Special news Obama thanks special forces for daring bin Laden raid

Watches Obama thanks special forces for daring bin Laden raid


FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. — President Obama on Friday privately thanked some of the special military operators who killed Osama bin Laden. "Job well done," he said of their daring raid.

In a series of closed-door meetings, Obama and Vice President Joseph Biden met with some of the special-operations forces who went on Monday's raid in Pakistan and with members of the broader assault force that supported the mission.

"I came here for a simple reason: to say thank you on behalf of America," Obama told soldiers at Fort Campbell, the home of the 101st Airborne Division, after his private meetings.

"Thanks to the incredible skill and courage of countless individuals, intelligence, military, over many years, the terrorist leader who struck our nation on 9/11 will never threaten America again," he said.

The president said he had visited New York the day before to pay homage to the victims of bin Laden's 2001 terrorist attacks, as well as to the firefighters and police who responded to the catastrophe.

"I promised that our nation will never forget those we lost that dark September day," he told about 2,000 troops in a steamy hangar. "And today, here at Fort Campbell, I had the privilege of meeting the extraordinary special-ops folks who honored that promise," he said. "It was a chance for me to say, on behalf of all Americans and people around the world, job well done. Job well done."

The commandos — Army helicopter pilots and Navy SEALs — briefed Obama about the raid, administration aides said, and he gave each of the groups the Presidential Unit Citation, the highest honor he can give a military unit.

The extraordinary sessions were kept private to protect the identities of those involved.

Obama also met Cairo, a dog used to help alert the special-operations teams to hidden threats. Cairo is the only member of the raid team to be identified
Coppied by http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2014986679_obama07.html

Watches Libyan tribal support for Gaddafi unclear due to media spin

Libyan tribal support for Gaddafi unclear due to media spin




Media outlets from around the world provided inconsistent characterizations of Friday’s National Conference for Libyan Tribes – some saying the tribes support Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi while others claim the tribes called for Gaddafi to cede power. Common among the news reports was the assertion that the tribes wanted the civil war to end and amnesty for those who fought in it.

French news outlet Agence France-Presse reported that the tribes called the rebels "traitors" and pledged not to "abandon" or "forsake" Gaddafi in a statement issued by the conference. The statement also supposedly called for marches to "liberate" rebel-held towns:

"The conference also calls all Libyan tribes neighbouring the towns and cities hijacked by armed groups to move peacefully in popular marches to liberate those highjacked towns, disarming the armed rebels.”

Italy’s Agenzia Giornalistica Italia claimed that “The National Conference for Libyan tribes organized by the regime said they were clearly for Muammar Gaddafi”.

A Euronews article stated that the tribes “…called for national unity, urged the rebels to disarm and demanded NATO end its bombing campaign.” Pakistan’s International News quoted Mahmud Mohammed Ali, the representative for the southern tribes as saying during his speech:



Continue reading on Examiner.com: Libyan tribal support for Gaddafi unclear due to media spin - National Geopolitics | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/geopolitics-in-national/libyan-tribal-support-for-gaddafi-unclear-due-to-media-spin#ixzz1LkiC2Q4t
Coppied by http://www.examiner.com/geopolitics-in-national/libyan-tribal-support-for-gaddafi-unclear-due-to-media-spin

watches World’s first vending machine for gold installed in Tokyo

World’s first vending machine for gold installed in Tokyo

The special vending machine, which sells gold coins and bullions weighing from one to seven grammes to anyone wishing to do so, has been devised by the Space International Ltd Company.

The sole vending machine of its kind is installed here in a downtown building that houses the Company’s office. Another such vending machine is to be installed soon at Imperial Hotel in downtownTokyo.

The price of gold sold by the hambaiki is regulated every day in line with the stock market current prices. A gold coin weighing 7.2 grammes, issued by the Central Bank, is now the most expensive commodity sold by this vending machine at a price of approximately $410.

Company CEO Makishi Rokugawa points out, “It may so happen that waking up one day you would realize that all your money turned into a mere paper. This is why, I am sure that gold is the best way of monetary investment.”

Rokugawa told journalists that his company got far reaching plans for developing vending machines to sell precious metals. Next year the Space International is planning to reach out to the nationwide level, siting similar vending machines in a majority of large cities of Japan.

The Company also mulls in earnest over the possiblity of getting to the market of Hong Kong.

On the last day of 2010, gold price bounced up to an all-time high.

Many analysts are inclined to think that gold is currently the most optimum object of financial inputs. Besides , gold has been always immensely popular in China and India -- the two most rapidly developing economies of our time.

Coppied by http://www.livemint.com/2011/01/19144537/World8217s-first-vending-ma.html#

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 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.


Ask America: Learn. Listen. Be heard.

Ask America
Election forum
The Fast Fix
Map snapshot
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.
Coppied by http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101012/ap_on_bi_ge/lt_chile_mine_collapse;_ylt=AiLJkNIf_mZoO62d6dbIAqes0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTNtaGpiZDU0BGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMTAxMDEyL2x0X2NoaWxlX21pbmVfY29sbGFwc2UEY2NvZGUDbW9zdHBvcHVsYXIEY3BvcwMxBHBvcwMyBHB0A2hvbWVfY29rZQRzZWMDeW5fdG9wX3N0b3J5BHNsawNkcmFtYXRpY2VuZGc-

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.

larger | smaller
World news
Printable version
Coppied by http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/feedarticle/9305870

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 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 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/

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
Related stories

Relief at Greece police verdict
In pictures: Anniversary violence
Rebellion deeply embedded
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

We are see the Chile rescuers prepare escape shaft for miners' exit

Chile rescuers prepare escape shaft for miners' exit


COPIAPO, Chile (Reuters) – Chile's 33 trapped miners and their relatives were counting down the hours on Monday as rescuers worked to finish reinforcing an escape shaft to avoid a last minute disaster as their two month ordeal draws to an end.
Engineers expect to finish lining part of the narrow, nearly 2,050 foot-long (625-meter) shaft with metal tubes early on Monday. Then they will do test runs with special escape capsules, and the government aims to start hoisting the men to freedom one by one on Wednesday.
They are installing the tubes to head off the risk of rocks from the side of the drill shaft falling down onto the capsules dubbed "Phoenix" after the mythical bird, and blocking them from reaching the surface.
"I'm so tired. It's been far too many days doing nothing, just sitting waiting," said Alicia Campos, whose son Daniel Herrera is among the trapped miners, as she lined up for a fish sandwich at the tent settlement near the mine entrance dubbed "Camp Hope."
She wants her son to take up another profession.
Mining Minister Laurence Golborne said on Sunday rescuers could start lifting the miners to the surface on Tuesday evening if all went well, as one of the world's most complex rescue operations and most stunning survival stories nears its climax.
President Sebastian Pinera, who has ordered a revamp of mine safety regulations in the wake of the accident, has said he plans to visit the mine on Tuesday. One of the 33 miners is a Bolivian national, and Bolivia's President Evo Morales has vowed to visit the mine for his rescue

Reuters – A relative of the 33 miners trapped deep underground in a copper and gold mine is hugged by a policeman
President Sebastian Pinera, who has ordered a revamp of mine safety regulations in the wake of the accident, has said he plans to visit the mine on Tuesday. One of the 33 miners is a Bolivian national, and Bolivia's President Evo Morales has vowed to visit the mine for his rescue.
Rescue officials said they would push ahead boring a separate shaft with a rig usually used to drill for oil as a back-up plan, just in case there are any complications. They have halted a third drill.
In a land still recovering from a devastating February earthquake, celebrations broke out across Chile on Saturday when the drill broke through 65 days after the August 5 collapse at the small gold and copper mine in the far northern Atacama desert.
PRAYERS, VIGILS, WAITING
After weeks of prayers, vigils and agonizing waiting, anxiety is giving way to joy as wives, parents and children count down to reunions with their loved ones.
The men, who have set a world record for the length of time workers have survived underground after a mining accident, have been doing exercises to keep their weight down in time for their ascent.
They will journey to the surface in capsules just wider than a man's shoulders with their eyes closed and will immediately be given dark glasses to avoid damaging their eyesight after spending so long in a dimly-lit tunnel.
They will be given astronaut-style medical checks in a field hospital set up at the mine. Then they will be able to spend some time with their families, before being flown by helicopter to nearby Copiapo to be stabilized at another hospital.
Helicopter pilots conducted practice flights in the dark overnight.
The miners are in remarkably good health, although some have developed skin infections.
Health Minister Jaime Manalich said at least two rescuers, one of them a paramedic, would travel down in the capsules to help prepare the men for their journey to freedom.
He said the government had chosen the most psychologically stable and experienced of the miners to be the first to enter the capsules and face the harrowing, claustrophobic journey.
"They have to be psychologically mature, have a great deal of mining experience and be able to handle a quick training on how to use the harness and oxygen mask in the Phoenix capsule," Manalich said.
The government brought in experts from the U.S. NASA space agency to help keep the men mentally and physically fit during the rescue, which has gripped the world and drawn messages of support from Pope Benedict and World Cup soccer stars.
Coppied by http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20101011/wl_nm/us_chile_miners

Watch this American economists in the buzz for Nobel

American economists in the buzz for Nobel


STOCKHOLM – Research into market behavior and the psychology of decision-making could be awarded the Nobel prize for economics on Monday and improve the weak U.S. representation among this year's Nobel laureates.
Betting agency Ladbrokes says American behavioral economists Richard Thaler at the University of Chicago and Robert Shiller of Yale University are the top bets for this year's award.
The 10 million Swedish kronor ($1.5 million) prize is not among the original awards established by Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel in his 1895 will, but was created in 1968 by the Swedish central bank in his memory.
Thaler is considered a pioneer in behavioral finance, having studied the psychology of decision-making and the behavior of markets, and Shiller is an influential economist who long predicted the U.S. housing bubble.
The economics prize — the last of this year's Nobel announcements — offers the U.S. a chance to boost its meager tally among the 2010 winners. So far there is only one American laureate: Richard Heck who shared the Nobel Prize in chemistry with two Japanese researchers.
Since the economy prize was first awarded in 1969, more than 40 Americans have received it. Last year, Americans Elinor Ostrom and Oliver Williamson won the prize for their work in economic governance, marking the first time ever a woman received the economics award.
"Usually the prize doesn't go to work that is popular right now, or that lies close in time. It absolutely doesn't have to have anything to do with the financial crisis for example," said Hubert Fromlet, a professor in International Economics at the Jonkoping International Business School and Linnaeus University in Sweden.
"Research results have to lie some 20 years or so back in time because that's about the amount of time needed to see whether it's sustainable," he said.
Fromlet's own top picks include American economist Dale Mortensen of Northwestern University, whose research focuses on labor economics.
Other names in this year's speculation include American finance researcher Eugene Fama, French microeconomist Jean Tirole, and American macroeconomists Robert Barro and Paul Romer.
The science unit of Thomson Reuters listed political economics professor Alberto Alesina, economic professors Kevin Murphy, Nohubiro Kiyotaki at Princeton and John Moore as front-runners for this year's award.
Last week, British professor Robert Edwards was awarded the Nobel Prize in medicine for his fertility research that led to the first test tube baby. Russian-born scientists Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov won the physics prize for groundbreaking experiments with graphene, the strongest and thinnest material known to mankind.
The chemistry award went to Heck and Japanese researchers Ei-ichi Negishi and Akira Suzuki for designing techniques to bind together carbon atoms.
Peruvian novelist Mario Vargas Llosa won the literature prize and the imprisoned Chinese democracy campaigner Liu Xiaobo was named the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.
The awards are always handed out on Dec. 10, the anniversary of Nobel's death in 1896.
Coppied by http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101011/ap_on_bi_ge/nobel_economics;_ylt=AoOr2CqD_UXqQmHT_VOgkYSs0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTNmdXNuNjY2BGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMTAxMDExL25vYmVsX2Vjb25vbWljcwRjY29kZQNtb3N0cG9wdWxhcgRjcG9zAzIEcG9zAzUEcHQDaG9tZV9jb2tlBHNlYwN5bl90b3Bfc3RvcnkEc2xrA2FtZXJpY2FuZWNvbg--

Watches U.N. delegation underscores support for Sudan election

U.N. delegation underscores support for Sudan election

U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice speaks with UNAMID Joint Special Rep. Ibrahim Gambari in North Darfur Thursday.

(CNN) -- Members of the U.N. Security Council Thursday wrapped up their visit to southern Sudan, underscoring support for the January referendum vote that could lead to the region's independence.
According to a Security Council diplomat, the 15 members are making the trip at a critical juncture.
U.S. President Barack Obama recently implored Sudanese officials to fully implement a 2005 peace agreement and move forward with the referendum. He called the stakes "enormous."
A U.N. meeting last month called on the international community to respect the outcome of the vote in southern Sudan and Abyei if they meet stipulated criteria. Abyei is a disputed oil-rich city in the region.
"We are here to reinforce that message and the determination of the council to support you and all parties to the CPA [comprehensive peace agreement] in that process," U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice said Thursday, according to the U.N. mission in Sudan.
The delegation traveled to Juba in Southern Sudan to see an academy that will train police to safeguard the election, which could result in Sudan being split into two nations.
The peace agreement ended two decades of violence between the north and the south. The conflict led to the deaths of 2 million people, many from starvation.
The agreement would allow the autonomous southern region -- which holds a majority of the nation's oil -- to secede from the north. Fears that the process would cause more instability in the war-torn nation have sparked concerns among the international community.
The aid organization Oxfam said the situation in Darfur remains desperate. The international peacekeeping force is approaching full strength, it said, but troops are still unable to reach civilians needing protection.
"As the referendum draws near, the world will be watching Sudan," the agency said in a statement from Northern Sudan. "The UNSC needs to take this moment and focus not only on the issues affecting the southern referendum, but to support effective civilian protection in Darfur, promote the rights of the displaced, and to support an inclusive peace process in Darfur."
coppied by 2010 Cable News Network.

Watches MGM studio sends out ballots to creditors for prepackaged bankruptcy

MGM studio sends out ballots to creditors for prepackaged bankruptcy


LOS ANGELES, Calif. - Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. said Thursday that it has begun seeking its creditors' approval on a prepackaged bankruptcy plan in which they will exchange more than US$4 billion in debt for equity in a new company that has rights to the James Bond franchise and the upcoming two-part movie series "The Hobbit."
Privately held production company Spyglass Entertainment, a co- financier of such recent films as "Star Trek" and "G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra," will contribute some assets and merge two subsidiaries into MGM for a 4.69 per cent stake in the company, according to the plan.

Creditors would hold 95.3 per cent of the company after it exits from bankruptcy.

Only approved holders of secured debt as of Oct. 4 will be allowed to vote. The company declined to provide the list of creditors that can participate, but major creditors include Anchorage Advisors LLC, Highland Capital Management LP and billionaire investor Carl Icahn.

Voting continues until Oct. 22, when the company plans to file for bankruptcy and exit the court process in about 30 days.

After exiting bankruptcy, Spyglass co-founders Gary Barber and Roger Birnbaum will serve as co-chairmen and CEOs.

The move signals the end is near for a process that began late last year as the company struggled to right itself from a dearth of hit movies, the decline of DVD sales and an overwhelming debt burden brought on by its $5 billion purchase in 2005 by a group led by Providence Equity Partners, Texas Pacific Group, Sony Corp. and Comcast Corp.

It also clears the way for production to begin on "The Hobbit," the two-part movie based on J.R.R. Tolkien's novel, which MGM is set to make with Time Warner Inc.'s Warner Bros. The release of the first installment had been slated for December 2012 but the movie still hasn't gotten the official "green light" to begin shooting.

MGM also owns rights to the James Bond movie franchise and has a library of 4,000 movie and TV-show titles including such titles as "Rocky" and "Dances With Wolves."

By choosing bankruptcy over another sale, MGM is rejecting a $2- billion all-cash offer made last month by Indian conglomerate Sahara India Pariwar. MGM also walked away from an offer from Time Warner for $1.5 billion in cash.

Because MGM's creditors had given it a waiver on debt and interest payments since last October, the company has been able to preserve some cash. But it is unclear if it has enough to help pay for the big- budget "Hobbit" movies, or if it will need to clear the bankruptcy process first before raising new funds.

Coppied by http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=cp_i8llnq6kq40&show_article=1

Watch Water inquiry calls for community impact statements

Water inquiry calls for community impact statements

ELIZABETH JACKSON: The long-awaited guide to the draft report into the management of the Murray Darling Basin will be released later today.

But ahead of that a senate inquiry has handed down its own report on water rights, calling on the Federal Government to make a community impact statement each time it buys water licences in the Murray Darling Basin.

The inquiry has also recommended the Government publish an annual report on infrastructure upgrades across the basin, detailing the costs of the programs, whether they're meeting their timeliness and how much water they're saving.

But one committee member says regardless of the inquiry's findings or this afternoon's report there'll never be a satisfactory management of the basin until there's a federal takeover.

From Canberra, Sabra Lane reports.

SABRA LANE: In August last year the Senate's Environment and Communications Committee started investigating the vexed issue of sustainable water management by the Federal Government.

It morphed into an inquiry about water management and water licences across the entire Murray Darling Basin.

The committee handed down its report late yesterday on the eve of the Murray Darling Basin Authority's draft guide to managing the basin. That report be released later today.

Coppied by http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2010/s3032880.htm

Watches New Zealand ‘sorry’ for racial slur

New Zealand ‘sorry’ for racial slur


New Delhi: New Zealand on Thursday officially apologised for television host’s racial slur, ridiculing Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit by deliberately mispronouncing her name.

The Ministry of External Affairs had earlier in the day summoned New Zealand High Commissioner to register the offence.

Taking a tough stand, India has decided not to participate in the lunch hosted by New Zealand envoy.



Paul Henry, who hosts the popular morning show on state-owned broadcaster TVNZ, had said that her name is "so appropriate" because she is Indian. And what added to the insult was TVNZ featuring it on its website.

During his show, earlier in the week, Henry had deliberately ridiculed the way Dikshit is pronounced, despite being told that it is "Dikshit".

The TV station has received at least four complaints about the clip, the Sydney Morning Herald reported on its website on Wednesday.

The Chief Minister was in the news recently after she was called in to take charge of the Commonwealth Games Village, days before the mega event was scheduled to start on October 03.

Taking strong exception to the racial slur, New Zealand Indian Central Association president Paul Singh Bains said the fact that TVNZ promoted the clip on its website showed it had "totally lost the plot" and was insensitive to the offence Henry had caused.

The clip was promoted on the Video Extras section of TVNZ's website under the heading "Paul Henry laughs about the name Dikshit”, however, it has been removed now.

Henry is a serial offender; after abusing the Delhi Chief Minister, he went on to abuse the country's Indo-Fijian Governor-General Sir Anand Satyanand.

During a programme Henry had asked Prime Minister John Key whether Anand was a New Zealander or not. When Key told him that Anand was a New Zealander, Henry asked if he was going to pick someone who looked more like a New Zealander next time.

Henry has now been suspended.

Bains said he accepted that Dikshit’s name and other Indian names could be difficult to pronounce, but Henry had moved beyond that to ridicule.

"He has an attitude about Indians and all other ethnicities for that matter. If we sound different, if we look different, he thinks there's no place for us in New Zealand," Bains said.

Greens human rights spokesman Keith Locke said the clip, first aired last Friday, was a "particularly graphic illustration of Paul Henry's cultural insensitivity".

Henry has a long history of on-air gaffes, including describing British singer Susan Boyle as "retarded", gays as "unnatural", and accusing a female guest from Greenpeace of having a moustache.

TVNZ initially fuelled the Satyanand row by saying Henry was popular because "he's prepared to say the things we quietly think but are scared to say out loud".
Coppied by http://www.zeenews.com/news660108.html

We are saw this Hajj medical team for UK pilgrims scrapped

Hajj medical team for UK pilgrims scrapped
Move due to reduced demand and better Saudi healthcare rather than cost-cutting, Foreign Office says

People leave the Grand Mosque in Mecca during the hajj. British pilgrims will no longer have a dedicated medical team. Photograph: Hasan Sarbakhshian/AP
The Foreign Office has denied scrapping its medical delegation to the Islamic annual pilgrimage as part of a cost-cutting drive, saying it made the decision because of a declining demand for the service and an improvement in local healthcare facilities.

More than 25,000 Britons are due to travel to Saudi Arabia for the hajj in the next few weeks and groups representing them fear that the absence of a dedicated team from the UK will have far-reaching effects on individuals, their communities and work colleagues, and even the NHS.

For the past 11 years the Foreign Office has paid for the flights and accommodation of about eight GPs, who have treated thousands of people over three weeks. They are not paid for their work, taking annual leave or privately funding other doctors to cover their surgery work. The medical team treated 5,967 Britons in 2007 and 2,504 last year.

Dr Mohammed Jiva, who has been part of the medical team for five years, said: "Although the Saudi authorities provide healthcare facilities during the hajj period, we have been aware of concerns related to access to healthcare as all the pilgrims from throughout the world would rely on the Saudi facilities.

"There is no home-visiting service equivalent to what the British hajj delegation provided for those pilgrims too ill to travel and reflecting on a major incident a few years ago which resulted in mortalities as well as amputations and severe injuries, the Saudi facilities did not have the manpower or facilities to look after these pilgrims in the community. The delegation undertook clinic and home visits to support and change dressings whilst the pilgrims completed their hajj."
Coppied by http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/oct/06/hajj-medical-team-uk-scrapped

Secrifice this Angelina donates $100,000 to Pakistan for flood relief

Angelina donates $100,000 to Pakistan for flood relief

Angelina has expressed her desire to visit Pakistan and communicate with the people directly on the ground zero. Justifying her stature, the actress has once again won the hearts of millions with her noble gesture.

HOLLYWOOD'S LEADING actress, Angelina Jolie has set great example for others once again when it comes to express sympathy and compassion for calamities across the world. The leading celebrity of silver screen poured her heart out for the victims of devastated flood across many parts of Pakistan. The devastating natural calamity according to official resources has claimed over 2000 lives and left over two million people homeless.

The actress has donated $100,000 for the rehabilitation of flood victims. Besides, she has also asked her fans across the globe to come forward and donate wholeheartedly for the flood victims, who need immediate assistance in terms of food, shelter and medicine.

Angelina is also a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations; she is one of those actors in the world, who are often seen playing key role in the rehabilitation of victims affected by war, flood or any other calamity. The actress recently donated $1 million to help the survivors of devastated earthquake that rocked Haiti. To build a girl school in war ravaged Afghanistan the actress contributed $75,000.

The flood has displaced over 20 million people; however donations are far below than expected. World is slowly realizing the gravity of the catastrophe and donations are pouring in from the countries across the world.

Angelina has expressed her desire to visit Pakistan and communicate with the people directly on ground zero. Justifying her stature, the actress has once again won the hearts of millions with her noble gesture. Hats off to you Angelina for your great move.

Coppied by http://www.merinews.com/article/angelina-donates-100000-to-pakistan-for-flood-relief/15829357.shtml

Watch Brazil government gives go-ahead for huge Amazon dam

Brazil government gives go-ahead for huge Amazon dam


The proposal to build a dam on the Xingu river has long been a source of controversy

Brazil's government has given the formal go-ahead for the building on a tributary of the Amazon of the world's third biggest hydroelectric dam.

After several failed legal challenges, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva signed the contract for the Belo Monte dam with the Norte Energia consortium.

Critics say the project will damage the local ecosystem and make homeless 50,000 mainly indigenous people.

But the government says it is crucial for development and will create jobs.

Bidding for the project had to be halted three times before a final court appeal by the government allowed Norte Energia, led by the state-owned Companhia Hidro Eletrica do Sao Francisco, to be awarded the contract.

Continue reading the main story
“
Start Quote


We will persuade them that we took seriously into account the environmental and social issues”

Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva
Brazilian president
'Death warrant'
At the contract signing ceremony in Brasilia on Thursday, President Lula said he himself had criticised the dam before he learnt more about it.

"You cannot imagine how many times I spoke against Belo Monte without even knowing what it was about, and it is precisely during my government that Belo Monte is being unveiled," he said.

"I think this is a victory for Brazil's energy sector.

"We will persuade them that we took seriously into account the environmental and social issues," he added.

The proposal to build a hydro-electric dam on the Xingu river, a tributary of the Amazon in the northern state of Para, has long been a source of controversy.

The initial project was abandoned in the 1990s amid widespread protests both in Brazil and around the world.
Coppied by http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-11101842

party powerbroker Ichiro Ozawa Japan DPJ Ozawa to bid for PM in party vote - media

Japan DPJ Ozawa to bid for PM in party vote - media
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese ruling party powerbroker Ichiro Ozawa will run in a party leadership vote on Sept. 14 in a challenge to Prime Minister Naoto Kan, Kyodo news agency and other Japanese media said on Thursday.

His candidacy risks a bitter battle within the ruling Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) as it tries to deal with a soaring yen and a fragile economic recovery.

Japan's ruling Democratic Party former secretary general Ichiro Ozawa delivers a speech at a political seminar in Tokyo August 25, 2010. Japanese ruling party powerbroker Ichiro Ozawa will run in a party leadership vote on Sept. 14 in a challenge to Prime Minister Naoto Kan. (REUTERS/Yuriko Nakao)
The head of the DPJ will be the prime minister by virtue of the party's majority in the parliament's powerful lower house.

Veteran lawmaker Ozawa, who stepped down last year as party leader after a political funding scandal, has been an outspoken critic of Kan's decision to float the idea of a future sales tax hike ahead of a July upper house election, which the party lost.
Coppied by http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/8/26/worldupdates/2010-08-26T051804Z_01_NOOTR_RTRMDNC_0_-510699-1&sec=Worldupdates