Premier Wen Jiabao has called for a sweeping and transparent probe into the crash between two bullet trains, which killed at least 39 people Design flaws in signal equipment and human error caused the high-speed train crash in China last weekend that killed at least 39 people, a railway official said. The preliminary finding comes in the face of public anger about the government’s handling of the accident near Wenzhou in Zhejiang province. Premier Wen Jiabao, who arrived in Wenzhou on Thursday to check on the investigation and the conditions of the survivors, has called for a sweeping and transparent probe into the crash between two bullet trains, which also hurt more than 190 people. Six train cars derailed and four fell about 65 to 100 feet from a viaduct Saturday night after one train plowed into the back of another train that had stalled after being hit by lightning. An Lusheng, head of the Shanghai Railway Bureau, said there were design problems with the signal light equipment at the Wenzhou South Station and dispatchers did not send any warnings after the lightning strike. “After the lightning strike caused a failure, an interval signal machine that should have shown a red light mistakenly upgraded it to a green light instead,” An said in comments carried by state broadcaster CCTV. The Beijing National Railway Research and Design Institute of Signal and Communication, which designed the signal equipment, on Thursday issued a letter of apology to the families of the victims and the injured passengers. It said it would cooperate with the investigation and would “have the courage to assume responsibility and accept the punishment deserved.” Wen’s visit comes a day after more than 20 relatives of people who died in the crash gathered at the Wenzhou South Station, holding banners demanding answers regarding the accident’s cause, Chinese media reported. “After such a big thing has happened, the railway departments cannot hide behind while they let the local governments deal with it and solve it. They are slow and won’t show their faces. Is it the government that wants to protect them, or has the government been threatened by them?” one man surnamed Lin who lost his elder brother, Lin Xiao, in the crash, told the Yangcheng Evening News. The government has ordered a two-month safety campaign for its railway system amid questions about how the crash occurred. Wen called for the campaign to be widened to target all transport infrastructure, coal mines, construction sites, and industries dealing with dangerous chemicals. The accident was the biggest blow yet to China’s burgeoning high-speed rail ambitions that have been highlighted as a symbol of the countries rising economic and technological prowess. Rapid expansion of the services has been dogged by concerns about safety, corruption scandals and criticism that schedules are impractical and tickets too expensive for ordinary Chinese. Open just one month, the much-hyped 820-mile Beijing-Shanghai line has been plagued by power outages and other malfunctions. Saturday’s accident outside the eastern city of Wenzhou prompted an outpouring of anger among the public and even in the usually docile state media, with questions posed over the cause of the crash and the government’s handling of the aftermath. The firing of three top officials at the Shanghai Railway Bureau did little to tamp down criticism that authorities made only passing attempts to rescue survivors while ordering tracks swiftly cleared to restore service. China Rail transport guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …OK, so they may be a year or two (or three) late from the peak of the trend, but the White House Twitter feed got in a little “rickrolling” action today. In response to this tweet from someone complaining that the press briefing was a little dull, the White House…
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Opposition leader undergoes hour-long NHS procedure for respiratory condition – but has it improved his voice? An expectant cluster of doctors, of both the medical and spinning variety, gathered around a bedside in Grays Inn Road, London, to await an event that could determine the outcome of the next general election. It was Ed nose day at the Royal National Throat, Nose and Ear hospital. Ed Miliband had been asleep for an hour, recovering from an operation his team ludicrously continued to insist was solely about tackling a deviated septum in his nose, so making it easier for him to sleep, and possibly for his wife Justine to be spared the odd snore. The Labour leader’s spin doctors continued to blather on about how obstructive sleep apnoea is a respiratory condition, leading the throat to repeatedly narrow or close during sleep. This meant air did not get into Miliband’s lungs properly, so waking him in the middle of night, leaving him with nothing to do but think about the future of European social democracy – a subject that would make most people lapse back comatosed, but has an enlivening effect on a Milimind. But everyone knew that all this medical detail was spin doctor obfuscation. In reality, the hour-long operation was a giant gamble. No one knew whether when he awoke the sound of Miliband’s voice would be transformed. Would the new Bold Ed of recent weeks, willing to tear down the Murdoch empire, be given a voice to match – a lustrous blend of Laurence Olivier, Barry White and Kathleen Turner? Or would it resemble a squeaky chainsaw liable to make voters run screaming from the room? As research has shown the sound of a voice is worth more votes to politicians than the content of their speeches, the operation was no trivial matter. Many British politicians, including George Osborne and Lady Thatcher, have undergone coaching to deepen the timbre. However, Labour voters hoping that the operation would have some magical oratorical impact have been disappointed. Those who have spoken to Miliband (no audio is yet available) say he sounds the same. “It did not change his voice, and nor was it intended to,” said his office. He will now spend some “slow time” in his north London home before heading off on holiday to Devon with his family. With his poll ratings well out of the emergency ward, he will be able to sleep easier before the haul towards his autumn party conference speech, an event that makes the most equable personality wake in the small hours in a cold sweat. Ed Miliband Patrick Wintour guardian.co.uk
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Officials estimate that there are 38,000 organised criminals active in Britain working in 6,000 groups A record £161m worth of assets, including sports cars, watches, diamond earrings, designer clothing and fine china was recovered from criminals in Britain last year. The Home Office disclosed the figure, the highest since the introduction of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, as ministers prepared to publish their new strategy to tackle organised crime. They said a further £49m of assets was returned to victims, while £831m of cash and ill-gotten gains such as seized illicit drugs were denied to criminals during 2010-11. It is officially estimated that there are 38,000 organised criminals active in Britain working in 6,000 groups involved in the drugs trade, human trafficking, child exploitation and cybercrime as well as more traditional areas such as armed robbery and organised vehicle theft. Ministers have complained that too many of them regard themselves as “untouchables”. It is also estimated that organised crime costs the UK £20-£40bn a year in social and economic costs. The organised crime strategy, to be published on Thursday, promises to make a difference by “ensuring a co-ordinated national approach across government, law enforcement, security and intelligence agencies”. It will also pave the way for the establishment in 2013 of the National Crime Agency (NCA), which will set the “national operational agenda” for fighting serious and complex crime. The NCA will for the first time have the power to direct other police forces and law enforcement agencies in ensuring that appropriate action is taken at the right level against organised crime. It will have the power to link local to national and cross-border efforts to tackle organised crime. The agency has already suffered an early setback, however, in that the senior chief constable, Bernard Hogan-Howe, who was frontrunner for the head of the shadow NCA to be set up this year, has already been drafted in as temporary deputy commissioner of the Metropolitan police in the aftermath of Sir Paul Stephenson’s resignation. “Organised crime has a local impact but a global reach. To tackle it effectively we need a strategic, co-ordinated response at every level from community policing through to international partnership,” said Home Office minister James Brokenshire. “The organised crime strategy will bring a new emphasis on the prevention of organised crime alongside a greater push to ensure that more prosecution and disruption activity takes place against more organised criminals, at a reduced cost,” said Brokenshire. “This, alongside the launch of the new National Crime Agency, means that we will ensure that those who commit serious and organised crime are tracked down, pursued, brought to justice and their ill-gotten gains are stripped away.” Crime Police Alan Travis guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …It’s sort of a good news-bad news situation for one Louisiana family. On one hand, they finally know what happened to Joseph Schexnider, who vanished in 1984—on the other, he died inside a local bank chimney 27 years ago. Construction workers renovating a historic bank discovered skeletal remains in…
Continue reading …The group Anonymous is going after PayPal again, but this time in the form of a legal boycott instead of an illegal hack, reports MSNBC . “We encourage anyone using PayPal to immediately close their accounts and consider an alternative,” says a missive from Anonymous and LulzSec. The move is in…
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British honeymoon couple Ben and Catherine Mullany were murdered on the holiday island of Antigua Two men were convicted today of murdering British honeymoon couple Ben and Catherine Mullany on the holiday island of Antigua. Kaniel Martin, 23, and Avie Howell, 20, shot the Mullanys in their chalet in 2008. The pair, who refused to face questioning in court, had protested their innocence throughout their two month long trial, which saw more than 90 witnesses give evidence. But the men were found guilty by a jury in Antigua’s High Court in St John’s today. Mr and Mrs Mullany were both shot in the back of the head during a dawn raid at their luxury hotel chalet on the holiday island in 2008. Mr Mullany, a student physiotherapist, and Mrs Mullany, a doctor, who were staying in the five-star Cocos Hotel, had only been married just over two weeks. Mrs Mullany died instantly. Mr Mullany was flown back home to south Wales in a desperate attempt to save his life. But despite the efforts of his wife’s medical colleagues in Swansea his life-support was turned off a week after he had been shot. The couple were buried in the grounds of the same church where they had married a little over a month previously. It has taken almost three years for their killers to be brought to justice. Two weeks after killing the newlyweds, Howell and Martin then went on to murder 43-year-old shopkeeper Woneta Anderson. Mr and Mrs Mullany’s parents broke down in tears as the jury of eight men and four delivered its verdicts – following an anxious 10 hour and 20 minute wait. The family said it would never be able to comprehend the nature of the couple’s deaths. A statement said: “There is no joy at today’s verdict, just a sense of relief that after three years of waiting there is justice for our children, and for Woneta Anderson and her family. “These two individuals can never again inflict the same anguish and devastation to any other family as they have to ours.” Antigua & Barbuda guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Psychiatrists in New York would probably love to see this legislation passed in the US. In Lagos, Nigeria—where traffic has reached epidemic levels—if you’re caught going the wrong way on a one-way street, you face a $160 fine, but you also have to receive a psychiatric evaluation, reports…
Continue reading …The CBO report that forced John Boehner to delay the vote on his debt ceiling plan may end up working in his favor, reports the Hill . It’s still unclear whether he has the magical 217 needed before tomorrow’s expected vote, but he’s definitely closer. The delay has given Boehner and…
Continue reading …Maybe they can’t concentrate when they’re missing Wheel Of Fortune . The Yankees have the second-oldest lineup in baseball, and it may be the reason the team is on pace to have the best day-game record in history. They boast an .829 winning percentage under the sun, but a middling .476…
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