Pro Widget

Smith's 'Just Kids' is award winner for nonfiction

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 10:31:00 +0000

NEW YORK – The winners seemed stumped at the National Book Awards.

There were few prepared speeches on Wednesday night as most recipients managed few words beyond thanking the usual suspects. Patti Smith, who has some experience before audiences, became tearful as she accepted the nonfiction prize for "Just Kids," a bittersweet look back to New York City in the 1960s, when anything really could happen and Smith and photographer Robert Mapplethorpe were just a couple of young artists out to break the rules.

Smith became the rare rock star to win a competitive literary award (Bob Dylan has win an honorary Pulitzer) and the one-time punk rocker offered an old-fashioned tribute to books. She begged publishers not to let the printed page die in the electronic age and recalled working decades ago at a Scribner's bookstore, stacking the National Book Award winners and wondering how it would feel to win one.

"So thank you for letting me find out," said Smith, 63, who now claims an award previously given to Rachel Carson, Gore Vidal and Joan Didion.

The fiction prize Wednesday night was a surprise, Jaimy Gordon's "Lord of Misrule," a wry, hard-luck racetrack comedy chosen over such better known works as Lionel Shriver's "So Much for That" and Nicole Krauss' "Great House."

Gordon herself is a story of luck turning. For years, she has written books released by small publishers, most recently, McPherson & Company, based north of Manhattan in Kingston, N.Y. She spoke briefly, acknowledged she had not expected to win and mentioned friends who told her that she had given them hope just by being nominated.

Gordon's fate has already changed. The paperback of "Lord of Misrule" has been acquired by Vintage Books, an imprint of Random House, Inc. Her next novel will be published by another Random House imprint, Pantheon. Meanwhile, the head of McPherson, Bruce McPherson, handed out business cards after the ceremony and remembered meeting Gordon when both were studying at Brown University in the early 1970s.

"She certainly stood out," McPherson said.

Kathryn Erskine's "Mockingbird," inspired in part by "To Kill a Mockingbird" and by the Virginia Tech shootings, was cited for young people's literature. Awarded for a story featuring an 11-year-old girl with Asperger's, Erskine praised parents who encourage their children to ask questions and teachers who inspire students to read and to "think for themselves."

Terrance Hayes, whose "Lighthead" won for poetry, thanked his wife and editor Paul Slovak at Penguin for being "the best kind of partner," one "who lets you be imperfect."

Winners in the competitive categories for the 61st annual awards each received $10,000. The black-tie ceremony was hosted by humorist Andy Borowitz and held under the towering columns of Cipriani Wall Street.

Honorary medals were presented to "Bonfire of the Vanities" novelist Tom Wolfe and to one of the creators of "Sesame Street," Joan Ganz Cooney. Smith did not sing Wednesday, but there was music on stage, as the white-suited Wolfe crooned a few lines from "The Girl of Ipanema," part of a long, leisurely talk that made up for the brevity of the other winners. He shared memories of his early newspapers days and of the party thrown by Leonard Bernstein and attended by members of the Black Panthers, a gathering immortalized by Wolfe as "radical chic."

The celebrated "New Journalist" well exceeded his declared deadline of six minutes to tell his story. Midway through his speech, the last before dinner was served, waiters began approaching tables and some of his words were hard to hear over the clatter of plates being set down.

Judds, O'Neals to make shows for Winfrey's network

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 16:42:00 +0000

NEW YORK – Oprah Winfrey's new network is planning new series on two pairs of entertainers with complicated lives: country music stars the Judds and actor Ryan O'Neal and his daughter, Tatum.

The OWN network says both shows will appear sometime next year, along with a new makeover show starring Carson Kressley of "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy."

OWN will flicker to life at noon on New Year's Day with Winfrey explaining in an hour-long special what her network is going to be about.

The long-estranged O'Neals attempt a reconciliation in their series.

In "The Judds," mom Naomi and daughter Wynonna (weye-NOH'-nuh) prepare for their first tour together in a decade. OWN says the Judds "continue to explore their complex relationship."

Godard a no-show, skipping honorary Oscar ceremony

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 13:41:00 +0000

LOS ANGELES – Filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard will not be coming to Hollywood to accept his honorary Academy Award.

Academy President Tom Sherak said Monday that he had gotten word from Godard that the 79-year-old director would not attend the Governor's Awards on Nov. 13, when honorary Oscars are presented.

The decision followed what the academy called a cordial, two-month exchange with the iconoclastic filmmaker, a pioneer of the French New Wave who has taken potshots at Hollywood over the years.

Sherak said Godard thanked academy officials for the lifetime-achievement award, which will be delivered to him in Switzerland after the event.

Godard's films include "Breathless," "Contempt," "Alphaville" and "Band of Outsiders."

Google admits copying computer data

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 10:24:00 +0000

Internet search engine Google has admitted copying household computer passwords and emails, it has been revealed.

The company collected the information from wireless networks when its vehicles drove around residential streets taking photographs for its worldwide Street View product, which was launched in 2008.

Anti-surveillance campaigners have described the error as "outrageous" and the privacy watchdog has launched an investigation.

It is not yet known whether UK homes were affected by the security breach.

Alan Eustace, Google's vice-president of engineering and research, said: "We want to delete this data as soon as possible, and I would like to apologise again for the fact that we collected it in the first place.

"We are mortified by what happened."

Google, which is based in California, admitted in May that it had collected information about the name and location of wireless networks not protected by passwords.

But now seven privacy regulators have analysed the data and revealed the full extent of what was copied.

Mr Eustace said: "It's clear from those inspections that while most of the data is fragmentary, in some instances entire emails and URLs [web addresses] were captured, as well as passwords.

"We want to delete this data as soon as possible."

Israeli soldiers on trial for misconduct in Gaza war

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 05:35:00 +0000

JERUSALEM — Two Israeli soldiers went on trial in a military court on Wednesday, accused of using a nine-year-old Palestinian boy to check for booby-traps during last year's war in Gaza, army radio reported.

The two, both staff sergeants in the Givati infantry brigade, are charged with acting "in breach of military norms" for forcing the child at gunpoint to open bags they believed might be rigged with explosives.

The child, identified as Majd R., said he feared for his life.

"I thought they would kill me. I became very scared and wet my pants," he said in an affidavit to Geneva-based children's group, Defence for Children International.

"There were two bags in front of me," the boy said. "I grabbed the first one as he stood one and a half metres (yards) away. I opened the bag as he pointed his weapon directly at me. I emptied the bag on the floor. It contained money and papers. I looked at him and he was laughing."

One defendant said in an army radio interview that he felt he and his comrade were being made scapegoats in the face of international criticism of Israel's offensive, in which about 1,400 Palestinians were killed, among them 400 minors.

"They were looking for someone to blame in front of the entire world," the soldier said. "Sadly it was people who really didn't do anything."

The military said that it began its investigation of the incident in June. It said the probe was unrelated to a UN fact-finding mission which was visiting the Gaza Strip at the same time.

The UN mission, headed by South African former judge Richard Goldstone, later filed a report which concluded that both the Israeli military and Palestinian militants committed war crimes during the 22-day offensive launched on December 27, 2008.

Thirteen Israelis were killed during the war, which Israel launched in response to rocket and mortar attacks from the Islamist Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.

N.Korea eases curbs on markets amid anger: Seoul

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 08:34:00 +0000

SEOUL — North Korea is relaxing curbs on markets because of mounting anger at a chaotic currency change that worsened food shortages and sparked unrest, South Korea's spy agency said Thursday.

"North Korean authorities have been easing restrictions on markets. Such signs have been detected in various places," a spokesman for the National Intelligence Service (NIS) told AFP.

"They may not have been able to keep ignoring people's demands."

The communist regime had launched a progressive crackdown on street markets in recent years in an apparent attempt to regain control over the economy.

On November 30 it also announced a shock currency revaluation that wiped out the savings of many private traders, sent inflation soaring and worsened food shortages. There have been reports of attacks on security agents.

Media reports Wednesday said a top communist party finance official, Pak Nam-Ki, has been sacked to take the blame for the chaos. The NIS has confirmed that Pak disappeared from public view recently.

The North last November decreed that existing won banknotes should be swapped for new ones at a rate of 100 to one, but restricted the amount that individuals could exchange.

Some angry citizens reportedly torched old currency in defiance of a ban and confusion over prices further restricted market activity.

NIS chief Won Sei-Hoon has been quoted as saying the revaluation sparked riots but that the government appeared now to have things under control.

The revaluation was an apparent attempt by Kim Jong-Il's regime to tighten its hold on the economy as well as to curb rising prices.

But Good Friends, an aid group with contacts in the North, said Thursday the price of rice had jumped fivefold in a week in the northeastern city of Chongjin.

"The (currency) reforms have failed, and the North can do nothing but to return to its pre-currency revaluation state where free markets were allowed," said Cho Bong-Hyun, of the IBK Economic Research Institute.

Dong-A Ilbo newspaper, quoting sources in the North, also said Thursday that restrictions on markets had eased.

"Sporadic crackdowns on markets are tapering off in intensity, with no crackdowns occurring in recent days," a source told the paper, saying trade in rice and other goods has been brisk.

"It is just a matter of time before the jangmadang (markets) return to the pre-currency revaluation state."

Daily NK, a Seoul online newspaper, quoted a contact in the North as saying the lifting of market restrictions in the northeastern provinces of Yanggang and Hamkyong had brought down the price of rice.

"It is a good thing the jangmadang are open," the source told Daily NK, citing price rises caused by crackdowns.

"The people are watching the authorities' next move, so they are still reluctant to trade."

Private markets sprang up after the state food distribution system collapsed during famines in the 1990s. In 2002 the regime introduced limited reforms which partly recognised their role.

The reforms were rolled back in 2005 and authorities imposed a series of curbs on market traders, even though the official food rationing system was largely inoperative.

US prepares new sanctions against Iran: report

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 03:24:00 +0000

WASHINGTON — The White House is crafting new financial sanctions targeting the Iranian entities and individuals most directly involved in the crackdown on dissidents, The Wall Street Journal reported Saturday.

Citing unnamed US officials, the newspaper said US Treasury Department strategists had already been focusing on Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps, which has emerged as the economic and military power behind Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

But in recent weeks, senior dissident figures from Iran -- who have been speaking at major Washington think tanks -- have made up a list of Revolutionary Guards-related companies they suggest targeting, the report said.

Names on the list include Iran's largest telecommunications provider, Telecommunication Company of Iran, which is majority-owned by the Guards, and the Iranian Aluminum Company, according to the paper.

In a signal of the White House's increased attention to Iran's political upheaval, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gathered over coffee at the State Department this week with four leading Iran scholars and mapped out the current dynamics, The Journal said.

One issue explored was how the United States should respond if Tehran suddenly expressed a desire to reach a compromise on the nuclear issue, the report said.

Clinton asked whether the United States could reach a pact without crippling the prospects for the opposition, according to the paper.

US allies are mixed in their response to the new focus, The Journal said. One senior Arab official said he told State Department officials this week they were deluded if they though Iran was close to experiencing a revolution reminiscent of the Shah's overthrow.

Israel believes only widespread sanctions will effectively upend Tehran's current political leadership, the paper noted.

"Many Israeli experts have concluded that expansive sanctions will widen the schisms between the Iranian government and its people," said The Journal quotes Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren as saying.

Senior US officials stressed this week that President Barack Obama isn't moving toward seeking a regime change as its policy for Iran, the report said.

Rather, Washington remains committed to a dual-track approach of pursuing dialogue aimed at ending Iran's nuclear program while applying increasing financial pressure if the talks fail, The Journal noted.

Japan PM heads for India

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 04:52:00 +0000

TOKYO — Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama left for India on Sunday for talks with his counterpart Manmohan Singh aimed at strengthening security and economic cooperation.

Hatoyama will also meet Rajendra Pachauri, head of a Nobel-winning UN panel of climate scientists, to discuss how to generate momentum on tackling global warming after the Copenhagen climate accord failed to reach binding targets, officials said.

"The issue of disarmament, nuclear (nonproliferation), climate change and economy...I wish to deepen discussions on various issues," Hatoyama told reporters ahead of his departure.

Japan and India have failed to reach a free trade deal after years of negotiations, bogged down over how much to reduce tariffs and whether Japan will ease its tight regulations to allow Indian generic drugs.

But fast-growing India is increasingly attractive to Japanese business as Tokyo relies on exports for economic recovery amid subdued domestic demand.

Hatoyama will meet Singh for the second time after talks in October on the sidelines of the summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Thailand.

In the October talks, Singh said India wanted to benefit from nuclear power as a clean source of energy and hoped Japan would eventually share its technological know-how.

Hatoyama replied that "Japan, the only nation to have suffered an atomic attack, would study the possibility of cooperation," the foreign ministry has said in a statement.

Japan reluctantly backed a landmark 2008 deal between India and the United States giving New Delhi access to nuclear technology after being shut out for decades.

But Japan has hesitated to pursue a deal on nuclear energy with India, a non-signatory of the nuclear nonproliferation treaty.

On climate talks, India -- like fellow developing heavyweight China -- has refused to commit to emission cuts in the new treaty until developed nations, particularly the United States, present sufficient targets of their own.

The Copenhagen pact, put together by the major emerging and developed countries earlier this month, sets a commitment to limit global warming to two degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit), but did not spell out the important stepping stones -- global emissions targets for 2020 or 2050 -- for getting there.

Nor did it identify a year by which emissions should peak, and pledges were made voluntarily and without tough compliance provisions.

Mass turnout in Uzbekistan parliament polls

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 04:50:00 +0000

TASHKENT — Voters in Uzbekistan flocked to the polls Sunday for parliamentary elections where all four competing parties are supportive of the government of President Islam Karimov, officials said.

Over 17 million voters had registered for the vote to elect the 150-seat lower house of parliament, the Oliy Majlis, in the Central Asian state with the authorities sending millions of text messages to get people out to vote.

Turnout reached 87.8 percent by the close of polling stations at 8:00 pm (1500 GMT), a spokesman for the central election commission said.

Karimov has ruled Uzbekistan for the past two decades after becoming Communist party boss in 1989 under the Soviet Union and then its first post-independence president in 1991.

The president, who earlier this month described the elections as a test of democracy, said the polls showed Uzbekistan was "moving towards the establishment of a democratic society."

"From this point of view, everything that has been done in this period, especially since 2000, has given a new impulse," he told reporters including an AFP correspondent after casting his vote.

"No one should think that I am trying to show off something that does not exist," he added. "I admit that in our parliament there is very weak control over the executive power. I think we should change this."

According to the central election commission, over 270 observers from 36 countries and missions of four international organisations are monitoring the polls.

But pan-European security group the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is deploying a smaller election assessment mission instead of a full observer mission, citing democratic shortcomimgs.

Uzbekistan's "current political spectrum does not offer the electorate a genuine choice between competing political alternatives," it said in October.

The elections come as Uzbekistan is being increasingly courted by the United States as an important ally in the Central Asian region due to its strategic transport links with conflict-torn Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, tensions have flared between Tashkent and its former Soviet master Moscow over Russian plans to install a new Russian military base in the Kyrgyz city of Osh, which is close to the Kyrgyz-Uzbek border.

In televised pre-election debates, parties mostly accused each other of usurping government achievements and programmes but also cautiously touched on corruption and unemployment issues.

"I'm going to vote against them all. None of the MPs have met with voters since the last elections" in 2004, said Rano, a housewife, 34.

Others however showed more enthusiasm. "I like the programme of this party and their ideas. There are many young people in its ranks," said Mashrab Urinov, 22, a student, voting for the dominant Liberal Democratic Party (UzLiDep).

Uzbekistan formally legitimized factional opposition in the parliament after 2004 elections to answer Western criticism that there is no real political opposition in the tightly controlled ex-Soviet republic.

International rights groups criticized Uzbekistan for stepping up pressure on rights activists ahead of the election. But the authorities reject the accusations.

The number of seats in the lower house of Uzbekistan's parliament was in 2008 increased from 120 to 150, with 15 seats automatically going to the country's Ecological Movement.

The Ecological Movement of Uzbekistan was founded in August 2008 and is composed of activists from the pro-government environmentalist groups and health sectors.

Karimov in December 2007 won a new seven-year term in presidential elections with over 88 percent of the vote.

One of the world's biggest cotton producers, with extensive gas and mineral reserves, Uzbekistan also boasts an ancient history including Samarkand, one of the world's oldest cities.

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Merkel: Mixed feelings about Copenhagen outcome

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 04:47:00 +0000

COPENHAGEN — German Chancellor Angela Merkel says she has "mixed feelings" about the outcome of the Copenhagen climate conference.

President Barack Obama says the United States, China and several other countries reached an "unprecedented breakthrough" Friday to curb greenhouse gas emissions — including a mechanism to verify compliance.

Merkel calls the talks extremely difficult and says "I must also say that I view the outcome with mixed feelings."

The deal falls short of committing any nation to emissions reductions beyond a general acknowledgment that the effort should contain global temperatures along lines agreed on by leading economies in July.

A European Union news conference to announce its reaction was postponed. An official said an agreement involving nations not included in the deal Obama announced was being negotiated.

___

Associated Press writers John Heilprin, Arthur Max, Seth Borenstein and Karl Ritter contributed to this report.

Find behind-the-scenes information, blog posts and discussion about the Copenhagen climate conference at http://www.facebook.com/theclimatepool, a Facebook page run by AP and an array of international news agencies. Follow coverage and blogging of the event on Twitter at: http://www.twitter.com/AP_ClimatePool

Swiss Muslims protest minaret ban

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 06:00:00 +0000

BERN, Switzerland — Around 700 Swiss Muslims peacefully protested against their country's minaret ban on Saturday, with speakers denouncing what they called a hate campaign against Islam.

The protest in the capital, Bern, was not supported by the country's main Muslim organizations.

It came two weeks after Swiss voters decided to ban the construction of minarets, drawing wide criticism from Muslim and other European nations.

Nicolas Blancho, who organized Saturday's protest, said he did not believe that the country's voters hate Islam but that they had been scared by propaganda from right-wing parties.

The main guest speaker, a controversial Muslim preacher, was absent because Swiss authorities refused him entry, saying he poses a public security risk.

Pierre Vogel, a German former professional boxer who converted to Islam, is known for his conservative positions. Vogel was turned back as he tried to cross into Switzerland by car from Germany late Friday, said frontier corps spokesman Markus Zumbach.

US Marines press southern Afghan offensive

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 04:41:00 +0000

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — US, British and Afghan troops pushed deeper into Taliban villages in the first major offensive since President Barack Obama unveiled a new war strategy, an official said Saturday.

More than 1,000 forces are sweeping through part of the southern province of Helmand to oust the Taliban from one of the key battlegrounds in Afghanistan, allow development to begin and civilians to return to deserted villages.

"The operation in Now Zad district is ongoing," southern Afghan military corp commander General Shair Mohammad Zazai told AFP.

"We have cleared some villages but there have not been any casualties on our side or to the enemy today. So far four militants have been killed as part the the operation," Zazai added.

The US military was not immediately reachable for comment.

Around 900 US Marines, British troops and 150 Afghan forces launched Operation Cobra's Anger in Now Zad on Friday as NATO nations pledged at least 7,000 troops to back the new US-led drive against the Taliban and Al-Qaeda

Now Zad, one of the most troubled districts in Helmand and heavily mined by the Taliban, has been empty due to years of fighting, military commanders say.

The province produces about 50 percent of the world's opium. Its largely unguarded southern border with Pakistan is both a route for the illicit drug trade and for a steady supply of Taliban recruits and supplies.

The operation is smaller than that launched in July by 4,000 US Marines in Helmand, where British troops have struggled for years to rein in an increasingly virulent Taliban insurgency.

Under Obama's troop build-up, the Marine Corps was expected to deploy up to 9,000 forces in Helmand, Marine spokesman Lieutenant Josh Diddams told AFP.

That would double the American military presence in the province.

The United States has been stepping up appeals for further allied troop reinforcements since President Barack Obama announced Tuesday that he was sending 30,000 more US troops to Afghanistan over the coming months.

Pakistan's president told to give up powers

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 04:50:00 +0000

ISLAMABAD — Pakistan's main opposition party Sunday demanded the president give up the sweeping powers he inherited from his predecessor, setting the stage for political turmoil just as the Obama administration wants the country to focus on fighting the Taliban.

President Asif Ali Zardari's grip on power is increasingly under threat from opposition lawmakers and elements within the powerful military who want him to resign or divest powers to the prime minister and take on a ceremonial role. Opinion polls show him to be desperately unpopular 15 months into a five-year term.

His presidency suffered another blow Saturday when an amnesty protecting him, several key allies and thousands of other officials from graft prosecution expired. While he enjoys immunity from prosecution as president, opponents could now go to the Supreme Court to challenge his eligibility for office.

Adding to a sense of a government under siege, Taliban militants have unleashed a surge of suicide bombings in recent weeks in response to an army offensive into one of their strongholds close to the Afghan border, killing hundreds of people.

The nuclear-armed country's Western backers had hoped Zardari and the civilian government he leads would usher in political stability after the chaos that marked the end of the nine-year tenure of his predecessor, military ruler Gen. Pervez Musharraf. Zardari took the presidency months after his wife, former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, was killed in a suicide bombing at the end of 2007.

A major factor in his unpopularity are the many presidential powers he took from Musharraf, who staged a 1999 military coup and resigned last year amid nationwide protests. Among the most important are the authority to fire an elected government and appoint top military chiefs.

On Friday, Zardari transferred another Musharraf-era power — the command of the country's nuclear arsenal — to Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani. The move, which had no impact on nuclear security, was seen as an attempt to allay some of his critics within the military by giving up some authority.

Shahbaz Sharif, the brother of main opposition leader Nawaz Sharif and chief minister of Pakistan's largest province, Punjab, said Zardari should act to now to transfer the other powers to the prime minister, noting that the president had already promised to do so.

"The nation would appreciate this act," Sharif told reporters Sunday.

Late Sunday, Zardari said he would make an announcement "soon" on changes to the constitution needed to divest those powers, but the statement gave no specifics. He already promised at least twice give up some of his authority to the prime minister since taking office.

He also took a swipe at his critics, saying the democratically elected government "was being subjected to a vicious campaign to tarnish its image by the remnants of dictatorship."

The political upheaval comes as President Barack Obama's administration is expected to announce this week a new strategy for defeating the Taliban in neighboring Afghanistan and on Pakistan's northwestern border. To have much hope of success, the U.S needs a stable Pakistani government committed to fighting militants blamed for attacks in both countries.

Pakistan's original constitution envisages a parliamentary style of government in which a popularly elected prime minister is the chief executive and the president is a ceremonial head of state. But Musharraf, who was widely despised when he stood down, accumulated powers to stay in office.

Shabaz Sharif did not repeat a remark by one opposition lawmaker on Saturday calling on Zardari to resign, neither did he call for anti-government street rallies, perhaps wary of pushing the country into chaos and paving the way for more military rule.

Some analysts have said they believe opposition leader Nawaz Sharif — whom opinion polls show to be the most popular politician in the country by far — would prefer to wait for national elections that he is seen likely as winning than join any movement to push Zardari out. Such a drive would likely require the support of the army, which has had uneasy relations with Sharif in the past.

That reluctance could help Zardari complete his term so long as he takes on a ceremonial role, analysts say, especially given that impeaching him looks all but impossible because the party he heads is the largest in parliament.

Zardari, 54, has long been haunted by corruption allegations dating back to governments led by his late wife, Bhutto.

He denies any wrongdoing. He spent several years in prison under previous administrations in connection with the allegations which he says were politically motivated.

Since taking office, the president has found himself locked in a power struggle with the powerful military, which sees defense policy and relations with India and Afghanistan as its responsibility despite being nominally under civilian control.

Military chiefs have objected to his friendly overtures toward India and his acceptance of a multibillion dollar U.S. aid bill that came with conditions they feared imposed controls over the army.

Associated Press writer Asif Shahzad contributed to this report.

Grand Canyon to change 'unfair' permit system

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 04:40:00 +0000

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — Getting one of the roughly 11,500 permits granted each year to backpack overnight in the Grand Canyon has become so competitive and "unfair" that managers at the national park have decided to change the system.

Now those who want the coveted permits either show up in person or try their luck with mail or fax machines on the day the permits become available.

Those who go in person line up at the backcountry office starting early in the morning. Those who try to fax often are in for hours of constantly redialing because of the demand.

October and May are the most popular months for those seeking permits to camp most places below the rim, with nearly one of every two people denied.

National Park Service administrators at the Grand Canyon have decided the system is unfair because it favors those who live near the massive gorge or have the time and resources to fly there just to get a permit.

The agency is proposing to end the current system in February, making everyone in the world compete for advanced reservations by fax and mail only. Eventually the park also plans to move to an online reservation system.

Also, the Park Service is not allowing any more individuals to establish commercial backpacking businesses until the agency sorts out a larger plan for the backcountry.

"We're trying to provide better equity between locals and international visitors," said Barclay Trimble, a deputy superintendent.

Some of the 26 commercial outfitters who take customers on paid, guided backpacking trips in the canyon are unhappy with the proposal.

"It's going to cost some people some jobs. There's no doubt about it," said Blaine Stuart, manager of Angel's Gate Tours.

He and others say the park's move will cost them the ability to guarantee faraway customers their choice destinations far in advance, meaning they will lose business and sometimes be unable to obtain permits at all.

Wayne Ranney, who guides some trips commercially and backpacks the canyon in his free time, said he believes locals should have the best chance of hiking the canyon.

"To think of somebody from Cape Town, South Africa, having just as equal a chance as someone from Arizona or the United States — I know it sounds weird, but I don't think that's fair," he said.

Trimble said he doesn't think a new system will harm commercial guides.

Information from: Arizona Daily Sun, http://www.azdailysun.com/

Critics say UN food summit wasteful, ineffective

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 05:14:00 +0000

ROME — Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe, blamed for plunging his people into starvation, used his platform as Tuesday's opening speaker at the U.N. anti-hunger summit to decry what he called his neocolonialist foes.

Another longtime African strongman, Moammar Gadhafi, held another nightly soiree at a villa in the Italian capital in the company of hundreds of young ladies selected by a "hostess" agency.

Tunisia's first lady and her bodyguards blocked traffic on roads leading to Via Condotti, a glamorous street of designer boutiques near the Spanish Steps. Rome daily Il Messaggero ran a photo of Leila Zine in front of luxury jewelry store Bulgari.

The images bolstered criticism that the summit called by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization is long on rhetoric and extravagance and short on solutions for the world's 1 billion hungry.

The meeting was branded a failure within a couple of hours of its start after the 192 participating countries unanimously rebuffed the United Nations' appeal for commitments of billions of dollars in yearly aid to develop agriculture in poor nations.

None of the leaders of the Group of Eight leading industrialized nations attended except for Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi.

"There is a clear disconnect between what governments are saying, at least the rich governments, and what in fact they are doing," said Flavio Valente, an activist participating in a forum of NGOs held in parallel with the summit.

The G-8 meeting in L'Aquila, Italy, essentially set the agenda for this latest summit by endorsing a strategy shift in fighting hunger: helping farmers in poor country to produce enough food to feed their own people, moving away from decades-long reliance on handouts.

While the G-8 leaders in July approved $20 billion in agricultural development aid in a three-year package, the countries at this U.N. summit rejected FAO's call to commit themselves to earmark 17 percent of their foreign aid budgets for agricultural development, which U.N. officials estimated would cost $44 billion yearly.

Ertharin Cousin, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. agencies in Rome, said the summit wanted to establish the principle that donors should listen to the needs of each country and not decide aid policies on their own.

FAO director-general Jacques Diouf expressed "regret" and frustration that the summit rejected his call to members to fund the new shift in agricultural development policy.

About an hour after the decision, Pope Benedict XVI delivered a speech to the summit condemning opulence and waste in a world where the numbers of hungry have multiplied despite international efforts to combat chronic hunger.

Some of the assembly-room chairs were empty when Mugabe opened Tuesday's proceedings by lashing out at the West and defending land reforms blamed for plunging his people into starvation. He described the policy, which led to thousands of white-owned commercial farms being violently seized in 2000, as a quest for "equity and justice."

He blamed the subsequent meltdown of Zimbabwe's economy on "hostile interventions" by "neocolonialist enemies" that have imposed sanctions on his regime.

Western countries have slapped travel bans and asset freezes on Mugabe and his top aides. The ban does not apply to United Nations summits and Mugabe has attended several Food and Agriculture Organization meetings in the last years.

While last year's FAO summit on soaring food prices rang out with denunciations of Mugabe's showing up at forums aimed at slashing hunger, the Zimbabwe president's speech on Tuesday was widely greeted with silence.

Italian news reports said Mugabe arrived on a private plane with a delegation of more than 60 people — most of them on the sanctions list and taking advantage of the U.N. summit to visit Europe.

Mugabe "has gallivanted around the world attending U.N. conferences and of course enjoying the food there when a lot of his people here are scratching the bottom of the barrel," said John Makumbe, a political scientist at the University of Zimbabwe. "It is a sanctions-busting maneuver. It's a shopping trip, taking advantage of the U.N. to actually get into Europe."

AP reporter Michelle Faul contributed to this report from Johannesburg.

Porter pilot passes out briefly

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 04:46:00 +0000

A Porter Airlines plane was forced to turn around Saturday morning after leaving Halifax for St. John's.

The pilot briefly lost consciousness shortly after the 10:30 a.m. takeoff, according to Porter Airlines president Robert Deluce.

"At 11:16 this morning, our control tower received a call from Porter flight number 243 that the pilot required medical attention," said Ashley Barnes, spokeswoman for the Halifax International Airport Authority.

It's unclear what was causing his condition, she said. "We just don't know at this point. It's still being investigated."

The co-pilot took over the plane before the pilot passed out, and it landed safely at the Halifax airport around 11:45 a.m.

The pilot managed to walk off the plane and into a waiting ambulance on the runway, Barnes said. He was taken to hospital for assessment.

Barnes could not say how many passengers were on the plane, but it seats 70 people.

All of the passengers remained on the plane while a replacement crew was found to resume the flight, which got underway again at about 2:30 p.m.

The 39-year-old pilot has 7,000 hours of flying experience, Porter's president said.

Deluce said his thoughts are with the pilot's family and friends. He also apologized to the flight's passengers for the delay.

Porter Airlines introduced St. John's as its newest destination on Oct. 5, as part of expanded service in Atlantic Canada.

It offers four daily round-trip flights between St. John's and Halifax, with service continuing onward to Ottawa and Toronto from Halifax.

Porter operates a fleet of 70-seat Bombardier Q400 turboprop aircraft.

Fort Hood suspect charged with 13 counts of murder

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 04:41:00 +0000

FORT HOOD, Texas — An Army psychiatrist was charged with 13 counts of premeditated murder in the Fort Hood massacre as he lay in a hospital bed Thursday, while President Barack Obama ordered a review to determine if the government fumbled warning signs of the man's contacts with a radical Islamic cleric.

Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan could face the death penalty if convicted.

Army officials said they believe Hasan acted alone when he jumped on a table with two handguns last week, shouted "Allahu akbar" and opened fire. The dead included at least three other mental health professionals; 29 were injured.

Additional charges were possible, said Chris Grey, spokesman for the Army Criminal Investigation Command. It had not been decided whether to charge Hasan with the death of the unborn child of a pregnant soldier who died, officials told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak about the case publicly.

Meanwhile, Obama ordered a review of all intelligence related to Hasan to determine whether it was properly shared and acted upon within the government. John Brennan, assistant to the president for homeland security and counterterrorism, will oversee the review. The first results are due Nov. 30. Obama also ordered the preservation of the intelligence.

Members of Congress are pressing for a full investigation into why Hasan was not detected and stopped. A Senate hearing on Hasan is scheduled for next week.

Rep. Peter Hoekstra, the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, and others have called for a full examination of what agencies knew about Hasan's contacts with a radical imam and others of concern to the U.S., and what they did with the information. Hoekstra confirmed this week that the U.S. government knew of about 10 to 20 e-mails between Hasan and a radical imam, beginning in December 2008.

A joint terrorism task force overseen by the FBI learned late last year of Hasan's repeated contact with a radical Muslim cleric who encouraged Muslims to kill U.S. troops in Iraq. The FBI said the task force did not refer early information about Hasan to superiors because it concluded he wasn't linked to terrorism.

Hasan was charged in the hospital without his lawyers present, said John Galligan, his civilian attorney.

"What I find disturbing is that my client is in ICU, and he's 150 miles south of his defense counsel, and he's being served with the charges," he told The Associated Press. "Given his status as a patient, I'm troubled by this procedure and that I'm not there. I'm in the dark, and that shouldn't be the case. I am mad."

Months before the shootings, doctors and staff overseeing Hasan's training reported viewing him at times as belligerent, defensive and argumentative in his frequent discussions of his Muslim faith, according to a military official familiar with several group discussions about Hasan. The official was not authorized to speak publicly about the meetings and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Hasan was characterized as a mediocre student and lazy worker, which concerned the doctors and staff at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, a military medical school in Bethesda, Md., the official said.

Even outside the military, Hasan's behavior drew attention. Golam Akhter, a civil engineer from Bethesda, Md., said Thursday that he had spoken with Hasan about 10 times at the Muslim Community Center in Silver Spring before Hasan left for Texas last summer.

"He used to not believe that 9/11 was solely the work of Middle East people," Akhter said. "His main thing was, 'America is killing Muslims in the Middle East.' That made him very, very upset."

Akhter said he sensed that Hasan was "a troubled man" and feels guilty for not alerting others.

"I tried to convince him to try to be a moderate Muslim," Akhter said.

Hasan repeatedly referred to his strong religious views in discussions with classmates at Walter Reed, his superiors and even in his research work, the military official said. His behavior, while at times perceived as intense and combative, was not unlike the zeal of others with strong religious views.

But some doctors and staff were concerned that their unfamiliarity with the Muslim faith would lead them to unfairly single out Hasan's behavior, the official said.

Some questioned Hasan's sympathies as an Army psychiatrist, whether he would be more aligned with Muslims fighting U.S. troops. There also was some concern about whether he should continue to serve in the military, the official said.

But they saw no signs of mental problems, no risk factors that would predict violent behavior. And the group discussed other factors that suggested Hasan would continue to thrive in the military, factors that mitigated their concerns, the official said.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday he was appalled at news leaks about the investigation into last week's deadly shootings at Fort Hood.

"Frankly if I found out with high confidence anybody who's leaking on the Department of Defense, who that was, that would probably be a career-ender," he told reporters traveling with him to Oshkosh, Wis. "Everybody ought to shut up."

Baldor reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Brett J. Blackledge, Richard Lardner, Devlin Barrett, Pauline Jelinek, Eileen Sullivan and Pamela Hess in Washington; David Dishneau in Hagerstown, Md., and Justin Pritchard in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

Vancouver Mountie faces second impaired driving charge in two months

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 05:19:00 +0000

VANCOUVER, B.C. — A Mountie in Vancouver is facing his second impaired driving charge in two months.

Vancouver police say they pulled the off-duty officer over Saturday morning and breath samples showed he was over the legal limit for blood alcohol.

The 55-year-old officer, whose name has not been released, already had a court date from a previous impaired driving charge and was prohibited from driving for 90 days.

He's now been charged with driving while prohibited, impaired driving and driving with a blood alcohol level over the legal limit.

He is the latest in a number of Metro Vancouver police officers who have faced impaired driving charges in the last two years, including a Mountie charged in a Delta, B.C., crash that killed a 21-year-old motorcyclist in October 2008.

The officer in that case, Cpl. Benjamin Monty Robertson, was the one who gave the order to use a Taser on Robert Dziekanski before the Polish man died at Vancouver airport in October 2007.

Palestinian shock: President says he wants to quit

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 04:31:00 +0000

RAMALLAH, West Bank — Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas pushed Mideast peace prospects into unknown territory Thursday, announcing he doesn't want another term and opening the way to a succession battle that could play into the hands of his rival, the militant Hamas.

But it also could boost the prospects of a popular candidate who reportedly wants to run for the presidency from his Israeli prison cell.

Abbas blamed his decision on the stalemate in peace talks, but the wording of his televised speech raised speculation that it was not final and could be a tactic for pushing Israel and the U.S. toward a larger compromise.

He said only that it was "desire not to run in the upcoming elections" which are set for January but could be delayed, extending his current term indefinitely.

Abbas took over after the death of Yasser Arafat in 2004, and Western leaders have come to see him as a symbol of moderation. Although criticized as indecisive and associated with the corruption-tainted old guard of his Fatah party, he has given free rein to his prime minister, Salam Fayyad, to reform the West Bank's economy and boost its police, which has resulted in a limited economic upturn.

But the stalemate with Israel overshadows all, and Fatah activists say the party is in a panic, fearing a fragmented slate of candidates that would hand victory to Hamas.

Late last month, Abbas told U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton that he would not run, but recanted after President Barack Obama called him and expressed his commitment to Mideast peacemaking, Abbas' aides said. A senior Palestinian official told The Associated Press that Abbas informed other Fatah leaders of his latest decision several days ago but didn't tell Obama.

Insiders say he was disheartened by Washington's refusal to press Israel harder for a freeze on West Bank settlement construction, and that this week's visit by Clinton, when she appeared to side with Israel over the settlement issue, was the last straw.

Abbas has insisted that he won't resume negotiations until Israel stops all construction.

If he were to concede on that issue, Fatah could lose the election. If that happened, the international community would have no one to deal with but Hamas, which denies Israel's right to exist and rejects the two-state solution endorsed by Fatah.

The most attractive candidate to replace 74-year-old Abbas would likely be Marwan Barghouti, 49, who was jailed for life in 2002 for his involvement in fatal Palestinian attacks.

Activists say Barghouti, the top West Bank Fatah official until his arrest, is determined to run from prison. The charismatic Palestinian was once a favorite of Israeli peace activists but turned increasingly militant. His refusal to recognize the Israeli court's right to try him, and his defiant gestures and smiles for the cameras, heightened his popularity among Palestinians.

He ran for president from his cell in 2004 but withdrew under pressure from Fatah leaders. This time, associates say, he is determined to stay in the contest.

Barghouti's incarceration could work both for and against him. It might be difficult for him to campaign from a jail cell, but his nomination could force his release. Also, imprisonment has shielded him from blame for the absence of a peace accord with Israel, a shattered West Bank economy and Hamas in power in Gaza.

Yossi Sarid, an Israeli former lawmaker identified with the peace movement, said Israel and the U.S. humiliated Abbas, leading to his decision. "This means that we are probably entering a terrible period where the extremists will run the show," Sarid said.

In case Abbas steps down, Fatah insiders are promoting Nasser Al-Kidwa, 50, as a candidate. He has served as the Palestinian representative at the U.N., is not linked with the corruption that bedevils the party, and has the additional benefit of being Arafat's nephew.

Another potential candidate is Mohammed Dahlan, 48, a one-time Fatah strongman in Gaza. He was recently elected to the top Fatah policy-making body, but he is blamed by many for losing Gaza to Hamas, and is tainted by allegations of corruption.

Hamas spokesman Taher Nunu said he didn't believe Abbas really meant to step down. "His speech wasn't for the Palestinians alone," he said. "It was for the United States and the international community, so they will give him more support in the elections."

After Abbas' speech, Clinton praised his leadership in working toward the creation of a Palestinian state next to Israel.

Speaking to reporters in Washington, she ignored a question about whether she would urge Abbas to stay on and saying only that she would go on working with him to advance peace.

___

Additional reporting by Mohammed Daraghmeh in Ramallah, Diaa Hadid and Ian Deitch in Jerusalem, Rizek Abdel Jawad in Gaza City, Gaza Strip, and Matthew Lee in Washington.

(This version CORRECTS A new approach. corrects style on 'Nasser Al-Kidwa' in 16th graf.)

Police: 3 ND college students found dead in pond

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 04:32:00 +0000

DICKINSON, N.D. — Three missing North Dakota college softball players were found dead Tuesday in a Jeep pulled from a 12-foot deep farm pond, and police said they believed the women were inside the vehicle when they made two desperate calls to friends for help.

Police Lt. Rod Banyai said officers are investigating the cause of the deaths and autopsies are planned. He said he believes the women were on a stargazing trip in the Jeep when they called for help, but he did not know whether it already was under water when the calls were made.

"At this time, foul play is not suspected," Banyai said Tuesday night. Investigators are working to determine whether the vehicle had any defects or whether alcohol was involved, he said.

Authorities had been searching since late Sunday night for Kyrstin Gemar, 22, of San Diego; Afton Williamson, 20, of Lake Elsinore, Calif.; and Ashley Neufeld, 21, of Brandon, Manitoba.

The Dickinson State University students were believed to be in the white 1997 Jeep Cherokee with California plates when two of their friends received telephone calls before the lines went dead. Police described the first as a "very scratchy" call for help in which one of the women said they were near a lake and water.

Banyai said the pond where the women were found is a couple miles off a road on a farm northwest of Dickinson, a city of 16,000 people about 100 miles west of Bismarck and 60 miles east of the Montana state line.

He said "pings" — signals sent from a cell phone to a provider tower, or vice versa — from the women's phone calls helped narrow the search area. Searchers on foot found vehicle tracks leading into the pond Tuesday afternoon.

"After that was located, the plane flew over the top and it could see that there was a white object in the water," Banyai said. The submerged vehicle was pulled from the pond about two hours later.

Kyrstin Gemar's parents, Lenny and Claire, said during an earlier news conference at police headquarters, before the bodies were found, that they had talked to their daughter late Saturday night. Lenny Gemar said it was not uncommon for his daughter and her friends to go stargazing on the spur of the moment.

The women's families were not at the news conference where police announced the deaths.

Students at Dickinson State, where the women were stars on the school's softball team, led a prayer service Monday night that drew more than 300 people. Another service was scheduled at the 2,700-student school for Tuesday night.

"We are very deeply saddened by this turn of events and we are going to mobilize all of our resources to work with the families and the students on campus," Dickinson State spokeswoman Constance Walter said. "They will be greatly missed by their teammates and others."

The college listed Gemar as a senior business major who played third base on the softball team. Neufeld was a senior outfielder working on a degree in psychology, and Williamson, a junior, was a pitcher majoring in psychology with a minor in coaching.

Gov. John Hoeven issued a statement extending sympathy to the families and appreciation to those who participated in the search, "which ended in a way we all prayed it wouldn't."

Britons against Blair, Miliband getting top EU jobs: poll

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 03:38:00 +0000

LONDON — Most Britons are opposed to ex-prime minister Tony Blair or Foreign Secretary David Miliband taking any of the top new EU jobs created by the Lisbon Treaty, an opinion poll out Sunday said.

Some 53 percent of voters did not want Blair to become EU president compared to 36 percent who did. A total of 48 percent did not back Miliband for the EU's top foreign policy job, compared to 29 percent supporting him.

The Sunday Telegraph/ICM poll surveyed 1,007 adults by telephone on October 28 and 29.

The two new posts are being created under the EU's Lisbon Treaty, which only the Czech Republic still has to ratify and is expected to do so soon.

Following negotiations at an EU summit Thursday and Friday, it now seems unlikely Blair will get the top job, although Miliband is still thought to be in the running for the foreign affairs post.

Miliband, however, insists he is not a candidate for the role.

A YouGov survey for The Daily Telegraph on Friday found just 31 percent of people wanted to see Blair -- who led Britain from 1997 to 2007 and took the country into the Iraq war -- take on the new job of president of the European Council.

Feds investigating Detroit Islamic group's motives

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 02:27:00 +0000

DETROIT — The FBI is trying to determine whether members of a radical Detroit-area Islamic group were homegrown jihadists or merely a "bunch of thugs with bluster," a congressman said Thursday. One thing is certain: They are not mainstream Muslims, the agency said.

Luqman Ameen Abdullah skimmed 20 percent of the profit off the furs, electronics and other items his followers fenced, and he preached that it was OK for them to steal as long as they prayed, FBI agent Gary Leone wrote in an affidavit filed with a criminal complaint against 11 group members.

Abdullah, 53, was killed Wednesday in a shootout with agents after the FBI raided a suburban warehouse the group used. Eight members, including Abdullah's son, have been arrested and authorities were seeking the public's help in capturing the other two. The group members are charged with various federal crimes, chiefly conspiracy to sell stolen goods.

The FBI says Abdullah, also known as Christopher Thomas, was an imam, or prayer leader, of a local faction of Ummah, a group that seeks to establish an Islamic state within the U.S. Authorities say Abdullah preached hate for the government and encouraged his followers to commit violence, especially against police and federal agents.

According to the affidavit, Abdullah told a confidential FBI source that if the government messed with him, "it will be straight up war."

Andrew Arena, the head of the FBI's Detroit office, stressed Thursday that Abdullah's mosque, Masjid Al-Haqq, was in no way representative of the Detroit area's large Muslim community.

"This is a very hybrid radical ideology. I don't know that I'd call it a religion," Arena said.

Among Arab-Americans, there's a fear "this is going to be portrayed as another al-Qaida sleeper cell in the United States and this is going to bring unwanted attention. ... That's certainly not the way we feel," Arena said.

The government has not charged Abdullah's followers with terrorism-related charges, and Arena and U.S. Attorney Terrence Berg declined to comment about whether they planned to do so. A criminal complaint is a temporary charge that typically is followed by an indictment.

Berg said Abdullah's group's anti-government beliefs motivated them to commit crimes, but he declined to elaborate.

Rep. Peter Hoekstra of Michigan, the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, said he talked to FBI Director Robert Mueller and was told the agency was trying to determine if the men were a "bunch of thugs with bluster" or possible homegrown jihadists.

Ummah is a movement with no apparent central religious authority, so it's difficult to say what the group's factions teach in their mosques.

In Warren, a Detroit suburb, local imams met privately with Arena and Berg to discuss the arrests. They were joined by Imam Mutawaf Shaheed of Cleveland, who identified himself as a representative of Ummah. He said the mission is to "spread charity, good faith and understanding about Islam" — not overthrow the government.

The FBI said at least five of the 11 people charged by the government have felony convictions, including Abdullah, who was convicted of assault and carrying a concealed weapon in Detroit in 1981.

Gary Porter, 59, was arrested Wednesday at A.L. Holmes Elementary School in Detroit, where he teaches gym. He's charged with conspiracy and being an ex-convict in possession of guns or ammunition.

Two suspects were still at large: Yassir Ali Khan, 30, of Warren and Ontario, and Mohammad Philistine, 33, of Ontario.

Abdullah's mosque is at a two-family flat next to a boarded-up house in Detroit. His group was evicted from another location this year because of nonpayment of property taxes.

Jamil Ibm Rafael, 60, identified himself as the mosque's lone security officer. He said the FBI's portrayal of Abdullah was "fabricated," but he acknowledged that members often speak out against the government.

"They are making up stuff. It's a war against Islam," Rafael said of authorities.

Arena said a search of a Detroit duplex where Abdullah lived turned up weapons, including an M-16 assault rifle.

"The person I knew and the person who lives here is not the person ... that is on TV with all the allegations," said Joseph Taylor, 44, who lived above Abdullah for about 10 years.

The FBI penetrated his group with the help of confidential informants who recorded conversations with Abdullah. A year ago, the FBI hatched an undercover operation in which Abdullah and others believed they were selling stolen goods worth more than $5,000.

The FBI said Abdullah received at least 20 percent, telling allies that it's the way "dirty money is purified."

Associated Press writers David Runk, Corey Williams and Jeff Karoub contributed to this story.

South Korea's economy accelerates to growth of 2.9 per cent in third quarter

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 04:36:00 +0000

SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea's economy grew at its fastest pace in over six years in the third quarter amid strength in manufacturing and capital spending, the central bank said Monday, as Asian countries lead the global recovery.

Gross domestic product grew 2.9 per cent in the three months ended Sept. 30 compared with the previous quarter when it expanded 2.6 per cent, the Bank of Korea announced. The figure is preliminary and subject to revision.

That marked the strongest growth since an expansion of 3.8 per cent in the first quarter of 2002, according to bank data.

South Korea has been recovering from its worst downturn since the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis as a weaker currency and government stimulus programs overseas boost exports. Record low interest rates and government spending at home have also helped stimulate Asia's fourth-largest economy.

The unemployment rate fell in September to a nine-month low of 3.4 per cent, consumer and business sentiment have risen and the current account - South Korea's broadest measure of trade - is firmly back in surplus after a deficit last year for the first time since 1997. Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Motors Corp., both major exporters, reported record quarterly net profit in the third quarter as sales rose.

The country's latest GDP figure marks the third straight three-month period that the economy has grown. It eked out a 0.1 per cent expansion in the first quarter after having contracted 5.1 per cent in the final three months of 2008.

The central bank also said Monday that South Korea grew in the third quarter compared with the same period last year, expanding 0.6 per cent. That snapped three straight quarters of year-on-year contraction.

Manufacturing expanded 8.7 per cent in the third quarter, while capital spending grew 8.9 per cent.

The latest growth figures also add to evidence that Asian countries are leading a recovery in the world economy after it slumped severely in the aftermath of the global financial meltdown last year.

China's economy, the world's third largest, grew 8.9 per cent in the third quarter from a year earlier, accelerating from an expansion of 7.9 per cent in the second. Singapore's economy grew an annualized 14.9 per cent in the third quarter, expanding for a second straight three-month period.

Japan, the world's second-largest economy, grew at an annual pace of 2.3 per cent in the second quarter, following a yearlong contraction. Japan has yet to release figures for the third quarter.

Asia's performance contrasts with that of other major economies, some of which remain mired in recession. The German and French economies each grew a modest 0.3 per cent in the second quarter. They have yet to release results for the third.

Britain's economy, however, shrank 0.4 per cent in the third quarter, confounding expectations of growth.

The United States shrank 0.7 per cent in the second quarter, though is expected to have expanded in the third after four straight quarters of decline.

Given South Korea's recovery, economists have been closely watching the Bank of Korea for signs it may begin to raise its key interest rate, which has been kept at a record low 2 per cent for an eight months. At it most recent meeting this month, the bank largely doused speculation a rise could come this year. Economists expect it to lift borrowing costs gradually beginning early next year.

More international energy players likely to make acquisitions in Canada

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 03:53:00 +0000

CALGARY — Canada is one of the few regions left in the world that has a multitude of bite-sized firms exploiting its vast oil and gas resources, making it fertile ground for reserve-hungry global players to launch acquisitions.

"I think that Canada is an attractive area because there are lots of relatively small independent companies in Canada, which are easier to acquire than perhaps other regions of the world, where big players are exploiting oil," said Tom Grieder, Asia Pacific analyst with IHS Global Insight in London.

Most recently, state-owned Korea National Oil Corp. agreed this week to buy Calgary-based Harvest Energy Trust (TSX:HTE) for $4.1-billion in cash and debt.

KNOC's stated mission has been to grow into one of the globe's top 50 global energy companies with production of 300,000 billion barrels of oil equivalent per day and reserves of two billion barrels.

It has said it wants to acquire two companies by the end of the year, and between five and 10 more over the longer term.

The Harvest acquisition - among its largest to date - gets KNOC firm access to conventional oil assets in Western Canada, holdings in the oilsands and some natural gas production. It already has a small presence in the oilsands, which has yet to be developed.

KNOC also takes on Harvest's 115,000-barrel a day refinery in Come by Chance, N.L, which has been beset by operational troubles and needs a $2-billion revamp.

"It was quite interesting that KNOC went for Harvest Energy. I think it's a slightly perhaps a more risky acquisition than KNOC's used to," said Gieder, referring to Harvest's heavy debt load and troubles at the Newfoundland refinery.

In June, KNOC was beat out by China's Sinopec in its quest to buy Swiss-based and Toronto-listed Addax Petroleum Corp. (TSX:AXC), which has assets in Iraq and Africa.

Perhaps a fear that its Chinese counterpart might scoop up another takeover target from under it made KNOC more willing to take on Harvest's debt.

"Now KNOC's really looking to go out there and get something, so it's more prepared to take risks," Gieder said.

China made a major move in Canada's oilsands just under two months ago through Petro-China's $1.9-billion investment in two of privately-held Athabasca Oil Sands Corp.'s projects.

Abu Dhabi's state-owned energy firm TAQA has made a number of Canadian acquisitions, most notably its $5-billion purchase of PrimeWest Energy Trust in late 2007.

Gieder said any of China's three major state-owned firms - Petro China, Sinopec or China National Offshore Oil Co. - are looking abroad to grow their oil reserves.

The same goes for India's Oil and Natural Gas Corp., which has hinted at, but to date has not acted on, a desire to invest in Canada's oilsands.

Norway's StatoilHydro, France's Total SA and the Netherlands' Royal Dutch Shell PLC are already big players in Canada's energy scene.

A handful of medium to small-sized Canadian companies are frequently the subject of takeover speculation, including oilsands players Nexen Inc. (TSX:NXY) and Opti Canada Inc. (TSX:OPC), as well as Talisman Energy Inc. (TSX:TLM), which is a big player in unconventional gas in North America.

There has also been talk of either of the two companies resulting from EnCana Corp.'s (TSX:ECA) breakup becoming potential takeover targets.

State-owned global energy players would likely be most attracted to a companies with a clear and focused story to tell, said Les Stelmach, co-manager of Bissett Income Fund in Calgary.

"I think some of the ones that would look attractive would be ones with clearly specific assets, rather than a real scattering of properties that don't really stand out," he said.

Stelmach cited Crescent Point Resources Ltd. (TSX:CPE), which is primarily focused on Saskatchewan's Bakken oil formation, and ARC Energy Trust (TSX:ARX), which has big holdings in the Montney natural gas play in northeastern British Columbia, as examples.

Harvest is a clear exception, since it has a wide array of upstream assets in addition to a refinery in Newfoundland, whose margins have been less than stellar.

But that might be part of the Korean's firm strategy if it's looking to link its production assets with processing and refining operations.

In a note to clients, Thomas Weisel Partners analyst Kurt Molnar pointed out that Korea Gas Corp. recently signed a memorandum of understanding with a company building a liquefied natural gas export facility off the British Columbia Coast.

Under that deal, KOGAS would buy 20 years of gas from the Kitimat LNG project, expected to come on stream in 2013.

"It does not take much imagination to believe that KOGAS might be interested in vertical integration (i.e. owning production in Canada in addition to export supply from Kitimat) if KNOC believed that vertical integration was important to its oil investment in Canada," Molnar wrote.

B.C. government tables ban on cell phones, text-messaging while at the wheel

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 03:52:00 +0000

VICTORIA, B.C. — The B.C. government introduced legislation Wednesday that bans drivers from chatting, emailing and texting on cellphones while they're behind the wheel.

Six other provinces already have similar legislation in place, but British Columbia now believes it has introduced the most comprehensive legislation in the country banning cellphone use while driving, said Solicitor General Kash Heed.

"When you take the overall package that we've assembled here in this piece of legislation it makes us the most comprehensive, in our opinion," Heed told reporters after introducing the legislation.

Heed said the B.C. legislation addresses text-messaging and emailing, as well as cellphone use, and is more strict for new drivers.

If passed, the changes to the Motor Vehicle Act will take effect on Jan. 1, 2010. At that point, only hands-free cellphones and devices that require one touch to activate will be permitted.

Drivers caught texting or emailing face a $167 fine and will also receive three penalty points on their driving record.

New drivers in the province's graduated licensing program are not permitted to use hands-free phones and will receive the $167 fine and three penalty points for any violation of the amended legislation.

The Opposition New Democrats said they will look more closely at the legislation, but support sanctions to curb cellphone use by drivers.

The death of a Victoria-area man in a two-vehicle crash last January drew attention to the dangers of cellphone use on the road.

Saanich Police said Michael Edward Wolsynuk, 26, was sending a text message when he lost control of his truck, crossed a raised concrete median and slammed head-on into an oncoming truck.

Heed said the Motor Vehicle Amendment Act will save lives.

"We have all seen near misses on the road because drivers were not paying attention," Heed told the legislature. "And some of us have seen the devastating consequences of driver distraction."

The B.C. Association of Chiefs of Police passed a resolution earlier this year asking for a total ban on cellphone use by drivers, even with hands-free devices.

The B.C. legislation allows for the use of hands-free devices by experienced drivers, but it gives police another tool to help make roads safer, said Clayton Pecknold, vice-president of the association.

B.C. Medical Association president Dr. Brian Brodie said he stopped using his cellphone while driving after realizing the dangers.

"It's time to get the eyes of B.C. drivers back on the road," he said. "No conversation is worth putting somebody else's life and safety at risk."

Brodie said people who talk on cellphones while driving are four times more likely to be involved in a crash, and that people who text-message have their eyes off the road four times more than other drivers.

"It's too dangerous and nobody should be doing it," he said.

The amended law permits police, fire and ambulance officials to use cell phones while driving while they are performing their duties.

Citizens are permitted to use the cell phone while behind the wheel only to make an emergency 911 call or if they are safely parked off the road way.

The Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General said independent research concludes that cellphone use while driving is the top cause of distracted driving.

On average, about 117 people die each year in British Columbia and 1,400 are sent to hospital because of distraction behind the wheel, said Heed.

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