support the news - visit our advertisers
Home » June 30th, 2011
Entries posted on “June, 2011”
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP & staff) — The judge in the Florida murder trial of Casey Anthony unexpectedly called an indefinite recess Friday morning so the defense could take depositions of witnesses the prosecution plans to call during its rebuttal case. Judge Belvin Perry allowed the recess just before the jury was about to be called into the courtroom. Lead defense attorney Jose Baez said the state had failed to disclose all the information a computer expert and forensic anthropologist planned to testify to. Baez wanted the evidence and witnesses to be excluded, but Perry only gave him the option of taking their depositions. “Your honor, I will stay here and do the work, and stay here as long as it takes,” Baez said. Anthony is charged with first-degree murder in the 2008 death of her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee. If convicted of that charge, she could face the death penalty. The witnesses are on the prosecution’s rebuttal list to challenge testimony offered by witnesses during the case presented by the defense, which rested Thursday. The state planned to call a handful of witnesses and rest again Friday evening. Judge Perry said Friday morning that he’d planned to give attorneys Saturday to work on their closing arguments, but in lieu of the impromptu break for emergency depositions, would now hold court throughout the weekend, including Sunday. He warned the attorneys to not be wasting time with the late arguments. “You can take as much time as you want, but we have jurors back there.” Perry said. The judge also said he hoped “this is a real problem and not an imaginary problem.” While the defense rested Thursday, experts said defense attorneys may have left lingering questions and failed to deliver on promises they made at the outset to explain how the toddler died. Casey Anthony did not take the stand and the defense did not present concrete evidence that Caylee wasn’t killed, but accidentally drowned. Her attorneys also never produced any witnesses bolstering the claim made in opening statements that Anthony had acted without apparent remorse in the weeks after her daughter’s death because she had been molested by her father as a child, resulting in emotional problems. “If you do not at least present facts to support that argument, the jury is going to think you have no credibility,” said Tim Jansen, a former federal prosecutor and criminal defense attorney in [...]
Read More » | Comment »
BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP and Staff) — Syrian army forces spread through a restive mountainous area near the Turkish border on Thursday as the death toll from a two-day military siege rose to 19 people, according to activists and a witness. The action by Syrian troops in the northwestern area of Jabal al-Zawiya appeared to be aimed at preventing residents from fleeing to Turkey, where more than 10,000 Syrians have already taken shelter in refugee camps, activists say. The refugees have been a source of deep embarrassment to Damascus, one of the most tightly controlled regimes in the Middle East. “They fear there will be sympathy for the people who are fleeing, and they are frightened that this will cause international pressure to mount on the regime,” said Mustafa Osso, a prominent Syrian-based human rights activist. Only five Syrians made it across the border Thursday, the lowest number in days, said Turkish officials. Over the past week, more than 10,000 Syrians rushed across, fleeing their army’s violent crackdown against demonstrators. Syrian activists say more than 1,400 people have been killed as President Bashar Assad tries to crush three months of nationwide protests. The regime disputes that death toll and says “armed thugs” and foreign conspirators are behind the unrest. In Thursday’s operations, Syrian forces were consolidating their hold on the Jabal al-Zawiya after two days of heavy shelling in the area, particularly in the village of Rameh, said Osso. That assessment was repeated by Lebanon-based activist Omar Idibi and an eyewitness who spoke on condition of anonymity, fearing reprisals. They said most people were killed Wednesday and early Thursday. Idibi said the death toll was likely to rise as people were pulled out of rubble from smashed homes in some areas. Idibi said part of the fighting was prompted by Syrian forces trying to hunt down several dozen comrades who abandoned their arms. Some rebelled while in Rameh village, while others split away from the armed forces in earlier fighting this month in the nearby town of Jisr al-Shughour. “They haven’t been able to flee to Turkey,” Idibi said. “They are fleeing from the advance of the Syrian army,” he said. Idibi said eyewitnesses told him that Syrian forces were trying to seal gaps in the border with Turkey to prevent people from escaping. Idibi and the eyewitness said that in a pattern repeated across the area, a rush of tanks [...]
Read More » | Comment »
NEW YORK (AP & staff) — Glenn Beck, who burned bright and burned fast at Fox News Channel, does his final show on the network Thursday before going into business for himself. Beck is setting up his own Internet network, GBTV, and will begin streaming a two-hour live show there in September. His fans can pay $9.95 a month for access to GBTV, or $4.95 to see just his daily show. Beck will continue a separate syndicated radio program. Beck’s conservative populism resonated almost immediately with Fox viewers when he started in January 2009, drawing audiences unseen before in a late afternoon time slot on cable news. At his peak in January 2010, Beck’s show averaged 2.9 million viewers each day. Beck, whose Fox run began with Barack Obama’s presidency, would warn darkly of things going wrong in the country, sometimes spinning complex theories on blackboards behind him. Occasionally, he’d be moved to tears. His popularity faded, although Beck still led his time slot. He was averaging 1.86 million viewers a day so far this year, down 23 percent from the same period in 2010, the Nielsen Co. said. An advertising boycott that began after Beck said Obama had a “deep-seated hatred for white people” led to more than 400 advertisers telling Fox they didn’t want their commercials seen on his show. Fox and Beck headed for a divorce, their relationship largely soured by control issues. Beck has set up his own diversified business, as he makes speeches, writes books and owns a website along with GBTV, which is run by a former Fox executive.
Read More » | Comment »
WASHINGTON (AP & staff) — The Federal Election Commission said Thursday that comedian Stephen Colbert can use his TV show’s resources to boost his political action committee, but he must disclose some major expenses as in-kind contributions from the show’s corporate owners. Colbert played it straight during his appearance before the commission, letting his attorney do most of the talking while saving his trademark quips for a crowd that gathered outside the commission building after the meeting. “I don’t accept the status quo,” he told the crowd, brandishing a portable credit card processing machine. “I do accept Visa, Mastercard or American Express.” Many in the crowd handed Colbert their credit cards or dollar bills as contributions. Asked what point he was trying to make about corporate America, Colbert did not miss a beat. “None,” he quipped. “I want their money.” Colbert, who plays a conservative TV pundit on “The Colbert Report,” is forming Colbert Super PAC, a type of political action committee which will allow him to raise unlimited amounts of money from corporations, unions and individuals. The money will be used to support or oppose candidates in the 2012 elections through independent expenditures such as TV ads. The FEC decision comes amid a broader erosion of campaign finance regulations in the wake of recent court rulings and with Republicans on the Federal Election Commission and elsewhere pushing for a rollback to give corporations and other wealthy donors stronger sway in financing campaigns. Colbert had asked the commission for a so-called “media exemption” to allow him to use his show’s airtime, staff and other resources for his political action committee without having to publicly disclose them as in-kind contributions from Comedy Central’s parent company, Viacom Inc. Colbert has said those undisclosed contributions could include the use of his show’s staff to create TV advertisements about candidates that would air as paid commercials on other shows and networks. The commission ruled 5-1 that he would have to publicly disclose as in-kind contributions from Viacom any ads produced by the show for Colbert Super PAC that air on other shows or networks. He would also have to disclose administrative costs that his show covers for Colbert Super PAC. The Colbert ruling eclipsed a lesser-noticed decision by the Federal Election Commission Thursday that could also have a significant impact on the 2012 elections. The commission said that candidates and party officials may solicit [...]
Read More » | Comment »
LONDON (AP & staff) — Hundreds of thousands of British teachers and public sector workers swapped classrooms and offices for picket lines in what unions hope will be the first salvo in a summer of discontent against the Conservative-led government’s austerity plans. Airport operators had warned there could be long lines at immigration entry points because of walkouts by passport officers, but most of Britain’s airports, including London’s Heathrow and Manchester, said it was business as usual. One union leader estimated more than 500,000 teachers and civil servants joined the one-day strike Thursday, affecting courthouses, tax offices and employment centers, as well as schools. The government estimated 100,000 strikers — although its tally did not include teachers, whose walkout closed or disrupted 11,000 schools in England and Wales. “This is the best-supported strike we’ve ever had,” union leader Mark Serwotka told Channel 4 News. But the government disputed the claims, saying the strike wasn’t as well-supported as the unions were making it out to be. “Very few civil servants wanted this strike at all,” Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude said in a statement. Union members marched through London and other cities to demand that the government rethink its plans to curb public sector pensions. Small groups of anti-capitalist protesters scuffled with police as the march neared Parliament, and were cordoned in by officers. Police said 41 people had been arrested in relation to the protests over the past 24 hours, although the demonstrations were overwhelmingly peaceful. Britain is not Greece, whose crippling debt crisis has led to violent protests. Britain’s economy remains weak as it emerges from recession, but the general mood is one of apprehension rather than anger. Craig Phelan, a professor of modern history at Kingston University, says attitudes have changed dramatically since the 1980s, when unions took on Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s government in grinding conflicts like a yearlong miners’ strike — and lost. Then, more than 13 million Britons were union members. Now the figure is about 7 million. “People see unions as something other, someone who wants to take their money, someone who wants to inconvenience them, someone who doesn’t want to work as hard as they do,” Phelan said. It’s a hard attitude for unions to overturn, and they are moving with caution.
Read More » | Comment »
OTTAWA, Ontario (AP & staff) — Prince William and Kate began their first official trip abroad Thursday laying a wreath at Canada’s National War Memorial as excited onlookers screamed with delight and showered the young royals with flowers and gifts. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge head straight to the memorial after landing in Canadian military plane at Ottawa’s international airport. The smiling couple stepped off the plane into bright sunshine and shook hands on the tarmac with Foreign Minister John Baird and other Canadian officials before leaving immediately for the National War Memorial. There, they were met by Prime Minister Stephen Harper with screaming crowds lining the barricades. The couple walked up to the memorial and stood side by side before each laid a wreath. It was the same wreath laid two years ago by the prince’s father, Prince Charles, during his last Canadian tour. The Duke and Dutchess of Cambridge, as they are formally known, then walked over to the barricades and shook hands with excited onlookers, who appeared to hand them flowers and other gifts. Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton, secretary to the duke and duchess, said the couple were keen for this visit to the memorial to be their very first stop, particularly as Canada’s combat role in Afghanistan is drawing to an end. Later, the royals were scheduled to attend an official welcome followed by a barbecue for young people. The newlyweds will stay in Canada for nine days, during which time they will take part in Canada Day celebrations, open the world-renowned Calgary Stampede and hand out flags to newly minted Canadians at a citizenship ceremony among other things before jetting off to Los Angeles. The young prince and his wife have star power to burn and Canadian Heritage Minister James Moore reckons this will be the most-watched royal tour in Canada’s history. Canada’s prime minister has unveiled a personal flag for use during William’s visit. It is the first flag to be created by Canada for a member of the royal family since 1962, when the queen adopted a personal flag for her own use in Canada. Harper said the flag was approved by the queen and William. The royal couple left London’s Heathrow Airport on a Royal Canadian Air Force plane Thursday morning. The duchess wore a navy blue knee-length dress by the French designer Roland Mouret paired with a navy blazer by Toronto-based Smythe [...]
Read More » | Comment »
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP & staff) — The U.S.-led coalition on Thursday blamed an al-Qaida affiliated network working jointly with Taliban fighters for a deadly attack on a luxury hotel in Kabul — an assault that raised doubts about the ability of Afghan forces to handle security as foreign troops withdraw. The coalition also reported that a leader with the Haqqani network suspected of having provided assistance, including weapons, fighters and training, to the gunmen who attacked the Inter-Continental hotel was killed Wednesday night in a precision airstrike. Ismail Jan, the deputy to the senior Haqqani commander inside Afghanistan, and other Haqqani fighters died in the airstrike in Gardez, the provincial capital of Paktia province, the coalition said. Nine suicide bombers launched an attack on the hotel late Tuesday, triggering an hours-long standoff with Afghan security forces, who were assisted by coalition mentors and NATO helicopters. In all, 20 people were killed, including the nine attackers. The Pakistan-based Haqqani network, which has ties to both al-Qaida and the Taliban, has emerged as one of the biggest threats to stability in Afghanistan. Jan, who moved from Pakistan into Afghanistan late last year, used to command 25 to 35 fighters who attacked Afghan and coalition forces along the Afghan-Pakistan border in Khost and Paktia provinces. Jan’s location in Paktia was pinpointed with the help of tips from Afghan government officials, citizens and insurgent informants, the coalition said. The Kabul hotel assault was one of the biggest and most complex attacks ever orchestrated in the Afghan capital and appeared designed to show that the insurgents are capable of striking even in the center of power at a time when U.S. officials are speaking of progress in the nearly 10-year war. The attack came on the eve of a two-day conference about plans for Afghan forces to take the lead responsibility for security in seven areas of Afghanistan starting next month. Security is to be shouldered by Afghan security forces across the whole nation by the end of 2014 when international forces are to be assigned to support roles or sent home. At the end of the conference on Thursday, Ashraf Ghani, chairman of the nation’s transition commission, urged Afghans not to fear, but rally around transition. The first phase of transition will start in the provincial capitals of Lashkar Gah in southern Afghanistan, Herat in the west, Mazer-e-Sharif in the north and Mehterlam in [...]
Read More » | Comment »
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP & staff) — Authorities have arrested two former executives of Kabul Bank for allegedly bilking the scandal-ridden bank of hundreds of millions of dollars, an Afghan prosecutor said Thursday. It’s the first time that anyone has been arrested for activities at the nation’s largest bank, which nearly collapsed last year because of mismanagement and questionable lending. Deputy Attorney General Rahmatullah Nazari said Sherkhan Farnood, former bank chairman, and Khalilullah Ferozi, the former chief executive officer, were arrested Wednesday and were being held in a detention center in Kabul. He would not disclose details about the charges they face, saying only that they are accused of together taking as much as $1 billion from the bank illegally. A recent USAID inspector general report estimated that fraudulent loans diverted $850 million to bank insiders. The arrests are the latest in the saga of Kabul Bank — now under the control of Afghanistan’s central bank. The troubled institution has became a symbol of the country’s cronyism and deep-rooted corruption and is now considered a bellwether on attempts to root out patronage and show accountability to world financial institutions, such as the International Monetary Fund. Earlier this week, the former head of the Afghan central bank resigned after fleeing to the United States. Abdul Qadir Fitrat said he left Afghanistan after receiving threats to his life. He complained that he was being made a scapegoat while the Afghan government had refused to charge politically connected individuals involved in making or receiving hundreds of millions of dollars in questionable loans. “Since I exposed the fraudulent practices on April 27 in parliament I have received information about threats on my life,” Fitrat told The Associated Press in a telephone interview Monday from a hotel in Northern Virginia. “To date, there is no information of any credible plan to try and prosecute these suspects for the crimes they have allegedly committed.” After he left the country, the attorney general’s office said Fitrat and other central bank officials were facing allegations of failing to act on warnings about widespread corruption at Kabul Bank. Nazari said Fitrat would be prosecuted and that an arrest warrant for him had been sent to Interpol and the U.S. Embassy in Kabul to return Fitrat to Afghanistan for questioning. Fitrat said he has permanent resident status in the United States and would not be returning to Afghanistan. The Kabul Bank [...]
Read More » | Comment »
MADRID (AP & staff) — Sophisticated Libyan army weapons are being trafficked and possibly sold to al-Qaida’s affiliate in North Africa, giving the group the potential to increase instability in a key part of the continent, Spain’s interior minister said Thursday. Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba said al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, or AQIM, is a growing menace that could conceivably spread outside its home base in Africa’s Sahel region unless Western countries step up efforts to counter it. The West considers North Africa, which is just across the Mediterranean from Europe, as vital in the fight against terrorism. Algeria, where an Islamist insurgency erupted in 1992 with sporadic attacks continuing, has become a key U.S. ally in the anti-terrorism battle. Rubalcaba briefed reporters during a break in a meeting with colleagues from five other EU countries and U.S. Homeland Security Director Janet Napolitano. The countries agreed among other things to set up a permanent coordination mechanism for their countries’ liaison people in the Sahel region — the vast, bone-dry stretch of land just below sub-Saharan Africa that includes countries such as Mauritania, Niger, Mali and Chad. They also agreed to reach out to the African Union to step up joint counterterrorism efforts, Perez Rubalcaba said. Perez Rubalcaba said fairly sophisticated weapons from Libyan army forces fighting to keep Moammar Gadhafi in power as rebel forces try to oust him are being sold by traffickers at Libya’s southern border and possibly ending up in the hands of AQIM. “The Libyan crisis is having an influence on AQIM,” he said. “One that we find particularly negative is the possible appearance of arms from the Libyan army, or what remains of it, in the hands of terrorists.” The Libyan civil war is giving AQMI potential to increase its influence in the Sahel region, where it is active after having first surfaced in Algeria. “Organized crime would probably grow because it is clear they are linked, and risks for Europe and the United States would grow,” Perez Rubalcaba said. Besides Rubalcaba and Napolitano, the meeting was attended by representatives of Italy, Germany, France, Britain and Poland. Napolitano stressed the need to step up security against terrorists targeting the transport of goods across the world. “The global supply chain security issue is one of our priorities,” Napolitano told The AP in an interview. “We had been working on this before last October but when AQAP — [...]
Read More » | Comment »
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP & staff) — An activist in Bahrain says riot police fired tear gas and stun grenades to disperse thousands gathered near the square that was the epicenter of the nation’s Shiite-led protests earlier this year. Nabeel Rajab says protesters chanted: “Down, down Hamad” — a reference to the Bahraini monarch, and demanded that all detained protesters be released. No injuries were immediately reported during the demonstration Thursday near Manama’s Pearl Square. The violence comes as Bahrain’s Sunni rulers are trying to open reconciliation talks with the Shiite opposition, which demands political freedoms and greater rights. The talks are to start on Saturday but Bahrain’s biggest Shiite party, Al Wefaq, has not yet decided whether it will participate.
Read More » | Comment »
