Government Issues and Politics

News about government issues and politics in UK.

Romney wins Michigan, Arizona primaries

Posted in Feature , Political Issues | Wednesday, February 29, 2012|By John

Mitt Romney landed a victory Tuesday night in his home state of Michigan, fending off Rick Santorum in the Republican presidential primary contest and preventing what could have been a major upset for his campaign going into Super Tuesday.

The former Massachusetts governor also won easily in Arizona, a winner-take-all election that will help Romney build his growing delegate lead. The candidate's back-to-back victories hardly lock down the race but they help get his campaign on track going into Super Tuesday voting on March 6, when 10 states hold primaries and caucuses worth hundreds of delegates.

"We didn't win by a lot, but we won by enough, and that's all that counts," an upbeat Romney said at his Michigan victory rally late Tuesday night.

The Michigan primary, along with the primary in Arizona and an upcoming contest in Washington, are the final elections before 10 states weigh in with their bountiful supply of delegates in early March on what's known as Super Tuesday.

The two-for-two performance from Romney helps him reaffirm his front-runner status among the remaining four GOP candidates, which include Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul. In a reflection of the night's results, the candidate kept his victory rally remarks focused on President Obama and his own candidacy, glossing over what has become a bitterly personal contest between him and Santorum in recent weeks.

He called the election a "time for choosing" in America.

"This time we've got to get the choice right," Romney said.

Romney, in his address, touted his recently unveiled tax reform plan and like the other candidates pledged to open up more U.S. land to oil and gas drilling -- at a time when gas prices are rising and becoming a more frequent topic on the campaign trail.

"Look, when it -- when it comes to the economy, my highest priority will be worrying about your job, not worrying about how to save my own," he said in a crack at the president.

The former Massachusetts governor will take all 29 of Arizona's delegates. With 80 percent of precincts reporting in the state, Romney was leading Santorum 47-26 percent. Gingrich came in third, while Paul placed last in the state.

Unlike in Arizona, though, Romney will end up sharing Michigan's 30 delegates with Santorum in the relatively close race.

With 95 percent of precincts reporting in Michigan, Romney had 41 percent, followed by Santorum with 38 percent. Paul placed third in the state, followed by Gingrich.

The Michigan election was not originally expected to be as close as it was. For weeks, Romney seemed poised to walk away with well-timed victories in the two contests Tuesday night. Romney, while popular in Arizona, has deep roots in Michigan which were expected to play to his advantage. He was born there, his father was governor there and he won the state in the 2008 GOP presidential primary.

But Santorum's surge, and a decision by the former Pennsylvania senator to compete hard in the state, put Michigan in pure toss-up territory heading into primary day. Santorum's campaign demanded attention as he went from being sidelined at debates earlier in the year to winning the Iowa caucuses by a hair in a late call, and then picking up wins in Missouri, Minnesota and Colorado all in one night.

Exit polls showed Romney and Santorum were each leading among distinct categories of voters.

Romney did well in Michigan among those who value electability and experience the most; Santorum fared best among those who most value strong moral character and true conservative values. Fortunately for Romney, those who think ability to beat Obama is the most important quality made up 33 percent of those polled -- those who wanted someone who is a true conservative made up just 15 percent.

Santorum, though, dominated among evangelical voters, picking up 50 percent of their support. Romney picked up 35 percent. In Michigan, evangelicals made up nearly four in 10 voters on Tuesday.

The closeness of the race helped fuel a tense contest between the two candidates, with each accusing the other of being a false conservative.

Romney also slammed the Santorum campaign Tuesday for putting out a robo-call in Michigan urging Democrats to vote in the GOP race for Santorum. Romney called it a "new low" for his opponent.

But Santorum defended the robo-call, and at his post-election rally put a positive spin on the night's results.

"A month ago they didn't know who we are, but they do now," Santorum said.

Santorum claimed voters are still getting to know him, but said they'll ultimately want someone like him to "take on" Obama as he blamed the current regulatory environment for hard times in America.

"It's getting harder for people to make ends meet, because we have a government that is crushing us every single day with more taxes, more regulations, and the idea that they know better than you how to run your life," Santorum said. "That ultimately is what this race is about. It goes down to the very nature of who we are as Americans."

Gingrich and Paul barely competed in either contest being held Tuesday, and focused instead on the Super Tuesday primaries.

At a rally in Georgia on Tuesday evening, Gingrich said voters need somebody who has "really large ideas for a really large country."

In a separate interview on Fox News, Gingrich offered a rough sketch of his comeback strategy. He said he plans to win Georgia, while doing "very well" in a handful of other Super Tuesday states, victories he projected would give him momentum to win subsequent southern contests in Mississippi and Alabama.

Paul, meanwhile, pumped up a crowd of enthusiastic supporters Tuesday evening in Virginia, where he and Romney are the only GOP candidates on the ballot. He stuck to his bread-and-butter message, railing against Washington on the issues of overseas military interventions, over-spending and over-regulation.

Paul, in an interview on Fox News, argued that he can attract independents and Democrats in a general election in a way the other Republican candidates cannot.

"Somebody like Santorum doesn't do that as well," Paul said.

Nationally, Romney entered and exited the night with the delegate lead.

Before Tuesday's contests, The Associated Press count showed Romney with 123 total delegates. Santorum followed with 72. Gingrich had 32 and Paul had 19.

The eventual nominee will need to win 1,144 delegates. There are 40 delegates up for grabs in Washington's caucuses on Saturday, and 419 on Super Tuesday.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/02/28/romney-santorum-battle-for-michigan-primary-prize/#ixzz1nlDb3zXr

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The Best Jobs of 2012

Posted in Business and Investments , Feature | |By John

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Deja View: Consumer Confidence Back Where It Was A Year Ago

Posted in Business and Investments , Feature | Tuesday, February 28, 2012|By John

Consumer confidence took a sharp jump in February, the Conference Board reported Tuesday—but the widely-followed index of consumer attitudes is still below where it was a year ago.

[See why this year's jobs gains are more solid than last year's.]

The February index of 70.8 is nearly 10 points higher than January's 61.5. But it trails the 72.0 level of last February.

Lynn Franco, director of The Conference Board Consumer Research Center, explains that the latest month-to-month jump is a function of near-term optimism. Franco says that, "despite further increases in gas prices, [consumers] are more optimistic about the short-term outlook for the economy, job prospects, and their financial situation." Yet while the latest reading is a far cry from the low of 25.3 registered in February 2009, as the Associated Press notes, it suggests that the recent year of improvements hasn't changed consumers' feelings much.

Indeed, conditions were worse a year ago, with a flat economy and an unemployment rate of 9 percent compared to today's 8.3 percent jobless rate.

Other confidence indexes are following a similar pattern. Throughout February, the weekly Gallup Economic Confidence Index has hung in the same territory as it was in early 2011, as well as mid-2010, when unemployment was around 9.5 percent. The Reuters/University of Michigan Index of Consumer Sentiment, another respected measure, is also barely above where it was in both January 2011 and January 2010.

Although widely followed and widely quoted in the media, confidence indexes can fluctuate month to month and are more meaningful in the long run. Still, spending patterns matter more. Confidence, after all, doesn't add to the economy; spending does, and it does not always track with how consumers are feeling.

Recent rising gas prices have only begun to bite at consumer pocketbooks, says says Brad Sorensen, director of market and sector analysis at Charles Schwab. Potential increases in gas prices could easily knock a few points off of the index. "That probably will make people feel less confident, but will they spend less? Those are the real questions," he says.

[See why Americans in debt might be the next powerful voting bloc.]

What's more likely driving renewed optimism among consumers is the drop in the unemployment rate—and the corresponding creation of 200,000-plus jobs in both December and January.

"If you don't follow financial news necessarily, you still probably know the unemployment rate has gone down and the employment picture has gotten better," says Sorensen.

source:http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2012/02/28/deja-view-consumer-confidence-back-where-it-was-a-year-ago

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Maine Sen. Olympia Snowe Shocks D.C. With Retirement Announcement

Posted in Feature , Political Issues | |By John

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Police, Border Patrol, other agencies looking to expand drone use at home

Posted in Feature , News and Media | Monday, February 27, 2012|By John

Heads up: Drones are going mainstream.

Civilian cousins of the unmanned military aircraft that have tracked and killed terrorists in the Middle East and Asia are in demand by police departments, border patrols, power companies, news organizations and others wanting a bird's-eye view that's too impractical or dangerous for conventional planes or helicopters to get.

Along with the enthusiasm, there are qualms.

Drones overhead could invade people's privacy. The government worries they could collide with passenger planes or come crashing down to the ground, concerns that have slowed more widespread adoption of the technology.

Despite that, pressure is building to give drones the same access as manned aircraft to the sky at home.

"It's going to be the next big revolution in aviation. It's coming," says Dan Elwell, the Aerospace Industries Association's vice president for civil aviation.

Some impetus comes from the military, which will bring home drones from Afghanistan and wants room to test and use them. In December, Congress gave the Federal Aviation Administration six months to pick half a dozen sites around the country where the military and others can fly unmanned aircraft in the vicinity of regular air traffic, with the aim of demonstrating they're safe.

The Defense Department says the demand for drones and their expanding missions requires routine and unfettered access to domestic airspace, including around airports and cities. In a report last October, the Pentagon called for flights first by small drones both solo and in groups, day and night, expanding over several years. Flights by large and medium-sized drones would follow in the latter half of this decade.

Other government agencies want to fly drones, too, but they've been hobbled by an FAA ban unless they first receive case-by-case permission. Fewer than 300 waivers were in use at the end of 2011, and they often include restrictions that severely limit the usefulness of the flights. Businesses that want to put drones to work are out of luck; waivers are only for government agencies.

But that's changing.

Congress has told the FAA that the agency must allow civilian and military drones to fly in civilian airspace by September 2015. This spring, the FAA is set to take a first step by proposing rules that would allow limited commercial use of small drones for the first time.

Until recently, agency officials were saying there were too many unresolved safety issues to give drones greater access. Even now FAA officials are cautious about describing their plans and they avoid discussion of deadlines.

"The thing we care about is doing that in an orderly and safe way and finding the appropriate ... balance of all the users in the system," Michael Huerta, FAA's acting administrator, told a recent industry luncheon in Washington. "Let's develop these six sites — and we will be doing that — where we can develop further data, further testing and more history on how these things actually operate."

Drones come in all sizes, from the high-flying Global Hawk with its 116-foot wingspan to a hummingbird-like drone that weighs less than an AA battery and can perch on a window ledge to record sound and video. Lockheed Martin has developed a fake maple leaf seed, or "whirly bird," equipped with imaging sensors, that weighs less than an ounce.

Potential civilian users are as varied as the drones themselves.

Power companies want them to monitor transmission lines. Farmers want to fly them over fields to detect which crops need water. Ranchers want them to count cows.

Journalists are exploring drones' newsgathering potential. The FAA is investigating whether The Daily, a digital publication of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., used drones without permission to capture aerial footage of floodwaters in North Dakota and Mississippi last year. At the University of Nebraska, journalism professor Matt Waite has started a lab for students to experiment with using a small, remote-controlled helicopter.

"Can you cover news with a drone? I think the answer is yes," Waite said.

The aerospace industry forecasts a worldwide deployment of almost 30,000 drones by 2018, with the United States accounting for half of them.

"The potential ... civil market for these systems could dwarf the military market in the coming years if we can get access to the airspace," said Ben Gielow, government relations manager for the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International, an industry trade group.

The hungriest market is the nation's 19,000 law enforcement agencies.

Customs and Border Patrol has nine Predator drones mostly in use on the U.S.-Mexico border, and plans to expand to 24 by 2016. Officials say the unmanned aircraft have helped in the seizure of more than 20 tons of illegal drugs and the arrest of 7,500 people since border patrols began six years ago.

Several police departments are experimenting with smaller drones to photograph crime scenes, aid searches and scan the ground ahead of SWAT teams. The Justice Department has four drones it loans to police agencies.

"We look at this as a low-cost alternative to buying a helicopter or fixed-wing plane," said Michael O'Shea, the department's aviation technology program manager. A small drone can cost less than $50,000, about the price of a patrol car with standard police gear.

Like other agencies, police departments must get FAA waivers and follow much the same rules as model airplane hobbyists: Drones must weigh less than 55 pounds, stay below an altitude of 400 feet, keep away from airports and always stay within sight of the operator. The restrictions are meant to prevent collisions with manned aircraft.

Even a small drone can be "a huge threat" to a larger plane, said Dale Wright, head of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association's safety and technology department. "If an airliner sucks it up in an engine, it's probably going to take the engine out," he said. "If it hits a small plane, it could bring it down."

Controllers want drone operators to be required to have instrument-rated pilot licenses — a step above a basic private pilot license. "We don't want the Microsoft pilot who has never really flown an airplane and doesn't know the rules of how to fly," Wright said.

Military drones designed for battlefields haven't had to meet the kind of rigorous safety standards required of commercial aircraft.

"If you are going to design these things to operate in the (civilian) airspace you need to start upping the ante," said Tom Haueter, director of the National Transportation Safety Board's aviation safety office. "It's one thing to operate down low. It's another thing to operate where other airplanes are, especially over populated areas."

Even with FAA restrictions, drones are proving useful in the field.

Deputies with the Mesa County Sheriff's Office in Colorado can launch a 2-pound Draganflyer X6 helicopter from the back of a patrol car. The drone's bird's-eye view cut the manpower needed for a search of a creek bed for a missing person from 10 people to two, said Ben Miller, who runs the drone program. The craft also enabled deputies to alert fire officials to a potential roof collapse in time for the evacuation of firefighters from the building, he said.

The drone could do more if it were not for the FAA's line-of-sight restriction, Miller said. "I don't think (the restriction) provides any extra safety," he said.

The Montgomery County Sheriff's Office, north of Houston, used a Department of Homeland Security grant to buy a $300,000, 50-pound ShadowHawk helicopter drone for its SWAT team. The drone has a high-powered video camera and an infrared camera that can spot a person's thermal image in the dark.

"Public-safety agencies are beginning to see this as an invaluable tool for them, just as the car was an improvement over the horse and the single-shot pistol was improved upon by the six-shooter," said Chief Deputy Randy McDaniel, who runs the Montgomery drone program.

The ShadowHawk can be equipped with a 40 mm grenade launcher and a 12-guage shotgun, according to its maker, Vanguard Defense Industries of Conroe, Texas. The company doesn't sell the armed version in the United States, although "we have had interest from law-enforcement entities for deployment of nonlethal munitions from the aircraft," Vanguard CEO Michael Buscher said.

The possibility of armed police drones someday patrolling the sky disturbs Terri Burke, executive director of the Texas chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.

"The Constitution is taking a back seat so that boys can play with their toys," Burke said. "It's kind of scary that they can use a laptop computer to zap people from the air."

A recent ACLU report said allowing drones greater access takes the country "a large step closer to a surveillance society in which our every move is monitored, tracked, recorded, and scrutinized by the authorities."

The Electronic Frontier Foundation, which focuses on civil liberties threats involving new technologies, sued the FAA recently, seeking disclosure of which agencies have been given permission to use drones. FAA officials declined to answer questions from The Associated Press about the lawsuit.

Industry officials said privacy concerns are overblown.

"Today anybody— the paparazzi, anybody — can hire a helicopter or a (small plane) to circle around something that they're interested in and shoot away with high-powered cameras all they want," said Elwell, the aerospace industry spokesman. "I don't understand all the comments about the Big Brother thing."

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/02/26/police-border-patrol-other-agencies-looking-to-expand-drone-use-at-home/#ixzz1nZN5yoHc

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Prudential may move headquarters out of the UK

Posted in Business and Investments , Feature | |By John

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Somalia's future to be discussed at London conference

Posted in Feature , News and Media | Wednesday, February 22, 2012|By John

The threat from terrorism and piracy in Somalia are among the issues that will be discussed at a conference in London on the future of the country.

Representatives from 40 countries will attend the event, aimed at devising a common approach to a country blighted by years of civil war and famine.

The leaders are expected to agree money for schools, hospitals and the police.

The UK has described Somalia as the "world's worst failed state" but said it needs a "second chance".

Somali Prime Minister Abdiweli Mohamed Ali, among a number of senior government figures attending the event, has warned the country is at a "critical juncture" and needs more international help.

US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, Ethiopian leader Meles Zenawi and UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon are among the leaders due to join the discussions.

On Wednesday, the UN Security Council approved a resolution increasing the number of African Union (AU) troops in Somalia by 5,000 to more than 17,000. Council members also agreed to extra funding for the mission and to extend its mandate.

'Realistic'

At the same time, Ethiopian and Somali troops took a strategic stronghold in the south-west of the country held by militant group al-Shabab, which controls parts of the country and recently merged with al-Qaeda.

Islamist insurgents who have been fighting the internationally recognised government since 2007 have said the London conference was "another attempt" to colonise Somalia.

The UK says its increased focus on the country is justified as the activities of militant groups and pirates operating off the coast of Somalia pose a direct threat to British interests in the region and to both regional and global security.

Naval ships from the UK and other countries around the world have been sent to patrol the Indian Ocean off the Somali coast to deter pirate attacks.

They have foiled a number of kidnapping attempts in recent months but attacks continue - and have been staged further from the shore.

The UK has also said it cannot rule out sending more military advisers to boost its small team currently assisting Ugandan forces part of the AU mission.

Kenya has also sent troops into Somalia to tackle al-Shabab, blaming the group for a number of kidnappings on its territory last year.

Mr Cameron told the UK Parliament on Wednesday that a more co-ordinated approach was needed by the international community to tackle the multiple challenges facing the country.

"This is about trying to put in place the building blocks among the international community but, above all, among the Somalis themselves for a stronger and safer Somalia," he said.

"That means taking action on piracy, on hostages, to support the African Union's mission in the country, it means... working with all parts of Somalia to try and give that country a second chance."

Foreign Security William Hague, who visited Somalia earlier this month, says he is "realistic" about what can be achieved in a single day but a more stable Somalia would benefit the region as well as the UK.

Somali leaders have said its challenges cannot be solved by military means alone and a parallel focus is needed on boosting humanitarian aid, education and law and order.

Somalia's prime minister told the BBC that his country was at a "crossroads" and needed a massive injection of money.

"It is at a very critical juncture in its history," Mr Ali said. "We are moving from an era of warlordism, terrorism, extremism and piracy and we are moving into an era of peace, stability and normalcy.

"Twenty years of lawlessness, violence and chaos is enough. Somalis are ready to move on."

But a spokesman for al-Shabab told the Somaliland Times that "Britain must realise that the Muslims have long rejected British imperialism and the futility of their renewed attempt is obvious".

Despite being forced out of the capital, Mogadishu, last year, it has continue to stage suicide attacks in the city.

source:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-17131208

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Philippines' Arroyo pleads not guilty in poll fraud trial Philippines' Arroyo pleads not guilty in poll fraud trial

Posted in Feature , Political Issues | |By John

MANILA (Reuters) - Former Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo pleaded not guilty on Thursday to electoral fraud on the first day of a trial seen as a landmark test of the government's ability to tackle entrenched corruption in the Southeast Asian nation.

Arroyo, a 64-year-old who ruled the Philippines from 2001 to 2010, sat quietly beside her husband and son during the court proceedings, only speaking out loud to confirm her widely expected plea.

"Not guilty," she told the court, standing from a second row seat behind government prosecutors and her lawyers after charges against her were read.

Arroyo's trial, which could see her sentenced to life in prison, is central to President Benigno Aquino's pledge to tackle endemic graft that threatens to take the shine off an economic revival and investment rebound in the Philippines.

Aquino is also pushing the Senate impeachment of the country's Supreme Court chief, Renato Corona, who was installed by Arroyo and is accused of protecting her from investigation. The former president and her allies accuse Aquino of pursuing a political vendetta against her.

The trial could be a source of political friction for months or even years if past high-profile Philippine corruption cases are any guide. The trial of Arroyo's predecessor, Joseph Estrada, lasted six years from 2001-2007 before he was convicted of plunder and sentenced to life imprisonment in 2007. Arroyo pardoned him two weeks later.

The landmark cases come as Aquino rides high approval ratings and pledges to go beyond the usual half-hearted efforts to stamp out corruption that pervades public life, keeping tax revenues low and hurting efforts to alleviate poverty.

"ONE STEP CLOSER"

The presidential palace said in a statement that the start of the trial brought the Philippines "one step closer towards attaining closure to the many controversies that have hounded our country during the previous administration."

The court set a preliminary hearing on April 19, which Arroyo is not required to attend. Arroyo, wearing a white dress suit and neck brace following two spine surgeries last year, smiled and posed for photographers while inside the courtroom.

"She is frustrated," Jose Miguel Arroyo, her husband, told reporters. "She feels it's an injustice to her."

Prosecutors accuse Arroyo of ordering her allies, including those in the country's election commission, to fix the victory of all her party's 12 senatorial candidates in a Muslim province in the southern Philippines in 2007 elections.

Arroyo also faces separate corruption investigations for her alleged role in the misuse of public funds and kickbacks from a multi-million telecommunications deal with a China's ZTE Corp. The public broadband deal was aborted in 2008.

She denies all the charges.

Authorities stopped the former leader at Manila's main international airport in November as she was on her way to board a plane for overseas treatment of her spine condition. She was arrested days later at a private hospital in Manila.

Dozens of Arroyo's supporters gathered outside the courtroom in a peaceful protest on Thursday, holding placards and banners. "We will not abandon you," one said.

They tried to march towards the court building, but a phalanx of anti-riot police officers stopped them. About 400 police officers guarded the court building and a major national road was closed to allow easy access for Arroyo's convoy.

(Reporting By Manuel Mogato; Editing by Rosemarie Francisco and Stuart Grudgings)

source:http://uk.news.yahoo.com/philippines-arroyo-pleads-not-guilty-poll-fraud-trial-052052459.html;_ylt=AiFx4gxnJOigzIvX4WsqwSXafMl_;_ylu=X3oDMTN1czZjZGdzBG1pdANKdW1ib3Ryb24gUG9saXRpY3NTRgRwa2cDODc0NmU0YWYtNTA2OS0zMmVhLThiNDEtMGUzZTc1ZDFjY2ViBHBvcwMyBHNlYwNqdW1ib3Ryb24EdmVyAzUzNzU2MTcwLTVkZGUtMTFlMS1iYmJlLTVhY2ZmMDNmZGVhYQ--;_ylg=X3oDMTFzdWpkZnNoBGludGwDZ2IEbGFuZwNlbi1nYgRwc3RhaWQDBHBzdGNhdANwb2xpdGljcwRwdANzZWN0aW9ucwR0ZXN0Aw--;_ylv=3

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Nikitta Grender: Carl Whant jailed for 35 years for murdering pregnant teenager

Posted in Feature , News and Media | |By John

A former nightclub bouncer has been jailed for a minimum of 35 years for murdering a pregnant teenager two weeks before she was due to give birth.

Carl Whant, 27, of Bettws, Newport, raped and stabbed 19-year-old Nikitta Grender at her home, killing her unborn daughter at the same time.

He set fire to her flat before returning to a party where he had been all night with her boyfriend.

Whant was convicted of murder, rape, child destruction and arson.

Ms Grender had already named her baby girl Kelsey-May.

Outside Newport Crown Court after the verdict, the victim's uncle, Michael Brunnock, said in a statement: "The last 12 months have been harder for us than you could ever imagine.

"And as a family we remain in total disbelief as to what has happened.

"Nikitta was so young and beautiful and together with Ryan, they were to become a very proud set of parents to Kelsey-May.

"This has been ripped from them by Carl Whant, who has never had the decency to tell us the truth.

"For us to see our grandchild for the first time in a mortuary was the most heartbreaking thing we have ever had to do.

"Nikitta was so special and will remain in our hearts until we die. We will never deal with the tragic events that have stolen our family from us but hope we can at least start to understand what has happened."

'Calculating and devious'

Ch Supt Geoff Ronayne said the 35-year sentence was the longest he could remember in his 30 years with Gwent Police.

Whant had "never admitted his guilt, given any indication about why he committed this terrible crime or provided Nikitta's family with any answers".

Mr Ronayne said the event had been a "harrowing ordeal" for the family and Mr Mayes, and he commended them for their "bravery and dignity".

"I'm hopeful that this conviction brings to an end one part of that process, although without doubt they will continue to mourn and grieve Nikitta and Kelsey-May for the rest of their lives."

Sobs and some whispers of "yes" were heard in the court as the jury announced it had found him guilty after a trial lasting more than a month.

As he sentenced Whant to life in prison with a minimum of 35 years, Judge Mr Justice Griffith Williams warned the public to remain calm.

He said Whant had left the party because "you fancied Nikitta and wanted to have sex with her".

He said that because he knew that she would not agree, and "you went armed with a knife, prepared to rape her.

"The likelihood is that she let you in, believing that Ryan was with you."

The judge told Whant that the murder had "left her family, Ryan Mayes, and her friends bereft.

"The subsequent loss was compounded by the knowledge that her murderer had raped her and then tried to destroy her body.

"The grief was made all the more deep because you did not scruple to make the wholly false allegation that she had consensual sex with you."

The judge said Whant acted with "quite extraordinary hypocrisy" after the murder was discovered, and even took flowers to the Grender household.

He said that having listened to his evidence he concluded that What was a "calculating, vain and devious" individual.

But the judge said said the full facts of what happened on the morning of the murder may never be known.

But he added: "The explanation for these crimes lies in part in your vanity."

"You told the police that she was 'feisty' and in my view she told you that she was going to report you to the police for raping her, and that is why you murdered her."

Scratches on wrists

Whant's trial heard that Ms Grender's badly-burned body was discovered at the flat in Broadmead Park, Lliswerry, Newport, on 5 February 2011 after firefighters were called.

A post-mortem examination found her throat had been slashed and her stomach stabbed. She had died before the fire started.

Whant was arrested four days later.

DNA tests confirmed he had had sex with Ms Grender, and scratches were found on his wrists.

Whant had initially denied any contact with Ms Grender. But he later changed his story and claimed he had had consensual sex with her the night she was killed after an invitation by Mr Mayes.

He said he had only initially denied having sex with her because he did not want to upset his girlfriend.

When giving evidence, Mr Mayes described this claim as "preposterous".

Whant was caught on CCTV by three separate cameras driving his car from the party he had been to near Ms Grender's flat.

Blood on a shirt and in his car was also identified as Ms Grender's.

source:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-east-wales-17112380

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Journalists Marie Colvin and Remi Ochlik 'die in Homs'

Posted in Feature , News and Media | |By John

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Greece to get $170B bailout, reduce debt

Posted in Business and Investments , Feature | Tuesday, February 21, 2012|By John

BRUSSELS – After more than 12 hours of talks, the countries that use the euro reached an agreement early Tuesday to hand Greece euro130 billion ($170 billion) in additional bailout loans to save it from a potentially disastrous default next month.

The deal is expected to bring Greece's debt down to 120.5 percent of gross domestic product by 2020 -- that's around the maximum that the International Monetary Fund and the eurozone consider sustainable.

The euro surged as the news of a deal broke early Tuesday. The accord should take some pressure off the 17-country currency union that has been battling a serious debt crisis for two years.

Without the deal, Greece was facing a potentially calamitous default next month and possibly being forced from the eurozone. The talks stretched into the early hours of Tuesday as ministers wrangled over how to cut Greece's debt to a level that it could eventually pay back while not raising their own commitments.

In the end, the country's private creditors were asked to take substantially more losses on their holdings than previously anticipated, cutting Greece's debt by an estimated euro107 billion.

"It's no exaggeration to say that today is a historic day for the Greek economy," said Greek Premier Lucas

Papademos, who rushed to the meeting to lend weight to his country's pleas for help.

Jean-Claude Juncker, the prime minister of Luxembourg who also chairs the meetings of eurozone finance ministers, said Greece's private investors -- mostly banks and investment funds -- have been asked to take a face value loss of 53.5 percent on their bonds.

On top of that, Greece's public creditors -- central banks and the eurozone countries -- also agreed to give Greece a break on its debt.

The eurozone countries will cut the interest that Greece has to pay for its first package of bailout loans to 1.5 percentage points over market rates from between 2 percentage points to 3 percentage points currently, cutting both its debt load and limiting the need for new rescue loans.

At the same time, the European Central Bank and the national central banks in the 17 countries that use the euro will also forego profits on their Greek debt holdings, again reducing the costs for Greece.

EU economic affairs commissioner Olli Rehn says Greece's new compliance with the terms of a new bailout will be ensured by a separate account containing enough money service its debt for three months.

That close monitoring was demanded by some members of the eurozone who are frustrated that Greece has not always enacted painful reforms and budget cuts on time

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2012/02/20/source-greece-to-get-170-bn-bailout-reduce-debt/?test=latestnews#ixzz1mzpVy381

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Rhode Island teen who fought against prayer banner gets scholarship from atheist group

Posted in Feature , News and Media | |By John

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Greek bailout 'elements in place', says France's Baroin

Posted in Feature , News and Media | Monday, February 20, 2012|By John

All the elements are in place for agreement on a new bailout loan for Greece, the French finance minister has said, ahead of a meeting of eurozone finance ministers in Brussels.

Athens needs the 130bn euros (£110bn; $170bn) in order to avoid bankruptcy in mid-March, when a huge repayment on its governmental debt must be made.

French Finance Minister Francois Baroin said Greece could not wait any longer.

On Sunday Greek PM Lucas Papademos went to Brussels to try to clinch the deal.

US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said the US was encouraging the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to support the bailout, but it is not clear how much the IMF will contribute.

The rescue plan would also write off 100bn euros of debt, with private lenders accepting a 70% reduction in what Greece owes them.

Eurozone doubts

Mr Baroin said he would plead for the deal at Monday's meeting of eurozone finance ministers.

"All the elements are in place... both with the bankers, private sector creditors, and public sector creditors, the states and central banks," he told Europe 1 radio.

Five straight years of recession have left Greece with a debt that is more than 160% of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Eurozone leaders and the IMF said in October that Greece's debt should be reduced to the more sustainable level of 120% of GDP by 2020.

Successive rounds of austerity measures, demanded by the EU, the IMF and the European Central Bank - Greece's international creditors - have failed to restore growth and have provoked clashes between protesters and police.

Measures passed by parliament last week set out 3.3bn euros' worth of cuts to salaries and pensions, and health and defence spending.

Several thousand people protested in Athens on Sunday against further cuts agreed to by Mr Papademos' cabinet on Saturday - but the numbers were far reduced from the tens of thousands who protested last week.

Some eurozone finance ministers doubt Greece's commitment to its spending pledges and want strong mechanisms to ensure its debts are paid.

It is not yet clear how the eurozone intends to keep the pressure on Greece to ensure it fulfils its commitments, says the BBC's Europe editor, Gavin Hewitt.

And, he adds, there are doubts that even with the bailout Greece will be able to reduce its debt to a sustainable level.

Funds from elsewhere may need to be found.

On Wednesday, the eurozone finance ministers said Greece had made "substantial progress", but demanded more detail, including a full timeline for implementing the measures.

Jean-Claude Juncker, head of the so-called Eurogroup, said more work was needed to strengthen oversight of how Greece would implement its austerity plans.

This would be the second bailout for Greece. A first rescue fund of 110bn euros in 2010 was not enough to avert the crisis

source:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17092964

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S Korea holds military drills despite North's threats

Posted in Feature , News and Media | |By John

South Korea has held live fire military drills from islands near disputed sea borders with the North, despite threats of retaliation from Pyongyang.

The drills, which North Korea has called "premeditated military provocation", lasted two hours.

There was no reported action from the North, which warned on Sunday that it would retaliate for any attacks.

The drills took place in an area where four South Koreans were killed in 2010 in a North Korean artillery attack.

Two civilians and two military personnel died in the November attack on Yeonpyeong Island, which lies west of the Korean Peninsula close to the disputed maritime border.

In March 2010, a South Korean warship sank, with the loss of 46 lives, close to another island Baengnyeong.

Pyongyang admitted the attack on Yeonpyeong, saying it was provoked by South Korean military exercises, but has denied any role in the sinking of the warship.

Talks

Residents on the islands were asked to go to underground shelters before the drills began.

The aim of the exercise was "to test our weapons at Marine Corps units on the Yellow Sea and also to maintain our military's combat readiness in the area", an official with the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) was quoted by Yonhap as saying.

The North was notified of the exercise - the second this year - at the border truce village of Panmunjom on Sunday, the JCS said.

A North Korean military officer later told the Associated Press news agency that North Koreans will "dedicate their blood to defend their inviolable territory".

The JCS said Pyongyang placed its armed forces on heightened alert during the drills, but had detected no unusual movement from north of the border.

North and South Korea are, technically, still in a state of war. The two countries never signed a peace treaty after an armistice ended their 1950-1953 conflict.

And tensions ran high following the death of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il two months ago.

Mr Kim was succeeded by his youngest son, Kim Jong-un, and political observers are closely watching developments in the cross-border relationship.

US and North Korean officials are due to meet in Beijing later this week to discuss Pyongyang's controversial nuclear programme.

The talks, aimed at restarting negotiations over disarmament, will be the first since the death of Mr Kim in December 2011.

source:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-17093118

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House-Senate deal reached on payroll tax cut

Posted in Feature , Political Issues | Thursday, February 16, 2012|By John

WASHINGTON – A top lawmaker says the House of Representatives and Senate have sealed a final agreement on legislation to renew a 2 percentage-point cut in the payroll tax and jobless benefits for millions of unemployed workers, a top priority of President Barack Obama.

Democratic Sen. Max Baucus, the Senate Finance Committee Chairman, confirmed the agreement to Fox News late Wednesday, capping a long day of wrangling over the final details of the measure.

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Sen. Dave Camp also confirmed lawmakers had reached an agreement.

However, Camp says the bill isn't done yet, as lawmakers are still hashing out the "legislative language" of the bill behind closed doors.

"It will take time putting the bill into legislative language," he told Fox News.

It's unclear as to when the bill will be posted or when the House might move the bill, but a senior source says that the text of the bill will not be posted online overnight.

Technically this means lawmakers can't vote on the bill Friday, as was the goal. However, the plan is still to do so.

Both Camp and Baucus told Fox News they don't know when the bills will be on the floors of their respective bodies.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid issued a statement on the agreement early Thursday, saying the deal will "move the economy forward as it is beginning to gain steam."

"Everything should not have to be a fight, and I am glad that most of my Republican colleagues put the interests of the middle class ahead of politics to forge this agreement," Reid said in a statement. "Americans expect us to put our differences aside and find common ground. In the months ahead, I hope this shift to the middle becomes the norm, rather than the exception."

The $150 billion measure represents a tactical retreat for Republicans, who were generally unenthusiastic about the legislation but eager to move beyond the issue. With the campaign season starting, they don't want Obama and Democrats in Congress to be able to claim that the GOP was standing in the way of a middle-class tax cut.

It represented a rare burst of bi-partisanship in a bitterly divided Congress.

The legislation would continue a 2 percentage-point cut in the Social Security payroll tax, renew jobless benefits averaging about $300 a week for people languishing for long periods on unemployment rolls and protect doctors from a huge cut in their Medicare reimbursements.

The measure carries a price tag of roughly $150 billion over the coming year, partly financed by new auctions of telecommunications spectrum to wireless companies and by requiring newly-hired federal workers to contribute more toward their pensions. The pension provision was watered down from a version sought by House Republicans, and tentatively agreed to by key Democrats, that would have required current federal workers to contribute more to their defined benefit pensions.

Auctions of portions of the nation's airwaves to wireless companies would net another $15 billion or so -- even after $7 billion is set aside to construct and run a new public safety network for emergency first responders.

Extending the payroll tax cut and renewing long-term jobless benefits were key planks in Obama's jobs program, which was announced last September but has been largely ignored since. The measures are intended to help the economy by giving people more money to spend, fattening a typical bimonthly paycheck by $40 or so and giving the unemployed critical cash that most of them turn around and spend immediately.

The measure also includes a key adjustment to the badly broken Medicare payment formula for doctors, which would otherwise impose a 27 percent cut on March 1 under a 1997 budget law. The $20 billion cost would be covered in part by cuts to a fund created under Obama's health care law that awards grants for preventive care and by curbs on Medicaid payments to hospitals that care for a disproportionate share of uninsured patients.

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said the legislation would probably be voted on by the end of the week. GOP leaders had jump-started the talks over the weekend by dropping a demand that the tax cut be paid for with spending cuts. On Monday, Republicans upped the ante by threatening to advance the payroll tax cut on its own -- and leave jobless benefits and the Medicare fix behind, which set off alarms with Democratic lawmakers and at the White House.

"We were not going to allow the Democrats to continue to play political games and raise taxes on working Americans," Boehner told reporters. "We made the decision to bring them to the table so that the games would stop and we would get this work done."

Some rank-and-file Republicans continued to grumble that the measure was flawed and that the payroll tax cut, first enacted in December of 2010, has done little to prop up the economy. But the prevailing instinct among Republicans was political survival and not wanting to look like they were getting in the way of an election-year tax cut.

"Not going to do this again, but if it gets us through the year, gets this issue off the table, it's worth doing this way," said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.

The final snag, aides said, had involved a spat over new auctions of wireless spectrum, a key provision required to help defray the $30 billion cost of extending jobless benefits. House Republicans moved in the Democrats' direction on the amount of money dedicated to creating the public safety communications network for first responders.

Republicans claimed victory in reducing the number of weeks of jobless benefits that workers would be eligible to receive. The maximum number in states with the highest jobless rates would be cut from 99 weeks to 73 weeks by the end of the year, according to aides in both parties. Republicans had wanted to cut the maximum to 59 weeks.

But in states with particularly high unemployment, such as Rhode Island and Nevada, the measure is actually more generous over the next few months than current law.

Negotiators also dropped House-passed language that would have forced low-income people to have Social Security numbers in order to get government checks by claiming the children's tax credit, a move that was aimed at illegal immigrants and caused a furor among many Hispanics.

Republicans also dropped a proposal requiring unemployed people to seek high school equivalency degrees to obtain benefits. But a GOP provision requiring jobless people to be more diligent in job searches as a condition of receiving benefits was included.

The measure also would prevent welfare recipients from using their electronic benefits cards to withdraw money at ATMs in strip clubs, casinos and liquor stores.

Source:http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/02/15/house-senate-deal-reached-on-payroll-tax-cut/#ixzz1mWpajuzi

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