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CHICAGO, ILLINOIS (BNO NEWS) – Ford Motor Co. will end the production of the Mercury branded vehicles in order to revive luxury-brand Lincoln, the automaker reported on Wednesday.
Sometime during the next three months, the production of the mid-market Mercury brand will be stopped. Ford promised to compensate dealers who lose their franchises as a result of Ford’s decision.
Mercury brand was launched in 1939. Its mission was to fill the gap between the mass market Ford brand and the luxury Lincoln marque. Mercury has suffered from lack of new product and advertising. Its sales have dropped dramatically in recent years.
Ford announced that despite the closing of the Mercury brand, it will continue to provide continued access to parts and service support at Ford and Lincoln dealers. The current warranties and Ford’s extended service plans will be respected and continued.
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UNITED NATIONS (BNO NEWS) – United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appointed on Wednesday a new Special Representative and top UN official on Cyprus, UN News informed.
Lisa Buttenheim of the United States was unveiled as Ban’s representative in Cyprus, where UN-backed talks are being held in an effort to reunite the island. She was the Director of the Middle East and West Asia Division in the Department of Political Affairs (DPA) in the world body’s Secretariat in New York since January 2009. She joined the UN in 1983.
“Ms. Buttenheim brings to the position extensive experience with the United Nations in the political and peacekeeping areas,” a spokesperson of the Secretary-General said.
Buttenheim succeeded Tayé-Brook Zerihoun of Ethiopia, who was appointed in April to serve as the Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs for the Secretariat in New York. Buttenheim will serve for the UN peacekeeping mission known as UNFICYP, which has been stationed in Cyprus since 1964 after an outbreak of inter-communal violence.
The island of Cyprus is currently divided into Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriot. The UN continues to promote talks between leaders of both sides as part of the efforts to try to reunify the island.
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ATLANTA, GEORGIA (BNO NEWS) — The Carter Center expressed on Wednesday deep regret for the loss of life and condemned the “unprovoked and illegal Israeli assault” on the Gaza flotilla carrying pro-Palestinian activists and what organizers say it was aid for Gaza.
“These dead and injured people are the latest victims of a failed policy to lay siege to Gaza and its 1.4 million civilians in an attempt to undermine the Hamas government in the territory,” said the Carter Center, a NPO founded in 1982 by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter.
“These tragic deaths are a terrible reminder that the failed policy of besieging Gaza mainly hurts civilians,” said former U.S. President Jimmy Carter. “Now more than ever, the International Quartet, led by the United States, must urgently agree on a mechanism to end the closure of Gaza, reunite the Palestinian factions, and permit unification of Palestinian people.”
On early Monday, at least nine people were killed and scores of others were left injured after Israeli ships clashed with six ships carrying pro-Palestinian activists and what organizers say it was aid for Gaza.
Israel said the ships raised suspicion because they refused to be inspected for weapons. Israel also said they had offered alternatives, such as transferring the supplies via ground borders, but organizers refused.
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WASHINGTON D.C. (BNO NEWS) – The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) awarded CH2M Hill, Inc., a contract to provide services for environmental engineering and occupational health, NASA News announced on Wednesday.
CH2M Hill is a company leader in full-service engineering, planning, consulting, construction, and operations. It is based in Montgomery, Alabama. It will provide its services at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.
The contract began on June 1 and will last one-year base period, followed by four one-year options that could be exercised by NASA. It is a firm, fixed price contract with an indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity (IDIQ) portion.
CH2M Hill will conduct studies, and develop plans and reports in support of environmental compliance and occupational health activities at Marshall Center.
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MEXICO CITY (BNO NEWS) — Mexico’s ministries of the Interior and Foreign Affairs said on Wednesday that the 2010 Voluntary Repatriation Program has started on Tuesday for those those who want to return to Mexico.
Those who volunteer to participate in the program are flown to Mexico City via daily flights coordinated by the U.S. government from Tucson International Airport and provided bus transportation to their hometowns in the interior of Mexico.
The program was designed in 2004 as a bilateral effort between the United States and Mexico to reduce the loss of human life and combat organized crime linked to the smuggling, trafficking and exploitation of persons.
Under the program, Mexican nationals apprehended in U.S. Border Patrol’s Yuma and Tucson Sectors are taken to DHS facilities in Nogales and Yuma, Ariz., where candidates are medically screened, meet with officials from Mexican Consulate and are offered the opportunity to voluntarily participate in the program.
In 2009, a total of 10,561 Mexican citizens participated in the program, which is working since 2004.
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BRISTOL, ENGLAND (BNO NEWS) – The millions who depend on coffee to kick start their day may be just counteracting the effects of caffeine withdrawal, according to a new study released from Bristol University on Wednesday, the Guardian reported.
Infrequent coffee drinkers don’t do much better when they reach for a cup during emergencies. They’ll typically suffer from heightened feelings of anxiety and withdrawal the next day.
“Someone who consumes caffeine regularly when they’re at work but not at weekends runs the risk of feeling a bit rubbish by Sunday,” said Peter Rogers, who led the research at Bristol University. “It’s better to stick with it or keep off it altogether.”
Blood samples were taken from 379 people who were requested to avoid caffeine for the next sixteen hours. After that, they were given a caffeine pill or a placebo. Results showed that caffeine did not have any effect on the alertness level of the subjects.
The research is significant and notable because compared to previous studies, the study has a large sample size compared to previous studies.
“It’s an interesting piece of evidence, and a very ambitious study,” said Lorenzo Stafford, a psychologist at the University of Portsmouth. “Getting the DNA samples of so many participants is a huge effort.”
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UNITED NATIONS (BNO NEWS) – Human trafficking remains one of the world’s fastest growing criminal activities in the world, an independent United Nations (UN) expert said today.
“[It is] one of the most appalling forms of human rights violations,” Joy Ngozi Ezeilo, the UN Special Rapporteur on Trafficking in Persons, especially women and children, said, underlining that the role of regional organizations in fighting the scourge “cannot be underestimated.”
Ezeilo, who assumed her position in 2008, emphasized the need to enhance coordination among countries of origin, transit and destination in order to fight this problem, calling for stepped up support for regional and sub-regional groups seeking to catalyze State action to combat trafficking.
“In order to be effective, [these groups] should put the rights of the victim at the core of their strategies and actions,” she said. “By doing so, they will succeed both in protecting victims and prosecuting traffickers.”
Ezeilo underscored to the Council on Wednesday that “it is only be properly protecting and assisting victims that you can effectively prosecute traffickers.”
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BELLEVUE, WASHINGTON (BNO NEWS) – The Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (CCRKBA) on Wednesday expressed that the recent mass shooting in northwest England is more proof that restrictive gun laws do not prevent horrible criminal acts.
Media reports state that 12 people are dead and 25 people are wounded, as suspected gunman Derrick Bird is among the fatalities, allegedly by a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
“American gun prohibitionists have frequently held up the gun laws of Great Britain as their model,” said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb. “They have created the impression that English-style gun laws would prevent outrages in this country. Today’s shooting spree, which apparently left victims in 30 different locations, should forever put the lie to this argument.”
“Like all victim disarmament laws and regulations,” Gottlieb explained, “the laws now in place in England only created a risk-free environment for the gunman to carry out his despicable act. America knows from experience what happens when such killers are confronted by determined armed citizens.”
Gottlieb continued by issuing examples of previous scenarios: a gunman was stopped by an off-duty police officer out of his jurisdiction at Salt Lake City’s Trolley Square in 2007. Another shooter was stopped in his tracks at a church in Colorado Springs that same year. An armed customer at a restaurant in Anniston, Alabama prevented a mass shooting in 1999. An armed high school vice principal stopped Pearl, Mississippi gunman Luke Woodham. Two armed students stopped a gunman at the Appalachian Law School in 2002.
“We don’t know why Derrick Bird opened fire,” Gottlieb concluded. “We may never know. What we do know is that restrictive gun laws did not prevent him from shooting. From our experience, an armed citizen might have stopped him cold.”
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JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA (BNO NEWS) – The African National Congress (ANC) Youth League condemned on Wednesday the Israeli raid on the humanitarian flotilla that was headed to Gaza to provide relief.
The Youth League stated that they view this as a provocative attack by Israel and a threat to international peace and condemns it in the strongest terms. The ANC Youth League called upon the South African government and the International Community to isolate the State of Israel and cut all diplomatic ties in solidarity with the people of Palestine.
The organization noted this backdrop as their reason for demanding the South African government recall their ambassador to Israel and expelled the Israeli ambassador from the Republic of South Africa.
The ANC Youth League stated that they continue to call for a two state solution to the Middle East conflict between Israel and Palestine. They said that they will forever oppose the barbaric attacks by the Israeli government.
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WASHINGTON D.C. (BNO NEWS) – White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said on Wednesday that the United States respects the decision of Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama to resign after eight months in the office, the Office of the Press Secretary announced.
“The U.S. – Japan bilateral relationship is very strong and deeply rooted in our common interests and values. Our Alliance has flourished under each Japanese Prime Minister and U.S. President for the past half century and will continue to strengthen in the years to come,” said Gibbs.
Gibbs also commented that the Japanese people and government are the only ones capable to select the next Prime Minister of Japan. He concluded by saying that the U.S. will continue to work closely with Japan across the broad range of issues between both nations.
Hatoyama’s main reason to step down is attributed to a promise made during his campaign. He vowed to move the U.S. Futenma Air Base off Okinawa but after eight moths he capitulated to U.S. demands. Hatoyama apologized to the public and took full responsibility for losing public trust in the government.
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