Obama wants to prevent the attack by Israel on Iran

Obama wants to prevent the attack by Israel on Iran

The main purpose of the visit of U.S. President Barack Obama to Israel in the spring is to deter Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of attack on Iran.

Five dead on Canary Islands cruise ship

Five crew have been killed after a lifeboat they were in fell from the Thomson cruise ship Majesty while it was docked in the port of Santa Cruz de la Palma in the Canary Islands.

The accident happened during a routine safety drill at about 12:00 GMT. Three others were also hurt as the lifeboat fell into the sea, trapping occupants.
Those killed include three Indonesians, a Filipino and a Ghanaian.
The MS Thomson Majesty is operated by UK-based Thomson Cruises.
The UK Foreign Office said it was aware of the incident and was "urgently looking into it".


No passengers were involved in the accident, local reports say.
Thomson Cruises said in a statement that it was "aware of an incident involving the ship's crew on board Thomson Majesty, in La Palma, Canary Islands this afternoon".
"We are working closely with the ship owners and managers, Louis Cruises, to determine exactly what has happened and provide assistance to those affected by the incident," the statement added.
Reports said the lifeboat fell between 20 and 30 metres into the sea.

Carnival 2013: Rio street party draws 'more than 1.5m'

As Rio de Janeiro's carnival gets under way, its oldest street parade has drawn an estimated 1.5m revellers.

The samba-dancing crowd filled the streets of Rio's business district and some passed out under the summer heat.
Police arrested more than 100 partygoers for minor crimes, but the majority of celebrations were peaceful, officials say.
About 700 other street parties and the world-renowned samba schools' parade will take place in Rio until Tuesday.
The Cordao do Bola Preta 95th annual street parade kicked off at 1000 (1400 GMT) on Saturday.
Thousands, many wearing costumes, danced as live bands on lorries played tunes of traditional carnival songs and samba school themes.
The crowds converged in the early afternoon, and many revellers climbed onto parked police cars, as the massive street party drew to a close.
One of the cars had its windscreen smashed in and more than 100 were detained by the police, mostly for urinating on the streets, the authorities said.
Hundreds of other street parties are happening in Rio, many simultaneously in different parts of the city.
The samba schools competition , with its sophisticated floats and costumes, is set to happen in Rio's Sambadrome between Sunday and Monday.
The carnival is set to draw 1.1m tourists to Rio, generating some $650m (£410m) for the local economy. Hotels and restaurants are booked almost to capacity.
International stars such as US actor Will Smith, rapper Kanye West and actress Megan Fox are already in the city for the celebrations.

Brazil's annual carnival kicked off on Friday, but the parades and street parties had a sombre tinge, coming after a nightclub fire that killed 238 people.
Mourning rituals continued as the mayor of Rio de Janeiro handed over the keys of the city to carnival ceremonial figurehead King Momo.
President Dilma Rousseff attended a memorial Mass for the fire victims at Brasilia's cathedral on Thursday night.
She is not taking part in the five-day party, spending it in Bahia state.
More than 60 casualties of the inferno remain in hospital, and many cities - particularly near the southern city of Santa Maria where the fire happened - have scaled down their festivities as a result.
For Brazil, Carnival 2013 is an important test of the city's infrastructure ahead of the big sporting events lined up for the future, including the World Cup in 2014 and the Olympics in 2016, says the BBC's Julia Carneiro in Rio.

Mali conflict: France boosts troop numbers

 

 The BBC's Will Ross on the border with Nigerian troops: "They've got experience in countries likes Sierra Leone and Liberia."

France said it launched military action in its former colony last Friday to stop it becoming a "terrorist state" after a rapid advance by the Islamists.
Heavy fighting has been continuing, with French forces bombing Diabaly, 350km (220 miles) north of the capital.
Troops pledged by West African nations have also started arriving in Mali.
Some 100 Togolese soldiers landed in Bamako on Thursday, with 80 Nigerian troops expected shortly.
In Brussels, the EU foreign ministers agreed to press ahead with sending a team to train the weak Malian army.

"The actions of French forces, be it air forces or ground forces, are ongoing," France's Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on Thursday.

"They took place yesterday, they took place last night, they took place today, they will take place tomorrow."
On Wednesday, French and Malian sources said their forces launched the first major ground operation against the militants, with street battles taking place in Diabaly.
But Diabaly's mayor, Oumar Diakite, told the BBC from Bamako only Malian troops were involved in the battle. Both sides suffered casualties, he said.
"The Islamists were burying their dead next to our cemetery in Diabaly. There were also three bodies of Malian soldiers lying on the side of the road," Mr Diakite added.
"The residents wanted to take the bodies and bury them, but they [the militants] would not let us."
'Limited support' Mr Diakite said French forces were in the nearby town of Niono. "They are co-ordinating with the Malian army," he said.
Well-armed Islamists entered Diabaly on Monday, taking the town from Malian forces.
French fighter jets have since attacked rebel positions.

France launched its operation last Friday, after the Islamists seized Konna and began advancing further south. It had some 800 troops in Mali, before the latest deployment.

Defence sources said their numbers were expected to increase to 2,500.
Nigeria - which has promised to send a total of 900 troops as well as fighter jets - will lead the West African force.
Chad has also confirmed 2,000 soldiers will join the anti-rebel operation in Mali.
Benin, Ghana, Niger, Senegal, Burkina Faso and Togo have also pledged to take part.
In total, 3,300 regional troops will be deployed in the conflict under a UN Security Council resolution.
France has been pushing hard for the deployment of West African troops and the arrival of the first Nigerian troops should bring some relief to French soldiers who are only getting limited support from the fairly weak Malian army, analysts say.
It is not yet known exactly what role the West African troops will play or how well prepared they are for what is expected to be a challenging ground assault against the Islamist militants.
The UK has provided transport planes, and on Wednesday Germany gave two transport planes as logistical support.
EU foreign ministers agreed at a meeting in Brussels on Thursday to send a military training mission to Mali.
No combat role is envisaged for it.
"The threat of jihadi terrorists is something that should be a matter of great concern to all of us," Dutch Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans said, ahead of the meeting, Reuters news agency reports.
"And there is not one European country that can hide if this threat would present itself to the European continent."
Islamist groups and secular Tuareg rebels took advantage of chaos following a military coup to seize northern Mali in April 2012. But the Islamists soon took control of the region's major towns, sidelining the Tuaregs.

 

Virginia executes Robert Gleason Jr.

Virginia executes Robert Gleason Jr.

 

Robert Gleason, 42, was executed at 9:08 pm local time (0308 GMT) after a year on death row, said Larry Traylor, a spokesman for the Department of Corrections in the state of Virginia.

Boeing Dreamliner grounded by US regulator

 

 United, the only US carrier flying 787s, currently operates six of the planes

 

The US aviation regulator has told US airlines to temporarily ground Boeing's 787 Dreamliner, following a battery fault on one of the aircraft in Japan.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said that airlines must demonstrate that batteries are safe before flights can resume.
Boeing said it supported the FAA but said it was confident the 787 was safe.
United Airlines is the only US airline operating the 787. Earlier, Japan's two main airlines grounded their 787s.
All Nippon Airways (ANA) grounded its fleet of 17 Dreamliners when its flight NH 692 from Yamaguchi Ube was forced to land shortly after take-off.
Japan Airlines then took similar action, grounding its seven Dreamliners.
Along with United's six Dreamliners, it means well over half of all Dreamliners in operation are now grounded.
In recent weeks, Dreamliners have suffered issues including fuel leaks, a cracked cockpit window, brake problems and an electrical fire.
Finding answers Boeing shares closed down more than 3% on Wall Street on Wednesday.
"Boeing is committed to supporting the FAA and finding answers as quickly as possible," said Boeing chief executive Jim McNerney.

"We are confident the 787 is safe and we stand behind its overall integrity. We will be taking every necessary step in the coming days to assure our customers and the travelling public of the 787's safety and to return the airplanes to service.

"Boeing deeply regrets the impact that recent events have had on the operating schedules of our customers and the inconvenience to them and their passengers."
United Airlines said it would immediately comply with the FAA's directive and would begin re-accommodating customers on alternative aircraft.
Follow suit? The FAA said that when it issues an airworthiness directive, it also alerts the international aviation community so that other authorities can take parallel action to cover the fleets operating in their countries.
Leithen Francis, from Aviation Week, said that could mean more bad news for Boeing in the coming days.
"When the FAA issues an airworthiness directive civil aviation and airlines around the world have to follow the FAA airworthiness directive, particularly in regards to the 787 because it a US-designed and developed aircraft," he told the BBC.
In the longer term, he said that airlines considering putting in orders for the 787 may now hold off or choose to increase orders of rival Airbus' A330, a comparable plane.
"The Airbus A330 is a proven product," he said.
Under investigation Late on Wednesday, the FAA said it would work with the manufacturer and carriers on an action plan to allow the US 787 fleet to resume operations as quickly and safely as possible.
"The in-flight Japanese battery incident followed an earlier 787 battery incident that occurred on the ground in Boston on January 7, 2013," the regulator said.
"The AD (airworthiness directive) is prompted by this second incident involving a lithium ion battery."
It said the battery failures resulted in the release of flammable electrolytes, heat damage, and smoke, and the cause of the failures was under investigation.
"These conditions, if not corrected, could result in damage to critical systems and structures, and the potential for fire in the electrical compartment," the FAA said.

 

 

Algeria troops 'in face-off' with militant hostage-takers

 

 Senior al-Qaeda commander Mokhtar Belmokhtar has been identified as the leader behind the attack

Algerian troops have surrounded a gas facility in Algeria, where some 20 foreign workers are being held hostage by Islamist militants, officials say.

The kidnappers killed a Briton and an Algerian after attacking and occupying the complex at In Amenas on Wednesday.
The captives include British, Japanese, US, French and Norwegian nationals.
Algerian Interior Minister Daho Ould Kabila said the militants wanted to leave the country with the hostages, but he had refused to let them go.
"We reject all negotiations with the group, which is holding some 20 hostages from several nationalities," he said at a press conference on Wednesday evening.
Mr Kabila added that the kidnappers were Algerian and operating under orders from Mokhtar Belmokhtar, a senior commander of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) before late last year, when he set up his own armed group after apparently falling out with other leaders.

Meanwhile, alleged spokesmen for the militants claim they have kidnapped 41 foreigners. Dozens of Algerian workers are said to have been released.

Border closed Mr Kabila said a heavily armed "terrorist group" of around 20 men had attacked a bus carrying workers from In Amenas at about 05:00 (04:00 GMT).
The gas field is operated by the Algerian state oil company, Sonatrach, along with the British oil company BP and Norway's Statoil.
It is situated about 1,300km (800 miles) south-east of the capital, Algiers, and about 60km (37 miles) west of the Libyan border.
The attackers were repelled by police who had been escorting the bus, but a Briton and an Algerian national had been killed, Mr Kabila said. Two other British nationals, a Norwegian, two police officers and a security guard were also hurt in the fire fight, he added.

Afterwards, the militants drove to the gas facility's living quarters and took a number of Algerian and foreign workers hostage.
They were being held in one wing of the living quarters, which the security services and army had surrounded, Mr Kabila said.
"Since then, they've been facing off. The security forces are consolidating their position around the base," he added.
A worker told France's Le Figaro newspaper the captors had mined the facility and demanded food, water and vehicles.
Mr Kabila said nearby border crossings had been closed as a precaution and that the foreign ministry was in contact with diplomats from the hostages' countries.
UK Foreign Secretary William Hague confirmed the captives included "a number of British nationals", adding: "This is therefore a very dangerous situation."
He said the UK government was working "around the clock" to resolve the crisis.

Foreign Secretary William Hague: ''This is an extremely dangerous situation''

US Secretary of Defence Leon Panetta said he could not confirm the exact number of Americans seized in the attack.
"By all indications this is a terrorist act and the United States strongly condemns these kinds these kinds of terrorist acts," he said.
Meanwhile Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg said 13 Norwegian employees of Statoil were believed held hostage at the gas facility. Irish Foreign Minister Eamon Gilmore said one of its nationals was a hostage.
Japanese news agencies, citing unnamed government officials, said there were three Japanese hostages.
'Disastrous outcome' Two groups led by Belmokhtar - the Khaled Abu al-Abbas Brigade and the Signed-in Blood Battalion - said they were behind the incident.
Earlier, a man claiming to be a spokesman for the militants told BBC Arabic that al-Qaeda had carried out the attack.

The BBC's Frank Gardner says there has been a spate of profit-driven abductions in the region

He claimed that they had allowed Algerian workers to leave the gas facility and were only holding foreign nationals.
A list of demands had been sent to Algerian authorities, and the hostages would be killed if troops attempted to rescue them, the spokesman added.
''Storming the gas complex would be easy for the Algerian military, but the outcome of such an operation would be disastrous," he warned.
There are conflicting reports about the motives behind the attack.
Earlier the AFP news agency quoted one worker as saying the militants had demanded the release of 100 Islamist prisoners currently detained in Algeria. Another report said they wanted France to end its military operation in Mali.
Militant groups have vowed to avenge France's military intervention in Mali, where its forces have been battling Islamists linked to AQIM for the past week. Algeria has been allowing French aircraft to use its air space.

 

The helicopter crashed and caught fire in central London

The helicopter crashed and caught fire in central London

The city is spread thick smoke

Unmasked operations 'Red October'

Unmasked operations 'Red October'

 The company Kaspersky Lab 'discovered' Red October's surgery, advanced cyber espionage campaign aimed at diplomatic and government institutions around the world.

France military says Mali town Konna 'not recaptured'

 

 Almost 800 French soldiers have arrived in Mali as part of the military operation

 

 

French military officials have denied an earlier claim by the Malian army that the central town of Konna has been recaptured by government forces.

France launched its military intervention last Friday after Islamists seized Konna and began advancing further south.
Another central town, Diabaly, was captured by rebels on Monday.
French and Malian troops were reportedly heading towards the town in preparation for a ground offensive.
In March and April last year, Islamist and secular Tuareg rebels overran the main population centres in northern Mali. Soon the Islamists, some with links to al-Qaeda, took control and imposed a hardline form of Sharia.
While a West African force was being planned with the aim of bringing the north back under the control of the Malian government, the rebels began moving further south.

It was the rebel capture of the strategically important town of Konna last Thursday that prompted France's military intervention.

French warplanes began air strikes against Islamist fighters the next day, and by Saturday a Malian military official said the army had brought Konna back under control, and 100 rebel fighters had been killed.
But French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told reporters in Paris on Tuesday that the town was not in government hands.
The French aerial campaign had managed to block the rebels who had moved back to an area between Douentza and Gao.
But, he said, "at this time, the town of Konna has still not been recaptured by the Malian armed forces".
BBC Paris correspondent Hugh Schofield says the significance is unclear, but it suggests that the Malian army on the ground does not have the capacity to take advantage of the air support offered by the French.
Heritage site A series of air attacks by French helicopters and fighter planes reportedly sent the rebels fleeing from two of the main northern towns, Gao and Timbuktu. But gunfire was heard outside Timbuktu, a Unesco world heritage site, on Tuesday.

And the Islamists have hit back, seizing the central town of Diabaly on Monday, 350km (220 miles) north-east of the capital, Bamako.

France says 1,700 of its soldiers are involved in the operation to help the Malian military fight back against the Islamists, with almost 800 on the ground in Mali itself.
Defence sources said their numbers were expected to increase to 2,500.
Air strikes were launched on targets in Diabaly on Monday night and news agencies reported that French soldiers were seen heading towards the town in armoured vehicles.
AFP quoted a local government official some distance south as saying that several hundred Malian and French troops were on their way.
RFI radio correspondent Serge Daniel, in Mali, said it was the first time since the start of the operation that French troops had been seen on the ground. "They are with the Malian army, 60km (37 miles) south of Diabaly."
Other reports said French armoured vehicles had been spotted driving north from the capital, Bamako.
A West African force of about 3,300 is also due to start arriving in Mali in the next few days, under a UN Security Council resolution.
The force will be made up of 900 Nigerian soldiers, the first of whom will leave for Bamako on Wednesday, as well as troops from Benin, Ghana, Niger, Senegal, Guinea, Burkina Faso and Togo.
French President Francois Hollande said on Tuesday that France had one main aim: "To ensure that when we leave... Mali is safe, has legitimate authorities, an electoral process and there are no more terrorists threatening its territory."

The flare-up in violence has prompted another 30,000 people to be displaced from their homes, according to the UN.

Until this month, some 144,500 Malian refugees had already been registered in neighbouring countries since April 2012.
France's intervention has prompted concerns for the welfare of eight French hostages kidnapped in the area over the past two years.
President Hollande said on Tuesday that "those who have taken them captive should reflect. There's still time to return them to their families".

Teacher from the U.S. looks like President Barack Obama

Teacher from the U.S. looks like President Barack Obama

The inauguration of Barack Obama for a second presidential term commitments will be fulfilled only for him, but the man who resembles him.

Debt ceiling debate: Obama stakes out position

President Obama: "Investors around the world will ask if America is a safe bet"

America is "not a deadbeat nation", US President Obama has said, warning Republicans not to hold the economy to ransom on the federal borrowing limit.

He told a White House news conference it would be "absurd" to use the debt ceiling as a negotiating chip.
Republican House Speaker John Boehner said a debt ceiling rise should be accompanied by spending cuts.
The US is expected to hit its $16.4tn (£10.2tn) borrowing limit by February unless lawmakers act.
Monday's press conference came a week before the inauguration ceremony in Washington DC that will begin Mr Obama's second term.
'Ransom' The Democratic president warned lawmakers that they would "not collect a ransom... for not crashing the economy".
"The full faith and credit of the United States of America is not a bargaining chip. And they [Republicans] better decide quickly because time is running short," Mr Obama said.

President Obama: "Members of Congress need to examine their own conscience"

"America cannot afford another debate with this Congress about whether or not we should pay the bills we've already racked up," he added.
"We are not a deadbeat nation," Mr Obama said.
Afterwards, Mr Boehner, leader of the House Republicans, acknowledged the economic peril of failing to raise the debt ceiling. But he indicated the House would attach spending cuts to any legislation to raise the borrowing authority.
"The American people do not support raising the debt ceiling without reducing government spending at the same time," he said in a statement.
Speaking on a day marking a month on from the massacre at a Connecticut primary school that shocked the nation, Mr Obama also said he would present proposals for gun control later in the week.
He said stronger background checks, control of high capacity magazine clips, and an assault weapons ban were all measures he believed made sense.
"Will all of them get through this Congress?" he asked. "I don't know."
The National Rifle Association and some lawmakers have suggested that any plan to ban assault weapons would not pass Congress.
Ahead of the debt ceiling fight, the White House in recent days has stated it will forgo two extraordinary measures suggested by the president's allies and by left-leaning pundits.
The White House will not order the treasury to mint a $1tn platinum coin - an accounting measure that would allow spending to continue.
Nor will Mr Obama invoke a clause in the 14th amendment to the US constitution declaring that "the validity of the public debt of the United States... shall not be questioned".
The last debt ceiling battle between Congress and Mr Obama ended in July 2011. The ceiling was raised $2.4tn in exchange for automatic across-the-board spending cuts scheduled for 1 January 2013.
Mr Obama had previously said he wanted a permanent extension of the debt limit as part of a deal to avoid those spending cuts which, combined with a package of tax rises, was known as the fiscal cliff.
A last-minute deal in Congress avoided most of those tax rises and deferred the spending cuts by two months, but the debt ceiling limit was not part of the negotiations.
In preparation for the debt ceiling fight, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has already cut payments into the pension and disability fund for government workers and to the health benefits fund of postal retirees.
The Bipartisan Policy Center estimates Mr Geithner's "extraordinary measures" will be exhausted between 15 February and 1 March.

Mali Islamists seize town amid French intervention

The BBC's Mark Doyle reports from the Mali capital Bamako, where he is one of the few correspondents on the ground

Islamist fighters in Mali have seized a town in government-controlled territory amid a military intervention by France.

French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said Diabaly, 400km (250 miles) from the capital, Bamako, was taken in a counter-attack on Monday.
Mr Le Drian insisted France's campaign was "developing favourably".
He said Islamists had retreated in the east but admitted French forces were facing a "difficult" situation against well-armed rebels in western areas.
Aid workers said many people had been fleeing areas targeted by the French.
The UN Security Council is due to discuss Mali later on Monday.

The Islamists began a counter-attack on Diabaly, home to a key Mali army base, on Sunday night, hours after French warplanes had targeted the town.
Mr Le Drian told BFM television: "They took Diabaly after fierce fighting and resistance from the Malian army that was not able to hold them off at that moment."
One resident told the BBC that the fighting had lasted for about 10 hours.
"About five [rebel] vehicles entered the town," he said. "Now they're stationed about 200m (650ft) from the military camp but they haven't taken the camp. They've killed a few soldiers."
A Malian military source told AFP news agency that rebels had come from the Mauritanian border area after being attacked by French planes.
Rebels 'in retreat' France intensified its air strikes on rebel targets over the weekend, with its aircraft also bombing the town of Gao in eastern Mali. On Monday witnesses told AFP there had been air strikes on Douentza for a fourth consecutive day.

"The developments are in line with our expectations," said Mr Le Drian. "The terrorist groups are in effect in retreat."

But he said French forces had encountered "heavily armed militants" in the west, where he described the situation as "difficult".
Rebels of the al-Qaeda-linked Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (Mujao), said that France would pay for its intervention.
Spokesman Abou Dardar told AFP: "France has attacked Islam. We will strike at the heart of France."
Separately, militants in Somalia have published a photograph purportedly showing one of two French soldiers killed during a failed hostage rescue attempt. Friday's raid on town of Bulo Marer, south of Mogadishu, came hours after the French intervention in Mali.
At least 11 Malian soldiers and a French helicopter pilot have died in Mali. More than 100 militants are reported to have been killed.
Medical charity Medicins Sans Frontieres said it had received numerous reports of people being killed or injured in Konna, and that in Douentza, bombardments and fighting were preventing the wounded from making it to hospital.
MSF said at least 200 people had fled to Mauritania by vehicle, with many more heading to the border on foot.
'Won't stay forever' French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said France's involvement would last "a matter of weeks" and rejected any parallel with the protracted Western mission in Afghanistan.
"Later on, we can come as back-up, but we have no intention of staying forever," he said.

France has sent about 550 troops to the central town of Mopti and to Bamako.

They are set to be joined by troops from the neighbouring African states of Niger, Burkina Faso, Nigeria and Togo, some of which are now expected to arrive in Mali within days.
The UK is offering logistical support, with two cargo planes made available for a week to support French operations.
Islamist groups and secular Tuareg rebels took advantage of chaos following a military coup to seize northern Mali in April 2012.
But the Islamists soon took control of the region's major towns, sidelining the Tuaregs.
One Islamist group, Ansar Dine, began pushing further south last week, seizing Konna.
The town has since been recaptured by Malian troops with French aerial support.

Aaron Swartz, internet freedom activist, dies aged 26

 

Swartz developed RSS at an early age

Aaron Swartz, a celebrated internet freedom activist and early developer of the website Reddit, has died at 26.

The activist and programmer took his life in his New York apartment, a relative and the state medical examiner said. His body was found on Friday.
Mr Swartz began computer programming as a child, and at 14 co-authored an early version of the RSS specification.
He later became an advocate of internet freedom, and was facing hacking charges at the time of his death.
He was among the founders of the Demand Progress campaign group, which lobbies against internet censorship.
The hacking charges relate to the downloading of millions of academic papers from online archive JSTOR, which prosecutors say he intended to distribute for free.
He denied charges of computer fraud at an initial hearing last year, but his federal trial was due to begin next month.
Mr Swartz's lawyer Elliot R. Peters confirmed the news of his client's death in an email to the MIT university newspaper The Tech.
"The tragic and heartbreaking information you received is, regrettably, true," he wrote.
A spokeswoman for New York's medical examiner later confirmed to Associated Press news agency that Mr Swartz had hanged himself.

USA: Death Penalty Support Stable at 63%

USA: Death Penalty Support Stable at 63% 

 

 

 January 9, 2013: Americans' support for the death penalty as punishment for murder has plateaued in the low 60s in recent years, after several years in which support was diminishing. 

63% now favor the death penalty as the punishment for murder, similar to 61% in 2011 and 64% in 2010.

Gallup first asked Americans for their views on the death penalty using this question in 1936, and has asked it at least annually since 1999.

The latest results come from a Dec. 19-22, 2012, USA Today/Gallup survey, conducted in the first few days after the Newtown, Conn., school shooting massacre.

Although views on the death penalty have been fairly static since 2010, support has been gradually diminishing since the high point in 1994, when 80% were in favor. By 2001, roughly 2/3 were in favor, and since then it has edged closer to 60%. One exception to that is adults who describe their political views as "liberal." Just under half of liberals, 47%, favor the death penalty, while 50% oppose it. However, most conservatives and moderates support it, as do majorities of all party groups, including 51% of Democrats. Additionally, nonwhites are closely divided on the issue, with 49% in favor and 45% opposed. That contrasts with whites, among whom 68% are in favor.

These patterns of support are consistent with previous Gallup findings on the death penalty. In addition, men continue to be more supportive than women of the death penalty, this year by 67% to 59%, and those without a college degree are more supportive than those with a college degree.

Despite the moral nature of the death penalty as a political issue, with teachings on it differing among the various faiths, Gallup finds virtually no difference in support for it on the basis of respondents' religious background.

Two-thirds of Protestants and Catholics, alike, are in favor of the death penalty as a punishment for murder, as are at least six in 10 adults regardless of whether they attend church weekly, monthly, or less often.

Only among those who say they have no religious preference, which would include atheists and agnostics, is there a difference, with a slightly smaller 56% in favor of the death penalty. There are, however, sharp differences in views about capital punishment by gun ownership.

Those who report personally owning a gun are much more likely than those who do not have a gun to favor the death penalty: 80% vs. 55%.

Survey Methods: Results for this USA Today/Gallup poll are based on telephone interviews conducted Dec. 19-22, 2012, with a random sample of 1,038 adults, aged 18 and older, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. For results based on the total sample of national adults, one can say with 95% confidence that the maximum margin of sampling error is 4 % points.

Source: Gallup.com, January 9, 2013

 

Bina Marga to act firmly against incompetent contractors

Kuantan Singingi, Riau (ANTARA News) - The Highway Construction (Bina Marga) and the Water Resource office of the Kuantan Singingi district said it would act firmly against two companies failing to carry out their contracts in 2012.

Highways reopened around suspicious Middle Swan fire 

ABOUT 20 hectares have been burnt from a fire in grassland near Stratton and Middle Swan that authorities believe may have been deliberately lit.

China executes serial killer

China executes serial killer

 

January 10, 2013: A Chinese man sentenced to death in July for killing 11 people has been executed, state-run news agency Xinhua reports, citing court sources.

Zhang Yongming, 57, was found guilty of strangling his victims in Yunnan province from 2008 to 2010.

Sri Lanka deplores execution of underage housemaid in Saudi Arabia

Sri Lanka deplores execution of underage housemaid in Saudi Arabia

 Sri Lanka, shocked by the execution of housemaid Rizana Nafeek Wednesday morning by Saudi Arabian authorities despite pleas to stay an execution order, deplored her execution in Dawadmy, Saudi Arabia.

Fire class action

Fire class action

Up to 10,000 claims for injury and damages could be lodged in a class action over a Black Saturday bushfire that killed 119 people, a judge has been told.