Gulf: 40 days and the oil spill has no end...[ 1326 ]

Gulf oil spill hits Day 40 with no end in sight

Tom Bergin and Ed Stoddard

NEW ORLEANS/VENICE

Sat May 29, 2010 1:06am EDT

Oil impacts Redfish Bay in Louisiana's birdsfoot delta, where the Mississippi River empties into the Gulf of Mexico, May 27, 2010.

Credit: Reuters/Jeffrey Dubinsky/Gulf Restoration Network/Handout

NEW ORLEANS/VENICE Louisiana (Reuters) - The worst oil spill in U.S. history hits its 40th day on Saturday with Gulf residents clinging to one tenuous hope: that BP's complicated "top kill" operation will plug the gushing well.

Beleaguered Louisiana residents heard from President Barack Obama and BP CEO Tony Hayward on separate visits to the Gulf coast on Friday as they tried to get a handle on a crisis damaging the credibility of both the government and BP.
Obama, facing criticism that he responded too slowly to the environmental catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico, assured Louisianians during his five-hour visit that they "will not be left behind" and that the "buck stops" with him.
Hayward, on a visit to the site of the April 20 rig explosion that killed 11 workers and unleashed the oil, said the energy giant needed up to two more days to determine if the top kill will stop the underwater gusher once and for all.
The top kill, however, is a tricky maneuver that involves injecting heavy fluids, material and cement into the well to stifle the flow. It has never been done at this depth, one mile under below sea level.
Hayward dismissed concerns about delays, which made investors jittery and drove BP shares down 5 percent Friday.
"We're continuing because we are making progress," Hayward said on a drilling ship at the site, with perspiration dripping from under a white plastic BP safety hat.
Obama is caught in a tight spot: there is not much he can do about the well other than apply pressure to BP to get it right and put his best scientists in the room. The government has no deep-sea oil technology of its own.
That fact is not lost on the people of Louisiana's coast, a hub of the U.S. oil industry and now the site of the country's largest oil spill after it surpassed the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster in Alaskan waters.

'WANT OUR BEACH BACK'

"I wouldn't know what to ask him to do, other than stop the leak," said John Bourg, a resident of Grand Isle who watched the president's motorcade roar by on Friday. "And I'd put more faith in an oil company to stop a leak than anybody else."
But that doesn't mean the public will forgive the first-term president, who is anxious to avoid comparisons to President George W. Bush after his government's much-criticized response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
Polls show that Americans are losing faith in the Obama's administration's response to the spill as oil seeps farther into fragile marshlands and shuts down a good chunk of the lucrative fishing industry.
Still, BP gets worse marks and faces anger over lack of proper clean-up of the 100 miles of Louisiana coastline and the oil in the gulf.
In Grand Isle, 17-year old Hanna Lemoie posted a sign she painted that read "BP...we want our beach back."

"The beach, the waves had like orange oil coming in and it made me mad because there was nobody cleaning it up and I felt helpless," Lemoie said.
The frustration, the anger and the delays all were taking their toll -- on Obama, Hayward, the residents and those working to plug the well.
Bruce Simokat, the captain of the Discoverer Enterprise drill ship assisting in the BP containment effort, said the crew found it difficult to hear all the criticism about the response effort on television.
But were they still watching the TV?
"It's hard not to," said Simokat.

(Additional reporting by Katharine Jackson in Grand Isle, Louisiana; Writing by Mary Milliken; Editing by Bill Trott)

Israel feels strong in its' loneliness...!.! .[ 1325 ]

Israeli aircraft hit 2 Gaza targets; no injuries

(AP) – 2 hours ago

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip , 29-5-2010.,, —

The Israeli military says its aircraft fired missiles at a metal workshop and a militants' tunnel in Hamas-ruled Gaza.

Hamas security officials said Saturday that nine missiles were fired, but that no one was hurt.

The military says the tunnel targeted late Friday was dug with the intention of smuggling militants from Gaza into Israel. Metal workshops are part of Gaza's small homegrown weapons industry, which makes crude rockets that are fired at Israeli border towns.

Hamas says the workshop targeted Friday was destroyed.

The airstrikes came a day after a rocket fired from Gaza hit near an Israeli town and armed men tried unsuccessfully to rush across the border with Israel.

Map

Search for murdered human bodies resumes..[ 1324 ]

Prostitute bodies search resumes

The London Evening Standard., 29.05.10

Police are continuing their painstaking search for clues to find two missing prostitutes after the man accused of killing them was remanded in custody.

Criminology student Stephen Griffiths, 40, dubbed himself the "crossbow cannibal" when he appeared in court on Friday charged with three counts of murder.

Media attempt to photograph a security van carrying prostitute murders accused Stephen Griffiths

The former public schoolboy made two appearances - before magistrates and then a crown court judge - accused of killing Suzanne Blamires, Shelley Armitage and Susan Rushworth, who all went missing in Bradford.
The remains of Ms Blamires, 36, were found on Tuesday afternoon in the River Aire in Shipley, West Yorkshire.
Police are still trying to trace the other two sex workers and on Friday a lorry with a digging arm was brought in to help with an excavation outside the block of flats where Griffiths lived.
Ms Blamires was last seen on Friday, while Ms Armitage, 31, has been missing since Monday, April 26, and Ms Rushworth, 43, disappeared on June 22 last year.
When he was asked for his name at Bradford Magistrates Court Griffiths replied: "The crossbow cannibal."

Relatives of some of the victims were in court for the hearing. Some wiped away tears at the start of proceedings. Others stared intently at Griffiths, who sat fidgeting and touching his head, or staring silently at the floor,
Four hours later Griffiths made his second appearance of the day at Bradford Crown Court. He spoke only to confirm his full name.

At the end of Griffiths' crown court appearance he was remanded in custody. There was no application for bail. Griffiths will appear before Bradford Crown Court again on June 7 via video link from Wakefield Prison.

South Korea and Japan to stand united against North Korea.. [ 1323 ]

South Korea and Japan united against North Korea

Jack Kim and Yoko Nishikawa

SEOGWIPO

Sat May 29, 2010 5:39am EDT

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak (L) shakes hands with his Japanese counterpart Yukio Hatoyama during their meeting in Seogwipo City on Jeju Island, South Korea, May 29, 2010.

Credit: Reuters/Ahn Young-joon/Pool

SEOGWIPO South Korea (Reuters) - South Korea and Japan on Saturday vowed to stand united against North Korea ahead of a regional summit likely to press China over its reluctance to taken on Pyongyang over the sinking of a South Korean ship.

Leaders of the three big northeast Asian powers are meeting in Seogwipo, a honeymoon resort on the South Korean island of Jeju, with the original intention of boosting plans for greater regional cooperation and economic integration.

Instead, the quarrel between North and South Korea has stolen the limelight. The two sides of the divided, heavily armed peninsula are in a deepening standoff after a South Korean warship was sunk in late March, killing 46 sailors, and Seoul has concluded that North Korea was responsible.
In talks over two days, South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao are likely to dwell the dispute, which has opened a breach between China and its neighbors, both of whom back firm international action against Pyongyang.

At Hatoyama's suggestion, the three leaders observed a moment's silence for the dead sailors before starting their talks.
"North Korea's provocative actions are unforgivable," Hatoyama was quoted by a senior Japanese government official as telling Lee ahead of the main three-way summit. "Japan, along with the international community, is condemning such moves and strongly backs South Korea."
The mounting antagonism between the two Koreas has unnerved investors, worried the confrontation could erupt into conflict in this region holding the world's second and third biggest economies -- Japan and China.

Many analysts say that neither side is ready to go to war, but warn there could be more skirmishes, especially along their disputed sea border off the west coast.
China counts neighboring North Korea as a friend and a buffer against the other, U.S.-allied neighbors. It has stayed away from condemning Pyongyang, saying it needs to consider the evidence and urging restraint on all sides.

Wen held to that position in a meeting with Lee on Friday, but he also said Beijing would not protect anyone found culpable for the sinking. In his opening remarks to the three-nation summit, Wen did not mention the Cheonan and struck an upbeat tone.
"I look forward to working with President Lee and Prime Minister Hatoyama to achieve solid results (at the meeting) and send a message to the world of confidence and hope in peace, stability and development (in the region)," said Wen.

Beijing's reticence makes for tricky diplomacy for Seoul, which will need China's backing or abstention from voting to secure a U.N. Security Council statement or resolution criticizing North Korea over the sinking. As a permanent member of the Security Council, China can veto such actions.
The leaders of South Korea and Japan made a show on unity over that issue on Saturday.
"Hatoyama said he will take a leading role in international cooperation (against North over the Cheonan) and expressed strong will to back South Korea's position at the U.N. Security Council," said South Korea presidential aide Lee Dong-kwan after President Lee's meeting with the Japanese prime minister.

Hatoyama later told reporters: "We believe what North Korea did is an objective fact."
North Korea state media said on Saturday the United States blamed it for sinking the South Korean warship to "put China into an awkward position and keep hold on Japan and south Korea as its servants."

North Korea has said it will rip up military agreements with the South guaranteeing safety of cross-border exchanges and has reportedly put its military on combat readiness after Seoul said it would ban trade with the North and stop its commercial ships using South Korean waters.

(Additional reporting by Chris Buckley in SEOGWIPO; Writing by Chris Buckley; Editing by Nick Macfie)

After the May 26, 2010 attack in Stavropol...[ 1322 ]

Terrorist Attack in the Caucuses by…Anti-Muslim Extremists

An injured by-passer seats in shock immediately after the May 26, 2010 attack in Stavropol

Yuri Mamchur ( Russia Blog) May 27,2010 

As some around the globe attempt to retaliate against Muslim extremists via cartoons of Mohamed on Facebook, in Russian city of Stavropol anti-Islamic Russian nationalists radio-detonated a self-made bomb. 

The target of the May 26 attack was the Center for Sports and Culture, where a Chechen band “Vainah” was supposed to perform. Seven people died, and dozens were injured in the attack. The victims were common people dining at a nearby café.

The region is heavily populated by Christians and Muslims, ethnic Russians, Chechens, and other Caucasian nations (“Caucasian” in Russian means a person from the Caucasus, rather than a white person, and, in fact, word “Caucasian” often replaces the word “black” in everyday language). 

Local authorities and Russian federal government are concerned about potential ethnic-based clashes. No matter how upsetting Islamic jihad is to all of us, blowing up innocent people is definitely not a rational response. 

Russia Blog extends condolences to the affected families.

Posted by Yuri Mamchur on May 27, 2010 11:02 PM | Perma

May 29th, 1453,,A Day to Remenber [ 1321 ]

     ΕΑΛΩ  Η  ΠΟΛΙΣ    

Constantinos Paleologos the Last Emperor of Byzantium, 
died fighting at Constantinoupolis 
on May 29th 1453 
in the gate of  "Saint Romanos'

Ιράν-Βραζιλία-Τουρκία: συμφωνία για ανταλλαγή πυρηνικών..[1320]

ΗΠΑ: Δεν είναι αποδεκτή η συμφωνία Βραζιλίας-Τουρκίας με το Ιράν

NAFTEMPORIKI.GR Παρασκευή, 28 Μαϊου 2010 23:21

 

Οι υπουργοί Εξωτερικών του Ιράν, της Βραζιλίας και της Τουρκίας υπέγραψαν πριν από λίγο στην Τεχεράνη συμφωνία για την ανταλλαγή πυρηνικών καυσίμων.

Οι ΗΠΑ πιστεύουν πως μία νέα συμφωνία πυρηνικού καυσίμου για το Ιράν, την οποία επεξεργάστηκαν η Βραζιλία και η Τουρκία, δεν είναι αποδεκτή και πως το Συμβούλιο Ασφαλείας του ΟΗΕ πρέπει να προχωρήσει στην επιβολή νέων κυρώσεων εναντίον της Τεχεράνης, δήλωσε υψηλόβαθμος αξιωματούχος των ΗΠΑ.

«Κατά την άποψή μας η κοινή διακήρυξη δεν ανταποκρίνεται σε ό,τι απαιτείται. Αλλά ανεξάρτητα από αυτή ...την πρόταση, είναι σημαντικό να προχωρήσουμε στη Νέα Υόρκη για να υιοθετήσουμε το ψήφισμα», πρόσθεσε ο αξιωματούχος.

Russia : Negligence Over Stavropol Bomb Attack[ 1319 ]

Officials Face Negligence Probe Over Stavropol Bomb Attack

Medics and police help a wounded person after the bombing in Stavropol on May 26.

STAVROPOL, Russia -( REE/RL., May 28, 2010 ) 

Security officials in Stavropol are being investigated for negligence in connection with a bomb blast that killed seven people in the southern Russian city on May 26, RFE/RL's Russian Service reports.

Russia's presidential envoy in the North Caucasus Federal District, Aleksandr Khloponin, made the announcement today. He did not identify any of the officials.

The bomb went off near a cultural center as people were gathering for a Chechen dance performance.

Earlier today, Russian officials announced they had detained two suspects in the Republic of Ingushetia.

The Stavropol region of Russia, which borders Russia’s volatile Muslim republics in the North Caucasus, is observing a day of mourning today for the victims.

Thirty people injured in the bomb attack are still in hospital, RFE/RL reports.

D. Medvedev,: With the "Cheget," wherever he goes. [ 1318 ]

The Nuclear Russian button

 

 The Cheget, accompanies the Russian president, Dmitry Medvedev, wherever he goes

FP,by David E. Hoffman, May 27,2010
 In the event of a nuclear missile attack on Russia, three hard-shell briefcases filled with electronics are set to alert their holders simultaneously. Inside each is a portable terminal, linked to the command and control network for Russia's strategic nuclear forces. One of them accompanies the Russian president, Dmitry Medvedev, wherever he goes. It is known as the Cheget, and allows the president to monitor a missile crisis, make decisions, and transmit those decisions to the military. It's similar to the nuclear "football" that accompanies the American president.

But a new book by a leading Russian security analyst points to a surprising disconnect in the system, a potential flaw that has not been widely understood. Under Russia's 1993 Constitution, the president is the commander in chief, and if incapacitated in any way, all of his duties fall to the prime minister. Yet the prime minister does not have a nuclear briefcase at his disposal. The other two Cheget briefcases are actually held by the defense minister and the chief of the general staff, as was the case in Soviet times. 

The resulting ambiguity, warns Alexei Arbatov, could be dangerous in the event of a nuclear crisis. In today's Russia, neither of the military men has the constitutional or legal responsibility to make a decision about how or whether to launch a nuclear attack. Certainly, they would be among the top advisors to the president at a time of crisis, but they are not decision-makers.

 

Why the danger? The United States and Russia still maintain nuclear-tipped missiles on alert for rapid launch. The land-based U.S. missiles can be ready to launch in four minutes. Warning of an imminent attack might require a president to make very rapid decisions with limited information. In such an emergency, whether in the White House or the Kremlin, you'd want very precise roles for each decision-maker, without ambiguity or uncertainty.

But it seems like there is still some uncertainty in Russia, where the command-and-control system is shrouded in secrecy, as it was in Soviet times. This makes it all the more interesting that Arbatov is airing his concerns in public. His critique is included in his new book, Uravnenie Bezopasnosti, or The Security Equation, just published in Moscow. The volume, in Russian, covers a wide range of security issues, from Europe to Iran, from nuclear terrorism to tactical nuclear weapons. His comments on the nuclear command and control system come in a chapter titled "Democracy, the military and nuclear weapons."

Arbatov, who heads the Center for International Security at the Institute of World Economy and International Relations in Moscow, is also a scholar in residence at the Carnegie Moscow Center and one of the foremost Russian analysts of strategic weapons and security issues. He has been a long-time member of the liberal Yabloko bloc, and in earlier years served in the lower house of parliament, the State Duma, where he was deputy chairman of the Duma defense committee.

Arbatov wants Russia to bring the nuclear weapons launch procedure -- the three briefcases -- in synch with the Russian Constitution. He wants to make sure it is the president and the prime minister who are making the big decision. He is a strong believer in the idea that democracy means civilian control over military affairs.

The Soviet Union created the current command and control system at the peak of the Cold War in the early 1980s. The three nuclear briefcases were put on duty just as Mikhail Gorbachev became Soviet leader in 1985. They are linked to a redundant network, called Kavkaz, made of cables, radio transmissions, and satellites. The three briefcases are essentially communications terminals to give those using them information about a possible attack, and allowing them to consult with each other. Initially, they were given to the Soviet general secretary, defense minister, and chief of the general staff because, in the Soviet system, the military has historically played a larger role in decisions about nuclear war.  If a nuclear launch were ordered, it would go from the Cheget to a receiving terminal called Baksan, located at the command posts of the General Staff, rocket forces, navy, and air force. The overall communications network is called Kazbek.

A postman has admitted guilty to 27 child sex offences [1317]

Postman admits child sex offences

The London Evening Standard., 28.05.10

A postman has admitted that he groomed hundreds of children for sex over a five-year period, using social networking sites to court his victims.

Michael Williams, 28, from Penryn, Cornwall, pleaded guilty to 27 child sex offences when he appeared at Truro Crown Court.

Michael Williams, 28, admitted a string of child sex offences

He admitted three counts of grooming, eight counts of sexual activity with a child aged between 13 and 15, nine counts of causing or inciting a child aged between 13 and 15 to engage in sexual activity, four counts of causing or inciting a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity, and one count of voyeurism.

Williams also admitted two counts of making and possessing indecent images. He has been remanded in custody for psychiatric reports and will be sentenced on a date to be fixed.

The former match secretary of Falmouth Town amateur football club also asked for some 460 similar offences to be taken into consideration.

Between 2005 and 2009 Williams pursued hundreds of schoolchildren, signing up to sites such as Facebook and Bebo, posting as a youngster.

He then carefully groomed his victims online, winning their confidence and often asking them to use an internet video camera, or webcam.

Detective Inspector Simon Snell said after the guilty plea: "He created a number of spurious profiles, portraying himself as a child and was making contact with children of the same age. He sent them questionnaires, asked about where they lived, asking for their mobile numbers, and if they had had sex. He is a manipulative and predatory paedophile."

Speaking outside court, Mr Snell added: "I hope he now understands the harm that he has caused to victims, their families and the many people who thought they could trust him. He is a predatory, manipulative and prolific offender. I hope he can reflect and if he wishes to talk to us about any other offences he should make contact with us."

Williams, who had also worked as a taxi driver, used all of his positions to bring himself in contact with the children, Mr Snell added.

Pakistan : Mosque siege, 2,000 hostages..[ 1316 ]

Gunmen take 2,000 worshippers hostage in Pakistan mosque siege

Martin Bentham
28.05.10

More than 2,000 people were being held hostage today after gunmen armed with grenades stormed two mosques in the Pakistani city of Lahore.

At least 20 people were reported to have died during the assault, which took place shortly after Friday prayers.

Dramatic television footage showed one of the gunmen firing an assault rifle and throwing grenades from one of the mosque's minarets. Earlier, witnesses reported seeing four attackers wearing suicide belts and throwing grenades
The militants also opened fire on the worshippers, members of the Ahmadi minority Islamic sect, before starting a gun battle with police.
Police confirmed that some of the gunmen were still holed up inside one mosque in the Model Town district of Lahore.
“Some gunmen have managed to enter the worship place. We have surrounded it. I have no idea of casualties,” said Illyas Saleem, a senior police officer in Model Town.
“I saw some gunmen run towards the Ahmadis' place of worship and then I heard blasts and gunfire,” Mohammad Nawaz, a resident, told the Reuters news agency.
At the other mosque, several miles away in the Garhi Shahu district, witnesses said the attack was continuing with the militants and police engaged in a gunfight.
Ahmadis are a minority Muslim sect which was founded in the late 19th century. They number about four million and have been banned in Pakistan from calling themselves Muslims or engaging in Muslim practices such as reciting Islamic prayers since 1984 when General Zia-ul-Haq made it an offence punishable by up to three years' jail.
The Ahmadis believe that Mohammed was not the final prophet, which contradicts a central tenet of Islamic belief.
The sect has been targeted before by radical Sunnis, although never on such a large scale or co-ordinated fashion.
Many Islamist militants believe it is permissible or honourable to kill non-Muslims, or even those Muslims who do not share their views.
An Ahmadi spokesman said the sect abhors violence and was deeply concerned. “We are a peaceful people and monitoring the situation and hoping and praying that the authorities are able to take all necessary action to bring the situation to normalcy with the least number of casualties,” Waseem Sayed said via email from the US, where he lives.
Lahore, Pakistan's cultural capital and its second biggest city after Karachi, has suffered a series of militant attacks recently. In March, at least 45 people died after two suicide bombers attacked a crowded residential area.
Another 23 people were killed, and hundreds more injured, in May last year when a group of Taliban militants shot at police before detonating a large car bomb. Buildings belonging to Pakistan's intelligence agency, the ISI, and the police were damaged. The fatalities included at least one child and 12 police officers.
Sri Lanka's cricket team was attacked in the city last year, and eight people were killed in a separate assault on a police compound.

Joint statement for Marine Corps Air Station Futenma..[ 1315 ]

Japan, U.S. issue joint statement on Futenma; SDP leader Fukushima expresses opposition

The U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma

(Mainichi Japan) May 28, 2010 

Japan and the United States on Friday issued a joint statement on the relocation of U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, saying that the base would be moved to Okinawa Prefecture's Camp Schwab Henoko-saki area and adjacent waters.

The statement said that the replacement site's runway would be 1,800 meters long, and that Tokunoshima Island in Kagoshima would be considered as a place to conduct bilateral and unilateral training outside of Okinawa "subject to the development of appropriate facilities." In the statement, Japan and the U.S. also "committed to examine the relocation of training outside of Japan, such as to Guam."

The government is set to convene an extraordinary Cabinet meeting over the relocation and decide on related measures after passing a Cabinet resolution, which requires the signatures of Cabinet members, or reaching a Cabinet agreement.

Social Democratic Party (SDP) leader Mizuho Fukushima, a member of Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's Cabinet, had opposed including references to Henoko in the joint statement. If she refuses to sign a Cabinet agreement, it is believed that Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama will consider dismissing her. Hatoyama refrained from holding a news conference immediately after the statement was issued, as government negotiations over the issue remain turbulent.

Speaking to reporters on Friday, Fukushima said, "I never imagined that we would return to Henoko, so it's very disappointing." However, she indicated she would not resign from the Cabinet of her own accord.

"I am not thinking of that at all," she said.

On Friday the SDP held a meeting of party members in both houses of the Diet and agreed that Fukushima would not sign a Cabinet agreement based on the joint statement. Earlier, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano met with SDP Secretary General Yasumasa Shigeno and told him that an extraordinary Cabinet meeting would be held later in the day to confirm the government's policy on the issue.

SDP leader Mizuho Fukushima, center, is pictured Friday following talks with party officials. (Mainichi)

On Friday morning, Hatoyama suggested that he would settle the relocation issue the same day, telling reporters, "We will present a conclusion today. This goes without saying."

Fukushima, meanwhile, criticized the fact that the SDP had not been informed of the details of the joint statement in advance.

"We're in a coalition government, so we should be informed of the details in advance. I would have liked to have been told," she told a news conference. Later, Fukushima told reporters that she had decided in a meeting of party officials not to sign any Cabinet agreement if the joint Japan-U.S. statement included references to relocating the Futenma base to the Henoko area.

Due to Fukushima's resistance, there is a strong view within the government that Hatoyama will have no option but to dismiss her from the Cabinet.

In a news conference on Friday, Minister of Defense Toshimi Kitazawa suggested that Fukushima should leave the Cabinet if she refuses to sign an agreement.

"Refusing to resign is an expression of distrust toward the prime minister. As she is a politician, it goes without saying that she should make her position clear before all this. If she stays in the Cabinet and retains her opposition, it will threaten the existence of the Cabinet," he said.

Meanwhile, Shizuka Kamei, leader of the People's New Party, which also belongs to the ruling coalition, told reporters at the Diet, "In the end it's an issue that can't be solved without cooperation and understanding from people in Okinawa. It's a developing situation."

Click here for the original Japanese story

India : Sabotage suspected in train crash..[ 1314 ]

At least 70 killed in India train crash

By Harmeet Shah Singh, CNN

May 28, 2010 7:18 a.m. EDT

Sabotage suspected in Indian train crash

New Delhi, India (CNN) -- At least 70 bodies have been pulled out of the mangled wreckage where two trains crashed in eastern India early Friday in an incident authorities linked to Maoist rebels.
By Friday afternoon, hours after the massive collision, prospects were getting dim for anybody else left in the wreckage of crushed train cars, rescuers said.
Also about 115 passengers were injured when 13 cars of the Lokmanya Tilak Gyaneshwari Express derailed, capsized on a parallel track and were slammed by a cargo train, authorities said.
Indian officials gave different theories about the derailment.
Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee said a bomb explosion caused the passenger train to jump rails.
"The blast was carefully timed," Banerjee said on television. "The tracks were sabotaged 15 minutes before the train passed over them."
However, India's Home Ministry said there was no immediate evidence suggesting a blast.
"It appears to be a case of sabotage where a portion of the railway track was removed. Whether explosives were used is not yet clear," Home Minister P. Chidambaram said in a statement.
Police say they have not found signs of explosives on the scene. Manoj Verma, the district police superintendent, said investigators were looking into the possibility that "fishplates" which secure rail joints were missing from the track. An investigation was under way to determine the cause of derailment.
But the role of Maoists "cannot be ruled out", Verma said.
West Bengal's police chief Bhupinder Singh told reporters that officers have found Maoist posters claiming responsibility for the attack.
The crash occurred at about 1:30 a.m. (4 p.m. ET), railway spokesman Anil Kumar Saxena said.
India regards Maoists as its gravest internal security threat.
More than 70 officers were killed in a suspected Maoist ambush in Chhattisgarh state last month in what was seen as one of the most daring attacks by the left-wing guerrillas on Indian security forces.
The insurgents, on the other hand, have claimed since the 1960s to be fighting for the dispossessed.
In February, Chidambaram said that more than 900 people, including almost 600 civilians, were killed in Maoist-related incidents in 2009.
About 200 suspected rebels were also slain as forces moved into areas under insurgent control, he said.
"I am confident that the state governments concerned will gradually gain the upper hand and re-establish the authority of the civil administration," Chidambaram told an internal security conference on February 7.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, however, conceded last year that the nation's fight with the Maoists had fallen short of objectives.

CNN's Sara Sidner contributed to this report.

UK,The Government planned to increase CGT on non-business assets [ 1213 ]

Capital gains tax rise to punish prudent savers

A rise in capital gains tax would cause "unfair financial hardship" for prudent long-term savers, one of the world's biggest investment firms has warned.

By Louise Armitstead, Robert Winnett and Myra Butterworth
Published: 9:49PM BST 27 May 2010

The brunt of the increase in CGT may be borne by middle-class Britons who have been saving over the long term for their retirementPhoto: GETTY

 

The Government confirmed in the Queen's Speech on Tuesday that it planned to increase CGT on non-business assets from its present rate of 18 per cent to "closer to income tax" levels, possibly to 40 or even 50 per cent.

But Fidelity International, which manages £150 billion of individual and company savings plans, said it had "serious concerns" about the proposed tax change and said it was "urging the Government to listen before it is too late".

The powerful investment house, which owns a big stake in most of the companies listed on the FTSE 100 index and rarely speaks out publicly, said CGT increases should be targeted at short-term speculators rather than being applied in a way that would cause "unfair financial hardship to long-term savers".
Today, The Daily Telegraph launches a campaign against the proposed tax increases and invites readers to lobby George Osborne, the Chancellor, to reverse his plans, which are due to be unveiled in the emergency Budget next month.
Fidelity's intervention will add to the pressure David Cameron is facing from senior Tories over the issue.

Fidelity argued that CGT rises should take into account inflation to avoid savers being taxed unfairly.
Gary Shaughnessy, the UK managing director at Fidelity International, said: "We are particularly interested in defending the interests of prudent individuals who invest for the long term. These investors deserve to be treated differently from speculators who are looking only for short-term gains."

The Liberal Democrats drew up the CGT plans following the introduction of the new 50p top rate of income tax for high earners.
They were intended to deter wealthy financiers, speculators and private equity executives from moving their income into savings assets, on which they would then only pay 18 per cent capital gains tax. However, it is feared that the brunt of the increase in CGT will be borne by middle-class Britons who have been saving over the long term for their retirement, rather than such high-earners.
Fidelity said its analysis showed that someone who invested £10,000 in the FTSE All Share in 1988 would currently face a tax bill of £9,910, based on the value of their shares having increased to £75,155.
However, if CGT were increased to 40 per cent without any indexation link to inflation, the tax bill would more than double to £22,022.
Mr Shaughnessy said: "If the Government does increase CGT across the board, taxable gains should be reduced by the amount due to inflation or by taper relief. This avoids investors being unfairly penalised by being taxed on increases in value solely due to inflation."
Fidelity said it was urging the Government to leave the CGT annual allowance at £10,100 in its emergency Budget on June 22.

Mr Shaughnessy said: "Reducing the annual limit would mean many prudent, everyday long-term savers would be penalised for simply trying to provide for their own futures. It might help towards reducing the deficit in the short term, but longer term, if we disincentivise savings, we'll simply end up with more people reliant on the State during their retirement years."
Other financial experts and politicians also urged Mr Cameron to abandon the "fundamentally unfair" CGT rise plans.

Mike Warburton, of the accountants Grant Thornton, said: "If someone has invested in shares or property over a long period of time, a significant part of that gain is going to be inflationary. It is inherently wrong to tax that gain at income tax rates.”
Economists have also warned that the Treasury’s overall CGT revenue could drop as a result of investors fleeing the new higher rate, meaning the recovery of the economy from the recession would be affected.

One in six families — a total of 3.75 million people — owns shares, while 250,000 families own a second home and there are a million buy-to-let properties. About 130,000 people pay CGT each year as they sell their assets to fund their retirement or other major expenditure.

Small investors and second-home owners currently pay capital gains tax at a rate of 18 per cent on the profits made on the sale of their assets. The first £10,000 of profits made each year are not taxed.
Last night there was a growing Tory rebellion against the CGT plans, with about 60 MPs preparing to publicly defy Mr Cameron to block the rise.

In a BBC Radio 4 interview, Mr Cameron said: “We will listen to all the arguments. The process is clear. The decision will be announced in the Budget.”
But Vince Cable, the Lib Dem Business Secretary who first plotted the CGT rise, rejected criticism of the plans from senior Tories, saying: “I’m not sure that reinventing the wheel is the best way forward.”

S.Korea is pointing the finger of blame at N.Korea ..[1212]

	Issue 4401. Last Updated: 05/28/2010

The Gambler of North Korea

27 May 2010

By Yoon Young-kwan

After a painstaking investigation, South Korea is pointing the finger of blame at North Korea for the sinking of its warship, the Cheonan, on March 26. The debate about how to respond is complicated by the fact that the Cheonan’s sinking does not seem to be a stand-alone event, but was, instead, part of a change in North Korea’s general pattern of behavior. Indeed, North Korea has become increasingly bold and impetuous ever since Kim Jong Il became ill — probably from a stroke — in August 2008.

In the past, top North Korean leaders tended to calculate carefully the costs and benefits when they acted to put pressure on the outside world. And they were inclined to play only one of their “threat” cards at a time. But in April and May 2009, they threw diplomatic caution to the wind, launching a long-range missile and conducting a second nuclear test — all in the space of several weeks.

As soon as the international community reacted, by adopting United Nations Security Council Resolution 1874, North Korea quickly shifted to a charm offensive aimed at the United States and South Korea. The authorities released two U.S. journalists and a South Korean worker whom they had seized in August 2009 on charges of violating North Korean law.
But when the North Korean regime realized that “smile diplomacy” did not achieve whatever it was they wanted, the country’s rulers shifted back to hostility. This time, the authorities froze South Korean real estate in the Geumgang Mountain tourist zone and, most seriously of all, attacked the Cheonan. The regime even dispatched two spies to Seoul to assassinate Hwang Jang-yop, the highest-level North Korean official ever to defect to South Korea.

I believe that this change in North Korea’s pattern of behavior is profoundly related to recent fundamental changes there. First, Kim and his third son, Kim Jong Un, may have become much more confident as a result of North Korea’s emergence as a de facto nuclear state. They seem to believe that possession of nuclear weapons provides them with far wider room for strategic and tactical boldness. After all, they achieved what they wanted in defiance of enormous international pressure and even succeeded in transferring nuclear technology to Syria several years ago without being punished. Given such a run of successful gambles, why be timid?

The second change concerns Kim Jong Il’s successor. North Korea’s new boldness may reflect Kim’s wish to polish the image of 26-year-old Kim Jong Un as a strong and decisive leader. Or, it may be that all of the provocations that have followed Kim Jong Il’s illness may be the work of Kim Jong Un himself. In other words, the process of power transfer may be progressing much faster than anyone outside of North Korea has guessed.

Finally, long-term mismanagement and international sanctions have pushed the North Korean economy to the brink of collapse. As a result, the regime may be trying to divert people’s attention from internal difficulties and push them to unite behind the emerging new leader.
The attack on the Cheonan may have been particularly useful in cementing the regime’s hold on the military, which felt disgraced by North Korea’s inept performance in a confrontation with the South Korean navy near the Northern Limit Line in the West Sea in November 2009. But, I believe that this is probably a secondary motive for the attack on the Cheonan.

The problem is that all three factors — nuclear-armed boldness, the succession and economic malaise — will continue to influence North Korea’s behavior for the time being. Without a strong and internationally coordinated response to the sinking of the Cheonan, such reckless provocations are not only likely to continue, but they may become more frequent.
Thus, South Korea and the international community must respond firmly. The planned joint South Korea-U.S. military exercise near the Demilitarized Zone and joint anti-submarine exercise at the Northern Limit Line should be carried out as soon as possible. The UN Security Council should remain firm in condemning North Korea’s brutal attack on the Cheonan. Making North Korea pay a high economic cost for its rash behavior should be considered as well.
All of these options are, however, short-term responses and will likely be insufficient to bringing about any serious change in North Korea. A more fundamental, long-term strategy is needed to face the new reality and achieve lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula.

One of the messages that Chinese President Hu Jintao delivered to Kim Jong Il at their bilateral summit on May 5 — concerning North Korea’s need to launch serious economic reform and open up to the world — has provided a clue as to how to move forward. So far, the international community has focused mainly on the immediate concern of denuclearizing North Korea. But this merely addresses the symptom, not the disease. It is time for the international community — particularly China, Russia, the United States, Japan and South Korea — to devote similar diplomatic effort to persuading and pressuring North Korea to reform and open its economy.

The world must develop a more carefully calibrated policy toward North Korea, one aimed at simultaneously implementing denuclearization and economic reform. The added benefit of such an approach is that it is far more likely to gain Chinese support than today’s single-minded focus on denuclearization.

Yoon Young-kwan is a former foreign minister of South Korea. © Project Syndicate

Spanish ''cost - cutting plan "....[ 1211 ]

Spanish politicians approve 15bn-euro austerity plan

 

Refusal to approve the package would have been a blow to Prime Minister Zapatero

BBC Thursday, 27 May 2010 11:51 UK 

The Spanish parliament has backed a 15bn-euro ($18.4bn; £13bn) austerity package by one vote as the country strives to cut its budget deficit.

The vote saw 169 in favour of the Socialist government's austerity plan and 168 against, with 13 abstentions.

Spain announced the austerity package earlier this month. It includes wage cuts of 5% or more for civil servants and slashes public investment plans.

Spain hopes to rein in its deficit and ease fears of a Greek-style crisis.

'Calming'

A parliamentary defeat would have been a blow to the Socialist government of Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero.

Spain's programme is intended to reduce a deficit of 11% of GDP to 6% by 2011.

"The result is calming for the markets because a vote against would have been very worrying," said Jose Luis Martinez, a strategist at Citigroup.

"But the small margin is worrying considering what Spain is facing."

'Painful but inevitable' Many Spaniards fear the effect the cuts will have on the economy, where the unemployment rate exceeds 20% - twice the eurozone average.

SPANISH COST-CUTTING PLAN

Continue reading the main story

• 5% average pay cut for public workers in 2010
• Payout scrapped to parents for birth of children
• Automatic inflation-adjustments for pensions suspended
• Funding to regions cut by 1.2bn euros

The country moved out of recession in the first quarter of this year, with growth of 0.1%.

The European Union has been anxious to see more fragile European economies, including Spain, Portugal and Greece, impose tougher austerity measures.

Before the vote, finance minister Elena Salgado had asked politicians to vote in favour, saying the measures were "painful but inevitable".

Russian Navy plans Naval-exercise off N.Korea...[ 1210 ]

Russia plans big naval exercise off North Korea

Anti-North Korean Rally

VLADIVOSTOK, RUSSIA.., ( Reuters ) May 27, 2010 10:01 AM- 

Russia will hold large-scale naval exercises near North Korea next month that were planned before the current stand-off on the Korean peninsula, naval officials said on Thursday.

Tensions between the two Koreas are at their highest level in years, a week after international investigators accused the North of torpedoing a South Korean warship in March, killing 46 sailors.
Moscow, which maintains ties with North Korea, has issued repeated calls for calm and restraint from both sides to prevent tension from bubbling over into armed conflict.

The Kremlin says it wants more information about the accusations that a North Korea torpedo sank the warship.
A flotilla of warships will set off for the Sea of Japan from Vladivostok, the home port of Russia's Pacific fleet, its spokesman Roman Martov said. Vladivostok is in the Primorsky Krai, the only Russian region that borders North Korea.
For the first time, other fleets of Russia's navy will also join in the war games.

The Black Sea fleet's flagship Moskva missile cruiser, dubbed "the aircraft carrier killer" in the Russian media, will take part alongside the heavy nuclear-powered cruiser Peter the Great, flagship of the Northern fleet.
Martov did not say whether the planned show of force had any relation to the current precarious stand-off on the Korean peninsula.

The Pentagon has announced plans for a joint U.S.-South Korean anti-submarine drill "in the near future" and said talks are under way on joint maritime interdiction exercises.
"It is business as usual for the (Pacific) fleet," Martov said, without elaborating.
A navy spokeswoman in Moscow said "the exercises had long been planned." She gave no further details.

A permanent member of the UN Security Council, Russia like China has the right to veto any sanctions against North Korea over the sinking.

Next week Russian torpedo experts will fly to South Korea at Seoul's request "to examine material evidence" and say whether the South Korean warship was indeed sunk by a North Korean torpedo in March, Itar-Tass news agency quoted a navy source as saying.

The Kremlin said in a statement on Wednesday that "if there is veracious information on someone's complicity (in sinking the South Korean corvette), the culprits must be given punishment which is judged necessary and adequate by the international community".