Judge to US government: stop censoring 9/11 hearings

GUANTANAMO BAY: A military judge overseeing September 11 pre-trial hearings revealed Thursday the government had censored discussion of secret CIA prisons from outside the courtroom, and angrily ordered such censorship not happen again.

The proceedings at the high-security courtroom where five alleged 9/11 plotters are to be tried are heard in the press gallery and in a room where human rights groups and victims' families sit, with a 40 second delay.

This is done so a court security officer, or CSO, sitting next to the judge can block anything deemed classified.

The officer has two switches -- "stop" and "go" -- and spectators behind a thick glass window can see a red light go on when proceedings are in fact being silenced.

Judge James Pohl disclosed Thursday that the government -- by means of the so-called original classification authority (OCA) -- also has a switch, but outside the courtroom, that allows it to cut off the broadcast of the proceedings.

On Monday part of the proceedings were censored when the discussion touched on secret CIA prisons where the suspects were held and abused.

The judge said he was stunned and angry that the censoring mechanism was activated from outside the court, without his knowledge.

This must stop, Pohl said, adding that "the judge and only the judge" can decide what happens in his courtroom.

On Thursday, the last day of this round of hearings, Pohl said the government must "disconnect the outside feed or ability to suspend the broadcast" from outside his court.

The ruling means censoring can go on, but it cannot be activated from outside the courtroom.

The judge said the "public has no unfettered right to access classified info. However, the only person who is authorised to close the courtroom is the judge."

"This order takes effect immediately," he said.

The Justice Department prosecutor in charge of classified material questions, Joanna Baltes, had said the OCA had the possibility of controlling the outside feed.

So it seems it was the OCA that pulled the plug on the sound Monday, as it was the CIA that ran the secret prisons where terror suspects, including the five defendants here, were subjected to "enhanced interrogation" methods.

The harsh interrogations have included techniques like waterboarding, a form of simulated drowning, that are widely regarded as torture.

Thursday was the last day of the latest session of pre-trial hearings. The five defendants, including self-proclaimed 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohamed, were not present as they are boycotting the sessions.

The 9/11 trial at this US base on the southeastern tip of Cuba is not expected to start for at least a year.

The five men accused of plotting the suicide attacks against the Twin Towers and the Pentagon, which killed nearly 3,000 people, face the death penalty if convicted.

Before Pohl's ruling, defence attorneys filed an emergency request seeking to suspend the proceedings on grounds that a dispute over the confidentiality of their conversations with their clients had not been resolved.

David Nevin, lawyer for Mohamed, said all his conversations with his client -- including during prison visits and even in the courtroom -- were being recorded.

The next hearings are scheduled to begin February 11, and the confidentiality issue is to be addressed. Pohl has ordered the defendants be present for that hearing.

Before adjourning until that date, Pohl summoned Bruce MacDonald, who oversees all US military courts, to testify. This was another setback for the government because it had opposed his testifying.

- AFP/jc

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Ensure our states aren’t hit by your Brahmaputra dams: India to China

NEW DELHI: India took an unusually sharp stand against China's unilateral moves to dam the Brahmaputra, saying it had "established user rights" to the river. Asserting itself for the first time, India asked China "to ensure that the interests of downstream states are not harmed by any activities in upstream areas".

In its new blueprint for the energy sector for 2011-2015, China announced it would build three hydropower bases on the Yarlung Tsangpo river, at Dagu, Jiacha and Jiexu. A hydropower station at Zangmu is already under construction. The Chinese announcement earlier this week was not preceded by any consultation or sharing of information with New Delhi.

While this actually indicates China's consistent policy that it does not believe it needs to engage India on this, the Indian response represents a distinct change in policy. Thus far, India's stated position was that New Delhi "agreed" with the Chinese statement that it would "not hurt India's interests".

As recently as March 2012, during the visit of Chinese foreign minister Yang Jiechi, external affairs ministry officials said on record, "India and China have had many exchanges on this subject including at the highest levels, between the prime ministers of the two countries. The Chinese side has on many occasions told us that they will not do anything on trans-border rivers which will hurt the interests of the lower riparian countries like India. Our own look into this whole question has also led us to believe that what the Chinese are telling us is correct."

Answering a question in Rajya Sabha in November 2011, the then foreign minister SM Krishna said, "The Chinese premier, during his visit to India in December 2010, said that China's development of upstream areas will never harm downstream interests. Government has ascertained that the dam at Zangmu in the Tibet Autonomous Region is a run-of-the-river hydro-electric project, which does not store water and will not adversely impact the downstream areas in India."

In fact, in the past few years, India has consistently tried to play down the threat that Chinese construction poses. Even when local reports said that in Pasighat town in East Siang district of Arunachal Pradesh, the water level of the Brahmaputra river receded so much that it was almost dry. In fact, Chinese spokespersons have even quoted Krishna to show that India "understood" the Chinese position.

In October, 2011, Jiao Yong, China's vice-minister for water resources, was quoted as saying, "The Yarlung Tsangpo (Brahmaputra) river flows across China's Qinghai Tibet plateau. Many Chinese citizens have been calling for greater usage of this river. However, considering the technical difficulties, the actual need of diversion, and the possible impact on the environment and state-to-state relations, the Chinese government has no plans to conduct any diversification project in this river."

Clearly a lot has changed since then. For India, the biggest problem is not merely that China continues to build dams on the river with impunity, and might implement its long-term plan of diverting the waters of the Brahmaputra to its parched northeast. It is that China refuses to accede to any international rule of law. There is no bilateral water treaty between India and China. China is not ready to even discuss the issue with India.

Indian officials say a large proportion of the catchment of the Brahmaputra lies within Indian territory, which will not be affected by the Chinese dams. Within the government, there is an urgency to dam the waters of the Brahmaputra in Arunachal Pradesh and Assam. Some of this makes Bangladesh uneasy, but India is going out of its way to accommodate Dhaka's concerns even to the extent of giving it a stake in these projects. None of this is forthcoming from China to India, however.

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Hedgehog Alert! Prickly pets can carry salmonella

NEW YORK (AP) — Add those cute little hedgehogs to the list of pets that can make you sick.

In the last year, 20 people were infected by a rare but dangerous form of salmonella bacteria, and one person died in January. The illnesses were linked to contact with hedgehogs kept as pets, according to a report released Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Health officials on Thursday say such cases seem to be increasing.

The CDC recommends thoroughly washing your hands after handling hedgehogs and cleaning pet cages and other equipment outside.

Other pets that carry the salmonella bug are frogs, toads, turtles, snakes, lizards, chicks and ducklings.

Seven of the hedgehog illnesses were in Washington state, including the death — an elderly man from Spokane County who died in January. The other cases were in Alabama, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Oregon.

In years past, only one or two illnesses from this salmonella strain have been reported annually, but the numbers rose to 14 in 2011, 18 last year, and two so far this year.

Children younger than five and the elderly are considered at highest risk for severe illness, CDC officials said.

Hedgehogs are small, insect-eating mammals with a coat of stiff quills. In nature, they sometimes live under hedges and defend themselves by rolling up into a spiky ball.

The critters linked to recent illnesses were purchased from various breeders, many of them licensed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, CDC officials said. Hedgehogs are native to Western Europe, New Zealand and some other parts of the world, but are bred in the United States.

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Online:

CDC report: http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr

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Beyonce Admits to Singing With Pre-Recorded Track

Jan 31, 2013 3:52pm

Credit: Christopher Polk/Getty Images. 

Beyonce proved the critics wrong at a press conference for the Super Bowl.

As the singer walked on stage, she asked the audience to please stand. She then kicked off the press conference with a show-stopping, live performance of the national anthem.

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“I am a perfectionist and one thing about me, I practice until my feet bleed, and I did not have time to rehearse with the orchestra. It was a live television show and a very, very important emotional show for me. One of my proudest moments,” Beyonce said when asked what happened at the inauguration.

“Due to the weather, due to the delay, due to no proper sound check, I did not feel comfortable taking a risk. It was about the president and the inauguration and I wanted to make him and my country proud. So I decided to sing along with my pre-recorded track, which is very common in the music industry, and I’m very proud of my performance,” she said.

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The 31-year-old singer also guaranteed that she will be singing live during Sunday’s Super Bowl halftime show.

“I will absolutely be singing live. I am well rehearsed and I will absolutely be singing live,” Beyonce said. “This is what I was born to do. What I’m born for.”

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After reporters were told to move onto another topic, Beyonce said she was honored and humbled to have the opportunity to perform at the Super Bowl, especially in New Orleans, since her family is from Louisiana.  As for her setlist, she said it was difficult to choose which songs to perform, adding, “trying to condense a career into 12 minutes is not easy.”

Her plans after the Super Bowl?  “I’m going to enjoy my daughter,” Beyonce laughed.  “I’ve missed her, I’m working so hard and I keep saying, ‘Mommy will be done Sunday at nine o’clock!’”

Beyonce also said that she “might” have an announcement at the end of her performance — she hinted that it would have to do with a tour.  In addition, she refused to confirm a Destiny’s Child reunion onstage.

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Syria protests over Israel attack, warns of "surprise"

BEIRUT/AMMAN (Reuters) - Syria protested to the United Nations on Thursday over an Israeli air strike on its territory and warned of a possible "surprise" response.

The foreign ministry summoned the head of the U.N. force in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights to deliver the protest a day after Israel hit what Syria said was a military research centre and diplomats said was a weapons convoy heading for Lebanon.

"Syria holds Israel and those who protect it in the Security Council fully responsible for the results of this aggression and affirms its right to defend itself, its land and sovereignty," Syrian television quoted it as saying.

The ministry said it considered Wednesday's Israeli attack to be a violation of a 1974 military disengagement agreement which followed their last major war, and demanded the U.N. Security Council condemn it unequivocally.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed "grave concern". "The Secretary-General calls on all concerned to prevent tensions or their escalation," his office said, adding that international law and sovereignty should be respected.

Israel has maintained total silence over the attack, as it did in 2007 when it bombed a suspected Syrian nuclear site - an attack which passed without Syrian military retaliation.

In Beirut on Thursday Syria's ambassador said Damascus could take "a surprise decision to respond to the aggression of the Israeli warplanes". He gave no details but said Syria was "defending its sovereignty and its land".

Diplomats, Syrian rebels and security sources said Israeli jets bombed a convoy near the Lebanese border on Wednesday, apparently hitting weapons destined for Hezbollah. Syria denied the reports, saying the target was a military research centre northwest of Damascus and 8 miles from the border.

Hezbollah, which has supported Assad as he battles an armed uprising in which 60,000 people have been killed, said Israel was trying to thwart Arab military power and vowed to stand by its ally.

"Hezbollah expresses its full solidarity with Syria's leadership, army and people," said the group which fought an inconclusive 34-day war with Israel in 2006.

Russia, which has blocked Western efforts to put pressure on Syria at the United Nations, said any Israeli air strike would amount to unacceptable military interference.

"If this information is confirmed, we are dealing with unprovoked attacks on targets on the territory of a sovereign country, which blatantly violates the U.N. Charter and is unacceptable, no matter the motives," Russia's foreign ministry said.

Iranian deputy foreign minister Hossein Amir Abdullahian said the attack "demonstrates the shared goals of terrorists and the Zionist regime", Fars news agency reported. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad portrays the rebels fighting him as foreign-backed, Islamist terrorists, with the same agenda as Israel.

An aide to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Saturday Iran would consider any attack on Syria as an attack on itself.

In battle-torn Damascus, residents doubted Syria would fight back. One mother of five said she had heard retaliation would come later. "They always say that. They'll retaliate, but later, not now. Always later," she said, and laughed.

"The last thing we need now is Israeli fighter jets to add to our daily routine. As if we don't have enough noise and firing keeping us awake at night."

BLASTS SHOOK DISTRICT

Details of Wednesday's strike remain sketchy and, in parts, contradictory. Syria said Israeli warplanes, flying low to avoid detection by radar, crossed into its airspace from Lebanon and struck the Jamraya military research centre.

But the diplomats and rebels said the jets hit a weapons convoy heading from Syria to Lebanon and the rebels said they - not Israel - attacked Jamraya with mortars.

One former Western envoy to Damascus said the discrepancy between the accounts might be explained by Jamraya's proximity to the border and the fact that Israeli jets hit vehicles inside the complex as well as a building.

The force of the dawn attack shook the ground, waking nearby residents from their slumber with up to a dozen blasts, two sources in the area said.

"We were sleeping. Then we started hearing rockets hitting the complex and the ground started shaking and we ran into the basement," said a woman who lives adjacent to the Jamraya site.

The resident, who declined to be named because of the sensitivity over the strike, said she could not tell whether the explosions which woke her were the result of an aerial attack.

Another source who has a relative working inside Jamraya said a building inside the complex had been cordoned off and flames were seen rising from the area after the attack.

"It appears that there were about a dozen rockets that appeared to hit one building in the complex," the source, who also asked not to be identified, told Reuters. "The facility is closed today."

Israeli newspapers quoted foreign media on Thursday for reports on the attack. Journalists in Israel are required to submit articles on security and military issues to the censor, which has the power to block any publication of material it deems could compromise state security.

Syrian state television said two people were killed in the raid on Jamraya, which lies in the 25-km (15-mile) strip between Damascus and the Lebanese border. It described it as a scientific research centre "aimed at raising the level of resistance and self-defense".

Diplomatic sources from three countries told Reuters that chemical weapons were believed to be stored at Jamraya, and that it was possible that the convoy was near the large site when it came under attack. However, there was no suggestion that the vehicles themselves had been carrying chemical weapons.

"The target was a truck loaded with weapons, heading from Syria to Lebanon," said one Western diplomat, echoing others who said the convoy's load may have included anti-aircraft missiles or long-range rockets.

The raid followed warnings from Israel that it was ready to act to prevent the revolt against Assad leading to Syria's chemical weapons and modern rockets reaching either his Hezbollah allies or his Islamist enemies.

A regional security source said Israel's target was weaponry given by Assad's military to fellow Iranian ally Hezbollah.

Such a strike or strikes would fit Israel's policy of pre-emptive covert and overt action to curb Hezbollah and does not necessarily indicate a major escalation of the war in Syria. It does, however, indicate how the erosion of the Assad family's rule after 42 years is seen by Israel as posing a threat.

Israel this week echoed concerns in the United States about Syrian chemical weapons, but its officials say a more immediate worry is that the civil war could see weapons that are capable of denting its massive superiority in airpower and tanks reaching Hezbollah; the group fought Israel in 2006 and remains a more pressing threat than its Syrian and Iranian sponsors.

(Additional reporting by Mariam Karouny and Oliver Holmes in Beirut, Gabriela Baczynska in Moscow and Marcus George in Dubai; editing by David Stamp and Philippa Fletcher)

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Brazil night club owner attempts suicide

SANTA MARIA: An owner of the Brazilian night club where 235 people perished in a weekend fire tried to commit suicide, police said Wednesday, as the number of survivors seeking medical treatment after the disaster continued to rise.

Elissandro Sphor tried to kill himself with a plastic shower hose, said senior police official Lilian Carus in the town of Cruz Alta 125 kilometres from Santa Maria, where the club owner is hospitalised.

"It was clear he wanted to hang himself," Carus told AFP, adding that a police officer arrived at the scene -- a hospital where Sphor is being treated for gas poisoning -- before anything happened.

Police took Sphor and three others into custody as they pieced together what caused the inferno at the Kiss nightclub, which was packed with partying students when the blaze broke out early Sunday.

About 75 injured victims of the fire are clinging to life, some in critical condition, in the college town of Santa Maria.

Meanwhile, health officials there said about 20 people have been hospitalised since the fire with symptoms of "chemical pneumonitis" after breathing in smoke and toxic gases emitted during the inferno.

The symptoms may take five days to appear and can be severe, health official Neio Pereira said.

Most of the victims died of smoke inhalation as they desperately tried to escape.

Those treated for the respiratory ailments Wednesday were in addition to 123 people hospitalised after the fire, which authorities say was sparked by a cheap flare lit by musicians as part of an illegal pyrotechnics display.

Authorities catalogued a long list of other infractions at club, including a lack of emergency lighting, non-functioning fire extinguishers and suspected overcrowding.

It also was operating with an expired licence and had only one functioning exit, which survivors said was unmarked and blocked by steel barriers, making it difficult to flee the establishment.

Sphor's doctor told the Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper that since the tragedy, his client -- who is one of two owners of the night club -- cries incessantly, has had to be put on a prescription of tranquilisers, and is emotionally "destroyed."

Meanwhile, dozens of people late Tuesday took to the streets of Santa Maria demanding justice and stricter laws.

"We will work tirelessly until all those responsible are identified," police commissioner Marcelo Arigony promised the demonstrators -- even as many blamed the government itself for failing to carry out the inspections that might have saved lives.

Some survivors said that security guards initially blocked the exit to prevent customers from leaving the club without paying their bar tabs.

Fire chief Sergio Roberto de Abreu said his department had been in the process of reviewing the club's fire extinguisher documentation, but that approval had not yet been given at the time of the fire.

Lawyers for the club, however, have insisted that the establishment was in full compliance.

- AFP/jc

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Asaram foot-in-mouth again, turns abusive

JABALPUR: Within days of a tsunami of protest over his remark that the Delhi gang-rape victim should have pleaded with her rapists that she was their sister, controversial godman Asaram said during a satsang here that doctors who carry out abortions are "haraami" (illegitimate) and that women who charge their in-laws with dowry harassment are 'manchali' (giddy, frivolous).

Asaram said this in presence of hundreds of people on Tuesday evening during an event where the media was banned. However, unbeknownst to Asaram, his comments were noted down by local intelligence unit personnel and reported to their seniors, who informed the Indian Medical Association.

By Wednesday afternoon, even as an oblivious Asaram danced and dispensed toffees from " bhaktidham express", a scented toy train on a 220-feet track remote-controlled by him, IMA called an emergency meeting and condemned the godman's remarks, demanding immediate retraction of his statement.

Questioning Asaram's abusiveness and vicious female bashing, IMA chief, Dr RK Pathak, said use of such crude language before thousands of people had left the medical fraternity speechless.

"Either Asaram has lost his mental balance or he does not know the meaning of the expletives he used. The association demands an immediate retraction of the offending sentence, failing which we will be forced to take further steps," said Dr Pathak.

Asaram's audience included Madhya Pradesh assembly speaker Ishwar Das Rohani while he advised them to steer clear of pro-abortion doctors. This class, the godman claimed, is being generously funded by evil foreign powers. Asaram said America is pumping in money to annihilate Indian culture. Medical termination of pregnancy, he warned, was the worst sin. But 'harami' doctors mislead gullible women who end up "truncating" India's population, he said.

On dowry harassment, Asaram said, "Such cases are piling up fast but at least 96% of these are unable to stand up to legal scrutiny," Asaram declared. An ideal daughter-in-law, he said, is one who serves the family and doesn't drag her family members to court. Cunning bahus, he emphasized, deserve to be punished.

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APNewsBreak: EPA moves to ban some rodent poisons

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Environmental Protection Agency is moving to ban the sale of a dozen rat and mouse poisons sold under the popular D-Con brand in an effort to protect children and pets.

The agency said Wednesday it hopes to reduce the thousands of accidental exposures that occur every year from rodent-control products. Children and pets are at risk for exposure because the products typically are placed on floors.

The agency had targeted a handful of companies two years ago, saying they needed to develop new products that are safer for children, pets and wildlife. All but Reckitt Benckiser Inc., manufacturer of D-Con, did so.

The company will have at least 30 days to request a hearing before an administrative law judge. If no hearing is requested, the ban will take effect.

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Phoenix Gunman Shoots Three at Office Complex

A gunman shot and wounded three people at an office building in Phoenix, Ariz., today and police are now searching for the shooter, authorities told ABC News.

One of the victims is in critical condition, the others received non-life threatening injuries, according to police.

Police are clearing the office complex in the in the 7310 block of 16th Street, near Glendale Avenue.

Officials say there was only one gunman, who remains at large.

A witness told ABC News she heard several shots, and took cover in an IT closet with several other women. Another witness heard between six and 10 shots fired.

Michael Schennum/The Arizona Republic/AP Photo

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Police believe the suspect entered the building looking for a specific individual, but was confronted and an altercation ensued, Phoenix police Sgt. Tommy Thompson told ABC News affiliate KNXV-TV.

Cops know the name of the suspect and are at his home.

In addition to the office complex, and the suspect's home, police are also investigating a third scene, according to KNXV-TV. It's not clear how it's related to the office shooting.

The shooting took place moments after former Arizona congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, the victim of a shooting in Phoenix in 2011, testified before Congress on gun control.

In the weeks since 20 students were gunned down at a Newtown, Conn., elementary school on Dec. 14, 2012, several mass shootings have garnered public attention as the nation debates its relationship to firearms.

Five days ago, two men were wounded during a shooting at Lone Star College in Houston, Texas. Earlier this month, a 16-year-old student was arrested after shooting a classmate in Taft, Calif.

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British paper sorry for 'inexcusable' Israel cartoon

LONDON: The acting editor of Britain's Sunday Times newspaper apologised Tuesday for a "grotesque" cartoon that sparked accusations of anti-Semitism when it was printed on International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Martin Ivens met with representatives of the Jewish community to say sorry for last Sunday's image by veteran cartoonist Gerald Scarfe, which showed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu building a wall with Palestinian bodies.

"The Sunday Times abhors anti-Semitism and would never set out to cause offence to the Jewish people -- or any other ethnic or religious group," Ivens said.

"That was not the intention last Sunday. Everyone knows that Gerald Scarfe is consistently brutal and bloody in his depictions, but last weekend -- by his own admission -- he crossed a line."

The newspaper's owner, media baron Rupert Murdoch, had apologised on Monday, tweeting: "Gerald Scarfe has never reflected the opinions of The Sunday Times. Nevertheless, we owe major apology for grotesque, offensive cartoon."

The cartoon showed a scowling Netanyahu waving a blood-covered trowel, laying bricks in a wall in which Palestinian men, women and children were trapped. Underneath were the words, "Israeli elections -- will cementing peace continue?"

It sparked condemnation in Britain and Israel, particularly as it appeared on Holocaust Remembrance Day.

The Board of Deputies of British Jews lodged a formal complaint to Britain's media regulators, calling the cartoon "shockingly reminiscent of the blood libel imagery more usually found in parts of the virulently anti-Semitic Arab press".

Ivens said the timing of the publication was "inexcusable".

"The associations on this occasion were grotesque and on behalf of the paper I'd like to apologise unreservedly for the offence we clearly caused," he added.

Scarfe has been a political cartoonist with The Sunday Times since 1967 and has also worked for The New Yorker magazine. He worked on the Disney film "Hercules" as well as the movie of Pink Floyd's rock opera "The Wall".

- AFP/jc

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