For the first time in decades, fewer than 100 people were sentenced to death in America this year. Seventy-eight people were handed the death sentence in courts in 2011–the lowest number since the Supreme Court reinstated capital punishment in 1978, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. Death sentences have been declining since 1998, the
Continue reading …The Justice Department released a 22-page report today accusing Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio of presiding over officers who engage in racial profiling and infringe upon people’s civil rights. The federal government is giving the controversial Arizona sheriff until January 4 to agree to make changes to his program or face legal action. Justice department
Continue reading …As Congress continues to mull whether to extend unemployment benefits, a new government study bolsters the case for doing so. Jobless Americans who receive benefits spend more time looking for work than those who don’t receive them (pdf), according to a new study by Congress’s non-partisan Joint Economic Committee. The finding undercuts the claim, advanced
Continue reading …For most Americans, the holidays are a time for happiness and celebration with family and friends–or at least for a few precious days of hard-earned relaxation. But when you’re out of work and struggling to get by, the season can make things even harder. Barry Viprino, a 30-year old financial adviser from Cape Cod, Mass.,
Continue reading …Dior’s Bill Gaytten displays 1950s hemlines in his latest collection during Paris Fashion Week. (March 5) Subscribe to the Associated Press: bit.ly Download AP Mobile: www.ap.org Associated Press on Facebook: apne.ws Associated Press on Twitter: apne.ws Associated Press on Google+: bit.ly
Continue reading …President says he will carry on fighting ‘foreign-backed terrorism’ as evidence of human rights abuses mounts Syria has again refused to allow aid into the destroyed suburb of Homs amid mounting evidence of human rights abuses, including the torture of victims at a hospital inside the city. A defiant President Bashar al-Assad said he was determined to go on fighting what he called “foreign-backed terrorism”. “The Syrian people, who have in the past managed to crush foreign plots … have again proven their ability to defend the nation and to build a new Syria through their determination to pursue reforms while confronting foreign-backed terrorism,” he said, according to the state news agency Sana. State television claimed residents were now slowly returning on foot to Baba Amr. It showed men, women and children trudging past ruined and bullet-marked buildings. There was also footage of a cramped tunnel which Damascus says was used to smuggle arms. But locals said the reports had been fabricated. Speaking via Skype from the Insha’at area, which neighbours Baba Amr, one resident, Sami, said: “No one has tried to go back there.” He said the accents of people interviewed on state TV suggested they were from coastal areas and not from Homs. “It makes me laugh when I see state TV,” he said. “We know that it is untrue.” A spokesman for the Red Cross said that despite the authorities giving permission for it to deliver aid and medical supplies to Baba Amr last Thursday, they were still being denied access on the grounds of security. Russia and China have made clear again that they are still standing by the regime in Damascus, while western leaders again ruled out a Libya-style military intervention. The White House said on Tuesday that the president, Barack Obama, was committed to diplomatic efforts to end the violence, saying Washington sought to isolate Assad, cut off his sources of revenue and encourage unity among his opponents. The United States is proposing a new security council resolution demanding an end to the violence in Syria, first by government forces and then by opposition fighters. Residents who fled Baba Amr spoke of bodies decomposing under rubble, sewage mixing with litter in the streets and a campaign of arrests and executions. “The smell of death was everywhere. We could smell the bodies buried under the rubble all the time,” said Ahmad, who escaped to Lebanon, according to agency reports. “We saw so much death that at the end the sight of a dismembered body … stopped moving us.” There was further violence reported across Syria. In Herak, in Deraa province, where the revolt erupted nearly a year ago, residents said armoured vehicles and tanks had massed on the western fringe of the city and in parts of the centre. There were raids reported in the city of Deir al-Zor. Activists also claimed attacks had continued in Rastan. Video footage emerged apparently showing a staff general who had defected to the Free Syrian Army in protest at the assault on the city. In it, Adnan Qassim Farazat, holding his identity card, said: “I declare my defection from the Syrian army to the Free Syrian Army, because of the artillery bombing against Rastan which is continuing violently.” He added: “Houses have been damaged and children and women were killed. This is not the right behaviour of the Syrian army.” Security forces also opened fire on Tuesday on protests in Douma, a suburb north-east of Damascus which was briefly held by the rebels in January, according to reports that could not be verified. Omer Hamza, an activist in Douma, claimed several tanks and armoured vehicles, and ten busloads of shabiha, or armed thugs, were seen in a village north of Yabrud, between Damascus and Homs. “A few houses were damaged and some people were detained,” he said. Four people were killed in Yabrud, he added. Once again three of the bodies were taken by the security forces, he said. A large funeral was held for the fourth victim, Burhan al-Sihli, whose body was recovered. Secretly shot video footage aired on Monday by Channel 4 showed what it said were Syrian patients tortured by medical staff at a state-run hospital in Homs. The video, which Channel 4 said it could not independently verify, showed wounded, blindfolded men chained to beds. A rubber whip and electrical cable lay on a table in one ward. Patients showed what looked like signs of severe beatings. “I have seen detainees being tortured by electrocution, whipping, beating with batons, and by breaking their legs. They twist the feet until the leg breaks,” the employee who made the video said. Syria Arab and Middle East unrest Middle East and North Africa Bashar al-Assad Luke Harding Mona Mahmood Matthew Weaver guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Business secretary warns that the government lacks a ‘compelling vision’ beyond tackling Britain’s record fiscal deficit Cabinet unease over the slow pace of economic recovery burst into the open on Tuesday with the leaking of a letter by business secretary, Vince Cable, in which he warned that the government lacks a “compelling vision” beyond tackling Britain’s record fiscal deficit. To the irritation of chancellor, George Osborne, who warned that Britain should prepare for an austerity budget on 21 March, the business secretary told the prime minister in his letter that the government cannot rely on markets alone to revive the economy. Contents of the letter, sent to the prime minister and Nick Clegg on 8 February, were first leaked to the FT on 12 February. But the full version of the highly sensitive letter, in which Cable called on No 10 to accept that the Royal Bank of Scotland will have to be broken up, was published on Tuesday afternoon by the BBC. In the most sensitive section, Cable wrote: “I sense … that there is still something important missing: a compelling vision of where the country is heading beyond sorting out the fiscal mess; and a clear and confident message abut how we will earn our living in future … We can be more strategic and the economic backdrop will increase demands that we are ambitious.” Cable highlighted Lib Dem unease over a central plank of the chancellor’s economic strategy – that the private sector will pick up the slack as the public sector shrinks – as he warned that there are limits to what markets can achieve. “Market forces are insufficient for creating the long term industrial capabilities we need. Despite the biggest devaluation since the war, improvement in the UK’s trade balance has been disappointing. The Labour boom and bust hollowed out the supply chains on which exporters and inward investors depend. “And while controversy rages over bankers’ bonuses, the much bigger problem is the lack of confidence businesses have in their ability to find affordable financing for future investment. All in all, we must law out a strategic vision for where our future industrial capabilities should lie, and how to deliver it.” The letter was leaked hours after the business secretary said the Lib Dems were prepared to drop their opposition to scrapping the 50p top rate of tax if a tax on wealth, with a “mansion tax” on properties with more than £2m their preferred option. Cable told Radio 4′s Today programme: “If the 50p rate were to go – and I and my colleagues are not ideologically wedded to the 50p tax rate – if that were to go, it should be replaced by taxation of wealth, because the wealthy people of the country have got to pay their share, particularly at a time of economic difficulty. How exactly that is configured is a detailed matter for negotiation, but that principle must be upheld, and the mansion tax is actually a very economically sensible way of doing it. But there are different ways of approaching it.” The intervention by Cable caused some irritation in the Treasury which is bracing itself for a tough round of negotiations before the budget in the “quad”, the coterie of the cabinet’s most senior ministers. This group comprises of the prime minister, the chancellor, the deputy prime minister Nick Clegg and Danny Alexander, Osborne’s number two at the Treasury. Osborne is more open to the idea of a tax on wealth than the prime minister who is highly suspicious of increasing tax on property. The chancellor believes that the best bet is close down loopholes on stamp duty which allow millionaires to register new properties in the name of overseas companies. This means they pay 0.5% in stamp duty on properties worth more than £1m rather than the standard 5%. Osborne warned on Tuesday that there would be no “unfunded giveaways” in the budget. In a speech to the annual dinner of the EEF manufacturers’ organisation, he said: “By facing difficult decisions head on, we have won the credibility which will allow us to constrain inflationary pressure, support long term low interest rates and provided the stability that creates the space for private sector investment. I have a budget in two weeks’ time, I can tell you: we are not going to put that credibility and stability and low interest rates at risk. “The days of unfunded giveaways are over – and they’re not coming back in this budget. Everything has to be paid for.” Osborne risked a row with his coalition partners by calling on Britain’s industrialists to campaign in favour of one of the recommendations in the controversial Beecroft report on employment law. The venture capitalist argued in his report, commissioned by the Downing Street policy guru Steve Hilton, in favour of “compensated no fault-dismissal” for small businesses. The Lib Dems, who were wary of the Beecroft report, agreed to a consultation. Osborne said: “Plenty of trade unions and others will be submitting their evidence for why we shouldn’t do this. If you think we should, and it will increase employment, then don’t wait for someone else to send in the evidence. Send it in yourself.” The negotiations on the budget, in which the Treasury is expected to meet its forecast for a £127bn deficit in 2011-12 with a few billion pounds to spare, have highlighted divisions between the coalition partners and among the Tories. Vince Cable Economic policy George Osborne Liberal-Conservative coalition Tax and spending Conservatives Budget 2012 Budget Nicholas Watt Heather Stewart guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …It’s been mostly baseball teams that have been making It Gets Better ads—the San Francisco Giants broke the mold last June, and since then a few more baseball teams have filmed their versions. While Tim Tebow’s Denver Broncos are a little bit behind the curve, the NHL is quickly making strides to catch up to the MLB in terms of Broadcasting platform : YouTube Source : Queerty Discovery Date : 02/03/2012 17:03 Number of articles : 7
Continue reading …Attorney general is examining the testimony of Sue Akers amid fears her comments were potentially in contempt of court The attorney general is examining whether the head of Scotland Yard’s investigation into illegal news gathering has prejudiced fair trials for any journalists involved through her evidence to the Leveson inquiry. Dominic Grieve’s office is scrutinising the testimony made by Deputy Assistant Commissioner Sue Akers 10 days ago amid concerns that her comments were potentially in contempt of court. Akers is the head of three linked inquiries into phone hacking, alleged bribes and computer hacking. She said that the Sun newspaper was responsible for creating a “network of corrupted officials” and creating a “culture of illegal payments” to officials from the police, Ministry of Defence and other public bodies. In a statement about her investigation she included details of “multiple payments” by the Sun journalists to public officials, with one individual receiving £80,000, while one journalist, she said, drew more than £150,000 over the years to pay sources, including public officials. The stories that resulted from these disclosures were “salacious gossip”, she said, and not in the public interest. She also gave details of how the relative of one arrested public official acted as a conduit to hide the cheque payment to that individual. The Guardian understands the attorney general has received at least one complaint raising concerns that Akers’s evidence – given in the midst of a criminal inquiry – could be in breach of the Contempt of Court Act and could prejudice further legal action against any of the individuals arrested. Lawyers for the attorney are investigating. A spokeswoman for the attorney general told the Guardian: “Evidence given during the Leveson inquiry has been drawn to the attention of the attorney general’s office. The attorney general will consider the concerns raised.” Eleven Sun journalists have been arrested in relation to alleged bribes to public officials; all have been named in the media. None have been charged. The attorney general’s intervention comes as a former Met commissioner warned that the move to secrecy by Scotland Yard in the wake of the phone hacking scandal threatened to increase the chance of rioting on Britain’s streets. Lord Stevens, who ran the Met from 2000-05, told Lord Justice Leveson on Tuesday that the pendulum of police and media relations had swung too far away from openness. Stevens, who as Met commissioner introduced an open door policy for the media, said he would have picked up and “tirelessly” pursued the issues raised by the Guardian in 2009 about phone hacking at the News of the World. But he said the reaction to the hacking revelations had created an unhealthy fear of the press among police officers. “From what I have heard people are absolutely terrified of picking up the phone and speaking to the press in any way,” he said. “I don’t think that is healthy. The press has their job to do, they have delivered some outstanding work, there has to be a relationship with them for the right reasons.” He said that not engaging with the press put the police at risk of not being trusted, and in turn risked causing outbreaks of rioting. “Let me make this clear, in my view this is extremely damaging to British policing,” he said. “The media need to know what the police are doing. It is absolutely essential to have transparency and openness … If there’s no engagement then the police risk not being part of the community. This will ultimately result in them being distrusted … It is precisely in these conditions that public order outbreaks occur as community tensions are heightened and there is public concern over the actions of the police.” Lord Condon, the Met commissioner from 1993 to 2000, said there should not be an overly bureaucratic response to the phone hacking revelations. “I would be worried about anything which suggested that any contact between the police and the media was almost inherently wrong, that the media are given some sort of pariah status, and almost being in the same room, or within 50 yards of them, a police officer would be required to take a note,” he said. But Condon suggested that officers accepting hospitality from journalists was a dangerous area. “In my opinion hospitality can be the start of a grooming process which can lead to unethical or inappropriate behaviour.” Both said they favoured no editors during their tenure at the Yard and their relationships with the media during their tenure had always been entirely professional. Stevens, who wrote for the News of the World after retirement from the Met, said he stopped the column after the 2007 convictions of Clive Goodman and Glenn Mulcaire over phone hacking. “I saw Colin Myler and Neil Wallis and told them I didn’t want to continue,” he said. “I never gave them reasons but from that night on I never saw them again.” Stevens said his decision to end the contract with the paper – which latterly was paying him £7,000 an article – was fuelled by other information he received about “some unethical behaviour in relation to one or two articles that had got headlines in the News of the World.” He did not elaborate. Leveson inquiry Phone hacking Sue Akers Newspapers & magazines National newspapers Newspapers Press intrusion Sandra Laville guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Just hours before their Super Tuesday showdown, Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum strained for an edge in Ohio and braced for the 10 primaries and caucuses likely to redefine the race for the Republican presidential nomination. (March 5) Subscribe to the Associated Press: bit.ly Download AP Mobile: www.ap.org Associated Press on Facebook: apne.ws Associated Press on Twitter: apne.ws Associated Press on Google+: bit.ly
Continue reading …