Watches Jailed China Nobel winner asks wife to collect prize

Jailed China Nobel winner asks wife to collect prize


Protesters drink champagne as they celebrate jailed Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo winning the Nobel Peace Prize during a demonstration outside the China liaison office in Hong Kong October 8, 2010. (REUTERS/Bobby Yip)
BEIJING (Reuters) - Jailed Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo has asked his wife to travel to Norway to pick up his Nobel Peace Prize, she told Reuters on Tuesday.

"Xiaobo told me he hopes I can go to Norway to receive the prize for him," Liu Xia said by telephone from her house where she is under virtual house arrest.


Protesters drink champagne as they celebrate jailed Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo winning the Nobel Peace Prize during a demonstration outside the China liaison office in Hong Kong October 8, 2010. (REUTERS/Bobby Yip)
"I think it will be very difficult," she added, when asked if she thought the government would allow her to go.

Liu Xia said the government had not yet explicitly told her she would not be allowed to go to Norway. The prize will be formally bestowed on Dec. 10 in Oslo.

China said on Tuesday that giving the Nobel Peace Prize to a jailed dissident showed a lack of respect for its legal system, in further criticism of an award that has stirred tensions over human rights.

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Lincoln Fast)
coppied by http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/10/12/worldupdates/2010-10-12T140903Z_01_NOOTR_RTRMDNC_0_-521331-2&sec=Worldupdates

Exited French transport slowed by strike

French transport slowed by strike


Sarkozy's pension reform has triggered a showdown with unions that sunk a previous effort 15 years ago [REUTERS]
French workers are staging a one-day strike against the government's plans to raise the retirement age, in what is the fourth major action against the reforms in a month.

Rail, sea port and flight workers went on strike across the country on Tuesday, while the Paris metro was slowed to a minimum.

Up to half the flights at Orly Airport and a third of flights from Charles de Gaulle-Roissy in Paris are expected to be cancelled, although airlines had already re-booked many passengers ahead of the strike.

The action, which comes a day after the French senate voted to raised the country's official minimum retirement age from 60 to 62, is threatening to turn into a showdown between the unions and Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president.

This time, the unions have threatened to stretch Tuesday's strikes past the usual 24-hours.

High turnout expected

The unions have called nationwide protest marches later in the day, and say they are expecting millions of people to turnout.

Three prior protests have attracted crowds numbering in the hundreds of thousands but have not halted Sarkozy's pension reform plan.

"The government is taking the risk of a radicalisation of the movement," Francois Chereque, head of the powerful CFDT union, said. "There will be a very big turnout today."

Sarkozy faces re-election in 2012, and his opinion poll ratings are at all-time lows. David Assouline, an opposition leader, accused Sarkozy of trying to provoke a "showdown" and bring unions "to their knees".

Monday vote, which came in at a narrow The 174 to 159, shut the door on the most controversial aspect of the reform package, which Sarkozy's administration hopes to pass by the end of the month.

The senate also voted to raise the minimum age to receive a full state pension from 65 to 67.

Strike will halt train and air transportation

While two-thirds of the high-speed TGV trains were expected to be cancelled, those running between Paris and London are set to operate normally.

The oil industry and education workers have also joined in the strike.

Employees at France's biggest oil port, Fos-Lavera, have now halted work for 15 straight days, and the education ministry predicted that more than a fourth of the country's elementary and pre-kindergarten teachers would strike on Tuesday.

One poll of around 1,000 people published in the newspaper Le Parisien found that 69 per cent of the respondents supported the new strike, while 61 per cent supported a "continuous and lasting" one.

Like other European governments looking at austerity measures, France faces a yawning deficit and a need to improve its finances if it hopes to retain a AAA credit rating, enabling the country to borrow money at a lower interest rate.

The reform bill has already been approved in its entirety by the lower house of France's parliament, the National Assembly. The senate is now voting on it piece by piece.
Coppied by http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2010/10/20101012051949142.html

Enjoy China rails on about Norway and dissident's Nobel

China rails on about Norway and dissident's Nobel


Beijing, China (CNN) -- China on Tuesday stepped up criticism of Norway and the awarding of the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize to Liu Xiaobo, a leading Chinese dissident.
Liu is serving an 11-year prison term after repeatedly calling for human rights and democratization.
"The Norwegian Nobel committee's decision to give Liu the Nobel Peace Prize will damage bilateral relations. There is reason for every Chinese person to be unhappy," Ma Zhaoxu, spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said at a news briefing.
"We already made our position clear. Since reform and opening up, China has made remarkable progress," Ma said. "By giving a convicted person the Nobel Peace Prize, they show no respect for China's judicial system."
"It not only disrespects China, but also reveals their true intentions. If you try to change China's political system from the outside, or if they are trying to stop Chinese people from moving forward, that is obviously making a mistake," he added.
Video: China censors Nobel coverage Video: Wife of Nobel Prize winner detained Video: Liu Xiaobo wins Nobel Peace Prize
Liu was sentenced in 2009 for inciting subversion of state power. He is the co-author of Charter 08, a call for political reform and human rights, and was an adviser to the student protesters at Tiananmen Square in 1989.
Asked about Liu's wife, Liu Xia, Ma responded: "I do not know who you are talking about. I am not familiar with this person."
Liu Xia remains under house arrest in Beijing and has been banned from talking to friends or media, Liu Xiaobo's lawyer said. She is trying to visit the attorney to discuss an appeal to her husband's sentence.
"She is negotiating with the police on the terms of the visit," Shang Baojun, the lawyer, told CNN. "The issue of an appeal is not if, but when and how."
Shang confirmed that Liu Xia said her husband wanted her to go to Oslo to accept the award in December, but he is not optimistic about the prospect.
"It's way too early to think about her Norway trip, considering she can't even leave her house," he said.
Liu Xia briefly re-gained phone access Tuesday, talking to Shang and several friends, as well as a few media outlets, from a new mobile phone after police broke her old one. The new number has been disconnected again, her friends tweeted Tuesday evening.
Coppied by http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/10/12/china.nobel.reaction/index.html?iref=mpstoryview

Watch From Labor Strikes to Logo Strikes

From Labor Strikes to Logo Strikes

Article by WorldNews.com Correspondent Dallas Darling.
"The strike is the weapon of the oppressed, of men capable of appreciating justice and having the courage to resist wrong and contend for principle." -Eugene Debs speaking to striking engineers and firemen during the Pullman Railroad Strike of 1887

"Ugh! Hideous and cheap looking. I will never shop there again." -Just one of tens of thousands of online comments when Gap revealed their new logo

When thousands of people went online protesting GAP's new logo claiming they would go on strike and boycott the clothing chain, it parodied an earlier era regarding America's Labor Movement. In 1911, a fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Company in New York City killed 146 garment workers, many of whom were young Jewish women. They were unable to escape due to the factory doors that had been locked, either to hold workers at their machines or to prevent government inspectors from entering. As the fire raged, the young women leaped to their deaths from the eighth- and ninth-story windows. What followed was the Uprising of the Twenty Thousand, a massive general strike in New York City by shirtwaist workers.(1)

Clara Lemlich, a "wisp of a girl, still in her teens," offered the resolution that turned the walkouts from several shirtwaist factories into a general strike. She remarked, "I am a working girl, one of those who are on strike against intolerable conditions. I am tired of listening to speakers who talk in general terms."(2) Most of the young strikers, between the ages of 16 and 25, battled physical and sexual harassment while marching, along with beatings and mass arrests. Yet, after three months the Uprising of the Twenty Thousand led to the basis for better working conditions, new building codes like fire escapes, and a greater interest in unionization and labor activism.

Another labor strike at a shipping port led by the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) centered around the right of workers to assemble and to practice free-speech. When authorities in Everett, Washington arrested 400 striking and picketing dock workers, a national call for assistance did not go unheard. James Rowan from Seattle was sent to organize a solidarity campaign. When he stood up to speak in public, Rowan was arrested. A free-speech fight ensued.(3) As more workers arrived by ferryboat to build-up the free-speech forces, they were immediately surrounded, arrested and imprisoned. In one battle, private security forces shot striking workers killing 5 and wounding 27.(4)

Even though the labor leaders of the IWW were put on trial for murder-which was typical for those who supported the American Labor Movement, and which the victims of State and corporate security forces were treated as the instigators-the attempt to suppress and extinguish the freedom of assembly and speech backfired. In a highly publicized trial, the IWW's achieved acquittals or dismissals of charges. This in turn, fueled the determination for other workers to seek long-sought basic reforms and rights. In the years that followed, the Everett Massacre, as it was called, produced numerous gains for the freedoms to strike and picket and for the right to publicly speak about workplace abuses and injustices.(5)
Coppied by http://article.wn.com/view/2010/10/12/From_Labor_Strikes_to_Logo_Strikes/?section=TopStoriesWorldwide&template=worldnews/index.txt

Watches Toxic sludge spill could happen elsewhere, campaigners warn

Toxic sludge spill could happen elsewhere, campaigners warn



A photo the WWF says was taken of the Hungarian spill site in June, showing "a damaged and clearly leaking sludge pond wall.
(CNN) -- Shocking safety lapses exposed by the deadly Hungary toxic sludge spill could be repeated at thousands of industrial sites around the world unless regulations are tightened dramatically, campaigners have warned.
With eight people dead so far and hundreds of villagers evacuated near an aluminium plant at Ajka, 160 kilometers (100 miles) west of Budapest, experts said they believed the spillage of 1,000,000 cubic meters of toxic red sludge from a ruptured dam was a disaster waiting to happen.
The WWF on Monday published a photo taken, the environmental pressure group said, in June and showing one of the pools of sludge -- a by-product of the process to turn bauxite ore into aluminium oxide -- clearly leaking, indicating that the disaster three months later could have been avoided.
Were you affected by the spill? Share your story
The aluminum company, MAL Co., said in a statement Saturday it had performed extensive maintenance work and renovations in the past decade and had followed safety regulations. The company was also now working to construct dams and defense lines in an attempt to minimize damage, it said.
Video: Exec arrested in Hungary toxic mud spill Video: Toxic mud shatters dreams, investments
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Hungary
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On Monday, investigators arrested the company's chief executive Zoltan Bakonyi on charges of public endangerment and harming the environment.
Greenpeace said it would be some time before the full effects of the disaster were known. "We're very concerned by this. Regionally it's a huge disaster," Bernhard Obermayr, the environmental campaign group's campaigns director for central and eastern Europe, told CNN.
"Villages near the spillage won't recover from this. The sludge is highly toxic, containing arsenic and mercury, both of which can cause cancer and affect the body's nervous system. Those chemicals go into the ground water and will spread throughout the whole Danube region. At least 50 tons of arsenic have entered the eco-system we believe."
Obermayr added that there were thousands more toxic hot spots throughout central and eastern Europe, China, Africa and Latin America. "We've seen what can happen with a big disaster like Hungary, but globally, in emerging economies, disasters are happening all the time that are not reported. There is a constant leakage of dangerous chemicals from mining sites -- not just one big bang like this."
In the European Union, he said, industrial safety stan
Coppied by http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/10/12/hungary.sludge.threat/index.html?iref=mpstoryview

Watch News Science Science funding crisis Military research should bear brunt of science cuts, say leading scientists

Military research should bear brunt of science cuts, say leading scientists
Senior academics say science cuts should focus on military research projects, including finding a replacement for Trident

Missile tubes on a Trident nuclear submarine. The scientists want all Britain's nuclear weapons placed in secure storage. Photograph: Murdo Macleod/Guardian
Military research projects, including plans to replace the Trident nuclear weapons system, must bear the brunt of science funding cuts if Britain is to stay at the forefront of scientific research, academics have told the prime minister.

Thirty-six scientists and engineers, including seven Royal Society fellows and one Nobel laureate, have today written to David Cameron raising concerns over the future of British science if civilian research is cut while defence research is spared.

The government spends £8bn on scientific research, of which more than £2bn is earmarked for Ministry of Defence projects at facilities such as the Atomic Weapons Establishment in Aldermaston. The nuclear weapons lab will play a central role in developing a successor to Trident if ministers decide to go ahead with a replacement.

"Of particular concern is the fact that world class research into health and global environmental problems is under threat, while the government continues to fund the multi-billion pound research programme at the Atomic Weapons Establishment," the authors write in the letter, which is published today in the Guardian.

"Our view is that current MoD funding is not only disproportionate, it also includes expenditure on programmes which are of minimal benefit or counterproductive to the UK's security," the letter adds. The authors call for Britain's nuclear warheads to be placed in secure storage and the successor to Trident scrapped to free up funds for civilian science research.

The letter, signed by Professor Alastair Hay, an expert in chemical and biological weapons at Leeds University, Sir Harry Kroto, who won the Nobel prize for chemistry in 1996, and the mathematician Sir Michael Atiyah, continues: "We believe that any cuts to public science spending should predominantly come from cuts to the Ministry of Defence's research and development."

The letter comes a week after the prime minister told the Conservative party conference in Birmingham that he would take "no risks with British security" and stressed his commitment to renewing the Trident nuclear missile system. In the letter, the scientists urge ministers to "shift their priorities so that science and technology can contribute to tackling the real threats to the UK's present and future security."

The scientists concede a need for extra funding on some defence-related issues, including research into ways of monitoring arms control agreements, non-violent conflict resolution and strategies for "tackling the roots of conflict and insecurity".
coppied by http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/oct/13/military-research-science-cuts-scientists

Watches Photography experts amazed at world's first lensman's pioneering technique

Photography experts amazed at world's first lensman's pioneering technique
Analysis of Joseph Nicéphore Niépce's work reveals baked lavender oil method used in first ever camera images

Joseph Nicéphore Niépce's View from the Window at Le Gras - thought to be the world's first photograph, taken in 1826 from the window of a French farmhouse. Photograph: AP
The grey, blurred images are not exactly easy on the eye, but they are three of the world's very first photographs and, it will be announced today, were made using a range of techniques including one previously undiscovered method.

Scientists will admit that they are having to rewrite the reference books for one of photography's true pioneers, Joseph Nicéphore Niépce, the man widely acknowledged as the world's first photographer.

New analysis of three of the finest examples of Niépce's work, part of the national collection of photographs at Bradford, has astonished researchers.

They have always been hugely regarded but normally described as simple etched plates of pewter, created using a process that involved bitumen. Now,the Guardian can reveal, fresh technical analysis by Dusan Stulik and Art Kaplan at the Getty Conservation Institute in Los Angeles has shown them to have been made by different photographic processes developed by Niépce. The most eye-opening is a plate called Un Clair de Lune which uses a chemical process not previously discovered; one that involved baking lavender oil to create the image.

The revelations shed new light on the early development of photography and raise Niépce's contribution even higher.

Stulik called the discoveries hugely significant. "This is something completely new in the history of photography. My eureka moment was finding that the plate was not an etched plate – we spent some time not believing what we were seeing.

"To see the whole range of experiments is absolutely amazing."

Philippa Wright, the National Media Museum's curator of photographs, recalled: "There was a moment when Dusan was looking down the microscope and he literally stopped breathing." Stulik added: "I did start breathing again."

The revelations will be made at a two-day conference on Niépce in England at the National Media Museum today and tomorrow where 120 delegates will gather from 10 countries to hear in full why the plates were brought to England and what happened to them afterwards.

The conference will hear details of recent advancements in scientific, art historical and conservation research and the three plates will be on display out of their frames – probably for the last ever time – so they can be looked at front and back.

Stulik said the research conclusions meant that even more respect is due to the French inventor, that he truly was the world's first photographer. "Our findings are shining a different light on the early history of photography than has been previously described in literature.
Coppied by http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2010/oct/13/photography-photography

Waches Tonight's TV highlights

Tonight's TV highlights
Midsomer Murders | Wonderland: Boy Cheerleaders | Michael Wood's Story Of England | The Boys Of H Company | Mad Men | Film 2010 With Claudia Winkleman

'You can't have an unhappy cheerleader' ... (left to right) Scott, Elliott, Josh, Joe, Mackenzie, Harvey and Camoye in Wonderland: Boy Cheerleaders. Photograph: BBC/Quark Films/Quark Films
Midsomer Murders
8pm, ITV1

A guilty Wednesday evening diversion or subtle deconstruction of a rural bourgeois idyll? Either way, John Nettles as DCI Tom Barnaby is remarkable in that he doesn't seem to do anything – it's perhaps the easiest job in TV, or maybe he's the Charles Bronson of prime time, where a fixed expression and narrow eyes act as a cover for manifold emotions. This week the bodies start dropping round a boxing champ, his dodgy manager, a justice of the peace with familial complications, the village solicitor and an artist who shares a workshop with a moody blacksmith. MS
Wonderland: Boy Cheerleaders
9pm, BBC2

This latest dispatch from the enlightening documentary series follows a group of boys from south Leeds as they compete in their first cheerleading competition. What is really striking about this film is not the fact that they are breaking gender stereotypes in suburban Yorkshire, but the strain that the commitment of practice and performance puts on the boys and their families. As their charismatic trainer so aptly puts it, "you can't have an unhappy cheerleader – it just doesn't work". WC
Michael Wood's Story Of England
9pm, BBC4

England's history, Michael Wood's latest visit to Kibworth reminds us, is not a smooth progression towards democracy and freedom in which the great and good graciously give ground when confronted with reasonable arguments. Rather, it's a tale punctuated with moments of dissent and violence, a compelling narrative that runs alongside the efforts of ordinary people to gain access to education. Accordingly, tonight's episode encompasses Wat Tyler, the ascent of Kibworth residents to a new mercantile class, and the free-thinking Lollards. JW
The Boys Of H Company
9pm, More4

Britain has more than enough second world war mythology of its own to consider, but this two-hour documentary persuasively urges the sparing of a thought for the US marines who stormed the Japanese island fortress of Iwo Jima in February 1945. The 33-day battle killed 7,000 American soldiers – and won the marines more than a quarter of the medals of honour awarded in the entire war. The film focuses on H Company of the marines' 5th Division, a unit comprised largely of teenagers who had never seen combat. AM
Coppied by http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/2010/oct/13/midsomer-murders-wonderland-boy-cheerleaders

Watches Curfew as hardline Kashmir separatist calls protest

Curfew as hardline Kashmir separatist calls protest


Syed Ali Shah Geelani (arms raised) has long been a thorn in the side of the Indian Kashmir authoritie
A day-long curfew has been imposed by the authorities in Indian-administered Kashmir to foil a protest march called by a hardline separatist group.

Syed Ali Shah Geelani, who is under house arrest, has urged demonstrators to march to his residence in Srinagar.

More than 100 civilians have been killed since June in protests, but it has been nearly a month since the security forces fired on protesters.

Continue reading the main story
KASHMIR FLASHPOINT

Voices of fury
Autumn of woe
Desperate housewives
Back to frontline
This is the first curfew in Kashmir for more than a week.

Mr Geelani's calls for shutdowns have frequently brought life in the valley to a standstill, says the BBC's Altaf Hussain in Srinagar.

The authorities say Tuesday's curfew has been imposed to avoid a situation in which police would have to open fire.

Last month, the federal government announced measures to address surging violence in the valley.

They included compensation for families of those killed during recent clashes between pro-separatists and Indian security forces.
Coppied by http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-11520451

Watches Hungary detains sludge company head

Hungary detains sludge company head


Police in Hungary have detained a senior official of the company that owns the metals plant responsible for a reservoir which recently burst, flooding several towns with red toxic waste in an environmental disaster that left seven people dead.

Zoltan Bakonyi, head of aluminium producer MAL Zrt, has been detained for 72 hours, Anna Nagy, government spokeswoman, said on Monday.

At least seven people died and 150 others were injured in what officials quickly termed Hungary's worst-ever chemical accident which polluted an area of 40sq km as well as tributaries of the Danube river.

Viktor Orban, the Hungarian prime minister, said the company should be brought under state control because of its role in the disaster that has spoiled large areas the country's west and polluted rivers.

"We need to hold the company responsible for the red sludge spill under state control and its assets under state closure until all of these four tasks are handled," Orban told parliament on Monday.

He said a state commissioner would be appointed to take over control over MAL Zrt and manage its assets.

'War of Words'

Al Jazeera's Anita McNaught, reporting from Ajka, 160km west of the capital, Budapest, said the arrest "comes as no surprise".

"The war of words between the government and the company had been intensifying over the last couple of days," she said.

MAl Zrt has apologised for the disaster and said it will pay compensation "in proportion to its responsibility".

In Depth


What is in the red sludge?
Gallery: Hungary's toxic disaster
Videos:
Dam showed 'weakness'
Hungarians see red over sludge
Hungary battles toxic spill
Our correspondent said: "The government freely admits that it could have been tougher on private business and it has not been.

"The breach of safety regulations, the lack of enforcement, the way these [company] people have been able to make money clearly at the expense of public-safety interests ... all of these things have to be pinned at the door of the Hungarian government."

According to the latest estimates, some 600,000 cubic metres of toxic sludge spilled from the reservoir at the alumina plant in Ajka last Monday.

The reservoir still holds 2.5 million tonnes of the waste.

Engineers now expect to finish new barriers to contain the sludge by Tuesday, as hundreds of volunteers, disaster relief teams and engineers race against time to erect a new dam.

"We still don't know for now whether the company overloaded the reservoirs or not. But if that is the case, it's illegal storage of waste and that constitutes a crime," Zoltan Illes, environment state secretary, said.

The environmental disaster occurred when the walls of the reservoir burst a week ago, sending a tidal wave of sludge through surrounding villages.
Coppied by http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2010/10/20101011104817179833.html

Watch Palestinians reject Israeli offer on settlement freeze

Palestinians reject Israeli offer on settlement freeze

All settlements on occupied territory are considered illegal under international law
Palestinian officials have rejected an offer by the Israeli government to halt settlement construction if they recognise Israel as a "Jewish state".

The Palestinians said they already recognised the state of Israel, and that the real issue threatening peace talks was illegal settlement activity.

Israel has been under international pressure to renew its partial freeze on construction in the occupied West Bank.

The Palestinians have threatened to walk out of the talks over the issue.

Continue reading the main story
Israel and the Palestinians

Mid-East talks: Where they stand
Q&A: Resuming direct talks
Confusion surrounds Arab summit
Hope and anger as freeze expires
The direct negotiations only resumed last month after a 20-month hiatus, and no meeting has been held since the freeze ended on 26 September.

'Seizing initiative'
In a speech to the Israeli parliament on Monday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: "If the Palestinian leadership will say unequivocally to its people that it recognises Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people, I will be prepared to convene my cabinet and request an additional suspension of building for a limited period of time."

"Undoubtedly such a step by the Palestinian Authority would be a confidence-building measure that will open a new horizon of hope as well as trust among broad parts of the Israeli public," he added.

Mr Netanyahu said he had made the offer to the Palestinian Authority "in quiet ways" last month, but that it had been rejected.

The chief Palestinian negotiator, Saeb Erekat, said Mr Netanyahu was "playing games" with his offer, and that there was no connection between settlements and the national character of Israel.

Continue reading the main story
Analysis


Wyre Davies
BBC News, Jerusalem
The swift rejection of this proposal by Palestinian negotiators would have come as little surprise to Benjamin Netanyahu.

He knew that no Palestinian official would, at least at this stage, agree to recognise Israel explicitly as a Jewish state.

This was a tactical gesture by an Israeli prime minister who has been shifting uncomfortably in the spotlight for several weeks as peace talks with the Palestinians have stagnated - and everyone was looking for him to make a move.

By offering a renewed building freeze in the settlements, with attached conditions, Mr Netanyahu is hoping that the spotlight will switch to the Palestinians.

Gambling that the tactic won't anger those in his own right-wing coalition who oppose the freeze, the key response now, will be that from the US.

Washington has been among those repeatedly calling on the Israel to extend the freeze.

If the Obama administration deduces that this is a genuine move on Israel's part, some pressure may have indeed been lifted from Mr Netanyahu's shoulders to those of Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas.

"I don't see a relevance between his obligations under international law and him trying to define the nature of Israel," he added. "I hope he will stop playing these games and will start the peace process by stopping settlements."

Israel has occupied the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, since 1967, settling close to 500,000 Jews in more than 100 settlements. They are considered illegal under international law, although Israel disputes this.
coppied by http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-11519969

Watch US forces may have killed abducted aid worker Linda Norgrove says British PM

US forces may have killed abducted aid worker Linda Norgrove says British PM


A BRITISH aid worker who died in an attempt by US forces to rescue her from Taliban kidnappers in Afghanistan may have been killed by a grenade detonated by the US troops, Prime Minister David Cameron says.

Linda Norgrove, 36, was abducted on September 26 in eastern Afghanistan and killed in the failed US-led operation on Friday.

British officials had earlier said she died when one of her captors blew up a suicide vest.

Mr Cameron today said an immediate investigation had been launched into Ms Norgrove's death but he defended the attempt to rescue her, saying that she had been in "grave danger" from the moment she was captured.

He said the top US officer in Afghanistan, General David Petraeus, informed him today that a review of the raid "revealed evidence to indicate that Linda may not have died at the hands of her captors as originally believed."

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"Linda could have died as a result of a grenade detonated by the task force during the assault.

"However this is not certain and a full US-UK investigation will now be launched," Mr Cameron told a news conference at Downing Street.

Ms Norgrove was working for US development group DAI when she and three Afghan colleagues were kidnapped while travelling in Kunar province, a hotbed of Taliban activity in eastern Afghanistan near the Pakistani border.

Foreign Secretary William Hague told Parliament he gave the green light for the operation because the kidnappers were linked to the Taliban, and it was feared they could hand Ms Norgrove to al-Qaeda militants in Pakistan.

"At no stage was any serious attempt made by those holding her to negotiate," Mr Hague said, adding that her captors aimed to "pass her further up the Taliban command chain to make her more inaccessible."

Once hostages are taken to Pakistan, particularly the tribal region where Osama bin Laden is believed to be hiding, tracking their whereabouts becomes far more difficult. Western troops are also barred from operating there.
Coppied by http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/breaking-news/us-forces-may-have-killed-abducted-aid-worker-linda-norgrove-says-british-pm/story-fn3dxity-1225937561846

Watch French unions set for major protest

French unions set for major protest


President Nicolas Sarkozy's pension reform has brought about a showdown with powerful unions who sunk a previous effort 15 years ago
ollowing a close Monday vote in the French senate that raised the country's official minimum retirement age from 60 to 62, several major labour unions have vowed to strike for the fourth time in a month, viewing this week as a defining moment in a showdown between labour and President Nicolas Sarkozy.

Three prior protests have attracted crowds numbering in the hundreds of thousands but have not halted Sarkozy's pension reform plan. This time, the unions have threatened to stretch Tuesday's strikes past the one day they have previously lasted.

Sarkozy faces re-election in 2012, and his opinion poll ratings are at all-time lows. David Assouline, an opposition leader, accused Sarkozy of trying to provoke a "showdown" and bring unions "to their knees".

The 174 to 159 Monday vote to raise the retirement age shut the door on the most controversial aspect of the reform package, which Sarkozy's administration hopes to pass by the end of the month. The senate also voted to raise the minimum age to receive a full state pension from 65 to 67.

Strike will halt train and air transportation

The walkout will hurt air transit in and out of Paris particularly hard: Half of all the flights landing and departing the Orly airport will be cancelled, along with a third of the flights at Charles de Gaulle and Beauvais-Tille airports, the AFP news agency reported.

While two-thirds of the high-speed TGV trains were expected to be cancelled, those running between Paris and London were due to operate normally.

The oil industry and education workers have also joined in the strike. Employees at France's biggest oil port, Fos-Lavera, have now halted work for 15 straight days, and the education ministry predicted that more than a fourth of the country's elementary and pre-kindergarten teachers would strike on Tuesday.

Unions have threatened to extend the strike beyond Tuesday; it is technically open-ended and subject to a renewal vote by workers.

One poll of around 1,000 people published in the newspaper Le Parisien found that 69 per cent of the respondents supported the new strike, while 61 per cent supported a "continuous and lasting" one.

Like other European governments looking at austerity measures, France faces a yawning deficit and a need to improve its finances if it hopes to retain a AAA credit rating, enabling the country to borrow money at a lower interest rate.

Francois Chereque, the head of the French union CFDT, told French iTele on Sunday that Tuesday's strike is "one of the last chances to make the government retreat".

The reform bill has already been approved in its entirety by the lower house of France's parliament, the National Assembly. The senate is now voting on it piece by piece.
Coppied by http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2010/10/20101012051949142.html

Watch Too much TV psychologically harms children: study

Too much TV psychologically harms children: study


AFP/File – School children play arcade games during the opening of the "Game On" exhibition at The Science
WASHINGTON (AFP) – Hiding the TV remote and games console controller is a good thing to do to kids if it's the only way to limit the time they spend in front of a screen, according to a study published Monday.
The study, conducted by researchers from the University of Bristol, found that youngsters who spend hours each day in front of the TV or games console have more psychological difficulties like problems relating to peers, emotional issues, hyperactivity or conduct challenges, than those who don't.
And contrary to what earlier studies have indicated, the negative impact of screen time was not remedied by increasing a child's physical activity levels, says the study, published in the US journal Pediatrics.
The researchers got 1,013 children between the ages of 10 and 11 to self-report average daily hours spent watching television or playing -- not doing homework -- on a computer. Responses ranged from zero to around five hours per day.
The children also completed a 25-point questionnaire to assess their psychological state, and the time they spent in moderate to vigorous activity was measured using a device called an accelerometer, which was worn around the waist for seven days.
The researchers found that children who spent two hours or more a day watching television or playing on a computer were more likely to get high scores on the questionnaire, indicating they had more psychological difficulties than kids who did not spend a lot of time in front of a screen.
Even children who were physically active but spent more than two hours a day in front of a screen were at increased risk of psychological difficulties, indicating that screen time might be the chief culprit.
Earlier studies have found that while more time spent in front of a screen led to lower well-being, physical activity improved one's state of mind. That led researchers to believe that upping physical activity levels could counteract the negative impact of watching TV or playing on the computer.
And many parents and children think that spending a lot of time on the computer or in front of the television is OK if it's part of a "balanced lifestyle", the study in Pediatrics says.
"Excessive use of electronic media is not a concern if children are physically active," the study says.
But its findings indicate that might not be the case, and the researchers advise parents to limit their children's computer use and TV viewing time to ensure their "optimal well-being."
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We are enjoy Nobel Prize may not help Obama's Fed nominee

Nobel Prize may not help Obama's Fed nominee

AP – FILE -- In a June 18, 2004 file photo Professor Peter A. Diamond smiles prior to the start of a meeting
WASHINGTON – You'd think that having a Nobel Prize under your belt would be a clincher for getting a promotion or a job change. But it may not help economist Peter Diamond win a coveted seat on the Federal Reserve.
Diamond, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, won a Nobel Prize in economics with two other economists on Monday.
Only trouble is, Senate Republicans have so far blocked his nomination. Why? They suggest he lacks the experience to serve on the Fed's board of governors.
Given the partisan rancor that permeates U.S. politics these days, and GOP disdain for some recent Nobel awards, the news from Stockholm won't necessarily lead to a confirmation nod for Diamond.
"While the Nobel Prize for economics is a significant recognition, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences does not determine who is qualified to serve on the Board of Governors," said Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama, the senior Republican on the Senate Banking Committee.
Diamond and the two other economists won the prize for their insights into unemployment and the impact of government policies on helping people to find jobs or cushioning their periods of joblessness.
That's certainly a prime topic right now with the jobless rate stuck at 9.6 percent and nearly 15 million Americans out of work from the worst recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s.
Their research found, in part, that programs such as government unemployment benefits can help the process of lining up job seekers with jobs that match their skills and abilities.
"How can economic policy affect unemployment? This year's laureates have developed a theory that can be used to answer these questions," the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said in a statement.
Republicans in this election cycle have railed against the administration's spending, suggesting the tens of billions of dollars in bank and auto bailouts and stimulus programs have done little to produce jobs. Many have fought extensions of unemployment benefit programs pushed by President Barack Obama and the Democratic-controlled Congress, arguing that the extensions have reduced incentives for finding work.
Some of Diamond's research findings may run up against GOP campaign dogma.
Coppied by http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101012/ap_on_bi_ge/us_nobel_politics;_ylt=As.cAm2_OHURvcEhtNNvKW2s0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTNpOGUxc2k4BGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMTAxMDEyL3VzX25vYmVsX3BvbGl0aWNzBGNjb2RlA21vc3Rwb3B1bGFyBGNwb3MDMwRwb3MDMTEEcHQDaG9tZV9jb2tlBHNlYwN5bl90b3Bfc3RvcnkEc2xrA25vYmVscHJpemVtYQ--

Watch NATO: 2 killed, 10 wounded in helicopter explosion

NATO: 2 killed, 10 wounded in helicopter explosion

KABUL, Afghanistan – NATO says two people have been killed and 10 others injured in an explosion aboard a coalition helicopter just after it landed in eastern Afghanistan.
NATO says the helicopter, with about 26 people aboard, was already on the ground Tuesday when the blast occurred.
The coalition says it's unclear what caused the explosion.
The 10 wounded NATO service members were evacuated to a medical facility.
The landing site, which was not disclosed, has been secured by Afghan and coalition forces.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — President Barack Obama promised "to get to the bottom" of a failed rescue attempt by U.S. special forces that ended in the death a captive British aid worker in Afghanistan, after NATO said an American grenade may have killed her.
Obama offered his condolences to Prime Minister David Cameron in a phone call Monday and promised a full investigation.
NATO initially said a Taliban bomb killed Linda Norgrove, 36, during Friday's operation to free her from a compound in the eastern province of Kunar.
However, the coalition said Monday that, after reviewing surveillance footage, it is possible U.S. forces may have thrown a grenade that killed Norgrove nearly two weeks after she was kidnapped while traveling in the east.
"The review showed what was believed to be a member of the rescue team throwing a hand grenade in the area near where Ms. Norgrove was later found," said NATO spokeswoman Maj. Sunset Belinsky. "It's now unclear what the exact circumstances surrounding her death are, and the investigation will attempt to
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Watch Dramatic endgame nears for trapped Chile miners

Dramatic endgame nears for trapped Chile miners


SAN JOSE MINE, Chile – They'll come up one by one in green overalls bearing their names on their chests — first the fittest, then the weakest, twisting in a steel cage that proved itself with four flawless test runs deep into the earth.
The dramatic endgame hastened Monday for the 33 Chilean miners who have braved two months underground, with rescuers reinforcing the escape shaft and the 13-foot-tall rescue chamber sliding, as planned, nearly all the way to the trapped men.
"It didn't even raise any dust," Mining Minister Laurence Golborne said.
If all goes well, everything will be in place late Tuesday to begin pulling the men out, officials said. The lead psychologist for the rescue team recommended the extractions begin at dawn Wednesday. No official decision was announced, but Andre Sougarret, the rescue team coordinator, tweeted Monday evening that "today the miners sleep their last night together!"
On Monday, the Phoenix I capsule — the biggest of three built by Chilean navy engineers, named for the mythic bird that rose from ashes — made its first test run after the top 180 feet of the shaft was encased in tubing, the rescue leader said.
Then the empty capsule was winched 2,000 feet, just 40 feet short of the shaft system that has been the miners' refuge since an Aug. 5 collapse.
"We didn't send it (all the way) down because we could risk that someone will jump in," a grinning Golborne told reporters.
Engineers had planned to extend the piping nearly twice as far, but they decided to stop after the sleeve — the hole is angled 11 degrees off vertical at its top before plumbing down, like a waterfall — became jammed during a probe.
Rescue team psychologist Alberto Iturra said he recommended the first man be pulled out at dawn because the miners are to be taken by Chilean air force helicopters to the nearby city of Copiapo and fog tends to enshroud the mine at night.


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It is a roughly 10-minute flight, said Lt. Col. Aldo Carbone, the choppers' squadron commander. He said the pilots have night-vision goggles but will not fly unless it is clear. Ambulances will be ready for backup. The drive would take about an hour.
Officials have drawn up a secret list of which miners should come out first, but the order could change after paramedics and a mining expert first descend in the capsule to evaluate the men and oversee the journey upward.
First out will be the four fittest of frame and mind, said health minister Jaime Manalich. Should glitches occur, these men will be best prepared to ride them out and tell their comrades what to expect.
Next will be 10 who are weakest or ill. One miner suffers from hypertension. Another is a diabetic, and others have dental and respiratory infections or skin lesions from the mine's oppressive humidity.
The last out is expected to be Luiz Urzua, who was shift chief when the men became entombed, several family members of miners told the AP, speaking on condition of anonymity because they did not want to upset government officials.
The men will take a twisting, 20-minute ride for 2,041 feet up to the surface. It should take about an hour for the rescue capsule to make a round trip, deputy rescue coordinator Rene Aguilar told The Associated Press.
Golborne said all would be ready by 12:01 a.m. Wednesday. Officials wanted to make sure the concrete around the steel tubing at the top of the shaft set, he said.
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Watch Hungarian factory sorry for those killed by sludge

Hungarian factory sorry for those killed by sludge


Associated Press Writer= KOLONTAR, Hungary (AP) — The owners of the metals plant whose reservoir burst, flooding several towns in western Hungary with caustic red sludge, expressed their condolences Sunday to the families of the seven people killed, as well as to those injured — and said they were sorry for not having done so sooner.

MAL Rt., which owns the alumina plant in Ajka, also said it was willing to pay compensation "in proportion to its responsibility" for the damage caused by the deluge.

But the trouble may not be over.

With the northwest corner of the storage pool still showing a hole 50 meters (yards) wide where the mix of mud and water broke through last week, officials said the collapse of at least one of the breached walls was inevitable. That, they said, would probably unleash a new deluge of toxic matter that could ooze a half-mile (1 kilometer) to the north, wreaking further havoc.

That would flood parts of the town nearest the plant — one of those already hit by the industrial waste Oct. 4 — but stop short of the next town to the north.

Environmental State Secretary Zoltan Illes said that recently discovered cracks on the northern wall of the reservoir at the alumina plant have temporarily stopped widening because of favorable weather conditions but will continue to expand, especially at night.

Disaster agency spokesman Tibor Dobson said engineers didn't detect any new cracks overnight Saturday, and the older cracks were being repaired, but it was too soon to consider lowering the state of alert.

Protective walls were being built around the reservoir's damaged area to hold back further spills. And a 2,000-foot- (620-meter-) long dam that will be between 4 and 5 meters (yards) high was under construction to save the areas of the town of Kolontar not directly hit by last week's toxic flood.

"I would describe the situation as hopeful, but nothing has really changed," Dobson told The Associated Press. "The wall to protect Kolontar is planned to be finished by tonight, but it will likely be several days before residents may be able to move back."

Nearly all of Kolontar's 800 residents were evacuated Saturday, when Prime Minister Viktor Orban said the north wall of the massive storage pool — which is 24.7 acres (10 hectares) in size — was "very likely" to collapse because cracks that had appeared at several points.

The roughly 6,000 residents of neighboring Devecser, just north of Kolontar, were told by police Saturday to pack a single bag and get ready to leave at a moment's notice.

"This hasn't changed," Dobson said. "We are still on guard in case of any more spills."

Illes said that, since it would be impossible to transfer the 2.5 million cubic meters (568 million gallons) of red sludge still in the damaged reservoir anywhere else, he had set a 2-month deadline for closing up the huge opening.

"The hole is 50 meters (yards) wide and 23 meters high," Illes said. "The job, including pouring enough concrete to raise three 10-story buildings, will have to be done from the air. This is unprecedented."

Red sludge is a byproduct of the refining of bauxite into alumina, the basic material for manufacturing aluminum. Treated sludge is often stored in ponds where the water eventually evaporates, leaving behind a largely safe red clay. Industry experts say the sludge in Hungary appears to have been treated insufficiently, if at all, meaning it remained highly caustic.

Illes, commenting to reporters during a tour of the affected villages and the damaged reservoir, confirmed that the red sludge stored in Hungarian reservoirs had not been treated to reduce its alkalinity.

A five-member European civil protection team will start work in Hungary, helping to assess and advise on the impact of the sludge on the environment, in particular on agricultural land, surface and underground water supplies, and the flora and fauna. The team will also anticipate risks and suggest solutions about how to restore nature as well as the agricultural and urban land affected.

"The quick selection of this team ... clearly shows that European solidarity is working," Kristalina Georgieva, the EU crisis response commissioner, said Sunday.

Last week, the sludge flooded three villages in less than an hour, burning people and animals. At least seven people were killed and at least 120 were injured. Several of those who were hospitalized were in serious condition. Around 184 million gallons (700,000 cubic meters) of the caustic red sludge was released.

The sludge devastated creeks and rivers near the spill site and entered the Danube River on Thursday, moving downstream toward Croatia, Serbia and Romania. But the volume of water in the Danube appeared to be blunting the sludge's immediate impact.

Illes said that neutralizing chemicals poured into primary and secondary tributaries of the Danube, as well as efforts to remove as much red sludge as possible from the waterways, was able to prevent ecological damage to Europe's second-longest river.

In Romania, local authorities were testing the water Sunday every four hours in the village of Bazias where the Danube enters Romania from Serbia, and will continue to carry out tests all this week, said Adrian Draghici, director of Romanian water for Mehedinti county.

Romanian fishermen sailed out into the Danube and villagers fished on the banks of the river for pike, which is plentiful in the Danube. They seemed unperturbed by any potential hazards.

But local authorities warned residents about letting animals drink from the Danube and urged them to be careful about fishing.

MAL Rt., the company that owns the factory, is under investigation. Hungarian police have seized company documents, and the National Investigation Office is looking into whether on-the-job carelessness was a factor in the disaster.

State Secretary Illes said the fines accumulated so far by MAL because of the damage caused to waterways and the pollution spread by the flood totaled at least 19.2 billion forints ($97.3 million).

---

Associated Press writer Alison Mutler in Bucharest, Romania and Robert Wielaard in Brussels contributed to this report.

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Watches Nigeria's 100m winner flunks dope test

Nigeria's 100m winner flunks dope test


The Commonwealth Games was on Monday rocked by its first doping case when Nigerian women's 100m gold medallist Osayemi Oludamola tested positive for a banned stimulant.

Commonwealth Games Federation chief Michael Fennell announced this morning that Osayemi tested positive for methylhaxaneamine and her 'B' sample test and hearing will be held later on Monday.

"I regret to announce that a positive dope case has come out. Nigeria's Osayemi Oludamola has tested positive for methylhexaneamine and under anti-doping rules of the Games, she has been handed a provisional suspension," Fennell said at his customary media conference.

"Under anti-doping procedures she has been notified and she has requested for a 'B' sample testing. The 'B' sample testing will be done today and her hearing will also be held today," he added.

Asked whether the gold medal has been taken back from the Nigerian, the CGF chief said, "At the moment no decision has been taken about the medal. She has been put under provisional suspension."
Coppied by http://www.indianexpress.com/news/nigerias-100m-winner-flunks-dope-test/695605/

Watches Hunger index shows one billion without enough food

Hunger index shows one billion without enough food


The number of undernourished people, especially children, has increased in recent years
One billion people in the world were undernourished in 2009, according to a new report.

The 2010 Global Hunger Index shows that child malnutrition is the biggest cause of hunger worldwide, accounting for almost half of those affected.

Countries in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia were shown to have the highest levels of hunger.

The report's authors called on nations to tackle child malnutrition in order to reduce global hunger.

The Global Hunger Index is produced by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Welthungerhilfe and Concern Worldwide.

Continue reading the main story
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Global hunger 'unacceptably high'
Food push urged to avoid hunger
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) defines hunger as the consumption of fewer than 1,800 kilocalories a day - the minimum required to live a healthy and productive life.

Despite the number of undernourished people in the world falling between 1990 and 2006, the report's authors say in that number has crept up in recent years, with the data from 2009 showing more than one billion hungry people.
coppied by http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11503845

Watch Hungary detains sludge company head

Hungary detains sludge company head

olice in Hungary have detained a senior official of the company that owns the metals plant responsible for a reservoir which recently burst, flooding several towns with red toxic waste in an environmental disaster that left seven people dead.

Zoltan Bakonyi, head of aluminium producer MAL Zrt, has been detained for 72 hours, Anna Nagy, government spokeswoman, said on Monday.

At least seven people died and 150 others were injured in what officials quickly termed Hungary's worst-ever chemical accident which polluted an area of 40sq km as well as tributaries of the Danube river.

Viktor Orban, the Hungarian prime minister, said the company should be brought under state control because of its role in the disaster that has spoiled large areas the country's west and polluted rivers.

"We need to hold the company responsible for the red sludge spill under state control and its assets under state closure until all of these four tasks are handled," Orban told parliament on Monday.

He said a state commissioner would be appointed to take over control over MAL Zrt and manage its assets.

'War of Words'

Al Jazeera's Anita McNaught, reporting from Ajka, 160km west of the capital, Budapest, said the arrest "comes as no surprise".

"The war of words between the government and the company had been intensifying over the last couple of days," she said.

MAl Zrt has apologised for the disaster and said it will pay compensation "in proportion to its responsibility".

In Depth


What is in the red sludge?
Gallery: Hungary's toxic disaster
Videos:
Dam showed 'weakness'
Hungarians see red over sludge
Hungary battles toxic spill
Our correspondent said: "The government freely admits that it could have been tougher on private business and it has not been.

"The breach of safety regulations, the lack of enforcement, the way these [company] people have been able to make money clearly at the expense of public-safety interests ... all of these things have to be pinned at the door of the Hungarian government."

According to the latest estimates, some 600,000 cubic metres of toxic sludge spilled from the reservoir at the alumina plant in Ajka last Monday.

The reservoir still holds 2.5 million tonnes of the waste.
Coppied by http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2010/10/20101011104817179833.html

Watches US forces may have killed abducted aid worker Linda Norgrove says British PM

US forces may have killed abducted aid worker Linda Norgrove says British PM

A BRITISH aid worker who died in an attempt by US forces to rescue her from Taliban kidnappers in Afghanistan may have been killed by a grenade detonated by the US troops, Prime Minister David Cameron says.

Linda Norgrove, 36, was abducted on September 26 in eastern Afghanistan and killed in the failed US-led operation on Friday.

British officials had earlier said she died when one of her captors blew up a suicide vest.

Mr Cameron today said an immediate investigation had been launched into Ms Norgrove's death but he defended the attempt to rescue her, saying that she had been in "grave danger" from the moment she was captured.

He said the top US officer in Afghanistan, General David Petraeus, informed him today that a review of the raid "revealed evidence to indicate that Linda may not have died at the hands of her captors as originally believed."



"Linda could have died as a result of a grenade detonated by the task force during the assault.

"However this is not certain and a full US-UK investigation will now be launched," Mr Cameron told a news conference at Downing Street.

Ms Norgrove was working for US development group DAI when she and three Afghan colleagues were kidnapped while travelling in Kunar province, a hotbed of Taliban activity in eastern Afghanistan near the Pakistani border.

Foreign Secretary William Hague told Parliament he gave the green light for the operation because the kidnappers were linked to the Taliban, and it was feared they could hand Ms Norgrove to al-Qaeda militants in Pakistan.

"At no stage was any serious attempt made by those holding her to negotiate," Mr Hague said, adding that her captors aimed to "pass her further up the Taliban command chain to make her more inaccessible."

Once hostages are taken to Pakistan, particularly the tribal region where Osama bin Laden is believed to be hiding, tracking their whereabouts becomes far more difficult. Western troops are also barred from operating there.

US President Barack Obama spoke to Mr Cameron by telephone late today and both agreed the decision to launch the operation had been right, Downing Street said.

The White House issued its own statement that noted Mr Obama had offered his "deepest condolences" and that he and Mr Cameron "agreed that the rescue operation was necessary given the grave danger to Linda's life, and that US forces had shown great courage."

Mr Cameron hailed US forces for putting their lives at risk to try to rescue Ms Norgrove and said that General Petraeus "deeply regrets" what had happened.

The British Prime Minister has pledged to get all of his country's troops out of Afghanistan by 2015. A total of 339 British troops have been killed in Afghanistan since the 2001 invasion.
coppied by http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/breaking-news/us-forces-may-have-killed-abducted-aid-worker-linda-norgrove-says-british-pm/story-fn3dxity-1225937561846

Watch Upcoming Social Media and Technology Events for the Summer

Upcoming Social Media and Technology Events for the Summer


Those of you in Social Media or Technology space, here is the list of related global events for the summer you might be interested in attending including a few of them in Washington, D.C.:
June 21-23, 2010, Denver, CO: Hosted by WebmasterRadio.FM, AffCon 2010 is a conference series designed specifically to meet the needs of affiliate marketers. As such, admission is FREE for all working affiliates to attend! Don’t miss out on this unique opportunity to meet and share ideas with the brightest business people in the affiliate marketing industry. Pulling together an amazing lineup of session panelists and speakers (including super affiliates), AffCon 2010 – Denver also features an exhibit hall, general and targeted skills sessions, networking and WebmasterRadio.FM’s epic AffiliateBash. Get registered today!
June 21-24, 2010, Ottawa, ON: Attend the Advanced Learning Institute’s Forum on Social Media for Government: How To Engage Your Employees And Citizens By Using The Latest Web 2.0 Technologies To Drive Communication Results, to learn how to capture the power of social media in your organization, along with helpful tools, tips and techniques to get started. Hear practical advice, firsthand, from leading organizations such as: City of Ottawa, ON; Public Safety Canada; U.S. Department of State; Norfolk County, ON; Canadian Internet Registration Authority; Office of the Ombudsman, ON; Alberta Environment; Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada; Public Service Commission of Canada; Ottawa Public Library; Department of National Defence; Corporation of the City of London, ON; Thornley Fallis Communications & 76design; and more.
June 22-23, 2010, Atlanta, GA: The Business Of WordPress Conference is focused on providing generally non-technical business people with a roadmap for how they can leverage WordPress to establish or advance their business’ presence on the web. This two-day event will include a Workshop Day on June 22nd for hands-on WordPress training. The second day will be an all day conference to learn what’s possible on the web today with WordPress, which now makes it easy for almost anyone to launch a world-class website. Register now and save 15% off of the June 23rd Conference.
June 22-24, 2010, Santa Clara, CA: Now in its third year, Velocity – the Web Performance and Operations Conference from O’Reilly Media – is dedicated to helping people build a better Internet that is Fast by Default. Join hundreds of web developers and experts under one roof, Velocity packs a wealth of big ideas, know-how and connections into three concentrated days. You’ll be able to apply what you’ve learned immediately for high impact results and you’ll come away prepared for what’s ahead. O’Reilly Velocity 2010 is the premier conference dedicated to building industrial strength sites, at internet speed. Register Now at http://en.oreilly.com/velocity2010.
June 23, 2010, San Francisco, CA: The B2B Search Strategy Summit is designed by B2B Search Engine Marketers for B2B Search Engine Marketers to provide strategic and tactical Marketing knowledge and bring together the best minds in B2B search engine marketing, email, PR, social media and lead generation to share leading-edge information and experience. Conference attendees will walk away with a toolbox full of new strategies and tactics to apply immediately to current B2B Marketing challenges and opportunities. Attendance is limited to 150 B2B marketing professionals.
Coppied by http://awesomedc.com/2010/06/23/upcoming-social-media-and-technology-events-during-the-summer/

Watch UFO Sighting Causes Airport Closure in China

UFO Sighting Causes Airport Closure in China


Weather, terrorist threats--let's face it, airlines already have enough reasons for delays without bringing alien life into the mix. That, however, is seemingly what happened in the Inner Mongolia region of China, when a "flat and tubular" unidentified flying object shut down a major airport.

The UFO caused flights from Beijing and Shanghai to be diverted to other airports. This, according to British tabloid The Sun, is the third time this year that airfields in China have been closed because of unidentified craft.

This time the object was reportedly sighted via the radar screens of air traffic controllers who alerted the airport after failing to make contact with the object. A spokeswoman said of the event, "To guarantee security, aircraft had to land at secondary airports. Otherwise, it may have led to collision."

A space collision, naturally.
Coppied by http://www.gearlog.com/emerging_tech/

Watch Get Ready for Amtrak's New High-Speed Trains... in 2040

Get Ready for Amtrak's New High-Speed Trains... in 2040


Yes, you read that right. In 30 years, and for the cost of a mere $117 billion, America will finally catch up to the rest of the industrialized world.

The purposed plan would connect Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and DC. In a mere three-and-a-half hours, the new high-speed trains will be able to zoom a professor from MIT down to meet the President at the White House (both of whom are likely now in their 20s and posting things on Facebook they will later regret) to discuss the policy implications of teleporters, which will totally exist by then. This is compared to the current travel time of eight hours on conventional local service, and six-an-a-half hours on the Acela.

Progress!

To keep things in perspective, here are some other things that will also occur the year Amtrak's high-speed trains comes on-line:

The people born 12 years from today will be able to vote.
Noted philosopher, Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino will be entitled to the senior discount at Chick-fil-A.
Justin Bieber will be six years past the American Urological Association's recommended age for receiving his first digital rectal exam for prostate cancer.
Wasn't "Amtrak Joe" supposed to be all over this?
Coppied by http://www.gearlog.com/emerging_tech/

Watches The Rocket Project Documentary Hits the Science Channel

The Rocket Project Documentary Hits the Science Channel

Back in July, a team of high school students gathered on the dusty flats of the Black Rock Desert in northern Nevada with a single purpose: to launch a 29-foot rocket into orbit using some rocketry training, their knowledge of physics, and a couple of Sony laptops powered by Intel Core i5 and Core i7 processors. The event was the culmination of The Rocket Project, and after several delays and weather mishaps, the students finally managed to launch their rocket into orbit successfully.

Following the students on that journey were a handful of documentary filmmakers who released short episodes of the students trials and successes, and now a complete half-hour Rocket Project Documentary will air on The Science Channel tonight at 9:00pm Eastern (check your local listings for additional airings.) If you miss the half-hour documentary though, the shorter Web episodes that follow the months-long story of the launch are still available at The Rocket Project Web site
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Watches News orgs’ goal for 2010: Imagine tomorrow’s media world today

News orgs’ goal for 2010 Imagine tomorrow’s media world today

The legacy press — or the traditional media, or whatever we’re calling newspapers these days — has one main challenge for 2010, and it’s not finding a new business model. It has to do with vision. It has to do with being able to imagine a world that does not yet exist.

While the news media’s woes come from lagging ad rates and content that’s scooped up by aggregrators, those are symptoms of the main problem: an inability to imagine what media consumption will look like in one, five, 10 years.

It’s a problem that’s not new or unique to the news business. Two examples illustrate my point.

Personal computers

In the early ’60s, IBM, the king of computers at the time, couldn’t imagine a need for personal computers, according to Robert X. Cringley’s 1992 book, “Accidental Empires.” (The famous quote from IBM chief Thomas Watson — “I think there is a world market for maybe five computers” — appears to be apocryphal, though.) In those days, computers were mainframes that filled a room. Executive didn’t type; they had secretaries for that. Watch an episode of “Mad Men,” and you’ll get the idea.

Cringley writes in his book that top IBM executives were briefed on a plan for video-display terminals in those days, but they didn’t get it. “These were intelligent men, but they had a firmly fixed concept of what computer was supposed to be, and it didn’t include video-display terminals,” he wrote. “To invent a particular type of computer, you have to want to use it, and the leaders of America’s computer companies did not want a computer on their desks.”

Imagine that: a computer company that could not foresee that people might want to harness the power of a mainframe computer, plunk it on their desk or lap, and use it all by themeselves. Today it seems preposterous; my laptop gets turned on as early each morning as my coffee maker.

IBM and others couldn’t imagine a world that didn’t exist then. Of course, others did — including later bosses at IBM — and the personal computer was born. But the inability to imagine delayed the process and changed the computer industry forever. Ask you typical 20-something who rules the computer business, and IBM won’t be on their list.

Microwaves

The first commercial microwave hit the market in 1947, according to Microtech’s history of the microwave. But it wasn’t until the 1970s when they caught on in the home. I remember when my family got our first: We all watched as my mom boiled her first cup of water for tea in this mammoth machine. “I can’t imagine what I’ll do with this,” I remember my mother saying, noting that making tea water in a stovetop kettle seemed easier.

Then think about today. My microwave died on Christmas Day, when not a store was open to replace it. Our family barely made it to Saturday, when I rushed to Target to buy a new one. What we couldn’t imagine a use for 30 years ago, we can’t live without today.

What this means for the news business

My point is news organizations need to imagine how people will consume news in the future — even though it might not make sense to them today. Newspapers owners may want ink on their fingers, and a paper they can feel, but many of their customers don’t now — or won’t in five years. And they may think a newspaper web site should look like a newspaper, but it shouldn’t. (It’s normal to build something new based on something old. That happened in the computer world, too, with the first microcomputers modeled on a mainframe.)

The challenge for the news biz is to look ahead and imagine how people may want their news and information. It’s about format (online, by phone, through social media) and content (aggregated, local, tailored to their needs.) For local news operations, this mean “organizing a community’s information so the community can organize itself,” as Jeff Jarvis puts it.

For all media organizations, it means adding more value to what they offer readers, according to Jay Rosen. What it doesn’t mean is forsaking the journalistic mission in search of the “almighty hit,” as Lehigh University journalism professor Jeremy Littau puts it.
Coppied by http://www.niemanlab.org/2010/01/news-orgs-goal-for-2010-imagine-tomorrows-media-world-today/

All the day's breaking news from the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa

Watches All the day's breaking news from the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa
breaking news from the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa
Paul, the octopus who became a sensation by correctly predicting the outcome of all seven of Germany's games plus the Spain-Netherlands final - is going to retire.

He will "go into retirement and do what he likes to do best: play with his handlers and delight children who come visit to him," according to Tanja Munzig, a spokeswoman for the Sea Life aquarium in Oberhausen.

Paul took one last curtain call when aquarium employees presented the octopus with a golden cup - similar to the official World Cup trophy.

2215: Spain goalkeeper wins Golden Glove award

The Spain keeper and captain Iker Casillas conceded just two goals in the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

Under pressure after La Roja opened their campaign with a shock 1-0 defeat to Switzerland, Casillas answered his critics with a string of superb displays that proved crucial to Spain’s progress to the Final.

In the final it was Casillas ability with the high ball and quick reactions with his feet that denied a number of Dutch chances that could have lost Spain the World Cup.

2040: Dutch return to canal celebration

The Dutch football team, who were beaten 1-0 by Spain in the World Cup final, will return to a heroes welcome and a parade along the canals of Amsterdam, city officials confirmed.

"The players will parade in a boat which will navigate the canals of Amsterdam. The tour will last between two and two and a half hours," Guus Schoker, spokesman for the city of Amsterdam, told AFP on Monday.

"The fans will gather along the banks of the canals and can see the players."

The Oranje will then make their way to a specially-erected podium at the Museumplein in the city centre where 180,000 fans gathered on Sunday night to watch the final on a giant screen.
Coppied by http://www.foxsports.com.au/football/world-cup-2010/all-the-days-breaking-news-from-the-2010-fifa-world-cup-in-south-africa/story-fn50jked-1225921323471?from=public_rss

Watch Officer given life for boy's murder in Greek riot case

Officer given life for boy's murder in Greek riot case
A Greek policeman has been sentenced to life in prison for murdering a schoolboy in 2008, an incident that sparked mass unrest.


A court in the town of Amfissa convicted Epaminondas Korkoneas, 38, of intentionally killing 15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos.

He was shot dead on 6 December 2008 in the Athens neighbourhood of Exarchia.

Korkoneas's patrol partner, Vassilios Saraliotis, 32, was given a 10-year jail sentence for complicity.

Continue reading the main story
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The riots that followed the killing saw cars being set alight and shops looted in a number of cities. Hundreds of businesses in Athens were targeted and the second city of Thessaloniki also saw serious unrest.

Further rioting took place on the first anniversary.

'We will not forget'
The verdict from a panel of judges and jurors was 4-3 in favour of convicting Korkoneas of intentionally shooting Alexandros.

Continue reading the main story
Analysis


Malcolm Brabant
BBC News, Athens
The decision, by the smallest possible margin, to convict Epaminondas Korkoneas of murder closes one of the darkest chapters of recent Greek history and is a source of considerable relief for the country's socialist government.

Anything other than a guilty verdict could have triggered a violent response from the country's youth, many of whom regard the police with suspicion, mistrust and outright hatred.

The outcome is a source of grim satisfaction for the family of 15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos, who had fully expected "The Rambo of Exarchia" to be convicted of murder.

Alexandros's mother Gina Tsakilian, who runs a jewellery store in Athens, was highly distressed by attempts by Korkoneas's defence team to paint her son as a troublemaker and the verdict helps to restore his memory.

Two judges and one juror had backed a lesser verdict of manslaughter with possible intent.

The nine-month trial heard that Korkoneas had fired three shots, during an altercation with youths on the streets of Athens.

His lawyer said these had been warning shots - responding to a hail of missiles - and cited an autopsy report indicating the boy had been hit by a ricocheting bullet.

However, witnesses and relatives testified that Korkoneas had deliberately taken aim and fired.

At the trial in January, Alexandros's mother, Gina Tsakilian, said the two defendants were "monsters in the guise of men".

Responding to the verdict, her spokesman, Capt Andreas Constantinou, said: "The family is happy with the outcome of the court proceedings. Justice has been done.

"Of course, Alexandros is not coming back, but at least what is important for the family is that his good name has been restored."

The trial was moved from Athens to Amfissa - a small town 200km (120 miles) west of the capital - to deter attacks by anarchist groups that had vowed to kill the two defendants.

Exarchia is a rebellious district, popular with self-styled anarchists, and there are frequent clashes with police.


Saraliotis (left) and Korkoneas denied the charges
The BBC's Malcolm Brabant in Athens says the chairman of the residents' association there, Manos Koufouglou, had told him he welcomed the verdict.

But Mr Koufouglou said that while tensions had eased, the people of Exarchia remained unhappy that the armed Special Guard unit to which Korkoneas belonged had not been disbanded.

"Police violence goes on," he told our correspondent. "The government has not done enough to reform the police.

"There will be a demonstration to mark the anniversary of the murder. We will not forget."
Coppied by http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11513309