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[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2010/images/06/08/van.der.sloot.gi.art.jpg caption="Joran van der Sloot has confessed to the murder of Stephany Flores Ramirez, Peruvian authorities said late Monday. He could be formally charged early Tuesday."]
Van der Sloot confesses to murder, Peruvian police say
(CNN) – Joran van der Sloot could be formally charged as early as Tuesday in the killing of Stephany Flores Ramirez, Peruvian government authorities said.
The government authorities said Van der Sloot confessed to murder late Monday. He will likely be held at one of three maximum security prisons - Castro Castro, Piedras Gordas and Lurigancho, authorities said.
Efforts by CNN to contact van der Sloot's attorney were not immediately successful.
At his first court appearance, the judge may set a hearing date for van der Sloot and could order additional investigations in the case. Read more
Obama seeks 'ass to kick' over spill
President Barack Obama bluntly defended his administration's response to the undersea gusher fouling the Gulf of Mexico on Monday, telling an interviewer he has met with experts to learn "whose ass to kick."
"I was down there a month ago, before most of these talking heads were even paying attention to the Gulf," Obama told NBC's "Today" show in an interview scheduled to air Tuesday. "A month ago I was meeting with fishermen down there, standing in the rain talking about what a potential crisis this could be." Read more
Can James Cameron help solve disaster?
James Cameron is an Oscar-winning director, but he also has decades of real-life experience as a deep sea explorer. Cameron has gathered a team of experts and government officials to come up with a solution in the Gulf. He's offering up his ideas to BP and the government to end the oil spill disaster, but are they listening? Our Jason Carroll spoke with Cameron and he'll join us this morning with his report.
Full coverage | LIVE: Undersea view 
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As long as I can remember Israel has been the recipient of attacks either by terrorist groups or it's Arab neighbors. It seems to me that the Arabs from neighboring countries could be more compassionate to Israel seeing what the Jews went through during WWII, but I guess they cheered when they found out 6 million had been murdered. I also understand that the Muslims compare the Jews to the devil as did Adolph Hitler. I believe that the Arabs, owning most of the land in the middle-east should allow Israel to live in the land of their ancestors and learn to live side by side with them instead of constantly attacking them. And I do think that the Muslim faith, Islam has a lot to do with the hatred they have for the Jews as it does for all infidels!
AH B.S. I have had hundreds of millions of dollars of good things done without a penny and never cared with credit or glory. In 1989 and 1992 I lived with the homeless and in the alleys eating out of dumpsters and in those two years I was responsible of phone calls that literally resulted in $87 million in homeless shelters and help being contributed...what Doris Buffett did was to live in the lap of luxury bless her heart.
But through connections I used my philosophy of who cares who get the credit as long as the job gets done. It is a matter of being blessed to know people and to get the idea to the person that can see the change through. I am reponsible for changing the general White House number to 202-456-1414 durng the Carter adminstration...
give it away or you lose it!..glory hounds jeeze...
Why has no one suggested boming the well? It doesn't take nukes. Red Adair, the oil spill guru, bombed several off the coast of Kuwait after the first gulf war. Does no one remember?
Actually randall, I've been to Tel- Aviv 4 times and it is a beautiful city, the citizens of Israel are polite and respectful. SO I find it hard to believe that someone who has never been there can pass such a racist opinion. Furthermore, Peace is all they seek. America is not the only backer of the Country.
So the one removed from the truth is you, continuing reading your blogs and web sites, Along with watching the videos of Americas FEMA camps.
re: the interview with the mayor of the coastal town in alabama... my question is where were these passionate politicians when the drilling, in the body of water that is their livelihood, was planned and implemented without tested and true ways to prevent or at least mitigate a spill? the timing of the outrage seems misplaced – it should have been at the time big oil and gov't (large and small) were (and still are) drilling without proven, state of the art prevention and mitigation plans. Thank you.
I submitted to BP what I feel is an easy fix to stopping the flow. I call it the junk shot cage. It is made up of 3/4" solid rod with holes no larger than golf balls. It is flanged but would slip over the pipe stub and a 2 piece fabricated flange clamp would hold it to the existing flange. This cage will need to be tall enough to reduce resistance during installation. The top can also have a flange used to attach it to pipe for ease of installation. Once in place, injected junk shots would collect, and plug the flow, allowing for mud and concrete to be forced down the well.
As a resident of the gulf coast (Galveston, Tx) I can sympathize with the residents of Louisiana. A comment was made that if the oil hit the beau
tiful beaches of Florida something would get done. That frustrates me. The 11 people who died on the rig seem to be forgotten. Our President is doing everything in his power to get to the bottom of this huge disaster and we need to stand behind him.
I am on record with this County Judge if he did anything that gave even the smallest amount of not running a Court where I heard someone wasn't getting their Constitutional rights that I would whip his ass...the same for the District Judge,,,FACTOID! and I don't use gasoline or electric grass cutting tools on my property but rather a reel lawnmower and hand clippers so go figure Conservative!
Gulf residents angry w/ BP & the govt? Why not w/ your state govts? Even w/ all the damage this leak has caused, your Governors & others are calling for more drilling. Since many have warned of a disaster such as this for years, and such a disaster happened off the coast of Australia last year, why didn't your states have an emergency plan of action in place?
@Charles Lessard, Your question is simalar to mine. There seems to be a lot of fear to 'simply' attaching a new valve of suitable design to the BOP and then shutting it off. I think CNN needs to 'press' Thad Allen et al to find out answers to this question. Is there known damage to the existing BOP and/or sub-surface well casing, that we don't know about? The BOP flange appears in good shape, is the BOP housing 'cracked' or compromised? At any regards, the oil needs to be 'contained', from the ocean floor to the ocean surface. Need to 'buy' time.
The Conservative CNN censors– waht you choose to do to me is to the use the old sick ploy of retreating to history and grab the WWII Hitler trap but what I am telling you is that I am wanting to let the daily wrongs be placed in the true light of that day and bring about their correction. You are rather chosen to laziness and rest in the status quo rather than face the pain in making things right for the children facing the future.
I enjoy reading the fears of the Atheist and Haters of the world.. Amazing how this still lives and breeds in the world today.
see Conservative you are so removed from the total Israeli citizenry is there are huge populations of Jews for Peace and against Israeli government policy so ask Kiran Chetry why their voice can't break through to American airwaves...
From AP:
"PASCAGOULA, Miss. – William Mahan bends over a bowl of raw shrimp and inhales deeply, using his left hand to wave the scent up toward his nose. Deep breath. Exhale. Repeat. He clears his palate with a bowl of freshly cut watermelon before moving on to raw oysters. Deep breath. Exhale. Repeat.
He's one of about 40 inspectors trained recently at a federal fisheries lab in Pascagoula, Miss., to sniff out seafood tainted by oil in the Gulf of Mexico and make sure the product reaching consumers is safe to eat.
But with thousands of fishermen bringing in catch at countless docks across the four-state region, the task of inspectors, both sniffers and others, is daunting. It's certainly not fail-safe."
Makes you want to run out & buy some Gulf seafood, doesn't it?
and for your information the younger generation is catching on ...
College campuses are also responding, including in America. On December 14, 2009, Harvard Crimson writer Abdelnasser Rashid wrote:
Evidence shows "Israel deliberately targeted civilians during (Operation Cast Lead), deliberately targeting educational institutions, destroying or damaging at least 280 schools and kindergartens (besides killing) over 1,400 Palestinians," mostly civilians.
On "November 23, Harvard extended an invitation to Michael B. Oren – the Israeli ambassador to the United States – to speak at the Kennedy School. Fittingly, he was rejected by students who attended the event. Oren is a former officer and paratrooper who (was) an Israeli army spokesperson during the unwarranted and illegal attacks on Lebanon in 2006 and Gaza in 2009. (Students) took a clear stance against impunity for war crimes." He was pilloried for the actions during a Q & A session.
They "showed (their) unwilling(ness) to stay silent when an (Israeli) spin doctor tries to rewrite recent history" to absolve his country of systematic war crimes. If the university won't do it, they will and did. Moreover, "welcoming those whose actions deny students in Palestine their academic freedom....inevitably trivializes their struggle for human rights and collective freedom."
Growing efforts like these tell oppressor and victims that impunity won't ultimately prevail. What can't go on forever won't when enough determined people say no more.
...allowing non reporting finds of govenment monies to traffic to Israel...to allow an unfethered movement of news organizations to editorally show Israel favor...
There is no such thing as the chosen people. God did not say that or write it down. A group of men did so. The question of religion is at the center of the middle east war and genocide between the Israelis and the Palestinians. But we should not name religion in this argument we should just look at the fact that one technologically advanced state, Israel is killing and pushing another less powerful group of people into the ocean, much like what the Americans did to the Indigenous peoples of the North American continent. Humanity will always kill or be killed. Let Israel fight it's own wars and let our United States leave that region. Oh, but I forgot we need the Oil.
James Cameron mentioned on Larry King last night that if BP were to stop the flow of oil at the top of the blow out preventer, it would create problems down deep. If this is the case, what would have happened if the blow out preventer had worked?
...blantly allowing Israel to non-reporting staus on Nuclear Weapons arsenals!
From early on, most experts said the only sure fix & long term solution was a relief well. Most still feel this way. Relief wells worked on the Ixtoc 1 & Australian spills.
Many of the attempts to slow down or stop the leak are the same ones that failed during the Ixtoc 1 leak. That leak was only 165 ft under the surface. Unfortunately, the oil industry gambled that another leak wouldn't occur & lied about being able to handle a leak 10 times greater than this one.
There are other rigs in the Gulf & elsewhere that can suffer the same fate from an explosion or natural disasters like hurricanes or earthquakes. No longer can the oil co's claim that a leak won't happen or they are prepared to respond to such a leak.
This doesn't stop the drill baby drill crowd from calling for more rigs though. They are now saying that drilling in shallower waters is safer. Only rigs that are below 500 ft or more are considered deep wells. The Ixtoc 1 leak proved that the oil co's can't respond to a leak in shallow water either. At least not for 10 months.
Sponsorship of the Operation Cast Lead!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!...failing to denounce Israeli violation of the 1967 War United Nations resolution.
@michael nyc, Oil Containment should and could have been the first priority 'as soon the smoke cleared'. Little does it matter whether or not the leak is sealed and the rate of oil leakage to have oil containment. Obviously, on April 22, 2010, appropriately designed 'heavy seas' oil booms with aprons should have been deployed to the site to contain the surface oil. This apron could have been roughly circular in shape and 10 to 12 miles in diameter, and thus covering approximately 113 square miles. The required length of this 'heavy seas' apron boom would have been a mere 37-38 miles long. Once the initial boom was operational, keep on going with concentric rings! The containment ring material is UV protected Low Density Polyethlene (LDPE). The use of explosives is NOT recommended because of the fear creating fractures in the rock strata. Not good. Might as well try any and all oil containment/collection methods. The Gulf is screwed up no matter how you look at it, at this point in time.
The impact on future generations due to the crude oil pouring into the Gulf may not be known for decades. The one thing I am sure of is that our Great Grandchildren are going to be suffering the effects of this disaster. We have alternative fuel. We do not have an alternative planet. Let's get it together, be smart and give our future a chance.
I have heard enough about comparing the response to Katrina and the Spill. When will somebody have the spine to point out the difference between a act of nature and a man made consequence. History will judge acts by presidents when the emotions are removed and the catastrophic consequences suffered by the people when fully learned. We can not harness the weather but we can certainly be more responsible about unleashing the power of pressure uncontrolled a mile deep.
@randall, so "jews" as you put it repeatedly rather than Those of Jewish Faith or Jewish.
That along with your words expresses a deep rooted hatred. So do you take your weed trimmer and cut the grass around the General Forest road sign too?
Hellen was saying what mnay of us feel who have grown weary of Israal
's international bullying and want America to reasses our relation with this country, How sad that her fellow journalists pushed her out for this.
1 cubic foot is equal to 7.5 gallons. If, let's say enough oil is spewing from the gusher to fill a 100 gallon fish tank every second, then so far the leak measures over 400 million gallons. From what I see in the live video feed of the leak, is this a far stretch I ask you?
If you remove the flange, even more oil will start gushing, How do you place a new flange against such extreme pressure? Try replacing a faucet w/o turning the water off!
They have been collectiing oil w/ containment booms since they called off the rescue of the workers. This oil has been skimmed & burned.
An explosion would only cause a greater leak or more leaks. Capping a crater would be much more difficult than trying to cap a pipe.
Why is Helen Thomas' legacy so "tarnished"? Have we now gotten to the point where, if an American does not blindly support every single thing Israel does, or thinks that they might even be (gasp!) wrong, his or her career is automatically disgraced? Even if we do not agree with what Helen Thomas said, her long distinguished body of work should speak for itself. Enough with the ridiculous extrapolations already.
BP most be stopped from use of dispersant – aside from toxidity they have made it almost impossible to collect oil from surface and contain oil with booms – just for a cover-up have killed the gulf – worst action by BP among many
CNN's ticker, "Gulf disaster's impact could linger for years, experts say." Duh, you think? It's been almost 20 years since the Exxon-Valdez spill. Lift up a rock on the shores of Prince William Sound & up will come bubbling crude. Oil that is!
the riser pipe that fell to ocean floor is attached by hex bolts to a mating flange at the top of the BOP – this could be replaced by a new riser and flange – needs a fitted shim bushing to help guide into receiving flange on BOP against wake of oil and gas escaping
These suggestions are on record at EPA at BP engineering
1) Stop the Leak Now – 2) Start Collecting Oil Now – 3) Seal the Well Now
1) – Simplest Fix – Replace old flange and attached broken (now snipped) pipe at top of BOP – has " hex nuts" – with new flange and associated pipe to surface.
Unscrewing "hex nuts" and replacing with new outer flange should make non leaking connection to surface collection.
Once again do not use dispersant into leaking oil so can be collected by tankers at at surface – where are they ?
This could have been done after the smoke cleared (day 2) and this disaster avoided ...
p.s. It is unfathomable how this was not done.
2) – Oil Containment Rings OCR’s – Need to be installed Now
This will stop further damage and start to remove prior oil pollution.
If we collect 99% of the oil being leaked – then bp can take time to kill the well.
– Start to build a “oil collection ring” flotation miles in diameter which has large booms (100′ by 6′ diameters)with deep aprons that zipper together as they extend deep(300′ or more) below the surface (this happens physically as aprons on modules are zipped) and capture the rising oil leak – which is continually pumped into tankers/barges – circumvent first ring with a second and so on as needed.
Do not use any dispersant – pump out water seperation from collected oil
3) – Seal Well Now – drill +1000' parallel proximity shaft – place proper amount of explosives – seal new shaft – detonate !
Thank you
Daniel Dallas it is such a great segment "remembering war hero's" should be made into a full hour segment and ran during a weekend time spot in place of a rerun Larry King Show episode!
Helen Thomas realizes and knows of the sponsored Jews that are paid by American Jews to go live in Israel but the American Jew himself won't live there.
Randall, just what backroom facts are you speaking, provide source (s)
Otherwise your thoughts are nothing more than opinion.
Just wanted to say I really respect Edward Olmos and what he said this morning was right on the money, I realize that President Obama has millions of responsibilities but with our economy in the situation it's in the drop in tourism will be devestating to the gulf states. He says he wants any help that can be utilized to be used but all morning we hear people wanting to help not being allowed. My suggestion listen to what Mr. Olmos said move the White House to Louisiana and if it takes it Mr. President stand out there and direct traffic to get those boats of people that have trained and are ready to work into that water.
I really like the "remembering war hero" segment. I would also like to see an added wounded soldiers' brave stories and what they fill about the decision they made to serve in the military.
I am proud of all of them.
Israel practices a modern day version of Nazism and Israel has positioned itself to a position and Harry Truman would turn over in his grave if he knew the facts on Israel today. I am not talking about the facts that are broadcast but the back room facts.
World War II is over and the world will never allow the same thing to happen to Jews under Nazism but to lie down to American Jewish dictatorship and policy of Israel is a form of appeasement. Israel even has the search engines neutralized in their behalf...
America has fallen under tyranno-political rule and well I know as I hail from Texas which is a Confederate state with my County Judge living less than a mile from me on a Road named after General Forrest the infamous KKK organizer and the namesake for Forrest Gump!
I don't understand why they don't pull out the original pipe and let the 3 miles of earth behind it fill itself back in?
John & Kiran,
How do you two feel about this?
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is seeking ways to "reinvent" journalism. Should the federal government have their paws in journalism. Wouldn't that take away from the fundamental aspects of Free Press?
I think President Obama is angry and finally showed it. He has always been a gentleman in his dealings with people and we have mistaken this for noncaring.
It amazes me - many people want small govenment but in time of need they want the President to be be there and take charge. People, get REAL!! You cannot have it both ways - what do you wanrt?
Six times the amount first reported by MEDIA...million and a half gallons per day with 40+days and counting compared to the one hundred and twenty five thousand gallons per day first reported.
From the bottom a mile down to the top how many currents are moving within that mile dispersing oil in how many directions?
Government, Industry, Finance, Academic,Military,Media, Religion(spirituality+ethics)and the People done wrong by the first seven.The President has much on his plate and is doing the best he can under stressful conditions. Is there any one of those eight not taking hits dealing with higher costs during uncertain times. Screw scripted reality television for we have it going on real time real time right in front of us all do we not?
Good for Peru for getting joran van der sloot. I just hope they give him more than the 35 years they are talking about. This young woman had her whole life taken away and the same should be done to him.
A POTUS using swear words... Where has all the Statesmen and Women gone?
I was watching and heard you talk about the volunteers cleaning the birds. Shouldn't BP be paying those people for all their hard work? It is commendable that they volunteer but the thought that BP is getting out of paying even a dime is unthinkable. It is part of the cleanup, right?
On Larry King, Mr Cameron and Representaive Kennedy said that the explosion and fire on the rig were probably as a result of the inadequate pouring of the concrete by Halliburton. I have not heard one person on CNN follow up on this. Why not? Is it easier to bash a foreign company and less dangerous?
What if the riser pipe only broke when the rig sank after the ships pouring water on the fire, according to some experts, sank it? Whose fault would it be then? Stop following the herd and do some independent actual reporting of all the facts for a change.
Nice to hear Cameron set the record straight on his "these morons don't know what they're doing" quote. If this was taken out-of-context, how much more of CNN's coverage should we take at face value – none of it, a bit of it, some of it, or most of it? Obviously not all of it and I'm beginning to feel considerable sympathy for BP , NOAH, and the government who do know what they're talking about, and understand the technological and scientific challenges far better than the instant solutionists at CNN.
Obama is doing just fine. Why is it we want the President to grand stand mad crazy, when Americans know the government doesn't have the capability to stop the leak deep down below the sea. Too much reality TV!
Yesterday, BP gave $15 million each to LA, MS & AL and $25 million to FL to help them w/ tourism. They are & will be claiming that their beaches are safe. With all the toxins being released & placed into the Gulf, shouldn't these states be more worried about Americans' health rather than their pocketbooks? After all, aren't cleanup workers becoming sick? Are we going to have an epidemic of health problems down the road because these states were more concerned w/ their bottom line than the safety of tourists?
Have they considered drilling right next to the leak to releive some of the pressure? It would then be easier to collect whats coming out of the leak!
Why is the media so focused on Van der Sloot? There are hundereds of murders in this country every day. There are serial killers that have yet to be caught in this country. I guess once you make someone infamous, you can't let go. What a shame!
Good Morning John & Kiran
I am glad that Van der sloot has confesed the murder of the Peruvian girl. God really wanted him to face the justice. I am very sorry for the girl's family.
J Cameron would not be able to help BP as everyone know that BP and FEDS are already using much better brains and ideas. He should neither ashamed nor disappointed.
Daily, we are seeing the exterior damage done to our precious gulf coast and ALL of its inhabitants thanks to BP.
The cleanup, if at all possible, will undoubtably cost billions and billions of our hard earned dollars.
Of deeper concern to me and those I associate with is the fact that we have not seen or heard anything regarding the damage this is causing to our earths core from ANY news agency.
The is a balance of pressure between the core and the surface of our planet, people. It seems to me this balance has been greatly compromised.