Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/180573815?client_source=feed&format=rss
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Friday, December 30, 2011
Video: Obama's baby surprise
As North Korea mourns, its neighbor shrugs
As one journalist put it, it said how much we all knew about North Korea that for the better part of Wednesday morning, most of the world remained in the dark about just when ? if at all? ? the state funeral for Kim Jong Il had begun.
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036697/vp/45799904#45799904
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Thursday, December 29, 2011
AP sources: US to sell F-15s to Saudi Arabia (AP)
WASHINGTON ? The Obama administration is poised to announce the sale of nearly $30 billion worth of F-15 fighter jets to Saudi Arabia, U.S. officials said Wednesday.
The deal will send 84 new fighter jets and upgrades for 70 more, for a total of $29.4 billion, according to the officials, who requested anonymity because the sale has not been made public.
The agreement boosts the military strength of Saudi Arabia, a key U.S. ally in the Middle East, at a time when the Obama administration is looking to counter Iranian threats in the region. Underscoring that effort was a fresh threat this week from Tehran, which warned that it could disrupt traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, a vital Persian Gulf oil transport route, if Washington levies new sanctions targeting Iran's crude oil exports.
About a year ago, the administration got the go-ahead from Congress for a 10-year, $60 billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia that included F-15s, helicopters and a broad array of missiles, bombs and delivery systems, as well as radar warning systems and night-vision goggles.
The plan initially raised concerns from pro-Israeli lawmakers, but U.S. officials reassured Congress that Israel's military edge would not be undercut by the sale. Additionally, there is now broad agreement among Israel, the Gulf Arab states and the West that Iran poses a significant and unpredictable threat.
Saudi Arabia and Iran are bitter regional rivals. Tensions between them were further stoked earlier this year after the U.S. accused Iran of plotting to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the U.S. in Washington.
Saudi Arabia is already the most militarily advanced of the Arab Gulf states, one of the richest countries in the world, and central to American policy in the Middle East. It is also vital to U.S. energy security, with Saudi Arabia ranking as the third-largest source of U.S. oil imports.
___
Associated Press writer Julie Pace in Honolulu contributed to this report.
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Wednesday, December 28, 2011
U.S. adds surveillance drone on Mexico border (Reuters)
SIERRA VISTA, Ariz, Dec 27 ? U.S. authorities took possession of an additional high-tech surveillance drone on Tuesday to overfly the rugged Arizona borderlands to look for drug smugglers and illegal immigrants crossing from Mexico.
The Predator-B drone is based at the National Air Security Operations Center in Sierra Vista, a few miles north of the Mexico border in southeast Arizona, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency said.
The addition brings CBP's fleet of surveillance drones along the nearly 2,000-mile southwest border with Mexico to six. Four are based at the Arizona center, and two more overfly the border from Corpus Christi, Texas.
"The missions from these two centers will allow CBP to deploy its unmanned aircraft from the eastern tip of California across the common Mexican land borders of Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas," CBP said in a statement.
The unmanned aircraft are equipped with tools including powerful day and night vision cameras which enable operators to spot incursions by drug traffickers and illegal immigrants slipping over the border from Mexico.
The surveillance operations under the program have led to the seizure of around 46,600 pounds of illicit drugs and 7,500 arrests along the southwest border.
This past year, arrests of illegal immigrants crossing north over the southwest border dropped to 327,577, their lowest level since 1972 when President Richard Nixon was in the White House.
Factors in the stark decline have included tightened border and workplace enforcement, a slowed U.S. economy providing fewer jobs to undocumented workers, and increased drug cartel-related violence in Mexico making the journey north more hazardous, according to analysts.
The arrival of the Predator-B marks the second of two unmanned aircraft earmarked in supplemental budget provisions identified in August 2010.
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Saturday, December 24, 2011
'NCAA Football 12' sim: Alabama to win national title.
Until Bama plays for #14!
Source: http://www.tidefans.com/forums/football/157163-ncaa-football-12-sim-alabama-win-national-title.html
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NCAA summons oil marketers over adulterated fuel
The Nigerian Civil?Aviation?Authority (NCAA) yesterday ?summoned oil marketers to a meeting ?over alleged supply of adulterated kerosene to airlines instead of the approved Aviation Fuel otherwise called Jet-A1.
This stemmed from allegations levelled against one of the oil marketers by ?the six major oil marketers associations in Nigeria and the Association of Petroleum Products Marketers.
The major oil marketers hadprotested the alleged underhand dealings of ?one of the oil marketers, ?which they claimed endangers safety and the integrity of their business if not checked by the government.
The Director-General of NCAA, Dr Harold Demuren, who confirmed receiving ?the protest letter from the oil marketers,explained that ? the meeting was called to hear from both parties the authenticity of the allegation. He added that it was unbelievable that a marketer would be selling adulterated fuel to airlines.
He said it was unbecoming when there were checks put in place to ensure that approved products were supplied to airlines.
Specifically, the ?airlines accused one of the oil marketers of ?selling Dual Purpose kerosene(DPK) to unsuspecting airlines as Aviation Fuel and that checks with Lloyd of London, which has the list of oil importers indicated that ?the oil marketer never bought or imported Aviation Fuel in the past one year. It also confirmed that what the oil marketer has been importing was the domestic kerosene being sold at N40.90 per litre, which it ?in turn sold to airlines as Aviation Fuel at N152 per litre.
The bodies, therefore, called for an high-powered panel to verify their claims so as not to endanger the lives of air travellers due to the inherent danger the use of domestic kerosene could cause.
Airlines Operators of Nigeria (AON) spokesman, Alhaji Mohammed Tukur, said the allegation was unbelievable because there were technical checksput in place by airlines to ensure that they do not lift adulterated fuel or unapproved fuel for the safety of their aircraft.
He called for the setting up of a presidential panel or a panel by the NCAA with AON representatives to look into the veracity of the allegation and if found to be true.
He explained that the culprit should be prosecuted to serve as deterrent and if those that alleged were found to be spreading falsehood, then they should be ? sanctioned.
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Friday, December 23, 2011
Good Reads: Remembrances of Vaclav Havel, Christopher Hitchens, and Kim Jong-il (video)
The passing of two great writers, Havel and Hitchens, may not cause currencies to fluctuate or armies to go on standby as Kim Jong-il's death has today. But the influence of their words will live on.
One of the benefits of being a rather famous writer is that when you do ?go gentle in that good night,? all your friends, who are also rather famous writers, write stories about you. The stories may be true or false, funny or moving, but they will be well-written.
Skip to next paragraphThe magazines this week are full of tributes and remembrances of two writers who passed on in the past few days, and who will be missed: Vaclav Havel, the playwright-turned-president of the Czech Republic, and Christopher Hitchens, the liberal Brit who didn?t mind offending liberal Americans, repeatedly.
Their passing may not cause currencies to fluctuate or neighboring armies to be put on standby, as North Korean President Kim Jong-il?s death today has.?But the melody of their words continues on long after their instruments go silent.?
It?s not hard to understand the appeal of a man like Vaclav Havel. He is the man who experienced true revenge against a totalitarian regime, using the most brutal weapon: his humor. He was a playwright, a novelist, and an activist by accident. He wrote bizarre stories about the everyday absurdities of a totalitarian regime that jailed him, and when that regime lost its outside funding and crumbled, he feasted with rock stars and poets, and, oddly, became president.
To his credit, Havel was always a better writer than he was a politician. But he steered his country well enough in its voyage from a Soviet satellite to an independent partner in a larger Europe.
In this week?s New Yorker, I love this observation from David Remnick:
Even surrounded by the pomp of his office, Havel retained to the end an impish smile, a constant acknowledgement that his power was both an immense responsibility and an equally immense cosmic joke. I came to the Castle, in 2003, to talk with him?for a Profile?just as he was preparing to leave power. He gave me as a gift a marvelous book of photographs portraying his life as an artist and politician. He signed it to my wife, who had covered the 1989 revolution in Prague with me, in lime-green marker and then drew a little heart, in red, next to his signature. I have a hard time imagining any other president goofing around like that.
Less powerful, perhaps, but equally complex is the writer Christopher Hitchens, a man who somehow survived on freelance writing, contribution to a number of magazines, including Vanity Fair, the Nation, Slate, the Atlantic, and the New York Times Book Review.
Foreign policy wonks will always remember Hitchens for his vigorous lobbying for war against Iraq, a cause he both regretted and remained unapologetic about.
?To say one had no regrets would be abnormally unreflective, I think,? Hitchens told the BBC?s Jeremy Paxman in 2010. But while he recognized the war's effect on the Iraqi population, including the deaths of an estimated 100,000 civilians, he said that the goal of removing Saddam Hussein from power was the only morally correct decision. ?I finally found I couldn?t support any policy that involved the continuation of Saddam Hussein in power? So to that extent, I?m not apologetic.?
Graydon Carter, the editor of Vanity Fair, wrote a remembrance of Hitchens that may be excruciating to ordinary people, but is the ultimate compliment to a true reporter.
There was no subject too big or too small for Christopher. Over the past two decades he traveled to just about every hot spot you can think of. He?d also subject himself to any manner of humiliation or discomfort in the name of his column. I once sent him out on a mission to break the most niggling laws still on the books in New York City. One such decree forbade riding a bicycle with your feet off the pedals. The photograph that ran with the column, of Christopher sailing a small bike through Central Park with his legs in the air, looked like something out of the Moscow Circus.?
Which brings us to the Dear Leader. We may never know whether Kim Jong-il rode a bike with his legs in the air. We may never know if he had a whimsical side, poking fun at himself as he pushed his navy into open battles with South Korea, urged his people to eat grass when rice became unavailable, or played nuclear brinksmanship with the West.
Someday soon, there will be a giant stone statue in Pyongyang marking the life of Kim Jong-il. But Vaclav Havel and Christopher Hitchens will live on in their words.?
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Thursday, December 22, 2011
Iraqi tensions are policy, political challenge for Obama (Reuters)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) ? The Iraq war may be over for the U.S. military, but it may not be for the Iraqis - or for the U.S. government, as it tries to avert sectarian strife following the departure of American troops.
U.S. officials are on edge because of the Iraqi government's decision to issue an arrest warrant against Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi, the country's highest-ranking Sunni politician.
The announcement of the arrest warrant on Monday, one day after the U.S. military completed its withdrawal, has revived fears that sectarian tensions between the country's Shi'ite, Sunni and Kurdish communities may erupt anew.
It could hardly have come at a worse moment for U.S. President Barack Obama as he has sought in a series of appearances to mark the end of the U.S. military involvement in Iraq nearly nine years after the invasion ordered by former President George W. Bush.
In the latest such event, Obama on Tuesday took part in a ceremony at a military base near Washington at which the flag of U.S. Forces-Iraq was formally returned home.
Obama's Republican political opponents in the U.S. Congress and on the presidential campaign trail have argued that the decision to bring all U.S. troops home by the end of this year - even though that date originally was set by Bush - had aggravated the chances of instability in Iraq.
Politics aside, the stark revival of sectarian tensions at the highest level of Iraqi politics appears to pose a fresh challenge for U.S. policymakers in a strategic oil-rich country.
"One of the concerns that people have had for some time is that without a large U.S. presence, the likelihood of sectarian score-settling in Iraq would increase," said Jon Alterman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank.
Alterman said that he did not know how much evidence there may be to support the arrest warrant against Hashemi, who has been accused of suspected ties to assassinations and bombings.
The Iraqi interior ministry showed taped confessions of men it claimed were members of Hashemi's security detail and who said they had been paid by his office to carry out killings.
"Whether this represents sectarian score-settling or straight-forward criminal investigation is not clear at all," Alterman said.
"The danger is that a straight-forward investigation would be perceived as score-settling and hurtle the country toward deep spasms of violence abetted by external parties with ties to the different sectarian communities," he added, alluding to neighboring Iran, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.
WHITE HOUSE SEEKS FAIR TREATMENT
The White House called on the Iraqi government to handle the matter in line with international norms, an appeal that appeared to reflect unspoken concerns that the case could be politically motivated or conducted in a less than impartial manner.
"We're obviously concerned about this," White House press secretary Jay Carney told reporters, noting that U.S. officials had been in touch with Iraqi leaders amid concern the step may fuel sectarian tensions now that U.S. troops have withdrawn.
"We urge the Iraqi authorities charged with this responsibility to conduct their investigations into alleged terrorist activities in accordance with international legal norms and full respect for Iraqi law," he added.
"We continue to urge all sides to work to resolve differences peacefully through dialogue," Carney said.
The arrest warrant threatens Iraq's fragile power-sharing deal among Shi'ite, Sunni and Kurdish blocs who have struggled to overcome tensions just a few years after sectarian violence pushed the nation virtually into civil war.
U.S. officials carefully avoided commenting on whether they thought the allegations had merit or whether Hashemi may have been targeted for political purposes, but analysts raised questions on both scores.
"I am skeptical of the allegations," said Michael O'Hanlon, a Brookings Institution analyst who specializes in national security and defense policy, stressing that he did not have detailed information on which to base a judgment.
O'Hanlon said he saw a significant danger that sectarian strife could erupt if Hashemi's eventual prosecution were perceived to be politically motivated, as seems likely.
"I think there is a great risk, especially because the prime minister has tried to use the courts before to serve his own agenda, for example trying to get candidates disqualified two years ago before the parliamentary elections," the analyst said, referring to Iraq's Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.
Obama's political opponents this week have renewed criticism of the troop withdrawal, which the president ordered after negotiations failed with the Iraqi government on a follow-on U.S. force of several thousand troops.
"The risk of increasing sectarian violence following the president's decision to withdraw all U.S. forces has always been real, which is one of the reasons our commanders recommended a credible force remain in Iraq after the end of the year," said a spokesman for House of Representatives Armed Services Committee chairman Buck McKeon, a Republican.
"But in the end the Iraqis will have to want security and liberty for all of their citizens as much as we do, and shape their own destiny," the spokesman, Claude Chafin, said.
(Additional reporting by Alister Bull and Anna Yukhananov; Editing by Will Dunham)
Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/iraq/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111220/pl_nm/us_iraq_usa
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Monday, December 19, 2011
Jurors deadlock in $1B lawsuit against Microsoft (AP)
SALT LAKE CITY ? A federal jury on Friday failed to reach a verdict in a Utah company's $1 billion antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft Corp. in a case so important to the computer giant that it put Bill Gates on the stand for two days last month.
Novell Inc. sued the software giant in 2004, claiming Microsoft duped it into developing the once-popular WordPerfect writing program for Windows 95 only to pull the plug so Microsoft could gain market share with its own product.
Novell says it was later forced to sell WordPerfect for a $1.2 billion loss.
The trial began two months ago with jurors getting the case on Wednesday. After much confusion, and some perplexing questions from the panel, they told U.S. District Judge J. Frederick Motz they were deadlocked by early Friday evening.
He repeatedly asked them if they could keep trying.
"This has been a very long and expensive case," Motz told the panel.
Novell attorneys pleaded with Motz to give the panel just one more day. In the end, however, the 12 jurors told the judge they were "hopelessly" deadlocked, and they later told lawyers a single holdout refused to vote in Novell's favor.
"He had strongly held views about the technical evidence and refused to budge," Novell attorney Jeffrey Johnson said. Jurors offered no comment after the trial.
Novell was left with little to show for a decade of effort, but the company said it will seek to retry the case with a new jury.
"Although it's a technically complicated case, we're hoping to convince another jury that our claims have merit," Novell's corporate counsel Jim Lundberg said.
Microsoft said it would file a motion asking the judge to dismiss Novell's complaint for good and avoid a second trial.
"We remain confident that Novell's claims don't have any merit and look forward to the next steps in the process," said Steven Aeschbacher, Microsoft's associate general counsel.
Novell waited until 10 years after Microsoft left WordPerfect behind to file the lawsuit. The company said it was waiting for the U.S. government's antitrust enforcement against Microsoft to wrap up. At first Novell's case was dismissed, but it was later reinstated on appeal.
Microsoft lawyers have argued that Novell's loss of market share was its own doing because the company didn't develop a compatible WordPerfect program until long after the rollout of Windows 95. WordPerfect once had nearly 50 percent of the market for word processing, but its share quickly plummeted to less than 10 percent as Microsoft's own Office programs took hold.
Gates testified last month that he had no idea his decision to drop a tool for outside developers would sidetrack Novell. Gates said he was acting to protect Windows 95 and future versions from crashing.
He said that the company's preferred Word software was superior to WordPerfect, which was a "bulky, slow, buggy product" that did not integrate well with Windows 95.
Novell could have worked around the problem but failed to react quickly, he said.
Novell has argued that Gates ordered Microsoft engineers to reject WordPerfect as a Windows 95 word processing application because he feared it was too good.
Novell's lawsuit is the last major private antitrust case to follow the settlement of a federal antitrust enforcement action against Microsoft more than eight years ago.
Novell is now a wholly owned subsidiary of The Attachmate Group, the result of a merger that was completed earlier this year.
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Sunday, December 18, 2011
State of siege lifted in Peru mine region
An indigenous woman from Cajamarca state protests against the Conga gold and silver mining project outside the government palace as police stand by in Lima, Peru, Friday Dec. 16, 2011. Peru's government has lifted the state of emergency it declared last week in a northern region wracked by protests against the country's biggest mining project. Protesters worry that the $4.8 billion Conga gold mine could taint and diminish their water supply. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia)
An indigenous woman from Cajamarca state protests against the Conga gold and silver mining project outside the government palace as police stand by in Lima, Peru, Friday Dec. 16, 2011. Peru's government has lifted the state of emergency it declared last week in a northern region wracked by protests against the country's biggest mining project. Protesters worry that the $4.8 billion Conga gold mine could taint and diminish their water supply. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia)
Indigenous women from Cajamarca state protest against the Conga gold and silver mining project outside the government palace as police stand by in Lima, Peru, Friday Dec. 16, 2011. Peru's government has lifted the state of emergency it declared last week in a northern region wracked by protests against the country's biggest mining project. Protesters worry that the $4.8 billion Conga gold mine could taint and diminish their water supply. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia)
LIMA, Peru (AP) ? Peru's government has lifted the state of emergency it declared last week in a northern region wracked by protests against the country's biggest mining project.
The government announcement late Thursday says "order had been re-established" in the four provinces of Cajamarca state where the 60-day emergency was declared Dec. 5.
The government says it will send a high-level delegation to resume dialogue with protest leaders led by Gov. Gregorio Santos.
He praised the decision on Friday, telling The Associated Press it was a "form of vindication for a very unjust act that never should have happened."
Protesters worry that the $4.8 billion Conga gold mine could taint and diminish their water supply.
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Highlights of bipartisan legislation extending payroll tax cuts, jobless benefits (Star Tribune)
Saturday, December 17, 2011
Deal of the Day ? LG 55? 1080p 120Hz LED HDTV (2011) Model
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Source: http://the-gadgeteer.com/2011/12/14/deal-of-the-day-lg-55-1080p-120hz-led-hdtv-2011-model/
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Friday, December 16, 2011
Defense bill nears passage in Congress (AP)
WASHINGTON ? A massive defense bill is on the brink of final passage after the Obama administration and Congress resolved a fierce struggle over the president's ability to prosecute terrorist suspects in the civilian justice system.
The House voted 283-136 for the $662 billion measure Wednesday night, a rare bipartisan vote the reflected the strong support for annual legislation that authorizes money for the men and women of the military as well as weapons systems and the millions of jobs they generate in lawmakers' districts.
The Senate was expected to clear the bill Thursday and send it to President Barack Obama.
The House vote came just hours after the administration abandoned a veto threat over provisions dealing with the handling of terrorism suspects.
Applying pressure on House and Senate negotiators working on the bill last week, Obama and senior members of his national security team, including Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, had sought modifications in the detainee provisions.
Negotiators announced the changes late Monday, clearing the way for White House acceptance.
In a statement, press secretary Jay Carney said the new bill "does not challenge the president's ability to collect intelligence, incapacitate dangerous terrorists and protect the American people."
Specifically, the bill would require that the military take custody of a suspect deemed to be a member of al-Qaida or its affiliates who is involved in plotting or committing attacks on the United States. There is an exemption for U.S. citizens.
House and Senate negotiators added language that says nothing in the bill will affect "existing criminal enforcement and national security authorities of the FBI or any other domestic law enforcement agency" with regard to a captured suspect "regardless of whether such ... person is held in military custody."
The bill also says the president can waive the provision based on national security.
"While we remain concerned about the uncertainty that this law will create for our counterterrorism professionals, the most recent changes give the president additional discretion in determining how the law will be implemented, consistent with our values and the rule of law, which are at the heart of our country's strength," Carney said.
Uncertainty was a major concern of FBI Director Robert Mueller, who expressed serious reservations about the detainee provisions.
Testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Mueller said a coordinated effort by the military, intelligence agencies and law enforcement has weakened al-Qaida and captured or killed many of its leaders, including Osama bin Laden and Anwar al-Awlaki, the U.S.-born radical Islamic cleric. He suggested that the divisive provision in the bipartisan defense bill would deny that flexibility and prove impractical.
"The statute lacks clarity with regard to what happens at the time of arrest. It lacks clarity with regard to what happens if we had a case in Lackawanna, N.Y., and an arrest has to be made there and there's no military within several hundred miles," Mueller said. "What happens if we have ... a case that we're investigating on three individuals, two of whom are American citizens and would not go to military custody and the third is not an American citizen and could go to military custody?"
Unnerving many conservative Republicans and liberal Democrats, the legislation also would deny suspected terrorists, even U.S. citizens seized within the nation's borders, the right to trial and subject them to indefinite detention. House Republican leaders had to tamp down a small revolt among some rank-and-file who sought to delay a vote on the bill.
Some of the Republicans were concerned that the "president would use the military to round up American citizens," said Rep. Allen West, R-Fla., a member of the Armed Services panel.
The escalating fight over whether to treat suspects as prisoners of war or criminals has divided Democrats and Republicans, the Pentagon and Congress.
The administration insists that the military, law enforcement and intelligence officials need flexibility in the campaign against terrorism. Obama points to his administration's successes in killing bin Laden and al-Awlaki. Republicans counter that their efforts are necessary to respond to an evolving, post-Sept. 11 threat and that Obama has failed to produce a consistent policy on handling terror suspects.
Highlighting a period of austerity and a winding down of decade-old conflicts, the bill is $27 billion less than Obama requested and $43 billion less than Congress gave the Pentagon. The bill also authorizes money for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and national security programs in the Energy Department.
Frustrated with delays and cost overruns with the troubled F-35 Joint Strike Fighter aircraft program, lawmakers planned to require the contractor, Lockheed Martin, to cover the expense of any extra costs on the next batch and future purchases of the aircraft. The Pentagon envisions buying 2,443 planes for the Air Force, Marine Corps and Navy, but the price could make it the most expensive program in military history ? $1 trillion.
The legislation freezes $700 million for Pakistan until the defense secretary provides Congress a report on how Islamabad is countering the threat of improvised explosive devices.
It would impose tough new penalties on Iran, targeting foreign financial institutions that do business with the country's central bank. The president could waive those penalties if he notifies Congress that it's in the interest of national security.
____
Associated Press writers Pete Yost and Andrew Taylor contributed to this report.
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RI town sues state's main landfill over stench
Garbage trucks, right and behind, empty their load as bulldozers process the waste at the Central Landfill, in Johnston, R.I., Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2011. Johnston Mayor Joseph Polisena sued the state's main landfill Wednesday over noxious odors that have plagued residents for several weeks. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
Garbage trucks, right and behind, empty their load as bulldozers process the waste at the Central Landfill, in Johnston, R.I., Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2011. Johnston Mayor Joseph Polisena sued the state's main landfill Wednesday over noxious odors that have plagued residents for several weeks. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
Ralph Macari, right, an environmental quality technician for the R.I. Department of Environmental Management, uses a hydrogen sulfide analyzer to measure parts per million of the gas in the air, in Cranston, R.I., Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2011. Johnston, R.I. Mayor Joseph Polisena sued the state's main landfill Wednesday over noxious odors that have plagued residents for several weeks. The Central Landfill is located in Johnston, a neighboring town to Cranston. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
A garbage truck empties its load as bulldozers process the waste at the Central Landfill, in Johnston, R.I., Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2011. Johnston Mayor Joseph Polisena sued the state's main landfill Wednesday over noxious odors that have plagued residents for several weeks. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
A bulldozer drives along a ridge as seagulls swarm in the foreground at the Central Landfill, in Johnston, R.I., Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2011. Johnston Mayor Joseph Polisena sued the state's main landfill Wednesday over noxious odors that have plagued residents for several weeks. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
JOHNSTON, R.I. (AP) ? Residents in this Rhode Island town say the stench moved in this fall, rolling off the state's main landfill and spreading its eye-watering fumes for miles.
After weeks of waiting for officials to eliminate the odor, Johnston Mayor Joseph Polisena said he had had enough. He and the Johnston Town Council on Wednesday sued the agency operating the landfill, seeking an immediate end to the odor and damages to compensate for the suffering of residents. He said the smell damages the quality of life in this town of 29,000 just west of Providence.
"The odor has no conscience," Polisena told The Associated Press. "It travels through different neighborhoods. You can't measure the effect of this. It has to end."
The agency in charge of the landfill, the Rhode Island Resource Recovery Corp., has dug dozens of wells to trap the gas and dumped tons of soil to smother the smell. Agency Executive Director Michael O'Connell said he understands the distress the odor has caused.
"There are only a few things you can do to fix an odor problem," he said during a recent tour of the landfill. "We're running out of time. We'll do whatever we have to do."
The odor can be traced to a number of factors, O'Connell said, including rain that clogged wells that trap the gas. A decision made years ago to open up more landfill space for trash may be to blame as well, he said.
Complaints about the smell have come from as far as Attleboro, Mass., about 20 miles to the northeast. Residents say it often smells like rotten eggs, though it's also been described as sickly sweet.
"It's nauseating," said Elizabeth Falvo, a 29-year Johnston resident. Falvo said odors from the landfill occasionally have been noticeable in the past but never as bad as they've been in the past several weeks. "It makes my eyes water when it's really strong."
Richard Zompa began noticing the smell several weeks ago outside his North Providence home, several miles from the landfill.
"It's kind of a sweet, but not a good sweet," Zompa said. "I've smelled rotten eggs and it's not that. It's strong and it hits you hard."
Polisena said he worries the smell will hurt property values and the town's reputation as a great place to raise a family or start a business just outside the dense urban bustle of Providence. The lawsuit, he said, was filed as a last resort.
"We've been very patient," Polisena said. "We gave them the time they needed. The time ran out."
According to the lawsuit, the smell first became a problem in April but grew much worse this fall. The landfill received 46 odor complaints in October and 249 in November, according to the suit. On Monday, the mayor's office received 70 calls about the smell.
After complaints began to mount, state environmental officials started regular landfill inspections and sent roving bands of workers into neighborhoods to track the smell and efforts to end it. The workers have used equipment to measure the concentrations of landfill gasses, but the nose knows best, according to David E. Chopy, chief of compliance and inspection at the state's Department of Environmental Management.
"The nose is far more sensitive than any instrument we have," Chopy said.
The lawsuit, filed in Providence County Superior Court, also names as a defendant Broadrock Renewables, an energy company that uses gas from the landfill to generate electricity. The suit alleges that Broadrock hasn't done enough to collect the gas.
Bill Fischer, a spokesman for Broadrock Gas Services, said the company had not yet seen the lawsuit and could not comment on it. But, he said, "Broadrock is doing everything within its control to assist in addressing the odor issues."
The 275-foot high, 200-acre landfill is the main depository for municipal trash in Rhode Island. The Resource Recovery Corp. is a quasi-public agency that operates the landfill on behalf of the state.
O'Connell said rain was filling older gas wells and making it difficult to collect landfill gas, causing the gasses to leak into the atmosphere.
Several years ago, new landfill area was opened up for trash, but then the economic downturn caused a decline in the amount of garbage going into the landfill. As a result, more "uncapped" landfill space than needed was opened, O'Connell said, making it easier for gas to escape.
O'Connell said the new gas wells and the extra soil to cover the landfill should soon cause the odors to dissipate.
State health officials say the fumes can cause nausea, itchy eyes and breathing difficulties, though they haven't noticed any major health problems associated with the landfill.
At the behest of the local state representative, the General Assembly created a committee to study the odor and find ways to prevent similar problems in the future.
"It's a pungent smell that doesn't go away," said Rep. Stephen Ucci, D-Johnston, who said he's received more constituent calls about the odor than any other issue in his seven years in the General Assembly. "It gets in your car. If you open the car windows more comes in. You have to actually leave the area to get away from it."
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Monday, November 28, 2011
Musician-activist Wyclef Jean defends charity
Wyclef Jean is defending his charity in the wake of a report that his Y?le Haiti Foundation donated less than a third of the $16 million it collected last year to Haitian relief efforts.
The hip-hop star told the Associated Press that he's proud of the way his charity responded after the earthquake almost two years ago.
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He said his charity rebuilt an orphanage and set up a system of outdoor toilet and shower facilities in one of the largest shanties in the Haitian capital.
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Jean's comments Sunday follow a report in the New York Postsaying his foundation collected $16 million in 2010 but only $5.1 million of that money was actually spent on relief efforts, according to tax records.
Story: Haiti pins its hopes on a pop-star presidentRecords show that $353,983 was paid to P&A Construction, a contracting company run by Jean's brother-in-law Warnel Pierre. In addition, more than $1 million was paid to Amisphere Farm Labor Inc. as a "food distributor," however, the supposedly Miami-based company does not seem to exist, says the Post. However, the listed head of the organization, Amsterly Pierre purchased three Florida properties in the last year.
REPORT: Wyclef Jean's Haitian Charity Tax Records Show Shady Spending
Millions of people donated to Y?le shortly after the 7.0 earthquake that killed between 200,000 and 300,000 Haitians Jan. 12, 2010, and caused a cholera epidemic that is still going on.
This is not the first time the nonprofit organization, which was created by the musician in 2005, has found itself in hot water. The organization was called out for never having filed a tax form in 2008, it also lost $244,000 in 2009. Following the 2010 earthquake, donations poured in, but Jean and Y?le were almost immediately accused of misallocating funds. Jean held a press conference Jan. 18, 2010, in an attempt to clear the charity's name.
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"Have we made mistakes before? Yes,? Jean said at the time. ?Did I ever use Y?le money for personal benefits? Absolutely not. Y?le?s books are open and transparent."
Jean and most of Y?le's acting board left the organization in the summer of 2010. The musician also abandoned an attempt at running for president in Haiti's Nov. 2010 election.
Copyright 2011 The Hollywood Reporter
Source: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/45461293/ns/today-entertainment/
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Sunday, November 27, 2011
Thousands protest at U.S. consulate in Pakistan against attack (Reuters)
KARACHI, Pakistan (Reuters) ? Thousands of people gathered outside the U.S. consulate in the city of Karachi on Sunday to protest against a NATO cross-border air attack that killed 24 Pakistani troops.
A Reuters reporter at the scene said the angry crowd shouted "Down with America." One young man climbed on the wall surrounding the heavily fortified compound and attached a Pakistani flag on barbed wire.
(Reporting by Imtiaz Shah)
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