Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/188666629?client_source=feed&format=rss
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Saturday, January 21, 2012
Friday, January 20, 2012
Murdoch pays Jude Law $200K over phone hacking
LONDON?? Rupert Murdoch's British newspaper company on Thursday agreed to pay actor Jude Law 130,000 pounds (about $200,000) to settle claims against the News of the World and The Sun tabloids.
Law's settlement was among three dozen announced Thursday in payouts totaling about $1 million.
News Group Newspapers (NGN) accepted that 16 articles about Law published in the now-defunct News of the World tabloid between 2003 and 2006 had been obtained by phone hacking, and that the actor had also been placed under "repeated and sustained physical surveillance."
The company also admitted that articles in The Sun tabloid misused Law's private information but did not give further details.
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The agreement with the actor was among 36 cases the company said Thursday it would be settling, including soccer player Ashley Cole and former British Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott and Chris Shipman, son of a serial killer Harold Shipman.
They are among dozens of people who were suing News Group Newspapers after their mobile phone voicemails were allegedly hacked by the now-shuttered News of the World tabloid. Other cases settled include those of former government ministers Chris Bryant, Tessa Jowell, ex-model Abi Titmuss and Sara Payne, who is the mother of a murdered girl, rugby player Gavin Henson, Princess Diana's former lover James Hewitt and singer Dannii Minogue.
Actress Sienna Miller had reached an earlier settlement with the company.
News International, the parent company of Murdoch's News Group Newspapers, said it did not admit that senior staff knew of the wrongdoing and tried to cover it up ? but it said that "for the purpose of reaching these settlements only, News Group Newspapers agreed that the damages to be paid to claimants should be assessed as if this was the case."
Financial details of 15 of the payouts, totaling more than 640,000 pounds (about $1 million), were made public at a court hearing Thursday. The amounts generally ran into the tens of thousands of pounds ? although Law received 130,000 pounds (about $200,000), plus legal costs, to settle claims.
In a statement that could further damage the company's reputation, lawyers for victims who have reached settlements said the agreements were based on News Group Newspapers acknowledging senior executives tried to hide evidence.
"News Group has agreed to compensation being assessed on the basis that senior employees and directors of NGN knew about the wrongdoing and sought to conceal it by deliberately deceiving investigators and destroying evidence," the statement said.
Video: Celebrities testify in phone-hacking hearing (on this page)In all, Murdoch's company was facing 60 hacking lawsuits. The settlements were made public at a court hearing in London on Thursday.
Mark Lewis, a lawyer for many of the phone hacking victims, said in an email that the fight against Murdoch's empire was not over.
"While congratulations are due to those (lawyers) and clients who have settled their cases, it is important that we don't get carried away into thinking that the war is over," Lewis said. "Fewer than 1 percent of the people who were hacked have settled their cases. There are many more cases in the pipeline. ... This is too early to celebrate, we're not even at the end of the beginning."
News International set up a compensation scheme in November to deal with phone-hacking claims, moving to contain the consequences of a scandal that has rocked the company, the British press, police and the political establishment.
It has already received more than 60 claims and police say there are almost 6,000 potential victims.
Video: Hugh Grant blasts tabloids at hearings (on this page)Lawyers for the victims said they had obtained documents from News International that revealed its attempts to destroy evidence, partly thanks to the fact that the 12 solicitors' firms involved had joined forces to work together.
"As a result, documents relating to the nature and scale of the conspiracy, a cover up and the destruction of evidence/email archives by News Group have now been disclosed to the claimants," their statement said.
"In the face of this overwhelming evidence, the 'rogue reporter' position has disintegrated and the range, scale and extent of phone-hacking has become clear."
News International had for years claimed that any hacking was the work of a single, "rogue" reporter, who was jailed for the offence in 2007. Last year, it admitted the problem was more widespread and paid compensation to several victims.
In July, after it emerged that the voicemail of missing schoolgirl Milly Dowler, later found dead, had been hacked by the News of the World, News Corp took the drastic step of shutting down the 168-year-old tabloid.
The scandal forced the resignation of Prime Minister David Cameron's spokesman, a former News of the World editor. British police were accused of failing to properly investigate the affair and top police officials resigned.
Criminal probes are now under way into the phone hacking and allegations of payoffs to police. Cameron launched a judge-led inquiry into Britain's press ethics. News Corp was forced to scrap plans to take full control of Britain's highly profitable satellite broadcaster BSkyB.
Hearings in the first cases of victims who have not settled are set to begin on February 13.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
Source: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/46053202/ns/world_news-europe/
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US urges South Korea to cut Iranian oil imports (AP)
SEOUL, South Korea ? A senior U.S. official urged South Korea on Tuesday to reduce its crude oil imports from Iran, ratcheting up pressure on Washington's close ally to help confront Tehran over its nuclear program.
South Korea restricts financial dealings with more than 200 groups and individuals with suspected links to Iran's nuclear program. But Seoul, which relies on Iran for up to 10 percent of its oil supplies, hasn't yet said whether it will buy less crude oil from Iran.
The United States has increased its diplomatic pressure on its allies as it seeks a unified front over suspicions that Tehran is pressing ahead with nuclear arms development.
Washington recently imposed sanctions targeting Iran's central bank and, by extension, refiners' ability to buy and pay for crude. Japan and other countries are weighing whether to reduce their imports from Iran, and the European Union is considering an embargo on Iranian oil.
"We're urging all of our partners to help us, to work with us in putting pressure on the government of Iran, to get it to negotiate seriously," Robert Einhorn, the State Department's special adviser for nonproliferation and arms control, told reporters in Seoul after a meeting with senior South Korean Foreign Ministry officials.
"In particular, we're urging them to reduce their purchases of crude oil from Iran. We're urging them to unwind their financial dealings with the central bank of Iran," he said.
Einhorn also visited Seoul last month to push South Korea to stop buying Iranian petrochemicals. South Korea says it is advising companies on the current political ramifications of buying petrochemical products from Iran.
South Korea's Foreign Ministry said the government hasn't decided yet on the U.S. request to cut oil imports from Iran.
Washington remains sensitive to the stability of the international oil market and to its allies' economic interests, Einhorn said.
"We're confident ... we can do it without the adverse effects that I know many in South Korea are concerned about," he said.
South Korea reportedly hopes that a loss in Iranian oil imports could be compensated for by imports from other countries.
South Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Kim Jae-shin said that Seoul will closely cooperate with Washington to "minimize adverse effects" to the South Korean economy.
"Many Koreans are quite worried that further strengthening sanctions against Iran may at this time destabilize the international market of crude oil," he told reporters, Einhorn standing by his side.
South Korea also said in a separate statement Tuesday that it understands the purpose of U.S. sanctions against Iran and that it will cooperate to the best of its ability for the peaceful resolution of the Iranian nuclear problem.
Iran says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes. But a U.N. nuclear agency report suggests it is working toward development of atomic weapons.
China, the world's biggest energy consumer, remains unwilling to back an oil embargo against Iran. A Chinese deputy foreign minister said last week that China's trade with Iran has nothing to do with Iran's nuclear program.
Einhorn also said that the situations in Iran and North Korea are related and that progress in one country will help achieve progress in the other. International negotiations aimed at getting North Korea to abandon its nuclear ambitions have been stalled since early 2009.
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Thursday, January 19, 2012
musicalhouses: Chinese New Year Nail Art: Red, Gold, and Pearls (Just a Bit!): Chinese New Year is coming? http://t.co/njGH7byK
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Kerry Kennedy: Chevron Blames Victims of Its Deliberate Contamination of Ecuadorian Rainforest
In Christmas 2010, I took my three daughters -- Cara, Mariah and Michaela -- to Ecuador's Amazon to take part in a "Toxi-tour" and stand witness to what could be the worst environmental disaster on the planet. This is the awful mess that Chevron left behind at the headwaters of the Amazon after drilling for oil for almost three decades on the ancestral lands of five indigenous groups. Chevron, via the Texaco brand, dumped billions of gallons of toxic waste into the Amazon waterways that local inhabitants used for drinking water. Several independent health evaluations show that cancer rates in the area have skyrocketed. The magnitude of the damage -- recently confirmed by a three-judge appellate panel in Ecuador that relied on extensive scientific evidence -- makes the impact of BP's recent spill in the Gulf of Mexico seem small by comparison.
We looked at pools of oily muck abandoned in the early 1970s that still drain toxic soup into nearby streams used for drinking water, fishing, and washing. We visited the home of an elderly woman who told us about the skin lesions that covered the bodies of her son, daughter, and grandson. She had built the family home on a field Texaco claimed to have cleaned. In fact, the oil giant had merely covered up the poisonous pond with four feet of dirt and a thin layer of grass. We smelled the fumes emanating from water Chevron claims is now clean. All this is part of the massive environmental damage and accompanying cancer clusters, lung disease, skin lesions and other injuries left behind by a U.S. multinational corporation.
Chevron's irresponsible operational practices are now responsible for a catastrophe that has cost untold lives and destroyed an area of pristine rainforest the size of Rhode Island. Chevron lost the legal case in Ecuador, and a U.S. appellate court recently blocked efforts by the company to prevent enforcement of the judgment. The company is on its last legs after battling to deny the claims of indigenous groups for almost two decades since the was filed in 1993.
This helps explain why Chevron is now turning to personal attacks. In the company's latest salvo, it seeks to intimidate anybody who wants to help the rainforest communities or advocate on their behalf. This is the classic Chevron template: blame the victim, change the subject, and distract from the evidence. Chevron attacks those working to hold the company accountable for the damage it caused. It feigns moral outrage that I, an advocate for human rights, should actually be compensated. While I was paid a modest fee for the time I spent on the case, I have never and will never have a financial interest in the outcome of the litigation. Chevron's notion that I was to receive a huge success fee if the rainforest communities recover the funds to which they are entitled is utter fiction. What is true is that Chevron's management is using this lie in a desperate attempt to try to change the subject from its awful environmental disaster and devastating legal setbacks.
Over the years, Chevron has behaved in a way that reinforces the worst stereotypes about large corporations: it has cynically avoided responsibility for its past and watched in indifference as more people become sick and die because of its failure to deal with its legacy environmental issues. Today's public distrust of large corporations obviously can go too far, but it is often rooted in real abuses of the type Chevron engages in to cover up its obvious misconduct in Ecuador. Chevron's failure to adhere to basic standards of decency undermines the credibility of our capitalist model and diminishes confidence that our judicial system can serve the poor as well as the rich. Chevron's conduct in Ecuador has been so reprehensible and profoundly cynical that it reflects poorly on our country and its values. I would call that kind of behavior unpatriotic. Chevron must mend its ways in Ecuador or risk being viewed by peoples worldwide as a rogue oil company unworthy of a license to operate in oil-producing nations.
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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kerry-kennedy/chevron-equador-amazon_b_1209408.html
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Wednesday, January 18, 2012
HistoryToday: RT @ProjectBritain: Football club faces eviction due to death of King Edward VII's last grandchild: http://t.co/59Q78tlb
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Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Regal but never solemn, Freeman honored at Globes (AP)
In accepting the Cecil B. DeMille Lifetime Achievement Award Sunday night, Morgan Freeman showed all the characteristics with which he's long graced the movies.
He was sharp, honed and sure. He was dignified, certainly, but also mischievous, as when he interrupted his speech to take notice of a famed musician in the front of the crowd at the 69th annual Golden Globes.
"Hi, Elton," Freeman said with a glint in his eye.
The 74-year-old Freeman has been on the lifetime achievement circuit lately. In the past year, he's received American Film Institute's Life Achievement Award and the People's Choice Awards' first-ever movie icon award. The Cecil B. DeMille award follows five Oscar nominations (and one win for his supporting performance in "Million Dollar Baby") and five Golden Globe nominations, including a win for his lead performance in "Driving Miss Daisy."
But Freeman, whose earring has long been a feature of his stately visage, has never been one for self-indulgent flattery, always wary of the calcifying effect of being labeled a legend. So he kept it brief and to the point Sunday, noting that the clip reel of his still quite busy career made him appreciate the people with whom he had worked and "how much fun I've been having."
"If you do what you love, you'll never have to work a day in your life," he said.
Freeman was, naturally, not speaking in the past tense. He is currently shooting the third season of his Science Channel series "Through the Wormhole" and later this year will reprise his role in the highly anticipated Batman blockbuster "The Dark Knight Rises."
Freeman ? who has played God in the films "Bruce Almighty" and "Evan Almighty" ? has sometimes chafed at being pigeonholed as "Mr. Gravitas," his catchall name for his more grandiose roles. His deep, melodious voice has made him a popular narrator, most famously in the 2005 documentary "March of the Penguins."
Few have matched Freeman's dignified screen presence, but one of them helped introduce the actor Sunday night: Sidney Poitier.
"In my humble opinion, sir, you are indeed a prince in the profession you have chosen," said Poitier, a previous DeMille honoree, who himself received a standing ovation. "We thank you, Mr. Freeman, for raising the level of excellence yet another notch."
Helen Mirren followed Poitier's serious tribute with a more relaxed introduction: "I'm going to lower the tone," she warned.
"He's made over 50 films and I've only been in one of them," said Mirren, who co-starred in the 2010 action film "Red" with Freeman. She then did a brief, waddling audition for "March of the Penguins" and pleaded, "I could have been a penguin."
Freeman warmly responded to Mirren, but it was clear Poitier's words were deeply meaningful.
"Being up here receiving this award, this tribute that you yourself received, makes it clear to me that though they call this the Cecil B. DeMille Award, in my house, it will also be called the Sidney Poitier Award."
Freeman made his big-screen debut as an extra in 1965's "The Pawnbroker," and his film work remained modest over the next two decades.
His big successes early on came in theater, which brought him a Tony Award nomination for 1978's "The Mighty Gents," and television, where he was a regular for six years on the children's show "The Electric Company."
A clip from "The Electric Company" that amused the audience and likely viewers as well was included in Freeman's tribute reel. There was a young Freeman as Count Dracula, singing "I Love to Take a Bath in a Casket," a YouTube video of which quickly went viral while the Globes carried on.
Freeman's big-screen career took off with 1987's crime drama "Street Smart," which earned him his first Oscar nomination. His lengthy career has included a number of beloved performances, including "Glory," "Unforgiven," "The Shawshank Redemption" and "Lean on Me." He co-starred in this year's family film "Dolphin Tale."
When Clint Eastwood ? who has directed Freeman in several of his best performances, including "Unforgiven," "Invictus" and "Million Dollar Baby" ? presented Freeman with his AFI honor, he called him "the greatest actor."
"He is the most effortless person to be around and to act," Eastwood said. "I don't know if it's proper to love another man, but this is as close as I'm going to get to it."
Poitier ended his tribute to Freeman with a nod to the future.
He said, "May your journey be long and your characters continue to multiply."
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