Youngsters light cauldron as London launch Olympics in style - ESPN.co.uk
Seven promising young athletes were given the honour of lighting the Olympic cauldron to officially mark the start of the 2012 Games after London kicked off the 30th Olympiad in style.
In what was a closely guarded secret, the youngsters' act provided a fitting end to a spectacular opening ceremony after Team GB completed the athletes' procession following a glittering extravaganza conceived by British film director Danny Boyle.
David Beckham, who missed out on a place in Stuart Pearce's football squad, was given the role of delivering the flame on a speedboat from City Hall to the stadium. Sir Steve Redgrave, one of the bookmakers' favourites to be given the honour, carried the flame into the stadium, but it was handed to the seven budding Olympians.
The London 2012 Olympic bid was firmly based on legacy, its motto 'inspire a generation' embodied in the decision to give the lighting of the cauldron to youngsters, who were chosen by British Olympic champions.
Copper petals, brought into the stadium by the 204 participating nations, closed like a flower to form the cauldron to signify unity.
Tour de France winner Bradley Wiggins, who is in action in the road race on Saturday, rang the giant bell to mark the beginning of the opening ceremony.
The Queen appeared to parachute into the Olympic Stadium accompanied by James Bond, while Mr Bean and JK Rowling made an appearance as Boyle's creation celebrated British history, music, film and literature.
After the Queen declared the Games officially open, Lord Coe said that he had never been as proud to be British, while International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge declared that the Games had come home, with Great Britain "the birthplace of modern sport".
© ESPN EMEA Ltd
Metallica to start work on new album in September - BBC News
Metallica are set to re-enter the studio in September to begin work on a new album.
Drummer Lars Ulrich said that after finishing their 3D movie and playing a US festival "we're gonna basically just concentrate on new music and try to get another Metallica record [done]".
He said the band were "itching" to begin and had some "brilliant riffs" to work with.
Their last album, Death Magnetic, came out in 2008.
In a conference call with reporters, Ulrich said front man James Hetfield was coming up with some great ideas.
"Every time [he] picks up a guitar there's some brilliant riff that comes out of him.
"I try to make sure that they're all recorded and try to do my best to keep up with them and try to put some drums behind them."
Speaking about the 3D film, Ulrich said the band would film live footage during concerts in Vancouver on 24 and 25 August.
Extra scenes will then be shot in the week after the gigs but won't feature any members of the band.
"It's a split narrative that kind of runs parallel to the concert," said Lars Ulrich.
The film's expected to come out in 2013.
Colorado shooting suspect was under psychiatrist's care - Reuters UK
DENVER |
DENVER (Reuters) - A former University of Colorado graduate student accused of killing 12 people and wounding 58 others in a shooting rampage at a Denver-area movie theatre last week had been under the care of a psychiatrist who was part of a campus threat-assessment team.
The disclosure came in court documents filed on Friday by lawyers for James Holmes, 24, who is accused of opening fire last Friday on a packed showing of the latest Batman movie, "The Dark Knight Rises," in the Denver suburb of Aurora.
The defence attorneys, in their request to an Arapahoe County district judge, are seeking a court order requiring prosecutors to turn over the contents of a package that Holmes sent to Dr. Lynne Fenton and was later seized by investigators.
"Mr. Holmes was a psychiatric patient of Dr. Fenton, and his communications with her are protected," the filing said.
Fenton, medical director for student mental health services at the University of Colorado-Denver Anschutz Medical Campus, provides medication and psychotherapy for grad students in addition to her teaching duties, according to a school website.
A professional biography of Fenton posted on the site said she had conducted research on schizophrenia, including a two-year grant to work in the schizophrenia research department of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs from 2008 to 2010.
Fenton is also a member of the campus-based "behavioural assessment and threat assessment team," which helps faculty and staff deal with "individuals who may be threatening, disruptive or otherwise problematic," according to that group's website.
It could not be ascertained if Fenton was caring for Holmes under the threat-assessment program or under routine counselling she provided to students on campus.
Under Colorado law, mental health professionals cannot be held liable in civil suits for failing to predict a patient's violent behaviour unless it involves a "serious threat of imminent physical violence against a specific person or persons." When such a threat is made, the mental health professional is required to take action, which may include notifying those targeted or a law enforcement agency.
Fenton could not immediately be reached by Reuters for comment, and a spokeswoman for the University of Colorado medical school declined to comment, citing restrictions under a gag order issued by the judge presiding over the case.
The university, where Holmes had been enrolled as a doctoral student of neuroscience, confirmed earlier this week that a suspicious package was delivered by mail on Monday and that it was "immediately investigated and handed over to authorities within hours."
DEFENSE LAWYERS SEEK SANCTIONS FOR MEDIA 'LEAKS'
Fox News has reported, citing an unnamed law enforcement source close to the investigation, that two packages were sent by Holmes to a psychiatrist on the faculty of the University of Colorado, and that one contained a notebook detailing the shooting scenario. According to Fox News, the notebook contained hand-drawn illustrations of stick figures shooting at other stick figures.
The defence motion accuses the government of leaking information to the media in defiance of a gag order, thereby jeopardizing Holmes' rights to due process and fair trial by an impartial jury. It says his lawyers will request a hearing to determine "appropriate sanctions for this misconduct."
Prosecutors, responding to the discovery motion, disputed various elements of media accounts as being erroneous, suggesting that anyone who had provided information to Fox News and other outlets lacked real knowledge of the case.
"These factual errors lead (the government) to believe ... that the media is getting information from hoaxers, fraudsters, or maybe from nobody at all by creating fake 'law enforcement sources' out of whole cloth," prosecutors said in their filing.
Formal charges against the suspect, who dyed his hair bright orange and was said by authorities to have referred to himself as the Joker - Batman's comic book archenemy - are expected to be filed in court on Monday.
The judge in the case, William Sylvester, set a hearing on the defence discovery motion to be held as part of Monday's proceedings. Sylvester also said he would consider a pleading by news media organizations to make public court documents the judge has sealed in the case.
Arrested within minutes of the shooting rampage at his car in the theatre's parking lot, Holmes is being held in solitary confinement in the local jail.
In addition to charges stemming from one of the worst outbursts of U.S. gun violence in recent years, he is accused of wiring his apartment with enough explosives to have levelled the entire building if they had been detonated.
The apartment house was evacuated when the booby traps were discovered. But the explosives were later safely dismantled and removed by authorities, and Holmes' neighbours began returning to their homes on Wednesday night.
The latest disclosures about the suspect came to light as mourners attended the third funeral in as many days for one of the victims of the shooting rampage, this one for an 18-year-old high school graduate, Alexander J. "AJ" Boik," who was bound for art college in the fall.
Aurora's Queen of Peace Catholic Church was filled with hundreds of mourners, including Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper, Aurora Mayor Steve Hogan and a contingent of Aurora police officers and firefighters.
Boik was one of the youngest among 12 people, aged 6 to 51, killed in the hail of gunfire early last Friday, just after midnight. Of the 58 wounded, 12 remain hospitalized, including five in critical condition.
(Writing by Steve Gorman and Dan Burns; Additional reporting by Mary Slosson in Sacramento, California, and Andrew Longstreth in New York; Editing by Peter Cooney and Lisa Shumaker)
Cayman Islands proposes income tax on foreign workers - Reuters UK
GEORGE TOWN, Cayman Islands, July 27 |
GEORGE TOWN, Cayman Islands, July 27 (Reuters) - Known as a tax haven for the mega rich around the world, the Cayman Islands is proposing the unthinkable: a direct tax on expatriates to help fix the budget woes of the British territory.
The proposal - called a "community enhancement fee" and unprecedented in the island's history - is effectively a 10 percent payroll tax on all foreign workers earning income over US$24,000 in the Cayman Islands.
Blaming the previous administration and Britain's hard line on the island's budget for the current financial problems, the premier said the measure was the least onerous approach with the Cayman Islands already one month into a new fiscal year.
"This is a tremendous step away from the normal government budget, but (London) has the upper hand," Cayman Islands Premier McKeeva Bush said.
Barely two years ago, in the face of pressure from Britain to increase the territory's revenue, Bush stated "our position is, and will continue to consistently be, that we do not believe that direct taxes are good for this country."
While foreign workers make up about 50 percent of the labor force, there are plenty of loopholes that would exclude the majority of the top earners in the county as well as civil servants, leaving the bulk of the payroll tax burden to middle- class income workers in the private sector.
The 10 percent tax proposal has shaken up the business community in the Cayman Islands, with some calling for a public protest against "taxation without representation" on Monday.
The territory, a beach-lined group of islands south of Cuba, is home to most of the world's hedge funds and has long relied on the "no direct taxation" model as a cornerstone of its lucrative financial industry.
Experts say the amount of extra revenue the new payroll tax would bring in would not be enough to overcome the government's growing deficit problems and could drive international firms to move operations out of the territory to other competitive jurisdictions with lower business costs.
Two years ago, a government-appointed commission studied the direct tax and noted the international financial sector could easily move their operations to competing jurisdictions.
Representatives from the Cayman Finance Association said the government has not done enough to rein in government spending to justify a measure such as a payroll tax.
The British Virgin Islands, Bermuda, Ireland and Canada were actively enticing firms to relocate from the Cayman Islands, the report said. (Editing by David Adams; Editing by Paul Simao)
Enbridge suffers new oil leak, shuts key pipeline - Reuters
(Reuters) - Canada's Enbridge Inc. said an oil spill in Wisconsin had forced it to shut down part of the main pipeline system delivering Canadian crude to U.S. refiners on Friday, a fresh blow for a firm already facing fierce criticism from regulators.
Almost two years to the day after a major spill on a different part of its network, Enbridge shut down Line 14 after a leak that it estimated at around 1,200 barrels of oil. The 318,000 barrel per day (bpd) line, part of the Lakehead system, carries light crude oil to Chicago-area refineries.
"Enbridge is treating this situation as a top priority," said Richard Adams, vice president of U.S. Operations at Enbridge. "We are bringing all necessary resources to bear."
The cause of Friday's spill was undetermined and Enbridge Energy Partners said it had no estimate on when flows would resume. Line 14 is one of four lines that ship mainly Canadian crude via Lakehead, a 2.5 million bpd network that is the principle route for Canadian exports.
The news will not help Enbridge build public trust in its network, which has come under scrutiny following several high-profile incidents, including a spill in Alberta last month and a massive leak in Michigan two years ago.
Just weeks ago, the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board delivered a scathing report of Enbridge's handling of the July 2010 rupture of its Line 6B near Marshall, Michigan, which led to more than 20,000 barrels of crude leaking into the Kalamazoo River. U.S. pipeline regulators fined it $3.7 million for the spill, their largest ever penalty.
The incidents have caused furor just as the company seeks approval for its C$6 billion Northern Gateway pipeline to Canada's West Coast from Alberta amid staunch opposition from environmental groups and native communities that warn against oil spills on land and in coastal waters.
This month, Enbridge Chief Executive Pat Daniel acknowledged in an interview with Reuters that the criticism of the company, especially from the U.S. regulator, makes it more difficult to convince Canadians to support Northern Gateway.
KEYSTONE COPS
In its report earlier this month, the NTSB said it found a complete breakdown of company safety measures, and that Enbridge employees performed like "Keystone Kops" trying to contain it. The rupture, which went undetected for 17 hours, spilled more than 20,000 barrels of heavy crude.
The board said the main failure was due to multiple small "corrosion-fatigue cracks" that grew over time to create a breach in the pipe over 80 inches long. It said Enbridge knew for years that the section of pipe was vulnerable.
The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, or PHMSA, said its probe uncovered two dozen regulation violations related to the leak, which spawned a massive clean up that the company has estimated will cost more than $700 million.
In response to the report, Enbridge said it believed its personnel were trying to do the "right thing" at the time.
Enbridge said Line 14 was a 24-inch diameter pipe that was installed in 1998, making it a relatively new line. In most cases, smaller pipeline leaks can be repaired quickly allowing operations to resume pumping, although regulators may require significant work if they find any cause for alarm. Following the leak two years ago Line 6B was shut for over two months.
No injury was reported at the line, which is near Grand Marsh, Wisconsin, Enbridge said.
(Reporting by Neha Alawadhi in Bangalore, additional reporting by Jeff Jones in Calgary, writing by Jonathan Leff; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)
Revocation of Regional Spatial Strategies delayed due to landmark EU ruling - Out-Law
In a written Ministerial Statement, Communities Minister Baroness Hanham said that a set of updated reports would now be published for an additional period of consultation.
"Baroness Hanham is right to ensure that the final abolition of RSS is 'meticulously' handled, as she put it, as the last thing we need is another failed attempt at revocation," said Richard Ford, a planning expert at Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com.
The Government announced its intention to revoke RSS in the 2010 general election and legislated to do this in the Localism Act 2011. But following a ruling by the ECJ the Government has decided to conduct further assessments on the environmental effects of revoking each strategy.
"The Strategic Environmental Assessment process is set out in an EU Directive (Directive 2001/42/EC). In March 2012, the European Court of Justice issued a significant ruling on the interpretation and application of the Directive," said Baroness Hanham.
"Following the decision of the European Court of Justice, in the light of planning policy and legislation that have been put in place since January 2012, in light of the earlier consultation responses, and in order to be meticulous in observing the requirements of the Directive, the Government is now updating the environmental reports and undertaking additional consultation," she said.
In the ECJ ruling neighbourhood committee federation the Inter-Environment Bruxelles (IEB) challenged an order by a Belgium regional authority that repealed parts of the Brussels planning code. IEB argued that the move was incompatible with the Strategic Environmental Assessment Directive because a study of its environmental impact had not been made by the regional authority.
Baroness Hanham said that the proposed revocation of the RSS may be regarded as a material consideration by decision makers when determining planning applications and appeals. However Pinsent Masons's Ford said that the weight attached to the proposed revocation of the RSS varies between local planning authorities.
"There are still widespread differences in the approach of local planning authorities to the weight they are giving to the intention to revoke. This continues to make life difficult for both developers and local planning authorities," said Ford.
"However, whilst there is a lot of chomping at the bit for the revocation to happen to improve certainty, it needs to be done properly and the benefit is that there is clearly a further last gasp opportunity for developers to take advantage of continued RSS policy where that favours their position," he said.
The Government has already published the first of the updated environmental reports for the proposed revocation of the East of England RSS. It "builds on and is intended to supersede the previous report" and will be open for consultation for eight weeks, said Baroness Hanham.
DCLG will publish updated environmental reports relating to the proposals on each of the other RSS, which will each be subject to an eight week consultation.
Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong joins The Voice USA - BBC News
Green Day's front man Billie Joe Armstrong has joined The Voice USA as a mentor for Christina Aguilera's team, according to a tweet from the show.
"Welcome Billie Joe (@BJAofficial) to #TeamXtina! We are ready to rock out in Season 3," said the post.
The singer said he liked the show's approach: "It's not moulding artists, it's just giving them a little bit of guidance and direction without giving them a complete makeover."
The US show returns on 10 September.
In his statement, Billie Joe Armstrong added that working with Christina Aguilera was proving to be a "lot of fun".
Cee-Lo Green and Adam Levine from Maroon 5 also appear as coaches on the NBC show.
Recording for the upcoming series has been going on since June and Armstrong starting filming on 25 July.
The UK version of The Voice is also coming back for another series, with a spokesperson this week denying it was in trouble.
It had been reported that singer Jessie J and Sir Tom Jones were not signed up for the second series and that only five people had turned up to an early audition.
Green Day, meanwhile, are gearing up for the release of their new triple album, ¡Uno!, ¡Dos! and ¡TrĂ©!
The first part is out in the UK on 24 September with the next two available on 12 November and 14 January 2013.
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