MPs attack immigration removals

25 January 2012 Last updated at 19:53 ET

Mr Mubenga was being escorted by staff from the private security firm G4S

Private security guards employed to forcibly remove people from the UK have used racist language and inappropriate force, a report by MPs has said.

The Commons' Home Affairs Committee said the UK Border Agency should challenge unacceptable behaviour by some of its contractors.

The report comes 15 months after a deportee died on a flight.

A spokesman for the UKBA said that all private security escorts are trained in approved restraint techniques.

Jimmy Mubenga, 46, fell ill and collapsed on a British Airways plane bound for Angola on 12 October 2010.

The MPs did not comment on the case, which is still being investigated by the police, but said that Mr Mubenga's death had triggered their own investigations into the way that the UK Border Agency managed the deportation of people on flights from the UK.

The UKBA contracts out the job of escorting people to their deportation flight. The contract has been held by Reliance since May 2011 and previously by G4S.

The MPs said found:

• Inappropriate use of physical restraint, including some techniques that could be dangerous
• Some contractors using racist language
• Excessive numbers of security guards for some deportations

"It is a matter for serious concern that contractors should use racist language among themselves," said the report.

"That they were content to do so in front of not only UK Border Agency staff but also inspectors from HM Inspectorate of Prisons is shocking. It is possibly the result of a relationship between the Agency and its contractors which had become too cosy."

Restraint techniques

The MPs said that the UKBA's own staff should feel that they can properly challenge any bad behaviour by contractors - but it also criticised the practice of taking "reserves" to airports - people who may then find that they are not being removed from the UK after all.

Restrained: A volunteer in a scientific test suffered breathing problems during tests

It called on the government to allow independent monitors, people allowed into prisons and removal centres, to board removal flights.

The MPs said that they were not convinced that a potentially harmful head-down restraint position was never used, even though it was not authorised.

A recent expert report found that such techniques could lead to death.

"We recommend that the Home Office issue urgent guidance to all staff involved in enforced removals about the danger of seated restraint techniques in which the subject is bent forwards.

"We also recommend that the Home Office commission research into control and restraint techniques which are suitable for use on an aircraft. The use by contractors of unauthorised restraint techniques, sanctioning their use, or failing to challenge their use, should be grounds for dismissal."

Keith Vaz MP, chairman of the committee, said: "The UK Border Agency must not wash its hands of responsibility for detainees just because the service is contracted out.

"People who are not entitled to remain in the country must be removed and there may be occasions when it is necessary to use physical force, but this must always be done only when absolutely necessary, and with proper respect for the dignity of the detainee."

A UKBA spokesman said: "All escorts on flights are trained to use restraint techniques approved by the Prison Service.

"We have no evidence contractors use head-down restraints and would take strong action against them if their conduct does not meet our standards.

"We are currently working closely with Noms (National Offender Management Service) to develop specific techniques appropriate to confined spaces."

Continue Reading... Labels: attack, immigration, removals

Perry loses key SC backer after attack on Romney

BLYTHEWOOD, S.C. (AP) — Presidential candidate Rick Perry's criticism of Mitt Romney's business past had a boomerang effect Thursday, costing him the support of a prominent Republican in South Carolina.

Investment fund executive and top GOP donor Barry Wynn told The Associated Press he was leaving the Perry fold to endorse Romney, the former Massachusetts governor. Wynn said Perry's attacks on Romney's time at the helm of the private equity firm Bain Capital had crossed the line in a political party that values free-market capitalism.

"I've been fighting for this cause most of my life," Wynn said. "It's like fingernails on the chalkboard. It just kind of irritated you to hear those kind of attacks."

Perry, the Texas governor, swung hard this week at Romney's work at Bain Capital. The firm sometimes turned big profits even as companies it invested in went under, including some in South Carolina, and people lost jobs. Perry called Romney a "vulture capitalist" who put profits ahead of jobs.

By late Wednesday, Perry had backed away from the attack line and didn't mention in during remarks to crowds at campaign stops.

Perry is desperate for a strong showing in South Carolina, where the primary is Jan. 21, to keep his presidential hopes alive. He finished near the bottom of the pack in the voting in Iowa and New Hampshire.

Katon Dawson, a top Perry adviser in South Carolina, tried to minimize the effect of Wynn's decision.

"It's unfortunate and disappointing. But at the end of the day we are marching on," Dawson said. "It won't have any impact. The only impact it will have is on the media trying to report it."

Continue Reading... Labels: After, attack, backer, Loses, Perry, Romney

MPs attack rising whiplash claims

11 January 2012 Last updated at 19:00 ET

Whiplash claims should be supported by evidence of injury and inconvenience, the MPs say

The cost of car insurance could be cut if the government restricted the huge number of subjective whiplash injury claims, a committee of MPs says.

The Transport Select Committee says claimants should have to prove they have suffered a whiplash injury.

The MPs also want insurers to be banned from selling any form of customer information.

The government intends to ban them from receiving referral fees for this data, but only for personal injury claims.

Louise Ellman, chair of the Transport Committee, said: "Insurers, solicitors and claims management companies have themselves driven up the cost of motor premiums by encouraging people caught up in road accidents they did not cause to claim for personal injury, car hire, and other legal costs."

"The insurance industry must abandon sharp practices that push up premiums such as passing drivers' personal data to other parties or taking secretive referral fees from solicitors, garages and car hire firms," she added.

'Subjective and costly'

The committee pointed out that there has been a 70% rise in motor insurance claims in the past six years, despite a 23% drop in the number of casualties actual caused by road accidents.

Louise Ellman said the increase in claims for personal injuries was the main reason for the rise in claims overall.

And that whiplash, in turn, accounted for 70% of all personal injury claims.

"Many of these claims are for whiplash, an injury where diagnosis is often subjective and therefore very costly for insurers to challenge," she said.

"The threshold for receiving compensation in whiplash cases should be raised and, if the number of such claims does not fall significantly, the government should bring forward primary legislation to require objective evidence - both of a whiplash injury and of it having a significant effect on the claimant's life - before compensation is paid," she added.

'Epidemic'

The Association of British Insurers (ABI) agreed that the payment of referral fees should be banned altogether, but to all organisations and not just to insurers.

And it backed the call for action to restrict whiplash claims.

"It is absolutely critical that Britain's whiplash epidemic is tackled once and for all and the select committee's acknowledgment that the bar to receiving compensation for whiplash is too low is a step in the right direction," said Nick Starling of the ABI.

"Our customers are fed up of getting text messages, fed up of the compensation culture and have had enough of paying higher car insurance premiums to line the pockets of ambulance chasing lawyers and claims management companies," he added.

'Dirty secret'

In the past year the insurance industry and its fast rising motor premiums have come under increasing scrutiny.

• In March 2011, the Transport Select Committee accused the insurance industry of encouraging claims through the payment and acceptance of referral fees
• In June, the former Justice Secretary, Jack Straw, described this system as a "dirty secret" and a "racket", in which insurers sell information about customers who have been involved in accidents to solicitors who then encouraged them to make claims
• In September, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) started looking at why motor premiums have been rising fast
• That month the government agreed to change the law to ban referral fees in personal injury claims
• In October, the Parliamentary Justice Committee of MPs said the payment of such fees encouraged organisations to sell data without permission, and said the impending ban should apply to all referral fees paid by lawyers to third parties
• In December, the OFT launched a full investigation into car insurance costs, including the cost of accident repairs and replacement cars.

The renewed emphasis by the Parliamentary transport committee on dealing with spurious whiplash claims was welcomed by the motoring organisation the AA.

"A claims culture has developed to the extent that it has become accepted that if another vehicle hits your car, you should make an injury claim," said Simon Douglas of AA Insurance.

"That's regardless of how serious the injury is, or even if no injury has actually been suffered," he added.

Legal changes

The AA acknowledged that the steep rise in premiums recorded in the past few years had levelled off in the past nine months.

Currently, the Lords are scrutinising the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill, which has been amended to put in place the ban on referral fees relating to personal injury cases.

"Once the Bill is enacted, we call on the government to... prohibit insurers from receiving referral fees across the board rather than only in relation to legal action," said the Transport Committee's report.

"We recommend that the government send a clear message to the insurance industry that it expects the data protection legislation to be fully respected and we echo the recommendation of the Justice Committee that the stricter penalties for breaching the [Data Protection] Act, passed by Parliament in 2008, should be brought into force," the MPs added.

Have you suffered a whiplash injury and made an insurance claim? What do you think of the proposals? Send us your comments using the form below.

Continue Reading... Labels: attack, Claims, Rising, whiplash

Deadly gun attack on Nigerian bar

10 January 2012 Last updated at 19:00 ET

Gunmen in Nigeria have opened fire in a bar in the north of the country, killing eight people including several police officers.

The attack in Yobe state is the latest in a series that officials blame on the Islamist militant group, Boko Haram.

Earlier, at least five people died when a mosque and Islamic school were set alight in Benin city, in the mainly Christian south.

Muslims have been fleeing the city for the mainly Islamic north.

Religious tensions have been growing as a general strike over rising petrol prices continues to grip the country.

"Suspected Islamic sect members attacked the drinking joint and killed eight people, four of whom were policemen," Yobe state police commissioner Tanko Lawal told Reuters news agency.

Reports said the gunmen fled on a motorcycle after the late-night attack in the town of Potiskum. A seven-year-old child was also among the victims, police said.

Southerners, who are mostly Christians or animists, have recently been the targets of attacks by Boko Haram, which operates in the mainly Muslim north.

Yobe is one of the states where the government has declared a state of emergency following an upsurge in violence by the Islamist group.

'Growing concern'

The shooting followed an attack on a mosque and an Islamic school in the southern city of Benin.

Five people were killed and six injured, a Nigerian Red Cross spokesman told the BBC.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon discussed the increasing sectarian violence with Nigeria's Foreign Minister Olugbenga Ashiru on Tuesday.

The meeting followed the release of a UN report that highlighted "growing concern in the region" about possible links between Boko Haram and al-Qaeda's affiliate in North Africa, al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (Aqim).

Meanwhile, tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets in many cities to protest against the doubling of the price of petrol since the beginning of the year.

The removal of a fuel subsidy has caused widespread anger.

Witnesses said Tuesday's protests were bigger than Monday's in Lagos, Nigeria's largest city, and in the capital Abuja.

Six people died in the unrest on Monday.

Nigeria: A nation divided

• Wealth
• Ethnic
• Health
• Literacy
• Oil

Despite its vast resources, Nigeria ranks among the most unequal countries in the world, according to the UN. The poverty in the north is in stark contrast to the more developed southern states. While in the oil-rich south-east, the residents of Delta and Akwa Ibom complain that all the wealth they generate flows up the pipeline to Abuja and Lagos.

Nigeria's 160 million people are divided between numerous ethno-linguistic groups and also along religious lines. Broadly, the Hausa-Fulani people based in the north are mostly Muslims. The Yorubas of the south-west are divided between Muslims and Christians, while the Igbos of the south-east and neighbouring groups are mostly Christian or animist. The Middle Belt is home to hundreds of groups with different beliefs, and around Jos there are frequent clashes between Hausa-speaking Muslims and Christian members of the Berom community.

Southern residents tend to have better access to healthcare, as reflected by the greater uptake of vaccines for polio, tuberculosis, tetanus and diphtheria. Some northern groups have in the past boycotted immunisation programmes, saying they are a Western plot to make Muslim women infertile. This led to a recurrence of polio, but the vaccinations have now resumed.

Female literacy is seen as the key to raising living standards for the next generation. For example, a newborn child is far likelier to survive if its mother is well-educated. In Nigeria we see a stark contrast between the mainly Muslim north and the Christian and animist south. In some northern states less than 5% of women can read and write, whereas in some Igbo areas more than 90% are literate.

Nigeria is Africa's biggest oil producer and among the biggest in the world but most of its people subsist on less than $2 a day. The oil is produced in the south-east and some militant groups there want to keep a greater share of the wealth which comes from under their feet. Attacks by militants on oil installations led to a sharp fall in Nigeria's output during the last decade. But in 2010, a government amnesty led thousands of fighters to lay down their weapons.

Continue Reading... Labels: attack, Deadly, Nigerian

Grief 'raises heart attack risk'

9 January 2012 Last updated at 19:51 ETBy Michelle Roberts Health reporter, BBC News

The first seven days following bereavement appear to be the most risky in terms of heart health

The newly bereaved are at greatly increased risk of heart attack after the death of a close loved one, say researchers.

Heart attack risk is 21 times higher within the first day and six times higher than normal within the first week, a study in the Circulation journal of nearly 2,000 people shows.

Symptoms to watch for include chest pain and shortness of breath.

Experts say intense grief puts extra strain on the heart.

The psychological stress associated with loss can raise heart rate, blood pressure and blood clotting, which, in turn, can increase the chance of a heart attack.

A person's sleep and appetite are also likely to be disrupted.

Compound this with self-neglect - such as not bothering to take regular medication - and the result can be grave.

The researchers say it is important for family and friends to be aware of these risks and to keep an eye out during such difficult times.

Emotional

Lead investigator Dr Murray Mittleman, of Harvard Medical School's Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, said: "During situations of extreme grief and psychological distress, you still need to take care of yourself and seek medical attention for symptoms associated with a heart attack.

"Caretakers, healthcare providers and the bereaved themselves need to recognise they are in a period of heightened risk in the days and weeks after hearing of someone close dying."

The researchers reached their estimates by studying 1,985 heart attack survivors and comparing how many of them had recently been bereaved.

Among the study participants, 270 (13.6%) experienced the loss of a significant person in the prior six months, including 19 within one day of their heart attack.

Heart attack risk went up significantly within the first week after the death of a close loved one.

The risk was highest in the first seven days following bereavement and declined steadily thereafter.

Vulnerable

The elevated risk ranged from about one in 300 to less than one in 1,000 depending on the individual's general heart health before bereavement.

Those with a history of heart disease already fared worse.

Prof Peter Weissberg of the British Heart Foundation said: "We're already aware that, under exceptional circumstances, emotional stress can trigger a heart attack.

"But we shouldn't lose sight of the fact that heart attacks triggered by stress normally only happen in people with underlying heart disease. It's very important that if you're taking medication because you have, or are at high risk of, heart disease, don't neglect taking it following a significant bereavement."

Past research has already shown that recently bereaved people have heart rhythm changes which may make some of them more vulnerable to health problems.

And grieving spouses have higher long-term risks of dying, with heart disease and strokes accounting for around half of the deaths, findings suggest.

Continue Reading... Labels: 'raises, attack, grief, heart, risk'

Could the 2012 GOP nomination be drawing to a close? Candidates attack Romney, but fail to land lasting blows

MANCHESTER, N.H. -- It is somewhat astonishing, if not unjustified, that although only a small slice of voters have cast ballots in a single state where the winner emerged with an 8-vote margin of victory, the dominant question hanging over the contest for the Republican nomination is, 'Is it over?'

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has been the major player here in the Granite State for the cycle so far. His slim victory in Iowa, bolstered by polls showing his opponents barely making a dent here and expanding support for him in South Carolina, makes for a formidable frontrunner status. So formidable, in fact, that it may be impossible to derail.

Naturally, the single biggest question heading into this weekend of back-to-back debates in New Hampshire was: what were Romney's opponents willing to do to alter the trajectory of his campaign?

"Nothing" seemed to be the answer to that question at the ABC/Yahoo debate on Saturday night. Yet by the time the candidates appeared on the NBC debate stage Sunday morning in Concord, the answer had changed.

In the opening moments of the debate, moderated by NBC's David Gregory, both Sen. Santorum and Speaker Gingrich seized  opportunities to chip away at Romney as a moderate, weak, unprincipled, and untruthful candidate for president.

Gingrich called himself a "bold Reagan conservative" in contrast to the "timid Massachusetts moderate" label he ascribed to Romney. Gingrich would not go as far to say that Romney is unelectable, but he made the case that Romney will have a tough time defeating President Obama because he doesn't provide as big, bold, and clear a contrast as Gingrich believes is required.

"I think he will have a very hard time getting elected," Gingrich said.

"He ran from Ronald Reagan and he said he was gonna be to the left just like Kennedy on gay rights and abortion, a whole host of other issues," Santorum said in reference to Romney's 1994 run for the US Senate in the Massachusetts.  "We want someone when the time gets tough--and it will in this election.  We want someone who's gonna stand up and fight for the conservative principles," he added.

Romney attempted to push back on the attacks coming his way by painting his competitors as life long politicians with no understanding of the real world economy because they lack his private sector business experience.

But Romney's argument was revealing in terms of how much he is willing to stretch to appear as an outsider to the political process. Romney claimed he didn't run for reelection in Massachusetts in 2006 because he had accomplished his goal of improving the state and that he decided to return to private business.

Yet, as Newt Gingrich quickly pointed out, Romney launched his presidential campaign almost immediately upon leaving the governor's office.

"Can we drop a little bit of the pious baloney?," Gingrich asked. "Just level with the American people," he added.

Ultimately, the Santorum and Gingrich attacks against Romney, and to a lesser extent the barbs that came his way from Huntsman, Perry, and Paul, were sharp but not sustained and may not have done the lasting damage they seek in order to upend the race.

These strong attacks go fundamentally after Romney's character, but they aren't particularly new. Nor have they had success  sticking to Romney over the course of the last year. Surprisingly, there is still a lack of substantial and sustained television advertising aimed at tearing down Romney along these lines; without more of it, it will be much harder for his opponents to gain traction.

Still, the candidates not named Romney may have the political press corps on their side.  There is always a desire among the press for a protracted race. That, of course, is in direct tension with the other strong desire: to be the first to declare the race over. As Romney's opponents attempt to rewrite the current narrative about his inevitability, they'll seek to exploit that tension.

Other popular Yahoo! News stories:

• In final New Hampshire debate, candidates go after Romney--very briefly

• Republican candidates stand by negative ads, fail to knock out Mitt Romney

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Continue Reading... Labels: attack, blows, candidates, close?, could, drawing, lasting, nomination, Romney

Romney Unruffled in GOP Debate as Rivals Attack Each Other

Mitt Romney was unruffled in the New Hampshire Republican debate Saturday night that saw heated exchanges between Ron Paul and his rivals but relatively little criticism leveled against the frontrunner.

Rick Santorum, who is riding high after his number two finish in the Iowa caucus, was one of the few candidates to go aggressively after the former Massachusetts governor, taking on his economic plan and health care record.

The former senator, who has portrayed Romney as a cold, calculating, chief executive and not an inspirational leader, continued that line of attack tonight.

"Business experience doesn't necessarily match up with being the commander-in-chief of this country," Santorum said at the debate in Manchester, N.H., sponsored by ABC News, Yahoo! News and WMUR. "The commander-in-chief of this country isn't a CEO."

Romney responded with a veiled jab at the former senator, saying, "I think people who spend their life in Washington don't understand what happens out in the real economy."

"The people in the private sector," Romney continued, "They're not successful because they're managers. They're successful primarily because they are leaders."

Later in the debate, Santorum attacked Romney's use of the word "middle class," suggesting that it only adds to President Obama's and Democrats' line of argument.

"As far as substance, I agree with Speaker [Newt] Gingrich. I don't think Governor Romney's plan is particularly bold, or is particularly focused on where the problems are in this country," Santorum said.

Saying that "there are no classes in America," Santorum took issue with Romney's use of the word middle class.

"We are a country that don't allow for titles. We don't put people in classes. There may be middle income people, but the idea that somehow or another we're going to buy into the class warfare arguments of Barack Obama is something that should not be part of the Republican lexicon. That's their job, divide, separate, put one group against another," he said.

"I'll use the language of bringing people together," he added.

Gingrich, who has seen his ranking in the polls slide rapidly, was asked about Romney's record at Bain Capital but largely left criticism in a scathing TV ad by a super PAC aligned with his campaign to speak for itself.

The pro-Gingrich super PAC Winning Our Future recently teased a forthcoming film it produced -- called "King of Bain" – that featured interviews with laid off employees, hammering Romney for turning their lives upside down. The video calls Romney's tenure at Bain "a story of greed."

Gingrich said he hasn't seen the ad but that "people should look at the film and decide."

"I'm not nearly as enamored of a Wall Street model where you can flip companies, you can go in and have leveraged buyouts, you can basically take out all the money, leaving behind the workers," he said, taking a swipe at Romney without saying his name.

Romney defended his record at Bain, including the fact that some of the companies it invested in led to layoffs. "We understand that in the free economy, in the private sector, that sometimes investments don't work and you're not successful," he said. "It always pains you if you have to be in a situation of downsizing a business in order to try and make it more successful, turn it around and try and grow it again."

View ABC News' live blog from the debate here.

Romney may be the frontrunner but it was Rep. Ron Paul who was the subject of the testiest exchanges of the night. Paul went aggressively at his rivals, accusing Santorum of corruption and Gingrich of ducking military service.

Paul and Santorum are engaged in a tooth-and-nail battle for the number two position and the two have had the feistiest exchanges of the debate.

"To say you're a conservative, I think, is a stretch. But you've convinced a lot of people of it, so somebody has to point out your record," Paul charged, citing a report by the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in 2006 that named Santorum one of three "most corrupt" senators.

Paul's charge comes at a time when Santorum is trying to make the case that he is the one true, viable conservative alternative to Romney.

Santorum bashed CREW as a liberal organization and defended his conservative record.

"If you haven't been sued by CREW, you are not a conservative," he responded. "It's a ridiculous charge and you should know better than to cite George Soros-like organizations."

He painted Paul as being far out of the mainstream of the Republican Party: "You vote against everything."

Soon after, Gingrich and Paul clashed in a heated exchange on the question of military service.

"I think people who don't serve when they could and get three or four or even five deferments have no right to send our kids off to war and be even against the wars we have. I'm trying to stop the wars but at least I went when they called me up," he said.

But Gingrich, who received a draft deferment during the Vietnam war on the basis that he had children and was studying, pushed back heavily at Paul's not-so-veiled jab.

"Dr. Paul has a long history of saying things that are inaccurate and false. The fact is I never asked for a deferment. I was married with a child. It was never a question," he countered. "I personally resent the kind of comments and aspersions he routinely makes without accurate information and then just slurs people."

"When I was drafted I was married with two kids and I went," Paul responded, to applause.

"I wasn't eligible for the draft. I wasn't eligible for the draft," Gingrich repeated.

On the issue of foreign policy and how they would handle Iraq and Afghanistan, the candidates deviated little from their talking points, except Rick Perry, who said for the first time that he would send troops back to Iraq. Perry was the only other candidate on stage, besides Paul, to serve in the armed forces.

"I would send troops back into Iraq," he said. "The idea that we allow the Iranians to come back into Iraq and take over that country, with all of the treasure, both in blood and money that we have spent in Iraq, because this president wants to kowtow to his liberal leftist base and move out those men and women. ... I think it is a huge error for us."

The Texas governor has long criticized Obama for announcing a date for the troop withdrawal but has previously only said that he would consult with commanders on the ground before making troop decisions.

On Iraq, Perry stood out from the rest of the candidates, namely Paul who advocates bringing all troops back home, even from Afghanistan.

They may have stood apart on economic issues, but the candidates were united in opposition when asked about gay marriage, which is legal in New Hampshire and Iowa.

"There's every right for people in this country to form long-term relationships with each other, that doesn't mean they need to call it marriage," said Romney.

"It's a huge jump from being understanding, considerate, concerned [for same-sex couples], which we should be," Gingrich said, "to saying we're therefore going to institute the sacrament of marriage as though it has no basis. The sacrament of marriage is based on a man and a woman, has been for 3,000 years, is at the core of our civilization and is worth protecting and upholding."

"I think protecting and upholding that doesn't mean you need to make life miserable for others," he added.

"I believe the issue of marriage itself is a federal issue," said Santorum, a longtime critic of same-sex marriage. "Marriage is... a foundational institution in our country and we have to have a singular law with respect to that."

Then Gingrich trained fire on the news media for not adequately reporting on recent decisions by Catholic Charities groups to cease adoption services in several states which would have required them to work with same-sex couples.

"You don't hear the opposite question asked: should the Catholic Church be forced to close its adoption services in Massachusetts because it won't adopt to same-sex couples?"

"The bigotry question goes both ways. And there's a lot more anti-Christian bigotry today than there is on the other side and none of it gets covered by the media," he said, drawing loud applause.

"People in this room think Speaker Gingrich is right, and I do too," interjected Romney.

During the debate several of the candidates, including Romney and Gingrich, urged party unity, saying they'd support anyone on the stage if he were to become the GOP nominee to challenge Obama. But not Paul, who some speculate could mount a third party run.

When asked about the possibility of making an independent general election bid, Paul insisted he has "no plans to do it" but would not definitively rule it out.

"I don't intend to do it. And somebody pushed me a little bit hard and said why don't you plan to do it? I just -- I don't want to. So I have no intention," he said. "But I don't know why a person can't reserve a judgment and see how things turn out? You know, in many ways I see the other candidates as very honorable people, but I sometimes disagree with their approach to government."

Jon Huntsman, who has focused the bulk of his campaign efforts in New Hampshire, struggled to maintain his ground and came under a late, last-minute surprising attack by the frontrunner himself.

Romney attacked Huntsman's work as ambassador to China under the Obama administration, saying that as president, he wouldn't talk about China.

"I'm going to tell the Chinese, it's time to stop. I'm not going to let you kill American jobs," he said.

Huntsman responded in Chinese, saying, "he doesn't understand the situation."

Romney, the clear leader in the debate, has never looked stronger than he does right now. He is well ahead of his rivals in the Granite state, garnering 44 percent of the vote among GOP voters in a WMUR poll released Friday. In South Carolina -- the state next in line for the primary -- the former Massachusetts governor is leading the pack with almost 40 percent of the vote, while the only southerner in the contest, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, has fallen to 5 percent.

Romney is leading well ahead of his rivals in all major national polls, but Santorum is also rising quickly, mostly at the expense of Gingrich. In Gallup's latest tracking poll conducted on Jan. 1-6, 29 percent of GOP voters chose Romney, 17 percent picked Gingrich and 16 percent said they would vote for Santorum. This is one of Romney's largest leads since the poll began.

ABC News' Michael Falcone and Arlette Saenz contributed to this report.

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Continue Reading... Labels: attack, debate, other, Rivals, Romney, Unruffled

Couple badly injured after bodybuilder attack

Brain drain reverses course, flows away from America: http://t.co/C0xesEYQ

Continue Reading... Labels: after, attack, badly, bodybuilder, Couple, injured

Iran threatens to hit Turkey if US, Israel attack

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran will target NATO's missile defense installations in Turkey if the U.S. or Israel attacks the Islamic Republic, a senior commander of Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard said Saturday.

Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, the head of the Guards' aerospace division, said the warning is part of a new defense strategy to counter what he described as an increase in threats from the U.S. and Israel.

Tensions have been rising between Iran and the West since the release of a report earlier this month by the International Atomic Energy Agency that said for the first time that Tehran was suspected of conducting secret experiments whose sole purpose was the development of nuclear arms.

The U.S. and its Western allies suspect Iran of trying to produce atomic weapons, and Israel, which views Tehran as an existential threat, has warned of a possible strike on Iran's nuclear program. Iran says its program is for peaceful purposes.

"Should we be threatened, we will target NATO's missile defense shield in Turkey and then hit the next targets," the semiofficial Mehr news agency quoted Hajizadeh as saying.

Tehran says NATO's early warning radar station in Turkey is meant to protect Israel against Iranian missile attacks if a war breaks out with the Jewish state. Ankara agreed to host the radar in September as part of NATO's missile defense system aimed at countering ballistic missile threats from neighboring Iran.

A military installation in the Turkish town of Kurecik, some 435 miles (700 kilometers) west of the Iranian border, has been designated as the radar site, according to Turkish government officials.

Hajizadeh said the United States also plans to install similar stations in Arab states, which has spurred Iran to alter its military defense strategy.

"Based on orders from the exalted commander in chief, we will respond to threats with threats," he was quoted as saying.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say on all state matters, is also commander in chief of Iran's armed forces.

Another senior Guard commander, Yadollah Javani, threatened that Tehran will target Israel's nuclear facilities should the Jewish state attack Iran.

"If Israel fires a missile at our nuclear facilities or vital installations, it should know that Israel's nuclear centers will be the target of our missiles," the semiofficial ISNA news agency quoted him as saying.

Also Saturday, the chief of Iran's elite Quds Force said he doesn't fear assassination and is ready for "martyrdom."

The comments by Quds Force commander Brig. Gen. Ghassem Soleimani were published in several Iranian newspapers. The Quds Force is the special foreign operations unit of the country's powerful Revolutionary Guard, and Soleimani is a key figure in Iran's military establishment but rarely speaks in public.

Tensions have increased in recent weeks between Iran and the U.S., with several American neoconservatives urging the Obama administration to use covert action against Iran and kill some of its top officials, including Soleimani.

The force has been accused by the Americans of involvement in an alleged plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to Washington. Two men, including an alleged member of Iran's Quds Force, have been charged in New York federal court in the case.

Iran has dismissed the American claims as a "foolish plot", saying U.S. officials have offered no proof.

Continue Reading... Labels: attack, Israel, threatens, Turkey

Pakistan: 24 troops dead in NATO helicopter attack

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistan on Saturday accused NATO helicopters and fighter jets of firing on two army checkpoints in the country's northwest and killing 24 soldiers. Islamabad retaliated by closing the border crossings used by the international coalition to supply its troops in neighboring Afghanistan.

The incident before dawn Saturday was a major blow to already strained relations between Islamabad and U.S.-led forces fighting in Afghanistan. It will add to perceptions in Pakistan that the American presence in the region is malevolent, and further fuel resentment toward the weak government in Islamabad for its cooperation with Washington.

It comes a little more than a year after a similar but less deadly strike near the Afghan border in which U.S. helicopters accidentally killed two Pakistani whom the pilots mistook for insurgents. Pakistan responded by closing the Torkham border crossing to NATO supplies for 10 days until the U.S. apologized.

On Saturday, Pakistan went further, closing both of the country's border crossings into landlocked Afghanistan. NATO trucks about 30 percent of the non-lethal supplies used by its Afghan-based forces through Pakistan. A short stoppage will have no effect on the war effort, but serves as a reminder of the leverage Pakistan has over the United States from the supply routes running through its territory.

A spokesman for NATO forces in Afghanistan, Brig. Gen. Carsten Jacobson, said it was "highly likely" that close air support called in by Afghan and coalition forces operating in the border area caused Pakistani casualties. NATO is investigating the incident to determine the exact details, he told BBC television.

Gen. John Allen, the top overall commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, said in a statement that his "most sincere and personal heartfelt condolences go out to the families and loved ones of any members of Pakistan security forces who may have been killed or injured."

Much of the violence in Afghanistan is carried out by insurgents that are based just across the border in Pakistan. Coalition forces are not allowed to cross the frontier to attack the militants. The militants, however, sometimes fire artillery and rockets across the line, reportedly from locations close to Pakistani army posts.

American officials have repeatedly accused Pakistani forces of supporting — or turning a blind eye — to militants using its territory for cross-border attacks. The border issue is the major source of tension between Islamabad and Washington, which wants to stabilize Afghanistan and withdraw its combat troops there by the end of 2014.

Pakistan army chief Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani "strongly condemned" the alleged attack on the two checkpoints, calling it a "blatant and unacceptable act," according to an army statement. It said the "unprovoked" attack was carried out by NATO helicopters and fighter jets, killing 24 soldiers and wounding 13 others. Pakistani soldiers responded in self-defense "with all available weapons," said the statement.

The two checkpoints were around 1,000 feet apart, and one of them was attacked twice, said a government official in Mohmand and a security official in Peshawar, the main city in Pakistan's northwest. Two officers were among the dead, they said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.

The attack happened around 2 a.m. on Saturday, Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani told reporters.

Ties between Washington and Islamabad already have been hard hit by the covert U.S. commando raid that killed Osama bin Laden in a Pakistani garrison town on May 2. The Pakistanis were outraged that they were not told about the operation beforehand, and now are even more sensitive about U.S. violations of the country's sovereignty.

Gilani summoned U.S. Ambassador Cameron Munter to protest the alleged NATO attack, according to a Foreign Ministry statement. It said the attack was a "grave infringement of Pakistan's sovereignty" and could have serious repercussions on Islamabad's cooperation with NATO. Pakistan has also lodged protests in Washington and NATO headquarters in Brussels, it said.

A Pakistani customs official told The Associated Press that he received verbal orders Saturday to stop all NATO supplies from crossing the border through Torkham in either direction. The operator of a terminal at the border where NATO trucks park before they cross confirmed the closure. They spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.

Saeed Ahmad, a spokesman for security forces at the other crossing in Chaman in southwest Pakistan, said that his crossing was also blocked following orders "from higher-ups."

The U.S., Pakistani, and Afghan militaries have long wrestled with the technical difficulties of patrolling a border that in many places is disputed or poorly marked.

Saturday's incident took place a day after a meeting between NATO's Gen. Allen and Pakistan army chief Gen. Kayani in Islamabad to discuss border operations.

The meeting tackled "coordination, communication and procedures between the Pakistan Army, ISAF (intelligence services) and (the) Afghan Army, aimed at enhancing border control on both sides," according to a statement from the Pakistani side.

The checkpoints that were attacked had been recently set up in Mohmand's Salala village by the army. They were intended to stop Pakistani Taliban militants holed up in Afghanistan from crossing the border and staging attacks, said two local government administrators, Maqsood Hasan and Hamid Khan.

The U.S. helicopter attack that killed two Pakistani soldiers on Sept. 30 of last year took place south of Mohmand in the Kurram tribal area. A joint U.S.-Pakistan investigation found that Pakistani soldiers fired at the two U.S. helicopters prior to the attack, a move the investigation team said was likely meant to notify the aircraft of their presence after they passed into Pakistani airspace several times.

Pakistan moved swiftly after the attack to close Torkham to NATO. Suspected militants took advantage of the impasse to launch attacks against stranded or rerouted trucks carrying NATO supplies.

Senior U.S. diplomatic and military officials eventually apologized for the attack, saying it could have been prevented with greater coordination between the U.S. and Pakistan. Pakistan responded by reopening the border crossing.

____

Abbot reported from Islamabad. Associated Press writers Anwarullah Khan in Khar, Pakistan, Matiullah Achakzai in Chaman and Deb Reichmann in Kabul, Afghanistan contributed to this report.

Continue Reading... Labels: attack, helicopter, Pakistan:, troops

Athlete cleared of husband attack

21 November 2011 Last updated at 12:08 ET

Liz McColgan: "Today has proved that I am on my way to a new life"

Scottish track legend Liz McColgan has been found not guilty of assaulting her estranged husband at their home.

A sheriff dismissed claims by Peter McColgan - a former Northern Ireland steeplechaser - that she had punched and "prodded" him in July this year.

Olympic medal winner Mrs McColgan, 47, had always denied the attack.

The pair separated in late 2010 after 22 years of marriage, but were still sharing the family home in Carnoustie, Angus.

A second charge of breach of the peace was also dropped against Mrs McColgan at Abroath Sheriff Court.

The runner, who took Olympic silver in Seoul in 1988, was cleared after Sheriff Derek Pyle heard defence submissions that Mr McColgan's evidence was not credible or reliable.

Defence solicitor George Donnelly said the former Northern Irish international steeplechaser had been "shifty and conniving" and made up allegations that Mrs McColgan had assaulted him during an alleged spat "to ruin her career".

Peter McColgan claimed his wife had punched and "prodded" him

Mr McColgan, 48, admitted he had used spyware to check up on his wife on Facebook and had sent anonymous texts to a man he suspected of cheating with her.

Then he got his solicitor to write to her suggesting they should sell their luxury home, the court heard.

He claimed she had stormed home and assaulted her in front of their four youngest children.

Mr McColgan alleged to the court: "She said I should stop 'fannying about' and got right into my face. She started prodding me in the stomach and did two punches to the left side of my face, just under the ear.

"My 11 year old son and six year old were very distressed and shouted - 'Mum what are you doing?'"

But Mr Donnelly said Mr McColgan had made no mention of a slap or bruising until the next day.

"My submissions is that he is not credible or reliable," he said.

At the end of a trial which lasted barely more than two hours, Sheriff Pyle told Mrs McColgan: "I have to be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt. I am not satisfied - and I find you not guilty of assault."

The sheriff said that the prosecution was not seeking a conviction on a second charge relating to throwing Mr McColgan's clothes out of the window - something which depute fiscal Liz Miller had said she now thought "did not amount to a crime".

He added: "You are free to go."

'Difficult life'

Outside court, Mrs McColgan, who did not give evidence, said: "This shows me I am on my way to a new life and away from someone who has tried to control me or control what I have done.

"There are men who really are being beaten up by their wives, and for him to pretend that happened, and portray me in that way, is a disgrace.

"This has been a really hard six months for me and my family. There's a lot more to this story. It's been a difficult life with Peter McColgan."

The McColgans announced an "amicable" split late last year, continuing to live at Panbridge House Lodge with their four youngest children and run it as a health centre.

Mrs McColgan - previously Liz Lynch - shot to fame in the late 1980s, taking home Commonwealth Gold at the 1986 games in Edinburgh and Olympic silver at the 1988 Seoul games, both in the 10,000m.

She went on to win gold in the same event at the 1991 World Championships.

Mrs McColgan then repeated her Commonwealth success in the 1990 Auckland games - landing another gold.

The runner, who was brought up in Dundee, married Mr McColgan in 1987.

He had represented Northern Ireland at the 1986 Commonwealth Games at both 5,000m and the 3,000m steeplechase - at which distance he holds the Northern Ireland record.

Continue Reading... Labels: Athlete, attack, cleared, husband