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The pair, together with their professor from Imperial College London, were on a routine academic trip to study earthquake activity in the country. They had sought the usual permission from local officials but this was delayed by the Olympics. Instead, they obtained visas using an invitation from the China Seismological Bureau in Beijing. The two students, a PhD student aged 23, and a Master of Science student aged 22, travelled to Aksu prefecture for their study. Aksu is one of the most tense areas in Xinjiang, where many of the local Muslim Uighur population are hostile to Chinese rule. A series of lethal attacks in Xinjiang were ascribed to separatist terrorist groups during the summer, particularly just in advance of the Beijing Olympics. Altogether 24 people were killed, mostly paramilitary police officers and other security officials. Ten days into their study, in September, they were approached by local officials – believed to be from the feared State Security Bureau – the internal security apparatus. They were questioned at a hotel for several hours before their GPS devices, together with their survey results and data, were confiscated. In a statement released yesterday (Monday) by the Aksu Land and Resources Bureau, the authorities seemed to accept they had an innocent explanation. But it said they had collected "illegal data" from 6,000 points that was valuable for mineral prospecting and topographical research. Mapping, like other seemingly innocent activities, is regarded as a threat to state security by the Chinese authorities, particularly in areas that are politically sensitive. Most forms of mapping and many forms of scientific research, such as testing water supplies, are illegal unless carried out by the government, and there are periodic crackdowns. The students' supervisor, Dr Jian Guo Liu, a Reader in Remote Sensing at Imperial College, was in another area of China at the time but maintained contact with his charges by telephone. He said he has been taking students to the area to study geology for nearly 10 years and has never encountered any problems. "This time, we only had an invitation from Beijing and not the proper local documentation which we hadn't been able to get because of the Olympics," he said. "We considered not going but everything was booked and the study was crucial field work for my student's PhD." He insisted that the GPS data the pair gathered could not have been used for mapping, and that the large volume of data was mostly collected by a previous student who had not cleared it before handing it back. "We agree that they didn't have the proper paperwork but they didn't do any mapping work," he said. "The Chinese are very sensitive to foreigners working in that region but it's their country, what can you do?" The two students were fined roughly £1,000 each and flew back to the UK on October 2, although an official report into the incident has only just been released. The university is now reviewing its field trips to China. "We do these studies to help understand earthquakes, it's for their benefit," Mr Liu said. "Unfortunately it's very unlikely I will get permission to take students back to the area for the time being." ||||| BEIJING: The authorities in the western desert region of Xinjiang in China approved the arrests of nearly 1,300 people in the first 11 months of last year on suspicion of "endangering state security," according to a report published Sunday in an official newspaper. The number of arrests on that particular charge represents an extraordinary leap over the number in 2007 and is drawing scrutiny from human rights groups. The newspaper, The Procuratorial Daily, which is published by the Chinese equivalent of the attorney general's office, said that prosecutors' departments in Xinjiang approved 1,295 arrests of individuals and indicted 1,154 of those people. The newspaper article was also posted on a Xinjiang government Web site, lending legitimacy to the statistics. In 2007, the number of people arrested across all of China on suspicion of endangering state security was 742, according to government statistics. Prosecutors indicted 619 of them. Of those 2007 numbers, about half were from Xinjiang, said Nicholas Bequelin, a China researcher for Human Rights Watch, citing statistics from the Xinjiang Yearbook, a government publication of regional statistics. That makes the numbers reported on Sunday vastly higher than their 2007 equivalents. "If this is confirmed, this is very alarming, because it reflects that the threshold of what constitutes a state security crime was considerably lowered last year, in line with the campaign," Bequelin said, referring to a campaign against political crimes and terrorism that the authorities in Xinjiang announced last year before the Beijing Olympic Games. Chinese officials have said that elements in Xinjiang, a large region that is the homeland of the Uighurs, a Turkic-speaking Muslim people, are a special threat to the regional and national governments, which are controlled by ethnic Han Chinese. Many Uighurs chafe at what they call discriminatory policies in Xinjiang, and some advocate independence. Since 2001, when the Bush administration began its war on terror, the Chinese authorities have said that they are battling the "three forces" in Xinjiang: separatism, terrorism and religious extremism. Waves of crackdowns have taken place. In 2008, officials made many announcements of arrests and raids in Xinjiang, especially before the Olympic Games, which took place in August. That month, a series of attacks on security forces unfolded in parts of Xinjiang, and Wang Lequan, the regional secretary of the Communist Party, said at a meeting Aug. 13 that the battle against the "three forces" was a "life-or-death struggle." The charge of endangering state security includes inciting separatism, inciting subversion, stealing state secrets and giving state secrets to foreigners. It can carry the death penalty. Government statistics show that of all the regions and provinces in China, Xinjiang has had by far the most number of cases of endangering state security, Bequelin said. "Nobody doubts there are individuals and groups that are advocating the use of anti-state violence, although these people seem to be very low in number and don't constitute major threats to China's state security," Bequelin said. "The problem is that it's impossible to tell from Chinese accounts what proportion of the total are these cases and what are illegitimate cases based on political reasons - people who have expressed dissenting religious and political views." Huang Yuanxi contributed research. | Royal School of Mines (entrance and the Goldsmiths' wing, Prince Consort Road, London) comprises Imperial College London's Earth Science, Engineering, and Materials departments. Three British geology students of Imperial College London have been fined in China for "illegal survey and map-making activities", according to local media. In addition to making maps, the students were researching fault lines and earthquake activity in Xinjiang — a tense Muslim province to the west of the country where anger against Chinese rule sparked deadly attacks in 2008. The students were gathering additional data in several regions, including Kashgar, the ancient Silk Road trading post, and an oasis city in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China. Under Dr. Jian Guo Liu, the students' supervisor at Imperial College, they also had been in the poor desert village of Keping, where in May local authorities burned the local mosque due to "unlawful religious activities". Of the three students, two of them, a PhD student aged 23, and a Master of Science student aged 22, went to Aksu Prefecture for their research. In September, State Security Bureau officials had investigated the students at a hotel for several hours. Thereafter, their equipment, including GPS devices, survey results, and data, were seized. The Aksu Land and Resources Bureau officers claimed they had gathered "illegal data" from 6,000 points which was valuable for mineral prospecting and topographical research. Korla, Xinjiang in the majestic Tian Shan mountain range. May 2007. In the leadup to last year's summer Olympics in Beijing, China cracked down on map-making and data-collecting across the country. Despite having permission from the Earthquake Administration in the country, the students were fined a combined 20,000 yuan (2,940 dollars) but did not receive additional punishments. "The data they gathered would have been valuable in analysing mineral and topographic features of the areas," Xinjiang Daily said. They returned to the UK on October 2. According to The Procuratorial Daily, the Xinjiang prosecutors' office approved 1,295 arrests of individuals and indicted 1,154 suspects from January to November 2008. The indictments were based on suspicion of "endangering state security." In 2007, however, only 742 were arrested, while 619 of them were indicted for the same offense. |
BANGKOK, July 17 (TNA) The private-run KASIKORN Research Center (KRC) said that production of some agricultural products, especially rice and sugarcane, have declined, as planters have switched to grow other crops which offer a higher returns. It said domestic and overseas demands for rubber, tapioca and corn are still high. The center said in its report published on Saturday that there were signs of a decline in the production of livestock following the outbreak of avian influenza early this year, which had prolonged until the middle of the year. In the field of fishery, production during the first half of 2004 also dropped, especially black tiger prawns, due to fall in prices. Production and prices of black tiger prawns during the second half of 2004 will depend on the US anti-dumping duty, which is anticipated to be imposed on Thailand later this year. During the first five months of 2004, the country's exported farm products valued at US$6.5 billion, up 11.9% from the corresponding period of 2003. The KRC forecasts that export value of farm products in 2004 would total US$15.8 billion, an increase of 10% from last year. Fierce competition in the fishery products in the global market remains, the center said, adding that if the US anti-dumping duty, to be imposed on Thailand and scheduled to be announced late this month is lower than duties imposed on Vietnam and China earlier this month, it would benefit Thai shrimps exported to the US market. (TNA)--E111 ||||| Monks and elephants walked in searing heat to the parliament They were joined by more than 1,000 supporters who also want Buddhism to be declared the national religion in the new post-coup constitution. The leaders behind last September's coup have indicated they may be willing to bow to the monks' demands. Critics fear it could inflame tensions in the Muslim-majority deep south. In the south a three-year Islamic insurgency - in a country where 95% of the population are Buddhist - has killed more than 2,000 people. Constitution 'review' Correspondents described a colourful procession as monks dressed in saffron-robes walked alongside the nine elephants 30km (18 miles) from Bangkok's western suburbs to parliament. Police had asked the protesters not to bring the elephants for fear the scorching heat would make them difficult to control, but they relented as the march continued into the city. "Our only demand is to have the clause 'Buddhism is Thailand's national religion' included in the new constitution. It's the opinion of the majority of Thais," protest spokesman Tongkhao Phuangrodpang told the AFP news agency. Coup leader and army commander General Sonthi Boonyaratglin said he expected the committee drafting the constitution to "review its decision on this issue". "If a stipulation in the charter to this effect leads to peace in the country, then it is better that it is included," he was quoted by the Bangkok Post as saying. "Those who say there is no need for such a stipulation don't take the issue that seriously." He recommended adding a clause, saying the government will "take care of other religions, including Christianity and Islam". A draft of the new constitution, released last week, keeps the same wording as previous constitutions - that the state will protect all faiths, with no mention of Buddhism as the national religion. ||||| CONSTITUTION Religion protests worry Surayud Buddhist groups to continue their march today Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont yesterday expressed concern that the demonstration calling for a constitutional clause recognising Buddhism as national religion could lead to chaos and rejection of the 2007 Constitution draft. In the meeting with his advisers, Surayud said he was worried that people could be misled. He asked his advisers and rectors of universities to help make students and people correctly understand the Consti-tution draft. The government had never opposed the idea of Buddhism as the state religion and remained neutral. It wanted the Constitution to be "a good one" and an election held as soon as possible, he said. Meanwhile, a drafter of the 1997 Constitution, Kanin Boonsuwan, said a clause recognising Buddhism as the national religion was now "unavoidable". Kanin said that even if the Constitution Draft is dropped by the Constitution Drafting Assembly (CDA) or in the referendum, the clause must be included in the Constitution draft by the Council for National Security (CNS). Otherwise, demonstrations would continue and could cause chaos in society. In the sweltering heat, proponents for Buddhism as the state religion yesterday staged a street procession to gather support for the cause. Three hundred monks and some 400 Buddhists marched from Nakhon Pathom's Buddhamonthon religious complex to Bangkok to join their comrades in front of the Parliament. Nine elephants joined the march, with Senator Sawet Thinnakul riding on one of them. Police failed to persuade the demonstrators to leave the elephants behind, because of the rush hour, before they entered the city. The procession reached Parliament and joined the waiting 1,300 demonstrators at 5.30pm. Metropolitan Police division 1 commander Maj-General Manit Wongsomboon said 150 officers from the Metropolitan Police and 50 police officers from Dusit police station with some Border Patrol police were deployed as security. Moreover, 35 "religious inspectors" kept the monks in order, he said. The awaiting group set up tents along both sides of U-Thong Nai Road in front of the Parliament. At 10.30am, they offered food to monks, and the monks prayed at 11.30am. Speakers took turns to deliver speeches to support the clause. No aggressive speeches were made. A group of foreign Buddhists, claiming to be from Australia, read a statement supporting Buddhism as the national religion. The demonstrators dispersed at 8pm. Thongchai Keuasakul, chairman of the network of Thai Buddhist groups - and a leader of the movement campaigning for the cause - said the demonstration will continue today from 8am. CDA members Pichien Amnartworaprasert and Preecha Rojanasen will join a forum on the issue. He said temples in Bangkok and adjacent provinces, as well as Wat Phra Dhammakaya and temples in the provinces, supported the demonstration. Wat Phra Dhammakaya had also given financial support, he added. Thongchai said he would also present a petition to CDA chairman Noranit Sethabutr this morning. The group would also give handouts to each of the CDA members and ask for their support. Thongchai yesterday released a statement saying the constitution clause regarding Buddhism as national religion would "reduce conflicts" in Thai society and restore unity. Piyanart Srivalo, Atthayuth Butrsripoom The Nation ||||| BANGKOK, July 17 (TNA) - The Thai government has announced it is launching a new war against corruption. The campaign is aimed at repeating the success of last year's suppression of illegal drugs, a government spokeswoman told journalists yesterday. The new crack down on corruption will start in three months time from 3 October. The Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra discussed the plan to combat corruption at Fridays cabinet meeting in the southern province of Nakorn Si Thammarat. The Prime Minister told the cabinet that the government had to be serious about battling corruption, according to the deputy government spokeswoman Sansanee Nakpong. During the cabinet meeting, the prime minister also referred to a recent report from the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) which said in the past six months there had been cases of intellectual property rights violations, illegal oil smuggling, human trafficking, car and motorcycle stealing and smuggling, according to Ms. Sansanee. "The Prime Minister saw these cases as evidence of weakness in law enforcement. He told ministers and senior government officials to closely monitor the situation, and ensure that the law was rigorously enforced and wrongdoers prosecuted," the spokeswoman said. The government plans to celebrate the first anniversary of its reform of the bureaucracy, with an ultimate solution to the countrys corruption problems. The government also intends to increase the salary of lower-ranked government officials to boost their morale and integrity. This, the prime minister, believes will help provide an effective way to preventing corruption, said Ms. Sansanee. (TNA)E113 | Thailand's draft constitution has come under fire from Buddhist monks and supporters for not having a clause declaring a national religion for the country. The coup-appointed Prime Minister, Surayud Chulanont, noted that the issue could cause problems with the upcoming referendum to ratify the proposed constitution. According to the Bangkok Post 20,000 protesters gathered outside the parliament building in Bangkok, and a procession of nine elephants joined the protest with Senator Sawet Thinnakul riding one of them. It would appear that the government has carefully worded the draft constitution to avoid favouring one religion over another. Tensions and violence in the predominantly Malay Muslim south of the country have led to over 2,000 deaths; having a clause that recognised Buddhism as the country's official religion may further inflame tensions in the region. |
Helicopter and plane crash in Austria, killing 8 people VIENNA, Austria: A helicopter and a small plane collided in the air and crashed near a ski slope in Austria on Monday, killing eight people, police said. Five Swiss nationals, a German and a French citizen died in the late-morning collision that occurred near Zell am See, in Salzburg province, police said. Seven victims were in the helicopter, which belonged to a Swiss company and was flying from Kaprun, Austria, in the direction of Germany at the time of the accident, police said. The plane's pilot, an Austrian citizen, also died in the accident, police said. Eyewitnesses interviewed by Austrian television said the small plane exploded near the ski slope. About three minutes before the collision, the helicopter pilot, a Swiss national, reported to an airfield in Zell am See that he had sighted the plane, which had taken off from that airfield about a minute earlier, police said. The collision occurred at about 1,100 meters (3,600 feet) above sea level. Wreckage was scattered in a wooded area, according to Austrian broadcaster ORF. The Austria Press Agency reported that, in the early afternoon, about 200 people were involved in the rescue effort. Authorities are investigating the cause of the accident. ||||| Salzburg 17.2°C Heute oft sonnig und sehr warm ZELL AM SEE Acht Tote bei Crash Helikopter - Flugzeug Acht Menschen sind Montagvormittag auf der Schmittenhöhe bei Zell am See (Pinzgau) bei einer Kollision zwischen einem Hubschrauber und einem Kleinflugzeug gestorben. Die Ursache dafür ist noch unklar. Zusammenstoß bei der Areitbahn Das Unglück passierte gegen 11.00 Uhr oberhalb der Schmittenhöhe bei Zell am See. Bei der Areitbahn im Bereich der Schoberalm stieß ein Sportflugzeug mit einem Hubschrauber zusammen. Beide stürzten ab, sagte der Pinzgauer Katastrophenreferent Franz Michl. Eines der Wracks geriet in Brand. Die erste Zahl von sechs Toten musste Michl gegen 12.30 Uhr aber auf acht korrigieren: Sieben Tote wurden im Wrack des Hubschraubers gefunden, einer in den Trümmern des Kleinflugzeugs. Augenzeugen: "Feuerball am Himmel" Augenzeugen beobachteten von der Schoberalm aus einen frontalen Zusammenstoß der beiden Fluggeräte. Es habe am Himmel einen Feuerball gegeben, das Sportflugzeug sei sofort in Flammen aufgegangen, allerdings sei kaum ein Knall zu hören gewesen. Der Hubschrauber wurde bei der Kollision in mehrere Teile zerrissen, die Pilotenkanzel soll zunächst relativ unversehrt ausgesehen haben. Dann seien die Flugzeugteile zu Boden gestürzt, den Aufprall selbst haben die Augenzeugen nicht gesehen. Hubschrauber auf dem Weg nach Weißbach Der Hubschrauber, ein Super-Puma-Transport-Helikopter der Schweizer Firma HELOG, hatte einen 1.800 Kilo schweren Kraftwerksteil zum Kraftwerk Kaprun Oberstufe geliefert. Auf dem Weiterflug zu Holzbringungsarbeiten nach Weißbach bei Lofer (Pinzgau) war er auf dem Parkplatz der Gletscherbahnen noch gelandet und dürfte dort sechs Personen aufgenommen haben. Kurz nach dem Start, in der Nähe des Flugplatzes Zell am See, kam es zum Unglück. Vom Flugplatz Zell startete gerade ein Osttiroler Pilot mit einem Kleinflugzeug der Marke Katana, schilderte Flugplatz-Betriebsleiter Christian Moser: "Es ist ein Kleinflugzeug, das in Zell am See in Richtung Lienz gestartet ist, in der Luft mit einem Hubschrauber kollidiert." Der Pilot des Hubschraubers hatte zuvor per Funkspruch eine Querung des Luftraumes Richtung Norden angemeldet. Nach Angaben der Verbund Austrian Hydro Power AG dürfte der Hubschrauber bei der Talstation der Gletscherbahnen in Kaprun zu Holzbringungsarbeiten in Weißbach bei Lofer aufgebrochen sein. Bei den Toten handelt es sich um fünf Schweizer, einen Deutschen, einen Franzosen und einen Österreicher, meldet die Polizei. Brennende Trümmerteile Die beiden Fluggeräte stießen über der Schmittenhöhe bei der Areitbahn zusammen und stürzten ab. Sie schlugen abseits der Piste ein. Augenzeugen berichteten von herumfliegenden Rotorblättern und brennenden Trümmerteilen. Die Trümmer der Wracks liegen 20 Meter zerstreut. An Bord der Flugzeugs war nur der Pilot. Das Flugzeug wird als nur 500 Kilo schwer und als sehr modern beschrieben. Kurz nach dem Start dann der Funkspruch des Helikopters, der den Luftraum queren wollte. Suche nach Überlebenden Im Transporthubschrauber starben sieben Menschen, schilderte Flug- und Bergretter Johannes Schöffel von der Besatzung des Notarzthubschraubers Alpin Heli 6, die zu Hilfe eilte. "Wir sind zur Unfallstelle gekommen. Sieben Personen sind im Hubschrauber ums Leben gekommen. Teile haben gebrannt. Es waren weitere Einsatzkräfte zu dem zweiten Flieger unterwegs. Es wurde noch nach Überlebenden gesucht - aber ohne Erfolg." Aktivnews.de Freiwillige Feuerwehr Zell am See iptv.ORF.at; 5.3.07 Videos vom Unfallort salzburg.ORF.at; 16.12.06 Auf dem Flugplatzgelände in Zell am See (Pinzgau) ist Samstagvormittag ein Kleinflugzeug kurz nach dem Start abgestürzt. Die 45-jährige Pilotin und der 46-jährige Passagier wurden verletzt. Der Fluggast ist in kritischem Zustand. Zwei Verletzte bei Flugzeugabsturz Zu diesem tragischen Ereignis kann nicht gepostet werden. | An aerial collision near Zell am See, Austria has killed 8 people, 5 Swiss citizens, 1 French, 1 German and 1 Austrian. The collision occurred Monday afternoon between a Super Puma helicopter belonging to Helog S.A, based in Küssnacht (Switzerland), and a private Diamond DA20 "Katana" light aircraft which had taken off from the aerodrome at Zell am See. All 7 of the passengers and crew from the helicopter were pronounced dead at the scene, as was the pilot of the light aircraft, which had no passengers on board. The debris from the accident spread over a 20 metre radius and bystanders near to the incident reported seeing a "huge ball of fire in the sky". The reason for the accident is presently unclear as both craft have been confirmed as passing pre-flight testing at their respective take-off locations. Furthermore, Zell am See tower radioed the helicopter that a plane was taking off, to which the helicopter replied positively. This conversation should have been heard over radio by the pilot of the plane. The site of the accident is now being guarded by police, pending the arrival of an investigation team and a delegate of the state attorney. |
By AMANDA LEE MYERS, Associated Press Writer Mon Jan 22, 1:39 PM ET PHOENIX - More than a foot of snow fell on parts of northern Arizona, and several more inches were possible Monday, while children as far south as Tucson got a rare chance to play in the snow. Sunday's storm, one of the strongest of the winter, came amid a wave of storms that have brought snow, ice and strong winds to the Plains region, and also to the Southwest, including Arizona, Texas and New Mexico. The harsh, frigid conditions were blamed for at least 11 traffic fatalities in the Plains over the weekend. In Colorado, crews looking for a missing snowshoer found a body in a creek southwest of Denver Monday, but authorities had not determined whether it was the missing man. Southern New Mexico picked up 9 inches on snow on Sunday and Monday, closing 145 miles of the Interstate 25, the state's major north-south highway. "The semi-trucks are having a hard time," State Police Lt. Rick Anglada said, noting that three tractor-trailers had jackknifed on I-25 and 10 to 15 rigs had pulled off the roadway. Some public schools in the southern and western parts of the state closed Monday. Although the heaviest snowfall in Arizona on Sunday was in the north, snow also fell in downtown Phoenix and Tucson, which received up to 1 1/2 inches, according to the National Weather Service. Danita D'Water said there were huge snowflakes in her neighborhood in far northeast Phoenix. "The children are running up and down the street, riding their scooters in the snow," she said. "The kids are pretty excited but the adults were out taking pictures." More than a foot fell in Forest Lakes, Pinetop and at the Sunrise Ski Resort, among other places in northern Arizona. Between one and three inches fell in Flagstaff, said Robert Bohlin, meteorologist with the National Weather Service. A winter storm warning remained in effect until noon Monday for parts of northern and northeastern Arizona, with the National Weather Service forecasting up to an additional three inches of snow. Dense fog and icy roads created hazardous driving conditions Monday morning in the Tucson area. In Colorado, 3 to 6 inches of snow fell across much of the Front Range, with more in the in the eastern plains and the mountains. Strong winds created whiteout conditions on the state's eastern plains. Dozens of schools opened late or closed Monday in eastern Colorado. Few details were released about the body found near Chatfield Reservoir, which was near the area where Mel Dinklage, 46, went snowshoeing alone on Saturday. Jefferson County sheriff's officials said Dinklage was an inexperienced snowshoer who wasn't familiar with the area. On Sunday, officials closed a long stretch of Interstate 70, from near Denver International Airport almost to the Kansas state line because of high winds, blowing snow, poor visibility and ice. The road had reopened by Monday morning. In Oklahoma, where an ice storm disrupted power to as many as 125,000 homes and businesses more than a week ago, about 17,000 electrical customers remained without power early Monday mostly in the eastern part of the state. Hundreds of utility linemen worked through the night in hopes of fully restoring power by Monday or Tuesday, authorities said. But for some rural customers, it could be at least another week before the electricity is back on. Warmer temperatures led to melting ice and snow that turned roads into slushy rivers, yards into quagmires and streams into rushing torrents. Muddy roads and pastures caused some utility equipment to bog down, slowing their progress, said Michelann Ooten, spokeswoman for the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management. "Extremely muddy conditions in some areas are making it difficult for some electrical restoration crews," Ooten said. A pickup truck carrying radioactive materials used in pipeline scanning equipment was swept from a bridge and disappeared in a swollen creek in Oklahoma's Pittsburg County, said Undersheriff Richard Sexton. The truck's two occupants escaped unharmed, but efforts to locate the truck and its radioactive cargo were suspended after dark. He said officials hope the creek's level will fall enough on Monday to reveal the truck's whereabouts. A container with the material is bolted to the truck. "The radioactive materials are still in the truck, and that's what we're worried about," Sexton said. In Missouri, more than 45,000 people remained in the dark from the same storm. Winter weather has also hit hard on the East Coast, bringing snow, sleet and freezing rain to Virginia, Washington, D.C., and Maryland and making roads treacherous. An accident on Interstate 81 in Virginia killed one person and injured five, authorities said. Several school districts in northern and western Virginia were closed Monday. ___ On the Net: National Weather Service: http://www.nws.noaa.gov/ ___ Associated Press writer Tim Talley in Oklahoma City contributed to this report. ||||| Parts of northern Arizona received more than a foot of snow, and children as far south as Tucson got a rare chance to play in the white stuff as one of the strongest winter storms of the year moved through the state. Sunday's storm came amid a wave of winter storms that have brought snow, ice and strong winds to the Plains region, but also to the Southwest, including Arizona, Texas and New Mexico. "The Great Plains will be sunny today after this weekend's latest snowstorm, but the trend will be that of warmer temperatures," says CBS News meteorologist George Cullen. "By tomorrow, readings should get into the 40s across much of Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. "Elsewhere, it'll be snowy across New Mexico today, but dry and milder from Arizona to Southern California," Cullen added. The harsh, frigid conditions were blamed for 11 traffic fatalities in the Plains over the weekend. In Colorado, searchers were looking for a snowshoer reported missing after he failed to return from a solo outing. Although the heaviest snowfall in Arizona on Sunday was in the north, snow also fell in downtown Phoenix and Tucson, which received up to 1½ inches, according to the National Weather Service. Danita D'Water said there were huge snowflakes in her neighborhood in far northeast Phoenix. "The children are running up and down the street, riding their scooters in the snow," she said. "The kids are pretty excited, but the adults were out taking pictures." Glenn Jones, who lives on a small farm in Marana northwest of Tucson, said he was cold and wet and would be glad when it warms up again. "I had chores to do today, animals to feed, to get ready for the week," he said. "I don't like to work in it. It's too cold. That's the reason I moved here — to get out of it." Several inches of snow fell and strong winds created whiteout conditions on Colorado's eastern plains. Rescue teams on snowmobiles, on foot and in aircraft searched Monday for Mel Einklage, 46, who hadn't been seen since he went snowshoeing southwest of Denver Saturday. Jefferson County sheriff's officials said Einklage was an inexperienced snowshoer who wasn't familiar with the area. Officials closed a long stretch of Interstate 70, from near Denver International Airport almost to the Kansas state line because of high winds, blowing snow, poor visibility and ice. The Kansas Department of Transportation reopened its portion of I-70 Monday morning, after closing westbound lanes late Sunday night at Colby. Snow and icy roads caused accidents that shut down southbound Interstate 25 near Fort Collins, Colo., for two hours Sunday morning. State Patrol Master Trooper Ron Watkins said no injuries were reported. Southern New Mexico picked up nine inches on snow on Sunday and Monday, closing 145 miles of the Interstate 25, the state's major north-south highway. "The semi-trucks are having a hard time," State Police Lt. Rick Anglada said, noting that three tractor-trailers had jackknifed on I-25 and 10 to 15 rigs had pulled off the roadway. A plane with 104 people on board skidded off a runway in snowy weather Sunday after the Northwest Airlines crew aborted the flight as it began accelerating for takeoff, airline officials said. No serious injuries were reported in the late-morning incident. One passenger complained of a sore back and was to be examined, said airline spokeswoman Jennifer Bagdade. The crew of Flight 1726 bound from Milwaukee to Detroit "opted to discontinue its takeoff due to an engine problem," the airline said in a statement. The plane came to a stop off the runway surface, the statement said. "People were not screaming, they were pretty calm," said passenger Jeanne Hewitt. "Flight attendants were good and I think the captain's words triggered the emergency procedures." In Oklahoma, where an ice storm disrupted power to as many as 125,000 homes and businesses more than a week ago, about 25,000 electrical customers remained without power late Sunday — mostly in the eastern part of the state. Hundreds of utility linemen worked through the night in hopes of fully restoring power by Monday or Tuesday, authorities said. Warmer temperatures in the state led to melting ice and snow that have turned roads into slushy rivers, yards into quagmires and streams into rushing torrents. A pickup truck carrying radioactive materials used in pipeline scanning equipment was swept from a bridge and disappeared in a swollen creek in Pittsburg County, said Undersheriff Richard Sexton. The truck's two occupants escaped unharmed, but efforts to locate the truck and its radioactive cargo were suspended after dark. "The radioactive materials are still in the truck, and that's what we're worried about," Sexton said. In Missouri, more than 45,000 people remained in the dark from the same storm. Winter weather has also hit hard on the East Coast, bringing snow, sleet and freezing rain to Virginia, Washington, D.C., and Maryland and making roads treacherous. An accident on Interstate 81 in Virginia killed one person and injured five, authorities said. | On Sunday, at least a foot of snow fell in parts of Northern Arizona, and it was expected that a few more inches of snow would fall on Monday. The National Weather Service said that up to 1½ inches of snow also fell in Phoenix and up to 1 inch, average of under one inch, in Tucson, which are both located in Southern Arizona. On Sunday and Monday, Southern New Mexico received 9 inches of snow, leading to the closing of 145 miles of Interstate 25 between the cities of Socorro and Las Cruces, New Mexico. The interstate was reopened late Monday afternoon. |
type size: + - LOUDON, N.H. -- Juan Montoya proved Friday that you don't have to run a perfect lap to win a pole in Sprint Cup racing. Despite sliding in Turn 3 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Montoya posted a lap of 132.337 mph to edge Kasey Kahne (132.158 mph) for the pole in Sunday's Lenox Industrial Tools 301 at the 1.058-mile oval. "It was a good lap until Turn 3, where I got sideways," said Montoya, who won his first pole of the year, his second at New Hampshire and the third of his career. "I got sideways, still in the gas, and I thought, 'They're going to kill me.' I was about to press the button [on the radio] and say, 'Sorry, guys, I got loose,' and they go, 'Oh, good job!' "I nailed [Turns] 1 and 2 and made such a big gap that, even with the mistake in 3, we were quick enough to get the pole." Kurt Busch (132.062 mph) qualified third, followed by Mark Martin (131.998 mph) and Ryan Newman (131.966 mph). David Reutimann, Joe Nemechek, Sam Hornish Jr., Clint Bowyer and Jimmie Johnson will start from positions six through 10, respectively. Cup points leader Kevin Harvick qualified 24th. Currently 20th in the standings and 161 points out of 12th place, Montoya is a long shot to make the Chase, but a string of strong finishes could change that. The Colombian made the Chase last year, but bad luck has dogged him throughout the 2010 season. "We have more top-10s, more top-fives, and we have much faster race cars than we had last year at this point," Montoya said. "But we had a blown engine [at Fontana, Calif.], we got together with my teammate [Jamie McMurray at Las Vegas], and we've been involved in I don't know how many wrecks from other people. "It sucks, because we've been right behind the wreck -- like a row or two rows behind where they wreck -- and they block the whole track, and right there you're just a passenger. And we had like seven of those this year. When you have that many bad races, and you're only 160 points out, I think you did pretty good." Subbing for Robby Gordon, Bobby Labonte hit the wall in Friday's practice and did not make a qualifying attempt because the No. 7 team couldn't get a backup ready in time. Labonte will race Sunday on an owner points provisional and start 42nd. There are two new faces in the Cup garage. Reed Sorenson qualified 29th for his first start in the No. 83 Red Bull Toyota. Andy Lally will start 40th in his Cup debut. Lally is driving the No. 71 TRG Motorsports Chevrolet, the ride Labonte vacated. Travis Kvapil and Mike Bliss failed to qualify for the 43-car field. ||||| . DUE TO ILLNESS THIS SITE IS POSTING NECESSARY ITEMS UNYIL FUTURE NOTICE WE HOPE NOT TO BE LONG AND APPRECIATE YOUR LOYALTY PC DENTON | File photo of Montoya. driver won his first of the on Friday at . His time of 28.781 was faster than all others who qualified. followed in the second position with a time of 28.820, ahead of and in third and fourth. Two drivers did not qualify quickly enough; they were and . Montoya said, "It was a good lap until Turn 3, when I got sideways, still in the gas, and I thought, 'They're going to kill me.' I was about to press the button on the radio and say, 'Sorry, guys, I got loose,' and they go, 'Oh, good job!" Montoya is currently in twentieth in the point standings, a long shot to make the |
If you see this page it means: hosting for this domain is not configured or there's no such domain registered in Plesk For more information please contact . ||||| VLADIVOSTOK, January 17 (RIA Novosti) - Twelve people remain in a serious condition after a fatal blaze gutted the sixth floor of an office center Monday in one of Russia's biggest cities on the Pacific, the Emergency Situations Ministry said Tuesday. On Monday, a blaze broke at about 12:00 local time (02:00 GMT) on the sixth floor of a building in Vladivostok. Some of the victims died when they jumped out windows in an attempt to escape the flames. In addition to the fatalities, another 12 people were hospitalized with burns and injuries. "Five people are in a burns treatment center, and six in the hospital, including three in intensive care, one in neurosurgery and two in the toxicology ward," the source said. "One woman is in a regional hospital." Sergei Darkin, the governor of the Maritime Territory where the tragedy occurred, sent his condolences to the families of the victims, and called for measures to be taken to prevent such incidents in the future. "I am sure the cause of the tragedy will be established," Darkin said. Investigators suggested that one reason for the high death toll could have been that stairwells had been blocked, which meant people could not use evacuation routes. But they added that it was not the only reason. "Firefighters could not start extinguishing the fire because a car park had been set up next to the building in breach of fire-safety regulations," local prosecutors said, adding that it took the firemen some time to clear the parking. The president's envoy to the Far Eastern Federal District, Kamil Iskhakov, urged a review of fire safety systems in the Maritime Region. Head of the local emergencies department Viktor Kapkanshchikov told Iskhakov that firefighters had arrived at the site in less than three minutes after the fire broke out, and had managed to evacuate 146 people. Iskhakov said also expressed his sympathies for the relatives of the victims, and promised to bring any guilty parties for the tragedy to justice. ||||| You can support quality journalism by turning off ad blocker or purchase a subscription for unlimited access to The Hindu. ||||| VLADIVOSTOK, January 16 (RIA Novosti, Anatoly Ilyukhov) - At least eight people have died in a fire in an office center in the Pacific port city of Vladivostok, the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry said Monday. A spokesman said that the blaze broke at about 12:00 local time (02:00 GMT) on the sixth floor of the building. Some of the victims died when they jumped out windows in an attempt to escape the flames. In addition to the fatalities, another 15 people were hospitalized with burns and injuries. According to firefighters, serious breaches of fire-safety regulations were partly to blame for the deaths. A door to the attic was locked and people could not escape through an emergency exit. The fire has been almost extinguished. A team of investigators led by the deputy prosecutor of the Maritime Territory, Sergei Luchaninov, is looking into how the fire started. | At 11:45am on January 16, in Vladivostok, Russia, a fire broke out on the three upper floors of the ''Sberbank'' building. Photographs taken by eye-witnesses show people, who were trapped, dropping from 8th floor windows to their deaths. According to some reports the firemen who were dispatched to the scene were pre-occupied at the rear of the building. They had apparently been ordered to evacuate the bank and its management from the area, which was not under immediate threat. Official Russian media initially denied the fire, accusing the reports of being false. Russian media later confirmed 7 and then, 9 dead. Witnesses and those rescued from the burning building have claimed that the figure exceeds 50. A maintenance employee who worked in the building was quoted as saying, "I know at least about 13 dead inside ... that's the least I've noticed, not to consider those who've dropped down ... 8 of them dropped, looking at the three already dead on the ground, but they went through the windows without hope to be rescued ... They collected and hid the dead bodies inside. I work at this building! I know its layout very well! To declare, as it become clear, a less number of the dead later." "My daughter worked in a justice department," - Natalia, one of the witnesses said. "She said that there were actually much more dead - up to 70. She went on the dead bodies, getting out from the building … some of them were so scorched, that it was impossible to identify them… 9 victims? That's a lie!" Georic, a witness: "The cops ("menty"), whom I know, say that they've been loading the dead bodies all night long." Lelya has posted her evidence on January 21, 2006 on the web-site http://news.vl.ru/vlad/2006/01/18/tradegy/ "My brother worked in that building, on the 6th flour. So, the night after the fire they visited the building to collect the documents, etc. and they saw how workers transported the dead bodies. He said, there were 50-60.." |
EDMONTON -- A clip of Ralph Klein's recent risque sex joke about Belinda Stronach landed on a few of YouTube's hottest hit-lists this week. After one day of posting on the popular Internet file-swapping site, the Alberta premier's controversial wisecrack became one of the "most viewed" and "most discussed" videos in YouTube's Friday collection. By Saturday, it was also rated one of YouTube's "top favourites" for the week. By Saturday afternoon, the Klein clip had been viewed more than 19,500 times and more than 100 comments had been posted about the video. It was watched more often than a talk between comedian Jerry Seinfeld and The Daily Show host Jon Stewart that was posted a day later. The Seinfeld clip was watched just over 12,000 times in a day. "It got wide coverage, that's for sure," Klein's communications director, Marisa Etmanski, said Saturday. "If it just puts a smile on people's faces, good for YouTube. As long as people understand those comments were made at a roast where the premier himself got roasted they talked about his weight and they talked about his drinking." Klein made the off-colour quip alluding to Stronach's very public romance, and subsequent break-up with Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay during a fundraising roast last Tuesday night in Calgary. The joke, scripted by Klein's office staff, poked fun at Liberal MP Stronach for crossing the floor from the federal Conservatives. "I don't think she ever did have a Conservative bone in her body. Well, except for one," Klein said to a mix of groans, laughter, claps and whistles. "Well, speaking of Peter MacKay..." Media across the country reported the suggestive line that sparked some backlash against the premier. Stronach called it an example of the "rough and nasty" treatment that causes some women to shy away from politics. The response from Klein's YouTube viewers ranged from appreciative to outraged. One viewer wrote: "It wasn't a joke you'd tell in the Legislature, but it worked perfectly in an informal roast... Go King Ralph." Another accused Canadian politicians of lacking professionalism. "Ralph Klein, have some class." YouTube was founded less than two years ago. More than 100 million clips are viewed daily on the site. Edmonton Journal ||||| EDMONTON - Alberta Premier Ralph Klein refused to apologize Thursday for a sexual joke he made about Liberal MP Belinda Stronach even though she says it's the kind of comment that repels women from politics. Klein, who is retiring in December after 14 years as premier, said Thursday the crack was made in good humour at a fundraising roast in Calgary earlier this week. ''A roast is a roast is a roast. It's not a toast,'' Klein told reporters. ''I'm making no apologies, no. I read the copy and I approved it. I thought it was a funny line. So did Bruce,'' he added, referring to his bodyguard. The joke, scripted by Klein's office staff, poked fun at Stronach for crossing the floor from the Conservatives: ''I don't think she ever did have a Conservative bone in her body. Well, except for one,'' he said, to a mixture of groans, laughter, claps and whistles. ''Well, speaking of Peter MacKay,'' he continued. The comment was made Tuesday night at the annual Calgary Homeless Foundation roast, and reported in newspapers Canadawide Thursday. Some officials in attendance found the line over the top even for a roast, where ribald jokes are a tradition. In response, Stronach told reporters in Montreal that many women she speaks to shy away from getting into politics because it's so ''rough and nasty.'' Shirley McClellan, Klein's deputy premier, set her anger on the media for bothering to report the joke, saying she's heard many comments of questionable taste at roasts in the past and the same Stronach quip before. ''I don't know of any person who is more respectful of women, who is less inclined to tell off-colour stories or use improper language,'' McClellan said of Klein. ''I've worked with this gentleman for 17 years, and have never been treated with anything more than the utmost respect. And I am so disappointed in our media.'' Edmonton Journal ||||| View larger image Alberta Premier Ralph Klein arrives to speak at a luncheon at the CD Howe Institute in Toronto on Thursday Oct. 26, 2006. (CP / Frank Gunn) View larger image Federal Liberal MP Belinda Stronach and comedian Rick Mercer get under some mosquito netting as they ham it up for the cameras after a news conference in Montreal Thursday Nov.9, 2006. (CP / Ryan Remiorz) Klein won't apologize for Stronach 'bone' joke CTV.ca News Staff Alberta Premier Ralph Klein is refusing to apologize for a crude joke about Liberal MP Belinda Stronach, weeks after MacKay allegedly referred to her as a dog. "I'm making no apologies," Klein told reporters Thursday. "I read the copy and I approved. I thought it was a funny line." Klein was at a charity roast in Calgary on Tuesday when he made fun of Stronach for leaving the Conservative party -- and then-boyfriend Peter MacKay -- for the Liberals. "I wasn't surprised she crossed over. I don't think she ever had a Conservative bone in her body -- well, except for one," said Klein. In case anyone in the audience missed the punch line, he continued: "Speaking of Peter MacKay..." The clip has already found its way onto the popular online video website YouTube, and can be found here. Marisa Etmanski, Klein's press secretary, said the joke was acceptable given the nature of the event. "Ms. Stronach roasted the premier two years ago and made remarks about his weight, his clothing and even his flatulence," she told The Canadian Press. "In a roast situation, these remarks were hysterical, and that's the same kind of thing that happened this year." When Prime Minister Stephen Harper was asked on Thursday if he thought the joke was funny, he simply held up his hand and rolled his eyes. Meanwhile, Stronach said such chauvinistic humour is discouraging women from entering politics. "We all have to improve the civility that occurs in public life, and in the House of Commons in particular, because we want to attract good people to participate in public life. We want to attract many more women to participate in politics," she told reporters. "We only have about 20 per cent now. I've talked to many women across the country and they've said, `You know what, I don't know if I really want to participate if it's going to be so rough and nasty," she told reporters. Stronach was in Montreal on Thursday for an international conference on global poverty, and she used the publicity from Klein's joke to focus on helping malaria patients. "Ralph should put his money where his mouth is and buy a whole bunch of bednets to save kids from malaria in Africa," she said. Klein has made several wrong-headed gestures during his time as Alberta's premier. In March, he landed in trouble for throwing a Liberal Party health policy booklet that almost hit a page. "I ought not to have thrown the ... policy at our page Jennifer, and to Jennifer I apologize most sincerely," he later apologized. Earlier this month, Klein himself was targeted, when Globe and Mail columnist Jeffrey Simpson wrote that the "bozo years'' are over in Alberta, because Klein is retiring as premier after 14 years. Simpson went on to use the term bozo four more times. Klein's joke about Stronach earlier this week follows an alleged reference by MacKay that his former girlfriend is a dog. In October, a Liberal MP heckled MacKay about a four-legged pet he once famously posed with. In response to the taunting, MacKay allegedly pointed to a seat where Stronach once sat and said, "You already have her." Speaker Peter Milliken said he could find no evidence of the remark, and so MacKay would not have to apologize as Liberals had demanded. | Alberta premier Ralph Klein was at the annual Calgary Homeless Foundation roast Tuesday evening when he poked fun at Liberal MP Belinda Stronach crossing the floor from the Conservatives to the Liberals. "I wasn't surprised that she crossed over to the Liberals. I don't think she ever did have a Conservative bone in her body. Well, maybe one." Referring to Conservative MP Peter MacKay, her ex boyfriend. "Well, speaking of Peter MacKay...," he continued. Klein refused to apologize for the remark saying: "I'm making no apologies....I read the copy and I approved. I thought it was a funny line....So did Bruce his bodyguard," he added. "A roast is a roast is a roast. It's not a toast," Klein told reporters. The audience laughed at the joke, but after some people said they felt uncomfortable with it. "Ms. Stronach roasted the premier two years ago and made remarks about his weight, his clothing and even his flatulence," Marisa Etmanski, Klein's press secretary, told the Canadian Press. "In a roast situation, these remarks were hysterical, and that's the same kind of thing that happened this year." Calgary Stampede Parade Stronach, a feminist, was offended by the joke and said that "we want to attract many more women to participate in politics" and "improve the civility that occurs in public life." Stronach was in Montreal on Thursday for an international conference on global poverty and defended herself from the comment. "Ralph should put his money where his mouth is and buy a whole bunch of bednets to save kids from malaria in Africa." The joke was taken from Mr. MacKay's alleged comment calling Stronach a "dog" last month in the House of Commons. "I don't know of any person who is more respectful of women, who is less inclined to tell off-colour stories or use improper language," said Shirley McClellan, Klein's deputy premier. "I've worked with this gentleman for 17 years, and have never been treated with anything more than the utmost respect. And I am so disappointed in our media." The video (see external links section) has made its way around the popular internet video site YouTube. It has been viewed more than 19,500 times and more than 100 comments had been posted about the video. |
KDE i Wikimedia, ogłosiły niedawno deklarację o współpracy, której celem jest stworzenie protokołu dostępu do danych projektów Wikimedii z dowolnych aplikacji. Całość projektu Wikimedia Web API będzie oparta o technologie SOAP/WSDL (co nie będzie nowością dla osób, które już kiedyś wykorzystywały np. Web API Google). Chciałoby się rzec: dlaczego dopiero teraz? Zastosowania KDE znalazło już kilka zastosowań dla nowopowstającej technologii. Pierwszą aplikacją, która jeszcze przed rozpoczęciem prac nad Web API, wykorzystywała Wikipedię, jest amarok. W amaroku istniała bowiem możliwość wyświetlenia informacji z Wikipedii o wykonawcy aktualnie odtwarzanej piosenki. Nie jest to jednak jedyne zastosowanie nowej technologii. KDE i Wikipedia Samo KDE planuje blisko zintegrować wsparcie dla korzystania z Wikipedii, dodając odpowiednie klasy do modułu kdelibs. Ktoś mógłby jednak pomyśleć, że jest to bezsensu, wszak KDE jak do tej pory nie wymaga połączenia z internetem, żeby dało się w pełni korzystać z bibliotek KDE. Aby utrzymać ten stan rzeczy, rozpoczęto projekt Knowledge, którego autorem (jak i jednym ze współautorów Web API) jest Daniel Montelkin (danimo), członek zespołu KDE PIM, developer programu kontact. Knowledge Knowledge to aplikacja Qt4, której celem ma być umożliwienie dostępu offline do Wikipedii. Aplikacja ta będzie pracować z archiwum wikipedii, które zostanie specjalnie wygenerowane, w ten sposób dystrybucje, będą mogły dostarczyć dostęp do Wikipedii użytkownikom pozbawionym dostępu do internetu. Istotną sprawą jest tu system indeksowania dokumentów, który ma być taki sam dla wersji online i offline. Jak do tej pory najlepszym kandydatem wydaje się Lucene, ale projektanci wciąż otwarci są na wszelkie propozycje. Knowledge działa pod Windows, Uniksami oraz Mac OS X i w przyszłości ma stać się konkurencją dla tak znanych pozycji jak MS Encarta. Inne zastosowania Kalzium: program do nauki chemii pod KDE, mógłby posłużyć sie Wikipedią do prezentacji dodatkowych informacji o pierwiastkach oraz substancjach pochodnych KOffice: mógłby wykorzystywać WikiCommons jako bazę clipartów, a także korzystać z Wikisłownika np. do pobierania podobnych słów KStars: program do obserwacji nieba mógłby dostarczać informacje o ciałach niebieskich. Globeopedia: przyszły program do geografii, Wikipedia mogłaby stanowić jedno ze źródeł informacji o miastach, państwach i obszarach Archiwalny news dodany przez użytkownika: djurban. Kliknij tutaj by zobaczyć archiwalne komentarze. ||||| Jimmy Wales announces Wikimedia Foundation partnership with KDE 6/23/2005 Today at LinuxTag, a free-software Expo held in Karlsruhe, Germany, Jimbo Wales announced a formal partnership between the Wikimedia Foundation and the makers of the K Desktop Environment (KDE). According to a blog posting by Sven Krohlas of KDE, the cooperation of the two groups means they will now be able to achieve several technical goals, including an API , which will allow KDE developers to easily embed Wikipedia data in their applications. The news extends beyond KDE and the Foundation, as the API will be open. Presumably, access to a sanctioned API would significantly simplify data retrieval and encourage creative use of the data found in the Foundation's many projects, a boon for both developers and end-users alike. Progress already made Two months ago, KDE developer and German Wikipedian Daniel Molkentin announced project Knowledge. According to Daniel, "Once it’s grown up, Knowledge is supposed to become a Wikipedia offline reader". Similarly, isaaic's weblog points out that project amaroK, a music player for Linux and Unices, is already incorporating the data. The single-most stifling factor related to Foundation projects thus far has been finding enough developers to both maintain current projects and also encourage innovation and creation. Certainly the enthusiastic support of an entire community of programmers is an import step towards solving this problem, and creating new, better ones. ||||| The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. ( Reply ) Over 40 comments listed. Printing out index only. great! by LMCBoy on Thursday 23/Jun/2005, @16:38 This will be really great for the "AstroInfo" articles in KStars. These are short, hyperlinked articles about astronomical concepts. They are currently in the KStars handbook, but I've been thinking for a while I'd like to break them into a separate reader and make it more tightly integrated with the rest of the program. Some of the AstroInfo articles have already migrated into Wikipedia. Seems like a good opportunity for two great projects (KDE and Wikimedia) to help each other out. APIv by Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason on Thursday 23/Jun/2005, @17:01 If you wish to follow this in the future there's an open bug for external APIs here: vhttp://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=208 A great feature would be a point in kontextmenu of the kicker watch that is called "Show this day in history" (or something simmilar). So that konqueror is started and shows the wikipedia entry for the current date in history. Example: It's the 24.06.2005 (I'm sorry for writing the date this way, but I'm Austrian and don't really know the American or English way :)) Klick on the menu entry and konqueror shows up with the URL: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/24._Juni Patrick "en:SOAP/en:WSDL is probably the best choice since it can deliver semantics (as opposed to en:XML-RPC) and is an accepted industry standard also used by e.g. google" Please consider REST style web services, which, IMHO, are much easier to use and more powerful. Read this article for quick introduction to REST: http://www.xfront.com/REST-Web-Services.html For more info, there is a wiki: http://rest.blueoxen.net/ Translation by Andre on Thursday 23/Jun/2005, @17:07 Hope the translation issue also gets adressed. KDE's translation infrastructure is getting outdated. Local Wikipedias by Bram Schoenmakers on Thursday 23/Jun/2005, @18:20 I think it would be better if it automatically redirected you to the local Wikipedia, if available, else it should fall back to the English WP. (P.S. It would be cool to integrate KWorldClock with WP, just click on a country/city/area et voila...) Mediawiki specific? by Petteri on Friday 24/Jun/2005, @02:33 Hopefully this will be more broader than just Wikipedia, mayby mediawiki specific? There are so many other good wikis :) For example kdevelop could use http://gpwiki.org/ for help pages when doing game programming etc. This project sound really exiting can't wait for the new amarok to arrive to Debian. this is cool by Bojan on Friday 24/Jun/2005, @09:46 I got nothing really useful to say, other than this is really cool. I think this could add a lot of power and neat features to many applications, and the KDE desktop in general. ...when do we get a Wikilyrics? A Google search shows one with this name, but the site appears to be dead. Wikipedia already has lots of info on albums, it would be nice if it could have lyrics, too. Would this api be specific to KDE? or can any application use the webservice (like a gtk app, windows app, osx app, etc). It seems to me that this is just a webservice and I am confused as to why kde is involved. Wikihelp? by Zot on Friday 24/Jun/2005, @12:33 Could the help system use this? Obviously, there would need to be a mechanism for storing a local minimal version during install, but then this API could be used to keep the help up to date. This would also allow the help by way of wiki to include more tips and tricks and such. | A co-operation between the KDE group - makers of a free desktop for Linux - and the Wikimedia Foundation has been announced at the LinuxTag Conference in Karlsruhe. They intend to build a protocol which will make it possible to access Wikimedia project's data from any application, but especially from the KDE suite. The KDE Group will try to integrate some of the applications from the package with Wikimedia data. For example, AmaroK, media player, will use Wikipedia data to show information about music being played at the moment. Some other applications, including chemical database Kalzium, a database of information about the sky KStars and office suite KOffice will use data from Wikipedia, or from its sister projects. It will be based on SOAP/WSDL technology, which is already used by the Google API. It could be used on almost every platform and programming environment. It is also possible to include the Wikipedia archive in some of KDE's CD editions to make it possible to use the data from Wikipedia on machines without an internet connection. |
Sorry – page not found We can't find what you're looking for on IrishExaminer.com. Our frequently asked questions may help, or you can also contact us if you need our assistance. ||||| (Updates with comments from U.S. military, presidential palace)By Mohammad RafiqMEHTAR LAM, Afghanistan, Jan 25 (Reuters) - Thousands of Afghans protested against President Hamid Karzai and the United States on Sunday over reports of fresh civilian deaths caused by U.S.-led troops during a raid against Taliban militants.The issue of civilian casualties is sensitive in Afghanistan and has eroded public support for Karzai's government and the foreign troops backing it.It has also caused a rift between Karzai and his Western allies more than seven years after U.S.-led and Afghan forces overthrew the Taliban's government.The operation causing the latest controversy happened this week in eastern Laghman province. The U.S. military said on Saturday that troops, backed by air support, had killed 15 militants in an overnight operation.Assadullah Wafa, a Karzai adviser investigating the deaths, said on Sunday that "16 civilians, many of them children and women, were killed" in the operation."We strongly condemn it and want an end to it (civilian casualties)", he told reporters in Mehtar Lam, Laghman's provincial capital, where the protest was held.A statement from the presidential palace quoted Karzai as saying that bombing villages and causing civilian deaths "will not bear any progress in the war against terrorism".Karzai said failure to coordinate attacks with his government would weaken its sovereignty and bolster the militants, it added.A spokesman for the U.S. military said it planned to jointly investigate the incident with the Afghan government this week.Chanting slogans against Karzai and the United States, thousands of people took part in the protest despite heavy rain."If the foreign troops do not put an end to their operations, we will launch jihad," said Malik Hazrat, a protest leader.The provincial governor tried to calm the demonstrators and invited them for talks with representatives of the U.S.-led troops. But some protesters threw stones at him and he stopped his speech.There was no report of injuries and by midday the protest had simmered down.Nearly 700 civilians were killed in operations by foreign and Afghan forces against the militants until October last year, according to a national human rights body based on a U.N. estimate.Karzai, who has repeatedly urged foreign troops to coordinate operations with his government, last week termed civilian deaths as a main source of Afghanistan's instability. (Writing by Sayed Salahuddin; Editing by Alex Richardson) ||||| News CENTRAL/S. ASIA Dispute over deadly US Afghan raid The US-led international force has come under strong criticism by the Afghan president [AFP] A claim by US forces in Afghanistan that they killed 15 Taliban fighters in the eastern province of Laghman, has been disputed by village elders. A US statement said on Saturday that soldiers killed the fighters after coming under fire from opposition fighters. But the elders say all those who died were civilians. "The operation in Mehtar Lam District, approximately 60km northeast of Kabul City, targeted a Taliban commander believed to conduct terrorist activities throughout the Kabul, Laghman and Kapisa provinces," a US military statement said. "As coalition forces approached the wanted militant's compound, several groups of armed militants exited their homes and began manoeuvering on the force." Nine fighters were killed by small-arms fire and four killed by "precision close-air support", the statement said, adding that two other fighters were killed during a subsequent serach of the houses in the compound. 'Civilians killed' One of the attackers killed in the initial fight was later identified as female, the US military statement said. But Abdul Rahmzai, head of the provincial council in Laghman, said village elders had told him in the hours after the raid that those killed were civilians. Rahmzai relayed questions from the Associated Press news agency to the village elders directly, who responded by saying that swear on the Quran that all those killed were innocent. They said that women and children were among the dead, and told Rahmzai that they have no link to Taliban fighters. Independent assessment by journalists and human-rights monitors of the competing claims is complicated by the level of danger in the territory to unarmed outsiders. Competing claims While Afghan villagers have been accused of inflating civilian death claims to receive more compensation, the US military has in the past been charged with not fully acknowledging the deaths of civilians due to its raids. In the immediate wake of a battle in August in the village of Azizabad, the US military said no civilians were killed. Eventually a US investigation found that 33 civilians had been killed in that raid. The Afghan government and the UN said that 90 civilians died in the incident. Hamid Karzai, the president of Afghanistan, said last week that the US and countries serving in the Nato military alliance are continuing air raids in civilian areas, despite his call for them to stop. Kabul recently sent Nato headquarters a draft agreement that would give Afghanistan more control over future Nato deployments in the country. The draft also says that Nato troops should no longer conduct searches of Afghan homes. The US military is facing a stern challenge in maintaining order in Afghanistan in the face of a resurgent Taliban. Extra troops US marines are ready to leave Iraq quickly so that 20,000 soldiers can be sent to Afghanistan, James Conway, Marine Corps commandant, said on Friday. "The time is right for marines to leave Iraq," the senior marine officer said. About 2,200 marines are currently serving in Afghanistan, as part of the 34,000-strong US military contingent there. In all, US military planners are expected to deploy a total of 30,000 extra troops to the country in the next 12 to 18 months, reflecting the emphasis that Barack Obama, the US president, is putting on the war in Afghanistan. And while the US prepares to boost its forces, Karzai is coming under international pressure over the efficacy of his leadership. "They have been holding on to Karzai in the hope of bringing about some semblance of governance in Afghanistan but recently Nato secretary-general Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said that the problems in Afghanistan stem from governance rather than from terrorism," Imtiaz Gul, a political analyst in the Pakistani capital Islamabad, told Al Jazeera. "If we are to go by what Scheffer says, Karzai's days are numbered. There are going to be very tough elections in Afghanistan in the next few months." Source: Al Jazeera and agencies Feedback Number of comments : 2 M Naqqaad Afghanistan 24/01/2009 Leave us alon Nobody invited the NATO & US to afghanistan. Even the dispensationn which has been assembled by these very people is not being given any respect. This is plain colonism and any number of their soldiers killed will be conunted as mecenary. We are better off with our own system because the scant respect to Afghan life is taking us deeper into the stone age. May be this may be your aim. digdeeper Australia 24/01/2009 dispute over deadly us afghan raid how is the afghani government expected to run a country properly with all of the chaos that is occuring there??? it is a lawless land, at the moment and the americans are unrestrainedly doing their cowboy thing. i read a report that said there are (secret)prisons there where afghanis are being tortured. imagine now, they are sending thousands more soldiers in. such a horror for those poor afghanisand their land, now peppered with more land mines!!! | Map of Laghman Province in Afghanistan. On January 15, a United States military strike in the Afghan province of Laghman killed 15 people, according to U.S. officials. The U.S claims only militants were killed, but on Saturday, village elders disputed that claim with the allegation that the casualties were all civilians. The raid has sparked demonstrations in Afghanistan, with demonstrators renewing their pleas for the occupying forces to leave the country. Afghan leaders have said that the U.S has apologized to them for the attack, but have not publicly admitted to making a mistake. In a statement, the U.S government described what they believed to be a successful mission against a wanted militant, saying, "the operation in Mehtar Lam District, approximately 60km northeast of Kabul City, targeted a Taliban commander believed to conduct terrorist activities throughout the Kabul, Laghman and Kapisa provinces." "As coalition forces approached the wanted militant's compound, several groups of armed militants exited their homes and began manoeuvering on the force," added the statement. Nine fighters were killed by small-arms fire and four killed by "precision close-air support", the statement continued, adding that two other fighters were killed during a subsequent search of the houses in the compound. U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates ''(left)'' and Afghani President Hamid Karzai at a press conference in 2007. However, this version of events was contested when a statement from the Afghani president's office declared that 16 civilians were killed, not 15 militants. That statement also claimed that two women and three children were among the dead. Thousands of angered Afghanis took to the streets in the Afghan city of Mihtarlam, chanting "death to Americans". President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan condemned the incident, and said that bombing civilians "will not bear any progress in the war against terrorism". U.S President Barack Obama has vowed to put more U.S troops in Afghanistan, ignoring a request from President Karzai that there be a timetable for U.S withdrawal from the country. Defense Secretary Robert Gates says the new administration's goal is to eliminate the threat posed by al-Qaeda and other groups. "Let me just say both President Bush and President Obama have made clear that we will go after al-Qaeda wherever al-Qaeda is and we will continue to pursue them," Gates said. |
Al-Bashir pledged to move forward with a planned referendum for the south in his victory speech [AFP] Al-Bashir pledged to move forward with a planned referendum for the south in his victory speech [AFP] Al-Bashir had been widely expected to retain the presidency after a number of opposition parties withdrew their candidates, but the official announcement of the results on Monday confirmed his victory with 68 per cent of the vote. Omar Hassan al-Bashir, Sudan's incumbent president, has won another term after the country's first multi-party presidential poll in 24 years. "The first [was] Omar Hassan Ahmed al-Bashir. He was the candidate and won," Abel Alier, the chairman of Sudan's National Elections Commission, said. Al Jazeera's Mohammed Adow, reporting from the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, said al-Bashir addressed the nation following the announcement to thank his supporters. "He has been saying that he will serve all Sudanese whether they voted for him or not," our correspondent said. The election commission also announced that Salva Kiir, the leader of the former rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), won re-election in the presidential poll in Sudan's semi-autonomous southern region. Kiir, a former rebel commander, won 92.9 per cent of the 2,616,613 votes in the South, Alier, the commission chairman, said. Fraud accusations Sudan's elections were set up under a 2005 peace accord that ended more than two decades of north-south civil war and saw the formation of a power-sharing agreement between Kiir's SPLM and Bashir's National Congress Party (NCP). The results followed widespread accusations of voter fraud and polling irregularities in the presidential, parliamentary and regional elections. special report The main opposition parties decided to boycott some aspects of the polls, accusing al-Bashir of widespread vote rigging. Hafez Mohammed, the director of Justice Africa, a research and advocacy group in Khartoum, said the fraud allegations of fraud have overshadowed the credibility of the results. "The legitimacy [of al-Bashir's win] is questionable because of the withdrawal and the allegations of rigging that have absolutely dented the whole process of the election," he told Al Jazeera. "That is going to be a serious problem facing the ability of the government to govern properly with authority." Little competition The SPLM pulled out of parliamentary voting in most northern states and withdrew Yasser Arman as its candidate for the presidency. Sadiq al-Mahdi, Sudan's former prime minister from the northern opposition Umma party, also withdrew, citing possible fraud. Those decisions left little competition for al-Bashir, who has been in power for 22 years. International observers from the European Union and the US-based Carter Centre had also criticised the polls, saying that the elections did not meet international standards. Al Jazeera's Adow said attention was now focused on the reactions of Sudan's opposition parties. "They are angry and saying this election has been fraudulent right from the beginning of registering voters up until now," he said. "Some of them say they will be holding demonstrations and protests against what they call rigged elections." Mubarak al-Fadil, the leader of the Umma Reform and Renewal part, told the Reuters news agency that the government had "cooked the figures". "His campaign was conducted under one party system with all the foundations of a police state ... it was a farce," he said. Jem reaction Ahmed Hussein, the spokesman for Justice and Equality Movement (Jem) in Darfur, also said his group would not accept the results. "Things in our country are not going according to what the people of Sudan wanted. This is going to lead to tension and chaos," he said. Kiir, a former rebel leader, was re-elected president of Sudan's South [EPA] The election results come less than a year before Sudan holds a referendum in January 2011 on the independence for the oil-producing south, a provision included as part of the 2005 peace accord. Al-Bashir vowed to go ahead with the referendum, following Monday's results announcement. "I assure [you] the referendum in south Sudan will take place on schedule," he said in an address broadcast on state television. Al-Bashir also used his victory address to pledge greater efforts to reach a peace agreement in the country's western Darfur region, where the UN estimates that about 300,000 people have been killed in an ongoing conflict. "I assure [you] ... that we will work for peace in Darfur," he said. Al-Bashir is facing an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court (ICC) for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur, though he has denied the charges. ||||| President Bashir denies committing war crimes in Darfur Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir has been declared the winner of this month's landmark elections, despite facing war crimes charges over Darfur. Former rebel leader Salva Kiir has been confirmed in power in the semi-autonomous south in the first polls since the north-south war ended. The polls were Sudan's first multi-party elections in 24 years. Observers and opposition parties have complained of fraud and - particularly in the south - of intimidation. Sudan's election commission said Mr Bashir had received 68% of the vote. PRESIDENTIAL RESULTS National Omar al-Bashir, NCP: 68% Yassir Arman, SPLM (withdrawn): 22% Abdallah Deng Nhial, PCP: 4% Hatim al-Sir, DUP: 2% Sadiq al-Mahdi, Umma (withdrawn): 1% Southern Salva Kiir, SPLM: 93% Lam Akol, SPLM-DC: 7% Source: National Elections Commission President Bashir profile Salva Kiir profile It also said Mr Kiir, leader of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), had received 93% of the southern vote. The BBC's James Copnall in Khartoum says President Bashir could present his re-election as a popular rebuke for the International Criminal Court, which has issued an arrest warrant against him for alleged war crimes in Darfur. Sudan's leader strongly denies the charges. His two main challengers withdrew before the elections began, claiming that the process had already been rigged. Our correspondent says these accusations and withdrawals have dented the credibility of the elections. The SPLM joined a national coalition government after a 2005 peace deal but relations between the supposed partners remain tense. 'No friction' A referendum is due in 2011 on whether the south, where most people are Christian or follow traditional religions, should secede from the Arab-dominated mostly-Muslim north. Mr Bashir has said he would respect the outcome of the referendum but some fear conflict could resume, especially in the oil-rich border region. ANALYSIS By James Copnall, BBC News, Khartoum President Omar al-Bashir, who came to power in a coup two decades ago, can now say he has won multi-party elections. Both President Bashir and his party in the North, and Salva Kiir and the SPLM in the south, have been able to shore up their power bases dramatically. Some of the gloss has undoubtedly been removed by the boycott of several major opposition parties and politicians. But there is no doubt the international community will accept these results - with one eye on next January's crucial referendum on possible southern independence. The reaction of the northern opposition, and of disaffected southerners who ran against the SPLM, is the thing to be watched closely. Dream result for President Bashir Speaking in a televised address after the poll result was announced, Mr Bashir said: "The referendum in south Sudan will take place on schedule." He described his election win as a victory for "all Sudanese", and played down criticism of the poll, praising "the civilised and respectful conduct during these elections, which saw no clashes or friction". The EU and the Carter Center said the polls were below international standards. But former US President Jimmy Carter said he believed the international community would recognise the winners all the same. Mr Bashir and his National Congress Party were already well ahead in the results already announced from the 11-15 April elections. As well as the national and southern presidential contests, elections were also held for the national, regional and state parliaments and state governors. Tension in Sudan was raised over the weekend, with reports of clashes along the north-south border. Some 55 people were said to have been killed in clashes between an Arab community and southern soldiers. The weekend violence was the most serious since the polls. The clashes reportedly began over grazing rights for cattle - a common source of conflict in the area. But southern government officials say their soldiers were attacked by members of the northern army - charges denied in Khartoum. What is your reaction to the announced election results? Send us your views using the postform below. Name Your E-mail address Town & Country Phone number (optional): Comments The BBC may edit your comments and not all emails will be published. Your comments may be published on any BBC media worldwide. Terms & Conditions Bookmark with: Delicious Digg reddit Facebook StumbleUpon What are these? E-mail this to a friend Printable version | File photo of Omar al-BashirThe Sudanese president, Omar al-Bashir, has been declared the winner of this month's elections, after the first multiparty polls in 24 years. Salva Kiir, a former rebel leader, meanwhile, was also declared president of the semi-autonomous southern Sudan in separate elections. According to the Sudanese election commission, al-Bashir won 68% of the vote, while Salva Kiir obtained 93% of the vote out of slightly more than 2.5 million total votes. "The first was Omar Hassan Ahmed al-Bashir. He was the candidate and won," said Abel Alier, the chairman for Sudan's National Elections Commission. Observers and the opposition complained of fraud in the elections; two of al-Bashir's main opponents withdrew before the voting began, accusing the polling process of being rigged. Al-Bashir is also wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of war crimes, which issued a warrant for his arrest, although al-Bashir denies the allegations. |
Enlarge By Philimon Bulawayo, REUTERS Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of Zimbabwe's main opposition Movement for Democratic Change, has repeatedly called on South Africa President Thabo Mbeki to step down from his mediation role. JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AP) Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has rejected an African Union decision to keep South Africa's president alone in charge of efforts to resolve Zimbabwe's political crisis. Speaking to reporters at his home in Harare, Zimbabwe's capital, Tsvangirai said Wednesday that his group would not participate in talks about forming a governing accord with President Robert Mugabe's government unless an additional mediator was appointed. The opposition leader's comments came a day after an AU summit reconfirmed South Africa President Thabo Mbeki as mediator. "Our reservations about the mediation process under President Mbeki are well known," said Tsvangirai, head of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change. "Unless the mediation team is expanded ... and the mediation mechanism is changed, no meaningful progress can be made toward resolving the Zimbabwe crisis." "If this does not happen, then the MDC will not be part of the mediation process," Tsvangirai said. Tsvangirai has repeatedly called on Mbeki to step down from his mediation role, saying Mbeki's refusal to publicly criticize Mugabe amounts to appeasement. Mugabe has extolled Mbeki's role. The opposition "as the winner of the last credible elections on March 29, 2008, should be recognized as the legitimate government of Zimbabwe," Tsvangirai said. "While the MDC remains committed to negotiations, these must be based on the March 29 results and must move towards a transitional agreement." Tsvangirai said violence against Mugabe critics had continued, with at least nine supporters killed and hundreds beaten and forced to flee since a one-candidate presidential runoff held Friday. The U.S. ambassador to Zimbabwe, James McGee, said a Zimbabwean driver for the embassy disappeared three days ago, emerging Wednesday to say he had been accosted by unknown assailants, blindfolded and taken to a small room where he was questioned and denied food or water. The incident appeared to be an attempt to intimidate people connected with the U.S. Embassy, which has been a vocal critic of Mugabe. "The violence seems to be at least at the same level (as before the runoff). It may even be getting worse," McGee said in an interview. "We've heard stories, unconfirmed, of hit lists. But we do know for a fact that people are being murdered. People continue to disappear." Tsvangirai came in first in a field of four in the first round of presidential voting in March. Electoral officials said Tsvangirai did not win the simple majority and scheduled a runoff against second-place finisher Mugabe. State-supported violence against opposition members forced Tsvangirai to withdraw days before Friday's runoff. Mugabe held the vote anyway, despite international condemnation. He was declared the overwhelming winner Sunday and immediately held an inauguration ceremony. Zimbabwean state media, meanwhile, focused Wednesday on reports the government was willing to talk and prominently showed official tallies from last week's runoff, apparently to underline Mugabe's expectations of being the senior partner in any deal with Tsvangirai. Mbeki's spokesman Mukoni Ratshitanga said any question of expanding the mediation team would have to be left to the Southern African Development Community, the main regional body that appointed Mbeki mediator more than a year ago and the group the AU has said should remain in charge of the effort. Mbeki told his state broadcaster he saw his role as merely helping Zimbabweans resolve their crisis themselves, rejecting outside intervention such as calls from European nations to void what they saw as a sham election. French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner told France 2 public TV that the European Union would not accept any Zimbabwe government other than one led by Tsvangirai and called last week's presidential runoff a "farce." EU spokesman John Clancy added Wednesday that EU governments were studying possible additional sanctions against Mugabe and his government, in addition to already existing travel bans and an assets freeze in place on Mugabe, his Cabinet ministers and top party officials. Those could include further aid cuts or economic sanctions preventing European companies from doing business in Zimbabwe. The United States also is considering toughening sanctions. Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. 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Read more ||||| > Use our pull-down menus to find more stories -- Regions/Countries -- Africa Central Africa East Africa North Africa Southern Africa West Africa --- Algeria Angola Benin Botswana Burkina Faso Burundi Cameroon Cape Verde Central African Republic Chad Comoros Congo-Brazzaville Congo-Kinshasa Côte d'Ivoire Djibouti Egypt Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Ethiopia Gabon Gambia Ghana Guinea Guinea Bissau Kenya Lesotho Liberia Libya Madagascar Malawi Mali Mauritania Mauritius Morocco Mozambique Namibia Niger Nigeria Rwanda Senegal Seychelles Sierra Leone Somalia South Africa Sudan Swaziland São Tomé and Príncipe Tanzania Togo Tunisia Uganda Western Sahara Zambia Zimbabwe -- Topics -- AGOA AIDS Africa on the Move Agribusiness Aid and Assistance Arms and Armies Arts Athletics Banking Book Reviews Books Business Capital Flows Children Climate Commodities Company Conflict Construction Crime Currencies Debt Ecotourism Editorials Education Energy Environment Food and Agriculture From allAfrica's Reporters Game Parks Health Healthcare and Medical Human Rights ICT Infrastructure Investment Labour Land Issues Latest Legal Affairs Malaria Manufacturing Media Migration Mining Music Music Reviews NEPAD NGO Oceans Olympics Peacekeeping Petroleum Polio Pregnancy and Childbirth Privatization Refugees Religion Science Soccer Sport Stock Markets Sustainable Development Terrorism Trade Transport Travel Tuberculosis Urban Issues Water Wildlife Women World Cup --- Central Africa Business East Africa Business North Africa Business Southern Africa Business West Africa Business --- Asia, Australia, and Africa Europe and Africa International Organisations Latin America and Africa Middle East and Africa U.S., Canada and Africa --- From AllAfrica Photo Essays Special Reports web allafrica.com Enter your search terms Submit search form OR subscribers use AllAfrica's premium search engine Zimbabwe: AU Calls for Government of National Unity in Zimbabwe Email This Page Print This Page Comment on this article Visit The Publisher's Site Luyanda Makapela Sharm-El-Sheikh African leaders have voiced their support for the creation of a Government of National Unity in Zimbabwe. Heads of State, meeting at the AU Summit in Sharm-El-Sheikh, have been seized with discussions over Zimbabwe. A special meeting was held yesterday, against the backdrop of international pressure on the AU to declare that the election was not a true reflection of the will of the people. Robert Mugabe, who was the only running candidate, was sworn in as the country's President on Sunday. Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai withdrew from the run-off election citing violence against his supporters. "We encourage President Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai to honour their commitment to initiate dialogue with a view to promote peace, stability, democracy and reconciliation in Zimbabwe," the AU said in a statement released late Tuesday, on the resolutions leaders had taken. The AU said there was a willingness from the political leaders of Zimbabwe to enter into negotiations to establish a Government of National Unity. The AU leaders voiced their support for the Southern African Development Community (SADC) facilitation efforts and called for a continuation of these efforts in order to assist the people and leadership of Zimbabwe to reach a resolution. South African President Thabo Mbeki was earlier mandated by SADC to facilitate talks between Mr Mugabe and the opposition party. "SADC should further establish a mechanism on the ground in order to seize the momentum for a negotiated solution," the AU said. In the spirit of all SADC initiatives, the AU remains convinced that Zimbabweans will be able to resolve their differences and work together once again as one nation, provided that they receive undivided support from SADC, the AU and the world at large, the statement read. The AU expressed its appreciation to SADC and its organ on politics defence and security operation as well as South African President Thabo Mbeki and AU Commission Chairperson Jean Ping for their ongoing work aimed at reconciling the political parties in Zimbabwe. Member states and all parties concerned, however, were urged to refrain from any action that may negatively impact on the climate of dialogue. The AU said it was also concerned about the negative reports of SADC, the AU and the Pan-African Parliament observers on the Zimbabwean Presidential run-off election held on Friday. The SADC Observer Mission said on Tuesday that the process leading up to the Zimbabwe presidential run-off elections did not conform to its principles and guidelines governing democratic elections. In a report presented by Angolan Minister of Youth and Sport, Jose Marcos Barrica, who headed the SADC election observer mission in Zimbabwe, it was reported that the pre-election phase was characterised by politically motivated violence, intimidation and displacements. Various international leaders particularly Britain and the United States, the United Nations, the The Elders, a group comprising former heads of state and Nobel laureates such as Nelson Mandela have all called for the AU to denounce the elections. ||||| 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. ||||| EU Pushes Unity Government in Zimbabwe Maphosa report - Download (MP3) Maphosa report - Listen (MP3) The European Union said on Wednesday that Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai should serve as prime minister in any national unity government with President Robert Mugabe. From London, Tendai Maphosa has more in this report for VOA. EU spokesman John Clancy told reporters on Wednesday that the EU backs African Union efforts to push for the creation of a government of national unity between the two men. Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai addresses the media in Harare, 02 Jul 2008 "Morgan Tsvangirai must be part of any transitional government and if we reflect the first round of the election where he won a majority of the vote with 47 percent then it's clear that he should be a leading member of that government as it's potential prime minister or the head of government to ensure that certain reforms can take place," Clancy said to VOA. The statement follows a similar call on Tuesday by French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, whose country has just taken over the EU's rotating presidency. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown also echoed the EU position. Addressing parliament Wednesday, he said the only credible election was the March 29 poll won by Tsvangirai's MDC party. He described Friday's poll in which President Robert Mugabe was the only candidate as a travesty. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, 23 Jun 2008 "I am pleased that yesterday the African Union called for an end to violence, set up a system of mediation and we are talking about a transitional government in Zimbabwe," said Brown. "Morgan Tsvangirai must be part of any transitional government and if we reflect the first round of the election where he won a majority of the vote with 47 percent then it's clear that he should be a leading member of that government as it's potential prime minister or the head of government to ensure that certain reforms can take place," Clancy said to VOA.The statement follows a similar call on Tuesday by French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, whose country has just taken over the EU's rotating presidency.British Prime Minister Gordon Brown also echoed the EU position. Addressing parliament Wednesday, he said the only credible election was the March 29 poll won by Tsvangirai's MDC party. He described Friday's poll in which President Robert Mugabe was the only candidate as a travesty."I am pleased that yesterday the African Union called for an end to violence, set up a system of mediation and we are talking about a transitional government in Zimbabwe," said Brown. "Having talked to the U.N. secretary general this morning, I think it's right that the U.N. send an envoy to Zimbabwe, in the absence of real change we will step up our sanctions and ask other countries to do so and we'll ask other countries to do so, we will press for tough action on Zimbabwe at the Security Council later today, we will do so at the G8 in coming days, there will not be support for reconstruction in Zimbabwe until democracy is restored," he added. South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki has been the mediator between Mr. Mugabe's ZANU-PF and Mr. Tsvangirai's MDC party. He said at the end of the two-day African Union summit, that it's up to Zimbabweans to solve their political future. Mr. Tsvangirai has rejected an African Union decision to keep South Africa's president in charge of efforts to resolve Zimbabwe's political crisis. He said that his group would not participate in talks about forming a governing accord with President Robert Mugabe's government unless an additional mediator was appointed. Mr. Tsvangirai won the most votes in the first round in March, but not enough to avoid a runoff. He withdrew from the race just days before the second round, citing widespread violence against opposition supporters. Mr. Mugabe claimed victory on Sunday after Friday's vote. | Thabo Mbeki, President of South Africa and mediator in the Zimbabwean conflict. Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the Zimbabwean opposition party Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), says he will not participate in power sharing negotiations with President Robert Mugabe, who was widely accused of using violence and intimidation to win Sunday's run-off election. The opposition leader, Mugabe's only rival in the election before dropping out due to fears of violence, cited South African President Thabo Mbeki's role as mediator in the conflict, as appointed by the Southern African Development Community (SADC). Tsvangirai has often criticized Mbeki for failing to publicly condemn Robert Mugabe, and has repeatedly called for him to step down. Tsvangirai says that "no meaningful progress can be made toward resolving the Zimbabwe crisis" if the SADC or the African Union does not appoint at least one other mediator. "If this does not happen," he says, "then the MDC will not be part of the mediation process." He added, "If dialogue is to be initiated, it is essential that ZANU-PF stops the violence, halts the persecution of MDC leaders and supporters." The MDC says that 9 of its supporters have been killed by the state since the run-off, bringing the death toll up to at least 95. Earlier on Tuesday, leaders at an African Union summit voiced their support for dialogue aimed at the creation of a unity government in Zimbabwe. "We encourage President Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai to honour their commitment to initiate dialogue with a view to promote peace, stability, democracy and reconciliation in Zimbabwe," the AU said in a statement. While the opposition rejected the idea of discussion, the Zimbabwe government called it a "welcome resolution", as stated by Information Minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu. "Government is ready for dialogue with anyone," he said, "so long as it isn't dialogue concocted by the West." In his inauguration speech, Mugabe had said he was open to negotiations. Tsvangirai believes that if a unified government were to be created, it should be based on the results of the original March 29 election, in which he received more votes but not enough to avoid a run-off. "We remain committed to negotiations or talks, call them what you will, but they should be based on the fact that we won the last credible election on March 29," Tsvangirai said. "Then we can move towards some transitional arrangement." The European Union agrees with Tsvangirai on this point. Taking into account the March 29 vote, EU spokesman John Clancy says, "it's clear that Tsvangirai should be a leading member of that government as its potential prime minister or the head of government to ensure that certain reforms can take place." The EU had been placing pressure on the African Union to take strong measures against Mugabe's government. |
March 24: Rachel Maddow is joined by Rolling Stones’ writer Matt Taibbi about his latest article on the current state of the economy. A group of financial wizards looked into their crystal ball Tuesday and saw some good news. March 24: President Obama is taking his economic message directly to the people with his second prime-time news conference since becoming president. NBC’s Chuck Todd reports. March 24: The Dow Jones industrials soar almost 500 points as the government announces plans to help banks remove toxic assets from their books. CNBC’s Melissa Lee reports. By Binyamin Appelbaum and David Cho WASHINGTON - The Obama administration is considering asking Congress to give the Treasury secretary unprecedented powers to initiate the seizure of non-bank financial companies, such as large insurers, investment firms and hedge funds, whose collapse would damage the broader economy, according to an administration document. The government at present has the authority to seize only banks. Giving the Treasury secretary authority over a broader range of companies would mark a significant shift from the existing model of financial regulation, which relies on independent agencies that are shielded from the political process. The Treasury secretary, a member of the president's Cabinet, would exercise the new powers in consultation with the White House, the Federal Reserve and other regulators, according to the document. The administration plans to send legislation to Capitol Hill this week. Sources cautioned that the details, including the Treasury's role, are still in flux. Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner is set to argue for the new powers at a hearing today on Capitol Hill about the furor over bonuses paid to executives at American International Group, which the government has propped up with about $180 billion in federal aid. Administration officials have said that the proposed authority would have allowed them to seize AIG last fall and wind down its operations at less cost to taxpayers. Two pieces to proposal The administration's proposal contains two pieces. First, it would empower a government agency to take on the new role of systemic risk regulator with broad oversight of any and all financial firms whose failure could disrupt the broader economy. The Federal Reserve is widely considered to be the leading candidate for this assignment. But some critics warn that this could conflict with the Fed's other responsibilities, particularly its control over monetary policy. The government also would assume the authority to seize such firms if they totter toward failure. Besides seizing a company outright, the document states, the Treasury Secretary could use a range of tools to prevent its collapse, such as guaranteeing losses, buying assets or taking a partial ownership stake. Such authority also would allow the government to break contracts, such as the agreements to pay $165 million in bonuses to employees of AIG's most troubled unit. The Treasury secretary could act only after consulting with the president and getting a recommendation from two-thirds of the Federal Reserve Board, according to the plan. Geithner plans to lay out the administration's broader strategy for overhauling financial regulation at another hearing on Thursday. Priority following failure of Lehman Brothers The authority to seize non-bank financial firms has emerged as a priority for the administration after the failure of investment house Lehman Brothers, which was not a traditional bank, and the troubled rescue of AIG. "We're very late in doing this, but we've got to move quickly to try and do this because, again, it's a necessary thing for any government to have a broader range of tools for dealing with these kinds of things, so you can protect the economy from the kind of risks posed by institutions that get to the point where they're systemic," Geithner said last night at a forum held by the Wall Street Journal. The powers would parallel the government's existing authority over banks, which are exercised by banking regulatory agencies in conjunction with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Geithner has cited that structure as the model for the government's plans. © 2009 The Washington Post Company ||||| WASHINGTON (CNNMoney.com) -- The officials managing the bailout of AIG, facing an onslaught of questions from angry lawmakers Tuesday, said the government had no choice but to effectively seize control of the troubled insurer last September and asked for more power to prevent a similar collapse in the future. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and New York Fed President William Dudley were grilled at a House Financial Services Committee hearing. It marked the second time in a week that a House panel took up the controversial $182 billion government rescue of AIG (AIG, Fortune 500). "The close to $200 million in bonuses paid out to AIG's employees was merely last week's TARP outrage of the week," said Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas. "The outrage, however, pales in comparison to the outrage that taxpayers have now seen four different bailouts with no apparent end in sight." Committee members were furious over the handling of the company's bailout. Regulators said they were frustrated that they had to bail out the company in the first place. "AIG highlights broad failures of our financial system," Geithner said. Still, when asked what the alternative to the current rescue plan might look like if AIG's bailout doesn't succeed, Geithner said there was no alternative. "This plan will work," said Geithner, who said the program is already showing signs of success, including the company's ability to sell off some assets and raise capital. More regulation needed To prevent a repeat of the AIG fiasco, the officials called on Congress to grant regulators so-called resolution authority. That would give the government power to reorganize or wind down a non-bank company. Such powers would include selling off assets and subsidiaries, imposing limits on executive compensation and taking action on risky holdings. "No legal means existed to resolve AIG to the way FDIC resolves a bank," added Geithner. "The government was faced with no good options." They said that the government could have been better equipped to stem AIG's risky business practices before its failure threatened to bring down the financial system, arguing that such regulatory authority would have lessened the scope of the mess the insurer and the taxpayers find themselves in now. Accordingly, Committee Chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass., argued that the government needs a regulator to supervise non-bank financial institutions just as the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. oversees banks. "When non-bank major financial institutions need to be put out of their misery, we need to give somebody the authority to do what the FDIC can do with banks," said Frank. "It is giving somebody a form of the bankruptcy power given under the Constitution. It allows us to avoid the choice of all or nothing -- nothing in the case of Lehman Brothers, all in the case AIG -- equally unacceptable alternatives." After the hearing, Frank said that he has received some resolution authority language from the Treasury and said he generally agrees Congress should move forward on that, perhaps even as quickly as next week, but wouldn't say if that power should lie with the Treasury or the FDIC. Regulators also suggested that the government increase its regulation of derivatives like the collateralized debt obligations, asset-backed securities and credit default swap agreements that brought down AIG. Geithner suggested that these financial products be moved to central clearing houses and open markets to allow better regulation of them. "It is very important through a mix of law and regulation to bring these markets under an oversight framework," Geithner said. "But we need to get the world to move with us: There is a risk that capital will shift out of the United States otherwise." The Treasury secretary will again appear before the committee on Thursday to further discuss the administration's proposals for regulatory reform. Geithner is expected to present his regulatory proposals at the upcoming G-20 conference in London beginning on April 2. Fed wanted to sue over AIG bonuses Bernanke and Geithner also faced tough questions about the hundreds of millions of dollars of bonuses that went out to executives at AIG's financial products division. Bernanke testified that he wanted to sue AIG to prevent the payment of millions of dollars of retention bonuses to executives from the division that brought the firm to its knees. But Bernanke said that he was advised against filing a lawsuit, because the government would have needed to pay "substantial punitive damages" if the Fed lost the case, essentially awarding extra benefits to the executives from the troubled financial products division. "My reaction upon becoming aware of these specific payments was that ... it was highly inappropriate to pay substantial bonuses to employees of the division that had been the primary source of AIG's collapse," Bernanke said. "[But] legal action could have [had] the perverse effect of doubling or tripling the financial benefits to the AIG-FP employees." Several legislators suggested that there was, in fact, a legal ability to change the terms of the contracts without facing possible punitive damages. Bernanke said he believes they explored every possible legal option, but will continue to work to recoup the bonuses that have not been returned. "I'm hopeful that you're right," Bernanke said. "We'd like to explore every possible action." Anger about transparency The regulators -- especially Geithner -- faced intense scrutiny from lawmakers, who scorned the Fed and Treasury for what they believed was a lack of transparency. Lawmakers many times looked for "yes" or "no" answers from their questions, and scolded the officials for attempting to avoid giving a black or white answer. One such exchange occurred between Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., and Geithner. Waters pressed the Treasury secretary to say whether Goldman Sachs (GS, Fortune 500) is getting preferential treatment, given their connections to the Treasury. "I think it's deeply unfair [to suggest employees] were making judgments that were in their view were not in the best interest in the American people," Geithner said. Geithner also had a heated exchange with Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Calif. Sherman asked Geithner to commit to posting the number of executives receiving bonuses in excess of $1 million at bailed out institutions. When Geithner tried to explain how the Obama administration had similar plans, Sherman interrupted him and accused him of wanting to "hide the ball." Rep. Donald Manzullo, R-Ill., complained that he couldn't get a yes or no answer. His question: Did AIG bailout money prop up retirement plans at firms that did business with AIG, even as the American public has lost 40% on their investments because of the financial crisis? "That's because it's a poorly posed question," Bernanke said. "Had we not intervened, they would have lost 70%." | Treasury Department secretary Timothy Geithner and the Obama administration are pressuring Congress to allow the government to seize troubled financial institutions such as insurance companies and investment firms. Currently, banks are the only such entities that the government has authority to take over. Timothy Geithner Speaking before the House Financial Services Committee, Geithner said "The United States government does not have the legal means today to manage the orderly restructuring of a large, complex non-bank financial institution that poses a threat to the stability of our financial system." Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-MA) agreed, saying, "When non-bank major financial institutions need to be put out of their misery, we need to give somebody the authority to do what the FDIC can do with banks." Geithner would work with the White House and Federal Reserve to execute any such takeovers. The expanded powers would have allowed the seizure of companies such as pariah AIG, which has already received US$180 billion in government aid. The recent controversy over the payment of bonuses has bumped up the plan to high priority. It was initially to have been part of a more comprehensive overhaul by the government of the financial regulatory system. Not all are happy with the proposal. Republican House minority leader John Boehner derided the plan, saying it would be "an unprecedented grab of power." Maxine Waters (D-CA) criticised the government for its lack of transparency in dealing with the current crisis, and questioned Geithner on whether firms such as Goldman Sachs had received preferential treatment by the government. Such probing may indicate reluctance on the part of Congress to grant the expanded powers. Other than simply taking over a firm, the government would also be able to purchase its assets, guarantee losses, and take out a partial ownership interest. "It is a terrible, tragic thing that this country came into this crisis with such limited tools for trying to protect the economy itself from the kind of distress that would come as the system came back down to Earth," Geithner summarized. |
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Please try again ||||| By Lee Carter BBC News, Toronto Canada's direct combat role - and death toll - has made some uneasy Canadians are becoming used to the sight of coffins coming home from Afghanistan. Each grief-stricken ceremony, almost always accompanied by the mournful sound of military bagpipes, is given extensive coverage by Canada's TV news. On Sunday, four Canadian soldiers died in a major Nato-led anti-Taleban campaign called Operation Medusa. They were killed during fierce fighting with Taleban insurgents. Then on Monday, another group of Canadian troops preparing to launch operations from a temporary camp, found themselves strafed, without warning, by two American A-10 Thunderbolt warplanes. In the so-called "friendly-fire" incident, one of the Canadian soldiers died and 30 more were injured, five of them seriously. But Canadian military officials have insisted that despite the losses, the Nato operation, aimed at purging Taleban and al-Qaeda rebels in Panjwaii, has been a success. They point out that an estimated 200 Taleban insurgents were killed and 80 captured during the weekend operation. Nevertheless, the five deaths are the highest number sustained by the Canadian military, in a 24-hour period, since its troops were first despatched to Afghanistan in 2002. Since then, one Canadian diplomat and 32 Canadian soldiers have died, many during the last year. Hazardous mission About 2,500 Canadian military personnel are currently based in southern Afghanistan, near Kandahar. Canadians are the third largest foreign presence in Afghanistan They represent the third largest international military presence of the 9,000-strong Nato contingent, behind the United States and the United Kingdom. The deployment there has become a foreign policy cornerstone of Prime Minister Stephen Harper's minority Conservative government, which took over the reins of power in Ottawa at the beginning of 2006. The government has shown its determination to demonstrate that Canada can be a reliable Nato ally and a partner in the US-led "war on terror". But Canada's direct combat role has made some uneasy, in a country that over several decades, has been traditionally known for its peacekeeping efforts in conflict zones as diverse as Cyprus, Somalia, Bosnia and Haiti. Opinion polls reveal steadily declining support for the increasingly hazardous Afghan mission. Mr Harper has made it clear he has no intention of abandoning the fight against the Taleban, a sentiment that was robustly backed by the Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay. "You either take them on or surrender to them," he told CBC television this week. Opposition divided But as the casualties mount, many opposition politicians say they are frustrated by what they regard as a lack of discussion over Canada's expanding role in Afghanistan. I think we should stay in but we need to have a proper debate about whether this is the right course of action in the future Ken Dryden Liberal MP In an official parliamentary debate in May, the Harper government narrowly won parliamentary approval for a two-year extension of Canada's mission. As the country's parliament prepares to reconvene after a summer break, some opposition politicians want to re-open that debate. They include Gilles Duceppe, the leader of the French-speaking Bloc Quebecois, who is demanding an emergency debate on the direction Canada's foreign policy is taking, including whether Ottawa should pull its troops out of Afghanistan. But the country's official opposition, the Liberal Party, can't hide its internal divisions over the issue. It has been hard for the Liberals to oppose the Canadian mission, when it was they who originally sent Canadian troops to Afghanistan in the first place. The party is also rudderless, in the throes of a leadership race that will not be completed until the end of the year. Liberal MP Ken Dryden acknowledges the divisions but says they simply reflect public opinion. "I think we should stay in but we need to have a proper debate about whether this is the right course of action in the future. What is our best role in the world? Is our only security, military security?" Mr Dryden said. 'Muted response' Only the left-wing New Democratic Party has unequivocally demanded that Canadian troops to be brought home. Its leader, Jack Layton, says the objectives of mission have not been well-explained. Many Canadians are immensely proud of their troops' role "The prime minister won't even use the word 'war', even though it's obvious that's what Canada has now declared. There is no exit strategy that's ever been offered and there's no comprehensive plan to achieve peace." It is difficult to assess how much influence any of these stands are having on Canadian public opinion because it tends to be nuanced. For instance, polls appear to show that while Canadians may have some misgivings about their soldiers engaging in direct combat, most are immensely proud of the mission. And there appears to be a gradual shifting of sentiment. Monday's mistaken US attack on Canadian soldiers immediately provoked memories of another similar incident in April 2002, when an American F-16 pilot dropped a bomb on Canadian troops conducting night-training exercises, killing five of them. That incident caused widespread outrage in Canada and a chill in relations with the US. This time the response has been much more muted. It could be that Canadians are developing an immunity to the once-shocking sight of coffins draped in the maple leaf flag, and the mournful sound of those military bagpipes. | Prime Minister Stephen Harper reportedly failed to explain why Canada is fighting in Afghanistan, while the Harper government won parliamentary approval for a two-year extension of Canada's mission. Polls show that while Canadians may oppose about their soldiers engaging in direct combat, most are immensely proud of the mission. "This is tough slogging. Canada has one of the most difficult parts of Afghanistan. They (the troops) are engaged in a very determined effort to take the Taliban on," Foreign Affiars Minister Peter MacKay told CBC. "I think we should stay in but we need to have a proper debate about whether this is the right course of action in the future. What is our best role in the world? Is our only security, military security?" Liberal MP Ken Dryden said. NDP leader Jack Layton wants to pull troops out of Afghanistan, including having a debate. "The prime minister won't even use the word 'war', even though it's obvious that's what Canada has now declared. There is no exit strategy that's ever been offered and there's no comprehensive plan to achieve peace," says Mr. Layton. Gilles Duceppe, the leader of the Bloc Quebecois, is also demanding an emergency debate on the whether Ottawa should pull its troops out of Afghanistan. Harper and Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor issued a statement yesterday expressing their sadness and condolences over the death of Pte. Mark Anthony Graham, who was killed in a friendly fire incident by an American plane. "His sacrifice, the ultimate sacrifice, will have helped the local displaced population to return home and be free from the shadow of the Taliban," Harper's statement read. |
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Six men from Russia, Europe and China are preparing to spend 520 days together in a sealed-off warren to take a simulated trip to Mars to test how long isolation would affect humans. On June 3, three Russians, an Italian-Colombian, a Frenchman and a Chinese man will be locked up in a set of cramped compartments as the record-breaking Mars500 simulated flight to the Red Planet gets underway to last until November 2011. "This 520-day flight to Mars ... is unprecedented in its overall duration," Martin Zell, European Space Agency (ESA) head of the experiment, told Reuters. "I think when talking about a human mission to the Red Planet, it will probably still take 20 or, more likely, even 30 years to go there," said Zell, who is also in charge of ESA human missions to the $100-billion, 16-nation International Space Station (ISS). The six men, allowed just three square meters of "personal space" each at the facilities at Moscow's Institute of Biomedical Problems, will follow a seven-day week, with two days off, except when special and emergency situations are simulated. The crew, to be led by a Russian, will live and work like ISS astronauts, and their life will resemble that of Station members: maintenance, scientific experiments and daily exercise. During the "surface operations" after 250 days, they will be divided, with three moving to the Martian "surface," while the other three stay in the orbiting "spacecraft" for a month. PAVING THE WAY FOR THE FUTURE Last year four Russians, one German and a Frenchman successfully completed a 105-day simulated trip to Mars at the same institute. This time, the six-men crew will also be monitored closely, and their psychological and physiological parameters will be recorded during the mission. All crew members have a varying command of English, but not all speak Russian, another working language during the trip. "If we fail to understand each other, we will employ body language," quipped Russian crew member Sukhrob Kamolov. Communication with Earth will be only via e-mail, with connections occasionally disrupted. It will include a maximum 40-minute delay, as on a real Mars mission. The six upbeat "astronauts" did not conceal their emotions, despite the fact that none of them will probably ever make a real trip to Mars. China's Wang Yue, the only crew member trained as a professional astronaut, mentioned competition in space -- in line with Beijing's ambition to launch its crew to Mars one day. "I think Mars500 must be a milestone in the human space race, in human space history," Wang told a joint news conference. "Space exploration is difficult and huge, it needs international cooperation, so I am lucky to be here." Other crewmembers shared his sentiments. "If I can put my small brick into this big wall linking Earth to Mars, I will be very proud," said Frenchman Romain Charles. "Hopefully my grandchildren will go to Mars one day, and I will be able to tell them: 'I was part of it.'" (Reporting by Dmitry Solovyov; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall) ||||| Six men from Europe, Russia and China will on Thursday be voluntarily locked away in a module for almost one and a half years to simulate the psychological effects of a mission to Mars. Six men to be isolated in 520-day 'Mars mission' An Italian, Frenchman, three Russians and a Chinese man will spend the next 520 days in the isolation facility at a Moscow research institute when its hatch slams shut at 2:00 pm (1000 GMT). Like a real Mars mission, the crew will have to survive on limited food rations and their only communication with the outside world will be by email, with a delay of up to 40 minutes. The hatch will only re-open when the experiment is over or if one of the participants is forced to pull out. "It will be trying for all of us. We cannot see our family, we cannot see our friends, but I think it is all a glorious time in our lives," said Chinese participant Wang Yue, 27, ahead of the experiment. The volunteers will have their days in the module at the Russian Institute for Biomedical Problems (IBMP) divided into eight hours of sleep, eight hours of work and eight hours of leisure. A team of three will spend one month aboard a special module meant to represent the Mars landing craft, while two will also spend time exploring a reconstruction of Mars itself. The idea is to exactly mimic the timescale of a Mars mission -- 250 days for the trip to Mars, 30 days on the surface and 240 days for the return journey, totalling 520 days. The crew also conspicuously lacks women, meaning the experiment will not be able to examine the possible sexual tensions that could arise on a trip to Mars for a mixed-gender crew. But volunteers have already admitted that they will be tested by being separated from their loved ones and partners for such a long period of time. Frenchman Romain Charles, 31, said the hardest thing will be the disruption of contact "with the family, the girlfriend, the friends with whom the distance is going to be difficult to manage." Their diet will be no different to that enjoyed by real-life astronauts on the International Space Station and the crew will be given the food at the beginning of the experiment, forcing them to ration out their supplies. The experiment is a joint venture between the IBMP and the European Space Agency (ESA), which describes the project as a mission "to mimic a full mission to Mars and back as accurately as possible without actually going there." The ESA and the US space agency NASA have separately sketched dates in around three decades from now for a manned flight to Mars. The Red Planet's distance from Earth varies between 55 million kilometres (34 million miles) and more than 400 million kilometres (250 million miles), depending on where the two planets are in their respective orbits. The project, the first full-duration simulated mission to Mars, follows a similar experiment at the (IBMP) last year which saw six volunteers shut away for a mere 105 days. ||||| Six men to brave 520-day isolation on 'Mars mission' by Staff Writers Moscow (AFP) June 3, 2010 Six men from Europe, Russia and China will on Thursday be voluntarily locked away in a module for almost one and a half years to simulate the psychological effects of a mission to Mars. An Italian, Frenchman, three Russians and a Chinese man will spend the next 520 days in the isolation facility at a Moscow research institute when its hatch slams shut at 2:00 pm (1000 GMT). Like a real Mars mission, the crew will have to survive on limited food rations and their only communication with the outside world will be by email, with a delay of up to 40 minutes. The hatch will only re-open when the experiment is over or if one of the participants is forced to pull out. "It will be trying for all of us. We cannot see our family, we cannot see our friends, but I think it is all a glorious time in our lives," said Chinese participant Wang Yue, 27, ahead of the experiment. The volunteers will have their days in the module at the Russian Institute for Biomedical Problems (IBMP) divided into eight hours of sleep, eight hours of work and eight hours of leisure. A team of three will spend one month aboard a special module meant to represent the Mars landing craft, while two will also spend time exploring a reconstruction of Mars itself. The idea is to exactly mimic the timescale of a Mars mission -- 250 days for the trip to Mars, 30 days on the surface and 240 days for the return journey, totalling 520 days. The crew also conspicuously lacks women, meaning the experiment will not be able to examine the possible sexual tensions that could arise on a trip to Mars for a mixed-gender crew. But volunteers have already admitted that they will be tested by being separated from their loved ones and partners for such a long period of time. Frenchman Romain Charles, 31, said the hardest thing will be the disruption of contact "with the family, the girlfriend, the friends with whom the distance is going to be difficult to manage." Their diet will be no different to that enjoyed by real-life astronauts on the International Space Station and the crew will be given the food at the beginning of the experiment, forcing them to ration out their supplies. The experiment is a joint venture between the IBMP and the European Space Agency (ESA), which describes the project as a mission "to mimic a full mission to Mars and back as accurately as possible without actually going there." The ESA and the US space agency NASA have separately sketched dates in around three decades from now for a manned flight to Mars. The Red Planet's distance from Earth varies between 55 million kilometres (34 million miles) and more than 400 million kilometres (250 million miles), depending on where the two planets are in their respective orbits. The project, the first full-duration simulated mission to Mars, follows a similar experiment at the (IBMP) last year which saw six volunteers shut away for a mere 105 days. | Following a similar experiment in 2009, six men entered an enclosed room in Moscow last Thursday to simulate a flight to Mars. The team consist of a Chinese man, a Frenchman, an Italian, and three Russians. Only the Chinese man, Wang Yue, is a trained astronaut. The six waved goodbye, crying "see you in 520 days' time!". According to Wang, not being able to see their families and friends was one of the greatest challenges, although e-mail is allowed during the experiment. Both Wang and the Frenchman, Romain Charles, expressed pride to be part of this experiment. Wang said, "it will be trying for all of us. We cannot see our family, we cannot see our friends, but I think it is all a glorious time in our lives." The joint-effort project is being organised by the Russian Institute for Biomedical Problems (IBMP) and the European Space Agency; the goal is to study physical and psychological effects on would-be astronauts. All six men speak reasonable English; however, as Russian is another primary language for the simulated trip, Russian crew member Sukhrob Kamolov said body language will be used should they fail to understand one another. Food for the volunteers will be rationed as it would in a real Mars mission. All supplies were supplied by China and loaded into the 'simulated spacecraft' prior to the beginning of the experiment. For backup, China is sending three mission support staff to Russia. No women are included in the crew, excluding issues relating to a mixed-sex crew from the study. During a similar experiment in 1999, a woman complained that the captain attempted to kiss her. Following 250 days of "travelling" to Mars, the group will split. Three will stay in the "spacecraft", the other three going to the surface of "Mars". Only two will actually leave the "spacecraft" to study the surface of "Mars". After a month, the group will go through the return journey simulation, a 240 day trip. The men will follow a strict timetable, with 8 hours each of sleep, work, and leisure each day. |
A junior official from HM Revenue and Customs sends two discs to the National Audit Office via a TNT courier. October 18-November 8: On finding that the package had not arrived at the NAO, a further copy of this data is sent, this time by registered post. This does arrive at the NAO. November 8: A senior manager at HMRC is told that the original package never arrived at the NAO. Alistair Darling is informed that the data is missing. He orders "comprehensive searches be carried out of all premises where the missing data might be found". November 12: HMRC informs chancellor that the data was likely to be found. November 14: It becomes clear to the chancellor that the HMRC searches have failed to find the package. Darling therefore instructs the chairman of HMRC to call in the Metropolitan police to conduct a full investigation. November 15: The Met police is asked to provide assistance to inquiries being led by HMRC. November 15: Darling discusses the incident with the information commissioner, Richard Thomas, who agrees that remedial action must be taken before a public statement is made. November 18: The inquiry is formally handed over to the Met. November 20: Paul Gray, head of HMRC, resigns over the incident. The chancellor makes a Commons statement, admitting that the personal details of 25 million people have gone astray. The chancellor apologises for the "anxiety" caused to the 7.25 million families claiming child benefit. ||||| Government loses 25m confidential records Tom Espiner ZDNet.co.uk Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs has admitted to losing the details of 25 million individuals, with 7.25 million UK families potentially affected. In a speech to parliament on Tuesday, the chancellor of the exchequer, Alistair Darling, said that two discs containing the details of everybody in the UK who claims and receives child benefits had been lost. Details on the discs, which were only password protected, included names, addresses, dates of birth, national insurance numbers and bank and building society account details. "This is an extremely serious matter," said Darling. "HMRC [Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs] failed to meet the high standards expected of it. I recognise that millions of people across the country will be concerned." The discs were lost during a National Audit Office (NAO) investigation in October. A junior official in HMRC sent the unencrypted discs to the NAO, but HMRC were not informed that the discs had not arrived to be audited until 8 November. Darling himself was informed of the loss on 10 November — three weeks after the discs had failed to arrive at the NAO. Edward Leigh, the chair of the Public Accounts Committee, later said that the information the NAO requested had specifically been national insurance numbers, and not other personal details. HMRC had not followed procedures for data transit, said Darling. HMRC had given the discs to courier TNT, but had failed to record or register the discs. When those discs did not arrive, a further two discs with the same information were sent by registered post; those discs did arrive. "Again, they should never have let this happen," said Darling. When Darling was informed on 10 November, he ordered searches for the data. When nothing had been found by 14 November, Darling asked the Metropolitan Police to become involved. Darling said that there had, as yet, been no evidence of fraudulent activity. Read this 10 most foolish mistakes of IT pros End users aren't the only ones who can mess up the smooth running of a network. Here is a list of the most common mistakes IT pros make, plus some tips on how to avoid these errors... Read more "So far the data has not been found," said Darling. "The police told me there was no reason to believe the discs have fallen into the wrong hands, or been used for fraudulent purposes." Last week Paul Gray, chairman of HMRC, offered to resign over the matter, and did so formally on Tuesday. This is the second major data-loss incident involving HMRC to emerge this month. On 6 November, it was revealed that the pension details of 15,000 Standard Life customers were sent to the pension provider by HMRC via an unnamed third-party courier at the end of September. The disc went missing and was not encrypted. Did you find this article useful? Share this article: ||||| Computer discs holding sensitive personal data on 25 million people and 7.25 million families have gone missing, Chancellor Alistair Darling has admitted to MPs. He said the details included names, addresses, dates of birth, Child Benefit numbers, National Insurance numbers and bank or building society account details. Paul Gray, chairman of her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC), which lost the discs containing the Government's entire Child Benefit database, has resigned over the affair. The staggering scale of the loss means information on senior politicians, police officers and leading industrialists will be included in the missing data, which contains records on nearly half the UK's 60.5 million population. MPs gasped as Mr Darling revealed the scale of the loss in an emergency statement to the Commons. The Metropolitan Police is now leading the hunt for the two password-protected discs and trying to discover how they went astray in transit from benefit headquarters in Newcastle to the National Audit Office (NAO) in London. Mr Darling said they should not even have been sent in the first place, as a junior official breached all Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs standing procedures by transferring them via couriers TNT to the NAO. The Chancellor stressed there was no evidence that they had fallen into criminal hands and said the public would be protected against any fraud by the Banking Code. He told MPs: "The missing information contains details of all Child Benefit recipients: records for 25 million individuals and 7.25 million families. These records include the recipient and their children's names, addresses and dates of birth. It includes Child Benefit numbers, National Insurance numbers and, where relevant, bank or building society account details." That effectively means the personal details of virtually every family in the country with a child under 16 have gone missing. Child benefit can be paid up to the age of 20 if the teenagers are studying for A-levels or on an approved training scheme. The HMRC official who sent the CDs did not tell senior officials about the loss because they assumed the package was delayed, the HMRC said. The official believed the package was delayed by the postal strike or the NAO's office move and "hoped that it would turn up" and so kept quiet, an HMRC spokeswoman said. Copyright (c) Press Association Ltd. 2007, All Rights Reserved. ||||| Revenue chief Paul Gray resigns The head of HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has resigned after it was revealed in parliament that the personal details of 25 million Britons had been "lost in the post". Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling said in a statement that two CDs with the details of 25 million families had been sent to the National Audit Office by courier firm TNT but failed to arrive. The material was apparently put in the post by a junior employee at the HMRC office in Washington, Tyne & Wear. The disks, which were password protected but not encrypted, contained names, addresses, dates of birth, child benefit numbers, National Insurance numbers and bank or building society account details. Paul Gray, chairman of HMRC, has already resigned and opposition MPs are calling on Darling to do likewise. "The lost bank account numbers, names and addresses represents a gold mine for thieves and is much more valuable than credit card numbers or taxpayer ID numbers," said Avivah Litan, vice president at Gartner Research. "Bank account numbers sell for the highest price on the black market, between $30 and $400, which is significantly more than the 50 cents to $5 that criminals pay for credit cards. "If evidence emerges that the data fell into criminal hands, the UK banks may be forced to close the 15 million accounts and issue new ones at an enormous cost to them and a major inconvenience for their customers." This is the third in a series of data breaches at HMRC. The organisation lost the details of a number of high net worth individuals in October, and banking details for 15,000 savers went missing earlier this month when a laptop was stolen. "Another week and another high profile data breach for the government," said Joseph Hoban, vice president at data protection firm GuardianEdge. "This is not the first time that public data has been compromised and, if lacklustre security continues to rule, it certainly will not be the last. "It is time that tougher security measures were taken to protect our most confidential files. Securing two disks with only a password is not sufficient." Darling has described the incident as "extremely regrettable" but has resisted calls for his resignation. The loss has also sparked renewed calls for a data breach law that would force the government and companies to inform people if their data had been put at risk. "California introduced data breach notification legislation some time ago, which compels businesses to inform customers if their personal data may have been compromised," said Richard Turner, vice president of sales at security firm RSA. "The introduction of similar legislation would not only be a significant step in combating fraud, but constitutes a basic human entitlement. "Public awareness of security breaches would serve to focus organisations on ensuring that confidential information is adequately protected, and enable the public to take appropriate safeguards in the event of a compromise." Whitehall admits to huge online tax fraud 13 Dec 2005 Scale of ID theft far worse than originally admitted £30m fraud hits UK Tax Credit website 05 Dec 2005 Applications site closed as identity fraud emerges EDS to pay £71m in compensation to HMRC 24 Nov 2005 Public sector supplier has made no formal acceptance of blame ||||| Security breach saw 15 million child benefit recipients' details 'lost in the post' HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has been slammed by security experts after being responsible for what has been described as ‘one of the world’s biggest ID protection failures’. As a result of the government faux pas, which involved the loss of computer discs in the post, thought to contain the confidential details of 15 million child benefit recipients along with over seven million people's bank details, HMRC chairman Paul Gray has resigned. Earlier today the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling was forced to issue a statement which admitted an investigation is still in progress, after attempts to locate the missing CD’s failed. Darling added that an independent review of HMRC’s security procedures is taking place, with the full results being published in Spring 2008. However Tom de Jongh, product manager at SafeBoot, said: “Basic policies were ignored. It appears that the fundamental policies upon which the National Audit Office and HMRC operate are flawed and it is no wonder that this breach has occurred. The Chancellor freely admits that NAO and HMRC broke clear procedures, but that will not reassure the millions of families that are praying their financial details don’t get into the wrong hands.” Brian Spector, general manager for content protection group at Workshare, said: “It is staggering that an organisation responsible for the data of over 25 million child benefit claimants is still copying data onto CDs and not ensuring its full protection through encryption techniques. It has never been acceptable for businesses or government departments to lose data, but in today’s information society, the flagrant disregard for the protection and security of this type of data is not acceptable. “The money invested in IT by the UK government must now be prioritised on security to ensure that the data of those the government serve – the public - is secure and protected.” Jamie Cowper, director of European marketing at PGP Corporation, said: “Thes e discs should never have been transported in the first place – information of this type should only be transmitted using the strongest security protocols available such as encrypted batch transfer – but more to the point, these details should not have been stored in this medium. Discs are easy to lose, but difficult to protect. This type of information should only be stored on formats where the data can be encrypted transparently, so that it remains protected wherever it resides, and whether at rest or in motion." Further Reading: Tax man loses 25m people’s records http://www.channelweb.co.uk/computing/news/2203890/25m-records-lost-tax-man Like this story? Spread the news by clicking below: del.icio.us Digg this reddit! Tags: Government ||||| Here is a look at events at HM Revenue and Customs leading to the statement on Tuesday. MARCH 2007 A junior official at HM Revenue and Customs gives the National Audit Office a full copy of HMRC's child benefit data, in breach of security procedures. That information is later safely returned. SEPTEMBER Records of about 15,000 people's details go missing after being sent by HMRC to Standard Life. Also in September, a laptop containing around 400 ISA (individual savings accounts) customers' details is stolen. 18 OCTOBER Child benefit data is again sent to the NAO by a junior official, using the courier company TNT, which operates the HMRC's post system. The package containing two CDs, containing details of 25 million individuals, is not recorded or registered and fails to arrive. 24 OCTOBER The NAO tells HMRC it has not received the package. An HMRC spokeswoman said the official believed it may have been delayed by the postal strikes or in the NAO's office move and did not report it. A second copy is sent, again in breach of procedures, but this time it is sent by registered post and arrives safely. 8 NOVEMBER Senior HMRC management are informed that the 18 October package is missing. 10 NOVEMBER Alistair Darling is informed and tells Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Mr Darling orders an immediate investigation and searches of all premises where the package might be, as well as action to ensure it does not happen again. 12 NOVEMBER Mr Darling is told by HMRC that evidence has been found which might help to find the missing package. 14 NOVEMBER The chancellor decides the HMRC searches have failed and tells HMRC chairman Paul Gray to call in the Metropolitan Police. 15 NOVEMBER The chancellor goes to Information Commissioner Richard Thomas, who agrees that remedial action must be taken before a public statement is made. 12-18 NOVEMBER Mr Gray tells Mr Darling he feels he should resign. The chancellor seeks the advice of the Financial Services Authority and Serious Organised Crime Agency, while banks are alerted by HMRC. 20 NOVEMBER Mr Gray resigns following an announcement that Mr Darling is to make a statement to the House of Commons. The chancellor outlines what has happened and announces an investigation of HMRC's security procedures by PricewaterhouseCoopers chairman Kieran Poynter, alongside the Independent Police Complaints Commission, which monitors the HMRC. ||||| Mr Osborne said millions will worry about their bank account security. Shadow chancellor George Osborne said the HM Revenue and Customs error, which includes child benefit and bank details of 25m people, was "catastrophic". "This is the third and most serious breach at HMRC," said Mr Osborne. He accused Mr Darling of lurching "from one crisis to another" and of failing every family in the land. He said the problems should mark the "final blow" for the government's identity card programme. "They simply cannot be trusted with people's personal information," he said. 'Anxious' citizens He spoke out after the chancellor revealed the child benefit details, contained on two discs, had been sent by HMRC to the National Audit Office, but never arrived. "The prime minister says that the first duty of government is the protection of the citizen - and today the government is responsible for breaching that duty of protection to 25 million people," he said. "Half the country will be very anxious about the safety of their family and the security of their bank accounts and will be wondering how on earth the government allowed this to happen." Never mind the lack of vision just get a grip and deliver a basic level of competence George Osborne Shadow chancellor Mr Osborne questioned why it had taken the chancellor four days to contact the police after finding out about the "fiasco". He asked when the prime minister was told - to which Mr Darling replied: "Within half an hour of me being told." And he asked what the point was of the Commons passing laws to protect the privacy of personal information "if those laws aren't enforced at the heart of government". In a personal attack on Mr Darling, he declared: "Since you came to office less than six months ago you have lurched from one crisis to another. "Now your department has compromised the security and safety of every family in the land. "This autumn the prime minister said he had shown this government could be competent and how he needed to set out his vision. "There are 25 million people whose personal details have been lost by this government. "Never mind the lack of vision just get a grip and deliver a basic level of competence." 'Extreme regret' Mr Darling said the problem was "inexcusable". "HMRC has well laid down procedures and there was no excuse for breaching those," he said. "It's a matter of extreme regret that so many people are going to be caused anxiety." The chancellor defended the government's plans to introduce ID cards. He said that without the protection of the scheme, information was more vulnerable than it should be. "This is a deeply regrettable incident - it should never have happened," he added. ||||| Analysis The mayor is dependent on the central government for most of their funds, so how much power do they really have? ||||| By Paul Lewis BBC Radio 4's Money Box Standard Life is one of two companies affected by the breach The data was on a CD sent from the Revenue office in Newcastle to the company's headquarters in Edinburgh. But the disc containing names, national insurance numbers, dates of birth and pension data never arrived at its intended destination. HMRC and Standard Life have warned those at risk to be "vigilant". How the breach occurred The Revenue routinely sends CDs containing personal data on taxpayers to the insurance companies which hold their pensions. A month ago a CD containing the names, national insurance numbers, dates of birth and pension plan numbers of nearly 15,000 Standard Life customers was lost by a courier taking it from the Revenue national insurance contributions office in Newcastle to the insurer's headquarters in Edinburgh. We have... seen no indications of any suspicious activity John Gill, Standard Life's director for customer services Warning letters have only now been sent to customers by HMRC and Standard Life, five weeks after the data breach occurred. One customer, Carolyn, was not happy about the delay. "This happened at the end of September and it is a month before notification. "They are saying that addresses were not on there, but if someone has your surname and date of birth it is not that difficult to track you down." Standard Life's director for customer services, John Gill, told Money Box on Radio 4, "We have no evidence that the disc has fallen into third party hands and we have also been closely monitoring all the accounts and have seen no indications of any suspicious activity." Encryption The Revenue refused to say "on security grounds" whether the information was encrypted. John Gill said it was "in a coded format that would not be easy to read". But the joint letter from the two organisations warned customers that "there is a possibility that your personal data could be accessed by someone other than HMRC or Standard Life." HMRC INFORMATION For further information, the HMRC has set up the following helplines: (lines open from 0830 to 1700 Monday to Thursday and 0830 to 1630 on Fridays) Surname beginning A-E: 0845 91 50249 or 0845 91 50134 Surname beginning F-J: 0845 91 50242 or 0845 91 50139 Surname beginning K-O: 0845 91 50267 or 0845 91 50244 Surname beginning P-T: 0845 91 50201 or 0845 91 58845 Surname beginning U-Z: 0845 91 50139 John Gill confirmed that Standard Life was still receiving discs from the Revenue and was "awaiting further info from the Revenue on how they propose to do this going forward." This latest incident is the second time in a month that the Revenue has admitted losing taxpayers' details. Early in October it revealed that a laptop had been stolen containing data on up to 2000 people with investment ISAs. BBC Radio 4's Money Box was broadcast on Saturday, 3 November 2007 at 1204 GMT. ||||| Hundreds of investors who have been put at risk of identity theft after a laptop containing their personal data was stolen from HM Revenue and Customs at the end of last month are having to pay to reduce the risk of future fraud. The computer, which contained personal data including names, addresses and account numbers of individual investors, was stolen from the boot of a car belonging to a Revenue official who was carrying out a routine audit of a number of financial companies. The Revenue will not disclose the name of the five companies that were being audited, but Standard Life and fund management company Liontrust have already confirmed publicly that they have been affected and now Cash has learnt that customers from Credit Suisse Asset Management have also been hit. The Revenue has apologised for the incident and in a statement said: 'We very much regret the loss of some customer data provided to us by a number of financial institutions. The incident has been reported to the police and we are carrying out an urgent internal enquiry. HMRC places the utmost importance on the security of confidential material and we have in place very clear processes governing the handling of such material.' In its defence, a spokesman for the Revenue pointed out: 'The data on the laptop is protected by both a complex password and powerful encryption software.' All the companies involved have now written to those whose details were on the stolen computer to alert them to the possibility of identity theft. However, the Revenue has not contacted any of the customers directly, instead issuing guidelines to the companies affected suggesting that customers can take further advice from Cifas, the UK's fraud prevention service. Cifas will monitor the credit files of those who are at risk of identity fraud for a £12 fee. 'The Revenue has the utmost responsibility to protect taxpayers' personal details and they have failed. I have had no apology or communication of any sort from the Revenue, they left Liontrust to do their dirty work,' says Ruth Sunderland, The Observer's business editor, who has a small amount in an Isa with Liontrust and whose details were on the stolen laptop. 'To add insult to injury, I have had to pay £11.75 to Cifas to try to protect myself against identity fraud, when none of this is my fault.' Credit Suisse, which says that 'a limited number of individuals' had been affected, is paying the Cifas fee for its customers. The biggest potential danger is to those customers whose personal financial details were on some hard-copy documents that were stolen along with the laptop. Nigel Legge, chief executive of Liontrust, commented: 'HMRC have admitted that this was a breach of their own security guidelines, have conceded full responsibility and apologised. It is a little galling, though, that if a financial institution had done this they would have been subject to a fine.' Building society Nationwide was fined almost £1m after a laptop containing sensitive customer data was stolen from one of its employees last November. | Alistair Darling British Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling announced to a shocked House of Commons today that two password-protected — but not encrypted — computer disks containing the entire Child Benefit database have been lost in transit between the offices of Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) in Washington, Tyne & Wear and the National Audit Office (NAO) in London, in what has been described as "one of the world’s biggest ID protection failures". The database contains details of all families in the UK who receive Child Benefit — all families with children up to 16 years of age, plus those with children up to 20 years old if they are in full-time education or training — estimated to contain 25 million individuals in 7.25 million families. Among other items of information, the database contains names, addresses, dates of birth, child benefit and National Insurance numbers, and where appropriate, bank or building society account details. The discs were created by a junior official at the HMRC in response to a request for information by the NAO, and were sent unregistered and unrecorded on 18 October using the courier company TNT — which operates the HMRC's internal mail system. When it was found that the discs had not arrived for audit at the NAO, a further copy of this data was made and sent — this time by registered mail — and this package did arrive. HMRC were not informed that the original discs had been lost until 8 November, and Darling himself was informed on 10 November. The violation of data protection laws involved in the creation of the discs has led to strong attacks on the government's competence to establish the proposed National Identity Register, when all UK residents will have an identity card. Conservative Shadow Chancellor George Osborne described the loss of data as "catastrophic" and said "They the government simply cannot be trusted with people's personal information". The Chairman of HMRC, Paul Gray, has resigned over the affair, and critics are calling for Darling to do likewise. This is the third data embarrassment for HMRC in recent weeks — earlier this month it was reported that the details of over 15,000 Standard Life customers had been put on disk, and then lost en route from HMRC in Newcastle to Standard Life in Edinburgh — and last month a laptop containing the data of 400 people with high-value ISAs was stolen from the boot of a car belonging to a HMRC official who had been carrying out a routine audit. |
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) -- Galatasaray beat Genclerbirligi Oftas 2-0 on Saturday to clinch their 17th Turkish league title. Galatasaray fans have plenty of reasons to celebrate after clinching the title again. Galatasaray finished the season with 79 points, six more than Champions League quarterfinalists Fenerbahce. Both teams qualify for next season's Champions League. Third-place Besiktas and Kayserispor, which won the Turkish Cup, qualify for the UEFA Cup. Kasimpasa, Caykur Rizespor and Vestel Manisaspor were all relegated. Fenerbahce had led for most of the season until it lost three weeks ago in the Istanbul derby to Galatasaray, who had to overcome the loss of coach Karl-Heinz Feldkamp six rounds before the end. Thousands of Galatasaray fans took to the streets to celebrate, driving in convoys, waving red-and-yellow flags, chanting Galatasaray anthems and clogging traffic on main streets in Istanbul and Ankara. Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. ||||| ISTANBUL, May 10 (Reuters) - Galatasaray won the Turkish league title for the 17th time on Saturday with a 2-0 win against Genclerbirligi Oftas, wresting the championship back from their Istanbul rivals Fenerbahce. The victory in the final match of the season lifted Galatasaray to 79 points, six ahead of second-placed Fenerbahce, who lost 2-0 at Trabzonspor. Galatasaray fans poured into Istanbul's streets, singing club songs, sounding car horns and waving red-and-yellow flags after the final whistle at the club's ageing Ali Sami Yen stadium, where 20,000 supporters watched the team parade the trophy. Galatasaray took the lead in the 36th minute when Arda Turan sped down the right wing and crossed for veteran striker Hakan Sukur to score with a simple tap-in. Defender Hakan Balta made it 2-0 just before halftime with a powerful volley from outside the penalty area. Galatasaray's success came as a surprise to many, with injuries depriving the club of two key foreign players this season - Tobias Linderoth and Lincoln. The club has also been rocked by internal strife which prompted German coach Karl-Heinz Feldkamp to resign at the start of April, citing differences with the management. Cevat Guler took over in a caretaker role but it is not clear who will take the helm next season, when both Galatasaray and Fenerbahce will represent Turkey in the Champions League. "There may have been times in recent weeks when the fans didn't think we would be champions... but we are delighted and thank everyone for their support," Guler said. A key moment in the title race came two weeks ago when Galatasaray beat Fenerbahce in their derby match. It was a bitterly disappointing end to the season for Fenerbahce who reached the quarter-finals of the Champions League before losing to Chelsea. There was also disappointment for Sivasspor who were pipped for a place in the UEFA Cup by Besiktas because of Fenerbahce's defeat. All three teams have 73 points but Sivasspor came fourth by having the worst average in matches between the three sides. Kayserispor take the other place in the UEFA Cup because of their Turkish Cup victory on Wednesday. | Hakan Şükür (seen here in Frankfurt in 2006) scored 11 goals this season and celebrates his 8th league title, as his team Galatasaray celebrates its 17th since 1959. After the final match of the season, Galatasaray became the champions of Turkish Super League with 79 points in 34 games, six points ahead of rivals Besiktas and Fenerbahce. The 50th season of the top-flight football league in Turkey ended Saturday as Galatasaray and Fenerbahce qualify for next season's Champions League, third-place Beşiktaş J.K. and Federation Cup winner Kayserispor qualify for the UEFA Cup. There was disappointment for Sivasspor, who came fourth by having same points with Besiktas but less goal average. Galatasaray trainer Cevat Guler stated that, "There may have been times in recent weeks when the fans didn't think we would be champions... but we are delighted and thank everyone for their support." The Istanbul-based club started season with German coach Karl-Heinz Feldkamp, who resigned at the start of April, citing differences with the management. Galatasaray were two points behind Fenerbahçe when Cevat Guler took over in a caretaker role. Also, the team hit by number of injuries, including two key foreign players of this season - Linderoth and Lincoln. However they accomplished five victories in last five games of season and clinched the 17th title for Galatasaray S.K. After the match, thousands of Turks of all ages rallied at Istanbul's central Taksim Square to celebrate with fireworks, flags and slogans, singing the club anthems. Similar celebrations took place in big cities like Ankara and İzmir in the huge outdoor parties, organized on the spot, letting them join their voice with millions of fans around the country celebrating the 17th title of the club. |
EU leaders agreed on the treaty's outlines last month The step, taken by EU foreign ministers in Brussels, aims to end two years of confusion after French and Dutch voters rejected a draft EU constitution. Correspondents say there is a common desire to proceed quickly, turning the outlines of treaty agreed at a summit in June into a finished product. The foreign ministers are also drawing up plans to send peacekeepers to Chad. 145-page draft Portugal, which holds the EU presidency, submitted a first draft of 145 pages - plus 132 pages of protocols and declarations - to representatives of all member states at a short, low-key ceremony. This marks the start of an intergovernmental conference (IGC), which is expected to thrash out a final text by a summit in Lisbon in October. JUNE EU DEAL: MAIN ISSUES Double majority voting delayed until 2014 Long-term EU president High Representative for foreign affairs Fewer national veto powers More powers for the European Parliament Son-of-constitution is born Q&A;: Reform treaty Legal experts will begin going through the text in detail on Tuesday. Poland's Foreign Minister Anna Fotyga made clear that the deal was not done yet. "There are several issues many countries have and we would like to clarify them. The IGC is exactly for this," she said. She signalled that Poland was no longer insisting on renewing discussions on the length of time EU legislation could be delayed, when countries opposing it have been narrowly outvoted. However, she said Poland wanted the rules on this delaying procedure written into the text of the new treaty itself, instead of being included in a protocol, as planned. Charter worry Ms Fotyga also said Poland reserved the right to join the UK in opting-out of the Charter of Fundamental Rights. "They are still looking to destroy the charter, practically speaking," said British Liberal MEP Andrew Duff. "If this infection spreads, that will mean the end of the charter." UK shadow foreign secretary William Hague is set to reiterate the Conservative Party's call for a referendum on the new treaty in a lecture in London on Tuesday. But Europe Minister Jim Murphy said the UK government had no plans to hold a referendum. He said that the only other country that was considering holding one was Ireland, and that was only because of its "particular constitutional arrangements". Looking to the world outside, EU foreign ministers instructed their military planners to prepare a peacekeeping operation to protect tens of thousands of refugees from Darfur on the Chad border. Strongly backed by France and Britain, the mission would include at least 1,500 troops and last up to a year. ||||| Just before the EU packs its holiday bags, on Monday (23 July) foreign ministers in Brussels, are opening a formal round of negotiations on the Union's new treaty. The Portuguese EU presidency is officially kicking off the intergovernmental conference (IGC) - the procedure required by the EU to amend its treaties, scheduled this time to last until October. If you already have an account click here to login. EUobserver is the only independent news media covering EU affairs in Brussels and all 28 member states. Sign up for 30 days' free trial , no obligation. Full subscription only 15 € / month or 150 € / year. Lisbon has reserved half an hour for the opening ceremony, which will see speeches by Portuguese foreign minister Luis Amado, European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso and European Parliament chief Hans-Gert Poettering. The Portuguese will also unveil the first full draft version of the proposed new "reform treaty" - which is hoped to become successor to the failed EU constitution, a text rejected by French and Dutch voters in 2005. A political deal on the reform treaty's blueprint was clinched by EU leaders last month. National capitals will now be eagerly looking at how Lisbon has translated their political sensitivities into legal EU language. Member states' legal experts will on Tuesday and Wednesday (24-25 July) have a first go at the text, before taking the voluminous document to the beach and reconvening for intensive daily meetings in the last week of August. The Portuguese are aiming to keep the talks at the legal level as much as possible, in a bid to avoid unravelling the June deal, which was brokered by the former German EU presidency after bitter nightly negotiations. But national governments have been told to keep their 'sherpas' - political negotiators on the treaty - on alert, with Mr Amado telling MEPs last week the sherpas will step in once discussions prove to be more political than legal. At the June summit, German leader Angela Merkel rallied EU leaders around an extremely detailed negotiating mandate for the IGC, designed to leave as little room for political discussion as possible. But the first test of member states' good faith in the deal will take place when foreign ministers discuss the treaty at an informal meeting near Porto on 7-8 September. Potential troublemakers One potential troublemaker is Poland, which since the summit has been ambiguous on whether it will accept the provisions on its voting rights in the EU. Although Warsaw has reassured Lisbon that it will not reopen the voting issue, EU officials see Polish diplomacy as unpredictable, fearing that the legal translation of the voting paragraphs could ruffle Polish feathers anew. UK prime minister Gordon Brown is meanwhile set to be particularly vigilant on his country's so-called red lines, which London staunchly defended at the June summit. One source for friction could be London's opt-out from the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, which senior EU legal experts claim, may prove to be fallible. Meanwhile both Britain and Ireland seek clarification on their general opt-out from the EU's justice and home affairs policies. Both states want to see this accompanied by the possibility to participate in individual projects - such as criminal data-sharing - despite their general derogation from the policy area. Other countries with strong positions on the future treaty, such as France, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic, are not expected to create particular problems, but will make sure the concessions they obtained in June will be safeguarded in detail. Parliamentary worries Some worries on the IGC mandate have meanwhile emerged in parliamentary circles - both in national parliaments and in the European Parliament. The UK's House of Commons dislikes a passage in the draft mandate stating that "national parliaments shall contribute actively to the good functioning of the Union" - allegedly undermining national parliamentarians' independence. A formal joint request made by all 27 national parliaments to send three observers to the IGC talks, was rejected last week by the Portuguese presidency saying "we cannot enlarge participation in the meeting room". The situation is different for the European Parliament, which will send three MEPs as representatives at ministerial level talks while parliament officials will attend lower level meetings. The European Commission also has a seat at the IGC table. Some MEPs have expressed concern that the Parliament's recently gained powers to control the Commission's day-to-day technical work - when it is implementing existing EU laws - will be undermined by member states through legal tricks in the drafting of the treaty. All IGC documents - such as proposed amendments to the text - will be made available to the public, the Portuguese presidency has pledged. However, it is unclear whether informally drafted meeting notes are also intended to reach the public eye. Lisbon wants to wrap up the IGC talks at an informal EU leaders gathering in Lisbon in October, in the hope that the treaty can be signed at a formal summit in December. ||||| Days before EU's foreign ministers kick off detailed talks on the bloc's new treaty, Poland has signalled it will not insist on further debates and concessions on the sensitive issue of the union's voting rules. Polish top officials have hinted they do not want Warsaw to appear as the only trouble-maker when the EU convenes the intergovernmental conference on the new treaty, on Monday (23 July), according to several Polish papers. Student or retired? Then this plan is for you. Earlier this month, Poland sparked concerns that it would not stick to a voting compromise agreed to by EU leaders at an acrimonious summit in June. In post-summit comments, Warsaw highlighted a specific provision which allows countries to delay an EU decision if they fall just short of the required number of member states to block it. Polish authorities argued they had been given a "gentleman's agreement" that there would be a mechanism to delay the decision for up to two years - something subsequently denied by EU officials and the Portuguese presidency of the Union. But Andrzej Sados, minister in the Polish prime minister's cabinet, told Rzeczpospolita daily, that Warsaw is not going to insist on the disputed provision. "Our priority is not to block decisions - we're interested in easier decision-making because we want the Union to function properly," he said. He added that the delay mechanism would in any case only apply for decisions in agriculture and trade areas where Warsaw does not see itself being in danger of losing out in issues of its national interest. The proposed EU treaty continues to provide political ammunition in Poland, however. Earlier this week, two minor parties in the government led by Jaroslav Kaczynski - Samoobrona and the League of Polish families - merged together into a new movement - and hinted they would press for a rejection of the new EU treaty altogether. But Mr Kaczynski played down their comments, suggesting "This issue is being analysed individually by each party, but I do not currently see any threat to ratification." "There are threats to ratification in several other countries, but it's not the case in Poland," he added, according to PAP agency. ||||| Most of these documents are available as PDF files. To view, save and print these documents, you will need the latest version of Adobe Acrobat Reader. This can be downloaded free from IMPORTANT LEGAL NOTICE - The information on this site is subject to a disclaimer and a copyright notice Most of these documents are available as PDF files. To view, save and print these documents, you will need the latest version of Adobe Acrobat Reader. This can be downloaded free from www.adobe.com | Lisbon is to give its name to the latest EU treaty European Union foreign ministers today opened an Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) beginning work on on a new treaty for the 27-member bloc. Portugal, the presiding country of the Union during the negotiations, presented its first draft of the 145 page document (with an extra 132 pages of protocols) to foreign ministers in a short ceremony opening the conference. A mandate for the new Reform Treaty was agreed last month after drawn out European Council negotiations in Brussels. Under the German Presidency of the Union, leaders agreed to drop the proposed Constitution and its state-like elements, yet retain many of its institutional reforms: described by Angela Merkel (German Chancellor and then-Council President) in the terms ''“The fundamentals of the Constitution have been maintained in large part … We have renounced everything that makes people think of a state, like the flag and the national anthem.”'' This mandate is now going to be taken by the IGC, composed of national and European government officials, and converted into a legal text. Negotiations are expected to go smoothly. Poland had originally intended to kick up a storm over the chosen voting system, as it stood to lose from the proposed QMV system and favoured keeping the old system or using an alternative. The negotiations concluded that the implementation of the new system would be delayed until 2014. Poland also claimed it had secured a Gentlemen's agreement that it could veto decisions for a further two years, but this was denied by other members. Isolated, Poland relented and agreed to back official agreement, with a minister stating: "Our priority is not to block decisions - we're interested in easier decision-making because we want the Union to function properly." The Polish Prime Minister stated that despite some opposition in Poland, there is no threat to governments' ability to ratify the document. The IGC should conclude in Lisbon during October of this year and would shortly after be signed in the city; therefore, the city will give its name to the treaty. This will allow ratification throughout 2008 so it can come into force before the 2009 European elections. Most national ratification is expected to take place without referenda, to avoid a repeat of the "no" votes that halted the European Constitution. |
Emergency landing by United Airlines Flight 634 shuts down Newark Liberty International Airport Willens/AP A United Airlines Airbus 319 sits on the tarmac at Newark Liberty International Airport after making an emergency landing. A United Airlines jet made a lopsided landing at Newark Airport Sunday, miraculously skidding to a safe stop on the runway after one of its wheels failed to deploy. The Airbus A319 with 53 passengers and crew members on board landed on just its nose gear and left wheels, lurching onto one side and shooting sparks as its engine dragged on the tarmac. "I've had a lot of worse landings at Newark before," said passenger Paul Lasiuk, 46, of Chicago, who was thankful to be alive after the hair-raising 9:30 a.m. landing. Passengers praised the pilot and crew for keeping the jet from cracking up during the emergency touchdown at one of the nation's busiest airports. "The pilot did a beautiful job," said passenger Jim Falk, 40, of Middletown, N.J. "He should be commended." He and his fellow passengers broke into cheers and applause once the plane came to a safe stop. United Flight 634 from Chicago had been routine as it approached Newark, its final destination. Passengers were prepared for landing when the plane suddenly began ascending and started circling the airport. "Normally a big plane like that doesn't do a bypass, so we knew something was wrong," said Falk, who was sitting near the front of the aircraft. While the plane's nose gear and left wheels were deployed, its right landing gear remained lodged in the wheel well, officials said. In the cockpit, the trouble-shooting crew attempted to get the wheels to deploy, officials said. When all failed, the pilot had no choice but to sit the 68-ton bird down with the crippled landing gear. "Brace! Brace! Brace!" the pilot said over the intercom as passengers buried their heads in their laps poised for a crash landing. Falk and other passengers said the landing was "unbelievably smooth" considering the plane's condition. He said the crew remained incredibly calm. "They did a great job," Falk said. "There was no yelling, screaming, panicking or anything. Passengers quickly evacuated the jet, sliding down to terra firma via emergency chutes. Fearful the plane might explode, passengers ran quickly away from the jet after exiting, Falk said. United Airlines officials said the flight left Chicago at about 6 a.m. and the crew complained of no problems until the very end. It remained unclear last night why the landing gear failed to deploy, United spokeswoman Robin Urbanski said. The names of the pilot and cockpit crew were not immediately released pending interviews with flight investigators. Former NTSB investigator Greg Feith, who flew into Newark from Denver last night, praised the skills of the pilot and crew for safely bringing the plane down. "You have to use everything you have available, either nose wheel, steering or flight controls to try and keep the airplane on the runway," Feith said. "The last thing you want it to do is go off the side of the runway." whutchinson@nydailynews.com With Katie Nelson and News Wire Services ||||| The plane was well into its final descent toward Newark Liberty International Airport on Sunday morning when it began a sudden and unmistakable climb. There was “a little problem,” the pilot told the 48 passengers aboard United Airlines Flight 634. Only two of the three landing wheels had opened successfully, and after repeated attempts to fix the problem had failed, those aboard were instructed to prepare for a crash landing. A passenger, Paul Lasiuk, 46, described himself as more shocked than scared. “You have no choice,” he said. “You’re going to go through this.” That Mr. Lasiuk and his fellow passengers were able to describe their emotions as well as the fairly graceful landing with only two landing wheels in place was testament to the abilities of the five-person crew, they said later. No one was injured in the emergency landing of the plane, an Airbus A319, which left O’Hare International Airport in Chicago around 6 a.m. and landed just before 9:30 a.m., said a spokeswoman for United Airlines. As the plane prepared to make its emergency landing, Newark Airport grew large in the cabin windows. The loudspeaker then blared: “Brace! Brace! Brace!” With the passengers curled into defensive postures and electricity switched off, the plane touched the ground, passengers said. The plane hit gently, riding down the runway on the front wheel and the left rear wheel before tipping to the right, where the rear wheel had failed to deploy. Sparks flew as the metal underbelly of the engine ground against the tarmac, but the plane continued to slide straight. Jubin Nakhai, 34, said he was still holding his ankles, head between his knees in the brace position passengers had been instructed to assume, when someone told him the plane had stopped moving, adding, “You’re safe.” The emergency landing briefly shut down the airport, but after about 20 minutes, two of the three runways were back in operation, said a spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. The Airbus remained on the third runway into the afternoon as investigators examined why its landing gear had failed, said the spokesman. The closing of the runway delayed some flights by about an hour. The emergency landing returned focus to the Newark airport, one of the nation’s busiest, exactly a week after a man skipped past security, causing a six-hour shutdown of a major terminal on one of the biggest travel days of the year. An intensive manhunt following the security breach led to the arrest on Friday of Haisong Jiang, a 28-year-old Rutgers University graduate student, who apparently crossed into the secured area to kiss his girlfriend goodbye. On Sunday, the scene was mostly celebratory aboard the United flight when it finally came to rest, passengers said. The cabin, which was less than half full, erupted with tears, applause and spirited proclamations that the landing had been even smoother than usual. The pilot thanked everybody for staying calm and helping one another. “Anytime you’re up in the air and you realize you have a problem, you wonder if you’re going to make it,” said one of the passengers, John Wiman, 51, of Chicago. Outside, where emergency vehicles were already waiting, the smell of smoke hung in the clear, cold morning. The passengers and the crew slid out of the plane on inflatable emergency exit chutes and were taken by bus to an airline lounge in the main terminal, where they recounted the story to investigators and waited for their luggage. When everyone left about two hours later, the passengers were full of praise for the crew, speaking with amazement at how well everything had worked out. “I’ve had a lot of worse landings at Newark before,” said Mr. Lasiuk, who lives in Chicago and was traveling on business. “It was unbelievably smooth.” Jim Falk, 40, who lives in New Jersey, swore that he would buy a bottle of Champagne for the pilot, whose name was not immediately released. “The pilot did a beautiful job,” Mr. Falk said. “He didn’t put it in the water like the other pilot did, but he should be commended.” Moritz Loew, 39, who also lives in New Jersey, was jubilant as he left the airport shortly after noon. “What’s a great landing?” he asked, laughing as he set himself up for his own punch line. “One that you walk away from.” ||||| NEWARK — A United Airlines jetliner landed today without one of its wheels fully deployed, damaging its right wing after a frightening few moments for passengers, who were braced in the crash position before an "unbelievably smooth" touchdown that drew cheers. All 53 people aboard got off the plane safely. Flight 634 from Chicago was approaching Newark Liberty International Airport about 9 a.m. when the plane suddenly began ascending again, said passenger Paul Wasylyszyn of Chicago. The plane then began circling the airport, said Jim Falk of Middletown, N.J., who was sitting near the front of the plane. "Normally a big plane like that doesn't do a bypass, so we knew something was wrong," said Falk, 40. The captain then came over the intercom, advising the 48 passengers that there was "an issue" with one of the landing gears on the Airbus 319 and they were trying to fix it. The captain was composed about the announcements, several passengers said, commending the crew for it. "They did a great job," Falk said of the captain and crew. "There was no yelling, screaming, panicking or anything." Despite the problem, the mood was calm, even when passengers were instructed to gird themselves for a crash, said Falk, who sent several text messages to his wife about what was happening as she was on her way to pick him up from the airport. Passengers braced themselves in "the crash position," Falk said. Three minutes to landing, the passengers were told. And then: "We went down the runway, however they did it," Falk said of the landing. "If you didn't know they were missing a set of wheels, you wouldn't have thought there was something wrong," Wasylyszyn said. When the aircraft landed, part of its belly struck the runway, United spokeswoman Robin Urbanski said. Passengers cheered and sighed when the plane came to a stop, Wasylyszyn said. Then they hurried out through the emergency exits, sliding down the chutes that had deployed and running as fast as they could toward Port Authority buses that were waiting to take them to the terminal, Falk said. Everyone got "as far as you could" away from the plane, he said. "I've had a lot of worse landings at Newark before," said another passenger, Paul Lasiuk, a 46-year-old Chicago resident. "It was unbelievably smooth." Some of the right wing area was damaged, but the extent of the damage was still being determined Sunday, and Urbanski said it was not immediately clear what caused the malfunction. Arlene Salac, a spokeswoman for the Federal Aviation Administration, said the right main landing gear did not extend, though its nose and left main landing gear did. Still, the landing "was smooth — it was scary smooth," said Falk. The owner of an electrical contracting business, he was traveling on business and returning from Las Vegas. Falk said he was especially thankful to have an experienced pilot at the controls. United spokesman Michael Trevino said the airline would not release the name of the flight's captain Sunday but didn't specify when it would be available. After the crew reported the problem, Newark airport was closed for about 20 minutes, said Ron Marsico, a spokesman for The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the airport. The airport's other two runways were reopened soon after the plane landed, but some arriving flights were still being delayed Sunday evening by about an hour. United announced that it would refund the fares of all the flight's passengers. The plane, which had left Chicago about 6 a.m. local time, remained on one of the airport's three runways Sunday evening as investigators inspected it. The landing comes exactly one week after a man took advantage of a guard's absence to walk through a security checkpoint exit at Newark Liberty and say goodbye to his girlfriend, a security breach that triggered the shutdown of a busy terminal and led to major delays. Haisong Jiang, 28, of Piscataway, N.J., was arrested Friday and faces a charge of trespassing and a fine of up to $500. He's due in court in Newark this week. A friend of Jiang's, Ning Huang, said Saturday that he's known Jiang for years and that Jiang is "a very good person" who didn't realize the ramifications of his actions. On Sunday afternoon, passengers on the United flight were leaving the airport after being taken to a room there for about three hours, then released. Their checked luggage was at baggage claim, but carryon bags remained on the plane. Wasylyszyn, who came to New Jersey to visit relatives, left with relieved family members, and they all stopped to grab some pizza and relax. "This trip certainly wasn't what I expected," he said. Related coverage: • Lautenberg steps into in spotlight amid incident at Newark Airport • Controversy swirls over graduate student who breached security at Newark Airport • Roommate says Haisong Jiang, arrested in Newark airport security breach, was excited to see girlfriend | A United Airlines Airbus A319, similar to the one involved in the incident. United Airlines Flight 634 made an emergency landing yesterday morning when only two of the three landing wheels on the Airbus A319 deployed as the plane was making its final approach into Newark, New Jersey's Newark Liberty International Airport. After multiple attempts to fix the problem failed, the pilot decided that an emergency landing was the only remaining choice. Only the plane's nose gear and left landing gear had descended. The right landing gear would not release. The airliner made a go-around as the crew attempted to fix the problem. Passenger Jim Falk knew something was wrong saying, "Normally a big plane like that doesn't do a bypass, so we knew something was wrong." However, the pilot decided that nothing could be done to bring the gear down, and an emergency landing was declared. "We are going to have an unusual landing," the pilot calmly announced to the 53 passengers seated on the plane, according to passenger Moritz Loew. Another passenger, Paul Lasiuk said he was more shocked than scared, telling himself, "You have no choice. You're going to go through this." "Brace! Brace! Brace!", the pilot announced over the plane's public address system, calling for passengers to enter the brace position as the plane made a touchdown on the runway at Newark. The plane touched down on the nose wheel and left rear wheel before lurching to the right causing sparks to fly as the right engine skidded along the runway. Eventually, the plane came to stop at 9:27 A.M. EDT. Afterward, passengers and crew evacuated the plane by sliding down the evacuation slides and moving quickly away from the plane. They were then taken by bus to the airline's lounge where they told their stories to investigators and waited for their luggage. Three passengers reported minor injuries but refused treatment. The emergency landing caused the airport to shut down for 20 minutes, but service quickly resumed on two of the airports three runways. The plane remained on the runway throughout the afternoon as investigators determined the cause of the landing gear failure. This is in contrast to last week, when the airport was shutdown for six hours after a young man named Haisong Jiang breached security by passing through an exit to kiss his girlfriend goodbye. According to passengers, the crew remained calm during the ordeal. Jim Falk said, "They did a great job. There was no yelling, screaming, panicking or anything." Falk said he wanted to buy a bottle of champagne for the currently unnamed pilot. Falk added, "The pilot did a beautiful job. He didn’t put it in the water like the other pilot did, but he should be commended." Martin Trebino, a spokesperson for United Airlines said they would not release the pilot's name on Sunday, but did not indicate when his name would be made available either. Paul Lasiuk said, "I've had a lot of worse landings at Newark before. It was unbelievably smooth." Moritz Loew joked with himself afterward saying, "What's a great landing? One that you walk away from." The flight, which left Chicago's O'Hare International Airport early Sunday morning around 6 A.M. reported no other problems during the flight up until the incident. According to United Airlines spokesperson Robin Urbanski, it remains unclear why the landing gear failed to deploy. Urbanski added that passengers' tickets would be refunded and that they would receive vouchers and credit towards any future flight. |
There is a shortage of power and water in Beit Hanoun She died after detonating her bomb near Israeli soldiers in Beit Hanoun, focus of a six-day military offensive. Earlier, a 17-year-old Palestinian boy was killed in an air strike on the northern town of Jabaliya. Israel says it is targeting rocket-firing Palestinian militants operating from northern Gaza. But Palestinian officials have accused Israel of carrying out a "massacre". About 50 Palestinians have died in the country's latest military incursion into the area. Curfew imposed The Islamic Jihad militant group said the female suicide bomber was one of its members, the BBC's Alan Johnston in Gaza says. A radio station linked to Hamas reported that many civilians were injured when the woman blew herself up, AP reports. During the Jabaliya air strike, at least four people were hurt in the attack near a school, Palestinian officials told Reuters news agency. I am following with deep worry the news about the grave deterioration of the situation in the Gaza Strip, and I want to express my closeness to the civilian population, which is suffering the consequences of the acts of violence Pope Benedict Gazans full of fear The Israeli military said its aircraft had attacked a group of militants retrieving a device used to fire a missile, in Monday's attack. But the Palestinians said the plane missed its target and, instead, struck close to a school. The entire town of Beit Hanoun remains under Israeli control and troops have ordered residents to stay indoors. Our correspondent says there are severe shortages of water and power, and the arrival of a small United Nations aid convoy on Monday sparked frantic scenes. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has declined to say when the operation centred on Beit Hanoun will end, but insists Israel has no intention of reoccupying the Gaza Strip. Israeli forces have made regular incursions into Gaza and the West Bank since the capture of an Israeli soldier in a cross-border raid by Palestinian militants on 25 June. Despite the crackdown, a rocket hit the Israeli border town of Sderot on Sunday, but no-one was hurt. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Ismail Haniya have called the operation a "massacre" and urged the UN Security Council to convene to discuss the issue. International criticism On Sunday, Pope Benedict XVI said he was very worried about the situation in Gaza, and called on all sides to work to stop the bloodshed and to immediately resume direct and concrete negotiations. The Red Cross has criticised the killing by Israeli force of paramedics The European Union presidency, currently held by Finland, has issued a statement deploring "the growing number of civilian casualties the Israeli military operation has caused". The International Red Cross also criticised Israel for the killing of two medical workers, saying that the paramedics and their vehicle were clearly marked. ||||| An Israeli air strike has killed two Palestinian youths in a refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip. The attack on a mini-van parked in the Jebaliya camp also wounded nine other children, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Gaza reported. A Palestinian security official said the van was empty at the time and that the dead and wounded were bystanders. Muhammad Matar, a resident, said a group of Palestinian resistance fighters had gathered on a street corner near a kindergarten and that the strike was aimed at them. None of the fighters was wounded, Matar said. The Israeli army said an air strike in the same area "... was an attack on a Qassam [rocket] launching cell in the area of Beit Lahiya. They came to pick up their launchers that were used yesterday to fire at Israel, two Qassams. We identified hitting them". Suicide attack A Palestinian woman blew herself up when Israeli soldiers stormed her house in Gaza , witnesses said. "A woman came close to our forces and she was carrying an explosive device, she blew herself up, killing herself and lightly wounding one soldier, in the northern town of Beit Hanoun ," the Israeli spokesperson said. Israeli forces have been carrying out an offensive in the town of Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza since last week. Thirty-four rockets have struck Israel since Wednesday. Two members of Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades were later wounded in a second air strike north of Gaza City, witnesses said. The Israeli military said it had hit fighters armed with anti-tank missiles who were approaching the security fence on the Gaza border. | A Palestinian teenager was killed and seven others, including six children, injured in an Israeli airstrike near a school in the town of Beit Lahiya, according to Dr. Muawiya Hassanin, a local emergency services official. Israeli military officials said that the strike targeted militants who were retrieving a device used to fire missiles. Israel's incursions into northern Gaza, which are aimed at curbing rocket attacks by Palestinian militants, have killed over 50 people over the last six days. Friday saw 17 killings, including the gunning down of two women outside a mosque in Beit Hanoun. At least seven people, including a 12-year-old girl were killed by Israeli action on Saturday, and three others yesterday. The Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert denied that his country was planning to re-occupy Gaza, and said that the offensive is aimed at stopping rockets from being fired into Israel by Hamas militants. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has termed the incidents "massacres" and has called for the UN Security Council to discuss the issue. Israeli troops have regularly made incursions into Gaza following the capture of Gilad Shalit in June this year. |
Question marks are hanging over the US mortgage market New Century has stopped making loans and its shares have tumbled, with some analysts now predicting bankruptcy. The firm also said it had received a grand jury subpoena for documents. Sub-prime lenders provide money to clients with a poor credit history, and the current problems have been sparked by a rise in defaults and bad loans. These, in turn, have been triggered in part by a relentless rise in interest rates from rock-bottom levels in the past four years, and falling house prices and rates of homebuilding in many parts of the US. Ripple effect The problems, which have seen default levels on sub-prime mortgages hit a seven-year high, are not limited to New Century, and other lenders have also announced that they have been caught up by the downturn in the sector. Another sub-prime company Accredited Home Lenders Holding said on Monday that it may have to raise extra funds, seek debt waivers, cut jobs and put back its earnings announcement. Its shares fell by 28% on Monday. Countrywide Financial, the biggest US mortgage company, warned that the current problems would hurt profit in the short-term and added that it would cut 108 jobs. New Century shares were suspended on Monday after tumbling almost 50% in pre-market electronic trading. The stock is down 90% this month. The company has warned that it may have to buy back more than $8bn (£4.2bn) in loans, and its creditors are claiming that the company is in default of loan agreements and have halted financing. New Century now has less than $60m in cash, according to the SEC. Creditors include Morgan Stanley, Barclays, Bank of America and Citigroup. Have you been affected by this story? Send us your comments and experiences 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. ||||| Knife found at O.J. Simpson's former L.A. home studied by police LOS ANGELES Police said on Friday they were examining a knife purportedly found at the former home of O.J. Simpson, the onetime football star acquitted of stabbing to death his ex-wife and her friend in the "Trial of the Century" two decades ago. | Supreme Court temporarily blocks Louisiana abortion law WASHINGTON The Supreme Court, two days after hearing a major abortion case from Texas, on Friday temporarily blocked a Louisiana law imposing regulations on doctors who perform abortions in a move that would allow two recently closed clinics to reopen. Exclusive: U.S. watchdog to probe Fed's lax oversight of Wall Street NEW YORK A U.S. watchdog agency is preparing to investigate whether the Federal Reserve and other regulators are too soft on the banks they are meant to police, after a written request from Democratic lawmakers that marks the latest sign of distrust between Congress and the central bank. Brazil's Lula detained in corruption probe; Rousseff objects SAO PAULO/BRASILIA Former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was briefly detained for questioning on Friday in a federal investigation of a vast corruption scheme, fanning a political crisis that threatens to topple his successor, President Dilma Rousseff. | ||||| U.S. Subprime Mortgage Delinquencies at 4-Year High (Update3) By Sharon L. Crenson and Kathleen M. Howley March 13 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. subprime borrowers fell behind on their mortgages at the highest rate in four years in the fourth quarter and foreclosures begun on all types of home loans rose to an all-time high, the Mortgage Bankers Association said. The share of subprime borrowers making late payments rose to 13.33 percent from 12.56 percent in the third quarter, the Washington-based group said in a report today. Foreclosures also rose on loans to borrowers with the best credit ratings, a sign of broader trouble in the mortgage market. Lenders loosened credit standards on prime loans with the lowest interest rates last year as they competed for a shrinking pool of borrowers. Widespread defaults in the $6 trillion mortgage-backed securities market could push the U.S. economy into recession, said economist Gary Shilling. ``The worst is really yet to come,'' said Shilling, president of A. Gary Shilling & Co. Inc., a Springfield, New Jersey-based economic forecasting company. ``To keep the game going last year lenders simply lowered their credit standards. As a result, you've had a tremendous number of these mortgages that have gone bad.'' Overdue payments on all types of loans rose to 4.95 percent from 4.67 percent in 2006's third quarter. That was the highest since the second quarter of 2003. Early Indicator The delinquency rates are an early indicator of mortgage defaults in a housing market already beset by falling prices and too much inventory. In January, there were 4.09 million new and previously owned homes for sale, up from 3.41 million a year earlier, according to data from the National Association of Realtors and the Commerce Department. Sales of new houses probably will tumble 10 percent to 950,000 this year, on top of a 17 percent drop in 2006, the Chicago-based National Association of Realtors said in a forecast today. Sales of previously owned homes will drop 0.9 percent, following an 8.5 percent drop last year, the group said. In the quarter, 2.57 percent of prime barrowers were at least 30 days late in their mortgage payments, a fifth the rate of subprime borrowers, according to the Mortgage Bankers report. The percentage of homes in foreclosure also rose for both categories, with foreclosures on prime loans climbing 6 basis points to 0.5 percent and on subprime loans 18 basis points to 4.53 percent. A basis point is one one-hundredth of a percent. As home prices rose to records and loan applications declined, lenders lowered their standards for all borrowers, said Doug Duncan, chief economist for the bankers' group, on a conference call today. ``If you go back and look at the loans originated in any year which is the peak in a cycle, you'll find that those loans tend to perform the least well,'' Duncan said. New Century Financial The Mortgage Bankers report is based on a survey of 43.5 million loans by mortgage companies, commercial banks, thrifts, credit unions and other financial institutions. The data comes after New Century Financial Corp. said it is the subject of a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission investigation, leading to a suspension of trading. The second- biggest U.S. subprime mortgage lender yesterday said it doesn't have the cash to pay creditors, including Morgan Stanley, Citigroup Inc. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Accredited Home Lenders Holding Co. shares lost half their value after lenders stepped up demands for cash. Accredited needs to raise money after paying more than $190 million demanded by its backers and is ``exploring various strategic options,'' according to a statement today. The San Diego-based company, the 15th- biggest U.S. subprime mortgage company, also plans unspecified job cuts. Rising for Year Delinquency rates have been rising for a year led by those among subprime borrowers, who obtained loans with higher interest because they had little or no down payment or flawed credit, have been rising for a year, Jay Brinkman, the Mortgage Bankers' vice president for research and economics said in an interview before the data was released. Fourth-quarter delinquencies are traditionally higher than the rest of the year as homeowners face the first home-heating bills of the winter at the same time they are spending money on Christmas presents, he said. The data distributed today showed increase in delinquencies among all borrowers even on a seasonally adjusted basis. ``The delinquencies and defaults have started to soar,'' said Nicolas Retsinas, director of Housing Studies at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. ``A lot of these lenders started to make loans and lost track of some of the fundamentals.'' No Money Down More than two dozen subprime lenders have been forced to close or sell operations as defaults on those mortgages have risen to a seven-year high, according to data compiled by Friedman Billings Ramsey Group Inc. of Arlington, Virginia. Subprime loans are often made to borrowers who make little or no down payment, at rates at least 2 or 3 percentage points above prime loans. In some cases, borrowers weren't even required to provide proof of income and may have high levels of debt. Such loans made up about a fifth of all new mortgages last year, according to MBA data. More than 5,600 workers have lost their jobs at Ameriquest Mortgage Co. in Irvine, California; Ownit Mortgage Solutions LLC and General Electric Co.'s WMC Mortgage Corp. in Woodland Hills, California; Mortgage Lenders Network USA Inc. in Middletown, Connecticut; and Fremont General Corp in Brea, California. Countrywide Financial Corp., the biggest U.S. mortgage lender, said yesterday that late payments on home loans it manages were virtually unchanged last month. Loans at least 30 days past due remained at 4.71 percent of total loans serviced, the same as in January, the Calabasas, California-based company said. A year earlier, 4.29 percent of those loans were late. ``We see no evidence of significant rises in defaults in the regular loan market,'' said Joe Gyourko, a real estate and finance professor at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. To contact the reporters on this story: Sharon L. Crenson in New York at screnson@bloomberg.net ; Kathleen M. Howley in Boston at kmhowley@bloomberg.net . ||||| Stocks closed down sharply in the second-worst daily decline of the year as the woes in the subprime mortgage market continued to rattle the major markets, particularly financial stocks. "I don't this is over," said Patrick Fay, director of equity trading at DA Davidson, in an interview with CNBC.com. Fay said he "absolutely" expects further selling later this week. "The market has been overdone for a while and it needs a correction." "Investors are still very, very concerned obviously," Hugh Johnson, chief investment officer at Johnson Illington Advisors, told CNBC. "There are deep concerns about a possible credit crunch and the impact that would have on the economy; there are a lot of negative feelings out there today." Carter Worth, chief technical strategist at Oppenheimer, told CNBC.com the rally off the market's lows in late February is likely over. "The next move for equities is down," he said. "HSBC announced long before New Century Financial that the subprime industry was going to be weak. That was five weeks ago and (the market) has been down ever since." Financial stocks, homebuilders and REITs were the targets of intense selling. The financial sector was the biggest loser among the the ten S&P 500 sectors, which were all trading in negative territory. Brian Gendreau, investment strategist with ING Investment Management, told CNBC that a noon report showing a jump in delinquency rates for subprime mortgages spooked investors. "A lot of these concerns may be overblown," said Gendreau. "The economy is fairly strong and the labor markets have been really strong." "Six weeks ago nobody knew what subprime meant, now it's the buzz everybody's talking about," Randy Bateman, chief investment officer at Huntington Funds, told CNBC.com. "I don't necessarily think this will have a ripple effect outside the subprime area, but it is something that is causing the market concern." But some investors remained upbeat despite Tuesday's market decline. "We've got stability coming back into the global markets," said Arthur Hogan, managing director at Jefferies. "We're not waking up and seeing multiple percentage point gains or losses across the board in Asia, Europe or here. We're shifting our focus back to fundamentals and we're less concerned about momentum and psychology." The New York Stock Exchange suspended trading of New Century Financial [NEW Loading... (%) ] and said it would delist the stock. New Century appears to be on the brink of bankruptcy as the company said its lending activities are under investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and said it has received a subpoena for certain documents from the state of California. Shares of mortgage bank Accredited Home Lenders [LEND Loading... (%) ] plunged wider than 60% on liquidity concerns. The company said Tuesday $190 million in margin calls from its lenders has depleted cash reserves. Bear Stearns downgraded the stock on Tuesday to "peer perform" from "outperform" but said a sale of the company remains a possibility. Goldman Sachs [GS Loading... (%) ] was a bright spot after it reported diluted earnings per common share of $6.67, beating expectations. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial were predicting profits would drop slightly to $4.90 a share from $5.08 a share in the year-ago period. Shares opened up but turned lower in afternoon trading, however, mirroring a drop in the overall markets. Citigroup [C Loading... (%) ] raised its offer for Nikko Cordial, Japan's third-biggest securities firm, by 26% to $13.4 billion on Tuesday. Citigroup announced it would pay 1,700 yen a share for Nikko, up from last week’s offer of 1,350 yen. Qualcomm boosted its second-quarter earnings and sales guidance, citing stronger-than-expected worldwide demand for products based on its CDMA mobile phone technology. Qualcomm shares rose while shares or rival Texas Instruments [TXN Loading... (%) ] fell after the company issued in-line earnings and sales guidance for the first quarter. Billionaire investor Carl Icahn said his affiliated entities will initiate a tender offer for WCI Communities [WCI Loading... (%) ] at $22 a share. New York light crude futures [US@CL.1 Loading... (%) ] closed down 1.7%, falling for the fourth straight session. Crude is down 5.1% year to date. On Tuesday morning, the Commerce Department said retail sales in February rose 0.1%, less than expected. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires and CNBC expected a 0.3% increase in overall retail sales for February, compared with no change the month before. The dollar fell against the yen while treasury prices rose following the retail sales data, sending yields lower. European Shares Slip, Asian Markets Close Mostly Lower London's FTSE-100, [FTIND Loading... (%) ] the Frankfurt DAX [DAX-XE Loading... (%) ]and the Paris CAC-40 [CAC40-FR Loading... (%) ] all closed in the red. In London, music and book group HMV issued a profit warning as it announced the outcome of a strategic review to better cope with tough competition from supermarkets and the Internet. Tokyo's Nikkei 225 Average [NIKKEI Loading... (%) ] snapped a three-day winning streak to finish weaker in quiet trade as exporters such as Sony [SNE Loading... (%) ] lost ground on continued concern about the outlook for the key U.S. market. South Korea's Kospi Index ended down as Korea Exchange Bank fell on worries regulators would review its approval of the lender's sale to U.S. fund Lone Star, but power provider KEPCO gained after oil prices fell. Hong Kong stocks were lower, pacing soft Asian markets, but property stocks outperformed ahead of a land auction later in the day. The Shanghai Composite Index bucked the trend and edged higher, adding to five straight days of gains, but many financials were soft and traders expect substantial profit-taking around the 3,000 level. © 2007 CNBC.com ||||| The meltdown among U.S. subprime mortgage lenders including New Century Financial [NEW Loading... (%) ] broadened on Tuesday, as Accredited Home Lenders [LEND Loading... (%) ] shares fell more than 60%, and investors worried that more lenders might restructure or seek bankruptcy protection. Accredited, based in San Diego, said it needed to raise cash after paying $190 million demanded by its lenders, is cutting an unspecified number of jobs, and is exploring "strategic options," including raising new capital. The news came a day after Irvine, California-based New Century said it doesn't have enough cash to pay its own lenders. That company on Tuesday had trading in its shares suspended by the New York Stock Exchange, and said it received a grand jury subpoena in a federal criminal probe. Tuesday's disclosures are the latest blows in subprime, where lenders make loans to people with poor credit histories. "There's not going to be many independent subprime lenders left," said Blake Howells, director of research at Becker Capital Management in Portland, Oregon, which invests $2.5 billion. Lenders have been battered by rising defaults and demands from their own lenders to take back soured loans at a loss. Lax underwriting standards contributed to the problems. More than two dozen lenders have quit the industry in the last year. Many analysts say New Century is on the brink of bankruptcy. Accredited spokesman Rick Howe did not immediately return a call seeking comment. New Century spokeswoman Laura Oberhelman declined to comment. In afternoon trading, Accredited skidded to a record low. New Century, now listed on the Pink Sheets, also fell. Shares were down 38 cents, or 22.9 percent, to $1.28. Delinquencies Rise Shares of other mortgage lenders also fell, as new data suggested that rising delinquencies are weighing on lenders that make higher-quality loans. On Tuesday, the Mortgage Bankers Association said overall mortgage delinquencies rose to 4.95% in the fourth quarter from 4.67% in the prior quarter. Foreclosures also rose. It said delinquencies were most precipitous among subprime adjustable-rate loans, where the rate increased to 14.44% from 13.22%. The trade group nevertheless said delinquencies rose among all loan types, and in 49 U.S. states. "Subprime borrowers are more likely to be susceptible to the cumulative increases in interest rates that we have experienced and the resultant nationwide slowing of home price appreciation," Chief Economist Doug Duncan said. In afternoon trading, shares of Kansas City, Missouri-based subprime lender NovaStar Financial Inc. fell as much as 22%. Impac Mortgage [IMH Loading... (%) ], of Irvine, and IndyMac Bancorp[NDE Loading... (%) ], of Pasadena, Calif., which make loans to people who lack enough documentation to get prime loans, also fell. Shares of Countrywide Financial [CFC Loading... (%) ], the largest mortgage lender, also tumbled. Margin Calls Accredited said it has paid $190 million in margin calls on loan facilities since Jan. 1 as lenders demand more collateral. It said it received two-thirds of those calls since Feb. 15. The company has said it ended 2006 with $345 million of available liquidity. It didn't say how much it now has. New Century's disclosures came a day after it said its lenders plan to halt financing, and that it might be forced to repay more than $8 billion it doesn't have. On Tuesday, it said it underestimated its obligation to Credit Suisse by $500 million, and owes $1.4 billion. Copyright 2007 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. ||||| Wall Street renewed its downward slide on Wednesday, dipping below 12,000 as investor confidence continued to be hit by the crisis in the US subprime mortgage market. Wall Street initially flirted in and out of positive territory but later later slumped as trading continued. Shortly after midday on Wall Street, the S&P 500 index was trading 0.35 per cent down at 1,373.17 while the Dow Jones Industrial Average was 76.10 points lower at 11,999.86. VIDEO Markets editor Chris Brown-Humes on fresh equity markets selling following the concerns over US subprime The falls came after an earlier rout of European and Asian equities. In Asia, the sell-off was broad and deep on investors’ worries that the subprime mortgage problems could hit the US housing market and the broader US economy – a big export market for many of the region’s companies. The Tokyo stock market plunged 2.9 per cent, Singapore by 3.3 per cent, Mumbai dropped 3.5 per cent, Hong Kong by 2.5 per cent and Shanghai by 1.9 per cent. In Europe, heavy falls were also seen as rattled investors offloaded stocks By late afternoon in London, the FTSE Eurofirst 300 index was down 2.24 per cent while the FTSE 100 index in the UK had slumped 2.17 per cent. Elsewhere, the Xetra Dax index lost 2.3 per cent in Germany, the CAC-40 index by 2.1 per cent in Paris and the Swiss market fell by 2.6 per cent. On government bond markets, US Treasuries firmed after early weakness on safe haven buying by investor. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury fell 1 basis point to 4.481 per cent. Credit markets were generally weaker. The iTraxx Crossover index, a basket of credit default swaps on mainly junk-rated European corporate bonds, recovered some of its losses early on Wednesday afternoon. The Crossover, which tracks the 45 most-liquid names, was trading around 235 basis points, about 7bp tighter than the early morning opening price. The yen lost ground on Wednesday after a sharp rally in the previous session as US equities tumbled. Analysts said the consequent rise in risk aversion on Tuesday benefited the Japanese currency as investors unwound carry trades, in which the purchase of riskier high-yielding assets is funded by selling the yen. However, as the sell-off in US equities slowed, the yen gave back some of its gains, falling 0.4 per cent to Y116.60 against the dollar, losing 0.3 per cent to Y153.73 against the euro and dropping 0.2 per cent to Y224.60 against sterling. Meanwhile, the high-yielding Australian and New Zealand dollars, which were particularly hard hit on Tuesday, rallied more strongly against the yen, rising 0.9 per cent to Y91.30 and gaining 0.7 per cent to Y80.20 respectively. Julian Jessop, chief international economist at Capital Economics, said although the full extent of the problem was not clear, at the very least, the sub-prime crisis can be expected to worsen the downturn in the US housing market. “We think it is right to be concerned, particularly about the knock-on effect on US consumer spending. Moreover, the US sub-prime mortgage market is yet another example of the financial excesses and extraordinarily high degree of risk appetite that have supported a wide range of asset prices in recent years,” he said. David Rosenberg, North American economist at Merrill Lynch, said the direct macroeconomic effects of sub-prime stress were likely to be fairly small. But he was concerned about the knock-on effects from the pullback that the US was most certainly going to see in mortgage credit availability. “Even if the pullback is only aimed at the sub-prime market, there could well be potentially significant further drags on home prices, construction activity and of course consumer spending growth via the reduced wealth effect,” he said. “It is not inconceivable (given what is happening now to mortgage originations) that we end up with something closer to a 10 per cent decline in home prices this year. This would shave a further 0.5 percentage points off GDP growth via the wealth effect, which means GDP growth this year comes in around 1¾ per cent, closer to 1½ per cent by the end of the year; and the unemployment rate goes back above 5 per cent by the end of 2007 from 4.5 per cent right now. “ “That’s not a classical recession, but it’s what we call a growth recession, and an old rule of thumb says that anything lower than 2 per cent GDP growth generally spells a weak credit environment.” | New York Stock Exchange. Just two weeks after China sent global markets into a tumble, growing worries about sub-prime mortgage lenders in the United States are sending jitters through stock exchanges around the globe. The three major US stock market indices each fell two percent from Monday's closing price, marking the second-biggest loss of 2007. London's FTSE 100, Paris' CAC 40 and Frankfurt's DAX 30 indices each closed down more than 1 percent. As the Mortgage Bankers Association reported that late payments on mortgages and home foreclosures in the US homes rose in the fourth quarter to their highest level in years, investors are concerned that not only US banks but also multi-national banks around the globe could have exposure. More than two dozen sub-prime lenders have closed or sold operations as defaults on those mortgages have risen. "The delinquencies and defaults have started to soar," said Nicolas Retsinas, director of Housing Studies at Harvard University. "A lot of these lenders started to make loans and lost track of some of the fundamentals." New Century Financial Corporation, the second largest sub-prime lender in the US, has recently revealed that its creditors were no longer providing funds and, further, it has become subject of an SEC investigation. The New York Stock Exchange has said it will delist New Century. Accredited Home Loan Lending, another major sub-prime mortgage specialist, said it was seeking fresh capital and waivers on its lending covenants. Sub-prime lenders provide mortgages to people who do not qualify for loans from mainstream lenders, typically due to their credit histories. The lenders then bundle these mortgages as collateral for loans that they obtain from other financing firms, such as GMAC. Such firms can then repackage these loans and sell them as mortgage-backed securities. These securities may end up in the hands of major multi-national banks such as Citibank, HSBC, and Commerzbank. Each level of lending assumes a level of financial risk, but trouble can arise when the risk tolerances are exceeded. If too many homeowners default on their mortgages, the sub-prime lender can end up defaulting. If too many of these lenders default, as it is feared may be happening now, the defaults can cascade upward. While no one is predicting major bank failures at this point, it is feared that their profits could be hurt. |
Microsoft Makes $44.6 Billion Bid for Yahoo Microsoft said Friday that it would offer $44.6 billion for Yahoo, the ailing search giant. The surprise offer of $31 a share represents a 62 percent premium to Thursday’s closing share price. Yahoo shareholders could elect to receive either cash or stock. The proposed acquisition, the largest ever by Microsoft, would give some relief to Yahoo’s long-suffering shareholders, who have seen the company’s stock slide nearly 32 percent this year. It would also create the most formidable competitor yet for Google, the search engine giant. “This proposal represents a compelling value realization event for your shareholders,” Steven A. Ballmer, Microsoft’s chief executive, said in a letter to Yahoo’s board sent Thursday. Rumors had long persisted that Microsoft might make a bid for the company. In its letter, Microsoft said that the two had held talks early last year, exploring a range of collaborative efforts up to and including a merger. But Yahoo had rebuffed a takeover proposal. Microsoft’s announcement was unsolicited and its premium unusually high, marking it as an aggressive bid that could turn hostile. Shares in Yahoo jumped nearly 59 percent in pre-market trading Friday, reflecting investors’ apparent enthusiasm for the deal. Yahoo, one of the early Internet giants, remains one of the biggest companies on the Web. Its main site attracts the largest amount of traffic of any Web site, and many of its services, like Yahoo Mail, are immensely popular as well. Microsoft has sought to improve its distant third position by making a series of acquisitions, notably by buying the online advertising company aQuantive for $6 billion. But Yahoo has floundered as the company failed to take online advertising revenue from Google. It ousted Terry Semel as its chief executive last June but remained as nonexecutive chairman. (He is leaving the board, the company said Friday.) Yahoo reinstalled a co-founder, Jerry Yang, at the top on an interim basis; he promised to begin a turnaround within 100 days. But the company has not improved appreciably since then. It reported a drop in quarterly profits on Tuesday and said it would cut 1,000 jobs. One potential roadblock to a Microsoft-Yahoo merger would be antitrust concerns, especially from the European Union. A spokesman for Neelie Kroes, the E.U. Competition Commissioner, declined to comment on Microsoft’s proposal, Reuters reported. Another is the formidable task of two very different corporate cultures and technology systems. Yahoo, based in Sunnyvale, Calif., has long had a freewheeling ethos: besides chief executive, Mr. Yang also holds the title of “Chief Yahoo.” Microsoft, based in Redmond, Wash., is known for its much more restrained culture in its main unit. Morgan Stanley and the Blackstone Group are advising Microsoft on its bid. Goldman Sachs is advising Yahoo. Go to Press Release via PR Newswire » ||||| Feb. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Microsoft Corp., the world's biggest software maker, made an unsolicited $44.6 billion offer for Yahoo! Inc. to challenge Google Inc.'s dominance in Internet search services and advertising. The $31-a-share bid of cash or Microsoft stock is 62 percent more than Yahoo's closing price yesterday. Yahoo, which posted a 23 percent drop in fourth-quarter profit this week, had fallen 18 percent in Nasdaq Stock Market trading this year before today. Microsoft fell the most since 2006 as investors expressed disapproval of the deal. Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer is attempting the biggest-ever technology takeover after failing to compete with Google in a market that may almost double to $80 billion by 2010. Microsoft's shares have dropped more than 40 percent since Ballmer took over from co-founder Bill Gates in 2000. ``With Microsoft paying a full price for a broken business where there's not accelerating organic growth, I can't make that work at all,'' said Jon Fisher, a Minneapolis-based portfolio manager at Fifth Third Asset Management, which manages $22 billion, including Microsoft shares. ``I don't see what they get out of it. The strategy behind the deal was wrong.'' Yahoo rose $9.20, or 48 percent, to $28.38 at 4 p.m. in Nasdaq trading. Microsoft, based in Redmond, Washington, fell 6.6 percent, while Google dropped 8.6 percent. The volume of Microsoft shares traded rose to the highest since April 2006, while Yahoo share trading reached a record. Cost Savings The combination may save $1 billion a year, partly ``through elimination of redundant cost,'' Microsoft said today in a statement. The company has almost 80,000 employees to Yahoo's 14,000. This week, Yahoo announced plans to cut 1,000 jobs, or about 7.1 percent of the workforce. Yahoo, based in Sunnyvale, California, said today that it plans to evaluate the proposal ``promptly.'' ``This is kind of a gift from heaven for the Yahoo shareholders who have really been suffering for the last couple years,'' said Georges Yared, chief investment strategist for Yared Investment Research in Wayzata, Minnesota. ``This allows the shareholders to be bailed out.'' Yahoo's inability to crack Google's dominance in search has led to eight straight quarters of declining profit and a stock that, before today, had lost half its value in the past two years. Previous Overtures Microsoft and Yahoo explored ways to work together in late 2006 and early 2007, according to a letter Ballmer, 51, sent to the Yahoo board. Yahoo rejected the idea of being taken over by Microsoft a year ago, the letter said. ``It shows how serious the threat is from Google,'' Jordan Rohan, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets in New York, said in an interview. ``Yahoo is vulnerable. Investors are losing patience with the Yahoo management team.'' The New York-based analyst rates the stock ``outperform.'' Google yesterday reported a 52 percent increase in fourth-quarter sales growth, its 14th straight quarter exceeding 50 percent. Still, profit and revenue trailed analysts' estimates as it received less money than expected from ad deals with social-networking sites like News Corp.'s MySpace. Google has grown faster than Microsoft in every quarter since Google's 2004 initial public offering as its search engine won more users. Despite Ballmer's multiyear effort to build a new search engine from scratch, Google outsold Microsoft in Internet ads by a margin of 7-to-1 in Microsoft's most recent fiscal year. `Massive Pressure' Ballmer has escalated spending on acquisitions in the past 12 months after years of investments in Microsoft's own business failed to help the company gain share. ``Microsoft is under massive pressure to expand its Internet business to fend off competition from rivals such as Google, and this deal shows how desperate they are,'' said Thomas Radinger, a fund manager at Pioneer Investments in Munich, which oversees about $95 billion in assets, including Microsoft shares. ``It's a huge gamble as the price is very steep and it will take years to successfully integrate such a massive acquisition.'' Prior to August's $6 billion purchase of Internet ad firm AQuantive Inc., the company had never spent more than $1.5 billion for an acquisition. The Yahoo bid is more than 7 times what Microsoft spent for AQuantive. Microsoft paid 13.6 times sales and 111.2 times profit for AQuantive, compared with its offer of 6.4 times sales and 67.6 times earnings for Yahoo. Microsoft's Cash Microsoft, which had $21.1 billion in cash as of Dec. 31, doesn't disclose the value of many of its smaller deals. The company has officially announced deals worth at least $7.5 billion since the start of 2005. That compares with the $33 billion that Oracle Corp. will have spent in that time, pending the closure of its takeover of BEA Systems Inc. Yahoo holders can choose to take $31 in cash or 0.9509 of a Microsoft share for each Yahoo share, according to the statement. Microsoft plans to pay for half the purchase with cash and half with stock. The U.S. Justice Department is ``interested'' in reviewing the antitrust implications of the deal, said agency spokeswoman Gina Talamona. Neelie Kroes, commissioner of competition for the European Commission, said her agency also would scrutinize a Microsoft-Yahoo deal. Too Early to Tell ``It's a part of my job,'' she said in an interview at a conference in San Francisco. Kroes said it was ``far too early'' to say what aspects of a potential deal the agency would examine. Even combined, Microsoft and Yahoo wouldn't seize the lead in Internet search. Google, based in Mountain View, California, captured 56 percent of U.S. Web queries in December, almost double the combined share for Yahoo and Microsoft, which attracted 18 percent and 13 percent, according to New York-based Nielsen Online. Searches will account for 37 percent of the $27.5 billion U.S. online advertising market in 2008, estimates research firm EMarketer Inc. Yahoo also has lost sales in the market for graphical, or display, ads to social-networking sites like Facebook Inc. and MySpace. Co-founder Jerry Yang replaced Terry Semel as chief executive officer in June to reignite sales growth. Microsoft increased competition with Google by agreeing to buy a 1.6 percent stake in Facebook, the second-most visited social-networking site. Asia Holdings Before today's stock gain, about half of Yahoo's market value came from its investments in China's Alibaba Group and Alibaba.com, Yahoo Japan, and South Korea's Gmarket Inc. The company said this week that the value of those investments was more than $10 a share in the latest quarter. Microsoft was advised by Morgan Stanley and Blackstone Group LP and the law firms of Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP and Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft LLP. Yahoo hasn't disclosed its bankers. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is advising Yahoo, Reuters reported, citing people familiar with the situation. Goldman spokesman Michael DuVally declined to comment. Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher, & Flom LLP is giving Yahoo legal counsel, the firm said. ``When you combine the strengths of our two companies, the result will be an incredibly efficient and competitive offering for consumers, for advertisers and for publishers,'' Ballmer said on a conference call today. ``We believe now in those benefits more than ever.'' Stanford Roots Yahoo was founded by Yang, 39, and David Filo while the two were graduate students at Stanford University in 1995. The co-founders, who own a combined 9.8 percent of Yahoo's stock, took the company public a year later. After a three-year jump in the stock price, they were each worth $4 billion, according to Forbes magazine. Then the market crashed in 2000, wiping out 86 percent of Yahoo's market value. The purchase would be the largest acquisition ever in the technology industry. There have been bigger media and telecommunications deals. America Online Inc. in 2001 bought Time Warner Inc. for $124 billion to create the largest Internet and media company. In 2000, Vodafone Plc of the U.K. paid $175 billion for Mannesmann AG, Germany's biggest mobile-phone company. Microsoft's acquisition pace picked up after Google agreed to buy DoubleClick Inc., an AQuantive rival, for $3.1 billion. Microsoft opposed the DoubleClick acquisition, claiming it would give Google too much control over the online ad market. The deal is under review by European regulators. Microsoft's bid to challenge Google in online ads results from slowing growth in the computer software market. Microsoft also faces challenges in that business from Google, which now offers applications for word processing, spreadsheets and presentations over the Web. (Microsoft held a conference call today to discuss the bid. To access a replay, see {LIVE }.) To contact the reporter on this story: Ari Levy in San Francisco at alevy5@bloomberg.net; Dina Bass in Seattle at dbass2@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Lars Klemming at lklemming@bloomberg.net. ||||| SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- In a dramatic move that could significantly reshape the Internet services industry, Microsoft Corp. on Friday offered to buy Yahoo Inc. for $44.6 billion in an effort to team up on online-advertising juggernaut Google Inc. In a brief statement, Yahoo said it "will evaluate this proposal carefully and promptly in the context of Yahoo's strategic plans and pursue the best course of action." 'Today this market is increasingly dominated by one player. Together, Microsoft and Yahoo! can offer a competitive choice.' — Microsoft statement "Google poses a clear long-term threat to Microsoft's business ... But Microsoft and Yahoo together would make a significant competitor who could fight back," said David Mitchell, senior vice president for IT research of British-based consultancy Ovum. Google dominates the lucrative Internet-search business in the U.S. with a 56.3% market share, according to the latest report by Nielsen Online. Yahoo, with 17.7%, and Microsoft, with 13.8%, combined for a market share of 31.5% in December, Nielsen said. Google's global share is even higher. Search is highly valuable because related advertisements can be better tailored to users' interests, increasing the likelihood they will be clicked on and generate revenue. Microsoft executives acknowledged that Google dominates the search market, and said a partnership with Yahoo would create a stronger rival. Reports of Microsoft's on-again, off-again interest in buying Yahoo have swirled since early last year. A particularly deep-pocketed company, Microsoft has made clear its intention to spend heavily to bolster its online services business, which is relatively small compared to its software businesses such as Windows and Office. Still, Yahoo's price tag would not be insignificant. Microsoft reported a total of cash and short term investments of $21.1 billion as of Dec. 31, according to regulatory filings. Should Yahoo accept the offer including $22.3 billion in cash, Microsoft may have to seek additional financing. Building a network Microsoft's bid for Yahoo is a radical departure from its traditional strategy of building its businesses from within. The $44.6 billion offer dwarfs the $6 billion paid last year for online advertising company aQuantive, Microsoft's largest purchase so far. Doug Cogen, an attorney with the mergers and acquisitions group at Fenwick & West in San Francisco, said Microsoft has "become what they are largely without acquisitions, it's never been their culture or strategic approach. It's eye-opening when you think the aQuantive deal was by far their biggest to date, and this is about seven times bigger." The bid underlines the importance of the online advertising market to Microsoft, which company executives say could double to $80 billion within three years. In addition to search advertising, a combined Microsoft and Yahoo would also present a stronger competitor to Google in market of advertising networks that extend beyond the companies' own Web sites. Google on Thursday disclosed some recent difficulty in its network, saying that it has struggled to present advertisements on social networking sites such as partner MySpace.com that attract active user interest. Microsoft has been investing in its own network, while Yahoo has also made strengthening its network a priority. Yahoo's network partners include eBay Inc., though the company has struggled to further build its scale. In June, Yahoo saw a management shakeup, with company co-founder Jerry Yang taking over as chief executive. Yang announced that the company would then undertake a broad reorganization to reinvigorate growth. | United States software giant Microsoft has launched an unsolicited bid to buy Internet search giant Yahoo! for US$44 billion or approximately US$31 per share. The deal, which is half in cash and half in stock, if accepted by Yahoo!'s shareholders, could create a major competitor to Google, the search giant which currently dominates the Internet search market. |
(CNN) -- Iran's government spokesman on Saturday reiterated its right to develop nuclear power for peaceful purposes, a state-run news agency reported. Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki has suggested that Iran would never launch an unprovoked attack on Israel. Gholam-Hossein Elham made the remark to reporters a day after Iran delivered a response to a world powers proposal that Iran suspend its uranium enrichment in exchange for economic and other incentives, the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency reported. World leaders, such as those from the West, the U.N. Security Council and Israel, have been suspicious that Iran is using its nuclear program to develop weaponry. Iran has consistently disputed that and said it plans to use nuclear power for energy. Elham said "Iran's stand on the issue has not changed" and that Iran "will not withdraw from legitimate rights of its people," IRNA reported. "Tehran's stand is based on the legitimate rights of the Iranian nation as well as the international regulations. The Iranian nation will continue with the path determined by the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei," Elham said. The remarks in the IRNA report are paraphrased comments. The incentives proposal to Iran was made last month by the foreign ministers of the five U.N. Security Council permanent members -- the United States, Britain, China, Russia and France -- and by the foreign minister of Germany, which has been involved in nuclear negotiations, and by European Union security chief Javier Solana. Watch what a deal could mean » Iran responded to those ministers on Friday. Saeed Jalili, Iran's top nuclear negotiator, told Solana in a phone call that Iran's response focused on "common ground between the two sides and a constructive and creative view," according to Iranian news reports. Along with the incentives, the European Union, acting on behalf of the world powers, also is offering a six-week "pre-negotiations" phase proposal, a gesture of goodwill and an effort to jump-start talks that have been at an impasse over Iran's nuclear aspirations. It is calling for suspending any new sanctions if Iran takes a six-week break from installing or manufacturing any more centrifuges that enrich uranium. That would mean Iran would be allowed to continue to use the more than 3,000 centrifuges it already has but could not manufacture more in that period. But the world powers said in its letter to Iran last month "formal negotiations can start as soon as Iran's enrichment-related and reprocessing activities are suspended." Mehr News Agency reported on Friday that Jalili and Solana "agreed to hold further talks later this month." The talks come amid tensions between the Jewish state of Israel and the Islamic Republic of Iran, which doesn't recognize Israel's existence. Israel believes Iran is intent on developing nuclear weapons and officials there have said the country won't tolerate a nuclear-armed Iran. There are fears in the world community that Israel might be pondering a strike on Iran's nuclear facilities. U.S. President George W. Bush has said he favors a diplomatic approach to settling the nuclear dispute with Iran but has not ruled out a military option. In a recent interview, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki suggested that Iran would never launch an unprovoked attack on Israel -- in contrast to some interpretations of hostile comments toward Israel by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. On Saturday, the commander of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards said any "act of aggression" against Iran will prompt a stiff response. "By using advanced rockets and lightning tactics, vessels of (Iran's) enemies shall sink deep into the Persian Gulf waters," said Maj. Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari, who spoke to semi-official Fars News Agency. Jafari -- who boasted of the Guards' advanced rockets and fast boats -- said his comments were meant to underline the forces' capabilities and strategies, not as a prediction of any war. "Regardless of how well equipped and advanced the enemies' vessels may be, the tactics of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards and their lightning speed will give the enemy no chance to escape," he said. Journalist Shirzad Bozorgmehr contributed to this report. All About Iran • Israel • Nuclear Energy • European Union ||||| Iran insists that is nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes. Iran says its stance on its nuclear programme remains unchanged, despite an EU offer of incentives to suspend uranium enrichment. A government spokesman said the country was prepared to negotiate with major world powers, but insisted the talks must address Iran's nuclear rights. He was speaking a day after Iran formally responded to the EU offer. Correspondents say the latest statement suggests Iran is not ready to slow down its nuclear activities. The exact content of both the EU proposal and the Iranian response have not yet been made public. In the first official comments since Iran submitted its response to the EU, spokesman Gholamhossein Elham said that Iran "will not go back on its rights on the nuclear issue". "Iran's stand regarding its peaceful nuclear program has not changed. Iran insists on negotiations while respecting its rights and avoiding any loss of international rights," he said. The BBC's John Leyne in Tehran said it is difficult to see how any talks will last if Iran is unwilling to compromise on its nuclear programme. Incentives Stark choice in Iran policy battles The incentives package from China, the EU, France, Russia, the UK and US was offered to Iran by EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana in June. Mr Solana also asked Iran to accept a six-week freeze on further developments on its controversial programme, in return for a similar freeze on new UN sanctions. Separately, the EU also imposed new sanctions on Iran in June. The incentives package builds on a previous offer of 2006 and says that if Iran suspends uranium enrichment, then talks can start about a long-term agreement. On offer is recognition of Iran's right to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes and the treatment of Iran in "the same manner" as other states under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Iran would get help with developing nuclear power stations and be guaranteed fuel for them. It would also be offered trade concessions, including the possible lifting of US sanctions preventing it from buying new civilian aircraft and parts. Tehran has consistently denied Western claims that it is seeking to build a nuclear weapon, saying its programme is peaceful. It has repeatedly rejected demands to halt enriching uranium, which can be used as fuel for power plants or material for weapons if refined to a greater degree. Our correspondent says it may be significant that the latest tough comments came from an official close to President Ahmadinejad. Some officials have hinted that a compromise could be possible, but the president has repeatedly restated his commitment to the nuclear programme. E-mail this to a friend Printable version Bookmark with: Delicious Digg reddit Facebook StumbleUpon What are these? ||||| PARIS Iran’s nuclear policy has not changed, an Iranian government spokesman said Saturday in Tehran, confirming that Iran would not comply with Security Council resolutions requiring it to stop enriching uranium. “Iran’s stand regarding its peaceful nuclear program has not changed,” the spokesman, Gholam Hossein Elham, said in his weekly meeting with reporters. His remarks came a day after Iran formally responded to a proposal of incentives aimed at resolving the impasse over the country’s nuclear program. Iran’s response failed to address the crucial issue of its uranium enrichment activities, according to officials involved in the diplomacy. Instead, the response, which came in a letter by Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, said that Iran would be willing to open comprehensive negotiations with the European Union’s foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, and the six world powers that proposed the incentives. The letter did not specifically address the proposals they presented last month. ||||| BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union's foreign policy chief is willing to meet Iran's chief negotiator soon, after Tehran replied to a package of incentives from major powers for it to curb its nuclear program, an EU spokeswoman said on Saturday. She said EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana held first telephone consultations on Saturday on Iran's written response to proposals he delivered to Tehran last month on behalf of the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China. "One of the things to decide is to meet (Iranian national security chief Saeed) Jalili, and if so when. In principle, the position is to respond favorably," Solana's spokeswoman, Cristina Gallach, told Reuters. She said Jalili had requested such a meeting in a telephone call with Solana on Friday in which he stressed "common ground". Gallach declined to give details of the content of the Iranian reply, saying the major powers were still studying the four-page letter from Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki and holding consultations. The U.N. Security Council has imposed three rounds of mild sanctions on Iran over its refusal to comply with international demands to suspend the enrichment of nuclear fuel, which the West suspects its aimed at developing weapons. The Islamic Republic insists its program is purely for civilian energy purposes and has said it will never give up what it regards as its legal right to enrichment. It was not clear whether Mottaki's letter addressed Solana's proposal for a six-week preliminary phase of talks in which Tehran would stop adding new centrifuges to its uranium enrichment program, while the six powers would undertake not to make any new moves on sanctions. The major powers have said they will only enter formal negotiations on the package of economic, technological and political incentives if Iran suspends all uranium enrichment. Continued... | Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki wrote a response to the incentives proposal. Iran said today that the policies regarding its nuclear program have not changed, despite a proposal made by world powers last month that the country suspend uranium enrichment in exchange for economic and political incentives. Government spokesman Gholam-Hossein Elham delivered the remarks. "Iran's stand regarding its peaceful nuclear program has not changed. Iran insists on negotiations while respecting its rights and avoiding any loss of international rights," Elham said. He indicated that Iran "will continue with the path determined by the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei." His statement came a day after Iran officially responded to the incentives package, which was offered by the foreign ministers of the United States, the United Kingdom, China, Russia, France, and Germany, as well as European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana. They had called for formal negotiations to be held "as soon as Iran's enrichment-related and reprocessing activities are suspended." The proposal also included a preliminary negotiations phase, in which the world powers would not pursue any further sanctions against Iran if the nation does not manufacture or install uranium-enriching centrifuges for six weeks. Iran's response, a letter written by Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, has not been made public. However, officials involved in the diplomacy have discussed some of its contents. They say the letter failed to address their proposal, and that it criticized the way diplomacy has been conducted, including the sanctions imposed by the United Nations Security Council. "The time for negotiating from the condescending position of inequality has come to an end," the letter said, according to the anonymous officials. Nevertheless, the letter says Iran is willing to begin negotiating with Javier Solana and the other countries who made the offer. Solana is also willing to negotiate, according to his spokesman, Cristina Gallach. She said Iranian security chief Saeed Jalili had requested a meeting in a telephone call. "One of the things to decide is to meet Jalili, and if so when," Gallach said. |
Portugal recebe hoje avião russo de combate a incêndios Portugal recebe hoje o avião russo Beriev 200 que o Governo alugou, por um período de dois meses, e através do qual pretende avaliar as capacidades deste aparelho durante a época de fogos e decidir então sobre uma possível compra de aeronaves do género. Segundo refere a Rádio Renascença, o Beriev 200 tem o dobro da capacidade de transporte de água e produtos de extinção de incêndios dos aviões pesados que costumam actuar em Portugal, os Canadair. No entanto, segundo afirmou Gil Martins, comandante operacional do Centro Nacional de Operações de Socorro, à RR, é preciso observar o Beriev 200 em acção nos incêndios, pelo que, «a partir de dia 1 de Julho, o avião entrará em testes operacionais em ambiente real, durante 60 dias». O aluguer do Beriev 200 que é esperado, esta quinta-feira, ao final da tarde, na Base de Monte Real, onde irá ficar até 31 de Agosto, deverá custar ao Estado português qualquer coisa como um milhão e 234 mil euros, sendo que, caso o seu desempenho agrade aos responsáveis nacionais, o Executivo deverá avançar para a aquisição de quatro aparelhos idênticos, os quais, no entanto, só estarão ao serviço em 2008. CONTINUA ... 29-06-2006 12:19:57 ||||| Portugal 2006-06-22 - 00:00:00 Incêndios - Empresas disputam venda de meios aéreos Helicópteros russos em risco no combate ao fogo Jordi Burch Cavaco Silva visitou as instalações do SNBPC em Carnaxide Duas empresas portuguesas e uma polaca disputam nos tribunais uma guerra milionária. Todas querem vender ao Estado português seis helicópteros de médio porte para combate aos fogos – um cobiçado negócio de dezenas de milhões de euros. O Governo abriu um concurso público internacional e a empresa Heliportugal ganhou com os aparelhos russos Kamov 32 – por 42,1 milhões de euros. Mas duas das quatro concorrentes contestaram a decisão e estalou um conflito judicial que põe em risco a utilização dos helicópteros, já a partir do próximo dia 1 de Julho, quando começa a fase Charlie, de maior risco de incêndio. A empresa polaca PZL, uma das empresas derrotadas, interpôs no início de Junho uma providência cautelar junto do Supremo Tribunal Administrativo (STA). A Helisul, outra das preteridas, avançou ontem para o STA com um pedido de impugnação da decisão do Conselho de Ministros de 27 de Abril, de onde saiu a vitória da Heliportugal. Cinco empresas apresentaram-se a concurso e a decisão do júri foi conhecida em Abril. A Helibravo e a Eurocopter afastaram-se, enquanto a Helisul e a PZL não se conformaram com a decisão. Acusaram a Heliportugal de ter violado, “de forma flagrante, grosseira e dolosa”, as normas do concurso – e dizem que a proposta vencedora não é “economicamente a mais vantajosa”. Só a manutenção dos aparelhos ascende a cerca de 1 667 600 euros: 4169 euros por hora de voo, multiplicados por 400 horas anuais. O Governo contestou a acção judicial da PZL, dentro do prazo máximo de 15 dias, e declarou interesse público urgente do contrato – para garantir os helicópteros em Portugal até ao final do mês. Mas, conforme fonte do Ministério da Administração Interna admitiu ao CM, “há sempre a hipótese de o STA se pronunciar nos próximos dias e a decisão ser desfavorável”. Nesse caso, o Governo avança para o aluguer dos seis helicópteros em falta. "DERAM MELHORES CONDIÇÕES" O júri que tomou a decisão sobre a aquisição dos meios aéreos é constituído por sete elementos, escolhidos pelo ministro da Administração Interna, António Costa: um funcionário do Instituto Nacional de Aviação Civil; um representante do Ministério das Finanças; um coronel da Força Aérea; o chefe de gabinete do secretário de Estado da Administração Interna, Jorge Sequeira; o jurista Diogo Lacerda; e o presidente da AFOCELCA (agrupamento de empresas de combate aos incêndios florestais), Pedro Moura. Contactada pelo CM, fonte do Ministério da Administração Interna garante “a máxima competência do júri” – e diz que a Heliportugal apresentou as melhores condições. “Depois de tudo bem ponderado – preços, qualidade e eficiência –, os helicópteros Kamov são os melhores para a missão a desempenhar”. As empresas concorrentes “queixam-se de a Heliportugal ter apresentado preços de manutenção mais elevados”, mas, “tendo em conta os vários factores, é de longe a melhor solução”. E, da parte da Heliportugal, o gerente, José Carlos Coelho, diz-se “tranquilo”. CAVACO APELA À CONSCIÊNCIA Polémicas à parte, o Presidente da República, Cavaco Silva, apelou ontem “a um maior sentido de responsabilidade” por parte das pessoas, de modo a diminuir o risco de fogos florestais. “O combate aos incêndios é um desafio colectivo e por isso apelo à consciência dos portugueses, para o cumprimento das regras e orientações, sendo essa uma responsabilidade de todos”, disse o Presidente, após duas horas de reunião com o ministro da Administração Interna, António Costa, e com os responsáveis máximos do Serviço Nacional de Bombeiros e Protecção Civil, em Carnaxide. “Aos bombeiros e protecção [civil] exige-se muito, mas cada um dos cidadãos tem o dever de contribuir para actuar e ajudar a fazer face ao flagelo que são os incêndios”, referiu o Chefe de Estado. Cavaco Silva considerou “notável” o esforço de melhoramento da organização, meios e coordenação do Serviço Nacional de Bombeiros e Protecção Civil. “Criámos melhores condições para fazer frente à ameaça, mas a verdade é que a ameaça não desapareceu”, disse o ministro da Administração Interna, António Costa. PASSOS DO NEGÓCIO 30.11.05 - O Governo formou um júri de sete elementos e lançou os dois concursos públicos internacionais para aquisição de helicópteros: seis médios e quatro ligeiros. Para a venda dos médios, entraram logo na corrida a Heliportugal, Helisul, Helibravo, Eurocopter e a polaca PZL. 27.04.06 - A opção do júri estava tomada. Na última quinta-feira de Abril, saiu do Conselho de Ministros a decisão de comprar à Heliportugal os seis helicópteros Kamov 32, por 42,1 milhões de euros. O acordo prevê a chegada dos aparelhos a Portugal no dia 1 de Julho. 01.06.06 - Depois de comparar a proposta vencedora com a sua, e de avaliar os critérios do júri, a resposta da empresa polaca PZL não se fez esperar. Interpôs uma providência cautelar junto do Supremo Tribunal Administrativo. O Governo contra-atacou com uma declaração de interesse público do contrato. 21.06.06 - A empresa Helisul seguiu o exemplo da PZL e foi mais longe. Fez ontem chegar ao Supremo Tribunal Administrativo um pedido de impugnação da decisão do Conselho de Ministros de 27 de Abril. PROPOSTAS DERROTADAS - 62,3 milhões de euros era o preço dos seis helicópteros médios Bell 412 EP proposto pela Helisul. O preço de manutenção dos aparelhos apresentado era de 1600 euros à hora e cada litro de água lançada custaria 0,26 euros. - 52,2 milhões de euros foi o valor posto pela PZL aos seus seis helicópteros Heli PZL. A manutenção das aeronaves custaria ao Estado 1378 euros à hora e o valor do litro de água lançado seria de 0,26 euros. - 67,8 milhões de euros era o valor mais alto a concurso, apresentado pela Helibravo pelos seis Heli Eurocopter. A manutenção dos aparelhos seria de 1576 euros por hora, enquanto o litro de água lançada custaria 0,26 euros. - 56,6 milhões de euros foi o preço apresentado a concurso público pela Eurocopter pela venda de seis aeronaves Heli Eurocopter. Para a manutenção, os gastos seriam de 7763 euros por hora e o litro de água lançada teria um valor de 0,65 euros. Henrique Machado » Artigos Relacionados 14-06-2006 - 00:00:00 Em seis minutos já estão no ar 08-06-2006 - 00:00:00 Bombeiros feridos 07-06-2006 - 00:00:00 Aviões vieram tarde SUBSCREVER ALERTAS SMS CORREIO DA MANHÃ Os Títulos do Dia no seu telemóvel! Envie CMTD para o nº 4644 . As Notícias de Última Hora no seu telemóvel! Envie CMUH para o nº 4644 . Custo por mensagem: €0,30 | Mais serviços em: www.correiodamanha.pt/alertas » Comentários Quinta-feira, 22 Junho - João Pens(ador)ionista Ora aí está. Estes negócios é que causam arrombo nos Cofres do Estado. Não são as reformas ditas "milionárias"! - Mário Deus Coloquem a PZL,Eurocopter,HelisulHelibravo,e o raio que os parta sejam é rápidos para que tudo esteja pronto a tempo a horas e ao m/preço. BOLAS PRÓ NEGÓCIO Sintra - Nuno Duarte Que os incêndios de Verão são um grande negócio já nós sabíamos, agora que os concursos fossem atabalhoados é que é preciso ser um bocadinho ridículo. - Alentejano Isto a "porra" do dinheiro até "dá" vista aos cegos... - anabcouteiro E continua a dança...ou antes o fogo... Tenham tento e vergonha! Andam todos a ver quem é que ganha mais com os fogos!Façam prevenção!!! Evitem os fogos e patrocinem a floresta, invistam em reflorestação e contratem guardas florestais e castiguem os incendiários e os mandantes... - Carlos Pinheiro Agora compreendo porque há tantos fogos...! Esta coisa até dá dinheiro...! - Freeway Digo e repito, leiam a notícia, leiam BEM a notícia antes de comentar. Os helicópteros russos fazem parte de uma proposta PORTUGUESA, bolas, a empresa até se chama HeliPortugal. Não é, definitivamente, uma empresa russa. Assim se geram mal-entendidos. - A.Rosario Acho que o concurso foi ou vai ser bem adjudicado, é que o custo dos aparelhos mais a manutenção de 10 anos, vai custar o mesmo que a proposta da PZL, isto para não falar dos impostos que a administração fiscal vai cobrar por ser uma empresa Nacional. Espero que o tribunal dê uma resposta rápida, senão os alugueres para 2006 ficam ao preço de aquisição dos hélis. - Alexandre Magno Fidalgo Se temos duas empresas Portuguesas com possibilidade de fazer negócio, porque é que se vai recorrer aos Russos? No meio de tanta soberba, onde cabe uma boa governação? | Portugal received on June 29 a Russian Beriev 200 airplane that the Portuguese Government has rented for two months. The stated objective is to test the aircraft during the forest fire season, allowing the Ministry of Internal Administration to determine if it should buy it. The correspondent agreement agreed to by the Portuguese vice-Minister of Internal Administration, Fernando Rosa Andrade, and the director of the Russian company Beriev, Victor Kobzev, will cost Portugal €1,234,000 (USD 1,552,802) for two months rent and maintenance. The objective is to test the aircraft in real firefighting situations this summer, these tests will then provide information for the Ministry of Internal Administration, so that this can make a final decision about a purchase. With the double of capacity for the transport of water and fire retardants of other aerial firefighting aircraft that usually operate in Portugal, mainly the Canadair CL-415, the Beriev will operate throughout Portugal, independently of its base. The Beriev's capacity is almost twice that of the Canadair, 12,000 L/h and 6,160 L/h respectively. "As of June 1, the aircraft will enter in operational tests in real environment, during 60 days", Gil Martins, operations commander of the National Center of Rescue Operations, told Rádio de Renascença News Agency. "The Beriev is an amphibious aircraft of the same type as the Canadair, that transports a dozen tons of fire retardants, the double than a Canadair aircraft", Martins added. The aircraft arrives Thursday night at Monte Real Air Base, were he will stay until August 31, and will be visited tomorrow (July 1) by the Minister of Internal Administration, António Costa. The plan is to purchase four heavy aircraft for fighting forest and ground fires which will become available in 2008. In addition to the order of airplanes the Government as purchased six medium and four light helicopters, in two separate bids, in which the deal for the six medium helicopters caused the dispute of an multimillion dollar war between the three competing companies in the courts. The international contest was launched by the Portuguese Government in November 2005 for six medium helicopters was participated in by: Heliportugal, Helisul, Helibravo, Eurocopter and the Polish PZL. With the decision made by a jury of seven members, in April the Cabinet decided to purchase from Heliportugal six Kamov 32 helicopters worth 42.1 million EUR, scheduled to arrive June 1. Early this month the Polish company PZL interposed an action for a provisional legal remedy to the Supreme Administrative Court. In June 21 the Portuguese company Helisul made a plea for the decision of the Cabinet in April 27. With about 3.2 million hectares of forest in 1995 and 2.5 million hectares in 2005, Portugal lost about fifth of its forest in ten years to forest fires. |
Versión en Español Earthquake Summary The following is a release by the United States Geological Survey, National Earthquake Information Center: An earthquake occurred about 150 km (95 miles) SSW of Padang, Sumatra, Indonesia or 885 km (550 miles) WNW of JAKARTA, Java, Indonesia at 2:02 PM MST, Feb 25, 2008 (Feb 26 at 4:02 AM local time in Indonesia). The magnitude and location may be revised when additional data and further analysis results are available. There have been no reports of damage at this time. Felt Reports Several homes damaged at Sikakap. Felt (V) on Mentawai and at Painan; (IV) at Padang, (III) at Pariaman and (II) at Bukittingi, Kepahiang, Padangpanjang and Payakumbuh. Also felt in Singapore. Earthquake Information for Asia Earthquake Information for Indonesia Tsunami Information ||||| 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. ||||| Versión en Español Earthquake Summary Earthquake Summary Poster The following is a release by the United States Geological Survey, National Earthquake Information Center: An earthquake occurred 160 km (100 miles) SSW of Padang, Sumatra, Indonesia and 855 km (530 miles) WNW of JAKARTA, Java, Indonesia at 1:36 AM MST, Feb 25, 2008 (3:36 PM local time in Indonesia). The magnitude and location may be revised when additional data and further analysis results are available. There have been no reports of damage. Felt Reports WP 7.3 (HDRA). Felt (III) at Pekanbaru. Also felt at Curup, Duri and Padang. Felt (III) at Johor Bahru, Malaysia. Also felt at George Town, Malaysia. Felt (III) at Singapore, Singapore. Tectonic Summary The magnitude 7.0 Kepulauan Mentawai, Indonesia, earthquake of February 25, 2008 occurred as the result of thrust faulting on the boundary between the Australia and Sunda plates. At the location of this earthquake, the Australia plate moves north-northeast with respect to the Sunda plate at a velocity of about 60 mm/year. The direction of relative plate motion is oblique to the orientation of the plate boundary offshore of the west coast of Sumatra. The component of plate-motion perpendicular to the boundary is accommodated by thrust faulting on the offshore plate-boundary, with the Australia plate subducting beneath the Sunda plate. Much of the component of plate motion parallel to the plate boundary is accommodated by strike-skip faulting on the Sumatra fault, which is inland on Sumatra proper. This earthquake continues an episode of unusually high earthquake activity that has impacted Sumatra and vicinity in recent years. Previous earthquakes in the series of shocks include the Sumatra-Andaman Islands earthquake of December 26, 2004 (M 9.1), the Nias earthquake of March 28, 2005 (M 8.6), and the southern Sumatra earthquakes of September 12, 2007 (M 8.4 and 7.9). The earthquake of February 25, 2008, occurred within the broad section of the Sumatra subduction zone that was spanned by aftershocks of the southern Sumatra earthquakes of September 12, 2007. Earthquake Information for Asia Earthquake Information for Indonesia Tsunami Information ||||| Versión en Español Earthquake Summary The following is a release by the United States Geological Survey, National Earthquake Information Center: An earthquake occurred about 150 km (95 miles) SSW of Padang, Sumatra, Indonesia or 885 km (550 miles) WNW of JAKARTA, Java, Indonesia at 2:02 PM MST, Feb 25, 2008 (Feb 26 at 4:02 AM local time in Indonesia). The magnitude and location may be revised when additional data and further analysis results are available. There have been no reports of damage at this time. Felt Reports Several homes damaged at Sikakap. Felt (V) on Mentawai and at Painan; (IV) at Padang, (III) at Pariaman and (II) at Bukittingi, Kepahiang, Padangpanjang and Payakumbuh. Also felt in Singapore. Earthquake Information for Asia Earthquake Information for Indonesia Tsunami Information | The Indonesia area. According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), several large earthquakes have shaken Indonesia with the largest having a magnitude of 7.0. The most recent quake had a magnitude of 6.4 and struck at 4:02 a.m. local time February 26, 150 kilometers (94 miles) south, southwest of Padang, Sumatra, Indonesia. The depth registered at 35 km (21.7 miles). The USGS earlier reported it as a 6.9. The largest and first had a magnitude of 7.0 and occurred just over a half hour before. It was located 160 miles from Padang. The USGS initially reported the quake as a magnitude 7.2. The 7.0 quake caused the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to issue a local tsunami bulletin stating that small waves were generated with larger ones close to the quake's epicenter. A half dozen smaller quakes ranging from 5.0 to 6.0 have occurred in the same area since February 24. So far, there are no reports of damage or injuries in any of the quakes. |
You may report errors and omissions on this page to the IMDb database managers. They will be examined and if approved will be included in a future update. Clicking the button on the left will take you through a new improved step-by-step process. ||||| Dorival Caymmi morre aos 94 anos no Rio da Folha Online O cantor e compositor baiano Dorival Caymmi morreu neste sábado aos 94 anos, por volta das 6h, em sua casa no Rio de Janeiro, confirmaram familiares do músico à Folha Online. As causas foram insuficiência renal e falência múltipla dos órgãos. Saiba onde será o velório e o enterro. Saiba mais sobre a vida de Dorival Caymmi. "Ele já estava doente havia muito tempo. A família está muito abalada", disse à Folha Online Maria Ferreira, mulher de Oswaldo Caymmi, primo de Dorival Caymmi. Nascido em Salvador em 30 de abril de 1914, Caymmi mudou-se para o Rio no final dos anos 30, mas nunca deixou de retratar a Bahia em seu trabalho. Antes de conhecer o sucesso e virar cantor de rádio no Rio, Caymmi trabalhou como jornalista em Salvador. Foi na Rádio Nacional que conheceu a cantora Stella Maris, que em 1940 se tornou sua mulher. Com ele teve três filhos, todos também cantores: Dori Caymmi, Danilo Caymmi e Nana Caymmi. Escreveu mais de cem composições. Entre seus sucessos estão "O que É que a Baiana Tem?", imortalizada na voz de Carmen Miranda, "Maracangalha", "Promessa de Pescador", "Saudade de Itapoã", "Rosa Morena". Outra canção célebre é "Oração de Mãe Menininha", gravada por nomes como Gal Costa e Maria Bethânia e dedicada à mãe-de-santo de Salvador Menininha do Gantois. Dorival Caymmi gravou cerca de 20 discos em 60 anos de carreira, tendo suas composições gravadas por dezenas de intérpretes com variadas versões. Em 1986, no Rio, o artista foi tema de enredo da Estação Primeira de Mangueira, com o qual a escola de samba venceu o carnaval. Foi no final dos anos 80 que Caymmi reduziu as aparições e os shows, passando a viver mais sua vida privada. | Dorival Caymmi, a popular Brazilian singer and songwriter, has died today at the age of 94 at his Rio de Janeiro home. His death was caused by kidney cancer and multiple organ failures. Caymmi wrote over one hundred songs in his lifetime. His song "Das Rosas" was translated into English as "And Roses and Roses" by the American lyricist Ray Gilbert. Associated Press has reported that his "deep, velvety voice" made Caymmi one of Brazil's most popular musicians. One of his most popular songs, "O que e que a Baiana tem" gained popularity after being performed by Carmen Miranda, who was a popular Brazilian samba singa and film star. Also an actor, Caymmi performed in several film roles, his first being ''Joujoux e Balangandãs'' in 1939. He also starred in ''Pureza'', ''Abacaxi azul'', ''Estrela da Manhã'', ''Pluft'', ''o Fantasminha'', ''Garota de Ipanema'', ''The Sandpit Generals'' (an English language film) and, most recently, ''Tenda dos Milagres''. According to Maria Ferreira, a relative of Caymmi, the family is "very shaken" by his death. He is survived by his three children. |
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Hurricane Felix continued to track westward Tuesday across the southern Caribbean, taking aim at the Nicaragua-Honduras border and apparently steering well clear of vital U.S. energy infrastructure in the Gulf of Mexico. As of 6:40 a.m. Eastern time, Felix was a category 5 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 160 miles per hour, the National Hurricane Center said. Felix is expected to produce heavy rainfall, pegged in a range of five to 10 inches but with the possibility of up to 20 inches in some areas, along with a storm surge of 18 feet or higher. Some projected tracks for Felix have it crossing the Yucatan peninsula and entering the southern Gulf of Mexico, while others have it moving directly across Honduras and Guatemala. In recent Nymex trading, the price on the benchmark crude-oil contract for October delivery was up 6 cents at $74.10 a barrel. Felix is the second hurricane and the sixth named storm of the 2007 Atlantic season. Last month, Hurricane Dean left 20 dead after carving a destructive path from St. Lucia in the Caribbean to Mexico. ||||| This Day In Weather History South-Central to NE Iowa (1959) Heavy snow in a 100-mile band. Snow accumulated up to 20" and drifted from 6-10 feet high. Totals: 15.5" at Dubuque; 10 inches at Des Moines. Nebraska to the Dakotas (1966) Snowstorm dumped 12-36" from the 2nd to the 5th. Storm killed 15 people and 100,000 cattle. Snow drifted up to 30 feet. Visibility at Bismarck, ND, was zero for 11 consecutive hours. Brownsville, TX (1983) A high of 100 degrees; earliest 100 degree day ever for the city. | Hurricane Felix, the sixth named storm and second hurricane this season, has strengthened to a Category 4 hurricane. As of 5:00 EDT Sunday, it is located 440 miles off the coast of Kingston, Jamaica, in the Caribbean Sea. It has maximum sustained winds of 140 mph (225 km/h), and 165 mph (266 km/h) gusts. It is moving at approximately 20 mph (32 km/h) to the northwest, into the warmer waters of the eastern Caribbean. It is still strengthening, and expected to reach Category 5 as it continues in warm waters. Jamaica is on storm watch, as after being hit by Hurricane Dean last month there is a possibility of more damage. It is expected however that it will be outside the main areas of affect, which will be further south. The risks are mainly torrential rain, flash flooding, mudslides, and slips. It is likely to affect the western coastal areas of Mexico with strong winds and four to eight inches (100 mm to 130 mm) of rain when it passes through there sometime this week. |
(CNN) -- A magnitude 6.8 earthquake struck just off Colombia's Pacific coast late Sunday, the U.S. Geological Survey reported, but there were no immediate reports of injuries. Power outages were reported in at least three cities in the area, but there was no sign of widespread damage, Colombian authorities reported. The epicenter of the quake about 295 miles (480 kilometers) west-southwest of Bogota and about 220 miles north of Quito, the capital of neighboring Ecuador, according to the USGS. It hit at 8:49 p.m. (0149 GMT), the agency reported. The region has been hard-hit by earthquakes in the past. In January 1999, a magnitude 6 quake killed nearly 900 people and left 200,000 homeless in western Colombia -- and as recently as mid-August, a magnitude 8.0 quake killed more than 500 people in neighboring Peru. E-mail to a friend All About Earthquakes ||||| WASHINGTON, Sept 9 (Reuters) - A strong 6.8-magnitude earthquake hit near the west coast of Colombia on Sunday night, the U.S. Geological Survey said, but there were no immediate reports of serious damage. Vindell Hsu, a geophysicist with the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii, told Reuters by telephone: "At this moment we are not giving any warning to any area. There might be small waves locally." ||||| The following is a release by the United States Geological Survey, National Earthquake Information Center: An earthquake occurred NEAR THE WEST COAST OF COLOMBIA, about 150 km (95 miles) NNE of Tumaco or 480 km (295 miles) WSW of Bogota at 7:49 PM MDT, Sep 9, 2007 (8:49 PM local time in Colombia). The magnitude and location may be revised when additional data and further analysis results are available. | Shake map of the quake. According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS) a magnitude 6.8 struck just of the coast of Colombia at 01:49 (UTC) with a depth of 10 kilometers (6.2 miles). The epicenter was located 150 km (95 miles) north, northeast of Tumaco, Colombia. There are reports of power outages in some cities, but there are no reports of damage to buildings, deaths or injuries. The USGS says that some "moderate" damage may exist near the coastline of southwest Columbia. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has not issued a tsunami warning saying there is "no destructive widespread tsunami threat based on earthquake historical data," but that "small waves could be generated locally." |
The publication of the Independent Panel’s Review of Australian Sport has stimulated enormous discussion. Yesterday I linked to the publication of the report. This post looks at some of the responses in the last twenty-four hours. This was the Google News graphic at 7.00 p.m. EST on 19 November. John Coates argued the case for funding Olympic sports in an article in The Australian. This was a report of his initial response to the Crawford Report and this an ABC report of his response (the ABC report includes video and audio items). The Australian Olympic Committee has appointed a study group to examine the Crawford Report. Sally Robbins argues strongly for Olympic funding. The Canberra Times cites Cadel Evans, Anna Mears an Ken Wallace as supporters of Government funding for Olympic sports. This is an article in The Age expressing Cycling Australia’s concerns. This ABC post notes Archery Australia’s concerns. Wally Mason observes that “Clearly federal funding does not come out of a bottomless pit and every Olympic medal comes at a cost. It is a cost most of us are prepared to pay.” Andrew Southcott’s response to the Report indicates that a Top 10 Olympics’ finish is not good enough. Simon Crean was reported as observing that Australia’s sporting success was “a fundamental part of the Australian brand”. Jacquelin Magnay discussed the Report’s recommendation about the format of the Australian Sports Commission’s Board. In an earlier article she argued that the “sport panel has totally misread the nation’s love of the Olympics and the pride of beating bigger countries on the international stage.” Her first article summarises the Report’s main recommendations. This a video segment from athletes supporting funding for elite sport. This ABC post explores the ‘contentious nature’ of the Report. This ABC post reports the publication of the Crawford Report. This is the Canberra Times’ report of the publication under the headline ‘A sporting nation divided’. Nicole Jeffrey notes that not all of the Crawford Report have been challenged. She notes that the Olympic sports have welcomed the recommendation that “the national sports federations should have primary responsibility for development of their own high-performance programs”. The sports have welcome statements about physical education in the national curriculum and the provision of funds to build sporting facilities. An ABC post noted that ‘Big Codes welcome Crawford Report‘. John Alexander argues that the “key to our health care costs which are crippling is preventative medicine in the form of physical activity. Australia needs a renaissance of our lost culture of the fun and exhilaration we enjoyed through active participation in sports.” Mike Hurst notes the importance of fitness in schools. An editorial in The Age suggests that: Australians will celebrate any gold medal won in 2012, even if it is in a sport they never think of between Olympics and even if it is won by someone they have not previously heard of and might never hear of again. Nor can anyone begrudge individual athletes their success. But, as the report notes, the present system funds such success at the rate of $15 million per gold medal. The nation’s self-esteem is surely neither so low nor so brittle as to require this level of investment, and it is money that in some instances could be more wisely spent. A shift to funding high-participation sports at grassroots levels might not result in the same surge of collective euphoria every four years, but it would contribute in a more sustained fashion to national wellbeing. In the same paper, Greg Baum posits “Here is the nub. The Crawford report implies what we will say outright, that it would be poor reflection of our maturity as a nation if we continued to live and die exclusively by our Olympic medal tally.” Richard Hinds argues that the AOC gravy train plan doesn’t have wheels. He concludes that when the Federal cabinet meets to discuss the response to the Report “In their hands will be a document that has the potential to prompt much- needed change in the impact sports funding has on the everyday lives of Australians – not just for those 16 chest-beating days every four years.” In an earlier article Richard Hinds observes that “It remains to be seen if the Crawford Report will be successful in its laudable intentions: to ensure government spending leads to increased grassroots participation, greater inclusiveness, the restoration of physical education in schools, a positive impact on public health and to improve and empower poorly administered sports.” Dan Silkstone explores the Report’s focus on participation sports and in another article discusses the gold medal stoush. Ruth Brown, Charlie Happell and Trevor Cook provided a Crikey view of the Crawford report. There have been some interesting comments in response to web based articles. As of 7.30 p.m. (EST) on 19 November, for example, there were 25 comments on John Coates’ article. One of these poses a question about the impact of investment in elite sport: “Has the advent of the funding of elite sport in Australia improved the health of young Australians over what it would have been without this funding? If so, it is money well spent. If not, then monies should be focused on participation rather than excellence. Before 100 million is given, this should be answered unemotionally and convincingly.” Postscript Some links from 20 November via Peter Logue: a Sydney Morning Herald post by Malcolm Maiden and an interview with David Crawford on Radio National. Australia Talks (Radio National) discussed the Crawford report 19 November ||||| THE will to win is part of the collective Australian psyche, The Australian editorialised yesterday. I couldn't agree more. It has been demonstrated time and again since the mid-19th century that Australians do not strive for mediocrity. They want to win. So why would we even consider changing our direction when our Olympians and Paralympians enjoy the overwhelming support of most Australians, who take enormous pride in their feats when they are competing on the world stage? Yet that was the extraordinary suggestion in a report released by federal Sport Minister Kate Ellis that was written by an independent panel led by Lend Lease and Fosters Group chairman David Crawford. Crawford's report claims there is a funding bias in favour of Olympic sports that should be corrected. The report calls for the present level of sports funding to be maintained but for the money to be redirected to mass participation sports. The panel also recommends that Australia aim for a top 10, rather than a top five, position in the Olympic medal tally. And the report says that if another $100 million a year is invested in sport, it should be directed to other priorities. Commentators on this topic, from the Prime Minister down, seem to have a markedly different view. Kevin Rudd said last year at the Sport Australia Hall of Fame awards, "When you reflect on the history of sport in this country and on how it has been ingrained into the nation's soul, you cannot separate the two. Our sporting heroes are part of the soul and the spirit of the nation." During their attendance at the Olympic Games in Beijing last year, the Prime Minister and the Sports Minister surely must have observed at first hand how sport enables countries to forge closer ties. Certainly Austrade was happy to ride on the back of Australia's outstanding successes in Beijing and is hoping to do likewise in Vancouver and London during the next few years. As I said at my press conference on November 17: "Sorry, guys, but you don't deserve any extra funding, but by the way, we want to hang off your coat-tails again and knock over a few more trade contracts and business deals in Vancouver and London and beyond". US President Barack Obama demonstrated his understanding of the link between elite sport and international trade when he supported Chicago's bid for the 2016 Olympic Games, travelling to Copenhagen to present the his country's bid. And UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has been reported as saying "sport builds bridges", presumably referring to personal, as well as international and commercial ones. Ellis should think long and hard before rejecting the AOC bid for an additional $100 million in funding. Australia's funding in real terms has not increased since the Sydney Olympics and in fact this nation has fallen behind in comparison with Britain, Germany, France and Italy. The Rudd government will repeat the mistake of the Fraser government in the 1970s if it again allows the elite sports system to run down, as is being suggested by the Crawford report. For example, at the Montreal Olympics in 1976, the Australian public was appalled at the dramatic decline in this country's Olympic standing, when we dropped from 36 medals in 1956 to only five 20 years later, and none of them gold, as well as a fall in the medal tally to 32nd place. A Gallup poll at that time recorded that 70 per cent of Australians expressed the opinion more government aid was necessary if Australian sportsmen and sportswomen were to compete with the rest of the world on an equal footing. Prime minister Malcolm Fraser became so unpopular that he asked minister Robert Ellicott to redevelop the Australian sports system, which his government had only recently dismantled. This led to the establishment of the Australian Institute of Sport, which then encouraged the development of the state institutes of sport. Since that time, Australia's medal tally has steadily risen from nine medals in 1980 to a total of 46 last year. Ellis has stated: "Investment in sport and recreation is an investment in the health and wellbeing of the nation." But Australian children need elite role models, otherwise there is no motivation for those at grassroots level to strive for excellence. John Coates is president of the Australian Olympic Committee. ||||| DON Bradman, Herb Elliott, Dawn Fraser, Ron Barassi, Cathy Freeman, Shane Warne, Ian Thorpe, and both Gary Abletts: it is an arbitrary list, easily expanded, but sufficient reminder that most of Australia's folk heroes have been sporting ones. Some have been larrikins, too, gaining reputations for belligerently revelling in the national ethos off the field almost as often as they displayed individual prowess on it. And those whose sports allowed them to compete at an international level, especially in great global gatherings such as the Olympic Games, gave a nation that is not always sure of its place in the world the sense, however fleeting, of standing shoulder to shoulder with the best of the best. Politicians have nurtured that sense, most notably via the funds allocated to the Australian Institute of Sport since 1976, when a failure to win a single gold medal in the Montreal Olympics was deemed a national disgrace. This emphasis on elite sport has rarely been publicly questioned, but this week federal Sports Minister Kate Ellis released the recommendations of the Independent Sport Report, which call for a radical change in the way sport is publicly subsidised. The report, prepared by a panel chaired by businessman David Crawford, rejects the Australian Olympic Committee's demand for an extra $109 million to ensure Australia finishes among the top five nations in the 2012 Olympics. Instead of allocating funds as though national worth can be measured by a medal tally every four years, the report says, governments should emphasise sports with high participation levels, to better integrate sports and health policy. Funding should be directed, Mr Crawford said, to ''those sports which capture the country's imagination and represent its spirit and culture'', especially swimming, tennis, cricket, cycling, the football codes, netball, golf, hockey, basketball, surfing and surf lifesaving. Australian Olympic Committee president John Coates responded swiftly and aggressively, invoking the form of condemnation used by all who want an issue expunged from the list of acceptable topics of debate: the Crawford recommendations, Mr Coates said, were un-Australian. It was an astonishing thing to say about a report that recommends maintaining the existing level of funding for elite sport and contemplates Australia ranking among the top 10, rather than the top five, of more than 200 countries that are expected to compete in London in 2012. The Crawford report is obviously vulnerable to criticism by those who suspect its motives: all five of its members are associated with team sports and three of them have AFL connections. It is true, too, that most of the sports it wishes to promote are professional at their own elite levels, and the beneficiaries of hefty cash flows from television contracts and gate attendances. Recognising these things to be true, however, does not undermine the case the report makes. Australians will celebrate any gold medal won in 2012, even if it is in a sport they never think of between Olympics and even if it is won by someone they have not previously heard of and might never hear of again. Nor can anyone begrudge individual athletes their success. But, as the report notes, the present system funds such success at the rate of $15 million per gold medal. The nation's self-esteem is surely neither so low nor so brittle as to require this level of investment, and it is money that in some instances could be more wisely spent. A shift to funding high-participation sports at grassroots levels might not result in the same surge of collective euphoria every four years, but it would contribute in a more sustained fashion to national wellbeing. | The Independent Sport Panel Report, set up to look into sports funding, was published in Australia last week, prompting debate and speculation for the future of sport in the country. Many in the sector believe the report will prompt changes in the way sport is funded and administered in Australia. John Coates, President of the Australian Olympic Committee, criticised the report, and several elite sports people have joined Coates' calls for sustained funding to Olympic level sport. Other commentators have welcomed the recommendations, challenging commonly held beliefs that Australians benefit from funding high performance athletes. Such positions call for more resourcing of sport at a participation level rather than performance level. Key recommendation areas in the report are: * Defining Australia's national sports vision * Reforming the Australian Sports Commission to lead the sports system * Merging Australia's institutes of sport * Building the capacity of Australia's national sporting organisations * Putting sport and physical activity back into education * Building community sport with people and places * Ensuring Australia's sports system is open to all * Sustaining the funding base for sport Australians now await a Government response to the recommendations. |
November 30, 2007 7:30 pm CDT Amtrak is working with the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board and other agencies following a collision involving Amtrak Train 371, the Pere Marquette, of Friday, November 30, with a Norfolk Southern (NS) freight train on NS tracks south of Chicago. There were 187 passengers and six employees on board the Amtrak train. Most passengers and crew members were unhurt and were later transported to Amtrak Chicago Union Station and on to their destinations. Amtrak will work through the weekend, if needed, to care for affected passengers and employees. Two Amtrak employees were among the most seriously injured. Amtrak service has resumed over this route between Chicago and points east, including Michigan, subject to some delays in the affected area. The only significant service disruption on Saturday, December 1, is the operation of Train 371, which will be represented by chartered motorcoaches for the full route south and west from Grand Rapids to Chicago. Passengers should call 800-USA-RAIL or visit Amtrak.com for specific information and train status updates. This information is correct as of the date and time above and will be updated as needed. ||||| NTSB Advisory National Transportation Safety Board Washington, DC 20594 November 30, 2007 NTSB SENDING TEAM TO INVESTIGATE AMTRAK COLLISION IN CHICAGO The National Transportation Safety Board is dispatching a Go Team to investigate the collision between an Amtrak passenger train and a freight train in Chicago, Illinois this afternoon. NTSB Rail Investigator Ted Turpin will serve as Investigator-in-Charge and lead the 7-member team. Vice Chairman Robert Sumwalt will accompany the team and serve as spokesman for the on-scene investigation. Keith Holloway is the press officer accompanying the team. Once the team arrives in Chicago, Holloway can be reached on his cell phone at (202) 557-1350. NTSB Press Office: (202) 314-6100 NTSB Home | News & Events | Map of Amtrak's Michigan state services into Chicago, with the ''Pere Marquette'' route shown in red. An Amtrak train collided with a parked Norfolk Southern freight train in Chicago on Friday. 30 people were injured, five of them Amtrak personnel who were most seriously injured. Amtrak train 371, the ''Pere Marquette'', started in Grand Rapids, Michigan and carried 193 people on board including six crew members. The train was in south Chicago heading towards its destination of Chicago Union Station when the crash occurred around 17:30 UTC. No injuries were reported among the crew of the Norfolk Southern freight train. Amtrak's locomotive, a GE Genesis, was derailed by the force of the impact, although the rest of the passenger train remained on the tracks. An Amtrak locomotive similar to the one that was derailed. All Amtrak trains between Chicago and Michigan are currently cancelled while workers remove the locomotive from the scene and perform any needed repairs. A National Transportation Safety Board "Go Team" led by Ted Turpin was dispatched to the scene to conduct a federal investigation into the crash. |
Captain Robert Semrau during a bail hearing at the Canadian Forces Base Petawawa on Tuesday. Semrau is charged with second-degree murder in the death of an unarmed man in the southern Afghan province of Helmand last October. Photograph by: Christopher Pike, Reuters GATINEAU, Que. — Capt. Robert Semrau, the first Canadian soldier ever charged with murder for an alleged battlefield killing, wants his court martial moved to Afghanistan if it is not halted in Canada. The change of venue is among several motions that Semrau's defence counsel began arguing before judge Col. Mario Dutil when his trial opened Monday. Defence lawyer Maj. Steve Turner argued that Semrau's right to a fair trial and other basic liberties under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms are violated by several military justice practices. He cited the wearing of military uniforms in court, the absence of sentencing alternatives and probation in military law, and restrictions against lower ranks of officers and others from eligibility for military juries, known as panels. Turner's first motion, asking the judge to bar all but the accused and witnesses from wearing military uniforms in court, was dismissed late in the afternoon. Turner argued unsuccessfully that uniforms provide "powerful visual symbols" of rank and authority that could influence junior officers on the jury panel, jeopardizing Semrau's constitutional right to a fair trial. It is alleged Semrau fired two shots into a "severely wounded" disarmed Taliban insurgent on Oct. 19, 2008, after a battle in Afghanistan's Helmand province. He is alleged to have violated the military code of conduct by failing to collect a wounded person from the battlefield. Semrau is charged with second-degree murder, as well as attempted murder, behaving in a disgraceful manner, and negligently performing a military duty. The penalty for second-degree murder is life imprisonment. Turner was set to argue Tuesday that the court martial for the 36-year-old captain in the 3rd Battalion of the Royal Canadian Regiment, CFB Petawawa, should be moved to Kandahar Air Field, the Canadian base in Afghanistan. "The common law and the interests of justice require the trial to take place where the offences are alleged to have occurred," says his application to relocate the trial. In seeking an instruction that civilian clothes be worn by all but the accused and witnesses in the courtroom, Turner cited section 7 of the Charter, guaranteeing principles of fundamental justice, and section 11.d which guarantees a fair hearing by an independent, impartial tribunal. Prosecution lawyer Lt. Col. Mario Leveillee accused Turner of "trivializing the Charter" and characterized his arguments as "unfounded and at times incoherent." He cited the fact that Turner said if the court martial were moved to Kandahar airfield all military participants would have to wear uniforms "for operational reasons" in case the base was attacked. The five-member jury panel has yet to be picked for the Semrau court martial. Turner is challenging the panel selection process, partly on grounds that civilians, officers below the rank of captain and non-commissioned members below the rank of warrant officers are not included in the jury pool. There is no compelling military rationale for the procedure, he argues. He also says military personal deployed outside Canada should not be automatically excluded because they might be back in Canada in time for a trial. © Copyright (c) Canwest News Service ||||| Trial begins for Canadian soldier in killing of unarmed Taliban OTTAWA — The court martial of a Canadian officer for the alleged 2008 murder of an unarmed and severely wounded Afghan insurgent started Monday in the first Canadian prosecution of a battlefield prisoner killing. Captain Robert Semrau, 36, faces charges of second-degree murder for "shooting, with intent to kill, an unarmed male person" in Afghanistan, as well as behaving disgracefully and neglecting his military duty. He is being tried over the coming week by a military judge and panel in the October 19, 2008 death. Military documents outlining facts of the case agreed to by the prosecution and defense said Semrau's troops were on patrol when they were ambushed by Taliban fighters in Helmand province. During that period Canadian soldiers were facing an increasingly tough insurgency as they defended key positions in region. Semrau was mentoring Afghan soldiers as part of a NATO program. Following several clashes, British and Afghan troops along with their Canadian mentors came across two "presumed" Taliban fighters: one dead, the other too severely wounded for treatment on site. Semrau was left alone with the injured man and two shots were heard. An unnamed witness is expected to testify he saw Semrau shoot the man. Semrau was charged three months later, after Canada's military chiefs in Kandahar were made aware of the incident and ordered an investigation. Neither Canadian, nor international law recognizes mercy killings. Semrau joined the Canadian Forces in 2005 after serving several years with the British Armed Forces. His military career was unblemished before murder charges were laid in this landmark case. There were reportedly several cases of Canadian soldiers killing prisoners on the battlefield in Korea and after D-Day in retaliation for the murder of Canadians by the German SS, but charges were never laid. Copyright © 2010 AFP. All rights reserved. More » | A court martial got underway today accusing a Canadian soldier of murder for shooting a member of the Taliban on an Afghan battlefield. Captain Robert Semrau's case is believed to be a military and legal first. Semrau, 38, is facing four charges for the 2008 death. He is accused of second-degree murder, attempted murder, behaving in a disgraceful manner, and negligently performing a military duty. It is alleged that he shot the man twice despite him being an unarmed and "seriously wounded" prisoner. Court documents set a scene in which 36-year-old Semrau was in charge of a small group of soldiers caught in an ambush on October 19 last year. The Canadians were mentoring some new Afghan recruits, who were under British command. A United States Apache assault helicopter provided assistance to the group, who were in Lashkar Gah, Helmand, strafing the area. After beating back their attackers the soldiers discovered a fighter with injuries deemed to be so severe that medical aid would be ineffective, along with a dead man. He was disarmed, his assault rifle having been captured. Shortly afterwards, with only Semrau near the man, two gunshots were heard. At least one eyewitness claims to have watched Semrau shooting the militant with his field rifle. Troops then moved on and the man's body was never recovered. Captain Semrau was not investigated for two months, when his superiors heard of the alleged killing. He was ultimately arrested by the Canadian Forces National Investigation Service a month later and charged. He is now set to go on trial before Colonel Mario Duti, a military judge, and a five-member panel. ''The Canadian Press'' contacted Michel Drapeau, a retired lawyer and colonel. He says he believes it to be the first time Canada has launched a court martial for the death of a prisoner on the battlefield. "It's unprecedented in many, many respects. I can't remember any such incidents in the past 50 years and in the Second World War, I don't believe there was such a court martial." There are a few recorded instances of alleged extra-judicial killing by Canadian soldiers, but no court martials for murder. Two Canadian soldiers faced a murder charge for the death of a teenager in Somalia in 1993 but the case was dropped; some evidence emerged during the inquiry that suggested another man may also have been killed illegally. More anecdotally, Canadians have been accused of similar murders in Korea and of shooting German prisoners for revenge during the second world war. |
Apple Computer Inc. is calling its latest product the Mighty Mouse, but analysts say it's actually a Trojan horse that could further the firm's forays into the world of Windows PCs. The Cupertino company started selling the new, four-button mouse, with a small 360-degree scroll trackball, on Tuesday. The mouse is compatible with both Macintosh and Windows computers, the latest move by Apple into foreign territory. The list of products that work with Windows PCs now includes some of Apple's key offerings, such as the popular iPod portable music player, iTunes jukebox software, flat panel displays and Airport Express, a base station for wireless networking, said Ross Rubin, an analyst at the research firm NPD Group. In fact, Apple will start using microprocessors made by Intel Corp., the same company that powers the vast majority of PCs around the world. "We've seen a pattern of Apple introducing Mac-only products and modifying them later to make them more broadly compatible. But now, the trend is to make them compatible out of the box," Rubin said. The new mouse looks similar to the white, rounded one-button variety that's standard with most Macintosh computers. The only difference in the look is a small trackball on top that can be used for things like scrolling through Web pages. The product is Apple's first mouse with more than one button. It will likely take away the frustration of users who want to right-click for extra functions, which is common with two-button mice that come with Windows PCs, said Rubin. "It's more about making things more comfortable for those who may be considering switching to a Macintosh computer," he said. The upper left and upper right sides of the mouse are for standard left- click and right-click functions. The buttons on either side of the mouse can be programmed for various tasks. Apple's desire to woo consumers away from PCs made by the likes of Dell, Hewlett-Packard or Gateway is not new. The firm's "Switch" campaign has been around for a few years, using testimonials of Windows PC users who have converted to Macintosh computers, Rubin said. Switching is more attractive now that Apple has some products -- including its $499 Mac Mini -- that Windows PC users might want to try out without having to plunk down large chunks of cash for a full-fledged Macintosh system, Rubin said. "Now, they have the products behind the provocation," he said. But one analyst wondered if Apple is doing the switching. "I think that's a great question because, to some extent, Apple has done a lot of switching in recent years, switching out of proprietary products to more mainstream products," said Stephen Baker, the NPD Group's PC analyst. In the past, even the cable connection between the Macintosh and its printers and monitors was specially made for Apple products. Now, the firm is using the PC industry standard USB plugs for its peripheral devices like the mouse and iPods. That is also a shrewd business move because Apple can save money in design and manufacturing when it uses industry-standard parts, which are typically much less expensive than custom parts, Baker said. Although Apple's latest mouse, which costs $50, probably won't become one of its cash cows, the business will probably have hefty profit margins, said Shaw Wu, an analyst at American Technology Research. Baker agrees, although Apple's share of the after-market mouse business - - estimated to be worth about $400 million -- is tiny, he said. E-mail Matthew Yi at myi@sfchronicle.com. ||||| First Look: Apple's (Mostly) Mighty Mouse Four-button unit offers slick looks and some handy Mac-only features, but comfort isn't one of them. Narasu Rebbapragada, PC World Tuesday, August 02, 2005 Editor's note: This story has been updated to clarify information about using the product with Windows XP. Pigs must be flying, because Apple has finally released a mouse with more than one button. Called the Mighty Mouse, the $49 USB device includes four buttons and a multidirectional Scroll Ball. It works with both Macs and PCs--though you lose some features when connected to the latter--and it's no more comfortable to use than older, one-button Apple mice. The Mighty Mouse bears Apple's trademark minimalist look. The touch-sensitive left and right buttons reside unmarked under the white plastic, so it takes a few minutes to get used to pressing down on them. All that protrudes on the top of the mouse is the tiny white multidirectional Scroll Ball, which doubles as a third mouse button. Advertisement You activate the fourth mouse button by simultaneously clicking the two buttons on either side of the mouse. These side buttons don't press in too deeply (you squeeze them more than push them in), and I found that I had to use a little more pressure than my hand would have preferred, particularly in repetitive situations. All in all, the Mighty Mouse's ergonomics didn't impress me. When I attached the Mighty Mouse to my Windows XP system, it lost some of its super powers. The Scroll Ball functioned only as a standard vertical scroll wheel would. Though my Windows XP PC recognized the Mighty Mouse without requiring any additional drivers (Apple doesn't include PC drivers with the device), I couldn't see any way to program the third and fourth buttons in the Mouse Control Panel; the user manual says only that the Mighty Mouse uses the standard mouse driver included in the Windows 2000 and Windows XP operating systems. This means that Windows assigns panning functionality to the mouse's third button and turns the fourth button into a back button. Better on a Mac On a Mac, you get all the frills, though you have to be running Mac OS 10.4.2 or higher to gain full control of the four buttons and 360-degree scrolling. Once I installed the driver, I could easily program the four buttons to open applications and documents or to launch Apple-specific features such as Dashboard, Expose, and Spotlight, using the Keyboard and Mouse preferences in OS X. The Scroll Ball, which let me scroll vertically and horizontally in Microsoft Office apps, might be the Mighty Mouse's best feature. In media applications like IPhoto and IMovie, you can quickly pan and drag through your images, in any direction. But the 360-degree scroll worked less fluidly when I tried it with Adobe Photoshop, a non-Apple app--a disappointment for people who work with a lot of images. The verdict: There's no reason for PC users to drop $50 on what amounts to a standard (albeit beautiful) two-button optical mouse. Likewise, Mac users who already have a third-party four-button mouse have no reason to switch unless they live in Apple apps and would benefit from the 360-degree scrolling capability. Apple Mighty Mouse Fashionable four-button mouse with 360-degree scroll ball isn't very comfy and defaults to standard fare on the PC. $49 www.apple.com Fashionable four-button mouse with 360-degree scroll ball isn't very comfy and defaults to standard fare on the PC.$49 Photograph by: Courtesy of Apple Printer Friendly Version | The Mighty Mouse Apple Computer Inc. today revealed a new product named ''Mighty Mouse''. The mouse has four buttons and a small 360 degree scroll trackball. This product will not only be compatible with the Macintosh but also with Microsoft Windows operating systems. Many of the products Apple has produced over recent years have been compatible with Microsoft Windows operating systems, the most notable being the iPod. The company recently announced that they will start using Intel microprocessors in their computers, and that those computers will be capable of running Microsoft Windows operating systems. Visually, this new mouse will be very similar to the ones that have been shipping with Macintosh computers for some time. It is white and has a rounded feel to it. The only difference is the trackball used for scrolling through documents and web pages. This is the first mouse product made by Apple that has a multi-button function. There are 'squeeze' buttons on the sides and a button under the micro-trackball, but there are no actual left/right buttons - it uses non-mechanical sensors to detect which finger is pressing when a regular click is made. Its US price is $49, UK price is £35. |
London wins 2012 Olympics LONDON, England (CNN) -- London has defeated European rival Paris to host the 2012 Summer Games, bringing the Olympics back to Britain for the first time in more than half a century. International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge made the announcement after IOC members voted 54-50 to eliminate the French capital in the fourth and final round of secret ballots Wednesday in Singapore. "The International Olympic Committee has the honor of announcing that the Games of the 30th Olympiad in 2012 are awarded to the city of London," Rogge declared after opening a sealed envelope containing the result. Thousands of people in London's Trafalgar Square cheered as they watched the announcement on giant TV screens. (Full story) London has twice played host to the Olympics, in 1908 and 1948. It becomes the first city to host the Olympics three times. British Prime Minister Tony Blair hailed the victory as "a momentous day for London." London bid leader Olympic gold medalist Sebastian Coe said: "I'm absolutely ecstatic, we have the opportunity to do what we always dreamed about, getting more young people into sport. "This is our moment. It's massive. It's huge. This is the biggest prize in sport," The Associated Press quoted Coe as saying. England soccer captain David Beckham said: "In 2012, I can take my children to an Olympics which we might never had had the chance to do. ... This is such a huge lift for our country." Rogge also expressed joy at London's victory. "We are very, very pleased with the victory of London," AP quoted the IOC chief as saying. "People we trust, people we know will give us a superb games." In the French capital, groans of disappointment swept through a crowd of thousands gathered at Paris Town Hall. It was the third defeat for Paris in 20 years, with bids for the 1992 and 2008 Games also failing. Moscow, New York and Madrid were eliminated in the first three rounds of voting respectively. (More reaction) Although it was a favorite, Paris never led throughout the voting, AP reported. In the first round, London got 22 votes, Paris 21, Madrid 20 and New York 19. In the second round, Madrid had 32 votes, followed by London with 27 and Paris 25, AP said. In the third round, London led Paris 39-33 after picking up several New York votes. In the last round, Madrid's votes were spread about evenly, giving London enough to win. Last-minute lobbying The decision followed a final, furious lobbying effort by an elite "who's who" of politicians and athletes at the IOC's annual meeting. Among the dignitaries who traveled to Singapore to lobby IOC members were Blair, French President Jacques Chirac, Queen Sofia of Spain and Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov. The five cities bidding to host the 2012 Summer Games delivered their final presentations ahead of the vote. London used royalty to get its message across, with Princess Anne kicking off the city's one-hour presentation with a message from Queen Elizabeth II. "I've been impressed by the way everyone has united behind London's bid. As a country we share a passion for sport," the queen's message said, according to Reuters. Blair, who held a string of meetings with IOC delegates before flying home to host the G8 summit in Gleneagles, Scotland this weekend, underlined London's message Wednesday with a pre-recorded video clip. "Our vision is to see millions of young people participate in sport and improve their lives. London has the power to make this happen," Reuters quoted Blair as saying. Chirac spoke passionately to the IOC, saying, "The heart of Paris and the heart of France are beating in unison in the hope of becoming Olympic host in 2012," AP reported. "You can put your trust and faith in France, you can trust the French, you can trust us." Paris also utilized the talents of actress Catherine Deneuve and French singer Johnny Halliday to highlight the wonders of Paris. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton and bid leader Dan Doctoroff used New York's readiness and its multicultural traditions to woo judges. Bloomberg reminded the IOC of the city's recovery from the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. "In our city's darkest hour, we asked ourselves, can we recover?" AP quoted him as saying. "New Yorkers stood up then and said, 'Yes, we can recover, we will rebuild and we must continue to welcome everyone. That spirit will be given to your Games." U.S. President George W. Bush and former President Bill Clinton spoke in prerecorded video messages, AP said. New York's delegation also included U.S. Olympic Committee Chairman Peter Ueberroth and a host of decorated Olympians, including Muhammad Ali, Nadia Comaneci, Ian Thorpe, Janet Evans and Jackie Joyner-Kersee. Russian President Vladimir Putin's live video clip -- delivered in English -- urged the IOC to grasp a "unique and truly historic opportunity" by selecting Moscow, Reuters said. "Moscow is a meeting place of cultures. Moscow is perfectly suited to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games," he said. Russian swimming great Alexander Popov added: "If we can convince you to take this historic opportunity today, together we can change the world tomorrow." Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero and Queen Sofie pressed Madrid's case. "The whole Spanish royal family is convinced that Madrid fully meets the conditions to offer to the world the best Olympic Games," AP quoted the queen as saying. Responding to questions from delegates, Madrid officials downplayed threats from the Basque extremist group ETA. "Absolute security is assured," AP quoted Zapatero as saying. "It's our main priority. Those who have tried to attack our candidacy will see that this is something that is doomed to disappear in Madrid and all of Spain." Voting has gone to four ballots in four of the last five votes to pick a host for the Summer Games. The only exception was in 2001, when Beijing was selected for the 2008 Olympics on just the second ballot. ||||| London edged it by four votes 06/07/2005 14:58 - (SA) Singapore - Four votes were enough to give London a dramatic victory over Paris over the right to host the 2012 Olympics here on Wednesday. The final count was 54-50 for Paris. London's victory was assured when Madrid were knocked out in the third round of voting. The majority of the Spanish backers switched to London, pushing them over the line. Moscow were the first to go, followed by New York, setting up a Paris-London showdown. London led from the beginning, collecting 22 first round votes followed by Paris (21), Madrid (20), New York (19) and Moscow (15) In the second round Madrid moved in front with 32 votes, trailed by London (27), Paris (25), New York (16). But Madrid's Olympic hopes were short-lived as they crashed out in the third round as London went back ahead collecting the support of 39 IOC members. Madrid slipped back to 31 and Paris increased to 33. You can get sports results and information via SMS. Read more on www.news24.com | 200px London is to host the 2012 Olympic Games. The announcement was made today by International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Jacques Rogge following four rounds of voting, penultimately shortlisting London and Paris. 116 members of the IOC in Singapore voted throughout the rounds from a pool of cities comprising of Paris, Madrid, London, New York, and Moscow. The final tally was 54 votes for London, and 50 for Paris. The voting came after all five cities made their final presentations to the assembled members. The news was met with screams of joy from the 15,000 people who had gathered in Trafalgar Square in London, while jeers and boos rang out across Paris, as rain began to fall in the French capital. Former Olympic runner Sebastian Coe, who led the British bid, told BBC Radio Five Live afterwards: "I'm in a state of shock. The whole team has made a fantastic effort. This shows that the United Kingdom is a special place for sport, passionate about sport." This is the first time the Games will be staged in London since 1948, while this marks the third failure by Paris to host the Olympics. London has hosted the Games twice before, making it the first city ever to host them three times. The official announcement was given by the IOC at 12:46 BST today, after much speculation. The 2012 London Olympics are widely anticipated to bring about a revival of both sporting culture in England, and the much maligned Docklands area of London, where most main sporting venues will be constructed. ===Dignitaries=== Present, physically or by video link, were several dignitaries of the participating countries, including the British Prime Minister Tony Blair, French President Jacques Chirac, Queen Sofía of Spain, and Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov. Tony Blair is quoted to have said via a recorded video message "Our vision is to see millions of young people participate in sport and improve their lives. London has the power to make this happen." Also present with the British campaign team were world famous soccer player David Beckham, athletes Denise Lewis and Sir Steven Redgrave, and Her Royal Highness Princess Anne, who brought with her a message from Queen Elizabeth II: "I've been impressed by the way everyone has united behind London's bid. As a country we share a passion for sport." French President Jacques Chriac was also present, along with actress Catherine Deneuve and singer Johnny Hallyday, both French. "The heart of Paris and the heart of France are beating in unison in the hope of becoming Olympic host in 2012...you can put your trust and faith in France, you can trust the French, you can trust us," he said. America's assembly consisted of New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton and bid leader Dan Doctoroff, focusing on New York's multicultural make up and readiness. Mr. Bloomberg chose to remind the Committee of New York's recovery after the September 11 attacks. "In our city's darkest hour, we asked ourselves, can we recover? ...New Yorkers stood up then and said, 'Yes, we can recover, we will rebuild and we must continue to welcome everyone.' That spirit will be given to your Games." U.S. President George W. Bush and former President Bill Clinton spoke in a recorded video message. Russian President Vladimir Putin delivered his case in a live video clip, urging the Committee to take advantage of a "unique and truly historic opportunity", and to select Moscow for the games in 2012. "Moscow is a meeting place of cultures. Moscow is perfectly suited to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games," he said. Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero from Spain and Queen Sofía argued in favour of Madrid. "The whole Spanish royal family is convinced that Madrid fully meets the conditions to offer to the world the best Olympic Games," said Queen Sofía. Questions from the IOC regarding threats from the Basque extremist group ETA drew the following response: "Absolute security is assured...It's our main priority. Those who have tried to attack our candidacy will see that this is something that is doomed to disappear in Madrid and all of Spain." |
Pew Poll Notes Rise In Independent Voters For the past two years, centrism has dominated Americans' political views. That's the conclusion of the latest survey, released Thursday, from the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press. Pew President Andy Kohut says the number of people reporting that they are political independents reached a 70-year high, but there was little movement regarding people's values. That's even though President Obama's election marked a watershed moment for the United States. "Even though it was a big Democratic win and the Republicans are in free-fall, there's no sign of an ideological shift," Kohut tells NPR's Melissa Block. "Values are pretty much the same. It's not like the mid-'90s, when we were showing the public becoming more conservative, or the beginning of this decade, showing the public was more partisan. Public remains pretty much where it was two years ago on very basic values." Of the independents surveyed, more described themselves as "leaning" Democratic than Republican (17 percent vs. 12 percent.) But in surveys conducted this year, 33 percent of independents described their views as conservative, up from 28 percent in 2007 and 26 percent in 2005, according to Pew. Kohut says this just means that independent voters are "unbalanced centrists" — they tend to have conservative views about government and regulation, and more liberal views regarding the hot-button social issues, national security and religion, he says. He also says African-Americans reported having a more positive view of American society than they did two years ago. Sixty-two percent of African Americans — vs. 40 percent two years ago — say the country can solve its problems, Kohut says. "Among whites, there's an even larger percentage saying that African-Americans are making progress," he says. But the biggest surprise for Kohut was people's attitudes toward business and the free market, and Wall Street. He says they haven't changed "all that much" in two years. "The public continues to think that business is what continues to make this country successful," he says. "They are very reluctant about regulation. This is mostly the views of Republicans, but independents joined them in this perception — some Democrats, but less often Democrats." ||||| The Modern Whig Party says it now has 3,000 members and is growing. An IPR reader reports that the Modern Whigs will be featured in an upcoming issue of the Military Times newspaper. The Modern Whig Party aims to be a centrist alternative to Democratic liberalism and Republican conservatism. Its Web site says the party is the “fastest growing mainstream political party” in the United States. The cornerstone issue of the Modern Whig Party is a concept called “economic distribution.” Here’s what’s meant by that: The Modern Whig philosophy is to empower the states with the resources to handle their unique affairs. The logic is that people in Alabama should not always have to flip the bill for earmarks that occur in New York and vice versa. For example, a senator from Oklahoma is currently using his committee powers to stifle an important transportation project in Virginia. The reality is that the more local one gets, the more in tune with the unique and specific needs of that area. This is why we propose that federal tax dollars be provided to each state in a lump sum every fiscal year based on population. This eliminates the need for most earmarks and pork-barrel spending as the onus will then be on state legislators and governors to allocate funding for issues that they see fit. Of course the federal government will still vote on other special projects and traditionally federal items, but these projects will be more manageable to monitor. In addition, the allocations to the states also provides a better opportunity to balance the federal budget while also forcing local voters to pay more attention to state elected officials. On other issues: Iraq: They support pulling U.S. forces out, except for a small base to be maintained in the Kurdish area of the country. Energy and National Security: The Whigs lump the two issues together, saying it’s important we get off “foreign oil” in order to be secure. Immigration: They say that while illegal immigrants theoretically should be deported, it just isn’t practical. Instead, the Whigs want to offer American citizenship to immigrants who sign up and serve the U.S. military. Trade: The Whigs want to offer “tiered subsidies” to American companies that agree to pull out of China. Israel: They support a two-state solution. Christmas: Don’t mess with it. Gay Rights: The Whigs say states can “determine the rights” of homosexuals , but at the same time, the Whigs support federal hate-crimes legislation being applied to gay bashers. Abortion: Like the Libertarian Party and most of America, the Whigs are split on the issue. They say abortion legislation should be determined at the state level. Affirmative Action: They’re against it. Science and Technology: Here the Whigs take an uncharacteristically capitalist stance. They support the privatization of space, because “[t]aking away the government monopoly and allowing capitalism into the exploration business will exponentially expand our technology base and further the growth of mankind.” Read more about the Modern Whig Party. ||||| This web page requires a JavaScript enabled browser. Home Blog Chairman Blog About National Committee State Committee Mission Statement Why Whig Whig History Bylaws Take Action Volunteer Donate Agenda National Principles State Principles Modern Whig Philosophy Whig Stuff Press Contact | According to the Pew Research Center, a non-advocacy organization that evaluates issues, attitudes and trends shaping the political landscape of the United States, centrism is on the rise in America. According to Pew, the number of Americans identifying themselves as independents has reached the highest level in 70 years. Recently 36% of Americans say they are independents, 35% identify as Democrats, while 23% see themselves as Republicans. Some people are abandoning the major parties, re-registering as independent or joining third parties. One of these third parties are the Modern Whig Party (MWP), who have enjoyed phenomenal growth over the past year; from just 3,000 members last summer to 30,000 now. With the Party's commitment to "fiscal responsibility" and "bold social progression", several conservative Democrats and centrist Republicans have been attracted to it. ''Wikinews'' reporter Joseph Ford recently spoke with the Modern Whig Party's chairman, Mike Lebowitz, about the MWP's history, present state and future prospects. "Our membership is comprised of people from all parts of the mainstream political spectrum," Lebowitz explains. He says that the MWP has "pragmatic, realistic, and mainstream" approaches to the numerous issues facing America today. "A number of print and broadcast media outlets have even gone so far as to proclaim that the Modern Whig Party is "potentially viable," and "makes sense"," Lebowitz points out. "We are building this organization realistically, methodically and gradually in an effort to get this right." He went on to say much more — including why he thinks you should consider leaving the GOP or the Dems for the MWP — in the interview below. |
An earthquake of magnitude 7.4 has struck offshore near the Indonesian island of Sumatra, near Aceh province. The quake struck 214km (133 miles) south of Aceh's capital of Banda Aceh, the US Geological Survey (USGS) said. A local tsunami alert was issued and later lifted by the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center. The site is very near that of 2004's 9.2 magnitude earthquake. About 220,000 people were killed in the Indian Ocean tsunami the quake triggered. The epicentre of the latest quake was at a depth of 61.4km, about 66km (41 miles) south-west of Meulaboh district, the USGS said. The district, and other parts of Aceh, were devastated in the 26 December 2004 earthquake. Ring of Fire The quake hit at 1259 (0559 GMT). Local media reported some houses were damaged and power lines knocked down, Associated Press news agency said. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center lifted its tsunami watch several hours after the earthquake. The earthquake caused some panic in parts of Aceh "Sea level readings indicate that a significant tsunami was not generated," the Hawaii-based centre said in a statement on its website. "Therefore, the tsunami watch issued by this center is now cancelled." The USGS earlier said it believed there was no threat of a destructive, widespread tsunami but the possibility of a local tsunami existed. Indonesia is located on the volatile Pacific Ring of Fire, a belt of tectonic activity girdling the Pacific Ocean that triggers earthquakes and volcanic activity. Aceh is on the north-western tip of Sumatra, one of Indonesia's main islands, and is frequently rocked by earthquakes. One last year near Padang in West Sumatra province killed more than 1,000 people. About 170,000 people were killed in Aceh from the 2004 earthquake and the tsunami it launched. The waves spread across the Indian Ocean to cause death and destruction as far away as Sri Lanka, Burma and Thailand. ||||| AFP - A powerful quake with a magnitude of at least 7.2 hit the Indonesian province of Aceh on Sunday, causing panic in an area that was devastated by the killer waves of the 2004 tsunami. Coastal residents fled from their homes and headed inland fearing a destructive tsunami, but officials said there were no reports of damage or casualties from the latest quake to strike Indonesia. Click on map to enlarge The quake hit at 12:59 pm (0559 GMT) 66 kilometres (41 miles) southwest of Meulaboh on the Aceh coast on the island of Sumatra, according to the local Meteorological and Geophysics Agency.The US Geological Survey put the magnitude at 7.4.A local tsunami alert was issued by the Indonesian government but lifted about 90 minutes later.The people of Aceh are still traumatised by memories of December 26, 2004, when the Indian Ocean smashed into the northern tip of Sumatra after a 9.3-magnitude quake split the seabed to the island's west.An AFP correspondent in the provincial capital Banda Aceh said the ground shook for about three minutes on Sunday, sending people rushing from their homes and heading inland on motorcycles, cars and trishaws."This quake turned out not to be destructive. There's no report of damage to buildings, anyone injured or killed so far," Disaster Management Agency spokesman Priyadi Kardono told AFP."There were many people who panicked and fled their homes. They were just so afraid that a tsunami would happen again," he added.Indonesia was the nation hardest hit in the 2004 tsunami, one of the world's deadliest natural disasters, with at least 168,000 people killed out of more than 220,000 who lost their lives across the region.Indonesia sits on the Pacific "Ring of Fire," where the meeting of continental plates causes high volcanic and seismic activity, and is frequently rattled by quakes.Sunday's quake off Meulaboh, which lies on the northwestern tip of the island of Sumatra, struck at a depth of 30 kilometres (18 miles), the local agency said, while the USGS put the depth at 61 kilometres.Meulobah was near the epicentre of the 2004 quake and one of the hardest hit areas, with thousands of people killed and many homes destroyed.In neighbouring Malaysia, the Meteorological Department said there was no threat of a tsunami in the country which lies to the north of Sumatra.However, it said tremors were felt in the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia including in the northern resort island of Penang.A 7.8-magnitude earthquake hit Sumatra in early April, leaving about 17 people injured when some houses collapsed.A 7.6-magnitude quake killed about 1,000 people in the port of Padang, western Sumatra, in September last year. ||||| Earthquake Summary Earthquake Summary Poster Felt Reports Reports of slight damage and a power outage on Simeulue island. Felt (V) at Banda Aceh. Widely felt in Indonesia. Also felt in Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore and Thailand. Tectonic Summary The northern Sumatra earthquake of May 9, 2010 occurred as a result of thrust faulting on or near the subduction interface plate boundary between the Australia-India and Sunda plates. At the location of this earthquake, the Australia and India Plates move north-northeast with respect to the Sunda plate at a velocity of approximately 60-65 mm/yr. On the basis of the currently available fault mechanism information and earthquake depth, it is likely that this earthquake occurred along the plate interface. The subduction zone surrounding the immediate region of this event slipped during the devastating Mw 9.1 earthquake of December 2004, and today's event appears to have occurred within the rupture zone of that earthquake. Today's earthquake is the latest in a sequence of large ruptures along the Sunda megathrust, including a M 7.8 in April of this year, approximately 200 km to the south of today's event; two M 7.4 earthquakes beneath Simeulue approximately 100 km to the south in 2002 and 2008; a M 8.6 210 km to the south in 2005; a M 7.5 650 km to the south near Padang in 2009; and two events of M8.5 and M7.9 approximately 1000 km to the south in 2007. Earthquake Information for Asia Earthquake Information for Indonesia | A large earthquake, measured by the US Geological Survey as having a magnitude of 7.2, struck near , Indonesia earlier today. The epicentre was 215 (130 ) south-southeast of , Sumatra, and 630 kilometres (390 miles) west of Malaysia's capital Kuala Lumpur, at a depth of 45 kilometres (28 miles), the USGS reports. The tremors started at about 13.00 local time (05.59 UTC). A local tsunami alert was made by the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, but rescinded about an hour and a half later. "Sea level readings indicate that a significant tsunami was not generated. Therefore, the tsunami watch issued by this center is now cancelled," the PTWC said in a statement on its website. The Associated Press news agency quotes local media as saying some power lines were knocked down and some buildings damaged. The epicentre of the temblor is near that of 2004's magnitude 9.2 earthquake, which generated a large tsunami and killed around 170,000 people. Indonesia is on a very tectonically active part of the world, the , and experiences earthquakes frequently. |
ABC News Doctors Give Comatose Sharon Feeding Tube Feeding Tube Inserted in Sharon's Stomach As Comatose Israeli Prime Minister Is Treated for Stroke Under a projected image of Ariel Sharon, acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, second left, smiles before giving a speech during the opening rally for election campaign of the Kadima Party in Jerusalem Tuesday Jan. 31, 2006. The Kadima Party, founded by Ariel Sharon, formally kicked off its election campaign on Tuesday, maintaining a wide lead in polls for the March 28 elections, though Sharon has been in a coma for more than three weeks after suffering a massive stroke. Second right is elder statesman and Nobel peace prize laureate Shimon Peres who left the Labour Party to join Kadima.(AP Photos/Muhammed Muheisen) Lebanon Apologizes to Denmark for Protests Cole Mastermind Escapes From Yemen Prison Iran to Face Security Council Over Nukes By MARK LAVIE JERUSALEM Feb 1, 2006 (AP) Doctors inserted a feeding tube in Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's stomach on Wednesday, according to Jerusalem's Hadassah Hospital, where he is being treated for a massive stroke. Sharon, 77, has been in a coma since he suffered a stroke on Jan. 4 and the stomach procedure was further evidence that he is likely to be incapacitated for a long time. Long-term care specialists and a U.S. authority on comatose patients have examined Sharon in recent days. Experts say his chances of regaining consciousness or a meaningful level of activity are slim. "Tonight Prime Minister Ariel Sharon underwent a gastrostomy, a process in which a tube is inserted into the stomach for feeding," the statement said. "The procedure was carried out under anesthetic and was successful. The prime minister's condition continues to be critical and stable." According to an extensive study on strokes and stoke care by Dr. Jose Biller Dr. Ernesto Fernandez-Beer, quoted in "Best Practice of Medicine, 2004," gastrostomy is indicated for patients "in whom a prolonged phase of recovery is anticipated." "This basically tells me that they've made a commitment to preserving him as long they can in this very debilitated state," said Dr. Keith A. Siller, medical director of New York University's Comprehensive Stroke Care Center. "The patient has in fact surived but without the likelihood of any significant functional recovery … The prognosis is terrible." Sharon suffered what was described as a "massive stroke" with "significant" bleeding in his brain on Jan. 4, a day before he was to check into Hadassah Hospital for a procedure to correct a tiny defect in his heart that was said to have contributed to a mild stroke he suffered two weeks earlier. Doctors have come under fire from critics who questioned whether Sharon should have been treated with massive doses of anticoagulants after his first stroke, which was caused by a small blood clot in a cranial artery. Doctors admitted that the anticoagulants made it more difficult for them to stop the bleeding from the later hemorrhagic stroke. ||||| Sharon gets feeding tube 01/02/2006 21:37 - (SA) Jerusalem - Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, in a coma after having a huge brain haemorrhage four weeks ago, underwent an operation on Wednesday to insert a feeding tube to his stomach. "The procedure, which went well, should allow Mr Sharon to be fed directly via the stomach in order to avoid complications," Ron Krumer, spokesperson for Jerusalem's Hadassah hospital where Sharon is being treated, told AFP. "The prime minister is still in a critical but stable condition," he said. The 77-year-old was admitted to hospital on January 4 after a massive stroke and has been comatose since then, although doctors are trying to gradually bring him out of the coma. On Tuesday, Israeli television reported that Sharon had responded to commands by his doctors to move his eyes and one of his hands, saying it was a "very positive" sign. | On Wednesday, doctors inserted a feeding tube into Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's stomach. "Tonight Prime Minister Ariel Sharon underwent a gastrostomy, a process in which a tube is inserted into the stomach for feeding. The procedure was carried out under anesthetic and was successful," said Ron Krumer, a spokesperson for Jerusalem's Hadassah Hospital where Sharon is continuing to be treated for a major stroke he suffered on January 4, 2006. He then added that, "the Prime Minister is still in a critical but stable condition." Doctors say that the chances are slim that he will return to consciousness or return to a meaningful level of activity. As a result it is expected Sharon will be unable to serve as Prime Minister anytime in the future. Currently his position is being filled on an interim basis by Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. Sharon, who had been Prime Minister of the State of Israel since 2001, suffered a massive stroke on January 4 during the run up to a new series of Israeli parliamentary elections. His centrist Kadima Party faced fierce competition from the conservative Likud Party (which he split off from in late 2005) and the democratic socialist Labour Party. |
The trio met on the social networking website Facebook A Plymouth nursery worker and two other people she met online have admitted a series of child sex abuse charges. Vanessa George, Angela Allen, from Nottingham, and Colin Blanchard, from Rochdale, all 39, had never met in person before they appeared in court. Abuse was recorded on mobile phones and images exchanged via e-mail and text. Police, who described the abuse as "horrific", are continuing to try to identify victims at George's nursery. The three will be sentenced next month. Children's Secretary Ed Balls said it was a "deeply distressing and disturbing case" and he expected the serious case review to be completed as soon as possible. "It is vital we find out how an adult could abuse their position of trust in such an evil way and do everything we can to prevent this kind of abuse happening in the future," he said. 'Devilish form' George, Allen and Blanchard met on social networking website Facebook, although it is unclear when. Detective Superintendent Adrian Pearson, of Nottinghamshire Police, said the trio had been guilty of child abuse in its most "horrific and devilish form". Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play. "Those three individuals have shared quite willingly and freely images, texts, fantasies of the most serious level you could imagine," he said. Ann Reddrop, from the Crown Prosecution Service, said their crimes were beyond comprehension. "These three individuals each acted in a way which ordinary people will find hard to understand," she said. "They showed total disregard for the lives of their victims, their own families and those they worked with, all of whom have been left devastated by these crimes." Wept in court The public gallery at Bristol Crown Court was packed on Thursday with about 30 parents who wept as the guilty pleas were entered. One man pointed at Blanchard and was asked to calm himself by the usher. Allen wept as she pleaded guilty while Blanchard showed no reaction and George hung her head in the dock. She's caused massive trauma to a great number of victims Det Supt Michele Slevin Chilling bond between abusers 'I can't believe how evil she is' Spotlight on abusers The abuse began in September last year and the three were arrested in June following a police investigation involving officers from the forces in Devon and Cornwall, Nottinghamshire and Greater Manchester. The trio pleaded guilty to 37 out of 38 counts. George, who had worked at Little Ted's nursery in the Efford area of Plymouth for three years, admitted 13 charges, including sexual abuse of children and making and distributing indecent images of children. She pleaded not guilty to one charge of sexual assault which was ordered by the judge to lie on file. Her arrest sparked massive public outrage and angry scenes during earlier court appearances. 'Decent' thing Allen, of Nottingham, admitted five counts of sexual assault and distributing indecent images of children. IT worker Blanchard, of Smallbridge, near Rochdale, admitted 19 counts of sexual assault and distributing indecent images of children. Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play. They exchanged thousands of e-mail and text messages containing images of child abuse, the court heard. Blanchard was arrested on 6 June after one of his colleagues found obscene pictures on a work computer. Examination of his laptop computer led to the arrests of George and Allen. No-one else is believed to have been involved. Judge John Royce, who adjourned sentencing for reports, warned the three abusers they faced substantial prison sentences. He said the "decent" thing for George to do would be to co-operate with police in identifying all the abuse victims in the photographs. Speaking to George's lawyer, the judge said: "Your client must know it seems to me who she has abused and who she has not. If I were a parent, I would want to know whether my child was abused or not." 'Gross nature' Det Supt Michele Slevin, from Devon and Cornwall Police, said experts had been unable to identify any of the children filmed by George. She said George had been interviewed five times and had not given any name, but identifying the children remained their "priority". "It's clear she's caused massive trauma to a great number of victims, not just the children involved but the families and community within Plymouth," she said. Detectives have warned there is a high probability the children will never be identified. It is not known when the three first met but Detective Inspector Tony Creely, of Greater Manchester Police's sexual crime unit, said they "were as bad as each other". "Blanchard, George and Allen sent thousands of messages between each of them. Blanchard expressed love for each of the women, and they would reciprocate," he said. "They would discuss sexual matters of a crude and gross nature and the abuse of children in the texts and e-mails. "All of them were getting gratification from the texts and seeing who could have the worst idea." Bookmark with: Delicious Digg reddit Facebook StumbleUpon What are these? E-mail this to a friend Printable version ||||| By Sarah White and Dan Bell BBC News A nursery worker and two others have pleaded guilty to a catalogue of child sex abuse. Vanessa George, who worked at a nursery in Plymouth, admitted sexual abuse of children and then sharing pictures of her crimes with Colin Blanchard and Angela Allen, who she met on Facebook. Blanchard and Allen also pleaded guilty to multiple sexual assaults on children and to taking and sharing pictures of the attacks. Here are profiles of the three people. VANESSA GEORGE George had passed a Criminal Records Bureau check By the time police came to arrest Vanessa George for child abuse, she had been employed at the nursery at the centre of the case for three years, and had worked in childcare for 10 years before that. The married mother, who has two teenage children, had an NVQ Level 2 in child care and had passed a Criminal Records Bureau check in order to work at the nursery. But in June of this year Devon and Cornwall Police arrived at George's house at midnight, seized her computer and mobile, and took her into custody. The 39-year-old from Plymouth has now pleaded guilty to 13 charges including sexual abuse of children and making and distributing indecent images of children. She pleaded not guilty to one charge of sexual assault which was ordered to lie on file. Devon and Cornwall Police had been tipped off by Greater Manchester Police that she had been supplying indecent images taken at the nursery to her co-defendant, Colin Blanchard. There's been no explanation so we don't understand why she would start to do this, what her motivation was Police spokeswoman Nursery worker admits sex abuse Police said that in the nine months leading up to her arrest, she had developed an interest in sexual chat with men online, and that is how she met Blanchard, who introduced their other co-defendant, Angela Allen. In the end police found some 3,000 texts between George and Blanchard. Some of them had been about their love for each other, but many were of a highly sexually explicit, paedophilic nature. Blanchard had also sent images showing him abusing a young child. George's father, Roger Marks, described his daughter as driven by money and said he believed her motives would have been financial rather than sexual. However police said there was no evidence of any financial gain or any other motive for their crimes. A police spokeswoman said: "There's been no explanation so we don't understand why she would start to do this, what her motivation was. Nothing has been uncovered from the past. Disowned "It's something within her. Only she knows." Mr Marks said his daughter had a troubled childhood - he and his daughter's mother rowed constantly and he was eventually kicked out of the family home when his daughter was seven years old. George's mother then died of cancer aged just 35, and George went to live with her grandmother who died two years ago. Mr Marks, who is estranged from his daughter, said George had been very close to her mother, whose death had hit her hard. Mr Marks said he believed George had always felt alone, even during her 20-year marriage to a man she regularly rowed with and who has now disowned her. Mr Marks said he thought "Vanessa was never happy" and neighbours noted how she was always on a computer, or sitting on her front step on her mobile, and would never let anyone in her home. COLIN BLANCHARD Blanchard had already spent five years on the sex offenders register Colin Blanchard was arrested in June after his business partner accidentally found indecent images of very young children on his laptop. His partner had become concerned over their finances and had checked the laptop while Blanchard was away on a business trip. The self-styled IT consultant was arrested the following day by armed police at Manchester Airport as he flew in from Dubai. Abusive images were found both on his laptop and iphone and Blanchard has admitted 19 counts of sexual assault and distributing indecent images of children. Under questioning Blanchard admitted to police he had met co-defendant Vanessa George on Facebook, which led them to the nursery. Blanchard had forwarded images to George showing him abusing a young child. He wouldn't care who he'd hurt, or who he'd rip off Former business partner It was not the first time Blanchard had been linked to child abuse. In 2002 the 38-year-old from Rochdale was cautioned for downloading indecent images of children and spent five years on the sex offenders' register. He was described as manipulative and a "charmer" who would have befriended his co-defendants over the internet. He is also said to have had a volatile relationship with his wife of 16 years. A former business partner said: "It's purely money he's into. He wouldn't care who he'd hurt, or who he'd rip off." ANGELA ALLEN Allen was described by police as a 'very seriously evil individual' Angela Allen is said to have gone "white as a sheet" when her Facebook friend Colin Blanchard was arrested on child abuse charges. A neighbour said the 39-year-old from Nottingham was thrown into shock when police began making raids on a paedophile ring centred around a nursery school. She was arrested in June by Greater Manchester Police and later admitted to having an online relationship with Colin Blanchard. She has admitted five counts of sexual assault and distributing indecent images of children. 'Sinister and evil' One neighbour described Allen as "loud and aggressive" and said that Allen had told her she had been brought up in care homes. Allen was also said to have attacked her live-in boyfriend, who she had met when they had worked together as traffic wardens previously, and forced him to move out. Police described Allen's actions as "graphic depravity" and that she was not only a "willing participant and instigator" in the rape of a very young child but had "passed them [images] on as a trophy". She was, police said, a "very seriously evil individual" who showed no remorse or concern about her victim. She was, police added, "a truly chilling individual sinister and evil". Bookmark with: Delicious Digg reddit Facebook StumbleUpon What are these? E-mail this to a friend Printable version ||||| A nursery worker admitted sexually assaulting children in her care, taking more than 100 images of her victims and sharing the pictures with two other paedophiles she had met on the internet. Vanessa George, Colin Blanchard and Angela Allen, who claimed they met on Facebook, pleaded guilty to a string of charges of sexual assault at Bristol crown court this morning. George would take pictures of herself abusing children at the Little Ted's nursery in Plymouth, using a mobile phone to send the images to her fellow defendants. The trio, who had never met in person until they appeared in the dock together, encouraged each other to abuse children. Scores of families who sent their toddlers to Little Ted's still do not know if their children were abused because their faces were not shown in the images. Police admit they may never firmly identify any of the victims. The judge warned the three that they faced substantial prison terms and asked George to help police identify the children involved. "A lot of people are affected by this case and I would like your help," Justice John Royce said to her, adding that she "must know" who was in the photographs. Speaking to George's lawyer, the judge said: "Your client must know, it seems to me, who she has abused and who she has not. If I were a parent I would want to know whether my child was abused or not. "Would it not be decent for her to indicate who she has abused? It is a factor that I have got to take into account." At the height of the investigation detectives feared more than 300 children may have been abused, although the case later focused on 30 youngsters. The three were caught by chance after a work colleague of Blanchard's came across explicit images on his computer and reported him to the police. George, a mother of two who has been married for more than 20 years, began abusing children after meeting businessman Blanchard, from Lancashire, and unemployed mother Allen, from Nottinghamshire, online. Blanchard was cautioned in 2002 for possessing indecent images of children and placed on the sex offenders' register but was removed, as is routine, five years later. During the trial, defence lawyers for Allen and George alleged that he had encouraged the two women to commit abuse. But the judge rejected the suggestions, saying of George: "She is not a child. This is a married woman who can make up her own mind whether she indulges in this sort of activity or not." Detectives said the three egged each other on to share ever more explicit fantasies, abuse very young children and share the images. George's job meant she had the easiest access to children. Between the end of December last year and June this year she used the camera on her mobile phone to take 124 indecent pictures of children in her care. All three claimed they met on Facebook, although some detectives privately suspect they may have come into contact through a site devoted to paedophilia. Police and child protection experts have not found images that the three made anywhere else on the internet, suggesting they were not part of a wider ring. George, 39, hung her head as she admitted seven sexual assaults and six counts of distributing and making indecent pictures of children. Blanchard, 38, of Littleborough, near Rochdale, showed no emotion as he pleaded guilty to 17 child pornography counts and two sexual assaults on children. He also admitted a further charge of possessing extreme pornography. Allen, 39, of Bulwell, Nottingham, wept as she pleaded guilty to four child sex assaults and one count of distributing an indecent image. George denied one sexual assault, which was ordered by the judge to lie on file. The public gallery was packed with about 30 parents who wept as the guilty pleas were entered. One man pointed at Blanchard and was asked to calm himself by the usher. The three will be sentenced on 13 November. ||||| Parents from the Little Ted’s Day Nursery in Plymouth, Devon, wept openly in the public gallery as Mr Justice Royce, sitting at Bristol Crown Court, made what appeared to be a heartfelt appeal to the sullen, obese figure sat 15 yards away in the dock. George, 39, herself the mother of two teenage daughters, has consistently refused to name which of the 30 infants on a police shortlist she actually attacked. But she may now change her mind following the judge’s intervention. He told George’s barrister, Nick Gerasimidis: “There are lots of parents whose children attended Little Ted’s who don’t know whether their child has been abused or not. “Your client must know, it seems to me, who she has abused and who she has abused and who she has not," he said. “If I were a parent I would want to know. Would it not at least be decent for her to indicate who she has abused and who she has not.” Mr Gerasimidis said he could say nothing more on the matter at present. However, he added: “I am sure Vanessa George has heard your Lordship’s remarks.” Some of the parents were so affected by the detail revealed in the charges that they broke into sobs. One mother rested her head on the shoulder of another, occasionally shaking her head in apparent disbelief. A father abruptly left his seat and fled the courtroom before all the charges had been read out. George, of Plymouth, Devon, co-defendant Colin Blanchard, from Smallbridge, near Rochdale, Greater Manchester, and Angela Allen, from Bulwell, Nottingham, faced a total of 37 charges, including making and distributing indecent images of children. George admitted seven sexual assaults and six counts of distributing and making indecent pictures of children. She denied one sex assault, which was ordered by the judge to lie on file. Blanchard, 38, pleaded guilty to 17 child pornography counts and two sexual assaults on children. He also admitted a further charge of possessing extreme pornography. Allen, 39, pleaded guilty to four child sex assaults and one count of distributing an indecent image. Mr Justice Royce warned all three defendants that a substantial prison term was “inevitable” for each of them. The maximum sentence is life imprisonment. George, who was wearing a voluminous black T shirt and skirt, had shuffled slowly into the courtroom, a sullen expression on her face. As she made her way to her seat she appeared determined to avoid making eye contact with the distraught parents of her victims who sitting a few yards away in the public gallery. A startling feature of the case is that until George’s arrival in the dock she had never met her co-defendants. Instead, the trio had engaged in depraved “cyber-sex relationships” with each other on the internet. Blanchard had been the first of the trio to be arrested, and from him the trail moved swiftly to Plymouth. George was arrested at her home before she could start another day’s work at Little Ted’s. The nursery, which catered for up to 60 children, has since closed. It has emerged that George used the internet, MSN and her secret paedophile web address, Daddys_princess69@hotmail.com, to swap her collection of paedophile images. She used what she termed her “fun phone” to take 150 obscene images of infants in her care. As George and her accomplices awaited sentencing next month, it emerged that the nursery assistant had had worked in childcare for more than a decade before she began to feed her paedophile fantasies while working at Little Ted’s. She had even managed to hold down a job as a classroom assistant elsewhere in Plymouth without anyone suspecting she was a paedophile. Police have confirmed that education officials had no suspicions about George’s behaviour and she had passed the routine CRB check required of adults working with children. George, whose husband, Andrew, 41, and the couple’s children have now disowned her, is believed to have taken a large number of her photographs in the United Church Hall opposite Little Ted’s. She thought her crimes would never be exposed because she took care to photograph only the torsos of the infants she was supposed to be caring for. But detectives spotted part of the Little Ted’s logo on an indecent photograph she had sent to Blanchard. Later, as they interrogated the hard drive of her own computer, they found the full logo on an entirely innocent photograph she had taken of a colleague at the nursery. Detectives doubt that unless George heeds the judge’s plea they will never identify George’s young victims, despite four months’ work in analysing the full catalogue of abuse found on her “fun phone” and computer. The closest they have come so far has been to narrow the number of possible victims down to 30 babies and toddlers, mostly girls, aged between 12 and 18 months. Many of George’s victims were photographed as they lay on changing mats. Some were penetrated either with a sex toy or a toothbrush. The paedophile had deliberately chosen younger victims, knowing they would be unable to report her. Police sought the advice of a specially-formed ethics committee to prevent them unintentionally causing further distress to possible victims or their parents. Detectives remain astonished that three paedophiles from disparate parts of the country could meet “at random” on the internet and then form so sinister an alliance. They were caught after one of Blanchard’s business partners logged onto his office computer while he was on a trip to Abu Dhabi. He was so appalled by the images he saw that he immediately called in police. Blanchard, a one-time college lecturer who lived a seemingly middle-class life in Littleborough, near Rochdale, Greater Manchester, was arrested as he flew back into Manchester Airport. The trail then moved on to Vanessa George in Plymouth and a few days later to Angela Allen in Nottingham. | A British nursery worker, Vanessa George, and two other people, Angela Allen and Colin Blanchard, have been convicted, in Bristol Crown Court, of sexually abusing minors and sharing the pictures online. Each person recorded images on their mobile phones, and shared them with each of the other two via email and text. Detective Superintendent Adrian Pearson of Nottinghamshire Police called this behaviour "horrific and devilish", saying, "Those three individuals have shared quite willingly and freely images, texts, fantasies of the most serious level you could imagine." The three people, who met on social networking website Facebook, had never seen each other in real life until they attended court. Allen wept in the dock, while co-accused George hung her head. Blanchard—who has been on the Sex Offenders Register for five years previously—however, showed no reaction. Vanessa George pleaded guilty to thirteen charges, including one count of sexual assault. Allen admitted four counts of sexual assault and one of distributing inappropriate images, and Blanchard nineteen charges, including seventeen of sexual assault, and a further charge of possessing extreme pornography. George refuses to identify which of the children on the police's thirty-strong shortlist she attacked. The three have yet to be sentenced, and the crime carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment. George, aged 39, a mother of two teenage daughters from Plymouth, Devon, had worked for Little Ted's Nursery for three years, and in the childcare industry for 10 years. Blanchard, 38, from Smallbridge, Greater Manchester was an IT technician, and had a rocky relationship with his wife of 16 years. Allen, 39, lived in Nottingham, and says she has had an online relationship with Blanchard. |
One dead, 22 injured in bomb attack in Thai south YALA, Thailand : At least one woman was killed and 22 people injured when a bomb exploded outside a crowded tea house late Friday in Thailand's restive Muslim-majority south, police said. Officers suspected it was the work of Islamic militants as the targeted shop in Yala was popular among government officials and students. The bomb was triggered by remote control, said Colonel Acra Tiproch, an army spokesman. Among the injured, five people were seriously wounded. The bomb went off inside a public phone booth located next to the tea shop, police said. "Two men on a motorcycle placed a bomb inside the phone booth. Immediately after they left, the bomb exploded," said Police Colonel Poompetch Pipatpetchpoo. Following the bomb attack, authorities cut off mobile phone services across Yala as militants often use the phones to set off bombs. Earlier, two local government officials were killed and a third injured in a drive-by shooting in Narathiwat province, and two marines on patrol were hurt in a roadside bomb attack in the same area. More than 2,200 people have been killed and thousands wounded in separatist violence that erupted in Narathiwat, Pattani and Yala provinces in January 2004. The violence has escalated despite peace-building measures by the military-installed government, which came to power following a coup in September 2006. - AFP /ls ||||| Bomb explodes in restive southern Thailand A bomb exploded Friday in front of a crowded teashop in restive southern Thailand, killing one woman and wounding 28 other people. The bomb was hidden in a bag and placed inside a telephone booth in front of a busy teashop in Yala city, capital of the province of the same name, said police Lt. Col. Jirasit Lomae. The victims were taken to Yala Hospital, where the names of the wounded were being gathered, said Kallaya Thongthachu, a hospital employee contacted by phone. The bombing appeared to be the latest attack by Islamic insurgents whose activities have led to more than 2,200 deaths since January 2004. The dead woman was a 24-year-old Buddhist, said Jirasit. The religions of the other victims were not immediately known. The bomb exploded at about 8 p.m., a time when many southerners traditionally gather to socialize at tea shops. "The assailants seized an opportunity to stage an attack when police and soldiers were taking a rest," Jirasit said. Troops had been providing security at trade fair in the province, he said. Meanwhile, rail service resumed in the three southernmost provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat Friday, four days after suspected insurgents sabotaged tracks causing a train to derail in Pattani province and injuring nine passengers, the State Railway of Thailand said. About half the usual number of passengers used trains in the three provinces on Friday, despite an increased police and army presence at stations and junctions along the tracks, said Thanongsak Phongprasert, the railway's southern office director. Separately, arsonists burned down a government school in Yala's Krong Pinang district Thursday night, said police Lt. Narasak Chiangsuk, blaming Muslim insurgents. Police say the militants believe the government is trying to indoctrinate students with un-Islamic values at public schools. Teachers in southern Thailand are regularly attacked by suspected insurgents. ||||| BANGKOK, Aug 12 (TNA) -- The Prime Minister, Mr. Thaksin Shinawatra, has dismissed suggestions that the government should fund a programme of buying back land illegally acquired by the so-called dark influencial figures. The prime minister told TNA yesterday that he rejected the idea, proposed by the Agricultural Land Reform Office, of buying back the illegally acquired land and listing it on the land reform programme. This will encourage rich and influential landholders to aggressively take possession of more land in order to sell it to the government. These are law breakers. They should be punished, not rewarded, he said. Under the proposed scheme, the government would issue 15 billion baht in bonds to buy back 1.5 million rais of land (2.5 rai = 1 acre, 100 acres = 1 hectare) from influential figures who illegally acquired land of more than 50 rais and redistribute it to poor farmers. The government has already approved 700 million baht to help support the debt restructuring programme of the Office of Rehabilitation and Development Fund For Farmers (ORDFF), the prime minister told TNA. With this, the government aimed to help local farmers get out of their cycle of debts, and give them alternatives with which to improve their lives, the prime minister said. Farmers debts to government and private banks are ten billion baht totally. The government plans to set aside 1.8 billion baht as a credit guarantee for the fund to use as collateral for the debt restructuring programme. Earlier, the ORDFF had successfully negotiated with KASIKORN Bank to trim the farmers debts. (TNA)E112 ||||| 16 hurt in two southern bombings; one shot dead Twelve people were injured when a powerful bomb went off near a teashop in central Yala yesterday evening, and a village official was shot dead and four people injured in militant attacks elsewhere in the troubled deep South. Police said the bomb, hidden in a telephone booth near the shop, had probably been set off remotely. A resident of the area heard the blast from a kilometre away. The victims, many of whom suffered serious injuries, were taken to the nearby Yala Regional Hospital. Police blocked off the scene as crowds gathered to look at the damage. Meanwhile, rail services linking the upper and lower South resumed yesterday under heavy security, four days after being suspended due to a spate of attacks on trains. A helicopter escort was provided to protect trains running between Hat Yai and southernmost district of Sungai Kolok. In Narathiwat, militants shot dead Hami Wani, 45-year-old deputy head of the remote village of Ban Salo, at about 1pm as he was driving home from Rangae district with two assistants. The assistants, Hamu Jehvo and Muhamad Nikaji, were injured. A roadside bomb in the province's Muang district injured two marines on patrol with four colleagues to guard teachers on their way to school. Two wooden buildings of the Ban Pohming school in Pattani's Panare district were burned to the ground at about 4am yesterday. A school building in Yala's Krong Pinang district was also set on fire early yesterday. Police suspect the arsonists in Panare are the same that set fire to schools and public-health centres in neighbouring Sai Buri district earlier this week. | __NOTOC__ One person was killed and at least 28 injured in a bomb attack today by suspected Muslim insurgents at a crowded tea shop in southern Thailand. The bomb, placed inside a bag in a telephone booth near the shop in the provincial capital Yala, exploded at about 8 p.m. local time (1300 UTC). The dead woman was a 24-year-old Buddhist, police said. The religions of the other victims were not immediately known. Among the injured, at least five were hurt seriously. "Two men on a motorcycle placed a bomb inside the phone booth. Immediately after they left, the bomb exploded," Police Colonel Poompetch Pipatpetchpoo was quoted as saying by Agence France-Presse. Another officer said the bombing came at a peak hour for the tea-shop trade in southern Thailand. "The assailants seized an opportunity to stage an attack when police and soldiers were taking a rest," Police Lieutenant Colonel Jirasit Lomae was quoted as saying by Associated Press. He said security personnel had been standing guard at a trade fair in the province. ===Drive-by shooting, roadside bomb, schools burned=== In neighboring Narathiwat Province, a government official and another man were killed and a third injured in a drive-by shooting. Hami Wani, 45-year-old deputy headman of Ban Salo village, was fatally shot at around 1 p.m. (0600 UTC) as he was driving home. An assistant was also killed, and another injured. Also in Narathiwat, two Royal Thai Army soldiers were injured in a roadside bombing. The soldiers were part of a six-man teacher-protection unit. Overnight in Krong Pinang, Yala Province, a school was burned by a group of around 20 men who came onto the grounds and overpowered 10 volunteers assigned to guard the school. It was the second school burned in an arson attack in a week in Yala. ===Train service resumes=== The State Railway of Thailand resumed train service today on its southern lines after repairs were made to tracks that were sabotaged earlier in the week. Security has been beefed up, with plainclothes and uniformed officers on trains, in stations and patrolling the railbeds and trestles. Railway officials said ridership was down following the attacks. |
The sign outside the MAPS mosque in Redmond was found damaged Monday morning, police said. Officials at the Muslim Association of Puget Sound (MAPS) mosque in Redmond said security will be heightened after a granite outdoor sign on the property was found vandalized Monday, according to a released statement. The sign outside the mosque was smashed and damaged, MAPS President Mahmood Khadeer said. In response, mosque officials plan to hire additional security, including armed guards who will patrol the property around the clock, Khadeer said. The incident is currently under investigation by the Redmond Police Department, said Lisa Maher, a city spokesperson. Additional details, including a motive behind the vandalism, are not yet available, Maher said. “Acts like this aren’t representative of the Redmond community, and will not be tolerated,” Mayor John Marchione said. In August, Redmond police received several anonymous calls threatening worshippers at the mosque. ||||| The main sign at the Muslim Association of Puget Sound (MAPS) in Redmond was vandalized early Monday morning. The granite sign in front of its facility was smashed, with a portion of the top border broken off and a crack on the front of the sign. MAPS President Mahmood Khadeer said they think it happened sometime between 1:30 a.m. and 2 a.m. They learned about the vandalism later Monday morning when their office manager was the first to arrive for work. Khadeer said this is the first time the mosque has been targeted by vandals, though they did receive a bomb threat following the Orlando shooting in June. When the office manager saw the vandalized sign, he called the police and filed a report. Khadeer said the Redmond Police Department is still investigating the incident and Police Chief Kristi Wilson has emailed him personally to let him know how hard they are working on the case. “Acts like this aren’t representative of the Redmond community and will not be tolerated,” said Mayor John Marchione. “The city works closely with MAPS leadership and our Islamic community to ensure that they and all residents feel safe in their homes, at their place of business and where they worship.” Rep. Suzan DelBene of the First Congressional District, which includes Redmond, added, “This hateful act of vandalism doesn’t reflect the inclusive values of the First District and our country. I’m deeply saddened that members of our community are experiencing fear and intimidation at their place of worship. We must reject these actions in no uncertain terms, and stand united against hate.” Khadeer said he was “really disappointed” when he learned about the vandalism, adding that it was fortunate the damage was just to the sign and nothing more. And while it has been disheartening and sad, he said they will not let this act intimidate them. In a letter to the MAPS community, he said they are activating a number of security measures including having round-the-clock armed guards in and around the building, increasing their own security staff and only opening the front door until further notice. Khadeer added in his letter that that the whole mosque is monitored by cameras. Khadeer said they will not make any changes to their programming, which includes a Thanksgiving dinner celebration for the residents of Tent City 4 on Wednesday. He acknowledged that it may be easy to fall prey to fear when such incidents happen but encouraged people to trust in Allah, trust in the goodness of man and to return hate with kindness. “I am confident that this act does not represent the feelings of Redmond residents,” Marchione said. “Our community will continue to stand strongly in favor of diversity and inclusion and not allow an individual act of vandalism to define us.” Since the sign was vandalized, Khadeer said he and MAPS have received a lot of support from people within and outside of the Muslim community. In addition to people offering financial assistance to pay for the sign damage, he said the support people are offering has been open ended. For example, Khadeer said, a rabbi from Seattle contacted him and gave him her phone number, telling him that if he needed anything, to let her know. “It is amazing,” he said. Khadeer said it is that kind of support that gets him going, knowing that they have people they can rely on and that they are not alone. “We will not let the hate of one overshadow the love of many,” he wrote in his letter. “We will remain hopeful yet vigilant. We will not let hate intimidate us.” Arsalan Bukhari, executive director of The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) in Washington state, said their main concern is for the children that go to school at the mosque every day. He said that American-Muslim children need to hear from their lawmakers that “they have the right to have the same hopes and dreams as other young Americans.” Bukhari added that those children aren’t getting that message when such acts of vandalism occur. In 2015, Bukhari said CAIR Washington received the highest number of reported anti-Muslim hate crimes ever, about one to two daily and more than 700. By the end of 2016, he said they will most likely have the same numbers. CAIR has received several reports following the United States presidential election, Bukhari noted. On Nov. 15, University of Washington, Bothell Chancellor Wolf Yeigh wrote on the school’s website that he was told several men approached some Muslim women students on campus and demanded that they remove their hijabs, or head scarves. Yeigh added: “Let me be clear. This type of behavior is abhorrent and will not be tolerated at UW Bothell. This is not only a violation of the women’s right to practice their faith, it is also a clear violation of our values at UW Bothell. In addition, such an act may be potentially a criminal assault, and a hate crime. This is a serious offense.” Also on Nov. 15 on the University of Washington Seattle campus, it was reported that a man struck a Muslim woman student wearing a hijab with a bottle in the face, leaving a bruise, according to Bukhari. Bukhari added that CAIR has received four to five reports of Muslim grade schoolers being bullied in the greater Seattle area. Redmond Reporter editor Andy Nystrom contributed to this report. ||||| REDMOND, WA - Vandals damaged a sign at the Muslim Association of Puget Sound (MAPS) overnight Monday, but the president of the mosque - the largest in Washington with over 5,000 members - says that he's encouraged by an outpouring of support from the community in reaction to the vandalism. MAPS President Mahmood Kadeer told Patch.com on Tuesday morning that it appeared as if someone had taken a sledgehammer to the granite sign outside the facility, located along NE 67th Ct. "We don't know who did it or what the motive was behind it, so we're waiting for the investigation to finish," Kadeer said Tuesday. "We will repair it eventually - we will not let this one incident from a hate-monger drive our interaction with the community; our faith is in our bonds together." This isn't the first time MAPS has been a target. In June, threats were reportedly made against the facility after the mass shooting in Orlando, Fla. Police stepped up security at MAPS after that. Kadeer also said that a woman appeared near the facility over the weekend and tried to lure a 5-year-old girl away, saying that she needed help finding a cat. The woman disappeared after she was confronted, Kadeer said. But recently, MAPS has received community support. Kadeer said that after the election of Donald Trump, they received letters and visits from supportive members of the community. "I think these are one-off incidents by people who don't understand what the U.S. is about and how we live together in this country. We're not going to let this one incident drive a wedge between us," he said. Redmond Mayor John Marchione released a statement on the vandalism Tuesday, saying, "Acts like this aren't representative of the Redmond community, and will not be tolerated. The city works closely with MAPS leadership and our Islamic community to ensure that they and all residents feel safe in their homes, at their place of business, and where they worship." Since Trump's election, the Southern Poverty Law Center has tracked some 400 incidents of bias across the U.S. involving various groups, and at least 20 incidents directed at Muslims. And last week, the Federal Bureau of Investigation released a report on Hate Crimes in the U.S., which revealed that more than 20 percent of religious bias hate crimes were committed against Muslims. This screen grab from the MAPS Facebook page shows damage to the sign in front of the center. But Kadeer said that MAPS will move forward with events as scheduled this week, including a Thanksgiving dinner project in partnership with Medina's St. Thomas Episcopal church for residents of Tent City 4 Black Friday 2016: Best And Latest Deals Already Live Amazon, Best Buy, Walmart and more major retailers have plenty of big blowout sales planned for the annual shopping holiday. After the incident, Kadeer sent an email to MAPS members. Here's the full text: Dear community, Today we found out that the MAPS main sign in front of our masjid has been vandalized. Somebody smashed the granite block in a clear act of hate. We have filed a police report regarding this and another incident this past week-end. I have personally reached out to the Chief of Police, the Mayor, Enforcement Agencies and the Governor's office. We will work with everyone to ensure that our community, our institution and our facility remain safe. Safety and security of our community is our top priority. We are activating a number of security measures immediately. We will have armed guards round the clock in and around the building. We are increasing our own security staff. We have the whole place monitored by cameras. We will only open the front door until further notice. | Sign damaged on Monday at the Muslim Association of Puget Sound in Redmond, Washington. The slab has multiple cracks at the upper left corner, with the top plate in that area missing. A mosque in , , US, was vandalized in the early hours of Monday morning. A granite sign in front of the Muslim Association of Puget Sound (MAPS) was apparently smashed with a sledgehammer, breaking away portions of the top of the sign, causing significant cracks in a corner of the approximately five foot tall, six foot wide carved stone placard that sits on the corner of NE 67th Court and 176th Avenue NE, about 11 (18 ) from downtown , and two miles (three kilometers) from the main campus of . MAPS has over 5,000 members and is the largest mosque in the state of Washington. MAPS President Mahmood Khadeer said they had a bomb threat after the June nightclub shooting, but this is the first time the mosque has been vandalized. Several threats to worshipers were later called in to Redmond Police. Khadeer said none of the center's activities would be curtailed, and the Wednesday Thanksgiving dinner celebration would be held as planned. The mosque is to add armed guards and security cameras and, until further notice, only the front door would be opened. Redmond Mayor John Marchione said "Acts like this aren't representative of the Redmond community, and will not be tolerated." US said the "hateful act of vandalism doesn't reflect the inclusive values of the and our country", and "We must reject these actions in no uncertain terms, and stand united against hate." The mosque sits behind a parking lot adjacent to the street, with the granite sign near the corner. |
(CNN) -- George Stanley McGovern, a staunch liberal who served South Dakota in the U.S. Senate and House for more than two decades and who ran unsuccessfully as the Democratic Party nominee for president in 1972, died Sunday at the age of 90, his family said. "Our wonderful father, George McGovern, passed away peacefully at the Dougherty Hospice House in Sioux Falls, SD, surrounded by our family and life-long friends," his family said in a statement. "We are blessed to know that our father lived a long, successful and productive life advocating for the hungry, being a progressive voice for millions and fighting for peace. He continued giving speeches, writing and advising all the way up to and past his 90th birthday, which he celebrated this summer." Services will be scheduled in Sioux Falls, the family said. In lieu of flowers, the family is requesting donations to Feeding South Dakota. The son of a Wesley Methodist minister, McGovern was born in Avon, South Dakota, on July 19, 1922. Six years later, his family moved an hour north to Mitchell, where McGovern graduated from Mitchell High School in 1940. His debating skills won him a scholarship to Dakota Wesleyan University in Mitchell, where he met fellow student Eleanor Stegeberg. Three years later, they married. All five of their children were born in Mitchell. McGovern's political skills came to the fore in college, where he was twice elected class president and won the state oratorical contest on the topic "My Brother's Keeper," which laid out his liberal beliefs. In 1942, he enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps and went on to fly 35 combat missions as a B-24 bomber pilot in Europe. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. After the war, he returned to college, graduating in 1946. McGovern attended Garrett Seminary for a year before entering Northwestern University in Chicago, where he got his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in American history and government. He returned to Dakota Wesleyan University in 1950 as a professor of history and political science, leaving in 1955 to help the South Dakota Democratic Party and launch his political career. In 1956, he won a seat in Congress and was re-elected two years later. After losing a bid for the U.S. Senate in 1960, McGovern was named special assistant to the president and director of the Food for Peace Program by President John F. Kennedy. Two years later, he was elected to the Senate and reelected in 1968 and 1974. He served on Senate committees on agriculture, nutrition, forestry and foreign relations, and the Joint Economic Committee. In 1972, Senator McGovern was selected as the Democratic Party nominee for president on a platform that included ending the war in Vietnam at a time when the country was torn over U.S. involvement there. "Let us resolve that never again will we send the precious young blood of this country to die trying to prop up a corrupt military dictatorship abroad," he said to applause at the Democratic convention in Miami Beach, Florida. He called the unemployment of more than 5 million Americans "the most false and wasteful economics of all" and said his highest domestic priority would be "to ensure that every American able to work has a job to do." He called for an end to a system of economic controls "in which labor is depressed but prices and corporate profits run sky high," and he called for national health insurance and "a fair and just tax system." But the campaign started out poorly. He selected as running mate Sen. Thomas Eagleton of Missouri after a background check that did not turn up the fact that Eagleton had been treated for mental illness, a fact that was revealed soon thereafter. Eagleton withdrew and McGovern then tapped Sargent Shriver, a brother-in-law of John F. Kennedy and U.S. ambassador to France. The pair ended up losing in a lopsided vote for incumbent Richard Nixon, with the McGovern ticket earning only 17 electoral votes -- from Massachusetts and the District of Columbia -- to Nixon's 520. McGovern reflected on that defeat in a September piece in The Washington Post, calling it "a significant personal setback" that left him "genuinely stunned." "The loss is there, an old wound never fully healed. My disappointment was certainly personal, made deeper by the awareness that many thousands of young Americans, and far more Vietnamese and other Asian citizens, were going to and did lose their lives with the Nixon administration's continuation of the war," he wrote. "And I was upset that my supporters would carry the burden of the loss, too -- something that has weighed on me all these years." But he added, "I am optimistic about the country, and I am convinced that McGovern for President 1972 helped put those ideals within sight and completion today." He returned to the Senate, where he was re-elected in 1974. But he was beaten when he sought a fourth term in 1980, a victim of what became known as the Reagan Revolution that swept conservatives into power and their views into vogue. Four years later, he tried again to win the Democratic presidential nomination, but dropped out and former Vice President Walter Mondale became the nominee -- only to lose to Reagan in another lopsided race. After leaving the Senate, McGovern taught at a number of schools, including Columbia University, Northwestern University, Cornell University, American University and the University of Berlin. He served as the president of the Middle East Policy Council from 1991 to 1998. President Bill Clinton appointed him ambassador to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization in Rome and, in 2000, awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom. In 2001, McGovern was named the first United Nations global ambassador on hunger. In 2008, McGovern switched his allegiance from Hillary Clinton to Barack Obama. But in a 2009 commentary in the Post, he lashed out at the Obama administration its policies in Afghanistan and reflected on one of the hallmarks of his political life. "As a U.S. senator during the 1960s, I agonized over the badly mistaken war in Vietnam," McGovern wrote. "After doing all I could to save our troops and the Vietnamese people from a senseless conflict, I finally took my case to the public in my presidential campaign in 1972. Speaking across the nation, I told audiences that the only upside of the tragedy in Vietnam was that its enormous cost in lives and dollars would keep any future administration from going down that road again. "I was wrong." ||||| 2 days ago (CNN) – On the day of George McGovern's passing, President Barack Obama, former President Bill Clinton and other political leaders on Sunday remembered the former U.S. senator from South Dakota and 1972 Democratic presidential nominee. See their reactions after the jump. President Barack Obama: George McGovern dedicated his life to serving the country he loved. He signed up to fight in World War II, and became a decorated bomber pilot over the battlefields of Europe. When the people of South Dakota sent him to Washington, this hero of war became a champion for peace. And after his career in Congress, he became a leading voice in the fight against hunger. George was a statesman of great conscience and conviction, and Michelle and I share our thoughts and prayers with his family. Vice President Joe Biden: Jill and I are profoundly saddened to hear about George McGovern’s passing. I was honored to serve with him, to know him, and to call him a friend George believed deeply in public service. It defined him as a Senator and as a man. And he never stopped serving for his entire life – whether it was his courage in World War II, his time in Congress, or his fight to eliminate hunger at home and abroad. Above all, George McGovern was a generous, kind, honorable man. He will be missed, and our thoughts and prayers are with his family today. Former President Bill Clinton: We were deeply saddened to learn of the passing of our friend George McGovern. The world has lost a tireless advocate for human rights and dignity. We first met George while campaigning for him in 1972. Our friendship endured for 40 years. As a war hero, distinguished professor, Congressman, Senator and Ambassador, George always worked to advance the common good and help others realize their potential. Of all his passions, he was most committed to feeding the hungry, at home and around the world. The programs he created helped feed millions of people, including food stamps in the 1960s and the international school feeding program in the 90's, both of which he co-sponsored with Senator Bob Dole. In 2000, Bill had the honor of awarding him the Medal of Freedom. From his earliest days in Mitchell to his final days in Sioux Falls, he never stopped standing up and speaking out for the causes he believed in. We must continue to draw inspiration from his example and build the world he fought for. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends. 2004 Democratic Presidential Nominee and U.S. Sen. John Kerry: "George McGovern was a voice of clarity and conviction at a time when America needed it most. He spoke to many of us who opposed the war but loved our country, because he was the genuine article, a soft-spoken, decent and gentle man who lived a remarkable life with humility, a decorated bomber pilot who never bragged about his own heroism, even as he ran into the buzzsaw of the negative and destructive politics that marked the Watergate era. He never stopped caring about things like peace, hunger, poverty, and fairness, whether they were in political fashion or not, and history will record, to paraphrase the old saying, that George McGovern may not have been President, but George McGovern was right." Former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson on CNN's "State of the Union": He was a great statesman. I knew him quite well and I'm very saddened. I think he'll be remembers, obviously for his stance on the war in Vietnam, for his bomber missions. But also, for his contributions on agriculture, on hunger. And then the Democratic Party, he transformed the Party, the primary system, getting minorities involved. He was a gigantic figure and a classy god, good guy. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich on CNN's "State of the Union": George actually was a very complicated person. He had served as a bomber pilot in World War II, he was not a pacifist and his argument over Vietnam was about that particular war. He was a citizen; I remember being with him at the U.S. Embassy in Rome for dinner one night and talking about he and Goldwater, I mean, he said, one of the nice things about losing badly enough is you don't have lots of regrets about what one thing might you have changed. And he had a very good sense of humor and he was a very down to earth guy who, later on in life, ran a small business, a bed and breakfast and wrote a great article on all the problems we had heaped up on small business through the regulations he had sponsored. Just a great guy. Watch State of the Union with Candy Crowley Sundays at 9am ET. For the latest from State of the Union click here. ||||| Former Sen. George McGovern — the 1972 Democratic presidential anti-war candidate who lost to President Richard Nixon in a historic landslide election — has died. He was 90 years old. A family spokesman, Steve Hildebrand, said in a statement that the former senator died at 5:15 a.m. in a hospice in Sioux Falls, S.D. Text Size - + reset The South Dakota liberal had a long career as an influential politician, historian and author. Best known for his strong opposition to the Vietnam War and his staggering loss to Nixon, he also had a distinguished career in public service in the House of Representatives, the Senate and with the United Nations. (PHOTOS: George McGovern 1922-2012) “George McGovern dedicated his life to serving the country he loved,” President Barack Obama said in a statement Sunday. “He signed up to fight in World War II, and became a decorated bomber pilot over the battlefields of Europe. When the people of South Dakota sent him to Washington, this hero of war became a champion for peace. And after his career in Congress, he became a leading voice in the fight against hunger. George was a statesman of great conscience and conviction, and Michelle and I share our thoughts and prayers with his family.” On the issues, McGovern was a leading liberal Democrat who advocated for fighting world hunger, protecting farmers and ending the war in Vietnam. Born in the small town of Avon, S.D. , on July 19, 1922, McGovern and his family moved to Mitchell, S.D. , in 1928. McGovern’s father was a Wesleyan Methodist reverend and both his parents were staunch Republicans. McGovern thrived on his high school debate team and went on to enroll at Dakota Wesleyan University in Mitchell in 1940. In college, McGovern was a popular student who was elected class president twice. He learned to fly then, as well, serving as a member of the government’s Civilian Pilot Training Program and getting his pilot’s license. McGovern later told the publication Airport Journals that “frankly, I was scared to death on that first solo flight. But when I walked away from it, I had an enormous feeling of satisfaction that I had taken the thing off the ground and landed it without tearing the wings off.” During his university years, he also fell in love with Eleanor Stegeberg — who McGovern had first met when she and her twin sister beat him during a high school debate — and the couple married in 1943 after McGovern was called up for service in WWII. McGovern flew 35 combat missions as a B-24 bomber pilot in Europe and earned the Distinguished Flying Cross. He was posted to the 741st Squadron, 455th Bomb Group at San Giovanni Field in Italy in September 1944 and tasked with bombing oil refineries and other strategic locations throughout Europe. His plane was dubbed the Dakota Queen after his wife, and his first daughter, Ann, was born while he was serving in the war. McGovern was discharged in July 1945 with the rank of First Lieutenant. The young pilot had resolved during his time fighting abroad to become a history professor on his return to the U.S., and he graduated from Dakota Wesleyan in 1946. McGovern then studied at Garrett Theological Seminary for a year before enrolling in Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., for his post-graduate history degrees. ||||| Oct. 21, 2012 The one-time presidential nominee and a former senator George McGovern has died. The 90-year-old was surrounded by his family in a hospice in South Dakota. The liberal democrat lost to President Richard Nixon in 1972 in a historic landslide. Associated Press Correction: Clarification: | George McGovern speaking at the for his book tour August 26, 2009. Former Democratic Presidential candidate and United States Senator from South Dakota died Sunday at the age of 90 in , South Dakota. He died at 5:15 am local time (1015 UTC). McGovern's 1972 running mate was originally , however, due to revelations about Eagleton's psychiatric past, he was replaced by . McGovern and his running mate Shriver lost to and . McGovern got only 17 . In 1992, he spoke of possibly running for president one last time; however, he judged a younger candidate without his political history would be better. McGovern was a senator for South Dakota from 1963 to 1981. He was the first Democrat elected in South Dakota to that position since 1930. He was head of the program under President . Later, he was from 1998 to 2001. McGovern and received the 2008 for creating a program for international child nutrition and education. His family made a statement about his death: "Our wonderful father, George McGovern, passed away peacefully at the Dougherty Hospice House in Sioux Falls, SD, surrounded by our family and life-long friends". Many politicians have made comments and tributes about McGovern's death: U.S. President Barack Obama said, "George McGovern dedicated his life to serving the country he loved. ... And after his career in Congress, he became a leading voice in the fight against hunger. ... and I share our thoughts and prayers with his family." U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said, on behalf of himself and , "Jill and I are profoundly saddened to hear about George McGovern's passing. I was honored to serve with him, to know him, and to call him a friend. ... Above all, George McGovern was a generous, kind, honorable man. He will be missed, and our thoughts and prayers are with his family today." Former U.S. President Bill Clinton said, "We were deeply saddened to learn of the passing of our friend George McGovern. The world has lost a tireless advocate for and dignity. We first met George while campaigning for him in 1972. ... Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends." U.S. Senator said, "George McGovern was a voice of clarity and conviction at a time the when America needed it most." Former of the U.S. Newt Gingrich said, on , "George actually was a very complicated person. He had served as a bomber pilot in World War II, he was not a pacifist and his argument over Vietnam was about that particular war." McGovern was born as George Stanley McGovern on July 19, 1922 in , South Dakota. He was raised in , South Dakota. He married , and their marriage lasted 64 years until her death at the age of 85 in 2007. During he served as a bomber pilot. They had five children — four daughters and one son. == Sources == * * * * * |
By Syed Shoaib Hasan BBC News, Islamabad Accounts differ as to how Aafia Siddiqui ended up in American custody Afghan officials have handed over to Pakistan the son of a US-trained Pakistani academic with alleged links to al-Qaeda. Twelve-year old Mohammed Ahmed, son of Dr Aafia Siddiqui, has been handed over to the Pakistani embassy in Kabul. Dr Siddiqui, 36, is currently facing trial charged with attempting to kill American soldiers in Afghanistan. But her lawyers and human rights groups say she has spent the last five years in secret US jails. "I can confirm that Ahmed is now in our custody", Naeem Khan, a Pakistani official, told the BBC. It was not immediately clear if the boy - who was named in documentation in Afghanistan as Ali Hassan - would be returned to his family in Pakistan. Afghan officials produced Dr Siddiqui and her son at a press conference in Ghazni province in July. They say the duo were arrested after being seen "loitering suspiciously" near the local US consulate. US officials later said Dr Siddiqui had been injured during questioning. They allege that she grabbed a rifle during an interrogation session and tried to shoot an FBI official, but was shot herself in the exchange. Subsequently, Dr Siddiqui was moved to the New York, where she is currently under trial for the attempted murder and assault of US officials. But international human rights organizations and Dr Siddiqui's family tell a different story. 'Told to stay quiet' They say that Dr Siddiqui, an ex-student at the elite Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and her three children disappeared after leaving her parent's house in Karachi on 30 March, 2003. Her two elder sons were seven and five-years old at the time, while her daughter was eight-months old. Mohammed Ahmed - his mother's detention In the immediate aftermath of her disappearance, Pakistan and US officials confirmed she was in their custody. But a couple of weeks later, they denied having any knowledge of her whereabouts. Dr Siddiqui's family have repeatedly said that she was being held by the US authorities in the Bagram air base in Afghanistan. They said they had been visited by local and US officials who had told them to stay quiet and that Dr Siddiqui would be returned soon. But it was only after a British journalist, Yvonne Ridley, reported about 'Prisoner 63' in Bagram airbase that international attention focused on the case. Ms Ridley said that she believed Dr Siddiqui was the mysterious 'Prisoner 63', also known as the grey lady of Bagram, allegedly the only female prisoner held at the base. US officials deny that any female prisoner has ever been held at Bagram airbase. But, within a couple of weeks of the report by Ms Ridley and another one by the Asian Human Rights Commission, Dr Siddiqui and her son were found in Ghazni. 'Treasure trove of information' Dr Siddiqui's case has since then attracted a great deal of attention in Pakistan and the United States. In Pakistan, she is seen as the innocent victim of the country's dealings with the US in the 'war on terror'. Her alleged confinement and treatment has greatly contributed to the anti-American feelings in Pakistan. Aafia Siddiqui studied biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology In the United States, she is portrayed as an al-Qaeda agent who, in the words of a US official quoted in the New York Times, "has proved to be a treasure trove of information." Dr Siddiqui is said to have been married to a nephew of Khalid Sheikh Mohammad at the time of her disappearance. As her trial continues, calls have been raised in Pakistan to recover her children. Mohammad Ahmed's handover is believed to be the first part of this process. Her five-year old daughter is still believed to be in Afghan custody, while Dr Siddiqui's says her other son has died. E-mail this to a friend Printable version Bookmark with: Delicious Digg reddit Facebook StumbleUpon What are these? ||||| Aafia’s son reaches Pakistan Tuesday, September 16, 2008 By Mariana Baabar ISLAMABAD: The young son of detained Dr Aafia Siddiqui, Muhammad Ahmed, reached Pakistan safely from Kabulon Monday evening by a PIA commercial flight. “The Afghan government handed over Muhammad Ahmed to a senior official of the Pakistan Embassy in Kabul and he arrived in Islamabad and was received by Director-General of the Afghan desk at the Foreign Ministry, Rafi Zaman,” the Foreign Office spokesman told The News. Ahmed has been handed over to Fauzia Suddiqqui, sister of Dr Aafia. The spokesman said Pakistan had taken up this case at the highest level. “Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi in his meeting with the family had assured them that the government would ensure the return of the youngster,” the spokesman added. Initially the family of the detained youngster was supposed to go to Kabul but finally it was the government which facilitated the return.The spokesman said the two governments were in touch and it was Monday that the two sides met in Kabul after which Afghanistan’s Interior Ministry official Daud Panjsheri handed over Muhammad Ahmed to the Pakistani ambassador Asif Durrani. It may be mentioned here that US officials claimed to have arrested Dr Aafia and her three children from Ghazni this July. One of them has since died while there is no information about her daughter whether or not she would be handed over to Pakistani officials. Ahmed’s mother Aafia is on trial in the United States for allegedly assaulting US military personnel.Ahmed was handed over to the Pakistani officials on Monday, an Afghan Foreign Ministry spokesman confirmed. Interestingly, the Afghan government in its statement has been calling the youngster Ali Hassan. He has been in the Afghan government’s custody since July, when his mother, Aafia Siddiqui, was detained outside the governor’s house in Afghanistan’s Ghazni province. Aafia, suspected of links with al-Qaeda militants, was first taken to a US military base in Afghanistan and then flown to New York, where she is facing charges of assault on US military personnel in Ghazni.During interrogation at the base she picked up a soldier’s rifle, “announced her desire to kill Americans” and fired shots at US soldiers and FBI agents, the US indictment alleges. She was wounded by return fire. Aafia’s son is a dual American-Pakistani national, and was adopted by Siddiqui after his biological parents were killed in a massive earthquake that struck Kashmir in 2005, Sultan Ahmed Baheen, a spokesman for Afghanistan’s Foreign Ministry, said. However, the spokesman at the Foreign Office contradicted Baheen’s statement, saying, the DNA tests done by US authorities showed that the boy was Aafia’s biological son. Share this story! Back | Send this story to Friend | Print Version US foray into SWA repelled WANA/PESHAWAR: Backed by the Wazir tribesmen, security forces early Monday foiled a reported attempt by US forces to enter Pakistani territory near South Waziristan Agency (SWA), forcing them to retreat towards.....more Aafia’s son reaches Pakistan ISLAMABAD: The young son of detained Dr Aafia Siddiqui, Muhammad Ahmed, reached Pakistan safely from Kabulon Monday evening by a PIA commercial flight. “The Afghan government handed over Muhammad Ahmed t.....more Diesel, kerosene up by Rs3.50, petrol down by Rs5 per litre ISLAMABAD: The government on Monday increased prices of diesel and kerosene oil by Rs3.50 per litre each but reduced the price of petrol by Rs5 per litre. 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The prisoners were .....more Odds can’t deter Army from defending nation: Kayani RAWALPINDI: Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani has said it was the manifestation of Pakistan Army’s resolve that no odds could deter it from pursuing its obligations towards national defenc.....more Govt pursuing three-pronged strategy to nip extremism: Sherry KARACHI: Information Minister Sherry Rehman on Monday said the government was following a three-pronged strategy to curb extremism and terrorism in tribal areas and Fata. “The position of Pakistan is ver.....more Long line of ministers-in-waiting ISLAMABAD: Almost 20 new MPs are hoping to being sworn in as federal ministers after President Asif Zardari returns from his foreign visits. † The share of PPP’s coalition partners, including the Awami N.....more Shahbaz, Straw discuss bilateral issues LAHORE: British Justice Secretary Jack Straw called on Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif at the Chief Minister’s Secretariat and discussed matters of mutual interest on Monday. Talking to him, Shahbaz.....more PML-Q forward bloc meeting tomorrow LAHORE: The PML-N is expected to convene a meeting of the PML-Q forward bloc at Jati Umra, Raiwind, on Wednesday with a purpose to maintain its strength for countering any possible assault from the PPP in the p.....more DPO terms Sui gang-rape allegations baseless QUETTA: The Dera Bugti District Police Officer (DPO), Najamuddin Tareen, on Monday dismissed the allegations of “gang rape” made by a widow in Sui against four people, including two security officials, and term.....more Three killed in Afghan blast HERAT: A bombing on Monday killed three bodyguards of a district chief, including his son, in the Shindand district of the Herat province, the district chief said. District Chief Lal Muhammad Omarzai told the A.....more Lawyers continue protest for judges’ restoration LAHORE: Lawyers here on Monday continued their protest and boycott of courts to step up pressure for the restoration of the deposed judges. The Lahore High Court Bar and the District Bar Associations observed t.....more ||||| ISLAMABAD, Pakistan The 12-year-old son of a woman suspected of links to al-Qaida and facing charges in New York was freed Monday by Afghanistan and sent to his family in Pakistan, two months after he was detained with his mother. Officials say the boy, Ali Hassan, and his mother, Aafia Siddiqui, were detained outside the governor's house in Afghanistan's Ghazni province in July. The American-educated Pakistani woman was then handed over to U.S. custody and flown to New York where she was accused of trying to kill U.S. personnel. The U.S. indictment alleges that during Siddiqui's interrogation in Ghazni, the 36-year-old picked up a soldier's rifle, announced her "desire to kill Americans" and fired at U.S. soldiers and FBI agents. She was wounded by return fire. American prosecutors say that when taken into custody in Afghanistan, she was carrying handwritten notes referring to a "mass casualty attack" and listing the Empire State Building and other New York landmarks. However, the indictment contains no charges of terrorism. Ali was with his mother at the time of her arrest and had been in Afghan custody ever since, officials said. A spokesman for Afghanistan's Foreign Ministry, Sultan Ahmed Baheen, said Ali had spent the previous 10 days in a "guest house" of Afghanistan's intelligence service. Before that, he was in the custody of a prosecutor who deals with minors, the ministry said. Baheen said Ali is a dual American-Pakistani citizen because he was born in the United States. Elaine Whitfield Sharp, who represents the family of Aafia Siddiqui, said the boy's release was "wonderful news." "I'm just so happy for them. Finally, something good has happened for the family," Whitfield Sharp said by telephone from Massachusetts. She added that she had spoken briefly with Aafia and described her client as "excited" to hear her son had been released. Afghan authorities handed him over to Pakistani diplomats, who flew him to Islamabad on Monday evening. The Pakistani Foreign Ministry said he had been handed over to relatives of his mother. Whitfield Sharp said the son was apparently now at the home of an uncle in Islamabad. Pakistan's Express News television channel showed footage of Ali, a round-faced boy with dark hair, smiling shyly beneath a white prayer cap as an aunt kissed and embraced him at a house in the capital, Islamabad. Fauzia Siddiqui told reporters her nephew was "very traumatized." "He is like a dead body. They fed him and tried to make him look healthy, but he is disturbed," she said. "Thank God he is grown. He is a big boy now." She said Ali told his relatives Monday that his name had been changed several times and that each change was followed by a change of location. But she did not elaborate. Aafia Siddiqui came to the United States in 1990 and studied at the University of Houston and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she got a bachelor's degree in biology in 1995. She later studied neuroscience as a graduate student at Brandeis University. She vanished in Pakistan in 2003. In 2004, then-Attorney General John Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert Mueller III identified Siddiqui as one of seven people the FBI wanted to question about suspected ties to al-Qaida. Her family has vehemently denied any link. Fauzia Siddiqui said she didn't want to blame anyone for Ali's ordeal and expressed hope that the embrace of his relatives would allow her nephew to forget. She dodged a question about the circumstances of her sister and nephew's detentions in Afghanistan. In Washington, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters the U.S. was following the latest developments closely. Aafia Siddiqui's lawyers claim that before she was arrested and brought to New York, she was kidnapped by U.S. operatives and kept in secret captivity in Pakistan. The ordeal, they said, left her with severe physical and mental problems. Last week, a warden at a federal prison in Brooklyn notified a judge that Siddiqui is suffering from major depression. U.S. officials deny she was ever in their captivity before she surfaced in Afghanistan in July. Baheen said Ali was adopted by Siddiqui after his parents were killed in an earthquake that struck Kashmir in 2005. However, Pakistan's Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammed Sadiq said DNA tests done by U.S. authorities showed that the boy was Siddiqui's biological son. ___ Associated Press writer Rahim Faiez in Kabul and Larry Neumeister in New York contributed to this report. Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. ||||| ISLAMABAD: Interior ministry sources said Tuesday complete security was being provided to the son and other family members of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui at their residence in Islamabad. The government would provide security to Ahmed even if he wanted to go to Karachi along with her aunty Dr. Fauzia Siddiqui, according to sources. Interior ministry sources told Geo News that there was no need of investigation or questioning from the underage Ahmed and ruled out any possibility of his re-arrest. Dr. Fauzia Siddiqui, sister of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui had expressed the desire to take him to Karachi at her residence, sources said, adding further steps were being taken regarding other missing children of Dr. Aafia. ||||| ISLAMABAD- Dr Aafia Siddiqui’s family has extended profound gratitude to the present democratic government for making serious efforts in bringing Dr Aafia’s son Muhammad Ahmad back home. Saad Saleem, Spokesperson Defence of Human Rights (DHR), an NGO struggling for the release of missing persons, said here during a press conference at Islamabad Press Club that Dr Aafia’s family was deeply grateful to the government for using effective diplomatic channels for getting back Muhammad Ahmad, Dr Aafia’s son. He said that the aggrieved family felt that getting back of Ahmad was not possible if Pakistani high officials had not made their diplomatic efforts for his safe recovery from Afghanistan. “Afia’s family has also extended their heartfelt thanks to Pakistani politicians, namely Imran Khan, Qazi Hussain Ahmad and Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan for persistently raising voice against the injustice done to Dr Asfia Siddiqui,” he added. Saad informed that Dr Fozia, sister of Dr Aafia, had to address the press conference but she was restricted from appearing in media till tomorrow. “It was because of security reasons,” he said. He informed that Dr Aafia’s son had been kept in Islamabad. He said that they expected that the present democratic government would seek Dr Aafia’s repatriation from illegal US custody immediately. He also demanded of the government to immediately release all other missing persons. Students’ Coordinator DHR condemned the act of United States Department of Homeland Security, which has revoked the travel visa of Amna Masood Janjua, Chairperson DHR. He said that Janjua was on a tour of Europe on invitation of Amnesty International where she highlighted the plight of the families of missing persons. He further said that DHR had planned to stage protest demonstration on September 20, in which families of all missing persons would participate. | The 12-year-old son of neuroscientist and MIT graduate , Mohammad Ahmed, was handed over to his aunt in Islamabad after years of detention in a in Afghanistan. Dr. Aafia Siddiqui is still currently facing trial charged with attempting to kill American soldiers in Afghanistan. Siddiqui and her three children disappeared after leaving her parent's house in on 30th March, 2003. She was married to a nephew of , the accused mastermind of the attacks. Her husband was captured in 2003 and is now held at the Guantanamo Bay Detention Center. In 2004, Dr. Aafia was identified by the FBI as an “Al-Qaeda operative and facilitator who posed a clear and present danger to America". Mohammad Ahmed's mother, Aafia Siddiqui.Mohammad Ahmed was only six when he and his mother, brother and sister were abducted from Karachi in 2003 and later handed over to US authorities. Dr. Fauzia told journalists after the boy had been given to her by officials of the interior ministry and intelligence agencies. She gave a written statement to the officials expressing her gratitude to the Pakistani nation, President of Pakistan Asif ali Zardari, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, Advisor on Interior Rehman Malik, Interior Secretary Syed Kamal Shah and the National Assembly and Senate for freeing the boy. Mohammad Ahmed arrived at the in Islamabad from Kabul in a PIA flight and was taken to his aunt’s residence. co-chairman Iqbal Haider said that the daughter of Dr. Aafia was also in Afghanistan. He regretted that despite having U.S. nationality, the U.S. government did nothing for the release of its four citizens, stating that “this is a severe violation of the US laws and constitution.” Muhammad Ahmed landed back to his home in Karachi from where he had disappeared five years back, with his family, Dr. Fauzia and her family hoping that the other two missing children would also be back home soon, by taking some positive steps from the Government of Pakistan. |
SAN FRANCISCO – Apple Inc. rocketed to its most profitable quarter ever over the holidays, as huge sales of the iPhone and Macintosh computers led to a nearly 50 percent jump in net income. The company offered no clues about what it plans to unveil Wednesday in San Francisco, although analysts expect the new product to be a tablet-style computer. CEO Steve Jobs indicated that investors should expect a significant event. "The new products we are planning to release this year are very strong, starting this week with a major new product that we're really excited about," Jobs said in a statement. Apple also offered a profit and revenue forecast above Wall Street forecasts. The iPhone's rollout in several major new markets, including China and South Korea, helped Apple double sales of the hot phone. Apple's numbers also got a boost from an accounting change. Apple started putting iPhone revenue and profit on its books when the gadget is sold, rather than deferring those results over the presumed life of the device. Apple said Monday it earned $3.4 billion, or $3.67 per share, in the latest quarter, which ended Dec. 26. In the same period of 2008, had the same accounting standards been in place, it would have had net income of $2.3 billion, or $2.50 per share. Revenue was $15.7 billion, a 32 percent jump from $11.9 billion in the same period last year. Apple's chief financial officer, Peter Oppenheimer, said on a conference call that half of the company's revenue growth could be attributed to the accounting change, but Apple was silent on the change's effects on net income. Apple's report reflected the company's ability to allure shoppers without deep cuts to its premium prices. Apple's reputation as a luxury brand hasn't dented its ability to put up better numbers even as many computer buyers gravitate toward cheaper options. Apple sold 8.7 million iPhones in the quarter, double what it sold in the same period the year before. And its sales of Macintosh computers rose 33 percent. But the 21 million iPods it sold marked an 8 percent decline. Although Apple refreshed its iPod Nano with new colors and a video camera last fall, sales of the iPod have suffered as the iPhone, which has iPod features built in, has grown in popularity. Shaw Wu, an analyst for Kaufman Bros., was expecting Apple to sell about 200,000 more iPhones in the quarter. He attributed the lower number to possible component shortages. Apple didn't tell Wall Street analysts in advance that it would make the accounting switch in the first quarter. That may have left some investors scratching their heads when the numbers landed. In extended trading, the shares edged up less than 1 percent, after gaining $5.32, 2.7 percent, to end the regular session at $203.07. Wu said that until he goes back to re-crunch the numbers, he is basing his opinion on the number of iPhones, Macs and iPods Apple sold in the quarter, and on the nearly $6 billion increase in Apple's cash stockpile. "That number looked pretty solid," Wu said. Apple said it expects the current quarter, the second in its fiscal year, to yield earnings of $2.06 to $2.18 per share, with revenue of $11.0 billion to $11.4 billion. Analysts did not factor the accounting change into their estimates for the current quarter. On average, they had been predicting profit of $1.77 per share and revenue of $10.4 billion in the current quarter, according to Thomson Reuters. ___ AP Technology Writer Jessica Mintz in Seattle contributed to this report. ||||| Apple doubles iPhone sales in record quarter NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Apple Inc. reported another strong quarter Monday on the back of its current product lineup, including iPhones and Macintosh computers, as the company gears up for its widely anticipated announcement of a new tablet computer on Wednesday. The Cupertino, Calif., company said net income for the quarter ended Dec. 31 surged 50% from a year earlier to a record $3.4 billion, or $3.67 per share. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had expected earnings of $2.08 per share. Apple's sales rose 32% to a record $15.7 billion, easily sweeping past analysts' forecasts of $12.1 billion. That marks the second straight quarter in which Apple posted record revenue. "If you annualize our quarterly revenue, it's surprising that Apple is now a $50+ billion company," said Apple CEO Steve Jobs in a statement. "The new products we are planning to release this year are very strong, starting this week with a major new product that we're really excited about." The latest results were aided by new accounting laws that allow the company to declare revenue from iPhone and Apple TV sales as they come in. Previously, Apple had to spread the revenue over the span of customers' contracts. A 100% year-over-year rise in iPhone sales and a 33% increase in Mac sales also helped drive Apple's results. The company said it sold a record 8.7 million iPhones in the quarter. That's up 17.6% from the 7.4 million it sold in the previous quarter and double what it sold during the same quarter a year ago. Sales were partially boosted by Apple's introduction of the iPhone in China last quarter. Apple sold 3.4 million Macs in the quarter, despite the economic downturn and the fact that the lowest-priced Mac retails for $1,000. The company lowered prices for many of its products last quarter, but still managed to grow its gross margin to 40.9%, up from 37.9% a year ago. Apple said lower component prices fueled its surprising margin growth, which beat Wall Street's consensus forecast by more than five percentage points. Peter Oppenheimer, Apple's chief financial officer, said on a conference call with investors that the company anticipates earnings of about $2.06 to $2.18 per share in the current quarter on revenue of about $11 billion to $11.4 billion. Apple's guidance is notoriously conservative. For instance, Apple predicted last quarter's revenue would be about $11.4 billion, with earnings per share of about $1.74. Shares of Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500) fell 1% after hours. Apple Tablet - The next iPhone? The strong showing for the iPhone is an encouraging sign, as a growing number of competitors are encroaching on the iPhone's territory by unveiling similar devices. Google (GOOG, Fortune 500) recently debuted its Nexus One phone, Motorola's (MOT, Fortune 500) Droid has become a big hit and Research In Motion (RIMM) continues to produce new, popular BlackBerry devices. Still, some analysts say Apple can't survive on the iPhone's success forever. Before the iPhone, the company's main cash cow for the most of the last decade was the iPod. But as the MP3 player market began to saturate, sales eventually slowed down. Despite slashed prices in September, iPod sales continued to slump, falling 8% to 21 million for the quarter. Some experts believe the iPhone is destined to encounter the same fate as the iPod and that it's just a matter of time before iPhone sales level off. Last month, data tracker comScore released a study that showed interest in the iPhone plateauing, with other devices gaining in popularity. "As awareness grows about Apple's competitors, they'll start taking away share from the iPhone," said Michael Grossi, director of tech industry consulting company Altman Vilandrie & Co. "The iPhone's not the only game in town any longer." Others believe that the iPhone will continue to grow, since there are many potential customers who have not yet purchased a smartphone. There are rumors that the iPhone will soon be available on the Verizon (VZ, Fortune 500) network, which would give Apple access to millions of potential new customers who were holding out because of Apple's exclusivity deal with AT&T (T, Fortune 500). "Apple still has a fair amount of headroom with the iPhone given how big the market is," said Barry Jaruzelski, an analyst at Booz & Co. "That's one of the reasons why a cell phone was an obvious choice to fill the gap left by leveling-off iPod sales." Either way, Apple is most likely looking to its much-rumored tablet computer to become its next revolutionary product -- and cash cow. Apple has remained mum about the device and has not officially confirmed that it even exists. But analysts who have been briefed on the device say it will have a 10-inch screen and retail for about $800 to $1,000. Although some analysts believe the device could revolutionize the handheld world in the same way the the iPhone changed the smartphone market and the iPod changed the way we listen to music, others are skeptical that consumers will want to carry around a tablet. Price could be an issue as well: Apple typically prices its products higher than competitors, but that strategy has hurt them before. When the iPhone originally debuted at $599, Apple priced out many customers. The company was forced to slash the price by $200 just two months later. ||||| Apple continued to rake in revenue, reporting a 32 percent increase in revenue for the fourth quarter compared to a year ago, while confirming a "major" new product launch later this week. Apple reported a whopping $3.38 billion in profits on $15.58 billion in revenue for the fourth quarter, versus a profit of $2.26 billion on revenue of $11.88 billion for the same period a year ago. The results were Apple's best quarterly results ever, executives said, although they were boosted by a revised accounting procedure that allows Apple to record most revenue from the iPhone and the Apple TV immediately, instead of deferring it across several quarters. "We're thrilled to report Apple's best quarter ever," Peter Oppenheimer, Apple';s chief financial officer, said during a conference call Monday afternoon. "We posted Apple's highest quarterly revenue, and earnings, and set new records for sales of Macs and iPhones. We're shipping the best products in our history, and customers love them." "If you annualize our quarterly revenue, it's surprising that Apple is now a $50+ billion company," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO, in a statement. "The new products we are planning to release this year are very strong, starting this week with a major new product that we're really excited about." However, Apple executives also declined to discuss Wednesday's launch event. "I wouldn't want to take your joy of surprise on Wednesday when you view our latest creations," Tim Cook, Apple's chief operating officer, told an analyst who asked about the launch. Apple sold a record 3.36 million Macs for the quarter, a 33 percent increase and about 300,000 more than the company shipped in the September quarter. Half the Macs sold were to customers who had never owned a Mac before, Oppenheimer said. iMac sales grew by 70 percent, year over year. Apple also sold 8.7 million iPhones, a 100 percent growth rate. Apple also recognized $25 per each of the 8.7 million iPhones sold as revenue, less $110 million in amortization costs, Oppenheimer said. Generic iPods, however, were the weak point, as sales slipped by 8 percent to 21 million units; however, sales of iPod touch devices grew by 55 percent. Apple's iTunes store also delivered a record-breaking quarter, Oppenheimer said, even though it continues to run a bit over break-even. According to Cook, Apple approves over 90 percent of all applications to the App Store. "Most of the rejections are [due to] bugs in the code itself," Cook said. "They don't want customers that are unhappy with the app." Reports of unhappy developers may be overblown, Cook said. "The noise of it may be higher than the reality," he said. Apple generated $5.8 billion in cash for the quarter alone, and now has $39.8 billion in the bank - slightly more than the gross national product of Guatemala, according to the World Bank. For the first calendar quarter, Apple expects revenue in the range of about $11.0 billion to $11.4 billion, the company said. Component issues could affect Apple's production; Cook warned: two areas of concern are DRAM and 3.5-inch hard drives for desktop products. Other components whose supply exceeded demand have now entered into a state of balance, he said. Editor's Note: This story was updated at 3:37 PM PT with additional comments from the conference call. ||||| The iPhone's roll-out in China and South Korea has increased sales Apple has announced a 50% increase in profits after seeing a bumper Christmas period, in which sales of iPhones doubled from a year ago. Net income rose to $3.38bn (£2.08bn) in the three months to 26 December, from the $2.26bn it made the previous year. Apple said it sold 8.7 million iPhones in the quarter. Sales of Macs also rose 33%, although iPod sales fell by 8%. On Wednesday, the firm will announce a new product, widely expected to be a touch-screen "tablet" computer. The company has previously used January launches to unveil products including the iPhone and the MacBook Air. Apple shares rose $5.33, or 2.7%, to close at $203.08 in New York before the results came out. In extended trading the shares rose a further $1.28 to $204.36. 'Phenomenal sales' Sales in the first quarter rose to $15.7bn from $11.9bn in the same period a year ago. The new products we are planning to release this year are very strong, starting this week with a major new product that we're really excited about Steve Jobs, Apple chief executive Sales of the iPhone were boosted by its roll-out in China, the world's biggest mobile phone market. Mac sales rose to 3.36 million during the quarter while sales of iPods fell to 21 million. Analysts were impressed with the results. "It was a very good quarter, as expected. It's a continued sign that Apple has great products that consumers want despite this recession," commented Daniel Ernst from Hudson Square Research. "Mac sales were phenomenal as well... Macs continue to gain share and what's interesting is that it only has 3.6% share globally so there's a lot of headroom." Apple forecast sales for the current quarter of between $11bn and $11.4bn. "The new products we are planning to release this year are very strong, starting this week with a major new product that we're really excited about," said Apple chief executive Steve Jobs. Earlier this month, Microsoft and HP unveiled a touchscreen slate computer, ahead of Apple's much rumoured device launch. Bookmark with: Delicious Digg reddit Facebook StumbleUpon What are these? E-mail this to a friend Printable version | Apple Inc. has announced that, in the fiscal quarter that ended on December 31, its profits increased by 50% from a year earlier, the highest ever recorded for the company. The profits were equal to US$3.4 billion, or $3.67 per share. Analysts polled by the Thomson Reuters, however, forecast earnings of $2.08 a share. Apple sales, meanwhile, increased by 32% to a record $15.7 billion from $11.9 billion the year before, above the $12.1 billion predicted by economists. This is the second consecutive quarter in which Apple has made record revenue. According to PC Magazine, of the revenue, $5.8 billion was in cash. For this quarter, Apple has forecast its revenue to be somewhere between $11 billion and $11.4 billion, or earnings of $2.06 to $2.18 per share. Before the results were announced, Apple shares rose $5.33, or 2.7%, to close at $203.08 at the New York stock market, whilst in extended trading the shares went up an additional $1.28, reaching $204.36. Steve Jobs, the Apple CEO, commented in a statement that "if you annualize our quarterly revenue, it's surprising that Apple is now a $50+ billion company. The new products we are planning to release this year are very strong, starting this week with a major new product that we're really excited about." Daniel Ernst, with Hudson Square Research, remarked that "it was a very good quarter, as expected. It's a continued sign that Apple has great products that consumers want despite this recession. Mac sales were phenomenal as well ... Macs continue to gain share and what's interesting is that it only has 3.6% share globally so there's a lot of headroom." |
Tweet with a location You can add location information to your Tweets, such as your city or precise location, from the web and via third-party applications. You always have the option to delete your Tweet location history. Learn more ||||| NEWTOWN, Conn. - Adam Lanza was equipped with an assault rifle and two handguns inside Sandy Hook School, Conn. State Police said. An additional weapon, a shotgun, was found in Lanza's vehicle outside the school. Sunday was also the first official confirmation that Lanza was the shooter who killed six adults and twenty children inside the school. According to Connecticut State Police Lt. Paul Vance, Lanza had multiple high-capacity magazines for the Bushmaster AR-15 rifle. Those high-capacity magazines held 30 rounds each, Vance said. Lanza also had multiple magazines for the Glock 10mm and Sig Sauer 9mm handguns. As a result, Vance said, Lanza was armed with "hundreds of bullets." Saturday, Connecticut medical examiner Dr. H. Wayne Carver said the 7 victims he examined had each been shot between three and eleven times. He also said he believed each victim was shot multiple times. If the three-to-eleven shot estimate is accurate for each victim, and Lanza used only 30-round magazines, he would have used between four and ten magazines. State Police refused to comment on precisely how many magazines were emptied or shell casings were found, but said they had collected those items for examination. Still, the shooting ended while Lanza still had enough unused ammunition to carry out significant additional carnage. "There was a lot of ammo, a lot of clips," State Police Lt. Paul Vance. "Certainly a lot of lives were potentially saved." Vance said Lanza used one of the handguns to take his own life, but wouldn't speculate on when or why Lanza decided to end his spree. Early in the Sunday afternoon statement, Vance also confirmed that the shooter's mother, Nancy Lanza, was the victim found at an alternate location. She was shot four times in the head and found in her bed wearing pajamas, said a state official who was not authorized to disclose details of the investigation and spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity. Education officials said they had found no link between Lanza's mother and the school, contrary to news reports that said she was a teacher there. Investigators said they believe Adam Lanza attended Sandy Hook many years ago, but they had no explanation for why he went there Friday. As President Barack Obama prepared a visit and churches opened their doors to comfort a grieving town Sunday, federal agents fanned out to dozens of gun stores and shooting ranges across Connecticut, chasing leads they hoped would cast light on Lanza's life. Among the questions: Why did his mother, a well-to-do suburban divorcee , keep a cache of high-power weapons in the house? What experience did Lanza have with those guns? And, above all, what set him on a path to go classroom-by-classroom, massacring 6- and 7-year-olds? At St. Rose of Lima Roman Catholic church in Newtown, Jennifer Waters, who at 6 is the same age as many of the victims and attends a different school, came to Mass on Sunday in Newtown with a lot of questions. "The little children — are they with the angels?" she asked her mother while fiddling with a small plastic figurine on a pew near the back of the church. "Are they going to live with the angels?" Her mother, Joan, 45, assured her they were, then put a finger to her daughter's lips, urging her to be quiet. An overflow crowd of more than 800 people attended the 9 a.m. service at the church, where eight children will be buried later this week. The gunman, Adam Lanza, and his mother also attended church here. Spokesman Brian Wallace said the diocese has yet to be asked to provide funerals for either. Boxes of tissues were placed strategically in each pew and on each window sill. The altar was adorned with bouquets, one shaped as a broken heart, with a zigzag of red carnations cutting through the white ones. In his homily, the Rev. Jerald Doyle, the diocesan administrator, tried to answer the question of how parishioners could find joy in the holiday season with so much sorrow surrounding them. "You won't remember what I say, and it will become unimportant," he said. "But you will really hear deep down that word that will finally and ultimately bring peace and joy. That is the word by which we live. That is the word by which we hope. That is the word by which we love." ||||| Published on Hello, Westboro Baptist Church. Allow us to introduce ourselves. We are Anonymous. As you may not have acknowledged our existence, we, on the otherhand, have recognized yours. We have seen your depraved methods of disseminating your message of hate throughout The United States of America. We have witnessed you defaming the memories of those who sacrificed themselves for the security of our nation, disrupting the peace of the educational environment within high schools and universities, breeding hatred within the fragile minds of your own next of kin, desecrating the name of God by protesting in the proximity of churches and synagogues, and mangling the biblical text to conform in accordance with your malevolent cause. Your pseudo-faith is abhorrent, and your leaders, repugnant. Your impact and cause is hazardous to the lives of millions and you fail to see the wrong in promoting the deaths of innocent people. You are self-appointed servants of God who rewrite the words of His sacred scripture to adhere to your prejudice. Your hatred supersedes your faith, and you use faith to promote your hatred. Since your one-dimensional thought protocol will conform not to any modern logic, we will not debate, argue, or attempt to reason with you. Instead, we have unanimously deemed your organization to be harmful to the population of The United States of America, and have therefore decided to execute an agenda of action which will progressively dismantle your institution of deceitful pretext and extreme bias, and cease when your zealotry runs dry. We recognize you as serious opponents, and do not expect our campaign to terminate in a short period of time. Attrition is our weapon, and we will waste no time, money, effort, and enjoyment, in tearing your resolve into pieces, as with exposing the incongruity of your distorted faith. Anonymous possesses a plethora of information within our network about the many divisions of Christianity and numerous other religious doctrines. Many of us are versed in the biblical text, and we can identify each and every of your violations of scripture. You abuse the Holy Bible which you do not fully comprehend and know not of the thousands of authors to impose upon other people when you can simply coalesce with your loved ones and live in the manner you deem plausible. You engage in reciprocal fornication with another man and preach adultery as a sin. You, Shirley Lynn Phelps-Roper violated Deuteronomy 5:18. As a result, your son Sam is the living, breathing proof of your act of simple loneliness. Simply put, it takes not a genius to realize an arrogant woman's loose moral string, and its predilection to progressively wither and fray. From the time you have received this message, our attack protocol has past been executed and your downfall is underway. Do not attempt to delude yourselves into thinking you can escape our reach, for we are everywhere, and all-seeing, in the same sense as God. We are a body of individuals who fight for a purpose higher than self, and seek to bring the malevolent intent of the malefactors to light. We will not allow you to corrupt the minds of America with your seeds of hatred. We will not allow you to inspire aggression to the social factions which you deem inferior. We will render you obsolete. We will destroy you. We are coming. Everyone is equal. We are Anonymous. We are Legion. We do not Forgive. We do not Forget. Expect us. Articles: http://www.salon.com/2012/12/16/anonymous_hit_westboro_baptist_church_over_sa... http://thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/1-westboro-baptist-church-god-sent-the-s... http://forums.allkpop.com/threads/westboro-baptist-church-to-protest-at-conne... ------------------------------------------------- Anonymous News - follow us on: International: http://www.twitter.com/AnonNewsINT Germany: http://www.twitter.com/AnonNewsDE Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/AnymousNewsDE Google Plus: http://www.gplus.to/AnonNewsDE Diaspora: https://wk3.org/u/anonnewsde Blog: http://anonnewsde.tumblr.com ||||| 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 ||||| NBC's Pete Williams has more information on a report that Connecticut school shooter Adam Lanza may have been involved in an altercation with staff members at Sandy Hook Elementary one day before the murders. Undated photo confirmed by government officials to be Adam Lanza, who apparently killed himself after killing more than two dozen others, including 20 school children. A day after the Newtown massacre, gunman Adam Lanza’s motive – and any personal demons – remained a mystery. Lanza, 20, was identified by authorities as the black-clad killer who fatally shot his mother, gunned down 26 children and adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School, and then committed suicide on Friday. His older brother told authorities Lanza had a history of mental problems, but the nature of them was not clear. Former classmates remembered him as a brainy and quiet teen who sometimes wore a pocket protector. Tim Arnone told Reuters that he first met Lanza at Sandy Hook and attended Newtown High School with him, where the two were members of a technology club. He said Lanza was "driven hard" to succeed academically by his parents, particularly his mother. Nancy Lanza and her husband, Peter Lanza, divorced in 2008, according to public records. Peter Lanza could not immediately be reached for comment but has spoken to police. Joshua Milas, who graduated from Newtown High School in 2009, told The Associated Press that Adam Lanza was generally a happy person but that he hadn't seen him in a few years. "We would hang out, and he was a good kid. He was smart," Joshua Milas said. "He was probably one of the smartest kids I know." Catherine Urso, of Newtown, told the Associated Press her college-age son knew Lanza. "He just said he was very thin, very remote and was one of the Goths," she said. Law enforcement officials initially told NBC News that the gunman was Lanza's brother, Ryan, and they had sent out a bulletin to local and federal law enforcement agencies to that effect. But when authorities went to Ryan's home in Hoboken, N.J., to search it, they unexpectedly found him there. Ryan told police he was not involved and that his brother has a history of mental health issues and might have had his ID even though they had not seen each other in two years, officials said. A senior official later said that Ryan was nowhere near the shooting, was not believed to be involved, and was cooperating with the investigation. Lanza's aunt, Marsha Lanza, of Crystal Lake, Ill., told the AP she was close with Adam Lanza's mother and sent her a Facebook message Friday morning asking how she was doing. Nancy Lanza never responded. Marsha Lanza described Nancy Lanza as a good mother and kind-hearted. She said her husband saw Adam Lanza as recently as June and recalled nothing out of the ordinary about him. Nancy Lanza’s mother was too distraught to speak when reached by phone at her home in Brooksville, Fla., the AP reported. "I just don't know, and I can't make a comment right now," Dorothy Hanson, 78, said in a shaky voice as she started to cry. NBC News Justice Correspondent Pete Williams contributed to this report. Authorities are investigating why the alleged gunman would have killed his mother at home and then killed so many children. NBC's Pei-Sze Cheng reports. Related content from NBCNews.com: Follow US news from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook ||||| After insisting it wanted nothing to do with Westboro Baptist Church, Anonymous is pushed to hacking the controversial church's site. During a live TV interview between an Anonymous member and Shirley Phelps-Roper from the Westboro Baptist Church, the escalating war between the two has peaked. In the 10-minute-plus interview, Phelps-Roper repeatedly blamed Anonymous for a letter released earlier this week promising to attack the infamous Westboro Baptist Church. Anonymous has been claiming since the accusation that it was not the author of the widely circulated message, and insists the entire operation was likely a ploy for attention on the congregation’s part. During the interview, Anonymous continuously and calmly reiterated it was not responsible for the original letter, and that the church’s site had been taken down earlier by another hacktivist widely known as “th3j3st3r.” The Jester took credit for the hack via his Twitter on February 21. But Phelps-Roper would have none of it. Between hurling insults and thanking Anonymous for the increased attention to the church’s cause (which includes degrading fallen US soldiers and homosexuals), she refused to hear out Anonymous’ defense. After nearly nine minutes of listening to her crazed diatribe, the hacktivist group took action. “I was just going to say in the time that Shirley was blabbing her religious preachings I actually did some business and I think if you check downloads.westborobaptistchurch right now you’ll see a nice message from Anonymous.” Indeed, after insisting that no hacker could take down its controversial website, Anonymous was able to do so in a matter of moments, and seemingly without prior planning. “We just put up a nice release while Shirley was preaching there…Yeah we just, we had enough. We responded [to the original letter from Westboro Baptist] maturely…then Shirley comes on the show, [says] I’m going to hell, so we’ve given her something to look at.” Phelps-Roper, somewhere between resilient and irate, seems to misinterpret the episode and asks, “So are you saying you did take down the websites or you did not take down the websites?” The domain is currently inaccessible, but you can view a cached page here. It begins, “Greetings Westboro Baptist Church, if you’re reading this, it means that Anonymous has lost its patience with you, likely because you’ve threatened us again after we denied you a war.” The group also points out the organization is far and away below its standards, and that operations involving Middle Eastern countries in revolution and the HBGary controversy are more deserving of its time and effort. In addition to the message, Anonymous also included access to Westboro Baptist’s internal server. Anonymous has established itself as a force not to be tampered with, and gained notoriety along the way. Various organizations may be willing to attach themselves to its name for publicity, or even to belittle its cause – which Westboro Baptist has obviously learned the hard way. “The world (including Anonymous) disagrees with your hateful messages, but you have the right to voice them. This does not mean you can jump onto Anonymous for attention. God hates fags: assumption. Anonymous hates leeches: fact,” concludes the letter. Check out the video in full below. | Police outside the school shortly after arriving on scene of the shooting December 14. Hackers claiming to be associated with the internet activist group Anonymous have attacked the website belonging to the (WBC) and hacked into the account belonging to , the Church's spokeswoman. The attacks are part of an operation dubbed '#OpWestBor' on Twitter and is in response to the Church's decision to picket funerals of victims of the December 14 shooting at in , Connecticut. "Westboro will picket Sandy Hook Elementary School to sing praise to God for the glory of his work in executing his judgment," said Phelps in a post to her Twitter account on Saturday. On Sunday, in a video posted on , Anonymous announced their intentions saying, "From the time you have received this message, our attack protocol has past been executed and your downfall is underway. Do not attempt to delude yourselves into thinking you can escape our reach, for we are everywhere, and all-seeing, in the same sense as God. ... We will render you obsolete. We will destroy you. We are coming." The Church's website has been unreachable for most of the day. At the time of this report, the website was unreachable. As a result of the breach, Anonymous claims to have gained access to and leaked alleged personal information such as names, home addresses and telephone numbers belonging to Church members. Also as part of the operation, early yesterday morning, a member of Anonymous called 'CosmoTheGod' hacked the Twitter account belonging to Phelps, posting a 'tweet' saying, "This account is now being ran by @CosmoTheGod #UGNazi #oops." As of this report, Anonymous still has control of it. This isn't the first time hackers took control of the Church's website. In 2011 the Church blamed Anonymous for circulating a letter claiming an attack on the Church's website was imminent and blamed them for taking down their website in an earlier attack, something the group denied. Shortly after the incident, user "th3j3st3r" on Twitter claimed responsibility for circulating the letter and the initial attack. When Phelps and one of the group's members were interviewed on live television shortly thereafter, she denied hackers could break into their website or take it offline. However; during the interview, Anonymous hacked into the Church's website, defaced it and took it offline. "I was just going to say in the time that Shirley was blabbing her religious preachings I actually did some business and I think if you check downloads.westborobaptistchurch right now you’ll see a nice message from Anonymous", said Anonymous nine minutes into the interview. On December 14, a gunman identified as 20 year-old Adam Lanza killed his mother Nancy then went into Sandy Hook Elementary school carrying a Bushmaster rifle and two other handguns, where he opened fire killing 26 people, 20 of them children between the ages of five and ten years old. Shortly after the incident, Lanza shot himself, committing suicide. |
Full scorecard - Commentary - Wickets - 3D animation - Partnerships - Wagon wheels - Player v player - Over comparison - Over graphs - Career averages - Match home - Bulletin - Article index (5) - Photo index (17) Twenty20 Int. no. 38 - 19th Match, Group F Bangladesh v Sri Lanka 2007/08 season Played at (neutral venue), on 18 September 2007 - day/night (20-over match) Result Sri Lanka won by 64 runs Sri Lanka innings (20 overs maximum) R M B 4s 6s SR c Mushfiqur Rahim b Syed Rasel 23 21 14 3 0 164.28 c Mahmudullah b Mashrafe Mortaza 0 2 1 0 0 0.00 b Mahmudullah 20 36 29 2 0 68.96 b Abdur Razzak 30 36 30 1 0 100.00 lbw b Shakib Al Hasan 12 10 12 0 1 100.00 not out 21 28 16 2 0 131.25 not out 31 20 19 2 1 163.15 Extras (b 4, lb 3, w 2, nb 1) 10 Total (5 wickets; 20 overs; 79 mins) 147 (7.35 runs per over) Did not bat , , , Fall of wickets Bowling O M R W Econ 4 0 39 1 9.75 4 1 26 1 6.50 2 0 14 0 7.00 (1nb) 4 0 19 1 4.75 3 0 22 1 7.33 3 0 20 1 6.66 (2w) Bangladesh innings (target: 148 runs from 20 overs) R M B 4s 6s SR c Malinga b Fernando 3 15 10 0 0 30.00 lbw b Vaas 0 3 1 0 0 0.00 b Fernando 18 13 11 3 0 163.63 c Dilshan b Vaas 4 14 8 0 0 50.00 b Maharoof 18 30 19 2 0 94.73 run out (Malinga/Dilshan) 5 10 6 0 0 83.33 c Mubarak b Jayasuriya 16 29 16 0 1 100.00 b Malinga 12 11 12 2 0 100.00 run out (Maharoof/ Sangakkara) 1 1 1 0 0 100.00 c Sangakkara b Jayasuriya 5 10 12 0 0 41.66 not out 0 1 0 0 0 - Extras (lb 1) 1 Total (all out; 15.5 overs; 73 mins) 83 (5.24 runs per over) Fall of wickets Bowling O M R W Econ 4 0 14 2 3.50 3 1 21 2 7.00 3 0 16 1 5.33 2 0 19 0 9.50 2 0 8 1 4.00 1.5 0 4 2 2.18 Toss Bangladesh, who chose to field first Points Player of the match CRD Fernando (Sri Lanka) Umpires (England) and (Australia) TV umpire (England) Match referee (England) Reserve umpire Match notes Sri Lanka innings Restricted overs (0-6) : 39-2 (Sangakkara 11,Jayawardene 1) Sri Lanka: 50 runs in 8.1 overs (49 balls), Extras 4 Sri Lanka: 100 runs in 15.2 overs (94 balls), Extras 8 Innings Break: Sri Lanka - 147/5 in 20.0 overs (TM Dilshan 21, J Mubarak 31) 6th Wicket: 50 runs in 32 balls (TM Dilshan 18, J Mubarak 31, Ex 2) Bangladesh innings Restricted Overs (0-6) : 31/3 (Ashraful 4,Shakib Al Hasan 6) Bangladesh: 50 runs in 9.2 overs (56 balls), Extras 0 Bangladesh Innings: 1x7 ball over (13th over, SL Malinga, called by Umpire MR Benson) Twenty 20 International scorer : M.Venkat Raghav Search for an international scorecard from the match/series archive: ||||| Sri Lanka ran out comfortable winners in the end Bangladesh's bowlers restricted Sri Lanka to just 147-5, Mahela Jayawardene hitting a run-a-ball 30. But their batsmen never looked likely of achieving their target, after losing Mohammed Nazimuddin in the first over. Man of the match Dilhara Fernando finished with 2-21 as Bangladesh were bowled out for just 83. Sri Lanka's win ensures Pakistan one of the two semi-final berths from the group. The winner between Australia and Sri Lanka in Cape Town on Thursday will take the other spot. Both Bangladesh and Sri Lanka went into the game needing a win and the Tigers' bowlers were right on the mark from the start after winning the toss. Sanath Jayasuriya fell for a first-ball duck when he was caught on the boundary by Mohammad Mahmudullah without scoring. Upul Tharanga hit a brisk 23 but was removed during an inspired spell of bowling from left-arm paceman Syed Rasel, when an edge was caught between the legs of wicket-keeper Mushfiqur Rahim. Rahim twice missed the chance to remove skipper Mahela Jayawardene, who went on to add an unconvincing 30. Sri Lanka's total was helped by a rapid sixth-wicket partnership of 51 in the last five overs from Jehan Mubarak and Tillakaratne Dilshan. Chaminda Vaas struck an early blow for Sri Lanka when he trapped Nazimuddin lbw for a duck and Fernando then collected the scalps of Tamim Iqbal and Aftab Ahmed. Vaas claimed his second wicket when Mohammad Ashraful found Dilshan after adding just four. A combination of economic bowling and good fielding ensured Bangladesh never looked like reaching their target of 148. Jayasuriya came on to remove Mahmudullah and then completed the win by having Abdur Razzak caught by wicketkeeper Kumar Sangakkara. "We've had a couple of hard games but we're looking forward to Australia. "Against Bangladesh, Dilhara Fernando and Chaminda Vaas set the tone for us. We had a plan and they produced." | Sri Lanka defeated Bangladesh by 64 runs in the Super 8 stage of the 2007 ICC World Twenty20 at Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg, South Africa. Bangladesh's bowlers restricted Sri Lanka to 147-5. Mahmudullah caught Sanath Jayasuriya on the boundary for a duck in the first over. Upul Tharanga was caught behind for 23 runs, and Kumar Sangakkara was bowled by Mahmudullah for 20. Sri Lanka were left on 96-5 after Abdur Razzak bowled Mahela Jayawardene (30) and Chamara Silva was trapped lbw by Shakib Al Hasan for just 12. However Tillakaratne Dilshan and Jehan Mubarak shared a partnership of 51 runs from the last five overs to help Sri Lanka reach 147-5. Sri Lanka bowled Bangladesh out for 83, with Chaminda Vaas taking 2-14 from four overs for Sri Lanka. Opening batsman Nazimuddin was removed lbw by Vaas in the first over without scoring. Aftab Ahmed and Shakib Al Hasan were Bangladesh's top scorers, each with 18 runs, while Mahmudullah scored 16. The result means that Pakistan will advance to the semi-finals, while Sri Lanka will play Australia for the other semi-final place in the group. '''Toss:''' Bangladesh won, and chose to field first. '''Fall of wickets:''' 1-5 (Jayasuriya, 0.3 ov), 2-37 (Tharanga, 5.1 ov), 3-59 (Sangakkara, 9.3 ov), 4-84 (Silva, 12.6 ov), 5-96 (Jayawardene, 14.5 ov) '''Did not bat:''' M F Maharoof, W P U J C Vaas, C R D Fernando, S L Malinga '''Fall of wickets:''' 1-1 (Nazimuddin, 0.5 ov), 2-21 (Tamim Iqbal, 3.2 ov), 3-21 (Aftab Ahmed, 3.4 ov), 4-31 (Mohammad Ashraful, 6.2 ov), 5-40 (Nadif Chowdhury, 8.1 ov), 6-53 (Shakib Al Hasan, 9.6 ov), 7-66 (Mashrafe Mortaza, 12.4 ov), 8-68 (Mushfiqur Rahim, 12.6 ov), 9-81 (Mahmudullah, 15.1 ov), 10-83 (Abdur Razzak, 15.5 ov) '''Bangladesh:'''Tamim Iqbal, Nazimuddin, Aftab Ahmed, Mohammad Ashraful (capt), Shakib Al Hasan, Nadif Chowdhury, Mahmudullah, Mushfiqur Rahim (wkt), Mashrafe Mortaza, Syed Rasel, Abdur Razzak '''Sri Lanka:''' W U Tharanga, S T Jayasuriya, K C Sangakkara (wkt), D P M D Jayawardene (capt), L P C Silva, T M Dilshan, J Mubarak, M F Maharoof, W P U J C Vaas, C R D Fernando, S L Malinga '''Man of the Match:''' C R D Fernando (Sri Lanka) '''Umpires:''' M R Benson (England) and D J Harper (Australia) '''TV Umpire:''' N J Llong (England) '''Match Referee:''' B C Broad (England) '''Reserve Umpire:''' K H Hurter (South Africa) |
OPEN SOURCE BUSINESS BRIEF China's Largest Bank Switches to Linux Linux is rapidly gaining in popularity on the Chinese mainland. Last week Novell signed a deal with China Standard Software to promote the development and adoption of open source in the region. Turbolinux is headquartered in Japan and is the largest Linux vendor in China. Free memory. Free upgrades. Great support. Introducing the next level of stress free multitasking. The HP Compaq dx2000 Microtower with Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor with HT technology. Go with a leader in PC technology and watch your productivity levels go through the roof. The Industrial Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) has decided to switch its servers to the Linux operating system after signing an agreement with Turbolinux . The deal marks the largest Linux deployment in China; ICBC has $640 billion in total assets and over 20,000 branch offices across the country. Claude Zhou, general manager for Turbolinux China, said that stability, security and flexibility were key factors in the bank's choice. The open-source operating system will be deployed across the bank's offices over the next three years. ICBC currently runs SCO Unix, but decided that a migration to Linux would be easier than switching to Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) Windows. Turbolinux is headquartered in Japan and is the largest Linux vendor in China. Linux is rapidly gaining in popularity on the Chinese mainland. Last week Novell (Nasdaq: NOVL) signed a deal with China Standard Software to promote the development and adoption of open source in the region. © 2005 VNU Business Online Limited (UK). All rights reserved. © 2005 ECT News Network. All rights reserved. E-Mail Article Print Version Talkback Related Stories ||||| Get a Job Senior Server Engineer Helpdesk Specialist Project Manager Analyst Programmer Project Administrator Search Stories from ... the entire archive the last 24 hours the last week the last month the last year Limit results to ... 10 20 50 100 With the keyword(s) ... Quickpoll The SCO Groupís case against Linux, IBM etc Has me interested in the outcome Bores the hell out of me View Results China's biggest bank makes switch to Linux China's biggest bank plans to deploy Linux on servers across its network of 20,000 national branches in a project that may be the biggest Linux deployment yet seen in China, according to an executive involved with the deal. Under the terms of an agreement announced Thursday, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) plans to gradually roll out Turbolinux's Turbolinux 7 DataServer operating system for all of its front-end banking operations over a three-year period. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. What makes this deal special is its size. With 5.3 trillion renminbi (US$640 billion) in total assets, ICBC is China's biggest bank, serving 100 million individuals and 8.1 million corporate accounts at more than 20,000 branch offices across China. When the project is completed, many of ICBC's 390,000 employees will be accessing applications hosted on Linux servers on a daily basis. ICBC chose Linux in part because its existing front-end applications, which were developed in-house, run on The SCO Group's SCO Unix, and migrating them to Linux was determined to be an easier upgrade path than switching the applications to Microsoft's Windows operating system, according to Claude Zhou, general manager of Turbolinux China. ICBC has been granted a site license and front-end applications based on Turbolinux 7 DataServer will be rolled out on a "step-by-step" basis to all of ICBC's 20,000 offices, Zhou said. ICBC employees will access the applications from terminals. "This is the biggest Linux implementation in China," according to Zhou. ICBC is in the process of choosing a systems integrator to handle the project. Bank executives are expected to announce their decision soon, Zhou said. Officials from ICBC were not available this week to discuss the project. ICBC is not the only one of China's four main banks to have decided to deploy Linux. For example, Bank of China has deployed Linux distributions from Turbolinux and Red Hat in regional projects. More banks are expected to follow ICBC's lead with large-scale Linux deployments, according to Zhou. Agricultural Bank of China, another of the country's top four banks, is expected to announce within the next month a tender for a Linux site license that is similar to the ICBC project, he said. The fourth major bank, China Construction Bank, is also expected to announce sometime this year plans to move its IT systems to Linux, according to China's state-run media. The shift to Linux is driven by the banks' need for better software performance and better vendor support, said Nielse Jiang, an analyst at IDC, in Beijing. Currently, most of these banks are running their applications on SCO Unix and they are looking to upgrade their systems. "In China, SCO Unix offers very weak support for customers; they have so few employees," he said. The banks have also opted for Linux because of lower operating costs and the relative ease of porting their applications from Unix to Linux, Jiang said. They also pay close attention to what the other banks are doing. "If one successful case has been implemented, the other banks will consider doing that," he said. [ Printer Friendly Version ] [ Other stories about , The SCO Group , IDC , TurboLinux , Red Hat ] [ Other stories by [ Other stories about Microsoft [ Other stories by Sumner Lemon ||||| Error An error has occurred processing your request. If the problem continues, please contact websupport@businesswire.com. To Submit News Releases For clients wishing to submit a news release, please contact your local Business Wire bureau: | The Turbolinux operating system, a variety of GNU/Linux free/open source software, has been chosen as the in-house server software for the front-end banking operations of China's largest bank, replacing SCO Unix. The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) announced the migration on Thursday, April 28. The announcement is significant in terms of the sheer size of the bank. "This is the biggest Linux implementation in China," said General Manager Claude Zhou of Turbolinux China. The ICBC serves more than 108 million customers and manages their combined assets of US$640 billion (5.3 trillion renminbi). Its 390,000 employees are scattered across 20,000 branch offices throughout China. The planned deployment will be undertaken in steps and is estimated to take three years. Tux, the serene Linux mascot ''Source: Larry Ewing (lewing@isc.tamu.edu) using The GIMP'' Zhou described the reasons for the planned migration as the stability and security of Linux. Nielse Jiang, an analyst at IDC, also attributed the switch to insufficient support by the SCO Group. "In China, SCO Unix offers very weak support for customers; they have so few employees," Jiang said. ICBC selected Turbolinux over its various competitors, including Microsoft Corporation, in part because of its need to maintain its custom-written Unix-based software. The increasing scalability and stability of Linux also were factors in the decision. Turbolinux has been China's number one source of Linux for the past 4 years. In 2004, Turbolinux held 62.0% of the Chinese server market, and also had 24.9% desktop market share, a much larger portion of desktop share than GNU/Linux holds in the United States. Turbolinux is an Asian-Pacific distribution of Linux with its corporate headquarters located in Tokyo, Japan, and offices in China and the United States. Turbolinux claims that its "Turbolinux 7 Server was the first-ever to conform to Internationalization standards to help simplify development of applications that require multiple language support — a critical requirement for software distributed globally," and supports the use of its software in the Japanese and Chinese languages. Turbolinux was also used as the operating system of choice for China's recent supercomputer, the Dawning 4000A. With its unveiling on November 15, 2004, China became the third country, after the U.S. and Japan, to surpass the 10 teraflops level of performance in a single machine. The computer, located in Shanghai Supercomputing Center, contains 2,560 64-bit Opteron processors from AMD, each running at 2.2 GHz, and at its introduction was the 10th fastest computer in the world. Turbolinux is being spread throughout China, both throughout government and the business sector, in key areas such as transportation and telecommunications. In December 2004, ZTE Corporation, the largest telecommunications manufacturer in China, partnered with Hewlett-Packard and Turbolinux to bring the benefits of GNU/Linux software to that industry. The other three largest banks in China have either already announced plans for major migrations to GNU/Linux servers running various distributions, or are expected to do so later this year. |
WASHINGTON Pledging "action for action," President Bush on Thursday said North Korea has demonstrated a commitment to dismantling its nuclear weapons program and will be rewarded by being removed from the U.S. list of state sponsors and having trade sanctions lifted. The president spoke hours after North Korea submitted its long-awaited declaration detailing its nuclear weapons activities. The government said that it would televise the demolition of the cooling tower at its Yongbyon nuclear facility on Friday, and turned over documents to China about its plutonium core and waste activities. "Today is a positive day and it's a positive step forward," Bush said from the White House Rose Garden. "My point is this: We'll see. They said they are going to destroy parts of their plant in Pyongyang. That's a very positive step." But Bush added, "We will trust you only to the extent that you fulfill your promises. I'm pleased with the progress ... there are no illusions, this is the first step." Bush said that in response to North Korea, the U.S. would erase trade sanctions under the Trading With the Enemy Act and notify Congress that in 45 days it intends to take North Korea off the State Department list of nations that sponsor terrorism. "The two actions America is taking will have real impact on North Korea's financial and diplomatic isolation," he said. U.N. Security Council resolutions remain intact, however, and other requirements still must be met, including an accounting of several Japanese citizens who were abducted in the 1970s and '80s. Ahead of the president's remarks, the White House issued a statement on Thursday morning welcoming the North Korean nuclear declaration. However, it noted that in order to "end its isolation," North Korea must "resolve outstanding questions on its highly enriched uranium and proliferation activities." The declaration does not do that despite the Feb. 13, 2007, road map for the "action for action" phase of the larger denuclearization accord, which obligated North Korea to provide "a complete declaration of all nuclear programs" by Dec. 31, 2007. Outstanding are still questions on the extent of uranium enrichment and proliferation -- mainly to Syria. Likewise, it does not include the number and location of nuclear bombs, of which North Korea is believed to have at least a half dozen. At most, the declaration "acknowledges" U.S. concerns about those details. Likewise, while the cooling tower explosion will be verifiable, it is only one element of a nuclear track and can be rebuilt in a year if the government of Kim Jong-il has a change of heart. A U.S. official said North Korea has agreed to intensive U.S. verification of its plutonium production for nuclear weapons. Paperwork handed over to Chinese officials contains detailed data on the amount of plutonium produced during each of several rounds of production at a now-shuttered plutonium reactor. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the U.S. will check North Korea's math through a combination of documents, interviews and onsite visits to the reactor. Speaking after the president, National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley reiterated that North Korea's declaration was only a stepping stone and said concerns over the program remain. Although North Korea declared its nuclear weapons program defunct, its involvement with Syria, and the amount of plutonium produced and uranium enrichment need to be explored, he said. "Our intelligence community has some concerns about their past activities, and has some concerns about potentially ongoing activities. And we have been learning more about these potential activities as part of the six-party process," Hadley said. Hadley also downplayed the level of freedom North Korea will receive through the lifting of sanctions. He said the new rule will ease licensing for Americans who want to import North Korean goods, allow more Americans to participate in shipments of third-party goods to North Korea and lift prohibitions with some financial transactions between Americans and the North Korean government. The U.S. also agreed to increase fuel oil shipments to North Korea in response to their declaration. But he noted that the president also immediately issued an executive order broadening prohibitions on interaction between Americans and North Korean boats and freezing some assets. "These are symbolic acts," Hadley said of the gestures made by Bush. "They have some consequences in terms of easing sanctions. I will tell you, and the North Koreans understand, that the degree of easing sanctions is relatively minor." Bush said that the Six Party Talks yielded success in returning North Korea to the international community, "much the way Libya has done in the past few years." But if Pyongyang does not respond to additional requirements, "there will be further consequences." "If North Korea continues to make the right choices, it can repair its relationship with the international community. ... If North Korea makes the wrong choices, the United States and its partners in the Six Party Talks will act accordingly. "The diplomatic process is not an end in itself. Our ultimate goal remains clear: a stable North Korean peninsula," Bush said. ||||| North Korea itself set Thursday as the deadline for handing over its nuclear declaration [AFP] George Bush's statement on Thursday came shortly after officials in Beijing confirmed receiving the North Korean report. North Korea has handed over a declaration on its nuclear activities to China, prompting the US president to announce that Washington will move to take Pyongyang off a US list of state sponsors of terrorism. "North Korea has begun describing its plutonium-related activities ... It has promised access to the reactor core and waste facilities at Yongbyong, as well as personnel related to its nuclear programme," Bush said at the White House in Washington. "The United States is responding to North Korea's actions with two actions of its own. I'm issuing a proclamation that lifts the provisions of the Trading With The Enemy Act ... secondly, I am notifying congress of my intent to rescind North Korea's designation as a state sponsor of terrorism in 45 days. "During this period, the United States will carefully observe North Korea's actions, and act accordingly." 'More information needed' The US actions would depend on verification of continued North Korean moves towards its nuclear disarmament, Bush said. "North Korea must dismantle all of its nuclear facilities, give up its separated plutonium, resolve outstanding questions on its highly enriched uranium and proliferation activities, and end these activities in a way that we can fully verify" George Bush, US president "The two actions the United States is taking will have little impact on North Korea's financial and diplomatic isolation ... All United Nations Security Council sanctions will stay in place as well," he said. "North Korea must dismantle all of its nuclear facilities, give up its separated plutonium, resolve outstanding questions on its highly enriched uranium and proliferation activities, and end these activities in a way that we can fully verify." The North Korean report delivered to Chinese officials is a truncated version of a declaration originally sought by Washington. Melissa Chan, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Beijing, said: "What we are seeing is a report that does not answer any questions about the North Koreans' nuclear enrichment programme; it does not specifically say how many nuclear warheads they have. So there is an avoidance of issues here. "Even though the Americans have been counting this [report] as progress, some critics say the report is not a full disclosure of what the North Koreans have been up to in the past few years. "Others say the six-party talks are a diplomatic process that will last for some time and any sort of development of this kind should be welcomed as a positive move." Nuclear pledge The handover of the North Korean declaration is a significant step in the implementation of a six-party nuclear disarmament pact signed early last year. China hosted talks that secured the deal offering North Korea diplomatic and economic incentives to disable its main nuclear facility and declare all related programmes. The removal of North Korea from the US terrorist-sponsor list could ease international trade and financial restrictions, as well as improving ties between Pyongyang and Washington. Japan has expressed unease over Pyongyang being taken off the US blacklist before the issue of its citizens being kidnapped by North Korea is resolved. | Map shows North Korean political map. Yongbyon is located north west of Pyongyang in the North Pyongyang province Fulfilling a pledge of fairness, United States president George W. Bush announced Thursday that the United States will soon remove North Korea from a list of countries seen as 'sponsoring terrorism' in the world. The announcement was made as a 'reward' to North Korea for turning over all documents related to its controversial nuclear program. Pyongyang turned over to China documents related to its plutonium core and waste activities. Pyongyang finally turned over documents and plans of its nuclear enrichment facilities in Yongbyong. North Korean state television also announced that the state will televise the demolition of the cooling tower of the Yongbyong nuclear facilities on Friday. Mr. Bush called the North Korean action as a positive step with no illusions. He also said that the act truly pleased him and it's just the first step towards repairing North Korea's relation and status with the world community. United States President George W. Bush The president added that in response to the act, he will lift the trade sanctions under the Trading With the Enemy Act. The White House will also inform the U.S. Congress that in 45 days, the State Department will remove North Korea from a list of nations that sponsor terrorism. The United States reminded North Korea that it still has some requirements to complete in order for the country to be completely removed from its diplomatic and economic isolation. Pyongyang still remains obliged to answer questions such as the degree of its uranium enrichment and proliferation that possibly benefited Syria. The United Nations sanction sponsored by the United States issued on February 13, 2007 also demanded for a complete accounting of the alleged half a dozen units of nuclear bombs, the real number and its actual location. U.S. National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley downplayed any heightened expectations from North Korea and branded the latest act as a mere "stepping stone." Hadley warned that the process remains delicate and there will still be "definite consequences," if North Korea fails to fulfill its end of the bargain. Meanwhile, Japan expressed 'unease' over the decision of the United States to remove North Korea from the 'terror' list, claiming that there is still a need to resolve issues about the kidnapping of Japanese nationals by agents of Pyongyang. |
BNP leader Nick Griffin called the leak "an act of treachery" Two people have been charged with breaching the Data Protection Act after a British National Party membership list was leaked on the internet. Dyfed-Powys Police said a man aged 27 and a woman aged 30 were arrested in Brinsley, Nottinghamshire, on Thursday and will appear in court next month. The names, addresses, phone numbers and e-mail addresses of some 10,000 party supporters were leaked in November. The BNP said it was "a serious offence" that had caused "a lot of distress". The list included the names of current and former servicemen, police officers, teachers and doctors. The BNP said it dated from 2007 and many of those named were no longer members. 'Treachery' Party leader Nick Griffin lodged a complaint with Dyfed-Powys, his local force, on the grounds that publishing the list breached human rights and data protection laws, and could put at risk those who were named. We are glad the police and the CPS have taken this seriously BNP spokesman He called the leak as "a disgraceful act of treachery" by former BNP members who were subsequently sacked. Earlier last year, the party obtained an injunction from the High Court in Manchester banning any publication of the list. A police spokesman said the man and woman had been arrested following a joint investigation with the Information Commissioner's Office. They have been charged under Section 55 of the Data Protection Act 1998, which makes it a criminal offence to "knowingly or recklessly obtain or disclose" personal information without consent. A BNP spokesman said on Friday: "We are glad the police and the CPS have taken this seriously. "It's a serious offence and has caused a lot of distress." The pair will appear before magistrates in Nottingham on 1 September. Bookmark with: Delicious Digg reddit Facebook StumbleUpon What are these? E-mail this to a friend Printable version ||||| Two people have been charged with leaking the names and details of the entire British National party membership. The list, which identified thousands of people linked to the far-right party, was posted on the web in November 2008. Information included addresses and other contact information such as mobile phone numbers and the names and ages of children in a family membership. Dyfed-Powys police said a 27-year-old man and 30-year-old woman were charged under the Data Protection Act after a joint investigation with the Information Commissioner's Office. The pair lived in the Nottingham area at the time of the leak. The fallout included the outing of police, lawyers, teachers and church figures as BNP members, with some complaining the leak exposed them to the risk of dismissal or disciplinary action. Some included on the list, which ran to 13,000 names, complained they had been mistakenly included after only asking for information on the party. Others said they were no longer members. In one entry of a woman believed to be a serving police officer from Wirral was the note "Discretion required re employment concerns – police officer", along with the names and ages of her children. The BNP leader, Nick Griffin, claimed at the time to know the identity of a person who had leaked the information, calling them a hardline senior employee who disagreed with the direction of the party and left the party in 2007. The party called in the police and obtained a high court injunction to stop the list being published but was forced to admit it was relying on the Human Rights Act, which it opposes, to protect members' privacy. The party said the leak was "malevolent and spiteful" but the list was not up to date and only included names of members up to 2007. The BNP goes to considerable lengths to conceal the identities of members, including dividing lists between different people and encrypting and password-protecting email attachments. The two people charged are due to appear in Nottingham magistrates court on 1 September. | Police charged two people for Data Protection Act offences in relation to the November 2008 leak of the members list of the far-right British National Party (BNP). Following a joint investigation between Dyfed-Powys Police and the Information Commissioner's Office, a 27-year-old man and 30-year-old woman were arrested and charged under Section 55 of the Data Protection Act 1998. The pair lived in Nottinghamshire, England at the time of their arrest. They will appear before a Magistrates' Court on September 1. The leaked list is available online, and contains personal information of about 10,000 BNP members, including information on their family, work and contact details. Despite a High Court injunction to prevent the list from being published, it is available on numerous websites. The list revealed the BNP had members who were lawyers, doctors, police officers, teachers and servicemen. Certain professions forbid BNP membership, and the list's publication resulted in several dismissals. A spokesman for the BNP praised the police and Crown Prosecution Service for treating it "seriously", stating that the leak had caused "a lot of distress". |
Rudd sworn in as new PM Posted Updated Kevin Rudd has been sworn in as Australia's 26th Prime Minister at Government House in Canberra, alongside his deputy Julia Gillard. They took the oath of office in a small ceremony presided over by the Governor-General, Major-General Michael Jeffery. Mr Rudd's wife Therese Rein and three children were present at the short event. The new Labor ministers were then sworn in. Later today, Mr Rudd will hold a full meeting of the new Ministry. Opposition Leader Brendan Nelson has congratulated Mr Rudd and his new Cabinet on being sworn in. "I congratulate him on his election - it must be a very proud day for him and his family and his colleagues being sworn in as the Prime Minister and the Government of Australia," he said. "I think a lot of Queenslanders perhaps even those who voted for the Liberal or National Party at the election also would feel a sense of pride in the sense that you have a Queenslander living in the Lodge." ||||| JOHN HOWARD led his Government to a humiliating defeat last night and was poised to lose his own seat as Kevin Rudd became Australia's 26th Prime Minister. Families and Indigenous Affairs Minister Mal Brough was another high-profile scalp on a night in which Australia called a definitive end to Mr Howard's 11-year reign. The national two-party preferred swing to Labor of 6.3per cent was the second-largest since World War II, bettered only by Gough Whitlam in 1972. Labor looked certain to secure 86 of the 150 House of Representative seats and hoped for 90 - a gain of at least 30 seats. At 10.35pm Mr Howard conceded defeat and acknowledged it was very likely he would lose the seat he had held for 33 years to celebrity Labor recruit Maxine McKew. Flanked by his teary-eyed wife, Janette, and two sons, Richard and Tim - his daughter Melanie was absent on bridesmaid duties - Mr Howard accepted blame for the defeat and anointed Peter Costello as his successor. "It has been an enormous pleasure every day of my life, over the last 11½ years, to be Prime Minister of this beautiful country," he said in a strong, dry-eyed concession speech. Accepting victory just after 11pm, Mr Rudd told a cheering crowd of Labor faithful in Brisbane he would be Prime Minister "for all Australia". "Today Australia has looked to the future. Today the people of Australia have decided that we move forward," the Labor Prime Minister-elect proclaimed. Ms McKew described the Rudd landslide as a "fabulous, transforming day for the country". With her partner Bob Hogg and mother Mary close by, Ms McKew told a huge cheering crowd in North Ryde that Bennelong "will never, ever be taken for granted again". The star candidate forced Mr Howard to campaign every weekend in Bennelong, destabilising his national campaign and diverting his attention from a string of marginal seats. The Greens were pivotal in the Labor win, recording primary votes of up to 20 per cent in many electorates, which went to Labor candidates. Greens leader Bob Brown said Greens voters had played an "enormous part" in the Labor win, and predicted the Greens would hold the balance of power in the senate. Australia's first female Deputy Prime Minister-elect, Julia Gillard, cited the Government's industrial relations laws as a reason for the savage voter backlash. "WorkChoices really did crack a substantial proportion of the so-called Howard battlers," she said. ||||| Kevin Rudd has been officially sworn in as Australia's 26th Prime Minister in a ceremony at Government House this morning. In a brief ceremony, Governor-General Michael Jeffrey invited Mr Rudd to take the executive oath, while his deputy, Julia Gillard, swore an affirmation. The ceremony was attended by Mr Rudd's wife Therese Rein, and his children. Ms Gillard's partner, Tim Mathieson and her sister Alison looked on. The formalities, which took place with Mr Rudd holding a copy of the Bible, formally ended former Liberal leader John Howard's 11-and-a-half-year stint as Prime Minister. "I must ... formally ask you for your assurance that you have been elected leader of the party holding the majority of seats in the House of Representatives, that you can form a government and that you will have confidence of the House of Representatives,'' Major-General Jeffery said. Mr Rudd replied: "Your Excellency I'm pleased to advise you that we have such a position and provide you with that assurance.'' Major-General Jeffery: "In that case I'll now accept the resignation of the Honourable Prime Minister John Howard which has the effect of terminating all the appointments of the former Government. "By the powers conferred on me by the constitution, I'm therefore pleased to swear you in as Australia's 26th Prime Minister." The swearing of the two Government leaders was followed by the swearing in of the rest of the ministry. The incoming ministers swore oaths and affirmations as members of the executive council. About half the ministry, including Treasurer Wayne Swan, Senate leader Chris Evans, Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner and Foreign Minister Stephen Smith, opted for affirmations. This afternoon, Mr Rudd will hold a full ministry meeting, as the Government prepares for a vigorous start to its work. The new Prime Minister wants to get preparation under way in the key areas of industrial relations and education before Christmas. Interim legislation on industrial relations will be introduced as soon as the new Parliament commences in early February. Later this week, the cabinet will meet in Mr Rudd's home town of Brisbane. He has promised to take the cabinet regularly out of Canberra. Earlier, Prime Minister Rudd described it as just another day's work. Mr Rudd, who led Labor to its first federal electoral victory in 11-and-a-half years on November 24, said today was an important day. ||||| Australian PM ratifies Kyoto Protocol SYDNEY (AFP) — Labor Party leader Kevin Rudd became Australia's 26th prime minister Monday and immediately began dismantling the former government's policies by ratifying the Kyoto Protocol on climate change. Rudd had pledged to commit Australia to the landmark United Nations treaty on greenhouse gas emissions as his first priority and kept his word after his official swearing in at Government House in Canberra. "Today I have signed the instrument of ratification of the Kyoto Protocol," the former diplomat said in a statement. "This is the first official act of the new Australian government, demonstrating my government's commitment to tackling climate change." Rudd, who ousted conservative John Howard in elections nine days ago on a platform that included reversing the previous government's policy and ratifying Kyoto, had taken the oath of office just hours earlier. The centre-left leader said ratification of the treaty on combating global warming was approved by the first meeting of the government's executive council and later by the governor general. Ratification will come into force 90 days after the commitment is handed to the United Nations, he said, meaning Australia will become a full member of the Kyoto Protocol before the end of March 2008. The move leaves the United States as the only major developed nation that has refused to ratify the pact. Rudd said Kyoto was considered to be "the most far-reaching agreement on environment and sustainable development ever adopted". "Australia's official declaration today that we will become a member of the Kyoto Protocol is a significant step forward in our country's efforts to fight climate change domestically -- and with the international community," he said. The move means Rudd is likely to receive a hero's welcome when he undertakes his first foreign visit as prime minister to attend high level talks at a United Nations conference on climate change in Bali. The conference, which began Monday, aims to produce a "roadmap" for negotiating a new pact on tackling global warming to replace the Kyoto Protocol when it expires in 2012. Australia's scientific community praised Rudd's move, saying it acknowledged the scientific basis of warnings on the impact of climate change and would draw more of the developing world into the Kyoto process. "It has acknowledged that for the last 11 years Australia has had backwards thinking in terms of what the science is telling us," said Professor Barry Brook, a climate change expert from the University of Adelaide. "The second important thing is this has given America no excuse now." Environmental group WWF said signing up to Kyoto would send a strong message to the United States. "Once we have the USA on board, the world can get on with the job of legislating deep cuts," WWF Australia chief executive Greg Bourne said in a statement. The Australian Greens said the ratification was a historic act many years overdue. "Prime Minister Rudd realises that he has now legally bound Australia to meeting our targets, so real and swift action is now needed to turn around our skyrocketing emissions," Greens climate change spokeswoman Christine Milne said. Rudd said his government would do "everything in its power" to help Australia meet its Kyoto obligations -- which are set at capping greenhouse gas emissions at 108 percent of 1990 levels by 2012. Official projections point to Australia just breaching this limit, estimating greenhouse gas output at 109 percent of 1990 levels by 2012. Rudd has promised a sharp reversal of several of Howard's other policies, including withdrawing Australian combat troops from Iraq war and rolling back labour laws, which he says are unfair to workers. ||||| Select text size: The leader of Australia's Labor Party Kevin Rudd has been sworn in as Australia's 26th Prime Minister. Mr Rudd was sworn in at Government House in Canberra alongside his deputy Julia Gillard. His wife, Therese Rein, and three children were present at the short event. Labor's new ministry has also been sworn in at government house by the governor-general, Michael Jeffery. They will meet later for their first official cabinet meeting. The new ministers don't yet know who they'll be facing across the floor of parliament, with the newly-elected opposition Liberal leader, Brendan Nelson, still finalising the opposition front bench line up which he'll announce mid-week. His decision partly depends on the leadership vote of coalition partner the Nationals' - with outgoing Trade Minister Warren Truss is expected to be elected unopposed for the top job to replace Mark Vaile. Education policy Meanwhile, the incoming deputy prime minister, Julia Gillard, says cabinet will hold talks within three weeks on education policy. It will discuss plans to ensure every high school student from year nine to twelve has access to a computer. Ms Gillard is taking on a super portfolio covering education, employment and workplace relations and she says there'll be fast progress on Labor's plans. "The first cabinet meeting will consider a cabinet submission about our computers in schools policy and the second cabinet meeting before Christmas will start work on our trades in schools policy, so two big promises for the education revolution will have their work start before Christmas," she said. Your Say: On Re: UN Climate Change Conference Bali 2007, GR in Aus says "I think it shows the new zeitgeist in Australia politics when there is somebody in Bali representing ..." Have your say > Join the Australia discussion on Radio Australia's message boards > On Re: UN Climate Change Conference Bali 2007, GR in Aus says " | Kevin Rudd, current Australian Labor Party leader, was sworn in today as Prime Minister of Australia by Governor-General Michael Jeffrey. Rudd has become the 26th Prime Minister since Australia's federation in 1901. Former Prime Minister John Howard and the Liberal Party and Coalition were beaten in the 2007 election which took place last month, by the Australian Labor Party who managed to gain the extra 16 seats they needed to have a majority in the House of Representatives. Mr Howard lost his seat that he held for 33 years, 11 as Prime Minister, to Labor candidate Maxine McKew. Mr Rudd was sworn in at a small ceremony at Government House by Mr Jeffrey, alongside Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard, who was also sworn in today. Mr Rudd's wife, Therese Rein and his three children were also present at the ceremony. Later that afternoon, Mr Rudd plans to hold a full meeting which all of his newly-sworn-in ministers will attend. In late November, Mr Rudd requested that all his ministers attend a visit at two schools in their local electorate before meeting for a caucus meeting on November 30. |
View and discuss the pictures and issues that caught our eyes. From fire and ice to presidential politics – in the U.S. and South Korea By TOBY MUSE BOGOTA, Colombia - Troops killed a senior commander of Colombia's largest rebel army in an air-and-ground raid, as the U.S.-backed military dealt a stunning setback to the nation's leftist insurgency. Raul Reyes was the public face of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia as its spokesman and considered a possible successor to the group's No. 1 spot. He died in combat Saturday across the border in neighboring Ecuador, said Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos. "This is the strongest blow dealt to the terrorist group to date," Santos told a news conference. Story continues below ↓ advertisement advertisement Santos said the military tracked Reyes' location through information from an informer. The air force then bombed a camp where Reyes was thought to be just after midnight Saturday. As the ground troops moved in, they came under attack from another camp located just over the border in Ecuador. When the military overran the camp, they found Reyes' body, he said. A total of 17 rebels and one soldier died in the operation, which involved Colombia's army, police and air force, the defense minister said. Among the rebel dead was another senior FARC member Guillermo Enrique Torres, a revolutionary songwriter known as "Julian Conrado." Colombian neighbors Ecuador and Venezuela protested the incursion into foreign territory. Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa said Colombian President Alvaro Uribe had informed him of the raid, but later announced that he was misled after Ecuadorean officials inspected a bombed rebel camp. "The (Colombian) president either was poorly informed or brazenly lied to the president of Ecuador," said Correa, who called home the ambassador to Colombia for consultation and promised a diplomatic note of protest. Correa said the strike used advanced technology and killed the rebels while they slept in a temporary camp in Ecuador. "The bodies were in pajamas." Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who is negotiating for the release of FARC-held hostages, warned that any such an incursion into Venezuela would lead to war. "Don't think about doing that of here because it would very serious, it would be cause for war," Chavez said at a televised meeting with his Cabinet. On Sunday, Colombia denied that it had violated Ecuador's sovereignty and said it acted in self-defenese. "The terrorists, among them Raul Reyes, have had the custom of killing in Colombia and taking refuge in the territory of neighboring countries. Many times Colombia has suffered from this situation that we must avoid to protect our citizens," said a statement from the Foreign Ministry. The death of Reyes, whose real name was Luis Edgar Devia Silva, is the latest in a series of rebel setbacks at the hands of Uribe's government, which has vowed to use U.S. aid to defeat the FARC. It also was one of the most severe blows to the group since its 1964 inception. But Lazaro Riveros, a government negotiator who dealt with Reyes during talks that ended in 2002, cautioned that the FARC will replace Reyes immediately and "will keep moving forward in line with their principles and their structures." In recent years, Colombian forces have captured or killed top regional commanders with noms de guerre "El Negro Acacio", who oversaw much of the group's coca operations; "Martin Sombra" who is alleged to have guarded hostages, including three U.S. contractors; and "Martin Caballero." In January, FARC leader Ricardo Palmera, better known as Simon Trinidad, was sentenced to 60 years in prison in the United States. But none of these men had the status and rank of Reyes. Reyes has frequently been mentioned as a potential successor to the guerrillas' aging maximum leader, Manuel "Sureshot" Marulanda. "This could hit morale (in the FARC) because the myth of the invulnerability of the bosses is over," said Colombia's top security analyst, Alfredo Rangel. There was no immediate reaction from the FARC. The Colombian and U.S. governments accuse the FARC of being one of the largest cocaine cartels in South America, a claim rejected by the group which says it only taxes coca growers and buyers. It was not immediately clear how Reyes' death would affect efforts to negotiate the release of rebel-held hostages, including French-Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt and three U.S. defense contractors. But Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro read a statement calling Reyes' death "a hard blow to the humanitarian agreement process." In France, those linked to Betancourt expressed fear the raid could endanger the hostages. "The international community has its eyes locked on" the FARC, said Herve Marro, spokesman for the support committee for Betancourt, by telephone. "It's in their interest that not the least hair ... of a hostage be touched." French President Nicolas Sarkozy reiterated his call that Betancourt be freed "without delay." Reyes was part of the political wing of the FARC and often took charge of important negotiations, a legacy of his earlier time in the trade union movement. He was considered to be part of a more intransigent faction of the FARC, favoring a hardline in talks with the government. In 2000, he traveled to Europe to make the FARC's case to governments there, exchanging his fatigues for a business suit to visit officials in Stockholm, Oslo, Rome and Madrid. But Colombia's prosecutor's office said Reyes was wanted in connection with more than 120 different criminal processes, including sixty charges of murder and four for kidnapping. ___ Associated Press writer Chris Toothaker contributed to this report from Caracas, Venezuela. Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. ||||| "Hemos sido traicionados, no por un pueblo, sino por un gobierno que no conoce la palabra lealtad", dijo Correa. Venezuela expulsó al embajador colombiano "No nos vamos a arrodillar ante la oligarquía colombiana por defender el ideario de Bolívar y buscar la justicia social", agregó Maduro, para quien "el golpe contra Ecuador podría haber ocurrido contra Venezuela". ''Entonces para mí no tiene importancia cualquier cosa que digan. Ahorita pueden inventar cualquier cosa para tratar pues de salirse de esa violación del territorio ecuatoriano que hicieron'', dijo el funcionario venezolano. El oficial no indicó si hay detalles en los documentos o si las autoridades colombianas disponen de cómo, cuándo y para qué fue el supuesto financiamiento venezolano a los rebeldes. Estos documentos, dijo Naranjo, ''no sólo lleva implícita una cercanía, sino una alianza armada entre las Farc y el gobierno de Venezuela''. No se moverán tropas Según esas fuentes, las operaciones que adelantan las Fuerzas Militares de Colombia son contra la subversión y no contra ningún Estado. De acuerdo con ese mismo comunicado, no se van a adoptar medidas para responder al anuncio del presidente de Venezuela, Hugo Chávez, de movilizar 10 batallones a la frontera con Colombia. Horas antes el Gobierno de Colombia había anunciado que no se movilizarán tropas a las fronteras con Ecuador o Venezuela para contrarrestar las movilizaciones de material bélico y hombres desde ambos países hacia sus respectivas fronteras con Colombia. "Considero que ha llegado el momento de lanzar la propuesta (...) de solicitar al gobierno de Venezuela recibir los prisioneros en poder de las dos partes hasta cuando se firme el canje", dice un aparte del documento de 'Reyes'. La idea, según el jefe guerrillero, es promover que "otros gobiernos amigos" les den el estatus de beligerancia. En otra comunicación más reciente, del pasado 28 de febrero, el miembro del secretariado asegura que con la liberación unilateral de secuestrados las Farc se quitan "varias cargas de encima" y afianzan su política "frente al Presidente Chávez". Después se refiere a que les preocupan las últimas declaraciones del liberado Luis Eladio Pérez sobre la situación de Íngrid. De hecho, la ven a ella como "el punto negro" y agregan que " es grosera y provocadora con los que la cuidan". Correa no aceptó excusas del Canciller colombiano Pocas horas antes de que el general Naranjo diera a conocer el contenido de los documentos incautados en el campamento en que murió 'Raúl Reyes', el presidente ecuatoriano Rafael Correa no aceptó las excusas que presentó el ministro de Relaciones Exteriores de Colombia, Fernando Araújo. El mandatario ecuatoriano dijo que la operación militar de las Fuerzas Especiales que terminó con la muerte de 'Reyes' en ese país "es la más grave, artera y verificada agresión" contra su país. Y añadió: "No aceptaremos que a pretexto del combate a lo que ellos llamen terrorismo se impriman doctrinas de irrespeto a la soberanía de los estados". "He decidido también la expulsión inmediata del embajador de Colombia en Ecuador (Carlos Holguín), y también he solicitado la inmediata convocatoria del Consejo permanente de la OEA y de la CAN", dijo Correa en un mensaje a la nación. Asimismo, "he ordenado la movilización de tropas a la frontera norte y he convocado de urgencia para mañana una reunión del Consejo de Seguridad Seguridad Nacional", señaló. Correa canceló la visita de este lunes a Cuba ante la crisis diplomática que siguió al bombardeo contra el campamento de 'Reyes', localizado a dos kilómetros de la frontera de casi 600 km que divide a los dos países. Ecuador desplazó una misión ministerial a la zona del ataque y pidió a las Fuerzas Militares "estar alertas", aunque en la frontera no se percibía un movimiento inusual de tropas. Correa se enteró del incidente el mismo sábado a través de una llamada del presidente colombiano. En un principio reaccionó con serenidad, pero tras recibir el informe militar desde el sitio de los hechos montó en cólera. ||||| Chavez warns Colombia against cross-border raid CARACAS (AFP) — Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez warned Colombia Saturday not to carry out a cross-border raid against Marxist FARC rebels into Venezuelan territory, saying it could spark a war. Chavez's remarks came hours after Colombia launched a raid in Ecuador that killed the FARC's number two official Raul Reyes. "President Uribe, think about it long and hard. You had better not get the idea of doing this on our territory because it would be a 'causus belli', cause for a war," Chavez said in his first reaction to the raid, at an event at the Miraflores presidential palace. "This is something very grave which is unprecedented in our lands," Chavez adding that he telephoned his ally Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa "and we agreed to keep exchanging information." "The government of Colombia acknowledges having made an incursion, violating the (air) space of a neighboring country in an irresponsible way. This is worrisome," Chavez said. The Colombian military killed Reyes in an air strike Saturday in neighboring Ecuador, dealing a major blow to the guerrillas, officials said earlier in Bogota. Uribe telephoned Correa to talk to him about the operation, but it was unclear if they spoke before or after the raid. Correa said he had deployed troops to the area to "verify" what had taken place. Reyes was in a rebel camp located 1.8 kilometers (a mile) from the Ecuadoran-Colombian border when the air force began bombing shortly after midnight, Colombian Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos told a news conference. Colombian ground troops were then deployed into the guerrilla hideout to secure the area, Santos said. A total of 17 guerrillas and one soldier were killed in the operation. "It is the heaviest blow ever dealt against this terrorist group," Santos said. Reyes, 59, whose real name was Luis Edgar Devia, was a union leader working for Swiss food giant Nestle in the southern department of Caqueta when he joined the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in the 1970s. The grey-bearded, bespectacled rebel, who went on to become the FARC's chief spokesman, donning olive fatigues and carrying a rifle, had been viewed as a possible successor to the group's 77-year-old boss, Manuel Marulanda. His killing was a major coup for conservative President Alvaro Uribe, who has taken a hard stance against the 17,000-strong FARC, South America's biggest insurgency which has bedeviled successive governments since the 1960s. It was the first time that one of the seven members of FARC's secretariat, or leadership council, was killed in combat. After the death of FARC's ideological leader Jacobo Arenas in 1992, Reyes became the group's international face, taking the group's message abroad. In this capacity, he met with US government representatives in Costa Rica in 1997. Pro-government lawmakers and the country's influential Roman Catholic Church expressed hope that his death would prompt the FARC to release its hostages and negotiate a peace agreement. "The FARC must seriously begin a peace process that puts an end to this long nightmare that Colombia has experienced," said Monsignor Fabian Marulanda, secretary of the Colombian Episcopal Conference. Reyes's death came three days after the FARC unilaterally released four former lawmakers who had been held hostage for years, handing them to the Venezuelan government and the Red Cross in a snub to Uribe. They were among a group of 43 high-profile hostages, including three Americans and French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt, whom the FARC want to swap for 500 rebels held in prison. ||||| By Patrick Markey BOGOTA (Reuters) - Colombia's military said on Saturday troops had killed a top rebel commander in an attack on a jungle camp across the border in Ecuador in a severe blow to Latin America's oldest guerrilla insurgency. Raul Reyes, one of seven members of the secretariat of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, was killed in an operation that included an air strike on a camp and fighting with rebels across the border, Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos said. Reyes was considered by analysts to be the No. 2 FARC commander and is the most senior member of the group to be killed in President Alvaro Uribe's U.S.-backed campaign against the guerrillas fighting a four-decade-old conflict. "As a result of this operation, 17 guerrillas were killed. Among them was FARC secretariat member Luis Edgar Devia Silva, better known as Raul Reyes," Santos told reporters. Colombia's El Tiempo newspaper published on its Web site a photograph of what it said was Reyes' bloodied corpse in a stained white shirt lying on a black body bag. Santos said intelligence had revealed Reyes' movements near the border. After an air strike by the Colombian military, Colombian troops came under fire from guerrillas in Ecuadorean territory and they responded. Reyes' body was brought back into Colombia to prevent rebels taking it away, he said. Uribe contacted Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa to inform him of the operation and Quito sent troops to investigate. Venezuela and Ecuador often complain about the guerrilla war spilling over their borders. Violence from Colombia's conflict has ebbed under Uribe, who has sent troops to retake regions under the control of armed groups. But the FARC is still potent in remote areas, where it holds scores of hostages, including three Americans and French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt. French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who has made freeing Betancourt a priority, urged all sides not to let the killing upset recent efforts to broker a deal to exchange jailed guerrillas for FARC hostages held for years in jungle camps. SHIFT IN SECRETARIAT Reyes, bespectacled and bearded, was one of the FARC's top political officers and the group's official spokesman who often sent statements from the mountains of Colombia. He was known for his tough stance in past negotiations with the government. A diminutive former union boss, Reyes joined the FARC in the 1970s and was a close associate of aging FARC leader Pedro Antonio Marin, also known as "Manuel Marulanda" or "Sureshot." He was involved with Marin's daughter. "This ends the myth of FARC invulnerability and could cause serious doubts among its troops," said Alfredo Rangel, an analyst at Security and Democracy Foundation in Bogota. "It could produce a shift in the secretariat in favor of more pragmatic and flexible positions in terms of the humanitarian exchange and peace negotiations given that Reyes always maintained a hard line," he said. The operation against Reyes follows several military successes against the FARC. In October, Colombian troops backed by warplanes killed FARC commander Gustavo Rueda Diaz at a base near the Caribbean coast. A month earlier, they killed Tomas Medina, a senior rebel involved in arms and drug smuggling near Venezuela. The FARC started as a peasant army fighting for a socialist state in the 1960s. Authorities say it is now deeply engaged in cocaine trafficking to fund its operations. (Editing by Mohammad Zargham) | Raúl Reyes Raúl Reyes, senior guerrilla commander and international spokesman of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), has been killed by Colombian security forces in the southern province of Putumayo, the government said Saturday. Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos confirmed his death in a press conference. He said that 16 other FARC rebels and one Colombian soldier were killed in the skirmish, which took place in a rebel stronghold near the border with Ecuador. "It is the hardest blow to FARC in all of its history", Santos said. Colombian security analyst Alfredo Rangel added, "This could hit morale of the FARC because the myth of the invulnerability of the bosses is over." The military was able to locate the rebels by intercepting one of their satellite communications, he said. After launching an air strike on the rebel base, the Colombian military came under fire from the guerrilas. The military fired back, killing Reyes while in Ecuadorian territory. The bodies of the dead were then taken to Colombia. "Once the camp was bombarded, Colombian forces were ordered in to secure the area and neutralize the enemy. The police was also asked to keep it secure until Ecuadoran authorities arrived," Santos said. Colombian president Alvaro Uribe, who was monitoring the operation, contacted Ecuadorian president Rafael Correa to inform him of the incident. "It appears the FARC entered Ecuadorean territory," Correa said. "The incident must be clarified a bit." Correa said he will send troops to the area for an investigation. According to the Associated Press, Reyes, whose real name was Luis Edgar Devia Silva, was considered a contender for becoming leader of FARC. Their current leader, Manuel Marulanda, is believed to be in poor health. Also killed in the fighting was Guillermo Enrique Torres, known by the alias of "Julián Conrado". He was a senior member of FARC who composed and performed revolutionary songs. FARC is considered a terrorist organization by Colombia, the United States, and the European Union. The group has been accused of drug trafficking, extortion, and kidnapping, among other illegal activities. The U.S. Department of State had offered a US$5 million bounty for information leading to the arrest of Reyes, as well as the other 6 members of the FARC's highest governing body. |
Bulldozing leaves Zimbabweans homeless He said Britain has done everything possible but African countries are not doing enough.He said: "The problem we face is a lack of real commitment by all of Africa's leaders by the scale of horror in Zimbabwe."We are former colonial masters but we are thousands of miles away. Bluntly unless and until Africa's leaders as a whole recognise what is going on and take action not only to condemn it but to deal with it, we are likely to have many more months of this until Mr Mugabe steps aside."A month after Zimbabwe's government began "Operation Clean Up the Dirt", levelling homes and businesses and making hundreds of thousands homeless, the United Nations says it is to send a special envoy to the country "as soon as possible". Lindsey Hilsum reports.This is the grave of Charmen Nyika. She died a week before her second birthday. Her parents are numb with grief.Charmen is a victim of Robert Mugabe's project to "clean up" Harare by destroying what the government calls illegal structures, and their owners call home.This is the cement floor of Charmen's parents' home. Herbert and Lavenda Nyika have cleared the rubble now. Two weeks ago the police knocked it down without bothering to find out if there was a toddler inside.Lavenda Nyika said: "For me it's a very painful experience. I can't stop thinking about it. It's consuming me."The couple had built their home in her father's compound in the township of Tafara, south east of Harare. Her father's house was deemed legal so it was left standing. But there's no room, so Herbert and Lavenda sleep outside now. They're unemployed and have no idea how they and their remaining child are going to survive.Herbert Nyika said: "I blame the government for ordering this operation, and the police for carrying it out. They deliberately destroyed people's property and they stole things too."They are not alone. The local MP, who represents the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, visits other families in Tafara. Hundreds have been made homeless, with nowhere to go.The government won't allow non-governmental organisations to provide food or shelter, so the people are destitute.Timothy Mubhawu, MP for Tafara, said: "It's quite terrible its pathetic unthiunkable i understand the essence of a govt is to protect and provide for its people but this kind of action is not imaginable"It's a sea of rubble. They are dying, these people."These were the homes and small businessses of his constituents. He says they were targeted because they voted for him in the recent elections. The opposition says this is Mr Mugabe's revenge for his party's defeat in urban constituencies.The satellite image shows Mbare, another township, south of Harare, in April. The next image shows the area after the police bulldozed it. Mr Mugabe's operation "Clean the Dirt" has done the same in towns and cities across Zimbabwe.The Archbishop of Bulawayo said: "The man is at his worst. It appears he has lost his mind, he has gone mental. How come he has become so cruel to the people, now they are going to starve he has destroyed the economy in this country."At Caledonia Camp, the government brings people after demolishing their houses. Here they're told they must now go to the countryside. Food is short in Zimbabwe, so who knows what they'll eat.The South African leader, Thabo Mbeki, says he can solve Zimbabwe's problems by quiet diplomacy. He's said nothing about Mr Mugabe's policy of destroying his people's homes and livelihoods.A red flag denotes death in the family. It flies over the ruins of two-year old Charmen Nyika's home. How many more will die, before someone intervenes to stop it. ||||| Some children have left school after their homes were demolished She urged the African Union to speak out over the "tragic" events. G8 ministers in London expressed strong concern about events in Zimbabwe and called on African countries to act. Zimbabwean police and city-dwellers were earlier urged to be careful when demolishing illegal structures after two children were crushed to death. A state-controlled newspaper in Zimbabwe has said that two young children were crushed to death when their homes were knocked down on the outskirts of the capital, Harare. These are the first reported deaths in a four-week crackdown, called Operation Murambatsvina [Drive out rubbish]. One of those killed was the 18-month-old son of a police officer, reports the state-run Herald newspaper. The UN says at least 200,000 have been left homeless in the operation, which has been condemned by the G8 group. President Robert Mugabe says the crackdown is designed to "restore sanity" in urban areas, which he says have become overrun with criminals. 'Horror' The Herald also reports that seven buildings in the centre of the capital, Harare, have been closed due to overcrowding and "health risks". "We would like to urge those demolishing illegal structures to ensure the safety of everyone," said police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena. What is needed is a solid intervention by non-western governments, mainly developing countries Kay, UK Have Your Say Terence Munyaka, 18 months, died on Sunday from head injuries after the walls of his house fell down in the commuter town of Chitungwiza, south of Harare. Charmaine Nyika, aged two, died on 8 June in a similar incident in Harare, the Herald says. The police have moved across Zimbabwe's urban areas, armed with bulldozers and sledge-hammers, destroying shacks and informal markets. Often, residents have been made to demolish the structures themselves. 'Watershed' Amnesty International and the Geneva-based Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions have released a statement, they say, on behalf of 200 African and international aid groups, calling on the UN and the African Union to intervene. They urged the AU to discuss the demolitions at next month's summit in Libya. UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said African nations must stop ignoring what was happening. "If the reports are simply half true, and we believe them to be much more than half true, this is a situation of serious international concern, and no government which subscribes to human rights and democracy should allow this kind of thing effectively to go on under their noses." No African governments have condemned the operation. Some residents have been made to demolish their own homes United States State Department deputy spokesperson Adam Ereli described the crackdown as a "tragedy, crime, horror - that the government of Zimbabwe is perpetrating on its people". The opposition says Operation Murambatsvina is intended to punish urban voters who rejected President Mugabe in March polls. Many people are living on the streets, while others have returned to their rural homes, encouraged by the government. Officials also want to stamp out the black market, which they blame for Zimbabwe's economic meltdown. A Catholic priest told the Associated Press news agency that people would never forget the "insane and evil" destruction of crops being grown on waste ground, which many rely on to supplement meagre incomes. The blitz comes as the country urgently needs to import 1.2 million tonnes of food to avoid famine. "It is a watershed, it is the beginning of the end, but the end will be terrible," he said. ||||| ZIMBABWE: Annan to send envoy as US, EU condemn crackdown [ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations] © IRIN Mugabe has agreed to a visit by UN Special Envoy Anna Tibaijuka to assess the impact of the forced evictions JOHANNESBURG, 21 Jun 2005 (IRIN) - UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan is to send a special envoy to assess the situation in Zimbabwe, where a government crackdown on informal settlements and markets has left about 200,000 people homeless. The government has vowed to continue its 'clean-up' campaign, arguing that the operation is targeting criminal elements. The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), however, has claimed that the crackdown is politically motivated, as it has focused on urban areas, where the MDC enjoys support. Annan has appointed Anna Kajumulo Tibaijuka, the Executive Director of UN-HABITAT, as his Special Envoy for Human Settlement Issues in Zimbabwe. "President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe has agreed that the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General should visit the country as soon as possible to study the scope of the recent eviction of illegal dwellers, informal traders and squatters, and the humanitarian impact it has had on the affected population. Mrs Tibaijuka will visit Zimbabwe shortly, and will prepare a thorough report on the situation," said a spokesman for Annan. The United States (US) and European Union (EU) condemned the crackdown in a joint statement issued after a summit in Washington on Monday. "The US and the EU note with deep concern the continuing governance and human rights crisis in Zimbabwe, which has led to a near breakdown of the economic situation of one of the most promising economies in Africa, and caused huge flows of Zimbabweans to flee to neighbouring countries. We call upon the government of Zimbabwe to reverse anti-democratic policies, and to open a genuine dialogue with all stakeholders," the joint statement said. "We also note that serious food shortages are looming in Zimbabwe, and we stand ready, as in the past, to assist the Zimbabwean people with food aid and other humanitarian assistance," the US and EU offered. In its latest situation report, the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) noted that "the 'clean-up' operation has had profound and immediate negative impacts on many urban and rural households, whose livelihoods depended on a wide range of informal activities that were abruptly destroyed by the operation". Until the government crackdown, "the parallel markets had functioned to provide a sure source of scarce commodities" and a steady source of income for traders. FEWS NET explained that as the formal business sector had shrunk in the past five years, "those who lost their jobs, and the legions of graduates who could not find formal employment, fell back onto the informal sector to eke out a living". "They went into activities like commodity brokering, flea market vending, backyard furniture manufacturing, fruit and vegetable street vending and cross-border trading. Some constructed unapproved buildings in their yards, or made illegal extensions to their urban houses to create rooms for renting out. In years of poor harvest, like the current one, some members of rural households would migrate to nearby urban centres and the majority of them would find work in the informal sector," FEWS NET noted. It said the ongoing "clean-up" campaign had mostly destroyed this informal sector. "Not only has this campaign destroyed the livelihoods of many households, it has also rendered many homeless, as their makeshift homes were destroyed in the operation. The majority of the affected households lived from hand to mouth and had no accumulated savings to see them through. Consequently, destruction of their business operations means immediate deprivation and destitution. As a result, many may be forced to engage in negative coping strategies, such as prostitution and stealing. Urgent measures are required to provide immediate support to those negatively affected in these operations," FEWS NET warned. After another poor harvest, Zimbabwe again faces a year of widespread food shortages; coupled with an unemployment rate of 70 percent, many of the dispossessed urban dwellers now find themselves without the means to survive. According to FEWS NET, "Measures to restore urban livelihoods recently destroyed by the 'clean-up' operations, or to establish safety nets for the affected households, need to be taken quickly." [ENDS] Theme(s) Democracy-Food Security-Health-Human Rights-Other | Zimbabwean President Mugabe's Operation Murambatsvina ("Drive out rubbish") has seen at least 200,000 people made homeless in Zimbabwe as the government bulldozes "illegal" homes, buildings and markets. The opposition has said the operation is designed to "punish" those who object to Mugabe's government. Two children under the age of two have been killed, the first deaths reported so far in the actions which have been taking place for a month now. International pressure is building on Zimbabwe to stop. British Foreign Minister Jack Straw has been joined by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in condemning the evictions and urging African leaders to speak out. Family living on the streets of Harare, Zimbabwe. The government has said the buildings it is destroying are "illegal", and have said that the "black markets" are to blame for the country's "economic meltdown". Over 70% of the population is unemployed. The bulldozers have the protection of armed police as they do their work. Sometimes the police have forced homeowners to carry out the destruction themselves. At other times, the government has claimed it is destroying the buildings to get rid of unsafe structures and to reduce overcrowding. Other children have died when the walls of their houses have collapsed. The authorities are also preventing non-governmental organisations from providing aid to those who have lost their homes. The country currently needs to import 1.2 million tonnes of food to avoid famine as rural farming production drops. |
Lukas Podolski has announced that he will not play for Germany again, following his good friend Bastian Schweinsteiger into international retirement 39 days after the world champions exited UEFA EURO 2016. "I feel like my focus has shifted," said 'Prince Poldi'. "My time is over. Nothing can replace the joy, passion and solidarity I experienced with the DFB [German Football Association]. I arrived in Germany as a two-year-old boy with basically only a football under my arm and am now a world champion. That is more than I could ever have dreamt of." Germany's most-capped players Lothar Matthäus, 150 caps Miroslav Klose, 137 Lukas Podolski, 129 Germany's all-time leading scorers Miroslav Klose, 71 goals Gerd Müller, 68 Lukas Podolski, 48 Podolski, 31, made his senior international debut under Rudi Völler in June 2004 and went on to score 48 goals in 129 appearances. He took part in seven major tournaments, his final outing coming as a substitute in the UEFA EURO 2016 win against Slovakia. "I could always rely on Lukas," said coach Joachim Löw. "He was, and still is, easy-going, but his professionalism and determination are exemplary. We go back a long way and became world champions together in Brazil. I can only thank him for his loyalty, his dedication and the joy he always brought to our group." ©Getty Images Podolski's top five moments for Germany Rising star The Polish-born Podolski first featured in a Germany shirt at Under-17 level before receiving a late call-up to the UEFA EURO 2004 squad. His first goals came later that year, against Thailand, and he thrilled fans with fine performances at the 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup, registering three times in four games. Best Young Player at 2006 FIFA World Cup During the 'Summer Tale' that saw Germany reach the semi-finals on home soil, Podolski was part of a formidable forward line alongside Miroslav Klose. He scored three goals and was named the tournament's best young player ahead of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. Double against Poland Germany's opening game at UEFA EURO 2008 was a memorable one for Podolski. Coming up against his country of birth, the forward scored both goals in a 2-0 victory. "Of course I had mixed emotions," he said after the game. "A large part of my family lives in Poland so this was a very important moment for me." ©Getty Images Youngest German to reach 100 caps Podolski was only 27 years and 13 days when he made his 100th appearance for Germany, during UEFA EURO 2012. He marked the occasion with a goal against Denmark. "When I started in 2004 I never thought I would get to this moment," he said. "It's simply incredible." Brazil dream The 'Prince', as they call him in his beloved home town of Cologne, struggled to make the team in the latter years of his international career but Löw never doubted his value to the squad. Podolski crowned his career with the ultimate title – the 2014 FIFA World Cup. ||||| FIFA World Cup winner Lukas Podolski has announced his retirement from Germany’s national team. In an emotional statement released on Facebook and Twitter, the 31-year-old wrote: “I have told the coach that I am no longer going to play for the national team. I will now focus on other things, above all my family of course. I am sure they won’t mind at all me spending more time with them in the future, and it’s something I’m really looking forward to. “It was a difficult decision for me,” the man known as Poldi continued. “The national team has always been a matter close to my heart, and it will always remain that way. But after the EUROs and my holiday, I noticed that my focus had shifted. There is a time for everything and my time with the DFB [German Football Association] has come to an end. “Saying goodbye is very emotional. I am proud of what I was able to experience with the national side. Going from a two-year-old Polish boy, who practically came to Germany with nothing more than a football under his arm, to a world champion – it’s more than I could have ever imagined. “I have celebrated major successes with Germany on the pitch, but not only that, I have experienced so much off the pitch too, visiting countries and cities all over the world. I have met a lot of great people and found many friends. It’s staggering really. Thank you to the DFB. Thank you to the team behind the team. Thank you to my team-mates, and thank you to the coaches,” Podolski said. The national team has always been a matter close to my heart, and it will always remain that way. Lukas Podolski The likeable lad from Cologne has enjoyed a remarkable international career ever since capturing the world’s attention on home soil as one of Germany’s young stars at the 2006 FIFA World Cup™. Jurgen Klinsmann’s charges ended that campaign in third place before celebrating an unforgettable tournament with their fans in the capital Berlin. Since making his debut for Die Mannschaft in 2004, the left-footed forward has played for Bayern Munich, Arsenal, Inter Milan and Galatasaray, collecting several winners’ medals along the way. Yet there is no doubt that the biggest success of his career was lifting the World Cup Trophy at Brazil 2014. Despite this phenomenal achievement, Germany’s ‘summer fairytale’ at the 2006 World Cup remains one of Podolski’s most cherished memories. “Every tournament and every international game played gives you additional experience which brings you forward, both on the pitch and off it, but there is nothing more special than playing a World Cup on home soil,” he told www.sc.qa in March this year. “Germany 2006 was my most beautiful experience, even though we won the title in 2014,” he continued. “As a package, the 2006 World Cup was the best thing I have every experienced – the weather was right, the stadiums were full for every match and the entire atmosphere was simply outstanding. It was a great success in every respect. I will carry these experiences with me until the end of my career and until I die – they are something that no-one can take from me.” Prinz Poldi (Prince Poldi), as many Germany fans know him, last pulled on the national team shirt for the UEFA EURO 2016 Round of 16 match against Slovakia before being substituted in the final 15 minutes with the score at 3-0. With a total of 129 international caps under his belt, Podolski is hanging up his boots at third place in Germany’s all-time appearances list behind Lothar Matthaus (150 caps) and Miroslav Klose (137 caps), while he sits fourth on the top scorers’ list with 48 goals to his name. The striker’s announcement makes him the fifth member of the 2014 World Cup-winning squad to retire from international football after Klose, Philipp Lahm, Per Mertesacker and Bastian Schweinsteiger. Germany face Czech Republic, Northern Ireland, Norway, Azerbaijan and San Marino in Group C of qualifying for the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia™. ||||| Löw: "Auf Lukas war und ist immer Verlass" Lukas Podolski hat am Montag seinen Rücktritt aus der Nationalmannschaft erklärt. DFB-Präsident Reinhard Grindel, Bundestrainer Joachim Löw und Nationalmannschaftsmanager Oliver Bierhoff sagen Danke. DFB-Präsident Reinhard Grindel: "Lukas Podolski ist ein überragender Fußballer, der uns nicht nur mit seinen 48 Länderspieltoren viele unvergessene, emotionale Momente geschenkt hat. 129 Mal hat er das Nationaltrikot getragen, 2014 ist er in Rio Weltmeister geworden, trotzdem ist er nie abgehoben, sondern immer ein Nationalspieler zum Anfassen geblieben. Mit seiner Spielweise, seiner vorbildlichen Einstellung, seiner offenen Art und seinem sozialen Engagement ist er zum Liebling vieler Fans und zur Integrationsfigur geworden. Besonders hat mich beeindruckt, wie er sich zuletzt bei der EM in Frankreich um die jüngeren Spieler in der Mannschaft gekümmert hat. Ein Weltmeister im Teambuilding." Joachim Löw: "Lukas war genauso wie Basti immer eine feste Größe für mich. Auf ihn war und ist Verlass, bei aller Lockerheit und Leichtigkeit, für die er steht, ist er ein Vorbild an Professionalität und Einstellung, dem Erfolg hat er immer alles untergeordnet, auch sich selbst. Er hatte einen festen Platz in der Nationalmannschaft, für die er immer alles gegeben hat. 48 Tore in 129 Länderspielen sprechen für sich und seine fußballerischen Qualitäten. Gemeinsam sind wir in Brasilien Weltmeister geworden, mich verbindet als Trainer ein sehr langer Weg mit ihm, wir haben zusammen gefeiert, Poldi hat aber immer auch Verantwortung übernommen, wenn es mal nicht so gut lief. Für seine Loyalität, seinen Einsatz, den Spaß und die Freude, die er immer wieder in unseren Kreis gebracht hat, kann ich mich nur bedanken." Oliver Bierhoff: "Lukas hat eine unglaubliche Länderspiel-Bilanz aufzuweisen, mehr Tore für den DFB haben nur Miro Klose und Gerd Müller geschossen. Er hat seinen Eintrag in die Geschichtsbücher mehr als verdient. Aber Poldi hat sich auch neben dem Platz zu einer echten Marke entwickelt und ist sich dabei immer treu geblieben. Er ist nicht nur eine Frohnatur und immer offen und positiv, er lebt Integration wie kaum ein anderer, er steht für Fairplay, engagiert sich für zahlreiche soziale Initiativen. Mit Poldi verliert die Nationalmannschaft einen leidenschaftlichen Fußballer und riesigen Sympathieträger, der uns und den Fans im Nationaltrikot fehlen wird. Danke und tschö´, Poldi!" [dfb] ||||| Lukas Podolski announced his retirement from international football on Monday. DFB president Reinhard Grindel, head coach Joachim Löw and team coordinator Oliver Bierhoff give their thanks. DFB president Reinhard Grindel: "Lukas Podolski is an outstanding footballer, who has not just delivered unforgettable and emotional moments through his 48 international goals. He has pulled on a Germany shirt 129 times and became a world champion in Rio, but he has never let this go to his head and has stayed true to himself. With his style of play, his exemplary attitude, his open manner and his social engagement, he has become a real fan favourite and a model of integration. I was particularly impressed by how he looked after the younger players during the EURO 2016 in France. A world champion in team building." Joachim Löw: "Just like Basti, Lukas was always a constant for me. We have always relied on him and still do to this day. He is a role model in terms of his professionalism and attitude, and he always puts the team’s success ahead of anything else. He was an established name in the team and he always gave his all. 48 goals in 129 internationals speaks for itself and demonstrates the extent of his footballing quality. We became world champions together in Brazil, and as head coach, I have come a very long way with him. We have celebrated together, and Poldi has always taken responsibility when things weren’t going so well. For his loyalty, his effort and all the fun and joy he has always brought to the team, I can simply say thank you." Oliver Bierhoff: "Lukas has got an unbelievable international record, and only Miro Klose and Gerd Müller have scored more for Germany. He has more than deserved his place in the history books. However, Poldi has also developed into a big name off the pitch and has always stayed true to himself. He is not just a very cheerful person, who is always open and positive, but he stands for integration and fair play like no other and is involved in numerous social initiatives. In Poldi, we are losing a passionate footballer a hugely popular individual, who will be dearly missed by the fans. Thank you, Poldi!" | Yesterday, Poland-born German football player and forward Lukas Podolski announced retirement from international football. File photo of Lukas Podolsk Debuting internationally in 2004, Podolski has won 129 international , Germany's third all time most capped player after and . 31-year-old Lukas Podolski is the third top-scorer for Germany, netting 48 goals. Four years ago, Podolski became the youngest player to make 100 international appearances for Germany aged 27 years 13 days. He was part of the German squad for the UEFA Euro 2016 tournament in France making his final appearance for Germany against Slovakia which was his seventh major tournament. Podolski won the in Brazil. Podolski was awarded ''Best Young Player'' in the 2006 FIFA World Cup, hosted in Germany. Podolski said, "I feel like my focus has shifted ... My time is over ... I arrived in Germany as a two-year-old boy with basically only a football under my arm and am now a world champion. That is more than I could ever have dreamt of." German football manager Joachim Löw said, . Podolski was the fifth player to retire from Germany's 2014 World Cup squad. Last month, German captain Bastian Schweinsteiger announced retirement from international football. Other players who left the German national squad after winning the World Cup are Philipp Lahm, Miroslav Klose, and . |
Democrats force Senate into unusual closed session Majority leader decries move as a publicity stunt FACT BOX Rule XXI: Session with Closed Doors Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, invoked the following rule when he asked that the Senate close its doors to discuss prewar intelligence. 1. On a motion made and seconded to close the doors of the Senate, on the discussion of any business which may, in the opinion of a Senator, require secrecy, the Presiding Officer shall direct the galleries to be cleared; and during the discussion of such motion the doors shall remain closed. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, invoked the following rule when he asked that the Senate close its doors to discuss prewar intelligence.1. On a motion made and seconded to close the doors of the Senate, on the discussion of any business which may, in the opinion of a Senator, require secrecy, the Presiding Officer shall direct the galleries to be cleared; and during the discussion of such motion the doors shall remain closed. 2. When the Senate meets in closed session, any applicable provisions of rules XXIX and XXXI, including the confidentiality of information shall apply to any information and to the conduct of any debate transacted. SPECIAL REPORT Timeline: A new government Flash: Government structure Chart: Iraq's National Assembly Interactive: Iraq's population Coalition Casualties Special Report YOUR E-MAIL ALERTS Harry Reid Bill Frist Senate Iraq or or Create Your Own WASHINGTON (AP) -- Democrats forced the Republican-controlled Senate into an unusual closed session Tuesday, questioning intelligence that led to the Iraq war and deriding a lack of congressional inquiry. "I demand on behalf of the American people that we understand why these investigations aren't being conducted," Democratic leader Harry Reid said. Taken by surprise, Republicans derided the move as a political stunt. "The United States Senate has been hijacked by the Democratic leadership," said Majority Leader Bill Frist. "They have no convictions, they have no principles, they have no ideas," the Republican leader said. Reid demanded the Senate go into closed session. The public was ordered out of the chamber, the lights were dimmed, and the doors were closed. No vote is required in such circumstances. Prewar intelligence Reid's move shone a spotlight on the continuing controversy over intelligence that President Bush cited in the run-up to the war in Iraq. Despite prewar claims, no weapons of mass destruction have been found in Iraq, and some Democrats have accused the administration of manipulating the information that was in their possession. Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, was indicted last Friday in an investigation that touched on the war, the leak of the identity of a CIA official married to a critic of the administration's Iraq policy. (Full story) "The Libby indictment provides a window into what this is really all about, how this administration manufactured and manipulated intelligence in order to sell the war in Iraq and attempted to destroy those who dared to challenge its actions," Reid said before invoking Senate rules that led to the closed session. Libby resigned from his White House post after being indicted on charges of obstruction of justice, making false statements and perjury. Democrats contend that the unmasking of Valerie Plame was retribution for her husband, Joseph Wilson, publicly challenging the Bush administration's contention that Iraq was seeking to purchase uranium from Africa. That claim was part of the White House's justification for going to war. A rare move Sen. Trent Lott, R-Mississippi, said Reid was making "some sort of stink about Scooter Libby and the CIA leak." A former majority leader, Lott said a closed session was appropriate for such overarching matters as impeachment and chemical weapons -- the two topics that last sent the senators into such sessions. In addition, Lott said, Reid's move violated the Senate's tradition of courtesy and consent. But there was nothing in Senate rules enabling Republicans to thwart Reid's effort. As Reid spoke, Frist met in the back of the chamber with a half-dozen senior GOP senators, including Intelligence Committee Chairman Pat Roberts, who bore the brunt of Reid's criticism. Reid said Roberts reneged on a promise to fully investigate whether the administration exaggerated and manipulated intelligence leading up to the war. ||||| The suspect in the fatal shooting of eight people at day spas in and around Atlanta indicated he had issues with sexual addiction and the shootings may have not been motivated by racial hatred, law enforcement officials said. ||||| Below the fold are his remarks, as prepared for delivery, before taking the senate into closed session. Sen. Reid just took the senate into closed session to discuss the body's failure to pursue 'phase two' of the senate intel investigation into the Iraq WMD intel failure. "This past weekend, we witnessed the indictment of I. Lewis Libby, the Vice President's Chief of Staff and a senior Advisor to President Bush. Libby is the first sitting White House staffer to be indicted in 135 years. "This indictment raises very serious charges. It asserts this Administration engaged in actions that both harmed our national security and are morally repugnant. "The decision to place U.S. soldiers in harm's way is the most significant responsibility the Constitution invests in the Congress. "The Libby indictment provides a window into what this is really about: how the Administration manufactured and manipulated intelligence in order to sell the war in Iraq and attempted to destroy those who dared to challenge its actions. "As a result of its improper conduct, a cloud now hangs over this Administration. This cloud is further darkened by the Administration's mistakes in prisoner abuse scandal, Hurricane Katrina, and the cronyism and corruption in numerous agencies. "And, unfortunately, it must be said that a cloud also hangs over this Republican-controlled Congress for its unwillingness to hold this Republican Administration accountable for its misdeeds on all of these issues. "Let's take a look back at how we got here with respect to Iraq Mr. President. The record will show that within hours of the terrorist attacks on 9/11, senior officials in this Administration recognized these attacks could be used as a pretext to invade Iraq. "The record will also show that in the months and years after 9/11, the Administration engaged in a pattern of manipulation of the facts and retribution against anyone who got in its way as it made the case for attacking Iraq. "There are numerous examples of how the Administration misstated and manipulated the facts as it made the case for war. Administration statements on Saddam's alleged nuclear weapons capabilities and ties with Al Qaeda represent the best examples of how it consistently and repeatedly manipulated the facts. "The American people were warned time and again by the President, the Vice President, and the current Secretary of State about Saddam's nuclear weapons capabilities. The Vice President said Iraq "has reconstituted its nuclear weapons." Playing upon the fears of Americans after September 11, these officials and others raised the specter that, left unchecked, Saddam could soon attack America with nuclear weapons. "Obviously we know now their nuclear claims were wholly inaccurate. But more troubling is the fact that a lot of intelligence experts were telling the Administration then that its claims about Saddam's nuclear capabilities were false. "The situation was very similar with respect to Saddam's links to Al Qaeda. The Vice President told the American people, "We know he's out trying once again to produce nuclear weapons and we know he has a longstanding relationship with various terrorist groups including the Al Qaeda organization." "The Administration's assertions on this score have been totally discredited. But again, the Administration went ahead with these assertions in spite of the fact that the government's top experts did not agree with these claims. "What has been the response of this Republican-controlled Congress to the Administration's manipulation of intelligence that led to this protracted war in Iraq? Basically nothing. Did the Republican-controlled Congress carry out its constitutional obligations to conduct oversight? No. Did it support our troops and their families by providing them the answers to many important questions? No. Did it even attempt to force this Administration to answer the most basic questions about its behavior? No. "Unfortunately the unwillingness of the Republican-controlled Congress to exercise its oversight responsibilities is not limited to just Iraq. We see it with respect to the prisoner abuse scandal. We see it with respect to Katrina. And we see it with respect to the cronyism and corruption that permeates this Administration. "Time and time again, this Republican-controlled Congress has consistently chosen to put its political interests ahead of our national security. They have repeatedly chosen to protect the Republican Administration rather than get to the bottom of what happened and why. "There is also another disturbing pattern here, namely about how the Administration responded to those who challenged its assertions. Time and again this Administration has actively sought to attack and undercut those who dared to raise questions about its preferred course. "For example, when General Shinseki indicated several hundred thousand troops would be needed in Iraq, his military career came to an end. When then OMB Director Larry Lindsay suggested the cost of this war would approach $200 billion, his career in the Administration came to an end. When U.N. Chief Weapons Inspector Hans Blix challenged conclusions about Saddam's WMD capabilities, the Administration pulled out his inspectors. When Nobel Prize winner and IAEA head Mohammed el-Baridei raised questions about the Administration's claims of Saddam's nuclear capabilities, the Administration attempted to remove him from his post. When Joe Wilson stated that there was no attempt by Saddam to acquire uranium from Niger, the Administration launched a vicious and coordinated campaign to demean and discredit him, going so far as to expose the fact that his wife worked as a CIA agent. "Given this Administration's pattern of squashing those who challenge its misstatements, what has been the response of this Republican-controlled Congress? Again, absolutely nothing. And with their inactions, they provide political cover for this Administration at the same time they keep the truth from our troops who continue to make large sacrifices in Iraq. "This behavior is unacceptable. The toll in Iraq is as staggering as it is solemn. More than 2,000 Americans have lost their lives. Over 90 Americans have paid the ultimate sacrifice this month alone - the fourth deadliest month since the war began. More than 15,000 have been wounded. More than 150,000 remain in harm's way. Enormous sacrifices have been and continue to be made. "The troops and the American people have a right to expect answers and accountability worthy of that sacrifice. For example, 40 Senate Democrats wrote a substantive and detailed letter to the President asking four basic questions about the Administration's Iraq policy and received a four sentence answer in response. These Senators and the American people deserve better. "They also deserve a searching and comprehensive investigation about how the Bush Administration brought this country to war. Key questions that need to be answered include: How did the Bush Administration assemble its case for war against Iraq? Who did Bush Administration officials listen to and who did they ignore? How did senior Administration officials manipulate or manufacture intelligence presented to the Congress and the American people? What was the role of the White House Iraq Group or WHIG, a group of senior White House officials tasked with marketing the war and taking down its critics? How did the Administration coordinate its efforts to attack individuals who dared to challenge the Administration's assertions? Why has the Administration failed to provide Congress with the documents that will shed light on their misconduct and misstatements? "Unfortunately the Senate committee that should be taking the lead in providing these answers is not. Despite the fact that the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee publicly committed to examine many of these questions more than 1 and ½ years ago, he has chosen not to keep this commitment. Despite the fact that he restated that commitment earlier this year on national television, he has still done nothing. "At this point, we can only conclude he will continue to put politics ahead of our national security. If he does anything at this point, I suspect he will play political games by producing an analysis that fails to answer any of these important questions. Instead, if history is any guide, this analysis will attempt to disperse and deflect blame away from the Administration. "We demand that the Intelligence Committee and other committees in this body with jurisdiction over these matters carry out a full and complete investigation immediately as called for by Democrats in the committee's annual intelligence authorization report. Our troops and the American people have sacrificed too much. It is time this Republican-controlled Congress put the interests of the American people ahead of their own political interests." | The United States Senate met behind closed doors on Tuesday under pressure to investigate the intelligence that led to the war in . The rare parliamentary rule invoked by the Democrats forces the removal of all media, staff, and tourists from the chamber. Congress will stop working on legislation temporarily. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid stated that a private session was justified by the fact that the indictment of Lewis Libby showed how the administration manipulated the intelligence in order to justify the War on Iraq. President made his case on the war by citing U.S. intelligence showed Iraq with the possessions of weapons of mass destruction. Both the U.N. weapon inspector team and the U.S. military found no such weapons. Conservatives saw the unusual maneuver as a ploy to distract the public from President Bush's recent nomination of to the and dismissed the investigation, which has been in the news over the past several days with the resignation of Vice President Cheney's aide after the disclosure that Libby lied under oath about leaking information that would provocate war between Iraq and the U.S. |
Alan Johnston was abducted at gunpoint in Gaza on 12 March In a video shown on al-Jazeera TV, a masked man said to be from the Army of Islam said there were "developments" in meetings with Hamas. But he maintained that the reporter could still be killed if their demands were not met. The BBC said it was aware of the video and was watching developments closely. Mr Johnston, 45, was abducted on 12 March in Gaza City on his way home. Militants purportedly belonging to the Army of Islam posted a video on the internet on 1 June showing the first pictures of the reporter, in which he said he was being well treated. Mr Johnston was the only Western reporter permanently based in Gaza and his abduction has triggered appeals for his release from lawmakers and rights groups around the world. More than 160,000 people have now signed an online petition calling for his release. 'Security concerns' In the video shown on 17 June, the masked spokesman repeated demands for the release of Islamist prisoners, in particular Palestinian-born cleric Abu Qatada, who is detained in the UK. "There are developments and we will let you know when there are new developments," he said. "...If they do not meet these demands there will be no release of this prisoner, but if things get worse we will get closer to God by killing this journalist." The video was shown hours after a Hamas representative said Mr Johnston would be released soon. Speaking at a news conference in the Iranian capital, Osama al-Mouti said Hamas was trying to secure his freedom without meeting the group's demands. He said if Mr Johnston was not freed soon, it would only be because of concerns for his security. On Friday, Hamas said it would no longer allow the journalist to be held captive and that it was in contact with Mr Johnston's abductors. ||||| The spokesman said its main demand was the release of Abu Qatada, a London-based Palestinian-Jordanian, who faces deportation from the UK. The British government says Abu Qatada is suspected of links with al-Qaeda and is a "significant international terrorist". The call for Abu Qatada's freedom was originally made in a video of Alan Johnston which was posted on the internet on June 1. Negotiations Abu Osameh al-Mo'ti, a Hamas representative in Iran,had said that the group was in negotiations with those holding Johnston but did not specify how he knew the British journalist would be freed. "The BBC journalist will be released within the next hours, today," he said. He also suggested that Hamas knew where the journalist was being held and that he was in good health. "We are aware of the reports, but have not received any firm confirmation of Alan's situation. We continue to work with everyone involved to try to effect Alan's safe release," a BBC spokeswoman in London said ahead of the Army of Islam statement. The video was the first sign that Johnston was still alive since he was seized at gunpoint as he drove home from work in Gaza City on March 12. He said in the video that his captors were treating him well and spoke of the suffering that Gazans had endured because of sanctions imposed on the Hamas-led Palestinian government. He also criticised the British military presence in Afghanistan and Iraq, saying: "In all this, you can see the British government is endlessly working to occupy Muslim lands against the will of the people in those places." An Islamic group called the Kataeb al-Jihad al-Tawheed (The Brigades of Holy War and Unity) had claimed in April to have killed Johnston. However, the Palestinian authorities said at the time that there was no proof that the claim by the little-known group was true. ||||| DUBAI (Reuters) - A Palestinian militant group holding BBC reporter Alan Johnston said on Sunday there was no deal to free the Briton abducted in Gaza three months ago and said he would only be released if its demands were met. A file photo of a Palestinian journalist hanging a poster of kidnapped BBC correspondent Alan Johnston in Gaza April 15, 2007. A Hamas official said on Sunday Johnston, abducted in Gaza three months ago, would be released within hours. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa “Freeing this detainee has not been part of any deal with any faction or organization. What appears on television screens and through the media here and there is untrue,” a man identified as a spokesman for the Army of Islam in Gaza told Al Jazeera television. “If they do not meet our demands there will be no release for that detainee and if things become more difficult ... then we would seek God’s satisfaction by slaughtering this journalist,” said the spokesman, identified as Abu Khatab. An official of the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas said earlier on Sunday Johnston would be released within hours, but as the clock ticked by another senior Hamas member counseled caution. The British Foreign Office said such statements only caused distress to Johnston’s family and friends. “We continue to urge Alan’s safe and swift release and welcome the efforts of all those in the Palestinian territories to that end,” a spokesman said. The BBC said it was aware of the statement and other reports coming out of Gaza on Sunday. “We are watching developments very closely,” it said. Abu Khatab acknowledged that negotiations for the release of the 45-year-old man were under way, but insisted that at least part of the group’s demands be met. In a June 1 video, the group holding Johnston repeated its demand for Britain to free Muslim prisoners, particularly the Islamist cleric Abu Qatada. “There are negotiations. One session after another, but we are interested in the main point, which is this detainee will not be released until they meet these demands, or what could be agreed upon (the release of) other detainees other than (Abu) Qatada,” said the masked militant surrounded by gunmen. Johnston, the only Western correspondent based full-time in Gaza, was seized on March 12. None of several foreigners seized in Gaza in recent years has been harmed. None has been held as long as Johnston, with most freed within days. | Bush House, home of the BBC World Service A spokesman for the Hamas organisation has indicated that the BBC reporter Alan Johnston kidnapped in Gaza on 12 March would be released within hours. "The BBC journalist will be released within the next hours, today", said Abu Osameh al-Mo'ti, Hamas spokesman from Iran. Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas official in Gaza was however more cautious about the situation, saying that "There are encouraging indicators that he will be released in the near future. But we cannot determine this in terms of hours." Later, a spokesman for the group said to be holding Alan, the Army of Islam denied the release was imminent. The group is demanding that Abu Qatada, described by the United Kingdom government as "significant international terrorist", be released and said that "If they don't meet these demands there will be no release of this prisoner." Earlier this month Johnston appeared in a video in which the group holding him demanded that Britain released Muslim prisoners. The UK Foreign Office described the ongoing confusion as distressful to Alan Johnston's family and friends. The BBC has said that "We are watching developments very closely." |
Gay-rights group protests HIV-positive man's sentence DALLAS — A gay-rights group is protesting a 35-year prison sentence given to an HIV-positive man who was convicted of spitting on a police officer, and public health officials say the risk of contracting the AIDS virus from saliva is extremely low. Prosecutors convinced a jury this week that the man's spit constituted a deadly weapon, making the long prison term appropriate. Willie Campbell spit into the eye and open mouth of a Dallas police officer while he was being arrested for public intoxication in 2006, the officer testified. Campbell, 42, had been in prison twice before, making him a habitual offender subject to a sentence of at least 25 years. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says no one has ever contracted the AIDS virus from spit. The Dallas County Health Department issued a statement Friday that said HIV is usually spread by sexual contact or sharing needles with an infected person or through a transfusion of tainted blood. The notice said that federal public health officials consider "the risk of HIV transmission from such fluids as saliva and tears to be extremely low." Bebe Anderson, the HIV projects director at Lambda Legal, a gay-rights group, said the verdict could create wrong impressions about how HIV is transmitted. "It's been 25 years since the virus was identified, but there are still lots of fears," he told The Dallas Morning News for Saturday's editions. "We are still facing people losing their jobs and fighting for their children because of fears that are unfounded." Campbell was convicted of harassing a public servant for spitting on police officer Dan Waller. The officer has not tested positive for HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. The Dallas County prosecutor who handled the trial, Jenni Morse, said any risk is sufficient to find that Campbell's spit could be considered a deadly weapon. "No matter how minuscule, there is some risk," she said. "That means there is the possibility of causing serious bodily injury or death," the legal definition of a deadly weapon. District Attorney Craig Watkins said "it was clear that the defendant intended to cause serious bodily injury." While in prison awaiting trial in the spitting case, Campbell bit two inmates and attacked other officers. Because of the deadly-weapon finding, Campbell will have to serve half his sentence before becoming eligible for parole. He was sentenced Wednesday. ||||| Prosecutors convinced a Dallas County jury this week that HIV-positive saliva should be considered a deadly weapon. But the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and countless doctors say no one has ever contracted the virus from spit. And that's why several AIDS advocacy groups and many individuals contend that the 35-year sentence Willie Campbell received Wednesday for spitting into the mouth and eye of a Dallas police officer was excessive. Mr. Campbell was convicted of harassment of a public servant. Because of the jury's deadly weapon finding, he will have to serve half of his sentence before he's eligible for parole. The police officer, Dan Waller, has not contracted HIV. Neither Mr. Campbell nor his attorney, Russ Henrichs, could be reached Friday for comment. Also Friday, the Dallas County Health Department issued a statement about HIV transmission. The statement said that "HIV is usually spread by sexual contact with an infected person, by sharing needles with someone who is infected, or by transfusions with infected blood products." The statement went on to say that the "U.S. Public Health Service guidelines determines the risk of HIV transmission from such fluids as saliva and tears to be extremely low." Dr. R. Doug Hardy, an infectious disease specialist at UT Southwestern Medical Center and Children's Medical Center Dallas, also said that fluids in people's eyes and mouths have very low risk of transmitting HIV. The higher risk is for Hepatitis B and C and syphilis, he said. But Dallas County prosecutor Jenni Morse, who handled Mr. Campbell's case, said any risk level is sufficient for the deadly weapon finding used during the trial. "No matter how minuscule, there is some risk," said Ms. Morse. "That means there is the possibility of causing serious bodily injury or death," the legal definition of a deadly weapon. A woman who said she is HIV-positive said the jury's decision to call Mr. Campbell's saliva a deadly weapon was ridiculous. "I'm sure he deserves some sort of punishment," said the East Texas woman, who grew up in Dallas. "But I don't think his HIV status should have any bearing at all." The woman, who asked that her name not be used because of the stigma the disease still carries, questioned what this jury's decision says about how people perceive her being a mother of a child who does not have HIV. "So if I say to my child, 'Let me have a sip of your drink,' and there's a chance that my saliva might be in that cup, does that mean I am using a deadly weapon?" Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins said, however, that Mr. Campbell can't be compared to a loving mother. "If you look at the facts of this case, it was clear that the defendant intended to cause serious bodily injury," said Mr. Watkins. "There's an intent factor. When a mother kisses her child, her intent is affection." Mr. Campbell's sentence was nearly double that given the same day to a man being tried in a courtroom next door. That man, De Leon Vanegas Jr., was sentenced to 18 years in prison for giving "cheese" heroin to a 15-year-old boy who died after using the drug. The jury in that case declared heroin a deadly weapon. Mr. Campbell had served time in prison twice, labeling him a habitual offender and starting his sentence time at 25 years. While in prison awaiting trial for this case, evidence showed, Mr. Campbell bit two inmates and attacked other officers. Bebe Anderson, the HIV projects director at Lambda Legal, a legal organization for gay men, lesbians and people with HIV/AIDS, said the decision by Mr. Campbell's jury could cause further misconceptions about HIV and how it's transmitted. "It's been 25 years since the virus was identified, but there are still lots of fears," said Ms. Anderson. "We are still facing people losing their jobs and fighting for their children because of fears that are unfounded." ||||| During the trial, Mr. Campbell, who prosecutors say has been H.I.V. positive since 1994, denied that he had resisted arrest or spit at an officer, his lawyer, Russell Henrichs, said Thursday. Mr. Henrichs added that his client had been indicted under a habitual-offender statute that increased the penalty in his case to a minimum of 25 years in prison, because he had been convicted of attacking two other officers in a similar manner and biting two inmates, as well as more than two dozen other offenses. “You can see why we thought that we needed to get this guy off the streets,” said Jenni Morse, who prosecuted the current case. None of the three officers attacked by Mr. Campbell contracted H.I.V., Ms. Morse said. After Mr. Campbell was convicted by a jury, he shouted at the prosecutor and police officers, calling them liars and telling them to “rot in hell” for “railroading an innocent man.” He was forced to listen to the rest of sentencing from a holding cell. Mr. Campbell waived his right to appeal and is awaiting transfer from the Dallas jail to prison. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, H.I.V. is primarily spread through sexual contact or the exchange of blood. Although there have been rare cases of transmission through severe bites, “contact with saliva, tears or sweat has never been shown to result in transmission of H.I.V.,” the agency reports. ||||| An HIV-positive man convicted of spitting into the eye and open mouth of a Dallas police officer has been sentenced to 35 years in prison. Willie Campbell must serve at least half that time because jurors ruled the 42-year-old used his infected saliva as a deadly weapon. Dan Waller, a Dallas police officer, testified that he was trying to arrest Campbell for public intoxication in 2006 when he was spat at. Dallas County prosecutors say that at one point during the trial, Campbell called another police officer a liar and yelled that he was innocent. AP ||||| Man with HIV jailed for spitting on cop DALLAS, May 15 (UPI) -- A man who tested positive for HIV was given a 35-year jail sentence for allegedly spitting into a Dallas police officer's eye and mouth, authorities said. Willie Campbell, 42, was sentenced Wednesday after a Dallas County jury found him guilty of harassment of a public servant for spitting on Officer Dan Waller's face in 2006, the Dallas Morning News reported. The Morning News said Campbell, who has been accused of spitting on fellow prisoners and police officers in the past, was being taken into police custody for public intoxication when he starting resisting arrest. "He turns and spits. He hits me in the eye and mouth. Then he told me he has AIDS. I immediately began looking for something to flush my eyes with," Walter said. The jury decided Campbell's saliva was considered a deadly weapon, requiring him to complete at least half his sentence before parole is a possibility, the report said. ||||| Willie Campbell was sentenced yesterday to 35 years in prison for spitting in the face of a Dallas police officer. A jury concluded that Campbell, who is HIV positive, used his saliva as a deadly weapon when he hit police officer Dan Waller in the eye and mouth two years ago. "I know it sounds cliché, but this is why you lock someone up, so our streets are safer," Waller tells the Dallas Morning News. "Without him out there, our streets are a safer place." Campbell, 42, won't be eligible for parole until he's served half his sentence, the paper says. Is HIV transmitted through saliva? Here's what the CDC has to say about that possibility: ||||| An HIV-positive man with a history of spitting at police officers and biting fellow jail inmates was sentenced to 35 years in prison Wednesday. Willie Campbell's sentence came one day after the same Dallas County jury convicted the 42-year-old of harassment of a public servant for spitting into the eye and open mouth of Dallas Officer Dan Waller in May 2006. As Mr. Campbell was being arrested for public intoxication, he began to resist and kicked at the computer screen in the police vehicle, Officer Waller testified during the two-day trial. "He turns and spits," Officer Waller said. "He hits me in the eye and mouth. Then he told me he has AIDS. I immediately began looking for something to flush my eyes with." During Tuesday's guilt/innocence phase of the trial, Mr. Campbell testified in his defense and offered to enter his feet as evidence to prove he did not kick the squad car's computer screen, said Aja Reed, a prosecutor who worked on the case. On Wednesday, as another Dallas officer testified about Mr. Campbell spitting on him in an unrelated incident, Mr. Campbell jumped up and began yelling at the officer and prosecutors, according to another prosecutor in the case, Jenni Morse. "He said to the officer, 'You're a liar. You're all railroading me. I'm an innocent man.' " Dallas County sheriff's deputies took Mr. Campbell into custody and placed him in a holding cell, where he listened to the remainder of his sentencing trial. But not before he said to prosecutors, "You're going to rot in hell," Ms. Reed said. Russ Hendrichs, Mr. Campbell's attorney, could not be reached for comment Wednesday afternoon. Because the jury found that Mr. Campbell's HIV-positive saliva was a deadly weapon, he has to serve half of his sentence before he is eligible for parole. Officer Waller said he was elated with the jury's decision. "I know it sounds cliché, but this is why you lock someone up, so our streets are safer," Officer Waller said. "Without him out there, our streets are a safer place." | An HIV-positive man was sentenced to 35 years in prison Wednesday, one day after being convicted of harassment of a public servant for spitting into the eye and open mouth of a Dallas, Texas police officer in May 2006. The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that no one has ever contracted HIV from saliva, and a gay-rights and AIDS advocacy group called the sentence excessive. Scanning electron micrograph of HIV-1 (in green) budding from cultured lymphocyte A Dallas County jury concluded that Willie Campbell's act of spitting on policeman Dan Waller in 2006 constituted the use of his saliva as a deadly weapon. The incident occurred while Campbell, 42, was resisting arrest while being taken into custody for public intoxication. "He turns and spits. He hits me in the eye and mouth. Then he told me he has AIDS. I immediately began looking for something to flush my eyes with," said Waller to ''The Dallas Morning News''. Officer Waller responded after a bystander reported seeing an unconscious male lying outside a building. Dallas County prosecutors stated that Campbell attempted to fight paramedics and kicked the police officer who arrested him for public intoxication. Prosecutors said that Campbell yelled that he was innocent during the trial, and claimed a police officer was lying. Campbell's lawyer Russell Heinrichs said that because he had a history of convictions including similarly attacking two other police officers, biting inmates, and other offenses, he was indicted under a habitual offender statute. The statute increased his minimum sentence to 25 years in prison. Because the jury ruled that Campbell's saliva was used as a deadly weapon, he will not be eligible for parole until completing at least half his sentence. The organization Lambda Legal (Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund), which advocates for individuals living with HIV, says that saliva should not be considered a deadly weapon. Bebe Anderson, the HIV projects director at Lambda Legal, spoke with ''The Dallas Morning News'' about the sentence. "It's been 25 years since the virus was identified, but there are still lots of fears," said Anderson. The Dallas County prosecutor who handled the trial, Jenni Morse, said that the deadly weapon finding was justified. "No matter how minuscule, there is some risk. That means there is the possibility of causing serious bodily injury or death," said Morse. Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins stated: "If you look at the facts of this case, it was clear that the defendant intended to cause serious bodily injury." A page at the CDC's website, ''HIV and Its Transmission'', states: "HIV has been found in saliva and tears in very low quantities from some AIDS patients." The subsection "Saliva, Tears, and Sweat" concludes that: "Contact with saliva, tears, or sweat has never been shown to result in transmission of HIV." On Friday the Dallas County Health Department released a statement explaining that HIV is most commonly spread through sexual contact, sharing needles, or transfusion from an infected blood product. |
Prince Rock residents were unable to return home from work They were in the 100m (328ft) radius of a building site in Prince Rock, Plymouth where workers uncovered the bomb at 1800 BST on Tuesday. They returned to their homes at 0100 BST the following day. Bomb disposal teams took the device out to sea where they carried out a controlled explosion on Wednesday. 'Everybody helpful' There were scenes of confusion in Prince Rock on Tuesday night as residents returning home from work found they could not go anywhere near their homes. Some of the evacuees took refuge in the Friary Vaults members bar, where proprietor Sue Aston said: "We are right on the edge of the evacuation area, and a lot of the people are our members anyway. "But tonight we are letting in people whether they are members or not." One elderly woman said: "I went through the Blitz and this reminds me of the war. "Everybody has been very helpful and friendly." Plymouth was targeted by German raids because of its importance as a major naval port. The dockyard area around Devonport, as well as the city centre, were badly hit by bombing. ||||| May 15, 2020 via redfin.com Whether you’re looking to purchase or sell a home, not all properties are created equal, and not all retain good resale value. Meaning when the time comes to sell your home, you may receive fewer offers, offers under your asking price, or your home may end up sitting in seller's limbo for longer than you … 15 Factors That Influence Your Home's Resale Value Read More >> The post 15 Factors That Influence Your Home's Resale Value appeared first on Redfin | Real Estate Tips for Home Buying, Selling & More. ||||| Experts will start examining the bomb when the 100m zone is clear The device was found by workers on a building site in Brentor Road, in the Prince Rock area of the city. It is sticking about six inches (15cm) out of the ground and is 10ins (25cm) in diameter. Bomb disposal experts have confirmed it weighs about 250lb (113kg). It is thought the device will be removed from the site and detonated at sea. Specialist equipment has been sent to Plymouth from Wales and when the bomb is moved, buildings on the route may also have to be evacuated. Emergency planning "Evacuations are being carried out of properties within 100m [328ft] of the scene," a police spokesman said. "Properties within the 100m-300m [328-984ft] zone are being advised to open windows and draw curtains." Some people unable to get into their homes when they returned from work have said they are worried about their pets. Plymouth City Council's emergency planning officer is at the scene and the council has taken residents with no alternative accommodation to Stoke Damerel Community College. The Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) team will not begin to examine the bomb until the 100m zone has been fully cleared. The operation is expected to last for several hours. | Location of Plymouth within England The discovery of an old World War II bomb in a construction site has caused at least 1000 residents in Plymouth located in South-West England, to be evacuated. "Evacuations are being carried out of properties within 100m 328ft of the scene. Properties within the 100m-300m 328-984ft zone are being advised to open windows and draw curtains," said a spokesman for the police department in Plymouth. Workers on the site discovered the bomb at about 10:30 a.m. local time in Plymouth, England on Brentor Road. Reports say that the bomb is sticking out of the ground by about 6 inches, and weighed an estimated 113 kilograms, or 250 pounds, but could have weighed as much as 500 pounds. "The item was protruding about six inches from the ground and was described as being up to 10-inches in diameter," said a spokesman for the Devon and Cornwall Police. The Army bomb disposal team from Wales is currently trying to figure out what to do with the bomb and it could take several hours before authorities can dispose of it. Reports say that the bomb will be taken to the ocean to be detonated. "The precise nature of this operation and any potential route are yet to be confirmed," added the spokesman. |
Western allies and Turkey have secured a deal to put the entire military campaign against Muammar Gaddafi under Nato command by next week, UK and French sources have told the Guardian. The US, Britain, France and Turkey agreed to put the three-pronged offensive – a no-fly zone, an arms embargo, and air strikes – under a Nato command umbrella, in a climbdown by France that accommodates strong Turkish complaints about the scope and control of the campaign. The deal appeared to end days of infighting among western allies, but needed to be blessed by all 28 Nato member states. At the end of a four-day meeting of Nato ambassadors in Brussels, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the secretary general, said Nato had agreed to take command of the no-fly zone from the Americans. Disputes have raged at Nato HQ every day this week. Rasmussen contradicted leading western officials by announcing that Nato's authority was limited to commanding the no-fly zone, but he signalled there was more negotiation to come. "At this moment, there will still be a coalition operation and a Nato operation," he said. This meant Nato would command the no-fly zone and police the arms embargo. But on the most contentious part, air strikes and ground attacks against Gaddafi, consensus remained elusive. The agreement emerged from phone calls between William Hague, the foreign secretary, Alain Juppé, the French foreign minister, Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, and Ahmet Davutoglu, the Turkish foreign minister, following rancorous attacks from the Turkish leadership on French ambitions to lead the anti-Gaddafi war effort. The agreement also gives political oversight of the military action to a committee of the international coalition in the campaign. Since the no-fly zone and air attacks on Libya began last Saturday by France, Washington has been in charge of operations, but is eager to surrender the role. Under the scheme agreed, the transfer to Nato will take place by the latest in London on Tuesday, when the parties to the coalition against Gaddafi gather in London for a special "contact group" conference. French sources said the Benghazi-based Libyan rebel leadership would be in London to attend. The conference will consist of two meetings: a war council made up of the main governments taking part in the military action, as well as a broader assembly including Arab and African countries devoted to Libya's future. Hillary Clinton welcomed the Nato decision to take command of the Libyan operations and police the no-fly zone, and she expected that it would eventually take over responsibility for protecting civilians, enforcing an arms embargo and supporting the humanitarian mission. "We are taking the next step. We have agreed along with our Nato allies to transition command and control for the no-fly zone over Libya to Nato. All 28 allies have also now authorised military authorities to develop an operations plan for Nato to take on the broader civilian protection mission," she said. She said the United Arab Emirates was to join Qatar in sending planes to enforce the no-fly zone. Barack Obama, who returned to Washington on Wednesday, is reluctant to make a televised address to the nation about Libya because he is keen to try to keep it low-key. Administration officials, as part of this strategy, pointedly refuse to call it a war. Republicans have been calling on him to explain the mission. The president has also faced criticism from his own Democratic party. "I think he needs to face the nation and tell the nation, and tell Congress, what the end game is and how this going to play out," Senator Sherrod Brown, a Democrat, said on MSNBC.President Nicolas Sarkozy, who had tried to diminish the role of Nato, conceded, in the face of Turkish opposition, that a two-tier structure would run the operation: Nato "assets" will co-ordinate all aspects, including enforcement of the no-fly zone, protecting civilians through air strikes, and enforcing a UN arms embargo. Juppé agreed that Nato would be in control of the entire operation. Political oversight will be in the hands of a committee of a smaller number of countries involved in the military campaign. There had been bitter attacks from the Turkish government on Sarkozy's leadership of the campaign, accusing the French of lacking a conscience in their conduct of operations, with criticism from the prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and the president, Abdullah Gül. France had insisted on Tuesday that the operations would be "non-Nato". Turkey was emphatically behind sole Nato control of the operations. In Istanbul, Erdogan said: "I wish that those who only see oil, gold mines and underground treasures when they look in [Libya's] direction, would see the region through glasses of conscience from now on." This week, Claude Guéant, the French interior minister who was previously Sarkozy's chief adviser, angered the Muslim world by stating that the French president was "leading a crusade" to stop Gaddafi massacring Libyans. Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin also used the word in reference to air strikes on Libya. And George Bush had notoriously used the word after the 11 September 2001 attacks on the US that led to the Iraq war. Erdogan said: "Those who use such hair-raising, frightening terms that fuel clashes of civilisations, or those who even think of them, need to immediately evaluate their own conscience." The Turks are incensed at repeated snubs by Sarkozy. The French failed to invite Turkey to last Saturday's summit in Paris, which preceded the air strikes. French fighters taking off from Corsica struck the first blows. The Turkish government accused Sarkozy of launching not only the no-fly zone, but his presidential re-election campaign. The dispute over Libya appears highly personal. Sarkozy went to Turkey last month for the first time in four years as president, but the visit was repeatedly delayed and then downgraded from a state presidential event. He stayed in Turkey for five hours. "Relations between Turkey and France deserve more than this," complained Erdogan. "I will speak with frankness. We wish to host him as president of France. But he is coming as president of the G20, not as that of France." ||||| Nato takes over Libya no-fly zone The US says more than 350 planes are now involved in the Libya operation Nato has agreed to take command of enforcing the no-fly zone over Libya from the US. But Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen made clear that other aspects of the operation would remain in the hands of the current coalition for now. Nato has been locked in dispute about whether to take charge of the mission to enforce a UN resolution. It is believed there are differences of opinion whether attacks on ground troops should form part of the action. Coalition raids on Libya are meanwhile continuing for a sixth consecutive night. Mr Rasmussen has insisted there is no split on the military handover, saying Nato is still considering whether to take on the "broader responsibility". The handover of the no-fly mission could come as early as this weekend. The US initially agreed to lead enforcement of the UN resolution, but made clear it wanted only a limited role and would hand over responsibility as soon as possible. But the handover to Nato became bogged down when Turkey made clear its view that action should focus directly on enforcing the no-fly zone and arms embargo, rather than allowing any continuing strikes against ground forces. The resolution authorises the international community to use "all necessary means" to protect Libyan civilians, but the phrase has become open to different interpretations. Earlier, French officials confirmed they had destroyed a Libyan military plane which had flown in breach of the no-fly zone. The G-2/Galeb, a training plane with a single engine, had just landed when it was hit by a missile fired by a Rafale jet, a spokesman said. It was the first such incident of its kind since the operation began. 'Stop fighting' In the US, Vice-Admiral Bill Gortney told a Pentagon briefing that a total of 350 aircraft were now involved in the operation in some way, about half of them American. A total of 38 ships were participating in a naval blockade, he said, 12 of them from the US. He insisted that ground forces would continue to be attacked as long as they posed a threat to Libyan civilians. "Our message to the regime troops is simple - stop fighting... stop obeying Gaddafi's orders," he said. As the bombing raids were resumed on Thursday night, Libyan state television reported that targets in Tripoli and Tajoura had been hit. | NATO has agreed to take control of the no-fly zone in Libya as early as this weekend, after a unanimous vote to do so by all 28 member states. Only the no-fly zone will be the responsibility of NATO forces; other military operations in Libya will remain under the control of the group of nations already involved. A two-level command system will be put in place, with political oversight being the responsibility of a new committee headed by NATO but also including other countries that are engaged in military operations in Libya. Deployment of military assets will fall under the purview of NATO alone. An agreement was reached on Wednesday afternoon, after a conference call between US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, British foreign secretary William Hague, French foreign minister , and the Turkish foreign minister. This was proposed to the , and NATO secretary-general later confirmed that all NATO members had agreed to implement it. Turkey and France had previously disagreed over the issue of NATO control, with France opposed and Turkey in favor of having NATO command of military forces. Hague said of the agreement that "this is a new coalition, put together very quickly for obvious reasons last week, and so there are bound to be issues to sort out in its management. But we are getting through those pretty well." |
MAIDUGURI Nigeria (Reuters) - Nigeria's military fought gun battles with Boko Haram Islamists in two key northeastern towns on Friday, after the militants killed dozens of people and drove soldiers out of Gwoza town two days ago, security sources and the military said. On Friday the military launched strikes to push the rebels out of Gwoza, the security sources said, and the garrison town of Damboa, which the militants sacked a month ago. Both towns lie on roads linking Nigeria to Cameroon and Chad. The military has struggled to stamp out the highly mobile, combat-hardened fighters of Boko Haram, which wants to carve an Islamic state out of religiously mixed Nigeria. The group is seen as the main security threat to Africa's biggest economy and leading energy producer. "The special operation which began early in the week is meant to restore law and order to the area and apprehend all terrorists who have been operating in the locality," police spokesman Frank Mba announced on his website. "The remnants of insurgents are being cleared from the communities. The mop up phase will ascertain the casualties." Large sections of remote northeastern Borno state are under siege by the militants, who have killed more than 2,000 people this year - mostly civilians - and displaced hundreds of thousands more, rights groups say. Witnesses and two security sources said heavily armed Boko Haram fighters stormed Gwoza, which lies in a rugged hilly area seen as a Boko Haram stronghold, on Wednesday. Resident Abdullahi Abubakar said the insurgents sprayed the town with automatic gunfire, burning houses and overrunning the palace of its traditional ruler, the Emir of Gwoza. A security source said at least 30 bodies had been counted, with many more in the bush. He put the death toll at "several dozen." "I could see the Boko Haram boys roaming the streets of Gwoza on motorbikes shouting 'Allahu Akbar' (God is Great), trying to shoot at us as we fled to the hill," Abubakar said by telephone. "Some of them were distributing food stuffs to the women and children left behind." Senator Ali Ndume, who is from the area, said the new Emir of Gwoza, Idrissa Timta, who took over after the killing of his father in a Boko Haram attack in May, had been missing since the attack on his palace. "The insurgents have sacked the town and people who are still there are locked indoors. Corpses litter the streets of Gwoza now but nobody can go out to pick them up," he said. Abubakar said 500 refugees from the attack had spent three days in the hills around Gwoza surviving on wild fruit. Footage obtained by rights group Amnesty International and released on Tuesday appeared to show Nigerian soldiers slitting the throats of Boko Haram suspects and dumping their bodies in a mass grave, mirroring how the Islamists treat their own captives and highlighting a runaway cycle of violence. The five-year-old insurgency has been in the international spotlight since Boko Haram fighters kidnapped more than 200 girls from a school in the village of Chibok in April. The girls are still missing. (Writing by Tim Cocks; Editing by Hugh Lawson) ||||| A screengrab from a video released by Nigerian Islamists Boko Haram shows the leader of the extremist group, Abubakar Shekau. (File, AFP) Yaounde - The Nigerian Islamist movement Boko Haram has recruited and trained hundreds of young Cameroonians to carry out attacks in their own country, according to the police and civilians. As the militant group seeks to gain a foothold in the poor, rural north of Cameroon, experts warn that violence may spread beyond border areas to other parts of the central African country. "Boko Haram has recruited many young people" from Cameroon's Far North region, a police officer from the area told AFP on condition of anonymity. The hardline movement, whose loosely translated name means "Western education is forbidden", has for years sown terror throughout Nigeria's northeast, then trained youths "to attack Cameroon", the officer said. "They are now asking them to prove themselves on home ground", he said. On Wednesday, the Islamists murdered nine passengers on a bus and a soldier in a separate vehicle in a remote northern town, according to Cameroon's state radio and local paramilitary police. Precise figures are unavailable on how many young Cameroonians have been recruited by Boko Haram, but security sources estimate the number to be in the hundreds. In April, a local police inspector said that close to 200 young people, aged 15-19 years were recruited in just two months in Kolofata, a small border town in the Far North. Recruitment drive Now, the same inspector says the recruits have completed their training. "Some have recently returned to their villages before going to the front." The jihadist recruitment drive coincides with an increase in attacks within Cameroon, including one particularly brazen operation that targeted the country's deputy prime minister, Amadou Ali. "At a recent meeting, Amadou Ali said he had 'a list of 450 young people' from Kolofata [his hometown] who were recruited by Boko Haram", according to the police officer. The warning from Ali, a prominent figure in Cameroon's fight against Boko Haram, proved to be a prescient one when militants attacked his home and a number of others in Kolofata on 27 July. Ali was absent at the time, but his wife was abducted along with a dozen other people. The sultan of Kolofata, Seiny Boukar Lamine, his wife and their five children were also among the hostages. At least 15 people, including soldiers and police, were killed. Witnesses said around 200 militants were involved in the raids. "Children from the village [of Kolofata] and the region were among the attackers", said an anonymous source close to the deputy prime minister. "The ease with which the perpetrators were moving in the town, where they controlled the streets, and the precision with which they attacked the homes of the deputy prime minister and the sultan reinforce our belief that some Cameroonians were in their ranks", the same source said. The police officer also said there was evidence to suggest the same. "There were Kolofata guys among them", he said. "Several witnesses said the attackers spoke in Kanuri, in English, in Hausa, in Arabic and curiously in French," he added. 'Drugged, manipulated' French is common in Cameroon, which was once a colony of France. The other languages are spoken on both sides of the border with Nigeria, which was once under British rule. "Children from Kolofata were conscripted, drugged, manipulated and sent against their own city", the policeman added. Boko Haram's campaign to involve itself in Cameroon has worried officials there and prompted fears that violence may spread. The police officer warned that the Islamist group has "many supporters" in the Far North region, one of the country's poorest and least educated areas. Analysts believe attacks could spread beyond the Far North. Boko Haram has long considered the Kolofata region, close to the Nigerian border, as a haven for its activities, and as a route for smuggling weapons. In 2012, the group started to launch raids inside northern Cameroon, mainly at Fotokol, Makary and Kousseri Dabanga, but these remained isolated incidents. After the kidnapping of a French family in February 2013, Boko Haram stepped up attacks on Cameroonian soil, turning the area into a combat zone, though the family was freed two months later. In response to mounting violence, Cameroon's President Paul Biya sent his army chief north to beef up the forces. More than 1 000 soldiers have been deployed, including troops of the elite Rapid intervention Battalion. ||||| Islamist insurgents from Boko Haram killed at least 50 people as they stormed a town in northeastern Nigeria, residents and vigilantes stationed there said, dealing the Nigerian army its latest setback. Attackers came from "all corners" into the town of Gwoza on Wednesday, sending men who had sworn to protect it running into nearby mountains, said Maina Kamusa, a local vigilante leader. "Dead bodies littered every part... ||||| 'Islamist militants' kill 10 in northern Cameroon Cameroon has stepped up security on its border with Nigeria in the wake of recent militant attacks Militants with suspected ties to Nigerian Islamist group Boko Haram have killed 10 people in a raid on a remote village in north Cameroon, police say. Nine bus passengers and a soldier were shot dead after coming "face-to-face" with heavily armed militants in Zigague, they add. The son of a local chief was kidnapped in the attack, local media reports. Boko Haram, based in north-eastern Nigeria, has intensified cross-border raids into Cameroon in recent weeks. It follows the deployment of more than 1,000 soldiers to Cameroon's long and porous border with Nigeria last month, in a bid to prevent such attacks. "A group of people we think are linked with Boko Haram made an incursion this afternoon in Zigague. They blocked the road and opened fire," a police officer told AFP news agency. The villagers were killed when the militants were confronted by Cameroonian soldiers, according to local media. Boko Haram loosely translates as "Western education is forbidden" State radio said suspected Boko Haram militants - who are fighting for an Islamic state in northern Nigeria - were behind the attack. Militants were also seen storming the house of a local chief and abducting his child, the radio reported, quoting an army commander. Cameroonian President Paul Biya sacked two senior army officers at the forefront of the battle against Islamist militants last week. The decision came just days after the deputy prime minister's wife was abducted by militants from the northern town of Kologata, along with her maid, a religious leader and the local mayor. Militants have also kidnapped foreign nationals in northern Cameroon before, including a French family and Chinese workers. ||||| YAOUNDE (Reuters) - Suspected members of Nigerian Islamist group Boko Haram killed 10 people and kidnapped one in a raid on the village of Zigague in remote northern Cameroon on Wednesday, state radio reported. The heavily armed gunmen arrived in a pick-up truck and on motorcycles at around 2 p.m. local time (1300 GMT) and stormed the house of a local chief, kidnapping one of his children and stealing a car, an army commander told state radio. “On their way back, they came face-to-face with Cameroonian soldiers but succeeded in shooting to death nine villagers and a soldier of the Rapid Intervention Brigade (BIR),” Albert Mekondane Obounou, senior divisional officer for the Logone and Chari region, told state radio. Cameroon has introduced measures to increase security on its long jungle border with Nigeria, deploying more than 1,000 soldiers, but has failed to stop Boko Haram raids. President Paul Biya dismissed two senior army officers last month following Boko Haram attacks in which at least seven people were killed and the wife of the vice prime minister was kidnapped. | Yesterday, Nigeria's military engaged in gun battles with Islamic extremist group , aimed at regaining two towns in northeastern Nigeria recently captured by the group. This comes as suspected members of Boko Haram attacked a village inside Cameroon. On Wednesday, Boko Haram attacked and occupied the town of , with over 50 reported killed as they forced Nigerian forces out of the town, a stronghold in the fight against the militants. This followed the capture of in July, leaving much of under the control of the militants. '''' reported eyewitness accounts of the aftermath of the attack on Gwoza, with 500 people said to have gone into hiding in the nearby mountains, and the of Gwoza missing after an attack on his palace. An attack on a remote northern Cameroon village in by suspected Boko Haram militants was also reported on Wednesday. The attack left ten people, including one soldier, dead, as the group reportedly killed those they had captured during a confrontation with Cameroonian soldiers as they headed towards the Nigerian border. This follows the kidnapping of several people including the Cameroonian deputy prime minister's wife by militants; Boko Haram is reportedly looking to extend its influence outside of Nigeria, including recruiting Cameroonians to their cause. In response to the threat, the Cameroonian government has sent more than 1000 soldiers to the border region. Boko Haram first began militant operations in 2009, in an attempt to create an Islamic state in the area. The Nigerian military has struggled to counter their progress. The situation in Nigeria came to International attention in April after the kidnapping of 200 school girls from a school, for which Boko Haram claimed responsibility. == Sources == * * * * * |
WASHINGTON Democratic Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York faced questions at her Senate confirmation hearing on Tuesday about foreign donations to the charitable foundation of her husband, former U.S. President Bill Clinton, and their potential for conflicts of interest. Three Republicans raised the issue at a largely friendly hearing on Hillary Clinton's nomination by President-elect Barack Obama to serve as U.S. secretary of state. Here are a few questions and answers about the issue. - What is the Clinton Foundation? The nonprofit foundation was established by the former president to help pay for his library in Arkansas and charitable projects and policy initiatives around the globe on issues such as fighting poverty, bolstering global health programs and promoting energy independence. - Why has the foundation become an issue in Clinton's nomination for secretary of state? Concerns have been raised about potential conflicts of interest between Clinton's role as secretary of state and the nearly $500 million (£345 million) in donations received for the foundation, including those from foreign governments. "The core of the problem is that foreign governments and entities may perceive the Clinton Foundation as a means to gain favour with the secretary of state," Indiana Sen. Richard Lugar, the senior Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said at her hearing. - What have the Clintons done to ease the concerns? Under an agreement with President-elect Obama, Bill Clinton recently released the names of more than 200,000 donors to his foundation. A memorandum of understanding between transition officials and the foundation, signed on December 12, required that Bill Clinton disclose the foundation's future contributors once a year. The Clinton Global Initiative, an offshoot of the foundation, would no longer hold events outside the United States and would refuse any further contributions from foreign governments, it said. - Who are the donors to the foundation? A number of foreign governments, foundations and individuals contributed to the foundation. Saudi Arabia alone gave $10 million to $25 million, and Brunei, Kuwait, Norway, Oman, Qatar and Taiwan each gave more than $1 million. (Writing by John Whitesides, editing by Vicki Allen) ||||| WASHINGTON — Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton on Tuesday deflected calls for greater limits on her husband’s fund-raising, struck a sharper tone toward Israel on violence in the Middle East and emerged from a daylong confirmation hearing headed for swift approval as secretary of state. Appearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Mrs. Clinton showed a mastery of the issues that won praise from her fellow lawmakers, and outlined a muscular view of American foreign policy that she said would put diplomacy front and center in the Obama administration. On most important issues, including Iraq and Afghanistan, Mrs. Clinton broke little ground, saying that she did not want to undermine President Bush before President-elect Barack Obama took office. But she left little doubt that she intended to be in the thick of all of these issues. “I assure you that, if I am confirmed, the State Department will be firing on all cylinders to provide forward-looking, sustained diplomacy in every part of the world,” she said. | On Tuesday, Hillary Clinton began her confirmation hearings for her position as the new United States Secretary of State when Barack Obama ascends to the US Presidency. Official portrait of Hillary Clinton. During the hearing by the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, she was questioned about her husband, former President Bill Clinton's, charitable foundation, which has come under fire for accepting donations in the tens of millions of dollars from a number of foreign governments, foundations and individuals. "It is not unique, however, for spouses of government officials to work, and there are very well established rules for what is expected when that occurs," she said. "I plead for you, really, to give even more consideration," said Senator Richard Lugar, who fears that foreign governments and others could win favor with the Secretary of State by donating money to the foundation run by her husband. "I share the President-elect's view that the activities of the Clinton Foundation and President Clinton himself should not be a barrier to Senator Clinton’s service," Senator Lugar further said. "But I also share the view implicitly recognized by the memorandum of understanding that the work of the Clinton Foundation is a unique complication that will have to be managed with great care and transparency." Prior to Hillary Clinton's nomination, the Obama transition team required a memorandum of understanding between transition officials and Bill Clinton's foundation, which was signed on December 12. It stipulated that Bill Clinton must disclose the foundation's future contributors once a year. |
Adjust font size: (CNN) -- Arctic sea ice is melting at a rate far quicker than predicted by climate change computer models and could disappear completely before the middle of the century, scientists have warned. The study, published in the latest edition of the journal Geophysical Research Letters, found that the actual rate at which summer sea ice had shrunk per decade during the past 50 years was more than three times faster than an average of 18 of the most highly regarded climate simulations. Retreating Arctic ice is considered a key indicator of the pace of global warming by environmentalists, and one that could have devastating knock-on repercussions for the wider climate, including warmer oceans and rising sea levels. Declining ice levels also poses a threat to Arctic wildlife including polar bears, walruses and ringed seals. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which releases the third of three reports into the causes, consequences and mitigation of global warming in Thailand this week, the Arctic could be ice-free in summer by the latter part of the 21st century. But the research, conducted by the U.S.-based National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and the University of Colorado's National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC), demonstrates that the 18 models on which the IPCC has based its current recommendations could already be out of date -- and that the retreat of the ice could already be 30 years ahead of the IPCC's worst case scenario. "This suggests that current model projections may in fact provide a conservative estimate of future Arctic change, and that the summer Arctic sea ice may disappear considerably earlier than IPCC projections," said NSIDC's Julienne Stroeve who led the study. Climate change models of Arctic sea ice cover in September, the month when ice is usually at its minimum, suggest an average loss of 2.5 percent of ice cover per decade from 1953 to 2003. The worst case simulated by an individual model predicted a decade-on-decade reduction of 5.4 percent. Yet when scientists studied observable data for the same period, including shipping logs, aerial photos and satellite images, they discovered the actual figure for ice loss from 1953 until 2006 to be 7.8 percent. Furthermore, the rate of deterioration seemed to be accelerating, topping nine percent per decade since 1979. The discrepancy between computer modelling and reality is most likely due to the fact that simulations have failed to fully take into account the impact of increased levels of carbon dioxide emissions in the atmosphere, the researchers believe. Models have typically attributed half of the loss of ice to greenhouse gases and half to natural variations in the climate cycle. But now, many believe the first factor could be playing a significantly greater role. Earlier this month NSICD scientists reported that winter sea ice cover in the Arctic was just 14.7 million square kilometers (5.7m square miles) -- slightly better than the all-time low 14.5m square kilometers (5.6m square miles) in 2006 -- but well short of the 15.7m average for 1979-2000. The Arctic is especially prone to global warming because of the dangers of the so-called "feedback loop" caused by melting ice. While ice reflects around 80 percent of the sun's heat, having a cooling effect, blue sea water can absorb up to 95 percent of solar radiation, warming up the sea and accelerating the melting process further. "While the ice is disappearing faster than the computer models indicate, both observations and the models point in the same direction: the Arctic is losing ice at an increasingly rapid pace and the impact of greenhouse gases is growing," said co-author Marika Holland of NCAR. ||||| 30 April 2007 PRESS RELEASE: Models Underestimate Loss of Arctic Sea Ice Figure 1. Actual observations of September Arctic sea ice, in red, show a more severe decline than any of the eighteen computer models, averaged in a dashed line, that the 2007 IPCC reports reference. High-resolution version Arctic sea ice is melting at a significantly faster rate than projected by the most advanced computer models, a new study concludes (see Figure 1). Scientists at the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) and the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) found that satellite and other observations show the Arctic ice cover is retreating more rapidly than estimated by any of the eighteen computer models used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in preparing its 2007 assessments. The study, "Arctic Sea Ice Decline: Faster Than Forecast?" will appear tomorrow in the online edition of Geophysical Research Letters (GRL). Julienne Stroeve of NSIDC led the study, with funding from NASA. NCAR’s principal sponsor is the National Science Foundation. The Arctic is highly sensitive to global warming. However, the study shows that Arctic ice retreat is happening more quickly than any of the IPCC models have indicated. "This suggests that current model projections may in fact provide a conservative estimate of future Arctic change, and that the summer Arctic sea ice may disappear considerably earlier than IPCC projections," said Stroeve. The study compared model simulations of late twentieth-century climate with observations. "This technique gives some indication of the realism of the simulated sea ice sensitivity to climate changes," said NCAR scientist Marika Holland, a co-author of the study. When the authors analyzed the IPCC computer model runs, they found that, on average, the models simulated a loss in September ice cover of 2.5 percent per decade from 1953 to 2006. The fastest rate of September retreat in any individual model simulation was 5.4 percent per decade. September marks the yearly minimum of sea ice in the Arctic. But newly available data sets, blending early aircraft and ship reports with more recent satellite measurements, show that the September ice actually declined at a rate of about 7.8 percent per decade during the 1953 to 2006 period. "Because of this disparity, the shrinking of summertime ice is about thirty years ahead of the climate model projections," said NSIDC scientist and co-author Ted Scambos. This suggests that the Arctic could be seasonally free of sea ice earlier than the IPCC projected range of 2050 to well beyond 2100. The authors speculate that the computer models may fail to capture the full impact of increased carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Whereas the models indicate that about half of the ice loss from 1979 to 2006 was caused by increased greenhouse gases, and the other was half caused by natural variations in the climate system, the GRL study indicates that greenhouse gases may be playing a significantly higher role. There are a number of factors that may lead to the low rates of simulated sea ice loss. Several models overestimate the thickness of the present day sea ice and the models may also fail to capture changes in atmosphere and ocean circulation that transport heat to polar regions. Although the loss of ice for March is far less dramatic than the September loss, the models underestimate it by a wide margin, as well. "The actual rate of sea ice loss in March, about –1.8 percent per decade in the 1953 to 2006 period, was three times larger than the mean from the computer models," said Stroeve. March is typically the month when Arctic sea ice is at its most extensive. The Arctic responds to climate change partly because regions of sea ice, which reflect sunlight back into space and provide a cooling impact, are disappearing. In contrast, areas of open water, which are expanding, absorb sunlight and increase temperatures. This feedback loop is playing a role in the increasingly rapid loss of ice in recent years, which accelerated to –9.1 percent per decade from 1979 to 2006, according to satellite observations. "Our study indicates that the impacts of greenhouse gases on Arctic sea ice are strong and growing," said NSIDC scientist and co-author Mark Serreze. The National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) is part of the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences at the University of Colorado at Boulder. The University Corporation for Atmospheric Research manages the National Center for Atmospheric Research under primary sponsorship by the National Science Foundation (NSF). Lead Author: Julienne Stroeve, NSIDC Co-Authors: Marika Holland, NCAR; Walt Meier, NSIDC; Ted Scambos, NSIDC; Mark Serreze, NSIDC Media Relations Contacts: Stephanie Renfrow, NSIDC; +1 303 492-1497or srenfrow@nsidc.org David Hosansky, NCAR; +1 303 497-8611 or hosansky@ucar.edu For a copy of article: Reporters who want a copy of the article should contact Jonathan Lifland at jlifland@agu.org or +1 202 777-7535. Additional information: Information on summer sea ice decline and monitoring of sea ice: Frequently Asked Questions About Sea Ice 2006 Summer Sea Ice Minimum Press Release Arctic Sea Ice Shrinks as Temperatures Rise 2006 Winter Sea Ice Recovery News Release Winter Sea Ice Fails to Recover, Down to Record Low NSIDC Press Release on IPCC first report NSIDC Contributes to Upcoming IPCC Climate Change Report | Researchers belonging to the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) say that the Arctic ice caps are melting at a rate much faster than that predicted by computer models previously reported by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and that the ice could be gone sometime near year 2020. This figure illustrates the extent to which Arctic sea ice is melting faster than projected by computer models. "This suggests that current model projections may in fact provide a conservative estimate of future Arctic change, and that the summer Arctic sea ice may disappear considerably earlier than IPCC projections," said head researcher of the study group at the United States-based National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and the University of Colorado's NSIDC, Julienne Stroeve. Stroeve says that the IPCC's 18 computer models used in the study were out of date and that the melting of the ice has actually progressed 30 years quicker than the computers predicted. The researchers also say that the computers did not take into account the increased threat of global warming. The IPCC ultimately predicted that the ice would be gone by 2050. Despite the predictions, since 1979, the ice has actually melted at a rate of 9% per decade. The prediction by the IPCC was done in the Arctic Sea during September and predicted that between 1953 and 2003, the ice would have melted 2.5% per decade, but it actually melted at a rate of 7.8% per decade. Their worst case scenario between those years, which was predicted using only one computer, had shown that the ice was going to melt at a rate of 5.4% per decade. "Right now - the Arctic helps keep the Earth cool. Without that Arctic ice, or with much less of it, the Earth will warm much faster. The IPCC report was very careful, very thorough and cautious, so they erred on the side of what would certainly occur as opposed to what might occur," said Ted Scambos, an expert on Arctic ice in the U.S. "Long-term and for the next 50 years, I think even the new report will agree that we're in for quite a bit of warming," added Scambos. |
With Vladimir Putin and the United States staring at each other like the gunfighters in the final scene in the “Good, the Bad and the Ugly,” War College takes a fresh look at the 70-year-old alliance called NATO. ||||| ABC News Sharon Reportedly Moves His Right Hand Sharon Reportedly Moves His Right Hand, Begins Breathing on Own After Docs Bring Him Out of Coma By AMY TEIBEL JERUSALEM Jan 9, 2006 (AP) Doctors started weaning Prime Minister Ariel Sharon off the sedatives keeping him in a coma Monday, and the stricken leader immediately began breathing on his own and reportedly moved his right hand. Outside experts said that while independent breathing meant Sharon had better chances for survival, it gave no indication about his other physical or mental capacities in the wake of his massive stroke Wednesday. Doctors induced the coma Thursday to give Sharon's brain time to heal from the stroke and subsequent surgeries. The process of lifting Sharon, 77, out of that coma could take anywhere from several hours to days, Hadassah Hospital director Dr. Shlomo Mor-Yosef said. Doctors made the decision to lift the anesthesia after a round of consultations Monday. Hadassah Hospital officials would not comment on the Channel 10 TV report that Sharon moved his right hand. It would be more significant if Sharon moved his left hand, since that is controlled by the right side of the brain, where Sharon's stroke occurred. Hospital officials said they would not discuss Sharon's condition until a Monday afternoon briefing. "As soon as we started reducing the drugs … the prime minister started to breathe independently, although he is still hooked up to a respirator that is used as an aid," Mor-Yosef said, adding that Sharon remained in critical condition. Outside experts have said doctors should have a good idea of the extent of Sharon's brain damage by the end of the day. One of Sharon's neurosurgeons said it was unlikely he could function as prime minister again. Experts said the prime minister suffered most of the damage to the right side of his brain, so he has a greater chance of regaining his speech and comprehension, which are controlled by the left side. After withdrawing the sedatives, doctors will pass their assessment of brain damage to Attorney General Meni Mazuz, who then will decide whether to declare the prime minister permanently incapacitated. | Doctors are awakening Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon out of a drug induced coma to asess the damage to his brain from a major stroke. Doctors reported that he has started to move some limbs and is breathing spontaneously on his own, but say that he is still on a respirator and still in critical condition. "In a test of (his reaction) to pain, we noticed that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon slightly moved his right arm and right leg," said Dr. Shlomo Mor-Yosef, director of Jerusalem's Hadassah hospital. "The process of waking him out of the coma could take anywhere from several hours to several days" said Mor-Yosef. Sharon's blood pressure rose slightly during stimulation which doctors call "a postive sign". Dr Felix Umansky, the chief neurosurgeon treating Sharon, said “Once he talks to us ... and there are no other infections I will be willing to say that he is completely out of danger." Although he is moving and breathing spontaneously on his own, this does not give any indication as to his other physical or mental capacities. Sharon was rushed to the hospital on Wednesday after "feeling unwell". Doctors later determined that he had a major stroke. |
(CNN) -- Three Americans rescued last week from captivity in the Colombian jungle left a medical center for their homes Saturday, hoping for some time out of the spotlight as they reconnect with loved ones. Left to right, Thomas Howes, Keith Stansell and Marc Gonsalves address reporters before flying home Saturday. Keith Stansell, Marc Gonsalves and Thomas Howes -- hostages of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia for more than five years -- left the Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas. "There's family members that are waiting for us, and just imagine if you hadn't seen your family in 5½ years," Stansell said, asking the media to allow the former captives some space. "Let us go home and be family men again." "We're going to come out and we're going to talk, but right now, what we want to do is rest," Gonsalves said. All three were headed home to Florida, and Stansell and Howes flashed their new Florida driver's licenses before they boarded a plane. 'Hostages to heroes' Robin Meade has the first interview with three Americans held hostage for more than five years. Their emotional story only on CNN. Saturday & Sunday, 8 p.m. ET see full schedule » The three men had been undergoing a reintegration process at the medical center. FARC had held the three U.S. government contractors since February 2003 after their plane went down in a remote region of the South American country. They and former Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt were among 15 hostages rescued on July 2 in a Colombian military operation. The three Americans arrived at Brooke Army Medical Center later that day. The three Americans urged the media not to forget the hundreds of other hostages still held by FARC. "Don't forget the people that are still there," Stansell said. "There are fellow hostages that are still there. Some have 10 years [as a hostage]," he said. "Right this minute, they're in chains, looking for food, and they're on the run. And their families haven't seen them in 10 years." It is estimated that FARC holds some 750 hostages. The leftist rebel group took up arms in 1964 and grew from a rag-tag band of 48 fighters to a self-styled "people's army" of more than 21,000 combatants in 2001, according to Colombian government figures. The government now estimates the FARC fighting force has dwindled to around 8,000 after a wave of desertions. On Saturday, the rescued Americans talked of looking forward to spending time with their relatives. "We're going to go home now. We're going to rest, we're going to unwind for about a month and a half," Gonsalves said. All About FARC ||||| Three Americans freed after being held more than five years by rebels in Colombia gave thanks Saturday and urged people to not forget other hostages who were left behind. They headed home to Florida after 10 days of treatment at Brooke Army Medical Center at Fort Sam Houston. "We're going to go home now, we're going to rest, we're going to unwind for about a month and a half," said Marc Gonsalves, who boarded a plane with Thomas Howes and Keith Stansell. The men had been held by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, since their drug surveillance plane went down in the jungle in February 2003. They were rescued by the Colombian military on July 2, when undercover agents tricked the leftist rebels into handing them over. Kidnapped presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt and 11 Colombian police and soldiers also were released. Stansell, Gonsalves and Howes faced reporters before boarding the plane, but asked for privacy after they return home. "Remember that today, for the first time, we're going home. There's family members that are waiting for us," Stansell said. "Just imagine if you hadn't seen your family in 5 1/2 years. ... Let us go home and be family men again." Stansell, who along with Gonsalves proudly displayed a new Florida driver's licenses, urged people — the media in particular — to remember the hostages still being held by FARC. "Don't forget the people that are still there," Stansell said. "Because of our rescue, there are fellow hostages that are still there. Some have 10 years — right this minute, right this minute, they're in chains, looking for food and they're on the run. Their families haven't seen them for 10 years." The men, employees of a Northrop Grumman Corp. subsidiary, were brought to Brooke Army Medical Center for a voluntary "reintegration process." Col. Jackie Hayes, chief of pulmonary and critical care at Brooke Army Medical Center, said at a Monday news conference that the men "in general fared very well" and that examinations have "not revealed any significant medical problems." ||||| Rescued American Hostages Return Home Three Americans rescued Wednesday in Colombia from FARC rebels have returned to the United States. Five years ago, their plane was shot down over FARC-held territory. One of them met with family members. The other two were expected to do the same. MICHELE NORRIS, host: Now to NPR's Wade Goodwyn. He's at Fort Sam Houston Army post in Texas. That's where the three Americans freed in Colombia were flown yesterday. Today, military doctors and an Army commander held a news conference to talk about how those Americans are doing. And Wade joins us now. Wade, what can you tell us about the condition of the three men? WADE GOODWYN: Well, the Army doctors and the commander of U.S. Army South were understandably constrained in what they could tell us about the medical condition of Randy Howes, Keith Stansell and Marc Gonsalves. But what we're hearing is that they're actually in pretty good shape. They were described by the doctors as stress hardy, which I guess, after five and a half years in the jungle, if you're in pretty good shape, you must be pretty stress hardy. But from what we can tell, these men are in remarkable condition given what they've been through. NORRIS: Well, what else do we know about their background and what they were doing in Colombia? GOODWYN: Well, you know, the three men lived in Florida. Randy Howes is originally from Chatham, Massachusetts, but he lives in Florida with his wife Mariana and his 10-year-old son, who I guess, was four and a half when Howes last saw him. These men were on a counter-narcotics mission in February of 2003 when their single engine plane went down in rebel territory and they were captured. And, you know, all three men were living with their families in Florida. Keith Stansell was working with the division of Northrop Grumman. And we heard today that he was reunited, the first to be reunited with his family. He was reunited with his mother and father and his son and daughter. NORRIS: So one has been reunited. The other two? GOODWYN: The other two will be reunited today. Marc Gonsalves lives with his wife and daughter and two stepdaughters in Florida. It's been extremely hard on his mother, Rosano Gonsalves and the rest of his family. Rosano Gonsalves, Marc's mother, continue to speak out about her son's kidnapping which put her at odds with her ex-husband and her other son, Michael. And they believed it was best that the family kept quiet. And, in fact, Michael stopped talking to his mother because he was accusing her of wanting to be famous. It gives you some sense of the stress these families go through and how, you know, it can tear them apart. Hopefully, with Marc home safe and sound and with his guidance, these kinds of family wounds will heal. NORRIS: Thank you, Wade. GOODWYN: My pleasure. NORRIS: That was NPR's Wade Goodwyn speaking to us from Fort Sam Houston Army post in Texas. Copyright © 2008 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by Verb8tm, Inc., an NPR contractor, and produced using a proprietary transcription process developed with NPR. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record. | Three American hostages - Marc Gonsalves, Thomas Howes, and Keith Stansell - that were being held in Colombia by FARC are now free. They are safely in Florida after their rescue by Colombian forces; 12 other hostages were rescued at the same time. They received care from the Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio before being sent home to their families. The men were taken captive when their drug surveillance plane went down in the jungles of Colombia in 2003 - more than 5 years ago. All three of the men were working for a subsidiary of Northrop Grumman Corporation at the time. Keith Stansell emphasized that while he was grateful to be home, no one should "forget the people that are still there". "Because of our rescue, there are fellow hostages that are still there," Stansell said. He reminded those listening that some of the remaining hostages have already been in captivity for 10 years, in squalid conditions. "You wait for a day like yesterday and today, you know, for the end, you... you want it to end," added Marc Gonsalves. |
A representative of Mr. Jefferson said the lawmaker would not comment on the indictment, though an aide who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the case said Mr. Jefferson had no intention of resigning his seat. Mr. Jefferson’s lawyer, Robert Trout, said in a statement that his client was innocent and planned “to fight this indictment and clear his name.” Mr. Trout said that although the government had conducted an extensive investigation into Mr. Jefferson’s activities, the indictment showed there was no evidence that he promised any legislative action. “There is no suggestion that he promised anyone any appropriations,” Mr. Trout said. “There were no earmarks. There were no government contracts.” Democratic leaders in the House moved quickly to distance themselves from Mr. Jefferson, with some lawmakers calling for his resignation. Speaker Nancy Pelosi intends to convene a leadership meeting this week, aides said, to discuss taking away Mr. Jefferson’s seat on the Small Business Committee, his only remaining assignment. “The charges in the indictment against Congressman Jefferson are extremely serious,” Ms. Pelosi said in a statement. “While Mr. Jefferson, just as any other citizen, must be considered innocent until proven guilty, if these charges are proven true, they constitute an egregious and unacceptable abuse of public trust and power.” Last year, Ms. Pelosi drew criticism from the Congressional Black Caucus for removing Mr. Jefferson from his seat on the powerful Ways and Means panel. After he won re-election last year, Democratic leaders sought to appoint him to the Homeland Security Committee, but Republican leaders threatened to block the appointment and debate it on the House floor in the early months of the Democratic majority. He was not named to the committee. Democratic aides said the House would almost certainly not vote to expel or censure Mr. Jefferson until his case had played out in court. The last member of the House to be expelled, aides said, was Representative James A. Traficant Jr., an Ohio Democrat, after a criminal conviction on bribery and racketeering charges in 2002. Advertisement Continue reading the main story In the midterm elections last year, Democrats campaigned on a pledge to remove the “culture of corruption” that they said had been a practice of the Republican majority. Photo The indictment of Mr. Jefferson, which had been expected by Democratic leaders, threatened to sully the party’s promise to bring an ethics overhaul to the 110th Congress. The indictment also accused Mr. Jefferson of violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, making him the first sitting lawmaker to be charged under the law. He is accused of offering to bribe an unidentified Nigerian official in exchange for assistance with business activities in which Mr. Jefferson and several other unidentified family members had a financial interest. Prosecutors said that in August 2005 Mr. Jefferson concealed $90,000 to $100,000 of the bribe money in a freezer in his Washington home. The money, an initial payment, intended for the Nigerian official, was separated into piles of $10,000, wrapped in aluminum foil and concealed inside frozen food containers. According to documents in the case, Mr. Jefferson said that he needed the money to make a payment to a man identified by government officials as Atiku Abubaker, then Nigeria’s vice president who recently ran unsuccessfully for the country’s presidency. The indictment does not identify Mr. Abubaker, but refers to a high-ranking official described as “Nigerian official A.” Mr. Abubaker has denied that he was the official. Chuck Rosenberg, the United States attorney in Arlington, Va., who is in charge of the case, declined to comment on the identity of the Nigerian official at a news conference on Monday. Advertisement Continue reading the main story But Mr. Rosenberg said Mr. Jefferson’s actions were criminal. “Mr. Jefferson corruptly traded on his good office and on the Congress where he served as a member of the United States House of Representatives to enrich himself and his family through a pervasive pattern of fraud bribery and corruption that spanned many years and two continents,” he said. In total, federal law enforcement officials said that Mr. Jefferson sought millions of dollars in bribes, but may have actually received less than $400,000 in illegal payments. If convicted of all the counts against him, Mr. Jefferson, who is 60, faces a maximum of 235 years in prison, although prosecutors suggested that such a long term would be unlikely. The search of Mr. Jefferson’s office in May 2006, the first time a lawmaker’s office was ever searched in a criminal inquiry, touched off a fierce outcry from lawmakers, who complained the search interfered with their legislative prerogatives. Law enforcement authorities insisted that members of Congress could not be beyond the reach of the criminal law. Litigation between Mr. Jefferson and the Justice Department over the materials seized in the search is now before a federal appeals court in the District of Columbia, and the issue of whether the search was constitutional remains unsettled. The Justice Department has been allowed access to some documents taken during the search, but other materials remain off limits to the government and were not used in the preparation of the indictment. Representative John A. Boehner of Ohio, the Republican leader, said Monday that he would ask the House to vote to refer the indictment of Mr. Jefferson to the House ethics committee. His resolution would call for the ethics panel to report back to the House within a month on whether Mr. Jefferson should be removed from Congress. “If the charges against Congressman Jefferson are true,” Mr. Boehner said, “he should be expelled from the House of Representatives or he should resign to spare his constituents and colleagues any further indignity.” The charges have long been expected. Two people who were involved in transactions with Mr. Jefferson have already pleaded guilty to bribery-related offenses. Documents previously filed in the case, which outlined payments Mr. Jefferson received, made it apparent that he was a main target of the inquiry. One of Mr. Jefferson’s business associates, Vernon L. Jackson, pleaded guilty to offering to pay Mr. Jefferson $400,000 to $1 million in exchange for Mr. Jefferson’s help in obtaining Nigerian business deals for iGate, a Kentucky telecommunications company that Mr. Jackson headed. Mr. Jackson was sentenced to more than seven years in prison and has been cooperating with the investigation. ||||| MONDAY, JUNE 4, 2007 WWW.USDOJ.GOV FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEMONDAY, JUNE 4, 2007 CRM (202) 514-2007 TDD (202) 514-1888 Congressman William Jefferson Indicted On Bribery, Racketeering, Money Laundering, Obstruction of Justice, and Related Charges WASHINGTON – United States Congressman William J. Jefferson was indicted today by a federal grand jury on charges including bribery and racketeering for allegedly using his office to corruptly solicit bribes and for paying bribes to a foreign official, Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher of the Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Chuck Rosenberg for the Eastern District of Virginia announced today. The 16-count indictment, returned by a federal grand jury in Alexandria, Va., charges Jefferson with solicitation of bribes, honest services wire fraud, money laundering, obstruction of justice, violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, racketeering, and conspiracy. The indictment alleges that from in or about August 2000 through in or about August 2005, Jefferson, while serving as an elected member of the U.S. House of Representatives, used his position and his office to corruptly seek, solicit and direct that things of value be paid to Jefferson and his family members in exchange for his performance of official acts to advance the interests of people and businesses who offered him the bribes. The things of value allegedly sought and/or received by Jefferson on behalf of his business interests and relatives included hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of bribes in the form of payments from monthly fees or retainers, consulting fees, percentage shares of revenues and profits, flat fees for items sold, and stock ownership in the companies seeking his official assistance. The official acts allegedly undertaken by Jefferson included leading official business delegations to Africa, corresponding with U.S. and foreign government officials, and utilizing congressional staff members to promote businesses and businesspersons. Business ventures that Congressman Jefferson sought to promote included: telecommunications deals in Nigeria, Ghana, and elsewhere; oil concessions in Equatorial Guinea; satellite transmission contracts in Botswana, Equatorial Guinea, and the Republic of Congo; and development of different plants and facilities in Nigeria. “The Department of Justice is committed to enforcing the public corruption laws designed to ensure the integrity of our government,” said Assistant Attorney General Fisher. “The Department will continue to hold public officials accountable for corrupt acts such as the bribery schemes outlined in today’s indictment.” “The schemes charged are complex, but the essence of this case is simple: Mr. Jefferson corruptly traded on his good office, and on the Congress where he served as a Member of the United States House of Representatives, to enrich himself and his family through a pervasive pattern of fraud, bribery and corruption that spanned many years and two continents,” said U.S. Attorney Rosenberg. “The FBI has made combating public corruption its top criminal investigative priority because American citizens deserve honest and ethical public officials representing their interest,” said Assistant Director Kenneth W. Kaiser, FBI Criminal Investigative Division. “As it is alleged, Congressman Jefferson violated the public’s trust and used his official position and office as a RICO enterprise to corruptly solicit bribes, to pay off a foreign official, and to illegally benefit from overseas business transactions during a five-year period. The FBI will continue to work with our local, state, federal and international partners to combat public corruption across all levels of government as no corrupt public servant is exempt from FBI scrutiny.” The indictment alleges that Jefferson knowingly conspired with Vernon L. Jackson, a Louisville, Ky., businessman, and Brett M. Pfeffer, a former Jefferson congressional staff member, and others as part of the bribery and corruption scheme. Jefferson allegedly discussed and solicited bribes in return for being influenced in the performance of certain official acts, including receiving things of value from iGate, Jackson’s company. According to the indictment, Jefferson also corruptly sought bribes from an individual identified in the indictment as a Cooperating Witness (CW) to be paid to family members. The indictment alleges, for example, that Jefferson required 5 percent to 7 percent of the CW’s newly formed Nigerian company be given to members of Jefferson’s family in exchange for his assistance. Jefferson allegedly made the request of the CW in December 2004 during a meeting in a congressional dining room. The indictment further alleges that Jefferson violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act by allegedly offering, promising and making payments to a foreign official to advance the various business endeavors in which he and his family had financial interest. Jefferson was allegedly responsible for negotiating, offering and delivering payments of bribes to the official identified in the indictment as “Nigerian Official A.” According to the indictment, on or about July 18, 2005, Jefferson met with Nigerian Official A at the official’s residence in Potomac, Md., and offered Official A a bribe to induce him to use his position to assist in obtaining commitments from NITEL, the government-controlled main telecommunications service provider in Nigeria. On or before Aug. 3, 2005, at his residence in Washington, D.C., Jefferson allegedly secreted in his freezer $90,000 of the $100,000 in cash provided by the CW as part of the front-end bribe payment to Nigerian Official A. The cash was separated into $10,000 increments, wrapped in aluminum foil, and concealed inside various frozen food containers. Jefferson faces a maximum of 235 years in prison if convicted on all counts. Jackson was sentenced to 87 months in prison after pleading guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit bribery and the payment of bribes to a public official. Pfeffer was sentenced to 96 months in prison after pleading guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit bribery and aiding and abetting the solicitation of bribes by a member of Congress. The case is being prosecuted by Mark D. Lytle and Rebeca H. Bellows, Assistant U.S. Attorneys, Eastern District of Virginia and Trial Attorney Charles E. Duross of the Fraud Section of the Criminal Division at the U.S. Department of Justice. The case is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, with the assistance of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). Criminal indictments are only charges and not evidence of guilt. A defendant is presumed to be innocent until and unless proven guilty. ### 07-402 | Representative William J. Jefferson of Louisiana's 2nd congressional district. In a press release Monday, the United States (DOJ) detailed a federal grand jury indictment against on charges that included bribery, racketeering, and money laundering, among others. The grand jury out of , Virginia, charged Jefferson specifically with "solicitation of bribes, honest services wire fraud, money laundering, obstruction of justice, violating the , racketeering, and conspiracy." The indictment stems from corruption that is alleged to have taken place between August 2000 and August 2005. Jefferson, 63, a from , is alleged to have "used his position and his office to corruptly seek, solicit and direct that things of value be paid to Jefferson and his family members in exchange for his performance of official acts to advance the interests of people and businesses who offered him the bribes." Jefferson has represented Louisiana's since 1991. The was involved in the investigation, which culminated in a raid on Representative Jefferson's congressional office in May, 2006. "The FBI has made combating public corruption its top criminal investigative priority because American citizens deserve honest and ethical public officials representing their interest,” said Kenneth W. Kaiser, Assistant Director, FBI Criminal Investigative Division. “As it is alleged, Congressman Jefferson violated the public’s trust and used his official position and office as a enterprise to corruptly solicit bribes, to pay off a foreign official, and to illegally benefit from overseas business transactions during a five-year period." A complex series of transactions was alleged to have taken place, involving Jefferson and at least two other co-conspirators. Along with Jefferson, Vernon L. Jackson, a Louisville, Kentucky businessman, and Brett M. Pfeffer, a former Jefferson congressional staff member, "allegedly discussed and solicited bribes in return for being influenced in the performance of certain official acts, including receiving things of value from iGate Inc., Jackson’s company." Jackson plead guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit bribery and the payment of bribes to a public official, and was sentenced to 87 months in prison. Pfeffer plead guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit bribery and aiding and abetting the solicitation of bribes by a member of Congress, and was sentenced to 96 months in prison. Also detailed in the indictment, Jefferson allegedly offered payments to a foreign official to further his own business interest as well as that of his family. Jefferson was allegedly responsible for "negotiating, offering and delivering payments of bribes" to Nigerian officials. In an August 2005 raid on Jefferson's home in , law enforcement officials found US$90,000 cash from an undercover operation in his freezer. The cash had been wrapped in aluminum foil and hidden inside frozen food containers. Representative Jefferson has not responded directly to the indictment, but his lawyer, Robert Trout, stated that his client was innocent and would "fight this indictment and clear his name.” Acknowledging the comprehensive investigation carried out against his client, as detailed in the 94-page indictment, Trout pointed out that legislative action was not involved. “There is no suggestion that he promised anyone any appropriations,” said Trout. “There were no earmarks. There were no government contracts.” expressed some concern over the allegations. "The charges in the indictment against Congressman Jefferson are extremely serious,” said Pelosi. “While Mr. Jefferson, just as any other citizen, must be considered innocent until proven guilty, if these charges are proven true, they constitute an egregious and unacceptable abuse of public trust and power.” If found guilty of the charges ultimately, Representative Jefferson faces a maximum sentence of 235 years. |
A VIEW TO A KILL ON U.S.-MADE GALLOWS By NILES LATHEM December 27, 2006 -- WASHINGTON - A bit of good old American craftsmanship will bring about Saddam Hussein's end - a specially constructed gallows that might as well be stamped "Made in the U.S.A." The custom-made gallows for Saddam is located in a highly secure U.S. military prison at Baghdad airport called Camp Cropper, where the former Iraqi dictator is currently imprisoned. One morning, sometime between today and 30 days from now, Saddam will be awakened by his American guards and told it's judgment day. There will be no prior public notification of Saddam's date with the executioner. Shortly after he is hanged, an announcement will be made to the world that the brutal killer is dead. Like other Iraqi death-row prisoners, Saddam will be dressed in an orange uniform, and a hood will be placed over his head before his execution. He will be allowed prayers, and a last meal, according to U.S. officials. Then the ex-tyrant will be taken to the American-made gallows, where a handful of Iraqi government officials, U.S. military officers and human-rights officials will be witnesses. Also likely to be present are some relatives of the victims of the 1982 Dujail massacre, for which Saddam and two henchmen were convicted on Nov 5. No decisions have been made on who will be the hangman, officials said last night. Saddam will not be permitted to make a final speech, an American lawyer who advised the special tribunal that tried him told The Post. Only a still photograph will mark the occasion of the death of the dictator. "There's a very good chance that this will all come very quickly - that we will wake up in the next day or two and find out Saddam has already been executed and we will see nothing but a photograph marking the end of Saddam," said Michael Scharf, a professor at Case Western University in Cleveland who advised the tribunal. niles.lathem@nypost.com ||||| Take a look back at the defining moments from Iraq in 2006. The world reacts with celebration and anger to the death of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. NBC News and news services BAGHDAD, Iraq - Saddam Hussein struggled briefly after American military guards handed him over to Iraqi executioners before dawn Saturday. But as his final moments approached and masked executioners slipped a black cloth and noose around his neck, he grew calm. In a final moment of defiance, he refused a hood to cover his eyes. Hours after Saddam faced the same fate he was accused of inflicting on countless thousands during a quarter-century of ruthless power, Iraqi state television showed grainy video of what it said was his body, the head uncovered and the neck twisted at a sharp angle. Story continues below ↓ advertisement advertisement Witnesses to the execution told NBC News’ Richard Engel that they were cheering around the body of Saddam after the hanging — three years after the deposed president was hauled from a hole in the ground by pursuing U.S. forces. Click for related content Editor’s note on Saddam images Asked if Saddam were dead, the official in the Iraqi prime minister’s office said, “Yes, the body of Saddam Hussein is in front of me.” The hanging reportedly occurred at 6:05 a.m. local time (10:05 p.m. ET). NBC could hear cheers and celebrations in the background while talking to an official in the prime minister’s office. “This son of a bitch is lying under my feet. … I can’t talk now because of all the cheers!” a witness said. Saddam’s body will be buried in Tikrit, his family’s hometown, a defense lawyer said. The burial could be as soon as Sunday. Disbelief over death A man whose testimony helped lead to Saddam’s conviction and execution before sunrise said he was shown the body because “everybody wanted to make sure that he was really executed.” “Now, he is in the garbage of history,” said Jawad Abdul-Aziz, who lost his father, three brothers and 22 cousins in the reprisal killings that followed a botched 1982 assassination attempt against Saddam in the Shiite town of Dujail. The post-execution footage showed the man identified as Saddam lying on a stretcher, covered in a white shroud. His neck and part of the shroud have what appear to be bloodstains. His eyes are closed. In Baghdad’s Shiite enclave of Sadr City, hundreds of people danced in the streets while others fired guns in the air to celebrate. The government did not impose a round-the-clock curfew as it did last month when Saddam was convicted to thwart any surge in retaliatory violence. It was a grim end for the 69-year-old leader who had vexed three U.S. presidents. Despite his ouster, Washington, its allies and the new Iraqi leaders remain mired in a fight to quell a stubborn insurgency by Saddam loyalists and a vicious sectarian conflict. The execution took place during the year’s deadliest month for U.S. troops, with the toll reaching 109. At least 2,998 members of the U.S. military have been killed since the Iraq war began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count. President Bush said in a statement issued from his ranch in Texas that bringing Saddam to justice “is an important milestone on Iraq’s course to becoming a democracy that can govern, sustain and defend itself, and be an ally in the war on terror.” He said that the execution marks the “end of a difficult year for the Iraqi people and for our troops” and cautioned that Saddam’s death will not halt the violence in Iraq. Violence follows execution Within hours of his death, bombings killed at least 68 people in Iraq, including one planted on a minibus that exploded in a fish market in a mostly Shiite town south of Baghdad. Ali Hamza, a 30-year-old university professor, said he went outside to shoot his gun into the air after he learned of Saddam’s death. “Now all the victims’ families will be happy because Saddam got his just sentence,” said Hamza, who lives in Diwaniyah, a Shiite town 80 miles south of Baghdad. But people in the Sunni-dominated city of Tikrit, once a power base of Saddam, lamented his death. “The president, the leader Saddam Hussein is a martyr and God will put him along with other martyrs. Do not be sad nor complain because he has died the death of a holy warrior,” said Sheik Yahya al-Attawi, a cleric at the Saddam Big Mosque. Police blocked the entrances to Tikrit and said nobody was allowed to leave or enter the city for four days. Despite the security precaution, gunmen took to the streets of Tikrit, carrying pictures of Saddam, shooting into the air, and calling for vengeance. Security forces also set up roadblocks at the entrance to another Sunni stronghold, Samarra, and a curfew was imposed after about 500 people took to the streets protesting the execution of Saddam. A couple hundred people also protested the execution just outside the Anbar capital of Ramadi, and more than 2,000 people demonstrated in Adwar, the village south of Tikrit where Saddam was captured by U.S. troops hiding in an underground bunker. In a statement, Saddam’s lawyers said that in the aftermath of his death, “the world will know that Saddam Hussein lived honestly, died honestly, and maintained his principles.” “He did not lie when he declared his trial null,” they said. 'Special day' reserved for hanging Saddam’s half-brother Barzan Ibrahim and Awad Hamed al-Bandar, the former chief justice of the Revolutionary Court, were not hanged along with their former leader as originally planned. Officials wanted to reserve the occasion for Saddam alone. “We wanted him to be executed on a special day,” National Security adviser Mouwafak al-Rubaie told state-run al-Iraqiya television. Sami al-Askari, the political adviser of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, told the AP that Saddam initially resisted when he was taken by Iraqi guards but was composed in his final moments. He said Saddam was clad in a black suit, hat and shoes, rather than prison garb. His hat was removed and his hands tied shortly before the noose was slipped around his neck. Saddam repeated a prayer after a Sunni Muslim cleric who was present. “Saddam later was taken to the gallows and refused to have his head covered with a hood,” al-Askari said. “Before the rope was put around his neck, Saddam shouted: ’God is great. The nation will be victorious and Palestine is Arab.”’ Iraqi state television showed footage of guards in ski masks placing a noose around Saddam’s neck. Saddam appeared calm as he stood on the metal framework of the gallows. The footage cuts off just before the execution. Saddam was executed at a former military intelligence headquarters in Baghdad’s Shiite neighborhood of Kazimiyah, al-Askari said. During his regime, Saddam had numerous dissidents executed in the facility, located in a neighborhood that is home to the Iraqi capital’s most important Shiite shrine — the Imam Kazim shrine. | Saddam Hussein is reported by BBC to be already executed, at around 6:05 Baghdad time today. 10:22PM EST, CBS broke into Friday night coverage to report Saddam was executed. As of 10:00PM EST, the nation of Iraq was awaiting word of Saddam's execution. The custody of Saddam Hussein has been turned over to the Iraqi government and a judge, who is to be present during the execution of the former Iraqi dictator, says that the execution will take place no later than Saturday. One of Nouri al-Maliki's advisers has stated that the execution will be carried out by 6 a.m. on Saturday (10 p.m. Friday EST). "A few minutes ago we received correspondence from the Americans saying that President Saddam Hussein is no longer under the control of United States forces," said a statement by Hussein's lawyers. At least one judge has stated that the execution could take place as early as "today." "Saddam will be executed today or tomorrow. All the measures have been done," said Munir Haddad, an appeal's court judge who upheld the vedict to have Hussein executed. Mr. Haddad is expected to be present during Hussein's execution. "I am ready to attend and there is no reason for delay," added Haddad. Not everyone agrees that Hussein should be executed. The Prime Minister of Yemen is trying to urge U.S. President George W. Bush to stop the execution from taking place. "The Yemeni government urges Bush to intercede to prevent this sentence from being carried out ... as it would lead to more internal strife and suffering for the Iraqi people," said a letter to Bush from Yemeni P.M., Abdul-Qader Bagammal. He is expected to be hanged on a custom-made gallows that has been kept in Camp Cropper, a U.S. military prison at Baghdad airport where Hussein has been imprisoned. |
Blast in Afghanistan Kills 2, Including British Journalist Four other US Marines were reported to be seriously wounded in the blast British officials say a roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan has killed a veteran British war correspondent and a U.S. Marine. Britain's Defense Ministry says Rupert Hamer, the defense correspondent for the Sunday Mirror newspaper, was killed while accompanying Marines on patrol in Helmand province Saturday. Photographer Philip Coburn was seriously wounded by the makeshift bomb, as were four other Marines. Officials retracted earlier reports that an Afghan soldier was among those killed. Hamer is believed to be the first British journalist to be killed in the Afghan conflict. Prime Minister Gordon Brown has released a statement expressing sympathy for his family, friends and colleagues. Hamer is the second journalist killed in Afghanistan in as many weeks. Canadian journalist Michelle Lang was killed December 30, also by a roadside bomb. Meanwhile, U.S. and Afghan authorities have signed a deal that is expected to transfer responsibility for the U.S.-run detention facility at Bagram Air Base by the end of the year. Afghanistan's Defense Ministry announced Saturday that Afghan troops will soon begin training to take over the investigation, detention and trials of inmates. The site, near Kabul, has been used to hold detainees since the U.S.-led offensive in Afghanistan began in 2001. U.S. troops were accused of beating two prisoners to death at Bagram in 2002. Human rights groups have criticized the United States for detaining inmates for lengthy periods of time without charge. About 700 detainees are being held at Bagram. Some information for this report was provided by AP, Reuters . ||||| KABUL, Afghanistan A British journalist embedded with an American unit in Helmand Province was killed along with a Marine when their vehicle struck a roadside bomb, the British Defense Ministry reported Sunday. It was the second time in two weeks that a Western journalist had been killed on an embedded assignment, underscoring the increased risk on the roads as military operations intensify in Afghanistan. The journalist killed was Rupert Hamer, 39, the military correspondent for The Sunday Mirror newspaper, who was accompanying a United States Marines patrol northwest of the town of Nawa on Saturday. The dead Marine was not identified pending notification of next of kin, and United States officials would release no details about the episode. The British government reported that four other United States Marines were seriously wounded by the bomb, and that a photographer in the vehicle, Philip Coburn, 43, was seriously wounded but was in stable condition at a military hospital in the area. Mr. Hamer was only the second Western journalist killed while embedded with American or allied troops in Afghanistan since 2001. The first was on Dec. 30, when the Canadian journalist Michelle Lang was killed along with four Canadian soldiers in Kandahar Province when their vehicle hit a roadside bomb. In August, Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the American commander in Afghanistan, outlined in an assessment he made to President Obama the need for troops to take a more active role, and since then the tempo of patrols and missions outside of bases has greatly increased. So have military casualties: The International Security and Assistance Force, as the American-led alliance is called, lost 520 soldiers, mostly from roadside bombs, last year far more than the 295 who died in Afghanistan in 2008, according to icasualties.org, an independent Web site that tracks military deaths in Afghanistan and Iraq. American and British troops had the majority of casualties. The fighting and bombing have continued even in the midst of the normally severe Afghan winter, which has recently been unusually mild. General McChrystal pointedly said that the days were over when Afghanistan was “a cyclical kinetic campaign based on a set ‘fighting season.’ ” Rather, he said, “It is a continuous, yearlong effort.” “The more coalition forces are seen and known by the local population, the more their threat will be reduced,” General McChrystal wrote, criticizing the NATO coalition for in the past being “preoccupied with force protection.” The intensified military campaign has also meant that more journalists have come here to cover it, often finding out firsthand the heightened risks that troops have been facing. “Afghanistan is becoming a more dangerous place as the war ramps up and the U.S. comes in and begins an increase in troop numbers,” said Bob Dietz, Asia program coordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists. He said that unlike most countries, where journalists who were killed were local people, “What we’re seeing is a large number of non-Afghan journalists dying.” In all, 18 journalists have been killed since the American-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 12 of them foreigners. But until the past two weeks, none of the other foreigners had been killed while accompanying American or British troops, according to data compiled by the Committee to Protect Journalists. In recent months, embedded journalists have frequently reported that their assignments in Afghanistan have been much more dangerous than previously. “We had contact every day; every day we have been shot at,” said Franco Pagetti, an Italian news photographer with the agency VII, who just returned from two weeks in the Korengal Valley in Kunar Province, where he accompanied a United States Army infantry unit. The Brussels-based International Federation of Journalists released a statement saying that Mr. Hamer’s death “shows that Afghanistan remains one of the world’s most dangerous reporting assignments.” It continued: “Traveling with the Army does not lessen the risk to reporters. Indeed, as this tragedy shows, it can put journalists directly in the firing line.” Prime Minister Gordon Brown of Britain said he was “deeply saddened by this tragic news.” The Sunday Mirror’s editor, Tina Weaver, praised Mr. Hamer, who was a father of three young children and who had made five trips to Afghanistan to report on the war, according to a statement that the paper released. “Affectionately known as Corporal Hamer in the office, he was a gregarious figure, a wonderful friend who was hugely popular with his colleagues,” Ms. Weaver said. In Tarinkot, the capital of Uruzgan Province, three Afghan aid workers employed by a German relief agency, GTZ, were killed when the pickup truck that they were in struck a landmine on Sunday, said the provincial police chief, Juma Gul Himat. ||||| KABUL -- A British journalist with the Sunday Mirror and a U.S. Marine were killed Sunday when their vehicle hit a roadside bomb in volatile southern Afghanistan, British officials and the reporter's newspaper said. A photographer with the newspaper was seriously injured in the attack in Helmand province, the newspaper and British officials said. The U.S. military did not immediately identify the Marine who was killed while riding in the same vehicle. The British Defense Ministry said that an Afghan soldier was also killed in the attack and that four U.S. Marines were wounded. British press reports said the journalist, Rupert Hamer, 39, was the first British reporter killed covering the conflict in Afghanistan, now in its ninth year. The photographer was identified as Philip Coburn, 43, and initial reports said his injuries were serious but not life-threatening. Hamer's death comes two weeks after a Canadian journalist, Michelle Lang, 34, was killed along with four Canadian soldiers by a roadside bomb near Kandahar, also in southern Afghanistan. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said, "I was deeply saddened by this tragic news, and my heartfelt thoughts and sympathies are with the families, friends and colleagues of Rupert and Philip." "Their professionalism and commitment to our forces will not be forgotten," Brown said in a statement. The Sunday Mirror said the two journalists left on New Year's Eve to embed with Marines and cover the American troop "surge" into Afghanistan. Hamer had been employed by the paper for a dozen years and was making his fifth trip to Afghanistan, the Mirror said, and he had also covered the war in Iraq. He leaves a wife and three children. The paper said Hamer had helped organize a special Christmas edition of the newspaper that was flown out to British soldiers three weeks ago that included messages from their family members back home. British Defense Secretary Bob Ainsworth said in a statement that the two journalists had accompanied him on a recent trip to Afghanistan. "I got to know them well, and I was impressed by their hard work and professionalism," he said. News of the reporter's death came on a bloody day in southern Afghanistan. Three Afghan aid workers employed by a German relief agency also were killed by a roadside bomb, in Uruzgan province, also in southern Afghanistan. | British officials have said that a roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan killed a veteran British war correspondent and a US Marine yesterday. Britain's Defense Ministry says Rupert Hamer, the defense correspondent for the Sunday Mirror newspaper, was killed while accompanying Marines on patrol in the Helmand province. Photographer Philip Coburn was seriously wounded by the makeshift bomb, as were four other Marines. ''The Daily Mirror'' said that Hamer was a journalist with them for 12 years, and that this was his fifth trip to Afghanistan. Hamer is believed to be the first British journalist to be killed in the Afghan conflict. Prime Minister Gordon Brown released a statement expressing sympathy for his family, friends and colleagues. He was survived by a wife and three children. Officials retracted earlier reports that an Afghan soldier was among those killed. Hamer is the second journalist killed in Afghanistan in as many weeks. Canadian journalist Michelle Lang was killed on December 30, also by a roadside bomb. |
ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Seven senior Turkish military officers were charged on Wednesday over an alleged plot to topple a government seen by conservative secularists, not least in the army, as pursuing a hidden Islamist agenda. Turkey’s top military commanders, who have seen the army’s role as ultimate guardian of secularism eroded under European Union-backed reforms, held an emergency meeting late on Tuesday and warned in a statement of a “serious situation”. Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, who denies any Islamist ambitions, consulted overnight with his deputy and the interior and justice ministers. The tension, which has fed speculation that elections due next year could be brought forward, hit investor confidence. The lira weakened to a seven-month low against the dollar, while shares fell 1.9 percent and bond yields rose. The Istanbul stock index has fallen 5.7 percent this week. The ruling AK Party, first elected in 2002 in a landslide victory over older, established parties blighted by corruption and accusations of misrule, is also embroiled in a dispute with the judiciary -- another pillar of the orthodox establishment. Although the army says the days of coups are over, Turks know their country’s history well, having seen four governments of various political hues ousted since 1960. The coups took different forms, from outright armed overthrow to public and covert political pressure to go. Though chances for another coup are seen as remote, there is mounting anxiety over what the generals might do next and what strains the situation might produce in the forces leadership. Turkey’s NATO allies, particularly the United States, want to see the Muslim nation mature as a democracy. Turkey’s prospects of entering the EU depend in part on ending the special status that made the arrest of military personnel by civilian authorities inconceivable until recently. The tensions were triggered by a dramatic police swoop on Monday that detained around 50 serving and retired officers in an unprecedented operation. The most senior detainees, retired Air Force Commander Ibrahim Firtina and ex-navy chief Ozden Ornek, were being held at police headquarters in Istanbul, while retired admiral Ahmet Feyyaz Ogutcu and 11 other officers were sent to court for questioning, the CNN Turk news channel reported. The seven officers charged overnight included four admirals, two retired and two serving; a retired brigadier-general and two retired colonels, state-run Anatolian news agency said. They have been jailed awaiting trial. Pending a formal indictment, they are accused of belonging to a terrorist group and of attempting to overthrow the government by force. Six officers were released from custody on Tuesday after questioning. It was unclear if they would face charges. CLASH ON TWO FRONTS The army leadership has said previously that probes of a series of alleged coup plots was hurting morale in the ranks. In a characteristically veiled and brief statement on its web site on Tuesday, the General Staff said its top commanders had met to “assess the serious situation that has arisen”. “What do you mean? Are you going to carry out a coup?” said a headline in Taraf, a low-circulation pro-government newspaper that has broken several stories of alleged coup plots. The current investigation into the so-called “Sledgehammer” plan, allegedly drawn up in 2003, was triggered by a report in Taraf last month. The military has said the plan was just a scenario drawn up for an army seminar. Asked about the military’s statement, AK Party Deputy Leader Salih Kapusuz cautioned against meetings or comments that could prejudice the legal process. The government is under some obligation to press on with the investigations to demonstrate to the European Union that it is serious about bringing the military under full civilian control, said Royal Bank of Scotland analyst Timothy Ash. “At the same time, further arrests will just further accentuate tensions. It’s a difficult balancing act and indeed this might provoke a counter reaction from the secular establishment,” Ash said. The country’s chief prosecutor narrowly failed to have Erdogan’s party banned in 2008 having accused it of anti-secular activities and there is speculation he could try again. Retired military officers are among around 200 people indicted over separate plots by a far-right group known as Ergenekon. Critics say that trial is being used to target political opponents, an accusation the government rejects. ||||| Turkish Army Says Situation ‘Serious’ After Arrests (Update3) (Adds trader comment in sixth paragraph, nationalist opposition in 12th paragraph.) By Steve Bryant and Mark Bentley Feb. 24 (Bloomberg) -- Turkey’s army said the detention of officers over an alleged coup plot was a “serious situation,” in the sharpest escalation of tensions with the government since a 2007 showdown that led to early elections. The top commanders gathered at military headquarters in Ankara late yesterday to discuss the detention of more than 40 serving and retired officers, the army said on its Web site. Those arrested in a series of police raids on Feb. 22 included former heads of the air force and navy. Turkish stocks and bonds fell for a third day as the arrests deepened strains between Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the army, which has ousted four governments since 1960. Erdogan, whose Justice and Development Party has roots in political Islam, has curtailed the secular generals’ influence over decision-making as Turkey chases European Union membership. “What was a low-intensity conflict has this week escalated into high intensity,” said Soner Cagaptay, director of the Turkey program at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. “We’re facing a period of extreme polarization in politics, and the country is so consumed with it all that it seems to me only early elections can provide a breath of fresh air.” The benchmark ISE-100 stock index fell 1.8 percent to 50,488 at 2:50 p.m. in Istanbul, extending its decline this week to 5.3 percent. Yields on benchmark two-year lira bonds rose 1 basis point to 8.95 percent and the currency rose 0.4 percent to 1.546 per dollar, paring a drop of 1.3 percent last night after the army’s statement. Political Tension “The political tension is driving the declines,” said Orhan Canli, a trader at Is Investment in Istanbul. “We’re now looking for any sign of a softening in positions in Ankara, that might help us recover a bit.” Those detained this week include Ibrahim Firtina and Ozden Ornek, who headed the air force and navy in 2003, Erdogan’s first year in office, when the alleged coup plans were drawn up. At least 10 current and former officers were brought to court in Istanbul today, NTV television reported. The court last night ruled that seven officers, including two serving admirals, should be held pending trial, while another six were released, the Anatolia news agency said. Erdogan, 55, has chipped away at the military’s powers. He ended army control over the National Security Council in 2003 and ignored objections that same year from the generals to a United Nations plan for the reunification of Cyprus. More Islamic? Critics say Erdogan’s government is trying to make Turkey more Islamic. The number of shops selling alcoholic drinks has fallen by 17,000 in the past four years, Tuncay Ozilhan, chairman of the country’s biggest brewer, Anadolu Efes Biracilik & Malt Sanayii AS, told reporters last week. Erdogan met with senior ministers for one and a half hours late yesterday, Anatolia said. There was no announcement. Today, the premier visited a construction site in Ankara, it said. The arrests are Erdogan’s “revenge” on the army, and he should stop fighting with the country’s institutions and help ease political tensions, Kemal Anadol, a lawmaker from the opposition Republican People’s Party, said in an interview at the parliament in Ankara today. Government legislator Suat Kilic said the detentions were part of a “democratic normalisation.” Early elections are the only escape from the “extremely dangerous developments,” nationalist opposition leader Devlet Bahceli said in a statement published on his party’s Web site. Erdogan Landslide Erdogan called an election in 2007 after the army criticized his choice of Abdullah Gul as president because of his Islamist past. Justice won re-election with 47 percent of the vote, the biggest share any Turkish party had drawn in almost 40 years, and promoted Gul to the presidency. The party’s vote declined to 39 percent in local polls in March 2009, as the economy was hit by the global crisis. Gross domestic product probably shrank about 6 percent last year, according to government estimates. The next election is due by July 2011. Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc said on Feb. 22 that the government intends to serve its full term. This week’s arrests are the latest in a two-year investigation that has seen scores of ex-officers, journalists and academics jailed and put on trial on charges of planning a coup. They follow a report in Taraf newspaper on Jan. 21 that army officers drafted a plan in 2003 to stage bombings in order to undermine confidence in Erdogan’s government. Chief of General Staff Ilker Basbug on Jan. 25 said the allegations were part of a campaign of psychological warfare designed to undermine public trust in the armed forces. He also said the army is committed to democracy and coups are “a thing of the past.” --With assistance from Ali Berat Meric in Ankara. Editors: Edward DeMarco, Ben Holland. To contact the reporters on this story: Steve Bryant in Ankara at sbryant5@bloomberg.net; Mark Bentley at mbentley3@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Peter Hirschberg in Jerusalem at phirschberg@bloomberg.net ||||| We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it. | A Turkish court on Wednesday charged and jailed seven senior Turkish military officers for allegedly plotting several years ago to overthrow the Turkish government. The officers consist of four admirals, an army general, and two staff colonels. Among them were Admiral Ramazan Cem Gundeniz, Admiral Aziz Cakmak, retired General Mehmet Kaya Varol, retired Admiral Ali Deniz Kutluk, and retired Admiral Ozer Karabulut. Also arrested were retired General İbrahim Fırtına, who was Commander of the Air Force from 2003 until his retirement in 2005, and retired Admiral Ozden Ornek, Commander of the Navy, also from 2003 to 2005. The court released six other officers. The seven were among more than 40 officers arrested on Monday over an alleged 2003 plot to create chaos in Turkey and justify a military coup. The military said in a statement that all top generals and admirals met at the military headquarters yesterday to evaluate "the serious situation" regarding the investigation. Last month '''' newspaper stated it had obtained 5,000 pages of documents and tapes on the 'Sledgehammer' plan, which was aimed to overthrow the (''Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi'') and to justify an army takeover in 2003. According to the report on January 21 2010, the army had plotted to provoke Greek fighter jets into shooting down a Turkish military jet and plant bombs in mosques. The Turkish military had said documents were part of a military training seminar and not meant to be carried out. Chief of General Staff on January 25 called these allegations “unconscionable” and said they were part of a campaign of psychological warfare designed to undermine public trust in the armed forces. “This is not something we’ve ever experienced in Turkey before, so it’s very hard to predict what will happen,” said , director of the democratization program at Istanbul research institute . Possible military responses may range from a mass resignation to a statement expressing faith in the judicial process, he said. 29 of those detained are being questioned by Istanbul police and another ten officers were brought before an Istanbul court on Tuesday morning according to reports by '''' and state-run . The have been responsible for 4 military coups in Turkey in the last 50 years. Other senior military officers have been arrested and indicted in separate plot to overthrow the government, involving a supposed far-right, ultra-nationalist group known as . Opponents of the government claim the ongoing trial of the Ergenekon group is being used by the government to target political opposition. The government rejects the accusation. |
PARIS, June 1 (Reuters) - An Air France passenger jet that went missing during a flight from Brazil to France with 228 on board would have run out of fuel by now, a senior French minister said on Monday. "By now it would be beyond its kerosene reserves so unfortunately we must now envisage the most tragic scenario," said Jean-Louis Borloo, the second most senior figure in the cabinet. Borloo told France Info radio that the plane had disappeared from military as well as civilian radar screens. (Reporting by Estelle Shirbon; editing by Crispian Balmer) ||||| The disappearance of an Air France jet en route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris on Sunday evening left seasoned crash investigators with a mystery to plumb and very little data to work with. The Airbus A330-200, carrying 228 passengers and crew members, is believed to have vanished in a towering thunderstorm with no word from its pilots that they were in crisis. The plane had beamed out several signals that its electrical systems had malfunctioned and, according to one report, that it had lost cabin pressure. The signals were sent not as distress calls, however, but as automated reports to Air France’s maintenance system, and were not read for hours, until air traffic controllers realized that the plane’s crew had not radioed in on schedule. As a search for wreckage began over a vast swath of ocean between Brazil and the African coast, experts struggled to offer plausible theories as to how a well-maintained modern jetliner, built to withstand electrical and physical buffeting far greater than nature usually offers, could have gone down so silently and mysteriously. There were no suggestions on Monday that a bomb, a hijacking or sabotage was to blame. Whatever of the plane’s final minutes was recorded in its black box may never be known, because it is presumably at the bottom of the Atlantic. As is common with trans-ocean flights, it was too far out over the sea to be tracked on land-based radar from Brazil or Senegal. Whether its location was captured by satellite or other planes’ radar is not known yet. The plane, Flight AF 447, was scheduled to arrive at Charles de Gaulle airport at 11:10 a.m. local time. Stricken relatives descended on Terminal 2D, where the airline established a crisis center. A black-robed priest was making his way past hordes of police officers and journalists to comfort relatives of those on the flight. “Air France is extremely distraught, and the whole team of Air France is suffering,” Pierre-Henri Gourgeon, the chief executive of Air France-KLM, told reporters in Paris. “We would like to say to the relatives of the victims that we are totally with them and will make every effort to help them.” Image Relatives and friends of Air France flight AF447 passengers were sent to Windsor Hotel in Rio de Janeiro on Monday to wait for more information. Credit... Bruno Domingos/Reuters President Nicolas Sarkozy of France said: “It’s a tragic accident. The chances of finding survivors are tiny.” There were people of 32 nationalities aboard, including 58 Brazilians, 61 French and 2 Americans, Air France said in a statement based on information from Brazilian authorities. The flight took off from Rio de Janeiro at 7:30 p.m. local time (6:30 p.m. Eastern time), and its last verbal communication with air traffic control was three hours later, at 10:33, according to a statement from Brazil’s civil aviation agency. At that time, the flight was at 35,000 feet and traveling at 520 miles per hour. About a half-hour later, it apparently encountered an electrical storm with “very heavy turbulence,” Air France said. The last communication from it came at 11:14 a series of automatic messages indicating it had suffered an electrical-system malfunction. The Associated Press reported that it also suffered a loss of cabin pressure. Brazilian officials said the plane disappeared over the Atlantic somewhere between a point 186 miles northeast of their coastal city Natal and the Cape Verde islands off Africa. The area is known as the intertropical convergence zone, where the tropics of the Northern and Southern Hemispheres mix, sometimes creating violent and unpredictable thunderstorms that can rise to 55,000 feet, higher than commercial jetliners can go. Experts were at a loss to explain fatal damage from lightning or a tropical storm, both of which jetliners face routinely, despite efforts to avoid them as much out of concern for passengers’ nerves as for the planes’ safety. Pilots are trained to go over or around thunderstorms rather than through them. Brigitte Barrand, an Air France spokeswoman, said the highly experienced pilot had clocked 11,000 flying hours, including 1,100 hours on Airbus 330 jets. “A completely unexpected situation occurred on board the aircraft,” Mr. Gourgeon told France’s LCI television. ||||| The two airports involved have been caring for relatives and friends of those aboard the missing plane An Air France plane carrying 228 people from Brazil to France has vanished over the Atlantic after flying into turbulence, airline officials say. The Airbus sent an automatic message at 0214 GMT, four hours after leaving Rio de Janeiro, reporting a short circuit. It may have been damaged by lightning. It was well over the ocean when it was lost, making Brazilian and French search planes' task more difficult. France's president said the chances of finding survivors were "very small". Aeroplanes get hit by lightning on quite a routine basis without generally any problems occurring at all David Gleave Aviation Safety Investigations Passenger nationalities revealed Five Britons on lost French plane In pictures: Waiting for news Mystery of Air France flight "It is a catastrophe the likes of which Air France has never seen," Nicolas Sarkozy said after meeting relatives and friends of passengers at a crisis centre at Charles de Gaulle airport. Earlier, Air France chief executive Pierre-Henri Gourgeon told reporters: "We are without a doubt faced with an air disaster." He added: "The entire company is thinking of the families and shares their pain." Flight AF 447 left Rio at 1900 local time (2200 GMT) on Sunday. It had 216 passengers and 12 crew on board, including three pilots. The passengers included one infant, seven children, 82 women and 126 men. See a map of the plane's route Air France confirmed that there had been 61 French and 58 Brazilians on board. Among the other passengers were 26 Germans, nine Chinese, nine Italians, six Swiss, five Britons, five Lebanese, four Hungarians, three Irish, three Norwegians and three Slovaks. Lightning theory doubts The Airbus 330-200 had been expected to arrive in Paris at 1110 local time (0910 GMT). Tom Symonds, BBC News transport correspondent The Airbus A330 airliner is likely to have begun its journey tracking the coast of Brazil northwards before striking out across the Atlantic. A few hundred miles from the shore, radar coverage peters out - from there on, crews use high frequency radio to report their position. The Brazilian Air Force says the plane left radar screens near the islands of Fernando de Noronha, 230 miles from the coast. The firmest clue to its fate comes from the data message sent via a satellite network at 0214 GMT reporting electrical and pressurisation problems. This suggests whatever happened, happened before the crew could put out a mayday radio call. It was likely a sudden and catastrophic emergency. Even a double engine failure at cruising altitude would normally give the crew around half an hour's gliding time. Air France says the plane may have been struck by lightning - the cause of around a dozen major air crashes in the last 50 years - but it rarely results in tragedy. More likely lightning damaged electrical systems, possibly leading indirectly to the plane's ditching. Although passengers survived a landing on the Hudson River in New York in January - it is rarely successful, especially in the middle of an ocean the size of the Atlantic. It made its last radio contact with Brazilian air traffic controllers at 0133 GMT (2233 Brazilian time) when it was 565km (360m) off Brazil's north-eastern coast, Brazil's air force said. The crew said they were planning to enter Senegalese airspace at 0220 GMT and that the plane was flying normally at an altitude of 10,670m (35,000ft). At about 0200 GMT, the captain reported entering heavy turbulence caused by Atlantic storms, French media report. At 0220, when Brazilian air traffic controllers saw the plane had not made its required radio call from Senegalese airspace, air traffic control in the Senegalese capital was contacted. At 0530 GMT, Brazil's air force launched a search-and-rescue mission, sending out a coast guard patrol plane and a specialised air force rescue aircraft. France is despatching three search planes based in Dakar, Senegal, and has asked the US to help with satellite technology. "The plane might have been struck by lightning - it's a possibility," Francois Brousse, head of communications at Air France, told reporters in Paris. David Gleave, from Aviation Safety Investigations, told the BBC that planes were routinely struck by lightning, and the cause of the crash remained a mystery. Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play. "Aeroplanes get hit by lightning on quite a routine basis without generally any problems occurring at all," he told BBC Radio Five Live. "Whether it's related to this electrical storm and the electrical failure on the aeroplane, or whether it's another reason, we have to find the aeroplane first." France's minister responsible for transportation, Jean-Louis Borloo, ruled out hijacking as a cause of the plane's loss. 'No information' Mr Sarkozy said he had met "a mother who lost her son, a fiance who lost her future husband". TIMELINE Flight AF 447 left Rio at 1900 local time (2200 GMT) on Sunday Airbus A330-200 carrying 216 passengers and at least 12 crew Contact lost 0130 GMT Missed scheduled landing at 1110 local time (0910 GMT) in Paris Timeline of Flight AF 447 Air disasters timeline "I told them the truth," he said afterwards. "The prospects of finding survivors are very small." Finding the plane would be "very difficult" because the search zone was "immense", he added. About 20 relatives of passengers on board the flight arrived at Rio's Jobim international airport on Monday morning seeking information. Bernardo Souza, who said his brother and sister-in-law were on the flight, complained he had received no details from Air France. "I had to come to the airport but when I arrived I just found an empty counter," he was quoted as saying by Reuters news agency. Air France has opened a telephone hotline for friends and relatives of people on the plane - 00 33 157021055 for callers outside France and 0800 800812 for inside France. This is the first major incident in Brazilian air space since a Tam flight crashed in Sao Paulo in July 2007 killing 199 people. Click here to return Have you been affected by this story? Send us your comments using the form below. Name Your E-mail address Town & Country Phone number (optional): Comments The BBC may edit your comments and not all emails will be published. Your comments may be published on any BBC media worldwide. Terms & Conditions Bookmark with: Delicious Digg reddit Facebook StumbleUpon What are these? E-mail this to a friend Printable version ||||| PARIS, France (CNN) -- The jet carrying 228 people from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, that disappeared overnight as it entered an area of strong turbulence probably crashed into the Atlantic Ocean, the CEO of Air France said Monday. Anne and Michael Harris, who lived in Rio de Janiero, Brazil, were two Americans aboard the flight. Brazilian and French ships and planes were looking for any sign of the missing plane, authorities said. The first three hours of what was to have been an 11-hour flight appear to have been uneventful, CEO Pierre-Henri Gourgeon said. But about 4:15 a.m. Paris time, Flight 447's automatic system began a four-minute exchange of messages to the company's maintenance computers, indicating that "several pieces of aircraft equipment were at fault or had broken down," he said. "This succession of messages signals a totally unforeseeable, great difficulty," he said. "Something quite new within the plane." During that time, there was no contact with the crew, Gourgeon said. "It was probable that it was a little bit after those messages that the impact of the plane took place in the Atlantic," he added. He said the Airbus A330 was probably closer to Brazil than to Africa when it crashed. He noted that turbulence made flying "difficult" in the area but that it is "too early to say" exactly what happened. The chances of finding any survivors were "very low," French President Nicolas Sarkozy admitted Monday. "This is a catastrophe the likes of which Air France has never seen before," he said at Charles de Gaulle International Airport, where he met with relatives of the missing. "I said the truth to them: The prospects of finding survivors are very low," he said. The airline company identified the nationalities of the victims as two Americans, an Argentinean, an Austrian, a Belgian, 58 Brazilians, five British, a Canadian, nine Chinese, a Croatian, a Dane, a Dutch, an Estonian, a Filipino, 61 French, a Gambian, 26 Germans, four Hungarians, three Irish, one Icelandic, nine Italians, five Lebanese, two Moroccans, three Norwegians, two Polish, one Romanian, one Russian, three Slovakian, two Spanish, one Swedish, six Swiss and one Turk. An official list of victims by name was not available late Monday. The American victims were identified as Michael Harris, 60, and his wife, Anne, 54, by the couple's family and his employer, Devon Energy in Oklahoma -- the largest U.S.-based independent natural gas and oil producer. Michael Harris was a company geologist in Rio de Janeiro, according to a company spokesman. Anne Harris' sister, Mary Miley, told CNN the couple had been living in the city since July 2008 and that they were traveling to Paris for a training seminar for Michael and for a vacation. "Anne and Mike were indeed a beautiful couple inside and out and I miss them terribly already," Miley said in an e-mail. Sarkozy said French authorities sent ships and planes to the area about 250 miles (400 kilometers) from Brazil. "Our Spanish friends are helping us; Brazilians are helping us a lot as well." French Transport Minister Jean-Louis Borloo told CNN affiliate France 2 that France asked the U.S. military to assist in the search through U.S. detection satellites. Pentagon officials in Washington did not immediately confirm the request. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva told reporters in San Salvador, El Salvador, that he had spoken with Sarkozy but neither leader knew what to say. "All we could do was thank each other," Lula said. "He thanked me for the speed with which the Brazilian air force took charge." He added, "In times like these, there is little to do but to deeply lament, to wish the families a lot of strength, because there are no words in times like these." Sarkozy said authorities were seeking the help of satellites that might be able to pick up signs of what happened to the 4-year-old Airbus 330. No possibility was being excluded: Turbulence in the area was strong, but other planes were able to pass through it without incident, he said. The plane reported a problem with the electrical system, "but the specialists refuse for the moment to express themselves about any possibility," Sarkozy said. The jet also sent a warning that it lost pressure, the Brazilian air force said. Watch aviation expert describe possible scenarios » It lost contact with air traffic control between Galeao International Airport in Rio de Janeiro and Charles de Gaulle International Airport in Paris, the airline said Monday. The Airbus A330 sent out an automatic signal warning of the electrical problems just after 2 a.m. GMT Monday as it flew "far from the coast," said an Air France spokeswoman who declined to be identified. It had just entered a stormy area with strong turbulence, she said. The jet was flying at an altitude of 35,000 feet and a speed of 521 mph, the air force said. Among the passengers were 126 men, 82 women, seven children and a baby, in addition to the 12 crew members, Air France officials in Brazil said. Time line 2230 GMT Sunday Flight AF447 takes off from Rio's Airport do Galeao 0133 GMT Monday Plane makes last contact with Brazilian air traffic control 0148 GMT Plane disappears from radar 0320 GMT Plane fails to make scheduled radio contact 0530 GMT Brazilian Air Force launches search 0910 GMT Plane fails to make scheduled landing in Paris Source: Brazilian Air Force Much of the route is out of radar contact, Brazilian air force Col. Henry Munhoz told TV Globo. The flight, AF 447, took off from Galeao International Airport at 11:30 p.m. Sunday GMT. It was scheduled to land in Paris at 9:10 a.m. GMT. Learn more about recent notable airplane crashes » Its last known contact occurred at 2:33 a.m. GMT, the Brazilian air force spokesman said. It was expected to check in with air traffic controllers at 3:20 a.m. GMT but did not do so, the Brazilian air force said in a statement. Brazilian authorities asked the air force to launch a search mission just over three hours later, at 6:30 a.m. GMT, the statement said. The plane reported no problems before takeoff, Joao Assuncao, Air France's manager in Brazil, told the country's Record TV. The airline set up a crisis center at the Paris airport. It listed numbers for families to call: 0 800 800 812 for people in France and 00 33 1 57 02 10 55 for families outside France. At a crisis center at the airport in Rio, relatives of the missing complained of a dearth of information from Air France, the Brazilian state news agency reported. One man, who identified himself as Bernardo, said his brother, Romeo Amorim Souza, and his wife were on the missing flight. "I came to the airport because I wasn't finding information, and my parents are very nervous," he told Agencia Brasil. The missing A330 last underwent a maintenance check on April 16, the airline said. CNN air travel expert Richard Quest said the twin-engine plane, a stalwart of transatlantic routes, had an impeccable safety record, with only one fatal incident involving a training flight in 1994. "It has very good range and is extremely popular with airlines because of its versatility," he said. Its crew was composed of three pilots and nine cabin crew members, including a captain who has logged 11,000 hours in flight. About 1,700 of those hours were on the A330 and A340. Of the two co-pilots, one has 3,000 hours of flying experience and the other 6,600 hours. The aircraft has flown 18,870 hours. The model is "capable of communicating in several different ways over quite long distances even if they are out of radar coverage," said Kieran Daly of the online aviation news service Air Transport Intelligence. The French Accident Investigation Bureau for civil aviation is investigating, the company said in a statement. CNN's Lianne Turner, Ayesha Durgahee, Helena DeMoura, Isa Soares and Mariano Castillo contributed to this report. All About Airbus A330 • Air France-KLM Group ||||| What do you think? Help us improve The Times. We welcome your feedback, suggestions and ideas. Click here to send us your feedback. Need help from our Customer Services team? You can contact the team via the following channels: Live Chat Twitter Email Telephone: +0044 20 7711 1523 ||||| Paris, 01 June 2009 - 11:31 local time First press release Air France regrets to announce that it has lost contact with flight AF 447 from Rio de Janeiro to Paris-Charles de Gaulle, expected to arrive this morning at 11:15 local time. The flight left Rio on 31 May at 7pm local time. 216 passengers are on board. There are 12 crew members on board: 3 pilots and 9 cabin crew. The following toll-free number is available in France: 0800 800 812, and + 33 1 57 02 10 55 outside France. Air France fully shares the anxiety and distress of the families of the passengers concerned. The families are been taken care of in a specially reserved area at Paris-Charles de Gaulle 2 airport. Português Air France lamenta informar que se encontra sem notícias do voo AF 447 que efetuava a ligação entre Rio de Janeiro e Paris Charles de Gaulle, com chegada prevista às 11h15 da manhã (hora local). O voo decolou do Rio no dia 31 de maio às 19 horas locais. 216 passageiros estão a bordo. A tripulação é composta de 12 pessoas : 3 tripulantes técnicos e 9 comissários. Um toll free está disponível : 0800 800 812 para a França, e + 33 1 57 02 10 55 para outros países A Air France divide a emoção e a inquietação das famílias envolvidas. Os familiares serão recebidos num local especialmente reservado no aeroporto de Paris Charles de Gaulle 2 assim como no do Galeão. | File photo of an Air France Airbus A330 Air France Flight 447 carrying 228 people from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport is reported missing off the Brazilian coast. The flight was scheduled to arrive in Paris at 11:10 CET on June 1, 2009. The Airbus A330-200 was last heard via radio at 22:30 local time (01:30 GMT). The Brazilian Air Force is confirming the disappearance of the aircraft, which vanished from radar approximately off the Brazilian coast. ''Reuters'' reports that an electrical short circuit during turbulence may have caused the plane to plunge into the Atlantic Ocean. The plane with registration F-GZCP has totalled 18,870 flight hours and went into service on 18 April 2005. Its last maintenance check was on April 16, 2009. The intended route of Flight 447. "We have received no news from flight AF447," said Air France in a statement. The plane was carrying 12 crew members and 216 passengers, of which 126 men, 82 women, 7 children and one infant. In a press communiqué, Air France stated that AF447 had encountered an area of heavy turbulence at 02:00 GMT and that the aircraft had sent an automatic message indicating an electric failure at 02:14 UTC. Search and rescue operations by the Brazilian Air Force are to be initially centered on the island of Fernando de Noronha. The aircraft has been missing for a sufficient time that it will no longer have any fuel remaining if it was airborne. French President Sarkozy said the prospects of finding survivors are "very small". He also requested that America use their surveillance satellites to assist in locating the plane. Air France has provided three telephone numbers for the families and friends of those on board AF447: *'''0800 800 812''' for calls from within France *''' 0800 881 20 20''' for calls from Brazil *'''+33 1 57 02 10 55''', for calls from outside France or Brazil. A "specially reserved area" of Charles de Gaulle airport's Terminal 2 is being used to care for the families of those on board AF447. |
CORONAVIRUS Universities risk being forced to merge in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, according to the head of the body that gives them funding. The intervention from Karen Watt, the chief executive of the Scottish Funding Council, came as the principal of Edinburgh University warned that the country’s 19 universities would be unlikely to...Universities risk being forced to merge in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, according to the head of the body that gives them funding. The intervention from Karen Watt, the chief executive of the Scottish Funding Council, came as the principal of Edinburgh University warned that the country’s 19 universities would be unlikely to...Universities risk being forced to merge in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, according to the head of the body that gives... ||||| A coach driver who caused a crash near Heathrow which killed three people and injured more than 60 others was jailed yesterday for five years. Philip Rooney, 49, was making a public safety announcement over the vehicle's public address system while speeding round a bend when the crash happened. The double-decker National Express coach, carrying 69 passengers, overturned and skidded along on its side on the M4/M25 slip road near the airport. Rooney was trying to negotiate a 40mph bend at 55mph when he lost control. He was driving like he was "possessed" - probably in an attempt to make up for lost time following a delay caused by a luggage problem, Oxford crown court was told. Many of those on the overnight London to Aberdeen service had to be cut from the wreckage on January 3 last year. Christina Toner, 76, from Dundee, and Yi Di Lin, 30, a Chinese national, died following the crash. John Carruthers, 78, of Chertsey, Surrey, died six months later. Another 65 people were injured, including four who had to have amputations and 19 who suffered fractures. The victims included an Albanian woman, Samia Berbiche. Berbiche lost part of her right leg, her three-year-old son lost part of his right leg and lower left arm, and her eight-month-old daughter lost one of her lower legs. Rooney, a father of three from Carluke in Lanarkshire, was jailed for five years and banned from driving for three years after pleading guilty at a previous hearing to three counts of causing death by dangerous driving. He was also ordered to take an extended driving test. Rooney, who had been driving coaches for 15 years, had been caught speeding in passenger vehicles on five occasions. He was also disciplined by his employer in December 2004 for tampering with a speed limiter so he could drive faster. Following the sentence, Toner's family said they were astonished that Rooney was allowed to keep his job after his previous speeding convictions. "We were surprised that somebody would employ someone with that level of convictions in a public service," said her son-in-law Matt Light. The court heard that the coach had been delayed by an hour and a half after Rooney had to call a taxi to transport one family's luggage because there was no room in the heavily laden vehicle. Richard Latham QC, prosecuting, said: "A number of passengers noted the vehicle was being driven significantly faster, as if the driver was seeking to make up for lost time." One passenger said: "After Heathrow the driver drove like he was possessed. He kept overtaking everything and going like the clappers." Mohammed Khamisa QC, defending, said Rooney had offered his "heartfelt apologies" to those who lost loved ones or who were injured. He added: "The events have crushed him and continue to haunt him." | A driver for the UK coach firm National Express has been jailed for five years after causing a crash last year that killed three people. Philip Rooney, 49, was in a double-decker coach near London's Heathrow Airport which rolled on January 3 last year. The vehicle landed on its side after Rooney attempted to take a 40mph turnoff at 55mph on the M4/M25 slip road near Heathrow. He was described at Oxford Crown Court today as driving like one 'possessed', possibly in a bid to make up for lost time after a luggage issue had delayed the London-Aberdeen service's departure. Rooney had been delayed after summoning a taxi to transport one family's luggage due to a lack of room on the crowded coach. This delayed departure by an hour and a half. The coach, with 69 passengers on board, skidded along on its side after overturning whilst Rooney made a safety announcement over the vehicle's PA system. 76-year-old Christina Toner from Dundee and 30-year-old Chinese citizen Yi Di Lin were killed, while 78-year-old John Carruthers from Chertsey, Surrey succumbed to his injuries six months later. Another 65 people sustained injuries, including four who had amputations as a result of their injuries and 19 who suffered fractures. "After Heathrow the driver drove like he was possessed. He kept overtaking everything and going like the clappers," said one passenger. Fire and rescue crews had to cut several victims from the wreck. Rooney had been convicted on five previous occasions of speeding in public service vehicles during his career of fifteen years with large passenger vehicles. He was also disciplined in 2004 by National Express after he was caught tampering with a speed limiter to allow him to drive his coach faster. Defending, Mohammed Khamisa QC said of Rooney "The events of the day in question have crushed him and continue to haunt him," and that he offers his "heartfelt apologies" to all victims and relatives. Rooney pled guilty to three counts of causing death by dangerous driving. He was jailed for five years, banned from driving for three and ordered to take an extended driving test. |
Printable version E-mail this story Posted on: Tuesday, March 28, 2006 Ala Wai Canal now an open sewer By Robbie Dingeman Advertiser Staff Writer A hole on Kai'olu Street exposes the ruptured main that requires diversion of millions of gallons of raw sewage into the Ala Wai Canal. Without the diversion, Waikiki would be mired in sewage backups. RICHARD AMBO | The Honolulu Advertiser WHAT THE SPILL MEANS TO YOU IF YOU'RE IN WAIKIKI Continuing repairs to a major sewer line through Waikiki means millions of gallons of raw sewage are being pumped into the Ala Wai Canal as city crews work around the clock to fix the problem. Here's what that means for people who live, work or play in the area: Raw sewage in the canal. City officials advise people to avoid contact with the water and suggest that paddlers or anyone else exposed to the water wash thoroughly with soap and water. Waikiki traffic. On Ala Wai Boulevard, the two lanes nearest the curbs are expected to remain closed near Kai'olu Street as repairs continue, narrowing the road to two lanes. Only local traffic is allowed on Kai'olu Street. Drivers should expect lane restrictions elsewhere in Waikiki to allow pumps to divert sewage from the broken line. Surfing. Surfers are warned to avoid Ala Moana Bowls, Rock Pile and In Betweens because the current clips those surf spots near the mouth of the canal. Parking. The municipal parking lot at Kai'olu Street and Kuhio Avenue may be closed. Source: City and County of Honolulu Millions of gallons of untreated sewage have poured into the Ala Wai Canal since Friday, and the city expects to pump in millions more over the next four to seven days — the time it will take crews to repair a major sewer-main rupture. While the sewage poses an environmental and health concern, pumping it into the canal is the only way to prevent the waste from backing up into Waikiki homes, hotels and businesses, city officials said yesterday. "We really have no other alternative," Mayor Mufi Hannemann said. "This is the most challenging main break that the city has faced in a number of years. We don't have an easy fix." The breaks in the line on Kai'olu Street appear to have been caused by a combination of the very heavy flow of rainwater into the sewage system and the settling problems of an aging sewer line, said Eric Takamura, director of the city Department of Environmental Services. Complications included rain that kept filling the area around the cracked 42-inch concrete pipe and the need to work around underground utilities, Hannemann said. The pressurized sewer line was built in 1964 to carry raw sewage from the Beachwalk Wastewater Pumping Station toward the Sand Island Wastewater Treatment Plant. The line carries most of the sewage generated in Waikiki, Manoa and Mo'ili'ili — about 15 million gallons each day, city officials said. Hannemann said city officials remain in constant communication with the state Health Department, helping monitor water quality and currents. He said no signs were posted to warn people out of the waters off Waikiki beaches because the current was taking the flow out of the canal in the opposite direction. Surfers are warned to avoid Ala Moana Bowls, Rock Pile and In Betweens because the current clips those surf spots near the mouth of the canal before skirting Magic Island and making its way toward the airport. Chris Ball, president of the Hawaii Canoe & Kayak Team, said all of his crews are staying out of the Ala Wai until they get the word that it's safe to go back in. "We have practice every day, but we've suspended practice until the signs are down and it's OK to paddle in there," Ball said. He said the teams instead paddled yesterday and today in Hawai'i Kai, and some worked on their running and conditioning instead of getting in the water. Ball said he believes most teams are steering clear of the water until officials give the go-ahead. "There were a few canoes in the Ala Wai on Saturday," he said, adding that he didn't see any yesterday morning. "We've got a lot of little kids," Ball said. "Sometimes they flip and fall out of the kayaks, and we don't want them in that water." Takamura, the city's environmental services director, said it's difficult to measure exactly how many millions of gallons continue to flow into the Ala Wai because the sewage is not pumped through a station where it would be measured. Instead, Takamura said, the untreated effluent is being pumped from the pipes into the Ala Wai in at least six places. He said repairs will take at least four days, and crews may need closer to seven days to fix the cracked joint. City Managing Director Wayne Hashiro said the ruptured concrete pipe already was slated for replacement and rehabilitation, with design work expected to begin this year and construction of a permanent replacement expected to begin in two to three years. Takamura said the city plans to seal the cracked area several ways, including a wrap of lead wool and fiberglass, then steel-reinforced concrete around the area, which is about 10 feet below street level. Hannemann said city crews and a contractor remained hard at work on the repairs through the holiday weekend. He apologized for the inconvenience to Waikiki residents and visitors caused by the sewage flow, the traffic problems and the noise. But he said crews are working as quickly as possible to make a repair that will last two to three years until a more permanent fix takes place. Meanwhile, a demonstration project on the Ala Wai that uses plants to clean parts of the canal is hoping for another year of testing. That's the word from Chad Durkin, project manager for Natural Systems Inc., which partnered with Marine Agritech to place thousands of 'akulikuli plants on floating rafts to help improve the water quality. Durkin said the permit ends next month, but he'd like to see it extended by a year. He said it has proved effective at improving water quality through the organisms that live on the roots of the plants, helping clean the water. He said the sewage spill won't harm his project. "If anything, the nutrients from the sewage will benefit the plants," he said. His rafts of plants can't clean the entire canal of millions of gallons of raw sewage pumped in daily, but his project could help if it was expanded, Durkin said. And he pointed to a project in Fuzhou, China, where the process was used to clean the water in a quarter-mile-long canal fed by 80,000 gallons of sewage each day. Reach Robbie Dingeman at rdingeman@honoluluadvertiser.com. ||||| Posted on: Friday, March 31, 2006 Ala Wai spill halted, but not threat By Eloise Aguiar Advertiser Staff Writer Kai'olu Street was still a busy scene yesterday as crews completed temporary repairs to a ruptured sewer line. BRUCE ASATO | The Honolulu Advertiser While bacteria levels offshore of Waikiki are dropping and there are no plans to close more beaches, Mayor Mufi Hannemann said "it's not over for Kai'olu Street." Before the site of the sewage main break can be repaved, a leaking water supply line must be repaired. The flow of raw sewage into the Ala Wai Canal has been stemmed, but not before 48 million gallons of untreated wastewater were dumped and contaminated Waikiki Beach. Officials don't expect beach contamination to dissipate soon and people may be warned to stay out of the water for as long as several months. "There's no real estimation," said Kurt Tsue, state Department of Health spokesman. "It could be anywhere from weeks to months." Bacteria levels were dropping but still high yesterday at surf spots and Waikiki beaches so the department left up signs that warn people to stay out of the water. City crews yesterday learned that their repairs held tight, containing the waste from a main that ruptured on Friday. Untreated sewage from that pipe was being pumped into the Ala Wai Canal as the city tried to repair it. The fix included a wrap of lead wool and fiberglass, followed by steel-reinforced concrete that was poured around the line, which is about 10 feet below street level. Repairs to the line were completed Tuesday and the line was back in partial use beginning Wednesday afternoon. Following the rupture, the city began testing the waters and the state ordered warning signs to be posted when bacteria levels reached unacceptable levels. Many factors contribute to the reduction of bacteria including rain, which dilutes bacteria, and sunshine, which kills it, Tsue said. Wind and tide could also help reduce the bacteria, he said. At a news conference, Mayor Mufi Hannemann stressed yesterday that the public and tourists should heed the warning signs and wait for the state Department of Health to give the all-clear signal. However, bacteria levels are dropping and Hannemann said no more beaches will be closed. "I want to acknowledge the fact that it's not over for Kai'olu Street," where the main is located, he said. He also said that during the repairs, workers discovered a leak in a water supply line. The leak must be repaired before the road is paved, he said. The full cost of the emergency project won't be known until all the invoices are submitted and calculated, said Wayne Hashiro, city managing director. Experts had to be called in, contractors hired and equipment provided on a moment's notice, he said. "We requested $3 million in contingency funds," Hashiro said. "But until we get the final numbers, all the invoices, we wouldn't be able to tell you." He said he didn't know what caused the break. Speculation about pile driving at a nearby construction project arose, but an investigation by experts is needed, he said. The city had planned to replace the ruptured main and then use it as a backup, he said. A contract could be awarded by the end of the year, Hashiro said. Hannemann said the city is in the process of repairing or replacing its 1,500 miles of sewer lines. In the past two years, 150 miles of work has been completed, he said. Some 55 percent of the capital improvement projects in the city budget is for sewers, Hannemann said. "We take our responsibility with wastewater very seriously and we have a plan to not only maintain and catch up with the maintenance problems of the past but to put this city on a better footing," Hannemann said. Reach Eloise Aguiar at eaguiar@honoluluadvertiser.com. | KeithH'' More than 48 million gallons (180 million L) of untreated sewage that flowed into the ocean from a sewer spill on Friday, March 24, have forced city officials in Honolulu, Hawaii, United States, to post signs warning tourists on Waikiki Beach to stay out of the water. A 42-inch pressurized sewer line in Waikiki cracked on Friday, March 24, sending untreated sewage into the Ala Wai Canal on the inland (mauka) side of Waikiki. Engineers believe that heavy rains since February 19 overwhelmed the sewer line, which was constructed in 1965. City officials say that they had no alternative but to pump the raw sewage into the Ala Wai Canal, which empties just west of Waikiki, to prevent the wastewater from backing up into homes and hotels. Repair crews worked around the clock to fix the sewer break. The spill was finally stopped on Thursday. At first, tides and winds took the sewage spill out to sea, but southerly winds sent the sewage back toward Waikiki Beach, forcing city officials to take action. Signs were posted on beaches on the west side of Waikiki. Bacteria tests taken on the 29th showed levels of bacteria from three to sixty times acceptable levels. Health officials will continue to test bacteria levels daily, but there is no estimate as to when the contamination will dissipate; warning signs may be in place for as long as several months. |
Template:Future election in Canada Template:Infobox canadian election The 40th Canadian federal election is scheduled to be held October 19 2009, in accordance with the provisions of the Canada Elections Act, which were amended in the 1st Session of the 39th Parliament. However, it is widely suspected that an election will be called for October 2008[1]. In the past, the Prime Minister could select an election date of his or her choosing, usually at the four-year mark or when he or she believed that his or her party had the best chance of winning the election. However, in 2007 the Parliament of Canada passed a law fixing federal election dates every four years and scheduling the next election date as October 19 2009. As the current parliament is led by a minority government, it is possible that an election will occur sooner, in 2008 or earlier in 2009, as the law does not limit the powers of the Governor General to dissolve Parliament at any time, such as when opposition parties down the government on a vote of confidence. No minority government in Canada to date has existed for a full four-year term. 2006 election More than 65% of all eligible voters cast ballots in the 39th Canadian general election. The Conservative Party received the most votes, with 36% of the vote and 124 seats (now 127). The Liberal Party lowered its total number of seats won to 103 seats (now 96), taking 30% of the vote. The Bloc Québécois lost three seats, lowering its total to 51 seats (now 48), with 10.5% of the vote. The New Democratic Party retained its seats held at the dissolution of Parliament, and won 11 more, making its total 29 seats (now 30), with 17.5% of the vote. The Green Party received 4.5% of the vote, a minimal increase from the previous election, but did not win any seats. Independents and other parties constituted 1% of the total vote. Events since the 2006 election Since the election, David Emerson and Wajid Khan, who were both elected as Liberal Members of Parliament (MPs), have joined the Conservative Party, while Garth Turner, elected as a Conservative, was expelled from the Conservative caucus. Turner initially sat as an independent, but then joined the Liberal caucus on February 6 2007. Joe Comuzzi, also elected as a Liberal, was expelled from the Liberal caucus for supporting the budget in 2007.[2] Joe Comuzzi has since joined the Conservative Party of Canada. There were also by-elections in Repentigny and London North Centre after the death of Benoît Sauvageau and resignation of Joe Fontana. Both by-elections reelected a member from the incumbent party. Canadians' next chance to go to the polls will be Canada's 40th federal election. Harper's government could formally last until late 2009, although an election may be triggered in 2008 if the government falls on a motion of confidence or if the Governor General decides (on the advice of the Prime Minister) to drop the writ. The latter option seems most likely. The parliament preceding this election is led by the smallest minority ever in the Canadian House of Commons — a government with just 40.6% of the seats — and led by the Conservative Party of Canada. Although the average length of a minority parliament in Canada is 1 year, 5 months, and 22 days, minorities led by the former Progressive Conservative Party tended to be much shorter: the longest previous Conservative minority was just 6 months and 19 days.[3] The 39th Parliament became Canada's longest serving Conservative minority on October 24, 2006. On May 30, 2006, the Conservatives tabled Bill C-16 which would amend the Canada Elections Act which would provide for fixed elections. The bill states that there will be an election in 2009, and it would be the first to have a fixed election date, the third Monday in October (October 19, 2009). However, the government may still fall before then, and there may be an election still in 2008. The bill received royal assent on May 3, 2007. It was rumoured by political pundits that Harper would like to have had an election in early 2007 in hopes of attaining a majority of the Commons seats. However, it was also speculated that he would hold off calling an election until after Quebec held its provincial election, so as to measure the strength of federalist feelings in that province. On February 15, 2007, the Globe and Mail reported that the Conservatives were preparing for an election expected to be called shortly after the 2007 budget, due on March 19 2007. Part of the reason for the timing of the election was given as strengthening Conservative poll numbers coupled with the desire to take advantage of the perception that Harper has "better leadership qualities than Liberal counterpart Stéphane Dion".[4] On March 17, 2007, an internal Conservative Party memo was leaked to the Canadian Press, telling members that they "need to be ready to campaign within the next week." The memo asked members to donate $75 to $150 to help to fund the early stages of the election campaign. None of these predictions for a federal election to occur in 2007 proved true, but the majority of pundits still believe a federal election will be triggered before the fixed election date of October 19, 2009 for sometime in 2008.[citation needed] Stephen Harper hinted at the possibility of dissolving parliament on August 14, 2008. Speaking in Newfoundland and Labrador, he cited Stéphane Dion as the main player in making Parliament become increasingly "dysfunctional". "I’m going to have to make a judgment in the next little while as to whether or not this Parliament can function productively," Harper said. This came after repeated confidence votes that resulted in the NDP and Bloc parties not voting in favour of the government, and the Liberal parties voting in favour or not attending the vote. Rumours of a possible fall election were further fuelled by Haper's announcement of a fourth federal byelection for September 22 in the Toronto riding of Don Valley West.[5][6] On August 27, 2008 Harper asked Gov. General Jean to cancel her trip to the Paralympic games in Beijing, adding fuel to speculation that the Prime Minister will seek a dissolution. On August 30, 2008 Independent MP Blair Wilson announced that he had joined the Green Party of Canada as its first Member of Parliament. Timeline Results Template:40th Canadian federal election Target seats The following is a list of ridings which were narrowly lost by the indicated party. For instance, under the Liberal column are the 15 seats in which they came closest to winning but did not. Listed is the name of the riding, followed by the party which was victorious (in parentheses) and the margin, in terms of percentage of the vote, by which the party lost. These ridings are likely to be targeted by the specified party because the party lost them by a very slim margin in the 2006 election. Up to 15 are shown, with a maximum margin of victory of 15%. * Indicates incumbent not running again. To clarify further; this is a list of federal election winners with their party in parentheses, and their margin as a percentage of the vote over the party whose list the seat is on (not the same as the margin of victory if the party potentially "targeting" the seat in that list did not finish second in the previous election). Lawn signs for all the major candidates decorate an intersection during the London North Centre by-election ¹ Won by the NDP in a by-election with more than a 15% margin over the Liberals. The Green Party of Canada did not come within 15% of winning any riding in the 2006 election, but since came 9.0% short of winning London North Centre, ON (Lib) in a by-election. Cabinet ministers elected by a margin of less than 10% in 2006 Opinion polls The dates listed are normally the date the survey was concluded. Most news and political affairs sources use the convention of using the last date that the poll was conducted in order to establish the inclusion/exclusion of current events. Leadership polls Aside from conducting the usual opinion surveys on general party preferences, polling firms also survey public opinion on who would make the best Prime Minister: Sometimes the information is further broken down, as in this Strategic Counsel poll conducted from February 15 to February 18, 2007: The Strategic Counsel also conducts occasional polls of the overall impression of the party leaders: favourable or not favourable (favourable percentage shown).[11] 40th Canadian federal election (candidates) By party: Incumbent MPs not running for re-election Conservatives Liberals Bloc Québécois New Democrats References Election coverage Opinion polls Projections and predictions Blogs Party websites Parties with representation in the House of Commons ||||| Please use the list below to update your bookmarks and links.Click here to go to the Montreal Gazette blogs homepage. ||||| If you've watched any television at all in recent days, you couldn't have missed the Conservative pre-campaign ads. Taking full advantage of their wealth before the official election campaign starts and spending limits kick in, the Conservatives have been softening up the voters by saturation-bombing them with TV ads. With so much money, you'd think that the Conservatives could afford English-language ads that don't sound as though the "main street Canadians" in them are seeing their lines for the first time on a cue card just off camera. And at the end, it's hard to tell whether Stephen Harper is trying to smile or grimacing with the effort to convey warmth. The characters in the French-language spots seem more natural, maybe because they've had more acting experience, as the Quebec ministers in Harper's cabinet. In these ads, the ministers remind each other of the government's achievements, which the Bloc Québécois can never match because it will never hold power. But even if the English-language ads are artistic failures, they might be effective politically, as attack ads so subtle that they don't even mention their target: Stéphane Dion. While the English-language ads also mention accomplishments of the government, they are mostly about Harper. And by referring to his "strong leadership," they invite the viewer to compare the Conservative leader with his unmentioned Liberal counterpart. Who do you want for your next prime minister, they ask: Harper, or that other guy? The ads aren't the only evidence that the Conservatives have a leadership advantage over the Liberals. Last weekend, it was reported that the Liberals will emphasize their team of candidates in the campaign, and have such personalities as former leadership candidates Michael Ignatieff, Bob Rae and Martha Hall Findlay play prominent roles. In other words, they will be playing "hide the leader," to the extent that is possible in an election campaign. And yesterday, The Gazette reported that 50 per cent of Canadians chose Harper as the federal leader who would make the best prime minister in an Ipsos Reid-Canwest-Global poll conducted Aug. 26-28. Among the leaders of the three parties competing across the country, Dion finished last as the choice of only 20 per cent, behind Jack Layton of the New Democratic Party at 31 per cent (proportions of respondents expressing a preference were rounded off to the nearest percentage point). "If this election is going to be a referendum on leadership," said Ipsos Reid president Darrell Bricker, "Stephen Harper has a heck of an advantage." And Dion began the week once again on the defensive over the main plank in his election platform, his "green shift" environmental policy. After another recent Ipsos-Canwest-Global poll showed support for the policy slipping, Dion bowed to pressure from within his caucus and modified his controversial proposed carbon tax. The modification, announced yesterday in Winnipeg, would provide financial aid to farmers, truckers and rural residents facing higher fuel costs as a result of the tax, which is intended to discourage consumption of fossil fuels causing greenhouse-gas emissions. Were Harper to make a similar policy concession, he might be praised for being flexible and responding to criticism for a change, because he is supposed to be stubborn and rigid. But Dion's concession is more likely to be seen as perhaps only the first in a series of retreats from a position that was poorly chosen in the first place and a sign of weakness. That's because Dion is the Joe Clark of the 21st century. Like the leader of the Progressive Conservative Party in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Dion has acquired an image as a political bumbler who slipped between stronger candidates to become leader of his party, and has been struggling to bring it under control ever since. His concession on the carbon tax might preserve the main plank of his election platform and appease his caucus, at least for now. But it might also weaken his leadership further. dmacpher@thegazette.canwest.com ||||| Media Usage Study Kids 7 to 12 As we all know, kids’ media consumption is growing: In addition to traditional media (TV, radio, magazines) today’s kids are spending time online, Instant Messaging, gaming, etc. However, there is a common misconception that if kids are spending more time on the Internet, it must be at the expense of their TV watching, when in fact time spent with the Internet is INCREMENTAL time. According to Neilsen Media Research data Time spent watching TV has remained constant over the past 15 years -- about 17 hours per week for kids two to 11. The Internet has seen strong growth and has emerged as the number two medium with kids, while TV remains ubiquitous. The importance of the Internet grows as kids mature. However, it’s worth noting that studies and press about kids’ media usage could be talking about “youth” as old as 24 years of age. Clearly the media habits of eight- to 10-year-olds are very different from those of a teenager or university student. To forestall any potential confusion about kids and their media habits, Corus Entertainment commissioned Solutions Research Group to look at the media usage of kids aged seven- to 12-years-old. Did you know? 92% of kids (aged 7 to 12) watched TV yesterday; 55% of kids used the Internet. TV is the dominant media source for information among kids 7 to 12. For Kids 7 to 12, television has the clear advantage in advertising. TV ads are seen as the ‘most noticeable’, the ‘most entertaining’ and having the ‘most information’. Source: SRG K7-12 Media Usage Study See our presentation on Kids' Media Usage If you would like more info on Kids’ Media Usage, please contact your YTV Account Manager or visit the Contact Us page. | Stephen Harper in 2006, delivering his 2006 election acceptance speech. Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper may not have dropped the writ for an election yet, but his party is airing advertisements on both television and radio. Because the election is not yet official — though it is scheduled for October 19, 2009 and could be held as soon as October of this year — the ads do not count against the Conservative Party's campaign spending limit. They have been airing since Thursday. The advertisement includes various Canadians making statements about Harper, as opposed to the Conservative platform. One woman shown in a parking lot says that she likes "the idea that he's a family man with young children." The Canadian Press notes that all four major party leaders are married and have children. Other statements include "he's doing a good job," "I've never been so proud to be Canadian," "he's on the right track" and "I like him." Political communication expert Jonathan Rose of Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario told the Canadian Press: "By relying on typical Canadians in the ads, the Conservatives are hoping that the voter will find the connection powerful. Unfortunately, these kind of ads are based on assertions, not arguments. There is no evidence given to support the claims made in them." A writer for ''The Montreal Gazette'' comments that, "at the end, it's hard to tell whether Stephen Harper is trying to smile or grimacing with the effort to convey warmth." ===Kids TV among media buy=== The Conservative Party ads are airing during children's programming, amongst other air times, presumed to be an attempt to reach parents. ''Gazette'' writer Elizabeth Thompson noted that her daughter had seen one of the ads during an airing of ''SpongeBob SquarePants'' on television station YTV. Thompson criticized the choice to air the ads in the time slot, after her daughter repeated the ad claims "matter-of-factly". SpongeBob SquarePants was shown in a recent poll to be watched by 24 percent of parents with their child. About 41 percent of YTV's audience is above the age of majority, and 68 percent of its reach composition, according to fall 2007 statistics by BBM Nielsen Media Research. |
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) worked for months to find common ground with Republicans on health care reform — but when he released his long-anticipated proposal Wednesday, the real problem quickly came into focus. He set the stage for a titanic struggle within his own party. Reaction from congressional Democratic leaders was lukewarm to worse, progressives were downright hostile and Republicans were scornful of what they described as brazen government grab. But Baucus may have provided lawmakers with the only viable blueprint for winning support across Congress, because he sought to find elements that pleased all sides. “There are honest and principled differences on all of us working for reform, and this package may not represent all of our first choices,” Baucus said. “But at the end of the day, we all share a common purpose: that is to make the lives of Americans better tomorrow than they are today and to get health care reform done, which means the time for action is now.” The next challenge for Baucus and the Senate leadership is to get the bill out of the Finance Committee — but after that, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) will need to merge the Finance bill with one approved in July by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. Even Reid, who has generally supported Baucus’s efforts, sounded less than pleased, saying he needs to be convinced the bill is right for Nevada on a proposed Medicaid expansion. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) dug in on the element dear to her liberal caucus — the public insurance option — and whacked the Baucus bill for shunning it. Baucus has made the challenge clear for Democrats, who now must choose between competing visions of health reform: an employer mandate versus fees on employers, a public insurance option versus nonprofit insurance cooperatives, and taxes on millionaires versus industry and people with expensive health care plans. The proposal capped months of closed-door discussions that, in the end, produced no immediate Republican support — and critical comments from negotiators Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Mike Enzi of Wyoming, both of whom complained about “artificial deadlines” from the White House and Democratic leaders to push through a bill, as Grassley said. Baucus put the cost of his bill at $856 billion. It would require nearly all Americans to carry insurance and employers to help cover the costs of providing government subsidies, while prohibiting insurance companies from dropping or denying coverage for people with pre-existing conditions. The Congressional Budget Office estimated the bill would cost $774 billion over 10 years and cover 94 percent of Americans. It would leave 25 million people uninsured in 2019 — a third of whom are illegal immigrants — compared with 17 million in the House bill. The analysis came in $82 billion lower than Baucus had thought it would, suggesting there could be room for senators to make adjustments. However, any expenses added to the bill must be offset with new revenue, making the task politically difficult. Another looming battle between Baucus and fellow Democrats is over how to pay for the bill — especially since the Finance bill came in at least $100 billion cheaper than the House bill. The House would pay for health reform in part by taxing high earners, families who make at least $1 million, but Baucus proposed an excise tax on insurers for their top-of-the-line plans. And Republicans think both plans cost too much. ||||| NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The health reform debate is still far from the finish line, but Wednesday brought an important milestone: A key senator's highly-anticipated proposal echoing many of the reforms that President Obama is calling for. "My bill is very, very similar to the framework that the president was talking about when he gave his message the other day. It's very similar," Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., told reporters. The proposal's price tag, according to the Senate Finance Committee, is $856 billion over 10 years. It would be paid for through cuts and savings from government health programs and through new taxes and fees on health industry players. Over 10 years, estimates are that the plan could reduce the deficit. Both Democrats and Republicans have expressed consternation about different elements in the Baucus proposal. (Read full text of the Baucus proposal.). Still, it is considered to have the best chances of passing once amended. So what might it mean to your wallet? Well, first of all, the summary of the proposal alone is 223 pages. So it's impossible to offer a comprehensive rendering of all the potential effects. But here's a quick look at several key measures that could change how much individuals end up paying for health care. Requirement to buy insurance: With some exceptions for very low-income individuals and those with religious objections, the Baucus proposal would require that individuals buy health insurance every year. The penalty for not buying insurance would be a fine running as high as $3,800 a year for a family that makes more than 300% of the federal poverty level. For families that forgo coverage and make less than that, the fine would be $1,500. The fines for individuals would be, respectively, $950 and $750. Here's some context for those fines: A survey from the Kaiser Family Foundation released Tuesday found that the average cost of premiums for employer-sponsored insurance topped $13,000 for family coverage, of which the worker paid $3,515. The average cost for an individual policy was $4,824, of which the worker paid $779. State-based insurance exchanges: The Baucus proposal like other Democratic plans would create insurance exchanges -- or supermarkets -- where individuals could comparison shop for policies. Insurers participating in the exchange would offer four levels of coverage -- bronze, silver, gold and platinum. All plans must provide a basic level of benefits, including coverage of preventive and primary care, maternity and newborn care, dental and vision care, and prescription drugs, among other areas. Plus, plans in most instances must cover 100% of the cost for preventive care. Insurers would not be permitted to cap the amount of benefits a policyholder receives. And insurers selling plans directly to individuals -- whether on the exchange or not -- would not be allowed to deny anyone coverage based on a pre-existing condition or rescind a policy when premiums have been paid in full. Health affordability tax credits: For Americans making between 100% and 400% of the federal poverty level, the Baucus proposal would subsidize premium costs for insurance purchased on state-based exchanges. The amount of the credit would be based on a sliding scale. A person eligible for the affordability credit would pay his portion of the premium to the insurer and the federal government would pay the rest. In addition, the proposal would subsidize out-of-pocket health costs for co-payments and deductibles for Americans making between 100% and 200% of poverty. The subsidy provisions in general are less generous than in other plans put forth by Democrats, raising concerns among some that insurance could still prove costly for many. "The plan would require premium contributions from low- and moderate-income individuals and families that are likely to be above what many of them can afford," said Robert Greenstein, executive director of the liberal Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, in a statement. He added, however, that he believes the Baucus proposal is a good starting point and that "it would be a great mistake to reject the plan and end up with nothing." Standardization of Medicaid eligibility: The Baucus proposal will make Medicaid benefits available to anyone whose household income is at or below 133% of the federal poverty level. That translates into $30,000 for a family of four or $14,400 for an individual. Currently, eligibility for Medicaid can vary by state, said Paul Fronstin, director of the health research program at the Employee Benefit Research Institute. States have been expressing concern that they won't be able to afford a Medicaid expansion. The proposal calls for the federal government to provide extra funding to states to compensate them for adding newly eligible Medicaid beneficiaries. Taxes and fees on insurers: The Baucus proposal would pay for reform in part by imposing $349 billion worth of taxes and fees on insurers and other health industry players, such as pharmaceutical and medical equipment manufacturers. The tax would be limited to insurers who provide high-cost insurance plans -- sometimes called "Cadillac plans." It would be a 35% excise tax on insurers for plans that cost more than $8,000 a year for individual coverage and $21,000 for family coverage. The thresholds would be adjusted for inflation annually and would be set higher in the 17 highest-cost states for the first three years. As with any business tax, the expectation is that insurers will pass that added cost along to consumers. It's not clear whether insurers would spread the added cost to policyholders in all of their plans or only to those who buy the high-priced ones. "Premiums are going up for somebody," Fronstin said. Indeed, America's Health Insurance Plans, the insurance industry trade group, said as much in a statement following release of Baucus' proposal. "New taxes on health care coverage will have the opposite effect by making coverage less affordable for families and employers across the country." - CNN's Dana Bash and CNNMoney's Jennifer Liberto contributed to this report. ||||| WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The seemingly elusive effort to reach a consensus on health care reform got a new boost Wednesday with the long-awaited launch of a plan believed to have the best hope so far of winning support from centrist Democrats and Republicans. Sen. Max Baucus revealed a health care reform plan that does not include a public option but mandates coverage. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus unveiled a summary of the legislation after months of contentious negotiations conducted against the backdrop of often heated town hall forums across the country. The proposal would cost $774 billion over 10 years while reducing the federal deficit by $49 billion in that period, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. Baucus, a Montana Democrat, put the price tag at $856 billion. Finance Committee aides attributed the different totals to accounting methods rather than any variation in the final overall costs. The plan would require all Americans to have health insurance, but lacks a government-run public health insurance option favored by most Democrats and President Obama. The CBO review estimated the proposal would leave 25 million people uninsured by 2019 -- about a third of them illegal immigrants -- compared to 46 million people currently without health coverage. Watch Baucus unveil health care plan » Baucus emphasized the plan includes input from both Democrats and Republicans on his committee who have been negotiating for months on the issue. He called it a pragmatic proposal with a realistic chance of passing the Senate, rather than something favored by one side or the other. "This package may not represent all of our first choices," Baucus said. "This is a good bill. It is a balanced bill. It can pass the Senate." However, the plan came under immediate criticism from Republicans, including three members of Baucus' Finance Committee who participated in months of negotiations with him and two other committee Democrats. Some liberal Democrats also dislike it for dropping the public insurance option. "How can we give all these consumers to the health insurance industry with no accountability?" asked House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California. Baucus, however, noted the proposal was similar to a framework for health care legislation laid out by Obama during his speech to Congress last week. On Wednesday, the White House welcomed the plan as a step forward in the health-care debate. The plan would create health insurance exchanges to make it easier for small groups and individuals to buy insurance. Instead of the public insurance option to provide competition for private insurers, the proposal calls for the creation of nonprofit health care cooperatives that would negotiate collective insurance coverage for members. However, the CBO analysis said the cooperatives as proposed were "unlikely to establish a significant market presence in many areas of the country." As with Democratic proposals already before Congress, the plan would bar insurance companies from dropping a policyholder in the event of illness if that person had paid his or her premium in full. It would add new protections for people with pre-existing conditions and establish tax credits to help low- and middle-income families purchase insurance coverage. The tax credits are aimed mostly at those at or below 300 percent of the federal poverty limit, which would be annual income of roughly $66,000 for a family of four. Insurance companies also would be barred from imposing annual caps or lifetime limits on coverage. At the same time, Americans would be required to have health coverage, and those failing to comply would face fines of up to $950 annually for individuals, and $3,800 for families. Insurers providing the most expensive insurance plans -- or so-called "Cadillac" plans -- would be hit with a tax of 35 percent of the amount that a plan's cost exceeds thresholds of $8,000 for individuals and $21,000 for families. Baucus said the idea was to get the insurance companies -- "those who profited the most" -- to be "part of the solution." Watch Sen. Max Baucus talk about his health care reform compromise proposal » He explained one particular compromise, saying his plan lacks a mandate for employers to provide health coverage for workers, but includes tax credits to encourage small businesses to do so. In addition, Baucus added language to a previous summary of the proposal to address a range of hot-button issues for conservative opponents of health care reform, including abortion, illegal immigration, and medical malpractice. According to the summary unveiled Wednesday, the bill would not pre-empt state laws banning or requiring abortion coverage. Federal tax dollars, as under current law, would not be used to pay for abortions unless a pregnancy results from rape or incest, or if the life of the mother is in danger. The measure aims to prevent illegal immigrants from using health-care tax credits or accessing insurance exchanges in part by requiring each potential beneficiary to submit a range of personal information that would need to be verified by Social Security Administration data. Stricter enforcement was a demand voiced by Republican Rep. Joe Wilson of South Carolina, who yelled out "You lie!" when Obama said in his speech to Congress that his outline would prevent illegal immigrants from getting taxpayer-funded health coverage. In another nod to conservatives in the Baucus plan, states would be encouraged "to develop and test alternatives to the current civil litigation system" as a way to help reduce skyrocketing malpractice costs. The Senate Finance Committee is the last of five congressional committees needed to approve health-care proposals before the topic can be taken up by both the full Senate and the full House of Representatives. Various forms of the legislation proposed by Democrats have already cleared three House committees, as well as the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. None of the Republicans in the Finance Committee negotiations -- Sens. Olympia Snowe of Maine, Charles Grassley of Iowa and Mike Enzi of Wyoming -- have backed the Baucus proposal, but all three said they were willing to continue working for a compromise measure. Baucus said he expected changes to his plan when the Finance Committee debates it next week. "There will be amendments offered. I suspect some of them will be very good amendments," Baucus said, later adding: "There are no real policy deal-breakers. It's more getting more comfortable with what all this is." Also Wednesday, Obama met privately with several senators to continue his lobbying effort for a health-care agreement, according to senior administration officials. The president met with Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, and Bob Bennett, R-Utah, who have opposed Democratic proposals so far, after an earlier talk with with Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-West Virginia, a critic of the Baucus proposal, the administration officials said. Rockefeller, who wants a public insurance option, said he and Obama agreed on the goals of health-care reform. He called rhetoric over the issue political posturing, and predicted both sides will eventually reach agreement on a bill. CNN's Deirdre Walsh, Dana Bash, Ted Barrett and Ed Henry contributed to this report. All About Max Baucus • Health Care Policy • Health Care Costs ||||| « Reid Thanks Baucus, Recognizes Bill Will Change | Main | RNC Reaches Out To Women, Trumpeting Leads In VA And NJ » While liberals, insurance companies, Republicans, unions, governors, and universal coverage fans have all come out opposed to Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus's health reform bill, it does have one thing going for it: the Congressional Budget Office and Congress's Joint Committee on Taxation estimate that it will save $49 billion over the first ten years of implementation, if it were to go into effect in 2010. The CBO and JCT released their preliminary analysis of Baucus's proposal this afternoon (based on Baucus's specifications but a full review of the document he released today). From their analysis (full document here): Estimated Budgetary Impact of the Chairman's Proposal According to CBO and JCT's assessment, enacting the Chairman's proposal would result in a net reduction in federal budget deficits of $49 billion over the 2010-2019 period (see Table 1). The estimate includes a projected net cost of $500 billion over 10 years for the proposed expansions in insurance coverage. That net cost itself reflects a gross total of $774 billion in credits and subsidies provided through the exchanges, increased net outlays for Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and tax credits for small employers; those costs are partly offset by $215 billion in revenues from the excise tax on high-premium insurance plans and $59 billion in revenues from other sources.1 The net cost of the coverage expansions would be more than offset by the combination of other spending changes that CBO estimates would save $409 billion over the 10 years and other tax provisions that JCT and CBO estimate would increase federal revenues by $139 billion over the same period.2 In subsequent years, the collective effect of those provisions would probably be continued reductions in federal budget deficits. Some of the ways it saves that much money are points of contention for Democrats as well as Republicans (like taxing expensive insurance plans), and many liberals would rather have a bill that spends more to bring more people into the system, but this is something that Baucus is hanging his hat on--especially the fact that $409 billion of its net $539 billion savings come from spending reductions, rather than new taxes.As health reform moves to the Senate floor for the amendment process, the $49 billion savings will likely frame the discussion of cost, at least initially, as various proposals affect the Senate package's budgetary impact. | On Wednesday the U.S. Senate released its version of the U.S. healthcare overhaul that has recently been advocated by Barack Obama. The released an 18-page summary of the 223-page bill that will, according to Senate Finance Committee Chairman , cost 856 billion over 10 years. The estimates that the bill will cost US$774 billion over 10 years and will cover 94% of Americans. The Senate version was orchestrated by Senator Baucus, a from . The bill was released without any support from the committee. However, today, the bill received support from a bi-partisan group of Senators including the Republican Senator from , and . If the bill's passage is determined along party lines, Democrats will need at least one Republican Senator to avoid a possible in the Senate. The proposal mandates nation-wide individual insurance by 2013 and omits a government-run insurance clause as is included in the U.S. House version; instead, the plan calls for non-profit healthcare cooperatives. The healthcare cooperatives would be provided with US$6 billion in initial funding to cover start-up fees and costs. Individuals refusing to obtain coverage can be charged up to US$950 annually with families fined up to US$3,800 per year. Small businesses will not be mandated to provide healthcare to their employees but those who do will receive tax credits. Also, insurances companies that have more expensive individual plans will be taxed for 35% of the amount that that the plan exceeds the federal individual threshold of US$8,000 or the family threshold of US$21,000. The bill includes clauses for protection against coverage suspensions due to illnesses and protections for individuals with pre-existing conditions. It will not pre-empt state laws on abortion and does not provide for abortion payments except in cases of rape or incest. The plan also mandates registration with the as a means to avoid illegal alien use of the program. The bill will reportedly be paid for by US$850 billion in spending reduction, taxes and fees to include reduction in benefits. The Senate Finance Committee is the last approval authority before the Senate or House bills can be considered for floor debate. |
Robot vessels used to cap Gulf of Mexico oil leak The US Coast Guard has described it as a "very serious spill" Robotic submersibles are being used to try to stop oil leaking into the Gulf of Mexico from a damaged well almost a mile (1.5km) below the surface. Some 1,000 barrels (42,000 gallons) of oil a day have been gushing from the well since a drilling rig exploded and sank off the Louisiana coast last week. British oil company BP, which leased the rig, said the "first-of-its-kind" attempt would take 24 to 36 hours. A nearby oil platform has been evacuated as a precaution. Workers on the rig, the Ocean Endeavour, were taken away because the oil slick was coming dangerously close, said the US Minerals Management Service. Conservation experts say the oil has the potential to damage beaches, barrier islands, wetlands and wildlife reserves along hundreds of miles of coastline in four US states. Whales have been spotted near the spill but they did not appear to be in distress. For now, the weather conditions are keeping the oil away from the shore and it is hoped the waves will break up the heavy crude oil, allowing it to harden and sink back to the ocean floor. The oil is not expected to reach land for at least another three days. Officials are monitoring the environmental effects by boat and plane. 'Very serious' BP - which is responsible under federal law for the clean-up - said it was using four submersible vehicles, equipped with cameras and remote-controlled arms, to try to activate a blow-out preventer - a series of pipes and valves that could stop the leak. OIL SPILL DISASTERS 1991: 520m gallons were deliberately released from Iraqi oil tankers during the first Gulf War to impede the US invasion 1979: 140m gallons were spilt over nine months after a well blow-out in the Bay of Campeche off Mexico's coast 1979: 90m gallons leaked from a Greek oil tanker after it collided with another ship off the coast of Trinidad 1983: 80m gallons leaked into the Gulf over several months after a tanker collided with a drilling platform 1989: 11m gallons were spilt into Alaska's Prince William Sound in the Exxon Valdez disaster Richard Black's blog However, this was a "highly complex task" and "it may not be successful", said chief operating officer of BP's exploration and production unit, Doug Suttles. If the blow-out preventer does not seal off the well, the company intends to place a large dome directly over the leaks to catch the oil and send it up to the surface, where it could be collected by ships. This has been done before, but only in shallow waters, Mr Suttles said. Another alternative is to drill a "relief well" intersecting the original well, but he warned that this might take two to three months to stop the flow. BP has brought in more than 30 clean-up vessels and several aircraft to spray dispersant on the oil floating on the surface. Bad weather forced the operation to be suspended at the weekend. In that time, the oil slick was estimated to have grown to about 600 sq miles (1,550 sq km), officials said. The US Coast Guard has described it as a "very serious spill". Coast Guard Petty Officer Connie Terrell said 32 vessels were waiting for conditions to improve to resume the clean-up. She could not say when they would be back at work, but said 23,000ft (7km) of containment booms had been deployed, 70,000ft more were ready to go when the effort resumed, and another 50,000ft were on order. Missing workers The Deepwater Horizon burned for 36 hours before it sank on Thursday. It had been carrying out exploratory drilling 52 miles south-east of Venice, Louisiana, when the blast occurred. Eleven workers are still missing and presumed dead. The search for them has been called off. Another 126 workers were rescued. An investigation into the cause of last Tuesday's explosion is continuing. In 2009, BP was fined a record $87m (£53m) for failing to improve safety conditions following a massive explosion that killed 15 people at its Texas City refinery. The US Mineral Management Services found no violations on the Deepwater Horizon rig when it carried out routine inspections in February, March and April this year. The current leak would have to continue for more than eight months to match the 11m-gallon spill from the oil tanker Exxon Valdez off Alaska in 1989, the worst oil spill in US history. Bookmark with: Delicious Digg reddit Facebook StumbleUpon What are these? E-mail this to a friend Printable version ||||| NEW ORLEANS — Oil continued to pour into the Gulf of Mexico on Monday as the authorities waited to see if the quickest possible method of stopping the leaks would bring an end to what was threatening to become an environmental disaster. Remote-controlled robots operating 5,000 feet under the ocean’s surface were more than a full day into efforts to seal off the oil well, which has been belching crude through leaks in a pipe at the rate of 42,000 gallons a day. The leaks were found on Saturday, days after an oil rig to which the pipe was attached exploded, caught on fire and sank in the gulf about 50 miles from the Louisiana coast. The robots were trying to activate a device known as a blowout preventer, a 450-ton valve at the wellhead that is designed to shut off a well in the event of a sudden pressure release. Officials had initially said that the operation, which began Sunday morning, would take 24 to 36 hours. But on Monday a Coast Guard spokesman said officials would keep trying as long as the efforts were feasible because “it’s the best option.” The other options — collecting the oil in a dome and routing it to the surface or drilling one or more relief wells — would take weeks or even several months to execute. Wind has kept the spill from moving toward the coast. Officials said the spill had a 600-mile circumference Monday, but most of that was a thin sheen of oil-water mix. Only 3 percent of the area was crude oil with a “pudding-like” consistency, they said. The wind was expected to change direction by Thursday, however, and the spill’s distance from the coast has not prevented a threat to marine life. On Sunday a crew from the United States Fish and Wildlife Service spotted three sperm whales in the vicinity of the spill. Planes that were dropping chemicals to break down the oil were told to steer clear of the whales. The chemicals, known as dispersants, can be as toxic to mammals as the oil itself, said Jackie Savitz, a marine biologist with a background in toxicity with Oceana, a Washington nonprofit group that focuses on ocean conservation. Ms. Savitz said environmental concerns were not alleviated by assurances that the spill was not yet a threat to the coast. “There is a misconception that if water doesn’t hit the beach it isn’t dangerous,” she said. Plans are moving forward to design a dome that could be submerged over the leaks, which are coming from a 5,000-foot pipe called a riser that ran between the wellhead and the rig. The riser is now snaking along the ocean bottom. The dome would corral the oil and route it up to vessels to be collected. But Doug Suttles, the chief operating officer for exploration and production at BP, which was leasing the rig from Transocean and is required by law to pay for the cleanup, continued to emphasize the engineering challenges of such an operation at a news conference on Monday. “I must stress that this is state of the art,” Mr. Suttles said, adding that the method had never been done at such depths. It would take at least two weeks to put into place, he said. More than 1,000 people are working on the spill, including officials from the Coast Guard, the federal government and BP. BP is also mobilizing rigs that would drill one or more deep wells nearby to push mud and concrete into the gushing cavity, an operation made all the more expensive and complex in the deep waters. That would take two to three months. The explosion and leaking of oil have underscored the risks and challenges that a new generation of oil pioneers faces plying for discoveries at such depths. While the causes of the accident on BP’s rig, called Deepwater Horizon, may take months to determine, drilling down 10,000 feet or more is inherently risky because of the extreme heat and pressure at those depths. Holding down the pressure while drilling is one trick, and keeping the equipment from softening or bending is another, requiring engineers to develop extra thick steel, alloys and heavy insulation for the job. “At these water depths and well depths, there is more that can go wrong,” said Neal Dingmann, an analyst covering offshore drilling and service companies at Wunderlich Securities in Houston. “You have much higher pressures and temperatures to battle.” BP and Transocean officials said the pressure that was building in the oil and gas reserve that the rig was drilling was not exceptional. But pressure was probably a factor if the accident was caused by a well blowout, as many experts suspect. Oil companies have been drilling in deep waters for nearly 20 years, but it has become more popular over the last decade as rising oil prices made the practice more economical. Only 15 years ago, oil experts said gulf production was in a deep decline and oil companies were abandoning the area for Russia and the Caspian Sea. The gulf is now the source of a quarter of the nation’s domestic production, and that share is likely to grow, especially with production in Alaska falling. Until last week’s accident, the industry has had few recent spills in the Gulf of Mexico. Amy Myers Jaffe, an energy expert at Rice University, noted that in the last 15 years there was not a single spill of over 1,000 barrels among the 4,000 active platforms off the shores of the United States. Ms. Jaffe said offshore drilling was considerably safer for the environment than the tankers used for importing oil. “In all drilling you have the challenge of dealing with pressurization, and in the case of deepwater Gulf of Mexico that process is assisted by tens of thousands of super computers,” she said. “It’s as technically challenging as space travel, but safer.” The question of safety may now become a political flashpoint, since the Obama administration announced recently that it wants to open more areas to offshore drilling. On Monday, Senator Bill Nelson, Democrat of Florida, and New Jersey’s two Democratic senators, Frank R. Lautenberg and Robert Menendez, sent a letter to the chairmen and ranking members of the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee and the Energy and Natural Resources Committee to request a hearing on the accident, which left 11 workers missing and presumed dead. “The explosion, ensuing fire, and continuing spill raise serious concerns about the industry’s claims that their operations and technology are safe enough to put rigs in areas that are environmentally sensitive or are critical to tourism or fishing industries,” the letter said. | After an explosion aboard an oil rig four days ago, an oil spill caused by the sinking of the rig has expanded to cover an area of around 600 square miles (1550 square kilometers), and efforts to shut off the leak have thus far been unsuccessful. Officials have begun to use robotic submersible vehicles to stop the leak. The efforts began yesterday, although it could be as late as tomorrow before they are completed. The vehicles will attempt to engage a device called a , which can seal the well shut to prevent sudden releases of pressure within the well, like the one that may have caused the rig to explode. According to BP, the company that operated the well, the attempt was the first of its kind in the world. The leaks are on a pipe from the ocean floor called a . They are currently estimated to be releasing around 42,000 gallons of oil a day into the Gulf of Mexico, and the oil slick on the surface of the ocean is estimated to cover an area about 48 by 39 miles at its widest points. Officials say oil is not expected to reach land until at least Thursday, and would remain at least 30 miles from land through Tuesday. The impact of the spill on wildlife is currently unknown; there have been no reports of animal casualties, though whales were seen in the vicinity of the spill yesterday. According to officials, there are two other possible ways to contain the oil spill if the attempt to seal the well is unsuccessful. One option would be to install a large dome over the leak and send the collected oil to the surface, where it would be collected by ships. This has been done before, although only in shallow water. The second option is to drill an entirely new well that would intersect the original, although this could take months to complete. |
Norway says Russia has increased military flights in the Arctic Four RAF F3 Tornado aircraft were scrambled in response to the Russian action, the UK's defence ministry said. The Russian planes - long-range bombers - had earlier been followed by Norwegian F16 jets. Russia recently revived a Cold War-era practice of flying bombers on long-range patrols. In a statement the MoD said the eight Russian Tupolev Tu-95 Bear aircraft, flying in loose formation of four pairs, were initially intercepted by the Norwegian air force. Radar tracking They were tracked by the Norwegian aircraft until entering the Nato area for which the UK has responsibility in the early hours of Thursday morning. Under established Nato procedures the MoD said it launched quick reaction alert aircraft in order to identify the bombers, as is routine. Four F3 Tornados were launched in two waves from RAF Leeming, in North Yorkshire. A Boeing E-3D airborne warning and control aircraft and a VC-10 refuelling tanker supported the operation, the MoD said. The Russian bombers eventually altered course to leave the Nato zone, being tracked by UK aircraft and the radar station at RAF Boulmer, Northumberland. Norway is following the increased Russian activity in the far north with interest Lt Col John Inge Oegland Norwegian armed forces They were presumed to be heading back to their base. The incident was the latest this summer in which British fighters have been used to warn off long-range Russian reconnaissance aircraft. An MoD spokesman said: "The re-emergence of long-range flights from Russia is something the Russians are entitled to do. "All countries have the right to maintain or up-grade and exercise their defence capabilities. "The motivation behind any Russian military activity is a matter for the Russian government." 'Several incidents' Earlier an MoD spokesman said the Russian bombers had approached but were not in British airspace. Spokesman for the Norwegian armed forces, Lt Col John Inge Oegland, told the BBC the Russian bombers flew in international airspace from the Barents Sea to the Atlantic, before turning back. Two Norwegian F-16s shadowed them on Thursday morning and another two went up later, he said. There have been several similar incidents in recent months, Lt-Col Oegland added. "Norway is following the increased Russian activity in the far north with interest," he told the BBC News website. He said the Russian flights were not causing alarm in Norway. "Our systems are adequate," he said, when asked whether Norway was bolstering its security in the area. ||||| Britain's air force scrambled four Tornado warplanes to intercept eight Russian long-range bombers, but the Russian planes did not enter British air space, the Ministry of Defence said. Russia's Defence Ministry said 14 strategic bombers had been flying long-range patrol operations but none approached a foreign state and most were accompanied by fighter jets from NATO countries. Relations between Britain and Russia are at their worst since the Cold War, but the Foreign Office said Britain did not see a recent Russian decision to resume of long-range patrols as a cause for alarm and that "normal preparedness" was in place. Russia's refusal to extradite Andrei Lugovoi, a former KGB bodyguard suspected of murdering emigre Alexander Litvinenko in London last year, led to tit-for-tat expulsions of diplomats this year. "In the early hours of this morning four RAF (Royal Air Force) Tornado F3 aircraft... were launched to intercept eight Russian Bear aircraft which had not entered UK air space," the Ministry of Defence said in a statement. A British Foreign Office spokesman said relations with Russia "continue as normal outside the unresolved extradition request". The Tupolev Tu-95, code-named 'Bear' by NATO, is Russia's equivalent of the US B-52 bomber and is a Cold War icon. Russia's Defence Ministry said 14 Russian strategic bombers had started long-range routine patrol operations on Wednesday evening over the Pacific, the Atlantic and the Arctic. "The planes flew only over neutral water and did not approach the air space of a foreign state," it said. "Practically all the planes were accompanied by fighters from NATO countries." It is at least the second time in recent months Britain has scrambled jets to intercept Russian bombers. The sorties by Russian bombers appeared to the latest of the regular long-range patrols that President Vladimir Putin announced last month would be resumed, after a gap following the collapse of the Soviet Union. - Reuters | F-16 fighter jet Four F3 Tornado fighter jets were launched by the United Kingdom's Royal Air Force to intercept Russian military planes. The eight Russian jets were flying in airspace patrolled by Nato, officials from the UK claimed. The long-range bombers were initially followed by Norwegian F16 jets, after Russia's recent decision to reinstate Cold War-style long-range patrols. 14 strategic bombers were flying on long-range patrol, according to Russia's Defence Ministry. They also confirmed that none had approached a foreign state and had been shadowed by aircraft from Nato countries. The Ministry of Defence in the United Kingdom released a statement that the Russian Tupolev Tu-95 Bear aircraft, flying in four loosed pairs, were tracked by Norwegian aircraft before entering Nato airspace on Thursday morning. The UK currently holds responsibility for the Nato airspace, and launched four F3 Tornados from RAF Leeming in North Yorkshire, UK, to identify the bombers. The bombers eventually left the Nato zone, under tracking by UK aircraft and RAF radar in Northumberland. An MoD spokesman confirmed that Russia was entitled to its long-range patrols, adding 'The motivation behind any Russian military activity is a matter for the Russian government.' Lt Col John Inge Oegland, spokesman for the Norwegian armed forces, said there had been several similar incidents in recent months, but that the Russian flights were not causing alarm in Norway. Relations between Britain and Russia have worsened recently, particularly after Russia's refusal to allow the extradition of a former KGB bodyguard suspected of murdering emigre Alexander Litvinenko in London last year. Relations with Russia would "continue as normal outside the unresolved extradition request", a UK Foreign Office spokesman said. |
Ireland's aviation community last night expressed shock and sadness at the untimely passing of Ryanair's Cathal Ryan. The eldest son of the recently deceased Dr Tony Ryan, Cathal was aged just 48 years when he passed away yesterday after a very short battle with cancer. Having trained as a pilot in Sri Lanka in the early 1980s, Cathal had aviation in his blood long before his father set up Ryanair in trust for his three sons in 1985. Passion The eldest Ryan boy embraced his father's new business with boyish passion, leaving the Far East to become one of Ryanair's first pilots, while younger brother Declan entered the managerial ranks and youngest son Shane was still in school. Former colleagues remembered a "well-heeled chap", one of the only fellows in early Ryanair who owned a good suit and a flash car to go with it. Indeed, his flash credentials were to become very useful for the fledgling Ryanair, which was frequently cash strapped. Colleagues fondly recall one incident where Cathal was piloting a plane out of an airport, when he was told the plane couldn't take off because of an unpaid bill. The account was promptly settled with the Ryan boy's gold card. His Ryanair journey also saw him catapulted into the executive ranks to head up London European Airways in 1986, in which Ryanair had just taken an 85pc stake. The venture was to be short-lived (it was eventually rebranded Ryanair UK and then brought into the Ryanair fold completely), but it still gave Cathal a chance to cut his executive teeth and by mid-1997 he was describing Ryanair's upcoming "substantial profits" to journalists. He later returned to flying before resigning in 1996, just before Ryanair's stock market flotation propelled the airline to dizzying financial heights. Success He eventually left the airline's board in 2002, having watched the family business become one of the world's biggest aviation success stories and having become a millionaire in his own right several times over in the process. In later years, Cathal was best known for his focus on the family stud farm and was a regular feature at buying events around the country. He also acted as a director of family investment vehicle Irelandia, which has been involved in the launches of Tiger Airways in Asia and AeroBus in Mexico, to name but a few. Recently, he had begun spending a lot of time in Italy, and developed a keen interest in the performing arts. The aviation industry was last night stunned by news of his passing, with those who had work with him commenting that he had "seemed fine" when paying tributes at his father's funeral just 10 weeks ago. Long-serving Ryanair director Ray MacSharry last night paid tribute to Cathal as "invaluable" to the airline's "continuing success". Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary last night described the Ryan heir as "one of life's originals". "He was bright, charming, witty and tremendous company," Mr O'Leary said. "He was also an extremely skilled pilot, having become one of the youngest ever captains on the Boeing 747 aircraft, which he flew for Air Lanka in the early 1980s. Cathal's vision, his expertise and his dedication to aircraft safety was pivotal to the development of Ryanair, and to our 22-year safety record. "Cathal was one of Ireland's aviation pioneers. He was a comet who shone brightly in our lives and has passed away at a tragically early age. We will all be much the poorer for the loss of his talent, his ability and his friendship," Mr O'Leary added. - Laura Noonan ||||| The family behind the Ryanair empire suffered another tragedy yesterday with the death of 48-year-old Captain Cathal Ryan just three months after the death of his father, Ryanair founder Dr Tony Ryan. Tributes were paid last night to the former airline pilot as his family struggled to come to terms with this second tragedy. Both father and son battled cancer. Capt Ryan died at his home in Celbridge, Co Kildare, surrounded by his children Cillian, Claudia, Danielle and Cameron, his mother Mairead and brothers Declan and Shane. Claudia's mother, former Miss Ireland Michelle Rocca, paid tribute to Capt Ryan as a "wonderful father". "He was a wonderful father to Claudia; he and I had a very good relationship over the past number of years and he will be greatly missed by all of us." Capt Ryan was one of the original founders of Ryanair and was one of its first pilots when he joined in 1990. He later served as a director from 1996 until 2002. He also took a keen interest in horse-racing and was both a breeder and an owner. Trainer Ted Walsh described him as a "great benefactor" of the sport.. Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary said it was with the greatest sadness that he had learned of the passing of "one of the life's originals". "He was bright, charming, witty and tremendous company. Cathal's vision, his expertise and his dedication to aircraft safety was pivotal to the development of Ryanair. He was a comet who shone brightly in our lives and has passed away at a tragically early age." Captain Ryan's funeral service will be strictly private. Aviation community mourns: P49 - Breda Heffernan ||||| Cathal Ryan, son of the late Ryanair founder Dr Tony Ryan, has died. Mr Ryan was a pilot and a long-serving director of the airline. Dr Tony Ryan died in October after a long illness. Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary paid tribute to Cathal Ryan, saying 'his vision, his expertise and his dedication to aircraft safety was pivotal to the development of Ryanair'. Meanwhile Ryanair has welcomed a ruling in the High Court in London. Mr Justice Gray gave the airline an injunction against aircraft maintenance company SRT to prevent it forcing Ryanair to vacate a hanger at Dublin Airport. Advertisement The judgement was critical of SRT and the Dublin Airport Authority. Ryanair had asked the court to compel SRT to honour promises it says were made by the maintenance company in 2000 in side letters to contracts to seek a 15-year licence to use Dublin airport hangars in return for moving its maintenance operation from Stansted. | Cathal Ryan, an early board member of Irish non-designated flag carrier, and son of late co-founder Tony Ryan, has died. He was 48, and had been diagnosed with cancer. Cathal bacame one of Ryanair's first pilots, having trained as one in the 1980s in Sri Lanka, when his father set up the airline in 1985 in trust for his three sons, of which Cathal was the eldest. He left the Far East specifically to join the airline. In 1986 he became the head of London European Airways, a business in which Ryanair had bought an 85% stake. This position, however, quickly disappeared as the carrier became Ryanair UK and was then merged entirely with Ryanair. Over the next decade, Cathal worked both on the executive board of the airline and as a pilot, although he resigned from the latter by 1996. He remained with Ryanir until leaving the board 2002, by which time he was a multi-millionaire due to the success of the airline. He continued to be actively involved with business ventures, taking an active role in running his family's stud farm, as well as being a director for Irelandia, a family-owned investment company. With Irelandia he was involved in the launches of such airlines as Tiger Airways and AeroBus. Cathal died yesterday at his home in Celbridge, Co Kildare, in the company of his children Cillian, Claudia, Danielle and Cameron, his mother Mairead and brothers Declan and Shane. Friends and colleagues expressed surprise at his passing, commenting that at the funeral of his father, who had also been diagnosed with cancer, ten weeks previously he had "seemed fine." Cathal had also recently begun regular trips to Italy, where he had become interested in the performing arts. Ray MacSharry, a long-serving Ryanair director, described Cathal as "invaluable" to the air carrier's "continuing success". Michael O'Leary, CEO of the company, called him "one of life's originals". "He was bright, charming, witty and tremendous company," Mr O'Leary went on. "He was also an extremely skilled pilot, having become one of the youngest ever captains on the Boeing 747 aircraft, which he flew for Air Lanka in the early 1980s. Cathal's vision, his expertise and his dedication to aircraft safety was pivotal to the development of Ryanair, and to our 22-year safety record. "Cathal was one of Ireland's aviation pioneers. He was a comet who shone brightly in our lives and has passed away at a tragically early age. We will all be much the poorer for the loss of his talent, his ability and his friendship," Mr O'Leary concluded. "His vision, his expertise and his dedication to aircraft safety was pivotal to the development of Ryanair." His former fiance Michelle Rocca, mother of Claudia, expressed her sadness at his passing: "He was a wonderful father to Claudia; he and I had a very good relationship over the past number of years and he will be greatly missed by all of us." Others described him as a "well-heeled chap", and one of the few members of Ryanair early in the airline's history to be able to afford expensive items, such as his luxury car and his high-quality suit. Cathal's prosperity had often helped Ryanir through financial problems in it's early stages. Several colleagues recalled one famous incident where airport authorities had refused to allow an aircraft he was piloting to be refueled unless it was paid for up front due to an unpaid bill. When Cathal was informed of the issue, he produced his gold credit card to pay for the fuel. |
12 March 2007 Despite failing to get into Darfur because of visa restrictions, the mission met hundreds of relevant people and reviewed thousands of pages of documents relating to the human rights situation in the troubled region during its month of work from 5 February to 5 March in Geneva, Addis Ababa, N’Djamena, Abeche and the refugee camps of Eastern Chad. “The situation is characterized by gross and systematic violations of human rights and grave breaches of international humanitarian law. War crimes and crimes against humanity continue across the region,” the mission said in its 35-page report to the Human Rights Council, which begins its fourth session in Geneva today. “The principal pattern is one of a violent counterinsurgency campaign waged by the Government of the Sudan in concert with Janjaweed /militia, and targeting mostly civilians. Rebel forces are also guilty of serious abuses of human rights and violations of humanitarian law.” The report says the Sudanese Government “has manifestly failed to protect the population of Darfur from large-scale international crimes, and has itself orchestrated and participated in these crimes.” Underscoring the “solemn obligation of the international community to exercise its responsibility to protect,” the report details the grim situation in Darfur, highlighting that killing of civilians remains “widespread,” along with the systematic use of rape and sexual violence. It also makes recommendations to the Council itself, the Sudanese Government, the various armed rebel movements and the international community. “The Government of the Sudan should cooperate fully in the deployment of the proposed UN-AU peacekeeping/protection force without further delay,” the report states. “Sudan should end the targeting of civilians in Darfur, cease all support for Janjaweed/militia forces, and proceed with the disarmament, demobilization and reintegration of such forces.” The mission also called on the Government to remove all obstacles to the delivery of humanitarian assistance to the millions in need in the region. The UN says more than 200,000 people have been killed and at least 2 million others forced to flee their homes since 2003, while in total, some 4 million civilians need assistance to survive in Darfur, which is in the west of Sudan. The report also calls on all armed rebel movements operating in the region to strictly observe and respect international law, and ensure the free and safe access and movement of humanitarian personnel. It also urges them to “cooperate in good faith” in the pursuit of peace. In addition, it calls on the Security Council to take “further action” to ensure the protection of civilians in Darfur, including through the deployment of the proposed UN-AU force, while recommending that the Human Rights Council should help set up an independent national rights commission for Sudan “to address the grave situation.” Meanwhile on Saturday, Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon spoke with Sudanese President Omar Hassan Al Bashir, and informed him of the choice made along with AU Chairman Alpha Oumar Konaré, of a UN-AU joint Special Representative and a Deputy Special Representative for the Darfur region, as well as the force commander for the joint mission, according to a UN spokesperson, who told reporters today that Mr. Ban would discuss the Darfur situation with the Security Council on Thursday. On Thursday last week, the Secretary-General received a letter from Sudan’s President replying to his earlier correspondence detailing the proposed UN-AU force of up to 24,000 personnel. The letter was accompanied by a 14-page annex in Arabic. ||||| A displaced Sudanese woman is seen outside her barrack at the Sakali Displaced Persons camp in Darfur A UN human rights team has accused Sudan's government of orchestrating war crimes in Darfur, and blocking international attempts to intervene. VOA's Peter Heinlein reports from UN headquarters in New York. The 35-page UN report charges the Khartoum government with direct involvement in planning and carrying out war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur. The team, led by Nobel peace prize laureate Jody Williams, says "killing of civilians remains widespread." It adds that, "Rape and sexual violence are widespread and systematic. Torture continues." The report was issued days after Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir rejected an interim UN plan to bolster African Union peacekeeping forces in Darfur. The rejection was contained in a letter to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. It dashed hopes that blue-helmeted UN troops might soon be deployed in Darfur. At least 200,000 people have died in the vast region of western Sudan since war broke out more than four years ago. The United States has described the massacres in Darfur as genocide. UN human rights experts have declined to use that term to describe the killings, but the latest report urges the Security Council to take "urgent further action" to stop the violence. Britain's UN ambassador, Emyr Jones-Parry, Monday called President Bashir's letter a blow to plans for deploying a 22,000-strong UN force to replace the badly understaffed 7,000 African Union peacekeepers in Darfur. "I'm very disappointed by that letter," he said. "It's a major setback, and is tantamount to a request for renegotiation of some of the points in the heavy package." Delegates face a giant screen prior to opening of 4th UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, 12 March 2007 The Security Council is expected to take up the Sudan issue later this week, with the United States and European Council members saying they favor sanctions against the Khartoum government. But veto-wielding Council members China and Russia have both expressed doubts about the wisdom of sanctions. The mission's report recommends that officials of Sudan's government be tried on war crimes charges, along with leaders of government-backed Arab militias, known as Janjaweed. The report says that some Darfur rebel forces are also guilty of serious human rights abuses. Mission leader Jody Williams was quoted by The Associated Press Monday as saying some rebels should probably be tried alongside Sudanese officials and Janjaweed leaders. The UN human rights mission was dispatched last December by the Geneva-based UN Rights Council, but was not granted access to Darfur. The Sudanese government has denied responsibility for the attacks mentioned in the mission's report, and blamed rebel groups that rejected a Darfur Peace Agreement signed last year in Nigeria. Sudanese officials Monday declined to comment on the report. They said any response would come Tuesday, when Sudan is scheduled to address the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. VOA News ||||| Published: Monday, March 12, 2007 Excerpts from a report by a UN human rights team investigating crimes against humanity in Sudan’s Darfur region. - “Today, millions are displaced, at least 200,000 are dead, and conflict and abuse are spilling over the border into Chad.” - “Making matters worse, humanitarian space continues to shrink, and humanitarian and human rights actors are increasingly targeted.’ - “Killing of civilians remains widespread, including in large-scale attacks. Rape and sexual violence are widespread and systematic. Torture continues.” - “Arbitrary arrest and detention are common, as is repression of political dissent, and arbitrary restrictions on political freedoms.” - “Violations of human rights and international humanitarian law have increased by all parties to the conflict since the signing of the DPA (Darfur Peace Agreement). - “The deteriorating security situation since the DPA has resulted in tens of thousands of newly displaced - now totaling well over two million displaced people in Darfur - and 30,000 more refugees in the camps in Chad, with new arrivals daily.” - “Today, the conflict is also having a growing impact in the Central African Republic. If the conflict in Darfur is not meaningfully and equitably resolved, bringing peace and security to its people, it could increasingly engulf the region.” - “UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called for a peacekeeping force along both borders.” - “Arbitrary arrest and detention in Darfur by government security forces continue.” - “Individuals reportedly targeted include lawyers, community leaders and others who work on human rights, Sudanese who work for international organizations or who are perceived as co-operating too closely with the international community, individuals who share the predominant ethnicities of various rebel groups, and Sudanese who display opposition political views.” - “Since September 2006, there has been a wave of arrests of Darfurians in Khartoum.” - The human rights team “has also received credible information of torture, inhumane and degrading treatment by National Security and Military Intelligence during attacks and in the treatment of detainees.” - “The methods used include beatings with whips, sticks and gun butts, prolonged sun exposure, starvation, electrocution, and burning with hot candle wax or molten plastic.” - “Many detainees are held incommunicado without charge or access to a lawyer.” - “In the last six months of 2006, more relief workers were killed than in the previous two years combined.” - “Just during the month of December 2006, 29 humanitarian vehicles were hijacked and 430 humanitarian workers relocated in all three Darfur states.” - “Witnesses, victims and observers we met repeatedly confirmed joint action between government forces and armed militia in assaulting civilian targets in Darfur.” - “Arms continue to flow freely, and heavily armed militia continue to operate across the territory of Darfur with impunity.” - “Rebel abuses of human rights and humanitarian law also continue ... Civilians have been targeted in armed rebel attacks, and acts of rape and torture by rebel forces have also been documented.” - “There have been reports of attacks on aid convoys by rebel forces, putting the populations in these areas in a particularly precarious situation.” - “The Commission also found credible evidence that, while not widespread and systematic, rebel forces from the JEM (Justice and Equality Movement) and SLA (Sudan Liberation Army) were responsible for serious violations of human rights and humanitarian law which may amount to war crimes.” - “The situation is characterized by gross and systematic violations of human rights and grave breaches of international humanitarian law.” - “War crimes and crimes against humanity continue across the region ... The principal pattern is one of a violent counterinsurgency campaign waged by the government of the Sudan in concert with Janjaweed militia, and targeting mostly civilians.” -“Rebel forces are also guilty of serious abuses of human rights and violations of humanitarian law.” - “The mission further concludes that the government of the Sudan has manifestly failed to protect the population of Darfur from large-scale international crimes, and has itself orchestrated and participated in these crimes.” - “The government of the Sudan should co-operate fully in the deployment of the proposed UN/AU peacekeeping/protection force without further delay.” - “The Security Council should take urgent further action to ensure the effective protection of the civilian population of Darfur, including through the deployment of the proposed UN/AU peacekeeping/protection force and full co-operation with and support for the work of the International Criminal Court.” - “The General Assembly of the United Nations should request the compilation of a list of foreign companies that have an adverse impact on the situation of human rights in Darfur.” -UN member states “should also be prepared to prosecute individuals suspected of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur through the exercise of universal jurisdiction in national courts outside of the Sudan.” © The Associated Press | Nyala in South Darfur. A report from a United Nations Human Rights Council mission "concludes that the government of the Sudan has manifestly failed to protect the population of Darfur from large-scale international crimes, and has itself orchestrated and participated in these crimes." The mission urges the U.N. to take "urgent further action", for example by deploying the proposed U.N. and African Union peacekeeping forces, and co-operating with the International Criminal Court. The report team, lead by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Jody Williams, further urges Sudan to stop targeting civilians. The report also says the government is allowing militias such as the Janjaweed to act with impunity, and that government forces are even operating jointly with the militia. The militias themselves and the armed rebel groups aren't spared either; they are accused of serious violations of human rights and international law. During their month of work, the researchers didn't actually get into Sudan because they were not given visas, but they interviewed hundreds of relevant people (such as refugees), and reviewed thousands of pages from documents on the humanitarian situation in Darfur. Fighting between rebel groups and government-backed militia in the Darfur region has killed an estimated 200,000 and displaced 2.5 million. To summarise the situation, the 35-page documents says: "Today, millions are displaced, at least 200,000 are dead, and conflict and abuse are spilling over the border into Chad." The report says that humanitarian and human rights workers are increasingly being targeted, especially during the past six months. "Killing of civilians remains widespread, ... Rape and sexual violence are widespread and systematic. Torture continues." The experts think the conflict could destabilise the region. The mission advises the U.N. General Assembly to "request the compilation of a list of foreign companies that have an adverse impact on the situation of human rights in Darfur." The U.N. agencies should then cease to do business with these companies. Sudanese officials declined to respond to the report immediately, saying that the response will be made in Sudan's address to the United Nations Human Rights Council on Tuesday. Just days ago, Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir rejected an interim U.N. plan to bolster African Union peacekeeping forces in Darfur. Up to 24,000 troops were to replace the current 7,000 African Union peacekeepers in the western Sudan region. The almost 4-year-old Darfur conflict is being fought between the Janjaweed militia (Arabic for "devils on horseback"; they are camel-herding Arabs) and a group of mostly land-tilling tribes. The Sudanese government in the past denied allegations against them, blaming the rebels who didn't sign the peace treaty of 2006. The International Criminal Court in The Hague has already summoned a junior minister of the Sudan, and a militia leader, to answer war crime charges. The government in Khartoum refused to extradite anyone, saying the people responsible would be tried in the Sudan itself. |
ZHUJI, China | ZHUJI, China (Reuters) - China has mobilized troops to help with flood relief and raised its disaster alert to the highest level after days of downpours forced the evacuation of more than half a million people in central and southern provinces. The official China Daily said more than 555,000 people had been evacuated in seven provinces and a municipality after rains in recently drought-stricken areas caused floods and mudslides in the Yangtze River basin. Central authorities have raised the disaster alert to the highest level 4, and the government is describing the floods in some areas, such as eastern Zhejiang province's Qianting River area, as the worst since 1955. Local media said two dykes in the village areas of Zhuji in Zhejiang province were breached on Thursday, flooding two towns and 21 villages. In the flood-hit Banshan and Moshan villages on the outskirts of Zhuji, hundreds of people had been evacuated, but many have since returned to guard their homes and belongings. "For us now, we will be worried if we leave our homes. That's why we are still staying here. Yesterday, the water level was receding slowly so we came back to clean up our house," said 49-year-old Jie Jingping. Jie is staying put in her flooded home with her daughter and elder sister. The first floor of her village home is completely inundated and she has moved all their belongings to the second and third floors. She said the local government has been distributing a box of instant noodles and a carton of bottled water to every family as flood aid. Other villagers said life was tough for some residents who were still trapped deep inside the village by the flood waters as aid distribution has been slow. "Some did not even get any relief items. There is no electricity and you get bitten by mosquitoes all the time," said 25-year-old Shou Pengfei. "To be frank, those rescue boats cannot go through those narrow lanes inside the village. A lot of them depend on their relatives rowing small wooden boats to get to them... It is hard to help these people inside there," he added. State media said that as of Thursday evening, floods caused by the most recent four days of rain had resulted in 19 deaths and left seven missing in Anhui, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Hubei, Hunan, Sichuan and Guizhou provinces and Chongqing municipality. The official death toll caused by floods and mudslides since June 3 has not been updated since Wednesday when state media said at least 105 people had been killed and 65 were missing. Forecasters warned on Thursday (June 16) that in the coming days rain could bring fresh danger, including in the southwest. The downpours are not expected to ease until Sunday. The China News Service reported on Thursday that in Jiangxi province in the east, troops helped 122,400 residents move from vulnerable, low-lying areas. State media have not given a total number of troops mobilized for the relief effort. In central Hubei province, downpours two days ago triggered a landslide that left six people missing and blocked the Pingdu River, forcing 2,000 residents to flee in case a wall of water burst through the mud and debris. (Additional reporting by Michael Martina and Sabrina Mao in Beijing; Editing by Chris Lewis and Sanjeev Miglani) ||||| Fatal floods hit China forcing over 500,000 to flee China has raised the disaster alert to the highest level, as flooding spreads across central and southern provinces Continue reading the main story Related Stories Days of torrential rain have forced the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of people in central and southern China. The government has described flooding in some areas as the worst since 1955 and has mobilised troops to evacuate some 555,000 people. More than 100 people are known to have died so far this month. China's disaster alert has been raised to the highest level, four. More heavy rain is expected in the coming days, with little let-up until Sunday. In Jiangxi province in the east, troops helped 122,400 residents move from vulnerable, low-lying areas, the China News Service reported. Rain follows drought In central Hubei province, downpours earlier this week triggered a landslide that left six people missing and blocked the Pingdu River, forcing 2,000 residents to flee. The floods come after months of crop-destroying drought in the centre and north of the country. Some areas along the Yangtze River have suffered their worst drought in half a century. Despite the rain, officials have warned that the crop shortages and dislocation caused by drought will remain severe. Analysts say crop shortages in China could affect prices around the world. ||||| Massive flooding in southern China follows drought in many regions. Authorities in southern China have evacuated hundreds of thousands of people after days of heavy rain triggered burst riverbanks, widespread flooding, and mudslides in the region. "Since June 13, the damage caused by the rainstorms has led to ... the emergency evacuation of 671,200 people to safety," China's Ministry of Civil Affairs said in a statement on its website Friday. Altogether, more than a million people have been evacuated since the rains began, with at least 168 deaths reported, including those from two previous rounds of rains beginning in early June. Sichuan, Guizhou, and Zhejiang will be hit by further rainstorms at the weekend, according to meteorologists in Beijing. Beijing's National Meteorological Center called on flood-hit areas to brace for more rain. "These areas must strengthen their prevention of geological disasters," the National Meteorological Center said in a statement. 'Widespread damage' The Civil Affairs Ministry said the damage from flooding has been "widespread" across the eastern provinces of Zhejiang, Anhui, and Jiangxi, the central province of Hubei, as well as Guangdong and Guangxi in the south and Sichuan, Chongqing, and Guizhou in the southwest. The damage was heavy in most places, with 40 percent of counties reporting "serious" damage as a result, it said. The ministry estimated economic losses from the flooding at around 12.8 billion yuan (U.S.$1.9 billion). The central government has raised the emergency response signal to level 4, the highest possible, sending out rescue teams to worst-hit Zhejiang, Anhui, and Jiangxi, which until mid-June were parched with drought. Guizhou was first to be hit by severe flooding at the beginning of June, with 37 deaths in Wangmo country alone and 45,000 evacuated residents. Qiantang river in eastern China rose to a 50-year high this week, with water levels on rivers in Sichuan, Guangxi, and Guangdong also at dangerously high levels, official media reported. Reported by Luisetta Mudie. ||||| China has evacuated more than 500,000 people from deadly floods that are devastating areas in the south of the country following the worst drought in 50 years. At least 105 people have been swept to their deaths or killed in landslides and another 65 are missing after rivers burst their banks. The authorities have issued the highest level of alarm about dykes and dams under dangerous pressure. Television channels that were only recently broadcasting images of dried-up lake beds are now carrying footage of flooded homes and boats plying their way through inundated streets. China Daily said 550,000 people have been forced to leave their homes. The dramatic shift is in line with weather trends identified by the Beijing Climate Centre, which says rain is coming in shorter, fiercer bursts, interspersed by protracted periods of drought. The worst affected province is Zhejiang, where some stretches of the Qiantang river have risen to their highest level since 1955, according to the Flood Control and Drought Relief Office. In the Zhuji district, which has had 40.5cm of rain since the start of the month, the Puyang river inundated 88 villages and 13,000 hectares of crops. In neighbouring Jiangxi province, troops have helped 122,400 residents evacuate from vulnerable lowlands, according to the China News Service. Roads have been closed and bridges have collapsed in the floods, which have also affected Hubei, Hunan, Sichuan and Guizhou provinces. Monitoring stations on 40 rivers have recorded water levels above the safety limit, including Asia's biggest waterway – the Yangtze – which is simultaneously suffering a flood downstream and a drought closer to its source. Meteorologists warned that the torrential downpours are forecast to move southwards or inland. Li Xiaoquan was quoted on China's weather news website as saying that the rains were expected to affect Sichuan, Chongqing and Guangdong provinces before easing on Sunday. Additional reporting by Cecily Huang ||||| China drought worsens in parched north In northern China farmers are working hard to try to save their crops from the drought Continue reading the main story Related Stories Across northern China swathes of land are dry, parched by drought. In some areas these are the driest conditions in a lifetime. Snowfalls in recent days have helped a little, but still, across huge areas of land, water is in short supply. The countryside is dotted with empty dams. Standing on top of one, near Qufu in Shandong Province, you can see just a tiny muddy pool in the centre of a dam that is hundreds of metres long. Sitting rusting on the earth is a small boat. Along the dry dam floor people have been planting rows of crops because it has been like this for so long. Li Si Jiao, 77, his back stooped with age, shuffles slowly along a path on top of the dam. His face is weathered and creased with lines. He gestures at the dam and says the water used to stretch all the way to the village in the distance, but no more. This is China's breadbasket, the heart of its grain growing lands, and all around are Shandong's wheat fields. They are full of lines of seedlings, sprouting from the ground, but wilting and yellowing. A grey, polluted haze hangs in the air. Every few hundred yards small groups of men and women are working to try to save their crops from the drought. China is the world's biggest grower and consumer of wheat. In normal years it is self-sufficient. But if it has to import grain this year then that will have an impact far afield. Already just the warnings of a possible shortfall in China's crop have put pressure on global wheat prices. Emergency measures As we approach one group of farmers they crank an old engine into life. It sputters, and then water spurts out from a thick pipe dangling down an open well perhaps 20m (65ft) deep. The well belongs to Liu De Xu and his wife Wang Li Jun. They are sharing the water with their neighbours and it has to be rationed. Yesterday it was Liu De Xu's turn to water his tiny patch of land, about 10m wide and 50m long, where his wheat is planted. Today it is his neighbour's turn. Warnings of a possible shortfall in China's crop have put pressure on global wheat prices Mr Liu and his wife are now desperate to prevent their seedlings from dying. He has a metal contraption slung over his shoulder. Walking behind him, she guides it as it tears at the ground and spreads fertiliser to keep the crop growing. It is hard, manual labour, and Mr Liu puffs and strains as he marches along. Then his wife grabs some of the wheat plants and runs over to me. "Look," she says, "they are all like this." The tiny shoots are no more than a few centimetres long, but half of them are already shrivelled and drying. "We need a solution to this problem, if there is not enough rain we'll all have to abandon the fields and go to the towns to find work." To stop that happening China's government is spending $1bn (£600m) on emergency measures to fight the drought. In practice that means digging wells, and lots of them. We find a team with a giant rig they have constructed in a field. Four men in blue overalls and red hard hats haul giant metal pipes into place, then drill down. It will take them several days to dig. But the foreman tells me that this is only a temporary measure, only more rain can solve the basic problem of the drought. The last well the team completed two days ago produced water for just a few minutes, then nothing more came out. Deep under the earth China's water, on its arid northern plain, is slowly running out. It is a massive problem and China is only just starting to face up to it. Long-term problems Some 200 million people live across the north China plain. It is home to giant cities like Beijing and Tianjin which are expanding fast. But the area has water resources comparable to a desert country and every year as the population swells the water stress grows worse. Continue reading the main story “ Start Quote The harsh reality is that there is simply not enough water” End Quote Ma Jun Chinese environmentalist China's industries are inefficient, they consume far more water than those in developed countries. The country's construction boom means water use is even more intensive. Many of the rivers in the north have dried up. Dams have blocked their normal flow, the water diverted to towns, farms and factories. The northern megacities now rely on underground water sources for two-thirds of their needs. But the aquifers beneath places like Beijing are being drained, sinking as they are used faster than the rain can replenish them. Some fear the water could be gone in 30 years in places. Ma Jun is one of China's most prominent environmentalists. Over a decade ago he wrote a book titled China's Water Crisis. As we walk along one of Beijing's dirty canals he tells me: "In China two-thirds of our cities are short of water. Shifting water "But the north China plain, where many of our biggest cities and industries are found, and which is China's breadbasket, is where our water is in shortest supply. So this drought now is making our long-term problems worse." Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play. The biggest fear of all is that China, now an engine for the global economy, could find that lack of water constrains its future growth. "There is a growing understanding," Ma Jun says, "that we need to change, that our mode of growth is not sustainable. The harsh reality is that there is simply not enough water." The country does have huge quantities of water, but they lie far to the south, in the massive rivers that run from west to east, 1,000km away from Beijing and the cities of the north. So China is pressing ahead with one of the world's biggest engineering schemes to shift the water northwards. Fond of massive schemes, the country's Communist Party leaders are building the North-South water project, a giant series of canals and pipes to carry water from the Yangtze and Yellow rivers to Beijing. The cost of the project is a staggering $60bn (£36.8bn). Standing on a giant crane looking down on one of the North-South construction sites you can see hundreds of workers welding and cutting iron bars, building huge metal moulds to make sections of concrete pipe. Each section is around 10m (33ft) high, 8m (26ft) wide and 30m (99ft) long. When complete the North-South project will deliver the equivalent of 50,000 Olympic-size swimming pools full of water to cities in the north each day. One of the men overseeing the site tells me that it is a great honour to take part in the project, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for a construction engineer. But the scheme can only be a stopgap. The amount of water it will deliver will buy China time to change and, hopefully, become more efficient. But it won't be enough to solve the country's water woes. China's thirst is just too great, and unless it alters its ways, millions might find one day, that their water could run dry. | The course of the Yangtze River, China's largest, from north to south. Heavy June rainfall has forced China to evacuate more than 550,000 people from their homes. Massive floods have devastated the central and southern parts of the country, causing rivers to overflow their banks and triggering mudslides. The rains follow the worst in China in over 50 years, which has decimated crop yields. Overall, 40 rivers have risen above safe limits, stressing dykes and dams including those on China's largest waterway, the , which is flooding downstream while experiencing a severe drought near its source in the north. China's disaster level has been raised to four, the highest on the scale. In a statement on its website on Friday, China's said, "Since June 13, the damage caused by the rainstorms has led to ... the emergency evacuation of 671,200 people to safety." The current round of heavy rains began in early June. Since then, more than a million and a half people have been displaced in the central and southern regions of the country and at least 168 deaths have been reported. Meteorologists in are predicting more heavy rain in , , and this weekend. The government has mobilized its forces to aid in the massive evacuations. According to , local authorities are distributing a box of and a carton of bottled water to those affected by the flood. But villagers have reported that survival is difficult, especially for those still trapped by the flood waters in small villages, and distribution of aid is slow, with some not receiving any. A villager was quoted by Reuters: "To be frank, those rescue boats cannot go through those narrow lanes inside the village. A lot of them depend on their relatives rowing small wooden boats to get to them... It is hard to help these people inside there." Another villager, Shou Pengfei said, "Some did not even get any relief items. There is no electricity and you get bitten by mosquitoes all the time." According to the Beijing Climate Centre, weather trends have shifted drastically. Currently the rain is coming in shorter but fiercer bursts, with protracted periods of drought in between the torrential rain. on the in 2009. The heavy rainfall is not likely to reduce the crop failure caused by months of drought, especially in the north, the heart of China's grain-growing bread basket, where many rivers have dried up. According to reports, the northern countryside has been left devastated by the droughts. Huge dams hundreds of meters wide are now small, muddy pools. Large cities such as are draining the underground water sources and China is facing a long-term water crisis. Meanwhile, China is engaged in a huge multi-year engineering project designed to move water to the parched north and away from the flooded south. The North-South water project is a massive series of canals and pipes designed to carry water from the Yangtze and rivers to Beijing. It is likely, analysts predict, that Chinese crop shortages will increase food prices worldwide. Even before the latest flooding, the severe drought in the north caused a shortfall in China's crop yields that will likely affect the price of wheat and may propel a price increase in global markets. |
Compulsory voting Compulsory voting means that every Australian citizen (18 years or older) is required by law to enrol and vote. If a person does not vote and is unable to provide a "valid and sufficient" reason, a penalty is imposed. Compulsory voting is a distinctive feature of the Australian political culture. More... ||||| Compulsory vote fight knocked down Posted A South Australian man seeking to overturn the nation's compulsory voting system has run out of legal options after the High Court refused his appeal. Anders Holmdahl argued the current system is unconstitutional and that voting at federal and state elections is a right, not a duty. He said more than 700,000 blank votes were cast at the last federal election, showing many Australians would support the cause. The case attracted the support of former Liberal senator Nick Minchin, but it was dismissed by the South Australian Supreme Court in September. Mr Holmdahl challenged that decision by lodging a special leave application in the High Court. His lawyer argued the case raised significant issues of public importance but the court ruled the case would have no prospect of success and refused leave to appeal. Topics: electoral-system, courts-and-trials, sa, adelaide-5000 ||||| VOLUNTARY voting advocates have been granted a Full Court of the High Court hearing in seven days time. The move is unusual because the High Court has bypassed an application for special leave to appeal in favour of a full court hearing, which is done only for cases of special importance or constitutional significance. South Australian man Anders Holmdahl failed last June in a Supreme Court bid to overturn an Australian Electoral Commission fine for not voting in the 2010 federal election. Acting for Mr Holmdahl, Kevin Borick, said "I think it means they consider the case important and we have a chance". Mr Borick said lawyers would argue that the Australian constitution gives electors the right to make their choice fully, unforced and freely. The Australian Electoral Commission and The Attorney-General for the State of South Australia versus Anders Holmdahl will be heard at on 12 April 2013 in Canberra with a video link to the Angas Street offices of the court from 9am Adelaide time. Originally published as Voting challenge to go to High Court ||||| HOLMDAHL v AUSTRALIAN ELECTORAL COMMISSION [2012] SASC 76 (11 May 2012) Last Updated: 11 May 2012 SUPREME COURT OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA (Magistrates Appeals: Criminal) DISCLAIMER - Every effort has been made to comply with suppression orders or statutory provisions prohibiting publication that may apply to this judgment. The onus remains on any person using material in the judgment to ensure that the intended use of that material does not breach any such order or provision. Further enquiries may be directed to the Registry of the Court in which it was generated. HOLMDAHL v AUSTRALIAN ELECTORAL COMMISSION [2012] SASC 76 Judgment of The Honourable Justice Gray 11 May 2012 MAGISTRATES - APPEALS AND REVIEW - SOUTH AUSTRALIA - APPEAL TO SUPREME COURT - FURTHER APPEAL TO FULL COURT CONSTITUTIONAL LAW - THE NON-JUDICIAL ORGANS OF GOVERNMENT - THE LEGISLATURE - ELECTIONS AND RELATED MATTERS - FAILURE TO VOTE Appeal by the defendant against conviction - following a trial before a Magistrate, the defendant was convicted of an offence against section 245(15) of the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 (Cth) - where the defendant was enrolled as an elector on the Commonwealth Electoral Roll and did not vote at the election on 21 August 2010 - where the defendant did not pay the penalty for failing to vote - whether the conviction should be set aside - whether an order should be made referring the appeal for hearing and determination by the Full Court. Held: Appeal referred for hearing and determination by the Full Court pursuant to section 42(2)(b) of the Magistrates Court Act 1991 (SA) and rule 280(2) of the Supreme Court Civil Rules 2006 (SA). Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 (Cth) s 245(15); Magistrates Court Act 1991 (SA) s 42; Supreme Court Civil Rules 2006 (SA) r 280(2), referred to. HOLMDAHL v AUSTRALIAN ELECTORAL COMMISSION [2012] SASC 76 Magistrates Appeals GRAY J. The defendant and appellant, Nils Anders Holmdahl, was charged with an offence against section 245(15) of the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 (Cth). The particulars alleged were as follows. On 21 August 2010, there was a general election and a Senate election for the State of South Australia. On that date, the defendant was enrolled as an elector on the Commonwealth Electoral Roll for the Division of Hindmarsh. The defendant failed to vote at the election and has not paid the penalty for failing to vote. The complainant is an officer authorised in writing by the Electoral Commissioner to institute proceedings for an offence against section 145 of the Commonwealth Electoral Act. On 7 December 2011, the defendant pleaded not guilty to the charged offence and the trial proceeded before a Magistrate. An agreed statement of facts was tendered. No oral evidence was led by either party. Relevantly, the agreed facts included the following. On 21 August 2010, the defendant was enrolled as an elector on the Commonwealth Electoral Roll for the Division of Hindmarsh. An election was held on that date. The defendant did not vote on that date. The defendant did not attend the polling booth on that date. The defendant did not have his name marked off the electoral roll. The defendant did not receive ballot papers and deposit them into a ballot box. The defendant made a deliberate decision not to attend the polling booth on 21 August 2010. The defendant made a deliberate decision not to vote on 21 August 2010. On 3 February 2012, the Magistrate convicted the defendant of the offence as charged. In the course of his reasons, he made the following observations: 1) The court must consider a question of law. The Defendant challenges the validity of compulsory voting in Federal Elections. He asserts that Section 245(15) of the Act is not a valid law. 2) The basis of the Defendant’s argument is that Section 245(15) is contrary to the basic meaning of the word ‘vote’ as it forces a person to make a choice. He further asserts that Parliament can not compel persons to vote. 3) Section 245(15) makes it an offence to fail to vote at a Federal election without a valid and sufficient reason for the failure. This subsection, combined with subsection 245(1) makes voting at Federal elections compulsory. 4) Voting at Federal Elections has been compulsory since 1924. The validity of compulsory voting in Federal Elections has long been upheld by the High Court of Australia. Judd v McKeon [1926] HCA 33; (1926) 38 CLR 380 involved the predecessor to Section 245. Subsequent Members of the High Court have cited that authority without casting any doubt on its validity. 5) As a decision of the High Court, Judd v McKeon must be followed by lower courts unless and until it is overruled by the High Court. 6) The act of voting is a process set out in Part XVI of the Act. In pursuance of his defence the Defendant sought reliance on the meaning of the word ‘vote’ as defined in various dictionaries. 7) However, the meaning of the words ‘to vote’ in regard to Federal Elections is well established by case law. 8) Section 245 of the Act furthers the requirements of Sections 7 and 24 of the Constitution that, Parliament be ‘directly chosen by the people’ by providing for compulsory voting subject to limited exceptions. 9) As the defendant has admitted that he did not vote at the 2010 Federal Election (and that he did not pay the pecuniary penalty for failing to vote) unless he can show a valid and sufficient reason for his failure, there is compelling evidence to find the charge proved. 10) It appears the Defendant’s reason for not voting is based on his assertions about the invalidity of the compulsory voting system as constituting ‘a valid and sufficient reason’ for failing to vote. 11) Nevertheless, as remarked by Hogarth J in Douglas v Ninnes (1976) 14 SASR 377 at 383: Objection to compulsory voting of itself does not amount to a valid and sufficient reason ... The principle seems to be that objection to compulsion is simply objection to being obliged to obey the law as laid down by Parliament, a contradiction of the obligation imposed by Parliament, and not a valid and sufficient reason for not observing it. 12) I find that the defendant has not discharged the evidential burden to satisfy the court that he has ‘a valid and sufficient reason’ for failing to vote at the Federal Election held in August 2010. 13) I am satisfied of my finding and determination beyond reasonable doubt. 14) I find the Defendant guilty of having committed the offence of failing to vote, contrary to Section 245(15) of the Act as charged. [Emphasis in original.] On 24 February 2012, the defendant appealed to this Court pursuant to section 42 of the Magistrates Court Act 1991 (SA). That section relevantly provides: Appeals (1) A party to a criminal action may, subject to this section and in accordance with the rules of the appellate court, appeal against any judgment given in the action (including a judgment dismissing a charge of a summary or minor indictable offence but not any judgment arising from a preliminary examination). ... (2) The appeal lies— (a) in the case of an action relating to an offence categorised under the Summary Procedure Act 1921 as an industrial offence—to the Industrial Court; or (b) in any other case—to the Supreme Court constituted of a single Judge (but the Judge may, if he or she thinks fit, refer the appeal for hearing and determination by the Full Court). ... By his notice of appeal, the defendant sought “[a]n order quashing the judgment the subject of the [a]ppeal”. As an alternative, the defendant sought an order referring the appeal for hearing and determination by the Full Court pursuant to section 42(2)(b) of the Magistrates Court Act and rule 280(2) of the Supreme Court Civil Rules 2006 (SA). Rule 280(2) provides: The Court (constituted of a Judge) may, on application by a party or on its own initiative, refer an appellate proceeding for hearing and determination by the Full Court if the difficulty or importance of the questions raised justify the reference. | Australian coat of arms, used as the High Court logo. Last Friday, following over two years of lawsuit over failure to participate in general election, Anders Holmdahl attended a High of Australia hearing with an audio-link from Canberra to , South Australia, claiming voting is a right, not a duty, citing the . However the Justices dismissed the application for leave to appeal against conviction, ruling it had "no prospect of success" over a point that was enacted within power. Anders Holmdahl was represented by , the president of the Australian Criminal Lawyers Association, throughout the process. Anders Holmdahl cited "fundamental distinction" between the words ''vote'', which he defined as "exercise of free will"; ''right'', "something you are privileged to be granted"; and ''duty'', "something you are required to do". After a 20-minute discourse with the lawyer representing the applicant, Justice said, "An appeal to this Court would enjoy no prospect of success. Special leave to appeal is refused." and adjourned the Court. Justices , were also present at the hearing and participated in the verbal discourse, also enquiring the lawyer about their reasoning but not specifying reasons other than what Hayne J said. ''Wikinews'' contacted both Anders Holmdahl and the High Court and confirmed there was no other documentation of reasons behind the judgment. The standard procedures involve hearing each matter by a single Justice and only escalating it after a special leave to appeal is granted. The current case had been irregular, as the matter had been escalated to the Full Court (three Justices) directly. The appeal also had exhausted lower means of appeal before being lodged in High Court; the had dismissed it on September 24, 2012. It cited that the Australian Constitution allows each state to enact their own election laws, and the Federal Parliament has the power to make laws "with respect to ... matters in respect of which this Constitution makes provision until the Parliament otherwise provides". The Court concluded that was legislation enacted within power. Prior to escalation to the Supreme Full Court of South Australia, in May 2012, a single Justice Gray had forwarded the matter for consideration of Full Court (three Judges) at his discretion. This happened several months after a Magistrate had recorded the conviction following a trial in February 2012. Anders Holmdahl originally pleaded not guilty during his first Magistrates court appearance in December 2011 regarding the August 21, 2010 election. The requires all citizens to enroll. Then they must vote at each general election — election of members of the House of Representatives and Senate of the Parliament of Australia. At the time of the election, Anders Holmdahl was enrolled as an elector on the Commonwealth Electoral Roll for the . The High Full Court hearing was a last instance of appeal with further escalation only possible at international level. Anders Holmdahl had decided to take the case before the . |
Kovalainen originally finished ninth, but had 25s added to his race time due to an unsafe pit stop release. ||||| The Brawn GP driver won the F1 title after finishing fifth in the Brazilian Grand Prix. Celebrations for Button mean disappointment for the German Sebastian Vettel, however, who now sits in second with one race to go. "We are the champions," Button sang – albeit out of key – from his cockpit after crossing the finishing line and capturing the title with one race left in the season. "It's really amazing especially after the last few weeks. It was such an awesome race. When I first jumped in a car 21 years ago I never expected to be world champion - but we did it today," the 29-year-old Brit told reporters after the race. After Button's opening win at the Australian Grand Prix, his wire-to-wire triumph turned into a case of the tortoise and the hare in the second half of the season, as he survived the intensifying pressure around him. But he continued to collect points and took the title with a solid drive in Sunday's dramatic 71-lap race. Disappointment for Vettel Sunday saw German Sebastian Vettel's hopes of glory vanish. The young gun Red Bull driver came in fourth ahead of Button, giving him a season total of 74 points and placing him in second place in the standings for the time being. In the end, heavy traffic and a late puncture kept the German out of contention, with Australian Red Bull driver Mark Webber taking the Brazilian title. Polish BMW driver Robert Kubica took second in the race, while the British Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton came in third. Swiss Sebastien Buemi of Toro Rosso was seventh and the local hero, Brazilian veteran Rubens Barrichello, eighth after starting from pole position. glb/AFP/Reuters/dpa Editor: Ranty Islam ||||| A first lap containing spins, shunts and a pit-lane fireball – more incidents, in fact, than most entire races – set the scene for today's Brazilian grand prix, an absorbing contest in which the celebrations were shared by Mark Webber, winning for the second time this season in his Red Bull-Renault, and Jenson Button, whose fifth place brought him and the Brawn-Mercedes team the double of the 2009 world drivers' and constructors' championships. Given the testing circumstances, Button's drive was the equal of the very best of the six victories he collected in the first half of the see-sawing season. After a catastrophic qualifying session he took his fate into his own hands and drove with controlled aggression. When the slightest mistake would have meant disaster, he executed a series of overtaking manoeuvres with measured authority. At the start of the afternoon the permutations were almost endless. A podium finish would secure the title for Button but a poor tyre choice on Saturday reduced him to 14th place on the grid and gave hope to his team-mate Rubens Barrichello, starting from pole position in front of his home crowd. Sebastian Vettel, the championship outsider, needed both a victory and a bad day for both Brawn drivers, but was another Saturday casualty and started one place behind Button. Within a lap much had changed. Adrian Sutil's Force India, starting from third on the grid, was overtaken by Kimi Raikkonen's Ferrari as the cars plunged through the dramatic downhill esses and then tangled with Jarno Trulli's Toyota at high speed, putting both cars out. The Italian veteran, believing he had been edged off the track, confronted the young German with a series of gestures suggesting that they might be meeting again to sort it out away from the public gaze. The stewards ruled that it had been a racing incident but fined Trulli $10,000 for refusing to leave the track and for the manner of his confrontion with Sutil. Meanwhile Heikki Kovalainen had spun his McLaren halfway round the lap, forcing another tailender, Giancarlo Fisichella's Ferrari, on to the grass. Kovalainen dived into the pits for new tyres and left just ahead of Raikkonen, who had lost his front wing while trying to pass Webber. The McLaren driver, however, restarted with the fuel hose still attached (for which the team were fined $50,000), covering his fellow Finn's Ferrari in a film of petrol which ignited in a spectacular blaze that momentarily blinded Raikkonen but was quickly extinguished by the airflow as he accelerated away. "An interesting first lap, as usual here," Webber said, with dry understatement. At the end of it, with the safety car out, the Australian was tucked in behind Barrichello and ahead of Nico Rosberg's Williams and Robert Kubica's BMW-Sauber. Profiting from the misfortunes of others and from his own success in staying out of other people's accidents, Button was already up to ninth position and preparing to go about the business of improving his prospects. Cool and decisive moves in the esses took him past Romain Grosjean's Renault and Kazuki Nakajima's Williams on successive laps but Kamui Kobayashi, a grand prix debutant replacing Timo Glock at the wheel of the second Toyota, proved a more troublesome obstacle. For 18 laps Button sat behind the Japanese driver, observing his opponent's questionable racing etiquette before picking his moment to pass. "That guy is crazy," he said later. "He moves a lot in the braking zones, which makes it very difficult, as Nakajima found out." The other Japanese driver's attempt to overtake his compatriot ended in an expensive shower of carbon fibre, his Williams smashing itself against the barriers while the Toyota continued on its erratic way, eventually finishing 10th. Now up to sixth place, Button was able to follow his strategy in relative peace, his position improved – and his title sealed – when Barrichello, having slipped to third behind Webber and Kubica during the first stops, suffered a puncture with eight laps to go. A third pit stop relegated the Brazilian to eighth place, continuing his run of appalling luck at his home circuit. Like Vettel, who finished an excellent fourth after a fighting drive, he saw his championship chances disappear. The final place on the podium went to the McLaren of Lewis Hamilton, his drive from 17th place on the grid doing great credit to a man relinquishing his title but already making plans to mount a challenge to its new holder next year. ||||| There must have been moments in 2008 when Jenson Button felt like giving up. Honda had landed him with a car that gleaned him just three points, forcing him to watch a younger British driver, Lewis Hamilton, take the title he had long craved. Then the Japanese manufacturer pulled the rug out from under him, withdrawing from Formula One racing and putting the team up for sale. On the back of an uninspiring season, and with a world financial crisis to contend with, Buttons prospects for 2009 were looking bleak. Ten months on, however, and Button has clinched his first-ever world championship with one race in hand after his storming drive to fifth place in Sundays Brazilian Grand Prix. Hes been the favourite ever since Brawn showed their cards at the season opener in Melbourne, and although his title success comes a lot later than many had predicted back in March, for the British driver things couldnt have turned out better. Over two decades since he first sat in a kart, hed finally got his hands on motorsports supreme prize. And the achievement couldnt taste sweeter. Its really amazing, he told reporters in parc ferme. After the last few races Ive had, this one makes up for it. Im world champion and that race deserves it! After nine years of feeling hamstrung by inept machinery, Button was given an inkling of how quick the Brawn was during the winter tests and he was determined not to waste the chance. The car, fitted with its controversial yet legal double diffuser, was a dream to drive, and as the season got underway, Button was nothing short of sensational. The fairytale had finally come to fruition. Wrapping up six victories (and one third place) in quick succession over the opening seven events, he looked so dominant that bookmakers reportedly started paying out on bets he would win the title back in June. He had certainly put team mate - and nearest rival - Rubens Barrichello firmly in his place during those early races, outpacing him at most meetings and outscoring him at all. The de facto champions lead in the standings seemed unassailable. A glimmer of doubt, however, had already begun to creep into view. At Aprils cold and wet China race Button found it tricky to keep up with the dominant Red Bulls of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber, while in front of his adoring home crowd at Silverstone the Briton, bettered by Barrichello, could only muster sixth. The first weakness in Brawn and Buttons well-crafted armour had been laid bare, and team members began to openly discuss the trials of getting adequate heat into their tyres at the colder races. Unwittingly it seemed Brawn had dropped the ball and Red Bull (and a resurgent McLaren) were all too willing to pick it back up, with Sebastian Vettel, then Mark Webber, and then McLarens Lewis Hamilton seizing the advantage at June and Julys British, German and Hungarian Grands Prix. Before those events, Button had almost double the points of his rivals; after them they were much closer and catching. Perhaps most worrying for Button was that by then Barrichello was firmly in the hunt too. At first the Brazilian been comparatively off the boil, but his aggressive driving style forced more heat into the rubber than Buttons distinctly smoother approach, and it started to pay dividends. With 300+ races under his belt, he was also much better equipped to eek the most out of the cars set-up over a weekend (and crucially himself during qualifying), and won his first 09 race in Valencia. Meanwhile Button made a silly mistake during Q3, thereby ruling himself out of the chance for a podium. In Belgium Button struggled all the more with tyre temperatures and there were more and more mutterings in the press that he couldnt handle the pressure of a title campaign. Despite his lead in the standings, the crown was slipping from his grasp. A second place in Italy (behind Barrichello), a fifth place in Singapore and an eighth in Japan, did little to assuage those doubts. And as the paddock arrived in Brazil, with everything still to play for in the title fight, it seemed like fortune was favouring Barrichello who took a dominant pole in front of his home crowd. Button was left bitterly disappointed in 14th. It was a devastating blow, and the only consolation was that Vettel (also still in the running albeit with a 16-point deficit) was in 15th. But it wasnt much. Button, however, remained calm and collected in Sundays race. Seizing the advantage from the very start, he pulled off a series of early of amazing, title-worthy overtaking moves. Keeping both Vettel and Barrichello within his sights, he had all but secured the championship by the closing stages of the race and ultimately secured the crown with fifth place. It had been the drive of a champion, and the title was his. Fittingly it came at the same circuit at which, as a fresh-faced Williams driver in 2000, he secured his first-ever Formula One points. Congratulations Jenson! ||||| Photo: GETTY IMAGES On Sunday night, the same Brackley-based team were celebrating not only Jenson Button's world drivers' title but the constructors' crown as well, a phenomenal achievement given the fact that Ross Brawn did not effect his management buy-out until March and the team lost 350 of their staff over the winter. Button, who took a voluntary 50 per cent pay cut to stay at the team, paid tribute earlier this week to the actors and extras in what he labelled "a Hollywood movie". "It wasn't just whether they could compete in F1, it was whether they had a job that could pay for their kids' school and what have you," Button said. "But in the end, we got the deal done and we were able to go racing. I think when everyone saw the car drive for the first time in Barcelona they were very surprised." That is quite an understatement. The BGP001 blew its rivals completely out of the water on its first official outing in March. Reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton was about three seconds a lap slower in his McLaren, which had been testing for weeks. How did Brawn do it? Well, despite its late arrival on the scene the BGP001 was still one of the most expensive cars ever built. When Brawn arrived at Honda from Ferrari in December 2007 he realised that the 2008 car was already too far gone and instead concentrated his energies on the 2009 model. By the time it hit the track it was the product of well over a year's careful planning and countless millions of Honda dollars. It also had a shiny new Mercedes-Benz beneath its white and fluorescent yellow chassis, which was estimated to be giving it around 60 brake horse power more than its old Honda engine. Nothing, though, gave the BGP001 such an advantage as its controversial 'double-decker diffuser' – a radical interpretation of new aerodynamic rules – which prompted a raft of protests from the other teams and an FIA inquiry. By the time it was declared legal in mid-April, and the rest of the teams got down to developing their own versions of the same idea, Button was well on his way to the title. The irony is, though, that Brawn's achievements this year are likely to be a one-off. With Mercedes due to be taking a controlling interest, it is likely to be renamed by next spring. Still, you can't say they didn't make their time in the sun count. ||||| Photo: EPA Australian Grand Prix, Melbourne, March 29 Resurrected from Honda's demise just over a fortnight previously, Brawn GP scored a historic one-two, becoming the first team to do so on their debut since Mercedes in 1954. Jenson Button led from start to finish while the appearance of the safety car late on resulted in the subsequent 'lie-gate' scandal and Lewis Hamilton's disqualification from third. Standings: 1 Button (Brawn GP) 10pts; 2 Rubens Barrichello (Brawn GP) 8; 3 Jarno Trulli (Toyota) 6; 4 Timo Glock (Toyota) 5. Malaysian Grand Prix, Sepang, April 5 Horrendous monsoon conditions forced the abandonment of the race after 31 of the 56 scheduled laps, with half points being awarded. Button was the one singing in the rain as he made it back-to-back wins with BMW Sauber's Nick Heidfeld second and Timo Glock third. Standings: 1 Button 15pts; 2 Barrichello 10; 3 Trulli 8.5; 4 Glock 8. Chinese Grand Prix, Shanghai, April 19 Brawn failed to have it all their own way in Shanghai as Red Bull Racing secured their first victory courtesy of Sebastian Vettel, with team-mate Mark Webber second. Button and Barrichello were forced to settle for third and fourth. Standings: 1 Button 21pts; 2 Barrichello 15; 3 Vettel 10; 4 Glock 10. Bahrain Grand Prix, Sakhir, April 26 Starting one and two on the grid, Toyota should have secured their first win from 127 races, but it failed to materialise due to a gamble on fuel that backfired. Button took the honours for the third time in four races, with Vettel second ahead of Jarno Trulli. Standings: 1 Button 31pts; 2 Barrichello 19; 3 Vettel 18; 4 Trulli 14.5. Spanish Grand Prix, Barcelona, May 10 Another one-two for Brawn GP, and another victory for Button as Barrichello fumed at the tactical change enjoyed by his team-mate a third of the way through the race. Webber was third and Vettel fourth. Standings: 1 Button 41pts; 2 Barrichello 27; 3 Vettel 23; 4 Webber 15.5. Monaco Grand Prix, Monte-Carlo, May 24 A truly superb performance from pole for Button, who led home team-mate Barrichello. Ferrari returned to form with Kimi Raikkonen third and Felipe Massa fourth. Standings: 1 Button 51pts; 2 Barrichello 35; 3 Vettel 23; 4 Webber 19.5. Turkish Grand Prix, Istanbul, June 7 Vettel dominated qualifying, edging Button into second on the grid, with Barrichello third. However, the Brazilian stalled on the line and then the young German made a mistake on the opening lap. Button needed no second invitation to make it six victories from seven. Standings: 1 Button 61pts; 2 Barrichello 35; 3 Vettel 29; 4 Webber 27.5. British Grand Prix, Silverstone, June 21 The cool British climate wrecked Button's chances of another victory, the 29-year-old trailing home a distant sixth as he was unable to get enough heat into his tyres. Vettel again led home Webber in a Red Bull one-two, with Barrichello third. Standings: 1 Button 64pts; 2 Barrichello 41; 3 Vettel 39; 4 Webber 35.5. German Grand Prix, Nurburgring, July 12 Webber secured a place in the record books with a win at the 130th attempt. No driver with a victory to their name has taken so long to claim a maiden triumph. Vettel was second with Button and Barrichello fifth and sixth. Standings: 1 Button 68pts; 2 Vettel 47; 3 Webber 45.5; 4 Barrichello 44. Hungarian Grand Prix, Hungaroring, July 26 Hamilton's first win since China last year was overshadowed by Felipe Massa's horrific accident in qualifying which resulted in the Brazilian requiring life-saving surgery. Hamilton benefited from a problem involving pole-sitter Fernando Alonso's Renault as he lost a tyre on lap 13. Raikkonen grabbed second with Webber third, Button seventh and Barrichello 10th. Standings: 1 Button 70pts; 2 Webber 51.5; 3 Vettel 47; 4 Barrichello 44. European Grand Prix, Valencia, August 23 Barrichello revived his championship challenge with a first win since the 2004 Chinese Grand Prix, taking advantage of a pit error by McLaren which cost Hamilton a second successive win. Button trailed home seventh with Vettel forced to retire with engine trouble. Standings: 1 Button 72pts; 2 Barrichello 54; 3 Webber 51.5; 4 Vettel 47. Belgian Grand Prix, Spa-Francorchamps, August 30 A first-lap crash accounted for both Hamilton and Button, yet the latter's pursuers failed to take full advantage as Vettel was third behind Raikkonen, the Finn ending a run of 26 races without a win. Giancarlo Fisichella gave Force India their first podium with second with Barrichello seventh and Webber ninth. Standings: 1 Button 72pts; 2 Barrichello 56; 3 Vettel 53; 4 Webber 51.5. Italian Grand Prix, Monza, September 13 Hamilton again crashed out, this time on the last lap as he hunted down Brawn's leading duo of Barrichello and Button, who went on to complete a one-two finish. Raikkonen took third on another wretched day for Red Bull, with Vettel only eighth and Webber spinning out on the opening lap. Standings: 1 Button 80pts; 2 Barrichello 66; 3 Vettel 54; 4 Webber 51.5. Singapore Grand Prix, Singapore, September 27 Hamilton drove faultlessly under the Marina Bay street lights to claim his 11th career win ahead of Glock and Alonso. After qualifying a woeful 12th, Button benefited from a number of incidents to finish fifth, one place behind Vettel and one head of Barrichello, while Webber's slim title hopes ended as a brake failure sent him sliding into a barrier. Standings: 1 Button 84pts; 2 Barrichello 69; 3 Vettel 59; 4 Webber 51.5. Japanese Grand Prix, Suzuka, October 4 Vettel kept his outside chances of winning the title alive with victory from pole ahead of Trulli and Hamilton. Button, who had struggled in qualifying, had to fight for a single point in eighth as a safety car period towards the end of the race bunched up the field. Barrichello was seventh to keep himself ahead of Vettel in second place in the standings. Standings: 1 Button 85pts; 2 Barrichello 71; 3 Vettel 69; 4 Webber 51.5. Brazilian Grand Prix, Interlagos, October 18 Barrichello took pole position after a rain-affected qualifying which left Button down in 14th, but a dramatic opening lap with numerous incidents helped Button move quickly through the field. Webber eventually won the race with some aggressive overtaking helping Button finish fifth, more than enough to seal the title with Vettel fourth and Barrichello back in eighth. Standings: 1 Button 89pts; 2 Vettel 74; 3 Barrichello 72; 4 Webber 61.5; 5 Hamilton 49. | Red Bull driver Mark Webber won the FIA Formula One 2009 Grande Prêmio Petrobras do Brasil Saturday at Autódromo José Carlos Pace, São Paulo, Brazil. Interlagos (Autódromo José Carlos Pace) Robert Kubica came in second for BMW Sauber, and Lewis Hamilton finished third for McLaren. Webber's teammate Sebastian Vettel started from 15th place on the starting grid after he couldn't come up from the first qualification session, but finished 4th in front of his championship rival. Brawn Grand Prix driver Jenson Button finished 5th to win his title. His team, representing the remnants of Honda Racing, also won the 2009 Constructors' championship after leading through the season. The team's road to victory was not smooth — a scandal broke with the "double-decker diffuser" of the BGP001 car. After the FIA declared them legal and other teams started to borrow the idea, Brawn sped up by collecting points on the way to the title. Brawn GP, the winning constructor Kimi Räikkönen (Ferrari) and Sébastien Buemi (Toro Rosso) dropped one place from the starting grid and finished behind Button. Button's teammate and possible vice-champion Rubens Barrichello, who won pole position on his home soil after nearly three hours of a long rainy qualification session, had a tire puncture on the dying laps of the race and was forced to make an unscheduled third visit to his pit. He closed in the top eight. This Brazil GP featured Japanese rookie driver, Kamui Kobayashi (Toyota), who replaced recovering Glock. In his first race this young driver qualified 11th and finished 10th in the race. Adrian Sutil qualified 3rd for Force India, but was taken out by Jarno Trulli (Toyota) on the first lap. |
US chef on Gordon Ramsay TV show jumps to death Cerniglia, shown in 2004 in New York, estimated in 2007 that he owed suppliers $80,000 A struggling US restaurateur who was subjected to harsh criticism by TV chef Gordon Ramsay has died after jumping from a bridge, officials said. The body of Joseph Cerniglia was found in the Hudson River off New York on Friday, officials confirmed. In 2007, Cerniglia said on Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares that his Italian eatery was indebted and near bankruptcy. Ramsay questioned his business acumen and panned the restaurant. Officials said Cerniglia, 39, leapt from the George Washington bridge spanning the Hudson river between New York's Manhattan borough and the state of New Jersey and have ruled the death a suicide. In 2007, Cerniglia said on Ramsay's show his restaurant Campania in the state of New Jersey was in "overwhelming" debt and the dire situation threatened his wife and children. Mr Ramsay asked why he had become a restaurateur if "you haven't a clue how to run a business". On Tuesday, Mr Ramsay was quoted by the Press Association as saying: "I was fortunate to spend time with Joe during the first season of Kitchen Nightmares. "Joe was a brilliant chef, and our thoughts go out to his family, friends and staff." ||||| By Sam Marsden, PA Gordon Ramsay paid tribute today to a "brilliant" US restaurateur who has been found dead three years after appearing on the British celebrity chef's Kitchen Nightmares programme. The body of Joe Cerniglia, 39, was found floating in the Hudson River off Manhattan on Friday afternoon after reports that a man had jumped from the George Washington Bridge. Mr Cerniglia's Italian restaurant Campania, in Fair Lawn, New Jersey, was featured in the first series of Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares USA in November 2007. The programme depicted a business in serious financial difficulties, with Mr Cerniglia speaking of owing 80,000 dollars (£50,500) to his suppliers. The American restaurant owner said on the show: "I am financially in trouble. The debt of the restaurant alone is overwhelming. My personal debt - wife, kids, mortgage - that's a lot of debt ... "I can't see us going on another year, and that's a really scary thought. And I'm going to do everything in my power to avoid that." In the programme, Ramsay accused Mr Cerniglia of wasting money by stocking many more ingredients than he needed. The British chef said today: "I was fortunate to spend time with Joe during the first season of Kitchen Nightmares. "Joe was a brilliant chef, and our thoughts go out to his family, friends and staff." US officials are investigating the cause of Mr Cerniglia's death but do not suspect any criminality, local media reported. | Joseph Cerniglia, a chef who had appeared on 's television show '''', has commited suicide. Cerniglia was the owner of Italian restaurant Campania. He jumped off a bridge into the on the New York–New Jersey border. At the time of filming in 2007, Cerniglia owed suppliers $80,000. Officials reported that 39-year-old Cerniglia had jumped off of the into the Hudson. His death has officially been ruled as suicide. His body was retrieved from the river after reports of a man jumping off of the bridge. Ramsay released a statement to the saying "I was fortunate to spend time with Joe during the first season of Kitchen Nightmares. Joe was a brilliant chef, and our thoughts go out to his family, friends and staff." Cerniglia told Ramsay about his personal debt when he came to the restaurant in 2007. He said "I am financially in trouble. The debt of the restaurant alone is overwhelming. My personal debt — wife, kids, mortgage — that's a lot of debt". |
Gothabaya Rajapakse (l) is hugged by his brother after the blast Gothabaya Rajapakse, who is also the defence secretary, was "safe", a military spokesman said. The government has blamed Tamil Tiger rebels for the blast, which killed at least one person and hurt 14 others. The spokesman said a suicide bomber triggered the explosion near a convoy of vehicles carrying Mr Rajapakse. Brig Prasad Samarasinghe said Mr Rajapakse was in one of the cars. "He is safe, no harm has come to him," he said. The BBC's Dumeetha Luthra in Colombo says Gothabaya Rajapakse has been a vocal critic of the rebels, and is known as a hardliner who is against holding talks with them. An eyewitness told Reuters news agency that he saw a wreckage of a taxi and a pick-up truck at the blast site. 'No option' Senior police official Jayantha Wickremeratne said the suspected bomber was apparently riding a scooter rickshaw and targeted the convoy of vehicles. It was not immediately known who was responsible for the bombing. A convoy of cars was targeted by the suspected bomber President Rajapakse said in statement that the Tamil Tigers were known to have carried out such cowardly and brutal attacks before. The president "remains unshaken in his resolve to achieve peace in Sri Lanka and is undeterred in his efforts to combat all forms of terrorism and violence," a statement from his office said. The explosion comes days after the Tamil Tiger rebels said they had "no option" but to push for an independent state. Rebel leader Prabhakaran had said a truce with the military was "defunct" and accused the government of unleashing war on Tamils. Correspondents say that while he did not mention re-starting the war, the threat was there in almost every sentence. Violence has soared in Sri Lanka since late last year, with both sides accused of breaking the 2002 ceasefire. About 65,000 people were killed in fighting before the 2002 truce was agreed. The rebels want a homeland for minority Tamils in the north and east. They say Tamils have been discriminated against by the island's Sinhalese majority. ||||| Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse's brother Gothabaya, who is also the island's defence secretary, narrowly escaped a suspected suicide bomb attack in the island's capital, officials said. Hospital officials said 14 people were admitted with injuries after the blast, including one seriously. But the President's office said Gothabaya was unhurt and had gone straight to see his brother after the attack. "After the explosion, he directly came to the president's office and hugged him," said Sudath Silva, President Rajapakse's official photographer. "The blood on his clothes was that of his security guards. ||||| The United States Condemns Suicide Attack COLOMBO: The US condemns strongly the terrorist attack this morning (1) on the convoy of Defence Secretary Rajapaksa. While we are gratified that Secretary Ralapaksa is safe and well, the US extends our sincere condolence to the families of those who were killed and wounded in this terrible incident. The attack bears all the hallmarks of an operation by the LTTE. We once again call on the LTTE to renounce terrorism, to give up violence and to join in negotiating a peaceful solution to Sri Lanka?s conflict. Condemnations On The LTTE Suicide Attack Pour In COLOMBO: Religious dignitaries, Ambassadors, all political leaders and all segments of life in society collectively expressed their revulsion and condemnation on the Tiger (LTTE) terrorists? abortive suicidal attempt on the life of Secretary Defence Mr Ghotabaya Rajapaksa Friday (1) Morning in Colombo ? 3. Most Venerable Kotugoda Dhammawasa Nayaka Thera, Venerable Elle Gunawansa Thera, Ven Professor Kamburugamuwe Wajira Thera, Venerable Maduluwawe Sobhitha Thera, Ven. Athuraliye Rathana Thera, Rt Rev Siril Gamini and Rt Rev Sarath Hettiarachchi were among those religious dignitaries to voice their condemnation on the attempted suicide. The US Embassy in Colombo in a special Press Release strongly condemned the terrorists attack on the convoy of Defence Secretary Rajapaksa. ?While we are gratified that Secretary Rajapaksa is safe and well, the US extend our sincere condolences to the families of those who were killed and wounded in this terrible incident. The attack bears all the hallmarks of an operation by the LTTE. We once again call on the LTTE to renounce terrorism, to give up violence and to join in negotiating a peaceful solution to Sri Lanka?s conflict?. UNP Secretary General Tissa Attanayaka unreservedly condemned the attack and reminded the LTTE of the vanity of violence as a means of achieving political goals. Mr. Wimal Weeravansa JVP Propaganda Secretary lashed out at LTTE terrorism and called upon the Government to deal with the terrorism in a befitting manner. Parliamentarians Ameer Ali and Vadivel Suresh condemned the brutal attack on the convoy. Messrs Patali Champika Ranawaka, spokesman for Jathika Hela Urumaya, Gunadasa Amarasekara were also vocal in their condemnation on the failed LTTE attempt on the life of Mr: Rajapaksa. LTTE Claymore Attack Kills Two Policemen JAFFNA: TWO POLICEMEN ON DUTY in front of the JAFFNA Teaching Hospital were killed when LTTE terrorists activated a claymore mine targeting Police personnel Friday (01) around 2.15 p.m.. The remote controlled explosive device had been fixed to a motorcycle parked close by. A search operation in the area is on. The JAFFNA Police are conducting investigations. Two More Tamil Tigers Surrender BATTICALOA: TWO MORE LTTE CADRES surrendered to the KADJUWATTA Army detachment in BATTICALOA Wednesday (29) around 7.45 p.m. after they became frustrated with the terrorist organization. These two LTTE men who had allegedly deserted their ranks in the organization had told that they wanted to be free from LTTE violence and terror campaign. The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission was to be informed. Both surrendees are to be handed over to the Police for necessary investigations and further actions. Two Soldiers On Defence Secretary?s Escort Sacrifice Their Lives COLOMBO: TWO SOLDIERS WHO SUFFERED serious injuries in the LTTE suicide blast at KOLLUPITIYA, COLOMBO- 3 Friday (01) morning succumbed to injuries while being treated at National Hospital and Navaloka (Private) hospital, COLOMBO. Lance Corporal P.H.P. WIJERATHNE from Sri Lanka Amy Service Corps (SLASC) was riding alongside the Defence Secretary?s vehicle at the time of the incident. He was undergoing treatment at the Navaloka (Pvt) hospital after he was injured in the blast. He was born at ARAWWALA, MAWATHAGAMA in KURUNEGALA in 1974 and received education at the MAWATHAGAMA, SAMODAYA M.M.V. On completion of G.C.E. Ordinary Level, young WIJERATHNE joined the Sri Lanka Army and, after initial training, was posted to SLASC. During his military career, he has served in operational areas and been awarded with service medals such as Riviresa Campaign Service Medal and Purna Bhumi Medal. Lance Corporal P.H.P. WIJERATHNE leaves his wife and one child. Lance Corporal N.K. PIYASIRI of the Gajaba Regiment, the driver of the escort Defender Jeep of the convoy, was admitted to COLOMBO National Hospital for urgent surgery after he was critically injured. He later died at the National hospital ICU. Lance Corporal N.K. PIYASIRI of WARAKKANDENIYA NELUWA in GALLE, a product of BATUWANGALA school, was born in 1975. After the G.C.E. Ordinary Level, PIYASIRI joined the Sri Lanka Army in 1993 and was given training at AMPARA Combat Training School. He was awarded with Purna Bhumi and Desha Putra service medals. According to latest reports, nine soldiers and five civilians are receiving medical treatment at both COLOMBO National Hospital and Navaloka hospital. Secretary Defence Escapes LTTE Suicide Attack COLOMBO: LTTE SUICIDE ATTACK targeting the Secretary Defence Mr. Gotabhaya Rajapaksa today (01) morning near the PITTALA junction, Colombo injured seven Army personnel on escort to the Secretary Defence and seven civilians around the location. They were rushed to the National Hospital Colombo with serious injuries. One soldier in critical condition was subjected to immediate surgery, according to hospital sources. Dead body of an unidentified person, believed to be the suicide cadre who rammed into the convoy was found from the scene. At least eight vehicles including the vehicle of Secretary Defence were badly damaged. However, the latest LTTE barbaric mission was foiled with their target, Mr. Gotabhaya Rajapaksa escaped unhurt. Immediately after the incident, he met President Mahinda Rajapaksa at the Temple Trees. Investigations conducted by Security Forces with assistance of the Police are continuing. LTTE Blast Against Security Convoy Injures Four COLOMBO : AN LTTE BLAST triggered against a security convoy of a VIP in COLOMBO 3, near PITTALA junction this morning (1) at about 10.30 a.m. has injured four persons who have been rushed to COLOMBO National Hospital. ( Details Follow ) ||||| Sri Lankan police officers guard the coastline outside the naval base in Galle, about 110 kilometers south of the capital, Colombo, Sri Lanka, Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2006 A suicide attack by suspected Tamil Tiger rebels in the Sri Lankan port city of Galle has killed at least two people and injured a score of others. This was the second suicide bombing this week in Sri Lanka, where ethnic fighting has intensified in the past year. Officials say Tamil Tiger rebels posing as fishermen entered Galle in a flotilla of small boats, and rammed some of the explosive-packed vessels into navy gunboats anchored in the harbor. At least two of the navy boats were damaged. The incident sparked sporadic rioting in the seaside town. Shops belonging to the minority Tamil community were attacked in some areas. Authorities have imposed a curfew and increased security, and they say the city is now calm. Monday, more than a 100 people, mostly sailors, were killed when suspected guerrillas targeted a military convoy in the center of the country. Last week, a deadly battle in the north claimed the lives of hundreds of troops and rebels. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eeelam, as the rebels are officially named, have been carrying out suicide bombings for almost 20 years. Analysts and government officials believe the latest attacks are an attempt by the rebels to demonstrate their strength before they sit down for peace talks scheduled to be held in Geneva later this month. But Patlitha Kohona, the head of the government peace secretariat, says such tactics will not work. "They have done this in the past also," Kohona says. "I assume they believe that by using terror tactics, they could intimidate the government. They are committing a big mistake. The government's objective is to negotiate an honorable peace. By using terror tactics, by using intimidatory tactics, I do not think the Tamil Tigers will be able to influence the government in any way." The latest attack occurred in an area that is not usually involved in Sri Lanka's deadly ethnic conflict. The civil war between Tamils and the majority Sinhalese has been raging mainly in the Tamil-dominated north and east of the country. Galle, by contrast, is located at the southwestern corner of Sri Lanka, about 100 kilometers south of Colombo. It is a popular tourist destination, and is also the country's main southern naval port. Hours after the attack, government warplanes bombed rebel-held territory in the east. The rebels say the bombs killed a woman and wounded two civilians. The air force has been carrying out retaliatory attacks since April, when hostilities intensified between the two sides. The sporadic fighting has claimed more than two-thousand lives this year, even though both sides claim they are still committed to a 2002 ceasefire, and to negotiating a peaceful solution. The conflict first erupted in 1983, when the rebels began fighting for an independent homeland for the minority Tamil community. ||||| Tue 15 Aug 2006 Tamil Tigers attack ambassador SRI LANKA'S Tamil Tigers killed seven people in an attack on a Pakistan embassy convoy yesterday, hours after 61 girls of school age were claimed to have died in an air attack on a facility the government called a Tigers' training camp and the Tigers' said was an orphanage. The blast, less than a mile from the residence of Mahinda Rajapakse, the Sri Lankan president, came hours after the air force attack in the north-east, which the rebels said killed 61 schoolgirls aged 15-18 and injured 155. It also came as the rebels and military fought artillery battles in the far north in the worst fighting since a 2002 truce. The blast in the capital, Colombo, was the second in a week. "Definitely it's an LTTE [Tamil Tigers] attack to the Pakistan ambassador's car, but they missed and the back-up vehicle got caught," a military spokesman said. Four military personnel and three civilians were killed in the blast, which bomb squad officials said was caused by a fragmentation mine inside a three wheeler taxi. Seventeen others were injured. According to police investigators, a resident in the area where the bomb blast took place had called the police emergency number to report a suspicious three wheeler being parked on the side of a road. Despite the phone call, local officers were not notified about the vehicle. Why the Pakistan convoy may have been targeted remains unclear, although the High Commissioner said it could be because Islamabad backed Sri Lanka diplomatically. One diplomat said there was a specific threat against him, and believed the attack was intended as a warning. "It is perhaps because we support the [Sri Lankan] government," Bashir Wali said. "We are against terrorism everywhere. It is all in that context, I think." A defence analyst offered other theories. "Pakistan has been providing military hardware to Sri Lanka for some time," he said, adding: "I wouldn't rule out mistaken identity [either]. It could be an opportunistic attack when they saw the military people in the car." The rebels said earlier the air force had deliberately targeted schoolchildren as they were taking a first aid course, in the worst single loss of civilian life since fighting flared three weeks ago. The military dismissed the claim, saying jets had bombed a rebel training camp and killed 50-60 Tiger fighters. The military posted a photograph on its website which it said depicted Tamil schoolgirls taking part in weapons training. Nordic truce monitors said they had seen the bodies of 19 youths, both male and female, aged 17-20 and said the site did not appear to be a rebel training camp. They said the orphanage building itself was still standing, and any orphans had been moved elsewhere some time ago. Aid workers estimate about 100,000 people have been displaced during three weeks of fighting. Dozens are confirmed dead, and many fear the eventual death toll will be far higher. On Monday the government accused the rebels of shelling civilian areas in the northern Jaffna peninsula, saying it feared fatalities. Related topic ||||| Many soldiers and civilians were wounded in the blast Lt Gen Sarath Fonseka is said to be in a stable condition after surgery in Colombo, where the attack happened. The military has blamed Tamil Tiger rebels for the attack and launched air strikes on their positions in the east. There has been a surge in violence in Sri Lanka recently, and the Tigers last week pulled out of planned peace talks. Responding to the latest attack, President Rajapakse said he would not be cowed by terrorism. "I emphasize and caution that one should avoid mistaking our desire for peace and our responsibility to achieve it as a government, as weakness," he said in a televised address. This is the first suicide bombing in the Sri Lankan capital since July 2004, and the biggest attack blamed on the Tamil Tigers since they signed a truce with the government in 2002. Though the ceasefire still officially holds, Sri Lanka appears to be heading back to war, the BBC's Dumeetha Luthra reports from Colombo. Fake identification Military officials say the attacker was a woman who made herself appear heavily pregnant to conceal the explosives. She presented fake identification and said she had an ante-natal appointment at the army hospital inside the complex, unnamed officials told the Associated Press news agency. Lt Gen Sarath Fonseka has taken a hard line against the Tigers A Sri Lankan military spokesman who spoke to the BBC said the attacker blew herself up as Lt Gen Fonseka was leaving his office "just in front of the army hospital". Twenty-seven people were wounded in the attack, the army said. It is not clear if the bomber was included among the eight people said by the military to have been killed in the blast. The army headquarters are in a heavily guarded compound in central Colombo. Lt Gen Fonseka is reported to have suffered severe abdominal injuries and was taken to hospital. A team of 10 surgeons operated on him and he is now said to be in a stable condition. Lt Gen Fonseka was appointed head of the army shortly after the election of President Mahinda Rajapakse last November and has taken a hard line against the Tamil Tigers. HAVE YOUR SAY No-one here believes it is a suicide attack as the headquarters is heavily-guarded and all are searched even if they are pregnant Ajantha Rajasinghe, Colombo, Sri Lanka Send us your comments The Sri Lankan military says it has begun an aerial assault on rebel positions in north-eastern Sri Lanka, telling the BBC it could not stand by after the attack on its headquarters. The military said the Tigers had earlier attacked Sri Lankan naval positions in the north-eastern district of Trincomalee. A Tamil Tiger leader in Trincomalee, Mr Ezhilan, told the BBC that civilians in the area had been fleeing shelling by the army. COLOMBO ATTACKS August 2005: Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar shot dead at his home July 2004: Woman suicide bomber tries to kill government minister July 2001: 18 people killed and planes destroyed in attack on Colombo airport In pictures: Sri Lanka blast Police said the explosion in Colombo bears all the hallmarks of the Tigers. Tamil Tiger rebels frequently use suicide bombers in their operations - and are thought to have carried out nearly 200 attacks since the first suicide bombing in July 1987, when a bomber in a truck filled with explosives killed 40 soldiers. The rebels have denied being behind recent attacks. Talks on hold Escalating violence in the north and east of the country has left about 100 people dead in the past three weeks. The Tigers began their armed campaign for a separate homeland for the island's Tamil minority in the 1970s. Efforts are continuing to persuade the rebels to return to peace talks in Switzerland. Last week they pulled out of negotiations, accusing the government of attacks on ethnic Tamil civilians. The team of Norwegian envoys acting as mediators in the conflict has condemned the latest bombing, but said it was not drawing "any immediate conclusions about the possible perpetrators". | The Sri Lankan Defence Secretary, Gothabaya Rajapakse narrowly escaped a suicide attack from suspected Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels. The attack took place in downtown Colombo, the Sri Lankan Capital at 10:30 a.m., as a convoy carrying the Defence Secretary and other officials was attacked by a suspected terrorist in a three wheeler. Early reports indicate that Gothabaya, brother of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse and vocal critic of the LTTE, escaped unscathed, while at least 2 people have died and 14 others were injured, including 5 civilians. While the LTTE has yet to claim responsibility for the latest strike, the militant separatist group, proscribed as a terrorist organisation in countries such as the United States, England, India, Australia and the E.U., has yet to do so for any of the suicide attacks attributed to them throughout their history. In 2006 alone the group has been accused of carrying out suicide attacks on unarmed Sri Lankan servicemen in Habarana and on a naval base in the tourist city of Galle, as well as failed attempts on the lives of Lieutenant General Sarath Fonseka and Pakistani Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Bashir Wali Mohamed. The latest suicide attack comes just days following a declaration from LTTE leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran, that the Norway brokered ceasefire agreement with the Sri Lankan government was ‘defunct’. |
Around 3,000 protesters waving signs reading "Junk the WTO" and "Life is not for sale" marched in a carnival atmosphere in the shade of skyscrapers in one of the world's main financial centers. Some 10,000 activists are expected to converge on Hong Kong as the city holds a pivotal ministerial meeting from December 13-18 in a bid to get stalled global trade talks back on track. "We feel very frustrated with multinational enterprises," said Kenzo Sasaki, owner of a 20-cow dairy farm north of Tokyo, who led a group of Japanese farmers wearing Samurai clothing. "Our main message is for food sovereignty. Junk the WTO." Supporters of the talks say a trade deal could generate billions of dollars in benefits and possibly lift millions out of poverty, but many opponents say it would largely benefit richer nations at the expense of developing countries. Protesters will be dogging the meeting's every move, and will include an estimated 1,500 South Korean workers, students and farmers, who are among the most militant anti-globalization activists in Asia. Worried about a repeat of the violence which marred previous trade meetings in Cancun and Seattle, police stepped up patrols on Sunday near the Hong Kong Convention Center, the venue of the meeting on the city's famous harbourfront. Work crews have glued down loose pavement stones in the area and welded shut sewer grates to prevent protesters from using them as projectiles. Pedestrian overpasses have been shrouded in mesh so nothing can be thrown onto the streets below. Harrassment? Elizabeth Tang, head of the Hong Kong Peoples' Alliance coordinating the demonstrations, said she expected any violence to be on a very small-scale and easily handled by police. "People all over the world are feeling that the WTO and the way it has been functioning so far has failed to lift the poor out of poverty," Tang said. Han Dongfang, a fellow marcher who led workers at the 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protest, said China was richer for joining the WTO in 2001 but workers' rights had languished. "The WTO is a double-edged sword for China," said Han, who broadcasts on a Hong Kong radio show beamed into mainland China. "Chinese workers have no right to organize unions, so how can you protect yourself or get benefits." Nearby, a group of workers from Taiwan sang the Communist anthem, the Internationale. Several members of non-governmental organizations from the Philippines were delayed at Hong Kong airport last week, which protest organizers branded a form of harassment. Others have reported trouble getting visas, and some say hotels canceled reservations because the would-be guests were known radicals. Police rate the chances of public disorder as high and say the possibility of terrorist attacks is moderate, though they add there have been no specific threats. Hospitals have been put on high alert and many schools in the area will shut. Protests at a World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle in 1999 descended into chaos, with rioters smashing windows of stores and throwing rocks at police. In the Mexican resort town of Cancun, where the WTO met in 2003, a South Korean farmer committed suicide in protest. The WTO talks could be decisive. Two of the last three WTO ministerial conferences ended in bitter disarray and a further setback could be fatal for the chances of negotiating a new treaty by next year to tear down barriers to world trade. (Source: Reuters) ||||| Knife found at O.J. Simpson's former L.A. home studied by police LOS ANGELES Police said on Friday they were examining a knife purportedly found at the former home of O.J. Simpson, the onetime football star acquitted of stabbing to death his ex-wife and her friend in the "Trial of the Century" two decades ago. | Supreme Court temporarily blocks Louisiana abortion law WASHINGTON The Supreme Court, two days after hearing a major abortion case from Texas, on Friday temporarily blocked a Louisiana law imposing regulations on doctors who perform abortions in a move that would allow two recently closed clinics to reopen. Exclusive: U.S. watchdog to probe Fed's lax oversight of Wall Street NEW YORK A U.S. watchdog agency is preparing to investigate whether the Federal Reserve and other regulators are too soft on the banks they are meant to police, after a written request from Democratic lawmakers that marks the latest sign of distrust between Congress and the central bank. Brazil's Lula detained in corruption probe; Rousseff objects SAO PAULO/BRASILIA Former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was briefly detained for questioning on Friday in a federal investigation of a vast corruption scheme, fanning a political crisis that threatens to topple his successor, President Dilma Rousseff. | | 200px Anti-globalization protesters in Hong Kong began a series of demonstrations on Sunday to denounce this week's World Trade Organization (WTO) meeting. Around 3,000 protesters with signs reading "Junk the WTO" and "Life is not for sale", took to the streets in a carnival atmosphere. "We feel very frustrated with multinational enterprises," said Kenzo Sasaki, owner of a 20-cow dairy farm north of Tokyo. "Our main message is for food sovereignty. Junk the WTO." Some 10,000 anti-globalization protesters, including groups of South Korean farmers angry at the prospect of more agricultural imports, are converging on Hong Kong. Police hope to avoid the violent clashes that marked the last WTO conference in Cancun, Mexico, in 2003, where a protester was killed by police. Supporters of the talks say a trade deal may generate billions of dollars in benefits and possibly lift millions out of poverty, but many opponents say it would largely benefit rich nations at the expense of developing countries. Deep divisions between developed and developing countries, particularly over agriculture, have forced WTO states to lower their goals for their sixth ministerial conference, which is being held this week amid tight security. To avoid trouble, Hong Kong has blacklisted some people. Officials have also glued down loose pavement stones and welded shut sewer grates to prevent protesters from using them as projectiles and pedestrian overpasses have been covered in mesh to prevent objects being thrown. Elizabeth Tang, head of the Hong Kong Peoples' Alliance coordinating the demonstrations, said she expected any violence to be on a very small-scale and easily handled by police. "People all over the world are feeling that the WTO and the way it has been functioning so far has failed to lift the poor out of poverty," Tang said. Han Dongfang, a fellow marcher who led workers at the 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protest, said workers' rights had languished. "The WTO is a double-edged sword for China," said Han. "Chinese workers have no right to organize unions, so how can you protect yourself or get benefits." Spokespeople for the group of 1,500 South Koreans protesters said they would demonstrate legally and peacefully, according to a statement by the Korean Struggle Mission, which represents several activist groups. The Koreans oppose the WTO's aim to lower trade barriers for agricultural imports, saying such moves will flood the Korean market with cheap rice and bankrupt Korean farmers. Joo Jei-jun, general coordinator of the Korean Struggle Mission, on Monday told reporters, "We will be escalating the level of struggle on December 17. "Any hindrance to our freedom of expression - either by the Hong Kong government or the police - will be dealt with in an affirmative manner," he added. Yang Kyeong-kyoo, of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, said the groups were still discussing protest tactics. "But generally, we will mobilize as many people as we can because December 17 is the last day to make decisions," he said. |
More than 1,000 Catholics gathered yesterday to pray for peace in the Middle East at a Mass celebrated by Washington Archbishop Donald W. Wuerl, who repeated the Vatican's call for an immediate cease-fire and "responsible negotiations" to end the "situations of injustice" in that part of the world. "We can all be justifiably alarmed that the violence so visible in Lebanon and Israel is qualitatively different from just a year ago because of the introduction of a new level of weaponry . . . and the frightening implications of wider involvement by other nations," Wuerl said in his homily. Wuerl, who became head of the Washington Archdiocese last month, cautioned his listeners not to lose hope for peace in that troubled region, reminding them of the power of prayer to "change hearts." The noon Mass, held at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Northeast Washington, was in response to Pope Benedict XVI's call on Friday for Catholics around the world to observe yesterday as a special day of prayer for peace in the Middle East, particularly in Lebanon. The Vatican also called for an immediate cease-fire, humanitarian corridors to bring aid to those suffering and negotiations toward ending injustice in the affected nations. On Tuesday, U.S. Catholic bishops urged the United States to work for a cease-fire and "negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians to bring about security for Israel and a viable state for the Palestinians." The Mass at the Basilica was attended by 1,126 worshipers -- about 400 more than the regular attendance at Sunday Mass there, a shrine official said. Chevy Chase resident Christine Tan, who teaches English, said she came after hearing about the Mass on the radio. "It looks very dangerous right now, with no end to the fighting in sight, and other countries may become involved," Tan said. Worshiper Patricia Dela Torre of Northeast Washington said: "I feel sad because . . . it's civilians that are the ones . . . who suffer the consequences of the war." Wuerl said in a brief interview after the Mass that the Middle East needs "meaningful conversation." "The ultimate goal is to resolve this in a way that everyone in the Middle East can live with it," he said. Even though Israeli-Palestinian peace talks have failed in the past, the archbishop added, "Sometimes you just have to continue, you have to go back, and you have to keep trying again. "That was what we were praying for today. . . . Violence will never resolve the problems of the Middle East." ||||| Pope prays for peace in ‘destroyed’ Lebanon Benedict calls for end to fighting among Israelis, Lebanese and Palestinians Below: x Jump to discuss comments below discuss x Next story in Europe related Advertise Text: We're sorry. The text content of this page is no longer available. | Pope Benedict XVI called on people of all religions to join Sunday's worldwide day of prayers for peace on Friday July 21, 2006. The Pope spent an hour hiking in the Big Paradise National Park, returning to his mountain retreat just as rain started to fall. He said the gorgeous mountain vistas further impressed on him the gravity of the crisis. "I think it is best to leave that to the diplomats, because we don't enter politics. But we do everything for peace. Our goal is simply peace, and we will do everything to help attain peace," Pope Benedict XVI said, after he returned from an hour-long hike in the Italian Alps. "Especially from Lebanon, who implored us, as they have implored the Italian government, to help." "We will help with our prayers and with the people we have in Lebanon," said the pope. "Seeing this peace that God gives me, I am even more struck by the suffering of many others," he said. People around the world prayed for peace. In Washington Archbishop Donald W. Wuerl, repeated the Vatican's call for an immediate cease-fire. |
View and discuss the pictures and issues that caught our eyes. From creepy spiders to catastrophic fires, photographers around the world capture dramatic moments. Has your job been affected by the economic turmoil gripping the U.S.? Click here to share your story. Oct. 18: In the face of bad economic news from Wall Street, NBC’s Bob Dotson reports on a man who found his fortune the old fashioned way. AURORA, Ill. - A toddler being flown to a hospital died in a fiery helicopter crash with three crew members when the aircraft clipped a radio tower wire and went down in a suburban Chicago field, authorities said Thursday. Federal authorities said they were investigating whether the tower's lights were on at the time of the fatal crash minutes before midnight Wednesday — the sixth involving medical helicopters in the U.S. this year. Meanwhile, about 1,000 people who live near the 734-foot tower were advised to leave their homes because of damage to the structure. National Transportation Safety Board investigator John Brannen said the helicopter was flying about 50 feet lower than the top of the tower when the wire was hit. Story continues below ↓ advertisement advertisement "I can say that when I was out here last night after the accident that the lights on the tower were not lit," Brannen said. He said the NTSB was investigating whether the lights could have been knocked out during the incident. 'We love Kirstin' The Air Angels helicopter was carrying 1-year-old Kirstin Blockinger to Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago when it crashed just before midnight. Nearly a dozen members of the girl's family visited the site of the crash late Thursday afternoon, filing through tall grass to see the wreckage, one clutching a brown teddy bear and pink roses. "We love Kirstin and celebrate her life, however short," said her grandfather Steve Ogletree, who also offered condolences to the Air Angels crew and family members. Eva Blockinger told The Associated Press that her great-granddaughter often was ill and suffered from seizures. "She was in and out of the hospital a lot," said Blockinger, 89, of Leland. "It was a regular occurrence." Tower's integrity assessed A snapped wire hung from the tower across a busy road from where a twisted helicopter rotor blade could be seen near the field's edge. The crash site farther back was secured by yellow police tape and not visible from the road. Aurora police Sgt. Chris Whitfield said that after engineers assessed the tower, residents within 1,000 feet of it were advised to evacuate their homes. Police said engineers will use a helicopter to make repairs starting Friday. Authorities removed the helicopter's yellow-and-white rotor from the scene Thursday afternoon, using a front-end loader to lift the badly mangled blade onto a flatbed truck. Video Medical helicopter crashes, killing 4 Oct. 16: The chopper struck a radio tower late Wednesday and crashed in Illinois. Msnbc.com's Becca Field reports. msnbc.com Air Angels CEO Jim Adams said operations at the Bolingbrook-based emergency medical transport service were being suspended while the company worked with NTSB investigators. The crew members killed were pilot Del Waugh, 69, of Carmel, Ind.; paramedic Ronald Battiato, 41, of Peotone, Ill.; and nurse William Mann, 31, of Chicago. Waugh, a Vietnam vet who worked for Air Angels since 2006, had at least 4,000 hours of helicopter flying experience, said Michael Dermont, the company's director of business development. Dermont said the company was devastated. "It's like losing a member of the family," Dermont said. "It takes a certain personality to do what we do — and each one of those guys had a heart of gold." The company, Dermont said, always makes safety a No. 1 priority. "We are very safe program," he said. "But we as an organization have to step back and look at all the factors. Is there something we could have done different? That process will start already this evening." Change of hospitals Kirstin had been in the emergency room at Valley West Hospital in Sandwich on Wednesday night before it was decided she would be taken to Children's Memorial. Valley West does not have a pediatric critical care unit, said Valley West spokeswoman Allison Bryan. There was a closer hospital that had the level of pediatric critical care the girl needed, but it had no beds available, Pesch said. The crash occurred before the helicopter would have reached either hospital. Kirstin's father is a National Guardsman who was training in Kansas to be deployed to Afghanistan, Eva Blockinger said. He also is a member of the Leland Volunteer Fire Department, along with several members of the Blockinger family, according to Fire Chief Don Hecathorn. The department had been called to Kirstin's home Wednesday evening for the girl's seizures, Hecathorn said. Hecathorn said Blockinger family members have lived in Leland, a town of just more than 1,000, for years. "There's nothing much to say," Hecathorn said. "They're just real good people." Numerous crashes Thursday's accident was the 11th crash this year, and the sixth fatal one, involving medical helicopters nationwide, according to NTSB data. Others included one last month when a medevac helicopter carrying car accident victims crashed in suburban Washington, D.C., killing four onboard. A mid-air crash of two medical helicopters near a Flagstaff, Ariz., hospital in June killed seven. The NTSB plans to hold a public hearing on medical helicopter crashes sometime next year to look into the recent increases in accident rates, said NTSB spokesman Terry Williams. The Aurora crash was the second involving Air Angels helicopters since its inception in 1998. A January 2003 crash that killed a pilot was later determined to be caused by pilot error and weather. Mechanical problems were blamed for an August 2007 forced landing in which there were no injuries. © 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. ||||| NTSB investigating cause of helicopter crash The National Transportation Safety Board says it is investigating whether the radio tower that an Air Angels helicopter clipped last night was properly lit, whether the pilot was flying high enough and whether there were any mechanical problems. John Brannen, of the NTSB, said at a press conference Thursday morning the helicopter's rotor blade may have separated during flight, but he would not speculate on the cause. The agency will issue a preliminary report within a week, he said. Brannen said the helicopter was flying about 50 feet below the top of the tower when the wire was clipped. He said NTSB was investigating whether lights on the tower were on at the time or could have been knocked out during the incident. "I can say that when I was out here last night after the accident that the lights on the tower were not lit," Brannen said Thursday. Air Angels CEO Jim Adams said the pilot did not report mechanical problems, and weather was not an issue. Brannen said the helicopter "fragmented," and pieces were found scattered around the area. Parts of the main blade were found in a nearby apartment complex, he said. The Air Angels crew was in communication with a tower at the DuPage Airport, but there was no indication of a distress call, Brannen said. The wreckage of the chopper will be removed this afternoon, he said. Three crew members and a 14-month-old girl were killed in the crash when the helicopter went down in a cornfield late Wednesday near Eola Road in Aurora. In January 2003, an Air Angels helicopter crashed in West Chicago during a training flight, killing the pilot. Investigators determined pilot error and weather caused the accident. Mechanical problems were blamed for an August 2007 Sugar Grove emergency landing in which there were no injuries. | A medical helicopter has crashed near Chicago, Illinois killing three crew members and the patient, a thirteen-month-old baby girl. The crew aboard the helicopter included the pilot, a nurse and a paramedic. The helicopter, operated by Air Angels Inc., was transporting the baby to Children's Memorial Hospital from Valley West Hospital, when it hit a wire connected to a 734-foot (224-meter) radio tower in Aurora and burst into flames around 12:00 a.m. (EDT). The baby was suffering from epileptic seizures. The cause of the crash is not known, and there were no reported problems with the helicopter before it took off. An investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is ongoing. This is the third crash which involved an Air Angels helicopter. In 2003, a pilot was killed when his chopper crashed. An investigation concluded that the cause was pilot error, and bad weather. Another chopper crashed in 2007, but there were no injuries. |
Press Release Press statement by HE Abdalla Salem El-Badri, OPEC Secretary General Latest press releases Press statement by OPEC Secretary General, HE Abdalla Salem El-Badri (Vienna, Austria, 8 May 2008)Resolutions adopted by the 148th Meeting of the OPEC Conference (Vienna, Austria, 5 April 2008)OPEC Secretary General’s visit to IEA underscores shared commitment to dialogue (Paris, France, 25 March 2008) Archives Year 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 No 7/2008 Vienna, Austria - 8 May 2008 In recent months, oil prices have become increasingly volatile, mainly driven by financial market developments and the increased flow of speculative funds into oil futures. The turmoil in some global equity markets and the considerable depreciation in the US dollar have encouraged investors to seek better returns in commodities, particularly in the crude oil futures market. This has driven prices higher. There is clearly no shortage of oil in the market. OECD commercial oil stocks remain above the five-year average, with days of forward cover at a comfortable level of more than 53 days. US crude inventories, meanwhile, rose by almost six million barrels last week, which is a further indication that oil supplies are plentiful. OPEC Member Countries continue to produce at more than 32 million barrels a day (mb/d). In addition, a number of new OPEC crude oil projects have started to come on-stream and OPEC spare capacity continues to increase, with the figure currently standing above 3 mb/d. At the same time, crude oil movements indicate that some Member Countries are unable to find buyers for their additional supply. OPEC will continue to be proactive and monitor these developments closely. The Organization stands ready to act if the market shows a need for any further measures. The Organization will continue to strive for a stable and balanced market, with prices that reflect fundamentals, and are favourable to both producers and consumers. ||||| Central Banks: ECB and BoE - Review of May 8 meeting: ECB and BoE on hold by FXstreet.com Crude oil near new highs above $124 in Asian trade Fri, May 9 2008, 02:27 GMT http://www.afxnews.com SINGAPORE (Thomson Financial) - Crude oil traded near new all-time highs above $124 on Friday after the OPEC cartel insisted the market is well supplied and being driven by speculators. New York's main oil futures contract, light sweet crude for June delivery, rose 61 cents to $124.30 a barrel in Asian trade after closing at a record $123.69 on Thursday at the New York Mercantile Exchange. In after-hours deals, the New York futures contract soared to an all-time high of $124.57. Brent North Sea crude for June delivery was 64 cents higher at $123.48 a barrel. In London on Thursday the contract crossed $123 for the first time and jumped to a new intraday peak of $123.87 before settling at a record $122.84. Abdalla Salem El-Badri, secretary general of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), said on Thursday that there was no shortage of crude oil, brushing aside U.S. calls for higher output to dampen runaway prices. afp/ms ms COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Financial News Limited 2008. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Thomson Financial News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Financial News. The copying, republication or redistribution of AFX News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of AFX News AFX News and AFX Financial News Logo are registered trademarks of AFX News Limited For more information and to contact AFX: www.afxnews.com and www.afxpress.com | The price of oil per barrel has risen to a new all time high. During trading in Asia and in London, England the price of NYMEX Crude oil futures, per barrel, was at US$124.34 (22:07 eastern time) setting a new record high. Brent Crude oil also hit a new record high of US$122.84, but soon retreated to $121.79. inflation). Several factors, including a weaker U.S. dollar and worries on the world supply, have caused the price of oil to skyrocket in the past week. Despite worries, OPEC states that supply is currently meeting the current demands and there is currently no shortage of oil. "There is clearly no shortage of oil in the market. OECD commercial oil stocks remain above the five-year average, with days of forward cover at a comfortable level of more than 53 days. US crude inventories, meanwhile, rose by almost six million barrels last week, which is a further indication that oil supplies are plentiful," stated OPEC in a statement on its website. |
Senator Barack Obama has scored three decisive primary victories, Tuesday over Senator Hillary Clinton, winning big in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, DC in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination. On the Republican side, Senator John McCain has also won all three races, though he faced a stronger than expected challenge from former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabe in Virginia. VOA Correspondent Cindy Saine reports from Washington. Senator Barack Obama speaking in Madison, Wisconsin, 12 Feb 2008 It was a night of triumph for Senator Barack Obama, as he swept the races known as the "Potomac Primary" for the river that flows through the nation's capital. Obama headed to the midwest for his victory rally, speaking to a crowd of about 17,000 people at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. "We won the state of Maryland, we won the Commonwealth of Virginia, and though we won in Washington, D.C., this movement won't stop until there's change in Washington, D.C. And tonight we're on our way," said Barack Obama. The three victories came after a string of wins Saturday and Sunday for Obama, putting the 46-year-old African-American in the lead with the largest number of delegates for the first time. But the race is still close. Obama and Clinton each have over 1,000 of the more than 2,000 delegates needed to secure the Democratic nomination. Senator Clinton made clear she is already looking ahead to the March 4 primaries three weeks from now, in the big and delegate rich states of Texas and Ohio, where she currently has a lead in opinion polls. Senator Hillary Clinton in El Paso, Texas, 12 Feb 2008 She spoke to her supporters in El Paso, Texas. "Every single one of us knows that tomorrow can be better than today, but it doesn't happen just by wishing it, or hoping for it. It happens by working really, really hard," said Hillary Clinton. "To make it a reality to give everybody a better chance." Republican John McCain won easily in Maryland and Washington, D.C., but by a lesser margin in Virginia, where evangelical Christians turned out in strong numbers for former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee. Speaking to his supporters in Alexandria, Virginia, McCain also took an indirect shot at Obama, who has become famous for his speeches about hope and change. Sen. John McCain laughs as he is introduced at a rally at the Virginia Aviation Museum in Richmond, Virginia, 11 Feb 2008 "To encourge a country with only rhetoric, rather than sound and proven ideas, the trust and the strength and courage of free people is not a promise of hope, it's a platitude," said John McCain. With his three wins Tuesday, McCain is edging closer to the more than one thousand delegates needed to secure the Republican Party's nomination. But former Governor Mike Huckabee, speaking in his home state of Arkansas, said he is still in the race. Mike Huckabee and his wife Janet in Little Rock, Arkansas, 5 Feb 2008 "There are these calls to say let's just call it off," said Mike Huckabee. "Well, that's a disservice to the people in Texas and Ohio and Pennsylvania and North Carolina and Nebraska and other states and territories who have yet to have that opportunity to vote." The focus now shifts to Wisconsin, where both parties will hold a primary next Tuesday, and to Hawaii, where there will be a Democratic caucus the same day. ||||| WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Business was brisk at polling places in Virginia and Maryland Tuesday where primaries could answer key questions in the Democratic and Republican nomination races. Kristina Daugirclas, left, holds her son as Ella Black hands her a ballot Tuesday at a Washington elementary school. The District of Columbia voters are also participating in the so-called "Potomac primaries" -- named for the river that separates Virginia and Maryland and flows past the nation's capital, Washington. At stake in the primaries are 238 Democratic delegates and 119 total GOP delegates. Polls in Maryland and the District of Columbia close at 8 p.m. and in Virginia at 7 p.m. In Maryland, turnout was anticipated to be about 40 percent, which is above normal according to Ross Goldstein, deputy administrator for the state's Board of Elections. However, Goldstein said some anticipated inclement weather later in the day could lower turnout numbers. Virginia election officials also predicted a higher than normal turnout of 30 to 40 percent for the state's primaries. High turnout was reported in the northern part of the state and in Richmond and Charlottesville, according to Virginia Board of Elections spokeswoman Susan Pollard. There were reports of 45-minute lines in counties around Richmond, she said. Mark Coakley, the general register for Henrico County said the turnout in his Richmond-area county was record breaking. "It's our first ever-dual primary so regardless it would be record breaking," he said. At an Alexandria, Virginia, polling station, election officials said they were seeing a steady turnout. Potomac Primaries Results Get up-to-the-minute Virginia, Maryland and District of Columbia primary results from the CNN Election Center. Tonight, 7 p.m. ET see full schedule » "We're getting good, consistent turnout. We started out with over 20 people at the gate when we opened up the doors at 6 a.m.," election official Chris Tatem said. "We're averaging maybe a hundred an hour of people that push through here, which is good." At around 1 p.m. Tuesday, the polling station's precinct chief Tom Fina said, "We're almost at the same level as we were last year for the Virginia elections." "Today with almost 700 votes before the day is much more than half over, we are running considerably ahead of the past experience that we've had," he said. High winds swept through the state on Sunday and Monday knocking out power in some areas and forcing some polling stations to relocate. The storms knocked out power to 50 stations, election officials said, but power had been restored to all but eight of them. Generators were used to restore power at some locations. District election officials did not respond to CNN's inquiries about voting turnout. On the Democratic side, the key question is whether Sen. Barack Obama will be able to sustain the momentum he mustered in his sweep of five Democratic contests last weekend. Watch as Obama seems to be on a roll while Clinton regroups » The demographics in Tuesday's primaries suggest the senator from Illinois could pull off a political hat trick over rival Sen. Hillary Clinton. However, the senator from New York said Obama's recent success doesn't faze her because future primaries will swing her way. The devil is in the demographics for Democrats. Maryland, Virginia and especially the District of Columbia have large numbers of African-American and affluent white voters. Obama has fared well in the past with both groups. Watch as Clinton downplays Obama's recent victories » Previous exit polls indicate Obama also has done well with independents voting in Democratic contests, and Virginia's open primary permits independents to cast ballots for either party. In total delegates, Clinton tops Obama 1,157 to 1,145, according to CNN estimates. The breakdown paints a slightly different picture, as Obama leads 989 to 923 in pledged delegates, and Clinton is winning among superdelegates 234 to 156. Superdelegates, a group of almost 800 Democratic Party officials and leaders, are not required to make their votes public and are free to change their minds. In the Republican race, the question is whether Sen. John McCain can start to unify the Republican party behind his all-but-certain nomination. McCain is leading the only other Republican candidate in the race, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, 723 to 217 in total delegates, according to CNN estimates. A GOP candidate needs 1,191 delegates to secure the nomination. But Huckabee is coming off a big win Saturday in Kansas, where he won by double digits, and another narrower win in Louisiana. McCain edged out Huckabee in the Washington caucuses, but Huckabee is questioning the result. Huckabee has done well with Christian conservatives and rural voters, and McCain's performance last weekend suggests the GOP, particularly conservative voters, are not quite ready to unite behind him. McCain, however, scoffed at the notion that the former Arkansas governor could close the over 500-delegate gap that separates the two GOP contenders. "We are doing fine. We have 700 and some -- close to 800 delegates, and the last time I checked Gov. Huckabee has very few," McCain said. "So I think I am pretty happy with the situation that we are in." He said Tuesday he was "guardedly optimistic" about the Potomac primaries. E-mail to a friend CNN's Paul Steinhauser and Erik Tavcar contributed to this report. All About Democratic Party • Republican Party | Barack Obama, the junior senator from Illinois and 2008 US presidential candidate has swept all three of today's Democratic contests in the "Potomac primaries" consisting of the nation's capital, Washington, D.C. and the bordering states of Virginia and Maryland. Obama led in the Virginia polls 67 percent, while in the District of Columbia, he lead 76 percent over opponent, New York senator Hillary Clinton's 24 percent. This sweep gives him a slight lead over Clinton in the delegate count. Meanwhile, the Clinton campaign lost an aide today, as campaign aide Mike Henry resigned making light of a small staffing crisis within the campaign as Clinton just replaced her campaign manager Patty Solis Doyle with Maggie Williams. Doyle remains with the campaign as a senior advisor. Meanwhile, John McCain, the senator from Arizona and 2008 US presidential candidate has swept all three of today's Republican contests in the Potomac primaries. McCain obtained a slim margin of victory over opponent, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee in Virginia and had a lead over Huckabee by nine points in the District. |
Accuser testifies that Jackson molested him SANTA MARIA, California (CNN) -- Michael Jackson's teenage accuser said Thursday that the pop star manually stimulated him on two separate occasions -- and tried to get the then-13 year old to do the same to him during overnight sleepovers at Jackson's Neverland Ranch two years ago. The graphic testimony came on a dramatic day that got a late start. Superior Court Judge Rodney Melville threatened to revoke the $3 million bail and jail the singer for arriving late to court. The teenager Thursday testified in Jackson's child molestation trial of sleeping alone with the pop star and being served alcohol by the singer. The now-15-year-old boy testified he and Jackson were alone under the covers in Jackson's bed after a night of drinking alcohol in the Neverland Ranch arcade when Jackson brought up the subject of masturbation. "He told me if I don't know how, he will do it for me," he said. The teenager said Jackson told him that a man who doesn't masturbate could end up raping a girl or becoming disabled. He also testified that Jackson related a story about a boy who didn't masturbate having sex with a dog. The teenage boy -- who was 13 at the time he alleges the incidents occurred -- said he told Jackson, "I don't really want to." But he said Jackson proceeded to stimulate him for about five minutes until he ejaculated. "I felt weird, and I was embarrassed," he testified. "Michael said it was OK. It was natural." A day or two later, the teen testified, a similar incident happened when they were watching TV on top of the covers, both dressed in pajamas. But on this occasion, the teen said Jackson took his hand and tried to get him to pleasure Jackson. "He said it's natural. Don't be scared," he testified. However, he said he pulled his hand away and did not gratify Jackson. Santa Barbara County District Attorney Thomas Sneddon asked the accuser how many times Jackson touched him inappropriately. "In my memory, it was only twice, but I feel it was more than twice," the teenager said. "But I only remember it twice." Among the charges Jackson faces are four counts of committing a lewd act on a child, two of which the accuser's younger brother testified he witnessed while his older brother was asleep. Prosecutors allege that Jackson plied the boy with alcohol in order to molest him. Thursday marked the second day of testimony by the accuser. Earlier in the day, he said that during a trip to Miami in February 2003, Jackson took him into a room in his hotel suite and gave him white wine in a Diet Coke can, referring to it as "Jesus juice." "I drank a little bit and told him it tasted ugly," he said. But he testified Jackson urged him to continue drinking it, saying, "it will relax you. I know you're all stressed out." The accuser said the next day, "I felt my head hurt, and I wanted to lay down." On the trip home from Miami on Jackson's private jet, the pop star urged him not to tell anyone about the "Jesus juice," took off a watch he was wearing and gave it to him, the teenager said. "He told me the watch was worth $75,000," he said. Both he and his younger brother drank wine with Jackson on the flight, he said. In the weeks after the Miami trip, when the family was staying at Neverland, the teenage accuser said that he and his brother slept with Jackson in his bed and drank alcohol with Jackson "every night that Michael was there." The teenager said he was given hard alcohol -- rum, vodka and whisky -- in addition to wine. The boy testified that on three occasions, he expressed concern to Jackson that drinking alcohol might be bad for him because he only had one kidney, having lost the other one to cancer. But Jackson "said it was OK, nothing bad would happen," he testified. Accuser recalls sleeping with Jackson Under prosecution questioning, Jackson's accuser admitted denying that anything inappropriate had happened with Jackson when social workers came to investigate his family after he and Jackson were shown holding hands in a 2003 television documentary. In the program produced by British journalist Martin Bashir, Jackson defended his practice of letting children sleep in his bed. The teenage boy said he told social workers "We slept in his bed, but nothing bad happened." Asked if that statement was true he answered, "At the time, yes." The teen said it was Jackson who asked him to hold his hand during the filming of the documentary -- an image that would later take a toll on Jackson's public image. He was also asked why he put his head on Jackson's shoulder during the taping. "I was really close to Michael. He was like my best friend," he testified. "So I just put my head on his shoulder." He also testified that toward the end of February 2003, he began sleeping alone with Jackson. The teenager also directly linked Jackson to an effort to send the family to Brazil after the Bashir video aired. The prosecution contends the Brazil trip was part of an orchestrated conspiracy to intimidate the family and keep them quiet as Jackson's camp tried to control the damage to his image. The teen said he had a conversation with Jackson and his associate, Frank Tyson, about the Brazil trip. He testified that Jackson told him the family was going there on a vacation and that he would join them a week later. He also said Tyson "was angry because my mom didn't want to go." His younger brother and sister have testified that Jackson's associates arranged the trip -- including obtaining passports for the family -- while they were being held against their will at a Los Angeles hotel. But they did not link the trip preparations to Jackson. Asked if the family had been free to leave the hotel, the accuser replied, "No, I don't think so." When asked why, he said Tyson and another Jackson associate, Vinnie Amen, kept the key cards to their rooms. Late arrival Thursday's trial proceedings got off to a late start when Jackson failed to arrive on time for the scheduled 8:30 a.m. (11:30 a.m. ET) start. Defense lawyer Thomas Mesereau Jr. told Santa Barbara Superior Court Judge Rodney S. Melville that his client was at a hospital for treatment of a "serious back problem." But Melville, who last month had to delay jury selection by a week after Jackson was briefly hospitalized with the flu, refused to accept the excuse. The judge threatened to revoke Jackson's $3 million bail and jail him for the remainder of the trial if he didn't show up within an hour. Jackson missed Melville's deadline by three minutes. Appearing disheveled and wearing pajama bottoms and sandals, Jackson walked slowly into the courthouse. A bodyguard and Jackson's father supported the singer at his elbows. Jackson spent about a hour Thursday morning at the Santa Ynez Valley Cottage Hospital before leaving for the courthouse, said Wende Cappetta, a hospital vice president. Once the trial resumed, Melville, who appeared calmer, apologized to jurors for the delay and informed them that he had to order Jackson to court. But he told them not to "make inferences" about Jackson's innocence or guilt based on that fact. The jurors seemed unfazed about the delay, smiling and talking as they entered the courtroom. Thursday afternoon, Melville revoked the bench warrant he issued earlier in the day. Melville's decision meant Jackson's $3 million bail would be continued and the singer would not be jailed. Jackson sat still during Thursday's testimony, showing little reaction. He occasionally pushed his long hair from in front of his eyes or rested his chin on his hands. Jackson, 46, was indicted in April by a state grand jury on 10 felony counts for incidents that allegedly occurred in February and March 2003. The charges include four counts of committing a lewd act on a child; one count of conspiracy to commit child abduction, false imprisonment and extortion; one count of attempting to commit a lewd act on a child; and four counts of administering an intoxicating agent to assist in the commission of a felony. Jackson has pleaded not guilty to the charges. ||||| Michael Jackson arrived at court an hour late Gavin Arvizo, 15, told the jury in Santa Maria that he was abused in the pop star's bedroom at his ranch. Mr Jackson arrived an hour late to his trial, wearing pyjamas and slippers and complaining of back pain. The angered judge had threatened to issue a warrant for his arrest unless he arrived within an hour. In a statement, Michael Jackson's defence said that Mr Jackson had been taken to a hospital for treatment for a severe back problem after tripping and falling over while getting dressed. 'Jesus Juice' Mr Jackson arrived at about 0938 (1738 GMT) on Thursday, looking frail as he walked gingerly into the courthouse in what appeared to be blue hospital-issue pyjama trousers as his supporters chanted "innocent". He denies 10 charges including child abuse and false imprisonment. He said not to tell anyone about the Jesus Juice and said this is like a testimony that we'll be friends forever Gavin Arvizo Michael Jackson's accuser If found guilty he could face a 21-year prison sentence. The jury is to have a day off on Friday as the court considers a number of motions relating to the case. Gavin Arvizo, a cancer survivor who was 13 when the abuse he alleges took place described in detail on Thursday how he was molested. He said he and Michael Jackson were in bed together and that, after asking the boy lots of questions about sex, Mr Jackson had put his hand down Gavin Arvizo's pyjama bottoms and touched him. The boy told the court that the experience felt weird and that Mr Jackson tried to comfort him as Gavin felt bad about it. Lawyer Thomas Mesereau paced about waiting for Michael Jackson Gavin also described how he had consumed various kinds of alcoholic drinks - including vodka, wine and brandy - with the star. Secret drinking He said they were frequently drunk from fizzy drinks cans. Describing his introduction to wine Gavin said, "He said, 'You know how Jesus drank wine, well, we call it Jesus Juice'." Gavin said he thought that the liquid he sipped tasted "ugly". He said that on one occasion after drinking alcohol with Mr Jackson, he had been given an expensive watch and told to keep their drinking secret. "He said not to tell anyone about the Jesus Juice and said this is like a testimony that we'll be friends forever". On Wednesday, Gavin told the court he had slept in Mr Jackson's bedroom where they watched internet pornography together. The boy said the singer had suggested that he spend the night at his Neverland Ranch, and get permission from his parents - which he did. | An angry Judge Rodney S. Melville threatened to issue a bench warrant for the arrest of world famous pop singer Michael Jackson if he failed to appear at the Santa Barbara County Superior Court in California Thursday Jan. 10, 2005. Jackson is under indictment there on seven counts of lewd and lascivious acts on a child under 14, and two counts of administering an intoxicating agent. Jackson, held briefly under the threat of jail by authorities on Nov. 20, 2003 when charges brought against him were formalized, gained his freedom later that day by posting a $3 million bail. Judge Melville, apparently frustrated with Jackson who had in two earlier instances caused delays in his court room, issued the warrant just 5 minutes after noting the singer’s conspicuous absence at the scheduled 8:30 a.m. proceedings. Jackson's defense lawyer, Tom Mersereau Jr., advised the judge that Jackson awoke earlier that morning with severe back pain and was under treatment at an area hospital at the time. The judge moved to give the celebrity one hour to appear or face arrest for contempt of court. As word of the warrant threat traveled to the large news presence gathered outside, a media countdown began. During the countdown, live televised reports recounted how Jackson had arrived for court 20 minutes late on his own arraignment for these charges, only to be met by a stern lecture from Judge Melville for that transgression. There was also another occasion where Jackson, while recovering from flu symptoms, delayed the trial's jury selection for a week until he was well enough to return. The glaringly clear message sent by the judge was: bad back or not, Jackson was to appear in court! And fast! Only the televised scene of Jackson's expectant defense lawyer Mersereau with his assistant Susan Yu, both busy on cells phones while tensely waiting curbside beside the court house for the Jackson motorcade, seemed to undermine a feeling that Jackson would make it in time to avoid having his bail revoked. As the deadline came and passed without Jackson’s arrival, live reports were busy with speculation on the superstar persona of Michael Jackson then taking on newer aspects of super-bizarre. But Jackson’s flair for tardiness showed itself with an arrival that was a mere 3 minutes after the judge was being forced to make good on his threat. Dressed in a blue blazer over a light weight undershirt, the star's recent departure from the hospital was evident by the pajama bottom pants and open-heeled bedroom slippers he wore into the court room. Jackson had the assistance of his father and a body guard at each side to keep him steady as he gingerly walked into the Santa Maria court house. He listed slightly to the right and kept a fixed, distant face that was surrounded by uncombed strands of his long hair. The summons issued by the judge forced Jackson from his hospital bed to show the world he was not above the law. In private chambers, Judge Melville met with both the prosecution lawyer, Tom Sneddon, and Jackson’s defense lawyer to verify the defendant’s claims of back pain. After re-taking the bench in the court room, the judge announced to the jury they would proceed with the docket as planned. Mr. Jackson narrowly escaped prison, and the trial would continue where it left off on the previous day with direct testimony from the now 15 year old boy who accuses him. |
Northern Ireland's most bitter enemies, Sinn Fein and Ian Paisley's Democratic Unionists, are on the verge of a historic deal to restore power sharing in the province and end doubts about the destruction of terrorist weapons. Months of secret negotiations between the two sides, the political extremes of Northern Ireland's religious divide, have stitched up the basis for a deal that would see the Northern Ireland Assembly at Stormont return to work early next year. Power sharing, the bedrock for lasting peace under the Good Friday Agreement, was suspended more than two years ago after Unionists claimed the IRA had not renounced violence and amid allegations of spying by both sides. The Irish and British governments have been engaged in intense diplomacy to bring the two sides together and have enlisted US President George Bush in the process. The President has spoken recently to Mr Paisley and Gerry Adams. Mr Adams, the president of IRA's political wing, Sinn Fein, said he believed Mr Paisley's DUP was close to signing up for a deal even though he has refused to talk directly with the Sinn Fein. He said he had told President Bush that "we may need help at the White House to deliver Sinn Fein's objectives". Sinn Fein has also cautioned that it did not have any influence over whether the IRA would allow photographic evidence of decommissioning of its weapons, a central Paisley demand. Mr Paisley's deep animosity towards the IRA, the Good Friday Agreement and Sinn Fein have long been feared as an insurmountable roadblock to peace and fears remain that Unionists could renege on any deal. He emerged as the chief unionist figure after elections a year ago reduced the influence of David Trimble's Ulster Unionists. Mr Paisley warned over the weekend that destruction of IRA weapons needed to be "transparent and conclusive" and he would walk away from any deal he thought unfair. He was due to meet Canada's General John de Chastelain, the head of the decommissioning process yesterday, while Mr Adams was due in London for an unprecedented meeting with Hugh Orde, the head of North Ireland's police. The British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, who has invested considerable political capital in brokering a deal, was also expected to speak to Mr Adams. Under the terms of a deal, the IRA would agree to destroy all of its remaining guns and explosives in front of two independent churchmen, one Catholic, the other Protestant. Photographic proof of destruction is to be held by General de Chastelain's Independent International Commission on Decommissioning until March as the power-sharing assembly in Stormont is fully restored from January. It is not yet clear if Mr Paisley will insist that the photographs have to be published, a move the IRA could resist as a sign of bad faith and public humiliation. Alleged renegade IRA members issued a statement to several Irish Sunday newspapers saying they opposed further decommissioning and warning the organisation would split if it went ahead. But the three IRA battalions are believed to be far less influential than those supporting the Sinn Fein's moves. ||||| Also from this section > Are Paisley and Adams on the brink of the deal to end all deals? By David McKittrick 30 November 2004 Old enemies in Northern Ireland were edging towards a deal last night that could break the year-long stalemate in the peace process and pave the way for a lasting settlement. . . . . . . . . . Belfast Telegraph Archive Article This article is available in full (approx. 723 words) to Belfast Telegraph Archive subscribers. Already Subscribed ? Please click here. Otherwise, please choose an option below : 50p for 24 hours' access to this article or £5 monthly subscription to the whole Belfast Telegraph archive or £50 annual subscription to the whole Belfast Telegraph archive Find out more about the Belfast Telegraph Archive and how to subscribe. Buy using BT click&buy and pay via credit card, direct debit, debit card or via your BT phone bill. (If you are outside the UK, you can still use BT click&buy and pay by credit card. Your credit card company will convert the cost into local currency.) | | SiteSearch | Hopes were rising that the impasse in the Good Friday Agreement could be broken with high level talks in Downing Street between the British Prime Minister Tony Blair and the Democratic Unionist leader Ian Paisley. It is also expected that the Republican Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams would have separate meetings with the Irish leader Bertie Ahern in Dublin. These meetings follow a historic meeting between Gerry Adams and Northern Ireland Chief Constable Hugh Orde over issues of police reform and decommissioning. The current impasse concerns the key issues of decommissioning of paramilitary weapons and the 'de-militarisation' of the province. Previous efforts to achieve a compromise failed because Unionists claimed insufficiently large amounts of IRA weaponry had been decommissioned, and that there was insufficient evidence that the weapons had in fact been destroyed. Some Unionists are insisting on photographic evidence of the destruction of IRA weapons, a request that is bound to be resisted by more militant Republicans. Even if further decommissioning occurs, Republicans are almost certain to want a specific timetable for the removal of British Army bases in Republican leaning areas of Northern Ireland (such as South Armagh), which are much resented by some local inhabitants. If the current deadlock were broken, it would mean the reconvening of the Northern Ireland Assembly, which was shut down in 2002 amidst accusations of spying by both Republicans and Unionists. |
HELSINKI (Reuters) - The Nordic countries are the world's greenest and, despite the cold winters, Finland is the best country to live in, according to a Reader's Digest study released on Friday. Finland was followed by Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Austria. "Finland wins high marks for air and water quality, a low incidence of infant disease and how well it protects citizens from water pollution and natural disasters," the study said. The United States was 23rd on the list of 141 countries, Britain was 25th and China 84th. Nations at the bottom of the table were all African. Stockholm scored as the best city to live in out of 72 major metropolitan hubs, followed by Oslo, Munich and Paris. Four German cities won a spot in the top 10 list. New York was 15th and London 27th. The dirtiest cities were in Asia, with Beijing, host of next summer's Olympic, at the bottom because of its air pollution. The study was conducted by U.S. environmental economist Matthew Kahn, who looked at issues such as quality of drinking water and greenhouse gas emissions as well as factors such as education and income. ||||| Annabella Bulacan - AHN News Writer Helsinki, Finland (AHN) - A study of the world's greenest and most livable places ranked Finland on the top of the list, among 141 nations around the globe. According to a Reader's Digest report released on Friday, "Finland wins high marks for air and water quality, a low incidence of infant disease and how well it protects citizens from water pollution and natural disasters." The study was conducted by U.S. environmental economist Matthew Kahn and Fran Lostys, who identified the determinants of the ranking such as quality of drinking water, greenhouse gas emissions, as well as factors such as quality of education and income level of people. Aside from Finland, included in the top 20 slots of world's most livable countries were Iceland, Norway, Sweden , Austria, Switzerlnd, Ireland, Australia, Uruguay, Denmark, Canada, Japan, Israel, Italy, Slovenia, France, Netherlands , Portugal, New Zealand and Greece The United States ranked 23rd , Britain was 25th and China 84th. Nations at the bottom of the table were all African. Out of 72 major metropolitan hubs, Stockholm ranked first followed by Oslo, Munich and Paris. New York was 15th and London 27th. Three of the world's dirtiest cities were in China including Guangzhou, Shanghai and with Beijing on the top of the list. ||||| Ireland really is green... 1 comment FRIDAY 05/10/2007 08:44:27 It's official! Ireland really is green Ireland has scored in the top ten in a league of countries' green credentials. Britain, however, scores badly in the league, despite attempts to be a world leader on climate change, a study claims today. Ireland romped home in 7th place in the table of 141 countries while Britain was ranked 25th in the list of greenest and best places to live, according to research for Readers` Digest. The study also gave London a rating of just 27th out of 72 world cities for being environmentally friendly. The country which came top in the poll - based on nations` green credentials and other indicators of how desirable they are to live in such as education and income - was Finland, followed by Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Austria. Ethiopia came bottom of the league table. The greenest city was judged to be Stockholm, followed by Oslo. Germany had four cities in the top 10 - Munich, Frankfurt, Stuttgart and Dusseldorf, while France, which ranked 16th overall, had three - Paris, Lyon and Nantes. The worst cities were all in Asia, with Beijing at the bottom of the table. The analysis was carried out by US environmental economist Matthew Kahn using the UN 2006 Human Development Index and the 2005 Environmental Sustainability Index. E-mail this story to a friend Post your comment COMMENT TRACKER: LOGIN to track comments on this story 1 comment(s) post your comment On 7 Oct at 01:38 - martin from belfast said: t'be shure isn't it great that we're green.. but could we have less rain and only 39 shades??? | A new survey into the world's greenest and most livable countries has concluded that out of 141 countries reviewed, Finland is the greenest. Some of the top 20, in order, were Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Austria, Switzerland, Ireland, Australia, Uruguay, Denmark, Canada, Japan, Israel, Italy, Slovenia, France, Netherlands, Portugal, New Zealand and Greece. The poorest results went to African countries, which dominated the bottom of the table, with Ethiopia coming in last place. "Finland wins high marks for air and water quality, a low incidence of infant disease and how well it protects citizens from water pollution and natural disasters," commented the study. Other factors taken into account when ranking the countries included quality of education and income level. Some other results were the United Kingdom at 25th, the United States at 23rd and China at 84. The study also looked at individual cities. Of the 72 examined, Stockholm came out on top, followed in order by Oslo, and Paris. A total of four German cities were ranked in the top ten — Munich, Frankfurt, and — and French cities Lyon and joined Paris in the top ten as well. New York came in at 15th and London at 27th. At the bottom end were mainly Asian cities, with Beijing's problems earning it the lowest spot in the table. Guangzhou and Shanghai were also near the bottom. |
The Sims 2 Content Similar To Hot Coffee? 9:14 AM Gamespot is reporting that a Miami attorney by the name of Jack Thompson has set his eyes on Electronics Arts The Sims 2 video game for content similar to that of the "Hot Coffee" modification. The "Hot Coffee" modification unlocked inappropriate sexual content in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. Things are likely to heat up for gaming industry and Jack Thompson as he pursues his latest endeavor. Here is a glance at the article: Thompson doesn't seem to care. He cites a cheat code that can remove the blur that covers the nether regions. "The nudity placed there by the publisher/maker, Electronic Arts, is accessed by the use of a simple code that removes what is called 'the blur' which obscures the genital areas. In other words, the game was released to the public by the manufacturer knowing that the full frontal nudity was resident on the game and would be accessed by use of a simple code widely provided on the Internet." Electronics Arts' argument is that the Sims 2 is basically a life simulator. The game's focus is to try to accurately imitate real life as much as possible even if it means partial nudity blurred when going to the restroom for example. There is no content inappropriate for a teen audience. Players never see a nude sim. If someone with an extreme amount of expertise and time were to remove the pixels, they would see that the sims have no genitals. They appear like Ken and Barbie." This content that Jack Thompson accuses The Sims 2 of having isn't directly in the game like "Hot Coffee" was. However, the Sims 2 modding community has created modifications that show more of the Sims than it was ever intended to by the game's developers. The cheat code that removes the blur hasn't been reported to work on the Macintosh version of The Sims 2. Until further notice, The Sims 2 is still rated Teen and can be purchased from the Mac Game Store (MGS) for $48.95. Stay tuned to IMG for futher news regarding this developing story. Search for other news stories or browse our News Archive. ||||| Cooling Hot Coffee: Inside San Andreas' AO rating To get an insider's view of how the industry reacted, GameSpot speaks with ESRB president Patricia Vance about the industry-shaking Grand Theft Auto controversy. 07/21/05 - 5:04pm Sims 2 content "worse than Hot Coffee" [UPDATE] Miami attorney Jack Thompson claims cheat codes make EA's life sim a pedophile's paradise by showing genitalia; calls for ban on T-rated game. How do you like your hot coffee? If you're Jack Thompson, you like it scalding game publisher's laps. The Miami attorney and antigaming activist has done his share to see that games don't fall into the wrong hands. And lately, those hands have belonged to almost everyone. Thompson was among those who spearheaded the recent effort to slap an "Adults Only" rating on Rockstar Games' Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, and he's often been on the forefront of many other gaming issues, several of which have targeted the crime-spree-based GTA franchise. In the past, he's represented defendants who have been the victims of GTA-inspired crimes, including the triple homicide of three police officers by an 18-year-old boy in Alabama. His beef with San Andreas? Unused code in the game that depicts sexual acts. These minigames can be unlocked by using game-cheat devices or patches available on the Internet. Thompson is on a roll...and he's not done yet. His latest goat is a game that doesn't involve guns, carjacking, or prostitutes: He's going after Electronic Arts' The Sims 2. In a manifesto sent today to press outlets, Thompson focuses on dismantling the Entertainment Software Ratings Board and exposing what he calls the industry's "latest dirty little secret." The secret's out now, and it involves nude sims. In the statement, Thompson says, "Sims 2, the latest version of the Sims video game franchise ... contains, according to video game news sites, full frontal nudity, including nipples, penises, labia, and pubic hair." The Sims 2 is a "life simulator." In the game, players steer their digital beings around their cyberlives. Actions include everything from the spectacular (getting married, having children, receiving promotions at work) to the mundane (cooking microwaved meals, going to the bathroom, mopping the floor). Such activities, as in real life, sometimes require nudity. EA circumvents inappropriateness by "blurring" out the nether regions, almost to a comical sense. Knowing that the game is popular among all ages, EA has even taken steps to ensure that Sims fans aren't exposed to indecent depictions. In the recent expansion pack, The Sims 2 University, gamers can send their teenage sims off to college. However, instead of packing the expansion with "keggers" and "reefer," EA chose to use juice and bubble blowers. Thompson doesn't seem to care. He cites a cheat code that can remove the blur that covers the nether regions. "The nudity placed there by the publisher/maker, Electronic Arts, is accessed by the use of a simple code that removes what is called 'the blur' which obscures the genital areas. In other words, the game was released to the public by the manufacturer knowing that the full frontal nudity was resident on the game and would be accessed by use of a simple code widely provided on the Internet." It's not just the adults that are liberated from their wardrobes. Sims kids can also be nudified, "much to the delight, one can be sure, of pedophiles around the globe who can rehearse, in virtual reality, for their abuse." Were this to be true, Thompson would have his smoking gun, and EA would be forced to recall all copies of The Sims 2. However, it's what's under the blur that Thompson's after. And what happens when the blur is lifted? A simple mannequin-esque smooth body, according to EA. Jeff Brown, vice president of corporate communications at EA, in response to the accusations, told GameSpot, "This is nonsense. We've reviewed 100 percent of the content. There is no content inappropriate for a teen audience. Players never see a nude sim. If someone with an extreme amount of expertise and time were to remove the pixels, they would see that the sims have no genitals. They appear like Ken and Barbie." Thompson doesn't buy it. "The sex and the nudity are in the game. That's the point. The blur is an admission that even the 'Ken and Barbie' features should not be displayed. The blur can be disarmed. This is no different than what is in San Andreas, although worse." [UPDATE] Thompson this afternoon updated his earlier statement, saying he is aware certain mods only remove "the blur," but adds that "Electronic Arts has done nothing about this." Thompson's new conclusion: EA is "cooperating, gleefully, with the mod community to turn Sims 2 into a porn offering." The last time we checked, The Sims 2 was rated T for Teen by the ESRB, which means that anyone 13 years of age, with $50 to spend, can purchase the game. | Attorney Jack Thompson, fresh from the "Hot Coffee" controversy, has set his sights on the Electronic Arts (EA) video game ''The Sims 2'' for a mod that removed the blur on nude character models in the game. Thompson was quoted as saying "Sims 2, the latest version of the Sims video game franchise ... contains, according to video game news sites, full frontal nudity, including nipples, penises, labia, and pubic hair." Factually, the characters resemble that of a child's dolls. Thompson also accused EA of being in collaboration with the mod makers. In Electronic Arts' defense, EA spokesman Jeff Brown said, “Reasonable people understand there is nothing improper in the game. Reasonable people recognise what mods are. A consumer who chooses to use a mod does so without any kind of agreement with the company. There is no nudity. There is nothing improper or vulgar in the Sims 2.” A mod is third-party add-on to a game. Mods range from minor and subtle changes to the game, to full-fledged "total conversions" which merely use the original game engine to create a very different game. |
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