California Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman (L) chats with her senior advisor Henry Gomez during a walk-through for her election night party in Los Angeles, California, June 8, 2010. ©Reuters

BEIJING, June 9 — Millionaire businesswomen Carly Fiorina and Meg Whitman both handily won Republican primaries for the Senate and governor’s races in California, the U.S., according to media reports Wednesday.

Meg Whitman, the former eBay CEO, easily defeated state Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner in the race for the Republican gubernatorial nomination, CNN reported.

She will faces state Attorney General Jerry Brown, a former governor, in the general election. The winner will succeed term-limited Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The network said Whitman poured more than 71 million U.S. dollars of her own funds into the primary race and has said she was prepared to put in as much as 150 million dollars to win the office.

In the contest for Senate, Carly Fiorina, the former Hewlett-Packard CEO, handily captured the Republican nomination after defeating former U.S. Representative Tom Campbell, and Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, the network said.

Fiorina will face three-term Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer in the midterm elections. 

On Xinhua Web site: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2010-06/09/c_13342096.htm

Policemen are checking a body at the shooting site in Cumbria, northern England, June 2. Twelve people were killed and at least 25 others injured after a gunman carried out a series of shootings in Cumbria, northern England, local police confirmed on Wednesday. ©AFP

BEIJING, June 3 — Police are investigating why a gunman went on a shooting spree in northwest England Wednesday, leaving 12 dead in the worst incident of its kind in the UK for 14 years, Bloomberg News said Thursday.

The Cumbria Constabulary said more than 100 detectives are investigating the shooting.

The body of the gunman, named by police as local taxi driver Derrick Bird, 52, was found in a wooded area.

“We are still at a very early stage in our investigation and we are not able to really understand the motivation behind it or establish whether this was a premeditated or random attack,” said Stuart Hyde, Cumbria’s deputy chief constable, in a televised press conference.

This incident is the worst in the UK since 16 children and their teacher were killed at a school in Dunblane, Scotland, in 1996.

On Xinhua Web site: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2010-06/03/c_13330977.htm

Police stand guard at the shooting site in Cumbria, northern England, June 2. Twelve people were killed and at least 25 others injured after a gunman carried out a series of shootings in Cumbria, northern England, local police confirmed on Wednesday. ©AFP

BEIJING, June 3 — UK police said they were still investigating the motives behind the gunman who shot dead his twin brother and 11 other people in northwest England Wednesday, the Guardian reported Thursday.

“We are still at a very early stage in our investigation and we are not able to really understand the motivation behind it or establish whether this was a premeditated or random attack,” said Stuart Hyde, Cumbria’s deputy chief constable, in a televised press conference.

The gunman, Derrick Bird, 52, known to many as Birdy in Whitehaven, Cumbria, was a seemingly sociable, outgoing man who had just become a grandfather, the newspaper said.

Local residents said Bird was a self-employed driver and had been in the trade for 23 years.

According to his colleagues and neighbors, Bird had argued with friends on Whitehaven’s Duke Street taxi rank the evening before he began shooting. Two of his victims are believed to be his fellow cab drivers.

Another Whitehaven taxi driver told the newspaper that there had been a rise in tension at cab ranks in the town because of an increasing number of drivers and a decreasing number of jobs.

But most of those who knew him remembered Bird as a friendly, even-tempered man — the kind of neighbor with a ready smile who would stop for a chat, the newspaper said.

Michelle Haigh, the landlady of a local pub where Bird had been a regular customer, said the incident was “not in character with the Derrick Bird we know.”

“He was a nice guy, nothing out of the ordinary. He would come in to the pub, have a couple of pints, have a chat with his friend and go home,” Haigh was quoted by BBC as saying.

One man was quoted by BBC Radio as saying that Bird appeared to be a mild-mannered, content individual.

“I can’t see how this piece fits into his jigsaw. It’s just completely out of place,” he said. 

On Xinhua Web site: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2010-06/03/c_13331196.htm

The Senate Armed Services Committee voted 16-12 to approve compromise language on the repeal in an amendment to the military policy bill, and then voted 18-10 to send the bill to the full Senate, said the network.

The House of Representatives voted 234-194 to approve the amendment

The amendment aims at ending the Clinton-era “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy that allows homosexuals to serve in secret but expels them if their sexual orientation becomes known.

A final vote on the full bill was expected Friday.

“I am pleased that both the House of Representatives and the Senate Armed Services Committee took important bipartisan steps toward repeal tonight,” U.S. President Barack Obama said in a statement.

“This legislation will help make our Armed Forces even stronger and more inclusive by allowing gay and lesbian soldiers to serve honestly and with integrity,” he added.

Even if Congress gives final approval to such bill, repeal would also require certification from Obama, Defense Secretary Robert Gates and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, that the new law would not have a negative impact on readiness, unit cohesion, recruitment and troop retention.

The Pentagon also needs to complete a review on how to implement the repeal, due by December 1. 

On Xinhua Web site: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2010-05/28/c_13321759.htm

Alaska Governor Sarah Palin waves to well-wishers while serving hot dogs at the annual Governor’s Picnic in Fairbanks, Alaska, July 26, 2009. ©Reuters

BEIJING, March 25 — Sarah Palin, former Alaska governor in the U.S., will show audiences around Alaska in a new Discovery Channel series, according to media reports Thursday.

She will star in role of tour guide in the new travel show, “Sarah Palin’s Alaska.”

Reports say the show will center on interesting characters, traditions and attractions in the largest U.S. state.
The series is reported to have fetched more than 1 million U.S dollars per episode.

Analysts say Palin’s show is likely to attract viewers from her supporters and curious critics, as well as political observers watching for clues as to whether she will run for president in 2012.

Palin has not ruled out a bid for the top position at the White House after she failed in the 2008 campaign for U.S. vice-president.

A spokesman for Palin did not yet return requests for comment, and neither did the Discovery Channel. 

On Xinhua Web site: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/entertainment/2010-03/25/c_13224845.htm

A man is allegedly holding hostages and has explosives on Main Street in Wytheville Virginia Post Office Wednesday, Dec. 23, 2009. ©AP

BEIJING, Dec. 24 — An eight-hour hostage standoff at a post office in Virginia, U.S. ended late Wednesday, with an armed, disabled man taken into custody, said media reports.

The man, in a wheelchair, entered the post office in Wytheville at about 2:30 p.m. local time (1930 GMT) and fired a shot, Wytheville Mayor Trent Crewe told reporters earlier.

Officials initially said the man had taken five people hostage, including three postal workers and two customers. But two postal workers managed to escape as the case unfolded.

No one was injured, and the disabled man’s motive was still unclear, said the local police.

The U.S. Postal Inspection Service earlier said the man made no demands other than to ask for a pizza.

Virginia state police confirmed that there were shots fired in the incident. A SWAT team and a bomb technician were sent to the scene.

Wytheville is a small rural town in southeastern Virginia at the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains with a population of just over 8,000. 

On Xinhua Web site: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-12/24/content_12698817.htm

Pop star Michael Jackson waves to supporters as he leaves the Santa Barbara County Courthouse after he was found not guilty in Santa Maria, California in this June 13, 2005 file photo. Jackson died from a lethal dose of the powerful anesthetic propofol given in a cocktail of drugs, leading authorities to suspect his doctor of manslaughter, court documents showed on August 24, 2009. ©Reuters

BEIJING, Dec. 23 — U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation Tuesday released more than 300 pages of files related to the late pop king Michael Jackson who died on June 25 at the age of 50.

The files were made public in response to a Freedom of Information Act request made by several organizations.

Most of the files are about a 1992 investigation of a man who threatened to kill the pop star and then-U.S. President George H. W. Bush.

The records include numerous threatening letters sent by the suspect whose name was concealed. The suspect eventually pleaded guilty to a federal charge of mailing a threatening communication and was sentenced to two years in prison, said the records.

The files also reveal the FBI’s role in assisting California police in investigating child sexual abuse allegations against Jackson.

The first sexual abuse case in 1993 was closed without authorities bringing charges against Jackson, who finally settled a civil action for more than 20 million U.S. dollars.

The files also describe another child molestation investigation by the bureau in late 2004 that was closed when a witness, the files said, “advised the agents that he had no interest in testifying against” Jackson and “would legally fight any attempt to do so.” 

On Xinhua Web site: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-12/23/content_12691355.htm

According to the statistics from web research company Coremetrics, online retail sales rose 22.4 percent for the weekend compared with last year. On Saturday, sales were up 24.8 percent alone.

Retail web traffic peaked at 2.9 million visitors per minute Saturday night, said the Akamai Retail Net Usage Index. The number was up from 1.9 million on the Saturday before Christmas in 2008, even if that day, Dec. 20, 2008, was closer to Christmas than this year.

The Sunday peak was 3.5 million visitors per minute, compared with 2.2 million on the Sunday before Christmas last year.

The storm that battered the east coast cost U.S. retailers about 2 billion U.S. dollars of sales that could hardly be recovered, said tracking firm Planalytics. The weekend before Christmas usually accounts for 15 billion U.S. dollars worth of sales nationwide.

Analysts say shoppers choosing to expedite online purchases could also provide a lift to express companies like FedEx Corp. and United Parcel Service Inc. 

On Xinhua Web site: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-12/22/content_12687465.htm

The channel on the Google-owned site was opened when Google chief executive Eric Schmidt was paying a visit to Baghdad.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki unveiled the new channel, saying the YouTube channel would allow his government to showcase its achievements to the world.

“The world has not seen what the Iraqi government has been able to achieve in regard to security, economy, politics and building a federal democratic system,” Maliki said, “the government sees in this video technology an opportunity to show our achievements.”

In a YouTube video, Schmidt said the new channel will allow visitors to “discover even more what’s great about Iraq, this new country that’s being built, the resurgence of a new society and the amazing things they have in store.”

Schmidt also made a presentation on Wednesday inside Iraq’s National Museum, announcing that Google would create a virtual copy of the museum’s collections at its own expense, and make images of four millenniums of archaeological treasures available and free online by early next year.

Internet users can log on to youtube.com/iraqigov to visit the channel. 

On Xinhua Web site: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-11/26/content_12541024.htm

A handout photo from the Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO)/ Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys (ADDGGS) shows a gas plume rising from the Augustine Volcano in Alaska in January 2006. Alaska was on alert Friday as scientists warned that a volcano rumbling near the state’s largest city Anchorage was likely to erupt, officials said. © AFP

BEIJING, Feb. 1 — Alaska’s Mount Redoubt is picking up volcanic activity. The Alaska Volcano Observatory Sunday raised its threat level to orange, the stage just before an eruption.

The Alaska Volcano Observatory said in a statement Friday “volcanic tremor” has increased in “amplitude.” The observatory Thursday began seeing even higher levels of seismic activity and long periods of tremors, said Geophysicist John Power.

The activity on the 10,197-foot peak is “more energetic than that of the previous several days. However, it is still less vigorous than that observed last weekend,” the observatory said.

On Nov. 5, geologists noted changed emissions and minor melting near the Redoubt summit and raised the threat level from green to yellow.

The volcano is about 100 miles southwest of Anchorage.

The jet stream can carry ash for hundreds of miles. Experienced Alaskans are busy shopping for protection against a dusty shower of volcanic ash that could descend on south-central Alaska. Hardware stores and auto parts shops scored a post-holiday run of business as Anchorage-area residents stocked up on protective eyewear and masks.

On Xinhua Web site: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-02/01/content_10744451.htm