| |  | | | | | SHUTTING DOWN Feed My Inbox will be shutting down on January 10, 2013. To find an alternative service for email updates, visit this page. | | | | | | | | | | | | |  | |  | | | | | The Guardian World News | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Violent protests greet inauguration of PRI candidate who brings party back into government after 12 years Enrique Peña Nieto has formally taken office as Mexico's new president with a vow to restore peace and security and tackle vested interests that have hindered economic prosperity. As several hundred protesters threw firebombs at police and smashed windows, Peña Nieto marked the return of the Institutional Revolutionary party (PRI) with a 13-point plan including populist handouts as well as reforms designed to boost the economy and modernise the education and justice systems. "Mexico has not achieved the advances that the population demands or deserves," Peña Nieto said. "It's time for us together to break the myths and paradigms and all else that has limited our development." Inaugural events were marred all day by protesters opposed to the return of the PRI after 12 years out of power. Inside and outside the congressional chambers where he took the oath of office, his opponents called his inauguration an "imposition" of a party that ruled for 71 years using a mix of handouts, graft and rigged elections. At least four demonstrators and four officers were injured as protesters clashed with police who used teargas and 65 people were detained. Vandals smashed windows of stores, banks and a hotel and made bonfires of furniture dragged into the streets. One downtown bank office where all the windows were broken had the words "Welcome Peña" painted across the facade in green. Peña Nieto countered with a speech full of specifics, from creating an integrated crime prevention program to ending the patronage and buying of teacher positions that rules the public education system. He said he would put security at the centre of all policies for Mexicans and their families and would work to ensure that roads and cities were again "peaceful areas where Mexicans can travel safely without fear of loss of their liberty or life". Mexico has suffered a spike in violence since the outgoing president, Felipe Calderón launched an offensive against organised crime upon taking office six years ago. An estimated 60,000 people have been killed by drug violence since then. While officials first said most of the victims were involved in organised crime, the killings and kidnapping spread to innocent civilians as drug gangs came to rule entire towns and even parts of some states. In his speech, Peña Nieto turned to his usual style of results-oriented governing with the list, having started his term as governor of Mexico state with 608 projects that he promised to complete. The tone of was conciliatory, an attempt to alleviate fears about a return to the PRI's autocratic past. "I will respect every voice," he said. "I will run an open government that speaks with honesty, seeks opinion, listens to its citizens ... I will be a president who is close to the people." Many of his proposals harkened back to the old populist PRI, promising pensions for the elderly, life insurance for single mothers to support their children through college, a program to end hunger and a new system of passenger trains. The political analyst Jesus Silva-Herzog Marquez said: "It was very concrete, very practical, zero ideology. I think Peña Nieto is not a person who thinks in abstract terms." Before he took the oath of office, leftist congressional members inside the chamber gave protest speeches and hung banners, including a giant one reading "Imposition consummated. Mexico mourns". "One word sums up December 1: restoration. The return to the past," said Congressman Ricardo Monreal of the Citizens' Movement party. Peña Nieto had campaigned as the new face of the PRI, repentant and reconstructed after being voted out of the presidency in 2000. Before his public swearing-in on Saturday hundreds of opponents banged on tall steel security barriers around Congress, threw stones, bottle rockets and firecrackers at police and yelled "Mexico without PRI!" Police responded by spraying teargas from a truck and used fire extinguishers to put out flames from petrol bombs. One group of protesters rammed and dented the barrier with a large truck before being driven off by police water cannon. "We're against the oppression, the imposition of a person," said Alejandro, 25, a student protester. "He gave groceries, money and a lot more so people would vote for him." "The president is like Salinas: 'I don't see you, I don't hear you,'" said Aurelio Medina, 64, a vendor and protestor referring to the former PRI President Carlos Salinas de Gortari. Despite the public protests, the atmosphere inside Congress during the swearing-in ceremony was far less chaotic than six years ago, when a Calderón security unit literally had to muscle him past blockades and protesters to get him into the building so he could take the oath of office after a razor-thin disputed victory over a leftist candidate.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | DSM-5, latest revision of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, merges Asperger's with autism and widens dyslexia category Asperger's syndrome is to be dropped from the psychiatrists' Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) of Mental Disorders, the American publication that is one of the most influential references for the profession around the world. The term "Asperger's disorder" will not appear in the DSM-5, the latest revision of the manual, and instead its symptoms will come under the newly added "autism spectrum disorder", which is already used widely. That umbrella diagnosis will include children with severe autism, who often do not talk or interact, as well as those with milder forms. The British hacker Gary McKinnon is diagnosed with Asperger's and it contributed to a government decision not to extradite him from Britain to the US on cybercrime charges. The DSM is used in a number of countries to varying degrees. Psychiatrists in some countries including Britain use the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) published by the World Health Organisation or a combination of both handbooks. In other changes to the DSM, abnormally bad and frequent temper tantrums will be diagnosed as DMDD, meaning disruptive mood dysregulation disorder. Supporters say it will address concerns about too many children being misdiagnosed with bipolar disorder and treated with powerful psychiatric drugs. The term "gender identity disorder", for children and adults who strongly believe they were born the wrong gender, is being replaced with "gender dysphoria" to remove the stigma attached to the word "disorder". Supporters equated the change with removing homosexuality as a mental illness in the diagnostic manual decades ago. The revisions come in the first major rewrite in nearly 20 years of the diagnostic guide used by psychiatrists in the US and other countries. The changes were approved on Saturday. Full details of all the revisions will come in May 2013 when the American Psychiatric Association's new diagnostic manual is published. The changes will affect the diagnosis and treatment of millions of children and adults worldwide, as well as medical insurance and special education services. The aim was not to expand the number of people diagnosed with mental illness but to ensure those affected were more accurately diagnosed so they could get the most appropriate treatment, said Dr David Kupfer, the University of Pittsburgh psychiatry professor who chaired the revision committee. One of the most hotly argued changes was how to define the various ranges of autism. Some on the panel opposed the idea of dropping the specific diagnosis for Asperger's. People with that disorder often have high intelligence and vast knowledge on narrow subjects but lack social skills. Some Asperger's families opposed any change, fearing their children will lose a diagnosis and no longer be eligible for special services, but experts have said this will not be the case. People with dyslexia also were closely watching for the update. Many with the reading disorder did not want their diagnosis dropped, and it will not be. Instead, the new manual will have a broader learning disorder category to cover several conditions including dyslexia, which causes difficulty understanding letters and recognising written words. The shorthand name for the new edition, the organisation's fifth revision of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, is DSM-5. Group leaders say specifics will not be disclosed until the manual is published but they confirmed some changes. A 2000 edition of the manual made minor changes but the last major edition was published in 1994.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | He has spent his life creating memorable and menacing characters. The actor tells Sean O'Hagan why he hates horses, loves Hollywood's honesty and won't leave his hotel in London It was Mickey Rourke who came closest to capturing Christopher Walken's singular aura. "You were always like this strange being from another place," Rourke told Walken when the two came together recently for a feature in Interview magazine. "There was something 'outer space' about you." Though Walken, now 69, has mellowed somewhat since he first crossed paths with Rourke on Michael Cimino's ill-fated epic, Heaven's Gate, in 1980, that description still seems apt. It's to do with his sense of detachment: the odd mix of preternatural calm and underlying menace that he exudes onscreen. Like the late Dennis Hopper, but in a more understated way, Walken has spent the best part of his career playing extreme characters of one kind or another, while also seeming to play himself. "I can see why people might confuse me with my roles," he says, when I speak to him at his house in rural Connecticut, where he lives with his wife, Georgianne, a casting director. "Early on, I played one or two disturbed people and I guess I must have been good at it, because it stuck. But, you know, I'm a regular guy. I stay home a lot, I make an effort to keep a distance from the whole social thing, the openings, the parties. I try to live in a calm way." For all that, he has just spent several days at home without electricity, following Hurricane Sandy's destructive surge. Though the power has now been restored, you sense he has taken Sandy's disruptive presence almost as a personal affront. He won't, he says, be travelling to England to attend the premiere of Seven Psychopaths, the Martin McDonagh-directed film in which he stars alongside Colin Farrell and Sam Rockwell. "I don't like flying at the best of times," he says. "And as I get older, I like it less and less. I don't much like driving either. I prefer to be driven. And, when I'm in London, I don't even like walking on the street. I can never get used to looking the right way when I cross the street. When we're over there, I always say to my wife, 'Stay in the hotel. Don't go out there. It's too dangerous.'" He sounds, I venture, like a milder version of his onscreen self. Unperturbed, he tells me he also has a fear of horses. "The last time I did a movie that needed a horse, I said: 'If it moves, I'm out of here.' The worst thing is, they know when you're afraid and act up accordingly. I've had them run off on me. Horses I do not like." In Seven Psychopaths, there is a dog or two and a bunny rabbit, but no horses. It is a Tarantinoesque film that operates on the edge of absurdity, a place where Walken feels entirely at home. He plays Hans, a charming scammer who makes a lucrative living stealing pet pooches in Los Angeles's richer neighbourhoods, then, after a reward has been posted, returning them to their grateful owners. "I like Hans," he says, revealingly. "He's an interesting guy. His back story is pretty bumpy and you've got to get that across somehow. He's a watcher, a listener. A lot of the movie, he's listening to the other guys. He's very by himself. Interior. He doesn't relate." Walken is effusive in his praise for McDonagh, a director who, he says, "is generous enough to write big chunks of dialogue. I come from theatre and I relish that." (The two have worked together before, when Walken starred in his play, A Behanding in Spokane, on Broadway in 2010.) Walken's oddly unplaceable voice is, of course, another key component of his onscreen otherness. Alongside the stare, it has informed several memorable roles since his breakthrough, Oscar-winning performance as a traumatised American soldier in Cimino's The Deer Hunter in 1978. He has played a psychic in David Cronenberg's The Dead Zone, a Bond villain in A View to a Kill, an utterly amoral father in the criminally overlooked At Close Range, a ruthless drug dealer in Abel Ferrara's King of New York, a mobster opposite Dennis Hopper in True Romance and a headless horseman in Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow. "I play disturbed people a lot, but always with a bit of distance or tongue-in-cheek," says Walken. "Most of the villains I play are essentially harmless." One of the exceptions is Robert, the British-Italian bar owner in Paul Schrader's 1990 adaptation of Ian McEwan's novel, The Comfort of Strangers. "That guy got to me. I couldn't put my finger on why, but he did. I didn't want him hanging around and, for a while after the film wrapped, I couldn't get rid of him." Now, in another soon-to-be-released film, A Late Quartet, Walken finally gets to play a regular guy: a classical cellist diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease. It is a well-mannered film about artistic ambition in which he still manages to look menacing even while playing the quiet bits in a Beethoven sonata. Recently, when asked how he approached playing the cello in character, he replied: "I'm never in character." Is he, then, playing slight variations on himself every time he makes a film? "In one way, yes. No matter what character I'm playing, it's me. I'm the only person in my life that I can refer to. I have a wife, I have friends, but it's essentially me. There are actors who can transform themselves, famously so, but I'm not one of them. There's a crucial difference between an actor and a performer. I'm essentially a performer. That's where I came from. That's what I know. That's what I do." How, then, does he actually prepare for a role? "Well, it's not something I could fully articulate," he says, "but basically I prepare in the same way every time. I take the script, I stand in my kitchen and I quietly mumble it to myself. Over and over." Is he being serious? "Oh yes. See, I keep doing that until I hear something in there. I was trained as a dancer and that stuck with me, so I'm essentially looking for a rhythm. For me, acting is all to do with rhythm. When I figure stuff out, it has to do with finding the rhythm. Always." Walken grew up in Astoria, Queens, the kind of second-generation, melting-pot neighbourhood that has long since vanished in New York. He once told an interviewer he "grew up listening to people speaking broken English… and I probably speak English almost as a second language." This may be the real key to his strange, almost stilted, delivery, alongside the fact that he made an early decision as an actor to wilfully disregard punctuation when reading his lines, a quirk that he guessed rightly would set him apart. "You ever been to Astoria?" he asks. "Even today, it's kind of exotic. Middle Eastern. When I was growing up, it was Italians, Irish, Jews, Russians, all living together. The kids I knew had parents who came from somewhere else. And everybody spoke their own language at home and at work. My father was a baker and he spoke German in the bakery. My mother was Glaswegian and she never lost her accent. Ever." As a child, he says, he was surrounded by people who had found their vocation in life early on. "My father was one of nine brothers and sisters. Three were priests, three were nuns and three were bakers. I could have been a baker, but my mum had a thing about show business. She was good looking, a little flamboyant. She would have loved to have been a performer, but she was raising a family. I guess I absorbed her ambition." Alongside his brothers, Kenneth and Glenn, Walken learned how to perform on live television variety shows in the 1950s, appearing regularly on The Colgate Comedy Hour. "I started performing when I was five years old. We weren't child actors – we were used as furniture. But all my education came from that world and it was all good. You learned to conquer nerves. You learned to think on your feet. If you messed up, there was no correcting it. You dealt with the embarrassment. It was a completely unique apprenticeship." As a teenager, he trained as a dancer at the Professional Children's School in New York, which he later described as "being in that movie where the guy gets stranded on a planet of women", and on graduating he was presented with his diploma by the famous stripper Gypsy Rose Lee. (Decades later, he showed off his moves on Fatboy Slim's "Weapon of Choice" video.) Aged 16, he toured with a travelling circus as a trainee lion-tamer: "It was just too good to pass up." He co-starred in several successful Broadway musicals in the 1960s, including West Side Story and Best Foot Forward, in which he played opposite Liza Minnelli, and in 1966 he landed a supporting role as King Phillip in a Broadway production of The Lion in Winter. The prospect of this made him so fearful he was fired on the first night because of his palpable nervousness; reprieved, he went on to win rave reviews. Walken, then, was a show business veteran when he was offered the part of Colonel Nick Chevotarevich in The Deer Hunter. "Most of the big things that happened in my life I never saw coming," he says. "The Deer Hunter was like that. I was dancing in a musical and somebody said: 'They're auditioning for a film just down the street, why don't you go along?' So I went along and it changed my life. People often ask me about choices. I don't make choices; I just take the next good thing that comes along. That was another of those terrific accidents." The rest is history, albeit of a singularly offbeat type. Recently, Walken's name made tabloid headlines when Los Angeles detectives announced they were reopening the case of Natalie Wood's death by drowning some, 30 years ago. Walken was a guest of Wood and her husband, Robert Wagner, on their yacht, Splendour, on the night she fell into the sea. The original verdict of accidental death has been challenged by the boat's captain in a recent memoir and Walken may be called as a witness. He has declined to talk about the tragedy, save for a New York Times interview in 1992, when he said: "For me the only response for years was silence. I just wanted to turn my back on the vulgarity of what was said and printed… I just decided to have some dignity afterward and be quiet." That is still the case. I ask him if he has any regrets. "No. Things have worked out better than I expected, perhaps because I didn't expect things to be good. I didn't really have any aspirations. I'm lazy. I don't chase stuff. I'm pretty realistic about what my possibilities are and I know my limitations. I'm not much of a panic person, so I don't get too stressed if a job doesn't come along for a while. I try to live in a calm way. It's stopped me from getting an ulcer." How has he survived in the cut-throat, hyper-ambitious world of Hollywood? "Well, you know, I've always found it to be an honest place. They either want you for a role or they don't. It's pretty simple. People talk about Hollywood being this place where you can never get straight answers, but my experience is the opposite. If they don't want you, it's very clear." What's the worst thing about his job? "Learning lines, for sure. I don't know how people learn their lines quickly. It's always been a tedious, agonising chore for me. I hate it. It takes me ages to know my lines. I just wish I could do movies with cue cards. That way, it's easy. Not lazy, but easy. You know what? I wish I could live my whole life with cue cards. I really do." Seven Psychopaths is released on 5 December
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | President puts faith in popular vote to silence critics of government's sweeping powers as about 50,000 rally in Cairo Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi has announced a snap referendum on a new constitution that has already deepened divisions in a country still struggling to find its identity more than a year after it emerged from Hosni Mubarak's rule. Morsi, who has triggered a fresh crisis in Egypt by assuming sweeping powers and pushing the constitution through an Islamist-dominated assembly, called the 15 December vote after tens of thousands of his loyalists rallied in support of the document. Opposition leaders have condemned the constitution, saying its basis in Islamic laws could undermine women's rights and freedom of speech. Mohamed ElBaradei called it a violation of universal values and vowed that the struggle against Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood would continue. Earlier, an estimated 50,000 people congregated near Cairo University, many bussed in from the countryside to show their support for the president and sharia law. Members of the president's Muslim Brotherhood were joined by large numbers of their Salfi Muslim allies. "I'm here to support Morsi's decree and the constitution. He is the first elected president, and his decisions are all correct," said protester Shaaban Hassan. Fellow protester Mustafa Abdel-Razak stressed that it was a religious duty to support Morsi. "It's a matter of religion, to support my custodian [Morsi]. It is religiously decreed to support my custodian, as long as he does not order us to sin." Morsi's decree and the resulting furore has repolarised Egyptian politics and society. Opposition forces immediately took to the streets to decry what they termed a dictatorial power grab, which granted Morsi judicial immunity in all decisions and ringfenced the assembly given the task of drafting the constitution. Morsi has insisted that the measures are temporary and will speed Egypt's democratic transition. However, by giving himself extensive powers and putting his decisions beyond judicial challenge he has pushed the country into fresh turmoil. His assertion of authority in a decree issued the day after he won world praise for brokering a Gaza truce between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist Hamas movement dismayed his opponents. Saturday was the first showing of Islamist forces since the uproar began after they cancelled a demonstration last Tuesday because it coincided with opposition forces marching on Tahrir Square. Initially Saturday's protest was scheduled for Tahrir Square, but was relocated to Cairo University to avoid opposition protesters who were continuing a sit-in. In an effort to defuse the crisis, and also avoid possible dissolution by a supreme court ruling due on Sunday, the drafting assembly rushed to finish in time for Morsi to ratify it and call the referendum. The final draft drew criticism at home and abroad for its ambiguous language, its weak and contradictory articles on human rights, women's rights and civil liberties, and for the creeping sense of religiosity. The assembly was also criticised for its homogeneous nature after liberal and Christian members withdrew. "We fundamentally reject the referendum and constituent assembly because the assembly does not represent all sections of society," said Sayed el-Erian, 43, a protester and member of a party set up by ElBaradei. Privately owned media announced a press blackout on Tuesday and Wednesday in protest. Morsi's unilateral actions and refusal to back down have dismayed secular opposition forces, who are adamant that he must rescind these powers before a solution can be discussed. "Morsi's actions display a lack of wisdom," said university professor Mustafa Kamel el-Sayed, who withdrew from the assembly drafting the constitution because of the Islamist domination of the group. "The head of state should try to promote national reconciliation. And by insisting on a course of action which is rejected by a considerable number of Egyptians, the president is basing his power exclusively on one political force, marginalising all others." However, Sayed Sabah Abdallah, a member of the Brotherhood's political arm, the Freedom and Justice party, who was present at the pro-Morsi rally, laid the blame of the current crisis squarely at the door of the secular opposition. "The forces in Tahrir want to bring down this constitution because they know we are the biggest organisational force in the country and that we would sweep the parliamentary elections that must be held right after the constitution is passed in the referendum," he said.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Minute-by-minute: Will David Beckham have a dream farewell from LA Galaxy with MLS Cup glory? Or will Houston Dynamo spoil the party?
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Linebacker shoots himself dead at Arrowhead Stadium, minutes after he is believed to have killed his girlfriend A professional American football player shot himself dead at his team's training facility on Saturday, just minutes after he is believed to have killed his girlfriend. Jovan Belcher, 25, was a linebacker for the Kansas City Chiefs; the deaths sent shock waves through the National Football League and its millions of fans. The drama unfolded just before 8am, when authorities in Kansas City were alerted to a shooting a house that Belcher shared with his 22-year-old girlfriend and their two month old daughter. A Kansas City police spokesman, Darin Snapp, said a female caller told police a woman had been shot multiple times. The injured victim, whom local press named as Kassandra Perkins, was taken to hospital but later pronounced dead by doctors. The caller is thought to have been Belcher's mother, who witnessed the crime. After the shooting, Belcher drove to the team's practice facility at Arrowhead Stadium, still armed with a gun. The stadium was put on lockdown and officers were called to the scene. Belcher, still in his car, encountered the Kansas City Chief's general manager, Scott Pioli, the coach Romeo Crennel and other members of staff. Police said Pioli and Belcher talked for a short while and there was no threat made by Belcher to anyone else. Pioli expressed support for Belcher but as police began to arrive the player started to walk away in the opposite direction. He then suddenly shot himself in the head. "They said the player was actually thanking them for everything they'd done for him. They were just talking to him and he was thanking them and everything. That's when he walked away and shot himself," said Snapp. Clark Hunt, the Chiefs owner, said in a statement: "The entire Chiefs family is deeply saddened by today's events, and our collective hearts are heavy with sympathy, thoughts and prayers for the families and friends affected by this unthinkable tragedy." The Kansas City mayor, Sly James, said: "I hope people will look at the situation and try not to judge the person. There are a lot of people hurting. There's a young baby right now without parents." It is believed that the pair had argued earlier in the morning, after Perkins had stayed out late attending a concert on Friday night. The couple had been together for about three years, after they were introduced by another Chiefs' player's girlfriend. Perkins was a student with ambitions to be a teacher, a friend told the Kansas City Star newspaper. Belcher grew up in Long Island, New York, and took an indirect route into the highly paid world of the NFL. He was a star wrestler at school and was not highly sought after by college football recruiters. However, he spent four years playing football for the University of Maine, after winning a scholarship there. The college was the only institution to offer him the chance to play football. While at college he studied development and family relationships, and he had plans to work with troubled teenagers after finishing his studies. He was successful enough to be profiled in the Boston Globe newspaper in 2008. In that article, Maine coach Jack Cosgrove described Belcher as having "...an infectious smile and a very good way around children." Cosgrove added: "He's a great role model. He's the captain of our team, as well as an astounding football player. He models all the right things." After graduating, Belcher signed for the Chiefs. He spent four years there in a successful playing career. Earlier this year he signed a one-year contract worth almost $2m and he had played in all of the team's 11 games so far this season. Just before the recent Thanksgiving holiday, Belcher conducted an interview with his team's website in which he spoke of his gratitude to those who gave him a chance to play professional sports. "First and foremost, God. Family and friends just keeping me focused, coaches and just everyone," Belcher said. He also spoke of his drive to succeed that had turned his unpromising beginnings in the sport into a top-flight career. "You just have to be hungry. It had to be like taking my plate on Thanksgiving. You have to want it more than the next person. You have to just refuse to be denied." Despite the tragic events, the Chiefs are still set to play their next scheduled game, against the Carolina Panthers at Arrowhead Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Minute-by-minute: David Beckham gets Hollywood ending as LA Galaxy retain MLS Cup with goals from Gonzalez, Donovan and Keane
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Witness says scene of accident "very bloody" after bus higher than 8ft 6in entrance crashes outside airport arrivals A bus that was carrying more than 30 people hit a concrete overpass at Miami International Airport on Saturday, killing two people on board and leaving three others critically injured. The large, white bus was too tall for the 8ft 6in (2.59m) entrance to the arrivals area, said an airport spokesman, Greg Chin. Buses are supposed to go through the departures area, which has a higher ceiling, he said. Two large signs warn drivers of large vehicles not to enter beneath the concrete overpass. One attached to the top of the concrete barrier reads: "High Vehicle STOP Turn Left." The other, placed to the left of the driveway several feet in front of the barrier, says all vehicles higher than the 8ft 6in threshold must turn left. Three people were at hospitals in critical condition. The other 27 passengers were hurt, but their injuries were less extensive, authorities said. Osvaldo Lopez, an officer with Miami-Dade aviation, said he first heard a loud noise Saturday morning and was certain it was some sort of car wreck. He said he went inside the bus to help and found several passengers thrown into the center aisle. He said the passengers, many of whom were elderly, remained calm. "It was just very bloody," he said of the scene. After helping the passengers, Lopez suffered some injuries of his own his left arm and a finger on his right hand were both bandaged. The body of one passenger was pulled from the bus late Saturday morning; the second person died after being taken to a hospital, police said. The bus was privately owned and typically used for tours, though police believe all the passengers were local residents, not tourists, said Miami-Dade police Lieutenant Rosanna Cordero-Stutz. The bus's ultimate destination was not yet known, but the driver was unfamiliar with the area near the airport and did not intend to wind up at the arrivals area, Cordero-Stutz said. The driver was being interviewed by investigators, she said. The bus was going about 20mph (32kph) when it hit the overpass Saturday morning, Chin said. Markings on the bus showed it was owned by Miami Bus Service Corp. Miami Bus Service Corp. officials did not immediately respond to a phone message Saturday.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | After the storm came the drought. This was a contest that featured a seven-goal avalanche inside 34 minutes but then fell barren, yet was still unmissable and had Sir Alex Ferguson branding the experience "agony". If it was the kind of pell-mell exchange all managers hate and neutrals love, the first-half count should have actually been eight – to break the record for an opening period – but Robin van Persie's strike near the break was ruled out wrongly. For Ferguson a near-perfect day, in which Chelsea lost and Manchester City drew, ended with Manchester United's lead extended to three points before next Sunday's derby at the Etihad Stadium. He told ESPN: "It was agony. The worst defending of this season and we needed to do something about it. We're needing to rescue the situation all the time. Fortunately we have players who can do that." To call this the direst performance from a rearguard that had previously conceded the first goal 13 times in 21 matches in all competitions illustrates how manic an evening this was. To Ferguson's chagrin, his team contrived to take this tally to 14 as the breathless 26 minutes into which all seven strikes were compressed began. Eight minutes had been played when this chronically leaky United defence allowed Jay Tabb to turn the ball to Jobi McAnuff. He swung in a cross, Jonny Evans's header went straight to Hal Robson-Kanu and his volley beat Anders Lindegaard via a deflection from the defender. The first of United's two equalisers came when Michael Carrick found Anderson, who moved the ball on to Ashley Young, and when the Brazilian took the return he blazed a rocket of a shot past Adam Federici. Anderson's celebration featured a kind of strutting tap-dance on the spot. That was after 13 minutes. Within 90 seconds Wayne Rooney gave the visitors the lead. From the Liverpudlian's corner Evans controlled the ball and, as he brought it down, Tabb decided to barge him over. Rooney beat Federici from the penalty spot. Now came two Reading goals, each unmarked headers from corners delivered by Nicky Shorey. This was simple, schoolboy stuff but United could do nothing to repel either. First Shorey's 19th-minute delivery found Adam Le Fondre and as Rio Ferdinand went wandering the No9 finished. Then Sean Morrison produced a carbon copy, rising to meet Shorey's kick to give Reading a hardly credible 3-2 lead. By the time the clock showed 34 minutes it would be 4-3 to United, and Rafael had first been booked, then hooked by Ferguson (on 28 and 31 minutes, respectively), with the Brazilian apparently ignoring his manager's conciliatory gesture to embark on a sulky pout he still wore on half-time. Of this reaction, the Scot said: "The boy was disappointed coming off. He has been one of our best players this season. I brought Chris Smalling on, which was an improvement in terms of height." When the sides walked off for the break, what would prove United's winning advantage had derived from two slick moves. A Patrice Evra ball to Young became a one-two when the winger executed a backheel to his skipper, whose cross allowed an unmarked Rooney to slot a second. Then Rooney created Robin van Persie's 13th of his debut United season. Carrick's pass was flicked sideways by the forward and the Dutchman, with his right boot, slid the ball beyond Federici. Rooney, who ended with two goals to stretch his total to five, said of the goal glut: "It was crazy. It was end to end and I think we played some good attacking stuff but defended badly on set-pieces. We showed big character to see the game out. We're not happy about it [falling behind first, again]. If it keeps happening it will cost us. We need to try and get in front early and make it easier for everyone." Although that was it for the period and match, Van Persie's case for a second appeared copper-bottomed: replays showed his finish was good before Adrian Mariappa cleared. Rooney was in no doubt: "It certainly was over the line. It is difficult for officials to see because it is so quick. But I'm sure in the future there will be technology." After Ferguson's pre-match exhortation to Rooney to score more, it had been a surprise to see him on the right of the 4-2-3-1 decided upon by his manager. Yet, as with Van Persie, he was required to defend as Ferguson's midfield shield of Carrick and Darren Fletcher continued to struggle to slow this open game down. Ferguson added: "There is a natural determination about the players. I just think we need to get the defending right from set-pieces. If we defend like that against Manchester City, I might need to play myself." For Brian McDermott, whose side remain second-bottom, this was another case of so near yet so far: "It was a fantastic effort."
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | After the storm came the drought. This was a contest that featured a seven-goal avalanche inside 35 minutes but then fell barren though was still unmissable. If it was the kind of pell-mell exchange all managers hate and neutrals love, the first-half count should have actually been eight – to break the record – but Robin van Persie's strike near the break was ruled out wrongly. To the chagrin of Ferguson his team conceded the opener for the 14th time this season as the breathless 26 minutes began. Eight had been played when this leaky United defence allowed Jay Tabb to turn the ball out to Jobi McAnuff and, when the captain swung in a cross, Jonny Evans's header went straight to Hal Robson-Kanu; his left-foot volley beat Anders Lindegaard via a deflection from the Northern Irish defender. This was the opener of the seven. The first of United's two equalisers in this sequence came when Michael Carrick found Anderson, who moved the ball on to Ashley Young and, when the Brazilian continued running, he received the return before blazing a rocket past Adam Federici. Anderson's celebration featured a dance move that was a kind of strutting tap-dance on the spot. This was after 13 minutes. Within 90 seconds Wayne Rooney had given the visitors the lead. From the Liverpudlian's corner Evans did well to control the ball and, as he brought it down, Tabb, for some reason, decided to barge him over. From the spot, Rooney beat Federici to the goalkeeper's left for a fourth of a so far hardly prolific season. Now came two Reading goals as they first drew level, then gained the advantage. Each of these were unmarked headers from corners delivered by Nicky Shorey, the left-back. This was simple, schoolboy stuff but United could do nothing to repel either. First, Shorey's 19th-minute delivery found Adam Le Fondre and after Rio Ferdinand went wandering the No9 finished. Then Sean Morrison produced a carbon copy, rising to meet Shorey's kick on 23 minutes to give Reading a barely credible 3-2 lead. By the time the clock showed 34 minutes played it would be 4-3 to United, and Rafael da Silva had first been booked, then hooked by Ferguson (on 28 and 31 minutes, respectively), the Brazilian seeming to ignore his manager's conciliatory gesture to sit down and adopting a sulky pout he still wore as half-time approached. When the sides walked off at that juncture United's advantage had come from two slick moves, though, as throughout the game, lax defending played a part. A Patrice Evra pass to Young became a one-two when the winger executed a backheel to his captain, whose cross from the left allowed the unmarked Rooney to score his second. Then Rooney created Robin van Persie's 13th of his debut United season. Carrick's measured pass was deftly flicked on sideways by the forward and Van Persie, with his lesser used right boot, slid the ball beyond Federici. That was it for the period, though Van Persie had a case for a second when a header from Chris Smalling, on for Rafael, rebounded to the Dutchman and his close-range finish appeared over the line before it was cleared by Adrian Mariappa. After Ferguson's pre-match exhortation to Rooney to score more, it was a surprise to see him on the right of the 4-2-3-1 decided upon by his manager. This is virtually a collector's item and when Anderson, who was playing in the hole, was replaced by Phil Jones before half-time, he stayed there and continued to be influential. Early in the second half, it was Rooney who took charge of a United free-kick and, later, his ability to drift into space nearly created United's fifth before Darren Fletcher over-elaborated in the penalty area. Yet, as with Van Persie, he was required to defend as Ferguson's midfield shield of Carrick and Darren Fletcher continued to struggle to slow this open game down. Mark Halsey looked correct when turning down a penalty appeal for an Evra challenge on Mariappa – he took the ball – but Federici's was the wrong option on 66 minutes. The keeper's attempted dribble past Van Persie handed the ball to him and the striker just missed from close range.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | WSJ managing editor and Murdoch confidant expected to be announced as head of hived off publishing arm next week News Corp is expected to name Robert Thomson, a close confidant of chairman and chief executive Rupert Murdoch, to lead its new publishing company by the end of next week, according to sources familiar with the company's plans. Thomson is currently managing editor of the Wall Street Journal and editor in chief of its publisher Dow Jones & Co, which News Corp acquired in 2007. Gerard Baker, currently the deputy editor of the Journal, is expected to succeed Thomson, according to these sources. Murdoch will be relying on his trusted lieutenant to steer the new company – whose main assets apart from Dow Jones include its British and Australian newspapers and HarperCollins book publishing business – at a difficult time. Newspapers in many developed markets are suffering from a severe drop in advertising revenue and circulation is being hit as readers are choosing to read their news on smartphones and tablets. Among the key decisions Thomson will have to make will be what to do about the financially struggling New York Post and whether the new company will go on an acquisition spree for other US newspapers that could come on the market, such as the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune. Thomson and Baker were not immediately available for comment. Representatives for Dow Jones and News Corp were also not immediately available. In June, News Corp said it was separating its publishing and entertainment assets in response to shareholders who had pressed it to get rid of its troubled newspapers business, after a phone hacking scandal tainted its British papers and forced the company to drop its proposed acquisition of pay-TV group BSkyB. News Corp is still finalizing the details of other executive appointments within the new company – a decision that could delay the announcement of the appointments of Thomson and Baker, one of the sources said. It wasn't immediately clear whether the role of Dow Jones CEO Lex Fenwick will change in any way. Murdoch will hold the chairman title at the publishing company after its split from the entertainment side, which will include most of the group's TV and movie studio assets and where he will remain chairman and CEO. The confirmation of Thomson's long-rumored appointment to CEO of the publishing company appears to have sidelined any plans Murdoch may have had to bring his eldest son, Lachlan, back into the family business. News Corp watchers and industry experts had assumed that Murdoch would push hard to recruit Lachlan, given that his son had some success as publisher of the New York Post. The Australian-born Thomson was appointed to oversee the newsroom of the Journal and Dow Jones Newswires shortly after News Corp's $5.6bn acquisition of Dow Jones from the Bancroft family in 2007. Thomson was editor of News Corp's Times of London and before that he was at the Financial Times, where he led that paper's expansion in the US. He recruited Baker in 2008 from the Times of London, where he was heading up its coverage in the US. While the newspaper industry is facing stiff challenges, News Corp has invested in the Wall Street Journal, adding new sections – including one that covers New York and one that focuses on real estate, while other papers have retrenched by slashing pages and frequency of publication. The Journal has risen to become the No1 daily newspaper in the US and has broadened its coverage beyond Wall Street to include more political and general news, in an effort to compete with the New York Times. The splitting of News Corp into two publicly traded companies will likely be completed by the end of June. News Corp's film and television businesses include the 20th Century Fox film studio, Fox broadcasting network and Fox News. The entertainment business, which generated revenues of $24.7bn in the year ending June 2012, would dwarf the publishing unit, which posted $8.2bn in revenue.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Minute-by-minute report: Manchester United twice fell behind to Reading but in the end should have won by more than a single goal
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | US and UK react to Benjamin Netanyahu's approval of plans for 3,000 new homes on occupied territory in the West Bank The US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, and British foreign secretary, William Hague, have launched attacks on an Israeli decision to build fresh settlements on occupied territory in the West Bank. The Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu's decision to approve the construction of 3,000 new homes is widely seen as a response to the United Nations vote earlier this week that recognised a Palestinian bid to be a "non-member observer state". The US, with Israel, strongly opposed that move, while Britain abstained in the vote. But now both countries have criticised the Israeli settlement decision, saying it hurts the chances of a two-state solution and the search for peace in the troubled region. "Let me reiterate that this administration, like previous administrations, has been very clear with Israel that these activities set back the cause of a negotiated peace," Clinton said, in remarks delivered at the Saban Center think tank in Washington on Friday. Hague said he was "extremely concerned" at the plans, which have been reported in the Israeli press as including a four-square-mile area just east of Jerusalem that is seen as vital to keeping open a viable land corridor between the city and any future Palestinian state. Hague asked Israel to reverse the decision and said the prospect of a successful two solution was receding. "Israeli settlements are illegal under international law and undermine trust between the parties," he said in comments Saturday. "If implemented, these plans would alter the situation on the ground on a scale that makes the two-state solution, with Jerusalem as a shared capital, increasingly difficult to achieve." Hague added: "They would undermine Israel's international reputation and create doubts about its stated commitment to achieving peace with the Palestinians." Israel had strongly opposed the Palestinian bid for improved recognition at the UN, saying that the tactic was a blow for peace negotiations. It had secured strong and vocal support from the US, its traditional ally, and a handful of other nations, but was unable to derail the move which was celebrated wildly on the streets of the West Bank. Palestinian politicians reacted to the new settlement decision with dismay. "This would be the last nail in the coffin of the peace process," the Palestinian prime minister, Salam Fayyad, told Sky News. The firm US and British line on the Israeli decision is unlikely to mark any real shift in allegiances or policy. Clinton backed up her criticism of Israel with another strong admonition of the Palestinians and said that they had acted wrongly and unilaterally in gaining improved recognition at the UN. "Palestinian leaders need to ask themselves what unilateral action can really accomplish for their people. President [Mahmoud] Abbas took a step in the wrong direction this week, to say the least. We opposed his resolution," Clinton said. The fresh spat over settlements comes at a time when all sides appear to regard the prospect of a peace settlement in the region as a distant dream. Any future Palestinian state remains deeply divided between the more moderate and secular rule of Abbas in the West Bank and the militant Islamic group Hamas, which governs in the tiny and isolated Gaza Strip. In Friday's address, the US secretary of state said Hamas had "condemned those it rules to violence and misery" and now faced a choice. "Hamas knows what it needs to do. If it wishes to reunite the Palestinians and join the international community it must reject violence, honor past agreements with Israel and recognize Israel's right to exist," Clinton said, adding: "America has showed that it is willing to work with Islamists who reject violence and work towards real democracy, but we will never work with terrorists." Despite the criticism over settlement building, Clinton reiterated American support for its traditional Middle East ally. "Americans honor Israel as a homeland dreamed of for generations and finally achieved by pioneering men and women in my lifetime," she said. "What threatens Israel threatens America. What strengthens Israel strengthens us." Israel agreed to freeze settlement construction under the Roadmap For Peace plan in 2002. But it has failed to comply with that commitment despite repeated and widespread international condemnation. Fresh trouble continues to break out in Gaza, after Hamas and Israel spent eight days trading rocket and missile fire earlier this month. That conflict ended with an Egyptian-brokered truce but there have been repeated flare-ups since. On Saturday a Palestinian who was shot and wounded by Israeli troops on Friday, while protesting at the Gaza Strip boundary fence, died in hospital. Five others were also wounded in the incident.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | US and UK react to Binyamin Netanyahu's approval of plans for 3,000 new homes on occupied territory in the West Bank The US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, and British foreign secretary, William Hague, have launched attacks on an Israeli decision to build fresh settlements on occupied territory in the West Bank. The Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu's decision to approve the construction of 3,000 new homes is widely seen as a response to the United Nations vote earlier this week that recognised a Palestinian bid to be a "non-member observer state". The US, with Israel, strongly opposed that move, while Britain abstained in the vote. But now both countries have criticised the Israeli settlement decision, saying it hurts the chances of a two-state solution and the search for peace in the troubled region. "Let me reiterate that this administration, like previous administrations, has been very clear with Israel that these activities set back the cause of a negotiated peace," Clinton said, in remarks delivered at the Saban Center think tank in Washington on Friday. Hague said he was "extremely concerned" at the plans, which have been reported in the Israeli press as including a four-square-mile area just east of Jerusalem that is seen as vital to keeping open a viable land corridor between the city and any future Palestinian state. Hague asked Israel to reverse the decision and said the prospect of a successful two solution was receding. "Israeli settlements are illegal under international law and undermine trust between the parties," he said in comments Saturday. "If implemented, these plans would alter the situation on the ground on a scale that makes the two-state solution, with Jerusalem as a shared capital, increasingly difficult to achieve." Hague added: "They would undermine Israel's international reputation and create doubts about its stated commitment to achieving peace with the Palestinians." Israel had strongly opposed the Palestinian bid for improved recognition at the UN, saying that the tactic was a blow for peace negotiations. It had secured strong and vocal support from the US, its traditional ally, and a handful of other nations, but was unable to derail the move which was celebrated wildly on the streets of the West Bank. Palestinian politicians reacted to the new settlement decision with dismay. "This would be the last nail in the coffin of the peace process," the Palestinian prime minister, Salam Fayyad, told Sky News. The firm US and British line on the Israeli decision is unlikely to mark any real shift in allegiances or policy. Clinton backed up her criticism of Israel with another strong admonition of the Palestinians and said that they had acted wrongly and unilaterally in gaining improved recognition at the UN. "Palestinian leaders need to ask themselves what unilateral action can really accomplish for their people. President [Mahmoud] Abbas took a step in the wrong direction this week, to say the least. We opposed his resolution," Clinton said. The fresh spat over settlements comes at a time when all sides appear to regard the prospect of a peace settlement in the region as a distant dream. Any future Palestinian state remains deeply divided between the more moderate and secular rule of Abbas in the West Bank and the militant Islamic group Hamas, which governs in the tiny and isolated Gaza Strip. In Friday's address, the US secretary of state said Hamas had "condemned those it rules to violence and misery" and now faced a choice. "Hamas knows what it needs to do. If it wishes to reunite the Palestinians and join the international community it must reject violence, honor past agreements with Israel and recognize Israel's right to exist," Clinton said, adding: "America has showed that it is willing to work with Islamists who reject violence and work towards real democracy, but we will never work with terrorists." Despite the criticism over settlement building, Clinton reiterated American support for its traditional Middle East ally. "Americans honor Israel as a homeland dreamed of for generations and finally achieved by pioneering men and women in my lifetime," she said. "What threatens Israel threatens America. What strengthens Israel strengthens us." Israel agreed to freeze settlement construction under the Roadmap For Peace plan in 2002. But it has failed to comply with that commitment despite repeated and widespread international condemnation. Fresh trouble continues to break out in Gaza, after Hamas and Israel spent eight days trading rocket and missile fire earlier this month. That conflict ended with an Egyptian-brokered truce but there have been repeated flare-ups since. On Saturday a Palestinian who was shot and wounded by Israeli troops on Friday, while protesting at the Gaza Strip boundary fence, died in hospital. Five others were also wounded in the incident.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Damascus and Homs residents say communication lines are back up, amid signs that Assad's forces will launch new offensive Internet and telephone services have been restored in most parts of Syria following a two-day, nationwide communications blackout. Authorities had attributed the latest outage to a "terrorist" attack or a technical fault, but President Bashar al-Assad's government has previously been accused of cutting internet and telephone connections to sabotage communication between opposition activists. Residents in the capital Damascus and the central city of Homs have confirmed the internet is back up and running. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition-linked monitor, said connectivity had returned to most provinces. Rebels say the blackout is likely a sign that Assad's forces are due to launch a concerted offensive in the capital. The Observatory also said Syrian jets bombed rebel-held areas of Damascus, namely the suburbs of Kafar Souseh and Darraya, on Saturday. A spokesperson said: "Syrian regular forces are trying to control the areas surrounding the capital and clashed with rebel fighters." Activists also reported clashes and aerial strikes in the provinces of Homs, Deir al-Zor, Idlib and in Aleppo, where they said 14 rebels fighters were killed during an assault on an army base in the town of Khanasser. This week, the largely Sunni Muslim rebels have been making important gains across the country by overrunning military bases. Clashes have been reported near the Aqraba and Babilla districts on the south-eastern outskirts of Damascus, which lead to the international airport. Meanwhile, Syria's newly formed opposition coalition said it is open to the idea of an international peacekeeping force entering into Syria, should Assad and his allies leave power. The opposition are wary that such a move could create divisions along ethnic and religious lines, and allow Assad a sanctuary in an area where many of his minority Alawite sect live. "If this is the first condition then we can start discussing everything. There will be no political process until the ruling family and all those who underpin the regime leave," said opposition spokesman Walid al-Bunni. "Whoever is putting forward a political plan has to know that after 50,000 dead and 200,000 wounded and five million displaced, the Syrians will not accept those who repressed them and killed them for the last 50 years staying on," he added.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Sattar Beheshti was detained in Evin prison for criticising government and died days after complaining of being tortured Iran's top cyber police chief has been sacked over the death in custody of blogger Sattar Beheshti, according to officials in Tehran. Beheshti, 35, from the city of Robat-Karim, south-west of Tehran, was arrested on 30 October after using his blog and Facebook account to criticise the government. He was thrown into the notorious Evin prison where he died several days later, after complaining that he was tortured. The head of Tehran's cyber police unit – named as Mohammad Hassan Shokrian by Press TV – was fired for "failures and weaknesses in adequately supervising personnel under his supervision", according to a statement posted on the website of Iran's police force on Saturday. Last month, Iran's parliament announced it had launched an investigation into the case. Earlier this week, politician Mehdi Davatgari said the cyber police unit – known as Fata – had illegally detained Beheshti in custody without a court order. Beheshti's mother has also said that while in jail, Beheshti, had no access to his family or a lawyer. She also claimed that the authorities had threatened the family with the arrest of Beheshti's sister should they speak to the media. Authorities in the country have arrested seven people suspected of involvement in his death. A judiciary official said a medical examiners had found bruises on five parts of the blogger's body. Human rights group Amnesty International has said Beheshti may have been tortured to death in custody, and has urged Tehran to investigate.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Minute-by-minute report: Will Reading pull off a shock at home? Simon Burnton has the latest news
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Police spokeswoman confirms one of two victims at two locations is a Chiefs player but no name is released An investigation has been launched into the fatal shooting of a Kansas City Chiefs player at the team's stadium complex and the death of a second related person, police officials confirmed on Saturday. It has been reported locally that the as yet unnamed player shot and killed his girlfriend at a private residence, before visiting the grounds of the Chiefs, where it is thought that he killed himself. A Chiefs statement confirmed that an investigation had been launched into an incident at the Arrowhead facility. Kansas City police confirmed that a double shooting had taken place. "There are two dead people, one at the stadium and one at another location. They are related," a police spokeswoman said. She confirmed that the body at the Chiefs' ground was that of a player, but said that the name had not been released. A statement on the Chief's website read: "We can confirm that there was an incident at Arrowhead earlier this morning. We are cooperating with authorities in their investigation."
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Kansas City Chiefs player suspected of shooting girlfriend and himself is named in reports as linebacker Jovan Belcher A Kansas City Chiefs player shot himself dead at the team's training facility on Saturday, after an earlier incident in which he is suspected to have killed his girlfriend. Police confirmed that an investigation had been launched into the two related deaths, one at a private residence and one near Arrowhead Stadium. The identity of the NFL player has not been released by the club or authorities, but reports have named him as Jovan Belcher, a 25-year-old linebacker. A Kansas City police spokesman, Darin Snapp, said authorities were first alerted to a shooting shortly before 8am local time. A female caller said her daughter had been shot multiples times at a house around five miles from the Arrowhead complex. The injured victim was taken to hospital but later pronounced dead by doctors. It is believed that Belcher drove to the team's practice facility still armed. The stadium was put on lockdown and officers called to the scene. "At around 8.10am, we received a call to the Arrowhead practice facility in regards to a black male armed with a gun in the parking lot, and he matched the description of the shooting suspect," Snapp told NFL.com. "Officers arrived, saw a black man with a gun to his head and some Chiefs employees." As police began to approach the suspect, he shot himself. He was taken to hospital but died of his injuries. In a statement on the club's website, the Kansas City Chiefs said: "We can confirm that there was an incident at Arrowhead earlier this morning. We are cooperating with authorities in their investigation." The Chiefs are due to play the Carolina Panthers on Sunday. Police said two club officials – thought to have been general manager Scott Pioli and coach Romeo Crennel – had spoken to Belcher in the parking lot of the training facility shortly before he took his life.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Police spokeswoman confirms one of two victims at two locations is a Chiefs player but no name is released An investigation has been launched into the fatal shooting of a Kansas City Chiefs player at the team's stadium complex and the death of a second related person, police officials confirmed on Saturday. It has been reported locally that the as yet unnamed player shot and killed his girlfriend at a private residence, before visiting the grounds of the Chiefs, where it is thought that he killed himself. A Chiefs statement confirmed that an investigation had been launched into an incident at the Arrowhead facility. Kansas City police confirmed that a double shooting had taken place. "There are two dead people, one at the stadium and one at another location. They are related," a police spokeswoman said. She confirmed that the body at the Chiefs' ground was that of a player, but said that the name had not been released. A statement on the Chief's website read: "We can confirm that there was an incident at Arrowhead earlier this morning. We are cooperating with authorities in their investigation."
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Minute-by-minute report: Follow the action from the Premier League and beyond with Sachin Nakrani NOW
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Move follows deal brokered by neighbouring countries and brings 10-day occupation by M23 fighters to an end Rebels have withdrawn from the Democratic Republic of the Congo's (DRC) eastern city of Goma, following an agreement brokered by neighbouring countries, according to a UN official. On Saturday, hundreds of M23 fighters packed into trucks and headed in the direction of Kibumba, 20km north of the city, bringing an end to their 10-day occupation of Goma, which they seized control of on 20 November. The rebels' pullout follows an agreement reached in the Ugandan capital Kampala last week between M23 leaders and representatives from nations bordering DCR. On Friday, rebels had unsuccessfully attempted to commandeer arms belonging to the Congolese military, which are stored in Goma's international airport, said Sy Koumbo, a spokesman for the UN mission in Congo, which controls the airport. "An agreement was reached yesterday over the ammunitions issue," he said. "We did not give them the ammunition. It seems they are leaving now". Ugandan Brig Jeffrey Muheesi, who is part of a mission sent by regional leaders to oversee the rebel retreat, said on Saturday that the withdrawal from Goma was complete. He added that Congolese police were now controlling the bank, the governor's office and the border post. M23, also known as the Congolese Revolutionary Army, are believed to have between 1,200 and 6,000 rebel fighters in their ranks. They captured Goma following eight months of bloody insurgency across the region, which observers feared would escalate into full-blown war in the region. A recent UN report provided "credible and compelling" evidence of neighbouring Rwanda bankrolling the M23 rebels, who are fighting government troops. Analysts believe M23 are fighting over DRC's extensive mineral wealth, much of which is located in the North Kivu province, where Goma is the capital. Rwanda's president, Paul Kagame, denies the allegations but M23's withdrawal from Goma comes a day after the British government announced that it would freeze aid to Rwanda following the allegations. On Friday, Britain's international development secretary, Justine Greening, announced that the government would hold back £21m that goes directly to the Kigali government, which was due to be released in January. In July, Britain withheld £16m in aid, but the money was controversially restored by Greening's predecessor Andrew Mitchell in September on his last day in office at DfID. Violence in DRC has led to the displacement of almost half a million people in eastern Congo, raising fears of a humanitarian crisis.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | President asks listeners to contact representatives in Washington and demand action to avoid damaging tax rises With a month left to break the deadlock over the fiscal cliff, president Barack Obama ratcheted up the pressure on Congress on Saturday, taking his plea for action to the American public. In his weekly radio address, Obama said it was "unacceptable" that some Republicans were holding "middle-class tax cuts hostage" by refusing to increase the rate for top earners. The president called on people to hound their local congressman or woman over the issue. "You and your family have a lot riding on this debate," he said, urging voters to call, email or tweet their representatives in Washington, demanding that they act. Obama has called for the issue to be settled before the Christmas break, warning of a "Scrooge Christmas" if Congress fails to reach a deal that would prevent the triggering of swingeing spending cuts and tax hikes. But despite intermittent optimism from Democrats and Republicans, both sides have failed to get close to agreement on a package of revenue increases and measures to avert the so-called fiscal cliff. Obama is demanding that any deal must include higher tax rates on couples earning more than $250,000 a year. He also wants to keep in place the smaller tax burden that lower-income earners have had for about a decade. Speaking on Saturday morning, the president warned that if Congress fails to act, every household will see their income taxes go up, with a typical family of four having to pay an additional $2,200. "We can't let that happen. Our families can't afford it, and neither can the economy," Obama said. But Republicans in Washington have yet to budge from their opposition to tax increases for the rich. House speaker John Boehner has argued that Obama's plan to raise revenue by $1.6tn over the next decade would be a "crippling blow" to the US economy. In a downbeat assessment of the current round of bipartisan talks, Boehner said Friday: "There's a stalemate. Let's not kid ourselves. Right now, we're almost nowhere." If the fiscal cliff is not avoided, Obama is intent on pinning the blame on Republicans. During Saturday's radio address, he said Democrats were ready to pass legislation to avert triggering the the fiscal cliff. "And if we can just get a few House Republicans on board, I'll sign this bill as soon as Congress sends it my way," he said. But House Republicans have indicated that the latest package being put forward by the president – which offers $50bn in additional stimulus spending and $400bn in Medicare cuts alongside the $1.6tn hike in tax revenues – is a non-starter. GOP representatives have said they are open to raising new tax revenue through the closing of loopholes, but are not willing to approve higher rates. The austerity measures that would automatically be triggered if a deal is not in place by 1 January could be catastrophic for the fragile Us economic recovery, experts have said. Obama said yesterday that an agreement can be reached, but that it would need both sides of the political the venture out of their "comfort zones".
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Department of the interior will offer lease sales on areas off coasts of Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Virginia The Obama administration has for the first time opened up large areas off the Atlantic Coast for offshore wind farms. The department of the interior said it was proposing to offer competitive lease sales on some 278,000 acres, or about 432 square miles, off the coasts of Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Virginia. The sale is expected to go ahead in the first half of 2013. "Wind energy along the Atlantic holds enormous potential, and today we are moving closer to tapping into this massive domestic energy resource to create jobs, increase our energy security and strengthen our nation's competitiveness in this new energy frontier," the interior secretary, Ken Salazar, said in a statement. If any turbines do actually go up, they would constitute the first offshore wind projects in the US. Over the last few years vast wind farms, with hundreds of turbines, have been built across the country – although wind power still makes up only 3% of energy use. However, the wind industry is expected to slow down or even come to a halt at the end of the year, with the expiry of tax credits. There is a lot of wind off America's Atlantic Coast – enough to power some 1.4 million homes, according to the US government. But building turbines offshore costs far more than building them on land. It has also proven controversial. The first offshore project, Cape Wind, a 130-turbine farm in Nantucket Sound, ran into fierce opposition from the late Senator Ted Kennedy and Indian tribes. It is due to start producing power at the end of 2015, after nearly 15 years of legal battles. Officials said the areas chosen for the new lease sales were the "best suited" to wind development, and had been sited to avoid environmental concerns or conflicts with locals. The first wind zone, off Rhode Island and Massachusetts, is just 10 miles off the coast. It will be leased in two parts. The proposed lease area in Virginia is about 23 nautical miles off southern Virginia. Officials said the lease sale announced on Friday represented a first step in opening up offshore areas. Other blocks identified include areas of North Carolina and New Jersey. There are also plans to eventually site wind farms on the Pacific Coast, in Oregon and Hawaii.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Chelsea's retreat into the chasing pack continues apace. Rafael Benítez's side contrived to surrender a grip on this derby and end up overwhelmed and overrun at this venue for the first time in nine years, ensuring the disillusion that festers within the European champions gnaws away at them into another week. The winless league run has been extended to seven matches, their worst sequence since February 1995, yet this felt properly traumatic than any statistic. It said much about the chaos in which the visitors are currently enveloped that all sides of the ground seemed to unite in a chorus of "You're getting sacked in the morning" aimed at Benítez as he stared grimly from his technical area. His team had been so dominant prior to the interval here that the contest should have been settled early, yet their utter disintegration in the latter stages was more indicative of fragility. West Ham swarmed all over them and, pushed back into their shells, Chelsea fell to pieces. By the end, this felt like a thrashing with all semblance lost of the defensive solidity Benítez hoped he had restored. The goals that secured the locals' victory were scored late, an unmarked Mohamed Diamé thundering a shot from Carlton Cole's lay-off beyond Petr Cech four minutes from time to establish a lead. The substitute Modibo Maïga added a third in stoppage time after Ashley Cole surrendered possession with the visitors over-committed up-field. If there were justifiable complaints from Benítez over West Ham's equaliser, nodded in by Cole who had climbed above Branislav Ivanovic and had wrapped an arm around the Serb in the process, then his team's limp finish was more damning. They simply could not cope, with some in the visiting support duly unfurling a banner proclaiming: "Di Matteo Chelsea legend. FACT. Rafa Chelsea reject." On this evidence, the change in manager has yet to have any real impact for all the clean sheets kept against Manchester City and Fulham. This had felt like an opportunity, a game against a team shorn of Andy Carroll whose knee injury, initially thought to be minor, will leave him sidelined well into the new year. Indeed, the first goal of Benítez's interim stewardship had been neatly constructed, Victor Moses' fine diagonal pass from the touchline slicing through the left side of West Ham's defence and liberating Fernando Torres beyond Winston Reid. The striker's pull-back was perfectly weighted for an unmarked Juan Mata to side-foot beyond Jussi Jaaskelainen and, for the first time in 11 hours and two minutes, Torres had been directly involved in a Chelsea goal. More might have followed, Jaaskelainen denying Mata after Moses had deposited Guy Demel on the turf, and the Spaniard later striking the woodwork from distance. There was trickery down the flanks and pace on the counterattack, with West Ham heaving to stay in the contest, their midfield lost and Carroll's absence denying them a focal point up front. Yet the failure to score a second proved pivotal and Sam Allardyce recognised the shortcomings. Diamé's introduction forced Ramires back and out of the contest, Matt Taylor's urgency also driving the visitors into retreat. Cole's equaliser felt illegal, but Chelsea had lost control already by then. In the end, they had been run ragged.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Minute-by-minute report: Rafael Benítez's painful start to his time at Chelsea continued as West Ham roared to victory
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | American research finds cancer food scares don't stand up to scrutiny with most culprit ingredients showing little or no increased risk of disease They are mainstay stories of tabloid newspapers and women's magazines, linking common foods from burnt toast to low-fat salad dressing to cancer. But now US scientists have warned that many reports connecting familiar ingredients with increased cancer risk have little statistical significance and should be treated with caution. "When we examined the reports, we found many had borderline or no statistical significance," said Dr Jonathan Schoenfeld of the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston. In a paper in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Schoenfeld and his co-author, John Ioannidis of Stanford University, say trials have repeatedly failed to find effects for observational studies which had initially linked various foods to cancer. Nevertheless these initial studies have often triggered public debates "rife with emotional and sensational rhetoric that can subject the general public to increased anxiety and contradictory advice". Recent reports have linked colouring in fizzy drinks, low-fat salad dressing, burnt toast and tea to elevated cancer risk. In the past, red meat, hot dogs, doughnuts and bacon have also been highlighted. The cancer risks involved in excess alcohol consumption are not disputed by scientists, but other links have been less easy to substantiate. To examine the implications of these reports, Schoenfeld and Ioannidis selected ingredients at random from the Boston Cooking-School Cook Book. "We used random numbers to select recipes and collected the ingredients from these" said Schoenfeld. "This gave us a good range of common – and a few not so common – foods. Then we put each of those ingredients into a search engine to find out their associations with cancer risks in medical literature. We found that 40 out of the 50 ingredients we had selected had been studied as having possible links with cancer. The 10 that had not been studied were less common ingredients." Among the 40 foods that had been linked to cancer risks were flour, coffee, butter, olives, sugar, bread and salt, as well as peas, duck, tomatoes, lemon, onion, celery, carrot, parsley and lamb, together with more unusual ingredients, including lobster, tripe, veal, mace, cinnamon and mustard. Schoenfeld and Ioannidis then analysed the scientific papers produced after initial investigations into these foods. They also looked at how many times an ingredient was supposed to increase cancer risk and the statistical significance of the studies. "Statistical significance" is the term used for an assessment of whether a set of observations reflects a real pattern or one thrown up by chance. The two researchers' work suggests that many reports linking foodstuffs to cancer revealed no valid medical pattern at all. "We found that, if we took one individual study that finds a link with cancer, it was very often difficult to repeat that in other studies," said Schoenfeld. "People need to know whether a study linking a food to cancer risk is backed up before jumping to conclusions." Additional research by Gemma O'Neill
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Foreign secretary William Hague expresses 'extreme concern', while US state department says actions are counterproductive Britain and the US have warned that Israel's plans to build new housing settlements in the West Bank would damage the prospect of creating a two-state solution to its conflict with the Palestinians. British foreign secretary, William Hague expressed "extreme concern" at the plan to create 3,000 new homes in the key strategic area of Palestinian territory would seriously undermine the Middle East peace process, and corrode Israel's international reputation. The Israeli announcement on Friday came a day after the UN recognised Palestine as a non-member observer state. Palestinians say that the proposed development would break the West Bank in two, thereby preventing any hope of a contiguous Palestinian state. "I am extremely concerned by reports that the Israeli cabinet plans to approve the building of 3,000 new housing units in illegal settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem," Hague said. "Israeli settlements are illegal under international law and undermine trust between the parties. If implemented, these plans would alter the situation on the ground on a scale that makes the two-state solution, with Jerusalem as a shared capital, increasingly difficult to achieve. "They would undermine Israel's international reputation and create doubts about its stated commitment to achieving peace with the Palestinians. The UK strongly advises the Israeli government to reverse this decision. The window for a two-state solution is closing, and we need urgent efforts by the parties and by the international community to achieve a return to negotiations, not actions which will make that harder." The plans also drew a terse reaction from the US state department. "These actions are counterproductive and make it harder to resume direct negotiations or achieve a two-state solution," said spokeswoman Victoria Nuland. Britain abstained at the UN general assembly vote over Palestine's status on Thursday, after President Mahmoud Abbas failed to satisfy Hague's demand that he give assurances to resume peace negotiations without preconditions. The vote on upgrading Palestinians from "permanent observer" to non-member observer state has long been viewed as a milestone in Palestinian ambitions for independent statehood. Meanwhile, one of six Palestinians who were shot by Israeli troops on Friday, while protesting at the Gaza Strip boundary fence died this morning, according to hospital officials. The 21-year-old man had been demonstrating near the southern town of Rafah.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Santa Monica's council has finally bowed to a militant campaign against traditional religious symbols in public places It was named after an early Christian saint but, to those aghast at its liberal ways, Santa Monica is better known as Soviet Monica, a city beyond comprehension, decency and now, after its latest outrage, forgiveness. This California playground of Pacific surf, sunshine and sleek boutiques has, if you believe one side of the argument, just plunged a dagger into Christmas, gutted tradition and pushed America down a slippery slope to godlessness. Or, if you believe the other side, Santa Monica has upheld the values of the founding fathers, rebuffed a plot to impose theocracy and scored a victory for reason. The stage for this latest battle in the US culture wars is Palisades Park, a scenic patch of palm trees on a bluff overlooking beaches where Baywatch was filmed. Every Christmas for over half a century, the park hosted a lifesize nativity display of the birth of Jesus, filling a block with a 14-scene diorama which included crib, wise men and livestock. This year, however, it will remain empty following a campaign by atheist activists who objected to a religious display on public property. Nativities will be confined to churches and private property. "It's a form of asymmetric warfare," said William Becker, a lawyer and conservative advocate who represented the Santa Monica Nativity Scenes Committee in its losing battle with the city council. Militant atheists took a page out of the 1960s Berkeley radical playbook to target a cherished symbol of Christianity and tradition, he said. "These atheists are intolerant and they got a friendly government here to back them. It's the People's Republic of Santa Monica." Becker accused "liberal Irish Democrats" and other leftwing factions in the city council of buckling following similar campaigns in other states against crucifixes and prayer in public places. "We're going down the slippery slope," he said. In an article for a conservative magazine, he warned that Palisades Park was the latest park to be occupied by a leftist regime's ideological larceny. "Only now – plunging as we are with increasing velocity – do the tremors of our nation's mortality begin to beat their throbbing rhythms insistently," he wrote. Hunter Jameson, chairman of the nativity scenes committee, said a "tiny group of determined ideologues" had manipulated a pliable council. "It's a very sad day. The original Grinch didn't want people to celebrate Christmas," he said. The atheist campaign began several years ago when Damon Vix, a member of the Freedom from Religion Foundation, successfully lobbied for the right to mount his own booth in the park alongside the nativity. He erected signs which called religions fables, proclaimed "happy solstice" and quoted the founding fathers' arguments for separation of church and state. Atheists ramped up the campaign last year with multiple booths which mocked religion, including a supposed homage to the "Pastafarian" religion complete with its Flying Spaghetti Monster deity. The displays caused uproar. The atheists were set to create even more rumpus this year after snaffling most booths in a first-come first-served lottery system, prompting the city council to ban all displays. "It became a war in the park. It was getting out of control," said Bob Holbrook, a council member. Siding with one group against the other would have opened the door to expensive litigation, he said. "We get sued about twice a week over different things. Brown squirrels, pigeons, trees – for every special interest, we've got a group." As a Christian, Holbrook said he felt "extremely hurt" that he and other council members had been compared to Pontius Pilate. Yibin Shen, the deputy city attorney, said the Palisades Park ordinance was "content neutral legislation". Vix, who started it all, said he was very happy. "It was time to take a stand. This was a blatant violation of the separation of church and state, the principle our country was built on," he explained. The decision corrected an anomaly in which a liberal bastion gave special treatment to a tradition dating to the McCarthy era, said Vix, a set builder. "This rights a wrong which was a relic of that age." It was symptomatic of US polarisation that each side cast itself as a persecuted victim of intolerance. "Our rights are under assault. Our agenda is to preserve and protect the constitution and do everything within the law to prevent them establishing a theocracy over us," said Edwin Kagin, national legal director of American Atheists. A fifth of Americans say they have no religious affiliation, up from 15% five years ago, according to a Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life study released last month, but Kagin said he worried that many still believed in the Bible, a book which he said advocated stoning and slavery. Daniel Archuleta, managing editor of the Santa Monica Daily Press (motto: "all the news that's fit to surf"), said the nativity battle pitted Santa Monica's decades-long liberal influx against the city's Catholic roots and conservative undercurrent. "Some of the older guard still see it as a sleepy little beach town, whereas in fact it's a bustling metropolis. The irony of the nativity is that a lot of people thought it was tacky until it was taken away."
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Islamists rally in support of president after criticism of new constitution and mass protests calling for his resignation Egyptian Islamists are holding rallies in support of President Mohammed Morsi ahead of his expected ratification of a new post-revolutionary constitution that opponents fear is too based in sharia law and does not adequately protect human rights. The demonstrations in Cairo and across the country come after days of rival protests by supporters and opponents of Morsi, who is expected to call a quickfire referendum on Saturday on the new draft constitution in order to hurry it through before Egypt's supreme constitutional court can dissolve the assembly that drafted it. The draft has been criticised for its ambiguous language on civil liberties, women's and minority rights and freedom of expression, as well as its concentration on enshrining sharia law as the basis for legislation. It also protects army privileges that Morsi's opponents want revoked, including the ability to try civilians in military courts. On Friday, tens of thousands of protesters once again descended on Tahrir Square calling for Morsi to resign and vowing to stop the constitution. "The people want to bring down the regime," they chanted, echoing the slogan that rang out there less than two years ago during the protests that brought down Hosni Mubarak. Rival demonstrators threw stones after dark in Alexandria and the Nile delta town of Al-Mahalla Al-Kobra. "All indications point to the president calling for a referendum on Saturday after he officially receives and ratifies the draft constitution," said Sameh El-Essawia, a spokesman for the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice party. "There is a rush because you can't leave the country like this and wait for a politicised verdict from the supreme constitutional court." The Muslim Brotherhood fears the court will dissolve the Islamist-dominated assembly that created the constitution when it meets on Sunday. By law, once Morsi calls for the referendum, the assembly's dissolution becomes a moot point. Egypt has been plunged into a constitutional crisis since a self-issued decree by Morsi on 22 November gave him sweeping powers and immunity from judicial challenges. The decree also granted the constituent assembly immunity from legal challenges, which were already under way and expected to be decided in December. The president's extraordinary powers will remain in effect until a constitution is passed and a parliament is elected. The assembly had rushed to finish the draft constitution, working through the night until Friday morning. There has been criticism of the document's content as well as the manner in which it was adopted, with liberal and minority voices woefully under-represented. Assembly member and head of the Doctors Syndicate Khairy Abdel Dayem – who ran on a Brotherhood ticket – admitted that the race to finalise the draft was an attempt to address the current crisis brought about by Morsi's decree. "We thought this was a way to defuse the problem," Dayem said. "The decree will no longer be valid once a constitution is passed. There is anger in Tahrir and there could be trouble if we take our time." Amnesty International said the draft constitution "falls well short" of protecting human rights and restricts freedom of expression in the name of protecting religion. "This document, and the manner in which it has been adopted, will come as an enormous disappointment to many of the Egyptians who took to the streets to oust Hosni Mubarak and demand their rights," said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Amnesty's deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa. Dayem defended the lack of minority representation in the assembly. He said: "Read it and decide for yourself if it is biased against women or Christians. Islamists are sometimes sensitive about such criticisms and so an extra effort was made to ensure that wasn't the case." The document has drawn criticism from many quarters, with opposition figurehead Mohamed ElBaradei recently saying that it would eventually be consigned to the "dustbin of history". University professor Mustafa Kamel El-Sayed was one of the members that withdrew from the assembly. He said: "The contentious issues have not been resolved, especially regarding the relationship of the state to religion, and that takes us away from a modern civil state." The UN human rights chief, Navi Pillay, wrote to Morsi urging him to reconsider the decree and warning that "approving a constitution in these circumstances could be deeply divisive", Reuters reported.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Country confirms that attempt will take place between 10 and 22 December, which will coincide with South Korea election North Korea is to launch a long-range rocket later this month in a move likely to heighten tensions with Washington, Tokyo and Seoul, ahead of the South Korean presidential election. The official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said on Saturday that a rocket carrying an Earth observation satellite would be launched from its north-west coastal space centre between 10 and 22 December. The launch will take place around the time of South Korea's presidential elections on 19 December. It will be the country's second attempt to launch a rocket since Kim Jong-un came to power nearly a year ago, following his father Kim Jong-il's death. A rocket launch in April was aborted but drew condemnation from Washington and Seoul. North Korea maintains the launches are for peaceful purposes, although Washington and Seoul believe it is testing long-range missile technology, with the aim of developing an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead. Pyongyang is banned from conducting missile or nuclear-related activities under UN resolutions. An unnamed spokesman for the Korean Committee for Space Technology told KCNA that North Korea had "analysed the mistakes" made in the aborted April launch and improved the precision of the rocket and satellite, Reuters reported.
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