FT Chronicle

CHICAGO (AFP)—The oldest American and second oldest person in the world died early Tuesday aged 114, local media reports said.

Neva Morris passed away at the Northcrest Community in Ames, Iowa, with her family at her side, the Des Moines Register reported.

Morris became the oldest American in early March.

“She lived a long, charitable and wonderful life. She was a private person who was very proud of her family,” said Walter Morris, Neva’s last living child in a statement cited by the newspaper.

“She was always there if you needed her. She loved her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren very much,” Morris added.

WASHINGTON DC, United States— Another 6.2-magnitude aftershock struck central Chile late Sunday which followed the major 8.8-degree earthquake a US government agency reported.

The epicenter of the shake was 35 kilometers underground and 109 kilometers northeast of the city of Talca, the US Geological Survey said.

Chile’s death toll reached 700 on Sunday as rescuers searched for survivors and the extent of the disaster claimed 1.5 million houses and buildings which were destroyed or badly damaged.

Philippines’ top leaders from different sectors will have a leadership conference with former US Vice-President Al Gore as keynote speaker and other global leaders.

The lecture will have Gore present an Asian version of An Inconvenient Truth, a multimedia presentation on the threat of climate change and solutions to global warming and the subject of the movie of the same title that has won critical and box-office acclaim.

A Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Gore has just published his latest book, Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis, which proposes measures to help solve the climate crisis.

It is made possible by SM Prime Holdings and is to be held at the SMX Convention Center at the SM Mall of Asia Complex on April 30.

PHILADELPHIA – Philadelphia 76ers guard Allen Iverson has left the team and is out indefinitely to spend time with his ill daughter.

Iverson will miss at least the remaining three games of Philadelphia’s road trip. Iverson missed five games and the All-Star game to be with his family when the health issue surfaced earlier this month.

Iverson has not disclosed what is ailing his 4-year-old daughter, Messiah.

Sixers president Ed Stefanski says it was in the best interest of the team and Iverson to allow him time with his family to deal with a “very serious issue.” - AP

NEW ORLEANS – Pain on his left foot may bar Tony Parker to play but it transformed him to be aggressive and to redeem himself.
Parker scored 25 points as the San Antonio Spurs handed New Orleans a rare home loss, 97-90.

Parker recounted his experience and said he’s still in “surviving mode”.

Parker said his back was stiff two nights ago when he scored only four points on 2-of-8 shooting at Memphis, which was San Antonio’s second straight loss during a four-game road swing that concluded in the Big Easy.

Against New Orleans, he routinely drove hard to the hoop, losing defenders on screens and finding lanes to the basket.

Tim Duncan added 21 points and 14 rebounds for the Spurs, while George Hill scored 16 points and Manu Ginobili had 11.

David West scored 18 points for New Orleans, which lost for only the second time in its last 15 home games. Chris Paul, who fouled out in the final minute, had 18 points and nine assists for the Hornets, while Marcus Thornton scored 16 points.

San Antonio led by double digits for most of the game, going up by as many as 21 points when Duncan hit one of two free throws to make it 76-55 late in the third quarter.

The Spurs went into the fourth quarter with a 17-point lead, which the Hornets quickly trimmed with a 7-0 run to open the period. Thornton’s fast-break layup made it 78-68 and the Hornets pulled to 80-72 on Darren Collison’s free throws with 7:06 remaining.

New Orleans missed several chances to get closer and still trailed by eight when Parker’s driving scoop made it 84-74 with 4:40 to go. Parker scored seven more points in the final minutes.

San Antonio outrebounded New Orleans 50-38, with DeJuan Blair grabbing 13 for the Spurs, including five on the offensive end. The Spurs were the more forceful team drawing fouls inside. Despite missing 14 free throws, they still outscored the Hornets 24-10 from the foul line.

The Spurs were 7 of 18 from 3-point range with Keith Bogans hitting three. New Orleans went only 4 of 13 from long range.

Ginobili’s 3-pointer made it 24-12 at the end of the first quarter. The lead got as large as 18 in the second quarter on Hill’s reverse layup, which capped a 9-2 run and made it 47-29.

Parker had 16 points by halftime, when the Spurs led 56-41.

WASHINGTON – The FBI violated the law in accumulating a huge number of U.S. telephone records under the Bush government, a major newspaper reported Monday.

The Washington Post said the FBI summoned unreal terrorism emergencies or convinced phone firms to supply information as it illegally collected more than 2,000 records between 2002 and 2006 quoting internal memos and interviews.

The bureau said in 2007 that it had improperly got hold of some phone records, and the Justice Department inspector general is soon to release a report this month specifying the extent of the dilemma.

FBI general counsel Valerie Caproni told the Post that agents technically violated the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (1986) by citing nonexistent urgent situations to gain records. “We should have stopped those requests from being made that way,” she said.

Caproni said FBI Director Robert Mueller is unwary of the requests until late 2006 or early 2007, after the inspector general’s investigation had begun.

He told the Post that the bureau will wait for the inspector general’s report before resolving whether disciplinary action is warranted.

WASHINGTON– US President Barack Obama joined forces with his White House predecessors, George W. Bush Democrat Bill Clinton, to help victims of Haiti’s major quake.

Obama said that America stands united with the people of Haiti to help them to recover and to rebuild.

The United States have launced “one of the largest relief efforts in our history” to bring support to Haiti following Tuesday’s devastating 7.0-magnitude earthquake that claimed properties and lives.

Bush, who congratulated Obama for his “swift and timely response to the disaster” and called for people to contribute money for organizations who will be able to effectively spend it for the Haiti people.

The challenges in Haiti “are immense, but there’s a lot of devoted people leading the

Clinton, the United Nations special envoy for Haiti, said the priority for now is to ship food, medicine and water to Haiti.

Obama and the ex-presidents directed people to the website www.clintonbushhaitifund.org to make donations.

Both British Airways and Virgin Atlantic has confirmed that travellers to the US from the UK will still be able to take electronic equipment such as laptops, DVD players and games consoles on their flight as usual despite of experiencing new security measures in the coming weeks, following the attempted terrorist attack by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab on a trans-Atlantic flight to Detroit on Christmas day in the US.

After landing in heavy rain late Tuesday, an American Airlines flight from Miami to Kingston crashed and broke in two that injured forty passengers, reported in Jamaica Observer newspaper.

“The plane crashed and broke almost in front of me,” passenger Naomi Palmer told The Observer. The plane overshot the runway, according to local media reports.

Passengers on American Airlines Flight 331 had arrived in pouring rain at Kingston’s Norman Manley International Airport about 10:00 pm (0300 GMT Wednesday) when the accident occurred, carrying 148 passengers and six crew members.

“The injured passengers have been taken to the Kingston Public Hospital,” Jamaican Information Minister Daryl Vaz told the Observer, adding that there were no reports of fatalities.

United States has faced another snowstorm to blanket some of its states moving up the Atlantic Coast as officials warned of up to 20 inches of snow and significant power outages.

People stocked up on groceries and other staples Friday after the National Weather Service issued winter storm warnings from the Carolinas to Rhode Island.

In Virginia, Gov. Tim Kaine declared a state of emergency ahead of the storm, placing the National Guard and other agencies on standby.

Philadelphia officials also declared a state of emergency and the school district canceled all weekend activities.

Washington, D.C., declared a snow emergency.

Due to travel conditions to be dangerous, departing flights in international airports were delayed while others had already canceled most of their Saturday flights. The storm has brought traffic accidents in the roads and electrical outage. Some injuries were reported, but no fatalities.

Forecasters expected up to 20 inches of snow through late Saturday from the Washington metro area to West Virginia. They said it could be the most snow in the nation’s capital since a February 2003 storm dumped nearly 27 inches at Baltimore-Washington International Airport.

The storm came from the Gulf and drenched South Florida with rain starting late Thursday, leaving flooded homes and stranded drivers.