Breaking News Thread

[Flynbyu]

The bitch was hongry.



~Brian

[Peelz]

BREAKING NEWS

i changed my username from dmx434343 to

Danny T

Danny Tanner from Full House?  How are th Olsen Twins?

[socalrappy700]

Gay marriages expected to begin in Iowa April 24

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090404/ap_on_re_us/iowa_gay_marriage

Hey Peels, Do you have a guest room Krandall can stay in if he comes down for his big day?


DES MOINES, Iowa – Gay marriage, seemingly the province of the nation's two coasts, is just weeks away from becoming legal in the heartland and apparently it will be years before social conservatives have a chance to stop it.

The Iowa Supreme Court on Friday unanimously upheld a lower-court ruling that rejected a state law restricting marriage to a union between a man and woman. Now gays and lesbians may exchange vows as soon as April 24 following the landmark decision.

The county attorney who defended the law said he would not seek a rehearing. The only recourse for opponents appeared to be a constitutional amendment, which couldn't get on the ballot until 2012 at the earliest.

"I would say the mood is one of mourning right now in a lot of ways," said a dejected Bryan English, spokesman for the Iowa Family Policy Center, a conservative group that opposes same-sex marriage.

In the meantime, same-sex marriage opponents may try to enact residency requirements for marriage so that gays and lesbians from across the country could not travel to Iowa to wed.

U.S. Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, urged the Legislature to do so, saying he feared without residency requirements Iowa would "become the gay marriage mecca."

Only Massachusetts and Connecticut currently permit same-sex marriage. For six months last year, California's high court allowed gay marriage before voters banned it in November.

For gays and lesbians, meanwhile, the day was one of jubilation. The Vermont House of Representatives also passed a measure Friday that would allow same-sex couples to wed, on a 94-52 roll call vote, just short of the two-thirds majority needed to override a promised veto by Gov. Jim Douglas.

Gay marriage supporters hoped to convince a few Vermont legislators to switch when it comes to the override vote, which could be taken as soon as Tuesday.

In Iowa, hundreds cheered, waved rainbow flags and shed tears of joy at rallies in seven cities Friday evening. "Corn-fed and Ready to Wed!" read one man's sign at a gathering at the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls.

In downtown Des Moines, about 300 people gathered beneath rainbow flags to celebrate including Des Moines Mayor Frank Cownie.

"We finally have equality in Iowa," said Harold Delaria, of Des Moines, who attended the rally and has two gay children. "It's kind of the last wall of legalized discrimination and it's coming tumbling down."

The Rev. Diane McLanahan of Trinity United Methodist Church in Des Moines acknowledged that many people of faith won't agree with the ruling. With that in mind, she said the court has reached a decision that "pretty much insists that this will not be a debate about religious rights but a matter of equality and fairness."

In its ruling, the Supreme Court upheld an August 2007 decision by a judge who found that a state law limiting marriage to a man and a woman violates the constitutional rights of equal protection.

Iowa lawmakers have "excluded a historically disfavored class of persons from a supremely important civil institution without a constitutionally sufficient justification," the justices wrote.

To issue any other decision, the seven justices said, "would be an abdication of our constitutional duty."

At a news conference announcing the decision, plaintiff Kate Varnum, 34, introduced her partner, Trish Varnum, as "my fiance."

"I never thought I'd be able to say that," she said, fighting back tears.

Jason Morgan, 38, said he and his partner, Chuck Swaggerty, adopted two sons, confronted the death of Swaggerty's mother and endured a four-year legal battle as plaintiffs.

"If being together though all of that isn't love and commitment or isn't family or marriage, then I don't know what is," Morgan said. "We are very happy with the decision today and very proud to live in Iowa."

Iowa has a history of being in the forefront on social issues. It was among the first states to legalize interracial marriage and to allow married women to own property. It was also the first state to admit a woman to the bar to practice law and was a leader in school desegregation.

Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal, a Democrat, said state lawmakers were unlikely to consider gay marriage legislation in this legislative session, which is expected to end within weeks.

Gronstal also said he's "not inclined" to propose a constitutional amendment during next year's session. Without a vote by the Legislature this year or next, the soonest gay marriage could be repealed would be 2014.

Amendments to Iowa's constitution must be passed by the House and Senate in two consecutive general assemblies, which each last two years, and then approved by a simple majority of voters during a general election.

Iowa's Democratic governor, Chet Culver, said he would review the decision before announcing his views.

[Flynbyu]

Expect large sums of Meth to be sold!

Gays love the meth.



~Brian

[Peelz]

"Corn-fed and Ready to Wed!"  OMFG!   

Wonder if my two neighbor ladies will tie the knot...

be proud Krandall..be proud!!

This was on the front page of our paper this morning!!

http://www.thehawkeye.com/viewImage/court-reax-040409-jpg

[disco]

Train vs. Ferrari

Not quite "breaking news", it's a few days old but what the heck.

http://www.kxii.com/home/headlines/42269052.html#

Click "CLICK TO PLAY ENTIRE 911 CALL" to uh... here the 911 call.   

[Flynbyu]

SEOUL, South Korea (CNN) -- No object entered orbit, the North American Aerospace Defense Command said Sunday, after North Korea claimed it had launched a satellite.

North Korea launched a long-range rocket Sunday, and called it a successful, peaceful launch of a satellite. But U.S. and South Korean officials called it a provocative act, amid international fears that the launch could be a missile with a warhead attached.

International reaction to reports of the launch -- which took place at about 11:30 a.m. local time -- ranged from calls for an immediate U.N. Security Council meeting to calls for measured diplomacy.

The North American Aerospace Defense Command, the U.S. and a Canadian organization that monitors space activity released a statement about the launch. What do you think about North Korean rocket launch?

"Officials acknowledged today that North Korea launched a Taepo Dong 2 missile at 10:30 p.m. EDT Saturday, which passed over the Sea of Japan and the nation of Japan," the statement said. "Stage one of the missile fell into the Sea of Japan. The remaining stages along with the payload itself landed in the Pacific Ocean. No object entered orbit and no debris fell on Japan."

But North Korean and Russian officials said the communist nation successfully launched a satellite in orbit, according to the nations' news agencies.  See details of rocket and its path »

A statement on the Russia Foreign Ministry's official Web site Sunday, attributed to spokesman Andrei Nesterenko, said: "North Korea sent an artificial satellite into an earth orbit on the morning of April 5. The parameters of the satellite's orbit are being specified now."

North Korea's news agency said: "Scientists and technicians of the DPRK have succeeded in putting satellite Kwangmyongsong-2, an experimental communications satellite, into orbit by means of carrier rocket Unha-2 under the state long-term plan for the development of outer space."

South Korean Foreign Minister Yoo Myung-Hwan said Sunday: "For the time being it is believed that North Korea launched a satellite. But we have yet to determine whether it was a success or not."

U.S. President Barack Obama had harsh words about the launch. Read Obama's full comments

"With this provocative act, North Korea has ignored its international obligations, rejected unequivocal calls for restraint, and further isolated itself from the community of nations," Obama said in a statement after the launch.

"We will immediately consult with our allies in the region, including Japan and (South Korea), and members of the U.N. Security Council to bring this matter before the Council," Obama added. "I urge North Korea to abide fully by the resolutions of the U.N. Security Council and to refrain from further provocative actions."

The council scheduled a meeting for Sunday afternoon after Japan's representative to the United Nations, Yukio Takasu, sent a letter requesting an urgent meeting in response to the launch. Read world reaction to rocket launch

A spokesperson for U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he "regrets that, against strong international appeal, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) went ahead with its planned launch. Given the volatility in the region, as well as a stalemate in interaction among the concerned parties, such a launch is not conducive to efforts to promote dialogue, regional peace and stability."

Chinese and Russian officials had a softer response, calling for restraint and calm.

Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura told reporters after the launch that the country's military was not forced to intercept any missile, which it had pledged to do if necessary. Preliminary data show that two objects, possibly boosters from the rocket, apparently fell around Japan, one in the Sea of Japan and one in the Pacific Ocean.  Watch Japan's reaction to the launch »

"They are breathing a sigh of relief," CNN correspondent Kyung Lah said. A senior Obama administration official in Washington confirmed that the rocket did clear Japan.

Japanese ships were moving Sunday to the area they believe the rocket parts fell in an effort to retrieve them, government officials said.

Still, Kawamura said his government's position is that even a communications satellite would be in violation of the Security Council resolution, saying Japan "formally denounces" the move.

The rocket was a "provocative act in violation" of a U.N. Security Council resolution on North Korea's weapons program, Fred Lash, a State Department spokesman, told reporters.

"We don't know anything on whether it had an orbital configuration," Lash said about whether the rocket might have carried a satellite. "There is nothing confirmed."

Retired Lt. Gen. Henry Obering, the former director of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency, told CNN that the launch apparently involved a "multi-stage rocket," with possibly up to three stages, referring to reports that debris fell off the waters of Japan.  Watch analysis of possible motivations for the launch »

"That means it was able to go through the staging event," signaling success in the rocket reaching long-range capability.

The office of the South Korean president condemned the launch Sunday, calling it a "serious threat" to world peace, the state-sponsored Yonhap news agency reported.

"We cannot withhold our regrets and disappointment that North Korea has caused such a serious threat to peace on the Korean Peninsula and in the world by firing a long-range rocket when the entire world is joining efforts to overcome the global economic crisis," Lee Dong-kwan, a presidential spokesman said, according to Yonhap.

The Obama administration's special envoy to the Six-Party Talks, Stephen Bosworth, said last week that it didn't matter if the North Koreans were trying to put a satellite in space or testing a ballistic missile that could threaten Japan or the United States. "Whether it is a satellite launch or a missile launch, in our judgment makes no difference. It is a provocative act," Bosworth said.

Bosworth said the U.S. stands ready -- after a launch -- to participate in U.N. deliberations on new sanctions against North Korea, and will be "working very closely with our partners to ensure that after the dust of the missiles settles a bit, we get back to the longer-term priority of the missile -- of the Six-Party Talks."


He added that in his experience in dealing with North Koreans "you have to combine pressure with incentives."

U.S. Rep. Howard Berman, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, issued a statement late Saturday and said: "The test is an unnecessary provocation that raises tensions in the region, and I urge the North Koreans to stop using their missile and WMD programs to threaten their neighbors and the rest of the world."

~Brian

[Krandall]

Over 70 dead, 1,500 injured in central Italy quake
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/eu_italy_earthquake

L'AQUILA, Italy – A powerful earthquake in mountainous central Italy knocked down whole blocks of buildings early Monday as residents slept, killing more than 70 people in the country's deadliest quake in nearly three decades. Tens of thousands were homeless and 1,500 were injured.

Ambulances screamed through the medieval city L'Aquila as firefighters with dogs and a crane worked feverishly to reach people trapped in fallen buildings, including a dormitory where half a dozen university students were believed still inside.

Outside the half-collapsed building, tearful young people huddled together, wrapped in blankets, some still in their slippers after being roused from sleep by the quake. Dozens managed to escape as the dorm walls fell around them but hours after the quake, a body of a male student was pulled from the rubble.

"We managed to come down with other students but we had to sneak through a hole in the stairs as the whole floor came down," said student Luigi Alfonsi, 22. "I was in bed — it was like it would never end as I heard pieces of the building collapse around me."

In the historic center of the city, a wall of the 13th century Santa Maria di Collemaggio church collapsed and the bell tower of the Renaissance San Bernadino church also fell. The 16th castle housing the Abruzzo National Museum was damaged.

L'Aquila, capital of the Abruzzo region, was near the epicenter about 70 miles (110 kilometers) northeast of Rome. It is a quake-prone region that has had at least nine smaller jolts since the beginning of April. The quake struck at 3:32 a.m. The U.S. Geological Survey said the big quake was magnitude 6.3, but Italy's National Institute of Geophysics put it at 5.8 and more than a dozen aftershocks followed.

More than 70 people were killed and the death toll was likely to rise, civil protection chief Guido Bertolaso said as rescue crews clawed through the debris of fallen homes. Some 1,500 people were injured.

The quake hit 26 towns and cities around L'Aquila, which lies in a valley surrounded by the Apennine mountains. Castelnuovo, a hamlet of about 300 people 15 miles (25 kilometers) southeast of L'Aquila, appeared hard hit, and five were confirmed dead there. Another small town, Onno, was almost leveled.

"A few houses have remained standing, but just a few," Stefania Pezzopane, provincial president of L'Aquila, told Corriere della Sera. Rescue workers in Onna, population about 250, said the town was virtually deserted as survivors sought to find shelter elsewhere.

L'Aquila Mayor Massimo Cialente said about 100,000 people were homeless. It was not clear if the mayor's estimate included surrounding towns. Some 10,000 to 15,000 buildings were either damaged or destroyed, officials said.

Premier Silvio Berlusconi declared a state of emergency, freeing up federal funds to deal with the disaster, and canceled a visit to Russia so he could deal with the quake crisis.

Condolences poured in from around the world, including from President Barack Obama, Pope Benedict XVI and Abdullah Gul, president of quake-prone Turkey.

Slabs of walls, twisted steel supports, furniture and wire fences were strewn about the streets of L'Aquila, and gray dust carpeted sidewalks, cars and residents.

Residents and rescue workers hauled away debris from collapsed buildings by hand or in an assembly lines, passing buckets. Firefighters pulled a woman covered in dust from the debris of her four-story home. Rescue crews demanded quiet as they listened for signs of life from other people believed still trapped inside.

Elsewhere, a man dressed only in his underwear wept as he was pulled from the debris and embraced.

A body lay on the sidewalk, covered by a white sheet.

Parts of L'Aquila's main hospital were evacuated because they were at risk of collapse, and only two operating rooms were in use. Bloodied victims waited in hospital hallways or in the courtyard and many were being treated in the open. A field hospital was being set up.

In the dusty streets, as aftershocks rumbled through, residents hugged one another, prayed quietly or frantically tried to call relatives. Residents covered in dust pushed carts full of clothes and blankets that they had thrown together before fleeing their homes.

"We left as soon as we felt the first tremors," said Antonio D'Ostilio, 22, as he stood on a street in L'Aquila with a huge suitcase piled with clothes. "We woke up all of a sudden and we immediately ran downstairs in our pajamas."

Evacuees converged on an athletics field on the outskirts of L'Aquila where a makeshift tent camp was being set up. Civil protection officials distributed bread and water to people who lay on the grass next to heaps of their belongings.

"It's a catastrophe and an immense shock," said resident Renato Di Stefano, who was moving with his family to the camp as a precaution. "It's struck in the heart of the city, we will never forget the pain."

This was Italy's deadliest quake since Nov. 23, 1980, when one measuring 6.9-magnitude hit southern regions, leveling villages and causing some 3,000 deaths.

Pezzopane, the provincial president, said residents may have been lulled into complacency because so many smaller quakes had jolted the area, including two or three earlier in the night.

"Considering what happened, a bit more concern, more attention might have saved lives," she said.

National officials insisted no quake can ever be predicted and that no evacuation could have been ordered on the basis of the recent jolts.

"There is no possibility of making any predictions on earthquakes. This is a fact in the world's scientific community," Civil protection chief Guido Bertolaso told reporters.

The last major quake to hit central Italy was a 5.4-magnitude temblor that struck the south-central Molise region on Oct. 31, 2002, killing 28 people, including 27 children who died when their school collapsed.

[Krandall]

http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/04/microsofts-second-laptop-hunters-commercial-giampaulo-buys-an/

The second installment of Microsoft's Laptop Hunters commercials went live today, and if you thought our actress friend Lauren lit a fire, well, get ready for Giampaulo, who professes to be "technically-savvy" and calls the unibody MacBook he looks at "so sexy," but ultimately rejects it because he wants to pay for "computing power," not the "brand." Armed with a $1,500 budget, he walks out of Fry's with an HP HDX 16 that features a 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo, NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT graphics, 4GB of RAM, and a 500GB drive -- raw numbers that would cost you $2,499 from Apple, although you'd be getting a vastly better display. Fair? We leave that up to you -- video after the break.

P.S.- That's the two commercials and two HP machines purchased, anyone sensing a trend?

 

[Colorado700R]

Pirates seize British cargo ship in Gulf of Aden

The 32,000-tonne Malaspina Castle was taken early on Monday and was believed to be heading towards Somalia's pirate-infested coast, the European Union's Horn of Africa maritime security center said.

"Few details are known at this stage, but the mixed-nationality crew is believed to be safe," a statement on the London-based organization's Web site said.

The vessel, which is operated by an Italian company, carried a crew of 24, from Bulgaria, Ukraine, Russia and the Philippines, Britain's Telegraph newspaper reported.

"There have not yet been communications from the Malaspina Castle that we are aware of, so information is limited," said Andrew Mwangura of the Seafarers' Assistance Program in quotes carried by the Telegraph.

He added: "It is likely to be taken towards the Somali coast and negotiations will begin soon."

Meanwhile, the BBC reported that a Taiwanese fishing boat, with a crew of 29, was also hijacked Monday approximately 260km (160 miles) from the Seychelles.

The latest attacks follow a string of incidents in the pirate-plagued waterway off Somalia at the weekend, with a French yacht, a Yemeni tugboat and a German ship also reported to have been seized.

Last year, pirates attacked nearly 100 vessels and hijacked as many as 40 off Somalia, according to the International Maritime Bureau.

In response, a number of countries have deployed warships from their navies to the region, including the United States, China and Japan.

Monday's seizure of the Malaspina Castle was immediately condemned by the UK ship masters' union Nautilus, which has long urged governments to take stronger action to deter piracy.

Nautilus assistant general secretary Mark Dickinson told the British Press Association: "Over the last 10 years, most governments have not really done very much about this.

"More recently they have been motivated to act and there is an EU naval coordination force patrolling off the Gulf of Aden."

He added: "I'm not sure that this is going to be a long-term thing and I'm also worried that the pirates will start seizing ships well away from the areas being patrolled.

"In Somalia, piracy is like a big, successful industry and the authorities there need to act. The pirates are treated like local heroes. People look up to them and girls want to marry them. They are seen by some locals as good people but they are ruthless."


Mark my words, US forces will be deployed to finally solve this ferkterd nation

[Flynbyu]

I'm suprised we haven't moved in there sooner.

~Brian

[disco]

Maybe the shipowners should hire protection.  Blackwater aka XE (whatever the new name is) should be cheaper than paying those ransoms and having their ships idle and cargo delivered late.  I'm sure there are cheaper companies out there too.

The Brits could also say "Let our ship go and we won't bomb the crap out of your country.  You have until our bombers get there to release the ship. "    It won't take them long to avoid hijacking ships with the Union Jack.

[Krandall]

all those ships deserve to be captured.. f*ck how long has it been that pirates have been taking ships there.. seems no one is learning a dang thing...

[Peelz]

all those ships deserve to be captured.. f*ck how long has it been that pirates have been taking ships there.. seems no one is learning a dang thing...

No doubt!

ARRRRRr, walk the plank ye lil' African buggers!

[disco]

Arm up some of those merchant ships like we did in WWII.  Looks all innocent till you throw off the wraps and out come the guns.

I think that area has some major shipping lanes and trade routes.  You'd think they would start to detour that area though.  I know fueling a ship is expensive but ransoms are generally higher.