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Saturday, April 11, 2009

Harry Potter actor arrested over cannabis find

Daniel Radcliffe in 'Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince' 

LONDON A 19-year-old actor from the Harry Potter films has been arrested after police allegedly found cannabis in his car and his mother's home, reports and Scotland Yard said.James Waylett, who plays Vincent Crabbe, a Hogwart pupil and Potter-hating bully, was detained with another young man in central London last Thursday.‘Two 19-year-old occupants were found in the vehicle. Both men were arrested and taken to Central London police station,’ said a Scotland Yard spokesman, adding that officers later raided his mother's home in Camden, north London.‘Officers found a number of plants believed to be cannabis and equipment for the cultivation of plants,’ he added, saying both men were bailed until a date in July pending further inquiries.At least 10 cannabis plants worth 2,000 pounds were found, said media reports including the tabloid Sun, which printed the story under the headline ‘Harry Pothead.’The maximum punishment in Britain for cannabis production, which is considered a class B drug, is a 14-year jail sentence.The latest Harry Potter film in which he stars, ‘Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,’ will be released in Britain in July 17.Last month a 22-year-old man was jailed for at least 20 years for stabbing and killing another actor from the latest Potter film, Rob Knox, in May last year in southeast London.The Harry Potter series of books by J.K. Rowling have sold over 400 million copies, been translated into 67 languages, and spawned a successful series of films and a theme park.

'Hannah' keeps Miley Cyrus grounded

LOS ANGELES, California For Miley Cyrus, star of Disney's popular television series "Hannah Montana" and its big-screen adaptation "Hannah Montana: The Movie," art is not far from real life.The 16-year-old actress and singer reconnected with her Southern roots for the filming of "Hannah Montana: The Movie." Traveling to Tennessee to shoot the movie, Cyrus said, helped keep her grounded."It actually gave me time to relax, and it was when my career was just starting to take off ... when I was just starting to travel," Cyrus said. "It was at a time when I needed to go back home and it couldn't have been more of a perfect time."In the film, opening in theaters Friday, Cyrus plays Miley Stewart, a typical teenage girl who lives a double life as a famous pop star named Hannah Montana. Eventually, Hannah begins taking over Miley's life, leading Miley to take a soul-searching journey back home to decide what she really wants: notoriety or normality.Miley shares the screen with her father, country musician Billy Ray Cyrus, who felt that a trip home would be beneficial to his daughter.

Seven killed in suicide truck bombing

Five US troops were killed in the deadliest attack on US forces in Iraq in more than a year when a suicide truck bomber targeted a police compound in Mosul. Two Iraqi police and an Iraqi soldier also perished in the blast.Five US troops were killed on Friday in the deadliest attack on American forces in Iraq for more than a year when a suicide truck bomber struck a police compound in the northern city of Mosul.  Two Iraqi police and an Iraqi soldier also perished in the blast, according to an interior ministry official. The US military considers Mosul, Iraq's second largest city, to be the last urban bastion of Al-Qaeda in Iraq.The attack comes amid a sudden upturn in bombings nationwide including a series of blasts in Baghdad that have dealt a blow to recent upbeat assessments by American commanders about Iraq's fragile security.A US military spokesman said that five soldiers were killed and two others wounded in the attack, adding that the patrol seemed to have been in the area by chance and was not deliberately targetted."It appears to have been a target of opportunity as the ... convoy was passing the national police station, and not at the headquarters conducting training," spokesman Major Derrick Cheng told AFP.An Iraqi policeman who asked not to be named described how the truck barrelled through a checkpoint before it exploded in the heart of the compound, leaving a huge crater and damaging surrounding buildings.A Mosul police official said 70 people were wounded, including 43 members of the security forces and 27 civilians.

Hussein's Chrome AK-47 Being Returned to Iraq

Federal customs agents say a pearl-handled AK-47 that belonged to Saddam Hussein is being sent back to Iraq.The weapon had been in the hands of the U.S. Army. Immigration and Customs Enforcement says the automatic rifle is chrome-plated and has a photo of Hussein near the sight.ICE spokesman Lou Martinez said Friday that the Iraqi government had recently requested the return of the rifle. ICE traced it to Fort Lewis in Washington state.ICE agent Peter J. Smith calls the AK-47 "a priceless symbol of Iraqi history."The Army had planned to put the weapon in a museum. Martinez says the military cooperated fully with its return.

Pakistan capital put on high alert

Pakistan has heightened security in Islamabad amid threats from the country's Taliban that it will takes its fight to the capital.Security threats prompted schools to shut down and embassies to restrict movement of their staff on Friday.Nematullah Kundi, a Pakistani police official, said: "This is a high alert. We have stepped up security in the city, in and around the diplomatic enclave and the area near the parliament building, which is the declared red zone."Extra guards have also been deployed at schools in the red zone and elsewhere in the city."While much of the recent violence has been concentrated in northwest Pakistan, where the army has been fighting pro-Taliban fighters, many fear Islamabad could be next.

Fiji coup leader returns as PM

Frank Bainimarama has been reappointed as Fiji's prime minister just two days after an appeals court declared his military government was illegal.Ratu Josefa Iloilo, the president, swore in the former military chief as caretaker prime minister on Saturday after annulling the constitution and giving himself executive powers.Iloilo issued a decree on Friday allowing him to appoint a new leader of the government in the South Pacific island nation.Bainimarama is expected to name his cabinet ministers later on Saturday, local media reports said.Bainimarama originally became prime minister after forcing out Laisenia Qarase in a bloodless military coup in December 2006.After declaring the coup illegal, the court ordered that Iloilo appoint a distinguished person to act as caretaker prime minister, but said that person should neither be Bainimarama nor Qarase, who had brought the case.

Mexico City cuts off water supplies

At least two million residents of Mexico City are without water after authorities cut off supplies following a record drop in water reserves.The two-day shutdown of a main pipeline began late on Thursday, in time for the Easter holiday weekend, when many residents are out of town.The move is part of a five-month emergency rationing plan announced by Mexican authorities in January.The city's Cutzamala supply system is at 47 per cent capacity, its lowest ever level because of low rainfall in 2008, Conagua, Mexico's national water commission said.

Deadly wildfires, tornadoes ravage southeast states

A strong storm system cut a swath of destruction from Texas to Tennessee, killing at least eight, injuring dozens, and leaving destruction in its wake. One of the fires appears to have been deliberate.Firefighters battled deadly wildfires while rescue workers dug through the rubble left by tornados Friday after a strong storm system cut a swath of destruction from Texas to Tennessee.At least eight people were killed, dozens were injured and hundreds of homes and businesses were reduced to ash or rubble.One of the fires appears to have been deliberately set, officials said."We haven't proved that there was malice but we do know that the fire was intentionally set," Jerry Lojka of the Midwest City, Oklahoma fire department told reporters.The Oklahoman newspaper reported that teenagers were spotted in the area before the fire which destroyed 17 homes was sparked Thursday.Oklahoma's governor declared a state of emergency in 31 counties where 62 people were injured and about 200 homes and business were destroyed by the fires and a tornado which touched down on the eastern edge of the state.

Nigeria oil unrest 'kills 1,000'

Violence in Nigeria's oil region left 1,000 people dead and cost $24bn (£16bn) last year, a report says, according to an official and activist.Ledum Mitee, chairman of the Niger Delta Presidential Technical Committee, says the figures only cover the first nine months of 2008.Militants and criminal gangs often attack oil installations, leading to reprisals from the military.The unrest has cut Nigeria's oil output by about 25% in recent years.Last week, President Umaru Yar'Adua said his government was considering granting amnesty to violent groups if they disarm.

Algeria's Bouteflika re-elected

Abdelaziz Bouteflika, Algeria's president, has won his third five-year term in a presidential election marred by allegations of fraud and attacks at polling stations.Bouteflika, 72, who ran against five candidates without much political clout, won the election with more than 90 per cent of the vote.His nearest rival, Louisa Hannoune, a Trotskyist candidate, only won 4.22 per cent of the votes.Noureddine Yazid Zerhouni, Algeria's interior minister, said that more than 74 per cent of Algerians cast ballots, including 65 per cent in the capital, Algiers, despite boycotts by opposition parties."The elections took place despite some incidents and attempts to disrupt them. This is a victory for the Algerian nation as it builds democracy," he said.The large turnout suggests that most of Algeria's 34 million citizens did not follow calls from the opposition, led by two left-leaning secular parties, to boycott the election.However, in Kabylie province, east of Algiers, very few people turned out to vote,  the Reuters news agency said.

'Iron Man'-Like Robot Suit Helps Disabled Move

In the movies, Cyberdyne is a corporation whose superintelligent computers lead to the fall of mankind in the "Terminator" series, and HAL is a superintelligent computer who takes over a spaceship in "2001: A Space Odyssey."In real life, Cyberdyne is a Japanese robotics company, and HAL is Hybrid Assistive Limb, its full-body, "Iron Man"-like exoskeleton designed to help people with weak muscles or disabilities."When a person attempts to move, nerve signals are sent from the brain to the muscles via motoneuron (sic), moving the musculoskeletal system as a consequence," explains the English-language section of the Cyberdyne Web site. "At this moment, very weak biosignals can be detected on the surface of the skin. 'HAL' catches these signals through a sensor attached on the skin of the wearer."Cyberdyne says the HAL-5 model weighs about 50 pounds, though it supports its own weight, and increases the wearer's strength up to 10-fold. It runs on battery power and can go nearly 3 hours before needing a recharge.The U.S. military has been trying to develop robotic exoskeletons for decades to help soldiers carry heavy loads or move at high speeds.But at a suggested retail price of about $4,000 (for Japanese residents only, and not yet available), the HAL "robot suit" may be the first aimed at civilians.

ASEAN summit postponed due to demonstrators

A summit between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China was postponed Saturday due to protests by Thai anti-government demonstrators, officials said.The foreign ministers of China, Japan and South Korea cancelled a meeting at an Asian summit here Saturday after Thai anti-government protesters blockaded their hotel, officials said.Hundreds of demonstrators calling for the resignation of Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva prevented the Japanese minister's car from entering the venue in the beach resort of Pattaya, AFP reporters said.The meeting, which was set to discuss North Korea's recent rocket launch and economic issues, was called off after the ministers had waited for an hour, officials from the Chinese and Japanese delegations said."The meeting has been cancelled," a senior Chinese official told AFP.It was the first time that the red-shirted supporters of fugitive former Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra had managed to disrupt the summit programme since they descended on Pattaya a day earlier.About 2,000 demonstrators Friday laid siege to the main venue of the meeting of 10 Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) leaders plus their counterparts from China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia and New Zealand.

French navy frees hijacked yacht

At least one hostage and two pirates have been killed after French naval forces stormed a yacht seized by pirates off the coast of Somalia, officials say.Three other suspected pirates were detained in the military operation on Friday aimed at freeing five hostages on the Tanit, a statement from the office of Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, said."Today, threats were more precise, with the pirates refusing proposals and the Tanit moving toward the coast. An operation to free the hostages was decided," the statement said."During the operation, a hostage was unfortunately killed," the statement said.Two couples and a three-year-old child were aboard the yacht when it was seized on April 4 as it headed for the Kenyan coast.The statement said the four other hostages, including the child, were "safe and sound".