среда, 14 марта 2012 г.

Lillehammer to host 2016 Winter Youth Games

LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) — Twenty-two years after hosting the Winter Olympics, the Norwegian town of Lillehammer will stage the second edition of the Winter Youth Games in 2016.

Lillehammer, host of the highly successful 1994 Olympics, was the only candidate for the youth event.

The Norwegian bid was officially approved Wednesday by the International Olympic Committee's executive board.

IOC President …

Pirates end 17-game road skid, beat Cubs 2-1

Paul Maholm pitched a season-high eight innings, Jose Tabata hit a go-ahead double in the ninth and the Pittsburgh Pirates ended a 17-game road losing streak with a 2-1 win over the Chicago Cubs on Monday night.

The last time the Pirates won on the road was May 25 in a 2-1 victory at Cincinnati. It was their third win in 21 games overall.

The Cubs dropped to 2-8 against last-place Pittsburgh this season and are 10 games below .500.

Maholm (5-6) allowed one run and seven hits. He did not walk a batter.

Octavio Dotel hit Aramis Ramirez with a pitch leading off the ninth but rebounded for his 15th save in 18 chances.

Before the …

Clendenin: Who's in charge?: Town charter, if found, could specify whether mayor or council has authority

DAILY MAIL STAFF

It wasn't exactly the shootout at the O.K. Corral, but the scenewas surreal.

Amid supporters and protesters gathered around Clendenin townhall, police officer C.L. Burkhamer returned to work.

This occurred on Wednesday night. Burkhamer had arrested Mayor BobOre on Saturday. The mayor had fired the officer on Monday.

Just a few moments after the officer arrived, however, towncouncil asked him to take the night off for insurance and safetyreasons until Kanawha Circuit Judge Tod Kaufman could rule as towhether he indeed is a Clendenin police officer. A decision wasexpected by mid-day.

Burkhamer was reinstated by the town's council in …

Japanese stocks dip amid fading hopes for US rate cut

Japanese stocks fell Monday for the first time in four sessions as investors' hopes for a substantive U.S. rate cut has faded.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index fell 31.98 points, or 0.20 percent, to close at 15,924.39 points, following a 0.5 percent rise Friday. The broader Topix index of all first-section issues lost 3.25 points, or 0.21 percent, to 1,558.51.

Modest U.S. job data released Friday suggested to some investors that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates a quarter point when its policy-makers meet Tuesday instead of a half-point.

Still, the U.S. jobless rate held steady at a relatively low 4.7 percent in November, the Labor …

2 charged in alleged $75 million health care fraud

Two former executives of the bankrupt health care company Canopy Financial Inc. were charged Monday with swindling investors out of $75 million and illegally pocketing $19 million from accounts that were supposed to pay the medical bills of individuals nationwide.

Canopy's former president and chief operating officer, Jeremy Blackburn, 36, formerly of Malibu, Calif., had already been charged in a criminal complaint filed in December with operating a $60 million fraud. He was released on a $1 million bond.

A criminal information filed by federal prosecutors on Monday said the amount of fraud discovered by federal investigators had grown to $75 million. Also …

Where is the justice?

WIDOW Pat Cager has hit out at the four-year sentence given to theman who killed her husband Tony, bosun of the pleasure cruiserBalmoral.

Robert Lock, DJ at Pat and Tony's 30th wedding anniversarycelebration on board the ship in Bristol, kicked Mr Cager violentlyin the head. He was jailed for four years and four months formanslaughter.

Lock, aged 38, of Knightstone House, Crow Lane, Henbury, had beendue to be tried for Mr Cager's murder.

But in a dramatic move at Bristol Crown Court yesterday, Lockadmitted manslaughter, along with assaults on members of Mr Cager'sfamily who had gone to help him.

Mrs Cager, who now lives in Plymouth, said: "He was lovely. He didnothing, absolutely nothing to deserve this. England has let himdown.

"He had 12 years in submarines. He nearly lost his life twice onhis submarine.

"He has worked hard all his life and this is how he has beenrepaid, and all that person has got is four years.

"Someone got that the other week for pinching a mobile phone.Whereis the justice in this country? Tony's not been shown any justice.

"I have lost a very loving husband, my children have lost a lovingfather and, as Gavin has pointed out, when he gets married anygrandchildren won't have a grandfather.

"Think, in four years that bloke can walk and I will still bewalking around without a husband. It is so unfair. He doesn't deserveto live, that swine."

She said her husband would be buried at sea and that, instead ofhaving flowers at his funeral, they had asked for donations to bemade towards a commemorative wheel on the Balmoral.

Bristol Crown Court was told that Lock, who has 32 previousconvictions stretching back to when he was 14, had been booked to bethe DJ for the wedding anniversary party for Mr Cager and his wifePat on board the Balmoral after advertising in the Yellow Pages.MarkEvans QC, prosecuting, said that initially the celebrations on boardthe ship, which was moored at Princes Wharf, next to Bristol'sIndustrial Museum, had gone well and Lock had been offered thepossibility of future work on board the ship.

But Lock then got into a drunken argument with his partner, CarolBurchill, and assaulted her.

He was ordered off the boat and attacked Mr Cager when he went tospeak to him and asked him to calm down.

Lock was standing on the quayside above the level of the boat andkicked Mr Cager so hard in the head he collapsed with bleeding to hisbrain and died shortly afterwards.

Mr Evans said: "His daughter Nicola Delap ran to his aid. Hekicked her to the head, rendering her unconscious for a fewseconds.Mr Cager's son Gavin Cager intervened and received a similarkick."

He added that Lock later bit a policeman as he was arrested in StNicholas Street.

Mr Justice Maurice Kay jailed Lock for four years for themanslaughter, four months consecutively for causing the policemanactual bodily harm and four months concurrently for assaulting MrCager's children.

Richard Smith QC, defending Lock, said he had shown remorse. Hesaid Lock had acted in the heat of the moment while very drunk.

Sentencing Lock, Mr Justice Kay said: "No sentence I pass canbring back Mr Cager and all sentences seem to the aggrieved,bereaved families to be inadequate."

Commander Tom Foden, the Balmoral's Clevedon agent, said he was"astounded" by the leniency of the sentence.

He said: "The man responsible for Tony's death appears to have gotoff lightly and I fully support the views of his family.

"We have lost one of the best bosuns we ever had through no faultof his own. Tony tried to intervene in unfortunate circumstances andthere was no call for what happened to him."

вторник, 13 марта 2012 г.

Verizon's second-quarter earnings report, in brief

IPHONE EFFECT: Verizon Wireless added 1.26 million subscribers under contract in the second quarter, more than it has in two and a half years. It was helped by the iPhone, which it started selling in February.

INVESTOR DISAPPOINTMENT: Verizon Communications stock fell nearly 3 percent. Analysts were disappointed that wireless revenue wasn't growing faster.

NEW CEO: Chief Operating Officer Lowell McAdam, who has been groomed to take over as CEO from Ivan Seidenberg, will do so on Aug. 1, the company announced.