The Subject Notebook

Sharpton: Houston's Voice Heard Beyond Scandal

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 21:54:00 +0000

Nature: Bobcats riding out the snow

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 21:08:00 +0000

Fuel Removal Under Way on Capsized Italian Ship

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 21:06:00 +0000

Whitney Houston Dies at 48

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 17:16:00 +0000

Ray J Films 'Extra' Before Finding Whitney Houston Dead

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 12:22:00 +0000

Whitney Houston's death: Police investigate

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 12:17:00 +0000

Reaction to Houston's Death at Clive Davis Party

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 12:15:00 +0000

CMT celebrates 5 acts changing country music

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 19:10:00 +0000

FRANKLIN, Tenn. – They gathered to honor CMT's five artists of the year, but the night was more like a celebration of music without borders.

CMT feted Taylor Swift, Carrie Underwood, Lady Antebellum, Jason Aldean and Zac Brown Band at the taping of "2010 CMT Artists Of The Year" on Tuesday night, and befitting a show dedicated to genre-bending acts there were unusual juxtapositions all over.

You could find Smokey Robinson and Kid Rock hugging in the crowd, Joe Perry turning up the volume on a version of Jason Aldean's "My Kinda Party" that had Swift, members of her band and friend Hayley Williams of Paramore dancing around their table, and Maroon 5 laying down a reggae-flavored backbeat over Swift's love song "Mine."

"I want to thank Maroon 5 for coming out here and taking on such a wordy, girlie song," Swift said.

The band pulled it off, though, and it fit the theme of the show, which airs Friday night. So did the teaming of Adele and Darius Rucker on Lady Antebellum's omnipresent hit "Need You Now" and the Zac Brown Band's invitation to Amos Lee to join them on "Colder Weather." CMT looked at album and ticket sales and other traditional success markers when choosing its artists of the year. But as host Kevin Costner noted: "It's not about the numbers, it's about the impact."

And the five acts honored have rewritten the rules, spearheading a new sonic diversity in country music that has spilled over traditional borders into the worlds of pop music, jam bands and classic rock.

Swift has led that charge, setting records, sweeping awards and opening doors for the success of acts like Lady Antebellum, the best-selling country act so far in 2010. Underwood rode an unquestioned bond with her fans to new heights in a career that had already seen plenty. The Zac Brown Band defied classification with appearances at Bonnaroo and the CMA Music Festival on the same weekend and Aldean finally got a little bit of recognition for his quiet rise to the top.

He took advantage of just his second acceptance speech to honor his parents and to correct an omission from the last time he held a trophy on stage, thanking his producer Michael Knox. He didn't stop there, though.

"I don't get to do this a lot, so I may be a while," Aldean said. "Y'all bear with me."

___

Online:

http://www.cmt.com

Mariah Carey announces she's pregnant

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 12:58:00 +0000

NEW YORK – Mariah Carey is going to be a mommy.

The superstar singer confirmed on NBC's "Today" show Thursday that she and husband Nick Cannon are expecting their first child. Carey says the baby is due in the spring.

Carey had declined to discuss her pregnancy, the subject of rampant speculation for months, until now.

Carey and Cannon have been the subject of a baby watch since they got married after a whirlwind romance two years ago. Carey said the couple was actually surprised to discover that she was pregnant at that time, but she had a miscarriage soon afterward.

___

Online:

http://www.mariahcarey.com

God did not create the universe, says Hawking

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 18:46:00 +0000

LONDON (Reuters) – God did not create the universe and the "Big Bang" was an inevitable consequence of the laws of physics, the eminent British theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking argues in a new book.

In "The Grand Design," co-authored with U.S. physicist Leonard Mlodinow, Hawking says a new series of theories made a creator of the universe redundant, according to the Times newspaper which published extracts on Thursday.

"Because there is a law such as gravity, the universe can and will create itself from nothing. Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the universe exists, why we exist," Hawking writes.

"It is not necessary to invoke God to light the blue touch paper and set the universe going."

Hawking, 68, who won global recognition with his 1988 book "A Brief History of Time," an account of the origins of the universe, is renowned for his work on black holes, cosmology and quantum gravity.

Since 1974, the scientist has worked on marrying the two cornerstones of modern physics -- Albert Einstein's General Theory of Relativity, which concerns gravity and large-scale phenomena, and quantum theory, which covers subatomic particles.

His latest comments suggest he has broken away from previous views he has expressed on religion. Previously, he wrote that the laws of physics meant it was simply not necessary to believe that God had intervened in the Big Bang.

He wrote in A Brief History ... "If we discover a complete theory, it would be the ultimate triumph of human reason -- for then we should know the mind of God."

In his latest book, he said the 1992 discovery of a planet orbiting another star other than the Sun helped deconstruct the view of the father of physics Isaac Newton that the universe could not have arisen out of chaos but was created by God.

"That makes the coincidences of our planetary conditions -- the single Sun, the lucky combination of Earth-Sun distance and solar mass, far less remarkable, and far less compelling evidence that the Earth was carefully designed just to please us human beings," he writes.

Hawking, who is only able to speak through a computer-generated voice synthesizer, has a neuro muscular dystrophy that has progressed over the years and left him almost completely paralyzed.

He began suffering the disease in his early 20s but went on to establish himself as one of the world's leading scientific authorities, and has also made guest appearances in "Star Trek" and the cartoons "Futurama" and "The Simpsons."

Last year he announced he was stepping down as Cambridge University's Lucasian Professor of Mathematics, a position once held by Newton and one he had held since 1979.

"The Grand Design" is due to go on sale next week.

11 Siberian tigers starve to death in China zoo: report

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 07:18:00 +0000

BEIJING — Eleven Siberian tigers have starved to death over the past three months at a zoo in northeast China, after the cash-strapped animal park fed them cheap chicken bones, state media reported.

Liu Xiaoqiang, the vice head of the wild animal protection office in Shenyang, the capital of Liaoning province, said the 11 tigers had died due to malnutrition, Xinhua news agency said.

Two hungry tigers at the same zoo in Shenyang severely mauled a zoo worker in November, in an attack officials said was due to the predators' lack of food. The man survived, but the tigers were shot during the rescue.

After the incident, work safety officials asked the zoo's owners to confine the remaining tigers to their cages, which added to their health problems, the report said Thursday.

China has more than 200 zoos, according to the Chinese Association of Zoological Gardens. But only large zoos in major cities such as Beijing and Shanghai receive government funding and attention, state media say.

"Many privately-owned zoos are under financial pressure, and most of them fail to feed the animals well," said Liu.

China said last month it had nearly 6,000 tigers in captivity, but just 50-60 left roaming in the wild, including about 20 wild Siberian tigers.

There are in theory four varieties of wild tigers in China, but one of them -- the South China tiger -- has not been spotted in the wild since the late 1970s. In the 1950s, there were around 4,000 of the subspecies.

Degradation of the animal's habitat and poaching of the tiger and its prey are blamed for the rapid disappearance of the endangered species.

In the 1980s, China set up tiger farms to try to preserve the big cats, intending to release some into the wild.

But those farms have come under the international spotlight, with some conservation groups saying they use the great cats for their parts.

China banned the international trade in tiger bones and related products in 1993, and is a signatory to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), which also bars such trade.

The global wild tiger population is estimated to be at an all-time low of 3,200, down from an estimated 20,000 in the 1980s and 100,000 a century ago.

Hillary Clinton to attend Haiti aid conference in Montreal

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 05:04:00 +0000

WASHINGTON — US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will attend a conference of international donors in Montreal on Monday to raise aid for Haiti, the State Department said.

"Secretary Clinton plans to attend this meeting," said State Department spokesman Philip Crowley.

The conference aims to coordinate international aid to Haiti and ensure donors adopt a "clear, common vision" in rebuilding the quake-shattered country, Canada's Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon said earlier.

White House to release watch list review Thursday

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 04:35:00 +0000

WASHINGTON — The White House will on Thursday release an unclassified version of a report into intelligence failures relating to terrorist watch-lists, following the thwarted Christmas Day airliner attack.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said he anticipated the public portion of the report "will be released tomorrow" after President Barack Obama receives a classified version of the data from his top anti-terror expert John Brennan.

"I think you'll see tomorrow that this is a failure that touches across the full waterfront of our intelligence agencies," Gibbs said, adding that Obama would make a public statement on the review on Thursday.

"The review will simply identify and make recommendations as to what was lacking and what needs to be strengthened," Gibbs said.

On Tuesday, Obama said that the review into the terrorist watch-listing system had revealed "human and systemic failures" that led to the attempted downing of a Northwest jet carrying 290 people on Christmas Day.

He said it showed that US intelligence agencies missed a series of red flags related to Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, who is accused of trying to bring down the Northwest jet outside Detroit with explosives sewn into his underwear.

On addition to the fact that Abdulmutallab had known extremist links but was still able to get on the jet, Obama said US intelligence knew that Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula wanted to strike not only US targets in Yemen but in the United States itself over the holiday season.

"The bottom line is this: the US government had sufficient information to have uncovered this plot and potentially disrupt the Christmas Day attack, but our intelligence community failed to connect those dots," Obama said.

"This was not a failure to collect intelligence, it was a failure to integrate and understand the intelligence that we already had.

2nd Irish bishop quitting over Dublin abuse report

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 05:05:00 +0000

DUBLIN — A second Roman Catholic bishop in Ireland announced Wednesday he will resign in the wake of a damning investigation into decades of church cover-up of child abuse in the Dublin archdiocese.

Bishop Jim Moriarty revealed his decision to priests and other church officials in his diocese of Kildare and Leithlin, southwest of Dublin. Church officials said Moriarty planned to travel soon to Rome to tender his resignation directly to Pope Benedict XVI, who has sole power to hire and fire bishops.

Moriarty said he accepted the investigators' finding that he failed to react properly when told about abuse cases, particularly of one priest convicted of molesting girls in 1997. But he insisted that his own inaction reflected his colleagues' poor communication and secrecy.

"It does not serve the truth to overstate my responsibility and authority within the archdiocese. Nor does it serve the truth to overlook the fact that the system of management and communications was seriously flawed," Moriarty said in a prepared statement.

"However, with the benefit of hindsight, I accept that, from the time I became an auxiliary bishop, I should have challenged the prevailing culture."

Last week Bishop Donal Murray of Limerick resigned, becoming the first high-profile casualty of a government-ordered probe into the church's failure to tell authorities about more than 170 suspected child abusers in the Dublin priesthood.

That 720-page report, published Nov. 26, examined the cases of 46 pedophile priests in detail. It found that church leaders in Dublin chronically shielded these priests from the law for decades until 1995, when growing public anger over the practice forced the church to begin handing its files on some cases to police.

Abuse victims welcomed Wednesday's resignation announcement — but emphasized that they believe three other serving bishops named in the report must quit too.

"It is immensely distressing and insulting to survivors of sexual abuse to be forced to listen as one bishop after another justifies his position and attempts to hold on to power until he is shamed into resigning," said Maeve Lewis, director of an abuse-victims support group called One in Four.

"The bishops do not seem to understand the depravity of the culture that prevailed, and the horror inflicted on countless children," she said. "Ultimately, the resignations of all the auxiliary bishops named in the report are inevitable."

Moriarty, who served as a Dublin auxiliary bishop from 1991 to 2002, initially insisted he'd done nothing wrong. "I do not consider that there are any grounds there upon which I should resign from office," he said Dec. 10.

But Moriarty changed that line after senior church figures met Benedict in Rome that same day, and Murray announced his resignation.

The report found Moriarty guilty of inaction in the face of abuse complaints, particularly involving the Rev. Paul McGennis.

The investigators' search of Dublin church records discovered that the church began keeping internal records of McGennis' pedophilia as early as 1960, when he was caught taking pictures of naked girls.

The report found that Moriarty received renewed abuse reports against McGennis in 1993 but did nothing. McGennis was convicted in 1997 of abusing two girls and served half of an 18-month prison sentence.

The investigators determined that church leaders, including Moriarty, made no attempt to check its own past files on McGennis. "Bishop Moriarty pointed out to the commission that he did not have access to the archives, but he could have asked the archbishop to conduct a search," the report said.

Moriarty is 73, two years short of the church's mandatory retirement age. Five other past Dublin bishops identified in the report have already retired, while several others are dead.

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Ex-Barrick Gold CEO Wilkins dies at 53

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 05:23:00 +0000

TORONTO — Greg Wilkins, a former CEO of Barrick Gold Corp. who served most recently as executive vice chairman, died after battling cancer for a year and a half, the company said Thursday. He was 53.

Wilkins died on Wednesday in Toronto of brain cancer, Barrick spokesman Vincent Borg said, and is survived by his wife, Vera, and children Mark and Lauren, the company said in a statement.

Wilkins served as president and CEO of Toronto-based Barrick, the world's leading gold producer, from 2003 to March 2008. He had been a member of Barrick's board of directors since 1991, and served as chief financial officer in the early 1990s.

"This is the loss of a dear friend who played a vital role in Barrick's growth," Barrick founder and Chairman Peter Munk said. "He worked alongside me building Barrick for almost 30 years."

Wilkins went on medical leave after his cancer diagnosis, then stepped down as president and CEO about four months later, when he became executive vice chairman. Munk served as acting CEO before Aaron Regent was named president and CEO in January 2009.

Wilkins, who became a chartered accountant in 1979, held a Bachelor of Commerce Degree from Concorcdia University in his native Montreal.

Barrick's corporate headquarters in Toronto will be closed in tribute on the day of his memorial service. Arrangements were to be announced by his family.

Trial begins for Argentina's 'Angel of Death'

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 08:45:00 +0000

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — A former Argentine navy spy nicknamed the "Angel of Death" went on trial Friday for his alleged involvement in the disappearance and torture of dissidents during the country's military dictatorship.

Alfredo Astiz, 58, is accused of multiple crimes including the torture and murder of two French nuns, a journalist and three founders of the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, a group of parents who began gathering outside the presidential palace shortly after the 1976 military coup to demand answers about their children's whereabouts.

"We demand the worst possible sentence: life in prison," said Rodolfo Yanzon, a lawyer representing Victor Basterra, one of the few victims to survive his stay at Argentina's Navy Mechanics School, which was converted into a torture chamber during the 1976-83 dictatorship.

"This trial is a direct result of the effort and courage put forth by family members of the victims, human rights organizations and the Argentine citizens who wanted to see these people held accountable for their actions," added Plaza de Mayo member Nora de Cortinas. "We are eager to finally see these sentences carried out."

Upon entering the court room, Astiz — known as the blond "Angel of Death" for his choirboy looks and reputed ruthlessness — raised his head and smiled at a group of sympathizers.

Astiz's lawyer says that as a uniformed member of the military, he was following orders to protect the nation from extremist violence.

"This is a circus," said supporter Cecilia Pardo. "Equality does not exist in the eyes of the Argentine legal system. The terrorists that run this country should be on the stand with them."

Eighteen other ex-military officials are being tried simultaneously with Astiz for their alleged involvement in crimes committed during the dictatorship.

A total of 358 suspects are awaiting trial for dirty-war offenses, according to the Argentine Center for Legal and Social Studies.

Official records say the dictatorship killed 13,000 people. Human rights groups say the true toll was 30,000.

Greek police detain scores ahead of teen killing demos

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

ATHENS — Police in Greece detained more than 150 people in the capital Saturday in a series of raids ahead of the anniversary of the police killing of a teenage boy that sparked riots last year.

Two cars went up in flames in the Athens district of Exarchia, where 15-year-old Alexis Grigoropoulos was gunned down by a policeman on December 6 last year. His death fuelled weeks of violence across Greece.

Twelve people, including five Italians and three Albanians, were arrested over the attack on the cars, while a further 81 people were taken in from the surrounding area for questioning, a police source said.

Riot police stormed a town hall in the Keratsini district after it was briefly occupied, detaining 41 people.

In a separate raid in the western district of Keratsini, police detained a further 20 people in a suspected anarchist hideout. Officers found two petrol cannisters, sledgehammers and thirteen gas masks on the premises, police said

"The search confirmed prior information that this location was used to create explosives and launch attacks," a police statement said.

Around 500 people participated in protest marches in the northern city of Thessaloniki on Saturday night, local police said.

Greek police will be out in force to prevent trouble during this weekend's commemoration of Grigoropoulos' killing, with demonstrations planned on Sunday and Monday,

Some 6,000 police will be on duty in Athens alone, where trade unions and leftwing organisations will take to the streets.

Students have occupied dozens of universities and schools to mark the teenager's killing, according to staff unions.

Grigoropoulos was shot dead by a police officer who claimed he fired into the air whilst under attack by youths.

Thousands of people are expected to march through Athens on Sunday after a religious service at Grigoropoulos's tomb in the suburb of Palio Faliro.

Foreign demonstrators are also expected to travel to Greece for the commemoration, media reports said.

The policeman accused of the teenager's death is due to go on trial on January 20 charged with homicide.

Conservative leads post-coup Honduran election

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 05:05:00 +0000

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — Election officials say conservative opposition candidate Porfirio Lobo has a wide lead in presidential elections shadowed by a June coup.

Supreme Electoral Tribunal officials says preliminary results give Porfirio Lobo 56 percent of votes, compared to 38 percent for ruling party candidate Elvin Santos.

The official says more than 60 percent of vote tally sheets had been counted. They spoke at a news conference hours after polls closed Sunday.

The tribunal say more than 60 percent of registered voters had cast ballots.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) — Hondurans on Sunday elected a new president whose first challenge will be defending his legitimacy to the world and ending a crisis over a June coup that has isolated one of Latin America's poorest countries.

Porfirio Lobo and Elvin Santos, two prosperous businessmen from the political old guard, are the front-runners. No official results had been released by late Sunday, but Channel 5 television and HRN radio said their exit poll indicated that Lobo was leading with nearly 56 percent of the vote, trailed by Santos with 38 percent.

But the candidates' campaigns have been overshadowed by the debate over whether Hondurans should vote at all in an election largely shunned by international monitors.

The dispute has split Western Hemisphere countries, and voter turnout could determine how widely the next government is recognized. Rivals sides offered widely different estimates of turnout in subdued voting.

The United States, hoping to resolve its first major policy test in Latin America, is defending the election while leftist governments allege it whitewashes Central America's first coup in 20 years.

Washington's support matters most in Honduras, which sends more than 60 percent of its exports to the United States, from bananas to Fruit-of-the-Loom underwear, and relies heavily on money sent home from the 1 million Hondurans who live in the U.S.

President Barack Obama's government suspended development aid and anti-narcotic cooperation with Honduras over the coup. But U.S. diplomats say Hondurans have the right to choose their next leader in regular elections that were scheduled well before President Manuel Zelaya's ouster. Neither Zelaya nor the man who replaced him — interim President Roberto Micheletti — are running in Sunday's election.

Zelaya, the left-leaning president ousted in a June 28 coup, said that overwhelming abstention would discredit the election and the U.S. would regret its stance.

"The United States made a mistake," Zelaya said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press from the Brazilian Embassy where he took refuge since sneaking back into the country from his forced exile. "If they are democrats in their country, they should be democrats in Latin America."

After polls closed, he claimed in a statement that he had information from 1,400 polling stations indicating that abstention was as high as 65 percent.

"As president of Honduras I declare this process illegitimate," he said.

Electoral official Denis Gomez, however, said he thought turnout was robust, although there were no official projections. He said his most optimistic estimate was for a 70 percent turnout.

Election workers in the slums of Tegucigalpa said turnout was slow, with some saying only about a third of registered voters had arrived by mid-afternoon. But turnout was higher in affluent neighborhoods where resentment against Zelaya runs highest.

Police fired tear gas at several hundred pro-Zelaya protesters in the northern city of San Pedro Sula, and at least one person was injured and required stitches on his head. Some protesters sat down as police approached, and other later hurled rocks back at police. Police spokesman Orlin Cerrato said protests are banned on election day.

Zelaya has support among many poor Hondurans who believed in his promises to shake-up a political system dominated by two political parties with few ideological differences and influenced by a few wealthy families.

Mauro Romero, 59, had no intention of setting foot in a polling station.

"Zelaya is the president that we elected. We don't want the same dinosaurs in power, people who have been there for 30 years, only getting fat," said Romero, sitting on the steps of the Tegucigalpa's peach-colored 18th century cathedral, now covered in graffiti saying "No to the coup!"

But many Hondurans simply want to end a crisis that has eroded an already stagnant economy. Tourists have disappeared from Mayan ruins and rain forests, multilateral lending agencies have blocked the country's access to credit.

Opponents say Zelaya's efforts to change the constitution were a ploy to extend time in power by eliminating presidential term limits, as his ally Hugo Chavez has done in Venezuela.

"We don't want a monarch here who is going to stay here forever in this country," said Rolando Barahona, a business manager. "The crisis is behind us and now we all need to unite and work."

Human rights activists accuse the interim government harassing groups promoting abstention. On Saturday, about 50 masked soldiers and police raided the offices of Red Comal, a farm aid group in the northern town of Siguatepeque that has opposed the coup, said Miguel Alonso, the program director. He said police seized computers and documents.

"It's no secret that we are members of the national resistance movement against the coup," Alonso said. "So the raid order doesn't surprise us."

Cerrato said the security forces were acting on a court order as part investigations into homemade bomb attacks that have exploded nearly every day in Honduras.

Lobo, 61, and Santos, 46, promise to encourage private investment to create jobs while increasing social benefits in a country where 70 percent of the 7 million people are poor.

The National Party's Lobo, a rancher who lost to Zelaya in 2005 elections, had a double-digit lead in recent polls. He has benefited from divisions within Santos' Liberal Party, which largely turned against Zelaya and supported his ouster.

If elected, Lobo says he will talk with Zelaya and has suggested the deposed leader may be allowed to leave the Brazilian Embassy without fear of arrest. Zelaya faces abuse of power charges for ignoring a Supreme Court order to cancel a referendum on changing the constitution.

Under a U.S.-brokered pact, Congress is set to decide Wednesday whether Zelaya should return head a unity government until his constitutional term ends Jan. 27. Despite its support of the elections, the United States insists it still supports Zelaya's reinstatement.

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US, Israel lack 'courage' to attack: Iran leader

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 04:38:00 +0000

BRASILIA — Visiting Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad said Monday that US and Israeli military threats against Iran were a thing of the past, and that, in any case, "they don't have the courage" to attack Iran.

"The age of military attacks is over, now we've reached the time for dialogue and understanding. Weapons and threats are a thing of the past," the Iranian told a joint press conference with President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, closing his one-day visit.

Ahmadinejad's visit was greeted Sunday in Rio de Janeiro by a 1,000-strong rally of members of Jewish, anti-racist and gay rights groups who protested his past tirades against Israel and other groups.

Fielding a question on whether he feared an attack from Israel or the United States, Ahmadinejad said armed confrontation was no longer a possibility.

That's clear "even for mentally challenged people," he said with a smile.

Besides, he added, "those you mention (Israel and United States) don't have the courage to attack Iran. They're not even thinking about it."

During the joint press conference, a protester quietly waved a gay-rights banner in the crowd before police escorted him from the venue.

Ahmadinejad met for three hours with Lula to discuss Iran's controversial nuclear program, over which Lula urged Teheran to find a "just solution" with Western powers.

After his day-long Brazilian leg, Ahmadinejad was to depart for Bolivia for talks with his counterpart Evo Morales, then on to Venezuela to see his "friend," President Hugo Chavez. Both Morales and Chavez are strongly critical of the United States.

Iraq vote faces likely delay

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 04:40:00 +0000

BAGHDAD — Iraq's path toward political stability after years of war threatened to veer off course Wednesday when a vice president vetoed part of a key election law, a move likely to delay a national vote slated for January.

The United States has linked the pace of its military drawdown to the vote, but the top U.S. commander in Iraq told reporters the schedule was on track for now. All American troops are supposed to leave by the end of 2011, and the prospect of a delay could burden the White House as it ponders a bigger military deployment in Afghanistan.

The veto by Iraq's Sunni Arab vice president also exposed sectarian divisions that reached heights of fury in 2006 and 2007, when Shiite and Sunni Arab militants turned much of Iraq into a slaughterhouse. A return to such levels of violence is unlikely, but deep mistrust has slowed political reconciliation.

Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi sent part of the law back to parliament, 10 days after lawmakers ended weeks of haggling and approved it to the relief of Washington. He said it should be amended to allocate more seats to Iraqis abroad, most of whom are Sunni Arabs who fled the war.

The U.N. estimates that as of January there were around 2 million Iraqi refugees in neighboring Jordan and Syria, and some 2.6 million people displaced within Iraq. The total population is at least 27 million.

"My objection is not to the entire law, but only the first article in order to be fair to Iraqis living abroad," al-Hashemi said. "I hope that parliament will hold a vote soon on the suggested amendments so that elections can be carried out at their scheduled date."

As one of three members of Iraq's presidential council, al-Hashemi holds veto power over legislation.

The prime minister of Iraq's Shiite-led government slammed the veto as a threat to democracy. Parliament must now discuss al-Hashemi's demands and take a vote on them, a process that could take days or even weeks given the legislature's fractious nature and its track record.

Already, the country's election commission said it has suspended preparations for the vote. The constitution requires parliamentary elections by the end of January, but the schedule is actually tighter because Iraq is almost certain to avoid holding a vote during a Shiite religious festival toward the end of that month.

"We're disappointed in the developments today regarding the elections law," Philip Frayne, a spokesman at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, said in a statement. "We hope that a quick resolution to this dispute can be found so that elections can go forward in January."

No date has been set for the vote.

Gen. Raymond Odierno, who leads U.S. forces in Iraq, said at a news conference that the military can adjust its withdrawal plans if the need arises, but that no decision has to be made before late spring.

"We're set up and we're flexible enough between now and the first of May," he said. There are currently 115,000 American troops in Iraq.

U.S. military officials have said they will begin to draw down combat forces about 60 days after the election, hoping for assurances by then that Iraq is on stable footing. All U.S. combat troops must be out of Iraq by the end of August 2010. Other troops, including training and support personnel, must leave by the end of 2011.

A further complication arose Tuesday when Kurdish leaders threatened to boycott the election unless the three northern provinces they control are given more seats in the next 323-seat parliament. Kurds run a virtual mini-state, complete with its own flag and security force, but they have stopped short of seeking independence.

It was not immediately clear when parliament would take up the vice president's suggestions, or what precise impact they would have on the date of elections.

Qassim al-Aboudi, a member of Iraq's electoral commission, said al-Hashemi's move will likely push back the election and that the commission has suspended preparations for the vote.

A member of the parliamentary legal committee, Kurdish lawmaker Khalid Shwani, said committee members will study al-Hashemi's suggested changes as soon as they receive them.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki criticized al-Hashemi's veto, calling it "a serious threat to the political process and democracy."

"It has no solid constitutional basis. The high national interests were not taken into consideration," al-Maliki said in a statement on his Web site.

The prime minister, who has been locked in a bitter rivalry with al-Hashemi since taking office in May 2006, also urged parties to forge ahead with their election preparations.

Associated Press writers Hamid Ahmed, Sinan Salaheddin and Ryan Lucas contributed to this report.

B.C. Ambulance warns of delays

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 05:44:00 +0000

The B.C. Ambulance Service is urging residents throughout B.C. to call 911 only in life-threatening situations after a number of paramedics booked off their shifts with little notice Saturday.

In a written release, the B.C. Ambulance Service said more than 50 paramedics booked off their scheduled shifts just prior to the shift start time.

On Saturday, 10 ambulances were out of service in Metro Vancouver and 10 more in the Fraser Valley.

Three were out of service in the Sea to Sky Corridor and no ambulances were staffed in Boston Bar, Hope, Agassiz or Pemberton.

Only one ambulance was available in Mission and Whistler.

The B.C. Ambulance Service says the move is likely a protest after members of the B.C. legislature pushed through a bill ordering B.C.'s 3,500 ambulance paramedics back to work last Saturday, ending a strike that started in April.

Lee Doney, the CEO of the B.C. Ambulance Service, said this degree of absenteeism has never happened before.

"I understand that paramedics are frustrated. Tempers are high because of the back-to-work legislation, but this is no way to protest. Putting people's lives at risk is no way to protest," he said.

However, John Strohmeier, the president of CUPE Local 873, said the union had nothing to do with the cancelled shifts.

"There is a pandemic going on right now. I suspect that any paramedics that may be symptomatic are probably following the advice of the province's chief medical officer and staying home," he said.

"So I don't think there's any concerted effort by paramedics here. It's just a question of there not being enough staff to begin with."

The B.C. Ambulance Service said low-priority calls would likely be delayed but all emergency calls would be handled on a priority basis.

People with minor injuries or illness were advised to visit their doctor's office or walk-in clinic.

Canadians think governments have done OK on H1N1, but media overreacting: poll

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 05:18:00 +0000

TORONTO — Opposition politicians and the media may be hammering governments for their handling of the H1N1 situation, but a new poll suggests Canadians themselves feel their governments are doing an OK job.

The media's coverage of H1N1 on the other hand - well, that doesn't earn much admiration.

The latest Canadian Press Harris-Decima survey found that overall, most respondents see all three levels of government as having done at least a fair job of preparing for, and dealing with, the H1N1 flu virus.

Almost one-quarter (22 to 24 per cent) of those surveyed said each level of government has done a good job dealing with swine flu, while another third or more (33 to 37 per cent) describe their performance as at least fair.

However, about one-third of respondents graded the response of each level of government - municipal, provincial or territorial, and federal - as poor.

"Fundamentally, I can understand why 22 per cent to 24 per cent saying you've done a good job on something isn't really your best day," said Doug Anderson, senior vice-president of Harris-Decima.

"However, the complexity of the task and the fact that nothing like this has really ever been done, to me that says it's more like a passing grade," Anderson said from Ottawa. "But at the same time, I don't see this as collective criticism."

Still, not every government escaped the displeasure of its electorate.

Albertans were highly critical of the province's handling of the pandemic, with 61 per cent of respondents rating the performance as poor, the poll shows.

"The most significant (issue), I would say, was there was a controversy over the fact that the Calgary Flames hockey players and their families had been given the vaccine while others were finding it more difficult to get," said Anderson, noting that the anger was intensified when the province subsequently ran out of vaccine.

Opinions about the handling of swine flu were similar across the country and for all three levels of government, he said. "But in Alberta, they're strikingly different."

Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach concedes his government could have done a better job rolling out the province's swine flu vaccination program.

"Maybe because we went to (vaccinating) everyone and there were significant lineups," Stelmach told reporters Thursday.

"This is the largest vaccination program that we've ever had in Canada. Our original decision was based on availability of vaccine and that's why the medical (officer of health) said we will (vaccinate) everyone," he said.

The survey of 1,000 people - considered accurate within 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20 - also found that Canadians aged 18 to 34 are more impressed with governments' performance than those 50 and older. The poll was conducted Nov. 5 through Nov. 8.

"The young people are a little more inclined to say the federal government, for example, has done a good job - 34 per cent of them describe it that way," said Anderson. In contrast, 21 per cent in the 50-plus group felt the federal government had done a good job.

He pointed out, however, that people as they age tend to be somewhat more critical of government, no matter the issue, and that could have influenced the numbers.

"It may also be that younger Canadians have noticed that this particular virus has some unique impacts on young Canadians, and therefore they are maybe a little more appreciative since some of the efforts might target them a little bit."

When it comes to media coverage, 65 per cent of Canadians surveyed said news organizations had overreacted to H1N1 influenza.

"That says to me that Canadians are leaning pretty heavily towards saying there's been a bit more hype about this than they might have found preferable," said Anderson, adding that the age, level of education and sex of respondents made little difference.

That view was seen in all regions and demographic groups, though when respondents were broken down by voting intentions, supporters of the Conservatives were more likely to feel the media had overreacted than those of the Liberal, New Democratic or Green parties.

Anderson said Canadians' concern over swine flu is not on the upswing, as it was in a poll done a week earlier, and might even be waning slightly.

Acceptance of the vaccine has also surged in the last month or so, with 56 per cent of respondents saying they have or will get the shot, compared to 35 per cent in early October.

CRTC approves sale of CHEK-TV in Victoria to private investor for two dollars

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 05:41:00 +0000

TORONTO — The Canadian Radio-television Telecommunications Commission has approved the sale of Canwest's CHEK-TV station in Victoria to a group of investors for $2.

The federal regulator said Monday that the TV operations and related transmitters can be sold to a private numbered company owned by a consortium of local investors, 39 employees of the TV station and the Communications Energy and Paperworkers Union.

In its decision, the CRTC noted that CHEK-TV is losing about $12 million per year and "has not shown any marked improvement in profitability over the past three years."

The commission said the price tag on the deal would also include the value of working capital at the station, and that it has renewed the station's broadcasting licence until Aug. 31, 2016.

Canwest Global Communications Corp. (TSX:CGS) put the CHEK-TV station on auction block earlier this year as it worked to sell off certain money-losing assets.

Windows 7 debut a hit: NPD

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 06:01:00 +0000

SAN FRANCISCO — Microsoft's new-generation Windows 7 operating system hit the ground running, with US sales in its opening days blasting past those of its Vista predecessor, according to NPD Group.

Sales of Windows 7 in the days following its October 22 release were 234 percent higher than those posted by Vista when it was released into the market, the market research firm reported on Thursday.

"Microsoft's program of early low-cost pre-sales, high visibility marketing, and aggressive deals helped make the Windows 7 software launch successful," said NPD vice president of analysis Stephen Baker.

"In a slow environment for packaged software Windows 7 brought a large number of customers into the software aisles," he said.

Revenue from Windows 7 sales during its initial days in the market only surpassed Vista by 83 percent due to price discounts and a lack of promotion for an Ultimate version of the new operating system, according to NPD.

The Windows 7 launch also gave a bump to personal computer (PC) sales, which nearly doubled from the previous week and were 49 percent higher than the same period a year earlier, but Vista's launch gave PC sales a bigger boost, NPD said.

"A combination of factors impacted Windows 7 PC sales at the outset, but the trajectory of overall PC sales is very strong leading into the holiday season," said Baker.

Microsoft's much-heralded Windows 7 went on sale around the world in October as the US software giant rebooted after the disappointment of its previous generation operating system Vista.

Windows 7 made its global debut to generally good reviews with most technology analysts and users who tested a demo version praising it as a significant improvement on the much-maligned Vista.

Analyst Rob Enderle of Silicon Valley's Enderle Group said the Windows 7 launch was a "big deal for Microsoft."

"Windows Vista was a train wreck," he said.

While computer users may not give much thought to the operating systems that serve as the brains of their machines, they are at the heart of Microsoft's global software empire that runs more than 90 percent of the world's computers.

Microsoft apparently learned a lesson from Vista and worked closely with computer makers, users and software developers while crafting Windows 7.

More than eight million people dabbled with Windows 7 in a beta test phase.

Among the new features in Windows 7 is a redesigned taskbar for launching programs and switching windows, enhanced ability to share files with other PCs, improved photo and video editing software and the ability to stream digital music or video to other devices.

Windows 7 also features Microsoft's latest Web browser, Internet Explorer 8.

Aeroplan gets U.S. foothold with purchase of loyalty marketer Carlson Marketing

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 05:15:00 +0000

MONTREAL — Groupe Aeroplan Inc. (TSX:AER) has gained a U.S. foothold with the purchase of customer loyalty company Carlson Marketing as the company pursues more international growth.

Aeroplan, a loyalty rewards program spun off from Air Canada (TSX:AC.A) said Tuesday it had paid $188 million for Carlson Marketing, a global customer-loyalty company.

CEO Rupert Duchesne said the acquisition gives Aeroplan a substantial source of revenue and diverse clients around the world.

"It substantially adds to our strength as we try to grow elsewhere in the world," Duchesne said in an interview from Minneapolis where Carlson Marketing is headquartered.

Aeroplan had been looking for a presence in the United States since 2005, Duchesne said, and had previously considered small scale acquisitions and investments in frequent flyer programs in the United States.

"The only logical way in, rather than trying to build something up from scratch itself was to buy the market leader."

Aeroplan said Carlson Marketing will be run as a separate division from Aeroplan's other businesses.

Carlson, which doesn't publicly name its clients, runs U.S.-based loyalty programs in areas such as financial services, automotive and transportation, among others, he said.

The company has a presence in 14 countries, including Spain, the United Kingdom, Australia, Brazil, Hong Kong, Singapore, Dubai and Kuwait. Duchesne said it will soon be expanding into India, another large and fast-growing consumer market.

However, the United States is considered an important key to global expansion due to the size of its consumer market.

"It is our belief with the acquisition of Carlson Marketing we will be well positioned to further penetrate the U.S. across all of our lines of business," he told a conference call with analysts.

Analyst Kenric Tyghe said Aeroplan needs a U.S. presence because its biggest competitor is U.S.-based Alliance Data Systems Corp., which owns the Air Miles reward program in Canada.

"That U.S. competitor does not and has not ever been able to successfully establish the equivalent to the program in the U.S., given how fragmented the U.S. loyalty market is," said Tyghe, who follows consumer products and retail at Raymond James in Toronto.

Duchesne also said the acquisition provides an attractive return, giving Aeroplan the flexibility to make future investments and to consider a potential share repurchase in 2010.

Aeroplan said the acquisition will increase it revenues by about 45 per cent to more than $2 billion.

He also said Carlson Marketing is widely recognized for innovation when it comes to understanding consumer behaviour, rewards and data analytics.

One area that Carlson Marketing has experience that Aeroplan is hoping to tap into is its digital marketing expertise, particularly the use of social media.

"I am not saying we have the answer to that, but I am saying we have a suite of capabilities where we will be one of the early first movers in trying to link those two critical areas."

He noted that 70 per cent of Aeroplan's rewards are distributed and purchased by plan members online.

Carlson president and CEO Hubert Joly said the acquisition frees up resources for Carlson so that it can increase the growth of its hotel, restaurant and travel business at a time when "significant" opportunities exist.

The Minneapolis-based firm also has relationships with brands in the high-tech, consumer packaged goods and pharmaceutical sectors.

The deal is expected to close by early December.

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