Tesla Roadster 2.5 gets 119 MPGe rating from EPA, still as expensive as ever
May 26, 2011 No Comment
Move over, Nissan , because there’s a new MPGe king in town. Yesterday, the EPA anointed Tesla’s Roadster 2.5 with an MPGe rating of 119, making it the most fuel-efficient car on the market. That places the plug-in ahead of both the Nissan Leaf (99 MPGe) and Chevy Volt (93 MPGe). According to the government-approved window sticker, Tesla’s EV can last for up to 245 miles on a single, eight-hour charge, while getting the equivalent of 112 miles per gallon on the highway and 124 in the city. The original Roadster , meanwhile, received an MPGe score of 111 yesterday, with ratings of 105 on the open road and 116 in the city. Both models scored a perfect 10 for their greenhouse gas and smog emissions, though the EPA probably didn’t factor in all the cash you’d have to burn to actually buy one. Tesla Roadster 2.5 gets 119 MPGe rating from EPA, still as expensive as ever originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 May 2011 14:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Agreement will be ‘crucial to improving security’, says justice secretary, and personal information will be stored for 15 years The justice secretary, Kenneth Clarke, has defended a joint American-European agreement to store the personal data, including credit card details, of millions of transatlantic air passengers for 15 years. Clarke said that despite strong concerns about civil liberties, the agreement to share passenger name records with the US department of homeland security was crucial to improving US and EU security. His data protection speech in Brussels on Thursday followed the Guardian’s disclosure of the text of the draft US-EU agreement on sharing passenger name records in the wake of negotiations concluded last Friday. But the disclosure also revealed increasing opposition in the European parliament to the deal, with a warning from Claude Moraes, the socialists and democrats group civil liberties spokesman, that the data would not be used just to combat terrorism and serious crime. Clarke called for a “flexible approach” to data protection in Europe. He also backed the campaign by the home secretary, Theresa May, to ensure that passenger data on flights within Europe were also collected and stored for up to five years. “The UK agrees with the large majority of other member states who think that it makes no sense to collect passenger name records information on flights to and from third countries without also collecting the same information on flights between EU members states,” Clarke told the British Chamber of Commerce in Brussels. “We cannot provide the protection we all wish to see without working with our non-EU partners, given the threats we face are global in nature. We should continue to engage closely with the United States on passenger name records and data protection – it is crucial to improving US and EU security.” But Moraes, Labour MEP for London, said socialist MEPs were “absolutely appalled” by the text of the US-EU passenger name record agreement. “There is no justification for a 15-year retention period of people’s personal details,” Moraes said, adding that it compared with 5½ years for a similar agreement with Australia, and five years for the EU’s own airline data collection plans. The agreement left the “door wide open” for the use of the personal data – which includes bank card details, home addresses and mobile phone numbers – for “mission creep” purposes way beyond combating terrorism and serious crimes.”It is also wrong that we should adopt the position that because it is for anti-terrorist purposes, we can’t question whether it is a proportionate response,” Moraes said. The German and French governments have already expressed concerns about the length of the retention period with Australia. That agreement and the US deal need to pass the scrutiny of the European parliament before they can come into effect.ends Data protection Data and computer security Civil liberties – international UK civil liberties Immigration and asylum Kenneth Clarke Alan Travis guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Serbia says it has nabbed Ratko Mladic, Europe’s most notorious war crimes fugitive whose long evasion of arrest has thwarted Serbia’s membership in the European Union. State TV is reporting that Serb security agents arrested a man claiming to be Milorad Komadic who is really the notorious commander behind the…
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Sarah Michelle Gellar finds herself living a double life in this full trailer for her upcoming CW show, Ringer. The drama, which will air this fall on Tuesday nights at 9 p.m., centers around Bridget Cafferty who’s on the run from the mob. She poses as her wealthy twin sister, Siobhan, to try to evade them Broadcasting platform : YouTube Source : Just Jared Discovery Date : 25/05/2011 20:31 Number of articles : 5
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Ruler not mentioned in ceasefire plan but rebels and Nato powers want his unequivocal departure from office Libya’s battered regime has made its most plaintive plea yet for a ceasefire, offering to talk to anti-government rebels, move towards a constitutional government and compensate victims of the three-month conflict. The plan represents an advance on previous ceasefire bids, which had focused largely on implementing a proposal by the African Union that calls for international monitors to observe a negotiated truce. It was pre-empted by a letter sent to European leaders by Libya’s prime minister, Al-Baghdadi Ali al-Mahmoudi, in which he acknowledged that the revolt that has paralysed Libya was “part of a series of events that are taking place throughout the Arab world”. “We understand this,” he wrote. “We are ready and we know what is required of us.” Libyan officials had previously linked the rebel groups who control the east of the country to al-Qaida and foreign backers, and had steadfastly refused to acknowledge that a pro-democracy current existed among the rebels. Asked about the new willingness to talk to rebels, Mahmoudi said: “We are ready for dialogue with all structures that represent the whole of Libya. Any Libyans can sit on the round table. But as for these so-called dissenters, it is they who said they wouldn’t talk to the Libyan state. And remember many of them were former members of the Libyan government.” The plan was greeted with skepticism by the US and some European states. The deputy US national security adviser Ben Rhodes said the Libyan government was not complying with a UN resolution that authorised a military operation to protect the Libyan people from forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi. Gaddafi’s name was again conspicuously absent from the new discussion about a ceasefire. Libyan officials have been trying to recast the despot as a figure who will not play a prominent role in the country’s affairs after the fighting stops. He has been presented as a potential Castro-like figure with no executive input into a new Libyan society. Gaddafi has maintained a low profile since the death of one of his sons and three grandchildren a month ago. Envoys representing him have contacted European leaders. The lead powers in the Nato bombing campaign, France and Britain, whose jets target sites in the centre and west of the country most nights, have said they will not agree to a ceasefire until Gaddafi leaves office. The umbrella group that represents the rebels, the Interim Transnational Council, has won preliminary backing from the White House and Downing Street. It is refusing to talk with the Libyan government until Gaddafi relinquishes power. Libya Middle East Africa Arab and Middle East unrest Nato Martin Chulov guardian.co.uk
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International package will support Arab spring as Cameron warns alternative to democracy is ‘poisonous extremism’ Britain is to set aside £110m over the next four years to foster democracy and economic growth in Tunisia and Egypt as part of a wider international package to show support for the Arab spring. David Cameron, speaking on the opening day of the G8 summit of leading economies in Deauville, Normandy, argued that if Britain did not help the fledgling democracies of north Africa the result would be poisonous extremism and waves of illegal immigration into the UK. The G8 is hammering out a wider package of aid to north Africa as the centrepiece of its two-day deliberations. Cameron said: “I want a very simple and clear message to come out of this summit and that is that the most powerful nations on Earth have come together and are saying to all those in the Middle East and north Africa who want greater democracy and greater freedom and greater civil rights – we are on your side.” He added: “We’ll help you build your democracies; we’ll help you build your economies; we’ll help you with trade – we’ll help you in all the ways that we can, because the alternative to successful democracies is more of the poisonous extremism that has done so much damage in our world. “And to people back at home wondering what is the relevance of summits like this, it will mean less extremism, it will mean more peace and prosperity, and it will mean there won’t be the pressures of immigration that we might otherwise face in our own country.” The Tunisian and Egyptian economies have been floundering since the spring revolutions because of a collapse in tourism and trade. Egypt claims political instability is costing it $40m (about £25m) a day in lost tourism revenues, while growth has more than halved and inflation has risen. The leaders of both countries – the Egyptian prime minister, Essam Sharaf, and the Tunisian prime minister, Beji Caid el Sebsi, are both due to address the G8 leaders on Friday. The Tunisians are asking for $5bn a year for the next five years, pointing out they have suffered an influx of immigrants from Libya. The extra cash, including soft loans, multi-creditor debt swaps, and greater trade access for agricultural products, would come as tensions mount inside both countries over the slow pace of reform and continuing mass unemployment. The US is the largest contributor, offering $4bn in aid and loans, but help will also come from the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the European Union. The US has also urged the G8 to “lead efforts to reorient” the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development to back Arab democratic transitions in much the same way as it supported similar transitions in central and eastern Europe. Some Egyptian protesters are due to return to Tahrir Square in Cairo this Friday to demand faster progress towards reform and removal of the military junta, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces. But the protesters, who call their protest Save the Revolution Friday, are split, with the Muslim Brotherhood, the likely beneficiary of early elections, refusing to join them. Britain recognises that premature elections may make it difficult for some of the newer parties in Egypt to establish themselves, but recognises there is an impatience for democracy. The UK funding will include £40m from the Foreign Office over four years to bolster political reform and a further £70m from the Department for International Development. The Foreign Office money will be used to build political participation, support human rights groups and challenge corruption. It appeared none of the cash would go to the Muslim Brotherhood on the grounds that it is an already well-established party. Speaking before the meeting, the European commission president, José Manuel Barroso, confirmed that the 27-member EU would provide €1.24bn (£1bn) in “fresh new money” to its neighbours in the east and across the Mediterranean. G8 Egypt Tunisia David Cameron Foreign policy Middle East Africa Patrick Wintour guardian.co.uk
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Gen. Ratko Mladic’s ruthlessness was legendary: “Burn their brains!” he once bellowed as his men pounded Sarajevo with artillery fire. (May 26)
Continue reading …DOJ Cleared Ensign Of Wrongdoing…Without Examining Thousands Of Incriminating Emails. Will They Now Re-Open The Case?
May 26, 2011 No Comment
enlarge At present, only one of these senators will face prosecution for improper use of funds involving an extramarital affair You know, on one level, I’m happy that the DOJ is no longer the overtly partisan and retaliatory entity it was during the Bush years. However, I’m flummoxed by this seemingly overarching extension in the other direction. Reuters breaks the story : Ensign’s once promising political career was over because of the disclosures, but he was no longer in any legal jeopardy. The Justice Department had informed him in December 2010 that he would not face criminal charges. An aggressive Senate Ethics Committee investigation was still pursuing Ensign, but that probe would be shelved once he resigned. As Ensign was preparing to leave the Senate, investigators for the Senate Ethics Committee were attempting at the 11th hour to obtain a trove of email correspondence concerning the payments to the Hamptons. The trouble for the committee was that Ensign’s attorneys insisted the emails were privileged. The committee had unsuccessfully battled for 18 months to obtain them. A Reuters examination of the Ensign probe shows the case then took a sudden turn: Ensign reversed course and handed over more than 1,000 sensitive emails between himself and his attorneys and other top advisers. The decision “puzzled” congressional investigators who thought they would never see the emails and baffled even most of his own closest advisers, say people close to the case. Those emails are apparently very incriminating, including ones by Ensign himself acknowledging that his coverup of the affair effectively ended his Senate career and by his attorneys that the payments to the Hamptons would inevitably trigger notice of the Senate Ethics Committee. Why Ensign released the emails is somewhat of a mystery. Did he assume he was out of the woods since the DOJ had already told them they were closing the books on this? Then he wasn’t paying attention to his attorneys, who have warned him that this could instigate a re-opening of the investigation. If that’s so, no investigation on Ensign’s coverup could be complete without a full investigation of Tom Coburn and the part he played to broker the deal between Ensign, his parents and the Hamptons . Ironically, this news comes the same week as the DOJ announced that they would seek an indictment against John Edwards for improper use of campaign funds to keep his own extramarital affair quiet. Of course, when you’re a Democrat, you can expect a much more stringent investigations by the Department of Justice. The unexpected last minute developments in the Ensign case raise serious questions as to why the Justice Department closed its file on the Senator without first obtaining the crucial emails later seen by the Senate. A senior Justice Department official told Reuters that the decision to publicly say that they were no longer pursuing Ensign displayed bad judgment, harmed the investigation, and will likely leave lingering effects on the Department’s reputation in prosecuting public officials. The Department is already smarting after the dismissal of charges against the late Senator Ted Stevens, a Republican from Alaska, after disclosures of prosecutorial misconduct. My initial reaction was to roll my eyes at the lackluster and careless performance once again by Attorney General Eric Holder, but I’ve been corrected by journalists that this likely never did get to Holder’s desk. I’m not sure if it is helpful, but here is the contact information for the DOJ , and certainly, having citizens demand that the DOJ re-open the case in light of these new revelations can’t hurt.
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PARIS – French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde on Wednesday launched her bid to lead the International Monetary Fund, a candidacy that would put the first woman in charge of the scandal-rocked fund but increases tensions with developing nations who want one of their own as head. The charismatic Lagarde, who spent much of her career in the United States, emerged as the front-runner for the job even before speaking out publicly. “If I’m elected I’ll bring all my expertise as a lawyer, a minister, a manager and a woman” to the job, she said Wednesday. The IMF, which provides billions in loans to shore up the world economy, has not had a woman director since its inception in 1945. The IMF’s…
Continue reading …Amid rising distrust since the killing of Osama bin Laden, Pakistan has told the US to reduce the number of military trainers it has in the country. A Pentagon spokesman has confirmed that the number of US personnel in Pakistan is being halved at the request of Islamabad, Reuters reports….
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