant with the texts provided, so the reader, viewer or listener isn't inducted into confusion or deception." Logo of ''Televisión Nacional de Chile''. The online newspaper denounced the use of the videos before the Chilean Journalists Association on July 14; vice-president of the association, Giacomo Marasso, said on Twitter that TVN was "evidently trying to distort information;" while Marcelo Castillo, president of the association told ''Cambio 21'' that "TVN is trying to reduce the students protests only to what is doing a group of 'hooded delinquents'. TVN is the channel of all the Chileans, it just cannot give this kind of messages." Additionally, that same day, Javiera Montecinos, student of the denounced ''Televisión Nacional'' before the Consejo Nacional de Televisión (National Council of Television) for the misuse of images against the student protests; the organization accepted the denouncement. Mayor of Santiago Pablo Zalaquett in 2009. Aside, Mayor of Santiago, linked the student protests with the increase of the delinquency in the city. "It is related to the occupations of schools, high schools and universities, and the mass marches," adding that it was "conflictive" that there were "so many youngsters without classes ... A youngster in the street can be tempted to do whatever thing." The Chilean Journalists Association said on Tuesday that the Code of Ethics "explicitly sanctions this kind of manipulation of the information," and that members of the association are going to present the case to the Ethics Tribunal of the same organization. "We appreciate the attitude of the board of ''TVN'', but we will pay attention to the fulfillment of basic ethical standards for the exercise of the profession," Marcelo Castillo said.
Esportes Dom, 14 Nov - 14h08 Robinho desfalca o Santos contra o Goiás Lance! Futebol LANCEPRESS! O atacante Robinho desfalcará o Santos na partida deste domingo, contra o Goiás, em Presidente Prudente (SP). O jogador permaneceu na Baixada Santista acompanhando o caso do seqüestro da mãe, ocorrido há uma semana, e não viajou para o interior. A informação foi confirmada pelo técnico Vanderlei Luxemburgo e pelo empresário de Robinho, Wagner Ribeiro. Basílio será o seu substituto. Um amigo de Robinho disse ao LANCE! que o jogador está muito abatido e que seria ruim para ele, psicologicamente, atuar neste domingo. O ideal seria apenas continuar treinando para desestressar. Familiares falaram a Robinho que a exposição da volta dele a campo poderia fazer com que o caso do desaparecimento de sua mãe, Marina da Silva Souza, voltasse com força à mídia, atrapalhando a estratégia de abafar ao máximo o caso para que os possíveis seqüestradores entrem em contato. Tanto Vanderlei Luxemburgo quanto o Santos queriam ver Robinho em campo. Os motivos são distintos. Enquanto o treinador, obviamente, queria seu melhor jogador em campo (o técnico já disse a amigos que o camisa sete é "meio time"), o Peixe mostrou-se preocupado com o acordo feito com os empresários que bancaram a viagem do Santos a Presidente Prudente. Pelo acerto, feito antes do sumiço de dona Marina, Robinho teria que ser presença obrigatória no oeste paulista, exceto, é claro, se ele estivesse suspenso nessa partida. 15:10 04//1/14 Envie para um amigo \|\|\|\|\| LONDON (Reuters) - A Royal Navy senior rating was jailed for five years on Wednesday for raping a female colleague on board a warship in the first case of its kind since women were allowed to serve at sea, the Ministry of Defence said.	Miss Marina Souza, aged 43, was kidnapped last Saturday, November 6, in Praia Grande, , during a barbecue with her relatives. She is the mother of Robson de Souza, known as (Little Robin), a Brazilian player for the . Since the incident, Robson De Souza ('Robinho') has made few public appearances and stopped playing soccer, troubling his team Santos. "I hope this all finishes well and that I can go back to playing football again," he was quoted by '''' on November 9. Robinho is considered one of the best Brazilian forward players at the present time and he is an important player for Santos. The authorities are cautious to release any information concerning the case, as this could jeopardize both the investigations and Ms. Souza's life.
Coalition keeps up pressure on Labor over tax Posted John Howard and Peter Costello have used a visit to a small business in the marginal New South Wales electorate of Eden-Monaro to push the Coalition's plan to progressively reduce the tax rates. Mr Costello says the Coalition is the only party to release a plan for Australia's economic future and he is continuing to pressure Labor to release its tax plan. Mr Howard says the Coalition's $34 billion proposal will encourage more people into work, or to start their own business. "Our tax plan is not just about putting extra dollars in the pockets of middle Australia but it's very much about further growth of the Australian economy," he said. "It's about providing additional incentives for people to work. It's about lifting productivity. It's about continuing our growth and opportunity society." Deputy Opposition Leader Julia Gillard says Labor will not be bullied into rushing out a tax policy, saying that John Howard took his time in 1996. "We know of course Mr Howard when he was opposition leader didn't announce his tax plan until weeks into the campaign," she said. Greens leader Bob Brown says the tax cuts will benefit wealthy Australians but the money should be spent on services such as health and education which would benefit all of the community. "The big end of town has to be happy with Peter Costello's $34 billion tax cuts, but it's the wrong way for Australia," he said. "These tax cuts should have been channelled into making this country a fairer country." \|\|\|\|\| ON THE first day of his final election campaign John Howard made a claim that no prime minister could have contemplated for 30 years. He said the unemployment rate could soon have "a three in front of it". The last time the jobless rate was in that range Gough Whitlam was PM. On the second day, Mr Howard stood beside Peter Costello to unveil tax cuts worth $34 billion over the next three years and with an additional, unspecified amount to come beyond that. That enormous election pledge comes just five months after the $31.5 billion worth of personal income tax cuts in the May budget which, in turn, had built on $36.7 billion in tax cuts the previous year. By promising even more jobs and yet another tax cut, the Coalition has pulled out heavy economic artillery at the beginning of the election battle. But the Prime Minister's jobs prediction on day one foretold danger in his tax plan of day two: higher interest rates. Can Australia have further falls in unemployment and more tax relief, without putting upward pressure on interest rates? The very low rate of unemployment shows the economy is already at the limits of its capacity. That's why the underlying rate of inflation is near the top of the Reserve Bank's target band of between 2 and 3 per cent despite nine successive interest rate rises since 2002. In these circumstances, further economic stimulus in the form of tax cuts threatens to put more upward pressure on inflation and, therefore, more medium-term pressure on interest rates. Mr Howard claims that the structure of the tax relief announced yesterday will help alleviate the shortage of labour by encouraging more people to work. Treasury modelling shows the plan to lift the tax-free threshold and raise the threshold at which the 30 per cent tax rate cuts in will prompt an additional 65,000 people to enter the workforce over the next three years. But will that be enough? Australia's long run of economic growth has been underpinned by modest wage growth. But as the unemployment rate continues to plumb new depths, the pressure on wages may build. The official budget report released with yesterday's tax cut plan predicted a lift in the inflation rate. The Government's official inflation forecast for this financial year was increased from 2.5 per cent to 2.75 per cent. It also lifted its prediction for employment growth this financial year from 1.5 per cent to 2.25 per cent, flagging a drop in the the current jobless rate of 4.2 per cent. \|\|\|\|\| THE Howard Government's lightning-fast tax cuts are a brilliant tactical move, but a dubious strategic one. The announcement of $34 billion in tax cuts on the first full day of the election campaign is eye-catching, and puts Labor under instant pressure to put something in the vacant shopfront of its tax policy. It's also helpful to the Coalition because it gives a sepia-toned Government a chance to talk about a bright and colourful future. Yet the plan raises two big strategic questions. First is whether it's smart for the Government to declare a plan to "go for growth" when the Reserve Bank is campaigning for a slowdown. Chris Richardson, of Access Economics, told the Herald in August: "The Government is throwing money into the economy and the Reserve Bank is trying to take it out again. We have one foot on the accelerator and one on the brake. No wonder we're blowing smoke." The Government's announcement shows an economy that is continuing to accelerate. It will fuel this by adding a further $7 billion in tax cuts in the year from next July 1. "Based on the Government's own forecasts, the car is accelerating, and at the margin its tax cuts increase the probability that interest rates will increase in 2008 and beyond," said ANZ Bank's chief economist, Saul Eslake. Macquarie Bank's Rory Robertson agrees: "The tax cuts will boost demand, and that boosts inflation." The foot on the accelerator presses down, challenging the Reserve Bank to press down even harder on the brake. The second strategic question looming over the Government's policy is whether, having taken the economic risk, it will reap the political reward? A Liberal strategist privately posed the party's secret fear: "Why would these cuts have a bigger political effect than the tax cuts in the May budget?" The $36 billion in cuts in May produced no discernable improvement in the Coalition's deathly poll figures. As the Government delivered five consecutive years of tax cuts, the political benefit has seemed to become successively smaller. If a $36 billion four-year program of tax cuts yielded zero effect, why would a $34 billion three-year program do better? Last week's Herald-Nielsen poll suggests tax cuts are of no interest at all to half the electorate. Asked if political parties should offer personal tax cuts in this campaign, 51 per cent of voters said yes. The other 49 per cent said no or didn't care. Labor may decide to mimick the Government. But it also has the option to demonstrate that it can be more responsible. As Opposition leader, that's what John Howard did in response to the Keating tax policy in 1996. The Government's quick victory in the election campaign's early battle is not sufficient to decide its fate at the end of the larger, longer war. \|\|\|\|\| TREASURER Peter Costello has challenged Labor to reveal its tax strategy after his release of the Coalition's $34 billion tax cut plan. Mr Costello and John Howard seized the Election '07 campaign yesterday by offering the biggest tax cuts in Australian history. All workers would benefit under the three-year plan. The biggest winners would be working mothers. Today, Mr Costello kept up the presssure, challenging Labor to release its response today. "I want to hear Labor say something about tax," Mr Costello told ABC Radio. "The biggest, boldest tax plan that we've seen in a long time is presented yesterday, it deals with participation, competitiveness, building capacity in the Australian economy, and what does Kevin Rudd say? Nothing. " "He better have an answer today." Mr Costello said if Labor was interested in good tax policy it would support the government's proposal. "I hope his (Kevin Rudd's) answer is, 'me too', because that's what he normally does, he normally 'me toos' on economic policy. "I hope his answer today is 'Me too' - but the longer he takes it to 'Me too' the more people are going to wonder whether Mr Rudd really is an economic conservative." Mr Costello said the delay showed Labor had no tax plan. "The longer it goes on, the more they try and hide on this issue, the more you begin to wonder about them," he said. "They have no tax plan, that's obvious." But Opposition treasury spokesman Wayne Swan said Labor would not be bullied into releasing its tax policy prematurely. "We need to look at the package in total. "We are not going to be rushed by the government or be bullied or pushed around," Mr Swan told ABC Radio. "This is a very important election campaign. "There is a lot at stake here so it is very important for us to take our time." Workers on an average $50,000 a year were promised a weekly tax cut of $19 from July 1 rising to $34 over three years. A worker earning $100,000 would gain $21 a week, rising to $41 in three years. "The reason we are doing this is to encourage more people to join the workforce and to boost the capacity of the Australian economy. This is part of our `go for growth' strategy," Mr Costello said. The Liberal leaders' tax announcement threw a bombshell into the first full day of the six-week campaign for the November 24 election. Voter reaction was immediately positive, with a news.com.au website poll of 7560 people showing 66 per cent in favour of the cuts. The Labor Party was caught by surprise. ALP strategists were stunned the Government had decided to announce a tax package so early in the campaign. Labor leader Kevin Rudd said he needed to study the detail before he would respond fully. WorkChoices also flared briefly as an election issue. Mr Rudd warned that Government ministers, including Mr Costello, wanted another round of workplace law changes in a secret plan to cut workers' conditions. An angry Mr Howard ruled out any changes, and accused Labor of spreading fear. Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd has maintained Labor's tax policy will be released later in the election campaign. \|\|\|\|\| Australia's beleaguered prime minister, John Howard, offered voters £15 billion of tax cuts yesterday in a desperate bid to claw back support ahead of next month's general election. Mr Howard has just six weeks to turn around dire predictions of defeat and persuade Australians to re-elect him for a fifth term when they cast their votes on Nov 24. For months opinion polls have shown him trailing far behind the Labor opposition. The latest Newspoll survey put Labor on 56 per cent, 12 points ahead of Mr Howard's Liberal-National coalition. Mr Howard began his re-election bid by announcing a five-year plan for tax cuts worth £15 billion. advertisement It was his first big campaign promise, designed to appeal to the back pockets of working-class "battlers" and middle-class professionals who the government fears will defect to Labor. Under Mr Howard's proposals the top tax rate would be lowered from 45 to 40 per cent. The reforms would eventually leave almost all Australians paying a top tax rate of 35 per cent or less. Nearly half of all wage earners would pay only the minimum rate of 15 per cent and low-income workers would pay nothing at all. "The reason we are doing this is to encourage more people to join the workforce and to boost the capacity of the Australian economy," said Mr Howard, who has been in office for 11 years. "This is part of our go-for-growth strategy." He acknowledged that the government faced a "tough campaign" against Labor. But the Labor leader, Kevin Rudd, who is 18 years Mr Howard's junior, said his opponent was tired, stale and had run out of ideas. \|\|\|\|\| JOHN Howard has promised to return $34 billion to taxpayers in one of the boldest starts to an election campaign in Australia's political history. Firing the first shot in what promises to be a Coalition "shock and awe" offensive to destroy Labor's bid for office before it gets started, the Prime Minister and Treasurer Peter Costello outlined a tax policy that would boost family incomes by up to $50 a week. The sweeping reforms – which Mr Costello insisted were fully funded – would set a new tax course for Australia until 2013 if the Coalition was returned to office at the November 24 election. Labor appeared to be caught out by the announcement, with Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd saying that, while he supported tax cuts, Labor had yet to decide if it would match the Coalition's package. The Coalition's tax proposal promises, within five years, an end to tax for anyone earning up to $20,000 and a top marginal tax rate of 35 per cent for 98 per cent of taxpayers. The reforms are also designed to spearhead an expected series of policies rolled out over the next six weeks to directly appeal to those missing out on national prosperity. Mr Costello used an impressive mid-year economic review – showing growth will increase to 4.25 per cent, half a per cent more than budget forecasts – to back his claim the Commonwealth could afford the new tax regime. But the gloss of the tax announcement was smudged when Mr Howard was unable to state the official interest rate. When asked to do so by Channel Nine's A Current Affair, Mr Howard said the interest rate was 6.25 per cent. The rate was raised from 6.25 per cent to 6.5 per cent in August – an increase of about $50 a month for a borrower who was paying back a typical $300,000 loan. Mr Rudd answered the same question correctly. The Prime Minister and his Treasurer last month attacked the Opposition Leader for having stumbled and answered incorrectly when asked at a press conference to name the tax thresholds. The pair claimed his answer showed Mr Rudd "didn't understand the barest fundamentals" of the Australian taxation system. Australia decides \|\|\|\|\| Australia’s ruling centre-right coalition sought to put the opposition Labor party on the back foot on Monday, using the first day of a six-week election campaign to announce a surprise A$34bn package of income tax cuts. John Howard, prime minister, who trails his Labor rival, Kevin Rudd, in opinion polls, on Sunday called an election for November 24 at which the management of Australia’s booming economy is expected to be a central issue. \|\|\|\|\| Rudd won't be pressured on tax policy Posted Federal Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd says he will not be rushed into releasing his tax policy. The Government today unveiled its first major campaign pledge, $34 billion in tax cuts over three years. Labor is now under pressure to release its own tax plans, but Kevin Rudd has told the 7:30 Report he is taking a cautious and considered approach. "However Mr Howard and Mr Costello want to run around and characterise the politics of that, and the sky will fall in if we don't produce a tax policy by Wednesday lunchtime, that's a matter for them," he said. "We will do it correctly and in a sober fashion and in a conservative fashion because public finance is fundamentally important. "Mr Costello today admitted that for months they've been working on this with the full support of the Treasury and out they plonk the official fiscal outlook today and release their tax policy within 30 seconds of doing so. "A cautious and considered approach means that we will do this in our own season and we will do that." Opposition treasury spokesman Wayne Swan says Labor will not be outlining its tax plan until he has had time to assess the Coalition's tax proposal. Mr Swan says Labor will make a responsible judgement on tax cuts before the election. "The only responsible course of action here is to study the detail. We've said we'll put out all our policies well before the election and we'll do that," he said. "But in terms of what the Government's put forward, we will take our time to study the detail. That's the only responsible and reasonable thing to do." 'New ideas' Prime Minister John Howard says his multi-billion-dollar tax plan proves the Coalition has not run out of new ideas. Mr Rudd has been arguing the Coalition is tired and stale after 11 years in office, but Mr Howard has told SBS that today's tax announcement proves that is not the case. "I've demonstrated today that I've still got new ideas," he said. "Now what Mr Rudd has said is that my Government has run out of fresh ideas, it's become stale. We have produced a major restructuring of the personal income tax system today. The charge that we have run out of ideas has never been true." But Mr Howard slipped up on a key economic figure today, telling Channel Nine the official interest rate was 6.25 rather than 6.5 per cent. \|\|\|\|\| Tax cuts will 'put pressure on inflation' Posted Updated Some economists are warning sweeping tax cuts announced by the Coalition today will make the Reserve Bank nervous and could push interest rates higher. Prime Minister John Howard and his Treasurer Peter Costello today announced income tax cuts worth $34 billion over the next three years. Mr Costello says the plan would still mean the Government's underlying budget surplus would remain above 1 per cent of gross domestic product. Senior economist with HSBC, John Edwards, says the tax cuts would put upward pressure on inflation. "It certainly means interest rates would be higher than they would otherwise be," he said. "I cannot imagine were it not for an election the Treasurer would be contemplating these tax cuts of this order. "It means that household consumption is going to be higher than it otherwise would be, residential construction is going to be higher than it otherwise would be. But Mr Costello says by lowering tax rates and raising thresholds, Australian's will be better off and inflation will not be pressured. "Let me make the point if you'd have spent the money you could have inflationary consequences, but to return it to people and to help them with their bills at a time when they're facing cost of living pressures, I think is a very responsible thing to do," he said Peter Hendy from the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) agrees. "The fact is that the Australian economy can always easily afford income tax cuts," he said. The Chamber of Commerce also says the proposal to reduce the top tax rate by 5 per cent will make the Australian tax system the most competitive in the world. Election scrutiny Democrats Senator Andrew Murray says the Coalition is only targeting low income earners because it is facing the prospect of election defeat. "We've argued for Mr Costello to adopt a structural tax plan and he's consistently refused to do so," he said. "I mean for years we dubbed him the no tax plan man and it is disappointing that only now, when they're under real pressure they're finally recognising the needs of lower income Australians." Senator Murray says despite finally making some changes, the Coalition's tax policy still has some big weaknesses. "They do little to simplify the tax system by broadening the base. Broadening the base is tax speak for getting rid of unnecessary and wasteful tax concessions and raising revenue on that basis," he said. "That of course would help to fund the tax cuts to not just lower income Australians but higher income Australians." Opposition treasury spokesman Wayne Swan says Labor will not be outlining its tax plan until he has had time to assess the Coalition's tax proposal. Mr Swan says Labor will make a responsible judgement on tax cuts before the election. "The only responsible course of action here is to study the detail. We've said we'll put out all our policies well before the election and we'll do that," he said. "But in terms of what the Government's put forward, we will take our time to study the detail. That's the only responsible and reasonable thing to do." World beaters Peter Costello says the Coalition's tax cut plan announced today is economically responsible, because it is fully costed and has already been paid for in the budget. Mr Costello says the plan will encourage more people into work and is the result of a strong economy. "You can examine the figures, but you'll find that this is costed, funded, responsible and we will have a surplus," he said. "There aren't that many other comparable countries in the world, that are where we are. Certainly not America, not Britain, not France, Germany, Europe, Japan."	With the election campaign just beginning, Australian Prime Minister John Howard has promised AU$34 billion in personal income tax cuts over the next three years. That is on top of $31.5 billion announced in May, and $36.7 billion announced in 2006. The new tax cuts are based on new projections for growth in the Australian economy. The Treasury estimates that the economy will expand by 4.25% in the 12 months to June 2008, up from growth of 3.75% predicted in May. The Government has challenged the Labor opposition to announce their tax policy immediately. "The biggest, boldest tax plan that we've seen in a long time is presented yesterday, it deals with participation, competitiveness, building capacity in the Australian economy, and what does Kevin Rudd say? Nothing," treasurer Peter Costello said. "He better have an answer today." Costello described the government tax policy as "very responsible" and said Rudd was a "Nothing Man" because he has not revealed Labor's tax policy. The Shadow Treasurer, Wayne Swan, replied "The only responsible course of action here is to study the detail. We've said we'll put out all our policies well before the election and we'll do that". "But in terms of what the Government's put forward, we will take our time to study the detail. That's the only responsible and reasonable thing to do." Economists from Access Economics, the ANZ Bank, HSBC and Macquarie Bank noted that the tax cuts will boost demand at a time when the Reserve Bank is trying to slow the economy. The Reserve Bank has been raising interest rates to keep the inflation rate within its target range. Households with substantial mortgages could end up worse off. Rudd has said the Opposition will reveal its tax policy in its own time - mimicking John Howard's approach when he was Opposition Leader in 1996.
(RTTNews) - Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi, the Libyan man convicted for blowing up Pan Am Flight 103 over Scotland in 1988, has withdrawn his second appeal against his conviction, said his lawyers on Friday. A spokesman for the legal firm Taylor and Kelly, which is representing al-Megrahi in the case, said Friday that his lawyers had applied to the High Court in Edinburgh two days ago to abandon his appeal against the conviction. The court hearing on the issue is scheduled for Tuesday next in Edinburgh. "As the appeal hearing has commenced, leave of the court is required before the appeal can be formally abandoned," said the spokesman for Taylor & Kelly. "Since his diagnosis with inoperable prostate cancer, Mr. Megrahi's health has deteriorated. His condition has taken a significant turn for the worse in recent weeks." Al-Megrahi, who was diagnosed to be terminally ill with prostate cancer last year, is currently serving a life sentence with a minimum term of 27 years in the Greenock prison in Scotland after being found guilty of blowing up Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie in 1988. All 259 people on board were killed along with 11 on the ground. Most of the victims were Americans. The announcement about al-Megrahi's appeal withdrawal triggered speculations about his eminent release as al-Megrahi is required to drop all legal proceedings against his conviction before being eligible for the transfer. Megrahi had launched a second appeal against his conviction earlier this year after he lost an earlier appeal in 2002. The announcement came just a day after Scottish ministers rejected media reports that Al-Megrahi is to be released from a Scottish prison on compassionate grounds as early as next week, stating that they are yet to take such a decision. The earlier British media reports about al-Megrahi's imminent release emerged after Scottish justice secretary Kenny MacAskill visited the Libyan at Greenock Prison earlier in the week. However, MacAskill said on Scottish Television Wednesday evening that his government is yet to take a decision on the issue, adding that a number of other options are under consideration. Earlier, a couple of British news agencies, including the BBC, had reported that the Scottish ministers have reached a consensus on al-Megrahi's release. It was also reported that Scotland has agreed on sending him back to Libya for Ramadan, the Islamic holy month which begins next week. In May, Libya lodged a formal request with the government of Scotland for the transfer of al-Megrahi back to his home country to serve out his remaining sentence in a prison in Tripoli. The Libyan transfer request came just days after Libya signed a new prisoner transfer deal with Britain. Though the deal allows the transfer of al-Megrahi to Libya, any such move will have to be approved by the Scottish ministers first. 1 2 Next Page \|\|\|\|\| Photo: PA Lawyers for the 57-year-old, who is dying of prostate cancer, said he had taken the unexpected decision after his condition took a "significant turn for the worse". He is expected to be freed next week on compassionate grounds, but relatives of the victims had expected his appeal to continue, even after his death. They reacted to the latest news with dismay and immediately renewed their calls for a full public inquiry into the atrocity in which 270 people died. The decision means that Megrahi, who has always protested his innocence, will die a guilty man. He had previously claimed that he would not return to Libya until he cleared his name, and politicians expressed concern that he may have been put under pressure as part of a deal to return home. Scottish ministers are thought to be preparing to free him after being persuaded that he does not have long to live. He lost his original appeal in 2002 but was granted a second appeal after an independent review body ruled that he may be the victim of a miscarriage of justice. The Scottish Executive, which insists no final decision has been taken on the Libyan's fate, said it was not involved in the appeal decision. Reports that Kenny MacAskill, the Scottish justice minister, has already taken the decision to free him next week have infuriated American relatives of the Lockerbie victims. They are convinced of his guilt and believe he should die in jail in Scotland, where he has served only eight years of a minimum sentence of 27 years. Most of the British families believe he is innocent and support his release. Lawyers confirmed that he had asked for the appeal to be dropped and the request will be heard in the High Court in Edinburgh on Tuesday. Pamela Dix, whose 35-year-old brother Peter died in the bombing, said she was disappointed by the decision. Speaking from Woking in Surrey, she added: "At the moment there is no other process or procedure ongoing to tell us how the bombing was carried out, why it was done, the motivation for it and who ordered it." Martin Cadman, 84, of Burnham Market, Norfolk, who lost his son Bill, 32, said: "It's been nearly 21 years since the event and where are we? Nowhere." Meanwhile, Daniel Kawczynski, the Tory chairman of the all-party parliamentary group on Libya, said Megrahi should not be freed until the killer of Pc Yvonne Fletcher Â who was shot dead outside the Libyan embassy 25 years ago - was handed over.	The Lockerbie memorial Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi was revealed today to have requested his second appeal to be dropped. Al-Megrahi was convicted of planting a bomb on Pan Am Flight 103, which detonated as the aircraft flew over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988 killing all 259 people on board and eleven more on the ground. Megrahi had been offered transfer to his home of Libya if he dropped the appeal, but had previously stated he would not return unless his conviction was overturned. He has terminal prostate cancer and it is thought that he is due to be released shortly on compassionate grounds, having served eight years of his minimum term of 27 years in Greenock prison. Megrahi lost his first appeal in 2002, but a review found that there was reason to believe there may have been a miscarriage of justice. The decision to drop his second appeal comes as a surprise, with some victims' relatives expecting the proceedings to continue even after his death. A court hearing to consider the request is due on Tuesday. Opinions about the conviction are split, with the families of most British victims considering the man to be innocent while those in the United States are satisfied with his guilt. Briton Martin Cadman, whose son Bill was among the dead, told ''The Daily Telegraph'' "It's been nearly 21 years since the event and where are we? Nowhere." Last year, on the twentieth anniversary of the disaster the head of the US group Victims of Pan Am Flight 103, Kara Weipz, told ''Wikinews'' that "There is no difference between the truth as we see it and the official version of events. The facts are the facts, Mr. Megrahi is guilty."
Local residents walk in the rain in Danzhou, south China's Hainan Province on Aug. 7, 2009. Strong rainstorms brought by the tropical storm Goni caused great disaster to the western Hainan areas and the villagers suffered a heavy loss. (Xinhua/Guo Cheng) Photo Gallery>>> FUZHOU/TAIPEI/HANGZHOU, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- A fishing boat capsized at about 10 p.m. off the coast of southern island province of Hainan as the tropical storm Goni wreak the havoc. All the 10 fishermen fall into the water and only one managed to swim to the beach. Rescers were searching for the missing. Photo taken on Aug. 7, 2009, shows the flooded areas in Danzhou, south China's Hainan Province. Strong rainstorms brought by the tropical storm Goni caused great disaster to the western Hainan areas and the villagers suffered a heavy loss. (Xinhua/Guo Cheng) Photo Gallery>>> Authorities in southeast China's Fujian Province has ordered all schools and scenic spots to close before 4 p.m. Friday, as typhoon Morakot nears. The Fujian provincial flood control and drought relief headquarters said Friday that about 34,000 vessels had been recalled to port and 21,190 people in the cities of Ningde, Putian, Fuzhou and Quanzhou had been relocated to safe areas. The headquarters has entrusted the education bureau to notify schools in the four cities to stop all activities, and make sure all teachers and students leave safely. Residents living on the sea are evacuated to the safe place in Ningde City, southeast China's Fujian Province, on Aug. 7, 2009. Authorities in Fujian Province have ordered all schools and scenic spots to close before 4 p.m. Friday, as typhoon Morakot nears. The provincial flood control and drought relief headquarters said Friday that about 34,000 vessels had been recalled to port and 21,190 people in the cities of Ningde, Putian, Fuzhou and Quanzhou had been relocated to safe areas. (Xinhua/Jiang Kehong) Photo Gallery>>> Waves as high as six meters were already hitting the coastal area on Friday, and the provincial meteorological observatory said they could reach up to nine meters as the typhoon came closer. According to China National Meteorological Center, Morakot, the eighth typhoon to affect China's mainland, was 180 km southeast of Keelung, Members of the Fujian border police hand over the supplies to crew members of a ship from Taiwan at Shacheng port in Ningde of southeast China's Fujian Province, Aug. 7, 2009. Led by a ship sent by the Fujian border police, two ships from Taiwan arrived at a port in Ningde safely on Friday as typhoon Morakot nears. (Xinhua/Jiang Kehong) Photo Gallery>>> Taiwan, as of 10 a.m. Friday, packing winds up to 144 km per hour in the center. It is moving at 15 km per hour northwestward, and is expected to hit Taiwan Friday evening, and would land in northern Fujian and central Zhejiang sometime from Saturday afternoon to Sunday morning. Dong Rong, deputy director of the Fujian observatory, said, Morakot would be the strongest typhoon to land in China's mainland this year. The provincial government has sent 8.4 million text messages to mobile phone users, warning people of its approach. A ship from Taiwan (L), led by a ship (R) sent by the Fujian border police, enters Shacheng port in Ningde of southeast China's Fujian Province, Aug. 7, 2009. Two ships from Taiwan arrived at the port in Ningde safely on Friday as typhoon Morakot nears. (Xinhua/Jiang Kehong) Photo Gallery>>> All of the mainland's three direct shipping routes with Taiwan were closed Friday, after the route between Xiamen City, in Fujian, and Jinmen, in Taiwan, closed Friday afternoon. According to the Taiwan weather department, Morakot was slowing, but remained a strong typhoon, indicating its impact and the duration would increase. Taipei stock market and schools in almost all cities and counties on the island closed Friday. Most domestic and some international flights, mostly to Hong Kong, have been cancelled. The local authorities said train services would be suspended or reduced by Friday noon. In Zhejiang, the provincial flood control and drought relief headquarters said Friday that the 29,987 ocean-faring fishing ships and boats have taken shelter at harbors or on ground. Workers building the world's highest power transmission tower on Damaoshan Island in east China's Zhejiang Province stopped working Friday, and took shelter. "The company has prepared food and water enough for four days," said Peng Lixin, the project manager. He told Xinhua that the building of the 370-meter tower had entered the final stage. Typhoon Morakot would test the construction. The island has no fresh water supply. Other Chinese regions, including Shanghai and Anhui, will have more rainfall because of the impact of the typhoon. In Shanghai, the municipal weather service forecast Friday that the city would be hit by stormy weather from Saturday to Tuesday, and the average rainfall would be 90 mm. Anhui Provincial Land and Resource Department has warned areas around Mount. Dabie in the province's southwestern part against potential landslides, rock and mud flows inflicted by excessive rains. \|\|\|\|\| Saturday, August 8, 2009 MANILA (Updated) -- At least eight miners were killed in landslides caused by days of heavy monsoon rains in northern Philippines, bringing the total number of dead from Typhoon “Kiko” to 19. Baguio police chief Nestor Bergonia said about two dozen miners were taking shelter in hillside huts when they were buried by a landslide Friday. He says two bodies were recovered Friday and another six on Saturday. Post your prayers and condolences for Cory Aquino's family Bergonia said another six are missing. Landslides and flashfloods that deluged towns and villages in northern Philippines have killed 11 other people in recent days, including three French tourists who were touring Mount Pinatubo. The victims were traveling on Mount Pinatubo on Thursday when a landslide blocked their path, trapping one of their cars. Tarlac provincial Governor Victor Yap said the three French nationals -- a woman and two men -- were traveling along with South Koreans. They were swept away in a flashflood that also killed their two Filipino guides. The five bodies were recovered separately Friday, said Fely Baun of the disaster coordinating council of Capas town in Tarlac. Six French nationals -- three men, including one with a fractured shoulder, and three women -- survived in the landslide. They were taken to the Central Luzon Doctors' Hospital in Tarlac City and were to be brought to Manila later in the day, a hospital staffer said. "They said the water suddenly rose and they were swept away by strong currents," Yap said. French Embassy Consul Arnold Rayar said he has spoken with the survivors, but he declined to give details. Homeless Heavy rains brought about by Typhoon "Kiko" also left more than 1,000 residents of Botolan town in Zambales province, west of Manila in the foothills of Mount Pinatubo, homeless. The affected residents were sheltered overnight at a school after days of pounding rain caused a 21-yard (20-meter) breach in the Pinatubo dike, sending the floodwaters as high as roofs, said regional police chief Leo Nilo dela Cruz. A local tribal chief, Carling Dumulot, estimated that some 12,000 had evacuated their homes and said loosened trees carried by water and mud were slamming against houses and hindering evacuation efforts in Botolan's 10 villages. Three villages were under water, he said. "There are many residents who spent the night shivering on the rooftops," said dela Cruz. As of Friday, Botolan Mayor Roger Yap said the main road along national highway is not passable due to the strong current coming from the breached portion of the dike along Bucao River, leaving motorists bound for Zambales to Manila and vice versa stranded. "Many residents still cling onto trees, some on rooftops waiting for rescue. They cannot go down because of the strong current," Yap said. An air force helicopter plucked trapped people from trees and rooftops. At least two died in Botolan and surrounding areas, Zambales Governor Amor Deloso said. The government closed all schools in the province and declared a state of emergency. "Virtually all areas in the province had experienced flooding," he said. President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo mobilized Friday the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) to assist the flood victims in Zambales, in coordination with the Philippine National Red Cross (PNRC). More victims In Tarlac province, on Pinatubo's northeastern side, police chief Rudu Lacadin said authorities recovered another two bodies. Landslides in the northern Cordillera mountains killed three siblings aged 7 to 13 in Baguio City, said regional disaster agency chief Olive Luces. Their parents escaped, he said. On Friday, a landslide crashed onto huts where 14 miners were resting at the foot of a mountain near Baguio. Nine were pulled out alive but five remained missing, including one swept away by waters from a flooded creek, said Army Captain Christian Uy, who was helping in the rescue. Olive Luces, regional director of the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) in Baguio City, said rescue operations are ongoing in other affected barangays while the victims of the landslide are being retrieved. The OCD also confirmed the closure of Kennon road and occurrence of minor landslides along Marcos and Quirino Highways, prompting authorities to caution all motorists to be extra careful. Benguet Governor Nestor Fongwan suspended classes in all levels, while Baguio City Mayor Reynaldo Bautista Jr. suspended only classes in the elementary and high school level. Suspension of classes In Valenzuela City, at least 15 public and private elementary and high schools also suspended their classes Friday due to heavy rains. The suspension was made even as the Department of Education-National Capital Region (DepEd-NCR) said that classes in other parts of Metro Manila will go on as scheduled. DepEd-NCR Director Teresita Domalanta said the suspension of classes in Valenzuela was ordered by the local government. Local officials, she added, have the prerogatives to cancel classes in their respective localities if they see fit, especially during bad weather conditions. "Even if the weather bureau (Pagasa) has not raised any public storm signal, it is still the discretion of local officials, of the mayor to suspend classes," Domalanta explained. But she also said DepEd decided not to suspend classes in other parts of the metropolis as Metro Manila is not under any typhoon signal though they are in constant coordination with the weather bureau and local officials. The schools in Valenzuela City where classes are suspended were located in barangays Balangkas, Poblacion, Palasan, Arkong Bato, Isla, Tagalog, Pasolo, Paloong, Rincon, Polo, Malanday, and Wawang Pulo. The local government of Valenzuela earlier reported that rains brought about by Typhoon Kiko has made some roads in the city not passable to light vehicles due to floodwaters that reached some 12 to 23 inches deep. Flooding was also reported in some areas in nearby Malabon City though the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) said floodwaters are fast receding. On Thursday, DepEd suspended classes in Manila, Caloocan, Pasay, Valenzuela, Taguig-Pateros and Malabon-Navotas due to the continuous downpour. Also on Thursday, six Chinese tourists from Hong Kong and four Filipino crewmen were rescued after their boat capsized because of big waves off Verde Island south of Manila, said coast guard spokesman Lieutenant Commander Armand Balilo. As of Friday, Typhoon Kiko has intensified further as it continues to move toward Taiwan as another low pressure area (LPA) has been spotted 1,670 kilometers east of Northern Luzon. According to the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa), the howler is now with maximum winds of 150 kilometer per hour (kph) near the center and gustiness of up to 185 kph. The weather bureau advised residents in low-lying areas and near mountain slopes to take all the necessary precautionary measures against possible flashfloods and landslides. Monsoon rains have saturated the mountainous northern Philippines, the central Visayas islands and the southern Mindanao region since last month. Millions of tons of volcanic debris on the slopes of Mount Pinatubo from its eruption in 1991 pose a constant danger during heavy rains. (AH/AP/PNA/Sunnex) \|\|\|\|\| 08/07/2009 \| 08:49 AM 'KIKO'S WRATH Half of Baguio City is experiencing brownouts after heavy rains and landslide destroyed houses in several areas on Friday. Thom Picana AFTERMATH. Rescuers look for survivors after a house was buried during a landslide at Baguio City’s Camp 8 village at the height of typhoon ‘Kiko’ Friday. Thom Picana Ten people, including three foreign trekkers and three children, were killed in a flash flood and landslide unleashed by Typhoon "Kiko" (Morakot) in the northern Philippines on Friday, officials said.In its report dated 6 p.m., the NDCC said the dead included five in Tarlac, three in Baguio City, and two in Botolan town in Zambales province.At least nine were injured, including three in Baguio City and six in Tarlac.Confirmed dead were French nationals Martin Cholet, Walter Steylian and Therry Caliot, all of whom drowned in Tarlac. Their bodies were recovered Friday morning.Likewise found dead were their tourist guides Fidel Reyla and Ordonio Fernando, village watchmen of Capas in Tarlac who died while rescuing the foreigners, the NDCC said.A GMA News’on Friday said the bodies of the four victims were found early Friday near the O’ Donnell River in Capas, along the trail to Pinatubo.reporter Chino Gaston quoted Capas mayor Reynaldo Catacutan as saying the four, together with nine other foreigners, including three Koreans, visited the Pinatubo crater lake amid fair weather early Thursday.Later in the day, the group guided by Ordonio encountered heavy downpour as they were traveling down the trail on board a 4x4 truck. Their driver, apparently sensing danger, ordered everyone to get off the vehicle."Then a huge chunk of the mountain collapsed and they were met by a surge of water," Catacutan said in Filipino.Six other French tourists were injured. They were identified as Diana Radjon, Beatrice Leguyader, Audier Biazin, Philippe Naurre, Philippe Quinibert, and Marie France Richard.Chief Superintendent Leo Nilo dela Cruz, regional police director for Central Luzon, told GMANews.TV that he has ordered an investigation as to how the tourists were permitted to go to Pinatubo despite rainy weather in the past days.(I ordered an investigation to find out why they were allowed to proceed despite rainy weather)," he said.On the other hand, Cris Piska, 7; Michael Piska, 12; and Edu Piska, 13 were killed when a landslide buried their home in Camp 8, Baguio City.Injured in another landslide in Basilan village in Baguio City were Modesta and Mariano Omipig. Hit by falling rocks in San Vicente, Baguio City was Rogelio Sumalao.Also in Baguio City, a landslide at Liwliw Creek in Purok 5 in Kias village, hitting small-scale miners there. At least nine miners were rescued and brought to the Baguio General Hospital. At least five more were rescued from another landslide in Camp 8.The NDCC said "Kiko" has so far affected 5,552 families or 28,629 people in 28 villages in Bulacan, Zambales, Nueva Ecija, and Marikina and Pasig Cities. [ See weather update on typhoon 'Kiko' Of these, 626 families or 2,621 people were brought to eight evacuation centers.At least six houses were destroyed and three were damaged in Benguet province.The NDCC also said that as of Friday night, the Mindoro West Coastal Road's Kambingan section is not passable to traffic due to landslides, slip and scouring.In Benguet, Kennon Road at Camp Gate is closed due to a landslide at Camp 5.At least two landslides occurred in Sitio Luneta in Loakan in Itogon town in Benguet, resulting in the collapse of the Luneta Elementary School and damage to three ball mills and five houses.Residents in the area were brought to the Calvary Church.Another landslide occurred at Ilod village in Poblacion.In Baguio City, a landslide at Liwliw Creek in Purok 5 in Kias village hit a small-scale mine site there. At least nine miners were rescued and brought to the Baguio General Hospital.A landslide at Camp 8 buried one shanty, and killed three children. Many pocket miners were believed trapped in slides, with five of them brought to the Baguio General Hospital.Baguio City and Benguet province are experiencing power interruptions. \|\|\|\|\| 2 Canadian mountaineers still missing in Pinatubo MANILA - Two more persons have been reported dead on Friday, bringing typhoon Kiko's (international codename: Morakot) death toll to 9. A report received by the Central Luzon regional police office said two male bodies have been retrieved by police retrieval and rescue teams in Sta. Lucia and San Agustin villages in Capas town, Tarlac province as of 11 a.m. Friday. The regional police office also received a report that the foreign mountaineer found dead in the Pinatubo volcano area in Barangay Sta. Juliana, Capas was female. Police also recovered the body of Fidel Reyla, a village watchman earlier reported as a guide of a group of Canadian and Korean mountaineers that were trapped at the Pinatubo area at the height of typhoon Kiko. The latest body count brought the typhoon's death toll to 9. Senior Superintendent Nestor Gergonia, Baguio City Police Office chief, said brothers Michael, 13; Edu, 12; and Chris, 7, all surnamed Piska, died after their home in Camp 8 along Kennon Road was hit by a landslide at 12:30 a.m. Friday. Rescuers have retrieved the bodies of the victims. Zambales Governor Amor Deloso, meanwhile, said his office received a report Friday morning that a couple died in a flashflood that hit Botolan town late Thursday. Deloso said the couple's bodies have been found. He said teams have been dispatched to confirm the report. Botolan Mayor Roger Yap said the town's council has placed the town under a state of calamity. Yap said 10 villages have been submerged in 4-foot to 5-foot deep floods after the Bucao River overflowed late Thursday. The villages were Paudpod, San Juan, Batonloc, Carael, Tampo, Paco, San Miguel, Binig, Bangan, and Capayawan. Undersecretary Anthony Golez, spokesman of the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC), said the heavy rains were caused by the southwest monsoon and enhanced by the typhoon. Golez said more than 1,800 people have been evacuated from the 10 flooded villages in Botolan. He said the affected villagers were evacuated in three centers in a nearby town. Rescue operations continue The Central Luzon police said rescue operations continued Friday noon for 2 missing Canadian mountaineers. Joint military and police rescue teams have already rescued 3 Koreans and 9 Canadian nationals, the regional police said. Lt. Col. Gerry Samudio of the Philippine Air Force said two Huey rescue helicopters have also been dispatched to locate the missing mountaineers. The rescued mountaineers were being transported to Clark in Pampanga. Samudio said the rescue operations were launched after they received a distress call about a group of foreigners trapped in the Pinatubo area on Friday morning.. As of 11 a.m., typhoon Kiko was located 350 kilometers north northeast of Basco town, Batanes province, packed with maximum sustained winds of 175 kilometers per hour and gustiness of up to 210 kph. It was moving west northwest at 156 kilometers per hour. Weather bureau PAGASA has hoisted storm signal No. 1 over Batanes, northern Cagayan, Apayao and Ilocos Norte. The weather bureau has also spotted a low pressure area near Northern Luzon. It said the typhoon and the low pressure area will bring more rains over Luzon and Western Visayas. 200-meter landslide blocks highway boundary Rains dumped by the typhoon also triggered a big landslide at a boundary along the highway of Nueva Ecija and Nueva Vizcaya provinces Thursday night, creating a 10-kilometer vehicular traffic jam. Mayor Florante Gerdan of Sta. Fe town, Nueva Ecija said the 200-meter landslide affected a boundary area of Nueva Ecija and Nueva Vizcaya. On the Nueva Vizcaya side, he said the affected area was Sta. Fe, while on the Nueva Ecjia side, it was Carranglan. He said a truck was buried by the landslide. As of 9 p.m. Thursday night, it caused a 10-kilometer traffic jam on both sides of the road, which he projected to worsen on Friday. Gerdan said the landslide cannot be cleared yet due to continuing rains. There were around five other landslides in Nueva Vizcaya, he added. In Brgy. Putlan, Carranglan, Nueva Ecija, Thursday afternoon, police officer Johnny Navarro of the Philippine National Police Tactical Operations Unit said the landslide on both the sides of the road had stranded all vehicles in the area. Navarro said Carranglan, being mountainous, is prone to landslides during rainy weather. He said the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) would address the problem by grading the affected area. Navarro said that, according to DPWH, the area could be passable by 3 p.m. Friday. He added that there is difficulty in coordinating with people from Carranglan because there is no electricity in the area due to the disaster. "Their cellphones and radios are not charged, it is so hard to get information," said Navarro. Other barangays in Nueva Ecija were not affected by the landslide, but there is difficulty going to Nueva Vizcaya as roads in Brgy. Putlan are leading to the province, said Navarro. As of posting, there were no reported deaths of injuries from the landslide in Nueva Ecija and Nueva Vizcaya. With reports from Venus Tanada, ABS-CBN Baguio; Jenny Reyes, ABS-CBN News; Noel Alamar, radio dzMM; and Maria Althea Teves, abs-cbnNEWS.com/Newsbreak \|\|\|\|\| 08/07/2009 \| 08:49 AM 'KIKO'S WRATH Half of Baguio City is experiencing brownouts after heavy rains and landslide destroyed houses in several areas on Friday. Thom Picana AFTERMATH. Rescuers look for survivors after a house was buried during a landslide at Baguio City’s Camp 8 village at the height of typhoon ‘Kiko’ Friday. Thom Picana Ten people, including three foreign trekkers and three children, were killed in a flash flood and landslide unleashed by Typhoon "Kiko" (Morakot) in the northern Philippines on Friday, officials said.In its report dated 6 p.m., the NDCC said the dead included five in Tarlac, three in Baguio City, and two in Botolan town in Zambales province.At least nine were injured, including three in Baguio City and six in Tarlac.Confirmed dead were French nationals Martin Cholet, Walter Steylian and Therry Caliot, all of whom drowned in Tarlac. Their bodies were recovered Friday morning.Likewise found dead were their tourist guides Fidel Reyla and Ordonio Fernando, village watchmen of Capas in Tarlac who died while rescuing the foreigners, the NDCC said.A GMA News’on Friday said the bodies of the four victims were found early Friday near the O’ Donnell River in Capas, along the trail to Pinatubo.reporter Chino Gaston quoted Capas mayor Reynaldo Catacutan as saying the four, together with nine other foreigners, including three Koreans, visited the Pinatubo crater lake amid fair weather early Thursday.Later in the day, the group guided by Ordonio encountered heavy downpour as they were traveling down the trail on board a 4x4 truck. Their driver, apparently sensing danger, ordered everyone to get off the vehicle."Then a huge chunk of the mountain collapsed and they were met by a surge of water," Catacutan said in Filipino.Six other French tourists were injured. They were identified as Diana Radjon, Beatrice Leguyader, Audier Biazin, Philippe Naurre, Philippe Quinibert, and Marie France Richard.Chief Superintendent Leo Nilo dela Cruz, regional police director for Central Luzon, told GMANews.TV that he has ordered an investigation as to how the tourists were permitted to go to Pinatubo despite rainy weather in the past days.(I ordered an investigation to find out why they were allowed to proceed despite rainy weather)," he said.On the other hand, Cris Piska, 7; Michael Piska, 12; and Edu Piska, 13 were killed when a landslide buried their home in Camp 8, Baguio City.Injured in another landslide in Basilan village in Baguio City were Modesta and Mariano Omipig. Hit by falling rocks in San Vicente, Baguio City was Rogelio Sumalao.Also in Baguio City, a landslide at Liwliw Creek in Purok 5 in Kias village, hitting small-scale miners there. At least nine miners were rescued and brought to the Baguio General Hospital. At least five more were rescued from another landslide in Camp 8.The NDCC said "Kiko" has so far affected 5,552 families or 28,629 people in 28 villages in Bulacan, Zambales, Nueva Ecija, and Marikina and Pasig Cities. [ See weather update on typhoon 'Kiko' Of these, 626 families or 2,621 people were brought to eight evacuation centers.At least six houses were destroyed and three were damaged in Benguet province.The NDCC also said that as of Friday night, the Mindoro West Coastal Road's Kambingan section is not passable to traffic due to landslides, slip and scouring.In Benguet, Kennon Road at Camp Gate is closed due to a landslide at Camp 5.At least two landslides occurred in Sitio Luneta in Loakan in Itogon town in Benguet, resulting in the collapse of the Luneta Elementary School and damage to three ball mills and five houses.Residents in the area were brought to the Calvary Church.Another landslide occurred at Ilod village in Poblacion.In Baguio City, a landslide at Liwliw Creek in Purok 5 in Kias village hit a small-scale mine site there. At least nine miners were rescued and brought to the Baguio General Hospital.A landslide at Camp 8 buried one shanty, and killed three children. Many pocket miners were believed trapped in slides, with five of them brought to the Baguio General Hospital.Baguio City and Benguet province are experiencing power interruptions.	A has killed dozens of people, affected over 28,000 people in the Philippines, and caused the evacuation of 21,190 people from south east China. Track map of Tropical Storm Morakat (Kiko) of the 2009 Pacific typhoon season. Some villages are inundated with five feet high floods. The Philippines were hit by 175 kilometers per hour (kph) winds with gusts of up to 210 kph, as well as heavy rain which triggered flooding and landslides. Ten Philippine villages have been inundated by four and five feet deep flooding. Thousands cling to tree tops and are stranded on roof tops awaiting rescue by helicopter. Over 12,000 have been evacuated and over 1,000 are homeless. Landslides have trapped Korean and Canadian mountaineers whose guide could not be rescued. Landslides have closed highways and have caused traffic jams ten kilometers long. Three French tourists and their two Filipino guides have been killed due to landslides on Mount Pinatubo. Five miners remain missing after a landslide destroyed their living quarters. Typhoon Morakot (Kiko) over Taiwan August 7, 2009. Electricity is down in some areas of the Philippines resulting in a collapse in contact as radios and cellphones have not been re-charged. Botolan town hit by a flash flood has been declared as in a state of calamity. School classes have been cancelled in various locations across the Philippines, and many city roads are not traversable due to flood waters. The (NDCC) has reported that over 28,629 people have been affected and of these 10% have been evacuated. On August 8, the typhoon is diminishing but still recording 150 kph winds with gusts reaching 185 kph according to the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa). A capsized fishing boat off the coast of the province of has initiated search and rescue efforts for nine missing fishermen. School classes have been suspended, boats called into port, and businesses closed in China's Province. The provincial government used cell phone text messages to contact 8.4 million warning its residents of Morakot's approach to mainland China. Typhoons occur in the every year between May and September.
The freeze to be proposed would exclude spending on defence and international affairs [AFP] The freeze to be proposed would exclude spending on defence and international affairs [AFP] The freeze, to be announced in Barack Obama's State of the Union speech on Wednesday, would exclude defence, veteran affairs, homeland security and spending on international affairs, the officials said. The US president is set to propose a three-year partial freeze on domestic spending in his 2011 budget, administration officials say. "We are in the midst of fighting a war and have security needs. We're going to fund those security needs as necessary," one of the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The freeze in "non-security discretionary spending "will be implemented in 2011 and continue throughout 2012 and 2013. "The savings from the three-year freeze will amount to $250bn over the next decade," the official said. Second Obama budget Details of the spending hold-down will be spelt out in detail on February 1, when Obama unveils his second budget since taking office. Agencies that could feel the pinch include the commerce, interior, justice and labour departments, as well as the environmental protection agency. Obama's proposed budget savings will need to be approved by Congress. The US government closed its 2009 fiscal year with a record $1.4 trillion budget deficit and the White House forecasts an even bigger gap of $1.5 trillion dollars in fiscal 2010. The proposed freeze would cut the deficit by between $10bn and $15bn in fiscal 2011. Republicans dismissed the move as window-dressing by Obama's Democrats after an "unprecedented spending binge." "This is like announcing you're going on a diet after winning a pie-eating contest," Michael Steel, spokesman for John Boehner, the House of Representatives Republican leader, said. Bernanke nomination In other US economic news, senators are hesitating to approve Ben Bernanke, the federal reserve chairman, for a second term. A poll by Reuters news agency showed 38 senators were either committed to approving the nomination or leaning that way, while 17 were outright opposed or inclined that way. Obama said on Monday that Bernanke had his "strongest support". "He has my strongest support. I think he's done a good job," Obama said in an interview with ABC News. "What we need is somebody at the Federal Reserve who can make sure that the progress that we've made in stabilising the economy continues, and I think Bernanke's the best person for that job." \|\|\|\|\| Mr Obama faces mounting criticism for the amount of government spending US President Barack Obama is to announce a three-year partial spending freeze aimed at reducing the country's $1.4tn (£860bn) budget deficit. His first State of the Union address, on Wednesday, will reveal the details. Officials have told US media that defence, some health care programmes and the massive economic stimulus package will be unaffected. Critics said the planned savings, expected to cut no more than $15bn off next year's budget, were insufficient. But officials said the plan would result in savings of about $250bn during the next 10 years. The spending freeze covers many domestic programmes and departments to which Congress allocates budgets each year, including agriculture, transportation and education and national parks. Security and defence spending, foreign aid, social security and spending on health care for the poor and retired would be exempt. this is like announcing you're going on a diet after winning a pie-eating contest Michael Steel Spokesman for House Minority Leader John Boehner Mr Obama is facing mounting criticism for the amount of government spending and growing budget deficits. The 2009 fiscal year saw a record $1.4tn shortfall and an even bigger one is forecast for 2010. The freeze could make the president rein in his ambitious reform agenda, especially with regards to education and the environment. But one administration official said it was like a family in tough times deciding on its budget. "That's the decision-making process the president and the economic team went through," Associated Press quoted the unnamed official as saying. "It's the very same process American families have gone through for the past several years." Republicans say the cuts are insufficient. "Given Washington Democrats' unprecedented spending binge, this is like announcing you're going on a diet after winning a pie-eating contest," said Michael Steel, a spokesman for House Minority Leader John Boehner.	Official portrait of President Obama. According to administration officials, US president Barack Obama is to announce a partial government spending freeze to try and lower the country's current US$1.4 trillion deficit in the 2011 budget. Obama is due to make the announcement tomorrow, in his State of the Union address. The budget cut would not include defence, homeland security, international affairs expenditures, or veterans affairs. "We are in the midst of fighting a war and have security needs. We're going to fund those security needs as necessary," said an unnamed government official. "The savings from the three-year freeze will amount to $250bn over the next decade. The freeze, which would halt "non-security discretionary spending", is to carried out between 2011 and 2013, the official noted. Critics of the freeze said that the cuts, which are estimated to remove $10–$15 billion from the 2011 budget, wasn't sufficient. "This is like announcing you're going on a diet after winning a pie-eating contest," said Michael Steel, a spokesman for House of Representatives Republican leader John Boehner. Government officials, however, said that the move would save $250 billion over the next decade.
In high school he formed a group called the Kings of Rhythm. B. B. King helped that band get a steady weekend gig and recommended it to Sam Phillips at Sun Studios in Memphis. The band had been performing jukebox hits, but on the drive from Mississippi to Memphis, its members decided to write something of their own. Their saxophonist, Jackie Brenston, suggested a song about the new Rocket 88 Oldsmobile. The piano-pounding intro and the first verse were by Mr. Turner, and the band collaborated on the rest; Mr. Brenston sang. Sun was not yet its own record label, so Mr. Phillips sent the song to Chess Records. It went on to sell a half-million copies. “I was playing rhythm and blues,” Mr. Turner wrote. “That’s all I was playing.” His book says he was paid $20 for the record. Mr. Turner became a session guitarist, known for his flamboyant, note-bending use of his guitar’s whammy bar. He was also a producer, songwriter and talent scout for Sun and for RPM/Modern Records. He worked with Mr. King, Bobby (Blue) Bland, Howlin’ Wolf, Johnny Ace, Otis Rush, Elmore James and many other blues and R&B musicians. In 1954 he moved up the Mississippi River to East St. Louis, Ill., where his disciplined and dynamic band became a major draw at local clubs. There, in 1958, he heard Anna Mae Bullock, who joined the group and quickly became its focal point as Tina Turner. The band was soon renamed the Ike and Tina Turner Revue. Her lead vocal on “A Fool in Love” started a streak of Top 10 R&B hits for the revue and also reached the pop Top 40. It was followed by “It’s Gonna Work Out Fine” in 1961. The duo became stars on the grueling so-called chitlin’ circuit of African-American clubs. Ike and Tina Turner had a wedding ceremony in Tijuana, Mexico, in 1962; Mr. Turner’s book said they were never actually married. They had a son, Ronald, who survives him, along with Jeanette Bazzell Turner and four other children: Mia, Twanna, Michael and Ike Jr. \|\|\|\|\| Turner denied claims of abuse by his former wife He died at his home near San Diego, California. There was no immediate word on the cause of death. He rose to fame in the 1960s, and is best remembered for his musical partnership and stormy marriage with Tina Turner, who said he abused her. In later years he rehabilitated his image and won his second Grammy in February for Risin' with the Blues. He shared his only other Grammy with Tina Turner in 1972 for their cover of Proud Mary. "Ike Turner passed away this morning. He was at his home," said Scott Hanover, an official at the performer's management company. 'Demonised' Michele Schweitzer, a spokeswoman for his former wife, said: "Tina is aware that Ike passed away earlier today. To critics he will be known as a great founder, unfortunately to the general public he will always be known as a brutal man Paul Gambaccini , broadcaster "She has not had any contact with him in 35 years. No further comment will be made." Singer Chuck Berry was getting ready to perform on stage when he heard the news. "What can you have but sorrow if you lose one of your colleagues, you know?" he said. Turner, a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, is credited by many music historians with making the first rock 'n' roll record, Rocket 88, in 1951. Broadcaster Paul Gambaccini told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "In musical terms [he was] very important. "Rocket 88 is one of the two records that can claim to be the first rock 'n' roll record, being the other being The Fat Man by Fats Domino from 1949," he said. He said the track was an "indisputable claim to fame" for Turner. "To critics he will be known as a great founder, unfortunately to the general public he will always be known as a brutal man," he added. Turner was also known as a prolific session guitarist and piano player. After marrying Tina Turner in 1959, the pair produced a string of hits, including A Fool In Love and It's Gonna Work Out Fine. The song River Deep Mountain High, produced by Phil Spector, was one of their most successful singles. But Turner will be forever remembered for his turbulent relationship with Tina Turner, the BBC's Peter Bowes in Los Angeles says. In 2001, Turner denied his ex-wife's claims that he abused her and expressed frustration that he had been demonised in the media. Your comments: Whatever his troubles were you can't take away what he contributed to the music world. Bowie and Jagger revived Tina Turner's career but Ike created it. I'm not saying how he treated her in private was right, I'm saying he is a musical genius whose contributions will be missed. I saw him perform at the Long Beach blues festival a few years back and his set blew everyone away. A true talent. R.I.P Jason Urbanczyk, Los Angeles I'm a huge Tina fan but there is no denying the debt music fans owe him and the enormous contribution he made to fashioning Tina Turner. Denis O'Connor, London This is such a loss to the music scene. He will be sadly missed for his talent. Not so much for what he did to Tina Turner that is unforgivable in a man. We still should not judge him for thing in the passed. He will be missed. G Russell, Ayr Ike Turner was one of the greatest musicians, arrangers and producers of the modern era. He invented rock n roll and you can not take that away from the man. Yes, he was a bad man but so were many of our musical heroes. Even today people with tarnished reputations top the charts, such as 50 Cent and Eminem. R.I.P. Ike Gordon, Newcastle Upon Tyne, Tyneside I know it will sound cruel, even though Tina lives in another country then Ike did. However, now Tina Turner can rest. No more having the fear of him coming into a room. No more looking over her shoulder. Mike, Washington, DC Ike's incredible dedication passion for his music has always inspired me. Seeing him play alongside Rosco Gordon showed two of the great blues players with such varying personalities- Ike's powerful and non compromising style and Rosco's sweeping, gentle manner- two of the greats gone. Now they're gone Tom Blant, Canterbury, uk Whilst he was portrayed as a wife beater, tyrant and good musician he was still a human being. Death is never good. My heart goes out to Tina who must be feeling the pain and mixed emotions after what happened to her Kevin Ross, Scotland, UK What an incredible musician this world has lost. Being a Turner fan I feel the loss and my heart is filled with grief. Every marriage has got ups and downs and we should not look at whatever happened between him and Tina. He will be missed. R.I.P Doreen Nawa, Lusaka, Zambia I saw Ike performing live a few years ago and for the first time. He "blew me away". That guy oozed talent that the stars of today may not even grasp. Lance Munslow, Preston, UK My deepest sympathy to the family. Ike was a musical genius who was determined to be a success. Karen, Balto. City As a music student, having studied soul music, I have only just come across what Ike Turner contributed to the music world. Although his tumultuous relationship with Tina was an issue during their respective careers, there is no denying that his death will have a serious impact throughout the music industry. His work as a singer, guitarist, pianist and most importantly as a songwriter will be forever captured on record, and in the end, the recognition for his work is the most important thing at this time. R.I.P. Ike Tom Beck, Brighton, UK Ike and Tina may have had a stormy relationship, but they put on a hella good show. He'll be missed. Shell Lavender, Snowflake, Az. U.S.A. Ike Turner was a musician's musician. He understood that music comes from PEOPLE, not just a singular performer. He knew how to craft and combine sounds to create complex yet compelling songs. He could mix class and strut with funk and dirt. And humour. You never miss the water till the well runs dry, and I will miss Ike Turner. Dano delaMano, Minneapolis I had the pleasure of meeting Ike when he played at the Koh Samui Music Festival in 2005. As one of the organisers I had plenty of time to talk with him and found him to be one of the nicest most open and honest people I have met. He admitted all the bad things he had done but said they had been overstated and that there are always two sides to the story - and only one had been told. Nevertheless, during his time here in Koh Samui he was the most accommodating of any of the famous stars we had here, no airs and graces, no silly demands. His most famous phrase during his stay was "What can I do to make this work?" A great guy and great musician who will be sadly missed. Harry Bonning, Koh Samui, Thailand We mustn't forget that for all his vices, he is single handedly responsible for introducing the world to Tina Turner. As previous comments on here have suggested, there are always two sides to every story and a jaded past should never overshadow his massive contributions to the music industry. Rest in Peace Ike Richard, York, UK I knew Ike Turner in recent years, long after his stormy relationship with Tina and his excessive living had passed. Ike was a great musical talent and in his earlier years a talent scout, producer and arranger for Chess Records. At a low point, he signed a contract allowing someone to make a film about his relationship with Tina without the right to reply or refute what was said. It made a great film. Sadly that is how people will remember him. Fran Leslie, London UK I have no doubt in my mind that Ghanaians of what I would call 'menopausal age'will always remember the wonderful performance Ike and Tina Turner put up in Ghana in the late 1960s. It is a pity that the two had a such a stormy relationship and ended up going their separate ways. May Ike rest in perfect peace. Tete Cobblah, Luanda, Angola Ike and Tina came through my home town frequently for years to perform. I remember that their posters would be plastered all up and down the avenue. They would pack people into the local theatre to see their show. It is unfortunate that their personal relationship overshadowed the truly great musician that he was. May he rest in peace. And may we remember him for his contribution to soul music! Ms Whyte, Columbus, Ohio USA	Ike Turner in 1997. United States musician and songwriter, Ike Turner, who was married at least 14 times, died Wednesday at his home in San Marcos, California. His wife did not give a cause of death, but mentioned that he suffered from emphysema. Ike Turner was perhaps best known as one half of the Ike & Tina Turner duo, with his former wife, Tina Turner, whom he married in Mexico in 1962. During a career that lasted half a century, Ike's repertoire included blues, soul, rock, and funk. Alongside his former wife, he was inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991 and in 2001 was inducted into the St. Louis Walk of Fame.
The Globe and Mail Leo Obstbaum, the director of design for the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games who envisioned both its mascots and medals, passed away suddenly at the age of 40, Thursday. "Leo's passing is a deep loss to the VANOC team and the entire organization's thoughts and prayers are with the Obstbaum family," VANOC spokeswoman Renee Smith-Valade said in an e-mailed statement. "Obstbaum's design leadership and influence are evident throughout VANOC's visual identity, including such iconic elements as the mascots, the Look of the Games, the torch designs, and Olympic and Paralympic medals (yet to be unveiled)." In an internal message, VANOC chief executive officer John Furlong paid tribute to the Games employee. "Leo is everywhere you look, in every colour, every texture, in every little bit of Vancouver 2010," he wrote. "Leo led and influenced the design of some of the most iconic pieces of the 2010 Winter Games. His spirit and daring inspiration has touched absolutely everything and because of him memories of the Games will live on for generations, a true enduring legacy of what went on here in Vancouver." Mr. Obstbaum was born in Buenos Aires in 1969 but moved to Barcelona as a child, according to a profile on his website. In 1990, he founded his first visual communication studio. His previous credits included designing the wardrobe for the anniversary of the Barcelona Olympic and Paralympic Summer Games. He "fell in love" with Vancouver on his honeymoon, according to his VANOC profile, and moved to the city in late 2005. In June, 2006, he joined VANOC as its director of design. He is survived by his wife and daughter. \|\|\|\|\| Leo Obstbaum was Vanoc's director of design and as such wielded tremendous influence over its image, said Vanoc officials. Obstbaum died suddenly Thursday at the age of 40. Photograph by: Handout photo, Vancouver Sun VANCOUVER — Leo Obstbaum, the creative mind behind the design of the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee, including its yet-to-be-unveiled medals, died suddenly at home Thursday night. He was 40. Ostbaum, who once said his life’s desire was to work on the Olympics, was Vanoc's director of design and as such wielded tremendous influence over its image, according to spokeswoman Renee Smith-Valade. "Obstbaum's design leadership and influence are evident throughout Vanoc's visual identity, including such iconic elements as the mascots, the look of the Games, the torch designs, and Olympic and Paralympic medals," she said in a statement. Obstbaum's death is only the second involving people working on the Olympics since the bid, Smith-Valade said. The first was a blasting accident in 2006 that killed Gary Greer, 45. He was employed by a company doing work for the ministry of transportation building a road in the Callaghan Valley. Vanoc CEO John Furlong looked shaken as he told a Vancouver Sun columnist about Obstbaum's death at home. He later paid tribute to the designer in an internal message to staff. "Leo is everywhere you look, in every colour, every texture, in every little bit of Vancouver 2010. Leo led and influenced the design of some of the most iconic pieces of the 2010 Winter Games. His spirit and daring inspiration has touched absolutely everything and because of him memories of the Games will live on for generations. A true enduring legacy of what went on here in Vancouver." Obstbaum joined Vanoc in June, 2006. He grew up in Barcelona and in 1990 founded a multidisciplinary design studio specializing in fashion, music and film design. In a recent interview with Shift, an online design magazine, Obstbaum recounted how he had had always wanted to be involved in the Olympics but only realized that opportunity when he moved to Vancouver from Barcelona with his wife in 2005 and applied online for a job at Vanoc. "When I was in Barcelona in 1992, there was an Olympic design exhibition that seized hold of me, and I knew then where I wanted to be in the future. Like so many designers, I was very interested in the Games as a design platform. Although I'm not a person that plays a lot of sport, I’ve always been inspired by athletes, not necessarily the stars, but athletes in general. Seeing people that struggle every day for a dream, waking up early in the morning and training, while the rest of us sleep, and never giving up on their pursuit of excellence and perfection … it inspires me. I wanted to be part of this and create an environment that can help them to achieve their goals and at the same time inspire others, in different fields." Smith-Valade said Obstbaum leaves a wife and young daughter. jefflee@vancouversun.com Read Jeff Lee's Olympic blog at www.vancouversun.com/insidetheolympics © Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun	Clock counting down to the 2010 Winter Olympics The director of design for the 2010 Winter Olympics being held in Vancouver, Leo Obstbaum, has passed away suddenly in his home. He designed both of the mascots as well as the medals for next year's games. Obstbaum previously designed the wardrobe for the anniversary of the Barcelona Olympic and Paralympic summer games. He joined VANOC as director of design in June 2006. VANOC spokeswoman Renee Smith-Valade released a statement through e-mail saying "Leo's passing is a deep loss to the VANOC team and the entire organization's thoughts and prayers are with the Obstbaum family". Chief Executive John Furlong said "Leo is everywhere you look, in every colour, every texture, in every little bit of Vancouver 2010. Leo led and influenced the design of some of the most iconic pieces of the 2010 Winter Games. His spirit and daring inspiration has touched absolutely everything and because of him memories of the Games will live on for generations, a true enduring legacy of what went on here in Vancouver." Born in Argentina, he later moved to Spain as a child until moving to Vancouver in 2005. He opened his first visual design company in Spain in the early 1990s.
Hundreds of Haitians joined open-air church services in the capital The confirmed death toll from Haiti's devastating earthquake has risen above 150,000 in the Port-au-Prince area alone, a government minister has said. Communications minister Marie-Laurence Jocelyn Lassegue told AP the count was based on bodies collected in the capital and nearby by state firm CNE. Many more remain uncounted under rubble in the capital and elsewhere, including the towns of Jacmel and Leogane. The search for survivors has officially ended and the focus has shifted to aid. But a 24-year-old man was pulled alive from the remains of a hotel in the capital on Saturday after 11 days under the rubble, in what rescuers described as "a miracle". HAITI'S REMARKABLE SURVIVORS Wismond Exantus Enso, 24 - pulled out alive after 11 days Emmannuel Buso, 21 - rescued after 10 days Marie Carida, 84 - saved after 10 days Mendji Bahina Sanon, 11 - trapped for eight days Lozama Hotteline, 25 - pulled out after seven days Elisabeth Joassaint, 15 days - buried for seven days, half her life Ena Zizi, 69 - rescued after seven days Haiti quake: Survivors' stories 'An extraordinary operation' Onlookers cheered as Wismond Exantus Enso - smiling and apparently in a good condition - emerged on a stretcher from what remains of the Napoli Inn Hotel. He later told reporters that soft drinks and snacks had kept him going. A French medic said he could expect to leave hospital within a day or two. His rescue came hours after Haiti's government declared a formal end to the search for survivors. As the death toll in Haiti has risen, it has become clear the 12 January quake is one of the worst natural disasters to have struck in recent years. Some say the 7.0-magnitude quake killed as many as 200,000 people, while an estimated 1.5 million people have been left homeless. Ms Lassegue said that the authorities were still far from knowing the total number of those killed. "Nobody knows how many bodies are buried in the rubble - 200,000, 300,000? Who knows the overall death toll?" the Associated Press quotes her as saying on Sunday. Speaking to reporters a day earlier, she said the general hospital had received about 10,000 corpses, which it had handed over to CNE for burial. At least 75,000 people have been buried in mass graves since the disaster. Relatives have also burnt the bodies of some of the victims. 'Tremendous need' Thousands of people joined open-air church services in Port-au-Prince, Leogane - the epicentre of the earthquake - and elsewhere on Sunday. What we are going through is not finished, we must reconstruct the country and reconstruct our faith Father Glanda Toussaint A day after the funeral of the capital's Roman Catholic archbishop, Father Glanda Toussaint celebrated Mass at an altar improvised on a wooden table by the wrecked cathedral. He told his congregation: "What we are going through is not finished, we must reconstruct the country and reconstruct our faith. As a Haitian, it hurts." Meanwhile, BBC correspondents in Port-au-Prince report a few signs of normal life returning to the city, with street stalls starting to sell fruit and vegetables and some shops and banks re-opening. Queues to withdraw cash have been long, as prices for what is now on sale have increased dramatically and many Haitians have been without access to money for days. BBC HAITIAN CREOLE SERVICE Broadcasting on FM radio daily in Haitian Creole at 0910 local time (1410 GMT), for 20 minutes Giving up-to-date information about where to get basic services and aid Also available on satellite and online, and via social media BBC Caribbean The UN says more than 130,000 people have now been relocated out of Port-au-Prince by the authorities, easing the pressure on overcrowded camps in the city. Others have left independently. With the search-and-rescue phase officially over, international groups are focused on humanitarian efforts, with aid workers still struggling to get food, water and other supplies to all those in need. "The aid we have available... is being pushed out," Lt Gen Ken Keen, commander of the US military operation in Haiti, told Reuters news agency. "But the need is tremendous. Every day is a better day than yesterday. Tomorrow will be a better day than the day before." Foreign ministers will discuss plans for reconstruction at an international donor conference to take place in the Canadian city of Montreal on Monday. Bookmark with: Delicious Digg reddit Facebook StumbleUpon What are these? E-mail this to a friend Printable version \|\|\|\|\| More than 100,000 people are travelling north and southwest to escape the capital's devastation [AFP] More than 100,000 people are travelling north and southwest to escape the capital's devastation [AFP] More than 100,000 people are travelling north and southwest to escape the capital's devastation [AFP] More than 150,000 people have been confirmed dead in the Port-au-Prince area alone following Haiti's devastating earthquake, the country's communications minister has said. Marie-Laurence Jocelyn Lassegue said on Sunday that many thousands more people could be dead in the rest of the country, while the bodies of others have been burned by relatives or remain trapped under collapsed buildings. Lassegue said that the figure was compiled by CNE, a state company that has been collecting corpses from around the capital and burying them in a mass grave north of Port-au-Prince. "Nobody knows how many bodies are buried in the rubble; 200,000 ... 300,000?" she said. "Who knows the overall death toll?" The United Nations said on Saturday that the government had confirmed 111,481 bodies had been collected following the 7.0 magnitude quake on January 12. Urban exodus Meanwhile, the international aid agency leading efforts to provide shelter for the hundreds of thousands of survivors appealed for thousands more tents and and other forms of shelter. special report The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said in a statement that it had 10,000 family-sized tents in a warehouse in Port-au-Prince, but that "estimated needs stand at 100,000 to assist 500,000 persons". Many of those made homeless by the quake are being resettled by Haitian authorities outside Port-au-Prince during reconstruction efforts. Teresa Bo, Al Jazeeera's correspondent in Port-au-Prince, said people were taking advantage of the government's offer to take them by bus to the southwestern and northern parts of the country for free. "Around 100,000 people have taken advantage of this. They are going to the southwestern part of the country away from Port-au-Prince where the situation is better. "They are running away because they have nothing here, no food, no water, nothing." Al Jazeera's Rob Reynolds, reporting from Saint Marc, a coastal city north of Port-au-Prince said: "We've seen school buses packed with people heading north, where the country was less affected by the earthquake. "The total number of people in this urban exodus could be around a million people we're told." Immediate needs Haiti's government estimated on Friday that around 609,000 people were without shelter in the Port-au-Prince area, according to the IOM. Hundreds of Haitians gathered in the capital for a mass near the capital's Roman Catholic cathedral on Sunday, while others lined up to receive food packs, water and crackers from US and Brazilian tropps in Cite du Soleil, a Port-au-Prince slum. Ken Keen, the US general leading the military's operations in the capital, said: "We are at the beginning of the massive effort to sustain providing food, water and medical assistance throughout the city. "What we have been doing thus far is in a crisis reaction, obviously, to the situation, pushing out as much as we can to address the immediate needs, but we are entering a phase where have to be able to sustain it takes estimated one million rations a day in order to sustain it."	A Haitian killed in the quake The Haitian government Communications Minister states that over 150,000 people in Port-au-Prince, the country's capital, are confirmed dead from the recent magnitude 7.0 earthquake there. Minister Marie-Laurence Jocelyn Lassegue commented that the figure is based on corpses found and collected in the city by a state company, CNE. "Nobody knows how many bodies are buried in the rubble — 200,000, 300,000? Who knows the overall death toll?" the Associated Press reports Lassegue as commenting. Yesterday, the United Nations reported the Haitian government found 111,481 bodies recovered from rubble. Meanwhile, at least 75,000 corpses have been buried in mass graves. The government officially announced on Saturday that its search for survivors buried beneath buildings had ended; the focus is now on getting aid to survivors.
By ERIC WAINAINA Two people died and four others were injured on Sunday morning when another building collapsed in Kiambu town. And for the second time, the efficiency and preparedness of the area council in handling disasters was put to the test, with the Municipal Council of Kiambu lacking equipment. Excavators to dig into the rubble for rescue and recovery operation were deployed from a Chinese company. Maina Irungu, 17, died after the five storey building under construction collapsed over their iron-sheet house at about 2 am. The identity of the second person has not yet been established. Maina sat for his Kenya Certificate of Primary Education KCPE last year and he was due to join Form One. Among the survivors were Maina’s Brother Peter Irungu, Denis Wateba and Obadiah Ndungu and two of them have been treated and discharged. The injured were dashed to the Kiambu District Hospital with multiple fractures for treatment but staff at the hospital kept journalists away. The military, General Service Unit, the Nairobi Fire Brigade and volunteers from the Red Cross mounted a massive rescue operation at the site as it emerged that more people could have been trapped in the rubble. The tragedy occurred about 100 metres away from where another building, also under construction, collapsed killing 17 people and injuring several others on October 19 last year. Last week, the owner of the building that collapsed on Sunday, Mr Francis Njoroge and his wife Mrs Felista Nyokabi, were charged before a Kiambu court for allowing the construction of an unsafe building and ordered to demolish it within 30 days. They were also fined Sh50,000 each. The building's construction had earlier been stopped after complains were made that it had already tilted was likely to collapse. According to Mr Romano Kinyua, the District Public Health Officer, the building had been constructed with poor and inappropriate materials On Saturday afternoon, the owner of the building was spotted on demolishing it from the top floor, a day after the order was made. The victims of the Sunday tragedy are people who live in houses near the building. \|\|\|\|\| At least two people have been confirmed dead and four others injured after a building under construction collapsed in Kiambu town early Sunday. The building, located less than 100 meters from the place where another building collapsed two months ago in October leading to the deaths of 17 people, had been condemned earlier on and occupants ordered to vacate. According to the Kiambu OCPD, Samuel Mukindia, two people have been confirmed dead while four are admitted at the Kiambu District Hospitals while one was treated and discharged. The victims are said to have been occupying mabati houses neighboring the collapsed building and were in their sleep when the 2.00. A.M. disaster befell them. Combined rescue operation at the site includes the Red Cross, the GSU, and the army with about four people believed to be still buried under the debris. Earlier on after the October tragedy, Kiambu Municipal Council, whose engineer was charged with 17 counts of manslaughter as a result, launched rapid inspection exercise on all the buildings under the municipal jurisdiction to ensure that they meet the required architectural and structural standards stipulated by the law. Construction of the now collapsed building was then halted and it was condemned after being found with cracks on its walls. The mayor was at that time quoted saying "we will order the owners of the faulty buildings to bring them down so that we can avert another disaster from happening." The owner of the building was subsequently taken to court and was last Friday fined sh. 50 000 or 14 month imprisonment on top of being ordered to demolish the house at once. It is said that demonstration work at the building had began earlier yesterday. Police are looking for the owner of the building who has not appeared at the site of the tragedy and is likely to be charged with manslaughter. Meanwhile, another building located about a 100 meters from the scene of tragedy has been condemned unsafe and occupants ordered to vacate the building within three hours. According to the Kiambu District Investigations Officer, Ahmed Abdi, the building which houses about 40 families is a disaster in the waiting as is said to have cracks in its ground floor. Lorries and loaders flocked the area as families were seen busy packing and loading their belongings into the waiting lorries to move to other areas. . \|\|\|\|\| Another disaster in Kiambu BY LABAN WANAMBISI Update 3days and 1 hours and 23 minutes ago Facebook Digg It Reddit Deli Print this page Email this page KIAMBU, Kenya, Jan 10 - Three people died early on Sunday after yet another building collapsed in Kiambu town. Four others were injured and taken to hospital after the three-storey building which was under construction tumbled at around 2am following a heavy downpour. The building had been condemned for destruction after structural faults were detected. One person died immediately following the collapse, but rescuers from the military, the General Service Unit (GSU) and Red Cross retrieved two more bodies on Sunday morning. The rescue workers spent the better part of the morning trying to clear the debris and reach down to the two who were still trapped. But shortly after 12, they retrieved one body and located a second one. Kiambu divisional Police chief Samwel Mukindia told Capital News that the three casualties were residents of an adjacent building. Meanwhile, police have ordered evacuation from two other nearby buildings after they spotted cracks on them. \|\|\|\|\| Mr Yang said it was important to build up Africa's infrastructure China says it will give a $7m (£4.4m) grant to help fund infrastructure development projects in Kenya. The announcement came at the start of the Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi's latest Africa tour. His schedule includes visits to Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Algeria, Morocco and Saudi Arabia. Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki said China has offered to help develop a second port at Lamu which will be connected to Ethiopia, Southern Sudan and Rwanda. Correspondents said this would provide a route to export Chinese oil from Southern Sudan. China will also help upgrade a railroad linking Kenya's Mombasa port and the Ugandan capital, said a statement from President Mwai Kibaki's office. "For Africa to further take off, it is very important to build up the infrastructure so that African countries can conduct intra-regional trade on a massive scale," Mr Yang told reporters. In November, China's government said it would offer Africa $10bn (£6.3bn) in concessional loans over the next three years.	Two people in Kenya died earlier today after a five-storeyed building under construction in the town of Kiambu collapsed. Four others were said to have been injured. The incident occurred in the middle of the night, at 02:30 local time (23:30 UTC), on Sunday morning. The building was only a few metres from another building that collapsed in October of last year, killing thirty people. The building is reported to have been condemned last year, when the authorities deemed it substandard. Preparations to demolish the building started yesterday, in accordance with a court order that required the building to be destroyed within thirty days. One of the casualties from the accident was Maina Irungu, aged seventeen; the other hasn't been identified. People wounded by the collapse were taken to the Kiambu District Hospital. The victims were all people who lived in houses near the collapsed building. Rescue operations are still ongoing, being conducted by the Red Cross, police, and military. Officials also ordered evacuation of two buildings in the vicinity when cracks were spotted on them, according to Capital FM Kenya. This story in itself is reflective of a major infrastructure problem in Kenya, according to the ''BBC'', China says it will give a US$7 million (£4.4m, €4.9m) grant to help fund infrastructure development projects in Kenya.
Microsoft is shaking up its plans for the next version of Windows to get the software off the drawing board and into PCs by the end of 2006. As expected, the company on Friday announced a new road map for Longhorn, its revision to Windows XP. The changes - removing some features and altering others - are designed to let the company have a test version of the software next year and a final release for desktops and notebooks by 2006. A server release is planned for 2007. "In order to make this date [of 2006], we've had to simplify some things, to stagger it. One of the things we're staggering is the Windows storage work," Jim Allchin, Microsoft's vice president in charge of Windows development, said in an interview with silicon.com sister site CNET News.com. "We’ll still have rapid search covering the data just as we planned." Microsoft's top executives had characterised Longhorn as a major overhaul of the operating system and stressed that its release would not be determined by trying to hit a specific ship date. However, as the project threatened to push out into 2007 or beyond, analysts argued that the software maker needed to scale the project back to something more manageable. The software maker has not had a full release of its desktop operating system since Windows XP debuted in October 2001, although the company has shipped specialised versions of the operating system, such as the Tablet PC and Media Center editions. Microsoft has also been faced with a strain on its programming resources for Longhorn, with much of the Windows development team commandeered to complete the Service Pack 2 security update to Windows XP, which Microsoft finished earlier this month. Longhorn was originally supposed to have three major changes: a new file system, WinFS; a new graphics and presentation engine known as Avalon; and Indigo, a web services and communication architecture. Microsoft is making changes to all three pillars. WinFS will be available as a beta when the Longhorn release comes out as a client. Avalon and Indigo will be part of Longhorn, but also made available separately for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. By making Avalon and Indigo work on older machines, Microsoft hopes more developers will want to write software that takes advantage of the new technologies. Had they been Longhorn-only features, the concern is that developers would have held off writing software until there was a critical mass of machines running that operating system. "Getting 'Longhorn' to customers in 2006 will provide important advances in performance, security and reliability, and will help accelerate the creation of exciting new applications by developers across the industry," Bill Gates, chairman of Microsoft, said Friday. The changes come, Microsoft executives say, following months of conversations with computer makers, developers and customers. Computer makers were said to be pushing Microsoft for a release that would not take until 2007 to deliver. Doing that, Allchin said, meant taking WinFS out of Longhorn. The company now believes it can more fully implement the new storage concept and do so simultaneously for both servers and desktop computers, something that would not have been possible had WinFS been part of Longhorn. The move clouds Gates' long-time vision for a unified storage system, something he has called a "holy grail". Such a system would allow people to easily group all kinds of documents by various categories, such as who created or edited them. Improved search, across multiple kinds of files, will still be a key feature of the revamped Longhorn, Microsoft said. \|\|\|\|\| The conference is now over. A comprehensive post-conference DVD containing final conference slides, speaker notes, session information, third party information and more, was mailed to all delegates on Friday 13th December. To receive more information about Microsoft IT Forum 2003 and other Microsoft European Events, click here *10 November is for pre-conference sessions and registration	At Microsoft IT Forum 2004 Copenhagen technological conference Bill Gates, founder and current Chairman and Chief Software Architect of Microsoft, has said the future operating system of Microsoft called Longhorn will be released in 2006. There had been fears that Longhorn would not ship until 2007 or later. Microsoft has responded by cutting features from Longhorn, notably WinFS. Features planned for Longhorn include a new 3D graphic user interface, a more sophisticated replacement for MS-DOS, and execute for processor NX, or No Execute, security features that prevents some malicious code from being run. This is expected to be the first Microsoft release since Windows XP in October of 2001. There has, however, been some speculation of a "Windows XP Reloaded" in the interim. Longhorn is currently in Alpha as a preview-release to Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) subscribers.
Russia: Protest In St. Petersburg Over Skyscraper Thousands Of Russians Rally In St. Petersburg To Protest Planned Skyscraper About 3,000 protesters rallied in Russia's former czarist capital on Saturday to protest a plan to build a hulking skyscraper for state energy giant Gazprom.The protesters urged Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to ban the construction of the 77-story glass tower in the historic city center.Officials see the so-called Okhta Center as an important step in developing St. Petersburg. But critics say the 400-meter (1,300-foot) tower will spoil the city's elegant skyline, known for its canals, ridges and centuries-old palaces. UNESCO has warned that building the tower could endanger St. Petersburg's status as a world heritage site.The protesters on Saturday carried placards saying "No to the Tower!" and "History is More Important Than Money!"They also called on Medvedev to fire city Gov. Valentina Matviyenko for giving a green light to the project earlier this month."This action will destroy my city, the city where I grew up, and the city that I want to save for my grandchildren," Galina Safronova, a 55-year protester said.The proposed tower would be built across the Neva and upriver from the most heavily visited parts of St. Petersburg, but would still dominate many views and would loom over the Smolny monastery complex, whose turquoise buildings trimmed in frilly white are one of the city's most beloved sites.Russia's Culture Minister Alexander Avdeyev has joined the ranks of the project's foes. In an interview published Saturday in the business daily Kommersant, he said he had sent a letter to prosecutors arguing that the plan would violate the federal law."If the law is broken, the executive authorities and the prosecutors must react to that," Avdeyev was quoted as saying.A poll of 1,200 St. Petersburg residents conducted earlier this week had 77 percent of respondents saying that the city's skyline must be preserved, while 18 percent welcomed new tall buildings and the rest were undecided. A margin of error for the poll conducted by the respected All-Russia Opinion Research Center wasn't given, but it usually is about 3 percentage points. \|\|\|\|\| The protesters say the tower will destroy the historic city About 3,000 people have rallied in St Petersburg against plans to build a huge skyscraper in Russia's former imperial capital. Demonstrators voiced anger at the city council's decision to approve construction of the 400m (1,312 ft) Okhta Centre for the gas giant Gazprom. They said the tower would spoil the city's historic skyline. The UN cultural body, Unesco, has said building the tower could endanger the city's status as a world heritage site. The Okhta Centre's designers describe it as a "twisting glass needle" On Saturday, demonstrators chanted "No to the tower!" and "History is more important than money!" at the rally in central St Petersburg. "This action will destroy my city, the city where I grew up, and the city that I want to save for my grandchildren," Galina Safronova, aged 55, was quoted as saying by the Associated Press news agency. Russia's culture ministry is also objecting to the building of the needle-like glass tower. The ministry has asked prosecutors to examine whether last month's official approval of the project violates Russia's federal law. The skyscraper has been designed by British firm RMJM and would cost some $2.4bn (£1.5bn) to build.	Nearly 3,000 people demonstrated in Saint Petersburg, Russia on Saturday to oppose a proposition to construct a skyscraper in the city. The demonstrators were protesting against the , a proposed supertall 77-story skyscraper for the gas company Gazprom measuring 400 metres (1,300 feet). They said that the tower would ruin the city's skyline, famous for its historic buildings, palaces, and canals. Galina Safronova, 55, said that "this action will destroy my city, the city where I grew up, and the city that I want to save for my grandchildren," as quoted by the Associated Press news agency. UNESCO, the cultural body of the United Nations, warned that the skyscraper, if built, may endanger St Petersburg's world heritage site status. Government officials supporting the proposal, however, said that the tower would give St Petersburg a large economic boost.
Ilta-Sanomat reveals embarrassing error in Reuters feed on Russian North Pole sub expedition Finnish-built submersibles caused Cold War storm in 1987 print this MIR-1 and MIR-2 submersibles during a recent Russian scientific expedition to the sea bed 4.3 kilometres below the Geographic North Pole, have been shown to be something else again. The pictures did indeed show MIR-1 and MIR-2 in action, but the submersibles were actually employed at the time in location filming at the scene of the wreck of the RMS Titanic in the North Atlantic, and not under the polar ice-cap. Those who have seen Titanic (1997) will also have recognised the footage, as Cameron used the same shots in certain sequences of his epic about the 1912 disaster that were set in modern times. The images were picked up by numerous media outlets around the world, Helsingin Sanomat among them, and were inserted into news stories as evidence of the successful expedition. Nobody raised any eyebrows. At least, not until one Finnish reader , a 13-year-old boy from Kemi named Ilta-Sanomat . The newspaper ran the story prominently in its Thursday edition. The footage used by Reuters was supplied by the Russian television channel RTR, and apparently no claim was made in the original Russian news bulletin to suggest the pictures showed the two manned mini-subs beneath the North Pole. Indeed at the time of the original broadcast, the vessels and their crews were known to be still some hours away from their destination. However, a viewer could conceivably assume that the computer animations, the footage of ships on the surface at the North Pole, and the underwater scenes were all part of the same continuum. In its piece on the subject, two of the four Reuters pictures were from the Titanic filming. Reuters later apologised for the error and made the appropriate changes to its video material on the expedition, with captions denoting the various origins of the file footage used. As the story of the faux pictures broke and spread to other countries, there were those who jumped to the hasty conclusion that in fact the entire Russian Academy of Sciences' expedition was a hoax. It was even thought briefly that the planting of a titanium Russian flag on the sea-bed - seen as a symbolic claim on the area, which is rich in natural resources - was the product of clever image manipulation. Things are probably not that dramatic: it merely seems that someone at the normally meticulous news agency arrived at a wrong conclusion of their own about the images and they were mislabelled or left without any captions at all. The incident is doubly embarrassing for Reuters since it follows on from a case last August in which the news agency published an image by a freelancer of Israeli bombings in Lebanon that had been dramatised using photo manipulation, with the addition of smoke rising from allegedly burning buildings. After that gaffe, Reuters promised to tighten up its controls on material being put out in its name. The MIR-1 and MIR-2 submersibles , which were delivered to the then Soviet Academy of Sciences in late 1987, were built by the Oceanics subsidiary of the Finnish forest, metals, and shipbuilding concern Rauma-Repola. Made of specially hardened steel and weighing 18 tons, and capable of diving to 6,000 metres, the mini-subs were a hugely impressive accomplishment. Only three other submarines were equipped to work at such extreme depths, which allowed access to 98% of the world's oceans. The sale caused some political shockwaves at the time, as The Pentagon and the Coordinating Committee for Multilateral Export Controls (COCOM) did not look kindly on the export of such high technology items behind the Iron Curtain, fearing the submersibles could have a strategic application. After it became clear that the devices would actually work, considerable pressure was brought to bear on President Rauma-Repola, which had much to lose in its offshore oil-platform business if hit by sanctions, quietly backed away from further work on submarines and the Oceanics subsidiary was wound up. The Rauma-Repola CEO at the time Images presented by the Reuters news agency last Thursday, purporting to show the Finnish-builtandsubmersibles during a recent Russian scientific expedition to the sea bed 4.3 kilometres below the Geographic North Pole, have been shown to be something else again.The pictures did indeed showandin action, but the submersibles were actually employed at the time in location filming at the scene of the wreck of thein the North Atlantic, and not under the polar ice-cap.Those who have seen James Cameron's blockbuster movie(1997) will also have recognised the footage, as Cameron used the same shots in certain sequences of his epic about the 1912 disaster that were set in modern times.The images were picked up by numerous media outlets around the world,among them, and were inserted into news stories as evidence of the successful expedition. Nobody raised any eyebrows., a 13-year-old boy from Kemi named Waltteri Seretin , made just this "Cameron connection", and contacted the late-edition tabloid. The newspaper ran the story prominently in its Thursday edition.The footage used by Reuters was supplied by the Russian television channel RTR, and apparently no claim was made in the original Russian news bulletin to suggest the pictures showed the two manned mini-subs beneath the North Pole. Indeed at the time of the original broadcast, the vessels and their crews were known to be still some hours away from their destination. However, a viewer could conceivably assume that the computer animations, the footage of ships on the surface at the North Pole, and the underwater scenes were all part of the same continuum. In its piece on the subject, two of the four Reuters pictures were from thefilming.Reuters later apologised for the error and made the appropriate changes to its video material on the expedition, with captions denoting the various origins of the file footage used.and spread to other countries, there were those who jumped to the hasty conclusion that in fact the entire Russian Academy of Sciences' expedition was a hoax. It was even thought briefly that the planting of a titanium Russian flag on the sea-bed - seen as a symbolic claim on the area, which is rich in natural resources - was the product of clever image manipulation.Things are probably not that dramatic: it merely seems that someone at the normally meticulous news agency arrived at a wrong conclusion of their own about the images and they were mislabelled or left without any captions at all.The incident is doubly embarrassing for Reuters since it follows on from a case last August in which the news agency published an image by a freelancer of Israeli bombings in Lebanon that had been dramatised using photo manipulation, with the addition of smoke rising from allegedly burning buildings. After that gaffe, Reuters promised to tighten up its controls on material being put out in its name., which were delivered to the then Soviet Academy of Sciences in late 1987, were built by the Oceanics subsidiary of the Finnish forest, metals, and shipbuilding concern Rauma-Repola.Made of specially hardened steel and weighing 18 tons, and capable of diving to 6,000 metres, the mini-subs were a hugely impressive accomplishment. Only three other submarines were equipped to work at such extreme depths, which allowed access to 98% of the world's oceans.The sale caused some political shockwaves at the time, as The Pentagon and the Coordinating Committee for Multilateral Export Controls (COCOM) did not look kindly on the export of such high technology items behind the Iron Curtain, fearing the submersibles could have a strategic application.that the devices would actually work, considerable pressure was brought to bear on President Mauno Koivisto by his US counterpart George Herbert Walker Bush and others, but the project went through as planned.Rauma-Repola, which had much to lose in its offshore oil-platform business if hit by sanctions, quietly backed away from further work on submarines and the Oceanics subsidiary was wound up. The Rauma-Repola CEO at the time Tauno Matomäki later commented in an interview that the decision had been prompted by pressure from Washington and the CIA. Previously in HS International Edition: Former CEO says CIA responsible for bringing down Rauma-Repola Oceanics submarine technology firm (22.10.2003) Links: Reuters video (now corrected and with captions) RTR newscast (in Russian, click on image for video) Reuters original news item, showing two images from the 1990s and the making of Titanic. MIR submersibles (Wikipedia) Helsingin Sanomat \|\|\|\|\| Unearthly blue lights played across the ocean floor two and a half miles below the north pole as the heroic Russian explorers descended in mini submarines to plant a metre-high flag. At least that's what the Russian state television company Rossiya wanted us to believe. The truth was rather different. In an apparent attempt to "sex up" a news programme, the TV station has been caught passing off footage from the 1997 Hollywood blockbuster Titanic as a real life report on the Kremlin's recent attempt to stake its claim to the riches of the Arctic Ocean. Rossiya's images were distributed all over the world, appearing on television news broadcasts and websites in Britain and as "screen grabs" in newspapers. It took an alert teenager in Finland with a Titanic DVD to spot the sham. Waltteri Seretin, 13, from Kemi, 450 miles north of Helsinki, recognised the images in the national daily Ilta-Sanomat. "I was looking at the photo of the Russian sub expedition and I noticed immediately that there was something familiar about the picture," he told the paper. "I checked it with my DVD and there it was right there in the beginning of the movie: exactly the same image of the submer-sibles approaching the ship." James Cameron's film about the 1912 disaster, which starred Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio, opens with a scene of mini-subs diving to inspect the wreck of Titanic. In the Russian television report about the north pole, expedition, images from the movie were inserted seamlessly into real footage and bore an on-screen caption reading "northern Arctic Ocean". As the Titanic images were shown on the Vesti news programme, a correspondent said: "When the mini submarine got to 300 metres, the unloading of the second sub began." The two mini subs used by the Russian scientists, Mir-1 and Mir-2, were in fact made by a Finnish company and were used by Cameron in his film. However, it is thought the scene from the movie shown on Rossiya's Vesti news programme was originally filmed using scale models in a studio. Rossiya is one of two state-controlled channels that have been turned into propaganda tools under President Vladimir Putin and it is the second time in less than a fortnight that Vesti has faked a broadcast. Ten days ago it mocked up a copy of the Times newspaper to make it appear as though the paper had run a critical article on the London-based businessman Boris Berezovsky on its front page. In fact the article had appeared in the comment section. Rossiya refused to comment on the "polar" footage, but the boy who identified it gave his damning indictment. "I've heard they don't always tell the truth in Russia, but I didn't think they could have screwed it up that badly," said the teenager, who has watched Titanic at home on numerous occasions. Russia's dive in two mini subs last week was trumpeted by Moscow as a PR coup in its effort to prove the Arctic is Russian. Veteran explorer Artur Chilingarov and his team returned to a heroes' welcome. The TV fiasco will add fresh controversy to the expedition, which caused scorn and resentment among other northern hemisphere nations bent on getting their share of the Arctic's energy riches - at least 10bn tonnes of hydrocarbons. Alexei Simonov of the Glasnost Defence Foundation, said there had been a clear attempt by the Russian channel to dupe viewers: "This is a sign of the sheer unprofessionalism that reigns when TV is turned into a pawn of the authorities." \|\|\|\|\| News agency Reuters has been forced to admit that footage it released last week purportedly showing Russian submersibles on the seabed of the North Pole actually came from the movie Titanic. The images were reproduced around the world - including by the Guardian and Guardian Unlimited - alongside the story of Russia planting its flag below the North Pole on Thursday last week. But it has now emerged that the footage actually showed two Finnish-made Mir submersibles that were employed on location filming at the scene of the wreck of the RMS Titanic ship in the north Atlantic some 10 years ago. This footage was used in sequences in James Cameron's 1997 blockbuster about the 1912 disaster. The mistake was only revealed after a 13-year-old Finnish schoolboy contacted a local newspaper to tell them the images looked identical to those used in the movie. Reuters has admitted that it took the images from Russian state television channel RTR and wrongly captioned them as file footage originating from the Arctic. RTR had also used the footage to illustrate stories about the North Pole expedition, but it is thought as library footage, and it never claimed it was actually of the flag-planting. The pictures were first broadcast by RTR when the Russians were still several hours away from the North Pole. Reuters distributed a package of clips that included the scenes from Titanic, alongside computer animations and footage of ships on the surface at the North Pole. In its piece on the subject, two of the four Reuters pictures were from the Titanic filming. Reuters has now apologised for the error and has made changes to its video material on the expedition, with captions denoting the various origins of the file footage used. In a statement, Reuters said: "On August 2, 2007 in a TV story about two Russian submersibles planting a flag on the seabed under the North Pole, we used file shots of MIR submersibles as part of this story. "Reuters mistakenly identified this file footage as originating from the Arctic, and not the North Atlantic where the footage was shot. "This footage was taken during the search for the Titanic and copyright is held by Russian State broadcaster RTR. "This location error was corrected as soon as it was brought to our attention. A still image of the submersibles was also taken from the footage and put out on the Reuters photo wire. The caption has been corrected." The incident is doubly embarrassing for the agency since it follows a case in August last year in which it published an image by a freelancer of Israeli bombings in Lebanon that had been dramatised using photo manipulation, with the addition of smoke rising from allegedly burning buildings. After that gaffe, Reuters promised to tighten up its controls on material being put out in its name. · To contact the MediaGuardian newsdesk email editor@mediaguardian.co.uk or phone 020 7239 9857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 7278 2332. · If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication". \|\|\|\|\| This story contains file shots of Russia's MIR submersible. The story also contains video of a submersible which was shot during the search for the Titanic in the Atlantic. File identifiers were inadvertently left off the story. The story has been reposted with captions denoting the file footage. Aug. 2 - Russia has planted a flag on the seabed directly under the North Pole in a move seen as a symbolic claim on the resource rich region Canada dismissed the move, saying the tactic was more suited to the 15th century than the real world. Canada is one of five states with territory inside the Arctic Circle. Under international law the five, which also includes the U.S. Denmark and Norway, have a 320 km (200 mile) economic zone beyond their land borders. But Moscow is hoping to establish that Russia and the North Pole are part of the same continental shelf, which could allow Russia to claim sovereignty over the energy-rich region. Helen Long reports.	Part of the video footage of the Russian submarines (MIR 1 and 2) planting a flag on the sea bed at the North pole, shown by Russian state TV channel Rossiya and re-broadcasted by Reuters, included shots from the James Cameron film ''Titanic'', according to a Finnish newspaper. The inclusion of the Titanic fragment was spotted by a 13-year-old Finnish boy, Waltteri Seretin, who compared Reuters' pictures with his own DVD version of the ''Titanic'' film. He alerted the Finnish tabloid paper ''Ilta-Sanomat''. Screen grabs form the Rossiya footage were shown on web sites and newspapers around the world. The two MIR submarines used in the Russian expedition were designed in Russia but actually made in Finland, and were indeed used in the Titanic film. However ''The Guardian'' reports that the shots used by Rossiya were in fact models shot in the studio. The Russian channel broadcast the pictures before the pole was reached and claimed it was using it in the same spirit as library footage. However Reuters gave the impression that it was actual footage of the expedition. Reuters published an apology, but only admitted that the pictures were from the Atlantic, not the Arctic, and not admitting that the footage showed a studio model. NTV channel, who sent their correspondent on icebreacker, broadcast the actual videos, filmed from inside the submarine.
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It’s been a good week for press freedom – the real version not the fake defence of yellow journalism. On Thursday lawyers acting for News of the World employee Mazher Mahmood, aka the fake sheikh, declined to petition the Court of Appeal to overturn an unequivocal judgment the day before refusing an injunction against publication of photographs of him. The judge who heard the Wednesday case, Mr Justice Mitting, threw out every one of the arguments put by Mahmood’s legal team (paid for by Rupert Murdoch’s News International). The prior publication of one picture in the Observer in 2001 and 2003 (over which News International sought no injunction), rather undermined their case. But the staggering aspect of the hearing was the arguments adduced by Mahmood/News International’s side. They claimed that Mahmood would be endangered by publication of the pictures. My brilliant legal team, headed by David Price, demonstrated that those who may wish to do Mahmood harm would have no difficulty identifying him, as they would have met him. And Mr Justice Mitting agreed: “I cannot begin to see how publishing a picture, with no other information, can make a difference [to Mahmood’s safety]… I can see how the photo can be of use to a potential target [of his stings]…” In his judgment, he concluded, “I am satisfied that the true purpose of the application [for an injunction] is not the protection of his [Mahmood’s] life but the protection of his earning capacity…” In a brazenly hypocritical display, a further argument from News International’s side was to the effect that photographs not intended for publication should never find their way into a national newspaper! The judge suggested, “The partners of footballers are frequently photographed on shopping expeditions; you can’t say that their privacy is being infringed. Mahmood’s QC responded, “The answer is that it almost certainly is being infringed.” Pots and kettles were flying through the air as the judge commented, “I’m surprised that that argument is being advanced from your corner.” I wondered aloud whether the News of the World had decided to scuttle its ship by putting an argument that, if accepted, would put it out of business. The judge ruled against extending a temporary injunction, awarded costs against Mahmood, denied leave to appeal and stayed his judgment for 23 hours, as Mahmood’s legal team indicated they might petition the Court of Appeal yesterday. They did not. The most grotesque argument was citing the anonymity granted Jon Venables, Mary Bell and Maxine Carr as a precedent for a worldwide ban on publishing pictures of Mahmood. This case will forever be remembered for the nauseating sight of Rupert Murdoch’s News International huddling behind Venables, Bell and Carr when the News of the World would be the first to whip its readers into a vigilante gang if it had their identities. My concern about Mahmood’s activities goes back way before his attempt to suborn me, which I’ve written about extensively. I first drew attention to his agent provocateur tactics in a Parliamentary adjournment debate I secured on the British media on 5 June 1999. Since then, whatever good he might have claimed to have done in the past has become outweighed by the harm his activities are doing to journalism and public life. He has crossed the cusp of reputable journalism into seeking to procure criminal acts. I promised to expose his activities and protect others in public life from him, and I have made good on that. Since then, many individuals have approached me with voluminous evidence of his activities. This ruling is very significant, as was my libel victory against the Daily Telegraph, in setting precedents for media law. The battle with News International also again revealed the limits on the capacity of big organisations to restrict the circulation of material on the web. I understand Lenin’s Tomb received not a court order from News International, but a threat to unleash the in-house lawyer. By then, the News of the World was throwing in the towel down The Strand. This welcome ruling it is far from the end of the matter. Investigations into Mahmood are continuing, mine and others’ – watch this space. I will be seeking another adjournment debate on the standards of the British media. That’s a subject I intend to return to and am discussing how to pursue. The News of the World can clear this up now by publishing transcripts and all other material from Mahmood’s encounter with me. It promised to publish the results of its investigation last Sunday, and failed to do so. It can now strike a blow for journalistic standards by retiring the fake sheikh. George Galloway MP \|\|\|\|\| It is perhaps a disguise, and a modus operandi, that has long passed its sell-by date. When George Galloway met wealthy Muslim businessman Pervaiz Khan for dinner at the Dorchester Hotel a week ago, the Respect MP claims to have smelled a rat instantly. Clad in flowing robes, but curiously beardless, Khan "did not remotely resemble" the devout Islamist he claimed to be, says Galloway. After some small talk, he and a "business associate" named Sam Fernando began to ask "ludicrously leading questions". How might they financially sponsor a British MP? Could they fund a political party? According to Galloway, they then made a number of "offensive" remarks about Jews - even questioning the veracity of the Holocaust - clearly in the hope of extracting similarly vile comments from the MP for Bethnal Green and Bow. Article Length: 2104 words (approx.) \|\|\|\|\| The fake sheikh, aka Mazher Mahmood of the News of the World, can now be exposed, following his failure to secure an injunction preventing George Galloway (and Ron McKay) from publishing his picture. And here are the first two images of him. \|\|\|\|\| April 7, 2006 12:24 PM It's been a good week for press freedom - the real version not the fake defence of yellow journalism. On Thursday lawyers acting for News of the World employee Mazher Mahmood, aka the fake sheikh, declined to petition the Court of Appeal to overturn an unequivocal judgment the day before refusing an injunction against publication of photographs of him. The judge who heard the Wednesday case, Mr Justice Mitting, threw out every one of the arguments put by Mahmood's legal team (paid for by Rupert Murdoch's News International). The prior publication of one picture in the Observer in 2001 and 2003 (over which News International sought no injunction), rather undermined their case. But the staggering aspect of the hearing was the arguments adduced by Mahmood/News International's side. They claimed that Mahmood would be endangered by publication of the pictures. My brilliant legal team, headed by David Price, demonstrated that those who may wish to do Mahmood harm would have no difficulty identifying him, as they would have met him. And Mr Justice Mitting agreed: "I cannot begin to see how publishing a picture, with no other information, can make a difference [to Mahmood's safety]... I can see how the photo can be of use to a potential target [of his stings]..." In his judgment, he concluded, "I am satisfied that the true purpose of the application [for an injunction] is not the protection of his [Mahmood's] life but the protection of his earning capacity..." In a brazenly hypocritical display, a further argument from News International's side was to the effect that photographs not intended for publication should never find their way into a national newspaper! The judge suggested, "The partners of footballers are frequently photographed on shopping expeditions; you can't say that their privacy is being infringed. Mahmood's QC responded, "The answer is that it almost certainly is being infringed." Pots and kettles were flying through the air as the judge commented, "I'm surprised that that argument is being advanced from your corner." I wondered aloud whether the News of the World had decided to scuttle its ship by putting an argument that, if accepted, would put it out of business. The judge ruled against extending a temporary injunction, awarded costs against Mahmood, denied leave to appeal and stayed his judgment for 23 hours, as Mahmood's legal team indicated they might petition the Court of Appeal yesterday. They did not. The most grotesque argument was citing the anonymity granted Jon Venables, Mary Bell and Maxine Carr as a precedent for a worldwide ban on publishing pictures of Mahmood. This case will forever be remembered for the nauseating sight of Rupert Murdoch's News International huddling behind Venables, Bell and Carr when the News of the World would be the first to whip its readers into a vigilante gang if it had their identities. My concern about Mahmood's activities goes back way before his attempt to suborn me, which I've written about extensively on this blog. I first drew attention to his agent provocateur tactics in a Parliamentary adjournment debate I secured on the British media on 5 June 1999. Since then, whatever good he might have claimed to have done in the past has become outweighed by the harm his activities are doing to journalism and public life. He has crossed the cusp of reputable journalism into seeking to procure criminal acts. I promised to expose his activities and protect others in public life from him, and I have made good on that. Since then, many individuals have approached me with voluminous evidence of his activities. This ruling is very significant, as was my libel victory against the Daily Telegraph, in setting precedents for media law. The battle with News International also again revealed the limits on the capacity of big organisations to restrict the circulation of material on the web. I understand Lenin's Tomb received not a court order from News International, but a threat to unleash the in-house lawyer. By then, the News of the World was throwing in the towel down The Strand. This welcome ruling it is far from the end of the matter. Investigations into Mahmood are continuing, mine and others' - watch this space. I will be seeking another adjournment debate on the standards of the British media. That's a subject I intend to return to and am discussing how to pursue. Lastly, in his submission to the court, Mahmood flatly denied that he said in his meeting with me the things I have reported on this blog and elsewhere - including to the Metropolitan Police. The News of the World can clear this up now by publishing transcripts and all other material from Mahmood's encounter with me. It promised to publish the results of its investigation last Sunday, and failed to do so. It can now strike a blow for journalistic standards by retiring the fake sheikh.	George Galloway, an MP in the British Parliament for Bethnal Green and Bow, has won a court battle allowing him to publish photos of the infamous News of the World "fake sheikh", undercover reporter Mazher Mahmood famed for setting up high-profile figures. George Galloway had a meeting with the reporter after being approached via a contact. Over dinner at the Dorchester hotel, Mazher is said by George Galloway to have asked leading questions over political party funding and to have solicited anti-semitic remarks. George Galloway became ever more suspicious, especially after seeing that the reporter's driver had a 'mouthful of gold teeth', as described in journalist Andrew Marr's book. After threatening to release a photograph of the reporter, who has in the past tried hard to keep his identity secret, the News of the World sought an injunction against publication, claiming that they feared for his safety, and lost. In a post on the ''Guardian'' newspaper's ''Comment is Free'' weblog, George Galloway said that Mazher "has crossed the cusp of reputable journalism into seeking to procure criminal acts".
The supermarket giant was forced to temporarily shut 14 stores Philip McHugh, 51, of Clitheroe, Lancs, was remanded in custody until 8 August by magistrates in Stevenage. He faces two charges of blackmail and two of making bomb hoaxes. Hertfordshire police said no other person was being sought in connection with the inquiry. Threats saw Tesco stores evacuated on 14 July. Stores were temporarily closed in Port Talbot, south Wales; Pontefract, West Yorkshire; Market Harborough and Ashby de la Zouch, Leicestershire; Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk; Hucknall, Nottinghamshire; Hereford and Ledbury, in Herefordshire; Barnes, south-west London, and in East Renfrewshire and Fife. The other closures took place in regions covered by the Lancashire and Humberside police forces. The stores reopened after searches of the buildings and surrounding areas. Police said Mr McHugh, who will next appear at Luton Crown Court, was arrested in Clitheroe on 23 July. \|\|\|\|\| Police seize 'Tesco bomb blackmailer' Last updated at 08:34 27 July 2007 Police have seized a man over the a plot to blackmail Tesco with bomb threats. Unemployed Phillip McHugh, 51, of Clitheroe, Lancashire, was charged with two counts of blackmail and making bomb hoaxes and was due to appear in court today. The threats on 14 July forced 14 Tescos to close across Britain, including one in Barnes, one in Hertfordshire, and one in Bury St Edmunds. scroll down for more It brought chaos to thousands of shoppers on one of the busiest weekends of the summer. Supermarkets across the country received a series of bomb threat letters demanding huge sums of money. The letter warned they would face "direct actionî if cash was not handed over. Police ordered evacuations at every store where the letters were sent. More demands were received the following Monday, but had been delayed in the post. The threats sparked a major police investigation involving forces nationwide. They came in the wake in the attempted terror bombings in Glasgow and London. But police have ruled out any link to extremists and today confirmed they believed it was a blackmail attempt. Hertfordshire police said they arrested the man in Clitheroe on Monday. A spokeswoman said: "No one else is being sought in relation to this offence." McHugh was due to appear at Stevenage Magistrates' court today charged with two counts of blackmail and two counts of making bomb hoaxes. The closures are thought to have cost the company more than £2million in lost sales. Sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article. \|\|\|\|\| 26/07/2007 - MAN CHARGED IN CONNECTION WITH TESCO BLACKMAIL INQUIRY FOLLOWING a nationwide police investigation, led by Hertfordshire Constabulary, a man has been charged in connection with a series of bomb threats at Tesco stores. Philip McHugh, aged 51 of Milton Avenue, Clitheroe, has been charged with two counts of blackmail and bomb hoaxing and is due to appear before Stevenage Magistrates today (26 July) at 10am. He was arrested on Monday July 23 in Clitheroe, Lancashire and was questioned at a police station in Hertfordshire, where he was later charged. Throughout the investigation Hertfordshire Constabulary has worked closely with Tesco and other agencies, including the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) and the Food Standards Agency. The arrest and local inquiries in Clitheroe were made with the support of Lancashire Constabulary. Police are not seeking anyone else in connection with these offences. Assistant Chief Constable Gary Kitching from Hertfordshire Constabulary said: Throughout the whole inquiry public safety was of paramount importance to both ourselves and Tesco. The successful charging of Philip McHugh has come about through the hard work and tenacity of officers and police staff not only from Hertfordshire but from other forces, and we thank them for their support. Although financial demands were made against Tesco, at no point did the company pay out any money. Gary added: Demands of this nature are taken very seriously but its crucial that in cases like this companies are not held to ransom and are given the support from law agencies to deal with the issue head on. Tesco's Retail and Logistics Director, David Potts welcomed the speedy conclusion of the investigation: "Throughout this series of events, the safety of the public and our staff was always our top priority and we worked closely with the police to respond quickly and responsibly. These were of course worrying threats and I am pleased that an individual has been arrested and charged. I would like to thank Hertfordshire Constabulary and the other agencies involved for their efficient handling of this investigation. I would also like to thank our staff who acted so professionally during the security threats to reassure customers and get stores back open as soon as possible. The response from customers was fantastic. They were so understanding about the disruption and I am extremely grateful for their patience and continued loyalty. -ends- Issued by Hertfordshire Constabulary Corporate Communication Department. For further information please contact 01707 354586.	Hereford was one of those affected by the incident Hertfordshire police have charged a man with four offences after 14 Tesco supermarkets in the United Kingdom were closed after the company received threats. Stores across the country were affected by the security alert earlier this month. The man has been named as Philip McHugh, aged 51, from Clitheroe, Lancashire, in the north-west of England. He has been charged with two charges of blackmail and two of making bomb hoaxes, and was due to appear at Stevenage Magistrates' Court this morning. Assistant Chief Constable Gary Kitching from Hertfordshire police said, "Throughout the whole inquiry public safety was of paramount importance to both ourselves and Tesco. The successful charging of Philip McHugh has come about through the hard work and tenacity of officers and police staff not only from Hertfordshire but from other forces, and we thank them for their support." Tesco's Retail and Logistics Director, David Potts commented on the investigation, saying, "Throughout this series of events, the safety of the public and our staff was always our top priority and we worked closely with the police to respond quickly and responsibly. These were of course worrying threats and I am pleased that an individual has been arrested and charged." "I would like to thank Hertfordshire Constabulary and the other agencies involved for their efficient handling of this investigation. I would also like to thank our staff who acted so professionally during the security threats to reassure customers and get stores back open as soon as possible. The response from customers was fantastic. They were so understanding about the disruption and I am extremely grateful for their patience and continued loyalty," Mr Potts said. Police are not looking for anyone else in connection to the incident.
As if going to Hawaii isn’t enough. Today, Hawaiian Airlines announced that, starting Sept. 1, every one of its Boeing 767-300 aircraft will be fully equipped with an iPad for every passenger. The iPad mini program will replace all in-flight portable entertainment systems across the airline’s 14 B767 aircrafts with 1,500 iPad mini devices. Hawaiian Airlines serves routes between Hawaii and the U.S., as well as Asia and the South Pacific. “Hawaiian Airlines’ signature on-board hospitality is already very popular with travelers, but we wanted to go even further to ensure our customers’ travel experience is more enjoyable,” said Blaine Miyasato, Hawaiian Airlines vice president of product development. “With the help of Bluebox Avionics, we’re building on our acclaimed inflight service by incorporating the latest in popular consumer tech products to enhance our in-flight entertainment options.” Business Class customers will be loaned the iPad mini as a complimentary entertainment device, while Economy Class travelers will be able to rent the device for $15 before departure, prior to boarding, or $17 if purchased during the flight. Each iPad mini will come loaded with more than 100 hours of the latest Hollywood movies and television shows. Plus, they will be able to choose from a variety of games and apps. Next time you are heading to the beautiful island of Hawaii, why not rent an iPad mini and enjoy the flight on your way to enjoying your vacation. \|\|\|\|\| Hawaiian Airlines has announced that it will offer iPad Mini rentals to fliers in the United States, making it the first domestic airline to do so. The tablet will be offered on all of the carrier’s Boeing 767-300 aircraft, with the current portable entertainment systems on all of its 767s being replaced by the Apple hardware. The iPad Mini’s are being offered to fliers for a fee of $15, something achieved via a contract with Bluebox Avionics, provider of In-flight Entertainment solutions. With this contract, Hawaiian Airlines will nab 1500 of the tablets for use on 14 of its Boeing 767 for a total of 14 routes between Hawaii and the mainland US, as well as South Pacific and Asia regions. With the tablets, fliers will gain access to in excess of 100 hours of new Hollywood movies, as well as TV shows and games, none of which were specified. The rental fee won’t apply to those flying Business Class, and the $15 rental fee for Economy Class only applies if they’re reserved before take off. After boarding, the price goes up to $17. Said Hawaiian Airlines Vice President of Product Development Blaine Miyasato: “Hawaiian Airlines’ signature on-board hospitality is already very popular with travelers, but we wanted to go even further to ensure our customers’ travel experience is more enjoyable. With the help of Bluebox Avionics, we’re building on our acclaimed inflight service by incorporating the latest in popular consumer tech products to enhance our in-flight entertainment options.” VIA: Business Insider SOURCE: Hawaiian Airlines \|\|\|\|\| The move, which will see contractor Blue Avionics install the iPad minis to be used for in-flight entertainment, will enable business class passengers to stream movies and TV shows for free on the Apple tablet, although economy flyers will also be able to hire the tablets for $17 ($15 if pre-booked). The airline, the first in the U.S. to offer iPads for in-flight entertainment, is one of many now using tablets up in the skies. Over the last year, American Airlines, British Airways and Qatar Airways have all deployed iPads to be used by cabin crew and even pilots, while Emirates opted for Dell’s Windows 8 tablets to improve the in-flight experience. Spain’s largest carrier, Iberia Airlines, has been using Panasonic’s ruggedized tablets for an assortment of functions, including aircraft maintenance. \|\|\|\|\| Hawaiian Airlines plans to offer passengers Apple's (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPad Minis so they can have access to in-flight entertainment, such as movies, TV shows and games, beginning Sept. 1, the airline announced Thursday. The airline is deploying 1,500 iPad Minis on its B767 aircraft serving 14 routes between Hawaii and the U.S. mainland, Asia and the South Pacific. Business class customers will receive the iPad Mini for free, while economy class passengers can pay $15 for an iPad Mini at the gate or $17 for it in-flight. The airline has teamed with Bluebox Avionics, a provider of in-flight entertainment products, for the entertainment package. The airline also has an in-flight entertainment system built into the back of the seats on the B767 aircraft; the iPad Minis will augment those systems, according to a report by AppleInsider. Hawaiian Airlines claims it is the first U.S. airline to offer Apple iPad Minis for in-flight entertainment. However, other airlines have been using iPads and iPad 2s for in-flight entertainment since 2010, when Qantas' subsidiary Jetstar became the first airline to offer the iPad to passengers, according to airlinetrends.com. Jetstar purchased 2,000 iPad 2s and began offering them for 10 Australian dollars on flights. The iPads were equipped with RFID tags that help prevent theft. For more: - check out the Hawaiian Airlines release - read the AppleInsider report - see the airlinetrends.com article Related Articles: Delta deploys 19,000 Nokia Lumia phones for on-board credit card processing FAA may relax rules on use of electronic gadgets in flight FCC takes step in right direction to improve in-flight broadband \|\|\|\|\| On September 1, 2013, Hawaiian Airlines will become the only U.S. carrier to offer the Apple iPad mini on all Boeing 767-300 flights. The airline has contracted Bluebox Avionics to deploy 1,500 iPad minis on 14 Boeing 767 aircraft serving 14 routes between Hawaii and the Continental U.S., Asia and South Pacific. The iPad minis will include more than 100 hours of the Hollywood releases, television shows, and interactive games. The devices are complementary in business class and available for rent in economy class for $15 if reserved prior to the flight or $17 in-flight. Below is a list of the 14 routes: Honolulu and Oakland Honolulu and San Jose Honolulu and Sacramento Honolulu and Seattle Honolulu and Phoenix Honolulu and Fukuoka Honolulu and Sendai Honolulu and Seoul Honolulu and Brisbane Honolulu and Papeete Honolulu and Pago Pago Kahului and San Jose Kahului and Oakland Kahului and Seattle \|\|\|\|\| MacRumors attracts a broad audience of both consumers and professionals interested in the latest technologies and products. We also boast an active community focused on purchasing decisions and technical aspects of the iPhone, iPod, iPad, and Mac platforms. Our Staff Arnold Kim Editorial Director Eric Slivka Editor in Chief Jordan Golson Editor Marianne Schultz Editor Juli Clover Editor Husain Sumra Contributor	A Boeing 767-300 of Hawaii Airlines in 2003. On Thursday announced all their aircraft would be fitted with made by Apple for in-flight entertainment from September 1. The new gadget would be served on 14 routes connecting with mainland , , and the . Passengers in would be able to use the tablet for free while passengers would need to pay 15 when purchasing the service before boarding (or $17 if purchased during the flight). The airline offered such price with the help of Bluebox Avionics, a company specializing in in-flight services. The airline has purchased 1,500 iPad minis to replace old in-flight entertainment devices. Each tablet would have at least 100 hours of new movies. The new service was planned to be introduced on flights connecting with , , , , , , , , , , and ; and with San Jose, Oakland, and Seattle. The carrier becomes the first US airline to offer iPads as an in-flight service. In 2010 , a subsidiary of , became the first airline in the world to introduce such a service in a test pilot on two services from . During the next few years , , and joined in. In March Qantas began offering iPads on flights connecting and .
Madagascar Leader Names Army Officer As Prime Minister Colonel Vital calls on the people of Madagascar, including political rivals, to work with his government Madagascar's leader, Andry Rajoelina, has named a high-ranking army officer as the country's new prime minister. Mr. Rajoelina's office announced Sunday that Colonel Camille Albert Vital would serve as the new prime minister, replacing Eugene Mangalaza, who was supposed to be prime minister under a power-sharing deal. In a nationally broadcast address, Colonel Vital called on the people of Madagascar, including political rivals, to work with his government. On Friday, Mr. Rajoelina canceled a decree nominating university professor Eugene Mangalaza as prime minister. Mr. Mangalaza was named to the post as part of a failed power-sharing deal with political rivals. Mr. Rajoelina took power in a coup last March. On Wednesday, he appeared on national television to announce parliamentary elections would take place March 20. He made no mention of presidential elections. International mediators have brokered several power-sharing agreements in recent months, but all have been unsuccessful. The African Union and other regional bodies have refused to recognize Mr. Rajoelina's presidency. Some information for this report provided by AP and Reuters. \|\|\|\|\| Andry Rajoelina (L) has the support of the military Madagascar's leader Andry Rajoelina has formally abandoned a power-sharing peace deal a day after appointing a military prime minister. Col Vital Albert Camille was named to replace consensus Prime Minister Eugene Mangalaza, who was sacked by Mr Rajoelina on Friday. Mr Rajoelina said he was also scrapping the two posts of co-president set up under the power-sharing deal. Mr Rajoelina, a former DJ, came to power with military backing in March. The power-sharing deal was agreed after longs talks with the opposition, including supporters of ousted President Marc Ravalomanana. Madagascar has been riven by political turmoil for almost a year, with Mr Rajoelina taking power after weeks of protests which saw dozens of people lose their lives. 'Illegal appointment' In the statement announcing that he was scrapping the power-sharing deal, Mr Rajoelina warned this meant that any opposition attempt to convene parliament would be illegal. The BBC's Christina Corbett in Madagascar says the announcement seems to be a complete reversal of any progress made so far to solve Madagascar's political crisis. A YEAR OF TURMOIL January Dozens killed in protests sparked after President Ravalomanana shuts opposition media houses February Opposition figurehead Andry Rajoelina sacked as mayor of Antananarivo March Army mutiny, Mr Ravalomanana resigns and flees country, Mr Rajoelina takes over, African Union suspends Madagascar August Power-sharing deal signed, later breached by Mr Rajoelina October New power-sharing deal, breached by Mr Rajoelina in December Madagascar's young new leader She says this breakdown will be hugely disappointing for the African Union, the Southern Africa Development Community and the UN, as all three organisations have invested much time and money facilitating talks between the rival leaders - sending some of their top envoys to help with negotiations. Our reporter adds that the military will be closely watched, as with the appointment of a colonel as prime minister, the armed forces appear to be increasingly politicised. After chairing his first cabinet meeting on Sunday, Col Vital said: "We are in a very difficult, even frightening situation." In an address broadcast across the nation, he also called on the opposition to work with the government. He said his priorities were to deliver security and organise elections. One senior opposition figure has said Col Vital's appointment is illegal, according to Reuters news agency. Mr Mangalaza was sacked just a day after Mr Rajoelina called a parliamentary election for 20 March 2010. He initially said he would appoint Cecile Manorohanta as prime minister, before naming Col Vital on Sunday. Donors have frozen aid and say funding will not be resumed until a power-sharing government takes office and new elections held, Reuters reported. Bookmark with: Delicious Digg reddit Facebook StumbleUpon What are these? E-mail this to a friend Printable version	Andry Rajoelina Madagascar's leader, Andry Rajoelina, has named a high-ranking army officer as the country's new prime minister, and announced he is abandoning a power-sharing deal with the opposition. Mr. Rajoelina's office announced Sunday that Colonel Camille Albert Vital would serve as the new prime minister, replacing Eugene Mangalaza, who was supposed to be prime minister under the deal. Previously he had been expected to make Cecile Manorohanta the new prime minister. He also abolished the posts of co-president. In a nationally broadcast address, Colonel Vital said that organising elections and increasing security were his priorities. He called on the people of Madagascar, including political rivals, to work with his government. Mr. Rajoelina took power in a coup last March. On Wednesday, he appeared on national television to announce that parliamentary elections would take place March 20 next year. He made no mention of presidential elections. International mediators have brokered several power-sharing agreements in recent months, but all have been unsuccessful. The African Union and other regional bodies have refused to recognize Mr. Rajoelina's presidency.
Login Enter your details below to login If you are an existing member of The Times and The Sunday Times enjoying the full benefits of thetimes.co.uk, then simply enter your Times+ login details below and press 'Enter' Enter your details to login Email address Password Keep me logged in information Keeps you logged in for a rolling 15 days or until you logout \|\|\|\|\| Jade Goody breaks down on return to London 20 Aug 2008, 1644 hrs IST, AGENCIES Print EMail Discuss Share Save Comment Text: LONDON: British television star Jade Goody, diagnosed with cervical cancer, broke down in tears as she arrived here Tuesday night after cutting short her appearance in an Indian reality show. Looking tired and drained, the visibly upset 27-year-old broke down as she was met by a number of photographers and left the airport by a private exit. The mother-of-two returned home for more tests and treatment after speaking to her doctor, her publicist said. In an interview before the diagnosis, Goody had told a magazine that she was going to India because she needed to support her family with earnings from "Bigg Boss", the Indian version of the British reality show "Big Brother". "I have to keep working to support my family. It's not an option to stop," she told Reveal magazine. "It's always difficult working away from home but I can't wait around for the doctors to find out what's wrong with me. I need to keep working." "I know it sounds crazy and a lot of people will criticise me for it, but I have to pay the bills at the end of the day. And if I do face cancer, I need to make sure I can support the boys," she added. "I will worry for my beautiful boys if I get unwell. I live for them." Goody's contract with "Bigg Boss" was reportedly worth 100,000 pounds. Her publicist Max Clifford confirmed the cancer diagnosis Tuesday, saying: "Jade had some tests recently, then she went off to India to appear in the Indian Big Brother." "We put the consultant in touch with the programme-maker in India and, because of the circumstances, [he] was allowed to speak to her and explain the results of her tests." He said the consultant advised Goody to return to Britain straight away. To read business stories in हिंदी click here. Print EMail Discuss Share Save Comment Text: \|\|\|\|\| Goody looked tired and drained on her arrival at Heathrow Airport TV star Jade Goody looked visibly upset as she arrived back in the UK after being diagnosed with cervical cancer. The mother-of-two has returned home for more tests and treatment after speaking to her doctor. The 27-year-old, who had been appearing in the Indian version of Big Brother, called Bigg Boss, flew into London's Heathrow Airport on Tuesday night. She broke down in tears as she was met by a number of photographers and left the airport via a private exit. Her publicist, Max Clifford, confirmed the diagnosis on Tuesday. Mr Clifford said: "Jade had some tests recently, then she went off to India to appear in the Indian Big Brother." He added her consultant had been in touch and insisted she returned to the UK straight away. "We put the consultant in touch with the programme-maker in India and, because of the circumstances, [he] was allowed to speak to her and explain the results of her tests." Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play. Advertisement Speaking before she entered the house, Goody spoke to the magazine Reveal. "I will worry for my beautiful boys if I get unwell. I live for them," she said. "I have to keep working to support my family. It's not an option to stop. "It's always difficult working away from home but I can't wait around for the doctors to find out what's wrong with me. I need to keep working. "I know it sounds crazy, and a lot of people will criticise me for it, but I have to pay the bills at the end of the day." E-mail this to a friend Printable version Bookmark with: Delicious Digg reddit Facebook StumbleUpon What are these? \|\|\|\|\| Shetty, 31, is an award-winning Bollywood actress The company said its sponsorship would be removed from the current series "with immediate effect". But Channel 4 chief executive Andy Duncan said at a press conference it would not be pulling the programme. Government Chief Whip Jacqui Smith has urged people not to watch Big Brother due to the "racist bullying". 'Shameful' behaviour In the strongest condemnation of the show by a minister so far, she said the behaviour had been totally "unacceptable". Ms Smith also attacked the programme-makers, saying that the editing had been wrong and that it was "shameful to make money and publicity out of that sort of thing". Earlier, Mr Duncan said: "We cannot with certainty say that the comments directed at Shilpa have been racially motivated. "This morning we have clarified with Shilpa, and unequivocally, she does not believe the treatment she has received is racially motivated. "She thinks it is socially and culturally motivated," he added. A record 30,000 complaints have been made over alleged racist remarks towards Shetty. Three of Shetty's fellow housemates have been accused of racist behaviour, with Jade Goody, 25, receiving the brunt of public criticism. On Wednesday's show, Shetty told housemate Cleo Rocos she feared she was being targeted because of her race. But the Bollywood star withdrew those claims on Thursday. Goody joined the house with her mother and boyfriend Jack Tweed "I don't feel there was any racial discrimination happening from Jade's end... I think that there are a lot of insecurities from her end but it's definitely not racial," Shetty said in the show's diary room. Mr Duncan said they were constantly monitoring the show and that some of the contestants had been spoken to in the Big Brother diary room about how their comments might be perceived. He said "it is unquestionably a good thing that the programme has raised these issues and provoked such a debate. These attitudes, however distasteful, do persist - we need to confront that truth." Eviction Shetty and Goody will go head-to-head in the forthcoming Celebrity Big Brother evictions on Friday, with Goody 1-5 favourite to be evicted. HAVE YOUR SAY Shilpa Shetty is being victimised for being different, be it by colour, class or culture Urmisha Rathod, Barkingside Send us your comments How politicians got involved An explosive row between Goody, who first found fame on the non-celebrity version of Big Brother, and the Bollywood actress was broadcast on Wednesday. Goody told fellow contestants Lloyd and Jo O'Meara that "fake" Shetty needed "a day in the slums". She added: "Go in your community and go to all those people who look up to you and be real." Former beauty queen Lloyd has also hit out at the Bollywood star, saying Shetty should just "go home", adding that "she can't even speak English properly". Carphone Warehouse chief executive Charles Dunstone said in a statement: "Our concern has rapidly mounted about the broadcast behaviour of individuals within the Big Brother house." The company has paid out about £3m in sponsorship so far this series. "We had already made it clear to Channel 4 that were this to continue, we would have to consider our position." "Nothing we saw last night gave us any comfort," he added. 'Clash of personalities' The Perfume Shop chain has also decided to withdraw sales of Jade's perfume from its shelves following the controversy. However, a spokeswoman for Goody has denied she is a racist. "It is clear to all that Jade and Shilpa are rubbing each other up the wrong way, but what is going on is nothing more than a clash of personalities between two strong characters," she said. Lloyd, 23, was briefly Miss Great Britain last year "Jade will be mortified when she comes out to learn that her conduct is being interpreted as racist. Anyone who knows Jade knows that she is not a racist." Goody's mother Jackiey Budden, who was also a contestant on the show but was evicted last week, said: "Jade has never been racist, she is mixed race herself and suffered racist abuse as a youngster." The Carphone Warehouse decision follows media watchdog Ofcom's demand that Channel 4 must respond to complaints about "racist" comments. "Clearly what is happening is very serious," said Ofcom's chief executive Ed Richards. He said Ofcom would write to Channel 4 shortly but "in the meantime, it is Channel 4's responsibility to respond to very significant viewer concerns". More than 30,000 complaints have been made so far to media regulator Ofcom and 3,000 directly to the Channel 4. However, the explosion of media coverage has seen audience figures rise, with 3.5 million viewers tuning in on Monday, 4.5 million on Tuesday and 5.2 million on Wednesday - equalling the highest figure for this series since the live launch.	British television celebrity of '''' fame has been diagnosed with . Goody, 27, arrived in on Tuesday night, having cut short her stay in the Indian version of Celebrity Big Brother, known as ''''. Goody was a controversial character in last year's Big Brother, sparking over 40,000 complaints to , the British broadcasting regulator after she allegedly made racist and defamatory remarks to fellow housemate and Indian celebrity Shilpa Shetty. Goody has stated she agreed to take part on the Indian version of the show as an attempt to make up for her behaviour last year. Shetty is hosting the show, and has stated that her "prayers are with Jade." Goody has been accused of making the announcement as a publicity stunt, but her spokesman has dismissed this as "ridiculous". Goody has stated she "will worry for her boys if she gets unwell". She said that she entered the house, despite undergoing medical tests, because she "can't wait around for the doctors" and that bills need paying. Goody is said to have signed a contract worth 100,000 with ''Bigg Boss'' before her departure from the show. She is expected to undergo medical tests so doctors can see how far the cancer has spread.
The agency that governs educational technology in the United Kingdom has advised schools in the country to keep Microsoft's Windows Vista operating system and its Office 2007 software out of the classroom and administrative offices. "Upgrading existing ICT systems to Microsoft Vista or Office 2007 is not recommended," said the British Educational Communications and Technology Agency, also known as Becta, in a report issued this week. Becta officials said a study the group commissioned found that upgrading school systems from Windows XP to Vista and Office 2007 would increase costs and create software compatibility problems while providing little benefit. "Our advice is to be sure there is a strong business case for upgrading to these products as the costs are significant and the benefits remain unclear," said Stephen Lucy, Becta's executive director of strategic technologies, in a statement. Becta also singled out for criticism Microsoft's failure to support the Open Document Format -- which is recognized by the International Organization for Standardization -- in Office 2007. Instead, the software uses a new Microsoft format called Office Open XML. "Microsoft should provide native support for the ODF file format increasingly used in competitor products and those that are free to use," Becta said in its report. The agency said U.K. schools can consider using Vista or Office 2007 software only when they are buying new batches of PCs. Even then, however, they're advised to take a long looked at alternatives based on Linux and other open source products, such as the OpenOffice.org desktop package. "Schools and colleges should make pupils, teachers and parents aware of the range of free-to-use products (such as office productivity suites) that are available, and how to use them," Becta said. The report's conclusions could end up costing Microsoft millions of dollars in lost sales in the U.K. public-sector market. Becta's advisory mirrors similar moves taken by public agencies in the United States. Last year, the Department of Transportation placed a ban on the use of Windows Vista, Office 2007, and Internet Explorer 7 because of cost and compatibility concerns. \|\|\|\|\| British schools should not upgrade to Microsoft's Vista operating system and Office 2007 productivity suite, the British Educational Communications and Technology Agency (BECTA) said in a report on the software. It also supported use of the international standard ODF (Open Document Format) for storing files. Schools might consider using Vista if rolling out all-new infrastructure, but should not introduce it piecemeal alongside other versions of Windows, or upgrade older machines, said the agency, which is responsible for advising British schools and colleges on their IT use. "We have not had sight of any evidence to support the argument that the costs of upgrading to Vista in educational establishments would be offset by appropriate benefit," it said. The cost of upgrading Britain's schools to Vista would be £175 million (US$350 million), around a third of which would go to Microsoft, the agency said. The rest would go on deployment costs, testing and hardware upgrades, it said. Even that sum would not be enough to purchase graphics cards capable of displaying Windows Aero Graphics, although that's no great loss because "there was no significant benefit to schools and colleges in running Aero," it said. As for Office 2007, "there remains no compelling case for deployment," the agency said in its full report, published this week. The agency was equally skeptical about the benefits of Vista and Office 2007 last January, when it published an interim report based on its evaluation of beta versions of the new software. Then, it advised that the added value of Vista's new features was not sufficient to justify the cost of deployment, while Office 2007 contained no "must-have" features. In this year's report, BECTA warned schools that do choose to use Office 2007 to avoid Microsoft's OOXML (Office Open XML) document format because of concerns about compatibility between different applications -- even though interoperability is one of the benefits Microsoft claims for the format. It called on schools to make teachers, parents and pupils more aware of free alternatives to Microsoft's products, and asked the IT industry to facilitate their use. The agency also recommended setting up desktops to make it easy to use such open-source applications, and advised schools to insist their suppliers deliver office productivity software that can open and save ODF documents, setting it as the default file format. However, it slammed Microsoft for dragging its feet with incorporating support for ODF in Office 2007. "While the product includes the functionality to read virtually every other relevant file format 'out of the box', the processes for dealing with ODF files are very cumbersome," BECTA wrote. In addition, it said, ODF file converters provided by Microsoft are not intuitive because they behave differently from the regular file save dialogs. "We believe that these arrangements present sufficient technical difficulties for the majority of users to make them disinclined to use competitor products and this may weaken competition," the agency said.	Schools advised not to upgrade Schools in the United Kingdom have been advised not to upgrade to the newest Microsoft products, Vista and Office 2007, according to a report by the British Educational Communications and Technology Agency (BECTA). Becta said that there were no "appropriate benefit" that would offset the additional cost and possible compatibility issues created by upgrading. An agency of the UK department for education and skills, Becta oversees the procurement of all IT equipment and e-learning solutions for schools. One of the main reasons given is also compatibility, especially the new Microsoft document format OOXML (Office Open XML), a competitor to the ISO standard ODF (Open Document Format). The report says that "Microsoft should provide native support for the ODF file format increasingly used in competitor products and those that are free to use". Schools that do upgrade are advised not to use the OOXML format. Other reasons were that upgrading graphics hardware to support the new Windows Aero Graphics system used in Windows Vista, which would cost additional money according to ''PC World'' The report also says that "Schools and colleges should make pupils, teachers and parents aware of the range of free-to-use products (such as office productivity suites) that are available, and how to use them". BECTA is not the first government institution to advise against upgrading to newer Microsoft products, media reports about a similar move by the Department of Transportation in the US were reported last year according to ''InformationWeek''. According to ''PC World'', the cost of upgrading would be £175 million (US$350 million), with a third of that going to Microsoft.
The two sides have had troops and equipment in the area since July Generals from Thailand and Cambodia are to hold talks in an attempt to resolve a border dispute which led to soldiers exchanging shots and rocket-fire. Cambodia claims two of its soldiers were killed on Wednesday in clashes near the ancient Preah Vihear temple. The fighting prompted Thailand to urge its nationals to leave Cambodia. Tensions have been high since July, when hundreds of soldiers on both sides faced off metres apart, but both sides say they want a peaceful solution. Thailand and Cambodia both claim they own the area around the temple, which became a Unesco World Heritage site in June, reigniting lingering nationalist tensions. The two countries have failed to reach a settlement, despite several rounds of talks. Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong said the talks scheduled for Thursday were a good sign. He described this week's clash as "an incident between soldiers and not an invasion by Thailand". UN General Secretary Ban Ki-moon said he was "deeply concerned" by the violence and urged both sides to show restraint. 'Good neighbour' Both sides claim the other opened fire first on Wednesday, in an exchange that lasted about an hour. Political tensions drive row In pictures: Preah Vihear Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong said two soldiers had been killed and two wounded while Thai officials said five Thai troops had been wounded. Cambodia also claimed that 10 Thai soldiers had been captured, but this was denied by Bangkok. After fighting broke out, Thailand alerted air force jets and readied transport planes to evacuate Thai nationals from Cambodia. But Thai Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat said the fighting was "small scale" and that he was committed to reaching a settlement over the issue with Cambodia, which he described as "a good neighbour". 'Death zone' The military stand-off began in July when Cambodian troops detained three Thai protesters who had entered the site illegally. More than 1,000 soldiers from both countries moved into the area, digging trenches into the rough terrain around the temple. TEMPLE DISPUTE TIMELINE 1970s-1990s: Khmer Rouge guerrillas occupy site 2001-2002: Thai troops block access over water row July 2008: Unesco lists temple as a World Heritage Site July 2008: Thai FM quits after court rules he violated constitution for backing Cambodia's Unesco bid July 2008: Both sides move troops to temple area August 2008: Troops withdrawn after high-level talks October 2008: Fighting erupts around temple area Cambodia claimed that Thai troops had recently returned to the area after both sides agreed in August to withdraw their personnel. Thailand has denied that its troops entered Cambodian territory. But on Tuesday, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen threatened to turn the area into a "death zone" if the Thai troops did not withdraw. The dispute centres on 1.8 square miles (4.6 sq km) of scrub near the 900-year-old Preah Vihear temple. The temple is only accessible from Thailand and the area around it is heavily mined - a legacy of Cambodia's long war against the Khmer Rouge guerrillas. An international court awarded the temple to Cambodia in 1962, but land surrounding it remains the subject of rival territorial claims. Disputes between the two countries date back centuries when the Thai and Khmer monarchs fought each other for territory and power. E-mail this to a friend Printable version Bookmark with: Delicious Digg reddit Facebook StumbleUpon What are these? \|\|\|\|\| Thailand, Cambodia military in talks after deadly border clash PREAH VIHEAR, Cambodia (AFP) — Cambodian and Thai military officials met Thursday to prevent more fighting as their governments sought to quell tensions after a border row boiled over into a deadly shoot-out. They began talks around 11:00 am (0400 GMT) in Thailand to discuss troop levels and weaponry, as both governments said they were seeking to calm the situation and mend relations. Gunfights broke out Wednesday in a number of small plots of disputed land near the 11th century Preah Vihear temple, a UN World Heritage site on Cambodian territory and the focus of months of tensions. "My government still sticks to negotiation, although the clash was not serious," Thai Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat told reporters. Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong said the situation along the border had eased since Wednesday and that diplomats from both countries met in Bangkok shortly after fighting erupted. "The Thai ministry of foreign affairs asked the Cambodian embassy in Thailand for a meeting and there was a good conversation," Hor Namhong said. Two Cambodian soldiers were killed in Wednesday's clashes and several from each side were wounded. Thailand's foreign ministry said Thursday seven of its soldiers were hurt. A third Cambodian soldier who had already been ill died early Thursday of smoke inhalation from repeatedly firing his rocket-launcher, said Cambodian Major Meas Yeoun. The United States and United Nations have called for restraint and Lieutenant General Surapol Puanaiyaka, of Thailand's top security body the National Security Council, said there was little danger of outright war. "I am confident that the situation will not blow out of hand or escalate into full-scale warfare," he said. The situation on the border appeared calmer Thursday as soldiers smiled and exchanged cordial words, an AFP correspondent there said, but civilians have fled the area and Thai expatriates and tourists are leaving Cambodia. Some 432 Thais who were in Cambodia when the border fighting broke out returned to Thailand after the Bangkok government appealed for anyone not on urgent business to leave, an official said. "We have convinced them to return on a Thai Airways flight," said foreign ministry spokesman Tharit Charungvat. Cambodian riot police were deployed Wednesday in front of the Thai embassy in Phnom Penh, which was set on fire by anti-Thai rioters in 2003. Cambodian interior ministry spokesman Khieu Sopheak said undercover police were monitoring Thai businesses to ensure their safety. "We're protecting all Thai businessmen and citizens in Cambodia in case our people get furious and do something wrong that would not benefit either side," Khieu Sopheak told AFP. Cambodian and Thai officials have disputed who started Wednesday's clashes. The Cambodian army has said it is holding 13 Thai soldiers after they surrendered in a disputed area during fighting but Thai military and foreign ministry officials denied any of their troops had been captured. The stand-off first flared in July after Preah Vihear was awarded World Heritage status by the UN cultural body UNESCO, angering some Thai nationalists who claim ownership of the site. The situation quickly escalated into a military confrontation, with up to 1,000 Cambodian and Thai troops facing off for six weeks, although both sides in August agreed to reduce troop numbers in the main disputed area. Tensions flared again this week after talks on Monday aimed at cooling the months-long standoff failed. The Cambodian-Thai border has never been fully demarcated, in part because it is littered with landmines left over from decades of war in Cambodia. \|\|\|\|\| PREAH VIHEAR, Cambodia (Reuters) - Thai and Cambodian army commanders ended five hours of talks on Thursday with no agreement to withdraw their forces after heavy fighting near a disputed 900-year-old temple killed two Cambodian soldiers. “We did not make much progress. Troops on both sides will stay where they are,” Thai General Wiboonsak Neeparn told reporters after returning to the Thai side of the border. He said they had agreed on joint border patrols to ease tensions after Wednesday’s 40-minute gun and rocket battle, the worst clash in years between the fractious Southeast Asian neighbors. His Cambodian counterpart, General Srey Doek, denied any deal over the site, where soldiers backed by armor and artillery faced off in an area controlled a decade ago by remnants of the Khmer Rouge, Pol Pot’s guerrilla army. Life had returned to normal at one small pagoda near the center of the fighting, 600 km (350 miles) east of Bangkok, with children running around in the dirt while their parents cooked and cleaned, said a Reuters photographer at the scene. Ten Thai soldiers, whom Phnom Penh said had been captured, wandered freely in their midst and denied they had ever been taken prisoner. “We drank coffee and watched the TV news together last night,” one of them, Apichart Pupuak, told a Reuters reporter in Thailand via mobile phone. PASSION The hilltop Preah Vihear temple has stirred nationalist passions in both countries for generations, but officials on both sides have toned down their rhetoric since the fighting. “Our policy to resolve this conflict is through negotiations,” Thai Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat said. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen has kept silent, but his foreign minister urged negotiations, saying the incident was between soldiers and “not an invasion by Thailand.” But people on the streets of Phnom Penh were angry. “We need to defend our land. We must not lose to the Thais,” said security guard Bun Roeun, 36, flicking through newspaper reports of the clashes. “If the Thais continue their attempt to cross our border, I am ready to join the army to fight back.” Slideshow ( 24 images ) The confrontation comes amid great political instability and an economic slowdown in Thailand, as protesters in a long-running Bangkok street campaign urge the army to launch a coup against the elected government. “It’s hard to see how Cambodia gains from starting a war with Thailand at this point,” said Tony Kevin, a former Australian ambassador to Phnom Penh. “But if you look at the very tense and riven state of Thai politics, it’s easy to see how a Cambodian war could be of interest as a distraction,” he said. Slideshow ( 24 images ) China and the United States expressed concern over the violence and urged both sides to use restraint. DECADES-OLD DISPUTE Preah Vihear, or Khao Phra Viharn, as the Thais call it, sits on a jungle-clad escarpment overlooking northern Cambodia but has been accessible mainly only from Thailand. The International Court of Justice awarded it to Cambodia in 1962, a ruling that has rankled with Thais ever since. The court failed to determine the ownership of 1.8 square miles (4.6 sq km) of scrub next to the stunning but remote Hindu ruins, which have been off-limits to tourists for months. The small parcel of land became highly politicized in July when protesters trying to overthrow the Thai government adopted it as a cause, accusing Bangkok of selling off Thai soil. Bangkok has urged its citizens to leave Cambodia, mindful of the 2003 torching of its embassy and Thai businesses in Phnom Penh by a nationalist mob incensed by a row over Angkor Wat, another ancient temple. Security was beefed up outside the Thai embassy in Phnom Penh, but there were no crowds outside and it was operating as normal, a Thai official told Reuters. Several big Thai companies have operations in Cambodia and some have pulled out Thai nationals, but they said operations were normal. \|\|\|\|\| Thailand, Cambodia talking after 2 Cambodians killed in border dispute Thai and Cambodian generals have scheduled a meeting Thursday to discuss a dispute about land on the border that cost two Cambodian soldiers their lives Wednesday. The foreign ministers from the countries were already talking, Thai Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat said. "Cambodia is a good neighbour. We will use peaceful means. If there is violence, we have to negotiate," he said Wednesday. As Somchai spoke, Thailand was preparing aircraft to evacuate about 1,500 of its citizens from Cambodia if the situation worsened. The fight over the disputed land near the 11th-century Preah Vihear Hindu temple appeared to be a short exchange of gunfire that ended in the afternoon. A Cambodian official said two soldiers were killed and two wounded, while a Thai army spokesman said five Thai soldiers were wounded. The two countries have disagreed over 4.6 square kilometres of scrub near the temple since 1962, when the International Court of Justice awarded the building to Cambodia. But ownership of the nearby land along the border was not resolved, and Thailand still resents the 1962 decision. The recent fighting arose in July after UNESCO approved Cambodia's request to have the temple declared a world heritage site. That aroused Thai fears that its claim to the land would be prejudiced, and both sides sent soldiers to the remote area. The soldiers were pulled back in August, but tension rose recently. A Cambodian soldier and two Thai soldiers were wounded earlier in October. With files from the Associated Press \|\|\|\|\| 15 October 2008 Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today expressed deep concern about the exchange of gunfire today along the Cambodian-Thai border near a disputed ancient temple that has reportedly led to the deaths of at least two people. “He calls on both parties to exercise utmost restraint and urges them to expedite bilateral talks so that their differences can be resolved peacefully,” Mr. Ban’s spokesperson said in a statement. Media reports say two people were killed during the exchange of fire between Thai and Cambodian soldiers near the Preah Vihear Temple, which was inscribed on the World Heritage List by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in July. Since then there has been a build-up of military forces on both sides, and Mr. Ban has called previously for Cambodia and Thailand to both exercise restraint. The temple, which dates back to the 11th century, was recognized by the World Heritage Committee for “its natural situation on a promontory, with sheer cliffs overlooking a vast plain and mountain range; the quality of its architecture adapted to the natural environment and religious function of the temple; and, finally, the exceptional quality of the carved stone ornamentation of the temple.” \|\|\|\|\| BANGKOK, Oct. 4 (Xinhua) -- Thai Foreign Ministry lodged a letter to Cambodian embassy Saturday afternoon to protest against what Thai authorities alleged Cambodian soldiers' intrusion into Thai territory and acts to open fire at Thai para-military rangers, which led to two injuries on Friday. Thai Foreign Ministry Permanent Secretary Virasakdi Futrakul on Saturday invited Cambodia's charge d'affairs in Bangkok to lodge a protest letter. The response came after Cambodia's similar act of lodging a protest letter to the Thai embassy in Phnom Penh earlier Saturday to blame Thai side for the Friday's border clash. According to the Aide-Memoire issued Saturday by the Thai Foreign Ministry, the Thai side recorded Friday's clash, citing a report by the Second Army Region of the Royal Thai Army, that the Thai para-military rangers from Suranaree Task Force was patrolling along the border about one kilometer to the west of Phra Viharn (Preah Vihear) Temple at around 3:45 p.m. 0845 GMT within Thai soil when they discovered the intrusion of a group of Cambodian soldiers into Thai territory. Four unarmed Thai rangers asked the Cambodian soldiers to leave, but the latter received instruction from superiors and started firing guns, first into the air then at the Thai rangers, causing the Thai side to return fire. Two unarmed Thai rangers were found injured after the exchange of gunfire, according to the account. The letter went on to say "the above-mentioned intrusion of the Cambodian soldiers into Thailand's territory is a serious violation of Thailand's sovereignty and territorial integrity. Furthermore, the shooting by the Cambodian troops against the unarmed Thai para-military rangers is regarded as a brutal and aggressive act and is contrary to the spirit of friendly relations between Cambodia and Thailand. It also constituted a grave violation of the agreement between the two Armed Forces made during the Special Meeting of the Thailand-Cambodia Regional Committee Meeting in Surin Province on 13 August 20-8 that both sides must refrain from digging trenches in the area around Khao Phra Viharn (Preah Vihear Mountain)." The Thai government thus "strongly protests against the said act of aggression and the violation of Thailand's sovereignty and territorial integrity committed by the Cambodian soldiers," and demanded the Cambodian government to ensure that similar incident does not recur in the future. Both sides have claimed their soldiers had acted in self-defense and accused the other side of intruding into their territory. Earlier reports said one Cambodian soldier was wounded during the clash. Meanwhile. Lt-Gen. Wiboonsak Neeparn, Thailand's Second Army Region commander said on Saturday that senior officers of both Thai and Cambodian armies were expected to meet next week to discuss the clash. Wiboonsak, who oversees security affairs in northeastern Thailand, told journalists after visiting the two wounded soldiers at an army hospital in the northeastern border province of Ubon Ratchathani that the shooting took place in a disputed area of Kantharalak district bordering Cambodia, and gave assurances that military officers on both sides would deal responsibly with the situation. But Wiboonsak described the clash as an "accident" as Cambodian troops were rotating personnel at that time and Thai soldiers misjudged that they had encroached the Thai territory and the clash ensued. He added that Thai troops would not be reinforced in the disputed area. He said the two Thai wounded rangers were now out of danger and are expected to stay at the hospital for one week. Cambodian media reported that the Cambodian government was accusing Thai soldiers of being the first to open fire and went onto warn that "armed provocation by Thai soldiers could lead to very grave consequences, including full scale armed hostility". Thai Prime Minister and Defence Minister Somchai Wongsawat will visit Cambodia on October 13 to negotiate over the border dispute, Gen Wichit Yathip, an aide of Deputy Prime Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh, said Saturday. Thailand and Cambodia have been engaged in diplomatic quarrels and military stand-off tensions along the disputed border around Preah Vihear and at least two other ancient temples after Cambodia applied to UNESCO successfully to list the temple as World Heritage site in July, which resurrected sentiment among Thais who have been reluctant to accept the 1962 International Court of Justice verdict to award the ownership of the 11th-century temple to Cambodia.	Preah Vihear Temple (Kao Phra Viharn) Today saw high-level talks between Thai and Cambodian military leaders following a border skirmish yesterday which left two Cambodian soldiers dead, injuries on both sides, and ten Thai troops captured. Several hours of talks have led to an agreement for joint military patrols along the disputed border. Wednesday's exchange of fire in the disputed border region surrounding Preah Vihear Temple is the latest in a dispute over an area of scrubland which both Cambodia and Thailand claim. While each side claims the other initiated the clash, government officials in both capitals have sought to downplay the seriousness of the incident and stress that a negotiated settlement is the only reasonable solution. The disputed territory is a little under five square kilometres and was, in 1962, awarded to Cambodia by the International Court of Justice. The decision caused resentment in Thailand which continues to this day. Downplaying the incident, Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong spoke of the negotiations in positive terms, stressing the skirmish was, "an incident between soldiers and not an invasion by Thailand". Thai Prime Minister, Somchai Wongsawat stressed the need for the dispute over territory to be resolved peacefully. According to officials, apart from the two Cambodian soldiers who died in the skirmish, an additional two Khmer troops and five Thais were injured. Thailand has denied the claim by Cambodia that ten soldiers were captured in the disputed territory. On the other side of the border, Cambodian officials have said the captives will be returned upon request. Location of Preah Vihear Temple. The dispute over the contested territory flared up in June; UNESCO awarded the Hindu Preah Vihear Temple the status of World Heritage Site as a Cambodian property, bringing the issue back into the spotlight. The 900-year-old temple sits at the centre of a military build-up on both sides of the border and despite an agreed pull-back in August the situation deteriorated when Cambodia asserted that Thai troops had returned to the entrenched positions that now see around 1,000 soldiers from both sides facing each other. The return of Thai military forces saw the Cambodian Prime Minister, Hun Sen threaten to turn the area into a "death zone". United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon spoke yesterday on the incident, expressing grave concern over the escalation of the conflict and loss of life. A spokesperson for the Secretary-General said, "He calls on both parties to exercise utmost restraint and urges them to expedite bilateral talks so that their differences can be resolved peacefully". This is not the first time Ban Ki-moon has spoken on the issue; previously calls for restraint have been issued as the military build-up in the area has continued. The ongoing dispute and yesterday's escalation have seen moves to take civilians out of harm's way. The government in Bangkok urged Thai citizens in Cambodia to leave the country if they were not there on urgent business. Over 400 returned on a Thai Airways flight following the call to evacuate Thai nationals. With a 2003 dispute and unrest having seen Thailand's embassy in Phnom Penh torched, Cambodian authorities deployed riot police around the building yesterday in case the dispute led to violence. In the disputed region, thousands of Cambodians have left due to the build-up of forces on both sides of the border and increased tensions. The current flare-up along the border is the second incident this month; on October 3 there was a clash where Thailand claims Cambodian forces crossed the border and fired on Thai rangers causing two injuries. That incident saw both sides exchange protest letters. Thailand claimed that rangers patrolling on their side of the border encountered Cambodian troops and demanded they return across the border. The alleged response was apparently orders from superiors for the Cambodians to begin firing. The strongly-worded complaint stated, "the above-mentioned intrusion of the Cambodian soldiers into Thailand's territory is a serious violation of Thailand's sovereignty and territorial integrity. Furthermore, the shooting by the Cambodian troops against the unarmed Thai para-military rangers is regarded as a brutal and aggressive act and is contrary to the spirit of friendly relations between Cambodia and Thailand."
For Immediate Release Office of the Press Secretary September 30, 2008 President Bush Discusses Economic Rescue Plan In Focus: Economy 8:45 A.M. EDT THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. Yesterday, the House of Representatives voted on a financial rescue plan that had been negotiated by Congressional leaders of both parties and my administration. Unfortunately, the measure was defeated by a narrow margin. I'm disappointed by the outcome, but I assure our citizens and citizens around the world that this is not the end of the legislative process. Producing legislation is complicated, and it can be contentious. It matters little what a path a bill takes to become law. What matters is that we get a law. We're at a critical moment for our economy, and we need legislation that decisively address the troubled assets now clogging the financial system, helps lenders resume the flow of credit to consumers and businesses, and allows the American economy to get moving again. I recognize this is a difficult vote for members of Congress. Many of them don't like the fact that our economy has reached this point, and I understand that. But the reality is that we are in an urgent situation, and the consequences will grow worse each day if we do not act. The dramatic drop in the stock market that we saw yesterday will have a direct impact on the retirement accounts, pension funds, and personal savings of millions of our citizens. And if our nation continues on this course, the economic damage will be painful and lasting. And I know many Americans are especially worried about the cost of the legislation. The bill the House considered yesterday commits up to 700 billion taxpayer dollars to purchase troubled assets from banks and other financial institutions. That, no question, is a large amount of money. We're also dealing with a large problem. But to put that in perspective, the drop in the stock market yesterday represented more than a trillion dollars in losses. Furthermore, both the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office and the Office of Management and Budget expect that the legislation considered would ultimately cost the taxpayer far less than the $700 billion. Because the government would be purchasing troubled assets and selling them once the market recovers, it is likely that many of the assets would go up in value over time. Ultimately, we expect that much -- if not all -- of the tax dollars we invest will be paid back. As much as we might wish the situation were different, our country is not facing a choice between government action and the smooth functioning of the free market. We're facing a choice between action and the real prospect of economic hardship for millions of Americans. And for the financial security of every American, Congress must act. My administration will continue to work closely with leaders of both parties on Capitol Hill. I appreciate their determined efforts. While Congress is out today for the Jewish holiday, my administration will be talking to Congressional leaders today about how we can move legislation forward when members begin returning to the Capitol tomorrow. Our economy is depending on decisive action from the government. The sooner we address the problem, the sooner we can get back on the path of growth and job creation. This is what elected leaders owe the American people, and I am confident that we'll deliver. Thank you. END 8:49 A.M. EDT ### \|\|\|\|\| Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play. US President George W Bush has warned the US economy is at a "critical moment", and vowed to get his Wall Street rescue plan through Congress. He said the consequences would be "painful and lasting" if the $700bn (£380bn) deal rejected by the US House of Representatives was not passed. He offered reassurances to citizens of the US and wider world that the current political deadlock would be resolved. The US Senate has announced it will vote on the plan on Wednesday evening. The Dow Jones index closed up 4.7% on Tuesday, recouping some losses from Monday's rout, after the markets reacted favourably to the president's statement. European stocks bounced up and down, while most Asian markets finished the day down. The European Union earlier urged Washington to act and solve the credit crisis, amid fears America was lurching towards a financial crisis unmatched since the 1930s Great Depression. 'Not the end' Mr Bush said at the White House: "We are in an urgent situation and the consequences will grow worse each day if we do not act." The economy was depending on "decisive action on the part of our government", he added. We're facing a choice between action and the real prospect of economic hardship for millions of Americans President Bush Where votes went in the bill Q&A;: US $700bn rescue plan World reacts to US bail-out rejection He said he wanted to "assure our citizens and citizens around the world that this is not the end of the legislative process". "Our country is not facing a choice between government action and the smooth functioning of the free market," he said. "We're facing a choice between action and the real prospect of economic hardship for millions of Americans," he warned. Republican presidential contender John McCain said he was disappointed at the "lack of resolve" shown by both parties in the US House of Representatives. "The whole spectrum of Main Street America's economy is going to be jeopardised unless we pass this legislation. And we didn't do a good enough job selling it," Mr McCain told US television. Markets in New York and around the world are having a rough ride He said he had called Mr Bush on Tuesday, as did his Democratic rival, Barack Obama. The White House described Mr Bush's conversations with the two presidential candidates as "very constructive". Mr Obama told a rally of voters in Reno, Nevada: "We must act and act now. We can't have another day like yesterday." The BBC's Jamie Coomarasamy in Washington says both the president and the two men who hope to succeed him in January are under pressure to show leadership amid the partisan bickering which has followed the bill's failure. Blame claims The rivals back the rescue plan, although each has accused the other of contributing towards its collapse. Republicans and Democrats in Congress are blaming each other over the failed bill, which was rejected by 228 to 205 votes in the House of Representatives on Monday. Some 133 Republicans and 95 Democrats refused to back the rescue package in a tense vote on the House floor. On Tuesday, the two leading Democrats in Congress, Senator Harry Reid and House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, wrote to President Bush saying they expected a bipartisan rescue plan to soon be approved. "Working together, we are confident we will pass a responsible bill in the very near future," they said. HAVE YOUR SAY I know we need a strong financial sector, but where is the talk of structural change that's going to prevent recurrence? Neil, California, US The House is not due to meet again until Thursday as many members have gone home for a Jewish holiday. For the second time in as many days on Tuesday, Western European governments stepped in to prop up an ailing financial institution. The French and Belgian governments rescued the Franco-Belgian financial services group, Dexia, with a package totalling more than $9bn (£5bn). E-mail this to a friend Printable version Bookmark with: Delicious Digg reddit Facebook StumbleUpon What are these?	George Bush making the statement at 12:45 today. George W. Bush vowed to get the 700 billion economic rescue plan through congress in a statement to the media made today. "Yesterday, the House of Representatives voted on a financial rescue plan that had been negotiated by Congressional leaders of both parties and my administration," Bush reminded the audience. "Unfortunately, the measure was defeated by a narrow margin. I'm disappointed by the outcome, but I assure our citizens and citizens around the world that this is not the end of the legislative process." "Producing legislation is complicated, and it can be contentious. It matters little what a path a bill takes to become law," he continued. "We're at a critical moment for our economy, and we need legislation that decisively address the troubled assets now clogging the financial system, helps lenders resume the flow of credit to consumers and businesses, and allows the American economy to get moving again." '''Market Data'''} "I recognize this is a difficult vote for members of Congress. Many of them don't like the fact that our economy has reached this point, and I understand that. But the reality is that we are in an urgent situation, and the consequences will grow worse each day if we do not act. The dramatic drop in the stock market that we saw yesterday will have a direct impact on the retirement accounts, pension funds, and personal savings of millions of our citizens. And if our nation continues on this course, the economic damage will be painful and lasting." World and US markets today are up after severe declines yesterday. Most have recovered 30% of their previous losses, meaning that the potential government expenditure was similar to the market losses. Bush then said that he knows "many Americans are especially worried about the cost of the legislation." He then attempted to justify the cost. "The bill the House considered yesterday commits up to 700 billion taxpayer dollars to purchase troubled assets from banks and other financial institutions. That, no question, is a large amount of money. We're also dealing with a large problem. But to put that in perspective, the drop in the stock market yesterday represented more than a trillion dollars in losses." If passed, the bailout plan would have allowed for the United States government to purchase devalued mortgage backed securities, resulting from the subprime mortgage crisis, from troubled financial institutions. The US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said the plan could cost up to $700 billion.
Boston Marathon hit by explosions Continue reading the main story Related Stories Two explosions at the finish line of the Boston Marathon race have left an unknown number of people injured. Video and photographs from Boston show a scene of confusion, with emergency services descending on the scene and bloodied spectators being taken to a medical tent. "There are a lot of people down," said one runner quoted by AP news agency. The incident reportedly came about three hours after the winners crossed the line. "There was an explosion, police, fire and EMS are on the scene. We have no indication of how many people are injured," spokeswoman for the Boston Police Department said. AP said there was a loud explosion on the north side of Boylston Street, just before the bridge that marks the finish line. Another loud explosion could be heard a few seconds later. Mike Mitchell of Vancouver, Canada, a runner who had finished the race said he was looking back at the finish line and saw a "massive explosion." Smoke rose 50ft (15m) in the air, he told Reuters news agency, and people began running away and screaming after hearing the noise. "Everybody freaked out," he said. Stragglers heading for the finish line were rerouted away from the smoking site of the blasts as the scene was locked down. The Eastern Massachusetts branch of the Red Cross has set up a disaster response centre in the area. \|\|\|\|\| Some runners were approaching the end of the 26.2-mile race when the two blasts, in rapid succession, sent them running away from the finish line. “The first one went off, I thought it was a big celebratory thing, and I just kept going,” recalled Jarrett Sylvester, 26, a runner from East Boston, who said it had sounded like a cannon blast. “And then the second one went off, and I saw debris fly in the air. And I realized it was a bomb at that point. And I just took off and ran in the complete opposite direction.” There were conflicting reports about how many devices there were. One law enforcement official said there had been four: the two that exploded at the marathon and two others that were disabled by the police. The official said that the devices appeared to have been made with black powder and ball bearings, but that investigators were unsure how the two that exploded had been set off. It was unclear Monday evening who might be responsible for the blast. Although investigators said that they were speaking to a Saudi citizen who was injured in the blast, several law enforcement officials took pains to note that no one was in custody. Some law enforcement officials noted that the blasts came at the start of a week that has sometimes been seen as significant for radical American antigovernment groups: it was the April 15 deadline for filing taxes, and Patriots’ Day in Massachusetts, the start of a week that has seen violence in the past. April 19 is the anniversary of the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. The explosive devices used in the attacks on Monday were similar in size to the device used in the 1996 attack at the Centennial Olympic Park bombing in Atlanta but were not nearly as large as the one used in Oklahoma City. In the Atlanta attack, a pipe bomb was detonated near pedestrians, killing 2 and injuring more than 100 — similar numbers to Monday’s attack. The attack in Oklahoma City was far larger because the perpetrator used a truck packed with thousands of pounds of explosives. The device killed more than 150 people. Image Site of the Boston Marathon explosions. Credit... Aerial image from Pictometry International The attack on Monday occurred in areas that had been largely cleared of vehicles for the marathon. Without vehicles to pack explosives into, the perpetrators would have been forced to rely on much smaller devices. Officials stressed that they had no suspects in the attack. The Saudi man, who was interviewed at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, had been seen running from the scene of the first explosion, a person briefed on preliminary developments in the investigation said on Monday afternoon. A law enforcement official said later Monday that the man, was in the United States on a student visa and came under scrutiny because of his injuries, his proximity to the blasts and his nationality — but added that he was not known to federal authorities and that his role in the attack, if any, was unclear. The explosions brought life in Boston to a halt. Police officials effectively closed a large part of the Back Bay neighborhood, which surrounds the blast site; some transit stops were closed; planes were briefly grounded at Boston Logan International Airport and the Boston Symphony Orchestra canceled its Monday night concert. A Boston Celtics game scheduled for Tuesday was also canceled. Boston was bracing for a heightened law enforcement presence on Tuesday, with its transit riders subject to random checks of their backpacks and bags, and many streets in the center of the city likely to be closed to traffic as the investigation continues. Gov. Deval Patrick said Monday night that “the city of Boston is open and will be open tomorrow, but it will not be business as usual.” Boston’s police commissioner, Ed Davis, urged people to stay off the streets. “We’re recommending to people that they stay home, that if they’re in hotels in the area that they return to their rooms, and that they don’t go any place and congregate in large crowds,” he said at an afternoon news conference. It had begun as a perfect day for the Boston Marathon, one of running’s most storied events, with blue skies and temperatures just shy of 50 degrees. The race typically draws half a million spectators. And long after the world-class runners had finished — the men’s race was won by Lelisa Desisa Benti of Ethiopia, who finished it in 2 hours, 10 minutes and 22 seconds — the sidewalks of Back Bay were still thick with spectators cheering on friends and relatives as they loped, exhausted, toward the finish line. Dr. Natalie Stavas, a pediatric resident at Boston Children’s Hospital, was running in the marathon with her father and was nearing the finish line when the explosions shook the street. \|\|\|\|\| At least two people have been killed and 22 others injured after two explosions near the finish line of the Boston Marathon, police have said. There was also a third blast at the JFK library about five miles away, officers confirmed. The blasts at the marathon took place about three hours after the winners crossed the line, with one explosion on the north side of Boylston Street, just before the photo bridge that marks the finish. Another happened a few seconds later, about 50-100 metres away, believed to be further down the street. Some runners were making their way across the finish line as the drama unfolded, and TV helicopter footage showed blood on the pavement in the popular shopping and tourist area known as the Back Bay. Participants were also seen lying on the ground as the explosions tore through the finish line, sending smoke and debris soaring into the air. The injured were treated at the scene According to the Boston Marathon website, there were more than 25,000 registered entrants in the marathon, 374 of whom are British. It is not known what caused the blasts but Fox News reported ball bearings were found on the street. Sky's Mark White said: "The ball bearings are likely to be shrapnel, leading to a growing suspicion the blasts were deliberate." There are also reports that police have discovered unexploded devices in the area. The blasts happened at the end of the marathon Some runners who had not finished were diverted down Commonwealth Avenue and into a family meeting area, according to an emergency plan. The Federal Aviation Administration has warned pilots it had created a no-fly zone over the site. Runners and race volunteers were crying as they fled the chaos. Smoke rose from the explosions, through flags lining the route of the world's oldest and most prestigious marathon. British police are now reviewing security plans for Sunday's London Marathon after the US blasts. Video footage has emerged which appeared to show the moment one of the explosions happened. Police made their way through competitors as they ran towards the scene, and injured spectators were being carried to the medical tent that had been set up to care for tired runners. "There are a lot of people down," said one man, whose marathon number identified him as Frank Deruyter. A Boston police officer was taken from the course with a bleeding leg injury. A bomb squad officer at the scene of one of the blasts Runner Laura McLean of Toronto said she heard two explosions outside the medical tent. "There are people who are really, really bloody," Ms McLean said. "They were pulling them into the medical tent." Cherie Falgoust was waiting for her husband, who was running the race. "I was expecting my husband any minute," she said. "I don't know what this building is ... it just blew. Just a big bomb, a loud boom, and then glass everywhere. Something hit my head. I don't know what it was. I just ducked." Police have told people to stay at home and avoid large crowds. The Marathon sports store in Boston was reportedly near where one of the blasts took place. An aerial view of emergency services at the scene There were two boom sounds heard from inside the Fairmount Copley Plaza Hotel. Race officials locked the building down. The White House said President Barack Obama has been notified about the explosions. The administration said it is in contact with state and local authorities and the president told his administration to provide whatever assistance is necessary in the investigation and response. New York police have stepped up security around key landmarks in the city after the double blasts, a top officer said. Foreign Secretary William Hague tweeted: "Appalled by news of explosion at Boston marathon. My thoughts are with everyone affected by it and all those waiting for news." Boston Police said there is a helpline in the US for concerned relatives : 617-635-4500, and anybody with information about the blasts should call 1-800-494-tips. :: See Latest Updates On The Explosions	Last year's finish line showing the Fairmont Copley Plaza Hotel in the background Earlier today, multiple explosions have occurred in Boston resulting in two confirmed deaths and hundreds injured at . Two explosions within seconds of each other tore through the finish line at the Boston Marathon, approximately four hours after the start of the men's race. '''' reporter and eyewitness Chris Cassidy said it appeared that the first of the two blasts originated from trash cans along the sidewalk which was heavily populated with marathon spectators. A third explosion also occurred at the , however the are not reporting any casualties at that scene. Area police do not believe the two events are related. President Obama commented on the events saying federal resources were being made available to the Boston local authorities to hold whomever was responsible accountable. "I kept running and I heard behind me a loud bang. It looked like it was in a trash can or something. That one was in front of Abe and Louie’s," said the ''Herald'''s Cassidy who was participating in the event at the time. Ed Davis from the Boston police informed the media that persons wishing to contact persons at the scene should phone 617-635-4500. Anyone at the scene who may have information for the authorities should contact the incident line on 1-800-494-TIPS.
Copyright © 2005 Elsevier Ltd All rights reserved. Short communication Decreased depression in marijuana users Thomas F. Densona, , and Mitchell Earleywineb aUniversity of Southern California, Seeley G. Mudd Building, Room 501, Los Angeles, CA, 90089-1061, United States bUniversity at Albany, State University of New York, United States Available online 20 June 2005. Abstract Over 4400 adult internet users completed The Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression scale and measures of marijuana use. We employed an internet survey in an effort to recruit the most depressed and marijuana-involved participants, including those who might prove unwilling to travel to the laboratory or discuss drug use on the phone or in person. We compared those who consumed marijuana daily, once a week or less, or never in their lives. Despite comparable ranges of scores on all depression subscales, those who used once per week or less had less depressed mood, more positive affect, and fewer somatic complaints than non-users. Daily users reported less depressed mood and more positive affect than non-users. The three groups did not differ on interpersonal symptoms. Separate analyses for medical vs. recreational users demonstrated that medical users reported more depressed mood and more somatic complaints than recreational users, suggesting that medical conditions clearly contribute to depression scores and should be considered in studies of marijuana and depression. These data suggest that adults apparently do not increase their risk for depression by using marijuana. Keywords: Marijuana; Depression; Interpersonal symptoms; Somatic and retarded activity; Deppressed affect; Positive affect; Medical marijuana \|\|\|\|\| Hard line on drugs CANNABIS smokers may be forced to take counselling sessions on the links between marijuana and mental disorders to avoid being charged on a first offence, in a rewriting of NSW drug laws. The Daily Telegraph has learned Premier Morris Iemma called for a review of the cannabis cautioning scheme to send a stronger message about the effects of marijuana on mental health. But the real crackdown will be brought to bear on those caught growing high strength (hydroponic) cannabis - now thought to be a significant factor in rising mental health problems. The Government is about to introduce what it claims will be the most hardline legislation in the country, with people facing 10-year jail sentences for growing as few as five hydroponic plants. Sentences of 20 years will be made law for crops of 200 plants. A range of new offences will also apply to people who expose children to hydroponic drug houses. Mr Iemma has undertaken a complete rewriting of cannabis laws in response to concerns from health authorities that it is a significant contributor to the mental health crisis. "No one wants to see a young person who has made a genuine mistake, unfairly punished," Mr Iemma said. "But we can't downplay the health and social consequences of regular cannabis use. "That's why I want to see whether this scheme can be used to further tackle cannabis use and its devastating impact on mental health. "There is growing evidence of a link between long-term cannabis use and the incidence of severe mental health problems," said Mr Iemma. "Regular cannabis use can exacerbate mental illnesses and associated criminal activity. Experts tell us that potent, hydroponically grown cannabis is a particular problem." Hydro, as it is known, can be between five and seven times stronger than conventionally grown marijuana. The cautioning scheme for people caught with 15g of marijuana was introduced in 2000 to offer police an alternative to charging offenders and clogging courts with petty offences. It has been hailed a success for freeing up police to tackle serious crime and keeping people from attracting criminal records for minor offences. Users are issued with a warning for the first offence and then issued with a caution on the second, requiring them to call a counselling service. But less than 14 per cent comply. The Government is drafting its response to a review of cannabis cautioning undertaken by the Bureau of Crime Statistics. Have your say Print this story Also in Top Stories Shine off win Facing prison Theft scandal Claimed on tax More Reports Tears for damned New roads chief to apply the pressure Ban on concerts Snuggly puggle's worth the wait Guilty plea in showbiz drug plan Vote makes pill available within a year Kiss me Katie on harbour Cruise Packer's farewell Sword falls on Tripodi Drunken bus driver serves time at home \|\|\|\|\| New South Wales could soon have the harshest cannabis laws in the country. The State Government is rewriting the laws to increase penalties for possession and cultivation. The crackdown will include harsher jail sentences including up to 20 years for growing crops of more than 200 plants and 10 years for as few as five plants. Other proposed changes will giving police the same search warrant powers to raid homes where cannabis is grown as those for heroin and amphetamine operations. There will also be a range of new offences for exposing children to the cultivation process and up to a year for a first time offence if police find the drug at someone's home. But the Government says it has no immediate plans to change the cautioning system for cannabis users. Premier Morris Iemma says the changes are designed to reduce the large scale cultivation of the drug. He says the existing laws that allow first time offenders on possession charges to receive a caution appear to be working well. A spokesman for the Premier has confirmed cannabis smokers may also be forced to have counselling sessions to better understand the connection between the drug and mental disorders. \|\|\|\|\| NSW may introduce the toughest cannabis laws in the country with penalties such as fines of up to $500,000 and 20-year-jail sentences to be implemented. Under the plan, smokers may be forced to take counselling sessions on the links between marijuana and mental disorders to avoid being charged on a first offence. The Daily Telegraph reported that Premier Morris Iemma called for a review of the cannabis cautioning scheme to send a stronger message about the effects of marijuana on mental health. People could face 10-year jail sentences for growing as few as five hydroponic plants. Sentences of 20 years are expected to be made law for people caught with crops of 200 plants. A range of new offences will also apply to people who expose children to hydroponic drug houses. The plan comes after health authorities claimed cannabis use was a significant contributor to the mental health crisis. Copyright © 2006 Seven Network (Operations) Ltd	right New South Wales Premier Morris Iemma has proposed strengthening the states anti- laws. The government is undertaking a complete rewrite of such laws in response to concerns voiced by some health professionals about the link between the drug and mental health issues. The proposed legislation will also increase jail sentences for those convicted of growing cannabis . "There is growing evidence of a link between long-term cannabis use and the incidence of severe mental health problems," said Mr Iemma. Under the plan the current cannabis cautioning system, introduced in 2000, is to be reviewed. Cannabis users would be required to attend counseling to "understand the link between cannabis use and mental illness" to avoid being charged for their first offence. At present those issued with their second cautioning notice are required to call a counseling service.
Hill fries free to be French again The fries on Capitol Hill are French again. So is the breakfast toast in the congressional cafeterias, with both fries and toast having been liberated from the appellation "freedom." Three years after House Republicans trumpeted the new names to get back at the French for snubbing the coalition of the willing in Iraq, congressmen don't even want to talk about french fries, which are actually native to Belgium, and toast. Neither Reps. Bob Ney of Ohio nor Walter B. Jones of North Carolina, the authors of the culinary rebuke, were willing this week to say who led the retreat, as it were, from the frying pan. But retreat there has been, as a casual observer can see for himself in the House's basement cafeterias. "We don't have a comment for your story," said a spokeswoman for Mr. Ney. Several Republican staffers and lawmakers suggest that the change isn't worth investigating, unlike the eagerness in March 2003 to get into the headlines about patriotism on the menu. Mr. Ney, who was then the chairman of the House Administration Committee, which oversees the cafeterias, gleefully announced the change at the height of anti-French sentiment, when Paris scolded Washington that the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq was premature. "This action today is a small but symbolic effort to show the strong displeasure of many on Capitol Hill with the actions of our so-called ally, France," he said on March 11, 2003. The Ney spokeswoman, who wasn't aware Monday that fries and toast had reverted to their original names, observed that Rep. Vernon J. Ehlers of Michigan, the Republican who chairs the House Administration Committee now, "has the right to change the name." But Jon Brandt, a spokesman for Mr. Ehlers, doesn't want to talk about it, either. "Officially the committee has no comment on the matter," he said. "I really don't see how this is a story." A spokeswoman for the panel's Democrats said she is unaware of the change, and none of the House staffers are willing to talk about it. A manager in the House's basement cafeteria said "freedom fries" and "freedom toast" were taken off the menu last week, and referred all calls to the Capitol's guest services department. The cafeteria in the Longworth Office Building apparently restored french fries in January. Democrats on the panel did not return calls requesting comment, but other Democrats, who had called the switch in nomenclature "absurd," are free with the quips. advertisement advertisement Copyright © 1999 - 2006 News World Communications, Inc. http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20060802-125318-3981r.htm \|\|\|\|\| Freedom fries are now history in House cafeterias House Republicans renamed fries and French toast in 2003 to protest at France's opposition to the war on Iraq. The patriotic name change hit the headlines at the time but the change back is getting much less coverage. A House official would only say that fries are no longer being offered under the "freedom" nomenclature. The Washington Times newspaper contacted aides of the two congressmen behind the move to "freedom fries" to see if they could shed light on the change back. "We don't have a comment for your story," a spokeswoman for Republican representative Bob Ney told the newspaper. At the time, Mr Ney, who together with Walter Jones pushed for "freedom fries", said the action was "a small but symbolic effort to show the strong displeasure of many on Capitol Hill with the actions of our so-called ally, France". Belgians are among many to claim they invented French fries The move followed the lead of a North Carolina restaurant whose owner said he got the idea from similar protest action against Germany during World War I, when sauerkraut was renamed liberty cabbage and frankfurters became hot dogs. The switch to "freedom fries" was seen as reflecting the anti-French sentiment among some lawmakers who felt President Jacques Chirac betrayed the US by opposing its policy on Iraq. The Senate cafeterias never changed their menus. A spokeswoman for the French embassy asked about current French-US ties told the Washington Times that the two countries were working closely on the Middle East. "Our relations are much more important than potatoes," she said. "French fries are back on the menu in the Capitol, back on the presidential dinner menu and our relations are back on track."	Belgian pommes frites, popularly referred to as "French fries" in the USA. With an absence of fanfare, the foodstuffs renamed three years ago to "Freedom fries" and "Freedom toast" have reverted to their previous names of "French fries" and "French toast" respectively, for food service of the United States Capitol and White House. In March 2003, House Representatives Bob Ney of Ohio and Walter B. Jones of North Carolina instituted changing food references of "French" to "Freedom" as a propaganda response to the refusal of France to participate in the U.S.-initiated invasion of Iraq in 2003. Calling great public attention to the name change on March 11 of that 2003, Ney said, "This action today is a small but symbolic effort to show the strong displeasure of many on Capitol Hill with the actions of our so-called ally, France." At the time Ney chaired the House Committee on House Administration, which controls those cafeterias. Currently, Rep. Vernon J. Ehlers of Michigan chairs the House Administration Committee, and his spokesman has responded to the return of French fries and French toast with: "Officially the committee has no comment on the matter. I really don't see how this is a story."
Vestas, the wind-turbine maker, closed two factories on the South Coast yesterday with the loss of 425 jobs. The Danish company ceased blade production at its sites in Southampton and on the Isle of Wight. Workers had occupied the Isle of Wight plant for 18 days in protest at the closures until last week. Vestas Wind Systems had obtained a court order after six workers barricaded themselves into the plant for more than two weeks in a bid to delay its closure. Members of the Climate Rush campaign group, left, also chained themselves to Business Secretary Lord Mandelson's home in London, in an "act of solidarity". Originally it was believed there would be 625 job cuts but Vestas said yesterday that it had made 425 staff redundant. The firm said it had mitigated job losses, with 40 employees found new roles and 57 continuing work at the factory for a further period to assist in its closure. \|\|\|\|\| Vestas, the wind-turbine maker, closed two factories on the South Coast yesterday with the loss of 425 jobs. The Danish company ceased blade production at its sites in Southampton and on the Isle of Wight. Workers had occupied the Isle of Wight plant for 18 days in protest at the closures until last week. Vestas Wind Systems had obtained a court order after six workers barricaded themselves into the plant for more than two weeks in a bid to delay its closure. Members of the Climate Rush campaign group, left, also chained themselves to Business Secretary Lord Mandelson's home in London, in an "act of solidarity". Originally it was believed there would be 625 job cuts but Vestas said yesterday that it had made 425 staff redundant. The firm said it had mitigated job losses, with 40 employees found new roles and 57 continuing work at the factory for a further period to assist in its closure. \|\|\|\|\| Vestas has confirmed the closure of two sites on the Isle of Wight and Southampton with the loss of 425 jobs. Employees at both factories were informed of the decision today. The closures follow a sit-in protest by 11 employees which began on July 20 and ended on August 7 after the company obtained a repossession order and sent in bailiffs to remove the protesters. The protest was hugely embarrassing for the government at a time when it is promoting wind energy and green jobs. The Vestas plant was the only one in the country making components for wind turbines. The protesters gained considerable support from trades union groups and environmentalists. The company said that 40 employees had been found new roles within the Vestas research and development facility on the Isle of Wight. A further 57 employees will continue to work at the factory to assist with its closure. "The decision to close the factory was very difficult, and we fully recognise the impact this will have on employees, their families and on the Isle of Wight," said Ole Borup Jakobsen, president of Vestas Blades. "Nonetheless, this commercial decision was absolutely necessary to secure Vestas' competiveness and create a regional balance between production and the demand for wind turbines." Despite confirmation of the factory's closure, the company's chief executive confirmed that staff redundancy benefits, which were withdrawn from the protesting workers, were under review. Speaking exclusively to the Guardian, Ditlev Engel said that the company is planning to look again at the decision to strip the workers of their redundancy package because of their involvement in the protest. "The last thing that we wanted was to have this confrontation," he said. "We will go back and see what it is that we can do going forward and also for all the people affected because we only had one wish and that was to try to do this in the best possible way. Coming back to the 11 people, we will have to revisit, to look at that as well." Asked whether this meant that Vestas would reconsider its decision to remove the redundancy package from the men who occupied the plant, Engel said: "I am not ruling anything out." Vestas has previously said that UK planning laws are a major barrier to wind energy development and that they were one of the reasons for the company's decision to pull out. "It is clear there is a need for reviewing [planning laws] in the UK," said Engel. "Nimbyism is also an issue." He said that the UK government was failing to put its plans for more renewable energy into practice. "In the UK there is a clear division between what the government would like to see happening and what certain local politicians want to see happening, or rather not want to see happening … there is not necessarily the same ambition levels." He also said that the government needed to invest in the electricity transmission grid to make it more friendly to wind energy. "A major challenge in the UK is the future grid investment which needs to take place," he said. Vestas first announced plans to shut manufacturing at the Isle of Wight factory in April saying it could produce blades more cheaply in America. \|\|\|\|\| Nationwide day of protest over Vestas By Ian Dunt and Liz Stephens Britain was struck by nationwide protests today, as activists and trade unionists angry over the closure of the Vestas wind turbine factory vented their anger. From Birmingham to Warrington, demonstrations and rallies took place across the country. "The day of action gives everyone a chance to send a clear message to the company and to the government that this is an issue that will not go away," said Bob Crow, general secretary of the RMT, which represents a substantial block of the Vestas workforce. "The fight for Vestas and for the future of wind turbine manufacture in England is far from over." The union is fighting to get the factory, in the Isle of Wight, back into production, with help from environmental activists. Jonathan Neale of the Campaign Against Climate Change (CCC) told politics.co.uk: "Nationally there are over 40 events happening today across the UK. "It's about getting the jobs back for the Vestas workers but we need half a million jobs in renewable energy to beat climate change." Alex Flynn, a spokesperson for the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS), who organised an event in Westminster today, told politics.co.uk: "It's important that people show their support for the Vestas workers, not only because of the disgraceful way they are being treated but also because of the environmental issues at stake. "The government needs to intervene if it's serious about green energy and tackling climate change." However, in a statement today the company said the present UK market "is not large enough to justify the required investment to convert the Isle of Wight factory to produce blades for the UK market. "In particular, the local planning process for onshore wind power plants in the UK remains an obstacle to the development of the market." Ole Borup Jakobsen, president of Vestas Blades said: "The decision to close the factory was very difficult, and we fully recognise the impact this will have on employees, their families and on the Isle of Wight." "Nonetheless, this commercial decision was absolutely necessary to secure Vestas'competiveness and create a regional balance between production and the demand for wind turbines." Vestas workers occupied the factory for 18 days, before bailiffs entered last Friday. Unions want the workers reinstated and threat of black-listing lifted. "The fight for Vestas and for the future of wind turbine manufacture in England is far from over. We are continuing to back this brave group of workers," Mr Crow said. There were rallies and demonstrations today in Birmingham, the London borough of Hackney, Nottingham, Oxford, Portsmouth, Sheffield, Southampton and Warrington. Brighton, Cardiff, Central London, Liverpool and Wrexham saw public meetings, while Gordon Brown's constituency office in Cowdenbeath was picketed from midday, despite the prime minister being in the Lake District. Another day of action in support of Vestas workers is planned for 9th September. \|\|\|\|\| Seven people are now on top of the Venture Quays building in Cowes Demonstrators are continuing a rooftop protest on the Isle of Wight over the planned closure of a wind turbine blade factory, with the loss of 625 jobs. Seven people are now living on top of the Venture Quays building in Cowes, which is used by wind company Vestas. On Friday workers ended a 19-day sit-in protest at the Danish firm's Newport factory on the island. Meanwhile, Climate Rush group members chained themselves to Lord Mandelson's home so show support for the workers. The campaigners have gathered outside the Business Secretary's two-storey property in Regent's Park, London, in an "act of solidarity" for the Vestas workers who are set to lose their jobs. 'Local support' Ellie Robson, 21, a history undergraduate at Cambridge University, said: "Less than two weeks after announcing the government's plans for a low-carbon Britain, Vestas shut down because there's no demand for wind turbines in this country." The 19-day occupation of the Newport wind turbine blade factory ended on Friday when bailiffs were sent in. Members of Climate Rush protested outside Lord Mandelson's home But members of the support group that climbed the Venture Quays building in Cowes, say they are "digging in" with their protest. One person left the demonstration while three others joined over the weekend. Martin Shaw, 44, who has been on the roof since the start, said: "We spoke to the workers when they came out and they want us to stay. "We are getting so much local support and so far no-one has threatened legal action so we are digging in for the long haul." The building's owner, the South East England Development Agency, (SEEDA) said it was seeking legal advice. A spokesman said: "As the landlord we are responsible for people's safety on-site and have spoken to members of the group to recommend they come down for their own safety. "We also have a responsibility to our tenants and to making sure they are able to operate their businesses. "We are seeking legal advice on the best way to safeguard these responsibilities." Vestas has blamed the lack of demand for wind turbines in the UK for the planned closure of the Newport site. Bookmark with: Delicious Digg reddit Facebook StumbleUpon What are these? E-mail this to a friend Printable version	Vestas Wind Systems confirmed yesterday that its plant in Newport, Isle of Wight, England has closed. The workers employed there have received their redundancy notices. 425 jobs were lost in the factory closure and that of Vestas's Southampton facility, with a further 40 employees beginning work at Vestas's research & development facility on the island and 57 staying on to help close the factory down. Initial estimates had said that 575 jobs would be lost in the Newport and Southampton facilities' closure, with a further 50 lost in the closure of facilities elsewhere on the Isle of Wight. The Newport plant had originally been planned to close on July 31. From July 20, it was the site of an eighteen-day occupation in which a group of Vestas workers entered the plant and lived in it, refusing to leave until the company offered a better redundancy package or until the government nationalised the plant, which is the only major producer of wind turbines in the United Kingdom. The closure comes shortly after Joan Ruddock, Britain's Minister for Climate Change, stated in an interview that the British government would not pursue nationalisation. Vestas attribute the shutdown of the plant to insufficient demand in the United Kingdom due to difficulties in obtaining planning permission for on-shore wind farms, and closed the plant in part of a 1,900-job closure affecting facilities both in Britain and in the company's home country of Denmark. The president of Vestas's blades division called the closures "absolutely necessary to secure Vestas' competitiveness and create a regional balance between production and the demand for wind turbines". Vestas CEO Ditlev Engel, meanwhile, told ''The Guardian'' that he was "not ruling out" restoring the redundancy packages to the 11 occupiers who were terminated while taking part in the occupation. "The last thing that we wanted was to have this confrontation", Engel said. A number of protest camps remain at Vestas facilities across the Isle of Wight, including outside the Newport factory, and seven anarcho-environmentalist protesters are living atop the roof of the Vestas facility at Venture Quays. A number of Vestas employees spent Wednesday speaking at solidarity meetings throughout the United Kingdom arranged by members of the informal coalition of left, environmentalist and trade union groups which sprung up to support the Vestas employees after the closure was announced.
At youtube.com you’ll see an interesting set of videos dealing with the last Phenomenon episode, the second in the series. Here, all three actors – Geller, Angel, and Callahan – get to expound on what they think took place. Video also Here → First was Geller (misspelled “Gellar” in the heading) who of course declared himself “mind-blown” by the episode, poor chap. He took pains to re-emphasize his contrived acceptance of woo-woo, and generally said nothing that added to the situation. He threw in the popular Relativity rant, dragging in Einstein and demonstrating his profound ignorance of what that man had to say about the real world. But consider: Geller’s in a rather peculiar situation, having now been directly confronted by Angel on this show, and unable to respond… I’m sure that NBC is also taking pains to see that the Randi element doesn’t get to enter in here, since it might bring a more rational atmosphere to the show, and lose viewers… Criss Angel said, in his rather lengthy comments,“[Callahan] demonstrated something that is unexplainable to some” – though to whom that might have applied, I cannot fathom – and Criss is beginning to sound very much like that chap James Randi, tossing about a million-dollar challenge… Callahan was frantic. He said, concerning the drubbing he got by Criss Angel, “I’m tired of it.” Well, no, Callahan, you’re scared of it because you’ve never had anyone come up against you directly, as Criss did. Mind you, along with several others who’ve commented on the Angel presentation of the sealed envelope challenge, that’s not something that Callahan has ever actually claimed to be able to do; he should be asked to state – if he can – just what he can do – and then be required to do it. Callahan retreated to the same ploy as Geller, defending religion and declaring his fervent belief in religious mythology, thus looking for support from that element, then made a rather vicious threat against Angel: “I will definitely do everything I can to ruin him.” All together, this added up to a major victory for rationality – launched and fought by Criss Angel – that must have NBC in both a tizzy and an orgasm, since they’ve achieved yet another pinnacle of mediocrity. Their first “Phenomenon” show ended up in 45th place… I’ll have more on this event, as soon as I’ve had a chance to review it in detail… NOT MUCH LEFT We figure that the only trick Uri Geller has left to do on “Phenomenon” is the “lifting-a-guy-using-four-fingers” trick… I expect we’ll be seeing that one very soon. First, see www.randi.org/encyclopedia/flying.html . Remember, this is a “mystifyer,” not a magician or a trickster… Show/Hide comments \|\|\|\|\| Criss Angel Rips Phenomenon Contestant Jim Callahan, Video Online! by Tashi Singh Criss Angel Debunks Paranormalist's Act: It was Halloween night when Criss Angel decided to test Jim Callahan's paranormalist abilities - and it was hilarious! Criss Angel, who is a talented illusionist, probably knows 'fake' when he sees it - and so he called contestant Jim Callahan out on his act. Callahan got so angry and defensive that he even tried to fight Angel! Girls Talkin Smack write: I don't think that many people are watching Phenomenon, but it's a live reality show competition with magicians/mentalists. Some fool got on stage and claimed that he was channeling a dead author and pretended to be possessed on stage. The whole thing was just ridiculous with the contestant writhing around in a chair and basically making a fool of himself. So at the end Criss Angel pretty much debunked his abilities and the contestant got mad, lunged at him and the host almost got knocked off the stage trying to hold him back. It's six minutes long, but it's definitely worth your time! Check it out below: \|\|\|\|\| Nov. 1: New information emerges about the sexual abuse allegations leveraged against Oprah’s Academy for girls. Access Hollywood LOS ANGELES - An altercation occurred on the set of NBC’s supernatural show “Phenomenon” on Wednesday night during the live taping. The incident involved contestant Jim Callahan, who took offense to comments made by “Phenomenon” judge Criss Angel, the “Mind Freak” who fronts the show alongside legendary mentalist Uri Geller. After performing a stunt where Callahan claimed to have been possessed by the spirit of author Raymond Hill, Callahan didn’t take Angel’s criticism well and “went after” the “Mind Freak” according to a witness on the scene. Story continues below ↓ advertisement advertisement “Criss jumped out of his chair,” the witness told Access Hollywood, “And was ready to battle it out.” Following the stunt, Geller certainly seemed to be convinced by the act, calling it “very convincing,” while Angel appeared anxious for his turn to weigh in. “Criss, I can see you’re itching to say something,” noted “Phenomenon” host and Access Hollywood’s Tim Vincent. “I just think it’s comical quite frankly,” Angel said. Angel then pulled an envelope from his pocket and appeared to challenge not only Callahan’s abilities but also those of his fellow judge Geller. “I will give you a million dollars of my personal money right now if either one of you can tell me specific details of what’s in here right now,” Angel insisted. The challenge clearly didn’t sit well with the contestant. “OK, man, I’ll tell you what I will tell you. I find you an ideological bigot,” Callahan responded as he made his way toward Angel. “Tell me what’s in the envelope,” Angel kept repeating. Angel then got out of his seat to meet Callahan, as Geller and Vincent came between the two men and separated them. “It’s a live show. This is not planned. We’ll see you after the commercial break,” Vincent told the audience as the show cut to commercial with Vincent pulling Callahan away from Angel. When they returned, order appeared to have been restored as Vincent and Callahan were on stage, with Vincent even making a joke that it was like an episode of the “Jerry Springer Show.” The show then posted Callahan’s phone number for viewers to call in and vote, and they moved on to a special tribute from Angel to Harry Houdini. Copyright 2007 by NBC. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. \|\|\|\|\| Viewing levels dropped last night due to Halloween, resulting in blameless series lows for many shows. ABC and CBS tied for first place, with ABC running “Pushing Daisies” (2.6), “Private Practice” (3.8) and “Dirty Sexy Money” (2.9). CBS had “Kid Nation” (2.0), “Criminal Minds” (3.5) and “CSI: NY” (3.6). NBC was third with a two-hour live edition of “Phenomenon” (2.3) and “Life” (1.9). Fox and The CW had repeats. On “Phenomenon,” judge Criss Angel unexpectedly called out both a contestant and his fellow judge Uri Geller as psychic frauds. After witnessing a series of performers demonstrating their ability to divine numbers, cards, words and objects hidden from view, Angel seemed to lose his patience after contestant Jim Callahan performed an odd ritual where he claimed to commune with the dead. Angel whipped out an envelope and offered either Callahan or Geller $1 million if they could tell him what was inside. A scuffle ensued; here’s the clip.	On Halloween night, October 31, during a 2-hour long live episode of NBC show ''Phenomenon'', famed magician Criss Angel told Uri Geller and Jim Callahan, "I will give you a million dollars of my personal money right now if either one of you can tell me specific details of what’s in this envelope right now." While Geller ignored Angel's challenge, Callahan started to confront Angel in a hostile manner, as host Tim Vincent held him back and Geller held Angel back. Previously Angel made it clear that he will not "tolerate" fellow magicians who try to pass their illusions off as paranormal. For example, on the day before the Halloween special, Angel told Larry King, "No one has the ability, that I'm aware of, to do anything supernatural, psychic, talk to the dead. And that was what I said I was going to do with ''Phenomenon.'' If somebody goes on that show and claims to have supernatural psychic ability, I'm going to bust them live and on television." In the midst of the confrontation, the TV show cut to a commercial break. Vincent said the show was not "Jerry Springer." When the last contestant appeared Angel said it was "a hell of a lot more entertaining than the previous act." The following week Callahan was voted off the show by the TV audience. James Randi, a former magician who had previously worked with Angel and a long standing critic of Geller and psychics, wrote of the incident, "Criss Angel said, in his rather lengthy comments, 'Callahan demonstrated something that is unexplainable to some' — though to whom that might have applied, I cannot fathom — and Criss is beginning to sound very much like that chap James Randi, tossing about a million-dollar challenge." This is not the first time that Uri Geller has been challenged by a professional magician. Thirty years ago, during a French television show called ''Droit de réponse'', Gerard Majax demonstred that all "so called" powers shown previously during the show by Geller could be reproduced by a magician even more convincingly than Geller.
Published online 14 July 2010 \| Nature \| doi:10.1038/news.2010.354 News Find in Saudi Arabia sheds light on primate lineage. Front and side views of the skull of Saadanius hijazensis , an early primate that has ape and monkey characteristics. Zalmout, Is S. et al, Nature The rust-coloured plateau above Mecca in Saudi Arabia may soon attract pilgrims of palaeontology. The hills, which overlook the Red Sea, have disgorged the 29–28-million-year-old partial skull fossil of an early primate that possesses features both of apes and monkeys. The skull could help palaeontologists to answer questions about the life of primates in a period that until now has provided few fossils. When he caught sight of the skull during an expedition in search of ancient whale fossils last year, Iyad Zalmout wondered whether it belonged to a monkey or an ape. "It turns out it's not an ape, it's not a monkey, it's something intermediate," says Zalmout, a palaeontologist at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, and an author of a paper published in Nature today1. The primate, dubbed Saadanius hijazensis, shares characteristics with Propliopithecoidea, an ancestor of apes and monkeys which existed more than 30 million years ago, as well as with more recent primates found to have lived from 23 million years ago. Saadanius lacks the advanced sinuses of the modern apes and monkeys that are collectively called catarrhines, but has a bony ear tube that was not yet fully developed in the Propliopithecoidea (see Nature's video). "This fossil is really key because it has that bony tube," says Erik Seiffert, an anatomist at Stony Brook University in New York. Comparison of the tube and other features, such as the teeth and the position of the eye sockets on the partial skull, with those of other primates could help palaeontologists to reconstruct the branches of the catarrhine family tree, between 30 and about 23 million years ago, says Seiffert. Monkey puzzle Zalmout and his colleagues say that Saadanius could help assess "competing hypotheses" about how the shape of catarrhine skulls changed over time. One argument, made by palaeontologists who use only fossils as evidence of how unknown intermediate species might have looked, is that catarrhines developed long faces early on. Others examine the shape of living species such as gibbons, which are rounder-faced, for clues, and conclude that the long faces developed later. "This evidence very clearly supports the palaeontological view," says Seiffert. Eric Delson, a palaeontologist from the Lehman College of the City University of New York, has written papers supporting later development2. He warns that relying entirely on fossils is hazardous: Fossils only reflect part of the diversity of a group of animals. The length of a fossil primate face can also be distorted over time by geological pressure, making it hard to learn the true shape of the species from only a few examples. However, the analyses that Delson and others3 performed in the 1970s and 1980s, mostly of living catarrhines, took place before the discovery of intermediate fossils such as Victoriapithecus and Saadanius, which Delson says "will spur a number of people to re-think these things and gives us the only piece of solid data for this time period and phylogenetic position". ADVERTISEMENT Delson, Seiffert and Zalmout all agree that they would like to find more Saadanius bones to learn more about the ancient primate, including how it moved around the mangrove environment in which it lived. "It would be interesting to know whether these primates were beginning to come down from the trees, and to know something about what they were eating," says Delson. The Saadanius team has estimated the age of the fossil at 29–28 million years old, on the basis of the known ages of other fossils found nearby. The date correlates roughly with their interpretation of its position in the family tree. Yet it "should still be treated as preliminary", says Seiffert, until follow-up studies using palaeomagnetism can confirm the age of the rocks in which the fossil rested. Zalmout is confident that preservation of the site by Saudi officials, who want to promote fossil tourism, will enable him to answer these questions and others on his return visits. "In my experience, if you find one primate there should be more there. This will be important to see the whole story about fauna in Arabia and Africa." \|\|\|\|\| Fossil links humans and monkeys The primate had some features that are shared by Old World monkeys and apes Researchers have discovered the skull of a 29 million-year-old animal that could be a common ancestor of Old World monkeys and apes, including humans. It indicates that apes and Old World monkeys diverged millions of years later than previously thought, say the scientists. The discovery was made in Saudi Arabia by researchers from the University of Michigan. They described the primate, Saadanius hijazensis, in the journal Nature. Dr William Sanders from the University of Michigan, who led the research, said this was "an extraordinary find". The skull of this previously unknown species had some features that are shared by Old World monkeys and apes, including humans, today "Saadanius is close to a group that eventually led to us," said Dr Sanders. "If we knew something about the time period and the condition this animal was living in, we might be able to discover what brought about the changes that led to [the evolution of] apes and humans". Dr Sanders explained that Saadanius might even have been the common ancestor that linked humans to Old World Monkeys. "But there could have been a suite of creatures at the time that were very similar and one of them became our ancestor," he said. "We need to get out in the field and get more data before making bigger claims." The fossilised remains indicate that the primate looked very much like a modern new world monkey, such as a capuchin. But it was probably slightly larger - about the size of a gibbon. It would have used all four limbs to run around in the trees. When resting, the scientists say, it probably lay in the trees rather than sitting upright on the ground. The discovery suggests that the divergence of apes and Old World monkeys happened much later than the 30-35 million years ago that genetic studies have suggested. The new date, of 29 million years ago, fits more closely with what the researchers would have expected and is not surprising from a palaeontological point of view. \|\|\|\|\| A fossilised, battle-scarred skull belonging to a previously unknown species of primate has been unearthed that sheds light on the evolutionary origins of apes, including humans. The creature was no bigger than a baboon and lived in the canopy of a warm, damp forest near what is now the Red Sea in western Saudi Arabia, between 28m and 29m years ago. The remains, which include a partial skull and teeth, were recovered from ironstone sediment during an expedition to the site in February 2009, but only now has a detailed description of the fossil been published. The discovery, reported in Nature, is being hailed as one of the most significant finds in decades because it illuminates a critical moment in evolution when ancient primates split into two separate lineages. One group of primates gave rise to the Old World monkeys, which include baboons and macaques, while the other led to the great apes and, ultimately, Homo sapiens. The skull and teeth show that the animal, named Saadanius hijazensis, had similar teeth to Old World monkeys. Unlike apes, it lacked a frontal sinus (which is responsible for the feeling of "brain freeze" sometimes caused by eating ice-cream). By comparing the remains of Saadanius with other ancient primates, the researchers put the date of the evolutionary split at between 29m and 27m years ago. "The roots of apes, humans and monkeys go back a long way. We were interested to know when these ancient primates diverged because, in a way, that's when we got our start," said William Sanders, an author on the paper at the University of Michigan's Museum of Palaeontology. "Knowing the date is important because you can then look at what the conditions were like at that time and place and get some idea of what was driving their evolution," he added. The Red Sea had yet to form when Saadanius was alive and the landscape was changing with the arrival of animals and plants from Eurasia. Iyad Zalmout, lead author of the study, spotted the damaged skull of Saadanius lying upside down in the sediment with its teeth glinting in the sun. Serious wounds on the front of the skull suggest the creature met a violent end. "He got in the way of a big carnivore and died in a horrible way," Zalmout said. "The puncture marks in the skull suggest he was seized by the head, got chewed around a bit, and was then thrown away." Brenda Benefit, professor of biological anthropology at New Mexico State University, said: "For me this discovery is one of the most significant in my lifetime. Until now we have not had a very perfect fossil ancestor for the Old World monkeys and apes." "Some palaeontologists, inlcuding myself, thought that this is exactly what the common ancestor to Old World monkeys and apes would look like, based on resemblances between Miocene fossil Old World monkeys and apes, whereas others thought they would be shorter snouted and more round-headed like modern gibbons. "Saadanius resolves this debate and demonstrates the importance of the fossil record for knowing what our ancestors looked like." \|\|\|\|\| CURRENT \| ARCHIVES Print Share July 14, 2010 Fossil find puts a face on early primates ANN ARBOR, Mich.—When paleontologist Iyad Zalmout went looking for fossil whales and dinosaurs in Saudi Arabia, he never expected to come face-to-face with a significant, early primate fossil. But the skull he stumbled upon provides new insights into what the last common ancestor of apes and monkeys may have looked like and when the two lineages went their separate ways. Zalmout and colleagues at the University of Michigan and the Saudi Geological Survey describe and interpret the fossil in a paper published online July 15 in the journal Nature. It is well known that Old World monkeys and apes share ancestry, but exactly when the two branches split from the common trunk has been unclear. Debates also have swirled around the question of what sort of facial structure the progenitor of apes and monkeys had. Both lineages belong to the primate group known as catarrhines. The earliest catarrhines in the fossil record, creatures that were neither monkey nor ape, date back to the late Eocene to early Oligocene epochs, 35 to 30 million years ago. Later fossils, from around 23 million years ago, suggest the split had already occurred by that time. But few fossil catarrhines from the interval between 30 million to 23 million years ago have been found, making it difficult for scientists to know precisely when monkeys and apes became distinctly separate groups and what catarrhines looked like around the time of the split. The new fossil catarrhine, Saadanius hijazensis, dates from 29 million to 28 million years ago and lacks the specialized features that distinguish modern apes and Old World monkeys, suggesting that the split had not yet occurred. The researchers' analysis of the fossil leads them to believe its physical features are much like those of the last common ancestor of Old World monkeys and apes. Zalmout, a postdoctoral fellow working with U-M paleontologist Philip Gingerich, found the fossil in 2009, during a trip focused on finding fossil whales and dinosaurs. Working with the Saudi Geological Survey (SGS), he was exploring an area where geological maps indicated the rocks might contain fossils from the Cretaceous period (145 to 65 million years ago), a time when dinosaurs dominated the land. His first clue that the maps were wrong came when he saw a jawbone sticking out of the sediments and realized it was from a hippo-like animal that lived more recently—around 35 to 33 million years ago. The next day, he explored a nearby area that seemed more likely to yield older fossils, but again the first thing he found was another fossil from a more recent hippo-like creature. "I didn't know whether to be disappointed or not, but I thought, well, maybe something interesting will pop up here, so I started looking around," Zalmout said. "Within minutes, I found teeth sticking out of the ground, and when I realized what they were I was shocked. I had worked with Phil on terrestrial mammals in the Bighorn Basin, and my first look at the size and shape of these teeth told me I had found a primitive primate." Zalmout e-mailed a photo to Gingerich, an expert on early primates as well as ancient whales. "I knew right away what it was, and I was thrilled," said Gingerich, who is the Ermine Cowles Case Collegiate Professor of Paleontology and director of the U-M Museum of Paleontology. As a student, Gingerich had worked with paleontologist Elwyn Simons, who studied Aegyptopithecus, a primitive catarrhine from the early Oligocene. "Here was something very much like it looking up at me," Gingerich said. Yahya Al-Mufarreh, head of the paleontology unit at SGS, also was elated. "On the day of the discovery, we could not believe what we had," he said. "We were so lucky and happy to have an experienced paleontologist from Michigan who explained the discovery on site. This discovery is a critical step in paleontology along the Red Sea. It will answer many questions about the age, environment and paleogeographical context of the Oligocene Shumaysi Formation in western Saudi Arabia." Zalmout had to leave the skull where he found it—he had a schedule to adhere to, and he knew that properly collecting the primate fossil would take days. For the next few days he couldn't stop thinking about the fossil, worried that a wandering camel or goat would trample it before he could return. Eventually, he was able to excavate the site and bring the fossil to U-M for preparation and study. The Saadanius skull should help resolve an ongoing debate about the facial anatomy of the ancestral stock of apes and Old World monkeys, said Laura MacLatchy, an associate professor of anthropology who worked with Zalmout, Gingerich, assistant research scientist William Sanders and associate research scientist Gregg Gunnell to interpret the find. One view is that the oldest common ancestor's face was like that of modern gibbons: dainty and button-nosed. Alternatively, the ancestor may have had a baboon-like, long snout, like that of the oldest true apes and monkeys. The Saadanius fossil supports the second hypothesis, MacLatchy said. Also of interest is the tympanic bone, a part of the skull that surrounds the ear drum. In Aegyptopithecus this bone is ring-shaped, but in Saadanius it's a tubular outgrowth like that of apes and Old World monkeys. "That tells us that Saadanius is probably closely related to catarrhines at the base of the ape-monkey split," MacLatchy said. Commenting on the significance, SGS vice-president for technical affairs Abdulla Al-Attas said, "This is a very unique and smart discovery that we do not encounter every day. We have to keep the geological and paleontological investigation running at the SGS so we can have more promising and encouraging discoveries and exciting stories about the geological history of this country." SGS president Zohair Nawab expressed pride in SGS and U-M for connecting Africa with Arabia through paleontology. "This is a very important discovery for our country," he said, "because it will enrich the record of our natural history and heritage and place our region correctly on the paleontological map of the world. I am so thankful to the Government of Saudi Arabia and His Excellency Minister of Petroleum Ali Naimi for his guidance and continuous support of our long-term plans." SGS and U-M are investigating opportunities for further and more advanced collaborative field exploration in the Kingdom, not only along the Red Sea province, but also in other potentially promising areas of Saudi Arabia. In addition to Zalmout, Gingerich, Sanders, MacLatchy, Gunnell and Al-Mufarreh, the paper's authors are Mohammed Ali, Abdul-Azziz Nasser, Abdu Al-Masary, Salih Al-Sobhi, Ayman Nadhra and Adel Matari of SGS and associate professor Jeffrey Wilson of U-M. The research was funded by the National Science Foundation. Related Links: Philip Gingerich Laura MacLatchy University of Michigan Museum of Paleontology Saudi Geological Survey Nature Contact: Nancy Ross-Flanigan Phone: (734) 647-1853 Related Categories: Related Keywords: evolution, ape, fossil, anatomy	'''', a new species of fossil primate closely related to and . Researchers have unearthed a new fossil that they think may be closely related to the common ancestor of and , collectively known as primates. Paleontologist Iyad Zalmout of the discovered the new species, '''' near in ; the discovery gives new insights into . The specimen, a partial skull, dates to the , approximately 29 to 28 million years ago, and exhibits puncture wounds from a large predator that may have killed it. ''Saadanius'' is thought to have been a tree-dweller and lived at a time when the had not yet split away from the African continent, forming the . The discovery may help resolve the dating of the split between Old World monkeys and apes. have traditionally dated the divergence to between 25 and 23 million years ago, based on early fossils of the two groups. Genetic studies, however, date it to between 30 to 35 million years ago. Although ''Saadanius'' shares some features with living catarrhine primates, such as a bony ear tube, called an , it also possesses other features more common in the fossils of primitive or catarrhines, from which Old World monkeys and apes did not evolve. These basal features include a longer face and the lack of a .
ISTANBUL, Oct. 17 — Turkey’s Parliament voted overwhelmingly on Wednesday to authorize sending troops into northern Iraq to confront Kurdish rebels in hide-outs there, sending an angry message to the Baghdad government and its Washington sponsor. But Turkey, a member of NATO, made it clear that it would not immediately carry out the resolution. The 507-to-19 vote was the culmination of months of frustration here with the United States, which has criticized Kurdish rebels who attack Turkey from Iraq but has failed to get its Kurdish allies in Iraq to act against them. President Bush on Wednesday reiterated American wishes for a diplomatic solution. The vote to authorize sending troops, which Turkish officials say gives them up to a year to take action, was, in essence, a blunt request for the United States to acknowledge Turkey’s status as an important ally in a troubled and complex region. “We’re at a point that our patience has run out,” said Cemil Cicek, a government spokesman and a member of Turkey’s Special Council Combating Terrorism. With Turkey central to oil transit in the region, United States crude oil futures soared to an all-time high of $89 a barrel on Wednesday, Reuters reported, though prices later dropped. \|\|\|\|\| The US fears any incursion could destabilise the region The vote was taken in defiance of pressure from the US and Iraq, which have called on Turkey for restraint. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said the motion does not mean a military operation is imminent. But he said Turkey needed to be able to respond to a recent rise in bomb attacks blamed on PKK rebels from Iraq. Turkish MPs backed him overwhelmingly, by 507 votes to 19. As the vote was being counted, US President George W Bush strongly urged Turkey, a key ally, not to carry out the threatened action. Click to view a detailed map of the border region Enlarge Map He said Washington was "making it clear to Turkey it is not in their interest to send more troops in... there is a better way to deal with the issue". The recent deaths of 13 Turkish soldiers in an ambush blamed on the PKK has put the government under renewed pressure to respond with force. What Turkey wants now is a convincing response from allies and neighbours, says the BBC's Sarah Rainsford in Ankara. Turkey has been calling for help in tackling the PKK for months. Now it hopes the rest of the world will realise it is serious, our correspondent says. 'Illegal' But the US and Iraq fear any incursion could destabilise the only relatively calm region of Iraq. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki phoned the Turkish prime minister before the vote, saying he was "absolutely determined" to remove the PKK from Iraq and pleading for more time, according to Turkey's Anatolia news agency. Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, an ethnic Kurd, urged Turkey not to make an incursion, but also called on the PKK "to end the so-called military activity". The autonomous Kurdish regional government in northern Iraq warned Turkish MPs that any intervention would be "illegal". It has denied providing the PKK with any help. HAVE YOUR SAY They have no right to enter Iraq and I hope that they will be resisted strongly with all available resources should they try Mike, Surrey Send us your comments Iraqi Kurds give their views Explosive potential of raid The rebels themselves said they would meet force with force. The chief of the PKK's executive council, Murat Karayilan, told the Kurdish Hawlati newspaper: "Thousands of PKK guerrillas are on standby to fight Turkish army forces." However Syrian President Bashar Assad, visiting Turkey, said he supported the country's right to take the action "against terrorism and terrorist activities". Armenian question President Bush, speaking during a press conference, criticised the US Congress for jeopardising US relations with Turkey with a planned vote to recognise the mass killing of Armenians in Ottoman times as genocide. "One thing Congress should not be doing is sorting out the historical record of the Ottoman Empire," he said. Although a congressional committee has supported the motion, its chances of passing a full vote appear to be waning. Key Democrats in the US House of Representatives have joined Republicans to warn that US strategic interests could be damaged by the largely symbolic resolution. \|\|\|\|\| coronavirus Patients whose vaccine appointment cards were lost in the post have been told they will have to wait another three weeks for the jab. Everyone over the age of 65 was due to receive a vaccine by early March but one GP practice in Fife disclosed that they had been “inundated” with calls from patients who had still not received their letter.Patients whose vaccine appointment cards were lost in the post have been told they will have to wait another three weeks for the jab. Everyone over the age of 65 was due to receive a vaccine by early March but one GP practice in Fife disclosed that they had been “inundated” with calls from patients who had still not received their letter.Patients whose vaccine appointment cards were lost in the post have been told they will have to wait another three weeks for... \|\|\|\|\| Turkey has begun preparations for a cross-border operation Military build up Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki said he was prepared to conduct "urgent talks" to defuse the crisis and said a diplomatic solution had to be found. Iraq signed a counter-terrorism pact with Turkey last month, but opposes any military incursion into its territory. The US has also warned Ankara against ordering any incursions into Iraq. "We all have an interest in a stable Iraq and a desire to see the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) brought to justice," White House National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe said. "But we urge the Turks to continue their discussions with us and the Iraqis and to show restraint from any potentially destabilising actions." 'Internal affairs' Soon after the Turkish cabinet agreed to submit a motion to parliament seeking authorisation for military action, an Iraqi government spokesman called on Ankara to be "wise and patient" and not to enter Iraqi territory. The Iraqi government calls on the Turkish government to pursue a diplomatic solution and not a military solution Ali al-Dabbagh Iraqi government spokesman Profile: PKK rebel group "The Iraqi government calls on the Turkish government to pursue a diplomatic solution and not a military solution to solve the [problem] of terrorist attacks which our dear neighbour Turkey has witnessed from the PKK," Ali al-Dabbagh said. Earlier, Mr Maliki said he was prepared to conduct urgent talks with the Turkish government to "discuss and solve all outstanding problems and give guarantees that will govern relations between the two neighbouring nations". "We are fully confident that our friends in the Turkish government are committed, just as it is our wish, to bolstering and developing our bilateral relations on the basis of mutual respect, non-intervention in the other's internal affairs and not allowing the harmful use of each other's territory," he said in a statement. Ankara claims the PKK is a terrorist group that enjoys free movement in northern Iraq and blames it for the deaths of at least 15 Turkish soldiers in the past two weeks. Cross-border raids Deputy Prime Minister Cemil Cicek said the Turkish government hoped it would not be forced to resort to military action, even if its motion gained approval in parliament. The PKK wants more autonomy in south-eastern Turkey "We hope that there will be no reason to use the authorisation, we hope there will be no need for that," he said at a news conference. Mr Cecik said that if approved, the measures would be valid for a year and would allow multiple cross-border operations. He also stressed that Turkey would only target the PKK and had no intention of occupying Iraqi territory. "We have always respected the sovereignty of Iraq, which is a friendly and brotherly country," he added. The government plans to put the motion to a vote on Wednesday and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's AK Party, which has a majority, is expected to vote in favour.	Turkey. On Wednesday, Turkey's Grand National Assembly voted 507-19 to authorize sending troops into northern Iraq to pursue Kurdish rebels. Although the authorization is valid for one year, Turkish officials made clear that it would not necessarily result in military action. Both the United States and Iraq have recently warned Turkey against such an incursion. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said that although the motion does not indicate that a military operation is imminent, it is necessary for Turkey to be able to respond to bomb attacks which have been blamed on Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) rebels in Iraq. Turkey has been asking for help in dealing with the PKK for months, and the Turkish public has grown frustrated with America's perceived lack of action on the issue. Map showing Kurd-inhabited region overlapping national borders. Both the United States and Iraq have recently warned Turkey against an incursion into Iraq. "The Iraqi government calls on the Turkish government to pursue a diplomatic solution and not a military solution to solve the problem of terrorist attacks which our dear neighbor Turkey has witnessed from the PKK," Iraq government spokesperson Ali al-Dabbagh said earlier this week. White House National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe called on Turkey "to continue their discussions with us and the Iraqis and to show restraint from any potentially destabilizing actions." Responding to the motion, U.S. President George W. Bush urged Turkey not to carry out an attack, saying "we are making it clear to Turkey it is not in their interest to send more troops in... there is a better way to deal with the issue." Syrian President Bashar al-Assad defended Turkey's decision and criticized the U.S. position, saying "It is important to note that the powers that have invaded Iraq are those primarily responsible for the terror activities and attacks because they control the country." "We certainly support and back the decisions by the Turkish government in combat against terror and terror activities," he said. Murat Karayilan, the leader of the armed wing of the PKK, warned Turkey of the consequences of an attack in an interview with The Times. "If the Turkish Army attacks Iraqi Kurdistan we will struggle and resist against this until the end," he said. Karayilan nevertheless said he hoped that the crisis could be resolved peacefully but continues attacks on Turkish soldiers, killing 12 in an ambush yesterday. U.S.-Turkish relations have been strained recently after a U.S. House of Representatives resolution passed committee, labeling the World War I era killings of up to 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman Empire as "genocide". Turkey strongly disputes these claims. Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi says the US House of Representatives will vote on the resolution "soon." President Bush criticized the resolution at a press conference on Wednesday, saying "One thing Congress should not be doing is sorting out the historical record of the Ottoman Empire."
Scorecard - Commentary - Wickets - 3D animation - Partnerships - Wagon wheels - Player v player - Over comparison - Over graphs - Career averages - Match home - Bulletin - Article index (8) - Photo index (13) ODI no. 2592 - 1st ODI India v South Africa 2007 season Played at (neutral venue), on 26 June 2007 (50-over match) Result South Africa won by 4 wickets (with 3 balls remaining) India innings (50 overs maximum) R M B 4s 6s SR c Boucher b Nel 13 32 22 1 0 59.09 run out (van Wyk/ Boucher) 99 199 143 12 0 69.23 c Kallis b Nel 0 14 7 0 0 0.00 b Nel 74 135 93 6 0 79.56 c Kallis b Hall 13 15 12 1 0 108.33 b Hall 19 13 10 2 1 190.00 b Kallis 8 13 9 0 0 88.88 not out 2 5 2 0 0 100.00 c de Villiers b Kallis 1 2 3 0 0 33.33 Extras (b 4, lb 2, w 5, nb 2) 13 Total (8 wickets; 50 overs) 242 (4.84 runs per over) Did not bat , Fall of wickets Bowling O M R W Econ 10 2 33 0 3.30 8 0 59 0 7.37 (1nb, 1w) 10 1 47 3 4.70 (2w) 10 1 40 2 4.00 8 2 37 0 4.62 4 0 20 2 5.00 (2w) South Africa innings (target: 243 runs from 50 overs) R M B 4s 6s SR c Karthik b Singh 24 56 37 3 0 64.86 c Sharma b Piyush Chawla 44 88 55 6 0 80.00 not out 91 142 116 6 0 78.44 b Piyush Chawla 5 6 7 1 0 71.42 c Tendulkar b Powar 11 11 15 2 0 73.33 lbw b Khan 23 30 30 1 0 76.66 c Dravid b Piyush Chawla 16 19 15 2 0 106.66 not out 17 38 22 1 0 77.27 Extras (lb 4, w 10) 14 Total (6 wickets; 49.3 overs) 245 (4.94 runs per over) Did not bat , , Fall of wickets Bowling O M R W Econ 10 1 46 1 4.60 8 0 45 1 5.62 (6w) 4 0 26 0 6.50 10 0 47 3 4.70 (1w) 10 0 39 1 3.90 6.3 0 35 0 5.38 (1w) 1 0 3 0 3.00 Toss South Africa, who chose to field first Series South Africa led the 3-match series 1-0 Player of the match JH Kallis (South Africa) Umpires (Pakistan) and (England) TV umpire (New Zealand) Match referee (Australia) Reserve umpire Match notes India innings Power Play 2: Overs 10.1 - 15.0 India: 50 runs in 14.6 overs (92 balls), Extras 6 Drinks: India - 56/2 in 16.0 overs (SR Tendulkar 34, R Dravid 3) Power Play 3: Overs 16.1 - 21.0 3rd Wicket: 50 runs in 82 balls (SR Tendulkar 27, R Dravid 21, Ex 2) SR Tendulkar: 50 off 95 balls (6 x 4) India: 100 runs in 28.3 overs (174 balls), Extras 8 Drinks: India - 121/2 in 32.0 overs (SR Tendulkar 64, R Dravid 35) 3rd Wicket: 100 runs in 150 balls (SR Tendulkar 51, R Dravid 46, Ex 4) R Dravid: 50 off 71 balls (3 x 4) India: 150 runs in 37.1 overs (227 balls), Extras 9 3rd Wicket: 150 runs in 182 balls (SR Tendulkar 72, R Dravid 72, Ex 6) India: 200 runs in 44.2 overs (271 balls), Extras 12 Innings Break: India - 242/8 in 50.0 overs (Piyush Chawla 2) South Africa innings Power Play 2: Overs 10.1 - 15.0 South Africa: 50 runs in 11.6 overs (76 balls), Extras 5 1st Wicket: 50 runs in 76 balls (AB de Villiers 22, MN van Wyk 23, Ex 5) Power Play 3: Overs 15.1 - 20.0 Drinks: South Africa - 79/1 in 16.0 overs (MN van Wyk 34, JH Kallis 14) South Africa: 100 runs in 20.1 overs (126 balls), Extras 7 South Africa: 150 runs in 29.6 overs (185 balls), Extras 9 Drinks: South Africa - 165/5 in 34.3 overs (JH Kallis 49) JH Kallis: 50 off 65 balls (3 x 4) South Africa: 200 runs in 41.2 overs (254 balls), Extras 10 7th Wicket: 50 runs in 60 balls (JH Kallis 32, VD Philander 13, Ex 5) One Day International Scorer: Binoy George Search for an international scorecard from the match/series archive: \|\|\|\|\| LONDON, June 26 (Reuters) - South Africa captain Jacques Kallis hit an unbeaten 91 to ease South Africa to a four-wicket win over India in their first one-dayer in the Future Cup in Belfast on Tuesday. India made 242 for eight, helped by 99 from Sachin Tendulkar and 74 by Rahul Dravid. But Kallis and all-rounder Vernon Philander (17 not out) put on an unbeaten 55 for the seventh wicket as South Africa reached 245-6 and victory with three balls to spare. South Africa lead the three-match series 1-0 with the next game on Friday. Both teams previously beat Ireland in one-dayers.	In the 2007 Future Cup, South Africa beat India in the first One-Day International (ODI) held at the Civil Service Cricket Club Ground, Belfast, Ireland. After South Africa won the toss and chose to field first, Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly opened India's innings. Ganguly left quickly and Gautam Gambhir left without troubling the scorers. However, Tendulkar found some long term company with Rahul Dravid and pushed the score to 194/2 before Dravid left on 74. It wasn't long before Tendulkar himself found himself runout by Morne van Wyk/Mark Boucher for 99 with the score on 211. A batting collapse ensued and at the end of the innings, India's score was 242/8. South Africa's reply started with a steady opening partnership of AB de Villiers and Morne van Wyk which added 56 before de Villiers departed with a catch to the keeper. Jacques Kallis then came in and scored 91. Even though partnerships didn't last long, Kallis battled secured India's fate. Toss: South Africa won, and chose to field first. Did not bat: Zaheer Khan, Rudra Pratap Singh Fall of wickets: 1-24 (Ganguly, 7.2 ov), 2-36 (Gambhir, 11.1 ov), 3-194 (Dravid, 43.2 ov), 4-211 (Tendulkar, 45.3 ov), 5-213 (Yuvraj Singh, 46.1 ov), 6-234 (Karthik, 48.3 ov), 7-240 (Sharma, 49.2 ov), 8-242 (Powar, 49.6 ov) Did not bat: Charl Langeveldt, Andre Nel, Makhaya Ntini Fall of wickets: 1-56 (de Villiers, 12.5 ov), 2-99 (van Wyk, 19.5 ov), 3-107 (Gibbs, 21.1 ov), 4-124 (Duminy, 24.5 ov), 5-165 (Boucher, 34.3 ov), 6-190 (Hall, 39.4 ov) India: S C Ganguly, S R Tendulkar, G Gambhir , R Dravid(capt), Yuvraj Singh, K D Karthik(wkt), R P Sharma , Piyush Chawla, R R Powar, Z Khan, R P Singh South Africa: AB de Villiers, M N van Wyk, J H Kallis (capt), H H Gibbs, J P Duminy, M V Boucher(wkt), A J Hall, V D Philander, C K Langeveldt, A Nel, M Ntini Result: South Africa won by 4 wickets Player of the match: Jacques Kallis (South Africa) Umpires: Aleem Dar (Pakistan) and M R Davis (England) TV umpire: B F Bowden (New Zealand) Match referee: A G Hurst (Australia) Reserve umpire: C McElwee
TAIPEI/SHANGHAI At shops in Shanghai's bustling Xinyang market, fake Apple iPhones and Bose speakers sit neatly alongside bootleg copies of Microsoft's new Windows 7 operating system, a week before its official launch. "Which version do you want? Ultimate? Normal? English or Chinese?," beckons one shopkeeper, proudly pointing out her ample supply of discs packed in unmarked white boxes. Microsoft may be baiting the world as it prepares to launch the newest version of its Windows franchise, but Chinese have been able to buy pirated copies this month for just 20 yuan ($2.93) each -- a fraction of list prices as high as $320. Windows 7's "early release" in China underscores the challenge major software makers face trying to make money in China, the world's second-largest PC market. Research firm IDC estimates about 80 percent of software sold in China was pirated last year. While that figure is falling, it is still double the global average and about four times that of developed markets such as the United States and Japan. "The big issue that is driving piracy in China today is price," said Matthew Cheung, an analyst at Gartner, another research firm. "If you're trying to sell a program that costs 2,000 yuan to a student living on 400 yuan a month, that's simply not going to work out for most consumers." In a nod to such pressures, Microsoft cut the price of its Office 2007 Home and Student Edition to 199 yuan last year from 699 yuan. It will sell its low-end Windows 7 Home Basic version for 399 yuan, modest by Western standards, but still 15 times higher than pirated copies. Violation of intellectual property rights has been an ongoing sore spot in China's relations with its major trading partners, even as it cracks down on rampant piracy of everything from fake Gucci bags to bootleg software. A Chinese court jailed four people in August for spreading their bootleg "Tomato Garden" version of Microsoft's Windows XP, in what China's official Xinhua news agency called the nation's biggest software piracy bust. "A lot of people are used to getting away with it for a long time," said Steve Vickers, president of FTI-International Risk. "There are signs that law enforcement is picking up, and that should help things improve." The Business Software Alliance, a trade association created by the software industry, says the sector lost more than $6.6 billion in China last year to piracy, second only to the United States. FOR BETTER OR WORSE Most experts agree that piracy in China is a long term issue, but many add conditions should improve as software makers slash prices, users become more educated and living standards rise. "Piracy in China is reducing year by year because the government is placing more attention on it and prices between the real and fake have narrowed," said Qian Liyong, director of the EU-China Project on the protection of intellectual property rights, based in Beijing. Gartner estimates China software piracy rates will fall to as low as 50 percent by 2012, almost on a par with developed Asian markets such as Hong Kong. Customer education is also taking off in China as many now realize the dangers of installing pirated software that sometimes comes with viruses and spyware. "This is a long term issue, 10-20 years, it's not just going to go away in an instant," said Edward Yu, chief executive of research firm Analysys International. In a bid to tackle the problem, Microsoft last year launched an unconventional campaign in China that caused a black screen to be displayed every hour for users of pirated Windows XP. But that just caused thousands of irate Chinese to migrate to free software from domestic companies like Kingsoft Corp, leaving Microsoft with its own black eye. Some believe such free web-based software, supported by advertising, may ultimately help to reduce piracy in China by letting third parties pay for development costs. "Because of the Internet, we are seeing a trend that software is by and large becoming free for consumers from point to point," Yu said. ($1=6.825 Yuan) (Editing by Doug Young & Ian Geoghegan) \|\|\|\|\| TAIPEI — At shops in the bustling Xinyang market in Shanghai, fake Apple iPhones and Bose speakers were displayed alongside bootleg copies of Microsoft’s Windows 7 operating system, a week before it officially was to go on sale. “Which version do you want? Ultimate? Normal? English or Chinese?” one shopkeeper asked, proudly pointing out her ample supply of discs packed in unmarked white boxes. People in mainland China have been able to buy pirated copies of the newest version of Microsoft’s Windows franchise this month for just 20 yuan, or $2.93, each — a fraction of list prices, which are as high as $320. Windows 7’s “early release” in China underscores the challenge major software makers face in trying to make money in China, the world’s second-largest PC market, after the United States. \|\|\|\|\| Rather than negatively impacting Mac sales, a new report provides evidence that the impending launch of Windows 7 could actually be a boon for Apple. In a new research note to investors, Brian Marshall with Broadpoint.AmTech looked at the historical trends of new Windows launches and the impact on Mac sales. He found that, if anything, Microsoft’s debuts were a benefit to Apple. “We have concluded that no negative correlation exists on AAPL’s hardware sales when Microsoft launches a new OS,” Marshall said. “Ironically, we believe new OS launches from MSFT may have acted as a ‘delayed accelerant’ to AAPL’s computing sales. However, we believe AAPL’s success (or failure) in the computing market is largely idiosyncratic (or company-specific) in nature and not dependent on others in the industry.” First reported by Fortune Brainstorm Tech, the findings show how Mac sales figures have consistently grown every time a new Windows operating system launched over the last 10 years. Mac sales spiked following the debut of Windows 98, Windows 200, Windows XP and Windows Vista. Marshall said he believes that Apple could double its share of the worldwide computing market over the next five years. That would take the Mac from its current share of roughly 4 percent to 8 percent by the end of 2014. Apple launched its own operating system in late August, and Snow Leopard got off to a very strong start. Sales of Mac OS X 10.6 have been twice as strong as its predecessor, Leopard, and four times better than Tiger. Apple is due to report its September quarter results on Monday, Oct. 19. Marshall expects strong earnings from Apple, with 2.8 million Macs, 7 million iPhones and 10 million iPods sold during the frame. If true, those numbers would be in-line with other projections. “In our view, Apple is ‘THE’ undisputed growth name in tech with numerous catalysts on the horizon (e.g. China iPhone ramp, netbook/tablet launch, etc.) and no business model issues,” he said. “In addition, AAPL is currently benefiting from a positive mix shift (to higher margin iPhones/iPod touches).” Broadpoint.AmTech has reiterated its buy rating and has a price target of $210 for AAPL stock. – AppleInsider Email This Post	In Shanghai, China, bootleg copies of Microsoft’s Windows 7 operating system were displayed a week before the official date of sale. People in mainland China have been able to buy copies of the newest version of Microsoft’s Windows franchise for 20 yuan ($2.93) each — less than one percent of list prices, which are $320. In China, the world’s second largest PC market, about 80 percent of software sold last year was pirated. The biggest issue is the price of software: Microsoft will sell its low-end version of Windows 7 for 15 times as much as is charged for pirated copies. In a bid to tackle the problem, Microsoft began an unconventional campaign in China last year that caused a black screen to be displayed every hour for users of pirated versions of Windows XP (Windows Genuine Advantage was distributed through automatic updates). However, that caused thousands of irate users to migrate to free software from domestic companies such as Kingsoft. Some people have said that free web-based software, supported by advertising, may ultimately help to reduce piracy in China by letting third parties pay for development costs. Another likely competitor of Windows 7 is Mac OS: its sales figures have consistently grown every time a new Windows operating system has launched over the last 10 years.
Mr Maliki said the men had been hiding in a hole in the ground Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki and US officials say two leaders of al-Qaeda in Iraq have been killed in a joint Iraqi-US operation. Mr Maliki said on national TV that the Iraqi al-Qaeda leader Abu Ayyub al-Masri and Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, who led an affiliate group, were dead. US Vice-President Joe Biden said their deaths were "potentially devastating blows" to al-Qaeda in Iraq. Mr Maliki said both had been killed in Salaheddin province, west of Baghdad. Iraqi TV showed pictures of both men before and after their deaths. ANALYSIS Jim Muir, BBC News, Baghdad When the Americans killed the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, in 2006, it was described as a massive blow to the insurgency. Yet it raged on unabated. Only a switch of tactics by the Americans the following year, and other developments, reduced it to its current low levels. Assuming the announcement is correct, it has taken four years to track down and kill Zarqawi's successor, known as Abu Hamza al-Muhajir or Abu Ayyub al-Masri. Leaders are clearly important, and eliminating them can have an effect in compounding the decline or hampering the growth of an adversary. But - as Zarqawi's death showed - it is not enough on its own. However, the insurgency has been sharply curbed in the past two years. The death of the two leaders, if confirmed, could help accelerate the downward trend. "The attack was carried out by ground forces which surrounded the house, and also through the use of missiles," Mr Maliki said. He said the house in Thar-Thar had been destroyed and the two bodies were found inside, in a hole in the ground in which they had been hiding. "During the operation computers were seized with e-mails and messages to the two biggest terrorists, Osama bin Laden and [his deputy] Ayman al-Zawahiri," Mr Maliki added. Speaking in Washington, Mr Biden said the operation "demonstrates the improved security, strength and capacity of Iraqi security forces". In a statement, the commander of US forces in Iraq, Gen Raymond Odierno, said: "The death of these terrorists is potentially the most significant blow to al-Qaeda in Iraq since the beginning of the insurgency." The statement said Iraqi forces with US support had mounted a night-time raid on the al-Qaeda leaders' safe-house. It said the men were killed "after engaging the security team" and that al-Masri's assistant along with the son of al-Baghdadi were also killed. A US helicopter crashed during the attack, killing one US soldier, the statement said. There have been several previous official reports that both militants had been captured or killed which have turned out to be untrue. Umbrella group Abu Ayyub al-Masri was also known as Abu Hamza al-Muhajir. ABU AYYUB AL-MASRI Believed born in Egypt in 1968 Also known as Abu Hamza al-Muhajir Replaced Abu Musab al-Zarqawi as leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq when Zarqawi was killed in 2006 He was believed to have helped Abu Musab al-Zarqawi form the first al-Qaeda cell in Baghdad. Zarqawi was killed in June 2006. The Islamic State in Iraq is an umbrella organisation that includes several radical Sunni militant groups. Al-Baghdadi was a nom de guerre for its shadowy leader, although some US commanders had previously cast doubt on whether he even existed. US officials said his real name was Hamid Dawud Muhammad Khalil al Zawi. Mr Maliki said al-Qaeda had tried to camouflage Baghdadi by presenting several people with this name. Al-Qaeda in Iraq has been blamed for some of the bloodiest insurgent attacks in the country since the US-led invasion of 2003. The BBC's Jim Muir in Baghdad says that despite the optimism, the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in 2006 did little to slow the insurgency. The militants' fortunes in Iraq are at a low ebb, he says, and the deaths of its leaders are no doubt a factor in that, but there are many other elements involved too. Since early 2007 the US has adopted a more proactive policy in confronting insurgents in Iraq and undermining their support within the Sunni community. The sectarian strife on which the Sunni insurgents thrived also died away as coalition and Iraqi government forces moved to curb Shia militias, our correspondent adds. Mr Maliki is currently contesting the results of the 7 March election which was narrowly won by former prime minister Iyad Allawi. Election officials have ordered a manual recount of votes cast in Baghdad after complaints from Mr Maliki that the electronic system of counting was unreliable. The recount could alter the final result of the poll. Bookmark with: Delicious Digg reddit Facebook StumbleUpon What are these? E-mail this to a friend Printable version \|\|\|\|\| BAGHDAD — Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki announced Monday that two top insurgent leaders had been killed, including a somewhat mythic figure who has operated under the name Abu Omar al-Baghdadi. Mr. Baghdadi has been reported dead or detained several times previously, and his very existence had been called into question a few years ago by American military leaders. After Mr. Maliki’s press conference, the American military released a statement verifying that Mr. Baghdadi was killed in a joint raid between Iraqi and United States forces in the dark hours of Sunday morning near Tikrit, near Saddam Hussein’s hometown. Also killed, according to Mr. Maliki and American officials, was Abu Ayyub al-Masri, the leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq, also known as Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, a largely Iraqi group that includes some foreign leadership. Both men were found in a hole in the ground. “The security forces surrounded the hole, and when they got them out they were dead,” Mr. Maliki said at the news conference. Mr. Maliki said computers and letters were found that included communication between the men and Osama bin Laden. One United States soldier died during the operation in a helicopter crash, which officials said was not caused by enemy fire. “The death of these terrorists is potentially the most significant blow to Al Qaeda in Iraq since the beginning of the insurgency,” said Gen. Ray Odierno, the top American military commander in Iraq, in a statement. “The Government of Iraq intelligence services and security forces supported by U.S. intelligence and special operations forces have over the last several months continued to degrade A.Q.I. There is still work to do but this is a significant step forward in ridding Iraq of terrorists.” The American military said Mr. Masri had replaced the former leader of Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who was killed in 2006. The American military described Mr. Masri as being “directly responsible for high profile bombings and attacks against the people of Iraq.” While violence is down dramatically in Iraq compared to the worst days of the insurgency and sectarian violence in 2006 and 2007, the country still faces daily attacks in the form of car bombs, improvised explosive devices and assassinations. The Sunni insurgency, whose face was Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, deteriorated in recent years after American forces persuaded groups of fighters to switch sides by paying them cash and promising them jobs, a movement that became known as the Awakening.	A joint military operation by Iraqi and American forces has killed two senior al-Qaeda leaders in Iraq, according to Iraqi Prime Minister and US officials. The leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq, , and the leader of an affiliate group, , were killed by Iraqi military forces with assistance from US forces in a night-time attack on a safe house. According to Prime Minister Malaki, "The attack was carried out by ground forces which surrounded the house, and also through the use of missiles." The two were killed in Thar-Thar, in the province of Salaheddin, 50 miles west of Iraq's capital, Baghdad. The American commander of military forces in Iraq, General Raymond Odierno, said in a statement that "the death of these terrorists is potentially the most significant blow to al-Qaeda in Iraq since the beginning of the insurgency." In a separate statement, the US said that the two Iraqis were killed in battle after "engaging the security team." Additionally, two other people were killed—an assistant of al-Masri and the son of al-Baghdadi. Al-Masri, along with , who was killed in 2006, formed the first al-Qaeda cell in Baghdad, which have been responsible for many attacks since the US invasion of the country in 2003. Al-Baghdadi was the leader of an umbrella group, the , a group that is partly composed of radical Sunni militant groups.
Six killed in Moscow fire 02/10/2007 16:25 - (SA) Moscow - Fire broke out Tuesday at a five-story institute in Moscow, killing at least six people and injuring more than two dozen, Russian emergency officials said. The blaze, which started about 13:00 (09:00 GMT) at the Moscow State Institute of State and Corporate Management, forced some students and teachers to climb onto tree branches or jump four or five stories into firefighting rescue nets below. Others were forced to climb down drainpipes to safety, and rescuers called in helicopters to evacuate people and drop water on the building's roof. Viktor Beltsov, a spokesperson for the Emergency Situations Ministry, said at least six people died in the blaze and 30 were treated for smoke inhalation, burns and other injuries. Russia records nearly 18 000 fire deaths a year - several times the per-capita rate of the United States and other Western countries. Deadly blazes at schools, hospitals and other state-run facilities in recent years have revealed official negligence and rampant violations of fire safety rules. News24 is now available on your cellphone. Click here to get News24 headlines on your Facebook profile. \|\|\|\|\| Решивший вернуться в большую политику основатель "Яблока" рассказал о своих планах и планах соратников Бывший президент СССР рассказал, что он считает своим главным достижением в реформировании страны и как он оценивает роль России в урегулировании сирийского кризиса Владимир Мау: Главным KPI для правительства должна быть готовность инвесторов рисковать деньгами Ректор РАНХиГС рассказал о том, какой должна быть Стратегия-2030, и что нужно сделать, чтобы вывести экономику из рецессии и вернуть ее к росту	A fire has broken out at the Moscow State Institute of State and Corporate Management, a five-story university, claiming at least six lives. More than two dozen are said to be injured. The fire started around 13:00 (09:00 GMT). Some students and teachers were trapped and had to climb out onto trees, jump four or five stories onto nets held by firefighters, or climb down drainpipes to escape. Helicopters were called in to evacuate the injured and engage in aerial firefighting activities. Spokesman for the Emergency Situations Ministry, Viktor Beltsov, said that six died and 30 were treated for smoke inhalation, burns and other injuries. The ''International Herald Tribune'' says that seven were killed and 35 injured, although it also quotes its figures from Mr Beltsov.
Article from: Agence France-Presse PLUNGING temperatures sent shivers across Europe today, leading to the deaths of several people and a record number of calls to power companies in Britain because of heating problems. As the Paris area dug out from a rare snowfall, the Eiffel Tower remained closed for a second morning, finally opening later in the day after hot air was used to clean off the powder from observation levels.Air traffic also limped back to normal at the main international Roissy-Charles de Gaulle airport north of the capital."It did not snow last night. The runways are clear and have been de-iced. Traffic is returning to normal," said a Roissy official.Heavy snow on Monday had forced Air France to cancel 150 out of 400 scheduled flights from Roissy, with some 3000 passengers put up at hotels nearby and another 2000 forced to spend a chilly night in the airport terminal.Scheduled flights were able to take off and land normally, but many faced delays with up to 1500 passengers still trying to fly out, airport services and Air France reported.Traffic at Paris' second airport Orly was operating normally.Road traffic likewise returned to normal in northern France, despite the ice and snow that accumulated up to five centimetres in some places.Still, bad weather forced school cancellations in some regions and the national weather service predicted frigid temperatures would linger until tomorrow.In Poland, where overnight temperatures have plunged to minus 25 Celsius recently, 10 people froze to death over the past few days, authorities reported.German police also said that a 77-year-old mentally ill woman had apparently frozen to death near the town of Weimar after being reported missing from her retirement home.And the bitter chill killed two men and sent others to hospital in Romania on Sunday, where temperatures fell as low as minus 31 Celsius in the centre.The cold also indirectly caused the death of a 30-year-old woman in Linconshire in northeast England, after her car was hit by a train after stalling at a rail crossing.Meanwhile, heating problems shuttered many British schools, while repair services received a record number of cold-related calls.Further south, snow blanketed northern Italy, forcing Milan's airport to cancel or delay some flights. \|\|\|\|\| Snow strands hundreds at Paris airport PARIS -- Hundreds of passengers were stranded Monday at the main Paris airport of Roissy-Charles-de-Gaulle by snow after scores of flights were cancelled. Some "1,658 people will be accommodated by Air France Monday evening in hotels at the airport hub at Roissy after the cancellation of 120 Air France flights of the 400 scheduled since the beginning of Monday afternoon, mainly to European destinations but also some long haul services," the airline said. Passengers waiting for flights "will have available food and hot drinks" at the end of a day described as "difficult" by Air France. The Paris airports authority said passengers should ring their airlines to see if their flights were operating and said some might not leave Monday evening. Traffic at Roissy and the second Paris airport at Orly was due to return to normal Monday evening. Northern, central and western France were hit by snow and freezing rain during Monday, causing accidents, one fatal. Weather services warned that the thermometer would fall further during the week as icy air arrived from Siberia and Scandinavia. Temperatures could fall to between minus five and minus 10 centigrade (23 and 14 Fahrenheit) in the north and northeast, forecasters said. The cold snap could last until the middle of the month in much of the country. National electricity consumption hit a record peak early Monday evening. In the Paris area, transport authorities had to suspend some bus services as snow and freezing rain made roads impassable. At one point, heavy goods traffic moving towards Paris was limited. \|\|\|\|\| A winter storm brought blankets of snow across Europe on Monday, forcing the closure of an icy Eiffel Tower in Paris and causing flight cancellations. A cyclist pedals his bicycle along a snow-covered path in a garden near the Eiffel Tower in Paris as winter weather hits the French capital today. (John Schults/Reuters) (John Schults/Reuters) Up to four inches (10 centimeters) of snow was recorded in parts of France, the national weather service said. Most areas, including Paris, got around half that amount. French authorities issued traffic alerts in around 30 regions because of icy roads. The Eiffel Tower, one of Paris' main tourist attractions, was closed because of slippery conditions. "We can't put down salt because it's metallic," Eiffel Tower press officer Isabelle Esnous said. "We can't use sand either ... because it risks getting into the elevator (cogs)." The cold, she said, is no problem, but snow can be dangerous. A dozen flights were canceled at Paris' Charles de Gaulle airport, officials said. The Paris airport authority said bad weather in other parts of Europe contributed to the cancellations. Workers had been deployed since midnight Sunday to clear runways at Charles de Gaulle and the smaller Orly airport. In Germany, heavy snowfall snarled road traffic and flight delays and cancellations at the country's international airports. Duesseldorf International Airport said no flights were allowed in or out between 6-9 a.m. (0500-0800 GMT) Monday because clearing crews were unable to keep up with the snow. More than 30 flights were canceled because of the bad weather, airport spokesman Christian Witt said. Up to four inches (10 centimeters) of snow was reported in Duesseldorf and around six inches (16 centimeters) in Potsdam, just outside Berlin.	Snow in Birmingham, one of the many European cities affected by the storm. Freezing temperatures, combined with snow over the past few days, have caused travel problems throughout Europe and been responsible for the deaths of 10 people. On Monday a strong winter storm moved across Europe, covering parts of France and the United Kingdom with several inches of snow. The storm ranged as far as Germany, Belgium, and parts of Northern Italy. It brought with it freezing, Arctic-like temperatures ranging from -5° Celsius (23° Fahrenheit) to -10°C (14°F) in the United Kingdom and France, down to -31°C (-24°F) in central Romania and what felt like -26°C (-15°F) in Germany. Forecasters predict that the freezing temperatures may be the start of a cold spell that could affect the entire continent throughout the month. Monday's heavy snowstorm forced Roissy-Charles de Gaulle Airport, slightly north of Paris, to cancel most of its flights. 1,658 passengers from Air France alone were stranded at the airport after their flights were grounded due to the heavy snow and icy conditions. The passengers from the 120 cancelled Air France flights spent the night in hotels near the airport which were accommodated for by the airline. An official from Air France stated that the passengers "will have available food and hot drinks". Most flights were grounded until the next morning. Tuesday, an official from Roissy-Charles de Gaulle said, "It did not snow last night. The runways are clear and have been de-iced. Traffic is returning to normal." The frigid temperatures resulted in several school closings across France and the United Kingdom, with government forecasters from both countries predicting that the cold would stay for several days. Many schools in the United Kingdom were closed because of problems with their heating systems, while heating repair services in Britain received a record number of calls this week. In Paris, accumulating snow and slippery ice resulted in French officials closing pedestrian access to the Eiffel Tower, one of the city's prime tourist locations. "We can't put down salt because it's metallic, we can't use sand either because it risks getting into the elevator," stated a press official from the Eiffel Tower. The tower remained closed on Monday and re-opened on Tuesday. The storm has caused the deaths of at least 13 people, whether directly or indirectly. Polish government officials have reported that 10 people have frozen to death following overnight temperatures of -25°C as recorded throughout the country. Police in Germany reported that a 77-year-old mentally-ill woman also froze to death after she was reported missing from a nursing home in Weimar. Romanian officials reported that frigid temperatures killed two people and sent several to the hospital. Temperatures there were reported as low as -31°C in some parts.
UNITED NATIONS (CNN) -- The failure to release the results of last month's Zimbabwe elections could cause the situation in that country to deteriorate further with "serious implications" for its people, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned Wednesday. Riot police patrol in Harare, Zimbabwe, on Wednesday. In unusually blunt remarks during a special U.N. Security Council session, Ban said he was deeply concerned about the uncertainty created by the failure to release the results of the March 29 elections. Tensions have risen and violence has broken out in Zimbabwe after opposition candidate Morgan Tsvangirai declared victory over incumbent President Robert Mugabe a few days after the voting, based, the opposition said, on results posted outside polling stations. Mugabe has been criticized for delaying the announcement of the results, with some saying he's stalling the process to remain in power. Ban said he is watching and waiting "for decisive action" on the matter. He added that if there is a second round of elections because no candidate reached the required majority to automatically win, it should be conducted in a fair and transparent manner. Ban said the United Nations stands ready to help. His comments came during a Security Council session on the overall relations between the African Union and the United Nations, which was chaired by South African President Thabo Mbeki. South Africa is currently president of the Security Council. Mbeki has sided with Mugabe on the election issue, saying it was not a crisis. Before the council convened, advocates for a change in Zimbabwe flew a plane near the United Nations trailing a banner that read, "Mbeki: Time to act, democracy for Zimbabwe." British Prime Minister Gordon Brown urged the Security Council to send out a unified message on the matter. "The democratic process depends on there being a democratic government. So let a single clear message go out from here in New York that we are, we will, be vigilant about human rights, that we stand solidly behind democracy and human rights for Zimbabwe," he said. "And we stand ready to support Zimbabweans build a better future." The British leader said that based on the results posted at polling stations after the vote, "no one thinks ... President Mugabe has won this election." The U.S. State Department also expressed concern Wednesday about "legitimate, credible reports" that Zimbabwe opposition figures are being harassed. Spokesman Sean McCormack said those reports, while not specific, indicate supporters of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change are "being roughed up." "It is quite disturbing," he said at Wednesday's daily briefing. "What is taking place in Zimbabwe now runs counter to the interests of Zimbabwean people who we believe have an interest in building a more prosperous, more democratic state." According to a news release from the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition, more than 35 journalists, human rights activists and MDC supporters have been arrested since Tuesday, when the MDC called for a general strike. The MDC called for the "mass stay-in" to continue until the government releases results from the presidential election. The Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition said arrests include Marvelous Kumalo, a recently elected member of parliament, and Frank Chikore, a freelance journalist. E-mail to a friend All About Zimbabwe • Robert Mugabe • Morgan Tsvangirai \|\|\|\|\| South Africa's president, under increasing pressure both at home and abroad to take a tougher stance on the post-election crisis in Zimbabwe, said Wednesday the only way for mediators to break the impasse is to continue talking with both the government and the opposition. VOA's Margaret Besheer has more from U.N. headquarters in New York, where president Thabo Mbeki spoke to reporters on the sidelines of a meeting of African Union and U.N. Security Council members. South African President Thabo Mbeki, 16 Apr 08 Mr. Mbeki said South Africa has been dealing with the question of Zimbabwe for some years, not just since the March 29 election, and that they have always said the solution to Zimbabwe lies in the hands of the Zimbabwean people. "Therefore, in our engagement with the situation we need to talk continuously with both the ruling party and the opposition. Because it is them that has to agree about their country to say where do we go," he said. Mr. Mbeki also denied press reports that he had refused to call Zimbabwe's problem a "crisis". "I've heard that story about me saying there is no crisis in Zimbabwe, but I don't know where this story came from. I never said any such thing," he said. African Union and Security Council member states met at the U.N. on Wednesday to discuss enhancing cooperation in the fields of peace and security, but at times the theme was overshadowed by the situation in Zimbabwe. The United States, Britain and France expressed their growing concern about the failure of Zimbabwe's election commission to release the results of the March 29 presidential election. Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown (l) and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at the United Nations, 16 Apr 2008 British Prime Minister Gordon Brown had the harshest criticism, saying no one believes that Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe won the vote. "No one thinks having seen the results at polling stations that President Mugabe has won this election. A stolen election would not be a democratic election at all. As the Secretary-General [Ban Ki-moon] has said, the credibility of the democratic process depends on there being a legitimate government," he said. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon repeated his call for the speedy release of election results and said the international community would continue "to watch and wait for decisive action." But the situation in Zimbabwe was conspicuously absent from the remarks of most African delegates. South Africa, which holds the rotating presidency of the Security Council this month, has resisted the idea of taking up the matter in the council, because it says it is being dealt with by the Southern African Development Community.	Ban Ki-moon United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon remarked on the post-election situation in Zimbabwe on Wednesday, expressing concern about the failure of the election commission to release the results. He believes the delay could have "serious implications" for Zimbabwe's people. At a summit in New York City, which was attended by the UN Security Council and African Union leaders, Ban said the international community is waiting for "decisive action" from the governments of southern Africa. "Absent a transparent solution to this impasse, the situation could deteriorate further with serious implications for the people of Zimbabwe," he said. "The credibility of the democratic process in Africa could be at stake here." Ban said the UN is willing to help the Southern African Development Community resolve the crisis, and added that a possible second round of elections would have to be conducted fairly and transparently, in the presence of international observers. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown agreed with the Secretary-General's remarks. He called on the international community to put more pressure on Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe, who has been accused of rigging the election. "No one thinks, having seen the result at the polling stations, that President Mugabe has won this election," Brown said. "A stolen election would not be an election at all. The credibility of the democratic process depends on there being a legitimate government." The summit was chaired by South African President Thabo Mbeki, who insisted on Saturday that there was "no crisis" in Zimbabwe. Jacob Zuma, leader of South Africa's ruling ANC party, disagreed with Mbeki, saying that "the situation is more worrying now given the reported violence that has erupted."
1/27 Ethnic Yemenis and supporters protest against President Donald Trump's executive order temporarily banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen on February 2, 2017 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. At least 1,000 Yemeni-owned bodegas and grocery-stores across the city shut down from noon to 8 p.m. today to protest the order. Spencer Platt/Getty 2/27 People rally at Brooklyn Borough Hall as Yemeni bodega and grocery-stores shut down to protest US President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen, on February 2, 2017 in New York. Bryan R. Smith/AFP/Getty 3/27 Men pray during a protest by ethnic Yemenis and supporters over President Donald Trump's executive order temporarily banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen on February 2, 2017 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. At least 1,000 Yemeni-owned bodegas and grocery-stores across the city shut down from noon to 8 p.m. today to protest the order. Spencer Platt/Getty 4/27 Ethnic Yemenis and supporters protest against President Donald Trump's executive order temporarily banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen on February 2, 2017 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. At least 1,000 Yemeni-owned bodegas and grocery-stores across the city shut down from noon to 8 p.m. today to protest the order. Spencer Platt/Getty 5/27 Men pray during a protest by ethnic Yemenis and supporters over President Donald Trump's executive order temporarily banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen on February 2, 2017 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. At least 1,000 Yemeni-owned bodegas and grocery-stores across the city shut down from noon to 8 p.m. today to protest the order. Spencer Platt/Getty 6/27 People rally at Brooklyn Borough Hall as Yemeni bodega and grocery-stores shut down to protest US President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen, on February 2, 2017 in New York. Spencer Platt/Getty 7/27 People rally at Brooklyn Borough Hall as Yemeni bodega and grocery-stores shut down to protest US President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen, on February 2, 2017 in New York. Bryan R. Smith/AFP/Getty 8/27 People rally at Brooklyn Borough Hall as Yemeni bodega and grocery-stores shut down to protest US President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen, on February 2, 2017 in New York. Spencer Platt/Getty 9/27 People rally at Brooklyn Borough Hall as Yemeni bodega and grocery-stores shut down to protest US President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen, on February 2, 2017 in New York. Spencer Platt/Getty 10/27 People gather for evening prayer at a rally at Brooklyn Borough Hall as Yemeni bodega and grocery-stores shut down to protest US President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen, on February 2, 2017 in New York. Bryan R. Smith/AFP/Getty 11/27 People rally at Brooklyn Borough Hall as Yemeni bodega and grocery-stores shut down to protest US President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen, on February 2, 2017 in New York. Bryan R. Smith/AFP/Getty 12/27 People rally with flags at Brooklyn Borough Hall as Yemeni bodega and grocery-stores shut down to protest US President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen, on February 2, 2017 in New York. Bryan R. Smith/AFP/Getty 13/27 People rally at Brooklyn Borough Hall as Yemeni bodega and grocery-stores shut down to protest US President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen, on February 2, 2017 in New York. Spencer Platt/Getty 14/27 People rally at Brooklyn Borough Hall as Yemeni bodega and grocery-stores shut down to protest US President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen, on February 2, 2017 in New York. Spencer Platt/Getty 15/27 People rally at Brooklyn Borough Hall as Yemeni bodega and grocery-stores shut down to protest US President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen, on February 2, 2017 in New York. Spencer Platt/Getty 16/27 People rally at Brooklyn Borough Hall as Yemeni bodega and grocery-stores shut down to protest US President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen, on February 2, 2017 in New York. Spencer Platt/Getty 17/27 People rally at Brooklyn Borough Hall as Yemeni bodega and grocery-stores shut down to protest US President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen, on February 2, 2017 in New York. Spencer Platt/Getty 18/27 People rally with flags at Brooklyn Borough Hall as Yemeni bodega and grocery-stores shut down to protest US President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen, on February 2, 2017 in New York. Bryan R. Smith/AFP/Getty 19/27 People rally with flags at Brooklyn Borough Hall as Yemeni bodega and grocery-stores shut down to protest US President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen, on February 2, 2017 in New York. Bryan R. Smith/AFP/Getty 20/27 People rally with flags at Brooklyn Borough Hall as Yemeni bodega and grocery-stores shut down to protest US President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen, on February 2, 2017 in New York. Bryan R. Smith/AFP/Getty 21/27 People rally at Brooklyn Borough Hall as Yemeni bodega and grocery-stores shut down to protest US President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen, on February 2, 2017 in New York. Bryan R. Smith/AFP/Getty 22/27 People rally with flags at Brooklyn Borough Hall as Yemeni bodega and grocery-stores shut down to protest US President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen, on February 2, 2017 in New York. Bryan R. Smith/AFP/Getty 23/27 People rally at Brooklyn Borough Hall as Yemeni bodega and grocery-stores shut down to protest President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen, on February 2, 2017 in New York. Bryan R. Smith/AFP/Getty 24/27 A Yemeni business owner places a sign on the gate of his store February 2, 2017 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. Across the city, Yemeni owned bodega and grocery-stores will shut down from noon to 8 p.m. to protest President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen. It is expected that over 1000 stores will be closed in protest with workers and owners participating in an afternoon rally in Brooklyn. Spencer Platt/Getty 25/27 A Yemeni business owner places a sign on the gate of his store February 2, 2017 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. Across the city, Yemeni owned bodega and grocery-stores will shut down from noon to 8 p.m. to protest President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen. It is expected that over 1000 stores will be closed in protest with workers and owners participating in an afternoon rally in Brooklyn. Spencer Platt/Getty 26/27 NEW YORK, NY - FEBRUARY 02: Yemeni business owner Musa closes the gate to his store February 2, 2017 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. Across the city, Yemeni owned bodega and grocery-stores will shut down from noon to 8 p.m. to protest President Donald Trump's Executive Order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen. It is expected that over 1000 stores will be closed in protest with workers and owners participating in an afternoon rally in Brooklyn. Spencer Platt/Getty \|\|\|\|\| Today administration officials reportedly barred a number of news outlets from joining an informal press briefing. The AP has the details: News organizations including the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, CNN and Politico were blocked from joining an informal, on the record White House press briefing on Friday. The Associated Press chose not to participate in the gaggle following the move by White House press secretary Sean Spicer. “The AP believes the public should have as much access to the president as possible,” Lauren Easton, the AP’s director of media relations, said in a statement. Several news organizations were allowed in, including the conservative website Breitbart News. The site’s former executive chairman, Steve Bannon, is chief strategist to President Donald Trump. Advertisement For its part, the Trump administration is denying any ill intent, claiming instead that it had just invited a few additional reporters to join the pool: White House Deputy Comms. Dir. Raj Shah denies reports of a gaggle block against CNN, NYT, Politico and others: pic.twitter.com/XzgfQJ25w3 — ErikWemple (@ErikWemple) February 24, 2017 I have a few thoughts. First, if the AP report is accurate, then the administration’s move was just silly and wrong. Full stop. The only reason to exclude a news organization from a press briefing should be space available, with space allocated on a viewpoint-neutral basis. Punishing the press by excluding the press (if that’s what happened here) is no way to run a press office. Second, the White House should know that it’s move is completely unsustainable. Every news organization with any integrity will rightly boycott briefings if the White House excludes disfavored outlets. This is yet another one of the informal but effective checks on White House power. While a portion of Trump’s base may hate the media so much that they’re fine if Sean Spicer ends up only briefing Gateway Pundit, most of the rest of America finds press exclusion ridiculous. Third, yes I know that the Obama administration’s hands weren’t clean on this point. Indeed, I’d forgotten how unclean they were. This 2009 New York Times report on the conflict between the Obama administration and Fox was a nice walk down memory lane: Late last month, the senior White House adviser David Axelrod and Roger Ailes, chairman and chief executive of Fox News, met in an empty Palm steakhouse before it opened for the day, neutral ground secured for a secret tête-à-tête. Mr. Ailes, who had reached out to Mr. Axelrod to address rising tensions between the network and the White House, told him that Fox’s reporters were fair, if tough, and should be considered separate from the Fox commentators who were skewering President Obama nightly, according to people briefed on the meeting. Mr. Axelrod said it was the view of the White House that Fox News had blurred the line between news and anti-Obama advocacy. Why was the administration angry? Fox had been on the offensive. Other networks had confessed they had not been fast enough in covering stories Fox was covering, including Van Jones’s controversial comments and affiliations: At the same time, Fox News had continued a stream of reports rankling White House officials and liberal groups that monitor its programming for bias. Those reports included a critical segment on the schools safety official Kevin Jennings, with the on-screen headline “School Czar’s Past May Be Too Radical”; urgent news coverage of a video showing schoolchildren “singing the praises, quite literally, of the president,” which the Fox News contributor Tucker Carlson later called “pure Khmer Rouge stuff”; and the daily anti-Obama salvos from Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity. There followed, beginning in earnest more than two weeks ago, an intensified volley of White House comments describing Fox as “not a news network.” “Not a news network” sounds a bit like “fake news,” does it not? The president himself waded into the fray: Speaking privately at the White House on Monday with a group of mostly liberal columnists and commentators, including Rachel Maddow and Keith Olbermann of MSNBC and Maureen Dowd, Frank Rich and Bob Herbert of The New York Times, Mr. Obama himself gave vent to sentiments about the network, according to people briefed on the conversation. Then, in an interview with NBC News on Wednesday, the president went public. “What our advisers have simply said is that we are going to take media as it comes,” he said. “And if media is operating, basically, as a talk radio format, then that’s one thing. And if it’s operating as a news outlet, then that’s another.” Advertisement Advertisement The Treasury Department reportedly tried to exclude Fox from a “round of interviews” with executive-pay czar Kenneth Feinberg, and — just like today — Fox’s competitors rebelled. Bret Baier hadn’t forgotten the incident and tweeted this: Some at CNN & NYT stood w/FOX News when the Obama admin attacked us & tried 2 exclude us-a WH gaggle should be open to all credentialed orgs https://t.co/8Vjcs0KCPR — Bret Baier (@BretBaier) February 24, 2017 I share these details not to justify Trump administration actions but to note that we’re not exactly in uncharted territory. Administrations are tempted to take action against “unfriendly” news organizations, and it’s incumbent on news outlets to follow Benjamin Franklin’s admonition (given in far more consequential times), “We must, indeed, all hang together, or most assuredly we will all hang separately.” It’s one thing to bash the press. It’s another thing entirely to take steps to deny access to disfavored outlets. When it comes to access, Trump needs to be better than Obama, not worse. \|\|\|\|\| WASHINGTON — President Trump turned the power of the White House against the news media on Friday, escalating his attacks on journalists as “the enemy of the people” and berating members of his own F.B.I. as “leakers” who he said were putting the nation at risk. In a speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference, Mr. Trump criticized as “fake news” organizations that publish anonymously sourced reports that reflect poorly on him. And in a series of Twitter posts, he assailed the F.B.I. as a dangerously porous agency, condemning unauthorized revelations of classified information from within its ranks and calling for an immediate hunt for leakers. Hours after the speech, as if to demonstrate Mr. Trump’s determination to punish reporters whose coverage he dislikes, Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary, barred journalists from The New York Times and several other news organizations from attending his daily briefing, a highly unusual breach of relations between the White House and its press corps. Mr. Trump’s barrage against the news media continued well into Friday night. “FAKE NEWS media knowingly doesn’t tell the truth,” he wrote on Twitter shortly after 10 p.m., singling out The Times and CNN. “A great danger to our country.” \|\|\|\|\| Multiple media outlets were blocked from a White House gaggle Friday afternoon, hours after President Donald Trump again labeled the press as enemies of the American people and vowed to "do something about it." Reporters didn’t expect the usual and more formal on-camera daily briefing from White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer, but did expect a more spontaneous "gaggle" with the White House’s main spokesperson at some point Friday afternoon. Around noon, the White House sent updated guidance that the gaggle would be off-camera with an "expanded pool." The White House emailed the selected reporters that they were okayed to attend. NBC News was allowed into the off-camera briefing and decided to stay with the intention of sharing all newsgathering material with journalism colleagues. The "pool" was also in the room — meaning that, under a longstanding agreement, the material would be shared with all media colleagues regardless of who was physically present. While representatives from NBC News, CBS, ABC, and FOX were allowed into the off-camera briefing, CNN was not. Hallie Jackson, who was there for NBC/MSNBC used her opportunity to ask, as did others, why some of her colleagues had been excluded. .@AP & @TIME boycotted as a result. WH Correspondents Assn protesting. Conservative outlets Breitbart, Washington Times, @OANN allowed in — Jim Sciutto (@jimsciutto) February 24, 2017 Buzzfeed, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, the New York Daily News, the Hill and Politico were among the other outlets not allowed in to cover the gaggle, with representatives from the Associated Press and Time declining to go into the gaggle because of how it was being handled. CNN's public relations wing tweeted that the move was an "unacceptable development by the Trump White House." "Apparently this is how they retaliate when you report facts they don't like. We'll keep reporting regardless." White House Correspondents Association President Jeff Mason emailed members that the board "is protesting strongly against how today's gaggle is being handled by the White House." WHCA president says they are ‘protesting strongly’ against how gaggle being held pic.twitter.com/kAlVwzumR9 — Hadas Gold (@Hadas_Gold) February 24, 2017 "We encourage the organizations that were allowed in to share the material with others in the press corps who were not. The board will be discussing this further with White House staff," the email read. During the briefing in question Spicer was asked about why certain outlets were not present. He said it was because the gaggle, an info was an "expanded pool" and he made that decision. Spicer defended the press office's decision to limit the press included in the gaggle, saying “we had a pool and then we expanded it. We added some folks to come cover it." "We do what we can to be accessible. We do what we can to accommodate the press,” Spicer told the small group of reporters asking why other outlets were not included. "I think we have gone above and beyond when it comes to accessibility and openness and getting folks, our officials, our team. And so, respectfully I disagree with the premise of the question." Other administrations, on occasion, excluded certain journalists in the past. Early on in the Obama White House, the administration attempted to exclude Fox News from a press pool. Hours earlier on Friday, Trump doubled down on his criticism of American mainstream media calling them "the enemy of the American People" during his speech to the annual Conservative Political Action Conference. He insisted reporters stop using unnamed sources. "They have no sources they just make them up when there are none," Trump told the at-capacity CPAC crowd which cheered in agreement. "They shouldn't be allowed to use sources unless they use somebody's name. Let their name be put out there." Several media advocacy groups called Friday's exclusion of several news outlets from the press gaggle "alarming." “President Trump's calls for an end to anonymous sources was alarming. It is not the job of political leaders to determine how journalists should conduct their work, and sets a terrible example for the rest of the world, where sources often must remain anonymous to preserve their own lives,” Committee to Protect Journalists executive director Joel Simon said in a statement. “We are concerned by the decision to bar reporters from a press secretary briefing. The U.S. should be promoting press freedom and access to information.” Reporters Without Borders in a statement called the administration's move "completely unacceptable and undemocratic in the country of the First Amendment." \|\|\|\|\| News organisations criticised by President Trump among those blocked from 'gaggle' with Press Secretary Sean Spicer. The White House has blocked a number of news outlets from covering a question-and-answer session with spokesman Sean Spicer held in place of the daily press briefing. Media organisations including The New York Times, CNN, Politico and Al Jazeera were blocked from joining the informal, on-the-record, off-camera press briefing on Friday, referred to as a "gaggle". Some of the blocked outlets, including CNN, have been singled out by President Donald Trump as sources of "fake news". Spicer invited only a pool of news organisations that represents and shares reporting with the larger press corps. Journalists from several right-leaning outlets were also allowed into Spicer’s office, including the website Breitbart News, whose former executive chairman, Steve Bannon, is Trump's chief strategist. When additional news organisations attempted to gain access, they were not allowed to enter. Al Jazeera's Kimberly Halkett, reporting from the White House, was among those asked to leave. "This is really the latest in an ongoing media war with this White House," she said. "Some of those who are concerned about this are outlets that have been accused by the White House of reporting unfavourably, namely that they reported that the White House recently tried to deploy the FBI to counter some negative reporting with regard to whether or not there had been contact between the White House and Russian officials." Typically, the daily briefing is televised and open to all news organisations credentialed to cover the White House. The Associated Press and Time magazine chose not to participate in the gaggle after Spicer restricted the number of journalists present. 'Don't need everything on camera' Spicer said the White House held a gaggle rather than an open briefing because Trump made a major speech earlier in the day. "Our job is to make sure that we're responsive to folks in the media," he said during the briefing. "We want to make sure we answer your questions, but we don't need to do everything on camera every day." READ MORE: Trump declares media 'the enemy of the American people' In a statement, White House Correspondents' Association President Jeff Mason said the group was "protesting strongly" against how the gaggle was handled by the White House and that the issue would be discussed further with officials. Speaking to Al Jazeera, Mason added that press access to the White House since Trump took office in January has been "good". "There's some irony to that statement because the tone set by President Trump about the media of course has been very negative," he said, "but we have had many opportunities to ask questions, both of the president and Sean Spicer, his press secretary, and to see and take pictures basically of how this White House governs. That is a positive thing and a trend we hope will continue." After The New York Times was barred from attending the gaggle, its executive editor, Dean Baquet, said that "nothing like this has ever happened at the White House in our long history of covering multiple administrations of different parties." CNN described the move as an "unacceptable development by the Trump White House". "Apparently this is how they retaliate when you report facts they don't like. We'll keep reporting regardless," the broadcaster said in a statement. The Committee to Protect Journalists also condemned the move by the White House. "We are concerned by the decision to bar reporters from a press secretary briefing," CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon said in a statement. "The US should be promoting press freedom and access to information." Source: Al Jazeera and news agencies	On Friday White House Press Secretary held an informal "gaggle" press briefing but made a point of excluding certain news outlets. The White House's decision has drawn ire from across the field, including organizations invited to the briefing, such as and ''''. Sean Spicer, from file. ''The New York Times'' and CNN, as well as the BBC, '''', ''Al Jazeera'', the '''', , '''', and ''The Daily Mail'', were all barred from attending the meeting, while Reuters, NBC, ABC, CBS, Fox News, Bloomberg, and the heavily conservative news outlets , , and '''' were admitted. '''', the Associated Press, and some other outlets were invited to the briefing but . Spicer held the meeting in his office rather than the usual briefing room. He told the press the smaller gathering was because Trump had already made a large speech earlier in the day. "We want to make sure we answer your questions, but we don't need to do everything on camera every day." However, he also criticized media coverage of the Trump administration, which President Trump has cited as unfair. "We're going to aggressively push back," one reporter recorded him saying at the gaggle. "We're just not going to sit back and let, you know, false narratives, false stories, inaccurate facts get out there." This meeting took place the day after CNN issued a report claiming the White House had asked high-level employees at the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation to rebut a story in ''The New York Times'' about the Trump administration's alleged ties with Russia and Vladimir Putin. "Apparently this is how they retaliate when you report facts they don't like. We'll keep reporting regardless," said CNN in a statement. "Nothing like this has ever happened at the White House in our long history of covering multiple administrations of different parties," said ''New York Times'' executive editor Dean Baquet. "We strongly protest the exclusion of ''The New York Times'' and the other news organizations. Free media access to a transparent government is obviously of crucial national interest." "While we strongly object to the White House's apparent attempt to punish news outlets whose coverage it does not like," said Buzzfeed editor-in-chief , "we won't let these latest antics distract us from the work of continuing to cover this administration fairly and aggressively." BBC bureau chief Paul Denahar was more formal: "We understand there may be occasions when, due to space or circumstances, the White House restricts press events to the established pool. However, what happened today did not fit into that pattern. On this occasion selected media were allowed to attend the briefing and the selected media, including the BBC, were not." '''' contributor David French also criticized the decision: "The only reason to exclude a news organization from a press briefing should be space available, with space allocated on a viewpoint-neutral basis. ... It's one thing to bash the press. It's another thing entirely to take steps to deny access to disfavored outlets. When it comes to access, Trump needs to be better than Obama, not worse." He combined these remarks with a discussion of the Obama administration's relationship with Fox News. Some of the news organizations invited to Spicer's meeting also opposed the exclusion of their peers: "Some at CNN and ''New York Times'' stood with Fox News when the Obama admin attacked us and tried to exclude us," said Fox anchor via Twitter, "a White House gaggle should be open to all credentialed orgs." "''The Wall Street Journal'' strongly objects to the White House's decision to bar certain media outlets from today's gaggle," added a representative for the newspaper. "Had we known at the time, we would not have participated and we will not participate in such closed briefings in the future." The took a milder view: "We're not happy with how things went today," said association president Jeff Mason. "I don't think that people should rush to judgment to suggest that this is the start of a big crackdown on media access." Donald Trump has stated the mainstream media portrayed the first month of his presidency unfairly, calling some of their reports "fake news" and the press themselves the "enemy of the people" and insisting they refrain from using anonymous sources. "I'm against the people that make up stories and make up sources," he told the in Washington D.C. "President Trump's calls for an end to anonymous sources was alarming. It is not the job of political leaders to determine how journalists should conduct their work, and sets a terrible example for the rest of the world, where sources often must remain anonymous to preserve their own lives," said Joel Simon of the .
The online auction house eBay has put on sale three pairs of shoes that were reportedly custom-made for Margaret Thatcher when she was British Prime Minister. The minimum bid for the Rayne shoes - coloured silver, gold and black suede - is 2,930 pounds ($7,037) but owner Eleanor Graham, 65, said she expects to fetch some 10,000 pounds ($24,000) on the auction website. Ms Graham said she bought the shoes as an investment when she saw a member of Thatcher's staff donate some of the Prime Minister's possessions to a Sue Ryder charity shop in the 1980s. "I was just lucky - I was there at the right place at the right time when the shoes were brought in by her secretary," Ms Graham said. She said she convinced the store's cashier not to remove the label "Made Especially for Mrs Margaret Thatcher" from one pair by agreeing to re-sell the shoes only after the cashier had died, so that she would not get sacked. The size five shoes did not fit her, she said, so she only wore them a couple of times while she washed the dishes. Ms Graham said she then recently thought: "Gosh, I've had a couple of heart attacks and they'll get thrown out unless I do anything." \|\|\|\|\| Mon 3 Jan 2005 Mother tells how she braved terrifying white wall of water A MOTHER who was photographed running towards a killer wave in a desperate attempt to save her children survived the tsunami disaster, along with her loved ones, it emerged yesterday. Karin Svaerd, whose captured rescue attempt was published in newspapers around the world, including The Scotsman, rushed to rescue her three sons but had failed to reach them when the tsunami swept them off the beach at Krabi, in southern Thailand. Speaking for the first time about the moments before her race towards the wall of white water, the Swedish policewoman said: "I had to try to save my children; nothing was going to stop me. "Terror was coming up inside me, but I was so focused I just started running to my family." Her husband Lars, 40, was also running towards them. Ms Svaerd, 37, was pictured running towards a 20ft-high wave to save her sons Anton, 14, Filip, 11, and Viktor, ten. She said: "I was running towards them. I could see this white wall coming to me - I did not care. I was looking at my children. I wanted to hold them and care for them." Ms Svaerd was engulfed by water and eventually washed up on to higher ground. She then faced an agonising search for her family. She said: "By this time, I thought my family were dead. My life was over as far as I could see it. My children were taken away from me." Ms Svaerd and her family were reunited when she found them clinging together. She said: "I rushed to them and yelled, ‘Thank God you are alive.’ We hugged each other. All around us, people were shouting for their families, and I could feel their fear." The family’s miraculous escape was revealed as the Foreign Office confirmed that the British death toll from the disaster had risen to 40. Details of other dramatic escapes emerged, including the survival of a Sri Lankan schoolgirl who spent more than 24 hours in shark-infested seas after she was swept away by the tsunami. Sylvia Lucas, 11, was playing on a beach in the village of Pasikudha, north of Batticaloa, on the east coast of Sri Lanka, when she was washed out to sea by the huge tidal wave that destroyed her community. As the youngster floated offshore, she managed to grab a log and then spent more than 24 hours clinging to it, desperately hoping to be rescued. The girl, whose father is English, described how she saw people being lifted from the water by a rescue helicopter in the distance but said she was too small to attract attention. During her ordeal, she said she had to fend off a "large fish" that was circling her in the water. She said: "Although I was frightened, I was confident that I would be saved. "I was on the beach playing with coconut husks, I am always playing on the beach and in the water, so staying in the sea so long didn’t really scare me," Sylvia added. Explaining the details of her dramatic rescue, she revealed that, after almost 28 hours at sea, she spotted a Sri Lankan helicopter flying over her and she frantically waved her arms. She was eventually lifted from the water to safety. Another member of Sylvia’s family were not so lucky: her brother was killed by the waves. Her parents survived, however, and while they are being housed in an emergency shelter, she is being looked after by a local organisation, Thadaham, a partner of Christian Aid. Tragic stories also emerged yesterday of parents being forced to choose which of their children to save as huge waves engulfed their homes. In Chinnakapalet, southern India, a housewife had to choose which of her three sons to pick up as a tidal wave swept through her house, grabbing the youngest two and running to escape the torrent of water. Her eldest, only seven, was later saved from the water by the family dog, who grabbed the collar of his shirt. In the Thai resort of Phuket, Jillian Searle, an Australian mother of two, faced a similarly heartbreaking choice. She was forced to let go of one of her toddler sons as she tried to stay upright in the torrent of water that swept her resort. Holding her two-year-old boy above the water, she slipped her hand from Lachlan, five, and watched him drift off. Two hours later, the family were reunited - Lachlan had stayed alive by clinging to a door. As more corpses were pulled from the Andaman Sea coastline, officials in Thailand announced an international task force to oversee the task of identifying victims. Officials said the process of taking dental X-rays, fingerprints and DNA samples, and matching them to surviving families "will take many months to complete", and admitted some bodies may never be identified. \|\|\|\|\| Shoes made for Thatcher go on sale on auction website (Agencies) Updated: 2005-06-04 10:04 The online auction house eBay put on sale three pairs of shoes that were reportedly custom-made for Margaret Thatcher when she was prime minister. The minimum bid for the Rayne shoes -- colored silver, gold and black suede -- is 2,930 pounds but owner Eleanor Graham, 65, said she expects to fetch some 10,000 pounds (18,150 dollars, 14,843 euros) on the auction website. The online auction house eBay put on sale three pairs of shoes that were reportedly custom-made for Margaret Thatcher, seen here January 2005, when she was prime minister. [AFP/File] "I was just lucky - I was there at the right place at the right time when the shoes were brought in by her secretary," Graham said. Graham said she convinced the store's cashier not to remove the label "Made Especially for Mrs Margaret Thatcher" from one pair by agreeing to re-sell the shoes only after the cashier had died so that she would not get sacked. The size five shoes did not fit her, she said, so she only wore them a couple of times while she washed the dishes. Graham said she then recently thought: "Gosh, I've had a couple of heart attacks and they'll get thrown out unless I do anything." She then arranged for Flogit4u, a company that specializes in selling items on eBay, to post the items on the website for her. Flogit4u's business development manager Neil Benardout said his job is to "sniff out charlatans" but he quickly became convinced the shoes once belonged to Baroness Thatcher, the icon of 1980s power-dressing. The eBay posting also contains a copy of a 2001 letter from the former prime minister's office that confirms she did wear custom-made Rayne shoes. Graham said the letter was a response to her request for permission in 2000 to resell the shoes. However she added she regards any proceeds from the items a top-up on her pension, which got reduced under the Conservative government. There have been no bids so far for the shoes, but Graham said she remains optimistic: a handbag that once belonged to Baroness Thatcher sold for over 100,000 pounds in a 2000 eBay charity auction.	There are often odd, unusual and controversial items up for sale on eBay - multi-million euro planes, the Pope's old car and a young woman's virginity, to name just a few. But how about the Prime Minister's shoes? Shoes custom designed for former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher have been put up for sale on eBay. The shoes, which have a reserve price of £2,930 (US $3,580), are currently owned by 65 year old Eleanor Graham. Ms. Graham bought them in a Sue Ryder charity shop after seeing a member of Thatcher's staff drop them in the shop. She guessed that they would increase in value over the years, so Ms. Graham purchased them. The Rayne shoes - which come in gold, silver and black suede - are size five and come with a letter received in 2001 from Ms Thatchers office confirming that she did wear Rayne shoes. You can see the shoes at eBay by clicking here.
By Monday's end, 129 children were returned to their parents, reports say More than 400 children who were seized from a polygamist sect in Texas have begun returning home. A judge in Texas signed an order allowing parents to take the children, who were removed from the sect's ranch by state authorities in April. Officials had accused members of the sect of forcing young girls into under-age sex. But last week the Texas Supreme Court said officials had failed to prove the children faced immediate danger. Following Monday's ruling the first parents had emotional reunions with their children, the Associated Press news agency reported. "It's just a great day," said Nancy Dockstader, as she embraced one of five children taken by authorities. On Monday, 129 children were returned to their parents, AP reported. It was expected to take several days for all the families to be reunited, as some siblings were separated at facilities hundreds of miles apart. 'Grateful' The ruling placed conditions on the parents, including prohibiting them from leaving the state without court permission and ordering them to take parenting classes, AP said. They were also ordered not to interfere with the investigation into child abuse and to allow the children to undergo medical tests if necessary. Welfare workers must be allowed unannounced visits and any journey within the state of more than 100 miles (160km) must be given prior permission. Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play. Advertisement Willie Jessop, an elder for the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, said: "We're really grateful to get the order signed." He also said that under a new policy, the church would not allow under-age girls to marry. "The church will counsel families that they neither request nor consent to any under-age marriages," he said, adding that marriages within the church had always been consensual. It was not immediately clear how many of the children would return to the ranch. The sect has always denied any abuse took place and the parents had won two earlier court rulings that the children were not in immediate danger. The children were taken from the sect's Yearning For Zion ranch near the town of Eldorado in April after someone called a domestic abuse hotline claiming to be a pregnant 16-year-old abused by a much older husband. The girl has never been found and authorities are investigating whether the calls were a hoax. Half of the children taken into foster care were no older than five. Officials had alleged there was systemic sexual and physical abuse, including the "grooming" of girls to accept sex with older men once reaching puberty. The sect teaches that polygamy brings glorification in heaven. It is a splinter sect of the Mormon Church, which officially abandoned polygamy more than a century ago. E-mail this to a friend Printable version Bookmark with: Delicious Digg reddit Facebook StumbleUpon What are these? \|\|\|\|\| Eldorado Information Statement on Supreme Court Ruling On 5/29/08, the Texas Supreme Court issued a decision on the YFZ child custody case. The decision can be found on the Texas Supreme Court web site. We are disappointed, but we understand and respect the court's decision and will take immediate steps to comply. Child Protective Services has one purpose in this case - to protect the children. Our goal is to reunite families whenever we can do so and make sure the children will be safe. We will continue to prepare for the prompt and orderly reunification of these children with their families. We also will work with the district court to ensure the safety of the children and that all of our actions conform with the decision of the Texas Supreme Court. Child Protective Services has one duty ― to protect children. When we see evidence that children have been sexually abused and remain at risk of further abuse, we will act. The Department of Family and Protective Services removed children from the Yearning for Zion Ranch in Eldorado after finding a pervasive pattern of sexual abuse that puts every child at the ranch at risk. Read more: Statement on Third Court of Appeals Ruling On the morning of May 19, the first status hearings began in five courtrooms in the Tom Green County courthouse in San Angelo regarding the children removed from the YFZ Ranch outside of Eldorado, Texas. The status hearing is held within 60 days after the court renders a temporary order that places a child in the care of Child Protective Services (CPS). The hearing must be held to review the child’s service plan for reasonableness, accuracy, and compliance with requirements of court orders. Hearings for all the children in CPS’ care are scheduled between today and June 5. Plans of service for children address the goals for the child as well as changes needed to reduce the level of risk, tasks the family must complete in order to make the changes in the plan, specific skills or knowledge that parents are required to learn or behavioral changes the parents must make, and services CPS must provide to help the family complete those tasks and improve the conditions in the parents’ home to ease the child’s return to a safe home. Plans of service for the family are the documents used to guide CPS’ work with the families in support of these goals. Read more: Status Hearings Begin in San Angelo CPS Reports Second Birth in YFZ Case On Monday, May 12 at about 11:15 a.m., one of the former residents of the YFZ Ranch in the care of Child Protective Services (CPS) delivered a baby boy in Austin. The boy is healthy and the mother is doing well. The child will be placed with his mother in foster care and is in the temporary custody of CPS. The number of children now in the care of CPS is 465. The mother and 26 others are in the "disputed minors" category, which applies to YFZ Ranch residents who CPS believes are minors, or who have provided different ages and other conflicting information to CPS at different times. Since the children were moved from temporary shelters in San Angelo into foster care on April 24 and 25, CPS has been gathering and reviewing information about the persons in the disputed minors category. If CPS determines that any are adults, appropriate action will be taken. On April 29, a child was born to another former resident of the YFZ Ranch. Child Protective Services (CPS) is working with the Texas Education Agency (TEA) to provide the educational needs of the children brought into CPS care from the YFZ Ranch in Eldorado. Each child will have a Plan of Service which will include an Educational Assessment. CPS will use Educational Specialists in each region to work with the children, their foster placements, and schools to ensure each child has an individual educational plan. Read More: CPS Working with TEA to Meet Educational Needs of Eldorado Children The Department of Family and Protective Services provided the Senate Health and Human Services Committee with an update Wednesday, April 30, 2008 on the children removed from an Eldorado ranch. The update included information about some of the key challenges for investigators, the findings to date, and the care of the children. Thank you for your interest in helping the children. This situation has created an outpouring of concern from the general public and we greatly appreciate the support. \|\|\|\|\| (CNN) -- Members of a polygamist sect whose children were removed by Texas authorities could flee the state if a lower court ruling stands, according to lawyers for the state. A family waits at a San Antonio, Texas, courthouse last week for a reunion with a seized child. If sect members were to flee, they also would leave the courts' jurisdiction, attorneys for the state Child Protection Services said in court filings Tuesday to the Texas Supreme Court. The case involves 38 mothers from the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a Mormon offshoot that practices polygamy, and their 124 children. In a ruling last week, the Texas 3rd District Court of Appeals said the state had no right to remove those children in April from the Yearning For Zion Ranch near Eldorado, Texas. Although that ruling applied only to those 124 children, attorneys said the reasoning could apply to all the youths removed during the raid -- about 460. (Up to 20 of those later were found in court to be adults.) In the state's appeal, filed Friday, the lawyers maintained FLDS members live in an environment in which the sexual abuse of young girls, through forced marriage to older men, is allowed, and young boys are groomed to be perpetrators. Lawyers for CPS said the appeals court overstepped its authority in making the ruling and have asked the Texas high court to intervene. In a response, attorneys for the women said the children face "continuing, irreparable harm every day that they are separated from their parents." In the documents filed Tuesday, state officials suggested the mothers and children could flee Texas to the FLDS communities of Hildale, Utah, or Colorado City, Arizona. If they do, the documents said, no court in Texas could have any authority to enter orders aimed at protecting the children. On Friday, child welfare officials agreed to release 12 children taken from the ranch to their parents, while state courts weigh the cases of hundreds of others. Some of the children were reunited with their parents shortly after the agreement, which came after a hearing in San Antonio, said Rene Haas, an attorney for Joseph Steed Jessop Sr. and his wife, Lori. The Jessops' three children were among those released. Under the agreement, the children must stay in Bexar County, Texas, under minimal supervision until the state Supreme Court weighs in on the massive custody case. It was unclear whether the pact would affect any of the other cases. In a filing Tuesday to the Texas Supreme Court, attorneys for the mothers said that decision undermines CPS' contention that all the children on the ranch were at risk. They said the decision also undermines officials' assertion that they don't know which parents to reunite with which children because of incomplete DNA testing. The appeals court ruled that CPS could not consider the entire ranch as one household. Child welfare officials maintain the ranch is one community. But the mothers' attorneys said in court documents that the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, which oversees CPS, "has been treating parents and children as identifiable family units since the beginning of the case, allowing -- and even requiring -- visitation, and presenting the parents with family service plans describing the department's requirements for reunification. ... The department does not attempt to explain away this inconsistency. In fact, the department chooses to ignore it. This court should not." FLDS members have denied any physical or sexual abuse takes place, maintaining they face persecution for their religious beliefs. The sect's leader, Warren Jeffs, is in a Utah prison after a conviction on charges of being an accomplice to rape in connection with a marriage he performed in 2001. Jeffs also faces trial in Arizona on eight charges, including sexual conduct with a minor, incest and conspiracy. The authenticity of the initial telephone calls that focused authorities' attention on the ranch is in question. Police allege a family shelter crisis line received multiple calls on March 29 and 30 from someone claiming to be Sarah Jessop Barlow, 16. The caller reported that she had an 8-month-old baby and was pregnant again and that she was married to Dale Barlow, who allegedly abused her physically and sexually. At least one of the phones used by this caller has been traced to a Colorado woman, authorities have said. Police have named the woman a person of interest in connection with the reports of abuse at the ranch, but she has not been charged. She faces charges of providing a false report to authorities in a separate case in Colorado. All About Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints \|\|\|\|\| The US state of Texas overstepped its authority when it removed some of 460 children from a polygamist compound last month, an appeals court has ruled. The ruling is the latest twist in an unfolding saga that has riveted Texas with lurid tales of adolescent brides, teen pregnancies and a secretive religious sect following its faith in the state. Texas Child Protective Services and heavily armed police units last month raided the isolated compound in west Texas and removed the children in response to allegations of abuse. But the appeals court said that the state had not proven that the children were in immediate physical danger, and therefore were improperly separated from their parents. While the opinion covers the children of only 48 mothers, a lawyer told reporters that the ruling will likely apply to all of the children, most of whom are in foster homes across the state. The appeals court opinion gives a lower court, which initially approved the state's actions, 10 days to act. The compound is run by followers of jailed polygamist leader Warren Jeffs. They belong to a renegade Mormon sect known as the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The mainstream Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints renounced polygamy over a century ago and is at pains to distance itself from splinter groups such as the FLDS that continue to practice plural marriage. FLDS men typically marry one legal wife while those who follow are ‘spiritual wives.’ This makes those women single in the eyes of the state that can entitle them and their children to various welfare benefits. FLDS communities usually keep to themselves and lead austere lifestyles. The girls and women wear 19th century-style pioneer dresses and are taught from an early age to obey men.	A Texas court has announced that all children taken from the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS) compound in Texas are being returned to their parents. Beginning today, parents have been allowed to collect their children, all of whom were in state custody before the announcement. The more than 460 allegedly abused children were taken into state custody last month after officials say they received a call from a distressed 16-year old girl. The children were found in a 1700-acre compound belonging to the FLDS. It is now believed that the original phone call was actually a hoax. YFZ Ranch near Eldorado, Texas, owned by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The decision follows an appeals court ruling that Texas Child Protective Services (CPS) should not have taken the children from the FLDS. Recently the CPS in Texas filed papers on this issue, saying that the families may choose to flee Texas if they are reunited per the appeals courts ruling. If the families were to do that, they would then be outside the court's jurisdiction, putting the children at risk of abuse. The CPS in Texas released a statement regarding the court ruling: "We are disappointed, but we understand and respect the court's decision and will take immediate steps to comply. Child Protective Services has one purpose in this case - to protect the children. Our goal is to reunite families whenever we can do so and make sure the children will be safe. We will continue to prepare for the prompt and orderly reunification of these children with their families. We also will work with the district court to ensure the safety of the children and that all of our actions conform with the decision of the Texas Supreme Court."
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- Sales of U.S. existing homes plunged 16.7% in December to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.45 million from 6.54 million in November as a popular tax credit was set to expire, a national real estate trade group estimated Monday. The 16.7% percentage decline from November to December was the largest on record, dating back to 1968, the National Association of Realtors reported. "The tax credit clearly pulled sales forward into the fall months, leading to part of the weakness seen in December," said Omair Sharif, an economist for RBS Securities. The decline was larger than the 11% drop to 5.80 million that was expected by economists surveyed by MarketWatch. Read our complete economic calendar and consensus forecast. Market reaction to the report was notable. Stock prices fell off the highs of the day, while Treasury bond prices rallied. See our snapshot of today's U.S. market action. News Hub: Largest Real Estate Deal Goes Bust Tishman Speyer's deal for Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village, which was the biggest real estate deal at the time, may end up in bankruptcy, the News Hub panel reports. Sales in December were up 15% compared with December 2008. Read the full report on the NAR website. The median sales price rose to $178,300 in December, up 1.5% compared with a year earlier. It's the first year-over-year increase in prices since August 2007. For all of 2009, sales rose 4.9% to 5.16 million compared with 2008. It was the first annual sales gain since 2005. The median price fell 12.5% in 2009. "The market is going through a period of swings driven by the tax credit," said Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the real estate lobbying group. "We're likely to have another surge in the spring." "Job creation is the key to a continued recovery in the second half of the year," Yun said, adding he believed there was some sustainable momentum in the market. December's sales pace was up 11% compared with June's. Sales had surged about 40% from June to November in response to the federal tax credit for first-time buyers, which was set to expire on Nov. 30. As it happened, the tax credit was extended until June 2010 and expanded to cover repeat buyers. But buyers didn't know the credit would be extended when they were shopping for homes in October. In order to close in December, they would have had to sign a sales contract by early November at the latest. Existing-home sales are recorded at the closing. First-time buyers accounted for 43% of sales in December, down from 51% in November. "The housing market continues to face significant headwinds, including high unemployment, record delinquencies and foreclosures, the specter of rising mortgage rates as the Fed's [mortgage-backed securities] purchase programs comes to a close in late March, and tight credit," said Sharif of RBS Securities. "Still, the resale market showed resilience in the second half of 2009, and the expansion and extension of the tax credit to April 30 could boost purchases during the spring selling season." Inventories of unsold homes on the market dropped 6.6% to 3.29 million, the lowest since March 2006. The inventory figures are not seasonally adjusted. Inventories usually fall about 8% this time of year. The inventory represented a 7.2-month supply at the current sales pace, up from 6.5 months in November. Rex Nutting is Washington bureau chief of MarketWatch. \|\|\|\|\| WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Sales of previously owned homes suffered a record drop last month as the boost from a popular tax credit waned, raising doubts the housing market recovery can be sustained without government support. Housing Market The National Association of Realtors said on Monday that existing home sales fell 16.7 percent in December to an annual rate of 5.45 million units. It was the sharpest decline on records dating to 1968 and the slowest sales pace since August. Analysts, who had expected a 5.90 million unit pace, said the slump month underscored the degree to which the housing market recovery was reliant on government aid. "Today's numbers clearly indicate that the rebound in housing demand observed so far has been largely supported by government programs and therefore that the recovery is far from becoming self-sustaining," said Anna Piretti, an economist at BNP Paribas in New York. U.S. stock indexes briefly dipped on the data, but rebounded as attention shifted to improving prospects for Ben Bernanke to win Senate backing for a second term as Federal Reserve chairman. Rising stocks clipped U.S. government bonds' safe haven appeal, sending debt prices lower. Housing is recovering from a three-year slump, driven by a tax credit for first-time buyers and low mortgage rates. The tax credit, which had been scheduled to end last November was expanded and extended until June this year. Prospective home buyers rushed through sales to get the credit before it expired. That created a surge in November sales and a December lull once buyers saw they had an extra 7 months to take advantage of the benefit. Analysts said the tax credit extension should boost sales in months ahead but saw risks if it were phased out. Data ranging from pending home sales to builders sentiment have raised concerns the housing market, at the core of the worst U.S. downturn since the 1930s, might be slipping back. "We're becoming increasingly concerned that the housing recovery will falter once it is removed," said Paul Dales, U.S. economist at Capital Economics in Toronto. WILL RECOVERY FALTER? According to NAR, first-time home buyers accounted for 43 percent of the sales in December, down from 51 percent the previous month. Distressed transactions made up 32 percent of the sales. "Sales could improve again in the near-term as a result of the extension of the homebuyer tax credit and what we expect to be a near-term return to job growth," said Abiel Reinhart, an economist at JPMorgan in New York. "By the middle of the year, however, the housing market will run into some more headwinds as the tax credit expires and mortgage rates probably rise." Mortgage rates have been depressed by the Fed's program to buy mortgage-related securities in the market. The U.S. central bank is scheduled to end the program in March. Existing home sales for the whole of 2009 rose 4.9 percent, the Realtors group said,. However, prices fell 12.4 percent, which NAR said was "probably the largest annual drop since the Great Depression." Still, there were some encouraging signs. The median home price rose 1.5 percent from December 2008 to $178,300. That was the first year-on-year increase since August 2007 and the largest rise since May 2006. The inventory of homes available for sale last month fell to 3.29 million units, the lowest since March 2006. At December's sales pace, that represented 7.2 months' worth of supply. Analysts argue that reducing the supply of homes for sale on the market is critical for the sector's recovery. Sales fell last month in all four regions of the country. For a graphic comparing existing home sales and the U.S. mortgage market, see: here (Writing by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Andrew Hay)	Sales of previously owned homes in the US fell at the fastest rate ever recorded last December, according to data from the National Association of Realtors (NAR). According to the association, existing home sales fell 16.7% last month, to an annual rate of 5.45 million, the largest crash since 1968. The figure was less than the 5.90 million units, or an eleven percent drop, predicted by most analysts. Sales of homes went up for the entire of 2009 to 5.156 million units, or 4.9% for the year, and prices dropped from 2008 by 12.4%. NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun described the figures as being "probably the largest annual drop since the Great Depression". He said that "the market is going through a period of swings driven by the tax credit. We're likely to have another surge in the spring. Job creation is the key to a continued recovery in the second half of the year." Pierre Ellis, a senior economist for Decision Economics in New York, commented on the figures, saying: "The drop in home sales is the payback for the acceleration of sales that occurred with the original first-time home buyers tax credit. ... There is an issue as to whether the decline represents a fundamental weakening." "The housing market continues to face significant headwinds, including high unemployment, record delinquencies and foreclosures, the specter of rising mortgage rates as the Fed's mortgage-backed securities purchase programs comes to a close in late March, and tight credit," Omair Sharif, an economist for RBS Securities, noted. "Still, the resale market showed resilience in the second half of 2009, and the expansion and extension of the tax credit to April 30 could boost purchases during the spring selling season," he said. "We’ll see a pickup in existing home sales in the next couple of months as people take advantage of the tax-credit extension", economist Adam York of Wells Fargo Securities LLC in Charlotte, North Carolina claimed. He fore-casted a pace of 5.4 million. He said that there were unlikely to be buyers of homes, despite the fact that the U.S. was "past the bottom." All four regions of the country saw a decline in sales. In the Northeast, sales fell 19.5 percent, in the Midwest, they plunged 25.8 percent. The South, the country's largest region, saw a 16.3% decline, while in the West, sales waned by 4.8%. US stocks fell slightly after the announcement, but went back up later in the day.
Sigurdardóttir Ready to Become Iceland's PM The current Minister for Social Affairs, Jóhanna Sigurdardóttir of the Social Democrats, said she is prepared to assume the position of prime minister as long as she senses that her position is backed by sufficient trust. Jóhanna Sigurdardóttir speaking at parliament. Photo by Páll Kjartansson. Foreign Minister and chairwoman of the Social Democrats Ingibjörg Sólrún Gísladóttir proposed that Sigurdardóttir replace Geir H. Haarde, chairman of the Independence Party, as prime minister yesterday, Fréttabladid reports. Sigurdardóttir said the idea had only been discussed with her yesterday morning. Her first choice of a coalition is a minority government with the Left-Greens and backing from the Progressive Party. “Another option is a minority government with the Social Democrats and passivity of the Left-Greens and Progressive Party.” On whether she had discussed the matter with the Left-Greens, Sigurdardóttir replied, “I’m always talking with the Left-Greens.” According to an opinion poll undertaken by Capacent Gallup in December 2008, Jóhanna Sigurdardóttir is the most popular minister—73 percent of respondents said they were satisfied with her work. Sigurdardóttir is also the only minister whose popularity had increased compared to a similar poll undertaken in December 2007. \|\|\|\|\| Iceland's Social Affairs Minister Johanna Sigurdardottir speaks to the media following party negotiations in Reykjavik, Iceland, Wednesday Jan. 28, 2009. Sigurdardottir, 66, an openly gay former flight attendant, is expected to become Iceland's interim prime minister, and will lead the country until new elections are held.(AP Photo/Brynjar Gauti ) Iceland to appoint gay woman minister to PM post REYKJAVIK, Iceland (AP) — Iceland's next leader will be an openly gay former flight attendant who parlayed her experience as a union organizer into a decades-long political career. Both parties forming Iceland's new coalition government support the appointment of Johanna Sigurdardottir, the island nation's 66-year-old social affairs minister, as Iceland's interim prime minister. "Now we need a strong government that works with the people," Sigurdardottir told reporters Wednesday, adding that a new administration will likely be installed Saturday. Sigurdardottir will lead until new elections are held, likely in May. But analysts say she's unlikely to remain in office — chiefly because her center-left Social Democratic Alliance isn't expected to rank among the major parties after the election. In opinion polls, it trails the Left-Green movement, a junior partner in the new coalition. Iceland's previous conservative-led government failed Monday after the country's banks collapsed last fall under the weight of huge debts amassed during years of rapid economic growth. The country's currency has since plummeted, while inflation and unemployment are soaring. Former Prime Minister Geir Haarde won't lead his Independence Party into the new elections because he needs treatment for throat cancer. While Haarde endured angry protests for months and had his limousine pelted with eggs, polling company Capacent Gallup said Sigurdardottir was Iceland's most popular politician in November, with an approval rating of 73 percent. She was the only minister to see her rating improve on the previous year's score, Capacent Gallup said Wednesday. The poll of 2,000 people had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percent. "It's a question of trust, people believe that she actually cares about people," said Olafur Hardarson, a political scientist at the University of Iceland. Sigurdardottir is seen by many as a salve to the bubbling tensions in Iceland. Thousands have joined anti-government protests recently. Last week, police used tear gas for the first time in about 50 years to disperse crowds. "She is a senior parliamentarian, she is respected and loved by all of Iceland," said Environment Minister Thorunn Sveinbjarnardottir, a fellow Alliance party member. The new leader is known for allocating generous amounts of public funding to help the disabled, the elderly and organizations tackling domestic violence. But conservative critics say Sigurdardottir's leftist leanings and lack of business experience won't help her fix the economy. "Johanna is a very good woman — but she likes public spending, she is a tax raiser," Haarde said. Iceland has negotiated about $10 billion in bailout loans from the International Monetary Fund and individual countries. The loans are currently being held as foreign currency reserves. Banks that were nationalized last year are once again open and trading — but Iceland still owes millions of dollars to foreign depositors. After acting as a labor organizer when she worked as a flight attendant for Loftleidir Airlines — now Icelandair — in the 1960s and 1970s, Sigurdardottir was elected to Iceland's parliament in 1978. She served as social affairs minister from 1987-1994 and from 2007. "If there's anyone who can restore trust in the political system it's her," said Eyvindur Karlsson, a 27-year-old translator from Reykjavik. "People respect her because she's never been afraid of standing up to her own party. They see her as someone who isn't tainted by the economic crisis." In 1995, Sigurdardottir quit the party and formed her own, which won four parliamentary seats in a national election. Several years later, she rejoined her old party when it merged with three other center-left groups. While a woman has served in the largely symbolic role of president, Sigurdardottir will be Iceland's first female prime minister. She lives with journalist Jonina Leosdottir, who became her civil partner in 2002, and has two sons from a previous marriage. Sigurdardottir is best known for her reaction to a failed bid to lead her party in 1994. "My time will come," she predicted in her concession speech. Associated Press Writer Valur Gunnarsson contributed to this report. \|\|\|\|\| An openly gay female politician is considered the most likely candidate to step into an interim prime minister position in Iceland. Gay weekly The Washington Blade is reporting that openly lesbian Johanna Siguroardottir, a member of the Icelandic Parliament since 1978, will most likely take over the position of prime minister being vacated by Geir Haarde, who stepped down last week amid intense pressure to solve the country's financial crisis. “If Siguroardottir does become prime minister,” daily newspaper the Icelandic Review reported, “she will be the first woman to serve as prime minister in the country's history and also the fist openly gay prime minister in the world.” Iceland does have a president, but the position is considered mostly symbolic. Siguroardottir's government profile includes personal details about her life, including her marriage to writer and playwright Jonina Leosdottir. She is the mother of two adult sons from a previous marriage. Siguroardottir, the country's Social Affairs Minister, has a storied background of middle-class mom goes to Reykjavik and does good. Free from familial political connections, she is seen as a trusted ally of the people, a fact born out in her whopping 73% approval rating, making her the most popular minister in the country. Her consideration is the result of the collapse of Iceland's coalition government. Prime Minister Haarde, head of the Independence Party, on Monday called for elections for May amid boisterous demonstrations over an economy in tailspin that has decimated the standard of living for the average Icelander, The Associated Press reports. The country's currency, the krona, continues to plummet. Haarde, who is battling cancer, also decided to step down. The remnants of the political parties said they would form a new interim government that would rule until the May elections are held. The strongest party, the Social Democratic Alliance Party, has proposed Siguroardottir to be appointed interim prime minister. “If she is gay, that is not an issue at all,” said Olafur Sigurdsson, deputy chief of mission at the Icelandic Embassy in Washington. “We are very liberal in that sense. It has never been an issue for her as a politician.” \|\|\|\|\| Just two years after holding a parliamentary election, voters in Iceland are likely to return to the polls next May 9 for an early general election. Normally, the poll would not need to be held until 2011, but these are anything but normal times in the Nordic island nation, whose economy has been devastated by the ongoing global financial crisis. With all of Iceland's three major banks under receivership since October; the national currency (the krona) having lost over half its value and the stock market over 90 percent of its value; inflation and unemployment on the rise; and the GDP expected to contract by ten percent this year, public discontent over the perceived mismanagement of the economy by the coalition government of Iceland's two major parties - the conservative Independence Party and the left-of-center Social Democratic Alliance - has fueled mounting protests, first on a weekly basis and more recently on a daily basis. The protests, which have drawn crowds of up to six thousand - a respectable figure for a country with a population of just over 300,000 - had been peaceful until last week, when they suddenly turned violent. In response, Prime Minister Geir Haarde announced he would call an early election for May 9; he also indicated that he would step down due to health reasons, having been diagnosed with esophageal cancer. Prime Minister Haarde initially let it know he intended to stay in office until the early election was held, but protests continued to take place, demanding the government's immediate resignation. Minister of Business Affairs Björgvin G. Sigurðsson subsequently announced he would resign from office immediately, and Haarde's grand coalition government came apart shortly thereafter. In many ways, the events currently taking place in Iceland are reminiscent of developments in Argentina during that country's economic meltdown in late 2001, in which increasingly intense, violent protests forced the ouster of then-president Fernando de la Rúa under the rallying cry of "¡Que se vayan todos!," or "Away with them all!" - "them" being the politicians. To be certain, voters in Argentina didn't get rid of all the incumbent elected officials, but the financial crisis of 2001-02 crushed de la Rúa's Radical Civic Union (UCR), which until then had been one of the country's major political parties, and obliterated the Radicals' allies as well. Likewise, Iceland's ruling parties may be in for a major setback in the upcoming election: opinion polls indicate that the Independence Party - which has dominated Icelandic party politics since the country severed its union with Denmark in 1944 - may lose its pre-eminent status, while support for the Alliance has fluctuated wildly, with more recent polls suggesting the party is likely to lose considerable ground as well. The two parties that currently stand out to gain the most are the opposition Left-Green Movement - which stands to the left of the Alliance and appears set to become the largest party in the upcoming election - and the agrarian, middle-of-the road Progressive Party. The Left-Green Movement has never been in power, while the Progressives has held office frequently, most recently from 1995 to 2007 as the Independence Party's coalition partner. Meanwhile, Iceland's grass-root movements may also take part in the upcoming election, and they could find fertile ground for their agenda: according to one opinion poll, eight percent of voters would support parties other than the ones that ran in the preceding election. At any rate, no single party is likely to gain an overall parliamentary majority under Iceland's proportional representation system (reviewed in Elections to the Icelandic Althing), and the election winner will have to find coalition partners in order to form a government. That said, it remains too early to tell what kind of government may emerge from the election, all the more so because unlike in most of the other Nordic countries, right-left coalitions such as the outgoing Independence Party-Alliance administration are a fairly common occurrence in Iceland. Update Iceland President Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson has asked Social Democratic Alliance leader (and outgoing Minister for Foreign Affairs) Ingibjörg Sólrún Gísladóttir to form a minority coalition government with the Left-Green Movement, which would also be supported by the Progressive Party. However, Gísladóttir, who underwent a brain tumor operation last year, is expected to appoint Minister of Social Affairs Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir as interim prime minister. If confirmed, Sigurðardóttir - who remains highly popular - would become Iceland's first ever female premier and the world's first openly gay head of government. Originally published at the Global Economy Matters blog and reproduced here with the author’s permission.	Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir, an openly gay Icelandic politician currently serving as the nation's Minister for Social Affairs, is soon to be appointed prime minister. The appointment will mark the first time ever that an openly gay individual has been appointed head of a national government. She will remain interim prime minister until the general election, rescheduled for May. Jóhanna, 66, has support from both parties in the new coalition government, and she says she will accept the position under the condition that both parties will trust her. On January 27, it was announced that the nation's coalition government had collapsed and dissolved following a banking financial crisis. In October of 2008, Iceland's banking sector collapsed and was largely nationalised. "Now we need a strong government that works with the people," said Jóhanna during a press conference. She will be replacing the current prime minister, Geir Haarde who resigned on January 26, and is the chairmen of the nation's independent party and a critic of Jóhanna. He criticizes her not for her sexual orientation, but her appointment because he believes she will not help the economic crisis, resulting in more government spending. The new minority coalition will consist of Jóhanna's Social Democratic Alliance and the Left-Green Movement with backing from the Progressive Party. Elections are expected in May 2009. The Social Democratic Alliance was also in the previous coalition with Geir's Independence Party. "Jóhanna is a very good woman — but she likes public spending, she is a tax raiser," said Geir. A 2008 poll conducted in December, found that 73% of 2,000 people surveyed supported Jóhanna, which would make her the country's most popular prime minister in their government's history. Iceland's deputy chief of mission at the Icelandic embassy in Washington, D.C. located in the United States, Olafur Sigurdsson, says that her homosexuality was never a problem with most other government officials. "If she is gay, that is not an issue at all. We are very liberal in that sense. It has never been an issue for her as a politician," said Olafur. Before entering the world of politics, Jóhanna worked for Loftleidir Airlines as a flight attendant for about 10 years, before she got elected to parliament in 1978. From 1987 to 1994 and then from 2007 until the present day, she has served as the country's Minister for Social Affairs.
Analysis: As the Nation Reels, Trump Tries to Rile It Up Smearing opponents, pushing conspiracies, pursuing vendettas: President Trump is stoking the country’s divisions in spite of the pandemic. \|\|\|\|\| Sinn Féin endorses PSNI by overwhelming majority Mark Hennessy, Gerry Moriarty and Dan Keenan Sinn Féin has voted by an overwhelming majority to endorse the Police Service of Northern Ireland and the rule of law in the North. An extraordinary Sinn Féin ardfheis at the RDS in Dublin yesterday endorsed a motion driven by Sinn Féin leaders Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness to support policing. The final decision of the ardfheis was never in doubt from the opening speeches by Mr Adams and Mr McGuinness. But the extent of the victory, with over 90 per cent of the 982 voting delegates supporting the motion, caused surprise. "The decision we have taken today is truly historic," said Mr Adams. "This is one of the most important debates in the history of republicanism and of this country," he added. "Let's not be upset by how others respond to today's decision. The higher they build their barriers the stronger we become," he said in a reference to how the DUP will respond. "This ardfheis acted in the national interest. We look to others to do the same in the time ahead," he added. The pressure will now fall on the DUP leader, Rev Ian Paisley, to state whether he would be prepared to enter into a powersharing Stormont administration with him as first minister and Mr McGuinness as deputy first minister on March 26th. That pressure is likely to be intensified based on an Independent Monitoring Commission report on IRA activity tomorrow, which sources say will be positive. Dr Paisley's initial response indicated that any potential positive DUP response will not happen before Assembly elections on March 7th. "Only with real delivery can the way be cleared for a full return to democracy, and the facing up to the everyday needs and requirements of the people of Northern Ireland," Dr Paisley said. Delegates spoke over four to one in favour of the motion put forward by the ardchomhairle. Nearly 1,000 delegates were entitled to vote at the ardfheis, though another 2,000 had visiting rights. Delegates queued from before 9am to gain entry to the RDS venue. The motion "commits fully" to support for the PSNI and the criminal justice system, and to take up places on the Policing Board and the district policing partnership boards. However, it is qualified because the party's ardchomhairle has been mandated to implement it only if powersharing is established and when satisfactory arrangements to transfer policing and justice powers are agreed - or failing that to support the PSNI when new British-Irish "partnership arrangements" are in place. The Sinn Féin ardchomhairle will discuss the issue in Dublin tomorrow. Urging delegates to vote in favour, Mr McGuinness said: "You have a decision to make and it is a big decision. Today is decision day when Sinn Féin moves decisively forward." The Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, and the British prime minister, Tony Blair, will meet at Downing Street tomorrow. The transitional Assembly is also due to be dissolved at midnight tonight, triggering the Assembly elections for March 7th. Welcoming Sinn Féin's decision, Mr Ahern said it was a landmark move that "opened the way for inclusive support for policing throughout Northern Ireland. That is profoundly in the interests of everybody". He said the timetable set out at St Andrews must be kept. SDLP leader Mark Durkan said the vote "should be matched by the DUP committing to restoration [of the executive] and powersharing". © 2007 The Irish Times \|\|\|\|\| About 900 party members voted on the motion at a special party conference (ard fheis) in Dublin which was attended by more than 2,000 people. Sinn Fein support for policing and DUP commitment to power-sharing are seen as essential to restoring NI devolution. A six hour debate was cut short as the leadership forced a vote which was carried with 90% support. The decision gives Sinn Fein's ruling executive the authority to declare its support for the PSNI and the criminal justice system when devolution is restored and policing and justice powers are transferred to the Northern Ireland Assembly. You have created the potential to change the political landscape on this island forever Gerry Adams Reaction to the Sinn Fein vote Q&A;: The vote Speaking after the vote, Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams said the decision was truly historic. "Today you have created the potential to change the political landscape on this island forever," he said. "You have created the opportunity to significantly advance our struggle and you have seized the opportunity to further our primary objective of united Ireland through the building of greater political strength." Mr Adams also said that republicanism and unionism had reached an historic compromise. "If the promise and hope of the peace process is to deliver peace and prosperity, that means beginning a real dialogue, an anti-sectarian dialogue, a dialogue which will move us to a real future," he added. A spokesman for Tony Blair said the prime minister welcomed the "historic decision and recognised the leadership it has taken to get to this point". Irish Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said the ballot was a "landmark decision" which opened the way to Northern Ireland power-sharing. He said: "It is vital that we continue to maintain the momentum from the St Andrews agreement and the timetable set out in that agreement." Sir Hugh Orde said he welcomed the Sinn Fein vote Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain described the vote as a breakthrough. "What had always been a massive impediment to stable and lasting government (in Northern Ireland) has been removed," he said. PSNI Chief Constable Sir Hugh Orde also welcomed the move. "Our view has always been that policing is a public service which every member of the community should be able to access on an equal and equitable basis," he said. "I have always said that no ideology or individual should stand between the public and that service and that the community is entitled to have their public representatives hold this police service to account." HAVE YOUR SAY Slowly but surely there is a sign of lasting peace Ciaran Murphy, Belfast Send us your comments "Full political and community support for policing will be for the benefit of the whole community," he added. DUP MP for East Antrim Sammy Wilson said he accepted Sinn Fein had taken a step forward. He said: "The ultimate test of this, because there is no trust in Sinn Fein, is will they deliver on supporting policing before they get into government? "They cannot get into government and not support the police." 'Massive step' Ulster Unionist leader Sir Reg Empey said the move was "a massive step change in the republican psyche". "It is an admission that the violent 'cause' has been abandoned and that Sinn Fein are prepared to support the forces of law and order in this part of the United Kingdom," he added. SDLP leader Mark Durkan said: "They now need to sign with no ifs or buts. As Gerry Adams now accepts, nationalist areas need policing." Mr Blair and Mr Ahern have identified Sinn Fein support for the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) as being crucial to persuading the DUP to share power in a devolved government with Sinn Fein by 26 March. If an election does not occur, Stormont will be dissolved indefinitely. The transitional assembly at Stormont will dissolve on 30 January in anticipation of an election on 7 March. \|\|\|\|\| GERRY ADAMS, SINN FEIN PRESIDENT If we are to make progress as a people, as an island people, then republicans and nationalists and unionists will have to set the terms of our relationship. Republicans - we who have assembled here and thousands like us - believe that the best way to achieve this is to take control of our own destiny. This means persuading the British government to face up to its responsibilities - and that means the British government leaving Ireland. BERTIE AHERN, IRISH PREMIER This a landmark decision which has opened the way to Northern Ireland power-sharing. It is vital that we continue to maintain the momentum from the St Andrews agreement and the timetable set out in that agreement. PETER HAIN, NI SECRETARY This overwhelming endorsement of the Sinn Fein leadership's support for policing and the courts puts Northern Ireland in a place where it has never been before. What had always been a massive impediment to stable and lasting government has been removed. We have always said that to make the breakthrough both Sinn Fein and the DUP have both to deliver on the twin pillars of support for policing and power-sharing. Now, that can be done. SIR HUGH ORDE, PSNI CHIEF CONSTABLE Our view has always been that policing is a public service which every member of the community should be able to access on an equal and equitable basis. I have always said that no ideology or individual should stand between the public and that service and that the community is entitled to have their public representatives hold this police service to account. I believe that the community has recognised for some time now the value and importance of the professional and dedicated service provided by the officers and staff of the Police Service of Northern Ireland on a daily basis. I recognise and pay tribute to the courage and determination of people both inside and outside the police service who have enabled us to arrive at this moment. It marks another step along a road which has travelled through some difficult territory and visited pain and hurt on many families, including policing families. SIR REG EMPEY, UUP LEADER The UUP has been saying for months that Sinn Fein had nowhere else to go as they had to sign up to the Pledge of Office to support law and order before joining any future executive. It should also be noted that the decision of the SDLP to support policing in 2001 made today only a matter of time. The tragedy is that it has taken republicans so long to wake up to change and play their last card. DESMOND REA, POLICING BOARD I welcome the decision taken today and look forward to Sinn Fein joining the Policing Board, which I trust will be sooner rather than later. Full political and community support for policing will be for the benefit of the whole community. SAMMY WILSON, DUP MP The ultimate test of this, because there is no trust in Sinn Fein, is will they deliver on supporting policing before they get into government? They cannot get into government and not support the police. DAVID LIDINGTON, SHADOW NI SECRETARY We welcome this as a step forward. Now we need to see evidence of actions on the ground to demonstrate the republican movement is matching words with deeds. MARK DURKAN, SDLP LEADER Mark Durkan said politics in Northern Ireland could move forward They now need to sign with no ifs or buts. As Gerry Adams now accepts, nationalist areas need policing. That's why it makes no sense to wait until the DUP accepts the devolution of justice. The British and Irish Governments want to see powers over policing devolved to an Northern Ireland minister by 2008, a prospect leading DUP figures have ruled should not happen within a political life-time. \|\|\|\|\| Gerry Adams asked dissident republicans to meet with him The group has also denied involvement in any plot to kill senior members of the party. Sinn Fein's Martin McGuinness said on Thursday that the police had warned him of new threats to his life. Dissident republican groups are opposing Sinn Fein leaders' proposals that the party backs the PSNI at a special ard fheis this Sunday. On Thursday night, Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams told republicans in Londonderry that if the party did support policing it would be to "put manners" on the PSNI. He was addressing more than 1,000 people at the party's last rally ahead of this weekend's special ard fheis (conference) on policing to be held in Dublin. The DUP's Ian Paisley Jr said his remarks were "childish and pathetic". Mr Adams clarified that he had meant his party would "make sure they are professional, non-partisan and civic". He said they wanted a "service for citizens who are nationalists, republicans, unionists, of different racial or ethnic backgrounds". "We don't have it at the moment but we have the ability to get it, and that's what Sinn Fein is about," he added. Concern During the meeting, members of the audience expressed concern about collusion and the accountability of MI5. There was also criticism about the decommissioning of the IRA's weapons. Ultimately, it is the British government which will recruit, it is the British government which will train, motivate, and above all who will pay and give the orders to such a police force Ruairi O'Bradaigh Republican Sinn Fein President Mr Adams told the crowd: "(I have asked to meet) people in armed groups which are not in cessation, one that styles itself the Continuity IRA and the other the Real IRA. "In my opinion, there is only one IRA, and that's the one which fought the British for a very long time." More than 2,000 republicans are expected to vote at the ard fheis this weekend. Sinn Fein's party executive decided earlier this month to go ahead with the ard fheis. It had earlier been put in doubt after the party complained about the lack of a "positive response" from the DUP. The British government has said Sinn Fein support for policing and the DUP's commitment to power-sharing are essential if devolution is to be restored in Northern Ireland. Denied CIRA links Meanwhile, Republican Sinn Fein are considering fielding prisoner candidates in the March assembly election. Interviewed for the BBC's Inside Politics, Republican Sinn Fein President Ruairi O'Bradaigh said he hoped young republicans would oppose Gerry Adams's support for the PSNI at Sunday's special ard fheis in Dublin. A former IRA chief of staff, Mr O'Bradaigh outlined why he did not accept that the future devolution of justice would change the nature of the police in Northern Ireland. "Ultimately, it is the British government which will recruit, it is the British government which will train, motivate, and above all who will pay and give the orders to such a police force," he said. "That is already happening." Mr O'Bradaigh has consistently denied that his party is linked to the dissident paramilitary group Continuity IRA (CIRA). \|\|\|\|\| Those murdered were all victims of the UVF Nuala O'Loan's report said UVF members in the area committed murders and other serious crimes while working as informers for Special Branch. It said two retired assistant chief constables refused to cooperate with the investigation. Special Branch officers gave the killers immunity, it said. I am convinced that at least one prosecution will arise out of today's report Peter Hain Northern Ireland secretary What is collusion? The Special Branch officers "created false notes" and blocked searches for UVF weapons. They also paid almost £80,000 to leading loyalist Mark Haddock, jailed for 10 years last November for an attack on a nightclub doorman. Responding to the report, Chief Constable Sir Hugh Orde offered an apology to the victims' families. As a consequence of the practices of Special Branch, the position of the UVF, particularly in north Belfast and Newtownabbey was consolidated and strengthened over the years Nuala O'Loan Police Ombudsman Report: Analysis He said the report made "shocking, disturbing and uncomfortable reading". NI Secretary Peter Hain said: "I am convinced that at least one prosecution will arise out of today's report." Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams said republicans would "not be surprised or shocked by the revelations". "We think that it's an incentive that the mechanisms which were put in place for accountability, which we put in place and which we have argued for, now need to be deployed, not only to make sure that this does not happen (again), but if it does, that those guilty will be dealt with properly," he said. POLICE COLLUSION REPORT Read the full report [742kb] Most computers will open this document automatically, but you may need Adobe Reader Download the reader here The report, published on Monday, called for a number of murder investigations to be re-opened. But it is unlikely that any of the police officers involved will be prosecuted - the ombudsman said that evidence was deliberately destroyed to ensure there could not be prosecutions. Nuala O'Loan said investigation was a lengthy task. "What emerged during our inquiries was that all of the informants at the centre of this investigation were members of the UVF," she said. "There was no effective strategic management of these informants. As a consequence of the practices of Special Branch, the position of the UVF, particularly in north Belfast and Newtownabbey was consolidated and strengthened over the years. How could this happen?" CRIMES LINKED TO INFORMANTS The murders of 10 people 10 attempted murders 10 "punishment" shootings 13 "punishment" attacks A bomb attack in Monaghan 17 instances of drug dealing Additional criminality, including criminal damage, extortion and intimidation Mrs O'Loan said former Chief Constable Sir Ronnie Flanagan was interviewed by her office, but was unable to assist the investigation. The report said: "Others, including some serving officers, gave evasive, contradictory, and on occasion farcical answers to questions. "On occasion those answers indicated either a significant failure to understand the law, or contempt for the law." The ombudsman's investigation began more than three years ago when Belfast welder Raymond McCord claimed that his son, also called Raymond, had been killed by a police informer. The former RAF man, 22, was a member of the UVF who had some involvement in drugs. In 1977, he was beaten to death and his body dumped in a quarry. Sharon McKenna was murdered in 1992 Mr McCord has said he wants those who murdered his son to be put in prison. He said he had received a death threat at the weekend from the UVF. Among the investigations which could be re-opened are the murder in north Belfast in 1992 of 27-year-old taxi driver Sharon McKenna, who was shot at the home of an elderly friend. The names of the police officers and the informers have not been made public. However, it is known that the main informer at the centre of the investigation is Mark Haddock, who was named in the Irish parliament 15 months ago as a UVF killer. RUC chiefs 1980 - 2001 1980: Sir John Hermon 1989: Sir Hugh Annesley 1996: Sir Ronnie Flanagan 2001: Police Service of Northern Ireland launched Some of the Special Branch officers criticised in the report have rejected the ombudsman's allegations as "unfounded and incapable of substantiation". In a statement, the Northern Ireland Retired Police Officers' Association said they had always acted in the best interests of the pursuit of justice and had nothing to be ashamed of. The officers also challenged the ombudsman to disclose the details of any evidence of their criminal behaviour discovered during her investigation.	Badge of the Police Service of Northern Ireland. Sinn Féin's support of the PSNI is considered crucial to getting devolution working again.Sinn Féin, the Irish political party widely regarded as the political wing of the Provisional Irish Republican Army, has voted to accept the Police Service of Northern Ireland at an ''ard fheis'' (party conference) held in Dublin. 982 party members voted on the motion at the conference, where over 2,500 people were in attendance. Surprisingly, over 90% voted in support of the motion after leadership forced a vote to cut short a six hour debate. Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams called the decision was truly historic, saying, "Today you have created the potential to change the political landscape on this island forever." The vote is historic due to the fact that Irish republicans viewed the police and the legal system in Northern Ireland as a unit of British rule since the partition of Ireland in 1921. In fact, from the start of the troubles to the ceasefire in the late 1990s, the Provisional IRA had fought the PSNI's predecessor, the Royal Ulster Constabulary. Last Monday, a report released by Nuala O'Loan, the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland confirmed collusion between the RUC and the loyalist paramilitary Ulster Volunteer Force. He also he was also willing to meet with dissident Irish republicans such as the Continuity IRA and it's political wing, Republican Sinn Féin; and also the Real IRA, who was responsible for the 1998 Omagh bombing, saying " However, Adams also claimed at a rally on Friday, he felt, "In my opinion, there is only one IRA, and that's the one which fought the British for a very long time." However, the Continuity IRA and Republican Sinn Féin rejected Adams' offer. Ruairí Ó Brádaigh, the Republican Sinn Féin president said, "Ultimately, it is the British government which will recruit, it is the British government which will train, motivate, and above all who will pay and give the orders to such a police force." A statement from Downing Street said that British Prime Minister Tony Blair welcomed the "historic decision and recognised the leadership it has taken to get to this point". Irish Taoiseach Bertie Ahern called the vote a "landmark decision," and that it "has opened the way to Northern Ireland power-sharing." Blair and Ahern will meet at Downing Street tomorrow. Sinn Féin's support of policing was one of the obstacles to the devolution process, the other is Ian Paisley's Democratic Unionist Party commitment to power-sharing. The acceptance of the police is what Blair and Ahern believe is crucial to persuade the DUP into setting up a new government. Ian Paisley said his stand "forced Sinn Féin to recognize support for the police and the rule of law as an issue of paramount importance for which there can be no other way" and that "Sinn Féin must now walk this road, the time for true, visible and open support for the police and law enforcement has arrived." Some Democratic Unionists believe that Sinn Féin had only made a commitment in words only and that people in Sinn Féin power bases would not report crimes. Peter Hain, Northern Ireland secretary said the vote was a breakthrough. PSNI Chief Constable Sir Hugh Orde welcomed the decision also. Professor Sir Desmond Rea, the chairman of the Northern Ireland Policing Board hoped to see Sinn Féin join the board. Sir Reg Empey, the leader of the Ulster Unionist Party said it was "a massive step change in the republican psyche." Social Democratic and Labour Party leader, Mark Durkan said "They now need to sign with no ifs or buts. As Gerry Adams now accepts, nationalist areas need policing." The transitional assembly at Stormont is due to be dissolved tomorrow in preparation for elections on March 7. However, if the process goes astray and no election occurs, the assembly will be dissolved and remain dissolved indefinitely. Finally, the Indepdent Monitoring commission is due to release a report on the IRA's commitment to the peace process according to the British and Irish governments.
BAGHDAD At least 40 people, 16 them Iranian pilgrims, were killed and 72 were wounded Sunday in a suicide bombing in Baghdad at the doorstep of one of Iraq’s holiest Shiite shrines, government and hospital officials said. The attacker appeared to have singled out a procession of Iranian pilgrims visiting the shrine of Imams Musa al-Kadhim and Mohammed al-Jawad in Baghdad’s northern Kadhimiya district, witnesses and security officers said. Earlier in the day, a bus carrying Iranian pilgrims to Kadhimiya was hit by a blast from a roadside bomb in Diyala Province northeast of Baghdad, the Iraqi police said. Five people were wounded. In the war here, Shiites have often been attacked on religious holidays. The holiest month of the Shiite calendar, Muharram, began last Monday, and many went out to celebrate, heartened by the steep declines in violence in the past year and the assurances from the government that its soldiers were ready to take over control of security from United States forces. \|\|\|\|\| BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A suicide bomber killed at least 40 people and injured 70 -- many of them women -- during a Shia pilgrimage in northwestern Baghdad Sunday, Iraqi officials told CNN. Pilgrims, pictured above, have gathered to celebrate the Shia holy period of Ashura. The dead included at least 16 Iranians who had come to mark the Shia holy period of Ashura, which commemorates a central event in the history of the movement. At least 32 Iranians were among the wounded. The other casualties were Iraqi, an Interior Ministry official said. The bomber was a woman wearing an abaya, a robe-like dress, said Maj. Gen. Qassim Atta, military spokesman for Fardh al-Qanoon, an interagency domestic security body. She seems to have been targeting women, Atta and an interior ministry source said. The Interior Ministry official declined to be identified. The attack appears to be the single deadliest suicide bombing in Iraq since a bomber killed 47 people in Kirkuk in December 11. It took place in Baghdad's Kadhimiya neighborhood, not far from the Imam Moussa al-Kadhim holy shrine. Hundreds of thousands of Shiite pilgrims are expected in Baghdad and the southern Iraqi city of Karbala for Ashura, which falls on January 7 this year. Ashura commemorates the martyrdom of Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad. He was killed in battle in Karbala in 680, one of the events that helped create the schism between Sunnis and Shiites, the two main Muslim religious movements. CNN's Mohammed Tawfeeq in Baghdad contributed to this report.	Site of the Suicide bombing - outside the Imam Moussa Al-kadhim shrine in the Kadhimiyah neighborhood: Kadhimayn Mosque - Shrine of the 7th and 9th Shia Imams: Musa al-Kadhim & Muhammad at-Taqi. A suicide bombing in Iraq has killed at least 40 people and injured at least 72 more, according to local police. The suicide bomber, a woman wearing an abaya, a robe-like dress, struck near the entrance of a revered Shiite shrine Imam Moussa Al-kadhim Sunday morning in the Kadhimiya neighborhood. The attack comes during a Shia pilgrimage where many Iranians were celebrating the Shia holy Day of Ashura. Sunday's bombing came during Muharram, the first month of the Islamic calendar, among the holiest months for all Shiites Muslims, who prepare to commemorate the martyrdom of Imam Hussein, Prophet Muhammad's grandson, who was killed during a 680 battle in Karbala. A similar attack was perpetrated nine days after a December 26 car bomb exploded a minibus near the same holy shrine, which honors Khadim, considered the Seventh Imam, and killed at least 24 people and wounded 46 others.
Access This article is part of Nature's premium content. Published online 26 January 2007 \| Nature \| doi:10.1038/news070122-11 News Targeting fake drugs Chemists develop method for spotting counterfeit pharmaceuticals. Pharmaceutical fraudsters have had an easy ride for years — counterfeit drugs are notoriously difficult to detect through all the layers of packaging. But a new tweak to an old stalwart of analytical chemistry could change all that. To read this story in full you will need to login or make a payment (see right). Reader comments are usually moderated after posting. If you find something offensive or inappropriate, you can speed this process by clicking 'Report this comment' (or, if that doesn't work for you, email redesign@nature.com). For more controversial topics, we reserve the right to moderate before comments are published. \|\|\|\|\| Counterfeit pharmaceuticals Murder by medicine This article is available to Premium and Premium plus subscribers. 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Get information on With ayou get full access to news@nature.com for the previous 30 days, and the ability to personalise your own news page.With ayou get full access to news@nature.com, the full archive back to 1998, the ability to personalise your own news page, and articles up to 2 weeks before they appear in print.Existing personal subscribers to Nature, Nature Medicine, Nature Biotechnology or Nature Reviews Drug Discovery now receive news@nature.com Premium Plus access free with their subscription. Simply login with your existing username and password. If you do NOT currently subscribe to one of these journals, check a journal below and you will be redirected to the appropriate subscription page.Get information on institutional site license access here Current subscribers Log in to view the article USERNAME PASSWORD Save password ? \| Forgotten password? Subscribe Get full article access $ 7.99 per month (online only) Premium$ 7.99 per month (online only) $ 15.99 per month (online only) Premium Plus$ 15.99 per month (online only) Get information on Existing personal subscribers to Nature, Nature Medicine, Nature Biotechnology or Nature Reviews Drug Discovery now receive news@nature.com Premium Plus access free with their subscription. Simply login with your existing username and password. If you do NOT currently subscribe to one of these journals, check a journal below and you will be redirected to the appropriate subscription page.Get information on institutional site license access here Nature $159 Nature Biotechnology $178 Nature Medicine $199 Nature Reviews Drug Discovery $199 e-alerts recommend to your library live newsfeeds ADVERTISEMENT	A recent improvement of an old technique in spectroscopy sparks hope for detection of counterfeit drugs, an article in the journal ''Analytical Chemistry'' published by American Chemical Society said. Such technique could make fake drugs detection a lot easier and faster than it is currently practiced, according to the article. A group of scientists at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory have tested a method called spatially offset Raman spectroscopy (SORS) on a range of over-the-counter drugs, like ibuprofen and paracetamol, to show how to test whether they are fake or not without destroying the packaging. Current practice, using conventional Raman spectroscopy, in spotting fake drugs are not applicable when they are encapsulated or enclosed in bottles or blister packs. This difficulty makes analysis of suspect drug tedious as drug testers have to open the package and bring out the chemicals. Charlotte Eliasson and Pavel Matousek tested the drugs without removing them from their packages. They then compared the result with the known characteristics of the drugs and with the result obtained using conventional method. They reported that, unlike conventional method, SORS could identify the drugs. Eliasson and Matousek's recent paper concluded that "the new approach is particularly beneficial in situations where the conventional... method is hampered or fails because of interfering signals emanating from the packaging that contaminates the much weaker signals of the drug chemicals held in the product." "These interfering signals can be effectively suppressed by SORS," the paper ended. SORS technology is currently under development for commercial release. A company is being set up in Didcot to develop SORS for use in the anti-counterfeit industry. The technology is also envisioned to be used to monitor drugs as they go through the manufacturing process. The technique could save the industry substantial amounts of money both from counterfeit drugs and in drug production.
April 29 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. economy plunged again in the first quarter, making this the worst recession in at least half a century. Gross domestic product dropped at a 6.1 percent annual pace, weaker than forecast, after contracting at a 6.3 percent rate in the last three months of 2008, the Commerce Department said today in Washington. The report, which reflected a record slump in inventories and further declines in housing, came hours before Federal Reserve officials said the economy continued to contract at a “somewhat slower” pace. Smaller stockpiles may set the stage for a return to growth in the second half of the year amid signs Fed efforts to reduce borrowing costs and unclog lending are starting to pay off. The contraction persisted even as lower gasoline prices and larger tax refunds helped bring an end to the worst slump in consumer spending in almost three decades. “We are likely to emerge from this recession very slowly and the recovery will be very weak,” said Richard Berner, chief U.S. economist at Morgan Stanley in New York. “The aggressive policy response we have gotten will take time to work, but it will counter the still-strong headwinds holding the economy back.” The Fed refrained from increasing purchases of Treasuries and mortgage securities, saying that the economy is showing some signs of stability. “Household spending has shown signs of stabilizing, but remains constrained by ongoing job losses, lower housing wealth and tight credit,” policy makers said in their policy statement. The target rate was unchanged near zero. Stocks Rise Stocks rose as more companies beat profit estimates and investors speculated bank losses peaked. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index climbed 2.2 percent to close at 873.64. Treasuries dropped, pushing the yield on benchmark 10-year notes up to 3.09 percent at 4:16 p.m. in New York from 3.01 percent late yesterday. “This is one of those good-bad numbers,” Joel Naroff, president of Naroff Economic Advisors Inc. in Holland, Pennsylvania, said in a Bloomberg Television interview. “Businesses are running about as lean as they possibly can be. It sets up the reality that any sort of increase in demand will cause firms to have to increase production.” As a result, Naroff predicted growth won’t “be nearly as bad in the current quarter, and will probably be reasonably good.” Deepening Slump The world’s largest economy has shrunk 3.3 percent since peaking in last year’s second quarter, already making this the second-worst recession since the Great Depression. GDP shrank 3.8 percent during the 1957-58 contraction, according to figures from the Bureau of Economic Analysis. The median forecast of 71 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News projected GDP, the sum of all goods and services produced, would shrink at a 4.7 percent pace. Estimates ranged from declines of 2.8 percent to 8 percent. Today’s advance report is the first of three estimates on first-quarter growth. Consumer spending, which accounts for about 70 percent of the economy, climbed at a 2.2 percent annual pace last quarter, the most in two years. Purchases dropped at an average 4.1 percent rate in the last half of 2008, the biggest slide since 1980. Part of the improvement may be due to government efforts to stem the recession. In its prior meeting on March 18, the Fed pledged to double mortgage-debt purchases to $1.45 trillion and buy as much as $300 billion in long-term Treasuries. That’s helped bring down rates on mortgages and auto loans. Return to Growth “Most people are saying we could bottom out in the second half of the year, maybe in the third quarter, and then see positive growth again,” Christina Romer, the White House’s chief economist, said in a Bloomberg Television interview. “We’re certainly looking for some positive news towards the end of the year.” Companies trimmed stockpiles at a $103.7 billion annual rate last quarter, the biggest drop since records began in 1947. Excluding the reduction, the economy would have contracted at a 3.4 percent pace. Companies cut total spending, including equipment, software and construction projects, at a record 38 percent annual pace. Residential construction also decreased at a 38 percent pace last quarter, the most since 1980. Bush ‘Hangover’ “The hangover from the Bush administration is even worse than we thought,” Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney, chairman of the Joint Economic Committee, said in a statement. “These numbers reflect a drawdown in business inventories and continued weakness in the housing and commercial real estate markets. Americans are starting to spend more and I’m optimistic that we will begin to see the effects of the stimulus next quarter.” President Barack Obama signed a $787 billion stimulus plan into law in February that included increases in spending on infrastructure projects and a reduction in taxes. The economy is “leveling off at a low level” and doesn’t need a second fiscal stimulus package, former Fed Chairman Paul Volcker, one of Obama’s top economic advisers, said on Bloomberg Television’s “Conversations with Judy Woodruff” airing this weekend. In the recorded interview following the GDP report, he said the economy is functioning only “by the grace of government intervention.” One reason for the larger-than-projected decline in GDP was that the government slashed spending at a 3.9 percent pace, the most since 1995. The drop reflected a cutback in defense spending and the biggest decrease in state and local government outlays since 1981, reflecting slumping tax revenue. Production Cuts Recent announcements by companies including General Motors Corp. indicate the economy will shrink again this quarter, albeit at a slower pace. GM last week said it will idle 13 U.S. assembly plants for multiple weeks to trim production by 190,000 vehicles from May through July. Sales in its home market fell 49 percent this year through March. Still, data in recent weeks, including signs of stability in home sales, residential construction and consumer confidence, signal the recession will ease. Ford Motor Co., working to avoid a federal bailout, is among companies seeing some improvement. The automaker last week posted a first-quarter loss that beat analysts’ estimates. “We’re not quite sure where the bottom is,” Ford’s Chief Executive Officer Alan Mulally said in an April 24 Bloomberg Television interview. “But we believe with the stabilization of the banks, freeing up the credit, and the stimulus packages we have, both monetary and fiscal, that we’re going to see an uptick in the third and fourth quarter.” To contact the reporter on this story: Bob Willis in Washington at bwillis@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Chris Ansteycanstey@bloomberg.net \|\|\|\|\| * U.S. economy shrinks more severely than forecast in Q1 * Inventories plummet by record amount, exports collapse * Consumer spending recovers after sharp declines (Recasts, updates markets) By Lucia Mutikani WASHINGTON, April 29 (Reuters) - The U.S. economy contracted at a surprisingly steep 6.1 percent rate in the first quarter, dragged down by a record plunge in business inventories and a slump in exports, data showed on Wednesday. However, the data did not change views the economy would emerge from the recession, now in its 16th month, in the second half of the year. Next month, the downturn is on track to become the longest since the Great Depression. The Commerce Department said inventories were drawn down by a record $103.7 billion -- potentially good news for the economy because it suggests businesses have cut the stockpile of unsold merchandise to levels that will let them start placing new orders, which would stimulate production. "The larger-than-expected decline in first-quarter GDP is good news for the upcoming quarters. We expect that the recession will be over in the second half of the year," said Harm Bandholz, an economist at Unicredit Markets and Investment Banking in New York. While the drop in gross domestic product, which followed a 6.3 percent fourth-quarter decline, was much steeper than economists had expected, investors were cheered as they saw it laying the groundwork for a recovery. Continued...	The United States Gross Domestic Product (GDP) plunged at an annualised 6.1%, after shrinking by 6.3% in the last three months of last year, according to a report released by the US Commerce Department, making the ongoing recession the worst in at least fifty years. The report was released just hours before Federal Reserve officials were scheduled to convene to decide how much money to insert into the economy. The GDP has now fallen for three quarters in a row for the first time in almost forty years. The decline is worse than the average 4.7% drop forecast by economists. “We are likely to emerge from this recession very slowly and the recovery will be very weak. The aggressive policy response we have gotten will take time to work, but it will counter the still-strong headwinds holding the economy back,” said the chief economist at Morgan Stanley in New York, Richard Berner. Stock market shares went up on Wednesday, following an analyst's report suggesting that non-performing assets will reach their height in 2009. As of noon, the Standard & Poor's 500 index had gained 2.2%, reaching a level of 873,59 points.
Japan's first bullet train, the Series 0, made its final "sayonara" run between Shin-Osaka and Hakata stations on Sunday. Though the series had already wrapped up its regular operations at the end of November, it was brought back for three final runs as the Hikari 347 (san-yon-nana) -- a pun on "sayonara," or good-bye -- due to popular demand. A commemorative ceremony took place from 2:30 p.m. before the train left on its last trip. Approximately 2,800 fans flocked to Shin-Osaka Station with their cameras for a final glimpse. In attendance at the ceremony was Takashi Shima, 77, the son of Hideo Shima (1901-1998), a former National Railway chief engineer considered a driving force behind the development of the bullet train. Takashi Shima had also worked on the Series 0 as an engineer, designing its carriages. "If my father had been alive, he would have said 'well done' to the Series 0 for successfully fulfilling its role in society and going into honorable retirement," he said. At 2:56 p.m., the Hikari 347, filled to capacity, blew its horn and slowly pulled away from the station as fans crowding even on the opposite platform shouted words of gratitude. The train pulled into Hakata Station promptly at 6:01 p.m., where approximately 1,600 fans were waiting. \|\|\|\|\| 1st-type shinkansen bullet train sets off on last run About 2,800 railway fans pack Shin-Osaka Station on Dec. 14 to see off a round nose ''0 Series'' shinkansen bullet train, one of Japan's first types of shinkansen bullet train models, as it leaves for Hakata Station on its last run, 44 years after the model made its debut. (Kyodo) \|\|\|\|\| Crowds of railway buffs flocked to stations on the Sanyo Shinkansen Line on Sunday to bid a final farewell to the Series 0 -- Japan's first bullet train with a 44-year history -- as the trains have been withdrawn from regular service. Series 0 bullet trains debuted right before the Tokyo Olympics in 1964, along with the launch of the Tokaido Shinkansen Line, and supported Japan's rapid economic growth until around the early 1970s. More than 3,000 carriages in the series have been produced and used on the main bullet train lines. At the time of their launch, the trains traveled between Tokyo and Shin-Osaka stations in four hours at a maximum speed of 210 kilometers per hour, which was the world's fastest speed for a train. The following year, the trains connected the two stations in three hours and 10 minutes. The three remaining six-car Series 0 trains were operated by JR West for its Kodama services. "I've grown up with Series 0," said Mitsushi Nagata, a 59-year-old driver who operated the last train from Okayama Station to Hakata Station on Sunday. After graduating from high school, Nagata's love for bullet trains prompted him to join the former Japanese National Railways in 1969. He became a Series 0 driver in 1975 after working as a mechanic for the series. "I'm honored to drive the last Series 0 train," Nagata said. In response to many requests from fans, JR West will operate special "Sayonara Runs" of the trains for its Hikari services mainly between Shin-Osaka and Hakata stations on Dec. 6, 13 and 14. All of the seats have been reserved. \|\|\|\|\| 朝日ＮＩＥスクール最高速度は時速２６０キロ木材使い車内は和風 ※クリックすると拡大します３月１３日、白い車体に赤いラインの九州新幹線「つばめ」が南九州を走り抜けました。新八代（しんやつしろ）（熊本県八代市）−鹿児島中央（旧・西鹿児島、鹿児島市）間の南半分だけの部分開業（ぶぶんかいぎょう）。１２７キロをこれまでの４分の１の最短３４分で結びます。９１年の着工から１３年、計画が決まってからは３０年余りが経過（けいか）していました。鹿児島中央駅を発車した「つばめ」を待ち受けているのは急な上り坂です。１キロで３５メートルの高低差は、長野・群馬県境（けんきょう）の碓氷峠（うすいとうげ）（１キロで３０メートル）を超え、全国の新幹線網（もう）で最も急な勾配（こうばい）です。この坂を上るため、ほかの新幹線はモーターがついていない車両を４分の１ほど連結していますが、「つばめ」は１編成（へんせい）６両の車両すべてにモーターがつけられました。最高速度は時速２６０キロ。３００キロの「のぞみ」には及びませんが、長野新幹線と同じです。速度をコントロールするＡＴＣ（自動列車制御装置＜じどうれっしゃせいぎょそうち＞）はＪＲ東海が開発した新方式を導入。数段階に分けてブレーキをかけていた従来型（じゅうらいがた）に比べ減速は滑（なめ）らかで、乗り心地がよくなっています。横揺（よこゆ）れ防止のサスペンションを使い、ルート上に７割を占めるトンネル内でもほとんど揺れは感じません。最短で３４分という乗車時間のため、鉄道の旅でおなじみの車内販売（しゃないはんばい）はありません。また、全車両を禁煙（きんえん）にしました。内装（ないそう）も個性が光っています。ひじ掛（か）けや窓のブラインドは鹿児島産のサクラで、仕切（しき）りは熊本産のクスノキ。洗面所（せんめんじょ）には八代のイグサを編（あ）んだ縄（なわ）のれんが下がっています。九州の素材（そざい）や伝統技術（でんとうぎじゅつ）をいかした「和（わ）の装（よそお）い」にあふれています。座席も全車両で左右２席ずつの一列４席です。では、残る北半分の新八代−博多間（約１３０キロ）はいつごろ完成するのでしょうか。２０１０〜１２年度の見込みで、工事や用地の買収（ばいしゅう）が急ピッチで進んでいます。全線が開通すれば、鹿児島と博多は新幹線がなかったころの３時間４０分から約１時間２０分に短縮（たんしゅく）されます。日帰りで行き来する人も珍（めずら）しくなくなり、九州がひとつにまとまって発展していくことに地域の人々は期待しているのです。 ◆新幹線の歴史九州新幹線が部分開業。テープカットの後、出発する始発の「つばめ」＝３月１３日午前６時、ＪＲ鹿児島中央駅で東京オリンピックが開かれた１９６４年、日本で初めての新幹線が東京−新大阪間を走りました。１０月１日に開業した東海道新幹線で、最高時速は２１０キロ（後に２２０キロ）。出っ張った丸い先頭部から「団子（だんご）っ鼻（ぱな）」の愛称（あいしょう）で親しまれた、０系（ぜろけい）の「ひかり」と「こだま」です。新幹線もできる前は、同じ６４年に開通した名神高速道路と比べられ、「今さら鉄道でもないだろう」と、むしろ反対論の方が強かったそうです。それから４０年――。新幹線は全国に広がり、３月には九州新幹線が部分開業（ぶぶんかいぎょう）しました。０系から進化し続けた車両は、８００系「つばめ」です。先端（せんたん）の鼻筋（はなすじ）がスッと伸びた、美しい流線形（りゅうせんけい）です。ここで０系から始まった新幹線の歴史を簡単（かんたん）に振り返りましょう。８５年に０系の後継（こうけい）として１００系が誕生しました。個室（こしつ）や２階建て車両が連結（れんけつ）され、最高速度は時速２３０キロへ。その後も時速２７０キロの３００系が登場するなど、スピードアップしていきます。そして９７年、ついにフランスの高速鉄道「ＴＧＶ」などと並ぶ世界最速の時速３００キロで運転する新幹線がデビューしました。５００系「のぞみ」です。空気抵抗（くうきていこう）を減らすため、とがった先端は長さ１５メートル。パンタグラフは鳥の翼（つばさ）をイメージしたＴ字形で、騒音（そうおん）対策にも一役買っています。５００系の登場で東京−博多間は初めて５時間を切り、４時間台で運転されるようになりました。東海道・山陽新幹線の最新車両は、ＪＲ東海とＪＲ西日本が共同開発した７００系で、「カモノハシ」のくちばしのような先端が印象的（いんしょうてき）です。九州新幹線「つばめ」はこの７００系をもとに改良（かいりょう）したものです。今では東京−新大阪間は２時間３０分で結ばれます。江戸時代に東海道五十三次を半月かけて歩き、６０年ごろの特急で６時間半かかったことを考えても、大変なスピード革命（かくめい）と言えるでしょう。２代目の１００系車両は東海道新幹線から昨年９月に姿を消しました。国鉄（こくてつ）時代の最後の車両でした。今も多くの人に愛されている初代の０系は、数年先に全線から引退の予定です。ひとくちに新幹線といっても、いくつかに分類（ぶんるい）されます。一般的（いっぱんてき）に「時速２００キロ以上の高速で走行できる幹線鉄道」を新幹線と呼びます。線路の幅も在来（ざいらい）線より約４０センチ広い１．４３５メートル。その新幹線は旧国鉄時代に建設された東海道、山陽、上越、東北新幹線と、法律（ほうりつ）で計画が定められている整備新幹線（せいびしんかんせん）とに分けられます。このほかに在来線へ乗り入れることができる山形、秋田の「ミニ新幹線」もあります。日本列島の南端まで伸びた新幹線網は今後、どこへ向かうのでしょうか。整備新幹線は九州新幹線（鹿児島ルートと長崎ルート）のほかに北海道、東北、北陸があります。うち建設中の区間は東北（八戸（はちのへ）−新青森）、九州（新八代−博多）、北陸（長野−富山）など３線４区間の約４００キロです。まだ工事に入っていない区間は約７７０キロありますが、一部区間の来年度中の着工をめざしたいという意向（いこう）もあり、線路は続いていきます。（北沢祐生）＜＜前へ目次へ第１回第２回第３回第４回第５回第６回	The final 0-Series train entering Shin-Osaka Stn. This end was the tail on departure. - 14:44, 14 Dec. 2008 JST The head car of the final 0-Series train ready as HIKARI 347 in Shin-Osaka Stn. - 14:47, 14 Dec. 2008 JST The final farewell train in the first series of Shinkansen super-express, called ''zero-kei'' (0 Series), ran through western Japan Sunday afternoon from Shin-Osaka to Hakata. 0 Series has served in Japan since 1964, undergoing some model changes, and was retired from regular runs at the end of the last month. Extra farewell runs were scheduled for three days, with all seats allowed to be reserved, and this was the final run. On Sunday in Shin-Osaka station, a farewell ceremony for Shinkansen 0 Series began at 14:30, where those who contributed to its debut were invited. Around 14:45, the train slowly appeared to enter Track 20. The head and tail cars changed roles, and the train got ready by 14:48 as HIKARI 347 bound for Hakata. And, at 14:56, blowing a long horn, the 0-Series train left for the final trip. Japanese news media report that approximately 2,800 people gathered to see off the final departure, so did many in the stations the train stopped by. Lastly, the train arrived at Hakata as scheduled at 18:01, welcomed by about 1,600 fans. A 0-Series Shinkansen train at National Railway Museum, U.K. Shinkansen network was launched on 1 October 1964, just before Tokyo Olympic Games, with a route connecting the capital Tokyo and Osaka City (now operated by JR-Central). The route for 0-Series trains was gradually extended to the west, which in 1975 reached Hakata area of Fukuoka City (now by JR-West). Shinkansen 0 Series has a characteristic round face with a part like a shallow bowl, and was nicknamed ''"dango-bana"'' or ''"dangoppana"'' (literally, "dumpling nose"). At the time of its debut, 0 Series ran at a maximum speed of 210 km/h, which was the world's highest. HIKARI, meaning beam or light, was the name of trains for the faster service. Even while more modern and faster series were rising, 0 Series continued to serve for some years, but in 1999 it ceased from JR-Central services, and in March 2000 from regular HIKARI runs of JR-West. According to the media, remaining 0-Series Shinkansen cars are destined to be scrapped. Some other cars, which were withdrawn earlier, are preserved in museums including one in Osaka and National Railway Museum in the U.K.
Juan Alvarez could face the death penalty Juan Manuel Alvarez, 25, could face the death penalty as he is charged with murder with "special circumstances". Police believe Mr Alvarez, who was not injured, left his Jeep on a railway line in a suicide bid before changing his mind at the last moment. He may appear in court on Thursday, depending on his medical condition. Some 200 people were injured, 40 of them badly, in the crash in the LA suburb of Glendale, which involved three trains. 'Unmoved' Prosecutors filed 10 charges of murder on Wednesday night but an 11th charge was being added after the discovery of another body in the wreckage, LA County District Attorney Steve Cooley said. Mr Cooley said the case was still being evaluated. "Special circumstances" allegations can make a defendant eligible for the death penalty under state law. Reports of the detainee's suicidal intentions left the DA unmoved. "He's not going to engage my sympathy because he was despondent. "His despondency doesn't move me," he told The Associated Press. Stuck in the track Mr Alvarez got out of his vehicle before the two commuter trains crashed during rush hour on Wednesday morning, one of them then hitting a freight train. According to a boss of rail company Metrolink, David Solow, the Jeep had become stuck between tracks and could not have been moved even if the driver had tried. Wreckage and bodies were showered over a quarter of a mile (half a kilometre) of track. Passengers said the impact sounded, and felt like, a bomb exploding. Dazed commuters who were unhurt by the derailment were seen helping fellow passengers with more severe injuries escape the wreckage. City work crews hurriedly piled sandbags in street gutters to block streams of fuel leaking from the train mixed with rain threatening to contaminate storm drains leading out to the ocean. \|\|\|\|\| Murder charges brought in California rail crash that killed 11 ASSOCIATED PRESS Associated Press Emergency personnel walk past the wreckage following a commuter train accident Wednesday, in Glendale. Two Metrolink commuter trains derailed, killing 11 people and injuring hundreds of others as morning commuters were sent tumbling down the aisles, authorities said. GLENDALE – The suicidal man who authorities say caused the chain-reaction train derailment that killed 11 people and injured nearly 200 was charged with multiple counts of murder and could face the death penalty, the district attorney said Thursday. Juan Manuel Alvarez, 25, left his sport utility vehicle on a railroad track Wednesday after changing his mind about committing suicide, authorities said. He was held without bail at a hospital's jail ward after apparently slitting his own wrists and stabbing himself in the chest. Due to Alvarez's medical condition, his arraignment was postponed from Thursday to Friday, district attorney's spokeswoman Jane Robison said. The last person reported missing was accounted for Thursday and firefighters ended recovery efforts. All but one of the dead had been identified. Associated Press Juan Manuel Alvarez, 25, faces murder charges in train wreck. Related news: A list of other serious U.S. train accidents Sheriff's deputy, train conductor among derailment victims From today's U-T: 11 killed in 3-train wreck near L.A. Video A commuter train smashes into an SUV left on a crossing by a suicidal man, sending the train careening off the tracks in a wreck that kills 11 people and injures about 200. Cable-DSL / 56k The FREE RealPlayer plug-in is necessary to play RealMedia. Quotes about the deadly commuter train derailment: "I heard a noise. It got louder and louder. And next thing I knew the train tilted, everyone was screaming and I held onto a pole for dear life. I held on for what seemed like a week and a half. It was a complete nightmare, like nothing I've experienced in my 6½ years of taking the Metrolink." –Passenger Diane Brady, 56, of Simi Valley "We hit and then somebody's head landed on my thigh ... I sat there and I tried to comfort her. I didn't know what else to do. Then it got really smoky, so smoky that I had to leave. I don't know what happened to her." –Passenger Paul Konkirati, 28, of Burbank "He was saying he was thankful (to be pulled out) because he didn't want to burn. He was saying, 'Pray for me, pray for me.' I was telling him stay awake because he was going into shock." –Hugo Moran, a 34-year-old receiving clerk, referring to an elderly victim who later died from his injuries "A few other times he went around as if he wanted to kill himself. I said, 'If you're going to kill yourself, go kill yourself far away. Don't come by here telling that to my sister.'" –Maricela Amaya, sister-in-law of suspect Juan Manuel Alvarez, as translated from Spanish-language TV station T52 Telemundo Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley said prosecutors filed charges late Wednesday for 10 counts of murder with so-called special circumstances of committing murder through a train derailment. Under state law, the allegation makes Alvarez eligible for the death penalty. Cooley said the complaint would be amended to add another count to refer to the 11th victim, found in the wreckage late Wednesday night. Prosecutors were evaluating Alvarez's mental state in regard to the special circumstance allegations, but Cooley said it was no defense to the charges. "His despondency doesn't move me," the district attorney told The Associated Press. "The mere fact that he was a little upset or despondent doesn't mean he has a defense for anything. It may actually work to support our case." Alvarez's state of mind, while not providing a motive, could show his intent to commit a crime, Cooley said. He noted that a defense of not guilty by reason of insanity has a very high standard of proof. Separately, a suicidal man who parked his sport utility vehicle on railroad tracks in Orange County was arrested early Thursday, said Irvine police Cmdr. Dave Freedland, declining to say if it was a copycat situation. The man drove off when police spotted him and, after a chase, a dispatcher talked him out of suicide during a cellphone call. Glendale Police Chief Randy Adams said the case against Alvarez was put together so quickly because every one of the department's more than 20 detectives worked on it, temporarily suspending all other investigations. "The facts so far are really irrefutable," Adams said, while adding that investigators were still trying to reconstruct the exact sequence of events in the crash. Alvarez got out of his green Jeep Cherokee before the two commuter trains crashed in this Los Angeles suburb. He stood by as the gruesome chain-reaction wreck scattered wreckage and bodies over a quarter-mile of track. The SUV was stuck between tracks away from a crossing and once there, he could not have moved it even if he had tried, Metrolink CEO David Solow said. The southbound train that struck it slid off the tracks, hit a parked Union Pacific railcar, then clipped the northbound train. The crash was the worst U.S. rail tragedy since March 15, 1999, when an Amtrak train hit a truck and derailed near Bourbonnais, Ill., killing 11 people and injuring more than 100. "I hope that we're able to assess this in a way that we can figure out: Is there a way that we can stop one crazed individual from creating this kind of carnage?" Los Angeles Mayor James Hahn told reporters. The rails were expected to reopen Monday, Metrolink officials said. Among the two women and nine men killed was a Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy on his way to work. About two dozen people were hospitalized in critical condition. Alvarez's estranged wife, Carmelita Alvarez, had ordered him out of her Compton home months ago, her family said. In December, she obtained a temporary restraining order keeping him away from her, their 3-year-old son and other family members. "He is using drugs and has been in and out of rehab twice," she said in asking for the restraining order. "He threatened to take our kid away and to hurt my family members." Carmelita Alvarez, who went into seclusion shortly after the crash, also told the court her husband's drug use was triggering hallucinations. The wounded Alvarez was under suicide watch but was listed in stable condition, and Sheriff Lee Baca said Thursday on CBS' "The Early Show" that Alvarez "was rather astounded himself as to what the outcome was." The force of the 6 a.m. collision hurled passengers down the trains' aisles. "I heard a noise. It got louder and louder," said Diane Brady, 56, of Simi Valley. "And next thing I knew the train tilted, everyone was screaming and I held onto a pole for dear life. I held on for what seemed like a week and a half, it seemed. It was a complete nightmare." First on the scene were workers at a Costco store next to the tracks, who helped remove some of the injured in shopping carts. Uninjured passengers also joined the rescue effort. Costco employee Hugo Moran said an elderly man, covered in blood and soot and with apparently broken arms and legs, was pulled out of the wreckage but died soon after. Before he died, he thanked his rescuers and asked them to pray for him. Another trapped man had used his own blood to write a note on a seat bottom. Using the heart symbol, he wrote "I love my kids" and "I love Leslie." The man's identity wasn't known, but Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Capt. Rex Vilaubi said he was removed from the wreckage alive. Associated Press Writers Robert Jablon and Laura Wides contributed to this report.	Eleven charges of murder have been brought against the driver who caused the Glendale train crash, in which 11 people died. Juan Manuel Alvarez, 25, could well face the death penalty for his actions. It appears he parked his Jeep Cherokee on the railway line with the intention of committing suicide, but then changed his mind and left the vehicle. Three trains carrying approximately 350 people were involved in the crash, injuring up to 200 passengers. His arraignment was delayed from Thursday to Friday due to his medical condition. He was charged with 11 counts of murder and was held without bail in a hospital's jail ward after apparently slitting his own wrists and stabbing himself in the chest. Prosecutors have filed 10 counts of murder with so-called special circumstances, and will add the 11th victim to the complaint shortly. Under California law, this makes Alvarez eligible for the death penalty. The accident was caused as a result of a chain-reaction derailment of three Union Pacific trains. Investigators are continuing to try to determine the exact sequence of events.
NYC Radio reporter found dead with stab wound NEW YORK (AP) — Police say a longtime New York City radio reporter was found dead in his Brooklyn apartment with a stab wound to his neck. Police have declared George Weber's death a homicide. His body was found Sunday after he failed to show up for work. Autopsy results were expected later Monday. The 47-year-old Weber worked at WABC for 12 years as the on-air reporter for popular shows such as "Curtis and Kuby." The station let him go amid programming changes last year. He had since worked as a freelancer for ABC News Radio, the national network. His last newscast was on March 15. Weber previously worked at stations including KGO in San Francisco and KTLK and KMPC in Los Angeles. Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. \|\|\|\|\| WABC radio newsman George Weber found stabbed to death at home Taggart for News Authorities remove the body of George Weber from his Brooklyn home on Sunday. ABC News Radio/AP Longtime New York radio reporter George Weber (right, with Mayor Bloomberg) was found stabbed to death on Sunday. Longtime New York radio newsman George Weber was found stabbed to death in his Brooklyn apartment Sunday morning, cops said. The bloody body of Weber, a passionate fan of the city who spent a decade doing local news on WABC morning radio, was found just after 9 a.m. when he didn't show up for work. "I used to hear his voice in the top and the bottom of the hour. It's a voice New Yorkers know. Now that voice has been silenced," said Aaron Katersky, 33, an ABC colleague who found himself covering a friend's murder. Weber, 47, was freelancing at ABC's national radio network after being laid off last year. Cops believe Weber was killed Friday evening. He was found in bed with stab wounds in the neck and chest, cops said. Police were investigating the possibility he was killed by a male date. There was no sign of forced entry to his first-floor brownstone apartment on Henry St. in Carroll Gardens, cops said. The front door was locked, but a back door was unlocked. The apartment had been ransacked, though it was not clear what, if anything, was taken. The murder weapon was not recovered. Weber would have celebrated his 48th birthday Monday. Curtis Sliwa, who did a 5 a.m. "pre-show" with Weber for eight years at WABC before the regular "Curtis & Kuby" morning show, called his death "a tremendous loss." "News ran through his veins and arteries 24 hours a day," Sliwa said. "He wasn't a rip-and-read newsman. He wanted to be there," he said. "And you know what his trick was? He'd pack up his dog, Noodles, a dachshund, and walk him there. People would see the dog, they'd pet the dog, they'd get a level of comfort with him. And then he could get them to talk." Noodles died a few years ago. Weber told the Daily News last year that he had turned down a job in California because he didn't want to leave New York. "Brooklyn's my home. I like being the news guy here," he said. Calling himself "the news guy," Weber maintained a lively blog. His last entry, a rant about his battles with bedbugs, was posted Friday. He made his daily visit to his regular bar, the Blarney Rock on W, 33rd St., as usual on Friday afternoon. "He seemed fine," said the waitress who saw him. Patrons and staff at the bar, where Weber was such a fixture that his picture hangs on the wall, were stunned to hear of his murder. "He was like family here," said weekend manager James Donovan. "George Web, dead? I can't believe it. He was one of the sweetest guys I've ever met." Waitress Andrea Tierney was baffled. "He didn't have any enemies. None at all," she said. "Who could want to kill him?" \|\|\|\|\| advertisement WABC radio anchor George Weber was found dead in his apartment after failing to show up for work for two days, according to the New York Post. Weber was a veteran radio newsman who worked at stations including KGO in San Francisco and KTLK and KMPC in Los Angeles before going to New York. Weber’s bosses got worried after his unexplained absences and called the cops. Police found Weber stabbed to death in his Brooklyn bedroom at about 10 a.m. Sunday. Authorities believe Weber was killed Friday night, according to the Post. That was also the last time he posted on his blog. Weber would have turned 58 on Monday. While there were no signs of forced entry in Weber’s apartment, neighbors said the home had been torn apart and cops said water was running from the bathroom faucet. Weber had been working for ABC News for the last year. Prior to that, he was an anchor on WABC’s talk radio station for about a decade before being let go, the Post reported. Police first showed up to Weber’s apartment at about 1 a.m. Sunday but left when he didn’t answer the bell because they didn’t want to break down the door, according to the Post. When they came back later, a neighbor showed them to an unlocked side door. No arrests have been made in Weber's death. The investigation is ongoing. ABC News Radio vice president and general manager Steve Jones released the following statement: "We are shocked and deeply saddened by the death of our colleague and friend George Weber, who was the victim of what police have deemed a homicide at his home in Brooklyn. An investigation has been launched by NYPD and we have been assisting them. Our condolences and prayers go out to George's family and friends at this very difficult time ... He really loved news radio and enjoyed being on the air and enjoyed the connection he had with his listeners ... 'He also loved Brooklyn and his neighborhood.'' Weber's death stunned residents of the neighborhood of handsome row houses. Nick Olivieri, who lives across the street, said he had known Weber for nearly a decade. "He was a real good guy,'' Olivieri said. "This is a shame -- this is a shock.'' Weber recounted on his blog how he was fascinated with radio from an early age and even set up a makeshift radio station in the basement of his childhood home in Philadelphia. "While still in high school, I talked my way into a job at a daytime-only radio station in nearby Doylestown, Pa. -- WBUX,'' he wrote. Fellow ABC radio reporter Aaron Katersky said it was strange to be reporting on the slaying of someone to whom he had phoned in the details of news stories himself. "He was a nice fellow with an irreverent take on some of the day's events,'' Katersky said.	According to the New York City Police Department (NYPD), George Weber, a longtime radio reporter for WABC in New York City, was found dead with several stab wounds to his body yesterday morning at his home in Brooklyn, New York. He was 47 years old, and would have turned 48 today. The NYPD has confirmed Weber's death as a homicide and are waiting results from yesterday's autopsy which should come in later today. Weber worked for WABC for 12 years, appearing on such shows as ''Curtis and Kuby'', giving news updates for listeners at the top and bottom of every hour. After he was laid off by the station last year due to a change in programing, he was working as a freelance reporter for ABC News Radio, a national network. In his career before WABC, he worked for KTLK and KMPC, located in Los Angeles, California and KGO in San Fransisco, California. "We are shocked and deeply saddened by the death of our colleague and friend George Weber, who was the victim of what police have deemed a homicide at his home in Brooklyn. An investigation has been launched by NYPD and we have been assisting them. Our condolences and prayers go out to George's family and friends at this very difficult time. He really loved news radio and enjoyed being on the air and enjoyed the connection he had with his listeners. He also loved Brooklyn and his neighborhood," said Steve Jones, the vice president of ABC News Radio in a statement released to the media. Currently, the NYPD thinks that Weber was killed Friday while in bed. They are looking into the possibility that he was stabbed to death by a date, as there were no signs of a break-in into the apartment, and the front door was locked. The NYPD could not retrieve the weapon used in the homicide. "News ran through his veins and arteries 24 hours a day. He wasn't a rip-and-read newsman. He wanted to be there," said Curtis Sliwa, who worked with Weber as a co-host at WABC, "And you know what his trick was? He'd pack up his dog, Noodles, a dachshund, and walk him there. People would see the dog, they'd pet the dog, they'd get a level of comfort with him. And then he could get them to talk."
Syria: US choppers attack village near Iraq border DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Syria's government says U.S. military helicopters have attacked an area along Syria's border with Iraq, killing eight people. A government statement carried by the official Syrian Arab News Agency said the attack was on the Sukkariyeh Farm near the town of Abu Kamal, five miles inside the Syrian border. Four helicopters attacked a civilian building under construction, firing on the workers inside, shortly before sundown, the statement said. The U.S. military in Baghdad did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The area is near the Iraqi border city of Qaim, which had been a major crossing point for fighters, weapons and money coming into Iraq to fuel the Sunni insurgency. \|\|\|\|\| US commandoes have reportedly attacked a Syrian border town near Iraq, killing at least nine people and wounding 14 others. According to the local residents, four US helicopters were involved in the attack on the town of Al-Sukkariya, eight kilometers from the Iraqi border, DPA reported on Sunday. Eyewitnesses said two helicopters landed in the border town from which eight American commandoes disembarked. The US troops then attacked people, killing nine and wounding 14 others. "Nine people were killed and 14 wounded in the raid, which hit a group of builders while they were working," the private television channel al-Dunia said. "All victims were civilians." The victims were identified as construction workers with the wounded being transferred to a nearby hospital. The helicopters reportedly left Syrian space with all the troops again on board. Sergeant Brooke Murphy, a US military spokesman told AFP that the military was investigating the report. SB/DT \|\|\|\|\| Syrian TV showed footage of a compound and an injured woman US helicopter-borne troops have carried out a raid inside Syria along the Iraqi border, killing eight people including four children, Syrian officials say. The official Syrian news agency Sana said the raid took place in the Abu Kamal border area, in eastern Syria. It said that American soldiers on four helicopters had stormed a building under construction on Sunday night. The US says it is investigating. It has previously accused Syria of allowing foreign militants into Iraq. Syria has summoned the US and Iraqi envoys in Damascus to protest at the raid. "Syria condemns this aggressive act and holds American forces responsible for this aggression and all of its repercussions," a government official said. If confirmed, the raid would be the first known attack by US forces inside Syrian territory, says BBC diplomatic correspondent Jonathan Marcus. Its timing is curious, coming right at the end of the Bush administration's period of office and at a moment when many of America's European allies - like Britain and France - are trying to broaden their ties with Damascus, our correspondent adds. Crossing point "Four American helicopters violated Syrian airspace around 1645 local time [1345 GMT] on Sunday," Sana said. "American soldiers" emerged from helicopters and "attacked a civilian building under construction and opened fire on workers inside - including the wife of the building guard - leading to [the deaths] of eight civilians", it added. "The helicopters then left Syrian territory towards Iraqi territory," Sana said. The dead include a man, his four children and a married couple, the Syrian report said, without giving details of the children's ages. The village was named as Sukkiraya, 8km (5 miles) from the Iraqi border. A US military spokesman was unable to confirm or deny the reports, saying it was a "developing situation". But later the Associated Press news agency quoted an unnamed US military official in Washington as saying that American special forces had attacked foreign fighters linked to al-Qaeda. "We are taking matters into our own hands," the official said. The area is near the Iraqi border city of Qaim, a major crossing point for fighters, weapons and money travelling into Iraq to fuel the Sunni insurgency. The Iraqi city's mayor, Farhan al-Mahalawi, told Reuters news agency that US helicopters had struck a village on the Syrian side of the border, after which Syrian troops surrounded the site. Washington has in the past accused Damascus of turning a blind eye to the problem. Are you in the area? Have you seen or heard anything? Send your comments or pictures 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. E-mail this to a friend Printable version Bookmark with: Delicious Digg reddit Facebook StumbleUpon What are these?	According to the Syrian government, United States military helicopters attacked a farm on the Syria-Iraq border. Earlier media reports called the helicopters "unidentified" which came into Syria from Iraq. The attack has caused some diplomatic stirs, and the Syrian government has called in a diplomat from the U.S.. The BBC News agency reports, quoting Syrian media, that at least seven people were killed when the helicopters attacked a farm along the Bou Kamal border with Iraq in the Syrian town of Al-Sukkariya. Among the dead were a man, four of his sons, and two farm workers. Other reports say at least nine were killed. At least 14 others were injured. Syrian media says all of those killed were civilians. One report from ''Trend News'' says that Lebanese officials confirm that the raid was carried out by U.S. troops and that they were targeting alleged terrorists preparing to infiltrate Iraq. The Syrian government state the strike was carried out by the U.S. military. Witnesses near the attack also say the helicopters appeared to be American and involved at least four helicopters, two of which landed. Further witness reports say that at least eight American soldiers proceeded to get off the helicopters. After allegedly attacking their target, all the soldiers returned to the helicopters which took off and left Syria. According to ''PRESS TV'', Sergeant Brooke Murphy, a spokesman for U.S. forces in Iraq, the military is investigating the incident. Meanwhile, Maura Connelly, a U.S. diplomat to Syria, was called to the country's foreign ministry to discuss the incident. If the U.S. carried out the attack, it would be the first time any such attack was carried out inside Syria by U.S. forces.
Anthony Mundine celebrates after beating Danny Green at the Sydney Football Stadium (Getty Images) It was billed as man versus machine, speed versus power, but after 12 rounds at the Sydney Football Stadium Anthony Mundine had the bragging rights. Mundine beat Danny Green by unanimous points decision in their blockbuster super-middleweight WBA eliminator at the Sydney Football Stadium, simply outboxing him and improving his overall record to 26 wins and three losses. Mundine's victory sets up a world title bout against Dane Mikkel Kessler. Mundine proved that Green's power punches count for nothing unless they land. Green missed, missed and missed again. As he tired, Mundine drew Green in and gave him a lesson in counter punching. By the seventh round Green was on autopilot, walking forward into Mundine's jab. The Western Australian's courage was there for all to see, but Mundine was giving him a pasting. The longer the fight went, the more desperate Green became looking for one punch to stop the contest, but Mundine was patient and just kept picking the bigger man off. Green's plan seemed to revolve around hitting Mundine with body shots in an attempt to negate his speed, but Mundine soaked up the punishment. Even in the early stages every time Mundine attacked, Green's composure seemed to desert him. While Mundine has a world championship bout to look forward to, Green's career hangs in the balance. Speaking after the bout, Mundine paid tribute to Green's tenacity. "I just wanna thank Danny for a great fight, you know what I mean, I wanna thank him for a great fight," Mundine said. "He put up a good performance. He come around, he come prepared - I was the better man tonight Dan, thank you very much. We can do it again maybe, soon." Green returned the compliment, saying Mundine "just fought a better fight tonight, he just beat me fair and square". "I have no excuses at all, I trained unbelievable, my preparation was great ... Anthony was the better man tonight." Meanwhile controversial former rugby league player John Hopoate won his professional boxing debut earlier in the night. Hopoate knocked out Samoan Frankie Faasolo in the first round. \|\|\|\|\| Anthony Mundine delivered an emphatic answer to his own question with a unanimous points decision over Danny Green in their savage world title eliminator. "Who's the man, who's the man?" he asked the crowd after outpointing Green in the most anticipated fight in Australia in decades. Whenever Green threw the questions at Mundine with his power and toughness, the former rugby league player responded with a series of stinging combinations to set up an expected match against WBA super-middleweight world champion Mikkel Kessler. In the last of a ferocious 12 rounds at Aussie Stadium, Mundine rocked Green with a combination to the head and taunted the Perth fighter to "Come on." As he did all fight, Green came back at Mundine but in the end nodded to his opponent at the final bell in acknowledgement to his conqueror. \|\|\|\|\| Green in no hurry to seek rematch Danny Green will take his time deciding whether to seek a rematch with Anthony Mundine after his fierce points decision loss on Wednesday night. Green plans to spend a month clearing his head after losing the world title eliminator in Sydney, while Mundine made it obvious a return bout would be cash driven. Mundine's career would gain little from another fight with Green but after collecting a multi-million dollar purse as well as a huge slice from promoting the fight, he was blunt about his reasons for a rematch. "Money talks you know. I am willing to fight him again," Mundine said on Sydney radio station 2UE. But, with a patronising touch, he suggested the 33-year-old improve a bit before he is worthy. "But I think after beating him so convincingly I feel that he has to build up a couple more fights, win a couple more fights and prove himself once again and then we can do it again," Mundine said. Amid speculation of a rematch in Perth, Green said he plans to go home to Western Australia, spend time with family and friends and surf. "I'll just go home and assess my future, my plans for the next month are just r and r," he said. But after losing his chance for another shot at a world title, his international appeal could be on the wane, so his best chance of a future probably lies in more big pay days with Mundine. Unlike Mundine, Green fronted up to the media, sun glasses covering his bruised eyes, but nothing concealing his disappointment nor newly-found respect for his conqueror. "I'm pretty down, very disappointed," Green said. "Choc (Mundine) was the better man than I. "I tip my hat to him and wish him all the best in his quest for a world title against Mikkel Kessler if that's his next step. "I'll take my loss on the chin like a man, pay him all the respect he deserves and wish him all the best for the future. "He can definitely beat Mikkel Kessler." After six years of sniping before they met for the first time in the most hyped fight in Australian history, Mundine and Green dispensed with the spite and delivered respect. "He is a great fighter, he was the superior man last night," Green said. "I tip my hat to the way Mundine and his camp was very humble and gracious in a great victory. "We've had a very, very strong sporting rivalry. "I never met Anthony Mundine until last night inside the boxing ring. So, personally it's hard to comment on the guy, we had a few words after the fight. "I dare say we'll meet in the future and the first thing I'll do is put my hand out and shake his hand and I'm sure he'll reciprocate that action." \|\|\|\|\| SVG’s bold bid to race with busted collarbone Shane van Gisbergen has revealed the damage to his collarbone after a mountain biking accident as he races the clock to be fit to compete at Sandown. Warne’s warning: Aussies must be bold or risk losing Ashes Cricket legend Shane Warne says Tim Paine’s men must play with aggression when England arrives on Australian shores, or risk a repeat of the India series disaster. Paddywhack: Tszyu lands bitter St Patrick’s Day sledge A fire-up Tim Tszyu has issued a dire warning to opponent Dennis Hogan if he is banking on the luck of the Irish saving him in their upcoming super welterweight bout.	Former world champion boxer Anthony Mundine has beaten long-time rival Danny Green on a unanimous points decision in a non-title World Boxing Association (WBA) super middleweight bout. Mundine, an ex-rugby league star promoted the much-anticipated fight that attracted around 40,000 spectators and a national record for a pay-per-view television event. "Who's the man, who's the man?" Mundine asked the crowd after the fight. Western Australia's Danny Green (the "Machine") was defeated after 12 rounds at the Sydney Football Stadium by "the Man" Mundine. Mundine has improved his overall record to 26 wins and three losses. His victory sets up a world title bout against Denmark's Mikkel Kessler. After the bout Mundine praised his opponent's tenacity: "I just wanna' thank Danny for a great fight... I was starting to get loose man, Danny was starting to put a lot of pressure on me, he's got a good long jab, I had to evade that," said Mundine. "I utilized my speed to catch him and it paid dividends. I was looking for the knockout, I caught him with a few great shots, and he can take a great punch. He put up a good performance. He come around, he come prepared - I was the better man tonight Dan, thank you very much. We can do it again maybe, soon." Green agreed that Mundine fought the better fight. "He just beat me fair and square. I have no excuses at all, I trained unbelievable, my preparation was great... Anthony was the better man tonight," said Green. The WBA fight consolidated six years of taunts and hyperbole to settle a long-running feud between the men and their supporters. According to media reports the battle was personal from the outset with Mundine's mother Lyn yelling at her son from ringside to "Knock him out Choc, shut him up my baby". Sports media commentators reported that the pace remained hectic in the first four rounds as Mundine stood firm and used his jab as Green mixed his trademark "power punches." As the fight wore on, Mundine appeared in greater control and in better condition. However, Mundine did end up on the canvas in the seventh round, after being pushed through the ropes by Green. Throughout the fight, Green's power punches "missed, missed and missed again". In the final "ferocious" round, Mundine rocked Green with a combination to the head, taunting Green to "Come on." Green attempted plenty of combinations, but Mundine's speed caused problems. After 12 rounds, Judge Pinit Prayadsab from Thailand gave the fight to Mundine 118-11, South Korean Michael Lee scored it 116-113 and Australian Derek Milham had it 118-112. Australian newspapers report that the appreciative crowd included corporate CEOs, former world heavyweight champion Joe Frazier, bikie gangs, peroxide blondes and rugby league players. Referee Terry O'Connor described the event as a fight Australia can be proud of. "They both gave their all, it was a great fight." He described the atmosphere at Aussie Stadium as "fantastic" "It was the greatest fight I have refereed, it was brilliant," O'Connor said. The "Man v Machine" event fight, promoted by Mundine's Boxa International and the "Green Machine" promoters is believed to have beeen the "biggest boxing match in Australian history", grossing an estimated $20 million. Each boxer is reported to be earning a seven-figure sum, while spectators have paid up to A$1000 for a seat at the bout. Foxtel reported record sales for their exclusive pay-per-view event, claiming that subscriptions outsold the Lennox Lewis v Mike Tyson heavyweight bout. Heavy betting ensued with one punter laying a $500,000 bet on Mundine to take the honours. Of his upcoming bout with Denmark's Mikkel Kessler, Mundine said: "It was a close fight last time. I think he's the best fighter out there, but I've shown I can match it with him. I'm ready."
Watch The 700 Club Now! Pat's Web Site www.patrobertson.com HOST BIOGRAPHY Pat Robertson The 700 Club Founder and Chairman, The Christian Broadcasting Network CBN.com - M. G. "Pat" Robertson has achieved national and international recognition as a religious broadcaster, philanthropist, educator, religious leader, businessman, and author. He is the founder and chairman of The Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN), Inc., and founder of International Family Entertainment, Inc., Regent University, Operation Blessing International Relief and Development Corporation, American Center for Law and Justice, The Flying Hospital, Inc., and several other organizations and broadcast entities. Founded in 1960, CBN was the first Christian television network established in the United States. Today CBN is one of the world's largest television ministries and produces programming seen in 200 nations and heard in 70 languages including Russian, Arabic, Spanish, French, and Chinese. CBN's flagship program, The 700 Club, which Mr. Robertson hosts, is one of the longest running religious television shows and reaches an average of one million American viewers daily. Operation Blessing International Relief and Development Corporation, founded by Mr. Robertson in 1978, is a non-profit relief and development organization with a mission statement "to demonstrate God's love by alleviating human need and suffering in the United States and around the world." OBI has touched the lives of more than 175 million people in 96 countries and all 50 U.S. states, distributing more than $750 million in goods. To help break the cycle of suffering, OBI implements programs that focus on the primary goals of providing hunger relief, medical aid, disaster relief, and community development that will make a significant, long-term impact on those in need. Robertson was the founder and co-chairman of International Family Entertainment, Inc. (IFE). Formed in 1990, IFE produced and distributed family entertainment and information programming worldwide. IFE's principal business was The Family Channel, a satellite delivered cable-television network with 63 million U.S. subscribers. IFE, a publicly held company listed on the New York Stock Exchange, was sold in 1997 to Fox Kids Worldwide, Inc. for $1.9 billion. Disney acquired the Fox Family Channel in 2001 and named it ABC Family. Located in Virginia Beach, Va., Regent University was founded in 1977 by Robertson, who serves as its president and chancellor. Regent is a fully accredited graduate university that offers degrees in business, communication & the arts, divinity, education, government, law, organizational leadership, and psychology & counseling. In addition, Regent offers a bachelor's degree completion program. Regent University is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award the bachelorís, masterís, and doctorís degrees, and has an enrollment of nearly 3,000 students. In addition to the main campus in Virginia Beach, Regent has a Graduate Center in Northern Virginia/D.C. and offers programs online via their Worldwide Campus. Robertson is founder and president of the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), a public interest law firm and education group that defends the First Amendment rights of people of faith. The law firm focuses on pro-family, pro-liberty, and pro-life cases nationwide. Marion Gordon "Pat" Robertson was born on March 22, 1930, in Lexington, Va., to A. Willis Robertson and Gladys Churchill Robertson. His father served for 34 years in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate. Robertson's ancestry includes Benjamin Harrison, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and governor of Virginia, and two United States presidents, William Henry Harrison and Benjamin Harrison, the great-grandson of the signer of the Declaration of Independence. Robertson also shares ancestry with Winston Churchill. After graduating with honors from McCallie School in Chattanooga, Tenn., a military prep school, Robertson entered Washington and Lee University in 1946, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. In 1948 he enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve. After graduating magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Washington and Lee in 1950, Robertson served as the assistant adjutant of the First Marine Division in combat in Korea. He was promoted to first lieutenant in 1952 upon his return to the United States. Robertson received a juris doctor degree from Yale University Law School in 1955 and a master of divinity degree from New York Theological Seminary in 1959. In November 1959 Robertson left New York with his wife, Dede, and their three children and drove to Tidewater, Va., where he planned to buy a bankrupt UHF television station in Portsmouth. Arriving with only seventy dollars in his pocket, Robertson proceeded to raise the finances to purchase the station. CBN was formed January 11, 1960, and on October 1, 1961, CBN went on the air for the first time. Robertson is the author of 15 books, including The Ten Offenses, Bring It On, Six Steps To Revival, The Turning Tide, The New Millennium, The New World Order, and his first fiction, The End of the Age. The Secret Kingdom was number three on Time magazineís national non-fiction list. The New World Order was number four on the New York Timesí non-fiction list of Americaís best selling books. The Secret Kingdom, Answers to 100 of Lifeís Most Probing Questions, and The New World Order were each in their respective year of publication the number one religious book in America. Numerous governors, state legislators, and mayors have recognized Robertson's humanitarian efforts with citations. In 1982 he was named Humanitarian of the Year by Food for the Hungry. In 1988 Robertson was named Man of the Year by Students for America, and he was named Christian Broadcaster of the Year by National Religious Broadcasters in 1989. In 1992 Robertson was selected by Newsweek magazine as one of America's 100 Cultural Elite. In recognition of his steadfast support for the nation of Israel, Robertson received the Defender of Israel Award in January 1994 from the Christians' Israel Public Action Campaign. In March 2000 Robertson received the prestigious Cross of Nails award for his vision, inspiration, and humanitarian work with the Flying Hospital. The award was presented for the first time in the United States in more than 25 years. In July 2002 Robertson was presented with The State of Israel Friendship Award by the Chicago chapter of the Zionist Organization of America. Robertson is past president of the prestigious Council on National Policy. In 1982 he served on President Ronald Reagan's Task Force on Victims of Crime. He is currently a member of the Board of the Virginia Economic Development Partnership, and previously served on the Governorís Council of Economic Advisors in the State of Virginia. Pat and Dede Robertson have four children and fourteen grandchildren and reside in Virginia Beach, Va. For more information about Pat Robertson, please visit his Web site, www.patrobertson.com \|\|\|\|\| Evangelical leaders said Friday that they were embarrassed and incensed by televangelist Pat Robertson’s assertion that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who had suffered a massive stroke, was stricken by God as punishment for ceding the Gaza Strip and a portion of the West Bank to Palestinians last summer. Officials of conservative Christian churches and organizations suggested that Robertson was losing religious and political influence as a result of his remarks on Sharon and other recent controversial comments. “I’m appalled that Pat Robertson would make such statements. He ought to know better,” said Richard Land, president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest U.S. Protestant denomination. “The arrogance of the statement shocks me almost as much as the insensitivity of it,” Land said in an interview. Advertisement The Rev. Ted Haggard, president of the National Assn. of Evangelicals, said that Robertson no more spoke for evangelicals than “Dr. Phil,” the television show host, spoke for psychologists. The concerns voiced by evangelical leaders Friday came as the White House sharply criticized the televangelist’s remarks as “wholly inappropriate and offensive.” The harsh criticism of Robertson spotlights what many see as his growing isolation from mainstream American evangelicalism. Last August, Robertson called for the assassination of leftist Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Then, in November the televangelist warned the town of Dover, Pa., that it risked God’s wrath because voters had recalled conservative school board members who favored teaching “intelligent design,” whose proponents believe organisms are too complex to have developed independently. Critics charge that the concept is an attempt to put theology in public school science classes. Advertisement On Thursday, Robertson, in a reference to Sharon’s decision last year to withdraw Israeli troops and settlers from Palestinian territories, quoted the prophet Joel to his “700 Club” television audience and said that “God has enmity against those who divide my land.” After calling Sharon “a delightful person” with whom he had prayed, Robertson added: “But here he’s at the point of death. He was dividing God’s land, and I would say woe unto any prime minister of Israel who takes a similar course to appease the European Union, the United Nations, or the United States of America. God says: �?This land belongs to me. You’d better leave it alone.’ ” On Robertson’s Christian Broadcasting Network website Friday, spokeswoman Angell Watts said that Robertson was simply reminding viewers of what he said the Bible had to say. She also blamed the controversy on People for the American Way, a liberal advocacy group that issued a transcript of Robertson’s remarks. She said the group had “a clear left-wing political agenda” and had taken his comments out of context. Based on a review by The Times of video of Robertson supplied by People for the American Way, the transcript was accurate. Advertisement Watts did not return phone calls requesting further comment. Some conservative Christians have become strong supporters of Israel in part because they believe that a fully restored Jewish nation in the Holy Land is a precursor to the second coming of Christ. Jewish leaders and liberal Christians also decried Robertson’s remarks, but their criticism was not unexpected. The searing criticism from evangelicals was unusual. Land, who sat next to Robertson at a Washington event last year honoring Sharon, said that Robertson spoke for “an ever diminishing number of evangelicals, and with each episode like this the rate of diminishment accelerates.” Advertisement Land said Robertson might have isolated himself from anyone but yes men. “When you’re the head of your own organization, if you don’t cultivate people telling you what you don’t want to hear, sometimes you don’t hear it,” Land said. The Rev. Kevin Mannoia, chaplain at Azusa Pacific University and past president of the National Assn. of Evangelicals, was among those who suggested that Robertson’s comments could have been a misguided effort to restore his once powerful standing as a religious and political voice in America by creating new controversy. “I wonder whether, consciously or subconsciously, this is an effort on the part of an individual who has significant influence in the church and the country and recognized that influence is waning,” Mannoia said. “He continues to try to maintain that influence by increasingly controversial statements -- perhaps statements out of desperation, perhaps statements out of [wanting] more attention,” he said. Advertisement In 1988, Robertson ran unsuccessfully in the GOP presidential primaries. The following year, he founded the politically potent Christian Coalition, which campaigned for “family values.” Haggard said that for whatever reason, Robertson “does not seem to be weighing his words.” He said that Sharon’s illness could be medically explained. “Ariel Sharon is 77 years old. He’s grossly overweight. He’s been under pressure his whole life. So I think any doctor could have predicted he was going to have health problems,” Haggard said. “I doubt that God sovereignly is punishing him.” He called Sharon “a wonderful friend” of evangelicals. Advertisement Alan Wisdom, interim president of the conservative Institute on Religion and Democracy, a Washington political action group, said he was embarrassed by Robertson. He said Robertson should have carefully weighed his words, if only because he was viewed by many non-evangelicals as the face of evangelical Christianity in America. “In some of these remarks and incidents, he’s not speaking for the rest of us, particularly overseas in places like Venezuela and the Middle East where evangelicals have a lot of mission work,” Wisdom said. “Statements like these make that mission work more difficult. In Venezuela he may have done serious damage.” Wisdom added: “I do want to say that other evangelicals appreciate the role that Robertson had as an evangelist bringing people to faith in Jesus Christ. There were numbers of evangelicals who came into the political process through his influence, but being responsible parts of the political process requires prudence, and a number of the statements he’s made have not been prudent, to say the least.” \|\|\|\|\| « January 06, 2006 \| Main \| January 09, 2006 » Quote of the Week: John Kerry on Pat Robertson "It is beyond shocking to think that as Prime Minister Sharon fights for his life, Pat Robertson would attack his character and disparage the risks Ariel Sharon took to bring peace and security to Israel. At a time like this, you'd expect bigoted tin-horn dictators and petty thugs like President Ahmadinejad of Iran to attack Sharon, but no American who claims to be a leader should stoop so low. Perhaps we shouldn't be surprised to hear such venom from someone who claimed Hurricane Katrina was punishment for the people of New Orleans." --- 2004 Presidential Candidate, US Senator John Kerry (D-MA) on January 6, 2006 ------------------------------ Related Articles -- Pat Robertson Says God Is Punishing Ariel Sharon -- John Kerry Delivers Fiery Landmark Speech at Brown University on September 19, 2005 ------------------------------ Technorati Profile	Pat Robertson, founder of the Christian Broadcasting Network and outspoken televangelist, has once again created political waves after saying that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon suffered a massive stroke because he tried to "divide God’s land." The comment was made during Robertson’s 700 Club program last week. Robertson said that Sharon’s stroke was a punishment from God. The White House quickly blasted the comment, and distanced itself from Robertson. "I think Robertson’s comments were wholly inappropriate and offensive, and really don't have a place in this or any other debate," said Deputy Press Secretary Trent Duffy during a press gaggle aboard Air Force One on Friday. Duffy also said that President Bush continues to pray for the Israeli leader, who many say is the region’s best chance for peace. "The President spoke about him yesterday and what a historic figure he is, as far as bringing peace to the Middle Eastern region. And our thoughts and prayers continue to be with him," said Duffy. Numerous religious figures around the world spoke out against Robertson’s comments, saying that the comments are not consistent with Christian beliefs. Former US Presidential Candidate John Kerry also criticized Robertson, saying that the commentator ignored the risks Sharon took to bring peace to Israel. "It is beyond shocking to think that as Prime Minister Sharon fights for his life, Pat Robertson would attack his character," said Kerry. "Perhaps we shouldn't be surprised to hear such venom from someone who claimed Hurricane Katrina was punishment for the people of New Orleans."
NAVAJO CHIEFTAIN: Luggage panel suspected in Kodiak crash; airline doubts it's the sole factor. A plane crash in Kodiak that killed six people and injured four more this weekend may have been precipitated by a luggage panel unexpectedly swinging open minutes after the plane took off, according to the National Transportation Safety Board. Though the cause of the crash remains undetermined, the same panel swinging open on other Piper PA-31 Navajo Chieftains has caused two previous crashes in Alaska, NTSB accident investigator Clint Johnson said. "There have been some incidents and accidents that did result from the door coming open," Johnson said. "We don't know yet if there are similarities." The nine-passenger twin-engine plane -- operated by Servant Air -- went down Saturday afternoon, shortly after what passengers described as the compartment door swinging open. The chartered flight was flying from Kodiak to Homer, where the plane's passengers planned to celebrate Russian Orthodox Christmas on Monday. Johnson wouldn't speculate about the cause of the crash, saying any number of factors could have been to blame and that the full investigation will take time to complete. The fuselage, which investigators have recovered and laid out in a maintenance hangar, was to undergo inspection beginning Tuesday, once a Piper accident investigator arrived to assist, Johnson said. While the NTSB has the lead on the investigation, the company official will assist with technical product information, he said. The plane carried nine passengers who belonged to several Old Believer communities near Homer. They were flying home from Kodiak, where many of them were commercial fishing. The four people who survived the crash -- Karnely Ivanov, 32, of Anchor Point; Feodot Basargin, 33, of Anchorage; Anton Rijkoff, 30, of Anchorage; and Andrean Basargin, 25, of Homer -- appeared to have been sitting in the rear of the plane. The ones sitting forward were killed: pilot Robin Starrett, 50, of Kodiak; Stefan F. Basargin, 36; Pavel F. Basargin, 30; Zahary F. Martushev, 25; Iosif F. Martushev, 15; and Andrian Reutov, 22, all of whom lived in the Homer area. In Razdolna on the Kenai Peninsula, four funerals will be held today for two sets of brothers killed in the crash -- the Basargins and Martushevs. DOOR OPENED IN '90, '96 CRASHES According to online NTSB statistics, of the 1,765 aircraft accidents in Alaska since 1995, 38 have involved Piper Navajos, including two in 2007. Almost all involved pilot or maintenance errors. Three of the Navajo crashes have caused fatalities. While none of the fatal Alaska crashes involved the luggage compartment door, there have been at least two documented cases of a baggage compartment opening and causing crashes on Navajos here, according to NTSB reports available online. The first took place in April 1990, when the compartment on a Navajo taking off from Deadhorse popped loose, causing an engine cover to separate and strike the plane's horizontal stabilizer. There were no injuries. An NTSB investigation found that the latching spring that exerts pressure to close the handle was missing, the report said. The operator had modified it to include an unauthorized safety device to keep the door shut without it being locked shut, according to the report. The next Alaska crash involving the door was in May 1996. That airplane, operated by Cape Smythe Air Service in Barrow, was taking off from Point Hope and bound for Wainwright. The pilot had just loaded the nose compartment with luggage, according to the accident report. The pilot visually checked the hatch and, thinking it was secure, took off. The take-off was normal until the plane's nose lifted in the air, according to the report. "Baggage and boxes exited the nose baggage compartment and fell through the left engine's propeller," the report says. The pilot tried unsuccessfully to return to Point Hope and was instead forced to crash-land on sea ice. "Just prior to touching down, the airplane started a slow, uncontrolled roll to the left," the report says. There were two serious injuries, two minor injuries and two people were not injured, according to the report. The pilot in that case told investigators she was under the impression the PA-31 would not fly when the forward baggage door was open, though the company's training program did not discuss flying with the door open, according to the report. The crash was attributed, in part, to pilot error for failing to check the hatch, the report said. The chances of a panel coming loose and causing a plane to go down without something else happening are pretty slim, Servant Air spokesman Ted Panamarioff said. "You've got all kinds of Monday morning quarterbacks, but there's nobody that could ever convince me that could be true in and of itself," he said. Piper officials, located in Vero Beach, Fla., did not immediately return a phone message seeking comment. The luggage door in question measures about 3 1/2 feet wide and 2 1/2 feet high, Johnson said. It sits directly in front of the pilot's door on the side of the plane's nose. Servant Air, which serves a half-dozen communities near Kodiak, had owned the 1979 Navajo since 2004 and has never had a problem with it, Panamarioff said. As with many small air charter companies, it is mostly the pilot's responsibility to load the luggage and secure the door, and Starrett, a retired Coast Guard pilot, was a good and capable pilot, Panamarioff said. "The potential for a plane to take off with the door open -- it's not going to happen," he said. "He would have seen it; it was right in front of his face." Find James Halpin online at adn.com/contact/jhalpin or call him at 257-4589. \|\|\|\|\| Open hatch suspected in Alaska crash KODIAK, Alaska, Jan. 8 (UPI) -- Investigators suspect an open cargo hatch may have caused the fatal crash of a twin-engine plane in Alaska during the weekend. Six people died and another four were injured when the nine-passenger plane went down shortly after takeoff from an airport in Kodiak. The National Transportation Safety Board told the Anchorage Daily News Tuesday that the same type of plane had previous problems with the door to the luggage hold swinging open. The newspaper said some of the survivors reported an open door moments before impact. "There have been some incidents and accidents that did result from the door coming open," NTSB Investigator Clint Johnson said. "We don't know yet if there are similarities." The Piper PA-31 Navajo Chieftain was on a charter flight to Homer, Alaska. \|\|\|\|\| Associated Press - January 8, 2008 11:34 AM ET ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - If a luggage panel swinging open contributed to the plane crash in Kodiak on Saturday, it wouldn't be the first time. Federal investigators say similar panels swinging open on Piper PA-31 Navajo Chieftans are blamed for two other crashes in Alaska. The crash Saturday involved a nine-passenger, twin-engine Navajo Chieftan operated by Servant Air was on its way from Kodiak to Homer. It crashed shortly after takeoff and six people died. Survivors say a luggage compartment door swung open but no official cause of the crash has been determined. According to National Transportation Safety Board reports, there have been at least two documented cases of a baggage compartment opening and causing crashes on Navajos in Alaska. No one died in either incident. The first took place in April 1990, when the compartment on a Navajo taking off from Deadhorse popped loose. It caused an engine cover to separate and strike the plane's horizontal stabilizer. There were no injuries. An NTSB investigation found that a latching spring was missing and that the operator had modified the door to include an unauthorized safety device to keep the door shut without it being locked shut. A door also came open in May 1996 when an airplane operated by Cape Smythe Air Service took off from Point Hope. The pilot had loaded the nose compartment with luggage and visually checked the hatch. When the plane's nose lifted in the air, baggage and boxes fill from the compartment through the left engine propeller. The pilot was forced to crash-land on sea ice. The crash was attributed in part to pilot error for failing to check the hatch. Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.	Survivors of this weekend's airplane crash in Alaska, United States say they saw the forward cargo door of their Piper Piper PA-31 Navajo Chieftain swing open shortly after takeoff. The plane crashed into frigid waters a short distance from the runway, killing six of the ten on board, including the pilot, and leaving the other four hospitalized. The US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is investigating the accident, and NTSB investigator Clint Johnson said "There have been some incidents and accidents that did result from the door coming open. We don't know yet if there are similarities." He refused to speculate on accident cause, pointing out that a full investigation would take some time to complete. The remains of the fuselage have been laid out in a maintenance hangar close to the Kodiak Island accident site and is scheduled for examination tomorrow pending arrival of an accident investigation representative from Piper, who will provide detailed technical assistance. The nine-passenger complement had chartered the Servant Air plane to fly to Homer, and represented maximum capacity for the twin-engined plane. It appears that the survivors were seated at the rear of the plane. The deceased were identified as pilot Robin Starrett, 50, of Kodiak and five Homer residents - Stefan F. Basargin, 36, Pavel F. Basargin, 30, Zahary F. Martushev, 25, Iosif F. Martushev, 15, and Andrian Reutov, 22. The survivor's names have now also been released; they are Karnely Ivanov, 32, of Anchor Point, Feodot Basargin, 33, of Anchorage, Anton Rijkoff, 30, of Anchorage, and Andrean Basargin, 25, of Homer. There have been two previous cases of Alaskan Piper Navajo crashes confirmed to have been caused by open forward cargo hatches. In April 1990 a compartment opened during takeoff from Deadnight; this caused separation of an engine cover which proceeded to strike and damage the horizontal stabilizer. No-one was injured. It was discovered that a vital spring designed to exert pressure and thus keep the door shut was missing; the operator had improvised its own device to shut the door without correctly locking it. The second crash occurred in May 1996. A Cape Smythe Air Services owned-and-operated aircraft attempting takeoff at Point Hope had its forward door unexpectedly open as the nose lifted off. Cargo went through the left propeller, forcing an emergency crash landing on the ice severely injuring two people. The pilot had loaded the hold and then visually inspected the door. Under the false impression that it had been secured properly he proceeded to takeoff. He had originally attempted to turn the aircraft around and told the NTSB he had thought that the aircraft should have been able to fly despite the open door, although he appreciated aircraft documentation did not specifically mention such conditions. Small, local-based Servant Air had been operating the 1979 aircraft since 2004 without any difficulties. As with many such carriers, the pilot is responsible for loading and checking the door. The door is approximately 3 1/2 feet wide and 2 1/2 feet high.
Beasley strikes as Rangers progress - DaMarcus Beasley scored the only goal (©Getty Images) Rangers FC advanced to the third qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League with the minimum of fuss, winning 1-0 against FK Zeta in Montenegro to seal a 3-0 aggregate triumph. Comfortable Only once had Rangers lost a European tie after winning the first leg 2-0 at Ibrox, to BV Borussia Dortmund in the UEFA Cup third round in December 1999, and there never looked like being a repeat of that result tonight in a match of few clear openings. The only goal arrived in the 81st minute as DaMarcus Beasley picked up possession on the left and cut inside two defenders before cleverly dispatching the ball low into the net. The Glasgow club will find out their next opponents on Wednesday, when FK Crvena Zvezda travel to FC Levadia Tallinn leading 1-0 from the first game in Serbia. Half-chances Zeta made one change from the team that had started in Scotland, bringing right-back Nenad Djurović in for Milan Vučković, while Rangers called in Kirk Broadfoot with Alan Hutton suspended following his first-leg dismissal. The first half was chiefly about half-chances, Beasley firing wide for the visitors on eleven minutes before Slaven Stjepanović blazed a shot over from the edge of the Rangers box on 25. McGregor save Rangers goalkeeper Allan McGregor made his first stop on 30 minutes, diving low to smother a drive from Bojan Ivanović, and it was another 33 minutes before his next as he raced off his line to punch the ball clear after a raking pass had found its way over the visiting back line. The one real moment of class was orchestrated by Rangers nine minutes from time, as Barry Ferguson and Kevin Thomson combined to work an opening for Beasley who promptly scored his first goal in Rangers' colours following his summer move from PSV Eindhoven. ©uefa.com 1998-2007. All rights reserved. \|\|\|\|\| Etto impressed for Dinamo Zagreb (©Getty Images) Slick Dinamo earn Bremen tie Match report by Elvir Islamović e-mail Print NK Dinamo Zagreb will tackle Werder Bremen for a place in the UEFA Champions League group stage after beating NK Domžale 3-1 to progress with a 5-2 aggregate victory in the second qualifying round. Testing tie Last week's 2-1 away win in Slovenia had made the Croatian club firm favourites to win the tie, and two early goals from Ognjen Vukojević (18) and Tomo Šokota (22) meant Dinamo Zagreb's qualification was never in doubt. Dario Zahora reduced arrears on 27, yet Sammir had the final say with the home side's third on the hour to boost confidence ahead of what will be a testing tie against the German giants, with the first leg to be played away next week. Etto the creator Domžale actually had the first opportunity of note, Georg Koch producing a super save to deny Zlatan Ljubijankič's close-range effort. That was to prove the high point for the visitors, though, as Vukojević profited from fine interplay between Brazilians Sammir and Etto to make it 1-0 before Šokota headed in an Etto cross soon after. Zahora, a Croatian, left his mark on the match when finding the net with aplomb before the half-hour, as did Sammir when he waltzed through the Domžale defence to settle things with the final and finest goal of the match. ©uefa.com 1998-2007. All rights reserved. \|\|\|\|\| Marcus Allbäck was the FCK hero (©Getty Images) Allbäck sends København through Match report by Ofer Ronen-Abels e-mail Print Marcus Allbäck scored the decisive goal in extra time as FC København drew 1-1 at Beitar Jerusalem FC to end the Israeli club's challenge with a 2-1 aggregate victory in a tense second qualifying round contest. Benfica next The 34-year-old striker struck seven minutes into extra time after Barak Itzhaki (60) had cancelled out Allbäck's only goal from the first leg in the Danish capital last week. Allbäck scored three times in the group stage last season, including one in the two meetings with SL Benfica – the Portuguese giants who now block København's path to a return to the last 32. The Eagles had the better of their two meetings last year, drawing 0-0 away before a 3-1 home victory on Matchday 5. Grønkjær assist Beitar endured a frustrating first half in front of a packed Teddy Stadium crowd tonight, dominating possession but creating few chances. That changed following the introduction of Aviram Baruchyan and Toto Tamuz for Milovan Mirosevic and Romulo, with Tamuz soon firing a shot into the side-netting. Itzhaki found the right side of the post on the hour, drilling the ball in after Cristián Álvarez had made the most of Idan Tal's fine pass to create the opening. It was the visitors who laughed last, though, as Jesper Grønkjær got in behind the Beitar defence to tee up Allbäck who gleefully stroked København into the next stage. ©uefa.com 1998-2007. All rights reserved. \|\|\|\|\| Tomi Petrescu created Tampere's winner (©Getty Images) Tampere finish off Levski Match report e-mail Print Tampere United of Finland will compete in the third and final qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League for the first time after completing 1-0 home and away victories against PFC Levski Sofia in the Bulgarian capital. Niemi winner Having reached the group stage last season, Levski were strongly fancied to eliminate a Tampere side whose two-legged success against San Marino's S.S. Murata in the previous round had been their first in the competition. Instead, Jari Niemi struck in the 40th minute at the Vasil Levski National Stadium to leave Levski needing three goals to advance, a feat they never looked like achieving. Tampere's reward is a tie against fellow Scandinavians Rosenborg BK, who defeated FC Astana. Clinical finish Levski started with Borislav Hristov in central defence following injuries to the captain Elin Topuzakov and Igor Tomašić, and the home side had the better of a quiet opening half-hour. Opportunities were created soon after, Hristo Yovov forcing Mikko Kavén into a save and Miroslav Ivanov fizzing a shot over, although when the goal came it went the way of Tampere. A quick free-kick found its way to Tomi Petrescu out on the right and the first-leg scorer whipped in a cross which Niemi collected near the penalty spot before beating goalkeeper Georgi Petkov with a clinical drive. In-form Kavén Home coach Stanimir Stoilov reacted immediately by replacing Hristov with the experienced, but not fully fit, Daniel Borimirov, and also brought on forward Ekundayo Jaiyeoba after half-time. The Nigerian almost made an immediate impact, forcing Kavén into a fine save before seeing a goal chalked out for offside. Kavén also denied Valeri Domovchiyski and Lucio Wagner, although Levski soon ran out of ideas as their European hopes ended for another year. ©uefa.com 1998-2007. All rights reserved.	Rangers, Copenhagen, Tampere United and Dinamo Zagreb advanced to Third Qualifying Round of this season's UEFA Champions League. Rangers beat FK Zeta 3-0 on aggregate. Rangers lost a European round once after winning the first leg 2-0 at Ibrox. this was to Borussia Dortmund in December 1999. The only goal of the 2nd leg came in the 81st minute as Beasley got possession on the left and cut inside two defenders before scoring. The Glascow club will find out their next opponents on Wednesday, when Crvena Zvezda play Levadia Tallinn in Tallinn. Crvena Zvezda won the 1st leg 1-0. Dinamo Zagreb will play Werder Bremen in the 3rd Qualifying Round after beating NK Domžale 5-2 on aggregate in the second qualifying round. Copenhagen beat Beitar Jerusalem in extra time to advance to face Benfica of Portugal. Marcus Allbäck scored the goal to send the Danish side through. Tampere United of Finland will compete in the third qualifying round of UEFA Champions League for the first time after beating Levski Sofia 2-0 on aggregate.
President Bush urged Congress not to miss out on a historic opportunity The bill is supported by President George W Bush, who has said the issue is at the top of his domestic agenda. The legislation would bring in tighter border controls but offer 12m illegal immigrants a path to citizenship. The bill faltered in the Senate earlier this month when it failed to win the backing of enough Republicans to move to a final vote. Senators on Tuesday voted 64-35 to resume debate on the compromise legislation, which was put together by both Republican and Democratic leaders and the White House. Personal appeal However, it faces a bumpy ride in the next few days as its backers try to push it through before Friday, when the Senate will break for a week-long recess, correspondents say. Supporters of immigration reform have held a number of big rallies Democratic Senator Edward Kennedy, one of the sponsors of the bill, said the compromise measure "may not be perfect, but it is the best opportunity we have to do something significant and substantial". However, Republican Senator Jim DeMint warned the legislation would continue to face stiff opposition from some senators, many of whom are under pressure from conservative voters to block its progress. "The momentum against this bill is growing all across the country," he said. Mr Bush responded with a personal appeal to his party to back the legislation, attending a Republican policymakers' luncheon on Capitol Hill to press his point. Speaking ahead of Tuesday's vote to resume debate, he urged Congress not to miss a "historic opportunity" to reform a system that was not working. Critics' concerns The deadlock followed a series of amendments to the proposed bill, which undermined the fragile bipartisan compromise. Illegal immigration is among voters' top concerns and is set to be a key issue in the 2008 presidential poll. Under the proposed Senate bill, illegal immigrants would be able to seek a new "Z visa" - which would allow them to stay in the country but must be renewed every two years - after paying a $5,000 (£2,530) fine. To get the Z visa, they would have to pass a background check, remain employed and receive a tamperproof identity card. They could ultimately be placed on the path to permanent residency - a process that could take several years. The bill also set out a "points system" that emphasises immigrants' education, language and job skills over family connections in awarding green cards. But these measures would not come into force until 18,000 new border guards are deployed, the fence with Mexico reinforced and hi-tech surveillance put in place. Some critics have labelled it an "amnesty" for those who have illegally entered the US. Others have argued that its guest worker programme threatens US workers, or that it will create an underclass of cheap foreign labourers. \|\|\|\|\| Story Highlights • NEW: House Republican caucus passes resolution opposing bill • NEW: Debate on two dozen amendments to commence Wednesday • 64 senators vote to bring immigration bill back for consideration • Bush dispatches Commerce, Homeland Security heads to work out compromise Adjust font size: WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Though the Senate voted Tuesday to bring President Bush's immigration reform bill back to the Senate floor, objections to any of two dozen amendments to be debated starting Wednesday could kill the bill for the year. And even as the Senate moved forward, House Republicans late Tuesday voted overwhelmingly in favor of a resolution opposing the immigration bill -- a move that could place a significant roadblock in front of the measure even if it clears the Senate. By a vote of 114-23, the House Republican Conference approved a statement by Rep. Pete Hoekstra of Michigan that simply read: "Resolved: The House GOP Conference disapproves of the Senate immigration bill." The vote came during a closed-door meeting. The lack of Republican support could doom the immigration bill because House Democratic leaders have previously said they would not bring it to the House floor unless at least 70 of the 201 GOP members were on board. House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, said, "It's clear that there is a large number of House Republicans who have serious concerns with the Senate bill." Earlier in the Senate, proponents of the bill received four more than the 60 votes necessary to send the legislation to the floor for debate after several pleas from Bush over the last two weeks, including a rare trip to Capitol Hill to twist a few arms and a final speech Tuesday morning. "I view this as a historic opportunity for Congress to act," Bush told an audience of supporters at the Eisenhower office building. "This is a moment for people who have been elected to come together, focus on a problem and show the American people we can fix a problem." The bill includes $4.4 billion for border protection, work-site enforcement and tamper-proof ID cards; sets up a temporary worker program to address the needs of employers who rely on migrants; and requires that migrants learn English. It also offers a path to citizenship to the estimated 12 million people in the United States illegally. One of the bill's architects, Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Massachusetts, called Tuesday's vote "a major step forward for our national security, for our economy, and for our humanity." "We did the right thing today because we know the American people sent us here to act on our most urgent problems. We know they will not stand for small political factions getting in the way," Kennedy said in a statement. A similar test vote earlier this month received only 45 votes, and only nine of them from Republicans. On Tuesday, 24 Republicans joined 39 Democrats and independent Sen. Joseph Lieberman to proceed with debate. Bush said that Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez and Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff will work with senators to reach a compromise. "We are certainly pleased with the early vote on the motion to proceed," White House spokesman Tony Snow told reporters shortly after the Senate decision. He said he looks forward to the debates. Opponents of the bill say that the path to citizenship amounts to amnesty for those who entered the country illegally. The 24 amendments to be considered -- 12 for Democrats and 12 for Republicans, seek to change some of the more controversial parts of the legislation. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, one of the bill's more vocal opponents said he is still concerned about enforcing tougher laws. "My concern is the gulf between the promise being made to the American people and the likelihood that the promise will be carried out," Cornyn said before the vote. "The White House said this is of no concern because they will declare them ineligible and deport them. "The question Americans are asking is, 'Will they? Can they,' " Cornyn said. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, said the Senate had to address the issue. "The stakes are too high for inaction," Reid said. "We are the Senate of the United States. People said, 'The issue is too complex, let's not do it.' We have to take hard votes. "Mr. President, we have an immigration system that is broken and needs to be fixed. That's what we're trying to do is fix this," Reid said. A CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll released Monday showed 47 percent of Americans opposed the bill, while 30 percent supported it and 19 percent said they didn't know enough about it to make a judgment. The poll's sampling error was plus or minus 3 percentage points. However, the poll found a significant division among opponents of the immigration plan. About 28 percent said they were opposed because it did too much to help illegal immigrants, but 15 percent said they were opposed because it did too little. So while much of the opposition to the bill has come from those who believe it is too soft on illegal immigration, the poll found that 45 percent of Americans either support the bill or want it to be more immigrant-friendly, compared to 28 percent who feel it's already too immigrant-friendly. CNN's Dana Bash and Evan Glass contributed to this report. \|\|\|\|\| For Immediate Release Office of the Press Secretary June 26, 2007 President Bush Discusses Comprehensive Immigration Reform Room 350 Eisenhower Executive Office Building In Focus: Immigration 9:01 A.M. EDT THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all. Please be seated. Thanks for coming. Thanks for working on an immigration bill that's important for this country. I appreciate your efforts and I appreciate your time. I do want to thank Secretary Gutierrez and Secretary Chertoff for their hard work. And one of the things I told members of the Senate, that the administration is going to be involved in crafting a comprehensive bill that's good for the country. And I said we're going to be more than just giving speeches, or using the microphone to proclaim the need for a comprehensive bill. I would send two members plus our staff up to -- two members of my Cabinet plus our staff up to work the -- to work with the senators. And you guys have done a really good job. Thank you for your time. Thanks for your understanding of the complex, carefully crafted piece of legislation that is moving through the Senate. And you've done exactly what I asked you to do -- that's why you're in the Cabinet. (Laughter.) I appreciate you all helping work this bill through the Senate. The first thing that we've got to recognize in the country is that the system isn't working. The immigration system needs reform. The status quo is unacceptable. Most Americans understand that. They say, well, we attempted to reform the system in 1986, and the reform didn't work. Our view is, if the status quo is unacceptable, we need to replace it with something that is acceptable, and have been working toward that end with both Democrats and Republicans in the Senate. The reason the Senate, of course, is that we'll be moving our attention to the House when it passes a comprehensive piece of legislation. I view this as an historic opportunity for Congress to act, for Congress to replace a system that is not working with one that we believe will work a lot better. In other words, this is a moment for people who have been elected to come together, focus on a problem, and show the American people that we can work together to fix the problem. If you dislike the status quo on immigration, then you ought to be supporting a comprehensive approach to making sure the system works. And it's a practical approach. The Senate has worked very hard to craft a comprehensive bill. In a good piece of legislation like this, and a difficult piece of legislation like this, one side doesn't get everything they want. It's a careful compromise, and many of you have been involved with that compromise. The problem that this bill recognizes, the bill recognizes that we've got to address the problem in a comprehensive fashion. There are people who say, well, we've got to do more to protect our border -- and they're right, we do have to do more to protect our border. And that's why this bill has a lot of border security measures that will help continue the strategy that we have been implementing over the past year. As a matter of fact, there's a $4.4 billion direct deposit on enforcement measures. But it's important for our fellow citizens to understand that in order to enforce the border, there has to be a way for people to come to our country on a temporary basis to do work Americans aren't doing. Otherwise, they will continue to try to sneak in across the border. And, therefore, a second aspect of the comprehensive bill is one that addresses the economic needs of our country, and that is a temporary worker program that will match foreign workers with jobs Americans aren't doing -- and notice I say temporary worker program. There are a lot of employers here in this country that worry about having a work force that will be able to meet the demands and needs of a growing economy. There are people who live in our neighborhood and around the world who are desperate to provide food for their families, and recognize there are available jobs, and they will do anything to come to our country to work, because they want to fight off the poverty and starvation that has affected their loved ones. It's a powerful incentive to be a mom or a dad to make sure your children don't suffer. That's an incentive. That's an incentive for people here in America; it also happens to be an incentive for people around the world. And, therefore, people will be willing to go extra lengths to avoid border security. They'll be willing to be crammed in the bottom of 18-wheelers. They fall prey to these coyotes who smuggle human beings to achieve profit. When I say the system hadn't worked -- the system hadn't worked to enforce our borders like we want, but the system has also fostered illegal operations that prey upon the human being, and it's not in this nation's interest that that continue to happen. And, finally, this bill goes to the heart of our values. We have proven that our nation is capable of assimilating people. And I'm confident that we can continue to be a nation that assimilates. The bill recognizes that English is a part of the assimilation process and wants to help people learn the language in order to be able to take advantage of America. You know, I've heard all the rhetoric -- you've heard it, too -- about how this is amnesty. Amnesty means that you've got to pay a price for having been here illegally, and this bill does that (Click here for correction). But it also recognizes it's in our nation's interest to bring people out of the shadows; that there's got to be a way forward that recognizes there is a penalty for being here illegally -- on the other hand, that recognizes that each person has got worth and dignity. I love a country where people come with dreams and aspirations and through hard work can realize those dreams and aspirations. I'm struck every time I hear -- I'm struck about our greatness every time I hear a story about a child taking advantage of a mother's or dad's hard work to realize the blessings of America. I was at the Coast Guard Academy -- I've told this story several times -- and the number one cadet talked about his migrant grandfather. The fellow was a Mexican American -- or is a Mexican American. The father came from -- the grandfather came from Mexico to work hard so that, hopefully, some day somebody in his family would realize the blessings of America. And it worked. The country is better off. Our soul is constantly renewed. Our spirit is invigorated when people come here and realize the blessings of America. And so the bill that we've worked hard to craft is an important piece of legislation that addresses the needs of a failed system, that says we're going to change for the better. I want to thank you all for working hard. We've got a couple of days of hard work ahead of us to get the bill through the first stage of the process, and then, of course, when successful in the Senate, we'll be reconvening to figure out how to get the bill out of the House. It's an important piece of legislation; it's an important time to act for the sake of the country. Thanks for your time. God bless your efforts. God bless our country. Thank you. (Applause.) END 9:10 A.M. EDT	President George W. Bush. The discussion on the , which, if passed, would result in a temporary worker program, was put back on the political agenda. The voted 64–35, which, though not sufficient to pass the bill, was enough to resume debate on the subject. President Bush has been working to get the bill back into the agenda, making a trip to to "twist a few arms" according to . He also gave a speech on the subject on Tuesday morning. The bill faces stiff opposition from Republicans in Congress, who say that "it would do little to stem the flow of illegal immigration into the United States." President Bush spoke about the issue, saying that, "I view this as a historic opportunity for Congress to act... This is a moment for people who have been elected to come together, focus on a problem and show the American people we can fix a problem."
MONTEVIDEO, March 17 (Xinhuanet) -- A locomotive lost control in a reality television show in Uruguay on Friday, killing seven people,police said. About 200 residents in Young, a Uruguayan town about 380 kilometers west of the capital of Montevideo, wer e invited to push the locomotive as part of the TV program "Desafio al Corazon" (A Challenge to Your Heart). Some people slipped and fell under the wheels of the train when it gathered speed. The locomotive had no brakes, police said. Seven people were killed and eleven others injured in the accident. The Channel 10 television station held the program to raise funds for a local hospital, police said. Uruguayan President Tabare Vazquez, who was returning from Paraguay, the final stop of a five-nation South American tour, expressed "deep grief" and solidarity with the victims. Local authorities had declared three days of mourning. Enditem \|\|\|\|\| By ARIEL GONZALEZ MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay Mar 17, 2006 (AP) Seven residents of a Uruguayan town were killed on Friday when they were run over by a train they were moving manually as part of a reality television show aimed at raising funds for a local hospital, police said. Several hundred townspeople from Young, about 235 miles west of the capital of Montevideo, were hauling a locomotive and two attached cars down a track pushing and pulling from different sides when some participants fell under the wheels, said a police department spokesman. Several other people were hurt in Friday's accident, three of them critically. Eyewitness Ana Portela told a local radio station that the train was moving when "somebody slipped and fell under the locomotive, and others were falling alongside it." "There were shouts and somebody said 'my arm!'" Portela said. "Everybody was in a state of shock." The residents were taking part in the program "A Challenge to the Heart," in which Uruguayan communities can raise funds for local charities by completing difficult tasks set by the network, in this case moving a train a certain distance down railroad tracks. "We're deeply saddened and Channel 10 offers its solidarity and support to the families involved in this unexpected tragedy that came, in fact, while they were trying to help others," said a spokeswoman for the network airing the reality show. Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. \|\|\|\|\| The accident happened in front of thousands of children The accident occurred during a "test of strength" challenge to raise money for a hospital in Young, 380km (235 miles) west of the capital, Montevideo. Contestants were pushing and pulling a train and two carriages when the vehicle gained speed and ran them over. Local authorities have declared three days of mourning. 'State of shock' Participants in the programme, called A Challenge to the Heart, raise funds for local charities by completing difficult tasks set by the network - in this case manoeuvring a train a certain distance down railway tracks. The Associated Press news agency quoted Ana Portela as telling local radio station El Espectador that the train was moving when "somebody slipped and fell under the locomotive, and others were falling alongside it. "There were shouts and somebody said 'my arm!'" Ms Portela said. "Everybody was in a state of shock." Graciela Baccino, a spokeswoman for Channel 10 television, said the tragedy was "deeply saddening". She said the TV network offered its "solidarity and support" to the families involved. About 3,000 schoolchildren were at the recording and witnessed the accident.	A runaway train killed seven people and injured eleven more today in the small town of Young, Uruguay, about 235 miles west of Montevideo. The victims were taking part in an Uruguyan reality game show, Desafio al Corazon, or "A Challenge to my Heart," where communities can raise money by performing tasks. The task in this accident was to push or pull a train with two cars attached to it down a railroad track. The train gathered too much momentum and ran down the people in front of it. One eyewitness, Ana Portela, said that the train was in motion when "somebody slipped and fell under the locomotive, and others were falling alongside it. There were shouts and somebody cried 'my arm!' Everybody was in a state of shock." Local authorities have declared three days of official mourning as Uruguayan President Tabaré Vázquez offered his deepest condolences for the victims of the crash. A spokeswoman from the channel airing the program, Mrs. Graciela Baccino stated, "Channel 10 offers its solidarity and support to the families involved in this unexpected tragedy that came, in fact, while they were trying to help others." The money raised would have gone towards a local hospital.
Ontario police scour countryside for missing girl The family of Victoria Stafford and local residents of Woodstock, Ont., attend a candlelight vigil Sunday evening for the girl, 8, who disappeared Wednesday. (CBC) The family of Victoria Stafford and local residents of Woodstock, Ont., attend a candlelight vigil Sunday evening for the girl, 8, who disappeared Wednesday. (CBC) About 1,000 people, including relatives of Victoria Stafford, attended a candlelight vigil in Woodstock, Ont., on Sunday and prayed for the safe return of the eight-year-old girl, who went missing Wednesday. The extended Stafford family gathered earlier Sunday night for Easter dinner before attending the vigil, which was held in the parking lot of a local department store at 8 p.m. ET. Surveillance video showed the Grade 3 student, also known as Tori, walking with an unidentified woman as she left school Wednesday afternoon in the city of 35,000 east of London. Investigators, who call the woman a "person of interest," are checking dozens of tips from the public about her identity, and are now working with a profiler to try to find out more about her. "All police have to go on is that grainy surveillance video," the CBC's Christine Birak reported. "Even the police and Victoria's parents have said it's strange because Victoria is not leaving against her will. It almost seems as if she knows who this woman is." The woman in the video is described by police as between 19 and 25 years old, between 120 and 125 pounds, with straight long black hair in a ponytail. She was wearing a white coat and black jeans. Police said they have no reason at this time to suspect foul play, but the search for Victoria has continued around the clock with more than 200 volunteers from the community helping police. Birak said police are searching everywhere, including lakes and ponds and forests. "They've found nothing that will point to what has happened to Victoria," she said. An organizer of the vigil, which began 8 p.m. ET in a department store parking lot, has asked for donations of candles and plastic cups. "I think what's happening with members of the public is an expression of their emotions, their concern for this child. And I think that's good, in terms of the willingness of this community to step up," Mayor Michael Harding told CBC News on Saturday. "As time goes on, we begin to worry more and more about the whereabouts and the condition of this little girl." Stafford's parents, Tara McDonald and Rodney Stafford, separated last December. The father, who described the relationship as "an ongoing struggle," insisted that he doesn't believe any of Victoria's relatives are behind her disappearance. "Nobody can even begin to imagine what our family is going through," Tara McDonald, the missing girl's mother, said at the vigil. Surrounded by his family at the vigil, Victoria's father thanked the hundreds of people who have helped search for his daughter. Victoria's mother made a tearful televised appeal Friday and offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to her daughter's safe return. Anyone with information can call police at (519) 537-2323 or contact Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-800-222-TIPS. With files from The Canadian Press \|\|\|\|\| Girl's disappearance ‘killing me,' says dad WOODSTOCK, Ont. It has been an agonizing, nearly sleepless three days for Rodney Stafford since his eight-year-old daughter disappeared. He said he is barely keeping it together, but what hits him hardest is seeing the smiling face of his “baby girl” on missing posters everywhere he turns in this small southwestern Ontario city. “It's killing me,” Mr. Stafford said Saturday. “(I want to) let her know that I love her and I'll see her soon. One way or another I'll see her soon.” Victoria Stafford was last seen leaving her school in Woodstock, east of London, Wednesday afternoon. Police say they've identified Victoria in surveillance video around the time she was last seen, walking with a woman whom police call a “person of interest.” Police have not declared Victoria's disappearance foul play, but haven't ruled it out. “There are a lot of different possibilities,” said Oxford Community Police Constable Laurie-Anne Maitland. “Not everyone that takes a child hurts a child. There are lots of different scenarios that we can be weighing. Is it possible? Absolutely. But is the opposite possible? Absolutely. I'd like to say foul play is not suspected at all, but that would be inaccurate.” Mr. Stafford said he just wants to have his beautiful daughter return home. “I've had a lot of problems come up in my life and stuff like that, and I haven't always been there for my kids, but this is my baby girl and it's absolutely hurting now,” Mr. Stafford said. “I'm having a real hard time.” When Mr. Stafford walks through the city streets, he is surrounded by posters that have been plastered up by an army of volunteers. “Now that I'm seeing all the flyers and stuff, every time I walk past all I want to do is cry,” he said. He describes his daughter as a smart, one-of-a-kind, bubbly girl who just wants to spend time with her family and friends. Mr. Stafford also said his 10-year-old son Daryn is having a difficult time because he and his sister Victoria are “two peas in a pod.” A veritable army of volunteers flooded a retail parking lot next to the police station Friday to help with the search efforts and dozens more passed out flyers. Mr. Stafford said he was deeply touched by the outpouring of support. “It's outstanding,” he said. “Even people I know that dislike me and stuff, they're out searching for my baby. That means so much.” Mr. Stafford and Victoria's mother separated in December and he called it “an ongoing struggle.” The around-the-clock search for Victoria continued Saturday mostly in an official capacity, with search and rescue crews from nearby London co-ordinating the effort. While the offer of support from hundreds of volunteers from the community is wonderful, it's a bit difficult to oversee, Const. Maitland said. A volunteer search group would have to be supervised by an official to ensure any evidence was gathered properly. Other parents in Woodstock were holding their children a little bit tighter Saturday. James Schumann, 31, doesn't know what he would do if his six-year-old son Dion went missing. He said he has been keeping an extra close eye on the boy since Victoria's disappearance. “It's pretty devastating,” he said. “I hope it doesn't happen to (my child). I'm pretty much watching, see where he's going, make sure nothing like this would happen to him.” Jason Gardyne, a father of three, said it worries him that Victoria seems to have just vanished. “I've lived here all my life — 34 years — and I've never heard anything like that,” he said, while taking a walk with his seven-year-old daughter. However, he said he still doesn't let his children walk home from school alone. “I keep a pretty close eye on them,” Mr. Gardyne said. The community is also planning a candlelight vigil for Sunday night. Meanwhile, Victoria's family has created a $10,000 reward for her return. \|\|\|\|\| Search for missing Ontario girl continues, vigil planned Sunday The search for an eight-year-old Ontario girl who has been missing since mid-week continued Saturday, with volunteers and police focusing on a conservation area on the northern edge of the small city of Woodstock. Tori Stafford was last seen leaving her school on Wednesday afternoon. (Oxford Community Police) Tori Stafford was last seen leaving her school on Wednesday afternoon. (Oxford Community Police) Victoria Stafford, known in her family as Tori, was last seen leaving Oliver Stephens Public School in Woodstock on Wednesday afternoon. Mayor Michael Harding said 150 volunteers helped police Friday in searching various areas in the city and were turning their attention to the north and south sides of Pittock Lake. After talking to a witness, police identified Victoria in surveillance video recorded around the time she was last seen walking away from the school, accompanied by a woman whom police called a "person of interest." Investigators are checking dozens of tips from the public about the mystery woman's identity. The woman in the video is described by police as between 19 and 25 years old, between 120 and 125 pounds, with straight long black hair in a ponytail. She was wearing a white coat and black jeans. Police said they have no reason at this time to suspect foul play. Candlelight vigil planned As volunteers continued to turn out to help search or hand out flyers, others were planning a candlelight vigil for Sunday night if the girl is not found before then. An organizer of the event — to begin at 8 p.m. ET in the parking lot in front of a Zellers store — has asked for donations of candles and plastic cups. "I think what's happening with members of the public is an expression of their emotions, their concern for this child. And I think that's good in terms of the willingness of this community to step up," Harding told CBC News on Saturday. "As time goes on, we begin to worry more and more about the whereabouts and the condition of this little girl." Victoria's mother, Tara McDonald, made a tearful televised appeal Friday and offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to her daughter's safe return. Police in the city of 35,000 — 45 kilometres east of London — defended their decision not to issue an Amber Alert in the case. An Oxford Community Police spokeswoman said the case didn't meet the criteria to request a co-ordinated news media bulletin. Anyone with information can call police at (519) 537-2323 or contact Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-800-222-TIPS.	Victoria Stafford, eight years old, was sighted leaving her Woodstock, Ontario school on Wednesday afternoon with an unknown woman caught on video camera. She has not been seen since. Woodstock. Victoria (Tori) attended grade 3 at Oliver Stephens Public School, and the video is from the College Avenue secondary school as Victoria and the unidentified woman walked along Fyfe Avenue. "I've had a lot of problems come up in my life and stuff like that, and I haven't always been there for my kids, but this is my baby girl and it's absolutely hurting now," her father Robert Stafford said, "It's killing me, I want to let her know that I love her and I'll see her soon. One way or another I'll see her soon." Police teams from Oxford, Waterloo and London have assembled together with rescue dogs and trained search and rescue personnel to find the child. Police have called the search a criminal investigation, but have not yet issued an Amber alert as there has been no report of an abduction. 150 volunteers joined search efforts and to pass out flyers on the 10th. Police say they have no need of more volunteers at this time, however they would appreciate any tips or calls from anyone who may have seen either Victoria or the woman. The unidentified woman seen in the video is described as between 19 and 25 years old with straight long black hair. She weighs about 120 to 125 pounds and was wearing a white coat and black jeans in the video. Victoria was wearing a green shirt with a black pleated skirt. She was wearing black and white shoes and carried a purple and pink Bratz purse. She had on a black Hannah Montana jacket which had a white fur lined hood. "I think what's happening with members of the public is an expression of their emotions, their concern for this child. And I think that's good in terms of the willingness of this community to step up," said Michael Harding, Mayor of Woodstock. Volunteers are making and handing out purple ribbons, Tori's favourite colour. A candlelight vigil will be held in the evening on Easter Sunday.
Preferences \| Personal information \| Change password \| Logout World News Galeras volcano erupts in southwestern Colombia Print article Refer to a friend © AP 2009-02-15 04:22:01 - BOGOTA (AP) - A volcano in southwestern Colombia erupted on Saturday, blanketing the nearby provincial capital of Pasto in ash and prompting the evacuation of 7,000 people living in its shadow. There were no reports of damage or injuries. Mount Galeras began erupting about an hour after dark, spewing «an abundant ashfall on urban Pasto and on some rural areas,» said Eduardo Alvarado, mayor of the city of 500,000. Pasto is just over 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the 14,110-foot volcano, which is widely considered Colombia's most active. «We've recommended that people who live in urban areas remain in their homes,» said Alvarado. «The city is tranquil despite the great quantity of ash that has fallen. No injuries or other problems had been reported, but authorities did order two water treatment plants near Galeras to shut down, Alvarado said. The volcano last erupted in January 2008, but Alvarado said it has hard to compare the two eruptions because this time it was raining and the volcano was shrouded in clouds. No one was hurt in 2008 and most nearby residents refused to evacuate, fearing their homes would be looted. In 1993, an eruption of Galeras killed nine people, including five scientists who had descended into the crater to sample gases. and on some rural areas,» said Eduardo Alvarado, mayor of the city of 500,000.Pasto is just over 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the 14,110-foot volcano, which is widely considered Colombia's most active.«We've recommended that people who live in urban areas remain in their homes,» said Alvarado. «The city is tranquil despite the great quantity of ash that has fallen.No injuries or other problems had been reported, but authorities did order two water treatment plants near Galeras to shut down, Alvarado said.The volcano last erupted in January 2008, but Alvarado said it has hard to compare the two eruptions because this time it was raining and the volcano was shrouded in clouds.No one was hurt in 2008 and most nearby residents refused to evacuate, fearing their homes would be looted.In 1993, an eruption of Galeras killed nine people, including five scientists who had descended into the crater to sample gases. Disclaimer: This news article is copyrighted by Associated Press and published by PR-inside.com. If you have any questions regarding information in this article please contact ap-online.com. PR-inside can not assist or help you giving information about this News articles. \|\|\|\|\| 8,000 evacuated as Colombia volcano stirs PASTO, Colombia - Galeras volcano in southern Colombia, near the border with Ecuador, began erupting late Saturday, and some 8,000 residents were ordered to evacuate, the Colombian Institute of Geology and Mines said. A forceful eruption began at 7:10pm (0010 GMT), after which the regional alert system was raised to its highest level, local emergency relief coordinator Lina Dorado told AFP. A "large amount of ash" was falling on the regional capital Pasto, reported the provincial governor. The Civil Defence and Red Cross agencies has begun evacuation procedures to help the 8,000 people living on the slopes to get off the volcano. The 4,270-metre Galeras has stirred sporadically in recent years. It erupted in January 2008, causing no casualties, but a 1993 eruption claimed the lives of nine people. - AFP/ir \|\|\|\|\| The Galeras volcano has erupted near the town of Pasto in Colombia. The alert level has been set to red. A large amout of ash is currently falling on the city of Pasto. Photos Columbia volcano see more uploaded by Cypresso 8,000 people have begun evacuating the area, when the volcano began erupting at 7:10pm. The Civil Defense and Red Cross are helping with the evacuations as many people live on the volcano slopes. The volcano is not in a heavily populated area however. Authorities have raised the alert level to "red" after an "explosive eruption" at the Galeras Volcano in Colombia, according to local TV. Mayor Eduardo Alvarado said: an abundant ashfall on urban Pasto and on some rural areas," There have been no reports of injuries or fatalities at this time. Two water treatment plants have been shut down however just in case. What does 'Red Alert' mean? A red alert is the highest level of alert that can be issued in any situation when a threat of danger is immanent. The Galeras Volcano is the most active volcano in Colombia and is has been active for over a million years now. The volcano previously erupted on January 17, 2008 causing only partial damage. Two major caldera-forming eruptions have occurred, the first about 560,000 years ago in an eruption which expelled about 15 cubic kilometres of material, and the second some time between 40,000 and 150,000 years ago, in a smaller but still sizable eruption of 2km³ of material. Subsequently, part of the caldera wall has collapsed, probably due to instabilities caused by hydrothermal activity, and later eruptions have built up a smaller cone inside the now horseshoe-shaped caldera. In light of its violent eruptive history and proximity to the 450,000 people of Pasto, Galeras was designated a Decade Volcano in 1991, identifying it as a target for detailed study as part of the United Nations' International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction. Get real time twitter updates here.	Galeras in July 2006. Thousands of people in Pastos, Colombia have been ordered to evacuate after the Galeras Volcano began to "explosively" erupt, according to reports. According to Colombia's Institute of Geology and Mines, the eruption began at about 7:10 p.m. local time (00:10 GMT). An estimated 8,000 people have been affected. "There is a large amount of ash" falling from the sky, said Eduardo Alvarado, Pastos's provincial governor, adding that those "who live in urban areas, remain in their homes." The government in the area has been put on red alert and the Red Cross has also been called in to assist in aiding refugees. So far there are no reports of injuries damages, or deaths. Galeras, which sits on the Colombian, Ecuador border, had recently erupted in 2008, but there were no injuries or deaths. In 1993, nine people were killed in an eruption. It's the most active volcano in Colombia and has been erupting regularly for at least a million years.
Japan declares nuclear emergency Pressure in several reactors is considerably higher than normal, Japan's nuclear agency says Japanese authorities have declared a state of emergency at two nuclear power plants, after Friday's devastating earthquake caused malfunctions. Cooling systems inside several reactors at the Fukushima 1 and 2 power plants have stopped working properly, leading to a build-up of pressure. Thousands of people have been ordered to evacuate the area near the plants. Technicians are starting to release vapour to lower the pressure in some of the reactors. Some of the released gases could be radioactive, but officials insisted the procedure would pose no risk to the public. Radioactivity levels in the control room of the Fukushima 1 plant were reportedly running at 1,000 times normal. The earthquake knocked out the power supply to the plants, which then automatically shut down. But it seems that back-up generators at Fukushima 1 designed to power the plant's basic functions also failed. Two reactors at the Fukushima 1 plant were left without sufficient cooling. And officials later said they were unable to control the cooling systems in three reactors at Fukushima 2 plant, 11km (seven miles) south of Fukushima 1. Wind factor Under Japanese law, an emergency must be declared if a cooling system fails, if there is a release of radiation, or if there is a dangerous level of water in the reactor. Prime Minister Naoto Kan declared the emergency. He announced the evacuations after visiting the plant. Continue reading the main story AFFECTED POWER PLANTS Onagawa - all three reactors shut down automatically Fukushima Daiichi - reactors 1,2 and 3 shut down automatically; reactors 4,5 and 6 were not in operation; reactor 1 and one other were not cooling as expected Fukushima Daini - all four reactors shut down automatically, three experiencing cooling problems Tokai - single operational reactor shut down automatically Defence officials said troops trained in chemical disasters had been sent to the plants in case of a radiation leak. Earlier, the authorities say they are taking wind direction into account when planning the release of radioactive vapour, which they insist would not be in quantities big enough to affect human health. "It's possible that radioactive material in the reactor vessel could leak outside but the amount is expected to be small and the wind blowing towards the sea will be considered," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano told a news conference. The six reactors at Fukushima 1 came online in the 1970s; Fukushima 2 has four reactors, built during the 1980s. All nuclear facilities in Japan are designed to withstand earthquakes. But experts say there appears to have been multiple failures at the Fukushima facilities, raising serious questions about the safety of Japan's reactors. The reactors at Fukushima 1 are Boiling Water Reactors (BWR), one of the most commonly used designs, and widely used throughout Japan's fleet of nuclear power stations. Heat is produced by a nuclear reaction in the core, causing the water to boil, producing steam. The steam is directly used to drive a turbine, after which it is cooled in a condenser and converted back to water. The water is then pumped back into reactor core, completing the loop. In total, the country has 55 reactors providing about one-third of the nation's electricity. \|\|\|\|\| Explosion at quake-hit nuclear plant Updated An explosion has blown the roof off an unstable reactor north of Tokyo, raising fears of a disastrous meltdown at a nuclear plant damaged in the massive earthquake that hit Japan on Friday. The 8.9-magnitude quake, the strongest ever recorded in Japan, sent a 10-metre tsunami ripping through towns and cities across the north-east coast. Japanese media estimate that at least 1,300 people have been killed. An explosion at the stricken 40-year-old Fukushima No 1 nuclear power plant was heard about 3:30pm (local time) following a series of large tremors. TV footage showed thick white smoke rising from the plant, which lies 240 kilometres north of Tokyo. Public broadcaster NHK and Jiji report the outer structure of the building that houses the reactor has blown off. Four workers - two from operator Tokyo Electric Power Co and two others from another firm - were injured in the explosion. Tokyo Electric says the injuries they have suffered are not life-threatening and that all four are conscious. A government spokesman says a Tokyo Fire Department rescue team has been sent to the site. Chief cabinet secretary Yukio Edano has confirmed a radiation leak and says the government is stockpiling iodine as part of a contingency plan. He urged people to stay calm and says the government is carefully monitoring the radiation level. The UN nuclear watchdog says it is aware of the explosion at the No 1 plant and is urgently seeking information from the country's authorities. According to the Fukushima prefectural government, the hourly radiation from the plant reached 1,015 microsievert - an amount equivalent to that allowable for ordinary people in one year. Nearby residents are being warned to stay indoors, turn off air-conditioners and not to drink tap water. If people must go outside, they should avoid exposing their skin and cover their face with masks and wet towels. More than 45,000 residents within a 10-kilometre radius of the plant had been evacuated, but the evacuation area has now been expanded to 20-km radius from the plant. Thousands more have been evacuated from near a second plant, Fukushima No 2, which also suffered damage to its cooling system following Friday's quake. Graham, an English teacher living near the Fukushima nuclear plant, says people are stocking up on supplies as they prepare to leave the area. "People are stocking up on batteries, water food, anything warm. There's a little bit of, I wouldn't say panic, but the supermarkets were just crazy," he said. "Hopefully there's no sort of worries with radiation and everything at the moment, but obviously it's a concern." Steve Kerekes, a nuclear expert from the US Nuclear Energy Institute, warns if technicians cannot get the reactor's cooling systems working there is a possibility of radiation leaks similar to America's worst nuclear accident. "If indeed that were to happen at some point you're going to have sufficient evaporation in the core that, if you will, your fuel is going to heat up," he said. "Then you'll have a meltdown not unlike what happened in the United States Three Mile Island plant in Pennsylvania back in 1979." Meanwhile Japan's Meteorological Agency says Fukushima prefecture is at high risk of another major tsunami. ABC/wires First posted \|\|\|\|\| Explosion at quake-hit nuclear plant A Japanese nuclear power plant has been hit by an explosion, raising fears of a radioactive meltdown, a day after a massive quake damaged the facility's cooling system. A government spokesman said tens of thousands of people within a 10km radius of the plant should evacuate, calling for a "calm response" and saying radiation was "at assumed levels". Kyodo News said the hourly radiation matched the allowable annual dose. TV channels warned nearby residents to stay indoors, turn off air-conditioners and not to drink tap water. People going outside were also told to avoid exposing their skin and to cover their faces with masks and wet towels. Nuclear authorities had earlier warned that the Fukushima No. 1 plant, located about 250km northeast of Tokyo, an urban area of 30 million people, "may be experiencing a nuclear meltdown". The plant's cooling system was damaged in the 8.9-magnitude quake that hit on Friday, leaving the government scrambling to fix the problem and evacuate more than 45,000 residents within a 10km radius. Public broadcaster NHK reported that a blast had been heard at about 3.30pm local time (5.30pm AEDT) and showed delayed footage of smoke billowing from the site, then reported that the reactor building had been destroyed. Operator Tokyo Electric Power confirmed the explosion and that the roof of the reactor building had collapsed, saying this had happened during an aftershock to Friday's quake, Kyodo News reported. Tepco also confirmed that four of its workers had been injured, saying that the injuries were not life-threatening. Prime Minister Naoto Kan's right-hand man, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano, told a press conference that the Tokyo Fire Department would send a "hyper rescue team" to the site. He also said the government was taking contingency measures and collecting iodine, with can be used against radiation sickness. Opposition to the nuclear industry is strong in Japan, where every year thousands still gather to mourn the victims of the two nuclear bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in the closing days of World War II. But scarce natural energy resources mean atomic power is seen as a necessary evil, with 54 nuclear plants providing about 30 percent of the country's electricity needs. Its nuclear facilities are built to withstand seismic shocks and automatically shut down in a significant earthquake, but Fukushima's emergency backup cooling systems failed, leaving its core glowing hot. Greenpeace said the damage left Japan "in the middle of a nuclear crisis with potentially devastating consequences", with experts fearing the fuel rods could melt. "Then you have the possibility of a greater release of radioactivity into the environment," said James Acton, a physicist who examined Japan's Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant after a 2007 earthquake. If that happens Acton told CNN "there's a possibility of cancer in the long term — that's the main hazard here." PHOTOS: Tsunami engulfs Japan PHOTOS: Villages wiped away in Miyagi READ MORE: 10,000 people unaccounted for READ MORE: Meltdown fears after Japan nuke blast VIDEO: Hundreds of Aussies in disaster zone VIDEO: Tsunami spawns 'end of the world' scenes VIDEO: Tremors spawn sea whirlpool VIDEO: Fiery quake city afloat VIDEO: Roads crack open after quake VIDEO: Boats, cars bobbing helplessly in torrent VIDEO: Incredible chopper footage in Sendai VIDEO: Resident films moment quake hit VIDEO: Woman trapped on roof winched to safety \|\|\|\|\| Editor's Note: Read live blogging of the Japan tsunami and earthquake. Are you there? Send your video, pictures to iReport. Tokyo (CNN) -- While saying there are no indications yet of dangerously high radiation levels in the atmosphere, a Japanese government official said Sunday that there is a "possibility of a meltdown" at two of the country's nuclear reactors. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano told reporters that officials still do not know if there have been meltdowns in the No. 1 and No. 3 reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi's nuclear facility in northeast Japan. But as they attempt to cool down radioactive material and release pressure inside the reactors, he said authorities were working under the presumption that such meltdowns have taken place. "We do believe that there is a possibility that meltdown has occurred. It is inside the reactor. We can't see. However, we are assuming that a meltdown has occurred," he said of the No. 1 reactor. "And with reactor No. 3, we are also assuming that the possibility of a meltdown as we carry out measures." A meltdown is a catastrophic failure of the reactor core, with a potential for widespread radiation release. Edano's comments confirmed an earlier report from an official with Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, who had told CNN, "we see the possibility of a meltdown." Though Toshihiro Bannai, director of the agency's international affairs office, said engineers have been unable to get close enough to the core to know what's going on, he based his conclusion on the fact that they measured radioactive isotopes in the air Saturday night. "What we have seen is only the slight indication from a monitoring post of cesium and iodine," he said. But Bannai added that he didn't believe a disaster was looming. "We actually have very good confidence that we will resolve this," he said. Edano, too, raised few alarms during his press conference Sunday. He based his optimism in large part on measurements of radiation outside the nuclear plant, conceding fluctuations may occur while stating that levels have generally decreased. "We are continuing to monitor the radiation, but it is (under) control," he said. Edano said that nine people have tested positive for high radiation levels on their skin and clothing, with doctors now trying to determine if they were impacted internally. Medical care, including radiation screening, will be offered to those who are being evacuated from the nuclear zone, the secretary added. The Japanese government was preparing to distribute iodine tablets to residents, the IAEA said. Iodine is commonly recommended to block the uptake by the thyroid gland of radioactive iodine. The problems at the Daiichi plant began Friday, when the 8.9-magnitude quake struck off the eastern shore of Miyagi Prefecture. The quake forced the automatic shutdown of the plant's nuclear reactors and knocked out the main cooling system, according to the country's nuclear agency. A tsunami resulting from the quake then washed over the site, knocking out backup generators that pumped water into the reactor containment unit to keep the nuclear fuel cool. Edano said that there have not been any leaks of radioactive material at either of the affected plants. Authorities deliberately have let out radioactive steam in order to alleviate growing pressure inside both of the affected reactors. Pressure had been mounting inside the reactors as steam built up inside, because water meant to cool the fuel rods was boiling. As of Sunday morning, winds in northeast Japan were blowing out to sea at 5-15 mph, said CNN Meteorologist Taylor Ward. But they were expected to reverse direction by Monday night, he said. The Daiichi plant is located about 160 miles (260 kilometers) north of Tokyo. Plant officials are also injecting sea water and boron into the plant in an effort to cool its nuclear fuel and stop any reactions. Boron, a chemical element, was being added to the water "to sort of stymie other potential nuclear reactions," according to Robert Alvarez, senior scholar at the Institute for Policy Studies and a former senior policy adviser to the U.S. secretary of energy. He described the plan to use salt water as "an act of desparation" by Japanese authorities, who seemed unable to deliver fresh water or plain water to cool the reactor and stabilize it. Earlier, Edano had pointed out another potential challenge -- saying, without elaboration, that "some of the readings in the measurement equipment were not accurate." The detection of a cesium isotope -- as noted by Bannai -- indicates that the reactors' nuclear fuel cladding has failed, said Ken Bergeron, a physicist and former scientist at Sandia National Laboratories. "Now we have to hope that the containment building will succeed in preventing major amounts of radioactivity" from escaping, he said. Fukushima Daiichi facility has such a building -- something that Chernobyl, the Soviet nuclear plant that famously melted down in 1986, did not have. Cesium 137 can remain dangerous for 600 years and is associated with a number of cancers, said Dr. Ira Helfand, a member of the board of Physicians for Social Responsibility. Some experts said the flow of information from the agency has not been fast enough. But IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano defended the Japanese response. "I know the Japanese authorities are working their hardest to gather the necessary details and ensure safety under difficult and constantly evolving circumstances," he said in a statement. If the effort to cool the nuclear fuel inside the reactor fails completely -- a scenario experts who have spoken to CNN say is unlikely -- the resulting release of radiation could cause enormous damage to the plant or release radiation into the atmosphere or water. That could lead to widespread cancer and other health problems, experts say. Authorities have downplayerd such a scenario, insisting the situation appears under control and that radiation levels in the air are dangerous. Still, as what they described as "a precuation," more than 200,000 people who live within 20 kilometers (12 miles) of the plant have been ordered to leave the area. A similar evacuation order has been issued for those with 10 kilometers of the Fukashima Daini nuclear facility, a separate plant also in Fukashima prefecture. Even absent this, nuclear materials expert Joseph Cirincione -- president of the U.S.-based Ploughshares Fund, a firm involved in security and peace funding -- ranks this scenario third, behind Chernobyl and the 1979 partial meltdown of a reactor core at the Three Mile Island nuclear plant in Pennsylvania, among history's worst nuclear power crises. Japan is heavily dependent on nuclear power, with 54 plants and another eight slated for construction, said Aileen Mioko Smith of Green Action, an environmental group. All are located in "very seismic" areas, she said. While experts acknowledged that Japan's nuclear program is very well respected, physicist Ken Bergeron saying that now "we're in uncharted territory." "The bottom line is that we just don't know what's going to happen in the next couple of days and, frankly, neither do the people who run the system," added Dr. Ira Helfand, a member of the board of Physicians for Social Responsibility. What we do know, he added, is that Japan's nuclear facilities are "way out of whack." CNN's Tom Watkins and Greg Botelho contributed to this story. \|\|\|\|\| Uploaded by RussiaToday on Follow latest updates at http://twitter.com/rt_com and http://www.facebook.com/RTnews RT gets some expert opinion on the situation in Japan from Christopher Simons, an Associate Professor at the International Christian University in Tokyo.	An explosion has been reported at Japan's stricken nuclear power plant after its cooling system was damaged by a massive 8.9 magnitude earthquake that hit off the North-East coast of Japan on Friday. The explosion occurred at around 3:00pm local time (6:00am UTC). According to the plant's operator, , four workers were injured in the explosion. The explosion occurred as workers were attempting to cool a reactor by injecting water into its core. Local media are reporting that the plant's exterior walls have been destroyed and only a skeleton structure remains. More than 45,000 residents within a 10-kilometre radius of the plant have been evacuated. Television reports show white smoke coming from the plant. Local authorities are warning residents in the vicinity of the plant to stay indoors, turn off air-conditioners and not to drink tap water. According to Japan's nuclear agency, radioactive and has been identified at the plant. Authorities speculate that this indicates that containers holding uranium fuel at the site may have ruptured and are leaking.
Philippines sees growth rate slow in second quarter Electronics exports from Philippines have been hurt by a slowing global demand The Philippines economy grew at a slower pace in the second quarter as a fall in global demand hurt its exports and industrial output. Growth was 5.9% in the April to June period, compared with a year ago. That is down from 6.3% annual growth in the first quarter. Compared with the previous three months, the economy expanded by just 0.2%. Growth was also hurt by a slowdown in the farming and services sectors. However, analysts said that strong domestic demand had helped cushion the impact of a dip in foreign sales. "Even though we're seeing a lot of headwinds from external demand and we have seen exports going sideways, this has been offset by non-electronics exports and it has also been supported a lot by domestic demand," said Eugene Leow, an economist with the DBS bank. Growth boost The slowdown in markets such as the US and eurozone has hurt demand for Philippines exports. Shipments from the country rose 4.2% in June from a year earlier, compared with 19.7% annual growth in May. Continue reading the main story “ Start Quote There is definitely room to further cut rates if needed” End Quote Eugene Leow DBS Concerned over the impact of the global economic uncertainty on its economy, the Philippines central bank has already cut interest rates three times this year in a bid to sustain growth. The latest cut, announced late last month, saw the bank lower its key rate to a record low of 3.75%. Analysts said that policymakers had enough room to take further measures if the growth continued to slow. They said that any rise in consumer prices due to the recent floods was likely to be temporary and as a result the inflation was expected to remain low. "There is definitely room to further cut rates if needed," said Mr Leow of DBS bank. \|\|\|\|\| The Philippine economy grew more than economists estimated as higher public spending and consumption spurred the strongest six-month performance since the 2010 bounce-back from the global crisis. The peso gained. Gross domestic product increased 5.9 percent in the three months through June from a year earlier, compared with a revised 6.3 percent gain in the previous quarter, the National Statistical Coordination Board said in Manila today. The median of 18 forecasts in a Bloomberg News survey was 5.5 percent. President Benigno Aquino has increased spending and sought higher investment to develop local industries and reduce the nation’s reliance on remittances, securing pledges from companies including Glencore International Plc and Gazasia Ltd. The economy also benefited from lower interest rates, as Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas cut its benchmark to a record-low 3.75 percent this year to counter faltering global demand. “The Philippines has definitely grown stronger,” said Edward Teather, a Singapore-based economist at UBS AG. “With the economy appearing to have great momentum, we’re looking at the central bank to hold rates for the rest of the year.” The monetary authority has “sufficient room” in its policy toolkit and will calibrate any further action to take into account the acceleration in government spending and weakness in global demand, Governor Amando Tetangco said in a mobile-phone text message after the report. Peso Gained The Philippine peso rose 0.1 percent to 42.295 against the dollar as of 10:42 a.m. in Manila, reversing earlier losses, according to Tullett Prebon Plc. It is the best performer among Asia’s 11 most-traded currencies this year. Emerging-market nations have stepped up efforts to shield their economies, with Brazil lowering its benchmark rate a ninth time yesterday. The People’s Bank of China cut borrowing costs in June and July for the first time since 2008, and Thai central bank Governor Prasarn Trairatvorakul said yesterday there is room to ease monetary policy as the worst of the impact from Europe’s crisis is yet to come. The Philippines is ready to support growth and will continue to accelerate spending as the nation faces risks from a weaker global economy and a slowdown in China, Economic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said today, adding that leading indicators in the third quarter remain “respectable.” Aquino plans to increase state spending to a record this year as he aims to spur growth to as much as 7 percent in 2013 from a goal of 6 percent in 2012 to boost incomes. The economy expanded 6.1 percent in the first half, today’s report showed. Construction Climbed The Philippine government awarded contracts to build about 9,300 classrooms this month as part of efforts to draw more than $16 billion of investment in infrastructure. Construction rose 10 percent in the second quarter from a year earlier and services expanded 7.6 percent, the report showed. Aquino is also accelerating asset sales, with an aim of raising about 2 billion pesos ($47 million) each in 2012 and 2013 from privatization. Standard & Poor’s raised the nation’s credit rating to one step below investment grade in July, citing easing fiscal vulnerability as debt is reduced. “The potential for an economic transformation in the Philippines is clearly visible,” Aninda Mitra, a Singapore- based economist at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd., said before the report. “Domestic demand is holding up well, and it demonstrates that the economy is now less sensitive to global developments.” Aquino, who has pledged to rid the nation of corruption to boost investor confidence, appointed Maria Lourdes Sereno last week as the nation’s first female chief justice after Renato Corona, the former top judge, was removed from office for concealing his wealth. Remittances, which make up the equivalent of 10 percent of GDP, increased 4.2 percent to $1.81 billion in June, and the central bank forecasts an increase of 5 percent this year compared to 7.2 percent in 2011. To contact the reporters on this story: Karl Lester M. Yap in Manila at kyap5@bloomberg.net; Cecilia Yap at cyap19@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Stephanie Phang at sphang@bloomberg.net	left The economy grew by 5.9%, annual rate, during the second quarter of 2012 which is less than the first quarter's figure of more than 6% annual rate, as reported by . According to , strong domestic demand from the services sector and spending from money remitted by expatriate Filipinos helped boost the nation's economy despite the ongoing . In spite of this growth, numerous risks still lurk around the corner, said Balisacan. He said that changes in and the remain as the biggest challenges to the economy. Balsican also noted that poor infrastructure may also have a negative impact although spending on infrastructure, which may cost nearly $200 million in investment, may contribute to growth. The Philippines central bank has cut key interest rates three times already this year in order to continue this economic expansion. Analysts, such as economist Eugene Leow of -based , agree that, "There is definitely room to further cut rates if needed," in order to promote further growth. == Sources == * * * *
Daily double: Argentina wing Lucas Borges scores the second of his two tries LYON, 11 September - Argentina remain on track for an IRB Rugby World Cup quarter-final berth after defeating a tenacious Georgia 33-3 in the Pool D match at Gerland Stadium on Tuesday night. Ranked fourth in the world, Argentina struggled to put a physical Georgia to the sword and, despite dominating possession and territory, led only 6-3 at halftime in the tournament's first tryless opening half. In the first international between the countries, Argentina didn't score a try until the 47th minute when wing Lucas Borges crossed for the first of his two. Borges showed blistering pace to score again in the 56th minute as the Pumas jumped to a 21-3 lead. Further tries to Patricio Albacete (72nd minute) and Federico Martin Aramburu (80m) blew out the victory margin to 30 points and, importantly, earned Argentina a valuable bonus point. Georgia opened the scoring through a penalty goal to fly half Merab Kvirikashvili in the 2nd minute but could not add to their tally, tiring as the match wore on. Argentina, who rested six key players against Georgia, have catapulted to the top of their pool following their victory in Lyon on Tuesday and last week's 17-12 upset over tournament host France. The South Americans have now won seven out of the eight internationals they have contested this year. RNS djp/sek \|\|\|\|\| By Rob Hodgetts Argentina took their time to unlock the Georgian defence Argentina: (6) 33 Tries: Borges (2), Albacete, Aramburu Cons: F Contepomi, M Hernandez Pens: F Contepomi (3) Georgia: (3) Pens: Kvirikashvili Argentina were made to work hard for their 33-3 victory over a stubborn and resilient Georgia in the World Cup Pool D match in Lyon. The Pumas, with six changes to the side that beat France, struggled to find a rhythm early on and were held to a 6-3 half-time lead by a tenacious defence. Right wing Lucas Borges broke the try stalemate shortly after the interval and added a second 10 minutes later. Patricio Albacete and Federico Aramburu added late scores for a bonus point. The five-point win kept Argentina in the hunt for a place in the knock-out stages as one of the best two teams in Pool D, piling the pressure on France and Ireland. "That was very tough. It was a very bruising evening," said Argentine centre Felipe Contepomi, who skippered the side in place of the injured Agustin Pichot. "Georgia are physical and are a very good team. We had a turn around of just four days but they were fresh - it was their first game. 606: DEBATE "We had to work until the final seconds of the match to get the bonus point. It was very important, you have to get as many points as you can." Georgia captain Ilia Zedginidze said his team had tired after their epic resistance in the first half. "We lack that little extra physical point... and there is a psychological barrier in teams like ours against the top sides," he said. "We also lack a capacity to concentrate for the full 80 minutes." The Georgians spent most of the first half bravely defending repeated hammerings at their own line, but the underdogs snatched an early lead through a penalty from Merab Kvirikashvili, who also missed a drop-goal attempt. For all their possession, the Pumas were unable to punch through the thin red line and came away with just two Felipe Contepomi penalties. Fly-half Kvirikashvili tried another drop-goal after the break but Argentina instead stretched ahead when Borges rounded off a flowing move down the right flank. Contepomi missed the conversion but added a penalty and the Pumas took control when Borges scorched away from the cover to score a second in the right corner. Georgia's spirit, if not their legs, was still strong and they continued to work hard without really threatening at the other end. Their hopes of a shock victory were finally sunk when Albacete muscled his way over on 71 minutes. And with less than 60 seconds left on the clock, flanker Aramburu scampered around the blind-side to ensure the crucial bonus point for scoring four tries. Argentina: Corleto, Borges, Tiesi, Contepomi (capt), Aramburu, Hernandez, Miranda, Leguizamon, Lobbe, Duran, Albacete, Kairelis, Bonorino, Ledesma, Ayerza. Replacements: Basualdo, Jalil, Lozada, Schusterman, Miranda, Todeschini, Miras Georgia: Jimsheladze; Machkhaneli, Urjukashvili, I Guiorgadze, Khamashuridze; Kvirikashvili, Abusseridze; Khinchagishvili, A Guiorgadze, Zirakashvili, Zedquinidze, Gorgodze, Chkhaidze, Labadze, Udesiani. Replacements: Shvelidze, Kopaliani, Didebulidze, Maisuradze, Samkharadze, Gigauri, Shkinin.	200px In Pool D of the 2007 Rugby World Cup, Argentina defeated Georgia 33-3. Merab Kvirikashvili opened the scoring for Georgia early on with a penalty in the second minute. Argentina struggled to break through the Georgian defence, with Felipe Contepomi scoring just two penalties in the first half taking Argentina to a 6-3 lead at half time. Argentina took control of the match in the second half, with Lucas Borges scoring two tries and Patricio Albacete adding a try in the 72nd minute. Federico Martin Aramburu scored the final try with less than a minute left to play, earning Argentina a bonus point for scoring four tries in the match. With nine points from two games, Argentina lead Pool D ahead of second placed Ireland, with five points from one game. France are third in the pool with just one point, after defeat to Argentina in the opening match of the tournament.

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