Hong Kong students start vote on Tiananmen killings

HONG KONG (Reuters) - A Hong Kong student union is holding a student vote on whether China should apologize for its crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in and around Beijing's Tiananamen Square 20 years ago in which hundreds were killed.

While China has tried to whitewash any commemoration or mention of June 4, formerly British-ruled Hong Kong has remained the only city on Chinese soil where annual June 4 vigils, remembrances and protests are tolerated.

Faced with growing student indifference, the Hong Kong University Student Union kicked off the three-day vote on whether China should "rectify" its verdict that the June 4 protests were counter-revolutionary and that killings were justified.

"After 20 years of denial and injustice, the world has had enough," the union said in explaining the need for a referendum.

"As the heirs to those who have fought and died for the freedoms which we now enjoy, we all share a duty to step forward on their behalf lest all their sacrifices be in vain."

The vote comes amid recent signs of on-campus tensions in Hong Kong between democratic-minded students and conservative elements wanting to tone down the criticism of Beijing, particularly among students from mainland China.

The demonstrations that drew more than a million people on to Beijing's streets are now a fading memory and the killings are still taboo in mainland Chinese media.

A so-called "democracy wall" on the University of Hong Kong's campus used to raise awareness of June 4 through photographs, essays and posters was recently vandalized.

YouTube takes down thousands of fair-use videos

Thousands of user-created videos- or at least their audio tracks - have disappeared from YouTube, and the question is who’s fault is it?

The New York Times reports that many YouTube users have found themselves in the same position as high school sophomore Juliet Weybret, who posted a video of herself playing piano and singing “Winter Wonderland.”

Her video was removed “as a result of a third-party notification by the Warner Music Group,” YouTube informed her.

But Warner says it’s not their fault.

“We and our artists share the user community’s frustration when content is unavailable. YouTube generates revenues from content posted by fans, which typically requires licenses from rights holders. Under the current process, we make YouTube aware of WMG content. Their content ID tool then takes down all unlicensed tracks, regardless of how they are used,” said Will Tanous, a spokesman for Warner Music.

In other words, Warner provides a very long list of copyright materials and Google’s tool goes through and wipes them all out, regardless of how fair the use might be.

It’s yet another example of how broken the DMCA regime is. Google believes it is legally obligated to take down every instance of a reported copyright work. More to the point, the scale is so huge it sends its robots out to do the takedowns.

Under DMCA, users can file an objection to the take-down, but the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s Fred von Lohmann says:

“People are somewhat intimidated by the possibility of being sued by one of the music companies, even if they have a free lawyer, like us.”

So a very large amount of fair-use works are simply taken down, and the digital speech that is the currency of our modern age simply goes offline.

Volcano in Alaska blows top again

Mount Redoubt volcano in the US state of Alaska has erupted for the sixth time in 24 hours, spewing ash and steam 15km (9.3 miles) into the air.

The volcano, 166km (103 miles) south-west of the state's biggest city, Anchorage, began erupting late on Sunday after a 20-year lull.

Ash has fallen on towns north of Anchorage, but the city itself has not been affected by the eruption.

Alaskan Airlines has cancelled a number of flights because of the ash.

Officials at the Alaska Volcano Observatory were able to monitor the latest eruption live via a webcam.

"We were able to see mudflows, pyroclastic flows and a nice ash column shooting out of the summit," geologist Janet Schaefer told the BBC. "It was quite spectacular."

Karen Timmers picks up her daughter Kaila Kais, who suffers from asthma, and son Johann from Talkeetna Elementary School, in Talkeetna, Alaska on 23 March
People living in the path of ash cloud have taken precautions

Ms Schaefer said the ash, which can cause skin irritation and breathing problems, was so far was not too dangerous for people living in the vicinity but was dangerous for air traffic.

The ash can cause damage to jet engines. People with respiratory problems have been warned to stay indoors until the ash settles or to wear a face mask if they go outside.

Ms Schaefer said the Observatory was working with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the National Weather Service to track ash clouds and ensure flights were diverted or cancelled if necessary.

Dozens of aircraft at the Elmendorf Air Force Base in Anchorage were being sheltered as a precaution against the falling ash.

Mount Redoubt, which stands 3,100m (10,200ft) high, last erupted over a four-month period from 1989 to 1990.

Scientists monitoring the area warned in late January that an eruption was likely.

On Sunday, officials raised the alert level after researchers recorded increased seismic activity.

"If it is anything like the 1989 eruption, we could expect activity to continue for three to four months," Ms Schaefer said.







Vidio


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7960825.stm

House passes bill to capture most of AIG bonuses

WASHINGTON - Struggling to keep ahead of public outrage over the actions of Wall Street firms, the House of Representatives passed a bill yesterday that seeks to recoup the lion's share of the $165 million in bonuses paid to executives of American International Group Inc.

The House measure, hurriedly drawn up on the orders of Democratic leadership, imposes a 90 percent tax on those who were paid bonuses at AIG and other firms as long as their families earned more than $250,000 annually and their companies received more than $5 billion in federal bailout funds. It passed by more than a two-thirds majority, 328 to 93.

All but one of the representatives from Maryland voted in favor of the measure. Rep. Roscoe Bartlett of Frederick, the state's lone Republican, voted against it.

The Senate is taking a different approach. It is readying a bill that would levy a 35 percent excise tax on executive bonuses. Both the company and the recipient of the bonuses would pay the tax. The Senate could take up the measure next week, or perhaps attempt to reconcile it with the House tax bill.

Even as the House voted, New York's attorney general, Andrew M. Cuomo, announced that AIG had complied with a request to turn over the names of those in the company who had received the bonuses. Cuomo pledged to be cautious in releasing the names because of concerns over the employees' safety.

The House bill, sponsored by New York Democratic Rep. Charles B. Rangel, garnered significant Republican support. But that did not come without a bitter debate, with conservative Republicans angrily denouncing the measure as a charade intended to deflect blame from Democrats about how the AIG bonuses were permitted to be paid.

They remained focused on an embarrassing disclosure by Senate Democrats Wednesday that they acceded to a Treasury Department request in February to scale back language in the economic stimulus bill that would have limited the payments.

"This bill is nothing more than an attempt for everybody to cover their butt up here on Capitol Hill," said Rep. John A. Boehner of Ohio, the House Republican leader. Opponents advocated a separate plan that would require the Treasury Department to seek repayment of the funds immediately. And some suggested the bill was an unconstitutional attempt to penalize a specific company, though legal experts said yesterday that the bill would probably pass muster by the courts.

Supporters said the bill was the most effective means for the government to seek redress of the bonus money.

"This vote is the difference between solving the problem or continuing the problem," said New York Rep. Steve Israel, a Democrat. "The only way to get their money back is to tax it back."

Some Republicans agreed. "At the end of the day, this insult to taxpayers cannot, should not, and will not stand," said Rep. Dave Camp of Michigan.

Republicans were clearly divided, with nearly half supporting the Rangel measure, perhaps worried about how constituent anger over the AIG payouts might be visited upon them.

Democrats charged that Republicans had opportunistically changed their tune on the compensation issue, noting that many have resisted past attempts to limit executive pay.

Nearly a third of U.S. bird species in trouble

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Nearly one-third of all U.S. bird species are endangered, threatened or in significant decline, with birds in Hawaii facing a "borderline ecological disaster," scientists reported on Thursday.

The State of the Birds report, issued by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar along with conservation groups and university ornithologists, also noted some successes, including the recovery of the bald eagle, the peregrine falcon and other species after the banning of the chemical DDT.

"When we talk about birds and we talk about wildlife, we're also talking about the economics of this country," Salazar told reporters as the report was released.

Wildlife watching and recreation generate $122 billion annually, the report said.

Salazar mentioned revenue from hunting, fishing and bird-watching, but added that President Barack Obama's stimulus package and proposed federal budgets for the remainder of 2009 and 2010 offer more money for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which aims to protect birds and other creatures.

The report, available online at www.stateofthebirds.org, presents data collected by government and academic scientists, as well as information contributed by amateur bird-watchers.

Wetland bird populations have soared since 1968, with an increase of up to 60 from levels 40 years ago. But birds in other habitats -- forests, grasslands and arid areas -- have declined as much as 40 percent.

HAWAIIAN BIRDS MOST VULNERABLE

It is in the perceived paradise of Hawaii that birds have declined the most, the report said.

"More bird species are vulnerable to extinction in Hawaii than anywhere else in the United States," according to the report.

Before humans arrived in the Hawaiian islands, possibly as early as the year 300, there were 113 bird species that occurred nowhere else on Earth. Since humans arrived, 71 species have gone extinct and 31 more are listed as threatened or endangered.

The main culprits are new plant and animal species introduced into the Hawaiian ecosystem, said George Wallace of the American Bird Conservancy, who wrote the report's section on Hawaii.

"Most Americans would be surprised that a place that we usually associate with being an idyllic paradise would have so many serious bird conservation problems," Wallace said in a telephone interview.

"These types of isolated island flora and fauna tend to be very, very sensitive to introductions of foreign organisms."

John Fitzpatrick of Cornell University went farther, calling Hawaii a "borderline ecological disaster" and "the epicenter of extinctions and near extinctions."

Overall, the United States is home to more than 800 species of birds; 67 of those are federally listed as endangered or threatened, with an additional 184 species causing concern because of they are narrowly distributed or have declining populations, the report said.

Laws to tackle tainted-food cases seem to lack much bite

The salmonella outbreak associated with Peanut Corp. of America’s peanut products is one of the biggest tainted-food cases in recent history.

“In 15 years of litigating most of the major foodborne illness outbreaks in the U.S., the PCA case may well be the worst food-safety breach I have ever seen,” said Seattle food-borne illness attorney Bill Marler, who has filed multiple claims against Peanut Corp. in the recent outbreak.

But as federal investigators move forward, they also are aware that few food-related investigations turn into prosecutions and even fewer land anyone in jail.

In the salmonella outbreak that began last fall, nine people are believed to be dead from eating bad peanut products. More than 660 people have been sickened.

A federal criminal investigation of Peanut Corp. of America, the company federal officials have identified as the source of the salmonella, was opened on Jan. 30. The outbreak has been traced to the company’s Blakely plant, though the plant in Plainview, Texas, may have contributed to at least six illnesses in Colorado, officials in that state said.

The probe focuses on the violation of federal food “adulteration” laws, and doesn’t legally address the victims, said former Food and Drug Administration investigators and federal agents familiar with the investigation and prosecution of food-borne illness cases.

“It doesn’t matter if anybody got sick, or if anybody died,” said Benjamin England, a former investigator with the FDA’s Office of Criminal Investigations and a Washington attorney who runs an FDA consulting firm.

Federal officials won’t comment on the criminal probe springing from the current salmonella outbreak. The FDA is working with the U.S. Department of Justice and the FBI on the probe.

In 1998, the FDA levied a $1.5 million fine against Odwalla Inc., a California juice maker, for selling apple juice tainted with E. coli that led to the death of a Colorado teen. The company pleaded guilty to 16 counts of misdemeanor food adulteration.

In 2007, the president of Lantana, Fla.-based Atlantis Foods Inc. got 15 months after pleading guilty to a scheme to sell adulterated chicken salad and lobster dip.

Former investigators said laws governing food adulteration date to the 1938 Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act. The act defines adulterated product as food that was “prepared, packed, or held under insanitary conditions whereby it may have become contaminated with filth, or whereby it may have been rendered injurious to health.”

The provision offers two types of adulteration charges —- misdemeanor and felony. Intent defines the difference. A felony charge means the food was knowingly contaminated and put on the market. The maximum felony fine is $10,000. The maximum prison term is three years.

States where victims of tainted food were sickened or died can pursue charges such as manslaughter or negligent homicide, said former federal investigators and prosecutors. But states often don’t.

“In a perfect world, a state might be right in the middle of it [the investigation] right now,” said Rande Matteson, a former federal agent and chairman of the Department of Criminal Justice at Saint Leo University in Florida. “But it’s not a perfect world.”

Laws to tackle tainted-food cases seem to lack much bite

The salmonella outbreak associated with Peanut Corp. of America’s peanut products is one of the biggest tainted-food cases in recent history.

“In 15 years of litigating most of the major foodborne illness outbreaks in the U.S., the PCA case may well be the worst food-safety breach I have ever seen,” said Seattle food-borne illness attorney Bill Marler, who has filed multiple claims against Peanut Corp. in the recent outbreak.

But as federal investigators move forward, they also are aware that few food-related investigations turn into prosecutions and even fewer land anyone in jail.

In the salmonella outbreak that began last fall, nine people are believed to be dead from eating bad peanut products. More than 660 people have been sickened.

A federal criminal investigation of Peanut Corp. of America, the company federal officials have identified as the source of the salmonella, was opened on Jan. 30. The outbreak has been traced to the company’s Blakely plant, though the plant in Plainview, Texas, may have contributed to at least six illnesses in Colorado, officials in that state said.

The probe focuses on the violation of federal food “adulteration” laws, and doesn’t legally address the victims, said former Food and Drug Administration investigators and federal agents familiar with the investigation and prosecution of food-borne illness cases.

“It doesn’t matter if anybody got sick, or if anybody died,” said Benjamin England, a former investigator with the FDA’s Office of Criminal Investigations and a Washington attorney who runs an FDA consulting firm.

Federal officials won’t comment on the criminal probe springing from the current salmonella outbreak. The FDA is working with the U.S. Department of Justice and the FBI on the probe.

In 1998, the FDA levied a $1.5 million fine against Odwalla Inc., a California juice maker, for selling apple juice tainted with E. coli that led to the death of a Colorado teen. The company pleaded guilty to 16 counts of misdemeanor food adulteration.

In 2007, the president of Lantana, Fla.-based Atlantis Foods Inc. got 15 months after pleading guilty to a scheme to sell adulterated chicken salad and lobster dip.

Former investigators said laws governing food adulteration date to the 1938 Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act. The act defines adulterated product as food that was “prepared, packed, or held under insanitary conditions whereby it may have become contaminated with filth, or whereby it may have been rendered injurious to health.”

The provision offers two types of adulteration charges —- misdemeanor and felony. Intent defines the difference. A felony charge means the food was knowingly contaminated and put on the market. The maximum felony fine is $10,000. The maximum prison term is three years.

States where victims of tainted food were sickened or died can pursue charges such as manslaughter or negligent homicide, said former federal investigators and prosecutors. But states often don’t.

“In a perfect world, a state might be right in the middle of it [the investigation] right now,” said Rande Matteson, a former federal agent and chairman of the Department of Criminal Justice at Saint Leo University in Florida. “But it’s not a perfect world.”

Amazon releases Kindle for iPhone, iPod Touch

Trying to expand its book sales, Amazon.com Inc. released a free application Wednesday that lets iPhone and iPod Touch users read electronic books purchased at the e-commerce giant's Kindle online bookstore.

The software performs many of the same functions featured on Amazon's $359 Kindle 2 reading device released last month, including bookmarking, noting, highlighting and adjusting the font size, the company said.
But the Amazon Kindle for iPhone application lacks the Kindle's read-aloud feature that garnered controversy. The Seattle online merchant said it would let rights-holders disable the text-to-speech feature after publishers and authors argued that it violates audio-book copyrights.

The Kindle allows owners to download books wirelessly, but iPhone program users can't buy directly through the application. Instead, to shop among the 240,000 electronic book titles, users must access the store via the phone's Web browser or from a computer.

The application could cut into sales of the Kindle device, but it also expands the number of customers who can buy Amazon's e-books. Analysts peg Kindle sales at fewer than half a million. Apple Inc., by comparison, sold more than 13.7 million iPhones in 2008, according to ABI Research. That's not counting the millions of iPod Touch devices also sold.

When it comes to e-books, Amazon will have competition on those Apple devices. Google Inc. offers 1.5 million free e-books in the public domain. Lexcycle's free Stanza application lets iPhone users read digital books bought at online merchants such as eReader and Fictionwise, which has its own application called eReader.