By Sara Malm
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A woman who beat her mother-in-law to death with a rolling pin claims she was provoked by name-calling and her unkindness towards her.
Rajvinder Kaur, 37, is accused of inflicting multiple head, neck and body injuries on Baljit Kaur Buttar in a sustained attack in the family’s bathroom.
She then called an ambulance claiming her mother-in-law had suffered a heart attack.
The flat in Southampton where Rajvinder Kaur has admitted she beat her mother-in-law Baljit Kaur Buttar to death, but denies murder
Paramedics were called to the flat in Southampton, on February 25 last year to find 56-year-old Mrs Buttar, known as Bibi, was dead in the bath.
The jury at Winchester Crown Court was shown a video of the scene which showed the bathroom floor covered in blood.
Mrs Kaur has admitted killing her mother in law but denies murder as she claims her mother-in-law’s behaviour towards her provoked her into losing her self-control.
Mrs Buttar had been staying with the family for six month and according to Rajvinder Kaur she would call her names, threaten her and behave unkind to her.
The court was told that Kaur’s two sons, aged nine and 18 months were at home at the time of the killing.
A previous trial, at which Mrs Kaur denied having anything to do with the death, was halted earlier this year when she admitted the killing.
Winchester Crown Court where the trial is held
At one point she said her mother-in-law had a bath and was putting some oil on when she must have slipped and sustained the injuries, the court was told.
Prosecutor Bill Mousley QC said when a paramedic arrived there was shouting between Mrs Kaur and her husband, Iqbal Singh and Mrs Kaur was washing her mother-in-law’s body with a handheld shower in the bath.
Mr Singh and the paramedic lifted Mrs Buttar out of the bath and into the kitchen while Kaur watched.
Resuscitation attempts were unsuccessful.
Mr Mousley said: “She claims that she is not guilty of murder but only of manslaughter because she was provoked into losing her self-control by Baljit Buttar’s general and specific conduct towards her.
‘She claims she was unkind to her and would call her names.
‘She claims that in the bathroom her mother-in-law was threatening to her.
‘Alternatively at the time of the attack it is said she was in an abnormal mental state which may limit her responsibility for the death.”
Mrs Buttar had been staying with the family since August 2010 and had been due to return to India on February 27 - just two days after she had died.
Mr Mousley told the court: ‘It is clear that she was very angry when she attacked and killed her mother-in-law but her behaviour was not triggered by any fear of being seriously harmed or wronged.
‘Whatever the reason for her deadly violence, it was not a justifiable one.
‘Any explanation which the defendant may now seek to advance should be viewed with, at the very least, considerable scepticism considering her persistent attempts to mislead the police and the court on a previous occasion, as well as her own psychiatrist.
‘Faced with the evidence against her, this late change of tack is just another dishonest effort at limiting the damage.’
Source: www.dailymail.co.uk
Sunshine 'unlikely' for London Olympics - YAHOO!
Sunny weather in London is "very unlikely" during the Olympic Games which begin later this month, forecasters said after the wettest June on record in Britain.
Britain's Met Office predicted slightly better conditions for the month ahead than in recent weeks when torrential rains triggered severe flooding in parts of the country.
But forecasters said "below average sunshine" and temperatures are expected during the London 2012 Games which run from July 27 to August 12.
"Climatologically this is the warmest part of the year, but this year a protracted spell of hot, sunny weather looks very unlikely," the Met Office said in its 30-day outlook.
"In fact the inclement weather that has characterised June and early July will probably still be in evidence, although overall conditions are unlikely to be as bad."
Very wet conditions in southern England were more probable than dry ones, the Met Office warned, while stressing that the outlook for rainfall remained "extremely uncertain".
The forecast comes as heavy rains continue to hit large swathes of Britain where authorities issued more than 150 flood alerts and warnings on Sunday.
A man in his early 20s was killed in Northumberland, in northeast England, on Saturday after his car crashed on a rain-drenched road.
Meanwhile at the British Grand Prix at Silverstone 25,000 spectators were told to go home on Saturday because of flooded car parks.
Britain experienced double the average amount of rainfall last month, making it the wettest June since records began in 1910, the Met Office said.
The period from April to June was also the wettest recorded.
Celebrations for Queen Elizabeth II's diamond jubilee were marred by the inclement weather in early June but millions of Britons turned out regardless to mark her 60 years on the throne.
Source: news.yahoo.com
London 2012 Olympics: Ryan Giggs to captain Team GB football side - Daily Telegraph
He said he hoped to bring his “winning mentality” to the side, who face their first match against Senegal on July 26, before the official opening ceremony.
Pearce said the appointment was “one of the easiest of my life”. He is also “pretty confident” Daniel Sturridge, who was diagnosed with viral meningitis last week, will recover in time for the Games.
The Chelsea forward was taken for tests at St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington after notifying Stamford Bridge doctors he was feeling unwell. He will not join the Team GB squad for their preparation in Spain but doctors will assess his condition when the rest of the side move into the athletes’ village.
Casey Stoney, captain of the England women’s squad, will also take the role for the Olympics.
Meanwhile, Tottenham are set to complete the signing of Ajax captain Jan Vertonghen after the club announced they had agreed terms. Spurs have been tracking the Belgium defender since last season as he helped Ajax claim their second consecutive Dutch title. Vertonghen is due to undergo a medical this week.
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
Widdecombe calls for hedgehog law - The Guardian
The former MP is launching the Wildlife Aid Foundation's "Save Harry" campaign calling for a Hedgehog Protection Act to reverse major declines in populations of the the well-loved garden visitor.
The wildlife charity is proposing a new law which would make wilful killing of hedgehogs illegal and a mandatory code of practice to help conserve the species.
Miss Widdecombe said: "Sixty years ago there were about 36 million hedgehogs. Incredibly this number had plummeted to some two million by the 1990s and could now be down to under a million. We need to take action now before extinction becomes a very real prospect."
She said previous warnings on the plight of the hedgehog have had little effect because they had put the onus just on individuals to act to help the creatures, for example by making their gardens more wildlife-friendly.
Hedgehogs are classed as a priority for conservation, but they are just one of more than a thousand species covered by wildlife initiatives.
Wildlife Aid Foundation's founder and director Simon Cowell said a protection law and mandatory code of practice would force government agencies including Network Rail and the Highways Agency to treat the hedgehog's plight as critical.
And it would prompt trade and consumer bodies to take notice and issue advice to their members on how to help the hedgehog.
He said: "I was privileged to grow up at a time when hedgehogs were commonplace. Sadly these wonderful little creatures are no longer a common sight in Britain's countryside. Unless we act now they could soon disappear altogether. I want future generations in Britain to be able to see our native hedgehogs."
A spokeswoman for Defra, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, said: "The number of hedgehogs mean that they are not considered an endangered species, but they are one of our conservation priorities and are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act."
Copyright (c) Press Association Ltd. 2012, All Rights Reserved.
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
The best lawyers are not law graduates, claims judge - Daily Telegraph
Lord Sumption, 63, was a leading barrister, with clients including Chelsea Football Club owner Roman Abramovich, before becoming a judge.
He went to school at Eton, graduated from Oxford University with a history degree in 1970 and became a barrister in 1975.
Lord Sumption told Counsel that the "most difficult" thing about practising law was "not the law but the facts".
"Most arguments which pretend to be about law are actually arguments about the correct analysis and categorisation of the facts," he said.
"Once you're understood them it's usually obvious what the answer is. The difficulty then becomes to reason your way in a respectable way towards it."
He added: "That's why the study of something involving the analysis of evidence, like history or classics, or the study of a subject which comes close to pure logic, like mathematics, is at least as valuable a preparation for legal practice as the study of law.
"Appreciating how to fit legal principles to particular facts is a real skill. Understanding the social or business background to legal problems is essential. I'm not sure current law degrees train you for that, nor really are they designed to.
"This is not a criticism of the course. It's simply a recognition of the fact that a command of reasoning skills, an ability to understand and use evidence, and broad literary culture are all tremendously valuable to any advocate.
"If you don't have them you are going to find it difficult to practise. If you don't know any law that is not a problem; you can find out."
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
Medicaid official rules against Ind. abortion law - The Guardian
CHARLES WILSON
Associated Press= INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indiana's decision to deny Planned Parenthood Medicaid funds because it performs abortions denies women the freedom to choose their health care providers, a federal hearing officer said.
The state had asked the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in Chicago to reconsider its June 2011 ruling that found changes in Indiana's Medicaid plan unacceptable. But a hearing officer recommended in documents released Friday that a CMS administrator uphold the agency's initial decision.
The changes to Indiana's plan resulted from a 2011 law that would have made the state the first to deny the organization Medicaid funds for general health services, including cancer screenings. The law has been on hold while the dispute works its way through the courts.
The Indiana attorney general's office, which already is appealing a federal judge's order blocking the law, said it may also contest the panel's recommendation. The state had argued that the dispute should be decided administratively by the CMS, not in court.
"Because this is a recommendation, the Attorney General's Office has a chance to file an exception to it before the CMS administrator makes a final decision," the agency said in a statement.
Planned Parenthood of Indiana said it was gratified by the decision.
"Through its appeal, the State was continuing its attack on women's rights and attempting to restrict access to basic, lifesaving services such as Pap tests, breast exams, STD testing and treatment, and birth control," Betty Cockrum, chief executive officer of Planned Parenthood of Indiana, said in a statement.
While Planned Parenthood officials had feared they might have to close some of the organization's 28 clinics in Indiana or suspend some services because of a loss of Medicaid funds, that has not happened so far. Cockrum has said about 9,300 women rely on Planned Parenthood for their health care.
Indiana had argued that Medicaid funds intended to help groups like Planned Parenthood provide general health care would indirectly subsidize abortions. The Hyde Amendment, a 1976 provision named after the late Rep. Henry Hyde, R-Ill., bans all federal funds for abortion except in cases of rape, incest or when the life of the mother is at risk.
The state also said Planned Parenthood could continue to receive Medicaid funding if it established separate fiscal entities for abortion and other health care. But CMS said such an option was premature.
Hearing officer Benjamin Cohen wrote that the Indiana law violated the federal requirement that individuals must have the freedom to obtain care from any qualified provider. Restricting that choice just because a care provider also offers non-covered care isn't allowed, he wrote.
Indiana asked the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago last August to lift U.S. District Judge Tanya Walton Pratt's June 24, 2011, preliminary injunction blocking parts of the abortion law. The court has not yet ruled.
Another federal appeals court ruled in May that Texas cannot ban Planned Parenthood from receiving state funds, at least until a lower court has a chance to hear formal arguments. A three-judge panel of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with a lower court that there's sufficient evidence the state's law preventing Planned Parenthood from participating in the Women's Health Program is unconstitutional.
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
Polyus Gold woos London investors - Daily Telegraph
It has been a long road, after plans for a premium listing which would then pave the way into the FTSE 100 were announced way back in 2010. Polyus was already trading here via global depositary receipts - certificates for shares in a foreign company – having done so since it was spun out of Russian metals giant Norilsk Nickel in 2006.
Polyus’s major shareholders, tycoons Mikhail Prokhorov and Suleiman Kerimov who together hold 78pc, were, says Pikhoya, “fully backing us and prepared to surrender control to the independent directors”. Today five out of the nine board members are independent, bringing the company in line with the governance requirements needed for a FTSE entry.
But outside forces threw a spanner in the works. Last year, a Russian foreign investment commission failed to rubber-stamp Polyus’s planned move to mainland Britain from Jersey, which would have helped it enter the FTSE share indices and, as a result, tracker funds’ sights. Some see the saga as politically motivated, since Mr Prokhorov is a vocal critic of the Kremlin.
With attempts to get that approval on hold for now, the slumping markets offer little incentive to Polyus to get into the FTSE another way, by raising its free float from the current 22pc to the 50pc needed given its Jersey base. Had it been able to reincorporate in London, it would need just 25pc.
“I think autumn this year might be the appropriate time to sit down and discuss it yet again [with the shareholders],” says Pikhoya. “Then we’ll reapply - how long it would take it’s difficult to say.” He also plays down talk of M&A, but speculation will continue now London gives Polyus access to a bigger pool of investors.
A veteran of the Russian gold mining, joining Polyus in 2002, Pikhoya is keener talk about Polyus’s focus on a “clear simple gold story”.
Despite the sustained rise of the metal’s price over the last decade, gold equities have not enjoyed the same climb. Part of the blame lies with the rise of exchange-traded funds (ETFs), which offer investors a way to gain simple exposure to gold.
“In a way it’s funny, because the gold mining industry was behind the establishment of ETFs and now they are kind of cannibalising [it],” says Pikhoya. “But the argument is simple: ETFs do not produce gold, they do not produce growth. The mining stocks may be more risky, because we all of us have execution and development risks, but at the same time there is a reward: we are growing.”
Now comes the plug for Polyus in particular, which is developing the huge Natalka gold deposit in the Magadan region of east Russia.
“For Polyus and other companies in the former Soviet Union, we can provide growth because we have the mineral base to support it,” he argues.
“The former Soviet Union, because of a number of historic and political reasons – and geological, not to forget – is one of the locations you can find new gold projects.”
Gold miners have also suffered in the past as their moves to hedge against the metal’s price swings sat badly with investors wanting to get direct exposure to gold.
“I started working in gold mining when the commodity price was $270 and for gold miners to hedge was a natural way to survive,” says Pikhoya. “We never hedged simply because we never borrowed. We enjoyed the full [gold] rally because not a single dime have we ever borrowed from big banks.”
And what a climb – 2012 looks set to mark gold’s 12th consecutive year of gains.
Pikhoya is sanguine about recent sell-offs, blamed on investors liquidating their holdings to get their hands on ready cash at times of stress.
“When the commodity dived to the level of $1530 – now it’s recovered [to around $1,600] - we were thinking, 'What’s going on there?’ What we notice is that at this point in time, none of the big commercial investment banks have revisited or revised their long-term forecasts for the commodity, despite the ups and downs.
“The big question mark is: is gold still the ultimate reserve commodity?” he asks. “Well, I think it is.”
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
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