Author Salman Rushdie, threatened over "Satanic Verses," says free speech hasn't been weakened

BURLINGTON, Vt. –  Author Salman Rushdie, who lived for years under a death threat after his 1988 book "The Satanic Verses" drew the wrath of Iranian religious leaders, is defending the absolute right of free speech.

Rushdie made the comments Wednesday at the University of Vermont after being asked about last week's attack by Islamic extremists on the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo that killed 12. Responsibility for the attack has since been claimed by the Yemen-based group Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

Rushdie didn't address directly his years living under the threat of death, but he spoke of how the writings of authors who offend powerful people frequently outlive the criticism even if the artists themselves don't survive.

He says freedom of speech has not been weakened.

Source: http://www.foxnews.com/

FBI arrests 20-year-old Ohio man who wanted to 'wage jihad' on US, plotted attack on Capitol

CINCINNATI –  A 20-year-old Ohio man's Twitter posts sympathizing with Islamic terrorists has led to his arrest on charges that he plotted to blow up the U.S. Capitol and kill government officials.

Federal authorities on Wednesday identified the man as Christopher Lee Cornell, also known as Raheel Mahrus Ubaydah.

Cornell, who lives in the Cincinnati area, allegedly told an FBI informant they should "wage jihad," and showed his plans for bombing the Capitol and shooting people, according to a criminal complaint filed in federal court.

The FBI said Cornell expressed his desire to support the Islamic State.

Authorities say Cornell was arrested Wednesday after buying two semi-automatic rifles and about 600 rounds of ammunition. But an FBI agent says the public was never in danger.

Source: http://www.foxnews.com/

Passengers on smoke-filled DC subway train reportedly waited at least 35 minutes for rescue

Passengers on a stalled subway train that began filling with smoke at one of Washington D.C.'s busiest stations Monday afternoon were made to wait at least 35 minutes to be rescued.

The Washington Post, citing three District of Columbia officials with access to emergency dispatch records, reported that the delay was partially due to confusion about whether power to the track's electrified third rail had been cut. 

The smoke resulted in the death of 61-year-old Carol Glover, of Alexandria, Va., while 83 other passengers were hospitalized, two in critical condition. Glover and many of the injured were on board a Virginia-bound train that stalled shortly after leaving the L'Enfant Plaza station. It was the first fatality on a DC Metro train since 2009, when a crash killed eight passengers and a train operator. 

According to the Post, the first report of smoke near the station came at 3:18 p.m. Monday. Two calls in the next six minutes from Metro Transit reported smoke in the station, and also reported that passengers were having trouble breathing. 

Four minutes later, at 3:28 p.m., the District's fire department declared a "Metro tunnel box alarm," code for fire in a train tunnel. The Post reports that the first firefighters arrived at the station three minutes later, at 3:31 p.m. Two minutes later, operators received their first 911 call from inside the train, from a passenger who said it was filling with smoke. 

Despite the quick initial response, emergency responders were not able to access the tunnel until 3:44 p.m., when Metro confirmed that power to the third rail had been shut off and it was safe to enter. One official told the Post that the next report from inside the train came at 4 p.m., when a paramedic reported being with a patient, though a text message from a passenger in the first of the six cars that the firemen reached indicated that emergency personnel reached the train at 3:48 p.m. 

Edward C. Smith, president of the D.C. firefighters union, told the Post that he believed the timeline showed a fast response. Other fire union officials told the paper that some personnel reported issues with their radios in the tunnel, forcing them to retreat closer to the station platform. 

The exact cause of the smoke is still being investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board, though NTSB investigator Michael Flanigon told the Associated Press the smoke started when something came into contact with the high-voltage third rail and caused an electrical arc. It is also not clear why the train stalled and was unable to move in the tunnel.

The Metrorail system, which connects Washington with the Maryland and Virginia suburbs, carries an average of 721,000 passengers each weekday. Smoke and fire are not unusual on the subway system, which opened in 1976 and still uses some original rail cars. Metro's most recent safety reports showed 86 incidents of smoke or fire in 2013 and 85 through the first eight months of 2014.

Source: http://www.foxnews.com/

Q&A: What lies ahead in 2015 for Chinese economy?

BEIJING - It is almost certain that China will post its lowest growth rate in more than a decade in 2014, but experts seem uncertain about what will happen in 2015.

Here we review the outlook and risks for Chinese economy in 2015:

 Is the economy sliding toward a hard landing?

Growth in 2014 looks likely to have sagged below 7.5 percent. This year, it could potentially dip lower, with property downturn and industrial overcapacity still being the main drags.

The government's efforts to balance reform with growth will also exert a downward pressure, but it will be a soft landing rather than a sharp contraction, as the broader economy and job market remain healthy.

There have been signs of a rebalancing, with services accounting for a greater share of output than manufacturing; and consumption accounting for a larger share of gross domestic product (GDP) than fixed asset investment.

Moreover, policies, such as the abolition of registered capital requirements for new firms and the replacement of business tax with value-added tax, will provide dividends.

Government think tank economists have lowered forecasts for GDP growth for 2015, with the rate hovering between 7 percent and 7.3 percent.

Read more: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/

Dangerous and downright stupid reasons to open emergency exits

The Chinglish phrase "No zuo no die" has been included in the online slang phrase book Urban Dictionary, meaning, if you don't do stupid things, they won't come back and bite you on the backside. This can't be wrong when referred to those who risk their lives, and those of many others, by triggering the emergency facilities of airliners.

How much must passengers pay in fine for such dangerous mistakes?  92,000 yuan for triggering a Boeing 320's emergency slide; 190,000 yuan for a Boeing 330's slide and 150,000 yuan for its safety door. 250,000 yuan for a Boeing 777's slide - big fat red envelops for airlines that come together with legal responsibilities.

Here are some ridiculous reasons people have triggered them.

In need of relief

A woman on a Sichuan Airlines flight from Sanya to Chongqing confused the toilet and an emergency exit and set off the emergency door and sides before takeoff, forcing 130 passengers to disembark and wait four hours before the plane got going again, on March 30, 2012.

Her behavior forced the pilot to stop the plane on the runway. The woman, in her 40s, said her legs shook when hearing the big bang as the emergency exit opened. Some 19 passengers changed their flights afraid of more problems on the plane.

Read more: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/

Video shows group of teens attacking Chinese USC student

Video shows group of teens attacking Chinese USC student –  The last night of Xinran Ji's life can be told in the videos that tracked the Chinese graduate student from the time he left his apartment to study with other students at the University of Southern California until he returned home hours later covered in blood.

In between those still frames taken outside his apartment, police found two cameras that captured footage of a group of teens attacking him as he walked home from school early the morning of July 24.

The footage was shown Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court as a prosecutor made his case for trying three teens for murder in the incident that raised concerns in China about the safety of students abroad and refocused criticisms about security at USC.

Details were murky in the black and white surveillance videos, but they showed Ji being surrounded by a group of people on a dark street and then, in a subsequent video, being chased as he ran for his life.

"You can just see a scrum, it looks like," Deputy District Attorney John McKinney said during a break in court, describing one of the videos.

Authorities say Jonathan Del Carmen, 19; Alberto Ochoa, 17; and Alejandra Guerrero, 16, were trying to rob Ji, 24, when he was beaten with a bat and wrench and left for dead.

A fourth defendant, Andrew Garcia, 19, is charged, but his hearing was postponed because his lawyer was ill and another defense attorney raised questions about his mental competency. Garcia blurted out obscenities in court Monday.

All four have pleaded not guilty and are being held without bail. Del Carmen and Garcia could face the death penalty if convicted. Ochoa and Guerrero are charged as adults, but they can only face up to life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted because of their ages.

The preliminary hearing that continues Wednesday included a witness who testified about being robbed by three of the defendants about an hour after Ji's killing.

But the brunt of testimony focused on videos and a trail of blood that led from Ji's apartment to two street locations where the confrontation footage was shot.

Ji managed to make it home, where he was found dead in bed later that morning.

Ji's roommate said she awoke around 3 a.m. and heard sniffling, but thought Ji had a cold, so she went back to sleep, Detective Matthew Courtney testified. When she emerged from her room four hours later, she found blood stains and Ji unresponsive and covered in bloody clothing.

Courtney and his partner tracked the bloody trail down the street and around the corner, where they eventually found a pair of broken glasses.

The detective and other officers went to USC and several other private building owners to gather at least seven videos that showed the attack on Ji or his alleged assailants driving through the neighborhood before or after the crime.

Cameras have become a ubiquitous witness to life around the campus that sits on the edge of downtown Los Angeles and borders neighborhoods with historically high crime. The school and Los Angeles police beefed up security measures, including more patrols on and around campus, after two Chinese graduate students were murdered outside an off-campus apartment in 2012.

Video from the location where Ji was first attacked showed a car pull to the side of the road and a group of people surround him in the street. McKinney said one of the men can be seen hitting Ji with a bat.

The student is able to get away, and a second camera caught him as he turned a corner with two others running after him, followed by a car.

The second video lasts longer, but most of the action is obscured until Ji stumbles to his feet and leans on a car for a few seconds. McKinney said Ji bled the most at that location.

He bled the whole way home, arriving at his front door at 12:48 a.m., where the white T-shirt he was seen leaving in appeared covered in blood.

Source: http://www.foxnews.com/