With tears and emotion, Americans mark Sep. 11

With tears and emotion, Americans mark Sep. 11

America mourns Sept 11 dead with somber ceremonies

"Children yearned for lost parents and grown men and women sobbed in raw grief on the brass bearing the names of nearly 3,000 dead as America commemorated the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks.

The name of every person killed in al Qaeda's hijacked plane attacks was read on Sunday in the nearly five-hour-long centerpiece of a heart-wrenching ceremony where the World Trade Center twin towers stood.

"I haven't stopped missing my Dad. He was awesome," said Peter Negron, a child when his father, Pete, was killed in one of the towers. "I wish my Dad had been there to teach me how to drive, ask a girl out on a date and see me graduate from high school and a hundred other things I can't even begin to name."

There were smaller ceremonies in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, and at the Pentagon, the other sites were 19 men from the Islamic militant group al Qaeda crashed hijacked airliners on the sunny Tuesday morning of September 11, 2001.

The attacks led U.S. forces to invade Afghanistan to topple the Taliban rulers who had harbored al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and Washington began a "war on terror" that ousted Iraq's Saddam Hussein and persists on several fronts to this day. (...)"

in Reuters

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Commuting nightmare after Irene floods U.S. northeast

Commuting nightmare after Irene floods U.S. northeast

"New Yorkers faced a hellish commute on Monday and millions of Americans throughout the northeastern United States were left in the dark and flooded after Hurricane Irene battered the region before moving into Canada.

Downgraded to a tropical and then a post-tropical storm, Irene pelted eastern Canada with rain and 50-mph (80-kph) winds after killing 20 people in the United States. It cut power to five million homes and businesses and choked towns with floodwaters.

New York subways and air travel at major airports were due to slowly regain service starting at 6 a.m. EDT but there were expected to be delays and overcrowding. Most of the commuter rail services feeding the city were out indefinitely.

Wall Street was largely unaffected as was Ground Zero, where the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks is soon to be observed. Financial markets would be open for normal trading, but volume is expected to be low.

Suburban New Jersey and rural Vermont were hit particularly hard. Both states were inundated with rain after an unusually wet summer season left the ground soaked and rivers swelled even before the storm rumbled through. (...)"

in Reuters

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East Coast braces for Irene

East Coast braces for Irene

"Hurricane Irene rages up U.S. east coast"

" Hurricane Irene lashed North Carolina with heavy winds, rain and surf Saturday as it neared land on a path threatening the densely populated U.S. east coast with flooding and power outages.

New York City ordered unprecedented evacuations and transit shutdowns as states from the Carolinas to Maine declared emergencies due to Irene, whose nearly 600 mile width guaranteed a stormy weekend for tens of millions of people.

With winds of 90 miles per hour, Irene weakened slightly to a Category 1 hurricane on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale by early Saturday but forecasters warned that it remained a large and dangerous storm.

In the port and holiday city of Wilmington, North Carolina, thousands of people were without electricity as Irene's winds intensified. The streets were empty before dawn and the air was filled with the smell and sound of pine trees cracking under the advancing storm.

At 5 a.m. EDT (0900 GMT), the center of Irene was about 35 miles south of Cape Lookout, North Carolina, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

"Some weakening is expected after Irene reaches the coast of North Carolina but Irene is forecast to remain a hurricane as it moves near or over the mid-Atlantic states and New England," it said.

In summer weather, hundreds of thousands of residents and vacationers had evacuated from Irene's path. Supermarkets and hardware stores were inundated with people stocking up on food, water, flashlights, batteries, generators and other supplies. (...) "

in Reuters

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Strauss-Kahn sexual assalt dismissed

Strauss-Kahn sexual assalt dismissed

"Dominique Strauss-Kahn sex assault charges dropped"

"New York prosecutors have dropped sexual assault charges against Dominique Strauss-Kahn for allegedly attacking a hotel maid – but he is not yet a completely free man after the judge said an appeal court must decide on the maid's lawyer's attempts to have a special prosecutor take over the case.

It had been widely anticipated that the case would be thrown out today, but the decision to go to the appeals court caused confusion in the New York courtroom.

The judge, Michael Obus, told the packed court he would comply with a request from the prosecution to dismiss the case. "The indictment is dismissed," he said. Most legal observers think the attempt by lawyers for Nafissatou Diallo will be unsuccessful, and a decision could come as early as later on Tuesday.

A largest group of protestors had gathered outside, many of them waving placards and chanting slogans such as "DSK! Shame on you!" as Strauss-Kahn left the courtoom.

Michael Greys, co-founder of the group 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement, was furious at the dismissal of the case. (...)"

in The Guardian

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News on case ‘West Menphis Three’

News on case ‘West Menphis Three’

“’West Memphis Three' freed in '93 slayings”

“New evidence had arisen to potentially challenge the convictions of the men, one of whom had been on death row, for the deaths of three young boys.

The men known as the "West Memphis Three," who served more than 18 years behind bars for the notorious 1993 murders of three young boys — and became a cause celebre among actors and musicians who doubted their guilt — won their freedom in an Arkansas courtroom Friday after new evidence arose to potentially challenge their convictions.
Their legal absolution, however, was not clear-cut. In an agreement with prosecutors, Damien Echols and Jessie Misskelley, both 36, and Jason Baldwin, 34, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder charges but will also able to claim they are innocent, a rare arrangement known as an Alford plea.
"It's not perfect by any means," Echols, pale and in tinted shades, said at a news conference after the hearing. "But at least it brings closure.... We can still try to clear our names. The only difference is now we can do it from the outside."
Echols, the alleged ringleader, had been on death row. Baldwin and Misskelley were serving life sentences.
The gruesome slayings of the 8-year-old boys — Christopher Byers, Steve Branch and Michael Moore — terrified the small city of West Memphis, Ark., leading to rumors that a Satanic cult was responsible. After disappearing one afternoon in May 1993, the second-graders were found "naked, bound and in horrific condition, submerged in a creek in the woods," according to a court filing. (..)”

in Los Angeles Times

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