U.S.-South Korea aircraft carrier drill delayed

•  
• WASHINGTON/SEOUL (Reuters) - The U.S. and South Korean militaries have postponed exercises in the Yellow Sea opposed by China, the Pentagon said on Monday, blaming the delay on scheduling snags and not protests from Beijing.

China had said the Pentagon's plans to send the nuclear-powered carrier USS George Washington to the joint exercise -- set to take place between China and the Korean peninsula -- threatened long-term damage to Sino-U.S. relations.

South Korean government and military sources told South Korean media that the decision to cancel the drill, which was loosely scheduled to take place late this month, was made to avoid creating problems with China and North Korea ahead of the G20 summit on November 11-12, being held in Seoul.

Cholera: Inevitable Spread to Port-au-Prince

Health Workers in Haiti Brace for Spread of Disease, Say It's Too Late for Vaccines

The radio announcements and signs appear to have done little. They urge people in Haiti to stay away from potentially contaminated water. But in rural areas north of Port-au-Prince, they still bathe in -- and drink from -- rivers suspected to be the source of the country's deadly cholera outbreak. It has already sickened more than 3,300 people and killed 259.

En route to St.-Marc, a town about 60 miles north of Port-au-Prince, ABC News chief health and medical editor Dr. Richard Besser stopped in Montrouis, where he was approached by a man who feared the spread of cholera.

Guy Fils-Aime, a Haitian native of Montrouis, told Besser the people there are used to drinking from the river, but now fear they might contract the disease. Two people from his town have died from cholera, Fils-Aime told Besser.

Still, Fils-Aime said the locals in Montrouis have no choice but to use the potentially contaminated water. No chlorine tablets have been delivered to the town, and many cannot afford to buy bottled water.

"There is nothing from anybody," he said.

'Child soldier' pleads guilty at Guantánamo, averting a trial

A Guantánamo detainee who was 15 when he was captured, pleads guilty to five charges, including murder. The plea allows US prosecutors to avoid a trial, and offers the 'child soldier' an endpoint for his incarceration.

• The entrance to Camp Delta at Guantánamo Bay is seen on Oct. 24. Canadian Omar Khadr, who has been in US custody since he was a teenager, could see an end to eight years of legal limbo on Monday as his war crimes trial resumes amid talk of a possible last-minute plea deal to spare him a life sentence.

Monday’s guilty plea at the Guantánamo trial of Canadian detainee Omar Khadr offers a bargain for both sides in the controversial case of a 15-year-old caught up in a war between the US military and Al-Qaeda.

For Khadr, the plea deal establishes an endpoint, as yet unspecified, to his open-ended imprisonment at Guantánamo.

For the government, it provides guilty verdicts on each of five charges – from murder to conspiracy to engage in terrorism – without having to face the uncertainty and potential criticism of a military commission process that is yet to be thoroughly tested.

“What the government gets is closure on a case that was not a slam dunk for them,” says Fordham Law Professor James Cohen, a former federal prosecutor who represents two detainees at Guantánamo.

The Khadr plea brings to five the number of Guantánamo detainees who have been convicted or pleaded guilty under the special military commission process.

Gunmen in Mexico Kill 12 at House Party

Gunmen killed at least 12 people at a house party in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico Friday, the latest act of brutality in a border city known as a battleground for drug gangs.

Reports are that a group of armed men arrived at the house in several vehicles and opened fire on party-goers.  At least 10 people were wounded in the attack, including a child.

Ciudad Juarez sits just across the border from the U.S. city of El Paso, Texas.  
More than 6,000 people have been killed in the last three years in the Mexican city where the Juarez and Sinaloa drug cartels battle with Mexican police and military forces that are trying to stop their illegal operations.

CBU-CMC pay tribute to Prime Minister Thompson

The Barbados-based regional media organizations, the Caribbean Broadcasting Union (CBU) and the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) Saturday paid tribute to Prime Minister David Thompson who died after a prolonged battle with pancreatic cancer.

In a statement, the CBU said that it fondly remember Thompson visiting Cuba to deliver the keynote address at the group’s annual general assembly in 2008.

“This loss is even more profound because he was still a young man at age 48 and a young leader of his nation,” the CBU said, adding “in spite of that he has left an indelible mark upon the national and regional political landscape and high examples for others to follow.
“We are honoured to have had his support,” the CBU said, adding “we trust that the Almighty’s healing hand will rest gently on his family and nation and that we will all emerge from our grief with a better appreciation of sense of duty”.

CMC said that Thompson had been a strong supporter of the efforts to create an authentic Pan Caribbean media presence and “on more than one occasion provided very tangible support in CMC’s moments of need”.

The Barbados Association of Journalists (BAJ) also expressed condolences on the death of the Prime Minister.

Passing of Prime Minister of Barbados David Thompson

Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State

Washington, DC

October 23, 2010

---

On behalf of President Obama and the people of the United States, I offer my deepest condolences to the people of Barbados on the passing of Prime Minister David Thompson.

Barbados has lost a leader and the nations of the Americas have lost a friend and valued partner. Prime Minister Thompson was a champion for democracy and justice in the Caribbean and an advocate for wider prosperity and opportunity throughout the region. Today my thoughts and prayers are with his wife Mara and their daughters.

Barbados is blessed with strong democratic institutions that will ensure a smooth transition of power, and I am confident that under its new leadership, Barbados’ strong friendship with the United States will continue.

France Pension Protests Crimp Fuel, Transport

French refineries remained shut, trains were on half service, schools closed and gas stations ran dry as unions held their fourth strike in two months against President Nicolas Sarkozy’s plan to raise the retirement age.

Government ministers said France has enough fuel to last several weeks and that they’ll continue to use police to break up barricades at oil depots as about a fifth of the country’s 12,000 service stations carried signs saying they’d run out of fuel. The Senate is set to vote on the pension measure this week, giving final parliamentary approval to a plan to eliminate the retirement-system deficit by 2018.

Sarkozy, who has refused to retreat from his plan to increase the retirement age to 62 from 60, said he’d hold a series of meetings today to ensure that the country isn’t snarled by the strikes.

Oxford University under fire after admitting only one black Caribbean student during academic year

Oxford University has come under fire after it was revealed that it only admitted one black Caribbean student last year.

The elite university recruited more than 3,000 students last year and almost 90 per cent of them were white.

Trevor Philips, chairman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission described the record of recruiting ethnic students to the country's top universities as 'dire.'

Suggestions have now been made that ethnic quotas should be introduced to insure more black and Pakistani students are given the chance to attend some of the best universities in the country.

But Oxford have dismissed the idea and said they would continue to work to recruit more undergraduates from diverse backgrounds.

Mr Phillips told The Daily Telegraph: 'I personally can't see that quotas are the answer but I am reluctant to rule out any possibility given that the situation is so dire and in some cases we appear to be going backwards.'

According to the newspaper just five black Caribbean students were given places at Oxford in 2008.

Barbados National Charged In Drug Case

CaribWorldNews, NEW YORK, NY, Fri. Oct. 15, 2010: A 35-year-old Barbados-born baggage handler at New York`s John F. Kennedy International Airport has been indicted on charges they ran an elaborate drug trafficking scheme, smuggling cocaine into the United States on commercial jetliners.

Victor Bourne is accused along with dispatching crew chief Miguel Bozza, 48, of importing 330 pounds (150 kilos) of cocaine and more than 12,000 pounds (5,500 kilos) of marijuana into New York, stowing it on board American Airlines flights traveling from the Caribbean.

Bourne is described by federal authorities as the ringleader, allegedly recruiting airline employees to stow the drugs in airplanes` cargo holds.

Once the planes arrived at JFK, federal authorities say, dispatching crew chiefs, including Bozza, assigned `crews of baggage handlers, who were paid by the Bourne organization to retrieve the cocaine upon arrival.`

The use of commercial aircraft to smuggle narcotics creates a serious threat to both national security and public safety,` said James Hayes of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.

According to the newly unsealed indictment, Bourne `employed threats and the actual use of violence … to collect drug debts and deter members of the organization from cooperating with law enforcement.`

Bourne`s mother, Maria Alleyne Bourne, 51, was also charged, accused of aiding in the conspiracy, which ran from 2000 to 2009. Bourne allegedly used a Brooklyn-based footwear business to shield the smuggling and distribution operations.

Federal officials say they`re trying to seize, as part of civil forfeiture, more than $316 million they say came from the smuggling operation. American Airlines did not respond to several calls seeking comment.

Bourne is in custody at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.

Caribbean governor questioned proposed deal with firm allegedly linked to Ashcroft

There is no suggestion Lord Ashcroft is being investigated over corruption claims or he has been approached by the detectives. Photograph: Rex Features

The British governor of a Caribbean island questioned the propriety of a proposed deal between a company allegedly backed by the Conservative peer Lord Ashcroft and a prime minister now under investigation over alleged corruption, according to Foreign Office documents.

Richard Tauwhare, the then governor of the Turks and Caicos Islands, claimed that the island's prime minister Michael Misick was planning to award a commercial project to redevelop the island's airport to a "Lord Ashcroft company".

Tauwhare wrote in the documents that the deal was being "personally negotiated" with the company by Misick without competitive bidding.

Jamaican police seek JUTC driver in Faith’s Pen accident

Thirty-nine persons of a total of 50 who were wounded in a motor vehicle accident last night remain in hospital this hour in serious condition.
Up to news time a 16 year-old girl was the only causality of the bus mishap.

Reports from the Moneague Police are that about 8:40 p.m., the driver of a Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC) bus was travelling along the Faith’s Pen main road towards Moneague with approximately forty passengers aboard.

On reaching a section of the roadway, the vehicle reportedly plunged into a precipice resulting in the injury of the occupants. They were rushed to the Linstead and St Ann’s Bay Hospitals by motorists, personnel from the Moneague Training Camp and the Fire Brigade.
The Moneague Police say they are seeking the driver of the JUTC bus for questioning in relation to the incident.

The driver, Jeremy Stewart, fled the scene of the accident.
However, Pastor of the New Testament Church in Bay Farm Portmore Dr. Welesley Blair said despite the accident members of the church family are in High Spirits.

He said the members were on route to a retreat, but they have urged him to still carry through with the activity. 

Gov't committed to building 5 new Hospitals.

Government is committing itself to building five hospitals over the coming years.

Health Minister Therese Baptiste-Cornelis yesterday unveiled a hospital construction plan which will seek to boost the number of hospital beds.

Minister Baptiste-Cornelis said the construction of the five hospitals will be staggered.
There will be new hospitals in central, Point Fortin, Arima, Sangre Grande and Port of Spain.

Former British judge named to head CLICO-HCU inquiry.

A former British judge will head the CLICO-HCU commission of inquiry.
Retired judge Sir Gavin Lightman was picked during the attorney general’s recent trip to the United Kingdom.

Yesterday A.G. Anand Ramlogan also revealed that the counsel to the commission is another British Q.C. Peter Cater.
Mr Ramlogan said several experts in the matter of insolvency were considered.

At the post cabinet news conference the Attorney General said there is need to find out why the two financial entities collapsed.
Mr Ramlogan said the Government owes it to the public to probe the situation which is now costing billions of dollars.
The inquiry should last between four and six months.

Michigan couple's kids born on 8/8/8, 9/9/9, 10/10/10

ROCKFORD, Mich. (AP) - A southwest Michigan couple shouldn't have too hard a time remembering their children's birthdays. After all, it's as easy as eight, nine, 10. Or more specifically, 8/8/8, 9/9/9 and 10/10/10.

Chad and Barbie Soper's three kids were born on those dates. The most recent, Cearra Nicole, was born this past Sunday.

Barbie Soper, 36, said she often is asked whether the couple manipulated the birth dates. The answer is no. Well, sort of.

The Sopers' first child, Chloe Corrin, arrived exactly on the couple's due date. But the second baby, Cameron Dane, was born with induced labor ahead of the Sept. 20 due date.

Cearra came early because Soper's physician wanted to prevent potential health complications. The original due date was Nov. 4.

"At some point, probably 20 weeks into the pregnancy, we decided it was better for her to deliver early," Dr. Andrew Van Slooten told The Grand Rapids Press. "There is this window we had. We definitely had the option to shoot for that (Oct. 10) day and did.

"But it wasn't like delivering her three weeks early just to hit that date."

Soper told the newspaper she's excited about her children's unique birth dates and that they "all get to share in it."

The big question, though, is: What are the chances of an 11/11/11 baby?

"Definitely no," Soper said. " ... We wanted three, and I'm glad we have that."

Oregon trooper tickets 82-year-old going 110 mph

GRESHAM, Ore. (AP) - Oregon State Police gave an 82-year-old woman a ticket for driving 28 miles per hour over her age and twice the posted speed limit of 55 mph.

KVAL-TV reported a trooper spotted Marcia Brandon's car going 110 mph Thursday on Highway 26 west of Gresham.

She said she was on her way to an appointment and wasn't aware she was going that fast.

Brandon was given a ticket for $1,103.

Rapper T.I. headed back to prison for 11 months

A federal judge revoked rapper T.I.'s probation Friday and ordered him back to prison for 11 months.

The Atlanta native, whose real name is Clifford Harris Jr., was in federal court following his arrest last month in Los Angeles on suspicion of drug possession. He was on probation after serving 10 months behind bars on federal weapons charges.

"I think Mr. Harris had had about the limit of second chances," U.S. District Court Judge Charles Pannell Jr. said, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

During the hearing, T.I. begged Pannell not to send him back to prison, saying he needed to get help for drug addiction. He told the judge he "screwed up" and pleaded for mercy.

"I want drugs out of my life. If I can get the treatment and counseling I need ... I can beat this," T.I. told the judge, according to U.S. attorney spokesman Patrick Crosby. "I need help. For me, my mother, my kids, I need the court to give me mercy."

The Associated Press was relying on information from the spokesman because the judge closed the courtroom after it was filled and several media outlets including AP were not allowed in.

Its a Boy for Alicia Keys

In this Sept. 30, 2010 file photo, singer Alicia Keys and husband Swizz Beatz arrive at the "Keep A Child Alive Black Ball" at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York. (AP Photo/Evan Agostini, file

NEW YORK (AP) - It's a boy for Alicia Keys and her husband, music producer/rapper Swizz Beatz.

A representative for Keys said she gave birth Thursday night in New York. The couple have named their son Egypt Dean.

It's the first child for the 29-year-old superstar and the fourth child for Beatz, whose real name is Kaseem Dean. The couple was married July 31.

Swizz Beatz, 31, took time to tweet on Friday: "I'm so thankful for everything I been blessed with in my life

Singer Mary J. Blige also tweeted her congratulations on the birth.

Jamaica offers free vacation to rescued Chilean miners

The Ministries of Tourism and Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade have partnered with Sandals Resorts International to offer the rescued Chilean miners, rescue workers and their spouses a Jamaican vacation.

Thirty three workers, trapped in the collapsed mine since August 5, were pulled to safety Wednesday after a huge rescue operation that cost millions of dollars and culminated in heroic scenes played out before a riveted global audience.

Tourism Minister, Edmund Bartlett made the announcement at a press conference in Montego Bay yesterday as he updated the media on the island’s readiness for Caribbean Marketplace to be held January 16-18, 2011, at the newly built Montego Bay Convention Center.

“As we celebrate the near completion of our Montego Bay Convention Centre, we must pause to give thanks to God for the miraculous rescue of the Chilean miners from their 69-day ordeal trapped underground,” Bartlett said.

Alleged robber shot dead by licensed firearm holder

A robbery at a bar on Waltham Park Road, Kingston 11, Jamaica resulted in the death of one of three thieves early this morning.

The Hunts Bay police are reporting that about 2:30 a.m. three men brandishing guns held up the establishment.
After robbing the bartender and other customers of money and other valuables, a licensed firearm holder who was in the bar challenged the trio, fatally wounding one. His cronies escaped.

The deceased, an unidentified male, is of dark complexion, slim build and about 182 centimeters (6 feet) tall. He was wearing gray jeans pants, a brown T-shirt and blue and white sneakers.

Cellphone laws coming

Trinidad and Tobago….

LEGISLATION introducing fines of up to $10,000 for driving while using mobile phones will soon be tabled in Parliament, Works and Transport Jack Warner said yesterday.

The draft legislation, the Motor Vehicles Amendment Bill, was approved by Cabinet and proposes a fine of $5,000 for driving while using a mobile phone. If the fine goes unpaid for ten days, it then becomes $10,000 Warner said.

Thereafter, the offender will have to appear in court. “That has now been approved, it is now going to Parliament,” Warner said at the post-Cabinet briefing at the Office of the Prime Minister, St Clair.

Warner blanked questions on reports of in-fighting among lower-levels of the People’s Partnership Government.

Sex tourism growing in favoured destinations in Caribbean

A number of Caribbean countries which are favoured tourist destinations are now the centre of a growing sex tourism industry, an Organization of American States security expert said yesterday, and he also  warned about concerns that the Free Movement of Skilled Nationals in Caricom could result in increased human trafficking.

Fernando Garcia-Robles

According to the OAS Coordinator of the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Unit in the Department of Public Security, Fernando Garcia-Robles, a 2005 study done by the OAS and the International Organization for Migration revealed that trans-border human trafficking exists in many Caribbean member states and many other countries interconnected with the region are also affected as source, transit or destination countries.

Garcia-Robles, who was at the time addressing a two- day workshop on human trafficking at the Regency Hotel yesterday, said that although mainly a source region, the Caribbean is also becoming a transit point for trafficked women and men en route to Europe, Asia and/or more economically developed countries in the Western Hemisphere.

“Studies in the region have revealed that every year men but particularly women and girls are recruited, transported, marketed and purchased by individual buyers, traffickers and members of the transnational organized crime syndicates, who operate within Caribbean countries with the main purpose of sexually exploiting them,” Garcia-Robles said.

He noted that although quantitative information is not always available from different regions, the Caribbean reflects several trends that might increase its vulnerability to human trafficking.

He further pointed out that the Caribbean is a region of extensive migration, with a rate of movement in relation to population that may be one of the highest in the world.

Free movement of skills could lead to more trafficking in persons – seminar hears

The Caricom Free Movement of Skilled Nationals could result in an increase of human trafficking in person in Caribbean countries.

This is according to Coordinator of the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Unit, Department of Public Security of the Organisation of American States, Fernando Garci-Robles. Robles was at the time addressing the opening of a two-day workshop on trafficking in person today at the Regency Hotel in Hadfield Street.

In the keynote address the OAS security expert also cautioned that the Caribbean is becoming an important transshipment point for the illegal trade.

'I can't wait to sleep in my own bed'

Go Jamaica….

AFTER spending the last 10 months behind bars in the US, an eager Buju Banton said after being offered bail yesterday that he can't wait to sleep in his own bed.

Marc Seitles, one of Banton’s lawyers, said the artiste was looking forward to going home.

Buju Banton...can't wait to sleep in his own bed

Banton, whose real name is Mark Anthony Myrie, was offered bail in the sum of US$250,000 with security.

But he will not be immediately released as his lead attorney, David Oscar Markus, will now have to seek bond in the immigration court to prevent his deportation to Jamaica. Banton's entertainment visa was revoked after he was arrested at his home last December.

As part of Banton's strict bail condition, he will have to wear an electronic monitoring device and will be subjected to house arrest and 24-hour security, to be paid for by the defence.

Under the terms of the house arrest, Banton can only leave his house for meetings with his attorney, for doctor's appointments, to purchase medication and for court-appointed hearings. He will also be subjected to drug testing.

He will have to surrender all his travel documents.

The conditions are such as there is a concern that the artiste may be a flight risk.

Gay Texas councilman's anti-suicide plea to bullied teens goes viral

FORT WORTH, Texas — A city councilman in Fort Worth, Texas, has rocketed into cyberspace prominence in a video pleading with gay teens not to commit suicide and tearfully recounting his own ordeals as a bullied schoolboy.

Councilman Joel Burns made the appeal during a 12-minute speech to the council on Tuesday. The speech was recorded on video and placed on YouTube.

He first told the story of taunted teens who did commit suicide and then told of his own struggles.

"Yes, high school was difficult, coming out was painful, but life got so much better for me," Burns said. "And I want to tell any teen who might see this, give yourself a chance to see how much better life will get, and it will get better. ... Life will get so, so, so much better."

Pentagon cautions gays about revealing identity

The Pentagon said on Friday it was abiding by a court injunction not to discharge openly gay men and women in the U.S. military but warned them against changing their behavior while legal challenges continue.

"We note for service members that altering their personal conduct in this legally uncertain environment may have adverse consequences for themselves and others should the court's decision be reversed," Undersecretary of Defense Clifford Stanley said in a memo.

California-based U.S. District Judge Virginia Phillips ordered the military on Tuesday to stop enforcing the "don't ask, don't tell" policy barring openly gay men and women from serving in the armed forces.

She also directed the military to drop any pending investigations and discharges after ruling that the policy violated the Constitution.

The Obama administration on Thursday asked Phillips to stay her ruling while it appealed the decision, which overturned a 17-year-old compromise that allowed gay men and women to serve in the military only if they kept their sexual orientation private.

Straight-talking engineer was behind Chile rescue

Three days after 33 men were sealed deep within a gold mine, Andre Sougarret was summoned by Chile's president.

The Chilean leader got right to the point: The square-jawed, straight-talking engineer would be in charge of digging them out.

At first Sougarret worried — no one knew if the miners were alive, and the pressure was on to reach them. And he knew he would be blamed if the men were found dead "because we didn't reach them or the work was too slow."

But eventually, contact was made, the work was on, and the miners below were calling him "boss."

The mission was unprecedented. No one had ever drilled so far to reach trapped miners. No one knew where to find them.

From the first confusing days to this week's glorious finale, the 46-year-old Sougarret was the man with the answers.

Another Multi-Million Dollar Contract Awarded.

There are reports that another multi-million-dollar contract was recently awarded for the completion of renovation works at Crown Point International Airport, without a State Board at the Airports Authority.

According to a story in today’s Express Newspaper the contract, valued at approximately $162 million, was awarded to Junior Sammy Contractors Ltd of Sum Sum Hill in Claxton Bay.
The report states that Mr. Sammy confirmed he had been awarded the contract and had already begun peripheral work around the Tobago airport.
However he is quoted as saying the contract was not "completely finalised" as it had not been "officially signed off".

Mr. Sammy is quoted as saying he tendered for the job back in April and was "awarded the contract towards the end of August".
The contractor who did renovation works on the Piarco Airport runway back in 2007, is also quoted as saying the renovation work at Crown Point is scheduled to be completed in June next year.

AATT's acting General Manager Louis Frederick is also reported to have confirmed that the contract was awarded to Junior Sammy but declined to divulge the terms or circumstances around it.

Source: i955fm News Room

Ramlogan Denies Using Delay Tactics In The Extradition.

Attorney General Anand Ramlogan is denying that he used delay tactics in the extradition of businessmen Steve Ferguson and Ishwar Galbaransingh.

At a media conference at his Cabildo Chambers Office yesterday Mr. Ramlogan said, the extradition of the two men will be extradited.
However he could not say when.
There were reports that the men would be sent to the United States on October 18th to face over ninety charges stemming from allegations of corruption in the Piarco Airport project.

The AG said all things considered, it is best that the men be tried in the United States. He denied prolonging the process.  Mr. Ramlogan said when the accused leave is not up to him.
There have been questions over the People’s Partnership’s handling of the matter as the two men are long standing supporters of the United National Congress which forms part of the coalition.

Opposition welcomes Manatt Enquiry

Go Jamaica….

The Opposition Peoples National Party (PNP) has welcomed the decision by Prime Minister Bruce Golding to set up a Commission of Enquiry into the handling of the extradition request for alleged west Kingston strongman Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke.

Yesterday, Golding told the House of Representatives that the Commission of Enquiry will also examine the Manatt affair.
The PNP says the move represents a significant step in repositioning Jamaica in the eyes of the world as a country where the rule of law is paramount.

The Opposition has consistently called for the Commission of Enquiry to provide the public with details of what took place during the extradition process.

The Opposition Leader, Portia Simpson-Miller says she looks forward to the meaningful consultation that is necessary to identify the membership of the commission and the terms of reference which will be critical to determine the truth of the issues involved.

According to her, the situation caused untold damage to Jamaica’s reputation among the community of nations, and pain, anguish and anxiety to Jamaicans at home and abroad.

Witnesses Recount Horror at Ft. Hood

FORT HOOD, Texas — The first of dozens of witnesses to the 2009 massacre on this sprawling Army base gave chilling testimony on Wednesday in a pretrial hearing for Major Nidal Malik Hasan, the accused shooter.

The witness described a scene of chaotic horror where unarmed soldiers were mowed down, or jumped out of windows, or clawed over each other in a desperate reach for safety.

“He looked at me, I looked at him,” said the witness, Sgt. Alonzo M. Lunsford Jr., as he described how he and Major Hasan made eye contact when the major trained a laser-guided handgun on a crowd of soldiers in a processing center on base.

“The laser comes across my line of sight. And I closed my eyes. And I get hit in the head, I spin around, and I hit the floor.”

 

Standards Day

NBC Radio

The St. Vincent and the Grenadines Bureau of Standards will join the rest of the international standards and quality community tomorrow in celebrating the 41^st World Standards Day.

The day will be observed under the theme: Standards make the World Accessible for All.

Executive Director, Ezra Ledger says the theme is timely, given a report by the United Nations which says that at least 650-million people across the globe suffer from some kind of disability and at least one-quarter are 60 years and older.

Mr. Ledger says the report makes the issue of accessibility to products and services more important than ever.

Jamaica shift system endangers students

Go Jamaica….

A study has found that the shift system in Jamaica which exists in the education sector places the lives of students at risk.
Senior Advisor in the Education Ministry, Alphonsus Davis, says the finding was made in a series of symposia commissioned by the ministries of education, national security and health in addition to the Jamaica Constabulary Force and USAID.

He says 450 people including students and school administrators participated in the series of symposia.
Davis says among the findings is the impact of the shift system on student safety.

He says the deployment of School Resource Officers and the installation of metal detectors in some schools have also contributed to improved safety in schools.

Meanwhile, Superintendent of Police James Forbes who is in charge of the School Resource Officers says the study has recommended a public education campaign.
Both men were speaking at the launch of the Safe Schools Programme now on at the Jamaica Conference Centre in downtown Kingston.

Hurricane Paula speeds toward western Cuba

HAVANA, Cuba (AP) — Hurricane Paula charged toward western Cuba and its lush tobacco fields Wednesday, threatening to inundate an area still recovering from three major hurricanes in 2008, even as officials took heart that it was weakening and becoming less defined.

At 2 p.m., the Category 2 storm, with maximum sustained winds of 100 mph (160 kph), was centered about 55 miles (95 kilometers) west-southwest of Cuba's western tip, after swiping past Mexico's Yucatan Peninusla and the islands of Cozumel and Isla Mujeres overnight.

Mexican authorities said American Mickey Goodwin of Corpus Christi, Texas, drowned Tuesday in Cancun after he ignored warnings and red flags alerting to dangerous waters, the only fatality reported so far.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Paula was expected to shift to the northeast and weaken slightly on a course that would carry it into western Cuba by Wednesday night or early Thursday, bringing the threat of a storm surge and between 3 and 6 inches of rainfall. The storm was small in area, with hurricane force winds extending just 15 miles (30 kilometers) from its center.

Cuba's chief meteorologist, Jose Rubiera, said Paula was weakening and on a trajectory slightly north of previous projections.

French Strike Extended as Sarkozy, Unions See No Common Ground

French unions have called for public transport workers to strike for a third day tomorrow to pressure the government to drop plans to increase the retirement age, even as fewer employees stayed away from work today.

Total SA, Europe’s biggest refiner, started to halt operations at all its French plants following the strike, increasing the likelihood of fuel shortages. With the government of President Nicolas Sarkozy maintaining that it won’t back down on plans to raise the minimum retirement age to 62 from 60, the stalemate looked set to continue.

“He has not budged from his position,” Bernard Thibault, who heads the Confederation Generale du Travail labor union, said today on Canal Plus television channel. “His point of departure in ‘no negotiations.’ We will continue.”

The government says the changes are needed to help France cope with an aging population and help balance the pension system’s budget by 2018. The pensions’ system reform is part of the broader government’s struggle to cut down the budget deficit.

This year the gap will stand at 7.7 percent and Sarkozy’s minister plan to cut it down to 92 billion euros ($125 billion), or 6 percent of gross domestic product, next year.

Ahmadinejad denounces US 'colonial goals' at Hezbollah rally

After a day watching his words during a state visit to politically fragile Lebanon, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad returned to rhetorical form Wednesday night with a fulminating attack on the United States and Israel.

Given a hero’s welcome at a rally attended by thousands of Hezbollah supporters in Beirut’s southern suburbs, President Ahmadinejad said that the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, were an excuse for the US and its allies to pursue “colonial goals.”

“When we look at the dimensions of what the occupiers have done in Afghanistan, Iraq, and recently in Pakistan, we realize well that their goal is not to discover who executed the Sept. 11 events.

Rather, these events were merely a pretext for presence in the region and pursuing colonial goals,” he said speaking in Farsi. He paused every few sentences to allow his words to be translated into Arabic for the benefit of the audience.

Ahmadinejad called for a “neutral team” to investigate the “truth” behind Sept. 11, similar to the conspiracy-tinged speech he gave last month at the United Nations.

In Chile, 24 miners rescued and counting

Chilean rescuers pressed on Wednesday afternoon with the operation to free 33 men trapped half a mile below the earth's surface for more than two months.

Rescuers freed the 24th miner in the afternoon amid rejoicing in the camp in Chile's northern Atacama desert, where hundreds of international media held vigil as the overnight operation continued into the day.

Twenty-six-year-old Carlos Bugueno, who helped manage the supply packages sent down to the miners, became the 23d man rescued. Bugueno, a former security guard, had gone to work at the mine with his longtime friend, Pedro Cortez, who was still awaiting his turn to leave the mine.