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Final farewell for Edmund Hillary

(CNN) — The state funeral for explorer Sir Edmund Hillary — who conquered Mount Everest — is taking place in New Zealand.

Guests filled Auckland’s Holy Trinity Anglican Cathedral and an overflow area next door for a service. Among the guests were politicians, mountaineers and friends.

Lady Hillary sat with family and Prime Minister Helen Clark. In the congregation were members of Nepal’s Sherpa community and Buddhist monks.

In front of them, Hillary’s coffin was draped in a New Zealand flag and covered in wreaths. See photos of the funeral service

As the service began, Sherpas laid Tibetan prayer scarves on the coffin. In Nepal, school were due to ring bells as the service started.

Hillary’s son, Peter, told the congregation: Adventure was compulsory growing up in the Hillary household. He took us to the most extraordinary places.

His daughter, Sarah spoke of a childhood where Sir Edmund was planning expeditions, and coming home to a family eager to see him again. When asked at primary school what my father did, I was unable to find an answer.

Clark said: He was a role model for a generation of New Zealanders… We mourn as a nation because we know we are saying goodbye to a friend.

On Monday, New Zealanders filed past Hillary’s casket as they paid final respects in Auckland’s Holy Trinity Anglican Cathedral.

Four soldiers, rifles at rest, stood guard as ordinary New Zealanders said goodbye to a national hero, whose achievements are known around the world.

Hillary’s widow attended the tribute, which featured Maori song and dance. Clark, called it a celebration of a very great life.

Hillary, who was 88, died at Auckland City Hospital on January 11.

On May 29, 1953, Hillary and Tenzing Norgay, a Sherpa guide, became the first men to climb the 29,035 feet to the top of Everest and safely return.

Hillary, who served during World War II in the Royal New Zealand Air Force, began climbing while in high school and traveled to the central Himalayas to join a British party exploring the southern face of Everest in 1951.

He returned in 1953, when he and Norgay made their ascent — spending 15-30 minutes at the summit.

He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II on his return to England, but continued exploring — reaching the South Pole by tractor in 1958, joining the first group to climb Antarctica’s Mount Herschel in 1967 and boating east Himalayan rivers and the Ganges.

His Himalayan Trust has helped build schools, hospitals and airstrips in Nepal since 1961. He was also a strong supporter of environmental causes and worked to improve the lives of Nepal’s Sherpas. E-mail to a friend

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Gunman in Pamela Smart case seeks sentence reduction

WARREN, Maine (AP) — William Flynn depicts himself as a do-gooder, a member of the Jaycees who has a wife and teenage stepdaughter and likes to play softball.

At least that’s how he’d like to be seen by a judge, who’s considering freeing Flynn early from the 28 years-to-life prison term he got for killing his lover’s husband as a teenager in the notorious Pamela Smart murder case.

Since going to prison nearly two decades ago, Flynn has earned a high school equivalency degree and an electrician’s helper license, gotten married and raised money for charity. He says in court documents that he has transformed himself into a thoughtful and caring adult, intent on helping others.

Flynn, 33, was 16 and having an affair with Smart when he shot and killed her husband in New Hampshire in 1990.

In his petition to the judge, Flynn writes in a six-page handwritten letter that the guilt and shame he feels is like wearing a huge weight strapped permanently across your shoulders.

Prosecutors oppose Flynn’s request, as does the family of the victim, Gregory Smart. A hearing is set for Friday in Rockingham Superior Court in Brentwood, New Hampshire.

Flynn’s court file contains more than three dozen letters of support from prison employees, friends and others who know him. Another nine letters come from people who say they would hire Flynn once he is released.

In the motion, Flynn asks for a sentence reduction because he has now spent more than half his life in prison.

He has used those years to develop from a boy into a man of great character, fully rehabilitated and ready to contribute to society upon his release from incarceration, says his lawyer, Cathy Green of Manchester, New Hampshire.

That’s quite a contrast from the angry and withdrawn teenager who, as a high school sophomore, shot Gregory Smart in the back of the head as Smart begged for mercy from his knees. The murder scheme was concocted by Pamela Smart, who is serving a life sentence in a New York prison for her role.

Assistant Attorney General Kirsten Wilson said reducing his term would undermine the sentencing goals of punishment, rehabilitation and deterrence.

As he has yet to serve the minimum of his sentence, he has not been appropriately punished for his crime, she wrote.

Eighteen years ago, Flynn and his high school buddies were smitten with Pamela Smart, a blonde 23-year-old who worked at their high school in Hampton, New Hampshire. They became lovers, he testified, and she enlisted him to kill her husband of less than a year.

On May 1, 1990, Flynn and a friend entered the Smarts’ condominium and grabbed Gregory Smart. The friend held a knife to Smart’s throat, and Flynn — after asking God for forgiveness — fired a .38-caliber revolver. Two other teenage friends were in a getaway car.

In exchange for testifying against Pamela Smart, Flynn pleaded guilty to second-degree murder.

Her lawyers argued that Flynn wanted Gregory Smart out of the way so he could continue the affair. Prosecutors said Smart wanted her husband killed so she wouldn’t lose her condo, furniture and dog in a divorce.

Flynn, who did not respond to requests to be interviewed, wrote to the judge that he’s not worthy of the Smart family’s forgiveness, but wants them to know that the word sorry fails to express the depth of what I feel.

Flynn is so trusted in prison that he has been given work on prison security and camera systems, the court file shows. He is a member of the prison Jaycees, the NAACP and the Kairos Christian organization.

He is director of the Long Timers Group and chairman of the Peer Education Group. He plays guitar, soccer and softball, and has helped raise money for the Toys for Tots program and Salvation Army. He also helped build a children’s playhouse for a family that moved to Maine after Hurricane Katrina.

Flynn has also gotten married. In a letter to the court, his wife, Kelly Flynn, says she owns a house where she lives with her teenage daughter. She said her husband has turned himself around in prison through self-examination and hard work.

Bill has become a man who is worthy of respect, despite his past record, writes Kelly Flynn, who declined to be interviewed.

Flynn may have a tough time persuading Justice Kenneth McHugh that his sentence should be reduced.

It could be argued that Flynn’s sentence was reduced at the time of sentencing through a plea bargain, said Charles Putnam, co-director of the Justiceworks research institute at University of New Hampshire and a former homicide prosecutor. At the time, his sentence was cut from 40 to 28 years because of his youth and other factors.

And it will be hard to overlook the image of Flynn pulling the trigger.

From my perspective, Putnam said, holding another human being who is begging to be spared, and pulling the trigger on that human being and voluntarily and purposely ending the life of that human being is a momentous act.
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Democracy returns to Thailand

BANGKOK, Thailand (CNN) — Thailand’s parliament reopened Monday, marking the end of 16 months of military rule and the return of democracy.

Newly elected lawmakers in immaculate white ceremonial uniforms attended the opening in the sumptuous surroundings of the Thai parliament building in Bangkok.

The return of parliamentary rule follows elections in December in which the People Power Party (PPP), the party of deposed Thai leader Thaksin Shinawatra, won nearly half the seats in the lower house.

Billionaire businessman Thaksin was ousted in a military coup after allegations of widespread corruption in his government. He remains in exile in Britain.

In his absence current PPP leader Samak Sundaravej will probably be announced as the next prime minister at the head of a ruling coalition.

The selection of new prime minister is schedule to take place Friday.

A political veteran of more than 40 years, Samak refused to comment when asked by CNN about the likelihood of him taking over.

According to CNN’s Dan Rivers, however, his selection appears a foregone conclusion — the PPP has the most seats in parliament, and the support of all but one of the other parties.

It remains to be seen what role, if any, Thaksin will play in a future government.

He and his family are facing court cases accusing them of massive corruption. When his wife returned to the country earlier this month, she was presented with an arrest warrant by police.

Pojamarn Shinawatra appeared before the Supreme Court and was released on 5 million baht (about $168,000) bail and ordered not to leave the country.

Samak has already said that if he became prime minister he would amend the constitution to allow the deposed leader to return to Thai politics.

Analysts are uncertain, however, how much influence Thaksin — who won three elections and is still immensely popular in his homeland — could exert from abroad.

He has a lot of influence right now because he’s behind the scenes. He’s probably providing cash flow but once they have power in their hands they will be more independent of him, Chris Baker, an author on Thai politics, told CNN. E-mail to a friend

Dan Rivers contributed to this report.

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Gaza in darkness as border closed

GAZA CITY (CNN) — Residents of Gaza on Monday were coping with power cuts which led to long lines at bakeries and darkened hospital wards, but Israel said reports of a humanitarian crisis were exaggerated.

Israel closed all border crossings between Israel and Gaza on Friday after days of rocket attacks on southern Israel. The closure blocks the entrance of fuel, food, and medicine, but the Israeli government promised any Palestinians who need medical treatment would be allowed to cross.

Much of Gaza was in the dark Sunday night and Monday morning. Long lines stretched around bakeries, some of which had to shut because their power supply was cut; use of generators was limited for fear the fuel used to operate them would run out.

At Shiffa Hospital in Gaza City, patients lay next to blank monitors and other equipment that was turned off. Watch people gathering with candles in the streets of Gaza

An Israel-based human rights group which advocates easing of movement for Palestinians said the closing of the borders was paralyzing vital systems in Gaza like hospitals, water and sewage pumps, and schools.

The group, Gisha, said that without fuel, Gaza’s power plant would have to shut down.

Gaza receives about 70 percent of its electricity from Israel, and the bulk of the remaining power comes from a generation plant in Gaza. That plant relies on fuel supplied by an Israeli company.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry said the supply of electricity had continued uninterrupted and it acknowledged a reduction in fuel supply. But it said Hamas’s claims of a humanitarian crisis in the coastal strip were greatly exaggerated.

While the fuel supply from Israel into Gaza has indeed been reduced, due to the Hamas rocket attacks, the diversion of this fuel from domestic power generators to other uses is wholly a Hamas decision — apparently taken due to media and propaganda considerations, a Foreign Ministry statement read.

Noteworthy is the fact that while the Gaza population remains in the dark, the fuel generating power to the Hamas rocket manufacturing industry continues to flow unabated.

The Foreign Ministry said there was no shortage of basic foodstuffs in Gaza.

Gisha said Gaza’s residents were already suffering an electricity deficit of 35 percent and that the number would increase to 48 percent if the Gaza power plant were to shut down.

We condemn the illegal rocket attacks on civilians in southern Israel, Gisha said in a statement. But punishing Gaza’s 1.5 million civilians does not stop the rocket fire; it only creates an impossible ‘balance’ of human suffering on both sides of the border.
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Gas explosion kills 20 in illegal China mine

BEIJING, China (AP) — A gas explosion in an illegal mine in northern China has killed at least 20 people, state media said Monday.

Xinhua News Agency said the accident happened when miners were attempting to reopen an illegal mine in Shanxi province that the government had used explosives to close in 2004.

It gave no other details of the accident in Linfen city.

An official with the Shanxi provincial work safety bureau confirmed the accident but also gave no other details. She refused to give her name as is common among Chinese officials.

China’s coal mines are the world’s deadliest, with numerous fires, floods and other disasters every year despite repeated government promises to improve safety. Many of the accidents are in small, illegal mines where safety procedures are often ignored.

Just under 3,800 miners died in China last year, an average of about 10 a day.
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