Lamb of God singer Randy Blythe arrested in Prague - BBC News
Randy Blythe, singer with US metal band Lamb of God has been arrested in Prague over the death of a fan at a gig in the Czech Republic two years ago.
It is understood that Mr Blythe, 44, was detained at Prague airport on Wednesday, forcing the band to cancel a live appearance the following night.
The 19-year-old fan died 14 days after allegedly being pushed from the stage by Mr Blythe at a gig in 2010.
It has been reported that the singer has now been released from custody.
Writing on the band's Twitter account, Mr Blythe's bandmate, guitarist Mark Morton said: "Finally HOME! 4/5 of us anyway... Thanx for all the support yall!"
Lamb of God's record label are understood to be releasing a statement on Monday.
Mr Blythe's arrest stems back to the death of a fan who attempted to climb on stage during a concert at Prague's club Abaton on 24 May 2010.
According to reports, the fan had repeatedly tried to climb onto the stage before allegedly being pushed by Mr Blythe and hitting the concrete floor.
He died 14 days later of his injuries, said Czech TV station TV Nova.
A post-mortem examination reportedly found that he had not been drunk or under the influence of drugs.
Lamb of God formed in Virginia in 1990 and, in 2007, received a Grammy nomination for their album Sacrament.
Last month, they played at the Download festival at Donnington Park in the UK.
China June official PMI hits 7-month low - Reuters
BEIJING |
BEIJING (Reuters) - China's factory downturn worsened in June as a key activity index hit a seven-month low, data expected to raise expectations the central bank may seek more policy easing to revive the world's second-largest economy.
The official Chinese purchasing managers' index (PMI) fell to 50.2 in June after seasonal adjustments, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Sunday, above forecasts for 49.8, but down from May's 50.4.
That was the worse reading since November last year, and a sharp fall in export orders and shrinking new orders suggested a recovery is not in sight. This would fuel bets that Beijing could further relax monetary policy as soon as this month, an analyst said.
"New orders and input prices are still falling, which show there are still many factors affecting production. A recovery in industrial output would take time," Zhang Liqun, a government researcher, said in a statement accompanying the PMI data.
Zhang's cautious tone backed estimates among some analysts that China's economy could worsen in the third quarter as previous policy easing takes time to filter through, potentially jeopardizing Beijing's 2012 growth target of 7.5 percent.
A protracted slowdown in China would further hobble a world economy already bruised by Europe's nagging debt crisis, and an ailing U.S. economic recovery. It is also a headache for Beijing as exporters are mainstay employers in China.
Sunday's PMI suggested Chinese factories struggled with lackluster foreign and domestic demand in June.
The sub-index for new export orders had its biggest monthly fall since December, shedding 2.9 percentage points to 47.5. New orders, which include domestic orders, slipped 0.6 percentage points to 49.2.
This means factories received fewer orders in June from May as the 50-point level separates expansion from contraction.
The dour numbers underline worries that China may miss its 2012 target to grow imports and exports by 10 percent, a level Trade Minister Chen Deming said would be met only if the country is "lucky".
Economists are not counting on it. A Reuters poll in May showed they expect China's economy to clock its worse annual growth in 13 years this year at 8.2 percent.
IMMINENT RRR CUT?
As China heads into its once-a-decade leadership change later this year, Beijing -- which believes strong growth legitimizes its rule -- is eager to do what it can to keep the economy growing briskly.
With China's inflation likely to stay benign, Beijing has room to act. The country's annual inflation ran at 3 percent in May, below a 2012 target of 4 percent. The PMI input prices sub-index stood at 3-1/2-year lows of 41.2 in June.
To shore up growth, Beijing lowered interest rates once and reduced banks' reserve requirement ratio (RRR) twice this year.
Traders said on Friday they anticipate the central bank to lower banks' RRR soon to ease a recent liquidity squeeze, triggered by regulatory requirements and a large initial public offering.
Small Chinese firms have also complained that loans are hard to come by despite lower lending rates. They say tight credit conditions further aggravate sluggish business.
Sunday's PMI showed the smallest Chinese factories were indeed hardest hit. The PMI for small businesses languished under 50 for the third straight month at 47.2. The PMI for big factories stood at 50.6, and that for mid-sized companies at 50.
But Hua Zhongwei, an economist at Huachuang Securities, was hopeful of an imminent recovery. He expects economic growth to trough at around 7.8 percent in the second quarter, before quickening to 8 percent over the next three months.
"The government and banks will ratchet up support for growth and we could see some impact from their efforts in the third quarter," Hua said.
(Reporting by Koh Gui Qing; Additional reporting by Kevin Yao; Editing by Ed Lane)
Wal-Mart suspends Louisiana seafood supplier - Reuters
(Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT.N) has suspended one of its seafood suppliers amid allegations that the company, CJ's Seafood of Breaux Bridge, Louisiana, violated several federal labor laws.
The retailing giant launched an investigation of CJ's Seafood following a report published by labor rights group the Worker Rights Consortium that said the crawfish processor abused migrant workers, forced them to work 24 hour shifts and used threats to prevent them from complaining to authorities.
Wal-Mart found that CJ's Seafood had violated some of its supplier standards, including record-keeping violations and wage requirements, but its investigation was not yet complete.
The seafood company, which employs 50 to 60 mostly migrant workers, is under investigation by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Department of Labor.
"We uncovered violations of some of our supplier standards and we also know that OSHA and DOL are also conducting investigations so we have suspended CJ's Seafood as a supplier pending the outcome of the investigations," said Wal-Mart spokesman Lorenzo Lopez.
"Once the investigation is completed, we will take the appropriate steps including permanently dropping CJ's Seafood as a supplier if the allegations of forced labor are true," he said.
Several more of Wal-Mart's suppliers were guilty of similar labor violations, said Saket Soni, director of the National Guestworker Alliance, a migrant worker advocacy group that requested the Worker Rights Consortium's investigation.
"The workers have exposed forced labor at CJ's and they have been backed up by independent investigators ... This is just the tip of the iceberg and that's why we want Wal-Mart to adopt national standards for civil and labor rights," he said.
Wal-Mart disagreed with the allegations.
"Wal-Mart works with about 60,000 suppliers in the U.S. and we have rigorous standards in place that our suppliers are required to follow, including compliance with all labor standards," Lopez said.
(Reporting by Karl Plume in Chicago; editing by Mohammad Zargham)
Assad's fate unclear in world powers' Syria plan - Reuters UK
GENEVA |
GENEVA (Reuters) - World powers struck an agreement that a transitional government should be set up in Syria to end the conflict there but they remained at odds over what part President Bashar al-Assad might play in the process.
Peace envoy Kofi Annan said after the talks in Geneva on Saturday the government should include members of Assad's administration and the Syrian opposition and that it should arrange free elections.
"Time is running out. The conflict must be resolved through peaceful dialogue and negotiations," Annan told reporters.
The talks had been billed as a last-ditch effort to halt the worsening violence in Syria but hit obstacles as Russia, Assad's most powerful ally, opposed Western and Arab insistence that he must quit the scene.
The final communique said the transitional government should be formed "on the basis of mutual consent".
In a victory for Russia, it omitted text in a previous draft which explicitly said the plan would exclude from government anyone whose participation would undermine the transition's credibility and jeopardise stability and reconciliation.
After the meeting, the United States and Russia contradicted each other over what that meant for Assad, who has ruled Syria for 11 years since succeeding his father Hafez and has been condemned internationally for the ferocity of his crackdown on the uprising against him.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said he was "delighted" with the result. The key point was that the deal did not attempt to impose a process on Syria, he said
It did not imply at all that Assad should step down as there were no preconditions excluding any group from the proposed national unity government, Lavrov said.
But U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said it sent a clear message to Assad that he must quit.
"Assad will still have to go," Clinton told reporters. "What we have done here is to strip away the fiction that he and those with blood on their hands can stay in power."
Annan convened the meeting at the United Nations complex on the shores of Lake Geneva to salvage a peace plan that has largely been ignored by the Assad government. He said at the opening that the conflict was in danger of growing into a regional and international crisis.
At its conclusion, the Nobel peace laureate fielded a question on whether people with blood on their hands could be part of a transitional government by saying:
"I would doubt that the Syrians who have fought so hard for their independence to be able to have a say in how they are governed and who governs them will select people with blood on their hands to lead them.
"I cannot say that I am really happy but I am content with the outcome today."
Annan's plan for a negotiated solution to the 16-month-old conflict is the only one on the table. More than 10,000 people have been killed since the anti-Assad uprising began and the past few weeks have been among the bloodiest.
Assad's government forces killed more than 30 people in Damascus on Saturday when they fired a mortar bomb into a funeral procession for a man who died in shelling a day before, said opposition activists.
Government forces pushed their way into Douma on the outskirts of the capital after weeks of siege and shelling. Fleeing residents spoke of corpses in the streets.
Britain's ITV showed footage of clouds of black smoke over houses and said warplanes had struck at targets there.
The army also attacked pro-opposition areas in Deir al-Zor, Homs, Idlib and the outskirts of Damascus, activists said.
BRAVE FACE
The foreign ministers of the U.N. Security Council's five permanent members - Russia, the United States, China, France and Britain - all attended the Geneva talks along with Turkey, Kuwait, Qatar, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Arab League head Nabil Elaraby and EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton.
Notably absent from the guest list were Iran, Syria's closest regional ally, and Saudi Arabia, a foe of both Damascus and Tehran and leading backer of the rebel forces. Nor was anyone from the Syrian government or opposition represented.
British Foreign Minister William Hague put a brave face on the Western compromise.
"These have been difficult talks as you can gather from the fact that we've spent more than nine hours discussing it. I think the result is a step forward, it is only a step forward but it is a step forward that is worth having," he said.
He welcomed the fact that Russia and China had signed up to the idea for a transitional government. But he lamented that no agreement had been reached on the question of arms sales to Syria and any future action, including sanctions, at the Security Council.
China, which along with Russia have blocked tougher action against Assad, said on Sunday that foreign powers should not force a political solution in Syria.
A statement said Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi stressed that a "political resolution can only be led by the Syrian people, and be broadly acceptable to relevant sides in Syria. The outside (world) cannot substitute the choice of the Syrian people, and China opposes a forced political resolution for Syria".
The Geneva agreement also called for people to be free to demonstrate peacefully and the release of political detainees as well as an immediate halt to the violence.
Middle East analyst Hayat Alvi of the U.S. Naval War College said he doubted the Assad government would accept the plan and enforcement of it would be almost impossible.
"The U.S. and other Western powers will not find any flexibility on the part of the Syrian regime, and its allies, namely Russia," he told Reuters from the United States.
"The proof is in the Assad regime's continuous acts of violence against the Syrian people, even while the diplomatic wheels have been turning. The wheels clearly are going in circles without moving forward."
That would likely be the scenario for months as long as Russia continued to support the Syrian government, Alvi said.
The conflict has evolved from peaceful protests against the Assad family's four-decade rule to something akin to a civil war with a sectarian dimension.
The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 56 people were killed across Syria on Saturday.
Syria's border with Turkey was also tense after a Turkish military build-up in response to Syria's shooting down of a Turkish warplane last week.
A Syrian witness said Turkish forces stationed on the border opposite the Syrian town of Jandaris fired machineguns in the air in response to Syrian army bombardment of rebel areas.
(Reporting by Andrew Quinn, Tom Miles, Stepahnie Nebehay, Robert Evans and Emma Farge in Geneva, Oliver Holmes and Mariam Karouny in Beirut, Peter Apps in London; Writing by Angus MacSwan; Editing by Ralph Gowling)
Murray surprised by dramatic late finish - ESPN.co.uk
Andy Murray admitted he was unsure if he would finish before the 11pm (BST) Wimbledon curfew, but expressed his relief at having progressed to the fourth round in dramatic circumstances on Saturday night.
Murray defeated Marcos Baghdatis 7-5 3-6 7-5 6-1 in three hours and 13 minutes, winning match point two minutes after the Centre Court deadline. Rules state no play after 23:00, and Murray was stunned he was able to wrap up the latest known finish to a Wimbledon match.
"I was under the impression I was stopping at 11 [pm BST] regardless of what the score was - even if it was in the middle of a game," Murray said. "I am obviously glad I managed to get the finish. The atmosphere at the end was excellent.
"When I got up at 4-1 [in the fourth set] I did not sit down. I said to the umpire, 'Are we going to finish?' He said, 'Yes.' I had no idea what the rules were."
Despite requiring assistance from medical staff during his third-round triumph, Murray insists he is in good physical shape ahead of his next clash against Marin Cilic on Monday.
"My knee was a little bit sore," he said. "I took a tumble towards the end of the second set, when my feet went from under with me. When we had the break it was a little bit stiff, but the physio worked on it. It was OK. I was struggling quite a bit with my footing.
"It was tough conditions, I was really struggling. In the first couple of sets I was creating a lot of chances but I wasn't feeling comfortable.
"It was a tricky first week, I had a tough draw. They're going to get tougher. I'm going to have play better."
The draw has arguably opened up for Murray following the shock early exit of two-time Wimbledon champion Rafael Nadal. However, the Brit refused to become too excited by the prospect of a potentially easier passage to the final.
"As a player you're conscious of what's going on in the draw but the draw didn't open up for me. If I get to the semis it will help but today was very close. I still have difficult matches to go.
"It's silly for me to think Nadal is out so therefore I am guaranteed a place in the final, but I will keep my head focused on the next match," said Murray.
© ESPN EMEA Ltd
Sangh veteran dares Nitish to quit NDA - in.news.yahoo.com
New Delhi, June 30: The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh has fired another salvo at Nitish Kumar for flagging the issue of a "secular" Prime Minister for the BJP-led NDA coalition in 2014.
The Sangh used its English weekly Organiser to make its point against the Bihar chief minister, who a couple of weeks ago had indicated that Narendra Modi was neither his choice for the country's top job nor that of his party, the Janata Dal (United).
A column written by Sangh veteran and former spokesperson M.G. Vaidya, titled Who is secular? And what is secularism?, questioned Nitish's "haste" in forcing the prime ministerial issue on the BJP and said: "If he wants to sever his party's ties with the NDA, he can do it, any time."
In normal circumstances, Vaidya's thoughts may not have made news because he has always been known to speak his mind, even against the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government. Besides, once RSS sarsanghchalak Mohanrao Bhagwat took Modi's side, the "parivar" took the cue and knew whom it should bat for.
Vaidya's column was interesting because his son Manmohan Vaidya has had an acrimonious relationship with Modi, according to Sangh insiders.
Manmohan, who is the RSS's national prachar pramukh (chief propagandist), had been based in Gujarat till a few years ago. However, sources said, once Modi was "convinced" he was in cahoots with long-time rival Sanjay Joshi in destabilising him as chief minister, he worked on the RSS to shunt him out, which it did.
Manmohan shuttles between Nagpur and Delhi.
Vaidya senior ostensibly didn't allow his paternal considerations to influence his stand on the Nitish-Modi face-off.
"Why did Nitish raise the issue of the PM just now? The LS elections are two years away…. Why is Nitish in such a haste? If he wants to sever his party's ties with the NDA, he can do it, any time. Even now his party has chalked out a different path for the presidential poll," Vaidya said.
He argued that if Nitish had prime ministerial ambitions, he was free to pursue them. He was also free to "amuse" himself with his "personal opinion" about Modi. "But what is the meaning of pressurising (the) BJP to declare its PM candidate? And why should (the) BJP oblige him?" Vaidya asked.
He said that if Nitish wished to canvass for a "secular" Prime Minister, the RSS sarsanghchalak was equally at liberty to say that the next Prime Minister could be a Hindutva adherent.
His contention was the secular-communal debate itself was "uncalled for" because "no individual is secular unless he is an atheist".
1st Japan reactor goes online since nuclear crisis - CBC
Dozens of protesters shouted and danced at the gate of a nuclear power plant as it restarted Sunday, the first to go back online since Japan shut down all of its reactors for safety checks following the Fukushima nuclear disaster.
Ohi nuclear plant's reactor No. 3 returned to operation despite a deep division in public opinion. Last month, Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda ordered the restarts of reactors No. 3 and nearby No. 4, saying people's living standards can't be maintained without nuclear energy. Many citizens are against a return to nuclear power because of safety fears after the Fukushima accident.
Crowds of tens of thousands of people have gathered on Friday evenings around Noda's official residence, chanting, "Saikado hantai," or "No to nuclear restarts." Protests drawing such numbers are extremely rare in this nation, often known for orderly conformity. A demonstration in Tokyo protesting the restart and demanding Noda resign was planned in a major park Sunday.
Although initially ignored by mainstream local media, demonstrations across the country have grown as word spread through social media, sometimes drawing Japanese celebrities including Nobel Prize-winning writer Kenzaburo Oe and Ryuichi Sakamoto, who composed the score for the movie "The Last Emperor."
People sit in protest on a road near the entrance to the Ohi nuclear power plan in Ohi town, Fukui, western Japan early Sunday. (Kyodo News/Associated Press)All 50 of Japan's working reactors were gradually turned off in the wake of last year's massive earthquake and tsunami, which sent the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant into multiple meltdowns, setting off the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl.
But worries about a power crunch over the hot summer months have been growing. Oil imports are soaring. Officials have warned about blackouts in some regions.
The government has been carrying out new safety tests on nuclear plants, and says Ohi No. 3 and No. 4 are safe to restart.
Protesters like Taisuke Kohno, a 41-year-old musician among the 200 people trying to blockade the Ohi plant, aren't so sure. He said protesters were facing off against riot police and planned to stay there day and night.
"It's a lie that nuclear energy is clean," he said. "After experiencing the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, how can Japan possibly want nuclear power?"
Kansai Electric Power Co., the utility that operates Ohi in central Japan, was not immediately available for comment Sunday. It said on its website that a nuclear reaction restarted Sunday afternoon at the No. 3 reactor, a key step for it to begin producing electricity.
Fukushima Dai-ichi, in northeastern Japan, went into meltdowns and exploded after the March 11 tsunami destroyed backup generators to keep the reactor cores cool.
In the latest problem at the crippled plant, Tokyo Electric Power Co., its operator, said the cooling system for the spent nuclear fuel pool at reactor No. 4 broke down Saturday, and a temporary system was set up Sunday.
The cooling system had to be restored within 70 hours, or temperatures would have started to rise, spewing radiation.
Italy bid to topple Spain as European kings - Football
Published: 01 Jul 2012 - 06:46:56
Euro 2012 reaches its climax in Sunday's final in Kiev, when defending champions Spain will bid to hold off an Italy side who have steadily eased into form in trademark fashion.
Having beaten strongly fancied Germany 2-1 in Thursday's second semi-final in Warsaw, 1968 title-winners Italy will contest a Euro final for the first time since their extra-time loss to France in 2000.
Reigning world and European champions Spain are seeking to become the first team in history to win three consecutive major titles, but they required a penalty shoot-out to edge Portugal in the last four in Donetsk.
Despite dominating possession, as they did in the 2-0 quarter-final success over France, Spain laboured in attack against the Portuguese and have started to face accusations that their 'tika-taka' style has become sterile.
Italy, in contrast, have confounded low pre-tournament expectations to eliminate first England and then Germany, and they have not been beaten by Spain over 90 minutes in a competitive match since the 1920 Olympics.
Italy's preparations for the tournament having been clouded by the Calcioscommesse match-fixing affair, the Azzurri could be poised to triumph in the face of adversity once again.
Their World Cup successes in both 1982 and 2006 were prefaced by match-fixing scandals, but coach Cesare Prandelli has cooled talk of omens by insisting that his side will be the underdogs at Kiev's Olympic Stadium.
"We are looking for Spain's weak points and we'll be working on that, but it won't be easy," said Prandelli, whose side beat Spain 2-1 in a friendly in August last year. "They are world and European champions."
Spain and Italy drew 1-1 in their opening Group C game -- Cesc Fabregas cancelling out Antonio di Natale's opener -- and it will be the fourth time that two teams who have met in their first game resume hostilities in the final.
The last occasion was at Euro 2004, when Greece twice upset hosts Portugal.
Italy successfully stifled Spain three weeks ago in Gdansk, as Prandelli opted for a 3-5-2 formation that afforded his defenders extra room to manoeuvre against Spain's fluid front three.
Fabregas was used as a 'false nine' in that game, but Spain coach Vicente del Bosque appears to have doubts over who is the best player to spearhead his attack.
Fernando Torres played up front in the 4-0 win over Ireland and the 1-0 defeat of Croatia, while Alvaro Negredo started in the 0-0 draw with Portugal but was replaced by Fabregas early in the second half.
One striker brimming with confidence is Italy's Mario Balotelli, who came of age in the semi-final against Germany with a confidently taken first-half brace.
The controversy-prone 21-year-old provided one of the images of the tournament by embracing his adoptive mother in the crowd after the final whistle, and he will enter Sunday's game as the tournament's joint-top scorer with three goals.
"Balotelli is a great player," said Fabregas.
"He showed that (on Thursday) by scoring two superb goals in a semi-final against a very strong team like Germany."
An engaging tournament requires only a memorable final to confirm its status as a modern classic, but Spain will need to awake from their slumber if they are to overcome a disciplined and committed Italy side.
The champions must also shake the weariness from their legs after 120 minutes of graft against Portugal, although they will benefit from an extra day's rest.
"We're very motivated by the possibility of setting a new record by winning the trophy," said centre-back Sergio Ramos on Friday.
"But we also want to enjoy the moment. Even if we lose, we've already made history just by reaching the final. Winning would be the cherry on the cake.
"Spain as a country can be very proud, whatever happens on Sunday, but the goal is obviously to win and return to Spain with our heads held high."
Both teams are expected to be at full-strength, with Italy right-back Ignazio Abate having shrugged off a muscle problem that kept him out of the semi-final.
As well as pitting together two of the tournament's outstanding midfielders in Spain's Andres Iniesta and Italy's Andrea Pirlo, the game will also see Spain attempt to become the first country to successfully defend the European title.
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