More than 200 rioters torched buildings and tried to escape an Australian detention center as part of a protest to gain asylum in the country. More than 100 police eventually regained control over the center. (March 18)
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March 18: First person to walk in space; Mahatma Gandhi sentenced to prison; Hitler and Mussolini meet in the Alps; Terry Schaivo’s feeding tube removed; Musician John Phillips dies.
Continue reading …Relax, folks: Radiation is actually good for you. That’s the word from right-wing rocket scientist Ann Coulter, who insists to Bill O’Reiily that a “growing body of evidence” reveals that radiation in excess of safe maximum exposure levels set by the federal government “is actually good for you and reduce…
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Missing chef’s murderer may already have spoken to police, says head of inquiry team as father appeals to killer’s conscience Police and relatives have made a new attempt to increase pressure on the presumed killer of Claudia Lawrence, the university chef who disappeared two years ago. The murder inquiry has been scaled down after repeated frustrations over the fate of the 37-year-old, but detectives believe their quarry may retain links with York, where she vanished on her usual walk to work, and could be among hundreds of people already interviewed. The head of the investigation, Detective Superintendent Ray Galloway, said on Friday that there was “a real potential” that he and his team might have spoken to the killer. The North Yorkshire force believes that Lawrence’s “complex and mysterious” connections to a number of male friends hold the answer to the riddle. “I have a knowledge and understanding and context of Claudia’s life and her relationships,” said Galloway. “I just need somebody to make sense of elements of that information. There are certain people in particular that I need further information about.” Suggestions that some of these may be married men unwilling to give information about any friendship with Lawrence have been part of the inquiry’s frustrations. But Galloway said he was encouraged by unflagging public interest in the case. “I think about the investigation day in, day out. I think people expect me to continue working on it, on behalf of Claudia’s family and the wider community,” he said. “Until Claudia’s killer is brought to justice there is a danger and we need to resolve it.” The original inquiry team is no longer working full-time on the case but Galloway said officers could be recalled at short notice to deal with fresh developments. Meanwhile, Lawrence’s father appealed to the conscience of both the presumed killer and anyone who might be shielding them. Speaking at the University of York, where Lawrence failed to arrive at her college kitchen on 19 March 2009, after being seen the previous evening close to her home in the suburb of Heworth, Peter Lawrence said the family was “distraught” at the continuing failure to resolve the case. “I have said continuously throughout the past two years there is someone out there who does know what happened to Claudia,” he said. “There’s someone who knows a member of their family or a neighbour or a workmate or a friend who they know has some information about Claudia’s disappearance. “If they have any conscience at all, they must come forward. They must know what we are going through and we really do need to be put out of this anguish which has plagued the family for the past two years.” Lawrence’s mother, Joan, who is divorced from Peter Lawrence, said this week that she believed her daughter was alive, and dismissed talk of multiple boyfriends as “not the Claudia I know”. Galloway said that if Claudia walked through the door it would be “the best birthday present ever” but admitted that finding her alive was unlikely. Crime Martin Wainwright guardian.co.uk
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Christopher Grady, who tried to kill six-year-old son in same incident, faces life sentence A father is facing a life sentence after being convicted of murdering his five-year-old daughter by deliberately driving his car into a freezing river with her inside. Christopher Grady, 42, was also found guilty of attempting to murder his son, then six, who was also in the car. Birmingham crown court heard that Grady drove to the house of his estranged partner, Kim Smith, in Evesham, Worcestershire, in February last year, telling her: “You’ve got 10 seconds to say goodbye to your kids, and then they are dead.” With his daughter, Gabrielle, and son, Ryan, inside the Vauxhall Vectra, Grady circled a field before driving at speed into the river Avon. Two police officers pulled Ryan from the water but Gabrielle was trapped inside the vehicle for two hours. She died in hospital three days later. The jury took five hours to deliver an 11-1 majority verdict that he intended to kill his children. The judge, Mr Justice Lindblom, adjourned sentencing until next week but told Grady that he faced a mandatory life sentence. The court heard that Grady, who had regular access to his children following the breakdown of his seven-year relationship with Smith, faced personal and financial difficulties and had been evicted from his flat. West Mercia police were contacted six times about Grady’s behaviour before the murder. However, an investigation overseen by the Independent Police Complaints Commission ruled that officers could not have prevented the tragedy. Smith, reading a brief statement on the steps of the court, said: “Although Christopher Grady is facing a deserved jail term, this does not take away the fact that myself and my family were robbed of our Gabby just over one year ago and that will stay. We are still living with the loss and devastation. “What must also not be forgotten is what my son Ryan also went through on that day – not only the trauma of the events but that he also lost his sister, who was also his best friend.” Asked about the morning of the murder, Smith said: “Horrifying, the worst experience ever, absolutely shook to the core. He said, ‘Be outside, you have 10 seconds to say ta-ra to the children, the kids’.” Grady’s mother, Valerie Hubbarb, said: “Unfortunately there are no winners in this case. We are all losers, as our darling Gabby is no longer with us.” The officer in charge of the case, Superintendent Steve Cullen, praised the two officers who rescued Ryan, adding: “I would like to mention the force’s admiration for Gabby and Ryan’s mum, Kim, and the rest of their family for the dignity and strength they have shown.” Crime Peter Walker guardian.co.uk
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Britain’s Prince William reflected on the horror being endured by the disaster-stricken Japanese, as he spoke on Friday in the ruins of Christchurch at a memorial service for the victims of one of New Zealand’s most destructive earthquakes. (March 18)
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The UN Security Council cleared the legal path for international air strikes on Moammar Gadhafi’s forces by authorizing a no-fly zone over Libya and “all necessary measures” to protect civilians from attacks by his advancing forces. (March 18)
Continue reading …High school students who studied instead of watching Jersey Shore say they’ve been left at a disadvantage by a question on the SAT college entrance exam. The students complain that the essay question, which deals with the nature of reality shows, assumes that all students have a television and watch…
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Activists to swamp US arms giant with Twitter storm and email messages to protest at firm’s £150m census contract Protesters urging a boycott of this year’s census are holding a day of internet or e-action to kickstart two days of campaigning amid increasing fears about data security and the involvement of global arms manufacturer Lockheed Martin. The campaigners are angry that the £150m contract to run the census has been awarded to the US arms giant, while others claim the legal safeguards to prevent breaches in data security are inadequate. Activists are aiming to swamp Lockheed Martin with a “Twitter storm” and email messages detailing the minutiae of their day. Hundreds more are expected to take part in protests in towns and cities across the country on Saturday, with many saying they are willing to risk a criminal record and a £1,000 fine by refusing to fill in the 32-page questionnaire. A small group of protesters demonstrated outside Lockheed Martin’s offices in central London at 8.30am on Friday. About a dozen people – some dressed as weapons and others as arms dealers – attempted to enter the offices to voice their concerns but they were turned back by security guards. Chris Browne, from the Count Me Out campaign , said: “I strongly believe that the more people who find out about the involvement of the world’s largest arms producer in our census, the more civil dissent we will witness, and the bigger the campaign will get.” Emma Draper, an anti-arms trade campaigner from London, said: “I have no objection to the census itself because I recognise that it has served an important purpose historically. However, I think it is outrageous that the government can get away with paying a huge arms company millions of pounds in order to process data which is supposed to be of benefit to public services and people’s welfare.” Draper, 25, added: “I live my life trying not to get involved with companies who profit from destruction and selling weapons to oppressive regimes and building nuclear weapons and I really don’t see how the government can make people comply with this.” Lockheed Martin, which makes Trident nuclear missiles and F-16 fighter jets, won the £150m contract in 2008. A spokesman for the Office of National Statistics (ONS) insisted all data was securely held and defended the involvement of Lockheed Martin, stating it was “a major supplier of non-defence related services for the public sector”. “The contract for census processing was awarded to Lockheed Martin UK – not Lockheed Martin US – in August 2008,” said an ONS spokesman. “Lockheed Martin UK offered best value for money in an open procurement under European law and the EU procurement directives were satisfied.” Data from the census, which needs to be completed by 27 March, is sent to a secure plant in Manchester and then to Titchfield, Hampshire, for analysis. It is owned by ONS and a spokesman said it remains confidential for 100 years. However, Symon Hill, writer and associate director of the Christian thinktank Ekklesia, said many people remained deeply unhappy about Lockheed Martin’s involvement, adding that he would be among a growing number not filling out this year’s census. “I have reflected at great length. I have not taken this decision lightly but I feel that being asked to fill in the census is being asked to co-operate with an arms company and, as a Christian and as a pacifist, that is something that I feel I cannot do in conscience.” Census Arms trade Internet Twitter Email Computing Matthew Taylor guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Activists to swamp US arms giant with Twitter storm and email messages to protest at firm’s £150m census contract Protesters urging a boycott of this year’s census are holding a day of internet or e-action to kickstart two days of campaigning amid increasing fears about data security and the involvement of global arms manufacturer Lockheed Martin. The campaigners are angry that the £150m contract to run the census has been awarded to the US arms giant, while others claim the legal safeguards to prevent breaches in data security are inadequate. Activists are aiming to swamp Lockheed Martin with a “Twitter storm” and email messages detailing the minutiae of their day. Hundreds more are expected to take part in protests in towns and cities across the country on Saturday, with many saying they are willing to risk a criminal record and a £1,000 fine by refusing to fill in the 32-page questionnaire. A small group of protesters demonstrated outside Lockheed Martin’s offices in central London at 8.30am on Friday. About a dozen people – some dressed as weapons and others as arms dealers – attempted to enter the offices to voice their concerns but they were turned back by security guards. Chris Browne, from the Count Me Out campaign , said: “I strongly believe that the more people who find out about the involvement of the world’s largest arms producer in our census, the more civil dissent we will witness, and the bigger the campaign will get.” Emma Draper, an anti-arms trade campaigner from London, said: “I have no objection to the census itself because I recognise that it has served an important purpose historically. However, I think it is outrageous that the government can get away with paying a huge arms company millions of pounds in order to process data which is supposed to be of benefit to public services and people’s welfare.” Draper, 25, added: “I live my life trying not to get involved with companies who profit from destruction and selling weapons to oppressive regimes and building nuclear weapons and I really don’t see how the government can make people comply with this.” Lockheed Martin, which makes Trident nuclear missiles and F-16 fighter jets, won the £150m contract in 2008. A spokesman for the Office of National Statistics (ONS) insisted all data was securely held and defended the involvement of Lockheed Martin, stating it was “a major supplier of non-defence related services for the public sector”. “The contract for census processing was awarded to Lockheed Martin UK – not Lockheed Martin US – in August 2008,” said an ONS spokesman. “Lockheed Martin UK offered best value for money in an open procurement under European law and the EU procurement directives were satisfied.” Data from the census, which needs to be completed by 27 March, is sent to a secure plant in Manchester and then to Titchfield, Hampshire, for analysis. It is owned by ONS and a spokesman said it remains confidential for 100 years. However, Symon Hill, writer and associate director of the Christian thinktank Ekklesia, said many people remained deeply unhappy about Lockheed Martin’s involvement, adding that he would be among a growing number not filling out this year’s census. “I have reflected at great length. I have not taken this decision lightly but I feel that being asked to fill in the census is being asked to co-operate with an arms company and, as a Christian and as a pacifist, that is something that I feel I cannot do in conscience.” Census Arms trade Internet Twitter Email Computing Matthew Taylor guardian.co.uk
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