Ohio carries out first US execution by single injection

Ohio has become the first US state to carry out an execution with a single-drug injection instead of the usual combination of three drugs.

Kenneth Biros, 51, was put to death after the US Supreme Court denied his final appeal.

Biros had been convicted of the murder of a 22-year-old woman in 1991.

The new method was introduced because of concerns that prisoners could suffer extreme pain if the first of the usual three drugs failed to work effectively.

Critics say the method – which uses a dose of thiopental sodium and can take twice as long to take effect – is human experimentation. US justice officials deny this.

‘Experimental use’

Biros was pronounced dead about 10 minutes after the injection was administered, the Associated Press news agency reports. On average, death took seven minutes under the previous method in Ohio.
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US Gen Stanley McChrystal backs US surge in Afghanistan

The top US commander in Afghanistan has said there are “no silver bullets” for success there, but the troop surge will help reverse the Taliban’s momentum.

Testifying to US Congress, Gen Stanley McChrystal said President Barack Obama’s deployment of 30,000 extra troops meant success was possible.

He said the next 18 months would be crucial, but that he did not expect to need more troops to get the job done.

But Gen McChrystal warned the Afghan mission was “undeniably difficult”.

He said coalition forces faced “a complex and resilient insurgency” and that Afghans lacked confidence in their government.

“Success will require steadfast commitment and incur significant costs,” he told the House Armed Services Committee.
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US to regulate greenhouse gas emissions

The US government has declared that greenhouse gases threaten human health.

The move could allow the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to order cuts in emissions without the approval of Congress.

EPA administrator Lisa Jackson said the agency was now “authorised and obligated to make reasonable efforts” to cut greenhouse gases.

The news came as global climate talks got under way in Copenhagen aimed at forging a deal on major emissions cuts.

Ms Jackson said that the scientific evidence surrounding climate change clearly showed that greenhouse gases “threaten the public health and welfare of the American people”.

She said the EPA’s so-called endangerment finding would “cement 2009’s place in history as the year when the United States government began addressing the challenge of greenhouse-gas pollution”.

Reports suggest the announcement, which had been in the pipeline for months, was timed to add weight to US President Barack Obama’s position at the climate change talks in Copenhagen, allowing him to argue that the US is taking action to combat global warming.
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India beat Sri Lanka by an innings to top Test rankings

Third Test, Mumbai, day five:
India 726-9 declared beat Sri Lanka 393 and 309 by an innings and 24 runs

India have become the world’s top-ranked Test team for the first time after beating Sri Lanka in the third Test by an innings and 24 runs.

Sri Lanka, resuming on 274-6, were bowled out for 309 as Zaheer Khan took three of the final four wickets.

The 2-0 series win moves India above South Africa in the International Cricket Council’s Test rankings.

“I would not hesitate to say this is the best team I have ever played with,” said India star Sachin Tendulkar.

“If you look at the batting line-up, right from the number one batsman to the number seven batsman which is Mahendra Singh Dhoni, it’s a solid line-up.”

Needing 60 runs to make India bat again, Sri Lanka lost Kumar Sangakkara caught behind off Zaheer in the fifth day’s opening over.
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Guinea’s leader ’shot and wounded by aide’

Guinea’s military leader has been fired on by one of his aides in the capital, Conakry, a government spokesman says.

Officials said Capt Moussa Dadis Camara had been injured in the shooting, but his exact condition is not known.

Communication Minister Idrissa Cherif said Capt Camara was “doing well”. He named aide-de-camp Aboubacar “Toumba” Diakite as being behind the attack.

Meanwhile, neighbouring Senegal has sent a medical plane to evacuate Capt Camara, Senegalese officials said.

“Senegal has sent a medical plane to Conakry to bring Dadis to Dakar,” the official said, quoted by AFP news agency.

“He is injured. We don’t know the degree and the nature of his injury.”

Mr Cherif said Capt Camara, who took power in a bloodless coup last year, was at a military camp when the shooting occurred.

Reports from the city said gunfire broke out at about 1900 GMT, near a radio station and a base of the presidential guard.
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China: Labor crunch in land of 1.3 billion

Yiwu, China (CNN) — There are 1.3 billion people in China, and millions upon millions live here in the nation’s industrial south.

Yet an increasingly common sight in this manufacturing city are “Help Wanted” signs.

The southern industrial base of China was hardest hit by the economic crisis, forcing many factories to shut down or lay off workers. When business bounced back with Christmas-related orders, manufacturers such as Fang Bo had a new problem on his hands — getting his workers back.

Bo said many workers — often immigrants from rural areas — left the city, never to return. Conversations with other factory managers tell a similar tale, with some forced to go into the hinterlands of China to attract workers back to their plants.
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Fritzkrieg

General Motors has ditched its chief executive after just eight months on the job

FRITZ Henderson was due to deliver a speech at the Los Angeles Motor Show on Wednesday December 2nd, to give an update on General Motors’ progress since its spell in bankruptcy this summer. Instead his place had to be taken by Bob Lutz, a former GM executive in his late 70s but recently recalled from retirement to supervise the company’s marketing. The silver-haired showman tried to talk up GM’s prospects, but what his audience really wanted to know was why it had suddenly lost its second boss this year.

The short answer is that GM’s independent directors had decided that Mr Henderson, who had spent almost his entire career at the firm, was not the man to get it out of the mire it had sunk into over the decades. Both Ford and Chrysler, GM’s two big American rivals, have installed outsiders to lead dramatic overhauls. Moreover, GM’s new chairman, Edward Whitacre—put there by the government, which now owns a majority stake in the firm—has his own ideas about the way forward, and has taken over as interim chief executive.

Mr Henderson took charge in March after the government, in exchange for a bail-out, demanded the head of Rick Wagoner, who had presided over the decline of what had been for decades the world’s leading car manufacturer. On his brief watch the brisk Mr Henderson delivered some progress, broking deals with bondholders and the United Auto Workers union that helped pave the way for the company to emerge from bankruptcy early last summer and start planning for an initial public offering of shares in the reborn GM.
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Lawmakers question 2011 Afghan exit plan

Washington (CNN) — Conservative and liberal lawmakers Wednesday sharply criticized President Obama’s plan to start a U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan in July 2011.

Most Republicans backed the president’s decision to send more troops. They claimed, however, he was playing politics by setting an “arbitrary” withdrawal deadline while insisting that any transfer of responsibility to the Afghan government ultimately will be based on conditions in that country.

They also argued he inadvertently strengthened the hand of Taliban and al Qaeda extremists by allowing them to know when a U.S. departure from the war-torn country would begin.

Several members of the Democratic caucus, on the other hand, expressed unease with the president’s decision to send thousands of additional troops over the next several months. They questioned whether the war is winnable.

Obama’s blueprint faced questions Wednesday as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, appeared before two key committees.
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25 years on, Bhopal still suffers from gas leak tragedy

Bhopal, India (CNN) — T.R. Chouhan walked solemnly through the rusted remains of the Union Carbide pesticide factory in Bhopal, India. “I come here frequently,” he said. “We used to work here, and now this is the condition of the plant. So it feels really bad.”

Chouhan was a 10-year veteran employee of the plant when disaster struck 25 years ago. Shortly after midnight on December 3, 1984, a cloud of methyl isocyanate gas wafted into the Bhopal atmosphere. Outside the factory’s concrete walls, quiet neighborhoods quickly became chaotic.

“Everybody started screaming, ‘There’s a gas leak, there’s a gas leak!’ So we started running,” recalled Bhopal resident Bashiran Bi.

“When we stepped out of the house, there was no room on the streets,” remembered Hamid Qureshi, another survivor. “There was chaos everywhere. People were running in each and every direction.”
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Tiger Woods admits ‘I have let my family down’

Golf star Tiger Woods has apologised to his family, amid continuing speculation about his private life following a car crash last week.

“I have let my family down and I regret those transgressions with all of my heart,” he said in a statement, without elaborating further.

“I have not been true to my values and the behaviour my family deserves.”

Woods was found bleeding and semi-conscious after his car hit a tree and fire hydrant outside his Florida home.

He was charged with careless driving, which carries a $164 (£98) fine and four points on his driving record.

‘Personal sins’

The 14-time major champion has been married to his Swedish wife Elin for five years and has two young children.

He denied rumours that physical violence played any role in the incident, saying they were “utterly false and malicious”.
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