Football: Kelly signs new Liverpool contract

LONDON: Liverpool defender Martin Kelly signed a new long-term contract with the Premier League club on Friday.

Kelly, 22, is currently sidelined due to a knee ligament injury, but the England international has been rewarded for his impressive displays at full-back earlier this season.

The day after team-mate Jamie Carragher announced he will retire at the end of the season, Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers admitted it was gratifying to see another Liverpool-born product of the club's youth academy commit his future to the Reds.

"Martin has shown a commitment to our vision here. He is a young player who really impressed me when I came in," Rodgers said.

"He was exceptionally good in the games he played earlier in the season."

Kelly, who injured his knee in the 2-1 home defeat against Manchester United in September, admitted he was relieved to have secured his long-term future at Liverpool.

"I'm delighted to sign. It means everything to me and my family," he said.

"I've been at Liverpool since I was seven, so it's in my heart and I love the club.

"When you play in the Liverpool shirt, you have to show the fans what it means. I just love playing and trying my hardest for the supporters and for my family."

Kelly, who has made 54 appearances for Liverpool since making his debut in 2009, added: "Being a Liverpool supporter myself, it's brilliant to put the shirt on.

"Today shows the faith that the club have in me and that the hard work I have put in since I was young has paid off."

- AFP/de

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No anger over 'Vishwaroopam' row, it made me feel sorry: Kamal

HYDERABAD: The controversy over his film " Vishwaroopam" did not make actor Kamal Haasan angry but he felt "sorrow" and like Socrates, he would "sip the cup of poison" to speak his "freedom".

Speaking at a meeting, he said, "I am not angry (over the issue), only (felt) sorrow, that in a great country, free country like India, an artist would be insulted so. Because, very rarely have artistes been responsible for riots.

"We (artists) are the people who can stick the world together... They can do so many wonders. We are doctors, actually. You suspect that man to be a rabble-rouser or rioter, that is an insult.

"I am a son of Socrates. If you give me a cup of poison, I will sip it and speak my freedom."

Showering praise on veteran Tamil director K Balachandar, Haasan said the former taught him bravery and valour.

The actor was speaking at a meeting organised here where several prominent Telugu film personalities including actor Nagarjuna, Dadasaheb Phalke award recipient D Ramanaidu, veteran directors K Vishwanath and Dasari Narayana Rao were present.

He said he learnt a lot from the seasoned directors like Vishwanath.

"I still feel like an assistant director. Personalities like Balachandar and Vishwanath come to my mind when I am directing," he said.

Haasan thanked the media for support during the controversy. "I did not know it will end this way. It was like a suspense story. The only strength came from media."

"Vishwaroopam", made in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi, had faced opposition from some Muslim organisations, and was banned in Tamil Nadu for some time. It faced trouble in Andhra Pradesh too.

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Mexico's Robust Wind Energy Prospects Ruffle Nearby Villages

Photograph by Mark Stevenson, AP

Wind turbines tower over indigenous villagers who turned out to see then-Mexican President Felipe Calderón inaugurate a $550 million wind project in the state of Oaxaca in 2009.

It was the start of new cleaner energy drive for an oil-reliant nation, but one that has upended lives in the region's native farming and fishing villages.

The battle between new energy and traditional communities is being played out amid the steady gusts that sweep across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, a narrow strip in southern Mexico that separates the Pacific and Atlantic oceans and is one of the windiest places on Earth (map).

Outsiders increasingly covet the power of those air currents as energy that can be captured by modern turbines and transported to nearby factories and distant cities. Largely thanks to Oaxaca's unique geography, Mexico's wind power capacity expanded to 1,350 megawatts in 2012, according to reports from a national wind industry conference in Mexico City last month, marking nearly a 140 percent expansion in capacity in a single year. Stands of the turbines now fill Oaxacan horizons, with more planned as developers pour millions of dollars into wind farms. While bringing development to the isolated area, the turbines have disrupted pastoral lifestyles and divided villages over leasing fees and other benefits promised to local communities.

The projects have arisen with strong support from Mexico's central government. Before leaving office in December, Calderón was seen as an active proponent of wind power. The projects also have the participation of well-known Mexican companies, including cement maker Cemex and retailer Walmart de Mexico. (See related blog post: "Ten (Short) Reasons to Be Excited About Wind Power.")

Local groups that oppose the developments say the companies have turned communities against each other as they negotiated land leases. Some also complain the developers cheated villages by not paying fair prices and abandoning promised development projects. The protests have given rise to project blockades and occasional violence, including several injuries last weekend, when police confronted protesters blocking company officials from reaching the site of a large project. Late last year, opponents scored a major victory when a judge delayed construction of that wind farm, which would be the largest in Mexico.

—David LaGesse

Published February 7, 2013

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Rescued Ethan Spends Birthday With SWAT Heroes

As a beaming 6-year-old Ethan said "cheese" for photos and played with toy cars at his birthday party, there were no immediate signs of the turmoil the young boy had endured just days earlier.

The boy, identified only as Ethan, was held hostage in a nearly week-long standoff in Alabama. He was physically unharmed after Jimmy Lee Dykes kidnapped him from a school bus and held him hostage in a booby-trapped underground bunker.

Ethan was rescued by the FBI Monday after they rushed the bunker where Dykes, 65, was holding him. Dykes was killed in the raid.

On Wednesday, Ethan celebrated his sixth birthday at a local church with abundant hugs from his family and friends as well as from the SWAT team, FBI agents and hostage negotiators who had rescued him.

Click here for photo's from the Alabama hostage situation.

"Welcome home Ethan" signs hung on the walls of the church for the homecoming celebration.

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In his first interview, Ethan's adult brother Camren Kirkland described to ABC News the text messages the family would get from the hostage negotiators.

"We did know when, at times, he was asleep and that was normally around nine o'clock at night," Kirkland said.

He said the messages kept the family going throughout the ordeal.

"That was actually a lot of comfort," he said. "I could actually go lay my head down."

Kirkland said he never left his mother's side and the whole family was present when they got the call that Ethan had been rescued.

"The said, 'We have Ethan,'" Kirkland said, recalling the moment they found out Ethan had been saved.

Click here for a psychological look at what's next for Ethan.

The FBI special agent whose call it was to send the team into the bunker revealed to ABC News that Dykes left behind writings and that while in the bunker with Ethan, he'd become agitated and brag about his plan.

"At the end of the day, the responsibility is mine," he said. "I thought the child was going to die."

Dykes shot and killed a school bus driver, Albert Poland Jr., 66, last Tuesday and threatened to kill all the children on the bus before taking the boy, one of the students on the bus said Monday.

Dykes had been holed up in his underground bunker near Midland City, Ala., with the abducted boy for a week as police tried to negotiate with him through the PVC pipe. Police were careful not to anger Dykes, who was believed to be watching news reports from inside the bunker, and even thanked him at one point.

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War crimes court wants Gaddafi spy chief handed over

THE HAGUE: International Criminal Court judges on Thursday demanded Libya hand over Muammar Gaddafi's former spy chief Abdullah Senussi to face charges of crimes against humanity.

The latest broadside in the legal tug-of-war between The Hague-based ICC and Tripoli over where Senussi and Gaddafi's son Seif al-Islam should be tried repeated a demand for Senussi to be handed over.

The ICC "orders the Libyan authorities to proceed to the immediate surrender of Mr Senussi to the court," said a ruling issued on Wednesday and made public on Thursday.

The ICC has the option of calling on the United Nations Security Council to take action.

The ICC is mulling a Libyan request to put Senussi and Gaddafi on trial there, while the ICC itself wants to try Gaddafi and Senussi on charges of crimes against humanity committed in the conflict that overthrew Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

The ICC, which was mandated by the UN Security Council to investigate the Libyan conflict, issued arrest warrants in June 2011 for both Seif and Senussi on charges of crimes against humanity.

Lawyers for the two accused have said they will not get a fair trial in Libya.

- AFP/de

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SC pulls up CBI in Babri Masjid demolition case

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court Thursday pulled up the CBI for its submission that BJP leader LK Advani and other party leaders present at Ayodhya on December 6, 1992, had committed a "national crime" in the conspiracy that led to demolition of the disputed Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid structure.

Taking a dim view of the submission, a bench of Justice H.L. Dattu and Justice Ranjan Gogoi said that the investigating agency should not pre-judge the case till it was decided either way by the apex court or the special court.

"Please don't call it a national crime or a matter of national importance until we or the special court (trying the case) come to a definite conclusion," Justice Dattu told senior counsel P.P.Rao, who appeared for the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The court's response came during the hearing of a petition by the investigating agency challenging the Allahabad high court verdict that discharged Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Advani, Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray and 19 others in the Babri Masjid demolition conspiracy case.

The CBI again came in for drubbing for taking more than nine months in moving the apex court to challenge the Allahabad high court verdict discharging Advani and other leaders of conspiracy charge.

The probe agency had moved the apex court Feb 18, 2011, nearly nine months after the Allahabad high court May 20, 2010, discharged Advani, Thackeray and 19 others of the charges of criminal conspiracy in the demolition of the Babri Masjid.

"If you say that this is a case of national importance... can you say that the translation of documents would take days together and the filing of case will take months," Justice Dattu observed when senior counsel Rao sought some more time.

The court read through its order sheets to show that the investigating agency took three adjournments for filing documents.

"When you filed the first affidavit, court asked you to file a better affidavit. You did it. Can we ask you to file another affidavit to improve your case?" the court observed as Rao sought some more time as he was appearing for the first time and had to peruse the records.

Adjourning the hearing for a week, the court said that investigating agency would not file any more documents except for those relied on by the special CBI court and the high court in arriving at their judgments. It directed the hearing of the matter Feb 13.

The CBI in its appeal before the apex court said that the high court verdict discharging Advani and others of the charge of criminal conspiracy "is inconsistent with the previous judgment rendered by the Allahabad High Court on Feb 12, 2001".

The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court by its Feb 12, 2001, order had held that the trial court committed no illegality in taking "cognizance of joint consolidated charge-sheet" and "all the offences were committed in the course of the same transaction to accomplish the conspiracy".

The high court order had noted that the "evidence for all the offences was almost the same."

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Severed Heads Were Sacrifices in Ancient Mexico

Archaeologists have uncovered the remains of more than 150 skulls from an ancient shrine in central Mexico—evidence of one of the largest mass sacrifices of humans in pre-Hispanic Mesoamerica.

The skulls, many facing east, lay beneath a crude, slightly elevated mound of crushed stone on what was once an artificial island in a vast shallow lake, now completely dry.

"The site is barely a bump on the horizon in the middle of nowhere," said lead archaeologist Christopher Morehart, of Georgia State University. And that was baffling. Previous evidence of such sacrifices came from grand pyramids in large ceremonial centers.

The discovery suggests that the site—near the town of Xaltocan (named after the ancient lake)—played a significant role in the political turmoil during the period between the years 650 and 800. The great city of Teotihuacan, only nine miles (15 kilometers) away, had suddenly begun to collapse, and the power it once exerted over the region was slipping away. Many experts believe this turn of events was triggered by a massive drought.

What followed was a time of  "political, cultural, and demographic change," according to Morehart, a National Geographic research grantee. As people left Teotihuacan and moved to the surrounding areas, new communities formed and new leaders competed for power. "There's a good chance that the sacrifices are related to these competitions," Morehart said.

The sacrificed individuals could even have been war captives—often the case in Mesoamerican cultures. The site itself was probably not a battlefield, though. It was a sacred space that was specially prepared for rituals.

The people who lived in this area appear to have performed elaborately choreographed rituals at the shrine before the fall of Teotihuacan, but they didn't include human sacrifice. Because of its water-bound location and the presence of freshwater springs nearby, the shrine was likely the site of ceremonies that petitioned gods associated with rain and fertility. Artifacts uncovered include clay images of Tlaloc, a rain god.

The rituals began to include sacrifices, though, as power struggles gripped the parched region. Morehart and his colleagues from the National University of Mexico believe that victims were first killed and dismembered. The body parts may then have been thrown into the lake, while the heads were carefully arranged and buried. Incense was burned during this ceremony, along with the resinous wood of pine trees. Flowers added their own perfume to the fragrant smoke, and foods such as ritually burned maize were presented as additional offerings.

Over the following centuries, new peoples arrived in the area and political power ebbed and shifted, yet the sacred nature of the site persisted. Morehart and his team found evidence for rituals here during both the Aztec and colonial periods, and they even came across a recent offering.

"As we were digging we found a black plastic bag. Inside was a hardboiled egg, a black candle, and some photos of people," he said. "It's a fascinating example of continued ritual activity in a place despite dramatic changes in social, political, and cultural contexts."

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Ex-LA Cop Sought in Shootings of 3 Cops, 2 Slayings

Police in Southern California say they suspect that a fired cop is connected to the shootings -- one fatal -- of three police officers this morning, as well as the weekend slayings of an assistant women's college basketball coach and her fiancé in what cops believe are acts of revenge against the LAPD, as suggested in the suspect's online manifesto.

Former police officer Christopher Jordan Dorner, 33, who's also a former U.S. Navy reservist, has been publically named as a suspect in the killings of Monica Quan, 28, and her 27-year-old fiancé, Keith Lawrence, Irvine police Chief David L. Maggard said at a news conference Wednesday night.

"We are considering him armed and dangerous," Lt. Julia Engen of the Irvine Police Department said.

Police say the expert marksman shot at four officers in two incidents overnight, hitting three of them: one in Corona, Calif., and two in Riverside, Calif.

Sgt. Rudy Lopez of the LAPD said two LAPD officers were in Corona and headed out on special detail to check on one of the individuals named in Dorner's manifesto. Dorner allegedly grazed one of them but missed the other.

"[This is an] extremely tense situation," Lopez said. "We call this a manhunt. We approach it cautiously because of the propensity of what has already happened."

The Riverside Police Department said two of its officers were shot before one of them died, KABC-TV reported. The extent of the other's injuries is unclear.
Police suspected a connection to Dorner.

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"They were on routine patrol stopped at a stop light when they were ambushed," Lt. Guy Toussant of the Riverside police department said.

A badge and identification belonging to Dorner have been found in San Diego, according to San Diego police Sgt. Ray Battrick. Dorner's LAPD badge and ID were found by someone near the city's airport, and turned in to police overnight, The Associated Press reported.

Police around Southern California are wearing tactical gear, including helmets and guns across their chests. The light-up signs along California highways show the license plate number of Dorner's car, and say to call 911 if it is seen. The problem, police say, is that they believe Dorner is switching license plates on his car, a 2005 charcoal-gray Nissan Titan pickup truck.

Lawrence was found slumped behind the wheel of his white Kia in the parking lot of their upscale apartment complex in Irvine Sunday and Quan was in the passenger seat.

"A particular interest at this point in the investigation is a multi-page manifesto in which the suspect has implicated himself in the slayings," Maggard said.

Police said Dorner's manifesto included threats against members of the LAPD. Police say they are taking extra measures to ensure the safety of officers and their families.

The document, allegedly posted on an Internet message board this week, apparently blames Quan's father, retired LAPD Capt. Randy Quan, for his firing from the department.

"Your lack of ethics and conspiring to wrong a just individual are over," he allegedly wrote.

One passage from the manifesto reads, "I will bring unconventional and asymmetrical warfare to those in LAPD uniform whether on or off duty."

"I never had the opportunity to have a family of my own," it reads. "I'm terminating yours."

Dorner was with the department from 2005 until 2008, when he was fired for making false statements.

Randy Quan, who became a lawyer in retirement, represented Dorner in front of the Board of Rights, a tribunal that ruled against Dorner at the time of his dismissal, LAPD Capt. William Hayes told The Associated Press Wednesday night.

According to documents from a court of appeals hearing in October 2011, Dorner was fired from the LAPD after he made a complaint against his field-training officer, Sgt. Teresa Evans, saying in the course of an arrest she had kicked a suspect who was a schizophrenic with severe dementia.

After an investigation, Dorner was fired for making false statements.

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Boeing 787 probe results weeks away, says NTSB chief

WASHINGTON: The results of the National Transportation Safety Board's investigation into the causes of a battery fire on a Boeing 787 Dreamliner are expected in the coming weeks, NTSB chair Deborah Hersman said on Wednesday.

"We're probably weeks away from being able to tell people what happened and what needs to be changed," Hersman said at a news conference.

The NTSB chief said investigators were "proceeding with a lot of care" in probing the cause of a January 7 lithium-ion battery fire on a Japan Airlines 787 that occurred as the plane sat on the tarmac at Boston's Logan airport.

Hersman said the most concerning issues seen in the probe so far were short circuits and thermal runaway, an uncontrolled chemical reaction that produces rising temperatures.

"These factors are not what we expected to see in a brand-new battery," she said.

The battery problem on the JAL 787, and another on an All Nippon Airways 787, led to a global grounding of all 50 Dreamliners in service until the issue is fixed.

The NTSB will hold a news conference on Thursday to update the public on the 787 investigation, Hersman said.

- AFP/de

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Notice to Buddhadeb for questioning Mamata's honesty

KOLKATA: The Trinamool Congress Wednesday slapped a legal notice on former West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and demanded an apology from him for questioning his successor Mamata Banerjee's honesty.

The notice, sent by lawyer Rajdeep Mazumdar following the directive of the party's all India general secretary Mukul Roy, asked Bhattacharjee to apologise publicly within 48 hours for his remarks against the Trinamool chief, failing which the party would start legal proceedings against him in both civil and criminal courts.

Raising questions about Banerjee being projected as a "symbol of honesty" by the Trinamool, CPI-M politburo member Bhattacharjee Tuesday asked the media to probe her family's financial situation after she came to power.

On Wednesday, Trinamool leader and Urban Development Minister Firhad Hakim slammed Bhattacharjee.

"Nobody in Indian politics can question Mamata Banerjee's honesty. Workers of the Trinamool Congress believe her. The people of the state believe her. Buddhadeb should come to his senses. When that happens, he will admit his mistake and apologise to Banerjee," Hakim said.

"Bhattacharjee left (former chief minister) Jyoti Basu's ministry in the 1990s. His daughter said he would not continue in a ministry of thieves. But he rejoined the cabinet in a couple of years lured by its office," he said.

Hakim then referred to the Left Front's defeat in the 2011 assembly polls.

"Bhattacharjee was rejected by the people of the state. Even people of his constituency rejected him. He has no moral right to make such allegations against a person of integrity like Banerjee, who is a real mass leader," Hakim said.

"We condemn his statement. Mamata Banerjee has faith in the people. We leave the matter to the people who will give a befitting reply (to Bhattacharjee)," he said.

Lashing out at Bhattacharjee, who had during a TV interview gave Banerjee a "zero" for her performance, Hakim said: "When West Bengal is on the fast track to development, peace and progress, he is giving a zero to the government. Bhattacharjee himself is a big zero. Can you name one industrial venture which succeeded during his tenure? In contrast, he left the state with 55,000 closed factories".

Asked to comment in an interview with Bengali TV channel Chobbis Ghanta on Trinamool projecting Banerjee as a symbol of honesty, Bhattacharjee replied: "I'm unable to agree".

Pressed further, he said: "You conduct a probe into her family condition now as compared to what it was earlier. According to my yardstick, she does not pass the yardstick of honesty."

"I can't accept her as being honest. This is no secret. A lot of people close to her know this and they have started talking about it," he said.

Asked if he could provide details, Bhattacharjee said: "I'm not a drain inspector. You can probe it if you want to. Many know what people close to her are doing. Everything will come out easily if there is an investigation."

On Bhattacharjee's reference to Banerjee's family, Hakim said: "Every individual has the right to earn. Nobody can question this. For example, I am in politics, but my brother may not be in politics. He can pursue his own calling."

"The income tax and other government institutions are there to look into what people possess. No individual can conduct an inquiry," he said.

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