A boat sank in the western Democratic Republic of Congo on Wednesday, killing at least 73 people, according to reports.
The International Committee of the Red Cross says the cargo boat was carrying passengers, as well as logs, went it sank in Lake Mai-Ndombe in the Bandundu province, apparently due to inclement weather. Local reports say the vessel was not authorized to carry passengers.
The Red Cross announced 272 people survived the accident, but others remain missing and it is feared their bodies are trapped underneath the sunken barge.
"We are at 272 survivors and 73 dead. These are bodies that we have found along the shores of the lake. There are still some people missing. But we don't know how many because there was no ship's manifest," said Dominic Lutula, the president of the Congolese Red Cross, said to the Reuters news agency.
Boat accidents are fairly common in the Democratic Republic of Congo because vessels are often overloaded and not properly maintained. The country has many rivers but few paved roads, forcing many people to rely on boats for transportation.
Boat accident in Democratic Republic of the Congo kills at least 73
Iran to build ten new uranium enrichment plants
Iran's announced earlier today that it plans to build ten new uranium enrichment plants. Iranian media reported that the Cabinet approved the construction of the plants just two days after the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) censured Iran for its nuclear activities.
The proposed facilities, reported to be similar to Iran's main nuclear plant at Natanz, would vastly increase the nation's capacity to produce enriched uranium. Iranian media quoted President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as saying that Iran should get to the point where it can produce 250 to 300 tons of nuclear fuel each year.
"We should reach a position where we can produce from 250-300 tonnes of nuclear fuel a year. To do this we must employ new centrifuges with a higher speed," he commented.
Ahmadinejad said the new Iranian-designed centrifuges used to enrich uranium will have higher speeds than those currently being used. He added that Iran "is not joking around with anyone" when it comes to defending its nuclear rights.
The announcement seems to make good on a warning earlier in the day that pressure on Iran would force it to reduce its cooperation with the IAEA. Parliament speaker Ali Larijani said western pressure may force parliament to review the country's stance toward the UN nuclear agency.
Iranian Members of Parliament said that "we consider the behaviour of the IAEA to be that of double standards and political. We want it to give up this double standard which has tarnished its reputation."
The five-plus-one group of nations working on the Iran nuclear issue - the US, France, Britain, Russia, China and Germany - all voted Friday for the IAEA censure of Iran for defying international demands to freeze uranium enrichment and for secretly building a nuclear facility. The move appeared to take many officials in Tehran by surprise.
The tensions coincide with problems over an IAEA proposal to send Iran's uranium abroad for enrichment, part of a plan to ease some concerns that Iran might be pursuing nuclear weapons. Iran denies the charge, saying that the programme is for civilian purposes only. The country has offered counter-proposals to the deal, but the IAEA has not accepted any of them.
An unnamed US official said that "if [the plant construction is] carried out, [it] would constitute yet another violation of Iran's continuing obligation of suspension of all enrichment-related activities. There remains a fleeting opportunity for Iran to engage with the international community, if only it would make that choice."
Soviet statue returns to Moscow
On Saturday, Worker and Kolkhoznitsa, a giant statue of Soviet times, was returned to a pedestal in Moscow, Russia. It was done after a long five-year restoration process since the monument was dismantled in 2003. Initially it was expected the statue return in 2005, but when the Expo 2010 was awarded to Shanghai instead of Moscow the restoration process was stalled cause of the shortage of funds.
The 24.5-meter high Worker and the Kolkhoz Woman holding a hammer and a sickle, the symbols of the Soviet Union, steel monument by Vera Mukhina and Boris Iofan was first showed at an exhibition in Paris in 1937. It was later returned to Russia after the exhibition and installed to a place just outside the Exhibition of Achievements of the People's Economy. The monument became a recognisable symbol of the Soviet Union after it was chosen as a Mosfilm studio logo in 1947 featuring in the opening credits of many Soviet films produced by the studio.
It's expected that the statue would now last for centuries. Plans for the future of the monument included construction of an exhibition hall in the statue's pedestal. And one of the rejected projects was to introduce a parking lot beneath the statue's square.
Earlier this week, on Monday, an exhibition of Vera Mukhina works was opened in St. Petersburg's Russian Museum, presenting more than 200 of her sculptures, graphic works, and decorative and applied arts, including the several sketches and studies, as well as the Worker and Kolkhoz Woman monument’s model.
The official monument reopening ceremony is scheduled for December 3-5.
Prime Minister of Vanuatu loses seat over paperwork error
Edward Natapei, the Prime Minister of Vanuatu has lost his position and parliamentary seat over a paper work blunder. Natapei was in Trinidad and Tobago at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting and his staff failed to file the paperwork that notified the parliamentary speaker of his absence.
Under Vanuatu law, since he missed three consecutive sittings of parliament without notifying the speaker in writing, he must forfeit his seat. In order to comply with the law, Natapei would have needed to submit a signed explanation for his absence to the speaker. The last time a similar event occurred was in 1980’s when a Member of Parliament lost his job for failure to notify the speaker of his absence. Despite appealing the forfeiture, he was not reinstated.
Natapei is now on his way back from Trinidad and Tobago. The nation is currently being run by a caretaker government. Members of Parliament are set to vote for a new Prime Minister next week.
Natapei was elected Prime Minister on September 22, 2008, as President of the socialist, Anglophone Vanua'aku Pati party. After 14 months in office, he now holds the record for the shortest term as prime minister in Vanuatu's history. He first served as Prime Minister from 2001 - 2004.
Five dead, ten critically injured after van carrying children rolls on Louisiana highway
Five people are dead and ten more are in a critical condition after a minivan packed with children rolled over on Louisiana's Interstate 10 highway yesterday. The vehicle's driver lost control after a blowout near Baton Rouge.
The vehicle's driver, who was among the dead, and a front-seat passenger were the only ones wearing seatbelts. There were thirteen children travelling in the back although there were not enough seatbelts and the van likely only had enough rear seats for ten, according to the Louisiana State Police.
The front driver's side tire on the GMC Safari blew out as the vehicle moved west. The driver lost control of the swerving van, which sideswiped a delivery truck travelling alongside before bouncing accross to the center median, where it flipped. It rolled around 200 feet (75 yards) accross the median before landing upright in the opposite lanes. Most of the occupants were ejected and four dead children were found lying in the median. No other vehicles were involved and the trucker pulled over uninjured.
I just saw the vehicle flip about three or four times and kids
Several of the victims were members of the same family from Harvey, 75 miles from the wreck. A three-year-old was amongst the dead. The survivors have been taken to two Baton Rouge hospitals and all are in a critical condition. A CNN photograph showed debris strewn around the scene. "I just saw the vehicle flip about three or four times and kids flying everywhere. It looked to be about 10 to 11 kids out of the car," said eyewitness Tammy Hall.
Although drugs and alcohol are not believed to have been involved police have confirmed samples will be taken from the driver to check. The road was closed for two-three hours in both directions. None of the victims have yet been publicly identified.
Obama declares tougher emission targets before Copenhagen summit
Barack Obama has set tougher emission targets in a White House speech. He said, the USA intends to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions "in the range of" 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020 and 83 percent by 2050. Obama will attend the Copenhagen international climate meeting next month, and is going to offer these figures as an official climate change policy.
Obama has also set interim targets for better intermediate control. These are a 30% cut by 2025 and a 42% cut by 2030. But Obama's climate change speeches aren't going very far: Mr Obama is not planning to be present at the summit during the last days, when the world leaders might most possibly finally make a treaty to replace the 1997 Kyoto Protocol.
To compare, the European Union speaks about cutting its emissions by 20% cut by 2020 and 80% by 2050. But the starting point of the EU and of most of other nations is 1990, while Obama's numbers are in terms of 2005 emissions. The plans proposed by Obama are with a steeper end compared with EU, thus making a slower start.
Observers say some accumulation effect can be caused by domestic policies, which take long to implement on a proper scale, but then give a faster emissions cut. Such policies can include improvements in vehicle fuel efficiency, industries-specific limitations, etc.
The White House announcement also contains the list of US representatives at the Copenhagen conference:
* President Barack Obama
* Interior Secretary Ken Salazar
* Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack
* Commerce Secretary Gary Locke
* Energy Secretary Steven Chu
* Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa P. Jackson
* Council on Environmental Quality Chair Nancy Sutley
* Office of Science and Technology Policy Director John Holdren
* Assistant to the President for Energy and Climate Change Carol Browner
A schedule of US Center presence was made up for certain dates in December, so that the exact ways to achieve the cuts will be discussed.
Suspected bomb derails Moscow-St Petersburg train, kills at least 25
An express train travelling from Moscow to St Petersburg in Russia derailed yesterday, leaving at least 25 people dead and 100 more wounded. Authorities suspect a terrorist attack after a possible bomb crater was found beside the line.
File map of Russia's location in Europe.
Image: David Liuzzo.
The trainwreck occurred in the countryside of Tver, near Bologoye. Around 650 passengers were on board the Nevsky Express which was travelling during peak time along one of Russia's most-traversed rail routes. Ninety of the injured are hospitalised, with hundreds of rescue workers attending and three victims being airlifted by helicopter.
Survivors say they heard a loud bang just before the crash. "There was an explosion under the locomotive," the driver said as he called the Emergencies Ministry from his mobile phone. "I do not know what we hit. We are derailed. The locomotive and carriages, I do not know yet what else, everything is in smoke."
The prosecutor-general has launched a terrorism investigation. Vladimir Yakunin, head of state-owned Russian Railways, said the chief line of enquiry is "To put it simply, a terrorist attack." "There is objective evidence that ... a blast from an explosive device is one of the explanations for the Nevsky Express incident," he said.
The Interfax agency reported the crater was a metre wide. Russian journalists reporting from the scene were unable to locate it. President Dmitry Medvedev has ordered a full investigation and assistence for the victims. The Health Ministry said that over a dozen people remain missing.
Russian railway infrastructure is poorly maintained and plagued by negligence and alcohol abuse, according to The Guardian. There is also a high concern of terrorism, especially from rebels in Chechnya. Two Chechnyan rebels are accused of a 2007 bombing that derailed a train on the same line, wounding 27 people.
Zimbabwean cargo plane crashes in Shanghai; three dead
A cargo aircraft registered in Zimbabwe crashed today at Shanghai International Airport in China. Three of the crew have been killed.
Another four people were taken to the Pudong Xinqu People's Hospital after the plane went down on takeoff and burst into flame. Firefighters responded with retardent foam and thick smoke could be seen rising from the airport. The plane, which had been flying to Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan, broke apart in the accident.
The crash occured between 7:40 a.m. and 8:12 a.m. The four surviving crew are reported to be conscious. None are Chinese citizens. Police are currently securing the scene.
Ferry capsizes in Bangladesh, at least five dead and 50 missing
A ferry has sunk in Bangladesh earlier today, killing at least five people, according to authorities. About fifty more people were missing after the incident.
Police said that the accident occurred as the vessel, called the MV Coco-4, came near a river station at Bhola Island, located 300 kilometres from the Bangladesh capital of Dhaka. The ferry was reportedly overcrowded, and the boat tipped to one side as all its passengers moved to disembark.
"It was overcrowded with over 1,000 passengers. It tilted and part of it sank due to crowd pressure as it arrived near the Nazirpur river station," said a local police chief, Zakir Hossain, to the Agence France-Presse news agency. He also added that "many passengers have managed to land safely. But we believe some others who were staying in the cabins were trapped under water. We are trying to rescue them," Rescue teams and divers are reportedly searching underwater for bodies.
Ferry accidents are not infrequent in the country; incidents have usually been due to overcrowding, or the use of old vessels. "At festival time it is really difficult to stop passengers and relevant ferry operators from flouting rules," said an officer for the Bangladesh water authority.
Namibia votes in presidential election
Voters are heading to the polls today in Namibia to elect a president and parliament The ruling South West Africa People's Organization is expected to win presidential and parliamentary elections, but a new opposition party is mounting a challenge.
Voters turned out in large numbers before dawn to cast their ballots. Local journalist John Grobler said many waited for hours to vote because of logistical problems. "Voting is slow in just about all the polling stations, but especially so at the polling stations where they don't have any laptop computers to verify the potential voters on the actual roll, which means they have to go to the physical paper. And that, of course, takes time," he said.
President Hifikepunye Pohamba is running for a second five-year term. His South West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO), which has governed Namibia since independence nearly twenty years ago, is expected to win a two-thirds majority in parliament.
However, SWAPO is being challenged by a new party, the Rally for Democracy and Progress. The RDP was formed two years ago after its leader, Hidipo Hamutenya, lost his bid to become SWAPO leader upon the retirement of Namibia's first president, Sam Nujoma.
Voting will continue for a second day on Saturday and preliminary results are expected sometime next week.
UN nuclear chief says negotiations with Iran at 'dead end'
The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohamed ElBaradei, said earlier on Thursday that the organization has reached a "dead end" in a probe into Iran's nuclear program. The IAEA's board is meeting to consider a resolution condemning Iran's nuclear program.
In remarks to the IAEA's board, ElBaradei expressed frustration over Iran's failure to cooperate with the Vienna-based agency. ElBaradei leaves office in a few days, at the end of this November, and his remarks have grown sharply more critical of Iran in recent months.
Today, he said he was disappointed that Iran had not agreed on a deal to further enrich its uranium overseas. The deal has the support of the United States, Russia and France and it aims to provide a safeguard that Iran's uranium is not being used to make a nuclear weapon.
"It is now well over a year since the agency was last able to engage Iran in discussions about these outstanding issues. We have effectively reached a dead end, unless Iran engages fully with us," he commented.
"In my view the proposed agreement presents a unique opportunity after many years of animosity and hostility to address a humanitarian need and create a space for negotiation. This opportunity should be seized and it would be highly regrettable if it was missed," he said.
ElBaradei's comments come as the IAEA board is considering a draft resolution on Iran. According to press reports, the draft urges Iran to stop construction of the uranium enrichment site, and to confirm that it has no other hidden nuclear activities. Diplomats are reportedly confident the measure will be passed, but Iran's ambassador to the IAEA told a German newspaper that Tehran would reduce its cooperation with the IAEA to a minimum if that happens.
Some members of the international community belive that Iran is trying to build a nuclear weapon; Tehran, however, maintains that its efforts are for peaceful purposes only.
Golfer Tiger Woods injured in car crash
American golfer Tiger Woods has been injured in a car crash near his home in Orlando, Florida. Woods was reported to have been leaving his home around 2:30 a.m. (EST) in his 2009 Cadillac Escalade, when he collided with a fire hydrant and a tree down the street.
Woods was taken to Health Central Hospital, and treated for facial lacerations. Early reports described his injuries as "serious", but he was released from a local hospital a short time later, and his publicist, Mark Steinberg, has since described the accident as "minor". There are also reports that the car's airbags did not deploy, which suggest a low speed collision. Windemere Mayor Gary Bruhn told CNN, "I think it's nothing more than an accident."
Police say alcohol did not play a role in the accident. An investigation is ongoing and reports say that charges could be filed against Woods.
77 dead after flooding in Saudi Arabia
The worst flooding in 27 years in Saudi Arabia has left at least 77 people dead, and dozens more could be missing. The floods came after torrential rains on Wednesday.
The rainstorms mainly affected western parts of the country, including the cities of Jeddah, Rabigh and Mecca, and the surrounding area. Inclement weather hampered the start of the Muslim Hajj pilgrimage in Mecca; however, none of the dead people had been attending the event.
The deaths were mainly caused by collapsed homes and high waters, according to officials. Witnesses say many of the casualties had been trapped in vehicles. Many cars had been swept away and city roads were flooded, blocking traffic.
The Saudi Arabian Civil Defence Authority reported that emergency crews managed to rescue over 900 people.
Uninvited couple passes Secret Service checkpoint, crashes White House state dinner
A couple entered a White House state dinner when they were univited, passing through several layers of security, and socialized with high-profile guests Tuesday night.
Tareq and Michaele Salahi from northern Virginia arrived at the party at approximately 7:15 pm Tuesday night. They were formally dressed as they passed by a crowd of reporters and cameramen waiting for VIP guests to arrive, even though the couple was neither invited nor on the guest list. A White House official has stated that the couple was never seated at a table.
Although there was a Secret Service checkpoint that failed to follow proper procedures, the couple still passed through the same security checkpoints as all other guests at the dinner did. A Secret Service spokesman has stated that nobody was under any threat, but it is unclear whether Mr. and Mrs. Salahi were ever near President or Mrs. Obama or the guests of honor, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his wife Gursharan Kaur.
Mr. and Mrs. Salahi later posted photos of themselves at the dinner on Facebook. The couple is known around Washington for promoting wine and polo in Virginia, and they are hoping to become stars in the reality TV show The Real Housewives of Washington.
Jordanian king dissolves parliament, calls for general election two years ahead of schedule
The king of Jordan, King Abdullah, dissolved the country's parliament on Tuesday, half-way through its four year term, and called for early general elections to be held, up to two years ahead of schedule.
The monarch did not immediately provide a reason for the move; however, there have recently been reports accusing the parliament of handling legislation ineptly, and even of being corrupt. The king's decree ordered the civil service to host new elections to replace the 110-member parliament, although an exact date for the polls hasn't yet been named.
Critics of the parliament have said that its members didn't properly address issues such as unemployment and poverty. The opposition, however, asserted that the house had been disbanded so that the government could use emergency laws to pass legislation.
King Abdullah has now disbanded the parliament two times since he came to power in 1999
Israel announces 10 month halt to settlement construction in West Bank
The prime minister of Israel, Binyamin Netanyahu, told a news conference earlier today that there will be a ten-month stop in the construction of new settlement housing in the West Bank. The Israeli cabinet approved the move by a margin of eleven to one.
"We have been told by our friends that once Israel takes the first meaningful steps towards peace, the Arab world and the Palestinians will follow," said Netanyahu following the cabinet's endorsement of the move. "Well, the government of Israel has taken a very big step towards peace today, and I hope the Palestinian and the Arab world will work with us to forge a new beginning for our children and theirs."
The freeze was made "out of broad national interests with the aim of encouraging negotiations with our Palestinian neighbours," he continued. "When the period of freeze ends my government will return to the previous policy of building in Judea and Samaria [the Jewish name for the West Bank]."
"This is a far-reaching and painful step [...] We hope that this decision will help launch meaningful negotiations to reach an historic peace agreement that will finally end the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians," Netanyahu later said.
Under the plan, construction permits for new residential buildings would be put on hold for ten months. The government said that "natural growth" — characterised by the construction of homes by young people, who were raised in the settlements and want to build houses for their own families — would be exempt from the freeze. Parts of the West Bank that Israel annexed to the Jerusalem municipality would also be excluded from the freeze. The building of schools and places of worship, which will enable settlers to live what Netanyahu described as "normal lives", will also continue.
"We will not halt existing construction and we will continue to build synagogues, schools, kindergartens and public buildings essential for normal life in the settlements," he commented.
The prime minister added that there would be no change to Israel's existing policy on the issue of Jerusalem. "Regarding Jerusalem, our sovereign capital, our position is well-known. We do not put any restrictions on building in our sovereign capital," he said.
Several members of the Israeli cabinet expressed their disapproval at the proposal, with the conservative, ultra-Orthodox Shah party boycotting the cabinet meetings.
"I think it's a complete crumbling of Netanyahu's position and is contrary to all of his electoral promises. He promised an end to unilateral steps, and here we see him after only a few months in office giving up, even though there is no reciprocity from the Palestinians," said the head of the main settler lobby, Danny Dayan, to the Christian Science Monitor. We are 300,000 citizens, living in 150 communities. It is impossible to freeze us. I don't how it will happen, but we will break this freeze."
Many Palestinians also criticised the proposal, mainly because East Jerusalem was not included in the settlement freeze. Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a Palestinian spokesman, said to the Wafa news agency that Palestine “rejects returning to peace talks without the complete cessation of settlement activities in the West Bank and Jerusalem.”
Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad also rejected the plan. "The exclusion of east Jerusalem is a very, very serious problem for us. We are not looking for the resumption of the process just for the sake of it, for it to falter a week or two down the road,"
Israel captured East Jerusalem from Jordanian control, following Israel's victory in the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. The Jewish state annexed that part of the city in a move that was not recognized by the international community.
Earlier this week, on a visit to Argentina, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas stepped up his campaign to put international pressure on Israel to stop building on lands that Palestinians say are their own. Abbas urged US president Barack Obama, as well as leaders of other nations that support Israel, to press the Jewish state to end its construction of settlements on occupied lands.
Netanyahu has in the past offered to restrain settlement growth, but today's announcement was the first time that he set a clear timeframe.
Death of Kentucky census worker considered suicide
Kentucky State Police said yesterday that the September 12 death of census worker Bill Sparkman was suicide. His body was found naked in a Clay County, Kentucky cemetery, with "Fed" written on his chest and his census identification taped to his neck. This prompted widespread speculation that anti-government sentiment was responsible. However, police now believe that Sparkman deliberately killed himself, and tried to make it look like murder so his son could receive an insurance payout. Trooper Don Trosper, a Kentucky State Police spokesman, said, "[w]e believe this was an intentional act. We believe the aim was to take his own life."
This conclusion is based on the police's analysis of several elements of the crime scene; Sparkman was not hanged in the typical manner; his knees were less than six inches off the ground, and he could have avoided death simply by standing up before he suffocated. Captain Lisa Rudzinski, a leader of the investigation stated, "We do not believe he was placed in that position." The letters of the word "Fed" were written bottom first, which is unlikely if they had been written by an attacker. The rag found in his mouth contained only Sparkman's DNA. Police also believed he left glasses taped to his head so he could see while preparing.
Police suspect Sparkman's motives included debt, failure to find a full-time job, and a desire to provide for his son through his life insurance.
School closed after five-year-old boy dies from suspected swine flu in Buckinghamshire, England
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
A five-year-old boy has been suspected to have died from the H1N1 swine flu virus in Buckinghamshire, England. The boy came from Emberton School, which now has just 29 pupils attending.
Health tests are currently being carried out to determine whether or not the child did indeed die from the virus. He was admitted to a hospital in Milton Keynes, but later died in the early hours of Sunday morning. At present, the individual remains unidentified.
Steve Dunning is the principal in the school. Speaking to BBC Three Counties Radio, Dunning said: "The staff of Emberton School are very saddened to learn of the death of one of their pupils who was a confident, delightful and happy student and will be missed greatly. At this time we are focusing on supporting the children and parents in our small village community. I have spoken directly with the mother and passed on the condolences of all the staff and governors at the school."
The school has now been closed and is expected to re-open on Tuesday. Dr. Diane Gray, who is the Deputy Director of Public Health in the town of Milton Keynes, said: "My sympathies go out to his parents, family and friends. We don't yet know the cause of this boy's death. At this stage, there is no need to change normal behaviour - you should continue to go to school, work and any social activities."
Sakurai Prize awarded for Higgs boson theories
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
The American Physical Society has awarded its 2010 J. J. Sakurai Prize for Theoretical Particle Physics to six scientists for their contributions to theories on the origin of mass, including the key concepts of the Higgs boson and Higgs mechanism. The recipients are:
* C. R. Hagen, University of Rochester
* Gerald Guralnik, Brown University
* Tom Kibble, Imperial College London
* Robert Brout, Université Libre de Bruxelles
* François Englert, Université Libre de Bruxelles
* Peter Higgs, University of Edinburgh, Emeritus
The full citation stated the prize was awarded “For elucidation of the properties of spontaneous symmetry breaking in four-dimensional relativistic gauge theory and of the mechanism for the consistent generation of vector boson masses.” The J. J. Sakurai Prize will be presented at the APS 2010 meeting in Washington, DC at a special Ceremonial session in February 2010.
The Higgs mechanism is a key element of the electroweak theory that forms part of the Standard Model of particle physics, and of many models that go beyond it. The papers that introduce this mechanism were published in the journal Physical Review Letters in 1964 and were each recognized as milestone papers by PRL’s 50th anniversary celebration.
The Large Hadron Collider at CERN and the Tevatron in the United States are searching for a particle, the Higgs boson, that will constitute evidence for this theory. Because of its importance this particle is often referred to as the "God Particle". The LHC, a vast scientific experiment to smash together sub-atomic particles, recently moved a step closer to its goal. On Friday physicists announced they had sent protons all the way round the 27 km ring beneath the France–Switzerland border, and on Monday announced the first successful collisions. This follows a major setback which shut down the collider for 14 months.
British Climatic Research Unit's emails hacked
Thursday, November 19, 2009 Unknown individuals gained access to a server of University of East Anglia's Climatic Research Unit (CRU). As a result, around thirteen years of email correspondence between researchers is now available worldwide. Substantial previously unpublished climate change observations are included.
According to initial reports by TGIF Newspaper and the Watt's Up With That blog, hundreds of emails and documents were made available from a FTP site on a Russian server with an accompanying statement:
- "We feel that climate science is, in the current situation, too important to be kept under wraps. We hereby release a random selection of correspondence, code, and documents"
Some journalists suppose that this event is a consequence of increased attention on CRU after it played a substantial role in the IPCC fourth accessment report (2007).
The released data is a 62 megabyte zip file, containing around 160 megabytes of emails, pdfs and other documents. Some of the contents have been confirmed as genuine by the head of the University of East Anglia’s Climate Research Unit, Dr Phillip Jones. In an interview with TGIF Newspaper, he stated that a breach of security had taken place and that a large quantity of files had been stolen. The interviewer discussed one of Dr. Jones' published e-mails:
Once Tim’s got a diagram here we’ll send that either later today or first thing tomorrow. I’ve just completed Mike’s Nature trick of adding in the real temps to each series for the last 20 years (ie from 1981 onwards) amd [sic] from 1961 for Keith’s to hide the decline. Mike’s series got the annual land and marine values...
– From: Phil Jones, 16 Nov 1999, To: ray bradley ,mann@[snipped], mhughes@[snipped]
The interviewer asked Dr. Jones to explain the phrase "hide and decline", but he answered that he had no idea what he meant by using them (as they were made in the context of a discussion taking place 10 years ago), and he had not attempt to mislead:
No, that’s completely wrong. In the sense that they’re talking about two different things here. They’re talking about the instrumental data which is unaltered – but they’re talking about proxy data going further back in time, a thousand years, and it’s just about how you add on the last few years, because when you get proxy data you sample things like tree rings and ice cores, and they don’t always have the last few years. So one way is to add on the instrumental data for the last few years.
– Dr. Jones, TGIF newspaper ("Investigate magazine") interview
In a press release by the University of East Anglia, Dr. Jones stated that:
- "My colleagues and I accept that some of the published emails do not read well. I regret any upset or confusion caused as a result. Some were clearly written in the heat of the moment, others use colloquialisms frequently used between close colleagues."
One such colloquialism, "trick," is frequently used by scientists and engineers to refer to the essential non-obvious element in the solution of a problem, as opposed to the common political usage connoting deception.
Commentators argue that the published messages show the researchers' reluctance to publish scientific material, though it contains serious global warming observations. Some of the correspondence portrays the scientists as feeling under siege by skeptics’ and worried that any stray comment or data glitch could be turned against them.
The East Anglia University has shut down the original server, from which the information was stolen. A university spokesman stated that data was published without permission, but did not confirm whether all of the published communication is genuine:
The release of the documents comes just weeks before a major climate-change summit in Copenhagen, Denmark, meant to lay the groundwork for a new global treaty to curb greenhouse-gas emissions and fight climate change.We are aware that information from a server used for research information in one area of the university has been made available on public websites. Because of the volume of this information we cannot currently confirm that all of this material is genuine. This information has been obtained and published without our permission and we took immediate action to remove the server in question from operation. We are undertaking a thorough internal investigation and we have involved the police in this enquiry.
– University of East Anglia spokesman
Ritual sacrifice in Nepal sees 320,000 animals slaughtered to Hindu goddess
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
In a tribute to Gadhimai, a Hindu goddess of power, a Nepalese festival began today with the mass sacrifice of 20,000 buffalo in the village of Bariyapur. Shortly after, 300,000 birds sheep and goats were similarly ritually slaughtered.It is estimated as many as 750,000 people travelled from India, which recently banned similar mass-sacrifices, to make up the majority of the festival's million attendees. Member of Parliament Shiv Chandra Kushwaha skipped Tuesday's legislative meeting, saying that the festival had more importance as a religious celebration.
Although animal rights groups have condemned the ceremony as cruel, the Nepalese government has ignored requests to cancel the festival, held once every five years. Last year, the government banned a similar slaughter during the festival of Yanya Punhi, and was greeted with angry protests.
The meat is taken to local villages, who host large feasts for those in attendance, as it is believed to ward off evil.
Reverend Billy Joe Daugherty dies at the age of 57
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Founder of the Victory Christian Centre, Billy Joe Daugherty died aged 57 on Sunday 4:40 am. This followed a short battle with lymphoma. The death was announced by church officials during morning services that day.
Adam Sanders, Daugherty’s son-in-law spoke about his final hours during the morning services saying, "We don’t sorrow as the world sorrows, as one without hope [...] We celebrate his life, but at the same time there is sorrow, there is grieving". His other son-in-law, Caleb Wehrli, spoke emotionally about how the family worshipped up until the end.
The Victory Christian Centre is one of the largest churches in Oklahoma with around seventeen thousand members.
Born in Tulsa, Oklahoma Daugherty also founded the Christian Centre in Tulsa and the Victory Bible Institute. His work included involvement with a missionary training centre which has sent over one thousand missionaries to several countries around the world. Author, with his wife, of several books he also appeared in his own TV show, Victory in Jesus.
Daugherty made national news in 2005 when punched at an altar call. The attack required two stitches, but Daugherty chose not to press charges despite visiting his assailant in jail where the inmate showed no remorse; Daugherty penned a book about this incident in his life.
The memorial service is planned for the 30th of this month
Benet Academy, Illinois students support classmate with leukemia
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Students at Benet Academy in Lisle, Illinois, United States, have raised money and offered support for Jenna McKeown, a classmate who was recently diagnosed with leukemia.
Miss McKeown, a 17-year-old senior from Naperville, was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia on October 28 after she went to the doctor's office with a sore throat and extreme fatigue. She has just finished her first ten-day round of induction chemotherapy at the University of Chicago Comer Children's Hospital.
News of the diagnosis spread quickly among the student body with the help of social networking sites such as Facebook. Students formed an online support group and set up a Mass to be held the next morning at 7:15 am in the school's chapel. Students, teachers, and parents attended the service.
Within twelve hours of diagnosis, friends made plans to supply enough meals to the McKeown family for the next three months. One thousand orange lapel ribbons were made the following weekend and passed out to students to wear the Monday following Miss McKeown's diagnosis. One senior pupil filmed a video of messages from teachers and students, and several students shaved their heads to show support for their classmate. Kyle Marinko, President of Student Government, announced that orange Livestrong-type gel bracelets are to be sold during the school's annual Christmas Drive fundraiser. "These activities are to show support and solidarity for Jenna through our thoughts and prayers," said Michael Macaluso, an English teacher and moderator of Student Government.
Miss McKeown's illness is an aggressive, yet curable, form of leukemia; she needs to have two more rounds of chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant in January. Despite this, she remains positive, adopting the slogan "Be positive!" when it coincidentally matched her blood type, B+. In an effort to replenish the supplies needed for this treatment and support other patients in need of transplants, friends and family will staff a blood drive and register people for the National Marrow Donor Program tomorrow at Benet Academy.
Four US, eight Afghan troops killed in Afghanistan after attacks
Tuesday, November 24, 2009International security forces in Afghanistan stated today that recent attacks in the country's south and east have killed four US and eight Afghan soldiers.
A NATO statement said that a bomb killed one US soldier in eastern Afghanistan today; yesterday, three US troops died in gun and bomb attacks in the southern part of the country.
"Four ISAF [International Security Force] service members died in the last 24 hours in Afghanistan," read the statement.
Afghan officials say a roadside bomb in Helmand province killed three Afghan soldiers and wounded another two others on Sunday. Earlier in the day, a border security commander said a roadside bomb in Kandahar province killed five Afghan soldiers.
The number of foreign troops killed in Afghanistan in 2009 has now risen to 481 with these deaths; this according to a tally by the Agence France-Presse news agency.
UK policeman convicted of murdering WPC fiancée who died after staged car crash
A policeman from the United Kingdom plead guilty to the murder of his fiancée, a female police constable. PC Martin Forshaw, 27, used a steel hammer to bludgeon WPC Claire Howarth, 31, before placing her in her car and staging an accident.
Forshaw's intent had been to convince police that Howarth had died behind the wheel, but officers became suspicious when they found her injuries were severe while the car was virtually undamaged. The trial had been due to start today before Manchester Crown Court but Forshaw confessed to the crime beforehand.
The couple met in 2006 and the next year became engaged in Mexico. They were due to fly to St Lucia on the day of the killing but Forshaw had other plans; he, his lover and their child were booked on a trip to Disneyland in Paris. An argument broke out and Forshaw used a large steel hammer to hit her in the same room as their wedding gifts, her dress and packed suitcases.
He then drove to an isolated patch of moorland, placed her in the driver's seat and executed a crash into a hedge at 50-60 mph. He then dialed 999 and said he had been in a high speed accident. Howarth was found unconscious; she died later that day in a hospital in Bolton.
"It was such a poor attempt to make it look like a crash that both the police and the ambulance service were immediately suspicious, and the severity of Claire's head injuries meant they could not have been caused by such a minor crash," said lead investigator Andy Tattersall of Greater Manchester Police. "That caused us to question Forshaw's account and led us to unravelling this tragic sequence of events."
Forshaw was sentenced to life imprisonment, of which he will serve a minimum of eighteen years.
Italian Air Force transport wreck kills five
A transport aircraft belonging to the Italian Air Force has crashed near Pisa. All five on board the C-130 Hercules were killed.
The aircraft was on a training mission when it went down onto a railway line close to a military airport. It had been approaching for landing when it swerved to one side and crashed, according to Pisa's fire brigade. An electrical fire was triggered at the railway line, but no trains were endangered.
The plane left the airport at 2:10 p.m. and was returning shortly after at the time of the accident. As well as the fire service, police, ambulances and airport rescue workers attended the scene. The crash was away from the main city and no-one on the ground was injured. An investigation has been launched.
Former Iranian vice-president sentenced to six years; released on bail pending appeal
Former Iranian vice-president Mohammed Ali Abtahi has been released on bail pending appeal after being sentenced to six years in prison on Saturday for his part in the protests following the presidential elections in June.
"Abtahi was sentenced to six years in prison for acting against national security and propaganda activity," an anonymous court official told the INSA news agency. According to the agency, he was released on bail set at seven billion rials (US$700 thousand (€472 thousand)); under Iranian law, all convictions of a minimum of three months are subject to appeal and bail may be granted for the first twenty days to allow anyone sentenced to lodge one. "Abtahi was released this afternoon after he paid the bail amount," Tehran prosecutor Abbas Jafari Doulatabadi told IRNA.
Abtahi, who was as a minister and vice-president under President Mohammad Khatami from 1997 to 2005, is amongst thousands who were arrested following protests; two hundred still behind bars of which around eighty have been sentenced to jail and a further five to death. He has remained in custody ever since his arrest. He was convicted of various charges, including "gathering and plotting against the country's security, propaganda against the regime, insulting the president and participating in an illegal demonstration." He also faces further charges of "keeping classified documents."
Opposition critics have called the prosecutions "laughable show trials" and spoken of "forced confessions". They have called for the unconditional release of prisoners. On Friday, a United Nations committee passed a vote to approve a non-binding resolution which condemns Iran for its reaction to the protests following the election, criticising Iran's record on human rights, highlighting torture and executions. The committee has also called on the Iranian government to stop persecuting its political opponents and release political prisoners.
Australian sport may be on the cusp of change
The Independent Sport Panel Report, setup to look into sports funding, was published in Australia last week, prompting debate and speculation for the future of sport in the country.
Australian rules football is inline for funding under this report
John Coates the President of the Australian Olympic Committee has criticised the Report, and several elite sports people have joined Coates' calls for sustained funding to Olympic level sport. Other commentators have welcomed the recommendations, challenging beliefs that Australians benefit from funding high performance athletes. Such positions call for more participation level resourcing.
Key recommendation areas from the Report are:
* Defining Australia's national sports vision
* Reforming the Australian Sports Commission to lead the sports system
* Merging Australia's institutes of sport
* Building the capacity of Australia's national sporting organisations
* Putting sport and physical activity back into education
* Building community sport with people and places
* Ensuring Australia's sports system is open to all
* Sustaining the funding base for sport
Australians now await a Government response to the recommendations.
Canadian loses health benefits after company finds joyful Facebook pictures
A 29-year-old woman from Quebec in Canada claims to have lost her long-term health care benefits she was receiving for depression, after her insurance company discovered pictures of her on Facebook smiling and having fun.
Nathalie Blanchard alleges that Manulife Financial cut off her long-term benefit payments because she was "available to work, because of Facebook." She was diagnosed with long-term depression, something her lawyer says keeps her from working. Blanchard was previously employed at IBM.
Pictures posted included Blanchard and others at her birthday party strip tease, as well as smiling on a beach, among various private photos taken while on vacation. She says Manulife told her this is proof that she no longer suffers from depression.
Manulife denies her claims saying they "would not deny or terminate a valid claim solely based on information published on websites such as Facebook,", but did not deny using the social networking site for gathering background information on customers.
According to Blanchard, her doctor told her to hang out with friends more and attend social gatherings as well as vacations. Blanchard's lawyer says he is seeking options on how to proceed in an appeal.
Afghan Member of Parliament escapes assasination attempt
Afghan police have said that a member of parliament (MP) escaped an assassination attempt on Friday night near the capital of Kabul. Five bodyguards, however, died.
An Afghan district police chief told the Voice of America news agency that a remote-controlled bomb targeted the convoy of Abdul Rab Rasoul Sayyaf as it moved along roads outside the capital. It was not immediately clear who was responsible for the attack.
Sayyaf is an MP from the Kabul province, and a former warlord. This was not the first attempt on his life; he has survived at least one other similar attack.
Sayyaf was one of the ex-mujahideen leaders who fought against the Taliban in the mid-1990s. He became a strong supporter of Afghan President Hamid Karzai's government and the international forces after the United States-led invasion in 2001. The Human Rights Watch, however, has accused him of war crimes.
Australian Football League to hold match in China
The Australian Football League (AFL) yesterday announced that it would hold an exhibition game in Shanghai, China. Brisbane will play Melbourne at Jiangwan Sports Centre in the Yangpu District.
AFL game development head David Matthews told reporters, "[t]here are big opportunities here [in China] to improve our broadcast position and consider China as an events market. I think we have got the best game in the world, the most spectacular game in the world."
The AFL had previously told Wikinews that they had no plans to stage such a game.
Chinese broadcaster Shanghai Media Group will broadcast the match to approximately 20 million homes in southern China. The broadcaster will send a team to a Round One game between Richmond and Carlton to better understand how to broadcast the game.
2010 Sakurai Prize awarded for 1964 Higgs Boson theory work
In recognition for the discovery of the Higgs Boson and Higgs mechanism, the American Physical Society has awarded the 2010 J. J. Sakurai Prize for Theoretical Particle Physics to Drs. C. R. Hagen, University of Rochester; G. S. Guralnik, Brown University; Tom Kibble, Imperial College London; Robert Brout, Université Libre de Bruxelles; François Englert, Université Libre de Bruxelles; and Peter Higgs, University of Edinburgh, Emeritus.
The 2010 prize was awarded “For elucidation of the properties of spontaneous symmetry breaking in four-dimensional relativistic gauge theory and of the mechanism for the consistent generation of vector boson masses.” The J. J. Sakurai Prize will be presented at the APS 2010 meeting in Washington, DC at a special Ceremonial session in February 2010.
The mechanism is the key element of the electroweak theory that forms part of the standard model of particle physics, and of many models, such as the Grand Unified Theory, that go beyond it. The papers that introduce this mechanism were published in Physical Review Letters in 1964 and were each recognized as milestone papers by PRL’s 50th anniversary celebration.
Presently, Fermilab's Tevatron and the Large Hadron Collider at CERN are searching for a particle that will constitute evidence for this significant discovery. This particle is often referred to as the "God Particle". The Large Hadron Collider, a vast scientific experiment to smash together sub-atomic particles, moved a step closer to its goal tonight. Physicists announced they had sent protons all the way round the 27 km ring beneath the France–Switzerland border, for the first time since a major failure 14 months ago.
Indonesian ferry sinks, at least nine dead
Reports from Indonesia now say at least nine people were killed and over 200 rescued today, after a ferry sank in rough waters near Sumatra island.
The Dumai Express 10 was sailing from Batam island to Dumai in Riau province on Sunday morning when it sank. Officials blamed bad weather for the accident, but there have been reports that the ferry was severely overloaded.
Sunaryo, the director-general of sea transport, said the ferry's capacity was 273 people, and only 213 passengers were on the manifest, but one official put the number rescued at 292. Sunaryo said the large disparity between reality and the manifest was a "classic case" of breaking regulations.
Separately, another ferry, the Dumai Express 15 with 278 people on board, ran aground today after it was hit by large waves on its way from Batam to Moro island. Authorities say all passengers and crew survived.
Indonesians rely heavily on ferries to transport them between the thousands of islands that make up the archipelago. Ferry accidents are common due to bad weather, poor infrastructure and a tendency to overload vessels. Around 800 people have been killed in ferry accidents in Indonesia over the past three years, including at least 232 in an accident off Sulawesi in January this year.
Iraqi lawmakers delay vote on electoral law
An Iraqi parliament session aimed at resolving deadlock on electoral law required for general elections in January ended without agreement yesterday.
Lawmakers were expected to vote on the much-delayed law, but parliamentary officials said the proceeding is delayed until later today in hope of finding a solution acceptable to all political factions.
"The vote is postponed until tomorrow," parliamentary speaker Iyad al-Samarrai told the press yesterday.
Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi vetoed the proposed election law several days ago, saying that he wanted more representation for Iraqis living abroad, many of whom are Sunni Arabs. After the veto, Iraq's electoral commission halted general-election preparations.
The parliament has been considering whether the Sunni vice president had the legal right to scrap legislation presented to the presidency council.
Members of Iraq's electoral commission say the deadlock over the election law will probably delay January's elections.
Saudi Arabia fears Hajj swine flu outbreak as four pilgrims die
As the annual Muslim Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca gets underway, Saudi Arabian authorities have expressed concern swine flu could impact pilgrims. Four, with underlying health issues, have already died.
Two men and a woman in their seventies and a seventeen-year-old girl have died, according to the Health Ministry. The men from India and Sudan, the older woman from Morocco, and the teen from Nigeria. None were vaccinated against the virus.
One died in Mecca, the others in Medina. All had conditions including cancer and respiratory ailments. The World Health Organisation puts the current swine flu death toll at 6,750. Four more people are in Saudi hospitals in critical condition and a further twelve are recovering in hospital.
Each year around three million make the pilgrimage. And, Saudi authorities are concerned about the possible spread of the virus. At least one pilgrimage to Mecca is deemed mandatory for every Muslim capable of doing so. Fifteen thousand extra medical staff are deployed, ports and airports screen incomers with thermal cameras, and hundreds of extra hospital beds have been set aside. Visa requirements specify only those vaccinated against the flu strain can apply.
In September, Egypt forbade hundreds of Muslims from leaving Cairo for the Hajj after an Egyptian woman returning from a more minor pilgrimage last July became the first swine flu fatality in both Africa and the Middle East. For Ramadan, pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia was banned by Iran for the same reason.
Bomb explosions in northeastern India kill at least seven
Two bomb explosions in the northeastern Assam state of India have killed at least seven people and injured 25 more today.
The blasts, which happened within several minutes of each other, occurred outside of a police station in the town of Nalbari, 70 kilometres from the state capital of Guwahati. According to security officials, the explosives were attached to bicycles.
Police belive that the separatist rebels from the United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) were behind the bombings, but a senior ULFA member denied that the group carried out the attacks. Nobody has yet claimed responsibility.
There were reports of another explosion nearby soon after the first to explosions; however, they have not been officially confirmed.
Astronaut's baby born 200 miles below him
American astronaut, Randolph Bresnik, is in orbit over 200 miles above the Earth, where he learned of the birth of his daughter Abigail. Lieutenant Colonel Bresnik becomes only the second man to have become a father while in space.
Onboard Atlantis this morning, the crew were woken by mission control playing Butterfly Kisses, a song chosen by Bresnik's wife Rebecca. Prior to launch, Bresnik joked about the birth expected while on his eleven day mission with the Shuttle, "this is a pretty good excuse [for missing the birth] and hopefully she will forgive me later on".
The first-ever father in space was astronaut Mike Fincke in 2004.
Atlantis's current mission is scheduled to return to Earth this coming Friday, having resupplied the International Space Station and carried out two separate spacewalks. This will be the first time astronaut Bresnik gets to see the newest addition to his family. The couple live in Houston with their adopted three year-old son from Ukraine.
Republican groups suspected in gun battle with, failed bombing of, Northern Irish police
In two separate incidents police in Northern Ireland have come under attack. Both are believed by authorities to stem from organisations linked to the Irish Republican Army. The two incidents, one an attempted car bombing in Belfast, and the other a shooting in Garrison, County Fermanagh, led to four arrests by Northern Irish Police.
A police convoy in the village of Garrison came under ambush overnight. Three gunmen began shooting in the first time officers have been in a firefight in Northern Ireland since a July riot in Belfast. Police returned fire and four people were arrested.
A separate incident saw a car bomb set off outside the Northern Ireland Policing Board's headquarters. The car was driven through the Belfast building's security barriers and its 180 kilogram bomb was set off, but failed to detonate properly. Instead it partialy exploded and the vehicle caught fire. Neither attack injured anyone.
The Republican dissidents seek a united Ireland and have battled to convince Britain to relinquish the Northern territory. After thirty years of gang warfare and attacks from both sides a 1998 peace deal largely ended the bloodshed. This year, however, violence has been on the increase again starting with the murder of a police officer and two soldiers in two separate March attacks. Since then attacks have been on the rise.
Three days ago the military was called in to defuse another bomb targeting police. "It appears that the dissidents are broadening the scale of their attacks," said a statement by the Police Board's Alex Attwood. The board is an independent civilian watchdog charged with overseeing the police.
Pirates seize Greek-owned ship off coast of Yemen
A Kenyan maritime official said today that pirates hijacked a Greek-owned bulk carrier in the Gulf of Aden, near Yemen.
Andrew Mwangura of the East African Seafarers Assistance Program said the ship, named the Red Sea Spirit was taken on Thursday, but news of the seizure only emerged earlier today. According to him, the vessel was seized about 36 nautical miles from Balhaf, a Yemeni port.
"Red Sea Spirit was taken by gunmen off the Yemeni coast last Thursday. She is flying the Panama flag. She is a Greek-owned bulk carrier," Mwangura said.
Somali pirates are currently holding at least thirteen ships and more than 200 crew. They are still active in the waters off the east cost of Africa, despite the presence of many navies patrolling the region.
Ex-cosmonaut Konstantin Feoktistov dies; Soviet space pioneer was 83
Pioneering Soviet cosmonaut Konstantin Feoktistov has died aged 83. A statement by the Russian Space Agency declared that he died of "unspecified causes" last Saturday in Moscow.
Feoktistov was important in the early development of Soviet space travel and was part of the first group spaceflight in history, as part of the Voskhod 1 mission in 1964. He was also the first civilian allowed to participate in the Soviet space programme.
He was born in Voronezh in 1926 and was wounded whilst serving in WWII. His inclusion in the spaceflight programme was often met by resistance from the Soviet government as he was neither a member of the communist party or in the military at the time. After his retirement from space travel he continued to work as a designer and engineer for the space programme until 1990, helping to design spacecraft and space stations such as Mir and Soyuz, amongst others.
US healthcare bill passes Senate vote
The US Senate, by a vote of 60 to 39, has decided to begin debate on legislation crafted by majority Democrats to reform the country's health care system.
The measure, opposed by Republican senators, was voted on Saturday evening. One Republican Senator, George Voinovich of Ohio, was not present and did not vote.
It was not clear until earlier in the day whether the Democrats would have enough votes to bring the bill to the Senate floor for for full debate.
During the day, two moderate Democrats announced they would support the move during a rare Saturday session. That gave the Democrats the 60 votes they needed to move the measure forward. The legislation is intended to extend health care coverage to millions of uninsured people, prevent insurance companies from denying benefits, and limit the growth of spending on medical care.
In the rare session, opposition Republicans criticized the bill, saying it would drive up the cost of insurance and add to the nation's deficit.
While Democrats won the vote to begin debate, passage of the bill is not certain. Some moderate Democrats have signaled strong opposition to components of the bill, including a government-run option to compete with private insurers. However, the Senate version does allow states to opt out of the public option.
Senator Blanche Lincoln, who was one of the Democrats who had wavered on whether to support the bill, decided to vote for it. "Although I don't agree with everything in this bill, I have concluded that I believe that it is more important that we begin this debate to improve our nation's healthcare system for all Americans, [...]" she said. Two other Democratic senators said they were uncertain about the bill, and did not make up their minds until hours before the vote, adding to the uncertainty.
The Congressional Budget Office said the Senate bill, unveiled on Wednesday, would cost $849 billion over the next decade. Analysts say the plan also would reduce U.S. deficits by nearly $130 billion in the same period. If the bill passes, it would have to be merged with one passed earlier this month by the House of Representatives. The House narrowly approved its bill on a sharply divided vote of 220 to 215.
President Barack Obama has asked Congress to deliver legislation to him for signing by the end of the year.
Winfrey announces end of 'Oprah'
Oprah Winfrey has announced that she will retire from her talk show on September 9, 2011, during season 25. Winfrey made the announcement on Friday's broadcast of The Oprah Winfrey Show. Suppressing tears, she explained that careful thought and prayer had gone into her decision. "Twenty-five years feels right in my bones and feels right in my spirit", she told her audience.
The Oprah Winfrey Show was first televised on September 8, 1986. For the first ten years she competed with other talk shows by discussing relationships and parallel subjects. In the late 1990s her show changed focus to incorporate stories relating to spirituality and human interest.
Winfrey has had lasting effects on the city of Chicago, Illinois. The surrounding neighborhood of Harpo Productions was rundown prior to the company's success. Chicago residents have expressed concern over what would occur if Winfrey were to leave. According to the Associated Press, citizens view The Oprah Winfrey Show as, "a reminder of what has been, and what could be lost."
News sources speculate that Winfrey will air a replacement on the Oprah Winfrey Network in 2011.