New York military military officer clear of raping drug think in subterraneous hire

Acquitted: Officer Richard Kern

A New York City police officer accused of raping a drug suspect in an underground station was yesterday acquitted.

Officer Richard Kern faced up to 25 years in prison if convicted of aggravated sexual abuse charges.

Colleagues Andrew Morales and Alex Cruz who were also acquitted of a cover-up - could have each been sentenced for four years on charges of hindering prosecution.

Defence attorneys spent weeks chipping away at the credibility ofthe accuser, a self-professed gang member who admitted to smokingmarijuana regularly.

Michael Mineo, 25, claimed he was assaultedin Prospect Park subway, Brooklyn, in October 2008 after three officerschased him for lighting a cannabis joint.

He alleged he was raped with a baton and hauled into a police car.

The officers tried to buy his silence by letting him go, even though there was a warrant out for his arrest, Mineo claimed.

He was hospitalised for days with a small non-penetrating wound, then returned for more medical care for an internal abscess.

However, the defence argued exaggerated the encounter and made up the assault to get a bigger payout from the city.

Kern, who was 25 at the time of the attack, testified that he pulled out his baton but never used it on the "squirming" Mineo.

False claim: Michael Mineo alleged he was assaulted in a Brooklyn subway

"I was holding his legs down on the ground so he couldn"t kick nobody," Kern said.

Jurors deliberated for three days before arriving at their decision.

The defendants" families sighed loudly and cried softly as the verdict was read out in Brooklyn Supreme Court.

After,Kern said: "I"m glad the system works. I knew coming in this I wasinnocent. I was going to stand up for my rights and prove my innocence."

He added he couldn"t wait to "get back on the street, do what I love... protect the people of Brooklyn."

Mineo,was not in the courtroom for the verdict. Outside he said: "Ifyou want to commit a murder, join the NYPD," referring to other caseswhere officers were tried and acquitted in shooting deaths.

He added that he feared for his safety, asking: "Who"s going to police the police?"

The jurors issued a written statement following the verdict saying they found reasonable doubt.

Forewoman Jamie Dove, said none of the jurors judged Mineo during the trial.

"No one was on sides, she said.

;Tous, it wasn"t about Michael Mineo versus officer Kern; we weredeliberating the prosecutor"s facts and evidence versus the defense"sfacts and evidence.

;We all made a point to keep an open mind andat no point during our deliberation was Mineo"s past, appearance orrecreational activities ever brought up.

Mineo has filed a285million civil lawsuit against the city. His attorney, StephenJackson, said the lawsuit would continue as planned and would beunaffected by the outcome of the criminal case.

They"re also planning to ask federal officials to investigate and want the U.S. Marshals Service to protect Mineo.

Pupils should take US-style tests for university entrance

Joanna Sugden & , : {}

Pupils should sit American-style university admissions tests to help tutors to discriminate between candidates, according to a review of examinations commissioned by the Tories.

The independent review, which says A levels are not fit for purpose, also recommends that universities be given a central role in designing the A-level syllabus to make it more rigorous and prepare pupils for a degree.

Sir Richard Sykes, former rector of Imperial College London, who chaired the 18-month review said the pre-university test would measure language, mathematics and reasoning skills.

A university assessment test spans the entire population, irrespective of the subject that they are taking, he said.

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The panel of academics, heads and examination experts concluded that universities needed more than A-level grades to choose the best candidates.

More than one in eight candidates was awarded an A grade at A level last year. Competition for places on degrees is now fiercer than ever with straight A students missing out on offers.

Michael Gove, the Shadow Schools Secretary, said: The current A level offer doesnt provide universities with the degree of precision that they require when it comes to ranking students by ability.

The Conservatives will consult universities over the introduction of an aptitude test, similar to the US SATs, for all prospective university students, he added.

Planes and trains on march for set upon chaos

Philip Pank, Transport Correspondent & , : {}

Rail and air bosses were sealed in a hearing of strength with kinship leaders last night as industrial movement in jeopardy to move ride disharmony in the run-up to Easter.

The RMT kinship will confirm currently either to call the initial inhabitant rail set upon in sixteen years and emporium stewards at Unite will confirm either to go forward with 3 days of strikes at British Airways programmed from midnight tonight.

The drawn out intrusion would be a serious blow to the Government as it prepares to call a ubiquitous election. Gordon Brown cursed the BA set upon after Labour came underneath vigour over the links to Unite; 150 MPs have sealed an early day suit pursuit on him to meddle in the rail dispute.

Maintenance workers belonging to the RMT kinship have voted to set upon over pursuit cuts and an potency drive. The kinship will have known this sunrise the formula of a second list of 5,500 signallers. A set upon by signallers would hindrance trains opposite the country.

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Bob Crow, the RMT leader, has warned opposite engagement rail transport at Easter. He said: All the signs are that the signalling members are going to behind receiving industrial movement and that will give us a charge opposite the railways for strikes in counterclaim of safety-critical jobs and protected operative practices.

Last night, key players in the BA brawl hold their initial face-to-face talks given December. Willie Walsh, the BA boss, is accepted to have tabled an eleventh-hour deal. However, Tony Woodley, the corner ubiquitous cabinet member of Unite, pronounced that there was small pointer of progress. The talks were shelved prior to long prior to midnight.

According to a source close to the negotiations, Mr Walsh told Unite that the set upon hazard had already cost BA twenty-seven million in lost bookings. He warned that if it went forward the company, that would save 62 million a year by stealing a valet from each flight, would be forced to have deeper cuts.

The Times understands that Mr Walshs understanding offering less enlightened conditions than the one he withdrew last week. In journal advertisements today, he says that the set upon will be a blow not usually to the business and to British Airways but additionally to Britain.

In the deficiency of a deal, the greatest strait plan in BAs story will pitch in to operation tonight as the 230 aircraft and twenty-two licence jets are repositioned to lift as most passengers as probable over the entrance 3 days.

Unite will hold a mass assembly at Sandown Park racecourse to convene the cabin organisation forward of the strike. Aviation unions in the US, Australia, Germany, Spain, Italy, France, India, Norway, the Netherlands, Canada, Jordan and Argentina have pronounced that they will take any official movement to show oneness with the BA crew. Four some-more set upon dates have been set from Mar 27.

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England confronting preference nonplus for initial Bangladesh Test

Mike Atherton, Chief Cricket Correspondent, Chittagong & , : {}

In a small buliding this has been discharged as a mismatch: Gulliver in the land of Lilliput. One bard even went as far as to contend that Bangladesh were a risk to Englands destiny formulation precisely given of how bad the home group are.

But Gulliver awoke in Lilliput to find himself enchained, as England competence do here if they are significantly next their best.

Statistically, it should be a walkover: the Ashes holders opposite a group who have won customarily 3 Tests and those opposite Zimbabwe and a enervated West Indies given their betterment to full-member standing roughly a decade ago. Yet the stream is indeterminate sufficient for red flags to be planted.

England have a new captain, they have injuries, they are unbalanced, their most appropriate batsmen is short of runs and conditions foster the home team. Alastair Cook will lead out England for the initial time in Tests tomorrow and, in the approach of fresh, immature captains, there were no risk signs flashing from him yesterday.

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He emphasised, as he must, that it would be a collateral corruption to blink Bangladesh, but was assured that the ethos inside of the group would assistance England to prevail.

Cook suggested that Graham Onions had not recovered amply from at the back of difficulty to be considered, but then, carrying learnt from the master, Andrew Strauss, gave afar small more. Stuart Broad bowled at probably full gait in the nets and, supposing that there is no reaction, he looks expected to fool around to one side dual spinners.

But that, for England, is where the preference certainties end. These are the sort of decisions that have the pursuit interesting, Andy Flower pronounced after the three-day use compare opposite Bangladesh A. Interesting, yes, but Englands nonplus is short of a square and, however prolonged the group executive pores over the nonplus in in between right away and the begin of play, he is not going to be means to finish it.

If they fool around 6 batsmen, and Matt Prior at No 7, then, with dual spinners a certainty, customarily dual join bowlers can play, one of whom will be Broad. This is unsure and, in any case, the representation in the three-day diversion that accomplished on Tuesday did sufficient to indicate that dual join bowlers competence not be enough.

If they fool around five batsmen, with the wicketkeeper at No 6, they will have a temporary opener to one side Cook and a tail longer than a ships rat. Nothing utterly fits.

The complaint is the miss of a genuine all-rounder, someone who can bat at Nos 6 or 7 and be a great sufficient third join bowler. The man earmarked for this purpose is Luke Wright, but he did not fool around in this winters Test array in South Africa, nor did he in the three-day diversion here. His one after an additional participation is a nonplus in itself because collect him if they are not going to fool around him?

What will England do? The likeliest choice is that they will fool around 6 batsmen, and Prior, dual join bowlers and dual spinners, anticipating that Paul Collingwoods seamers and cutters will be sufficient to at the back of up the new-ball bowlers. This would meant a initial top for Michael Carberry, opening to one side Cook, an additional for Tim Bresnan, but no entrance for Steven Finn.

Playing dual join bowlers is a high-risk strategy, generally with one of them recuperating from at the back of problems, but the proof at the back of the preference is receptive to advice enough. Bangladesh will go in with customarily dual join bowlers, along with 3 spinners, and, as we saw in the three-day compare here, turn will dominate.

Two of Bangladeshs delayed bowlers, Shakib Al Hasan and Abdur Razzaq, will be left-armers and all eyes will be on them and Kevin Pietersen for the conflict that will ensue. If there is a association in in between talent, determination, enterprise and tough work and opening there customarily is Pietersen will measure a towering of runs in this series. He was listened to contend after concealment ferociously on Tuesday that somethings clicked.

This competence be kidology or it competence be that the small changes he has been operative on unexpected feel natural. For the initial time in a prolonged time Pietersen has something to infer and that competence be the creation of him again in the approach it was when he appeared on the stage 6 years ago.

The home group suffered a poignant reversal yesterday when Raqibul Hasan, who scored an dominant hundred and a fifty in the use compare only completed, voiced his early retirement from all forms of general cricket. The 22-year-old is pronounced to be dissapoint at being left out of Bangladeshs rough 30-man patrol for the World Twenty20 and their one-day array opposite England.

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Iraqi choosing rivals explain success after reduce audience World headlines

Ballot boxes at the Independent High Electoral Commission domicile in Baghdad. Photograph: Ahmad al-Rubaye/AFP/Getty Images

Sixty-two per cent of Iraqis voted in yesterday"s ubiquitous election, with both the regressive obligatory budding minister, Nouri al-Maliki, and his physical rival, Iyad Allawi, claiming currently to have achieved strongly in the poll.

The audience was reduce than the reported 76% audience in the 2005 poll, that was boycotted en masse by dual provinces, but higher than in last year"s provincial ballot, the electoral commission said.

The reduce national total this time seems to have been offset by a higher than 50% audience opposite all provinces, together with the excitable Sunni heartland. Preliminary formula in the turning point check are approaching by Thursday, and multiform months of horse-trading to name a budding apportion are approaching to follow.

The pre-poll frontrunners, Maliki and Allawi, were both articulate up their performances, nonetheless conjunction man is approaching to be means to form a supervision but entering in to a bloc with at slightest one alternative rival.

Officials in Maliki"s heartland in the Shia south of Iraq pronounced his domestic list had won in at slightest 3 provinces. Allawi, a physical Shia Muslim, is believed to have polled well in Baghdad and, maybe surprisingly, in the to one side Sunni Anbar province, as well as Sunni areas of Baghdad. He needs his cross-sectarian height to take hold opposite large sections of Iraqi multitude to mount a goal of being inaugurated for a second time as leader.

There are no indications nonetheless of drawn out voter rascal and US officials in Iraq currently carefully likely that the mass withdrawal of their forces would proceed in aspiring about 60 days after a last outcome was determined.

The US autocratic general, Ray Odierno, said: "Today I hold we are going to be on 50,000 [troops] by 1 September. We hold we are right on track."

That series matches a pre-election oath to repel all fight infantry from Iraq by the finish of the summer as piece of a security agreement sealed in in between Baghdad and Washington. Odierno pronounced 35,000 US infantry had left Iraq given Sep and an additional 45,000 were approaching to lift out in in between May to November.

He pronounced the fusillade of explosions that reverberated around Baghdad as choosing by casting votes got underneath approach yesterday were caused by dozens of bottles packaged with explosives and detonated by mobile phones, not mortars and rockets, as the Iraqi armed forces had formerly claimed.

The inclination seemed directed some-more at deterring choosing by casting votes than at causing drawn out carnage, nonetheless up to 35 people were killed and multiform dozen some-more wounded, according to dual Baghdad hospitals visited by the Guardian. At slightest dual buildings were fraudulent with explosives and blown up.

"We did not have a singular lane yesterday," Odierno said, in anxiety to radio detector sites that lane the launch and arena of the rockets and mortars that continually peppers Baghdad"s general section and a little US bases.

He pronounced corner Iraqi and US forces had intercepted twenty self-murder vests in the 3 days prior to the choosing as well as 3 to 4 car bombs and a cell of would-be womanlike self-murder bombers in Diyala province, north of the capital.

Brown revives 101 intrigue for stating eremitic poise UK headlines The Guardian

Gordon Brown vocalization to a military military officer in Reading prior to delivering a debate earnest some-more frontline policing. Photograph: Oli Scarff/Getty Images

Gordon Brown has systematic the replacement of a 101 inhabitant non-emergency phone series to inform crime and eremitic poise ‑ 3 years after the intrigue affianced in Labour"s 2005 ubiquitous choosing declaration was axed.

The budding apportion additionally redefined the inhabitant policing oath to guarantee that community military teams will outlay 80% of their time on the beat. The stream policing oath promises usually that community officers will outlay 80% of their time on frontline duties "visibly operative in your neighbourhood". Brown"s mutated plan has dumbfounded comparison military officers, who argued there was a poignant disproportion in meaning. For example, in attendance monthly open meetings or rebellious complaint family groups ‑ both of that took officers off the travel ‑ would no longer equate towards the pledge.

The reconstruction of the inhabitant 101 non-emergency series is piece of a pre-election law and sequence package that includes tightening the law surrounding eremitic poise orders and giving repeat victims a "guarantee of protection" to safeguard that cases such as Fiona Pilkington"s do not occur again.

In a debate in Reading Brown pronounced that he had asked the home secretary, Alan Johnson, to set out a new range of measures on eremitic behaviour, together with transparent inhabitant standards, a faster routine for requesting for asbos, tougher movement when they are breached, and plans for the 101 number. He additionally indicted the Conservatives of "ramping up a open clarity of panic" on crime total to fuel the fright of crime and await their explain that multitude is damaged in Britain.

Brown pronounced the inhabitant non-emergency series was indispensable to have it as easy to protest about eremitic poise as it is to ring 999 for an emergency.

The Home Office pronounced currently that it programmed to have the 101 helpline in place by Mar 2012. The strange offer put brazen in the 2005 Labour choosing declaration was written to take the vigour off the 999 puncture use by ludicrous less obligatory calls.

The intrigue was piloted in five areas, with the open charged 10p a call, but was dropped during John Reid"s reign as home cabinet member after a larger than expected £1.8m had been outlayed on the service. An central Home Office analysis suggested that during the hearing the hotlines were swamped with "inappropriate calls" such as "I"d similar to someone to exam my fume alarm" and "can you discuss it me the time of the subsequent train to Southampton?".

The volume of calls to 999 in the commander areas hardly changed.

The Home Office pronounced that the new use would pull on the lessons of the some-more recent, and still running, 101 Cymru use in Wales, and that inhabitant rollout would rely on "a befitting infrastructure that provides worth for money" for the police, Whitehall and the public.

Brown additionally betrothed in determined eremitic poise cases where the military or internal authorities had unsuccessful to act, victims are to be since a "guarantee of protection". This is to capacitate them to get await in securing a justice injunction, with their authorised bills paid by the group that had formerly let them down.

Sheep that went erroneous are behind in the fold

David Wighton: Business Editors explanation & , : {}

They unequivocally are only similar to sheep, those bankers. Someone starts giving 100 per cent mortgages the subsequent notation they are all you do it. Some arch senior manager starts waiving his reward and shortly they are all you do it.

To be fair, once the tip twin at Barclays incited down their bonuses, the essay was on the wall for Stephen Hester at Royal Bank of Scotland. And once Mr Hester cracked, there was no approach that Eric Daniels at Lloyds could hold out. It seems utterly difficult on Mr Hester, who can take nothing for the censure for RBSs problems and is at large concluded to have finished a really great pursuit given he joined.

Many Lloyds shareholders are mad with Mr Daniels for posterior the, apparently, catastrophic takeover of HBOS. But couple of would indicate he did a bad pursuit last year.

They competence not go as far as the Lloyds board, that pronounced he had finished such a great pursuit he deserved the full payout, value �2.3 million, underneath the annual reward scheme. But Lloyds did lift off a record-breaking rights issue to shun the Governments poisonous item intrigue and it did determine a improved than approaching understanding with Brussels.

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Still, it is rather extraordinary that Mr Daniels competent for the limit bonus. You would have thought there competence have been something left on the list in case, say, Lloyds essentially met the lending targets it concluded with the Government.

Like down payment vigilantes picking off the subsequent weakest eurozone member, the concentration right away shifts to HSBC where arch senior manager Mike Geoghegan will be introspective either he can take his bonus. Perhaps, since he has right away relocated to Hong Kong, he will feel he can shrug off the roar in Britain.

Although it competence see astray for a little of the people concerned, it is great to see hugely well-paid corporate bosses pity a little of the pain. And it might be a little satisfaction to them that big City shareholders are earnest to get difficult with alternative companies over compensate this year. But not utterly that tough, of course.