Live FTA - Satellite Forums - Offtopic http://www.livefta.com/forums/ Everything and anything you want to talk about. en Fri, 03 Sep 2010 04:57:49 GMT vBulletin 60 http://www.livefta.com/forums/images/misc/rss.png Live FTA - Satellite Forums - Offtopic http://www.livefta.com/forums/ Homeless man calls 911 from hot tub, asks for towels, hug, hot chocolate http://www.livefta.com/forums/threads/67736-Homeless-man-calls-911-from-hot-tub-asks-for-towels-hug-hot-chocolate?goto=newpost Thu, 02 Sep 2010 16:31:27 GMT BEAVERTON, Ore. - A homeless man who called 911 from the hot tub of a suburban Portland, Oregon home and asked for towels, hot chocolate and a hug.


He didn't get any of those items - he got arrested for trespassing instead.
Beaverton police say Mark Eskelsen called 911 from his cellphone, identified himself as "the sheriff of Washington County," and asked for medical help.
He later admitted he wasn't the sheriff but informed the dispatcher he'd been in the water about 10 hours and his towels had gotten wet.
As he put it, "I just need a hug and a warm cup of hot chocolate with marshmallows in it."
The Oregonian newspaper says arriving officers arrested Eskelsen for investigation of second-degree criminal trespass and improper use of 911.
]]> Offtopic knightmare http://www.livefta.com/forums/threads/67736-Homeless-man-calls-911-from-hot-tub-asks-for-towels-hug-hot-chocolate Oil rig explodes in Gulf http://www.livefta.com/forums/threads/67735-Oil-rig-explodes-in-Gulf?goto=newpost Thu, 02 Sep 2010 16:26:16 GMT Jerrold Litwinenko *Rescue efforts successful* Another oil rig has exploded in the Gulf of Mexico. The U.S. Coast Guard reports that all 13 people on board the rig are safe -- though... Jerrold Litwinenko



Rescue efforts successful
Another oil rig has exploded in the Gulf of Mexico.
The U.S. Coast Guard reports that all 13 people on board the rig are safe -- though one was injured in the blast.
The rig, owned by Houston-based Mariner Energy, is located about 130 kiometres off the coast, and is west of the British Petroleum rig that spilled oil for several months and caused environmental devastation in the region.
The rig wasn't producing oil at the time of the blast.
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]]> Offtopic knightmare http://www.livefta.com/forums/threads/67735-Oil-rig-explodes-in-Gulf Fidel Castro: Osama bin Laden is a US agent http://www.livefta.com/forums/threads/67730-Fidel-Castro-Osama-bin-Laden-is-a-US-agent?goto=newpost Tue, 31 Aug 2010 05:51:02 GMT By Paul Haven, The Associated Press HAVANA - Fidel Castro says al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden is a bought-and-paid-for CIA agent who always popped up when former President George W. Bush needed... By Paul Haven, The Associated Press

HAVANA - Fidel Castro says al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden is a bought-and-paid-for CIA agent who always popped up when former President George W. Bush needed to scare the world, arguing that documents recently posted on the Internet prove it.

"Any time Bush would stir up fear and make a big speech, bin Laden would appear threatening people with a story about what he was going to do," Castro told state media during a meeting with a Lithuanian-born writer known for advancing conspiracy theories about world domination. "Bush never lacked for bin Laden's support. He was a subordinate."

Castro said documents posted on WikiLeaks.org — a website that recently released thousands of pages of classified documents from the Afghan war — "effectively proved he was a CIA agent." He did not elaborate.

The comments, published in the Communist Party daily Granma on Friday, were the latest in a series of provocative statements by the 84-year-old revolutionary, who has emerged from seclusion to warn that the planet is on the brink of nuclear war.

Castro even predicted the global conflict would mean cancellation of the final rounds of the World Cup last month in South Africa. He later apologized for jumping the gun. Last week, he began highlighting the work of Daniel Estulin, who wrote a trilogy of books highlighting the Bilderberg Club, whose prominent members meet once a year behind closed doors.

The secretive nature of the meetings and prominence of some members — including former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, senior U.S. and European officials, and major international business and media executives — have led some to speculate that it operates as a kind of global government, controlling not only international politics and economics, but even culture.

During the meeting, Estulin told Castro that the real voice of bin Laden was last heard in late 2001, not long after the Sept. 11 attacks. He said the person heard making warnings about terror attacks after that was a "bad actor."

Castro stepped down due to ill health in 2006 — first temporarily, then permanently — and handed power over to his younger brother Raul. He has remained head of the Cuban Communist party but stayed out of view for four years after falling sick before returning to the spotlight in July.

Castro did take exception with one of Estulin's major theses: that the human race must move to another habitable planet or face extinction.

Castro said it would be better to fix things on Earth then abandon the planet altogether.

"Humanity ought to take care of itself if it wants to live thousands more years," Castro told the writer.
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]]> Offtopic knightmare http://www.livefta.com/forums/threads/67730-Fidel-Castro-Osama-bin-Laden-is-a-US-agent Coffee prices heating up, but chains avoid increases http://www.livefta.com/forums/threads/67724-Coffee-prices-heating-up-but-chains-avoid-increases?goto=newpost Sat, 28 Aug 2010 22:29:55 GMT 28/08/2010 4:32:57 PM
CTV.ca News Staff
The price for wholesale coffee has been boiling over lately, but that doesn't mean Canadians will be paying more for their take-out cappuccinos for the time being.


But coffee shops big and small admit that rising costs are a concern.
Earlier this week, the price for Arabica beans -- favoured by many coffee shops -- hit its highest point in 13 years, following a larger trend that has seen wholesale coffee prices rise nearly 45 per cent since the start of the year.




















Commodities market analyst Sterling Smith said there are clear reasons for the increase.
"Coffee is on an upward move based on some sound fundamentals that are driving the price higher," he told The Canadian Press in a recent interview.
"We have tightness in bean supplies and we have some questions about the quality of beans," he said.
The rising costs will soon hit home-brewers in the pocketbook as the corporate owners of Folgers and Maxwell House plan to jack their prices about 10 per cent this fall.
Canadian coffee retailers say they won't be forcing the unforeseen costs onto their customers in the short term.
At Second Cup, president and CEO Stacey Mowbray said her company sees no change in prices on the horizon.
"We take a very strategic view of pricing, we're not reactionary," Mowbray told CTV.ca in a telephone interview from her office in Mississauga, Ont.
Second Cup uses Arabica beans for its blends, with the chain buying "the top one per cent" of the stock that is available, Mowbray said.
But the chain relies on its longstanding relationships with farms around the world to ensure it always has on hand the beans it needs for its 342 Canadian stores.
This approach has helped Second Cup deal with similar issues in the past, Mowbray said, including recent drier-than-expected seasons in Colombia where the company gets some of its beans.
Starbucks Coffee Canada says it keeps close watch on the prices of its products in its 785 company-operated stores north of the U.S. border, including what it charges for coffee.
The company has said it will be able to absorb the rising coffee costs without passing them on to Starbucks customers, in part because the Seattle-based coffee chain "has long-term relationships with farmers, traders and co-ops and has purchased the majority of its coffee for its upcoming fiscal year," the company said in a statement sent to CTV.ca.
Tim Hortons isn't raising its prices either, with company spokesperson David Morelli saying recently that the company relies on six-month coffee contracts "which protects our restaurant owners and customers from fluctuations in worldwide future markets."
Sterling said that big coffee chains are aware that increasing their prices will inevitably drive some customers away -- especially when consumers can brew coffee at home and buyers are living in a country that is still coming out of a recession.
"They will continue to buy coffee at the grocery store because it's comparatively cheap, but the willingness to pay $5 for that cup of coffee, you make it $5.50 you will cut people off," Smith said.
"So Starbucks and the upper-end coffee retailers, it will amount to a hit on earnings for them ... they're not going to move prices unless they have to."
Smaller chains say they, too, will shield their customers from any immediate price spikes.
In Toronto, Anat Davidzon says Aroma Espresso Bar Canada buys its coffee beans a year in advance, giving the chain some stability when it comes to pricing its hot drinks.
She expects coffee prices at Aroma's five Canadian stores to stay the same until the middle of the next year. After that, what happens is completely dependent on the market.
"If the trend is to continue going up, then there is no choice," Davidzon, the operating partner for the Israeli chain, told CTV.ca in a recent telephone interview.
With files from The Canadian Press
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]]> Offtopic knightmare http://www.livefta.com/forums/threads/67724-Coffee-prices-heating-up-but-chains-avoid-increases Tiger cub found in luggage in Thai airport http://www.livefta.com/forums/threads/67723-Tiger-cub-found-in-luggage-in-Thai-airport?goto=newpost Sat, 28 Aug 2010 09:39:50 GMT BANGKOK (AFP) - A two-month-old tiger cub was discovered hidden with a stuffed tiger toys in the baggage of a woman heading to Iran from Thailand, wildlife protection officials said Friday. ... BANGKOK (AFP) - A two-month-old tiger cub was discovered hidden with a stuffed tiger toys in the baggage of a woman heading to Iran from Thailand, wildlife protection officials said Friday.


The 31-year-old Thai woman, who has not been named, was arrested on Sunday night after the tiger was spotted by X-ray staff in overweight luggage destined for the cargo hold.

An official from the Wild Fauna and Flora Protection Division said the cub was drugged and placed in the bag with the toys -- apparently to make it appear as if it were a stuffed animal.

"He was very calm, half asleep and half awake when we rescued him," he said.

The cub was found at Thailand's Suvarnabhumi Airport and has since been sent to a rescue centre.

It is not yet known whether the animal was wild or had been bred in captivity.

The woman, who admitted carrying the tiger, according to officials, faces four years in prison, a 40,000-baht (1,280-dollar) fine or both for possessing and smuggling an endangered animal.

Manop Lauprasert, of the ASEAN Wildlife Enforcement Network applauded the successful operation.

"We are all very happy to have saved this tiger cub from entering the illegal trade," he said.
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]]> Offtopic knightmare http://www.livefta.com/forums/threads/67723-Tiger-cub-found-in-luggage-in-Thai-airport US police seize cocaine embedded in bologna http://www.livefta.com/forums/threads/67722-US-police-seize-cocaine-embedded-in-bologna?goto=newpost Sat, 28 Aug 2010 09:35:19 GMT By The Associated Press HOLYOKE, Mass. - A man has been arrested after a kilogram of cocaine hidden inside a hollowed-out chunk of bologna was delivered to his home. Holyoke police say they... By The Associated Press

HOLYOKE, Mass. - A man has been arrested after a kilogram of cocaine hidden inside a hollowed-out chunk of bologna was delivered to his home.

Holyoke police say they were tipped off by postal inspectors in Puerto Rico who had been investigating similar shipments. A dog confirmed the presence of drugs and the bologna was cut open.

The meat was then repackaged and an undercover postal inspector delivered it to a Holyoke address at about 4:45 p.m. Thursday. A woman sitting on the front steps signed for it.

Police then executed a search warrant and arrested a 30-year-old man on a cocaine trafficking charge.

Police say the cocaine had a street value of $100,000. The investigation is ongoing ]]> Offtopic knightmare http://www.livefta.com/forums/threads/67722-US-police-seize-cocaine-embedded-in-bologna Flying fish knocks paddler from US river race http://www.livefta.com/forums/threads/67721-Flying-fish-knocks-paddler-from-US-river-race?goto=newpost Sat, 28 Aug 2010 09:32:56 GMT By Alan Scher Zagier, The Associated Press COLUMBIA, Mo. - A fish out of water sent a kayaker onto dry land instead of the finish line at an annual Missouri River endurance race. Houston... By Alan Scher Zagier, The Associated Press


COLUMBIA, Mo. - A fish out of water sent a kayaker onto dry land instead of the finish line at an annual Missouri River endurance race.

Houston resident Brad Pennington was considered one of the favourites among men's solo racers in the Missouri River 340, a canoe and kayak race that began Tuesday morning in Kansas City, Kansas. At least until a 30-pound (14-kilogram) Asian silver carp jumped from the water and hit him in the head. The fish are known to panic and jump in response to passing vessels.

"It felt like a brick hit me," Pennington said Wednesday.

The 43-year-old lawyer already was having trouble steering his boat, a streamlined model built for speed but not necessarily sturdy enough to withstand a river known for commercial transport. The fish flew as Pennington was trying to return to shore to repair his kayak, assisted by a competing three-man team.

Pennington said he had to withdraw just hours into the 340-mile (550-kilometre) race because of a "pounding, pounding headache that kept getting worse." A nurse suggested further medical treatment, but he declined.

"It's definitely a risk of being out on the river," said Tracy Hill, a project leader for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's local fisheries office. "It's extremely serious. Those things can kill you."

Hill spent Wednesday volunteering at the race's Huntsdale checkpoint near Columbia. One day earlier, while conducting tests on the river, he was hit several times by flying carp.

Hill and his colleagues already wear construction hard hats while on the job. He suggested — with a straight face — that an upgrade to hockey helmets and protective netting might be in order.

Asian carp can eat up to 40 per cent of their weight a day in plankton and were imported in the 1970s as a way to control algae and plankton in fish ponds. But the fish made their way into the wild and have infested waterways including parts of the Mississippi, Illinois and Missouri rivers. Work continues to prevent the voracious fish from slipping into the Great Lakes. ]]> Offtopic knightmare http://www.livefta.com/forums/threads/67721-Flying-fish-knocks-paddler-from-US-river-race <![CDATA[Hydro prices going up like a rocket']]> http://www.livefta.com/forums/threads/67720-Hydro-prices-going-up-like-a-rocket?goto=newpost Sat, 28 Aug 2010 09:28:44 GMT Electricity prices in Ontario are "going up like a rocket," fuelled in part by the Ontario government's Green Energy Act, says a longtime observer of the province's energy scene.



"You are going to get screwed, and it's going to be painful," said Tom Adams, a Toronto-based consultant and a former executive director of Energy Probe.



"We're talking about hundreds of dollars a year out of your pocketbook that didn't need to happen. I'm livid about it. People should be outraged."



Hydro Ottawa customers have already been hit with a double-digit increase this year, thanks to rate hikes approved May 1 by the Ontario Energy Board (OEB) and the imposition of the harmonized sales tax July 1.



A typical consumer in Ottawa who uses 800 kilowatt hours of electricity now pays $116.82 a month, including tax, according to the OEB.



That's 17.7 per cent more than the $99.35 a month the same residential customer was paying in April. Half the increase is due to higher rates and half because of the HST.



Adams warned that Ontarians should expect to pay at least $110 more a year by the end of 2011 for electricity. That translates into an additional nine-per-cent increase.



After that, rates will move steadily up for four or five years, he predicted.

The OEB has already received several applications for more hefty rate increases.

Hydro One, which operates most of the province's long-distance transmission lines, has asked for a hike of 15.7 per cent in 2011 and 9.8 per cent in 2012. If approved, the increases would apply to the transmission portion of electricity bills.

Ontario Power Generation, which produces about 70 per cent of Ontario's power, has asked for a 6.2-per-cent price increase effective next March. It scaled that back from 9.6 per cent after pressure from Energy Minister Brad Duguid.

Traditionally, Ontarians have paid less for power than Americans. But now, said Adams, "we are leaving them in our dust."

He calculated that Ontario electricity rates passed the average U.S. price for the first time early this year, and are now nearly 15 per cent higher.

Adams assigned much of the blame for the rise in electricity rates to Ontario's Green Energy Act, which promotes the use of solar, wind and other alternative power sources.

The Feed-in Tariff (FIT) program, which locks in generous payments for 20 years for large green energy projects, is "just outrageous," Adams said.

The program's rates are far in excess of current electricity prices. The FIT program, for example, offers producers between 44.3 cents and 71.3 cents per kilowatt hour for solar power, and between 13.5 and 19 cents for wind power.

By contrast, the average weighted price for electricity so far this year is 4.02 cents per kilowatt hour.
Four FIT projects are already operating commercially, as are more than 700 small-scale projects under the companion microFIT program, which offers even richer incentives.

Adams said FIT projects will drive up electricity bills as they generate more and more of Ontario's power.
Because 20-year contracts have already been offered for FIT projects totalling more than 2,600 megawatts of power, Adams said, "it's now too late to avoid hundreds of dollars per year of increases."

But Tom Carpenter, a research associate at Queen's University's Institute for Energy and the Environment, said claims that green energy will drive up the price of electricity are "simply false."

Over the next two or three years, Carpenter said, the impact of FIT projects on electricity rates will be negligible, because the high-priced renewable energy will only represent a tiny fraction of the province's generating capacity.

As the program expands, he said, economies of scale will kick in and prices will come down sharply.
Another impending shift that could raise costs for residential customers is the advent of time-of-use pricing.
Unless they've signed electricity contracts, Ottawa residents now pay the Ontario Energy Board's regulated price for hydro. For the first 600 hours of consumption in summer - and the first 1,000 hours in winter - they pay 6.5 cents per kilowatt hour, and then 7.5 cents for each kilowatt hour beyond that.

But smart meters, now installed at virtually all Ottawa residences, make it possible to bill customers at three variable rates, depending on when they use electricity.

The current time-of-use rates are:
n 5.3 cents per kilowatt hour between 9 p.m. and 7 a.m.,
n 8 cents from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. and from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m., and
n 9.9 cents from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Hydro Ottawa plans to shift 4,750 customers to time-of-use billing in November, a further 30,000 early next year and the balance by June 2011. Those who've signed contracts with electricity suppliers won't be affected.

While time-of-use pricing should be cost-neutral overall, Adams said, some people will pay more and some will pay less, depending on their consumption patterns.

Pilot projects in Toronto found many small businesses saved money while residential customers, on average, paid about eight per cent more for their electricity.

Adams said "substantial increases" are also on the horizon for electrical transmission and distribution.
One driver is an OEB decision last December that allowed local utilities to increase their allowed rate of profit. The decision bumped Hydro Ottawa's allowed return on equity to 9.85 per cent from 8.57 per cent.

There's some public benefit to that because the City of Ottawa is Hydro Ottawa's sole owner, but "that is going to drive the distribution and transmission components of the bill up by more than 10 per cent just in and of itself," Adams said. ]]> Offtopic knightmare http://www.livefta.com/forums/threads/67720-Hydro-prices-going-up-like-a-rocket Sex video on stolen camera identifies suspects in break-in in Washington state http://www.livefta.com/forums/threads/67718-Sex-video-on-stolen-camera-identifies-suspects-in-break-in-in-Washington-state?goto=newpost Fri, 27 Aug 2010 04:10:24 GMT 24/08/2010 2:37:00 PM
The Associated Press
ELMA, Wash. - It wasn't tough to identify the suspects in a break-in at a rural home at Washington state. The bare facts were right there.


Greys Harbor County sheriff's Chief Deputy Dave Pimentel says the man and woman were caught having sex on camera Monday when someone arrived to collect the mail while the homeowner was away, according to broadcaster KXRO-AM.
The naked couple fled, leaving behind the camera, which had been stolen elsewhere.
Pimentel said Tuesday that deputies who checked the video recognized the couple from previous contacts. The woman was arrested for investigation of burglary. An arrest warrant has been issued for the man.
]]> Offtopic knightmare http://www.livefta.com/forums/threads/67718-Sex-video-on-stolen-camera-identifies-suspects-in-break-in-in-Washington-state Man with bullet in head only noticed being shot 4 years later when headaches started http://www.livefta.com/forums/threads/67717-Man-with-bullet-in-head-only-noticed-being-shot-4-years-later-when-headaches-started?goto=newpost Fri, 27 Aug 2010 04:06:56 GMT 25/08/2010 11:33:00 AM The Associated Press BERLIN - A 35-year-old man who walked around for five years with a bullet lodged in the back of his head says he suspected for a while something was... 25/08/2010 11:33:00 AM
The Associated Press
BERLIN - A 35-year-old man who walked around for five years with a bullet lodged in the back of his head says he suspected for a while something was there but only went to doctors after he started getting headaches.


Robert Chojecki was partying on New Years Eve five years ago in the German town of Herne when he was hit with the .22-calibre bullet. Doctors removed it this week from between his skin and skull.
The Polish-born Chojecki told RTL television Wednesday he thought he'd been hit by fireworks, but later forgot about it.
He said at first he had "no pain, but approximately one year ago I started to get a headache."
Police say the bullet may have been fired in celebration. Doctors say he should have no problems now that it has been removed. ]]> Offtopic knightmare http://www.livefta.com/forums/threads/67717-Man-with-bullet-in-head-only-noticed-being-shot-4-years-later-when-headaches-started Terror suspects planned to build bombs: RCMP http://www.livefta.com/forums/threads/67716-Terror-suspects-planned-to-build-bombs-RCMP?goto=newpost Fri, 27 Aug 2010 03:59:22 GMT 26/08/2010 9:10:40 PM CTV.ca News Staff Three Ontario residents have been charged in what police allege was an internationally-linked terror ring that planned to build homemade bombs on Canadian... 26/08/2010 9:10:40 PM
CTV.ca News Staff
Three Ontario residents have been charged in what police allege was an internationally-linked terror ring that planned to build homemade bombs on Canadian soil.


The Mounties say the men were arrested after a year-long investigation unveiled evidence that linked them to militant activity in Afghanistan and elsewhere.




















Two of the men were arrested on Wednesday after dramatic police raids on two separate residences in a pair of unassuming west-Ottawa neighbourhoods.
Police confirmed a third arrest in the case Thursday as details of the arrests were made public for the first time.
The RCMP say that key evidence seized during the raids include electronic components and circuitry, which is often found in improvised explosive devices.
Two of the suspects -- 30-year-old Hiva Alizadeh and 26-year-old Misbahuddin Ahmed-- appeared in an Ottawa courthouse on Thursday on terror-related offences.
Authorities later confirmed the additional arrest of Khurran Syed Sher, a 28-year-old McGill University medical school graduate who had recently been living in southern Ontario. He is also facing charges related to the alleged terror ring.
Police allege that Alizadeh is the ringleader and a member of a terror group based in Afghanistan. He has also allegedly been trained in building explosives.
Dubbed "Operation Samosa," the RCMP say their investigation found that Alizadeh, Ahmed and Sher "formed part of a terrorist group … and were participating in terrorist activity in relation to that group within Canada."
RCMP Chief Supt. Serge Therriault said that 50 electronic circuit boards were seized, which police say could have been used as remote-control triggers for bombs.
Additionally, police seized "a vast quantity of terrorist literature and instructional material ... showing that the suspects had the intent to construct an explosive device for terrorist purposes."
In a strange twist, Sher appeared on the television show "Canadian Idol" in 2008, dressed in traditional Pakistani attire. He performed Avril Lavinge's song "Complicated" and danced for the judges.
First court appearances
CTV's Roger Smith reported that Alizadeh and Ahmed appeared in court separately and each appeared in court for only a brief time. They were remanded until a court appearance they will make next week.
Alizadeh faces charges of conspiracy, committing an act for terrorism purposes and providing or making available property for terrorism purposes.
Ahmed is facing conspiracy and terrorism-related charges.
Police also say that funds were being raised in Canada and then sent to Afghan militants.
The Crown prosecutor handling the case at this point is David McKercher -- the same lawyer who tried Momin Khawaja, a convicted terrorist also from Ottawa.
Defence lawyer Ian Carter, who is representing Ahmed, said the charges were serious and they could potentially put his client away "for a long time."
Sean May, who is representing Alizadeh, called them "the most serious charges you can face except for a murder charge."
Ottawa arrests
The arrests of the first two suspects accompanied two separate Wednesday raids in west-end Ottawa: one took place at a townhouse, the other occurred at a highrise apartment building.
The RCMP towed away an automobile owned by Ahmed, an X-ray technician who works at The Ottawa Hospital's Civic Campus.
Public Safety Minister Vic Toews said in Ottawa that the arrests underline the threat of domestic terrorism in many nations in the West.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who is touring the Arctic, had similar concerns.
"The networks that threaten us are worldwide, they exist not only in remote countries but they have -- through globalization and through the Internet -- they have links through our country and all through the world."
Background work before arrests
The arrests come at a time when several Canadian security officials have warned about the threat of terrorism on Canadian soil.
Last month, CSIS Director Dick Fadden predicted that more homegrown terror arrests would be forthcoming.
"We're monitoring a number of other cases in which we think there may be similar circumstances," Fadden said during a speech to the Commons public safety committee.
Terrorism expert Alan Bell said homegrown terror groups are particularly difficult to identify, because their members are not evident until they begin to "exhibit some types of signs of some type of radicalism."'
"Some of them are married, some of them have excellent pedigrees. They do normal jobs, but on the other hand, it's the dark side of their radicalism that is making them commit these types of acts."
Earlier this summer, the final suspects of the so-called "Toronto 18" were convicted of terror-related charges after police revealed a homegrown terror plot that aimed to attack targets on Canadian soil.
With files from The Canadian Press
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]]> Offtopic knightmare http://www.livefta.com/forums/threads/67716-Terror-suspects-planned-to-build-bombs-RCMP 2nd bore hole reaches 33 trapped in Chile mine http://www.livefta.com/forums/threads/67709-2nd-bore-hole-reaches-33-trapped-in-Chile-mine?goto=newpost Tue, 24 Aug 2010 14:13:33 GMT 1 hour, 13 minutes ago By Federico Quilodran, The Associated Press COPIAPO, Chile - Singing the national anthem in a full-throated chorus, 33 miners trapped deep underground thanked their... 1 hour, 13 minutes ago

By Federico Quilodran, The Associated Press

COPIAPO, Chile - Singing the national anthem in a full-throated chorus, 33 miners trapped deep underground thanked their rescuers and settled in for a long wait until a tunnel wide enough to pull them out can be carved through a half-mile of solid rock.

Raising hopes further, a second bore hole punched into the chamber where the miners are entombed, and a third probe was nearing the spot on Tuesday.

After parceling out tiny bits of food and drinking water carved from the mine floor with a backhoe for 18 days, the miners were getting glucose and rehydration tablets to restore their digestive systems. Capsules carrying oxygen also were sent down through a six-inch (15 centimetre) bore hole to help the men survive the hot, stuffy, humid conditions in the lower reaches of the gold and copper mine.

The bore holes also will be used to lower communication lines and to provide ventilation, Mining Minister Laurence Golborne said.

Meanwhile, the miners were sending up notes to their families in the same supply capsules on Tuesday, providing solace to people who have held vigil in the chilly Atacama desert since the Aug. 5 collapse.

Their ordeal, however, is far from over.

Above ground, doctors and psychological experts are debating how to keep the miners sane during the estimated four months it will take to dig a tunnel large enough to get them out of the safety chamber 2,200 feet (670 metres) underground, where they have been buried since Aug. 5.

Through a newly installed communication system, the miners told authorities Monday afternoon that they had used a backhoe to dig for trapped water and ate sparingly from their few supplies.

"They had two little spoonfuls of tuna, a sip of milk and a biscuit every 48 hours," said Dr. Sergio Aguilar, a physician on the rescue team.

Aguilar did not say how long those meagre supplies lasted after the landslide that caused a tunnel to collapse inside the San Jose gold and copper mine about 530 miles (850 kilometres) north of Chile's capital, Santiago.

Officials released a portion of the recording of the dialogue, in which miners are heard singing Chile's national anthem.

Earlier Monday, each man spoke and reported feeling hungry but well, except for one with a stomach problem, a Chilean official said. The miners asked for toothbrushes.

Officials said they were implementing a plan that includes keeping the miners informed and busy.

"They need to understand what we know up here at the surface, that it will take many weeks for them to reach the light," Health Minister Jaime Manalich said.

Engineers worked to reinforce the first bore hole by using a long hose to coat its walls with a metallic gel to decrease the risk of rocks blocking the hard-won passage through the unstable mine.

The lubricant makes it easier to pass supplies through capsules nicknamed "palomas," Spanish for dove. The first of the packages, which are about 5 feet (1.5 metres) long and take about an hour to descend from the surface, held rehydration tablets and a high-energy glucose gel to help the miners begin to repair their digestive systems.

Actual food will be sent down in several days, after the men's stomachs have had time to adjust, said Paola Neuman of the medical rescue service.
Rescue teams also sent oxygen. Miners had complained there was not enough air in the stretches of the mine below where the main shaft collapsed.
The shelter is a living room-size chamber off one of the mine's lower passages far from the collapse. It is easily big enough for all 33 men, and the men also can walk around in tunnels below where the rocks fell. The temperature where they are is around 90-93 degrees (32-34 degrees Celsius).
Rescuers also sent down questionnaires Monday to determine each man's condition, along with medicine and small microphones to enable them to speak with their families during their long wait. Rescue leader Andre Sougarret said officials are organizing the families into small groups to keep their talks as orderly as possible.
Meanwhile, an enormous machine with diamond-tipped drills capable of carving a 26-inch (66-centimetre) -wide tunnel through solid rock and boring at about 65 feet (20 metres) a day was on its way from central Chile to the mine, outside Copiapo in north-central Chile.
The machine was donated by the state-owned Codelco copper company and carried on a truck festooned with Chilean flags. Just setting it up will take at least three more days.
Besides dealing with the miners' immediate physical needs, rescuers were preparing psychiatric counselling. The miners reported that a shift foreman named Luis Urzua, 54, had assumed leadership of the trapped men.
The men already have been trapped underground longer than all but a few miners rescued in recent history. Last year, three miners survived 25 days trapped in a flooded mine in southern China, and two miners in northeastern China were rescued after 23 days in 1983. Few other rescues have taken more than two weeks.
Chile is the world's top copper producer and a leading gold producer, and has some of the world's most advanced mining operations. But both the company that owns the mine, San Esteban, and the National Mining and Geology Service have been criticized for allegedly failing to comply with regulations. In 2007, an explosion at the San Jose mine killed three workers.
Chilean President Sebastian Pinera said Monday that "there is not going to be any impunity" and said investigations were under way.
Shortly after the accident, Pinera fired two top executives of Sernageomin, Chile's mine safety regulator, after reports that the mine had reopened too soon and without real security improvements after a fatal accident three years ago.
The miners' relatives are suing and claim their loved ones were put at risk working in a mine known for unstable shafts and rock falls. Company executives have denied the accusations and say the lawsuits could force them into bankruptcy.
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Associated Press Writer Federico Quilodran in Santiago, Chile, contributed to this report.
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]]> Offtopic knightmare http://www.livefta.com/forums/threads/67709-2nd-bore-hole-reaches-33-trapped-in-Chile-mine 100-km Chinese traffic jam enters day nine http://www.livefta.com/forums/threads/67708-100-km-Chinese-traffic-jam-enters-day-nine?goto=newpost Tue, 24 Aug 2010 13:49:01 GMT It's a startling example of China's growing traffic problems: A 100-km long traffic jam on a major highway leading into Beijing is now entered its ninth day with no relief in sight.

According to Agence France-Presse (AFP), thousands of vehicles have been clogging the Beijing-Tibet *******way since August 14. The problem began when semi-truck traffic and road construction spiked at virtually the same time.

State-run newspapers are reporting that the jam has seen a "mini-economy" spring up, where merchants are venturing onto the roadway to sell stuck drivers' water and food at sky-high prices.

Reportedly, this is not the first jam-up along the thoroughfare, with prolonged traffic snarls in June and July lasting nearly a month. Traffic along the stretch has been growing increasingly worse as China's auto sales and consumption of shipped goods continues to sky-rocket.

This latest jam is—ironically—worse that previous tangles, because the road improvements are needed to fix damage caused by the steady increase in traffic.
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]]> Offtopic knightmare http://www.livefta.com/forums/threads/67708-100-km-Chinese-traffic-jam-enters-day-nine