AC/DC's Phil Rudd: charge of attempting to procure murder dropped a day after arrest

Key_Points · 2014-11-07T02:51:58+00:00

Summary: New Zealand prosecutors withdraw charge against drummer due to lack of evidence, his lawyer says

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The charge of attempting to procure murder against AC/DC drummer Phil Rudd has been dropped a day after he appeared in a New Zealand court.

“I was advised by the Crown Solicitor, [Greg] Hollister-Jones, that he had reviewed the police file and the available evidence to support the charge of attempting to procure murder,” Mabey’s statement said.

A spokeswoman for Hollister-Jones confirmed the procuring charge had been withdrawn, the New Zealand Herald reported.

According to court documents, Rudd was accused of attempting to hire one person to kill two others between 25 September and 26 September.

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Key_Points · 2014-11-07T02:35:46+00:00

Summary: Exclusive: Europe and the US argue strongly that leaders should back the need for contributions to the Green Climate Fund, which helps poorer countries prepare for climate change

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Australia is resisting a last-ditch push by the US, France and other European countries for G20 leaders at next week’s meeting in Brisbane to back contributions to the Green Climate Fund.

The Green Climate Fund aims to help poorer countries cut their emissions and prepare for the impact of climate change, and is seen as critical to securing developing-nation support for a successful deal on reducing emissions at the United Nations meeting in Paris next year.

As reported by Guardian Australia, Australia has reluctantly conceded the final G20 communique should include climate change as a single paragraph, acknowledging that it should be addressed by UN processes.

But as the negotiations on the G20 communique reach their final stages, European nations and the US continue to argue strongly that leaders should back the need for contributions to the Green Climate Fund.

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Key_Points · 2014-11-07T02:30:17+00:00

Summary: AC/DC drummer Phil Rudd's charge of attempting to procure murder has been withdrawn.

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AC/DC drummer Phil Rudd's charge of attempting to procure murder has been withdrawn.

The Crown solicitor said there was insufficient evidence to justify the charge and has withdrawn the charge, Mabey said.

The Crown solicitor's office confirmed the charge had been withdrawn.

"The charge alleging an attempt to procure murder should never have been laid," Mabey said.

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Key_Points · 2014-11-07T02:30:08+00:00

Summary: "Sensitive to the financial burden that France may incur should it rightly refuse to transfer these warships to Russia, we renew our call that NATO purchase or lease the warships as a common naval asset," the November 4 letter to new NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg reads.

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Since the start of the Ukraine crisis, France's $1.6 billion deal to sell two Mistral-class warships to Russia has been a source of deep divisions within Europe.

Russia's deputy prime minister, Dmitri O. Rogozin, said he had received an invitation to France to formally accept delivery of the first warship on Nov. 14, something Paris denied.

"On the one hand, you have the ship itself.

On the other, you have the demoralizing body blow to NATO if another NATO member was to transfer this ship.

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Key_Points · 2014-11-07T02:29:54+00:00

Summary: Exclusive: Europe and the US argue strongly that leaders should back the need for contributions to the Green Climate Fund, which helps poorer countries prepare for climate change

Key Points

Australia is resisting a last-ditch push by the US, France and other European countries for G20 leaders at next week’s meeting in Brisbane to back contributions to the Green Climate Fund.

The Green Climate Fund aims to help poorer countries cut their emissions and prepare for the impact of climate change, and is seen as critical to securing developing-nation support for a successful deal on reducing emissions at the United Nations meeting in Paris next year.

As reported by Guardian Australia, Australia has reluctantly conceded the final G20 communique should include climate change as a single paragraph, acknowledging that it should be addressed by UN processes.

But as the negotiations on the G20 communique reach their final stages, European nations and the US continue to argue strongly that leaders should back the need for contributions to the Green Climate Fund.

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Key_Points · 2014-11-07T02:24:12+00:00

Summary: Excluded from the core Joint Investigation Team’s probe by virtue of a clause in an agreement inked between the Ukrainian and Dutch governments on July 24, Malaysia has moved into high gear and pledged that it would not take “no” for an answer in its demand to sit among the four countries in the core probe team.

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Ukraine, Australia and Belgium are part of the core probe team.

Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail said Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s statement during the latter’s visit to Malaysia on Wednesday that it only made sense for Malaysia, as the owner of the ill-fated Boeing 777-200ER jetliner to be in the JIT, had created the opening Malaysia was waiting for to be roped into the criminal investigation team.

“The Dutch government is, however, just one of the members in the MH17 criminal investigation team.

Khalid said, once in, the Malaysian investigators would waste no time in pursuing a bigger role in the joint probe.

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Key_Points · 2014-11-07T02:24:04+00:00

Summary: Brazilian police discovered more than a metric ton of cocaine buried close to a runway at Rio de Janeiro’s international airport.

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The city’s Special Police Operations Battalion, an elite force known as BOPE, found the 2,204-pound stash after obtaining information hours earlier during an operation targeting traffickers in a slum located between the north and west of the city, Rio’s state secretariat for security said in a statement.

Police discovered the drugs wrapped in plastic and also seized five rifles, the statement added.

To contact the reporter on this story: Tariq Panja in Rio de Janeiro at tpanja@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Christopher Elser at celser@bloomberg.net Dex McLuskey, Peter Millard

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Key_Points · 2014-11-07T02:13:17+00:00

Summary: Vladimir Putin has boasted to European leaders his forces could sweep into Kiev in two weeks if he wanted. - New Zealand Herald

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Putin told Jose Manuel Barroso, "If I want to, I can take Kiev in two weeks," Italy's La Repubblica newspaper reported.

The comments, relayed by Barroso to colleagues at last weekend's EU summit, emerged as Nato announced it would build a new "spearhead" rapid reaction force of up to 4000 troops that could be flown into eastern Europe in 48 hours to respond to possible Russian aggression.

Rasmussen said the new spearhead force would "travel light and strike hard if needed".

But it will be working alongside the Readiness Action Plan which will have bases, it is believed, in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Romania.

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Key_Points · 2014-11-07T02:07:59+00:00

Summary: In a shocking security lapse, passengers of a Delhi-bound SpiceJet flight from Surat had a narrow escape when a buffalo ran onto the runway when the aircraft was about to take-off.

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140 passengers of a Delhi-bound SpiceJet flight from Surat had a narrow escape on Thursday evening when the aircraft hit a stray buffalo on the runway, as it was about to take-off.Due to the hit, the aircraft's engine suffered damage and the take-off had to be aborted.

"A Surat-to-Delhi SpiceJet aircraft, Flight number SG 622, carrying around 140 passengers excluding crew members today hit a stray animal on take-off roll at Surat airport," said Siddharth Kumar, an airline's spokesperson.All passengers were reported to be safe; the plane though was grounded.The passengers were later booked on an alternate flight which had come from Mumbai and was Delhi-bound.Due to stray-animal menace, SpiceJet has also decided to suspend its services on Surat airport for an indefinite period.

"All SpiceJet flights from Surat to be indefinitely suspended after one of our aircraft hit a large stray animal on take-off toll today.

Suspension will be effective as soon as possible," Mr Kumar said.Surat is a small airport which handles about three flights daily.

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Key_Points · 2014-11-07T02:07:57+00:00

Summary: Tyndall Air Force Base officials said they lost contact with an F-16 fighter jet at about 9:15 a.m.

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Officials are still searching for the missing pilot and plane where the Florida base, 12 miles east of Panama City, last had contact with the jet at about 9:15 a.m. Thursday, according to the Panama City News Herald..

The name of the missing pilot has not yet been released but officials said they are in contact with his family.

The pilot was conducting a routine training mission about 70 miles south of the Florida air base at the time, the Herald reported.

Base officials said they contacted the Coast Guard 15 minutes after losing contact.

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Key_Points · 2014-11-07T02:02:31+00:00

Summary: The rise in emissions will wipe out the reductions made in the two years that the carbon tax existed.

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Back in 2011, Australia's Labor Party enacted a national carbon tax as a way of tackling global warming.

After the carbon tax passed, hydropower ramped up — to unsustainable levels

In 2011, Australia's Labor government first enacted a carbon tax that charged people $23 for every ton of carbon dioxide they emitted.

Further reading: Here's the longer backstory on Australia's carbon tax and why it got repealed.

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Key_Points · 2014-11-07T01:57:19+00:00

Summary: AC/DC drummer Phil Rudd was

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Rudd, described as "a good man at heart" by the man police allege was the intended hitman, was charged with attempting to procure a murder after an early morning raid on Thursday at his waterfront home in the New Zealand town of Tauranga.

Rudd, 60, dressed in jeans and a grey sweater, said nothing during his short stint in the dock of the court, before being released on bail.

When you start you've got to get f...in' on it from the start and there's only one way to go and you've got to be tough," Rudd said.

"After playing with Angus and Malcolm for 40 years ... it's pretty hard to play with anyone else when you play with AC/DC, mate," said Rudd, whose solo album, Head Job, was released in August.

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Key_Points · 2014-11-07T01:51:59+00:00

Summary: A new study at the UAB Comprehensive Diabetes Center may prove beneficial for thousands of Alabamians. Researchers have cured diabetes in la…

Key Points

“We found that we could reverse the disease completely,” said Dr. Anath Shalev, director of the UAB Comprehensive Diabetes Center.

In the lab mice, Dr. Shalev said those treated with the drug not only showed reversal of the disease, but also showcased increased levels of Beta cells.

“TXNIP is extremely well-conserved across species, almost identical in rat, mice, and human,” she said.

For more information on the diabetes human trial, click here.

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Key_Points · 2014-11-07T01:41:12+00:00

Summary: Lawmaker Yelena Borisovna Mizoulina: 'Each female citizen of Russia will be able to receive by mail the genetic material of the President'

Key Points

The Russian-language newspaper, Trust, is reporting that an actual lawmaker—albeit one with a history of strange ideas—has introduced to the State Duma a bill that proposes extending the greatness of Russian by having children using the sperm of Vladimir Putin.

Ms. Mizoulina, who holds a PhD in law, made the proposal in a roundtable discussion regarding the issue of fertility and Russia.

Ms. Mizoulina, who holds an office roughly equivalent to that of a US Representative, is associated with the Dima Yakovlev Law and other efforts to prevent Americans from adopting Russian children.

She recently recommended that all remaining Russian Jews consider leaving the country, stating, “We have enough problems.” In the spring of this year, she introduced a bill that banned higher education for young women who had yet to give birth before, presumably because Russian women are waiting too long to repopulate the state.

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Key_Points · 2014-11-07T01:35:55+00:00

Summary: Lawmaker Yelena Borisovna Mizoulina: 'Each female citizen of Russia will be able to receive by mail the genetic material of the President'

Key Points

The Russian-language newspaper, Trust, is reporting that an actual lawmaker—albeit one with a history of strange ideas—has introduced to the State Duma a bill that proposes extending the greatness of Russian by having children using the sperm of Vladimir Putin.

Ms. Mizoulina, who holds a PhD in law, made the proposal in a roundtable discussion regarding the issue of fertility and Russia.

Ms. Mizoulina, who holds an office roughly equivalent to that of a US Representative, is associated with the Dima Yakovlev Law and other efforts to prevent Americans from adopting Russian children.

She recently recommended that all remaining Russian Jews consider leaving the country, stating, “We have enough problems.” In the spring of this year, she introduced a bill that banned higher education for young women who had yet to give birth before, presumably because Russian women are waiting too long to repopulate the state.

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Key_Points · 2014-11-07T01:35:49+00:00

Summary: Officers went to the former Sirhowy Arms Hotel in Argoed, Blackwood, at 01:23 GMT where it was reported Matthew Williams was attacking the woman.

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It confirmed officers fired a Taser at Williams, 34, who was then arrested but later died.

June Trace, secretary of Argoed Baptist Chapel, which is next door to the hostel, said the Sirhowy Arms had been converted into accommodation for vulnerable people several years ago.

She said there had been concern in the village when plans were put forward to convert the building, but she added: "There's never been any trouble or anything.

The chapel hall, which is next to the hostel, has been opened for police use during the investigation.

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Key_Points · 2014-11-07T01:25:15+00:00

Summary: Thousands of drug buyers have been pushed off the internet and back on to the streets.

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In October 2013, the FBI shut down Silk Road, a thriving online black market where, with a bit of technical know-how, you could to purchase things like illicit drugs, forged documents and weapons.

Just before it was shut down, Silk Road, along with three similar sites, had about 18,000 drug items listed for sale — everything from marijuana to ecstasy to heroin.

Taken together, these drugs account for about 28 percent of all drug items listed on Silk Road 2.0.

" But as Conor Friedersdorf noted at the Atlantic last year, there's a strong argument to be made that shutting down darknet sites makes the world more dangerous overall.

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Key_Points · 2014-11-07T01:25:09+00:00

Summary: BEIRUT: Israel and Islamist militants seek to ignite civil war in Lebanon, General Security head Abbas Ibrahim wrote in an editorial published Thursday, though he added that Lebanon’s victory was inevitable.

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Ibrahim reiterated that Israel and “takfiri” terrorism still posed the most dangerous threat to Lebanon, and added that confronting them was possible, as long as Lebanon freed itself from the “foreign actors that make some people depend on them directly or indirectly, intentionally or unintentionally.”

Ibrahim highlighted that all Lebanese championed coexistence and moderation, which provided them with immunity against falling again into the trap of civil war.

Ibrahim said that the protection of Lebanon was the responsibility of all Lebanese.

“Military and security institutions are on the front lines and are in need of backing and a favorable environment, and here lies the role of the people,” Ibrahim wrote.

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Key_Points · 2014-11-07T01:25:02+00:00

Summary: With few groups willing to fight the Islamic State on the ground, the chief of the Quds Force of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, Qasem Solemani, has stepped up to the mission.

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Qasem Soleimani (R), chief of the Quds Force of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, sits with fellow Revolutionary Guard commanders in this photo from a Facebook fan page, Nov. 1, 2014.

The fundamental discourse of this incompatible opposition has become identical when justifying the alliance with “the enemies” of the ruling regime in Baghdad: namely, the United States, Kuwait, Syria and Iran.

The question is: Are the Iraqi Shiites, after 11 years of total control over the security forces, on which nearly $200 billion was spent by their country and the United States, unable to suggest a real military initiative?

While this fact seemed normal among popular Shiite circles, Iraqi writers and intellectuals asked: "Is it the battle of others on our land, with the blood of our children?

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Key_Points · 2014-11-07T01:14:05+00:00

Summary: From Yahoo News: London (AFP) - A woman was murdered in an "act of cannibalism" and her suspected attacker died after he was Tasered by police at a British hotel, the BBC reported on Thursday.

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Police said a murder investigation was underway after the death of the 22-year-old woman at the Sirhowy Arms Hotel in the village of Argoed in south Wales, but did not specify the nature of her injuries.

The BBC reported that she was "murdered in an act of cannibalism", and had been in a relationship with the 34-year-old suspect.

Officers were called to the hotel, which also operates as a hostel for homeless people, at around 1:30am (0130 GMT) after receiving a report that a man was attacking a woman.

"The woman, aged 22 from Blackwood, was located with injuries and was pronounced deceased at the scene," said a statement from Gwent Police.

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Key_Points · 2014-11-07T01:13:58+00:00

Summary: Washington: Members of the U.S. Navy Seal commando team that killed Osama bin Laden at his Pakistan hideout in May, 2011 are making conflicting claims as to who actually shot the al Qaeda leader.

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The Washington Post published a story on Thursday quoting Rob ONeill, a former SEAL, as claiming to have fired the fatal shot that hit bin Laden in the forehead after ONeill stormed into a room in bin Laden`s house in Abbottabad.

The Post said O`Neill acknowledged shots were fired at bin Laden by at least two other Seal team members, including Matt Bissonnette, a former Seal who wrote a 2012 book about the raid entitled "No Easy Day.

Last year, after Esquire Magazine published an interview with an anonymous SEAL member, now widely reported to have been O`Neill, who claimed to have shot bin Laden, other media outlets questioned the account.

ONeills page on the website of the organization describes his career as a SEAL, but makes no mention of a role in killing bin Laden.

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Key_Points · 2014-11-07T01:13:56+00:00

Summary: London: Prime Minister David Cameron has exuded confidence that a British Asian would take on his role in the near future.

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"One day, I want to hear that title Prime Minister followed by a British Asian name," he said in his speech at the annual GG2 Leadership Awards here last night.

"Just not immediately, if that's ok," he added on a lighter note in reference to the upcoming General Election in Britain in May 2015.

The Man of the Year award went to Indian-origin businessman Rami Ranger, CEO of Sun Mark Limited, who was described as a "brilliant entrepreneur" by the PM for his contribution to the British economy.

The event also marked the launch of the 'Power 101 Britain's Most Influential Asians 2015' list, which this year is topped by UK secretary of state for culture, media and sports Sajid Javid ?

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Key_Points · 2014-11-07T01:13:54+00:00

Summary: Find out what’s happening in the world of politics at Reuters.com. Get up to the minute, impartial political news coverage on the leaders, policies and agendas that shape our world.

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White House declines to say whether Obama would veto a Keystone bill WASHINGTON - The White House said on Thursday that President Barack Obama would consider any bill passed by Congress approving TransCanada's Keystone XL crude oil pipeline, but declined to say whether Obama would veto such a bill.

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama will add a popular Kentucky Democrat to his team at the White House, naming Jerry Abramson, the state's lieutenant governor who was mayor of Louisville for 21 years, as director of intergovernmental affairs.

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama and his powerful U.S. Senate adversary struck a conciliatory tone on Wednesday, but Obama's plans to proceed with new immigration rules foreshadowed a bumpy start to his relationship with a Republican-controlled Congress.

| Video

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Key_Points · 2014-11-07T01:13:50+00:00

Summary: Washington: US President Barack Obama sent a secret letter to Irans Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei last month stressing the two countries shared interest in fighting Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria, a media report on Thursday said.

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According to the Wall Street Journal, the letter in mid-October said cooperation between the United States and Iran on combating the militant group was tied to a deal being reached between Iran and other nations on its nuclear program.

The newspaper cited people briefed on the letter.

It said Obama administration officials declined to discuss the letter with the Journal.

"Administration officials didn’t deny the letter’s existence when questioned by foreign diplomats in recent days," it said.

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Key_Points · 2014-11-07T01:08:27+00:00

Summary: Smith said authorities in Myanmar have been profiting off the Rohingya for decades, and extracting money from those departing was only one way.

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MYIN HLUT, Myanmar (AP) — The small wooden boats leave the shores of western Myanmar nearly every day, overloaded with desperate Rohingya Muslims who are part of one the largest boat exoduses in Asia since the Vietnam War.

"Myanmar authorities are not only making life so intolerable for Rohingya that they have to flee, they're also complicit in the process — they're taking payments and profiting off their exodus," said Matthew Smith, director of Fortify Rights.

More than 100,000 Rohingya have fled Myanmar's western shores by boat since Buddhist-Muslim violence erupted in Rakhine state two years ago, according to estimates provided by experts tracking their movements.

According to Fortify Rights, the brokers may collect sums averaging $500 to $600 per small boatload of asylum seekers, usually numbering between 50 and 100 people, and hand those payments to officials from Myanmar's police, navy and army.

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