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December 8, 2011

Indian Skipper Virender Sehwag breaks World Record for ODI

 Scores 219 off 149 balls (25x4, 7x6)  India clinch series 3-1  beat windies by 153 runs  Rahul Sharma makes impressive debut, scalps three wickets


1. With his score of 219, Sehwag has emerged as the highest-scorer in ODIs
2 .The opener has become only the world’s second cricketer to score a double century in ODIs after Sachin Tendulkar, who had scored an unbeaten 200 against SA in Gwalior in 2010.


Indore, December 8
Swashbuckling opener Virender Sehwag today created history by scoring the highest-ever ODI score of 219 as a merciless India clinched the ODI series against West Indies with a convincing 153-run win in the fourth cricket one-dayer to take an unssailable 3-1 lead.
The 33-year-old Sehwag was at his explosive best as he became only the second batsman after Sachin Tendulkar to reach the 200-run landmark in ODIs and propel India to their highest ever one-day total of 418 for five. The hosts then dismissed the West Indians for 265 in 49.2 overs to wrap up the five-match series in style, rendering the fifth match in Chennai on Sunday, inconsequential.
Debutant spinner Rahul Sharma was the pick of the Indian bowlers with three for 43. Electing to bat, it was Sehwag who took centrestage with a stunning exhibition of strokeplay as he plundered runs at will on a belter of a track at the jam-packed Holkar stadium. Sehwag surpassed Tendulkar's 200 not out made from 147 balls against South Africa in Gwalior on February 24 last year when he square-cut Andre Russell for a boundary in the 44th over of the Indian innings to go past the 200 mark. He joined his idol Tendulkar in the record books as the only other cricketer to score double hundred in the limited overs game.
The Delhi marauder, who cracked his second three-figure knock against West Indies and 15th overall in 240 ODI matches, slammed as many as 25 fours and seven sixes during his 149-ball blitz. He also reached his double hundred in fewer balls (in 140 balls with the help of 23 fours and six sixes) than Tendulkar, who took 147 deliveries for his unbeaten 200
The opening stand of 176 he put on with Gambhir, who cracked 67 in the same number of balls with the help of 11 fours, laid the platform for the record total. And his subsequent 140-run stand for the second wicket with another left-handed batsman Raina, who made 55 in 44 balls, took the score past 300-run mark. Sehwag got life twice during his masterly knock — once on 20 when he escaped a run out chance after being stranded mid-pitch and then on 170 when rival captain Darren Sammy dropped an easy catch at extra cover.
When India commenced their innings today, the decision of the Indian team management to tweak the top order paid rich dividends as Sehwag and Gambhir, who replaced Parthiv Patel after the latter had opened in the first three games, ripped apart the Windies bowling attack. The Delhi openers tore apart the rival attack in stunning fashion with Sehwag, who went into the game with scores of 20, 26 and 0, dominating the proceedings. Sehwag clipped the first ball off his pads for a four from Ravi Rampaul, who had dismissed the two openers for first ball ducks in the last game at Ahmedabad on December 5, and then upper cut Kemar Roach over fine third man for a six in the next over to set the tone for a run-spree.
Runs came in a cascade from the two batsmen's blades as the first ten overs yielded 63 runs, while in the next ten the total jumped to 149.

The issue of getting a double-century in ODIs was a matter of when, not if. This ‘when’ however, had begun bothering his support group as several unsavoury injury related incidents made them wonder if Viru will ever be the same batsman. Those questions were answered in Indore today in no uncertain terms – Viru lives on.
Virender Sehwag is in a league of his own. The fiery batsman can drive the opposition, as well as his fans, to despair with equal aplomb. The most effective and one of the most pugnacious batsmen ever seen in India, Viru doesn’t really care how he gets his runs. Or if he gets out while trying to get them, for that matter.
The issue of getting a double-century in One-day Internationals was a matter of when, not if. This ‘when’ however, had begun bothering his support group as several unsavoury injury related incidents in the recent past made them wonder if Viru will ever be the same batsman again. Those questions were answered at the Holkar Cricket Stadium in Indore today in no uncertain terms – Viru lives on. In fact, he just destroyed the record books.
India’s most headline-grabbing tour this year, barring the World Cup win, was the England series where everything that could go wrong, did. Sehwag was on the injury list then, with a dodgy shoulder, and ear infection and vertigo to go with it. He was nevertheless deployed by a desperate team management as things fell apart. The result was a king pair (two first ball ducks) in the Edgbaston Test.
The tongues started wagging.
So, while the Indian cricket scenario thereafter focussed on when Sachin Tendulkar would get his 100th international century, Viru quietly got back to business. Nothing to flashy anywhere, and some innings that didn’t impress (didn’t we say he can drive fans to despair?). The wagging became faster.
Then came the home series against England and the West Indies. Sehwag stayed out of the ODIs against England and even in the three Tests against the West Indies, where it was a virtual run-fest, Viru had to be satisfied with three half-centuries, frequently getting settled and getting out. Things weren’t looking too good.
Then came the five-match ODI series against the Caribbeans and Sehwag suddenly found captaincy in his lap, as Mahendra Singh Dhoni decided to take a break. The first three games weren’t too great for the new captain, as he got 46 runs in three innings, including a duck at Vizag as the West Indies came roaring back to post a win.
All that changed in Indore.
Madhya Pradesh, the heart of the country, suddenly has become the heartthrob for Indian cricket too. It was in Gwalior where the record books were re-written when Tendulkar breached the 200-barrier against South Africa on February 10, 2010. It is now Indore’s turn to celebrate its inclusion in the annals of cricket history.
Sehwag is by far the best Indian batsman ever. He holds the highest Test score for India and the top ODI score in the world, getting these runs at an incredible pace, giving the bowlers time enough to work on the opposition. He wins more matches, or sets up more matches than anyone else.
Still, he saunters around with a broad smile on his face. The smile doesn’t vanish for too long, whether he hits a six to get from 294 to 300, or whether he fails while attempting one. That is what makes him a great cricketer – the man within.



Facebook bug leaks Mark Zukerberg's private photos

NEW YORK: A security glitch in Facebook gave users access to Mark Zuckerberg's private pictures, including a few with his girlfriend.

The social networking site has repeatedly come under attack for its constantly changing privacy and security features that at times made private information, including photos and comments, publicly available.

The security flaw, first exposed by a bodybuilding website, was discovered yesterday by Facebook which went into damage control mode after the glitch made it possible to access its founder Zuckerberg's private photos with his girlfriend and friends.

Over two dozen photos of Zuckerberg were visible online, including those with his girlfriend Priscilla Chan at his California home, one withPresident Obama at the White House, some showing him cooking meals, hanging out withfriends, playing with his puppy and distributing Halloween candy to kids.

In a statement, Facebook said it had discovered a "bug" that allowed anyone to view a limited number of another user's most recently uploaded photos irrespective of the privacy settings for these photos.

"This was the result of one of our recent code pushes and was live for a limited period of time. Upon discovering the bug, we immediately disabled the system, and will only return functionality once we can confirm the bug has been fixed."

The bug was in the site's tool through which users can report inappropriate and offensive content. A user at the website 'Bodybuilding.com' clicked on a person's profile picture, then reported to Facebook that it contained nudity or was of inappropriate nature.

Facebook, with more than 800 million users worldwide, is expected to go public next year, a move that will value the company the college dropout founded in his Harvard dorm at 100 billion dollars.

However, as Facebook's popularity skyrocketed, it took some backlash for making users' information accessible to marketing companies and advertisers.

Last month, Facebook reached a settlement with the US Federal Trade Commission, which had charged that the company "deceived consumers by telling them they could keep their information on Facebook private, and then repeatedly allowing it to be shared and made public."

The settlement states that Facebook is required "to establish and maintain a comprehensive privacy programme.

Facebook IPO sparks dreams of riches, adventure

SAN FRANCISCO: Traveling to space or embarking on an expedition to excavate lost Mayan ruins are normally the stuff of adventure novels. 

But for employees of Facebook, these and other lavish dreams are moving closer to reality as the world's No. 1 online social network prepares for a blockbuster initial public offering that could create at least a thousand millionaires. 

The most anticipated stock market debut of 2012 is expected to value Facebook at as much as $100 billion, which would top just about any of Silicon Valley's most celebrated coming-out parties, fromNetscape to Google Inc. 

While weak financial markets could postpone or downsize any IPO, even the most conservative market-watchers say Facebook seems destined to set a new benchmark in a region famous for minting fortunes, with even the rank-and-file employees reaping millions of dollars. 

Facebook employees past and present are already hatching plans on how to spend their anticipated new wealth, even as securities regulations typically prevent employee stock options from being cashed in until after a six-month lock-up period. 

"There's been discussions of sort of bucket list ideas that people are putting together of things they always wanted to do and now we'll be able to do it," said one former employee who had joined Facebook in 2005, shortly after it was founded. 

He is looking into booking a trip to space that would cost $200,000 or more with Virgin Galactic or one of the other companies working on future space tourism. That's chump change when he expects his shares in Facebook to be worth some $50 million. 

"If that IPO bell happens, then I will definitely put money down," said the person, who declined to be identified because he did not want to draw attention to his financial status, given the antiglitz ethos of many people inSilicon Valley. "It's been a childhood dream," he said of space travel. 

Others are thinking less science fiction and more "Indiana Jones." A group of current and former Facebook workers has begun laying the groundwork for an expedition to Mexico that sounds more suited to characters from the Steven Spielberg film "Raiders of the Lost Ark" than to the computer geeks famously portrayed in the movie about Facebook, "The Social Network." 

Initially, the group wanted to organize its own jungle expedition to excavate a relatively untouched site of Mayan ruins, according to people familiar with the matter who also did not want to court notoriety by being identified in this story. After some debate earlier this year, they are now looking at partnering with an existing archeological program. 

BIG PACKAGES 

Founded in a Harvard dorm room in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg and his friends, Facebook has grown into the world's biggest social network with over 800 million members and revenue of $1.6 billion in the first half of 2011.

Information about its ownership structure or employee compensation packages is hard to come by, since the still-private company discloses very little. Facebook declined to comment for this story. 

It is clear that Facebook's earliest employees, who were given ownership stakes, and early venture capital investors -- such as Accel Partners, Greylock Partners and Paypal co-founder Peter Thiel -- will see the biggest paydays. Zuckerberg, 27, is estimated to own a little over a fifth of the company, according to "The Facebook Effect" author David Kirkpatrick. 


Source: Economic Times, India

Red light district goes live on Web

An internet version of a red light district opened on Tuesday as Web addresses with ".xxx" endings became available for purchase by those interested in providing online adult content. 

Florida-based ICM Registry is overseeing thetop-level domain (TLD) geared for adultentertainment and reported that it is seeing nearly a million visits daily to buy.xxx website showing where the addresses can be purchased. 

"We've put a lot of money into this, and 10 years of blood, sweat and tears," ICM chief executive Stuart Lawley told AFP. 

"I feel validated," he continued. "It has been a long struggle but we stuck to our guns and took the high road." 

The non-profit Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers ( ICANN) board in March approved a petition to add .xxx to the list of "generic top level domains," those endings that include .com, .net, and .org. 

Lawley estimated between $10 million and $20 million were spent on the campaign, which began in the year 2000. 

"Everything up to today has been the warm-up," Lawley said. "The marathon is on." 

He depicted the .xxx domain as "win, win, win" since it creates an online district clearly marked for those intent on finding or avoiding adult content and which automatically scans websites for viruses or other malicious codes. 

"That is a first; scanning doesn't happen at .com," Lawley said. "Instead of adult sites being risky, they will be among the safest sites on the internet." 

ICM enlisted anti-virus specialty firm McAfee to scan .xxx websites daily for nefarious software. 

The sites are also designed with tags to be easily identified by parental filter features in commonly used Web browsers, according to Lawley. 

Public sales of .xxx addresses come after ICM gave recognized brands and established adult entertainment industry players opportunities to secure websites related to their names. 

Some popular web addresses such as gay.xxx were sold at auction. The gay.xxx address sold for several hundred thousand dollars, according to ICM. 

The risque online neighborhood was opposed by some adult industry firms that feel they are compelled to buy new website addresses to avoid others capitalizing on their names and by conservative groups opposed to porn. 

A lawsuit has been filed accusing ICM of taking advantage of its exclusive control of .xxx to jack up fees. Annual registry of a .xxx website is about $70 compared with $10 or so typical of other websites on the Internet. 

"The lawsuit is clearly without merit and we will defend against it," Lawley said. "You can choose not to buy a new TLD."

Putin slams Hillary Clinton for encouraging protesters

MOSCOW: Prime Minister Vladimir Putinstrongly criticized US secretary of state Hillary Rodham Clinton on Thursday, accusing her of encouraging and funding Russians protesting election fraud, and warned of a wider Russian crackdown on dissent. 

By describing Russia's parliamentary election as rigged, Putin said Clinton "gave a signal" to his opponents. 

"They heard this signal and with the support of the US State Department began their active work," Putin said in televised remarks. He said the United States is spending "hundreds of millions" of dollars to influence Russian politics with the aim of weakening a rival nuclear power. 

Putin's tough words show the deep cracks in U.S.-Russian ties despite President Barack Obama's efforts to "reset" relations with the Kremlin. Ahead of the election, President Dmitry Medvedevthreatened to deploy missiles to target the US missile shield in Europe if Washington failed to assuage Moscow's concerns about its plans. 

Clinton has repeatedly criticized Sunday's parliamentary vote in Russia, saying "Russian voters deserve a full investigation of electoral fraud and manipulation." 

Russian protesters took to the streets in Moscow and St. Petersburg for three straight nights this week despite a heavy police presence, outraged over observers' reports of widespread ballot box stuffing and manipulations of the vote count. 

The protests have been some of the biggest and most sustained protests in years, and police have detained hundreds of demonstrators. 

No protests were observed in Moscow or reported elsewhere Thursday. But thousands were expected to join a protest in Moscow on Saturday and similar gatherings have been called in more than 70 other cities. The turnout and the police response could be a significant indication of whether the protest movement can sustain itself long-term. 

Putin's United Russia party barely held onto its majority in parliament, with official results giving it about 50 percent of the vote, down from 64 percent four years ago. But the fraud allegations indicate that support for United Russia was even lower than that, and Russians appear to be growing weary of Putin and his party after nearly 12 years in office. 

Putin was president from 2000 until 2008, when he moved into the prime minister's office to abide by a constitutional limit on two consecutive terms. He intends to reclaim the presidency after an election in March that would give him at least six more years in power. 

Putin's return to the Kremlin still seems assured, but he clearly has been shaken by the outburst of public anger and it is not yet clear how much of a challenge it will pose to his power. 

Moscow has already put about 50,000 police and 2,000 paramilitary troops on the streets, backed by water cannon. 

Putin warned that the government might take an even harder line against those who try to influence Russia's political process on behalf of a foreign government. 

He accused the US State Department of spending "hundreds of millions" of dollars in Russia and his government has to "work out ways to protect our sovereignty from outside interference." 

"We are the largest nuclear power," Putin said, addressing supporters during a televised meeting. "And our partners have certain concerns and shake us so that we don't forget who is the master of this planet, so that we remain obedient and feel that they have leverage to influence us within our own country." 

He said "especially unacceptable is the infusion of foreign money into the electoral process." 

Clinton reached out to Russia on Thursday. 

"I think it's important to recognize that we value our relations with Russia," she said at a NATOmeeting in Brussels, where she also met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. "We have invested a great deal of effort on working together ... and we have made progress." 

Clinton defended her criticism of the elections, saying she was expressing concerns the U.S. thought were well-founded. 

Russia's only independent election monitoring group, which is supported by grants from the United States and European governments, has come under heavy official pressure in recent weeks. The Golos website documenting violations was hacked and the group was fined the equivalent of $1,000 after prosecutors accused it of violating election law. 

Putin's attempt to rally support by blaming the United States for his troubles would find little support among ordinary Russians, said political analyst Dmitry Oreshkin. 

"Even in Soviet times, it did not work," Oreshkin said. "Now it won't work for sure." 

Also Thursday, Russia's top election official urged prosecutors to study photographs and video clips circulating on social networking sites that purport to show election fraud, and signaled that those who posted the materials could be punished. 

If the images show genuine violations, they will be investigated, Central Election Commission chief Vladimir Churov said. But if evidence is found that the photographs and videos were "provocations" or faked, those who created, commissioned or sponsored them will be held to account, he said. 

Opposition groups have called for a mass protest near the Kremlin on Saturday to demand recount of the vote. About 30,000 people have now signed up to a Facebook page on the protest. 

A map circulating on the Internet shows similar protests planned for Saturday in more than 75 cities around Russia, while a page on LiveJournal lists more planned protests in 15 countries around the world. 

The use of the Internet to mobilize and organize protesters in Russia is a new phenomenon. 

"I used to express my opinion in my blog, in social networks, I wasn't really politically active," said Artyom Goryachev, a 27-year-old PR manager. "But enough is enough. I am fed up with all of this." He said he planned to go to Saturday's protest with friends from work. 

Anton Nossik, a popular blogger and Internet expert, said it was not the Internet that energized the protesters but the brazen vote rigging that prompted many young Russians to express their discontent offline. 

"They came out not because they read information (online) on where to show up for the first time, but because for the first time many people got the feeling that the time had come for that," Nossik said. 

Sam Greene, director of the Center for the Study of New Media and Society in Moscow, said this week's protests in Moscow were a combination of online and offline social networks working together. "They're going out to protests with people they know, with people they trust," he said. 

The Internet doesn't create protests or a revolution, "but it certainly makes it possible for people to communicate and to learn about what's going on around them in an environment like Russia, where the traditional media are much more closely controlled," Greene said. 

Russia's Kremlin-controlled television networks have largely ignored the demonstrations.

Delhi to have new licence plates by Dec end

Implement high security number plates for vehicles by March 31, 2012: SC to states

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday set March 31, 2012 as the deadline for states to implement the scheme for fixing high security registration plates (HSRP) in motor vehicles, while directing Delhi government to complete the process by this yearend.
"We extend the period for implementation of the scheme till December 31, 2011, by which date, all steps, complete in all respects, should be taken by the Delhi government," a bench of Chief Justice S H Kapadia and Justices A K Patnaik and Swatanter Kumar said.
The court asked Delhi Integrated Multimodal Transit System (DIMTS), which has been constituted by the Delhi government as a special purpose vehicle for overseeing transport in the Capital, to ensure that a single person is in charge of supervising manufacturing, affixation of seals, imprinting of numbers and affixation of HSRP on vehicles in the National Capital Territory of Delhi.
Like Delhi, Kerala and Manipur have also been directed to implement the scheme by December 31, 2011. West Bengal will implement the scheme by January 31, 2012 while Andhra Pradesh,Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Tripura will fully operationalise HSRP by February 29, 2012.
States and Union Territories given March 31, 2012 as deadline to implement HSRP are Bihar, Chandigarh, Jammu and Kashmir, Mizoram, Puducherry, Sikkim and Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The deadline of April 30, 2012 for implementation of HSRP was stuck on Assam, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Jharkhand, Lakshadweep, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Punjab and Uttarakhand.
Himachal Pradesh and Nagaland will be the last among the states to implement HSRP by June 15, 2012. The apex court asked the high courts not to entertain any petition, as part of judicial propriety, in relation to implementation of HSRP.
It warned the defaulting states of contempt action. "In the event of default and non-compliance of any of the directions contained in this order by any authority, this court would be compelled to initiate proceedings against such officer/officers in accordance with the provisions of Contempt of Courts Act, 1971, without any further notice to them," said Justice Swatanter Kumar, who authored the judgment on behalf of the bench.
The court took exception to non-filing of affidavits by Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Goa and Karnataka, who cited pending litigation relating to tender process as the reason. Dadra and Nagar Haveli has not even initiated the tender process.
"For non-filing of affidavits, these states/UTs have already violated the orders of the apex court," the SC said and granted time till December 31 to file affidavits.
On the litigation relating to HSRP pending in various courts, the bench said, "In the interest of justice and to ensure proper implementation of the judgments and directions of this court, as contained in its various orders, in regard to manufacturing and affixation of the HSRP, it is imperative for this court to direct that it will be in the fitness of things and even judicial propriety would demand that no high court should pass any interim order cancelling or staying the tender process in relation to implementation of the scheme."

Virginia Tech gunman kills officer, later found dead

BLACKSBURG, Virginia: A gunman killed a police officer in a Virginia Tech parking lot and was found dead nearby on Thursday in an attack that sent fear through the campus nearly five years after it was the scene of the deadliestshooting rampage in modern U.S. history.

The school locked down for hours and warned students and faculty members via email and text message to stay indoors. The shootings came as university officials were in Washington appealing a fine that U.S. officials gave them over the school's response to the 2007 rampage.

"Today, tragedy again struck Virginia Tech,'' said university president Charles Steger. "Our hearts are broken again.''

The police officer was killed after pulling a driver over in a traffic stop. The gunman, who was not involved in the traffic stop, walked into the parking lot and shot the officer, Sgt. Robert Carpentieri said. Police wouldn't talk about a motive.

A law enforcement official who spoke on the condition of anonymity confirmed the gunman was dead, but wouldn't say how.

It appeared the gunman died in another school parking lot, where officials said a man was found dead with a gun nearby. While police at a news conference wouldn't confirm the second body was the gunman, Carpentieri said "you can kind of read between the lines.''

The campus swarmed with heavily armed police during the lockdown and manhunt. Students hid in buildings, a day before final exams were to begin Friday.

"A lot of people, especially toward the beginning were scared,'' said Jared Brumfield, a 19-year-old freshman.

"It's crazy that someone would go and do something like that with all the stuff that happened in 2007,'' said Corey Smith, a 19-year-old sophomore.

Campus was quieter than usual because classes ended Wednesday. The school said exams that were to start Friday would be postponed.

The shooting came as Virginia Tech was appealing a $55,000 fine by the U.S. Education Department in connection with the university's response to the 2007 shootings.

The department said the school violated the law by waiting more than two hours after two students were shot to death in their dorm before sending an email warning. By then, student gunman Seung-Hui Cho was chaining shut the doors to a classroom building where he killed 30 more people and then himself.

The department said the email was too vague because it mentioned only a "shooting incident,'' not the deaths.

An administrative judge ended the hearing by asking each side to submit a brief by the end of January. It is unclear when he will rule.

Since the massacre, the school has overhauled its alert system and now sends text messages, emails, tweets and posts messages on its website. Other colleges and universities have put in place similar systems.

On Thursday, during about a one-hour period, the university issued four separate alerts.

Derek O'Dell, a third-year student who was wounded in the 2007 shootings, was shaken. He was monitoring the situation from his home a couple of miles from campus.

"At first I was just hoping it was a false alarm,'' he said. "Then there were reports of two people dead, and the second person shot was in the parking lot where I usually park to go to school, so it was kind of surreal.''

Death sentence of 2 Indians commuted after blood money deal

DUBAI: Two Indians, who were facing death sentence in the UAE for killing a compatriot, are set to be released this month as their death penalty was commuted by a Sharjah Sharia court after Rs eight lakh was paid in blood money to the family of the victim.

The two youths from Punjab had been awarded death sentence in Sharjah for bootlegging and murdering another Indian from Andhra Pradesh.

Talwinder Singh from Kapurthala and Paramjiit Singh from Gurdaspur were in prison since 2009 for murdering Chinna Ganganna Chepuri from Hyderabad. The case was being heard at a Sharia court in Sharjah.

"We have paid blood money, which alongside other expenses, have cost around Rs 10 lakhs. Their death penalties have been waived and they will now only get three years of jail, which they have almost served," S P Singh Oberoi, a local businessman and founder president of Indian Punjabi Society told PTI.

Oberoi said the verdict was delivered on Tuesday after a pardon letter was signed by the family of the victim.

"It will take around a week to 10 days for the two Punjabis to be released," Oberoi, who has been making efforts to get several of such individuals released, said.

Oberoi had paid Rs eight lakh as 'diya' or blood money to the family of Chepuri last month.

Earlier, the hotelier was instrumental in securing the release of 17 Indians, who were awarded death penalty for killing a Pakistani in Sharjah. Oberoi had helped raise blood money for the Indians.

Today in History: Former Beatle John Lennon shot to death

Today in History - Dec 8, 1980: Former "Beatle" John Lennon was shot to death outside his New York City apartment building as he and his wife, Yoko Ono, were returning from a recording session.
Mark David Chapman shot Lennon seven times, only hours after Lennon had autographed the album "Double Fantasy" for the 25-year-old drifter.
Chapman was later convicted of the killing and sentenced to 20-years-to-life. In 1998, the album that Lennon autographed that day was offered for sale on the Internet by an anonymous man who found it at the crime scene. The asking price -- $1.8 million. Chapman said he stashed the album behind a watchman's booth before firing five shots from a .38-calibre revolver into Lennon's back.

Feds give green light to $9-billion Joslyn oilsands mine project

CALGARY - The federal government has given the green light for the Joslyn oilsands project to go ahead, nearly six years after it was first proposed, and added fuel to the debate over what message Canada should send to the world.

Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver said Thursday that construction can now begin on the mine, about 70 kilometres north of Fort McMurray, Alta., though there remains a two-week consultation period with local First Nations.

He said the prolonged review process for Joslyn shows the need for Canada to streamline its regulatory system so the process goes faster.

"It is crystal clear that we need to put an end to unreasonable delays - delays that can jeopardize the viability of projects like Joslyn and harm our reputation as an attractive place to do business," Oliver said.

"In particular, definitive timelines from the beginning to the end of the regulatory process are needed to improve the timeliness and predictability of the regulatory environment, and support investment and planning decisions."

Total E&P Canada first proposed the mine in February 2006 and has since partnered with Canada's largest energy producer to build it at a cost of between $7 billion and $9 billion.

Jean-Michel Gires, who heads up the Canadian division of French energy giant Total SA, called Canada's regulatory system "very structured."

"I understand it reassures many stakeholders about the quality of this regulatory process," he told reporters on a conference call. But he said he would welcome changes to the system that would see projects undergo just one review, undertaken by the best-placed regulatory body.

Environmental groups were quick to blast the approval, particularly since it comes during a United Nations climate-change conference in South Africa. The oilsands have been criticized, among other things, because of the greenhouse gases that are emitted when fossil fuels are burned.

The Canadian delegation has faced criticism at the Durban talks for refusing to sign on to a second commitment period under the expiring Kyoto Protocol, the only international treaty that sets binding targets for signatory countries to lower their greenhouse-gas emissions.

"Approving Total's Joslyn tar sands mine during the UN climate summit in Durban is like poking the international process in the eye," Gillian McEachern of the group Environmental Defence, said in a statement.

"This decision will mean another one and a half million tonnes of greenhouse gas pollution each year, the equivalent to putting over 270,000 cars on the road.

"This represents the wrong direction if Canada is serious about tackling global warming. Canada's reputation has already been battered on the world stage because we're siding with big polluters instead of taking action on global warming, and this new tar sands mine will reinforce that."

The Conservative government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper has never been a fan of the Kyoto protocol, which was signed by the Liberals but received lacklustre support from them. Harper has argued it doesn't make economic sense for Canada to bind itself to restrictions when large greenhouse gas producers such as the United States, China and Russia aren't.

The Joslyn approval "removes any doubt that the Harper government does not care about the climate and shows how hollow his tar sands commitments are," said Greenpeace campaigner Mike Hudema in a statement.

"Clearly, the Harper government is more concerned with tar sands company profits than the health and well-being of communities and the environment."

Oilsands opponents often use the phrase "tar sands" as a derisive way to describe the resource.

The Canadian Building Trades labour group said it was encouraged by the approval, saying it will create jobs.

"It means good news for construction and maintenance contractors and it means good news for construction apprentices from across this country," said director Robert Blakely.

"Young Canadians work on these projects, learn a trade and make careers in the skilled trades."

In January, a regulatory panel approved the Joslyn mine, albeit with 20 conditions related to the environmental and technical aspects of the project.

The mine is part of a joint venture announced a year ago with Suncor Energy Inc. (TSX:SU), Canada's largest energy company.

That $1.75-billion partnership also includes the undeveloped Fort Hills oilsands mine and the Voyageur upgrader, which has been dormant since the recession hit in late 2008.

Gires could not say exactly when Total and Suncor will decide whether or not to go ahead with the project.

"I would say just in the near future," he said.

The 100,000-barrel-per-day project is targeted to start producing oil in 2018.

Gires said "the beauty" of the partnership with Suncor is the ability to control the pace of construction on the two mines and the upgrader that would process bitumen from them into refinery-ready crude.

"We are very cautiously working on this level of co-ordination with Suncor."