|  |  |  | | | | | The Guardian World News | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | No classified information will be betrayed, publisher says, but security aspects and political timing pose questions A member of the US navy Seal team that killed Osama bin Laden has written a book on the operation, triggering fresh questions about the possible public release of classified information involving the assassination in Pakistan. US military officials have said they do not believe the book has been read or cleared by the defence department, which reviews publications by military members to make sure no classified material is revealed. The book, entitled No Easy Day and scheduled to be released on 11 September, comes amid a heated debate over whether active or retired military personnel should engage in politics. "I haven't read the book and am unaware that anyone in the department has reviewed it," said Pentagon press secretary George Little. White House and CIA officials said the book had not been reviewed by their agencies. The author is said to have been a member of Seal Team Six and one of the first people through the door when the Abbottabad raid took place. He claims to have been present at Bin Laden's death. Separately a group of retired special operations and CIA officers have launched a campaign accusing President Barack Obama of revealing classified details of the mission and turning the killing of Bin Laden into a campaign centrepiece. The group complains that Obama has taken too much credit for the operation. Their public complaints drew a rebuke from General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, as well as other special operations forces, who called the partisan criticism unprofessional. Dempsey said such public political involvement by members of the armed services eroded public confidence and trust in the military. The author of the upcoming Bin Laden book has left the military and is using the pseudonym Mark Owen. In a press release from publisher Dutton, Owen describes the book as an effort to "set the record straight about one of the most important missions in US military history". He said the book is about "the guys" and the sacrifices that the special operations forces make to do the job and is written in the hope that it will inspire young men to become Seals. Often special operations forces must sign nondisclosure agreements and revealing unauthorised information can constitute a crime. Christine Ball, a spokeswoman for the Penguin imprint Dutton, said the work was vetted by a former special operations attorney provided by the author. "He vetted it for tactical, technical and procedural information as well as information that could be considered classified by compilation and found it to be without risk to national security," Ball said. Defence department spokesman Lieutenant Colonel James Gregory said that if the book revealed classified information about the raid the Pentagon would "defer to the department of justice". According to Pentagon regulations retired personnel, former employees and non-active duty members of the reserves "shall use the DoD security review process to ensure that information they submit for public release does not compromise national security". The CIA might weigh in because it ran the secret Bin Laden mission. Earlier this year a federal judge ruled a CIA whistleblower writing under the pseudonym Ishmael Jones had to forfeit future money he earned from The Human Factor: Inside the CIA's Dysfunctional Intelligence Culture, a scathing book he wrote about the spy agency. He had failed to get approval from his former employer before publication, the judge ruled. In 2010 the defence department claimed a former army intelligence officer's war memoir threatened national security. The Pentagon paid $47,000 to destroy 9,500 copies of the book, called Operation Dark Heart: Spycraft and Special Ops on the Frontlines of Afghanistan and the Path to Victory. The book was written by Anthony Shaffer, whose lawyer said the army reserve cleared the manuscript beforehand but the Defense Department later rescinded this.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | No Easy Day will not betray classified information from raid, argues publisher, but military says it has not been vetted A member of the US navy Seal team that killed Osama bin Laden has written a book on the operation, triggering fresh questions about the possible public release of classified information involving the assassination in Pakistan. US military officials have said they do not believe the book has been read or cleared by the defence department, which reviews publications by military members to make sure no classified material is revealed. The book, entitled No Easy Day and scheduled to be released on 11 September, comes amid a heated debate over whether active or retired military personnel should engage in politics. "I haven't read the book and am unaware that anyone in the department has reviewed it," said Pentagon press secretary George Little. White House and CIA officials said the book had not been reviewed by their agencies. The author is said to have been a member of Seal Team Six and one of the first people through the door when the Abbottabad raid took place. He claims to have been present at Bin Laden's death. Separately a group of retired special operations and CIA officers have launched a campaign accusing President Barack Obama of revealing classified details of the mission and turning the killing of Bin Laden into a campaign centrepiece. The group complains that Obama has taken too much credit for the operation. Their public complaints drew a rebuke from General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, as well as other special operations forces, who called the partisan criticism unprofessional. Dempsey said such public political involvement by members of the armed services eroded public confidence and trust in the military. The author of the upcoming Bin Laden book has left the military and is using the pseudonym Mark Owen. In a press release from publisher Dutton, Owen describes the book as an effort to "set the record straight about one of the most important missions in US military history". He said the book is about "the guys" and the sacrifices that the special operations forces make to do the job and is written in the hope that it will inspire young men to become Seals. Often special operations forces must sign nondisclosure agreements and revealing unauthorised information can constitute a crime. Christine Ball, a spokeswoman for the Penguin imprint Dutton, said the work was vetted by a former special operations attorney provided by the author. "He vetted it for tactical, technical and procedural information as well as information that could be considered classified by compilation and found it to be without risk to national security," Ball said. Defence department spokesman Lieutenant Colonel James Gregory said that if the book revealed classified information about the raid the Pentagon would "defer to the department of justice". According to Pentagon regulations retired personnel, former employees and non-active duty members of the reserves "shall use the DoD security review process to ensure that information they submit for public release does not compromise national security". The CIA might weigh in because it ran the secret Bin Laden mission. Earlier this year a federal judge ruled a CIA whistleblower writing under the pseudonym Ishmael Jones had to forfeit future money he earned from The Human Factor: Inside the CIA's Dysfunctional Intelligence Culture, a scathing book he wrote about the spy agency. He had failed to get approval from his former employer before publication, the judge ruled. In 2010 the defence department claimed a former army intelligence officer's war memoir threatened national security. The Pentagon paid $47,000 to destroy 9,500 copies of the book, called Operation Dark Heart: Spycraft and Special Ops on the Frontlines of Afghanistan and the Path to Victory. The book was written by Anthony Shaffer, whose lawyer said the army reserve cleared the manuscript beforehand but the Defense Department later rescinded this.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | No classified information will be betrayed, publisher says, but security aspects and political timing pose questions A member of the US navy Seal team that killed Osama bin Laden has written a book on the operation, triggering fresh questions about the possible public release of classified information involving the assassination in Pakistan. US military officials have said they do not believe the book has been read or cleared by the defence department, which reviews publications by military members to make sure no classified material is revealed. The book, entitled No Easy Day and scheduled to be released on 11 September, comes amid a heated debate over whether active or retired military personnel should engage in politics. "I haven't read the book and am unaware that anyone in the department has reviewed it," said Pentagon press secretary George Little. White House and CIA officials said the book had not been reviewed by their agencies. The author is said to have been a member of Seal Team Six and one of the first people through the door when the Abbottabad raid took place. He claims to have been present at Bin Laden's death. Separately a group of retired special operations and CIA officers have launched a campaign accusing President Barack Obama of revealing classified details of the mission and turning the killing of Bin Laden into a campaign centrepiece. The group complains that Obama has taken too much credit for the operation. Their public complaints drew a rebuke from General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, as well as other special operations forces, who called the partisan criticism unprofessional. Dempsey said such public political involvement by members of the armed services eroded public confidence and trust in the military. The author of the upcoming Bin Laden book has left the military and is using the pseudonym Mark Owen. In a press release from publisher Dutton, Owen describes the book as an effort to "set the record straight about one of the most important missions in US military history". He said the book is about "the guys" and the sacrifices that the special operations forces make to do the job and is written in the hope that it will inspire young men to become Seals. Often special operations forces must sign nondisclosure agreements and revealing unauthorised information can constitute a crime. Christine Ball, a spokeswoman for the Penguin imprint Dutton, said the work was vetted by a former special operations attorney provided by the author. "He vetted it for tactical, technical and procedural information as well as information that could be considered classified by compilation and found it to be without risk to national security," Ball said. Defence department spokesman Lieutenant Colonel James Gregory said that if the book revealed classified information about the raid the Pentagon would "defer to the department of justice". According to Pentagon regulations retired personnel, former employees and non-active duty members of the reserves "shall use the DoD security review process to ensure that information they submit for public release does not compromise national security". The CIA might weigh in because it ran the secret Bin Laden mission. Earlier this year a federal judge ruled a CIA whistleblower writing under the pseudonym Ishmael Jones had to forfeit future money he earned from The Human Factor: Inside the CIA's Dysfunctional Intelligence Culture, a scathing book he wrote about the spy agency. He had failed to get approval from his former employer before publication, the judge ruled. In 2010 the defence department claimed a former army intelligence officer's war memoir threatened national security. The Pentagon paid $47,000 to destroy 9,500 copies of the book, called Operation Dark Heart: Spycraft and Special Ops on the Frontlines of Afghanistan and the Path to Victory. The book was written by Anthony Shaffer, whose lawyer said the army reserve cleared the manuscript beforehand but the Defense Department later rescinded this.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | High-profile male actor allegedly concealed positive test results and continued filming, infecting at least six colleagues A high-profile porn star nicknamed "patient zero" is being blamed for the syphilis outbreak which has halted porn production in Los Angeles. The male actor, who has been named on social media sites, allegedly concealed a positive test result last month and continued filming, leading to the infection of at least half a dozen colleagues before the industry called a moratorium. The outbreak will intensify pressure on porn makers to use condoms in sex scenes, a proposal which health authorities wish to make mandatory. The Free Speech Coalition, a porn industry trade group, called for the temporary nationwide production halt on August 18, a day after Los Angeles county's public health department said it was investigating a cluster of possible syphilis cases within the industry. It had received reports of at least five cases last week. The Free Speech Coalition said all performers should be tested for the sexually transmitted disease. It is also organising antibiotic treatment for LA's more than 1000 performers, because a negative test result did not give the all clear. "It is important to note that this test has a large window period — as much as 90 days — and therefore cannot be relied upon to diagnose an acute (recent) syphilis infection," the group said on its website. The industry's Adult Production Health and Safety Services experts had recommended that all performers take antibiotics, it said. "The shots have been ordered from the pharmacy and within the next couple of days, APHSS will have set up a network of medical professionals to administer the shots." Performers will be allowed to return to work 10 days after receiving the shot. "Clearly our industry's priority is the health and well-being of our performers," Diane Duke, the executive director of the Free Speech Coalition, said in the statement. The main production companies in Los Angeles, which makes most US porn, have reportedly complied with the moratorium, putting the billion-dollar industry on hold. A well-known actor who has won multiple adult entertainment awards has been named on Twitter and gossip sites as the source of the outbreak. Some accounts say he photocopied and amended a positive test result so as to continue working. No evidence has been supplied, and the actor has not publicly commented. Syphilis is transmitted through direct contact with syphilis sores found mostly on the external genitals, vagina, anus or inside the rectum. Once a killer, now it can easily be treated with penicillin. However, the Aids Healthcare Foundation, which has led the campaign to make condoms obligatory in adult films, criticised the call to give antibiotics to all performers. "They just want to throw an antibiotic blanket over the whole thing," the group's president, Michael Weinstein, told MSNBC. It would be better, he said, to take the time to properly investigate the outbreak. The industry's rushed response showed it was incapable of policing itself, he said. California regulations in theory mandate the use of condoms by porn actors but few do so, saying it would hurt sales of films. The Aids Healthcare Foundation successfully lobbied LA city officials to toughen the regulations in January but it remains unclear what impact, if any, that has had. A ballot initiative known as Measure B, due in November will go further and require LA county health officials to impose requirements for condoms on porn sets, including studio sound stages which currently are exempt. Porn production was briefly halted in 2010 after the actor Derrick Burts was diagnosed with HIV. There was another brief moratorium in 2004 when five performers tested positive for the virus.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Minutes from Fed meeting show growing support for action as US recovery remains weak ahead of November election The Federal Reserve is prepared to act "fairly soon" unless the economy shows substantially stronger growth, according to minutes of the Fed's last meeting. With the US recovery still looking fragile, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) minutes, released after the customary three-week lag, show growing support for action. "Many members judged that additional monetary accommodation would likely be warranted fairly soon unless incoming information pointed to a substantial and sustainable strengthening in the pace of the economic recovery," according to the minutes. At their previous meeting in June, only "a few members" thought further stimulus would likely be needed. Bernanke may give more details when he speaks on 31 August. His speech at an economics summit in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, will come a week before the latest non-farm jobs report is issued, a statistic that has become a barometer of President Barack Obama's political health in the 2012 election cycle. The minutes follow on from the Fed's statement at the start of the month when officials said the economy had "decelerated somewhat" over the first half of the year. In July the commerce department announced that US gross domestic product (GDP) – the broadest measure of an economy's health – grew at 1.5% in the second quarter, down from 2% in the prior three months, and 4.1% in the fourth quarter of 2011. Many economists predict that the Fed is likely to announce any action after its September meeting. With the economy still the central battleground of the election, Fed action is likely to trigger a political backlash. Republicans have already pressed Fed chairman Ben Bernanke to refrain from further action. "The truth is the Federal Reserve cannot rescue Americans from the consequences of failed economic and regulatory policies passed by Congress and signed by the president," said the House financial services committee chairman representative Spencer Bachus, told Bernanke last month at a congressional hearing. The US economy appears to be in a tepid recovery with slowly improving jobs numbers and improvements in its devastated housing market. But since its June meeting, Fed officials noted, economic activity had slowed. Most policymakers agreed that "economic growth was likely to remain moderate over coming quarters and then pick up gradually" and that the unemployment rate would decline only slowly. With interest rates still close to all time lows, Fed officials are likely to choose a third massive round of bond buying – known as quantitative easing – in order to stimulate the economy. "Many participants expected that such a program could provide additional support for the economic recovery both by putting downward pressure on longer-term interest rates and by contributing to easier financial conditions more broadly," the minutes stated. Dissent remains, however, with some FOMC members questioning the "possible efficacy of such a program under present circumstances" and concerned about its impact on the Fed's balance sheet. The minutes came after the Congressional Budget Office said the US was facing a budget deficit of over $1tn for the fifth straight year. The CBO also warned, as has Bernanke, that political squabbling over so-called "fiscal cliff", the expiration of year end tax breaks and imposition of draconian spending cuts, could push the economy back into a "significant recession" unless a resolution is found. David Semmens, senior US economist at Standard Chartered, said the minutes "paint a picture of a committee more open to easing than the market was anticipating". But he said the minutes were a snapshot and that economic data had improved since they were taken.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Rover moved 4.5m and rotated through 120 degrees, latest part of extensive health check-up since it landed on 5 August After two weeks of checking instruments, testing software and practising its rock-zapping skills, Curiosity the Mars rover has taken its first baby steps across the surface of the red planet. Nasa announced on Wednesday that Curiosity moved 4.5m, rotated through 120 degrees, then reversed 2.5m. After a hair-raising entry on 5 August – when Curiosity was gingerly lowered to the surface by a module that fired rockets to keep the descent steady – extensive testing was needed to make sure all the caution involved in landing on Mars was not in vain. "The first few weeks were set aside for the engineering team to get up to speed, to make sure all the systems and instruments check out OK," said Peter Grindrod, a planetary scientist at University College London, who has been watching every move of the mission. "They're not in any rush – this mission is meant to last for two Earth years. The first few days are about: is everything in one piece, are the cameras working?" On Tuesday, Curiosity wiggled its front and back sets of wheels. Nasa engineers wanted to ensure all the steering actuators were still working, and that the wheel motors were turning. Every move was watched by the engineers via the rover's on-board cameras. The engineers have also been upgrading software and getting used to using the robotic arm, which is 2m long and weighs in at 30kg – much bigger and trickier to manoeuvre than the arms on the previous Mars rovers, Spirit and Opportunity. "There was a bit of getting used to using the arm under Martian gravity and calibrating the movements exactly, because they're going to deliver samples to these instruments on board, so they need to be very precise," said Grindrod. The science experiments will start when the rover gets to its first place of interest, an area called Glenelg, about 400m away to the east of where it is now. Grindrod said Nasa will also probably have a good look at the blast marks created when the descent rockets moved away the dust during the landing. The landing uncovered what looks like interesting-looking bedrock. The rover has already fired its laser into the landing site and taken pictures and data, but Nasa has not yet revealed any of the measurements. "All the other rocks on the surface look like the Mars everyone knows from Viking through to Spirit," said Grindrod. "The ones that have been revealed [at the blast marks] look like they might be slightly lighter toned and might suggest a different composition. The most interesting thing is that these don't look like rocks that are just sat on the surface and have ended up there, either from thrown out from a meteorite impact or having been delivered by erosion. These things look like they might be in situ, where they formed." Geologists can use in-situ rocks to ascertain a good idea of the history of that part of the planet – when it formed, for example, and in what conditions.
It will take Curiosity around three weeks (or more) to travel to Glenelg and, along the way, Nasa scientists will be watching everything the rover sees, in case they spot anything interesting on the journey. In the control room, the scientists work on Mars time. "They get all the images and data back for a Martian day and then, during the Martian night, that's when all the engineering and science teams are working to analyse the previous day's results and then plan the activities for the next day entirely and they are uplinked to the rover at the start of its day," says Grindrod. It could be a year before Curiosity gets to its main mission: Mount Sharp. "There's two main things that make Mount Sharp interesting. It's five kilometres of layered rock, which are probably sediments. We're not sure how they are laid down but, on Earth, those layers are very good at revealing the environment in which they formed." The other thing that swayed it for Gale Crater as the landing site was the chemistry scientists saw from orbit. "Near the bottom there is evidence that water was around at some point in some form. If you go to the top, it's dry," said Grindrod. Nasa's current Mars lander has barely started its operations, but they are already planning their next. Earlier in the week, the space agency announced that it would send a low-cost lander to Mars in 2016 to look deep into the red planet's interior. The Insight project was chosen as part of Nasa's Discovery programme, and the mission won out against trips to a Saturn moon and a comet. Insight will investigate how the interior of Mars is different to that of Earth – in particular, is it solid or liquid? A liquid core on Earth drives a dynamo that creates a magnetic field aruond our planet. Mars does not have a magnetic field at the moment but scientists think it might have had one in its very early history. As the core died out and stopped moving, said Grindrod, the planet would have lost its magnetic field and, consequently, its protection from the damaging solar wind. The atmosphere would have been stripped away, explaining why it is so thin at the moment. "That happened at the same time as the volcanoes were erupting, that the water turned acidic," said Grindrod. "All these things happened at the same time, making Mars go from a mars-friendly environment to a more life-unfriendly environment, all at the same time."
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Eurogroup leader Jean-Claude Juncker insists Greece must further cut spending and enforce meaningful structural reforms Greece's hopes of being granted more time to hit the targets imposed by its international creditors have received a setback when EU leaders refused to make a decision until next month. German chancellor Angela Merkel and Luxembourg prime minister Jean-Claude Juncker both warned that Greece's future depends on the verdict of its troika of lenders, who will announce in September whether Athens is meeting the terms of its existing bailout programme. Juncker warned that Greece must cut spending and enforce meaningful structural reforms in return for ongoing aid. "The ball is in the Greek court – in fact this is the last chance and Greek citizens have to know this," said Juncker, after discussing the crisis with Greek prime minister Antonis Samaras in Athens. Samaras had earlier ratcheted up the pressure on eurozone leaders by warning that the country was "bleeding". He used an interview with Bild, the German tabloid, to plead for Greece to be given two more years to bring its borrowings under control. "We have to crank up growth because that decreases the financial gaps. All we want is a bit of 'air to breathe' to get the economy running and to increase state income," Samaras told Bild. Merkel, who will host Samaras in Berlin later this week, also refused to be bounced into a quick decision. "We won't find solutions on Friday", she said, during a trip to Moldova. Greek officials say that a two-year extension would not require a formal third bailout. The estimated €20bn cost could be funded by tapping an IMF loan facility, more short-term debt, and by postponing debt repayments, they say. Economists, though, warn that such a delay would not resolve Greece's woes. "Greece remains trapped in a self-defeating cycle of ongoing austerity and economic depression that make it unlikely that it will be able to repay its debt unless there is major further debt relief from its international lenders," said Martin Koehring of the Economist Intelligence Unit. The eurocrisis was also blamed for a slump in Japanese exports last month, pushing Japan into its biggest July trade deficit ever. That data, and fears that the eurocrisis could worsen, hit shares across Europe with the FTSE 100 falling 1.4%, or 83 points, to 5774.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Cracks begin to show as Missouri candidate says 'I don't know the future' amid calls to drop out of race GOP needs to win Embattled Republican candidate Todd Akin hinted Wednesday for the first time that he might yet bow to the pressure to resign over the rape row that is putting at risk party hopes of taking control of the US Senate in November and disrupting its White House campaign. Akin, in an early morning interview with ABC, insisted he was staying in the race because he is uncomfortable with party bosses dictating who should run. But, asked whether he might yet quit, he said: "I'm never going to say everything that could possibly happen. I don't know the future." The row over Akin's "legitimate rape" remark is wrecking carefully laid plans by Mitt Romney in the run-up to the Republican convention in Tampa, Florida, next week. Campaign speeches by Romney and his vice-presidential running-mate Paul Ryan on the economy, proposed defence cuts and other issues have been lost amid the Akin row and, to a lesser extent, revelations about a skinny-dipping Republican congressman on a fact-finding trip to Israel. Professor Michael McDonald, an election specialist at George Mason University, said the Republicans had been in a position to make lots of gains in the senate in 2010 but chose Tea Party candidates such as Christine O'Donnell and lost. "This time what do we see but Akin shoot himself in the foot. It is like the Republicans do not want to win," McDonald said. New polls show Romney gained no bounce from his announcement of Ryan as his running mate and that he is running neck-and-neck with Obama. On top of that, weather forecasters are warning that tropical storm Isaac could hit Tampa next week as a hurricane . Akin has rejected calls by Romney, Ryan and other senior Republicans to resign as candidate in Missouri after saying in a television interview on Sunday that "legitimate rape" rarely leads to pregnancy, a comment that opened the way for the Democrats to renew their accusations that the Republicans are fighting a war on women. Republican leaders are hoping that Akin will quit if polls show a drop in support in Missouri or his hopes of funding from small donors fail to materialise. Brian Walsh, a spokesman for the Republican senatorial campaign committee, calling on him to go, said the stakes are far bigger than any one individual. William Kristol, the conservative writer who predicted Romney would choose Ryan, wrote in his Weekly Standard blog that Akin had given plenty of indications that he remained open to leaving the field and it was time for those close to Akin to persuade him to stand down. "I have reason to believe that's now beginning to happen behind the scenes. And I suspect that by the Democratic convention, by Labor Day [September 3], Akin will have stepped aside," Kristol wrote. Missouri is top of the Republican list of most vulnerable Democratic seats. The Republicans have controlled the House since the November 2010 election and are four seats short of winning control of the Senate. Control of both chambers would allow the Republicans to throw up a series of obstacles to Obama if he was to win a second term and provide a powerful base for pushing Romney, should he win the White House, to the right. The Democrats have a majority of 53 to 47 over the Republicans in the Senate. There are only 33 of the 100 Senate races up for grabs in November, and most of these are safe. Only a handful are in contention, hence the importance of Missouri. After Missouri, the most vulnerable Democratic-held seats, according to political analysts, are Montana, Florida, Ohio, Virginia and Wisconsin. And it is not just a matter of Republicans taking seats but holding ones they already have, such as Massachusetts, held by Republican Scott Brown but traditionally a Democratic stronghold. Brown, along with other Republicans who see the row as damaging was among the first to call for him to resign and his Democratic opponent, Elizabeth Warren, issued an ad highlighting the issue Wednesday. Political analysts predict that if Akin remains, it will be make what should be an easy Republican victory in Missouri difficult, with some saying he is unelectable. But others see Missouri as one of the most deeply conservative states in the country, with a high proportion of Christian evangelicals and home-schoolers, and noted that initial polls showed support holding for Akin.
Street interviews with residents also showed a willingness to forgive him. Larry Sabato, professor of politics at University of Virginia, who correctly predicted Akin would not quit straight away, expects him to leave soon. "My sense is he needs time to decompress and adjust. He was not just the candidate but likely to have been the next senator," Sabato said. He added: "This was poorly timed for the convention. Romney and Ryan had wanted to talk about the economy. They are talking about abortion and rape. They did not plan on that." As long as Akin is in place, the issue will haunt the Republicans, in particular Ryan, whose stance on rape and abortion is similar – he is opposed to abortion even in cases of rape or incest. In an interview with KDKA, a CBS affiliate in Pittsburgh, Ryan denounced Akin's comments as outrageous. But when asked whether abortion should be available for women who have been raped, he was ambiguous "Well, look, I'm proud of my pro-life record. And I stand by my pro-life record in Congress. It's something I'm proud of. But Mitt Romney is the top of the ticket, and Mitt Romney will be president and he will set the policy of the Romney administration," Ryan said. Romney, unlike Ryan, is prepared to accept exceptions in the case of rape and incest.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Hundreds of farmers attack villages in Tana river region as clashes between farming and pastoral communities escalate Hundreds of farmers attacked a village, killing at least 48 people in southeastern Kenya in an escalation of clashes between the farming and pastoral communities over land and resources, an official said on Wednesday. Some people were burned to death in their houses, while others were hacked to death or shot with arrows, said Tana river region police chief Joseph Kavoo. The majority of those killed were women and children, said area resident Said Mgeni. He said the attacks began on Wednesday at dawn when about 200 people belonging to the Pokomo ethnic group raided a village in the Riketa area and torched all the houses belonging to the Orma, a pastoral community. Mgeni, who is in charge of a government fund for development in the constituency, said it was a retaliatory attack sparked by incidents last week when the Pokomo protested over Orma grazing their cattle in their farms and farmers attacked the pastoralists and injured hundreds of their livestock. The Orma then retaliated and killed two Pokomo's over that altercation, Kavoo said. The two tribes clash perennially but death tolls have remained low through reconciliation meetings between the communities' elders, Kavoo said. "We were making arrangements to finance peace campaigns and today we were even supposed to have a last meeting … ahead of the process, but this would now mean that we have to wait," said Mgeni. A member of parliament representing a constituency in the district, Dhado Godana, said the retaliatory attacks could not be controlled on time, since the area is hard to reach. "We had planned to meet and resolve the issue since that area is prone to conflict and the same may spill over to nearby areas," said Godana. The legislator attributed the frequent clashes to an influx of foreigners from Somalia in the area, and also the fact that residents in the area own illegal arms which they use for their survival.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Texas city to strew insecticide from planes as Centers for Disease Control says 41 people have died from West Nile so far The death toll in the West Nile outbreak has reached 41, officials said on Wednesday, as the city of Houston said it would begin aerial spraying to combat the virus. America's fourth-biggest city said it would scatter insecticide from planes over a 63,000-acre area northwest of downtown after two more deaths took the local total to three this year. Texas is the epicenter of the country's worst West Nile outbreak of 2012, with the bulk of cases in the north. Dallas County, 240 miles north of Houston, has tracked 270 human infections, and the reported death toll in the Dallas-Fort Worth region is 18. Only two fatalities were recorded in Texas last year by the Texas department of state health services. A warm winter and ample spring rainfall have been blamed for the sharp rise. About half of all infections in the US this year are in Texas, but according to the Centers for Disease Control, West Nile is present in 47 states. An elderly woman died from the disease in Fresno, California, Fresno County, officials said Tuesday. Six people have died in Louisiana this year. Texas, Mississippi, Louisiana, South Dakota and Oklahoma account for 75% of the cases. "We're in the midst of one of the largest West Nile outbreaks ever seen in the United States," Dr Lyle Petersen of the CDC told the Associated Press. The CDC on Wednesday released figures that showed 1,118 known human cases of West Nile, including 41 deaths – a rise of 425 cases in a week and the highest number ever recorded in the US at this time of year. The true numbers are likely to be higher, since cases emerge at local and state level before coming to the federal agency's attention. Some areas of Dallas have been treated twice by aerial spraying since last week, and in total more than 360,000 acres were doused. "The initial result is showing is that aerial spraying is working, with no visible side effects. We believe it was the right tactic," Mayor Mike Rawlings told the Dallas Morning News. He declared a state of emergency last week. CDC officials are analyzing data to determine how effectively the spray has reduced the mosquito population before Dallas decides whether to spray from the sky for a third time. Other cities in north Texas will use aerial spraying Wednesday night and Thursday but some have opted out. While Houston has used the tactic each year since 2002, Dallas had not sprayed pesticide from planes since 1966, and many residents were opposed to the tactic, fearing that the risk from the poison is greater than the danger of contracting West Nile. The pesticide, Duet, is a combination of synthetic pyrethroids that is approved by the Environmental Protection Agency but is harmful to beneficial insects such as honey bees, and not risk-free for humans if mishandled. EPA guidelines state: "Pyrethroids can be used for public health mosquito control programs without posing unreasonable risks to human health when applied according to the label. Pyrethroids are considered to pose slight risks of acute toxicity to humans, but at high doses, pyrethroids can affect the nervous system." Vanessa van Gilder, a Dallas resident and beekeeper, organized a petition against spraying that has attracted more than 2,000 signatures. "Truck spraying will continue … I find that very disturbing," she told the Guardian. "Adulticide with that non-targeted approach is not effective. Larvicide is the way to go – men on the ground with adulticide in hand spraying specific areas such as storm drains. At night, mosquitoes might not be out and can hide."
She was skeptical about the Mayor's claims of success. "I've seen reports saying that mosquitoes are at the end of their natural life cycle and that's why some have died," she said. West Nile was discovered in the US in 1999. It typically peaks between mid-August and early September and is thought to be transmitted when mosquitoes bite infected birds, then people. Most humans who are infected do not become unwell, but around one in five develop flu-like symptoms and fewer than 1% of victims may suffer neurological complications that can lead to brain damage and death. Older people and those with weakened immune systems are most at risk. Health experts advise taking precautions to reduce the chances of being bitten by mosquitoes, such as using repellent from dawn to dusk, wearing long sleeves and pants and draining standing water around properties. Houston is employing Dibrom, also known as Naled, an organophosphate first registered in the US in 1959 that is also used on crops. It can cause severe health problems at extremely high dosages, but the EPA considers it safe for the general population when used correctly for mosquito control. Houston authorities recommend that anyone concerned about exposure stay indoors during aerial spraying, which is scheduled for 8.30pm local time. "In terms of a knockdown for mosquito populations [Naled] doesn't have any parallels," said Joe Conlon, technical advisor for the American Mosquito Control Association. He said that studies have shown the health risks of aerial spraying paled in comparison with the danger posed by West Nile. "The fact is it works, and that's why people do it," he said. Conlon added that the virus's impact this summer should be a wake-up call to the authorities and ordinary Americans after several relatively quiet years: "This will tell us that it's not going away and in the right conditions it'll present itself in a large scale outbreak." He believes it is inevitable that more mosquito-borne diseases will spread to the United States from other continents. "This is the first of many," he said. "Rift Valley fever, Chikungunya … the nastiest vector-borne diseases on the planet are an eight-hour plane ride away."
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Texas city to strew insecticide from planes as Centers for Disease Control says 41 people have died from West Nile so far Houston will begin aerial spraying to combat West Nile on Wednesday night as the virus continues to ravage Texas and spreads in other parts of the US. America's fourth-biggest city said it would scatter insecticide from planes over a 63,000-acre area northwest of downtown after two more deaths took the local total to three this year. Texas is the epicenter of the country's worst West Nile outbreak of 2012, with the bulk of cases in the north. Dallas County, 240 miles north of Houston, has tracked 270 human infections, and the reported death toll in the Dallas-Fort Worth region is 18. Only two fatalities were recorded in Texas last year by the Texas department of state health services. A warm winter and ample spring rainfall have been blamed for the sharp rise. About half of all infections in the US this year are in Texas, but according to the Centers for Disease Control, West Nile is present in 47 states. An elderly woman died from the disease in Fresno, California, Fresno County, officials said Tuesday. Six people have died in Louisiana this year. Texas, Mississippi, Louisiana, South Dakota and Oklahoma account for 75% of the cases. "We're in the midst of one of the largest West Nile outbreaks ever seen in the United States," Dr Lyle Petersen of the CDC told the Associated Press. The CDC on Wednesday released figures that showed 1,118 known human cases of West Nile, including 41 deaths – a rise of 425 cases in a week and the highest number ever recorded in the US at this time of year. The true numbers are likely to be higher, since cases emerge at local and state level before coming to the federal agency's attention. Some areas of Dallas have been treated twice by aerial spraying since last week, and in total more than 360,000 acres were doused. "The initial result is showing is that aerial spraying is working, with no visible side effects. We believe it was the right tactic," Mayor Mike Rawlings told the Dallas Morning News. He declared a state of emergency last week. CDC officials are analyzing data to determine how effectively the spray has reduced the mosquito population before Dallas decides whether to spray from the sky for a third time. Other cities in north Texas will use aerial spraying Wednesday night and Thursday but some have opted out. While Houston has used the tactic each year since 2002, Dallas had not sprayed pesticide from planes since 1966, and many residents were opposed to the tactic, fearing that the risk from the poison is greater than the danger of contracting West Nile. The pesticide, Duet, is a combination of synthetic pyrethroids that is approved by the Environmental Protection Agency but is harmful to beneficial insects such as honey bees, and not risk-free for humans if mishandled. EPA guidelines state: "Pyrethroids can be used for public health mosquito control programs without posing unreasonable risks to human health when applied according to the label. Pyrethroids are considered to pose slight risks of acute toxicity to humans, but at high doses, pyrethroids can affect the nervous system." Vanessa van Gilder, a Dallas resident and beekeeper, organized a petition against spraying that has attracted more than 2,000 signatures. "Truck spraying will continue … I find that very disturbing," she told the Guardian. "Adulticide with that non-targeted approach is not effective. Larvicide is the way to go – men on the ground with adulticide in hand spraying specific areas such as storm drains. At night, mosquitoes might not be out and can hide."
She was skeptical about the Mayor's claims of success. "I've seen reports saying that mosquitoes are at the end of their natural life cycle and that's why some have died," she said. West Nile was discovered in the US in 1999. It typically peaks between mid-August and early September and is thought to be transmitted when mosquitoes bite infected birds, then people. Most humans who are infected do not become unwell, but around one in five develop flu-like symptoms and fewer than 1% of victims may suffer neurological complications that can lead to brain damage and death. Older people and those with weakened immune systems are most at risk. Health experts advise taking precautions to reduce the chances of being bitten by mosquitoes, such as using repellent from dawn to dusk, wearing long sleeves and pants and draining standing water around properties. Houston is employing Dibrom, also known as Naled, an organophosphate first registered in the US in 1959 that is also used on crops. It can cause severe health problems at extremely high dosages, but the EPA considers it safe for the general population when used correctly for mosquito control. Houston authorities recommend that anyone concerned about exposure stay indoors during aerial spraying, which is scheduled for 8.30pm local time. "In terms of a knockdown for mosquito populations [Naled] doesn't have any parallels," said Joe Conlon, technical advisor for the American Mosquito Control Association. He said that studies have shown the health risks of aerial spraying paled in comparison with the danger posed by West Nile. "The fact is it works, and that's why people do it," he said. Conlon added that the virus's impact this summer should be a wake-up call to the authorities and ordinary Americans after several relatively quiet years: "This will tell us that it's not going away and in the right conditions it'll present itself in a large scale outbreak." He believes it is inevitable that more mosquito-borne diseases will spread to the United States from other continents. "This is the first of many," he said. "Rift Valley fever, Chikungunya … the nastiest vector-borne diseases on the planet are an eight-hour plane ride away."
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Cheaper mortgage rates and improved job market 'unleash pent-up demand' as economists think crisis may be easing US home sales and prices rose moderately in July amid signs that the worst housing crisis in living memory may be coming to an end. According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR) existing home sales rose 2.3% to an annual rate of 4.47m units last month, a figure just below analysts' expectations. The median price for a home resale nationwide was $187,300 (£118,500) in July, 9.4% higher than in the same month a year earlier. "Mortgage interest rates have been at record lows this year," said NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun. He said that low rates combined with signs of improvement in the job market were "helping to unleash pent-up demand". The collapse of the housing market is seen by economists as the most significant drag on the wider US economy. On Monday President Barack Obama said there were signs it was "beginning to tick up" again. But it remains extremely weak in states including Florida that are vital to his re-election campaign. Housing expert David Blitzer, chairman of the index committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices, said the news was "encouraging". Last month the S&P Case Shiller home price index reported US home prices rose 2.2% in May over April. "This is one more piece of data that suggest the recovery is for real," he said. He said areas of weakness remained and too many people were stuck in homes they cannot sell because they are worth less than they paid for them. "But even in places like Las Vegas and Phoenix, which were very badly hit, things are much better," he said. Ken Goldstein, economist at the Conference Board, said the figures suggested a floor had now been put under the housing market. "The housing market is the critical factor in this recovery," he said. "This looks like real change. Recovery in the housing market will be the critical factor in recovery in the jobs market, which will be the critical factor in consumer confidence and consumer spending," he said. Goldstein said the figures suggest more people are now managing to negotiate "the maze of mortgage applications". Lending criteria were tightened massively after the housing boom exposed shoddy practices across the industry. He said it now appeared that lending was moving back toward more normal standards.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Was Reggie Clemons' confession beaten out of him? We look at the discrepancies thrown up during the course of the prosecution Loading...
• Reggie Clemons was not accused of pushing the Kerry sisters into the Mississippi. The main witness against him, Thomas Cummins, testified that he saw a "black hand" push his cousins into the river but failed to specify whose hand that was. Yet in the separate trial of co-defendant Antonio Richardson, Cummins said that it was Richardson who pushed the women into the river.
• Clemons confessed to raping Robin Kerry, but did not confess to murder. He was found guilty of murder as an accomplice. • Two days after Clemons made the confession, he retracted it. He told St Louis police internal affairs officers that he had been beaten, punched in the chest and had his head slammed against the wall. He alleged that after hours of being assaulted he agreed to read out a confession that police officers had written in advance, because if he had refused to do so "they would have beat me some more". • Police photos show that Clemons looked physically fit when he was first picked up by police, but after his was interrogated he was reported by several witnesses to have a swollen right cheek. When he came before a judge for arraignment, the judge sent him to the local hospital ER for examination, where he was diagnosed with muscle inflammation and a swollen face. • Clemons's claims of police brutality were strikingly similar to independent complaints of police beatings made by his co-defendant Marlin Gray and by Thomas Cummins, the main prosecution witness against him, even though the three men had no contact with each other. All three sets of complaints related to interrogations that occurred within the same police station involving the same alleged techniques of assault, and all within the same 48-hour time span. • Clemons's complaint of police brutality was dismissed and he was put on death row, as was Gray. But when Cummins sued the St Louis police for misconduct – claiming that detectives had tried to frame him for the murders and had fabricated police records – he won a settlement of $150,000. • Clemons, a black man, was convicted of murder largely on the basis of eyewitness accounts of two men, both of whom were white and both of whom arguably had a self-interest in implicating him. Thomas Cummins was initially considered the prime suspect , though the investigation against him was later dropped, and Daniel Winfrey achieved a plea bargain in which he would testify against Clemons in exchange for avoiding execution himself. Winfrey was overheard saying before the trial that "he would take any plea bargain offered" and "say anything he had to to obtain a plea bargain". • There was no physical evidence to support the murder and rape allegations against Clemons. The human rights group the Constitution Project has shown that that three-quarters of all prisoners exonerated in the US in recent years were convicted at least in part on the basis of faulty eyewitness testimony. • Cummins changed the story he gave police several times, police records suggest. His highly inconsistent account given in the records either strengthens his claim that he was beaten up by police – which in turn supports Clemons's allegation that his confession was beaten out of him, too – or implies that Cummins was an unreliable source upon whom the prosecution should not have depended as star witness. • One of the stories told by Cummins, as related by police notes, was that Julie Kerry had stumbled into the Mississippi after he startled her by trying to hug her. "He just wanted to hug her but she became startled, lost her balance and fell into the river," the police incident report records. Her sister Robin then jumped into the river to try and save her. Cummins later sued the police for alleged brutality and falsification of their notes. • As the judicial process got under way, Clemons was denied a state-funded defence lawyer because he was told that all the registered state lawyers were busy at the time. • Two private lawyers, Robert Constantinou and Jeanene Moenckmeier, were employed by Clemons's family to represent him. Moenckmeier has told the Guardian that she was given insufficient time to review boxes of evidence provided by the prosecutors under discovery. She has also complained that crucial evidence may have been withheld from her by the prosecution. • The two lawyers were going through a divorce at the time of Clemons's trial. Moenckmeier was in the process of moving to California to take a job as a tax lawyer. A separate team of defence lawyers, who processed Clemons's later clemency appeal, alleged in court documents that the original trial lawyers "failed him at every stage of his representation", including failure to review the police reports up to a month before the trial. Moenckmeier denied to the Guardian that either the divorce or the move to California had adversely affected her representation of Clemons. • A "rape kit" recording the results of tests on Julie Kerry's body after it was retrieved from the Mississippi was not presented to the jury in Clemons's trial, despite the fact that the allegation Clemons raped one of the Kerry sisters was an important part of the prosecution case against him. Nor was the rape kit disclosed to his defence lawyers before trial, even though they had specifically requested in writing to see "all evidence from the sheriff's department, police department and medical examiner's office who investigated and examined the recovery of the body of Julie Kerry". • When the trial started in January 1993, seven prospective jurors – all of them black – were improperly excluded from the jury. A federal judge later found that this was unconstitutional, and ruled that Clemons's death sentence should be commuted to life imprisonment as a result. The state of Missouri managed to overturn that ruling on a legal technicality, allowing the death penalty to stand. • The final composition of the jury was two black jurors and 10 white, in a city where 49% of the population is African American. • The prosecutor in the case, Nels Moss, was heavily criticised after the event for his conduct during the trial. As court documents show, the district court that reviewed the case called his behaviour during trial "abusive and boorish" and "calculated to intimidate the defence at every turn". • Before the trial began, Moss was specifically ordered by the trial judge, Edward Peek, to refrain from highly contentious tactics he had deployed at the previous trial of co-defendant Marlin Gray. But as documents lodged with the Missouri supreme court show, Moss blatantly ignored the order. He did precisely what he had been told not to do: to compare in front of the jury Clemons – a 19-year-old with no previous criminal record – to the notorious serial killers Charles Manson and John Wayne Gacy. A week after Clemons was sentenced to death, Peek found that Moss's conduct had been "willfully and intentionally committed in disobedience of the court" and fined him $500 for criminal contempt. But, still, the death sentence was allowed to stand. • According to papers filed by Clemons' appeal lawyers to the Missouri supreme court, Moss addressed the jury in impassioned terms that the lawyers argued amounted to inflaming the jury. He asked the jury to imagine a hypothetical crime in which the Kerry sisters were raped, put into a "dark room" and repeatedly stabbed. "This hypothetical had nothing to do with the trial, but everything to do with Moss's goal to have an inflamed and upset jury". Moss has declined to talk to the Guardian ahead of the special hearing into the Clemons case in September. • A member of the jury at Clemons's trial submitted an affidavit stating that if she had known of the discrepancies in the way the trial was conducted, she would not have voted for the death penalty. • The state boundary between Missouri and Illinois falls down the middle of the Chain of Rocks bridge, which became a matter of great legal contention at trial. Lawyers argued over the precise location of an uncovered manhole on the bridge through which the Kerry sisters and Cummins were alleged to have been forced before being pushed into the river. The prosecution said that the manhole lay on the Missouri side of the state line, which they used to claim jurisdiction over the case. But the defense argued the manhole had been located a few feet to the east on the Illinois side of the bridge, and that therefore the trial should have been in the Illinois courts. In the early 1990s Illinois was much less inclined to hand out death sentences than Missouri, so just a few feet could have been crucial. In fact, had the trial taken place today it would undoubtedly had been a matter of life or death: Illinois abolished the death penalty in March 2011 while Missouri
still has 47 death row inmates awaiting execution.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | National Hurricane Center says Isaac is gaining strength over the Atlantic and could become a hurricane by Thursday Tropical storm Isaac is posing a potential threat to next week's Republican national convention in Tampa, which culminates in the nomination of Mitt Romney for president. The US National Hurricane Center on Wednesday morning said Isaac was expected to strengthen and could become a hurricane by Thursday. Convention organizers knew it was a possibility during the peak of hurricane season. About 70,000 delegates, party officials, journalists, protesters and others are expected to attend. It's been 90 years since a major hurricane made a direct hit on Tampa. Florida, historically the nation's top target for tropical systems, has not been hit by a major hurricane since Wilma in 2005. National Hurricane Center computer models had predicted Isaac would become a hurricane over the next few days, meaning maximum winds must be at least 74mph. Some models had the storm striking Florida, including the Tampa Bay area, after moving across Cuba or the Bahamas as early as Sunday morning. Jeff Masters, director of meteorology at Weatherunderground.com, said long-range storm track predictions five days in advance are notoriously inaccurate, often off an average of 260 miles. But Masters said the climate situation has improved chances that Florida could be in the system's sights during the Republican event that runs Monday through Thursday. "It would take a perfect storm of a scenario where a bunch of factors all conspire together," Masters said. "But we definitely have to watch this one."
The storm's maximum sustained winds early Wednesday were near 45mph. It was centered about 210 miles east of Guadeloupe and was moving west near 19mph. Tropical storm warnings were in effect for Puerto Rico, the US and British Virgin Islands and a swath of islands across the Caribbean including Martinique, Dominica, Guadeloupe, St Martin, St Kitts and Nevis. Republican and state officials have backup plans in place if the storm makes its way to Tampa, including an evacuation in a worst-case scenario. A four-day mock hurricane drill was held in May featuring a pretend major storm striking the Tampa area during the second day of the convention. Under that scenario, planners canceled. A major hurricane is a Category 3 or above with winds at least 111mph, and devastating damage can occur.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Columbia appeals court strikes down key Obama-administration rule requiring coal-fired power plants to cut emissions A US appeals court overturned a key Obama administration rule to reduce harmful emissions from coal-fired power plants on Tuesday. The Columbia district circuit appeals court said in a 2-1 decision that the Environmental Protection Agency had exceeded its mandate with the rule, which was to limit sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions from power plants in 28 mostly eastern states and Texas. The court sent the cross-state air pollution rule for revision, telling the agency to administer its existing clean air interstate rule – the Bush-era regulation that it was updating – in the interim. The EPA said it was reviewing the ruling. The decision was cheered by Republicans who have made the EPA and President Barack Obama's environmental policies a major campaign issue ahead of November elections. The agency is risking a fragile economic recovery by saddling US industries with costly new rules, Republicans say. "The Obama-EPA continues to demonstrate that it will stop at nothing in its determination to kill coal," said Republican senator James Inhofe, one of the most vocal EPA opponents in the US Senate. Power groups, which had argued that they could not meet the deadline or bear the financial burden of installing costly new equipment, welcomed the court's decision. The EPA had estimated it would cost $800m (£506m) annually from 2014. "The court was clear in finding that EPA had overstepped its legal authority in developing the rule," said Scott Segal, director of the Electric Reliability Coordinating Council. Coal company stocks, which have suffered this year as cheap natural gas undercut demand, soared after the ruling. US natural gas futures briefly fell more than 3% as traders bet it would mean less demand for the cleaner fuel over the coming months. But some analysts see little material impact from the ruling, with dozens of coal-fired plants set to close due to other EPA regulations. The EPA's rule was designed to reduce sulphur dioxide emissions by 73% and nitrogen oxide by 54% at coal-fired power plants from 2005 levels, improving health for over 240 million people, according to the agency. It said emissions from the plants cause acid rain and smog. Two of the three judges ruling on the case said the EPA had exceeded its "jurisdictional limits" in interpreting the Clean Air Act and imposed "massive emission reduction requirements" on upwind states. "By doing so, EPA departed from its consistent prior approach to implementing the good neighbour provision and violated the [Clean Air Act]," judge Brett Kavanaugh said in the court's ruling. Environmental groups warned that the decision would put lives at risk and urged the EPA to appeal against the decision. "The court's decision significantly imperils long overdue clean air safeguards for millions of Americans," said Vickie Patton, general counsel of the Environmental Defense Fund. Patton said the EPA should move in parallel to "swiftly put in place replacement protections" and to ask the three-judge panel and the full court to rehear the case.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Columbia appeals court strikes down key Obama-administration rule requiring coal-fired power plants to cut harmful emissions A US appeals court overturned a key Obama administration rule to reduce harmful emissions from coal-fired power plants on Tuesday. The Columbia district circuit appeals court said in a 2-1 decision that the Environmental Protection Agency had exceeded its mandate with the rule, which was to limit sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions from power plants in 28 mostly eastern states and Texas. The court sent the cross-state air pollution rule for revision, telling the agency to administer its existing clean air interstate rule – the Bush-era regulation that it was updating – in the interim. The EPA said it was reviewing the ruling. The decision was cheered by Republicans who have made the EPA and President Barack Obama's environmental policies a major campaign issue ahead of November elections. The agency is risking a fragile economic recovery by saddling US industries with costly new rules, Republicans say. "The Obama-EPA continues to demonstrate that it will stop at nothing in its determination to kill coal," said Republican senator James Inhofe, one of the most vocal EPA opponents in the US Senate. Power groups, which had argued that they could not meet the deadline or bear the financial burden of installing costly new equipment, welcomed the court's decision. The EPA had estimated it would cost $800m (£506m) annually from 2014. "The court was clear in finding that EPA had overstepped its legal authority in developing the rule," said Scott Segal, director of the Electric Reliability Coordinating Council. Coal company stocks, which have suffered this year as cheap natural gas undercut demand, soared after the ruling. US natural gas futures briefly fell more than 3% as traders bet it would mean less demand for the cleaner fuel over the coming months. But some analysts see little material impact from the ruling, with dozens of coal-fired plants set to close due to other EPA regulations. The EPA's rule was designed to reduce sulphur dioxide emissions by 73% and nitrogen oxide by 54% at coal-fired power plants from 2005 levels, improving health for over 240 million people, according to the agency. It said emissions from the plants cause acid rain and smog. Two of the three judges ruling on the case said the EPA had exceeded its "jurisdictional limits" in interpreting the Clean Air Act and imposed "massive emission reduction requirements" on upwind states. "By doing so, EPA departed from its consistent prior approach to implementing the good neighbour provision and violated the [Clean Air Act]," judge Brett Kavanaugh said in the court's ruling. Environmental groups warned that the decision would put lives at risk and urged the EPA to appeal against the decision. "The court's decision significantly imperils long overdue clean air safeguards for millions of Americans," said Vickie Patton, general counsel of the Environmental Defense Fund. Patton said the EPA should move in parallel to "swiftly put in place replacement protections" and to ask the three-judge panel and the full court to rehear the case.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Black farmworker Chris Mahlangu imprisoned for killing white supremacist leader A black farmworker has been sentenced to life in prison for murdering the South African white supremacist leader Eugene Terre'Blanche. Chris Mahlangu, 29, had pleaded guilty but argued that he acted in self-defence in what the judge found was a violent dispute over wages. Mahlangu has said he feels he did no wrong by ridding the world of a man some called a monster. The judge had rejected a defence argument that Mahlangu had been sodomised by Terre'Blanche. A second man, Patrick Ndlovu, who was a teenager at the time of the killing two years ago, had been acquitted of the murder but found guilty of housebreaking. He was sentenced on Wednesday to two years in prison, which means he goes free. Twenty white protesters were at the court with a black man with a rope around his neck carrying a plaque saying: "Hang Mahlangu."
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | US presidential race remains neck and neck despite attention received by Republican's pick for running mate Mitt Romney's selection of Paul Ryan of Wisconsin as his running mate has not altered the race against the US president, Barack Obama, despite receiving huge media attention. The campaign remains neck and neck with less than three months to go, an AP-GfK poll reveals. Overall, 47% of registered voters said they planned to back Obama and the vice-president, Joe Biden, in November, while 46% favoured Romney and Ryan. In a June AP-GfK survey the split was 47% for the president to 44% for Romney. At the same time, there was a far wider gap when people were asked who they thought would win. Some 58% of adults said they expected Obama to be re-elected, while just 32% said they thought he'd be voted out of office. After just over a week on the campaign trail, Ryan had a 38% favourable rating among adults, while 34%saw him unfavourably. Among registered voters, his numbers were slightly better – 40% favourable to 34% unfavourable. Ryan remained unknown to about a quarter of voters. Romney selected the 42-year-old conservative chairman of the house budget committee on 11 August. The AP-GfK poll was conducted between 16 and 20 August. Romney and Ryan will be crowned as the Republican presidential and vice-presidential nominees next week at the party's national convention in Tampa, Florida. The Democrats hold their convention the following week in Charlotte, North Carolina. The closely locked contest reflects deep partisan divisions across the country. Among true independents, those who said they did not lean toward either party, the share of undecided voters was declining, with each candidate picking up new support at about the same pace. However, Romney maintained a small advantage with the group, with the backing of 41% of independents to Obama's 30%. Some 21% still said they supported neither candidate. Among all voters, 23% were undecided or said they havd not yet committed to their candidate. One independent voter, Frank Nugent, a 76-year-old retired sales manager from Pittsburg, California, said he always gave both parties a chance to win him over – but not this time. "Considering what the opposition is like, I can do nothing else but vote for Obama," he said. Part of his dislike for the GOP ticket was due to Ryan, he said, describing Romney's running mate as "further right than the bulk of the Republican party". But while he said he will vote for Obama, Nugent said he was disappointed in the president's record. Robert Hamrick, 39, from Cedartown, Georgia, was going the other way. Although a registered Democrat, he planned to vote for the Romney-Ryan ticket, claiming Obama had been deceptive and failed to make good on his promises on the economy, jobs and government debt. As for Ryan, Hamrick said: "He's very smart. He knows his stuff. He knows the finance. He can take apart Obamacare with ease." Hamrick is a former nursing home manager who left his job four years ago in the hope of finding one with more security – and has been mostly unemployed ever since. The frail economy, with the unemployment rate hovering at 8.3% more than three years after the deep recession officially ended, remained the No 1 issue. Nine in 10 called it important for them and half of voters said it was "extremely important", outpacing all other issues tested by at least 10 percentage points. Two-thirds in the poll described the economy as poor. Registered voters gave Romney a narrow lead on whom they'd trust more to handle the economy, at 48% against 44% for Obama. They also put Romney slightly ahead on who would do more to create jobs, with 47% to Obama's 43%. Among independent voters, Romney has a big lead over the president on handling the economy – 46% to 27%. Romney often appeals to his business background as proof that he could better manage the federal government, and the poll found that voters were more likely to trust him to handle the federal budget deficit over Obama, by a 50% to 40% margin. But it's unlikely that Ryan's background in setting Republican budgets will boost them as an issue in the campaign. The share of adults saying the budget deficit was deeply important to them dropped from 75% in February to 69% in the latest poll. Among those who rated the economy as the top concern was Mattise Fraser, a 52-year-old Democrat whose hometown of Charlotte is gearing up for the Democratic gathering. "We're in a crisis situation now," said Fraser, who plans to vote for Obama. "The economy is crazy. There's no jobs." Obama held a clear edge among voters on handling social issues such as abortion, 52% to 35%, and a narrow lead on handling Medicare, 48% to 42%. Medicare has grabbed a lot of attention lately, with Ryan's proposals to partly change the programme drawing criticism from Obama and other Democrats. Of those who said Medicare was an extremely important issue, 49% said they planned to vote for Obama and 44% for Romney. Obama's approval rating held steady at about an even split, with 49% saying they approved of the way he was handling his job and another 49% saying they disapproved. The president remains more positively viewed than Romney and continues to be seen as more empathetic. Some 53% of adults held a "favourable" opinion of the president, compared with 44% who viewed Romney favourably. Obama also held a commanding lead among voters as the candidate who better "understands the problems of people like you", at 51% to 36% for Romney. Some 50% saw him as a stronger leader than Romney; 41% saw Romney as stronger. Michelle Obama remained more popular than her husband, with 64% viewing her favourably and 26% unfavourably, although that's down from 70% favourable in May. Ann Romney's favourable rating was mostly unchanged since May, with 40% viewing her favourably, 27% unfavourably and nearly a third declining to say. Overall, 35% said the US was heading in the "right direction", up from 31% in June. Melinda Cody, a 45-year-old undecided voter in San Diego, saw positives and negatives with both candidates – and said she would vote for the candidate who did the least bullying. "When they just run a negative campaign, it backfires," she said. The poll involved landline and mobile phone interviews with 1,006 adults nationwide, including 885 registered voters. Results for the full sample have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.9, while it's 4.1 points for registered voters.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Romney says Missouri congressman should step aside, but Akin ignores deadline to abandon Senate bid Todd Akin, the Republican congressman at the centre of a row over remarks he made about rape, ignored a direct appeal from Mitt Romney to abandon his campaign for a Missouri Senate before a key election deadline. A defiant Akin described the pressure on him to quit the Missouri Senate race, for which he was selected only a week ago, as "an overreaction", and the deadline passed. Romney, who had previously denounced Akin's comments about rape but had not urged the congressman to drop out, said on Tuesday afternoon: "Today, [Akin's] fellow Missourians urged him to step aside, and I think he should accept their counsel and exit the Senate race." A group of Missouri legislators had advised Akin to drop his campaign against Democratic senator Claire McCaskill before the 6pm ET Tuesday deadline. His decision to stay on will be viewed with dismay by senior members of the Republican party. Speaking live on the Mike Huckabee radio show on Tuesday, Akin said that he had received a large amount of support from small, grassroots supporters, including donations, and this helped counter-balance withdrawal of support from Republican leaders. "I just misspoke one word in one sentence on one day," Akin said. Akin had claimed women's bodies can prevent pregnancies in cases of "legitimate rape". An unusual coalition of senior and grassroots Republicans has been making a concerted effort to get him to quit, including Tea Party groups, some of which helped Akin secure victory in the primary last week. Under state election law, Akin would have faced no financial penalties if he had pulled out by 6pm ET on Tuesday, and the party would be free to pick an alternative. The next date for withdrawal would be 25 September, but that would require a court order to allow him leave the race. Leaving it until September could also mean he would face significant financial penalties, such as reimbursing the cost of reprinting ballot papers or other election material. But the Republicans' difficulties on abortion are unlikely to go away. On Tuesday, as the leadership turned up the heat on Akin, the party approved language in its platform calling for a constitutional amendment banning abortion with no explicit exemptions in cases of rape and incest. Meanwhile, another Republican congressman, Steve King of Iowa, inflamed the row, defending Akin and suggesting that he'd never heard of a woman getting pregnant from statutory rape or incest. Talking Points Memo on Monday reported that King told Iowa radio station KMEG-TV reported him saying: "Well I just haven't heard of that being a circumstance that's been brought to me in any personal way and I'd be open to discussion about that subject matter." The controversy has also focused attention on the anti-abortion views of Romney's running mate, Paul Ryan. The Missouri seat held by McCaskill is regarded by Republicans as the top target in the campaign to take control of the Senate. McCaskill, who has used the row to portray Akin as an extremist, is urging him to stay in the race. The Republican Senate campaign committee and conservative Super Pacs have withdrawn about $10m in financial support for Akin. The last remaining hope for Akin is to attract donations from individual donors. If Akin eventually quits, he could be replaced either by Jim Brunner, a businessman who came second in the primary with 30% – 6% behind Akin – or Sarah Steelman, a former state treasurer, who took 29%. Brunner has already been sounding out party members about replacing Akin. Public Policy Polling, in a survey conducted on Monday night, showed the row has not had any significant impact on voting intentions yet. Akin is leading McCaskill 44% to 43%, almost unchanged from May when he was ahead 45% to 44%. It may be that the poll was conducted too soon to fully register any unease with Akin. As well as possible repercussions for the Senate race, Democrats also see Akin as useful in highlighting differences between the Obama-Biden ticket and the Romney-Ryan ticket on abortion. In the light of the row, there will be pressure to change the draft to include exceptions for rape and incest.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Follow the latest updates as a reported offer by Syria to "discuss Assad's resignation" is downplayed by the US
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Follow the latest updates as a reported offer by Syria to "discuss Assad's resignation" is downplayed by the US
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Follow the latest updates as a reported offer by Syria to "discuss Assad's resignation" is downplayed by the US
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Follow the latest updates as a reported offer by Syria to "discuss Assad's resignation" is downplayed by the US
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Follow the latest updates as a reported offer by Syria to "discuss Assad's resignation" is downplayed by the US
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Report of investigations by Federal Reserve and department of justice follows $340m settlement by Standard Chartered US authorities are investigating Royal Bank of Scotland for possible violations of sanctions with Iran, the Financial Times reports. The Federal Reserve and department of justice are conducting the investigation, the paper said, citing several people close to the situation. The investigation comes after the British bank volunteered information to US and UK regulators 18 months ago, the Financial Times said. Ed Canaday, a spokesman for RBS, declined comment. But in its quarterly report filed on 8 August, RBS said it had "initiated discussions with UK and US authorities to discuss its historical compliance with applicable laws and regulations, including US economic sanctions regulations". The bank said it could not predict the outcome of those discussions. RBS made a similar disclosure to investors 18 months ago. A spokesman for the Federal Reserve said it could not "comment on supervisory matters pertaining to individual institutions". A representative at the justice department did not respond to a request for comment. The report of the investigations into RBS followed last week's $340m (£215m) settlement by Standard Chartered. The British bank had been accused by the New York Department of Financial Services of concealing $250bn in Iranian transactions. The Financial Times said the New York state agency was not investigating RBS. In 2010, RBS agreed to pay $500m to settle similar allegations by US federal authorities that ABN Amro, a Dutch bank RBS acquired in 2007, had violated US sanction laws.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Antonis Samaras tells German newspaper that Greece's economy is 'bleeding' and needs a little 'air to breathe', but eurozone leaders want to see a new Troika report first
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Antonis Samaras tells German newspaper that Greece's economy is 'bleeding' and needs a little 'air to breathe', but eurozone leaders want to see a new Troika report first
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Antonis Samaras tells German newspaper that Greece's economy is 'bleeding' and needs a little 'air to breathe', at the start of several days of key meetings
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Antonis Samaras tells German newspaper that Greece's economy is 'bleeding' and needs a little 'air to breathe', at the start of several days of key meetings
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Romney says Missouri congressman should step aside, but Akin ignores deadline to abandon Senate bid Todd Akin, the Republican congressman at the centre of a row over remarks he made about rape, ignored a direct appeal from Mitt Romney to abandon his campaign for a Missouri Senate before a key election deadline. A defiant Akin described the pressure on him to quit the Missouri Senate race, for which he was selected only a week ago, as "an overreaction", and the deadline passed. Romney, who had previously denounced Akin's comments about rape but had not urged the congressman to drop out, said on Tuesday afternoon: "Today, [Akin's] fellow Missourians urged him to step aside, and I think he should accept their counsel and exit the Senate race." A group of Missouri legislators had advised Akin to drop his campaign against Democratic senator Claire McCaskill before the 6pm ET Tuesday deadline. His decision to stay on will be viewed with dismay by senior members of the Republican party. Speaking live on the Mike Huckabee radio show on Tuesday, Akin said that he had received a large amount of support from small, grassroots supporters, including donations, and this helped counter-balance withdrawal of support from Republican leaders. "I just misspoke one word in one sentence on one day," Akin said. Akin had claimed women's bodies can prevent pregnancies in cases of "legitimate rape". An unusual coalition of senior and grassroots Republicans has been making a concerted effort to get him to quit, including Tea Party groups, some of which helped Akin secure victory in the primary last week. Under state election law, Akin would have faced no financial penalties if he had pulled out by 6pm ET on Tuesday, and the party would be free to pick an alternative. The next date for withdrawal would be 25 September, but that would require a court order to allow him leave the race. Leaving it until September could also mean he would face significant financial penalties, such as reimbursing the cost of reprinting ballot papers or other election material. But the Republicans' difficulties on abortion are unlikely to go away. On Tuesday, as the leadership turned up the heat on Akin, the party approved language in its platform calling for a constitutional amendment banning abortion with no explicit exemptions in cases of rape and incest. Meanwhile, another Republican congressman, Steve King of Iowa, inflamed the row, defending Akin and suggesting that he'd never heard of a woman getting pregnant from statutory rape or incest. Talking Points Memo on Monday reported that King told Iowa radio station KMEG-TV reported him saying: "Well I just haven't heard of that being a circumstance that's been brought to me in any personal way and I'd be open to discussion about that subject matter." The controversy has also focused attention on the anti-abortion views of Romney's running mate, Paul Ryan. The Missouri seat held by McCaskill is regarded by Republicans as the top target in the campaign to take control of the Senate. McCaskill, who has used the row to portray Akin as an extremist, is urging him to stay in the race. The Republican Senate campaign committee and conservative Super Pacs have withdrawn about $10m in financial support for Akin. The last remaining hope for Akin is to attract donations from individual donors. If Akin eventually quits, he could be replaced either by Jim Brunner, a businessman who came second in the primary with 30% – 6% behind Akin – or Sarah Steelman, a former state treasurer, who took 29%. Brunner has already been sounding out party members about replacing Akin. Public Policy Polling, in a survey conducted on Monday night, showed the row has not had any significant impact on voting intentions yet. Akin is leading McCaskill 44% to 43%, almost unchanged from May when he was ahead 45% to 44%. It may be that the poll was conducted too soon to fully register any unease with Akin. As well as possible repercussions for the Senate race, Democrats also see Akin as useful in highlighting differences between the Obama-Biden ticket and the Romney-Ryan ticket on abortion. In the light of the row, there will be pressure to change the draft to include exceptions for rape and incest.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Curiosity given instructions to make a cautious trip three metres from its landing spot and back again on Wednesday The Mars rover Curiosity will take its first test drive on Wednesday, moving about three metres (10ft) on its own before steering back to its landing site, Nasa has said. If all goes to plan Curiosity will end up parked at 90 degrees to its original touchdown position. "We want to park in a place we've exactly examined. We just want to be extra safe," said Michael Watkins, the mission manager. Curiosity's only problem so far is the loss of one of its two wind sensors. Engineers suspect pebbles kicked up by the rover's landing rockets during touchdown may have hit its deck and severed delicate wires on one of the sensor's circuit boards. "These are pretty fragile devices," deputy project scientists Ashwin Vasavada said, adding the damage was believed to be permanent. So far the wind sensor is the only instrument on Curiosity that is not working properly. On Monday the rover flexed its robot arm for the first time since landing on Mars and pivoted one of its back wheels, a preparation for Wednesday's test drive.
The arm holds a 33kg toolkit needed to collect and analyse rock and soil samples. "The arm has already performed all these motions on Earth, but in a different gravity condition and that gravity does matter," said rover engineer Louise Jandura. The one-tonne, six-wheeled, nuclear-powered rover landed inside Gale crater on 6 August. Ultimately scientists plan to drive it to Mount Sharp, a three mile high mound rising from the centre of the crater's floor that is the primary target of the $2.5bn, two-year mission. Scientists believe Mount Sharp is the remnant of sediment that once completely filled the 96 mile wide basin. The rover is equipped with 10 science instruments to search for organic materials and other minerals needed to support and possibly preserve signs of microbial life.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Pedro Garcia, imprisoned for 1981 kidnapping of student during civil war, is latest in string of cases against former officials A Guatemalan court has sentenced a former police chief to 70 years in jail for ordering the kidnapping of a university student during the country's civil war. The landmark ruling made Pedro Garcia the highest ranking police official to be sentenced for war crimes in Guatemala and was the latest in a string of cases the government has initiated against former officials. Garcia, arrested last year at his home south-east of the capital, was convicted of crimes against humanity and the "forced disappearance" or kidnapping of engineering student Edgar Saenz, who went missing in 1981. Garcia was police chief from 1974 until 1982. He faces separate murder charges in the 1980 burning of the Spanish embassy in Guatemala, which killed 36 people, including the father of Nobel peace prize-winner Rigoberta Menchu. Guatemalan courts in 2011 sentenced two former agents to 40 years in prison for their role in the disappearance of another student union leader and ordered the trial of the former director of national police, Hector Bol de la Cruz, for his alleged participation in abductions. Backed by the crusading attorney general, Claudia Paz y Paz, prosecutors in Guatemala are going after former high-ranking officials, sending a message that wartime atrocities will be tried. Clues in police documents found in 2005 have exposed government repression during the 36-year war and provided enough evidence to start sending cases to trial. In January, a court sent former dictator Efrain Rios Montt to trial to face charges of genocide and crimes against humanity. The internal conflict wracked the central American nation between 1960 and 1996, pitting a string of rightwing governments against leftist insurgents and leaving 200,000 people dead and 45,000 missing. Prosecutors say that the large volume of cases means they will never bring to justice all of the nation's war criminals.
 | | | | | | | | | |  | |  | |  |
Aucun commentaire:
Enregistrer un commentaire