Odd Stories: German City's Parking Fines are Just the Ticket

By Alice Baghdjian

Potsdam, Germany - German authorities are giving parking violators in one city an unexpected break by issuing tickets without fines.

The tickets, put on carelessly parked cars in Potsdam, include a fine of 0 euros and the cheerful message "Glueck gehabt!!!" (Lucky you!!!). The new approach is designed to admonish motorists without hitting them in the wallet.

"The tickets serve as a warning to parking offenders," said Regina Thielemann, a city of Potsdam spokeswoman. "They're issued when the driver isn't around. So they're given written notice when they'd ordinarily only get a verbal warning."

Potsdam, the state capital of Brandenburg just outside Berlin, earned around 1.2 million euros from parking fines in 2011, she said. Around 120,000 parking fines were issued last year.

In Germany -- a country known for its fondness for obeying rules and punishing offenders -- Potsdam's fine-free tickets have caught the attention of the national media.

One recipient, Kathrin Bach, said her initial reaction to finding a note on her windscreen was one of annoyance -- until she read the message.

"I thought 'Oh no - got another ticket'," she told Germany's Bild newspaper. "I've paid loads of parking fines before because there are so few parking spaces in the area," she added.

Bach's offence -- parking less than five meters away from a road junction -- should have cost her 10 euros, according to the city's parking rules.

Odd Stories: Big Freeze Stops Famed Brussels Statue from Peeing

Brussels - The Manneken-Pis, a bronze statue of a young boy urinating that is a symbol of Brussels and a major tourist attraction, has had to stop peeing because of sub-zero temperatures, Belgium's tourist office said February 1st.

Officials turned off the flow of water through the statue, which has stood on a Brussels corner since the 1600s, out of concern the cold might damage its internal mechanism.

Temperatures in the Belgian capital were set to fall to minus 10 Celsius (14 degrees Fahrenheit) during the night, far below the average minimum for February.

"It all depends on the weather, if the temperatures go up again it will work again," a tourist office spokeswoman said.

The statue, which is on the site of a 15th Century drinking fountain, has more than 800 specially made outfits which city officials use to dress it up during the year. It is one of Brussels' most popular attractions.

Odd Stories: Wrong-number Call Helps Ohio Woman Having Stroke

Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio/Denver — A woman who called the wrong number when she suffered a stroke still found help a couple of time zones away.

Loretta Smith, of Cuyahoga Falls, felt her right side go numb and fell to the floor at her home last weekend.

The 70-year-old Smith said she was able to grab the phone with her left hand and thought she was calling her son. Instead, she was one digit off and reached a man in the Denver area who was originally from northeast Ohio and had kept the same number after he moved.

"It was a woman, and she said 'I may be having a stroke,'" said Kenny Crater, 28, a sculpture major at Metropolitan State University in Denver.

Crater asked for her name and address and offered to get help. His 911 call was answered by Broomfield, Colo., police, who transferred his call to Cuyahoga Falls.

Smith was taken to Summa Western Reserve Hospital in Cuyahoga Falls, where it was determined that she had suffered a mini-stroke, said Dr. Joseph Nienaltowski.

Smith said Crater saved her life. "I want this kid to be praised to high heaven," she said.

Crater said Smith had done her part, too. "I do not feel like I have done anything special," he said.

"I didn't save her," Crater said. "She found me."

Odd Stories: Pennyslvanian Elk May Not Return to Owners

Pennsylvania/West Virginia - A family that's been searching for a pet elk has found out what happened to him, but can't get him back.

Although West Virginia officials want to return the elk to the Richter family, but Pennsylvania officials, fearful the three-year-old elk has chronic wasting disease, say it can't be returned because it may have chronic wasting disease.

"We told them, no, they couldn't bring the animal back," said Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture spokeswoman Samantha Krepps.

Gerald Feaser of the Pennsylvania Game Commission added “Similar to mad cow disease, animals with the chronic wasting disease act lethargic, have droopy eyes, salivate excessively and are often found near water. The injuries may also mimic rabies, so most people couldn't recognize CWD specifically.”

The worry is due to the fact Pennsylvania's neighbor states of West Virginia, Maryland, and New York have the disease in its population. While it's not known to affect people, it is capable of remaining after an animal leaves a population. Krepper states the state is “CWD-free and we really want to keep it that way,”

The elk escaped when a family friend accidentally left the gate to the pen open after recording sheep that were on the Richter's property.

Two other elk escaped, too, but one returned and the other has yet to be found.

Odd Stories: Man Purposely Starts Police Chase, Says It Was on "To-Do" List

Butte, Montana – A man is in jail for evading police but he chose to do so.
John C. Hughes faces a misdemeanor charge of reckless driving while eluding police. Initially police thought he was on drugs, but after finding out he didn't have any, they asked him why he seemed to randomly start a police chase. His answer surprised them.

"I just always wanted to do that," he said, saying it was on his "bucket list".

"That's the first time I've ever heard of anything like that," said Sheriff John Walsh.

Hughes started the incidient around 3:30 according to the police report. After driving behind a police car for several blocks, he pulled into a center lane and drove away at a high speed.

As the pursuit escalated, Hughes climbed to more than 100 mph. It was then that officers on another call decided it was time to use stop sticks to deflate his tires and end the pursuit before anyone got hurt. When the chase was over however he found himself facing police officers who had their guns aimed at him, yet he refused officers' orders for a few minutes. In time, he gave up and was taken to jail.

Hughes was bonded out several hours after he arrived in jail.

Odd Stories: Go-Kart Used to Smuggle Pot in Arizona Desert

Arizona – Police confinscated a cache of pot that was being transported by someone using a go-kart.

Border Patrol agents noticed the go-kart and trailer as it traveled through the desert and chased it down but not after the driver bailed out the the vehicle and escaped to Mexico, eluding the agents.

When they approached the vehicle they found inside the trailer almost 220 lbs of marijuana. The total amount of the vehicle, trailer, and contents, mostly the contents, is estimated to be around $109,000.

About the find agent Spencer Tippets said :It's not something that we see very often. Smuggling organizations are always trying to adjust and change their tactics.”

Odd Stories: Big Tigers Cut Loose, Re-penned, in Colorado

Calhan, Colorado - It seems there is no such thing as a perfect security system, even if they involved tigers, one Colorado man found out.

Nick Sculac, the owner of Serenity Springs Wildlife Center, said three of the more than 120 big cats he has were set free. The first of the so-far two break-ins happened near the end of January. In that event the ones responsible climbed a ten-foot high fence lined with barbed wire and cut a hole in three cages big enough to set the tigers free.

“Luckily they were the three tigers we raised and they were nice. We have some other cats that, if they had broken open those cages, that person would have been torn to shreds. He would have been eaten in a heartbeat.”
 

A few days later a man and woman were found sticking their hands into a cougar cage in an attempt to pet the cat. After a short argument with the workers who spotted them, they ran jumped over the fence and escaped in a car.

He said about getting a security system “I never bought one before because I didn’t think I needed it. I didn’t think anyone would be stupid enough to try to come in here.”

Anonymous Hacks FBI/Scotland Yard Calls

United States/Great Britain - Like a scene from a movie, the FBI and Scotland Yard were shown to be fools when it comes to hacking groups.

Anonymous, the infamous hacking group which has taken on credit card companies, cybersecurity firms, the Church of Scientology, and even the music industry, has taken on two of the world's top investigative agencies and won.

A 15 minute long recording has been released which revealed a plan to track and prosecute the collective hacking group and another, the lesser-known LulzSec.  Saying the hack "was intended for law enforcement officers only and was illegally obtained [and] a criminal investigation is under way to identify and hold accountable those responsible," the FBI has said it is unsure exactly how the hack happened.

It seems Anonymous somehow intercepted an email from an FBI agent to other law enforcement agencies throughout the world, including Ireland, the Netherlands, Sweden, and France.

So what's the conservation about? In case you don't have time to listen to it, it's about 15 minutes, I will sum it up for you.  They talk about two people who are supposedly linked to Anonymous - British citizens Ryan Cleary and Jake Davis - and the details they gathered against them and a few other unnamed suspects.

Europe's Winter Deaths Slowly Rising

Europe - Approximately a total of 123 people in Eastern Europe are dead thanks to freezing temperatures in what's called Europe's worst winter in several decades.

The temperature, which in some areas are lower than 30 degrees Celsius (-22 degrees Fahrenheit) also caused massive power outages, traffic jams, and closures of places like schools and airports.


Officials across the affect countries are making pleas to the public to help anyone, especially the homeless, who needs it, as in several homeless shelters are filling or full to capacity.

Sports Piracy Sites to See Increased Crackdowns

Newark, New Jersey - Hours after famed New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady told reporters he watched the Super Bowl on a website that illegally streamed the event, federal authorities said they will crack down on websites which will stream the sports show this year.

Sixteen sites, of which nine were owned by a man in Michigan, were taken down in what's called "Operation Fake Sweep"and the owners are facing charges.  The man, Yonjo Quiroa, is facing charges of copyright infringement and is being held without bail.  He streamed football, basketball, hockey, and wrestling events according to prosecutors.

In a press release U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara told sports fans watching the event on pirate sites raises the costs of tickets and harms broadcasters, sports leagues, and hurts other customers overall.  However investigators are not just going after websites that do this.

In Indianapolis, federal authorities also seized almost five-million dollars worth of sportswear and merchandise after what they say was a four-month long investigation.  Stores, flea markets, and street vendors were also targeted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, better known as ICE

Obama Administration Making it Harder for Military Families to Sue for Medical Malpractice

By Noel Brinkerhoff and David Wallechinsky

 

United States - In defending the U.S. military’s medical system in court, the U.S. Department of Justice is arguing that service personnel and their families are not allowed to sue for medical malpractice regardless of the circumstance.

 

As a general rule, military members are barred from taking the government to court, which has been established in several court cases, in particular the 1950 Supreme Court decision in Feres v. United States. But now government lawyers are trying to expand the scope of Feres to make it impossible for families of soldiers to sue for medical malpractice, if at the time of the bad care the service member was on active duty.

 

“This is a whopper of a theory and it immediately raised the hackles of attorneys who practice in this field,” wrote Andrew Cohen for The Atlantic. “Now, all of sudden, family members of military personnel can't sue the U.S. for negligence because their loved ones are on active duty?”

 

Eugene Fidell, an expert in military law at Yale University told the Military Times that the Feres Doctrine was not intended to protect military hospitals sued by civilians. “If the government can plausibly take a position like this, something is basically wrong,” said Fidell. “The outcome the government is arguing for is intolerable. If the government wins this motion, Congress has to step in.”

Feds Argue for Graphic Images on Cigarette Packs

By Nedra Pickler

Washington D.C. - The federal government fought an uphill battle Wednesday to convince a skeptical judge that tobacco companies should be required to put large graphic photos on cigarette packs to show that the habit kills smokers and their babies.

Cigarette makers told U.S. District Judge Richard Leon at a hearing that they can't be forced to spread the government's anti-smoking advocacy with "massive, shocking, gruesome warnings" on products they legally sell. Attorneys for the Obama administration countered that the photos of dead and diseased smokers it wants on all cigarette packs are "factually uncontroverted."

Leon has already ruled that the cigarette makers are likely to succeed in their lawsuit to stop the requirement, which was supposed to go into effect next year. Leon blocked the rule from taking effect until after the lawsuit is resolved.

Leon found in his earlier ruling that the nine graphic images approved by the Food and Drug Administration in June go beyond conveying the facts about the health risks of smoking or go beyond that into advocacy — a critical distinction in a case over free speech.

Leon also ruled the size of the labels suggests they are unconstitutional — the FDA requirement said the labels were to cover the entire top half of cigarette packs, front and back and include a number for a stop-smoking hotline. The labels were to constitute 20 percent of cigarette advertising, and marketers were to rotate use of the images.

The judge showed no sign that he was changing his position in favor of the government after the hour-long hearing Wednesday. "It sounds like they are headed to a place where you have to watch a 10-minute video before you can even buy a pack of cigarettes," he said.

The packaging the government wanted to require included color images of a man exhaling cigarette smoke through a tracheotomy hole in his throat; a plume of cigarette smoke enveloping an infant receiving a mother's kiss; a pair of diseased lungs next to a pair of healthy lungs; a diseased mouth afflicted with what appears to be cancerous lesions; a man breathing into an oxygen mask; a cadaver on a table with post-autopsy chest staples; a woman weeping; a premature baby in an incubator; and a man wearing a T-shirt that features a "No Smoking" symbol and the words "I Quit"

The Obama administration has appealed Leon's preliminary injunction stopping the rule from taking effect. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia is scheduled to hear the case April 10.

Attorney Mark Stern, representing the government, told Leon they don't expect he'll change his mind after siding so strongly with the tobacco companies in his initial ruling. But he said the government disagrees and argued the images factually show what can happen to smokers. "This will kill you," Stern said. "This will kill your baby."

Tobacco lawyer Noel Francisco said the government is free to try to tell Americans how to live their lives, but not to require cigarette manufacturers "to serve as the government's unwilling spokesman in that paternalistic endeavor."

Congress instructed the FDA to require the labels by a wide bipartisan majority, following the lead of the Canadian regulations that require similarly graphic images on cigarette packs. But Leon said Wednesday "there's just nothing — nothing — on the record" to indicate lawmakers consider the First Amendment implications of compelling commercial speech.

The cigarette makers that sued the FDA are R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. of Winston-Salem, N.C., Lorillard Tobacco Co. of Greensboro, N.C., Commonwealth Brands Inc. of Bowling Green, Ky., Liggett Group of Mebane, N.C., and Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Co. of Santa Fe, N.M.

Megaupload Users May Have Files Saved

Wellington, New Zealand – For those of you who used Megaupload and are worried about the loss of your files, fear no longer. A non-profit group has come to the rescue.

Working with Capathia Hosting Inc., one of two companies which hosted Megaupload's files, the Electronic Frontier Foundation announced it will help users recover their legal documents. It's not yet been explained how the two companies will discern which files are or are not legally the property of the users.

The name of the site is Megaretrieval.com

U.S. Government-Subsidized Meat Killing Native Americans

By Kelly Grens

United States - Native Americans who often ate processed meat in a can, generically known as "spam" and a common food on reservations, one subsidized by the government -- had a two-fold increased risk of developing diabetes over those who ate little or none, according to a U.S. study.
Native Americans are at especially high risk of developing diabetes, with nearly half having the condition by age 55.

Researchers writing in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition surveyed 2,000 Native Americans from Arizona, Oklahoma and North and South Dakota to look into potential reasons for the high rate.
"A lot of communities in this study are in very rural areas with limited access to grocery stores... and they want to eat foods that have a long shelf life," said Amanda Fretts, the lead author and a researcher at the University of Washington School of Medicine.

None of the survey participants, whose average age was 35, had diabetes at the start of the study when they answered questions about diet and other health and lifestyle factors.

After five years, a follow-up survey found that 243 people had developed diabetes.
Among the 500 people in the original study group who ate the most canned processed meat, 85 developed diabetes. In contrast, among the 500 people who ate the least amount of "spam," just 44 developed the disease.

Though Spam is a brand-name pork product, the lower-case term is also used to describe any kind of processed, canned meat, Fretts said. Canned meat is available freely to many Native Americans on reservations as part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's food assistance program.

Fretts and her colleagues found that unprocessed meat did not have the same relationship with diabetes, with people equally likely to develop diabetes regardless of how much hamburger or cuts of pork or beef they ate.

"I think what this study indicates is processed meats should be a priority for reduction (in the diet), especially among American Indians where they can go to food assistance programs and they can get discounted spam," said Dariush Mozaffarian, a professor at the Harvard School of Public Health who was not involved in the study.

Mozaffarian and his colleagues two years ago conducted an analysis that found that processed meats were tied to a 19 percent higher diabetes risk, while unprocessed meats were neutral.

"I think the biggest difference between processed and unprocessed meats is sodium," he said, though he added that there is no clear explanation for the link of processed meats and diabetes.

Fretts and her colleagues noted that the people who ate the most processed meats tended also to be heavier, with larger waistlines, raising the possibility that processed meats contribute to obesity, which raises the risk of diabetes.

In an emailed statement to Reuters Health, The American Meat Institute, which represents companies that process meat, said that "processed meats are a safe and nutritious part of a balanced diet."

Fretts said the study could not prove that eating processed meats was to blame for the increased risk of diabetes.
"I think there needs to be more follow-up," she said.

FDA Urged to Require Sodium Reduction in Food Supply

71 Percent of Americans Believe Industry Should Lower Salt

Washington D.C. - January 30 - Voluntary efforts by industry to reduce sodium levels in the food supply have failed, according to comments filed with the Food and Drug Administration last week by the nonprofit Center for Science in the Public Interest. On Friday CSPI urged the agency to create strong, but realistic, mandatory regulations to reduce sodium levels in restaurant and packaged foods. According to a recent survey commissioned by CSPI, the public sees the need to lower sodium. 71 percent of Americans indicated that the food industry had a responsibility to reduce the sodium content of their foods, and 58 percent support a government requirement to reduce the sodium in processed and restaurant foods.

“Overconsumption of sodium is one of the single greatest causes of hypertension and cardiovascular disease, and restaurant and packaged foods—not salt shakers—are far and away the largest contributors of sodium in the American diet,” said CSPI deputy director of health promotion policy Julie Greenstein. “Unfortunately, the food industry has failed to significantly bring down sodium levels despite 40 years of governmental admonitions. It’s time for the FDA to step in and require reasonable reductions.”

The U.S. government’s 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends that people with hypertension, those who are middle-aged or older, and African Americans should consume no more than 1,500 milligrams of sodium per day. According to the Center for Disease Control, about 70 percent of adults fall into those categories, yet current average daily consumption is actually closer to 4,000 mg. Recently, the American Public Health Association passed a resolution that calls on FDA to begin regulating sodium in the food supply within one year and to establish a timetable for gradually reducing sodium in the food supply by 75 percent over 10 years. CSPI’s filing notes that reducing sodium consumption would save billions of dollars in medical costs, and upwards of 150,000 lives annually.

Overwhelming evidence indicates that excess sodium levels pose significant health risks, but consumer education efforts are poorly funded and ineffective, according to CSPI, making efforts to reform dietary habits of Americans difficult. A recent survey indicates that 59 percent of Americans are “not concerned” about their sodium intake. As a result, an Institute of Medicine committee recommended mandatory regulations limiting sodium levels to improve public health and decrease healthcare costs.

Many frozen dinners and canned foods contain high amounts of sodium. Boston Market frozen Meatloaf with Mashed Potatoes and Gravy has 1,460 mg of sodium per serving (about one day’s worth). Marie Callender’s frozen Creamy Chicken and Shrimp Parmesan has 1,200 mg of sodium (almost a day’s worth). One of the worst restaurant offenders is Applebee’s Provolone-Stuffed Meatballs with Fettuccine, which has 3,700 mg of sodium (more than two days’ worth). Denny’s Spicy Buffalo Chicken Melt has 3,760 mg of sodium (two and a half days’ worth).

Insecticides May Be Linked to Bee Die-offs: Purdue University

By David Wallechinsky and Noel Brinkerhoff

 

United States - Agricultural chemicals may be partly responsible for the massive die-off of honeybees in the U.S., according to researchers at Purdue University. Entomologists have found the presence of neonicotinoid insecticides, which are used on corn and soybean seeds and are known to be “highly toxic to bees; we found them in each sample of dead and dying bees,” Christian Krupke, associate professor of entomology, told Purdue Daily. Except for organically grown crops, almost all corn seeds planted in the United States are coated with neonicotinoid insecticides, leading to exposure to honeybees foraging near corn fields.

 

Honeybees pollinate about 30% of all food consumed and contribute $15-20 billion a year in agriculture revenue for the U.S. The U.S. is currently losing about one-third of its honeybee hives each year. Some researchers (and pesticide manufacturers, such as Bayer) have maintained that the die-offs have been caused not by pesticides, but by viruses and fungi.

FBI to Create Spy System: AP

By David Wallechinsky and Noel Brinkerhoff

 

United States - The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is creating a spy system that will allow it to monitor social media websites, including Facebook and Twitter.

 

FBI analysts are hoping to pick up tips about future terrorist threats by examining “publicly available” material from Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites, as well as national and local television news, including Fox News, CNN and MSNBC. The bureau intends to zero in on keywords relating to terrorism, surveillance operations, online crime and other criminal matters. It also hopes to better “track hurricane paths and timelines for landfall and other natural disasters.”

 

Applicants who believe they can provide the system the FBI is seeking must be able to view tweets in at least 12 languages and translate them into English. They must also have the “Ability to display video feeds from traffic cameras to monitor traffic patterns, obstructions, bottle necks, protestors, and flash mobs.”

 

The Central Intelligence Agency has already been spying on Facebook and Twitter, as well as news outlets, as part of its effort to glean intelligence on upcoming threats or overseas upheaval, such as revolutions, before they begin. Doug Naquin, director of the CIA’s Open Source Center, told the Associated Press that the best analysts are those who, like the heroine of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, know “how to find stuff other people don’t know exists.”

New Virus Affecting European Meat

Europe - A new virus that affects animals in Britain, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Belgium is cause for concern according to the European Food Safety Authority.

The virus, called Schmallenberg and named after its town of possible origin in Germany, causes birth defects in cattle, sheep, and goats. It causes abnormalities of the head, neck, and limbs.

The EFSA is looking into how the virus, which comes from insects, will affect livestock in upcoming months and years, as well as how it will affect the human population.

According to Commission health spokesman Frederic Vincent “Nothing shows at this stage that the virus can infect human beings, but nevertheless we have asked EFSA to look into that as well”

Russia has, at the moment, banned imports of sheep and goat meat from the European countries in question.

"Baby Doc" Not Going to Be Tried for Human Rights Abuses

Haiti - The UN and human rights groups have condemned a Haitian court's decision not to charge Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier, the country former dictator, over allegations of torture and murder.

Duvalier will face trial for corruption during his 15-year rule, but not for human rights abuses, Carves Jean, the judge handling the case, said on Monday.

"I did not find enough legal grounds to keep human rights charges and crimes against humanity against him," he said. "Now my job is over. The case is no longer in my hands."

The judge said that the decision, based on a year-long investigation, must first be reviewed by the attorney general as well as by Duvalier and the victims of his regime who filed complaints against the former leader.
Rupert Colville, a spokesman for the UN's High Commissioner for Human Rights, said Duvalier must be tried for "very serious human rights violations" during his 15-year reign that were "extensively documented."
He said the UN is "extremely disappointed" by Investigative Magistrate Carves Jean's decision Monday to recommend that the ruler once known as "Baby Doc" face trial only on corruption charges.

Reed Brody, a counsel for Human Rights Watch, wrote in an e-mail: "Those who were tortured under Duvalier, those whose loved ones were killed or simply disappeared, deserve better than this."
Amnesty International researcher Gerardo Ducos said he was puzzled by the judge's findings, saying the "investigation was a sham and its conclusion a disgrace".

Critical testimony 'ignored'

Rights groups said the judge ignored critical testimony that would have given weight to a prosecution of the once-feared ruler known as "Baby Doc" for crimes that include torture, false imprisonment and murder.
Mario Joseph, a lawyer whose Haitian-run firm is representing some of the Duvalier regime's victims, said the judge "made so many errors" that they had compromised his pre-trial investigation.

Duvalier's lawyer, Reynold Georges, had argued that all charges should be dismissed, and he said he would appeal Jean's finding as soon as he received the paperwork.

He said the former dictator would appeal any decision to put him on trial for financial crimes, arguing that the supreme court had already cleared him of such charges following a previous investigation.

Brian Concannon of the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti told Al Jazeera: "The arguments that Duvalier’s lawyers have been making is that crime against humanity doesn’t apply because there is no such thing as crime against humanity in Haitian legal code.

"But it is a pretty clear consensus that under international law the statute limitations do not apply to crimes against humanity.

"But courts have looked at it in other countries, including international courts that are binding on Haiti, and they have said, you don’t need the words "crime against humanity,'" he said.

"Crime against humanity can be murder, it can be torture as long as it fits certain requirements that fit here, and is clearly applicable to Duvalier case."

'Outrageous decision'

Duvalier inherited power from his father, Francois 'Papa Doc' Duvalier in 1971 and ruled Haiti for 15 years until his overthrow in 1986.

Under the father-and-son dictatorship, thousands of people were murdered, or were tortured in jails, such as the dreaded Fort Dimanche prison.

Duvalier, now 60, made a surprise return to his earthquake-stricken homeland in January last year after nearly 25 years exiled in France, opening himself up to possible prosecution.

More than 20 victims filed complaints shortly after Duvalier's return, among them prominent Haitians such as Robert Duval, a former footballer who said he was beaten and starved during his 17 months of captivity in Fort Dimanche.

On Monday, Duval said he was stunned when he was notified about the judge's decision.

"I don't understand how he could've done that,'' Duval said by telephone. "If that's the case, that's an outrageous decision."

Haitian President Michel Martelly had given mixed signals about the case, last week recanting a suggestion from a day earlier that he might be open to a possible pardon for Duvalier, citing a need to end internal strife that has long dogged the country.

Keystone XL Pipeline Still Has Fight Behind It

United States/Canada - Although the Keystone XL pipeline legislation was pushed back due to President Obama vetoing it, there still seems to be an effort to push it through.




A new bill proposed by Republican Senator John Hoeven would allow the pipeline to start immediately and  without President Obama's approval, though the passage of the bill itself will require his signature.  The bill is sponsored by 43 Republicans and one Democrat, Senator Joe Manchin.  Other Democrats have stated their approval of the pipeline in the past. The Congressional Research Service says Congress has the constitutional right to legislate permits for pipelines such as Keystone XL.

The State Department, which will conduct an environmental impact review before the project is officially given the green light, said authority for the pipeline should be with the administration because of foreign policy, economic, environmental and safety issues.

If this doesn't pass, TransCanada plans to apply for yet another presidential permit but it won't happen until after the election taking place later this year.

Megaupload Host to Start Deleting Data on Thursday

United States - The host of Megaupload's files say they may start deleting the data as soon as February 2nd according to letters given to the press and the court overseeing the trial.

The companies, Carpathia Hosting Inc. and Cogent Communications Group Inc., both based in Virginia, says they are deleting the data they have because the company hasn't paid the fees for hosing the files ever since their assets were frozen.

Ira Rothken, Megaupload's attorney, says the company is trying to work with prosecutors to keep the files from being deleted, which they claim is the property of at least 50-million users and, probably more importantly, is critical to their defense.

"We're cautiously optimistic at this point that because the United States, as well as MegaUpload, should have a common desire to protect consumers, that this type of agreement will get done," Rothken said.

The charges the operators face include conspiring to commit racketeering, conspiring to commit money laundering, copyright infringement, and aiding and abetting copyright infringement over the internet.

Update: Ira Rothken tweeted "Carpathia and Cogent agreed to preserve consumer data for additional time of at least two weeks so #Megaupload can work with US on proposal

"

One-third of World's Population Face Poverty by 2040: U.N. Study

United Nations - According to a UN report, the world's population is putting the security of food, water, and energy at risk.

By 2030, the report states, the world will need approximate 50% more food, 45% more energy, and 30% more water than is presently available.  If it didn't meet these requirements more than three-billion people will end up in poverty.  By the year 2040 that will be around one-third of the world's population, which at that time is estimated to be nine-billion people.

The United Nations Global Sustainability Panel said at the moment sustainable development efforts aren't happening fast or deep enough to change this path.  The panel has made 56 recommendations which would be needed to affect the course of possible collapse.  Some of the recommendations are: 

• Water and marine ecosystems should be managed more efficiently and there should be universal access to affordable sustainable energy by 2030.

• To make the economy more sustainable, carbon and natural resource pricing should be established through taxation, regulation or emissions trading schemes by 2020 and fossil fuel subsidies should also be phased out by that time.

• National fiscal and credit systems should be reformed to provide long-term incentives for sustainable practices as well as disincentives for unsustainable ones.

• Sovereign wealth and public pension funds, as well as development banks and export credit agencies should apply sustainable development criteria to their investment decisions, and governments or stock market watchdogs should revise regulations to encourage their use.

• Governments and scientists should also strengthen the relationship between policy and science by regularly examining the science behind environmental thresholds or "tipping points" and the United Nations should consider naming a chief scientific adviser or board to advise the organization, the report said.

Irish Citizen Kept Out of United States

Ireland/United States - A simple statement to a friend through Twitter got an Irish citizen barred from the United States.

Leigh Van Bryan sent this tweet to a friend in reply to a friend asking him about his upcoming plans. 

It turns out before he even landed in Los Angeles his tweet was flagged by the Department of Homeland Security.  In this context, according to Van Bryan, the word "destroy" meant "party".

After explaining this to the DHS officials, he and his friend Emily Bunting were still denied access into the country, held for 12 hours, then sent back to Ireland.

Van Bryan was also asked about another tweet, this one a joke, stating he was planning to "dig up Marilyn Monroe", the infamous Hollywood actress.

"The Homeland Security agents were treating me like some kind of terrorist. I kept saying they had got the wrong meaning from my tweet but they just told me 'You've really fucked up with that tweet, boy,' " said Van Bryan.


This comes shortly after Twitter announced its new policy in which they will be censoring tweets if a country's government requests them to do so (which makes at least Thailand happy).  The tweet can still be seen in other countries, just not the country in which it originated.  The FBI is also looking for a tool to help them monitor sites like Facebook and Twitter more closely and effectively. The CIA is doing the same thing, and has been for years if not decades, though whether it's now doing it with a program or not is still unknown.


Note: I do realize this is from the Daily Mail, which is America's version of Fox News (i.e. unreliable) but it seems the Twitter account in question is real.  Since the tweets are protected, I can't exactly look for the exact one myself.

Spin: Democracy At Work