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Swiss court rules in favor of American account holder

An American client of Switzerland-based bank, UBS, has won an appeal in Swiss court on Friday against providing the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) of the United States with relevant information about his offshore accounts.

The Swiss court ruled that the man's failure to complete an IRS tax form, no matter how much money it pertained to, was not in itself fraudulent behavior. The case calls into question an agreement made between Switzerland and the United States last year in which Swiss tax authorities would supply the IRS with information on nearly 4,500 suspected tax evaders and their respective accounts.

A further twenty-five similar cases are still pending; the verdicts of which may be influenced by this precedent-setting case.

The Swiss government will meet next Wednesday to discuss how to better implement last year's Swiss-US banking accord. As it pertains to the case at hand, if they so choose, Swiss tax officials can file a further appeal petitioning the court's decision.

UBS and the US Department of Justice both have yet to comment on the matter.

According to the US government, UBS is "hiding" over US$15 billion in assets on behalf of American account holders.http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Swiss_court_rules_in_favor_of_American_account_holder?dpl_id=149154

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Tornado touches down in Huntsville, Alabama

A tornado struck Huntsville, Alabama on Thursday, causing widespread damage and injuring around six people. Packing winds estimated at 150 miles per hour, the twister ranked as EF2 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale.

The tornado occurred at 5:30 P.M., amidst a flurry of severe weather reports in northern Alabama and Tennessee, bringing down trees and power lines.

As many as 10,000 people were left without power, and debris was strewn throughout the hardest-hit areas. "I'm shocked. I lived in this neighborhood all my life. I have never seen this kind of damage," said Amanda Nelson, a resident of Huntsville.

David McCullough was at his home home when the tornado hit. He said, "I could not hear the train, but could hear my house shake. I also hear[sic] my neighbor's roof pounding against my house."http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Tornado_touches_down_in_Huntsville,_Alabama?dpl_id=149126

Although tornadoes in January are rare, they can strike at any time of the year. According to Governor Bob Riley, "The tornado that hit Huntsville last night is a reminder that severe weather can strike anywhere and at anytime."

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English policeman accused of being serial rapist

PC Stephen Mitchell, a policeman with northern England's Northumbria Police, has been remanded into custody after going before a court accused of being a serial rapist. Mitchell was arrested in Scotland on Monday and appeared before court yesterday.

Northumbria police made the arrest in Glasgow in connection with a string of attacks between 1999 and 2007 with nineteen alleged victims. He was taken to Northumbria, where officers on Wednesday charged him with seven rapes, seventeen sexual assaults, and nineteen instances of misconduct in a public office, totalling 43 offences.

41-year-old Mitchell, who has served covering the Newcastle and Northumberland areas, was denied bail at Newcastle Magistrates' Court by a district judge and will remain in prison until his next court appearance, before the Crown Court on February 4. He had initially appeared the day he was charged, but the case was adjourned one day to allow time for a bail request to be prepared.

The investigation was conducted by the professional standards department of Mitchell's police force, who are being supervised by the Independent Police Complaints Commission. A Commission spokesman described the inquiry as an "ongoing investigation" and asked anyone who might know anything relevant to get in touch with police.http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/English_policeman_accused_of_being_serial_rapist?dpl_id=149124

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US President Obama proposes financial reform

Speaking Thursday in the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House, United States President Barack Obama presented new proposals for financial reform.

"While the financial system is far stronger today than it was a year one year ago, it is still operating under the exact same rules that led to its near collapse," said President Barack Obama. "My resolve to reform the system is only strengthened when I see a return to old practices at some of the very firms fighting reform; and when I see record profits at some of the very firms claiming that they cannot lend more to small business, cannot keep credit card rates low, and cannot refund taxpayers for the bailout. It is exactly this kind of irresponsibility that makes clear reform is necessary."

Obama's two key proposals were to limit the types of operations that a bank may undertake and to limit the size of the largest financial firms.

Under the proposals banks would be prevented from owning or investing in hedge fund or a private equity fund. Nor would they be allowed to sponsor such funds. To limit size of financial institutions, further consolidation of the financial sector by restricting growth in the market share of their liabilities.

Obama called the restrictions on banking operations the "Volcker Rule" in reference to Paul Volcker, the chair of the President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board. These activities are "unrelated to serving their customers," Obama said.

According to Obama, the current "economic crisis began as a financial crisis, when banks and financial institutions took huge, reckless risks in pursuit of quick profits and massive bonuses. When the dust settled, and this binge of irresponsibility was over, several of the world's oldest and largest financial institutions had collapsed, or were on the verge of doing so. Markets plummeted, credit dried up, and jobs were vanishing by the hundreds of thousands each month. We were on the precipice of a second Great Depression."

The President said his administration is seeking to protect consumers and close loopholes that allowed financial products such as credit defaults swaps without oversight. The goal would be to strengthen capital and liquidity requirements to make the financial system more stable. Another goal of Obama's reforms would be to ensure that the failure of one firm could not take the entire economy.

"We've come through a terrible crisis. The American people have paid a very high price. We simply cannot return to business as usual. That's why we're going to ensure that Wall Street pays back the American people for the bailout. That's why we're going to rein in the excess and abuse that nearly brought down our financial system," Obama said in closing.

Before any of the proposals can go into effect, they will have to be passed into law by both houses of the United States Congress.http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/US_President_Obama_proposes_financial_reform?dpl_id=149022

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IPCC claims about Himalayan glaciers were not based on science

Part of a major 2007 report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which claimed that the glaciers in the Himalayas were likely to melt within thirty years, has been found to have not been based on scientific data.

The IPCC, a United Nations panel, admitted that the original claim was "poorly substantiated" and that "well-established standards of evidence were not applied properly" in the preparation of this section of the report. "The chair, vice-chairs, and co-chairs of the IPCC regrets the poor application of IPCC procedures", read a statement released by the panel. News reports have suggested that the claim originated in a 1999 article in the popular science magazine New Scientist, and was picked up by the IPCC when it was quoted in a 2005 report by the World Wildlife Fund.
Glaciers and glacial lakes in the Bhutan-Himalaya
Image: NASA.

Jairam Ramesh, India's minister of Environment and Forests, had criticized the estimate when the report was initially released. After the announcement, Ramesh reiterated his criticism and told The Times of India: "The health of the glaciers is a cause of grave concern, but the IPCC's alarmist position that they would melt by 2035 was not based on an iota of scientific evidence."

According to The Times (UK), most glaciologists believe it would take hundreds of years to melt the Himalayan glaciers, with some doubting that it will ever happen. There is evidence of glaciers growing in the neighboring Karakoram mountain range.

Michael Zemp, of the World Glacier Monitoring Service told CNN that, "There are simply no observations available to make these sorts of statements."

"The other thing is that the report says the glaciers are receding faster than anywhere else in the world. We simply do not have the glacier change measurements. The Himalayas are among those regions with the fewest available data", Zemp added.

Nevertheless, the IPCC maintains that the melting of the glaciers is a concern to the region, which is home to over one billion people. It stands by its overall conclusion that "mass losses from glaciers and reductions in snow cover over recent decades are projected to accelerate throughout the 21st century, reducing water availability, hydropower potential, and changing seasonality of flows in regions supplied by meltwater from major mountain ranges."

The IPCC had recently come under fire during the 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference, when selectively leaked e-mails, hacked from the University of East Anglia, reportedly showed that some scientists were attempting to suppress findings by other climatologists that did not agree with their own findings.http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/IPCC_claims_about_Himalayan_glaciers_were_not_based_on_science?dpl_id=148892

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Storm causes Southern Californian residents to evacuate

A storm in the Los Angeles County, California area has caused reasons for residents in 2009 Station Fire burn areas to evacuate. Californians in these area braced themselves from mudslides and flash floods due to the expected 25 cm (10 in) of rain yesterday. The National Weather Service (NWS) predicted 3.8 cm (1.5 in) per hour in these fire-affected areas.

Charles Beck, Los Angeles Police Department chief, advised residents, "If a Los Angeles police officer comes to your door and tells you to leave: leave. We're not asking you to leave because we think your lawn's going to get dirty, we're not doing it because your carpet's going to get wet. We're doing it because your life is at risk."

Two days prior, the Los Angeles Coast, the NWS issued tornado warnings, a rarity, for the Whittier, South Los Angeles, and and Long Beach areas. There were reports of a tornado touching down at Sunset Beach in Orange County. The tornado reportedly lifted boats from the water. There were other reports of waterspouts in the Pacific Ocean.

Cal State Long Beach closed for the remainder of Wednesday afternoon and will reopen on Friday, January 22. Schools in the La Crescenta and La Cañada Flintridge areas were also closed yesterday.

In other areas of Los Angeles, the rain caused minor flooding and large puddles – storm drains overflowed. This storm hit strong from about 15:00 PST (23:00 UTC) to about 16:30 PST (0:30 UTC) Wednesday. It started again rather powerfully at about 17:10 PST (1:10 UTC).

A Southern California resident preferring to remain unnamed said this in regards to the storm, "I felt that it was a wonderful change from the super hot weather," in reference to the 26 °C (80 °F) plus temperatures leading into winter.http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Storm_causes_Southern_Californian_residents_to_evacuate?dpl_id=148891

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Russian journalist beaten by police officer dies

A middle-aged Russian journalist in Tomsk, Siberia, died Wednesday. He succumbed to injuries suffered when a young police officer allegedly beat him into a coma earlier in the month while in a holding cell reserved for the drunk and disorderly. The injuries included severe damage to many of his internal organs.

Authorities identified this little-known reporter who specialized in economics as Konstantin Popov. Popov was one of the cofounders of a small regional newspaper publisher and a local magazine called Tema. In a country where police brutality and corruption—especially against journalists—is not uncommon, the editor-in-chief of Tema, Konstantin Karpachyov, said it was unlikely Popov's murder was in any way related to his work.
Russian police vehicle. (Circa 2005)

However, Karpachyov went on to say that, "This could happen to absolutely anyone. It demonstrates the police terror is aimed against everybody."

"The only thing different about this case is that he happened to be a journalist, so it became a high-profile public case. But the same thing happens every day," said Svetlana Gannushkina, of Russia's Civic Assistance committee. "Usually the cases are just closed down because there's no evidence, nobody testifies, and it's impossible to get to the bottom of it."

Upon learning Popov's identity, numerous members of the state-controlled media strongly criticized the police for their passive response to the actions allegedly committed by one of their own. Following which, news conferences were called, and before long Popov's case began to draw national attention.

This resulted in the holding cell where Popov's beating occurred being closed down. In addition, the deputy police chief resigned as well as supervisor of the precinct in question. The Tomsk police chief apologized. The suspected officer, Alexei Mitayev, was dismissed from the force, arrested, and is said to have since confessed to this crime. Mitayev cited that "stress due to family problems" is what led to his actions against Popov.

The chairman of the Tomsk branch of the Union of Journalists of Russia said that a source close to the investigation told him that Popov was not only beaten but was also "tortured" and "violated" with a foreign object.

"Hands off journalists!" the journalist union said in a statement on its website. According to the United States-based Committee to Protect Journalists, as far as they know, "since 2000, at least seventeen Russian journalists have been killed due to their work, and the killers have been convicted in only one case."

President Dmitry Medvedev said that such police misconduct was not only angering the Russian public, but was also undermining the state's authority. He called for comprehensive reform and ordered the Interior Ministry to cut its staff by one-fifth by 2012.http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Russian_journalist_beaten_by_police_officer_dies?dpl_id=148896

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Six-year-old boy dies two weeks after falling through icy pond in Berkshire, England

A six-year-old boy from the county of Berkshire in England, United Kingdom, who fell through a frozen pond on January 5, has died. The pond is near to the location of his house where he was playing with one of his friends. Thomas Hudson — or Tommy as he was also known — was trapped underneath the garden pond in Crookham Common, which was six feet in depth, for 30 minutes. It is not clear what exactly caused Thomas to fall into the pond.

After calls for help from Tommy's playmate, a woman went into the water and searched for Thomas. It is believed that the woman was related to Tommy. A fire crew managed to take Thomas out of the water. After ambulance workers found themselves unable to restart his heart, Tommy was taken by aircraft to John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, Oxfordshire. There, an emergency operation was carried out on him before Thomas was placed on a life support machine. He died on January 21 after he failed to regain consciousness.

It has been reported that Thames Valley Police are launching an investigation into the death. However, the police has said that there are no suspicious circumstances as far as they are concerned.

Hugh Whitaker was one of the people assisting in the search for Thomas on January 5. "We worked as a team with the fire service to locate the boy in the water and he was pulled out," Whitaker stated. "It was thought he had been in there for around half an hour. Once he was located he was taken to the air ambulance and on to the John Radcliffe Hospital after being treated by a doctor. He was in cardiac arrest at the scene. A woman who went into the water was examined by paramedics at the scene but she did not require hospital treatment. The lake was between 15 and 20 metres by 15 and 20 metres in size. From where he was recovered from he would have had to have walked out onto the water — he was not far from the centre of the frozen lake."

A statement released from the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust that said: "We are very sorry to confirm that Tommy Hudson died peacefully at our hospital this [Thursday] morning. Tommy's parents ask that their privacy be respected at this very difficult time."http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Six-year-old_boy_dies_two_weeks_after_falling_through_icy_pond_in_Berkshire,_England?dpl_id=148981

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Bomb scare aboard plane caused by harmless prayer box

A US Airways Express plane en route from LaGuardia Airport in New York to Louisville was diverted to Philadelphia on Thursday morning after a harmless Jewish prayer box was mistaken for an explosive device.

According to Philadelphia police, a 17-year-old Orthodox Jewish boy on Flight 3079 was using tefillin, a set of black boxes attached to leather straps containing biblical passages. When used in morning prayers, one box is strapped to the left arm while the other is placed on the forehead. "It's something that the average person is not going to see very often, if ever," FBI spokesman J.J. Klaver told the Associated Press.

When questioned about the object by crew members, the teen tried to explain the ritual. However, the plane's captain still thought it best to land in Philadelphia as a precaution. Once it landed, the plane was searched, passengers were questioned, and the tefillin was examined by the bomb squad and proven to be harmless.

"The boy, who is from White Plains, and was traveling with his 16-year-old sister, was very cooperative," Philadelphia police Lieutenant Frank Vanore told local media. He went on to say, if anything, the two teens were "more alarmed than we were."

Authorities said that because the whole incident was just a misunderstanding and neither of the teens had a criminal record, they both have since been released and cleared to continue their travels.http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Bomb_scare_aboard_plane_caused_by_harmless_prayer_box?dpl_id=149001

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TV host Conan O'Brien accepts US$45 million settlement with NBC

After a long night of negotiations, United States television personality and seven-month host of The Tonight Show Conan O'Brien and his network, NBC, have reached a deal that would buy out the contracts of O'Brien and his staff for US$45 million and reinstate Jay Leno as the show's host starting March 1, O'Brien's manager told media on Thursday. In this agreement, O'Brien will walk away with more than $33 million. The rest will be distributed to his staff of over 200 people as severance payments.

His manager went on to say that Friday will be O'Brien's last night serving as host. O'Brien reportedly plans to have an official farewell show with American actors Tom Hanks and Will Ferrell as guests, and with Canadian rock singer Neil Young as the closing musical performance.

As pertains to O'Brien's next move, ABC has said that it is not interested in hiring him. Fox, on the other hand, which lacks a late-night talk show, expressed "appreciation" for O'Brien's abilities—but for now nothing more. Comedy Central has also been mentioned as a possible new network home for O'Brien.

When asked about the issue by the Associated Press, a spokesman for O'Brien said he was currently "unavailable" to comment.http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/TV_host_Conan_O%27Brien_accepts_US$45_million_settlement_with_NBC?dpl_id=149008

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UK woman convicted of 'mercy' murder of son

A woman has been convicted of murder after killing her son in an "act of mercy". The Old Bailey, a London court, heard that Frances Inglis, 57, injected Tom, 22, with heroin and gave her a life sentence.
Old Bailey

Tom had been injured in a street fight in July 2007 and was put in an ambulance depite his desire not to be hospitalised. The ambulance door was opened three times; the third time Tom jumped out and sustained injuries that left him in a coma. He became mute and dependant on 24-hour care. His only method of communication was to squeeze a hand.

Frances was told that if she wanted Tom to die legally then she could ask the High Court to allow his food and water to be withdrawn, so that he would starve to death. Frances told the court "I know Tom – no way would he have wanted to live totally dependent. I can remember saying I felt I would rather he go to heaven than to hell on earth. I know Tom would not want to live. He had lost his life."

"I couldn't bear the thought of Tom dying of thirst or hunger," she said of the idea of food and water withdrawal. "To me that would be so cruel, so cruel. To die slowly like that would be horrible." Instead she used the Internet to research Tom's condition and concluded that a heroin overdose would be the most painless method available. A learning disabilities worker with no convictions, she concluded two grams was sufficient to kill and began spending time in areas she believed drugs were on sale – outside the local station, job centre and needle exchanges.

Frances was determined to release Tom from his "living hell" and said she had "no choice" in the matter. "I asked myself what I would want," she said. "I would want someone to love me enough to help me die. That's why I thought heroin – a painless, peaceful death." She obtained her two grams and stole syringes from Tom's hospital before injecting him, but he was revived by nurses and she was charged with attempted murder. She was bailed but barred from contacting her son.

Fourteen months later she obtained access to Tom by posing as his aunt and placed superglue in the lock of his door, further barricading it with an oxygen cylinder and a wheelchair. It took staff thirty minutes to break in, by which time Frances had injected one of Tom's arms and both his thighs with heroin. This time he died.

Frances had left a letter to her family in which she talked of her concerns for her other two sons and dog, as well as the running of the house, expecting a murder arrest. On one bed she left a photograph of Tom as well as a prayer written by his girlfriend. Police also found older letter by Frances, one of which read "People keep saying Tom is not suffering. How can they know how he feels?"

She was asked if guilty of murder and attempted murder, to which she responded "I don't see it as killing or murder. The definition of murder is to take someone's life with malice in your heart. I did it with love in my heart, for Tom, so I don't see it as murder. I knew what I was doing was against the law. I don't know what name they would call it but I knew that the law would say it was wrong. I believed it would have been Tom's choice to have been allowed to die rather than have the intervention to keep him alive."

The jury "could not have had a more difficult case," according to Judge Brian Barker, but he told them nobody was allowed to override the law. Ten members of the jury agreed, but two sided with Frances, leaving a conviction by majority verdict. The jury foreman was greeted by cries of "shame on you" from France's relatives, for which they were ejected from the building. "We can all understand the emotion and the unhappiness that you were experiencing," Barker told Frances, later adding "You knew you were breaking society's conventions, you knew you were breaking the law, and you knew the consequences." He ordered her to serve a minimum of nine years.
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Should the law be changed?

"What this case and a number of others have exposed," said France's eldest son, Alex, "is a need for a complete rethink of existing laws in regard to people that have been, and will be, in the same position as Tom. How can it be legal to withhold food and water, which means a slow and painful death, yet illegal to end all suffering in a quick, calm and loving way? It's cruel, inhumane and illogical... We have a duty of care to them and we should not allow this situation to continue. It should not be left to a wife, husband, mother, father, sister or brother to have to end their suffering, and be convicted for murder." Detective Chief Inspector Steve Collin, who was in charge of the case, flatly disagreed. "There's no such thing as a mercy killing in law."

"I want to say that all of the family and Tom's girlfriend support my mum 100%. All those who loved and were close to Tom have never seen this as murder, but as a loving and courageous act," said Alex.http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/UK_woman_convicted_of_%27mercy%27_murder_of_son?dpl_id=148963

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Eight killed in Virginia shooting, suspect surrenders

Four adults, three teens and a child—both men and women—were murdered on Tuesday morning in a mass shooting in Appomattox, Virginia. According to police sources, three of the bodies were found inside a home, and the other four directly outside it.

Later in the day, civilians came upon an eighth victim in serious condition on the side of a road—which led to police being called. However, the man died en route to the hospital. Soon after, authorities identified the alleged shooter as Christopher Speight, aged 39, whom state and local police working in conjunction with the National Guard had surrounded in nearby woods.

The rural area was under an almost complete lock down as a perimeter was established that included hundreds of law enforcement officers and soldiers patrolling the area for the suspect. While being pursued, Speight is said to have fired multiple high-powered rounds at a state helicopter. Although there were no reported injuries, the bullets did rupture the fuel tank forcing it to land.

After an entire night of playing cat and mouse games with police, Christopher Speight surrendered to police of his own volition early Wednesday morning unarmed but wearing a bulletproof vest. Following this, police searched his Appomattox residence where they discovered several explosive devices on the premises.

In a statement to the media, Tom Molinar of Virginia State Police said that bomb technicians and canine units were on the scene. He went on to say that the situation was now under complete control, and that the proper authorities were safely detonating said devices as he spoke.

Christopher Speight is currently being housed in a local jail until charges are officially filed. The Appomattox Sheriff said that although motives for Speight's action are for now unknown, it is believed that he acted alone.
http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Eight_killed_in_Virginia_shooting,_suspect_surrenders?dpl_id=148880

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Scott Brown wins special election for Massachusetts's Senate seat in upset victory


Republican State Senator Scott Brown has won the Massachusetts United States Senate seat formerly held by the late Ted Kennedy in a major upset victory, becoming the first Republican that state has elected in 38 years. The state senator from Wrentham beat Massachusetts's Attorney General, Martha Coakley, in a closely watched race that many believe may have a nationwide impact.

With higher than expected turnout — despite snow and rain blanketing much of the state — Brown won with 51.9% of the vote, as Coakley lagged behind closely with 47.1% of the vote in a state generally considered to be heavily Democratic. The race garnered national attention when Brown came from behind in opinion polls to take a last-minute lead, leaving Democrats scrambling. Meanwhile, Independent Libertarian Joseph L. Kennedy, who has no relation to the late Senator Kennedy, ran under the Liberty ticket on the ballot and only garnered one percent of the vote with 22,237 votes.
Results by county

Secretary of the Commonwealth William F. Galvin predicted earlier in the day that turnout would be 40 to 55 percent. Galvin was quote as saying, “We’ve been in touch with many of our city and town clerks to monitor turnout. They uniformly tell us that turnout is brisk, that interest is strong.”

Galvin added, “We’re particularly seeing a high level of interest in some of the suburban communities. Traditionally cities tend to vote somewhat later. But we have seen a number of communities (with) lines, and people standing in lines, very patiently, in the snow.” His office sent out 105,000 absentee ballots.

Brown's strongest vote came from the suburbs of Boston where independent voters, which make up a majority in Massachusetts, generally live.

Coakley's strongest vote came from the cities, including the capital, Boston, where she won by a large margin, along with Massachusetts' second and third largest cities, Worcester and Springfield. Other large cities that went for Coakley included New Bedford, Fall River, Brockton, Lynn, Salem, and Lawrence.

Wikinews reporter Patrick Mannion noted the turnout at his polling place in Lynn was small to moderate.

Brown has promised to be the 41st Republican senator that will end the Democrats' filibuster proof supermajority and in a ironic twist of fate possibly end health-care reform of which his predecessor Ted Kennedy called "the cause of my life."
Cquote1.svg I’ll bet they can hear all this cheering down in Washington, D.C. And I hope they’re paying close attention, because tonight the independent voice of Massachusetts has spoken. ... I’m Scott Brown. I'm from Wrentham. I drive a truck, and I am nobody’s senator but yours. Cquote2.svg

—Senator-elect Scott Brown

Coakley called Brown shortly before the election was called for him to concede to him. She then went in front of supporters at Boston's Sheraton Hotel saying, "Although our campaign ends tonight, we know that our mission continues and our work goes on." Coakley continued, "I am heartbroken at the result and I know that you are also, but I know that you will get up together and continue this fight even with this result tonight."

Coakley finished her speech with a slight crack in her voice by quoting Ted Kennedy's famous line from the 1980 Democratic National Convention, "The work begins anew, the hope rises again, and the dream lives on."

Meanwhile, at Boston's Park Plaza Hotel, Brown gave his victory speech to supporters saying, "I’ll bet they can hear all this cheering down in Washington, D.C." Brown continued, saying, "And I hope they’re paying close attention, because tonight the independent voice of Massachusetts has spoken."

Brown added, "This Senate seat belongs to no one person and no political party — and as I have said before, and you said loud and clear today, it is the people’s seat." He continued, "The people, by their votes, have now filled the office themselves, and I am ready to go to Washington without delay."

Brown was joined on stage by his wife, Gail Huff, a reporter for local television station WCVB-TV, and his two daughters Arianna and Ayla Brown. Ayla was previously a contestant on the reality singing show American Idol. Brown said, "I rely as always, on Gail's love and support and that of our beautiful daughters."

Brown jokingly added, "And just in case anyone who's watching throughout the country they're both available. No, no. No. Only kidding, only kidding. Only kidding, only kidding. Arianna... Arianna's, definitely not available. But Ayla is. This is Arianna. This is Ayla. I can see I'm going to get in trouble when I get home."

Brown closed by saying, "I’m Scott Brown. I'm from Wrentham. I drive a truck, and I am nobody’s senator but yours."

President Barack Obama phoned both candidates Tuesday night, congratulating Brown on a well-run campaign and saying he is eager to work with him on the urgent problems facing Massachusetts voters and all Americans.

Coakley noted the President's call in her concession speech saying, “He actually just called me before I came onstage to say that we can’t win them all, and he knows that better than any, as he told me. But he appreciates what I did and what you did, and he said to extend his heartfelt thanks to everyone who worked on the campaign.”

Brown's response to the President's call was, "Would you like me to drive the truck down to Washington so you can see it?" Brown was referring to his 2005 GMC Canyon pickup truck which became an icon of his campaign, which featured in commericals portraying him as an everyday, regular joe Massachusetts citizen. The pickup truck was mocked by President Obama when he made a campaign stop on Sunday to drum up support for the lagging Coakley.

This led Brown to quip, "I didn't mind when President Obama came here and criticized me — that happens in campaigns. But when he criticized my truck, that's where I draw the line."

Senator-elect Brown will fill the remaining two years of Ted Kennedy's term. Brown will replace Senator Paul Kirk, a longtime friend of Ted Kennedy who was holding the seat in the interim until the special election was concluded.

The last time Massachusetts elected a Republican was in 1972 when they re-elected Edward Brooke, the state's first African-American senator, to a second term. Brooke first ran in 1966 and was elected then.

However, the seat that Ted Kennedy held, which is the Class 1 seat, was held by a Republican until 1952 when Henry Cabot Lodge lost his re-election bid to Ted's older brother, John F. Kennedy, who would later become the 35th President of the United States. Ted Kennedy won the seat in a special election in 1962 against Lodge's son, George C. Lodge. Kennedy held the seat for 46 years until dying of brain cancer in August 2009.

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Google may shut down Chinese operations due to censorship and cyber attacks

The U.S.-based multibillion dollar online search engine, Google Incorporated, has announced Tuesday in a public statement on its official blog that the company has been the victim of a "highly sophisticated" and "targeted attack" against their corporate infrastructure that they allege "originated from China."

The author of said statement, David Drummond, Google's Senior Vice President of Corporate Development and Chief Legal Officer, noted that Google was not the only multinational corporation targeted. "As part of our investigation we have discovered that at least twenty other large companies from a wide range of businesses—including the Internet, finance, technology, media and chemical sectors—have been similarly targeted." The names of these other corporations in question have yet to be released. To this end, Google states that they are "currently in the process of notifying these companies," and they are cooperating with the "relevant authorities."

Drummond goes on to say that through a separate and unrelated investigation, Google has additionally discovered that the accounts of "dozens" of Gmail users worldwide who are "advocates" of political and human rights in China "appear to have been routinely accessed by third parties" as well.

However, he affirms that "...these accounts have not been accessed through any security breach at Google, but most likely via phishing scams or malware placed on the users’ computers."

As a result of what has occurred here, Google said it has already made significant changes to the security infrastructure of its users' accounts as to prevent something like this from ever happening again.

At the same time, Google advised individual users to use more discretion while online, "We would advise people to deploy reputable anti-virus and anti-spyware programs on their computers, to install patches for their operating systems and to update their web browsers. Always be cautious when clicking on links appearing in instant messages and emails, or when asked to share personal information like passwords."
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Cquote1.svg We have decided we are no longer willing to continue censoring our results on Google.cn...We recognize that this may well mean having to shut down Google.cn, and potentially our offices in China. Cquote2.svg

—David Drummond, Google's Senior Vice President of Corporate Development and Chief Legal Officer

Google launched its Chinese-language search engine, Google.cn, in January 2006. The only precondition to operating in China was that the company had to acquiesce to certain censorship demands from the one-party government. When defending their controversial rationale for operating in the socialist republic, Google said "…that the benefits of increased access to information for people in China, and a more open Internet outweighed our discomfort in agreeing to censor some results."

Nevertheless, Google has still been widely criticized for this voluntary censorship of search results of topics, such as the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, movements for Tibetan and Taiwan independence, and the Falun Gong religious movement along with other information considered harmful to the Chinese government. Some feel it goes against and is hypocritical of Google's informal motto, "Don't be evil".

In response, a spokesperson for the Chinese Consulate in New York City, Wenqi Gao, said in a phone interview to The New York Times, “I want to reaffirm that China is committed to protecting the legitimate rights and interests of foreign companies in our country.”

In contrast, Sharon Hom, the executive director of Human Rights in China said, "It's a wakeup call for the international community about the risks of doing business in China. The tendency has been for companies to keep their eye just on the benefits of doing business. But the risks are real—The risks are to our intellectual property. The risks are to our values."

Analysts noted that this move has the potential to financially hurt Google, which has a somewhat limited share of the Internet search market in China, which is dominated by the Chinese-based Google-like website Baidu. Google's shares fell just under two percent after hours to US$579.50. Meanwhile, Baidu shares rose five percent to US$406.

Harvard Business School professor David Yoffie said, "The consequences of not playing the China market could be very big for any company, but particularly for an Internet company that makes its money from advertising."

"It will hurt their profits. They get eight to ten percent of their revenues from China," said Trip Chowdhry, an analyst for Global Equities Research. "If they walk, they will eventually be invited back into China, because the Chinese people will request that. Openness always wins, but it will take some time."

Tim Ghriskey, the chief investment officer for Solaris Asset Management said, "Clearly not good news for Google and clearly not good news for consumers. You've got to think that eventually Google figures out a way to deal with this. If they do have to shut down their Chinese operations, that they would be able to reinstate them. Hopefully soon. I can't imagine that this would be permanent." He added, "China is a great growth engine for every business. It is a great opportunity for Google as well."

In response to all that has happened and what has been said, Drummond explains that this has "led us to conclude that we should review the feasibility of our business operations in China."

He goes on to state, "We have decided we are no longer willing to continue censoring our results on Google.cn, and so over the next few weeks we will be discussing with the Chinese government the basis on which we could operate an unfiltered search engine within the law, if at all. We recognize that this may well mean having to shut down Google.cn, and potentially our offices in China."

Drummond concludes his statement by trying to assuage the situation the best he can, "The decision to review our business operations in China has been incredibly hard, and we know that it will have potentially far-reaching consequences…We are committed to working responsibly to resolve the very difficult issues raised."

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George Garanian, Russian Armenian jazz band leader, dies at age 75

Russian alto saxophone player, conductor, and composer of Armenian origin George Garanian died aged 75 years last Monday at a hospital in Krasnodar, where he planned some concerts together with Michel Legrand and a city big band.

George Garanian was born in 1934 in Moscow. In the 1950s he played in the Orchestra of the Central House of Artworkers. He wrote music for a number of films including Pokrov Gates.

He led some of the best Russian big bands — "Golden Eight", Melodia (1970–80s), Moscow Big Band (1992–95) and the Municipal Big Band of Krasnodar (since 1998) and Oleg Lundstrem State Jazz Orchestra (since 2005).

He was a TV anchor of Jam-5 jazz history programme on Russian Channel Culture. He was also a member of the Union of Composers since 1975, Union of Cinematographers since 1996, Laureate of the Russian State Prize in 2000.

The announced concert in Krasnodar won't be canceled; his colleagues will perform in his honour tomorrow. He will be buried at Vagankovo (Moscow) on Thursday.

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Details emerge in Haiti earthquake; thousands feared dead

A massive earthquake, registering 7.0 on the moment magnitude scale, struck Haiti yesterday, destroying many buildings, disrupting communications, and burying an unknown number of people underneath rubble. Thousands of people are feared to have been killed by the tremors, which were felt as far away as Venezuela.
An injured survivor in the Port-au-Prince rubble.
Image: bluecorp - Twitter.
Survivors from the rubble being loaded on the back of a pickup truck.
Image: bluecorp - Twitter.
Corpses of people killed by collapsed buildings were scattered throughout Port-au-Prince and surrounding areas.
Image: bluecorp - Twitter.

Witnesses say bodies were lining the streets of the capital, Port-au-Prince, after the quake struck on Tuesday afternoon, sending a cloud of dust from falling buildings into the sky. The quake was centered about sixteen kilometers from the capital, and struck at a depth of just ten kilometers, exacerbating the damage. At least 27 aftershocks were also recorded, the strongest of which came in at 5.5 and 5.9 magnitude. A tsunami alert was initially issued following the tremor, but it was retracted shortly afterwards.

Buildings across the capital have collapsed, including the presidential palace and the headquarters of the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Haiti. However, the president, René Préval, and his wife reportedly survived the collapse of the building. The country's envoy to the United States believed damage costs could reach billions of dollars.

UN peacekeeping chief Alain Le Roy said many people were in the UN building when it went down and they remain unaccounted for. A Brazilian military official later said four Brazilian soldiers who were part of the UN mission were killed.

UN Peacekeeping Chief Alain LeRoy said the organisation is working to learn the fate of its personnel. "As we speak there are still over 100 people unaccounted for under the rubble. We do not know about their fate [...] some people have been extracted out of the building - but only less than 10 for the time being. Some dead, some alive. So we do not know for the time being the fate of the others. But of course, we are extremely, extremely concerned."

The Notre Dame of the Assumption Cathedral in Port-au-Prince was also destroyed, killing Joseph Serge Miot, the Archbishop of Port-au-Prince.

"[...] It would appear that all those who were in the building, including my friend [UN mission head] Hedi Annabi [...] and all those who were with him and around him are dead," said French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner. In a statement released yesterday, the UN remarked that "[f]or the moment, a large number of personnel remain unaccounted for."
[edit] 'Total chaos'

Hospitals in Port-au-Prince were reported to have collapsed, raising fears that the injured would not be able to receive treatment easily. "We have reports of some of the most important hospitals in Port-au-Prince have been severely impacted by the earthquake," said Paul Conneally, the Head of Media for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
Haiti-quake-homevideo.ogv
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Video of the earthquake in progress.
Image: YouTube user nicbensette.

"I saw dead bodies, people are screaming, they are on the street panicking, people are hurt. There are a lot of wounded, broken heads, broken arms," recounted Raphaelle Chenet, the administrator of the Mercy and Sharing charity, in a telephone interview with the Wall Street Journal from the Haitian capital.

UN officials reported that communications and power are out across the city, making it difficult to get accurate details regarding the full extent of casualties and damage.

The UN also noted that the main prison in Port-au-Prince collapsed, and there were reports of inmates escaping. Spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs, however, said she had no further details about that.

Efstathios Daras, the Greek ambassador to Venezuela who also represents Greece in Haiti, described the situation. "We fear major loss of life, maybe in the thousands or tens of thousands. Survivors are using their hands to help get trapped people out. There are fears of big aftershocks which could make the situation even worse. There is huge damage to the infrastructure. We can't get through anymore. All phone lines are down."
Cquote1.svg The world is coming to an end. Cquote2.svg

—Woman filming the Haiti quake

Joseph Guyler Delva, a reporter for Reuters, was in the area when the tremors struck. "Everything started shaking, people were screaming, houses started collapsing. It's total chaos."

Rachmani Domersant, an employee for Food for the Poor charity described the conditions on Port-au-Prince's streets. "The whole city is in darkness, you have thousands of people sitting in the streets, with nowhere to go. I've seen seven to eight buildings, from office buildings to hotels and shopping stores, collapsed [...] I think hundreds of casualties would be a serious understatement."

President Rene Preval told the Miami Herald today that the aftermath of the disaster was "unimaginable". "Parliament has collapsed. The tax office has collapsed. Schools have collapsed. Hospitals have collapsed [...] There are a lot of schools that have a lot of dead people in them," he said, adding that he believes thousands of people died.
[edit] 'Disaster of major proportion'; appeals for aid and international response
Map indicating the strength of the quake, with redder areas being harder hit. The star indicates the epicentre.

The Red Cross in Geneva says that up to 3 million people have been affected. The international aid agency added that there is an urgent need for search and rescue volunteers as well as field hospitals, emergency health, water purification and telecommunications.

The World Food Program (WFP), which has a large staff on the ground, says the level of destruction indicates many of these people have been affected and will require help. The Director of the WFP office in Geneva, Charles Vincent, remarked that the first priority is to save lives. "To rescue people that are buried, that are trapped, etc. [...] followed very rapidly by a big problem of water, sanitation, epidemic-problems of diseases that might be bred in that kind of situation," he noted.

The Haitian ambassador to the United States, Raymond Joseph, told CNN the Caribbean nation is seeking US assistance, and called the quake a catastrophe of major proportions. "I'm quite sure we're going to face a disaster of major proportion," he said.

Separately, the Inter-American Development Bank said it will immediately approve a $200,000 grant for emergency assistance to Haiti. The funds will be used to provide food, water, medicine and temporary shelter for victims of the massive quake.

The US Agency for International Development is dispatching a disaster assistance response team to Haiti and commented that it will continue to provide additional support as needed.
Cquote1.png I'm quite sure we're going to face a disaster of major proportion Cquote2.png

—Raymond Joseph, Haitian ambassador to the US

The UN, meanwhile, dispatched approximately 37 search and rescue teams to assist Haitians from a global network. UN General Secretary Ban Ki-moon said that US$10 million worth of emergency funds would be used. "I have spoken with Mr. Clinton and we have agreed to mobilize our best assistance and rescue teams and try to reconstruct the Haitian economy. The UN will do whatever possible to help the Haitian people to overcome these difficulties," Ban stated.

Ban noted that 3,000 UN peacekeepers were in Haiti, and that they secured the seaport and airport. They are trying to rescue people buried underneath rubble, he said, but were severely hampered by lack of heavy equipment. "Brazilian forces have been working through the night to rescue but because of the darkness and destruction of infrastructure not much progress has been made. We hope it will be better this morning," Ban said.

The aid group Oxfam added that its emergency response team for Latin America is based in Haiti and is well prepared, with a public health, water and sanitation team in Port-au-Prince. Oxfam says it is preparing to send in emergency supplies as soon as possible from Panama.

The American Red Cross pledged US$500,000 to help the country, and would send out people to assess damage. "As with most earthquakes, we expect to see immediate needs for food, water, temporary shelter, medical services and emotional support," it said yesterday evening in a statement.

A number of other nations, including the UK and Venezuela, are also planning to send aid.
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Did you feel the earthquake? Were you affected by it in some way?
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A reporter for the Al Jazeera news agency, however, said there might be difficulties delivering aid. "We are about 300km from the epicentre of the earthquake, and we know that the UN agencies and the humanitarian groups here are trying to get together some kind of strategy to get aid over to Haiti. We know that there are trucks loaded with supplies ready to go but the difficulty is that no-one really knows how to get that aid to the people [effectively]."

This quake is said to have been the strongest in Haiti in over two hundred years; the last time an earthquake of comparable magnitude was recorded was in 1770.

Haiti is the Western Hemisphere's poorest country. Recent development efforts have suffered severe setbacks because of political violence, crime, corruption and natural disasters. Seventy percent of the population lives on the equivalent of less than US$2 per day.

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China to surpass Japan to become second largest economy


The Chinese economy is likely to overtop the Japanese economy and become the second largest in the world.

Li Daokui, Director of the Center for China in the World Economy (CCWE) at the Tsinghua University, states that there is no doubt about what the numbers or the statistics show. China's GDP growth was 9.6% in 2008. Despite predictions about China's GDP being at around 8.6% to 9%, it rose to 9.6%, as stated by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). The International Monetary Fund (IMF) projected previously that China will overtake Japan soon since the latter's GDP dropped this year.

“The big underlying factor propelling China’s growth is the continued migration of people from the agricultural sector to the more modern economy—industry and services,” said economist David Cohen.

In 2007 China became the third largest economy in the world when it overtook Germany. In 2009, the economic stimulus program assisted China in attaining 8% growth.

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Russia raises minimum vodka prices

vodka The Russian government has raised the minimum price for vodka in an effort to combat alcoholism. The new minimum price for a half liter of vodka is now 89 roubles (US$2.94, €2.05), nearly double what it was before the price raise. The time between New Year's day and the Orthodox Christmas (January 7) is often marked with a spike in drinking.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has made attempts to stem alcohol consumption in the nation, saying he was shocked that the average Russian drank 18 liters (38 US pints) of pure alcohol each year. The government said that the new tax would attempt "to reduce the level of alcohol dependency of the population."

Attempts made in the past have been unsuccessful, such as in 1985 when then president Mikhail Gorbachev ordered cuts to the production of wines and spirits. The cuts caused a surge in illegal moonshine production and lowered the popularity of Gorbachev.

Critics of the price raise say that it will only benefit black market producers and will not cut the nearly 35,000 deaths per year caused by acute alcohol poisoning.

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Afghanistan: two kidnapped French journalists believed to be in good health

Two French journalists kidnapped on Wednesday north-east of the capital Kabul are believed to be in good health, although the condition of their three Afghan assistants is unknown.

"The two French journalists appear to be alive, in good health and being well treated," said a source involved in the attempts to release them.

According to another French journalist, suspected members of the Taliban captured them in the Kapisa province's Shinkai district, although the abductors have yet to claim responsibility.

A local spokesman confirmed that the group of two journalists from France 3, their translator and his brother and cousin had been abducted, and that Afghan security forces along with French soldiers from the local NATO mission were looking for them.

France Télévisions, who employs the journalists, has not confirmed the kidnapping, merely stating that they had received no news from them in the past 48 hours.

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At least eighteen dead after storms in Brazil

According to reports, at least eighteen people were killed in Brazil in the past 24 hours, following heavy storms that led to mudslides and torrential rains.

Most of the deaths occurred in the Rio de Janeiro area of the country, and the local Office of Civil Defense commented that more deaths are likely as the inclement weather continues. The deaths were caused mainly because some shanty-houses collapsed under rain or mud.

In Baixada Fuminese, an area north of downtown Rio de Janeiro, about two hundred people fled their homes when three nearby rivers overflooded their banks. The storm is expected to continue through much of today, according to meteorologists.