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Tuesday, March 1, 2005

Aylesbury, England — The Arsenal F.C. midfielder Jermaine Pennant, currently on loan to Birmingham City, has today pleaded guilty to drink-driving, driving while disqualified, and driving without insurance by Aylesbury magistrates court. Pennant received a sentence of three months imprisonment. Pennant’s lawyer, Bary Warbutton, has said that the footballer will appeal against the severity of the sentence.

The incident occurred on January 23 of this year, Pennant was arrested after crashing teammate Ashley Cole’s car into a lamppost. The 22-year-old claimed that he crashed the car after attempting to operate the car’s Satellite navigation system.

Despite the claim by Warbutton that imprisonment “could completely destroy his career”, Birmingham City have said that they will stand by the player, and help to rehabilitate him. Arsenal released a statement saying that the sentence would not impact the player’s future with the club; his contract with club expires in the summer, at the same time as his loan-spell with Birmingham ends.

Saturday, May 28, 2011

In Edinburgh, capital of Scotland, part of an underground water piping system has exploded, forcing local residents to be evacuated. The pipe broke around 03:30 BST (0230 UTC) today, within Allan Park Road, causing flooding in the Slateford area of the city.

A spokesperson for Scottish sewerage and water corporation Scottish Water explained: “Early this morning reports were received of flooding in Allan Park Road and Scottish Water operatives attended the scene. A large diameter water main had burst. The water was shut off and re-routed via other pipes to keep supplies flowing to households in the area. Repairs are under way and the customers affected by the flooding are being offered assistance.”

Stating that repairs to resolve this problem had commenced and would take a few hours to conclude, Lothian and Borders Police have advised that the floods may disrupt the supplies of water and other utilities, as well as transportation on roads and railways in the west of Edinburgh. Hospitals and rest homes in the region have been notified of the incident and bottled water is now anticipated to be supplied at these buildings.

According to local residents, Slateford Road (A70), a major throughway, was closed for several hours this morning. Telephony and broadband in the area is disrupted, with local residents and businesses having to rely on cellphones. Further work, such as digging up the road and using temporary traffic lights, will be required to restore these services in the area.

As of 13:15 BST (1215 UTC), Scottish Water has excavated around the burst main, but has not yet begun work on replacing the damaged section of pipe.

Saturday, October 4, 2008

The U.S. Senate passed a revised bailout bill designed to help the struggling U.S. financial economy, which has measures nearly identical to the bill rejected by the U.S. House of Representatives on Monday.

“Senate Democrats and Republicans believe it is essential that we work quickly on this important legislation to restore confidence to our financial system and strengthen the economy,” said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

The new revisions include raising the FDIC insurance cap to $250,000, a move designed to please progressives. However, the $110 billion in tax breaks, earmarks and what has been called pork barrel spending is not offset by any increases in revenues and has added opposition to the bill from some Representatives in the House.

Earmarks added into the bailout bill included $192 million in tax rebates for the Virgin Islands rum industry, $148 million in tax cuts for the wool industry, $100 million tax cuts to the auto racing industry, and $48 million in Hollywood tax incentives.

Vice President of Taxpayers for Common Sense, Steve Ellis, offered his explanation for the pork and earmarks added in. “People who support some of these provisions will forget about the $700 billion and concerns they may have on that, and say, ‘If you give me a few million in tax breaks for my constituents, I’ll go along'”.

The tactic seems to have worked, however, managing to flip enough votes to pass the bill.

“The inclusion of parity, tax extenders and the FDIC increases has caused me to reconsider my position,” said Representative Jim Ramstad (R Minnesota), who voted against the previous bill on Monday. “All three additions have greatly improved the bill.”

But Representative Marcy Kaptur (D Ohio) was not changing her no vote. “I will not support this legislation because it’s the wrong medicine,” she said.

The Senate took H.R.1424, a bill originating in the House concerning “equity in the provision of mental health and substance-related disorder benefits under group health plans, to prohibit discrimination on the basis of genetic information with respect to health insurance and employment,” and extended it with the bailout provisions.

H.R.1424 was introduced on March 9, 2007, by Rep. Patrick Kennedy (RI-1) and had the support of First Lady Rosalind Carter. It is noted on the Congressional Website that “On 10/1/2008, the Senate passed H.R.1424 as the vehicle for the economic rescue legislation. In the EAS version of the bill (Engrossed Amendment as Agreed to by the Senate), Division A (pp.1-110) is referred to as the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008; Division B (pp. 110-255) is referred to as the Energy Improvement and Extension Act of 2008; and Division C (pp. 255-441) is referred to as the Tax Extenders and Alternative Minimum Tax Relief Act of 2008.” It was not treated as an appropriations bill in the House.

There were two votes in the Senate. The first was to amend H.R.1424, which required 3/5 to be accepted, which it was. The second was a vote on the bill. Passage of the Bill required only a 1/2 majority. It was passed with 74 yeas and 25 nays. Senator Kennedy did not vote.

Saturday, September 10, 2005

In a press release on September 8 from the Swedish Ministry of Education, Research and Culture it was announced that new television broadcasting licenses for the Swedish digital terrestrial television network was to be given and that the Radio and Television Authority (RTVV) had been given the task to handle the applications. All digital television licenses will cease by the end of 2005 and the companies must apply for a renewal if they want to continue broadcasting in 2006 and 2007.

Minister Leif Pagrotsky says in the press release that he is “taking an initiative towards a broader offer and more free channels”. He doesn’t give any clue on how this will be done in the press release, however. In an interview in Dagens Media, his press secretary Thomas Johansson says that new applicants most likely must offer free-to-air channels if they want a licence. Johansson says that there is space for at least two more channels in the network.

The RTVV shall leave a suggestion of what channels will get new or continued licenses on November 21, 2005. As of September 8 TV4 AB, Dagens Industri, Sportexpressen and Eurosport SA had sent their applications for new or continued licenses.

Currently, very few of the 33 channels in the network have chosen to go free-to-air, in contrast to the United Kingdom, Germany and Finland where most channels are free-to-air.

Monday, June 20, 2005

Financial analysts say Google is planning an e-wallet service that could eventually compete with eBay’s payment service PayPal. Google has not confirmed the development.

The rumor is a first sign of Google’s expected expansion of revenue sources to capitalize on its advertising customer base and search-engine traffic. What form that expansion will take has been a hotly debated subject for the company whose stock valuation momentarily made it the world’s biggest media company on June 7, 2005. Even Microsoft has been mentioned as a possible future competitor.

Ebay’s stock valuation dipped more than 2% on the news. Paypal currently accounts for one-fifth of the company’s revenues. But one business analyst saw potential benefit for Paypal[1], depending on exactly how the “Google Wallet” takes shape. The uncertainty underlined the lack of substantive information behind the rumor.

According to the New York Times, the CEO of a major online merchant, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, was approached by Google to take part in this service. Steve Langdon, a Google spokesperson, declined to comment.

• Spoken version of the article

Friday, September 26, 2008

Lieutenant Colonel Darrel Vandeveld, a prosecutor in the Guantanamo Military Commissions resigned Wednesday, citing ethical issues.

Vandeveld had recommended to his superiors that a plea bargain be offered to Mohammed Jawad, the Pakistani youth he was prosecuting. He felt that it was appropriate for Jawad to receive an early release, and be offered assistance in re-integrating into civilian life. His superiors had over-ruled him, and wanted to seek a life sentence.

Vandeveld has not spoken publicly about his concerns. Jawad’s defense counsel, David Frakt, plans to call upon him to testify that the Prosecution had been withholding potentially exculpatory evidence.

Jawad was a minor at the time of the incident;Jawad had been subjected to sleep deprivation through Guantanamo’s frequent flyer program;Jawad had testified, during his 2004 Combatant Status Review Tribunal that he had accepted a job clearing land mines, only to have his employers drug him, and use him to carry objects he was later informed were bombs. Two other individuals had confessed to throwing the grenade Jawad was being tried for throwing. Their confessions had been withheld from Jawad’s Defense counsel.

Although his four-page resignation letter has not been officially released, Carol Rosenberg of the Miami Herald, and other journalists have quoted from it.

Vandeveld wrote:

“My ethical qualms about continuing to serve as a prosecutor relate primarily to the procedures for affording defense counsel discovery. I am highly concerned, to the point that I believe I can no longer serve as a prosecutor at the Commissions, about the slipshod, uncertain ‘procedure’ for affording defense counsel discovery.”

Current Chief Prosecutor Colonel Lawrence Morris asserted: “All you have is somebody who is disappointed that his superiors did not agree with his recommendation in a case.”

Four Prosecutors resigned in 2004 over scandalous promises made by Chief Prosecutor Fred Borch.Three of Borch’s subordinates wrote letters to Borch’s superiors, asking to be reassigned from the Office of Military Commissions because Borch had told them:All the exculpatory evidence would be classified, so the suspect’s Defense counsel would never get to see it;All the Commission members who would be serving as the judges were to be picked from officers who could be counted on voting for conviction.

Robert Preston, John Carr, Carrie Wolf were reassigned. Fred Borch resigned from the military. Thomas Hemingway, Legal Advisor to the Convening Authority, the civilian head of the Office of Military Commissions, asserted that Borch’s resignation was unconnected to the memos from his subordinates. Borch was subsequently rehired as a civilian after he resigned from the military.

In 2005 Stuart Couch resigned from prosecuting Mohamedou Ould Slahi. Couch stated that even though he suspected Slahi had played a role in activities that otherwise were triable offenses, he should no longer be tried, because he had been subjected to extreme interrogation techniques.

In 2007 Guantanamo third Chief Prosecutor, Morris Davis, resigned after publicly challenging the role Legal Advisor Thomas W. Hartmann was trying to play in choosing cases to try. Davis had argued that choosing the cases to prosecute was his role, and that Hartmann had an obligation to remain objective, because he was also supposed to give advise to the head of the Office of Military Commission about the performance of the Defense. Hartmann’s role required him to give objective advice after the Commissions made their rulings — and his objectivity would be in doubt.

An inquiry looked into Davis’s concern, and directed Davis to follow Hartmann’s orders. Davis resigned from the Office of Military Commissions shortly thereafter.

Hartmann was called to testify before three of the Military Commissions, over his role in choosing cases to prosecute, where he testified he thought he was doing his job, and where he stated that he refused to resign.

Hartmann was reassigned a more junior role on September 20, 2008.

Monday, January 18, 2010

The world’s oldest dog, who answered to the name of Otto, has died at the age of 20. Otto, who was a Dachshund, was born and lived in Shrewsbury, in the county of Shropshire in England.

The dog had to be put down by a vet on Thursday after it was discovered that the animal had developed stomach cancer. The dog’s date of birth was February 14, 1989, which means that Otto would have been 21 years old 31 days after his death occurred. Lynn Jones and her husband Peter had both owned the dog since he was six weeks old. Otto was officially declared the oldest dog in the world by the Guinness Book of Records in October 2009. He was cremated on Friday.

Now Lynn Jones has payed tribute to her pet. “I have cried all morning, I am devastated,” she said. “He died at 10:10AM and I feel like I’ve lost my right arm. I know I sound like a wuss, but he was like the son I never had, my baby boy. I am glad he is not suffering any longer but I wanted him with me forever. We found out yesterday that he had a very large tumour in his stomach and last night I felt that he was trying to tell us something. He couldn’t sit or lie down comfortably and he was trying to tell us that he’d had enough, so we made the decision to end his suffering and took him to the vet [Thursday] morning.”