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World's oldest person dies at 115
Maria de Jesus became the world's oldest person after an American woman, Edna Parker, died in November at the age of 115 years and 220 days, according to the Gerontology Research Group.
A family member said Maria de Jesus died in an ambulance on her way to hospital.
She was born on September 10, 1893 and reached 115 years and 114 days old.
-Yahoo.
Public Warned Over Toxic Cloud
A West Midlands Fire and Rescue spokesman advised members of the public to stay indoors and keep windows and doors shut.
The thick phospohorous hanging cloud, estimated to measure 50ft by 400ft, was hovering above Oldbury, West Midlands, and appeared to be heading south towards the M5 motorway.
The cloud emerged this afternoon amid a large fire at Rhodia Consumer Specialties Ltd in Trinity Street, Langley.
Fire services have said the blaze is now out and the site is under control. No one has been injured.
Phosphorous causes irritation to eyes, sneezing, soreness, throat soreness and shortness of breath.
If affected, the public are advised to seek medical help.
A West Midlands Police spokesman said: "Police are urging members of the public - especially those in high rise buildings - to keep windows and doors closed, and stay indoors.
"Motorists are urged to keep moving and keep windows closed and air vents off.
"Phosphorus reacts badly if it comes into contact with water, therefore residents who come into contact with the chemical are urged to avoid having baths or showers until the cloud has dispersed.
"Police advise people living in the area to stay calm and remain indoors, closing all windows and doors. People should avoid going to the area."
-Yahoo.
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01-02-2009, 06:22 PM
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01-02-2009, 06:42 PM
A Briton injured in the New Year's Eve nightclub fire in Thailand said he had been rescued by the "hand of an angel".
Alex Wargacki, 29, from London, was speaking as he recovered from the fire in Bangkok which claimed the lives of at least 61 partygoers and injured 200 more.
He is among the four Britons receiving treatment in hospital after the stampede to flee the blaze which broke out at the Santika Club. Mr Wargacki is in intensive care at Bangkok's private Samitivej Sukhumvit Hospital.
The foreign exchange trader, who suffered burns and smoke inhalation during the panicked evacuation of the building, said he was lucky to be alive. He was pulled from the burning club by an unknown rescuer after collapsing as he tried to escape. He is now on a respirator to help him breathe.
Mr Wargacki, who has lived in Bangkok for four years, told reporters: "I felt myself going unconscious. I knew something was happening to my lungs. I could not breathe. I blacked out and fell to the floor. I woke up and heard this voice saying. 'Come on. Come on this way'. Then I felt myself being dragged towards an exit. A crowd of people parted in front of me and then I was out in the open air.
"Had it not been for this voice with the hand of an angel I would not be alive today. The voice sounded as if he was Thai. Maybe he was one of the people at the New Year's party."
Speaking to the Press Association today, Mr Wargacki said he felt his condition had improved, but he was having trouble with his voice because of smoke inhalation.
He said another Briton, Oliver Smart, was being treated in the bed next to him in the intensive care unit. "He is in a bad condition. He can't breathe and is on a ventilator. He can't speak either because of the smoke inhalation."
Another injured Briton, Steven Hall, 35, from Cardiff, South Wales, described the dramatic scenes as the fire suddenly spread from the stage to take hold of the club. Some revellers appeared to think the flames were part of the show and hesitated to escape, he said.
One report suggested that a 34-year-old British woman may have died in the tragedy, but the Foreign and Commonwealth Office could not confirm this.
-Nova
JohnCenaFan28
01-02-2009, 06:49 PM
Detailed plans of the Queen's official residence in Scotland discovered near a footpath did not originate from the royal household, it has been revealed.
The drawings of the Palace of Holyroodhouse show details of the royal mews in front of the palace.
Royal security chiefs have launched an investigation into the discovery in Edinburgh. But it later emerged that the plans appear to be part of correspondence between a firm of architects and a lawyer about a licensing application for the palace's cafe.
A spokeswoman for the palace said the discovery was a security breach which was being taken "very seriously".
The areas in the plans, which include the cafe, are open to the public and are not secure parts of the building where the Royal Family would stay.
The architect's drawings were discovered under a bush on a path leading to the Water of Leith, in Roseburn, Edinburgh.
The drawings, with an accompanying letter, were found by the Daily Record newspaper's agony aunt, Joan Burnie, as she was walking her dog.
She told the paper: "Polly saw them underneath a bush on the path and came out with the plans in her mouth. I took them from her to see what they were and that's when I saw the letter. I was shocked to see the plans were for Holyroodhouse."
The paper reported the plans showed power ducts, cables and a transformer, as well as the sizes of the gardens and locations for boiler rooms, gas meters, store cupboards, kitchens, toilets and wash areas. Three public entrances are highlighted and the dimensions of the stable yards and seated terrace areas are given, it was reported.
The plans have been handed over to security staff by the Daily Record.
-Nova
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01-03-2009, 01:15 AM
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Bid to remove plane crash wreckage
At least two people were killed when the plane ploughed into power lines above the West Coast Main Line on Friday and inquiries are ongoing to establish whether a third victim also died.
Chief Inspector Paul Richards, of British Transport Police, confirmed that the remains of the aircraft would be removed from the scene.
Speaking at a cordon set up less than 50 yards from the crash site, the officer said: "A comprehensive search of the site is under way and arrangements will then be made to remove the wreckage."
Mr Richards said experts from the Air Accidents Investigation Branch were examining the site and had "primacy" in the inquiry.
Meanwhile, British Transport Police is continuing to liaise with Staffordshire Police to confirm the identities of those killed.
The pilot of the plane has been named by relatives as 59-year-old Alan Matthews, from Walsall, West Midlands.
Mr Matthews' wife, Jenny, said he had 19 years of flying experience and it was thought he had arranged to go flying with a work colleague and possibly another person.
Police confirmed two deaths, but a spokeswoman said they believed a third person had also died and a pathologist is expected to confirm this.
On Friday night all rail services on the West Coast Mainline between Rugby and Stafford remained suspended and British Transport Police warned the line was unlikely to be fully repaired this weekend.
-Yahoo.
Plane Crash: Rail Chaos Feared
Police have confirmed two deaths, including that of 59-year-old pilot Alan Matthews, and are expected to announce a third today.
The Piper Cherokee aircraft crashed in Little Haywood in Staffordshire just before midday on Friday, hitting overhead power lines.
The West Coast Mainline remains severely restricted as all rail services between Rugby and Stafford are suspended.
Police said the railway is unlikely to be fully repaired this weekend, as commuters fear that Monday rush hour may be affected.
Residents in Little Haywood described seeing the small white plane plough into the ground at a fork between two major railway lines.
Local resident Derek Higgott, 49, who lives in nearby Back Lane, said it plummeted to the ground "like a stunt plane".
He said: "I was working in my garden. We've got a raised gazebo so I was up on the steps.
"I heard the plane, I looked up, and suddenly it just turned and went straight down like a stunt plane.
"There was a huge thud and black smoke. You could feel the vibration from it and a huge flock of birds all took off."
Police, firefighters and paramedics were called to the scene but there were unable to help the victims.
-Yahoo.
Murder probe after two die in fire
Two other occupants of the terraced house in Albert Road, Sheffield, are in a serious condition following the fire which was discovered at about 8pm on Friday.
A South Yorkshire Police spokeswoman said one person was arrested and was assisting with inquiries.
She said when fire crews arrived, the mid-terraced home was well ablaze.
Two people were confirmed dead at the scene and the two others were taken to hospital.
She said: "Details of the people involved will not be released until the next of kin have been advised."
Albert Road was closed to allow investigations to be carried out and drivers were warned of "substantial" delays as a result.
-Yahoo.
'Live longer' campaign launched
The new Change4Life initiative - involving companies such as Coca-Cola, Mars and Nestle - starts with television adverts appearing on the nation's screens.
The idea is to "kickstart a lifestyle revolution for every family" by promoting healthy eating and exercise, according to the Department of Health.
Writing for the Sun, Mr Johnson said: "In these tough economic times, families are being confronted every week with lots of difficult challenges.
"For many, eating healthily might rank fairly low on the list of priorities right now. But one of the biggest problems we face as a society - and one with the potential to cause enormous long-term harm - is obesity."
He warns that if the problem is not tackled now then by 2050 two-thirds of men and half of all women in Britain could be clinically obese, at a cost to the NHS of £50 billion.
He continued: "Our aim with this campaign could not be more ambitious - it's to make sure our children live longer, healthier lives. Let's not leave the next generation with a reduced life expectancy, along with a massive health bill that will only get bigger if we do nothing."
Firms including Cadbury, Unilever, Coca-Cola, Kellogg's, Kraft, Mars, Nestle and PepsiCo are all taking part alongside major supermarkets Asda, Tesco and The Co-operative Group.
People can call a dedicated helpline and speak to specially-trained advisers for advice on exercise, nutrition and support services.
A website has also been set up to bring together more than 45,000 groups and projects aimed at promoting healthy living.
-Yahoo.
Indian PM asks Pakistan to hand over terror suspects
War is no solution to solve the problems and we want better sense to prevail on Pakistan," Singh told reporters in the northeastern town of Shillong.
Pakistan should hand over "criminals" responsible for the deadly assault in which 172 people, including nine gunmen, were killed in November.
"The (Indian) government will go to any extent to root out terrorism from the country," Singh said.
The premier also called upon the new government in neighbouring Bangladesh to cooperate in cracking down on anti-India militants based on its soil.
Former Bangladeshi premier Sheikh Hasina Wajed, who won the country's new election last week in a landslide, has already said she will not allow her country to be used as a base for militants.
"I hope the new prime minister-elect Sheikh Hasina would take appropriate measures not to allow their territory to be used by militants," Singh said.
"The porous border that India shares with Bangladesh is a matter of concern for us as infiltration and cross-border terrorism does take place."
India says militants in its restive northeastern states are supported by militants from Bangladesh.
This week, six people were killed and another 50 injured in three bomb explosions in northeastern Assam state.
-Yahoo.
Record US deaths in Afghanistan in 2008, lowest in Iraq
According to a tally by the independent website icasualties.org, 314 US troops died in Iraq in 2008, down by nearly two thirds from the 904 US military deaths the previous year, the deadliest since the US-led invasion in 2003.
Some 4,221 American soldiers have died in the war that has cost the US hundreds of billions of dollars.
But in Afghanistan, trends reversed, with 155 US troops killed there in 2008, up from 117 US soldier deaths in 2007. The war launched by the US in 2001 to root out the Taliban has made 630 US troop deaths.
With Washington poised to nearly double its presence in the impoverished country by sending up to 30,000 troop reinforcements, US soldier deaths could continue to trend upward there, top US military officials tacitly acknowledged.
Some 70,000 foreign troops are already deployed in Afghanistan under US or NATO auspices. Non-US troop deaths were at 138 in 2008, up from 115 the previous year. A few more of the nearly 40 nations with troops in the country are also expected to increase their deployments.
The pledges of fresh deployments come after a difficult year which has seen the deadliest bomb attacks to hit Afghanistan since the start of the war.
The number of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) doubled in 2008 to roughly 2,000, the US embassy in Kabul indicated. The roadside bombs are the number one killer of US troops in Afghanistan, the US military has said.
Troop increases in Afghanistan are made possible by troops standing down in Iraq, which has seen an improved security situation.
Iraqi deaths also plunged, with some 6,772 Iraqis killed in 2008, down from 17,430 in 2007, according to a tally compiled by AFP. Best estimates for total Iraqi deaths since the war began hover around a low of 90,000.
Iraq's drop in violence comes after the US troop "surge" in 2007 that saw thousands of troops deployed as the country teetered on the edge of civil war.
Much of Iraq's security developments have been credited to the recruitment of Sunni tribesmen and former rebels by the US military to fight against al-Qaeda. The Mahdi Army, the powerful Shiite militia of Moqtada al-Sadr, also agreed to a ceasefire, helping to reduce violence by Shiite extremists.
Iraq began 2009 with an end to the UN mandate on foreign troop presence, gaining formal control of Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone -- where most US and Iraqi officials live and work -- and of the southern Basra airport. US troops will continue to play an advisory role to the Iraqi military.
The United States is to pull its forces out of Iraqi cities by June 2009 and end its military presence by the end of 2011 under a deal between Baghdad and Washington that grants Iraqi authorities more control over security operations.
The US military has also handed back to the Iraqis control of part of its airspace and Baghdad airport. The US must now obtain Iraqi permission for all military operations and hand over the files of all detainees in US custody to the Iraqi justice system.
But as part of political bargaining leading up to the vote, the Baghdad government agreed to demands by Sunni parties to hold a referendum on the accord no later than July 30. Should the Iraqi government decide to cancel the accord after the referendum it would have to give Washington one year's notice to leave the country.
The move injects a fresh element of uncertainty on the future of US troops in Iraq just as president-elect Barack Obama prepares to take office in less than three weeks on January 20.
-Yahoo.
Week Two of Israeli blitz on Gaza with no end in sight
Concern rose over the humanitarian situation in one of the world's most densely populated and impoverished places where the vast majority of the population depends on foreign aid.
With international efforts to reach a ceasefire stalled, anger in the Muslim world has spiralled and protests against one of Israel's deadliest ever assaults on Gaza have mushroomed around the globe.
The United States gave its close ally free rein to press ahead with a threatened ground offensive into Gaza , saying the key to a truce was Israel's demand that Hamas permanently stop firing rockets.
"I think any steps they are taking, whether it's from the air or on the ground or anything of that nature, are part and parcel of the same operation," said White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe.
"Those will be decisions made by the Israelis."
Hamas's Syria-based chief Khaled Meshaal told Israel that "if you commit the stupidity of launching a ground offensive then a black destiny awaits you.
"You will soon find out that Gaza is the wrath of God," he said in pre-taped remarks broadcast on Al-Jazeera television late on Friday.
President George W. Bush, meanwhile, urged all able parties to press Hamas to stop firing at Israel to facilitate a lasting ceasefire.
"The United States is leading diplomatic efforts to achieve a meaningful ceasefire that is fully respected," Bush said in his weekly Saturday radio address, the text of which was released late on Friday.
"I urge all parties to pressure Hamas to turn away from terror, and to support legitimate Palestinian leaders working for peace."
Bush blamed Hamas for the latest violence and rejected a unilateral ceasefire that would allow the Islamists to continue targeting Israel with rocket and mortar fire.
On the ground, Israeli tanks and troops stood ready along the 60-kilometre (37-mile) border with Gaza, waiting for the green light from the government to advance.
Since unleashing "Operation Cast Lead" in retaliation for consistent rocket fire from Gaza on December 27, at least 436 Palestinians have been killed and 2,290 wounded in some 750 strikes carried out by air and sea, Israeli officials said.
At least 75 of those killed have been children, according to emergency services inside Gaza.
The strikes have demolished Hamas government buildings, the homes of senior Islamist officials, mosques alleged to have stored weapons, roads and tunnels used to smuggle arms and supplies into the territory that Israel has virtually kept sealed since Hamas seized power there in June 2007.
But the offensive has failed to halt rocket fire from the territory, with militants firing some 500 rocke ts and mortar rounds at Israel over the past week, killing four people and wounding several dozen others.
In the latest 25 raids carried out overnight and early on Saturday, missiles demolished a school in northern Gaza, killing a guard in a strike the army said targeted "a college used as a base for firing a large number of rockets."
Missiles also slammed into Gaza City port and a strike killed Mohammad al-Jammal, 40, who sources in Gaza said was a local commander of Hamas's armed wing.
The Israeli military said Jammal was responsible "for the entire rocket launching enterprise in all of Gaza City."
Militants responded overnight with seven rockets and mortar rounds without causing any casualties, the army said.
The Israeli bombardment has demolished dozens of houses as it destroyed Hamas infrastructure amid heightened concern over the humanitarian situation in besieged Gaza, where most of the 1.5 million residents depend on foreign aid.
"By any definition this is a humanitarian crisis and more," said Maxwell Gaylard, the UN humanitarian coordinator for the Palestinian territories.
Meanwhile French President Nicolas Sarkozy was due to arrive in Israel on Monday for ceasefire talks, a day after the arrival of foreign ministers from current European Union president the Czech Republic, Sweden and France.
-Yahoo.
Three people are now believed to have died when a light aircraft crashed into overhead power lines on the West Coast Main Line in Staffordshire.
The plane came down near the village of Little Haywood, causing disruption for thousands of rail passengers.
The aircraft was registered to the pilot of the plane, Alan Matthews, 59, from Walsall, who died in the crash.
The line is expected to be closed until Monday, affecting travel between London Euston, the North West and Scotland.
The remains of the aircraft will be removed from the scene on Saturday as investigations into the cause of the crash continue, British Transport Police said.
Inspectors from the Air Accidents Investigation Branch have been examining the scene.
Trains delayed
Mr Matthews' wife Jenny confirmed the 59-year-old was piloting the light aircraft that crashed shortly before 1200 GMT on Friday.
Mr Matthews is registered as company director of Sittles Farm Flying Club, near Lichfield in Staffordshire.
His wife said he had 19 years flying experience and it was thought he had arranged to go flying with a work colleague and possibly another person.
Police said that two people died in the crash but they believed a third person had also been on board. British Transport Police said a pathologist was expected to confirm this on Saturday.
Local resident Derek Higgott, who lives close to the crash scene, said: "I heard the plane, I looked up, and suddenly it just turned and went straight down like a stunt plane.
"There was a huge thud and black smoke. You could feel the vibration from it and a huge flock of birds all took off."
Police said it was expected post-mortem examinations would be carried out on Sunday.
All rail services on the West Coast Mainline between Rugby and Stafford remained suspended.
A Network Rail spokesman said engineers had been unable to get onto the site because of the investigation, but were hoping to start work on Saturday afternoon.
"It's probably about a day's work and we hope to finish by Sunday evening. It should be clear for Monday morning commuters," he said.
There will be a reduced service and delays of up to 60 minutes on Virgin Trains services between London and north-west England which are being diverted via Coventry and will not call at stations between Nuneaton and Stafford.
On local services run by London Midland there is a replacement bus service calling at stations between Stafford and Rugby, with up to an extra hour added to journey times.
BBC
The funerals of two of the three teenage boys killed in a car crash near Nenagh, Co Tipperary on New Year's Eve have taken place.
The funeral of the third teenager killed in the crash, 16-year-old Paraic Bourke, will take place later this afternoon.
The three teenagers were killed when the car in which they were travelling left the road and hit a tree at Kilboy on the Nenagh to Dolla road.
14-year-old Stuart Donnellan's funeral took place at St Mary of the Rosary Church in Nenagh this morning.
300 mourners attending the mass heard that Stuart was a good friend who was greatly loved by all who knew him.
The mourners heard how Stuart was easygoing and fun to be with and a great fan of Liverpool Football Club.
Fr Anthony McMahon said the events of the last few days had shocked everyone in Nenagh and neighbouring parishes. He said it was every parent's worst nightmare when the knock came at the door.
The private funeral of 17-year-old Adrian O'Brien took place at Youghlara Church in Newtown.
A 16-year-old boy and a 15-year-old girl injured in the accident are said to be in a stable condition in hospital.
RTE
Gardaí in Dublin are appealing for information in connection with the death of a 27-year-old man who drowned in the River Liffey on Monday.
The man went into the water near Aston Quay at around 2am.
Gardaí are keen to speak to several people who were standing at the taxi rank on Aston Quay at the time.
Anyone with information is asked to contact gardaí.
RTE
Cardinal Sean Brady has made his first public comments on the handling of child sex abuse allegations by the Diocese of Cloyne.
In a statement yesterday, Cardinal Brady acknowledged 'the extent to which people feel let down, angry and bewildered by recent events.' (Read the full statement)
He was responding to a report published last month by the Catholic Church's child protection body, the National Board for Safeguarding Children, which found that practices in the Cloyne diocese were 'inadequate and in some respects dangerous'.
The report found that church authorities in the Diocese of Cloyne broke their own rules on reporting allegations.
A schoolgirl's allegation, as well as four similar allegations, was not reported by the diocese to the gardaí.
In his statement Cardinal Brady says the findings have 'brought further anxiety to victims of abuse'.
Cardinal Brady says the Board would seek a written commitment from church leaders that they would implement fully, existing statutory guidelines on the issue.
He also says that he had suggested that it might also consider reviewing current practice in every Diocese.
Cardinal Brady said the Board should prioritise the publication of its first annual report.
'This will provide the first public overview and assessment of the standard of implementation of statutory guidelines on reporting and on a one-Church policy throughout the Church in Ireland,' he said.
Victims' support organisation One in Four, which gives support to victims of sexual abuse, said it welcomed the statement by Cardinal Brady, but said his response was 'too little too late'.
The group continued its call for the resignation of the Bishop of Cloyne.
RTE
President Bush has blamed the violence in Gaza and southern Israel firmly on Hamas, after a week of Israeli air strikes and Palestinian rocket attacks.
Mr Bush, who has just weeks left in office, said Hamas was a terrorist group dedicated to destroying Israel.
Earlier the Hamas leader-in-exile, Khaled Meshaal, warned Israel of a "black destiny" if it began a threatened ground offensive on Gaza.
Hamas said one of its military leaders died in an overnight strike.
Abu Zakaria al-Jamal died of his wounds after a raid.
Israel has now carried out more than 700 strikes on Gaza since launching the offensive a week ago, AFP news agency said.
The UN warned of a worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
The UN said it believed 25% of more than 400 Palestinians killed by Israeli action so far were civilians.
'Monitoring mechanisms'
In his weekly radio address President George W Bush said Hamas was responsible for the latest violence and rejected any unilateral ceasefire that he said would allow Hamas to continue to fire on Israel.
He added that no peace deal would be acceptable without tougher action to prevent Hamas and other groups from receiving weapons
"There must be monitoring mechanisms in place to help ensure the smuggling of weapons to terrorist groups in Gaza comes to an end," he said.
"I urge all parties to pressure Hamas to turn away from terror and to support legitimate Palestinian leaders working for peace," Mr Bush added.
Resistance 'intact'
Israeli air strikes on Gaza continued early on Saturday, with 35 reported. One person was killed as large parts of the American school in north-west Gaza were destroyed.
Israel has threatened to launch a ground offensive. It has called up army reservists, and tanks and troops are massed on the Gaza frontier.
BBC Middle East Editor Jeremy Bowen says a week of bombardment has not been able to stop militant rocket attacks, and Israel now has to decide whether to send in ground troops.
But in a pre-recorded statement broadcast on al-Jazeera TV, Damascus-based Khaled Meshaal said Israel would be making a "foolish mistake" if it sent tanks into Gaza.
Speaking publicly for the first time since Israeli air strikes started a week ago, he said Hamas resistance and infrastructure were intact.
"We will not break, we will not surrender or give in to your conditions," Mr Meshaal said in a speech aimed at the Israelis, the Palestinians and the wider Muslim world.
Al-Jazeera reaches millions of people across the Arabic-speaking world in the Middle East and beyond.
To them, Mr Meshaal said this was not a battle against Hamas alone, but against the entire umma, or nation.
Analysts say this was an apparent reference to a populist Islamist idea that the Palestinians are defending the Muslim world against a modern form of Crusades.
The UN said the Israeli military escalated its offensive against the Hamas leadership in Gaza on Friday, targeting the homes of more than 20 Hamas officials in its latest air strikes.
In response, Palestinian militants fired on Israel, their missiles injuring four people in the southern city of Ashkelon. More than 20 more missiles were fired on Saturday morning.
Four Israelis have been killed so far by militant rocket fire.
Israel is refusing to let international journalists into Gaza, despite a Supreme Court ruling to allow a limited number of reporters to enter the territory.
The UN says the week-long assault has worsened the crisis in Gaza, despite an increase in humanitarian shipments.
Israel tightened its control of what gets in and out of the crowded coastal Strip after Hamas, the elected power, seized control of the area from rival Fatah forces 18 months ago.
Since then, the UN says there has been a significant deterioration in infrastructure and basic services, with 80% of the 1.4m population unable to support themselves.
BBC
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01-03-2009, 07:05 PM
A couple with two children who married last summer were among the three victims of a plane crash which closed one of the country's busiest rail routes, it emerged.
British Transport Police (BTP) said Nick O'Brien, 35, and his 29-year-old wife Emma, from Shirley, Solihull, West Midlands, were passengers on board the light aircraft when it crashed at Little Haywood, near Stafford, at about noon on Friday.
A BTP spokeswoman said the couple had two sons, Callum, aged 10, and 18-month-old Joel.
It is understood that the pilot of the plane, Alan Matthews, knew Mr O'Brien through his work with a Birmingham-based demolition firm.
Mr Matthews, a member of a flying club based near Lichfield, Staffordshire, was said by friends to be a well-liked and proficient pilot who had almost two decades of flying experience, often making trips to France and Spain.
His wife Jenny Matthews, from Walsall Wood, West Midlands, issued a short statement through BTP paying tribute to her husband as a "loving, caring" man who would help anybody and loved flying.
The BTP spokeswoman said: "Nick and Emma O'Brien married in August 2008 and leave behind two children. The families of all the victims ask the media to leave them to grieve in private at this time."
Meanwhile, work was continuing at the crash site on Saturday to gather evidence and recover the wreckage of the aircraft.
"The line is not expected to be fully restored this weekend and passengers are asked to check with their train operator before travelling," the BTP spokeswoman said.
The aircraft is believed to have been a Piper Cherokee based at the Sittles Flying Club, which operates from an airfield near the village of Fradley.
-Nova
Israeli troops backed by helicopters have advanced into Gaza, a Palestinian witness and the Israeli army said, in the first ground action of an eight-day offensive against Hamas in the Palestinian enclave.
The small column of military vehicles crossed the boundary fence into the northern Gaza Strip under darkness, said the witness, a resident of Beit Lahiya.
An Israeli military spokeswoman confirmed the incursion and said the aim was to seize areas from where Hamas was launching rocket attacks on southern Israel.
'The objective is to destroy the Hamas terror infrastructure in the area of operations,' Major Avital Leibovitch said.
Israel has also ordered the call-up of tens of thousands of military reservists as part of a ground offensive launched in Gaza, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office said in a statement.
It said that, in accordance with a secret cabinet discussion yesterday, the government ordered the armed forces 'to draft the necessary reservists, on a scale of tens of thousands of troops'.
Earlier, in the bloodiest incident of the day, an air strike on a mosque killed 11 Palestinian civilians, including children, and wounded dozens as they prayed, Hamas officials said.
An Israeli military spokesman had no immediate comment.
Israel has targeted mosques previously saying that Hamas had used them as command posts and fire bases.
Hamas kept up its rocket attacks on southern Israel in defiance of international calls for it to halt such actions.
As the Israeli offensive entered its second week, prospects of a ceasefire any time soon looked dim.
'I hope the results of this operation will bring about quiet in the long term. The moment they fire, we will respond with great force,' Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said on Israeli TV.
The Palestinian death toll has risen to at least 446, with about 2,050 wounded, in the worst sustained bloodshed in decades of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.
Four Israelis have been killed in cross-border rocket attacks by Hamas and other militant groups.
Israeli air strikes targeted Gaza from early morning and naval vessels also shelled the area from the Mediterranean, witnesses said.
One strike killed Abu Zakaria al-Jamal, a senior commander of Hamas's armed wing, Hamas said. He was the second Hamas leader killed in three days.
Israeli war planes also hit a private Palestinian college called the American School, killing a guard.
Israel launched the campaign, called Operation Cast Lead, on 27 December saying it wanted to stop Hamas rocket attacks on southern Israel.
Israeli flag burned after protest
Protestors against the air attacks on Gaza have burnt an Israeli flag outside the Dáil.
Around 1,000 people attended the demonstration organised by the Ireland Palestine solidarity campaign.
The organisers say protests will take place as long as the Israeli bombardment continues and they called on the Government to boycott Israeli goods and businesses.
Afterwards around 80 protestors knelt on Kildare Street to pray.
Bush says Hamas is responsible
Amid growing concern for the humanitarian condition in the densely-populated territory, the US gave its close ally free rein to push on with a ground offensive, insisting that the key to a ceasefire is Israel's demand for Hamas to permanently halt rocket fire.
US President George W Bush urged all able parties to press Hamas to stop firing on Israel to facilitate a lasting ceasefire.
'The United States is leading diplomatic efforts to achieve a meaningful ceasefire that is fully respected,' Mr Bush said in his weekly radio address to be broadcast today, the text of which was released late yesterday.
'I urge all parties to pressure Hamas to turn away from terror, and to support legitimate Palestinian leaders working for peace.'
Mr Bush said Hamas was responsible for the latest violence and rejected a unilateral ceasefire that would allow Hamas to continue to fire on Israel.
'This recent outburst of violence was instigated by Hamas - a Palestinian terrorist group supported by Iran and Syria that calls for Israel's destruction,' Mr Bush said.
Hamas's Syrian-based chief Khaled Meshaal, meanwhile, told Israel that 'if you commit the stupidity of launching a ground offensive then a black destiny awaits you.
'You will soon find out that Gaza is the wrath of God,' Mr Meshaal said in pre-taped remarks as the death toll rose from bombing and concerns grew about the humanitarian situation in the Palestinian territory.
RTE
DUKE NUKEM
01-03-2009, 11:01 PM
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DUKE NUKEM
01-03-2009, 11:02 PM
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An earthquake with a magnitude of 7.2 has rocked eastern Indonesia, meteorologists say.
The tremor struck south-west of Manokwari, West Papua province, at 0443 on Sunday (1943 GMT), the US Geological Survey said.
Residents ran outdoors and to higher ground, but a tsunami alert was withdrawn within an hour.
The Indonesian archipelago lies over several continental plates where seismic activity happens regularly.
While the local seismology agency said the quake had a magnitude of 7.2, the US Geological Survey put the quake at a stronger 7.6.
Hasim Rumatiga, a local health official, told Associated Press that electricity went off and residents ran to higher ground.
A policeman said that without power it was difficult to check for damage in Manokwari, the seaside capital of the province, AFP news agency reported.
He added that the police and military had been helping people get to higher ground.
A huge quake off western Indonesia on 26 December, 2004 caused a massive tsunami that killed around 230,000 people around the region
BBC
JohnCenaFan28
01-03-2009, 11:28 PM
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JohnCenaFan28
01-03-2009, 11:28 PM
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DUKE NUKEM
01-04-2009, 02:27 AM
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DUKE NUKEM
01-04-2009, 02:28 AM
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The Taoiseach has signalled that final year Exchequer returns, due to be published tomorrow, will show a tax shortfall of around €8bn for 2008.
Speaking on RTÉ Radio's This Week, Brian Cowen said the Government would now have to discuss the situation with the social partners and then take decisive action over the coming years to address the problems in the public finances.
He said that without corrective action, the Exchequer deficit in 2010 could rise to €20bn.
Mr Cowen signalled that the national wage agreement could be under threat, saying all options would be on the table during upcoming talks with the social partners, including the pay deal.
He said that what was now needed was for everyone to pull together and agree on an overall programme to stabilise the public finances.
Ireland is facing a very difficult year, he said, and next year could also be very difficult.
The challenges we face are unprecedented, Mr Cowen claimed, but added that we have to face into and address them.
But he said that without underestimating the problems we have to keep things in perspective and that we are entering this recession in a stronger position than before.
Asked if the deteriorating public finances meant tax increases were likely, Mr Cowen said the Government was not looking at tax changes as an immediate priority.
But he said there was no doubt in his mind that over the next four to five years, taxation will have to play a role in getting day to day spending back in balance with tax returns.
On the possibility of lay-offs in the public sector, the Taoiseach said the Public Expenditure Review Committee is looking at all aspects of public spending and the Government will then have to make the decisions based on its recommendations.
He agreed it was unlikely that there would be any expansion in public service numbers and that there could probably be a reduction.
The present situation as it stands is not sustainable for any Government, he said, and it had to be addressed.
Treaty goes beyond party politics
On the likely re-run of the Lisbon Treaty referendum, Mr Cowen said he believed people have seen in recent months especially, the importance of Irelands membership of the EU.
As a result, he said, there is a growing realisation among everybody that Ireland's national interests are to be in the mainstream of the EU, and standing alone is not in our interests.
He said the Government was working to address the concerns highlighted by the Oireachtas committee and departmental surveys.
He described the Treaty as a huge issue which goes beyond party politics
Mr Cowen said he was not worried that Fianna Fáil might be badly hit in the local and European elections, saying the party has good quality young candidates, who will be voted on based on the local realities.
He also said no decisions had been made on when the bi-elections will take place to fill the two vacant Dáil seats.
On the question of reports that Mayo TD, Beverley Flynn, is drawing an allowance due to only to Independent TDs, even though she has rejoined Fianna Fáil, Mr Cowen said he would be taking the matter up with Deputy Flynn and whatever is appropriate to be done will be done.
RTE
Up to 1,000 people are taking part in a large-scale search for a Kildare teenager who went missing near a Co Wexford beach on New Year's Eve.
18-year-old Conal Owens from Naas became separated from his friends close to Curracloe Beach.
Bus loads of volunteers from Co Kildare are assisting gardaí and rescue services in the search, which is now in its fourth day
Today the search has been widened away from the beach and has moved inland.
Local gardaí describe some of the terrain in the area as difficult.
RTE
A woman has been left with a serious face wound after she was attacked in public toilets in Belfast yesterday evening.
The woman, who is in her 50s, was assaulted by a man in toilets at Coles Alley off Church Lane in Belfast city centre at around 5pm.
A man, believed to have been armed with a knife, was seen running from the scene in the direction of Anne Street.
He is described as aged in his 20s or 30s and wearing a black jacket and black jeans.
The PSNI has appealed for anyone with information to come forward.
RTE
Thousands of Israeli troops and scores of tanks have advanced into Gaza battling Hamas and surrounding the main city on a mission to end rocket attacks.
Up to 23 Palestinians were killed by tank shells or missiles fired from warplanes as families fled battlefield towns in packed trucks and cars to escape the biggest Israeli military operation since its 2006 war in Lebanon.
International efforts to halt the conflict floundered.
The UN Security Council failed to agree the wording of a statement on the conflict, with the US giving strong backing to Israel.
Israeli troops and tanks took over areas south and north of Gaza City.
Heavy fighting was also reported around the northern towns of Beit Lahiya, Beit Hanun and Jabaliya.
Explosions shook the enclave, home to 1.5m people, as the Israeli army took control of main roads.
There was a constant clatter of automatic gunfire in the territory which has been under a tight Israeli blockade for months.
In the hours since Israel launched its night-time offensive yesterday, at least 23 people have been killed, adding to the 485 Palestinians killed in eight days of air strikes when another 2,500 were wounded, Gaza medics said.
More than 80 children are among the dead.
Some 30 Israeli soldiers and 'several' Hamas fighters were reported to have been wounded since the ground offensive began, the army and medics said.
Israel has denied Hamas claims that soldiers had been killed.
The Al-Jazeera Arabic news channel reported that one Israeli had been killed but there was no immediate comment from Israel.
A Hamas spokesman, speaking as troops crossed the border, said Gaza will become 'a cemetery' for Israeli soldiers.
Witnesses said Israeli infantry and tanks had taken control of the Salaheddine Road, the main highway along the length of Gaza.
Protester killed in West Bank
In the occupied West Bank there are reports that Israeli soldiers shot and killed a Palestinian man during clashes.
A 22-year-old was shot in the head in the West Bank city of Qalqilya during a protest against Israel's military operation in Gaza.
The Israeli army said soldiers had shot a Palestinian during a riot near Qalqilya after warning the crowd to disperse.
Gaza offensive 'unavoidable'
Israel's Defence Minister Ehud Barak said before a cabinet meeting in Tel Aviv that 'the operation will be expanded and intensified as much as necessary. War is not a picnic.'
Briefing reporters after the meeting, an Israeli government official said: 'Israel has no intention to return to occupy the Gaza Strip.'
Government secretary Ovid Yehezkel said the incursion could last a long time, but added: 'The operation is aimed solely to achieve the goals set forth by the cabinet.'
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said the Gaza offensive had been 'unavoidable' but Israel would not open a new front in the north.
Israel began 'Operation Cast Lead' on 27 December with the declared aim of ending rocket attacks into Israel from Gaza that resumed after a six-month truce ended.
Rocket fire from Gaza over the past week has killed four people in Israel.
Twenty-five rockets and mortar rounds were fired across the border today and hit the towns of Sderot and Ashdod, although no casualties were reported.
Schools in southern Israel remain closed.
Streets clear as soon as siren alerts of incoming rockets are sounded by authorities.
Ireland to send aid
The Minister for Foreign Affairs expressed grave concern over the Israeli incursion.
Micheál Martin said he regretted the escalation of the conflict and urged Israel to halt its operation and withdraw its forces.
Minister Martin also announced €500,000 in humanitarian aid for Gaza.
France, meanwhile, has criticised the Israeli offensive that Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas warned would have 'grave consequences' for the region.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy was to hold talks tomorrow with Mr Olmert in Jerusalem and Mr Abbas in Ramallah.
Turkey also condemned the air and ground offensive and called for it to end immediately.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the Israeli attack had created a 'very dangerous moment' in the conflict.
The EU's foreign policy chief Javier Solana called for an immediate ceasefire, adding that European nations were ready to contribute international monitors to help keep the peace.
Israel has called a snap general election for 10 February, and the current leadership has widespread public support for the offensive.
RTE
JohnCenaFan28
01-04-2009, 08:03 PM
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JohnCenaFan28
01-04-2009, 08:03 PM
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JohnCenaFan28
01-04-2009, 08:03 PM
Thanks for the read.
JohnCenaFan28
01-04-2009, 08:04 PM
Thanks for posting.
New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson has withdrawn as US President-elect Barack Obama's nominee for commerce secretary.
Mr Richardson's decision was linked to a pending investigation into a company which has done business with his state.
In a joint statement, Mr Obama said he had accepted Mr Richardson's decision to withdraw "with deep regret".
Mr Richardson denied any wrongdoing but said that the inquiry could take months and he could not allow the commerce department's vital work to be delayed.
A federal grand jury in Albuquerque is investigating how a California company that contributed to Mr Richardson's political activities won a New Mexico state contract.
The firm is not named in the joint statement issued by Mr Obama's office, but the Associated Press and AFP news agencies have identified it as a company called CDR Financial Products.
The BBC's Kim Ghattas in Washington says this is the first major hurdle Mr Obama has encountered as he puts together his new administration.
'Great sorrow'
Mr Richardson said in his statement that, given the grave economic situation facing the nation, he could not hold up the important work Mr Obama's government must do.
"Let me say unequivocally that I and my administration have acted properly in all matters and that the investigation will bear out that fact," he said.
"But I have concluded that the ongoing investigation also would have forced an untenable delay in the confirmation process."
He had asked for his name to be withdrawn with "great sorrow", Mr Richardson said, adding that he would continue in his present role as governor.
Mr Obama described Mr Richardson as an "outstanding public servant and said his decision to withdraw his candidacy was "a measure of his willingness to put the nation first".
Confirmation hearings for new cabinet members are due to start this week, ahead of Mr Obama's swearing-in as president on 20 January.
While Mr Richardson could be cleared of any wrongdoing, our correspondent adds, this is the second political corruption scandal to impact on the transition period.
In December, Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich was charged with attempting to "sell" Mr Obama's seat to the highest bidder. He denies any wrongdoing.
Mr Richardson, among the Democratic Party's most prominent Hispanic politicians, becomes the first big-name figure to drop out of Mr Obama's cabinet.
The governor stood against Mr Obama in the contest to be the Democratic presidential candidate last year but withdrew after performing badly in early state primary elections.
Under former President Bill Clinton, Mr Richardson served as US ambassador to the UN and as energy secretary.
BBC
Gordon Brown has defended his handling of the economic downturn, saying the government "must play its role".
Speaking on the BBC's Andrew Marr Show, the prime minister said 2009 would be "challenging and difficult".
But he insisted he was right to use fiscal policy to secure the economy - his priority this year.
Mr Brown also said he was not thinking about calling an election. The Conservatives have accused the government of "headline grabbing".
The prime minister said he wanted to see a return to banks doing what they should be - "lending" - and did not rule out the need for further bank bail-outs in the future.
But he said: "I don't think that's the first thing anybody would think about at the moment."
That comment was echoed later by the chancellor, who told BBC Radio 4 that further re-capitalisation would not be his "first port of call".
Alistair Darling said talks were continuing with the banks about steps to encourage more lending.
In October, the government announced that it would inject £37bn into three of the UK's biggest names - Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds TSB and HBOS - to secure their futures.
Job creation
Mr Brown was asked about government plans to bring forward £10bn of spending on public works, digital technology and environmental projects.
He said the programme would create 100,000 jobs, helping to curb rising unemployment and enabling the economy to stabilise.
We are going to make sure that through this downturn, people will be protected
Gordon Brown
"We are not going to do what happened in previous recessions and allow people to go under," he said.
Some 30,000 jobs are to be created in school repairs in an attempt to help private construction firms who have suffered in the economic downturn.
When pressed about whether a general election could be called in 2009, Mr Brown said: "It is the furthest thing from my mind. My duty in these circumstances is to do everything I can to help people now.
"We are going to make sure that through this downturn, people will be protected."
No 'defeatism'
Defending his intervention in the economy, the prime minister said: "If the monetary system is not working as well as it should; if there's no likelihood of huge inflation in the next period of time; if you are not crowding-out private investment then government must play its role."
He urged voters to give his policies time to take effect, saying: "I do not think you can judge the success of recapitalisation by what happened in one month.
"You have got to judge it as a necessary means by which, by saving the banks - and saving is the right word - we restore the ability to fund businesses and mortgages."
He said the length of the current crisis would depend on the amount of international co-operation and he had high hopes for the forthcoming G20 summit in London.
Insisting he would not accept "defeatism", he added: "Things are going to go right because we are going to take the action that is necessary."
Asked whether that action could include cutting interest rates down to 0% in a bid to stimulate the economy, Mr Brown said that was a matter for the Governor of the Bank of England.
However, he did say that falling interest rates helped to drive up inflation, something he wanted to avoid.
Last month, the US Federal Reserve slashed its interest rates to 0% in an attempt to revive the American economy.
'Little substance'
The Conservatives have criticised the government's approach to tackling the downturn and the cut in VAT to boost spending.
Shadow work and pensions secretary Chris Grayling said he was extremely sceptical about the announcements which were "headline grabbing" with "very little substance".
"As a nation we have run out of cash, we've got a debt crisis and the things the government said it would do to try to tackle these difficulties are just not working," he told the BBC.
"The reality is it's only a month since the government delayed its biggest public works project - the project to build new aircraft carriers - because it said it had run out of money," he added.
The Liberal Democrat's treasury spokesman Vincent Cable said Mr Brown's proposals were similar to their own but he was not convinced they would be implemented properly.
He also said the plan to create 100,000 jobs was coming as perhaps a million were going to be lost.
"The key point is to make sure the banks are lending again," he said.
"The problems are in part because of a paralysis with decision making because they are being set contradictory objectives."
The prime minister is to tour the country this week before a jobs summit involving government, business and unions.
BBC
Israeli ground troops and heavy armour have moved deeper into the Gaza Strip, in effect cutting the territory in two.
Supported by a naval, air and land bombardment, forces have taken up positions on either side of Gaza City, and along a major east-west road.
The Palestinian health ministry says more than 50 people have been killed since the ground operation began. One Israeli soldier has been killed.
Earlier, US Vice-President Dick Cheney defended the Israeli ground assault.
In an interview with CBS television, Mr Cheney said air attacks were not enough to destroy the sites from which militants were firing rockets into Israel.
He also said Israel had not sought US approval before entering Gaza.
Israeli President Shimon Peres meanwhile rejected calls for a ceasefire, but insisted his country did not intend to re-occupy Gaza or crush Hamas.
The Palestinian Authority President, Mahmoud Abbas, said he was doing all he could to stop Israel's "vicious aggression".
A European Union mission has flown to the region. The bloc's foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, said the crisis represented a failure of diplomacy.
In other developments:
* An Israeli missile hit a house in Shujaiya, killing a mother and four of her children, officials at al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City told the BBC
* At least 17 people were killed and 130 injured when Israeli shells fell near a school and the main market in Gaza City, Palestinian health ministry officials said
* At least 32 missiles were fired into southern Israel from Gaza. Two people were lightly wounded in the Eshkol region, while one woman was slightly injured in Sderot
* In the West Bank, there were angry protests against the Israeli offensive. A Palestinian man was shot dead by Israeli troops who confronted youths near the town of Qalqilya, medical sources said.
Many claims cannot be verified. Israel is refusing to let international journalists into Gaza, despite a Supreme Court ruling to allow a limited number of reporters to enter the territory.
'Face-to-face battles'
As night fell, widespread blackouts plunged much of Gaza into darkness. However, the flashes of explosions could clearly be seen from the northern border, and the regular sounds of gun and artillery fire heard.
During the day, the fighting appeared to move away from the northern end of the territory, towards more populous areas in the west, correspondents say.
Later, Israeli military sources and witnesses said Israeli tanks and heavy armour had taken up positions on either side of Gaza City, in effect cutting Gaza into two parts, from the Karni crossing to the Mediterranean Sea.
The town of Beit Hanoun was also reportedly surrounded.
According to Hamas officials and witnesses, the main fighting is now centred on four areas: east of the Jabaliya refugee camp; in the Zeitoun neighbourhood to the east of Gaza City; on the coastal road close to the site of the former Jewish settlement of Netzarim, south of Gaza City; and in an uninhabited area in the centre of Gaza.
Hamas said its fighters were in some cases engaged in "face-to-face battles" with Israeli soldiers.
Earlier, the Israeli military said the militants were not engaging its troops in close combat but using mortars and improvised bombs.
The Palestinian health ministry says more than 500 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have now been killed since the Israelis began their assault on Gaza eight days ago. A further 2,500 have been wounded.
The Israeli military says one of its soldiers has been killed and 32 wounded in the ground offensive, at least two of them seriously. It believes about 80% of the Palestinians killed were Hamas members.
Hamas officials say that 10 of its fighters have so far been killed.
'Trickle of aid'
The BBC's Rushdi Abu Alouf in Gaza City says the fighting and Israeli positions have stopped desperately-needed medical supplies getting through to hospitals.
On Sunday, Palestinian Health Minister Dr Fathi Abumoghli said the Israeli military was restricting the movement of ambulances, leading to casualties dying before they could receive treatment. One doctor and two paramedics had been killed, he said.
Later, the charity Oxfam also said a paramedic working for a partner organisation had been killed and two others injured by an Israeli shell.
Oxfam also complained that the "trickle of humanitarian aid that Israel has sometimes allowed in" had dried up since the start of the ground offensive, and said it had been forced to suspend its work, apart from emergency medical aid.
The Israeli government says 400 truckloads of humanitarian aid has been allowed into Gaza since the operation began, but many agencies say deliveries have been insufficient, and that it is difficult to get supplies to where they are most needed.
The main aid crossing point at Rafah has also been closed while Israel troops attempt to destroy tunnels under the border with Egypt.
BBC
The Chinese authorities have launched a fresh campaign to get rid of unhealthy, vulgar and pornographic content on the internet.
The authorities have also published the names of 19 websites that have failed to heed requests to get rid of unsuitable material.
These include Google and China's top internet search engine, Baidu.
These websites could be closed down if they do not delete the offending material, according to one official.
China believes it has a duty to protect public morality.
Officials seem to be particularly concerned about pretty girls in suggestive poses that can be accessed through various websites.
They fear this and other "unhealthy" content could damage young people's physical and mental health.
Excuse for censorship?
The new campaign is being co-ordinated by a total of seven government ministries.
They have published the names of 19 offending websites that have so far ignored warnings to get rid of unsuitable content.
These websites are being told to clean up their websites - or else.
"We will continue to expose, punish or close down websites that have a lot of vulgar content," said one official, Cai Mingzhao, speaking on Chinese Central Television.
Officials also want the public to act as their eyes and ears in this campaign against sleaze.
But there is a fear the crackdown will not just be restricted to vulgar material.
The Chinese government keeps a firm grip on the internet, blocking certain websites and censoring some sensitive material.
This campaign could be used as an excuse to stifle political dissent in a country that allows little public criticism.
One of the websites that has been publicly criticised, Tianya, is popular with people who post their criticisms of the government.
BBC
There is no evidence that products widely promoted to help the body "detox" work, scientists warn.
The charitable trust Sense About Science reviewed 15 products, from bottled water to face scrub, and found many detox claims were "meaningless".
Anyone worried about the after-effects of Christmas overindulgence would get the same benefits from eating healthily and getting plenty of sleep, they said.
Advertising regulators said they looked at such issues on a case-by-case basis.
The investigation, done by research members of the Voice of Young Science network, was kicked off by a campaign to unpick "dodgy" science claims - where companies use phrases that sound scientific but do not actually mean anything.
The minimum sellers of detox products should be able to offer is a clear understanding of what detox is and proof that their product actually works
Tom Wells, chemist
They challenged the companies behind products such as vitamins, shampoo, detox patches and a body brush on the evidence they had to support the detox claims made.
No two companies seemed to use the same definition of detox - defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as the removal of toxic substances or qualities.
In the majority of cases, producers and retailers were forced to admit that they had simply renamed processes like cleaning or brushing, as detox, the scientists said.
Toxins
One researcher investigated a Garnier face wash which claimed to detoxify the skin by removing toxins.
The "toxins" turned out to be the dirt, make-up and skin oils that any cleanser would be expected to remove, she said.
A five-day detox plan from Boots which claimed to detoxify the body and flush away toxins was also criticised for not being backed by evidence.
Evelyn Harvey, a biologist who looked into the product, said that if consumers followed the healthy diet that was recommended alongside the supplement they would probably feel better - but it would have nothing to do with the product itself.
The researchers warned that, at worst, some detox diets could have dangerous consequences and, at best, they were a waste of money.
Tom Wells, a chemist who took part in the research, said: "The minimum sellers of detox products should be able to offer is a clear understanding of what detox is and proof that their product actually works.
"The people we contacted could do neither."
Alice Tuff, from Sense About Science, added: "It is ridiculous that we're seeing a return to mystical properties being claimed for products in the 21st Century and I'm really pleased that young scientists are sharing their concerns about this with the public."
The Advertising Standards Authority said it would investigate such claims on a case-by-case basis if a complaint was made.
"If a product is making claims not substantiated by the evidence submitted by the company we would challenge that."
A spokeswoman from Boots said its five-day detox plan encouraged people to drink water and includes ingredients that "battle against toxins and help protect from the dangers of free radicals".
And Garnier commented: "All Garnier products undergo rigorous testing and evaluation to ensure that our claims are accurate and noticeable by our consumers."
BBC
Diplomatic initiatives are under way in the Middle East in an attempt to broker a ceasefire in Gaza, as Israel intensified its military offensive.
Foreign ministers and EU representatives are holding a press conference now in Jerusalem. Watch it at RTÉ.ie/live.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy is also in the region to try to persuade Israeli and Arab leaders to agree to a 48-hour humanitarian truce.
There are reports that five Palestinian children, all members of the same family, have been killed in Israeli fire.
Speaking on RTÉ Radio's Morning Ireland, Israeli ambassador to Ireland Dr Zion Evrony defended the action and denied that the offensive was intended to remove Hamas as a political entity.
Hamas is planning to send a delegation to Egypt today for the first diplomatic talks since the launch of the Israeli offensive nine days ago, which has left over 500 people dead.
Mr Sarkozy will also will meet Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in Jerusalem and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah today.
Meanwhile, Israeli forces have strengthened the encirclement of Gaza City and have pushed towards Khan Younis near the border with Egypt.
Aid groups said the offensive had aggravated a humanitarian crisis for the population, who have no electricity, no water and now face dire food shortages. Hospitals are only running on back-up generators.
Three ambulance workers were killed when they were hit by a missile as they helped wounded victims, medics said.
RTE
JohnCenaFan28
01-05-2009, 09:23 PM
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JohnCenaFan28
01-05-2009, 09:23 PM
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JohnCenaFan28
01-05-2009, 09:23 PM
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JohnCenaFan28
01-05-2009, 09:23 PM
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JohnCenaFan28
01-05-2009, 09:23 PM
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JohnCenaFan28
01-05-2009, 09:23 PM
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JohnCenaFan28
01-05-2009, 09:38 PM
The teenager who murdered schoolboy Rhys Jones has been attacked in jail, the Prison Service has confirmed.
Sean Mercer, 18, was assaulted at HMP Moorland in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, but the incident was stopped by the "timely intervention" of staff, a spokeswoman added.
The gang member was taken to hospital after the attack in the communal area of the prison, according to reports. The attack is thought to have left Mercer with a broken nose and facial injuries.
A Prison Service spokeswoman said: "We can confirm an incident took place at HMP Moorland at 2.30pm on Saturday, December 27, in which two prisoners assaulted each other.
"The incident lasted less than two minutes and was quickly resolved by the timely intervention of staff."
The spokeswoman would not release any further details.
Last month Mercer, of Good Shepherd Close, Croxteth, Liverpool, was jailed for life and was told he would serve a minimum of 22 years behind bars.
Mercer, a Croxteth Crew member, blasted three shots across the car park of the Fir Tree pub in Croxteth on August 22 last year.
His targets were rival Strand Gang members who had arrived on his turf - but one of the shots hit innocent Rhys, who was walking home from football training.
The 11-year-old schoolboy died in his mother Melanie's arms.
-Nova
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01-05-2009, 09:43 PM
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Waterford Wedgwood has gone into receivership.
This morning, the company asked that its shares be suspended from trading on the Irish Stock Exchange and said some of the group's Irish and UK subsidiaries have had to go into receivership and administration.
The company, which produces Waterford Crystal, and Wedgwood and Royal Doulton china, employs 800 people in Ireland.
It has appointed David Carson of Deloitte Ireland as receiver to the company. He said he is seeking a buyer for the firm, and wishes to sell it as a going concern.
A director of Waterford Wedgwood and former group chief executive officer, Redmond O'Donoghue, has said mayhem in the market place over the last three months was the chief factor which led to today's announcement.
Speaking on RTÉ Radio's News At One, he said the company could not have predicted how horrible the markets were going to be when it announced last October that it needed to raise funds of €150m.
He said the company had raised only half that amount.
Also on the programme, Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism Martin Cullen, who is a TD for Waterford, welcomed that the receiver will try to sell the business as a going concern.
He said the Government would do what it could to keep the very strong brand of Waterford Crystal in Ireland.
In Ireland, the ultimate holding company Waterford Wedgwood PLC is in receivership, and joint administrators are to be appointed to the UK companies, of which there are about ten.
No other companies other than those in Ireland and the UK have had receivers or administrators appointed. It means they continue to trade, even though they are all subsidiaries of the ultimate holding company.
Union representatives were expected to meet with workers at Waterford Wedgwood this morning.
Unite was seeking an urgent meeting with management.
News 'sickening' - union
Spokesman Jimmy Kelly said the situation is 'sickening' but added that he believed the firm can ride out the storm.
The company last month reported pre-tax losses of €63.2m for the six months to 4 October, up 13% from a loss of almost €50m a year earlier.
Chief Executive David Sculley said it was clear that the group needed extra financing to continue with its business plan.
'I am disappointed that certain of the group's UK and Irish subsidiaries have had to go into administration and receivership, but we remain optimistic that ongoing discussions will result in a buyer being found for the businesses,' he said.
In October last, Waterford Crystal told workers about its plans to lay off another 280 people at its plant in Kilbarry in the city, ending large-scale manufacturing at the plant.
Chief Financial Officer of Waterford Wedgwood Anthony Jones said it had become clear that maintaining manufacturing in Ireland at its current level was not feasible.
Under a restructuring plan announced in 2007, 490 people were already due to leave the company.
RTE
US President-elect Barack Obama has chosen former lawmaker and White House chief of staff Leon Panetta to head the CIA.
US media were first to report that Mr Panetta, who was White House chief of staff for former president Bill Clinton, was the incoming president's choice to head the agency.
Presidential transition aides have also said that retired admiral Dennis Blair is Mr Obama's choice for director of national intelligence to oversee the country's sprawling intelligence system.
A former commander of US forces in the Pacific from 1999 to 2002, Blair will be only the third director of national intelligence.
The position was created by Congress in 2004 after investigations revealed that turf-sensitive intelligence agencies failed to share information that might have averted the 11 September attacks.
That failure was followed by US intelligence's fateful error on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.
The DNI's main mission was to break down the barriers between the agencies, and make them operate more collaboratively.
RTE
Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair will receive the highest civilian award in the US - the Presidential Medal of Freedom - next week.
In his last week in office, President Bush will award the medal to Mr Blair, former Australian PM John Howard and Colombian President Alvaro Uribe.
All three leaders had been "staunch allies" of the US, particularly against terrorism, said the White House.
The ceremony will take place at the White House on 13 January.
At a press briefing earlier White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said: "The president is honouring these leaders for their work to improve the lives of their citizens and for their efforts to promote democracy, human rights and peace abroad. "
She added: "Their efforts to bring hope and freedom to people around the globe have made their nations, America and the world community a safer and more secure world. "
The medal of freedom, awarded by the US President, is the highest civilian award in the US, alongside the congressional gold medal - awarded by Congress.
Mr Blair was awarded the congressional gold medal in July 2003, shortly after the invasion of Iraq, but he has yet to collect it.
There was some speculation that unease over the Iraq war and Mr Blair's close friendship with Mr Bush made him reluctant to accept it while in office.
But each medal is individually designed and minted and it was reported it was taking some time to decide on the words and images.
The office of the Speaker of the House of Representatives told the Sunday Telegraph this week that Mr Blair was taking a keen interest in the medal's design, before it was specially made by the US Federal Mint.
BBC
Conservative leader David Cameron has announced plans to help savers, whom he has described as the "innocent victims" of the economic downturn.
He plans to scrap taxes paid by basic rate taxpayers' on savings interest and raise the level of non-taxable income for pensioners by £2,000 a year.
The Tories have said the tax cuts will be fully funded, paid for by lower public spending.
Labour say the Tories are making promises without having the funding.
The Lib Dems said the plan was a "fake giveaway."
Savers have suffered as interest rates have fallen to a 57-year low of 2%, with a further cut anticipated on Thursday.
'Big change'
In response, the Tories are proposing to help savers by ending the 20% tax paid by basic rate taxpayers on savings' interest.
According to the Tories, anyone with savings who has earnings or pension income of less than £43,875 will be better off.
They say those most dependent on income from savings, such as the retired and those not working, will benefit most and that someone with annual pension income of £12,000 would save £200 a year.
The amount of income that people aged between 65 and 74 would receive tax-free would rise from £9,490 to £11,490 while for the over 75's, tax-free allowances would rise to £11,640.
This would enable a 65-year old with £14,000 in pension income to save £400 a year, the Tories argue
Mr Cameron said his plans were designed to create a "less materialistic" society based on a culture of "save, save save" rather than "spend, spend spend".
"We need to make a really big change in Britain from an economy built on debt to an economy built on savings," he said.
Mr Cameron said the tax cuts - estimated to cost about £4.1bn - would be paid for by restricting public spending increases across most of government in 2009-2010 to 1% in real terms.
This would represent a reduction of about £5bn in the overall rise in public spending - from £30bn to £25bn - planned by Labour.
However, existing Labour spending commitments for health, schools, defence and international development would be left unaltered.
Such savings were "perfectly reasonable", he added, urging a "culture of thrift" in government.
Slowdown fears
One tax expert said the Tory proposals were a "good way" of putting money into the pockets of key groups in society.
But Carl Emerson, deputy director of the Institute of Fiscal Studies, said it was unclear whether the recipients would choose to spend the money or save it and there was a chance that it would result in less money flowing into the economy.
He also said it would result in a "very sharp slowdown" in the rate of spending growth across many areas of government.
Mr Cameron said the country faced a "grim" future of 1970s-style big government under Gordon Brown and called again for a general election any time this year.
Labour's economic strategy had failed, he said, and the country was facing a "catastrophic legacy of debt and disrepair".
In contrast, the Conservatives had a vision of more "productive, balanced and modern" economy with an emphasis on a savings culture and more environmentally sustainable economic activity.
"Our vision is a good future is of a less materialistic country, more concerned with people and our relationships; a contributor society not a consumer society."
'Debt crisis'
Mr Cameron also announced plans for a review of broadband services - with the aim of giving every home access to high-speed fibre optic broadband within 10 years - and for a "green" stock exchange to help fund new environmentally friendly businesses.
Mr Cameron earlier accused Gordon Brown of inflicting a "terrifying" debt crisis on Britain and called the VAT cut a "joke".
Mr Cameron told BBC Radio 4's Today that Mr Brown might as well have gone out and burnt the money and said he felt like "shaking the prime minister".
His criticisms came as both his party and Labour seek to gain the initiative over handling of the economic downturn.
The BBC's political editor Nick Robinson said the changes to savings tax rates would create a clear political dividing line, he added, between a Labour government committed to state intervention to inflate the economy and the Tories calling for a smaller state and tax cuts.
Meanwhile Gordon Brown has been discussing help for businesses trying to cope with the economic slowdown.
This is as a prelude to a three-day tour of England and Wales by the prime minister, which will culminate in a jobs summit in Downing Street next week.
'Better tomorrow'
Mr Brown said the UK was facing a "testing" year but that Labour's investment in areas such as housing and transport and its planned focus on creating jobs in new sectors of the economy was an "essential" response to the downturn.
"I believe with the right policies that we can build a better tomorrow while also immediately addressing the challenges we face today," he told a meeting of business groups and union leaders in London.
To do otherwise and to let the downturn run its course - the approach the prime minister has accused the Conservatives of taking - would be "socially divisive and economically mistaken".
"When markets fail the government has a responsibility to act."
The government also said it was mulling over further plans to encourage UK banks to raise lending to firms and households.
And Yvette Cooper, chief secretary to the Treasury, said: "David Cameron talks about the 1970s. The truth is the Conservatives are returning to the worst of Thatcherism in the early eighties with no support for jobs or the economy and cuts in public services as well.
"The Conservatives are repeating their mistakes of the past: if a timely fiscal stimulus of similar scale had been applied at the beginning of the 1990s recession, around 300,000 fewer jobs might not have been lost."
The Lib Dems said the plans would only result in a marginal saving for people on average incomes.
"What people need is much more money back in their pockets now," said their leader Nick Clegg.
BBC
JohnCenaFan28
01-06-2009, 12:37 AM
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JohnCenaFan28
01-06-2009, 12:38 AM
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JohnCenaFan28
01-06-2009, 12:38 AM
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JohnCenaFan28
01-06-2009, 12:38 AM
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lɐuǝɯo⊥ǝɥԀ
01-06-2009, 08:22 AM
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Two of the UK's biggest High Street names have announced falling like-for-like sales over the Christmas period.
Clothing retailer Next announced that its sales had dropped 7% in the six months to Christmas Eve. It added there had been a good start to its sale.
Meanwhile, Debenhams said its sales in the past 12 weeks had fallen 3.3%.
It said this had been a "creditable sales performance, given the extremely difficult and volatile conditions seen across the High Street".
In early morning trade in London shares in Next were up 7% after the announcement, and those in Debenhams were up 30%.
The updated trading figures had been in line with analysts' expectations.
Both chains have been offering up to 70% off items in their seasonal sales.
'Challenging year'
Next had refused to slash prices in the approach to Christmas - and said it expected sales clearance rates to be ahead of last year.
However, looking ahead to 2009, the firm said that it would be "another challenging year" and predicted negative like-for-like sales figures for the full year.
"We expect falling house prices, unemployment, and the fear of unemployment to continue to restrain spending," said Next in its statement.
But it said it was well placed to weather the downturn, with a robust balance sheet and net debts of £670m. Next also said it would manage its costs and look to make further efficiencies.
Cost controls
Debenhams, which has 153 stores in the UK and Irish Republic, has seen its shares fall more than 80% over the past two years on fears about its ability to pay its debts.
Despite the 3.6% fall in like-for-like sales over the past 12 weeks, this compared with a decline of 4.2% for the previous six weeks and meant that Debenhams' profits for the 18-week period had improved on a year earlier.
The retailer also said that, despite the tough environment, it had "continued to take market share from competitors in all major categories".
"Looking forward, the trading environment is likely to remain challenging for the whole retail sector," said chief executive Rob Templeman, adding that the firm would keep a tight control on costs, stock and capital.
Job fears
The updates come as the Nationwide's consumer confidence index fell to a new record low during December.
The index fell to just 47 last month, nearly half of its level of 84 in December 2007, and down from 51 in November.
Fionnuala Earley, Nationwide's chief economist, said: "Consumers' confidence fell sharply in 2008, driven mainly by their sentiment about the economic and labour market situation.
"As the UK enters recession, it is likely to be some time before we see confidence returning to levels seen in 2007."
BBC
The ex-head of children's services at the council at the centre of the Baby P case is appealing against her sacking.
Sharon Shoesmith was dismissed from Haringey Council last month after a damning initial report into her department's role in Baby P's death.
The 17-month-old, who was on the council's "at-risk" register, died in 2007 after a series of major injuries.
A spokesman for Haringey Council in north London confirmed Ms Shoesmith was appealing against her dismissal.
'Loss of confidence'
Following the report, Ms Shoesmith was dismissed with immediate effect and the council said she would not be receiving any compensation or pay in lieu of notice.
The document said her department's shortcomings "led to a fundamental loss of trust and confidence" in her ability.
Children's Secretary Ed Balls had removed Ms Shoesmith from her post on 1 December but she remained on full pay while the council considered her case.
Baby P's mother admitted in court to causing or allowing the boy's death. Her boyfriend and Jason Owen, 36, were convicted of the same offence.
They were due to be sentenced at the Old Bailey on 15 December but sentencing has been delayed "for legal reasons".
After the convictions, Ms Shoesmith said she was satisfied that her department had acted appropriately.
Risk failures
However, inspectors sent into Haringey after the trial of those responsible for the baby's death identified a string of "serious concerns" about the area's child protection services which they described as "inadequate".
In a 16-page report, they criticised everything from poor record-keeping to a failure to identify children at immediate risk of harm.
Baby P, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had suffered more than 50 injuries by the time of his death.
This was despite being in contact with officials, doctors and police 60 times in the eight months before he died.
The council has appointed Peter Lewis as Ms Shoesmith's successor.
He has spent five years as children's director at Enfield Council, also in north London.
Haringey is the same council that was severely criticised after the murder of eight-year-old Victoria Climbie in 2000.
BBC
After all the injuries that Baby P suffered in his short life this woman should not have been sacked she should have just been taken around the corner and shot.....
Several European countries say they have suffered major disruption to their Russian gas supplies after Moscow cut deliveries to Ukraine.
Turkey said all its supplies had been cut. Romania reported a 75% reduction. Bulgaria, Greece and Macedonia have also been affected, Bulgaria said.
Russian energy giant Gazprom decided to cut exports through Ukrainian pipelines by a fifth in a row over unpaid bills.
Russia stopped supplying gas to Ukraine last week.
A statement on the website of Ukrainian state company Naftogaz listed nine countries, including Germany, Poland, and Hungary which, it said, would receive reduced supplies.
"Naftogaz of Ukraine considers that in such a case if European users receive less volumes of natural gas, all claims of the noted countries must be directed to Gazprom," says the statement.
Pipes across Ukraine carry about one-fifth of the European Union's gas needs.
'Gas stolen'
The move to reduce supplies going through the Ukraine by a fifth came after Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin held talks with Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller.
Mr Miller recommended that deliveries via Ukraine should be reduced "by the amount stolen by Ukraine, that is 65.3 million cu/m of gas".
Future deliveries should be reduced on a daily basis by the amount of gas "stolen", he added.
"Start reducing it from today," Mr Putin told Mr Miller on Monday.
Ukraine has denied stealing gas, saying technical problems are disrupting the onward flow of gas to Europe.
Gazprom, in which the Russian state owns a majority stake, said it would compensate by sending more gas to Europe via other routes.
Divisions
The row between Russia and Ukraine has been simmering for weeks. Gazprom says Ukraine owes it money; Ukraine says it has paid its debt. The two sides have also failed to agree on the price Ukraine should pay for gas in 2009.
A similar row between Gazprom and Ukraine at the beginning of 2006 led to gas shortages in several EU countries.
EU leaders have been meeting in Brussels to discuss the dispute and a delegation has also been sent for talks with both Ukrainian and Gazprom officials.
But, say correspondents, the EU is reluctant to get involved in what it describes as a commercial dispute - reflecting Europe's own deep divisions on how to respond to Russia.
BBC
Israeli forces have pressed nearer to and into cities in Gaza despite new international calls for a ceasefire in an 11-day-old conflict in which hundreds of Palestinians have been killed.
Palestinian witnesses said Israeli forces moved into Khan Younis in southern Gaza as the army widened the ground assault it launched four days ago against Hamas militants after a week of air strikes failed to stamp out cross-border rocket fire.
There was intense fighting overnight on the outskirts of the city of Gaza, where residents huddled indoors in fear. Deaths recorded by Palestinian medics reached 564.
Most of several dozen deaths reported by hospitals in recent days have been civilians, apparently because dead militants remain on the battlefield.
The Israeli military said it had killed 130 militants since Saturday - an indication that the total Palestinian death toll since 27 December may be close to 700.
Israel's military said three soldiers were killed and 24 were wounded yesterday when an Israeli tank fired at a building in northern Gaza that they had occupied in fighting against the Hamas group, which seized control of Gaza in 2007.
The so-called friendly fire incident caused the military's highest casualty toll since Israel launched its offensive.
More than 550 Palestinian deaths; Eight Israelis killed
Eight Israelis, including four civilians hit in Palestinian rocket attacks, have been killed in the conflict.
Palestinian medics said 18 Palestinian civilians were killed today, including 10 people who were hit by naval shells along the beach in central Gaza.
Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak said the assault could get harder for troops. Hamas, vowing to fight on in every street and alley, threatened to fire more rockets across into Israel.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy, on a peace mission to the Middle East, and US President George W Bush, in his final weeks in the White House, both appealed for a ceasefire.
But disagreement on who should stop shooting first and on what terms made the chances of a quick truce seem remote.
Israel, whose leaders fight a parliamentary poll on 10 February, made clear its priority was securing the safety of its citizens.
Hamas demanded a lifting of Israel's blockade of Gaza. Many of the enclave's 1.5m people lack food, water or power.
The Jewish state launched the offensive after Hamas called off a six-month truce last month and stepped up cross-border rocket attacks in response to Israeli raids and the blockade.
Barak warns of tough times ahead
Israeli media reported that Hamas gunmen were manoeuvring within a well-fortified tunnel system and that Israeli troops had encountered Palestinian suicide bombers.
Militants had been trying to lure Israeli soldiers into built-up areas, witnesses said.
An overnight Israeli air strike in the southern Gaza town of Rafah killed a Palestinian woman, medical officials said.
Barak told Israeli legislators yesterday Hamas had been dealt a heavy blow: 'But we cannot say that its fighting capabilities have been harmed ... Difficult moments lie ahead in this operation and the main test could still be ahead,' he said.
Hamas leaders, who have support from Iran and Syria but are viewed with suspicion by most Arab states, were defiant.
Thousands of fighters were waiting 'in every street, every alley and at every house' to tackle the Israeli forces, Hamas military spokesman Abu Ubaida said in a broadcast speech.
Hamas would increase its rocket strikes on Israel if the Jewish state kept on attacking Gaza, he said.
Hamas, which wants to reverse the events of 1948 that created the Jewish state and turned Palestinians into refugees, won a parliamentary election in 2006.
It routed rival forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in 2007, taking control of Gaza and creating a schism that has blighted Mr Abbas's bid to found a Palestinian state through US-brokered talks with Israel.
Israel pulled its troops and more than 8,000 settlers out of Gaza in 2005 after 38 years of occupation in a move that many at the time hoped would lead to a breakthrough for relations between Israel and the Palestinians.
RTE
JohnCenaFan28
01-06-2009, 09:43 PM
Thanks for this.
JohnCenaFan28
01-06-2009, 09:44 PM
Thanks for the read.
JohnCenaFan28
01-06-2009, 09:44 PM
Thanks for the read.
JohnCenaFan28
01-06-2009, 09:44 PM
Thanks for posting.
Millions of pensioners and vulnerable people around the UK have become eligible for cold weather payments.
The £25-a-week assistance is triggered when an area's average temperature falls or is forecast to fall to 0C or below for seven consecutive days.
Forecasts for the London area mean 600,000 people are eligible for fuel help for the first time in a decade.
As the Arctic snap continues to bite, the freeze has restricted water supplies in Rhondda Fach, South Wales.
Welsh Water apologised, saying the freezing conditions had "severely restricted" supplies feeding a local treatment works. There would be occasional loss of supply or discoloured water, but it was safe to drink, they said.
Tankers were bringing water in to the area, bowsers would be put in "key locations" and bottled water distributed to customers with special needs and mothers with young babies, added the firm.
Pensioner warning
Forecasters say temperatures will stay below zero in many parts of the UK.
Lows of -8C (17.6F) have been forecast for much of southern England and Wales, with temperatures dropping to -10C in rural Hampshire and Surrey overnight.
The mercury dropped to -11C in Aboyne, Aberdeenshire, and in Shap, Cumbria, on Monday night.
The £15m for Londoners means weather payments have topped £100m this winter.
Charities have warned that the elderly and sick urgently need financial help with heating bills to prevent avoidable deaths.
Britain's biggest pensioner group - the National Pensioners Convention - said 12 pensioners could die every hour during the cold snap.
'Extra help'
On Tuesday, the Department for Work and Pensions said cold weather payments had now been triggered at 52 weather stations around the UK since the start of this winter.
With freezing conditions sweeping across the UK, payments are being made from Aviemore in Scotland to Bedford in southern England.
The payment, which goes to people in receipt of certain benefits - mainly pensioners, severely disabled people and families with a young or severely disabled child - rose this year from £8.50 to £25-a-week for each spell of cold weather.
It is paid automatically to those who qualify, including the estimated 2.7m households in receipt of pension credit.
Work and Pensions Secretary James Purnell said: "We don't want people to worry about turning up their heating when it's cold.
"That is why we've trebled the cold weather payment to £25, to put money in the pockets of the people who need it most.
"Millions of vulnerable people and pensioners are now in line for this extra help after the recent cold snap."
Winter deaths
The increased cold weather payments are one part of a package of measures announced by the government this winter.
This year's Christmas bonus for pensioners and disabled people, which will be paid between January and March, has increased from £10 to £70.
And an extra £575m has been spent on winter fuel payments, with £250 for those in households with someone aged 60 or over, and £400 for those with someone aged 80 plus.
Meanwhile, Help the Aged has warned that the death rate rises by 1% to 2% for every temperature drop of 1C.
Older people and those weakened by illness are particularly susceptible to cold-related illness and death.
The Office for National Statistics said that from December 2007 to March 2008 there were an extra 25,300 deaths in England and Wales compared with the average for non-winter months - a 7% increase on the previous year's figure.
However, the figure was still some way short of the increase in deaths seen in the winters of the late 1990s when totals hit nearly 50,000 as flu swept Britain.
'Suffer needlessly'
The National Pensioners Convention has called on the government to double the winter fuel allowance.
NPC general secretary Joe Harris said: "Up to three million pensioner households are currently spending more than 10% of their income on fuel bills and are living in fuel poverty.
"Energy efficiency schemes won't help them pay their bills this month and neither will they prevent tens of thousands of pensioners dying from the cold this winter."
Macmillan Cancer Support is also calling on the government to extend the payments to those with cancer.
Chief executive Ciaran Devane said: "Cancer patients of all ages continue to suffer needlessly because of this dreadfully cold weather.
"They tell us they feel the cold more because of treatment and have to spend more time at home. And throughout this, their fuel bills soar whilst their household income has dropped."
BBC
The new US Congress has opened, amid a row as the choice to fill President-elect Barack Obama's vacant Senate seat was blocked from the chamber's floor.
Senate Democrats had vowed to prevent Roland Burris taking the Illinois seat because he was picked by scandal-hit Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich.
Mr Burris said officials turned him away when he arrived to be sworn in.
The Democrats are in charge of both chambers and about to welcome one of their own into the White House.
But correspondents say Democratic celebrations are likely to be muted amid the scale of the economic challenges facing the US.
Mr Obama, who takes office on 20 January, is pressing Congress to pass a stimulus package said to be worth $800bn (£550bn).
Snubbed
Unresolved wrangling over two Senate seats cast a shadow over the first day of the new Congress.
In his speech opening the session, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid stated that Mr Burris was "not in possession of the necessary credentials from the state of Illinois".
Illinois's secretary of state has so far refused to co-sign the letter of appointment from Mr Blagojevich, as required by Senate rules.
Speaking to reporters outside the Capitol earlier on Tuesday, Mr Burris said: "I presented my credentials to the secretary of the Senate, and was advised that my credentials were not in order."
Mr Burris, a former attorney-general for Illinois, said he was not seeking a confrontation but was looking at options for taking the seat. He would now consult his lawyers, he said.
Timothy Wright, a lawyer acting for Mr Burris, said his client had been prevented from proceeding to the floor of the Senate to take the oath of office, a move they believed was illegal.
On Tuesday morning, Mr Burris told CBS TV that there was no substance to arguments that his appointment was invalid or inappropriate.
Mr Blagojevich is facing calls for his impeachment over allegations he tried to "sell" Mr Obama's vacant Senate seat. He denies any wrongdoing.
The BBC's Justin Webb in Washington says the row over Mr Burris's appointment is a messy situation which will probably not be resolved for months.
Some people would like there to be a special election for the vacant Senate seat, our correspondent says, but it would be expensive and some Democrats fear the Republicans could win it.
The other seat at issue involves Minnesota, which has still not completely resolved the Senate election it held on 4 November.
On Monday officials certified that after a recount Democrat Al Franken had won by 225 votes, but his Republican opponent Norm Coleman has seven days to challenge the result in the courts.
No-one will be declared a winner until Mr Coleman's legal fight is complete.
After November's congressional elections, the Democrats have 56 seats in the Senate, not counting Minnesota, plus two independents who vote with them. The Republicans have 41 seats.
Sixty votes are needed to override procedural moves to block legislation, known as a filibuster.
In the House of Representatives, the Democrats have 256 members to the Republicans' 178, with one seat vacant, expanding the Democrats' control.
'Bold action'
Tuesday's session, the opening of the two-year session of the 111th Congress, will see new members sworn in. Nancy Pelosi, Democratic Representative for California, will be elected for a second term as speaker of the House.
Congress often goes into recess until a new president takes office or after the State of the Union policy address at the end of January.
But, with economic problems mounting, the Democrats have said they will move quickly to try to pass a fiscal rescue package.
They had hoped to have it ready for Mr Obama to sign into law when he takes office but now admit it will not be ready until mid-February.
Mr Obama met congressional leaders on Monday, calling for quick and bold action.
"The economy is very sick," he said. "We have to act and act now to break the momentum of this recession."
US media reports say the president-elect is planning a package of some $800bn, including $300bn in tax cuts.
BBC
German billionaire Adolf Merckle, who was in talks with banks to save his troubled industrial empire, has died from suicide.
The 74-year-old was hit by a train near his home town of Blaubeuren, southeast of Stuttgart, yesterday evening.
His family confirmed today that the tycoon had taken his own life.
Mr Merckle was listed as the world's 36th richest man three years ago, with assets estimated then at over €8bn, but that had more recently fallen to about €6.8bn.
However, he also suffered major losses on Volkswagen shares last year, forcing him into talks with banks to save his industrial empire.
Mr Merckle developed his Bohemian grandfather's chemical wholesale company into Germany's largest pharmaceutical wholesaler, Phoenix Pharmahandel AG, in which the Merckle Group held a 57% stake.
Phoenix has sales of about €16bn annually.
The family also owns generic drug maker Ratiopharm Group.
He and his family had more recently become big investors in Heidelberg Cement, one of the world's leading cement producers, and have stakes in companies that make all-terrain vehicles, software systems, textiles and cane sugar.
Late last month, Mr Merckle had taken a first step out of a financial crisis triggered by losses in speculative share trading.
His VEM holding company said he had reached a deal with 40 banks giving him a short reprieve from repaying loans which were due at Christmas.
Talks on a new bridging loan and 'sustainable' refinancing were due to close in January.
But it appeared likely that Mr Merckle would have to pledge as collateral some or all of his assets, which included 80% of Heidelberger Cement, all of Ratiopharm and Phoenix.
RTE
scorpionf
01-07-2009, 02:18 AM
A pair of teenage lovers have suffocated after leaving the engine running during a late-night sex session in the back of their car.
Austrian couple Reinhard Wallecker, 18, and Stefanie Tanzer, 17, reportedly snuck into the garage at the young man's family home to find some privacy from his parents.
But with temperatures reaching a freezing -15 degrees, the teenage lovers are believed to have started the engine of his Mazda 323 in order to turn on the heater.
They weren't discovered until the following morning when Stefanie's concerned father broke into the garage after his daughter failed to return home.
Both were dead from carbon-monoxide poisoning.
Stefanie's father and paramedics failed in their efforts to revive the teen couple.
"It is just so tragic. Everyone here knew how in love they were," the Daily Mail reported a neighbour as saying.
"They were always being seen around town kissing and cuddling.
"No one can believe this has happened."
A similar incident occured at a German ski resort last year.
A 21-year-old Austrian waitress was found dead in the arms of a work colleague parked at the hotel where they both worked.
- ninemsn
Temperatures plunged to -12C (10.4F) overnight, on the coldest night so far of Britain's big freeze.
The low was at Benson, in Oxfordshire, as the cold snap of the last eight days is forecast to last into the weekend.
The water supply to about 6,000 homes in the Rhondda valley, south Wales, continues to be affected after pipes feeding a treatment works froze.
The Met Office has issued warnings of icy roads in eastern Northern Ireland, north-west England and Kent.
The BBC Weather Centre said snow and freezing rain were set to spread from northern England and Northern Ireland to the Midlands and south-east England.
BBC forecaster Chris Fawkes said: "The thing we're most worried about this morning is icy roads in these areas."
During the day temperatures will rise to 2C (35.6F) to 3C (37.4F) across the UK and there will be more cloud.
Freezing conditions
About 30 schools are closed in Cumbria because of snow and 15 remain shut in parts of north, west and south Wales.
Meanwhile, the National Pensioner Convention warned that 12 pensioners could die every hour during the cold snap.
It called on the government to double the winter fuel allowance to £500 for every household and introduce an industry-wide tariff for older customers.
The current freezing conditions have been caused by Arctic air sweeping across Scandinavia and over the North Sea.
But temperatures are still a long way off the record low of -27C (-16.6F) in northern Scotland 14 years ago.
Weather pay-outs
Millions of pensioners and vulnerable people around the UK have become eligible for cold weather payments.
The Department for Work and Pensions said cold weather payments had now been triggered at 52 weather stations around the UK since the start of this winter.
The payment, which goes to people in receipt of certain benefits - mainly pensioners, severely disabled people and families with a young or severely disabled child - rose this year from £8.50 to £25-a-week for each spell of cold weather.
It is paid automatically to those who qualify, including the estimated 2.7m households in receipt of pension credit.
BBC
The terrorist threat to the UK has been reduced after a series of successful prosecutions, MI5's chief has said.
Jonathan Evans said the 86 prosecutions in the last two years had a "chilling effect on the enthusiasm of terror networks" who planned major attacks.
But he said al-Qaeda remains determined to carry out attacks in the UK.
And he said the worldwide economic downturn could bring new threats to national security - as it would bring a "new alignment" in global affairs.
'Watershed moments'
He said there had been 86 successful prosecutions in terror trials since January 2007, and more than half of the accused had pleaded guilty.
"That has had a chilling effect. We have probably seen fewer 'late-stage' attack plans over the last 18 months," he said.
But he added: "There is enough intelligence to show they [the terror networks] have the intention to mount an attack here.
"There is a significant number of individuals in active sympathy. They are doing things like fund-raising, helping people to travel to Afghanistan, Pakistan and Somalia."
Speaking on the centenary of the creation of MI5, Mr Evans said the security service would be looking at the global economic crisis.
"Where there have been watershed moments, there have often been national security implications from that - a new alignment," he said.
"We have to maintain flexibility and respond to threats. The world will not stay the same."
BBC security correspondent Gordon Corera said it was "unusual and unprecedented" for a director general of MI5 to give an interview.
Our correspondent added Mr Evans had said there was no single path to extremism, but foreign policy remained a factor.
"Mr Evans predicted the Israeli incursion into Gaza, as well as the conflict in Afghanistan would be used by extremists to try and radicalise indiciduals," he said.
BBC
Rail passengers are facing long delays after a power failure halted all trains in and out of London Euston.
London Midland and Virgin services to and from Euston have been suspended after cables came down in north-west London as a train was passing through.
Travel to Birmingham and north-west England is affected, as are regular commuter lines in and out of London.
Engineers are working to fix the lines and Network Rail said it hoped to have a limited service restored soon.
When lines reopen Virgin is expecting to operate a reduced service of two trains per hour from Euston to Birmingham and Manchester and one an hour to Chester, Liverpool and Glasgow.
London Midland will also run a reduced service.
A spokesman said a string of problems on the West Coast Main Line in recent days appeared to be unrelated and "unfortunate coincidences", but added that they were being investigated.
The affected stretch of line is between North Wembley and Kings Langley, Hertfordshire, following the incident at Kenton on Tuesday evening.
Passengers have been urged to delay their journeys until later in the day where possible.
Virgin Trains, which runs services from London to Manchester, Birmingham and Glasgow, said trains were not expected to be up and running at Euston until the afternoon.
It said: "All services in and out of London Euston remain suspended due to damage to the overhead power lines in the Wembley/Watford areas.
"Network Rail is working to carry out repairs on site and while this is happening no train services are able to operate.
"Passengers are strongly advised to delay their journeys until later in the day, wherever possible."
BBC transport correspondent Tom Symonds said Virgin Trains had described the situation as a mess.
The train firm told him problems on the west coast line meant 70% of trains had been running late since the start of the new year.
Virgin Trains services are stopping furthest south at Milton Keynes with bus replacements laid on to get people into London, Network Rail said.
London Midland services are stopping between Northampton and Hemel Hempstead.
Samantha Buckley, 21, had returned from a skiing holiday in France and expected to catch the 0820 GMT Manchester Piccadilly service home to Wilmslow, Cheshire.
"I don't really know what's going on. I don't know what I'll do now," she said.
Twins Alastair and Rory Mitchell, 23, from Fulham, south west London, had been due to catch the 0830 GMT Virgin service to Glasgow to visit a friend.
The brothers said they now planned to go to King's Cross station to catch a different service to Scotland.
Joanne Brown, 40, from Beckenham, south east London, was booked on the 0903 GMT Virgin service to Birmingham New Street for a morning business meeting.
"I'm fed up. We pay a lot of money to travel. If I'd known yesterday, I would have driven up there."
The latest power failure comes after travellers were disrupted on Monday as engineers worked through the night to repair damaged power lines which had stopped trains running on the West Coast Main Line.
And on Saturday the West Coast Main Line was closed when a plane ploughed into it in Little Haywood, near Stafford, at noon on Friday.
The crash claimed three lives and left thousands of rail passengers stranded as services were brought to a halt.
BBC
Beverley Flynn is to give up her Independent TD allowance of €41,000 a year.
Speaking on Midwest Radio in Mayo the Fianna Fáil deputy
said that she was speaking with Taoiseach Brian Cowen yesterday and will give up the allowance.
Ms Flynn said that she did not do anything wrong in claiming the money, but said that she would write to the Oireachtas to inform the houses that she would no longer claim the allowance.
She said she was deeply hurt by some of the media comments that portrayed her as being dishonest when it emerged that she was claiming the allowance.
Ms Flynn added that the allowance was used to benefit her constituents.
RTE
A woman in her 30s from Northern Ireland who contracted rabies while abroad has died in hospital.
Lisa McMurray had been in a critical condition in Belfast's Royal Victoria Hospital since the condition was diagnosed last month.
She had been in Africa a number of times in recent years and is thought to have contracted rabies after being bitten by an infected dog.
It is believed she may have been infected as far back as December 2006 while working in an animal sanctuary in South Africa.
She sent home emails at the time detailing how she had been scratched while separating two dogs and one of the animals had to be put down after it started foaming at the mouth.
She only began feeling unwell a few months ago and was diagnosed last month.
The death of Ms McMurray was confirmed in a statement from her family who said they were extremely proud of the bravery with which she fought her illness.
RTE
Gardaí are appealing for witnesses following a bank raid in Dún Laoghaire, Co Dublin, this morning.
A man armed with a gun held up staff at the Ulster Bank on George's Street and escaped with an undisclosed sum of cash.
No shots were fired and nobody was injured during the raid.
The raid happened shortly before 11am.
RTE
A man has appeared in court again today in connection with the death of a man who died after being attacked as his car was parked in a lay-by near Dublin Airport last year.
27-year-old Ian Daly with an address at Moatview Drive, Priorswood, Dublin 17, had previously been charged with the manslaughter of Valeri Ranert at Naul Road, Swords, near Dublin Airport on 30 April 2007.
He was also charged with assault causing harm.
But at a sitting of Swords District Court today those two charges were struck out and two new charges were entered.
Mr Daly is now charged with the of murder Mr Ranert and the unlawful seizure of a vehicle on the same date.
Mr Daly was remanded in custody to Cloverhill prison.
He is due to appear before Cloverhill District Court on Tuesday.
RTE
Three people have appeared before the Special Criminal Court in Dublin following an ongoing Garda investigation into dissident Republican and criminal activity.
All three had been arrested in Dublin at the weekend.
66-year-old Barry Fitzpatrick of 169 Ashlawn park, Ballybrack, Dublin, was charged with membership of an unlawful organisation.
21-year-old Stephen Verhoeven of Brookfield Terrace, Blackrock, Dublin, was charged with possession of two revolvers and 20 rounds of ammunition.
22-year-old Dean Byrne of Coolevin, Ballybrack, Dublin, was charged iwth possession of five handguns and 64 rounds of ammunition.
All were remanded in custody to appear in court again next week.
RTE
Israel will today halt bombing Gaza for three hours every day.
Bombings will be halted between 11am and 2am Irish time.
The announcement came hours after Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Israel would open a humanitarian corridor into Gaza, where it has waged a deadly 12-day campaign against Hamas.
'In order to prevent a humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert decided to adopt a proposal by the security establishment to open a humanitarian corridor into the Gaza Strip to assist the population,' said a statement from his office.
'This involves opening up geographical areas for limited periods of time during which the population will be able to receive the aid and stock up.'
Israel have today pounded Hamas fighters with artillery shells and air missiles.
An air strike killed a Palestinian gunman and wounded three in Gaza City's Zeitun neighbourhood, where some of the heaviest fighting has occurred since Israeli troops invaded the crowded coastal strip on Saturday.
Clashes were continuing in Zeitun, and there were reports of air strikes on the southern cities of Khan Yunis and Rafah.
The latest fighting followed Israeli strikes yesterday on three UN-run schools that killed at least 48 people, prompting growing calls for an immediate ceasefire.
UN chief Ban Ki-moon said he was 'deeply dismayed' by the strikes on the schools and called them 'totally unacceptable.'
Egypt's president and veteran Middle East peace mediator, Hosni Mubarak, was pushing for an immediate ceasefire.
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said Mr Mubarak had invited Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert for talks on his proposal in Cairo.
'I know that there is already for tomorrow a technical group from both countries ready to work,' Mr Kouchner said. 'So we are waiting for the answer.'
After talks with French President Nicolas Sarkozy yesterday, Mr Mubarak invited the Israelis and Palestinians to 'an urgent meeting to reach arrangements and guarantees that would not allow the repeat of the current escalation.'
Such guarantees would include 'securing the borders and ... opening of the border crossings and lifting the siege.'
Mr Mubarak said he was also proposing an immediate ceasefire that would allow aid to enter Gaza.
Mr Sarkozy, whose country currently holds the UN Security Council presidency, said a resolution on Gaza would 'complicate' the task of achieving peace.
Libya later submitted a new draft resolution demanding an immediate and permanent ceasefire to be respected by both parties.
A Hamas delegation was already in Cairo for talks on the crisis.
Egypt brokered a six-month truce that ended on 19 December.
Hamas refused to renew the deal, accusing Israel of reneging on it by not relaxing the crippling blockade of Gaza it first imposed when the Islamists seized control of the territory in 2007.
Mr Olmert earlier said the rocket attacks and weapons smuggling from Egypt into Gaza must end before Israel halts its offensive.
Last night Israel said it would set up a humanitarian corridor to counter the crisis caused by its offensive in Gaza.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office said the measure was proposed by Israeli military chiefs and would entail granting periodic access to various areas to allow Palestinians to stock up on vital goods.
RTE
JohnCenaFan28
01-07-2009, 09:29 PM
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JohnCenaFan28
01-07-2009, 09:30 PM
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JohnCenaFan28
01-07-2009, 09:30 PM
Wow, he was pretty dumb.
JohnCenaFan28
01-07-2009, 09:30 PM
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JohnCenaFan28
01-07-2009, 09:31 PM
Posted Already:
http://www.uowforums.com/showthread.php?t=146882
JohnCenaFan28
01-07-2009, 09:32 PM
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JohnCenaFan28
01-07-2009, 09:32 PM
Thanks for posting.
JohnCenaFan28
01-07-2009, 09:32 PM
Thanks for the read.
JohnCenaFan28
01-07-2009, 09:32 PM
Thanks for posting.
JohnCenaFan28
01-07-2009, 09:32 PM
Thanks for the read.
JohnCenaFan28
01-07-2009, 09:32 PM
Thanks for posting.
JohnCenaFan28
01-07-2009, 09:32 PM
Thanks for the read.
JohnCenaFan28
01-07-2009, 09:33 PM
Thanks for the read.
The pound has risen to its highest level against the euro for three weeks, ahead of the Bank of England's interest rates announcement on Thursday.
The euro fell 0.5% against the pound to close at 90.1 pence, well below its recent high of 98.04 pence.
"There's been a change in sentiment for sterling," said Neil Jones, at Mizuho Corporate Bank in London.
UK rates are expected to be cut by 0.5 percentage points to 1.5%, their lowest in the Bank of England's history.
Sterling gains
The pound has weakened steadily against the euro ever since last October.
This was because as the Bank of England cut UK interest rates to counter the effects of the economic slowdown, the pound - and sterling-denominated investments - became less attractive to foreign investors.
Just after Christmas the pound almost fell to parity the euro, but since then it has been gaining back some of its lost ground.
"The market is still cutting out short sterling positions and there's fresh corporate-style money from abroad coming into the UK," said Neil Jones.
At the same time, this week the euro itself has been falling against other currencies.
European economic figures have showed that the eurozone economy is weakening, and inflation is easing, which raised prospects that the European Central Bank may cut rates next week.
But with interest rates expected to fall sharply to their lowest in the Bank of England's 315-year history, many currency analysts say there is no feeling of an imminent recovery for the pound.
"It's very hard to love sterling given the continued news flow," said Paul Robson, at RBS.
However, he said that the euro has probably already seen its peak.
"You're seeing a lot of unwinding of a lot of excessive moves that we saw in December against a range of currencies."
"Going forward we don't like the euro much."
BBC
A man who had sex with a 14-year-old schoolgirl, with her mother's consent, has been banned from seeing her.
Daniel Balfour, 23, was due to be sentenced after he admitted underage sex with the girl at her Borders home.
He failed to turn up for a meeting with social workers which meant the case was deferred again to 11 February.
However, his bail conditions were changed when it emerged he was still in a relationship with the girl and claimed they were engaged.
When he was originally put on bail in November he was not allowed to see the girl - who cannot be named for legal reasons - unless accompanied by an adult.
Sex register
At Duns Sheriff Court, Sheriff Kevin Drummond asked if the approved adults "included the girl's mother, who already approved of the sexual relationship".
When he was told that was the case, he ordered Balfour to have no contact with the girl until the case was disposed of next month.
Balfour has already been placed on the sex offenders' register.
A previous court hearing was told that the mother - who can also not be named - allowed Balfour to stay in the family home three or four nights a week.
She went as far as writing a letter to a local newspaper justifying her actions saying it had been to protect her daughter.
Her behaviour prompted political criticism.
South of Scotland SNP MSP Christine Grahame described it as "completely outrageous".
"This girl is in need of care and protection from her mother's values, which appear to be upside down," she said.
Tory justice spokesman Bill Aitken said the woman's attitude was "astonishing".
"This is quite a depressing story where a parent has neglected her responsibility for the welfare of her child," he said.
BBC
John Atta Mills has been sworn in as Ghana's new president following a cliff-hanger election victory.
Mr Atta Mills, 64, took his oath of allegiance in front of thousands of people in Independence Square for the inauguration in the capital, Accra.
The National Democratic Congress (NDC) candidate beat the ruling party's Nana Akufo-Addo in a hotly contested poll by a margin of less than 0.5% of votes.
President John Kufuor has stood down after serving the maximum two terms.
He is the second elected head of state in Ghana's history to hand over to an opposition politician.
Loud cheers
The BBC's Will Ross in the Accra says there is a carnival atmosphere in the capital.
Crowds began forming at the stadium before dawn - decked out in the national colours of green, yellow, red and black - amid an air of intense excitement after one of the closest election races in Africa's recent history.
Mr Atta Mills was dressed in a local kente cloth woven in the national colours, Reuters news agency reports.
After he was sworn in, he raised up the State Sword - representing government authority - to cheers from the crowd, the agency said.
A military unit then fired off a booming 21-gun salute.
"It is a dawn of a new era for Ghana and I hope to tap the experiences of the two former presidents... to build a better Ghana," AFP news agency quotes Mr Ata Mills as saying in his first address as president, referring to Mr Kufuor and his predecessor, Jerry Rawlings.
There were loud cheers when he thanked the man he narrowly beat in the election.
"During the elections Ghana's democracy was stretched to the limits but at the end of the day the sovereign will of the people prevailed," he said.
Our reporter says the fact that Mr Akufo-Addo attended the inauguration is a sign that Ghana has a relatively mature democracy and is a long way ahead of many other African countries.
Several foreign dignitaries attended the ceremony, including several heads of state from the region.
At times the police and army have had trouble keeping the crowd back so enthusiastic were they to see this change of power.
Good example
On the eve of the inauguration, Mr Kufuor showed his successor around his new home, the presidential residence officially known as Jubilee House.
Ghana's new leader, who had lost two previous elections to Mr Kufuor, has pledged to be "a president for all".
Mr Akufo-Addo won the first round but not by enough to avoid a run-off in last month's knife-edge polls.
Mr Atta Mills was finally declared the winner on Saturday after a re-run of voting in the rural constituency of Tain, which was boycotted by the New Patriotic Party (NPP).
Our reporter says there may only be one side celebrating at the inauguration, but many Ghanaians of whatever political persuasion are proud that the country is setting a good example.
Despite allegations of multiple voting and intimidation from both sides, electoral officials found no evidence of foul play and monitors gave Ghana's poll a clean bill of health.
One of Mr Kufuor's last acts as president was to intervene and persuade the governing party to accept defeat, a move which helped ensure that Ghana's election did not descend from acrimony into violence, our correspondent says.
The stakes were raised further in the election by Ghana's recent discovery of crude oil, with production due to start in late 2010.
Turnout was high for the West African country's fifth set of polls since it embraced multi-party democracy in 1992.
The former British colony was the first African state to gain its independence in 1957.
A nation of 22 million people, it is the world's second biggest cocoa grower and Africa's number two gold miner.
BBC
The five Blackwater security guards accused of killing 14 unarmed civilians in Baghdad have pleaded not guilty.
The five men are charged with 14 counts of manslaughter, 20 counts of attempt to commit manslaughter and one weapons violation count over the shooting that outraged Iraqis.
A sixth Blackwater guard pleaded guilty late last year to charges of voluntary manslaughter and attempt to commit manslaughter, and has agreed to cooperate with prosecutors and testify at the trial.
US District Judge Ricardo Urbina said jury selection would begin on 29 January 2010 after the five defendants formally entered a not guilty plea.
The shooting occurred as the private security firm's guards escorted a heavily armed four-truck convoy of US diplomats through Baghdad on 16 September 2007.
The guards, US military veterans, were responding to a car bombing when shooting erupted in a crowded intersection.
North Carolina-based Blackwater, the largest security contractor in Iraq, said that it understands the guards acted within the rules set forth for them by the US government and that no criminal violations occurred.
US Justice Department lawyer Kenneth Kohl said at the hearing that witnesses would be coming from Iraq and estimated it would take about four weeks for the prosecution to put on its case at trial.
'This is a straightforward shooting of a lot of people,' Mr Kohl said, adding that he does not expect the case to be delayed by complex classified intelligence issues.
While Mr Kohl wanted the trial to begin in Autumn, defence lawyers said they needed more time to file various motions and challenges, to gather evidence and to go Iraq for interviews.
Judge Urbina agreed to begin the trial early next year but made clear he would not allow needless delays that result in the defence unfairly benefiting from faded memories and witnesses becoming unavailable.
'My interest is getting this case tried as soon as reasonably possible,' Mr Urbina said.
US Justice Department officials have said there was no evidence that any of the other 13 members of the convoy or that Blackwater itself committed any wrongdoing in the shooting.
The defendants are: former Marines Donald Ball from Utah, Dustin Heard from Tennessee; Evan Liberty from New Hampshire and Army veterans Nick Slatten of Tennessee, and Paul Slough from Texas.
RTE
US President George W Bush will hold private talks with his successor Barack Obama today before they share a rare lunch with all living former US presidents at the White House.
The meeting of past and present US leaders is the first such event since 1981 and marks a historic moment, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said, amid one of the most delicate transitions in recent memory.
Those around the table will include Democrat Jimmy Carter (1977-1981), Mr Bush's father Republican George H W Bush (1989-1993) and Democrat Bill Clinton (1993-2001).
Prior to the lunch, the 43rd and 44th presidents will have about a half-hour to meet one-on-one in the Oval Office, with 13 days remaining before Senator Obama is inaugurated to the presidency.
Sen Obama, who will be sworn in as the nation's first African-American president on 20 January, inherits two wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, a grave economic crisis, and a surge in Middle East violence.
'Tomorrow I'm sure they'll talk a little bit about issues,' Mr Perino said, without elaborating.
It was not immediately clear if the former presidents would discuss escalation in the Mideast conflict, with which all have considerable personal experience.
Obama not commenting on Gaza
Democrat Carter's administration in 1978 helped bring off the Camp David peace accords. His Atlanta-based Carter Center has said in a statement that: 'The government of Israel must cease actions that endanger the civilian population of densely-populated Gaza, and the de facto authorities of Gaza must halt rocket attacks.'
Sen Obama has declined to comment on Israel's military assault on Gaza until he takes office, other than expressing concern, but all the presidents who will be around the table are aware of the gravity of the situation as a top US ally in the Middle East battles Hamas militants while civilians are caught in the crossfire.
'After 20 January I am going to have plenty to say about the issue,' Sen Obama told reporters yesterday, fending off criticism that he has failed to forcefully address the Israeli military onslaught on Gaza.
Sen Obama said he was sticking by his campaign pledge that 'at the beginning of our administration, we are going to engage effectively and consistently in trying to resolve the conflict that existed in the Middle East'.
So far, Mr Bush and Sen Obama have spoken regularly, Mr Perino said.
'The president and the president-elect shared a phone call on New Year's Day. They have had periodic calls,' she said.
'So they've had a chance to talk about issues. Those are private conversations.'
'All of us would love to be flies on the wall and listening to that conversation. But these are leaders who only understand what it's like to be in each other's shoes. And none of us can put ourselves in their shoes,' Mr Perino said.
Sen Obama receives the same briefings as Mr Bush each morning, and Mr Bush's aides have said they shared emergency contingency plans with Sen Obama's team ahead of the handover.
Now, with the Obama family installed at the Hay-Adams hotel within view of the White House in downtown Washington, Mr Perino said she expected some of the conversation would involve family life.
'I'm sure they'll talk a little bit about raising children in the White House, raising children when you're a public figure, and how to protect them.'
Since winning the election on 4 November, Sen Obama has been to the White House once before, on 10 November, when he went there for talks with Mr Bush.
The outgoing administration said the pair discussed international and domestic issues, and Mr Bush reportedly showed Sen Obama the rooms where his daughters Malia, 10, and Sasha, seven, would stay.
Meanwhile Mr Bush and his wife have already started packing ahead of their departure, Mr Perino said.
'The president's style is always to be one that's a little bit prepared early, and he and Mrs Bush have been working to box things up,' she said.
'They didn't come with a lot of things; they didn't bring a lot of furniture here. So mostly what they have are books, obviously their clothes, and then some of the things that they've picked up along the way on their travels.'
RTE
Reports are coming in of a shooting in Dublin's north inner city.
Two men have been seriously injured in the incident in Summerhill after 8pm tonight.
The men were in a car near Langrishe place in Summerhill when they were shot.
They have been brought to hospital.
The area has been the scene of a feud in recent times.
There are no further details at present.
RTE
Fighting has resumed in Gaza following a three-hour ceasefire.
Two Palestinians were killed in an Israeli strike on the eastern Gaza City neighbourhood of Zeitun.
Bombing had been temporarily suspended to allow the passage of humanitarian aid into the territory.
Israel earlier announced that bombing would be suspended between 1pm and 4pm (11am-2pm Irish time).
Hamas responded by saying no rocket attacks would be made during the same period.
However, Israeli Defence Force spokesmen said later it would not happen 'each day', as had been reported earlier.
'I can confirm that there is a cessation of offensive activities at this time in order to facilitate humanitarian transfers and we will enable the population to resupply themselves and facilitate the work of the NGOs,' said an Israeli spokesperson.
However, an Israeli spokesperson warned the army would respond to any fire including rocket fire.
Israel pounded Gaza with artillery shells and air missiles again this morning.
An air strike killed a Palestinian man and wounded three others in Zeitun, where some of the heaviest fighting has occurred since Israeli troops invaded on Saturday.
Clashes occurred in Zeitun, and there were reports of air strikes on the southern cities of Khan Younis and Rafah.
Irish struggle to escape conflict
The Department of Foreign Affairs says it has been unable to help around 20 Irish citizens and their families to leave Gaza because of ongoing security concerns.
According to a spokesperson for the Department, it is issuing Irish visas to family members of Irish citizens in Gaza in an attempt to bring them to safety in Ireland.
One Irish citizen, five-year-old Basil Natil, is in Gaza with his mother and three sisters aged 10, eight and three.
His father, based in the UK, was concerned that visas were initially being offered to only Basil and his mother, but the DFA say that visas are now being offered to all family members in Gaza.
School strike totally unacceptable: Ban
The latest fighting followed Israeli strikes yesterday on three UN-run schools that killed at least 48 people, prompting growing calls for an immediate ceasefire.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said he was 'deeply dismayed' by the strikes on the schools and called them 'totally unacceptable'.
Egypt's President and veteran Middle East peace mediator, Hosni Mubarak, is pushing for an immediate ceasefire and has invited Mr Olmert for talks on his proposal in Cairo.
Mr Mubarak said Israelis and Palestinians need 'an urgent meeting to reach arrangements and guarantees that would not allow the repeat of the current escalation'.
Such guarantees would include 'securing the borders and ... opening of the border crossings and lifting the siege'.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy, whose country currently holds the UN Security Council presidency, said a resolution on Gaza would 'complicate' the task of achieving peace.
Libya later submitted a new draft resolution demanding an immediate and permanent ceasefire to be respected by both parties.
A Hamas delegation is already in Cairo for talks on the crisis.
Egypt brokered a six-month truce that ended on 19 December.
Hamas refused to renew the deal, accusing Israel of reneging on it by not relaxing the crippling blockade of Gaza it first imposed when the Islamists seized control of the territory in 2007.
Mr Olmert earlier said the rocket attacks and weapons smuggling from Egypt into Gaza must end before Israel halts its offensive.
RTE
The Bank of England is expected to cut interest rates to their lowest level in its 315-year history when it makes its latest monthly decision later.
With rates currently at 2%, the Bank's Monetary Policy Committee is tipped to announce a reduction of between 0.5 and one percentage point.
This would be the first time since the Bank was founded in 1694 that rates have fallen below 2%.
It comes as the Treasury denied reports it was planning to inject more money.
A number of newspapers said the step was being considered once interest rates fell close to zero as a tactic to help both stimulate the economy and avoid deflation.
Treasury sources said that while the move had not been ruled out, it was not currently on the agenda.
'Balancing act'
While a rate cut is widely expected, there is debate as to how far the Bank will actually go.
Hetal Mehta, economic adviser to the Ernst & Young Item Club, said the Bank was facing "a balancing act".
"Six months ago, it was juggling slowing economic growth with soaring inflation," she said.
"But now the Bank has to tread a fine line between avoiding deflation and a further weakening of sterling, whilst doing all it can to soften the impact of the recession."
"Item believes a 50-basis-point cut in the interest rate would be appropriate. However, with survey data continuing to worsen, a larger cut of 100 basis points, taking the interest rate to 1%, is a distinct possibility."
It is not clear how much of any cut would be passed on to mortgage customers.
HSBC, Lloyds TSB/Cheltenham and Gloucester and Bristol & West are passing on the last one-percentage-point cut in full for those customers with variable rate mortgages.
But the UK's biggest lender, HBOS, is passing on only 0.25 of a percentage point.
Even those customers with tracker mortgages - which follow changes in Bank rate - may not see the benefit, as many mortgage providers have "collars" below which their tracker rates will not fall.
Meanwhile, any rate cut will mean that Britain's savers will see their interest earnings fall once more.
Quantitative easing
In an interview with the Financial Times on Wednesday, Chancellor Alistair Darling indicated the Bank would have to work "hand in hand" with the Treasury if it wanted to carry out "quantitative easing" - or printing money.
A central bank printing money to inject into the markets is a strategy known as quantitative easing, which was pioneered by Japan as a way of battling its deflationary problems in the 1990s.
Deflation - where prices regularly fall rather than rise - becomes a greater risk as interest rates head towards zero.
It can be a problem because if people believe that prices are going to fall, they have incentives to postpone buying anything they can, which means there is even less activity in the economy.
BBC
Poor service could cost thousands of jobs in the recession, Britain's tourism chief has said.
Visit Britain chairman Christopher Rodrigues said he feared foreign tourists would be put off by low standards in hotels and restaurants.
Mr Rodrigues told the Independent that the downturn meant establishments could no longer get away with shoddy service.
He said poor standards could contribute to some of the 50,000 anticipated job losses in the industry this year.
'Threadbare towels'
Mr Rodrigues said: "We've had a period in which people could get away with not being of the highest quality.
"We're now in an environment where you have to do quality. Poor value for money and poor service costs jobs and will cost more jobs in a recession.
"Threadbare towels, a previously owned bar of soap and a grumpy person who says 'we don't do breakfast before 8am and we don't do it after 8.12am' - you don't get a lot of happy customers."
Mr Rodrigues, who represents tourism in England, Scotland and Wales, estimated earnings from tourism would fall by £4bn during the recession.
Visit Britain will launch a £6.5m campaign in April aimed at persuading overseas visitors that Britain can offer value for money.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Culture Secretary Andy Burnham are holding a summit with British tourism leaders on Thursday in Liverpool.
BBC
One man is dead and a second is critically injured after a shooting in Dublin's north inner city last night.
The two men were shot as they sat in a car at the junction of Summerhill Road and Langrishe Place shortly after 8.30pm.
It is believed that both of the men were shot in the head by a gunman who was sitting in the back seat of the car.
The car they were driving then rolled across the road and crashed into the central median.
The killer got out of the car and made his escape through nearby Gloucester Place.
Gardaí who were called to the scene, of what they thought was a traffic accident, discovered the two victims unconscious.
Paramedics worked on the two men and they were taken to St James's and the Mater Misericordiae University hospitals but one of the men, Michael 'Roly' Cronin, was dead by the time he arrived to hospital.
In 1998, Mr Cronin was jailed for 13 years for heroin dealing.
However he was released four years ago. There had been at least three attempts made on Mr Cronin's life.
The area remains sealed off this morning as gardaí continue a forensic examination.
Meanwhile gardaí are investigating a separate shooting in north Co Dublin.
A man was shot in the leg and neck at Drynam Drive near Kinsealey.
He is said to be critically ill.
RTE
The Taoiseach will hold the first of a series of meetings with the social partners later today in a bid to tackle the worsening economic crisis.
The €20bn public sector pay bill will be central to the discussions and pay cuts have not been ruled out.
The employers group IBEC will be briefed on the economic background today, while the ICTU will be briefed tomorrow.
Yesterday, the cabinet spent over six hours considering the latest Department of Finance projections which showed plummeting revenue, soaring debt and unemployment.
The aim of the briefings is to achieve agreement on a national strategy to get financial matters under control by the end of the month.
However, both Brian Cowen and Brian Lenihan have made it clear unpalatable choices lie ahead.
RTE
The two top gas executives from Russian and Ukraine held talks in Moscow today, in the first face-to-face contact since their row choked off supplies to EU countries in bitter winter weather.
There was no immediate word on the outcome of the talks, but further urgent diplomacy was planned for later today when delegations from Kiev and Moscow were to meet officials from a European Union increasingly concerned at the gas cut-offs.
Russia's state-controlled gas export monopoly Gazprom fully suspended supplies of transit gas towards Ukraine yesterday, saying there was no longer any point delivering the gas because Kiev had shut down the pipelines.
Ukraine, whose pro-Western leaders have clashed with the Kremlin over their drive to join NATO, said Russia was deliberately starving Europe of gas. Russia cut off gas for Ukraine's domestic consumption on New Year's Day.
The row over gas prices and debts owed by Ukraine to Russia cut heating to tens of thousands of households in Bulgaria and hit supplies as far west as France and Germany as Europe faced freezing mid-winter temperatures.
In Bulgaria, one of the worst affected countries, at least 45,000 households were without central heating yesterday. Schools were shut and some companies were closed. Temperatures in Sofia fell to -14 degrees overnight.
Gazprom Chief Executive Alexei Miller and Oleh Dubyna, head of Ukrainian state energy firm Naftogaz, met overnight in Moscow, a Gazprom official told Reuters. The official declined to give any details.
The two men "discussed ways out of this crisis situation", Russian news agencies quoted Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov as saying.
Miller and Dubyna were expected to meet again in Brussels when they hold talks with European Energy Commission Andris Piebalgs and Czech Trade and Industry Minister Martin Riman, representing the Czech EU presidency.
Against a backdrop of mounting pressure from European countries on both Kiev and Moscow to get gas flowing again, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev spoke by telephone late last night with Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko.
Medvedev told his Ukrainian counterpart gas supplies had become hostage to squabbling in the Kiev leadership and that Moscow would only resume pumping gas for Ukraine's own use if Kiev agreed to pay a market price for the fuel.
Reuters
The euro extended its declines against the dollar and the yen this morning.
The common currency traded at $1.3582 as of 8.06am in London today, from $1.3644 yesterday. The euro also weakened to 124.51 yen, from 126.42.
Against sterling the euro weakened to 90.5 cents as it continued its retreat from highs of over 98 cents at the end of December.
Agencies
Several rockets have slammed into northern Israel from Lebanon with the army returning fire.
'Three rockets landed in Israel fired from Lebanon,' said police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld, adding that two people were lightly wounded in the area around the northern town of Nahariya.
'We carried out direct fire at the source of the rocket fire from Lebanon,' an Israeli army spokeswoman said.
The rockets fell a day after the chief of Lebanon's Hezbollah, a Shia militia with which Israel fought a 34-day war in 2006, warned that 'all possibilities' were open against Israel amid its deadly offensive in Gaza.
A Hezbollah spokesman had 'no immediate confirmation' on the strike and Haidar Dokmak, a Hezbollah official in southern Lebanon said: 'We are verifying the report.'
The last time rockets from Lebanon in northern Israel was on 17 June 2007 slamming into the northern town of Kiryat Shmona causing minor damage and no injuries.
At the time, Hezbollah denied responsibility and Israel also said Hezbollah was not involved in the attack and blamed it on an unnamed Palestinian group.
Israeli media cited unnamed military sources saying that today's attack was likely to have also come from Palestinian groups firing in retaliation of Israel's deadly offensive in Gaza.
Officials from the Lebanese chapters of the two main Palestinian factions, Fatah and Hamas, denied that their groups were responsible for the rockets.
Residents of southern Lebanon began to leave the area after the early morning fire.
Israel and Hezbollah militia fought a 34-day war in 2006, after guerrillas from the Lebanese Shia movement seized two Israeli soldiers in a deadly cross-border raid.
The war killed more than 1,200 Lebanese, mostly civilians, and more than 160 Israelis, mostly soldiers.
Israel is currently in the 13th day of a massive offensive in Gaza.
Israeli warplanes, meanwhile, bombed targets across Gaza and tanks advanced in the Hamas-ruled territory as US backing for a truce proposal raised expectations of an end to the onslaught that has killed more than 600 Palestinians.
In the occupied West Bank, Israeli police shot and killed a Palestinian man who tried to set fire to a gas station at a Jewish settlement, an Israeli rescue service said.
Police confirmed the shooting but not the man's condition.
Residents in Gaza described the overnight bombardment to the east of the city as among the heaviest in the offensive.
In the south of the territory tanks advanced closer to the town of Khan Younis.
Although Israel pressed on with the offensive, it said it accepted the 'principles' of a European-Egyptian ceasefire proposal.
The US urged Israel to study the plan.
Israel's assault resumed after a brief pause yesterday to help Gaza's inhabitants stock up on much-needed supplies.
20 Palestinians were killed yesterday, medics said, including three children in an air strike on a car.
RTE
JohnCenaFan28
01-08-2009, 09:29 PM
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JohnCenaFan28
01-08-2009, 09:29 PM
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JohnCenaFan28
01-08-2009, 09:29 PM
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JohnCenaFan28
01-08-2009, 09:29 PM
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JohnCenaFan28
01-08-2009, 09:30 PM
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JohnCenaFan28
01-08-2009, 09:30 PM
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JohnCenaFan28
01-08-2009, 09:30 PM
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JohnCenaFan28
01-08-2009, 09:30 PM
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JohnCenaFan28
01-08-2009, 09:30 PM
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JohnCenaFan28
01-08-2009, 09:30 PM
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JohnCenaFan28
01-08-2009, 09:30 PM
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JohnCenaFan28
01-08-2009, 09:30 PM
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JohnCenaFan28
01-08-2009, 09:31 PM
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JohnCenaFan28
01-08-2009, 09:31 PM
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JohnCenaFan28
01-08-2009, 09:36 PM
Almost 180 staff at troubled music retailer Zavvi have lost their jobs after administrators closed 22 stores.
Ernst & Young said the closures would be effective immediately.
Joint administrator Tom Jack said: "Despite record consumer demand since Christmas, it is no longer possible to support continued trading across all of the Zavvi stores."
And he added: "Unfortunately the current difficulties faced on the UK high street seem to be discouraging retailers from investing in a significant number of new stores."
He said the 178 workers would receive support from the Insolvency Service's Redundancy Payment Office and Jobcentre Plus.
The remaining 92 Zavvi stores will continue to trade as efforts to sell the business continue.
Administrators said the workers facing redundancy were permanent employees.
There were no exact figures for temporary staff, but these have already left the stores after their contracts ran out on January 3.
Zavvi - the former Virgin Megastore chain - fell into administration on Christmas Eve after it was crippled by the collapse of Woolworths' Entertainment UK wholesaling division.
EUK was the company's main supplier and its demise left Zavvi unable to take customer orders. Zavvi's remaining outlets are now set to slash the price of their products by a further 20% to 50% from Friday.
-Nova
JohnCenaFan28
01-08-2009, 09:43 PM
India has been holding initial talks with the US over the possible purchase of a missile defence shield system, the UK's Financial Times has reported.
The talks have been going on for some time and the paper quoted the US embassy in Delhi as saying they were on a scientific and technical level.
Such a move would be sure to infuriate nuclear-armed rival Pakistan.
US plans to set up a defence shield in Europe have caused a massive diplomatic rift with Russia.
The system in Europe, as well as one in the US, involves radar and anti-missile missiles, or interceptors, which would try to destroy incoming ballistic missiles.
Nuclear deal
The FT said Indian officials had been shown computer simulations and had attended live missile tests.
It quoted a US embassy official as saying: "India is a partner of ours, and we want to provide it with whatever it needs to protect itself.
"This fits into the overall strategic partnership we are building."
The paper said no decision had been made by Delhi on the purchase of foreign systems.
It also quoted a senior Pakistani official as saying Islamabad would "have to take counter-measures to respond".
"For the past many years, we have been considering the possibility of such an outcome one day," the official told the FT.
The US announced in December it had successfully tested its missile defence system in Alaska.
The US says it wants to introduce the system to Europe, using Poland and the Czech Republic to counter missiles from "rogue" states like Iran.
Russia sees the system as a direct threat and has vowed to deploy missiles to "neutralise" the US shield.
India and the US have been forging closer defence and economic ties recently.
In October they signed a civilian nuclear co-operation accord to end 34 years of US sanctions.
India gains access to US civilian nuclear technology and fuel in return for inspections of its civilian, but not military, nuclear facilities.
-BBC News
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01-08-2009, 10:15 PM
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lɐuǝɯo⊥ǝɥԀ
01-08-2009, 10:17 PM
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Gardaí investigating the murder of a man in Dublin last night have recovered a handgun which they believe may have been used in the attack.
A dark jacket that the killer may have discarded has also been found.
Michael 'Roly' Cronin and another man were shot in the head as they sat in a black Volvo sports car in central Dublin.
The second victim, who is in his 20s, remains on a life-support machine in St James' Hospital.
The two were shot as they waited at the junction of Summerhill Road and Langrishe Place shortly after 8.30pm.
It is believed that both men were shot in the head by a gunman who was sitting in the back seat of the car.
The car they were driving then rolled across the road and crashed into the central median.
The killer got out of the car and made his escape through nearby Gloucester Place.
Gardaí, who were called to the scene of what they thought was a traffic accident, discovered the two victims unconscious. Paramedics worked on the two men and they were taken to St James's and the Mater hospitals but Cronin was dead on arrival in hospital.
In 1998, Cronin was jailed for 13 years for heroin dealing.
However, he was released four years ago. There had been at least three attempts made on Cronin's life.
The area remains sealed off this morning as gardaí continue a forensic examination.
Meanwhile, gardaí are investigating a separate shooting in north Co Dublin.
A man was shot in the leg and neck at Drynam Drive near Kinsealy.
He is said to be critically ill.
RTE
The Red Cross has accused Israel of failing to help wounded people in an area of Gaza where its rescuers found four children huddling next to their dead mothers.
The Israeli military 'failed to meet its obligation under international humanitarian law to care for and evacuate the wounded,' the International Committee of the Red Cross said in an unusually blunt statement.
It said Israeli soldiers tried to force Red Cross personnel to leave when they finally reached the area in Gaza City's battered Zeitun neighbourhood, four days after safe-passage had been requested.
The ICRC said the delay in allowing access to rescuers was unacceptable.
The rescue team, which included members of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, found four small children next to their dead mothers in one of the houses. In all there were at least 12 corpses lying on mattresses.
'This is a shocking incident,' said Pierre Wettach, who heads the ICRC delegation for Israel and the Palestinian territories.
'The Israeli military must have been aware of the situation but did not assist the wounded. Neither did they make it possible for us or the Palestine Red Crescent to assist the wounded.'
The Israeli military did not respond to specific claims, but insisted it works in close cooperation with international aid organisations during the fighting so that civilians can be provided with assistance.
'Any serious allegations made against IDF conduct will need to be investigated properly, once such a complaint is received formally.'
It also stressed Israeli troops were involved in fighting Hamas, which it said was a terrorist organisation which has deliberately used Palestinian civilians as human shields.
Amnesty International has accused both Israeli soldiers and Palestinian fighters of using civilians as human shields.
UNRWA suspends work in Gaza
A UN aid agency has halted work in Gaza saying staff were at risk from Israeli forces fighting Hamas, after two drivers were killed.
'UNRWA decided to suspend all its operations in the Gaza Strip because of the increasing hostile actions against its premises and personnel,' said Adnan Abu Hasna, a Gaza spokesman for the UN agency.
The decision followed the deaths of two Palestinian forklift drivers in an UNRWA convoy hit by an Israeli tank shell.
All convoys ferrying humanitarian supplies from at least two key crossing points with Israel were suspended after the incident.
Efforts to secure a ceasefire are continuing at the UN headquarters in New York.
Western and Arab foreign ministers have agreed a draft resolution calling for an immediate Gaza ceasefire, and will put the compromise measure to a UN Security Council vote, diplomats said.
Alarmed by conditions for 1.5m Palestinians in overcrowded Gaza, the US, Britain and France dropped objections to a binding UN resolution on the crisis and worked on getting an immediate ceasefire resolution.
Arab countries have insisted that the 15-nation Security Council must issue a binding resolution.
Israel has opposed the idea of a binding UN resolution.
Rockets fired from Lebanon hit Israel
Several rockets fired from Lebanon hit northern Israel this morning, prompting fears of a wider conflict.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, which came as Israel pushed on with its 13-day-old offensive on Gaza.
Israel retaliated with artillery rounds directed at the location from where the rockets were fired.
UN troops deployed in the south of Lebanon have been put on alert and the Lebanese government has called for an inquiry into who fired across the frontier.
UNIFIL has some 13,000 troops stationed in southern Lebanon.
Residents of southern Lebanon have also begun to leave the area after Israel responded to the early morning fire.
Hezbollah has denied that it was responsible and issued a statement, saying it was 'committed to stability'.
The last time rockets from Lebanon in northern Israel was on 17 June 2007 hitting the northern town of Kiryat Shmona, causing minor damage and no injuries.
Israel and Hezbollah militia fought a 34-day war in 2006, after Hezbollah militants seized two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid.
The war killed more than 1,200 Lebanese, mostly civilians, and more than 160 Israelis, mostly soldiers.
Gaza fighting
Palestinian fighters killed two Israeli soldiers and wounded several more in clashes and rocket attacks on Israel, the military said.
Ten Israeli soldiers have now been killed in combat in Gaza and by rocket strikes from the territory since the launch of Operation Cast Lead on 27 December.
One officer was killed in a clash 'during the firing of an anti-tank shell in the central Gaza Strip,' a spokesman said.
The second soldier was shot dead in northern Gaza and another soldier was slightly injured.
Israeli aircraft have again bombed targets across Gaza as its tanks advanced in the Hamas-ruled territory. As the fighting continues, US backing for a truce proposal has raised expectations of an end to the onslaught.
However, residents in Gaza described the overnight bombardment to the east of the city as among the heaviest in the offensive.
In the south of the territory tanks have advanced closer to the town of Khan Younis.
Although Israel pressed on with the offensive, it said last night that it accepted the 'principles' of a European-Egyptian ceasefire proposal.
The US urged Israel to study the plan.
Israeli minister criticises Irish Government
A senior Israeli cabinet member has criticised the Irish Government for what he described as its one-sided condemnation of Israel's offensive against Hamas.
Isaac Herzog said he was personally offended by the Government's comments.
He said 'I would expect them to understand where we are, to understand that any democratically elected government needs to defend its people.'
Mr Herzog is the son of Chaim Herzog, the Irish-born former president of Israel, and the grandson of Isaac Herzog, the former Chief Rabbi of Ireland and the first Chief Rabbi of the new Israeli state.
He is the Israeli Minister for Welfare and an influential member of Israel's security cabinet.
In an interview with RTÉ, he referred to unspecified condemnation of Israel's actions by Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin.
'Where was the Irish Government in these comments, why did we have to read only Israel is to blame, and [no criticism] of Hamas and its influence in the region and its fundamentalist and fanatical hatred of Israel,' he said.
He said he took note of the comments and, with due respect, resented them, adding that the EU had declared Hamas a terrorist organisation.
RTE
A 19-year-old man has been arrested following a drug seizure in Co Tipperary.
Cocaine and cannabis resin, with an estimated value of €10,000, were seized in Carrick on-Suir last night.
Gardaí say the drugs were discovered at a house in the town at around 7pm.
It is understood that some cannabis plants were also found.
The man was taken to Clonmel Garda station for questioning and was released without charge at 1.30am.
A file is being prepared for the DPP.
RTE
A leading loyalist paramilitary has been charged with the murder of a rival during a feud eight years ago.
Mark Haddock, who is linked to the Ulster Volunteer Force, is charged with the murder of Tommy English, a member of the Ulster Defence Association.
Haddock was arrested in prison yesterday where he is serving a 10-year sentence for assaulting a nightclub doorman.
The prosecution in this case confirmed that the evidence against Haddock came from two witnesses who had previously been charged with the murder of Tommy English.
Mr English, 40, was shot in front of his wife and children in north Belfast in October 2000.
Haddock has been named in court as a senior figure in the rival loyalist paramilitary group the UVA, which at the time was involved in a violent turf war with the UDA.
In January 2007 he was reported to have been a police Special Branch agent following the publication of an investigation by former Police Ombudsman Nuala O'Loan.
She found that police colluded with Haddock's north Belfast UVF gang, a group that was behind more than a dozen murders in the area.
He was arrested at Maghaberry Prison in Co Antrim yesterday morning and taken to a police detention centre for questioning by officers belonging to the Historical Enquiries Team, a special unit set up to investigate unsolved killings during the Troubles.
Haddock survived a murder attempt in 2006, but was convicted of causing grievous bodily harm with intent and false imprisonment for attacking Trevor Gowdy outside a social club on the outskirts of Belfast in December 2002.
Last month, two brothers - David Stewart, 38, and Robert Stewart, 34, - from Newtownabbey, north Belfast, pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting Mr English's murder.
Both also admitted membership of the UVF.
RTE
JohnCenaFan28
01-09-2009, 12:57 AM
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JohnCenaFan28
01-09-2009, 12:57 AM
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JohnCenaFan28
01-09-2009, 12:57 AM
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JohnCenaFan28
01-09-2009, 12:57 AM
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Police have arrested and charged a 54-year-old man over the discovery of a human head and bones in a shopping bag.
He is accused of attempting to defeat the ends of justice and is expected to appear at Edinburgh Sheriff Court.
The badly decomposed head from an adult woman was found alongside bones in a blue Ikea bag in Newhaven, Edinburgh, on 31 December.
The remains are believed to be from the same person, who may have died between a few months and several years ago.
Forensic experts have been investigating the remains, which were found on a footpath by a female walker, to establish the woman's identity, ethnicity and cause of death, which is being treated as suspicious.
Other bags found at the scene in Hawthornvale contained bones and "various materials" but police would not reveal what they were.
The National Database for missing persons is being cross-referenced to see if the remains match anyone declared missing across the country.
A detailed search of the area where the bag was dumped is also being carried out.
It is not known when the bag was dumped but police believe it will have been relatively recently.
Lothian and Borders Police said in a statement: "A 54-year-old man has been arrested and charged in connection with the discovery of human remains at Hawthornvale on Wednesday, December 31."
BBC
A 44-year-old man has been shot by police at a house in West Yorkshire.
The man is understood to be in a serious condition in Huddersfield Royal Infirmary with gunshot wounds.
West Yorkshire Police firearms officers responded to a 999 call and a shot was fired in the property in Whinney Park in Brighouse just after midnight.
A spokesman for the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) has confirmed it is investigating the circumstances of the incident.
'Shocking area'
An IPCC statement said: "West Yorkshire Police firearms officers responded to a 999 call reporting a domestic incident at a house in Whinney Hill Park, Brighouse at approximately 0010 GMT.
"Following the arrival of the firearms officers there was a disturbance in the house during which a police firearm was discharged."
An area surrounding the first five houses in Whinney Hill Park was taped off as police guarded the scene.
One neighbour, who did not wish to be named, said she heard a number of shots being fired in the early hours of the morning.
"We heard a few shots being fired, I think, but we thought it was fireworks," she said.
June Moorhouse, 49, who lives in the road behind Whinney Hill Park, said she felt afraid in the area.
She said: "I heard a lot of noise last night, but I didn't go and see what it was.
"This area is rough. I've been trying to get moved.
"There are loads of drug dealers, people out on the street at God knows what hours. It's a shocking area."
BBC
The first baby in the UK tested before conception for a genetic form of breast cancer has been born.
Doctors at University College London said the girl and her mother were doing well following the birth this week.
The embryo was screened for the altered BRCA1 gene, which would have meant the girl had a 80% chance of developing breast cancer.
Women in three generations of her husband's family have been diagnosed with the disease in their 20s.
Paul Serhal, the fertility expert who treated the couple, said: "This little girl will not face the spectre of developing this genetic form of breast cancer or ovarian cancer in her adult life.
"The parents will have been spared the risk of inflicting this disease on their daughter.
"The lasting legacy is the eradication of the transmission of this form of cancer that has blighted these families for generations."
Pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) involves taking a cell from an embryo at the eight-cell stage of development, when it is around three-days old, and testing it.
Using PGD to ensure a baby does not carry an altered gene which would guarantee a baby would inherit a disease such as cystic fibrosis, is well-established.
But in 2006, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority said doctors could test for so-called susceptibility genes, such as BRCA1.
Everybody carries a version of these genes - in fact a properly functioning BRCA1 protein helps stop cancer before it starts - but some particular variations of the genes greatly increase the risk of cancer.
Increased chance
Carrying the key BRCA1 mutation in this family's case would have given the increased chance of breast cancer and 50% chance of ovarian cancer later in life.
However, carrying the gene does not make cancer inevitable, and there is also a chance the disease could be cured, if caught early enough.
The couple, who wish to remain anonymous, wanted to eradicate the gene flaw from their family.
The husband's grandmother, mother, sister and a cousin have been diagnosed with the disease.
If the 27-year-old woman and her husband had had a son, he could have been a carrier and passed it on to any daughters.
Josephine Quintavalle, of the campaign group Comment on Reproductive Ethics, said: "This is nothing personal towards the girl, but I think we have gone too far.
"Underlying all this is eugenics."
Dr Sarah Cant, of the charity Breakthrough Breast Cancer, said: "The decision to screen embryos to see whether they have a faulty breast cancer gene is a complex and very personal issue.
"Women with a family history of breast cancer tell us that what might be right for one person may not be right for another.
"It's important for anyone affected to have appropriate information and support so they can make the right choice for them."
BBC
A number of firearms have been stolen during an armed robbery at a gun dealership in Carrick-on-Suir, Co Tipperary.
The incident happened at around 1.30am this morning at a licensed firearms dealership in Cregg.
The owners of the premises were confronted by four men, at least one of whom was armed, when they returned from a night out.
They were taken into the house which had two other occupants.
An assortment of around 30 firearms were taken, including pistols and rifles.
The family's beige/champagne coloured Honda Civic Saloon - registration 03WX5048 - was also taken.
No shots were fired and no one was injured in the incident.
Anyone with information is asked to contact gardaí at Carrick on Suir on 051 642040, the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111 or any Garda Station.
RTE
Documentation relating to patients at Letterkenny General Hospital have been found in Derry City.
It is understood the documents contain the names, dates of birth and condition of 12 patients.
Three pages of official hospital papers were discovered last night in Gartan Square in the Bogside area.
The HSE says it will examine the documentation before investigating the matter.
RTE
A report is due to be published today on management and work practices at Northern Ireland's main prison.
The report comes following the suicide of an inmate in an observation cell where he was supposed to be monitored at Maghaberry prison.
Last August, Colin Bell took his own life after several unsuccessful attempts.
Pauline McCabe, the Prisoner Ombudsman for Northern Ireland, investigated the circumstances in which the 34-year-old ended his own life.
Her report, which will be published this morning, will bring the management and work practices at the prison under scrutiny.
Bell was serving a life sentence for the murder of a man in Co Down during 2003.
He had a history of self-harm and was supposed to be constantly monitored in an observation cell.
One of the allegations Ms McCabe investigated is whether staff on prisoner monitoring duties were watching television and resting in makeshift beds.
She had access to extensive closed-circuit television footage when carrying out her work.
17 prison officers were suspended from duty at Maghaberry last October.
The role of senior management at the prison is now expected to come under scrutiny.
RTE
The head of al-Qaeda in Pakistan and his lieutenant have been killed, according to reports.
The two died after being struck with 45kg Hellfire missiles fired from a pilotless Predator.
The men are believed to be Kenyan national Usama al-Kini, described as al-Qaeda's chief of operations in Pakistan, and his lieutenant Sheikh Ahmed Salim Swedan.
According to the Washington Post, which first broke the story, the al-Qaeda operatives were killed in a 1 January missile attack in northern Pakistan.
The strike occurred near Karikot in South Waziristan, the Washington Post reported.
The two men are also on the FBI's most wanted list for links with the August 1998 bombings of US embassies in East Africa.
The area of northwest Pakistan has been wracked by violence since hundreds of Taliban and al-Qaeda rebels sought refuge in the region after the US-led invasion of Afghanistan toppled the Taliban regime in late 2001.
RTE
Israel has pushed ahead with its offensive in Gaza, ignoring a UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire.
More than 50 air strikes have taken place in Gaza since yesterday evening.
Palestinian emergency services said 12 civilians were killed in the raids, taking the death toll to almost 800.
Medics said half died when tanks shelled a house in Beit Lahiya in the north of Gaza, killing six from the same family.
Hamas and its allies have fired more than 15 rockets into southern Israel in further attacks today, injuring one person.
Pressure on Israel increased with the UNSC resolution, which demands an 'immediate, durable ceasefire' leading to the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.
The US abstained - but refrained from vetoing the resolution agreed by foreign ministers after lengthy negotiations.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said her country abstained because the US wanted to see the outcome of a peace initiative by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
Mr Mubarak has invited Israel and Palestinians to Cairo for talks on truce conditions.
The resolution, pressed for by Arab countries in the face of efforts by Britain, France and the US for a more muted statement, called for arrangements to prevent arms smuggling into Gaza and for its borders to be opened.
Israel has been strongly criticised by UN agencies, the Red Cross and other aid groups.
The text called for 'the unimpeded provision and distribution throughout Gaza of humanitarian assistance, including food, fuel and medical treatment.'
The UN Relief and Works Agency, which distributes the vast majority of aid in Gaza, has kept its operations suspended after the death of a driver in Israel's offensive.
RTE
A man shot in an attack in Dublin city on Wednesday night has died.
James Moloney, 26, from Ballymun died in hospital in St James's Hospital this afternoon.
The father of one and Michael 'Roly' Cronin were both shot in the head at the junction of Summerhill Road and Langrishe Place in Summerhill.
They were sitting in a car when a gunman in the back seat shot Cronin twice in the head and Mr Moloney once.
Cronin died at the scene, while Mr Moloney, who had no previous convictions, had been on life-support for the past two days.
Gardaí at Fitzgibbon Street have now upgraded the status of their investigation to that of a double murder.
They have recovered a gun, a jacket and gloves, which they believe were used in the attack.
The gunman is described as being between 5'6" and 5'9" in height and was wearing a tracksuit with a silver streak.
They are also seeking information on the movements of an English-registered Black Volvo S40 in which the two men were shot.
The registration number of the car is FD 54 CEY.
Michael Cronin was a well-known heroin dealer who survived a number of previous attempts on his life.
RTE
Israel has pushed ahead with its offensive in Gaza, ignoring a UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire.
More than 50 air strikes have taken place in Gaza since yesterday evening.
Palestinian emergency services said 12 civilians were killed in the raids, taking the death toll to almost 800.
Medics said half died when tanks shelled a house in Beit Lahiya in the north of Gaza, killing six from the same family.
Hamas and its allies have fired more than 15 rockets into southern Israel in further attacks today, injuring one person.
Israeli Prime Minster Ehud Olmert said: 'Israel has never agreed for any outside influence to decide on its right to defend its citizens.
'The IDF (Israel Defence Forces) will continue to operate in order to defend the citizens of Israel and will carry out the task it was given for the operation.
'The firing of rockets this morning only goes to show that the UN decision is unworkable and will not be adhered to by the murderous Palestinian organisations,' he said.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has told Mr Olmert that he was disappointed that the Security Council resolution had so far been ignored.
A Hamas official in Beirut, Raafat Morra, said his group was also rejecting the UN resolution, as it was not in the best interest of the Palestinian people.
Pressure on Israel increased with the UNSC resolution, which demands an immediate, durable ceasefire leading to the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.
The US abstained - but refrained from vetoing the resolution agreed by foreign ministers after lengthy negotiations.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said her country abstained because the US wanted to see the outcome of a peace initiative by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
Mr Mubarak has invited Israel and Palestinians to Cairo for talks on truce conditions.
The resolution, pressed for by Arab countries in the face of efforts by Britain, France and the US for a more muted statement, called for arrangements to prevent arms smuggling into Gaza and for its borders to be opened.
Israel has been strongly criticised by UN agencies, the Red Cross and other aid groups.
The text called for the unimpeded provision and distribution throughout Gaza of humanitarian assistance, including food, fuel and medical treatment.
The UN Relief and Works Agency, which distributes the vast majority of aid in Gaza, has kept its operations suspended after the death of a driver in Israel's offensive.
Elsewhere, two Fianna Fáil TDs have tabled a motion inviting a UN representative to appear before the joint Oireachtas Committee on European Affairs to report on the situation in Gaza
Timmy Dooley and Michael Mulcahy said the committee would have to decide whether there had been a breach of the human rights section of an EU-Israel trade agreement and testimony from the UN experts would be central to their deliberations.
RTE
A man has been charged with murder after a badly burned body was found by a motorway.
The victim, whom police said they have identified, was found alight on an embankment by the M45 near Dunchurch, in Warwickshire, on 30 December.
Irshad Mohammed Wali, 51, of Plaistow, east London, has been charged with his murder.
Four men arrested in connection with the death have been released without charge and one man has been bailed.
Mr Wali was one of the six men arrested on Wednesday.
Head injuries
Detectives said they would not be releasing the name of the murdered man, also thought to be from east London, until his next-of-kin had been informed.
A post-mortem examination carried out found the victim had suffered substantial head injuries before he was set on fire.
The investigation has now been transferred from Warwickshire Police to the Metropolitan Police.
Mr Wali will appear at Stratford Magistrates' Court on Saturday.
BBC
UK-based bank Lloyds TSB has agreed to pay a $350m penalty to US authorities over financial transfers that violated US sanctions.
The US Justice Department said Lloyds TSB had acknowledged "criminal conduct" and agreed to forfeit the funds in return for an end to its investigation.
Prosecutors said the bank faked records so clients in Iran, Libya and Sudan could do business with US institutions.
Lloyds TSB said that it had cooperated fully with the probe.
"We are committed to running our business with the highest levels of integrity and regulatory compliance across all of our operations, and have undertaken a range of significant steps to further enhance our compliance programmes," it said in a statement.
Wire transfers
US prosecutors said that the bank's misconduct took place between 1995 and 2007.
"For more than 12 years, Lloyds facilitated the anonymous movement of hundreds of millions of dollars from US-sanctioned nations through our financial system," Assistant Attorney General Matthew Friedrich said.
According to court documents, Lloyds removed information such as customer names, bank names and addresses so that wire transfers would pass undetected through filters at US banks.
This process - known as stripping - meant that more than $350m (£230m at current exchange rates) that might otherwise have been blocked was processed by US institutions.
Lloyds TSB had agreed to forfeit half the money to the US and half to New York County.
In return, the Justice Department would recommend that charges against the bank be dismissed in two years, it said.
Lloyds said it had set aside £180m last year against a possible settlement - before sterling weakened against the US dollar - and it did "not anticipate any further enforcement actions".
The US prohibits certain countries, institutions and individuals from accessing the US banking system, based on its foreign policy and national security goals.
It lifted sanctions on Libya in 2004, but measures remain in place against Iran and Sudan.
BBC
A 38-year-old man is set to appear in court charged with raping a 14-year-old girl.
The teenager was attacked close to the city centre in the area of Tomb Street and Corporation Street.
The incident occurred on 30 December last.
The man is expected to appear before Belfast Magistrates Court later this morning.
RTE
A construction worker is in a critical condition in hospital after scaffolding and part of a building collapsed in Co Antrim.
The incident happened on Hill Street in Ballymena shortly before 9am yesterday morning.
The building was a former DUP constituency office that was sold by the party more than a year ago.
The man underwent emergency surgery last night at Royal Victoria hospital in Belfast, where his condition is described as critical.
Northern Ireland's Health and Safety Executive has said it is to investigate the incident.
RTE
Supporters of South Africa's governing African National Congress are gathering for a rally where its leaders will announce the party's election manifesto.
With elections in a few months time, the ANC face a new challenge from a breakaway party, the Congress of the People.
The ANC's manifesto is likely to signal a shift to the left with greater emphasis on social grants, poverty alleviation, education and employment.
RTE
Five people have been shot outside a high school in Chicago.
Two men are said to have been critically injured in the shooting in the south side area of the city. The other three are in serious condition.
'It does not appear to be that these (people injured) were students at the school and it appears it is possibly gang related,' Chicago police officer Amina Greer told wire services.
Witnesses told police the gunmen drove up in a sport utility vehicle and fired into a crowd leaving the game at Dunbar high school at about 7.45pm.
'A girl started screaming and then we just started hearing shots,' Robert McCallum told CBS2 news.
'I was the first to jump on the ground because they started shooting our way and everybody piled up on me. Man, it was crazy.'
Police were combing the city's snow-bound streets for the shooters but made no immediate arrests.
RTE
Israel has pressed on with its Gaza offensive and Hamas has fired more rockets into Israel today in a two-week-old war that defied international efforts to stop it.
Medical officials in Gaza said the Palestinian death toll had risen to 786.
Gaza's Hamas rulers said more than a third were children. Ten Israeli soldiers have been killed, as well as three civilians hit by Hamas rocket fire.
The Israeli military said 15 Hamas militants were killed in a series of 40 air strikes early today that targeted rocket launch sites, tunnels used to smuggle weapons, weapons caches and production facilities.
Palestinian medics said two militants were killed, and one Israeli attack struck the outer wall of a hospital, wounding one worker. Israeli bombings of tunnels on the border with Egypt knocked out electricity in the town of Rafah, residents said.
Hamas fired at least 30 rockets across the border at Israel yesterday and at least another two today. No casualties or damage were caused by today's rocket attacks.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert dismissed as unworkable a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate and durable ceasefire.
Israel, Egypt far apart on ceasefire
Hamas officials in Gaza said they were weighing the resolution but objected they had not been consulted. The group said it had sent three of its leaders from Gaza to Cairo to discuss a separate Egyptian ceasefire proposal.
Diplomats said Israel and Egypt were far apart on the plan.
In a telephone call to Mr Olmert, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed disappointment that the violence is continuing on the ground in disregard of the UNSC resolution, UN spokeswoman Michele Montas said.
UN officials have no direct contacts with Hamas but Ms Montas said the same message would be conveyed to the group indirectly.
Yesterdday, Israel's security cabinet debated for the second time in three days whether to send in reservists for a push into Gaza's towns and cities. There was no word on the outcome.
'I can't go into operational details. The military pressure on Hamas will continue,' said Mark Regev, a spokesman for Mr Olmert.
The UN Relief and Works Agency, which distributes much of the aid in Gaza, kept some of its operations suspended yesterday after the death of one of its drivers in Israel's offensive.
US backs Israeli offensive
UN aid workers planned to resume their movements in Gaza's rubble-strewn streets as soon as possible after receiving Israeli assurances that they were not being targeted, a UN spokeswoman said in New York.
The US, which abstained in the UN vote, offered further public support for Israel's military goals.
'This situation will not improve until Hamas stops lobbing rockets into Israel,' White House spokesman Scott Stanzel said.
He said US President George W Bush had voiced his concern to Mr Olmert about the humanitarian situation and the loss of civilian lives during the Israeli assault.
With the Palestinian civilian death toll already in the hundreds, Israeli actions have drawn denunciations from the Red Cross, UN agencies and Arab and European governments.
Hamas wants any ceasefire deal to include the ending of Israel's crippling economic blockade of Gaza and the withdrawal of all Israeli forces from the territory.
Israel's key demands are for a complete halt to Hamas rocket fire and for international guarantees to stop the group rearming via smuggling tunnels under the border with Egypt.
UN urges unimpeded aid flows
Mr Regev said talks with Egypt over the ceasefire proposal would continue, but he did not say when.
The Egyptian initiative, also sponsored by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, may be in trouble, however.
'There is a growing sense that the Egyptian-French plan is not going to work,' a senior European diplomat told wire services.
European and Israeli diplomats said Egypt was objecting to proposals that foreign troops and technicians be stationed on its 15-km border with Gaza to prevent arms smuggling.
Instead, diplomats said, Egypt was ready to accept technical assistance for its own forces on the border. Israel says the Egyptians have failed in the past to prevent Hamas building up an arsenal of hundreds of Soviet-designed Katyusha missiles.
The onslaught in Gaza has solid support among Israelis, one month before a parliamentary election. A poll yesterday showed over 90% support among Israel's Jewish majority.
The UN resolution called for unimpeded provision and distribution of aid to Gaza, home to 1.5m people, as well as measures to halt arms smuggling and open the borders.
RTE
JohnCenaFan28
01-10-2009, 04:07 PM
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JohnCenaFan28
01-10-2009, 04:07 PM
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JohnCenaFan28
01-10-2009, 04:08 PM
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01-10-2009, 04:08 PM
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01-10-2009, 04:08 PM
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01-10-2009, 04:09 PM
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JohnCenaFan28
01-10-2009, 04:09 PM
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01-10-2009, 04:09 PM
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JohnCenaFan28
01-10-2009, 04:09 PM
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JohnCenaFan28
01-10-2009, 04:13 PM
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01-10-2009, 04:13 PM
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01-10-2009, 04:13 PM
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01-10-2009, 04:13 PM
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JohnCenaFan28
01-10-2009, 04:21 PM
Merseyside Police is to investigate claims made in court by a teenage gang member that he was paid £50 by a fixer to brandish guns on the BBC's Panorama programme, the force said.
The 17-year-old, who cannot be identified because of his age, was filmed assembling a shotgun for the programme about guns and gang culture on Merseyside.
A Merseyside Police spokeswoman said: "We are investigating claims made by the 17-year-old in court about the fixer. We are going to look at who was involved in that transaction and whether we can identify the people involved in that transaction."
The teenager, a member of the Marsh Gang, was approached by an intermediary and paid the cash to "show off" the weapons on camera, Liverpool Crown Court heard on Friday. The 17-year-old pleaded guilty on December 11 last year to possession of a shotgun, a handgun and ammunition.
Jason Smith, defending the youth, told the court: "The defence contention is not that he was paid directly by the Panorama film producers but he was paid money by an intermediary who had been paid money to fix it on their behalf."
Mr Smith said the intermediary, referred to in court as Male C, was a leading figure in the Marsh Gang.
The lawyer said: "On the evening of June 30 last year the defendant was offered £50 by Male C to collect some guns and go in front of the TV cameras to make threats and show off on behalf of the Marsh Gang. After collecting the guns he went to a location where he met Male C and a cameraman and was told to show off the weapons. It is not suggested that the BBC or the cameraman suggested he show off the firearms."
Ian Davies, prosecuting, said the Crown accepted the teenager's version of events and the trial was adjourned for sentence on January 23.
A Merseyside Police spokeswoman later said: "Following the broadcast of Panorama Young Gunmen on June 30 last year, Merseyside Police investigated both the criminal actions of individuals posing with guns and whether there was any substance to rumours that money had been exchanged. During the hearing on Friday, the 17-year-old defendant claimed that he had not been paid by the BBC but had received money from an intermediary. The BBC provided information during the inquiry which indicated compliance with their editorial policies.
"Merseyside Police will continue its investigation following the claims by the 17-year-old defendant, to identify those involved in alleged transactions and any offences that have been committed. The Force will be contacting the BBC in light of these claims, to enable them to consider any steps they need to take as a result of the disclosure by this defendant."
-Nova
JohnCenaFan28
01-10-2009, 04:31 PM
The crew of the Saudi supertanker Sirius Star will soon be on their way home after Somali pirates freed the hijacked vessel, the ship's owners say.
The statement comes a day after a negotiator for the pirates said a $3m (£1.95m) ransom had been paid.
A plane was seen apparently dropping money by parachute onto the ship, which is carrying two million barrels of oil.
The owners expressed relief that the 25-strong crew, including two Britons, was safe after their two-month ordeal.
"We are very relieved to know that all the crew members are safe and I am glad to say that they are all in good health and high spirits," said a statement released by Saleh K'aki, president of Vela International Marine.
"This has been a very trying time for them and certainly for their families. We are very happy to report to their families that they will be on their way home soon."
The UK Foreign Office said it was ready to assist the two Britons on board when they reach land - chief engineer Peter French, from County Durham, and James Grady, from Renfrewshire.
Drowned pirates
The Sirius Star was carrying two million barrels of oil - a quarter of Saudi Arabia's daily output - when it was seized 450 nautical miles south-east of Kenya in November.
The current location of the tanker is unclear.
Five of the pirates reportedly drowned while making off with their share of the ransom money after their skiff was hit by high seas.
Somali pirates have also released an Iranian-chartered vessel seized off the coast of Yemen in November, Iranian media reported.
The Delight, which was seized on its way to Iran from Germany carrying 36,000 tonnes of wheat, was freed on Friday night, reports said.
A surge in piracy in the busy Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean shipping lanes has sent insurance prices soaring, made some owners choose to go round South Africa instead of through the Suez Canal, and brought an unprecedented deployment of warships to the region.
-BBC News
DUKE NUKEM
01-10-2009, 09:44 PM
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DUKE NUKEM
01-10-2009, 09:46 PM
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Four out five people have been released without charge, with one being held on a separate matter, after the attack and robbery of a woman in Cork city.
The woman had withdrawn money from an ATM on the Model Farm Road in Cork when she was followed in her car by a gang.
They drove aggressively behind her for some distance before she stopped. She was attacked and her handbag was taken from her.
In a struggle, the women grabbed her bag back but was dragged along the road by the gang in their car.
The woman received minor injuries which were treated by a local GP.
RTE
Russia and the European Union have signed a gas monitoring deal, which is meant to allow the resumption of gas supplies to Europe via Ukraine.
The document was signed by Russia's First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin and officials from the European Union.
'Let's sign and we will immediately go to Kiev to ask the same of the Ukrainian side, and so we will end the crisis,' Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek, representing the EU presidency, said during the signing ceremony.
No further details were immediately available.
RTE
Gardaí have seized drugs with an estimated street value of €50,000 during the search of a house in the Ballyfermot area.
During the course of a search of a house on Kylemore Grove, Ballyfermot more than 4,000 ecstasy tablets were seized, as well as a quantity of cocaine and cannabis resin.
Various items of drug-dealing paraphernalia were also seized.
No arrests were made and investigations are continuing.
RTE
Hamas's leader in exile has said that his group will not consider a Gaza ceasefire until Israel ends its 15-day-old military offensive and opens border crossings.
'Let Israel pull out first, let the aggression stop first, let the crossings open and then people can look into the issue of calm,' said Khaled Meshaal in a televised speech in Damascus.
Israeli tanks and planes have bombarded Gaza and Hamas militants have fired rockets into Israel today.
Both sides have been ignoring a truce window and defying international efforts to stop the conflict.
An Israeli tank shell killed eight Palestinians in Jabalya, a refugee camp in the north of Gaza, and an air strike killed a woman in nearby Beit Lahiya, Palestinian medics said.
All of those killed in Jabalya were believed to be men from the same family. The deaths raised the Palestinian toll to at least 821, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza.
13 Israelis have been killed: 10 soldiers and three civilians hit in rocket fire.
The fighting continued even during a three-hour ceasefire window that Israel has established in recent days to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza to sustain the 1.5m people living there.
As Israeli tanks advanced in northern Gaza and aircraft hit targets across the coastal strip, Hamas rockets hit Ashkelon, 20 km north of Gaza, wounding three Israelis.
UN hopes to resume aid flows
Concerned about the deepening humanitarian impact of the war, with more than half Gaza's population dependent on UN food assistance, the UN said it hoped to resume full aid distribution after receiving Israeli assurances that its staff would not be harmed. A UN driver was killed on Thursday.
Israel has pressed on with its offensive despite a UN Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire and Egyptian-European efforts at mediation, saying it is intent on stopping Hamas rocket fire. Hamas too has ignored calls for a halt to hostilities, firing at least eight rockets at Israel.
'Israel is determined to deal with this matter until its positive conclusion, so that there is no terrorism in Gaza against Israel,' Rafi Eitan, a member of Israel's security cabinet, told Israel Radio.
At least two Israeli tank shells hit northern Gaza immediately after the 1100-1400 GMT humanitarian truce window opened, residents said. Off the coast, Israeli ships trawled the water with their machineguns trained on northern Gaza.
Israeli tanks advanced from the north towards the city of Gaza, creeping in on the large refugee camp of Jabalya, home to around 100,000 people.
In an attempt to breathe life into a faltering Egyptian-led mediation effort, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, whose Fatah party is a political foe of Hamas, met Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak for talks in Cairo.
They discussed the possible deployment of international forces along the Gaza-Egypt border under any ceasefire deal, but Abbas said they should be in Gaza itself, not along the border.
Egypt initiative thought in trouble
Privately, diplomats believe the Egyptian initiative, also sponsored by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, is in trouble, even if Israel has said talks over the proposal will continue and Hamas has sent representatives to Cairo.
'There is a growing sense that the Egyptian-French plan is not going to work,' a senior European diplomat told wire services.
European and Israeli diplomats said Egypt was objecting to proposals that foreign troops and technicians be stationed on its 15-km border with Gaza to prevent arms smuggling.
Instead, diplomats said, Egypt was ready to accept technical assistance for its own forces on the border. Israel says the Egyptians have failed in the past to prevent Hamas building up an arsenal of hundreds of Soviet-designed Katyusha missiles.
Likewise, the UN Security Council resolution late on Thursday calling for an immediate and durable ceasefire appears to have found no traction with either Israel or Hamas.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert dismissed it as unworkable and Hamas officials in the Gaza Strip said they objected to it because they had not been consulted.
The US, which abstained in the UN vote, offered further public support for Israel's military goals.
'This situation will not improve until Hamas stops lobbing rockets into Israel,' White House spokesman Scott Stanzel said.
He said US President George W Bush had expressed concern to Mr Olmert about the humanitarian situation and the loss of civilian lives during the Israeli assault on the Gaza Strip.
With the Palestinian civilian death toll already in the hundreds, Israeli actions have drawn denunciations from the Red Cross, UN agencies and Arab and European governments.
UN sources said Israel was also stepping up operations in the West Bank, detaining Palestinian suspects in rising numbers.
Hamas wants any ceasefire deal to include the ending of Israel's crippling economic blockade of Gaza and the withdrawal of all Israeli forces from the territory, from which Israel withdrew in 2005 after a 38-year occupation.
Israel's key demands are for a complete halt to Hamas rocket fire and for international guarantees to stop the group rearming via smuggling tunnels under the border with Egypt.
RTE
Tesco and DSG eyed as two-tier Christmas unfolds
Tesco , Britain's biggest retailer, is expected to report a modest rise in underlying sales on Tuesday, held back compared to some of its supermarket rivals by a greater exposure to non-food lines like clothing and electricals.
In contrast DSG International , the country's biggest electrical goods retailer, and top household goods group Home Retail are forecast to deliver big falls in underlying sales on Thursday.
Trading updates published so far suggest there was no collapse in spending over Christmas, as some had feared.
This has sparked a rally of about 6.8 percent in the FTSE All-Share Retail Index since the start of the year, and to some speculation the worst might be over for retail stocks, with falling interest rates, food and fuel prices all set to help the beleaguered consumer in the coming months.
But with store groups warning trade will stay tough while unemployment is rising, house prices are falling and the economy is sinking deeper into recession, many analysts remain cautious.
"Consumers are being buffeted by very serious headwinds that will substantially limit their spending over the coming months," said IHS Global Insight economist Howard Archer.
This will force retailers to keep prices low and could drive more out of business, following the collapse of toys-to-DVDs chain Woolworths and furniture group MFI last year, he said.
VALUE RETAILERS SHINE
Tesco, the world's third-biggest retailer, will report a rise in sales from UK stores open at least a year, excluding fuel, of between 1.7 percent and 3 percent for the six weeks to Jan 3, according to a Reuters poll of six analysts.
That would be below the 4.5 percent reported by smaller rival J. Sainsbury for the 13 weeks to January 3, in part because of Tesco's greater presence in the non-food market.
Tesco has also seen a strong uptake for its new range of discount brands which, because they are cheaper products, has depressed sales values. It believes the higher sales volumes the new range is generating will stand it in good stead if consumers rein in spending further in the coming year.
Discount clothing retailer Primark is also likely to sound upbeat when its parent Associated British Foods releases a first-quarter trading update on Thursday.
Sellers of expensive or discretionary items, however, are likely to be finding life much tougher.
ELECTRICALS, HOUSEHOLD GOODS SUFFER
DSG, Europe's second-biggest electrical goods group, is expected to report a drop in like-for-like sales of between 7 and 12 percent for the 12 weeks to January 10, according to a company poll of analysts.
Shares in the owner of PC World and Currys chains in Britain, UniEuro in Italy and Elkjop in Nordic countries, have slumped 73 percent over the past year amid concerns it might breach the rules covering its debt arrangements and worries over U.S. rival Best Buy's entry into Europe next year.
Carphone Warehouse , Europe's biggest mobile phone retailer, is also likely to sound downbeat at a third- quarter trading update on Thursday, though JP Morgan analysts think the bad news is factored in after a profit warning last year.
News from Home Retail, the owner of Argos stores and the Homebase do-it-yourself chain, is likely to be grim as well.
Argos is set to report a drop in underlying sales of 7 percent to 9 percent for the 18 weeks to January 3, with Homebase down by 8.5 percent to 12 percent, according to a Reuters poll of four analysts.
As well as weak consumer demand, non-food retailers have had to contend with clearance sales at casualties of the downturn, such as Woolworths and rival entertainments chain Zavvi.
This could impact computer games retailer Game Group and music and books group HMV , which have sales updates on Tuesday and Thursday respectively. However, analysts think both will be benefit in the long term from reduced competition.
Analysts also expect a big fall in sales at sporting goods chain JJB Sports on Thursday and are keen to hear how talks on long-term funding for the company are progressing.
Police on alert after Gaza protest
Two dozen people were arrested in London as a pro-Palestinian demonstration turned nasty near the Israeli Embassy.
A group of 200 protesters from the otherwise-peaceful 12,000-strong crowd hurled missiles and smashed windows in Kensington High Street. One police officer was knocked unconscious and two others receive facial injuries.
Several officers were also injured when dozens of demonstrators attacked the US Consulate in Edinburgh.
In London's Trafalgar Square a pro-Israeli rally is taking place later "to show an appreciation for the intolerable situation of those who have faced years living in the shadow of relentless Hamas rocket attacks".
A similar event is also planned for Manchester where speakers will call for an end to Hamas "terror and peace".
Scotland Yard said: "There will be an appropriate policing contingent in place, depending on how many people attend."
At the rally demonstrators gathered in Hyde Park where actress Lauren Booth criticised her brother-in-law Tony Blair, saying his suggestions for a ceasefire in Gaza would condemn Palestinians "to a slow agonising death".
Police ensured a heavy presence after a similar protest last Saturday was also marred by confrontations.
When the trouble broke out, there were running skirmishes between lines of police and groups of young men.
Dumped Baby's Mum Helps Cops
She contacted officers on Saturday night following their appeal to trace her and has been given medical attention.
The baby was a few hours old when she was found on Saturday afternoon in a school field in Kempston, Bedford.
She was unclothed apart from the pink blanket wrapped around her, and also partially covered by twigs and leaves.
Police took her to Bedford Hospital South Wing where nurses named her Chloe.
A Bedford Police spokeswoman said: "The mother has been found. She has come forward and made herself known to the police.
"She is a teenage girl who does live locally to where the baby was found."
The baby remains in the care of the hospital.
She was discovered at 1.30pm on Saturday and had not spent long out in the cold, police said.
The two teenagers who found the child, along with an older boy who drove them to the hospital, were praised by police for their "quick and speedy efforts".
Ukraine signs gas deal with Russia and EU
Officials said monitors would begin work within hours to oversee gas flows via Ukraine to Europe, cut off last week amid a price dispute between Kiev and Moscow and Russian accusations that Ukraine was "stealing" gas.
"We were able to reach a political agreement aimed at getting out of the deadlock ... Ukraine has accepted all the terms needed for Russia to supply gas," said Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek, representing the EU presidency.
Some experts say it could take something like 36 hours from the time gas starts flowing for capacity to build up in pipelines so that supplies reach consumers in Europe, which relies on Russia for a quarter of its gas needs.
After getting Russia's signature Saturday, Topolanek travelled to Kiev to persuade Ukraine to sign the deal to allow European Union, Ukrainian and Russian observers to monitor gas flows across Ukrainian territory.
The agreement, sealed in the early hours of Sunday, applied only to Russian gas passing through Ukraine for European consumption. Russia and Ukraine have not reached agreement on supplies to Ukraine and they remain cut off.
The deal is designed to assuage Russian fears that Ukraine is siphoning off fuel for its own use. Kiev denies the charge.
Asked when Russian gas supplies would resume, Topolanek told reporters: "According to the agreement, Russia will start supplying gas when the (monitors) have been deployed."
Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko said: "We signed the protocol today to show that Ukraine is not an obstacle for Russian gas sent.
"This protocol envisages also the entry of experts on Russian territory to observe gas supplies from the Russian side."
"As soon as the mechanism of control starts working, we will send the gas to the system. If we see that it is stolen again, we will again cut flows," Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said after talks with Topolanek in Moscow.
EUROPEAN SHIVERS
The dispute, which began when Russia and Ukraine could not agree on this year's gas prices, has led to the worst disruption of Russian gas supplies to Europe.
Eighty percent of Russian gas to Europe is piped through Ukraine.
Eastern and central Europe have borne the brunt of the dispute, which has shut down factories and left tens of thousands of households shivering in sub-zero temperatures without heating. Supplies to 18 countries have been disrupted.
Despite clearing the deal, Putin showed no sign of easing his tough rhetoric on Ukraine.
"Our actions do not aim to worsen but rather to improve the situation in Ukraine, to help Ukraine get rid of crooks and bribe-takers and make its economy more transparent," he said.
Putin said in addition to monitors from Russia, Ukraine and the EU, specialists from European gas firms would join the teams checking flows across Ukraine, something Kiev has opposed.
He said Topolanek had also asked to include specialists from Norway.
Relations between Moscow and Kiev, already tense because of Russian opposition to Ukraine's push to join NATO, have suffered a further sharp downward lurch.
Russia has accused Ukraine of corruption and stealing gas meant for Europe, and Kiev said Russia's actions amounted to blackmail to extract an unjustifiably high price for the gas it sells to Ukraine.
Sources close to the talks, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the agreement signed in Moscow had been tweaked slightly at Russia's request, but had not changed substantially from an earlier draft.
Russia, which cut off supplies to Ukraine on New Year's Day because of the dispute over pricing and debts, has repeatedly said Kiev must pay the going market rate for gas.
Oleh Dubyna, chief executive of Ukrainian state energy company Naftogaz, returned from Moscow Saturday having failed to agree a 2009 gas supply deal in the latest round of talks with Russian gas export monopoly Gazprom.
"Unfortunately the talks with Gazprom have finished with nothing," Dubyna told reporters at Kiev airport on his return. "The talks now have to proceed at a higher level."
Dubyna said Gazprom had again demanded a price of $450 per 1,000 cubic metres of gas, which he said Ukraine could not accept. Naftogaz has previously insisted on a price of $201, up from $179.50 in 2008.
Obama-stimulus plan can add and save up to 4 million U.S. jobs
Obama said previously his estimated $800 billion (£525 billion) plan to lift the country out of a yearlong recession would create or save 3 million jobs, but the new analysis showed that number would range between 3 million and 4 million.
"The jobs we create will be in businesses large and small across a wide range of industries," Obama said on his weekly radio and Internet address. "And they'll be the kind of jobs that don't just put people to work in the short term, but position our economy to lead the world in the long-term."
The analysis was submitted by the head of Obama's council of economic advisers, Christina Romer, and Vice President-elect Joe Biden's chief economic adviser, Jared Bernstein.
It came just after official figures showed U.S. employers slashed more than half a million jobs in December, pushing the unemployment rate to 7.2 percent and bringing the number of jobs lost last year to 2.6 million -- the most since 1945.
Obama's top aides visited Capitol Hill on Friday to allay lawmakers' concerns about his proposal, which would combine tax cuts, aid to states and public works projects. He has faced opposition from Republican and Democratic lawmakers over the plan because of its high cost and proposed tax cuts.
Obama said his plan would create nearly 500,000 jobs by investing in clean energy, by committing to double the production of alternative energy in the next three years and by improving the energy efficiency of 2 million American homes.
"These made-in-America jobs building solar panels and wind turbines, developing fuel-efficient cars and new energy technologies pay well, and they can't be outsourced," he said.
Obama repeated his warning a recovery would not happen overnight and that the situation was likely to get worse before getting better.
In excerpts from an interview with ABC News to be broadcast on Sunday, Obama said it would also require personal sacrifice from Americans and scaling back other priorities.
"I want to be realistic here, not everything that we talked about during the campaign are we going to be able to do on the pace we had hoped," he said in a taped interview with ABC's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos."
"Everybody's going to have (to) give," Obama said.
REPAIRING INFRASTRUCTURE
Obama said the report showed the recovery plan would also put nearly 400,000 people back to work repairing infrastructure like crumbling roads, bridges and schools and laying down miles (km) of broadband lines.
"Finally, we won't just create jobs, we'll also provide help for those who've lost theirs, and for states and families who've been hardest-hit by this recession," he said.
"That means bipartisan extensions of unemployment insurance and health care coverage; a $1,000 tax cut for 95 percent of working families; and assistance to help states avoid harmful budget cuts in essential services like police, fire, education and health care."
Obama has not put a price tag on his American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan, but in the report his advisers said they were using a figure of "just slightly over the $775 billion currently under discussion."
Mitch McConnell, the Republican minority leader in the U.S. Senate, said he wanted to make sure the massive proposal actually created jobs.
"We want to make sure it's not just a trillion-dollar spending bill, but something that actually can reach the goal that he has suggested," McConnell said on Saturday.
Although Obama did not mention it in his radio address, the report suggested that tax cuts, especially temporary ones, and fiscal relief to the states were likely to create fewer jobs than direct increases in government purchases.
US faulted for poorly managing private security in Iraq
"The department's security operation in Iraq has been highly effective in ensuring the safety of chief of mission personnel," according to the report by the department Office of Inspector General (OIG).
"However, the rapid rise in use and scale of private security contractors has strained the department's ability to effectively manage them," the OIG added.
"The department's management of the security program in Iraq has been undermined by frequent staff turnover, understaffing, increased workload, and the lack of standardized operating policies and procedures," it added.
It said that under the security contract, the embassy in Baghdad's regional security office overseeing logistics is responsible for managing and controlling government-furnished vehicles, arms, communications and other equipment.
The office is directed by a personnel services contractor (PSC) which oversees six Blackwater administrative logistics security specialists, it added.
And OIG said it believes the use of "a PSC to direct -- and Blackwater administrative specialists to carry out" -- the mission of the logistics office to control "government-furnished equipment is a poor management practice."
Such a practice may also violate Federal Acquisition Regulation policy stipulating that contractors not be used to carry out "inherently government functions," it added.
"This arrangement is particularly troubling because Blackwater personnel have inspected their own company," it added.
The report comes as five former Blackwater guards stand trial on charges of killing 14 Iraqi civilians and wounding 18 others by gunfire and grenades in Baghdad in 2007.
Prince Harry apologises for "Paki" remark
The video obtained by the News of the World plunges the 24-year-old prince, the third in line to the throne, into fresh controversy four years after he sparked outcry by wearing a Nazi swastika at a fancy dress party.
The newspaper posted the video on its website and said it was made in 2006 when the prince was still an officer cadet.
It begins as he is waiting with his platoon in an airport departure lounge for a flight to a training exercise in Cyprus.
Touring the room with a video camera as his colleagues snooze, he spots an Asian cadet and says: "Anybody else around here?... Ah, our little Paki friend, Ahmed."
The royal family issued an apology, but insisted the prince had used the term without malice.
"Prince Harry fully understands how offensive this term can be, and is extremely sorry for any offence his words might cause," a spokesman said.
"However, on this occasion three years ago, Prince Harry used the term without any malice and as a nickname about a highly popular member of his platoon.
"There is no question that Prince Harry was in any way seeking to insult his friend."
The report said Harry made the "raghead" remark while on the exercise.
Once again he is behind the camera when he spots one of his comrades with camouflage netting over his head and as he looks up at the lens, Harry says: "It's Dan the Man... Fuck me, you look like a raghead."
The royal spokesman said: "Prince Harry used the term 'raghead' to mean Taliban or Iraqi insurgent."
The prince served with the army battling the Taliban in Afghanistan last year but was forced to return home after his security was compromised when a carefully arranged media blackout on his deployment was broken.
Harry, an army lieutenant, is to begin training soon as a combat helicopter pilot.
The Equality and Human Rights Commission, said the racism claims "appear to be disturbing allegations".
"We will be asking the MoD to see the evidence, share that evidence with us and their plans for dealing with it," a spokeswoman said.
"We will then consider what further action might be necessary."
A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Defence said: "Neither the Army nor the Armed Forces tolerates inappropriate behaviour in any shape or form.
"The Army takes all allegations of inappropriate behaviour very seriously and all substantive allegations are investigated.
"We are not aware of any complaint having been made by the individual," the spokeswoman said, referring to "Ahmed".
She added: "Bullying and racism are not endemic in the Armed Forces."
In another clip from the three-minute video, Harry pretends to make a mobile phone call to his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II.
He says: "Granny, I've got to go. Send my love to the corgis. And grandpa... God Save You... yeah, that's great. See you, bye."
It is not the first time that the youngest son of Prince Charles and the late Princess Diana has been forced to apologise for his actions.
His decision to attend a friend's fancy dress birthday party wearing a swastika armband in 2005 sparked widespread criticism. The publication of photographs of that incident was followed by a swift apology from the royals.
In the past, it emerged he had smoked cannabis as a teenager and he was once involved in a scuffle outside a nightclub with a paparazzi photographer, but in recent years Harry has sought to shake off his 'playboy prince' reputation.
He is heavily involved in a charity in Lesotho to support children orphaned by AIDS which was launched in memory of his mother, and is patron of several other children's charities.
Mother's Pain Over Robbery Death
Craig Hodson-Walker, 29, was blasted in the chest as three masked men raided his parents' village post office and shop on Friday morning.
The three men who raided the shop - all believed to be in their 20s or 30s - were armed with a handgun and a sledgehammer.
They shot Craig's father, Ken, in the leg during the attack on the Fairfield Post Office and Stores in north Worcestershire.
Craig's mother, Judy Hodson-Walker, said she was "devastated at the death of our beautiful boy who died protecting the people that he loved".
"Why did such a beautiful, honest, hard working human being have his life taken away in that way?" she said.
"He didn't do anybody any harm and will be so greatly missed by each and everyone who knew him.
"I just don't understand why it happened like it did �?? it all just seems so senseless."
Police think the three "dangerous" men were joined by a getaway driver.
More than 100 officers have been signed up to track them down, and the Post Office has offered a £50,000 reward for information.
One of the gang was white and about 6ft tall and wearing a dark hooded top and tracksuit bottoms. The other two were shorter but also wearing dark clothing.
The fourth offender is thought to have been a getaway driver who waited outside in a silver VW Golf.
The robbery happened at about 8.20am on Friday and the offenders sped from the scene - the Golf was later found abandoned on a nearby road.
Detectives said it was likely that the car, which had false number plates, had been caught in rush-hour traffic near the post office and they are urging anyone who saw the vehicle to contact them.
They are also interested in hearing from anyone who saw a white car driving at speed in Bournheath Road between 8.15am and 8.30am yesterday.
Sky News correspondent David Crabtree, at the scene, said police have a tough job on their hands to catch the "ruthless" killers.
"They could be anywhere in the country by now," he said.
But Detective Superintendent Jon Groves has made his goal clear, saying: "I can assure you that we are determined to bring these offenders to justice as soon as possible."
Ken Hodson-Walker is said to be in a stable condition in hospital following surgery.
Friends of Craig, who was engaged to be married, have been remembering him as someone who "loved his parents to bits".
Close pal Alice Raybould, 29, said: "He is - I should say he was - the nicest and kindest person I've known in my life."
A group has been started on social-networking site Facebook, called Rest In Peace Craig Hodson-Walker.
A post-mortem examination is scheduled to take place tomorrow.
:: Anyone with information should contact police on 0300 333 3000.
Prayers for killed postmaster's son
A church service will be held in Fairfield, Worcestershire, as more than 100 officers investigate the fatal shooting of Craig Hodson-Walker during an armed raid at the family's post office on Friday morning.
The 29-year-old, who had recently become engaged, was shot in the chest while his father, Ken Hodson-Walker, 56, received injuries after being shot in the leg at Fairfield Post Office and Stores.
The Post Office has offered a reward of £50,000 to catch the gang of men responsible.
The church service will be held St Mark's Church near the scene of the shooting, or in the village hall if the church remains cordoned off.
Mr Hodson-Walker's fiancee, Lisa Bundy, described him as her "soulmate and best friend" who "didn't deserve to die like that".
The couple met 10 years ago and became engaged at Christmas.
The teaching assistant, from Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire, said in a statement released by West Mercia Constabulary: "I can't even start to describe the pain - it feels like someone has ripped out my insides. It just seems like a bad dream."
The managing director of Post Office Ltd, Alan Cook, has offered a £50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Mr Hodson-Walker's killers.
Blears fear over community tensions
Increasingly hard times can give rise to "myths" about immigrants' entitlements which must be challenged if they are not to take hold, she said.
"It could go either way," the Communities Secretary told a newspaper.
"You either end up as a fragmented society, or you come out of it stronger."
She also voiced concern about the uphill task facing the Government in getting some people back into work.
"What worries me is that some people are no longer active participants in their own lives," she said. "We've done a lot of the physical regeneration, estates have changed, and things have improved, but it's the people bit.
"I just worry that that sense of ambition that people had...it's not there."
Ms Blears went on that there was a danger that community resentments could grow as the economic conditions got worse.
"The evidence is that where resources are scarce, then unless you make positive attempts to bring people together, to get information out, for people to understand entitlement and who gets what, then these myths can grow up and become received wisdom," she said.
"The far right use it to get divisions between people."
DUKE NUKEM
01-11-2009, 07:59 AM
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DUKE NUKEM
01-11-2009, 08:00 AM
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DUKE NUKEM
01-11-2009, 08:01 AM
i hope they find them thanks for the post John
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has said Israel is nearing the goals of its military campaign in the Gaza Strip, as he signalled it would continue.
He urged more patience and effort, as Israel's troops reportedly engaged in fierce fighting in Gaza City.
The Israeli army said reserve units were in place in Gaza, but this did not signal a "new push" against militants.
Palestinian medics say 879 people have been killed during the 16-day conflict. Thirteen Israelis have died.
Palestinian sources said 29 people were killed across Gaza on Sunday - 17 in Gaza City.
Israeli officials said at least 12 rockets were fired by Palestinian militants into southern Israel.
Two Norwegian doctors, who have been working in the Gaza Strip, say the main hospital is close to collapse, and that patients are dying because of a lack of specialist doctors and basic medical equipment.
Doctors Mads Gilbert and Erik Fosse said half of their patients were civilians, some of them young children with shrapnel and blast wounds.
They also said 12 ambulance staff had been killed in shelling, despite their clearly-marked vehicles.
'Impressive gains'
As Israel's cabinet met in Jerusalem to consider its next move, Prime Minister Olmert said: "This is a time to translate our achievements into the goals we have set."
He praised the military's "impressive gains " in Gaza, adding: "Israel is nearing the goals which it set itself, but more patience, determination and effort is still demanded."
Referring to last week's UN Security Council call for an immediate ceasefire, Mr Olmert said "nobody should be allowed to decide for us if we are allowed to strike". Both Hamas and Israel have rejected the UN resolution.
In Cairo, Egypt's state news agency reported progress in talks between Egypt and Hamas, without providing details.
Talks between Hamas and Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman were described by an unnamed intelligence official as "positive".
Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, now Middle East envoy for the Quartet - the US, EU, UN and Russia - is due to meet Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo on Monday morning.
Confirmation that reservists have been deployed in Gaza came a day after Israel dropped leaflets and left phone messages warning Gazans to stay away from areas used by Hamas, saying that its operation would soon enter "phase three".
Late on Sunday, an Israeli army spokesman said: "More and more [reserve soldiers] have been incorporated into the operations. This is not to suggest that there is a big new push."
The Israeli army meanwhile denied deploying white phosphorus bombs in Gaza, after Palestinian medics said they had treated patients for burns caused by the munition.
Army spokesman Capt Guy Spigelman told the BBC that Israel "categorically denied" using white phosphorus in Gaza, saying other "smoke bombs and flares" were being deployed.
Israel began Operation Cast Lead as a six-month truce between it and Hamas unravelled. It comes weeks before a parliamentary election in Israel.
Israel hopes the scale of its operation will greatly reduce the number of missiles fired from Gaza onto Israeli towns, and also erode support for Hamas.
Humanitarian crisis
The Islamist movement won elections in Palestinian territories in 2006 before seizing control of Gaza a year later, ousting its secular Palestinian rival Fatah, which now holds sway in parts of the West Bank.
On Sunday militants fired a barrage of rockets from Gaza, two of which struck 42km (26 miles) inside southern Israel at the city of Beersheba, causing damage but no casualties.
In clashes in Gaza City, at least 10 Palestinians died in a gun battle involving Israeli forces, while at least five Palestinian civilians were killed by Israeli tank fire further north at Beit Lahiya, said medical officials.
The home of Ahmed Jabari, the head of Hamas's military wing, was destroyed in an air strike at Shujaia, a suburb of densely-populated Gaza City, according to the Israeli military.
Israel is preventing international journalists from entering the coastal strip, and none of the incidents can be independently confirmed.
Israel said its warplanes had also bombed sites on the Egypt-Gaza frontier near the town of Rafah, including a mosque allegedly used as a weapons storage depot and militant training camp.
Two Egyptian policemen were injured on Sunday by shrapnel flying through the fence from Israeli rockets landing on the Gaza side of the Rafah border crossing.
Its ground forces were involved in a "number of incidents" as they pushed into the south of Gaza City and reached a key junction to its north, the Israeli military said.
Reports quoted Hamas and the smaller militant group Islamic Jihad as saying they had ambushed the Israelis, engaging them in heavy fighting.
Many Gaza City civilians have reportedly fled their homes. Aid agencies say Gaza's 1.5 million residents are in urgent need of food and medical aid.
On Sunday pro-Palestine demonstrations continued across Europe and the Middle East.
BBC
A woman has died following the birth of her baby at Kerry General Hospital in Tralee.
The HSE has confirmed that the woman, who was in her 30s, died in the hospital this morning.
The HSE say a full review of the circumstances surrounding the woman's death will be carried out.
The Coroner's Office has been contacted and a post mortem examination will be carried out on the woman's body tomorrow to determine the cause of death.
The baby is in a serious condition in the hospital.
The family are not from the Tralee area.
RTE
A HSE report into hospital services in the Mid-West has recommended that 24-hour A&E services be provided by only one hospital in the region.
The report recommends that full A&E services in the region be retained only at the Mid Western Regional Hospital in Limerick.
It says that 24-hour A&E services at Ennis and Nenagh Hospitals are to be replaced by Local Emergency Centres and Medical Assessment units.
The report says many patients attending A&E units to date could have been more appropriately dealt with by a GP out-of-hours service.
In a statement, the HSE says the existing hospital structure was poorly configured.
However, Labour has criticised the Executive for not publishing the report earlier to facilitate public debate on the changes.
RTE
Labour leader Eamon Gilmore has called for a General Election as part of efforts to battle the economic recession.
Speaking on RTÉ Radio's This Week, Mr Gilmore said the start of the recovery would be to get rid of a Government that he said was incompetent.
He said Government spending cuts would have to be made to help the economy but only as part of a package that would stimulate the economy, safeguard employment and get unemployed people back to work.
Also on the programme, the General Secretary of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, David Begg, has said he has been alarmed at some of the recent public discussions on the issue of severe public service cuts.
He said such wage cuts would take money out of the economy, and run the danger of creating deflation.
Mr Begg said if the private sector then followed any such pay cuts, this could deepen any deflationary spiral.
He said ICTU recognised that the growth in the cost of public expenditure has to be looked at extremely seriously.
He said Congress had suggested to the Taoiseach yesterday that he consider a social solidarity pact that would deal how the country would position itself in the medium term in order to survive what he said would be 'a rocky road ahead'.
RTE
Scientists have found a genetic risk factor for late onset Alzheimer's disease which is carried only by women.
The discovery is the first evidence to suggest that genetics may partly explain why more women than men tend to develop the disease.
The key variant was found in a gene on the X chromosome, of which females have two copies, but males only one.
The study, by the US-based Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, features in the journal Nature Genetics.
The Mayo team carried out a detailed genetic analysis of patients with Alzheimer's diease.
They identified a particular variant of a gene called PCDH11X which appeared to be closely linked to a higher risk of the disease.
However, further analysis showed that the association was almost entirely restricted to women.
The raised risk of Alzheimer's was not statistically significant in men who carried one copy of the rogue gene variant, and only marginally so in women with just one copy.
But the raised risk was much more significant in women who carried two copies - one inherited from each parent.
Cell communication
PCDH11X controls production of a protein called a protocadherin, part of a family of molecules that help cells in the central nervous system to communicate with each other.
Some evidence has suggested that protocadherins may be broken down by an enzyme which has been linked to some forms of Alzheimer's disease.
Lead researcher Dr Steven Younkin said it was likely that many genes contributed to the overall risk of Alzheimer's, and that age was probably a more significant factor.
He said: "It is exciting to find a new gene for Alzheimer's, particularly the first that has a gender-specific effect, but we have a lot more work to do to resolve the complex genetics of the disease."
Rebecca Wood, of the Alzheimer's Research Trust, described the research as "important".
She said: "Finding genes associated with Alzheimer's will tell researchers about the biology of the disease, which could lead to new treatments being developed.
"At present, the cause of Alzheimer's is unknown, but it is likely that a mixture of environmental and genetic factors is involved.
"Two thirds of people with dementia are women, but this is partly because women live longer and risk of developing dementia increases with age."
Neil Hunt, of the Alzheimer's Society, said research by his organisation showed that twice as many women than men over 65 have dementia.
"It is likely that a combination of factors cause Alzheimer's disease. Genetics play a part, but whilst dementia isn't a natural part of ageing, age is the biggest risk factor."
It is estimated that 700,000 people in the UK have dementia.
BBC
Israel has confirmed that reserve units have been sent to the Gaza Strip, as its campaign there enters a 17th day.
But military officials denied this heralded a new phase in Israel's offensive against Hamas militants.
Earlier, PM Ehud Olmert said Israel was nearing its military goals and operations would go on.
Israel says it carried out 12 overnight airstrikes. One rocket attack was reported from Gaza on Monday morning but there were none overnight.
Previous nights have seen as many as 60 pre-dawn Israeli strikes.
Reports suggest diplomatic efforts between Egypt and Hamas in Cairo are progressing, as envoy Tony Blair heads to the city for talks on Monday.
Nearly 900 Gazans have been killed during the conflict, Palestinian medics say. Israel says 13 Israelis have died.
Nearly 40 people were killed across Gaza on Sunday, Palestinian sources said - 17 in Gaza City, as Israel's troops reportedly engaged in fierce fighting there.
Israel is preventing international journalists from entering the coastal strip, making it impossible to independently confirm such figures.
Israel hopes the scale of its operation will greatly reduce the number of missiles fired from Gaza into southern Israel, while eroding support for Hamas.
Militants fired more than 20 rockets on Sunday, slightly injuring three people, but no more rockets were fired overnight.
'No panic'
Confirming the deployment of reserve soldiers, Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev told the BBC reservists had been called up "a few days back" to augment its forces.
"We're keeping the military pressure up on Hamas, we think our pressure has been effective and continues to be effective in taking apart their military machine," he said.
The Israeli military said some reservists were being used to refresh troops currently in action in Gaza, but that this did not yet constitute an escalation of the campaign.
Brig Gen Avi Benayahu, Israel's chief military spokesman, said thousands more - who are to comprise a new, expanded phase in the ground operation - were still in training and had not been deployed.
On Sunday Israel dropped new leaflets into Gaza and left phone messages warning Gazans to stay away from areas used by Hamas, saying its operation would soon enter "phase three", the Associated Press reported.
In Cairo, talks between Hamas and Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman were described by an unnamed intelligence official as "positive", the state news agency reported, without providing details.
Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, now Middle East envoy for the Quartet - the US, EU, UN and Russia - is due to meet Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo on Monday morning.
On Sunday, after an Israeli cabinet meeting in Jerusalem to consider the country's next move, Mr Olmert praised the military's "impressive gains" in Gaza and said it was time to "translate our achievements into the goals we have set".
"Israel is nearing the goals which it set itself, but more patience, determination and effort is still demanded."
Referring to last week's UN Security Council call for an immediate ceasefire, Mr Olmert said "nobody should be allowed to decide for us if we are allowed to strike".
Both Hamas and Israel have rejected the UN resolution.
Civilian patients
In Gaza the main hospital is close to collapse, according to two Norwegian doctors who have been working there during the conflict.
They said patients at al-Shifa hospital are dying because of a lack of specialist doctors and basic medical equipment.
Doctors Mads Gilbert and Erik Fosse said half of their patients were civilians, some of them young children with shrapnel and blast wounds.
They told the BBC that 12 ambulance staff had been killed in shelling, despite their clearly-marked vehicles.
Frequent power cuts mean surgeons are having to perform some operations by torchlight, they said.
"I think we could sum it by saying that it's been a living hell for the Palestinians," said Dr Gilbert.
Aid agencies say Gaza's 1.5 million residents are in urgent need of food and medical aid.
Meanwhile, Israel's army denied deploying white phosphorus bombs in Gaza, after Palestinian medics said they had treated patients for burns caused by the munitions.
Israel began Operation Cast Lead just weeks before parliamentary elections in the country, as a six-month truce with Hamas unravelled.
The Islamist movement won elections in the Palestinian territories in 2006 before seizing control of Gaza a year later, ousting its secular Palestinian rival Fatah, which now holds sway in parts of the West Bank.
On Sunday, Israel said its warplanes bombed sites on the Egypt-Gaza frontier near the town of Rafah, including a mosque allegedly used as a weapons storage depot.
Two Egyptian policemen were injured by shrapnel flying through the fence from Israeli rockets landing on the Gaza side of the border crossing.
BBC
DUKE NUKEM
01-12-2009, 09:01 AM
thanks for the post Omen
DUKE NUKEM
01-12-2009, 09:04 AM
thanks for the read Omen
JohnCenaFan28
01-12-2009, 09:32 PM
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JohnCenaFan28
01-12-2009, 09:32 PM
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JohnCenaFan28
01-12-2009, 09:32 PM
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JohnCenaFan28
01-12-2009, 09:33 PM
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JohnCenaFan28
01-12-2009, 09:33 PM
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JohnCenaFan28
01-12-2009, 09:33 PM
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JohnCenaFan28
01-12-2009, 09:33 PM
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JohnCenaFan28
01-12-2009, 09:33 PM
Thanks for this.
JohnCenaFan28
01-12-2009, 09:33 PM
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JohnCenaFan28
01-12-2009, 09:34 PM
Thanks for posting.
JohnCenaFan28
01-12-2009, 09:34 PM
Thanks for posting.
JohnCenaFan28
01-12-2009, 09:34 PM
Poor child, I hope that it'll be OK.
JohnCenaFan28
01-12-2009, 09:34 PM
Thanks for posting.
JohnCenaFan28
01-12-2009, 09:34 PM
Thanks for posting.
JohnCenaFan28
01-12-2009, 09:34 PM
Thanks for posting.
JohnCenaFan28
01-12-2009, 09:35 PM
That's so sad, she wasn't able to even hold the baby for long.
JohnCenaFan28
01-12-2009, 09:35 PM
Thanks for posting.
JohnCenaFan28
01-12-2009, 09:35 PM
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JohnCenaFan28
01-12-2009, 09:35 PM
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JohnCenaFan28
01-12-2009, 09:35 PM
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JohnCenaFan28
01-12-2009, 09:50 PM
Russia will resume pumping gas to third countries via Ukraine from Tuesday morning, following the completion of a monitoring deal, the EU says.
The Czech presidency of the EU made the announcement following the signing of a deal by Russia, Ukraine and the EU.
Hundreds of thousands of people in Europe have been left without gas since Russia turned off the taps over a contractual dispute with Ukraine.
Despite the deal, it may be some time before supplies return to normal.
Analysts say that in theory, supplies could return to normal within 24 hours but a more likely time frame is 36 to 48 hours.
Under the gas transit deal, international pipeline monitors will verify the flow of Russian gas through Ukraine.
See map of affected area
Deadline for conditions
The BBC's Gabriel Gatehouse says that the agreement may be greeted with scepticism in some of the hardest-hit countries, after the same deal fell through last week.
Moscow says it expects all its conditions to be met by Tuesday morning.
Central to those conditions is the presence of EU and Russian monitors at pumping stations on Ukraine's eastern and western borders.
While a number of EU teams are already in position, others are not, and Russian monitors have still to deploy to stations in western Ukraine, our correspondent says.
Moscow turned off the taps last week after it accused Kiev of stealing gas meant for other European customers.
Alexander Medvedev, deputy chief executive of Russian gas giant Gazprom, told a news conference in Brussels on Monday: "If there are no obstacles... gas supplies will be restarted at 8 o'clock [0700 GMT].
"[We] will all hope it will happen tomorrow."
Earlier, Ukraine had dropped provisos it wanted to add to the agreement.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev had emphasised that Russian gas to Europe via Ukraine would flow only when monitors were in place and a transit deal had been signed by all parties.
Russia cut gas supplies to Ukraine on New Year's Day, saying it would pump only enough for customers further down the pipeline.
But then Moscow accused Ukraine of siphoning off gas intended for third countries and it restricted supplies even further.
Ukraine denied the claim, but the flow of Russian gas ceased completely on 7 January, leaving many European countries with major shortages.
The EU called the supply cut "completely unacceptable", and entered into shuttle diplomacy between Kiev and Moscow.
A deal was struck at the end of last week, but fell through when Moscow alleged that Ukraine was trying to deny its debt to Russia for gas supplies.
-BBC News
A Co Tipperary man has been sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty to the murder of a woman in a Limerick hotel just over a year ago.
33-year-old Sylvia Roche Kelly from Sixmilebridge, Co Clare, was found dead in the Clarion Hotel in Limerick city on 8 December 2007.
The victim had been celebrating her 33rd birthday the night before.
Today 24-year-old Jerry McGrath of Ballywalter, Knockavilla, Co Tipperary, pleaded guilty to her murder.
The Central Criminal Court heard evidence that the victim, who had recently separated from her husband, met McGrath at a Limerick nightclub and went back to his hotel room.
The court heard that Ms Roche Kelly was violently assaulted and her body left in the bathtub of the hotel room.
McGrath, who had a previous conviction, was arrested by gardaí after returning from abroad.
In a victim impact statement read in court, Ms Roche Kelly's parents, Esther and John Bourke, described how their lives had changed forever, how they missed their daughter and were finding it hard to cope.
A statement from the victim's husband, Lorcan Roche Kelly, told how the lives of Sylvia's two young children had been shattered by her death.
Lorcan said Shane, Sylvia's son and his stepson, suffered from an autistic disorder and that the only constant he had in his life was his mother.
He said that their young daughter, Aisling, suffered from huge anxiety and lived in a world of nightmares and suspicion.
Mr Roche Kelly said he had lost the woman that he loved and had left his job to care for the two children.
Sentencing McGrath, Mr Justice Barry White said he had taken the life of an innocent woman, which had a devastating effect on the victim's parents, children and spouse.
In a letter read to the court by his barrister, McGrath apologised for his actions and said he would never forgive himself.
RTE
A priest was tied up and threatened with knives during an armed robbery in Co Armagh tonight.
The PSNI say the victim, in his 50s, was watching television at the Drumcree parish parochial house on the Moy Road, Portadown, when he was confronted by two intruders whose faces were covered by scarves.
He was forced to hand over money from the office, told to lie down and tied up at around 5.20pm this evening.
He was later locked in an upstairs room while the men escaped with a substantial sum of cash from Christmas charitable donations and parish wages.
The priest later freed himself and raised the alarm.
He was shaken but unhurt.
His attackers were aged between 18 and 20.
Detectives are appealing for anybody with information to contact them.
RTE
Five anti-war protesters have been arrested outside the offices of the US defence firm Raytheon at the science and technology park in Derry.
The protest by the Derry Anti-War Coalition began at the Springtown plant around 2.30pm.
The five being held are being questioned in connection with a range of offences.
Nine women also chained themselves together on the top floor of the building, in protest at the Israeli offensive in Gaza.
They were later allowed to leave by police, and the protest has now ended.
RTE
Tens of thousands of euro worth of drugs have been seized by gardaí after three searches.
At around 2.30pm yesterday afternoon gardaí from the Tipperary Divisional Drugs unit stopped a van on the road between Portlaoise and Thurles.
After carrying out a search on the vehicle 5kg of cannabis herb and a further 5kg of cannabis resin were found.
The drugs have an estimated street value of more than €90,000.
A man was arrested at the scene and is being held in Thurles Garda station.
Two further house searches in Borrisoleigh yielded finds of drugs and cash.
In the first house gardaí found cannabis resin with an estimated value of €17,500.
In the second search, which concluded at 10pm last night, heroin with a street value of €4,000 and a quantity of cash were found.
A man was arrested and is being held at Templemore Garda Station.
Both men can be held for up to seven days.
RTE
The largest hospital in the north east has gone partially off call tonight due to overcrowding in its Emergency Department.
Following record numbers of people on trolleys today at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, the HSE said this evening the hospital was no longer accepting medical or surgical cases.
They were, however, still accepting trauma, paediatric and obstetric cases.
The Irish Nurses Organisation has described conditions for patients and staff in the A & E department at the hospital as inhumane.
According to the INO, there was a record number of patients on trollies at the hospital this morning.
40 people were waiting for admission, including 15 who have been on trollies since last Friday.
Industrial Relations Officer Tony Fitzpatrick said the situation was brought about by mistakes in the past where services were removed from other hospitals and put into Drogheda without adequate resources being allocated.
The HSE said it is also trying to move clinically discharged patients from the hospital and they are in contact with other hospitals in the region to see if patients can be transferred there.
A spokesperson said a transit lounge had opened in the hospital several days ago to help alleviate the pressure on beds while a medical assessment unit is due to open shortly.
A new A & E Department in the hospital will be operational by June.
The hospital's manager, Des O'Flynn, has also urged people to attend their GPs when possible rather than go to the A & E Department.
HSE report attacked
Separately, Opposition parties have criticised the Health Service Executive over its report on Accident and Emergency services in the midwest.
The executive is recommending 24-hour A&E services should only be provided in one hospital in the region.
The report recommends round-the-clock A&E services are retained only in the Mid-Western Regional Hospital, Dooradoyle, Limerick.
24-hour A&E units at Ennis and Nenagh Hospitals are to be replaced by local emergency centres and medical assessment units.
The HSE says many patients attending A&E could have been better dealt with by a GP out-of-hours service.
Labour has criticised the HSE for not publishing the report earlier to facilitate public debate on the changes.
Clare Fine Gael TD Joe Carey has described the recommendation as a 'sicknote for patients in the midwest'.
Deputy Carey accused Fianna Fáil of going back on commitments made to constituents in Clare that 24-hour A&E services would be kept in Ennis.
RTE
Around 250 people are feared dead after a ferry capsized in heavy seas off Indonesia's Sulawesi Island.
Hope is fading that any of the missing passengers and crew will be found alive, more than 24 hours after the 700-tonne ferry sank.
A local meteorology agency had warned of bad weather in the area but port authorities had given the ferry the go-ahead to leave and conditions were clear when it left.
22 people were rescued, including the captain and 17 passengers, but there is still no sign of almost 250 other passengers and crew who were on board the Teratai Prima.
Most passengers were asleep when the ship suddenly lurched to one side and turned over as it was bashed by waves of up to five metres.
The ferry, operated by a private company, was about 50km off Majene, western Sulawesi, when authorities lost contact with it around 2am yesterday morning.
It was sailing from Pare-Pare in South Sulawesi to Samarinda in East Kalimantan.
Ferry transport is crucial in Indonesia, a massive archipelago of some 17,000 islands and 234m people.
The Indonesian government has repeatedly vowed to improve safety standards but sinkings are common.
RTE
Land earmarked for the construction of Heathrow's third runway has been bought by anti-expansion protesters.
Land the size of a football pitch near Sipson village - which would lose hundreds of homes in the expansion - was bought by a Greenpeace coalition.
They have pledged not to sell the land to the government or BAA if the airport expansion gets the go-ahead.
Greenpeace director John Sauven said: "We've thrown a massive spanner in the engine driving Heathrow expansion."
The campaigners - including actress Emma Thompson, Tory front bench spokeswoman Justine Greening, Lib Dem MP Susan Kramer and impressionist Alistair McGowan - bought the land for an undisclosed fee.
They say plans to increase flights at the airport from 480,000 to 720,000 would create unacceptable noise and pollution.
But the airport industry, business and union leaders say Heathrow's expansion is vital for the British economy's long-term competiveness.
Supporters also say work on the runway could create up to 65,000 jobs.
The government is due to rule on the plans this week.
Court challenge
Ms Thompson said: "I don't understand how any government remotely serious about committing to reversing climate change can even consider these ridiculous plans.
"It's laughably hypocritical. That's why we've bought a plot on the runway.
"We'll stop this from happening even if we have to move in and plant vegetables."
Protesters have written the words "our climate - our land" on the plot.
Mr Sauven said the group of new landowners would challenge any attempt by the government to force them to sell: "As the new owners of the land where the government wants to build the runway, we'll resist all attempts at compulsory purchase.
"The legal owners of the site will block the runway at every stage through the planning process and in the courts."
BBC
Ministers are considering plans to guarantee up to £20bn of loans to small businesses to help them survive the downturn, the BBC has learned.
The BBC's political editor Nick Robinson said the scheme, which could be announced on Wednesday, was designed to address the severe lack of credit.
In return for a fee, the state would effectively insure banks against firms defaulting on their loan payments.
The Conservatives have urged ministers to underwrite £50bn of loans to firms.
Debt concerns
In recent days, Gordon Brown has suggested that further measures to help businesses struggling to get by in the current economic climate were imminent.
The BBC understands that ministers have met to draw up plans to provide loan guarantees to firms amid concerns that the banking crisis is threatening the survival of thousands of businesses.
The plans being looked at would represent a huge extension of a loan guarantee scheme announced in last year's pre-Budget report.
Under the plans being discussed, the taxpayer would foot the cost of the bill if the loans could not be repaid, with potential implications for the government's already rising debt levels.
However, since the banks will share the risks of these loans with the taxpayer, the cost will be less than the total sum guaranteed.
The Conservatives want a much larger £50bn national loans guarantee scheme to get credit flowing again and help firms being affected by the unwillingness of banks to lend due to the impact of the credit crunch.
They have said that their scheme would not expose the taxpayer to any risk but Labour says that is totally unrealistic.
The development comes after another day of substantial job losses and Conservative claims that Labour's economic mismanagement will saddle every child born in the future with £17,000 of debt.
BBC
Young people who join gangs could face banning orders to control their movements and prevent gun and knife crime, the BBC has learned.
Home Secretary Jacqui Smith wants anti- gang injunctions, following a legal battle over a similar move last year.
Birmingham City Council sought to help the police with civil injunctions - but judges ruled them illegal.
The plan emerges as a think tank report says ministers could do more to combat gun and knife violence.
In 2007, Birmingham City Council sought injunctions against alleged members of the self-styled "Birmingham's Most Wanted" gang, in an attempt to curtail violence in the city.
Two men, Marnie Shafi and Tyrone Ellis, were banned from meeting gang members or entering parts of the city. They were told they could no longer wear the colour green, used to distinguish the group from rivals.
The council sought the injunctions in the civil courts because it had proved too difficult to gather hard evidence pinning anti-social or criminal behaviour to gang membership.
The case against the men was based on police intelligence, rather than the higher standard of proof required for an Anti-social Behaviour Order (Asbo) or conviction by a jury.
But the Court of Appeal overruled the city, saying the council had misused its powers. Judges said the council should have sought Asbos based on proper proof of wrongdoing.
A Home Office spokesman said then home secretary had "long supported local injunctions" and would soon introduce legislation giving police and councils powers to seek them against gang members.
The BBC understands the proposals will be included in the forthcoming policing bill.
Dedicated police
The legislation is expected to allow councils to seek banning orders on a lower standard of evidence than required for Anti-social Behaviour Orders.
Ayoub Khan, of Birmingham City Council, said it had pioneered civil injunctions because officials could not gather evidence to a criminal standard of proof needed for an Asbo.
"Through these injunctions, we were able to prevent certain individuals from going in to particular areas or from wearing certain items of clothing which linked them to particular gangs," said Mr Khan.
"We were able to reduce that and restore some order and reduce gang-related activity in Birmingham."
The announcement comes as Policy Exchange, a think tank, said the UK should learn from successful moves to combat gang-related activity in the US, Canada and the Netherlands.
The right-of-centre body said parts of some cities had become virtual "no-go" zones because of gang crime - and that the UK was lacking the joined-up approach seen abroad.
Policy Exchange called for dedicated police to be deployed to schools and further education colleges to reduce the chances of gang activity.
It also called for more data sharing between hospitals and the police to ensure that officers knew more quickly when someone had been stabbed - and so the Home Office was able to collect more accurate figures on victims.
BBC
The Taoiseach has denied suggestions of tensions between himself and Finance Minister Brian Lenihan over the pace and urgency of spending cuts.
He said the Government was in discussion with the social partners but in the final analysis ministers would be the ones making the decisions.
Brian Cowen was speaking as he began an official visit to Japan.
The country is slipping back into recession against a background of political paralysis.
But there are business opportunities in Japan, which is well placed to service the huge Chinese market.
Many Irish businessmen and women are there on the Enterprise Ireland mission to see if they can tap into that.
RTE
he Taoiseach is travelling to Japan for a week-long trade mission.
Brian Cowen will meet the Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso and pay a courtesy call on Emperor Akihito during the visit.
The Taoiseach is accompanied by Minister for Agriculture Brendan Smith and junior minister for trade John McGuinness.
As well as strengthening business links between the two countries, the mission will also seek the reopening of the Japanese market - closed since the dioxin scare - to our pork products.
During the six-day visit, Mr Cowen and representatives of 70 Irish companies and organisations will visit Tokyo and Osaka.
The trade mission is the largest yet - businesses on both sides of the border are represented - but officials do not expect any dramatic announcements or orders this week.
Instead the message will be one of reassurance that Ireland values the Japanese market and is committed to it for the long term.
Mr Cowen will also meet Prime Minister Aso for talks, and in a country where protocol is all important, an invitation to pay a courtesy call on Emperor Akihito is seen as a significant honour.
RTE
A man in his early 50s is recovering in hospital after he was shot in north Dublin last night.
The incident is believed to be connected to another shooting which took place in Finglas on Sunday.
Gardaí say a man was shot at a house in Casement Park in Finglas shortly after 8pm last night.
The victim was hit twice in the lower body after at least five shots were fired into the house.
He was taken to Connolly Hospital in Blanchardstown with injuries that are described as not life-threatening.
The incident is believed to be connected to a shooting which took place at the Cappagh House pub on Barry Road in Finglas on Sunday.
It is understood the victim of last night's shooting is the father of the 24-year-old man who was shot two days ago.
No arrests have been made in connection with the latest incident.
RTE
Israeli troops and Palestinian fighters fought fierce battles in the streets of Gaza City early today.
Israeli special forces backed by tanks and air strikes moved deeper into Gaza's main city overnight, advancing several hundred metres into several neighbourhoods in the south.
Palestinian fighters fought back with roadside bombs and mortar and gunfire.
The clashes came as the Israeli media widely speculated that the country's leadership may approve an expansion of offensive in Gaza despite ongoing talks in Egypt on how to end the fighting.
The tanks retreated shortly after dawn from the neighbourhoods of Tal al-Hawa and Sheikh Ajlin.
RTE
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