Beyonce pays tribute to Trayvon Martin as celebrities react to George Zimmerman verdict

BEYONCE called in a concert
for a moment of silence for
Trayvon Martin, rapper
Young Jeezy released a song
in Martin's memory and
Russell Simmons called for
peace after George
Zimmerman was acquitted
by a Florida jury in the
death of the teenager.
There was a wide range of
reactions by celebrities after
jurors cleared Zimmerman
late Saturday of all charges in
the 2012 shooting death of the
unarmed 17-year-old Martin.
Beyonce took a moment to
honor Martin during her Mrs
Carter Show World Tour
concert at Bridgestone Arena
in Nashville, Tennesse. Her
concert started about 30
minutes after the Zimmerman
verdict began to circulate.
"I'd like to have a moment of
silence for Trayvon," the pop
star said as the stage grew
dark with just a few key lights
shining.
Beyonce then sang the chorus
of "I Will Always Love You," a
song, fittingly given the
location, written by country
music star Dolly Parton and
brought to a global audience
by the late Whitney Houston,
before transitioning into her
hit "Halo."
It was just one of several
reactions from celebrities and
artists following
Zimmerman's acquittal by a
six-woman jury. Much of it
focused on the perceived
outrage of the situation. But
others had more poignant
responses.
Young Jeezy posted a new
song, "It's a Cold World (A
Tribute to Trayvon Martin),"
to his Facebook page with a
comment: "I am in no way
shape, form, or fashion ...
trying to capitalize off of the
latest series of events. These
are my true feelings and my
form of expression about it."
Simmons, a producer and
entrepreneur, posted a blog
entry that said he'd be
supporting the Trayvon
Martin Foundation in helping
to repeal laws like Florida's
Stand Your Ground law. He
signed off, "God bless you
little brother. Rest in peace."
He also called for those upset
with the verdict to channel
their energy away from
violence on Twitter, telling
followers "we must remain
peaceful. No matter what,
remain peaceful."
For the most part, it appeared
protesters did with few reports
of damage late Saturday and
early Sunday in Tallahassee,
Florida, Atlanta and
California.
"If u have any anger this
evening," Simmons wrote on
Twitter, "put that energy into
challenging these horrible
laws that allow overly-
anxious neighborhood
watchmen to carry guns and
shoot innocent people. "

How Microsoft handed the NSA access to encrypted messages

Goodyear bids goodbye to blimps, says hello to zeppelins

 AKRON, Ohio -- To Goodyear, a blimp is a blimp, even if it's not a blimp.
For decades, the tire giant has been flying its signature airships around the United States, mostly over sporting events, and has become one of the most recognizable icons in the world.
But Goodyear's current fleet of three blimps -- based out of Akron, Pompano Beach, Fla., and Carson, Calif. -- is aging, and the company announced in 2011 that it had decided to replace the airships with zeppelins, which are longer, faster, quieter, and more maneuverable than blimps
The state-of-the-art airships were developed by Friedrichshafen, Germany's Zeppelin Luftschifftechnik (ZLT), a company with a very long and storied past. For starters, it built the Hindenburg, though it has since substituted non-flammable helium for the hydrogen that exploded in that ship's very famous 1937 crash.
To Greg Poppenhouse, Goodyear's chief airship pilot, going with ZLT's zeppelins made a lot of sense because their three-engine design -- which allows for vectoring the engines -- lets the pilot hover, something the current blimps, with their two fixed engines, can't do. The ability to hover means being able to give the director of, say, the TV broadcast of a football game, exactly the shot he or she wants.
At the same time, because the zeppelin's engines are much higher up on the ship's rigid frame, and aren't right next to the gondola, as they are with the non-rigid blimp, passengers will be able to talk to each other without needing headsets.
All in all, said Poppenhouse, Goodyear is simply interested in "trying to go with the latest technology."
There's only one issue.
For decades, the company's airships have been known by everyone as the "Goodyear blimp." That's how the general public knows the airships. So even though it is going with zeppelins, Nancy Ray, Goodyear's director of global airship operations, told me when I visited Akron as part of Road Trip 2013, "We will still call it the Goodyear blimp."
Roll-out
These days, Goodyear is building the first of its next-generation blimps at its 800-foot-long Wingfoot Lake hangar, just outside Akron. It hopes to unveil the first one later this year, and then ship it off, most likely to Florida. Then it will start building the second zeppelin here in 2015, and deliver it to California in 2016. Finally, Akron itself will get to keep its own zeppelin in 2018, and at that point, all three of the current blimps will have all been decommissioned.
 Goodyear is hopeful that the next-gen airships will give it much more flexibility for shooting sporting events, and will even help it add many more golf tournaments to its already busy schedule of events. That's because the zeppelins are much quieter -- something that's essential for golf -- and because TV broadcast directors won't have to worry about the ship's shadow moving around and distracting players, Poppenhouse said.
When they're launched the zeppelins will be the only airships of their kind in the United States, but they won't be the first that ZLT made for an American company. California's now-defunct Airship Ventures flew its own zeppelin for several years, starting in 2008, and thousands of passengers got the chance to fly slowly and gracefully at just 1,000 feet over some of the country's most beautiful places. But Airship Ventures failed as a business, and that zeppelin was quietly dismantled and its parts sent back to Friedrichshafen.
Goodyear's zeppelins will essentially be the same as that of Airship Ventures, with a length of 246 feet -- compared to the current blimps' 192 feet. But Goodyear plans on some specific modifications to the electronics and systems that will let it use the new blimps as flying television camera platforms, as well as advertisements for Goodyear tires.
But will the new blimps -- or zeppelins, or whatever you want to call them -- still have the familiar Goodyear livery? According to Ed Ogden, the public relations manager for the Spirit of Goodyear, the new airships will definitely be emblazoned with "Goodyear," but there will be something more. Ogden gave a grin but wouldn't say what that would be.

Kanye West on Paparazzi Why I Hate Them ... Why I Attack Them

Exclusive

There's a reason Kanye West hates the paparazzi so much -- it's a terrible reason -- but a reason nonetheless ... and it stems from a few rotten eggs, TMZ has learned.

It's no secret Kanye's been running on a short fuse since at least 2008, when he smashed a TMZ camera at LAX. After that, he vowed to have a more peaceful relationship with the media ... but that all changed in 2012.

Sources close to Kanye tell TMZ ... after he started getting serious with Kim Kardashian, he felt a couple of paps would cross the line and ask him inappropriate questions about their relationship in public. We're told he started to feel like certain paps were "heckling" him.

Things escalated in October 2012 during a trip to Miami ... when a local photog -- not a TMZ guy -- asked Kanye and Kim if they would be inviting Kris Humphries and Reggie Bush to their wedding.



Kanye was pissed ... and, rightfully so, felt the photog was just trying to antagonize him.

Things got worse a few months later, after Kim announced she was pregnant -- when another pap started hammering K&K about whether they would invite Ray J to the baby shower.



That, we're told, was the breaking point -- and from that moment on, Kanye decided to impose his "DON'T EVER TALK" policy on anyone with a camera.

Here's the problem ... if Kanye doesn't want to talk to a pap, that's fine -- he has that right. But when he starts attacking people and smashing camera equipment ... dude, you crossed the line.

Take this example, Kanye -- if a white person walked up to you and said the N-word, would you hate all white people??? Would you try to ATTACK every white person you encountered???

Bottom line -- we get why he's upset ... but seriously, GET OVER IT.

Read more: http://www.tmz.com/2013/07/13/kanye-west-reason-hates-paparazzi-attack/#ixzz2YxZFfJbl
Visit Fishwrapper: http://www.fishwrapper.com

Russia says no asylum request yet from fugitive Snowden

Russia kept former U.S. spy agency contractor Edward Snowden at arm's length on Saturday, saying it had not been in touch with the fugitive American and had not yet received a formal request for political asylum.
Remarks by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov signaled Russia is weighing its options after Snowden, who is stranded at a Moscow airport, broke three weeks of silence and asked for refuge in Russia until he can secure safe passage to Latin America.

 

Washington urged Moscow to return Snowden to the United States, where he is wanted on espionage charges after revealing details of secret surveillance programs, and President Barack Obama spoke by phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Snowden's leaks about U.S. spy methods, including eavesdropping on global email traffic, have upset Washington's friends and foes alike. Stuck at Sheremetyevo airport with his passport revoked, he has become an irritant in relations between the United States and Russia.
"We are not in contact with Snowden," Russian news agencies quoted Lavrov as saying in Kyrgyzstan, where he attended a foreign ministers' meeting.
He said he had learned of Snowden's meeting with Russian human rights activists and public figures at the airport on Friday from the media, "just like everyone else."
Snowden, who had previously kept out of sight since arriving in the airport's transit zone on June 23, told the activists that he would submit his asylum request the same day.
Lavrov said that under Russian law, asylum seekers must first make an official appeal to the Federal Migration Service. But its director, Konstantin Romodanovsky, said on Saturday the agency had not yet received such a request from Snowden.
DOUBLE-EDGED SWORD
Snowden, who worked at a National Security Agency facility, in Hawaii, revealed that the NSA has access to vast amounts of data such as emails and chat rooms from companies including Facebook and Google, under a government program called Prism.
He fled to Hong Kong and then flew to Moscow, where he and Russian officials say he has remained in the airport transit zone. He has no visa to enter Russia.
Snowden is useful as a propaganda tool for Putin, who accuses the U.S. government of preaching to the world about rights and freedoms it does not uphold at home. But his presence on Russia's doorstep is a double-edged sword.
Putin has invited Obama for a bilateral summit in Moscow in September, and asylum for Snowden could jeopardize that, even though both countries have signaled they want to improve ties that have been strained in Putin's third presidential term.
And while pro-Kremlin politicians have been avidly casting Snowden, 30, as a rights defender, former KGB officer Putin said last month that the surveillance methods he revealed were largely justified if applied lawfully.
Putin has said twice that Snowden should choose a final destination and go there, and on July 2 he said Russia could only take Snowden in if he stopped activities "aimed at harming our American partners".
Putin's spokesman said on Friday that the condition, which prompted Snowden to withdraw an earlier asylum request, still stood.
Snowden has asked some 20 countries for asylum and received offers from Venezuela, Nicaragua and Bolivia, but he said on Friday that Western states had made it "impossible for me to travel to Latin America and enjoy the asylum granted there".
The United States has urged nations not to give him passage, and a plane carrying Bolivian President Evo Morales home from Russia last week was denied access to the airspace of several European countries on suspicion Snowden might be on board.

Al-Mustapha discharged and acquitted by Lagos Court of Appeal

The former Chief Security Officer to late Head of State, Gen. Sani Abacha, Major Hamza Al-Mustapha, was today discharged and acquitted by the Court of Appeal in Lagos for the murder of Kudirat Abiola.

The judgment overturns that of the Lagos High Court which convicted and sentenced the retired colonel in January 2012 and sentenced him to death by hanging. The Court of Appeal, in their ruling, said there was not enough evidence to incriminate Al-Mustapha in the murder of Late Mrs Abiola.

Chief  MKO Abiola's wife was shot dead on June 4, 1996, on what was alleged to be the orders of Al-Mustapha.

20 dead, 30 presumed dead in Quebec oil train crash, police say

The 30 people missing after a
runaway train crash in Quebec over
the weekend are presumed dead,
police said Wednesday, in what has
become Canada's worst railway
catastrophe in almost 150 years
"We informed them of the potential
loss of their loved ones," Quebec
police inspector Michel Forget said
Wednesday after meeting with families
of the dead and missing. "You have to
understand that it's a very emotional
moment."
With 20 bodies found in Lac-Megantic
so far, that would put the death toll
from Saturday's derailment and
explosions at 50. Some of the bodies
may never be found, as authorities
believe several victims were vaporized
in the intense heat.
Quebec Premier Pauline Marois
arrived Thursday to tour the site.
"The leader of this company should
have been there from the beginning,"
Marois said at a news conference.
Attention focused on Edward
Burkhardt, the CEO of Montreal,
Maine & Atlantic Railway, the train's
U.S.-based parent company, who
faced jeers from residents when he
visited the town Wednesday for the
first time since the disaster. He
blamed the train's engineer for
improperly setting its brakes before it
derailed.
Burkhardt said the train's engineer
had been suspended without pay and
was under "police control."
The unmanned train hurtled down a
seven-mile incline, derailed and
ignited in the center of Lac-Megantic
early Saturday. All but one of its 73
cars was carrying oil, and at least five
exploded.
The intensity of the explosions and
fire made parts of the devastated
town too hot and dangerous to enter
and find bodies days after the
disaster. Only one body had been
formally identified, said Genevieve
Guilbault of the coroner's office, and
she described efforts to identify the
other remains as "very long and
arduous work."
Burkhardt, president and CEO of the
railway's parent company, Rail World
Inc., was expected to meet with
residents and the mayor of the town
Thursday.
Investigators also had spoken with
Burkhardt during his visit, said a police
official, Sgt. Benoit Richard. He did not
elaborate.
Until Wednesday, the railway company
had defended its employees' actions,
but that changed abruptly as
Burkhardt singled out the engineer.
"We think he applied some hand
brakes, but the question is, did he
apply enough of them?" Burkhardt
said. "He said he applied 11 hand
brakes. We think that's not true.
Initially we believed him, but now we
don't."
Burkhardt did not name the engineer,
though the company had previously
identified the employee as Tom
Harding of Quebec. Harding has not
spoken publicly since the crash.
"He's not in jail, but police have talked
about prosecuting him," Burkhardt
said. "I understand exactly why the
police are considering criminal
charges ... If that's the case, let the
chips fall where they may."
Investigators are also looking at a fire
on the same train just hours before
the disaster. A fire official has said the
train's power was shut down as
standard operating procedure,
meaning the train's air brakes would
have been disabled. In that case,
hand brakes on individual train cars
would have been needed.
The derailment is Canada's worst
railway disaster since a train plunged
into a Quebec river in 1864, killing 99.
Quebec police have said they were
pursuing a wide-ranging criminal
investigation, extending to the
possibilities of criminal negligence and
some sort of tampering with the train
before the crash. The heart of the
town's central business district is
being treated as a crime scene and
remained cordoned off by police tape.
At a news conference shortly before
Burkhardt's arrival, Marois faulted his
company's response.
"We have realized there are serious
gaps from the railway company from
not having been there and not
communicating with the public,"
Marois said. She depicted Burkhardt's
attitude as "deplorable" and
"unacceptable."
Burkhardt, who arrived in town with a
police escort, said he had delayed his
visit in order to deal with the crisis
from his office in Chicago, saying he
was better able to communicate from
there with insurers and officials in
different places.
"I understand the extreme anger," he
said. "We owe an abject apology to
the people in this town."
In an exchange with reporters,
Burkhardt defended the practice of
leaving trains unmanned, as was the
case when the train rolled away.
Canadian transportation department
officials have said there are no
regulations against it.
"For the future we, and I think
probably the rest of the industry,
aren't going to be leaving these trains
unmanned," Burkhardt said. "We'll
take the lead with that. I think the rest
of the industry is going to follow."
Among the residents looking on as
Burkhardt spoke was Raymond
Lafontaine, who is believed to have
lost a son, two daughters-in-law and
an employee in the disaster.
"That man, I feel pity for him,"
Lafontaine said. "Maybe some who
know him properly may think he's the
greatest guy in the world, but with his
actions, the wait that took place, it
doesn't look good."
The disaster forced about 2,000 of the
town's 6,000 residents from their
homes, but most have been allowed
to return.
Transportation Safety Board
investigator Donald Ross said the
locomotive's black box has been
recovered, and the fire and the chain
of events that followed are a "focal
point" of the investigation.
The accident has thrown a spotlight
on MMA's safety record. Before the
Lac-Megantic accident, the company
had 34 derailments since 2003, five of
them resulting in damage of more
than $100,000, according to the U.S.
Federal Railroad Administration.
Burkhardt said the figures were
misleading.
"This is the only significant mainline
derailment this company has had in
the last 10 years. We've had, like most
railroads, a number of smallish
incidents, usually involving accidents
in yard trackage and industry
trackage," he told the CBC.
Nonetheless, Burkhardt predicted the
accident would lead to changes in the
way railways operate, and indicated
that MMA would no longer leave
loaded trains unattended, a practice
he said was standard in the industry.
"We want to cooperate with the town
and help the residents in getting them
back on their feet," Burkhardt said.
"We're accepting claims that they have
for their loss and ensuring nothing
like this would ever happen again."
The tanker cars involved in the crash
were the DOT-111 type -- a staple of
the American freight rail fleet whose
flaws have been noted as far back as
a 1991 safety study. Experts say the
DOT-111's steel shell is so thin that it
is prone to puncture in an accident,
potentially spilling cargo that can
catch fire, explode or contaminate the
environment.
The derailment also raised questions
about the safety of Canada's growing
practice of transporting oil by train,
and is sure to bolster the case for a
proposed oil pipeline running from
Canada across the U.S. -- a project
that Canadian officials badly want.
The oil on the runaway train was
being transported from North
Dakota's Bakken oil region to a
refinery in New Brunswick on
Canada's East Coast. Because of
limited pipeline capacity in the Bakken
region and in Canada, oil producers
are increasingly using railroads to
transport oil to refineries.
In Washington, White House
spokesman Jay Carney said President
Barack Obama's administration was
closely monitoring the aftermath of
the accident, and has offered
assistance to Canadian officials. He
said firefighters and firefighting
vehicles were deployed from Maine to
assist with the response, and got help
from U.S. customs and border agents
in making the trip.