Monday, November 25, 2013

US, Russia throw weight behind Syria talks

THE US and Russia have thrown their full weight behind long-delayed Syria peace talks that the UN says finally would be held on January 22, though it is not yet clear whether key sponsors of the warring sides would attend.

"We haven't established a list yet," UN and Arab League mediator Lakhdar Brahimi said on Monday.
That left open the participation of Saudi Arabia, seen as a major sponsor the majority Sunni Muslim rebels, and Iran, steadfast backer of the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad which is dominated by Alawites derived from Islam's Shi'ite sect.
"These two countries will certainly be among the possible participants," Brahimi said after closed-door talks in Geneva with US and Russian officials.
The talks will bring together the Syrian government and the opposition at the negotiating table for the first time since the rebellion against Assad erupted in March 2011.
UN chief Ban Ki-moon announced the date for the long-delayed conference on Syria dubbed Geneva II at the UN headquarters in New York.
"At long last and for the first time, the Syrian government and opposition will meet at the negotiating table instead of the battlefield," Ban told reporters.
"The fighting has raged on far too long - with more than 100,000 dead, almost nine million driven from their homes, countless missing and detained, and terrible violations of human rights," Ban said, calling the war the "biggest threat to international peace".
The US, which has long urged Assad to step down, called the upcoming talks the "best opportunity" to form a new transitional government to lead Syria out of war.
"In order to end the bloodshed and give the Syrian people a chance to meet their long-deferred aspirations, Syria needs new leadership," US Secretary of State John Kerry said in a statement.
He said he recognised "that the obstacles on the road to a political solution are many, and we will enter the Geneva conference on Syria with our eyes wide open".
Russia, which broadly supports the survival of Assad's regime, also underlined the importance of the talks.
On Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin held a 35-minute audience with Pope Francis in the Vatican during which both men discussed the urgent need "to promote concrete initiatives for a peaceful solution to the conflict, favouring negotiation", the Holy See said.
They agreed any solution should involve "the various ethnic and religious groups, recognising their essential role in society", it said in a statement.
Kerry has been working with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov to organise the peace talks with the UN since May.
White House deputy spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters travelling with President Barack Obama aboard Air Force One that "we'll necessarily need to end (Geneva) with Assad leaving power".
Brahimi, meanwhile, said the country's warring sides should not wait until January 22 to rein in fighting.
"We very strongly appeal to the Syrian government and the opposition to not to wait for the conference," he said, urging the sides to "diminish the violence (and) release prisoners and detainees of all sorts".
He admitted though, "being realistic", that "a lot of the things that need to happen will happen after the conference starts".
Brahimi said the conference would start "without any preconditions".
The opposition Syrian National Coalition has agreed to attend, but its authority is not recognised by Islamist rebel groups that are proving the most effective on the battlefield.
Brahimi said the opposition coalition had a "very important role to play" and had to be "as representative as possible" for the talks to work.
"We are in touch both with the government and the opposition. We are asking them to name their delegations as early as possible, hopefully before the end of the year," said the Algerian mediator, who previously was UN envoy for Afghanistan and Iraq.
"This conference is really for the Syrians to come to Geneva and talk to one another and hopefully start a credible, workable effective peace process for their country."

source- www.news.com

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Co-op Group chair quits over Paul Flowers drugs claims

The chairman of the Co-op Group has resigned, saying "serious questions" were raised by the scandal over its former banking chairman, Paul Flowers.

Mr Flowers apologised after he was filmed allegedly buying drugs, while the Co-op has said it is investigating.
Questions have also been raised about Mr Flowers' competence in the role, which he was appointed to in 2010.
Len Wardle, who led the board who appointed Mr Flowers, said he felt it was "right" that he stepped down now.
Meanwhile David Anderson, the former chief executive of the Co-op Bank, is due to appear before MPs on the Treasury Select Committee, where he will give evidence about the troubled bank and its takeover of the Britannia Building Society.
'Real change' The company said Mr Wardle had resigned as chairman and from the board "with immediate effect". He had held the position since 2007 but announced last month that he would leave in May 2014.

MPs question David Anderson, the former chief executive of Co-operative Financial Service"The recent revelations about the behaviour of Paul Flowers, the former chair of the Co-operative Bank, have raised a number of serious questions for both the bank and the group," Mr Wardle said in a statement"I led the board that appointed Paul Flowers to lead the bank board and under those circumstances I feel that it is right that I step down now, ahead of my planned retirement in May next year."I have already made it clear that I believe the time is right for real change in our operations and our governance, and the board recently started a detailed review of our democracy."I hope that the group now takes the chance to put in place a new democratic structure so we can modernise in the interests of all our members."

Mr Wardle will be replaced by Ursula Lidbetter, who is the Co-op Group's deputy chairwoman and chief executive of the Lincolnshire Co-operative Society.

Paul Flowers chaired the bank from June 2010 to April this year

Mr Flowers, who was chairman of the bank from April 2010 until June this year, was filmed allegedly ordering cocaine and boasting about his use of other banned substances in a video published by the Mail on Sunday.
The Methodist minister and former Bradford City councillor has apologised for the actions he described as "stupid" and "wrong". He has been suspended from both the Labour Party and his church.
The Co-op Group had said it would launch a "fact-finding process to look into any inappropriate behaviour", as well as a review of its "democratic structure".
'Lamentable' performance The scandal has also prompted pressure on City regulators to introduce tougher checks on candidates for senior banking roles.
Conservative MP Brooks Newmark said Mr Flowers had not been competent in the job and questioned how he could have been appointed.
"Clearly he was not fit to be in that position and while obviously his performance was lamentable, I also think unfortunately that the regulators should be held to account on this," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
"They should have done their due diligence to see whether Mr Flowers was fit and proper to run a major financial institution."
Former director general of the CBI, Lord Digby Jones, told Today: "The problem you have got if you bring in more regulation is will it serve its purpose?
"To do more background checks, excellent. To ensure that you get the best, not necessarily British [bankers, and to] ensure that banking can be a force for good in the country - if that calls for more rigorous implementation of the rules that you have then I'm up for that."
He said he thought the industry had "moved on" from 2008 when there was an element of "jobs for the boys", and that Mr Flowers would probably not be appointed now.
'No grasp' Mr Flowers appeared before a committee of MPs earlier this month, during which he appeared to have "no grasp" of "basic" facts about the bank, said BBC business editor Robert Peston.
He said Mr Flowers had never worked in the banking sector in "any senior capacity", but had been appointed chairman of the Co-op Bank as a result of a "power struggle within the co-operative movement".

Mr Flowers appeared before the Treasury Select Committee earlier this month

Our correspondent said Mr Flowers' rivals in the movement had been "surprised and disappointed" when the now-defunct Financial Services Authority (FSA) had approved his appointment.
The Financial Conduct Authority, which has taken on some of the FSA's former responsibilities, said Mr Flowers "underwent the appropriate interview process when originally coming on to the Co-op board [in 2009]".
The BBC understands he faced a less rigorous interview when he became chairman, because at the time regulators did not see the posts of non-executive director and chairman as significantly different - though that has since changed.
David Jackman, head of ethics at the FSA until 2003, has said it was "very disturbing" that Mr Flowers had made it through the vetting procedure.
Andrew Tyrie, chairman of the Treasury Select Committee and headed up the recent banking standards commission, has said MPs could see Mr Flowers was "manifestly unsuitable" for the job when he appeared before the committee on 6 November.
The Mail on Sunday said he was filmed buying the drugs days after being grilled by the MPs.

source- http://www.bbc.co.uk

Sardinia hit by deadly cyclone and floodig

At least 16 people have been killed in flooding prompted by a cyclone and heavy rain that swept through the Italian island of Sardinia.

A number of people are reported missing after rivers burst their banks, sweeping cars away and causing bridges to collapse.
The worst-hit area appears to be in and around the north-eastern city of Olbia.
Prime Minister Enrico Letta has spoken of a "national tragedy" and a state of emergency is expected to be declared.
"We're at maximum alert," Giorgio Cicalo, an official from Sardinia's civil protection authority, told Italy's Rai TV.
"We haven't seen a situation as extreme as this, perhaps for decades. Especially because it's been across the whole island."

Hundreds of people across the Mediterranean island have been moved from their homes because of the flooding caused by Cyclone Cleopatra.
Sardinian Governor Ugo Cappellacci told Italian TV that the situation on the island was "dramatic".
Olbia Mayor Gianni Giovanelli was quoted by Sky TG24 as saying that the city had been hit by an "apocalyptic"' storm.
Cyclones are extremely rare in the Mediterranean.
Brazilian family Reports from the island say flood waters in some areas were up to 3m (10ft) high.
A Brazilian family of four drowned when their basement flat in the town of Arzachena, in the northern part of the island, filled with water. Two children were among the dead.
Three people died when a road bridge collapsed on to their car near Olbia, according to local media.
In a separate incident, a mother and her daughter were found dead in their car after it was swept away by floods.
Among the victims was a police officer who died after a bridge collapsed as he tried to escort an ambulance.

Some city residents used social media to offer shelter to those forced out of their homes.
Meanwhile Governor Cappellacci told La Stampa newspaper that thousands of people had been affected.
"Unfortunately the situation is tragic," he said.
The storms also caused extensive damage to farms on the island and disrupted a number of flights to and from mainland Italy.

source- http://www.bbc.co.uk

Rival Libya militias in fresh clashes near Tripoli

As he gets set to mark his 100th Test, Kevin Pietersen insists the Australian media have mistaken his natural confidence for arrogance - and revealed he hopes to keep playing for England until 2016.
The batsman also admitted to make mistakes in his career - most likely a reference to the 2012 'textgate' scandal which saw him dropped from the England squad.
But having made his debut in the 2005 Ashes, Pietersen says he is feeling happier than ever in the England set-up as he gets set to mark a personal milestone at the Gabba on Thursday.
"We've all made mistakes in our lives, and if I hadn't learned I wouldn't be sitting here on the eve of my 100th Test match," Pietersen said. "Where my career is right now, I don't know that I could be any happier. Clearly there's been some bad stuff which has been well-documented. When you're riding the crest of a wave and everything's going really well for you, it's hard to learn. But when you make mistakes in life, business, anything, you learn."
Pietersen had clear-the-air talks with his former skipper Andrew Strauss on Monday in an attempt to heal the rift formed last year.
"Do you ever look at things and think why you've done things? We all make mistakes," he reiterated.
After the Brisbane Courier Mail put Pietersen on their front page with a headline claiming even his own teammates don't like him on Monday, he laughed off a Twitter exchange with one of the paper's journalists attempts, where he tweeted about no one knowing where Brisbane is.
"I actually respect the Australian journalists for the way they come at oppositions," said Pietersen. "I think it's fantastic. I've had it for however many years, and I know when I walk out to bat the Gabba's going to clout me.

Read more at http://www.espn.co.uk/cricket/sport/story/258795.html#dMWGwmWqGTGjF7rH.99

There has been renewed fighting between rival militias on the outskirts of the Libyan capital, Tripoli, a day after at least 43 people died in clashes.

The latest violence in the suburb of Tajoura, involving local militiamen and fighters from Misrata, left one dead.
Friday's clashes occurred after protesters marched on the headquarters of the Misrata militia to demand that it leave Tripoli, and were fired upon.
The government is struggling to contain militias who control parts of Libya.
On Saturday Prime Minister Ali Zeidan confirmed that fresh fighting had taken place in Tajoura.
He urged all sides to "exercise maximum restraint", adding: "No forces from outside Tripoli should attempt to enter the city because the situation is very tense and could escalate further."
AFP quoted Mr Zeidan as saying: "The coming hours and days will be decisive for the history of Libya and the success of the revolution."

The BBC's Rana Jawad in Tripoli says Tajoura is seen as the gateway to the capital and the latest fighting was sparked when an armed convoy from Misrata entered it in an apparent attempt to make its way to the centre.
Misrata is about 200km to the east of the capital.
Our correspondent says armed groups halted the convoy, which retreated 15km (9 miles) away, but that live rounds were exchanged for some time afterward.
US Secretary of State John Kerry said in a statement that he was "deeply concerned" by the latest clashes and urged "all sides to exercise restraint and restore calm".
Civilian backlash Government-linked militias set up checkpoints across the capital amid tightened security for the funerals of many of those killed on Friday.
Officials have updated the death toll from Friday's violence from 31 to 43. About 500 people were wounded.
Friday's fighting began after demonstrators marched on the headquarters of the Misrata brigades in the capital's Ghargour district.

Mr Zeidan said the protest march had been "peaceful and came under fire when it entered Ghargour".

However, Libya's al-Ahrar television quoted Taher Basha Agha, the head of the Misrata militia at Ghargour, as saying that the protesters were armed.
"It was not a peaceful demonstration. They carried light arms and shot at us," he was quoted as saying.
Witnesses said the militiamen had initially fired to ward off the protesters, some of whom were children, but shot at the crowd when it continued to advance.
Other witnesses said armed men returned hours later to storm the militia HQ, with some buildings set on fire.
It is unclear how many casualties were caused at the initial protest and at the later fighting.
A militia group calling itself the Shield of Libya said on Saturday it had secured Ghargour and that the Misrata fighters had withdrawn.
The Misrata militia was involved in clashes in the capital last week which left two people dead.
There have been increasing demands from civilians that the militias - which emerged during the 2011 revolution - disband or join the army, in line with an end-of-year deadline set by the interim government in Tripoli.
Some militiamen have been given salaries and taken into the government security forces but many still remain loyal to their own commanders.
Last month, Mr Zeidan was briefly seized by a militia group in Tripoli.
Two years after the overthrow of Col Muammar Gaddafi, Libya still has no constitution and divisions between secular and Islamist forces have paralysed parliament.

source- http://www.bbc.co.uk

The Dark Side of the Nobel Prizes

For more than 100 years, the Nobel Prizes have recognized the finest in human achievements, from literature and science to the Nobel Peace Prize, which is given "to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses," according to the last will and testament of founder Alfred Nobel.
But the origins of the Nobel Prizes, and the life of Alfred Nobel, tell a very different story, one tainted by the deaths of untold thousands of people.
Alfred Bernhard Nobel was born in 1833 in Stockholm, Sweden. His father, Immanuel Nobel, was an inventor and engineer who struggled financially for much of his life. Forced to declare bankruptcy, Immanuel left Sweden and began working in St. Petersburg, Russia, where he impressed the czar ith one of his inventions — submerged explosive mines that could thwart a naval invasion. [Quiz: Test Your Nobel Knowledge]

Finally achieving a measure of success, Immanuel brought his wife

Nobel Prizes

Finally achieving a measure of success, Immanuel brought his wife and eight children to St. Petersburg. His sons were given a formal education, and Alfred shined under strict Russian tutelage, mastering several languages as well as chemistry, physics, poetry and natural sciences.
Because the elder Nobel disapproved of Alfred's interest in poetry, he sent his son abroad to further his training in chemistry and engineering. While studying in Paris, Nobel met Italian chemist Ascanio Sobrero, who in 1847 invented nitroglycerin, the oily, liquid explosive made by combining glycerin with nitric acid and sulfuric acid.
Innovation from tragedy
Though nitroglycerine was considered too unsafe to have any practical use, the Nobel family — which now had several profitable enterprises in Russia and Sweden — continued to investigate its potential for commercial and industrial uses.
But their inquiries had tragic results: In 1864, Alfred's younger brother Emil and several other people were killed in an explosion at one of their factories in Sweden. The disaster encouraged Alfred to try to find a way to make nitroglycerin safe. Success didn't come easily: Early experiments included the creation of "blasting oil," a mixture of nitro and gunpowder, which resulted in several deadly explosions and once killed 15 people when it exploded in a storeroom in San Francisco.
Finally, in 1867, Alfred Nobel found that by mixing nitroglycerin with diatomaceous earth (known as kieselguhr in German), the resulting compound was a stable paste that could be shaped into short sticks that mining companies might use to blast through rock. Nobel patented this invention as "dynamite," from the Greek word dunamis, or "power."
The invention of dynamite revolutionized the mining, construction and demolition industries. Railroad companies could now safety blast through mountains, opening up vast stretches of the Earth's surface to exploration and commerce. As a result, Nobel — who eventually garnered 355 patents on his many inventions — grew fantastically wealthy.
'Merchant of death'
Dynamite, of course, had other uses, and it wasn't long before military authorities began using it in warfare, including dynamite cannons used during the Spanish-American War. Though he's widely credited with being a pacifist, it's not known whether Nobel approved of dynamite's military use or not.
Nonetheless, he found out what others thought of his invention when, in 1888, his brother Ludvig died. Though some journalistic error, Alfred's obituary was widely printed instead, and he was scorned for being the man who made millions through the deaths of others. Once French newspaper wrote "Le marchand de la mort est mort," or "the merchant of death is dead." The obituary went on to describe Nobel as a man "who became rich by finding ways to kill more people faster than ever before."
Nobel was reportedly stunned by what he read, and as a result became determined to do something to improve his legacy. One year before he died in 1896, Nobel signed his last will and testament, which set aside the majority of his vast estate to establish the five Nobel Prizes, including one awarded for the pursuit of peace.

source- http://www.livescience.com

Monday, November 18, 2013

G77 Hitting The Reset Button on Internet Governance?

WSIS

The latest salvo in government efforts to gain greater control over Internet governance comes from the G77 countries in a seemingly innocuous draft resolution to the UN General Assembly (UNGA) entitled “Information and Communications Technologies for Development.” This 10-page resolution pulls in a whole host of Internet governance and policy issues – including cybersecurity and Internet interconnection charging regimes – and proposes a new World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) for 2015. It also proposes a process for organizing this Summit that would be entirely government-driven, with governments setting the agenda, negotiating outcome texts, and determining whether, and how, other stakeholders (including human rights advocates, industry, and technical experts) get to participate.

What is The WSIS?
The original WSIS was the result of a UNGA resolution in 2001 pointing to the need “to harness the potential of knowledge and technology” for promoting the UN’s Millennium Development Goals. It was motivated by a growing realisation of the importance of the Internet to economy and society and of a desire among governments to have a better understanding of – and potentially a hand in – the management of the Internet and its underlying technical resources (including IP addresses and the DNS). The WSIS comprised two phases: Geneva in 2003 and Tunis in 2005. By the Tunis phase, many governments had come to better understand the Internet and its value as a platform for growth and innovation. Yet other governments were still unhappy with the informal mechanisms that managed the technical underpinnings of the Internet and continued to seek further multilateral approaches. The Tunis phase yielded both the Internet Governance Forum and a call for “enhanced cooperation” (an intentionally vague term that left room for those governments unhappy with the results of the WSIS to continue arguing for a deeper role in Internet governance).
The WSIS has a built-in 10-year review that will culminate in 2015, and a number of processes to assess the effectiveness and impact of its various components are already underway. The WSIS is a shared responsibility among several UN agencies; UNESCO held the first review conference in early 2013 and the ITU will host a second in early 2014. In the interim, the ITU is compiling a review of the outcomes and results of the WSIS action lines and the Commission on Science and Technology for Development's (CSTD) Working Group on Enhanced Cooperation (WGEC) will be making recommendations as to how cooperation on international Internet policy issues can be strengthened and whether or not there are issues that require government to government engagement. The results of these processes, in turn, will feed into the UNGA in late 2014.

Why is The WSIS Review Important?
While the original WSIS focused heavily on ICANN and the role of the United States government in the management of what came to be called “critical Internet resources” (the DNS, IP addresses, the root servers, etc.), discussions of “governance” have expanded over the past decade to include almost the entire range of Internet policy issues. Some of the discussions left over from the Tunis phase - such as the role of governments in international Internet-related public policy issues and whether there are issues that should be dealt with by governments alone - continue to rage. The WSIS review potentially covers all of these topics, and decisions taken in the WSIS process could have a profound effect on the future evolution of the Internet and its governance.
Which brings us back to the proposed resolution. The G77 propose a number of WSIS-related tasks for the UNGA: first and foremost, it should decide that a high-level (read: government-driven) 10-year WSIS review Summit will occur in 2015, without any consultations about the need for such a Summit, and without reference to the existing and on-going multistakeholder WSIS review. It also should decide to launch a preparatory process through an “open-ended intergovernmental preparatory committee” as early as January 2014 that will “define the agenda of the review summit, finalize the negotiated outcome document of the summit and decide on the modalities for the participation of other stakeholders in the summit”.
Incredibly, this language is lifted word for word from the 2001 UNGA resolution (above) and should be a complete non-starter for civil society, industry, the technical community and any other stakeholder who supports “multistakeholder” Internet governance. This language makes a mockery of the progress that has been made on realizing multistakeholderism over the past decade, and ignores the widespread consensus on the importance of the participation of all stakeholders in Internet and Information Society matters. From the WCIT to the WTPF to the IGF, the past year alone has seen a strong embrace by many stakeholders, including governments, of the importance of multistakeholder approaches to governance and policymaking.

Conflating Critical Issues
The proposed resolution also mixes a range of subject areas – including surveillance, privacy, cybersecurity principles, and governance – that are already under active review in other processes. For example, there is another proposed resolution addressing government surveillance and people’s right to privacy in their communications already in front of the UNGA. Supported by Brazil and Germany and entitled “The right to privacy in the digital age,” this resolution is an important effort to curtail the mass surveillance activities of the US NSA and other governments. The issue of government surveillance deserves focused attention at the highest level, and shouldn’t be used as a bargaining chip in an omnibus resolution to push forward questionable approaches to governance.
Despite the name of the proposed G77 resolution, it hardly addresses key development issues and concerns, with the key operative paragraphs focused on WSIS processes, governance, and a smattering of highly contentious issues. It also seeks to increase the mandate of the CSTD Working Group on Enhanced Cooperation to include recommendations on privacy, national sovereignty, and international law, topics which are well outside that group’s mandate.
Internet governance talk can be sleep-inducing, and many human rights advocates and technical experts understandably prefer to spend their time on more “concrete” topics. But the Internet governance issues raised in the G77 resolution and in the WSIS processes more generally will guide the future of the Internet. Existing decision-making structures may change, and the last decade’s hard-fought gains on the importance of open and inclusive policy processes cannot be taken for granted. The Internet governance space has become significantly more complicated with the NSA surveillance revelations. Clamouring for multilateral negotiations on policy issues central to the Internet has grown as the scale of extraterritorial surveillance has become more apparent. Anyone who cherishes an open and transparent Internet that is managed in a decentralized and multistakeholder manner must pay closer attention to what is happening in the Internet governance space during this critical period.

https://www.cdt.org

Sunday, November 17, 2013

Google to block abuse web searches

Google and Microsoft will start blocking internet searches for child abuse images. Source: AAP

INTERNET searches for child abuse images will be blocked for the first time by Microsoft and Google after months of mounting pressure.

New software is to be introduced that will automatically block 100,000 "unambiguous" search terms which lead to illegal content, Google chief executive Eric Schmidt told UK tabloid the Daily Mail.
British Prime Minister David Cameron hailed the decision by the two internet giants as "significant progress" after the companies had insisted that it "couldn't be done, shouldn't be done".
The restrictions will be launched in the UK first, before being expanded to other English-speaking countries and 158 other languages in the next six months.
A further 13,000 search terms linked with child sex abuse will flash up with warnings from Google and charities warning the user that the content could be illegal and pointing them towards help.
Mr Cameron told the newspaper that child protection experts drew up the list of unique search terms which would undoubtedly lead to sex abuse images and videos.
"If you used these you were looking for child abuse images online," he said.
"At the time, Google and Microsoft - who cover 95 per cent of the market - said blocking search results couldn't be done, that it shouldn't be done.
"They argued that it was against the very principle of the internet and search engines to block material, even if there was no doubt that some of the search terms being used by paedophiles were abhorrent in a modern society.
"I did not accept that then and I do not accept that now."
Mr Schmidt said Google has been working with Microsoft, which owns the Bing search engine, and law enforcement agencies following strong warnings from the British government to take action.
"We've listened, and in the last three months put more than 200 people to work developing new, state-of-the-art technology to tackle the problem," he said.
"We've fine-tuned Google Search to prevent links to child sexual abuse material from appearing in our results.
"While no algorithm (instructions for software) is perfect - and Google cannot prevent paedophiles adding new images to the web - these changes have cleared up the results for over 100,000 queries that might be related to the sexual abuse of kids."

www.news.com

Russia seeks answers over deadly crash

29 minutes ago November 18, 2013 6:23PM

A passenger jet has crashed while attempting to land in Russia, killing all 50 people on board. Source: AAP

RUSSIA has sought answers for the latest deadly plane crash to raise concerns about the safety of its civil aviation, with investigators focusing on a fault with the 23-year-old plane or pilot error as the likely cause.

The Tatarstan Airlines Boeing 737-500 crashed on landing at the airport in the Volga city of Kazan after a flight from Moscow's Domodedovo airport on Sunday night, killing all 44 passengers and six crew on board, the emergencies ministry said.
"The main versions of what happened are an error in piloting and technical factors, including a technical failure," the head of the transport Investigative Committee for the Volga region, Alexander Poltinin, was quoted on Monday as saying by Russian news agencies.
He confirmed that the crash occurred while the aircraft was making a second attempt at landing and said the investigation would have to consider why the pilot had not managed to land the first time.
The disaster claimed the lives of the son of the leader of the Tatarstan region, Irek Minnikhanov, and the head of Russia's FSB security service in Tatarstan, Alexander Antonov.
Also among the dead was a Briton, Donna Carolina Bull, 53, and a Ukrainian national, the emergencies ministry said. The rest of the victims are believed to be Russian citizens.
The plane owned by Tatarstan Airlines, the regional carrier of the Tatarstan region in central Russia, was 23 years old and had seven owners during its life, Russian media and specialised websites said.
It went into service in 1990 and was used first by now-defunct French airline Euralair Horizons and then by Air France. Before being acquired by Tatarstan Airlines, it was operated by Uganda Airlines, Brazil's Rio Sul, Romania's Blue Air and then Bulgaria Air.
While being operated by Rio Sul, it had a serious accident on landing in Brazil in 2001, which, although it claimed no lives, meant the plane had to have serious repairs.
Russia has experienced a string of deadly air crashes, usually involving small and poorly regulated regional airlines that sprang up across Russia after the break-up of the Soviet Union.
The most recent major accident before Sunday's disaster was in April 2012, when a passenger plane crashed shortly after take-off from Tyumen airport in Siberia, killing 33 people.

www.news.com

Russia seeks answers over deadly crash

24 minutes ago November 18, 2013 6:23PM

A passenger jet has crashed while attempting to land in Russia, killing all 50 people on board. Source: AAP

North Korea Executes 80 for Bad TV, Having a Bible

In the past year, North Korea came under international criticism when details of gulag-like prisons leaked out from defectors. Although the world reacted in horror as those details included the familiar stories of loved ones disappearing mysteriously in true Stalinist fashion, little international momentum was gained.
The latest human rights violations from North Korea might change that. Fox News and the AFP cite a South Korean conservative paper, the JoongAng Ilbo, as reporting on Nov. 3 that 80 people were executed for offenses that ranged from owning the Holy Bible to watching Desperate Housewives.
The JoongAng Ilbo’s source remains a single anonymous North Korean official, said to be familiar with the country’s internal affairs and recently returned to the South; the source claimed that executions were carried out simultaneously across seven cities. The families and relatives of those executed were sent to prison camps.

According to the source, in the port city of Wonsan, 10,000 people were gathered by the police in Shinpoong Stadium to watch eight people be shot by a firing squad. Fox News reports their crimes as: viewing and/or trafficking South Korean dramatic television; prostitution; and possession of the Bible.
The AFP noted that Wonsan and Pyongsong (where executions also took place) are designated as special economic zones that specifically attract foreign money to boost the lackluster economy. Otherwise, the executions could be a North Korean government effort to dampen capitalistic enthusiasm and increase repression efforts.
Some experts, and some North Korean locals, have perpetuated rumors that the executions are part of a terror campaign from Kim Jong-un directly. They believe November’s killings are connected with the earlier executions of the Unhasu Orchestra, to which Kim’s wife, First Lady Ri Sol-ju, formerly belonged.
The fact that no executions took place in North Korea’s capital city, Pyongyang, lends support to these rumors. Instead of perpetuating violence in a city where he needs the support of the elite, Kim seems content to build luxurious facilities and a water park.

source- http://www.webpronews.com

UN Security Council Votes In New Members, Causes Controversy

The AP via the Washington Post reported today that Saudi Arabia, Chad, Nigeria, Lithuania, and Chile were voted onto the United Nations Security Council.
None of the countries were opposed on the floor because, for the first time in several years, none of the races were contested. In the first round of voting, Lithuania received 187 votes, Nigeria and Chile tied with 186, Chad had 184 and Saudi Arabia got 176. In order to get onto the Security Council, a two-thirds majority of those voting countries is needed.
The new member nations will be replacing Azerbaijan, Guatemala, Morocco, Pakistan and Togo, which will step down in January 2014; the nations will then serve through the end of 2015.

The UN’s Security Council has five permanent members with veto power: the United States, Russia, China, Britain, and France. The other ten members are elected in two-year terms.
Although the votes were not openly contested, many officials are criticizing the strong support received by Saudi Arabia and Chad, which had the worst human rights records of the new Security Council member nations. Philippe Bolopion, the UN’s director of the Human Rights Watch, said “The prestige of a seat at the world’s foremost diplomatic table should prompt the new members to get their house in order.”
“Chad should put an end to the recruitment of child soldiers, which earned it a spot on the U.N. list of shame,” Bolopion continued. “Saudi Arabia should end its crackdown on human rights activists and grant women their full rights.” Bolopion also targeted Nigeria when he said the country wasn’t doing enough to “end chronic abuse by security forces and better protect civilians in the north” from Boko Haram Islamist attacks.
None of the criticized countries have released statements addressing either their victories or the criticism at this time.
The UN is a massive bureaucracy; if you’re interested in learning how it works from the inside, this YouTube video is a good place to start. Otherwise, the full Post story is available here.

source- http://www.webpronews.com

Putin Pens New York Times Op-Ed, Talks Foreign Policy

The “bad boy” president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, has a message for the American people, and in a conveniently timed viral column that The New York Times published on September 11, Putin bypasses political pleasantries and gets right to business.
“Recent events surrounding Syria have prompted me to speak directly to the American people and their political leaders. It is important to do so at a time of insufficient communication between our societies,” he begins, referring to the United States’ desires to see the Assad regime blown away for deploying sarin gas.
Putin talked about the failure of the League of Nations followed by the founding of the United Nations, occurring in the wake of the world’s bloodiest wars to date: “No one wants the United Nations to suffer the fate of the League of Nations, which collapsed because it lacked real leverage. This is possible if influential countries bypass the United Nations and take military action without Security Council authorization.” The implication here is that the United States would be responsible for the collapse of both international efforts.
Putin articulated his own frank opinions on the desires of the United States to strike Syria: “[Striking Syria] will result in more innocent victims and escalation, potentially spreading the conflict far beyond Syria’s borders. A strike would increase violence and unleash a new wave of terrorism. It could undermine multilateral efforts to resolve the Iranian nuclear problem and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and further destabilize the Middle East and North Africa. It could throw the entire system of international law and order out of balance.”
Putin also defended Russia’s role while simultaneously attacking U.S. wars on foreign soil: “From the outset, Russia has advocated peaceful dialogue enabling Syrians to develop a compromise plan for their own future. We are not protecting the Syrian government, but international law… No one doubts that poison gas was used in Syria. But there is every reason to believe it was used not by the Syrian Army… It is alarming that military intervention in internal conflicts in foreign countries has become commonplace for the United States. Is it in America’s long-term interest? I doubt it. Millions around the world increasingly see America not as a model of democracy but as relying solely on brute force, cobbling coalitions together under the slogan ‘you’re either with us or against us.’”
As to the White House’s response, the BBC has reported White House spokesman Jay Carney saying that “the military is ready, and it is waiting for a certain period of time. it will not negatively affect their ability to inflict the kind of damage that we envision on Assad’s capabilities if that were to become necessary; we should pursue this diplomatic avenue and we are.”
Politico quoted a senior administration official as adding that “President Putin has invested his credibility in transferring Assad’s chemical weapons to international control, and ultimately destroying them. The world will note whether Russia can follow through on that commitment.”
The same BBC report followed up with a Free Syrian Army video, which expressed frustration at the Russian plan: “We ask that the international community not be content with withdrawing chemical weapons, which are a criminal instrument, but to hold the perpetrator accountable and prosecute him at the international criminal court. Removing criminal tools is one matter; holding the criminal accountable is another.”
Wrapping up his piece, Putin said optimistically that “If we can avoid force against Syria, this will improve the atmosphere in international affairs and strengthen mutual trust. It will be our shared success and open the door to cooperation on other critical issues.”

source- http://www.webpronews.com

Thursday, November 7, 2013

Twitter to debut on NYSE at $26 a share

Twitter announced its eagerly-awaited public share offering Wednesday, revealing it will raise at least $1.82 billion with its debut on the New York Stock Exchange at $26 a share. The company said it would offer 70 million shares at the listed price.

By News Wires (text)

Twitter Inc priced its initial public offering above its expected range to raise at least $1.8 billion, in a sign of strong investor demand for the most highly anticipated U.S. public float since Facebook Inc.

The microblogging network priced 70 million shares at $26, above the expected range of $23 to $25, which had already been raised once before.

The IPO values Twitter at $14.1 billion, with the potential to reach $14.4 billion if underwriters exercise an over-allotment option, as they are widely expected to.

If the full overallotment is exercised, Twitter could raise $2.1 billion, making it the second largest Internet offering in the U.S. behind Facebook's $16 billion IPO last year and ahead of Google Inc's 2004 IPO, according to Thomson Reuters data.

TWITTER TWEETS IPO

Some analysts said they expect shares of Twitter to experience a small pop during the first day of trading.

Twelve-month price targets on the stock range from $29 to $54.

David Menlow, president of research firm IPO Financial, said it's unlikely that Twitter will see shares soar initially but a smaller size pop is possible.

"I think you could see shares rise 10 percent but there are still a lot of naysayers out there who think the stock is overvalued," he said.

Twitter's public float comes amid the strongest market for U.S. IPOs since 2007, as equity markets soared and uncertainty around the U.S. debt ceiling has largely subsided for now.

A number of IPOs have doubled on their first day of trading including Container Store Group, restaurant chain Potbelly Corp and software company Benefitfocus Inc.

Twitter hiked its target IPO price on Monday from an initial range of $17 to $20. All of the proceeds from the IPO will go directly to the company, with no insider selling taking place.

Investor enthusiasm for Twitter, which boasts 230 million users including heads of state and celebrities, is strong even though the microblogging network has never turned a profit.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc, which led the Twitter IPO, tops the list of U.S. technology bookrunners this year with an 18.3 percent market share, up from 11 percent a year ago when it ranked fifth, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan Chase & Co also led the IPO.

Avoiding Facebook’s mistakes

Twitter has been focused on avoiding many of the pitfalls that plagued Facebook during its $16 billion IPO last May. The company priced shares more conservatively than Facebook did and chose to list on the New York Stock Exchange rather than the Nasdaq.

Facebook had increased both the number of shares and the price range just before its public debut, which contributed to a sustained decline in its share price. The shares took more than a year to recover to the $38 IPO price.

"Twitter did a good job putting together its message,", aid Tom Taulli, an independent IPO expert. "It wasn't about distractions, it was about having a great property and brand and a focus on the business...that wasn't necessarily the message when Facebook came out."

Challenges remain

Despite a successful IPO, some analysts have expressed concerns that Twitter's valuation is dependent on sustained user growth and a maturing advertising business - two factors that may never be realized.

Although the company has close to a quarter-billion-users, it lacks the ubiquity of Facebook or the "stickiness" factor that keeps people checking the No. 1 social network on a daily basis.

Reuters-Ipsos poll last month showed that 36 percent of people who signed up for a Twitter account say they do not use it.

Twitter, which has extensively courted large brand marketers, still generates relatively little revenue per user compared to Facebook, while the majority of its users are located outside the U.S. in countries like Indonesia or Brazil, which are less lucrative digital advertising markets.

During its road show over the past week, Twitter executives have assured investors that they plan to wring more money out of its international user base and smaller businesses by expanding its self-serve advertising products and opening offices abroad.

But analysts say the company could encounter a slew of regulatory and policy hurdles in foreign countries as it expands.

Twitter said last month that its third-quarter revenue more than doubled to $168.6 million, but net losses widened to $64.6 million from $21.6 million a year earlier as costs ballooned.

Aside from aggressively growing its overseas sales presence, Twitter's expenditures will likely to continue to rise.

Twitter disclosed Monday that it had received a letter from International Business Machines Corp accusing the social media company of infringing on at least three U.S. patents.

Twitter's well-known intellectual property vulnerabilities could force the company to invest heavily in expanding its patent portfolio, similar to what Facebook has done since going public.

Twitter is set to trade on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday under the ticker TWTR.

source- http://www.webpronews.com