This year has seen the evil doings of many powerful natural disasters around the world, and while the capable organisations are doing their best to provide relief, many lives could’ve been saved if the stranded victims were able to provide their precise positions for quicker rescue. Having seen the number of recent floods and cyclones in Queensland, Australia, Ergon Energy started trialing a new emergency tracking system earlier this year, which utilises pole-mounted mobile GPS stations to pinpoint cellphones equipped with special but cheap location-based chips — Samsung and Nokia are said to be participants in this project. Over the next 12 to 18 months, said energy firm will be deploying 1,000 of these stations to cover 95 percent of the state, in order to let emergency services track down calling victims within centimeters — that’s a huge leap from conventional GPS devices’ 10 to 20 meters, though an updated land database with matching accuracy is still required before the system reaches its full potential. Regardless, here’s hoping that this brilliant project will be brought over to many more disaster-prone areas sooner rather than later. [Thanks, Justin] Australia trialing new emergency finder system with centimeter accuracy originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 03 May 2011 09:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Cabinet row sees energy secretary asking prime minister if he will disown no campaign literature that criticises Nick Clegg The row about David Cameron’s endorsement of no campaign tactics in the referendum on the future of the voting system reached cabinet on Tuesday when Chris Huhne, the energy secretary, demanded to know if Cameron would disown the tactics. He demanded to know whether Cameron endorsed some of the claims being made by the no campaign, saying he believed some of its campaign literature smeared the deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg. Huhne has already accused Cameron in public of trashing Clegg’s leadership by allowing the no campaign to send out leaflets accusing Clegg of breaking promises and sell-outs. Huhne directly raised the issue at the start of cabinet under parliamentary business with Cameron and the chancellor, George Osborne. Both men replied that they were only responsible for the no campaign being run by the Conservative party. One source discounted claims that the chancellor countered that the issue was not appropriate for cabinet. They said the issue did not last that long. Tory sources were accused of leaking the row. Some cabinet sources then claimed Huhne had not been supported by his Liberal Democrat colleagues in cabinet, but one senior Liberal Democrat said he merely said in private to their faces what he has been saying in the papers. It is known that Huhne does have the support of many senior Liberal Democrats, although there is a division over the extent to which the yes campaign should be doing anything to divert from the positive case for AV. The anger boiling over for weeks has intensified by the way in which Cameron has continually disowned responsibility for the no campaign propaganda even though 80% of its declared donors are also Conservative party backers. Cameron said he was directly responsible only for the official Conservative party no campaign, but he stood by the no campaign’s claims that AV would make it “very likely” that electronic counting machines would have to be purchased. Huhne told the Guardian over the bank holiday weekend that some of the literature trashing Clegg is incredibly short-sighted since it undermines Clegg for making compromises sought by Cameron to put him into power, and to address the issue of Britain’s debt. The conflict turns on the fact that the no campaign attacks the concept of coalitions, even though Cameron is leading one. Asked to condemn posters suggesting babies’ and soldiers’ lives would be put at risk if AV was introduced, Cameron said: “I choose to support my own campaign, which has not made that argument but the fact is if you move to a new voting system it will cost money.” Cameron has yet to condemn the posters in public. One Liberal Democrat cabinet minister said: “This smacks of all the old tactics of the nasty party. It is juvenile and will end up damaging the more than us. It has all the hallmarks of George Osborne”. In a Guardian interview Clegg insisted he was not angry about the literature, but said he would not accept that he had broken promises. Clegg told the BBC that “perhaps naively” he had expected the referendum campaign not to feature politicians so prominently, and he and Cameron could take a more “standoffish” stance. The Labour leader, Ed Miliband, said he did not accept that the AV result was a “foregone conclusion” – amid opinion polls suggestions that the yes campaign is heading for defeat. The yes campaign is desperately trying to stoke an anti-Cameron mood to counter the anti-Clegg mood being fired by the no campaign. Miliband also defended his decision to refuse to share a yes campaign platform with Clegg due to his perceived unpopularity with voters: “There’s a reason the no campaign want to make Nick Clegg the poster child for their campaign,” he said. AV referendum Alternative vote Liberal-Conservative coalition Chris Huhne David Cameron Patrick Wintour guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Cabinet row sees energy secretary asking prime minister if he will disown no campaign literature that criticises Nick Clegg The row about David Cameron’s endorsement of no campaign tactics in the referendum on the future of the voting system reached cabinet on Tuesday when Chris Huhne, the energy secretary, demanded to know if Cameron would disown the tactics. He demanded to know whether Cameron endorsed some of the claims being made by the no campaign, saying he believed some of its campaign literature smeared the deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg. Huhne has already accused Cameron in public of trashing Clegg’s leadership by allowing the no campaign to send out leaflets accusing Clegg of breaking promises and sell-outs. Huhne directly raised the issue at the start of cabinet under parliamentary business with Cameron and the chancellor, George Osborne. Both men replied that they were only responsible for the no campaign being run by the Conservative party. One source discounted claims that the chancellor countered that the issue was not appropriate for cabinet. They said the issue did not last that long. Tory sources were accused of leaking the row. Some cabinet sources then claimed Huhne had not been supported by his Liberal Democrat colleagues in cabinet, but one senior Liberal Democrat said he merely said in private to their faces what he has been saying in the papers. It is known that Huhne does have the support of many senior Liberal Democrats, although there is a division over the extent to which the yes campaign should be doing anything to divert from the positive case for AV. The anger boiling over for weeks has intensified by the way in which Cameron has continually disowned responsibility for the no campaign propaganda even though 80% of its declared donors are also Conservative party backers. Cameron said he was directly responsible only for the official Conservative party no campaign, but he stood by the no campaign’s claims that AV would make it “very likely” that electronic counting machines would have to be purchased. Huhne told the Guardian over the bank holiday weekend that some of the literature trashing Clegg is incredibly short-sighted since it undermines Clegg for making compromises sought by Cameron to put him into power, and to address the issue of Britain’s debt. The conflict turns on the fact that the no campaign attacks the concept of coalitions, even though Cameron is leading one. Asked to condemn posters suggesting babies’ and soldiers’ lives would be put at risk if AV was introduced, Cameron said: “I choose to support my own campaign, which has not made that argument but the fact is if you move to a new voting system it will cost money.” Cameron has yet to condemn the posters in public. One Liberal Democrat cabinet minister said: “This smacks of all the old tactics of the nasty party. It is juvenile and will end up damaging the more than us. It has all the hallmarks of George Osborne”. In a Guardian interview Clegg insisted he was not angry about the literature, but said he would not accept that he had broken promises. Clegg told the BBC that “perhaps naively” he had expected the referendum campaign not to feature politicians so prominently, and he and Cameron could take a more “standoffish” stance. The Labour leader, Ed Miliband, said he did not accept that the AV result was a “foregone conclusion” – amid opinion polls suggestions that the yes campaign is heading for defeat. The yes campaign is desperately trying to stoke an anti-Cameron mood to counter the anti-Clegg mood being fired by the no campaign. Miliband also defended his decision to refuse to share a yes campaign platform with Clegg due to his perceived unpopularity with voters: “There’s a reason the no campaign want to make Nick Clegg the poster child for their campaign,” he said. AV referendum Alternative vote Liberal-Conservative coalition Chris Huhne David Cameron Patrick Wintour guardian.co.uk
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• Newspaper seller ‘unlawfully killed’ at G20 protests • Jury took just over three hours to reach verdict • Family breaks down in tears at news • Read our news story on the Tomlinson verdict • Follow live updates and reaction here 3.55pm: Ian Tomlinson’s family will be giving a statement in about 25 minutes. I’ll post an update with the details here. 3.53pm: We’ve just published my news story on the verdict , which recaps the evidence from the hearing and explains how jurors were given two divergent explanations of Tomlinson’s death. The first pathologist to conduct a postmortem examination on the body, Dr Freddy Patel, said he died of a heart attack as a result of coronary heart disease. He was contradicted by three other pathologists who examined Tomlinson’s body, all of whom found he died of internal bleeding in the abdomen. Starmer said last July that complications with medical evidence led him to believe prosecutors were unlikely to prove a cause of death. His decision was supported by the attorney general, Dominic Grieve. Both will now have to consider how a jury of seven men and four women concluded Tomlinson died as a result of being pushed by Harwood. 3.47pm: A quick word on the importance of “unlawful killing” as a verdict. To reach an unlawful killing conclusion, the jury were required to have been satisfied to a higher burden of proof than the other possible verdicts, which could have been reached “on the balance of probabilities”. But to reach the unlawful killing verdict, the jury had to be convinced “beyond reasonable doubt”, the same threshold used in criminal trials. 3.45pm: For legal reasons, the jury was not permitted to name “the police officer”, but we know that he was PC Simon Harwood, a member of the Metropolitan Police’s Territorial Support Group. The director of public prosecutions, Keir Starmer, who decided in July last year not to prosecute Harwood for manslaughter, will now be under intense pressure to reverse that decision. An official Crown Prosecution Service review of the decision not to prosecute Harwood is now under way. 3.42pm: The court was caught unaware by the jury’s quick decision. They returned to the room and answered four short questions, known as the inquisition. What was the name of the deceased? Ian Tomlinson. What was the cause of his death? Injury or disease? Abdominal haemorrhage due to blunt force trauma to the abdomen in association with cirrhosis of the liver. If the person died of injury, what were the circumstances? Mr Tomlinson was on his way home from work on the 1st of April 2009 during the G20 demonstration. He was fatally injured at around 19.20pm on Royal Exchange Buildings … This was the result of a baton strike from behind and a push by the officer which caused Ian Tomlinson to fall heavily. The jury said both the baton strike and the push were “unreasonable”. “As a result, Mr Tomlinson suffered internal bleeding which led to his collapse within a few minutes and his subsequent death.” The jury decided that at the time of the strike and push Tomlinson was was walking away from the officer and “posed no threat”. What is the jury’s conclusion as to the death? Unlawful killing. 3.37pm: Ian Tomlinson’s family could be heard shouting “yes” at the verdict. His wife, Julia, six of their children are present at the hearing and have broken down, crying. 3.34pm: The jury has concluded Ian Tomlinson was unlawfully killed by a police officer at the G20 protests. 3.32pm: The jury has taken just three hours and fifteen minutes to reach their verdict. 3.30pm: Welcome back to the Ian Tomlinson inquest blog. The verdict is now imminent. For five weeks eleven men and women have heard detailed evidence about Tomlinson’s death at the G20 protests on April 1, 2009. They heard how he was struck with a baton and pushed to the ground by Metropolitan police officer Simon Harwood at 7.20pm. Tomlinson collapsed just under three minutes later. They retired to deliberate their findings at 11.15am. They are about to come back and deliver their verdict. Police Metropolitan police Protest London G20 Ian Tomlinson Paul Lewis guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …• Newspaper seller ‘unlawfully killed’ at G20 protests • Jury took just over three hours to reach verdict • Family breaks down in tears at news • Read our news story on the Tomlinson verdict • Follow live updates and reaction here 3.55pm: Ian Tomlinson’s family will be giving a statement in about 25 minutes. I’ll post an update with the details here. 3.53pm: We’ve just published my news story on the verdict , which recaps the evidence from the hearing and explains how jurors were given two divergent explanations of Tomlinson’s death. The first pathologist to conduct a postmortem examination on the body, Dr Freddy Patel, said he died of a heart attack as a result of coronary heart disease. He was contradicted by three other pathologists who examined Tomlinson’s body, all of whom found he died of internal bleeding in the abdomen. Starmer said last July that complications with medical evidence led him to believe prosecutors were unlikely to prove a cause of death. His decision was supported by the attorney general, Dominic Grieve. Both will now have to consider how a jury of seven men and four women concluded Tomlinson died as a result of being pushed by Harwood. 3.47pm: A quick word on the importance of “unlawful killing” as a verdict. To reach an unlawful killing conclusion, the jury were required to have been satisfied to a higher burden of proof than the other possible verdicts, which could have been reached “on the balance of probabilities”. But to reach the unlawful killing verdict, the jury had to be convinced “beyond reasonable doubt”, the same threshold used in criminal trials. 3.45pm: For legal reasons, the jury was not permitted to name “the police officer”, but we know that he was PC Simon Harwood, a member of the Metropolitan Police’s Territorial Support Group. The director of public prosecutions, Keir Starmer, who decided in July last year not to prosecute Harwood for manslaughter, will now be under intense pressure to reverse that decision. An official Crown Prosecution Service review of the decision not to prosecute Harwood is now under way. 3.42pm: The court was caught unaware by the jury’s quick decision. They returned to the room and answered four short questions, known as the inquisition. What was the name of the deceased? Ian Tomlinson. What was the cause of his death? Injury or disease? Abdominal haemorrhage due to blunt force trauma to the abdomen in association with cirrhosis of the liver. If the person died of injury, what were the circumstances? Mr Tomlinson was on his way home from work on the 1st of April 2009 during the G20 demonstration. He was fatally injured at around 19.20pm on Royal Exchange Buildings … This was the result of a baton strike from behind and a push by the officer which caused Ian Tomlinson to fall heavily. The jury said both the baton strike and the push were “unreasonable”. “As a result, Mr Tomlinson suffered internal bleeding which led to his collapse within a few minutes and his subsequent death.” The jury decided that at the time of the strike and push Tomlinson was was walking away from the officer and “posed no threat”. What is the jury’s conclusion as to the death? Unlawful killing. 3.37pm: Ian Tomlinson’s family could be heard shouting “yes” at the verdict. His wife, Julia, six of their children are present at the hearing and have broken down, crying. 3.34pm: The jury has concluded Ian Tomlinson was unlawfully killed by a police officer at the G20 protests. 3.32pm: The jury has taken just three hours and fifteen minutes to reach their verdict. 3.30pm: Welcome back to the Ian Tomlinson inquest blog. The verdict is now imminent. For five weeks eleven men and women have heard detailed evidence about Tomlinson’s death at the G20 protests on April 1, 2009. They heard how he was struck with a baton and pushed to the ground by Metropolitan police officer Simon Harwood at 7.20pm. Tomlinson collapsed just under three minutes later. They retired to deliberate their findings at 11.15am. They are about to come back and deliver their verdict. Police Metropolitan police Protest London G20 Ian Tomlinson Paul Lewis guardian.co.uk
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Click here to view this media Glenn Beck just couldn’t resist. Even as he is giving credit to the President, he says “Kill Obama…” It’s not accidental on the part of these idiots. They do it on purpose, and one day some wingnut is going to take them up on it. Bonus: He finds tape of President Obama using the term “caliphate”, and thinks it justifies his own whacko conspiracy theories . All in the span of 1 minute, 14 seconds. It may be a new record.
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Click here to view this media Glenn Beck just couldn’t resist. Even as he is giving credit to the President, he says “Kill Obama…” It’s not accidental on the part of these idiots. They do it on purpose, and one day some wingnut is going to take them up on it. Bonus: He finds tape of President Obama using the term “caliphate”, and thinks it justifies his own whacko conspiracy theories . All in the span of 1 minute, 14 seconds. It may be a new record.
Continue reading …Lots of great material for today's all-new episode of NewsBusted. Remember, if you've got a comedic side, you can submit your own jokes to the 'Busted crew – and get paid for it! Check for details below the video. And remember to subscribe to our YouTube channel . Topics in today's show: — We got Bin Laden — Obama releases birth certififace — Head of Black Chamber of Commerce: Obama's a Marxist — Teleprompter inventor dead at 91 — Tornados ravage the American south — Obama tours southern states — Royal couple etched on British man's teeth — Queen of England turns 85 Starring: Jodi Miller Director: Bruce Roundtower Executive Producer: Dialog New Media Feeling generous? Text 'NewsBusters' to 85944 to make a $10 contribution to keep 'Busted going strong. NewsBusted is a comedy webcast about the news of the day, uploaded every Tuesday and every Friday. If you like the show, be sure to tell your friends and family! Think you're funny? Send your (short) jokes to newsbusted at dialognewmedia.com. If we use them, we'll pay you USD $50 for each one.
Continue reading …Lots of great material for today's all-new episode of NewsBusted. Remember, if you've got a comedic side, you can submit your own jokes to the 'Busted crew – and get paid for it! Check for details below the video. And remember to subscribe to our YouTube channel . Topics in today's show: — We got Bin Laden — Obama releases birth certififace — Head of Black Chamber of Commerce: Obama's a Marxist — Teleprompter inventor dead at 91 — Tornados ravage the American south — Obama tours southern states — Royal couple etched on British man's teeth — Queen of England turns 85 Starring: Jodi Miller Director: Bruce Roundtower Executive Producer: Dialog New Media Feeling generous? Text 'NewsBusters' to 85944 to make a $10 contribution to keep 'Busted going strong. NewsBusted is a comedy webcast about the news of the day, uploaded every Tuesday and every Friday. If you like the show, be sure to tell your friends and family! Think you're funny? Send your (short) jokes to newsbusted at dialognewmedia.com. If we use them, we'll pay you USD $50 for each one.
Continue reading …Did taking out Osama bin Laden have to insult a native American considered a hero by many? That’s what CBS News is wondering since bin Laden was code-named “Geronimo.” Apparently, the “code namers thought of bin Laden as a 21st century equivalent” of the fearless Apache leader who waged war…
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