Salmond seeks referendum backing

11 January 2012 Last updated at 23:50 ET

Alex Salmond has accused the coalition of trying to dictate the terms of the referendum

Members of the Scottish Parliament will be asked to back Alex Salmond in his row with the UK government over the independence referendum.

The first minister has laid an amendment at Holyrood saying the Scottish Parliament should decide the timing and arrangements for the ballot.

UK ministers have insisted that would be unlawful.

Scottish Labour leader Johann Lamont will call on Mr Salmond to hold immediate cross-party talks.

A Labour motion to be debated at Holyrood will argue Scots civic groups must also have a say.

However, Mr Salmond's amendment calls on MSPs to back his stance which prefers a ballot in the autumn of 2014.

The first minister also urges parliament to support his view that 16-year-olds should be able to vote.

The UK government insist MSPs do not currently have the authority to hold the ballot.

Westminster ministers have suggested transferring that power to Edinburgh but only if there is a single yes or no to independence question which is overseen by the electoral commission and sticks to the current rules of only allowing over 18s to vote.

The Scottish government is due to publish a consultation document on the referendum within the month.

The UK government said it recognised the SNP's right to hold the referendum, in the wake of its landslide election victory last May.

But UK ministers said that, because the UK constitution is reserved to Westminster, new powers must be devolved to Holyrood to make it legally watertight and avoid a challenge in the courts.

The Scottish government disagrees with that position, and has accused the coalition of trying to dictate the terms of the referendum by attaching "strings", over issues such as the question which appears on the ballot paper.

In the Scottish Parliament, Ms Lamont will say the cross-party talks are needed to ensure early debate on the referendum and a "clear result" on the issue, by putting a single question to voters on whether they back independence.

She will also call on the SNP government to drop its opposition to the campaign being overseen by the Electoral Commission.

Johann Lamont said the referendum must be held in a clear manner

Holyrood ministers said the commission was ultimately answerable to the UK parliament, and they have floated the idea of setting up a new body to deal with the referendum.

Scottish Labour's call comes after Prime Minister David Cameron and Labour leader Ed Miliband joined forces to reject calls for independence, which the Liberal Democrats also oppose.

The referendum is also likely to dominate 2012's first session of first minister's questions.

Under the Scottish government's timetable, a Referendum Bill would be introduced at Holyrood in January 2013, with the expectation it would be passed by the autumn, and gain Royal Assent later in 2013.

The UK government said it wanted to work with Scottish ministers to make sure they could hold a referendum which can produce a legally binding result.

Continue Reading... Labels: backing, referendum, Salmond, seeks

N'Dour seeks Senegal presidency

2 January 2012 Last updated at 19:15 ET

N'Dour has emerged as a prominent critic of President Abdoulaye Wade in recent months

Musician Youssou N'Dour has announced he is running in February's presidential elections in Senegal.

"I have listened... and I am responding favourably," Mr N'Dour said on his own TV network, referring to requests that he put himself forward, AFP reports.

Mr N'Dour will run against incumbent Abdoulaye Wade, who is seeking a controversial third term.

Mr Wade's bid and changes he proposed to the constitution have prompted widespread unrest in recent months.

"It is a supreme patriotic duty," Mr N'Dour said of his candidacy.

"It's true, I haven't pursued higher education, but the presidency is a function and not a job.

"I have proved my competence, commitment, rigour and efficiency time and time again. I have studied at the school of the world. Travel teaches as much as books," he added.

Election controversy

Proposals made last June by Mr Wade to change the constitution sparked the most violent protests of his 11-year tenure.

Mr Wade had wanted to reduce the proportion of votes needed to win a presidential election, and so avoid a run-off - from more than 50% to 25%.

He had also wanted to create an elected post of vice-president, which many suspected was meant for his son Karim.

Many opposition activists claim Mr Wade's bid for a third term is unconstitutional.

Mr N'Dour has emerged as a prominent opposition figure in recent months.

He has also long been involved in humanitarian causes, being a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef). Last year he also criticised African leaders over their response to the famine in Somalia.

Mr N'Dour is renowned around the world for his individual fusion of traditional Senegalese music with salsa, jazz and hip-hop.

His 1994 duet with Neneh Cherry, Seven Seconds, was a worldwide hit and won a Grammy nomination.

Continue Reading... Labels: N'Dour, presidency, seeks, Senegal

RFK assassin Sirhan Sirhan alleges conspiracy theory, seeks release from prison

Sirhan Sirhan, after being arrested for the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy in 1968. …

Attorneys for Sirhan Sirhan, the man who assassinated Robert Kennedy in 1968, have asked that he be released from prison, alleging that he was a victim of "mind-control" and never actually shot Kennedy.

Less than a week after the anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, Sirhan's lawyers have presented their own Kennedy conspiracy theory, alleging that in Sirhan's 1969 trial the court ignored evidence that there were actually two shooters in RFK's assassination. Sirhan's legal team is also arguing that the revolver found on Sirhan was not responsible for the gunshots that killed Kennedy.

"Though the practice of hypno programming/mind control is hardly new, the public has been shielded from the darker side of the practice," Sirhan's court filings say. "The average person is unaware that hypnosis can and is used to induct antisocial conduct in humans."

Attorneys William F. Pepper and Laurie D. Dusek argue that Sirhan at least deserves a new trial, alleging that the original 1969 proceeding were marred by fraud when the court allowed a substitute bullet to be used in place of the real bullet removed from Kennedy's neck.

In addition, Sirhan's attorneys say recently discovered audio recordings provide evidence that as many as thirteen gun shots were fired at the time of Kennedy's assassination assassinated. As CNN explains, the details get even stranger from there:

The attorneys further assert that Sirhan was hypno-programmed to be a diversion for the real assassin and allege that Sirhan would be easily blamed for the assassination because he is an Arab. Sirhan, 67, is a Christian Palestinian born in Jerusalem whose parents brought him and his siblings to America in the 1950s.

Sirhan "was an involuntary participant in the crimes being committed because he was subjected to sophisticated hypno programming and memory implantation techniques which rendered him unable to consciously control his thoughts and actions at the time the crimes were being committed," court papers said.

The California attorney general's office has so far declined to comment on Sirhan's court filings.

Sirhan Sirhan has long claimed that he cannot remember the actual assassination. Harvard Medical School hypno-programming expert Daniel Brown recently worked with Sirhan, claiming to successfully help him remember the assassination for the first time. Brown says Sirhan claims that due to "mind control," Sirhan believed he was at a gun range shooting at circular targets.

Pepper and Dusek also represented Sirhan during his recent unsuccessful attempt to win parole from Pleasant Valley state Prison in Coalinga, California, where he is currently serving a life sentence.

Other popular Yahoo! News stories:

• New "sun worship" sites found at Stonehenge

• Famed actress Hedy Lamarr helped invent wireless technology

• Controversial "anti-Semitic" vodka billboard taken down in NYC

Continue Reading... Labels: alleges, assassin, conspiracy, prison, Release, seeks, Sirhan, theory