Bono and the Edge aren’t exactly pleased with how Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark has worked out. In a blistering interview with the New York Times , the U2 leaders say they’re unhappy with the process and discuss their falling out with Julie Taymor, who was ousted in March. “If we…
Continue reading …Mildred Baena’s first interview is out, and in it, she reveals that she never actually came clean to Arnold Schwarzenegger about the child they had together, People reports. Though she’s not sure of Schwarzenegger’s reaction to the news that he has a 13-year-old son, Baena did reveal to Hello! how…
Continue reading …Bonnaroo has claimed a second victim: Christopher William Yoder, 24, died of hyperthermia early Sunday, the AP reports. Yoder had been airlifted from the music festival to a hospital, and officials are awaiting toxicology reports. “The safety of our patrons is our No. 1 concern, and we are deeply saddened…
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Republicans demand resignation of nuclear agency head after he is found to have acted improperly in shutting down project Republicans in Congress demanded the resignation of the head of America’s nuclear agency on Tuesday after it emerged he acted improperly in stopping work on a controversial nuclear waste dump. Gregory Jaczko, who was appointed by Barack Obama to oversee safety at America’s 100 nuclear reactors, had unilaterally shut down preparatory work on the Yucca Mountain project, Hubert Bell, the inspector general of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), said in prepared testimony. Jaczko, who was supposed to be politically neutral, was also highly selective in sharing information with his fellow regulators at the NRC about the dump project. Some of those he did inform did not fully understand he was working to close the project. Those kept in the dark opposed plans to shut the dump. “He was not forthcoming with the other commissioners,” Bell said in his prepared testimony to the house energy and commerce committee. Jaczko did not break the law, Bell said. But his strategic control of information, and his management style, raised questions about his leadership and his political independence. Bell went over many of those concerns in an investigative report last week. Republicans in Congress are strongly pro-nuclear, and have been pushing the Obama administration to move forward on the Yucca Mountain dump as part of a plan to radically expand America’s fleet of nuclear reactors. Joe Barton, a Republican from Texas, insisted the NRC chairman step down. “He violated the law,” Barton said. Ed Whitfield, a Republican from Kentucky, said Jaczko had abused his authority. “I do think he needs to step down,” he said. Even Democrats in Congress criticised Jaczko’s management style, raising concerns about his temper. “Obviously he should work on his interpersonal skills,” said Henry Waxman, the California Democrat who once headed the committee. Underlining the Republican outrage was the accusation that Jaczko was acting at the behest of Obama and the Senate majority leader Harry Reid, who both want to shut down Yucca Mountain to please local interests in Nevada. Jaczko used to work for Reid, and Reid represents Nevada. The Democratic leadership argues instead that the original choice of siting the waste dump in Nevada was itself highly political. Obama promised in 2009 to cancel the project. Local opposition in Nevada has effectively kept Yucca Mountain in limbo for nearly 30 years. The federal government has spent $15bn (£9.16bn) on the project so far, and it is still 10 years away from completion. But the Fukushima nuclear disaster, which exposed the dangers of storing spent nuclear fuel at reactors, has given new urgency to safety concerns about nuclear waste. The US nuclear industry currently stores its nuclear waste at reactor sites scattered across the country. Obama, despite his opposition to the dump, remains a strong proponent of nuclear energy. The NRC is due to issue its first licence for a new reactor in more than 30 years. But America cannot significantly increase the number of reactors without coming up with a working solution on storage of nuclear waste. US politics Republicans Barack Obama United States Nuclear waste Energy Nuclear power Waste Suzanne Goldenberg guardian.co.uk
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Anti-crime activists attack government after judge frees former mayor of Tijuana at whose home officials say they found 88 guns The Mexican government of Felipe Calderón has been left with egg on its face after a judge ordered the release of a former Tijuana mayor arrested earlier this month when dozens of firearms were allegedly discovered in a raid on his mansion. The federal judge released Jorge Hank Rhon saying there was insufficient evidence to indict the 55-year-old gambling magnate and politician, despite reports from officials that 88 guns were found at his sprawling complex in Tijuana. Hank Rhon – a father of 19 – is famed for his fortune, machismo, and exotic animals. But he did not get to enjoy his freedom for long, as he was immediately taken to the state prosecutor’s office for questioning over murders reportedly committed with two of the guns. Hank Rhon was arrested in the early hours of 4 June after soldiers entered his home, which stretches up a hill from the racetrack he owns. The compound also includes a private bullring and zoo populated by white Bengal tigers, guacamayas and other rare animals. The attorney general, Marisela Morales, said Hank Rhon had no permits for 78 of the weapons said to have been found, which comprised 40 rifles and 48 handguns. The raid also yielded 9,298 bullets, 70 ammunition clips and a gas grenade. The judge who ordered Hank Rhon’s release in the early hours of Tuesday morning also freed 10 of his employees detained during the raid. The former mayor left the jail before dawn and was taken to an office of the state prosecution service for questioning, after ballistic tests that allegedly linked two of the seized handguns to murders in Tijuana. Officials said the tests indicated that one of the guns had been used to kill a security guard in December 2009 and the other to kill a car salesman in June 2010. State human rights ombudsman Heriberto Garcia, called in to monitor the case by Hank Rhon’s lawyers, said the local authorities were seeking a judge’s order to allow them to hold him for a maximum of 30 days while the investigations continued. Hank Rhon is a member of a political clan associated with the Institutional Revolutionary party (PRI), which governed from 1929 to 2000. His supporters claim the arrest was politically motivated. His father, Carlos Hank González, was one of Mexico’s most durable powerbrokers. He died in 2001 with an estimated US$1.3bn (£800m) fortune and reputedly coined the Mexican phrase “a politician who is poor is a poor politician”. Anti-crime activists were outraged by the news of Hank Rhon’s release. “This is another farce from the government of President Calderón,” said Eduardo Gallo, one of the leading figures of a growing movement deeply critical of the government’s claims to be hounding major criminals. “The state lacks the ability and the moral authority to tackle organised crime. The law in Mexico is never applied against those with money and political power.” Hank Rhon’s business empire, centred on the racetrack, includes hotels, shopping malls and gaming houses across Mexico. He was elected mayor in 2004, but stepped down in 2006 to fight an unsuccessful campaign to become state governor.While the accusations against him are legion, he has never come so close to facing formal charges. A former bodyguard is currently in prison for the murder of reporter Hector “El Gato” Felix of the local weekly magazine Zeta in 1988. In 1995 he was briefly detained after a suitcase full of ivory tusks and waistcoats made of the skins of endangered ocelots was found. Hank Rhon’s arrest has prompted accusations of orchestration by Calderón as part of an attempt to derail the PRI´s campaign in upcoming elections in Mexico state. Enrique Peña Nieto, the current PRI governor, was mentored by Hank Rhon’s clan and is the runaway favourite to win the 2012 presidential elections. The federal release order is highly embarrassing for the government. Mexico Jo Tuckman guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Sexy: a model jumping on a trampoline. Definitely not sexy: tearing the meniscus in your right knee. But the latter is what Denise Underhill claims happened to her in a new lawsuit filed against Playboy . Underhill’s suit says she was asked “to jump on a trampoline … in order for photographs…
Continue reading …President Obama says the first family would be just fine if they were just a regular family. “If I said, ‘You guys, I want to do something different,’ they’d be fine,” Obama told the TODAY show this morning. “They’re not invested in daddy being president or my husband being…
Continue reading …You read the Facebook messages , you saw that graphic cell phone pic , and now … you can buy the Anthony Weiner action figure. But first you have to decide if you want the censored or uncensored version. HeroBuilders.com of Oxford, Conn., is offering the “standard” doll for $39.95 and…
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