DC police look to stop shooting paybacks; 5 dead

A possible feud among neighborhood crews, three shootings and five fatalities have authorities in the nation's capital trying to stop more paybacks in an area known for drugs and violence just 7 miles from the White House.
Tuesday night, a crowd sprayed with bullets in a drive-by shooting that killed four and wounded five had just returned from the funeral of man slain nearby. A 20-year-old man, who was wounded in a third shooting, is a suspect in the other two, authorities said Wednesday.
Police were trying to gather information to see if retaliation is planned and prevent it, said Assistant Police Chief Peter Newshan. He said neighborhood crews are more loosely associated than gangs.
Police Chief Cathy Lanier called the drive-by — the worst shooting in D.C. in at least 16 years — an egregious type of retaliation.
"It's ridiculous and the community is tired of it," she said. "There is no excuse for it."
Two men and a 14-year-old boy accused of driving the minivan from which the bullets were fired were charged with first-degree murder. One of the suspects, Orlando Carter, also has been charged with second-degree murder in the March 22 shooting of Jordan Howe, whose funeral was earlier Tuesday.
On March 23, Carter was shot in the head and shoulder hours after his brother was arrested in Howe's death, court documents said.
Friends and relatives of the drive-by victims returned Wednesday to the scene, where a blood-covered gauze package lay on a sidewalk that smelled of bleach. Teddy bears and candles were by the steps leading to the apartment building where the crowd was gathered when the shooting broke out.
The building's owner, William Cheek, said he had just walked across the street to buy a lottery ticket when he heard gunshots around 7:30 p.m. and saw many in the group on the ground. His grandson was among the six men and three women shot.
"I saw him breathe his last breath," Cheek said, a tear running down his face. "He was shot in the head."
Cheek didn't want to identify his grandson but said he was enrolled in a GED class, played basketball and hoped to become a long-distance bus driver. Court documents identified the victims as 17-year-old Tavon Nelson, 19-year-old William Jones III, 16-year-old Brishell Jones and 18-year-old Devaughn Boyd. The wounded were not identified because they are witnesses, police said.
"They got shot right on my porch," said Cheek, a case manager at a local community center with programs on substance abuse, job training and anger management.
Carter and Nathaniel Simms, 26, were arraigned and ordered held without bail. The teen also faces a murder charge and a family judge ordered him held at a juvenile facility, saying he was a danger and a risk for fleeing. He has nine convictions dating to 2005.
Defense lawyers for Carter and Simms argued that court documents didn't list probable cause or what role the two are accused of in the latest shootings.
Carter's brother, Sanquan Carter, was charged with murder in Howe's slaying. Court documents say Howe was killed over a missing gold-colored bracelet that apparently belonged to Sanquan. A witness said Orlando Carter was with his brother and was seen shooting a gun at the time of Howe's death, according to court documents.
In Tuesday's shooting, police said they arrested the three after officers chased the silver van into Prince George's County in Maryland and back into Washington and saw an AK-47 type weapon thrown out. Other weapons were found inside.
Ross Rauls said he had been to Howe's funeral with his friends and later headed to the gym, while the others went to Cheek's building.
"It's sad when the last thing you say to them is 'I'll see you later,'" he said.
He said the young men shot were not gang members.
"They weren't that type of people. It wasn't gang-related," Rauls said. "It's a classic case of the wrong place, the wrong time."
Rico Scott said one of those killed, DeVaughn Boyd, was his cousin.
Boyd was a high school senior who liked to go to the mall and the movies with friends, as well as parties that featured go-go music, a mix of soul, funk and Latin styles, Scott said.
It was at least the worst shooting in D.C. since 1994, when four men fired into a crowd at the O Street Market, killing a teenager and wounding eight other people.
Washington reported 143 homicides last year, the fewest in nearly 50 years.
Mayor Adrian Fenty — who cut short a family vacation to return to the city — said he spoke with the mothers of three of the shooting victims and said that they were "deeply broken."
"Everybody knows what a tragedy this is in our city," he said.

David Mikael Taclino
Inyu Web Development and Design
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Blast in Yemeni prison allows 40 prisoners to escape

A bomb exploded in a prison in the southern Yemeni province of Dalea on Thursday, injuring four inmates and allowing around 40 prisoners to escape, a government official said.
Witnesses and southern media said all those who fled the police jail belonged to Yemen's southern secessionist movement, which opposes the rule of President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
Recent months have seen increasingly violent clashes between separatists and security forces, and analysts say impoverished Yemen could face a sustained insurgency from southerners unless the government seriously addresses their grievances.
North and South Yemen united in 1990, but many in the south -- home to most of Yemen's oil industry -- complain northerners have seized resources and discriminate against them.
Elsewhere in Yemen's south, an activist was shot dead and three others were injured when security forces dispersed a protest in the city of Radfan in Lahej province.
Western countries and neighboring Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter, fear al Qaeda is exploiting instability in Yemen to launch attacks in the region and beyond.

David Mikael Taclino
Inyu Web Development and Design
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Afghan opium seizures soar in 2009

Opium seizures in Afghanistan soared 924 percent last year because of better cooperation between Afghan and international forces, the top U.S. drug enforcement official said Thursday.
The Taliban largely funds its insurgency by profits from the opium trade, making it a growing target of U.S. and Afghan anti-insurgency operations. Afghanistan produces the raw opium used to make 90 percent of the world's heroin.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration now has 96 agents in the country who joined with Afghan counterparts and NATO forces in more than 80 combined operations last year, acting DEA administrator Michelle Leonhart said at a news conference in Kabul.
"That is the success of bringing the elements, civil, military Afghan partners together," Leonhart said.
Leonhart did not give figures for total amounts of drugs seized but said the increase was 924 percent between 2008 and 2009. International groups estimate that only about 2 percent of Afghanistan's drug production was blocked from leaving the country in 2008 for markets in Central Asia and Europe.
The booming drugs trade has compounded Afghanistan's many problems and deepened Western concern about the war-battered country's future and hopes it can emerge as a peaceful democracy.
In a sign of President Hamid Karzai's increasingly tetchy relations with key international allies, the Afghan leader on Thursday accused U.N. and European Union officials of interfering in last year's flawed presidential elections.
A day after the parliament rejected his revised election law, Karzai accused the officials of committing "vast fraud" in the disputed Aug. 20 ballot to push the election into a runoff.
Karzai singled out former U.N. deputy chief Peter Galbraith, who was fired in a dispute with his boss about how to deal with fraud allegations, and the head of the E.U. observers, retired French general Philippe Morillon.
Karzai was forced into a runoff after a U.N.-backed commission threw out nearly a third of his ballots, but it was scrapped when Karzai's main opponent dropped out. He then issued a decree giving him greater control over the official election fraud watchdog body which was turned down by parliament's lower house.
Karzai was installed for a second five-year term but his government remains weak as it faces a challenge from a resurgent Taliban.
Since the fall of the former Taliban regime in 2001 until 2007, the illegal cultivation of opium poppies skyrocketed. It has since started to decline, and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime has forecast that opium production could drop again in 2010.
Opium exports dropped from an estimated $3.4 billion in 2008, to $2.8 billion in 2009, the UNODC said. That represented a fall in opium's share of Afghanistan's gross domestic product from about one third to one quarter.
Leonhart said eradication efforts had already scored some success in the south, with opium cultivation down more than 30 percent in Helmand province that is responsible for half of Afghanistan's total production.
She said the DEA was working with U.S. forces moving into the Taliban heartland, including "significant operations" in Helmand, where the poppy harvest season is in full-swing.
"There is a very good plan put together to have very robust interdiction operations going forward there, eventually moving that to other provinces in the south," Leonhart said.
Such operations place the Afghan government and its foreign allies in a bind because eradicating poppy fields risks driving angry farmers, for whom opium poppy is a cheap, hardy, low-risk crop, into the arms of the insurgents because they fear loss of their livelihood.
Efforts to replace opium with other crops such as wheat and vegetables haven't scored wide success because profits for the farmers are much lower than for poppies.
Leonhart gave no details of the strategy for the south, but stressed that the focus was not on farmers but on seizing drugs and weapons, arresting traffickers, and tracing the profits of the trade.
"Because the money is what fuels the insurgency," Leonhart said.
In a sign that traffickers are striking back against such efforts, 13 people were killed Wednesday when a bomb concealed on a bicycle exploded near a crowd gathered to receive free vegetable seeds provided by the British government as part of a program to encourage them not to plant opium poppy.
No one claimed responsibility for the attack, although the acting provincial head of agriculture, Ghulam Sahki, said the blast could have been the work of drug dealers trying to stop the alternative crop program.
A recent NATO operation that drove militants from the Helmand town of Marjah struck at the heart of the Taliban opium business. While troops discovered acres (hectares) of poppy fields and numerous opium packing operations, farmers were left alone.
Also Thursday, India announced it was suspending teaching and aid operations in Kabul for two or three months following a February bomb attack that killed six Indian staff. Similar Indian aid efforts in four other Afghan cities remained up and running, said Indian Embassy spokesman J.P. Singh.
The Taliban have long opposed India's involvement in Afghanistan because of its ties to the Afghan group that helped the U.S. oust the Islamist regime in late 2001.
A mine blast Thursday morning in Shajoy district in the eastern province of Zabul killed two civilians and injured three, the Interior Ministry said. It blamed the attack on the Taliban.

David Mikael Taclino
Inyu Web Development and Design
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Calling All Celebrity Wannabees -- Aspiring Media Stars Can Now Trade Mark Their Names with the Intellectual Property Office

Trademark-Logo have announced that they are offering a special 30% discount for a limited number of applicants at the beginning of April for all UK Trade Mark registrations for the new Celebrity trademark classification announced recently by the IPO.
(PRWeb UK) March 31, 2010 -- With the announcement that the IPO are introducing a new classification for Celebrities, Trademark-Logo have announced that they are offering a special 30% discount for a limited number of applicants at the beginning of April for all UK Trade Mark registrations for this class.
Shireen Smith, principal of Azrights Solicitors who owns the Trademark-Logo service, said “This is a great time to launch this offer, but anyone wanting to take advantage needs to act quickly, as with the level of likely demand we are anticipating the offer to sell out fast..”
Huge interest is expected among those looking for stardom, or at least a place on reality TV, who would like to get the exclusive rights for the use of their name, and particularly for the more common names such as Denise, Tracey and Sophie for women, and Wayne, Kevin and Justin for men.
It is thought that parents in particular will want to secure these rights for their children in the hope that they may one day appear on ‘I’m a Celebrity Get me Out of Here’ showing off the benefits of the latest cosmetic surgery, and or as a boy duo with novelty hair styles on Pop Idol. Family discounts are available whereby they can trade mark 3 names for the price of 2.
With this new classification, applicants do not yet have to be a celebrity. However, they do need to have real expectations of being one in the next 5 years. If in this time they have not appeared on a well known TV program, the West End theatre, the Old Bailey or at least on page 3 of the tabloids, then they would stand to lose their trade mark rights.
There is even an added incentive for ambitious parents as they can register the trade mark up to 6 months before the birth of the child, in anticipation of their appearance on Kleenex ads.
Commenting on the new service, celebrity PR guru Max Storey said “This is a great idea – people who devote their whole lives to promoting themselves by any and all means deserve to be able to capitalise fully on their brand.”
However Intellectual Property specialist Mark Brand warned there could be problems. “What is going to happen where an established celebrity such as Katie Price finds someone else has trade marked the name ‘Katie’. She would probably have no option but to go back to calling herself Jordan again, which would be highly embarrassing for her”.
To prevent people squatting on trade mark names, in the hope of profiting by sales to others, applicants will need to show their celebrity potential to the IPO in a 5 minute routine, which can be posted on YouTube where they will be judged by a panel of experienced trade mark attorneys, intellectual property lawyers and academics.
However, would be celebrities are warned that the criteria for celebrity classification are strict, and that any sign of “real talent, skill or artistic merit” could invalidate their application.

 

















David Mikael Taclino
Inyu Web Development and Design
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Fuel efficiency rules aimed at advanced vehicle

The Obama administration is setting tough gas mileage standards for new cars and trucks, spurring the next generation of fuel-sipping gas-electric hybrids, efficient engines and electric cars.
The heads of the Transportation Department and the Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday were signing final rules requiring 2016 model-year vehicles to meet fuel efficiency targets of 35.5 miles per gallon combined for cars and trucks, an increase of nearly 10 mpg over current standards set by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
The EPA, which received the power to regulate carbon dioxide emissions in a 2007 Supreme Court ruling, will set a tailpipe emissions standard of 250 grams (8.75 ounces) of carbon dioxide per mile for vehicles sold in 2016, or the equivalent of what would be emitted by vehicles meeting the mileage standard. The EPA is issuing its first rules ever on vehicle greenhouse gas emissions.
President Barack Obama, previewing the plan Wednesday, said it marked a reversal "after decades in which we have done little to increase auto efficiency." Obama said the standards would "reduce our dependence on oil while helping folks spend a little less at the pump."
Each auto company will have a different fuel-efficiency target, based on its mix of vehicles. Automakers that build more small cars will have a higher target than car companies that manufacture a broad range of cars and trucks. The standard could be as low as 34.1 mpg by 2016 because automakers are expected to receive credits for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in other ways, including preventing the leaking of coolant from air conditioners.
Obama said the new requirements will save 1.8 billion barrels of oil over the life of the program, which will cover the 2012-16 model years. The new standards move up goals set in a 2007 energy law, which required the auto industry to meet a 35 mpg average by 2020.
A NHTSA official familiar with the plan, who was not authorized to speak publicly before Thursday's announcement, said the requirements would add about $1,000 per new vehicle by 2016 but would pay back that investment within three years. The rule is expected to save more than $3,000 over the life of the vehicle through better gas mileage.
Environmental groups have sought curbs on greenhouse gas emissions, blamed for global warming, and challenged the Bush administration for blocking a waiver request from California to pursue more stringent air pollution rules than required by the federal government. The request was granted by the Obama administration last year.
"The standards forthcoming under the 'clean car peace treaty' are a good deal for consumers, for companies, for the country and for the planet," said David Doniger, climate policy director for the Natural Resources Defense Council.
Automakers have been working on an assortment of fuel-efficient technologies, including hybrids, electric cars and technologies that shut off an engine's cylinders when full power isn't needed.
Nissan is releasing its electric car, the Leaf, later this year, while General Motors is introducing the Chevrolet Volt, which can go 40 miles on battery power before an engine kicks in to generate power. Ford is bringing its "EcoBoost" line of direct-injection turbocharged engines, which provide a 20 percent increase in fuel efficiency, to 90 percent of its models by 2013.
Under the rules, automakers could earn credits by producing alternative fuel vehicles and by producing advanced technology cars.

David Mikael Taclino
Inyu Web Development and Design
Creative Writer

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