10 METRO Wednesday, December 9, 2009 D Better than Newry Prices! 3 for 2 offer Buy any 3 items of Jewellery for Friends and Family this Christmas and get the lowest priced item FREE Cannot be used in conjunction with any other offer Stephens Green Shopping Centre Tel: (01) 478-5336 METROWorld Freeze frame: Peta activists stand nearly naked on a street corner in -25C weather during a demonstration in Edmonton, Alberta in Canada Picture: Reuters AmericA: A condemned killer became the first person in the US put to death with a single drug that was feared could take longer than previous procedures. Kenneth Biros, 51, was sentenced to die for killing and dismembering a woman he met in a bar in 1991. It was the first lethal injection after Ohio switched from three drugs to a new one-drug method. The state overhauled its procedure after the failed attempt to execute Romell Broom, during which executioners tried for two hours to find a usable vein for injection. It hopes the new system will halt a five- year lawsuit claiming the old system, used in most of the 36 states with the death penalty, causes severe pain. JApAn: A new stimulus package worth nearly 55billion was announced by the government yesterday to keep the fragile recovery in the worlds second-biggest economy from veering off track. Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama and his Cabinet agreed to 7.2trillion (55bn) in new spending after days of negotiations with coalition partners. The announcement had been expected on Friday but was delayed by disagreements. The package is Mr Hatoyamas first major policy deal since his Democratic Party swept into power promising help for workers and families. Since then, the countrys economy has been under threat from intensifying deflation and a strong yen. AustrAliA: A coroner has said participation in an intense self-help course led a woman to suffer a psychotic breakdown before she stripped naked and leaped to her death from an office window in front of horrified colleagues. The findings come four years after 34-year-old Rebekah Lawrences death in Sydney, providing a sense of relief to family members who had long argued the young woman never would have killed herself if not for her participation in a seminar called The Turning Point. AmericA: Killjoy neighbours didnt see the funny side after a man adorned his lawn with a 1.5m statue of Michelangelos David as Santa wearing only a red hat and white beard. Although it didnt break laws, Texas officials asked Barry McBee to put more clothes on Santa after neighbours asked why he was naked. Mr McBee said he was trying to break the monotony. GermAny: A former member of the elite Nazi SS on trial for murder has admitted he killed three Dutch civilians during the war. Heinrich Boere acknowledged in Aachen state court that he killed a bicycle-shop owner, a pharmacist and another civilian. He says he acted with no feeling that I was committing a crime but says now he sees things from a different perspective. But the 88-year-old (pictured) says as a soldier he was following orders an argument his attorneys will now likely try to use to win his acquittal. AmericA: The government wants to carry out what is believed to be the biggest-ever round-up of wild horses on federal land, moving as many as 25,000 of the iconic mustangs and burros to pastures in the Midwest and East out of fear their fast-multiplying numbers will lead to mass starvation. But the plan is facing heated opposition from advocates, including celebrities Sheryl Crow, Bill Maher and Ed Harris, who say it is inhumane and unnecessary. They say the situation is not as dire as the government has painted it. The group In Defense Of Animals wants a moratorium on round- ups until an independent count of horses can be conducted. cAmbodiA: A Thai man has gone on trial for allegedly spying on Thailands former leader while he was in Cambodia as a guest of the government, a case that threatens to worsen a diplomatic feud. The trial follows Cambodias decision last month to name exiled former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra its special economic adviser, angering Thailand. Siwarak Chothipong (pictured), an employee of the Cambodia Air Traffic Service, is accused of stealing Mr Shinawatras flight schedule before his arrival last month and sending it to the Thai Embassy. AfGhAnistAn: US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said yesterday the Afghan security force needs to be strengthened and more soldiers and police need to be recruited to battle militants. But he added the US was committed to help Afghanistan for the long haul. Mr Gates, who met with Afghan President Hamid Karzai in Kabul, is the first member of President Barack Obamas Cabinet to visit since the US announced last week it was sending 30,000 reinforcements to Afghanistan. At a joint news conference, Mr Karzai said it would be 15 years before Afghanistan would be able to pay the cost of maintaining its security forces. Husseins banned Baath Party. A rise in insurgent power could be a serious blow to the governments credibility before national elections. They were set for March 6 a sev- en-week delay from the original mid-January date because of politi- cal bickering on the voting rules. The bombings reinforced concerns about shortcomings in Iraqi security as US forces plan their withdrawal. Parliament held an emergency ses- sion with several lawmakers de- manding a full-scale inquiry into apparent security lapses. A Kurdish parliament member, Mohammed Shareef Ahmed, said: The security services have failed to prevent these attacks... the Iraqi people are fed up of suffering. Iraqi police said at least two of the blasts were suicide bombers one driving a bomb-rigged ambulance heading for the Finance Ministry. The other was seen ploughing through a barrier near the Appeals Court building and exploding as guards opened fire. The third explo- sion may have been detonated by a timer or a trigger. Why did they let this car bomb pass? cried Ahmed Jabbar outside the Finance Ministry building where all cars pass through check- points manned by Iraqi forces. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki- moon condemned the attack, calling it horrendous. Bomb blasts kill 127 in BaghdadBy BRIAN MURPHyAT LEAST 127 people were killed and almost 450 people wounded in a series of coordinated bombings in Baghdad yesterday. Among the attacks were two sui- cide car bombers and another vehi- cle that blew up near government sites in the worst wave of violence in the capital in more than a month. Five attacks, which also included a suicide bomb on a police patrol, marked the third time since August that government buildings have been targeted. Iraqs military spokesman blamed the carnage on an alliance of al- Qaeda in Iraq, thought to be behind the August and October attacks in Baghdad that killed more than 250 people, and members of Saddam Carnage: A US soldier looks at the devastation after a series of bomb attacks in Baghdad Picture: Getty Putins anger at club fire deaths Criticism: Vladimir Putin PRIME MINISTER Vladimir Putin has lambasted local officials for negligence in failing to enforce fire-safety rules at a nightclub where 118 revellers died in a blaze at the weekend. Russias most deadly fire in decades was sparked when an indoor firework show ignited wicker coverings on the clubs walls, prompting a stampede. Mr Putin, who on arrival in the city of Perm laid scarlet roses at the entrance to the nightclub, bluntly told a meeting of local officials that they had been negligent in failing to enforce simple fire rules and that he suspected corruption. He also criticised dire local hospitals, which had not been able to treat victims properly. index.html2.html3.html4.html5.html6.html7.html8.html9.html10.html11.html12.html13.html14.html15.html16.html17.html18.html19.html20.html21.html22.html23.html24.html25.html26.html27.html