AFP: Palestinians call on US to support UN bid

 

RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories — The Palestinians have called on the United States to reverse course and support their United Nations membership bid, Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat said on Wednesday.

Erakat, speaking at a news conference in Ramallah, said the Palestinians had been in touch with Washington after a meeting of the Middle East peacemaking Quartet this week that failed to produce a final joint statement.

"In the aftermath of the Quartet meeting, yesterday we urged the United States administration to revisit, reassess, re-evaluate its position vis-a-vis our attempt to gain Palestine admittance to the UN," he said.

The Quartet meeting on Monday, which brought together representatives from the United States, European Union, United Nations and Russia, was intended to discuss potential peace initiatives that could head off the Palestinian UN bid.

But the talks ended with no joint statement and no action plan, a sign the grouping remains divided on how to move forward.

The Palestinians say they will not return to the negotiating table without a freeze on settlement construction and clear parameters for new talks, including that any borders will be based on the lines that existed before the 1967 Six Day War, with mutually agreed land swaps.

But Israel has rejected any new settlement moratorium, and says setting preconditions for talks prejudges the substance of negotiations.

The stalemate has left the Palestinians more determined to seek UN membership at a meeting of the General Assembly in September, despite Washington's explicit opposition to the move.

"We have been told by the Americans many times that they'll use a veto at the Security Council against our bid for admittance and we were told that at the General Assembly if we pursue that line at there'll be consequences," Erakat said.

"Without Security Council approval, we cannot get admittance by the General Assembly," he said, adding the Palestinians could however seek to have their status upgraded to a non-member state by the General Assembly.

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas is scheduled to meet on Thursday in Qatar with Arab representatives to discuss the legal aspects of the UN bid.

The Palestinians have insisted they do not see the plan as contradicting new peace talks.

But Erakat said he did not believe the Israeli government would agree to set parameters for negotiations, or accept using the pre-Six Day War lines as the basis for negotiations.

"I don't think we'll hear this from this government," he said.

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NATO calls for political solution to Libyan crisis

 

BRUSSELS, July 13 (Xinhua) -- NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said on Wednesday that it's time to find political solution on Libyan issue.

The political solution should be "led by Libyans, supported by the international community, and fulfilling the legitimate demands of the Libyan people -- as the United Nations Security Council demanded," he said in a statement.

"The time to find a solution is now," he said.

Rasmussen made the remarks following a meeting with the delegation of the Libyan Transitional National Council, headed by its diplomatic chief Mahmoud Jibril.

However, Rasmussen insisted NATO's operations to protect civilians would continue.

"Gadhafi's forces are still threatening innocent people. And as long as that threat continues, we must continue to deal with it. The Gadhafi regime has lost all legitimacy," he said.

In the informal meeting, NATO officials and Libyan opposition delegation "discussed the way forward in Libya." According to the NATO statement, the Libyan delegation briefed the alliance their vision on Libya's future.

Editor: yan

 

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ISI chief heads to US as ties nosedive

WASHINGTON: Pakistan's spy chief Ahmed Shuja Pasha, who heads the country's ISI, an organization accused by the United States of terrorist links and of murdering its own citizens, is arriving in Washington for talks aimed ostensibly at defusing tensions with the Obama administration.
The sudden, unexpected visit comes on the heels of mildly punitive US action including withholding $800 million military aid to Pakistan following US allegations that the Pakistani government "sanctioned" the murder of a journalist and that the ISI continues to foster terrorist groups in Pakistan at the expense of cooperation with Washington.
In a brief, one-line statement, Pakistan's military, de facto rulers of the country, said Pasha was going to Washington to "coordinate intelligence matters".
Pasha himself is under the gun, since he is listed as an accused in the 26/11 Mumbai attack case in a NY court case. His visit also comes on the heels of the assassination in Kandahar of Afghanistan president Karzai's half-brother Ahmed Wali Karzai.
The mood in Washington is decidedly hostile towards Pakistan, particularly the ISI, with sections of the US establishment wanting Pasha's ouster. A New York Times editorial last week, prompted by the Obama administration's views on the matter, said Pakistan's weak civilian government could re-establish its bonafides "by insisting on retirement of Lt Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha, the ISI chief, and the appointment of a more credible successor."
"The US needs to use its influence to hasten Pasha's departure. It should tell Pakistan's security leadership that if Washington identifies anyone in ISI or the army as abetting terrorists, those individuals will face sanctions like travel bans or other measures. The ISI has become inimical to Pakistani and American interests," it said.
The Obama administration has held back some $ 800 in military aid to Pakistan, including $ 300 million earmarked for training programs which Pakistan's military scrapped by denying visas to U.S trainers and expelling those already in Pakistan. Pakistan's military fears that the trainers are being used to infiltrate the armed forces and hire spies to track down its assets, both human and technical.

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Egyptian Parliamentary elections postponed to October or November: MENA

CAIRO, July 13 (Xinhua) -- The Egyptian Parliament elections scheduled for September have been postponed till next October or November, state news agency reported on Wednesday.

It has been decided to hold the People's Assembly and Shura Council elections either in October or November this year, MENA quoted an official source as saying.

"The ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces is committed to the Constitutional Declaration announced in March, which requires the Parliament elections be held six months after the declaration, " the official source said.

"So it means to start the election campaign before the end of September," the source said.

The electoral procedure and campaign will take 30 to 60 days, which means the elections will be held in October or November, he added.

Major General Ismail Etman, a member of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forced, announced on March 28 at a press conference that Egypt will hold the parliamentary elections in September.

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Leaders condemn the killing of Hamid Karzai's brother

The White House has condemned the killing of the half brother of President Hamid Karzai.

Ahmad Wali Karzai was regarded as one of the most powerful politicians in the south of the country despite being accused of drug trafficking and corruption.

He was shot to death in his home by one of his bodyguards.

The BBC's Quentin Sommerville reports from the Afghan capital Kabul.

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China seeks friendly, cooperative relationship with South Sudan: envoy

Wang Min (Front), deputy permanent representative of the Chinese Mission to the UN, speaks during a UN Security Council meeting at the UN Headquarters in New York, the United States, July 13, 2011. China seeks to build a long-term, healthy, stable, friendly and cooperative relationship with South Sudan on the basis of the five principles of peaceful coexistence, Wang said here on Wednesday. (Xinhua/Shen Hong)

UNITED NATIONS, July 13 (Xinhua) -- China seeks to build a long-term, healthy, stable, friendly and cooperative relationship with South Sudan on the basis of the five principles of peaceful coexistence, a Chinese envoy to the United Nations said here on Wednesday.

Wang Min, deputy permanent representative of the Chinese Mission to the UN made the remarks at a Security Council meeting on Sudan following a resolution unanimously adopted by the Council to recommend the newly independent South Sudan to be admitted as the 193rd member of the UN.

Wang told the Council that the Chinese people and people of South Sudan share deep traditional friendship and common desire to strengthen friendly exchanges. China has established diplomatic relationship with South Sudan, beginning a new chapter of relations between the two countries.

"China will establish and develop a long-term, healthy, stable, friendly and cooperative relationship with South Sudan on the basis of the five principles of peaceful coexistence," Wang said. "China supports South Sudan's application to become a member of the UN. We look forward to the historical moment when South Sudan will become the 193rd member and to strengthen our comprehensive cooperation with the country within the framework of the UN."

"China also sincerely wishes the young South Sudan to continue to achieve new accomplishment in its efforts of state-building and development so as to become a positive force in maintaining peace and stability as well as promoting common development," he said. " China will continue to provide assistance within its ability for the development of South Sudan."

In addition, China called on the international community to continue to support South Sudan in realizing political stability and provide effective assistance for its economic recovery and development.

Concerning the relations between Sudan and South Sudan, Wang said that tolerance, mutual understanding and enhanced cooperation between the two countries is the only option for peace coexistence and common development. "We hope that the two countries will continue to focus on the overall situation of peace and wellbeing of the two peoples and find a proper solution to the outstanding issues of Comprehensive Peace Agreement through dialogue and negotiation," he said.

Wang noted that the government of Sudan has exhibited its political will to facilitate peace process between the North and South, and has made tremendous efforts in this regard. China called on the international community to normalize its relations soon with Sudan so that its people can enjoy peace, dignity and development.

Editor: yan

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Father and Son Split on Tactics in Murdoch Family Drama

Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation announced Wednesday that it was withdrawing its $12 billion bid to buy complete control of the satellite giant British Sky Broadcasting, a move intended to calm the torrent of derision directed at the company since journalists at its British newspapers were implicated in a widespread phone-hacking scheme.

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Rupert Murdoch, the embattled News Corporation chairman, in London on Wednesday.

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• Victim’s Family Appears Amid Rage at Tabloids (July 14, 2011)

• News Corp. Newspapers May Face U.S. Inquiry (July 14, 2011)

• The Lede Blog: Day’s Updates on British Phone-Hacking Scandal (July 13, 2011)

Whether or not the announcement will give the company any respite from the growing indignation and official investigations, it seems to have already altered not only the dynamics within one of the world’s most powerful and profitable media companies but also, possibly, the future of the newspaper business within the News Corporation.

The decision to withdraw the bid for BSkyB, as the satellite broadcaster is known, was made as a contentious family drama played out in recent days. James Murdoch, a leading contender to replace his father as chairman and the driving force behind the News Corporation’s bid to take over BSkyB, argued that the company should press for regulatory approval of the deal, said three people with knowledge of the discussions who declined to be identified because they were revealing confidential company deliberations.

But Rupert Murdoch and the News Corporation’s chief operating officer, Chase Carey, overruled the younger Mr. Murdoch, consulting him only after the decision was all but final.

The deal to buy the remaining 61 percent of BSkyB that it did not own was the single biggest ever attempted in the long history of the News Corporation, and the withdrawal is perhaps the most significant setback of Rupert Murdoch’s career. Yet Mr. Murdoch is said to remain hopeful that the transaction is salvageable. One person involved in the discussions said that the News Corporation chairman saw the withdrawal as a way to mollify his critics while waiting for the anger to die down.

“Rupert is thinking long term here, I don’t think he believes this deal is dead,” said this person, who did not want to be named while discussing confidential matters. “He’s just looking for ways to relieve pressure for the moment, to give this some breathing room. He fundamentally believes News Corp. can bounce back.”

In a statement released Wednesday, the News Corporation acknowledged that the mood in Britain had become too hostile to pursue the BSkyB purchase. “We believed that the proposed acquisition of BSkyB by News Corporation would benefit both companies, but it has become clear that it is too difficult to progress in this climate,” Mr. Carey said. But in its statement, the company said it reserved the right to make another bid.

The announcement is particularly fraught for James Murdoch, who ran BSkyB from 2003 to 2007. He has been the principal champion of the BSkyB purchase within the News Corporation, pressing both his father and the company’s board to go along with the deal. With BSkyB reporting to James, who runs the News Corporation’s European and Asian operations, the businesses in his portfolio would account for half of all the News Corporation’s revenue.

But the revelations of phone hacking in Britain have pulled James Murdoch in deeper by the day, with questions swirling in Parliament and the British press over his role in paying settlements to victims of the hacking.

Only a week ago, the News Corporation hoped to contain the damage by taking another dramatic and once unthinkable step: shutting down the 168-year-old News of the World, which Mr. Murdoch purchased in 1969 to form the foundation for his British media empire. But a series of disclosures badly damaged the newspaper, most notably its acknowledgment that it had illegally intercepted the voice mail of Milly Dowler, a 13-year-old girl abducted and murdered in 2002.

Since then, virtually every day has brought dizzying new disclosures and speculation, culminating in the News Corporation’s announcement on Wednesday. Allegations of hacking and other journalistic dirty tricks have spread to other Murdoch papers in Britain, including The Sun and The Sunday Times.

Rupert Murdoch, who had flown to London to deal with the crisis, arrived at the company’s offices around 11 a.m., looking grim. Mr. Carey was also seen entering the building.

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On the road with Hillary Clinton

As US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton travels the globe, the reporters who join her can observe a small group of staff crafting foreign policy on the move - often after little or no sleep.

The Cadillac stops by the nose of the plane. Diplomatic security agents spill out of three vans. Hillary Clinton emerges from the car and walks up the steps.

After dropping off her handbag in her private cabin at the front of the plane, the US Secretary of State walks back to chat with the dozen reporters on the plane.

Sitting on an arm rest, she tells us about her evening in the Rose Garden at the State Dinner for German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

It was past 11pm on a recent June night, and Special Air Mission 883 was about to embark on a 30,000-mile journey to the United Arab Emirates, Zambia, Tanzania and Ethiopia, starting off with an Air Force catered meal of chicken wings and crudites.

For the next eight days I would be in "the bubble" - "a caravan going from place to place", as Mrs Clinton describes it.

"Sometimes the dogs bark but we still move on. It is for me, a movable adventure," she says.

This was my 16th trip with this American Secretary of State, but being part of that bubble remains a special experience.

The proximity to Mrs Clinton, the access to senior American officials and the unguarded moments on the road, provide a rare insight into diplomacy in action and the real people devising American foreign policy.

Economy seats

Watching them try - and sometimes fail - to control the messy world around them is a reminder of the limits of American power.

On this trip I was given rare access to the preparations in Washington, the plane and pilots, and even to the "secure floor" set up in every hotel on the tour, with its guards, cameras and mobile offices.

It is an impressive operation run by an army of often earnest staffers with a keen eye for detail who say they feel part of history, even when they are sorting out mundane practicalities.

It can also be an unwieldy, invasive machine with diplomatic security agents, sniffer dogs and motorcades blocking off traffic in cities and disrupting people's lives.

We spend long hours in confined spaces, going from motorcade to hotel to presidential palace and back to the plane.

The journalists at the back of the plane get the same food as the Secretary and her staff at the front

The journalists are crammed in the back, in economy seats. There are no boarding passes, so before the trip starts we draw lots to assign seats.

We are separated from the front of the plane by a lavatory that marks an invisible barrier called "the line of death". Beyond it are all the senior officials accompanying Clinton, usually poring over classified documents.

The plane is not fancy, nothing like Air Force One. The 13-year-old Boeing 757 is part of a fleet of four which is at the disposal of Mrs Clinton and others like the Vice President and the First Lady.

The private cabin is modest - a fold-out couch, two seats, a desk, a lavatory but no shower, a tall mirror, a map of the world and communications equipment so Mrs Clinton can speak to President Obama or other world leaders while in the air.

'Evergreen'

In the belly of the plane, there is a metal trunk on wheels packed with gifts.

David Solomon and Katie Jack from the protocol office in Washington will not reveal what Mrs Clinton is taking with her for the presidents and prime ministers she will be meeting. It could cause tension if one leader felt his neighbour got a nicer gift.

They do reveal that the lower level gifts include cufflinks, paperweights and key chains. Mrs Clinton's autobiography, Living History, is apparently a favourite, and always comes with a personal handwritten note.

America is still a superpower, so Secretaries of State get to see presidents and kings, unlike most other foreign ministers, who only meet their direct counterparts.

But Mrs Clinton also has personal relations with world leaders dating back to her days as First Lady, so they "would see me under any circumstances," says says.

In the White House, the Secret Service called her "Evergreen", and several incarnations later, the code name remains.

The great advantage of travelling with the Secretary is never having to go through passport control or wait by the luggage belt. State Department staffers stamp us in and out of countries, and our suitcases are delivered directly to the hotel.

The downside is that while we pay for our seat, we do not get air miles. And while we may go to a lot of exotic, interesting destinations, we cannot fully experience or understand a country while in the bubble.

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PM concerned over US aid suspension

QUETTA: Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani Wednesday said the entire world was benefiting from the war on terror that Pakistan was engaged with, and expressed serious concern over the suspension of US military aid to Pakistan.
“Pakistan’s relations with the US are based on mutual interests but we now have serious concerns about the suspension of US aid,” the prime minister said while addressing a press conference at the CM Secretariat here following the special session of the federal cabinet.
Regarding Afghanistan, he reiterated that Pakistan fully supported the reconciliation process in Afghanistan, adding that any decision in this regard should be made taking Pakistan onboard since US, Afghanistan and Pakistan were part of the core group.
Referring to the break up of political ties with the MQM, the prime minister said “We have had good relations with the MQM for over three years, and will endeavour to redress their concerns.”
However, the MQM has its own manifesto and so the Pakistan People’s Party will move ahead, he said. To a query regarding the issue of missing persons in Balochistan, PM Gilani said his government was seriously concerned over the issue, which was already in the court of law and a commission had also been constituted by the government to resolve it. “I am ready to hold talks with the leadership of Balochistan to resolve the issues of the province and have formed a committee in this regard,” the prime minister said. “I have authorised the chief minister to coordinate in this regard.”

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Jairam for new law on land acquisition

The impact of Jairam Ramesh moving into the Rural Development Ministry was evident on the first day itself — he ordered that a fresh new legislation on land acquisition be drafted instead of the ongoing effort to amend an existing 1894 law in this regard.

Ramesh is also learnt to have told officials to prepare just one draft law incorporating provisions for both land acquisition as well as resettlement and rehabilitation of people whose land is taken away. Presently, the government is working on drafting a separate Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill to complement its efforts to amend the Land Acquisition Act.

Land acquisition for infrastructure, industrial or housing projects has become a politically sensitive subject of late in view of an increasing number of protests and agitations being witnessed all across the country. The subject is extremely close to the heart of Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi who has been fighting a pitched political battle in Uttar Pradesh protesting against the land acquisition policies of the Mayawati government.

 

The government had committed itself to amending the 1894 Act which continues to govern land acquisition to bring it in tune with the present requirements. The amendment Bill is supposed to be brought in Parliament in the monsoon session.

Ramesh said he would strive to introduce a new comprehensive draft legislation in the monsoon session but only after putting it through a wide public consultation process. “After finalising a draft legislation, I intend to put it in the public domain for inviting suggestions and comments for a short period of three weeks,” he said.

Incidentally, the amendment Bill that was being drafted until now was not supposed to be put up for public consultations.

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Mumbai blasts: Indian Mujahideen suspected

New Delhi: Three blast rocked the city of Mumbai on Wednesday leaving the country in a state of panic. On the investigation front, the Maharashtra Anti-terrorism Squad and the Mumbai Police have formed teams to investigate the serial blasts.

In a late-night high-level meeting of senior police officials, details of the initial examination of the blast sites were discussed.

Home Minister P Chidambaram also visited the blast sites and met Maharashtra Chief Minister, Prithviraj Chavan. He has also called for a high-level meeting in the wake of the blasts.

Sources have told CNN-IBN that since vehicles were ostensibly used to plant bombs at 2 of the 3 spots, two alleged Indian Mujahideen operatives Mohammed Mobin Abdul Shakoor Khan alias Irfan (32) and his cousin Ayub Raja Amin Shaikh (28) arrested by the Maharashtra ATS on July 6 will be questioned as these operatives had allegedly supplied the cars which were used to plant bombs in the the Gujarat serial blasts of 2008.

A 7-member team of Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) from New Delhi and another 5-member team from Pune have been deployed. An NSG team is currently inspecting the blast site in Dadar.

The investigators' face a tough task ahead as it rained all through Wednesday evening and vital forensic evidence may have been washed away.

Along with the state ATS, a team of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) is also probing the blasts.

The injured have been admitted to several hospitals including the JJ Hospital, GT Hospital, KEM Hospital and St George's Hospital.

Security alerts have been issued in all major cities including New Delhi and Kolkata after the blasts in Mumbai.

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Search group sues Casey Anthony for costly efforts

ORLANDO, Fla (Reuters) - A non-profit group on Wednesday served Casey Anthony in jail with a lawsuit seeking to recoup more than $100,000 spent on the massive 2008 search for her 2-year-old daughter Caylee.

The lawsuit filed by Texas EquuSearch is the second civil court fight Anthony, acquitted last week of killing Caylee, will face after she is released from jail on Sunday.

A woman named Zenaida Gonzalez filed a defamation lawsuit against Anthony after she lied to investigators that a nanny by that name had kidnapped Caylee.

A Florida jury found 25-year-old Anthony not guilty of a first-degree murder charge stemming from the 2008 death of Caylee, whose skeletal remains were later found in woods near the Anthony family home.

Casey Anthony was convicted of misdemeanor charges of lying to detectives during the investigation and sentenced to the maximum four years in jail.

She will be released this weekend after receiving credit for time served awaiting trial and good behavior.

The Texas EquuSearch lawsuit alleges fraud and unjust enrichment, claiming Anthony encouraged the organization to mount what became one of the largest and most expensive searches in its 11-year history despite knowing Caylee was dead.

The lawsuit points to the opening statement in Anthony's murder trial, when her attorney Jose Baez told jurors Caylee accidentally drowned on June 16, 2008 in the family's backyard pool.

Caylee "never was missing," Baez told jurors.

As a result of the resources devoted to finding Caylee, the search organization was forced to turn down 15 other families who sought its help during the same time, the lawsuit stated.

It said the search saved Anthony's defense team the cost of hiring its own investigators to look for Caylee.

"Casey Anthony knew that her apparent 'cooperation' with the massive searches coordinated by TES created an appearance that she was a victim of law enforcement's unjust investigation and that she was a concerned mother seeking her missing child's return," the lawsuit states.

Texas EquuSearch founder Tim Miller said Anthony's parents, George and Cindy, never wavered from their contention Caylee had been abducted and was still alive, and Casey never contradicted that assertion.

But Miller said that at the start of the search Casey Anthony's lawyer blocked him from questioning her.

"Jose Baez said, 'You can do anything you need to do, but don't ask my client any questions about her daughter,'" Miller told Reuters. "I wasn't going to step over that line."

The lawyer in the defamation suit against Anthony plans to take her deposition on July 19 at his downtown Orlando law office, two days after her release from jail.

John Morgan on Wednesday filed a motion seeking to compel Anthony's appearance at the deposition and to have her held in contempt of court if she does not show up, Morgan's assistant Kimberly Davis told Reuters.

Davis said the deposition will be closed to the public and the media, and security arrangements were being made.

(Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Jerry Norton)

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Grand Rapids prepares to welcome Betty Ford home

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich (Reuters) - Thousands of people were preparing to gather outside the Gerald R. Ford Museum on Wednesday to offer a final western Michigan welcome home to former first lady Betty Ford.

Ford, wife of the late President Gerald Ford, helped found a world-renowned rehabilitation clinic that bears her name in Rancho Mirage, California. She died on Friday at the age of 93.

Ford was remembered for her activism and pioneering work for addicts at a memorial service in California on Tuesday which drew leading political lights of the past four decades. More are expected for a funeral Thursday in Grand Rapids.

The former first lady's remains were expected to arrive at the Gerald R. Ford International Airport in Grand Rapids at 5 p.m. Wednesday, where a brief ceremony is planned.

Afterward, Ford will be taken to the museum in downtown Grand Rapids, where she will lie in repose beginning at 7 p.m.

After the funeral on Thursday, Ford's body will be interred next to her husband's on the museum grounds overlooking the Grand River. President Ford died in 2006.

Among those expected to attend Ford's funeral on Thursday are former President Bill Clinton, former first lady Barbara Bush, former Vice President Richard Cheney and former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, said Matt McLogan, spokesman for the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation.

Lynne Cheney, Dick Cheney's wife, and historian Richard Norton Smith are scheduled to deliver eulogies.

First lady Michelle Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former President George W. Bush and former first lady Nancy Reagan sat shoulder to shoulder in the second row of mourners at her funeral on Tuesday in Palm Desert, California.

The two services tie together the Fords' life in California, where they settled after Gerald Ford left the White House in 1977, and the town where both were raised.

CLOSE TO THE HEARTS

The Fords remained close to the hearts of Grand Rapids' populace, represented by Gerald Ford in Congress from 1949 until his ascension to the presidency in 1974.

While both Fords were born elsewhere, each moved to Grand Rapids as a toddler and grew up in the solidly Republican area.

They were married in 1948 at Grace Episcopal Church, the location of Mrs. Ford's funeral on Thursday. Local lore has Mr. Ford late for their wedding because he made a campaign stop on the way to the church.

"The country felt strongly about her candor and courage as it related to chemical dependency and breast cancer," said Marty Allen, president emeritus of the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation.

"The community took pride in the fact that she was from this area."

Over the years, the Fords lent their support to numerous fund-raising efforts in western Michigan. Local hospital Spectrum Health hosts the Betty Ford Breast Health Center.

The former first lady, who publicly battled breast cancer while her husband was president, was pleased that the center was named for her, Allen said.

"That meant a lot to her," he said. "She visited there. Any way she could help fight breast cancer, she did it."

Ford, once dubbed the "fighting first lady" by Time magazine for her outspoken political views, was a vocal supporter of women's rights while her husband was president from 1974 to 1977.

She also led early efforts to raise awareness of the battle against breast cancer after undergoing a mastectomy in 1974, less than two months after her husband succeeded the disgraced Richard Nixon as president.

(Additional reporting by Mary Slosson; Editing by Jerry Norton)

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Bomb blast helpline Contact numbers

Three bomb blasts were reported in Mumbai today evening in crowded Dadar, Opera House and Zaveri Bazar areas with unconfirmed reports saying six people had died in the Dadar blast, four in the Zaveri Bazaar blast and another twenty people injured.
Helpline Nos. Hospitals: KEM (022-24136051), Nair (022-23085379), Harkishandas (23855555 / 30095555), Saifee (22 6757 0111)
Emergency Nos. 022 22621855, 2622 5020, 22621983. Please Share.

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Car Thrashed in Terrorist Bomb Blasts.

 

A frame grab from Indian television channel Star TV, shows bystanders and security personnel gathered around the wreckage of a car in Mumbai on July 13 after a suspected bomb blast. At least two blasts shook India's financial hub Mumbai, according to police, as a witness said at least four people were killed

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"Whitey" Bulger's girlfriend due back in court

 

BOSTON (Reuters) - James "Whitey" Bulger's longtime girlfriend was headed on Wednesday to federal court in Boston, where family members of the gangster's alleged murder victims could be granted time to speak.

Catherine Greig, 60, was arrested with 81-year-old Bulger on June 22 in their Santa Monica, California hide-out. She has been charged with harboring Bulger as a fugitive and could face up to five years in prison if convicted.

Greig was scheduled to appear before Magistrate Judge Jennifer Boal in a continuation of her probable cause and detention hearing that began on Monday.

Prosecutors said at least three family members of Bulger's 19 alleged murder victims wanted to speak in court and were relevant to the case. The government said it has evidence showing that Greig harbored Bulger and caused direct harm to the families.

Greig's defense attorney has said the charges against her are not related to these crime victims.

In a separate filing, her attorney wrote that when Greig fled with Bulger, he was "considered to be a hero-like figure in the city of Boston," and only many years later was the brutality of his alleged killings revealed.

If the court allows the families time to speak, they will be limited to a few minutes, court filings said. The defense has requested that victim impact statements be addressed to the court and not directly to Greig "in any type of highly charged, emotional or pejorative terms."

During Monday's session, prosecutors called one witness, FBI special agent Michael Carazza, who detailed the early period of Bulger and Greig's 16 years on the run together.

He discussed the pair obtaining and using fake identities and played video footage from a Santa Monica pharmacy showing Greig picking up prescriptions under an alias.

CALLING CARDS

Carazza also said Greig and Bulger used calling cards to stay in touch with associates and with Greig's twin sister in Boston. Greig would speak with her sister in calls placed to the homes of neighbors and friends, he said in his testimony.

Carazza said the pair crossed the country spending time in Louisiana and New York, sometimes indicating they were from New York and that Bulger was a retired real estate broker and Greig was a dog groomer.

The couple was arrested in Santa Monica, California where authorities found a stash of about 30 firearms and $822,000 in cash hidden in holes in the wall.

Prosecutors said they plan to wrap up Carazza's testimony on Wednesday, and Greig's defense lawyer Kevin Reddington was slated to address the court.

He has requested that Greig be released on bail to home confinement and electronic monitoring pending trial, according to court documents.

Greig, born and raised in South Boston, still owns a home in Quincy, Massachusetts, south of the city. Her twin sister will offer her home as collateral in the release as well, the filing said.

Greig's attorney said Greig posed no danger to the community and was not a flight risk, as the government has suggested.

It was Greig, not Bulger, who took a star turn in the authorities' recent media campaign that led to a crucial tip from the public and the arrest of the pair.

Authorities produced television spots that focused on Greig's appearance, habits and personality traits.

Greig loves dogs and was known to frequent beauty salons, according to the FBI. She had previously worked as a dental hygienist and had plastic surgery before fleeing with her criminal boyfriend, 20 years her senior.

(Reporting by Lauren Keiper; Editing by Ellen Wulfhorst and Jerry Norton)

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India's home minister says 10 people killed, 54 injured in 3 blasts in Mumbai

NEW DELHI (AP) — India's home minister says 10 people killed, 54 injured in 3 blasts in Mumbai.

News channels are saying that its Ajmal Kasab’s Birthday today, on account of which these blasts have been planned .

Is this any way to give presents or wishes to any birthday person. How come the terrorists call this a Present  for KASAB.

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