Evening Edition

Evening Edition is an Open Thread

From Yahoo News Top Stories

1 Work begins to replace cap on ruptured Gulf oil well

by Mira Oberman, AFP

1 hr 36 mins ago

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (AFP) – Workers began Saturday directing underwater robots to replace the cap on a gushing well in the Gulf of Mexico, in a bid to finally contain the devastating oil flow.

Live video feed of the spill site showed remotely-controlled submarines maneuvering the cap system in order to remove the old containment cap and place a tighter one.

If all works as planned, the new cap combined with a series of tankers that on the surface could contain all the oil now soiling the Gulf’s fragile coastlines as early as Monday.

2 Oil companies reeling from drilling moratorium uncertainty

by Germain Moyon, AFP

2 hrs 6 mins ago

NEW YORK (AFP) – Fed up with the uncertainty surrounding offshore drilling following the Gulf of Mexico disaster, oil companies are considering increasing their inland exploration activities or venturing abroad.

President Barack Obama imposed a moratorium on deepwater drilling after a deadly explosion on a BP-leased rig in April caused a devastating spill of crude into the gulf that has imperiled fragile coastlines and wildlife.

But a federal judge blocked the moratorium last month after 32 oil companies and local officials argued it was causing irreparable economic harm.

3 Robots positioned to remove cap from ruptured Gulf oil well

by Mira Oberman, AFP

2 hrs 35 mins ago

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (AFP) – Underwater robots were hovering over the leaking Gulf of Mexico well to replace a cap in an operation that could see the devastating oil flow finally contained as early as Monday.

The more snuggly-fitting containment cap, which comes on the heels of repeated failures and setbacks for BP, would then siphon crude and gas up to a series of tankers on the surface.

But the system is only a temporary solution before relief wells are completed that could stop the flow completely.

4 Pakistan bomb attacks claim 102 lives

by Lehaz Ali, AFP

11 mins ago

YAKAGHUND, Pakistan (AFP) – The death toll from a suicide bombing and car bomb blast that devastated a tribal town has soared to 102 in one of Pakistan’s deadliest attacks, officials said Saturday.

The explosions targeted a busy market in Yakaghund town in Pakistan’s northwest tribal belt on Friday, destroying government buildings and shops and leaving victims buried under the rubble.

Local administration chief Rasool Khan said the death toll had jumped to 102, after he and other officials had earlier put the number of dead at 65.

5 Remote Easter Island braces for total solar eclipse

by Martin Bernetti, AFP

2 hrs 27 mins ago

HANGA ROA, Chile (AFP) – Remote and mysterious Easter Island saw an influx of tourists and scientists ahead of Sunday’s solar eclipse, a mixed blessing of sorts for the tiny Pacific territory.

An estimated 4,000 tourists, scientists, photographers, filmmakers and journalists flocked to the Chilean island of only 160 square kilometers (60 square miles) on Saturday, doubling the population of the barren isle that already suffers from water pollution and deforestation.

Conditions are anything but normal on Easter Island, deemed by astronomers as the best place to witness Sunday’s alignment of sun, moon and Earth for a fleeting four minutes and 41 seconds.

6 China’s exports soar despite Euro-US malaise

by Allison Jackson, AFP

Sat Jul 10, 2:13 am ET

BEIJING (AFP) – China said Saturday its exports continued to soar in June, as demand for Chinese-made goods remained robust despite Europe’s financial woes and a tepid US recovery.

The nation’s overseas shipments of items including electronic gadgets, shoes and textiles reached 137.4 billion dollars last month, up 43.9 percent from the previous year.

The pace of growth was slower than in May when exports surged 48.5 percent, but was better than most analysts had expected.

7 Chavanel back in yellow after Tour de France 7th stage

by Justin Davis, AFP

1 hr 10 mins ago

LES ROUSSES, France (AFP) – Frenchman Sylvain Chavanel took revenge on overnight race leader Fabian Cancellara Saturday by winning his second stage on the Tour de France to reclaim the yellow jersey.

None of the yellow jersey contenders lost time on what was the first day in the mountains and Quick Step all-rounder Chavanel now holds a 1min 25sec lead on Australian Cadel Evans.

Evans’ fellow yellow jersey challenger Andy Schleck is fourth at 1:55, with reigning champion Alberto Contador sixth at 2:26 and seven-time champion Lance Armstrong 14th at 3:16.

8 Greenpeace marks 1985 Rainbow Warrior bombing

by Jonathan Fowler, AFP

Sat Jul 10, 11:16 am ET

GDANSK, Poland (AFP) – Global environment group Greenpeace Saturday marked the 25th anniversary of the sinking of their iconic flagship the Rainbow Warrior by French secret agents, an attack that killed one crewman.

“Today we are here to honour the courage of Fernando Pereira and all who sailed with him,” said Greenpeace’s executive director Kumi Naidoo at a ceremony in the Polish port of Gdansk, where the vessel’s latest incarnation is being built.

“We honour the entire crew of the Rainbow Warrior which went down, as well as all our folks that work on ships, that take direct action, that hang from coal-fired power plants, that put their lives on the line,” he said.

9 BP starts work to install new seabed cap

By Kristen Hays and Alexandria Sage, Reuters

1 hr 17 mins ago

HOUSTON/PORT SULPHUR, Louisiana (Reuters) – BP Plc removed a containment cap from its stricken Gulf of Mexico oil well on Saturday in the first step toward installing a bigger cap to contain all the crude gushing into the sea and fouling the coast.

The maneuver released a torrent of oil that will spew unrestrained into the Gulf for four to seven days — the time BP says it will take to put in place a bigger cap and seal. Officials say the new cap would capture all the oil leaking from the well and funnel it one mile upward to vessels on the water’s surface.

The new solution, 82 days into the worst oil spill in U.S. history, would not allow crude to billow out the bottom and the top, as the current cap does, said Kent Wells, senior vice president of exploration and production for BP.

10 Death toll from Pakistan bomb attack reaches 102

By Izaz Mohmand, Reuters

Sat Jul 10, 6:34 am ET

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) – The death toll from a suicide attack in a volatile border region of Pakistan climbed to 102 on Saturday, showing the militants’ continued ability to stage deadly strikes despite losing ground in army offensives.

The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), or Taliban Movement of Pakistan, claimed responsibility for Friday’s attack in Mohmand, a Pashtun region on the northwestern border with Afghanistan, where security forces have stepped up operations against militants in recent months.

Friday’s attack is the deadliest Pakistan has suffered since an attack on a market in Peshawar in October last year that killed 105.

11 Civilian deaths rise as Afghan fight intensifies

By Rob Taylor, Reuters

Sat Jul 10, 9:21 am ET

KABUL (Reuters) – Hundreds of Afghans took to the streets of Mazar-i-Sharif Saturday to protest against mounting civilian deaths, while five U.S. and NATO troops died in separate insurgent attacks on a bloody day of fighting across the country.

Protesters chanted slogans against foreign forces and Afghan President Hamid Karzai after U.S. troops killed two civilians in a pre-dawn raid Wednesday in the northern city’s outskirts.

NATO also admitted killing six people with stray artillery Thursday, a day after an airstrike accidentally killed five Afghan soldiers.

12 Slow, deadly road to peace for U.S. troops in Kandahar

By Jonathon Burch, Reuters

Sat Jul 10, 1:49 am ET

KUHAK, Afghanistan (Reuters) – As U.S. soldiers from Alpha Company stepped out of their outpost on a scorching July morning in Arghandab in southern Afghanistan’s Kandahar province, an all too familiar sound rang through the air.

“Can you hear that? They’re blowing their horns again,” one soldier shouts down the line.

It is a sound the U.S. soldiers have become accustomed to nearly every time they go out on patrol — insurgents sounding their car and motorcycle horns, warning each other the Americans are on the move.

13 BP: Cap on gushing well removed, oil flows freely

By TOM BREEN, Associated Press Writer

31 mins ago

NEW ORLEANS – Robotic submarines removed the cap from the gushing well in the Gulf of Mexico on Saturday, beginning a period of at least two days when oil will flow freely into the sea.

It’s the first step in placing a tighter dome that is supposed to funnel more oil to collection ships on the surface a mile above. If all goes according to plan, the tandem of the tighter cap and the surface ships could keep all the oil from polluting the fragile Gulf as soon as Monday.

BP spokesman Mark Proegler said the old cap was removed at 12:37 p.m. CDT on Saturday.

14 Value of oil skimming Gulf flotilla is uncertain

By TOM BREEN, Associated Press Writer

Sat Jul 10, 7:04 am ET

NEW ORLEANS – The value of one highly touted facet of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill cleanup – the small navy of vessels skimming oil from the surface – has proven all but impossible to measure, which could make it difficult to figure out how much damage BP is liable for when the gusher is finally stopped.

BP and the federal government admit they have no idea how much oil has been collected by hundreds of boats that range from retrofitted fishing vessels to state-of-the art craft designed specifically for the task. The harshest critics say the amount of oil skimmed is as low as 2.9 million gallons of the 87 million to 171 million gallons of crude that have gushed into the Gulf since April 20, but BP and independent scientists alike say there’s no real way of knowing.

BP tracks the amount of oil-tainted water skimmers collect – nearly 29 million gallons so far – but not the amount of oil found in that mixture. Part of the problem, BP says, is the variety of vessels and skimming equipment being used.

15 Spill spreads anxiety among Vietnamese fishermen

By SHARON COHEN, AP National Writer

Sat Jul 10, 12:16 pm ET

NEW ORLEANS – On a steamy summer morning, Minh Chu would normally be far out in the Gulf, hauling in huge loads of shrimp in the blistering sun. Instead, he’s standing in an alley, the air sticky as cotton candy, rain falling, clutching a paper ticket – a small measure of how a massive oil spill has shaken up his life.

Chu is a deck hand, or he was until two months ago when the spill put him out of work and rippled across his world. Before that, he had been saving to bring his wife, Nguyen, from Vietnam to America. He’d also been sending her money regularly since they wed three years ago. Now he needs help just to buy food.

And that’s what brings Chu to a Vietnamese community center this day where he’s among dozens of people lined up hours before the 9 a.m. opening when 25 coveted stubs will be exchanged for $100 grocery vouchers from Catholic Charities.

16 Sea turtle egg evacuations begin along oiled Gulf

By BRIAN SKOLOFF, Associated Press Writer

Fri Jul 9, 7:05 pm ET

PORT ST. JOE, Fla. – Biologist Lorna Patrick dug gingerly into the beach Friday, gently brushing away sand to reveal dozens of leathery, golfball-sized loggerhead sea turtle eggs.

Patrick, of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, carefully plucked the eggs from the foot-deep hole and placed them one-by-one in a cooler layered with moist sand from the nest, the first step in a sweeping and unusual turtle egg evacuation to save thousands of threatened hatchlings from certain death in the oiled Gulf of Mexico.

After about 90 minutes of parting the sand with her fingers like an archaeological dig, 107 eggs were placed in two coolers and loaded onto a FedEx temperature-controlled truck. They are being transported to a warehouse at Florida’s Kennedy Space Center where they will incubate and, hopefully, hatch before being released into the Atlantic Ocean.

17 Surge of attacks kills 6 US troops, 12 Afghans

By KAY JOHNSON, Associated Press Writer

1 hr 5 mins ago

KABUL, Afghanistan – A wave of attacks killed six U.S. troops and at least a dozen civilians Saturday in Afghanistan’s volatile south and east, as American reinforcements moving into Taliban-dominated areas face up to the fierce resistance they expected.

Increased U.S.-led military operations in the southern province of Kandahar are aimed at trying to break the Taliban’s grip where they are strongest by delivering security and government services to win over Afghan people.

The hope is that once the tide begins to turn, more control can be handed to Afghan forces without fear that the Taliban might again seize power, bring back its harsh interpretation of Islamic law and resume sheltering al-Qaida terrorist leaders. Then U.S. troops could begin withdrawing in July 2011, in line with a timeline set by President Barack Obama.

18 Pakistan bomb death toll hits 102, worst this year

By RIAZ KHAN, Associated Press Writers

Sat Jul 10, 12:44 pm ET

YAKAGHUND, Pakistan – As Adnan Khan sifted through the rubble in this northwest Pakistani village Saturday, his grief mingled with a sense of disbelief. Of the 102 people killed by a pair of suicide bombers here the day before, 10 were his relatives. Aunts, uncles, cousins – all perished in the deadliest attack in Pakistan this year.

“People came here yesterday to receive biscuits and edible oil,” the college student said. “I don’t know why terrorists killed them.”

Yakaghund village lies in Mohmand, one of several regions in Pakistan’s tribal belt where al-Qaida and Taliban militants are believed to be hiding. The Friday strike showed that Islamist extremists remain a deadly force along this area bordering Afghanistan, despite pressure from army offensives or drone-fired U.S. missiles.

19 New rules, big changes coming for financial world

By JIM KUHNHENN, Associated Press Writer

1 hr 10 mins ago

WASHINGTON – Big changes are in store for the financial world from a government crackdown more than a year in the making. Democratic leaders in the Senate are trying to secure the final votes needed to pass legislation this coming week that would impose the most sweeping rules on banks and Wall Street since the Great Depression.

The financial industry and consumers already are anticipating – in some cases bracing for – the impact.

Banks might see their bottom lines suffer. Lenders will have to disclose more information. Borrowers will have to prove their ability to repay. The masters of high finance will find it harder to sidestep regulations. Government watchdogs will be under orders to look more suspiciously at risky behavior.

20 Iran to review woman’s stoning verdict

By NASSER KARIMI, Associated Press Writer

1 hr 11 mins ago

TEHRAN, Iran – The lawyer for an Iranian widow sentenced to be stoned to death for an adultery conviction expressed cautious optimism Saturday after Iran said it will review the decision, which has drawn international condemnation.

Human rights activists and other officials, however, warned that Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, a 43-year-old mother of two, could still be hanged.

The outcry over the death sentence is the latest thorn in Iran’s relationship with the international community, with the United States, Britain and international human rights groups urging Tehran to stay the execution.

21 NY woman questioned again and again over ID mix-up

By MICHAEL HILL, Associated Press Writer

1 hr 12 mins ago

SARANAC LAKE, N.Y. – Sylvie Nelson’s border crossings are anything but routine. Customs agents sometimes order her out of her car. Twice, they handcuffed her in front of her young children. Once, agents swarmed her car and handcuffed her husband, too.

She tells them: It’s not me you want, it’s a man with the same birth date and a similar name. Agents always confirm that and let her go.

Then it happens again. And again.

22 LeBron’s mural coming down in Cleveland

By TOM WITHERS, AP Sports Writer

49 mins ago

CLEVELAND – LeBron James is being dropped off a building. And his jerseys, at least the ones not on fire, are almost being given away. Workers began dismantling the 10-story-tall iconic image of James on a mural in downtown Cleveland on Saturday.

The billboard has dominated the city’s skyline for years but is being removed after the superstar announced he was leaving the Cavaliers for the Miami Heat.

As strips of the image of James, his arms outstretched and head thrown back after doing his pregame powder toss, began coming off, pedestrians stopped on Ontario Street to take photos and cars pulled to the side for one last look at No. 23, who has gone from being a hometown hero to villain.

23 Welcome to Miami, LeBron, as Heat begin the party

By TIM REYNOLDS, AP Sports Writer

Sat Jul 10, 7:06 am ET

MIAMI – Dwyane Wade was on the right side of the photo, then realized that wasn’t the optimal spot for the shortest guy in the frame.

So he moved to the middle, LeBron James on one side, Chris Bosh on the other.

Picture perfect.

24 FDA review spotlights heart risk of diabetes pill

By MATTHEW PERRONE, AP Business Writer

Sat Jul 10, 7:06 am ET

WASHINGTON – Federal health scientists have panned a GlaxoSmithKline study that the company used to defend the safety of its embattled diabetes drug Avandia, a once blockbuster-seller that has fallen out of favor because of potential ties to heart attacks.

The Food and Drug Administration posted an exhaustive 700-page review of Avandia on Friday ahead of a meeting next week to decide whether the drug should stay on the market.

The FDA finds itself in a difficult position that’s all too familiar: reviewing a drug approved a decade ago that now appears tied to deadly side effects. Experts say the FDA’s predicament is a result of shifting standards for the agency: increased scrutiny on safety and stepped-up pressure from Capitol Hill.

25 Democrats face test on eve of Japanese election

By MALCOLM FOSTER, Associated Press Writer

Sat Jul 10, 7:06 am ET

TOKYO – His popularity dented, Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan toned down his tax hike talk on the eve of parliamentary elections Sunday that are widely considered a referendum on the Democrats’ 10 months in power.

Candidates traveled in campaign vans, speakers blaring and aides waving out of windows, stopping here and there to give speeches throughout the country Saturday.

The balloting, in which half the seats in the 242-member upper house are up for grabs, won’t directly affect the ruling Democratic Party of Japan’s grip on power because it has a hefty majority in the more powerful lower house that chooses the prime minister.

26 FAA tells airlines to fix cockpit window heaters

By JOAN LOWY, Associated Press Writer

Sat Jul 10, 4:59 am ET

WASHINGTON – Airlines will have to inspect the cockpit window heaters on 1,212 Boeing airliners and perhaps replace the windows under a safety order the Federal Aviation Administration said Friday it plans to issue next week.

The window heaters have been tied to dozens of incidents involving in-flight fires, smoke, open streams of electricity known as electrical arcing, and shattered windshields in Boeing planes. In many cases, pilots have made emergency landings.

The source of the problem was identified in 2004 as a simple loose screw that chafes power wires where they connect to heating wires in the windows.

27 GOP candidate Angle to rally GOP against Reid

By MICHAEL R. BLOOD, AP Political Writer

1 hr 45 mins ago

HENDERSON, Nev. – U.S. Senate candidate Sharron Angle on Friday denounced Majority Leader Harry Reid as a “desperate man” who was distorting her conservative record while ignoring a state that leads the nation in joblessness, foreclosures and bankruptcies.

A day after President Barack Obama delivered a mocking indictment of her candidacy at a rally in Las Vegas, Angle accused the president and Reid of pushing billions of dollars in stimulus spending while Nevada struggles with “an economy that is a disaster.”

She called for repeal of the health care overhaul, lower taxes and disbanding federal agencies, including the Education Department, that she said had responsibilities that can be handled at the state level.

28 Angry protesters eye sentencing in transit killing

By PAUL ELIAS and GREG RISLING, Associated Press Writers

Fri Jul 9, 11:21 pm ET

SAN FRANCISCO – The involuntary manslaughter conviction of a white former transit officer in the death of an unarmed black man set the stage for a sentencing that could be just as explosive as the trial depending on how the judge interprets the verdict.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Robert Perry has a tremendous amount of discretion in handing down punishment Aug. 6 against Johannes Mehserle – anywhere from probation to 14 years.

A sentence on the low end could further inflame tensions among the hundreds of angry people who took to the streets of Oakland Thursday over what they believe should have been a murder conviction.

29 Psychology group backs CIA detainee abuse claim

By ANDREW WELSH-HUGGINS, Associated Press Writer

49 mins ago

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Psychologists in the United States have been warned by their professional group not to take part in torturing detainees in U.S. custody.

Now the American Psychological Association has taken the unprecedented step of supporting an attempt to strip the license of a psychologist accused of overseeing the torture of a CIA detainee.

The APA has told a Texas licensing board in a letter mailed July 1 that the allegations against Dr. James Mitchell represent “patently unethical” actions inconsistent with the organization’s ethics guidelines.

30 Duncan: Congress needs to act now on school money

By DONNA GORDON BLANKINSHIP, Associated Press Writer

1 hr 45 mins ago

DES MOINES, Wash. – U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan urged Congress on Friday to act soon to increase education funding because cash-strapped states can’t wait until the fall to determine if they must lay off thousands of teachers.

Duncan made his remarks at a forum on innovation in education at Aviation High School in Des Moines, a small college prep school that focuses on science, technology and mathematics.

At the forum, U.S. Sen. Patty Murray said she hopes fellow lawmakers spent their Fourth of July break hearing from parents and teachers, like she did. Murray said if they got the message about how urgent the school budget crisis is, they will return to Washington, D.C., with the drive to find more money for schools.

31 Struggling states seeking more aid from Washington

By LIZ “Sprinkles” SIDOTI, AP National Political Writer

2 hrs 5 mins ago

BOSTON – Governors hamstrung by the sluggish economic rebound in their states and bound to balance their own budgets are pressing anew for Washington to step up with more help, even if it means adding to the nation’s red ink.

Republicans and Democrats alike wrestled with how to capitalize on a fledgling rebound as they talked dollars and sense at their summer meeting just days into a new budget year and as the economy shapes dozens of gubernatorial races across the country.

“All states still are facing tough fiscal situations even though I do believe we’re in recovery,” said West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin, a Democrat who’s taking over as chairman of the National Governors Association.

32 San Francisco hits nerve with pet sale ban idea

By EVELYN NIEVES, Associated Press Writer

Sat Jul 10, 2:04 pm ET

SAN FRANCISCO – As Philip Gerrie tells it, the idea of banning pet sales in San Francisco started simply enough, with a proposal to outlaw puppy and kitten mills.

West Hollywood, Calif. had done it, with little fanfare. Why not the city of St. Francis, patron saint of animals, which prides itself on its compassion toward all creatures great and small?

So Gerrie, a bee keeper and secretary of the San Francisco Commission of Animal Control & Welfare, a seven-member advisory board on animal issues to the city’s lawmakers, decided to suggest adding the idea to the commission’s agenda.

33 Historic church brings NM village together

By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN, Associated Press Writer

Sat Jul 10, 12:33 pm ET

RANCHOS DE TAOS, N.M. – In the center of this northern New Mexico village stands a sun-baked adobe church made famous by the paintings of Georgia O’Keeffe and the photographs of Ansel Adams and Paul Strand.

But if it weren’t for an annual ritual that has been kept alive for nearly two centuries by the close-knit community of Ranchos de Taos, it’s likely the iconic church wouldn’t be standing at all.

Hundreds of parishioners gathered over two weeks under the summer sun to plaster the thick walls of the San Francisco de Asis Church with a fresh coat of mud, from the massive buttresses at the back of the fortress-like church to the courtyard walls and the tops of the bell towers.

34 An Indian finds himself on the Emerald Isle

By HELEN O’NEILL, AP Special Correspondent

Sat Jul 10, 12:16 pm ET

Gary White Deer has spent a lifetime wrestling with his identity, his history, his sense of belonging.

Artist, teacher, medicine man, he has roamed the country – visiting elders, soaking up old stories and songs. He married a Kiowa woman whose family practiced traditional ways. He formed a native dance troupe, prayed at the sacred mound of Nanih Waiya in Mississippi, immersed himself in historic preservation groups, taught tribal history.

Still, he has always wondered: What does being a Choctaw mean in an age when it seems anyone with a drop of tribal blood could declare themselves Indian?

35 Spy mystery: Was NY columnist a wife betrayed?

By JOCELYN NOVECK and JIM FITZGERALD, Associated Press Writers

Fri Jul 9, 8:06 pm ET

YONKERS, N.Y. – Vicky Pelaez met her husband, Juan Lazaro – or so he called himself – some 30 years ago in her native Peru. She was a gutsy TV reporter, he a talented photographer and a karate black belt. “To her, he was a hunk,” a friend says.

Soon, the two were married and living in a leafy New York suburb, raising a young son along with Vicky’s older one, proudly watching him develop into a talented pianist. And now, three decades later, with the family suddenly torn asunder, her lawyer says she likely never even knew Juan’s real name: Mikhail Vasenkov.

It’s one of the more tantalizing mysteries to emerge from the spy saga that has entranced the world over the past 12 days: Could a wife be in the dark even as to her husband’s very name?

2 comments

  1. has done a wonderful job blogging about torture at FDL and his own blog Invictus

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