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Raoul Wallenberg; drawing by David Levine

The fate of Raoul Wallenberg, the heroic young Swedish diplomat who saved the lives of thousands of Hungarian Jews before he was arrested by the Soviets in Budapest in early 1945, is one of the great unresolved mysteries of World War II. For decades, the official story from Moscow has been that Wallenberg died in Moscow’s Lubyanka Prison on July 17, 1947—two and a half years after he was captured. But many questions have surrounded that story, and now the Russians themselves have come up with startling new information suggesting that Wallenberg did not die on that date.

The new information appears in an 8-page letter from FSB (Federal Security Service) archivists to a pair of U.S.-based researchers, Susanne Berger and Vadim Birstein, who have been working on the case for years. In the letter, the FSB reveals that Wallenberg was “in all likelihood” the “prisoner number 7” who was interrogated in Lubyanka for sixteen hours on July 23, 1947, along with his driver in Budapest, Vilmos Langfelder, and Langfelder’s cellmate, Sandor Katona (both Hungarians). If the FSB is right, this is, first of all, a chilling admission that Wallenberg was subject to far more abuse than previously thought: it was known that he had been interrogated by the Soviets, but not in this extreme way; we can only imagine what he must have suffered at the hands of his brutal NKGB interrogators—and they were notoriously brutal—during that sixteen-hour session. More importantly, it also means that Wallenberg was still alive six days after July 17.

Why does this matter? Above all, as Susanne Berger told me, it re-opens the Wallenberg case by raising new possibilities about his fate. Wallenberg could have been killed immediately after (or during) his July 23 interrogation or he could have been kept in severe isolation in Lubyanka for several months and then executed. Another possibility is that he was sentenced and transferred to a distant prison, such as Vladimir, 250 kilometers east of Moscow, where quite a few witnesses said they met or heard of Raoul Wallenberg after 1947. Also, the new FSB evidence strongly suggests that—contrary to what the Russians have long maintained—documents related to Wallenberg still exist in the Russian archives. It may well be possible to determine, once and for all, the truth about his fate.

Several years ago I wrote a piece about Wallenberg for the New York Review, in which I discussed the findings of the Swedish-Russian Working Group on Raoul Wallenberg after the Russian archives first became accessible in the 1990s. Back in 1957 Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko had handed over to Swedish authorities a report signed by a Lubyanka prison doctor, stating that Wallenberg had suffered a fatal heart attack on July 17, 1947. But documents released from the Russian archives in the 1990s suggested that the heart attack never occurred and the doctor’s report was a cover-up. If Wallenberg had indeed died on July 17—the Russians insisted on this date, while the Swedes and independent experts for the working group remained unconvinced—it was probably by murder.

Until recently Russian archival officials claimed there were no more relevant documents on Wallenberg to be found, and the Swedish government stopped pressing the Russians for answers. But Wallenberg’s half-brother, Guy von Dardel (who died last year) and several other researchers who took part in the working group, including Berger and Birstein, insisted that the Russians were holding back key evidence. In 2001—inspired in part by von Dardel’s unflagging efforts to find out what happened to his brother—Berger and Birstein began corresponding with the officials who run the FSB archives about some of the unresolved questions.

Over much of the past decade, little progress was made. But in January 2009, a top FSB archival official, Vasily Khristoforov, suddenly admitted—in a long article in the Russian daily Vremia Novostei—that important questions about Wallenberg remained unanswered: Why did the Soviet special services need Wallenberg? What were the circumstances of his imprisonment? And, finally, how and when did he die? In stressing that the case was by no means closed, Khristoforov seemed to suggest that more information was forthcoming. That information came in late 2009, when the FSB sent the 8-page letter to Berger and Birstein. (Although the letter was delivered to the researchers via the Swedish Embassy in Moscow last November, they kept it under wraps until late March of this year; before going public they wanted to study its contents and ask for further clarifications from the FSB archivists, as yet unanswered.) Why did the FSB reverse its position and raise the curtain, if only slightly, on a murky episode of the Stalin era?

Igor Gavrilov/Time Life Pictures/Getty Images

An interrogation room inside Lubyanka prison, which was housed inside the old KGB headquarters, Moscow, November 1, 1991

The FSB would not take such a significant step in the Wallenberg case without the approval of the Russian leadership. It is probably no coincidence that the FSB’s revelation about Wallenberg has been followed by the Kremlin’s recent recognition of the 1940 Katyn massacre, in which the Soviet secret police executed more than 20,000 members of the Polish armed forces. In addition to allowing a Polish documentary about this terrible Soviet atrocity to be shown on Russian state television, the Russian government has for the first time acknowledged the historical significance of Katyn, in Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s comments at the 70th anniversary commemoration of the massacre in early April. (A subsequent event, that was to have involved the Polish and Russian presidents, was horrifically overshadowed by the crash of the Polish delegation’s plane, though there is some hope that the tragedy will result in stronger Polish-Russian relations.)

Given the Kremlin’s blatant disregard for historical truth about the Soviet era, especially since Putin became president in 2000, this openness comes as a surprise. As recently as September 2007, at Putin’s behest, then FSB chief Nikolai Patrushev handed over purported archival documents on Wallenberg to the Chief Rabbi of Russia, Berel Lazar, for inclusion in a proposed Museum of Tolerance. Among the documents was the fake report saying Wallenberg had died of a heart attack.

The motivations behind the Kremlin’s recent shift remain unclear: perhaps it wants to obtain economic concessions from Europe, or perhaps there is a broader recognition by Russian leaders that coming clean about the Stalin period will bring them respect from the West and make it easier to advance Russian foreign policy aims. But surely the documentation about Prisoner No. 7 in the interrogation register did not appear out of the blue; there should be a larger file. And if Wallenberg was ultimately sent to a prison away from Moscow, there might be documentation in the archives of the MVD (Ministry of Internal Affairs). It’s time for the Swedish government (and perhaps the Americans and other Western leaders) to press the Kremlin leadership directly for answers.

Bandanas everywhere continue to fly at half-mast as doctors look for the source of a severe brain bleed that left former Poison frontman and Celebrity Apprentice contestant Bret Michaels fighting for his life in the ICU of a Texas hospital.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Michaels remains in critical condition, but was conscious and talking with slurred speech after suffering a brain aneurysm, his publicist said on Sunday.

“Bret is a fighter and we are hopeful that once all is complete, the slurred speech, blurred vision and dizziness etc will be eliminated and all functions will return to normal,” the statement added.

[JURIST] Lawyers for victims of the July 7, 2005 London transit bombings argued on Monday in the Royal Courts of Justice that UK authorities possessed information that could have helped them prevent the attacks. The theory for the case is built on intelligence that British security service MI5 and the London police had uncovered about the four suicide bombers prior to the attacks. Counsel for bereaved families argued that the UK government breached obligations to its citizens under Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which provides for the right to life. MI5 and the Home Secretary argued in response to the prosecution’s arguments that the matter has already been investigated in the Parliamentary Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) and that the intelligence could undermine law enforcement efforts if made public. The hearing is scheduled to last for three days.
In January, the UK government introduced a scheme for compensating victims of overseas terrorism, using a plan that closely mirrors that used to compensate families of the July 2005 bombings. In November, London police reached a settlement with the family of a man mistaken for one of the terrorist suspects involved in the bomb plot. In April 2008, the UK Court of Appeal rejected the appeal of four men found guilty of plotting the London attacks. The 2005 bombings targeted three trains and one bus, killing 52 people and injuring at least 770.

Zagato, the coach-building brand for Alfa Romeo created quite a stir when the teaser images of its TZ3 Corsa Race Car were first unveiled. The physical version of the car has now been unveiled at the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este in Italy and it sure has the fanatics excited.

This race car is purpose-built to mark 90 years of collaboration between Zagato and Alfa Romeo. The race car is a two-seater and is powered by a rear-wheel driven mechanism with a mid-front mounted engine. What makes it a scorching racer is its low weight which is the courtesy of its handmade aluminum body. The TZ3 is powered by 4.2 liter V8 with 420 PS and the best part is that the engine calibration is manually adjustable. The commuter can dash from 0 to 100 km/h in a matter of 3.5 seconds.

Algunos aspectos de la vida moderna pueden afectar la salud y el medio ambiente. El término justica ambiental quiere decir que estos efectos se deben compartir de un forma justa y que todos debemos de tener la oportunidad de participar en la toma de decisiones sobre problemas ambientales independientemente de la raza, color, nacionalidad o nivel económico. Algunos ejemplos incluyen:

• Muchas áreas urbanas continúan teniendo sistemas de alcantarillados que no están diseñados para procesar escorrentías después de una tormenta. Esto ocasiona que aguas residuales desemboquen en ríos y otras corrientes de agua.
• Los agricultores, 90% de los cuales son personas de color, pueden enfrentar serios riegos a la salud a causa de los pesticidas.
• Personas de bajos recursos económicos, y a menudo poblaciones de otras culturas, están más inclinadas que otros grupos a vivir cerca de basureros, incineradores, y instalaciones de tratamiento de desperdicios peligrosos.

¿Cómo debe de ser la justicia ambiental en su comunidad?

Former Senate Democratic spokesman Patrick Scully says the state should drop its long-running plans for the New Britain to Hartford busway.

The proposal has been the subject of numerous press conferences through the years, and Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell went to New Britain during the 2006 gubernatorial campaign to announce progress on the line. The buses still aren’t running.

The plan calls for 11 stops in four communities that include downtown New Britain, East Main Street, Cedar Street in Newington, Newington junction, the Elmwood section of West Hartford, Flatbush Avenue near the West Hartford-Hartford border, New Park Avenue, Park Street in Hartford’s Frog Hollow section, Sigourney Street and Union Station in downtown Hartford.

http://scullycommunications.com/scullyblog/

On the 7^th of December, 2008, in the heart of Scotland, a chimpanzee called Pansy died peacefully. She was over 50 years old and lived on an island in Blair Drummond Safari Park with three other chimps – her daughter Rosie, another adult female called Blossom, and Blossom’s son Chippie.

Their reaction to her passing was recorded by the park’s cameras (see video above) and many of their actions seem remarkably human. The others seemed to care for Pansy in her final minutes, examine her body for signs of life, and avoid the place where she died. Rosie even conducted the equivalent of an all-night vigil.

This footage provides a rare glimpse into how one of our closest relatives deal with death, and it’s one of two such examples that have been published today. The second took place several thousand miles away in the forests of Bossou, Guinea. In 2003, a respiratory epidemic killed five of the local chimps, including two babies called Jimato and Veve.

Their mothers, Jire and Vuavua, carried their babies’ lifeless bodies around for 68 and 19 days respectively. They groomed the dead youngsters and chased away the flies that circled them (see image and video below). Even after both babies had completely mummified into dry, leathery husk, the mothers still carried them, and other groups members investigated them.

These examples of quiet, calm behaviour are incredibly different from previous anecdotes. At Gombe National Park in Tanzania, the death of a male who fell from a tree was greeted by an eruption of noise. The others made alarm calls and aggressive displays, and they touched and held each other. They stared and sniffed at the corpse, but no one touched it and after four hours, the group left.

Elsewhere, in the Tai Forest, a leopard fatally mauled a young female and the same mass excitement ensued. This time, the others frequently touched the body and some males even dragged it for short distances before abandoning it. And in other cases, chimps have been shown to attack or even cannibalise the corpses of dead infants, despite the protestations of their mothers.

In stark contrast, Pansy’s peers were calm and restrained. When studying animal behaviour, it is always important to avoid the trap of anthropomorphism, but one cannot help but draw comparisons between Rosie, Blossom and Chippie’s actions and the responses of humans to peaceful death.

Pansy’s final hours were documented by Alasdair Gillies, head keeper at Blair Drummond. She started becoming lethargic in November and started receiving veterinary care. Her fellow chimps seemed to know that something was up. Instead, of sleeping on their usual platforms, they nested near her. At 4pm on December 7th, she started breathing erratically and laboriously and Gillies let the others join her.

They groomed her with unusual frequency in the 10 minutes before her death and afterwards, they seemed to test for life by inspecting her mouth and lifting her limbs. More unusually, Chippie attacked Pansy’s corpse on no less than three occasions (see video below); Gillies thinks that he may have been trying to rouse her or expressing frustration or anger. Blossom groomed her son for an extraordinary amount of time, perhaps an act of consolation or social support.

Rosie, meanwhile, stayed with her mother’s body throughout the night, on a platform that she had never previously slept on. All the three surviving chimps slept restlessly and the next morning, they were all subdued. They removed straw from Pansy’s body, ate less than normal, and watched silently as the keepers took Pansy away. When they were allowed to return to the sleeping area, Blossom and Rosie did so hesistantly, but Chippy refused. His alarm calls drew the other two back to the day area, where the trio spent the night. For the following week, none of the chimps nested on the platform where Pansy died, even though all of them had frequently done so before.

Legendary primate researcher Frans de Waal says, “I have seen chimpanzees die in captive colonies, sometimes unexpectedly and sometimes after a long illness, and the reactions described here correspond with my experiences. There is even a dramatic photograph that reached cyberspace.”

The tale of the African chimps, told by Dora Biro from the University of Oxford, differs in its details but has many parallels. Vuavua paid such care to her dead baby that by the time she abandoned him, his body was largely intact albeit mummified. Jire did the same, although she carried Jimato along for so long that his facial features were largely unrecognisable. Did Jire and Vuavua know that their babies were dead? It’s hard to say. Certainly, they seemed to treat the corpses like live babies, at least for a few days. Towards the end, they started carrying them in positions that they never use for healthy youngsters.

Other chimps touched, poked and sniffed the bodies, and lifted their immobile limbs. Some of the other youngsters even carried them in bouts of play. Even though the bodies’ were starting to deform and smell intensely, only one of the chimps ever reacted in a way that looked like repulsion (see video below). Biro never saw a single act of aggression.

This is hardly the first time that a chimp mother has been seen carrying the mummified corpse of her baby; the first such sighting was made in 1992 and was very similar to the latest ones. De Waal says, “The carrying of dead infants by chimpanzee mothers is well known, and has also been reported for other primates, although never of such long duration. 68 days is longer than any previous report that I have seen!” He says that ape physiology drives an enormous attachment between mother and infant, that doesn’t rapidly shut down when the infant dies. For example, a chimp’s reproductive cycle grinds to a halt for four years after giving birth.

“It would also not be adaptive to abandon an infant every time it gets sick,” says de Waal. “The best option is for mothers to keep hope and keep caring. A rapid shutting down of attachment would be maladaptive: it might lead mothers of near-dead infants to abandon them prematurely.” Why did Jire and Vuavua eventually let go? As their reproductive cycle restarted and all the associated hormonal changes kicked in, the mums could have been psychologically prepped to raise another generation. The fact that Jire carried her dead child for longer than Vuavua may be because she had already had 7 previous children, while Vuavua was a first-time mother.

Both of these examples suggest that chimpanzees have a better awareness of death and dying that people have previously thought. In many ways, this shouldn’t be surprising – these animals are self-aware and empathetic towards each other. Another intellgent animal, the African elephant, also shows remarkably sophisticated behaviour on the death of their peers. De Waal says, “I don’t think this is the same as what elephants do, which visit burial sites long after the death of a companion. But I wouldn’t be surprised if elephants also showed reactions like these (minus the aggressive displays, which seem typically chimp) to the actual death of another.”

Do chimps truly understand the concept of death? Based on the stories of Pansy, Jire and Vuavua, de Waal says, “Definitely, they seem to recognize the death of another, and perhaps realize that this is a permanent change, and a permanent loss. This by itself is already very significant, and reports like these help us understand the depth of their understanding.” But he also adds that we can’t draw any conclusions about whether they understand their own mortality. “To understand one’s own mortality would require extrapolating from what happens to others to one’s own situation. We cannot rule this out, of course, but it would require another big mental jump and for the moment we have no way of knowing if species other than us have made this jump.”

In the meantime, James Anderson, who led the Scottish study, says that the work could affect the way that elderly chimps in zoos and research facilities are cared for. It might, for example, be more humane to let the old-timers die naturally, surrounded by peers and familiar surroundings, than to resort to isolated treatment or euthanasia.

Reference: Current Biology, references unavailable at time of writing

• More on chimp behaviour:
• Culture shapes the tools that chimps use to get honey
• Scientists tickle apes to reveal evolutionary origins of human laughter
• Chimps use Swiss army toolkit to rob beehives
• Altruistic chimpanzees clearly help each other out
• Male chimps trade meat for sex
• Cultured chimps pass on new traditions between groups

Hey Amazon, et. al., I think we just figured out how you can solve your Stupid Shipping Gang problem: switch over to this kind of box that fits every item, no matter what size, perfectly. It’s called the “Universal Packaging System” and it’s amazing.

Designed by Patrick Sung, the “UPS” is a piece of corrugated cardboard pre-scored with a grid of triangles. The board is then wrapped around the object(s), conforming to its size. If you got some extra, you can just cut it off and use it on the next shipment. No more sending USB drives in cavernous boxes!

UPS, Fold It, Tape It, Ship It [Yanko Design]

Tecmo Bowl is coming to Xbox LIVE Arcade this Wednesday for 800 points.

Technology: GSM
Announced Carrier: n/a
Announced Release Date: May, 2010

The BlackBerry Pearl 3G 9105 model differs from the 9100 by featuring a 14-key traditional phone keyboard. Other key features include optical trackpad. , SureType software, WiFi, BlackBerry Media Sync, 624 Mhz processor, and 256 MB of flash memory.

Buried in news of a partnership with Vodafone and Verizon is the somewhat surprising (or perhaps somewhat expected, depending on your school of thought) news that the Google Nexus One will not be headed toward Verizon anytime soon (if at all) – or at least that’s how I’m reading between the lines.

Instead, the post on Google’s official Nexus One blog reads: “In the US, if you’ve been waiting for the Nexus One for Verizon Wireless’ network, head over to http://phones.verizonwireless.com/htc/incredible to pre-order the Droid Incredible by HTC, a powerful new Android phone and a cousin of the Nexus One that is similarly feature-packed. It will be available in stores on April 29th.”

This seems contrary to Google’s original plan to sell their self-branded phone through their own online store, and frankly I’m confused.  Additionally, what does this mean for the Sprint N1?  When Verizon announced they would have an N1 come Spring, Sprint was quick to jump on the bandwagon and say ‘We’re getting the N1 too!’  Now I’m beginning to wonder if the HTC EVO 4G will end up being Sprint’s version of the N1.

As usual time will tell, but I’m getting increasingly interested to see what Google’s plan is, and whether they have one.  Perhaps the Nexus One is a concept as well as a branded device that is supposed to spur innovation among superphone makers, and if so, maybe this isn’t so bad after all.  If you have any insight, fell free to leave it in the comments, as usual!  

Update: I don’t know how I missed this the first time around, but it really seems like Google is changing their game plan in a major way.  Not only is the Nexus one coming to Vodafone UK (with no plans of being sold on Verizon), but you can pre-order the phone from the Vodafone website, and not the Google store site.  Go here to see what I mean.  Could this be the beginning of a Nexus One migration to retail stores?

Via GoogleNexusOneBoard

The bill is not dead but it’s in E.R., and on life-support. Today Senators John Kerry (D- Mass.), Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and lone Republican Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), were set to release their energy and climate change bill. A legislation that enjoys support from key industry leaders, environmental groups, and unlike other key Obama legislation had some aura of bi-partisanship.

But on Friday night Senator Graham walked away from the bill over attempts by the Senate leadership and the White House to push through immigration reform over climate change and energy.  This week immigration became a top priority after Arizona Governor Jan Brewer (R) signed into law one of the country’s strictest immigration law on record. On Friday President Obama called the law “misguided.”

Graham, already vulnerable in his home state, partly because of his willingness to work with the White House on climate change and other key issues, wants climate change and energy to go ahead of immigration. The bill has been a year in the making and is obviously much farther along than any immigration reform bill.

In his letter he wrote:

“Expecting these major issues to be addressed in three weeks — which appears to be their [the White House] current plan based upon media reports — is ridiculous…. Let’s be clear, a phony, political effort on immigration today accomplishes nothing but making it exponentially more difficult to address in a serious, comprehensive manner in the future.”

From our perspective what’s hard to understand is why shake the deck, so close to the end-goal. While the 60 votes weren’t secured (yet), the Kerry -Lieberman -Graham legislation enjoyed wide industry support (ConocoPhilips was on board); It was bi-partisan, all factors that could have helped twist some arms to get to 60 during the floor debate.

At least for now pragmatic politics has won the day.  Senator Reid faces a tough reelection in his home state of Nevada, which has a large Hispanic population. Pushing a comprehensive immigration reform with provisions that could legalize millions of illegal workers would play well with his Hispanic constituents.

In a statement released shortly after Graham’s letter, Reid downplayed the riff.

He wrote:

Immigration and energy reform are equally vital to our economic and national security and have been ignored for far too long. As I have said, I am committed to trying to enact comprehensive clean energy legislation this session of Congress. Doing so will require strong bipartisan support, and energy could be next if it’s ready. I have also said we will try to pass comprehensive immigration reform. This too will require bipartisan support and significant committee work that has not yet begun.”

Senators Graham, Kerry and Lieberman are expected to meet later today. Lieberman seemed optimistic, saying it should be sent to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for a full economic analysis, a process that’s expected to take five weeks to do.

Supporters of the bill are angry, not Graham but at the White House and Reid.  On CBS’s Face the Nation New York Times columnist Tom Friedman said the political gamesmanship played over the climate change bill was a “disaster,” and a  “travesty.”

He added:

“The result is, right now … in Beijing, they are high-fiving each other… ‘Oh yeah baby. This means the Americans are going to be paralyzed on green tech for another couple of years. China is already leading the world now in wind production; China is already leading the world in solar production. Where industry goes, where research goes.’

Joe Romm on his Climate Progress blog wrote:

Obama cannot possibly be a successful president from a historical perspective if he doesn’t have a domestic climate bill, since that would essentially doom the chance for an international climate deal.  Who really is going to care about accomplishments in banking regulations and immigration when they are suffering through Hell and High Water?

Bare boobs! A miniscule nipple slip from pop star Beyonce is making big headlines on the blogosphere this Monday.

(Slightly NSFW After The Jump…..)

A photo of Beyonce’s barely-exposed nipple during a family vacation in Hawaii have hit the blogosphere, thanks to London’s Daily Mail.

The lurking paparazzi caught Bey’s almost-bare boob as the “Sasha Fiece” star enjoyed an afternoon at the beach with her husband Jay-Z, sister Solange, and nephew Daniel. The most dreaded of wardrobe malfunctions occured after the singer’s left halter-neck strap fell slightly to one side.

Alexandra Harrison relives her experience cheering on runners at the London Marathon.

Matt Kurton high-fives an Oxfam volunteer after running the London Marathon. Photo: Oxfam

12 hours after the London Marathon, and back in the office. I’m tired, exhilarated, emotional… and I didn’t even set foot on the racecourse!

Running a cheering point at the London Marathon was a fantastic experience. When I started the day at 4.30am, I definitely wondered what I’d put myself up for. But once in London, after grabbing myself a sizeable section of pavement and a cup of tea, I began to understand what Marathon day is really all about – and what everyone had meant when they talked about the incredible atmosphere.

Armed with a team of 28 volunteers, bucketloads of green paint and a megaphone, I shouted, screamed, jumped and danced my way through the day. Every time an Oxfam runner came past, we went wild: the feeling of pride amongst us all was tangible – there they were, our wonderful runners, doing something amazing for a cause that united us all.

Even those not running for Oxfam were inspiring. Especially those who were obviously pushing themselves to the limit and were determined to finish, no matter if they had an injury, disability or cumbersome costume which made their challenge that bit harder.

Next year, Oxfam is the Official Charity of the London Marathon – which means that we’ll have hundreds more guaranteed places. So if you’ve been tempted to get involved in the 2011 Marathon, join the team – you can bank on all the training support, nutrition advice and fundraising ideas you’ll ever need, and the money you raise will transform lives, providing training, skills and support to people who need to develop their small businesses around the world.

The London Marathon is all about being determined to achieve something extraordinary, and persevering to achieve your goal. Even watching from the sidelines gets you involved – seeing all those runners pushing themselves to the limit is inspiring, emotional and motivating. That early start was more than worth it!

Get involved: 2011 Virgin London Marathon

[JURIST] The International Criminal Court (ICC) has rejected the prosecutor’s petition to appeal the court’s February decision declining to confirm the charges against Darfur rebel chief Bahr Idriss Abu Garda. In a decision released Friday, the chamber recalled its earlier determination that the evidence presented by the prosecution was not of the appropriate severity to continue the proceedings against Abu Garda and found that the prosecution’s petition did not meet the requirements for an appeal. The prosecutor argued in the appeal that the court had applied a stricter evidentiary standard in the Pre-Trial Chamber than it should have employed. In denying the appeal, the ICC said:either the Statute nor the Rules, contrary to the Prosecution’s assertion, draws a distinction as to the way evidence shall be assessed before a Trial Chamber and a Pre-Trial Chamber. The free assessment of the evidence presented by a party is, pursuant to the Statute, a core component of the judicial activity both at the pre-trial stage of a case and at trial. … In light of the above, the proposition put forward by the Prosecution, namely that the Chamber should have applied a different standard to the assessment of the evidence at the confirmation of the charges stage, is without any legal basis.In the event that the prosecution provides additional evidence, it may still seek the confirmation of the charges or petition the chamber to appeal the decision.The ICC declined to confirm charges against Abu Garda in February, a ruling that came after a preliminary hearing in October, during which the prosecution alleged that Abu Garda controlled the Justice and Equality Movement. The charges against Abu Garda stem from a series of attacks in 2007 that resulted in the death of 12 African Union Mission in Sudan soldiers. Abu Garda first appeared before the ICC on the charges in May 2009, and is the first individual involved in the situation in Darfur to appear before the court.

BMW acaba de anunciar en el Salón de Beijing que su próximo automóvil más esperado, el BMW Megacity estará disponible en los concesionarios en el año 2013. Este modelo es un utilitario urbano eléctrico.

Hace uso de diferentes materiales como fibra de carbono en la carrocería para aligerar el peso del vehículo, lo cuál le otorgará un consumo energético menor para conseguir una autonomía mayor.

Todo parece apuntar que el futuro de los entornos urbanos pasa por los vehículos eléctricos. De momento, el gran inconveniente son la capacidad limitada de las baterías de litio lo que nos hace estar sugetos a una autonómia que no siempre es la deseada.

Related posts:

1. Nissan NV200 disponible en España apartir de Noviembre
2. El nuevo Opel Astra disponible en España apartir de Noviembre
3. Hyundai H800

The Playstation 3 from Sony is arguably the best console – hardware wise – in the market currently. The PS3 has a Nvidia RSX GPU with 256MB of GDDR3 memory and, a Cell Microprocessor designed by IBM. With the launch of the PS3 Slim Model, the Cell CPU of PS3 moved to a 45nm manufacturing process. This led to a decrease in power consumption, lower temperatures, and reduction in the cost of production.

Now Playstation University reports that the new PS3 Slim RSX GPU will be based on the 40nm fabrication process.  At the time of its launch, the PS3 RSX GPU used the 65nm fabrication process. The shift to a lower fabrication process has many advantages including the reduction of the Yellow Light Of Death on the PS3s. Thanks to the shift in lower fabrication process, the cooling unit of the new PS3 Slim has also been redesigned. It is now less complex compared to its predecessor.

It is reported that the drop in power consumption is around 15%. The power supply has also seen a weight reduction, and now weighs in at 412g. The original PS3 power adapter used to weigh 815g. Quite a few chips have also been removed from around the Nvidia RSX GPU, leading to a lower cost of production.

The main benefit of the shift to 40nm fabrication process is the lower cost of production. The new PS3 Slim, even though cheaper by 100$, will allow Sony to earn profit on every console sold. Until now, Sony has been incurring losses on every PS3 they have sold.

Don’t miss these Related Posts:

• NVIDA Finally Launches 40nm Notebook Graphics Card
• PS3 Slim Details
• TSMC Says 40nm Yields Have Improved
• Sony Still Loses Money On Every PS3 Slim Sold
• Sony PS3 Manufacturing Costs Have Dropped By 70%

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By Scott M. Fulton, III, Betanews

For reasons still being debated in the press, Research In Motion was not the star of the last Mobile World Congress show in February. Evidently something wasn’t ready yet. But ahead of a smaller wireless conference in Orlando this week, RIM has plans to own the show.

This morning, the company announced two new models — not refurbished versions of existing models as some press sources have said, but new chasses with new components…just familiar brands. But spokespersons for the company tossed some bread crumbs that lead in the direction of more announcements, perhaps as soon as this afternoon. Word on the rumored BlackBerry OS 6.0 with a (real) Web browser, may be on the docket.

First, though, the company has set out some tasty hors d’oeuvres in the form of a slim new BlackBerry Pearl 3G. Its appeal is that it has many of the features of the bigger Bold, including the faster (for RIM) 624 MHz processor, 3.2 megapixel camera, 802.11n Wi-Fi, HSDPA support, and that cool new trackpad that won’t get gummed up with pocket lint like the older models. It’s the Pearl form factor without the “pearl,” and it’s black like the Bold (insert reference to Pirates of the Caribbean here).

The Pearl’s appeal to date has been its form factor — not wide like a sandwich loaf slice, but thinner than a bar of soap. The tradeoff has been the keyboard: There’s not enough room for the traditional BlackBerry QWERTY, so the new Pearl 9100 features a 20-key layout that, for some, takes some getting used to. An optional Pearl 9105 model includes a more traditional 14-key layout.

But both will incorporate SureType, which is the predictive typing system that’s all the rage on feature phones like the LG enV3 and enV Touch. The complaint we’ve heard in the past from BlackBerry SureType users has concerned speed, especially compared to the enV Touch which is rocket-fast. So we’ll see whether the new Pearls’ 624 MHz Xscale processors (loaded with apps) can handle the task. In Canada, the new Pearls are premiering today on the Rogers network.

The new BlackBerry Bold 9650 looks pretty much like the other two Bolds, until you turn it a little sideways. It’s just a little slimmer than the original Bold 9000, and a little taller than the newer 9700, so it may be ever-so-slightly more aesthetically pleasing…less like a ping-pong paddle. Neither older Bold model is being replaced.

Yet the 9650 isn’t decked out like the 9700, or even like the new Pearl — it’s not really a 3G phone. When RIM says it “supports” 3G, it’s referring to EV-DO, which is a bit more like “2.5G.” It’s a CDMA phone, and will premiere in the US on Sprint.

What we don’t know yet is which OS these new models will run, and that curiously obvious omission suggests that the number could be OS 6.0. Attendees of today’s Wireless Enterprise Symposium in Orlando are expecting a speech tomorrow morning from company co-CEO Mike Lazaridis. However, the show schedule features the company’s VP for product platform management, Alan Panezic, on the Wednesday morning docket.

In a keynote speech last Friday at a different conference altogether, Lazaridis gave attendees a very pointed hint at where his company will go next, perhaps this week: In distinguishing his company’s product line from that of Apple, with its iPad tablet, he said that there’s a certain class of customers who are waiting for the perfect blend of touchscreen technology with QWERTY keyboard control, who are sitting out the iPad.

In a transcript obtained by the Apple device blog TiPb, Lazaridis told TD Newcrest Technology Conference attendees, “The question you have to ask yourself is, when it comes to tablet [form factors], what market or what opportunities it’s solving, what problem is it solving, and is it just a replacement laptop? I think that’s a difficult one to judge…If you look at the surveys, you can see that a large amount of the customers that have purchased touchscreen devices in last two years intend to get a device with the QWERTY keyboard on it now. I mean, they’ve gotten to a point where they realize that a touchscreen alone is not enough, so that’s important.”

Similar surveys also show customers want a touchscreen phone with a reasonably working Web browser, which is something else this week’s conference attendees hope RIM will finally deliver.

Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2010

As the U.S. military plans a rapid troop drawdown in Iraq this summer, commanders have to decide where they’re needed most and where they should stay the longest.

The U.S. has promised to decrease troop levels from roughly 95,000 now to 50,000 by the end of August.  But the military won’t draw down by a certain percentage across the board.  The level of violence varies from city to city and province to province, so commanders have to make some tough calls on where to place its manpower.

I recently spent some time traveling through northern Iraq and found that security is indeed a mixed bag.

In Ninewa province, near the city of Mosul, the U.S. will likely have a strong presence for some time to come.  Arab-Kurd tensions remain high, and Al-Qaeda is still trying to exploit that.

To ease the tensions, the U.S. military recently began three-party combined checkpoints and patrols across the area.  Kurdish peshmerga work side by side with the mostly Arab Iraqi forces and U.S. troops.   Commanders say the Americans are playing the role of an “honest broker” between Kurds and Arabs, helping their security forces to accept each other.  At first, the joint patrols seemed a radical idea for this region.   Lt. Col. Mohammad Khalaf of the Iraqi police says, “In the beginning some people resisted this idea.  This is a very sensitive area.  But the American troops are a calming force.”

South of Mosul, the city of Samarra has a much different dynamic.  The U.S. military is already almost gone.  Just a few dozen soldiers remain at a small outpost on the edge of town, where they work with Iraqi forces.

Samarra was once a flashpoint for violence.  In 2006, insurgents bombed its Golden Mosque, one of the Shiites holiest shrines, triggering nearly two years of bloody sectarian violence.  U.S. and Iraqi forces came in, clearing the city block by block.

But today, the Americans really venture into the town center.  They think they’re a distraction now.  So we toured the city escorted by Iraqi police.  Our Fox crew rode in the back of a pickup truck with no body armor and cameras rolling.  It would have been foolish two years ago.  But the insurgents seem to be gone now.  General Ghayath Sami of the Iraqi Army says, “The radical ideas are disappearing.  The sectarian way of thinking is ending now.”

As workers reconstruct the Golden Mosque, thousands of Shiite pilgrims peacefully visit this mostly Sunni city every week.  A tour group from Taiwan recently came to sightsee.

The blast walls are coming down, businesses are re-opening, and city leaders hope to rebuild restaurants and hotels to attract both religious and cultural tourism.

Meanwhile, the U.S. military has to decide how soon its safe to back out completely, from each village and city and province.