Click here to view this media New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) again announced Tuesday that he definitely was not running for president, and he added that the Republican Party’s eventual nominee may want to think twice before picking him as a running mate. “I don’t know that there is anybody in America that would necessarily think that my personality is best suited for being number two,” Christie told reporters at a press conference in Trenton. “I just don’t think I have the personality to be asked,” he explained. “I mean, seriously. Can you imagine? You know, the guy would probably want to get a food taster.” It’s generally considered bad form for politicians to admit they are seeking the vice presidential nomination, but a potential candidate suggesting that he might poison the future president may be a completely new tactic for seeking office.
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Turkish prime minister condemns the Bashar al-Assad regime and vows not to remain a bystander Syria’s former ally Turkey said on Tuesday it had started imposing sanctions on the regime of Bashar al-Assad and reiterated it will not remain a bystander in the face of a relentless military crackdown. “Oppressed, defenceless people are dying in serious numbers,” said Racip Erdogan, the Turkish prime minister . “We cannot say ‘let these deaths continue’.” Erdogan did not specify the exact nature of the new sanctions but has previously hinted at a range of military and commercial measures. Erdogan, who has taken a regional lead in condemning Turkey’s restive southern neighbour, compared the actions of Assad to those of his father, Hafez al-Assad, who ordered the Hama massacre in 1982 after an anti-regime rebellion. In a sign of the increasing support Ankara is giving to anti-regime dissidents, the highest-ranking officer to defect from the Syrian military on Tuesdayadmitted he was in southern Turkey. Colonel Riad al-Assad used the Turkish newspaper Anatolia to call on opposition forces inside Syria to close ranks and wait for the regime to collapse. Dissidents in the city of Homs fought pitched battles with security forces on Monday night in what some opposition leaders have cast as the most intense two-way violence of the six-month uprising. Syrian forces were earlier reported to have ousted opposition groups from an outlying region of Homs, known as Rastan. “It was serious fighting,” said opposition activist Wissam Tarif. “Things seem to be escalating in Homs.” For the past months activists in and around Homs have been seeking weapons and attempting to mount an armed fight-back against the regime. “We see them on the streets all the time,” said a worker at one of the city’s hospitals. “They are armed and they are fighting the regime when they can.” Activists said on Tuesday arrests had intensified since the weekend, with up to 3,000 people reported to have been recently detained. Opposition groups have alleged in recent days that regime officials have been attempting to intimidate them in some European capitals, including London and Paris. The French government on Tuesday said it would not tolerate harassment of protesters and said it had called in the Syrian ambassador to register a formal protest. Burhan Ghalioun, a Paris-based opposition figure, said three members of his family, his brother, nephew and niece, were abducted in Homs on Monday night. He feared his niece may have been killed. Meanwhile, the appointment of the US ambassador to Syria, Robert Ford, was confirmed by the US Senate 18 months after he was nominated by Barack Obama – a contentious appointment opposed at the time by some politicians. Ford has been a vocal critic of Assad’s regime. His visit to Homs in the summer and to a key opposition activist late last week led to his convoy being attacked by regime supporters. A newspaper run by the ruling Baath party on Monday warned that Ford would face more “unpleasant incidents” if he continued to take a public stand against Assad. The US and Britain have said they will not advocate a Libyan-style military intervention in Syria and are instead banking on a range of sanctions against regime officials and public support for opposition groups to oust the regime, which they say has lost all legitimacy. Bashar Al-Assad Syria Turkey Middle East Arab and Middle East unrest Europe Martin Chulov guardian.co.uk
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One person dead and two people seriously injured and one still missing after helicopter plunges into East river The body of a person who was missing after a helicopter crashed into New York City’s East River has been pulled from the murky water. Police say the victim was a woman. She was among five people on the helicopter when it crashed. The pilot and three others were pulled alive from the water by rescue crews shortly after the chopper went down. Witnesses say the chopper was “out of control” before the crash. The private chopper went into the river off 34th Street in midtown Manhattan. It is unclear what happened. A massive rescue effort was under way, with a dozen boats and divers in the water. The conditions of those who were rescued were not immediately available. The fire department said at least two people on board were taken to area hospitals in serious condition. Joy Garnett and her husband were on the dock waiting to take the East River ferry to Brooklyn when they heard the blades of a helicopter and saw it start to take off from the nearby helipad. She said she saw it do “a funny curlicue.” “I thought: is that some daredevil move?” Garnett said. “But it was obviously out of control. The body spun around at least two or three times, and then it went down.” She said the chopper had lifted about 25ft (7.6m) off the ground before it dropped into the water without much of a splash. It flipped over, and the blades were sticking up out of the river. She said people on the dock started throwing in life jackets and buoys. Two people came up out of the waves. “It didn’t make much noise,” she said. “It was just a splash and sunk.” The Bell 206 Jet Ranger is one of the world’s most popular helicopter models and was first flown in January 1966. They are light and highly maneuverable, making them popular with television stations and air taxi companies. A new one costs between $700,000 and $1.2m. In August 2009, a small plane collided with a helicopter over the East River, killing nine people, including five Italian tourists. A government safety panel found that an air traffic controller who was on a personal phone call had contributed to the accident. The Federal Aviation Administration changed its rules for aircraft flying over New York City’s rivers after that collision. Pilots must call out their positions on the radio and obey a 161mph speed limit. Before the changes, such radio calls were optional. Earlier that year, an Airbus 320 airliner landed in the Hudson River after hitting birds and losing both engines shortly after taking off from LaGuardia Airport. The flight, US Airways Flight 1549, became known as the Miracle on the Hudson plane. New York United States guardian.co.uk
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As co-host Matt Lauer reported Denmark implementing a “fat tax” on certain foods during the “Today's Professionals” panel on Tuesday's NBC “Today,” advertising executive Donny Deutsch and NBC chief medical editor Dr. Nancy Snyderman literally applauded the move. [ Audio available here ] Snyderman then demanded: “…there should be a tax on colas with sugar in it, foods you don't need , the necessities should be cheaper, so that people can get good fruits and vegetables and meats and the junk that's processed should be taxed higher. I have no problem with it at all.” View video after the jump Only panelist and attorney Star Jones disagreed with the government overreach: “I'm just concerned when the government with its long arm tries to tell people that we're not going to help you on the front end deal with the disease of obesity.” Snyderman immediately asserted: “But they are helping by doing this.” Deutsch similarly balked: “How is that not helping on the front end? That's exactly what they're doing.” Jones, who struggled with her own weight issues, stood her ground: “No, you're not helping anybody, not by taxing. That's not the way that you help people.” Snyderman argued: “It worked with cigarettes, absolutely.” Moments later, Deutsch proclaimed: “If you solve obesity you solve the health care problem in this country. And so what's the argument to not making people healthier?” Jones replied: “But we're not trying to make people not healthier, I don't think that the way to do it is by taxing people, especially poor people.” Deutsch maintained: “It's a very smart way to do it….The poor people argument I don't understand. They need the help more than anybody.” Jones pointed out the wealthy businessman's arm-chair liberalism: “Just because you're not poor. You ain't been poor in a long time….Walk in the shoes of people that can't find fruits and vegetables.” Here is a full transcript of the October 4 exchange: 8:11AM ET (…) MATT LAUER: Move on to food. Denmark has decided to implement what they're calling a fat tax. [DONNY DEUTSCH AND NANCY SNYDERMAN START CLAPPING] STAR JONES: Really? LAUER: Basically you go to the supermarket, you buy a food that has above a certain level of fat, they charge you extra. Alright, do we feel good about this, Doc?
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Beijing threatens legal action as Burma halts dam because it is ‘against the will of the people’ Burma’s decision to suspend the country’s biggest hydroelectric project has shocked and enraged China, the government’s most influential backer on the international stage. Senior officials in Beijing have castigated their south-east Asian ally and threatened legal action. It emerged that they were not consulted before President Thein Sien of Burma announced last Friday a halt to building the $3.6bn (£2.3bn) hydropower dam on the Irawaddy – known as the Myitsone project – because it was “against the will of the people”. China is the impoverished nation’s second-largest trading partner and biggest foreign investor. Such public displays of discord are unusual. Its reaction contrasted sharply with the response of the US government, which praised Burma’s “significant and positive step” towards listening to public concerns and promoting national reconciliation. This may be because Beijing has more at stake. China Power Investment is the primary funder of the project. Its manager, Lu Qizhou, told domestic media that he was astonished by the announcement . “I hear about this through media reports. I was very shocked. Before this, Burma did not communicate with us about plans for a suspension,” he said, in a warning that a halt to construction would precipitate legal action. Lu said the project had received the necessary approval in both countries. He described the sudden suspension as “incomprehensible” and the cost for both countries as “immeasurable”. He said the loss was not just about the direct investment, but it was also a missed opportunity to generate electric power and there was damage to the country’s reputation because of a breach of contract. In total, he calculated that the cascade of hydropower projects – of which Myitsone is just one – would have earned the Burmese government $54bn in tax revenues, shared profits and free electricity. Lu downplayed the human and environmental impact of the dam, saying the Myitsone reservoir would necessitate the relocation of only 2,146 people in five villages. He said the Chinese company had provided them with two-storey houses, 21in colour televisions and a 100,000 kyat living allowance. At the weekend, Hong Lei, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, called on Burma to hold consultations over the dam and noted that both countries agreed to move ahead with the project after a thorough assessment of the impact. Opponents of the dam accuse China of being disingenuous. The Burma Rivers Network , which represents communities affected by the hydropower project, said Beijing had negotiated its investments with the military government without considering the will of the people. “The villagers at the dam site, numerous political and community organisations, international human rights organisations have attempted to contact China Power Investment and discuss the concerns about the impacts and process of the project. Even though CPI never responded to all these attempts at dialogue, they cannot claim to be unaware of the feeling about this project by the people of Burma,” the group said. Far from benefiting Burma through flood control, the group argue that the dam would put the demands of power generation for China before the needs of local people. “Chinese engineers running the dams will decide how much water to release downstream according to orders from Beijing … As seen with the Mekong, this can cause unexpected and devastating water surges and shortages,” it said. Wave, tidal and hydropower Burma China Energy Renewable energy Jonathan Watts guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Beijing threatens legal action as Burma halts dam because it is ‘against the will of the people’ Burma’s decision to suspend the country’s biggest hydroelectric project has shocked and enraged China, the government’s most influential backer on the international stage. Senior officials in Beijing have castigated their south-east Asian ally and threatened legal action. It emerged that they were not consulted before President Thein Sien of Burma announced last Friday a halt to building the $3.6bn (£2.3bn) hydropower dam on the Irawaddy – known as the Myitsone project – because it was “against the will of the people”. China is the impoverished nation’s second-largest trading partner and biggest foreign investor. Such public displays of discord are unusual. Its reaction contrasted sharply with the response of the US government, which praised Burma’s “significant and positive step” towards listening to public concerns and promoting national reconciliation. This may be because Beijing has more at stake. China Power Investment is the primary funder of the project. Its manager, Lu Qizhou, told domestic media that he was astonished by the announcement . “I hear about this through media reports. I was very shocked. Before this, Burma did not communicate with us about plans for a suspension,” he said, in a warning that a halt to construction would precipitate legal action. Lu said the project had received the necessary approval in both countries. He described the sudden suspension as “incomprehensible” and the cost for both countries as “immeasurable”. He said the loss was not just about the direct investment, but it was also a missed opportunity to generate electric power and there was damage to the country’s reputation because of a breach of contract. In total, he calculated that the cascade of hydropower projects – of which Myitsone is just one – would have earned the Burmese government $54bn in tax revenues, shared profits and free electricity. Lu downplayed the human and environmental impact of the dam, saying the Myitsone reservoir would necessitate the relocation of only 2,146 people in five villages. He said the Chinese company had provided them with two-storey houses, 21in colour televisions and a 100,000 kyat living allowance. At the weekend, Hong Lei, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, called on Burma to hold consultations over the dam and noted that both countries agreed to move ahead with the project after a thorough assessment of the impact. Opponents of the dam accuse China of being disingenuous. The Burma Rivers Network , which represents communities affected by the hydropower project, said Beijing had negotiated its investments with the military government without considering the will of the people. “The villagers at the dam site, numerous political and community organisations, international human rights organisations have attempted to contact China Power Investment and discuss the concerns about the impacts and process of the project. Even though CPI never responded to all these attempts at dialogue, they cannot claim to be unaware of the feeling about this project by the people of Burma,” the group said. Far from benefiting Burma through flood control, the group argue that the dam would put the demands of power generation for China before the needs of local people. “Chinese engineers running the dams will decide how much water to release downstream according to orders from Beijing … As seen with the Mekong, this can cause unexpected and devastating water surges and shortages,” it said. Wave, tidal and hydropower Burma China Energy Renewable energy Jonathan Watts guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Beijing threatens legal action as Burma halts dam because it is ‘against the will of the people’ Burma’s decision to suspend the country’s biggest hydroelectric project has shocked and enraged China, the government’s most influential backer on the international stage. Senior officials in Beijing have castigated their south-east Asian ally and threatened legal action. It emerged that they were not consulted before President Thein Sien of Burma announced last Friday a halt to building the $3.6bn (£2.3bn) hydropower dam on the Irawaddy – known as the Myitsone project – because it was “against the will of the people”. China is the impoverished nation’s second-largest trading partner and biggest foreign investor. Such public displays of discord are unusual. Its reaction contrasted sharply with the response of the US government, which praised Burma’s “significant and positive step” towards listening to public concerns and promoting national reconciliation. This may be because Beijing has more at stake. China Power Investment is the primary funder of the project. Its manager, Lu Qizhou, told domestic media that he was astonished by the announcement . “I hear about this through media reports. I was very shocked. Before this, Burma did not communicate with us about plans for a suspension,” he said, in a warning that a halt to construction would precipitate legal action. Lu said the project had received the necessary approval in both countries. He described the sudden suspension as “incomprehensible” and the cost for both countries as “immeasurable”. He said the loss was not just about the direct investment, but it was also a missed opportunity to generate electric power and there was damage to the country’s reputation because of a breach of contract. In total, he calculated that the cascade of hydropower projects – of which Myitsone is just one – would have earned the Burmese government $54bn in tax revenues, shared profits and free electricity. Lu downplayed the human and environmental impact of the dam, saying the Myitsone reservoir would necessitate the relocation of only 2,146 people in five villages. He said the Chinese company had provided them with two-storey houses, 21in colour televisions and a 100,000 kyat living allowance. At the weekend, Hong Lei, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, called on Burma to hold consultations over the dam and noted that both countries agreed to move ahead with the project after a thorough assessment of the impact. Opponents of the dam accuse China of being disingenuous. The Burma Rivers Network , which represents communities affected by the hydropower project, said Beijing had negotiated its investments with the military government without considering the will of the people. “The villagers at the dam site, numerous political and community organisations, international human rights organisations have attempted to contact China Power Investment and discuss the concerns about the impacts and process of the project. Even though CPI never responded to all these attempts at dialogue, they cannot claim to be unaware of the feeling about this project by the people of Burma,” the group said. Far from benefiting Burma through flood control, the group argue that the dam would put the demands of power generation for China before the needs of local people. “Chinese engineers running the dams will decide how much water to release downstream according to orders from Beijing … As seen with the Mekong, this can cause unexpected and devastating water surges and shortages,” it said. Wave, tidal and hydropower Burma China Energy Renewable energy Jonathan Watts guardian.co.uk
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The actor explains how he had heated words with the Chancellor when they met at a dinner party before the 2010 election It is not often you get a chance to have a really good discussion about conditional fee agreements and how they play into the Jackson review of civil litigation costs, and it is even less often you get to have that discussion with Hugh Grant. But since the actor took up the cause of phone hacking, touring the party conferences and meeting party leaders at each, Grant admits he has “mugged up”. In his early days of righteous anger at the way in which it had intruded into his life, Grant called for the entire tabloid press to be shut down. He also sometimes came across as a man who only wanted publicity on his terms. Now, attending the Conservative conference to speak at a fringe meeting, and to meet David Cameron, he has refined his take on how to deal with media malfeasance – but has not lost any of his outrage, much of it directed at the Conservatives for trying to airbrush the phone-hacking issue out of the conference. He reveals that his hatred of News International is longstanding; and indeed before the election he had a bust up with George Osborne over the appointment of Andy Coulson as director of communications at No 10. “I happened to meet George Osborne at a dinner party before the election. I said: ‘I tell you what, you have made a catastrophic mistake in hiring Coulson.’ And he pooh-poohed me completely. It actually got a bit awkward and our hostess had to calm us down.” He said he wanted to hear directly from Cameron on why he appointed Coulson, and why the prime minister accepted Coulson’s explanation that a lone rogue employee had hacked phones under his editorship at News of the World. “I really want to know the answer: did he allow Coulson into No 10, and get involved with the Murdoch empire generally speaking, a) out of naivety, b) out of reluctant pragmatism – ‘we know they are monsters, but it is the only way to get into power and stay in power’, or c) out of unreluctant pragmatism, ie, this is what politicians weaned on the teeth of spin do?” He finds it inconceivable that Cameron did not know Coulson had overseen a culture of phone hacking at the paper. “If I knew – and pretty well everyone I knew,
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A slimmed-down, faster version of last year’s iPhone 4 aims to cement Apple’s as the world’s largest phone maker by revenue Apple unveiled a slimmed-down and faster version of last year’s iPhone 4, dubbed the iPhone 4S, as new chief executive Tim Cook aimed to cement its position as the world’s largest phone maker by revenue. The phone is expected to go on sale from all five UK networks from 14 October, though none was able to give details of pricing. The Guardian understands that no one knew precisely what was coming until it was unveiled. Apple also said that a new version of its “iOS” software, iOS 5, to run existing iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS and iPad models will be available from 12 October, bringing its “iCloud” system which synchronises pictures, documents and user video across devices without needing a PC. While the rumour mill – and the name of Apple’s software – had led many to expect that the phone would be called the “iPhone 5″, Philip Schiller, the head of marketing, demonstrated the 4S and insisted that it was a complete overhaul of the iPhone 4 released 14 months ago. A key element in the iPhone 4S is a “voice assistant” called Siri which Scott Forstall, head of the iOS division, demonstrated. It answered complex queries asked by voice such as “what’s the weather like today?” and responded in real time with a synthesized voice. “There’s so much you can ask. Compose and dictate emails, ask questions about the weather, stocks, set timers. It’s not perfect, but there’s a huge amount it can do,” said Forstall. The launch was the first for Apple, the highest-valued company in the world, without Steve Jobs as chief executive after he stepped down in August. Apple is seeking to stay ahead of its South Korean rival Samsung, which is challenging Apple for the crown of the company selling the most smartphones worldwide. The two are expected to be neck-and-neck when figures for the third quarter, to the end of September, are announced. The majority of Samsung’s smartphones run Google’s Android software. Apple is aiming to bolster its position in the mobile business, where Cook pointed out that despite its position in the smartphone market it only has 5% of the total market by volume, by targeting the fast-growing Chinese market as well as European and US buyers. The iPhone 4S includes the A5 processing chip also used in the iPad 2 released earlier this year, making it significantly faster than its iPhone 4 predecessor. Schiller said that the antennas – the subject of a bitter row when some customers claimed that the external antenna led to worse reception – have been redesigned to improve call quality. The camera had also been improved compared to the iPhone 4. One other change is that the phone will work on any phone network in the world through the inclusion of chips which boost compatibility. Speaking in the room where ten years before Steve Jobs launched the iPod – the music player which revived Apple’s fortunes and helped it gain a dominant position in consumer electronics – Cook said that “I consider it the privilege of a lifetime to have worked here almost 14 years.” Apple also updated two of its 10-year-old iPod line, the internet-enabled iPod Touch and the miniature iPod nano, which will now be offered in watch form – something that a number of Apple fans had demanded last year when it was released. But the “classic” iPod and the tiny “shuffle” were not mentioned, though they are still on sale. iPhone Apple Mobile phones Smartphones Charles Arthur Juliette Garside Josh Halliday guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Bill O’Reilly on Occupy Wall Street: They’re Jobless Because They Don’t Want to Work
October 4, 2011 No Comment
Click here to view this media Bill O’Reilly attacks the Occupy Wall Street protests. He loves the tea party movement protests though. To Billo, the tea party are just folks angry at the government and whenever racist signs were proudly displayed or or voiced by Hank Williams Jr. they were dismissed. Turn to a real grassroots protest and Bill sends his lackey, Jesse Watters to uncover either a heavily edited video clip or one that portrays the protesters to be communists with potty mouths, sorta like he did last night. Anyway, Juan Williams actually did a good job in defending the new protests. The new Pew poll supports the idea that the class warfare meme is working against conservatives because the results show only Republicans are supporting that idea. Also, Republicans are helping the “haves” much more than the have-nots. it’s hard to follow Bill’s thinking sometimes. I wish I had Jon Stewart’s wit because in one moment he says it’s not spontaneous and calls it organized by professionals and in the next he says they are walking around aimlessly. I guess that means that the pros were hired to create massive protests and their central tenet is to have them not finely tune their messaging which is what the Koch Brothers Americans For Prosperity does, but walk around aimlessly. Williams: First of all look at those Occupy Wall Street movement that you’re seeing right there first hand. It’s now spreading and it’s in LA, S, Pittsburgh, Boston, O’Reilly: But you don’t think this is spontaneous do you? Williams: Yes, I do, it’s organic. O’Reilly: Oh, they’re NOT! There’s groups behind them, professional people, these people, we sent Jesse Watters and these people just wander around… Williams: Yea, but they’re jobless, O’Reilly: They’re jobless because they don’t want to work! They admitted it to us. They won’t work for the corporate man. (Solidarity Pizza Fundraiser) Williams: That’s not true. There is high unemployment among the young Americans because this economy is having such trouble O’Reilly: Let me break it to you. if you have a college degree in this country, unemployment is 4.5% OK, Juan! So all these people, take a shower and they can get a job if they went to college. That’s all. Williams: No, what you’re missing is they’re underemployed… In Bill’s world, college is free and anyone can walk through the doors of Harvard and sign up for classes. Then get washed up after four or eight years in a university, everybody can go down to Mickey D’s and find meaningful work. I know for a fact it’s spontaneous since we’ve been interacting with NY, LA, Boston and SF and it’s not run by professionals. but to Billo’s point, people want to work. Now the next bit is great because Juan uses a Fox News poll and throws it back in O’Reilly’s face. it was so bad for O’Reilly that he tried to dismiss his own poll because they probably worded the questions wrong.. Williams: These people can’t find jobs or they’re finding jobs flipping burgers and they’re not happy. A lot of young people and guess what, you said the independents won’t buy this. O’Reilly: Yea. Williams: There was a Fox News poll last week that says ‘president Obama’s class-warfare hopeful or divisive and the Fox Poll said 56% of Americans agreed that president Obama’s class warfare described by the republicans is hopeful and positive and guess what, most independents agreed with it. O’Reilly: I mean maybe the poll, the way the question was worded. O’Reilly dissed the holy Fox News poll. O’Reilly: I don’t think Americans want this country to be divided over money and class. I agree that they are a lot of fat cat gangsters on Wall street and I’ve been outspoken about that. This ain’t this. It’s about I hate Capitalism, I want this socialist nirvana and I’m going to disrupt everybody’s life to make my point. I’ll give you the last point. Williams: Here’s what you’re missing. In th elast Fox poll, in the Washington Post poll say they agree with the president that taxes should be raised on people who are making more than two hundred and fifty thousand. They agree right now that the rich aren’t paying their fair share and if you go back to wall street, those guys are getting big bonuses, big payouts even after the government bailed them out… Every poll shows Americans want to tax the rich to raise revenues for the government, it’s that simple and Bill knows it.
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