James Bond's 'Quantum of Solace' speedboat is show's star turn

The Scotland Boat Show in Inverkip, west Scotland, has a James Bond theme this year.

One of three custom-built Sunseeker boats used in the latest Bond blockbuster, "Quantum of Solace" is on display at the Scotland Boat Show.

The "Quantum of Solace" Sunseeker hoisted up on a transporter with James Bond's favorite car, an Aston Martin, alongside.

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STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• 'Quantum of Solace', a 43-foot Sunseeker, was on display during Scotland Boat Show
• Boat one of three used during chase sequences in 2008 film of same name
• Owner had no idea it was used in the James Bond blockbuster until later
• Superboat to be part of larger Bond theme at event

London, England (CNN) -- A superboat custom built for the most recent James Bond blockbuster was the star act at the Scotland Boat Show, a three-day show at the weekend.
The "Quantum of Solace," a 43-foot Sunseeker Superhawk, is one of three used during the chase sequence in the 2008 film of the same name.
And its owner, Robin Porter, had his own action adventure while test-driving the boat off the coast of Marmaris in Turkey.
Porter, who bought the vessel in late January but did not realize its celebrity origins at the time, says he found himself in a James Bond-like scenario, when he unwittingly traveled into dangerous waters.
He says, "It was a beautiful, nice day and we took the boat for a run. Out of the harbor and into the bay, from out of nowhere really, there was a boat with men wearing balaclavas covering their faces and AK-47s.

We took the boat for a run ... From out of nowhere, there was a boat with men wearing balaclavas covering their faces and AK-47s.
Robin Porter, owner of the 'Quantum of Solace'

"We were in restricted waters and the little hamlet bay nearby was actually part of naval waters," he continued. "We were taken to be questioned and we didn't have the ship's papers because this was a test drive of the boat so we had to get the coast guard involved.
"Then they asked 'Have you been drinking?' We had to be taken to the hospital for a drugs test. We couldn't even go to the bathroom without a guard outside. We got interrogated about why we were in Turkey and we wanted to buy this boat, " he added.
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Eventually their eight-hour detention came to an end as authorities involved realized it was a simple case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Despite this slight hiccup, Porter says things have been smooth sailing since his return to the UK and is delighted the boat was part of the show.
Since he found out about "Quantum of Solace"'s Hollywood provenance, he has decked out the boat with custom James Bond accessories.
"Recently we've done up the boat and it has been liveried up with 'Quantum of Solace' along the side, monograms, James Bond things," he says.
Porter declined to tell CNN how much he paid for the boat. Other Sunseeker Superhawks are currently on sale for between £250,000-£300,000 ($400,000-$475,000).
"If some people get some sort of enjoyment out of seeing or use out of it, then we are happy ... It's as fast as it looks and extremely comfortable," he said.
"Quantum of Solace" was on display for the public to visit during the show at at Kip Marina, Inverkip, west Scotland.
Around 7,000 visitors visited the show, organizers said.
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The 43-foot Sunseeker was part of a larger Bond theme at the show: More James Bond icons lined the shore including a collection of five Aston Martins and the full range of all five Rolls Royce vehicles usually reserved for villains of the blockbusters.

Climate change is shrinking species, study warns

Cold-blooded species like toads, as well as many other animal and plant species shrink in warming periods, scientists say

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• New study warns on impact of shrinking plant and animal species
• Fossil data, experiments and research conclude that shrinkage happens during warming periods
• Cold-blooded animals most affected, but impacts felt by warm-blooded animals too
• Plant species also display "negative correlations between growth and temperature"

London (CNN) -- Climate change is shrinking many plant and animal species and is likely to have a negative impact on human nutrition in the future, according to a new study.
Rising temperatures and growing variability in rainfall are affecting the size of all species in the ecosystem from microscopic sea organisms to land-based predators, say researchers.
"Our study suggests that ectotherms (cold-blooded animals like toads, turtles, and snakes that rely on environmental heat sources) are already changing a lot," said David Bickford from the National University of Singapore and co-author of the study.
Both aquatic and terrestrial ectotherms have been shrinking, according to the study, with common toads' size and condition decreasing as temperatures rose 1.5 degrees Celsius over a 22-year period.
The study, published in the journal Nature Climate Change, draws on evidence from fossil records, experimental and comparative studies, as well as research implicating anthropogenic climate change over the last 100 years.
"What was most surprising to me was that it was such a uniform signal across all these different organisms," Bickford said.

What was most surprising to me was that it was such a uniform signal across all these different organisms
David Bickford, National University of Singapore

Fossils from a warming phase during the Palaeocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (around 55 million years ago) reveal that burrowing invertebrates such as beetles, bees and ants shrank in size by up to 75%.
Other fossil records indicated that animals including pocket gophers, woodrats and California squirrels, also shrank during past warming periods, say researchers.
Experimental studies which increased water acidification -- an observed effect of rising atmospheric carbon dioxide levels -- revealed marine species like corals, scallops and oysters become smaller.
Each degree of warming has been shown to decrease the size of marine invertebrates by up to 4%, salamanders up to 14% and fish by up to a maximum of 22%, according to the study.
But perhaps most worrying for marine life was the reduced growth rates of phytoplankton in response to acidification which "could negatively affect all ocean life because (it) forms the basis of the marine food web."
Researchers also say plants, which were generally expected to get larger as CO2 levels rise, are not immune from reductions.
"Over the past century, various plant species have shown significant negative correlations between growth and temperature...resulting in smaller grasses, annual plants and trees in areas that are getting warmer and drier," according to the study.
The study cites experiments manipulating temperature showing biomass in some grass, grain and fruit plants was 3-17% smaller for every degree Celsius of warming.
But there are exceptions to the trend.
Recent studies have indicated that the common lizard, mallard and teal ducks, otters and some birds are increasing in body size, say researchers, but many of these inhabit high latitudes which have witnessed increased growing seasons associated with global warming making patterns of shrinking less common.

What we might see is that there are many ecological buffers out there. These systems are incredibly resilient
David Bickford, National University of Singapore

However, this might be short-lived if climate change increases in severity, according to the study.
Average global temperatures rose by nearly one degree Celsius over the past 100 years, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), but worst-case scenarios predict warming of up to seven degrees Celsius by 2100.
The study's authors concede many factors will play their part in the size of organisms if warming trends continue, but highlight reduced availability of water and lower levels of soil nutrients as key factors for plants, and the animals that feed off them.
Bickford says more experiments need to be done to find out which mechanisms are important to different organisms in different places.
And scientists also need to discover how ecological balances are going to be disrupted in the future and what this will mean for different species up and down the food chain, he says.
"What we might see is that there are many ecological buffers out there. These systems are incredibly resilient. Nature has an amazing adaptive capacity," Bickford said.
But shrinking trends in the ecosystem are likely to impact heavily on humans, say the authors.
The study points out that nearly one billion people rely on fish as their main source of protein, and increasing variability in rain will make crop cultivation more difficult in many areas in the future.
"We've probably got such diverse food source system out there already that its going to a long time before it affects richer countries certainly. But it might not be so long for poorer countries unfortunately," Bickford said.

Somali militants threaten to enter Kenya if troops don't withdraw

A masked member of the Al Shabaab militia, pictured in a photograph dated December 14, 2008.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Al-Shabaab says Kenyan planes are killing Somali citizens
• "We shall come into Kenya if you do not go back," the group says on a website
• Kenya is pursuing militants after recent abductions

Narobi, Kenya (CNN) -- Islamic militants in Somalia have threatened to "come into Kenya" if Kenyan forces do not leave Somalia, according to an online message posted on a jihadist website.
"Kenyan troops have entered 100 kilometers into Somalia, and their planes are bombarding and killing residents," said Sheikh Ali Mahmud Ragi, spokesman for Al-Shabaab, an Islamic extremist group considered a terrorist organization by the United States, in the posting. "We shall come into Kenya if you do not go back."
Kenyan forces crossed into Somalia to pursue Al-Shabaab fighters after the recent abductions of tourists and aid workers in Kenya heightened tensions in East Africa. Kenya invoked the United Nations charter allowing military action in self-defense against its largely lawless neighbor.
"If you are attacked by an enemy, you have to pursue that enemy through hot pursuit and to try (to) hit wherever that enemy is," said Kenyan Defense Minister Yusuf Haji in a news conference aired on CNN affiliate NTV on Sunday.
Al-Shabaab, which is linked to al Qaeda, has been fighting to impose its own interpretation of Islamic law, or sharia, on Somalia.
On September 11, armed bandits broke into a beachfront cottage where Britons Judith and David Tebbutt, both in their 50s, were staying. David Tebbutt was shot dead while trying to resist the attack. His wife was grabbed and spirited away onboard a speedboat, and is believed to have been taken into Somalia.
On October 1, pirates made another cross-border raid, this time snatching a French woman in her 60s from a holiday home on Manda Island where she lived part of the year.
Earlier this month, gunmen abducted two Spanish workers from the medical charity Medicins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) from the Dadaab refugee complex, about 80 kilometers from the Somali border.
Kenya announced its new tactics days after African Union forces claimed victory against Al-Shabaab in the Somali capital of Mogadishu. The military said last week it had taken the remaining Al-Shabaab strongholds in the far northeast of the city.
"The challenge is now to protect civilians from the sort of terror attack we saw last week, as they attempt to rebuild their lives," African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) spokesman Lt. Col. Paddy Ankunda said. He was referring to a suicide truck bombing in Mogadishu earlier this month that left dozens dead. Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility. Other Al-Shabaab attacks that week led to the deaths of at least 10 civilians.
Federal and African Union forces have battled Al-Shabaab in the impoverished and chaotic nation for years. Many analysts believe the AMISOM military push has severely affected Al-Shabaab, along with targeted strikes against organization members and the weakening of al Qaeda.
Al-Shabaab said in August it was withdrawing from Mogadishu, and Somalia's Transitional Federal Government, backed by African Union peacekeepers, now controls most districts of the capital city, the United Nations office has said.
However, the group still poses a threat, Ankunda has previously said.

17 NTC fighters killed in Libyan city of Bani Walid

An NTC official said that a total of 17 fighters died in clashes with Qaddafi loyalists in Bani Walid. (Photo by Reuters)

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By AFP
TRIPOLI

Seventeen fighters of Libya’s new regime were killed and 50 wounded in clashes with Muammar Qaddafi loyalists in the desert town of Bani Walid, a military official in Tripoli said on Monday.

“We lost 17 fighters in fierce clashes on Sunday and our forces have withdrawn from the airport where they had taken control,” said Salem Gheith, head of the National Transitional Council (NTC) military command center.

The military spokesman for Libya’s new leadership said NTC fighters also pulled back late on Sunday from forward positions in the town, 170 kilometers (105 miles) southeast of Tripoli, in what he termed a “tactical pullback.”

“We’ve received reinforcements from Tripoli and the Nafusa mountains, and we will resume the offensive,” he said.

Yunes Mussa, the NTC commander for the region, announced the capture of the airport on Sunday, before the fightback by pro-Qaddafi forces in Bani Walid, a holdout of the fallen strongman along with his hometown Sirte.

EU ministers say Egypt must protect minorities Monday, 10 October 2011

European ministers condemned the violence in Cairo, which left at least 36 people dead in clashes between military police and Christians. (Photo by AFP)

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By REUTERS
LUXEMBOURG

European Union ministers expressed alarm on Monday about the deaths of at least 25 people in clashes between military police and Christians in Egypt and said the authorities had a duty to protect religious minorities.

The violence, some of the worst in Egypt since an uprising toppled Hosni Mubarak in February, occurred on Sunday in Cairo, where Christians staged protests about an attack on a church.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague said he was “very alarmed” and German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said violence against religious minorities was “unacceptable.”

“I think it is very important the Egyptian authorities and all concerned reaffirm freedom of worship in Egypt and that all sides step back from violence,” Hague told reporters ahead of a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg.

Danish Foreign Minister Villy Sovendal called for a strong condemnation of the violence. “Nothing in this world gives people the right to move into a religious fight. And I think it’s a bit scary that we come to that point in Egypt.”

Dutch Foreign Minister Uri Rosenthal called the violence “extremely worrisome” and EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said the events in Egypt and violence in Tunis – where police used tear gas against Islamist protesters on Sunday – would be at the core of ministers’ discussions in Luxembourg.

“We really do expect that Egypt will move towards its elections with the desire to see all people as part of those elections and to protect the people whoever they are, wherever they come from and whatever belief and faith they have,” she said.

The Cairo violence casts a shadow over Egypt’s first parliamentary election since Mubarak’s fall. Voting starts on Nov. 28 with candidates due to begin registering during the week starting on Wednesday.

“Egypt needs to move forward politically and economically against the backdrop of recognising that what happened in the Arab spring now needs to turn into a real democracy of a country where people of a country where people can...recognise that their human rights are respected,” Ashton said.

Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said he was “very worried,” adding: “The authorities have the responsibility to protect each and everyone; also their right to express their opinions. So it was highly regrettable.”

At least 36 dead in clashes between Copts and Egyptian security forces

Clashes in Cairo between Christian Copts and state security forces left 24 dead. (Photo by Reuters)

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By Al Arabiya And Agencies
CAIRO

At least 36 people were killed and 272 injured in clashes between Coptic Christians and Egyptian security forces on Sunday near the state television building, known as Maspero, in Cairo, Egypt’s health ministry said.

Egypt’s army rulers, meanwhile, imposed a curfew on Cairo’s Tahrir Square and downtown area, the state media announced. Tahrir Square was the epicenter of the February uprising that overthrew former President Hosni Mubarak.

A correspondent of Al Arabiya, whose office buildings are in the Maspero area, said there was heavy gunfire in the clashes as protesters seized weapons from torched military vehicles. She said she saw bodies outside the building but did not know if they were wounded or dead.

The clashes were prompted by an attack on a Coptic Christian church in Merinab village in Aswan on Sept. 30 by Muslims who said the church did not have the proper license to build a dome.

State television said the church was attacked after Aswan governor Mustafa al-Seyyed was reported as saying Copts had built it without the required planning permission.

“Down with the marshal,” the demonstrators chanted on the march to Maspero, referring to Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi who took power in February after Mubarak’s ouster in the face of mass street protests.

“We were marching peacefully,” Talaat Youssef, a 23-year old Christian trader, told Reuters at the scene.

“When we got to the state television building, the army started firing live ammunition,” he said, adding that military vehicles ran over protesters, killing five. His account could not be immediately confirmed.

“The army is supposed to be protecting us,” Youssef said.

Hundreds fought with sticks on a Cairo bridge and protests later spread to Tahrir Square, the focal point of the February uprising, as Muslims joined the rally in a show of solidarity.

Smoke from tear gas swirled over the square as thousands of protesters chanted “The people demand the fall of the field marshal”.

A Reuters witness said the army had moved in to contain the unrest, beating some protesters with batons.

State TV and sources said at least 150 people were injured on Sunday, without saying how many of them were protesters. It had earlier said three the dead were soldiers.

The government has appealed for calm. Prime Minister Essam Sharaf said he had contacted security and church authorities to contain the situation.

In a televised speech he called the clashes unjustified violence that raised fears about Egypt's transition to democracy.

“The only beneficiary of these events and acts of violence are the enemies of the January revolution and the enemies of the Egyptian people, both Muslim and Christian,” he said on his Facebook page.

“The absence of a state of law is the cause of what is happening. Freedom of expression is the basis of a democratic society and a state of law,”Political analyst Amr Hashim Rabei told Al Arabiya.

“This has not happened for months. Coptic leaders should ask protesters to exercise calm and follow their case in courts.”

Speaking to Al Arabiya from Tahrir Square, Bashir Abdel-Fattah, of the official daily Al-Ahram, said more numbers of Copts were heading to the area of clashes.

“Copts from different neighborhoods of Cairo are still coming to the area in increasing numbers,” Abdel-Fattah said.

Sectarian clashes are frequent in Egypt where Copts, who make up 10 percent of the 80-million-strong population, have been the target of attacks and have repeatedly accused the authorities of systematic discrimination

Pepper spray used on demonstrators at Air and Space Museum

Protesters against the war in Afghanistan and government spending march to the Air and Space Museum for Occupy D.C.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Anti-war and Occupy Wall Street-aligned protesters march in Washington
• Some tried to enter the Air and Space Museum over its military drone display
• A guard pepper sprayed after another guard was pushed, a museum official says
• The museum closed early Saturday, but is set to reopen on time Sunday

Washington (CNN) -- Authorities used pepper spray on a group of protesters trying to enter the National Air and Space Museum on Saturday, forcing the building to close about two hours early.
One person was arrested, according to Linda St. Thomas, a spokeswoman for the Smithsonian Institution, which runs that and numerous other museums in Washington. She estimated between 100 and 200 people were in the crowd.
Demonstrators railing against U.S. participation in the war in Afghanistan initially gathered Saturday, along with protesters aligned with the national Occupy Wall Street movement, in Washington's Freedom Plaza. The latter effort started in New York more than three weeks ago, targeting the nation's financial sector and various social ills, and has since spread to more than a dozen cities.
The Washington demonstrators Saturday chanted "Occupy Wall Street, Occupy H Street, Occupy Everything, and never give it back." Some moved from Freedom Plaza toward the museum, which is along the National Mall, escorted by District of Columbia police.
Some started to enter the museum to demonstrate against displays of military drones used during the war in Afghanistan. St. Thomas said that one of the protesters pushed a museum security guard against a wall, prompting another guard to respond with pepper spray to force demonstrators outside.
"We wanted to go inside and protest at those particular items of destruction, and the crowd was pepper sprayed going in and was forced out of the building," said Brian Morrison, one of the protesters.
Araz Alali, a spokesman with the D.C. Police, said his department had no knowledge the museum security was going to pepper spray the protesters.
Demonstrator Greg Slater carried a sign that read "Occupy Wall Street, not Afghanistan." He said that the protest did not warrant the type of reaction it got from the museum security guards.
"This is absolutely meant to be a nonviolent protest," said Slater. "It's about peacefully taking back of democracy and ending the war in Afghanistan."
St. Thomas said that the Air and Space Museum will open at its regularly scheduled time of 10 a.m. Sunday.