Adults in Washington state will be able to smoke marijuana legally when it is officially decriminalized Thursday, even though the Justice Department has offered no guidance on the conflict with federal drug laws.
Prosecutors throughout the state have begun dismissing hundreds of misdemeanor marijuana cases, according to authorities there, and state and local police are being retrained to arrest drivers who are high and allow adults to light up in their homes.
LOS ANGELES: The Los Angeles Galaxy rallied with three goals in the second half on Saturday to capture a second straight MLS Cup crown with a 3-1 win over Houston in David Beckham's farewell match in North America.
Robbie Keane, Omar Gonzalez and Landon Donovan scored goals for the heavily-favoured Galaxy who clinched their fourth MLS Cup title by beating the Dynamo for the second consecutive year.
Beckham's final game, which was played in intermittent rain, started out as a low-key farewell with no festivities before the game to honour the football icon.
But he walked off to massive cheers from the crowd of 30,000 at the Home Depot Center after the Galaxy, trailing 0-1 at the interval, came alive in the second half.
Republic of Ireland forward Keane appeared to have scored off a free kick from Beckham early in the second half but he was ruled offside.
Galaxy's Gonzalez made it 1-1 in the 60th minute with a header as he beat two Houston defenders in the air before floating the ball over goalkeeper Tally Hall.
Donovan gave the Galaxy their first lead five minutes later from the penalty spot.
The Galaxy were awarded the penalty after a handball by Houston's Ricardo Clark.
Keane capped the scoring with a goal off a penalty kick in injury time, firing a low shot into the net.
After Keane's goal, Beckham was taken out of the game to a massive ovation. He walked over to the sidelines and hugged coach Bruce Arena.
Beckham, credited with helping raise football's profile in the US sports landscape in his half-dozen seasons here, had not even received the biggest cheer when the Galaxy players were introduced.
That went to Galaxy captain Donovan, although those cheers quickly turned to groans as Donovan missed an open goal in the 13th minute from six yards out after taking a perfect pass from Keane.
Beckham set up the play with a long pass up the left side to wide open Keane.
Moments later Houston's Brad Davis went down at midfield after taking a knee to the head from Beckham.
Galaxy goalkeeper Josh Saunders was forced to make a couple of huge saves in the first half. In the 27th minute he just got a hand on a Kofi Sarkodie shot from in close to deflect it over the bar.
Houston's Calen Carr opened the scoring just before halftime with a nice run down the right side before slipping the ball between Saunders and the near post.
Carr used his speed to get open then outmuscled Galaxy defender Tommy Meyer to get off a hard shot to the top of the net that beat a falling Saunders.
- AFP/xq
BJP vice president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said on Saturday that voting inside the parliament would decide as to who is in favour of national interest and who is working for international interests.
"The government feels that their responsibility is to safeguard the interest of international market mafias instead of national interest and for saving the interest of international market mafias, the government is ready to compromise with national interests. Now, the parliament will decide as to who is in support of international market mafias and who are supporting national interests," said Naqvi.
The government's decision to allow foreign supermarket chains such as Wal-Mart had triggered protest not only from opposition parties but also from some of its allies.
BJP had sought debate on the issue of allowing Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the retail sector, under the rule that entails voting after discussions.
Meanwhile, Minister in the Prime Minister Office (PMO), V Narayanaswamy said the government would answer all the queries raised by the opposition parties in the parliament and will explain the benefits of allowing FDI in retail sector.
The lower house of parliament has set December 04 and 05 as the date to vote and debate on FDI. The dates for the upper house are yet to be decided.
Narayanaswamy said the government is confident of becoming victorious in the debate.
Photograph by Hugh Gentry, Reuters
A spectacular natural phenomenon was on display early this week as lava from a vent in Hawaii's Kilauea volcano flowed into the ocean, sending up plumes of steam as it made contact with the waves.
Though lava can still be viewed from Kalapana near the Big Island's Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park, ocean entry is no longer occurring, according to the National Park Service.
Published November 30, 2012
Photograph by Hugh Gentry, Reuters
The lava traveled 7 miles (11 kilometers) from Kilauea’s Pu'u O'o vent to the ocean. When lava reaches the water, it cools and hardens, forming a lava delta that can be dangerous to nearby onlookers, according to Reuters.
The news service reported that no communities on the Big Island were threatened by the lava flow.
Published November 30, 2012
Photograph by Hugh Gentry, Reuters
A burst of volcanic activity erupts from Kilauea’s crater in Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park on November 27.
The volcano has been erupting continuously for nearly 30 years. No major damage has been suffered by a town since 1986, according to Reuters.
Published November 30, 2012
Photograph by Hugh Gentry, Reuters
“Ocean entries are beautiful but dangerous,” said Janet Babb, spokeswoman for the U.S. Geological Survey's Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, in a statement reported by Reuters. She warned that the steam could be more hazardous than it appears.
Published November 30, 2012
Photograph by Matt Northam, My Shot
A plume of smoke billows where lava from Kilauea meets the sea in this aerial photo taken November 27.
Published November 30, 2012
Photograph by Peter Vancoillie, Your Shot
Published November 30, 2012
Jovan Belcher, a linebacker for the Kansas City Chiefs, committed suicide today in front of his coaches and police officers outside the team's stadium, shortly after he fatally shot his girlfriend, police said.
"We heard that they had been arguing in the past [and] as far as recently, they'd been arguing before the shooting occurred this morning," Kansas City Police spokesman Darin Snapp told ABC News Radio.
The victim was identified Kasandra Perkins, 22. Snapp said the couple had lived together and had a 3-month-old daughter.
A woman first alerted police this morning that her daughter had been shot by her boyfriend, who was a Kansas City Chiefs player, Snapp said. Police initially believed the woman was Perkins' mother, but later learned she was Belcher's mother, who lived with the couple to help care for their daughter and according to family members felt extremely close to Perkins.
It is believed Belcher drove to Arrowhead Stadium shortly after the shooting and police were called.
"When the officers arrived, when they were pulling up, they actually observed a black male who had a gun to his head and he was talking to a couple of coaches out in the parking lot," Snapp said. "As officers pulled up, and began to park, that's when they heard the gunshot and it appears the individual took his own life."
Snapp said the coaches told officers they didn't feel they were in any danger from Belcher.
"They said the player was actually thanking them for everything they'd done for him," he said. "They were just talking to him and he was thanking them and everything. That's when he walked away and shot himself."
Kansas City is scheduled to host the Carolina Panthers on Sunday, and the league has told the Panthers to go ahead with their travel plans because the game will be played as scheduled.
In a statement posted on their website, the Chiefs said they are "cooperating with authorities in their investigation" and did not mention Belcher by name.
The 6-foot-2, 228-pound linebacker joined the Kansas City Chiefs in 2009, and had spent all four seasons of his career with the team. He has played every in game since joining the team.
Originally from West Babylon, N.Y., where he was a three-time all-America wrestler in addition to playing on the football team, Belcher went undrafted out of the University of Maine, where he started all 45 games in which he played.
Maine Head Football Coach Jack Cosgrove described Jovan as a "tremendous student-athlete."
"His move to the NFL was in keeping with his dreams," Cosgrove said in a statement released by the university today. "This is an indescribably horrible tragedy. At this difficult time, our thoughts and prayers are with Jovan, Kasandra and their families."
Belcher signed with the Chiefs as a rookie free agent, started 15 of 16 games his second season and last year started all 16 games as left inside linebacker.
Belcher expressed gratitude for his NFL career in an article posted on Nov. 21 on the Chiefs' website that has since been taken down.
"First and foremost, God. Family and friends just keeping me focused, coaches and just everyone," he said.
WASHINGTON: The International Monetary Fund said on Friday that the UN vote to recognize Palestine as a non-member observer state does not mean the Palestinians will automatically become members of the financial institution.
In response to an AFP query, spokeswoman Wafa Amr said United Nations recognition "by itself has no direct effect on a possible application for membership of the IMF."
"The Fund has its own procedures for determining membership, which include the requirement that Fund members representing a majority of the Fund's voting power recognize the applicant to the Fund as a 'country'."
That would mean that the countries and blocs with the IMF's largest voting power, the United States and Europe, would have to back the Palestinian state's membership.
But Washington on Thursday voted against the resolution elevating the Palestinians' diplomatic status, and Europe was split over the matter. The UN General Assembly backed the measure 138-9 with 41 abstentions.
Joining the IMF would allow the Palestinians to benefit from financial advice and support from the Washington-based body.
Newly-formed South Sudan became the most recent country to join the IMF, in April this year, nine months after gaining independence.
- AFP/xq
The EC is said to have sought a reply from the government on the BJP's complaint. A reply is expected on Saturday, based on which the Commission will take a decision.
The BJP delegation on Friday handed over a memorandum to Chief Election Commissioner V S Sampath requesting the poll panel's intervention to ensure that the Centre's announcement does not influence voting in Gujarat. It urges the EC to take serious note of the "blatant" violation of the model code of conduct by the UPA in announcing the scheme.
"We request the Commission to direct the government to withdraw the announcement and defer it to an appropriate time after the completion of the election process in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh," the memorandum said.
Incidentally, the direct cash transfer scheme covers not only Gujarat but the entire country. According to EC sources, the Commission can at most stop implementation of populist schemes in a poll-bound state, until the polls are completed. Also, the cash scheme rolls out only in January, while the Gujarat polls will be over in December.
Photograph by Hugh Gentry, Reuters
A spectacular natural phenomenon was on display early this week as lava from a vent in Hawaii's Kilauea volcano flowed into the ocean, sending up plumes of steam as it made contact with the waves.
Though lava can still be viewed from Kalapana near the Big Island's Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park, ocean entry is no longer occurring, according to the National Park Service.
Published November 30, 2012
Photograph by Hugh Gentry, Reuters
The lava traveled 7 miles (11 kilometers) from Kilauea’s Pu'u O'o vent to the ocean. When lava reaches the water, it cools and hardens, forming a lava delta that can be dangerous to nearby onlookers, according to Reuters.
The news service reported that no communities on the Big Island were threatened by the lava flow.
Published November 30, 2012
Photograph by Hugh Gentry, Reuters
A burst of volcanic activity erupts from Kilauea’s crater in Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park on November 27.
The volcano has been erupting continuously for nearly 30 years. No major damage has been suffered by a town since 1986, according to Reuters.
Published November 30, 2012
Photograph by Hugh Gentry, Reuters
“Ocean entries are beautiful but dangerous,” said Janet Babb, spokeswoman for the U.S. Geological Survey's Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, in a statement reported by Reuters. She warned that the steam could be more hazardous than it appears.
Published November 30, 2012
Photograph by Matt Northam, My Shot
A plume of smoke billows where lava from Kilauea meets the sea in this aerial photo taken November 27.
Published November 30, 2012
Photograph by Peter Vancoillie, Your Shot
Published November 30, 2012
Three people are dead after an attack at Casper College, a Wyoming community college, that may have involved a type of bow and arrow.
The college was shut down Friday morning after the attack.
"Emergency Alert: All classes and activities are cancelled today," read a message posted on the school's website.
Initial calls came in just after 9 a.m. reporting a "traumatic injury" on campus, according to a statement provided by local law enforcement to ABC News. Officers found "multiple victims" and the school was immediately placed on lockdown.
Alan Rogers/Casper Star-Tribune/AP Photo
Three people were found dead. One was a Casper College faculty member and another was a suspect who died of "apparent suicide," according to the statement.
The suspect, authorities said, "was not a current student at Casper College and the incident does not appear to be school motivated."
"There were no firearms involved in the crime," they said, "and the victim's injuries were caused by a sharp-edged weapon."
Police told Wyoming station KCWY that one of the victims was stabbed with a "bow-and-arrow-type" weapon.
The school of around 5,000 students is located in Casper, the state's second-largest city. It was founded in 1945, according to the school's website.
Calls to Casper Police Chief Chris Walsh and school spokesman Rich Fujita were not returned Friday afternoon.
The lockdown was later lifted. The school's website said campus travel was "now permitted" and that counselors were available at the school's Gateway Building.
WASHINGTON: The United States and Israel downplayed on Thursday the Palestinians' new upgraded status at the UN, saying it changed nothing in actual practice and even made peace with the Jewish state a remoter prospect.
Palestinians rejoiced at the historic albeit largely symbolic vote at the UN General Assembly in New York, firing guns into the air in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, shooting off fireworks and embracing each other with glee.
In between the two ends of the spectrum were major powers like Britain, which said it respected the vote but abstained on the grounds that the Palestinians had not unconditionally agreed to negotiations on a lasting two-state deal with Israel.
Britain pledged support for efforts to reach an elusive peace accord, as did France, which voted for the resolution but called on Israel and the Palestinians to resume peace talks without conditions and as soon as possible.
The Vatican welcomed the 138-9 vote, saying it reflected the majority sentiment of the international community and the Holy See had long encouraged more global involvement to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
"Peace needs courageous decisions," it said in a statement.
But top US diplomats warned the Palestinians that they had essentially achieved nothing, while Israel sounded as angry as the Palestinians did joyful.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas's speech before the General Assembly ahead of the vote on the status upgrade was "defamatory and venomous."
"The world watched a defamatory and venomous speech that was full of mendacious propaganda against the IDF (army) and the citizens of Israel," the statement said.
The American ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, said the Palestinians' joy would be short-lived.
"Today's grand announcements will soon fade and the Palestinian people will wake up tomorrow to find little of their lives has changed, save (that) the prospects of a durable peace have receded," she said.
"This resolution does not establish that Palestine is a state," she said, echoing an earlier speech by the ambassador to Israel. "Today's vote should not be misconstrued by any as constituting eligibility for UN membership."
Rice said that "only through direct negotiations between the parties can the Palestinians and the Israelis achieve the peace that both deserve."
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, speaking in Washington, used exactly the same language to denounce a decision that she said "places further obstacles in the path to peace."
The United States and Israel were among just nine countries bucking global support for a resolution giving Palestine non-member status at the United Nations.
Speaking prior to the vote, Netanyahu said in Jerusalem: "The decision at the United Nations today won't change anything on the ground." He added, "It won't promote the establishment of a Palestinian state; it will distance it.
"Israel's hand is always extended in peace, but a Palestinian state will not be established without (a Palestinian) recognition of the State of Israel as the Jewish people's state," Netanyahu said.
Among the allies of Israel and the United States was Canada, whose foreign minister John Baird said giving Palestine non-member observer status, a step on the path to full UN membership, "undermines the core" of attempts to broker a Palestinian-Israeli peace deal.
But nothing would spoil the Palestinians' big day.
The Hamas movement, which had opposed its rival Abbas's drive for the status change on grounds it was unilateral and not a product of consensus, welcomed the vote as a victory.
And while some in Ramallah recognized it was a half-triumph, they savoured it nonetheless.
"I'm happy they declared the state even though it's only a moral victory. There are a lot of sharks out there, but it feels good," 39-year-old Rashid al-Kor told AFP.
Ethar al-Asmar, a teacher, was pragmatic about the approval.
"Israel isn't going anywhere," she admitted. But, she said, the moment felt historic nonetheless.
"We have been waiting for this for so long. I never thought this day would come."
- AFP/xq
The decision to introduce a layer of approval by a top police officer was taken at a meeting held by the Central Cyber Regulations Advisory committee on Wednesday. The statutory committee, said a senior lawyer in Delhi, was set up in 2000 when the Information Technology Act was originally enacted, but has rarely met.
Advocate Pavan Duggal, Delhi-based cyber law expert, said the guidelines "though welcome, are merely a reactive response. What needs to be changed is the definition of offence under section 66-A". "Prior approval brings checks against misuse of law," said another lawyer, but Duggal added "unless the scope of the section is narrowed down, it may still be open to abuse."
N S Nappinai, a cyber law expert said, ''The remedy is to split section 66A into three separate offences, and what amounts to "offensive" or "malicious" nature should be specifically defined." The section is applied in eight of every 10 cases, said experts. "Even senior officers, whose permission will now be needed, need strong illustrative guidelines to refer to, which are absent," said cyber expert Vijay Mukhi.
Duggal said, "A complete review is required and it must be brought in sync with reasonable restrictions contemplated under Article 19 (freedom of speech) and not just subjective and discriminatory restrictions." A person calling another a "donkey" and mailing it to two persons can at present be booked under section 66-A if it causes "annoyance" to someone and sending it "twice" can be interpreted to be "persistent communication." Under IPC's section 294, uttering 'obscene' words in a public place to the annoyance of a person attracts three months of jail, the same offence online, under section 66A gets a three-year jail term.
The section was applied recently to a Pondicherry based businessperson who sent an "offensive and annoyance-causing" tweet against the son of Union finance minister P Chidambaram. The offender was arrested and later released on bail. As in the case when a cartoon on West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee landed its sender in jail, section 66-A is a potent tool in the hands of the powerful and police, said a Delhi lawyer.
It appears to be substantially drawn from a British law, but has wider scope. "Legislators must take lessons from extensive abuse of such provisions not only in India but also at its place of origin," said Nappinai. However, UK courts took a proactive stance as in the Paul Chambers vs Director of Public Prosecutions case, holding tweets about terrorizing/blowing up airports were not "menacing" but only jokes.
"While protagonists of those 'menacing' tweets got lucky in the UK, FB posts by two Palghar girls landed them in a spot. The new norms may prevent similar humiliation for others," she said.
Photograph courtesy Damien Jemison, LLNL
Looking like a portal to a science fiction movie, preamplifiers line a corridor at the U.S. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's National Ignition Facility (NIF).
Preamplifiers work by increasing the energy of laser beams—up to ten billion times—before these beams reach the facility's target chamber.
The project's lasers are tackling "one of physics' grand challenges"—igniting hydrogen fusion fuel in the laboratory, according to the NIF website. Nuclear fusion—the merging of the nuclei of two atoms of, say, hydrogen—can result in a tremendous amount of excess energy. Nuclear fission, by contrast, involves the splitting of atoms.
This July, California-based NIF made history by combining 192 laser beams into a record-breaking laser shot that packed over 500 trillion watts of peak power-a thousand times more power than the entire United States uses at any given instant.
"This was a quantum leap for laser technology around the world," NIF director Ed Moses said in September. But some critics of the $5 billion project wonder why the laser has yet to ignite a fusion chain reaction after three-and-a-half years in operation. Supporters counter that such groundbreaking science simply can't be rushed.
(Related: "Fusion Power a Step Closer After Giant Laser Blast.")
—Brian Handwerk
Published November 29, 2012
The U.N. General Assembly voted today to approve Palestinians' request to be upgraded to a "non-member observer state," defying opposition by the U.S. and Israel.
Before the vote, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas told the General Assembly that it "is being asked today to issue the birth certificate of Palestine."
Of the 193 countries in the General Assembly 138 voted to recognize Palestine. Only nine, including the U.S., voted against it. Another 41 countries abstained.
In the West Bank, Palestinians erupted in a roar of cheers, horn honking and fireworks as crowds thronged the main square of Ramallah to celebrate the world's recognition of their state.
The historic vote recognizes Palestine as a state and gives Palestine the right to join U.N. agencies. It opens the door for Palestine to become a party to the International Criminal Court, allowing them to bring cases against Israel.
Israel and the U.S. argued that the vote is purely symbolic, would change nothing on the ground, would hurt peace talks and could affect U.S. funding.
Most European countries were expected to side with the Palestinians in this dispute.
The only countries voting against the resolution besides the United States and Israel were Canada, the Czech Republic and some Pacific Island states.
Hazem Bader/AFP/Getty Images
U.S. allies France, Sweden and Italy all voted for the resolution, as did countries where the U.S. is expected to hold sway like Mexico, Afghanistan, India and Iraq.
Germany, Poland and the United Kingdom all stayed out of the fray, preferring to abstain.
U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice downplayed the significance of the victorious resolution.
"Today's grand pronouncement will soon fade and the Palestinian people will wake up tomorrow and find that little about their lives has changed, save that the prospects of a durable peace have only receded," Rice said.
"The United States therefore calls upon both the parties to resume direct talks without preconditions on all the issues that divide them and we pledge that the United States will be there to support the parties vigorously in such efforts. The United States will continue to urge all parties to avoid any further provocative actions - in the region, in New York and elsewhere," she said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office dismissed the significance of the vote.
"This is a meaningless decision that will not change anything on the ground. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has made it clear that there will be no establishment of a Palestinian state without a settlement that ensures the security of Israel's citizens," the statement said.
"He will not allow a base for Iranian terrorism to be established in Judea and Samaria [the West Bank], in addition to those that have [already] been established in Gaza and Lebanon... By going to the U.N., the Palestinians have violated the agreements with Israel and Israel will act accordingly," the Israeli statement said.
After the results were announced, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon urged leaders of Israel and Palestine to resume peace talks.
"Today's vote underscores the urgency of the resumption of negotiations," he said.
The vote went ahead despite calls to Abbas from President Obama and other U.S. officials to abandon the bid. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Wednesday that only direct Palestinian negotiations with Israel can bring about any real solution.
Negotiations to avert the year-end “fiscal cliff” advanced at a glacial pace Wednesday, with a dispute over how to tackle the soaring cost of federal retirement programs emerging as the latest roadblock to progress.
Democrats complained that Republicans have yet to name their price for enacting legislation that would preserve tax cuts for the vast majority of Americans next year while raising revenue from the wealthiest 2 percent.
FORT MEADE, Maryland: A US military psychiatrist testified on Wednesday that the harsh detention of WikiLeaks suspect Bradley Manning was "senseless" and that commanders totally ignored his advice to lift tough suicide watch measures.
Captain William Hoctor, a Navy doctor who evaluated Manning about every week during his confinement at a Marine Corps brig in Quantico, Virginia, told the court the army private showed no sign of being suicidal.
"It seemed really senseless," Hoctor said of a "prevention of injury" status imposed on Manning.
Manning, charged with passing a trove of secret government files to the WikiLeaks website, is asking a judge to dismiss his case because of alleged illegal punishment he suffered during his pre-trial detention at Quantico.
In a military career spanning more than two decades, Hoctor said he had never faced a situation in which his medical advice at a prison was totally ignored as it was at Quantico.
"I never really experienced anything like this," he said.
A second psychiatrist also advised the brig leadership to lift the "prevention of injury" status, he said.
After Manning was transferred to Quantico from a US military cell in Kuwait in July 2010, Hoctor soon advised military authorities to remove a "suicide risk" assessment and then to rescind a "prevention of injury" status, he said.
But the brig commanders chose not to follow his recommendation, isolating Manning in a solitary cell for more than 23 hours a day and forcing him to strip every night.
Hoctor said he had a heated meeting with one of the officers running the brig, Colonel Robert Oltman, who told him that Manning would be kept under "prevention of injury" status indefinitely.
Oltman also indicated he had instructions from senior officers to follow the tough approach to avoid any risk of Manning committing suicide.
But Oltman testified earlier that the doctor's view was "only one data point" and that there were other factors to take into account, including weekly reports from prison guards.
"I wasn't going to base a decision on his input alone," Oltman said under questioning by Manning's defence lawyer, David Coombs.
Oltman also said he had concerns about the doctor's credibility as Hoctor allegedly had concluded another detainee did not pose a suicide risk but the man ended up killing himself.
Manning is expected to take the stand for the first time this week during the latest round of pre-trial hearings that began Tuesday at Fort Meade, Maryland, north of the US capital.
Manning, 24, who sat in the courtroom taking copious notes during the proceedings, could spend the rest of his life in prison if convicted of aiding the enemy with the massive leak, which embarrassed the US government and rankled Washington's allies.
In the worst security breach in US history, the leaks included hundreds of thousands of military intelligence logs from Iraq and Afghanistan and roughly 25,000 sensitive diplomatic cables.
Manning's lawyer appeared to be constructing an argument that officers imposed strict solitary confinement on the Army private under pressure from top brass at the Pentagon and against the advice of medical professionals and the military's own regulations.
On Tuesday, the former commander of the brig, retired Marine colonel Daniel Choike, said Manning was placed on suicide watch partly because he was engaged in "erratic dancing" and was licking the bars in his cell.
But Hoctor scoffed at the incidents. He said Manning was licking the cell bars when he was sleepwalking and as for dancing, he said: "I mean, so what?"
"It would be within the realm of normal behaviour," he added.
The defence also honed in on the role of a three-star Marine officer at the Pentagon, Lieutenant General George Flynn, who took a keen interest in the high-profile case, according to emails cited by the defense.
Flynn made clear in emails that he wanted to be kept informed and stressed that officers must ensure that Manning did not commit suicide while detained at the Marine Corps brig, Oltman said.
A UN rapporteur on torture concluded Manning was subjected to cruel and inhumane treatment at the Quantico brig.
After his detention from July 2010 to April 2011 at Quantico, Manning was later transferred to a prison at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas, where he faces less strict conditions.
- AFP/xq
BANGALORE: The Congress led by Indira Gandhi fostered a generation of hero worship and dynasty politics after 1969. This inspired many others like Muthuvel Karunanidhi, who started off with noble intentions to fight against caste discriminations, to do the same and has led to a centralization of politics in present India, said Ramachandra Guha, on Wednesday.
He was speaking during the launch of his latest book, Patriots and Partisans.
The 54-year-old historian went on to add that Jawaharlal Nehru, one of the most charismatic leaders of Indian politics, has been slowly losing his popularity because of the Congress's dynastic politics.
"Sins of seven successive generations have been bestowed on Nehru," he said light-heartedly.
The highest paid non-fiction writer of the country also slammed the phenomenon called the 'Congress chamchagiri'. "I saw a long queue of Congress party members waiting outside Rahul Gandhi's house during his birthday, a couple of years ago, braving scorching sun. Nevertheless, Rahul didn't come out to greet them while the 100 kilogram cake they had brought for him disintegrated leaving a trail from the Congress general secretary's house till the Indira Gandhi circle," he said.
He said that scientific institutions in Delhi couldn't achieve the success of ones in other parts of the country as officials chosen in the capital-based institutions are often selected on the recommendation of politicians.
Guha went on to add that massacre of Muslims in Hyderabad during the annexation of the state by the Indian army happened before the constitution came into being in 1950, but it is sad that the perpetrators of 1984 Sikh massacre and 2002 Muslim massacre in Gujarat, which were initiated by Congress and BJP, respectively, haven't still been punished.
He slammed right and left wing politicians, saying that the citizens have allowed the Hindu rightists' claims to be truly patriots of the country because the left is often considered anti-patriotic because their fatherland has always been a different country - depending upon the prevalence of Marxists movements in these countries, like China, the USSR, Cuba and currently Venezuela - and also due to the high decibel levels and angry outbreaks of the saffron brigade.
"Violence unleashed by left ( Naxalites) and right (Hindu fundamentalists) is against democracy, liberalism, religious plularism and tolerance, the idea that our Constitution promotes. Citizens should protect the country from these extremisms," he said.
TOO EARLY
Guha had a word of advice for the Arvind Kejriwal-launched Aam Aadmi Party, saying that it's too early for them to participate in the 2014 general elections. "Their current economic policies are a bit naive," he added.
In the Tibetan mountains, a fungus attaches itself to a moth larva burrowed in the soil. It infects and slowly consumes its host from within, taking over its brain and making the young caterpillar move to a position from which the fungus can grow and spore again.
Sounds like something out of science fiction, right? But for ailing Chinese consumers and nomadic Tibetan harvesters, the parasite called cordyceps means hope—and big money. Chinese markets sell the "golden worm," or "Tibetan mushroom"—thought to cure ailments from cancer to asthma to erectile dysfunction—for up to $50,000 (U.S.) per pound. Patients, following traditional medicinal practices, brew the fungal-infected caterpillar in tea or chew it raw.
Now the folk medicine is getting scientific backing. A new study published in the journal RNA finds that cordycepin, a chemical derived from the caterpillar fungus, has anti-inflammatory properties.
"Inflammation is normally a beneficial response to a wound or infection, but in diseases like asthma it happens too fast and to too high of an extent," said study co-author Cornelia H. de Moor of the University of Nottingham. "When cordycepin is present, it inhibits that response strongly."
And it does so in a way not previously seen: at the mRNA stage, where it inhibits polyadenylation. That means it stops swelling at the genetic cellular level—a novel anti-inflammatory approach that could lead to new drugs for cancer, asthma, diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, and cardiovascular-disease patients who don't respond well to current medications.
From Worm to Pill
But such new drugs may be a long way off. The science of parasitic fungi is still in its early stages, and no medicine currently available utilizes cordycepin as an anti-inflammatory. The only way a patient could gain its benefits would by consuming wild-harvested mushrooms.
De Moor cautions against this practice. "I can't recommend taking wild-harvested medications," she says. "Each sample could have a completely different dose, and there are mushrooms where [taking] a single bite will kill you."
Today 96 percent of the world's caterpillar-fungus harvest comes from the high Tibetan Plateau and the Himalayan range. Fungi from this region are of the subspecies Ophiocordyceps sinensis, locally known as yartsa gunbu ("summer grass, winter worm"). While highly valued in Chinese traditional medicine, these fungi have relatively low levels of cordycepin. What's more, they grow only at elevations of 10,000 to 16,500 feet and cannot be farmed. All of which makes yartsa gunbu costly for Chinese consumers: A single fungal-infected caterpillar can fetch $30.
Brave New Worm
Luckily for researchers, and for potential consumers, another rare species of caterpillar fungus, Cordyceps militaris, is capable of being farmed—and even cultivated to yield much higher levels of cordycepin.
De Moor says that's not likely to discourage Tibetan harvesters, many of whom make a year's salary in just weeks by finding and selling yartsa gunbu. Scientific proof of cordycepin's efficacy will only increase demand for the fungus, which could prove dangerous. "With cultivation we have a level of quality control that's missing in the wild," says de Moor.
"There is definitely some truth somewhere in certain herbal medicinal traditions, if you look hard enough," says de Moor. "But ancient healers probably wouldn't notice a 10 percent mortality rate resulting from herbal remedies. In the scientific world, that's completely unacceptable." If you want to be safe, she adds, "wait for the medicine."
Ancient Chinese medical traditions—which also use ground tiger bones as a cure for insomnia, elephant ivory for religious icons, and rhinoceros horns to dispel fevers—are controversial but popular. Such remedies remain in demand regardless of scientific advancement—and endangered animals continue to be killed in order to meet that demand. While pills using cordycepin from farmed fungus might someday replace yartsa gunbu harvesting, tigers, elephants, and rhinos are disappearing much quicker than worms.
More survivors of the factory fire in Bangladesh that killed more than 100 garment workers this weekend have told human rights and international labor groups they were actually locked in by security gates as the flames spread.
"The police and the fire department are confirming that the collapsible gates were locked on each floor," said Charles Kernighan, executive director of the Institute for Global Labour and Human Rights. "The fire department said they had to come in with bolt cutters to cut the locks."
The toll of the garment factory blaze now stands at 112, but Kernighan and others interviewed by ABC News said they believe the number may actually be much higher. The destruction inside made it difficult to identify bodies, and Kernighan said factory officials have yet to make public a list of the 1,500 workers believed to be working in the nine-story building at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, when the fire broke out in a first floor warehouse.
Kalpona Akter, a labor activist based in the Bangladesh capital of Dhaka, spoke with a number of survivors, who described a scene of horror as workers started to smell smoke, and then the power went out and they were thrown into darkness.
"Then they ran to the stairs and found it was already fire caught in the stairs," she said. "They broke one window in the east side of the factory and … they started to jump."
Akter said many groups of relatives worked together in the factory, and when the lights went out, many began to scream in search of their mothers and sisters and daughters. She said she also heard accounts of managers shutting the gates as alarms sounded to prevent workers from walking off the job, apparently thinking it was a false alarm.
Authorities in Bangladesh announced three arrests, all supervisors from the factory, whom the police accused of negligence in their handling of the incident.
A journalist who attended the police press conference told ABC News the three men were arrested "because they did not perform their duty" and prevented workers from escaping from the factory, instead of helping them get out.
Also Wednesday, there were new reports that clothing found in the burned-out remains included large quantities of sweat shirts with labels for Disney, the parent company of ABC News. Like Wal-Mart and Sears, Disney said today it had no idea the Tazreen Fashions Limited factory was not supposed to be making its clothes.
"None of our licensees have been permitted to manufacture Disney-branded products in this facility for at least the last 12 months," a Disney statement read.
As with Disney, other retailers continue to question how their products could be found in a factory they did not know they had hired. Li & Fung, a Hong Kong supplier that works with several large brands, confirmed it was producing clothes in the factory for a Sean Combs label, ENYCE. But in a statement to ABC News Wednesday, Li & Fung said it had not brought clothes to the factory for any other client, including Sears, Disney and Wal-Mart.
Asked why it hired a factory that had been cited by at least one auditor for having safety problems, Li & Fung said it was investigating that question.
"As this tragic event is still under official investigation by the authorities, and since Li & Fung will conduct our own investigation, it would be premature to comment on our prior assessment of the factory's compliance," the statement said.
Labor rights groups said the American clothing companies have an obligation to know where their clothing is being manufactured.
"They have the power to make demands on the factory owners, they don't do it though," Kernighan said. "Because they want to keep cutting the prices, and cutting the prices, and cutting the prices."
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When members of Congress need factual information and insights into the effectiveness of the financial laws put in place after the 2008 economic crisis, they regularly turn to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) and Orice Williams Brown.
Initially as director and now as managing director of the GAO’s financial markets and community investment section, Brown and her staff have issued dozens of reports examining the flaws and offering recommendations to improve the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) bailout fund, the Wall Street regulatory reform law and the initiatives to prevent housing foreclosures.
WASHINGTON: The US Treasury on Tuesday again stopped short of labeling China a currency manipulator, noting gains in the value of the yuan, but said the currency remains "significantly undervalued."
In a twice-yearly finding to answer congressional critics of China's overwhelming bilateral trade advantage, the Treasury declined to slap Beijing with the currency manipulator tag, a move that could spark US trade sanctions.
The US Treasury argued that Beijing knows that an appreciating currency is in its own interest, and said the yuan, or renminbi (RMB), had gained 9.3 percent against the dollar between June 2010 and November 2012.
It said that when inflation was taken into account, the value of the Chinese currency had increased 12.6 percent since June 2010, when Beijing pledged to allow the yuan to trade more freely.
Nevertheless, it said, based on Beijing's huge stock of foreign reserves and its strong trade surplus, the yuan's appreciation has been "insufficient."
Those and other factors "suggest that the real exchange rate of the RMB remains significantly undervalued and further appreciation of the RMB against the dollar and other major currencies is warranted."
After hitting a year low in July of around RMB 6.39 per dollar, the currency has steadily climbed in recent weeks to hit a fresh record high of RMB 6.22 per dollar on Monday. It was trading around 6.227 per dollar in late trade Tuesday.
The US Treasury regularly reviews the exchange rate policies of nine economies that account for 70 percent of US foreign trade, with most of the focus on China, the world's second largest economy.
Critics in Congress accuse Beijing of keeping the yuan artificially low to make Chinese exports unfairly cheap. They want the Asian nation officially labelled a manipulator in order to apply sanctions against the country.
The administration of President Barack Obama has raised trade pressure on China but has refrained from any formal action on the currency front.
In its last report in May, the Treasury also said the yuan was "significantly undervalued."
Republicans used the issue of China's currency to batter Obama ahead of the November 6 elections, but the Democratic incumbent handily defeated his Republican rival Mitt Romney.
Romney had accused Obama of going easy on Beijing and promised, if elected, to label China a manipulator on the first day of his presidency.
The US-China Business Council, which has regularly opposed the push to brand China a manipulator, praised the Treasury report.
"The Treasury Department once again made the right call on China's currency policy in its report to Congress.
"Labeling China a currency 'manipulator' would do little to help us reach the goal of a fully convertible currency and market-driven exchange rate for China," the group said in a statement.
"We need to move on to more important issues with China, such as removing market access barriers and improving intellectual property protection."
-AFP/ac
KOLKATA: With the Congress likely to garner a majority in Parliament over the FDI issue, the Trinamool Congress is yet to carve out its strategy in Parliament, in case Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar allows the debate under rule 184.
Trinamool leaders have left it to Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee to decide whether the party will stage a walkout along with parties such as Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party or record their dissent during voting with the BJP and the Left.
"We still believe that no-confidence motion is the only way to remove this minority government and stop this unethical political charade being played out. Even now this can be done.
Only one MP is required to move this motion. It doesn't matter which political party it is. Let those, who're so vocal on price rise, FDI in retail and removal of subsidy cap on domestic LPG, come forward and vote on it. If one is convinced that these are anti-people policies, what stops them from nudging the government out of power. Why resort to rules to save them?" said Trinamool all India general secretary Mukul Roy.
Roy was more keen on nailing down Left Front chairman Biman Bose's recent argument that the Left didn't support the Trinamool's no-confidence notice because parties reluctant to bring down the government would vote against the government if the debate is allowed under rule 184. Roy, however, didn't want to foretell the party's strategy in the fast changing situation.
While Trinamool Rajya Sabha MP Sukhendu Sekhar Ray held that the party will fight FDI tooth and nail, senior party MP Sultan Ahmed said, "Whether to vote or not will be decided later by the Trinamool parliamentary party and the party supremo Mamata Banerjee, let the Speaker decide it first. The government will never agree to a discussion under rule 184 without majority. Our leader in the Lok Sabha, Sudip Bandopadhyay, has already cleared our stand on the matter. There is nothing more to add to it." Domestic compulsion is also weighing heavily on Trinamool Congress before it is seen aligning with CPM and BJP.
Left parties, on the other hand, have dumped the number game getting a whiff that the Congress might gather the numbers. Asked whether the CPM is heading towards a situation similar to the confidence debate on the Indo-US civil nuclear deal, CPM Rajya Sabha MP Shyamal Chakrabarty said: "Not at all. We have been trying to forge the broadest possible unity against FDI entry in multi-brand retail. I am confident that we will be achieving our target to a great extent. The Trinamool's no confidence move would have given the government a leeway to continue with their anti-people policies on all fronts for a period of six months instead," Chakrabarty said.
Trinamool leaders, on the other hand, believe that a debate under rule 184, will give Trinamool an opportunity to expose the Opposition "double-speak." "Biman Bose had argued if the government survived our no-confidence motion, they will get a parliamentary mandate to introduce FDI in retail. So if a vote under rule 184 does take place and the government wins it, would it be any different? The CM had made it clear that we believed in moving a no-confidence for it wasn't a half-measure. What is happening now only vindicates her belief," a Trinamool MP said.
Photograph courtesy Conservation India
A young boy can sell bundles of fresh Amur falcons (pictured) for less than five dollars. Still, when multiplied by the thousands of falcons hunters can catch in a day, the practice can be a considerable financial boon to these groups.
Since discovering the extent of Amur hunting in Nagaland this fall, Conservation India has taken the issue to the local Indian authorities.
"They have taken it very well. They've not been defensive," Sreenivasan said.
"You're not dealing with national property, you're dealing with international property, which helped us put pressure on [them]." (Related: "Asia's Wildlife Trade.")
According to Conservation India, the same day the group filed their report with the government, a fresh order banning Amur hunting was issued. Local officials also began meeting with village leaders, seizing traps and confiscating birds. The national government has also requested an end to the hunting.
Much remains to be done, but because the hunt is so regional, Sreenivasan hopes it can eventually be contained and stamped out. Authorities there, he said, are planning a more thorough investigation next year, with officials observing, patrolling, and enforcing the law.
"This is part of India where there is some amount of acceptance on traditional bush hunting," he added. "But at some point, you draw the line."
(Related: "Bush-Meat Ban Would Devastate Africa's Animals, Poor?")
Published November 27, 2012
Nov 27, 2012 3:25pm
The Justice Department said Tuesday that they will try to settle a lawsuit seeking to enforce a subpoena sought by the House Oversight and Government Reform committee to obtain documents related to the ATF’s botched gun trafficking case Operation Fast and Furious.
Ian Gershengorn, the Justice Department deputy assistant attorney general, and House General Counsel Kerry Kircher said the two sides would be meeting shortly to discuss a possible settlement.
The ATF’s flawed “Fast and Furious” operation allowed firearms to “walk” across the U.S. border into Mexico in hopes of tracing the guns and locating major weapons traffickers. The operation took a tragic turn when two weapons found in December 2010 at the scene of murdered U.S. Border Patrol Brian Terry were linked to Fast and Furious. The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee spearheaded the congressional investigation into the ATF operation.
The House voted this summer to hold Attorney General Holder in contempt for not releasing the materials. The House then sued Attorney General Eric Holder earlier this year after President Obama invoked executive privilege shielding Holder from turning over the documents. The Committee’s subpoena was seeking internal DOJ documents following the drafting of a February 4, 2011 letter sent to Congress that contained inaccurate information about ATF’s operations. The letter was withdrawn by the Justice Department in December 2011.
A DOJ Inspector General report earlier this year cleared Holder of knowing about the ATF’s reckless tactics. The Inspector General’s review recommended 14 Justice Department and ATF officials for disciplinary and administrative review.
Tuesday during a news conference in Connecticut, Holder said, “I think there is a deal that can be struck.”
U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson has set a status hearing for January 10, 2013 to review the issue further.
Imagine this scene of workplace harassment, envisioned by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.:
You really hate country music. The senior employee in your office picks the music everyone listens to.
BRUSSELS: Eurozone finance ministers agreed early on Tuesday to release 43.7 billion euros in loans to Greece, after months in which Greece was starved of bailout financing.
Two sources told AFP that the eurozone had agreed to release the money after a deal that could lead to a long-term debt write-down by currency partners, saying it would be handed over "in one go."
The eurozone said it will be in a position to re-start the paying out of 43.7 billion euros in loans to Greece from December 13.
A statement after 13 hours of Eurogroup talks gathering finance ministers, the IMF and the ECB said would be paid in four instalments through until the end of March, but conditional on the implementation by Athens of tax reforms agreed with creditors.
- AFP/ck
Born in a poor farmer's family in Haryana's Chhara, Singh had seen action in the Kargil war in 1999, was a part of the United Nations Peace Mission to Congo and was later posted in strife-torn Jammu and Kashmir's Bandipore. He was also one of the 26/11 heroes, having gunned down two terrorists during the Mumbai carnage.
In spite of his rustic Haryanvi accent, Surender, who is left hearing impaired after a hand grenade explosion during the attack, said, "While the jawans are sacrificing so much, the funds meant for them are being spent on parties in five-star hotels."
He also drew people's attention to the symbolism of '26/11.' Surender cited that on the same day in 1949 the Indian constitution was unveiled, but ironically the nation faced a terrorist attack in Mumbai on the same date in 2008. "Today is also 26/11. It's a very important date and is symbolic of India's journey. I am glad that the AAP is being launched on this date," he said.
Surender, who along with former India Against Corruption activists, had earlier charged the government of not honoring him and non-payment of pension. On Monday, Surender retorted, "I have not received a single penny. Whatever is in my account is from my insurance and an amount of Rs 2 lakh that I had got earlier. Information and broadcasting minister Manish Tewari's tweet that I have been paid is completely false," added Surender.
On being asked that he was being considered least experienced in politics, he said, "Indeed I don't have experience of corruption and crime record politicians have and I don't even wish to have such experiences."
Photograph by Greg Parker, Your Shot
The Horsehead Nebula rears its pretty head in a November 17 photograph submitted to National Geographic's Your Shot photo community.
Taken from the New Forest Observatory in the United Kingdom, the image shows how the nebula's horse head is part of a larger cloud of dust. Situated about 1,500 light-years away, the Horsehead Nebula is visible only because its obscuring dust is silhouetted against another, brighter nebula, according to NASA.
(See "'Soccer Ball' Nebula Discovered by Amateur Astronomer.")
Published November 26, 2012
Photograph by Jeremy La Zelle, My Shot
Green curtains of aurora stretch over the sky in the Alaska Arctic in a picture submitted to National Geographic's My Shot on November 17.
"The constantly changing kaleidoscope of colors are reminiscent of a fireworks display—but without sound," photographer Jeremy La Zelle wrote with his submission.
"All we hear is the quiet peaceful sounds of a freezing Alaska night."
(See "Aurora Pictures: Best Fall Photos of Northern Lights.")
Published November 26, 2012
Image courtesy Caltech/NASA
NASA's Curiosity rover snapped this picture after moving 83 feet (25 meters) eastward on November 18—the 102nd Martian day, or sol, of its mission to study whether life once existed on Mars.
The view shows Yellowknife Bay, part of the Glenelg area of the Gale Crater, which is located near the base of a three-mile-high (five-kilometer-high) mountain rich with layered sediment deposits laid down over hundreds of millions of years.
(Read more about the Gale Crater.)
Published November 26, 2012
Image courtesy ESA
The sands of the Sahara appear like golden brush strokes around the Tibesti Mountains in a March 2012 satellite image recently released by the European Space Agency.
Located in Chad and Libya, the mountains' highest peak is Emi Koussi-pictured above as a circular structure in the lower-right portion of the dark area.
Lava flows can be seen extending from the westernmost volcano, Toussidé.
(See volcano pictures.)
Published November 26, 2012
Photograph by Quang Nguyen Luong and F. Motte, Herschel SPIRE/ESA
Published November 26, 2012
The mother of 13-year-old boy Dylan Redwine, who disappeared a week ago during a court ordered visit to his father, fears that the dad may have done something to "remove Dylan from the situation."
Dylan Redwine was last seen at the home of his father, Mark Redwine, when he vanished seven days ago.
"I was married to Mark for a lot of years, and I know the way he reacts to things," Elaine Redwine told ABC News. "If Dylan maybe did or said something that wasn't what Mark wanted to hear, I'm just afraid of how Mark would have reacted."
Elaine and Mark were divorced and live about five hours away from each other, ABC News affiliate KMGH reports. Dylan was staying at his father's home because of a court order granting his father visitation rights for Thanksgiving.
Elaine Redwine told ABC News she believes her ex-husband was upset that she was the court-mandated primary custodian of their son.
"I don't think Mark treats him very well," Elaine Redwine said. "I would not put it past Mark to have done something to remove Dylan from the situation. You know, like 'if I can't have him, nobody will.'"
Dylan had been with his dad in Vallecito, Colo., for just one day before he went missing. Mark Redwine told police that his son was in his home when he left to run some errands at 7:30 a.m. When he returned four hours later, the boy was missing.
Elaine Redwine told ABC News she was having a difficult time getting in touch with her ex-husband about their son.
"He hasn't had any contact with us. [My older son] tried to get a hold of him by texting him, and he wouldn't respond," she said. "I just find it odd that at a time like this, he would be so evasive."
Mark Redwine declined to speak to ABC News.
Police say they are considering a number of possibilities, including abduction and the possibility that Dylan ran away.
"Foul play is definitely something we are looking at, but we're hoping it's a runaway case and that Dylan will show up and will be fine," La Plata Sheriff's Office spokesman Dan Bender said. "Because we don't have any clues that point in any particular direction, we have to consider every possibility."
Dylan's mother and older brother both insist Dylan wouldn't run away without contacting them, or if he did run away from his dad's home, he would have gone to them.
"When he was afraid in any situation, he knew he could call me and I would drop everything and go out there, first thing," Dylan's brother, Cory Redwine, 21, told ABC News. "He knew that me, my mom, my step-dad, any of us, if he called us and said, 'I need your help,' he knew we'd be there."
Hundreds of people have turned up to help search for Dylan, but so far police say they are no closer to finding him.
"We had people in the air, on horseback, on ATVs, search dogs, and we got no clues from any of that," Bender said.
Dive teams are searching nearby Vallecito Lake using a high-powered sonar gun, after searches this weekend revealed nothing, according to KMGH. Search teams are also combing the shoreline around the lake.
Elaine Redwine told ABC News she thinks somebody must know something, and she hopes they come forward.
"Vallecito is a small community. If anybody has seen anything or knows anything, no matter how big or small it seems, please tell us," Redwine said. "Everything right now is crucial to bringing my little boy home."
Redwine is described as 5 feet tall, 105 pounds, blond hair, blue eyes and fair complexion. He was last seen wearing a black Nike shirt, black basketball nylon shorts, black Jordan tennis shoes and a two-tone blue and white Duke Blue Devils baseball hat.
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