Prince Charles's car attacked in London

A car carrying Prince Charles and Camilla in central London is attacked by protesters in violent scenes after MPs vote through a huge rise in tuition fees in England

Ντόρα Μπακογιάννη: Όχι σε νέα αύξηση του ΦΠΑ,

ας ανοίξει διάλογος για ένα πιο φθηνό Ευρώ.



Η πρόεδρος του κινήματος “Δημοκρατική Συμμαχία” Ντόρα Μπακογιάννη, μετά τη συνάντησή της με τον επίτροπο Οικονομικών Υποθέσεων Όλι Ρεν έκανε την ακόλουθη δήλωση:



Οι Έλληνες κάνοντας μεγάλες θυσίες, καταβάλουν μεγάλη προσπάθεια προκειμένου η χώρα μας να αντιμετωπίσει την οικονομική κρίση. Έθεσα στο κ Όλι Ρεν τέσσερα πολύ κρίσιμα ζητήματα που συνδέονται με την επιτυχία της προσπάθειας αυτής.

1. Η δημοσιονομική προσαρμογή θα πρέπει να στηριχθεί, μεταφέροντας μεγαλύτερο βάρος αυτής της πολιτικής , στην περικοπή της δαπάνης και της σπατάλης του δημόσιου τομέα και πολύ μικρότερο στα έσοδα και σε νέες φορολογικές επιβαρύνσεις. Οι παραγωγικές δυνάμεις δεν αντέχουν νέους φόρους. Κυρίως η αγορά δεν αντέχει νέα αύξηση του ΦΠΑ γιατί το μόνο που θα πετύχει είναι περαιτέρω επιβάρυνση των οικογενειακών προϋπολογισμών. Αντίθετα θα πρότεινα έστω και μια μικρή μείωση κατά 1 μονάδα, που θα έδινε ψυχολογικά τουλάχιστον ώθηση στην αγορά

2. Η ενίσχυση της ανταγωνιστικότητας της χώρας μας, αλλά και ολόκληρου του νότου της Ευρωπαϊκής Ένωσης, περνά και μέσα από την αλλαγή στρατηγικής της ΕΚΤ γύρω από το θέμα του σκληρού ευρώ. Ο διάλογος αυτός πρέπει να ανοίξει, αν θέλουμε η ευρωζώνη να αποφύγει τα χειρότερα. Και στο πνεύμα του ευρωπαϊκού συμβιβασμού, ο νότος να προσφέρει περισσότερη δημοσιονομική πειθαρχία και βαθιές διαρθρωτικές αλλαγές και ο βοράς ένα φθηνότερο ευρώ.

3. Η επιμήκυνση της αποπληρωμής του δανείου είναι ένα θετικό βήμα, όμως πιο σημαντικό από τη διάρκεια της επιμήκυνσης είναι το θέμα του ύψους του επιτοκίου. Επιτόκια που αγγίζουν το 6% απέχουν πολύ από το να χαρακτηριστούν λογικά και δεν τα αντέχει η ελληνική οικονομία.

4. Προκειμένου να τονωθεί η ρευστότητα της αγοράς και η δημιουργία θέσεων απασχόλησης είναι σημαντικό να συμφωνήσουμε σε ένα νέο πιο ευέλικτο μοντέλο χρηματοδότησης από τα διαρθρωτικά ταμεία της ΕΕ, έτσι ώστε η Ελλάδα να παίρνει τα χρήματα που δικαιούται γρήγορα, χωρίς τις εξοντωτικές καθυστερήσεις που ισχύουν σήμερα.

Junior Gotti 60 Minutes Interview

John “Junior” Gotti sat down for an lengthy interview on 60 Minutes with newsman Steve Kroft about his life on the streets , his father , and his time behind bars. The interview will be aired on Sunday on CBS at 7 p.m. in full check your local listings for exact channel. Gotti goes into detail on various in depth parts of his life and the up and downs of growing up Gotti.
Junior gotti tells about the first time he learned exactly who his father John Gotti Sr really was a real life Mafia boss. He was 14 years old and at the military school he attended in 1979 and his and some of his friends were watching a tv program. The tv show goes on to say this man is a captain in the Gambino crime family and it was Gotti , Junior said he was mortified while watching. He said he was quietly watching and not saying anything and then some of his fellow cadets turned and looked at him putting together the same last name and wanted to know was he actually the son of the notorious Dapper Don. Junior said many of the guys found it to be pretty cool while at same time some of them were likely a little intimidated. They had a lot of questions Junior said that were mixed with some fear and some adoration like “Does your father kill people? ” or “Does your father beat people up?” to which Junior responded “Not around the house”.
Junior also goes into detail about what he called the proudest moment of his life when he was officially “made” into the Gambino crime family. The day Junior officially became a mobster he said he felt like he was slowly becoming like his father. Gotti Jr said the day he was “made” he could tell his father John Sr. was very happy and proud , he said he thought his dad was as proud as any other father would be if his son made all-American. Junior said of his father “He was my cause” and “whatever he was is what i wanted to be”. Junior said if his father was not part of the mafia lifestyle then he probably wouldn’t have been either. Junior said that if my dad said he wanted to be a butcher , i would tell him , i hope you have a smock for me because that’s the way i felt.
Junior Gotti said his father really loved being a gangster , he loved everything about it. Junior said my father lived that lifestyle 24/7 and his wife and kids were even second to the street life. Gotti Jr said dad just loved the streets , he loved the code and the action that kind of lifestyle supplied. Junior said that his father resigned to the fact that he would very likely die behind bars before it was all said and done. Junior said Gotti Sr used to say that anyone who was really and truly lived the street life not the fringe players or pretenders but the guys who really lived the hard street life like he did that at the end of the day you got to die or go to jail , that’s the rules and just the way it was.
Gotti also talks about some of his younger years and home life including the death of his younger brother Frank. Frank Gotti was killed in a car accident where he was struck and killed by a neighbor in 1980. Junior said his father didn’t show much emotion at the time but from his bedroom and he at times could hear his father crying through the vents. The driver of the car that killed Frank , John Favara later went missing and its been long suspected that Gotti Sr ordered his murder. Kroft asks Junior if his father had anything to do with Favara’s disappearance , and Junior said knowing how his father felt about certain things like his family , probably so ! Junior said he could not say for certain because that is something that his father would have never discussed with him.
Junior also said that he could acknowledge that his father was a killer. He said that he wasn’t sure that you could ever justify murder but he felt he could at least make some kind of argument for it. He said his father John was part of the streets and he swore that was his life and he would live and die by the rules and the code of the streets. Junior said that everyone his father killed , was accused of killing , wanted to kill , or tried to kill was part of that same world and the same code. Junior said his father always said that ‘You break the rules , you end up in a dumpster’.

Scientists Discover Gene That Makes Boys Develop as Girls

Scientists have pinpointed a gene in humans that causes male embryos to develop female genitalia, according to a report from New Scientist.

Andrew Sinclair of the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute in Australia hopes the discovery will aid in the diagnosis and treatment of sex developmental disorders.

One in every 4,500 babies have gene mutations that lead to disorders of sex development (DSD), the researchers point out. Often this leads to ambiguous genitalia or physical appearances that contrast their chromosomal gender -- such as girls who do not develop breasts or have excessive body hair.

Sinclair, along with Harry Ostrer of New York University compared the genes of 16 people affected by DSD where male embryos developed female genitalia and overall appearance. All 16 patients had a mutation in the MAP3K1 gene. In follow-up tests in mice, the equivalent gene was found to be highly active during development.

According to Sinclair, the MAP3K1 gene is part of a complex signaling pathway that leads to normal testes development.

"It's a long genetic pathway to testis development," said Roger Short, a reproductive biologist at the University of Melbourne, Australia. Short is "completely convinced" that this gene plays a part in some cases of DSD.

Dems Play Let's Make a Deal on Tax Cuts Plan

WASHINGTON—The sweeping tax package negotiated by President Barack Obama and Republican lawmakers gained new momentum toward passage in the Senate, building pressure on balking House Democrats to accept the controversial deal.

The framework of the package seems likely to remain intact, but lawmakers and lobbyists were trying to attach favored provisions into what is likely to be one of the biggest bills to pass the lame duck Congress. Potential additions include a grant program for clean-energy projects that expires at the end of this year.

The scramble to get such provisions included was a sign of growing support for the deal. Senate leaders worked to finish drafting the details of the legislation and prepared for a floor debate as early as Friday, only days after Obama unveiled the framework for the tax package on Monday.

In the House, Democratic leaders continued to withhold support. Vice President Joe Biden visited Capitol Hill's most hostile quarter—the House Democratic Caucus—where senior members have strongly objected to provisions in the tax package benefiting upper income taxpayers.

But Biden bluntly told House members that the deal was done and unlikely to be significantly changed, according to participants in the meeting.
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Some Democrats are hoping to make the bitter pill easier to swallow by securing other provisions they favor. Sen. Maria Cantwell (D., Wash.) and 20 other senators, nearly all Democrats, were pushing for the clean-energy grant program, which many Republicans oppose.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) has floated a proposal to legalize Internet poker, but the idea is opposed by a leading architect of the tax deal, Sen. John Kyl (R., Ariz.). "It's not going to happen,'' Kyl said

Leader of Bonanno Family Florida Crew Sentenced

The leader of a powerful Bonanno crime family crew that operated out of florida has finally been sentenced. Thomas Fiore lead the Bonanno based florida crew from Boynton Beach which included 10 members nince of which were men and one woman. Fiore received a sentence of 12 years and seven months for his role in charges of federal racketeering. Fiore pleaded guilty back in October.
Fiore has family ties to the Bonanno family going back to his uncle Gerard “Gerry” Chilli who is a reputed Bonanno family Capo. Chilli himself is awaiting sentencing on loan sharking charges in New York. Fiore was busted along with Chilli in 2005 in what the fed’s called “Operation Coldwater” which included investigations into drugs , illegal gambling, extortion , and other various crimes. There were 10 other co-defendants which have now all taken plea deals.
The Fed’s infiltrated the Florida crew via an undercover officer and intercepted phone calls linking Fiore to the crimes. Fiore would solicit the undercover officer for help in laundering money , selling stolen good, handling fake checks, and identity theft. Fiore also conspired to have his own business a gym named Round 1 Fitness Center burned down so he could collect the insurance money. Fiore even has been linked to at attempted murder of a business partner but the identity of the partner is unknown.
Fiore would travel back and forth from Florida to New York to meet with the leadership of the Bonanno Family to report and get any orders. The Bonanno family along with other New York Mafia families have been reported to have crew’s operation in Florida which has long been an organized crime hot spot.

Bonanno and Lucchese Family Bust

The Fed’s have unsealed an 18 count indictment that contained charges on nine members of organized crime. The charges range from racketeering , racketeering conspiracy, extortion and other various crimes. The indictment charges members of the Bonanno and Lucchese families of La Cosa Nostra. Half of the members named in the indictment were already detained on various charges and the remaining gangsters were arrested.
The Four defendants that were arrested on Wednesday were Carlo Profeta , Anthony Mannone , Eric Maione, and Jerome Caramelli. Anthony Mannone is a reputed captain in the Bonanno Family , Jerome Caramelli is a Bonanno family associate , Salvatore Cutaia is a reputed Lucchese family soldier , Domenico Cutaia is a reputed Lucchese family capo , Carlo Profeta is an actiing capo in the Lucchese family, Eric Maione and Joseph Cutaia are reputed Lucchese family associates.
Extortion charges ranging from a gambling operation run by Caramelli where Mannone, Caramelli , Sal Cutaia, Profeta and others threatened individuals with physical harm if they did not pay up their gambling debts. Wiretaps caught the defendants tossing around these threats while they ran the illegal gambling operation and on one occasion has Caramelli acting on orders of Mannone threatening one gambling client saying that “Tomorrow all **** will break loose since the caller had not called in with any significant payment news , noting that he (Mannone) had already decided that this is not going to end good.
This case continues to prove the fact that La Cosa Nostra families are still active and on the streets doing what they do looking to make money in old and new rackets. If convicted the mob members face maximum sentences of up to 20 years in jail. These are once again blows