Bangladesh protests: at least 15 killed as police clash with demonstrators - The Guardian

Policemen aim at protesters on a street in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Photograph: Rahul Talukder/AP

At least 15 people have been killed in clashes between police and Islamic hardliners demanding that Bangladesh implement an anti-blasphemy law, police have said.

Eight people, including two policemen and a paramilitary soldier, were killed during clashes in Kanchpur just outside the capital, Dhaka, and another seven people died in Motijheel, a commercial area of Dhaka.

Protesters blocked roads in the area with burning tires and logs during more than five hours of clashes, television footage showed.

The private United News of Bangladesh reported that violence erupted after security forces fired tear gas and rubber bullets in the central commercial district.

Islamic activists have been demanding that the government enact an anti-blasphemy law. The government in the Muslim-majority nation has rejected the groups' demands, saying Bangladesh is governed by secular liberal laws.

Dhaka metropolitan police said in a statement that all rallies and protests had been banned in the city until midnight on Monday for fear of further clashes.

Prime minister Sheikh Hasina's ruling Awami League and an alliance of 18 opposition parties led by former prime minister Khaleda Zia had planned rallies in Dhaka for later on Monday.

There was no immediate comment from the parties.

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Harvard professor apologizes for remarks about Keynes - The Seattle Times

Originally published May 4, 2013 at 6:17 PM | Page modified May 4, 2013 at 6:17 PM

BOSTON — Prominent Harvard history professor Niall Ferguson apologized Saturday for saying in a public speech that British economist John Maynard Keynes' policies were too shortsighted because he was gay and did not have children.

"My disagreements with Keynes' economic philosophy have never had anything to do with his sexual orientation," Ferguson said in a statement posted on his website. "It is simply false to suggest, as I did, that his approach to economic policy was inspired by any aspect of his personal life."

Ferguson made the remarks at the Altegris Strategic Investment Conference in Carlsbad, Calif., on Thursday. He was responding to a question about Keynes' oft-quoted warning against thinking too far ahead while making economic policy: "In the long run we are all dead."

Ferguson, who is also a Daily Beast contributor, said that children and grandchildren bear such "long-run" burdens of economic policies, which, he argued, Keynes did not understand.

Keynes, who developed the theory that increasing government deficits stimulate a sluggish economy, is considered one of the most influential economists of the 20th century. His full quote is: "The long run is a misleading guide to current affairs. In the long run we are all dead."

Ferguson's initial remarks were reported by the website of Financial Advisor magazine and other online publications. Ferguson said he "deeply and unreservedly" apologized for them.

"I should not have suggested — in an off-the-cuff response that was not part of my presentation — that Keynes was indifferent to the long run because he had no children, nor that he had no children because he was gay," he said in a statement.

In his apology, Ferguson wrote: "This was doubly stupid. First, it is obvious that people who do not have children also care about future generations. Second, I had forgotten that Keynes' wife, Lydia, miscarried."

Keynes was a member of the famed Bloomsbury Group, a group of writers, artists and intellectuals remembered as much for their complicated romantic entanglements as for their impact on 20th-century culture. Most of his sexual relationships were with men. However, in 1925 he startled his friends by marrying Russian ballerina Lydia Lopokova. The two remained married until his death in 1946.

Ferguson, who was born in Scotland, is the Laurence A. Tisch Professor of History at Harvard University and has written extensively on international history and economic history. He has married twice and has four children.

Harvard spokesman Kevin Galvin declined to comment.

Compiled from The Boston Globe, The Associated Press, The New York Times and staff reports.

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Referee punched in face by teen player dies - CNN

From Jackie Castillo, CNN

updated 2:58 AM EDT, Sun May 5, 2013

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• The referee cites the player for an infraction
• The player turns around and punches him
• At first, officials think the referee's injuries are minor
• He dies after remaining in critical condition for a week

(CNN) -- A referee for a recreational soccer league has died after he was punched in the face by a teenage player who didn't like his decision, Salt Lake City police said.

Ricardo Portillo, 46, was refereeing a game in the Salt Lake City suburb of Taylorsville on April 27 when he cited a player for an infraction and issued him a "yellow card."

In soccer, a yellow card is a caution to the player; a second results in his ejection from the game.

Ricardo Portillo died after being punched by a player last week.

The decision, police say, prompted the 17-year-old player to turn around and punch Portillo in the face.

At first, authorities thought Portillo suffered only minor injuries from the assault.

But after he was taken to a hospital, doctors discovered he had suffered serious internal head injuries, police said.

For seven days, he remained in critical condition.

"He loved soccer," his daughter Johana Portillo told CNN's Jake Tapper on Friday. "We just never thought this was going to happen. He loved what he did and it was his passion."

She added: "The doctor says only a miracle will bring my daddy back."

On Saturday night, Portillo died from his injuries.

Authorities will conduct an autopsy.

Teen in juvenile detention

As for the teenager, he remains in juvenile detention.

Police initially charged him with aggravated assault. But with Portillo's death, authorities expect to upgrade the charges.

Officials have not released the teenager's name because he is a juvenile.

The incident took place during a game of Fut International, a Hispanic soccer league for children between ages 5 and 17.

League president Mario Vasquez told CNN affiliate KUTV he didn't know the suspect personally, but was not aware of other incidents involving the player.

But, he said, the league has a no-tolerance policy and kicks out players if they engage in violence toward each other, referees or parents.

Similar incident in the Netherlands

The incident brings to mind a similar attack in the Netherlands in December.

In that incident, police charged two 15-year-olds and a 16-year-old who beat a 41-year-old linesman during an amateur soccer game.

The linesman's son was playing in the game when the incident occurred -- and witnessed the attack.

The linesman, Richard Nieuwenhuizen, fell into a coma and died the next day.

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5 die in limousine fire on Bay Area bridge - Los Angeles Times

From the Associated Press

May 5, 2013, 1:26 a.m.

SAN MATEO -- A limousine traveling on a major bridge in the San Francisco area burst into flames, killing five people and sending four others to hospitals, authorities said.

The five who died became trapped after the limo caught fire late Saturday night on the San Mateo bridge, California Highway Patrol officer Amelia Jack told KGO-TV.

Five others managed to escape after the vehicle came to a stop on the bridge, she said.

KGO reports that the victims were all women who are believed to be in their 30s.

The blaze occurred around 10 p.m. on westbound lanes of the bridge, which connects San Mateo and Alemada counties, about 20 miles southeast of San Francisco.

The patrol said that smoke started coming out of the rear of the limo, and the driver pulled over as the vehicle quickly became engulfed in flames.

"We have no idea right now where they were going or where they were coming from," Jack told the station.

Of the survivors, Jack said one had severe burns and three others suffered minor to moderate injuries that included smoke inhalation. The four were rushed to nearby hospitals for treatment, while the fifth person who escaped wasn't hospitalized.

The status of the driver wasn't immediately clear.

Several lanes of the bridge were closed as officers investigated the cause of the deadly fire, but the patrol said one lane of traffic reopened early Sunday.

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Deadly blast hits government convoy in Mogadishu - BBC News

5 May 2013 Last updated at 04:58 ET

A car bomb has exploded near a government convoy in the Somali capital Mogadishu, killing at least eight people, officials say.

A police spokesman told AFP news agency a suicide attacker had driven a car laden with explosives at an armoured government vehicle.

Eyewitnesses told the BBC a government vehicle carrying foreign aid workers had been targeted.

The attack comes days before a conference in London on Somalia.

No group said immediately it had carried out Sunday's attack.

The country's main Islamist group al-Shabab, which is part of al-Qaeda, has been forced out of the main cities in the south and centre but still controls smaller towns and many rural areas.

Motionless

Ten people were also injured by the explosion, BBC reporter Mohamed Ibrahim reports from the city.

Government forces had only re-opened the main roads in Mogadishu on Saturday after a four-day ban on vehicle traffic, he adds.

The ban had been aimed at preventing attacks by al-Shabab.

A Reuters news agency photographer said he could see three people lying motionless near the wreckage of four burning cars.

The London conference will discuss how best the international community can support Somalia's progress.

More than 50 countries and organisations are due to take part when it opens on Tuesday, co-hosted by Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and UK Prime Minister David Cameron.

The UK recently re-opened its embassy in Mogadishu.

The security situation in city was thought to have been improving after two decades of conflict, despite occasional attacks.

Masked gunmen shot dead the deputy chief prosecutor, Ahmad Shaykh Nur Maalin, last month in the city centre.

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Conservative MP, Nigel Evans, arrested on suspicion of raping man - The Independent

The Conservative MP and deputy speaker of the Commons, Nigel Evans, was arrested yesterday at his cottage in Lancashire on suspicion of rape and sexual assault. Forensic teams searched the property, in the village of Pendleton, and Mr Evans was then questioned at Preston police station before being released on bail.

The 55-year-old MP, who came out as gay in 2010, is accused of raping a man and sexually assaulting a second man between July 2009 and March this year. The attacks are alleged to have taken place against men in their 20s. He has represented the safe Conservative seat of Ribble Valley for 21 years. Both the Prime Minister, David Cameron, and Speaker of the Commons, John Bercow, were immediately informed of Mr Evans's arrest.

The MP, who also has a home in east London, was born in Swansea, the son of a newsagent, and has held a variety of government posts in the course of his career. He was a parliamentary private secretary to several senior ministers in John Major's government, including employment secretary David Hunt, and William Hague. He has since held a series of senior roles in the party, including vice-chairman in 2004. He is a noted global-warming sceptic, and has been a consistent opponent of the minimum wage.

Councillor Terry Hill, deputy chairman of the Ribble Valley Conservative Association, said: "I have just heard the news. I am in complete and utter shock.

"People are innocent until proven guilty, but I'm sure that discussions will take place pretty quickly to decide what reaction [the association] gives."

Brian Binley, Tory MP for Northampton South, said: "I know him to be caring, compassionate and in no way would he inflict himself violently on any other person. I just hope and pray that this thing is cleared up sooner rather than later."

Mr Evans came out as a gay in 2010 in an interview with The Mail on Sunday, saying that he was "tired of living a lie". The MP said he had been persuaded to go public after a conversation at a party with the Coronation Street actress Vicky Entwistle, who lives in his Lancashire constituency. "Vicky and I went for a drink after the party and she said to me, 'You're gay, aren't you?' It's a subject I avoid usually but Vicky is very natural and I told her I was," he said. "I thought to myself, 'I am now telling people I am gay – it's time I did something about it and told everyone.'"

Mr Evans said he had been inspired by the rugby union player Gareth Thomas, a fellow Welshman, who had come out a few months previously. "If people like Gareth, who was married, can come out, it should be no big deal for me," he said. Mr Evans claims that he had been challenged by an unnamed Labour MP to go public with his sexuality, reportedly with the threat that he would be exposed otherwise, before coming out.

The MP's parents ran a corner shop on a council estate in Swansea, South Wales, while he was growing up. Mr Evans joined the Conservative Party aged 17 and served as a local councillor in West Glamorgan. He had lost elections in Swansea West and Pontypridd before taking on his current constituency of Ribble Valley. He lost a by-election there in 1991 but won the seat from the Lib Dems the following year at the general election. He has held the seat comfortably since, and at the last general election increased his majority.

A spokesman for Lancashire Police said: "We take all allegations of a sexual nature extremely seriously and understand how difficult it can be for alleged victims to have the confidence to come forward."

Mr Evans has been bailed to return before police on 19 June.

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Damascus military facilities 'hit by Israel rockets' - BBC News

5 May 2013 Last updated at 03:52 ET

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Syrian journalist Alaa Ebrahim describes the attack as like 'a mild earthquake'

Israeli rockets have hit a research centre near Damascus, Syria says.

Witnesses heard huge explosions near the Jamraya facility, which Western officials have suggested is involved in chemical weapons research.

Residents told the BBC that nearby military positions were also hit.

Israel has not confirmed the strike, but sources say it targeted weapons bound for Hezbollah militants in Lebanon. It is the second suspected Israeli strike in two days.

On Friday Israeli aircraft hit a shipment of missiles in Syria, according to unnamed US and Israeli officials.

Israel has repeatedly said it would act if it felt advanced weapons were being transferred to militant groups in the region, especially Hezbollah.

'Mild earthquake'

Heavy explosions shook Damascus overnight. Amateur footage posted online claimed to show the blasts at the Jamraya research centre.

Syrian state media said the attack showed that there was an organic link between Israel and the rebels.

"The new Israeli attack is an attempt to raise the morale of the terrorist groups, which have been reeling from strikes by our noble army," state TV said, referring to recent offensives by President Bashar al-Assad's forces.

Damascus-based journalist Alaa Ebrahim told the BBC it was "the biggest explosion" the city had seen since the conflict began two years ago.

He said residents living near Jamraya reported feeling a "mild earthquake" just before the blast, indicating that the rockets may have hit an underground facility.

He added that the Syrian army was likely to have suffered major casualties in the attack.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights quoted eyewitnesses in the area as saying they saw jets in the sky at the time of the explosions.

The Jamraya facility, designated by Syria as a scientific research centre "in charge of raising our level of resistance and self-defence", was also apparently hit in an Israeli air strike in January.

Israeli officials confirmed the strike, but insisted it had targeted trucks carrying missiles to Hezbollah.

After the latest attack, unnamed Western intelligence sources have again said the target was a weapons cache heading for Lebanon.

'Horrific reports'

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The BBC's Wyre Davies reports on claims of massacres on Syria's coast

Analysts say the air strikes are unlikely to have a major effect on the civil war in Syria.

The latest reports from coastal regions around the town of Baniyas suggest dozens of Sunnis have been massacred in a campaign of sectarian cleansing.

The government said it had pushed back "terrorist groups" and restored security to the area.

The US said it was "appalled by the horrific reports" but that it did not foresee sending US troops to Syria.

However, the US is no longer ruling out supplying weapons to the rebels.

More than 70,000 people are estimated to have been killed since the conflict erupted in March 2011.

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Press Freedom Day: Where reporters and their work are threatened - Los Angeles Times

Friday marks World Press Freedom Day, first declared by the United Nations two decades ago as a day to nurture the freedom of journalists -- or to remind the world of where it falls short. Rights groups pointed to several spots on the globe where reporters are persecuted or in peril.

Syria is the deadliest country in the world for journalists, Amnesty International said in a newly released report. At least 46 people have been slain while reporting on its civil conflict between March 2011 and late April 2013, most of them Syrian nationals, according to UNESCO.

Journalists have come under fire from both government forces and rebels, some of them deliberately targeted for their work. Government forces are believed to have abducted, tortured and killed reporters, according to testimony gathered by Amnesty. Opposition fighters have publicly threatened journalists deemed sympathetic to the Syrian government and celebrated when they were attacked. At least seven journalists are now missing in Syria, according to the Agence France-Presse.

The government clampdown on foreign and local journalists has spurred citizen reporters to take up cameras to document the carnage in their neighborhoods, exposing themselves to added risk. The barrage of violent attacks on journalists "may amount to war crimes," the human rights group wrote.

Those and other attacks made 2012 the deadliest one for journalists worldwide since the International Press Institute started systematically tracking journalists' deaths in 1997.

On top of the dozens of reporters killed in Syria, at least 16 reporters were slain last year in Somalia, according to the group. Many appear to have been killed in retaliation for their work.

The Islamist militant group the Shabab is believed to be behind some of the killings, the Los Angeles Times' Robyn Dixon wrote last year, but warlords and powerful businessmen are also suspected.

"In Mogadishu, the atmosphere is very fearful and people wonder how they can continue doing their jobs. Many have stopped. They're afraid of being killed," Rashid Abdullahi Haydar of the National Union of Somali Journalists told The Times. "Families are afraid too. They are saying, 'Please stop this [journalism] because you have no rights and no protection. ' "

Iraq has failed to seek justice as its journalists are slain, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday, giving it the worst ranking on its newly updated impunity index. No convictions have been obtained in 93 cases of journalists killed over the last decade, the group said, with "no sign that authorities are working to solve any of them."

Somalia and the Philippines also ranked high on the committee's impunity list. In Somalia, authorities pledged this year to investigate killings of journalists, creating a task force to examine past slayings. In the Philippines, President Benigno Aquino III has made similar promises, but 55 slayings of journalists over the last decade remain unsolved, the committee said.

Other countries have fewer reported killings of journalists, but give journalists no freedom to do their work. Earlier this year, Reporters Without Borders ranked Eritrea, Turkmenistan and North Korea last in its annual report on press freedom.

The three countries have repeatedly ranked last on that list, with little change seen in state control over the media. In January, Eritrean officials denied reports that dissident soldiers had taken over its Ministry of Information and broadcast demands for change.

Eritrea is "Africa's biggest prison for journalists," with at least 30 of them behind bars, Reporters Without Borders wrote. It added that although no journalists were killed last year, "some were left to die, which amounts to the same thing." Since 2001, seven journalists have killed themselves while imprisoned or died because of prison conditions, according to the media freedom group.

In New York, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged the world to ensure that journalists are able to do their jobs. "When it is safe to speak, the whole world benefits," Ban said Thursday.

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Boston bombing inquiries prompt new look at student visas - Los Angeles Times

The federal government will tighten oversight to help ensure that foreign students seeking to enter the United States have valid student visas — the latest step to increase security after the Boston Marathon bombings.

The heightened scrutiny by U.S. Customs and Border Protection is effective immediately, sources with knowledge of the issue said Friday. Officials would not discuss what they called operational details. But the move is designed to give border agents better and faster access to computerized databases that track the status of student visas.

The measures come amid continuing investigation into the April 15 bombings that killed three and injured more than 260, and on the day that the body of Tamerlan Tsarnaev, one of the suspected bombers, was sent to a private funeral home in preparation for Muslim rites.

Tsarnaev died after a gun battle during the fierce manhunt that forced a lockdown of the Boston metropolitan area. His younger brother, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, is facing federal charges of using a weapon of mass destruction. Three of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's friends are facing federal charges on allegations of trying to hide evidence after the explosions.

One of the friends, Azamat Tazhayakov, 19, was allowed to reenter the U.S. on a student visa even though he was no longer attending the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, where Dzhokhar Tsarnaev also studied.

Congressional Republicans have questioned how the government has dealt with visa security issues. In a three-page letter this week, Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) asked Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano for details about student visas and how Tazhayakov was able to reenter the U.S.

In a statement this week, the Homeland Security Department said that Tazhayakov entered the United States on Jan. 20 using a student visa with an expiration date of Aug. 30. Customs, which is part of Homeland Security, had not been notified that Tazhayakov had left school on Jan. 4, so he was permitted entry.

The Homeland Security Department "is reforming the student visa system to ensure that [Customs and Border Protection] is provided with real-time updates on all relevant student visa information," the agency said. "At the time of reentry there was no derogatory information that suggested this individual posed a national security or public safety threat."

The new security effort was first reported by the Associated Press, which cited a memorandum it had obtained from a senior customs official, David J. Murphy. According to the news service, all border agents will have broader access to Homeland Security's Student and Exchange Visitor Information System. Agents will also be able to check on passengers before they arrive in the United States by running names from the manifests through the database.

Tazhayakov and his roommate, Dias Kadyrbayev, both of Kazakhstan, are charged with obstruction of justice on suspicion of disposing of Tsarnaev's backpack, which contained fireworks. A third friend, Robel Phillipos of Cambridge, Mass., has been charged with lying to authorities. None of the three is accused of being directly involved in the bombing.

The trio's relationship to the younger Tsarnaev brother is being closely probed by investigators. On Friday, authorities searched an area at the Dartmouth campus for hours, refusing to discuss what, if anything, was found.

The only official comment came earlier in the day in a message sent on Twitter: "Pls be advised. Searches in Dartmouth MA today are part of ongoing investigation into Marathon bombing. There is no threat to public safety."

The body of suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, has been sent to Graham Putnam & Mahoney Funeral Parlors in Worcester, Mass. Peter Stefan, owner of the funeral home, confirmed Friday that he would handle the arrangements for the funeral.

"We take care of a lot of Muslim funerals here, throughout the state," Stefan said, "and this was no different, except for the circumstances."

Stefan said he was preparing for possible demonstrations but said everybody deserves a dignified burial service. State officials released the body to family on Thursday, and the remains were initially taken to Dyer-Lake Funeral Home in North Attleborough. About 20 protesters gathered there before the body was moved.

The state medical examiner's office determined the cause of Tsarnaev's death earlier this week but had not yet released the report, a spokeswoman said Friday. The official cause of death will be released in the certificate, which will be filed with Boston officials.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev could face the death penalty if convicted. He is being held at Federal Medical Center-Devens, about 40 miles from Boston.

michael.muskal@latimes.com

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B&N to add Google Play app store to its Nook HD - ECN - ECNmag.com

Barnes & Noble is teaming up with Google to vastly increase the number of apps available on its Nook HD tablets.

The bookstore chain says it will add Google's Play app store to its 7-inch Nook HD and 9-inch HD+ products in the U.S. and U.K. via a software update Friday. The move expands the number of apps available from the roughly 10,000 the Nook already offered in its own store — such as Angry Birds and Netflix — to 700,000-plus apps and games offered on Google Play. And it comes after a weak holiday sales season for the Nook, which is struggling to gain market share in the rapidly expanding tablet market.

CEO William Lynch said research and sales during the holidays show that consumer preference is shifting toward all-purpose tablets rather than simple e-readers.

"We saw coming off holiday the market moved to multifunction tablets," he said. "Consumer research showed us the breadth of applications available is really critical."

Lynch said the company had been in discussions with Google "on and off" for the past several years.

"This addresses the one perceived gap that we had with other tablets virtually overnight," he said. Terms of the deal were undisclosed.

The update is automatic and will occur over-the-air to all devices connected to Wi-Fi. It will also include other Google Inc. services like the Chrome browser, Gmail, YouTube and Google Maps. Google Play Music includes millions of songs as well.

The prices and styles of the Nooks that Barnes & Noble offers are not changing. The 7-inch Nook HD starts at $199 and the 9-inch Nook HD+ tablet starts at $269. Barnes & Noble also sells non-tablet e-book readers, the Nook Simple Touch and Nook Simple Touch with GlowLight, which will not offer Google Play.

Barnes & Noble Inc., based in New York, has invested heavily in its Nook e-book readers and a digital library as more readers shift to electronic books and competition has grown from discount stores and online rivals.

The retailer launched high-definition versions of its Nook HD and Nook HD+ tablets in September in an effort to better compete against Amazon.com's Kindle Fire as well as other tablets like the iPad, iPad Mini and Google's own Nexus 7.

The company's Nook unit has attracted investors — Microsoft Corp. owns 16.8 percent, while U.K. publisher and education company Pearson PLC has a 5 percent stake. But aside from investor funding, it has not been profitable. In its most recent quarter, which included the holiday season, Nook revenue fell 26 percent to $316 million. Barnes & Noble recorded $21 million in returns due to weak demand during the holiday season, and $15 million in allowances for promotions.

Meanwhile market share has slid. Barnes & Noble had a 1.9 percent share of the worldwide tablet market in the fourth quarter, making it the No. 5 Tablet player behind Apple, Samsung, Amazon and Asus, according to data from IDC. But by the first quarter it had slipped out of the top 5, replaced by Microsoft.

At the same time, competition is proliferating, with the global tablet market growing quickly. It more than doubled to 49.2 million units during the first quarter, according to IDC's estimate.

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