Anders Behring Breivik is not insane

The decision over Breivik's mental state will determine whether he can be held criminally liable and punished with a prison sentence or sent to a psychiatric ward for treatment.

The July 22 attacks were so carefully planned and executed that it would be difficult to argue they were the work of a delusional madman, said Dr Tarjei Rygnestad, who heads the Norwegian Board of Forensic Medicine.

In Norway, an insanity defence requires that a defendant be in a state of psychosis while committing the crime with which he is charged. That means the defendant has lost contact with reality to the point that he is no longer in control of his actions.

The forensic board must review and approve an examination by two court-appointed psychiatrists before a judge will decide whether Breivik can be held criminally liable.

Dr Rygnestad said a psychotic person can only perform simple tasks. Even driving from Oslo to the island where Breivik opened fire at a political youth camp would be too complicated.

By his own account, the 32-year-old spent years plotting the attack.
On July 22, he set off a car bomb that killed eight people in Oslo, then drove north to Utoya island. There, he shot 69 people, mostly members of the youth wing of the governing Labour Party.
Breivik, who is being held pending trial, has admitted to the facts of the case, but denies criminal guilt because he believes the massacre was necessary to save Norway and Europe from Islam and "cultural Marxists", his lawyer has said, hinting at a possible insanity defence.
Breivik has reportedly demanded to be appointed head of Norway's armed forces. In the lastest round of interrogation, Breivik made the demand as one of the conditions that he set for telling police about other right-wing cells he claimed are about to launch attacks, Norway’s NRK public broadcaster said.
Other demands included the abdication of King Harald V and the resignation of the Labour Government.

By Richard Alleyne taken from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/norway/8674199/Norway-shooting-Anders-Behring-Breivik-is-not-insane-says-expert.html

John Lennon's hat and shades go up for auction

He is probably more famous for sporting a Greek fisherman's cap at the height of Beatlemania in the mid-60s. But a floppy "cowboy" hat worn by John Lennon when the band toured the US in 1965 is expected to fetch as much as £8,000 at auction.
Lennon gave the hat – along with a toy gun – to his uncle Charlie Lennon, who was a great fan of western films. Uncle Charlie passed them on to Larry Warren, an American who lives in the Beatles' home city of Liverpool.
Warren said: "I knew Charlie Lennon well and I bought these items from him. He didn't want to take any money for them but I insisted.
"I have helped conserve other items concerned with the Beatles, including parts of the church hall where Lennon first met Paul McCartney.
"The cowboy hat was something that Lennon had on the US tour in 1965 – I think they all had one. He gave it to his uncle in about 1967 along with a toy six-shooter gun because his uncle loved western films. But the hat was too big for his uncle and that amused Lennon."
Also up for sale is a pair of black Italian sunglasses owned by Lennon in 1967 that may go for up to £4,000.
Lennon passed the sunglasses to his uncle when Charlie visited the singer's mansion in Weybridge, Surrey, on a sunny day.
Warren said: "He gave the sunglasses to his uncle at his home in Surrey in about 1967. He had a swimming pool there and they'd been out in the sun.
"Charlie authenticated both items and I've had them for 10 years. Charlie died some years ago so it is time to move them on."
Beatles memorabilia, especially items connected with Lennon, who was shot dead in New York in 1980 aged 40, are hugely popular with collectors and Beatles fans.
Glen Norcliffe, of the Berkshire-based auctioneers Cameo, said: "These are wonderful items that belonged to John Lennon when he was at the height of his career.
"The provenance is excellent and anything related to John Lennon is very collectable. There are collectors from around the world who would love to have them.
The auction takes place on 9 August.

by Steven Morris taken from http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/aug/01/john-lennon-hat-shades-auction

LulzSec hacking: third Briton arrested

An 18-year-old who was arrested as part of a police investigation into computer hacking by the online groups Anonymous and LulzSec has been charged with hacking into systems, assisting offences, and conspiracy to carry out attacks on the website of the Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca).
Jake Davis was due to appear in custody at City of Westminster magistrates court on Monday. He is understood to have been arrested last Wednesday in Yell, a northerly island in the Shetland Islands.
He is the third Briton to have been arrested as part of an ongoing investigation into a series of attacks by LulzSec, a hacking group which spun out of the larger Anonymous collective in May 2011. LulzSec has claimed responsibility for attacking a number of state and non-state organisations, including the Soca website, the US congress and websites owned by News International.
Davis, who was brought to London for questioning, is charged with: unauthorised access to a computer system; encouraging/assisting offences contrary to section 46 of the Serious Crime Act 2007; conspiracy with others to carry out a distributed denial of service attack on Soca's website; conspiracy to commit offences under section 3 of the Computer Misuse Act 1990; and conspiracy between the defendant and others to commit offences under section 3 of the Computer Misuse Act 1990 contrary to section 1 of the Criminal Law Act 1977.

by Charles Arthur taken from http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/aug/01/lulzsec-hacking-third-briton-charged

Public jury campaign launched to take power away from UK's 'feral' elite

Britain is being run by a "feral" elite whose members are responsible for a series of crises – from phone hacking to the row over bankers' bonuses – which have scarred the country, a new, non-party group headed by the author Philip Pullman claims.
A 1,000-strong "public jury" should be selected at random to draw up a "public interest first" test to ensure that power is taken away from "remote interest groups" which currently treat the public with contempt, according to the group's declaration. The call for a public jury, which has been signed by 56 academics, writers, trade unionists and politicians from Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the Green party, is published in the Guardian.
Its signatories include Greg Dyke, former director general of the BBC, Caroline Lucas, the only Green MP who is also her party's leader, and the civil liberties campaigner and Labour peer Lady Kennedy. Guardian columnists Polly Toynbee and Madeleine Bunting have also signed the declaration.
Launched by Neal Lawson, a former adviser to Gordon Brown who chairs the left of centre Compass group, the group says that decisive action is needed to wrest power back from a small elite.
"Something is unravelling before our eyes," the group says. "From bankers to media barons, private interests have bankrupted and corrupted the public realm. Power, for so long hidden in the pockets of a cosy elite, has been exposed. Those who wield it have been found wanting - in scruples, in morals and in decency."
The group says that the three crises - MPs' expenses, bankers' bonuses and illegal phone hacking - share common origins. "Politicians, bankers and media moguls ... share a common culture in which greed is good, everyone takes their turn at the trough, and private interest takes precedence over the public good."
In a Guardian article, the authors of the declaration warn of a "feral" elite. Lawson and Andrew Simms, fellow at the New Economics Foundation, write: "With no pressure for higher ethical standards, the new all-powerful elites were like kids left free in the sweetshop, going feral as they lost all self-control and all touch with society."
The group says that 1,000 citizens should be selected at random to sit on a public jury that will propose reforms to banking, politics. The jury, to be funded from the public purse, would examine:
• Media ownership.
• The financial sector's role in the crash.
• MP selections and accountability.
• Policing and public interest.
• How to apply a "public interest first" test more generally to British political and corporate life.
The declaration's main critique of Britain - that power is concentrated in the hands of a small elite - echoes the thinking of Ed Miliband. The Labour leader, who has been praised for shaping the public response to the phone-hacking scandal, recently said that too much power in the media and other industries is concentrated in the hands of too few people.
"The powerful are very good at talking about the responsibilities of the powerless but they aren't very good at looking at their own responsibilities," Miliband told the Times on 23 July as he called for the "big six" energy companies to be broken up. "Labour is the party of the grafters, the people who work hard and do the decent thing but don't feel they get a very fair deal out of society."The declaration is also signed by Lord Wood, an Oxford don who is a senior adviser to Miliband.

by Nicholas Watt taken from http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/jul/31/public-jury-campaign-feral-elite

HSBC confirms 30,000 jobs will go

The jobs axe is to cut deeply through HSBC, which confirmed on Monday that 30,000 roles are to be lost across its global banking group over the next three years.
The new chief executive Stuart Gulliver, who took the helm in January after 32 years at the bank, revealed that 5,000 roles had already gone so far this year and that another 25,000 would need to be removed from the 296,000 global workforce.
Revealing the extent of the job cuts for the first time, Gulliver had signalled in May that roles would be shed as he set about achieving $3.5bn (£2.14bn) of savings within three years as he aims to bolster the bank's return on equity to 12-15% from 9.5% in 2010. He stressed that some of the reductions would come through natural staff turnover and that the bank would continue to hire in some of its faster growing markets.
Gulliver was speaking as the bank reported better than expected first-half pre-tax profits of $11.5bn, up 3%, with the fastest growth coming from Asia and Latin America. Shares in HSBC rose nearly 3% to 611.9p in the minutes after the figures were published at 9.15am.
Some $2.1bn of profits were made in Europe but the majority is now generated in Hong Kong – some $3bn – and the rest of Asia Pacific – $3.7bn – where profits are up 32%. The troubled North American business managed a 5% increase in profits to $606m, the smallest generator of profit, with the Middle East bring in $747m and Latin America $1.1bn.
Gulliver, who had announced in May after a day-long investor meeting that he had concluded that retail business in 39 out of 61 countries was "subscale", said: "I am pleased with these results, which mark a first step in the right direction on what will be a long journey."
In total the bank has operations in 87 countries and Gulliver wants to strip out layers of management built up under previous regimes and focus on commercial and investment banking rather than retail operations in some countries.
The bank is concerned about the impact of potential regulatory changes in the UK that could be made through the independent banking commission, chaired by Sir John Vickers, as well as global changes proposed by international banking regulators in Basel.
Douglas Flint, chairman, said: "The pace and quantum of regulatory reform continues to increase at the same time as the global economy appears to be losing momentum in its recovery. We are concerned about the possible pro-cyclical impacts of further deleveraging of the global economy arising from the regulatory reform agenda, at the same time as sovereign credit concerns and fiscal consolidation challenges become more critical."
The loan impairment and other credit risk provisions were down 30% on the same period last year, reaching $5.3bn. A provision of $65m was made against HSBC's holdings of Greek bonds but it has taken no fresh hits against its Irish or Portuguese debt.
Gulliver said he felt confident the eurozone would hold together and hoped that the current US debt package would be approved by US politicians to "restore some confidence" in the markets.
The second interim dividend for 2011 is US$0.09 per ordinary share – the equivalent of $1.6bn.

by Jill Treanor taken from http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/aug/01/hsbc-confirms-30000-jobs-will-go

Honduras recovers 7.3 tons more cocaine from sub

Honduras authorities say they have recovered 7.3 tons (6.6 metric tons) of cocaine from a semi-submersible craft seized off the country's Caribbean coast.

Presidential guard chief Col. Rene Osorio says officials had earlier recovered 2.7 tons (2.5 metric tons). They have been unloading the drugs since Wednesday.

The submarine-like fiberglass craft is floating about 15 meters (50 feet) under the surface because the crew tried to sink it.

A U.S. Coast Guard patrol detected the vessel Wednesday off the coast of the sparsely populated province of Gracias a Dios, near the Nicaraguan border. Five crew members were detained.

So far authorities in Honduras have seized 13.8 tons (12.6 metric tons) of cocaine totaling some $500 million.

taken from http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/L/LT_DRUG_WAR_HONDURAS_DRUG_SUB?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2011-07-29-14-20-47

Iraq is MORE dangerous now than a year ago

Iraq is more dangerous than it was just a year ago, after a surge in bombings, assassinations and violence by Shi'ite militias, according to a report released today.
In his quarterly review to Congress, a top government adviser accused the U.S. military of glossing over the issue, just months before soldiers are due to leave the country.
The findings come during a 'summer of uncertainty' in Baghdad over  whether American forces will stay past a year-end withdrawal deadline and continue military aid for the unstable nation.

Surge: Today's review concludes that Iraq is more dangerous now than it was a year, as a result of bombings like this one in Baghdad on Thursday

The review follows the bloodiest month for the U.S. military in two years, after 15 soldiers died in June.

U.S. Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction Stuart W. Bowen Jr, who wrote the report, concluded by saying: 'Iraq remains an extraordinarily dangerous place to work.'

Violent: The report to Congress says Iraq 'remains an extraordinarily dangerous place to work'

He added: 'It is less safe, in my judgement, than 12 months ago.'
Mr Bowen cited the 15 soldiers who died last month, nearly all of whom were killed in attacks by Shi'ite militias determined to force American troops out on time.
He also noted an increase in rockets launched against the heavily fortified Green Zone in Baghdad, where government offices and foreign embassies are located, as well as constant assassination attempts against Iraqi political leaders, security forces and judges.
The report also called the north-eastern province of Diyala, which borders Iran and has an often volatile mix of Sunni and Shiite Muslims and Kurds among its residents, 'very unstable', with frequent bombings that bring double-digit death tolls.
Mr Bowen accused the U.S. military of glossing over Iraq's instability, noting a statement in late May  that described Iraq's security trends as 'very, very positive'  but only when compared to 2007, when the country was on the brink of civil war.
By contrast, Mr Bowen talked of 'the very real fragility' of national security in Iraq today.
A spokesman for the U.S. military in Iraq declined to respond.

Death toll: U.S. soldiers patrol a street in the city of Kirkuk, 155 miles north of Baghdad. June was the deadliest month in two years for U.S. troops in Iraq

If the U.S. military leaves on schedule, the American Embassy in Baghdad will pick up the responsibility of training Iraqi police.
Mr Bowen called the job 'challenging' for the fewer than 200 advisers who would be based in three sites but tasked with supporting Iraqi police in ten of Iraq's 18 provinces.There are an estimated 400,000 policemen in Iraq.
Baghdad and Washington are negotiating whether to keep the U.S. military in Iraq beyond the December deadline.
A discussion today about the Obama administration's offer to keep 10,000 troops in Iraq to continue training security forces has been postponed, despite earlier hopes by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki that the meeting could yield an agreement.
Al-Maliki says the decision ultimately will be put to parliament.
While many officials from both nations believe Iraq is still too unstable to protect itself without U.S. help, keeping a large presence of American troops may be difficult to sell to an Iraqi public tired of eight years of war.

 

taken from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2020526/Iraq-MORE-dangerous-amid-resurgence-violence-Shiite-militias.html#ixzz1TmJ8fuug