Toyota will recall about 82,200 hybrid SUVs in the US due to computer boards with possible faulty wiring. The car giant said today’s recall will involve about 45,500 Highlander and 36,700 Lexus Rx 400h hybrid SUVs from its 2006 and 2007 lines. The action covers just the…
Continue reading …Eighteen students and a teacher died after lightning struck their school in Uganda’s midwest, police say. An additional 51 students between the ages of 7 and 16 were injured in yesterday’s incident at the Runyanya primary school, about 160 miles west of Uganda’s capital. Another school 200 miles northwest of…
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Venezuelan president has yet to return to Venezuela after reportedly undergoing emergency surgery in Cuba A meeting of Latin American leaders in Venezuela planned for next month has been cancelled, raising further doubts over the health of the country’s convalescing president, Hugo Chavez. Chavez has yet to return to Venezuela after reportedly undergoing emergency surgery in Cuba on 10 June. But the Venezuelan president had been tipped for a triumphant homecoming at the summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, or Celac, on 5 July. The summit, which was to be held on Margarita Island, would have coincided with the 200th anniversary of Venezuela’s independence from Spain. Heads of state, including Brazil’s Dilma Rousseff, Ecuador’s Rafael Correa and Chile’s Sebastián Piñera, had planned to attend. Today, however, senior officials in Venezuela and Brazil confirmed that the meeting would no longer take place. Authorities in Caracas said the meeting had been “postponed” but did not set a new date for the summit. In a statement Venezuela’s foreign ministry said the decision was related to the president’s ongoing treatment. “As is well known to the national and international public opinion, the president of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Commander Hugo Chávez Frías is currently in the midst of a process of recovery and medical treatment,” the statement said. A source in Brazil’s foreign ministry confirmed that his country’s authorities had been informed by Caracas that the meeting would no longer take place. Chavez’s continued absence from Venezuela has led to a flurry of speculation and provoked a bitter row between opposition leaders and chavistas. Allies claim Chavez, 56, is recovering well after operating a pelvic abscess but a series of conspiracy theories have also surfaced, ranging from prostate cancer to death. On Tuesday night Venezuelan state television broadcast images of Chavez, alongside Cuba’s former leader Fidel Castro, reputedly filmed in Havana earlier that day. Commentating on the silent images, Venezuela’s information minister, Andrés Izarra, said: “There we are seeing commander Chávez very dynamic.” Castro and Chavez had been discussing “different current events,” Izarra added. “We see him recovering.” But the images did little to appease furious political opponents who have grown increasingly vocal in their calls for more detailed information about Chavez’s condition. “The nation needs a clear message that will end this national and international speculation, as well as the discomfort and suspicion caused by the mysterious silence,” said Manuel Rosales, an opposition leader who is tipped to run against Chavez next year but is currently in exile in Peru, said in a statement on Monday. Analysts are divided on whether Chavez’s protracted absence will help or hinder him as he prepares for the 2012 presidential elections. “It’s hard to tell what the electoral impact might be, but there is no question that for a country that has become accustomed to seeing and hearing the president all the time, this rule in absentia is certainly shocking for everyone,” said Javier Corrales, a Venezuela expert and professor of political science at Massachusetts’ Amherst College. “The conditions surrounding this absence are as mysterious as the conditions surrounding the time that Fidel Castro, still president of Cuba, went into some kind of medical absence before retiring from the presidency,” Corrales noted. Hugo Chávez Venezuela Tom Phillips guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Twitter co-founder Isaac “Biz” Stone is sort-of quitting to go pursue new business ideas with fellow co-founder Evan Williams. In a blog post , Stone says that he’ll “continue to work with the company for many years to come,” but that since the current leadership team is so competent, “I’ve decided…
Continue reading …Hermione and Draco sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G? Almost, Emma Watson revealed in a recent Seventeen interview. Tom Felton, who plays the Harry Potter villain Draco Malfoy, “was my first crush,” Watson says. “He totally knows. We talked about it—we still laugh about it. We are really good friends…
Continue reading …Are you sick of crying infants making air travel a nightmare? Well, apparently so is Malaysia Airlines, which is risking the wrath of parents everywhere by banning babies from its first-class cabins. The decision was made due to “many complaints from 1st class pax dat dey spend money on 1st…
Continue reading …Danilo Restivo convicted of murder and mutilation of neighbour after nine years
June 29, 2011 No Comment
Italian faces extradition to homeland over 1993 death of teenager whose remains were found in Potenza church A man with a fetish for surreptitiously cutting locks of hair from girls and women will be jailed for life on Thursday for the ritualistic murder of his neighbour and is facing extradition over the killing of a teenager in Italy. Danilo Restivo was convicted of murdering Heather Barnett at her Bournemouth flat in 2002 and mutilating her body before placing a hank of someone else’s hair in her right hand and a clump of her own beneath her left. Restivo, an Italian national, has also been accused of killing 16-year-old Elisa Claps in the loft of a church in Potenza, southern Italy, in 1993 and leaving cut strands of her own hair in her hands and next to her body, which was not discovered until last year. As well as being questioned over the killing of Claps, Restivo may also eventually be investigated over other murders in southern France and Spain. In the UK, the Criminal Cases Review Commission has been watching the seven-week trial amid claims that he might also be behind the killing of a student, Jong-Ok Shin, in Bournemouth four months before Barnett was murdered. Outside court on Wednesday, Barnett’s relatives expressed relief that nine years after her death, Restivo, 39, had been brought to justice. But they were angry at what they see as failings in the Italian police investigation into the murder of Claps, pointing out that if he had been caught then he could not have killed Barnett. Claps’s body was found in the church where she had last been seen and there are conspiracy theories in Italy that people in Potenza knew the body was hidden there. There have also been rumours about the role of the mafia and the church. It has been a long ordeal for Barnett’s family, some of whom criticised British police on Wednesday for not being aggressive enough in the early stages of their inquiries. The murder on 12 November 2002 of Barnett, a mother of two who worked as a seamstress from her home in Dorset, could hardly have been more brutal and disturbing. Barnett, 48, was battered around the head with a hammer-like object and dragged into her bathroom. Her throat was cut, she was partially stripped and her breasts were sliced off. The killer left a clump of another woman’s hair in Barnett’s right hand and some of her own beneath her left. Her children, Terry, then 14, and Caitlin, 11, found their mother’s body on their return from school. Terry told how his sister “went absolutely ballistic” as she opened the bathroom door. When he peered in he was horrified. “I saw her lying on her back. I saw blood absolutely everywhere and I thought ‘Oh no.’” When officers arrived at the scene Restivo was comforting Terry and both children were taken into his home while forensic scientists began work. Detective Superintendent Mark Cooper, the senior investigating officer, said police were instantly suspicious of Restivo. “He was in the inquiry right from the start. From day one he was on our list,” said Cooper. Four days after the murder, police visited Restivo’s house and a detective sergeant asked what shoes he had been wearing on the day of the killing as police believed the killer’s footwear could have been contaminated with blood. Restivo showed them a pair of trainers lying in the bath, which smelled of bleach. They had been dirty, Restivo said. Police began to dig into Restivo’s background. He was born in Sicily but moved to Potenza in southern Italy when his father was hired to set up a prestigious library there. The link to Claps propelled Restivo from person of interest to prime suspect. As a 21-year-old Restivo fell for Claps but she rejected him. On 12 September 1993 he met her at the Church of the Most Holy Trinity in Potenza. And then she vanished. In 1995 he was convicted in Italy of giving false information about an injury to his hand on the day Claps vanished. Police and the Italian media suspected he had killed her but no body was found by that stage and there was no proof. In May 2002 Restivo moved to Bournemouth having met a woman on the internet. Six months later Barnett, who lived opposite him, was dead. Cooper said that by early 2003 Restivo had become the “sole focus” of the investigation. Police did not have the evidence to charge him and instead began intense surveillance. They were soon alarmed by his behaviour. In May 2004 police watched Restivo at secluded locations observing or following women. On one occasion he was stopped by officers who found he had a large knife, a balaclava and two pairs of scissors. “He was an immediate and real danger to women,” said Cooper. Police continued to watch Restivo, sometimes 24 hours a day. Meanwhile they were following up inquiries into the hair left in Barnett’s hand. Detectives discovered that numerous women in Potenza and Bournemouth had complained of having hair snipped while on buses or, on one occasion, sitting in the dark of a cinema. There were 15 reports from women in the UK and nine in Italy. Restivo would claim at his eventual trial that he started cutting hair at around age 15 for a bet. “I started liking it and I kept doing it. The problem was that I liked touching the hair and also smelling it. It was not a sexual attraction,” he claimed. In November 2006 Restivo was arrested and his home searched. Police found a lock of hair tied with green cotton – which Restivo said must have been planted. In 2008 scientists finally made a link between DNA material found on a green towel recovered from Barnett’s flat and Restivo. Still it was not judged strong enough to charge him. Then in March 2010 the body of Elisa Claps was found a few metres from where she had met Restivo 17 years previously. Her remains had been hidden in the loft of the church beneath a pile of old tiles. She had been stabbed and, most significantly, strands of her own hair cut from her head shortly after her death had been placed in each hand and locks of hair had been placed near her body. Restivo was charged with Barnett’s murder two months later. He showed no emotion as the verdict was delivered. Barnett’s daughter, Caitlin, sobbed. Outside court, Barnett’s sister, Denise Le Voir, said the family feared Restivo, who continued to live in the same flat in Bournemouth after the killing, would return to murder Caitlin. She criticised the Italian inquiry saying: “Elisa was found in the church where she had last been seen and I cannot understand why that church wasn’t thoroughly searched top to bottom sooner. It would appear someone was covering up.” Crime Italy Europe Steven Morris guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Danilo Restivo convicted of murder and mutilation of neighbour after nine years
June 29, 2011 No Comment
Italian faces extradition to homeland over 1993 death of teenager whose remains were found in Potenza church A man with a fetish for surreptitiously cutting locks of hair from girls and women will be jailed for life on Thursday for the ritualistic murder of his neighbour and is facing extradition over the killing of a teenager in Italy. Danilo Restivo was convicted of murdering Heather Barnett at her Bournemouth flat in 2002 and mutilating her body before placing a hank of someone else’s hair in her right hand and a clump of her own beneath her left. Restivo, an Italian national, has also been accused of killing 16-year-old Elisa Claps in the loft of a church in Potenza, southern Italy, in 1993 and leaving cut strands of her own hair in her hands and next to her body, which was not discovered until last year. As well as being questioned over the killing of Claps, Restivo may also eventually be investigated over other murders in southern France and Spain. In the UK, the Criminal Cases Review Commission has been watching the seven-week trial amid claims that he might also be behind the killing of a student, Jong-Ok Shin, in Bournemouth four months before Barnett was murdered. Outside court on Wednesday, Barnett’s relatives expressed relief that nine years after her death, Restivo, 39, had been brought to justice. But they were angry at what they see as failings in the Italian police investigation into the murder of Claps, pointing out that if he had been caught then he could not have killed Barnett. Claps’s body was found in the church where she had last been seen and there are conspiracy theories in Italy that people in Potenza knew the body was hidden there. There have also been rumours about the role of the mafia and the church. It has been a long ordeal for Barnett’s family, some of whom criticised British police on Wednesday for not being aggressive enough in the early stages of their inquiries. The murder on 12 November 2002 of Barnett, a mother of two who worked as a seamstress from her home in Dorset, could hardly have been more brutal and disturbing. Barnett, 48, was battered around the head with a hammer-like object and dragged into her bathroom. Her throat was cut, she was partially stripped and her breasts were sliced off. The killer left a clump of another woman’s hair in Barnett’s right hand and some of her own beneath her left. Her children, Terry, then 14, and Caitlin, 11, found their mother’s body on their return from school. Terry told how his sister “went absolutely ballistic” as she opened the bathroom door. When he peered in he was horrified. “I saw her lying on her back. I saw blood absolutely everywhere and I thought ‘Oh no.’” When officers arrived at the scene Restivo was comforting Terry and both children were taken into his home while forensic scientists began work. Detective Superintendent Mark Cooper, the senior investigating officer, said police were instantly suspicious of Restivo. “He was in the inquiry right from the start. From day one he was on our list,” said Cooper. Four days after the murder, police visited Restivo’s house and a detective sergeant asked what shoes he had been wearing on the day of the killing as police believed the killer’s footwear could have been contaminated with blood. Restivo showed them a pair of trainers lying in the bath, which smelled of bleach. They had been dirty, Restivo said. Police began to dig into Restivo’s background. He was born in Sicily but moved to Potenza in southern Italy when his father was hired to set up a prestigious library there. The link to Claps propelled Restivo from person of interest to prime suspect. As a 21-year-old Restivo fell for Claps but she rejected him. On 12 September 1993 he met her at the Church of the Most Holy Trinity in Potenza. And then she vanished. In 1995 he was convicted in Italy of giving false information about an injury to his hand on the day Claps vanished. Police and the Italian media suspected he had killed her but no body was found by that stage and there was no proof. In May 2002 Restivo moved to Bournemouth having met a woman on the internet. Six months later Barnett, who lived opposite him, was dead. Cooper said that by early 2003 Restivo had become the “sole focus” of the investigation. Police did not have the evidence to charge him and instead began intense surveillance. They were soon alarmed by his behaviour. In May 2004 police watched Restivo at secluded locations observing or following women. On one occasion he was stopped by officers who found he had a large knife, a balaclava and two pairs of scissors. “He was an immediate and real danger to women,” said Cooper. Police continued to watch Restivo, sometimes 24 hours a day. Meanwhile they were following up inquiries into the hair left in Barnett’s hand. Detectives discovered that numerous women in Potenza and Bournemouth had complained of having hair snipped while on buses or, on one occasion, sitting in the dark of a cinema. There were 15 reports from women in the UK and nine in Italy. Restivo would claim at his eventual trial that he started cutting hair at around age 15 for a bet. “I started liking it and I kept doing it. The problem was that I liked touching the hair and also smelling it. It was not a sexual attraction,” he claimed. In November 2006 Restivo was arrested and his home searched. Police found a lock of hair tied with green cotton – which Restivo said must have been planted. In 2008 scientists finally made a link between DNA material found on a green towel recovered from Barnett’s flat and Restivo. Still it was not judged strong enough to charge him. Then in March 2010 the body of Elisa Claps was found a few metres from where she had met Restivo 17 years previously. Her remains had been hidden in the loft of the church beneath a pile of old tiles. She had been stabbed and, most significantly, strands of her own hair cut from her head shortly after her death had been placed in each hand and locks of hair had been placed near her body. Restivo was charged with Barnett’s murder two months later. He showed no emotion as the verdict was delivered. Barnett’s daughter, Caitlin, sobbed. Outside court, Barnett’s sister, Denise Le Voir, said the family feared Restivo, who continued to live in the same flat in Bournemouth after the killing, would return to murder Caitlin. She criticised the Italian inquiry saying: “Elisa was found in the church where she had last been seen and I cannot understand why that church wasn’t thoroughly searched top to bottom sooner. It would appear someone was covering up.” Crime Italy Europe Steven Morris guardian.co.uk
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David Cameron says pension changes are ‘fair’ as up to 750,000 public servants from four unions prepare for industrial action The coalition government faces the first industrial uprising against its austerity measures today as up to 750,000 public servants strike over planned changes to their pensions. A third of schools are expected to close and two-thirds of universities have cancelled lectures. Benefits will go unpaid, court cases will be postponed, police leave has been cancelled in London and airports are bracing themselves for backlogs at immigration. Mark Serwotka, leader of the Public and Commercial Services union, said it was the most important strike in his union’s history. “Everything we have ever worked for is under attack,” he added. The government was trying to avoid inflaming the situation . David Cameron told the Commons: “What we are proposing is fair: it is fair to taxpayers but it is also fair to the public sector because we want to continue strong public sector pensions.” He said Labour was avoiding the issue, accusing the party of being “paid for by the unions [so] they can’t discuss the unions”. None of the four striking unions, with members in schools, colleges, universities and the civil service, is affiliated to the Labour party. Nearly every other union is poised to move towards strike action by the end of the year if the bitter standoff over public sector pension reforms is not resolved. Roads in central London will shut as thousands of people march in demonstrations that will be echoed across the country. Police leave has been cancelled so officers can cover for striking police community support officers, call handlers on the 999 lines and security staff. Some groups calling for peaceful civil disobedience are planning events in the capital. There were suggestions on the web that anarchists may target the events. Downing Street said it believed only one in five of the 500,000 civil servants would strike and predicted that a third of England’s 24,600 schools would close, a third would partially close and a third would be unaffected. Nearly 8,000 state schools have confirmed that they will either close or reduce lessons. Liverpool will be the worst hit city, with three-quarters of schools affected. In Newcastle, 72% of schools will be short-staffed or closed and in Manchester and Birmingham around half are affected. Up to 20,000 teachers in private schools may also go on strike. BAA said delays and disruption were possible at its airports, as up to 14,000 staff at the UK Border Agency affiliated to the PCS prepared to stage walkouts. UKBA advised airlines this week that passengers should rethink their travel plans amid fears of long queues at passport control, but then appeared to back away from that advice, saying it would work hard to keep delays to a minimum. The PCS said it expected delays at the port of Dover and Heathrow, Manchester and Gatwick airports. Ryanair called on the government to allow the army or police to staff passport booths and customs desks and said what it called union “headbangers” should not be allowed to disrupt flight schedules.
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David Cameron says pension changes are ‘fair’ as up to 750,000 public servants from four unions prepare for industrial action The coalition government faces the first industrial uprising against its austerity measures today as up to 750,000 public servants strike over planned changes to their pensions. A third of schools are expected to close and two-thirds of universities have cancelled lectures. Benefits will go unpaid, court cases will be postponed, police leave has been cancelled in London and airports are bracing themselves for backlogs at immigration. Mark Serwotka, leader of the Public and Commercial Services union, said it was the most important strike in his union’s history. “Everything we have ever worked for is under attack,” he added. The government was trying to avoid inflaming the situation . David Cameron told the Commons: “What we are proposing is fair: it is fair to taxpayers but it is also fair to the public sector because we want to continue strong public sector pensions.” He said Labour was avoiding the issue, accusing the party of being “paid for by the unions [so] they can’t discuss the unions”. None of the four striking unions, with members in schools, colleges, universities and the civil service, is affiliated to the Labour party. Nearly every other union is poised to move towards strike action by the end of the year if the bitter standoff over public sector pension reforms is not resolved. Roads in central London will shut as thousands of people march in demonstrations that will be echoed across the country. Police leave has been cancelled so officers can cover for striking police community support officers, call handlers on the 999 lines and security staff. Some groups calling for peaceful civil disobedience are planning events in the capital. There were suggestions on the web that anarchists may target the events. Downing Street said it believed only one in five of the 500,000 civil servants would strike and predicted that a third of England’s 24,600 schools would close, a third would partially close and a third would be unaffected. Nearly 8,000 state schools have confirmed that they will either close or reduce lessons. Liverpool will be the worst hit city, with three-quarters of schools affected. In Newcastle, 72% of schools will be short-staffed or closed and in Manchester and Birmingham around half are affected. Up to 20,000 teachers in private schools may also go on strike. BAA said delays and disruption were possible at its airports, as up to 14,000 staff at the UK Border Agency affiliated to the PCS prepared to stage walkouts. UKBA advised airlines this week that passengers should rethink their travel plans amid fears of long queues at passport control, but then appeared to back away from that advice, saying it would work hard to keep delays to a minimum. The PCS said it expected delays at the port of Dover and Heathrow, Manchester and Gatwick airports. Ryanair called on the government to allow the army or police to staff passport booths and customs desks and said what it called union “headbangers” should not be allowed to disrupt flight schedules.
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