No extradition for Irishman accused of selling North Korean forged dollars

Ireland's High Court ruled against extraditing former Irish political party leader Se?n Garland to the US, where he has been indicted for circulating North Korean forgeries of $100 bills.

It should have been Ireland's trial of the century: The elderly leader of a communist breakaway group from the IRA, whose former party comrades are now in government, sat accused by the US State Department of distributing ?superdollars? ? perfect forgeries of US dollars ? printed by the North Korean government to underwrite the dictatorship's failing economy, and, in some of the more thriller-like reports, to undermine the US economy at the same time.

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And yet, other than the initial allegations, the long-running extradition battle barely registered in the press in Ireland or abroad. ? This morning, it drew to a close as Ireland's High Court ruled against extraditing former Irish political party leader Se?n Garland to the United States to face charges of distributing counterfeit dollars allegedly printed by North Korea.

Speaking at a hearing this morning, Justice John Edwards said the court would not grant the application and will furnish the reasons for doing so on Jan. 13. The decision had originally been due in October, after the hearing adjourned in July.

Mr. Garland was indicted by the US for circulating North Korean forgeries of American $100 bills in the 1990s in cooperation with the Russian Communist Party and British criminal contacts.? Garland denies the charges, and claims the American government wants to put him in Guant?namo Bay or, at the very least, a "Supermax" prison from which he will never see daylight again.

Garland was first arrested on the charges in Northern Ireland in 2005, but while awaiting extradition, he jumped bail and fled to the Republic of Ireland, where he lives.? He was rearrested by Irish authorities in 2009.

The Rev. Chris Hudson, chair of the Stop the Extradition of Se?n Garland campaign, today issued a statement supporting the judgment.

?This has been a horrendous six-year ordeal for Se?n, his family, and friends,? said Mr. Hudson, ?and I am delighted with the progress we have made today. I have always believed that the US extradition demand was a vindictive act by the former Bush administration designed to punish and isolate North Korea and anyone who had connections with that country.?

Speaking to The Christian Science Monitor in July, Mick Finngean, the current president of the Workers' Party, said the?allegations against Garland were absurd and politically motivated, and?the US justice system was too slanted. ?There?s no way Se?n Garland, given his opposition to [US foreign?policy] and political beliefs, would get a fair trial,? he said. ?The most right-wing fanatics have already presumed him guilty.?

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/rRmlnCCa2Fg/No-extradition-for-Irishman-accused-of-selling-North-Korean-forged-dollars

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Live: Obama to Talk About Payroll Tax Before Flying to Hawaii (The Atlantic Wire)

President Obama will speak at approximately 12:15 p.m to address the pay roll tax cut extension, and less than an hour later he's scheduled to board a plane to Honolulu, Hawaii, for his holiday vacation. On Thursday Obama said he would sign the payroll tax cut extension as soon as it found its way to his desk. House Republicans finally passed the payroll tax cut extension this morning, and this afternoon's speech is probably going to be the formalities and confirmation that he's signed the extension into effect. But the bigger news in the Twitter-verse seems to be that the speech isn't going to be too long or drawn out as the President has a 1:05 p.m. flight to Hawaii to catch and a vacation to start.

Related: Obama Repeats Proposal But Offers Assurance at AIPAC

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/gop/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/atlantic/20111223/pl_atlantic/liveobamatalkaboutpayrolltaxflyinghawaii46615

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01/13/2012 - Dinner Theater 'Bedrooms' with Monroe Community Players

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Source: http://www.monroetalks.com/events/events/index.php?com=detail&eID=37195

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Reznor's novel approach to `Dragon Tattoo' score (AP)

LOS ANGELES ? Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross started writing music for the American adaptation of "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" months before they'd even seen the script.

"We tried some new approaches in terms of handing over lots and lots of music that was composed really from an impressionist point of view, before anything was even shot, so that (director) David (Fincher) and the filmmakers could really weave it into the fabric of the story," Reznor said. "Just see how that works: A new experiment."

It seems to have worked just fine: The composers earned a Golden Globe nomination last week for their original score ? their second consecutive nomination in that category. The pair won the Golden Globe and the Academy Award for their score for 2010's "The Social Network."

Reznor, 46, said working with Fincher on "The Social Network" prepared the composers to take a novel approach to the music for "Dragon Tattoo."

"As I learned how the process works on `Social Network,' it struck me that the director could really use access to music while the scenes are being edited together," he said. "Often what they do is reach into a bucket of temp music to kind of get the vibe of what they think it might sound like. I thought, well, if you had a lot of music to start with, that would certainly be a helpful tool while they're putting the broad strokes of the film together."

Reznor and Ross dedicated a year to the project, and much of the music they wrote before shooting began made it into the final film, which opens Wednesday. The film follows a journalist (played by Daniel Craig) who enlists the help of a young computer hacker (Rooney Mara) to investigate a series of decades-old killings. The original Swedish version of the film, based on Stig Larsson's novel, was released in 2009.

Fincher's film is "a fairly unpleasant and uncomfortable viewing experience," Reznor said. "We really wanted to get under the skin of the viewer and contribute to a sense of uneasiness when that was appropriate, and also try to breathe life into the landscape where this takes place, a very frigid Sweden, and act like set dressing really. It's not an obvious score."

He said the composers aimed to create music that "fits right in with the lighting or the set design or the costumes."

"There's nothing I think you're going to leave the theater humming in your head necessarily in terms of score, and that's intentional," Reznor said.

It's a completely new way to think about music for the Nine Inch Nails front man.

"When I'm writing music for myself or for my own projects, I'm hoping that it eats up close to 100 percent of your attention, what's coming into your ears. And working in film and particularly with David, it really is contributing to the overall experience," Reznor said. "It's forcing me to rethink how I compose and what role sound plays and how to contribute and manipulate emotionally what you're experiencing but not in the same way I'm used to doing it, and that makes it exciting for me."

___

AP Entertainment Writer Sandy Cohen can be reached at www.twitter.com/APSandy.

___

Online:

www.nin.com

www.goldenglobes.org

www.dragontattoo.com

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/entertainment/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111220/ap_en_ot/us_people_trent_reznor

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Video: Another GOP frontrunner sinks in the polls

Holiday surprise for two parents with cancer

Just a few months ago the future seemed impossibly bleak for Elisa and Nathan Bond, young parents who had both been diagnosed with late stage cancers. But just this week the couple got the news that Elisa?s cancer had finally responded to therapy and disappeared.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036697/vp/45743145#45743145

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Burnaby 26th most dangerous city in Canada: Maclean's

Burnaby has been ranked the 26th most dangerous city in Canada, according to national crime rankings compiled by Maclean's magazine.

The magazine used Statistics Canada crime data for police service serving cities with Canada's 100 largest populations. The data comprised 2010 rates per 100,000 residents for six crimes?homicide, sexual assault, aggravated assault, vehicle theft, robbery and? breaking and entering.

While Burnaby's population of 230,009 was the 22nd largest, it came in at No. 26 in the most dangerous rankings. Its crime rate was 20.7 per cent higher than the national average, according to StatsCan's Crime Severity Index (CSI), which ranked Burnaby at 26th worst for violent crime and 24th worst for non-violent crime.

Of note is the fact Burnaby's crime numbers have seen a significant improvement over the years, with its CSI crime scores falling by 31.5 per cent since 2005 and 40.4 per cent since 2000.

Prince George was ranked No. 1 most dangerous, followed by Victoria and Saskatoon, Sask. Lower Mainland cities ranked ahead of Burnaby were Surrey (10th), New Westminster (15th), Vancouver (18th), Langley Township (20th) and Maple Ridge (24th).

Burnaby RCMP Chief Supt. Dave Critchley said the crime rates have been dropping and cautioned that percentages can be somewhat misleading when small numbers of actual crimes are involved.

Burnaby has seen success with its crime reduction program, which targets prolific offenders. But it is also dealing with new crimes, such as the recent spike in people being robbed of their smartphones, devices which didn't exist 10 years ago, Critchley said.

As for why Burnaby's crime rate is about 20 per cent higher than the national average (a drop from 39 per cent higher in 2009), he said there are no straightforward explanations.

"Generally, the western provinces have had higher crime rates than the eastern provinces in past decades," he said by email.

Critchley said factors contributing to higher crimes in the West include inner-city, high-crime neighbourhoods, transient populations of young males, addiction issues, gang culture and a thriving drug trade.

In Eastern Canada, factors contributing to lower crime rates, he said, include lower reporting rates ("for example, Ontario has the lowest reporting rate, with only 30% of all victimization incidents getting reported to police"), narrower income gaps and an older, more law-abiding population.

wchow@burnabynewsleader.com

?

?

Burnaby Comparative Statistics: 2010 vs. 2009

2009??? 2010??? % Change

Homicide??? ??? ?? ? ? ?? 6??? ??? 2??? ??? -67%

Aggravated Assault??? 23??? ??? 20??? ??? -13%

Sexual Assault??? ??? 102??? ??? 110??? ??? 8%

Robbery??? ??? ??? ?? ?? 447??? ??? 346??? ??? -23%

Break & Enter??? ??? 2,322??? 1,994??? -14%

Auto Theft??? ??? ??? 1,158?????? 887??? ???? -23%

Source: Burnaby RCMP

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Source: http://www.burnabynewsleader.com/news/136012938.html

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Judge dismisses $1B lawsuit against Microsoft

SALT LAKE CITY?? A federal judge on Friday dismissed a Utah company's $1 billion federal antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft Corp. after a jury failed to reach a unanimous verdict.

Novell claims Microsoft duped it into developing the once-popular WordPerfect writing program for Windows 95 only to pull the plug so Microsoft could gain market share with its own product. Novell says it was later forced to sell WordPerfect for a $1.2 billion loss.

(Msnbc.com is a joint venture of Microsoft and NBC Universal.)

The trial has been ongoing in Salt Lake City for two months. Jurors got the case Wednesday morning, but by Friday told the judge they were "hopelessly deadlocked."

They had expressed confusion to the judge about the complicated case throughout deliberations, even bringing one question to the court that could not be answered. The judge told jurors to simply disregard the question.

Earlier Friday, the judge denied a request from one juror to be removed from the case.

Microsoft lawyers have argued that Novell's loss of market share was its own doing because the company didn't develop a compatible WordPerfect program until long after the rollout of Windows 95. WordPerfect once had nearly 50 percent of the market for word processing, but its share quickly plummeted to less than 10 percent as Microsoft's own Office programs took hold.

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates testified last month that he had no idea his decision to drop a tool for outside developers would sidetrack Novell. Gates said he was acting to protect Windows 95 and future versions from crashing.

Novell could have worked around the problem but failed to react quickly, he said.

Novell has argued that Gates ordered Microsoft engineers to reject WordPerfect as a Windows 95 word processing application because he feared it was too good.

Novell's lawsuit is the last major private antitrust case to follow the settlement of a federal antitrust enforcement action against Microsoft more than eight years ago. The trial began in October in federal court in Salt Lake City.

Novell is now a wholly owned subsidiary of The Attachmate Group, the result of a merger that was completed earlier this year.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45703855/ns/business-us_business/

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