World News joined 5

[Darth Fozzy]

Goddam, you never EVER expect it to be kids, why would anyone want to hurt a child, I can never understand people who would willingly want to hurt a child, assclowns!!

[Stamkos]

*Sigh*. It seems like everyday now when I turn on the news or go on the internet, I hear something about someone dying in the US due to guns. It seems like it's happening more than ever.

[OMEN]

KILLER: Colin Norris has been found guilty of murdering four elderly patients using lethal doses of the diabetes drug insulin, whilst he was working at two hospitals in Leeds.
A 32-year-old male nurse has been found guilty of murdering four elderly patients with lethal doses of the diabetes drug insulin.

Colin Norris administered the drugs to four women during his time at two hospitals in Leeds, Newcastle Crown Court heard.

He was also found guilty of the attempted murder of another patient.

Police said on Monday after the case that Norris had picked on "frail, elderly women, generally confused and helpless" who were in his hands.

"Whilst other people at those hospitals were duly caring for the patients, Colin Norris was doing the opposite. He was looking for opportunities to poison them by insulin," said Detective Chief Superintendent Chris Gregg of West Yorkshire Police.

"He was selecting his patients carefully."

It was not clear what motivated Norris, but Gregg said he believed the defendant had been abusing the power available to him.

"I think it was clearly just having the control and the power to do that," Gregg added.

"He had helpless individuals in his hands. They were vulnerable in his care and he took advantage of that.

"And it seems to be that if they irritated him, caused him any degree of nuisance in his eyes then he resorted to the means available to him."

He paid tribute to Dr Emma Ward, who ordered tests for insulin on one of the women who had entered an unexpected coma.

"If it were not for her prompt actions and recognising that a criminal may be at work on the ward that she was operating in, then I think a serial killer would still be at large here."

Norris was described during police interviews as "exceptionally arrogant, almost aggressive".

He had shown no emotion or remorse during the trial.

The jury heard that suspicions were raised when Norris predicted the death of Ethel Hall, a patient who later slipped into a fatal coma.

Hall, 86, from Calverley, Leeds, was recovering after hip surgery at Leeds General Infirmary (LGI) at the time of her death. Tests later showed about 12 times the normal level of insulin in her blood.

Similar cases were found including, Doris Ludlum, 80, of Pudsey, Bridget Bourke, 88 - whose body was exhumed for tests - and Irene Crooks, 79, of Leeds.

Norris was found guilty of all four murders. He was also convicted of the attempted murder of Vera Wilby, 90, of Rawdon.

Norris, who lives in Glasgow, had denied the charges.

Sentencing will take place on Tuesday local time

Reuters

[OMEN]

A spate of suicide attacks by Islamist militants could spark a war of revenge among ethnic Pashtun tribesmen in Pakistan's northwest just as moderate, secular political parties appear poised for power, analysts say.

The region is already regarded as the main battleground in the fight against the Taliban and al Qaeda, and the stakes are raised because of Pakistan's status as a nuclear-armed state.

The militants want to destabilize President Pervez Musharraf, and convince Pakistanis his alliance with the United States is the root cause of conflict in the area.

For their part, Pakistan's Western allies want its new prime minister and government, once they emerge from the hung parliament returned by voters in an election on February 18, to provide the democratic legitimacy for the war on terrorism that Musharraf has been unable to engender.

"You may not question President Pervez Musharraf's policy on terrorism, you may say it's all right but the point is nobody is ready to own this policy," said Talat Masood, a former general and security analyst.

"The greatest advantage of the civilian government will be that the policy will be owned by the people of Pakistan."

Well over 500 people have been killed in militant-related violence so far this year, but the campaign of suicide attacks began after troops stormed the Red Mosque in Islamabad to put down a militant student movement in the heart of the capital.

While the remote Waziristan region has seen the worst of the violence over the past few years, in recent months hitherto dormant tribal areas have erupted in violence.

At least 40 people were killed on Friday in a suicide attack in the Swat district of North West Frontier Province (NWFP) during the funeral of a policeman hours after he was killed in a roadside attack.

On Sunday, another 40 people died and scores were wounded when a young bomber blew himself up as hundreds of tribesmen left a jirga, or council, that had discussed how to restore peace in Darra Adam Kheil, a tribal region near Peshawar, the NWFP capital.

The army has been fighting militants in Swat since October, and just last week had claimed it had cleared all but a few pockets of resistance.

But attacks like a roadside bomb that killed 13 members of a wedding party, including the bride, on February 22, again in Swat, demonstrated the insecurity ordinary families are encountering.

Analysts noted a "dangerous trend" towards attacks that struck at the heart of Pashtun society.

"These are direct attacks on Pashtun society," said Mahmood Shah, a former security chief for the tribal areas.

"All institutions, which represent Pashtun society, the mosque, a wedding, a funeral or a jirga, they have all been targeted.

"They want to bomb the entire Pashtun society into submission."

Pashtuns, whose lands straddle both sides of the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan, live to a code of honor, commonly known as Pashtunwali, that calls on menfolk to take revenge if a family member is killed.

The attacks on the funeral and the jirga could trigger inter-tribal feuds, in a region where guns are commonly referred to as "Pashtun jewellery".

"This situation could ignite tribal enmities. This will create a very explosive and dangerous situation for the government," said Rahimullah Yusufzai, a newspaper editor and an expert on Pashtun affairs.

The escalating violence has raised concern among Western countries about the stability of the nuclear-armed state amid the growing unpopularity of US ally Musharraf.

The recent attacks came as winners of the February 18 elections were negotiating to cobble together a coalition government.

There have been a spate of attacks in the run-up to elections but polling day passed off with far less violence than feared.

The Pakistan People's Party (PPP) of Benazir Bhutto, the country's most liberal politician who was killed in an attack blamed on al Qaeda-linked militants on December 27, emerged as the largest group in the National Assembly, dealing a humiliating defeat to Musharraf's allies.

A moderate Pashtun party, the Awami National Party, won the most seats in the NWFP assembly by trouncing Islamist parties and is likely to lead the provincial government in a coalition with the PPP, but if they fail to quell the violence voters will soon become disenchanted, analysts said.

Reuters

[OMEN]

Fidel Castro is having a good chuckle at reactions in the United States and elsewhere to his decision to retire from the Cuban presidency, the communist country's foreign minister says.

Felipe Perez Roque also told the United Nations Human Rights Council that the old leader's younger brother Raul, who some outside commentators have said might introduce some liberal reforms, "is also Fidel".

"Back in Cuba, Fidel is enjoying the petty and pathetic reaction of those who thought that his authority stemmed from his office, who thought that if he was removed from office or assassinated that would be the magic formula for the defeat of the Cuban Revolution," Perez declared.

"But it turns out otherwise, that Fidel is the people, that his ideas are those of the people."

Raul Castro, 76, took over as president from Fidel last month, vowing to continue his communist revolution and consult him on important issues.

"Raul, with all the authority that his own life story gives him, is also Fidel in his loyalty to the fatherland, to the revolution, and to socialism," declared Perez, long a close aide to the elder Castro.

Castro, 81, stepped down from the presidency on February 24 after 49 years in power. He has not appeared in public since falling ill 19 months ago.

"At the end of the day, Fidel is every man and woman in the world who fights for justice and liberty for people everywhere," Perez said.

Reuters

[Black Widow]

Two teenagers are facing jail terms after they admitted killing a promising graduate in a row over a chocolate bar wrapper.

Evren Anil, 23, died from serious head injuries after being threatened with a knife and punched to the ground.

He had gotten into an argument with the teenagers after the wrapper was thrown through his car window in Crystal Palace, south east London, last August.

Mr Anil had gotten out of the car to confront the pair.

His 26-year-old sister Elif was driving the car when the attack took place.

She told the Evening Standard: "Words can't describe the boy. He was an angel. He was my younger brother and my best friend.

"He was so generous. He was a very bright boy. I was so privileged to have a brother like him.

"I just miss him so much."

Mr Anil was a week into his first graduate job, as a programme developer for an IT company, when he died.

He was also a keen amateur footballer, who turned out for Croydon City, as well as an amateur actor.

He also tutored children at weekends.

A 16-year-old from Thornton Heath, south east London, pleaded guilty to manslaughter and knife possession as his trial was due to begin at the Old Bailey.

His plea could only be reported now after his 17-year-old co-defendant, from Tottenham, north London, also admitted the two charges.

Sentencing will take place at a later date after the judge hears legal argument about the precise version of events, which is disputed.

Sky News

[Black Widow]

The alleged victim of a gang rape has told Sky News that the hundreds of people who watched the grisly 'attack' on YouTube were perverts.

The footage showed the 25-year-old, who believes her glass of champagne was spiked at her London home, being violated for hours in front of her screaming children, aged two and four.

A three-minute clip of her ordeal was later removed from YouTube after it was posted on the video sharing website.

The victim condemned the 600 people who watched the mobile phone footage.

Sky correspondent Jayne Secker asked the mother what kind of person searches for a rape video on the internet.

She replied: "Someone perverted, someone not right, someone sick.

"It's just crazy to think that someone would get a kick out of watching that.

"The worst thing about it, you can clearly my baby crying. Why would someone not do something about it? I can't understand."

Calling the gang "animals", the mother described how she had been unable to move but was fully aware during the alleged attack.

She said: "They just hurt me the whole way through. They had no respect.

"Afterwards one p***** on me, like I was nothing.

"I felt dirty, humiliated, ashamed. I did not want to tell anyone, did not want to do anything. I just wanted to forget.

"I thought, if I lose my control, I'm not going to be a good mum for my kids. I just had to pretend it did not happen."

The mother had heard rumours of the YouTube footage before she eventually reported the matter to police.

Criticising the website, she said: "How could anyone allow anything as degrading as that to be posted on the internet?"

A YouTube spokesperson said any video that breaches rules prohibiting content like pornography or gratuitous violence is removed from the site once it is reported.

Psychotherapist Lucy Beresford told Sky: "Historically, if you look back at people gathering around the guillotine, there is that dimension where we want to be shocked, we want to have a cathartic experience of watching something dreadful happening to someone else.

"It enables us to get in touch with some dark emotions without having to go through that ourselves.

"Now, with the internet, it's that much more immediate, it's in your sitting room."

Three teenagers have been quizzed by police over the attack.

Sky News

[W-OLF]

I think Im gonna be sick I hope they catch whoever did this and castrate the lpoor excuses for humans.

[Stamkos]

And some people wonder why others are afraid of going to the hospital or the doctor. This is just crazy. My father has diabetes and I'd be furious if his doctor ever did this to him. It's kind of scary.

[JohnCenaFan28]

That's terrible... You can't trust anyone these days...

[JohnCenaFan28]

That is awful... How could that many people watch the video and not do anything?

[JohnCenaFan28]

That's extremely stupid. They kill someone over chocolate?

[JohnCenaFan28]

Thanks for the read.

[JohnCenaFan28]

Thanks for this.

[JohnCenaFan28]

Voting has begun in what could be the most important day so far in the races to stand for US president.



Democratic front-runner Barack Obama says rival Hillary Clinton may have to quit if he wins in Texas and Ohio. She says she will stay the course.

Contests in two smaller states also voting - Vermont and Rhode Island - may prove crucial in such a tight race.

On the Republican side, Senator John McCain - already comfortably ahead of his rivals - could seal the nomination.

But most attention is focused on the Democrats' battle.

For the Democrats, Texas is the biggest prize remaining, with 228 delegates to the nominating party convention in August up for grabs.

Voting there is proportional, meaning that Mrs Clinton needs landslide victories on Tuesday and beyond even to catch up with Mr Obama.

An opinion poll published as voting began gave Mrs Clinton a narrow lead in Texas - though within the poll's margin of error. It had the two candidates exactly level in Ohio.

"I feel really good about today," Mrs Clinton told early voters in Houston. "I think it's going to turn out well."

Mr Obama showed equal confidence.

"We know this has been an extraordinary election," he said. "We're working hard to do as well as we can."

Mr Obama has spent twice as much as Mrs Clinton on TV adverts in the state, including ones in Spanish. Hispanics account for about one in five eligible voters in Texas.

Since the nationwide Super Tuesday contests on 5 February, Mr Obama has won 11 states in succession and leads Mrs Clinton in the delegate count.

For the Democrats, a total of 370 delegates are at stake in the four races, which includes 67 delegates up for grabs in Texas caucuses, which begin after the day-long primary vote.

Mr Obama currently has 1,385 delegates to Mrs Clinton's 1,276, according to AP. A total of 2,025 is needed to secure the Democratic Party's nomination.

The New York senator and former first lady has played down suggestions that she is facing a make-or-break moment.

New Mexico's Democratic Governor Bill Richardson, an influential voice who used to be in the race himself, has suggested that whoever has the most delegates after Tuesday's votes should be the party nominee.

The BBC's Kevin Connolly, who is in the Ohio capital, Columbus, says the struggle between the two senators remains fierce and close, and it is far from certain that America will get the clear outcome from these latest battles that it craves.

The day's voting ends in Rhode Island at 0200 GMT on Wednesday.

Mrs Clinton has been focusing her attacks on Mr Obama's foreign policy and national security experience, echoing a campaign advert asking who would respond better to a national emergency in the middle of the night.

The advert says: "It's 3am and your children are safe and asleep, but there's a phone in the White House and it's ringing... who do you want answering the phone?"

Clinton's campaign ad

Mr Obama, senator for Illinois, has countered that with an advert questioning Mrs Clinton's judgement in supporting the invasion of Iraq from the start.

Meanwhile, Mr Obama denied on Monday that his campaign had privately assured Canada his criticism of the North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta), widely opposed in economically depressed Ohio, was just for political show.

A leaked memo suggested Mr Obama's senior economic adviser, Austan Goolsbee, had given Canadian officials the impression that Mr Obama's criticism over the US free trade deal with Canada was "political positioning".

The dispute led Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper to assure parliament that the memo leak was not an attempt to scupper Mr Obama's chances or to favour Mr McCain, who strongly backs Nafta.

On the Republican side, Senator McCain is expected to beat his rival Mike Huckabee in all four states.

Mr McCain currently has 1,014 delegates, according to the Associated Press news agency, while Mr Huckabee has 257. A total of 1,191 delegates is needed to claim the nomination at the party's national convention in September.

BBC News

[JohnCenaFan28]

Russian gas monopoly Gazprom has cut supplies of gas to Ukraine again, and said further cuts may follow in the wake of a dispute over debts.



State-owned Gazprom cut supplies by a further 25% on Tuesday, following a 25% cut a day earlier - thereby cutting supplies by half.

Prior to the news, the EU called for an emergency internal meeting amid fears the row could hit European supplies.

Much of the gas Russia sells to Europe passes through pipelines in Ukraine.

Map of main European gas pipelines

The EU said the meeting would ensure "a fully coordinated EU response to the situation," adding "we look to both parties to ensure that gas supplies to the EU remain unaffected".

The news of the second cut was made after a 1700GMT deadline on Tuesday.

"If the Ukrainian side does not return to the negotiating table, I do not exclude a further reduction in supplies," Sergei Kupriyanov, a Gazprom spokesman, said on state television.

The dispute started after Russia said Ukraine had not paid its debts for previous deliveries, which Gazprom says totals $1.5bn (£770m).

But Ukraine maintains the payments have already been made.

Escalating crisis

Gazprom said it reduced supplies to Ukraine by 25% on Monday after talks broke down last week.

Monday's cut effectively ended supplies of gas directly from Russia, which make up a quarter of Ukraine's imports. The rest of Ukraine's imports comes from other states but travels through Russian pipelines.

Naftogaz, Ukraine's state gas company, earlier said it reserved the right to take "appropriate" action - and disrupt supplies to Europe that transit Ukraine - if Gazprom carried out the threatened additional cut.

But after the announcement, a spokesman said the firm had no plans for such a move at present thanks to warm weather and sufficient reserves.

European fears

Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov reassured European gas users on Tuesday that shipments of Russian gas would continue.

"Export deliveries via Ukrainian territory are carried out in full volume," he said.

European Commission spokesman Michele Cercone said: "They [Gazprom] reassured us that gas supplies to the European Union will not be affected.

A National Grid spokesperson said the UK did not rely on pipelines crossing Ukraine for its gas. "The UK doesn't get any of its gas direct from Russia," he said.

Kiev tension

A previous row between the two sides saw Russia cut gas to Ukraine in 2006. It also hit exports to Western Europe and affected diplomatic relations between Brussels and Moscow.

The BBC's Europe business correspondent Dominic Laurie says since that last crisis, a lot of work has been done to improve the relationship.

"Top officials meet often, and there's now an early warning system with Gazprom that alerts Brussels about dips in supplies at the Russian end," he said.

"The trouble is, the problems aren't there - but further west - in Ukraine. Kiev's energy relationship with Russia is the one that matters, and that just seems to be getting worse."

BBC News

[Black Widow]

who ever watched the video are just as bad as the people who gang raped her..

they should be tortured and slowly killed for doing that to a woman

[Stamkos]

Whoever watched the video will go to hell. I'm surprised I never heard about this until now. This is a huge story. The people who posted it on the website are morons. If they didn't think they were going to get caught, then they had another thing coming.

[Stamkos]

Source: CNN.com

(CNN) -- Sen. John McCain swept all four nominating contests on Tuesday to become the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.

McCain won primaries in Texas, Ohio, Vermont and Rhode Island, giving him more than the 1,191 delegates needed to clinch the GOP nomination.

On the Democratic side, Sen. Hillary Clinton was projected to break Barack Obama's 12-contest winning streak with a victory in Rhode Island.

Obama was projected to take Vermont, but the contests in Ohio and Texas were too close to call.

Not like this was a surprise. It was absolutely obvious that he was going to take the leadership of the Republicans. I can't stand the Republicans though. I'm not American, but I'm very interested in this as the new leader of the United States can also effect Canada, in some ways. I'm a Democrat. Obama for President!

[JohnCenaFan28]

:girlsigh: Everyone expected this, but the outcome of this election will sure affect everyone...