11:40
Marbella Times
UME Emergency Military Unit was deployed to El Hierro on Wednesday as the island remained on yellow alert amid fears of a volcanic eruption. The Defence Minister, Carme Chacón, was also due to travel there on Wednesday afternoon to supervise their work, and spoke of the UME’s deployment as a preventive measure to assist emergency services in any evacuation over the increased seismic activity on the island. EFE indicates that there is a 15 percent probability of an imminent eruption, but the island’s government has ruled out any need to evacuate the island. The President of El Hierro’s Cabildo, Alpido Armas, said, ‘That’s not going to happen. We will not need to evacuate 4,000 people. If there is an eruption, it will not be a violent one and the worst that can happen is that a 200...
Friday, 30 September 2011
Saturday, 24 September 2011
Former deputy editor received £25,000 from News of the World publisher after starting work as consultant with police force
Former News of the World deputy editor Neil Wallis leaving Hammersmith police station in July. Photograph: Murray Sanders/Mail On SundayThe relationship between the police and the News of the World has come under fire again amid revelations that Neil Wallis, the former deputy editor of the News of the World, was paid by the paper's publisher for "crime exclusives" while working for the Metropolitan police.Wallis was secretly paid more than £25,000 by News International after he left the paper and got a contract to work two days a month as a PR consultant with the Met. One story earned him a single payment of £10,000.The Daily Telegraph claims...
Suit Planned Against News Corp. in U.S. Over Phone Hacking
lawyer representing some of Britain’s phone hacking victims said on Friday that he was planning legal action in the United States against the News Corporation, the parent company of Rupert Murdoch’s global media empire. Enlarge This Image Luke Macgregor/Reuters Mark Lewis said he had held discussions about the steps needed to proceed against the News Corporation in New York. Multimedia Interactive Graphic Key Figures in the Phone Hacking Case Graphic Statements by Top Figures in the Hacking Scandal Interactive Feature Anatomy of the News International Scandal Related Millions May Go to Girl’s Family in Hacking Case (September 20, 2011) Times Topic: British Phone Hacking Scandal (News of the World) In a series of interviews in London, the lawyer, Mark Lewis, said he had held discussions...
Phone hacking: Ex-editor Coulson sues newspaper group
Former News of the World editor Andy Coulson is suing his ex-employer after it stopped paying his legal fees in relation to the phone-hacking scandal. His lawyers have filed papers at the High Court against News International subsidiary News Group Newspapers. Mr Coulson was arrested in July over NoW phone-hacking allegations. He denies knowledge of the practice. It has emerged some UK victims of alleged hacking are considering US legal action against News Corporation. US lawyers have been asked to explore the possibility of a case against Rupert Murdoch's media group. Arrangement ended Papers were filed at the High Court by Mr Coulson's lawyers on Thursday. BBC political correspondent Robin Brant said: "Even though Andy Coulson hasn't worked for the publishers of the now-defunct...
Friday, 23 September 2011
European banks head towards another meltdown
Shares in some of Europe's largest banks fell by 10pc as the cost of insuring European lenders' senior bonds rose to record levels, according to credit default swap prices. The Markit iTraxx Financial Index of contracts on the senior debt of 25 banks and insurers climbed to an all-time high 315.5 basis points. The last banking crisis was regarded by most eurozone members as an Anglo-Saxon phenomenon caused by lax lending controls that resulted in major UK and US institutions either collapsing or having to take costly state-funded bail-outs. To offset the threat of another crisis spreading across the eurozone, European regulators ordered their banks to increase their liquidity buffers. Government bonds were generally viewed as the most liquid and least risky assets to hold. However, this...
signs of an institutional run on French banks
Christine Lagarde, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, urged Europe's leaders to bail out their fragile banks, as the boss of the eurozone's biggest bank, BNP Paribas, rejected fears that the financial sector was "in peril". Addressing journalists in Washington at the opening of the IMF's annual meeting, Lagarde said that Europe must tackle "this twin problem of sovereign debt and the need to strengthen capital buffers". She said: "It is critical that to fuel growth, banks be in a position to finance the economy, to finance enterprises, to finance households, to finance local governments. To do that they need to have the balance sheet that will actually support credit to the economy." Despite the recent stress tests carried out by the European Banking Authority,...
Thursday, 22 September 2011
Muammar Gaddafi has fled Sabha
The National Transitional Council are investigating an unconfirmed report that Muammar Gaddafi has fled from Sabha, NTC spokesman reports. NTC spokesman also states that Libyan government forces now control most of Sabha with small pockets of resistance from pro-Gaddafi snipe...
Tuesday, 20 September 2011
Pakistan bus attack kills dozens
25 Shia Muslim pilgrims have been killed after gunmen opened fire on a bus in western Pakistan, officials said. The pilgrims were going through Mastung district in Baluchistan province, en route to the Iranian border, when the attack occurred, said a senior district official, Saeed Umrani. Two motorcycles blocked the path of the bus and three gunmen stormed the vehicle, opening fire on the roughly 40 pilgrims inside, said a local tribal police officer, Dadullah Baluch, after interviewing survivors and eyewitnesses. At least 25 people were killed and more than a dozen injured in the attack on Tuesday, he added. The dead and wounded were being taken to a hospital in Quetta, about 35 miles to the north, he said. Pakistan is a majority Sunni Muslim state. Although most Sunnis and Shias...
Taliban turban bomber kills Afghan ex-president
A Taliban suicide bomber with concealed explosives in a turban on Tuesday assassinated former Afghan president Burhanuddin Rabbani, who was leading government peace efforts, police said. The bomber struck during a meeting at the Kabul home of Rabbani, who was last year appointed chief of the Afghan High Peace Council that President Hamid Karzai tasked with negotiating with the Taliban. His death is the most high-profile political assassination since the 2001 US-led invasion ousted the Taliban from power and comes just two months after Karzai's brother Ahmed Wali Karzai was also killed. The attackers arrived at Rabbani's house with Mohammad Massom Stanikzai, Rabbani's deputy, for a meeting before the turban bomber detonated his explosives, according to one source amid conflicting reports...
Saturday, 17 September 2011
US vintage aircraft crash leaves three dead and 54 injured
The plane, a P-51 Mustang, dubbed the "Galloping Ghost" that was being flown by Jimmy Leeward, 74, crashed at 4.30pm local time (11.30pm GMT) into a box seat area in front of the main grandstand at the Reno Air Races,. "I heard his engine and looked up. He was within 100 feet. He was coming right down on top of us," witness Fred Scholz told CNN, adding that the plane had first flown closer to the stands than allowed. "It just happened very quick." The Federal Aviation Administration halted the air race after the crash, and was investigating the incident alongside the National Transportation Safety Board, an FAA official said. Video apparently...
Thursday, 15 September 2011
Social media chiefs grilled over UK riots
The makers of BlackBerry have admitted social media could be used for "malicious purposes" but the vast majority of users are law-abiding, during a grilling by British MPs on August's riots. Stephen Bates, managing director of Research in Motion in Britain and Ireland, insisted on Thursday social media was generally a "force for good", a position backed by executives from Facebook and Twitter during the hearing in London. "There's no dispute that... social media was used for malicious purposes," Bates told parliament's home affairs committee, which is conducting an inquiry into the four nights of unprecedented riots in English citi...
Kelly Brook gets naked for snakes
Kelly Brook has posed naked with snakeprint painted on her skin to back up her claim "Animals Belong in the Wild, Not in Your Wardrobe." The model teamed up with animal rights group PETA as part of a campaign against the use of exotic animal skins in fashion, and unveiled the portrait to coincide with the start of London Fashion Week. Kelly said: "It makes my skin crawl to think about the violent ways snakes, lizards, alligators and other exotic creatures are raised and killed for boots, bags and belts. "Our message is to support the designers who are creative without being destructive, and go for the great fakes that pay tribute to the animals' beauty without killing them." Kelly posed for the nude portrait at Bryan Adams' Chelsea studio. Hollywood star Joaquin Phoenix is also part...
Artificial volcano' experiment
A bizarre "artificial volcano" experiment taking place at a disused Norfolk airfield next month could help save the planet from global warming. Scientists will attempt to pump water up a hose suspended one kilometre off the ground beneath a helium-filled balloon. The test will provide valuable data that could pave the way to a giant geoengineering project in decades to come. The long-term vision is to tether 20 kilometre-long pipes to balloons the size of Wembley stadium. Light-scattering particles would be pumped high into the atmosphere to reflect the sun's rays and cool the earth. The effect would be similar to that of a volcanic eruption spewing out clouds of sulphate droplets which can have an impact on the climate. Dr Matt Watson, from the University of Bristol, who is leading...
World atlas re-worked as climate change alters the face of the planet
The world's most authoritative atlas has had to erase 15% of Greenland's once permanent ice cover – turning an area the size of the United Kingdom and Ireland 'green' and free of ice. The new edition of The Times Comprehensive Atlas of the World, published today, provides concrete evidence of how the effects of climate change is changing the face of the planet forever – and at an alarming and accelerating rate. Cartographers of the atlas have sourced the latest evidence and referred to detailed maps and records to confirm that in the last 12 years, 15% of the permanent ice cover (around 300,000 sq km) of Greenland, the world’s largest island, has melted away. Modelling predicts that Greenland could reach a tipping point in about 30 years, and after that little would prevent its ice...
Disaster relief gains access to $500-M World Bank funds
THE WORLD BANK has given the Philippines a $500-million credit line to help improve disaster preparedness, the multilateral lender said in a statement on Wednesday. The Disaster Risk Management Development Policy Loan with Catastrophe Deferred Drawdown Option (CAT-DDO) gives the country immediate access to funding for emergency relief, recovery and reconstruction following a major natural disaster, the statement read. The government will be able to borrow up to $500 million should there be a Presidential declaration of a state of calamity. Republic Act No. 10121, or the Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (DRRM) Act, defines “state of calamity” as “a condition involving mass casualty and/or major damage to property, disruption of means of livelihood, roads and normal way of...
Tuesday, 13 September 2011
winds warning after Teesside travel chaos
TEESSIDE was bracing itself for further disruption today as ferocious winds were expected to tear through the region once more. Severe weather warnings remained in place after gales caused traffic chaos and damage to properties yesterday. Wind speeds of 71mph were recorded at Loftus - the second highest in England. The gales - caused by the remnants of Hurricane Katia - led to the closure of the A19 and resulted in severe tailbacks across major routes. An unearthed tree, killed George Brown, a 68-year-old Butterwick Hospice volunteer, after it fell on the ambulance he was driving on the A688 between Staindrop and Barnard Castle. Although...
Insurgents Attack U.S. Embassy In Afghanistan
Insurgents are firing rockets towards the U.S. Embassy, NATO headquarters and other official buildings in Kabul, Afghanistan Fox News confirms. Taliban militants are claiming responsibility for the attacks. Police said the gunmen were firing from a tall office building that is under construction at Kabul's Abdul Haq square, which is about 300 yards from the U.S. Embassy. Embassy officials confirmed an attack by insurgents firing rocket-propelled grenades and small arms but says no personnel have been reported injured. Embassy spokeswoman Kerri Hannan says staff had been ordered to take cover in hardened structures as gunfire and explosions rocked the area in the heart of the Afghan capital on Tuesday. She says "there are no casualties at this time among embassy personnel."...
Monday, 12 September 2011
Pirates kill Brit David Tebbutt and kidnap wife
BRITISH tourist has been killed and his wife kidnapped after suspected Somali pirates stormed their villa at an exclusive Kenyan resort. They were attacked by at least five men as they lay in bed in their beachside villa at 2am yesterday. David Tebbutt, 58, is believed to have been shot trying to protect wife Judith, 56, from the raiders. They bundled her into a speedboat and vanished. The couple, from Bishop's Stortford, Herts, had been at the Kiwayu Safari Village just a few hours and were the only guests. The secluded resort is 18 miles from the border with war-ravaged Somalia, notorious for its pirates. Police spokesman Eric Kiraithe said a massive search involving military boats, helicopters and ground forces had begun at dawn. He added: "We are hoping that we will be able...
Saadi Gaddafi, third son of the former Libyan leader, has fled the country into neighbouring Niger,
Saadi Gaddafi in Sydney in 2005 Photo: REUTERS His flight reduces the retinue of close family members sticking by Col Gaddafi to just two sons, Saif al-Islam and Mutassim, and his closest aide and brother-in-law, Abdullah Senussi.Marou Amadou, the Niger justice minister, confirmed he had crossed the two countries’ Saharan border in a convoy of vehicles and been intercepted by local troops.He said the convoy was continuing to the northern town of Agadez and from there to the capital Niamey, where a number of Touareg tribal leaders formerly loyal to Col Gaddafi have also sought refuge in recent weeks.His flight will be a further blow...
Friday, 9 September 2011
Millions of Hotmail users cut off by Microsoft 'cloud' failure
As well as Hotmail, the outage affected Office 365 and the Skydrive online storage service. Microsoft said the cause appeared to be related to the Domain Name System, the computer network that ensures that web addresses are connected to websites. “Preliminary root cause suggests a DNS issue,” the firm said on its office 365 Twitter feed. The problems lasted for at least two-and-a-half hours, beginning at around 4AM British Summer Time. On a company blog, Microsoft said it had fixed the problem at 5.45AM, but the repairs took some time to “propagate” through the DNS network. "We are working on propagating the DNS configuration changes and so it will take some time to restore service to everyone. Again we appreciate your patience," the firm said. For Office 365, Microsoft’s subscription-only...
Wednesday, 7 September 2011
Parents appear in court on murder charge
The parents of Bradford-born suspected honour killing victim Shafilea Ahmed appeared in Court today, accused of her murder – eight years after she disappeared from her home. Iftikhar Ahmed, 51, and Farzana Ahmed, 48, appeared before magistrates to face the charge of killing their teenage daughter. Shafilea, 17, vanished from her home in Warrington, Cheshire, in September 2003 amid fears she was being forced into marriage. Her decomposed remains were discovered on the banks of the River Kent, near Kendal in Cumbria, in February 2004. Her parents were today remanded in custody when they appeared before Halton Magistrates' Court in Runcorn, Cheshi...
'Terrorist' Attack Hits New Delhi
Indian authorities say a terrorist attack outside the Indian high court in New Delhi killed at least 11 people and injured 66 others. Police believe the explosive was placed inside a briefcase near a main gate to the high court in New Delhi. The blast is being described as a "medium-intensity bomb." Injured were rapidly transported to area hospitals and police cordoned off the area to begin an investigation. Speaking from Bangladesh, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was quick to label the explosion an act of terror. "This is a cowardly act of a terrorist nature... All the people of India have to stand united so that the scourge of terrorism is crushed," he said. Indian Home Minister P. Chidambaram visited the bomb site and says top national investigation teams are examining...
Russian jet carrying Lokomotiv of KHL crashes, 43 dead
Russian jet carrying the KHL ice hockey team Lokomotiv slammed into a riverbank moments after takeoff Wednesday, killing at least 43 people and leaving two others critically injured, officials said. Shock, Sadness Over KHL Crash The crash of a plane carrying members of KHL club Lokomotiv is being mourned throughout the NHL. ESPN.com's Cross Checks blog is taking in reaction to the tragedy from across the league. Blog • Burnside: Agent remembers Demitra Dallas Stars defenseman Karlis Skrastins, Slovakian national team captain and ex-NHL player Pavol Demitra and the team's coach, former Detroit Red Wings assistant and NHL player Brad McCrimmon, were among those confirmed to have died. The Russian Emergency Situations Ministry said the Yak-42 plane crashed in sunny weather immediately...
20 people, including a senior army officer, were killed on Wednesday when two blasts were detonated by separate suicide bombers in southwest Pakistan
At least 20 people, including a senior army officer, were killed on Wednesday when two blasts were detonated by separate suicide bombers in southwest Pakistan, police officials said.Enlarge This ImageReutersA police officer assisted an injured man at the site of a double suicide bombing in Quetta, Pakistan, on Wednesday.The attackers targeted the Frontier Corps, a paramilitary force commanded by army officers, stationed in Quetta. At least 30 people were injured in the explosions.There was no immediate claim of responsibility but suspicion immediately fell on Al Qaeda and Taliban militants . On Monday, Pakistani officials announced the arrest...
Heavy gunfire in central, north Syria; 11 killed
Syrian security forces unleashed a barrage of gunfire on Wednesday, killing at least 11 people and leaving thousands cowering in their homes as President Bashar Assad's troops kept up the government's assault on a 6-month-old uprising, activists and witnesses said. Nine of the dead were in Homs, a hotbed of opposition to Assad's autocratic regime. Two others were shot dead during raids in Sarameen, in northern Syria. For days, security forces have been pursuing activists and anti-government protesters in Homs, part of a ferocious crackdown on the most serious challenge to the 40-year Assad dynasty. The UN says more than 2,200 people have died in nearly six months of protests. "All through the night, there was shooting. The gunfire didn't stop," a resident of the city said by phone...
US deplores 'cowardly' India bombing
The United States on Wednesday condemned the "cowardly" bombing outside a courthouse in New Delhi, and praised the courage of the Indian people "in the face of horrific violence." "The United States condemns in the strongest terms this morning's deadly bombing outside the New Delhi High Court, and extends its deepest condolences to those affected by these cowardly attacks," US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said in a statement. "The people of India have once again demonstrated remarkable resiliency and courage in the face of horrific violence," Nuland said. Nuland said the United States "stands ready to offer any and all assistance to Indian authorities," and that Washington was monitoring the situation to ensure "the safety and security" of US citizens in India. "Terrorism...
Tuesday, 6 September 2011
Giant saltwater crocodile weighing more than a tonne was captured in a remote Philippine village following a spate of attacks on humans
Giant saltwater crocodile weighing more than a tonne was captured in a remote Philippine village following a spate of attacks on humans and livestock, officials said Tuesday.The 21-foot (6.4-metre), 1,075-kilogramme (2,370-pound) reptile may have eaten a farmer who went missing in July, along with several water buffaloes in the southern town of Bunawan, crocodile hunter Rollie Sumiller said.A crocodile also bit off the head of a 12-year-old girl in Bunawan in 2009, according to the environment ministry.Josefina de Leon, wildlife division chief of the environment ministry's protected areas and wildlife bureau, said it was likely the biggest crocodile ever captured."Based on existing records the largest that had been captured previously was 5.48 metres long," she told AFP."This is the...
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