CUBA LIBRE - FREE CUBA

Ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro stepped down on Tuesday after almost half a century at Cuba's helm, setting the stage for an orderly transfer of power to his brother Raul. For decades, Castro's enemies have hoped his death or resignation would send thousands of Cubans onto the streets to demand democratic reforms in the communist state.But when the 81-year-old revolutionary announced he would not seek a new term as president or leader of Cuba's armed forces when the National Assembly meets on Sunday, the reaction from Cubans was subdued.Some were saddened by Castro's retirement and others hoped it would herald economic changes, but no one was ready to predict major changes to Cuba's one-party rule.

People went about their lives as usual and there appeared to be little or no increase in police presence on the quiet and muggy streets of Havana."I will not aspire to or accept -- I repeat not aspire to or accept -- the positions of president of the Council of State and commander-in-chief," Castro said in a statement published in the Communist Party's Granma newspaper.Castro, who seized power in an armed revolution in 1959, has not appeared in public since emergency intestinal surgery forced him to delegate power to his brother on July 31, 2006.Cuba's National Assembly, a rubber-stamp legislature, is expected to formally nominate Raul Castro, 76, as president.

"The revolution will continue. Fidel resigned in time. It's a wise decision. He let Cubans get used to his absence for 18 months," said Lazaro, a building administrator sweeping a lobby in slippers and an Australian Olympic team shirt."Raul can improve things. He has different economic views from Fidel, though both are the same politically," Lazaro said, praising the Cuban armed forces managed by the younger Castro as the only financially solvent institution in Cuba.

Castro's retirement raised expectations for change on the island -- and calls for democracy by his arch-enemy, the United States -- but Cuba experts said limited economic reforms were more likely than swift political transformation.President George W. Bush, who has tightened the decades-old economic embargo against Castro's government, said his retirement should begin a democratic transition.In Miami, the heartland of exiled opposition to the Castro brothers, reaction was also subdued, in contrast to celebrations after the 2006 announcement of his illness."This is a succession from one tyrant to another. We shouldn't kid ourselves.

While Fidel is alive, he's running the show," Cuban-born U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez said in an interview with Reuters.Cuba watchers disagreed and said Castro's retirement clears the way for his brother to wield real authority."Despite the fact that there will be continuity in the short term in Cuba, this is clearly a momentous moment for the people of Cuba," said Dan Erikson, an expert on Cuba at the Inter-American Dialogue think tank in Washington.Raul Castro has promoted more open debate about Cuba's failings.

Cubans hope he will lift restrictions on travel abroad and allow them to buy and sell cars and homes, currently prohibited in the state-run economy. "Cuba has problems -- many identified by its government -- and Cuban socialism will now sink, swim, or adapt on its own, without Fidel," said Phil Peters of the Lexington Institute in Virginia.

MASSACRE MADE IN USA II

Steve Kazmierczak (27), had gone more than a dozen years without talking to his godfather, Richard Grafer, until about a month ago. In the following weeks they would chat about a lot of things, even maybe going fishing. But as they made plans, he was buying weapons -- part of an arsenal he used Thursday to kill 5 students at NIU (Northern Illinois University).

According to BATF he bought a Remington 12-gauge shotgun, a Glock 9mm pistol, a 9mm Sig-Sauer and a Hi-Point .380 pistol from Tony's Guns & Ammo in. He had a valid Illinois firearm owner's identification card. In addition he bought 2 empty Glock ammo magazines and a holster from Eric Thompson, a Green Bay-based Internet gun dealer who also sold a weapon to Seung-Hui Cho, the 23-year-old Virginia Tech senior who killed 32 people at the Blacksburg, Va., university last april.

Kazmierczak was born and raised in Elk Grove Village. He went on to win academic honors at NIU, but about midway through Elk Grove High School he began battling behavioral problems that landed him in special treatment and required to take mood-stabilizing drugs. Around their junior year Kazmierczak began exploring satanism and white-power movements. After graduating in 1998, he get treatment in Thresholds-Mary Hill House in Chicago. He went into the Army in September 2001, but was discharged in February 2002 for an ''unspecified'' reason.

But there are signs why he recently became unhinged. In June 2006 -- a month after he graduated from NIU with a bachelor's degree in sociology-- their mother, Gail, was diagnosed with ALS disease (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis). She died that September at 58. Recently, his girlfriend in Champaign had broken up with him. Kazmierczak had stopped taking his medications and had been behaving erratically. Last fall, he dropped to part-time status at the U. of I. to take a job Sept. 24 as a guard at Rockville Correctional Facility in Indiana, but lasted 2 weeks there, reason unknown.

On Thursday, shortly after 3 p.m., Kazmierczak walked into the lecture hall in DeKalb. He never said a word. He took a deep breath, raised his shotgun and killed Daniel Parmenter, 20, of Elmhurst; Catalina Garcia, 20, of Cicero; Ryanne Mace, 19, of Carpentersville; Julianna Gehant, 32, of the Mendota area, and Gayle Dubowski, 20, of Carol Stream. He wounded 16 others before committing suicide. The shotgun was in a guitar case and the handguns and ammo under his coat. Investigators found 48 bullet casings and 6 shotgun shells on the stage. Kazmierczak's sister posted a note on the door of her Urbana home Friday night, expressing her family's condolences to the families of all of the victims.

MASSACRE MADE IN USA

Steven Kazmierczak's quiet, dependable and fun-loving exterior masked troubling details from his past that emerged as a stunned community struggled to understand what caused the 27-year-old to open fire on a class at Northern Illinois University, leaving 6 people dead. A former employee at a Chicago psychiatric treatment center said Kazmierczak was placed there after high school by his parents. She said he used to cut himself, and had resisted taking his medications. He also had a short-lived stint as a prison guard that ended abruptly when he didn't show up for work. He was in the Army for about six months in 2001-02, but he told a friend he'd gotten a psychological discharge.

On Thursday, Kazmierczak, armed with 3 handguns and a pump-action shotgun, stepped from behind a screen on the lecture hall's stage and opened fire on a geology class. He killed 5 students before committing suicide. Kazmierczak had become erratic in the past 2 weeks after he stopped taking his medication.

Kazmierczak spent more than a year at the Thresholds-Mary Hill House in the late 1990s. His parents placed him there after high school because he had become "unruly" at home. On Feb. 9, Kazmierczak walked into a Champaign gun store and picked up 2 guns — a Remington shotgun and a Glock 9mm handgun. He bought the 2 other handguns at the same shop — a Hi-Point .380 on Dec. 30 and a Sig Sauer on Aug. 6. Kazmierczak (pronounced kaz-MUR-chek) grew up in the Chicago suburb of Elk Grove Village.

At NIU, 6 white crosses were placed on a snow-covered hill around the center of campus, which was closed Friday. They included the names of 4 victims — Daniel Parmenter, Ryanne Mace, Julianna Gehant, Catalina Garcia. The 2 other crosses were blank, though officials have identified Kazmierczak's final victim as Gayle Dubowski.

We hope that this will be the last time, but, the reality goes in other way. So, where are the next victims?.

AFRICA BURNING

Kenya edged closer to tribal warfare last night after more than 100 people at least 80 of them children burned to death as the church they had fled to for refuge was set alight. More than 200 people, mainly Kikuyus, the same tribe as President Mwai Kibaki, were sheltering for safety in the Kenya Assemblies of God church five miles outside Eldoret in the Rift Valley. An armed gang of young men drawn from the Kalenjin, Luhya and Luo tribes ethnic groups which backed the beaten presidential candidate Raila Odinga stormed the church compound yesterday morning and set it alight.

Last night a further 42 people were in Eldoret's Moi referral hospital with serious burns, many in a critical condition. Kenya Red Cross officials said that number would also rise.

Bishop Korir, the bishop of Eldoret, said more than 15,000 people were sheltering inside church compounds in his diocese. "It is the only place where people felt safe, but now I don't know. This situation is so bad. We have 8,000 people in one compound. They have no food, no water and no security. The situation is so bad there are dead bodies lying in the streets."

Ethnic violence has swept through Kenya since Mwai Kibaki was controversially announced as the winner of last Thursday's presidential election. Paramilitary police have fired on Mr Odinga's supporters in Kisumu on the shores of Lake Victoria, and in the slums of Nairobi.

Kikuyus, the largest of Kenya's 42 tribes, and the ethnic group of Mr Kibaki, have been fleeing their homes across the Rift Valley, seeking sanctuary in churches and police stations. Friends from other tribes have been hiding Kikuyus in their homes. Up to 50,000 Kikuyus across the country are believed to have left their homes.

Rhetoric was ratcheted up on all sides as the nationwide death toll from post-election riots rose above 200 in clashes which have become increasingly tribal. Mr Odinga said the government was guilty of "genocide", while government ministers in turn accused Mr Odinga of inciting ethnic violence.

Police spokesman Eric Kiraithe warned: "Our officers are exercising a lot of restraint in maintaining the law. This restraint will not last forever."

In a front-page editorial, Kenya's Daily Nation urged both Mr Kibaki and Mr Odinga to "stop the senseless slaughter". It accused both men and their acolytes of stirring up ethnic tensions. "How many more must die, how much more must be destroyed before you come to your senses?"

The security forces are becoming increasingly divided along ethnic lines. Kalenjin army officers were said to be taking to the streets of Eldoret joining in the attacks on Kikuyus.

Witnesses said most of the business properties owned by Kikuyus had been burnt down. The marauding gangs were now attacking residential areas. "They stormed our house at night and burnt everything," said Margaret Wanjiru, a Kikuyu. Her 90-year-old grandmother and 75-year-old mother were both too frail to run. They perished in the fire.

BLACK DAY

A federal judge Monday sentenced former media tycoon Conrad Black to 6½ years in prison for his role in defrauding shareholders and skimming cash from his Hollinger International newspaper conglomerate.

Black, 63, was convicted in July of mail fraud and obstruction of justice. He has vowed to appeal his conviction and has 10 days to begin the process.

Black was also ordered to pay a $125,000 fine.

"This sentence will send a message that you do not engage in this type of behavior," said U.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve. "The court's sentence should adequately deter others from engaging in this conduct."

"Mr. Black, you have violated your duty to Hollinger and its shareholders," the judge said. "I frankly cannot understand how someone of your stature can engage in the conduct you did and risk everything."

His associates -- Peter Atkinson of Oakville, Ontario, Jack Boultbee of Victoria, British Columbia, and Mark Kipnis of Northbrook, Illinois -- were also due to be sentenced on Monday. Atkinson, Kipnis and Boultbee were also convicted of mail fraud.

Black left the court without speaking to reporters.




In the early 1990s, Hollinger International controlled 60 percent of Canadian newspapers in addition to hundreds of dailies worldwide, including the Chicago Sun Times, the Montreal Gazette, Britain's Daily Telegraph and the Jerusalem Post.

Black resigned as chairman and chief executive officer of Hollinger in 2004 after an internal investigation into shareholders' complaints that he and other executives were lining their pockets with company funds.

Weeks after his November 2004 resignation, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed a civil fraud lawsuit against Black, as well as Hollinger International's former deputy chairman and chief operating officer, David Radler, and Hollinger International.

A year later, Fitzgerald brought eight criminal fraud charges against Black, and a warrant was issued for his arrest.

Federal prosecutors said Black and the other defendants defrauded shareholders of Hollinger International by collecting "non-compete" payments from the sales of media holdings. In a non-compete, the seller agrees -- in exchange for a payment -- not to compete in the buyer's market.
The prosecution argued that the payments ended up in the pockets of the defendants, as tax-free bonuses, instead of in the company coffers.

During the trial at the U.S. District Court for Northern Illinois, which began in March, U.S. federal prosecutors described the lavish, eccentric lifestyles of Black and his wife, Lady Barbara Amiel, a journalist.

Black renounced his Canadian citizenship in 2001 to become a British citizen and was awarded a place in the British House of Lords. He took the title Lord Black of Crossharbour.



The judge ruled that Black will serve his sentence in a U.S. prison, not a Canadian prison as the defense has requested.

She gave Black 12 weeks to surrender to federal authorities and recommended that he do so at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida as requested by defense attorneys.

A date for the surrender will be set later. If Black fails to do so, Judge St. Eve said, he will forfeit his properties in New York and Florida.

The court ruled in July that Boultbee and Atkinson will be allowed to return to Canada to serve their prison sentences.