Arrest Made in Times Square Bomb Case
By WILLIAM K. RASHBAUM, MARK MAZZETTI and PETER BAKER
Published: May 4, 2010
Federal agents and police detectives arrested a Connecticut man, a naturalized United States citizen from Pakistan, shortly before midnight Monday for driving a car bomb into Times Square on Saturday evening in what turned out to be an unsuccessful attack, Justice Department officials announced.
The man, Faisal Shahzad, 30, was believed to have recently bought the 1993 Nissan Pathfinder that was found loaded with gasoline, propane, fireworks and fertilizer in the heart of Times Square, a person briefed on the investigation said.Mr. Shahzad was taken into custody at Kennedy Airport as he tried to board a flight to Dubai, U.S. Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said in an early morning statement delivered at the Justice Department in Washington. Charges against Mr. Shahzad, who had returned recently from a trip to Pakistan, were not announced.
The world’s micronations unite to demand recognition
They boast flags, national anthems and passports and prosper under the benign rule of a colourful cast of kings, archdukes, emperors and presidents.
By Nick Squires
Published: 7:00AM BST 04 May 2010
Ranging from The Kingdom of North Dumpling Island to the Principality of Snake Hill, these miniature states are recognised by no national government, let alone the United Nations.
Some consist of nothing more than a suburban bungalow or an inner city flat, but others, such as Hutt River Province in Western Australia or the Dominion of British West Florida, encompass swathes of territory bigger than recognised countries such as San Marino or Lichtenstein.
They have come together, for the first time, at a conference in Sydney to discuss the best ways to push for recognition.
USA
Death toll rises as river crests, floods Nashville
By TRAVIS LOLLER and KRISTIN M. HALL The Associated Press
Monday, May 3, 2010; 11:03 PM
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Muddy waters poured over the banks of Nashville’s swollen Cumberland River on Monday, spilling into Music City’s historic downtown streets while rescuers using boats and Jet Skis plucked stranded residents away from their flooded homes as the death toll from the weekend storms climbed to 28 people in three states.
The flash floods caused by record-breaking amounts of rain caught many off-guard, forcing thousands to frantically flee their homes and hotels.
BP claims absolute responsibility for oil cleanup
As winds appeared to be keeping the slick offshore, the company said it was responsible for stopping the leak and handling any environmental damage.
By Ashley Powers and Louis Sahagun, Los Angeles Times, and Jim Tankersley, Tribune Washington Bureau
May 4, 2010
Reporting from Louisiana, Mississippi and
The British oil giant BP LLC, whose deep-water well is gushing hundreds of thousands of gallons of oil daily into the Gulf of Mexico, said Monday that it was “absolutely responsible” for stopping the leak, cleaning up the oil and any resulting environmental damage.“This is not our accident, but it’s our responsibility,” BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward said in a round of news media appearances. “And where there are legitimate claims for business interruption, we will make them good.”
Europe
Volcanic ash cloud forces Ireland to ground all flights on Tuesday morning
Volcanic ash cloud forces Irish Aviation Authority to halt all flights in and out of the country between 7am and 1pm
Dan Milmo
The Guardian, Tuesday 4 May 2010
A cloud of volcanic ash will once again ground thousands of air passengers this morning, after Ireland was forced to ground all flights in and out of the country between 7am and 1pm.The Irish Aviation Authority said a new smoke plume from the ongoing Icelandic eruption will force the closure of Ireland’s major airports, including Dublin which operates 440 flights per day.
Last night the UK Civil Aviation Authority said Belfast International, Belfast City and City of Derry airports will be closed from 7am, with runways in Scotland’s western isles also shut.
Rock to become a hard place for tax dodgers to hide cash
From The Times
May 4, 2010
Graham Keeley in Madrid
Gibraltar and Spain are putting the final touches to a treaty to end the Rock’s status as a tax haven. The treaty will lift the veil of secrecy that has enabled tax dodgers in Spain to hide millions of euros in accounts with offshore banks in Gibraltar.However, the groundbreaking deal has provoked criticism in Spain where it is seen by some as another move towards recognising the legitimacy of the tiny British colony.
For this reason Spain will not be content unless London signs the treaty as a separate party. A purely bipartisan deal with the authorities on the Rock would be viewed as an unwelcome diplomatic first.
Middle East
Why Yemen’s future threatens to destroy its past
As the government in Sana’a diverts funds to fight al-Qa’ida, the city’s historic architecture crumbles. Hugh Macleod reports
Tuesday, 4 May 2010
They look like towers from a fairy tale, rows of chocolate-coloured bricks held together with mud and straw, marked out by white gypsum and windows so intricate they seem entirely impractical. The ancient homes of Old Sana’a are a wonder of the world, unique to Yemen.Standing by the last remaining of the seven great gates to the old city, Abdullah Lutf Zayed points across the square to the home he inherited from his grandmother, a four-storey building overlooking the souk that is one of the 7,500 minor miracles of architecture that make Old Sana’a an internationally protected heritage site.
Barack Obama renews US-Syria sanctions
US President Barack Obama has renewed sanctions against Syria, saying it supported terrorist groups and was pursuing weapons of mass destruction.
The BBC Tuesday, 4 May 2010
In a statement, he said Syria “continues to pose… an extraordinary threat” to US security and policy.
The US has tried to engage with Syria but recently accused Damascus of arming Lebanese militant group Hezbollah with sophisticated missiles.
Syria has dismissed the claims it is supplying Scud missiles to Hezbollah.
In a message to Congress to renew the sanctions for a further year, Mr Obama said the Syrian government had made “some progress” in checking the infiltration of foreign militants into Iraq.
Asia
Sole surviving Mumbai gunman must hang, say prosecutors
Pakistan warned ‘not to export terrorism’ as court finds militant guilty of 86 charges
By Andrew Buncombe in Delhi Tuesday, 4 May 2010
Prosecutors will today make their case that Ajmal Kasab, the young Pakistani militant notoriously captured on film during the Mumbai attacks, should be put to death after a court found him guilty of 86 charges relating to the assault on the city.Prosecutors have said they believe the sole surviving militant from the group of 10 Pakistani gunmen who carried out the attacks that left more than 160 people dead, should be hanged.
“It was not a simple act of murder. It was war,” trial judge M L Tahiliyani, said in a summary of the 1,522-page judgment. “This type of preparation is not made by ordinary criminals. This type of preparation is made by those waging war.”
South Korea stops just short of blaming North for sinking
South Korean President Lee Myung-bak said on Tuesday the sinking of a warship in which 46 sailors were killed was no accident but he stopped short of blaming North Korea and made clear he was not about to order a revenge strike.
(Reuters)
Senior government officials privately make little secret of their belief that the reclusive neighbor deliberately torpedoed the 1,200-tonne Cheonan on March 26 near their disputed border in retaliation for a naval firefight last year in which the South bested the North.“One sure fact is that the Cheonan did not sink because of a simple accident,” Lee Myung-bak told a meeting of his top military commanders in a nationally televised speech.
Africa
Grandmothers’ summit to put spotlight on Africa’s ‘forgotten victims’ of Aids
Representatives from 12 countries meet in Swaziland to highlight the impact of Aids on grandparents’ lives
David Smith in Johannesburg
guardian.co.uk, Monday 3 May 2010 22.27 BST
Their collective wisdom is incalculable – and so is the collective burden they carry when families are torn apart by Aids.Africa’s newest special interest group is that of grandmothers. They will attend their first special conference this week to share experiences and call for international recognition of their uniquely difficult circumstances.
A summit of grandparents in the west might prompt jokes about bingo and dentures, but the inaugural African Grandmothers’ Gathering, starting in Swaziland on Thursday, is a gravely serious affair.
Latin America
In Mexico’s drug war, military has to defend reputation, too
By Tim Johnson | McClatchy Newspapers
MONTERREY, Mexico – As Mexico’s armed forces get drawn ever deeper into a war against narcotics cartels, they face a separate battle to protect a reputation that is starting to take a beating.Both are uphill struggles.
In some parts of Mexico, like in the border city of Tijuana and in this northern industrial city, many citizens see the army as the only effective bulwark against emboldened and heavily armed narcotics gangs.