Australia central bank sells scandal-hit note firm stake






SYDNEY: Australia's central bank on Tuesday announced the sale of its stake in scandal-hit note printing firm Securency and said an independent governance review had cleared it of "inappropriate" insight.

The Reserve Bank of Australia sold its 50 per cent holding in Securency, accused of taking bribes to win contracts in Asia, to British venture partner Innovia Films for A$65 million (US$66.7 million).

"The sale of the bank's interest in Securency is in accordance with the bank's long-standing intention to exit from the joint venture once Securency had established itself as a viable long-term supplier in the international market," the RBA said in a statement.

Note Printing Australia, a second RBA firm implicated in the Asia bribery scandal which the media broke in 2009, would remain a "wholly-owned subsidiary of the bank", it added.

The RBA also released a review into the governance of Securency and NPA by independent consultancy Cameron Ralph which cleared it of serious oversight issues.

Cameron Ralph said the RBA "gave reasonable consideration as to the governance arrangements for the two companies, and put in place processes for their oversight and reporting which were broadly consistent with usual practice at the time".

It appointed people to the firms' boards that it was "entitled to believe could direct the affairs of the companies with due care, diligence and skill", received regular reports and responded in a "considered and deliberate way".

The bank took "appropriate action where the entities appeared not to be performing in line with expectations and/or standards", Cameron Ralph added.

"Clearly, with the benefit of hindsight, there could have been more oversight applied to the activities of the companies, which may have detected earlier the alleged illegal payments" it said.

"But that does not mean that the Bank's oversight at the time was inappropriate."

Eight executives from Securency and NPA are facing claims they conspired to bribe officials at foreign banks to secure contracts to make plastic banknotes.

Both companies have also been charged over the alleged racket, which involved contracts in Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam and Nepal.

- AFP/ck



Read More..

Two charged in death of girl who performed at inaugural




Michael Ward, 18, and Kenneth Williams, 20, were charged in the killing of Chicago honor student Hadiya Pendleton.




STORY HIGHLIGHTS


  • NEW: Cousin says family is happy to hear of arrests but still grieving loss

  • Two men charged in case will appear in court on Tuesday morning

  • Police say they didn't recover weapon when arresting suspects

  • Hadiya Pendleton was shot to death a week after she performed in Washington




Chicago (CNN) -- The teenager who police say shot and killed Chicago honor student Hadiya Pendleton was on probation for unlawful use of a firearm, Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy said Monday night.


Michael Ward, 18, and Kenneth Williams, 20, were each charged with one count of murder and two counts of attempted murder, McCarthy told reporters. They were also charged with two counts of aggravated battery with a firearm.


They will make their first appearance in court on Tuesday morning.


Ward confessed to shooting Hadiya and two others in late January in a case of mistaken identity, McCarthy said.


Police said Ward and Williams were gang members seeking revenge against the people who had shot Williams in July -- men against whom Williams had refused to press charges when police arrested them.


He and Ward thought they had spotted members of a rival gang at the park when police said Ward sneaked up on Hadiya and her friends and began shooting. Williams was the getaway driver, the superintendent said.


McCarthy said Ward was sentenced to two years' probation in January 2012 for unlawful use of a firearm.


"This has to stop. Gun offenders have to do significant jail time," McCarthy said. "Criminals have to be held accountable. And there has to be a certainty of punishment when we arrest somebody with an illegal firearm."


The charges come 12 days after Hadiya was shot to death at a park in what her godfather, Damon Stuart, described as an "ideal community" on Chicago's South Side.


Police said that there were no substantive tips as to the shooter's identity, but once they had a description of the car, they linked it to a traffic stop that occurred several days before the killing.


That description and interviews with parolees led them to Ward and Williams.


McCarthy said Ward surrendered on Saturday night without a struggle, but Williams tried to escape. No weapon was recovered, he said.


Hadiya's was killed a week after she performed at one of the events surrounding Obama's second inauguration.


Shatira Wilks, one of Hadiya's cousins, said the family was elated that the suspects were in jail.


"However there is no level of comfort -- not long-term comfort -- and we are still miserable," she told CNN's Anderson Cooper. "(Hadiya) is the face of every parent's dream child. Hadiya had so many different things awaiting her in life. She was a wonderful, wonderful kid. My little cousin really was an angel."


She said Hadiya was hanging out with a volleyball team -- a group of girls and one boy -- when she was killed.


The killing -- which occurred in the city's Hyde Park neighborhood near the Obamas' Chicago home -- drew the first couple's attention.


First lady Michelle Obama attended Hadiya's funeral Saturday, and her husband wrote a note to Hadiya's family that was printed on the funeral program: "We know that no words from us can soothe the pain, but rest assured that we are praying for you, and that we will continue to work as hard as we can to end this senseless violence."


Hadiya's parents are in Washington to attend the State of the Union address, McCarthy said.


Hadiya, who often urged friends to stay away from gangs, was an honor student and band majorette at King College Prep School.


Her slaying -- the 42nd in the city this year -- also highlighted the problem of gun violence in Chicago. More than 500 people were fatally shot in 2012.


McCarthy reiterated his call for minimum sentences for gun crimes and mandatory background checks.


"Michael Ward would not have been on the street of New York City to commit this act," the impassioned superintendent said. "This is not about gun control. This is about the criminal justice system being designed to prevent gun violence."


Huge gaps in that system must be closed, he said, mentioning sentencing guidelines and universal background checks for gun buyers.


"But in my book, one of the bigger things is (a) requirement to report the loss, theft or transfer of firearms," he said.


He hoped Hadiya's case would be a turning point in the gun laws debate, and he apologized for his rant.


"I get a little emotional," he said. "Because it's true."







Read More..

State of the Union guests reflect nation's hot-button issues

Several lawmakers are bringing special guests to President Obama's State of the Union address Tuesday night in order to make a statement.

Several lawmakers are bringing guests to help underscore the importance of gun control. More than 20 House Democrats are bringing guests who have been personally affected by gun violence. A bipartisan pair of Arizona lawmakers, meanwhile, will host former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., and her husband Mark Kelly.

Other lawmakers are bringing guests tied to issues like immigration and voting rights.

Below is a partial list of officials and the guests they are bringing. CBS News will update the list as more guests are confirmed:

    First Lady Michelle Obama:

  • Lt. Brian Murphy, who was wounded while responding to the Sikh Temple shooting last August in Oak Creek, Wisconsin. He was struck by 15 bullets.
  • Cleopatra Cowley-Pendleton and Nathaniel Pendleton Sr., parents of 15-year-old Hadiya who was killed in a Chicago park.
  • Desiline Victor, a 103-year-old Florida woman who waited in line for several hours to vote.
  • Tim Cook, CEO of Apple.
  • House Minority Leader Pelosi:

  • Mother and daughter from Newtown, Conn. The 4th grader sent Pelosi a letter asking for her support to strengthen gun laws in the wake of the Sandy Hook massacre.
  • Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Rep. Ron Barber, D-Ariz.:

  • Former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., and her husband Mark Kelly
  • Rep. Steve Stockman, R-Texas:

  • Musician and gun advocate Ted Nugent
  • Sens. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Chris Murphy, D-Conn.:

  • First Selectwoman Pat Llodra, a Republican and the Chief Executive Officer of Newtown
  • Newtown Detectives Jason Frank and Dan McAnaspie, two of several first responders who rushed to Sandy Hook Elementary School on the day of the tragedy
  • Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill.:

  • Undocumented immigrant Gabino Sanchez. The South Carolina husband and father of two U.S. citizen children is fighting deportation. Sanchez entered the country when he was 15 years old and has been working and living peacefully in the U.S. ever since.
  • Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.:

  • Josh Stepakoff, who in 1999 was shot at the North Valley Jewish Community Center in Granada Hills, Calif. Stepakoff, now 20, is a student at California State University Northridge.
  • Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J.:

  • Matt Gross, a New Jersey native who was shot in the head in 1997, at the age of 27. Gross was one of several victims wounded during a shooting attack on the observation deck of the Empire State Building.


More House Democrats bringing guests affected by gun violence:


Rep. Jim Langevin, R.I.

Rep. Keith Ellison, Minn.

Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, N.Y.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro, Conn.

Rep. David Cicilline, R.I.

Rep. Diana DeGette, Colo.

Rep. Tammy Duckworth, Ill.

Rep. Elizabeth Esty, Conn.

Rep. Lois Frankel, Fla.

Rep. Lujan Grisham, N.M.

Rep. Janice Hahn, Calif.

Rep. Jim Himes, Conn.

Rep. Alan Lowenthal, Calif.

Rep. Gloria Negrete-McLeod, Calif.

Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D.C.

Rep. Ed Perlmutter, Colo.

Rep. Jan Schakowsky, Ill.

Rep. Brad Schneider, Ill.

Rep. Bobby Scott, Va.

Rep. Mike Thompson, Calif.

Rep. Krysten Sinema, Ariz.

Rep. Chris Van Hollen, Md.

Read More..

Who's Next? A Look at Likely Successors to Benedict





With 1 billion Catholics worldwide, the face of the church is changing.



It's something the cardinal electors may keep in mind when the conclave to elect a new pontiff begins in late March, said Matthew Bunson, general editor of the Catholic Almanac and author of "We Have a Pope! Benedict XVI."



RELATED: Pope Benedict XVI Resigns: The Statement



The 117 cardinals who are eligible to vote for the new pontiff hail from approximately 50 different countries, and they almost always elect one of their own.



Joseph Ratzinger, an intellectual and respected cardinal from Germany, was the frontrunner for the papacy in 2005, Bunson said. When elected, he became Pope Benedict XVI.



This year, there are no strong favorites.



"The door, in a way, is very much open," Bunson said.



FULL COVERAGE: Pope Benedict XVI Resignation



Here's a quick look at some of the possible picks for pope:




Angelo Cardinal Scola, 71, Italy


Scola was named the Archbishop of Milan in 2011, a prominent post in the Roman Catholic church.


"If we had to pick a frontrunner, it's him," Bunson said. "He first is a brilliant theologian and has the intellectual heft to be pope, which is crucial. He has the clear favor of Pope Benedict.


Milan and Venice together have produced five popes in the past century.


Scola is also committed to promoting an understanding across faiths.


He started the Oasis Foundation in 2004, which helps bridge a dialogue between Christians and Muslims.


Helen Alvaré, a professor of law at George Mason University and an advisor to Pope Benedict XVI's Pontifical Council for the Laity, agreed that Scola will be considered papabili -- an Italian word for someone highly qualified for the papacy.


"It would not be surprise me if a Scola, or another great European mind also was determined to be what was needed for the times," she said.

Marc Cardinal Ouellet, 68, Canada


The former Archbishop of Quebec, who now heads the Congregation of Bishops, has a deep knowledge of the global workings of the church, Bunson said.


"He has had a major role in the appointment of the church's leaders around the world," Bunson said.


And he points out that at 68 years old, Ouellet has age on his side.


Ouellet is someone who could have "worldwide reach," Alvaré said.


"The man who is chosen for the position he has is someone who is understood to have the presence and the future of the church in mind," she said.

Peter Cardinal Turkson, 64, Ghana


Turkson, who hails from Ghana, may be in the running.


He is currently the president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, a post he was appointed to by Pope Benedict XVI in 2009.


The job has sent Turkson, who speaks six languages, around the world to handle mediations.


"The fact that an African cardinal is a candidate to be elected pope is the statement to the diversity of the church and the remarkable growth around the world," Bunson said.


Turkson discussed the possible of a black pope at a press conference in 2009, following the U.S. presidential election.


"And if by divine providence -- because the church belongs to God -- if God would wish to see a black man also as Pope, thanks be to God," he said.


Francis Cardinal Arinze, from Nigeria, has also been discussed as a potential pope.

Leonardo Cardinal Sandri, 69, Argentina


With a large center of Catholic faithful in Latin America, Sandri could become the first pope from the region.


The 69-year-old, who was born in Argentina to Italian parents, served as a chief of staff in the Vatican, often reading public message when Pope John Paul II was in declining health.


It was Sandri who announced the passing of the pontiff in St. Peter's Square on April 2, 2005.


"He's well-liked around the world," Bunson said.


He currently serves on the Congregation for the Oriental Churches, acting as a liason with Eastern European Catholic churches.


Sandri is fluent in English, Spanish, Italian, German and French.

Angelo Cardinal Bagnasco, 70, Italy


The Archbishop of Genoa has a "reputation for intellectual heft," Bunson said.


Bagnasco, two-time president of the Italian Bishops Conference, has a history of taking a strong stance on church doctrine.


In 2007, he was the subject of death threats after he led a campaign against proposed Italian legislation to grant some legal rights to unmarried couples, including people in same-sex relationships.


Italians form the largest voting block in the College of Cardinals, with 25 percent of the seats, and could help propel Bagnasco into the papacy.

Tarsicio Cardinal Bertone, 78, Italy


The current Cardinal Secretary of State is a strong candidate if the Holy Spirit wants another great European mind at the helm of the church, Alvaré said.


Bertone runs the day-to-day business of the Roman Curia, the Vatican's government.


He has reportedly been criticized by Vatican officials for his handling of issues ranging from sexual abuse in the church to Vatican finances.


In an open letter last year, Pope Benedict XVI acknowledged the in-fighting and pledged his support for his secretary of state.


"I've noted with regret the unjust criticism directed at your person," the pope wrote. "I intend to reaffirm my pledge of personal faith in you."


Although he's held in high regard by the pope, Bunson believes Bertone's age will keep him from the papacy.


"His age is against him," he said, pointing out that Bertone is the same age as his boss when he was elected.

Timothy Cardinal Dolan, 63, New York


While the thought of an American pope has long seemed impossible, Cardinal Dolan should not be ruled out, Alvaré said.


"History is changing," she said. "We've been at this a while here in the states, [although] not anywhere as long as Europe."


Dolan, an affable cardinal well-known by Catholics in the U.S. and abroad, "has been grappling with some of the leading questions that face the church for the future," Alvaré said.


In September 2012, along with comedian Stephen Colbert, he co-led a discussion on faith and humor at Fordham University.


"If I am elected pope, which is probably the greatest gag all evening, I'll be Stephen III," he told the crowd of students.


Despite Dolan's good standing, Bunson said he has some doubts.


"It strikes me as unlikely, simply because we are the world's last superpower," he said of the U.S. "So I think that might factor in."


Read More..

What beats Grammy? Immortality













Legends beyond their own time


Legends beyond their own time


Legends beyond their own time


Legends beyond their own time


Legends beyond their own time


Legends beyond their own time








STORY HIGHLIGHTS


  • Bob Greene: Grammy nominated acts should remember the real prize comes later in life

  • He says at a hotel he ran into a group of singing stars from an earlier era, in town for a show

  • He says the world of post-fame touring less glamorous for acts, but meaningful

  • Greene: Acts grow old, but their hits never will and to fans, the songs are time-machine




Editor's note: CNN Contributor Bob Greene is a best-selling author whose 25 books include "When We Get to Surf City: A Journey Through America in Pursuit of Rock and Roll, Friendship, and Dreams"; "Late Edition: A Love Story"; and "Once Upon a Town: The Miracle of the North Platte Canteen."


(CNN) -- Memo to Carly Rae Jepsen, Frank Ocean, Hunter Hayes, Mumford & Sons, Miguel, the Alabama Shakes and all the other young singers and bands who are nominated for Sunday night's Grammy Awards:


Your real prize -- the most valuable and sustaining award of all -- may not become evident to you until 30 or so years have passed.


You will be much older.


But -- if you are lucky -- you will still get to be out on the road making music.



Bob Greene

Bob Greene



Many of Sunday's Grammy nominees are enjoying the first wave of big success. It is understandable if they take for granted the packed concert venues and eye-popping paychecks.


Those may go away -- the newness of fame, the sold-out houses, the big money.


But the joy of being allowed to do what they do will go on.


I've been doing some work while staying at a small hotel off a highway in southwestern Florida. One winter day I was reading out on the pool deck, and there were some other people sitting around talking.


They weren't young, by anyone's definition. They did not seem like conventional businessmen or businesswomen on the road, or like retirees. There was a sense of nascent energy and contented anticipation in their bearing, of something good waiting for them straight ahead. A look completely devoid of grimness or fretfulness, an afternoon look that said the best part of the day was still to come.


I would almost have bet what line of work they were in. I'd seen that look before, many times.


I could hear them talking.


Yep.


The Tokens ("The Lion Sleeps Tonight," a No. 1 hit in 1961).




Little Peggy March ("I Will Follow Him," a No. 1 hit in 1963).


Little Anthony and the Imperials ("Tears on My Pillow," a top 10 hit in 1958).


Major singing stars from an earlier era of popular music, in town for a multi-act show that evening.


It is the one sales job worth yearning for -- carrying that battered sample case of memorable music around the country, to unpack in front of a different appreciative audience every night.


It's quite a world. I was fortunate enough to learn its ins and outs during the 15 deliriously unlikely years I spent touring the United States singing backup with Jan and Dean ("Surf City," a No. 1 hit in 1963) and all the other great performers with whom we shared stages and dressing rooms and backstage buffets:


Chuck Berry, Martha and the Vandellas, Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, the Everly Brothers, James Brown, Lesley Gore, Freddy "Boom Boom" Cannon, the Kingsmen, the Drifters, Fabian, the Coasters, Little Eva, the Ventures, Sam the Sham. ...


Jukebox names whose fame was once as fresh and electric as that now being savored by Sunday's young Grammy nominees.


Decades after that fame is new, the road may not be quite as glamorous, the crowds may not be quite as large. The hours of killing time before riding over to the hall, the putrid vending-machine meals on the run, the way-too-early-in-the-morning vans to the airport -- the dreary parts all become more than worth it when, for an hour or so, the singers can once again personally deliver a bit of happiness to the audiences who still adore their music.


Greene: Super Bowl ad revives iconic voice


As the years go by, the whole thing may grow complicated -- band members come and go, they fight and feud, some quit, some die. There are times when it seems you can't tell the players without a scorecard -- the Tokens at the highway hotel were, technically and contractually, Jay Siegel's Tokens (you don't want to know the details). One of their singers (not Jay Siegel -- Jay Traynor) was once Jay of Jay and the Americans, a group that itself is still out on the road in a different configuration with a different Jay (you don't want to know).


But overriding all of this is a splendid truism:


Sometimes, if you have one big hit, it can take care of you for the rest of your life. It can be your life.


Sunday's young Grammy nominees may not imagine, 30 years down the line, still being on tour. But they -- the fortunate ones -- will come to learn something:


They will grow old, but their hits never will -- once people first fall in love with those songs, the songs will mean something powerful and evocative to them for the rest of their lives.


And as long as there are fairground grandstands on summer nights, as long as there are small-town ballparks with stages where the pitcher's mound should be, the singers will get to keep delivering the goods.


That is the hopeful news waiting, off in the distance, for those who will win Grammys Sunday, and for those who won't be chosen.


On the morning after that pool-deck encounter in Florida I headed out for a walk, and in the parking lot of the hotel I saw one of the Tokens loading his stage clothes into his car.


His license plate read:


SHE CRYD


I said to him:


"You sing lead on 'She Cried,' right?"


"Every night," he said, and drove off toward the next show.


The next show.


That's the prize.


That's the trophy, right there.


Follow @CNNOpinion on Twitter.


Join us at Facebook/CNNOpinion.


The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Bob Greene.






Read More..

Missing 13-year-old-boy found






SINGAPORE: The 13-year-old boy who went missing on Friday has been reunited with his parents.

Aminiasi Tiritabuanira Shaw, a student of the Singapore American School (SAS), was found on Sunday night.

The school had earlier said that it's believed the boy had left on his own accord after a disagreement with his parents.

In its update on Monday, the school said: "The Shaw family would like to extend their sincere gratitude to the many, many people from the SAS community, the larger Singapore community, and other organizations, schools and groups, who have tirelessly supported the search efforts for Tiri over the past couple of days.

"Please help pass the word that Tiri has been found and is safely in the arms of his family."

- CNA/ir



Read More..

Almost famous: See celebs' early roles








By Henry Hanks, CNN


updated 5:05 PM EST, Thu February 7, 2013





















Stars who started out like GoDaddy's geek


Jesse Heiman


Sylvester Stallone


John Travolta


Keanu Reeves


Courtney Cox


Matt LeBlanc


Tina Fey


Rainn Wilson


Megan Fox


Dean Winters















Read More..

Tornado rips through Miss. city, causes major damage

HATTIESBURG, Miss. An apparent tornado tore through Hattiesburg on Sunday as part of a wave of severe storms that downed trees, damaged buildings and caused at least several injuries.

The twister traveled down one of Hattiesburg's main streets and caused what officials described as major damage, officials said, hitting several buildings on the campus of the University of Southern Mississippi. Kyle Hopkins, emergency operations director for surrounding Forrest County, said officials hadn't confirmed injuries. There were reports of several people hurt elsewhere in the state.

"We had a tornado touch down. We have a lot of damage," Hopkins said.

The university released a statement saying that several buildings had been damaged but that no injuries were reported. Campus police have declared a state of emergency and asked anyone not on campus to stay away.

Video by CBS affiliate WHLT-TV shows the heavy damage to the university, including busted windows, wood panels strewn on the lawn and fallen fences.

The storm overturned and damaged vehicles and threw debris around parts of the campus.

To the west, Marion County emergency director Aaron Greer says three injuries have been reported in the community of Pickwick, about seven miles south of Columbia. He says two people were taken to hospitals, but the third didn't have the injury examined.

Greer says one mobile home was destroyed, three other structures have major damage and several have minor damage.

National Weather Service meteorologist Joanne Culin says there have also been reports of injuries in Marion County.

Nasty weather has settled in on much of Louisiana and Mississippi, including tornado or flash flood watches.

The National Weather Service says bad weather is likely to stretch into Fat Tuesday in southeast Louisiana. Jefferson Parish has canceled a Monday night parade.

Read More..

Possible Dorner Sighting Leads to Store Evacuation













A Northridge, Calif., home improvement store was evacuated tonight because of a possible sighting of suspected cop-killer Christopher Dorner, just hours after police announced a $1 million reward for information leading to his arrest.


As helicopters hovered overhead and a command center was established, police searched the Lowe's store and eventually told shoppers they could leave, but could not take their cars out of the parking lot.


LAPD spokesman Gus Villanueva said the major response to the possible sighting was a precaution, but couldn't say whether Dorner was in the area.


The announcement of the $1 million reward today came as authorities in Big Bear, Calif., scaled back their search for Dorner, the disgruntled ex-cop who is suspected in three revenge killings.


"This is the largest local reward ever offered, to our knowledge," Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck said at a news conference today. "This is an act of domestic terrorism. This is a man who has targeted those that we entrust to protect the public. His actions cannot go unanswered."


The money for the reward was pooled by businesses, government, local law enforcement leaders and individual donors, Beck said.



PHOTOS: Former LAPD Officer Suspected in Shootings


The reward comes on the fourth day of a manhunt for Dorner, who has left Southern California on edge after he allegedly went on a killing spree last week to avenge his firing from the police force. Dorner outlined his grievances in a 6,000 word so-called "manifesto" and said he will keep killing until the truth is known about his case.






Irvine Police Department/AP Photo











Manhunt for Alleged Cop Killer Heads to California Mountains Watch Video









Christopher Dorner Search: Officials Search for Ex-officer in the Mountains Watch Video







Dorner's threats have prompted the LAPD to provide more than 50 law enforcement families with security and surveillance detail, Beck said.


Authorities are chasing leads, however they declined to say where in order to not impede the investigation.


Dorner's burned-out truck was found Thursday near Big Bear Lake, a popular skiing destination located 80 miles northeast of Los Angeles.


Investigators found two AR-15 assault rifles in the burned-out truck Dorner abandoned, sources told ABC News.


The truck had a broken axle, which may be the reason he decided to set fire to it, the police sources said.


Full Coverage: Christopher Jordan Dorner


Officers have spent the past couple of days going door-to-door and searching vacant cabins. The manhunt was scaled back to 25 officers and one helicopter in the resort town today, according to the San Bernadino Sheriff's Office.


On Saturday, Beck announced he would reopen the investigation into Dorner's firing but said the decision was not made to "appease" the fugitive ex-cop.


"I feel we need to also publicly address Dorner's allegations regarding his termination of employment, and to do so I have directed our Professionals Standards Bureau and my Special Assistant for Constitutional Policing to completely review the Dorner complaint of 2007; To include a re-examination of all evidence and a re-interview of witnesses," Beck said. "We will also investigate any allegations made in his manifesto which were not included in his original complaint."


Dorner is suspected of killing Monica Quan and her fiancé Keith Lawrence last Sunday in their car in the parking lot of their Irvine, Calif., condominium complex. Both were struck with multiple gunshot wounds.


Quan's father, Randal Quan, was a retired captain with the LAPD and attorney who represented Dorner before a police review board that led to Dorner's dismissal from the force in 2008.


On Wednesday, after Dorner was identified as a suspect in the double murder, police believe he ambushed two Riverside police officers, killing one and wounding the other.


The next day, Randal Quan reported he received a taunting call from a man claiming to be Dorner who told him that he "should have done a better job of protecting his daughter," according to court documents documents.


Anyone with information leading to the arrest of Christopher Dorner is asked to call the LAPD task force at 213-486-6860.


ABC News' Dean Schabner, Jack Date, Pierre Thomas, Jason Ryan and Clayton Sandell and The Associated Press contributed to this report.



Read More..

How Obama can end Congo conflict












Conflict in Congo


Conflict in Congo


Conflict in Congo


Conflict in Congo


Conflict in Congo








STORY HIGHLIGHTS


  • President Obama can help end the Congo conflict for good, says Vava Tampa

  • Obama has asked Rwanda to end all support to armed groups in the Congo

  • FDLR militia gang is a threat to stability and must leave Congo

  • Obama must push for change in Congolese government, argues Tampa




Editor's note: Vava Tampa is the founder of Save the Congo, a London-based campaign to tackle "the impunity, insecurity, institutional failure and the international trade of minerals funding the wars in Democratic Republic of the Congo." Follow Vava Tampa on twitter: @VavaTampa


(CNN) -- Now that President Obama has taken a public stand on the warlords and militia gangs tyrannizing DR Congo, there is a sense that the next chapter in the human tragedy that has been raging there over the past decade and half is about to be written -- or so we can hope.


In the DRC -- Africa's largest sub-Saharan country -- invasions, proxy wars and humanitarian crises have senselessly shut down millions of lives, displaced millions more from their homes and left countless women and young girls brutally raped with the world barely raising an eyebrow.


The latest murderous attempt by the M23 militia gang to besiege Goma, the strategic regional capital of Congo's eastern province of North Kivu, seems to have backfired.



Vava Tampa

Vava Tampa



The United Nations says Rwanda has helped to create and militarily supported M23. Although Rwandan President Paul Kagame denies backing M23, the accusation has taken off some of the international gloss he had long enjoyed in the West, and precipitated cuts and suspension of aid money that goes directly to the Kagame regime by the Netherlands, Sweden, Germany, Britain and the European Union.


The United States, which gives no money directly to the Rwandan government, suspended its military aid. In a baffling expression of a refinement of the U.S. position, President Obama made a rare telephone call to Kagame to emphasize "the importance of permanently ending all support to armed groups in the DRC." That set a firm red line on the situation in that region, the first one by President Obama since becoming president in 2008.
















Watch video: Kagame on Congo


This was certainly right and good. Kagame is no fool; the diplomatic but emphatic content of that telephone call, monitored by White House's National Security staff and published thereafter for public consumption, speaks volumes. He clearly understood the implicit threat. But it was not good enough.


Left unsaid is that withholding aid money that goes directly to the Kagame regime has not changed many realities on the ground -- a painful reminder of the limits of what previous half-hearted, ambivalent international attempts to halt the crisis in that country had achieved.


However, the situation is not hopeless. President Obama can help to halt the wars engulfing the Congo. It is both economically and politically affordable.


Here is my suggestion -- a three-point road map, if you like, for President Obama, should he choose to put the weight of the United States squarely on the side of the Congolese and engage much more robustly to help end the world's bloodiest war and human tragedy.


Read more: Why the world is ignoring Congo war


1. Changes in Kinshasa


If we are to be blunt with ourselves, Congo's major problem today -- the chief reason that country remains on its knees -- is its president Joseph Kabila. Paul Kagame is just a symptom, at least in theory.


The crisis of leadership in the capital Kinshasa, the disastrous blend of lack of political legitimacy and moral authority, mixed with poor governance and vision deficiency, then compounded with dilapidated state institutions, has become the common denominator to the ills and wrongs that continues to overwhelm the Congo.


In other words, peace will never be secured in Congo, if the moribund status quo is still strutting around Kinshasa.


Obama's minimum objective in regard to ending the wars and human tragedy engulfing the Congo should be to push for changes in Kinshasa. He must make this one of the "10 Commandments" of the Obama Doctrine.


Circumstances demand it to re-energize Congo's chance of success and to enable the renaissance of a "New Africa." And given the effects of Congo's mounting death toll and the speed at which HIV/AIDS is spreading because of the use of rape as a weapon of war, the sooner the better.


2. Keep Kagame in the naughty corner


The wars and human tragedy engulfing the Congo have many fathers and many layers. Rwanda, and to some extent Uganda -- run by Africa's two dearest autocratic but staunchly pro-American regimes -- are, as they have been many times in the past, despite their denials, continuing to provide support to warlords and militia gangs terrorizing the Congolese people.


This is not an apocryphal claim, it's an open secret in Kinshasa, Kampala and Kigali as much as it is in Washington or White Hall, and as real as Charles Taylor's role in Sierra Leone or Iran's support to Hezbollah.



If President Obama is remotely serious about saving lives in Congo, then fracturing Rwanda's ability to directly or indirectly harbor warlords ... is critical.
Vava Tampa, Save the Congo



Indeed, reporters across Congo and across the region would testify to this. Kigali has been, one can safely argue, the sole shareholder in the M23 militia gang -- and its elder sisters CNDP and RCD-Goma.


It cannot wash its hands in Pontius Pilate fashion of either the ICC-wanted M23 warlord Bosco Ntaganda, also known as The Terminator, or Laurent Nkunda, who is wanted by the Congolese government for war crimes and is under house arrest in Kigali.


Read more: Prosecutor seeks new Congo war crimes warrants


If President Obama is remotely serious about saving lives in Congo, then fracturing Rwanda's ability to directly or indirectly harbor warlords, support militia gangs, militarize or ethnicize the wars in Congo for control of Congo's easily appropriable but highly valuable natural resources is critical, however politically disgruntling it may be to some in the State Department.


It would reduce the scale, scope and intensity of the killing, raping and uprooting of the Congolese, it would crush Kinshasa's ability to use external support to warlords and militia gangs as an alibi for a lack of progress and, above all, decrease the growing unease of the Congolese towards Rwanda over the crimes of FDLR and the role played by their government in Congo.


3. FDLR


The continued existence in Congo of FDLR, a Rwandan militia gang made up largely of Hutus -- whose leadership took part in the 1994 genocide of Tutsi -- remains one of the most persistent and serious threats to stability in Congo and the region.


Addressing this crisis is of significant importance from both a political and humanitarian viewpoint.


Though there are no definitive statistics on the exact numbers of FDLR fighters, the good news is that experts tell us that the vast majority of its rank and file are in their 20s and early 30s, which means they were too young to have taken part in the genocide in 1994.


The United States, together with the U.N., the EU and African Union, should appoint a special envoy for the African Great Lakes region to midwife a conducive political arrangement in Kigali that could see them returning home -- and see their leaders and fundraisers in Europe arrested.


The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Vava Tampa.






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