News of the World faces fresh phone hacking charge

• Calls for judicial inquiry after reporter is suspended
• Latest phone hacking allegation dates from earlier this year
• Four targets poised to sue police over failure to warn them

Nick Davies, Vikram Dodd and Nicholas Watt
Thursday 2 September 2010

The government tonight came under pressure to set up a judicial inquiry into the phone hacking scandal at the News of the World after the paper confirmed that it has suspended a journalist while it investigates new allegations of the unlawful interception of voicemail.

The prime minister's media adviser, Andy Coulson, has denied a report in the New York Times which claimed he freely discussed the use of unlawful news-gathering techniques when he was editing the paper and "actively encouraged" a named reporter to engage in illegal interception of voicemail messages. Coulson has always denied knowing of any illegal activity by his journalists.

Scotland Yard, too, found itself in the firing line after the New York Times quoted unnamed detectives alleging they had cut short their investigation because of their close relationship with the News of the World. A group of four public figures, including former deputy prime minister John Prescott, is poised to sue police over a failure to warn them they had been targeted by the private investigator at the centre of the scandal, Glenn Mulcaire.

The Guardian has learned that the Metropolitan police commissioner at the time of the original investigation, Sir Ian Blair, was among those whose names were found in material seized from Mulcaire, raising questions about whether officers who were directly involved in the investigation had discovered that they, too, had been targets of the newspaper. It is understood Blair was assured at the time that his phone had not been hacked.

The former Labour minister Tom Watson today called on the government to set up an inquiry into the relationship between Scotland Yard and Rupert Murdoch's News Group, which publishes the News of the World. In a letter which was addressed to the deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, in the absence of the prime minister, who is on paternity leave, Watson wrote: "The testimony given to the New York Times is that the police did not share all the relevant information with the Crown Prosecution Service, and that, if they had done, the CPS would have reached a different conclusion. These are clear grounds for a judicial inquiry.

"I think that information should be made available to the people concerned." ...

Golfer sparks 12-acre fire with shot in the rough
A golfer managed to set fire to a course when he accidentally struck a rock with his iron, sending sparks into the Californian rough.
2 Sep 2010

His hacking in the rough caused a spark that lit the rough ablaze and spread, destroying 12 acres, although no homes were destroyed.

The fire, at the exclusive Shady Canyon Golf Club in Irvine, California, USA, attracted 150 firefighters. ...

[brilliant snooty English butler]I have brought Sir a rather large Aloe Vera plant. I have also taken the liberty of engaging a hypnotherapist for Madam - she specialises in phobias.
A Mr Darwin also rang for you earlier, Sir. He said he shall ring back.[/brilliant snooty English butler]

Ta much to that naughty scullery maid, dear Anneliese

Fucking disgusting.

...“What we’re suggesting is that something that doesn’t really interact with anything is changing something that can’t be changed.” ...

Ta much, dear Ar0cketman

Tredegar terror - Weeping residents angry at MP and police
Published: Saturday | August 14, 2010
Arthur Hall and Rasbert Turner, Gleaner Reporters

THE GRIEF was evident, and the tears flowed freely as residents of Tredegar Park, St Catherine, responded to the killing of eight of their neighbours yesterday morning.

But what was more evident was the anger, as the residents claimed that they had been abandoned by the security forces and their political representatives and left to the mercy of heartless criminals.

With five men and three females, including an 11-year-old girl dead, the residents of the east central St Catherine community had reason to mourn. ...

... The residents reported that about 12:30 yesterday morning, explosions were heard in the area.

On investigation, the residents saw a group of men numbering between 15 and 20, dressed in dark-coloured clothing, firing shots into a number of houses before setting fire to at least two premises.

According to residents, calls to the police went unanswered as the gunmen went on a rampage that lasted for between 30 and 45 minutes.

"As anything happen, the police come round here, but when gunmen come kill wi aff, wi caan si any police," said a young woman, as the tears streamed down her cheeks.

"Let this be a warning to all of you that we have to come together to protect each other because the police and soldiers nah protect we," said an obviously angry young man.

"If you did think we have any MP (member of Parliament) or police to protect wi, you can see wi nuh have none now. You nuh see all now the MP nuh reach yah so," the young man added angrily. ...

Wrong again! Man 'killed' by police still on the run
Published: Saturday | August 14, 2010
Arthur Hall, Senior Staff Reporter

ANOTHER POLICE report has been called into question less than three weeks after the police information arm was left with egg on its face when a private video recording contradicted its report about the circumstances surrounding the fatal shooting of a man in Buckfield, St Ann.

Early yesterday morning, the police claimed that they had engaged the gunmen who had killed eight persons in Tredegar Park, St Catherine, and fatally shot two of the men in the section of the community known as Brooklyn.

According to the police, the dead gunmen were identified as Kevin, otherwise called 'Bilbo', and Jerome Williams, otherwise called 'Crab', both members of the Clansman gang, which operates in Spanish Town.

But hours later, residents disputed the police reports and compounded this by identifying the two dead persons.

The residents identified one of the victims as 15-year-old Derrick Anthony Bolton, otherwise called 'Crabby'. The other victim was identified as Lemone Turner, otherwise called 'Frenchman'.

"Crabby is my son who is a dancer who stay in Brooklyn and practise him dancing, so me tell him not to come home until in the morning," Geraldien Williams, his mother, told The Gleaner.

"The police dem hold him and dem ask him what the people call him, and him say Crabby, and dem say a him shoot the people a Tredegar Park, and a so dem kill him. It was a case of mistaken identity," Williams argued.

Other residents were most upset that the police could have mistaken the young Crabby for the alleged gangster known as Crab who was recently released from state custody.

"The police dem should a know say a nuh him name Crab, and dem should a never kill the youth," an angry resident said. ...

Never again!
Published: Thursday | August 19, 2010
Arthur Hall, Senior Staff Reporter

National Security Minister Dwight Nelson has vowed that the people of Tredegar Park, St Catherine, will never again have to endure the nightmare which climaxed with the killing of eight of their neighbours last Friday.

"This is a distressing situation, it is a terrible situation and the Government is not going to abdicate its responsibilities to protect these people," Nelson declared yesterday.

"Eight have been murdered and we don't want any more murders."

Nelson was on a tour of the community for his first meeting with residents who have survived a seven-year assault.

"I'm frightened. I am really trying hard to find words to describe how I feel inside having visited the places where the people were killed," Nelson told journalists as he walked the area known as Monkey Town, where the eight persons, including an 11-year-old girl, were fatally shot.

"I looked inside and saw the spots at which they died, talked to the people feeling the trauma, talked to children, looked at the fright in their eyes and I'm really, really distressed," Nelson said.

He told the residents that there was need for a united effort to bring back peace and a sense of safety to the community.

However, Nelson said the police have devised several measures which will be implemented to protect the residents.

He announced that those measures will include the placement of a mobile police station in the area. ...

No consensus on cause of war
Published: Thursday | August 19, 2010

Conflicting reports are beginning to surface about the cause of the bloody battle that has engulfed the communities of Tredegar Park and Gravel Heights in East Central St Catherine.

The official reports from the police link the conflict to the two major gangs operating out of the parish capital, Spanish Town.

According to the police, the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP)-aligned One Order gang and the People's National Party (PNP)-linked Clansman gang are behind the violence.

In the immediate aftermath of last Friday's killing of eight people in Tredegar Park, the police released the names of nine members of the two gangs as persons of interest.

But JLP councillor caretaker for the area, Neil Powell, says the One Order gang does not operate in Tredegar Park and the killers have been targeting his supporters.

"The people who worked with me in the last election have been either killed, abducted, driven away or raped in the area," Powell told The Gleaner.

"I'm standing here and I'm being truthful and I don't know of any criminal elements in Tredegar Park right now. There are a few guys who were here and they stood up and said they are not going to be taken over by the criminals from the Clansman gang and, when these guys put up resistance, people call them One Order gang and it is not so," Powell declared.

He said the few men who defended their turf in Tredegar Park have been taken into custody by the police. ...

Help coming for Tredegar Park residents
Published: Thursday | August 19, 2010

THE GOVERNMENT is mobilising several agencies to provide immediate assistance to the residents of Tredegar Park, St Catherine, who are struggling to cope with the impact of a conflict that has left more than 30 people dead over the past seven years.

Daryl Vaz, minister with responsibility for information and special projects, visited the community yesterday and promised the battle-weary residents that help was on the way.

"What I have learnt from this visit is that there are a number of people in the community who were affected in previous attacks who have received no assistance," Vaz told journalists as he completed a tour of the community.

"I have put the SDC (Social Develop-ment Commission) in charge and I'm going to ask other agencies to assist," he added.

Vaz announced that the Ministry of Education is to conduct an assessment of the Tredegar Park Primary School to see what needs to be done to have it ready for September, while the Ministry of Water and Housing is to look at the houses which were firebombed or otherwise damaged during the conflict.

The Ministry of Labour and Social Security is also to provide assistance to the families who will now have to bury their dead.

"Food For The Poor will be coming tomorrow because it can react immediately and quickest to the infrastructure needs of these people," said Vaz.

"We are talking about an immediate response, a short-term and a medium-term response because this is not a quick-fix situation, and the people have been affected in many different ways."

The government minister described the situation in Tredegar Park as heart-rending and frightening.

"When you listen to the people and the stories that they tell you about how they have been living in fear for many, many years ... ," he lamented, shaking his head.

"They don't sleep at nights. The children have been crying since Friday and this looks like something that you will see in war-torn countries around the world." ...

This is well beyond tasteless.

What a buncha pricks.

Elderly widow threatened with £2,500 fine for dropping cigarette ash
An elderly widow has been threatened with a £2,500 fine for dropping cigarette ash on the pavement.
16 Aug 2010

Sheila Martin, 70, was smoking at a bus stop when a warden pounced and handed her the £75 fixed penalty for littering.

However she has refused to pay – and could now face a £2,500 penalty.

Mrs Martin, from Oldbury, West Mids, was hit with the original fine by the Sandwell Council warden while at the bus stop on May 25.

She said: "I still can't believe what happened. I was just sat at a bus stop quietly enjoying my cigarette and from nowhere a warden appeared and accused me of littering.

"I couldn't believe it, I was only smoking a cigarette. It is one of the few things I have left that I can afford to buy myself.

"I can't work out why the council would be so vindictive over such a petty matter. I'm so upset and angry."

It is not the first time Sandwell Council has been accused of heavy handedness over littering.

The authority handed out 2,200 penalty fines last year, compared to just 336 in neighbouring Dudley.

Cllr Derek Rowley, Sandwell's Cabinet member for safer neighbourhoods, refused to be drawn on Mrs Martin's case, but said: "In general terms, our wardens do not issue fixed penalty notices for dropping cigarette ash...."



They did, in general terms, issue a fixed penalty notice to Ms Martin, you fuckwits.

... Here are the major companies that are downloading the torrent. A couple caveats to these. Just because a company is on the list, doesn't mean that it's a sanctioned download by the company itself to grab the user information for some purpose. It could easily just be some dude at the company who wanted to download the torrent himself to check it out. Also, the IP addresses assigned to a company might fluctuate (they usually don't, much, unless major companies change their connection to the internet, so it should be mostly accurate).

A.C. Nielsen
Agilent Technologies
Apple
AT&T - Possible Macrovision
Baker & McKenzie
BBC
Bertelsmann Media
Boeing
Church of Scientology
Cisco Systems
Cox Enterprises
Davis Polk & Wardwell
Deutsche Telekom
Disney
Duracell
Ernst & Young
Fujitsu
Goldman Sachs
Halliburton
HBO & Company
Hilton Hospitality
Hitachi
HP
IBM
Intel
Intuit
Levi Strauss & Co.
Lockheed-Martin Corp
Lucasfilm
Lucent
Lucent Technologies
Matsushita Electric Industrial Co
Mcafee
MetLife
Mitsubishi
Motorola
Northrop Grumman
Novell
Nvidia
O'Melveny & Myers
Oracle Corp
Pepsi Cola
Procter and Gamble
Random House
Raytheon
Road Runner RRWE
Seagate
Sega
Siemens AG
SONY CORPORATION
Sprint
Sun Microsystems
Symantec
The Hague
Time Warner Telecom
Turner Broadcasting system
Ubisoft Entertainment
Unisys
United Nations
Univision
USPS
Viacom
Vodafone
Wells Fargo
Xerox PARC




facebook: Just Say "No."
Ta much, dear MSiegel

I live in Detroit, but the biggest rat I ever saw was in Cleveland, and it was the size of a big kitty!

Stop Industrial Farm Antibiotic Abuse

Industrial farms routinely feed antibiotics to chickens, pigs, and beef cattle to make them grow faster and compensate for overcrowding and unsanitary living conditions.

In fact, up to 70 percent of all antibiotics sold in the United States are used on industrial farms in healthy food animals.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently testified before the U.S. Congress to the definitive link between routine antibiotic use in food animal production and antibiotic resistance in humans—the first time these three agencies have presented a unified message on the issue.

Yet, the FDA may weaken a regulation to make it even easier for veterinarians to give antibiotics to food animals on industrial farms. And, while a recent FDA draft guidance document on antibiotic use in food-producing animals states that “using medically important antimicrobial drugs for production or growth enhancing purposes in food-producing animals is not in the interest of protecting and promoting the public health,” the document only recommends measures to curb some overuse of the drugs. Now is not the time for less regulations and unenforceable recommendations! It is time for definitive action that forces agribusiness to end the overuse and misuse of antibiotics. ...

FEDERAL BUREAU of Investigations (FBI) director, Robert Mueller, told Congress yesterday that he does not know how many of his agents cheated on an important test about the limitations of the bureau's powers to conduct surveillance and open cases without evidence that a crime has been committed.

The Justice Department inspector general (IG) is investigating whether hundreds of FBI agents cheated on the test, a brewing scandal that could be further embarrassment for the FBI as it continues cleaning up after years of collecting phone records without court approval. Asked by Senator Patrick Leahy, a Democrat, about an Associated Press report on the cheating, Mueller told the Senate Judiciary Committee he didn't know the exact number of agents involved. ...

United States drug-enforcement agents appear to have come across the first details it learned about the alleged criminal empire of accused drug kingpin Christopher 'Dudus' Coke by chance.

Those details, according to a recent New York Times article, came out while investigators were grilling Jamaican drug dealer, Lloyd Reid, after a routine arrest on gun and drug charges in The Bronx, New York, in October 2007.

The article stated that Reid, who was convicted last year on conspiracy to distribute marijuana, told investigators about someone he depicted as "one of the most powerful men in all of Jamaica". ...

[brilliant snooty English butler]Pardon me, sirs, but a Mr Darwin is calling and would like a word. Shall I ask him to ring back once the bandages have been removed from your visages? Very good, sirs.
Thank you, sirs.[/brilliant snooty English butler]

Ta much, dear Anneliese

Iroquois lacrosse team cleared to travel by America – then blocked by Britain
Nation that invented the sport refused entry to UK for tournament
Ewen MacAskill, Washington
Thursday 15 July 2010

The British government was last night refusing to allow a native American team into the country to take part in a lacrosse competition.

Only hours after the US government backed down in a row with the Iroquois team over passports, the team's hopes of making it to the UK were dashed when the British government denied them entry.

The Iroquois team had been due to fly to the UK on Sunday for the opening game tonight against England in Manchester.

For the last three decades, the Iroquois have travelled using their own documents, as agreed by the US, Britain, Canada and other nations. But the US, under new stringent travel rules, insisted that they now use US passports, which the Iroquois do not recognise.

The US state department, intent on ending the embarrassing standoff, cleared the way for the team to travel yesterday after the US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, ordered them to be given a one-off waiver.

Asked why the department had dropped its opposition, the state department spokesman, PJ Crowley said: "There was flexibility there to grant this kind of one-time waiver given the unique circumstances of this particular trip."

The team, after hearing the news, prepared to fly out from New York yesterday afternoon, optimistic of finally getting to England.

But a British diplomat said last night that the tightening of rules on travel that applied in the US post-9/11 also applied in Britain.

"We would be pleased to welcome the Iroquois national lacrosse team but like all those seeking entry to the UK they must present document that enable us to complete our immigration and other checks," the diplomat said.

The diplomat added that the team would not require a visa if they had presented their Iroquois travel documents along with either a US or Canadian passport.

But that is at the crux of the problem: the Iroquois do not recognise either the US or Canadian governments and regard themselves as a sovereign nation.

The Iroquois team chairman, Oren Lyons, said the team was now unlikely to board a flight in time for the opening game of the two-week tournament.

The Iroquois, who helped invent the game more than 1,000 years ago, had hoped to have a few days in the UK to practise. "This has not been the best preparation for a world tournament," Lyons said. ...

Vital leads 'ignored' in Natalya Estemirova murder investigation
One year on, many observers suspect cover-up over Russian human rights campaigner's murder in Chechnya
Tom Parfitt in Moscow
Wednesday 14 July 2010

... Investigators now say they have solved Estemirova's murder, finding she was killed by a boyevik (rebel fighter) called Alkhazur Bashayev from Shalazhi village in central Chechnya. Bashayev was allegedly upset by reports Estemirova wrote about his armed group for the Russian human rights organisation Memorial, whose office she headed in Grozny.

This theory rests on investigators' claims earlier this year that they had found a rebel arms cache in Shalazhi including the pistol used in the killing, a car fitting descriptions of that used to kidnap Estemirova, part of a silencer in the boot of the car which fitted the pistol, and then the owner of the car, who said he had sold it to Bashayev.

Bashayev – too conveniently, say critics – cannot be questioned because he was killed in a shootout with security forces last autumn.

In fact, many observers suspect a cover-up. They think Estemirova, known to friends as Natasha, was killed for the reports she wrote on wayward law enforcement agencies – perhaps even those filed in the days before her death.

One report described how officers in the police department of Chechnya's Kurchaloy district had publicly executed Rizvan Albekov, an unarmed man suspected of helping the rebels, on 7 July.

"Natasha must have struggled with her captors because investigators obtained DNA samples of three people from under her fingernails," said Milashina. "Why have no samples been taken from the police officers in Kurchaloy for comparative study?"

Critics say there are other glaring errors: Estemirova never visited Shalazhi or wrote about Bashayev; and investigators have not questioned any of the witnesses who saw her being kidnapped near her home in Grozny.

Oleg Orlov, the head of Memorial, said investigators must seek Estemirova's killers among those she exposed.

"Above all, the investigation needs to determine who were the guilty parties in the crimes that Natasha was examining," he said. "So far, they have not looked at a single case she handled in the year she died."

McInnis' articles for foundation lift ideas, words from 20-year-old essay
By Karen E. Crummy
The Denver Post
Posted: 07/13/2010 01:00:00 AM MDT
Updated: 07/13/2010 02:57:26 PM MDT

Although GOP gubernatorial candidate Scott McInnis presented his "Musings on Water" for publication as original works, portions are identical and nearly identical to an essay on water written 20 years earlier by now-Colorado Supreme Court Justice Gregory J. Hobbs.

A Clemson University expert who reviewed McInnis' work next to Hobbs' essay called it a clear case of plagiarism of both words and ideas.

McInnis' water articles were a required part of his two-year fellowship at the Hasan Family Foundation in 2005 and 2006. The former congressman, who left office in 2004, was paid $300,000 to do speaking engagements and "research and write a monthly article on water issues that can be distributed to media and organizations as well as be available on the Internet."

Totaling 150 pages over 23 installments, the articles discussing state water policy are devoid of footnotes, endnotes or other forms of attribution.

In at least four of those articles, McInnis' work mirrors Hobbs' 1984 essay published by the Colorado Water Congress, "Green Mountain Reservoir: Lock or Key?"

In one of his installments of the musings, titled "Pumpbacks and Roundtables," McInnis uses four full pages that are nearly reprinted verbatim from Hobbs' earlier work. ...

McInnis's Colo. gubernatorial bid derailed by plagiarism charges
By Aaron Blake
July 14, 2010; 3:06 PM ET

Former Rep. Scott McInnis's (R-Colo.) gubernatorial campaign is in a fight for its life as charges of plagiarism have led to questions of whether McInnis can stay in the race.

Republicans in Colorado say he's a dead man walking, and they are exploring the ins and outs of how to get another nominee.

The Denver Post this week uncovered two examples of alleged plagiarism by McInnis -- one in papers McInnis wrote for a fellowship a few years ago and another in a Washington Post column and speech he delivered in 1994.

Sources in Colorado Republican circles say it's likely a matter of when, not if, McInnis will exit the race.

"Almost without exception, they think he is done," said one senior Colorado Republican who spoke on the condition that his name not be used.

"He may be the last one to know it, but he's dead in the water," said another. "It's likely he will resist heavily, but at some point he's got to realize this is a fact of life." ...

McInnis should throw in the towel
After revelations of plagiarism and other cases of questionable judgment, it's clear the GOP candidate is not fit to be governor.
By The Denver Post
Posted: 07/14/2010 01:00:00 AM MDT

Revelations of extensive plagiarism in work that gubernatorial candidate Scott McInnis claimed as his own call into question his fitness for public office.

The lifted work, examined in The Denver Post, constitutes inexcusable intellectual thievery. It is so damaging that we believe McInnis ought to drop out of the race.

Colorado's next governor should be a person of integrity, a trusted hand to lead the state through difficult times.

The Post revealed in Tuesday's paper that McInnis was paid to write essays on water in 2005 and 2006 yet turned in writings that had been plagiarized. Now we learn he did the same thing in a 1994 op-ed in the Rocky Mountain News.

We were astonished Tuesday to hear McInnis, in an interview with 9News, call the revelations over his water essays a "non-issue." Later, he did tell us he had made a mistake and that he should have checked the material. Yes, he should have.

The Hasan Family Foundation paid McInnis $300,000 over two years to give talks on water issues and write original, monthly articles on the topic. The plagiarism detailed by Post reporter Karen E. Crummy is extensive.

McInnis says he hired a consultant to serve as an expert for the writings. Yet the foundation hired McInnis as the expert, and McInnis' work never mentioned the help of anyone else. It was presented as his own.

The written work he submitted to the foundation included numerous instances of passages that were copied, with few changes, from scholarly work originated by Gregory J. Hobbs, who is now a Colorado Supreme Court justice.

The former congressman was paid handsomely for work that he said was "original and not reprinted from any other source." It was McInnis' obligation to ensure that was true.

Unfortunately, this is not the first time we've had questions about McInnis' judgment. ...

Researcher: CO gov. campaign trying to pass blame
By STEVEN K. PAULSON
The Associated Press
Thursday, July 15, 2010; 12:40 AM

DENVER -- A researcher who Colorado Republican gubernatorial candidate Scott McInnis blamed for plagiarism allegations says he won't sign a letter from the campaign owning up to what happened because he claims McInnis is lying.

Researcher Rolly Fischer told KMGH-TV in an interview Wednesday that McInnis' campaign sent him a letter to sign in which Fischer would say the alleged plagiarism was "solely my own." A McInnis spokesman didn't immediately return a call for comment. ...

USAIN has bolted from competing in Britain because of a massive tax net which could capture huge chunks of the Jamaican superstar's earnings.

Britain, which has moved to mend its leaking economy, has instituted new regulations which the BBC said would have caused sprinter Usain Bolt to lose more money than he would earn from competing at the Crystal Palace Diamond League meet next month.

Athletes competing in the United Kingdom are liable for a 50 per cent tax rate on their appearance fee as well as a portion of their total worldwide earnings.

Britain bases its tax charge on the number of UK events athletes compete in. If Bolt were to take part in 10 meetings worldwide, with one in the UK, the British government could tax him on one-tenth of his worldwide earnings. ...

For years, two corrupt Synagro Technologies salesmen courted Detroit power brokers with cash, Vegas getaways, booze, even a $1,200 strip-club outing as the company sought a $1.2-billion city contract for sludge disposal.

Both men were caught and sent to prison for bribery. No one else at Synagro has been charged.

But documents reviewed by the Free Press indicate that at least four Synagro executives — including the CEO at the time — were aware of thousands of dollars in questionable spending by the salesmen, James Rosendall and Rayford Jackson, with some executives approving payments on several occasions.

Taken together, the records portray top Synagro executives as being so eager to close the Detroit deal that they set aside ethical concerns over payments and perks to then-Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, his father, Bernard Kilpatrick, Councilwoman Monica Conyers and others. ...

An Italian judge has ordered Saadi Gaddafi, the third son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, to pay a €392,000 (£328,000) hotel bill he failed to settle.

Gaddafi was taken to court by the Grand Hotel Excelsior in Rapallo, near Portofino, after staying for about 40 days in early 2008, accompanied by secretaries, bodyguards, a personal trainer, a driver and a dog trainer.

The party left without paying the bill but did leave behind a black sports utility vehicle, which is still parked at the hotel, local media reported.

At the time, Gaddafi was winding up his career as a professional footballer in Italy. After signing in 2003 for Serie A side Perugia, Gaddafi joined Udinese in 2005 and Sampdoria in 2006, playing in a total of two matches in Italy and failing a drugs test. When not in training, he made the Italian gossip columns when he reportedly crashed a yacht into a harbour wall in Sardinia. He is now reportedly forging a new career as a film mogul.

Gaddafi's legal woes follow the brief jailing in 2008 in Switizerland of his younger brother Hannibal and his wife on charges of assaulting members of their staff, an incident that prompted the Libyan government to boycott Swiss imports, recall diplomats, close Swiss company offices in Libya and detain two Swiss businessmen. ...

July 9, 2010
Man dies after five-story fall on Wayne State University's campus
BY CECIL ANGEL
Free Press Staff Writer

A 31-year-old man died today after a fall from the top of a parking structure on the Wayne State University campus and police are examining surveillance video to determine whether it was an accident or deliberate.

"We're still looking for clues as to what took place," said Wayne State University Police Chief Anthony Holt this evening. "He either fell or he jumped and we're not sure." ...

Ta much, dear MSiegel

BP oil spill could be tip of the iceberg as a study questions the safety of abandoned oil wells
By Tim Edwards
LAST UPDATED 5:02 PM, JULY 7, 2010

A study has revealed there are more than 27,000 abandoned oil wells in the Gulf of Mexico - 4,600 of which may have been badly plugged and are at risk of leaking.

The investigation by Associated Press suggests the BP oil spill is just the tip of the iceberg and that abandoned wells may have been leaking oil into the Gulf of Mexico for decades.

Abandonment of oil wells – both permanent and temporary – is common in the oil industry. BP was in the process of temporarily abandoning its Macondo well in April when its Deepwater Horizon oil rig blew and breached the pipe.

The process of abandonment typically involves installing in the well a number of plugs of cement 30-60m long. Temporarily abandoned wells will have fewer plugs installed and are therefore not as secure.

When a well is temporarily abandoned, a plan to reuse or permanently plug it is supposed to be presented within a year. AP claims the regulation is frequently ignored with three-quarters of 'temporarily' abandoned wells being left for more than a year and more than 1,000 of them left for over 10 years.

In this time, various processes can lead to the breach of a capped well. Exposure to seawater and pressure underground can corrode pipes and cement. Oil reservoirs can repressurise thanks to "changing geological conditions", according to Andy Radford, a petroleum engineer with the American Petroleum Institute.

History suggests badly sealed oil wells are common. State records show that Texas alone has had to plug more than 21,000 abandoned wells to control pollution. ...

After an initial denial, the state-owned Urban Development Corporation (UDC) has admitted that it hired and is still paying millions of dollars to a company partially owned by extradited west Kingston strongman Christopher 'Dudus' Coke.

The UDC says it has one contract with the firm Bulls Eye Security Services Limited, but it is still checking its records to see if there are any others.

Late last month, the UDC told The Gleaner that it had not issued any contract to Bulls Eye, which lists Coke as a shareholder. Coke was previously listed as a director but is believed to have pulled out because of requirements that would force him to be fingerprinted.

But, last week, in a letter to The Gleaner, the UDC said it erred in its denial.

"We wish to state for the record that the UDC, in expediting what was deemed to be an urgent request from a Gleaner reporter to meet a cut-off deadline for publication, stated: "The UDC has not awarded any contract to Bulls Eye Security Services Limited.

"The company was engaged by contractors Jatlin Construction and Associates and Alcar Construction Limited for the St William Grant Park and Downtown Transport Centre projects, respectively," read a section of the UDC's missive.

"However, a further review of our records has indicated that in one instance, July 2009, the services of Bulls Eye were contracted within the provisions of the Procurement Guidelines by way of limited tender. The contract, which is valued at $5.28 million, expires on March 4, 2011 and services the UDC project located at the corner of Church and North (streets)."

The UDC argued that the $5.28-million contract should be placed in the context of its entire security bill of $205.4 million, spread across seven contractors. ...

see more

Ta much, dear Edosan, I think.

FDA being sued for failure to regulate bisphenol A
Thursday, 01 Jul 2010

The National Resources Defense Counsel filed suit on Tuesday in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit against the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, alleging that the FDA has failed to regulate bisphenol A, a chemical linked to reproductive harm, cancer and obesity. Bisphenol A, or BPA, was first developed as a synthetic form of estrogen in the 1930s but was later transformed into a plastic, which is used today in food containers. BPA is found in numerous products that can be used on a daily basis, from soda and beer cans to baby bottles, sippy cups, and water bottles. Researchers believe that when heated, BPA can leak into the containers contents.

Studies have found that BPA can cause early puberty and reproductive harms, suppress immune function, and cause cancer, neurological delays and diabetes. Detected in urine, amniotic fluid, breast milk and umbilical cord blood, the chemical is so common that the NRDC says more than 93 percent of the general population has some BPA in their bodies. ...

The former chief executive of a British chemical company faces the prospect of extradition to the US after the firm admitted million-dollar bribes to officials to sell toxic fuel additives to Iraq.

Paul Jennings, until last year chief executive of the Octel chemical works near Ellesmere Port, Merseyside, and his predecessor, Dennis Kerrison, exported tonnes of tetra ethyl lead (TEL), to Iraq. TEL is banned from cars in western countries because of links with brain damage to children. Iraq is believed to be the only country that still adds lead to petrol.

The company recently admitted that, in a deliberate policy to maximise profits, executives from Octel – which since changed its name to Innospec – bribed officials in Iraq and Indonesia with millions of dollars to carry on using TEL, despite its health hazards.

The firm's Lebanese agent, Osama Naaman, was extradited and agreed this week to plead guilty and co-operate with US prosecutors. Although the US department of justice has run much of the case, the Serious Fraud Office is keen to claim jurisdiction.

Senior Iraqi oil ministry officials are accused of taking British bribes throughout the UK-US occupation, up until 2008. Ahmad al-Shamma, the deputy oil minister in Iraq, told the Guardian he would investigate the charges. He strongly denied courtroom allegations that he himself had taken a free holiday in Thailand. He said he had never been to Thailand and that a middle man involved, now under arrest in the US, may have pocketed the alleged payment himself.

Both Jennings and Kerrison are identified in court statements by the US department of justice, which is conducting an expanding corruption investigation and may seek Jennings's extradition to the US, according to legal sources. ...

... Jamaat-e-Islami has a large following among the country’s majority, and mostly illiterate, Muslim population. But as a political party it ranks fourth after the Awami League of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) of ex-premier Begum Khaleda Zia and the Jatiya Party led by former army ruler Hossain Mohammed Ershad.
Police arrested the three top Jamaat leaders after another religious group, the Bangladesh Tarikat Federation, filed a court case in March, saying two had compared the Jamaat party chief with Prophet Muhammad.
In Islam, Muhammad is beyond comparison. Police named the arrested leaders as Jamaat chief Moulana Motiur Rahman Nizami, his deputy Ali Ahsan Mohammed Mujahid and another key party leader, Moulana Delwar Hossain Saidee.
Jamaat said around 25 other party members were detained in police in overnight raids in various districts.
Many Bangladeshis accuse Jamaat of collaborating with the Pakistani army during the 1971 war of independence, in which around three million people were killed and thousands of women raped.
Jamaat denies the charges, and in turn has accused the government of Sheikh Hasina of trying to curb its activities using war crime charges and is likely to see the arrests as a ploy to push that effort.
Police using clubs, tear gas and water cannon were also locked in street battles with textile workers demanding back pay and an immediate rise in monthly wages now equivalent to less than $24. Witnesses said at least 30 people, including 10 police, were injured.
The clashes, with workers erecting street barricades, pelting police with stones and attacking cars, were the second in as many weeks involving workers producing garments for global brands and earning wages well below the poverty line.
The violence took place three days after a one-day general strike called by opposition parties closed most businesses and prompted further confrontations between marchers and police.
Bangladesh garment factory workers currently earn a minimum monthly salary of 1,660 taka, or less than $24, and have demanded an increase of 300% to 5,000 taka. Owners last week said they could pay no more than 3,000 taka a month.
Garments, Bangladesh’s biggest export, account for more than 80% of the impoverished South Asian country’s $15bn in annual export earnings, according to Commerce Ministry data. ...



Dear BrightKnight hipped me to this news story.

Police in Bangladesh have used clubs, tear gas and water cannons to disperse thousands of textile workers protesting low wages in capital city Dhaka.

The clashes erupted Wednesday in the Mirpur and Sheorapara areas of the capital, forcing several factories to close down. Authorities say the protesters erected street barricades and hurled bricks at police.

Witnesses say at least 40 people, including police officers, were injured in the violence.

The unrest is the latest in a series of violent protests involving low-paid workers producing garments for global brands. Garment factories accounted for 80 percent of Bangladesh's annual export earnings last year.

Supporters of the Islamic party Jamaat-e-Islami took to the streets on Wednesday to protest the arrests of three of their leaders the day before. At least 20 people were detained during the demonstrations in Dhaka and other parts of the country. ...



Dear BrightKnight hipped me to this news story.

Use fewer antibiotics in animals for Human health, Says FDA
Tuesday, 29 Jun 2010

The FDA stated on Monday that excess use of antibiotics such as penicillin in animals is causing humans to be less responsive to antibiotics. This is a concern that was raised after it came to the FDA’s attention that farmers and livestock keepers are giving their animals mass amounts of antibiotics used by humans to spur growth. The humans in turn become resistant to antibiotics when ill because of this.

Other renowned antibiotics like tetracycline, erythromycin and macrolides are fed to animals like cows, pigs, chicken among others in the hope that they will bring more revenue to their keepers as these drugs promote growth in the animals. The FDA has tried unsuccessfully since 1977 to ban this tradition at Congress level.

Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, principal deputy commissioner of food and drugs at the FDA says that bacteria adapt and become immune to microbial drugs in a short time and excess use of these in animals is causing humans to become less responsive to antibiotics. This ban was enacted in the UK in 2006 and it has been said that 70% of antibiotics in the US are given to animals, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists. ...

Antibiotics in Animals May Be Causing Drug Resistant Bacteria in Humans
Tuesday, 29 Jun 2010

“Food animals fed with antibiotics may be becoming fertile ground for the growth of drug resistant pathogens.” This is according to a communication received from the FDA today. They attribute this to the use of antibiotics, together with conventional animal feed, to increase the weight gain of food animals. “We are seeing the emergence of multidrug-resistant pathogens.” FDA Deputy Commissioner Joshua Sharfstein, MD, stated at a news briefing.

“FDA believes overall weight of evidence supports the conclusion that using medically important antimicrobial drugs for production purposes is not appropriate.” Research has shown that traces of these antibiotics remain in the processed meat and transfer some form of drug resistant bacteria to consumers. ...

Arrests made amidst violent G20 protests
By Ashley Terry, Linda Nguyen and Mark Kennedy
Canwest News Service June 27, 2010 12:06 AM

TORONTO — Riot police arrested more than a hundred G20 protesters who rampaged through the city’s downtown core burning police cars and smashing windows on Saturday.

A small group of black-clad protesters were surrounded at a downtown intersection around 10 p.m. ET.

A police line in full riot gear began marching at the group, banging their batons on their shields, in hopes of preventing more protesters from moving towards the G20 security fence still located blocks away.

The mood was tense as a small number of protesters yelled obscenities. Helicopters could be heard overhead.

The officers loudly chanted: “Move, move,” as they marched.

One older man was pushed by police out of the way as he was seeking shelter from the pouring rain. ...

Media covering G20 caught up in arrests
Canwest News Service June 27, 2010 1:02 AM

TORONTO — Two National Post photographers were arrested Saturday night during anti-G20 demonstrations in downtown Toronto.

Brent Gundlock, a staff photographer for the Post, was tackled and taken away by several police officers in riot gear as they attempted to disperse protesters hanging around near the Ontario legislature.

Kier Gilmour, a photographer for Canwest News Service who witnessed the arrest, said the officers knocked Gundlock to the ground and then dragged him away. He had been standing with several other media photographers at the time.

"They slammed him down, onto his ass so to speak, then they dragged him back up and pulled him back to the police line," Gilmour said.

He said the photographer was not wearing his yellow media credentials at the time. He had taken the badge off because he was trying to stay close to members of the Black Bloc — the anarchist group believed to be behind many of the outbreaks of violence at the demonstrations — and they did not want members of the media among them.

Colin O’Connor, a freelance photographer working for the Post, was also apparently detained.

Gilmour said the police were being very aggressive in trying to disperse the remaining demonstrators near Queen’s Park, which is several blocks away from the secure zone where the G20 meeting is taking place. ...

Mission Accomplished: The Reagan Occupation and the Destruction of the American Middle Class
by David Michael Green | June 25, 2010

... If Americans understood the real ambitions of Ronald Reagan and his puppeteers, and if they knew the degree to which the supposed patriotism of those folks extended beyond falsity and into the far darker waters of being an irritating irrelevance put on purely for show, then they would not only stop seeing Reagan as some sort of national hero, but would also understand that he instead launched a process far more equivalent to an invasion and occupation of this country.

The goal of the right - which cares about America about as much as it does about Burkina Faso - has been to restore the economic order last seen under Herbert Hoover, in which a tiny minority possess vast sums of wealth and there is (therefore) essentially no remaining middle class. It is nothing short of a breathtaking display of a world class greed, worthy of the ages.

It has also been a work of strategic genius (in much the same way one might appreciate the Germans' engineering prowess in figuring out the logistics of how to mass murder ten or twelve million civilians in a year or two), one which has drawn upon deep psychological insights, absolutely sociopathic amoralism, and clever tactics that have all simultaneously pushed in the same direction. In plain English, they hired some politicians of hit-man level moral integrity, who then marshaled fear, insecurity, hate and deceit into a witch's brew of self-destruction that would prove highly attractive to a large segment of the population already sinking from the effects of a global economic order rebalancing after decades of post-war American dominance.

Of course, you couldn't just come right out and say, "Vote for me and I'll give your money to people so rich they can't even imagine what they'll do with it (but they still demand to have it anyhow)", so slightly more subtle tactics had to be employed. It is telling that the most honest thing Barack Obama ever said was when he thought there were no microphones in the room. But he was right when, at a presidential fundraiser in San Francisco he told the wine and cheese set that the right uses guns, god and gays (I would add Gaddafis) to scare people out of their money. I'll believe that Republicans are serious about protecting heterosexual marriage on the day that you can't find half of them prowling the gay bars of DC every night (and you don't even want to know what the other half are into).

This bait-and-switch tactic worked perfectly well whenever it was applied. It didn't hurt that the regressive Billy-Bobs who vote for these folks are as dumb as a tree. With bags of hammers for leaves. But stupid is really only the facilitating quality, and often one that is neither present nor required. What really drives this stuff is fear. If you can turn that into a loathing of fur'ners, fags, bitches, blackies and brownies, you got their vote. Then you can do what you really set out to accomplish in the first place. George W. Bush's 2004 campaign was the paradigmatic example....

Buh-byeeeeee!

You surely weren't expecting tax rises for the rich - not with a conservative PM!

I'm a 60%er and proud of it!

Geologist investigates canyon carved in just three days in Texas flood
June 20, 2010

In the summer of 2002, a week of heavy rains in Central Texas caused Canyon Lake -- the reservoir of the Canyon Dam -- to flood over its spillway and down the Guadalupe River Valley in a planned diversion to save the dam from catastrophic failure. The flood, which continued for six weeks, stripped the valley of mesquite, oak trees, and soil; destroyed a bridge; and plucked meter-wide boulders from the ground. And, in a remarkable demonstration of the power of raging waters, the flood excavated a 2.2-kilometer-long, 7-meter-deep canyon in the bedrock.

According to a new analysis of the flood and its aftermath—performed by Michael Lamb, assistant professor of geology at the California Institute of Technology, and Mark Fonstad of Texas State University—the canyon formed in just three days.

A paper about the research appears in the June 20 advance online edition of the journal Nature Geoscience.

Our traditional view of deep river canyons, such as the Grand Canyon, is that they are carved slowly, as the regular flow and occasionally moderate rushing of rivers erodes rock over periods of millions of years.

Such is not always the case, however. "We know that some big canyons have been cut by large catastrophic flood events during Earth's history," Lamb says.

Unfortunately, these catastrophic megafloods -- which also may have chiseled out spectacular canyons on Mars—generally leave few telltale signs to distinguish them from slower events. "There are very few modern examples of megafloods," Lamb says, "and these events are not normally witnessed, so the process by which such erosion happens is not well understood." Nevertheless, he adds, "the evidence that is left behind, like boulders and streamlined sediment islands, suggests the presence of fast water"—although it reveals nothing about the time frame over which the water flowed. ...


Ta much, dear MSiegel

The United Nations, the European commission and individual states including Britain are flouting international human rights law by funding anti-drug crime measures that are inadvertently leading to the executions of offenders, according to a report seen by the Guardian.

The International Harm Reduction Association (IHRA), a non-governmental organisation that advocates less punitive approaches to drugs policy globally, says it has gathered evidence revealing "strong links" between executions for drugs offences and the funding of specific drug enforcement operations by international agencies.

It says programmes aimed at shoring up local efforts to combat drug trafficking and other offences are being run "without appropriate safeguards" that could prevent serious human rights violations in countries that retain the death penalty.

The report concludes that the UN Office on Drugs and Crime ( "are all actively involved in funding and/or delivering technical assistance, legislative support and financial aid intended to strengthen domestic drug enforcement activities in states that retain the death penalty for drug offences.

"Such funding, training and capacity-building activities – if successful – result in increased convictions of persons on drug charges, and the potential for increased death sentences and executions".

The report claims there is evidence of "complicity in acts that violate international human rights law", undermining the Council of Europe's commitment to abolish the death penalty, the United Nations Charter and UNODC's stated opposition to the penalty for drugs offences. ...

The backlash against the coalition's £85bn emergency budget will begin tomorrow as business leaders, children's charities and unions representing six million public employees come out against the planned tax rises, pay freezes and spending cuts, marking the end of the government's honeymoon period.

The moves come after the chancellor today warned that everyone would have to play their part to reduce the public deficit. He described announcements due on Tuesday as the "unavoidable budget", claiming he faced the toughest test of any chancellor in history to prevent the country embarking on a "road to ruin".

The Guardian understands that George Osborne is preparing to order a one-year freeze on council taxes for 2011/12 to reduce the strain on all liable households, but the freeze will be opposed by local government, which has so far suffered some of the worst budget cuts.

The government's attempts to spread the burden of the four-year plan to tackle the deficit across all sections of society and to counter-balance public sector cuts with tax rises is facing intense opposition from unions, charities and industrial figures.

In a BBC interview, Osborne promised a crackdown on the "out of control" welfare system, suggesting that public sector pay will be frozen beyond the expected one year and launching a review of public sector pensions, to be chaired by the former Labour minister John Hutton.

Osborne insisted the budget measures would be spread fairly across society, suggesting capital gains tax will rise and promising a new banking levy. But he refused to be drawn on the vexed issue of a potential rise in VAT, which the Conservatives had privately committed to raising from 17.5% to 19.5% before the election. ...

The World's Smallest Violin performs for Anadarko:

... The parents are Ashkenazi, originating from Europe, and are in a long-running battle to have their daughters educated separately from Sephardi girls originating from north Africa and the Middle East. ...

... The reason for wanting separate education, the parents claim, is not racism but a desire to remove their daughters from the influence of those they consider less strict in their religious observance. Watching TV at home, having access to the internet, and a laxer dress code among the Sephardi ultra-Orthodox have been cited.

The ultra-Orthodox school in the illegal West Bank settlement of Immanuel segregated the girls, a move that was subject to a legal challenge resulting in an order to reintegrate. The parents of the 43 girls refused to send them back to mixed classes, leading to sentences for contempt of court.

Underlying the case is the rejection of what the ultra-Orthodox community sees as state interference in their religious practice and life. "We don't give our girls all the knowledge that there is in the world," said Esther Bark, 50, a mother of seven daughters watching the male-only demonstration today. "We shelter them, and that's why they need a sheltered school. We can't mix a whole assortment of girls in one school." [Italics mine.]

As police helicopters throbbed over the mass of black-hatted demonstrators, Aaron Shuv, 28, said: "We only follow the rules of God. The Torah [scriptures] is above all government."

The issue had nothing to do with discrimination, said Dubin, a father of two. "No court in the world should have the right to tell me how to educate my sons or daughters. The court went against our rabbis."

Jerusalem's ultra-Orthodox community has swollen to a third of the Jewish population, assisted by a high birthrate and departure of thousands of secular residents. The secular population is increasingly resentful that its taxes support welfare benefits for the ultra-Orthodox, who reject paid work in favour of religious study. ...




So move to Saudi Arabia, you parasitical, racist, sexist morons!

see more Political Pictures

Grow a Brian, Morans!

Ta much, dear Anneliese

American troops going home from Iraq after seven painful years are leaving behind a legacy that is literally toxic.

An investigation by The Times in five Iraqi provinces has found that hazardous material from US bases is being dumped locally rather than sent back to America, in clear breach of Pentagon rules.

North and west of Baghdad, engine oil is leaking from 55-gallon drums into dusty ground, open acid canisters sit within easy reach of children, and discarded batteries lie close to irrigated farmland. A 2009 Pentagon document shown to The Times by a private contractor working with US soldiers mentions “an estimated 11 million pounds [5,000 tonnes] of hazardous waste” produced by American troops.

But even this figure appears to be only a partial estimate. Brigadier General Kendall Cox, who is responsible for engineering and infrastructure in Iraq, told The Times yesterday that he was in the process of disposing of 14,500 tonnes of oil and soil contaminated with oil. “This has accumulated over seven years,” he said. ...

Well done the hecklers.

Foxhunting is a good idea.

David Cameron sought to distance himself from BP yesterday, dashing any hopes that he might intervene to repair the company’s appalling relations with Washington over the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The US Administration is now pursuing a criminal investigation into BP. Yesterday a spokesman for the Prime Minister said: “Clearly Mr Cameron is concerned about the situation but it is primarily a matter for the company.”

It is understood that BP will meet Charles Hendry, the Energy Minister, today after a request by the company. It is also understood that the new Government has not asked to meet BP to discuss the spill. However, BP representatives briefed Energy Department officials at a recent event in Aberdeen.

BP said: “We have not approached No 10 for assistance but have had conversations with officials to keep them up to date. We could well be talking to ministers over the next week or so.”

Shares in BP have lost a third of their value since the rig exploded in April. The shares closed down just 0.25p to 429.75p yesterday as investors began to believe the company would hold to its pledge not to cut the dividend. There was also speculation that BHP Billiton, the mining giant, may emerge as a white knight if BP has to sell its Gulf of Mexico assets. ...

The Turkish charity at the centre of the raid by Israeli forces on an aid vessel in the Mediterranean was under intense scrutiny last night over its alleged links with militant organisations.

Despite their claims to be an entirely peaceful organisation, The Foundation for Human Rights, Freedoms and Humanitarian Relief (IHH) has a history of involvement in Islamic extremism around the world and has been linked with an attempted bombing of an airport in the US.

The charity had 40 members on the Turkish-owned ship Mavi Marmara when it was boarded by Israeli Navy commandos on Monday. Nine people died in the operation. ...

A daring heist by armed bandits who made off with 200kg (440lb) of gold jewellery worth £5.5m has left French detectives baffled and quietly impressed.

Officers described the raid, in which a jewellery wholesaler and his family were held at gunpoint overnight, as a professional job carried out with military precision. In terms of forward planning, audacity and meticulous attention to detail, the robbery resembled the plot of the Hollywood film Ocean's Eleven.

"We've never seen anything like it," said one officer in Marseille, who admitted that police had no leads in their inquiry. "This was an extremely professional job."

The masked and heavily armed robbers worked in silence, wore aluminium gloves to avoid leaving traces of DNA, and made off with their haul only after carefully cleaning the scene with methylated spirits.

Details of the robbery, which have just emerged, suggest the gang had been preparing the operation for some time. Just before midnight last Wednesday, the gang ambushed gold and jewel dealer Bruno Franchini, 39, as he drove his Mercedes into his home in the fishing port of Cassis, near Marseille. ...

Man, in diaper, approaches woman in parking lot

Written by John Kovach
Thursday, 27 May 2010

A Stratford[, CT] man was arrested May 25 after he allegedly approached a woman and her grandchildren. He was allegedly wearing a diaper and sucking a pacifier at the time, asking the woman to change him.

The woman said she was with her grandchildren, ages 10, 8 and 9 months, when Wellington jumped out of his car in the parking lot at C-Town, 360 Boston Ave., at 4:36 p.m. The woman said he asked if she had wipes, and several times asked if she would wipe him.

The woman ignored him and left, but said she feared for the safety of others and reported the incident.

Police traced the plate on an SUV the man was said to be sitting in to Thomas Wellington, 41, of 72 Vought Place.

According to police they found Wellington in his Ford Bronco in the shopping center parking lot. He was reportedly covered in sweat, wearing Spandex pants pulled up to the mid thigh area over a large diaper.

Wellington reportedly told officers he was wearing diapers becuase of intestinal problems.

"[ Wellington] had a bulge in his pants and had baby pacifiers all over the vehicle," according to a police report. ...




[brilliant snooty English butler]Mr Darwin's Nursery School and Day Care is calling, sir. Your teacher requires an explanation of your truancy.[/brilliant snooty English butler]


Ta much, dear BrightKnight

[brilliant snooty English butler]A Mr Darwin is on the telephone, Modom. Shall I inform him that Modom will ring him back when the bandages have been removed?

The lump in Modom's arm? That is Modom's new contraception, Modom.[/brilliant snooty English butler]



Ta much, dear Anneliese

Who is behind Jamaica's mayhem?
Published: Saturday | May 29, 2010

The Editor, Sir:

I have read and watched with interest the developments in Jamaica since the Christopher 'Dudus' Coke extradition issue has come to the forefront. And, I must say how interesting it is when one man must take the fall for the ills of many.

Yes, I say, many because, even though the spotlight is on Dudus, the real problem facing Jamaica is not Dudus; it is corruption in all levels of government. Dudus is just a product of the ongoing corruption that has infected Jamaican politics and society over the years.

Lest we forget, many members of parliament, in an effort to maintain power, have supported dons in garrison constituencies. And these events today are just a product of those actions. What is happening now, with the signing of the extradition order and the effort to arrest Dudus, is seemingly just a facade to save face and to appease the US State Department, which has stepped up pressure on the Jamaican government.

Let's ask the question, "what would have happened if there were no extradition request from the United States?", and "what will happen next?" Would the garrisons remain? Or rather, "will they remain when this is all over and Dudus is gone?"

It is time to hold members of parliament accountable for ills in their constituencies. Dudus has allegedly broken the law, but the politicians have been living above the law since independence. ...

Massacre in Tivoli Gardens
Published: Saturday | May 29, 2010

Massacre in Tivoli Gardens

The Editor, Sir:

Since the prime minister's announcement that the process for the extradition of Christopher 'Dudus' Coke would take place, not only have we witnessed the physical and mental destruction of a community, but we have witnessed an intentional onslaught by the security forces on a poor, innocent and misled people. What makes it so difficult and painful is the fact that the invasion's main purpose was inconsequential.

How can a warrant be issued without any credible evidence as to the whereabouts of the person being sought? Refusing to acquire, or not acquiring, credible evidence suggests that other than issuing the warrant, the security forces could not wait to unleash their weaponry on a community which has been a target for them for quite a number of years....


A time to rejoice

The Editor, Sir;

While many Jamaicans lament the killing of innocent Jamaicans in this battle in Tivoli, many of us applaud the efforts of the military and the police to rid the country of criminal elements.

We are quite aware that politicians are guilty of the escalation of mafia-type crime in Jamaica through the granting of contracts to these criminal elements, which has served to safeguard the politicians' selfish desire for political power. So, while many politicians forge unholy alliances with criminals, many hardworking Jamaicans cowered in their communities as criminals ran amok, holding citizens hostage to violence and extortion.

Now that the politicians have empowered these criminals to the point where they can challenge the State, the Government has reacted to stave off international embarrassment. ...

...hard-working Jamaicans have had enough of crime and rejoice at the dismantling of this and hopefully many other garrisons across Jamaica....

War tools - Security forces say thugs designed multiple hazards
Published: Saturday | May 29, 2010
Mark Beckford, Staff Reporter

THE NUMBER of guns found, as well as the sophistication of the resistance which the security forces encountered in west Kingston, were revealed yesterday during a press conference at the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) headquarters at Up Park Camp in St Andrew.

A tale of a well-fortified Tivoli Gardens community was presented yesterday, with the security forces painting a picture, with the aid of photographs and videos, that criminal elements in the downtown Kingston enclave utilised several methods to present hazards for law enforcement.

Pictures and videos obtained through surveillance by the military of several checkpoints, improvised explosive devices (IED), men walking around with guns, men setting up firing positions, booby-trapped barricades and gullies inside the community leading to the Kingston Harbour added to the aura in the general public of Tivoli Gardens as a well-organised criminal operation.

"The insertion into the area was not going to be a simple task, as the high level of fortification and number of firing positions seen inside the area would have made it difficult. This, coupled with the large-scale barricading which was done to the main entries, made the military task a more arduous one," Major Richard Blackwood, civil-military officer, said.

He explained that it took up to three hours for the security forces to move over 200 metres - a journey which would have taken three minutes - because of the gunfire from criminal elements. ...

Market blues
Published: Saturday | May 29, 2010
Lovelette Brooks, News Editor

THE PLANNED rebuilding and refurbishing exercise for the Coronation Market, downtown Kingston, later this year, becomes even more urgent as the market, regarded as the pivot of trade and commerce in the heart of the city, is almost completely destroyed.

Located in west Kingston in proximity to the Tivoli Gardens war zone, the market took a severe battering from four days of intense battle waged between the island's security forces and gunmen that threatened to rip the city apart.

More than 70 persons, including Jamaica Defence Force personnel, were killed and two police stations burnt.

The largest and most vibrant market in Jamaica, Coronation Market, or 'Curry', accommodates between 6,000 to 8,000 persons per day. Peak days for business are Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Despite its deplorable physical and sanitary conditions, the wholesale and retail market is well patronised.

However, vending stalls that, only a week ago, were piled high with fresh fruits and ground produce, were reduced to smouldering cisterns. Soot, ash, burnt fruits and vegetables litter the ground.

"This is the leading market in Jamaica and it gone, and if it gone, there is no more economy downtown!" shouts Jessica, an angry vendor who says she lost everything, including stock she had in storage.

According to residents who live in the vicinity, the market was firebombed. Several stalls were still burning when The Gleaner visited the market. ...

Gov't hiding 'real issues' in Chinese deal - OCG
Published: Friday | May 28, 2010

Contractor General Greg Christie has slammed the Government for its attempt to justify a proposed multibillion-dollar deal to sell its 45 per cent stake of the Jamalco alumina refinery to Chinese firm Zhuhai Hongfan Non-ferrous Metals and Chemical Engineering Limited (Hongfan). He accused government bureaucrats of "obfuscating" the real issues when it responded to the initial alarm he raised about the deal.

In a media release, responding to concerns raised by the Office of the Contractor General (OCG) two weeks ago, permanent secretary in the Ministry of Energy and Mining (MEM), Hillary Alexander, pointed to, among other things, operating losses at Clarendon Alumina Production Company (CAP), which created a debt of more than US$400 million, an obligation, she said which cannot be accommodated in the current economic programme with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

But in a sharp rebuke, Christie described the ministry's response as an "interesting attempt ... to obfuscate the real issues which are the subject of the OCG's contention in the matter".

"As you are very much aware, the OCG's primary contention is that the proposed multibillion-dollar Government of Jamaica/Port Reliant/Hongfan contract award is not one which was borne out of an open, competitive and transparent tender process," the OCG letter which was released to the media said.

"Indeed, to date," the contractor general continued, "you have failed to provide to the OCG an acceptable explanation for your ministry's aberrant and potentially damaging conduct in not putting this major asset divestment to public competitive tender."

In the letter, which was copied to the prime minister and other state officials, Christie pointed to the ministry's references to the "drain on the public purse" and the allusion that the IMF standby agreement made no provision for the servicing of CAP's J$36-billion debt. ...

Witter to probe army strike
Published: Friday | May 28, 2010
Edmond Campbell, Senior Staff Reporter

THE Golding administration has announced an independent enquiry into the security operation in Tivoli Gardens and Denham Town in west Kingston which left at least 73 civilians dead and three members of the security forces killed.

Public Defender Earl Witter and a team to be selected by him will carry out a probe into what is being described by some as the largest casualty figure arising from a security-force operation in Jamaica.

"The Government will be having independent investigations on all police-military operations taking place to date. That will be the starting point," Information Minister Daryl Vaz told journalists yesterday at a press conference at the Hilton hotel in New Kingston.

The investigation comes as the Government yesterday expressed concern about alleged reports of misconduct in the security operation in Tivoli Gardens and Denham Town.

"These vary from mistreatment of citizens to innocent persons being killed. The Government is committed and insistent that the rights of citizens be respected and observed," Vaz stated.

He said the public defender would set up office in Tivoli Gardens and Denham Town to provide easy access to residents who wanted to make complaints. ...

May 27, 2010
Suicide attempt prompts panic at Foxconn
Leo Lewis, Asia Business Correspondent

The spiralling suicide crisis at Foxconn appeared to be worsening last night after another employee of the electronics plant tried to kill himself by slashing his wrists.

The suicide attempt was made just hours after the death of a 23-year-old employee.

Psychologists and experts in suicide have begun to talk openly of a “mass hysteria” among the 350,000 mostly migrant workers at the vast factory in Shenzhen, southern China, which makes digital equipment such as iPods, mobile phones and laptop PCs for big-name clients.

The death today brought the toll among the company’s staff to 11 since January. The Times has learnt that Sony has begun “re-evaluating” the working environment at Foxconn.

With panic starting to show among Foxconn’s management, the company is understood to have asked employees to sign a pledge that they would seek medical help if they were ever overcome by suicidal thoughts.

The fatalities come amid mounting condemnation of working conditions at the Taiwanese-owned plant and the decision of several of the company’s biggest clients — Apple, Dell and Hewlett Packard — to investigate how their products are being manufactured.

The latest victim, like the nine other young employees who have committed suicide at the plant since January, leapt from the seventh floor of his dormitory.

The company has made hastily contrived efforts to improve conditions for its workers, the majority of whom stand in the same position for 12-hour shifts and receive the equivalent of about £90 each month in salary. Those measures include the use of “soothing” music on the factory floor, the recruitment of hundreds of dance instructors and the establishment of a suicide hotline. ...

Italian priests' secret mistresses ask pope to scrap celibacy rule
Forty women send unprecedented letter to pontiff saying priests need to 'experience feelings, love and be loved'
John Hooper in Rome
Thursday 27 May 2010

Dozens of Italian women who have had relationships with Roman Catholic priests or lay monks have endorsed an open letter to the pope that calls for the abolition of the celibacy rule. The letter, thought by one signatory to be unprecedented, argues that a priest "needs to live with his fellow human beings, experience feelings, love and be loved".

It also pleads for understanding of those who "live out in secrecy those few moments the priest manages to grant [us] and experience on a daily basis the doubts, fears and insecurities of our men".

The issue was put back on the Vatican's agenda in March when one of Pope Benedict's senior advisers, Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, the archbishop of Vienna, said the abolition of the celibacy rule might curb sex abuse by priests, a suggestion he hastily withdrew after Benedict spoke up for "the principle of holy celibacy".

The authors of the letter said they decided to come into the open after hearing his retort, which they said was an affirmation of "the holiness of something that is not holy" but a man-made rule. There are many instances of married priests in the early centuries of Christianity. Today, priests who follow the eastern Catholic rites can be married, as can those who married before converting to Roman Catholicism from Anglicanism.

One signatory, Stefania Salomone, 42, an office manager, said the message to the pope had been endorsed by nearly 40 women registered with an online forum linked to Il Dialogo website. But such was the sensitivity of the issue that only three had published their names.

The letter was posted on the internet on 28 March. But it was only reported on Wednesday by the online international news agency, globalPost. ...

Cops Conduct Search For Dudus
2010-05-27 07:08:48

As the civil unrest across the city enters its fifth day, THE STAR understands that the security forces this morning conducted a massive operation at a house in the East Kirkland Heights area of St Andrew, Jamaica, apparently in search of alleged Shower Posse leader Christopher "Dudus" Coke.

Coke is being sought by police who are seeking to serve on him a warrant of arrest after Government last week signed an order clearing the way for extradition proceedings to begin against the man who United States authorities have accused of serious gun and drug-related crimes. The US authorities have requested that Coke be extradited to face trial.

STAR sources suggest that Coke was believed to be at the premises. This morning, from as early as 2:30 a.m., residents reported that the security forces cordoned off the community. Helicopters, they said, circled in the night sky, dropping flares near or on the premises. There were also reports of gunfire. One source, close to the scene said the situation ‘was not pretty’.

The earliest signs that something was afoot began shortly after 9 p.m. last night when helicopters with searchlights attached buzzed in the night sky in Upper St Andrew. It seemed to have been a prelude to the operation that begun just a few hours later. ...

WAAAAH!

A Chinese electronics assembly worker threw himself from the roof of his dormitory in Shenzhen yesterday, the latest suicide by a worker toiling to feed the world’s craving for cheaper iPods, laptops and mobile phones.

The migrant worker, 19, earning a basic salary of 900 yuan (£19) per month, was the ninth employee at Foxconn’s immense plant in the southern Chinese city to take his life since January, and the tenth in the company as a whole. He had worked at the plant for only 42 days.

Li Hai’s death echoes that of a 21-year-old logistics worker at the same factory three days earlier and came a day after the chairman of Foxconn, Terry Gou, declared that his company was “not running a sweatshop”.

Many think that the boom in electronic equipment and market pressures have given the industry the characteristics for which the textile industry is notorious: physically punishing, mind-numbing work at low wages. ...

A ninth worker fell to his death at a southern Chinese factory run by the electronics giant Foxconn today, as campaigners protested against working conditions at the company's Hong Kong offices.

The Taiwanese-owned firm's plant in Shenzhen had already seen eight suicides this year and two more attempts. Another worker committed suicide at a smaller Foxconn factory in Hebei province, in the north of the country, in January, according to the Associated Press.

The 19-year-old man from central China had been working at the plant for only a month and a half, the state news agency Xinhua reported. Police say they are determining the cause of death and Foxconn did not offer immediate comment.

The company ‑ which is believed to make goods for Dell, Nokia, Sony Ericsson and Apple among others ‑ has installed safety nets around buildings to try to prevent further deaths. It has also called in counsellors and introduced music on production lines to attempt to relieve the monotony of working practices.

But campaigners have demanded a more comprehensive overhaul of working practices, saying that higher wages, shorter hours and greater variety of work are needed. They also called for independent workers' committees to air employees' grievances. ...

Hunt still on for 'Dudus'
2010-05-25 18:52:59

The hunt is still on in Jamaica this evening for west Kingston strongman Christopher Dudus Coke.

More than 30 hours since a mass police/military operation began in Tivoli Gardens, Kingston, the National Security Minister Senator Dwight Nelson says the security forces have reported that Coke was not found.

Meanwhile acting deputy commissioner of police Glenmore Hinds declined to say whether the authorities know where to find the man the United States has accused of being a crime lord.

At the same time, the parishes of Kingston and St Andrew remain under a state of public emergency. ...

Over 26 killed in standoff to capture Christopher 'Dudus' Coke for extradition
2010-05-25 12:16:22

The Jamaica Security Forces have provided a report on the number of casualties arising from the ongoing battle between criminal elements in Tivoli Gardens and Denham Town since yesterday.

The police say seven members of the security forces have been injured and one killed. They also say 26 civilians have been killed and 25 injured.

The police say those killed were mainly males whose bodies were recovered from areas close to barricades, building entrances and gullies running through Tivoli Gardens.

In addition to injuries and fatalities, 211 people including six women have been detained.

The Security Forces are also reporting seizures of firearms, ammunition, binoculars, army fatigues and ballistic vests....

Food running low in Kingston
2010-05-25 18:34:34
Damion Mitchell
Assistant News Editor

Food supplies are running low in the Jamaican capital, Kingston even as many supermarkets remain closed.

In St Andrew, many of the popular supermarkets like PriceSmart on Red Hills Road were closed today.

But outside the establishment, however, a few security personnel were seen.

In downtown Kingston, mini-supermarkets and wholesale grocery stores remained locked and at several others there were clear signs that they had been looted.

But a few of the wholesales in the corporate area like some on Molynes Road were open. However they had limited amount of food.

On the Washington Boulevard, the Lee's Food Fair was opened, but perishable goods like bread were finished and other items like biscuits were running low. ...

Jamaica's international reputation takes a battering
2010-05-25 18:37:50

The bad publicity for Jamaica has continued in the international press.

The latest report is posted on the website of the United States-based ABC news.

ABC news has quoted a US Government report naming a very prominent Government minister and cabinet member as a criminal affiliate of Christopher Coke.

The ABC report says the very prominent Government minister and other senior Jamaican officials have been electronically intercepted talking to Coke inside his fortified community.

The issue of Jamaica’s international reputation was also raised in parliament today.

In the meantime, the Government is moving to counter negative media coverage of the operations in Tivoli Gardens.

Information Minister, Daryl Vaz announced today that a media center has been set up at the Hilton Hotel in New Kingston. ...

How far should we let Big Oil go?
An alternative annual report for the oil company Chevron looks at the deep costs paid for the world's oil addiction
Antonia Juhasz
Monday 24 May 2010


... As I prepare for the annual general meeting of the fourth largest global oil company – Chevron (BP is the third largest) – I am confronted daily by people who are looking around their own communities and out across the world with new-found attention to the deep costs paid every day for our oil addiction.

A new alternative annual report for Chevron, The True Cost of Chevron, of which I am an author and the editor, will be released at a press conference on 25 May in Houston, Texas – just a few hundred miles from the sites where oil is washing up on shore following the explosion on BP's rig. Written by dozens of authors from 16 countries and 10 states from across the US who either live in, or advocate on behalf of, communities where Chevron operates, the report criticises Chevron's record on human rights, the environment, the climate, public health, worker safety and treatment of indigenous populations.

From Chevron's coalfields in Alabama to its oil wells in Indonesia, the report examines operations mired in accusations of human rights abuse (Angola, Burma, Indonesia, Chad and Nigeria); mass environmental and human health devastation (including Ecuador, Kazakhstan and Canada); toxic abuse of its neighbours (including Alabama, California, Mississippi, Texas, Thailand and the Philippines); abuse of its workers (including Utah); threats to endangered species (including Australia and the US Gulf Coast); and, in Iraq, intensifying the violent insurgency and putting the lives of US and Iraqi service members at greater risk.

There is also a powerful silver lining. All of these authors are part of a global resistance movement bringing its message to Houston where Chevron is hosting its AGM.

It has likely been 40 years since the American public in particular, was so ready to hear and embrace this message. In 1969, a Unocal (now Chevron) oil platform off the coast of California experienced a massive blowout and the issue forced its way to the nation's attention. Activists organised against offshore drilling in their community, ultimately enlisting millions of supporters and advocates, spawning a massive environmental movement which, within just a few years, achieved the establishment of the US Environmental Protection Agency and the passage of the US Clean Air and Clean Water Acts. ...

Foxconn employee dies in 11th fall this year in China
Mon May 24, 2010

BEIJING, May 25 (Reuters) - An employee of the tech firm Foxconn died early on Tuesday after falling from a building in southern city of Shenzhen, state media reported, the ninth such death at the firm's manufacturing hub this year.

Two workers have also survived similar falls at the sprawling manufacturing hub of the firm, whose clients include Apple and Sony Ericsson.

The company did not immediately respond to phone calls and emails seeking comment on the latest fall, just four days after a 21-year-old man died in the same way.

The man who fell on Tuesday was a teenage vocational school graduate from central China who had worked at the plant for a month and a half, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

Police are investigating whether the death was suicide or an accident, but Xinhua quoted sources saying the man left a suicide note, apologising to his father.

"This is really a public relations crisis for Foxconn," said Jenny Lai, an analyst at CLSA in Taipei. "The key right now is for the company to get out there and reassure their clients that they have put in place a system that will ensure that any new cases are minimised."

Shenzhen's police chief was leading an investigation into previous falls, Xinhua reported earlier.

Foxconn has 420,000 employees based in Shenzhen, Xinhua reported earlier this month, most under 30.

The unit of Taiwan's Hon Hai Precision Industry has come under criticism from labour groups over its working conditions after the spate of apparent suicides.

Hon Hai's chairman, Terry Gou, on Monday defended the firm and its working conditions at a business forum.

"I believe, we are not a sweatshop...a team of 900,000 workers is very difficult to manage, there are many things to do every day, however I have confidence that we can stabilise the situation very quickly," local television showed him saying.

Bruce Golding's abortive attempt to resign as leader of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) raises far more questions than it answers. Golding's failure to concede defeat unequivocally and accede to the wishes of civil society confirms our collective fear that, even in the face of a national crisis of unprece-dented proportions, indi-vidual integrity must yield to the demands of partisan politics.

The decision of the Central Excecutive of the JLP not to accept Golding's resignation reinforces the popular perception that the function of leader of the party takes precedence over the role of prime minister. Propping up the fallen leader appears to be a much higher priority than preserving the integrity of the high office of prime minister.

Ironically, this 'separation of powers' is precisely what got Mr Golding into trouble in the first place. In the matter of that fateful sanctioning of the decision to hire the law firm Manatt, Phelps & Phillips to lobby on behalf of the JLP, Mr Golding claimed that his sacrosanct role as prime minister could not at all be compromised by his actions as leader of the JLP. ...