The ‘Ave Maria’ Case...[ 778 ]

Aliti : Court wrong to deny " Ave Maria " Case

FOXNews,,,March 22, 2010 - 10:19 AM | by: Lee Ross

The beautiful strains of "Ave Maria" will not echo through the marbled walls of the Supreme Court, nor will arguments, over Justice Samuel Alito's objections, in a case about the playing of the standard at a high school graduation.

On Monday the high court announced it will not hear the appeal of Kathryn Nurre who with other classmates was prohibited from performing an instrumental version of the popular tune at their graduation ceremony from an Everett, Washington high school.

The school's principal after consultation with other officials struck the song from the graduation program. District superintendent Carol Whitehead justified the decision by reasoning that "many people would see [the song] as religious in nature."

Nurre sued the school district claiming its decision violated her constitutional rights. Lower courts have ruled in favor of the district but in their petition to the Supreme Court, Nurre's lawyers contend "the censorship in this case involves political correctness run amuck."

They take issue with the lower court's reasoning that the district's action was justified because of concerns that people would complain about the song in a reprise of an issue raised following a previous graduation ceremony. Nurre's lawyers further argued the school district’s decision justifies the sacrifice of artistic and student expression "to a heckler's veto that seeks to sanitize even the remotest vestige of religion from public life."

Justice Alito announced his disagreement with the high court's decision to stay out of the case by writing the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals decision "is not easy to square with our free speech jurisprudence."

Lawyers for the school district asked the justices not to take case claiming the Ninth Circuit ruling last year was correct and that the issues presented by Nurre failed to offer the type of significant legal conflict that is normally resolved by the high court. Furthermore it defended the decision as within its authority to maintain "the orderly administration" of education for its students.

The school district concluded its argument to the justices by saying it does not seek "to deprive students of learning opportunities, nor is it seeking to purge altogether religious-inspired works from public education. Instead, it simply sought to provide an atmosphere in which all graduates could celebrate their academic achievements, free from controversial messages....the District simply had no choice but to act as it did, within the confines of the law."

Alito was sharply critical of the school officials and their decision. He said that when the school gives students the opportunity to express themselves they must respect the students' right to free speech. "School administrators may not behave like puppet masters who create the illusion that students are engaging in personal expression when in fact the school administration is pulling the strings," Alito wrote.

Police arrested suspect of poker raid[ 777 ]

Police arrest suspected organizer of poker raid

AP, BERLIN,, Updated March 22, 2010

Authorities say they have arrested a fifth suspect in this month's brazen raid on a poker tournament in Berlin — a man they believe organized the heist.

Police say the 28-year-old Lebanese citizen was arrested on Sunday night. They say they believe he organized the attack and drove the getaway car.

Four men suspected of carrying out the raid have already been arrested over the past week.
Police say the attackers were armed with a revolver and a machete when they stormed the tournament at a downtown Berlin hotel March 6 and made off with $327,300 in jackpot money.
Police said Monday they are still trying to track down the money.

Google and..China...[ 776 ]

Google stops censoring search results in China

Google has stopped censoring search results in China in defiance of authorities there.

REUTERS, By Nick Allen in Los Angeles
Published: 8:09PM GMT 22 Mar 2010

Google has stopped censoring results through its Chinese search engine Photo: REUTERS

It is the latest step in a deepening row between the internet giant and Beijing over censorship and hacking.

Speculation had been mounting that Google was preparing to announce a decision to pull out of China, which is the world’s largest internet market by users, or at least shut down its Chinese search engine.

But instead it has decided to redirect users of its China search engine Google.cn to the Hong Kong-based Google.com.hk.

China has repeatedly warned Google that it will face consequences if it does not comply with censorship rules.

Google’s chief legal officer David Drummond said: “We want as many people in the world as possible to have access to our services, including users in mainland China, yet the Chinese government has been crystal clear throughout our discussions that self-censorship is a non-negotiable legal requirement.

“We believe this new approach of providing uncensored search in simplified Chinese from Google.com.hk is a sensible solution to the challenges we’ve faced. It’s entirely legal and will meaningfully increase access to information for people in China.

“We very much hope that the Chinese government respects our decision, though we are well aware that it could at any time block access to our services.” He said Google would be carefully monitoring access issues.

Google said it intends to continue research and development work in China and maintain a sales presence there, though the size of the sales force will be partly dependent on the ability of mainland Chinese users to access Google.com.hk.

The decision comes amid heightened tensions between China and the United States over a range of issues from internet freedom to the yuan exchange rate, from economic sanctions on Iran to US weapons sales to Taiwan.

Google had flagged its intention to withdraw from China, the world’s largest Internet market by users, in January when it said it had detected a sophisticated cyber attack on its computers that it traced to China.

A senior US official said the State Department had been given a “heads up” about Google’s latest move.

Pipelay vessel heads for Baltic[ 775 ]

First Nord Stream pipelay vessel heads for Baltic

More on this topic

Klaus von Mandelsloh/Nord Stream/Handou

MOSCOW (RIA Novosti)15:34,,22/03/2010

The first pipelay vessel started its journey to the Baltic Sea to begin construction on the Nord Stream pipeline, which will pump Russian natural gas to Europe, the project operator said on Monday.

The 150 meter-long (492 feet) Castoro 6, refurbished in the Netherlands, will start laying the pipes in Swedish waters, about 60 km (37 miles) off the coast of the Swedish island of Gotland, Nord Stream A.G. said.

The 1,220 km-long (758-mile) Nord Stream pipeline will eventually pump 55 billion cubic meters of gas per year to western Europe, bypassing traditional transit countries such as Ukraine and Belarus.

Nord Stream will build two pipelines, each with a capacity of 27.5 billion cubic meters a year, on the Baltic Sea floor stretching from Russia's Vyborg near the Finnish border to Greifswald on the coast of Germany.

Nord Stream A.G. announced on March 16 that it had secured 3.9 billion euros ($5.3 billion) in financing for the project, covering 70% of the first phase. Gas transportation on the new line should begin in 2011.

The remaining 30% of the costs are expected to be financed by the Nord Stream shareholders. Russian energy giant Gazprom holds a 51% stake, German chemical group BASF/Winterhshall and utility E.ON Ruhrgas each hold 20% stakes and Dutch energy group Gasunie holds 9%.

And the ...Sherlock Holmes ...[ 774 ]

Sherlock Holmes to police modern London in new series

The detective Sherlock Holmes is to police the mean streets of modern London in a new BBC series.

By Urmee Khan, Digital and Media Correspondent
Published: 12:51PM GMT 22 Mar 2010

Robert Downey Junior and Jude Law in Sherlock Holmes

The new show, Sherlock, will star Benedict Cumberbatch as Holmes and his sidekick Dr Watson will be played by Martin Freeman.

The series, which began filming this month, has been written by Steven Moffat, the writer of Doctor Who and the actor and novelist Mark Gatiss, star of The League of Gentlemen.

Moffat insists that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s famous characters will essentially remain the same – and the men will still be based at the famed 221B Baker Street address, however they will be fighting crime in 21st century London.

“Everything that matters about Holmes and Watson is the same," he said.

“Conan Doyle's stories were never about frock-coats and gas light; they're about brilliant detection, dreadful villains and blood-curdling crimes and frankly, to hell with the crinoline."

Although the events of the books are being transferred to the present day, existing elements are being incorporated into the new characters.

When Holmes first meets Watson, recorded in A Study in Scarlet, he asks: "How are you? You have been in Afghanistan, I perceive," and the doctor has to admit he has been serving there. This time, however, he has been tending troops battling the Taliban, according to the writers.

They also hint that Holmes will discover that Moriarty, his nemesis, will also appear in 21st-century London.

Gatiss, a lifelong devotee of Conan Doyle's original stories, said they provided him with an escape from his childhood in Newton Aycliffe, County Durham.

"I used to wish I had been brought up in Oxford or somewhere pretty," he said. "I retreated into Sherlock Holmes. I wanted to live like an 1895 detective, not in a grim post-industrial town."

"It's a great comfort to me; a world in which German spies have bombs under their cloaks and submarine plans are stolen in the fog is a nice place to be when you fear that a dirty bomb might go off at Liverpool Street any day, " he told The Observer

The show has already been sold to networks in the US and Australia following a one-off pilot made last year. Originally commissioned as a one-off, a further three episodes were ordered in 2009 and the series is due for broadcast in 2010.

There has been renewed interest in the Victorian detective recently. Sherlock Holmes directed by Guy Richie was released at Christmas and cast Robert Downey Jr as the super-sleuth with Jude Law as Dr Watson.

A rival film – a comedy tipped to star Sacha Baron Cohen and Will Ferrell – has also been announced, which will be produced by Judd Apatow, famed for Anchorman and Knocked Up.