http://freeinternetpress.com Free Internet Press :: Uncensored News For Real People Newspaper en-us Copyright (c)2012, FreeInternetPress.com editor@freeinternetpress.com 60 http://freeinternetpress.com/freeinternetpress_sm.gif http://freeinternetpress.com 140 20 Wed, 16 May 2012 16:36:04 America/New_York http://freeinternetpress.com/story/G8-Summit-President-Obama-To-Press-Chancellor-Merkel-On-EuroZone-Growth-Package-34850.html U.S. President Barack Obama is to press German Chancellor Angela Merkel to support a growth package to help bail out Europe at the G8 summit this weekend amid fears in the White House that the euro-zone crisis could damage the president's re-election chances. President Obama is scheduled to meet Merkel, new French President Francois Hollande,  Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti and British Prime Minister David Cameron at Camp David on Friday evening. Foreign affairs analysts said that Obama's leverage with the European leaders is minimal on this issue. Although the U.S. has the economic muscle to help Europe out of its mess, the Obama administration took the strategic decision not to become involved directly. Instead, President Obama is to use the Camp David summit for some quiet diplomacy, hoping to sway Merkel to endorse some immediate actions to help growth. The problem for Obama is that most of the initiatives being discussed in Europe are medium-term or longer, too late to help him if the European crisis impacts on the U.S. economy in the fall, just ahead of the election in November. In a television interview on Tuesday, the U.S. President acknowledged that the crisis could hurt America. "Europe is still weak and that is creating uncertainty for the business community here," said Obama. http://freeinternetpress.com//story/G8-Summit-President-Obama-To-Press-Chancellor-Merkel-On-EuroZone-Growth-Package-34850.html Wed, 16 May 2012 16:34:36 America/New_York http://freeinternetpress.com/story/Water-Policy-Needs-Radical-Change-To-Protect-People-And-Environment-34849.html The international community needs to "radically transform" the way it manages water, energy and land to ensure the needs of the poorest people are met and the environment is protected, according to the European Report on Development, published on Wednesday.The flagship report, Confronting Scarcity, Managing Water, Energy and Land for inclusive sustainable growth, calls on the European Union  to adopt an integrated approach to managing the three elements to achieve universal access to water and energy, and sustainable food security.An estimated 1 billion people are still undernourished, around 0.9 billion have no access to safe water and 1.5 billion have no electricity. The demand for water and energy is expected to rise by 40% by 2030 and by 50% for food. Badly managed or scarce resources tend to hit the poorest people hardest."Co-ordination failures between policies on water, energy and land need to be addressed to avoid the negative impacts of these inter-linkages," said the report, which aims to "shape global action" in the run-up to next month's Rio+20 U.N. conference on sustainable development. "A drop of water, a piece of land, or a kilojoule of renewable energy cannot be seen through the single lens of one sectoral policy or management system. What might appear to be an efficient policy in one dimension can be harmful for others," it said. http://freeinternetpress.com//story/Water-Policy-Needs-Radical-Change-To-Protect-People-And-Environment-34849.html Wed, 16 May 2012 16:33:34 America/New_York http://freeinternetpress.com/story/US-Nuclear-Weapons-Upgrades-Experts-Report-Massive-Costs-Increase-34848.html The cost of modernizing U.S. nuclear weapons, including those stationed in Germany, has risen sharply, according to estimates. Several independent experts told Spiegel Online that the bill for renewing the B61 atomic bomb will rise to $6 billion. The project will also upset Russia, they say. The B61 is the last remnant of the Cold War in Germany. An estimated 10 to 20 of the atomic bombs are thought to remain in storage at a German Air Force base in Büchel, a village in the Eifel mountains of western Germany. Should war break out, the Tornado aircraft belonging to the German Air Force could immediately be armed with the weapons for sorties under U.S. control. The fact that such a scenario is considered extremely unlikely has not prevented the U.S. from embarking on an effort to upgrade the stockpile, as it is doing with much of its nuclear arsenal. The Life Extension Program (LEP) for the B61 -- of which there are between 160 and 200 in Europe -- is considered to be the most difficult and expensive of all. In 2010, the Department of Energy requested almost $2 billion (€1.6 billion) for the project, to be spent over four years. Later, the number rose to $4 billion. Now, the total is expected to by closer to $6 billion, as several experts have reported independently. The first to write of the exploding costs was Hans Kristensen of the Federation of American Scientists (FAS). Other experts are not surprised. "The $6 billion estimate for B61 LEP is consistent with our estimates," wrote executive director of the Arms Control Association in Washington, Daryl Kimball, in an email. http://freeinternetpress.com//story/US-Nuclear-Weapons-Upgrades-Experts-Report-Massive-Costs-Increase-34848.html Wed, 16 May 2012 16:33:00 America/New_York http://freeinternetpress.com/story/Discussion-Greek-Politicians-Debate-Election-Disaster-If-We-Leave-The-Euro-Everything-Will-Be-Worse-34847.html Background: Despoina Charalambidou is something of a newcomer to politics. Following the electoral success of Syriza, the 53-year-old will represent the left-wing party in the Greek parliament. The mother of two felt the impact of the crisis in her home country personally when she became unemployed. The Syriza politician's goal is to renegotiate the bailout package for Greece. Stefanos Manos, 73, is head of the neoliberal Drasi party, whose name translates as "action." He supports the austerity measures in Greece. Manos used to be a member of the conservative New Democracy party and served as economics minister. The father of five children has a degree from Harvard and worked in the business world before beginning his political career. His party failed to secure any seats in the Greek parliament in the recent election, which was marked by a strong shift to the left among voters.  Greece is on the verge of economic collapse and yet the country's left wants to jettison austerity measures. Would this leave any alternative other than exiting the euro? Spiegel Online invited the leader of Greece's pro-business Drasi party and an anti-austerity Syriza parliamentarian to debate the issues. Just imagine: A country finds itself mired in an existential crisis and diametrically opposed political parties are tasked with putting together a government. This is exactly the challenge Greece currently faces. The conservative Nea Dimokratia (New Democracy) and the socialist PASOK parties have tried in vain to convince the radical left-wing Syriza to join in forming a viable government. Every attempt at negotiation with the country's second-strongest party has failed, and Greece now faces a new election in June.  The biggest issue in the vote will be the question of whether the people of Greece want their country to continue implementing the strict austerity measures they agreed to in exchange for European Union and International Monetary Fund bailout money, or if they want to simply leave the euro zone. Spiegel Online invited representatives from two political camps in Greece that are the polar opposite of each other to debate the issue. Stefanos Manos, who leads the pro-business Drasi (Action) party, and Despoina Charalambidou, a member of parliament with the radical left-wing Syriza party, met over Skype to express their views. http://freeinternetpress.com//story/Discussion-Greek-Politicians-Debate-Election-Disaster-If-We-Leave-The-Euro-Everything-Will-Be-Worse-34847.html Wed, 16 May 2012 16:22:52 America/New_York http://freeinternetpress.com/story/Practiced-Civility-Politesse-Trumps-Policy-As-Hollande-Meets-Merkel-34846.html Just hours after his rain-soaked inauguration, new French President François Hollande flew to Berlin to meet with the German chancellor. The pair did all they could to exude amiability, but with Hollande now intent on fulfilling his myriad campaign promises, it remains to be seen how long the congeniality will last. For a brief moment, it almost looked as if the meeting in Berlin wouldn't happen. The weather gods seemed to have it in for the new French president on Tuesday. Immediately following his swearing in, François Hollande was soaked through by a heavy shower as he stood at the Arc de Triomphe. Then, on his way to the German capital not long later, his plane was struck by lightning, forcing the pilot to turn around. Hollande transferred to a second plane and made it to Berlin in the early evening, only to be dampened by yet another shower as Chancellor Angela Merkel welcomed him with military honors at the Chancellery. In the end, though, symbolism trumped the weather. Hollande's choice to fly to Berlin just hours after he was sworn in as Nicolas Sarkozy's successor in the Élysée Palace was nothing short of a statement: Good relations between the two largest countries in the European Union are vital. The importance of the meeting could be measured by the swarms of journalists who found their way to the Chancellery on Tuesday evening -- only visits by U.S. presidents tend to draw more attention. Each gesture was closely watched: Merkel welcomed Hollande with a handshake instead of the kisses she reserved for Sarkozy. But it is still early in the relationship. Tuesday evening in Berlin was not focused on making decisions. It was about psychology, about atmosphere -- and about initial efforts to determine exactly where France now stands on the vital issues facing the E.U. Merkel and Hollande met for more than an hour before sitting down to dinner. They communicated via interpreters, both preferring to stick to their native tongues and only making brief forays into English. http://freeinternetpress.com//story/Practiced-Civility-Politesse-Trumps-Policy-As-Hollande-Meets-Merkel-34846.html Wed, 16 May 2012 16:19:08 America/New_York http://freeinternetpress.com/story/Aftermath-Of-An-Election-Debacle-Merkel-Fires-Environment-Minister-Rottgen-34845.html Germany Chancellor Angela Merkel sacked Environment Minister Norbert Röttgen on Wednesday, replacing him with her close aide Peter Altmaier. Röttgen, a former protege of the chancellor, lost a major election for Merkel's conservative party on Sunday. German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday sacked her environment minister, Norbert Röttgen, who was politically weakened following his crushing defeat in a key regional election on Sunday. She made the announcement in a surprise press briefing at the Chancellery in Berlin on Wednesday afternoon and said she would replace Röttgen with her party's parliamentary chief whip, Peter Altmaier, a close aide of hers. Röttgen, 46, led Merkel's Christian Democratic Union party to a dramatic defeat in the election in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany's most populous state. http://freeinternetpress.com//story/Aftermath-Of-An-Election-Debacle-Merkel-Fires-Environment-Minister-Rottgen-34845.html Wed, 16 May 2012 16:15:42 America/New_York http://freeinternetpress.com/story/In-US-Georgia-Police-Escort-School-Buses-After-Rifle-Threat-34844.html Police in an Atlanta suburb are escorting school buses and guarding students at bus stops after a man aimed a rifle at a bus with children on board and dropped a notebook that listed bus numbers. The man fled when witnesses confronted him Monday morning, but police recovered the rifle and notebook at the scene in a subdivision south of Atlanta. A witness saw the man pointing the rifle at a passing school bus, said Clayton County Police Officer Phong Nguyen. The notebook was found with the weapon, said David Waller, a spokesman with the Clayton County school system. http://freeinternetpress.com//story/In-US-Georgia-Police-Escort-School-Buses-After-Rifle-Threat-34844.html Wed, 16 May 2012 16:12:50 America/New_York http://freeinternetpress.com/story/Disses-And-Death-Threats-Rapper-In-Germany-Fears-For-Life-After-Fatwa-34843.html Cologne-based rapper Najafi has drawn the wrath of Shiite Muslims after publishing a song that appeared to make fun of the 10th imam. Following a fatwa by an Iranian ayatollah, he has received death threats, and there is a $100,000 bounty on his head. Now he is under police protection but insists he will keep making music. This article was written by SPIEGEL journalists, their names are listed at the end of the article. It's every rapper's dream: You stick it to the world, not caring what people think or say about you. If they hate you, they should go ahead and diss you, the more the better. No one can tell you what to do. After all, isn't that what rap is all about? That dream came true last week for an Iranian rapper living in exile in Cologne. But in the tough reality of life, the dream has turned into a nightmare for Shahin Najafi. Najafi rapped about a man who has been dead 1,143 years: the 10th imam, Ali al-Hadi al-Naqi. He implored the imam to return to modern-day Iran to sort out the regime there. Of course, to a certain extent he also poked fun at the imam -- the sort of thing a rapper does in a world that's becoming more and more difficult to provoke. Najafi also designed an image for YouTube: a dome of a mosque in the shape of a women's breast, with the nipple at the very top. He wanted to be provocative. It was rap, after all. The song's message was hard-hitting and crass. What he provoked, however, was not the usual outcry on the Internet, but a response from the Grand Ayatollah Lotfollah Safi Golpayegani in the Iranian city of Qom. It was a religious opinion, one that Persian newspapers have turned into headlines, albeit with a few weeks' delay. The ayatollah expressed himself in broad terms, not even mentioning Najafi by name. But anyone who wants to can easily interpret the ayatollah's opinion as a call to murder. And that is now Najafi's problem, because there are many who want to read it that way.The Next Salman Rushdie   Hardly anything can become as emotionally charged in the cultural struggle between the enlightened and the orthodox as an apostasy fatwa practically asking for somebody's execution. Hardly anything is as capable of stimulating emotions and the masses. And, for this reason, hardly anything is more likely to be used as justification for a propaganda war where both sides are convinced they are right. The West wants to defend freedom of expression, while the radical religious culture wants to defend its faith. http://freeinternetpress.com//story/Disses-And-Death-Threats-Rapper-In-Germany-Fears-For-Life-After-Fatwa-34843.html Wed, 16 May 2012 16:06:27 America/New_York http://freeinternetpress.com/story/Ratko-Mladic-Goes-On-Trial-For-Bosnia-War-Crimes-34842.html Ratko Mladic, the Serb military commander in the Bosnian war, has gone on trial for the worst crimes against humanity that Europe has witnessed since the second world war. Facing 11 charges including two counts of genocide, the 70 year-old former general appeared unrepentant on Wednesday. When he entered the courtroom at a war crimes tribunal in The Hague, he gave a sarcastic thumbs-up and a slow hand-clap to the public gallery. At one point, he looked directly at a survivor of the Srebrenica massacre and drew his finger across his throat. "We visited him before the trial and tried to persuade him to be quiet, not to say anything at all," said Branko Lukic, his defense lawyer. "He told me he made that sign at a woman in the gallery who provoked him by showing him the middle finger. He is like that. He does the same to me." After the break, Mladic complained about gestures from the public gallery. The judge told him to focus on the trial while warning the gallery he would put up a screen up around the court if there was any further "interaction". For more than four hours, the prosecution at the international criminal tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, outlined its case. Dermot Groome, one of the two senior prosecutors, said that the evidence would show that Mladic, as the head of the Bosnian Serb general staff, was directly responsible for the atrocities committed. More than 100,000 people died in the conflict, mostly Muslims and Croats, including tens of thousands of civilians. "The prosecution will present evidence that will show beyond a reasonable doubt the hand of Mr. Mladic in each of these crimes," said Groome. In his statement, he drew on the defendant's published directives to his troops during the war, as well his war-time notebooks seized by Serbian police in a Belgrade flat where he had been hiding during his 16 years on the run. http://freeinternetpress.com//story/Ratko-Mladic-Goes-On-Trial-For-Bosnia-War-Crimes-34842.html Tue, 15 May 2012 19:59:10 America/New_York http://freeinternetpress.com/story/US-Justice-Dept-Opens-Investigation-Into-JP-Morgans-2-Billion-Trading-Losses-34841.html The U.S. Justice Department opened an investigation into how JP Morgan lost more than $2 billion in poorly managed trading at its London office as the bank's embattled boss, Jamie Dimon, saw off attempts by shareholders to strip him of his role as chairman.The Justice Department inquiry is at a preliminary stage and as yet there appears to be no evidence of criminal wrongdoing at the bank. The Securities and Exchange Commission has already launched a separate investigation and as political pressure for greater regulation of Wall Street banks begins to mount.President Barack Obama appeared on the daytime talk show The View on Tuesday to call for Wall Street reform. "JP Morgan is the best, or one of the best managed, banks. You could have a bank that isn't as strong, isn't as profitable making those same bets and we might have had to step in. That's exactly why Wall Street reform's so important," he said.He said Dimon, the chairman and chief executive officer of JP Morgan, was "one of the smartest bankers we've got âЂ“ and they still lost $2 billion and counting".At the bank's annual meeting, held at a tightly secured facility seven miles outside Tampa, Florida, shareholders quizzed Dimon on what went wrong. He said the losses "never should have happened" and that "all corrective actions" were being taken.Forty-one percent of shareholders voted for a proposal by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) to appoint an independent chairman. Dimon also received 94.8% approval from shareholders on his $23 million pay package from last year. http://freeinternetpress.com//story/US-Justice-Dept-Opens-Investigation-Into-JP-Morgans-2-Billion-Trading-Losses-34841.html Tue, 15 May 2012 19:58:05 America/New_York http://freeinternetpress.com/story/Conflict-With-FarRight-Party-Young-German-Muslims-Defend-Right-To-Protest-34840.html A debate about violent Salafists has erupted in Germany after radical Muslims clashed with supporters of the anti-Islamic Pro NRW party during its recent election campaign. Three young Muslims who took part in a demonstration against the party in Cologne described their pious worldview to Spiegel. After the water cannons have withdrawn and the Muhammad cartoons have been stowed away, three young men get into a car in front of Cologne's main train station. They are bearded and have the look of religious men. They seem somewhat dissatisfied. Malik says: "It's sad and humiliating that so few people came." Martin says: "Brother, it's Tuesday afternoon. Many of us work." Koray shrugs his shoulders. He took the day off, he says, so why shouldn't other people do the same? Furious And Speechless   Malik, Martin and Koray had left Hamburg in the morning to protest in Cologne against the cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad that members of the right-wing extremist party Pro NRW intended to display in front of a mosque. Against the will of the police, the Cologne Administrative Court had approved the display of the drawings made by the Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard. One of his drawings was among a series of cartoons published by Danish newspapers in 2005 that led to worldwide protests by Muslims, who were offended by the pictures. Many Muslims believe that visual depictions of Muhammad should be prohibited. http://freeinternetpress.com//story/Conflict-With-FarRight-Party-Young-German-Muslims-Defend-Right-To-Protest-34840.html Tue, 15 May 2012 19:49:58 America/New_York http://freeinternetpress.com/story/Rebekah-Brooks-Defiant-Over-Charges-Relating-To-PhoneHacking-CoverUp-34839.html Rebekah Brooks made a defiant attack on the "weak and unjust" decision by the prosecuting authorities to bring charges against her on Tuesday and dismissed the case as an "expensive sideshow and waste of public money". Outside her solicitor's office in London, the former chief executive of News International said she could not express how angry she was that those close to her had been "unfairly dragged into this". An emotional and nervous-looking Brooks, 43, spoke out after a momentous day in the phone-hacking affair saw her facing three charges of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice over allegations that she concealed "material, documents and computers" from detectives investigating phone hacking at the News of the World and alleged bribes to public officials by journalists at the Sun. Her husband, Charlie Brooks, a racehorse trainer and friend of the prime minister, faces one charge of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice by acting with others to "conceal documents, computer and other electronic devices" from detectives. Speaking alongside his wife, he also condemned the decision as "an attempt to use me and others as scapegoats, the effect of which is to ratchet up the pressure on my wife, who I believe is the subject of a witch-hunt". The couple were among six individuals âЂ“ including News International's head of security, Mark Hanna âЂ“ charged over allegations that they were engaged in a cover-up to hide evidence from police investigating phone hacking at the News of the World. http://freeinternetpress.com//story/Rebekah-Brooks-Defiant-Over-Charges-Relating-To-PhoneHacking-CoverUp-34839.html Tue, 15 May 2012 19:48:47 America/New_York http://freeinternetpress.com/story/Delayed-Indefinitely-Unraveling-Berlins-New-Airport-Debacle-34838.html Berlin had hoped to gain worldwide recognition for its futuristic new international airport. After the announcement that the facility won't open on time due to massive safety problems, the city is embarrassed and the hunt for who to blame has begun. This article was written by Spiegel journalists; their names are provided at the end of the article.  Not long ago, Berlin Mayor Klaus Wowereit toured the tower of the city's new international airport, Berlin Brandenburg Airport Willy Brandt. At 72 meters (236 feet), the tower is 1 meter higher than the one at Frankfurt's airport, currently Germany's most important airport. It's a subtle symbol of Berlin's new-found confidence. The window-surrounded control center offers a magnificent view. In the distance, Wowereit could make out the new high-rises in his booming city and, below him, the glass-encased terminal that is supposedly the most advanced in Europe. The website of the airport's operating company proudly proclaims: "The future lies in Schoenefeld." However, when the 58-year-old mayor had seen enough and gotten into the elevator to go down, it got stuck. The affronted mayor and his entourage had to be carefully cranked down by hand from the high-tech tower to the troubled reality below. Since Tuesday of last week, it has been clear that the broken elevator isn't the only problem with what its operators call "Europe's most modern airport". For starters, massive safety concerns are spoiling Wowereit's "vision of a strong, internationally networked business location with a high-capacity airport." http://freeinternetpress.com//story/Delayed-Indefinitely-Unraveling-Berlins-New-Airport-Debacle-34838.html Tue, 15 May 2012 19:43:16 America/New_York http://freeinternetpress.com/story/New-Elections-In-June-Markets-Fall-As-Greek-Talks-Collapse-34837.html Greece will hold a new election in June after President Karolos Papoulias failed on Tuesday to persuade parties to form a government. The anti-austerity SYRIZA party could win next month, raising the prospect that Greece will abandon its reforms and quit the euro. Markets fell sharply on the news. It was the final act in the tragedy surrounding the attempts to form a Greek government -- and it had a dramatic ending. Greece will hold a new election in June after politicians failed to form a government on Tuesday, nine days after a vote that produced a stalemate. Athens now faces at least another month of political uncertainty that threatens to push Greece closer to bankruptcy and an exit form the euro. After a third day of failed talks with political leaders, a spokesman for President Karolos Papoulias said the process of seeking a compromise had failed and a new vote must be held. Elections rules suggest it will be in mid-June, possibly June 17. A caretaker government is to be formed on Wednesday to lead the country until the new vote can be held. "For God's sake, let's move towards something better and not something worse," Socialist party leader Evangelos Venizelos told reporters after the meeting. "Our motherland can find its way, we will fight for it to find its way." Alexis Tsipras, the head of the Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA), now has a key role because he looks set to win the new election. He is demanding that Greece abandon the reforms and austerity measures imposed on it by international lenders in return for aid. SYRIZA emerged as the second strongest political force in the March 6 election with 16.8 percent of the vote, and opinion polls suggest its support has since grown to 24 percent. http://freeinternetpress.com//story/New-Elections-In-June-Markets-Fall-As-Greek-Talks-Collapse-34837.html Tue, 15 May 2012 19:38:33 America/New_York http://freeinternetpress.com/story/News-Analysis-Standing-Firm-Germanys-Merkel-Wont-Budge-On-Austerity-Despite-Setback-34836.html Intellpuke: The following news analysis was written by Spiegel journalist David Crossland and  was posted on Spiegel Online's edition for Tuesday, May 15, 2012. Hopes that Chancellor Angela Merkel will back down from her strict insistence on austerity are likely to be dashed despite mounting European criticism of her policy and a crushing state election defeat for her party on Sunday. Most Germans like how she has handled the crisis, say analysts. When the going gets tough, Chancellor Angela Merkel is prone to making a quick U-turn. Last year's departure from nuclear energy weeks after the Fukushima accident is a prime example. Europeans hoping that mounting international opposition will make her drop her austerity plan to save the euro -- a policy that is causing so much pain in ailing economies like Greece and Spain -- are likely to be disappointed, say analysts in Germany. The chancellor's personal approval ratings remain high, and opinion polls show the majority of Germans support her European strategy, which they see as the best way to limit the impact of the crisis on their personal finances. An opinion poll for Stern magazine published last week showed that 59 percent of Germans are opposed to stimulating growth through new borrowing, and 61 believe that Merkel should stick to her position. http://freeinternetpress.com//story/News-Analysis-Standing-Firm-Germanys-Merkel-Wont-Budge-On-Austerity-Despite-Setback-34836.html Tue, 15 May 2012 19:33:24 America/New_York http://freeinternetpress.com/story/Better-Than-Expected-German-GDP-Surges-As-EuroZone-Split-Widens-34835.html The German economy powered ahead in the first quarter with 0.5 percent GDP growth, far more than expected, while other countries in the euro zone stagnated or sank deeper into recession. The gap could could fuel calls for Chancellor Angela Merkel to soften her stance on austerity. The German economy showed strong-than-expected growth in the first quarter, widening a gap with the rest of the euro zone that could fuel mounting calls for the continent to jettison austerity programs imposed by Chancellor Angela Merkel. German GDP grew 0.5 percent in the first three months of 2012 from the final quarter of 2011. Economists had expected Europe's largest economy to show far weaker growth or even a contraction, which would have put Germany in recession, defined as two successive quarters of negative growth. German GDP shrank 0.2 percent in the final quarter of 2011. Germany owes its quick comeback to surging exports and buoyant consumer spending. "According to preliminary calculations the exports -- unlike imports -- rose at the start of the year," the Federal Statistics Office said in a statement. Economists polled by Reuters had on average forecast growth of 0.1 percent. By contrast, the French economy stagnated in the first quarter with zero growth, putting Europe's second largest economy close to recession. http://freeinternetpress.com//story/Better-Than-Expected-German-GDP-Surges-As-EuroZone-Split-Widens-34835.html Tue, 15 May 2012 19:27:58 America/New_York http://freeinternetpress.com/story/Former-Mexican-Official-Pleads-Guilty-To-Aiding-Cartel-34834.html A former Mexican law enforcement official pleaded guilty Tuesday in federal court in San Diego to aiding members of a violent Tijuana-based drug cartel in a case prosecutors said included helping traffickers get away with a double homicide in 2010. Jesus Quinonez could face life in prison for sharing confidential information with traffickers while he worked closely with U.S. authorities as international liaison for the Baja California state attorney general's office, prosecutors said. He is the highest-ranking of five Baja California officials arrested in the case, said U.S. Assistant Attorney James Melendres. A total of 43 defendants were named in the federal racketeering complaint alleging murder, kidnapping and other crimes. Four are still fugitives, and one is awaiting trial. About half of those arrested are U.S. citizens. Quinonez, 50, was a primary contact in Baja for U.S. law enforcement agencies and was a familiar figure at cross-border gatherings of officials, including parties at the home of the U.S. consul general in Tijuana. http://freeinternetpress.com//story/Former-Mexican-Official-Pleads-Guilty-To-Aiding-Cartel-34834.html Tue, 15 May 2012 19:26:08 America/New_York http://freeinternetpress.com/story/Panel-Calls-For-Steep-Cuts-In-US-Nuclear-Weapons-34833.html An influential panel is calling for an 80 percent reduction of U.S. nuclear weapons and an elimination of all nuclear armed intercontinental ballistic missiles. In a report for the advocacy group Global Zero, retired Gen. James Cartwright and others argue that the U.S. needs no more than 900 total nuclear weapons for its security in a post-Cold War world. The report chaired by Cartwright, a former vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff known to be close to President Barack Obama, comes at a time that the president is weighing a range of sharp nuclear reductions. The Obama administration is reportedly considering at least three options for lower total numbers of deployed strategic nuclear weapons: reducing their numbers to 1,000 to 1,100; 700 to 800; or 300 to 400. The Global Zero report calls for such weapons to be reduced to about 450, while maintaining an equal number of stored weapons. The U.S. and Russia have an estimated 5,000 nuclear weapons each, either deployed or in reserve. The two countries are already on track to reduce to 1,550 deployed strategic warheads by 2018, as required by the New START treaty. http://freeinternetpress.com//story/Panel-Calls-For-Steep-Cuts-In-US-Nuclear-Weapons-34833.html Tue, 15 May 2012 18:57:11 America/New_York http://freeinternetpress.com/story/Checking-The-Vaults-Germans-Fret-About-Their-Foreign-Gold-Reserves-34832.html New York. But are the bars really where they are supposed to be? A dispute has broken out over whether the central bank needs to check on its gold, or if Germany can trust its international partners. Germany has gold reserves of just under 3,400 tons, the second-largest reserves in the world after the United States. Much of that is in the safekeeping of central banks outside Germany, especially in the U.S. Federal Reserve in New York. One would think that with such a valuable stash, worth around €133 billion ($170 billion), the German government would want to keep a close eye on its whereabouts. But now a bizarre dispute has broken out between different German institutions over how closely the reserves should be checked. Germany's federal audit office, the Bundesrechnungshof, which monitors the German government's financial management, is unhappy with how Germany's central bank, the Bundesbank, keeps tabs on its gold. According to media reports, the auditors are dissatisfied with the fact that gold reserves in Frankfurt are more closely monitored than those held abroad. In Germany, spot checks are carried out to make sure that the gold bars are in the right place. But for the German gold that is stored on the Bundesbank's behalf by the U.S. Federal Reserve in New York, the Bank of England in London and the Banque de France in France, the German central bank relies on the assurances of its foreign counterparts that the gold is where it should be. The three foreign central banks give the Bundesbank annual statements confirming the size of the reserves, but the Germans do not usually carry out physical inspections of the bars. http://freeinternetpress.com//story/Checking-The-Vaults-Germans-Fret-About-Their-Foreign-Gold-Reserves-34832.html Tue, 15 May 2012 18:47:04 America/New_York http://freeinternetpress.com/story/French-President-Inaugurated-Hollande-Under-Pressure-To-Score-Quick-Victories-34831.html François Hollande, sworn in as French president on Tuesday, will have no time to savor the moment. He will dash to Berlin to challenge Angela Merkel's austerity policy on Tuesday evening. Then he has to form a cabinet and honor his pledge to cut ministerial salaries. He urgently needs to score successes ahead of parliamentary elections in June. François Hollande was inaugurated as France's first Socialist president in 17 years on Tuesday at a relatively low-key ceremony after which he got drenched while being driven down the Champs Elysees in an open-top car, as a troop of French cavalry in ceremonial uniform cantered behind him. He was presented with the official chain of office, a gold collar weighing nearly a kilogram engraved with his name and the six previous presidents of the Fifth Republic. He also had a Legion of Honor medal pinned on his lapel, and he received the launch codes for France's nuclear arsenal during a brief meeting with former President Nicolas Sarkozy. A 21-gun salute marked the start of a marathon in domestic and foreign politics, with upcoming summits of the G-8, G-20 and NATO. There will still be some time on Tuesday afternoon for symbolic gestures and the naming of the prime minister before this evening, when Hollande will fly to Berlin for his first state visit -- and most likely his first clash with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in their growth-versus-austerity spat.  Hollande can't afford to compromise too much, or too quickly. He faces yet another campaign battle: On June 10 and 17, France will hold parliamentary elections that will shape Hollande's five-year term in office. He will only be able to push through his reform plans if his Socialist Party (PS) enjoys a solid majority in parliament. http://freeinternetpress.com//story/French-President-Inaugurated-Hollande-Under-Pressure-To-Score-Quick-Victories-34831.html Tue, 15 May 2012 3:29:09 America/New_York http://freeinternetpress.com/story/Report-Resources-Being-Stripped-Faster-Than-Planet-Can-Renew-Them-34830.html The world's biodiversity is down 30 percent since the 1970s, according to a new report, with tropical species taking the biggest hit. And if humanity continues as it has been, the picture could get bleaker. Humanity is outstripping the Earth's resources by 50 percent - essentially using the resources of one and a half Earths every year, according to the 2012 Living Planet Report, produced by conservation agency the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). Colby Loucks, the director of conservation sciences at WWF, compared humanity to bad house guests. "We're emptying the fridge, we're not really taking care of the lawn, we're not weeding the flower beds and we're certainly not taking out the garbage," said Loucks. Burning Through Resources  The biannual Living Planet report is designed to call attention to the Earth's "invisible economy," said Emily McKenzie, the director of the WWF's Natural Capital Program. Natural resources - and the rate at which humans burn through them - rarely appear on policy makers' balance sheets, McKenzie said. http://freeinternetpress.com//story/Report-Resources-Being-Stripped-Faster-Than-Planet-Can-Renew-Them-34830.html Mon, 14 May 2012 16:05:25 America/New_York http://freeinternetpress.com/story/North-Dakota-Oil-Boom-Thousands-Pin-Their-Dreams-On-Striking-It-Rich-34829.html It's a life measured out in 18-hour shifts and washed down with 5-hour Energy Drinks and Red Bull, a job on the rigs in North Dakota's oil boom: three weeks on, two weeks off, in exchange for $100,000 or more a year and the promise of being set up for life. In an America where 18 million are out of work, the chance of finding any job âЂ“ let alone a well-paid job âЂ“ exerts an irresistible force that is drawing thousands to North Dakota in a 21st century re-enactment of the Gold Rush. Only this time, it's oil. North Dakota now produces more oil than several members of OPEC, and many in the industry are predicting America will soon overtake Saudi Arabia and even Russia as the world's top oil producer. To do that, however, the oil fields need more workers than the thinly populated state of North Dakota can possibly supply. Scores of people arrive every day looking for a new start, a second chance in lives wrecked by personal troubles and the recession. "A new guy can come out here and fall off a turnip truck and make $50,000, $60,000 easy as long as he can pass a piss test and tie his boots up," said Don Beaty, an oil worker from Alaska. Not everyone is lucky, and the oil rush has brought chaos and big city troubles, like bar fights, prostitution and violent crime, to once placid small towns. http://freeinternetpress.com//story/North-Dakota-Oil-Boom-Thousands-Pin-Their-Dreams-On-Striking-It-Rich-34829.html Mon, 14 May 2012 16:03:01 America/New_York http://freeinternetpress.com/story/Time-To-Admit-Defeat-Greece-Can-No-Longer-Delay-Euro-Zone-Exit-34828.html After Greek voters rejected austerity in last week's election, plunging the country into a political crisis, Europe has been searching for a Plan B for Greece. It's time to admit that the European Uninon/IMF rescue plan has failed. Greece's best hopes now lie in a return to the drachma. This article was written by Spiegel journalists, their names are listed at the end of the article. There are many things Alexis Tsipras likes about Germany. The leader of Greece's Coalition of the Radical Left (Syriza) party drives his BMW motorcycle to work at the Greek parliament in the morning, Germany's über-leftist Oskar Lafontaine is one of his political allies, and when it comes to his daily work, his colleagues have noticed a certain tendency toward Prussian-style perfection. Tsipras could easily count as a friend of the Germans, if it weren't for the German chancellor. Greek magazines have frequently caricatured Angela Merkel dressed in a Nazi uniform, because she imposes her fondness for balanced budgets and austerity on the rest of Europe. The Greeks, says Tsipras, want to "put an end" to the Germans' requirements and their "brutal austerity policy." Tsipras is the new political star in Athens. While the country's washed-up mainstream parties struggled for days to form a new government, the clever young politician has been dominating the headlines with his coalition movement of Trotskyites, anarchists and leftist socialists. In the recent elections, Tsipras' Syriza party advanced to become the second-largest political force in the country, and Tsipras is making sure his gray-faced opponents from the Greek political establishment know it. Surrounded by cameras and microphones, he stood in the Athens government district last Tuesday, put on his winner's smile and called upon the two traditional parties, the center-left Socialists (PASOK) and the conservative New Democracy, to send a letter "to the E.U. leadership" and cancel the bailout deal that Athens made with the E.U. and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Tsipras knows what many Greeks are thinking. At the end of last week, his poll numbers rose to a new record level of almost 28 percent. Turning Point   Two years after the government in Athens requested the first emergency loans in Brussels, Belgium, the European debt crisis is reaching a turning point. Europe and the international community pumped about €240 billion ($312 billion) into the Balkan nation, government employees were let go, pensions were slashed and a series of restructuring programs were approved. Even though the country is virtually being governed by the European Commission and the IMF, Greece's debts are higher than ever and the recession is worsening. As the political situation becomes increasingly chaotic, new elections seem all the more likely. At the Chancellery in Berlin, the television images from Athens now remind Merkel's advisers of conditions in the ill-fated Weimar Republic of 1919-1933. Back then, the Germans perceived the Treaty of Versailles as a supposed "disgrace." Now, the Greeks feel the same way about the austerity measures imposed by Brussels. And, as in the 1920s in Germany, the situation in Greece today benefits fringe parties on both the left and the right. The country's political system is unraveling, and some advisers even fear that the tense situation could lead to a military coup. http://freeinternetpress.com//story/Time-To-Admit-Defeat-Greece-Can-No-Longer-Delay-Euro-Zone-Exit-34828.html Mon, 14 May 2012 15:48:17 America/New_York http://freeinternetpress.com/story/EU-Israel-Putting-Any-TwoState-Peace-Deal-At-Risk-34827.html The European Union has warned that the prospect of a peaceful and viable solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, involving two states side by side, is in jeopardy because of Israeli actions.In a sharply critical statement issued in Brussels, Belgium, on Monday, the E.U.  Foreign Affairs Council warned that the acceleration of settlement construction, evictions and house demolitions in East Jerusalem, settler violence and provocations, and worsening conditions for Palestinians in most of the West Bank "threaten to make a two-state solution impossible".It reiterated that Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem are illegal under international law, saying that the E.U. will not recognize any changes to the pre-1967 borders without both parties' agreement. Jerusalem must be the future capital of both states, it said.Israel swiftly rejected the statement, saying its "long list of claims and criticisms [were] based on a partial, biased and one-sided depiction of realities on the ground".The statement called on Israel to meet its obligations to the Palestinian population living in "Area C", the 61% of the West Bank which is under full Israeli security control.The E.U. said living conditions were deteriorating, and that Israel must halt the forced transfer of Bedouin communities and demolition of housing and infrastructure, make building permits easier to obtain and ensure access to water. http://freeinternetpress.com//story/EU-Israel-Putting-Any-TwoState-Peace-Deal-At-Risk-34827.html Mon, 14 May 2012 15:47:06 America/New_York http://freeinternetpress.com/story/JP-Morgan-Investment-Boss-Ina-Drew-Quits-Over-Banks-2-Billion-Investment-Losses-34826.html Ina Drew, a thirty-year veteran of JP Morgan Chase and one of Wall Street's most senior women bankers, has quit, as the bank fights to contain massive losses at its London operation.Jamie Dimon, JP Morgan's chief executive, said Sunday there was "no excuse" for the disastrous series of bets it made under the guidance of Drew, the chief investment officer.Drew, 55, was one of the bank's highest-paid employees, and earned over $31 million in the past two years. Among other responsibilities as chief investment officer (CIO), she oversaw the bank's London offices, and the trading strategy that led to trader Bruno Iksil becoming known as the "London Whale" for the massive positions he was taking.The bank said Drew will retire. It made no mention of her severance package. U.S. law allows banks to claw back bonuses from executives when it discovers that their trades have backfired.Dimon praised Drew's contribution to the bank. "Ina Drew has been a great partner over her many years with our firm. Despite our recent losses in the CIO, Ina's vast contributions to our company should not be overshadowed by these events," he said in a statement.Until this week the low profile mother of two was viewed as one of the most powerful women on Wall Street. She became CIO in 2005 and was a close confidante of Dimon's, frequently making lists of the most powerful women in business. She was known as a mentor of other women within the bank. http://freeinternetpress.com//story/JP-Morgan-Investment-Boss-Ina-Drew-Quits-Over-Banks-2-Billion-Investment-Losses-34826.html Mon, 14 May 2012 15:37:59 America/New_York http://freeinternetpress.com/story/Commentary-Its-Going-To-Get-Harder-For-Merkel-34825.html Intellpuke: The following commentary was written by Spiegel journalists David Crossland and Jess Smee, writing under the German news magazine's column "The World From Berlin", which includes editorial comments by various German news organizations. The column was posted on Spiegel Online's edition for Monday, May 14, 2012. Chancellor Angela Merkel has been weakened by the humiliating election defeat of her conservatives in the large state of North Rhine-Westphalia on Sunday. German media commentators say she will face a harder time securing backing for her austerity policy at home, at a time when resistance to it is building across Europe. Last week Chancellor Angela Merkel's austerity policy suffered twin blows in Europe when Socialist Francois Hollande, a critic of her strict approach, won the French presidency and Greek voters firmly rejected the painful reforms imposed on them. On Sunday came a further major setback for Merkel when her conservative Christian Democrats suffered a big defeat in an election in the country's most populous state, North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW). It weakens her at home at a time when opposition to her crisis strategy is mounting across Europe. The CDU saw their support plunge to just 26.3 percent, down from nearly 35 percent in 2010, and the worst result in the state since World War II. The center-left Social Democrats (SPD) won 39.1 percent of the vote and will have enough seats to form a stable majority with the Greens. The pro-business Free Democrats (FDP), which rule in coalition with Merkel's conservatives in the national government, scored a better-than-expected 8.3 percent. They managed to end a string of crushing regional election defeats in the May 6 state vote in Schleswig-Holstein, and have hailed the NRW result as proof of their recovery. http://freeinternetpress.com//story/Commentary-Its-Going-To-Get-Harder-For-Merkel-34825.html Mon, 14 May 2012 15:33:56 America/New_York http://freeinternetpress.com/story/Couples-Therapy-Germanys-Merkel-And-Frances-Hollande-Are-Damned-To-Get-Along-34824.html Despite his anti-austerity rhetoric on the campaign trail and her open support for Nicolas Sarkozy, François Hollande and Angela Merkel are expected to make compromises during their first meeting on Tuesday. In the euro crisis, the pair has no choice but to get along. There could be a few embarrassing moments when François Hollande and Angela Merkel meet for the first time at the Chancellery in Berlin on Tuesday night. Although the two have come across as adversaries in recent months, from now on, their future will be pegged to one another. Never before has a new relationship between German and French leaders been as strained as this one. Both the chancellor and the new president have contributed to that atmosphere. Merkel refused to meet with Hollande during the election campaign and often presented herself as a supporter of losing candidate Nicolas Sarkozy. Meanwhile, Hollande campaigned against Merkel's European Union fiscal pact, her greatest European policy achievement to date. When Hollande campaigned across France in recent weeks, it seemed at times he was acting as if he were going to liberate the Continent from Merkel. At the same time, though, close advisers to the Socialist Party candidate were telling the Germans that Hollande didn't really plan to renegotiate the fiscal pact. They said he would be satisfied with additional growth measures. On the German side, these reassurances are being taken more seriously than the candidate's stump speeches. For some time now, officials within the Chancellery have felt there would also be positive aspects if the Socialist candidate beat Sarkozy. http://freeinternetpress.com//story/Couples-Therapy-Germanys-Merkel-And-Frances-Hollande-Are-Damned-To-Get-Along-34824.html Mon, 14 May 2012 15:31:08 America/New_York http://freeinternetpress.com/story/Gulf-Unity-On-Hold-Amid-Iranian-Warning-34823.html Saudi-led plans for deeper Gulf Arab regional integration to challenge Iran are in doubt after the failure to announce an expected unity deal between Saudi Arabia  and neighboring Bahrain.Expectations had been running high ahead of a special summit of the six-member Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, but a decision was put off until the GCC next meets, in December. Iranian Members of Parliament warned that the plans were likely to increase insecurity in the Gulf.As an initial step, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain had signaled a readiness to announce a bilateral union, but even that limited move failed to materialize.Prince Saud al-Faisal, the Saudi foreign minister, criticized Iranian "provocations" over three occupied Gulf islands that are claimed by the United Arab Emirates.  Threats from Tehran were unacceptable, he warned. Iran is also routinely accused of backing the Shia-dominated opposition in Bahrain.The GCC secretary-general, Abdullateef al-Zayani, said all six member countries would sign up to a common defense policy when they meet in Manama in December. The U.A.E and Oman,  whose leaders did not attend the Riyadh summit, appeared to have reservations. Qatar and Kuwait were also said to have objections. http://freeinternetpress.com//story/Gulf-Unity-On-Hold-Amid-Iranian-Warning-34823.html Mon, 14 May 2012 15:03:30 America/New_York http://freeinternetpress.com/story/News-Analysis-Merkels-Defeat-Germanys-Social-Democrats-Return-To-Relevancy-34822.html This news analysis was written by Spiegel journalist Roland Nelles.  The center-left in Germany has emerged from Sunday's crucial state vote strengthened and newly confident after crushing German Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives. It is a clear defeat for the chancellor, but there are pitfalls ahead for the Social Democrats as well. It has been a long time since the working class in Germany's erstwhile industrial heartland has had this much to cheer about. On Saturday, Borussia Dortmund, a football team adored by many in the once-powerful coal and steel Ruhr Valley region, crushed effete Bayern Munich in the German league championship game. And then on Sunday, the center-left Social Democrats (SPD), once the heart and soul of politics in North Rhine-Westphalia, roared back from a half-decade-long funk to take almost 40 percent of the vote in the state election. Suddenly, it's just like old times in the state -- all that's missing is the smoke billowing out of the steel factory chimneys. For the SPD and the Greens, Sunday's election is nothing short of a fairy tale. And it is a success with a clear winner: Hannelore Kraft, the SPD governor of the state who has now been given the overwhelmingly clear mandate she lacked following the last state elections in 2010. The pair of center-left parties governed Germany under Chancellor Gerhard Schröder from 1998 to 2005, but an increasingly crowded party landscape had made a repeat of the coalition seem unlikely. Now, Kraft has shown that it is still possible and SPD and Green Party leaders in Berlin are seeking to bask in her glow. Kraft has no choice but to accept the adulation; the victory is very clearly hers and hers alone. It shows once again just how important people and personalities have become in German politics. German voters have become unpredictable, with many deciding which party they will support shortly before heading to the ballot box, often swayed by emotion and sentiment. Furthermore, because the political platforms of Germany's two largest parties, the CDU and SPD, are so similar, personality has become crucial. Hannelore Kraft is hardly a political overachiever, but she exudes rationality and reliability. Her opponent, Norbert Röttgen, looked pale by comparison -- and he was trounced at the ballot box as a result. http://freeinternetpress.com//story/News-Analysis-Merkels-Defeat-Germanys-Social-Democrats-Return-To-Relevancy-34822.html Mon, 14 May 2012 14:57:10 America/New_York http://freeinternetpress.com/story/Champagne-Before-Crash-Pilot-Bravado-May-Be-To-Blame-For-Russian-Superjet-Disaster-34821.html A foolhardy maneuver by the pilot may have led to the crash of the Sukhoi Superjet 100 in Indonesia last week. Hopes were high that the new passenger jet could revive Russia's aviation industry and the pilot wanted to do all he could to ensure success. The Superjet had just entered Indonesian airspace on its demonstration flight when a half-naked passenger wielding a shiny, silver trident made his way into the cockpit. Sergey Dolya, a 39-year-old Russian travel journalist and aviation blogger, had bared his chest, tied on a long white beard and donned a crown made of silver paper. Dolya had slipped into the role of the god Neptune north of Jakarta, the Indonesian capital. "I imitated an equator-crossing ceremony 10,000 meters above sea level," he says. "Usually only seamen do that." Dolya wanted to celebrate the fact that a Sukhoi SSJ 100 ("Superjet") had penetrated the Southern Hemisphere for the first time. All the hopes of Russia's aviation industry rest on this passenger jet, designed by a company with an 80-year history of manufacturing military aircraft. The plane was on a demonstration tour aimed at breaking into the dynamic Asian market. President Nursultan Nazarbayev had already inspected the Superjet when it made an intermediate stop in Kazakhstan. Now the Russians were hoping to make an impression on potential buyers in Indonesia. http://freeinternetpress.com//story/Champagne-Before-Crash-Pilot-Bravado-May-Be-To-Blame-For-Russian-Superjet-Disaster-34821.html Mon, 14 May 2012 4:55:40 America/New_York http://freeinternetpress.com/story/Greek-Coalition-Hopes-Dashed-As-Leftist-Leader-Stands-Firm-34820.html Hopes of producing a government to end the political deadlock in Greece were dashed on Sunday as last-ditch talks between the president and party leaders became mired in rancor and mutual recrimination.Efforts to fill the increasingly worrying power vacuum floundered as leaders rounded on Alexis Tsipras, head of the radical leftist party Syriza, whose anti-austerity coalition emerged from inconclusive elections as the most popular force in the country. He was accused of being more interested in party politics than a way out of the quagmire."Syriza doesn't accept the formation of a viable government, or even to agree to support a government which would undertake to renegotiate the terms of the loan agreement," said Antonis Samaras, the conservative New Democracy leader, after discussions at the neo-classical presidential palace ended abruptly.Evangelos Venizelos, the socialist Pasok party leader, said Syriza's "irresponsible" refusal to participate in a national unity government had put immense strain on a country whose finances were heading towards collapse.Without cash injections from the E.U. and IMF, Greece would very soon be unable to pay public sector pensions and wages. If the negotiations on forming a government fail, a potentially tumultuous new round of elections looms. http://freeinternetpress.com//story/Greek-Coalition-Hopes-Dashed-As-Leftist-Leader-Stands-Firm-34820.html Mon, 14 May 2012 4:55:04 America/New_York http://freeinternetpress.com/story/Colombias-Farc-Rebels-To-Free-French-Journalist-34819.html Colombia's Farc guerrilla group has decided to free a French reporter they kidnapped two weeks ago, although they have not given a date for his release, according to the Red Cross. Members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia kidnapped Romeo Langlois, a reporter for France 24, during a shoot out with troops carrying out an anti-drug raid in Caquetá, a rebel-stronghold in the south. "The ICRC [International Committee of the Red Cross] has received a statement from the Farc in which they say they have decided to release Romeo Langlois," ICRC official Daniel Muñoz told reporters. Muñoz said the statement did not mention a date for the release of Langlois, but that the Farc has called for the mediation of a committee formed by an envoy from the French government, an ICRC representative and activist and former senator Piedad Córdoba, who would discuss the terms for the Frenchman's release with the rebels. The ICRC has been told that Langlois is in good health, despite being wounded in his left arm when he was kidnapped on April 28. On Monday, the group accused the Colombian government of manipulating journalists to bend public opinion against them and called for a debate on freedom of information as a condition for Langlois' release. http://freeinternetpress.com//story/Colombias-Farc-Rebels-To-Free-French-Journalist-34819.html Mon, 14 May 2012 4:54:23 America/New_York http://freeinternetpress.com/story/Sea-Shepherd-Found-Paul-Watson-Arrested-In-Germany-34818.html The founder of conservation group Sea Shepherd, which annually disrupts JapanâЂ™s whale hunt, has been arrested in Frankfurt for extradition to Costa Rica, the organization said Monday. Paul Watson is in a German jail after being detained Sunday on charges stemming from a high seas confrontation over shark fining in 2002. A media report in Australia, citing Costa Rican reports, said he also faced an outstanding warrant for attempted murder during the same incident. âЂњThe German police have said that the warrant for Captain WatsonâЂ™s arrest is in response to an alleged violation of ships traffic in Costa Rica, which occurred during the filming of âЂ http://freeinternetpress.com//story/Sea-Shepherd-Found-Paul-Watson-Arrested-In-Germany-34818.html Mon, 14 May 2012 4:47:03 America/New_York http://freeinternetpress.com/story/Japanese-Astronomer-Murdered-In-Chile-34817.html A Japanese astronomer with an international project that seeks to explore the origins of stars was killed during a robbery outside his apartment building, police said Friday. A suspect has been arrested and charged with the murder of Kochiro Morita, 57, who worked on the the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submilmeter Array (ALMA), an observatory in the Chilean Andes, said Victor Arriagada, a police official. Morita was found unconscious last Monday by the concierge of the building where he lived in Santiago, and was later taken to a hospital where he died hours later, Arriagada said. He said an investigation determined that he had been killed with a blow to the head during a robbery. http://freeinternetpress.com//story/Japanese-Astronomer-Murdered-In-Chile-34817.html Mon, 14 May 2012 4:43:36 America/New_York http://freeinternetpress.com/story/Tokyo-Shares-Close-Mixed-34816.html Tokyo stocks closed mixed on Monday with analysts saying worries over political uncertainty in Greece was weighing on investor sentiment. The Nikkei 225 index at the Tokyo Stock Exchange ended up 20.53 points at 8,973.84. The broader Topix index of all first-section issues lost 0.22%, or 1.70 points, to 756.68. The headline index turned lower during the Monday session as a bump in purchases of China-related shares ran its course, analysts said. The buying was spurred by the Chinese central bankâЂ™s announcement Saturday that it would cut the reserve requirement ratio for banks to boost liquidity and help inject some energy into a slowing economy. With Japanese earnings season all but done, Tokyo stocks are not likely to see sharp spikes in either direction, said analysts. http://freeinternetpress.com//story/Tokyo-Shares-Close-Mixed-34816.html Mon, 14 May 2012 4:41:47 America/New_York http://freeinternetpress.com/story/Report-3-JPMorgan-Executives-Resign-34815.html Three high-ranking executives at JPMorgan Chase are expected to leave their jobs this week after a trading blunder cost the bank $2 billion, The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday.   The Journal, citing people familiar with the situation, reported that one of the executives is Ina Drew, who for seven years has run the risk-management division at the bank responsible for the loss.   The other two identified by the newspaper are an executive in charge of the London desk that placed the trades and a managing director on that team. The bank did not immediately return a message from The Associated Press.   The $2 billion loss, disclosed on Thursday by CEO Jamie Dimon, has been an embarrassment for the bank and led lawmakers and critics of the banking industry to call for tougher regulation of Wall Street. http://freeinternetpress.com//story/Report-3-JPMorgan-Executives-Resign-34815.html Mon, 14 May 2012 4:01:37 America/New_York http://freeinternetpress.com/story/Pope-Benedict-Likely-To-Allow-Breakaway-SSPX-To-Rejoin-Church-34814.html Pope Benedict XVI is expected to allow the Society of St. Pius X, an ultra-conservative, controversial splinter group, back into the Catholic Church in an agreement likely to be taken before the end of May, Spiegel has learned. Yet Holocaust denier Richard Williamson, an SSPX bishop, opposes an agreement.  Pope Benedict XVI may reach a decision by the end of May to allow the ultra-conservative Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) to rejoin the Catholic Church. At a meeting this coming Wednesday, the four cardinals of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, which oversees Catholic Church doctrine, plan to agree to a proposal for reuniting the society with the Catholic Church, and will it submit it to the pope. The Swiss-based SSPX, rejects some of the reforms made at the historic 1962 Second Vatican Council. It defied Rome in 1988 by illegally consecrating four bishops, which led to their excommunication by the late Pope John Paul. http://freeinternetpress.com//story/Pope-Benedict-Likely-To-Allow-Breakaway-SSPX-To-Rejoin-Church-34814.html Mon, 14 May 2012 4:00:12 America/New_York http://freeinternetpress.com/story/US-Escalates-Drone-War-On-AlQaeda-In-Yemen-34813.html The United States is intensifying its strikes in Yemen and increasing its presence there as it pursues al-Qaeda. Two suspected U.S. drone strikes killed 11 suspected al-Qaeda militants in southern Yemen Saturday, according to military officials in the country. The news comes on the heels of an escalation in drone activity. Just two days earlier, two air strikes in southern Yemen killed seven, including two top al-Qaeda leaders. And merely a week ago a drone strike killed Fahd Mohammed Ahmed al-Quso, the Yemeni al Qaeda operative responsible for 2000âЂ²s USS Cole bombing. The strike Saturday near the border of Marib and Shabwa provinces is the third to have been carried out this month. The United States conducted six airstrikes in March and at least six more in April against al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), the militant Islamist organization primarily active in Yemen and Saudi Arabia. In fact, there have been nearly as many drone strikes already this year as there were all of last year. Last week, the Pentagon announced that they had resumed sending troops to Yemen to train the countryâЂ™s counter-terrorism forces. The move comes after a suspension of training following the political upheaval that ousted former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh. http://freeinternetpress.com//story/US-Escalates-Drone-War-On-AlQaeda-In-Yemen-34813.html Mon, 14 May 2012 3:58:23 America/New_York http://freeinternetpress.com/story/49-Headless-Bodies-Dumped-On-North-Mexico-Highway-34812.html Forty-nine bodies with their heads, hands and feet hacked off were found Sunday dumped on a northern Mexico highway leading to the Texas border in what appeared to be the latest carnage in an escalating war between Mexico's two dominant drug cartels. Local and federal authorities discovered the bodies before dawn scattered in a pool of blood at the entrance to the town of San Juan, on a highway leading from the metropolis of Monterrey to the border city of Reynosa. A white stone arch welcoming visitors was spray-painted with black letters: "100% Zeta." Nuevo Leon state security spokesman Jorge Domene said at a news conference that the 43 men and six women would be hard to identify because of the lack of heads, hands and feet. The bodies were being taken to a Monterrey auditorium for DNA tests. The victims could have been killed as long as two days ago at another location, then transported to San Juan, a town in the municipality of Cadereyta, about 105 miles (175 kilometers) west-southwest of McAllen, Texas, and 75 miles (125 kilometers) southwest of the Roma, Texas, border crossing, said state Attorney General Adrian de la Garza. Only one couple looking for their missing daughter visited the morgue in Monterrey where autopsies were being performed on the mutilated bodies Sunday, said a state police investigator. http://freeinternetpress.com//story/49-Headless-Bodies-Dumped-On-North-Mexico-Highway-34812.html Mon, 14 May 2012 3:56:36 America/New_York http://freeinternetpress.com/story/Joseph-Kony-Top-Commander-Captured-In-Central-Africa-34811.html A senior commander in the rebel army of the worldâЂ™s most wanted warlord is now in custody, according to Ugandan military officials. The officials told the Associated Press they captured Joseph KonyâЂ™s top military strategist, Ceasar Acellam, Saturday in a brief gun battle in central Africa. âЂњHeâЂ™s a very big fish,âЂќ said one of the officials who asked to remain anonymous. âЂњHe is one of the top division commanders.âЂќ Acellam was taken into custody along with two other rebel fighters in a region near the border between Congo and Central African Republic, said the officials. The officials said the rest of the group of about 30 rebels escaped. They did not offer further details about exactly how Acellam was captured, and some analysts say it is possible he is a defector who decided to turn himself in. http://freeinternetpress.com//story/Joseph-Kony-Top-Commander-Captured-In-Central-Africa-34811.html Mon, 14 May 2012 3:55:12 America/New_York http://freeinternetpress.com/story/Underwater-Volcano-Erupts-In-Pulses-34810.html When the crew aboard the research vessel Sonne set out on a cruise last spring, they were expecting a routine mapping expedition in the South Pacific, but they were in for a big surprise. They ended up witnessing one of the fastest episodes of volcano growth ever documented on Earth. The Monowai seamount, an underwater volcano located north of New Zealand, erupted during the expedition and added about 300 million cubic feet of rock to its summit - a volume equal to 3,500 Olympic-size swimming pools - in just five days. "A lot of luck was attached to this find," said Anthony Watts, a geologist at the University of Oxford who led the study. His team's findings indicate that submarine volcanoes, some of the Earth's most mysterious features, may shrink and swell in dramatic pulses of activity. http://freeinternetpress.com//story/Underwater-Volcano-Erupts-In-Pulses-34810.html Sun, 13 May 2012 3:48:02 America/New_York http://freeinternetpress.com/story/Italian-Anarchists-Kneecap-Nuclear-Executive-And-Threaten-More-Shootings-34809.html An anarchist group claimed responsibility on Friday for kneecapping an Italian nuclear engineering executive and warned it would strike another seven times at the firm's parent company, Finmeccanica.In a four-page letter sent to an Italian newspaper, the group, calling itself the Olga Nucleus of the Informal Anarchist Federation-International Revolutionary Front, said two of its members had shot Roberto Adinolfi, the CEO of Ansaldo Nucleare, in Genoa on Monday.The firm is owned by Italian state-controlled defense and aerospace group Finmeccanica, which operates 16 sites and employs 10,000 people in the U.K.The letter, which was deemed credible by investigators, said the cell named itself after Olga Ikonomidou, one of eight Greek anarchists it listed as currently jailed in Greece. Seven further attacks would be carried out, one for each of them, stated the letter.After the shooting Finmeccanica's CFO, Alessandro Pansa, said the firm would not be intimidated. On Friday a spokesman declined to comment on the letter.The letter takes aim at Adinolfi, calling him a "sorcerer of the atomic industry" and criticizing him for claiming in an interview that none of the deaths during the Japanese earthquake and tsunami in 2011 were due to nuclear incidents. http://freeinternetpress.com//story/Italian-Anarchists-Kneecap-Nuclear-Executive-And-Threaten-More-Shootings-34809.html Sun, 13 May 2012 3:47:34 America/New_York http://freeinternetpress.com/story/UN-Moves-To-Compensate-The-Victims-Of-Terrorism-34808.html People seriously injured or maimed by terrorist attacks across the world would be granted automatic legal rights to compensation and rehabilitation under far-reaching changes to re-balance international law in favor of victims, a United Nations report will recommend next month.The report, drawn up by the U.N.'s special rapporteur on counter-terrorism and human rights, Ben Emmerson, a leading British lawyer, will be welcomed by the U.K.  government at a time when the international legal system faces criticism for doing too much to protect the rights of alleged supporters of terrorism, such as the radical cleric Abu Qatada.Emmerson's report, details of which have been obtained by The Observer, is to be presented to the U.N. human rights council in Geneva on 20 June and the general assembly in New York on 28 June. It is understood to have support in the Foreign Office and other U.K. departments, including the Home Office. The report is also thought to have backing among Council of Europe members, including Spain, which has led the international campaign to highlight the rights of victims of terrorism.Emmerson will press the case for life insurance policies, most of which do not at present cover people killed in terrorist attacks, to pay up to bereaved next of kin. The proposals would also affect travel insurance policies that cover medical and other care for those killed or injured through terrorism while on holiday.Groups set up to support victims and the bereaved have welcomed the progress that is being made.The report comes after a four-year campaign by the family of Mumbai bomb victim Will Pike, 31, who was left disabled. Along with other British victims of the Mumbai attacks âЂ“ and of those in Bali, Turkey and Egypt âЂ“ Pike was left without financial help to cope with his injuries. http://freeinternetpress.com//story/UN-Moves-To-Compensate-The-Victims-Of-Terrorism-34808.html Sun, 13 May 2012 3:43:50 America/New_York http://freeinternetpress.com/story/Trade-In-Sensitive-Personal-Data-Uncovered-By-Secret-Investigation-34807.html The ease with which private investigators can access highly personal and sensitive information stored in secure government databases has been exposed by a report that will intensify calls to regulate the industry. An investigation by Britain's Channel 4's Dispatches program reveals how a London firm of private detectives sold personal data on individuals, including details of bank accounts, benefit claims and even a national insurance number. Undercover reporters also recorded Stephen Anderson, director of private investigators Crown Intelligence, disclosing medical details including the name of one of the volunteers' doctors, recent appointments with a GP (general practitioner) and, in one instance, confirmation of a medical condition. On several occasions, the investigator provided information for payment that appears to be covered by the Data Protection Act, which makes it an offense to "obtain or disclose data without permission or procure the disclosure to another person". The investigation, conducted against the backdrop of the Leveson inquiry, which has intensified scrutiny on private investigators, highlights the apparent simplicity with which data that is not possible to obtain legally can be found. Anderson insists that all the data he unearthed was obtained legally. On Monday, the Home Affairs Select Committee, which is conducting an inquiry into the activities of private investigators, will hear evidence from the Channel 4 investigation as Parliament members examine whether tighter safeguards on the industry are required. The committee will also hear about developments in surveillance equipment and the views of former information commissioner Richard Thomas on data protection. and the experiences of two people exposed to the techniques of some private investigators. Volunteers used in the Dispatches investigation describe how they were left feeling "exposed and vulnerable" after their personal details were discovered by Crown Intelligence. http://freeinternetpress.com//story/Trade-In-Sensitive-Personal-Data-Uncovered-By-Secret-Investigation-34807.html Sun, 13 May 2012 3:41:32 America/New_York http://freeinternetpress.com/story/US-Furious-After-Baghdad-Court-Frees-Hezbollah-Commander-Linked-To-Killing-Spree-34806.html A senior Hezbollah commander accused of orchestrating the killing of British and U.S. citizens is at the center of a diplomatic storm after a Baghdad court last week ordered his release.U.S. government officials have accused Ali Musa Daqduq, a Lebanese citizen, of involvement in a string of attacks, including the killing of five U.S. soldiers on a base in the Iraqi city of Kerbala in 2007, while he was acting as the group's liaison to a shadowy Shia insurgent group, the League of Righteousness.The group was also behind the kidnapping of five British contractors including Peter Moore âЂ“ who was freed while his four bodyguards were murdered.Daqduq, who had been held in U.S. custody since his arrest, was handed over to the Iraqi government last year after the formal withdrawal of U.S. combat troops following a promise from the government of Nouri al-Maliki that he would be tried. The two men Daqduq was arrested with in Basra âЂ“ Iraqi brothers who led the group âЂ“ have already been released as part of a British deal to secure the return of Moore and the remains of his guards.Daqduq, who U.S. officials say has been a member of Hezbollah for almost a quarter of a century, is alleged to have been sent to Iraq to create "special groups" within Shia militias. Despite the allegations that have been leveled against him, he has been held in custody in Iraq only on a single charge of failing to have a proper visa when he entered Iraq to fight coalition troops.U.S. officials claim he confessed to training Shia insurgents involved in lethal attacks while he was in their custody. Last week, however, an Iraqi court ruled that Daqduq could no longer be held on that charge, a decision which has infuriated American and British diplomats. http://freeinternetpress.com//story/US-Furious-After-Baghdad-Court-Frees-Hezbollah-Commander-Linked-To-Killing-Spree-34806.html Sun, 13 May 2012 3:39:31 America/New_York http://freeinternetpress.com/story/Thieves-Go-On-Treasure-Hunt-In-Egypt-Taking-Advantage-Of-Countrys-Turmoil-34805.html Taking advantage of EgyptâЂ™s political upheaval, thieves are preying on the countryâЂ™s ancient pharaonic heritage. Illegal digs near ancient temples and in isolated desert sites have swelled a staggering 100-fold over the past 16 months since a popular uprising toppled Hosni MubarakâЂ™s 29-year regime and security fell apart in many areas as police simply stopped doing their jobs. The pillaging comes on top of a wave of break-ins last year at archaeological storehouses - and even at CairoâЂ™s famed Egyptian Museum, the countryâЂ™s biggest repository of pharaonic artifacts. Horrified archaeologists and antiquities authorities are scrambling to prevent smuggling, keeping a watch on European and American auction houses in case stolen artifacts show up there. âЂњCriminals became so bold they are digging in landmark areas,âЂќ including near the Great Pyramids in Giza, other nearby pyramids and the grand temples of the southern city of Luxor, said Maj. Gen. Abdel-Rahim Hassan, commander of the Tourism and Antiquities Police Department. âЂњIt is no longer a crime motivated by poverty. ItâЂ™s naked greed and it involves educated people,âЂќ he said. http://freeinternetpress.com//story/Thieves-Go-On-Treasure-Hunt-In-Egypt-Taking-Advantage-Of-Countrys-Turmoil-34805.html Sun, 13 May 2012 0:24:44 America/New_York http://freeinternetpress.com/story/SEC-Launches-Review-After-JP-Morgans-Dimon-Reveals-2-Billion-Trading-Loss-34804.html The U.S.'s top financial watchdog has launched a review into the disclosure JP Morgan's $2 billion London trading loss.In an interview with Fox Business, the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Mary Schapiro, said it was "safe to say that all the regulators are focused on this".In a further blow to the embattled financial services giant, credit-rating agency Fitch downgraded the bank Friday.The agency called the losses manageable but warned that the damage to JP Morgan's reputation could lead to another cut, unless the issue is "appropriately sized and addressed."SEC officials are believed to be looking at accounting and disclosure issues relating to the loss at the U.S.'s largest bank, but have yet to decide whether to launch a formal investigation. http://freeinternetpress.com//story/SEC-Launches-Review-After-JP-Morgans-Dimon-Reveals-2-Billion-Trading-Loss-34804.html Sun, 13 May 2012 0:23:28 America/New_York http://freeinternetpress.com/story/NYC-Mayor-Bloomberg-Criticizes-Brooklyn-DA-Over-Handling-Of-Orthodox-Sex-Abuse-Cases-34803.html New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has criticized Brooklyn's top prosecutor over his handling of child sexual abuse cases within the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community. In a statement to the New York Times, a spokesman said Bloomberg "completely disagrees" with the decision by Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes not to hold to greater account powerful rabbinical leaders accused of helping cover up instances of abuse. The systematic refusal by some ultra-Othodox Jews to cooperate with secular justices has been held responsible for child sex offenders being shielded from the law, as the Guardian first reported in March. Despite growing criticism from victims' advocates, Hynes continues to defend his actions, notably his refusal to publicly name suspects or challenge rabbinical leaders who urge members of the community to inform them of any abuse before going to the police. Questions have also been raised over the number of arrests for which Hynes has claimed responsibility, and the alleged intimidation of victims and family members who have reported abuse to secular authorities. http://freeinternetpress.com//story/NYC-Mayor-Bloomberg-Criticizes-Brooklyn-DA-Over-Handling-Of-Orthodox-Sex-Abuse-Cases-34803.html Sun, 13 May 2012 0:22:34 America/New_York http://freeinternetpress.com/story/Hezbollah-Says-It-Is-Able-to-Strike-Anywhere-In-Israel-34802.html The leader of Lebanon's Hezbollah said his militant group is capable of striking any target in neighboring Israel, adding "the days when we fled and they did not are over". âЂњToday we are not only able to hit Tel Aviv as a city but, God willing, we are able to hit specific targets in Tel Aviv and anywhere in occupied Palestine,âЂќ Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said Friday in a televised address.âЂњFor every building destroyed in Dahiya, a building will be destroyed in Tel Aviv,âЂќ he said, referring to HezbollahâЂ™s stronghold in a suburb of southern Beirut.NasrallahâЂ™s comments were some of his harshest words against Israel in several months, and came amid rising tensions between Israel and HezbollahâЂ™s main backer, Iran. http://freeinternetpress.com//story/Hezbollah-Says-It-Is-Able-to-Strike-Anywhere-In-Israel-34802.html Sun, 13 May 2012 0:21:39 America/New_York http://freeinternetpress.com/story/Californias-Governor-16-Billion-Deficit-Means-Severe-Budget-Cuts-34801.html California's budget deficit has swelled to a projected $16 billion - much larger than had been predicted just months ago - and will force severe cuts to schools and public safety if voters fail to approve tax increases in November, Gov. Jerry Brown said Saturday. The Democratic governor said the shortfall grew from $9.2 billion in January in part because tax collections have not come in as high as expected and the economy isn't growing as fast as hoped for. The deficit has also risen because lawsuits and federal requirements have blocked billions of dollars in state cuts. "This means we will have to go much farther and make cuts far greater than I asked for at the beginning of the year," Gov. Brown said in an online video. "But we can't fill this hole with cuts alone without doing severe damage to our schools. That's why I'm bypassing the gridlock and asking you, the people of California, to approve a plan that avoids cuts to schools and public safety." Gov. Brown did not release details of the newly calculated deficit Saturday, but he is expected to lay out a revised spending plan Monday. The new plan for the fiscal year that starts July 1 hinges in large part on voters approving higher taxes. The governor has said those tax increases are needed to help pull the state out of a crippling decade shaped by the collapse of the housing market and recession. Without them, he warned, public schools and colleges, and public safety, will suffer deeper cuts. http://freeinternetpress.com//story/Californias-Governor-16-Billion-Deficit-Means-Severe-Budget-Cuts-34801.html Sun, 13 May 2012 0:16:59 America/New_York http://freeinternetpress.com/story/Dalai-Lama-Fears-Chinese-Poison-Plot-34800.html The Dalai Lama has revealed he fears Chinese agents have trained bogus female devotees to kill him with poison while seeking blessings.The Tibetan Buddhist leader told the Sunday Telegraph that he had been passed reports from inside Tibet warning of the plot, using Tibetan women.The 76-year-old Nobel laureate said he now lives in a high security cordon in his temple palace grounds in Dharamsala, in the Himalayan foothills, on the advice of Indian security officials.His aides had not been able to confirm the reports, but had recommended his need for high security, said the Dalai Lama."We received some sort of information from Tibet," he said. "Some Chinese agents training some Tibetans, especially women, you see, using poison âЂ“ the hair poisoned, and the scarf poisoned âЂ“ they were supposed to seek blessing from me, and my hand touch." http://freeinternetpress.com//story/Dalai-Lama-Fears-Chinese-Poison-Plot-34800.html Sun, 13 May 2012 0:13:40 America/New_York http://freeinternetpress.com/story/Electric-Dreams-Congested-Streets-Spark-EScooter-Trend-34799.html As cities become more crowded and traffic more snarled, commuters and engineers are searching for better ways to get around the world's urban hubs. E-scooters, once considered an unpromising technology, are making a comeback as major car manufacturers rediscover their utility and sudden popularity. The bigger the city, the smaller a vehicle must be to get around. Whoever has been to Paris, Rome or Beijing knows this has been the case for a long time. This will become a universal principle in the future, as urbanization is on the rise along with people's need for mobility. Smaller ways to get around are in demand: bicycles, scooters and small cars. And the best option is with an electric motor because it is comfortable, cheap, well-engineered and, of course, eco-friendly. At the car show in Paris two years ago, it appeared that the car industry understood this. There, brand names like Mini, Peugeot and Smart introduced their e-scooters. At the trade fair in Shanghai, VW followed with its version of an electric scooter. Indeed, a single row of wheels heading toward the electric future seemed to be the big trend. It turned out that this narrow-laned mobility revolution was really a P.R. gag. At Mini, the E-Roller, which was once a project, is now described as having a "research character", according to a company spokesperson. At VW headquarters in Wolfsburg, a question about its e-scooter was greeted with mild annoyance and the response that the company is a car maker and wants things to stay that way. The only question is whether the ultra-orthodox position is smart. http://freeinternetpress.com//story/Electric-Dreams-Congested-Streets-Spark-EScooter-Trend-34799.html Sun, 13 May 2012 0:11:06 America/New_York http://freeinternetpress.com/story/Islamist-Group-AlNusra-Fron-Claims-Responsibility-For-Damascus-Bombings-34798.html An obscure Islamist group, the al-Nusra Front, has posted a video online claiming responsibility for two bomb attacks that killed 55 people in Syria's capital, Damascus, earlier this week.The video, narrated by a man whose voice was disguised, showed no images of militants making or setting up the bomb and did not claim the attacks as suicide bombings.Footage showing black smoke rising over Damascus from the day of the blast was shown at the end of the statement, labelled as coming from the "Camera of the Mujahideen [holy warriors]".The video emerged amid reports by activists of renewed fighting between rebels and the army in northern Syria on Saturday. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported fighting in Idlib province, on Syria's northern border with Turkey âЂ“ a hotspot of the 14-month-old revolt against President Bashar al-Assad's rule."Violent clashes are raging between Syrian regime forces and armed military defectors ... The sounds of strong explosions were heard followed by security forces using heavy and medium machine-gun fire," the British-based Observatory said. http://freeinternetpress.com//story/Islamist-Group-AlNusra-Fron-Claims-Responsibility-For-Damascus-Bombings-34798.html Sun, 13 May 2012 0:08:53 America/New_York http://freeinternetpress.com/story/Romney-Reaffirms-Opposition-To-Gay-Marriage-34797.html Presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney has reaffirmed his staunch opposition to gay marriage just a few days after President Barack Obama's historic statement in support of it. Speaking on Saturday as a guest at a graduation ceremony at Liberty University, America's largest college for evangelical Christians, Romney used the occasion to reiterate his belief that marriage could only exist between a man and a woman. "Marriage is a relationship between one man and one woman," Romney said to a large cheer from the crowd of students, parents and faculty at the Virginia-based college. The private university, which was founded by leading conservative evangelical Jerry Falwell, is a powerful institution among America's social conservatives and fundamentalist Christians. Its campus includes a Center for Creation Studies, and a museum that displays dinosaur fossils staff have claimed are just a few thousand years old. http://freeinternetpress.com//story/Romney-Reaffirms-Opposition-To-Gay-Marriage-34797.html Sun, 13 May 2012 0:06:38 America/New_York http://freeinternetpress.com/story/Greeces-President-Make-LastDitch-Attempt-To-Forge-Unity-Government-34796.html Greek president Karolos Papoulias has summoned the leaders of the country's three largest parties to a meeting on Sunday in a final attempt to forge a unity government and avoid another election.President Papoulias will meet with leaders of the socialist Pasok, the center-right New Democracy, and far-left bloc Syriza at 9 a.m. (GMT).He will then hold talks with fringe parties including Golden Dawn, an extreme right-wing anti-immigration group.The meeting comes after Pasok became the third party to fail to form a coalition.Pasok leader Evangelos Venizelos abandoned efforts on Friday and met the president on Saturday morning to confirm his decision. http://freeinternetpress.com//story/Greeces-President-Make-LastDitch-Attempt-To-Forge-Unity-Government-34796.html Sun, 13 May 2012 0:04:05 America/New_York http://freeinternetpress.com/story/A-List-Of-Allegations-In-US-Lawsuit-Against-Arpaio-34795.html Among the specific allegations of racial profiling and discrimination listed in a lawsuit that the U.S. Justice Department filed against Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio are: -- In one instance, a sheriff's deputy stopped a five-months pregnant Latina woman, a U.S. citizen, as she pulled into her driveway and ordered that she sit on the hood of her car, according to the lawsuit. When she refused, the officer grabbed her arms, pulled them behind her back and slammed her stomach-first into the car three times before dragging her to the patrol car and shoving her into the back seat, according to the lawsuit. The woman had failed to provide the deputy with proof of insurance, a citation that was resolved when she showed a local court that she was insured, says the suit. -- During raid of a suspected drop house for illegal immigrants, sheriff's officers searched a home next door without a warrant and with no evidence of criminal activity, handcuffed a Latino man and his 12-year-old son with zip ties and forced them to sit on the sidewalk for more than an hour next to 10 people seized from the drop house, according to the lawsuit. The man is a legal permanent resident of the U.S. and his son is a citizen, the suit says. -- During one traffic stop, sheriff's officers are accused of stopping and detaining a Latino driver and Latino passengers for a human smuggling investigation because they "appeared to be laying or leaning on top of each other" and looked disheveled and dirty, according to the lawsuit. The lawsuit said pictures taken at the scene show neatly dressed passengers sitting comfortably in the vehicle. http://freeinternetpress.com//story/A-List-Of-Allegations-In-US-Lawsuit-Against-Arpaio-34795.html Sat, 12 May 2012 23:58:49 America/New_York http://freeinternetpress.com/story/100000-March-In-Spain-Protesting-Austerity-34794.html At least 100,000 Spaniards angered by grim economic prospects and the political handling of the international financial crisis have turned out for street demonstrations in the country's cities, marking the one-year anniversary of a movement that inspired similar pressure groups in other countries. Tens of thousands of protesters in Madrid flooded into the central Puerta del Sol plaza in the evening and aimed to stay for three days; but authorities warned they wouldn't allow anyone to camp out overnight, and up to 2,000 riot police were expected to be on duty. "I'm here to defend the rights that we're losing and for the young people who have it so tough," 57-year-old middle school teacher Roberto Alonso said. "They're better educated than ever. But they don't have work. They don't have anything. They're behind and they'll stay that way." At least 20,000 people demonstrated in Barcelona. Marches were also held in Bilbao, Malaga and Seville. Sympathizers held protests in other European cities. http://freeinternetpress.com//story/100000-March-In-Spain-Protesting-Austerity-34794.html Fri, 11 May 2012 14:49:40 America/New_York http://freeinternetpress.com/story/US-Military-Course-Taught-Officers-That-Islam-Is-The-Enemy-34793.html A course for U.S. military officers has been teaching that America's enemy is Islam in general and suggesting that the country might ultimately have to obliterate the Islamic holy cities of Mecca and Medina without regard for civilian deaths, following second world war precedents of the nuclear attack on Hiroshima. The Pentagon suspended the course in late April when a student objected to the material. The FBI also changed some agent training last year after discovering that it, too, was critical of Islam. The teaching in the military course was counter to repeated assertions by U.S.  officials over the past decade that America is at war against Islamic extremists, not the religion itself."They hate everything you stand for and will never coexist with you, unless you submit," the instructor, Lieutenant Colonel Matthew Dooley, said in a presentation last July for the course at Joint Forces Staff College in Norfolk, Virginia. The college, for professional military members, teaches mid-level officers and government civilians on subjects related to planning and executing war.Dooley also presumed, for the purposes of his theoretical war plan, that the Geneva conventions that set standards of armed conflict, are "no longer relevant".He adds: "This would leave open the option once again of taking war to a civilian population wherever necessary (the historical precedents of Dresden, Tokyo, Hiroshima, Nagasaki being applicable to the Mecca and Medina destruction decision point)." http://freeinternetpress.com//story/US-Military-Course-Taught-Officers-That-Islam-Is-The-Enemy-34793.html Fri, 11 May 2012 14:43:00 America/New_York http://freeinternetpress.com/story/Insurance-For-All-Germans-Cant-Fathom-US-Aversion-To-Obamas-Health-Care-Reform-34792.html In Germany, people are baffled by how hostile a country as religious as the United States can be to the principle of mandatory health-care insurance. Not even conservatives question the system, which businesspeople say gives Europe's largest economy a competitive advantage. As the United States Supreme Court considers whether requiring people to have health insurance is unconstitutional, Germans are bewildered as to why so many Americans appear to be against universal coverage. They also question the continued portrayal of U.S. President Barack Obama and his health reform backers as socialists and communists, noting that health care was introduced in Germany in the 19th century by Otto von Bismarck, who was definitely not a leftist, and is supported by conservative and pro-business politicians today. "It's a solidarity principle," says Ann Marini, a spokesperson for the National Health Insurers Association. "Not every 'S' automatically means socialism." Marini and others say that mandated coverage is something that is simply not questioned in Germany. Furthermore, even the most pro-market politicians wouldn't dare to dismantle the country's health insurance system. System Only Works If Everyone Takes Part  The requirement that everyone buy health insurance is based on a simple concept, health-care experts agree. Allowing healthy people to opt out of having health insurance destroys the insurance community and leaves insurers covering only the sick. http://freeinternetpress.com//story/Insurance-For-All-Germans-Cant-Fathom-US-Aversion-To-Obamas-Health-Care-Reform-34792.html Fri, 11 May 2012 14:40:27 America/New_York http://freeinternetpress.com/story/Interview-With-Greenpeace-Leader-Kumi-Naidoo-We-Are-Losing-The-Planet-34791.html Background: Kumi Naidoo, born in 1965, has been the head of Greenpeace since 2009. He was born in South Africa but his family originally comes from India. Prior to joining Greenpeace, he was involved with several different activist organizations, including Civicus, the Clinton Global Initiative, Amnesty International and the World Economic Forum's anti-poverty initiative. In the 1980s, he fought against the Apartheid regime in South Africa before being arrested in 1986. He fled the country in 1989. The following interview with Mr. Naidoo was conducted by Spiegel Online journalist Stefan Schultz. The environmental movement is losing momentum and governments around the world are ignoring their responsibility for slowing climate change. Greenpeace head Kumi Naidoo, however, remains optimistic. In an interview, he explains his new vision for a sustainable world -- and how the pope can help. Politicians and business leaders are fond of talking about the new era of the green economy. But in reality, the exploitation of nature is on the rise. The Brazilian parliament is seeking to weaken laws protecting the rain forest. At the climate conference in Durban, South Africa, no agreement could be reached on limiting CO2 emissions. And in developing economies such as China and India, dozens of new coal-fired power plants are in the works. One government after another is ducking its responsibility when it comes to the fight against climate change. Meanwhile, environmental activists around the globe have proven unable to reverse, or even slow, the trend. Indeed, the green movement seems to have lost momentum. Now, the head of Greenpeace has begun pursuing a new strategy. Kumi Naidoo is shifting his organization's focus to the developing world. He is linking the fight against global warming with the fight against poverty and is increasing Greenpeace's cooperation with large companies. Critics have accused Naidoo of weakening the Greenpeace brand name. Spiegel Online caught up with Naidoo at the St. Gallen Symposium in the Swiss city of the same name. In an interview, he defended Greenpeace against accusations that it has become too soft. SPIEGEL ONLINE: Mr. Naidoo, Greenpeace seems to be powerless in its struggle to protect the environment. Is the planet already lost? Naidoo: For millions of people, especially in Africa, it is already too late. They are already feeling the impact of climate change, which is not to say that through adaptation and mitigation they, and the rest of the world, cannot avert the worst consequences or relieve the suffering. But we need to act now and start doing all we can to protect the climate. We are definitely not powerless, but we need support. Other interests -- such as the oil lobby -- have access to vastly more financial resources than us, and this is what we're up against. SPIEGEL ONLINE: What was your most recent success? http://freeinternetpress.com//story/Interview-With-Greenpeace-Leader-Kumi-Naidoo-We-Are-Losing-The-Planet-34791.html