British sprinter Mark Cavendish has won the second stage of the tour in 104° temperatures and now wears the green jersey, but the overall leaders remain the same: Fabian Cancellara [CH], Alberto Contador [E], Bradley Wiggens [GB]. Lance Armstrong is at 10^th place and stayed with the pack today.

The fans needed helmets to protect them from the flying water bottles.

Update: I noticed someone wondering why the finish times at the end of a stage may show a half dozen people with the same time. This is because they only track the time to the second, and that many people may cross the line in a second. When the main group comes through you could have more than a dozen people crossing together.

Octavio Sánchez, a lawyer, is a former presidential adviser (2002-05) and minister of culture (2005-06) of the Republic of Honduras wrote an op-ed for the Christian Science Monitor that explains what happened in Honduras: A ‘coup’ in Honduras? Nonsense.

These are the facts: On June 26, President Zelaya issued a decree ordering all government employees to take part in the “Public Opinion Poll to convene a National Constitutional Assembly.” In doing so, Zelaya triggered a constitutional provision that automatically removed him from office.

Constitutional assemblies are convened to write new constitutions. When Zelaya published that decree to initiate an “opinion poll” about the possibility of convening a national assembly, he contravened the unchangeable articles of the Constitution that deal with the prohibition of reelecting a president and of extending his term. His actions showed intent.

Our Constitution takes such intent seriously. According to Article 239: “No citizen who has already served as head of the Executive Branch can be President or Vice-President. Whoever violates this law or proposes its reform [emphasis added], as well as those that support such violation directly or indirectly, will immediately cease in their functions and will be unable to hold any public office for a period of 10 years.”

Notice that the article speaks about intent and that it also says “immediately” – as in “instant,” as in “no trial required,” as in “no impeachment needed.”

[Read more →]

The ABC has a new opposition statement – Ahmadinejad paid for votes: Mousavi

The main Iranian Opposition candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi has issued a new 25-page report detailing alleged fraud and irregularities in last month’s presidential election.

The report has been prepared by the Committee for the Protection of Votes, which is run by Mr Mousavi’s campaign office.

It accuses President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of abusing state machinery during the campaign and handing out cash to secure the votes of working-class Iranians.

The report says both the Interior Ministry, responsible for organising the election, and the Guardians Council, the official electoral watchdog, were biased towards Mr Ahmadinejad.

And some of those claims are backed up and expanded on by an important association of clerics in Qom, as noted by the BBC: Iran clerics defy election ruling

[Read more →]

The BBC is reporting Yemenia crash jet signal detected

A signal has been detected from the flight data recorders of the Yemenia airliner that crashed in the Indian Ocean on 30 June, officials say.

Comoran and French investigators say the signal was picked up during an underwater search.

They gave no indication when the flight recorders might be recovered.

The Airbus 310, going to the Comoros Islands from Yemen, came down in bad weather with 153 on board. A 12-year-old girl was the only survivor.

From what the survivor has reportedly told her father, it sounds like the crew was too low as it approached for landing. They may have been hit by a down draft or had faulty readings. They weren’t trying to ditch in the ocean, and the weather was bad at the time.