Eksiĝis du jordaniaj ministroj pro malobeo de reguloj pri trudizoliĝo

La jordaniaj ministroj pri internaj aferoj kaj justico eksiĝis dimanĉon la 28-an de februaro, post kiam oni trafis ilin malobeantaj kontraŭkronvirusajn regulojn pri trudizoliĝo.

Oni kaptis ministron pri internaj aferoj Samir Mobeidin kaj ministron pri justico Bassam Talhoŭni ĉeestantaj publikan bankedon kaj rompantaj socian distancadon kaj gvidlinojn pri maksimuma homkapacito — aferoj pri kies efektivigo iliaj respektivaj ministrejoj respondecas. Ĉi tiu incidento okazis kelkajn tagojn post la altrudo de novaj limigoj al jordanianoj, inkluzive de enhejma trudizoliĝo, elirmalpermeso efektivigata de l' armeo, kaj monpuno je 100 dinaroj por tiuj, kiuj ne portas maskojn survizaĝe.

Iliajn eksiĝojn akceptis ĉefministro Biŝer Al-Ĥasaŭneh, kaj reĝo Abdulah la 2-a per unu el du reĝaj dekretoj. Laŭ kelkaj raportoj, la dua dekreto aŭtoritatigis deputitan ĉefministron pri loka administrado Taŭfik Krejŝan ekestri la ministrejon pri internaj aferoj, kaj ŝtatministron pri leĝaj aferoj Aĥmad Ziadat ekestri la ministrejon pri justico.

Laŭ la novaĵagentejo Reuters, antaŭnelonga erupcio de novaj variantoj de la kronviruso rezultigis almenaŭ 4 627 mortojn kaj pli ol 300 mil infektiĝojn en la nacio, kiu havas dek mil loĝantojn. Oficialuloj atribuas la erupcion al jordanianoj malobeantaj la limigojn, kaj oni arestis dekojn pro rompo de ordonoj pri trudizoliĝo. Kiel plue raportis Reuters, centoj da negocoj estis fermitaj.


Dos ministros jordanos renuncian tras romper las medidas de emergencia

Los ministros de Interior y Justicia de Jordania dimitieron ayer tras ser encontrados violando las medidas de emergencia contra el coronavirus.

Tanto el ministro del Interior, Samir Mobeideen, como el ministro de Justicia, Bassam Talhouni, fueron encontrados en un banquete público violando el distanciamiento social y las pautas de capacidad máxima permisible que se espera que hagan cumplir sus ministerios, la cual es de 20 personas.

La falta se produjo días después de la imposición de nuevas restricciones a los jordanos, incluidas las órdenes de quedarse en casa, un toque de queda impuesto por el ejército y una multa de 100 dinares a quienes no usen máscaras faciales.

Sus renuncias fueron aceptadas por el primer ministro Bisher Al-Khasawneh y, en uno de los dos Reales Decretos, el Rey Abdullah II. Según varios informes, el segundo decreto ratificó al viceprimer ministro de Administración Local, Tawfiq Kreishan, para dirigir el Ministerio del Interior y al ministro de Estado de Asuntos Jurídicos, Ahmad Ziadat, para presidir el Ministerio de Justicia.

Jordania vive un aumento de nuevas infecciones por variantes del coronavirus y a la fecha acumula 4627 muertes y más de 300 mil casos en la nación de diez millones, informó Reuters. Los funcionarios lo atribuyen a que los jordanos no obedecen las restricciones y han arrestado a decenas por violar las órdenes de quedarse en casa; también se han cerrado cientos de negocios, añadió la agencia de noticias en el informe.


Dois ministros jordanianos pegos violando medidas de bloqueio renunciaram

Os ministros jordanianos do Interior e da Justiça renunciaram ontem após terem sido encontrados violando as medidas de bloqueio anticoronavírus.

Tanto o Ministro do Interior Samir Mobeideen quanto o Ministro da Justiça Bassam Talhouni foram encontrados em um banquete público violando o distanciamento social, bem como as diretrizes de capacidade máxima permitida que seus ministérios devem aplicar. A capacidade atual é limitada a 20 pessoas. Isso ocorre dias após a imposição de novas restrições aos jordanianos, incluindo ordens de permanência em casa, toque de recolher obrigatório e multa de 100 dinares (~ US $ 140) para quem não usa máscara.

Suas renúncias foram aceitas pelo primeiro-ministro Bisher Al-Khasawneh e, em um dos dois decretos reais, pelo rei Abdullah II. De acordo com vários relatórios, o segundo decreto ratificou o vice-primeiro-ministro da Administração Local Tawfiq Kreishan para dirigir o Ministério do Interior e o Ministro de Estado para Assuntos Jurídicos, Ahmad Ziadat, para dirigir o Ministério da Justiça.

Um recente surto de novas infecções por variantes do coronavírus causou pelo menos 4.627 mortes e mais de 300 mil casos em um país de dez milhões de habitantes, repórter da Reuters. As autoridades atribuem isso ao fato de os jordanianos não obedecerem às restrições e prenderam dezenas por violar as ordens de permanência em casa; centenas de empresas também foram fechadas, acrescentou a Reuters no relatório


Two Kenyans kidnapped by gunmen in Somalia now released

Two Kenyans who were seized by armed gunmen at a market in Somalia's capital Mogadishu were released today, according to reports.

The Kenyans, workers of the printing agency Hamar Adde, had been taken from the Bakara market, the biggest trading centre in the Somali capital, at gunpoint on Sunday. Eyewitnesses said that two Somalis in the company of the Kenyans were kidnapped as well, but later were soon released.

"They are safe [...] We gave them a vacation," said the manager of the Hamar Adde printing company, Abdukar Ali, where the kidnapped men are employed. He added that the two Kenyans have flown back to Nairobi.

Kidnappings, frequently targeting aid workers and foreigners, are commonplace in Somalia. The country has not had a stable government since 1991, when warlords ousted former leader Siad Barre in a coup.


Czad: uprowadzono francuskiego pracownika humanitarnego; w Somalii uwolniono Kenijczyków

Francuz pracujący dla Międzynarodowego Komitetu Czerwonego Krzyża został wczoraj wieczorem uprowadzony w Czadzie. W Afryce tym samym doszło do kolejnego porwania pracownika Międzynarodowego Komitetu Czerwonego Krzyża.

Do porwania 37-letniego Laurenta Maurice doszło wczoraj wieczorem w wschodnim Czadzie w wiosce Kawa, leżącej przy granicy z Sudanem.

W pobliskim Darfurze 22 października doszło do porwania także francuskiego pracownika Międzynarodowego Komitetu Czerwonego Krzyża. W Darfurze oprócz wspomnianego Francuza nadal w niewoli znajdują się dwaj żołnierze ONZ porwani 29 sierpnia br.

MKCK informuje, iż nie nawiązał jeszcze kontaktu z porywaczami, a w wystosowanym oświadczeniu wzywa do szybkiego i bezwarunkowego uwolnienia zakładnika.

Do porwań pracowników Międzynarodowego Komitetu Czerwonego Krzyża dochodzi na całym świecie. Przykładowo na Filipinach w tym roku był przetrzymywany przez terrorystów ponad pół roku 61-letni włoski pracownik tej organizacji.

Tymczasem w innym afrykańskim kraju ogarniętym wojną, w Somalii, w niedzielę, 8 listopada, w Mogadiszu, uzbrojeni mężczyźni uprowadzili dwóch obywateli Kenii, którzy jednak wczoraj odzyskali wolność.

Obecnie w Somalii przetrzymywanych jest nadal 4 zagranicznych osób. Są nimi dwoje pracownicy ONZ porwani w kwietniu 2008, dziennikarka z Kanady i dziennikarz z Australii, którzy zostali uprowadzeni w sierpniu zeszłego roku.


Two killed in gun attack in Northern Ireland

Two British Army soldiers have been killed in a gun attack outside an army base in County Antrim, Northern Ireland.

The attack occurred at 21:40 GMT outside the Massereene army base, home to 38 Engineering Regiment, 16 miles north west of Belfast.
According to the police four others, two other soldiers and two civilians, have been hurt, one critically.

In the incident, described as a drive-by shooting by a Ministry of Defence spokesperson, an estimated thirty to forty rounds were fired at the soldiers, who were taking a pizza delivery. The two civilians injured being the pizza delivery men.

Although no party has yet claimed responsibility, the attack bears the hallmarks of dissident Republicans.

Jeffrey Donaldson, a Democratic Unionist lawmaker, said that he believed that gunmen armed with automatic weapons had entered the barracks, possibly disguised as pizza delivery men. "This is a terrible reminder of the consequences of terrorism. We've had this in the past and no-one wants to see this happening in Northern Ireland," he said.

A witness who lived near the area where the shooting took place said to the BBC that he first thought that the gunshots were fireworks, but "...then I heard a lot of loud bangs again, only it was a lot more than there was initially - maybe between 10 and 20. Then the siren at the Army barracks went off. Then all you heard was the police sirens and ambulances and there was at least six ambulances."

The deaths, the first of British soldiers in Northern Ireland in twelve years, comes just days after news broke that intelligence of an imminent attack had been received and the deployment of a special forces reconnaissance detachment to Northern Ireland.


هجوم على قاعدة بريطانية في إيرلندا يخلف جرحى و قتلى

هاجم مسلحون قاعدة للجيش البريطاني في أيرلندا الشمالية فيما وصف بواحد من أسوأ الهجمات منذ عدة سنوات. وأسفر الهجوم عن مقتل جنديين اثنين وإصابة أربعة آخرين.

ونقلت رويترز عن تقارير إعلامية أن منفذي الهجوم تظاهروا بأنهم يقومون بتوصيل بيتزا إلى قاعدة ماسيريني قرب بلدة إنتريم الواقعة على بعد 25 كيلومترا شمال غرب بلفاست عاصمة ايرلندا الشمالية.

كما نقل عن شهود أن عيارات نارية أطلقت مساء أمس السبت من عربة لتوصيل فطائر "البيتزا" للمنازل. وقال شهود إنهم سمعوا سلسلة طويلة من العيارات النارية قبل إطلاق جرس الإنذار في القاعدة.


Irlandia Płn: zamach na brytyjskich żołnierzy

W wczorajszej (7 III) strzelaninie w bazie Massereene w Antrim w Irlandii Północnej zginęło dwóch brytyjskich żołnierzy. 4 osoby zostały ranne.

Do strzelaniny, do której miała się przyznać Prawdziwa Irlandzka Armia Republikańska (RIRA), doszło nieopodal bazy Massereene, gdzie stacjonuje brytyjski 38 regiment saperów, ok. 21:20 czasu miejscowego (22:20 czasu polskiego).

Żołnierze, którzy zginęli mieli wkrótce wylecieć do Afganistanu. Wśród rannych jest dwóch innych żołnierzy i dwóch rozwozicieli pizzy: 19-letni Irlandczyk i 32-letni Polak. Stan Polaka oceniany jest jako krytyczny.

Nie mam żadnych wątpliwości, że to była próba masowego morderstwa – powiedział po wydarzeniu oficer śledczy Derek Williamson.

W rejonie bazy rozpoczęto zakrojoną na szeroką skalę obławę na napastników.

W 1998 roku IRA podpisała pokój. 28 lipca 2005 roku IRA oficjalnie ogłosiła koniec walki zbrojnej, a 26 września tego samego roku IRA złożyła szacowaną na ponad 150 ton broń, co potwierdziła Międzynarodowa Niezależna Komisja Rozbrojeniowa (IIDC). W ramach współpracy, rząd w Londynie ogłosił plan normalizacji dla Irlandii Północnej, zakładający zmniejszenie liczby brytyjskich żołnierzy w tej prowincji z ponad 10 tys. do 5 tys. w ciągu dwóch lat. RIRA jest radykalnym odłamem IRA, który sprzeciwia się pokojowym rozmowom z rządem brytyjskim.


Two men shot during robbery in Houston, Texas

Two men were shot during a robbery at a car stereo and alarm business in the city of Houston, Texas yesterday evening, according to police. One of the men, Abdullah Shakur, 65, later died at a local hospital.  The other man, Samer Salam, 32, was reportedly in critical condition late Tuesday evening.

Police said three robbers carried out the attack, each wearing masks,  Reportedly, the store employees resisted. No suspects had been named as of 1:30pm local time Wednesday.

It is unclear if the suspects left with any property, but early reports indicate one suspect was injured during the robbery. Police noted a blood trail was found outside the business. Police said the men may have arrived at the business driving a light blue or silver Ford Mustang.


Dois homens baleados durante assalto em Houston, Texas

Dois homens foram baleados durante um assalto à um aparelho de som no carro e a venda de alarmes na cidade de Houston, Texas, ontem à noite, segundo a polícia. Um dos homens, Abdullah Shakur, 65 anos, morreu mais tarde em um hospital local. O outro homem, Samer Salam, 32, foi relatado em estado crítico na terça-feira à noite.

Segundo a polícia, três assaltantes realizaram o ataque, cada um usando máscaras, alegadamente, os empregados da loja resistiram. Nenhum suspeito teve nome divulgado às 13hs30min hora local na quarta-feira.

Não está claro se os suspeitos deixados com qualquer propriedade, mas os relatórios iniciais indicam que um suspeito foi ferido durante o assalto. A polícia notou um rastro de sangue que foi encontrada fora da loja de vendas. A polícia disse que os homens podem ter chegado à loja de venda dirigindo uma Ford Mustang luz azul ou prata.


Two nuclear submarines collide in the Atlantic Ocean

The Nuclear ballistic missile submarines Triomphant, from France, and HMS Vanguard, of the British Royal Navy, collided deep under the middle of the Atlantic Ocean in the middle of the night between February 3 and 4, despite both vessels being equipped with sonar. The collision caused damage to both vessels but it did not release any radioactive material, a Ministry of Defence (MOD) official confirmed Monday.

A Ministry of Defence spokesman said nuclear security had not been breached. "It is MOD policy not to comment on submarine operational matters, but we can confirm that the U.K.’s deterrent capability was unaffected at all times and there has been no compromise to nuclear safety. Triomphant had struck 'a submerged object (probably a container)' during a return from a patrol, damaging the sonar dome on the front of the submarine," he said.

A French navy spokesman said that "the collision did not result in injuries among the crew and did not jeopardise nuclear security at any moment." Lack of communication between France and other members of NATO over the location of their SLBM deterrents is believed to be another reason for the crash.

According to Daily Mail, the vessels collided 1,000ft underwater in the Bay of Biscay (Golfe de Gascogne; Golfo de Vizcaya  and Mar Cantábrico), a gulf of the North Atlantic Ocean. It lies along the western coast of France from Brest south to the Spanish border, and the northern coast of Spain west to Punta de Estaca de Bares, and is named for the Spanish province of Biscay, with average depth of 5,723 feet (1,744 m) and maximum depth is 9,151 feet (2,789 m).

Each submarine is laden with missiles powerful enough for 1,248 Hiroshima bombings, The Independent said.

It is unlikely either vessel was operating its active sonar at the time of the collision, because the submarines are designed to "hide" while on patrol and the use of active sonar would immediately reveal the boat's location. Both submarines' hulls are covered with anechoic tile to reduce detection by sonar, so the boats' navigational passive sonar would not have detected the presence of the other.

Lee Willett of London's Royal United Services Institute said "the NATO allies would be very reluctant to share information on nuclear submarines. These are the strategic crown jewels of the nation. The whole purpose of a sea-based nuclear deterrent is to hide somewhere far out of sight. They are the ultimate tools of national survival in the event of war. Therefore, it's the very last thing you would share with anybody."

First Sea Lord Admiral Sir Jonathon Band GCB, ADC of the United Kingdom, the most senior serving officer in the Royal Navy, said that "...the submarines came into contact at very low speed. Both submarines remained safe. No injuries occurred. We can confirm the capability remains unaffected and there was no compromise to nuclear safety."

"Both navies want quiet areas, deep areas, roughly the same distance from their home ports. So you find these station grounds have got quite a few submarines, not only French and Royal Navy but also from Russia and the United States. Navies often used the same nesting grounds," said John H. Large, an independent nuclear engineer and analyst primarily known for his work in assessing and reporting upon nuclear safety and nuclear related accidents and incidents.

President of the Royal Naval Association John McAnally said that the incident was a "one in a million chance". "It would be very unusual on deterrent patrol to use active sonar because that would expose the submarine to detection. They are, of course, designed to be very difficult to detect and one of the priorities for both the captain and the deterrent patrol is to avoid detection by anything," he said.

The development of stealth technology, making the submarines less visible to other vessels has properly explained that a submarine does not seem to have been able to pick out another submarine nearly the length of two football pitches and the height of a three-story building.

"The modus operandi of most submarines, particularly ballistic-missile submarines, is to operate stealthily and to proceed undetected. This means operating passively, by not transmitting on sonar, and making as little noise as possible. A great deal of technical effort has gone into making submarines quiet by reduction of machinery noise. And much effort has gone into improving the capability of sonars to detect other submarines; detection was clearly made too late or not at all in this case," explained Stephen Saunders, the editor of Jane's Fighting Ships, an annual reference book  (also published online, on CD and microfiche) of information on all the world's warships arranged by nation, including information on ship's names, dimensions, armaments, silhouettes and photographs, etc.

According to Bob Ayres, a former CIA and US army officer, and former associate fellow at Chatham House, the Royal Institute of International Affairs, however, the submarines were not undetectable, despite their "stealth" technology. "When such submarines came across similar vessels from other navies, they sought to get as close as possible without being detected, as part of routine training. They were playing games with each other – stalking each other under the sea. They were practising being able to kill the other guy's submarine before he could launch a missile.Because of the sound of their nuclear reactors' water pumps, they were still noisier than old diesel-electric craft, which ran on batteries while submerged. The greatest danger in a collision was the hull being punctured and the vessel sinking, rather than a nuclear explosion," Ayres explained.

Submarine collisions are uncommon, but not unheard of: in 1992, the USS Baton Rouge, a submarine belonging to the United States, under command of Gordon Kremer, collided with the Russian Sierra-class attack submarine K-276 that was surfacing in the Barents Sea.

In 2001, the US submarine USS Greeneville surfaced and collided with Japanese fishing training ship Ehime Maru (えひめ丸), off the coast of Hawaii. The Navy determined the commanding officer of Greeneville to be in "dereliction of duty."

The tenth HMS Vanguard (S28) of the British Royal Navy is the lead boat of her class of Trident ballistic missile-capable submarines and is based at HMNB Clyde, Faslane. The 150m long, V-class submarine under the Trident programme, has a crew of 135, weighs nearly 16,000 tonnes and is armed with 16 Trident 2 D5 ballistic missiles carrying three warheads each.

It is now believed to have been towed Monday to its naval base Faslane in the Firth of Clyde, with dents and scrapes to its hull. Faslane lies on the eastern shore of Gare Loch in Argyll and Bute, Scotland, to the north of the Firth of Clyde and 25 miles west of the city of Glasgow.

Vanguard is one of the deadliest vessels on the planet. It was built at Barrow-in-Furness by Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering Ltd (now BAE Systems Submarine Solutions), was launched on 4 March, 1992, and commissioned on 14 August, 1993. The submarine's first captain was Captain David Russell. In February 2002, Vanguard began a two-year refit at HMNB Devonport. The refit was completed in June 2004 and in October 2005 Vanguard completed her return to service trials (Demonstration and Shakedown Operations) with the firing of an unarmed Trident missile.

"The Vanguard has two periscopes, a CK51 search model and a CH91 attack model, both of which have a TV camera and thermal imager as well as conventional optics," said John E. Pike, director and a national security analyst for http://www.globalsecurity.org/, an easily accessible pundit, and active in opposing the SDI, and ITAR, and consulting on  NEO's.

"But the periscopes are useless at that depth. It's pitch black after a couple of hundred feet. In the movies like 'Hunt for Red October,' you can see the subs in the water, but in reality it's blindman's bluff down there. The crash could have been a coincidence — some people win the lottery — but it's much more possible that one vessel was chasing the other, trying to figure out what it was," Pike explained.

Captain of HMS Vanguard, Commander Richard Lindsey said his men would not be there if they couldn't go through with it. “I'm sure that if somebody was on board who did not want to be here, they would have followed a process of leaving the submarine service or finding something else to do in the Navy,” he noted.

The Triomphant is a strategic nuclear submarine, lead ship of her class (SNLE-NG). It was laid down on June 9, 1989, launched on March 26, 1994 and commissioned on March 21, 1997 with homeport at Île Longue. Equipped with 16 M45 ballistic missiles with six warheads each, it has 130 crew on board. It was completing a 70-day tour of duty at the time of the underwater crash. Its fibreglass sonar dome was damaged requiring three or four months in Drydock repair. "It has returned to its base on L'Ile Longue in Brittany on Saturday under its own power, escorted as usual by a frigate," the ministry said.

A Ballistic missile submarine is a submarine equipped to launch ballistic missiles (SLBMs). Ballistic missile submarines are larger than any other type of submarine, in order to accommodate SLBMs such as the Russian R-29 or the American Trident.

The Triomphant class of strategic missile submarines of the French Navy are currently being introduced into service to provide the sea based component (the Force Océanique Stratégique) of the French nuclear deterrent or Force de frappe, with the M45 SLBM. They are replacing the Redoutable-class boats. In French, they are called Sous-Marin Nucléaire Lanceur d'Engins de Nouvelle Génération ("SNLE-NG, literally "Device-launching nuclear submarine of the new generation").

They are roughly one thousand times quieter than the Redoutable-class vessels, and ten times more sensitive in detecting other submarines [1]. They are designed to carry the M51 nuclear missile, which should enter active service around 2010.

Repairs for both heavily scraped and dented, missile-laden vessels were "conservatively" estimated to cost as much as €55m, with intricate missile guidance systems and navigation controls having to be replaced, and would be met by the French and British taxpayer, the Irish Independent reported.

Many observers are shocked by the deep sea disaster, as well as the amount of time it took for the news to reach the public. ”Two US and five Soviet submarine accidents in the past prove that the reactor protection system makes an explosion avoidable. But if the collision had been more powerful the submarines could have sunk very quickly and the fate of the 250 crew members would have been very serious indeed,” said Andrey Frolov, from Moscow's Centre for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies.

“I think this accident will force countries that possess nuclear submarines to sit down at the negotiating table and devise safety precautions that might avert such accidents in the future… But because submarines must be concealed and invisible, safety and navigation laws are hard to define,” Frolov said, noting further that there are no safety standards for submarines.

The unthinkable disaster – in the Atlantic's 41 million square miles – has raised concern among nuclear activists. "This is a nuclear nightmare of the highest order. The collision of two submarines, both with nuclear reactors and nuclear weapons onboard, could have released vast amounts of radiation and scattered scores of nuclear warheads across the seabed," said Kate Hudson, chair of Britain's Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.

"This is the most severe incident involving a nuclear submarine since the Russian submarine RFS Kursk K-141 explosion and sinking in 2000 and the first time since the Cold War that two nuclear-armed subs are known to have collided. Gordon Brown should seize this opportunity to end continuous patrols," Hudson added. Despite a rescue attempt by British and Norwegian teams, all 118 sailors and officers aboard Kursk died.

"This reminds us that we could have a new catastrophe with a nuclear submarine at any moment. It is a risk that exists during missions but also in port. These are mobile nuclear reactors," said Stephane Lhomme, a spokesman for the French anti-nuclear group Sortir du Nucleaire.

Nicholas Barton "Nick" Harvey, British Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament for North Devon has called for an immediate internal probe. "While the British nuclear fleet has a good safety record, if there were ever to be a bang it would be a mighty big one. Now that this incident is public knowledge, the people of Britain, France and the rest of the world need to be reassured this can never happen again and that lessons are being learned," he said.

SNP Westminster leader Angus Robertson MP for Moray has demanded for a government statement. "The Ministry of Defence needs to explain how it is possible for a submarine carrying weapons of mass destruction to collide with another submarine carrying weapons of mass destruction in the middle of the world's second-largest ocean," he said.

Michael Thomas Hancock, CBE, a Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament for Portsmouth South and a City councillor for Fratton ward, and who sits on the Commons defence committee, has called on the Ministry of Defence Secretary of State John Hutton to make a statement when parliament sits next week.

"While I appreciate there are sensitive issues involved here, it is important that this is subject to parliamentary scrutiny. It's fairly unbelievable that this has happened in the first place but we now need to know that lessons have been learnt. We need to know for everyone's sakes that everything possible is now done to ensure that there is not a repeat of the incident. There are serious issues as to how some of the most sophisticated naval vessels in the seas today can collide in this way," Mr. Hancock said.

Tory defence spokesman Liam Fox, a British Conservative politician, currently Shadow Defence Secretary and Member of Parliament for Woodspring, said: “For two submarines to collide while apparently unaware of each other’s presence is extremely worrying.”

Meanwhile, Hervé Morin, the French Minister of Defence, has denied allegations the nuclear submarines, which are hard to detect, had been shadowing each other deliberately when they collided, saying their mission was to sit at the bottom of the sea and act as a nuclear deterrent.

"There's no story to this -- the British aren't hunting French submarines, and the French submarines don't hunt British submarines. We face an extremely simple technological problem, which is that these submarines are not detectable. They make less noise than a shrimp. Between France and Britain, there are things we can do together....one of the solutions would be to think about the patrol zones," Morin noted, and further denying any attempt at a cover-up.

France's Atlantic coast is known as a submarine graveyard because of the number of German U-boats and underwater craft sunk there during the Second World War.


Atlantyk: zderzenie dwóch okrętów podwodnych z bronią nuklearną

Na Atlantyku zderzyły się dwa okręty podwodne - brytyjski i francuski - o napędzie atomowym - informuje CNN. Doszło do znacznych uszkodzeń. Na pokładach obu okrętów podwodnych znajdowały się głowice nuklearne.

Brytyjskie media donoszą, że do wypadku doszło 3 lub 4 lutego, a udział w nim wzięły okręty "HMS Vanguard" i "Le Triomphant". Brytyjskie ministerstwo obrony narodowej nie chce ujawniać szczegółów zdarzenia. Władze Francji oświadczyły, że nie doszło do uszkodzenia głowic nuklearnych. Powodem zderzenia miała być awaria sonaru.


英法核潜艇相撞 均受损

本月3日或4日，英国前卫号弹道导弹核潜艇与法国的凯旋号核潜艇在大西洋相撞，前卫号船体被撞到凹陷，还有擦痕，需要由船拖回苏格兰的基地;而凯旋号的外壳也受到损伤，但法国核潜艇在事故发生后竟然毫无察觉，直到数天后接到英方的通报才知道发生了此相撞，赶紧一瘸一拐地驶回布雷斯特港海军基地。不过据消息人士称，两艘核潜艇的核装置所在部分均未受损。

据悉，当时两艘核潜艇均在水下航行，凯旋号完成任务后正在返航，而前卫号也在执行任务。也许是双方潜艇上的反声呐技术太过高端，以至于各自声呐装置均未能探测到对方，结果就撞上了。目前，还没有人员伤亡的报道。


Two Palestinians reportedly shot dead by Israeli troops

Palestinian medical officials have said that two Palestinians in the northern Gaza Strip were killed by gunfire from Israel on Saturday, according to security sources and Palestinian officials.

According to witness reports, the men were collecting scrap metal when they were killed near the border; Israeli officials, however, said that the men were trying to shoot rockets into Israel. An Israeli military spokeswoman said that the army had nothing to do with the shooting.

The head of Gaza's emergency and ambulance services, Mo'aweya Hassanein, said to media that ambulances were dispatched to the area, but were still waiting for permission from Israeli authorities to reach the scene.

On Sunday, the IDF said in a statement that an Israeli Air Force craft attacked a terror cell preparing to fire projectiles from the southern Gaza Strip into Israel on Sunday evening.

Palestinian medics and the IDF say Sunday's air strike killed three members of the Islamic Jihad group in central Gaza.


İsrail'den Gazze'ye hava saldırısı yapıldı

İsrail uçakları Gazze Şeridi'nin orta kesimlerindeki bir alana tank saldırısı düzenlendi. İlk belirlemelere göre Filistin İslâmi Cihat grubunun askeri bölümü olan Saraya El Kudüs'e bağlı iki kişi öldü. İsrail Ordu Sözcüsü ise, Filistinlilerin vurularak öldürülmesinde İsrail’in bir payı olmadığını söyledi. İsrailli yetkililer ayrıca amaçlarının Filistinlilerin tünel kazarak İsrail'e saldırılar düzenledikleri için yaptıklarını söylediler. Filistinli sağlık yetkilileri ise, bu saldırının İsrail'den açıldığını söyledi.

Ayrıca, 2008-2009 İsrail-Gazze çatışması sırasında yaklaşık 1300 Filstinli ve 13 İsrailli hayatını kaybetmişti.

Türkiye Cumhuriyeti Başbakanı, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Bakın dün Gazze yine bombalandı. Ne oldu da Gazze bombalandı? Ne var?... Biz adil davranmaya mecburuz, barıştan yana hareket etmeye mecburuz ve kim barışın yanındaysa biz onların yanında, mağdurun yanında olmaya her zaman mecburuz ve sürecimizi, siyaset anlayışımızı da bu anlayış üzerine sürdüreceğiz, devam ettireceğiz. diyerek İsrail'e tepki gösterdi.


Two police officers injured in Pentagon shooting incident

An armed man opened fire at an entrance to the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. on Thursday at 6.40 p.m (0140 UTC), injuring two police officers, before being shot and killed by them. According to the officers, the man calmly approached an entrance to the building near the Metro station, pulled a gun from his coat pocket and opened fire at them. No one else was injured in the incident. The attacker has been identified as 36 year old John Patrick Bedell of Hollister, California. He was armed with two nine millimeter semiautomatic weapons and several magazines of ammunition and acted alone.

Chief of the United States Pentagon Police Richard S. Keevill conducted a press conference two hours after the incident. He said that the wounds to the two officers were not life threatening as the bullets just grazed them. The suspect was critically injured as he was not wearing a bullet-proof vest. The two officers were taken to George Washington University Hospital for treatment and were released few hours later. He praised Officers Jeffrey Amos and Marvin Carraway for acting "quickly and decisively to neutralize him as a threat" without hurting anyone else.  Bedell died hours after being admitted in critical condition.

Keevill added, "About 6:40 tonight, a person came [to] the Pentagon ... area ... [and] appeared to be pretty calm. As the officers started to ask him for his pass ... he drew a weapon from his pocket and started shooting. ... He did not say anything." Keevill confirmed that the shooter was a American citizen but denied knowledge of any motive behind the shooting. He said, "We have a theory, but it's still a theory. It's going to take time to develop that."

Bedell's car was driven from California and more ammunition was found there. Keevill said there is a surveillance video showing the suspect that "pretty much confirms what we've been saying, that he acted alone." He has dismissed the possibility of Bedell being a terrorist.

An Internet posting has come forward where a user named JPatrickBedell argued that the 9/11 attacks and death (ruled a suicide by court of law) of Marine Col. James Sabow in Orange County in 1991 had been "cover-ups" and that he was determined to uncover the truth. In the same posting he protests strict US marijuana laws and has included links to a 2006 court case in Orange County where he was prosecuted for cultivating marijuana and resisting a police officer. Online Court records show the date of birth mentioned by the user JPatrickBedell matches that of the John Patrick Bedell.
Bedell said in an online video, "The moral values of individuals and communities are increasingly attacked by a political system where deceit is routine and accepted and the only standard is power."

Pentagon entrances were locked shortly after the shooting, during the evening rush hour but all were reopened with the exception of the Pentagon Metro entrance which is adjacent to the main entrance of the Pentagon in Virginia, across the Potomac River. Transit officials decided to close the busy Pentagon subway station for Friday as a part of the investigations.The Pentagon police department, the Arlington County Police Department, U.S. Secret Service and the FBI are investigating the incident.

The Pentagon has total five entrances: Mall Terrace Entrance façade, the River Terrace Entrance façade, the Concourse Entrance (or Metro Station) façade, the South Parking Entrance façade, and the Heliport façade.


États-Unis : fusillade devant le Pentagone

Un homme a ouvert le feu, jeudi soir, sur deux agents de sécurité à l'entrée du Pentagone où siège le ministère de la Défense américain. Il s'agit de John Patrick Bedell, un californien de 36 ans. Transporté à l'hôpital le plus proche, il est mort des suites de ses blessures. L'incident a provoqué la fermeture des stations de métro et de bus du Pentagone, perturbant les transports publics dans la zone.

L'agresseur a ouvert le feu sur les agents de sécurité en fin de journée, à l'heure de grande affluence. Les forces de l'ordre ont répliqué, touchant le suspect à la tête. Les agents de sécurité, eux aussi transportés à l'hôpital, ne souffrent que de blessures légères ayant été protégés par leurs gilets par balles. Selon les autorités, John Patrick Bedell était en possession de deux pistolets de calibre 9 mm et plusieurs chargeurs se trouvaient dans sa voiture garée à proximité. Richard Keevill, responsable de la sécurité du Pentagone, a annoncé, lors d'une conférence de presse tenue deux heures après la fusillade, qu'il s'agirait d'« un acte individuel, pour un motif encore inconnu, mais que rien ne laissait transparaitre jusqu'ici qu'il y ait un lien terroriste ».

« Dans une vidéo enregistrée par une caméra de sécurité, John Patrick Bedell apparait calme, bien habillé, et agissant visiblement seul lorsqu'il s'est dirigé tout droit sur les agents de police en poste devant l'entrée du Pentagone. Lorsqu'il a plongé sa main dans sa poche, les gardes ont simplement pensé qu'il allait en sortir son badge, nécessaire pour entrer dans le bâtiment du Pentagone et c'est alors qu'il a sorti un pistolet et a commencé à tirer quasiment immédiatement », a expliqué Richard Keevill lors de la conférence de presse. L'incident s'est produit à une station de métro adjacente au Pentagone. Elle est fermée depuis lors, ce qui n'a pas manqué de perturber les transports en commun. La police cherchait hier soir, l'autre homme apparaissant dans la vidéo, mais il ne semble pas, selon des sources policières, qu'il soit impliqué dans l'attaque.

Dans le même type d'attaques, on se souvient notamment de celles de l'an dernier, dont une à Fort Hood, au Texas, qui avait fait 13 morts et 43 blessés ; et une au musée du Mémorial de l'Holocauste, à Washington, dans laquelle un garde avait perdu la vie.


Two politicians jailed for life over Rwandan genocide

The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), supported by the United Nations, has convicted two Rwandan politicians in relation to the Rwandan genocide of 1994.

The court has sentenced then-National Revolutionary Movement for Development (NRMD) chairman Matthieu Ngirumpatse and Edouard Karemera — at that time, Ngirumpatse's deputy — to life imprisonment having found them guilty over their involvement in a variety of crimes including genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity, for failing to stop or punish crimes such as rape and murder committed by the youth militia of their party, the Interahamwe, in 1994.

Hutus considered to have extremist views reportedly murdered 800,000 Tutsis and Hutu moderates in the space of one hundred days, between April and July 1994. The ICTR determined that "the rapes and the sexual crimes carried out on Tutsi girls and women by soldiers and militia, including the Interahamwe, are a natural and predictable consequence of the joint criminal enterprise seeking to destroy the Tutsi ethnic group" before "unanimously condemn[ing] Ngirumpatse to life in jail" and subsequently providing a similar punishment to Karemera. Joseph Nzirorera, a third man accused alongside Ngirumpatse and Karemera, died while the trial was underway.

The ICTR found Ngirumpatse had approved weapons distribution amongst the Interahamwe in April 1994. "At that point in the genocide", the ICTR panel stated, "it could be assumed the weapons were going to be used to kill Tutsis".

The ICTR were set up in the city of Arusha in Tanzania with the specific purpose of trying those accused of being most responsible for the crimes relating to the Rwandan genocide. Recently, Theoneste Bagosora — suspected of being amongst those of highest responsibility in the Rwandan genocide — had his life imprisonment punishment reversed by appeal judges at the ICTR and reduced to a 35 year prison sentence. BBC News Online reported anger amongst some Rwandans over this decision for the chief of staff of the defence ministry at the time.


Dois políticos são condenados a prisão perpétua por genocídio em Ruanda

O Tribunal Penal Internacional para o Ruanda (TPIR), que tem o suporte das Nações Unidas, condenou dois políticos ruandeses pelo genocídio em Ruanda ocorrido em 1994.

A corte setenciou o então-presidente do Movimento Republicano Nacional por Democracia e Desenvolvimento (MRND) Matthieu Ngirumpatse e Edouard Karemera — naquela época, deputado de Ngirumpatse — a prisão perpétua considerando-os culpados por envolvimento em uma variedade de crimes incluindo genocídio, crimes de guerra e crimes contra a humanidade, por falharem em impedir ou punir crimes como estúpro e homicídio cometidos pela milícia jovem do seu partido, o Interahamwe, em 1994.

Os Hutus considerados extremistas assasinaram 800 000 Tutsis e Hutus moderados no período de 100 dias, entre Abril e Julho de 1994. O TPIR determinou que "os estúpros e crimes sexuais praticados contra jovens e mulheres Tutsi pelos soldados e milicianos, incluindo o Interahamwe, são uma consequência natural e previsível de um empreendimento de um grupo criminoso que procurava destruir o grupo étnico Tutsi" antes de "condenar unanimamente Ngirumpatse a prisão perpétua" e sequencialmente prover punição semelhante a Karemera. Joseph Nzirorera, um terceiro acusado juntamente com Ngirumpatse e Karemera, faleceu durante a condução do processo.

O TPIR revelou que Ngirumpatse tinha aprovado a distribuição de armas entre o Interahamwe em Abril de 1994. "Naquele momento do genocídio", o júri do TPIR afirmou, "poderia se assumir que as armas iriam ser utilizadas para matar Tutsis".

O TPIR ocorreu na cidade de Arusha na Tanzânia com o específico propósito de julgar os acusados de serem os mais responsáveis pelos crimes relativos ao genocídio de Ruanda. Recentemente, Theoneste Bagosora — suspeito de estar ente o de maior responsabilidade no genocídio em Ruanda — teve sua punição de prisão perpétua reduzida por recurso dos juízes da TPIR a 35 anos de prisão. Na época, a BBC News Online relatou revolta entre alguns ruandeses por causa da decisão do chefe de pessoal do ministério da defesa.


Two Prime Ministers banned from Fiji

The Prime Ministers of Australia and New Zealand, John Howard and Helen Clark, have been banned from travelling to Fiji following the discovery of Ms Clark's and Mr Howard's names on an immigration list by Fiji Television.

The Immigration Department list bans people from entering Fiji, and bans some people from leaving Fiji. The list also contains the names of civil and political activists, businessmen, politicians, and trade union officials.

Ms Clark says that self-appointed Fijian Prime Minister Voreqe "Frank" Bainimarama is only digging himself a bigger hole and that it would be unwise to listen to anything that Mr Bainimarama had to say.

Mr Bainimarama said that if he can't visit their countries, then they shouldn't be allowed to visit his country.

Both Australia and New Zealand had already put a ban in place preventing high ranking politicians and officials from entering either country because of their disapproval of the recent Fijian coup which Mr Bainimarama led. The two countries have also imposed other sanctions.


Deux Premiers ministres interdits aux Fidji

Les Premiers ministres d'Australie et de Nouvelle-Zélande, John Howard et Helen Clark respectivement, ont été interdits de se rendre aux Fidji selon la télévision fidjienne qui a découvert leurs noms sur une liste d'immigration.

La liste du Département d'immigration interdit à des personnes l'entrée aux Fidji, ou leur interdit de quitter le territoire. La liste contient aussi les noms d'activistes civils et politiques, d'hommes d'affaires, de politiciens, et de représentants syndicaux.

Mme Clark a déclaré que le Premier ministre auto-proclamé Voreqe "Frank" Bainimarama est seulement en train de se creuser un plus grand trou et qu'il était mal avisé d'écouter quoique puisse dire M. Bainimarama.
M. Bainimarama a quant à lui déclaré que s'il ne pouvait se rendre dans leurs pays, ils ne pouvaient donc visiter le sien.

L'Australie et la Nouvelle-Zélande avaient déjà mis une interdiction en place interdisant aux politiciens et officiels de haut rang d'entrer dans l'un ou l'autre des deux pays en raison de leur désapprobation du récent coup d'état fidjien mené par M. Bainimarama. Les deux pays ont également imposé d'autres sanctions.


Two shot on nuclear submarine in Southampton, England

Reports indicate two people have been shot at Southampton Eastern Docks, England.

According to initial reports, a firearms incident has occurred on or close to HMS Astute, a submarine which was berthed in the docks. The incident is thought to have occurred a short time before 1212 BST when police were called to the docks.

"Hampshire police were called by their Ministry of Defense colleagues at 12.12 pm (1112 GMT) today... and are currently liaising with them to establish the exact circumstances of the incident," said a Hampshire Constabulary spokesperson in a statement to the Reuters news agency, "[i]t is believed two people have sustained injuries as a result of gun shots being discharged on the vessel."

An eyewitness at the scene told BBC News: "I saw at least six people carry a stretcher off the gangway into a waiting ambulance."  An area around the docks has been sealed off.

Although serious, Hampshire Constabulary and the Ministry of Defence have stated that the incident is not terrorist related and that there is no public safety risk. Both organisations are continuing to investigate the incident.

Hampshire Constabulary later confirmed that one of the injured has died, and that one arrest has been made. It is believed that the arrested man is service personnel, and is currently being held in custody by the police.


Un mort dans un sous-marin nucléaire britannique

Deux personnes ont été blessées par une arme à feu hier sur le HMS Astute, fleuron des sous-marins nucléaires d'attaque britanniques, alors qu'il était amarré à Southampton. Cet incident a dû avoir eu lieu quelques minutes avant 12 h 12 BST, heure où la police a été appelée sur les quais.

« La police du Hampshire a été appelée par leurs collègues du ministère de la Défense à 12 h 12 aujourd'hui… et sont actuellement en contact avec eux pour établir les circonstances exactes de ce drame », a déclaré un porte-parole du Hampshire Constabulary (la police locale) à l'agence Reuters. « Il semble que deux personnes aient été blessés par des coups de feu tirés depuis le bâtiment ».

Des témoins de la scène racontent aux journalistes de BBC News : « J'ai vu aux moins six personnes transporter un brancard depuis la passerelle jusqu'à une ambulance ». La zone autour du quai a été mise sous scellés.

Bien que l'incident soit grave, l'Hampshire Constabulary et le ministère de la Défense ont déclaré qu'il n'était pas lié au terrorisme et pensent qu'il n'y a pas de danger pour la sécurité publique. Les deux organisations enquêtent actuellement sur cette affaire pour tenter d'éclaircir les faits. Pour ce faire, elles vont entendre les 30 personnes qui se trouvaient à bord au moment du drame.

Plus tard, l'Hampshire Constabulary a annoncé la mort d'un des blessés, et qu'une arrestation avait été effectuée. La personne arrêtée, un sous-marinier, est soupçonnée d'avoir ouvert le feu avec son arme de service, un fusil d'assaut SA80. Il a été interpellé après avoir été désarmé puis maîtrisé par un conseiller municipal de Southampton.


Two students in Germany accused of plotting a school attack

Two students from Cologne, Germany, ages 17 and 18, are accused of plotting an attack at their school on November 20, the first anniversary of the shooting at Geschwister Scholl school in Emsdetten, in which 18-year old ex-student Sebastian Bosse carried an attack that left six people wounded by gunshot and others wounded by detonated smoke bombs before taking his own life.

One of the suspects, age 17, killed himself on Friday after a confrontation with a high school teacher and police officers. The plot was uncovered when a school principal had discovered a Web page the 17-year old suspect had created, showcasing material that glorified the two perpetrators of the Columbine High School massacre.

The second suspect, age 18, is in police custody, and has confessed to the plot.

Materials including two crossbows, two air guns, instructions on how to build a pipe bomb and a list of potential victims had been seized by Cologne police when they were alerted that the plot would have taken place at the Georg-Büchner Gymnasium, located in the western district of Weiden. The items had been confiscated at their homes.


Verwirrung um angeblich verhinderten Amoklauf an Kölner Schule

Köln (Deutschland), 22.11.2007 – Nach einem angeblich verhinderten Amoklauf an einer Kölner Schule besteht weiter Unklarheit über das tatsächliche Geschehen. So hatte die Kölner Polizei in einer ersten Pressekonferenz am Sonntag erklärt, dass zwei Jugendliche im Alter von 17 und 18 Jahren eine Bluttat an ihrer Schule, dem Georg-Büchner-Gymnasium im Kölner Westen, geplant hätten. Diese Tat sei durch die Polizeiarbeit verhindert worden. Bei den Schülern seien Airsoftgun-Pistolen und eine Armbrust gefunden wurden, die zur Durchführung der Tat verwendet werden sollten. Die beiden Jugendlichen hätten sich als Mobbingopfer ihrer Mitschüler gesehen. Der 17-jährige Schüler ist unterdessen bereits am Freitag in wahrscheinlich suizidaler Absicht vor eine Straßenbahn gelaufen, von dieser überrollt und dabei getötet worden. Nach Darstellung der Polizei ist es zuvor durch zwei Polizeibeamte zu einer sogenannten „Gefährderansprache“ des Schülers in der Schule gekommen. Das Gespräch soll normal verlaufen sein, der Schüler sei nach normaler Beendigung des Gespräches entlassen worden.

In den darauffolgenden Tagen wurden aber starke Zweifel an der Darstellung der Polizei laut. So wurde Anfang der Woche nach Ermittlungen der Staatsanwaltschaft Köln bekannt, dass die Jugendlichen ihre Anschlagspläne offenbar bereits vor Wochen aufgegeben hatten. Diese Ansicht stützt sich sowohl auf Aussagen des festgenommenen 18-Jährigen wie auch auf Dateien und Chat-Protokolle, die auf den beschlagnahmten Computern der Jugendlichen gefunden wurden. Zwar hätten die Jugendlichen zuvor detaillierte Vorbereitungen getroffen und gar eine angebliche „Todesliste“ aufgestellt. Auf Betreiben des Älteren seien diese Pläne allerdings bereits vor vier Wochen aufgegeben worden. Die Staatsanwaltschaft erklärte dazu, dass der Jugendliche „wohl eingesehen [habe], dass das doch kein gangbarer Weg für ihn ist“. Er habe die Pfeile der von ihm beschafften Armbrust zurückgefordert und dem Jüngeren sogar die Sehne der Waffe abgekauft. Die Armbrust war dadurch nicht mehr funktionstüchtig. Der Jüngere habe daraufhin ebenfalls von der weiteren Verfolgung der Pläne abgesehen. Auf Grund dieser veränderten Situation habe die Staatsanwaltschaft darauf verzichtet, den 18-Jährigen einem Haftrichter vorzuführen. Er wurde stattdessen in eine psychiatrische Klinik gebracht.

Weiter Unklarheit herrscht über das vor seinem mutmaßlichen Suizid geführte Gespräch mit dem 17-Jährigen. So hatte der stellvertretende Schulleiter Michael Wagenführ die Darstellung der Polizei bestritten. Das Gespräch sei nicht beendet gewesen, sondern der Jugendliche sei während eines Toilettenganges aus einem Fenster geflohen. Er sei anschließend sowohl von den am Gespräch beteiligten Polizisten wie Lehrern erfolglos im Umfeld gesucht worden. Die Polizei Köln beharrt unterdessen weiter auf ihrer Darstellung, dass das Gespräch zu einem normalen Ende geführt worden sei und der Toilettengang erst danach stattgefunden habe. Da die Polizisten bereits auf dem Weg zu ihrer Dienststelle gewesen seien, hätten sie von der mutmaßlichen Flucht nichts mitbekommen.

Verwirrung stiftet ebenfalls ein Interview mit dem Kölner Polizeipräsidenten Klaus Steffenhagen. Nach einem kritischen Videobeitrag hatte er am Dienstagabend in der „Lokalzeit Köln“ des WDR-Fernsehens die Darstellung bekräftigt, dass der Junge nicht geflohen sei. Er begründete dies damit, dass bereits im Rahmen des Gespräches am Freitag herausgekommen sei, „dass hier keine große Gefahrenlage mehr vorhanden ist“. Dem Jungen sei erklärt worden: „Es gibt keinen Anfangsverdacht gegen Sie; es gibt keine Gefahr, die von Ihnen ausgeht.“ Der Junge sei daher nach dem Gespräch normal entlassen worden. Eine Erklärung, wieso die Polizei trotz dieser angeblich bereits am Freitag gewonnenen Erkenntnisse noch am Sonntag von einem verhinderten Amoklauf berichtet habe, gab Steffenhagen allerdings nicht ab.

Fraglich ist zudem, ob die zwei Schüler tatsächlich nur mit Softair-Waffen und einer Armbrust ein Blutbad hätten durchführen können. Nach Ansicht von Experten ist eine Armbrust für einen Amoklauf nur bedingt tauglich: Zwar flögen die Geschosse bis zu 100 Meter weit, es dauere aber jeweils zwischen 20 und 30 Sekunden die Waffe nachzuladen und erneut abzufeuern. Zudem würden die im Vergleich zu den im Bogensport verwendeten Pfeilen schwereren Geschosse einer Armbrust ihre Bewegungsenergie schneller verlieren, so dass schon nach 80 Metern keine durchdringende Wirkung mehr erzielt werde. Geübte Armbrustschützen gehen sogar von einer effektiven Reichweite von nur rund 50 Metern aus, und dies auch nur mit einer Profiwaffe. In Köln war aber nur ein Billigmodell einer Armbrust mit geringer Zielgenauigkeit gefunden worden. Laut Waffengesetz ist Erwachsenen der Kauf und Besitz einer Armbrust ohne behördliche Genehmigung erlaubt. Auch die generelle Gefährlichkeit von Softair-Waffen wird angezweifelt. Die oft echten Waffen täuschend echt nachempfundenen Pistolen verschießen nur Kunststoffprojektile. Diese können bei einem Augentreffer allerdings schwere Verletzungen verursachen. Nach Medienberichten sollen die zwei Jugendlichen geplant haben, sich zusätzlich zu den zwei Softair-Pistolen und der Armbrust auch noch Rohrbomben und Molotow-Cocktails zu beschaffen.


Dois estudantes alemães são acusados de comandar uma rebelião em uma escola

Dois estudantes de Colónia, Alemanha, com idades entre 17 e 18 anos, são acusados de comandar um atraque à sua escola no dia 20 de novembro, quando comemoravam o primeiro ano de estadia no Geschwister Scholl school, em Emsdetten (Alemanha), juntamente com um outro ex-estudante de 18 anos, de nome Sebastian Bosse. O ataque deixou seis pessoas feridas, e outras foram feridas devido à ataques com bombas; após os ataques, os jovens fugiram.

*Attack on German high school prevented, police say — CNN, 18 de novembro de 2007
 *Plot to attack school thwarted [inativa] — News24, 18 de novembro de 2007. Página visitada em 20 de novembro de 2007. Arquivada em 20 de novembro de 2007


Two students shot at Delaware State University

One male and one female who are students attending Delaware State University in Dover, Delaware are reported to have been shot around 1:00 a.m. (eastern time). The shooting took place near Memorial Hall gymnasium.

"At approximately 12:54 a.m. on Friday, Sept. 21, the Delaware State University Police Department was notified of an incident in which two students were shot on campus near Memorial Hall.  A single male suspect is being sought, but has not yet been apprehended.  The investigation is continuing with the assistance of other local police," said a statement on the university's website.

Both have been injured and have been taken to a nearby hospital for medical attention. The university's statement says that the "male student is in stable condition, however, the female student’s injuries are considered serious." The female, taken to Christiana Hospital in Newark, New Jersey, was shot twice, whereas the male, who was taken to Kent General Hospital located in Dover, was shot only once.

"Eight to ten students dispersed from a cafe. Shortly before 1:00 a.m. (eastern time)" a student "pulled a gun" and "five or six shots were fired. The female was shot twice, the male once," said Chief James Overton of the Massachusetts State Police during a press conference, who also said that several agencies including the FBI, The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and local police are participating in the investigation.

Police are currently searching for the suspect and all classes at the university have been canceled indefinitely and anyone on campus is asked to stay inside at all times. Police also ask for no staff or students to come to the campus.

According to Overton, at least two people are considered to be "persons of interest." At least one individual is being questioned by police, but the other is still at large.

"Because the suspect is still at large, residential students are directed to remain in their residence halls for their safety until further notice. Classes on the Dover campus of Delaware State University have been canceled for Friday, Sept. 21 in the wake of an early morning shooting at the institution that has left two students wounded and a suspect at large. All non-essential personnel are directed not to report to work on this day," said a statement posted on the university's website.

Italic text


Dos estudiantes heridos por disparos en la Universidad Estatal de Delaware

Las autoridades han reportado que un hombre y una mujer, estudiantes de la Universidad Estatal de Delaware en Dover recibieron disparos cuando se encontraban cerca del Memorial Hall, hacia la 01:00 horas locales.

"Aproximadamente a las 12:54 a.m. del viernes 21 de septiembre, el departamento de policía de Delaware fue notificado de un incidente en el cual dos estudiantes resultaron heridos tras recibir disparos en el campus cercano al Memorial Hall. Un solo hombre es sospechoso de haber disparado, pero hasta el momento no ha sido detenido. La investigación ha continuado con la asistencia de otros policías locales", afirmaron en un comunicado en la página web de la universidad.

Ambos heridos están siendo atendidos en un hospital cercano. El comunicado de la universidad dice que "el estudiante se encuentra en una condición estable, sin embargo, las heridas de la estudiante han sido consideradas de gravedad".

La policía está actualmente buscando al sospechoso y todas las clases de la univesidad han sido canceladas en forma indefinida, a todo el personal que se encuentra en el campus se le ha solicitado permanecer adentro durante el tiempo que sea necesario. La policía también ha solicitado que el personal administrativo o estudiantil que está fuera del campus no ingrese a él.

"Debido a que el sospechoso aún se encuentra libre, los estudiantes residentes deben permanecer en los edificios para su seguridad hasta una nueva orden. Las clases en el campus de Dover fueron canceladas el 21 de septiembre debido a los disparos que se presentaron durante la madrugada y la institución ha retirado a los estudiantes heridos. Todo el personal que no esté directamente involucrado no debe reportarse a trabajar hoy", agregó el comunicado.

La policía no ha revelado ningún dato sobre el sospechoso.


Two students shot at Los Angeles school, suspect in custody

Two students were shot yesterday at Gardena High School when a student brought a gun on campus. The shooting was probably reported by the school, which is located at 1301 West 182nd Street in Los Angeles, California, at 1830 UTC (1030 PST).

A Los Angeles Unified School District official said that the shooting was accidental. The student had brought the gun in his backpack, when it fell out onto the ground and then discharged, hitting two victims, one of whom, a 15-year old female, is reported in critical condition at hospital. The other victim is also a 15-year old student, male, and reported in stable condition. The 15-year old female victim is reportedly undergoing surgery.

The student who brought the firearm is currently in the custody of the Gardena Police Department after running into another room in the school. Students at the high school were released at 2152 UTC (1352 PST).


Δύο μαθητές πυροβολήθηκαν σε σχολείο του Λος Άντζελες, ο ύποπτος υπό κράτηση

Δύο (2) μαθητές πυροβολήθηκαν στο Γυμνάσιο της Γκαρντένα όταν ένας (1) μαθητής έφερε όπλο στη πανεπιστημιούπολη. Ο πυροβολισμός ίσως αναφέρθηκε από το σχολείο, το οποίο βρίσκεται στην 1301 West 182nd Street στο Λος Άντζελες, στις 18:30 UTC (10:30 PST).

Ένας εκπρόσωπος του Ενιαίου Περιφεριακού Σχολείου του Λος Άντζελες είπε ότι ο πυροβολισμός ήταν ατύχημα. Ο μαθητής έφερε το όπλο στο σακίδιο του, όταν αυτό έπεσε κάτω στο έδαφος και εκπυρσοκρότησε, χτυπώντας τα  δύο θύματα, ένα εκ των οποίων  ήταν μια 15χρονη μαθήτρια, που  αναφέρεται ότι είναι σε κρίσιμη κατάσταση στο νοσοκομείο. Το άλλο θύμα, το οποίο είναι επίσης ένα 15χρονο αγόρι, σύμφωνα με πληροφορίες, υποβλήθηκε σε χειρουργική επέμβαση.

Ο μαθητής  που έφερε το όπλο είναι τώρα υπό κράτηση στο Αστυνομικό Τμήμα της Γκαρντένα αφού πριν είχε καταφύγει σε μια άλλη αίθουσα του σχολείου. Οι μαθητές του γυμνασίου απελευθερώθηκαν στις 21:52 UTC (13:52 PST).

20 Ιανουαρίου 2011


Two suspects killed in UK bank robbery

Two suspected bank robbers were shot and killed by police after an attempted attack against an armoured bank van in Chandler's Ford, near Southampton.  A third person is believed to have fled the scene in a blue Volvo, though this has still not been confirmed.

The suspects were thought to have been followed to the site as part of a Metropolitan Police operation and were shot by members of the Flying Squad after they attempted to rob an armoured van. They were shot after Police ran out of nearby toilets and confronted the assailants.  The IPCC are already investigating the incident.

The incident occurred at the HSBC bank in the Central Precinct, Chandler's Ford at around 10.10 a.m. BST.  Local schools in the area have been locked down although the threat to the local area is low, with police on scene in large numbers.

"Foiled HSBC robbers named" — Wikinews, September 15, 2007


Dos muertos en un robo a un banco en Reino Unido

13 de septiembre de 2007Chandler's Ford, Inglaterra —

Dos personas murieron a tiros luego de un intento de robo a un banco en Chandler's Ford, cerca de Southampton, Reino Unido. Al menos uno murió y el segundo se cree que pudo haber muerto en su camino al hospital.

Se piensa además que una tercera persona escapó en un Volvo azul, aunque ello no ha sido confirmado, mientras que ningún civil o empleado fue herido.

Los asaltantes al parecer fueron seguidos al sitio como parte de una operación de la Policía Metropolitana, y miembros de la llamada Flying Squad ("Brigada móvil") les dispararon luego de intentar robar un camión blindado. La IPCC se encuentra investigando el incidente.

El incidente ocurrió en el banco de HSBC en Central Precint, Chandler's Ford, alrededor de las 10:10 hora local (09:10 UTC). Las escuelas locales de la zona fueron cerradas aunque la amenaza al sector sería extremadamente baja, con un gran número de policías en la escena.


Two UN contract workers kidnapped in Somalia

Two foreign aid workers attached to a United Nations (UN) project were kidnapped in southern Somalia on Tuesday. The UN stated that the two men, one British and one Kenyan, were abducted at gunpoint while conducting a survey of local rivers. The men were taken hostage on a road leading to Bu'aale, in the southern Lower Jubba region of Somalia.

Briton Murray Watson was abducted along with his Kenyan colleague, Patrick Amukhuma, by six armed militiamen who ambushed their armed convoy. The abduction took place on a main road between Saakow and Bu'aale.

Gunfire was exchanged between Somali bodyguards and militia members. According to Agence France-Presse, local elders said that the gunmen fired shots during the attack and wounded one of the hostages, and The Daily Telegraph reported that witnesses said Watson was wounded in the leg.

Local district commissioner Ibrahim Noleye spoke with Agence France-Presse about the incident: "two foreign aid workers from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) were intercepted by armed militiamen on their way to Buale ... We believe they are being held hostage".

Amos Nyaoro of Somalia Water and Land Information Management, the UN-supported agency where Watson was working, told The Daily Telegraph: "We are attempting to make contact with the people who abducted our colleagues. It is unclear why this attack has taken place. We understand that Mr Watson has been hurt, but we don't know the extent of his injuries."

Reuters has reported that local militias were pursuing the kidnappers in an attempt to free the hostages, and local clan elders are pressing for their release. Hajir Bille, an official from the Juba region in Somalia, told the Associated Press that security forces were looking for the abductors.

A statement released by the UN country office for Somalia addressed reports that one of the men kidnapped had been wounded: "Witnesses on the ground say there was gunfire when the men were taken, but there is no information to suggest that any serious injury was sustained by either man." Reuters has reported that the hostages are being held "in or near" the town of Jilib.

UN officials in Rome, Italy said that the two men worked for an Indian-based group sub-contracted to do aerial survey work for the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), a United Nations agency. The men are not themselves members of the FAO, but are employees of Genesys International Corporation, an information technology company in Bangalore, India.

Genesys International Corporation performs aerial surveys in Somalia which help the area population deal with flooding due to a rise in water level of the Juba and Shabelle rivers.

Western companies and organizations have paid ransoms to free their employees, and kidnappings in the area have increased as a result. In recent months attacks on foreigners in Somalia have increased, but had been localized to the northern region of Puntland. Médecins Sans Frontières withdrew its international staff from the country after three workers were killed by a bomb in February.

Attacks against Somalia's weak government and its Ethiopian military backers have increased in the last six months. Somalia's government has not been functional since civil war began in 1991, when dictator Mohamed Siad Barre was overthrown and rival warlords then turned on each other.

Over one million citizens in Somalia depend on foreign aid, and UN aid helps millions of Somalians each year.


Oteta dva radnika UN-a u Somaliji

Somalija (Afrika), 2. april 2008. –

Dva humanitarna radnika koji su bili stacionirani u Somaliji u sklopu misije UN-a, su kindapovani na jugu Somalije u utorak. Glasnogovornici UN-a su objavili da su dva radnika, Britanac i Kenijanac, oteta od strane naoružanih osoba dok su istraživali područje oko lokalne rijeke. Otmica se desila na putu prema gradu Bu'aale, u južnoj provinici Jubba.

Očevici su izvjestili da je grupa od šest naoružanih osoba iz zasjede napala konvoj u kojem su se nalazili radnici, te ih odveli u nepoznatom pravcu. Neki očevici tvrde da je u razmjeni vatre između napadača i pratnje konvoja, ranjen jedan od otetih radnika, ali se sa sigurnošću ne može znati težina njegovih povreda.

Somalijska vlada je objavila da traga za otmičarima, te da pokušava stupiti u kontakt s njima. Niko nije preuzeo odgovornost za napad, niti je tražena otkupnina za taoce.


Two United States officers killed in Afghan ministry

Two senior United States military officers were shot and killed inside the Afghan Interior Ministry in Kabul, Afghanistan yesterday. The Taliban has claimed responsibility. The attacks appear to be motivated by US troops burning copies of the Quran in a rubbish disposal pit early in the week.

In response, NATO removed all members of the International Security Assistance Force from Kabul-area Afghan ministries. The decision to remove the personnel from Afghan ministries came from General John R. Allen who is the commander of coalition forces in Afghanistan.

The US military has yet to release the identities of the troops killed, although their ranks are said to be lieutenant colonel and major.

US Defense department press secretary George Little said Afghan minister of Defense General Abdul Rahim Wardak had apologized to US Defense secretary Leon Panetta for the attack and offered his condolences.

Protests throughout Afghanistan sparked by the Quran burning resulted in the deaths of at least 25 Afghans over the past few days. Two US troops were also killed in the protests.


Kabul: Schießerei im afghanischen Innenministerium – zwei Tote

Kabul (Afghanistan), 26.02.2011 – Zwei Militärberater der Vereinigten Staaten wurden bei einer Schießerei im afghanischen Innenministerium in Kabul getötet. Dies bestätigte die Internationale Schutztruppe ISAF. Nach dem Attentat, zu dem sich die Taliban bekannt hatten, hat die ISAF sämtliche westliche Berater aus den afghanischen Ministerien zurückgerufen. Der Täter soll ein afghanischer Staatsbürger sein. Ihm sei die Flucht gelungen.

Afghanische Medien berichteten kurz nach dem Anschlag; demnach soll es sich bei den Opfern um hochrangige US-Militärberater handeln. Das Wall Street Journal bestätigte dies. Ein Mitarbeiter des Ministeriums gab an, dass vor dem Anschlag ein Streit im ganzen Gebäude zu hören gewesen sei. ISAF-Sprecher Carsten Jacobson bestätigte, in einer hochgesicherten Kommando- und Kontrollzentrale des Ministeriums seien zwei Personen getötet worden. Weitere Einzelheiten nannte er nicht.

Das Attentat ereignete sich am fünften Tag lebhafter Proteste gegen die NATO. Diese Proteste, bei denen bislang mindestens 28 Personen getötet wurden, hatten begonnen, nachdem am US-amerikanischen Stützpunkt in Bagram Reste verbrannter Koranausgaben gefunden wurden. Die Tat sei die Reaktion auf diese Verbrennungen, teilten die Islamisten auf einer Website mit. Ein NATO-Sprecher bestätigte den Eingang einer E-Mail, in der sich die Taliban zu dem Anschlag bekennen. Die deutsche Bundeswehr hat wegen der Proteste ihren Stützpunkt in Talokan, der im März geschlossen hätte werden sollen, aus Sicherheitsgründen vorzeitig aufgegeben und sich nach Kundus zurückgezogen.

Am Sonnabend wurde auf einer Militärbasis im Nordwesten des Landes eine Bombe gefunden, wie sie auf das Gelände gekommen war, ist ungeklärt. Beim Versuch der Entschärfung waren sechs afghanische Soldaten getötet und 14 verletzt worden. In vielen Teilen des Landes halten die Proteste wegen der Koranverbrennungen an; so stürmten Demonstranten in der Provinz Laghman das Büro des Gouverneurs.

Am Samstag kam eine Erklärung aus dem Weißen Haus in Washington: „Die USA bleiben bei der Partnerschaft mit der afghanischen Regierung und dem afghanischen Volk, um unser gemeinsames Ziel zu erreichen, Al-Kaida zu zerschlagen.“


U.K. National Portrait Gallery threatens U.S. citizen with legal action over Wikimedia images

The English National Portrait Gallery (NPG) in London has threatened on Friday to sue a U.S. citizen, Derrick Coetzee. The legal letter followed claims that he had breached the Gallery's copyright in several thousand photographs of works of art uploaded to the Wikimedia Commons, a free online media repository.

In a letter from their solicitors sent to Coetzee via electronic mail, the NPG asserted that it holds copyright in the photographs under U.K. law, and demanded that Coetzee provide various undertakings and remove all of the images from the site (referred to in the letter as "the Wikipedia website").

Wikimedia Commons is a repository of free-to-use media, run by a community of volunteers from around the world, and is a sister project to Wikinews and the encyclopedia Wikipedia. Coetzee, who contributes to the Commons using the account "Dcoetzee", had uploaded images that are free for public use under United States law, where he and the website are based. However copyright is claimed to exist in the country where the gallery is situated.

The complaint by the NPG is that under UK law, its copyright in the photographs of its portraits is being violated. While the gallery has complained to the Wikimedia Foundation for a number of years, this is the first direct threat of legal action made against an actual uploader of images.  In addition to the allegation that Coetzee had violated the NPG's copyright, they also allege that Coetzee had, by uploading thousands of images in bulk, infringed the NPG's database right, breached a contract with the NPG; and circumvented a copyright protection mechanism on the NPG's web site.

The copyright protection mechanism referred to is Zoomify, a product of Zoomify, Inc. of Santa Cruz, California.  NPG's solicitors stated in their letter that "Our client used the Zoomify technology to protect our client’s copyright in the high resolution images.". Zoomify Inc. states in the Zoomify support documentation that its product is intended to make copying of images "more difficult" by breaking the image into smaller pieces and disabling the option within many web browsers to click and save images, but that they "provide Zoomify as a viewing solution and not an image security system".

In particular, Zoomify's website comments that while "many customers — famous museums for example" use Zoomify, in their experience a "general consensus" seems to exist that most museums are concerned with making the images in their galleries accessible to the public, rather than preventing the public from accessing them or making copies; they observe that a desire to prevent high resolution images being distributed would also imply prohibiting the sale of any posters or production of high quality printed material that could be scanned and placed online.

Other actions in the past have come directly from the NPG, rather than via solicitors.  For example, several edits have been made directly to the English-language Wikipedia from the IP address 217.207.85.50, one of sixteen such IP addresses assigned to computers at the NPG by its ISP, Easynet.

In the period from August 2005 to July 2006 an individual within the NPG using that IP address acted to remove the use of several Wikimedia Commons pictures from articles in Wikipedia, including removing an image of the Chandos portrait, which the NPG has had in its possession since 1856, from Wikipedia's biographical article on William Shakespeare.

Other actions included adding notices to the pages for images, and to the text of several articles using those images, such as the following edit to Wikipedia's article on Catherine of Braganza and to its page for the Wikipedia Commons image of Branwell Brontë's portrait of his sisters:

Other, later, edits, made on the day that NPG's solicitors contacted Coetzee and drawn to the NPG's attention by Wikinews, are currently the subject of an internal investigation within the NPG.

Coetzee published the contents of the letter on Saturday July 11, the letter itself being dated the previous day.  It had been sent electronically to an email address associated with his Wikimedia Commons user account. The NPG's solicitors had mailed the letter from an account in the name "Amisquitta". This account was blocked shortly after by a user with access to the user blocking tool, citing a long standing Wikipedia policy that the making of legal threats and creation of a hostile environment is generally inconsistent with editing access and is an inappropriate means of resolving user disputes.

The policy, initially created on Commons' sister website in June 2004, is also intended to protect all parties involved in a legal dispute, by ensuring that their legal communications go through proper channels, and not through a wiki that is open to editing by other members of the public.  It was originally formulated primarily to address legal action for libel. In October 2004 it was noted that there was "no consensus" whether legal threats related to copyright infringement would be covered but by the end of 2006 the policy had reached a consensus that such threats (as opposed to polite complaints) were not compatible with editing access while a legal matter was unresolved. Commons' own website states that "[accounts] used primarily to create a hostile environment for another user may be blocked".

In a further response, Gregory Maxwell, a volunteer administrator on Wikimedia Commons, made a formal request to the editorial community that Coetzee's access to administrator tools on Commons should be revoked due to the prevailing circumstances.  Maxwell noted that Coetzee "[did] not have the technically ability to permanently delete images", but stated that Coetzee's potential legal situation created a conflict of interest.

Sixteen minutes after Maxwell's request, Coetzee's "administrator" privileges were removed by a user in response to the request.  Coetzee retains "administrator" privileges on the English-language Wikipedia, since none of the images exist on Wikipedia's own website and therefore no conflict of interest exists on that site.

Legally, the central issue upon which the case depends is that copyright laws vary between countries. Under United States case law, where both the website and Coetzee are located, a photograph of a non-copyrighted two-dimensional picture (such as a very old portrait) is not capable of being copyrighted, and it may be freely distributed and used by anyone. Under UK law that point has not yet been decided, and the Gallery's solicitors state that such photographs could potentially be subject to copyright in that country.

One major legal point upon which a case would hinge, should the NPG proceed to court, is a question of originality.  The U.K.'s Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 defines in ¶ 1(a) that copyright is a right that subsists in "original literary, dramatic, musical or artistic works" (emphasis added).  The legal concept of originality here involves the simple origination of a work from an author, and does not include the notions of novelty or innovation that is often associated with the non-legal meaning of the word.

Whether an exact photographic reproduction of a work is an original work will be a point at issue.  The NPG asserts that an exact photographic reproduction of a copyrighted work in another medium constitutes an original work, and this would be the basis for its action against Coetzee.  This view has some support in U.K. case law.  The decision of Walter v Lane held that exact transcriptions of speeches by journalists, in shorthand on reporter's notepads, were original works, and thus copyrightable in themselves.  The opinion by Hugh Laddie, Justice Laddie, in his book The Modern Law of Copyright, points out that photographs lie on a continuum, and that photographs can be simple copies, derivative works, or original works:

Various aspects of this continuum have already been explored in the courts.  Justice Neuberger, in the decision at Antiquesportfolio.com v Rodney Fitch & Co. held that a photograph of a three-dimensional object would be copyrightable if some exercise of judgement of the photographer in matters of angle, lighting, film speed, and focus were involved.  That exercise would create an original work.  Justice Oliver similarly held, in Interlego v Tyco Industries, that "[i]t takes great skill, judgement and labour to produce a good copy by painting or to produce an enlarged photograph from a positive print, but no-one would reasonably contend that the copy, painting, or enlargement was an 'original' artistic work in which the copier is entitled to claim copyright. Skill, labour or judgement merely in the process of copying cannot confer originality.".

In 2000 the Museums Copyright Group, a copyright lobbying group, commissioned a report and legal opinion on the implications of the Bridgeman case for the UK, which stated:

Several people and organizations in the U.K. have been awaiting a test case that directly addresses the issue of copyrightability of exact photographic reproductions of works in other media. The commonly cited legal case Bridgeman Art Library v. Corel Corp. found that there is no originality where the aim and the result is a faithful and exact reproduction of the original work. The case was heard twice in New York, once applying UK law and once applying US law. It cited the prior UK case of Interlego v Tyco Industries (1988) in which Lord Oliver stated that "Skill, labour or judgement merely in the process of copying cannot confer originality."

The Interlego judgement had itself drawn upon another UK case two years earlier, Coca-Cola Go's Applications, in which the House of Lords drew attention to the "undesirability" of plaintiffs seeking to expand intellectual property law beyond the purpose of its creation in order to create an "undeserving monopoly". It commented on this, that "To accord an independent artistic copyright to every such reproduction would be to enable the period of artistic copyright in what is, essentially, the same work to be extended indefinitely... "

The Bridgeman case concluded that whether under UK or US law, such reproductions of copyright-expired material were not capable of being copyrighted.

The unsuccessful plaintiff, Bridgeman Art Library, stated in 2006 in written evidence to the House of Commons Committee on Culture, Media and Sport that it was "looking for a similar test case in the U.K. or Europe to fight which would strengthen our position".

The National Portrait Gallery is a non-departmental public body based in London England and sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. Founded in 1856, it houses a collection of portraits of historically important and famous British people. The gallery contains more than 11,000 portraits and 7,000 light-sensitive works in its Primary Collection, 320,000 in the Reference Collection, over 200,000 pictures and negatives in the Photographs Collection and a library of around 35,000 books and manuscripts. (More on the National Portrait Gallery here)

The gallery's solicitors are Farrer & Co LLP, of London. Farrer's clients have notably included the British Royal Family, in a case related to extracts from letters sent by Diana, Princess of Wales which were published in a book by ex-butler Paul Burrell. (In that case, the claim was deemed unlikely to succeed, as the extracts were not likely to be in breach of copyright law.)

Farrer & Co have close ties with industry interest groups related to copyright law. Peter Wienand, Head of Intellectual Property at Farrer & Co., is a member of the Executive body of the Museums Copyright Group, which is chaired by Tom Morgan, Head of Rights and Reproductions at the National Portrait Gallery.  The Museums Copyright Group acts as a lobbying organization for "the interests and activities of museums and galleries in the area of [intellectual property rights]", which reacted strongly against the Bridgeman Art Library v. Corel Corp. case.

Wikimedia Commons is a repository of images, media, and other material free for use by anyone in the world. It is operated by a community of 21,000 active volunteers, with specialist rights such as deletion and blocking restricted to around 270 experienced users in the community (known as "administrators") who are trusted by the community to use them to enact the wishes and policies of the community. Commons is hosted by the Wikimedia Foundation, a charitable body whose mission is to make available free knowledge and historic and other material which is legally distributable under US law. (More on Commons here)

The legal threat also sparked discussions of moral issues and issues of public policy in several Internet discussion fora, including Slashdot, over the weekend.  One major public policy issue relates to how the public domain should be preserved.

Some of the public policy debate over the weekend has echoed earlier opinions presented by Kenneth Hamma, the executive director for Digital Policy at the J. Paul Getty Trust.  Writing in D-Lib Magazine in November 2005, Hamma observed:

He also stated:

Hamma observed in 2005 that "[w]hile examples of museums chasing down digital image miscreants are rare to non-existent, the expectation that museums might do so has had a stultifying effect on the development of digital image libraries for teaching and research."

The NPG, which has been taking action with respect to these images since at least 2005, is a public body.  It was established by Act of Parliament, the current Act being the Museums and Galleries Act 1992.  In that Act, the NPG Board of Trustees is charged with maintaining "a collection of portraits of the most eminent persons in British history, of other works of art relevant to portraiture and of documents relating to those portraits and other works of art".  It also has the tasks of "secur[ing] that the portraits are exhibited to the public" and "generally promot[ing] the public's enjoyment and understanding of portraiture of British persons and British history through portraiture both by means of the Board's collection and by such other means as they consider appropriate".

Several commentators have questioned how the NPG's statutory goals align with its threat of legal action.  Mike Masnick, founder of Techdirt, asked "The people who run the Gallery should be ashamed of themselves. They ought to go back and read their own mission statement[. …] How, exactly, does suing someone for getting those portraits more attention achieve that goal?" (external link Masnick's).  L. Sutherland of Bigmouthmedia asked "As the paintings of the NPG technically belong to the nation, does that mean that they should also belong to anyone that has access to a computer?"

Other public policy debates that have been sparked have included the applicability of U.K. courts, and U.K. law, to the actions of a U.S. citizen, residing in the U.S., uploading files to servers hosted in the U.S..  Two major schools of thought have emerged.  Both see the issue as encroachment of one legal system upon another.  But they differ as to which system is encroaching.  One view is that the free culture movement is attempting to impose the values and laws of the U.S. legal system, including its case law such as Bridgeman Art Library v. Corel Corp., upon the rest of the world.  Another view is that a U.K. institution is attempting to control, through legal action, the actions of a U.S. citizen on U.S. soil.

David Gerard, former Press Officer for Wikimedia UK, the U.K. chapter of the Wikimedia Foundation, which has been involved with the "Wikipedia Loves Art" contest to create free content photographs of exhibits at the Victoria and Albert Museum, stated on Slashdot that "The NPG actually acknowledges in their letter that the poster's actions were entirely legal in America, and that they're making a threat just because they think they can. The Wikimedia community and the WMF are absolutely on the side of these public domain images remaining in the public domain. The NPG will be getting radioactive publicity from this. Imagine the NPG being known to American tourists as somewhere that sues Americans just because it thinks it can."

Benjamin Crowell, a physics teacher at Fullerton College in California, stated that he had received a letter from the Copyright Officer at the NPG in 2004, with respect to the picture of the portrait of Isaac Newton used in his physics textbooks, that he publishes in the U.S. under a free content copyright licence, to which he had replied with a pointer to Bridgeman Art Library v. Corel Corp..

The Wikimedia Foundation takes a similar stance.  Erik Möller, the Deputy Director of the US-based Wikimedia Foundation wrote in 2008 that "we've consistently held that faithful reproductions of two-dimensional public domain works which are nothing more than reproductions should be considered public domain for licensing purposes".

Contacted over the weekend, the NPG issued a statement to Wikinews:

In fact, Matthew Bailey, the Gallery's (then) Assistant Picture Library Manager, had already once been in a similar dialogue.  Ryan Kaldari, an amateur photographer from Nashville, Tennessee, who also volunteers at the Wikimedia Commons, states that he was in correspondence with Bailey in October 2006.  In that correspondence, according to Kaldari, he and Bailey failed to conclude any arrangement.

Jay Walsh, the Head of Communications for the Wikimedia Foundation, which hosts the Commons, called the gallery's actions "unfortunate" in the Foundation's statement, issued on Tuesday July 14:

The Foundation added in its statement that as far as it was aware, the NPG had not attempted "constructive dialogue", and that the volunteer community was presently discussing the matter independently.

In part, the lack of past agreement may have been because of a misunderstanding by the National Portrait Gallery of Commons and Wikipedia's free content mandate; and of the differences between Wikipedia, the Wikimedia Foundation, the Wikimedia Commons, and the individual volunteer workers who participate on the various projects supported by the Foundation.

Like Coetzee, Ryan Kaldari is a volunteer worker who does not represent Wikipedia or the Wikimedia Commons.  (Such representation is impossible.  Both Wikipedia and the Commons are endeavours supported by the Wikimedia Foundation, and not organizations in themselves.)  Nor, again like Coetzee, does he represent the Wikimedia Foundation.

Kaldari states that he explained the free content mandate to Bailey.  Bailey had, according to copies of his messages provided by Kaldari, offered content to Wikipedia (naming as an example the photograph of John Opie's 1797 portrait of Mary Wollstonecraft, whose copyright term has since expired) but on condition that it not be free content, but would be subject to restrictions on its distribution that would have made it impossible to use by any of the many organizations that make use of Wikipedia articles and the Commons repository, in the way that their site-wide "usable by anyone" licences ensures.

The proposed restrictions would have also made it impossible to host the images on Wikimedia Commons.  The image of the National Portrait Gallery in this article, above, is one such free content image; it was provided and uploaded to the Wikimedia Commons under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation Licence, and is thus able to be used and republished not only on Wikipedia but also on Wikinews, on other Wikimedia Foundation projects, as well as by anyone in the world, subject to the terms of the GFDL, a license that guarantees attribution is provided to the creators of the image.

As Commons has grown, many other organizations have come to different arrangements with volunteers who work at the Wikimedia Commons and at Wikipedia.  For example, in February 2009, fifteen international museums including the Brooklyn Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum established a month-long competition where users were invited to visit in small teams and take high quality photographs of their non-copyright paintings and other exhibits, for upload to Wikimedia Commons and similar websites (with restrictions as to equipment, required in order to conserve the exhibits), as part of the "Wikipedia Loves Art" contest.

Approached for comment by Wikinews, Jim Killock, the executive director of the Open Rights Group, said "It's pretty clear that these images themselves should be in the public domain. There is a clear public interest in making sure paintings and other works are usable by anyone once their term of copyright expires. This is what US courts have recognised, whatever the situation in UK law."

The Digital Britain report, issued by the U.K.'s Department for Culture, Media, and Sport in June 2009, stated that "Public cultural institutions like Tate, the Royal Opera House, the RSC, the Film Council and many other museums, libraries, archives and galleries around the country now reach a wider public online."  Culture minster Ben Bradshaw was also approached by Wikinews for comment on the public policy issues surrounding the on-line availability of works in the public domain held in galleries, re-raised by the NPG's threat of legal action, but had not responded by publication time.