Missouri executes serial killer Franklin

JOSEPH Paul Franklin, a white supremacist who targeted blacks and Jews in a cross-country killing spree from 1977 to 1980, has been put to death in Missouri, the state's first execution in nearly three years.

Franklin, 63, was executed at the state prison in Bonne Terre for killing Gerald Gordon in a sniper shooting at a suburban St Louis synagogue in 1977.

Franklin was convicted of seven other murders across the country and claimed responsibility for up to 20 overall, but the Missouri case was the only one that brought a death sentence.

Franklin also admitted to shooting and wounding civil rights leader Vernon Jordan and Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt, who has been paralysed from the waist down since the attack in 1978.

Flynt had sued to stop Franklin's execution because he doesn't believe the death penalty is a deterrent.

Mike O'Connell, of the Missouri Department of Corrections, said Franklin was pronounced dead at 6.17am local time.

The execution was the first in Missouri using a single drug, pentobarbital.

Franklin's fate was sealed early on Wednesday when the US Supreme Court upheld a federal appeals court ruling that overturned two stays granted on Tuesday evening by district court judges in Missouri.

Franklin's lawyer had launched three separate appeals: One claiming his life should be spared because he is mentally ill; one claiming faulty jury instruction when he was given the death penalty; and one raising concern about Missouri's first-ever use of pentobarbital.

Franklin, a paranoid schizophrenic who grew up in Mobile, Alabama, was in his mid-20s in 1977 when he began drifting across America, robbing up to 16 banks to fund his travels.

He bombed a synagogue in Chattanooga, Tennessee, in July that year.

No one was hurt, but the killings began soon after that, many of them sniper shootings.

Franklin had a particular dislike for interracial couples - several of his victims were black men and the white women with them.

He arrived in suburban St. Louis and picked out Brith Sholom Kneseth Israel synagogue from the phone book.

On October 8, 1977, a bar mitzvah ended and guests were in the parking lot when Franklin opened fire from a grassy area nearby, killing Gordon, 42.

The killings continued for three more years.

Franklin was finally caught after killing two young black men who were about to go jogging with two teenage white girls in Salt Lake City in August 1980.

Years later, in federal prison, he admitted to the St. Louis County killing and was sentenced to death in 1997.

Franklin, in the days leading up to the execution, said in several interviews that he was sorry for his crimes and was no longer a racist.

23.48 | 0 komentar | Read More

Cafferkey killer to appeal over sentence

THE man sentenced to die in prison for killing Sarah Cafferkey and dumping her body in a bin is appealing over his life without parole sentence.

Steven James Hunter, 47, was told he would never be released when he was sentenced to go to jail for the stabbing-death of Ms Cafferkey at his Bacchus Marsh home on November 10 last year.

On Thursday, the Victorian Court of Appeal will hear an application for leave to appeal against that sentence.

The two-time killer pleaded guilty to the crime, committed 11 days after his parole ended for kidnapping and assaulting a man.

Hunter told police upon his arrest he should be locked up until he dies, though his lawyer Tim Marsh later argued he should be spared life without parole.

In September, Mr Marsh lodged an appeal with the Victorian Court of Appeal.

Ms Cafferkey, 22, was Hunter's second murder victim.

He first killed in 1986 when he stabbed work colleague Jacqueline Mathews for rejecting his sexual advances.

He then doused her body in petrol and burned it beyond recognition.

He was jailed for 16 years for her murder in 1988.

He has also been convicted of a list of other offences, including assault, escaping jail and kidnapping.

In sentencing Hunter to prison with no opportunity for parole, Supreme Court Justice Kevin Bell said the murder fell into the worst category of the worst offence in the criminal calendar.

Hunter will not appear in court on Thursday when his application is heard.

23.48 | 0 komentar | Read More

Patel to be sentenced for fraud

FORMER Bundaberg doctor Jayant Patel is due to be sentenced on Thursday for fraudulently working as a surgeon in Queensland.

The 63-year-old pleaded guilty to four counts of fraud in the Brisbane District Court last Friday.

All criminal negligence charges against him were dropped on the same day after the state's Director of Public Prosecutions decided further trials weren't in the public interest.

Patel was extradited to Australia from his home country the US in 2008 to face allegations of killing and maiming patients while he was a director of surgery at the Bundaberg Base Hospital between 2003 and 2005.

In 2010 he faced trial charged with three counts of manslaughter and one of grievous bodily harm and was convicted on all charges.

The Indian-born surgeon was sentenced to seven years' prison but the convictions were quashed by the High Court in 2012. He was released and separate retrials were ordered.

Patel was acquitted of manslaughter in the first retrial in 2013 and in October the jury in his grievous bodily harm trial was unable to reach a verdict.

He was formally discharged from the criminal negligence charges last Friday.

At the same time he pleaded guilty to dishonestly gaining registration as a medical practitioner in Queensland in 2003 and 2004.

He also pleaded guilty to dishonestly gaining employment at Bundaberg between March 2003 and April 2005.

Patel is due to be sentenced in the District Court in Brisbane.

23.48 | 0 komentar | Read More

Indon halts people smuggling cooperation

Indonesia's president says he is suspending cooperation with Australia on people smuggling. Source: AAP

INDONESIAN President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono says he is suspending cooperation with Australia on people smuggling in the wake of recent spying revelations.

The president also said on Wednesday that he would continue to demand an official explanation from Australia about revelations that Australian spies targeted his mobile phone in 2009.

"I am still waiting," Dr Yudhoyono said on Wednesday.

The president said he would send a letter of demand to the Australian government, requesting an official apology and an explanation from Prime Minister Tony Abbott.

Indonesia will also suspend all military cooperation with Australia, the president said.

Australia Defence Minister David Johnston's office said there was no official confirmation yet that Indonesia had halted defence cooperation activities.

"But it is certainly on the record that it has stopped," a spokesman said.

"We are just waiting on the details of how this is going to play out."

At a press conference at his presidential palace in Jakarta, Dr Yudhoyono likened the spying claims to cold war tactics.

It's difficult for me to understand why the (wire-tapping) was conducted," Dr Yudhoyono said.

"Now is not the era of the cold war."

Dr Yudhoyono said "coordinated military cooperation" including naval patrols would cease immediately.

"I have asked for that to be halted until everything is clear," he said.

Suspending cooperation on people smuggling will deal a big blow to Mr Abbott's asylum seeker policies.

"You are well aware that we are facing a joint problem of people smuggling that has been a problem for both Australia and Indonesia," Dr Yudhoyono said.

"Indonesia and Australia is not in the position of confronting each other or in enmity."

The president said he could not understand why Australia had chosen to spy on a "friend and not the enemy", adding that he viewed the conduct of the Australian government as an illegal action.

Dr Yudhoyono said he wanted a personal explanation, insisting comments directed at "Australia's domestic community" would not suffice.

"If Australia wants to maintain a good relationship with Indonesia in the future, there must be an official explanation," he said.

Dr Yudhoyono said cooperation in the area of intelligence gathering and the sharing of information would also be halted.

"I have also asked to stop for a while joint training between Indonesian soldiers and Australians, whether army, navy or air force," he said.

Dr Yudhoyono said he wanted to make it clear that cooperation on combating people smuggling would not go ahead until he received an explanation from Mr Abbott.

"It's impossible for us to continue when we're not sure that there's no tapping of Indonesian soldiers who are performing a duty for both countries," he said.

Dr Yudhoyono said that for cooperation to resume, Indonesia would in the future need "some kind of protocol, code of conduct as well as guiding principles".

"I'm still hoping and I believe that Australia is also hoping, especially the hope of people from both countries, Indonesian people and Australian people, that we still can have a good relationship and cooperation after we overcome this problem."

"Australia, I know they respect Indonesia's sovereignty," he said.

"I hope we can finish this, we solve this and then we review, we make new sets of rules, new agreements and then we can take steps ahead to continue the good cooperation and relationship between the two countries."

Dr Yudhoyono said that for cooperation to resume, Indonesia would in the future need "some kind of protocol, code of conduct as well as guiding principles".

"I'm still hoping and I believe that Australia is also hoping, especially the hope of people from both countries, Indonesian people and Australian people, that we still can have a good relationship and cooperation after we overcome this problem."

"Australia, I know they respect Indonesia's sovereignty," he said.

"I hope we can finish this, we solve this and then we review, we make new sets of rules, new agreements and then we can take steps ahead to continue the good cooperation and relationship between the two countries."

23.48 | 0 komentar | Read More

Tax office to shed 900 jobs

THE Australian Taxation Office (ATO) will shed 900 jobs over the coming nine months as it searches for budget savings, with most of the job cuts linked to government plans to abolish its controversial mining profits tax.

The ATO said said about half of the 900 jobs would be from natural attrition, and the remainder would be from voluntary redundancies from its 23,000 workers, saving about $50 million this financial year.

While the ATO said it could not say which areas would be affected, it said the abolition of the mining tax could lead to about 200 jobs cut from offices in Perth, Melbourne and Brisbane.

"Our best view is that we need to move our allocations down by about $50 million between now and the end of the financial year," the ATO's Geoff Leeper told a Senate estimates hearing.

"Our objective in announcing what we've announced today was to take action which allows us to live within our budget for this financial year and to position us for the financial years that lie ahead."

The mining tax, known as the Minerals Resource Rent Tax, imposed a 30 per cent super profits tax on major iron ore and coal mine projects. Laws to abolish the tax passed through the House of Representatives on Wednesday, but faces a more difficult passage through the Senate.

The opposition and Greens have the numbers in the upper house to block the laws, which may force the government to wait until the new Senate sits from July 1, 2014.

Mr Leeper said that while the abolition of the MRRT accounted for about 200 jobs, the remainder of the cuts were due to budget efficiency restrictions imposed by the former Labor government.

Earlier this week, the government said it would review its plan to cut 12,000 public service jobs through natural attrition, due to job cuts already in train through the former government's efficiency dividends, where departments and agencies receive across the board funding cuts.

23.48 | 0 komentar | Read More

BoE minutes show unanimity on policy

BANK of England policy makers have voted unanimously to keep monetary policy unchanged, despite growing signs that Europe's third-largest economy is on the mend.

The minutes of the November 6-7 Monetary Policy Committee, published on Wednesday, showed that the nine-member panel thought the economic recovery was gathering pace.

It grew a quarterly rate of 0.8 per cent in the third quarter, however, they voiced "uncertainties over the durability of the recovery," particularly in regard to the economic outlook in Europe.

Given that backdrop, they voted to keep the Bank's key interest rate unchanged at the record low of 0.5 per cent and not to increase the monetary stimulus.

So far STG375 billion ($A645.16 billion) has been pumped into the British economy in an attempt to keep market rates low and encourage lending.

"The UK economy remained vulnerable to disorderly adjustment in the euro area and in some emerging economies," the minutes said.

Though the 17-country eurozone has emerged from its longest-ever recession, growth is muted; in the third quarter of 2013, it grew by only 0.1 per cent from the previous three-month period.

Over the past few years, the debt crisis in the eurozone has been one of the main reasons, along with a government deficit-reduction program and high levels of private indebtedness, that's held back the economic recovery in Britain.

Despite the recent pick-up in growth, the British economy remains about 2.5 per cent smaller than the start of 2008, before it slipped into its deepest recession since World War II.

23.48 | 0 komentar | Read More

Deere profit beats US estimates

DEERE & Co's fourth-quarter net income has risen 17 per cent as it raised prices for its farm and construction equipment.

But it is predicting a slowdown in the farm economy and smaller profits for next year.

Crop prices have been dipping after setting record highs, so farmers have less money in their pockets.

Deere says that will hurt demand next year. It predicts that equipment sales will fall three per cent next year, and its profits will also decline.

For the most recent quarter Deere earned $US806.8 million ($A857.9 million), or $US2.11 per share. That was up from $US687.6 million, or $US1.75 per share, a year earlier.

The results were well ahead of the $US1.90 per share profit expected by analysts surveyed by FactSet.

Equipment revenue fell Five per cent to $US8.62 billion, matching analyst estimates.

23.48 | 0 komentar | Read More

Double Nobel winner Fred Sanger dies in UK

SCIENTISTS have paid tribute to biochemist Fred Sanger, described as "the father of the genomic era" and the only Briton ever to win two Nobel Prizes, after his death at the age of 95.

News+

Oops! Please register or log in to continue. (It's quick, easy and free.) Continue

23.48 | 0 komentar | Read More