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THE EAGLE HAS LANDED: Presidential hopeful Barack Obama has been made an honorary member of the Crow Nation and given the name Barak Black Eagle.
Democrat Barack Obama became an honorary member of an American Indian tribe and promised a proactive policy to help tribal people if he wins the White House in November.
The Illinois senator who is leading rival Hillary Clinton in their race for the party's presidential nomination, joined the Crow Nation, a tribe of some 12,100 members in Montana, taking on a native name and honorary parents in a traditional ceremony.
Obama, who would be the first black US president, was "adopted" by Hartford and Mary Black Eagle and given a name which means "one who helps all people of this land."
"I was just adopted into the tribe, so I'm still working on my pronunciation," Obama told a crowd after stumbling over some of the native names.
"I like my new name, Barack Black Eagle," he said. "That is a good name."
Many in the audience wore traditional feather headdresses and some banged drums ahead of Obama's visit, the first by a presidential candidate to the Crow Nation.
Obama held rallies throughout Montana, which holds its primary election on June 3.
The state is home to some 60,000 American Indians, making them a key swing vote, according to Dale Old Horn, 62, a spokesman for the Crow Nation.
Obama said he would appoint a Native American adviser to his senior White House staff if he wins and would work on providing better health care and education to reservations across the country.
"Few have been ignored by Washington for as long as Native Americans, the first Americans," Obama said.
Old Horn said the tribal members related to Obama because of his background.
"His heritage of being poor, of being an outsider, you know those two things are the commonalities that he has with us," he said. "We've always been treated like outsiders when it comes to government policy. In addition to that, we all grew up poor.
Reuters
An angry Duchess of York has slammed sections of the British media for criticising her daughter Beatrice's body shape, describing some comments as "extremely rude".
The 19-year-old princess was photographed in a bikini during a Caribbean holiday earlier this year.
One commentator in the Daily Mail said: "Can't someone buy that girl a sarong?"
Sarah Ferguson has told BBC Radio that the critical comments are potentially damaging.
"The press has been absolutely outrageous, and really being very mean about the size of her figure, calling her such horrible names," she said.
"I just think they ought to take more responsibility.
"I think her (Beatrice's) comment was, 'Will they be happy if I get anorexia because then they could write about that, wouldn't they?"'
The Duchess said Beatrice was a regular size 10 and fit and healthy.
"I understand freedom of the press but what I don't understand is when it takes a regular, completely healthy girl and tries to completely obliterate her confidence and I think they ought to be accountable."
Reuters
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FACE THE NATION: Elisabeth Fritzl is set to appear on Austrian television to reveal details of her imprisonment at the hands of her father.
The Austrian incest victim Elisabeth Fritzl is to emerge from the shadows of her cellar nightmare to give a world exclusive interview to a television station next week.
Ms Fritzl, 42, has reportedly chosen the same channel and the same interviewer who coaxed a previous Austrian dungeon captive, Natascha Kampusch, to tell her story.
Ms Kampusch, now 20, broke free from an 8½-year hell in August 2006 and told the world of her ordeal on ORF TV. Austrian media say Ms Fritzl is prepared to do the same after marathon negotiations between the television station and her lawyer.
Like Ms Kampusch, Ms Fritzl will reportedly receive no money for her appearance but could make millions of dollars in syndicated rights as upwards of 300 TV stations around the world will pay handsomely to broadcast the program live, or gain the resale rights.
Media in Austria said none of her children - neither the three who lived upstairs with their grandparents, nor the three children forced to endure her captivity - will be in the studio with her.
Ms Fritzl is expected to talk about the first time she was raped by her father, Josef, 73; how she coped with giving birth in the squalid, damp cellar; what she felt when her stillborn child was cremated in a stove by her father; how she thought she would never see sunlight again, and her hopes for a more normal future with the children who adore her.
The interview has been organised in part to reduce the pressure on the family by media camped at the hospital door.
There is increasing tension between authorities and paparazzi who know that a picture of Ms Fritzl or her children would be worth a fortune. Already a security guard at the hospital has been injured after he fell from a balcony while tackling a photographer.
Hospital officials confirmed that 17 photographers have been caught trying to get into the Amstetten Mauer hospital. One photographer was disguised as a policeman; another pretended to be a birdwatcher.
Austrian media also reported on Sunday that a hospital worker had taken secret photographs of the family and was offering them for sale for €300,000 ($NZ603,000).
Officials have sent a letter to staff warning them that there will be legal consequences and a claim for damages that would "far exceed any profit made from the sale of such photos".
Seven members of the Fritzl family are staying at the clinic, including Ms Fritzl and two of her children from the cellar, Stefan, 18, and Felix, 6, and her three children that lived in freedom - Alexander 12, Monika, 14, and Lisa, 15.
Her mother, Rosemarie, is also in the hospital. Another daughter, Kerstin, 19, the third cellar captive, is still in a coma in hospital.
ORF TV will not deny or confirm the interview, saying only that it has been in "strong negotiations" with Ms Fritzl's lawyer. It is understood that the family thought that the first interview should go to a domestic television station.
According to media reports it is scheduled to be screened next Monday night.
Meanwhile, it has been reported that Josef Fritzl is to undergo new DNA testing to see if he is the killer of three women whose murders - in 1966, 1986 and last year - have gone unsolved in Austria.
"Is Austria the heart of darkness?" a newspaper headline asked on Sunday.
Reuters
Security will be stepped up at the Australian High Commission in Fiji and families will be brought home following serious threats to the diplomatic mission, Foreign Minister Stephen Smith says.
The decision had been made following Fiji's refusal to allow greater protection for Australia's High Commissioner to Fiji, James Batley, who had received two death threats, Mr Smith told reporters in Canberra today.
"A number of additional steps will now be taken, by the high commission itself, to further strengthen the security of our staff, their families and our premises," Mr Smith said.
"The government has decided to offer spouses, partners and dependent children of high commission staff in Suva the option of `voluntary return' to Australia, with reasonable costs met by the Australian government in the usual way.
"Families may choose to stay. It will be entirely a matter for them."
Mr Smith said it was regrettable that Fiji's interim government had advised it was not prepared to agree to close personal protection for Mr Batley.
"As of this morning, I'm still awaiting a response on additional Fiji police measures," he said.
"As a consequence of the refusal to date of the interim Fiji government to agree to close personal protection provided by Australian Federal Police, and to date a failure to respond to further requests for Fiji police assistance, the Australian government has today decided to allow the families of Australian officials in our commission in Fiji to voluntarily return to Australia if that is their wish."
AAP
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Democrat Barack Obama won a US presidential nominating contest in Oregon, NBC News projected, while rival Hillary Clinton cruised to a rout of the front-runner in Kentucky.
The results gave Obama a majority of pledged delegates won in the lengthy state-by-state nominating fight with Clinton.
He hopes that milestone marks the beginning of the end of their gruelling Democratic race for the right to face Republican John McCain in November's election.
"We have returned to Iowa with a majority of delegates elected by the American people and you have put us within reach of the Democratic nomination for president of the United States," Obama told supporters in Iowa, site of his breakthrough win in the first Democratic contest on January 3.
At a rally outside the Iowa state capitol in Des Moines, the Illinois senator turned his attention to a showdown with McCain and said their November battle would represent "more of the same versus change. It is the past versus the future."
But Clinton gave no sign of surrender, promising supporters in Kentucky that she would keep fighting until the Democratic voting ends on June 3.
"I'm going to keep making our case until we have a nominee - whoever she may be," said Clinton, who has shrugged off calls to drop out of the race for weeks.
"We have to select a nominee who is best positioned to win in November and someone who is best prepared to address the enormous challenges in these difficult times," the New York senator and former first lady told supporters in Louisville.
Even with Tuesday's results, Obama will still be about 50 delegates short of the 2,026 needed to win the nomination at the Democratic convention in August. But he hopes the milestone will start more undecided superdelegates - party officials who can back any candidate - flooding his way.
He contends those superdelegates, who have been breaking his way heavily in recent weeks, should support him because he won the most delegates in state voting.
Clinton says they should reconsider because she would be a stronger opponent for McCain, an Arizona senator. Her victories in big states like Pennsylvania and Ohio gave her a broader base of support than Obama, she said.
Reuters
French police have arrested the top military commander of Basque separatist group ETA in southwest France, Spanish state television reported.
It said Francisco Javier Lopez Pena and three other ETA members were arrested in a raid in the French city of Bordeaux.
ETA has killed more than 800 people in four decades in its fight for independence for the Basque Country in northern Spain and southern France.
Polls show most Basques do not seem to want independence, although the leader of Spain's Basque regional government Juan Jose Ibarretxe is defying the Spanish government with plans to hold a referendum on whether to begin a debate on ties with Spain.
More than 750 suspected ETA members have been arrested since 2000, and the group is believed to have been seriously weakened
Reuters
Former NSW Labour minister Milton Orkopoulos, convicted of child sex and drug offences, has been sentenced to at least nine years and three months in jail by a Newcastle court.
Orkopoulos, 50, was found guilty by a jury in March of 28 offences, and pleaded guilty to two other charges at the outset of his trial.
In the Newcastle District Court today, Judge Ralph Coolahan set a maximum jail term of 13 years and 11 months for the former Aboriginal affairs minister.
Judge Coolahan spent more than an hour detailing the former MP's crimes which date between 1995 and 2006 and involved the grooming of three young boys with drugs and alcohol in exchange for sex.
He said Orkopoulos used his position of authority and power to win the trust of his victims and introduced one to heroin, an act which he described as "a very serious offence".
"His conduct was premeditated, predatory and manipulative with far reaching impacts," Judge Coolahan told the court.
The only time Orkopoulos displayed any emotion during the hearing was when the judge mentioned the ongoing support he had received from his mother, sister and former parliamentary colleague Jan Burnswoods.
All three of his victims, who were present in court with family and friends, simply stared at Orkopoulos as the sentence was passed.
Outside court, his second victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said today represented a new beginning.
He condemned Orkopoulos as "gutless", and said he hoped he would suffer.
"Justice has been served," he told reporters.
"It's taken away so much of my life, and I want to make up for the last 10 years I have lost."
He said he was not surprised Orkopoulos only showed emotion when his own family was mentioned, saying: "That's just the sort of person he is."
The man said he supported a fundraising push by some Labor MPs hoping to raise money for Orkopoulos' wife Kathy and daughter Anastasia.
"His wife has probably suffered," he said, but broke down when asked if he believed the Labor Party had tried to protect Orkopoulos.
The third victim, Ben Blackburn, who was 16 when he was first indecently assaulted by Orkopoulos, said he was extremely relieved by the sentence.
"It's been a long road but we got justice in the end," he said, as his mother sobbed beside him.
"Obviously it is not something that is going to go away. It is always going to be with me." Orkopoulos' lawyer, John Fitzgerald, said he had since the sentencing visited his client, who was yet to consider whether he would appeal against the sentence.
"He has asked me to seek advice on his options," Mr Fitzgerald said.
"They are matters that I shall discuss with him.
"He's asked for some time to digest what's been handed down."
Hetty Johnston, executive director of the child sex abuse support organisation, Bravehearts, for whom Mr Blackburn now works, said they were satisfied with the sentence.
"(This sends a message to pedophiles that) You are going to get caught and when you get caught, justice is going to come down on you," she told reporters.
She supported fundraising for the Orkopoulos family, but said his victim's should not be forgotten.
"I think his wife and his children can't be held responsible for what he has done," she said.
AAP
The United States warned Pakistan against negotiating an agreement with militants along its border with Afghanistan, saying a deal might allow them to plot attacks in Pakistan and abroad.
The Bush administration is worried such an agreement, if pursued by Pakistan's newly elected government, would give the militants a free hand in Pakistan's tribal areas, which have long operated outside the central government's full control.
Al Qaeda members as well as Taliban militants are believed to have taken refuge in North and South Waziristan - part of Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) - after US-led forces ousted the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2001.
Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden masterminded the September 11 attacks from Afghanistan, where he was sheltered by the Taliban regime, and he is believed to be hiding somewhere along the Afghan-Pakistan border.
Speaking at a congressional hearing, US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte voiced the US government's misgivings about the possibility of Pakistan striking agreements with tribal militants.
A previous deal reached by Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf in 2006 was abandoned. Musharraf's allies lost February parliamentary elections, bringing a new coalition government to power.
"Are we concerned about the possibility of negotiations between the government or elements of the government and these extremist groups up there ... yes," Negroponte said.
Fiercely independent tribes have fought against outside interference for centuries. They were never fully under the control of British authorities during colonial rule or Pakistani authorities since independence in 1947.
"I hope that they proceed cautiously and not accept an outcome that would give extremist elements the right, or the ability, to use the FATA area with impunity to carry out attacks on Pakistan and carry out attacks on Afghanistan or the United States or the rest of the world," Negroponte said.
"There is a lot at stake here and we have made that point repeatedly," he said, saying some Pakistanis believe it is worth trying negotiations "before one has to resort to more vigorous security measures."
"I think the response to that is that approach was tried before ... and it turned out not to work," he added.
Reuters
A police car that killed a 16-year-old girl was travelling at "about 100mph", according to a crash witness.
Hayley Adamson died in hospital after she was hit crossing the road in Newcastle late on Monday, the day before she was due to sit her GCSE English exam.
Angry witnesses confronted police and threw bricks at them in the moments after the crash.
A man - named in reports as Hayley's boyfriend, 23-year-old George Oliver - was shot with a police taser stun gun as tempers flared.
Several arrests for violent disorder were made after the crash, which happened as the car responded to a call.
Witnesses say the Volvo T5 car was being driven at 100 mph and did not have its sirens or blue lights activated.
An investigation has been launched by the Independent Police Complaints Commission.
The teenager was walking with friends - including David Forrest - when she was hit.
He said: "Hayley was right behind me in the group, but when I crossed the road and reached the other side I heard an almighty bang.
"I turned round and a police car had hit Hayley and thrown her about 50ft down the road."
Chris Broatch, 23, saw the crash from his home.
He said the police car was travelling at "about 100mph - that fast" when it hit Hayley.
"He had the headlights on but no blue lights or a siren."
Chief Supt Paul Weir, from Northumbria Police, said: "Emotions are running high that is understandable.
"There was a number of arrests made for violence and disorder immediately following the incident.
"People were distressed and some people were throwing bricks."
Gary Garland, IPCC Commissioner for the North East, said: "It is unclear at this stage whether the car's emergency warning equipment was activated.
"Following the collision there was an incident involving a member of the public at the scene which culminated in a police officer discharging a Taser stun gun.
"The IPCC will also examine the circumstances involving this incident."
The driver has been suspended from operational duty.
Tributes have poured in for "happy, popular and fun-loving" Hayley, who was about to sit her GCSEs.
sky news
Wow, look at what the people who are supposed to be keeping us safe do...:no:
Thanks for the news.