John Lowe, 82, winked and grinned at the public gallery as he learned he will die behind bars for killing a mother and daughter.
Friday, 31 October 2014
Harris loses conviction appeal bid
Entertainer Rolf Harris loses the first round of a legal challenge against his conviction for indecent assaults.
VIDEO: Stars glow at Interstellar premiere
The stars of Christopher Nolan's much-anticipated Interstellar praise its "ambition" at the film's European premiere.
Will The U.S. Marines Drop Their Standards For Women Who Attempt Their Infantry Officers Training Course?
Photo from Girls Just Wanna Have Guns
Pressure Grows For Marines To Lower Standards For Women -- Washington Free Beacon
27 Female Marines Have Attempted the Infantry Officers Training Course. None Have Passed.
When it was reported at the beginning of October that three female Marine officers had passed the Combat Endurance Test (CET), the initial entry screener for the Corp’s challenging Infantry Officer Course, the news was widely reported. You can read about it here, here, here, here, here, and here.
The story was indeed news. Up to that point, of the 24 women who had attempted the CET, only one had passed, and she had reportedly later been dropped from the overall course due to an injury. Struggling to get enough female officers into the course to produce a statistically significant result for its study of introducing women into combat roles, the Corps had directed that more seasoned female officers could attempt the course. Now three had made it over the first hurdle.
Read more ....
My Comment: Some are arguing that the standards were deliberately raised before women started to apply .... hence making it impossible for them to perform. I do not know about that .... but I will not be surprised that in the future the standards will be changed there by making it more easier for women to complete the course.
U.S. Congress Is Still Ignorant About NSA Spying
Congress Still Has No Idea How Much The NSA Spies On Americans -- Conor Friedersdorf, The Atlantic
Adequate oversight is impossible when even diligent members of the Senate Intelligence Committee can't get basic facts about surveillance.
The biggest lie Americans are told about the NSA is that it is subject to "strict oversight." Listening to President Obama, Senator Dianne Feinstein, or most any high-ranking official in the national-security bureaucracy, one gets the impression that the Senate and House intelligence committees are keeping careful tabs on the most technologically empowered spy agency in human history.
The truth is that Congress is alarmingly ignorant about NSA spying. It's not all the national-security state's fault. There are too many issues for every legislator to master them all; surveillance policy is a particularly complicated; and national security is an area many in Congress undermine checks and balances by deferring to the president.
Read more ....
My Comment: I guess the NSA has now reached the level where it is too big to fail.
Ebola Court Order Sought To Confine Nurse
The US state of Maine has asked a court to restrict the movements of a nurse who defied an Ebola quarantine.
UN chief defends Ebola aid workers
UN chief Ban Ki-moon says discrimination against humanitarian workers who return home from the Ebola crisis in West Africa is "unacceptable".
Victims' Groups 'Unanimous' Woolf Should Quit
Representatives of alleged child abuse victims say they are "unanimous" Fiona Woolf cannot head an inquiry into historical claims.
New Nato boss on challenges ahead
With most Nato members intent on cutting defence spending, Mark Urban asks the alliance's new chief Jens Stoltenberg how he can stop it becoming an association of broken promises.
Burkina Faso's Leader Has Resigned
Burkina Faso's embattled president Blaise Compaore has been ousted, following days of protests against efforts to extend his rule.
Friendly Fire Deaths Caused By Defense Budget Cuts?
Two U.S. Navy F/A-18 Super Hornets of Strike Fighter Squadron 31 fly a combat patrol over Afghanistan, Dec. 15, 2008. U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Aaron Allmon
EXCLUSIVE: Budget Cuts, Errant B-1 Bomber Blamed In Deadly ‘Friendly Fire’ Accident In Afghanistan -- Washington Times
The “friendly fire” airstrike that killed five American soldiers in Afghanistan on June 9 is the first known case of a battlefield catastrophe that can be linked to automatic defense spending cuts that greatly curtailed prewar training.
A review of the worst American fratricide in the long Afghanistan War also shows that the military’s official investigation faults a Green Beret commander, an Air Force air controller and the four-man crew on the B-1B bomber that conducted the errant strike.
But the investigation, headed by an Air Force general, does not question the use of a strategic bomber for close air support, even though experts say the tragedy illustrates why the big plane is misplaced in that role.
The Washington Times has reviewed the investigation and interviewed knowledgeable sources to compile a picture of the doomed operation in southern Afghanistan’s Zabul province, as well as the political and military missteps that precipitated it. Key among them, according to defense experts, was the use of the strategic bomber.
Read more ....
My Comment: I always remember what former U.S. Defense Secretary Rumsfeld once said .... you go to war with what you have. Could these crews have been trained better ... yes. Was a B-1 bomber suitable for this attack ... probably not. Would more training have prevented this .... probably. But in the end .... I hate to say it .... "shit happens".
Burkina Faso's president resigns
Burkina Faso's President Blaise Compaore announces he has resigned, following violent protests at his attempt to extend his 27-year rule.
Firefighters set for pensions strike
Firefighters across England are to start a four-day strike later in a row over pensions during one of the service's busiest weekends of the year.
Bend It Like Beckham set for stage
A musical version of the hit 2002 British comedy film Bend It Like Beckham is to open in the West End next year.
Costa set to make Chelsea return
Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho confirms striker Diego Costa will be available for Saturday's Premier League game with QPR.
Warmest UK Halloween on record
This year's Halloween is the warmest on record in Britain, BBC weather has confirmed.
Spain says will seek to block Catalan watered-down vote on independence
MADRID (Reuters) - Spain will ask its Constitutional Court to rule on the legality of a Nov. 9 'consultation of citizens' on independence from Spain planned by Catalonia in a move to block the vote, Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria said on Friday.
UK says will pay off part of World War One-era debt next year
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain will pay back part of the outstanding debt used to fund World War One next year, when it redeems government bonds first issued almost 90 years ago by then-finance minister Winston Churchill.
Air strikes hit Kobani as Kurdish peshmerga prepare to enter
SURUC Turkey (Reuters) - U.S.-led air strikes hit Islamic State positions around the Syrian border town of Kobani on Friday in an apparent bid to pave the way for heavily-armed Kurdish peshmerga forces to enter from neighboring Turkey.
Europe won't recognize vote in eastern Ukraine, Merkel tells Putin
BERLIN (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel told Russian President Vladimir Putin on the phone that Sunday's planned elections in eastern Ukraine were illegitimate and would not be recognized by European leaders, a Berlin government spokesman said on Friday.
Child Abuse Inquiry Controversy At-A-Glance
Amid calls for the resignation of the second person asked to lead the investigation, we look at the key events in the controversy.
VIDEO: What happened to Remploy workers?
A year after the last Remploy factory closed, Nikki Fox looks at what has happened to former workers - and what options are available to them
Iran hits back after West chastises Tehran on rights
GENEVA (Reuters) - Iran defended its human rights record on Friday, striking back at the West for its criticism about a woman hanged for murder in an alleged rape case.
JK Rowling: Potter Witch Based On Real Person
The creator of the world's most famous wizard says Dolores Umbridge is modelled on a woman she "disliked intensely on sight".
Car bomb kills five people in northeast Nigeria: source
ABUJA (Reuters) - A car bomb exploded in the northeast Nigerian city of Gombe on Friday, killing five people and wounding 15 others, a source in the emergency services on the scene told Reuters.
Government to 'retire' some WW1 debt
The UK Government has said that it will 'retire' £218m of the UK's £2bn First World War debt by refinancing bonds issued in 1917. It is the first payment of its kind for 67 years.
Firefighters Poised For Bonfire Period Strike
Government calls walkout "regrettable and unnecessary", while Fire Brigades Union says that workers' pensions are being "wrecked".
Terror sentences 'were justified'
Three men who challenged their special extended sentences for terrorism offences lose their appeal.
Man Arrested Over Fireworks Warehouse Blaze
A man aged 53 has been arrested over a blaze at a fireworks warehouse in Staffordshire which has left two people missing.
Ex-Navy SEAL Probed Over Bin Laden Secrets
Matt Bissonnette, who took part in the Abbottabad raid, wrote a book and gave speeches about the mission to kill bin Laden.
Doctors In Call For Calorie Labels On Alcohol
The calorie labeling already applies to food but the European Commission is considering extending the rules to alcohol.
Hungary scraps controversial web tax
Hungary shelves a proposed tax on internet data traffic after tens of thousands of Hungarians marched against it.
Police boss in gross misconduct probe
A police chief will face an internal charge of gross misconduct after an allegation of inappropriate behaviour towards women.
Dench and Watson honoured in LA
Actors Dame Judi Dench, Emma Watson and Robert Downey Junior are among the stars honoured at the Britannia Awards hosted by Bafta in LA.
VIDEO: Halloween: Sporting horrors of 2014
In honour of Halloween, BBC Sport looks back at some of 2014's more 'horrifying' moments, including the shocks, the slips, the trips and the unexpected.
Child stabbed to death, two injured in latest China attack
BEIJING (Reuters) - An 8-year-old Chinese boy was stabbed to death and two classmates seriously injured on Friday in the latest attack on school children in the country, state media reported.
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