Ukraine crisis: Donetsk region asks to join Russia

Donetsk separatist leader, Denis Pushilin, said Moscow would be asked to consider absorbing the region. Photograph: Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP

The "People's Republic of Donetsk" declared itself an independent country on Monday and, within two hours of doing so, had asked to join Russia. The separatist leader Denis Pushilin told journalists that the self-proclaimed republic would ask Moscow to consider absorbing the region, which borders Russia.

But it remains extremely doubtful whether Moscow will carry out a Crimea-style annexation of the region, which held a controversial referendum on independence on Sunday, together with neighbouring Luhansk.

According to results announced by the de facto authorities in Donetsk and Luhansk – which also declared independence from Ukraine on Monday – about 90% on a turnout of 70% and 96% on a turnout of nearly 75% respectively voted for state sovereignty. The referendums – which Kiev has dismissed as illegitimate – were hastily organised and marked by numerous violations.

The results were roundly condemned in the west, but Russia said it respected the results. However, instead of previous statements saying it would protect people in the regions with troops if need be, the Kremlin called for dialogue between the government in Kiev and the south-east regions of the country.

"In Moscow, we respect the will of the people of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions and are counting on practical implementation of the outcome of the referendum in a civilised manner, without any repeat of violence and through dialogue," the Kremlin said.

In a press conference in Moscow, Sergei Lavrov, Russia's foreign minister, read out the Kremlin statement and added that only Russian television channels were telling "the truth in real time" about the crisis, whereas western news outlets were hiding the real causes.

Lavrov made no mention of the controversy over the referendum, merely noting the "high voting activity" of the population despite attempts from Kiev to disrupt the vote. He said no new international talks were planned on Ukraine.

Oleksandr Turchynov, Ukraine's acting president, told the country's parliament: "The farce which terrorists call the referendum will have no legal consequences except the criminal responsibility for its organisers."

The Kremlin has called the new government in Kiev "neo-fascist" and Kiev has accused Russia of organising the separatist movement by providing weapons and tactical advice. Nevertheless, Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, last week asked the separatists to delay their referendum, which appeared to be an attempt to distance Russia from the vote, but was ignored.

There were a number of irregularities with the count and procedure, and it seems unlikely that the figures announced are an accurate reflection of views in the region, with most of those who disagreed with the proposition staying at home.

Nevertheless, there has been an increasing mood of defiance, especially as a Ukrainian army operation against the armed separatists resulted in multiple casualties. It is hard to judge how many people support the armed takeover of government buildings and attempts to separate from Ukraine, but feelings are running high.

The referendum question was worded ambiguously, appearing to offer state sovereignty for the Donetsk and Luhansk "people's republics". Roman Lyagin, head of the de facto central election committee in Donetsk, said before the vote that nothing would change in terms of state borders as a result of the vote.

He said that, in future, the region would be free to decide whether to stay within Ukraine, become independent or join Russia. In the end, it apparently took only two hours to make the decision, apparently making a mockery of what voters had been told in the runup.

In Luhansk, separatists announced that more than 96% of ballots had been cast in favour of the independence of the region from Ukraine.

"Congratulations on the birth of the Luhansk republic," said Vasily Nikitin, deputy head of the region's separatist movement. "We are now preparing an appeal to the UN and international community asking them to recognise us."

Nikitin said the constitution of the new "country" was almost ready, and added that its residents would not participate in Ukrainian presidential elections planned for 25 May. Donetsk's de facto authorities have also said they will not allow voting in the elections. A key demand of Moscow has been to postpone the elections.

In Luhansk, one resident, Anatoliy Sukharev, 80, approached Nikitin and asked whether there would be a second referendum on joining Russia.

"What is next? When are we going to have this referendum?" he asked. Nikitin said a second referendum would happen, but the republic needed to "organise as a country" first.
But for many Ukraine-oriented residents, recent events have been a tragedy.

"My father is a businessman, now he is trying to sell all his businesses here before moving away. Many people I know have already left," said Olesia, 20, who refused to give her last name fearing retribution.

"I can love Luhansk only if it is a Ukrainian Luhansk," she said.

The eastern regions are entering an uncertain situation, with tension and anger rising on both sides. Ukrainian army and affiliated paramilitary units killed unarmed civilians in Mariupol last week and in Krasnoarmeysk during the voting on Sunday. For their part, the rebels in Donetsk have taken hostages among pro-Ukraine activists and been accused of torture.

It is unclear whether either side is ready for talks. With a number of armed gangs in the region, there is every danger of conflict with Kiev forces and of events slipping into violent chaos.

A Kremlin-linked MP, Vyacheslav Nikonov, said the Ukrainian military operation in eastern Ukraine represented "genuine fascism" and said that the residents of Luhansk and Donetsk deserved no less support. "Indeed, they deserve much more support from us, than the residents of Crimea," he said.
However, he added that Moscow would have to weigh the "economic, political, and military risks" before deciding whether it should absorb the regions.

Gazprom, Russia's state energy company, also told Ukraine it had to settle a $3.5bn (£2bn) gas debt, and pay in advance for deliveries in June, or be cut off.

In Brussels, EU foreign ministers added 13 people and two firms to their visa ban and asset freeze list over Ukraine, according to two officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because the measure had yet to be officially announced. The EU has targeted a number of officials but the sanctions have been far narrower than US sanctions over Ukraine.

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Support for Labour drops six points as Tories take lead in latest ICM poll

Labour's low ebb in the Guardian/ICM poll goes hand-in-hand with negative views of its leader, Ed Miliband. Photograph: Facundo Arrizabalaga/EPA

 

Labour's support is draining away, according to a Guardian/ICM poll which records the first Conservative lead in over two years and gives Ed Miliband's party its smallest share of the vote for four years.

The Tories are on 33% in the monthly state of the parties poll, up a single point and two points ahead of Labour, which has sunk by six points since April. The poll will add to Labour nerves a week and a half before European and local elections, and less than a year before the general election.

Flush with publicity of all kinds before the European ballot, Nigel Farage's Ukip climbs four points to 15%. The Liberal Democrats edge up one to 13%. The ICM finding is surprising because although polling averages have pointed towards a narrowing gap between the two main parties, internet polls for the Sunday papers pointed to continuing Labour leads of between four and seven points.
However, a second telephone poll published on Monday, sponsored by the Tory peer Lord Ashcroft, also points to a two-point Conservative lead. That poll has the Tories on 34% against Labour's 32%.
Haunted by memories of the Thatcher/Major years, when healthy opposition leads during mid-term repeatedly disappeared in the runup to polling day, Labour has long feared that Miliband's edge may not be big enough to take the party safely into power next May.

As a nervous Labour party seeks an explanation for its dwindling ratings, it may take some comfort from the fact that the Tories have barely advanced. However, with Europe, immigration and an improving economy in the spotlight, the party will now be wondering whether it faces an even stiffer task in persuading an uncertain country to entrust it again with the levers of power.

Labour's low ebb in the Guardian/ICM poll goes hand in hand with negative views of its leader.

Despite a month in which Miliband has put regulation of rental agreements on the agenda, and made the running against the government over AstraZeneca, 51% of voters believe he is doing a bad job, twice as many as the 26% who think he is doing well, giving him a net negative rating of -25.

This is the worst score for him that ICM has recorded on this occasional question, although it is only marginally worse than the net -22 he notched up when it was last asked, a year ago.

What has changed since then is where this leaves Miliband in relation to other political leaders. Nick Clegg remains comparably unpopular, with 51% also believing him to be doing badly and just 30% rating him as doing a good job.

But whereas David Cameron and George Osborne were also in negative territory last spring, after a year in which the economic recovery has picked up pace their standing is now much improved.
Some 44% of voters believe the prime minister is doing a good job, against 42% who say the reverse. That gives him a net rating of +2, which compares with -15 last May.

The bounceback in Osborne's stock is more dramatic. After the "omnishambles" budget of 2012, his net score was -25, and in April 2013, when the question was last asked of the chancellor, it was -14.
But in the latest poll, 41% of respondents tell ICM that he is doing a good job, against just 36% who regard him as doing badly, which gives him a net +5.

ICM's monthly phone survey is best interpreted in the light of wider trends. Labour opened up a clear lead during the first half of 2012, after Andrew Lansley's NHS reforms turned controversial and more particularly after that unpopular budget.

Ukip is now within three points of the 18% it notched up a year ago, in its best ever score with ICM. Curiously, however, the party's resurgence comes alongside flagging enthusiasm for Farage.

In May last year, his job approval rating was +17. Today, 39% say he is doing a bad job as against 31% who see him as doing well, giving him a negative net rating of -8.

Among Lib Dem voters his score is -20, among Labour supporters -28, and even among Conservatives he notches up -11. By contrast, among his own tribe, his popularity is overwhelming: 93% of Ukip backers believe Farage is doing well, suggesting support for the man is translating into support for the party.

Clegg just scores in positive territory among current Conservatives, a contrast with 2010 Lib Dem voters, who now believe that the man they supported last time around is doing a bad job, by 44% to 40%.

Miliband can draw some comfort from the narrow majority of current Labour voters, 52%, who believe that he is doing well, although – after Labour's "incredible shrinking man" broadcast assaulting Clegg – he will be disappointed that 54% of 2010 Lib Dems rate him as doing badly.

ICM also asked more specifically about voting intentions for next week's European elections. With only 37% of electors suggesting they are certain to cast their ballot, such projections inescapably depend on fewer respondents than those for Westminster.

Even so, the news is again encouraging for the Conservatives, and worrying for Labour.

The Tories are up two on April, which puts them on 27%, and in a virtual dead heat with Ukip, which has bounced up four in the European stakes to stand at 26%. Labour sinks by 12 points on April, to 24%, with appreciable proportions of the party's 2010 votes moving to Ukip and the Greens.

Together with Lib Dem defectors –Clegg's party languishes on 7% – this helps push the Greens up four and into a clear fourth place, on 10%. The Scottish and Welsh nationalists are on 2% each, and assorted independents and others notch up 3%.

Voters across the United Kingdom will elect 73 members of the European parliament next week. There are also local council elections for 4,200 seats in 161 councils and direct elections for mayors in four London boroughs. Labour is looking to reach at least 35% in the council elections. The polls are the last major test of public opinion before the general election, which is set for 7 May 2015.

• ICM Research interviewed a random sample of 1,000 adults aged 18+ by telephone on 9-11 May 2014. Interviews were conducted across the country and the results have been weighted to the profile of all adults. ICM is a member of the British Polling Council and abides by its rules

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Victimised for being blind, but body cameras helped catch the abusers

A Metropolitan police officer wearing a body camera. Photograph: EPA for The Guardian

It was supposed to be the start of a new life, but after moving to Stevenage Old Town in Hertfordshire last November, I found myself a target of haters and abusers in public. I still don't know why.
It began with a group of young lads attempting to guide me in to a lamppost before laughing and running away. Not long afterwards, the situation grew worse, with groups of mainly younger males circling me, swearing, and in one harrowing case, telling me they were filming for YouTube as they urged me to "trip over the curb you blind bitch" and "fuck off back to blind land".

Many other incidents happened before I broke down crying one day on my living room floor. But like 40% of hate crime victims, I still didn't report it. I had no way of identifying the perpetrators, the people whose actions had persuaded me not to leave my house alone.

These people made me doubt everything about myself and my worth. I felt pathetic because I couldn't defend myself or identify them, and it made me think about what would happen if I was physically attacked or even raped. I became a wreck, overwhelmed by dark thoughts.

I finally spoke to the police after the situation came to a head, one early Saturday evening. While walking through the Old Town high street with my fiance, who is also registered blind, a group of young men started laughing and swearing at us. As we walked past, one said they were going to take our money, while another shouted, "we'll find out how much they can see".

I honestly thought I was about to be physically attacked; I shouted for the group to leave me alone and asked: "Why are you doing this?" My fear was so intense that I lost control of my bladder.
Unaware of quite how scared and degraded I felt, my fiance used his mobile phone to attempt to film the individuals involved. But when we took this footage to the police, it was too shaky to provide more than a few small clues.

In the following days and weeks, as the abuse continued, I researched body-worn cameras, eventually securing the loan of some from Reveal Media and Taser International – who have provided the cameras currently on trial with 500 frontline response officers in the Metropolitan police. This kit was unavailable for me to purchase from TSR, Taser's UK supplier, which was a shame because the protection they offered, and the security I felt, meant more to me than I can describe.

As a result, I was able to take footage to Hertfordshire police, who have been very supportive throughout. They identified some of the individuals involved, and after speaking to one of them, the abuse finally stopped.

Body-worn cameras gave me the confidence to leave my house alone and provided the proof that this behaviour was happening. Before I collected this evidence some people found it difficult to believe. I would highly recommend the use of body-cams to anyone suffering abuse on the street, while adding the obvious health warning that no one should put themselves in danger in an attempt to gather evidence.

The abuse and hate nearly destroyed me. But I decided to use the experience to educate people about the real human costs of disability hate crime. In 2012-13, 1,841 incidents were reported to police in England and Wales – a 5% increase on the previous year – but that is only a small reflection of the problem. The Crime Survey for England and Wales estimates that there are, on average, 62,000 disability-motivated hate crimes each year. A third of the reported crimes (32%) involved violence.

Working with Stevenage borough council and Hertfordshire police, I have set up a Respect campaign, visiting schools and youth groups to tell my story, and spreading the word on Facebook and Twitter (#RespectCampaign). I'm determined to raise awareness, develop strategies to combat these crimes, and to get the message across that hate hurts.

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Repair Corrupt files with HashTab 4.0

 

HashTab is a file hasher that integrates into Windows and remains very light on computer resources all the time, it could repair a corrupt file.

Although most similar applications come with a dedicated interface, HashTab adopted a different approach and can be accessed via the Windows Context Menu, once the user clicks on the “Properties” option.

In other words, if you wish to check file integrity, it's enough to perform a simple right-click on the file you want, hit “Properties” and look for the “File Hashes” tab.

HashTab provides three different algorithms, namely CRC32, MD5 and SHA-1, with all values displayed straight in the same window.

In addition, the application comes with a handy comparison tool at the bottom of the screen. Just pick the file you wish to compare using the adjacent browsing button and the information is displayed in no time.

Since it integrates so well into Windows, the program remains incredibly light on computer resources all the time, so it won't slow down the operating system in any way. Things are slightly different when it comes to larger files, but one thing is for sure: you can safely use it on older machines as well.

Although everything is so intuitive and easy to use, there is no help file included in the package, which means users looking for more information have to use a search engine for the job.

Other than that, HashTab is quite a handy tool that may become a must-have for many users out there. It works very fast and it integrates into the “File Properties” menu so you don't need to use an external tool.

Get it now trough      Mega 
Decryption Key        cEqXF5MkdX9_sytsok0YDL2BD1f_vUVqCie0jSC3q7Y
 

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Jeremy Clarkson Jeremy Clarkson 'begs forgiveness' over N-word footage

Jeremy Clarkson came under fire after apparently using the N-word in unbroadcast footage from the BBC's Top Gear. Photograph: Ben Stansall/PA

 

Jeremy Clarkson has begged viewers' forgiveness after he appeared to use the N-word during filming of his BBC programme Top Gear.

In a video statement posted online on Thursday, he said that he had tried to obscure the word when reciting the "eeny, meeny, miny, moe" nursery rhyme to chose between two cars, but that his efforts to do so "weren't quite good enough".

Clarkson had previously issued a robust denial of the allegation, telling his 3.2 million Twitter followers: "I did not use the N-word. Never use it. The Mirror has gone way too far this time."
But footage of the incident was later posted on The Daily Mirror website. In it Clarkson recites the beginning of the children's nursery rhyme "eeny, meeny, miny, moe" before apparently mumbling: "Catch a nigger by his toe."

His apology came after a day of growing calls for the BBC to sack him. The corporation issued a strongly worded statement saying: "Jeremy Clarkson has set out the background to this regrettable episode. We have made it absolutely clear to him, the standards the BBC expects on air and off. We have left him in no doubt about how seriously we view this.".

Downing Street condemned any use of the word, saying that David Cameron – a friend of Clarkson's – would "certainly not" use it.

Aliya Mohammed, the chief executive of Race Equality First, called for immediate action from the BBC.

She said: "I am appalled at yet another open display of racism from Clarkson. How many racist comments will the BBC allow from the presenter? It makes me question whether Clarkson feels it would be acceptable because he thinks viewers and others within the BBC share his views.
"Racism is illegal and it has no place in modern society. I urge as many people as possible to show their condemnation of this abhorrent display of racism. A public personality should set an example to viewers and Clarkson is clearly a very bad example."

Lawyers for the Indian-born actor Somi Guha, who appeared in The Bill and other television shows, made a formal complaint to the BBC Trust as calls for Clarkson to be sacked gathered pace. In the letter, which was also sent to the media regulator Ofcom and has been seen by the Guardian, the lawyer Lawrence Davies demanded an external investigation into how the offensive language had come to be edited out of the show and whether Clarkson had been reprimanded.

Davies, director of the law firm Equal Justice Solicitors, said Clarkson would be dismissed in any other line of work. "It's appalling. He's a repeat offender and should be sacked," he said.

"If he was a Ukip councillor in a private meeting I believe they would suspend or dismiss him. If he was the owner of an American basketball team he would be fined and banned. But the BBC consider themselves unaccountable on the issue of racism."

The prime minister's spokesman said: "In terms of any usage of that word, that would be quite wrong."

He added that the BBC would be investigating the claims. "If there are those types of reports and allegations I'm sure that is something the BBC will look at."

Clarkson, who earned more than £14m last year for his Top Gear work, is understood to have spoken to senior BBC figures on Thursday morning as part of the corporation's investigation into the allegations.

Executives learned about the controversy only when a preview of the Mirror's front page was published online on Wednesday night.

Clarkson's Top Gear co-host James May earlier leapt to the star's defence. May told his 1.4 million Twitter followers: "Jeremy Clarkson is not a racist. He is a monumental bellend and many other things, but not a racist. I wouldn't work with one. #ThatIsAll."

Piers Morgan, the former CNN presenter with a long history of feuding with Clarkson, led calls on Twitter for him to be dismissed. He said Clarkson should be "TV toast", and added: "Ron Atkinson was fired by @ITV for using the N-word. Don't see how the BBC can avoid firing @JeremyClarkson if he did the same … In America, he'd be fired by now."

The programme, aired in February 2013, showed Clarkson standing between a Toyota GT86 and a Subaru BRZ and saying: "Both cost the same, they have the same bodies and the same interiors with the same equipment.

"They are even built by the same people in the same factory. You might imagine then that it's quite hard to choose between them, but actually, it isn't. Watch, because this is how you do it."
In the unaired footage – which was later passed to the Mirror – the presenter then recites the children's counting rhyme and appears to use the N-word under his breath before pointing at the Toyota and shrugging: "Toyota it is." The offensive term was removed from the episode, according to the Mirror. In the broadcast version, Clarkson recited the rhyme but this time used the word "teacher".

Clarkson's full apology

"Ordinarily I don't respond to newspaper allegations but on this occasion I feel I must make an exception. A couple of years ago I recorded an item for Top Gear in which I quote the rhyme "eeny, meeny, miny, moe". Of course, I was well aware that in the best-known version of this rhyme there is a racist expression that I was extremely keen to avoid. The full rushes show that I did three takes. In two, I mumbled where the offensive word would normally occur and in the third I replaced it altogether with the word teacher.
Now when I viewed this footage several weeks later I realised that in one of the mumbled versions if you listen very carefully with the sound turned right up it did appear that I'd actually used the word I was trying to obscure. I was mortified by this, horrified. It is a word I loathe and I did everything in my power to make sure that that version did not appear in the programme that was transmitted.

"I have here the note that was sent at the time to the production office and it says: 'I didn't use the N-word here but I've just listened through my headphones and it sounds like I did. Is there another take that we could use?'

"Please be assured I did everything in my power to not use that word, as I'm sitting here begging your forgiveness for the fact my efforts obviously weren't quite good enough, thank you."

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Oklahoma inmate Tasered by prison staff on day of botched execution

Oklahoma corrections director Robert Patton addresses the media about the execution of Clayton Lockett. Photograph: John Clanton/AP

Clayton Lockett, the death-row inmate who was the subject of a botched execution by the state of Oklahoma, was Tasered by prison staff and had cut his own arm on the day of the failed procedure, according to a timeline released by the state's corrections chief on Thursday.

The document released by the director of the corrections department, Robert Patton, shows that medical staff could not find a suitable vein on any of his limbs in which to inject the lethal drugs intended to kill him, and had to use his groin instead. Lockett died, apparently from a heart attack, 43 minutes after his attempted execution began and 10 minutes after it had been called off.

Patton recommended an indefinite stay of executions in Oklahoma until procedures for judicial killings in the state are completely rewritten and staff retrained. The execution of another inmate, Charles Warner, also due to have been carried out on Tuesday, has already been postponed.

“It will take several days or possibly weeks to refine the new protocols,” Patton wrote in a letter to the Republican governor of Oklahoma, Mary Fallin. “Once written, staff will require extensive training and understanding of new protocols before an execution can be scheduled. I recommend asking the court of criminal appeals to issue an indefinite stay of execution.” Patton said he supported an “external investigation” of Lockett's death.

Fallin said on Thursday that she had the authority to grant a 60-day moratorium before the attorney general would petition the appeals court for an extension. “We need to take as long as possible to get the answer right,” she told reporters.

Alex Weintz, a spokesman for Fallin, said the state “will not proceed with any executions until department of corrections protocols can be reviewed and updated, and staff then trained to implement those new protocols.”

The timeline published by Oklahoma details a chaotic scene in the death chamber before and during the failed execution, as staff struggle to place an intravenous line into Lockett, report that he was unconscious, but then did not spot that the IV connection had failed because they had covered Lockett groin with a sheet, to prevent that area of his body from being seen by witnesses.
The document is notable as much for what it leaves out as for what it reveals: there is no mention of the three minutes in which witnesses saw Lockett thrashing violently on the gurney and attempting to speak, despite having been declared unconscious. Neither does it say anything about what happened in the ten minutes between the procedure being called off and the moment Lockett died.
Lawyers, state officials and journalists from media groups including the Guardian witnessed the first 16 minutes of the attempted execution before officials drew the blinds that separated the viewing room from the death chamber. For the final three visible minutes, Lockett writhed, groaned, attempted to lift himself off the gurney and tried to speak, despite a doctor having declared him unconscious.

Lockett was convicted in 2000 and sentenced to death for the kidnap and murder of a 19-year-old, Stephanie Neiman, during a home invasion the previous year. She survived the initial assault, and Lockett ordered two accomplices to bury her alive. He also raped one of her friends. His accomplices are serving life sentences.

Neiman had graduated from high school only two weeks before her death. Her parents, Steve and Susie Neiman, supported Lockett's sentence. After his death on Tuesday, the Neimans issued a statement, saying: “We are thankful this day has finally arrived and justice will finally be served.”
The timeline released by Patton shows that just after 5am on Tuesday, Lockett had refused to be restrained when officers arrived to take him for X-rays. A correctional emergency response team (Cert) was called to use force on him, and he was Tasered at 5.50am. Three minutes later he was found to have a self-inflicted cut on his arm. At 8.15am, the wound was determined not to be serious enough to require sutures.

Oklahoma's timeline also goes into detail about what happened before and during the attempted execution. At 5.22pm, Lockett was restrained on the execution table, but a suitable vein could not be found anywhere on his body in which to insert an intravenous line. Veins on his legs and arms were rejected before a doctor examined his neck, and then finally his groin.

The timeline reveals that the insertion point was covered by a sheet “to prevent witness viewing of the groin area”. The execution began at 6.23pm with the injection of the first of a cocktail of three drugs, but the intravenous line – covered by the sheet – was only checked after 6.44pm, when the blinds between the execution chamber and the viewing room were lowered.

The report says: “The doctor checked the IV and reported the blood vein had collapsed, and the drugs had either absorbed into tissue, leaked out or both. The warden immediately contacted the director by phone and reported the information to the director.”

According to the timeline, Patton asked if enough drugs had been administered to cause death, to which the doctor replied “no”. The director then asked if another vein was available to complete the execution, and if so, were there enough drugs left. The doctor answered no to both questions, the timeline reveals.

The doctor reported a “faint heartbeat”, and at 6.56pm, Patton called off the execution. The timeline does not detail what happened between then and 7.06pm, when Lockett was declared dead.
At an open meeting of the board of corrections on Thursday, Patton refused to answer a question from the Guardian about whether any attempts were made to revive Lockett, and walked out of the room.

Fallin was asked later whether she believed that what happened to Lockett was constitutional. “That will be answered by the courts and by those that are in authority,” the governor said, adding that she did not know if any attempts had been made to resuscitate Lockett after the execution was called off.

Clayton Lockett, Oklahoma. Photograph: Uncredited/AP

Attorneys for Lockett and Warner had challenged Oklahoma's secrecy about the source of death penalty drugs, which is permitted under a state law enacted in 2011. The state used a cocktail of drugs in Tuesday's procedure in dosages that were untested in American executions. But the timeline appears to indicate that problems with the execution could be attributed to the failure even to inject the drugs properly.

Madeline Cohen, a lawyer for Warner, the second of the two inmates due to have been put to death on Tuesday, agreed with Patton's conclusion that an indefinite suspension of executions was necessary.
“As the Oklahoma department of corrections dribbles out piecemeal information about Clayton Lockett's botched execution, they have revealed that Mr Lockett was killed using an invasive and painful method – an IV line in his groin,” she said. “Placing such a femoral IV line requires highly specialised medical training and expertise.

“Furthermore, the timeline the department of corrections has released strongly indicates that the femoral IV was never properly inserted, and the drugs were injected into Mr Lockett's flesh, rather than his veins,” she said.

Specialists expressed particular alarm that the final minutes of the attempted execution were obscured from public view. “It’s abysmal that they had the gall to close the curtains at a time when transparency was essential,” said one expert familiar with drugs used in Oklahoma’s botched execution of Lockett, who declined to be named. “That’s when witnesses were most needed to report back what happened to the rest of the country.”

The expert said that it should have been possible to save Lockett’s life once the execution had been called off and even after the drugs had been administered. Medics could have very likely saved Lockett by deploying a breathing tube, placing him on a ventilator, and applying tourniquets to his arms to prevent the drugs reaching his heart, the specialist said.

Cohen expressed concern about the failure by the timeline released on Thursday to account for what happened in the ten minutes between the suspension of Lockett's execution and his death. “We need so many answers,” she said

On Wednesday, Fallin directed the Oklahoma department of public safety to review what happened to Lockett. Lockett's body was moved overnight to the Southwestern Institute for Forensic Science in Dallas, which will carry out a postmortem examination.

Lockett's attorneys expressed doubt that the review would be independent. The commissioner of the department of public safety, Michael Thompson, is a Fallin appointee and was in the execution viewing room on Tuesday night. Fallin “did not assign this duty to a neutral, third party with independent interests”, said Dean Sanderford, an attorney for Lockett.

“Instead, she has charged the commissioner of the department of public safety with the job. The DPS is a state agency, and its commissioner reports to the governor. As such, the review proposed by governor Fallin would not be conducted by a neutral, independent entity. In order to understand exactly what went wrong in [Tuesday’s] horrific execution, and restore any confidence in the execution process, the death of Clayton Lockett must be investigated by a truly independent organisation, not a state employee or agency.”

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The Thing Game - 250Mb

All too often games based on popular movies end up as pale imitations and disappoint those who were expecting to recapture the essence of their favourite film. However every once and a while a game which has a cinematic tie delivers the goods.

The Thing is just such a game. Being based on the John Carpenter film from the early 1980s, The Thing sees you investigating some mysterious goings on at a remote Antarctic research station.

Naturally all is not well and before long you stumble across scenes of terrible carnage and evidence that extra terrestrial life forms are a part of the problem (there is also a manmade conspiracy too!). Now it is up to you and your fellow US Army special operations troops to make sense of this mess and restore order to the chaotic area.

The Thing is a suspenseful game to play for a number of reasons. For a start you and your squad mates are all susceptible to infestation and once infested could attack each other. So you don't always know if the chaps who are supposed to be supporting you in the field are friend or foe.

The knowledge that anyone could become infested, combined with the stressful nature of the mission, also has an impact on your squad mates and you must keep them calm by ensuring that any wounds they have are healed and that they can protect themselves. Often giving your squad mates a gun will calm then down. However this can backfire if they then become infested by the parasite and turn on you, which makes for some entertaining and paradoxical moments.

Evidence of this is sometimes pretty obvious as your fellow troopers will sometimes suffer from uncontrollable fits of vomiting -- something which looks pretty funny the first time you see it.
Being in an isolated area where the temperature is as cold as forty degrees below zero means you cannot operate safely for long periods outside and this adds to the tension. Stay outside for too long and you will succumb to the elements. However being inside has its own obvious attendant dangers so the game keeps you on the edge of your seat as you try and survive in very hostile conditions.
So The Thing can be quite vexing to play as you will be often without ammunition and unable to escape shambling mounds of mutant flesh which is clawing at you, leaping at your throat or spitting this gross acid stuff which looks a lot like microwaved snot (don't ask us how we know this by the way!).

There are tape recorders which you can use to save your progress, but these aren't always in convenient locations, so sometimes you will palpably feel the desperation of having a few rounds of ammunition left as you are nearly overrun. Luckily you can find a fair bit of ammunition about the place, but again this isn't always in the most convenient location so you have to make sure you are judicious and not too trigger-happy.

As you have probably guessed there is a fair bit of gunplay in this game. That said sometimes your conventional guns aren't powerful enough to kill some of the bigger alien abominations you come across. In some instances you'll need to use your guns to bring down the shambling mounds of alien flesh and then, once they have been immobilised, you will have to burn them with a flamethrower to finish them off.

Mastering the quick switch to flamethrower and then becoming good at avoiding the spot fires you start is a really vital skill and sometimes it is hard not too seriously burn yourself. The fairly fixed weapon aiming system helps contribute to the problems you occasionally suffer in this regard and while the game does let you indulge in three weapon accuracy settings these seem to apply to everything except the flamethrowers, which are sometimes hard to use with anything less than a haphazard spray. Being unable to aim up or down also makes this hard, especially when you have smaller creatures attacking you from below your field of vision as they rip into your feet.
So the aiming interface isn't perfect, but it still manages to not get in the way of the ballistic bliss most of the time.

The Thing is for the most part an immersive and enjoyable game. The visuals and sound are top notch and the sense of desperation you feel when you are stuck outside and about to succumb to the elements or being hunted by packs of the foul creatures is very real. The squad based elements and the way you keep your men from losing their minds also adds to the depth of the play experience.


There is only one aspect of the game which deserves much criticism and that is the fact that the controls can sometimes feel a little imprecise, especially during a busy fire fight. However this very minor niggle is not enough to stop this game from receiving a glowing recommendation. Play it at night with your PC speakers turned up loud if you dare!

Here Some Screenshot from many place

 

The Download Link Here

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