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Gregg withdraws from consideration for Commerce post

Sen. Judd Gregg, R-New Hampshire, speaks next to President Obama.
Republican Sen. Judd Gregg withdrew his nomination as President Barack Obama’s commerce secretary Thursday, citing "irresolvable conflicts" over the administration’s stimulus bill and the upcoming 2010 census.

“We are functioning from a different set of views on many critical items of policy,” Gregg said in a statement announcing the decision. “Obviously, the president requires a team that is fully supportive of all his initiatives.” Gregg would have been the third Republican to join the Democratic administration, following Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. The third-term Republican and leading fiscal conservative once voted to abolish the Commerce Department. “I want to thank the president for nominating me to serve in his Cabinet as secretary of commerce. This was a great honor, and I had felt that I could bring some views and ideas that would assist him in governing during this difficult time. I especially admire his willingness to reach across the aisle,” he said in a statement. Watch Gregg say why “it wasn’t a good fit” » “However, it has become apparent during this process that this will not work for me as I have found that on issues such as the stimulus package and the census there are irresolvable conflicts for me,” he wrote. “Prior to accepting this post, we had discussed these and other potential differences, but unfortunately we did not adequately focus on these concerns. We are functioning from a different set of views on many critical items of policy.” Interactive: Other nominees that have withdrawn » White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs issued a statement late Thursday afternoon saying “we regret that he has had a change of heart.” “Sen. Gregg reached out to the president and offered his name for secretary of commerce. He was very clear throughout the interviewing process that despite past disagreements about policies, he would support, embrace and move forward with the president’s agenda,” Gibbs said. “Once it became clear after his nomination that Sen. Gregg was not going to be supporting some of President Obama’s key economic priorities, it became necessary for Sen. Gregg and the Obama administration to part ways.” iReport: Share your thoughts on Gregg’s withdrawal But Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell welcomed Gregg’s withdrawal. “Sen. Gregg made a principled decision to return and we’re glad to have him,” McConnell, R-Kentucky, announced. “He is among the smartest, most effective legislators to serve in the Senate — Democrat or Republican — and a key adviser to me and to the Republican conference. It’s great to have him back.” A Democratic source close to the Obama White House said Thursday that Gregg “campaigned for the job” — that the senator from New Hampshire asked Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to approach the president about the Commerce post. Gregg “sat with [Obama], said he wanted the job, knew his policies and erratically dropped out without warning,” said the source, minutes after the Republican senator announced his withdrawal from consideration. A Republican source close to Gregg says the “census tipped things,” adding to increasing “worries about his seat at the table” and that Gregg might be marginalized. Gregg worried that “if on any issue important to Democratic constituencies — they are on one side and Judd is on the other — he [Gregg] is muted,” said the source. Meanwhile, a Republican aide familiar with the decision, said Gregg was privately consulting with Republican leaders about this move for the “past couple of days” before making final decision Thursday. Obama’s decision to cross party lines and nominate New Hampshire Republican to run the Commerce Department had set off a partisan battle over the 2010 census. African-American and Latino leaders are concerned that the Census Bureau, which is part of the Commerce Department, might lack sufficient resources under Gregg’s leadership to accurately count ethnic minorities. And in response to statements from the White House that it will work closely with the bureau’s next director, some House Republicans are suggesting that the Obama administration could manipulate the 2010 tally to achieve a longer-term political advantage for Democrats because congressional redistricting depends on census results. The census has been the topic of political debate in the past. Many experts believed that the door-to-door approach used in the 1990 census count missed 1 to 2 percent of the total U.S. population, with many of those uncounted Americans thought to be minorities who lived in urban areas. To address that concern, Census Bureau officials proposed using some basic statistical techniques to fill in the gaps. Democrats tended to favor this approach, which were expected to increase the population count in areas of Democratic strength; Republicans tended to oppose the new techniques for similar reasons. The controversy even reached the U.S. Supreme Court in the 1990s. Gregg, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee and of the subcommittee that oversees the Commerce Department, cast a vote in 1995 to abolish the entire department, and in 1999 opposed emergency funding for the 2000 census. Gregg is yet another nominee to withdraw from the Commerce post nomination. Obama first nominated New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson to be commerce secretary. But earlier this month Richardson withdrew, citing the distraction of a federal investigation into his ties to a company that has done business with his state.

Richardson told reporters he underestimated how long the investigation would take, calling it an “untenable delay” likely to hinder the confirmation process. Gregg, a third-term senator known for being fiscally conservative, is up for re-election in 2010.

Australia’s PM announces day of mourning

A dirt track runs through the burnt out forest in the Kinglake region of Victoria state.
A national day of mourning and a memorial service will honor the victims of the past week’s wildfires in southeastern Australia, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd announced Thursday.

“It is important, it is very important that the nation grieves,” Rudd said, according to the Australian Associated Press. The government is working with the Council of Churches on the details of the service. The announcement, made before parliament, followed discussions with John Brumby, the premier of the hard-hit southeastern state of Victoria, and opposition leader Malcolm Turnbull. Rudd said details will be announced soon. Meanwhile, two men, who had been arrested Thursday in connection with the deadly wildfires, were released without being charged, police said. Victoria state police had told CNN that the two — who had been taken into custody and were “assisting” police earlier — had been behaving suspiciously in or near Marysville, a town where roughly 100 people have died in the fires. It was not immediately clear what the behavior was or why the men were released. Meanwhile, authorities said they feared the death toll from the fires, which remained at 181 on Wednesday, could reach as high as 300.

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Authorities are basing that figure on the number of people who remain missing and the number of homes that have been destroyed. Rescue workers have not been able to thoroughly investigate many of those homes because of the intense heat. See map of fire-hit areas » Firefighters have battled blazes since Saturday — including several new fires that broke out Tuesday night, which officials say almost certainly were the result of arson. About 35 fires continued burning Thursday morning, authorities said. But none of those blazes posed an immediate threat to towns and their intensity had lessened, according to police. Authorities said Wednesday that more than 500 people had been injured, nearly 1,000 homes had been destroyed, thousands had been left homeless and at least 365,000 hectares (901,935 acres) of the Australian countryside had been burned black. Watch fireman talk about saving a koala »

Those numbers were expected to continue to rise Thursday. Arson is thought responsible for all the destruction in the towns of Marysville and Kinglake. As many as half the homes in Kinglake have burned to the ground, police say.

Darwin still making waves 200 years later

Before there was an extensive fossil record, DNA sequencing or even a basic understanding of genetics, there was Charles Darwin.

Today, the world commemorates the 200th birthday of a man who single-handedly revolutionized biology with an explosive theory that challenged the core of our existence. “Darwin wrote about who we are,” said historian and author James Moore, who has cowritten a new book on the famous evolutionist. “He gave us a re-interpretation of the history of humans on earth, and what we can become.” Darwin’s theory of evolution proposes that humans evolved over millions of years from animal species, specifically apes. Such thinking, which challenged the biblical account that a deity created the Earth in six days, was considered radical, even blasphemous, when Darwin published it in 1859. A century and a half later, the legacy of history’s most noted naturalist continues to make headlines. After a contentious debate, the Texas Board of Education is set to vote in March on how evolution should be taught in the state’s public schools. Last week, actor-comedian Ben Stein backed out of giving a commencement speech at the University of Vermont because of student complaints about his views challenging evolutionary theory.

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A Gallup poll released this week shows that 39 percent of Americans say they “believe in the theory of evolution,” while a quarter say they do not believe in the theory, and another 36 percent don’t have an opinion either way. This follows an earlier Gallup poll on the issue, conducted last May, that found only 14 percent of Americans believe that humans developed over millions of years from less advanced forms of life. Forty-four percent believe that God created human beings almost overnight within the past 10,000 years, and another 36 percent believe that God guided humans’ evolution from animals over a much longer period of time. “The problem is, there are a number of fundamental people on both the left and the right extremes,” said Michael Zimmerman, founder of the Clergy Letter Project, which seeks to find common ground between scientists and the clergy. “Most people think you can’t believe in evolution and have faith,” added Zimmerman, a dean at Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana. “Faith does not mean that you have to give up common sense. Faith is deeper than that.” Darwin devoted much of his adult life to questioning the unquestionable. Born February 12, 1809, in Shrewsbury, England, he earned a degree in theology from Cambridge University and was known for his obsession with collecting things, especially beetles. His outlook on life changed after he embarked in 1831 on a five-year voyage around the world on the HMS Beagle, a British naval ship. His observations during the journey inspired Darwin to develop his theory of natural selection, the process by which organisms that are best adapted to their environment produce more offspring while those less suited eventually die out. After spending 20 years meticulously crafting and weighing the implications of his theory, Darwin finally went public with his life’s work. “On the Origin of Species,” his landmark book about evolution and natural selection, was published in 1859. Darwin was an unassuming scholar who wanted to make a humble contribution to the world of science, but his ideas on evolution were heresy to much of 19th-century England. The implication that our past, present and futures are all connected in an integrated web shook the biological, religious and political foundations of life as it was believed to be. “The world was not the same after its publication,” said Sean B. Carroll, a professor of molecular biology and genetics at the University of Wisconsin and author of a new book, “Remarkable Creatures: Epic Adventures in the Search for the Origin of Species.” Central to Darwin’s thesis was his scientific explanation of life’s diversity: that all life evolved from a common lineage through the process of natural selection. This egalitarian view was not popular with those who professed their anthropological superiority over people of other races. “Darwin’s theory challenged the notions of human exceptionalism and brought to light this idea that humans are a result of natural processes, meaning we were not as ‘special’ as [we] once thought,” said Eugenie Scott, a physical anthropologist and the executive director of the National Center for Science Education. Darwin shares a birth date with Abraham Lincoln, who sought to end slavery in the United States soon after “On the Origin of Species” was published. A major driving force behind Darwin’s research was his own disdain for slavery, prejudice and human suffering. “He had a deep regard for humanity and living entities,” said Moore, who co-authored a new book, “Darwin’s Sacred Cause,” about the influence of slavery on Darwin’s thinking. “There was no high or low, better or worse. Things were just different.” Some scientists say Darwin’s theory doesn’t account for all the biological diversity we see in nature. “We don’t have a clear pathway for how things evolved. Evolution inherently is a valid theory for some aspects of biology, but it doesn’t explain everything,” said Michael Egnor, a professor of neurosurgery at the State University of New York, Stony Brook. Egnor is a supporter of the relatively recent theory of intelligent design, which holds that biological life was purposefully created by an intelligent being or deity and not an unguided process such as natural selection. “There are certain features of the universe and of living things are best explained by an intelligent cause, not an undirected process such as natural selection,” added Egnor, who is affiliated with the Discovery Institute, a politically conservative think tank. But most of Darwin’s theories are now accepted as a foundation of biological science. “The evidence for evolution is overwhelming. We can see it all around us,” said Carroll, the University of Wisconsin professor. “He teaches us that life is continually adapting to keep up with a changing Earth.” This continual fight for survival may resonate more loudly today than ever. In the 21st century, climate change is forcing species to evolve more quickly to survive on a warming planet, scientists say. If drought conditions intensify and deforestation continues, many scientists expect to see great changes in the biological compositions of ecosystems over the coming decades.

In other words, Darwin’s theory of natural selection is still very much in evidence. “Changing ecological systems are causing intense environmental pressures on organisms,” said Scott, of the National Center for Science Education. “We are seeing rapid species growth and waves of extinction all at the same time.”

Zimbabwe PM meets with political prisoners

Morgan Tsvangirai speaks to supporters after he became prime minister Wednesday.
Zimbabwe’s former opposition leader spent his first full day as prime minister of the deeply troubled African nation Thursday, and called it "hectic."

Morgan Tsvangirai, of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), met with union leaders and political detainees at a maximum-security prison, and planned to talk later to donors, he told journalists. He was sworn in as head of government Wednesday under a power-sharing agreement with the country’s long-time president, Robert Mugabe who he was also scheduled to meet Thursday. Tsvangirai met the media in an office with new furniture and freshly painted walls, while painters and carpenters down the hall were still busy renovating the offices of his deputy prime ministers. His meeting with Mugabe later in the day was to finalize government appointments, he said. The Cabinet is due to be sworn in on Friday. “I’m going to hand over our list to the president for the Cabinet for tomorrow,” he said. He visited Chikurubi maximum-security prison, where a number of human rights activists and his MDC supporters have been held since December, facing charges of planning to topple Mugabe. They were taken from their homes by state agents from October to December. Asked whether the political detainees will be released soon, Tsvangirai said the legal process would take its course. “But those who are not in good health have been allowed to go to Avenues Clinic for medical attention,” he said.

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“Others are in good shape, but others, you know what happens in confinement. But their spirits are very high. … I’m happy that we managed to give them some moral support.” Tsvangirai comes into office as Zimbabwe faces an economic and humanitarian crisis. Many civil servants — including schoolteachers, doctors and nurses — have been on strike since September, demanding higher pay. After his swearing-in, he asked them to return to work in exchange for pay in foreign currency. Pressed Thursday about where the money would come from, Tsvangirai did not answer directly. “We have to find the money to pay them,” he said. “But how much, it still hasn’t been decided yet. “But we must find something to alleviate the plight of our people who have been receiving worthless currency,” he said. “They are being given worthless vouchers. … If you are going to have a productive workforce, then you must boost the morale of the workers. Our civil service morale is very low.” The unity government is the result of a power-sharing agreement reached in September between Tsvangirai and Mugabe after months of squabbling about the results of elections earlier in the year. A cholera epidemic has claimed close to 4,000 lives and infected about 65,000 people since August, aggravated by a lack of water-treatment chemicals and a problem with waste disposal in much of the country. The United Nations says more than 5 million people are in need of food aid, in a country that has shortages of all essentials, including fuel, electricity and cash.

Nude photo of Madonna goes for $37,500

Christie's auctioned this nude photo of Madonna (partially shown) taken by Lee Friedlander for $37,500.
A nude photograph of pop singer Madonna was sold for $37,500 Thursday afternoon at a Christie’s Art House auction.

The photo, originally expected to go for between $10,000 and $15,000, was purchased for more than double its original estimated selling price, a Christie’s spokesperson confirmed. The 13-inch by 8 5/8-inch framed photograph was purchased by an anonymous bidder over the phone. The full frontal photograph was one of several taken by American photographer Lee Friedlander in 1979. Madonna, then a cash-strapped student, received $25 for the entire photo shoot. Most of the pictures from the shoot were ultimately featured in Playboy magazine in 1985.

Rights groups: Pentagon sought Geneva Convention loopholes

The Pentagon considered delaying the release of detainees from Guantanamo Bay because of criticism.
The Bush Pentagon tried to find loopholes in the Geneva Conventions for its "ghost detainee" program in Iraq and to delay the release of Guantanamo Bay prisoners to avoid bad press, three human rights groups contend.

Pentagon documents discuss CIA and Pentagon detention activities earlier this decade and indicate coordination between agencies in hiding internees from the Red Cross. Amnesty International USA, New York University’s Center for Human Rights and Global Justice, and the Center for Constitutional Rights obtained the material through a Freedom of Information Act request and released it Thursday. “It’s obvious that Defense officials engaged in legal gymnastics to find ways to keep detainees off the books,” said Meg Satterthwaite, faculty director of the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice. “A full accounting of all agencies’ responsibilities must now take place to ensure that these abuses don’t continue under a different guise.” President Obama has signed an order closing the Guantanamo detention facility in Cuba and prohibiting CIA prisons. However, the order allows the CIA to detain people temporarily. It is not known whether the Pentagon or the CIA still holds “ghost detainees,” Satterthwaite said, referring to people housed at secret facilities.

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The Pentagon issued an information paper May 28, 2004, on the “applicability of the Geneva Conventions to ‘Ghost Detainees’ in Iraq.” Its purpose was to clarify the law about such detainees. The Geneva Conventions spell out international humanitarian law and authorize the International Committee of the Red Cross to visit prisoners during armed conflicts. The Pentagon’s information paper said that if “absolute military security” requires it, the conventions permit the holding of persons “who participated in activities hostile to the security of the occupying power.” Specific examples would be “spies and saboteurs,” the paper said. Although the Red Cross must be notified of such detentions, “persons who have committed such acts are considered to have forfeited the rights of communication,” the paper said. “Normally the ICRC has the right to go to all places where protected people are detained,” the paper said. But, it added, such visits can be denied temporarily “for reasons of imperative military necessity.” A February 17, 2006, e-mail showed that a State Department foreign policy adviser urged the Pentagon to consider delaying by a month and a half the release of Guantanamo prisoners who were scheduled to be sent home in order to avoid bad press. This came amid worldwide furor over the Guantanamo detention facility, photos of prisoners being mistreated at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, and sharp criticism on the streets and in blogs toward U.S. detention policies. “We may need to definitely think about checking with SouthCom to see if we can hold off on return flights for 45 days or so until things die down,” the adviser wrote to Gen. Norton Schwartz, then head of the U.S. Transportation Command. “Otherwise we are likely to have hero’s welcomes awaiting the detainees when they arrive, and we will have problems getting overflight and landing clearance for the flights anyway. It would probably be preferable if we could deliver these detainees in something smaller and more discreet than a T tail” — apparently referring to a large transport plane like the giant C-5 Galaxy. SouthCom is the U.S. Southern Command, the American military command covering Latin American and the Caribbean. Schwartz is now the Air Force chief of staff. The letter appeared to be an e-mail reply to a State Department “hot issues” memo that said the United States was getting “creamed on human rights” and “taking a big hit on the issues of human rights and respect for the rule of law.” It pointed to news stories about a U.N. Guantanamo report and coverage highlighting calls from officials to close Guantanamo. It cited criticism of the United States in blogs and discussion boards. “America has lost its prestige,” a blogger from Yemen wrote. “Every year the world waits for the annual U.S. State Department report on human rights. Today, it is America that awaits the world’s opinion of its human rights policy. From Gitmo, to Abu Ghraib, to secret prisons in Europe, the world accuses America of not respecting human rights.” Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said Thursday that he had not seen the documents and wasn’t aware of the story. He did elaborate on the factors taken into account when transferring detainees from the Guantanamo facility. “It has to do with their threat,” Whitman said. “It has to do with … whether or not we think they have information that is important to our intelligence efforts. “And there are also considerations given to ensure that the [transferred detainees] will be treated appropriately and that in cases where continued detention is necessary, that the appropriate conditions are met for that, too. “It has been U.S. policy not to return detainees if we thought they would be mistreated by their country of origin,” he said.

New Jason unmasked for ‘Friday the 13th’

Actor Derek Mears has a big hockey mask to fill.

Mears was cast as the iconic boogeyman Jason Voorhees in the new “Friday the 13th” movie. A remake of the original 1980 film, the new movie aims to breathe life into the former franchise about a psychopathic killer who preys on a group of young people at the fictitious Camp Crystal Lake. Mears is no stranger to the horror genre, having co-starred in “The Hills Have Eyes II.” His career is extensive and includes stints as a stuntman in two of the popular “Pirates of the Caribbean” films. He recently spoke to CNN about taking a turn as the ultimate evil, the thrill of continuing a slasher legacy and why he’s really not that bloody nice. CNN: You aren’t that scary in person, so what made you think you could be that scary on camera Derek Mears: I’ve got a lot of issues. I’ve got a whole lot of daddy issues. No, I sound like a basket case. It’s funny with acting — we all wear masks in our normal life. Not to sound like a weirdo in the hockey mask, but like right now I’m really excited about the film and excited about playing the character, and I will start to speak faster. That’s kind of what’s coming over me: “Oh you’re, you’re really nice,” but … on the other side of me there are other Dereks that are angry, and like I said before, have a little bit of issues. CNN: Tell me a little bit about how you were approached. Did you know they were making it before they came to you Was it kind of a shock Mears: It’s so weird. There’s two different versions. There’s my version of how it went about, and there’s the producer’s version. I’ll tell the producer’s version because my version is really, really long. The short version of my version was I heard they were doing a new “Friday the 13th,” and I’ve never tried to pursue a role before and I went, I really want to do this. So when I heard they were doing it, before I even had an audition, I started training for it. I found out a little about what they wanted for the character — that he wasn’t going to be super, you know bulky or big, that he’s more functional. He’s still big, but he’s lean. So I started training that way and trying to do what I could just to get an audition. On the other end, on the producer’s end, they asked a bunch of different industry professionals. They said, “Hey, were doing a new ‘Friday the 13th.’ Who do you think would be a great new Jason” And my name kept popping up, which I’m blown away by. They brought me in for an audition, and I met with them. and they called me the next day and went, “OK, you’re the guy.” And I still don’t believe it till this day. I’m blown away. CNN: How did you keep it light on the set Mears: Believe it or not, all the actors … got along so well. I have never been so close to a cast before on set. We were just goofing around and playing, but then when it’s time to work and get serious with certain scenes, we’d all switch over and do our job and get to the point where we needed to. CNN: Had you seen any of the original “Friday the 13th” movies Mears: Oh yeah. I mean, I’m a fan. I consider myself a fan of the series. I already knew all of the originals. I had them all on DVD, and when I first met with Platinum Dunes [the production company behind the new movie], I told them, “Hey look, I’m a fan of the series first and foremost. If I’m right for the part, fantastic. If I’m not right for the part, that’s OK, too. I, just as a fan, want to see a good ‘Friday the 13th’ film. I want to see the series continue so if I can help it, awesome, but I just want to see something good.” CNN: Did you try to model your character after previous Jasons, or did you try to kind of take it and make it your own Mears: Definitely make it my own. I used the script that Mark Swift and Damian Shannon wrote as a blueprint — like you would for any acting role where I knew the other guys who’ve played “Jason” before, and what they’ve done, but you kind of shove that away somewhere deep in your brain and build your character from the new script. And there are times in the film here and there where I would do little tips of the hats or little homage for the guys who have played him before. CNN: It’s kind of a dream come true. Mears: Yeah, that’s why I keep saying the words this whole interview like “unbelievable,” unbelievable because I don’t believe it. CNN: Which is funny. You don’t usually think of such happiness and glee [on a horror movie set]. Mears: And trust me, you won’t see that in the final product.

Colombia rebels blamed for more Indian killings

Colombian President Alvaro Uribe vowed the government would protect the Awa Indians from FARC.
Marxist guerrillas in southwest Colombia are believed to have killed a second group of Indians the rebels accused of helping the government, a state governor said.

At least 10 Awa Indians were killed this week in Narino state, Gov. Navarro Wolff said late Wednesday. A day earlier, Wolff had reported that the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, better known as FARC, had killed at least 17 Awa last week in another remote village. “I don’t have more information than what they gave us by cell [phone], but they gave us … a list of names,” Wolff said about the latest killings. He said in an interview on CNN affiliate Caracol TV that villagers told him they cannot be certain that the FARC committed the killings because it was dark. But the governor and others say all indications point to the guerrillas. The killings happened in two villages about a one- to two-day walk apart, he said. Some Awa killed this week were fleeing the FARC because of last week’s assassinations, said Luis Evelis Andrade of the National Indigenous Organization of Colombia, known by its Spanish acronym ONIC. The FARC have targeted the Awa because the Indians don’t want to get involved in the armed struggle and refuse to reveal information on government troop actions, Andrade said on Caracol. ONIC said the FARC has abducted 120 Awa since February 4 and 44 Awa have been killed this year. “We are very worried about the Awa community,” said Monsignor Gustavo Giron Higuita, the bishop of the city of Tumaco. “It is a community that is pretty unprotected and that in the past five years has received a type of persecution by armed groups.” The Awa, he said, “are pacifist, want respect of their organization and want to regain their traditions. We have been accompanying them in this process, and that’s why this hurts so much.” Speaking at a ceremony earlier this week, Colombian President Alvaro Uribe called the FARC “executioners.” “Let the world know: The Democratic Security [forces] protect the indigenous because it is for all Colombians,” Uribe said. “And the FARC deceive the country, they assassinate the indigenous.” Army Gen. Leonardo Barrero is expected to lead troops this weekend into the remote area where the killings occurred. Once the area is secured, a second group will carry out an aid mission, officials said. Colombian Attorney General Alejandro Ordonez Maldonado has ordered the nation’s human rights commissioner to launch an investigation and take steps to help the Awa. The Human Rights Watch organization said Wednesday that the guerrillas tortured some of the Awa before killing them with knives. “These cruel killings violate the most basic principles of human decency and dignity,” said Jose Miguel Vivanco, the Americas director at Human Rights Watch. “There is no possible excuse or justification for these horrific actions.” Wolff earlier had decried last week’s reported killings.

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“The guerrillas took several families, recriminating them for their supposed collaboration with the army,” Wolff told El Pais newspaper. “A young man was able to escape and told how he had been tied. Later, they tortured him, they beat him and they killed eight with with a knife.” The other nine villagers were similarly executed, unconfirmed reports said. The remote village where the first killings occurred is a 12-hour trip away from the nearest large town, and no independent verification has been obtained. Besides the unforgiving terrain, the presence of land mines and the existence numerous armed groups virtually prevents outsiders from visiting the area. Monsignor Ruben Salazar Gomez, the president of the Episcopal Conference of Colombia, joined the chorus of criticism, calling the alleged massacre a “very grave … crime the whole country should condemn.” New York-based Human Rights Watch said in a release that group members have made numerous visits to Narino, which is one of Colombia’s 32 departments, or states. Narino is in southwest Colombia, on the Pacific Ocean and the border with Ecuador. The area has a heavy presence of various armed groups and Colombian military forces and has among the worst human rights conditions in Colombia, the human rights group says. The Awa territories have been particularly affected. The Colombian government has issued a “risk report,” warning authorities that civilians in the region are in danger. The FARC is said to have “confined” some villages, cutting them off from the outside world and not allowing anyone to enter or leave. The FARC, the largest and oldest guerrilla group in Colombia, has been waging war against the government since the 1960s. Security analysts say FARC has about 9,000 to 12,000 armed guerillas and several thousand supporters, mostly in rural areas. The guerrilla group operates mostly in Colombia but has carried out extortion, kidnappings, bombings and other activities in Venezuela, Panama and Ecuador.

Ledger fans demand the Joker retired from film

Heath Ledger fans launched a petition calling for studios to remove the Joker from future Batman movies.
A group of Heath Ledger fans have taken their reverence for the late "The Dark Knight" star to a whole new level.

Followers of the actor, who electrified audiences with his chilling reinvention of the Joker in the second Batman blockbuster, are calling for the character to be retired from the movies permanently. Ledger supporters at new Web site, The Ultimate Joker, launched a petition last week calling for studios to remove the Joker from any future Batman movies. The petition currently has 2,431 supporters. “We think Heath deserves this honor,” the site’s team leader, Fer Barbella, told CNN from Buenos Aires, Argentina. “He is the ultimate Joker. “We are Batman fans from the comics and from the movies,” he said, “After we saw ‘The Dark Knight,’ we thought this Joker was really the best. It deserves to be withdrawn from any Batman sequels. “When Michael Jordan retired, they withdrew the number 23 jersey as an honor. It’s the same thing with Heath.” Barbella said he thinks any new performance just won’t be able to top Ledger’s.

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“He upgraded the character in a thrilling way,” he said. “Although a lot of actors would love the chance to play the Joker, as Batman fans and now Heath Ledger fans, we think no one could ever perform it as well as he did.” The Web site is the brainchild of Barbella, 34; Nico Pimentel, 33; and Natalia Rodoni, 33, all advertising creatives in Buenos Aires. The trio say that if they collect enough names, they may go to the studio to present their petition. “As soon as we start seeing that we have more than 50,000 names on our Web site, perhaps we will go to the Warner Brothers gate and do a bit of activism,” Pimentel said. The huge buzz around Ledger’s performance as the Joker last year stemmed from his update of the iconic character played by camp comedian Cesar Romero and as a hateful clown by Jack Nicholson. Ledger’s Joker was a very different proposition from those that had come before: In a ripped, stained suit, with clown makeup smeared across a scarred, twisted mouth, his Joker was a nihilistic, sociopathic prankster. “Why so serious” he sneered in a performance that received rave reviews from critics globally. Do you agree that Heath Ledger’s Joker should be the last one ever The actor was found dead after overdosing on prescription drugs at his apartment in New York on January 22, 2008, shortly after concluding work on “The Dark Knight.” Ledger has been nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of the Joker, having been awarded a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor and a BAFTA for Best Supporting Actor. Barbella says that the Web site and petition are their award: “The Academy gives an Oscar,” he said. “This is a new award from the people. A user-generated award.”

Israel centrists just keeping lead

Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud is running second in the popular vote but could form the next ruling coalition.
Israel’s centrist Kadima is maintaining its one-seat lead over right-wing Likud but with about 100,000 ballots yet to be counted the result is not yet official, the Central Elections Committee said Thursday.

About 99 percent of the vote has been counted and the parties have already begun negotiations to form a ruling coalition in the 120-seat Knesset. The elections committee said ballots from such people as soldiers and diplomats remain to be counted, and final certification of the vote totals won’t come until next week. Kadima, led by Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, won 28 seats to 27 for former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud. The far-right Yisrael Beytenu, led by Avigdor Lieberman, surged to third place with 15 seats, besting Defense Minister Ehud Barak’s Labor Party. The Orthodox movement Shas came in fifth with 11. Smaller parties from left to right each received a handful of votes. The results reflect the electorate’s move to the political right. Likud gained 15 seats and Yisrael Beytenu picked up four, according to the preliminary totals. Kadima’s representation is unchanged, but once-powerful Labor’s fall to fourth-place — dropping five seats — is an unprecedented weak showing. Livni’s failure to assemble a ruling coalition for Kadima last year triggered Tuesday’s elections. Now she must find at least 33 more lawmakers to forge a coalition. She told supporters after the vote that the narrow edge Kadima appears to have over Likud shows her party is “the common denominator of Israeli society.”

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Livni called on Netanyahu “to respect the choice of Israel’s citizens … and to join a unity government, led by us, that will be based on the large parties in Israel, left and right.” Netanyahu said the showing by Likud — more than doubling the number of seats it holds in the Knesset — shows voters have rejected Kadima’s leadership, and he predicted right-leaning parties will be able to form a majority. “With God’s help, I shall head the coming government,” he said. “I am sure that I can manage to put together a good, broad-based and stable government that will be able to deal with the security crisis and the economic crisis.” The election campaign was dominated by the recent war with Palestinian militants in Gaza, which was popular within Israel despite widespread international condemnation. Netanyahu was a harsh critic of Kadima founder Ariel Sharon’s 2005 withdrawal of Israeli troops and settlers from Gaza, and his supporters say he has been proven right. Livni took control of Kadima in September, when Prime Minister Ehud Olmert stepped down as the party leader amid several corruption investigations. Her campaign touted her role in the Gaza campaign and tough statements about not allowing Hamas to decide Israel’s fate. Netanyahu served as prime minister from 1996 to 1999. He has supported the expansion of Israeli settlements on the West Bank and has opposed making further territorial concessions in hope of ending the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Yisrael Beytenu is led by Avigdor Lieberman, a polarizing figure whose party has been accused of racism against Palestinians and Arab citizens of Israel. But he said early Wednesday that his party “is not only the key to the next coalition, it will also set the agenda for the next government.”