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How Texas manure ethanol plan fell flat
By Jamie Coomarasamy
Washington correspondent, BBC News
There are some things that don’t change in Hereford, Texas. The country music that’s played on the local radio station and the brown plastic bull, which welcomes you to town, above the slogan “Hereford, Beef Capital of the World”.But one thing has appeared on the skyline since I was last in the panhandle three-and-a-half years ago – the gleaming, silver silos of the Panda ethanol plant. It was the promise of ethanol that first brought me to Hereford. With President Bush extolling the virtues of biofuels as a cure for what he called America’s “addiction to foreign oil”, I’d been invited to the town by Panda Energy. The company, which has a series of successful plants across the United States, wanted to use the town’s plentiful supply of manure – courtesy of the hundreds of thousands of cattle that use its massive feed yards – to power the process of extracting ethanol from corn. It was – in theory – a perfect, symbiotic relationship. Hereford’s feed yards would lose their excess waste; the town’s economy would become a renewable energy centre.
The muck would be turned into brass. So, has there been a happy ending? Not exactly. As you get closer to the ethanol plant, you notice that the lorries transporting manure are taking it away from the facility, not towards it. In fact, the plant is only 95% built and it’s never produced a drop of ethanol. Almost all of the employees who were working on the ethanol trials have been laid off. “We wanted to be the renewable energy capital of Texas,” says Sheila Quirk, executive director of the Hereford Development Corporation. “It was a breath of fresh air to drive by it at night, but now – it’s just a sad disappointment.” When she took over her post, at the end of 2006, the ground had just been broken at the site of the plant. Now, after a series of problems, the 200m facility is in the bankruptcy courts and is reportedly worth around a tenth of the amount it cost to build.
Panda Energy has told the BBC that, because of the legal situation, it is unable to comment on what went wrong, but it’s clear there’ve been a number of issues with the plant’s construction. They range from structural problems with the foundations, to the health problems of the construction workers who contracted a virus – q-fever – which, it’s alleged, may have originated in local cattle. Add to that the fact that corn-based ethanol’s economic and environmental credentials have been increasingly called into question in recent years, and the general economic downturn, and it is clear that the company has been battling against the odds. The twists and turns of the project have all been monitored by Chip Formby, the general manager of the local radio station, K-PAN. His commitment to renewable energy can be seen in the wind turbine that stands in K-PAN’s car park, providing the station with around a fifth of its electricity. He has quite a few questions: “Panda was provided a site of nearly 400 acres absolutely free, federal ethanol incentives, huge property tax reduction over the next 10 years and a 2m road improvement scheme … and there’s been no public accountability, never really a suitable explanation for that failure.”
The town remains hopeful that a buyer will come forward for its new plant
It doesn’t come as much of a surprise to Johnny Trotter. The owner of Bar-G feed yard, one of the biggest in Hereford, says he was the first person approached about supplying the key raw materials for the ethanol plant. History has placed the whiff of scepticism in his nostrils. “Over the last 20, 30 years, there’ve been lots of people with new ideas – pie in the sky ideas – about how we were going to use manure but, at the end of the day, the best thing we use it for is fertiliser.” So, for the time being at least, the plant is a huge white elephant; a sign that the path to renewable energy is not always paved with gold. The people of Hereford hope that it’s temporary hiccup, but in the meantime they are not giving up on alternative fuels. As they wait for a buyer to be found for the ethanol plant, they’re diverting their energy to wind power – harnessing the hot winds that blow through the panhandle. Prospecting the brown gold that lies on the fields may have to wait.

Source:BBC

Young jobless capital is revealed
Hull is the British city with the highest rate of youth unemployment, a study has said, with 9.85% of under-25s claiming jobless benefits in May.Sunderland had the second worst rate of 9.45% with Barnsley third at 9.13%, the Centre for Cities research group said. The average rate of young people claiming unemployment benefit is 5.66%. The Centre for Cities predicted that the number of long-term unemployed young people would rise from 130,000 in May 2009 to 350,000 by December 2011. The figures for the number of long-term unemployed people are based on the International Labour Organisation’s (ILO) figures, instead of the number of people claiming benefits.
The ILO predicts that there will be a total of 2.94 million people out of work by the end of 2011. At the moment, 40% of unemployed people are between 16 and 24, and if that proportion is still the case then 1.18 million young people will be out of work. The Centre for Cities then looked at the proportion of unemployed young people who have been out of work for more than a year to come up with the prediction of 350,000 long-term unemployed 16 to 24 year olds by December 2011. It said that the government’s Future Jobs Fund, which aims to create 150,000 jobs for young people by 2011, would not be enough. “It will not be big enough to help every long-term unemployed young person,” said Dermot Finch, director of the Centre for Cities. “So it will need to be targeted very carefully on those young people in cities that have seen a recent rise in unemployment due to the recession.” The Future Jobs Fund is 1bn that local authorities, companies and other organisations can bid for to fund the creation of jobs for young people who have been out of work for a year or more. At least 50,000 of the jobs created are supposed to be in unemployment hotspots. The deadline for the first round of bids for the fund is 30 June.

Source:BBC

PLACERVILLE, Calif. – Prosecutors in northern California said in court Monday they are considering whether to charge a 14-year-old girl as an adult in the stabbing death of her mother.
The girl’s 19-year-old boyfriend, Steven Colver, pleaded not guilty at a separate hearing Monday and was ordered held without bail.
Authorities have not discussed Tylar Witt’s alleged role or the teens’ alleged motive in the slaying. The body of 47-year-old Joanne Witt was found last week in her El Dorado Hills home east of Sacramento, prompting a search for the teens.
Both were arrested Wednesday at a strip mall south of San Francisco following a two-day search.
The charges against Tylar are sealed because of her age, but El Dorado County Deputy District Attorney Lisette Suder said after the hearing that the girl is charged with murder.
Tylar also is charged with battery on her mother and receiving stolen property — a bank debit card — for a May 18 incident at their home.
If convicted as a juvenile, Tylar would be freed at age 25. As an adult, she could face life in prison.
Witt’s attorney, Mark Ralphs, declined comment. A message left for Colver’s attorney at his office Monday evening was not immediately returned.

ALLENTOWN, Pa. – Kate Gosselin says in divorce papers that she and her husband Jon have lived “separate and apart” for at least two years. Gosselin filed for divorce Monday in Montgomery County Court in Pennsylvania, saying in papers that her 10-year marriage is “irretrievably broken.”
The star of TLC’s “Jon & Kate Plus 8″ also says they have been unable to agree on dividing their assets.
The Gosselins had portrayed themselves as happy until the past few months, even renewing their wedding vows in Hawaii last year.
The divorce filing was obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press.
The series follows Jon and Kate Gosselin as they raise their eight young children, including 8-year-old twins and sextuplets who just turned 5.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.
ALLENTOWN, Pa. (AP) — Kate Gosselin says in divorce papers that she and her husband Jon have been living “separate and apart” for at least two years.
Gosselin filed for divorce Monday in Montgomery County Court in Pennsylvania, saying in papers that her 10-year marriage is “irretrievably broken.”
She also says they have been unable to come to terms on how to divide their assets.
The Gosselins had portrayed themselves as happy up until the past few months, even renewing their wedding vows in Hawaii last year.
The divorce filing was obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press.
The hit TLC series follows Jon and Kate Gosselin as they raise their eight young children, including 8-year-old twins and sextuplets who just turned 5.

“Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen”the most terrible revenge since Montezuma’sis louder, longer and lamer than the 2007 hit it succeeds.
Both Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox run away a lot in new “Transformers”she in slow motion, says Tom Charity.
Which is saying a lot. Long story short: The Decepticons are back, fixed on destroying Sam (Shia LaBeouf), Optimus Prime and the Earth, in that order. Produced by Hasbrothe accompanying trailer for “G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra” suggests that the company’s not-exactly-subtle strategy is to mass market war toys for boys”Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” is a grotesque exercise in hyperinflation. At 149 minutes, it’s longer than “2001,” “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” or “Star Wars.” In fact, this may be the emptiest epic ever made. Director Michael Bay is famous for blowing things up, but you could invade a small country with less firepower than he expends on this extended-length commercial. For all his sound and fury, Bay isn’t much of an action director. There’s no rhythm in his slam-bang cutting, no discipline in his orientation, and there’s so little to distinguish an Autobot (the good Transformers) from a Decepticon (the bad) that at any given moment, it’s a toss-up who is pulverizing who. A guide to the Transformers » Combat scenes are a bewildering blur of crunching metal. On top of that, the humans are essentially bystanders and onlookers here, so that LaBeouf’s primary contribution to the fighting is to run away, duck and cover. It’s the same deal for Megan Fox, only in lingering slow motion. The Defense Department does get the opportunity to show off its hardware, even if most of the missile strikes fall wide of the markprobably because there aren’t enough Decepticons to sustain heavy losses. If he ever needs another job, Bay should consider a move into arms procurement. At least the nonstop carnage is on a scale to satisfy the demolition derby crowd, down to destroying one of the Seven Wonders of the World. The effects work is mostly rock-solid, and the Transformers themselves have a chromatic showroom gleam. As a kind of 21st-century Mechano movie, it could have hit the right buttons.
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It’s not the extravagant fireworks display that rankles, it’s everything else: the dull and pompous exposition, the trite characterizations, the tacky love story, the dismal comic relief and incongruous pretensions to the status of a popcorn epic. Here’s a sample of what Bay throws at the wall in the hope of generating some stray laughs: small dogs humping. Hysterical middle-aged women. Autobots with effeminate voices. A miniature Decepticon dry-humping Fox’s leg. John Turturro improvising. Tasers. A cowardly Latino. A short Arab. Snails. None of these things is funny. Not in this movie, anyway. The truth is, Bay is a rotten fit for this assignment; he’s much too self-important to recalibrate his approach for the younger audience this material demands. Memo to Michael: It’s a toy movie. Your audience is predominantly teen and pre-teen. My kids don’t need to see your salivating soft-porn fantasies or your reactionary militaristic politics.
Most of all, none of us needs to sit through 2½ hours of this inane and mind-numbing movie. Better it should be melted down for scrap. “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” is rated PG-13 and runs 149 minutes. For Entertainment Weekly’s take, click here.
Source:CNN

Mumbai warrants seek 22 suspects
An Indian court has issued arrest warrants for 22 Pakistani citizens suspected of organising the attacks on Mumbai (Bombay) in which 166 died.Three of the warrants over November’s atacks are for the founder and two leaders of the Pakistan-based Islamist militant group, Lashkar-e-Taiba. An Indian prosecutor demanded that Islamabad extradite all the suspects. Pakistan has said that none of the suspects will be extradited to India but could be tried in Pakistani courts. The warrants were issued at the ongoing trial of Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, the only surviving suspected gunman in the attacks, who denies the charges against him. Among those sought are Hafiz Mohammed Saeed, founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba, which India blames for launching the attacks, and Zaki-ur-Rahman Lakhvi and Zarar Shah, two leaders of the group. Pakistan arrested all three of the men in December after Indian diplomats provided a dossier of evidence. However, a court in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore freed Mr Saeed, a hardline Islamic cleric, earlier this month, saying there was no evidence against him. Indian officials heatedly condemned the move. The attacks took place from 26-28 November. India has accused Pakistan-based fighters from Lashkar-e-Taiba of carrying out the attacks. Pakistan has admitted they were partly planned on its soil and the two countries have suffered seriously strained relations.

Source:BBC

BOSTON – Elisabeth Hasselbeck, a co-host of ABC’s “The View,” has been accused of plagiarism.
A lawsuit in federal court in Massachusetts alleges that Hasselbeck lifted “word for word” content from a book on celiac disease written by a self-published author on Cape Cod.
Hasselbeck’s book, “The G-Free Diet: A Gluten-Free Survival Guide,” has appeared over the past month on several best-selling lists.
Author Susan Hassett filed the lawsuit, saying she sent Hasselbeck a copy of her “Living With Celiac Disease” book as a courtesy after the TV celebrity disclosed she had the illness last year.
Hasselbeck said in a statement that the allegations are baseless and she worked “diligently and tirelessly” on the book and was disappointed by efforts to discredit her work.

KABUL – President Barack Obama’s national security adviser insisted Tuesday that the U.S. does not support or oppose any candidate in Afghanistan’s presidential race, but the Afghan government’s top spokesman said the U.S. may be interfering.
President Hamid Karzai is believed to be the favorite in the Aug. 20 vote, though many Afghans and international officials have criticized his performance. Obama’s administration in its early days called Karzai’s government inefficient and corrupt, but U.S. officials have toned down criticism of a leader who may win a second five-year term.
Gen. James Jones, the U.S. national security adviser, met with Karzai and three leading opposition candidates Tuesday. Jones said America “neither supports nor opposes any legitimate candidate” and is interested in creating a level playing field for all.
“Our sole interest is in supporting stability, security and the constitutional government of Afghanistan to which we are contributing significant assistance,” Jones said during a visit to the country’s Independent Electoral Commission.
Karzai’s spokesman, meanwhile, charged that U.S. officials could be taking the strategy too far by meeting with candidates, saying that the U.S. does not have the right to interfere in the political process by consulting with politicians about their political platforms.
“If these meetings are to express views on the candidate’s platform, or confirm the platform of some candidates, that would be a clear violation of national sovereignty and we see that as an interference,” spokesman Humayun Hamidzada said at a news conference.
If the meetings are for the “betterment of the election process,” the Afghan government has no problem with that, Hamidzada said. Any such meetings should be arranged through the Afghan foreign ministry, he said.
Jones first visited Karzai at the presidential palace and later held a joint meeting with the three top opposition candidates: Abdullah Abdullah, a former foreign minister; Ashraf Ghani, a former finance minister; and Mirwais Yasini, a deputy speaker of parliament.
Journalists were invited to take pictures and video at the meeting with the opposition leaders, which took place inside the U.S. Embassy.
“It is our policy to make sure that to the greatest extent possible voters in Afghanistan have the access to the candidates and the candidates have an opportunity to express their views and to be heard,” Jones said. “This is consistent with the way the United States deals with the other governments who have democratic elections.”
He called the elections “key milestones in Afghanistan’s democracy” and called on the government and its international partners to create conditions for a free and fair vote.
Thousands of newly deployed U.S. and NATO troops will help provide security for the election. Afghan officials are studying how to carry out voting in at least 10 rural districts where the government has no control.
Jones is traveling to Afghanistan and Pakistan to discuss the Obama administration’s revamped strategy for the volatile region. He will also stop in India.
In the latest violence Tuesday, three German soldiers German troops were killed in a firefight with insurgents in Kunduz province, the German Defense Ministry said.
In central Afghanistan, a suicide car bomber attacked a convoy of international troops in central Ghazni province, said governor’s spokesman Ismail Jahangir. Two civilians were killed.
Meanwhile, a roadside bomb killed three employees of an Afghan nonprofit group working with the U.N. to deliver assistance in northern Jowzjan province. Their vehicle hit the bomb while they were heading to a project site, said Nader Farhad, a spokesman for the U.N. refugee agency, which was working with the group Development and Humanitarian Services for Afghanistan.
Three police were killed in Kandahar province when their patrol vehicle hit a roadside bomb, said Kandahar police chief Matiullah Khan.
Meanwhile, NATO forces said they had successfully taken control of a Taliban stronghold through a major air operation in southern Helmand province. More than 500 troops were involved in the offensive, which started June 19 and continued through Monday.
NATO forces said in a statement that the goal of the strike had been to secure a number of canal and river crossings to establish a permanent NATO presence in the area and make it possible for residents to vote in August elections.
The statement says “a number of insurgents” were killed, but it did not give an exact figure.

Tories urge ‘proper Iraq U-turn’
David Cameron says he will push Gordon Brown for a “proper U-turn” on the Iraq inquiry in a debate on Wednesday.The Conservative leader told the BBC Mr Brown and his predecessor as PM, Tony Blair, must give evidence in public. The Tories tabled a debate calling for a public inquiry after Mr Brown told MPs it would be held in private. But the prime minister has since said some hearings could be open. He says he will give evidence in public if asked by inquiry chairman Sir John Chilcot. Announcing the long awaited inquiry into the run up, conduct and aftermath of the 2003 invasion last week, Mr Brown told MPs it would be held in private for national security reasons. ‘Complete mess’But, amid criticism from some military figures and Lord Butler, the author of the last report into Iraq, he wrote to Sir John and told him he could hold some public sessions if he chose to. Sir John replied that he felt it was “essential” to hold as much as possible in public – while protecting national security and the need to get “candour” from witnesses. Mr Cameron said his party had been pushing for an inquiry for three years and when the government had finally announced it, they had made a “complete mess of it”.
“The government have only made some changes because of the pressure from the Conservatives but they are doing this hand to mouth and making it up as they go along,” he told the BBC. “They need to come to the House of Commons and say it is predominantly public, they need a wider membership, they need military experience and they need to guarantee that Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, Alastair Campbell [Tony Blair's former press secretary] give evidence in public.” He also said he wanted to see “more military members, with more political experience” on the inquiry panel and an interim report published before the next general election. “That’s why we will press this in the House of Commons tomorrow to get a proper U-turn out of the government.” A Downing Street spokesman said Mr Brown would cooperate fully with the Iraq inquiry, including giving evidence in public if required but he said it would be up to Sir John to decide who to call as witnesses. Earlier Mr Brown denied making a U-turn in accepting some of the inquiry could be held in public. He told the BBC he wanted the inquiry to have “all evidence that is necessary” including confidential material. “I’m trying to find a way of getting an inquiry that can satisfy people that we’re doing everything in our power to get to the truth while at the same time I think everybody understands … you’ve got to take into account national security considerations and that you’ve got serving military who will want to give evidence .. sometimes in private.” He pointed out the Conservatives had been asking for a Franks-style inquiry – a reference to the committee that reviewed the Falklands War – which was partly held in private. Mr Cameron and the Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg have met Sir John to discuss the format of the inquiry. Mr Clegg was told Tony Blair would be asked to give some evidence in public and that witnesses would not be made to give evidence under oath as it was a non-judicial inquiry, but an equivalent format would be found. Mr Clegg’s spokesman said Sir John had made “a sincere attempt to make up for the shortcomings of Gordon Brown’s initial announcement” but he wanted guarantees that there would be proper cross examination of witnesses.

Source:BBC

A surrogate mother gave birth to twin girls for Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick, a publicist for the couple said.
Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick are the new parents of twin daughters.
“The babies are doing beautifully, and the entire family is over the moon,” the publicist said, adding that the girls were born Monday afternoon. The couple, married for 12 years, revealed in April that they were expecting twins “with the generous help of a surrogate.” It was not said whether the surrogate was the genetic mother of the twins or whether embryos from Parker, 44, had been transferred to her. “Marion Loretta Elwell Broderick weighed five pounds, 11 ounces and Tabitha Hodge Broderick weighed six pounds,” the publicist said. “Both Hodge and Elwell are family names on Parker’s side.” Parker is best known for the popular television series and movie “Sex and the City,” while Broderick gained fame as the main character in the movie “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.” They have a son, James Wilkie, 6. He was named after Broderick’s father, actor James Broderick.
Source:CNN

A photo showing Iranian clerics prominently participating in an anti-government protest speaks volumes about the new face of Iran’s opposition movement.
Clerics in robes and turbans join rallies to protest the disputed presidential election results in Iran.more photos »
In a blatant act of defiance, a group of Mullahs took to the streets of Tehran, to protest election results that returned incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to power. Whether these clerics voted for Ahmadinejad or one of the opposition candidates is unknown. What is important here, is the decision to march against the will of Iran’s supreme leader who called the results final and declared demonstrations illegal. In the Islamic Republic of Iran, Mullahs rule supreme. They are the country’s conservative clerics; the guardians of the Islamic revolution and its ideologies. They’re loyal only to God and Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iranian opposition supporters took to the streets in protest of their candidate Mir Hossein Moussavi’s loss in the June 12 presidential elections. They alleged the elections were rigged. Moussavi asked to annul the results and hold new vote. Ayatollah Khamenei rejected the proposal, backed Ahmadinejad and called on people not to demonstrate or else face the consequences.
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When the protests began, Iranian students for the most part, especially women were visible and in the lead. Their numbers dwindled over time. Some blame police and militia crackdown and intimidation. Social networks swelled with amateur video showing protesters beaten or shot at. Their screams of pain and even death were caught on tape by fellow protesters using mainly cell phone cameras. Throughout all that, some clerics of the Islamic Republic have spoken up against the stifling of people’s right to voice their opinion and in support of new elections. On his Web site, Grand Ayatollah Hussein Ali Montazeri described government efforts to crackdown on the protests as threatening the legitimacy of the Islamic Republic because it was no longer representing all the people. Moussavi ally and former president Mohammad Khatami also said in a statement that to “protest in a civil manner… is the definite right of the people and all must respect that.” The graphic pictures out of Iran in the past week have shown time and again, making statements is one thing and taking to the streets is another.
Iranian opposition at the leadership level and in the streets now has new faces, made up of those who had opposing ideologies before the election. One symbol of that has become a nightly tradition in Iran. Secular or religious, Iranians go to their rooftops every night.. and shout out “Allahu Akbar”God is greatand “down with the dictator.”
Source:CNN

Chechens ‘to fight Ingush rebels’
The president of the Russian republic of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, says Moscow has ordered him to help fight insurgents in neighbouring Ingushetia.The president of Ingushetia, Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, was wounded in an apparent assassination attempt on Monday. Speaking to the Reuters news agency, Mr Kadyrov said the Russian leadership had told him to intensify operations in both Chechnya and Ingushetia. Both republics have experienced an upsurge in violence over recent months. President Yevkurov is still fighting for his life in hospital. Human rights abusesMr Kadyrov, whose own father Akhmad was killed by a bomb in 2004, has brought relative calm to Chechnya, but human rights groups accuse his militias of widespread abuses. He has often been accused by critics for being responsible for ordering the murder in 2006 of Russian investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya, something he has repeatedly denied. On Tuesday Mr Kadyrov said he had been ordered by Russia’s Dmitry Medvedev to run operations in both countries. He told Reuters: “He told me to intensify actions… including in Ingushetia. I will personally control the operations… and I am sure in the near future there will be good results.” In October Mr Yevkurov replaced Murat Zyazikov, who was criticised for boosting the rebellion with his heavy-handed tactics.

Source:BBC

WASHINGTON – A law enforcement official said Monday that indicted billionaire R. Allen Stanford was en route to Texas to face charges that he ran a 7 billion swindle.
Stanford was being taken by U.S. Marshals from Virginia, where he was arrested Thursday, to Houston, where he was indicted by a federal grand jury. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because discussing the transfer was not authorized.
The official said the trip would consist of two separate flights and Stanford should be in Houston sometime Tuesday morning.
Stanford was indicted last week on charges that his international banking empire was really just a massive Ponzi scheme.
He made an initial court appearance in Richmond, Va., and a further detention hearing is scheduled to take place in Houston.
The indictment unsealed Friday in Houston charged that Stanford and other executives at Stanford Financial Group falsely claimed to have grown 1.2 billion in assets in 2001 to roughly 8.5 billion by the end of 2008.
Investigators say that even as Stanford claimed healthy returns for roughly 30,000 investors, he was secretly diverting more than 1.6 billion in personal loans to himself.
Court papers charge that Stanford and top executives orchestrated the massive fraud by advising clients to buy certificates of deposit from the Antigua-based Stanford International Bank. Stanford and the other executives were charged with wire fraud, mail fraud and conspiracy to commit securities fraud. Stanford also was charged with conspiring to obstruct a proceeding of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Dick DeGuerin, Stanford’s lawyer, said in a written statement Friday that Stanford was “confident that a fair jury will find him not guilty of any criminal wrongdoing.”
Stanford could face as much as 250 years in prison if convicted on all charges in the 21-count indictment, officials said.

BOSTON – The author of a health book has sued Elisabeth Hasselbeck, accusing the co-host of ABC’s “The View” of plagiarism.
The lawsuit, filed Monday in federal court in Massachusetts, alleges that Hasselbeck lifted “word for word” content from a book written by Susan Hassett, a self-published author on Cape Cod.
Hasselbeck’s book, “The G-Free Diet: A Gluten-Free Survival Guide,” has appeared in the past month on several best-seller lists.
Hassett said in the lawsuit that she sent Hasselbeck a personal note and copy of her “Living With Celiac Disease” book as a courtesy after the television celebrity disclosed she had the illness last year.
Celiac disease is a digestive disorder associated with people who cannot digest gluten, a protein found in wheat, rye and barley.
Hassett said Hasselbeck’s book “slavishly reproduces” lists and passages from her own work and includes inaccuracies about celiac disease that can be “misleading and dangerous” for people with the illness.
A lawyer for Hassett declined to comment Tuesday. A phone message left for Hasselbeck’s agent was not immediately returned.
The lawsuit seeks to block the sale of Hasselbeck’s book and asks that copies of it be withdrawn from distributors and stores.

The news this weekend that New York Times journalist David Rohde had escaped from Taliban captors turned out to be a happy ending to a story few people had ever heard. Rohde and an Afghan reporter jumped over a wall after being held hostage in Afghanistan and Pakistan for seven months. (Their driver, also held captive, did not escape with them.) Now that Rohde is safe, some questions are arising — how did the Times manage to keep the story under wraps for so long … and was that the right thing to do?
New York Times executive editor Bill Keller told CNN the decision to ask other news outlets not to report the story was an “agonizing position that we revisited over and over again.” The Times explained:
“From the early days of this ordeal, the prevailing view among David’s family, experts in kidnapping cases, officials of several governments and others we consulted was that going public could increase the danger to David and the other hostages. The kidnappers initially said as much.”
The plea worked — 40 international news outlets agreed not to report on the the story. Speaking at an event Monday night, Keller said Rohde thanked him for making the decision. The Observer quoted Keller:
“I was relieved this morning when I talked to David and he said, ‘By the way, thank you for not making a public event out of this. We heard the people who kidnapped me were obsessed with my value in the marketplace. If there were a lot of news stories, they would have held me much tighter.”
Many news outlets who agreed not to publish the story stand by their decision, saying that Rohde came home safe, and that’s the most important thing. And author and activist Asra Q. Nomani writes in The Daily Beast that Rohde may indeed be safe today due to lessons learned from the much-publicized kidnapping of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl:
Behind the scenes, some Pakistani investigators, FBI kidnapping specialists, and Wall Street Journal staffers didn’t agree with the strategy, with one arguing: “Get Danny’s face off TV!” Humanizing Danny was a gamble that would have been seen as brilliant if he had come out alive. Alas, he didn’t. No one is to blame. We all just do the best we know how to do at the time.
The Christian Science Monitor went through a similar situation in 2006 when its reporter Jill Carroll was kidnapped in Iraq (she was ultimately released):
The paper was criticized in some quarters for seeking a brief news blackout. That effort ended after about two days, with major news outlets saying they could not continue to sit on a significant story. Given that Ms. Carroll’s captors were eager for publicity — issuing a number of videos to Arab TV stations — keeping the story quiet for a long time would have proved impossible…. The way the Times handled Rohde’s case reflects the set of informal rules the press is developing to deal with new kinds of conflict, and the new kinds of reporting that they require.
But there’s also some concern about how the media censors itself. Kelly McBride, a journalism ethics teacher at the Poynter Institute, told NPR she was surprised that the plan even worked:
“I find it a little disturbing, because it makes me wonder what else 40 international news organizations have agreed not to tell the public.”
McBride went on to explain that there was likely a happy medium where some information could have been published while keeping the dangers to Rohde to a minimum: “If it hadn’t been a journalist, I wonder if they would have made the decisions that they made.”

-Sarah Parsons
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Hammers get Inter striker Jimenez
West Ham boss Gianfranco Zola has made Inter Milan striker Luis Jimenez his first signing of the summer.The Chilean, 25, joins the Hammers on a season-long loan with a view to a possible permanent move. Jimenez, nicknamed the Wizard, will officially join the Premier League club on 1 July pending a successful medical. “I can’t promise anything but I am going to everything possible to do a good job for the club,” Jimenez told West Ham’s website. “I can’t promise anything, but I am going to do everything possible to do a good job for the club.”
Jimenez has won 20 international caps, but last played for his country in March 2008 as he concentrated on winning a place in Inter’s attack. Although this meant he failed to meet the necessary quota of international appearances to pass work permit rules, the case put forward by the Hammers – with the support of Inter manager Jose Mourinho – to the Football Association secured his switch. Jimenez made his name in Italy at Serie B side Ternana, where he scored 25 goals in 88 league appearances between 2002 and 2007. Short spells at Fiorentina and Lazio followed before a loan spell at the Nerazzurri was made permanent in the summer of 2008. Jimenez will have to prove himself in a Hammers front line that already includes Carlton Cole, Dean Ashton, Savio Nsereko and Diego Tristan if he is to extend his stay at Upton Park. Manager Gianfranco Zola has converted last season’s loan signings of defender Herita Ilunga and goalkeeper Peter Kurucz into permanent deals.

Source:BBC

Third seed Andy Murray is through to the second round of the Wimbledon men’s singles, but he dropped a set to American Robert Kendrick before eventually progressing 7-5 6-7 6-3 6-4.
Murray was taken to four sets before eventually reaching the second round of the men’s singles at Wimbledon.
Murray, who has a realistic chance of becoming the first British man to win the tournament since Fred Perry in 1936, now faces Latvian Ernests Gulbis for a place in the last 32 after a tough match that lasted over two-and-a-half hours. The Scot got off to an ideal start, breaking his opponent’s serve in the opening game and winning the first 11 points on his own to seize an early advantage. Kendrick levelled things up at 4-4 but Murray broke again to clinch the set in the 12th game of the set. The second set was dropped on a tie-break but Murray resumed control of the match when the American double faulted twice to concede a 4-2 lead in the third. Kendrick, world ranked 76th, was broken in the fifth game of the fourth set when Murray zipped a backhand past the American and, from then on, Murray held his serve to secure a hard-fought victory. Murray told the BBC: “It was a tough match. He served great for three sets. He was very aggresive and I didn’t play as well as I would have liked, although I was happy with my serve. “I didn’t hit my groundstrokes well to begin with, but the longer the match went on the better that I got and I’m happy to have gone through,” added the British number one. Meanwhile, Andy Roddick maintained his record of never having lost in the first round at Wimbledonbut he was far from convincing against France’s Jeremy Chardy.
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Sixth seed Roddick, twice a beaten finalist here, opened the match with two aces and raced into a 5-0 lead for the loss of just three points in 12 minutes on Centre Court. But after taking the first set 6-3 and the second on a tie-break, Roddick lost the third set and looked bereft of ideas before a timely ‘comfort break’ helped the former world number one regain his composure and secure a 6-3 7-6 4-6 6-3 victory. In other matches, fifth seed Juan Martin del Potro produced the most impressive performance of the day with a crushing straight sets victory over Frenchman Arnaud Clement on Court One. The Argentine raced to a 6-3 6-1 6-2 victory in just 97 minutes to set up an intriguing second-round clash with former champion Lleyton Hewittwho eased past American Robby Ginepri in straight sets. “Clement is a good player. He knows how you play on this surface and reached the quarterfinals last year. I prefer hard courts for sure, but I want to learn how to play on this surface,” Del Potro told reporters. Hewitt, the 2002 champion but unseeded this year, said in a press conference: “It’s gonna be a tough match. He is a class player. He was only a couple of points from maybe winning the French Open a couple of weeks ago.
“It’s a different surface and he hasn’t had the best success but, as I said, he is a class player. He’s an all-court player. He’s got a big game. It’s going to be a good challenge.” There were also first round victories for seeds Nikolay Davydenko (12), Tommy Haas (24), Tomas Berdych (20), Radek Stepanek (23), David Ferrer (16) and Fernando Gonzalez (10).
Source:CNN

COLUMBIA, South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford will return to his office Wednesday following widespread confusion over his whereabouts, a spokesman for the South Carolina Republican said.
Gov. Mark Sanford was hiking along the Appalachian Trail, a spokesman said late Monday.
Joel Sawyer, Sanford’s communication’s director, also said in a statement the governor called his chief of staff Tuesday morning and was “somewhat taken aback by all of the interest this trip has gotten.” The mystery surrounding his whereabouts was solved late Monday when a Sanford spokesman said he was hiking along the Appalachian Trail. “I apologize for taking so long to send this update, and was waiting to see if [we had] a more definitive idea of what part of the trail he was on before we did so,” Sawyer said in an e-mail to reporters. Sanford’s whereabouts were unaccounted for Monday when he stepped out of the public eye following a bruising session with the state Legislature. Even his wife, Jenny, said she did not know where he was, The Associated Press reported, according to The State newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina. “I want to emphasize that this isn’t something that either staff or Mrs. Sanford is concerned about,” Sawyer wrote Monday night. “As we said earlier today, it isn’t unusual for the governor to be out of pocket for several days after the legislative session. We knew that he would be difficult to reach, and that he would be checking in infrequently. Given the media attention this has generated, we’ll obviously update you once we have some more specifics to pass along.” Earlier, Sawyer told CNN in a statement, “Before leaving last week, he let staff know his whereabouts and that he’d be difficult to reach. Should any emergencies arise between the times in which he checks in, our staff would obviously be in contact with other state officials as the situation warrants before making any decisions.” Sawyer did not address Jenny Sanford’s comments to the AP.
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On Tuesday, U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-South Carolina, said that Sanford should have told the state’s lieutenant governor he would be traveling out of state before embarking on a hiking trip along the Appalachian Trail. “I wish he had called the lieutenant governor and at least alerted him to the fact that he was going to be out of pocket,” Clyburn told CNN. “That way we would not have any kind of possible crisis.” But Clyburn, the highest-ranking African-American in Congress, said he understands the need for politicians to escape from the public eye every now and then. “I think that we give up a lot of our privacy when he get into public office,” he said. “I went to the barbershop this morning,” Clyburn said. “I didn’t tell my security detail. I think a lot of time we do that. So I don’t see any real harm in that. But leaving the state is another question.” “I wish he had chosen the Palmetto Trail to hike upon, that way he could have stayed within the state and not created a possible crisis,” he said. State Democrats, meanwhile, are taking Sanford’s trip as a political opportunity. The South Carolina Democratic Party will host a virtual town hall meeting Tuesday, which is open to all residents who wish to ask questions to the governor. “South Carolinians have been very concerned about Gov. Sanford’s actions over the last eight months. They have a right to ask the Governor about our state’s unemployment rate, the stimulus and his reasons for abandoning the state.This virtual town hall meeting will give these concerned citizens a real opportunity to ask these questions,” said SCDP Chair Carol Fowler in a press release. The town hall meeting, which will be held on the SCDP website, begins today at 4 p.m. ET. Another key DemocratState Senate Minority Leader John Landaccused Sanford of engaging in “erratic” behavior. “We’ve been concerned by the governor’s erratic behavior for some time,” Land said in a prepared statement. “We’re praying for him and his family. I hope he is safe and that he contacts the first lady and his family soon.” But State Sen. Jake Knotts, a fellow Republican and adversary of Sanford, told CNN that South Carolina law enforcement officials informed him Saturday that the governor had taken a South Carolina Law Enforcement Division vehicle on Thursday and had not yet returned. “I found out that he was taking frequent trips at odd times of the night in a SLED car with no security,” Knotts said. “He would be driving. I got wind that he had taken another one of these types of capers last Thursday, and that nobody knew who he was with. Knotts added that on Saturday, he “was getting wind that he had not shown back up and nobody knew where he was.” He said a SLED official told him Monday that Sanford still had not returned. “He needs to transfer the power and let the lieutenant governor, which the constitution requires, let him be the person that makes the decisions.” Knotts said. “My concern was, ‘Who would be in charge should an emergency arrive for the safety of the people and citizens of the state?’ “
Source:CNN

A young Iranian woman named Neda is gunned down in one of the most iconic images of the last week. Another walks down the street, defiantly showing off her hair and body in a revealing dress. And still another woman says she’s not scared of paramilitary forcesno matter how many times she gets beaten.
Women have taken to the streets of Tehran. “This shows the new face of Iran,” one expert says.more photos »
“When they want to hit me, I say hit. I have been hit so many times and this time it doesn’t matter. I just want to help my brothers and sisters,” says the 19-year-old woman whose identity is being withheld by CNN for her safety. Amid the clashes and chaos, there has been a recurring scene on the streets of Tehran: Women, in their scarves and traditional clothing, at the heart of the struggle. Some are seen collecting rocks for ammunition against security forces, while video showed one woman trying to protect a fallen pro-government militiaman wounded in the government crackdown. At Shiraz University, riot police clubbed women dressed in black robes. “Don’t beat them, you bastards,” one man yells. When security forces come to attack, the 19-year-old woman protester says she looks them in the eye and asks: “Why do you kill your brother? Why do you hit your mother, your sisters?” “We all tell them, if you’re Iranian, you shouldn’t do that to your people, to your own country’s people,” she told CNN by phone. Watch woman stand up in defiance to power » But it’s the woman known as Neda who has become the symbol of women on the front line that has galvanized opponents of the Iranian regime. In a widely circulated video, Neda is seen in the middle of protests over the weekend. She is shot and drops to the ground. Blood runs from the side of her mouth as a few people, including her music professor traveling with her, press on her chest and shout her name. One pleads, “Do not be afraid.” The camera closes in on her face as her eyes roll back and are still. Karim Sadjadpour, an associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said the image of Neda and other women at the protests showed the difference from the 1979 revolution. “The iconic pictures from the revolution 30 years ago were bearded men. This shows the new face of Iranthe young women who are the vanguards of Iran.” See images of protests »
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Abbas Milani, the director of Iranian Studies at Stanford University, agreed that Neda was becoming a symbol for all the women who have become involved in the turmoil that has followed the disputed election. “She will become the image of this brutality and the rolethe truly significant rolethat women have played in fighting this regime. I think that women are the unsung heroes of the last few years. They are the ones who began chipping away the absolute authority of the mullahs.” The protests haven’t just been confined to Iran’s everyday women. The daughter of former President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani was arrested over the weekend while taking part in a protest. She was later released. In addition, Zahra Rahnavard, the wife of Mir Hossein Moussavi, whose apparent defeat in Iran’s presidential election has sparked the unprecedented demonstrations, campaigned for her husband, an unusual step in politics in Iran. Her public support of his candidacy underscored his professed support for women’s rights. Learn more about the timeline of events » And in another act of defiance, apparently from after the election, a woman who appears to be in her 20s or 30s walks down a street in Tehran, showing off her body in a revealing dress and displaying her long, curly hair. In Iran, women are forbidden to show their hair, and they must keep their bodies covered. “Lady, is it a revolution already?” one female driver says as she passes by. The 19-year-old demonstrator, who spoke by phone with CNN, says women are out in the streets in much larger numbers than men. She provided CNN with images of paramilitary forces on Saturday confronting protests, just before she was beaten. She says she was beaten again during protests Monday. “The women are all together and they say, ‘We’re going to stay here.’ There are so more [women] than men,” she said, referring to the number of women protesters. “Until now, the women didn’t have a chance to express themselves, to say that we are important in our country’s future. But now, they can play an important role in our freedom. It’s a good chance for us.”
Is she optimistic? “I’m absolutely optimistic, because history has taught me that all the revolutions start like this,” she said. “Every revolution has violence and some people die, but nothing stays like this forever.”
Source:CNN

Kidnapper ‘won’t be extradited’
By Stephen Gibbs
BBC News, Mexico City
Mexican President Felipe Calderon has said a French woman who was convicted of kidnapping will have to serve her 60-year sentence in Mexico.The French government had been urging the Mexican authorities to extradite Florence Cassez, who has long pleaded her innocence. But Mr Calderon said Mexican law must be upheld. She was arrested in 2005 at a ranch near Mexico City where three kidnapping victims had been held for two months. One of the victims was only eight years old. The case of Florence Cassez has long been controversial in both Mexico and France. It later emerged the arrest, as seen by the public, was in fact a re-enactment staged by the police for the media.
Ms Cassez has always said her only connection with the case was that she was the girlfriend of the leading kidnapper. But her victims identified her, and said she took an active role in their abductions. Many people in France believe she is innocent while many in Mexico see her as guilty. The case had been discussed by the Mexican and French presidents, and it had been expected she would be returned to France soon to serve out the rest of her sentence. But in an unusual address to the nation, President Calderon said she would serve her 60-year sentence in Mexico. The French government had protested at the lengthy jail term. Under French law the maximum sentence for kidnapping is 30 years. Mr Calderon, who has staked his presidency on taking a tough stance of kidnapping and organised crime, said: “Nobody in Mexico, regardless of their social or economic status or their nationality, is above the law.”

Source:BBC

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) –
A U.S. drone attacked militants in Pakistan in Tuesday, killing at least 45 of them, Pakistani intelligence officials said.
The militants were meeting after a funeral in the South Waziristan region, a stronghold of Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud.
(Reporting by Robert Birsel; Editing by Sophie Hares)

CHICAGO – An off-duty Chicago police officer convicted of pummeling a female bartender half his size was sentenced Tuesday to two years probation and anger management classes for the videotaped attack that appeared worldwide on the Internet and cable news channels.
Cook County Circuit Judge John Fleming also gave Anthony Abbate a home curfew of 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. and ordered him to perform 130 hours of community service.
“No one in recent memory … has done more to tarnish the reputation of the Chicago Police Department than Anthony Abbate,” Cook County Assistant State’s Attorney LuAnn Snow said Tuesday.
Prosecutors had asked for prison for Abbate — he could have been sentenced to up to five years behind bars — but the judge said he didn’t see aggravating factors to justify a prison term.
“If I believed sentencing Anthony Abbate to prison would stop people from getting drunk and hitting people, I’d give him the maximum sentence,” Fleming said.
Earlier this month, the judge rejected Abbate’s claim he acted in self-defense and convicted him of aggravated battery. A tavern security video shows a drunken, 250-pound Abbate punching and kicking the 125-pound Karolina Obrycka as she tended bar in February 2007. The altercation happened after she refused to serve him more drinks.
The video captured a lot of attention as another example of misconduct by Chicago police. Then-Superintendent Phil Cline suddenly announced his retirement shortly after the video surfaced and former FBI official Jody Weis was appointed to the spot with an order to clean up the department’s image.
Abbate acknowledged during the trial that he was drunk during the incident. But he said Obrycka pushed him first as she tried to remove him from behind the bar.
“He’s not a bad man, he did something bad,” said defense attorney Peter Hickey.
Abbate has been relieved of his duties and pay, Chicago Police Department spokesman Officer Robert Perez said.
The department is looking into “separation proceedings,” Perez said. Weis has said he wants Abbate fired.

NEW YORK – Peace and love will last a lot longer than three days at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, which is celebrating Woodstock’s 40th anniversary with a new exhibit.
From July 3 to November 29, the Cleveland-based center will feature items from the legendary three-day weekend in upstate New York. The exhibit will also include the original written plan for the event from its producer, Michael Lang.
There are an array of events that are being planned to commemorate the anniversary of Woodstock, which took place from August 15 to August 17 in 1969 and featured Janis Joplin, the Who, Jimi Hendrix and dozens other rock acts.
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On the Net:

http://www.rockhall.com.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) –
Ed McMahon, a fixture on U.S. late-night television for 30 years as the full-throated announcer and sidekick for Johnny Carson on NBC's “The Tonight Show,” died on Tuesday at age 86, his spokesman said.
The veteran TV personality, best known for his nightly introduction of Carson in a deep, booming voice with the drawn-out line, “Heeeeeeeeere's Johnny!” died at a Los Angeles-area hospital, spokesman Howard Bragman said.
“He died early this morning with his wife and loved ones by his side,” Bragman said.
McMahon had been battling pneumonia and other illnesses. Bragman declined to confirm or deny reports that the performer had been diagnosed with bone cancer.
Outgoing, affable and possessing a robust, baritone voice, McMahon began his career with stints as a bingo caller, carnival barker and boardwalk pitchman before becoming a broadcast announcer and TV host.
Trained as a U.S. Marine fighter pilot during World War II, he flew missions in Korea in the 1950s.
He went on to become one of the most celebrated sidekicks in TV history as Carson's right-hand man on “The Tonight Show” starting in 1962, stopping in 1992 when Carson retired as host.
The gregarious McMahon, a frequent comic foil for the Carson during ad-libbed banter at the top of the show, was familiar even off camera for his “Hi-oooooh!” and frequent guffaws at Carson's monologue jokes, especially when a punch line fell flat.
Carson died in January 2005 at age 79.
ENDURING CATCHPHRASE
McMahon's signature introduction of Carson endured as a catch-phrase. Jack Nicholson's maniacal character in the 1980 movie thriller “The Shining” announced “Heeeeeeere's Johnny!” as he burst through a door to menace his wife with an ax.
McMahon was a leading figure on several other television shows, including the syndicated talent show “Star Search,” which helped launch the careers of a number of well-known performers, including comedian Dennis Miller.
The long-time co-host of Jerry Lewis' annual telethon benefiting the Muscular Dystrophy Association, McMahon also became well-known as the presenter of the American Family Publishing sweepstakes prize and as a pitchman on numerous TV commercials.
McMahon made headlines a year ago when he defaulted on a $4.8 million mortgage on his six-bedroom Beverly Hills mansion, although he later found a buyer for the house to avoid foreclosure.
The television star blamed his financial woes on having broken his neck about 18 months earlier, leaving him unable to work. He also sued Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, accusing the hospital of failing to diagnose the neck fracture and botching two subsequent operations.
He was later sued for not paying a lawyer he hired for his daughter in an unrelated matter.
(Reporting by Bob Tourtellotte and Steve Gorman; Editing by Daniel Trotta and Patricia Zengerle)