Progress seen at Sierra fire, but smoke spreads

• 
  
  Associated Press/Jae C. Hong - Firefighter Troy Drouin takes a short break before mopping up hot spots near Yosemite National Park, Calif., on Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2013. The giant wildfire burning at the edge …more 

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• View PhotoA look at the area of the Rim Fire …
• View PhotoThe Rim Fire burns through trees …

FRESNO, Calif. (AP) — Nearly a third of the huge forest fire burning in and around Yosemite National Park was contained Friday and some small communities in the mountainous area were no longer under evacuation advisories, but smoke descending down into San Joaquin Valley cities was becoming a problem.

In a sign of progress, a few dozen firefighters were released and more could be sent home in coming days, said Daniel Berlant, spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. More than 4,800 firefighters remained on the scene late Friday.
"We continue to gain the upper hand, but there's still a lot of work to be done," Berlant said.
The 2-week-old blaze burning in the Sierra Nevada northeast of Fresno has scorched 333 square miles of brush, oaks and pine, making it the largest U.S. wildfire to date this year and the fifth-largest wildfire in modern California records. Containment was estimated at 35 percent.
Winds had been blowing dense smoke plumes northeast into the Lake Tahoe area and Nevada but a shift Friday brought them west down to the San Joaquin Valley floor.
Regional air pollution control authorities issued a health caution for San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Merced, Madera, Fresno and Tulare counties. Residents who see or smell smoke were urged to stay inside, especially people with heart of lung problems, older adults and children.
Evacuation advisories were lifted Thursday in Tuolumne City, Soulsbyville and Willow Springs but remained in place for other communities, and evacuations were still mandatory along the fire's southeastern edge.
About 75 square miles of the fire are inside Yosemite but at some distance from the national park's major attractions, including glacially carved Yosemite Valley's granite monoliths and towering waterfalls.
Park officials expect about 3,000 cars a day to pass through gates during the long Labor Day holiday weekend instead of the nearly 5,000 that might typically show. The fire has caused some people to cancel reservations in the park but those vacancies have been quickly filled, officials said.
"Valley campgrounds are still full and skies in Yosemite Valley are crystal clear," said park spokeswoman Kari Cobb.
A 4-mile stretch of State Route 120, one of three western entrances into Yosemite, remained closed, hurting tourism-dependent businesses in communities along the route.
Costs reached $47 million, including firefighters from 41 states and the District of Columbia and significant aviation resources including helicopters, a DC-10 jumbo jet and military aircraft equipped with the Modular Airborne FireFighting System. Aircraft have dropped 1.7 million gallons of retardant and 1.4 million gallons of water.
The fire started Aug. 17 and its cause remains under investigation. It is expected to keep burning long after it is fully contained, and recovery will be extensive. Some 7,000 damaged trees next to power lines will need to be removed by utility crews and 800 guardrail posts will need to be replaced on Route 120, a fire fact sheet said.

5.9-magnitude earthquake strikes southwest China

• NEW: Officials head to township at epicenter, where telecommunication has been cut
• One death reported, other villagers hospitalized
• Some roads blocked by boulders
• Same remote region was hit by quake on Wednesday

A 5.9-magnitude earthquake struck Saturday morning in southwestern China, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

Officials reported one death and three people injured as emergency teams began to respond, state-run Xinhua News Agency said.

The quake -- with a depth of 10 kilometers -- hit in remote areas near the border of the Yunnan and Sichuan provinces, according to the USGS.

Roads are reportedly blocked in some villages by boulders rolling down mountains, and some villagers have been taken to hospitals, Xinhua said.

The Civil Affairs Ministry in Yunnan province was sending tents and clothing, Xinhua said.

The epicenter was near Benzilan Township, the USGS reported.

"We are heading to Benzilan," Liao Wencai, vice secretary of the Deqen County Committee of the Communist Party of China, told Xinhua. "The telecommunication there has been cut off, and many residents cannot be reached by mobile phone."

On Wednesday, a 5.1-magnitude earthquake hit the same region.

Justice Ginsburg to officiate at same-sex wedding

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  Associated Press/Charles Dharapak, File - FILE - In this July 24, 2013, file photo Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg poses for a photo in her chambers at the Supreme Court in Washington, before an interview …more 

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• View PhotoFILE - This Nov. 10, 2007 provided …

WASHINGTON (AP) — Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg will officiate at a same-sex wedding this weekend in what is believed to be a first for a member of the nation's highest court.

Ginsburg will officiate Saturday at the marriage of Kennedy Center President Michael Kaiser and John Roberts, a government economist.
"Michael Kaiser is a friend and someone I much admire," Ginsburg said in a written statement Friday. "That is why I am officiating at his wedding."
The private ceremony will take place at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, a national memorial to President John F. Kennedy. The 80-year-old Ginsburg, an opera lover, is a frequent guest at the center.
Same-sex marriage is legal in the District of Columbia and 13 states.
"I think it will be one more statement that people who love each other and want to live together should be able to enjoy the blessings and the strife in the marriage relationship," Ginsburg told The Washington Post in an interview.
"It won't be long before there will be another" performed by a justice. She has another ceremony planned for September.
Kaiser told The Associated Press that he asked Ginsburg to officiate because she is a longtime friend.
"It's very meaningful mostly to have a friend officiate, and then for someone of her stature, it's a very big honor," Kaiser said. "I think that everything that's going on that makes same-sex marriage possible and visible helps to encourage others and to make the issue seem less of an issue, to make it just more part of life."
Justices generally avoid taking stands on political issues. The wedding, though, comes after the court's landmark ruling in June to expand federal recognition of same-sex marriages, striking down part of an anti-gay marriage law.
While hearing arguments in the case in March, Ginsburg argued for treating marriages equally. The rights associated with marriage are pervasive, she said, and the law had created two classes of marriage, full and "skim-milk marriage."
Before the court heard arguments on the Defense of Marriage Act, Ginsburg told The New Yorker magazine in March that she had not performed a same-sex marriage and had not been asked. Justices do officiate at other weddings, though.
"I don't think anybody's asking us, because of these cases," she told the magazine. "No one in the gay-rights movement wants to risk having any member of the court be criticized or asked to recuse. So I think that's the reason no one has asked me."
Asked whether she would perform such a wedding in the future, she said: "Why not?"

The Riddler: Future Acting Job for J. Timberlake?

 

After the backlash Ben Affleck received once it was announced the STUDIO chose him to play Batman in the upcoming Superman vs Batman, I’m surprised anyone is willing to say they want a part in the film. But then again, megastar Justin Timberlake isn’t just anyone.
Fresh off his MTV Video Music Award performance, Timberlake told the New York radio program, Fresh 102.7′s Jim & Kim Morning Show, Tuesday that

Former rebels sow terror in Central Africa Republic: residents

By Paul-Marin Ngoupana

BANGUI | Fri Aug 30, 2013 3:22pm EDT

(Reuters) - Former rebels who seized power in Central Africa Republic are looting and killing indiscriminately in the country's remote northwest, residents said on Friday, amid mounting pressure for a firm international response to the crisis.
The mineral-rich but poor nation has descended into chaos since the Seleka rebels captured the capital Bangui in March, toppling President Francois Bozize and unleashing a wave of violence that new leader Michel Djotodia has failed to control.
French President Francoise Hollande called this week for urgent U.N. action to stabilize the nation of 4.5 million people at the heart of Africa, which has suffered a series of rebellions since independence from France in 1960.
The United Nations has said Central African Republic is on the brink of collapse. Aid organizations say there is a complete absence of state authority outside Bangui, with roaming armed groups looting and killing at will.
In the village of Ngaoundaye, about 500 km (300 miles) northwest of the capital, pastor Bernard Dilla said Seleka fighters chasing suspected bandits on Wednesday rounded up eight farmers in a field and shot them.
"They were furious at not catching the bandits so they turned on the farmers instead," Dilla told Reuters by telephone. "A young boy they had used as a tracker was also shot."
The pastor said Seleka gunmen also attacked the nearby village of Makele and torched 10 homes. In retaliation, the villagers killed two Seleka fighters with spears.
The day before, Seleka forces aboard four-by-four vehicles attacked the village of Bo, 50 km from Ngaoundaye, looting and burning homes and killing five people, residents said.
In Beboura, about 140 km east of Ngoundaye, villagers said Seleka gunmen killed a group of five young men on Friday after one of them argued with the fighters a day before.
Security Minister Josue Binoua declined to comment, saying a fact-finding mission would be dispatched on Saturday.
The incidents came after thousands of civilians fled to Bangui's international airport on Wednesday, blocking the tarmac for several hours, to escape marauding Seleka fighters. On Sunday, Seleka gunmen killed at least 13 people in an attack on the neighborhood of Boy-Rabe in Bangui.
The African Union is deploying a 3,600-strong peacekeeping mission in Central African Republic, incorporating a regional force of 1,100 soldiers already on the ground.
France, which has a small force in Bangui securing the airport, wants the United Nations to provide financial and logistical support to the African Union mission, diplomats say.
Seleka, a grouping of five northern rebel movements, launched its insurgency in December, accusing Bozize of reneging on a 2007 peace deal.

Russia escalates dispute with Belarus after CEO's arrest

By Timothy Heritage

MOSCOW | Fri Aug 30, 2013 11:35am EDT

(Reuters) - Russia banned pork imports from Belarus on Friday, stepping up a diplomatic and trade war over the arrest of a Russian businessman and threatening to deepen the isolation of its former Soviet ally.
Russia is one of Belarus' few diplomatic backers after 19 years of authoritarian rule by President Alexander Lukashenko but has responded furiously to the arrest this week of Vladislav Baumgertner, head of Russian potash company Uralkali.
Baumgertner was seized on Monday at the airport outside the Belarussian capital Minsk after being invited to talks with the prime minister, and then humiliated by television footage showing him being searched in his prison cell.
Since then, Russian officials have announced a 25 percent drop in oil supplies to Belarus in September, threatened to extend the cuts for several months and hinted at possible restrictions on imports of Belarussian dairy products.
Russia's veterinary regulator said the restrictions on hog and pork product imports had been imposed over concerns about African swine fever in Belarus and would not be lifted until the virus was wiped out or brought under control.
The moves could deal a significant blow to Belarus, a transit country for Russian oil and natural gas to Europe. Its economy, already in danger of collapse, is heavily reliant on agriculture and Russian oil supplies.
"Relations between Russia and Belarus seem to be delving to new lows and the expectation is that Russia will further ratchet up pressure on its neighbor via the trade channel," said Timothy Ash, an analyst at Standard Bank in London.
"All this comes as the economy in Belarus looks precariously fragile."
POTASH CARTEL
The dispute followed the collapse this month of a Russia-Belarus sales cartel that controlled two-fifths of the $20-billion global market for potash, an ingredient used in mineral fertilizers.
In a sign that the breakup of the joint venture with Uralkali is causing problems for Belarus, a senior official at state potash producer Belaruskali said it had suspended two of its four potash mine complexes for maintenance.
Any big fall in output at Belaruskali, which was Uralkali's partner in the potash cartel, would have a severe impact on the finances of Belarus, where the soil nutrient accounts for 12 percent of state revenue and about 10 percent of export income.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said nothing in public about the dispute but his foreign policy adviser, Yuri Ushakov, said Moscow was counting on Belarus freeing Baumgertner quickly and described the dispute as commercial but not political.
The Kremlin also tried to play down the political impact by saying Putin had followed protocol by sending a telegram congratulating Lukashenko on his 59th birthday on Friday.
Russia has denied any of the economic or trade moves this week were connected with Baumgertner's arrest but the timing undermines these statements.
Belarus has defied the pressure, charging Baumgertner with abuse of his authority and threatening criminal charges against Suleiman Kerimov, Uralkali's top shareholder and a Kremlin ally.
But Belarus, a country of less than 10 million, needs Russia for energy and economic handouts and as a counterweight to the European Union and the United States, which shun him because of his treatment of opponents and lack of tolerance for dissent.
The timing is unfortunate for Putin because Russia is also in a dispute with Ukraine, another former Soviet republic which Moscow wants to dissuade from closer integration with the West.
Western European countries are following the situation closely because oil supply cuts in the past to Ukraine and Belarus have caused disruptions to pipeline flows to Europe.
Moscow says Kiev must choose between free trade with the EU and a Russia-led customs union that also includes Belarus, and wants control of Ukraine's gas pipeline network. But Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich stood firm on Friday, saying: We will not trade up our country - that is our principle."
Moscow is particularly sensitive to what happens in Belarus and Ukraine because it considers them as its "near abroad", an area where it sees Western diplomatic or economic interference as a threat.

Car bombs kill 11 in northern Iraq

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Two car bombs killed 12 people and injured 10 in the northern Iraqi town of Tuz Khurmato on Friday, police and medical sources said.
The attack took place 170 km (100 miles) north of the capital Baghdad in a region which both the central government and autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan region claim as theirs.
The second bomb went off as people were trying to help casualties of the first explosion, witnesses said. The district was busy because there was a mourning ceremony for someone who had died, said Mohammed Jawdat, one of the wounded.
"I was hurt in my leg and someone evacuated me in their car," he said.
Iraq is experiencing its deadliest wave of violence in at least five years. More than 1,000 people were killed in attacks in July, the highest monthly toll since 2008. Sunni Muslim al Qaeda insurgents battling the Shi'ite-led government have claimed most of the bombings.

Poverty significantly saps our mental abilities say researchers

 

Those in poverty may need extra help with the tasks of daily life, say the researchers

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• Money 'can reduce trust' in groups
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Being poor can sap a person's mental resources, research published in the journal Science suggests.

The work, by an international team, demonstrates how poverty takes its toll on cognitive function, leaving less mental capacity for other tasks.
The evidence comes from two studies carried out in India and the US.
Previous data had shown a link between poverty and bad decision-making, but the root causes of this correlation were unclear.
The US, British and Canadian team tried to shed light on this chicken-and-egg puzzle by isolating the financial factor from others that might interfere with the results.
One part of study used the natural financial cycle (tied to the crop cycle) of sugarcane farmers in India.
The farmers go through three crucial stages in this cycle; before the harvest, when they have taken out loans to grow the crops and thus are extremely poor; after the harvest, but before being paid, when farmers are at the greatest extent of their poverty; and after being paid.
Varying ability Dr Anandi Mani, from the Centre for Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (Cage) at the University of Warwick, UK, set the farmers cognitive tests at each stage of the cycle and found that mental acuity varied with their income.
"With the sugarcane farmers, we are comparing the same person when he has less money to when he has more money. We're finding that when he has more money he is more intelligent, as defined by IQ tests," said Dr Mani.
The study aimed to rule out other confounding factors like nutrition, health, physical exhaustion and family commitments.
The researchers also tried to limit the influence of factors related to stress, but measuring biomarkers such as blood pressure and heart rate.
To make sure the findings were not in some way unique to Indian sugarcane farmers, a control study was completed in the US.
Using two groups of people, one wealthy, one poor, they triggered thoughts about their personal financial situations using easy and difficult hypothetical questions, and then got them to sit non-verbal tests.
"What we find there is when it is the easy condition there is no difference in performance of the rich or poor. But in the harder condition, that's when the performance of the poor drops off a lot," Dr Mani said.
Extra support The study concludes that those in poverty, by having more constant and extensive financial worries, expend more of their mental capacity on these concerns, so that less can be used for other tasks.
"The findings that we have are about the immediate impact of poverty: the fact that I am dealing with 'putting out fires' now. This is an immediate impact," said Dr Mani.
Dr Mani suggests that greater support needs to be given to those in poverty to help them with the tasks of daily life. She also suggests that our perceptions of the poor need to change.
Prof Kathleen Vohs, behavioural scientist at the University of Minnesota, welcomed the findings.
"It's impressive work. I think it will move the conversation about poverty forward. This is the first time that a causal relationship has been provided between poverty and bad decision-making," she said.
The results indicate that the constant financial pressure can initiate a downward spiral for the less fortunate in society.
"Hopefully it will make others view [those in poverty] more empathetically, as this feature [of making bad decisions] exists in all of us, but is just more prominent in the poor," said Prof Vohs.

Syria chemical weapons attack killed 1,429, says John Kerry

Syria conflict

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• Shadow of Iraq
• Into the unknown
• Legal basis

US Secretary of State John Kerry has said Syrian government forces killed 1,429 people in a chemical weapons attack near Damascus last week.

Mr Kerry said the dead included 426 children, and described the attack as an "inconceivable horror".
Shortly afterwards, President Barack Obama said the Syrian chemical attack threatened US national security interests.
He said the US was considering a "limited narrow act".

Continue reading the main story

Analysis

David Kay Weapons expert

There is no doubt that a chemical weapons attack took place but not such a compelling case on who did it. The evidence tying this attack directly to the Assad regime was largely circumstantial and asserted - not revealed.
What we would like is the details of the conversations carried out, who carried them out and the background. This is one of the conundrums of intelligence - the reluctance of the people who collect it to reveal in detail what they collected because of the fear of loss of sources and methods.
Another key element missing is why is this important to US national security and important enough where we would consider a military attack because doubts persist in the US about why we should do this. About 100,000 died before from conventional munitions and we did nothing.
And Kerry did not in the same compelling fashion that he laid the chemical attack at the regime's feet explain why he was certain that a US military attack would bring the Syrian regime to the negotiating table.

The government of President Bashar al-Assad has denied carrying out last week's attack and blames rebel forces.

UN chemical weapons inspectors are investigating the alleged poison-gas attacks and will present their evidence to the UN after they leave Damascus on Saturday.
But Mr Kerry said the US already had the facts, and nothing that the UN weapons inspectors found could tell the world anything new.
He said that any response would not involve the US in a protracted conflict like Iraq or Afghanistan.
The US government earlier published an assessment of its intelligence, saying this information was backed by accounts from medical personnel, witnesses and journalists, videos and thousands of social media reports.
He said the evidence showed 1,429 people had been killed and that regime forces had prepared for the attack three days earlier.
"We know rockets came only from regime-controlled areas and landed only in opposition-held areas," he said.
"All of these things we know, the American intelligence community has high confidence."
Mr Kerry called Mr Assad "a thug and a murderer" but said any response by the US would be carefully measured to avoid open-ended commitments.
The UN Security Council is unlikely to approve any military intervention because permanent member Russia is a close ally of the Syrian government, and has vetoed two previous draft resolutions.
The US was also dealt a blow on Thursday when the UK parliament rejected a motion supporting the principle of military intervention.
Continue reading the main story

• How would Syria respond? Watch
• Lessons from past conflicts Watch
• What options does US have? Watch
• 'Chemical' attack footage analysed Watch
• What's in Damascus letter to UK? Watch

The vote rules the UK out of any potential alliance.

However, US officials said they would continue to push for a coalition, and France said it would support the US.
Earlier, President Francois Hollande said France was still ready to take action in Syria alongside the US.
He said the UK vote made no difference to France's position.
"Each country is sovereign to participate or not in an operation. That is as valid for Britain as it is for France," he said.
He said that if the UN Security Council was unable to act, a coalition would form including the Arab League and European countries.

Continue reading the main story

Key US intelligence findings

• US estimates the alleged chemical weapons attack near Damascus on 21 August killed 1,429 people, including 426 children
• Assesses with "high confidence" that Syrian government carried out the attack against opposition elements
• Laboratory analysis from victims of the incident revealed exposure to the nerve agent, sarin
• Assesses it is "highly unlikely" that opposition forces executed the attack
• Assesses with "high confidence" that Syrian government has carried out multiple chemical weapons attacks on a small scale this year
• Assesses the opposition has not used chemical weapons

"France will be part of it. France is ready," he said.

He ruled out strikes while the UN inspectors were in Syria. However he did not rule out the possibility that military action could be taken before next Wednesday, when the French parliament is due to debate the issue.
Neither France nor the US need parliamentary approval for action.
The use of chemical weapons is banned under several treaties, and is also considered illegal under customary international humanitarian law.
The Syrian army is known to have stockpiles of chemical agents including sarin gas.
Earlier accounts of the attack in Damascus quoted officials from medical charity Medicins Sans Frontieres as saying 355 people had been killed.
Opposition sources later claimed more than 1,000 people had died.
The UN inspectors have collected various samples that will now be examined in laboratories across the world.
The UN team is not mandated to apportion blame for the attacks.
More than 100,000 people are estimated to have died since the conflict erupted in Syria in March 2011, and the conflict has produced at least 1.7 million refugees.

Forces which could be used against Syria:
• Four US destroyers - USS Gravely, USS Ramage, USS Barry and USS Mahan - are in the eastern Mediterranean, equipped with cruise missiles. The missiles can also be fired from submarines, but the US Navy does not reveal their locations
• Airbases at Incirlik and Izmir in Turkey, and in Jordan, could be used to carry out strikes
• Two aircraft carriers - USS Nimitz and USS Harry S Truman are in the wider region
• French aircraft carrierCharles de Gaulle is currently in Toulon in the western Mediterranean
• French Raffale and Mirage aircraft can also operate from Al-Dhahra airbase in the UAE

NIGERIA: National Conference inevitable, says The Patriots

President Jonathan

National Conference inevitable, says The Patriots

Posted by: Augustine Ehikioya in Featured, News 17 hours ago

AFTER a long while, the sovereign national conference battle yesterday, with some elders telling President Goodluck Jonathan that it is inevitable.
According to The Patriot, that is the only way Nigeria can develop.
In Abuja, they submitted a 13-page document titled “Transforming the nation through a national conference” to the President during a meeting at the State House in Abuja.
The leader of the group, Octogenarian Prof. Ben Uwabueze, was accompanied to the meeting by Chief Ayo Adebanjo, Prof. Kimsa Okoko, Senator Ben Obi, Mrs Bola Kuforiji-Olubi and Michael Adekoya.
The other members of the delegation were Chief Solomon Asemota, Mr. Chris Okoye, Mr. Michael Orobator and Air Commodore Dan Suleiman (rtd.)
They met with the President behind closed doors.
After the meeting, Nwabueze told reporters that although the President is qualified to contest in 2015, he believes he should not run.
Stressing that the national conference should be convened before 2015, Nwabueze said the 1999 Constitution was not prepared by the people but a schedule to Decree 24.
He called for a new constitution, which, he said, should derive its authorities from the people.
Nwabueze said he stood by his earlier position that Jonathan should not contest the election but concentrate on delivering the goods to Nigerians.
Reviewing the meeting with Dr. Jonathan, he said: “Briefly, we talked about the transformation of this country; what we said is that this country , the situation in which we have found ourselves today is in dire need of transformation. Its entire economy, the entire polity and the entire society would need to be transformed.
“We believe that the way to achieve that objective is through a National Conference, a National Conference of ethnic nationalities in this country. We have done our own research, and we have in this country 389 ethnic nationalities. We need to bring these nationalities around a conference table to discuss how we are going to live together as one country – in peace, in stability, in security – as one country with the aim of achieving national unity.”
“But as of today, we are not a nation yet; we are a state. So that is the gist of what we put forward to Mr. President and that this conference should be convened as a matter of priority as soon as possible, in any event before the 2015 general elections.”
On the belief by the National Assembly that there is no need for a sovereign conference since there is an elected National Assembly in place, he said: “This is what we want you to read in the memorandum, paragraph 18 -32 where we have discussed this matter. It is important that what the National Assembly is putting forward is their powers under sections 8&9 is to alter the constitution. Power to alter is not as important as the power to abolish what you are altering and to replace it completely.”
“And we said ‘no; in this country, we need the people’s constitution whose source of authority derives directly from the people’. Forget about the contents; we will talk about the contents later, presidential, parliamentary and all that. Though important, but they are not as important as the source. Where does this supreme law derive its authorities? It must be directly from the people and that is the position of at least 85 per cent of the countries of the world.”
He continued: “So, we examined this and we said this is a bogey; there is no problem; don’t confine yourselves to sections 8&9, because the 1999 Constitution is a schedule to Decree 24. If you read Section 1(1) of the Decree these are all preambles to that decree and the 1999 Constitution that you are talking about, it is a schedule to Decree 24. Repeal the decree and the constitution will disappear and you enact a brand new constitution, which would derive its authorities from the people. That was done in 1963, when we adopted the Republican Constitution to replace the Independence Constitution. That 1960 Constitution was also a schedule to British Order-In -Council just as the 1999 Constitution, is a schedule to the Decree 24.”
“In 1963, we abolished the schedule under Section 2 of the Order-in-Council and made a new constitution called the Republican constitution. That is what we should do now; abolish the schedule and relieve yourself entirely free to make the people’s constitution.”
Stressing that the meeting with President Jonathan was not on whether Jonathan should or should not contest 2015 election, Nwabueze said he stood by his earlier position that he should not contest but face “the paramount problem of this country”, which is “national transformation”.

Ghana court dismisses vote challenges, says president 'validly elected'

Ghana's Supreme Court declared President John Dramani Mahama (pictured) "validly elected."

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• John Dramani Mahama was sworn in as president of Ghana after December elections
• His challenger, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, was among those alleging voter fraud
• The Supreme Court dismisses all claims of fraud and irregularities
• Challenger Akufo-Addo calls on Ghanaians to "come together and build our country"

Accra, Ghana (CNN) -- Ghana's Supreme Court Thursday declared President John Dramani Mahama "validly elected" as the court dismissed all claims of voter fraud, mismanagement and irregularities in the West African nation's December 2012 presidential election.

After the election, Ghana's Independent Electoral Commission declared Mahama the winner with 50.7% of the vote, narrowly avoiding a runoff with his main challenger, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.

But challenges followed, with allegations of widespread mismanagement and voting irregularities at more than 10,000 polling stations. Akufo-Addo and two other officials of his New Patriotic Party sued and the case went to the Supreme Court.

Mahama, from the ruling National Democratic Congress party, was sworn in as president, and Thursday's court ruling means he will retain the office.

The Supreme Sourt dismissed all six claims alleging fraud and irregularities, with judges ruling unanimously against claims that certification forms had duplicate serial numbers, that votes from phony polling places were counted, and that there was duplication of polling station codes, meaning that votes from a particular voting station might have been counted twice or more.

Akufo-Addo made a statement after the ruling was announced, saying he will not seek a court review of the decision, congratulating President Mahama and calling on Ghanaians to work out their "differences, ease tensions between us and come together and build our country."

The famously easy-going people of Ghana had been on edge awaiting Thursday's decision by the court.

Nine Supreme Court justices spent 48 days hearing the case, which had riveted the nation.

The proceedings were broadcast live on Ghanian television and radio, the first time the court has allowed such broadcasts. They have been immensely popular.

Ghana is one of Africa's fastest-growing economies. It is the world's second-largest cocoa producer, after Ivory Coast, and the continent's second biggest gold miner, after South Africa, according to the United Nations.

But critics say that despite the rich resources that bring billions of dollars annually, the wealth is not trickling down to the rural poor who live on the land where the gold is mined.

In March 1957, Ghana became the first sub-Saharan European colony to declare independence from a colonial ruler, in its case, Britain. It endured four military coups in the first 14 years, after one of which, three former presidents were executed.

Then, in the election of 2000, it had its first peaceful transfer of power between civilian presidents. The incumbent won a second term in 2004, but term limits prohibited him from seeking a third term in 2008.

In that election, John Atta Mills of the National Democratic Congress narrowly defeated Akufo-Addo. But Mills died in office last year, elevating his vice president, Mahama to the presidency.

Last December, Mahama ran for a full term against Akufo-Addo, setting off the Supreme Court battle.

He ‘made indecent photos of children four times last year’

Rolf on 13 child sex charges

ROLF Harris was charged yesterday with making indecent images of children on four occasions last year.

All the offences were said to have happened between March and July 2012.
The 83-year-old entertainer was also charged with nine indecent

Miley Cyrus' VMAs Scandal -- the Muslim Connection Exposed!

• View PhotoMiley Cyrus' VMAs Scandal -- the Muslim Connection Exposed!
• View PhotoMiley Cyrus' VMAs Scandal -- the Muslim Connection Exposed!

What does Miley Cyrus' raunchy, twerk-eriffic performance at the MTV Video Music Awards have to do with Muslims?

Seemingly nothing -- unless you're Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights.
Also read: Justin Timberlake Defends Miley Cyrus: 'It Was the VMAs, What Did You Guys Expect?'
Donohue weighed in on the topic of the week on Thursday, comparing reactions to Cyrus' performance and the controversy over the upcoming Miss World pageant in Indonesia next month.

In comments distributed on Thursday, Donohue that some Muslims have called for the cancelation of the pageant because it "is only an excuse to exhibit women's body parts."
Also read: Miley Cyrus' VMAs Performance Defended by Adam Lambert: 'Cut Her Some Slack'
Which, in Dohonue's estimation, is a lot more female-friendly than Cyrus' foam-fingered display
"Last Sunday, at the MTV Video Music Awards, Miley Cyrus simulated masturbation with a giant foam finger, grabbed her crotch, rubbed herself against a man old enough to be her father, pretended the man was performing anal sex on her, and walked around in a nude latex bikini. Her mother loved it. So did her manager. Millions of young girls and guys loved it as well," Donohue wrote.
Also read: Foam Finger Inventor Says Miley Cyrus 'Degraded an Honorable Icon'
Comparing the reaction to Cyrus' show to the uproar over the Miss World pageant, Donohue concluded, "Who are the real feminists? Miley's fans? Or the Muslims? If debasing women is the yardstick, the Muslims win."
Lest anyone get the idea that Donohue thought that canceling the Miss World pageant is a good idea, he added, "We don't have to agree with those who want to ban beauty pageants to know that their concerns are not trivial, especially in a day and age when Miley (and her dutiful mother) may be lurking right around the corner."

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US to act in its 'best interests' over Syria crisis

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Jeremy Bowen reports from Damascus: ''You could sense the tension in the face of what feels here like an impending attack''

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Syria conflict

• Shadow of Iraq
• Into the unknown
• Legal basis
• Syria's options

The US has said it will act in its "best interests" in dealing with the Syria crisis, after British MPs rejected military intervention.

"Countries who violate international norms regarding chemical weapons need to be held accountable," the US said.
Washington accuses Syrian government forces of using chemical weapons - a claim denied by Damascus.
The move by British MPs, meanwhile, ruled out London's involvement in any US-led strikes against Syria.

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Analysis

Jeremy Bowen BBC Middle East editor, Damascus

It's a sign for the Syrian government that the political consensus among powerful Western countries that was building about mounting an attack on Syrian regime targets has fractured.
What they're trying to do is erode that front was against them and they'll score this up as a victory.
But no matter what people's political views here, the prospect of the most powerful military force in the world and some of its allies of attacking this city, maybe in the course of the next few days, is clearly daunting, and people are trying to lay in supplies.

Despite the unexpected outcome in the parliament of Washington's key ally, US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel said America would continue to seek out an "international coalition" willing to act together on the Syrian crisis.

'Beyond doubt' In a statement on Thursday, the White House said President Barack Obama's decision-making "will be guided by what is in the best interests of the United States".
It stressed that the president "believes that there are core interests at stake for the United States".
And in an intelligence briefing to senior members of Congress on the case for launching military action against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's troops, State Secretary John Kerry said Washington could not be held to the foreign policy of others.
Eliot Engel, the top Democratic member on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told reporters after the briefing that other Obama administration officials had said that it was "beyond a doubt that chemical weapons were used, and used intentionally by the Assad regime".

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Ian Pannell: The victims "arrived like the walking dead".

Mr Engel added that officials had cited evidence including "intercepted communications from high-level Syrian officials".
One of the Syrian officials overheard seemed to suggest the chemical weapons attack was more devastating than was intended, officials were quoted as saying by the New York Times.
At least 355 people are reported to have died in a suspected chemical attack in the Ghouta area - on the outskirts of the capital, Damascus - on 21 August.

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“Start Quote

Britain has tended to march in lockstep with the US and this rejection of President Barack Obama's argument will leave bruises”

Mark Mardell North America editor

• Read more from Mark

UN weapons inspectors are currently in Syria investigating the allegations of the attack, which Damascus blames on rebel forces.

Samples taken during their site visits will be tested in various European laboratories to see whether an attack took place and what form it took, but the inspectors' mandate does not involve apportioning blame for the attacks.
The experts are due to finish their work later on Friday and give their preliminary findings to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon at the weekend.
'Bruises' In Thursday's statement, the White House also stressed that it would "continue to consult" with the UK over Syria, describing London as "one of our closest allies and friends".

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Models for possible intervention

• Iraq 1991: US-led global military coalition; explicit mandate from UN Security Council to evict Iraqi forces from Kuwait
• Balkans 1990s: US arms supplied to anti-Serb resistance in defiance of UN-mandated embargo; later US-led air campaign against Serb paramilitaries
• Somalia 1992-93: UN authorised international force for humanitarian reasons; US military involvement culminated in disaster and pullout
• Libya 2011: France and UK sought UN authorisation for humanitarian operation; air offensive continued until fall of Gaddafi

• What happens after US Tomahawks hit?
• Western military options
• Shadow of Iraq looms
• Q&A: Threatened strike on Syria

The statement came after British members of parliament rejected the principle of military action against Damascus in a 285-272 vote.

Shortly after the surprise result, British Defence Secretary Philip Hammond confirmed to the BBC's Newsnight programme that Britain would not be involved in any military action.
But he said he expected "that the US and other countries will continue to look at responses to the chemical attack".
"They will be disappointed that Britain will not be involved. I don't expect that the lack of British participation will stop any action."
The vote in London is likely to send shock waves through the Obama administration, the BBC's North America editor Mark Mardell says.
He adds that Britain has tended to march alongside the US, and that this rejection of President Obama's argument will leave the administration bruised.
The defeat of the government motion also comes as a potential blow to the authority of British Prime Minister David Cameron, who had already watered down his proposal in response to the opposition's objections, correspondents say.
Russian factor Earlier on Thursday, the five permanent UN Security Council members held a short meeting, but diplomats said their views remained "far apart".

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US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel: Britain's vote was ''a very significant position for any nation to take publicly''

One diplomat told the BBC that there had been "no meeting of minds", with Russia and China on one side, and the US, UK and France on the other.
Moscow, which has twice blocked resolutions condemning Mr Assad, called the meeting.
Analysts say Moscow is unlikely to agree to any resolution approving the use of force in Syria.
Russia has close ties with the Assad government, supplying its armed forces with weapons and housing its warships in Syria's ports.
More than 100,000 people are estimated to have died since the conflict erupted in Syria in March 2011, and the conflict has produced at least 1.7 million refugees.

Forces which could be used against Syria:

• Four US destroyers - USS Gravely, USS Ramage, USS Barry and USS Mahan - are in the eastern Mediterranean, equipped with cruise missiles
• Cruise missiles could also be launched from submarines, including a British Trafalgar class boat. HMS Tireless was reportedly sighted in Gibraltar at the weekend
• Airbases at Incirlik and Izmir in Turkey, and in Jordan, could be used to carry out strikes
• Two aircraft carriers - USS Nimitz and USS Harry S Truman are in the wider region
• The Royal Navy's response force task group- which includes helicopter carrier HMS Illustrious and frigates HMS Montrose and HMS Westminster - is in the region on a previously-scheduled deployment
• RAF Akrotiri airbase in Cyprus could also be used
• French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle is currently in Toulon in the western Mediterranean
• French Raffale and Mirage aircraft can also operate from Al-Dhahra airbase in the UAE.

'Hay devil' caught on camera in Hampshire

A man has captured a "vortex of hay" on video camera near his home in Hampshire.
Kevin Farndell saw the effects of the small whirlwind in fields by the village of Dummer.
The eyewitness, who was covered in falling debris from the "hay devil", called it "quite a sight".
Krista Mitchell at the BBC Weather Centre said: "The ground gets very hot and strong convection takes place.
"This rapidly rising air lifts dust, or straw, into the air. When conditions are right, the rising air will rotate."