Report: South Sudan sues Khartoum over oil

KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP) ? South Sudan is suing Sudan for "looting" its oil and will no longer export crude through its northern neighbor's territory, a Sudanese daily reported Sunday, citing officials, in the latest spat between the two governments over the coveted resource in the newly independent southern nation.

South Sudan Information Minister Marial Benjamin said the lawsuit was filed in "specialized international tribunals against Sudan and some companies" that bought the crude, the Al-Sahafa daily said. Benjamin did not provide additional details on the venue or when the lawsuit was filed.

The case is the latest development in a long-simmering fight between the two governments over the oil they share. Most of it lies within the borders of South Sudan, which achieved independence last July.

On Jan. 17, South Sudan Minister of Petroleum and Mining Stephen Dhieu Dau said Sudan is diverting about 120,000 barrels of oil pumped from the south daily, a move the northern government said stemmed from the unpaid transit fees for the oil carried in pipelines from the south to export terminals in its territory. The two sides have been unable to resolve the dispute.

South Sudan's Cabinet Affairs minister, Deng Alor, said that his country has halted pumping crude through Sudan and would begin building a pipeline across east Africa that would allow it to export its oil through Kenya. The project would take about a year, he told Al-Sahafa.

"Our economy will not be affected by this step," he said, adding that South Sudan had enough in cash reserves to sustain it for five years. Even if the economy was affected, it would be preferable to the "looting" taking place by Sudan, he was quoted as saying by the newspaper.

The Khartoum government downplayed the potential impact of the move by the south. Sudanese State Minister for Cabinet Affairs Amin Hassan Omar said that the oil currently held in pipelines would cover a considerable portion of the debts owed by the south.

The suspension of oil production is a "tactical move that will not last long," he told Al-Sahafa.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-01-22-ML-Sudan-South-Sudan-Oil/id-dcf5fa72aaff4de3a41d196f8b6bf882

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Fox wins ratings nights as "Idol," still number-one, slips (Reuters)

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) ? "American Idol" continued to slip Thursday night after dropping with its season premiere Wednesday night, while NBC's new drama "The Firm" continued its slide, according to preliminary numbers.

Fox's "American Idol," which Wednesday night premiered to a 24 percent decline versus last season's premiere, dropped off another 19 percent with Thursday's installment, clocking a 5.7/15 in the adults 18-49 demographic and receiving 14 million total viewers. That was similar to the percentage dip that the show experienced between last season's first and second night.

"Idol" was still the night's top-rated program, and pushed Fox to a ratings win with an average 3.9/10. It also boosted "The Finder" at 9 p.m., which grew 29 percent from last week's premiere with a 2.2/5 and 6.7 million total viewers.

CBS took the second-highest ratings of the week with "The Big Bang Theory" at 8, which scored a 5.2/14 and 15.7 million total viewers. "Rob" at 8:30 dropped 12 percent from its strong premiere last week, hitting a 3.6/9 and drawing 11.7 million total viewers. "Person of Interest" at 9 received a 3.3/8 and 14.3 million total viewers, while "The Mentalist" the following hour drew a 2.9/8 and 14 million total viewers. The network took most-watched status for the night with an average 14 million total viewers.

At NBC, "30 Rock" at 8 fell 11 percent from last week's season premiere to a series low of 1.6/4 and 4 million total viewers. "Parks & Recreation" at 8:30 increased slightly for a 2.0/5 and 4.3 million total viewers, while "The Office" ran flat with last week for a 2.9/7 and 5.9 million total viewers. "Up All Night" followed at 9:30, posting a 1.9/5 and 4 million total viewers. The night closed with "The Firm" at 10, which fell 10 percent from last week to 0.9/2 and 3.4 million total viewers.

ABC's night began on a down note, with "Wipeout" at 8 dropping 18 percent for a 1.8/5 and 5.8 million total viewers. "Grey's Anatomy" the following hour was also down, slipping 11 percent for a 3.4/8 and 9.3 million total viewers. "Private Practice" ended the evening with a 2.1/5 and 6 million total viewers.

(Editing by Chris Michaud)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tv/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120120/tv_nm/us_tvratings

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China sentences activist to 10 years over writings (AP)

BEIJING ? A court has sentenced a democracy activist in central China to 10 years' imprisonment for subversion, a family member said Thursday. It's the third lengthy jail term handed down to a dissident in less than a month.

Li Tie was sentenced by a court in Wuhan city to 10 years in jail on Wednesday after being convicted of subversion based on articles that he had written, said the relative, who did not want to be named due to fear of official retaliation.

Li said in court he is innocent because the Chinese constitution protects citizens' freedom of expression, the Hong Kong-based Chinese Human Rights Defenders group said in a statement. The group said Li was arrested in September 2010 and his trial was held in April.

Wang Songlian, a researcher with the group, said Li's case is similar to those of Chen Wei and Chen Xi, rights activists who were separately sentenced late last month to nine and 10 years in prison, respectively, for posting essays on the Internet that the government deemed subversive.

"They are all activists with a long track record of promoting democracy in China, who have refused to bend despite severe persecution," Wang said. "Their sentences are the Chinese government's response to the Arab Spring: Freedom and democracy are dirty words, and anyone advocating for them will be punished harshly."

Communist leaders launched a sweeping effort to crush dissent early last year in response to anonymous online calls urging Chinese to imitate protests that toppled governments in North Africa and the Middle East.

In Wednesday's case, the Wuhan Intermediate Court refused to allow Li to be represented by an attorney of his choice and instead appointed a lawyer to defend him, the relative said.

"From the beginning to the end, it has been all nonsense," said the family member. "The question of subverting state power does not exist."

Li will appeal the sentence if the family is able to hire a lawyer, the relative said.

A man at the Wuhan court office who answered the phone hung up as soon as he heard the caller was from The Associated Press. Subsequent calls rang unanswered.

According to Chinese Human Rights Defenders, prosecutors said that because Li wrote articles critical of the government and participated in discussions on "reactionary" websites, it should be presumed that he would engage in anti-government actions.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/china/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120119/ap_on_re_as/as_china_human_rights

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We Won't Have Rick Perry to Kick Around Any More (Little green footballs)

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Killer of 7-year-old girl commits suicide

Cherokee Sheriff's Department / AP

Ryan Brunn, 20, of Canton, is shown in his Dec. 7 booking photo.

By msnbc.com staff and news services

JACKSON, Ga. -- An apartment complex maintenance man who molested and killed a 7-year-old girl committed suicide in prison on Thursday, two days after being sentenced to life in a notorious case that led to the resignation of a town police chief.

?I can confirm that Ryan Brunn did commit suicide," Kristen Stancil, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Corrections, told the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

---

Brunn was fund unresponsive in his cell at the Jackson State Prison on Thursday afternoon and was pronounced dead at a hospital, the newspaper reported.

Corrections officials did not say how Brunn killed himself. A source told 11Alive News than Brunn hanged himself.

On Tuesday, Brunn pleaded guilty to molesting and killing 7-year-old Jorelys Rivera. The girl disappeared Dec. 3 from a playground at her Canton, Ga., apartment complex after going to get sodas from her friends. Her body was found a few days later in a trash bin.

Speaking softly and with little emotion, Brunn told the court he lured Jorelys into a vacant apartment, molested her, then beat and stabbed her.

He said that when she struggled,?he hit her about five times with?one of her roller?skates and then wrapped her body in a blanket, which he then dumped in a trash compactor.

"I didn't want her to go home and tell her mom or dad on me," Brunn said. "So I cut her."

Hundreds gather to mourn slain Ga. girl

Brunn insisted he never had sex with the girl, and prosecutors agreed to reduce charges against him from aggravated child molestation to child molestation. He also pleaded guilty to a range of other charges, including assault and abandonment of a dead body. He had no history of a criminal past and passed a background check to work at the complex.

Ricardo Arduengo / AP

Joselinne Rivera mourns in front of the coffin containing the body of her daughter, Jorelys Rivera, during her?funeral?in Penuelas, Puerto Rico, on Dec. 13.

Canton Police Chief Jeff Lance resigned after a review revealed his department violated several of its own policies and made many mistakes in the search for Jorelys.

A 17-page review by LaGrange Police Chief Louis Dekmar said Lance and his department made a host of mistakes, according to The Associated Press.

The inquiry said there was little doubt that Rivera was already dead by the time Canton police received the missing child report. But it said if another such report were handled in the same manner, police "may indeed miss an opportunity to save a victim's life."

The review found that the officer who responded to the initial call treated the case as a routine one that "would be solved in the same manner as dozens of other such cases that the agency had handled in 2011."

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

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Source: http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/19/10193967-killer-of-7-year-old-ga-girl-commits-suicide-in-prison

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Google launches PSA-style 'Good to Know' ad campaign, wants to keep us safe

Google's no stranger to privacy-related controversy, which may explain the motivation behind its latest ad campaign. On Tuesday, the company will launch a series of ads across major newspapers, magazines and billboards, as part of its new "Good to Know" initiative, designed to make the internet "a safer, more comfortable place." According to Google, these ads will offer tips and advice on how to secure your personal information online, including details on how to protect your passwords from web predators. The entire campaign has a distinctly PSA flavor to it, though there's also a different subtext at work here, since Google is effectively branding itself as "the one you can trust." There are certainly some who would dispute that, but at a time when most privacy concerns are focused squarely on the government, it may be a good time for Google to crank up its PR machine. Find out more at the links below.

Google launches PSA-style 'Good to Know' ad campaign, wants to keep us safe originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 17 Jan 2012 14:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/17/google-launches-psa-style-good-to-know-ad-campaign-wants-to-k/

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