Friday 5 June 2015

Dunya TV

Dunya TV

On social media, terror suspects left few signs of extremism

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BOSTON (AP) -Usaama Rahim liked an Islamic State page on Facebook, but he also spoke out against the kind of violence that Islamic State extremists are fomenting across the Middle East.In his public postings, the knife-wielding man who was fatally shot by members of Bostons Joint Terrorism Task Force on Tuesday appeared to be a conservative Muslim, frowning on women plucking their eyebrows and musing on the proper length for mens robes.His decision to like the Islamic State in Iraq page concerns some moderate Muslim leaders who reviewed the dead mans social media postings with The Associated Press, but they note that he posted no bloody pictures and made none of the violent calls to arms that many supporters of armed extremist groups espouse on social media.Killing people is anti-Islamic, Rahim wrote, arguing that a key tenet of the faith is that we do not fight evil with that which causes a greater evil.Rahim, 26, knew he was being watched by the FBI: He posted about that, too, back in 2012, writing that he had hung up on an FBI agent who called wanting to talk about some allegations.If you let them get close, trust me, theyll have you making statements about things that could get you jail-time, he wrote. Try again, monkey-boys.He taunted the agents again later that day, after he said an FBI agent had asked a neighbor about him as well.They are persistent but guess what, they got nothing on me. Keep on coming, you stupid fools and Ill sue the crap out of you for harassment, he wrote.The task force intensified its surveillance of Rahim to an around-the-clock detail at least seven days before this weeks fatal confrontation, after Rahim bought three military-style knives on Amazon.com. Agents listening to his phone calls also heard his nephew, David Wright, say something they interpreted as a reference to beheading, according to an FBI affidavit.Boston Police Commissioner William Evans said officers decided to take him down after Rahim was overheard saying Im just going to, ah, go after them, those boys in blue.Evans said the reasons for the eavesdropping of Rahim are classified. Many other questions remain unanswered, and his Facebook postings provide only a partial glimpse of his thinking. Federal investigators said Rahim espoused extreme views online, but have not revealed details.Terrorism experts caution that extremists often chat, plot and recruit not on open social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, but in darker corners of the Internet, such as chat rooms and on blogs not readily viewable or even searchable by the public.Rahims family doubts that he was radicalized. Their lawyer, Ronald Sullivan, said the allegations came as complete shock. His older brother Ibrahim called Usaama a patriotic, loyal U.S. citizen and proud Bostonian.Ibrahim Hooper, of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, cautioned against drawing conclusions based on limited information.Its just premature to speculate, he said. Not enough evidence has been out there. We just need all the facts to come out.Yusufi Vali, executive director of the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center, also noted that Rahim liked the page of Mizanur Rahman, an extremist British Islamic activist. But other Islamic information sources he liked and cited are more mundane.You can certainly tell hes a little bit more conservative, Vali said after reviewing the accounts. Nothing that I see here suggests hes definitely movingtoward violence.Aaron Zelin, who studies jihadist groups at the Washington Institute, also found no indicators of extremism in the Facebook accounts Rahim put on public view, but cautioned that Rahim may have been active online in other ways that arent so easily seen.I dont think we have the full picture in terms of possible privacy settings, but also other potential accounts. I highly doubt he was only doing profile picture updates between 2013 and now, he said.Rahim appears to have operated two Facebook accounts. In the first, using the name Abdur-Rahim Al-amreeki, he prolifically quoted and analyzed religious texts as if he were an accomplished scholar, instructing others on how to make their faith more pure. Those who dont believe in Allah are sent to the hell-fire if they die upon disbelief regardless of their charity while they were alive, he warned at one point.Stop selling your souls to democracy If you want Shariah, work for it he wrote in November 2012.Rahim wrote that Muslims should be loyal to their leaders, including the royal family of Saudi Arabia. He occasionally posted dark images one is an apocalyptic illustration of an ancient building destroyed and twisted into the word RAGE but he also posted about playing Tetris online, and liked pages on gummy bears, baseball and Jerry Springer.He apparently made no reference to his older brother, Ibrahim Rahim, a respected Muslim scholar known for preaching against violence after the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings.Both of the younger Rahims Facebook accounts are linked by an identical post about his wedding in 2013, in which he thanked his family for helping him devour all of that great food cooked by mother and mother in law.The AP was unable to find any Twitter account for Rahim, but Wright, who was arrested on a charge of conspiracy to obstruct a federal investigation on the day his uncle was shot, opened two of them. He sent just three tweets, one of which expressed sympathy with the Islamic State group. He also followed Rahman, the extremist Briton.

Barca's fearsome front 3 firing the side to success

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BERLIN (AP) -The most fearsome attack in world football has fired Barcelona to the verge of its fourth Champions League title in a decade. Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar have scored 25 of Barcelonas 28 goals on the way to the final and few are betting against them leading the club to a record second treble on Saturday.With one game still to play, the Barca trident has scored 120 goals in all competitions this season, bettering the mark of 118 set by Real Madrids Karim Benzema, Cristiano Ronaldo and Gonzalo Higuain in 2012.Not only do they score goals, they create them too, and it is the nature of their unselfish play that has seen them reap the rewards and cause havoc to opposing defenses.Leo and Luis are two extraordinary players, Neymar said when asked about the front threes prowess on Friday. The main factor is our friendship on and off the field and I think that helps. I think thats why things are going well for us.In contrast to the famed BBC of Benzema, Gareth Bale and Cristiano Ronaldo at Madrid, Barcelonas trio work together to create space in which the others thrive.Suarez has been the main beneficiary. Despite a slow start - a start delayed further after his fourth-month ban for biting Italy and Juventus defender Giorgio Chiellini at the World Cup - the Uruguay forward has contributed 24 goals in his debut season at Barcelona. The delicate touch he displayed to control the ball before firing Barcelona to victory over Madrid in March illustrated why the Catalan side took a chance on the immensely talented but controversial player.Suarez is arguably the missing piece Barcelona was looking for after a trophyless season in 2013-14 under Gerardo Martino.Neymar too appears to have matured. Still only 23, the Brazilian is in his second season at Barca and seems to have toned down flamboyance for greater efficiency. He has scored 38 goals this season, including decisive goals in important games, not least the injury time-strike against Bayern Munich that gave Barca one foot in the Champions League final with a 3-0 semifinal first leg result. He scored twice again in the second leg for a 5-3 aggregate win.Messi remains the undisputed star, though. Despite not playing as an out-and-out forward the Argentine has bagged an incredible 58 goals alone in this campaign. If he scores again against Juventus on Saturday Messi will be the first player to score in three Champions League finals, having also found the net in Barcas 2009 and 2011 triumphs.The 27-year-olds mere presence causes consternation in opposing defenses, which often resort to man-marking, sometimes with more than one defender. This is turn creates more space for his companions and very often proves futile in any case as the elusive Messi always looks capable of gliding past defenders.Suarez is the tallest of the forwards, yet is hardly a giant at 1.81 meters (5-foot-11). Neymar is 1.75 meters (5-foot-9) and Messi is 1.69 meters (5-foot-6). The latter certainly uses his low center of gravity to his advantage, as Diego Maradona, another Argentine great, did before him.It was the decision to switch Messi to the right and give Suarez more room in front of goal that helped turn Barcelonas season around. The club was in turmoil after a 1-0 defeat at Real Sociedad on Jan. 4 capped a series of uninspired results.Messi missed training the following day, prompting talk of a rift with coach Luis Enrique. Sporting director Andoni Zubizarreta was sacked the same day, his assistant Carles Puyol left, and president Josep Bartomeu called for early elections.The crisis helped Enrique turn things around with the realization that Messi and Suarez playing together up front left little room for either to operate.It was very crowded so the decision was taken to move Leo further out, Barcelona defender Gerard Pique said.Messi duly obliged by leading Barcelona on a run that included 30 wins, two draws and two defeats. One of those losses came in the second leg of the semifinal against Bayern and was inconsequential as Barcelona still advanced on aggregate. The side is now tantalizingly close to repeating its 2009 Spanish league, cup and Champions League treble.We have the best player in the world in Leo, and Neymar and Suarez are magnificent players, Enrique said. But we wouldnt be able to get so far with just three players. All the players are necessary. We face matches as a team.

Death toll jumps to 345 in China's Yangtze River capsizing

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JIANLI (AP) -Chinese state media say the death toll in the Eastern Star capsizing has risen to 345.Disaster teams have found hundreds more bodies overnight and Saturday morning after pulling the overturned river cruise boat upright with cranes and gradually raising it up from the gray currents of the Yangtze River.State broadcaster CCTV says 345 bodies have been found. That leaves nearly 100 still missing.The boat with 456 overturned Monday night in what authorities have attributed to sudden severe winds.Fourteen people survived, including the captain and first engineer who have been placed under police custody.

Obama, Poroshenko voice 'deep concern' over Ukraine fighting

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WASHINGTON (AP) -The White House says President Barack Obama spoke Friday with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko about stepped-up fighting in eastern Ukraine between government forces and Russian-backed separatists.The White House says both leaders expressed their deep concern about the fighting near Donetsk.They called on Russia and the separatists to live up to the cease-fire plan reached in February in Minsk.The telephone conversation came as Obama prepared to leave Saturday for a summit of the Group of Seven industrialized nations in Germany, where the Ukraine conflict is expected to be one of the top subjects of discussion.The White House said Obama underscored commitments to a diplomatic resolution in eastern Ukraine and to keep economic pressure on Russia until Moscow meets the terms of the Minsk accord.

Greek leader: cannot consent to 'irrational' proposals

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ATHENS (AP) -Greece cannot accept the irrational proposal made this week by its bailout creditors, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras told an emergency Parliament session Friday, adding that any deal must also include some lightening of the countrys crushing debt load.There is no question of our accepting an agreement that does not contain the prospect of debt restructuring that would help Greece regain the market access lost five years ago, Tsipras said.Despite a significant writedown in 2012, Greeces debt remains huge, at nearly 180 percent of annual output. Bailout creditors had initially promised further respite, but details on their latest proposal leaked by Athens made no mention of debt lightening.Tsipras speech came the morning after a surprise announcement that Greece would defer an IMF payment due Friday, and would instead bundle all four installments due in June a total of 1.6 billion euros into one payment at the end of the month.It is the first time a developed economy has taken the option of bundling payments an emergency maneuver allowed by the IMF but last used by Zambia in the 1980s.The move highlighted the brinkmanship of Greeces protracted negotiations to release the remaining funds in its international bailout, and the dire state of the countrys liquidity.It sent the Athens Stock Exchange tumbling to close down nearly 5 percent, while the countrys borrowing costs shot up, with the interest rate on the countrys two-year bonds standing at 24.5 percent.Without the 7.2 billion euros left in the 240 billion euro bailout it has been relying on since 2010, Greece will be unable to meet its steep debt repayments to the IMF and the European Central Bank over the next few months. Bankruptcy looms, and with it a potential exit from the euro.Although Greeces liquidity situation is extremely delicate, the decision to delay the payments seems to have at least a partial political motivation, said Diego Iscaro, senior economist at HIS Global Insight.Essentially, the payment delay serves as a way to express the governments frustration over the last best offer made by creditors to Greece.Tsipras faces growing anger from within his own radical left Syriza party, where hardliners, including some Cabinet members, have been calling for a break with creditors. At least two ministers said Friday that if the lenders dont back down, one option would be to call for elections and ask Greeks whether they want to remain in the euro at any cost.Tsipras made no mention of such a possibility, however, in his first speech to lawmakers on the course of his governments troubled four-month negotiations.Tsipras said he was unpleasantly surprised by the proposal put forward by the International Monetary Fund, the European Central Bank and the European Commission the three institutions overseeing Greeces bailout during his visit to Brussels this week for talks with commission head Jean-Claude Juncker.I would like to believe that this proposal was an unfortunate moment for Europe, or at least a bad negotiating trick, and will very soon be withdrawn by the same people who thought it up, he said.Still, he said, he believed a deal was now closer than ever.What Greece needs, Tsipras insisted, is a solution to what he described as a vicious circle of austerity and debt leading to economic contraction and poverty.We dont just need an agreement; we need a definitive solution, both for Greece and for Europe, that will finally end the talk of a Greek exit from the eurozone.Opposition parties have been incensed by the governments negotiating tactics, accusing it of squandering both time and any goodwill the country had left, and endangering the nations future.You must stop the lies and the ideological fixations. A third bailout is coming in September, said main opposition New Democracy head Antonis Samaras, referring to the possibility of Greece needing additional rescue loans after the current deal expires.You have lost the plot totally lost your targetsand driven Greece back to recession, he added. Your mistakes are very expensive for the country.The institutions proposal, Tsipras said, insisted on the austerity which has accompanied Greeces bailout since it first began five years ago and which the government blames for the dire state of the countrys economy, which has contracted by a quarter.The fiscal strangulation of a country is a moral issue that conflicts with Europes founding principles which raises well-founded questions on Europes future, he said.Top Eurozone official Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the Dutch finance minister, insisted Europe wanted to ensure Greeces economy was put back on track, but warned time was running out and the ball was in Athens court.We want to pull together a plan to put Greece back on a solid financial and economic path. They are a long way from that and could get even further away, he said earlier in the day.They cant only take pleasant measures, they also have to take tough measures and that is what the Greek government has to recognize. That also means that if they want to come up with alternatives to our proposal that they have to add up financially and be economically responsible. Were waiting for those proposals.

Mexican election run-up marred by violence

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MEXICO CITY (AP) -Violence is threatening Mexicos midterm elections, with radical teachers attempting to block Sundays voting.The elections for Congress, governorships and mayorships have already claimed the lives of three candidates, one would-be candidate, and at least a dozen campaign workers or activists.But unlike the years from 2010 to 2012, when the violence appeared to come largely came from drug cartels, radical movements now pose the greatest threat.Unidentified assailants and radical teachers on Friday burned or attacked the offices of five political parties in the southern states of Chiapas and Guerrero.There have been tense moments on Thursday and Friday as army and police forces have faced off with protesters intent on breaking into electoral offices to burn ballots.

Islamic State fighters at the gates of northeast Syrian city

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BEIRUT (AP) -Islamic State militants fighting in Syria on Friday reached the southern gates of the predominantly Kurdish northeastern city of Hassakeh amid intense air raids and shelling, Syrian activists and the extremist groups radio station said.The push came as the U.N. Security Council expressed outrage at all the attacks against civilians in Syria, including those involving shelling and barrel bombbombings that have reportedly been used extensively in Aleppo, Syrias largest city, and other areas in recent days, leaving many civilians dead.The Islamic State group has been attacking Hassakeh city since May 30, facing stiff resistance from government forces. The city has been split between government forces and Kurdish fighters who have been attacking IS positions elsewhere in the province.The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human rights said that IS fighters captured a power station and an unfinished juvenile prison building just south of Hassakeh.IS radio station Al-Bayan said the militants were about one kilometer (mile) from the southern entrance in the city, claiming they have killed dozens of soldiers.The Observatory and the Local Coordination Committees say government warplanes repeatedly attacked IS forces near Hassakeh on Friday. The Observatory said 71 government troops as well as 48 IS fighters were killed in Hassakeh over the past week.Members of the Kurdish militia known as the Peoples Protection Units, or YPG, have not joined the battle in the city so far, but one of its commanders, Polan Jan, said in comments posted on the groups official Facebook page that we will not allow Daesh or others to control our Kurdish city of Hassakeh. He used an Arabic acronym to refer to the group.YPG have been advancing in northern Syria against IS fighters for weeks, under the cover of the U.S.-led coalition that is bombing IS positions.A press statement issued by the U.N. Security Council on Friday also condemned increased terrorist attacks resulting in numerous casualties and destruction carried out by the Islamic State group, al-Qaidas Syrian branch called the Nusra Front and other militant groups. The statement followed a closed-door briefing Thursday by John Ging, the director of U.N. humanitarian operations, on the upsurge of violence in Aleppo.Council members also reiterated that the Syrian crisis can only be solved by implementing the 2012 Geneva communique calling for a transitional governing body. Several U.N. diplomats said it was significant that Russia, Syrias closely ally, agreed to condemnation of the use of barrel bombs. They spoke on condition of anonymity because negotiations on the statement were private.Elsewhere in Syria, the Kurdish fighters are closing in on the Islamic state group in Tel Abyad, capturing towns and villages in the oil-rich swath in the countrys northeastagain, supported by U.S.-led airstrikes.Tel Abyad is a key link between Turkey and the northern Syrian city of Raqqa, the ISs de-facto capital. The Raqqa-based media collective called Raqqa is Being Silently Slaughtered said that U.S.-led coalition warplanes attacked Tel Abyad on Friday.On Thursday, a Turkish government official said that more than 3,300 Syrians have crossed into Turkey in the past two days fleeing fighting between IS and the YPG in the Tel Abyad region.

2 killed in explosions at Kurdish rally in Turkey

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ANKARA, Turkey (AP) -Two people died and more than 100 were injured after two explosions rocked a large Kurdish party election rally in southeast Turkey on Friday, the countrys Agriculture Minister Mehdi Eker said.The blasts occurred five minutes apart at the rally of the pro-Kurdish Peoples Democratic Party, or HDP, as party leader Selahattin Demirtas was preparing to address the crowd of tens of thousands in Diyarbakir, the main city in Turkeys predominantly Kurdish southeast.It wasnt immediately clear how many of the injured were seriously hurt. Health Minister Mehmet Muezzinoglu had earlier said around 50 people were injured in the incident and 20 to 24 of them were being treated in hospitals.An Associated Press journalist at the scene said the first blast occurred inside a garbage container while the second, more powerful one was inside a power distribution unit.Rally organizers told the crowd that the explosion was due to a problem with the power distribution unit and urged calm. But Energy Minister Taner Yildiz later dismissed that, saying the blast was caused by an external interference with the power unit, though he did not say whether he believed a bomb was involved.The explosions come at a tense time, two days before Sundays parliamentary elections in Turkey, in which the Kurdish votes will be critical.The party is vying to pass the threshold of 10 percent of total votes required to take seats in parliament. If it succeeds, it could make it impossible for the ruling AKP to reach a supermajority in parliament. That would scuttle the AKPs ambitions to introduce a new constitution and change Turkeys parliamentary system into a presidential system that could give President Recep Tayyip Erdogan executive powers.Demirtas urged for calm while describing the incident as an attack against his party.The powers behind this attack will, hopefully, be revealed, he told thousands of supporters later Friday from the top of a campaign bus outside the partys headquarters in Diyarbakir. These attacks must not remain unsolved.Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said authorities would investigate the cause of the explosions.Whatever is behind this incident whether it was a power transformer explosion, an assassination attempt, an act of provocation we shall investigate it, he said. I call on my brothers in Diyarbakir: Please beware of exploitation of the incident and provocations. No one should be involved in provocations.The rally was cancelled but a large group of youths remained at the site, protesting the explosions. Some threw stones at a police water cannon that moved in to disperse the crowd.Diyarbakir residents meanwhile, protested the incident by banging on pots and pans from balconies and windows.The private Dogan news agency said the dead included a 16-year-old boy and a man in his 20s. It said several of the injured were in critical condition.Earlier this week, assailants fired on a HDP campaign vehicle, killing its driver. Last month, bombs at two local HDP offices injured six people in southern Adana and in neighboring Mersin.

Jamshoro: 6 killed in car, hi-roof collision

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JAMSHORO (Dunya News) - According to details, six people were killed when a car collided with a hi-roof at the Indus Highway near Jamshoro on early Saturday morning.Five other people were injured in the accident. Rescue teams reached the spot and shifted the injured to a hospital in Hyderabad.

Giant hack may be first step in pursuit of bigger US secrets

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WASHINGTON (AP) - The government is worried that China-based hackers who raided more than 4 million federal employment files will use their loot to pry into more-secure computers and plunder secrets about the U.S. military, economic strategy or foreign relations.Federal officials said Friday the cyberattack appeared to have originated in China, but they didnt point fingers directly at the Chinese government. The Chinese said any such accusation would be irresponsible and unscientific.A spokesman for the Director of National Intelligence declined to discuss whether there was evidence against China or whether intelligence agency employees were among those whose information was compromised.The National Security Agency and the FBI have improved their ability to attribute cyberattacks in recent years, officials have said. Often, Chinese cyberattacks have identifiable signatures, including the types of malware used. The NSA also uses its more traditional intelligence gathering methods to trace the origins of cyberattacks including intercepting the phone calls and emails of the hackers.Federal employees were told in a video to change all their passwords, put fraud alerts on their credit reports and watch for attempts by foreign intelligence services to exploit them. That message came from Dan Payne, a senior counterintelligence official for the Director of National Intelligence.Some of you may think that you are not of interest because you dont have access to classified information, he said. You are mistaken.White House spokesman Josh Earnest said he couldnt divulge much while the case was under investigation. Still, he noted that investigators are aware of the threat that is emanating from China.One U.S. official said the breach was being investigated as a national security matter, suggesting authorities believe a nation was behind it rather than a more loosely organized gang of cybercriminals. The official was not authorized to discuss an ongoing investigation and spoke only on condition of anonymity.The break-in is an embarrassing showing for the U.S. governments vaunted computer-defense system for civilian agencies dubbed Einsteinwhich is costing $376 million this year alone. Its supposed to detect unusual Internet traffic that might reflect hacking attempts or stolen data being transmitted outside the government.This latest breach occurred in December but wasnt discovered until April, officials say. It was made public Thursday.The scale of it is just staggering, said Rep. Adam Schiff, top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee. Theres no telling how many more attacks could be spawned by the information stolen in this case, he said.Although most Americans think of identity thieves stealing from credit card or bank accounts, the information about civilian federal workers has other value for foreign spies.Theyre able to identify people who are in positions with access to significant national security information and can use personal data to target those individuals, said Payne, the counterintelligence official.He said details from personnel files could be used to craft personalized phony messages to trick workers. Federal employees who think theyre opening an email from co-workers or family members might infect their computers with a program that would steal more information or install spy software.Spies also could use details about an employees interests or background to befriend them and try to manipulate them into revealing secrets.Kevin Mitnick, a former hacker who now runs Mitnick Security Consulting of Las Vegas, called confidential details about federal employees a gold mine.Whats the weakest link in security? Mitnick said. The human. Now you know all about your target.The hackers may have made off with even more information about workers who undergo security clearance background checks. That information includes the names of family, neighbors, even old bosses and teachers, as well as reports on vices, arrests and foreign contacts.

Four Saudi soldiers killed in attack on border from Yemen

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CAIRO (Reuters) - Saudi-led forces said on Friday four Saudis were killed after an attack was launched on border areas in Jizan and Najran by forces loyal to former Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh and Houthi rebels.A statement on the official Saudi news agency SPA said that an attack had been launched from the Yemeni side into Saudi Arabias Jizan and Najran areas and a battle had taken place since the early hours of Friday and until noon in which tens of Yemeni soldiers were killed.Four Saudis were also killed in the battle, one officer from the National Guard, two ground forces officers and one border guard, the statement said.An alliance of Gulf Arab nations has been bombing Houthi militia and allied army units that control much of Yemen since March 26 in what they say is an attempt to restore exiled President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.Saudi forces and the Houthis have been trading fire across the border since the Arab alliance began its military operations.

Safety agency admits flaws, starts reforms after GM case

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DETROIT (AP) -The U.S. governments auto safety agency acknowledged Friday that a deadly defect in General Motors ignition switches went unresolved for a decade because agency staffers didnt understand air bag technology and failed to challenge the information it received from the automaker.The mea culpa came Friday as the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration outlined actions designed to make itself more aggressive in finding and solving safety problems among the 240 million cars on U.S. roadways.Its the first time the agency has admitted fault in failing to link the switches it to a series of fatal accidents, although regulators still lay most of the blame on GM for hiding the defect.The GM switches, used in older-model small cars such as the Chevrolet Cobalt and Saturn Ion, can slip out of the run position and abruptly cut off the engine and disable the air bags. Theyre responsible for at least 109 deaths and more than 200 injuries. The company recalled 2.6 million cars with the switches last year.Staffers lacked the technical know-how to connect the changing position of the switches to the non-deployment of the air bags, NHTSA said in two reports issued Friday. They also failed to press GM when the automaker provided insufficient information about some of the fatal crashes.NHTSA Administrator Mark Rosekind said the case changed the agencys culture. Previously, it was too trusting of data and safety theories offered by automakers, but now investigators are asking the tough questions, Rosekind said.We need to challenge the assumptions of what we are pursuing, he said.While a culture change is needed, the agency concedes it will be difficult to keep up with emerging technologies without more people and money. Staying abreast of technology is important as more and more car functions become computerized. Experts say the average car now has about 100 computers on board, and that will double in a few years.The reports make a number of recommendations: holding automakers accountable if they dont produce requested information; gaining better understanding of new technology; and having the whole agency examine safety problems. The changes are in place or are under way, Rosekind said.The agency also appointed a three-person outside team to monitor safety processes.The review found no agency employees at fault for failing to find the GM problem. No one at NHTSA intentionally acted to hide it, Rosekind said. Thats different than finding somebody with all good intentions made a human error, he said.Rosekind said the agency could do even more, such as going to more crash sites and with better data examination improvements that also depend on more funding in upcoming federal budgets.In the GM case, the agency missed repeated clues linking the ignition switches to the lack of air bag deployment. In a 2006 Wisconsin crash that killed two young women, a state trooper blamed the switches in his report. Yet no one at NHTSA noticed. This was because investigators inaccurately believed that newer air bag systems found in cars such as the Cobalt operated like older systems continuing to run on reserve power, regardless of whether the engine was running, the report said.NHTSA unfortunately did not fully consider this alternate theory, the report states.NHTSAs staffing is so low that it can only react to safety issues after problems surface, unlike the Federal Aviation Administration, which has more investigators, the reports stated. The FAA, for example, has 6,408 people working on safety enforcement, while NHTSA has only 90. In 2012, 447 people died in aviation crashes compared with 32,719 automobile deaths, the report said.The agency says it currently follows up on only 10 percent of the 6,000 auto-related death and injury reports it gets each year. And consumer complaints to the agency, among the best warnings of safety problems, used to run about 45,000 per year. But they nearly doubled last year after the GM case surfaced. At a hearing Tuesday, Rosekind said there are only 8 staffers looking into all those complaints.In its 2016 budget request now before Congress, NHTSA has asked for 92 more investigators and data analysts at a cost of $23.6 million. To shift to a new paradigm where NHTSA would uncover safety problems faster, it would need 380 more people at a cost of $89 million per year. The extra staff would respond to crash sites, inspect auto factories and force automakers to give the agency lists of all pending safety problems.If we get more resources we will deliver more safety, Rosekind said.

Lingmerth has 1-shot lead; Tiger survives another cut

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DUBLIN (AP) - David Lingmerth took a step toward turning his game around with a 7-under 65 at the Memorial on Friday. It gave the Swede a one-shot lead going into a weekend that includes Tiger Woods.Long after Lingmerth capped off a bogey-free round at Muirfield Village, Woods was 40 yards away from the flag on the 18th green and in dire need of getting up-and-down to save par and avoid missing his first cut at the tournament he has won five times.For his second straight tournament, he holed a key putt to survive.At least I was able to make those putts, so thats a positive sign, Woods said after his 2-under 70. Now I just need to put myself in the position where those putts are to win tournaments, not to make cuts.He was 11 shots behind Lingmerth, who was at 12-under 132.Woods had to hang on, making two straight bogeys before his par save on the final hole. For Jason Dufner, it was a thrill a minute.Dufner made a 5 on a par 3 and a 3 on a par 5. And that was before he made a hole-in-one his fourth eagle of the week on the par-3 16th hole. He followed that with a bogey. It was relatively boring after that, and the former PGA champion wound up with a 67 that put him in final group with Lingmerth, just one shot behind.Dufner didnt have much to say he rarely does, even when he won the PGA Championship two years ago and spoke only to Ohio-based reporters. Until a tie for eighth last week at the AT&T Byron National, he had gone just over a year without a top 10 on American soil. The only time he made news was when his divorce was reported.Im hitting it really good, Dufner said. Im having enough good holes, good shots, to offset some of the mistakes Ive had.Ryan Moore, gearing up for a U.S. Open near his hometown outside Tacoma, Washington, had another 67 and was at 10-under 134, along with Andy Sullivan of England, who can earn a spot at Chambers Bay with a good week at the Memorial.A trio of past champions Hideki Matsuyama, Jim Furyk and Justin Rose were in the group that was three shots behind. Joining them was Patrick Rodgers, who made eight birdies in a round of 66 and is poised to at least secure temporary membership on the PGA Tour.Good scores were stacked up behind them. There were plenty of birdies available on a course that still presents trouble around every corner.Every shot gets your attention, Rose said.It got the attention of Masters champion Jordan Spieth. He went out in 31 and was creeping up on the lead when he wound up on the wrong side of the 10th green and made double bogey, and he never recovered. Spieth missed a half-dozen putts from 10 feet or in and had to settle for a 70 that put him six shots behind.Phil Mickelson made a late eagle for a 68 and was in the group at 4-under 140.Kenny Perry made bogey on his last hole for a 73 and missed the cut by one shot. The 54-year-old took a career money exemption for the year so he could end his career at the Memorial, which he won two times.Lingmerth had missed four cuts in his last five starts, and the start of this tournament was ominous when he was 2 over through four holes. He made seven birdies on his last 12 holes on Thursday, and he made seven more Friday.I started giving myself some opportunities and the putts started dropping in, Lingmerth said.Dufner was tied for the lead late Thursday until he hit his tee shot into the water on the 18th and made double bogey.He started Friday on the back nine and was in trouble early when he hit into the water on the par-3 12th and had to make a 4-footer to salvage double bogey. His fortunes changed quickly. He hit a wedge to 5 feet for birdie on the 14th. He hit hybrid into 6 feet for eagle on the 15th. And then he hit 6-iron into the hole on the par-3 16th.Five under on three holes goes a long way.Probably the best Ive ever done, Dufner said.Woods, meanwhile, opened with three birdies in four holes, though he was still wild off the tee. He mixed bogeys with birdies and was in reasonable shape at 3 under for the tournament until he missed the 16th green long and made bogey, and then found a deep patch of rough just off the left side of the fairway at the 17th, had to lay up and could get no closer than 30 feet from 100 yards. That bogey put him on the cut line, and he popped up his 3-wood off the 18th tee into rough.But he saved his par and saved his weekend.This is the third straight tournament that Woods made the cut, something he hasnt done in a year. He believes he is making progress, though the bar has been lowered significantly at the moment.

Irish unveil terms of secret FIFA cash deal over handball

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DUBLIN (AP) -Irish soccer chiefs disclosed documentary evidence Friday of how FIFA paid millions to buy Irelands silence on the handball that cost the Irish a chance to reach the 2010 World Cup.The documents published after the Football Association of Ireland suffered a daylong barrage of international criticism over its decision to take the confidential payment detail a series of meetings in Switzerland involving FAI and FIFA chiefs, including President Sepp Blatter. These followed Irelands 2-1 loss on aggregate to France in November 2009, a result partly achieved by an infamous Thierry Henry handball that went unpunished and which produced Frances playoff-clinching goal.The self-described moral compensation contract, signed Jan. 15, 2010, by senior FAI and FIFA officials in Zurich, guaranteed the FAI immediate delivery of 5 million euros (then $7.13 million) on strict condition that Irish officials never revealed existence of the deal. The payment was initially labeled a loan, but the contact included no terms for repayment, and the FAI never did pay it back.The FAI also published letters showing the full 5 million euros entering the associations Dublin bank accounts five days later and being quickly deployed to reduce the associations debts connected to a new national stadium completed in 2010.The signed contract committed the FAI to waive any and all claims against FIFA in exchange for cash, which included a separate $400,000 payment for an unrelated Irish soccer project, a new disclosure in Fridays documents. The contract specified that the FAI would irrevocably and unconditionally accept the referees decision and could no longer appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, Switzerland.In an extensive section designed to ensure secrecy, the contract specified that FAI officials could not publicize its existence without any limits in scope or time.However, it published the full contract after FIFA acknowledge the deal this week.The FAI also published a June 13, 2014, letter from FIFAs deputy secretary general, Markus Kattner, informing the Irish federation that it no longer needed to repay any of the purported loan.The FAI in a statement said FIFA President Sepp Blatter also offered a face-to-face apology to their negotiators at a Swiss meeting three days before the contract was struck. He had infuriated Irish soccer officials weeks earlier by declaring, to the laughter of FIFA delegates, that Ireland was trying to be entered as the 33rd qualifying team in South Africa.The disclosures came hours after Irelands national team trained in preparation for a friendly home match Sunday against England.Roy Keane, one of Irelands greatest players and now an assistant national coach, said his team had hardly spoken about the deal.Im not going into the FIFA stuff, Keane said outside the training facility.Liam Brady, who stepped down as former coach Giovanni Trappatonis assistant after the 2010 World Cup campaign, called news of the secret FIFA payout mind-boggling and said he knew nothing about it.Certainly none of the staff knew about it and none of the players knew about it at the time, Brady said.The payment was first made public last year in an Irish newspaper, but attracted little international attention at the time. FAI chief executive John Delaney confirmed the existence of the deal last week but declined to specify the amount of cash paid.With Blatter having resigned this week amid a widespread corruption probe, the deal became front-page news once FIFA, responding to Delaneys comments, confirmed its existence Thursday.Some criticized the deal as setting a dangerous precedent for world soccer.The president of the German soccer federation, Wolfgang Niersbach, said he sympathized with Irelands outrage over the bad call, which he called a real injustice.But you cannot compensate it with money and no court would have ruled in their favor, Niersbach told German television network ZDF.Rooney said he couldnt believe that FIFA had paid a cent. He said Henrys uncalled handball didnt stop us from going to the World Cup. It stopped us from getting a penalty shootout perhaps. But its nonsensical to think we had a case that we could have won.Raymond Domenech, Frances coach during the match, said the Irish should have pressed FIFA in public and in court to demand a place at the World Cup.Their qualification was at stake, Domenech told French radio network Europe1. On a sporting level, its disgraceful unacceptablethat you might sacrifice that for money.Many in Ireland support that sentiment, noting Delaneys original 2009 pledge following the handball to seek justice.Its not about money, Delaney said then. This is about sporting integrity.

Pakistan police say 8 men in Malala attack were acquitted

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MINGORA (AP) - The Pakistani police and the countrys public prosecutor said Friday that eight out of 10 militants charged with involvement in the 2012 attack on teenage activist and later Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai were actually acquitted in April and not sentenced to life in prison as reported at the time.The stunning announcement, which first came from Pakistans deputy police chief, Azad Khan, offered no explanation as to why authorities had remained silent for so many weeks or why they had failed to correct the facts earlier.In April, public prosecutor Sayed Naeem said 10 militants charged over the attack were all convicted by an anti-terrorism court and sentenced to life imprisonment. At the time, he said the court announced the ruling at an undisclosed location because of security concerns.On Friday, Naeem said only two of the militants were imprisoned for life while the others were acquitted due to lack of evidence.The prosecutor claimed reporters misquoted him at the time. He refused to further discuss the case and only added that he had already filed an appeal against the acquittal of the eight men.Naeem made his comments shortly after Khan spoke.I can only confirm that the anti-terrorism court in April had acquitted eight out of 10 militants accused of attacking Malala, Khan told The Associated Press.He said he did not know why the government or the public prosecutor had not clarified media reports about the sentencing of the men involved in attack on Malala earlier.Another senior Pakistani police officer, Salim Marwat, confirmed to AP on Friday that eight were acquitted in the April 30 court ruling but refused to elaborate on details.We will continue our efforts to arrest all those who were linked to the attack on Malala and who are at large, he said.Malalas press representatives in London declined to comment on the reports.Malala was shot in the head by the Pakistani Taliban when she was returning in a vehicle along with several other students from school. The militants targeted her because she advocated education for women. She was initially treated in Pakistan, but was later flown to a hospital in Britain, where she now lives with her family.Malala won world acclaim for her campaign and last year was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The 17-year-old laureate has expressed an interest in going into politics in Pakistan once her education is completed.Malala enjoys huge popularity among many Pakistanis and the attack on her had created nationwide hate against militants.Pakistan says it has been doing everything possible to trace and arrest Mullah Fazlullah, the Taliban leader who ordered the attack on Malala and who is believed to be hiding somewhere in neighboring Afghanistan. Also at large are other militants who took part in the attack.The 10 militants initially charged in the case and brought to trial in Pakistan were detained by the military last year. It was unclear whether the two men who were sentenced to life in prison actually participated in the attack.The military has been carrying out a major operation against Pakistani Taliban in the countrys North Waziristan tribal region since last year to eliminate al-Qaida and supporters of Fazlullah who had a strong base there.The government says it has cleared more than 90 percent region of the local and foreign militants.
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