The Shard is pinnacle of London's redevelopment






LONDON: The Shard, which opened its doors to the public on Friday, is western Europe's highest skyscraper but also the pinnacle of the transformation of London's long-neglected south bank of the River Thames.

The vertiginous public viewing platform, which is expected to attract one million visitors a year, offers unrivalled vistas of the British capital and is the perfect place to survey the huge changes in the neighbourhood.

Towering 310 metres (1,017 feet) above the skyline, the Shard is an arrow of glass piercing the clouds and a symbol of wealth in an area that for centuries has been overshadowed by its affluent rivals in the west, centre and north of London.

The platform is the first part of Italian architect Renzo Piano's building to open, and over the coming months its vast new office space, five-star hotel, restaurants and luxury apartments will slowly come to life.

While the design has been controversial, the tower -- 95 percent financed by Qatar -- has also attracted criticism because of the sense that its 8,000 future inhabitants are unaffected by the global economic crisis.

The 30 pounds (US$47, 35-euro) ticket price for the viewing platform does nothing to dispel this image, but the people behind the Shard are unapologetic.

"The wonderful thing about London is, in many ways, it never stops," William Matthews, a project architect in Piano's team, told AFP. "In some ways, British trade, the idea of commerce, and business, is really in our bones."

Peter John, leader of the local Southwark council, said: "It has really been a story of regeneration and renaissance."

The area on the south side of London Bridge was relatively prosperous in Roman times, but for centuries afterwards it was viewed as a seedy district beyond the city walls where the law held thin.

Travellers passed through brothels, inns and gambling dens, and residents festered among "every repulsive lineament of poverty, every loathsome indication of filth, rot, and garbage", as Charles Dickens put it in his 1838 novel "Oliver Twist".

The demise of London's shipping trade from the 1960s to the 1980s accentuated the area's poverty and the average household income among Southwark's 290,000 inhabitants today remains one of the lowest in Britain.

Nonetheless, in the last 25 to 30 years, the change in the area has been staggering, according to council leader Peter John.

Wharf-side warehouses with names evoking the British empire and the goods sailing into London from around the world, such as East India Wharf or Tea Trade Wharf, have been transformed into swanky New York-style loft flats.

Millions of square metres of office space have been constructed in cathedrals of glass across the river from the Tower of London, including Norman Foster's City Hall and Terence Conran's Design Museum.

The once unremarkable Borough Market has been transformed into a foodies' heaven, while the Tate Modern, constructed within a vast former power station on the river in 2000, is now the most popular contemporary art gallery in the world.

"But the Shard takes it to new levels," said John. "It really symbolises where the opportunities are for jobs, and leisure, and new housing."

He said the influx of a population with plenty of purchasing power will boost the whole area, saying: "I think the positives outweigh the negatives."

Many locals are not so enthusiastic.

Reverend Charlie Moore, rector of St Mary Magdalene Church in nearby Bermondsey, said "a lot of people have been forced to leave" as the redevelopment, including several gastropubs and posh shops, have sent rents sky-high.

And the further south you go, the louder the objections.

The Heygate Estate, comprising huge concrete blocks of social housing, once housed 3,000 people but now stands empty and awaiting demolition as part of a major regeneration programme in the Elephant and Castle area.

A campaigner for the Heygate residents, teacher Jerry Flynn, complains that the plans include far less social housing than before.

"It will mean the people who cannot afford to live here, working-class families and low income families, will no longer be able to live here. It was a traumatic process," he told AFP.

"We would like a regeneration that spread the benefits a little more widely."

- AFP/ir



Read More..

Alabama hostage standoff enters 5th day






STORY HIGHLIGHTS


  • The suspect has been identified as 65-year-old Jimmy Lee Dykes

  • Dykes is accused of killing a school bus driver and abducting a child

  • Authorities have said there is no connection between Dykes and the boy




Midland City, Alabama (CNN) -- As an armed standoff entered its fifth day Saturday, authorities negotiated through a ventilation pipe with a man accused of barricading himself and a 5-year-old hostage in an underground bunker in southeastern Alabama.


Police have been tight-lipped about a possible motive since the hostage drama began unfolding in Midland City with the shooting of school bus driver and the abduction of the 5-year-old.


In a sign of perhaps how tense negotiations are between authorities and the suspect, officials have refused to detail what, if any, demands have been made by the suspect.


On Friday, the Dale County sheriff did confirm what neighbors have been saying and news outlets around Midland City have been reporting since the standoff began -- the suspected gunman's identity.




He is Jimmy Lee Dykes, 65, a Vietnam veteran and retired truck driver who moved to the area about five years ago.




Charles Poland was fatally shot in Alabama on Tuesday.



The sheriff's department released a photo of a gray-bearded, unsmiling Dykes and brief physical description: white male, 6 feet tall, weighing 170 pounds with brown eyes and gray hair.




Suspect Jimmy Lee Dykes, 65, is a Vietnam War veteran and retired truck driver.



This much is known, according to police and witness statements: On Tuesday at about 3:40 p.m., bus driver Charles Poland Jr. was shuttling children from school to their homes when he dropped children off and the gunman boarded the bus.






The gunman demanded that Poland, 66, hand over two children. Poland refused, blocking access to the bus's narrow aisle as at least 21 children escaped out of the back emergency door, according to police.


The gunman shot Poland four times, killing him; grabbed the boy and then barricaded the two of them inside a nearby bunker.


It's unclear whether the gunman was after a specific child on the bus. Police have said there is no connection between the suspect and the abducted boy, whose identity is being withheld.


The suspect, who police have identified as Dykes, is holed up in a bunker 4 feet underground and built at least partially out of PVC pipe, authorities have said.


A hostage negotiator has been communicating with the alleged gunman through a 60-foot-long plastic ventilation pipe in an effort to end the standoff.


Authorities believe the boy is physically unharmed.


The suspect agreed to let police send down coloring books, crayons and prescription medication that the boy needs for treatment for Asperger's syndrome and attention deficit disorder, State Rep. Steve Clouse told CNN.


Neighbors have said the bunker has electricity, and Dykes has been known to stay in it for up to eight days, said James Arrington, the police chief in nearby Pinckard.


Dykes has been described as a self-styled survivalist with "anti-government" views, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center's Hatewatch.


As negotiations continue, preparations were under way for Poland's funeral.


The late school bus driver will be memorialized Saturday night at a visitation service, followed by a funeral service Sunday at the Ozark Civic Center.


Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley praised Poland for protecting the children on his bus.


"He stood in that place, and when that man came to take two children, he said no. And he lost his life because of that ... he did his job, and I'm proud of him as the governor but I'm just proud of him as a human being," he said.


CNN's George Howell reported from Midland City and Chelsea J. Carter wrote from Atlanta. CNN's Joe Sutton, Greg Botelho and Tristan Smith contributed to this report.






Read More..

Twitter: 250,000 users' data compromised in hacking attacks

#1157946: Twitter bird logo, social networking and microblogging service, graphic element on white / AP Graphics

Twitter said today that it recently detected a series of attempts to hack into user data, and that the attackers may have successfully absconded with some users' information.

In a blog post Friday afternoon, Twitter explained the situation, and the steps it has taken to fight off the hackers.

This week, we detected unusual access patterns that led to us identifying unauthorized access attempts to Twitter user data. We discovered one live attack and were able to shut it down in process moments later. However, our investigation has thus far indicated that the attackers may have had access to limited user information - usernames, email addresses, session tokens and encrypted/salted versions of passwords - for approximately 250,000 users. As a precautionary security measure, we have reset passwords and revoked session tokens for these accounts. If your account was one of them, you will have recently received (or will shortly) an email from us at the address associated with your Twitter account notifying you that you will need to create a new password. Your old password will not work when you try to log in to Twitter.

Twitter said in the post that a very small number of users were affected by the hacking, but it encouraged everyone who uses the service to ensure that they are practicing "good password hygiene, on Twitter and elsewhere on the Internet." Among its suggestions: using unique passwords of at least ten characters, including a mix of upper and lower case letters, numbers, and symbols. Based on attacks on other high-profile tech and media companies, Twitter also said it is recommending the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's recent advisory on disabling Java, among other precautions.


This attack was not the work of amateurs, and we do not believe it was an isolated incident. The attackers were extremely sophisticated, and we believe other companies and organizations have also been recently similarly attacked. For that reason we felt that it was important to publicize this attack while we still gather information, and we are helping government and federal law enforcement in their effort to find and prosecute these attackers to make the Internet safer for all users.
This article originally appeared on CNET under the headline "Twitter says 250,000 users' data compromised in hacking attacks"
Read More..

Ala. Standoff: Police Mum About Talks With Suspect













As a police standoff with an Alabama man accused of holding a 5-year-old boy hostage in an underground bunker entered its fifth day, authorities were saying little except that their talks with the 65-year-old loner were continuing through a ventilation pipe.



Negotiators were still trying late Friday to persuade Jimmy Lee Dykes to surrender. Police have said they believe the Vietnam-era veteran fatally shot a school bus driver on Tuesday, and then abducted the boy from the bus and disappeared into the home-made bunker.



While police were mostly staying mum about the delicate negotiations, it fell to neighbors to fill in the blanks about Dykes, described by some as a menacing figure who held anti-government views.



One of Dykes' next-door neighbors said the suspect spent two or three months constructing the bunker, digging several feet into the ground and then building a structure of lumber and plywood, which he covered with sand and dirt.



Neighbor Michael Creel said Dykes put the plastic pipe underground from the bunker to the end of his driveway so he could hear if anyone drove up to his gate. When Dykes finished the shelter a year or so ago, he invited Creel to see it — and he did.



"He was bragging about it. He said, 'Come check it out," Creel said.



He said he believes Dykes' goal with the standoff is to publicize his political beliefs.








Alabama Hostage Standoff: Who Is Jimmy Lee Dykes? Watch Video









Alabama Boy Held Hostage in Underground Bunker Watch Video









Alabama Hostage Standoff: Boy, 5, Held Captive in Bunker Watch Video






"I believe he wants to rant and rave about politics and government," Creel said. "He's very concerned about his property. He doesn't want his stuff messed with."



Police have used a ventilation pipe to the bunker to talk to the man and deliver the boy medication for his emotional disorders, but they have not revealed how often they are in touch or what the conversations have been about. Authorities waited until Friday to confirm the suspect's identity.



While much of what is going on inside the bunker remains a mystery, local officials who have spoken to police or the boy's family have described a small room with food, electricity and a TV. And while the boy has his medication, an official also said he has been crying for his parents.



Meanwhile, Midland City residents held out hope that the standoff would end safely and mourned for the slain bus driver and his family. Candlelight vigils have been held nightly at a gazebo in front of City Hall. Residents prayed, sang songs such as "Amazing Grace" and nailed homemade wooden crosses on the gazebo's railings alongside signs that read: "We are praying for you."



"We're doing any little thing that helps show support for him," said 15-year-old Taylor Edwards said.



Former hostage negotiators said authorities must be cautious and patient as long as they are confident that the boy is unharmed. Ex-FBI hostage negotiator Clint Van Zandt advised against any drastic measures such as cutting the electricity or putting sleeping gas inside the bunker because it could agitate Dykes.



The negotiator should try to ease Dykes' anxieties over what will happen when the standoff ends, and refer to both the boy and Dykes by their first names, he said.



"I want to give him a reason to come out," Van Zandt said,



Police seemed to be following that pattern. At a brief news conference to release a photo of Dykes, they brushed off any questions about possible charges.



"It's way too early for that," said Kevin Cook, a spokesman for the Alabama state troopers.





Read More..

Hillary: Secretary of empowerment




Girls hug U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during a 2010 tour of a shelter run for sex trafficking victims in Cambodia.




STORY HIGHLIGHTS


  • Donna Brazile: Clinton stepping down as Secretary of State. Maybe she'll run for president

  • She says as secretary she expanded foreign policy to include effect on regular people

  • She says she was first secretary of state to focus on empowering women and girls

  • Brazile: Clinton has fought for education and inclusion in politics for women and girls




Editor's note: Donna Brazile, a CNN contributor and a Democratic strategist, is vice chairwoman for voter registration and participation at the Democratic National Committee. She is a nationally syndicated columnist, an adjunct professor at Georgetown University and author of "Cooking with Grease." She was manager for the Gore-Lieberman presidential campaign in 2000.


(CNN) -- As Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton steps down from her job Friday, many are assuming she will run for president. And she may. In fact, five of the first eight presidents first served their predecessors as secretary of state.


It hasn't happened in more than a century, though that may change should Clinton decide to run. After all, she has been a game changer her entire life.


But before we look ahead, I think we should appreciate what she's done as secretary of state; it's a high profile, high pressure job. You have to deal with the routine as if it is critical and with crisis as if it's routine. You have to manage egos, protocols, customs and Congress. You have to be rhetorical and blunt, diplomatic and direct.



CNN Contributor Donna Brazile

CNN Contributor Donna Brazile



As secretary of state you are dealing with heads of state and with we the people. And the president of the United States has to trust you -- implicitly.


Of all Clinton's accomplishments -- and I will mention just a few -- this may be the most underappreciated. During the election, pundits were puzzled and amazed not only at how much energy former President Bill Clinton poured into Obama's campaign, but even more at how genuine and close the friendship was.


Obama was given a lot of well-deserved credit for reaching out to the Clintons by appointing then-Sen. Hillary Clinton as his secretary of state in the first place. But trust is a two-way street and has to be earned. We should not underestimate or forget how much Clinton did and how hard she worked. She deserved that trust, as she deserved to be in the war room when Osama bin Laden was killed.


By the way, is there any other leader in the last 50 years whom we routinely refer to by a first name, and do so more out of respect than familiarity? The last person I can think of was Ike -- the elder family member who we revere with affection. Hillary is Hillary.


It's not surprising that we feel we know her. She has been part of our public life for more than 20 years. She's been a model of dignity, diplomacy, empathy and toughness. She also has done something no other secretary of state has done -- including the two women who preceded her in the Cabinet post.


Rothkopf: President Hillary Clinton? If she wants it



Hillary has transformed our understanding -- no, our definition -- of foreign affairs. Diplomacy is no longer just the skill of managing relations with other countries. The big issues -- war and peace, terror, economic stability, etc. -- remain, and she has handled them with firmness and authority, with poise and confidence, and with good will, when appropriate.


But it is not the praise of diplomats or dictators that will be her legacy. She dealt with plenipotentiaries, but her focus was on people. Foreign affairs isn't just about treaties, she taught us, it's about the suffering and aspirations of those affected by the treaties, made or unmade.








Most of all, diplomacy should refocus attention on the powerless.


Of course, Hillary wasn't the first secretary of state to advocate for human rights or use the post to raise awareness of abuses or negotiate humanitarian relief or pressure oppressors. But she was the first to focus on empowerment, particularly of women and girls.


She created the first Office of Global Women's Issues. That office fought to highlight the plight of women around the world. Rape of women has been a weapon of war for centuries. Though civilized countries condemn it, the fight against it has in a sense only really begun.


Ghitis: Hillary Clinton's global legacy on gay rights


The office has worked to hold governments accountable for the systematic oppression of girls and women and fought for their education in emerging countries. As Hillary said when the office was established: "When the Security Council passed Resolution 1325, we tried to make a very clear statement, that women are still largely shut out of the negotiations that seek to end conflicts, even though women and children are the primary victims of 21st century conflict."


Hillary also included the United States in the Trafficking in Person report. Human Trafficking, a form of modern, mainly sexual, slavery, victimizes mostly women and girls. The annual report reviews the state of global efforts to eliminate the practice. "We believe it is important to keep the spotlight on ourselves," she said. "Human trafficking is not someone else's problem. Involuntary servitude is not something we can ignore or hope doesn't exist in our own communities."


She also created the office of Global Partnerships. And there is much more.


She has held her own in palaces and held the hands of hungry children in mud-hut villages, pursuing an agenda that empowers women, children, the poor and helpless.


We shouldn't have been surprised. Her book "It Takes a Village" focused on the impact that those outside the family have, for better or worse, on a child's well-being.


As secretary of state, she did all she could to make sure our impact as a nation would be for the better.


Follow us on Twitter @CNNOpinion


Join us on Facebook/CNNOpinion


The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Donna Brazile.






Read More..

Community leadership important for S'pore's development: Chan Chun Sing






SINGAPORE: Acting Minister for Social and Family Development, Chan Chun Sing, said Singapore will face more challenges as it moves towards its next stage of development.

While national leaders will look at issues from a broader perspective, Mr Chan said local community leadership is also needed.

He was speaking at the first Chua Thian Poh Community Leadership Symposium which was held at the National University of Singapore on Friday.

Some 80 students are currently enrolled in the Chua Thian Poh Community Leadership Programme.

Mr Chan said such platforms and the presence of community leaders are important as they have always been a part of Singapore's rich history.

Mr Chan said the role of community leaders was evident from British colonial rule.

He said, "They did not wait for the government to initiate things to do. They took it upon themselves to identify local needs, whereby they can play a useful role".

Going forward, Mr Chan said it will be about grooming a new generation of community leaders.

He said: "Not only do we hope you will understand the challenges at the local level, we also hope that you will come up with innovative solutions. We also hope you will play a part to mobilise actions to solve or at least address some of these local issues.

"We need to look for innovative and new solutions. We cannot just adopt solutions that have been adopted by people from other countries wholesale. We should look at them closely, study them in context, and always apply them in context to our local situation down here."

At the symposium, six of the Programme's Fellows got to share the various projects they embarked on.

The projects ranged from looking at the community's role in preventing child abuse, to exploring interim home care at a community hospital.

The speakers are part of the first batch of students in the programme since it was launched in 2011.

For medical student Andrew Arjun Sayampanathan, who is currently on an internship at the Central Community Development Centre as part of the Chua Thian Poh Community Leadership Programme, it was the perfect opportunity to test a theory he had learned in university.

Applying it to Kampong Glam residents, the asset-based community development model was a means to empower needy or elderly residents to look at their proficiencies.

It was a different take on the needs-based community development model many social organisations adopt.

"The needs-based model looks at the deficiencies of individuals and what is the individual deficient in. When we look at the assets-based community development model, we see what the individual is proficient in so he or she does not need to be dependent on an external organisation," explained Andrew.

Andrew said the findings obtained from the asset-based community development models will allow them to create independent communities based on the proficiencies and assets of the individuals.

- CNA/fa



Read More..

Former New York Mayor Ed Koch dead at 88

NEW YORKEd Koch, the ebullient former congressman and three-term Democratic mayor of New York City credited with correcting the city's sinking finances in the 1980s, has died at the age of 88.

Koch spokesman George Arzt confirmed to CBS News that the former mayor died Friday morning of congestive heart failure.

Koch was born in the Bronx in 1924, and his family moved to Newark, N.J., before settling in Ocean Parkway, Brooklyn, when he was a teenager. He studied at City College before being drafted into the Army as an infantryman during World War II, serving from 1943 to 1946, and achieving the rank of sergeant.

After the war, Koch became a lawyer and later entered politics as the district leader of Greenwich Village in 1963. In 1969, he was elected as a Democrat-Liberal to the U.S. House of Representatives, eventually serving four terms. While a congressman, he became known for championing social causes.




Play Video


Ed Koch: Island boy



In 1977, Koch ran for mayor of New York City for the first time, beating in the general election Mario Cuomo, who later became governor of New York. When Koch took over the mayoralty, New York City was suffering from a terrible fiscal crisis, out-of-control crime, and general decay.

Koch brought what some described as a cult of personality to the situation. Former Daily News editor Michael Goodwin told the Gotham Gazette: "Mayor Koch was so in your face for so long that a whole generation of children grew up thinking 'Mayor' was his first name."

With his forceful personality and budget-cutting measures, Koch not only restored the city's terrible credit in his first term and eventually doubled the city's budget to $26 billion, he also improved what many saw as tanking morale amongst its citizens.

Journalist Pete Hamill said of the situation: "When Ed Koch took office on the first of January 1978 there were neither parades, rallies, preparations for bonfires nor any sense of celebration. The fact was that we had gone through such a terrible time there was no reason to celebrate."

Many say Koch turned that city-wide negative feeling around, and while doing so he became known for greeting New Yorkers with his catchphrase: "How'm I doin'?"

While the Koch administration got much credit for righting a sinking ship, it also became tainted by a series of corruption scandals and combative dealings with other politicians and officials, all of which eventually cost him his bid for a fourth term as mayor in 1989, when he lost to David Dinkins.

After leaving the mayor's office, Koch remained in the public eye as a practicing lawyer, lecturer, television personality, newspaper columnist, radio host and author.

Koch was a lifelong bachelor. On the question of his sexuality, he said in a 1998 piece that ran in New York magazine: "Listen, there's no question that some New Yorkers think I'm gay, and voted for me nevertheless. The vast majority don't care, and others don't think I am. And I don't give a [expletive] either way! What do I care? I'm 73 years old. I find it fascinating that people are interested in my sex life at age 73. It's rather complimentary! But as I say in my book, my answer to questions on this subject is simply [expletive] off. There have to be some private matters left."

Read More..

Columbia Shuttle Crew Remembered 10 Years Later













Iain Clark is a teenager now. He was eight years old when his mother, Dr Laurel Clark, and six other astronauts died when the space shuttle Columbia fell apart in the skies over Texas 10 years ago today.


Iain's father, Dr. Jonathon Clark, told ABC News recently that he and Iain will never really recover.


"There will always be a sense of loss and pain and hurt," said Clark. "I've lost a lot, but I've gained a lot, too. I have a perspective and reverence for life. I have my son, and seeing him through this has been very rewarding -- though it has been difficult, as well."


Feb. 1, the anniversary of the Columbia accident, is the day NASA chooses to remember all the astronauts who have died during missions.


Spaceflight is a risky business. Some of the accidents are well known. Others, not really. But they all illustrate just how dangerous it is to leave our planet and venture into orbit.


Three accidents, in particular, are seared in our memories because NASA's missions have been so dramatic, and so public.


First, there was the fire on Jan. 27, 1967, which killed Apollo 1's crew of Command Pilot "Gus" Grissom, Senior Pilot Ed White and Pilot Roger Chaffee. At the time, NASA was racing to beat the Soviet Union to the moon.


Second was the space shuttle Challenger's accident on Jan. 28, 1986, which was seen live by children across the country because its crew included the first teacher in space, Christa McAuliffe.








Finally, Columbia's accident, on a clear, sunny Saturday, Feb. 1, 2003, as it re-entered from space after a seemingly routine science mission, stunned the country. It also meant the end of NASA's space shuttle program.


This morning at 9:16 a.m. ET, the time Columbia would have landed at the Kennedy Space Center in 2003, there will be a minute of silence. A bell will toll seven times at the Johnson Space Center for the seven astronauts who died on Columbia's final mission, STS 107: Commander Rick Husband, Pilot Willie McCool, Mission Specialists Michael Anderson, David Brown, Laurel Clark, Kalpana Chawla and Ilan Ramon.


It took months for the commission investigating the accident to determine the cause: foam. A piece the size of a briefcase broke off one of the shuttle's external fuel tanks, punching a hole in the orbiter's left wing.


The crew of seven knew something was wrong very late during re-entry, but there wasn't anything they or mission control could do to save them or Columbia. It took managers at the Johnson Space Center months to accept that something so simple as a piece of foam could do so much damage.


Wayne Hale, who guided NASA's space shuttle program back from the accident, was the only NASA employee who publicly accepted responsibility for Columbia's accident.


Hale now works in the private sector, but recently wrote in a blog about the internal discussion at mission control while engineers discussed what they thought might be a problem -- but weren't sure.


"After one of the MMTs [mission management teams] when possible damage to the orbiter was discussed," Hale wrote, "[Flight Director Jon Harpold] gave me his opinion: 'You know, there is nothing we can do about damage to the TPS [thermal protection system]. If it has been damaged it's probably better not to know. I think the crew would rather not know. Don't you think it would be better for them to have a happy successful flight and die unexpectedly during entry than to stay on orbit, knowing that there was nothing to be done, until the air ran out?'






Read More..

HRW condemns Russia's "worst post-Soviet crackdown"






MOSCOW: Human Rights Watch on Thursday condemned the Russian authorities under President Vladimir Putin for unleashing the toughest crackdown against civil society since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.

"The Kremlin in 2012 unleashed the worst political crackdown in Russia's post-Soviet history," the New-York based rights watchdog said in an English-language statement released in Moscow accompanying the release of its annual world report.

"This (2012) has been the worst year for human rights in Russia in recent memory," the rights group quoted Hugh Williamson, its Europe and Central Asia director as saying.

"Russia's civil society is standing strong but with the space around it shrinking rapidly, it needs support now more than ever."

After returning to the Kremlin for a third term despite unprecedented protests against his 13-year rule, Putin signed off on a raft of laws in what critics saw as a bid to quash dissent.

The new legislation re-criminalised slander, raised fines for misdemeanours at opposition protests and forced non-governmental organisations that receive foreign funding to carry a "foreign agent" tag in a move seen as a throwback to Soviet times.

- AFP/al



Read More..

Standoff drags into 3rd day as man holds child in bunker






STORY HIGHLIGHTS


  • NEW: Law enforcement and volunteers at hostage standoff holding up well, sheriff says

  • A gunman is holding the boy hostage in an underground bunker

  • The sheriff says investigators have no reason to believe boy has been harmed

  • Authorities get coloring books, crayons and medicine to the captive boy




Midland City, Alabama (CNN) -- Somewhere underneath this red Alabama dirt is a little boy.


A kindergartner, snatched from the safety of his school bus by a gunman and stashed in an underground bunker;


A boy who needs daily medication;


A child that this Bible Belt community of 2,300 is praying for.


Many details have been released about the boy's abductor:


How he was supposed to have been in court to face charges that he'd shot at his neighbors over a minor property dispute;


How he boarded a stopped school bus Tuesday and shot dead the bus driver;




Charles Poland was fatally shot in Alabama on Tuesday.



How he worked on the bunker in the middle of the night for more than a year.


But as the sun rose again on Midland City on Thursday, many more questions remain:


How deep is the bunker?








What's in it beside the man and the boy?


How are they keeping warm when temperatures have dipped into the 30s in the area?


Is the boy safe?


And most importantly, why him?


The driver


The gunman stormed into the school bus Tuesday afternoon and demanded that the driver hand him a child.


The driver, 66-year-old Charles Poland Jr., was a gentle Bible-reading man who could not stand to discipline the children on his bus because it hurt his heart, the Dothan Eagle newspaper reported.


When he refused the demand, police said, the gunman shot him several times as 22 horrified children scrambled for cover.


But the man was able to grab the boy and drag him to his underground bunker.


And the standoff began.


The suspect


Authorities have not released the name of the suspected gunman. But neighbors and news outlets around Midland City identified him as 65-year-old Jimmy Lee Dykes, a Vietnam veteran and a retired truck driver.


Neighbor Jimmy Davis told CNN that Dykes began digging a hole on his property soon after he moved in down the road from him.


Davis, who works a night shift, said Dykes worked on his bunker in the middle of the night -- every other night, between 2 and 3 a.m., for a year and a half.


He was friendly and welcoming and told Davis the hole would be a storm shelter.


But Tim Byrd, chief investigator with the Dale County Sheriff's Office, told the Southern Poverty Law Center's Hatewatch that Dykes had "anti-America" views.


"His friends and his neighbors stated that he did not trust the government, that he was a Vietnam vet, and that he had PTSD," Byrd told the civil rights group. "He was standoffish, didn't socialize or have any contact with anybody. He was a survivalist type."


The court date


On Wednesday, the day before the standoff began, Dykes was supposed to appear in court to answer to charges that he'd shot at Davis during a December argument over the dirt road that separated their homes.


Davis was moving out when his truck -- hauling a trailer -- dug ruts into the dirt speed bump that Dykes had built up across the road.


Dykes "got mad about what he saw" and stood by the side of the road, yelling and cursing, said Davis' mother, Claudia.


He then ran to his van, got a pistol and fired two shots at the truck, the Davises said.


Fortunately, no one was hurt, including Claudia Davis' 6-month-old daughter, who was inside.


The Wednesday court date in nearby Ozark was for menacing, a misdemeanor that carries penalties of up to six months in jail.


Another neighbor, Ronda Wilbur, said Dykes beat her dog to death with a lead pipe and then bragged to her husband about it.


"He made it very clear that any animals or people that came onto his property would be killed," she said.


Wilbur said she complained to animal control authorities and thought that this would stop the behavior.


"He just got increasingly more bizarre," Wilbur said.


The boy


Very little information has been released about the boy.


Police and school officials have said the child is 6, but a state representative in close contact with the family says he is 5 and will turn 6 in two weeks.


One thing is for certain: the kindergartner didn't know Dykes, State Rep. Steve Clouse said.


Through a PVC pipe that extends into the bunker, authorities have pleaded with the suspect to let the boy go -- to no avail.


The man agreed to let police send down coloring books, crayons and the prescription medicine the little boy desperately needs for Asperger's syndrome and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.


But nothing else has changed.


As the standoff dragged into Thursday morning, the boy's parents were doing their best to hold it together.


They were "holding on by a thread," Clouse said.


The scene


Early Thursday morning, dozens of law enforcement vehicles clogged the dead-end dirt road that leads to Dykes' house. They were from local police, the FBI, even Homeland Security.


Authorities evacuated neighbors. Officials closed schools in three nearby districts for the week.


With little movement, police have been loath to share much with the media.


Authorities called off a planned news conference late Wednesday night, saying there was nothing new to report. Early Thursday morning, Dale County Sheriff Wally Olson gave reporters a similar message, but said officers and volunteers trying to resolve the situation were holding up well.


At an earlier news conference Wednesday, Olson said he had "no reason to believe that the child has been harmed."


A reporter asked what the community could do to help.


"Pray," the sheriff said.


"Pray."


CNN's George Howell reported from Midland City and Lateef Mungin wrote from Atlanta. CNN's Tristan Smith, Marlena Baldacci and In Session's Jessica Thill contributed to this report.






Read More..