American-French relations have long been tense. (Two words: Freedom Fries.) But perhaps the latest move from McDonald’s, deciding to sell baguettes in many of their French locations, will usher in a new era of understanding and solidarity. (via Worldcrunch) According to French newspaper Le Figaro, “les petits pains individuels,” small individual breads, will be served
Continue reading …If you live anywhere in the “eastern two-thirds of the United States,” you may have noticed that last month was hot. Really hot. So hot that high temperatures broke or tied 2,676 records, which is nearly twice the number from the same period last year, according to the National…
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Scotland Yard dismisses counter-terror unit’s bizarre appeal for anti-anarchist whistleblowers as ‘badly worded’ The Metropolitan police initiated an embarrassing climbdown after a police station in Belgravia, west London, published a leaflet asking the public and businesses to report anyone with anarchist sympathies . The call for information on a political rather than criminal group echoed a similar appeal for information about al-Qaida activity and “could have been better worded”, Scotland Yard admitted. City of Westminster police’s “counter-terrorist focus desk” had last week called for anti-anarchist whistleblowers, stating next to an anarchist emblem: “Anarchism is a political philosophy which considers the state undesirable, unnecessary and harmful, and instead promotes a stateless society, or anarchy. Any information relating to anarchists should be reported to your local police.” The move angered some anarchists who insisted that being an anarchist does not imply criminal behaviour. After 24 hours trying to discover why the counter-terrorism desk at Belgravia police station had issued the injunction under the banner of Project Griffin, an initiative raising awareness of counter-terrorism and security issues among business, public sector and security personnel, Scotland Yard said: “The Metropolitan police service does not seek to stigmatise those people with legitimate political views. “People purporting to be anarchists have caused criminal damage this year to business premises, and government buildings in Westminster. The message we were trying to convey was to gather information on criminal acts to help us prevent crime and bring offenders to justice.” Metropolitan police Police London Robert Booth guardian.co.uk
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Even as plenty have declared HTML5 adoption the beginning of the end for Adobe’s once ubiquitous Flash platform, the company has embraced the web standard, through properties like its Creative Suite and Wallaby . Adobe will be taking things a step further with Edge, an HTML5 design tool that promises to let “web designers to bring animation, similar to that created in Flash Professional, to websites.” The software is currently in public preview mode, available a free download for web designers, in hopes of getting some feedback that will help shape its final release. Continue reading Adobe’s Edge tool promises Flash-like animation through HTML5 Adobe’s Edge tool promises Flash-like animation through HTML5 originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Aug 2011 14:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Units smash tents and make arrests as Egypt prepares for trial of former ruler Hosni Mubarak Egypt’s army has violently retaken Cairo’s Tahrir Square from protesters, less than 48 hours before the former president Hosni Mubarak is to stand trial in the capital. Armed riot police and soldiers fired into the air as tanks moved in on Tahrir, which has been occupied by demonstrators for more than three weeks. Witnesses said some protesters were taken away. Activists accuse Egypt’s ruling military generals of dragging their feet on any meaningful reform in the country and warned that the revolution that toppled Mubarak earlier this year was in danger of being hijacked by conservative forces. Eyewitnesses reported swarms of security personnel storming the square from several directions, smashing tents and stalls before dragging away some protesters into military detention. Egypt’s cabinet office said “thugs” had been arrested. Some locals cheered as the sit-in was dispersed, highlighting a growing division over tactics at the heart of the protest movement. Around 30 of the political forces participating in the occupation had decided to suspend their involvement throughout the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which began on Monday. But several hundred hardcore demonstrators remained in Tahrir, including some relatives of those killed in the anti-government uprising this year, vowing only to leave when Mubarak had faced justice. “When normal people beat us in Abbasiya, that was painful,” wrote one activist on Twitter, referring to clashes last week which left dozens injured. “To hear that people are cheering [today] because the army beat martyrs’ families, that’s devastating.” Local news outlet al-Shorouk said military personnel went on to destroy a series of recently installed revolutionary artworks inside Sadat metro station, which lies underneath the square. The move is likely to further exacerbate tensions between revolutionaries and the supreme council of the armed forces (SCAF), which has been forced to defend itself in recent weeks against claims that it is not truly committed to democratic transition or the holding of former regime officials to account. On Sunday night the army’s chief of staff, Sami Anan, denied suggestions that SCAF had cut a deal with the Muslim Brotherhood, guaranteeing the country’s largest Islamist group a strong showing in November’s parliamentary elections in exchange for the organisation providing political support to the military. Anan accused some media outlets of fuelling sedition and insisted the military was seeking to return to barracks as soon as possible. He also responded angrily to repeated allegations from protesters and human rights groups that some pro-change demonstrators were being held in military detention and tortured, calling on those making the claims to furnish proof. Several local and international campaign organisations have published details of arbitrary arrests and subsequent military abuses since the fall of Mubarak more than six months ago. The latest unrest comes as the nation gears up for the beginning of Mubarak’s trial, which is due to open on Wednesday. At the weekend the attorney general, Abdel Meguid Mahmoud, issued a formal summons ordering the toppled dictator to be transferred to Cairo from his current location, a hospital bed in the Red Sea resort town of Sharm El-Sheikh, where the 83-year-old has been under detention since April. Mubarak will answer a series of charges relating to economic fraud and the unlawful killing of protesters, and will stand in the dock alongside his two sons, his former interior minister, Habib El-Adly, and a number of other senior regime officials. The court case will be heard in a tightly secured police academy on the outskirts of the capital, and broadcast live on state television. Egypt Hosni Mubarak Arab and Middle East unrest Middle East Jack Shenker guardian.co.uk
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Man and woman captured in UK-led counter-terror operation in Herat are freed after lawyers threatened to take case to court A British couple seized by special forces in Afghanistan on suspicion of planning a terrorist attack have been released, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has disclosed. They were due to be extradited at the end of last week to Britain, where they faced the prospect of being held in custody or subjected to control orders. The couple’s release came after their lawyer threatened to challenge their continuing detention in the British courts. British officials indicated there was insufficient evidence against the couple to convince a UK court that there was a substantial case against them. However, British government officials said their release, in southern Afghanistan, did not mean the end of the matter. “It’s not over,” said one. The MoD said only that two individuals had been released from detention in Kandahar “in accordance with UK detention policy”. The man and the woman were seized by British special forces in the western Afghan city of Herat more than a week ago, then were transferred to what was described as a “secure facility” in Kandahar. The operation was sensitive and potentially a legal minefield, officials made clear at the time. The two are known to British security services and may have gone to Afghanistan to contact militant groups there. British officials said the capture of the couple was a “counter-terrorist” operation. British special forces, of which there are about 500 in Afghanistan, work closely with the security and intelligence services there. Afghan authorities insisted that, although their troops were involved in the capture of the couple, the operation was “UK-led”. British officials said on Monday that the man and woman would remain under surveillance. They were due to be flown back to the UK, but their lawyers let it be known they would immediately seek an application for habeas corpus – in essence, for the couple to be either charged or released – in the British courts. Clive Stafford-Smith, director of the legal charity Reprieve, wrote last week to the Foreign Office to ask for clarification of the Britons’ legal position. He said: “We are extremely concerned: if they were to be transferred to Afghan custody, they would not only face the death penalty, but also would face serious torture as well.” The MoD said at the time: “All detention operations in Afghanistan carried out under the remit of the UN-mandated ISAF [International Security Assistance Force], which includes those conducted by British forces, are conducted in accordance with international law and strict policy frameworks.” Nato forces can hold suspects for up to four days before releasing them or handing them over to the Afghan authorities. However, the period can be extended. The Foreign Office said last week: “The UK has a national policy of detaining beyond 96 hours in exceptional circumstances, in particular where it could provide information that could help protect our forces or the local population.” Afghanistan Richard Norton-Taylor guardian.co.uk
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James Franco, who is working on a Ph.D. in English, talks about his new movie ‘Rise of the Planet of the Apes’ and reveals that he wants to become a teacher. (Aug. 1)
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Twenty-seven years in the making and costing some $45 million, the renovation of a 150-year-old Taiwanese homestead is finally nearing completion. (Aug. 1)
Continue reading …![Justin Bieber Goes “Cone-ing” and Pulls Other Drive-Thru Pranks [VIDEO]](https://newsbreakingonline.com/wp-content/themes/transcript/timthumb.php?src=%3Cimg+src%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fnewsbreakingonline.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2011%2F08%2Ff44012c801video.jpeg.jpeg%22+%2F%3E&q=90&w=190&h=100&zc=1 "Justin Bieber Goes “Cone-ing” and Pulls Other Drive-Thru Pranks [VIDEO]")
Justin Bieber recently took part in the latest Internet craze, “Cone-ing,” in which people go to drive-thrus and grab ice cream cones the wrong side up. He also drove to a Burger King to complain about (and return) a Wendy’s “Frosty.” Check out the video of Bieber’s pranks. Broadcasting platform : YouTube Source : Gossip Cop Discovery Date : 31/07/2011 22:15 Number of articles : 3
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Amy’s father meets Keith Vaz, who says home affairs select committee will look again at the funding of drug treatments The father of Amy Winehouse, who plans to set up a residential drug rehabilitation centre in memory of his daughter, won the backing of MPs for his campaign to highlight gaps in addiction treatment services in Britain. After meeting Keith Vaz, chairman of the Commons home affairs committee, Mitch Winehouse said he wanted to do something for those problem drug users who could not afford private treatment. “I want to involve myself in things that would have been important to Amy,” said Winehouse after a 45-minute meeting with Vaz at the Commons. “That is why we are going to be setting up the Amy Winehouse Foundation. This isn’t only important to me, this is important to our whole country. “There’s hundreds of thousands of young people in situations today that could be avoided, and these are our future policemen, doctors and lawyers and solicitors, that we could help. We need to be able to help our children.” Vaz said afterwards that he was sure the home affairs committee would look again at the funding of drug treatment services. Winehouse highlighted the closure of the only NHS residential rehabilitation centre for young people at Middlegate in Nettleton, Lincolnshire, last year. “When he [Winehouse] gave evidence to our inquiry into drugs two years ago, he was very clear that drug treatment in the UK was hard to access and long waits were common, and we have already expressed our concern at reports that residential rehabilitation is not readily available,” said Vaz. “This new initiative enables us to revisit this issue, and I am certainly keen to hear from all those who have had difficulty in obtaining treatment. As we said in our report, prevention is better than cure. Any initiative for rehabilitation must go hand in hand with sending out the message of prevention.” Winehouse also met James Brokenshire, a junior Home Office minister, to discuss the issue, along with Sarah Graham, a former cocaine user and addiction expert. Graham acknowledged that most treatment services were provided within the community, but argued that there were cases – such as when young people were being abused at home – where help was not available. She said: “As a rich country, we should be able to afford a rehabilitation centre for young people, and we don’t think charities should pay for it totally.” Winehouse and Graham were accompanied by the singer’s former managers, Raye Cosbert and Trenton Harrison-Lewis. But the claim that there were two-year waiting lists for drug treatment services in Britain was disputed by Paul Hayes, chief executive of the National Treatment Agency for substance abuse. “The popular image of a spell in a luxury rehab, beloved of celebrities and the tabloids, is not representative of the mainstream treatment and recovery services provided in this country by both the NHS and the voluntary sector,” he said. “These services are widely available, and for some years now official statistics have confirmed that more than nine out of 10 patients wait less than three weeks for treatment in England.” He said while more flexibility was needed to ensure people with drug problems were helped in the most clinically appropriate way, there was clear trend towards fewer young people needing treatment. Amy Winehouse, 27, was found dead in her north London flat on 23 July. Her family is waiting for the results of toxicology tests to establish the cause of death. She won three Grammy awards for her song, Rehab, which described her refusal to enter a drug rehabilitation clinic. Drugs policy Drugs Amy Winehouse Alan Travis guardian.co.uk
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