Leave it to the Germans to come up with something fun. A new Facebook app by Notruf Deutschland (that also plays on its own site) presents a video of three teen girl “stalkers” gushing about you . Thanks to personal details and a photo you’ve plugged in, the three giggle over…
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Plans for hundreds of wind turbines have been blocked over claims that vibrations will interfere with recording station The Ministry of Defence (MoD) is blocking plans for hundreds of wind turbines because it says their “seismic noise” will prevent the detection of nuclear explosions around the world. The MoD claims that vibrations from new windfarms across a large area of north-west England and south-west Scotland will interfere with the operation of its seismological recording station at Eskdalemuir, near Lockerbie. The station listens out for countries secretly testing nuclear warheads in breach of the 182-nation Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty . At a meeting today, Carlisle council rejected the latest application for six wind turbines at Hallburn Farm , near Longtown, because of the MoD’s objections . The noise from the turbines would increase interference to an unacceptable level, the MoD said. The company that made the application, REG Windpower , warned that plans for many other windfarms in the area were similarly affected. As much as one gigawatt of renewable power was being held up by the MoD, the company told the Guardian. This is equivalent to about a quarter of the UK’s current onshore wind capacity, and could make an important contribution to meeting UK targets to cut the pollution that is causing climate change, REG Windpower argued. But according to the MoD, the swishing blades of wind turbines cause vibrations in the ground that can be detected by the sophisticated monitoring equipment at Eskdalemuir. The UK has an international obligation to protect the operation of the station to help prevent the spread of nuclear weapons, it said. An expert study for the MoD concluded that although the station could cope with some seismic noise, increasing this beyond a certain level would cause interference. The limit has now been reached so the ministry is objecting to every new wind turbine within 50km of Eskdalemuir. This has generated frustration among wind power developers because the area has many attractions for them. It has good wind speeds, is sparsely populated and is close to centres of electricity demand. But REG Windpower’s development director, Matt Partridge, was hopeful of a breakthrough in finding a technical fix for the problem. “We’re optimistic there will soon be a solution,” he said. One idea is to hang weights like pendulums inside turbine towers to deaden the vibrations from the blades. The MoD promised it would reassess its opposition if there were a proven technological solution. Eskdalemuir was a “unique facility in the UK”, said an MoD spokesman. “It detects and accurately interprets seismic signals worldwide to detect nuclear explosions and deter the proliferation of nuclear weapons. Wind turbines can affect the readings.” He added: “The MoD would not object to a planning application without due reason. Objections are only raised where such action is considered vital to adequately protect MoD interests.” Wind power Energy Renewable energy Scotland Nuclear weapons Rob Edwards guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Moammar Gadhafi’s 42-year rule may be entering its final days, US officials tell NBC , citing intelligence reports. The dictator has made preparations to flee with his family to exile in Tunisia, according to the sources. The rebels seeking to end his rule have made dramatic advances in recent days , leaving…
Continue reading …A guest editorship may land Ashton Kutcher in trouble with the feds. An online-only “Social Issue” of Details touted several tech start-ups and failed to clearly note that guest editor Kutcher is an investor in several of them, discovered Gawker , which labeled the “Hollywood’s prettiest boytoy” a “massive whore.” He…
Continue reading …Virginia has become the latest state to execute an inmate using a new cocktail of drugs for the lethal injection despite the manufacturer’s objections. Jerry Jackson, 30, was executed for the 2001 rape and murder of an 88-year-old widow, Reuters reports. Pentobarbital, a drug used to treat epilepsy, was used…
Continue reading …The first men prosecuted under a federal hate crime law have pleaded guilty to carving a swastika into the arm of a Navajo Indian. New Mexican neo-Nazis Paul Beebe and Jesse Sanford admitted using a hot wire to brand the arm of their mentally challenged victim. They also shaved a…
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Recep Tayyip Erdogan describes the crisis as a ‘litmus test’ for humanity as he visits a refugee camp in Mogadishu with his wife The Turkish prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has visited Somalia to draw international attention to the famine sweeping across the Horn of Africa. Erdogan, who was accompanied in Mogadishu by his family and five cabinet ministers, has appealed for more food aid for the drought-hit country and lashed out at wealthy western countries for not doing more. Somalia’s president, Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, welcomed Erdogan at the airport with a warm embrace. Erdogan, dressed in a sharp suit, and his wife, Emine, who wore haute-couture Islamic dress, then drove through the city’s rubbish-strewn streets. At one dusty, windswept refugee settlement, Erdogan crouched inside the tent of Bashir and Fatima, a young couple mourning the loss of two of their four children who died after walking 55 miles to Mogadishu. Emine Erdogan handed out chocolates and sweets. On Wednesday, Organisation of Islamic Co-operation (OIC) countries pledged $350m (£121m) in aid to fight the famine, which has left 3.7 million Somalis at risk of dying of hunger. Erdogan has said he hopes the OIC’s efforts will jolt the consciences of those ignoring the unravelling humanitarian emergency. A pious Muslim, he has called the disaster a “litmus test” for humanity. The withdrawal of most Islamists from their Mogadishu bases earlier in the month has in effect handed full control of the capital to the government for the first time since civil war broke out in 1991. Somali troops and African peacekeepers are still meeting pockets of rebel resistance in the city, highlighting the view of regional observers that the al-Qaida-linked al-Shabaab insurgents are far from defeated. Security forces flooded Mogadishu’s main streets, where Turkish flags fluttered in the coastal breeze and posters adorned the walls of mortar-blasted buildings. “Prime minister Erdogan’s visit tells us the Turkish people are closer to us than any other Muslim nation on earth,” said one resident, Abdirashid Ali Omar. “The Turkish people are here to share with us in our time of need. It is momentous.” Muslim Turkey, a rising political and economic power that straddles east and west, is far behind other emerging powers such as China, Brazil or India in the race for new markets in Africa. But under Erdogan’s ruling AK party, Turkey has expanded commercial ties in Africa, as well as in the Middle East and Asia, and opened several new embassies in Africa. The UN’s World Food Programme said on Friday it was still unable to reach 2.2 million hungry people living in areas of southern Somalia controlled by al-Shabaab, whose bloody campaign to topple the government has cost more than 20,000 lives. Aid agencies say that while droughts are a natural phenomenon, this famine is largely down to conflict and bad governance. “Droughts will happen. They always will, but they don’t have to be disasters. They can be managed,” Oxfam’s Philippa Crosland-Taylor said in neighbouring Kenya. Somalia Turkey Famine Aid Africa Middle East Europe guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Recep Tayyip Erdogan describes the crisis as a ‘litmus test’ for humanity as he visits a refugee camp in Mogadishu with his wife The Turkish prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has visited Somalia to draw international attention to the famine sweeping across the Horn of Africa. Erdogan, who was accompanied in Mogadishu by his family and five cabinet ministers, has appealed for more food aid for the drought-hit country and lashed out at wealthy western countries for not doing more. Somalia’s president, Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, welcomed Erdogan at the airport with a warm embrace. Erdogan, dressed in a sharp suit, and his wife, Emine, who wore haute-couture Islamic dress, then drove through the city’s rubbish-strewn streets. At one dusty, windswept refugee settlement, Erdogan crouched inside the tent of Bashir and Fatima, a young couple mourning the loss of two of their four children who died after walking 55 miles to Mogadishu. Emine Erdogan handed out chocolates and sweets. On Wednesday, Organisation of Islamic Co-operation (OIC) countries pledged $350m (£121m) in aid to fight the famine, which has left 3.7 million Somalis at risk of dying of hunger. Erdogan has said he hopes the OIC’s efforts will jolt the consciences of those ignoring the unravelling humanitarian emergency. A pious Muslim, he has called the disaster a “litmus test” for humanity. The withdrawal of most Islamists from their Mogadishu bases earlier in the month has in effect handed full control of the capital to the government for the first time since civil war broke out in 1991. Somali troops and African peacekeepers are still meeting pockets of rebel resistance in the city, highlighting the view of regional observers that the al-Qaida-linked al-Shabaab insurgents are far from defeated. Security forces flooded Mogadishu’s main streets, where Turkish flags fluttered in the coastal breeze and posters adorned the walls of mortar-blasted buildings. “Prime minister Erdogan’s visit tells us the Turkish people are closer to us than any other Muslim nation on earth,” said one resident, Abdirashid Ali Omar. “The Turkish people are here to share with us in our time of need. It is momentous.” Muslim Turkey, a rising political and economic power that straddles east and west, is far behind other emerging powers such as China, Brazil or India in the race for new markets in Africa. But under Erdogan’s ruling AK party, Turkey has expanded commercial ties in Africa, as well as in the Middle East and Asia, and opened several new embassies in Africa. The UN’s World Food Programme said on Friday it was still unable to reach 2.2 million hungry people living in areas of southern Somalia controlled by al-Shabaab, whose bloody campaign to topple the government has cost more than 20,000 lives. Aid agencies say that while droughts are a natural phenomenon, this famine is largely down to conflict and bad governance. “Droughts will happen. They always will, but they don’t have to be disasters. They can be managed,” Oxfam’s Philippa Crosland-Taylor said in neighbouring Kenya. Somalia Turkey Famine Aid Africa Middle East Europe guardian.co.uk
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Ursula Nevin slept through riots in Manchester but was jailed after accepting a pair of shorts looted by a friend A mother of two who slept through the riots but was jailed for handling a stolen pair of shorts that had been looted by a friend has been freed from prison on appeal. It is thought to be the first successful appeal against a sentence in relation to the disorder in England. Ursula Nevin, 24 was jailed for five months by a district judge at Manchester magistrates court earlier this week. The severity of the sentence caused concern as she had not actually been involving in rioting or looting. She had admitted accepting a pair of shorts that had been looted from a city centre shop by a friend. Judge Andrew Gilbart QC said he was setting aside the prison sentence because Nevin had not actually taken part in the riots. He ruled that the original decision was “wrong in principle” and instead he ordered Nevin to perform 75 hours of unpaid work for the community. Nevin was in bed at the time of the widespread disorder in Manchester city centre where her lodger, Gemma Corbett, helped herself to clothing and footwear from the Vans store and then took them back to the house they shared in Stretford, Greater Manchester. Nevin cried in the dock last Friday as District Judge Khalid Qureshi told her she was supposed to be a role model to her two young sons and criticised her for not speaking up and ordering the stolen haul to be moved out of the house. Judge Gilbart said on Friday that he had indicated in previous sentencing remarks on looters that a distinction could be made for people receiving stolen goods who had not been physically present during the disorder throughout Manchester and Salford last Tuesday. “Ursula Nevin did not go into Manchester city centre,” he said. “We regard it as wrong in principle that she was subject to a custodial sentence. “She must pay some sentence because she knew where the goods had come from. “Seventy-five hours of unpaid work appears to be the appropriate figure bearing in mind the guilty plea.” Addressing Nevin, who had no previous convictions, he said: “You must have found yourself, in the circumstances of the last week, trapped in a circle of hell. “The way you never get into that situation again is to show the courage to say ‘no’. “I am sure the courts will not be troubled by you again. Leave now and look after your children.” The defendant cried as the sentence was reduced, as did family members in the public gallery, including her mother. UK riots Sentencing Crime UK criminal justice Helen Carter guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Ursula Nevin slept through riots in Manchester but was jailed after accepting a pair of shorts looted by a friend A mother of two who slept through the riots but was jailed for handling a stolen pair of shorts that had been looted by a friend has been freed from prison on appeal. It is thought to be the first successful appeal against a sentence in relation to the disorder in England. Ursula Nevin, 24 was jailed for five months by a district judge at Manchester magistrates court earlier this week. The severity of the sentence caused concern as she had not actually been involving in rioting or looting. She had admitted accepting a pair of shorts that had been looted from a city centre shop by a friend. Judge Andrew Gilbart QC said he was setting aside the prison sentence because Nevin had not actually taken part in the riots. He ruled that the original decision was “wrong in principle” and instead he ordered Nevin to perform 75 hours of unpaid work for the community. Nevin was in bed at the time of the widespread disorder in Manchester city centre where her lodger, Gemma Corbett, helped herself to clothing and footwear from the Vans store and then took them back to the house they shared in Stretford, Greater Manchester. Nevin cried in the dock last Friday as District Judge Khalid Qureshi told her she was supposed to be a role model to her two young sons and criticised her for not speaking up and ordering the stolen haul to be moved out of the house. Judge Gilbart said on Friday that he had indicated in previous sentencing remarks on looters that a distinction could be made for people receiving stolen goods who had not been physically present during the disorder throughout Manchester and Salford last Tuesday. “Ursula Nevin did not go into Manchester city centre,” he said. “We regard it as wrong in principle that she was subject to a custodial sentence. “She must pay some sentence because she knew where the goods had come from. “Seventy-five hours of unpaid work appears to be the appropriate figure bearing in mind the guilty plea.” Addressing Nevin, who had no previous convictions, he said: “You must have found yourself, in the circumstances of the last week, trapped in a circle of hell. “The way you never get into that situation again is to show the courage to say ‘no’. “I am sure the courts will not be troubled by you again. Leave now and look after your children.” The defendant cried as the sentence was reduced, as did family members in the public gallery, including her mother. UK riots Sentencing Crime UK criminal justice Helen Carter guardian.co.uk
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