- Litany of failures let father rape daughters for years Authorities apologise over missed warnings of incest as report reveals culture of 'quiet word' rather than actionA series of failures by child protection professionals were detailed today in a withering report that described how a father was allowed to continually rape and abuse two of his daughters over a 35-year period.The executive summary into the case described how the family had been in contact with 28 different agencies between 1973 and 2008, and that they had been seen by more than 100 professionals including social workers, police and housing officials.Sixteen case conferences were held and ambulance workers, a headteacher and hospital staff had all expressed concern about non-accidental injuries and the children's poor hygiene. Yet nothing was done.Seven allegations of sexual abuse were made by family members – but they were not followed up.Instead of swift intervention, a culture of having "a quiet word" was found to exist among professionals.Today Sheffield and Lincolnshire safeguarding children boards apologised for their failings. Chris Cook, independent chair of Lincolnshire Safeguarding Children Board, said: "We are genuinely sorry. We should have protected you. People's lives were devastated both by a controlling, power-obsessed and deviant father and our failure to act."Sue Fiennes, independent chair of Sheffield Safeguarding Children Board, admitted they had failed the family and "nothing should shield us from that fact".The nature of the failures were disclosed today, 18 months after the father was sentenced to 25 life sentences for raping his daughters in one of the worst cases of incest ever put before a British court.The women had finally come forward in June 2008 when their father was arrested. The judge in the case, Alan Goldack QC, demanded to know what professionals "had been doing for the last 20 years."Today's report was an attempt to answer the question.It described how the man abused and intimidated his family, and how he moved them 67 times to avoid being detected by the authorities. During that time, two of his daughters, referred to as M and N, had become pregnant 18 times after being raped by him.Yet despite increasing suspicion that sexual abuse was taking place, none of the episodes was investigated effectively. On 23 separate occasions the women were specifically asked by the authorities about paternity of their children. They refused genetic counselling and there was concern that the father had become violent and aggressive towards them.Yet because professionals believed "there was no evidence" to prove incest, they took no action. They were also fearful of potential litigation, the report noted.The girls and a brother, who suffered physical abuse, were on the child protection register for a decade.Speaking at a press conference, Professor Pat Cantrill, author of the report, said the abuse could have been stopped. "It only really needed one person with tenacity to keep pushing this and pushing this and we might have had a much earlier recognition and action being taken."There were people in the community that came forward and attempted to get the agencies to react in relation to this family and they were not listened to the way that they should."She said a culture of "having a quiet word" had developed, and some professionals simply did not know how to handle the situation.She said opportunities were missed individually and collectively. "The inquiries that were identified should have resulted in the children being taken to a place of safety – but that did not occur."Some professionals got "quite stuck" around the situation of incest. "You are aware, as I am aware, that there are a number of these serious case reviews that happen and we always don't seem to learn from them."The report found the father intimidated and frightened his wife and children using physical violence and bullying.His wife left in 1992, leaving the children with him. "Professionals failed to listen and consider the situation from the child's perspective," the summary concluded. "They did not see the children and, where possible, talk to them and find out what they thought and felt about the issues. Too often the professionals took the word of parents at face value without considering the effects on the child."It found professionals were often on the back foot because some were afraid of the father. "There is also an issue of professionals stereotyping and being judgmental of adults M and N and failing to see the growing pressure on the women of the frequent pregnancies." It found agencies were waiting for M and N to disclose abuse, yet research finds that 40% of victims of serious sexual assault don't tell."There was evidence of practitioners working in narrow silos," the report found. "There is an individual and collective community responsibility on us as members of society to protect children. Members of the family and community tried to play their part in safeguarding the children … with a frustrating outcome."Cantrill said by 1997 there was a substantial picture in place that should have reflected in action being taken. "Even though some professionals were afraid of the father they left the children with him," she added.CrimeChild protectionHelen Carterguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
- Corrie 'died under Israeli bulldozer' Richard Purssell describes 'shocking event' in Haifa court on first day of civil suit brought by Corrie family against IsraelA British witness told a court today about how he had watched an Israeli military bulldozer run over and kill the American activist Rachel Corrie while she was trying to stop Palestinians' homes being demolished in Gaza.Richard Purssell, who was also a volunteer activist in Rafah at the time, seven years ago, described the "shocking and dramatic event" in an Israeli court in Haifa on the first day of a civil suit brought by Corrie's family against the Israeli state.Twenty-three-year-old Corrie, from Olympia, Washington, in the US, went to Gaza for peace activism reasons at a time when there was intense conflict between the Israeli military and the Palestinians.The Corrie family lawyer, Hussein Abu Hussein, said he would argue that her death was due either to gross negligence by the Israeli military or that it was intended. If the Israeli state were found responsible, the family would press for damages.Purssell, a Briton, now working as a landscape gardener, said he volunteered with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) to witness events in the occupied Palestinian territories for himself. In Rafah he had been hoping to prevent the Israeli military from demolishing Palestinian homes. The organisation was strictly non violent, he said. "Our role was to support Palestinian non-violent resistance."On the day of her death, 16 March 2003, Corrie was with seven other activists, including Purssell, in Rafah, close to the Israeli-guarded border with Egypt. They saw an Israeli military armoured Caterpillar D9 bulldozer approaching the house of a Palestinian doctor.Purssell described how the bulldozer approached at a fast walking pace, its blade down and gathering a pile of soil in its path. When the bulldozer was 20 metres from the house Corrie, who like the others was wearing an orange fluorescent jacket, climbed on to the soil in front of it and stood "looking into the cab of the bulldozer"."The bulldozer continued to move forward," Purssell said. "Rachel turned to come back down the slope. The earth is still moving and as she nears the bottom of the pile something happened which causes her to fall forward. The bulldozer continued to move forward and Rachel disappeared from view under the moving earth."The bulldozer continued forward four metres as the activists began to run forward and shout at the driver."It passed the point where Rachel fell, it stopped and reversed back along the track it first made. Rachel was lying on the earth," Purssell said. "She was still breathing." Corrie was severely injured and died shortly afterwards.The Israeli military says it bears no responsibility for Corrie's death. A month after her death the military said an investigation had determined its troops were not to blame; the driver of the bulldozer had not seen her and had not intentionally run her over. It accused Corrie and the ISM of behaviour that was "illegal, irresponsible and dangerous".Hussein will argue at the Haifa district court that witness evidence shows that the soldiers did see Corrie at the scene, with other activists well before the incident, and that they could have arrested her or removed her from the area before there was any risk of injury.Before the hearing began, Craig Corrie, Rachel's father, said the family had been on a "seven-year search for justice in Rachel's name". He added: "I think when the truth comes out about Rachel the truth will not wound Israel, the truth is the start of making us heal."Cindy Corrie, Rachel's mother, said the family was still waiting for the credible, transparent investigation Israel first promised regarding her daughter's death. "I just want to say to Rachel that our family is here today trying to just do right by her and I hope that she will be very proud of the effort we are making," she said. She said the family had met the staff of US vice-president Joe Biden on Tuesday to talk about the case.Three other witnesses, two more Britons and an American, who were all at the scene in Rafah when Corrie was killed will give evidence at the Israeli court. It is not clear if any Israeli military officials will speak.The hearing is scheduled to run for at least two weeks.Rachel CorrieIsraelUnited StatesProtestRory McCarthyguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
- 'Jihad Jane' faces terror charges Arrest of 'cat lady', suspected of plot to kill Prophet cartoonist, linked to terror suspects held in IrelandShe lived in Main Street, Pennsburg, which in hindsight is about as rich a paradox as could be. Her apartment on the second floor of a block of flats in the Pennsylvania town was nondescript, except for some wind chimes and a star hanging from the balcony.But today the world learned of Colleen LaRose's alleged second life, one quite out of keeping with the low-key figure she presented. She was blonde, blue-eyed, 5ft 2ins tall and wholly unassuming, according to a former boyfriend, Kurt Gorman. "She seemed normal to me. She was a good person," he told the Philadelphia Daily News.But to the FBI agents who had been tracking her every move from at least as early as July last year, she was potentially a dangerous would-be terrorist intent on martyrdom and using the aliases Jihad Jane and Fatima LaRose.Today, an indictment was unsealed accusing her of plotting to murder a Swedish man in order to frighten "the whole Kufar (nonbeliever) world".Although the indictment does not name him, her intended victim is reported to have been Lars Vilks, a cartoonist who drew a satirical picture of the head of the prophet Muhammad on top of a dog's body.US media have reported that LaRose's case is linked to the arrest in Ireland on Tuesday of seven suspected plotters from Algeria, Croatia, Palestine, Libya and the US. Al-Qaida had placed a $100,000 (£67,000) bounty on Vilks's head.The arrest of LaRose, 46, has been seized on by US national security officials as a warning that terrorist groups want to recruit white Americans to circumvent tight travel controls.David Kris of the justice department said the allegation "that a woman from suburban America agreed to carry out murder overseas ... underscores the evolving nature of the threat we face".The US prosecutor for Pennsylvania, Michael Levy, said: "The case demonstrates that terrorists are looking for Americans to join them in their cause, and it shatters any lingering thought that we can spot a terrorist based on appearance."LaRose was arrested on 15 October as she returned to the US from a trip to Europe, but details have only now been released to allow international agents to track her contacts. She is being held at a federal prison in Philadelphia.She grew up in Texas but moved to Philadelphia in 2004. Neighbours in Pennsburg told the Los Angeles Times she had a reputation for eccentricity. "She was the weird, weird, weird lady who lived across the hall. We always called her the crazy lady," said Eric Newell, adding that despite that he never thought she was dangerous. His wife, Kristy, said LaRose used to talk a lot to her cats.Why and when LaRose converted to Islam is not known, but the indictment pinpoints her involvement in jihadist conspiracy to June 2008, when she allegedly posted a comment on YouTube under the alias Jihad Jane, saying she was "desperate to do something somehow to help" the suffering Muslim people.The charges detail how over the next few months she came into contact through the internet with five separate unnamed but known jihadists in Europe and south Asia. The first connection was allegedly in December 2008 with a south Asian resident who wanted to "wage jihad and become a 'shaheed' (martyr)".LaRose replied she too wanted to martyr herself, the indictment says. On 20 February last year she sent an email saying that her physical appearance would allow her to "blend in with many people", which "may be a way to achieve what is in my heart", the indictment says.The following month one of her contacts suggests she "can get access to many places due to ur nationality". LaRose is also alleged to have used the internet to recruit women with passports and easy travel access around Europe in support of violent jihad.The FBI questioned her about soliciting funds for terrorism and posting on terrorist websites under the username Jihad Jane in July last year. But LaRose showed considerable naivety.On 23 August she suddenly disappeared from her apartment, to her boyfriend's amazement. "I came home and she's gone," he said, adding that she stole his passport, for which she has also been charged.That day she travelled to Europe and by September, the indictment says, she was actively searching for her Swedish target, becoming a "citizen" of the artist's cyber community. On 30 September she sent an email saying it was "an honour & great pleasure to die or kill" and pledging that "only death will stop me here that i am so close to the target!"It is not clear why, but she did not go through with the attack and returned to the US on 15 October, when she was arrested.If convicted she faces life in prison and fines of up to $1m.Homegrown terrorismNews of the existence of "Jihad Jane" comes at a time of mounting anxiety in the US about the incidence of American citizens engaging in jihadist activities. It is a phenomenon of homegrown terrorism that has previously been considered rare in the country.In December last year FBI agents and their Pakistani colleagues interrogated five young American Muslims who were suspected of being on their way to Afghanistan to fight with the Taliban, against US-led forces. The five, aged 19 to 25, had formed a close-knit social group in the Alexandria area of Virginia. They had all disappeared from their family homes in late November, reportedly leaving behind a video featuring war scenes and statements about the defence of Muslims.Earlier in December, another US citizen, David Headley, was charged with helping to plan the Mumbai attacks that killed 166 people in 2008. Headley, 49, who lived in Chicago, is accused of conspiracy to bomb public places in India, to murder and maim people, and to provide material support to a foreign terrorist group. Headley was born in Washington DC to a Pakistani diplomat based at the country's embassy and an American mother. He adopted his mother's surname in 2006, which investigators claim allowed him to move more easily across borders.Global terrorismSwedenFBIUnited StatesEd Pilkingtonguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
- UN orders review of glaciers report Moves aims to restore public confidence in science of global warming after mistake over melting rates of glaciersThe UN called in the world's top scientists today to review a report by its climate body, four months after public confidence in the science of global warming was shaken by the discovery of a mistake about the melting rates of Himalayan glaciers.In an announcement at the UN in New York Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary general, and Rajendra Pachauri, the much-criticised head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, said the InterAcademy Council, which represents 15 national academies of science, would conduct the independent review.The announcement follows months of controversy which, while not altering the scientific consensus on climate change, has given fresh ammunition to opponents of action on global warming.Pachauri has faced calls for his resignation, a controversy he acknowledged obliquely today. "We have received some criticism. We are receptive and sensitive to that and we are doing something about it," he said.The review, which is to complete its work by August, will not undertake a dissection of the 2007 report, which has been pored over by climate sceptics, or re-examine the scientific consensus that human activity is causing climate change, said Robert Dijksgraaf, the head of the InterAcademy Council."It will definitely not go over vast amounts of data," he told reporters. "Our goal will be to assure nations around the world that they will receive sound scientific advice on climate science."Instead, he said it would focus on putting in place better quality control procedures for the next report, which is due in 2014.These would include guidelines for dealing with material that has not undergone peer review such as the item on Himalayan glaciers.One focus of the review would be the role played by Pachauri who has been criticised for his handling of the error when it first came to light.Djiksgraaf also said the panel, likely to be made up of 10 experts, would also look at procedures for making corrections in a timely and transparent manner.The report has been pored over by climate sceptics for errors since last November when it emerged that the IPCC had stated, wrongly, that Himalayan glaciers could melt by 2035. As Pachauri and Ban noted today, the solid body of the 3,000 page report remained unchallenged.The discovery of the error goes to the core of criticism of Pachauri whose first response to questions about the accuracy of the IPCC's prediction on the melting of the Himalayan glaciers was to dismiss it as "voodoo science".Pachauri had also rankled critics by refusing to apologise for the mistakes.But a spokesman for Pachauri today said the IPCC had initiated the independent review, and had pressed the UN to call in the scientists.In his brief comments, Pachauri said the work of the IPCC, which shared a Nobel prize with Al Gore in 2007, remained the gold standard of climate science. "We believe the conclusions of that report are really beyond any reasonable doubt," Pachauri said.Environmental and science organisations supported the UN's decision."This is the right move," said Peter Frumhoff, the science director for the Union of Concerned Scientist and a lead author on the IPCC report."If this independent review is carried out with rigour and transparency, it will help strengthen the IPCC's commitment to robust scientific assessments and restore public confidence that has been shaken by an aggressive campaign to sow confusion about climate science."Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)Climate changeRajendra PachauriClimate changeUnited NationsSuzanne Goldenbergguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
- Brown freezes top public sector pay Prime minister announces pay freeze for doctors, dentists and hospital consultants as well as senior managers across most of the public sectorGordon Brown drew the election battle lines around the economy today, announcing a freeze on top public sector pay and declaring he had the strength of character to lead the country to recovery.Brown stressed that the country was at a "crossroads" and faced "crucial decisions" in the months ahead. He warned that "ideologically-driven" Tory plans for cuts risked tipping the country back into recession.The prime minister said he would save £3bn by freezing pay for doctors, dentists, and hospital consultants as well as senior managers across most of the public sector.Brown also used his address to confirm that the budget will be in two weeks' time, on 24 March, leading to speculation that he will announce the date of the election on 6 April.Speaking at Thomson Reuters in Canary Wharf, the same venue where the Tory leader, David Cameron, attacked Labour's record on the economy last week, Brown said the "resolve" and urgency felt during the 2008 banking crisis needed to be displayed again now.He admitted that in hindsight it was now clear just how close the world economy came to "economic meltdown".The economy remained in "choppy waters", said Brown as he cautioned against any belief that the recovery would automatically continue."In my view we are nearly there ... but there is nothing preordained or automatic about the upturn either here or abroad," he said.Brown turned the tables on those who accuse him of lacking character by insisting that the past 18 months had been a period demanding the "greatest test of character" as the country was brought through a "dreadful" economic storm.The prime minister said: "I have heard people say it is about policy and I have heard other people say it is about character. But I don't think you can separate the two. It is for other people to judge."But I believe that character is not about telling people what they want to hear but about telling them what they need to know. It is about having the courage to set out your mission and take the tough decisions and stick to them without being blown off course, even when the going is difficult."He told the audience that tough decisions needed to be made to keep the economy on course to recovery.He said: "We face crucial decisions. The stakes are high. We dare not risk the recovery. We are weathering the storm and now is no time to turn back. We will hold to our course and will complete our mission."This included a "disciplined approach" to pay and benefits right across the public sector.Speaking on the day that the senior salary review bodies publish their recommendations for public sector pay rises, Brown announced he intended to freeze the pay of senior staff in the civil service, the military, the judiciary, the health service and the pay of consultants.The prime minister also announced a freeze in the pay of doctors and dentists, though a written statement issued later clarified that this only referred to contractor dentists and GPs – those that run practices and may employ other people – and salaried NHS consultants.Salaried GPs and dentists – those employed by hospitals or other GP/dentist contractors – will receive a 1% pay rise.\Brown said that the government remained committed to halving Britain's record £178bn deficit within four years and said the curbs on public sector pay would save more than £3bn by 2013-14.The government has decided to accept some, but not all, of the review body's recommendations.It ignored a recommendation to increase the minimum pay for senior civil servants by £3,300 to £61,500 and has also rejected a recommendation to increase the pay for NHS managers earning less than £80,000 by 2.25%.The announcement is likely to provoke fury among public sector unions just days after it was announced that MPs would see an automatic rise of 1.5% in their pay.The FDA, which represents senior civil servants, described the decision as an "insult" to hardworking staff.Brown reminded his audience that he had already ruled that government ministers would eschew pay increases of any kind next year.The prime minister also stressed that, while the worst of the recession was over, the economic recovery remained "fragile" and could be undermined if spending cuts were pushed through too quickly.Brown emphasised the need to ensure the recovery was balanced and sustainable on a global basis as he called for the G20 to inject "new urgency into the delivery of the international agreements we have reached".He said: "I believe that around the world we have to rediscover that sense of urgency and collective ambition that guided us a year ago. For it is our choices – and the wisdom, resolve and judgments we bring to bear in making them, at both a national and global level – that will determine whether we secure a lasting recovery and indispensable reforms to safeguard our economic future."Vincent Cable, the Liberal Democrats' Treasury spokesman, said: "Gordon Brown's speech shows he is leading with a weak hand."It's very difficult to see how the man who claimed to have abolished boom and bust can campaign on his stewardship of the economy after the greatest bust for decades. The only reason he is, of course, is because the Conservatives are even worse."He added: "The budget must clearly spell out where Labour intend to make spending cuts in order to tackle the budget deficit."Gordon BrownEconomic policyGreen shootsEconomicsPublic sector careersPublic sector payCivil serviceDoctorsHélène Mulhollandguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
- Manchester United 4-0 AC Milan This evening needed every square inch of football heritage to conceal the drabness of the match. Manchester United overwhelmed inept and ageing visitors. David Beckham eventually took the field as a substitute against his old club and was a tactful guest. The veteran won cheers for a volley that did no harm as the attempt was tipped over the bar by Edwin van der Sar.The drubbing administered at Old Trafford fell just short of the 5-0 margin by which Arsenal had swamped Porto the night before. Perhaps the recent Premier League ascendancy in this tournament is not destined to end shortly after all. It will be a relief to Sir Alex Ferguson and others that Real Madrid, following the 1-1 draw with Lyon, have yet again been eliminated in the last 16 of the Champions League.United were never confronted by that sort of risk and the sheer energy in their ranks prevented Milan from disguising the elderliness of some and the mediocrity of others in their line-up. The contrast between the teams was all the more pronounced because Wayne Rooney, who began his professional life as a phenomenon, seems now to be getting better still.There were to be two strikes from him, but he had confirmed United's passage to the Champions League quarter-finals as soon as he notched the opener. The entertainment continued to the 88th minute when Darren Fletcher headed in a cross from the substitute Rafael da Silva. This emphatic beating will not have taken Milan wholly by surprise.The fuss over Beckham's return to Old Trafford overlooked the fact that the coach, Leonardo, would have been a sentimental fool to include him in the starting line-up. His mediocre outing in the first leg indicated that the inevitable decline of a veteran is getting steeper. At least Beckham showed nice touches and a fellow substitute Filippo Inzaghi might have forced home one of the deliveries in stoppage time.The 34-year-old Beckham was introduced with the score was 3-0 and there had been nothing to distract the crowd from lauding him. "Fergie, Fergie sign him up," chanted the fans. The intention was kind, but it must have hurt a veteran who knew he was being patronised. At least he was not alone. This had been a chastening night for Milan.Nothing could have stopped them from being outclassed but the aggregate score might not have reached 7-2 if Alexandre Pato and, more relevantly, the centre-half Alessandro Nesta had been fit to play. Any suggestion that the tie was in balance at kick-off was pure fiction, even if Ferguson had been in charge of the story-telling.On the eve of the game he had regretted the late goal by Clarence Seedorf at San Siro. That had done no more that trim the margin of United's win to 3-2. At the very least, Milan would have had to score twice at Old Trafford and the task of keeping a clean sheet had always looked an impossibility.There could have been some tension when a free-kick from the right glanced off Nani and went straight to Ronaldinho after eight minutes but the Brazilian's header ran wide with the goalkeeper Van der Sar almost motionless. Rooney is more practised at that art and his opener was the seventh consecutive goal he had nodded home.The attacker got in front of the centre-half Daniele Bonera to glance the ball past a helpless Christian Abbiati. The visitors had come with attacking intent, but they also brought to Manchester the same basic vulnerability that had afflicted them in Milan.Even if they had been rigorous, Rooney might still have been their undoing. The string of goals highlights the movement essential to a striker who is not all that tall. Often there is no marker to outjump him because Rooney has left him trailing. The opener dismayed Milan, but there was also collateral damage to the fixture itself.No one could pretend that a grand drama was unfolding.Leonardo's side did not get much encouragement although they had bouts of possession. Before half-time excitement was restricted in their efforts to counter Rooney's goal. Milan had to seek a lot more than that. They sent on Seedorf for the second half, but the removal of Bonera proved more relevant because the middle of their defence was disturbed.Massimo Ambrosini, a midfielder, had been reassigned to that post, but the back four were left helpless when possession was surrendered cheaply. Nani, from the left, crossed precisely with his right foot in the 46th minute and Rooney shot past Abbiati. A finish with boot rather than brow was the sole element of surprise. Uncertainty involved nothing more than the ultimate margin of victory in the tie.United, with the match won, were too composed to be lenient. After 59 minutes, Paul Scholes slid through a pass that Park Ji-sung converted for the third goal. A crowd that relished the display and remembered to protest lustily against the ownership of the Glazers had an ideal evening.Manchester UnitedMilanWayne RooneyChampions LeagueKevin McCarraguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
- BA strike looms as talks break down Walkout by 12,000 BA flight attendants could begin as soon as next week after 11th-hour counter-offers fail to find compromiseBritish Airways is facing a lengthy strike by cabin crew next week after peace talks broke up without agreement tonight.A flurry of 11th-hour counter-offers failed to produce a compromise and a walkout by 12,000 BA flight attendants could begin as soon as next Thursday. A source at Unite's cabin crew branch, Bassa, said a walkout of at least 10 days would be considered following an online poll of members that saw a majority call for a prolonged strike.The TUC general secretary, Brendan Barber, who had been hosting the peace talks, said: "Despite a prolonged period of negotiations it has not been possible to reach agreement between BA and Unite. Both parties will be reflecting on the position and the TUC will be keeping in touch but at this stage no further negotiations are planned."The talks broke down after 24 hours of frantic negotiations. BA responded to the Unite union's offer of a 2.6% pay cut with its own demands, prompting Unite to make further cost-saving proposals.BA poured cold water on those proposals this evening, claiming that they "fall significantly short" of the airline's £60m cost-cutting target. However, one source close to the talks said both sides were essentially £10m apart in their cost-saving proposals.It understood that BA was seriously considering a partial repeal of cuts to staffing levels on flights but wanted fewer crew back onboard than Unite has proposed. In a further twist, Unite wanted BA to clear 37 airline staff, including Bassa representatives, who are facing disciplinary action over issues related to the industrial dispute.BA has been seeking £60m in annual cost savings from cabin crew – a sum it achieved by unilaterally reducing staffing levels in November. On Monday Unite submitted its proposals for saving £60m, including a pay cut, partial repeal of the staffing cuts and the acceptance of new recruits on lower pay on to a separate fleet. BA's counter-offer indicated that there were still significant barriers to a deal.A strike could take place from next Thursday once Unite gives BA seven days' notice of action. BA plans to break any strike with 1,000 volunteer cabin crew drawn from the ranks of its 38,000-strong workforce and a fleet of 23 chartered jets.Willie Walsh, the chief executive of the airline, hopes to operate a "substantial proportion" of the airline's Heathrow long-haul operations and a "good number" of short-haul flights. BA will operate its entire schedule from London City airport during the expected strike, and has also claimed more than two-thirds of its Gatwick-based crew will work normally.The airline operates 650 flights a day with its 239-plane fleet, mostly from Heathrow, but has not said which routes would be kept open by the stand-in workforce.In a statement tonight, Unite said: "Management's offer went nowhere near addressing our members' concerns over crew numbers and service levels. Unite representatives will be meeting tomorrow to discuss the consequences of this breakdown. Should BA wish to make an improved offer, they have time to do so."British AirwaysAirline industryTransportDan Milmoguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
- Police face 'racist' label over searches Equalities watchdog warns of enforcement action against forces that excessively target people from ethnic minoritiesThe official equalities watchdog will threaten to brand as racist police forces which are deemed to have used stop and search powers excessively against people from ethnic minorities, the Guardian has learned.Police forces will be told they face enforcement action unless they give meaningful promises to change, says a report for the Equality and Human Rights Commission expected to be released later this month.It presents a prima facie case that the police are still failing in their duties under racial equality laws and finds that an officer's power to stop and search, based on having a reasonable suspicion of involvement in criminality, is disproportionately used against Afro-Caribbean and Asian Britons.For some forces the "disproportionality" is more than 10 times. The report presses the police to defend themselves against the allegation they are breaking the law by highlighting the fact that some forces use the power considerably more than other forces policing the same types of area.The force identified as the biggest offender and placed under the most pressure by the report is the Metropolitan police, found to be responsible for 120,000 "excessive" stops against those from ethnic minority backgrounds in 2008/9.A comparison of how frequently the power is used found that the Met uses it up to five times as much as other forces policing urban areas.The Met carries out 71 stops for every 1,000 people, but the West Midlands force, policing areas with similar issues, carries out just 13 stops per 1,000.Broken down by race, in one year the Met stopped 195 per 1,000 Afro-Caribbean people, and 78 per 1,000 Asian people. The figure for white people is 49.The report argues that because so much of the British Afro-Caribbean population live in London, and because the Met uses stop and search so regularly, it skews the national figures.A draft of the report concludes: "The evidence points to racial discrimination being a significant reason why black and Asian people are more likely to be stop and searched than white people. It implies that stop and search powers are being used in a discriminatory and unlawful way." It finds little merit in arguments advanced to justify excessive use of stop and search against ethnic minority Britons and questions how frequently some forces use the power.It says the way the power is used has a "small" impact in tackling crime while inflicting damage on community relations.Within the commission there has been debate about how strong the conclusion should be and how tough the action should be against the police.The report covers only stop and searches carried out when an officer has a reasonable suspicion of an individual's involvement in criminality, which are covered by the Police and Criminal Evidence Act.It does not cover stops where no reasonable suspicion is needed, such as under section 60 of the Public Order Act, where some studies have found ethnic minority people are targeted even more, nor does it cover stops under counter-terrorism powers, though notes concern about those.Last week the independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, Lord Carlile, said counter-terrorism stops should be ended because they barely make a dent against extremists but fuel resentment against the police.Away from London, the Dorset and Hampshire forces are over 10 times more likely to stop black people than white people. South Yorkshire and Thames Valley are the most likely to stop British Asians compared with white people.The report does praise some sections of the police and identifies that some forces have seemingly wiped out racial discrimination in the way they use stop and search powers.It also cites the example of one force, Cleveland, which in a decade slashed its use of stop and search to one-fifth of its previous level, and achieved falling crime rates and one of highest levels of public confidence in the country.The Stoke division of Staffordshire police managed to cut its rate of "disproportionality" to one-third of its previous level after enacting reforms and saw its crime rate fall.In a parliamentary briefing in January 2010 the commission said there were approximately a million stops and searches every year.It said: "This specifically must not be based on generalisations, for example, on grounds of race or appearance, or people's past record, but only on suspicious behaviour or matching a specific witness description."PoliceEquality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC)Race issuesVikram Doddguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
- Rome school fits condom machine Cardinal deplores initiative for 'trivialising sexuality' as headmaster of Kepler school urges others to followFor its critics in the Vatican, it is a matter of "deep concern". For its proponents, it is "evidence of great courage".Amid national controversy, the Kepler scientific secondary school today became the first in the Italian education system to install condom vending machines for students. The machines, in the girls' and boys' toilets, will sell cut-price condoms just a few miles from the Vatican; the Kepler is in a lower-middle class district of Rome, just outside the city's ancient walls.Cardinal Agostino Vallini, who stands in for the pope in his capacity as bishop of Rome, deplored the initiative as "trivialising sexuality".The head of the capital's doctors' association said he too disapproved of the project. "This is like recognising you can have sex at school," said Dr Mario Falconi. "I would not want a scholastic use of the condom to be authorised in this fashion, especially considering there is no problem of availability of prophylactics in our country."The condoms went on sale at €2 (£1.82) for a packet of three – less than half the usual retail price.The Kepler's headteacher, Antonio Panaccione, invited other schools "not to take fright, and do the same". His comments and those of others reflected the continuing influence in Italy of Catholic teaching on sexual matters."At the outset," Panaccione said, "there was some hesitation among some of the parents and teachers, motivated by fear and insecurity. But then, by discussing it, that was all got over."The Italian student's union, which noted that the French Lycée in Rome had been making condoms available to its pupils since 2001, said in a statement: "Only in Italy would this cause a stir." It added: "A number of secondary educational institutions in western countries distribute condoms, as do many schools in the US."Pope Paul VI's 1968 encyclical Humanae Vitae (Of Human Life) condemned "any action which either before, at the moment of, or after sexual intercourse, is specifically intended to prevent procreation." Despite Aids and talk of a rethink after Pope Benedict was elected five years ago, the Vatican has remained solidly opposed to artificial methods of contraception ever since.Italy's very low fertility rate – estimated last year at 1.31 births per woman of child-bearing age – indicates that many couples do use contraception. But the prejudice against artificial methods remains strong.Annalisa Chirico, a student leader standing in an election this month for the regional assembly in Lazio, the region around Rome, said figures from the Italian society of gynaecology and obstetrics last month showed "40% of [teenage] girls do not use any method of contraception and another 20% entrust themselves entirely to the withdrawal method."The Kepler school's initiative followed the adoption by the provincial administration of a resolution in favour of the distribution of condoms in schools.The local politician behind the resolution, Gianluca Peciola, said: "The Kepler school, its headmaster and the school council are showing they have great courage."ItalyPope Benedict XVISex educationCatholicismSchoolsReligionJohn Hooperguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
- Expel Suu Kyi, Burma tells party New law prohibits parties taking part in this year's election from having members with a court convictionBurma's military government is to force Aung San Suu Kyi's political party to expel her if it wants to participate in the upcoming election, under the terms of a new law announced today.The political parties registration law, published in official newspapers, requires the National League for Democracy (NLD) and other parties to re-register within 60 days with a new election commission.It prohibits anyone convicted by a court from joining a political party, and instructs parties to expel members who are "not in conformity with the qualification to be members of a party". Parties that do not register automatically cease to exist, the law says.The Nobel peace prize winner, who has spent 14 of the last 20 years in detention, was convicted last August of violating the terms of her house arrest by briefly sheltering an American who swam uninvited to her lakeside residence. She was sentenced to a new term of house arrest that is due to end in November.The sentence was seen as a way to keep Aung San Suu Kyi locked up during the election campaign. Last month, the supreme court dismissed her latest appeal for freedom.The new election law was immediately criticised by the NLD and by the US and Britain. The NLD's deputy chairman, Tin Oo, called the law unfair, politically motivated and designed to restrict activities of the party, which has already been battered by arrests and harassment."The fact that [party] registration will be allowed only after expulsion of a convicted member is too much. This is politically motivated," he said.The junta enacted five election-related laws on Monday, two of which have now been made public. Three more are to be unveiled in the coming days.The US assistant secretary of state Kurt Campbell said Suu Kyi should be released from house arrest so she could "play an active role in the political life of the country going forward"."We've seen the first of five [laws]. I think it would be fair to say that what we've seen so far is disappointing and regrettable," Campbell said during a visit to Malaysia.The date of the election has not been announced, and the NLD has not said whether it will take part. The government announced in 2008 that the election would take place in 2010. The last election in 1990 was won overwhelmingly by the NLD but the military refused to hand over power.Aung San Suu Kyi's lawyer, Nyan Win, said the new law also barred people who had lodged an appeal against a conviction, which he said "clearly refers" to his client.Aung Thein, a lawyer who has defended activists in the country, said: "It is very unfair that a party member serving a prison term for his or her political convictions has to be expelled from the party. This clause amounts to interfering in party internal affairs."He said the provision would exclude many pro-democracy individuals who had been imprisoned for their beliefs. Human rights groups say the junta has jailed about 2,100 political prisoners.It was widely assumed that Aung San Suu Kyi would be shut out since a provision in the constitution bars anyone with foreign ties from taking part in elections. Her late husband was British, her two sons have British citizenship, and she has been described by the junta as enjoying special links with Britain."We're going to need to study the election laws carefully once they've all been released," said the British ambassador, Andrew Heyn. "But it's regrettable and very disappointing that the laws are not based on a dialogue with a range of political opinion."He stressed that the release of political prisoners, freedom for all to participate in the elections, freedom to campaign and access to media were essential for the election to be credible.Aung San Suu KyiBurmaHuman rightsguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
- Roberts: Scene at State of Union `very troubling' U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts said Tuesday the scene at President Obama's State of the Union address was "very troubling" and the annual speech has "degenerated to a political pep rally." Obama chided the court, with the justices seated before him in their black robes, for its decision on a campaign finance case.
- MRI's successes put the brain on trial As we obtain a finer-grained understanding of the brain structures that perform specific functions, the use of MRI to probe an individual's mental capacity may be ready to take a starring turn in the courtroom.
- Jon Stewart's Extended Interview with Marc Thiessen (Video) Theissen got pretty cheesed when Stewart told him that people could only see the full video online. So watch it, I guess.
- Digg: Saying Yes to NoSQL; Going Steady with Cassandra Digg is committed to the use & development of open source software & we're keen to avoid the cost of proprietary large-scale storage solutions. We were inspired by Google & Amazon's broad use of their non-relational BigTable and Dynamo systems. We evaluated all the usual open source NoSQL suspects. After considerable debate, we decided to go with
- The Bully Dog [PIC] *****
- 20 Most Odd and Disgusting Fetishes Sure to Turn You Off The sleazy yet curious internet elves here at Amog have put together a list of frightening fetishes guaranteed to either tickle your fancy (for our disturbed audience members) or alternatively make you never think about sex the same way again.
- NASA space shuttle gearing up for big phase-out NASA is working to finish out the space shuttle program with some key missions. First, the next space shuttle, Discovery, currently is sitting on Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center.
- LAX one of US Worst Airports in customer satisfaction Although the nation's major airlines continue to boast improved on-time arrival rates and less lost luggage, air travelers are still unhappy with America's airports. And Los Angeles International Airport is rated among the worst. San Francisco International Airport doesn't rate much better.
- Sleep Habits Vary by Ethnicity Sleep problems and sleep habits vary among different ethnic groups, according to a new national survey. But among all ethnicities, there remains a common denominator: Many of us simply don't get enough sleep.
- The Internet and its Crazy Statistics [Graphic] ***********
- Supreme Court chief fights back after criticism from Obam... The Newsroom - It's no secret that many think the fierce mood of partisanship is routinely crippling Washington. While most of the fur flies between the major parties in Congress — with the president weighing in occasionally to keep his party leaders on message — this week has seen an outbreak of hostilities in a less traditional venue: between the Supreme Court and the president.
- Minority births on track to outnumber white births
(... AP - Minorities make up nearly half the children born in the U.S., part of a historic trend in which minorities are expected to become the U.S. majority over the next 40 years.
- Pa. suspect: Caretaker by day, 'Jihad Jane' online
(... AP - Colleen LaRose spent long days caring for her boyfriend's father in a second-floor apartment in Pennsburg, a small town north of Philadelphia.
- 'Lost Boys' actor Corey Haim dead in Calif. at 38
(AP)
AP - Corey Haim, a 1980s teen heartthrob whose career was blighted by drug abuse, has died. He was 38. Haim died early Wednesday at Providence St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, Los Angeles County coroner's Lt. Cheryl MacWillie said.
- Church abuse scandal reaches pope's brother
(AP)
AP - Church abuse scandals in Germany have reached the older brother of Pope Benedict XVI and are creeping ever closer to the pontiff himself.
- Pelosi says Dems near deal on health care bill
(AP)
AP - Democrats claimed momentum Wednesday in their drive to enact the sweeping health care legislation sought by President Barack Obama, citing near agreement on crucial issues despite persistent Republican efforts to knock them offstride.
- Feds probe Toyota Prius crash in NYC suburb
(AP)
AP - The crash of a Toyota Prius in New York caught the attention of federal regulators Wednesday after the driver said it accelerated on its own, then lurched down a driveway, across a road and into a stone wall.
- Conan's lone Twitter followee: 'It's totally nuts'
(... AP - Last week, Sarah Killen had three Twitter followers.
- Cable, sat TV firms ask gov't to stop TV blackouts
(... AP - The most recent showdown left millions of Cablevision Systems Corp. customers around New York without an ABC station at the start of the Academy Awards.
- Eric Massa on Glenn Beck: Battle on Fox Over Controversy ... Time.com - Many conservatives had warned Fox News superstar Glenn Beck to steer clear of aggrieved Democratic Congressman Eric Massa, but he just couldn't resist
- House Leaders Bar Earmarks to For-Profit Companies The ban, announced by House Democratic leaders, wipes out one of the most lucrative and controversial means of awarding no-bid contracts to private firms.
- Decoded Genome Gives New Hope in Confronting Diseases Geneticists said the new research shows it is now possible to sequence the genome of a patient at reasonable cost and with sufficient accuracy to be of practical use to researchers.
- Detained Herdsmen Tell of Roles in Nigeria Killings The police have arrested about 200 people in Jos, where this week dozens of herdsmen slaughtered hundreds of people in a brutal act of sectarian retribution.
- Panel Releases Proposal to Set U.S. Education Standards The new standards, which experts said could well be adopted by a majority of states, would replace the nation’s checkerboard of locally written standards.
- Baby’s Snuggled in a Sling, but Safe? Baby carriers are more popular as parents believe the snuggled-up style has benefits for infants.
- With New Homes, Town Makes Amends for Discrimination Deca... Hamtramck, Mich., settled a housing discrimination suit by offering homes to the descendants of black residents forced off their property in the 1950s and ’60s.
- Sebelius to Insurers: It's Not Too Late to Work Together How long "before the business model collapses of its own weight?'' the secretary of health and human services asked insurers on Wednesday.
- A Futures Site Coming to Bet on Movie Ticket Sales A virtual futures exchange is being assembled to allow people to bet money on a film’s box office success.
- Palestinians Stick to Plan for Talks Palestinian leaders meeting with Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. condemned a decision by Israel on new housing, but still spoke of participating in peace talks.
- Shell and Ingersoll-Rand Curb Business in Iran The announcements by Ingersoll-Rand and Royal Dutch Shell come as the U.S. is pressing for new sanctions.
- Offshore Brazil Beckons for BP British oil giant BP is set to acquire a big swath of oil assets from Devon Energy. The deal, worth up to $6 billion, would vault BP into the hot new oil region off the shores of Brazil.
- Google Sees Outcome To China Talks Soon Eric Schmidt said his company expects to soon conclude talks with the Chinese government over the fate of its search engine and business in China.
- Wall Street Moves to Shape CDS Rules Some on Wall Street acknowledged that changes to CDS are inevitable, with some suggesting remedies that might increase transparency while forestalling greater government intervention.
- Psychiatric Solutions, Bain in Talks Psychiatric Solutions, a for-profit operator of mental-health hospitals and clinics, is in talks to be acquired by Bain Capital.
- Tropicana Raising Prices Tropicana is shrinking the size of its Pure Premium orange juice jug and raising by 5%-8% the price of its gallon containers, due to the freeze that hurt Florida's orange crop.
- Toyota Complaints Surged After First Recall Complaints about speed-control problems with Toyotas have surged since the car maker announced in September it would recall millions of cars to fix floor mats that can pin the gas pedal in an open position.
- Shell Stops Gas Sales to Iran The Anglo-Dutch oil major said it is no longer selling gasoline to Iran, the latest company to make such a move during threats of tougher sanctions against the Islamic republic.
- Senate Passes $150 Billion Jobs Bill The U.S. Senate voted 62-36 Wednesday to approve a roughly $150 billion bill that extends a series of tax credits targeted at businesses and individuals.
- High Interest Costs Burden Greece The high interest rates Greece must to pay to borrow money are threatening the country's aggressive projections of a reduced budget deficit, and raising again the specter that it may need external aid.
- Europe Investment Outlook Mixed Countries in central and eastern Europe are facing frail investment prospects in the medium term, but for those looking for great opportunities this is a good time to invest, according to Yael Selfin, a senior economist with PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP in London.
- U.S. hikers held in Iran allowed to call home, families say Three U.S. hikers who have been detained in Iran for more than seven months have spoken by phone with their relatives for the first time since they were jailed, the hikers' families said Wednesday.
- Pentagon trains workers to hack Defense computers The Pentagon is training people to hack into its own computer networks.
- House Democrats plan ban on earmarks for for-profits House Democrats said Wednesday that they will ban earmarks directed to for-profit companies.
- Airman deployed to Haiti, died in quake Air Force Lt. Col. Ken Bourland hugged his wife, Peggy, goodbye and headed out for his two-day mission.
- Biden: U.S. won't play favorites between Israelis, Palest... The United States will hold both Israel and the Palestinians responsible for any steps that make peace between them more difficult, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said Wednesday.
- White House continues to slam insurers President Obama took his increasingly populist health care overhaul pitch to the political battleground state of Missouri Wednesday, turning up the heat on private health insurers in a speech.
- Mexican mogul Slim edges out Gates as world's richest person Forbes magazine released its annual list of the world's richest people Wednesday, and for only the second time since 1995, Microsoft founder Bill Gates' name was not at the top.
- Madrid crash out after Lyon claim draw Big-spending Real Madrid have crashed out of the Champions League after being held to a 1-1 home draw by Lyon.
- Women fliers honored 65 years after World War II service Some 65 years after their service, a group of former civilian women pilots whose unheralded work was key to helping the U.S. effort in World War II were honored Wednesday with the Congressional Gold Medal.
- Jury recommends death for serial killer A California jury recommended Tuesday that a man who once appeared on "The Dating Game" be executed for the murders of four women and a child.
- Baby elephant 'doing well' Taronga's back-from-the-dead elephant calf is doing well today, says the zoo.
- Man disunited David Beckham's eyes told the story after his spiritual home club gave him a standing ovation - then crushed him.
- A salute to brave soldiers Award-winning movie forces us to think about our stance on war, writes Miranda Devine.
- I'm not here for a haircut Back in the rugby league ranks just in time for the start of the NRL season, Lote Tuqiri believes the Wests Tigers can go all the way in 2010, Glenn Jackson reports.
- Fling time in Paris ... French blogosphere buzzes with rumours of affairs and a rift in Nicolas Sarkozy and Carla Bruni's fairytale marriage.
- Corey Haim: dead at 38 Teen heartthrob,famous for his roles in Lucas and The Lost Boys, found dead after career blighted by drug abuse.
- Pakistanis banned for life Former Pakistan captains banned from representing their country because of their bickering during Australian tour.
- '$1 million...two-year deal' Bingle was given the chance to tell her side of the story, but her agent reportedly put paid to that.
- Clarke breaks off Bingle engagement: report THE Australian cricket vice-captain, Michael Clarke, has called off his wedding and ended his relationship with Lara Bingle, a friend of the model told The Diary last night.
- Sony unveils its PS3 motion controller, Move At a press conference during the Game Developers Conference, the PlayStation maker gave the gathered press corps a sneak peek at its motion-sensitive controller.
- Net oversight board to consider .xxx domains ICM Registry is again urging ICANN to allow adult sites to add .xxx to their names, creating what some have called a red-light district in cyberspace.
- Next Conversation: FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski will be our next CNET Conversations. We'll ask about everything from free broadband to exclusive wireless agreements to the NBC-Comcast deal. What's your question?
- GDC 2010: Scaling the summits of gameplay roundup This week's Game Developers Conference brings together designers, programmers, publishers, and others for the latest from the world of video play.
- CNET News Daily Podcast: Google-China resolve 'soon,' you... Google CEO expects a resolution on censorship in China soon, WhitePages.com drops its malware-tainted ad network, and a real-life jetpack for commuters.
- GDC talk: Legal pitfalls for iPhone app developers Despite the easy-peasy development nature of the iPhone, there are some big legal strings attached to getting an app out into the wild, especially for those trying to take their app out of the U.S.
- European Parliament slams digital copyright treaty Secret negotiations over a once-obscure draft treaty called the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement prompted an unusual rebuke from the European Parliament.
- FTC wants more input on Google-AdMob deal The FTC is asking Google competitors to weigh in on its proposed $750 million acquisition of mobile advertising company AdMob, according to a report.
- Cooking up Google Apps at campfire event (photos) At campfire-themed developer meet-up, Google introduces its Google App Marketplace, where users can buy third-party applications to run atop the Google Apps suite.
- Woman, fearing apocalypse, tries to halt collider A woman appeals to the highest court in Germany to get the Large Hadron Collider stopped. The court decides she has no proof of any impending doom.
- FTC Said to Ask Google Rivals for Statement on AdMob, May...
Bloomberg:
FTC Said to Ask Google Rivals for Statement on AdMob, May Signal Challenge — U.S. regulators are seeking sworn declarations from Google Inc. competitors and advertisers as part of their probe of the Internet company's bid to buy AdMob Inc., indicating the government may challenge the deal …
- The Facebook Imperative Cannot Be Stopped (Marc Benioff/T...
Marc Benioff / TechCrunch:
The Facebook Imperative Cannot Be Stopped — Editor's note: This guest post is written by Marc Benioff, chairman and CEO of salesforce.com. In it, he responds to critics of his last guest post arguing that enterprise software should be more like Facebook.
- And now for something completely different (Official Goog...
Official Google Reader Blog:
And now for something completely different — Since I've been working on Google Reader, I've told a lot of my friends about how great it is. And while some of them try Reader and find it really useful, many of them aren't interested in taking the time to get Reader set up.
- New Gestures coming to an iPhone/iPad near you: triple ta...
Cleve Nettles / 9 to 5 Mac:
New Gestures coming to an iPhone/iPad near you: triple tap and long press — On the surface, the latest iPhone 3.2 Beta 4 SDK didn't have much new information. Diving a little deeper however, we find some very exciting news. — In the gestures folder, you'll see two new types of commands …
- Google Reader Play: Fullscreen Playback of Popular/Recomm...
Lifehacker:
Google Reader Play: Fullscreen Playback of Popular/Recommended Reader Items — Google Reader Play is a new Reader feature that plays a slideshow of cool items from around the web based on the stories you star. It's like a 10-foot viewing experience for your newsreader.
- Apple iPhone targeted in patent lawsuit over sync, Blueto... Neil Hughes / AppleInsider:
Apple iPhone targeted in patent lawsuit over sync, Bluetooth — Apple — along with AT&T, Research in Motion and a number of other mobile companies — is the defendant in a new patent suit that covers a broad range of smartphone related technologies, including e-mail syncing and Bluetooth connectivity.
- YouTube calling: Now serving ads on the YouTube mobile si...
Aaron / YouTube Biz Blog:
YouTube calling: Now serving ads on the YouTube mobile site — Mobile phones are rapidly becoming essential tools for surfing the web, connecting with friends, and sharing and watching video online, and we're seeing these effects at YouTube. The YouTube mobile site is more popular than ever …
- comScore Reports January 2010 U.S. Mobile Subscriber Mark... comScore, Inc.:
comScore Reports January 2010 U.S. Mobile Subscriber Market Share — Use of Social Media via Mobile Sees Considerable Gains in Past Three Months — comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released data from the comScore MobiLens service …
- Amazon.com's 1-Click patent confirmed following re-exam (...
Eric Engleman / TechFlash:
Amazon.com's 1-Click patent confirmed following re-exam — The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is confirming Amazon.com's controversial 1-Click patent following a re-examination that lasted more than four years. — Amazon's 1-Click has come under a lot of fire over the years from critics …
- Get Satisfaction Turns To Facebook To Socialize Customer ...
Leena Rao / TechCrunch:
Get Satisfaction Turns To Facebook To Socialize Customer Support — Two years ago customer support startup Get Satisfaction turned its ear to Twitter to help its clients monitor Twitter for mentions of brands. Get Satisfaction makes a network of customer support forums where customers …
- Zeus Botnet Dealt a Blow As ISPs Troyak, Group 3 Knocked Out itwbennett writes "Niney of the 249 Zeus command-and-control servers were knocked offline overnight when two ISPs, named Troyak and Group 3, were taken offline. Whoever was behind the takedown 'just decided to knock out a large area of cybercrime, and this was probably one of the easiest ways to do it,' said Kevin Stevens, a researcher with SecureWorks. As with the McColo takedown of just over a year ago, Troyak's upstream providers seem to have knocked it off the Internet, Cisco said in a statement. 'The ISP was "De-peered,"' Cisco said. 'Troyak's upstream network providers effectively pulled the plug on Troyak's router, refusing to transmit its traffic.'"
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
- OnLive Remote Gaming Service Launches In June adeelarshad82 writes "After eight years of development, remote gaming service OnLive is scheduled to roll out on June 17 for Windows and Mac. The company also announced its service pricing: users will need to pay $14.95 per month, which will allow them access to the service. However, the company did not disclose the price to rent or purchase games. 'It is partnering in this launch with publishers including Electronic Arts, Ubisoft, 2K Games, THQ and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. The games will also include new releases like Mass Effect 2, Borderlands, Assassin’s Creed II, as well as a bunch of other titles. Perlman anticipates anywhere from a dozen to 25 titles to be available at launch time, and more after that, depending on how negotiations with other publishers proceed.'"
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
- Google Opens Apps Marketplace snydeq writes "Google has launched the Google Apps Marketplace, providing a venue for third-party, cloud-based applications to supplement Google's own online applications. The program enables integrations with such applications as Google Gmail, Documents, Sites, and Calendar. All told, the effort begins with 50 vendors participating, including Atlassian, NetSuite, Skytap, and Zoho. Participation in Google Apps Marketplace is open to customers of the Premier, Standard, and Education editions of Google Apps. Applications are linked to the marketplace via REST Web services and APIs including OpenID and OAuth."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
- Digitizing and Geocoding Old Maps? alobar72 writes "I have quite a few old maps (several hundreds; 100+ years old, some are already damaged – so time is not on my side). What I want to do is to digitize them and to apply geo-coordinates to them so I can use them as overlays for openstreetmap data or such. Obviously I cannot put those maps onto my €80 scanner and go. Some of them are really large (1.5m x 1.5m roughly, I believe) and they need to be treated with great care because the paper is partly damaged. So firstly I need a method or service provider that can do the digitizing without damaging them. Secondly I need a hint what the best method is to apply geo coordinates to those maps then. The maps are old and landscape and places have changed, it maybe difficult to identify exact spots. So: are there any experiences or tips I could use?"
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
- Sweet, Sour, Salty, Bitter, Protein ...... ral writes "The human tongue can taste more than sweet, sour, salty, bitter and protein. Researchers have added fat to that list. Dr. Russell Keast, an exercise and nutrition sciences professor at Deakin University in Melbourne, told Slashfood, 'This makes logical sense. We have sweet to identify carbohydrate/sugars, and umami to identify protein/amino acids, so we could expect a taste to identify the other macronutrient: fat.' In the Deakin study, which appears in the latest issue of the British Journal of Nutrition, Dr. Keast and his team gave a group of 33 people fatty acids found in common foods, mixed in with nonfat milk to disguise the telltale fat texture. All 33 could detect the fatty acids to at least a small degree."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
- The Lost Film That Accompanied Empire Strikes Back An anonymous reader writes "'Alien' and 'Star Wars' art director Roger Christian was given £25,000 by George Lucas in 1979 to make a 25-minute medieval B-feature called 'Black Angel.' This spiritual tale of a knight on a strange quest was inspired by Christian's near-fatal fever when he fell ill in Mexico making 'Lucky Lady.' 'Black Angel' made a huge impression, not least because it shared the dark tone of 'Empire Strikes Back.' John Boorman showed it to the crew of 'Excalibur' as a template for how he wanted his film to look, and 'Black Angel' went on to influence films such as 'Dragonslayer' and 'Legend' throughout the 1980s and beyond. But it has not been seen by anyone since 'Empire' finished its theatrical run. Two weeks ago Roger Christian unearthed a print of a film that was thought lost forever, and in this interview he talks about 'Black Angel,' and provides the only picture from the film that has ever hit the Internet."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
- OpenSSH 5.4 Released HipToday writes "As posted on the OpenBSD Journal, OpenSSH 5.4 has been released: 'Some highlights of this release are the disabling of protocol 1 by default, certificate authentication, a new "netcat mode," many changes on the sftp front (both client and server) and a collection of assorted bugfixes. The new release can already be found on a large number of mirrors and of course on www.openssh.com.'"
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
- Amazon 1-Click Patent Survives Almost Unscathed Zordak writes "Amazon's infamous '1-click' patent has been in reexamination at the USPTO for almost four years. Patently-O now reports that 'the USPTO confirmed the patentability of original claims 6-10 and amended claims 1-5 and 11-26. The approved-of amendment adds the seeming trivial limitation that the one-click system operates as part of a 'shopping cart model.' Thus, to infringe the new version of the patent, an eCommerce retailer must use a shopping cart model (presumably non-1-click) alongside of the 1-click version. Because most retail eCommerce sites still use the shopping cart model, the added limitation appears to have no practical impact on the patent scope.'" Also covered at TechFlash.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
- 6 Smartphone Keyboards Compared Barence writes "A debate that crops up time and again is whether it's better to have a dedicated keyboard on your smartphone or whether an on-screen keyboard with text correction is adequate. Some phones with screen-based keyboards have started to provide tactile feedback, either using an ultra-quick spin of their vibration alert or, like the BlackBerry Storm2, using clever piezo-electric technology to simulate the feel of a button press. But which system works best? PC Pro's Paul Ockendon gathered six of the most popular handsets around and put them through a timed typing test to see which proved quickest and most typo-free."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
- Man Threatened Spam Attack In $200,000 Extortion Plot 52-year-old Anthony Digati was arrested for trying to extort $200,000 from an insurance firm by threatening to spam them with six million emails unless they paid up. Digati said he would use a spam service and his amazing talents as a "huge social networker" to drag the company "through the muddiest waters imaginable" and presumably unfriend everyone. He added that the price would increase to $3 million if they failed to pay up by Monday, according to federal authorities.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
- 'Galactica: Sabotage' Creator Discusses Her Brilliant Bea... A YouTube artist whips up a precise, shot-for-shot re-creation of Spike Jonze's amazing music video using clips from the late, great Battlestar Galactica.
- European Parliament Rips Global IP Accord European Parliament is coming out in opposition to a U.S.-backed intellectual property treaty accord, and is demanding the treaty's secret text become public.
- Google Launches Web Store for Cloud-Based Apps App stores aren't just for mobile phones anymore. Google has launched a store that lets Google Apps customers add third-party browser-based apps to their existing stack of Google's productivity tools.
- Google's Schmidt: China Negotiations Should End 'Soon' Google is actively negotiating with China over web censorship according to CEO Eric Schmidt.
- No-Fly List Includes the Dead Even though people might be dying to get off the government's no-fly list, it includes names of the dead on purpose. Following the "Underwear Bomber" incident Christmas day the list has ballooned.
- Playlist: Gorillaz, Freelance Whales and a Tribute to Mar... Hear a track from Dark Night of the Soul, a collaboration between the late Sparklehorse leader, David Lynch and Danger Mouse. Also on the podcast: more music from The Ferocious Few, Flying Lotus and Sharon Jones and The Dap-Kings.
- Big Designers Find Satisfaction in Small Games Moving away from high-budget blockbusters to scaled-down treasures built by small teams proves enticing to veteran videogame developers. Part of the appeal: A nostalgic remembrance of the early days of game development.
- Brain Scans Depict Damage From Gulf War Syndrome A massive effort to understand Gulf War Syndrome finds physiological differences in the brains of healthy veterans and those suffering from Gulf War Syndrome.
- Half-Cocked? Hermaphrochickens Challenge Gender Identity Funky chickens that are half male and half female reveal a different biological system for gender determination.
- Multitasking Earbuds Stress Great Design, Not Sound Cool looking and inexpensive, the Remix earbud from VMODA doesn't quite deliver solid sound quality.
- Around the Nation People who have had their legs amputated will be allowed to drive specially designed cars from next month, the Beijing News reports. They will get special licences after passing written and driving tests.
- Editor punished A newspaper editor says he has been punished for co-writing a bold editorial demanding the reform of the unpopular hukou household-registration system, which critics say discriminates against farmers and other rural poor.
- Smaller National Games would mean less graft, delegate says China's National Games, which claim to be the largest multi-sport event in the world, should be reduced in size to prevent corruption and waste, a member of the nation's top advisory body says.
- US trade chief wary of Google litigation The United States is studying whether it can legally challenge internet restrictions that hurt Google and other US companies operating on the mainland, but direct talks with Beijing might yield faster results, the top US trade official has said.
- Ministry considers senior citizen allowance for those ove... The mainland is considering introducing a senior citizen's allowance to help care for its ageing population, a move analysts say is an important step towards building a comprehensive social service system.
- Dalai Lama admits there is 'little hope' of resolving Tib... The Dalai Lama admitted yesterday there was "little hope" of the current government compromising on the issue of Tibet, after years of attempts to win autonomy for his homeland.
- Wind-power farms 'vanity projects' Environmentalists worldwide have praised China as a leading harnesser of the wind for electricity, but a vice-minister says most of the ventures in the country were "vanity projects" - all for show.
- Learn from Copenhagen talks, official urges world China's top climate negotiator said the world must learn a lesson from the Copenhagen talks last year to ensure a meaningful deal is produced at the UN climate meeting in Mexico later this year.
- Chongqing returnees only 'a tiny fraction' A senior Chongqing official has admitted for the first time that the resettlement of people displaced by the controversial Three Gorges Dam has not been the success previously claimed by the authorities, with many returning to their old homes because they could not fit into their new environments.
- Writers, scholars call for release of Charter 08 dissident More than 100 writers, scholars and human rights activists have submitted a letter to the National People's Congress calling for the release of leading dissident Liu Xiaobo , Human Rights Watch said yesterday.
- Governors, state school superintendents to propose commo...
The nation's governors and state school chiefs will propose standards Wednesday for what students should learn in English and math, from kindergarten through high school, a crucial step in President Obama's campaign to raise academic standards across the country.
- JihadJane, an American woman, faces terrorism charges
A petite, blond-haired, blue-eyed high school dropout who allegedly used the nickname JihadJane was identified Tuesday as an alleged terrorist intent on recruiting others to her cause, as federal prosecutors unsealed criminal charges that could send her to prison for life.
- Massa investigated for allegedly groping staffers
Not long after Eric Massa joined Congress in January 2009, several male staff members began to feel uncomfortable with the sexually loaded language their boss routinely used, according to accounts relayed to the House ethics committee.
- Gay marriages expected to create wedding-related jobs in...
Georgetown residents Christopher Cahill and Richard Marshall consider the $75,000 wedding that they're planning for June to be their own "personal stimulus package" for the District economy. And local businesses are already seeing the dollar signs.
- Dispute over candidate disqualifications could mar Iraqi...
BAGHDAD -- A controversy over the disqualification of candidates threatened Tuesday to undermine the legitimacy of Iraq's recent elections and inflame supporters of a coalition seeking to topple the alliance led by the prime minister.
-
700 jobs Legalization of same-sex marriages expected to create in District.
- House Democrats seek to limit earmarks to show commitmen...
Seeking to reclaim the reform mantle amid a series of scandals, House Democratic leaders are advocating a move that would shake up the multibillion-dollar practice of awarding no-bid contracts known as congressional earmarks.
- Massa flirts with the right, but Beck isn't tickled
Just seven minutes into Glenn Beck's hour-long interview of Eric Massa on Tuesday evening, things had already gone very wrong.
- Corrections
-- The headline on a March 9 Economy & Business item misidentified the agency conducting reviews of some campuses of Kaplan, the education company owned by The Washington Post Co. It is the Education Department, not the Securities and Exchange Commission. The item also incorrectly included the...
- On health-care reform, Republicans target Democrats' div...
As Republicans work to prevent a health-care bill from reaching President Obama, they are scrambling to exploit divisions between Democrats in the House and the Senate.
- Happy International Women's Day Cartoon by Fiona Katauskas
- Does Rudd Have The Guts For Health Reform? All of a sudden, things are starting to get interesting in federal politics.
After a lacklustre start to the year that was dominated by the insulation scandal, Kevin Rudd and his senior ministers have made two big policy announcements: the national curriculum for schools and an ambitious health reform agenda.
To Julia Gillard’s evident satisfaction, the curriculum was well received by basically everyone except the teachers’ union. Even the Opposition could only manage a carping and shallow response, with education spokesman Christopher Pyne mounting an astonishingly superficial attack on the history curriculum’s "political correctness", on the grounds that it mentioned Indigenous history 118 times but left out the Magna Carta altogether. (Legal scholars will be surprised the Coalition is so enamored of the Magna Carta, given the Howard government’s terror laws effectively removed many of the rights to legal due process first enshrined in the compact eight centuries ago).
But no sooner had Julia Gillard presented the new national curriculum than the Rudd Government had moved on to a second big announcement, this time on healthcare. Handing down the Government’s proposed policy, the Prime Minister flagged reforms to the health system that were bigger in scope than the universal, publicly funded health system — called Medicare — introduced by the Hawke government in 1983. Medicare offers a lesson for reforming governments: strongly opposed at the time by a Liberal Party committed to private healthcare, it has gone on to become perhaps Labor’s most popular ever policy.
With the announcement of the heath reforms, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has signalled that Labor intends to make the issue a key part of its 2010 election platform. The Government is proposing to take over primary healthcare, placing hospital management under the charge of local health "networks" and redirecting one third of the states’ GST revenue to health expenditure. The plan is complex, difficult, and sure to be opposed by the states and many powerful interests in the health system. It’s also exactly the kind of sweeping reform that many in the conservative media have derided the Prime Minister for being unable to deliver.
There’s no doubt that Australia needs significant health reform. As the Government’s many consultations on the issue (not to mention the extensive policy literature) have made clear: the rising cost of healthcare will eventually bankrupt state governments. It’s not just that Australians are ageing, it’s also that preventable but debilitating lifestyle diseases like Type 2 diabetes are exploding, driven by the increasingly unhealthy nature of our lifestyles. In addition, the micro-economics of health are simply very different to many other industries: consumers have almost no information or purchasing power, and those who need healthcare most are often in no position to pay for it.
On the other side of the supply and demand curve, health providers are often highly empowered health professionals with little incentive to cut costs; indeed, many get paid according to how much healthcare they provide. Factors like this account for the rapid increase in the cost of healthcare, which is currently out-stripping inflation.
The Government’s plan aims to address these issues, chiefly by becoming the major funder of healthcare in the country. The idea is to give the Feds ownership of the health system, providing an overwhelming incentive to rein in spiralling health costs while keeping the states involved.
Under the plan, the Federal Government will raise its share of all-government funding for hospitals to 60 per cent, and take over funding for GPs and primary healthcare programs completely. In addition, the Government will establish new "Local Hospitals Networks" comprising between one and four hospitals in a geographically contiguous area. These networks are supposed to have the autonomy to deliver the kinds of health services required in their community, which the Government claims will "drive accountability and performance" — although no-one is quite sure how. The real cost controls will come through a new "independent umpire" that will mandate the "efficient price" for various services and procedures across the various hospital networks. It’s a system that has worked well with the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, where the government has used its purchasing muscle to hold down the costs of drug prescriptions (in comparison, the powerful US pharmaceutical lobby means drugs costs are many times higher there).
Health policy experts such as Ian McAuley have cautiously welcomed Rudd’s plan, while pointing out that there are many loose ends that are yet to be tied up: notably private hospitals and health insurance, both of which Labor has left out of its reform plans. Safeguarding the private health insurance rebate was actually one of Labor’s election promises in 2007, which shows you just how afraid of the private health lobby the ALP is. Notice how the Prime Minister has been happy to attack state health bureaucrats but has scrupulously avoided mentioning private hospitals or health insurance.
There is a broader issue here, which is whether this Government has the guts to push through a major policy reform such as this one. So far in this term, the Rudd Government’s record on standing up to entrenched special interests has been dismal, rolling over repeatedly to industry lobby groups on issues from emissions permits to parallel book importation. Now, with healthcare, the Government will have to win over powerful lobby groups with real support in the community, such as the Pharmacy Guild and the AMA, or risk having to fight against them as well as the states in the run-up to the election.
We’re about to see Kevin Rudd’s true colours as a policy reformer. Given how badly his Government bungled its emissions trading strategy, pushing ahead on health reform looks brave, even foolhardy. On the other hand, if he can take a broadly supported health reform package to the election, he is likely to be rewarded for it by voters. Stranger things have happened — John Howard won an election after promising to introduce a "great big new tax on everything": the GST.
Meanwhile, apparently without consulting his own party-room, Tony Abbott has announced a big policy of his own: a $2.7 billion paid maternity leave program, funded by a new tax on medium and large business. Working couples wanting to start families, and the Greens, were impressed. The business lobby, however, is furious.
Abbott’s gamble is a win for Australia’s parents, who will finally see parental leave become a reality after the election, no matter who wins. It also signals a new willingness for Abbott to attack Labor on its home ground of social policy. But it leaves Abbott open to charges of hypocrisy: after campaigning hard against the emissions trading scheme, he is now proposing his own big, new tax. It’s a calculated risk. Labor has attacked him for fiscal irresponsibility, but in doing so have been forced to admit that the Government’s scheme is far less generous than the Coalition’s. Abbott could be reined in by his own party room, aghast at the profligacy of the policy. Then again, if Abbott continues attempting to outflank Labor to the left on social policy, the stage will be set for an intriguing election campaign.
- Don't Mention The War As Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono accepted an honorary award from the Governor-General yesterday for "strengthening Australia-Indonesia relations and promoting democracy and development in Indonesia", three suspected terrorists were shot dead outside Jakarta. One is believed to be Dulmatin, a suspected organiser of the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 88 Australians. Earlier today, Yudhoyono and Kevin Rudd gave a press conference in which many of the right notes were struck: cooperation was emphasised, track records were complimented and detailed questions were referred to relevant ministers.
These events exemplify the Australia-Indonesia relationship. The two nations can celebrate the progress they have made in relations since the crisis during the 1999 Australian-led military intervention into East Timor. Yet the memories of more recent bilateral strains are fresh in the minds of both Australians and Indonesians.
Later today, Yudhoyono will become the first Indonesian president to address the Australian Parliament. Behind the mawkish diplomatic statements of "friendship despite differences" that are sure to come from the President stand a slew of sensitive bilateral boo-boos that are unlikely to be discussed in full during the behind-the-scenes meetings here between himself and Rudd, and their respective ministerial entourages.
The two leaders are likely to break the ice with happier discussions around developments that will benefit both nations: carbon emissions trading, education initiatives and a free trade agreement.
But away from the Australian public’s view, the two men will sit down and discuss at least some of the more prickly questions the two countries face, most of which touch on human rights, and most of which involve Rudd asking Yudhoyono for massive favours.
In October last year, Rudd asked one such favour: he simply phoned the President and requested that Indonesia intercept a boat of more than 250 Tamil asylum seekers en route to Christmas Island. And like a good ally, Yudhoyono saw the request through. Little did he know they would become his country’s long-term problem.
Five months on, the Tamils are still there, living in squalid conditions. They say they will sit put until Australia processes them as refugees. The Indonesian Government is showing no urgency in coaxing or forcing the Tamils off the boat, nor is it showing any concern for their wellbeing. Meanwhile the Australian Government is paying an international body to take responsibility for them where they are.
Behind closed doors, it will be Rudd grovelling at his counterpart’s feet, because there is a lot at stake for his Government. Any drastic moves with the Tamil asylum seekers could cost Rudd the next election. On the other hand, if things get even uglier on the boat, he could lose popularity all the same.
And things could indeed get uglier. A 29-year-old asylum seeker died last year after receiving inadequate medical attention. Children have suffered bouts of diarrhoea and conjunctivitus, and recent media reports say a chickenpox outbreak is imminent, which would be almost certainly fatal for the undernourished children under five on board. Australians only need to look back to the catastrophic "Children Overboard" affair to be reminded of the political volatility of child asylum seekers.
However, while this situation is colouring these talks, a proper resolution to it doesn’t appear to be on the agenda for this visit. The two leaders plan to discuss ways to better deal with the issue of people smuggling through Indonesia, but both have said that the Tamils are not a priority this time around.
Another uncomfortable issue that’s bubbling away in the relationship is the plight of the fishing and seaweed-farming communities in East Nusa Tengarra, who are suffering from an enormous oil slick that spread from Australia’s waters to Indonesia’s. The 500 million litres of oil spewed last year from a burst well owned by Thailand-based company PTTEP Australasia.
The West Timor Care Foundation accused PTTEP Australasia of secretly compensating Australian fishermen and not those in Indonesia. The organisation, as well as the Indonesian Environment Ministry, is now looking to the Australian Government to take responsibility, and have pushed Yudhoyono to raise the question of compensation with Rudd today.
Indonesia is showing Australia a lot of patience on these issues. So far Australia has been able to get away with being a bad neighbour because as a wealthier, more developed country it is seen to be on a higher playing field than Indonesia. As well, Australia welcomes Indonesian students and provides disaster aid to its neighbor in times of crisis.
But Australia should not take its pedestal for granted. Indonesia’s clout is only going to grow. Its economy is forecast to be the third-fastest-growing in the world this year and its prominence as a major player in climate change mitigation and as a bridge between the West and the Islamic world is attracting international attention and respect. It’s democracy may only be 12 years old, but its achievements in that time should not be undervalued.
Rudd may be laying the tentative foundation of a more equal partnership with Indonesia.
In doing so, he must exercise caution in dealing with sensitive special cases, such as that of Australian drug trafficker Scott Rush. Rush is facing the death penalty, and human rights groups say Rudd should push Yudhoyono to intervene.
Rush, who already lost an appeal to the Supreme Court in 2007, will make one last appeal this month. Failing that, his last hope will be an appeal for clemency to Yudhoyono himself.
But this visit is unlikely to see Rush off the hook. Adrian Vickers, an Indonesianist at the University of Sydney, says it would be harmful for Australia to be seen as dictating to Indonesia on the issue of the death penalty.
Rudd knows he has already pushed his luck with Yudhoyono, but he does have one trump card up his sleeve. Australia’s security warning against travelling to Indonesia has been one of the biggest bilateral thorns in Yudhoyono’s side for years. Each time the President meets with Rudd, he tries to persuade him to reconsider the severity of the warning.
It’s a far more reasonable request than Rudd’s. Indonesia is categorised as a level-four risk, which pegs the country as dangerous as Pakistan and more dangerous than India. "This is insulting to Indonesia," says Vickers, "since it means that the Rudd Government has no faith in Indonesia to deal with security issues."
But despite the insults and political friction, the two leaders have at least shown a genuine interest in strengthening their nations’ relationship. Yudhoyono’s visit comes amid a highly charged corruption probe within his administration, yet he has gone to the trouble to make this appearance. Also, perhaps surprisingly, his visit marks the 10th time he and Rudd have met. It’s a significant milestone in bilateral relations efforts — and that in itself is cause for optimism.
- Women: Is There Anywhere They Aren't?
Women. It seems they’re everywhere these days.
This very week we’ve seen evidence that this is so, with Kathryn "Bigger than the average Elow" Bigelow winning the Best Director Oscar — an amazing sign of how far we’ve come. It wasn’t that long ago that women weren’t allowed to direct movies because it was thought that the radiation from their ovaries would damage the film stock. Of course, today we realise that this can be controlled with medication and so a whole new cinematic world has been opened up to women everywhere.
But it’s not just the movies that women have conquered like a bunch of shapely Vikings. It’s everything! Why, this week even began with International Women’s Day. That’s right — a day, just for women. All around the world, the day belonged to women, and that’s pretty special. There’s no International Men’s Day, after all. (Well, there is, but it looks pretty lame.) So all in all, it seems like women can be very proud of themselves, having managed to score themselves a Day, joining such esteemed concepts as Peace, Biodiversity and Talking Like A Pirate.
So you’d think women everywhere would be slapping each other on the back, popping the champagne corks, sitting back with some fine cigars and basking in the glow of a job well done, wouldn’t you?
You would be wrong. Instead, sad to say, many women have chosen — and I don’t wish to be controversial, but I’ve noticed this is a teensy bit of a habit with a lot of them — to complain.
It appears that International Women’s Day, so far from being a reason to say, "Well done girls, let’s kick off the shoes and have a hot tub," is in fact just another excuse to have a moan about how hard everything is.
For example, in spite of all of women’s great leaps forward, we still get carping, persnickety articles like this one by Sharman Stone, going on and on about the "gender pay gap".
Now look, I am all for women making a stand on social issues — it’s really pretty sexy — but Sharman, change the record, darling. We know women are earning 17 per cent less than men on average. You don’t have to keep telling us, over and over again. We know about it and we’ll get around to it, OK?
Sharman, it’s like when you ask your charming husband Douglas to fix the lawnmower, and he says he will, but three weeks later it’s not fixed. Well, he hasn’t forgotten, he just had to clear up a few things first. He had a jigsaw to do. He had to buy some stamps. Equal pay is a lot like that. We’re on it, but we have a few other things to do beforehand. There’s broadband, for example. The education revolution. Increasing Winter Olympics funding. Give us time. If there is one factor that has caused 95 per cent of the problems in the world throughout history, it’s men being rushed by women. That was the whole problem with Gallipoli, for starters. So you know, Sharman, get off our backs. Have some freaking patience.
Don’t get me wrong. I like women. I love women. Some of my best friends know some women and I always enjoy hearing their amusing stories about them. So it’s not out of anti-woman sentiment that I write this; it’s out of a very real fear that women — bless their hearts — are their own worst enemies.
Or take the furore that has sprung up lately about "vajazzling" — the process by which a lady affixes pretty trinkets and sparkly gewgaws to her intimate areas for the purposes of aesthetic enhancement. Sounds lovely, doesn’t it?
And yet, bizarrely, some of the "sisterhood" object even to this innocent little bit of genital embellishment. They’re somehow angry that other women might want their bits to look their best. Why? If a lass wants to glamourise her girl-nook, where’s the harm? I know I would, if I had a vagina, but I don’t, and I curse that fact daily. Because you can’t vajazzle a penis — it’d just look silly. It’s like strippers: a woman taking off her clothes for money is a thing of beauty and inspiration — a sort of anatomical poem — but a man doing the same is, technically, a hate-crime.
And I know if I ever encountered a vajazzled lady-region, I would be delighted. It would be like going into Aladdin’s cave — who knows what wonders I would find there? Exciting stuff!
But no, say the feminists, we mustn’t have magic and excitement in our lives. We must live out dull, grey existences without surprises, without thrills, without sequinned labias. THANKS, feminism.
And of course, when it comes to feminism, we know who to blame: Germaine Greer, whose motherwork The Female Eunuch conveniently celebrates its 40th birthday this year, although not literally, since it’s only a book and can’t really celebrate anything.
To mark the occasion, public intellectual and breezy bohemian Louis Nowra wrote a stirring piece in which he analyses the intent of the book (bad), the influence the book has had on modern womankind (none), and made the salient and reasonable point that Germaine Greer is a mad old bat whose appearance is hideous and offensive to normal, decent human beings.
And for this mild set of observations, the poor fellow has been relentlessly pilloried by a succession of screeching, hectoring, human magpies, each more shrill and blatantly hormonal than the last.
This nefarious assault hurts all the more because this is a man who had such a profound influence on my own intellectual development, with Cosi, a play which back in high school opened my eyes so vividly to the ability of writers to say things about subjects, and which affected me so deeply that to this day I have a phobia of being sung to by mental patients. Such a giant of Australian culture being savaged — and for what?
Let’s look at the facts: Nowra wrote that young women love shopping more than ever — and they do!
I was at the shops just yesterday, and there were women everywhere. I couldn’t turn around without seeing one, no matter how hard I tried. It was like being caught in the middle of a thunderous stampede of oestrogen-buffaloes, and let me tell you, they were loving it. The smiles on their dear little faces! The simple joy they were deriving from handing over money and receiving goods and services in return! Oh it was a delight to watch a cherubic young filly as she stepped up to a counter, swiped her card with childlike glee, and then skipped merrily away clutching a discount 10-pack of underpants. I could tell she’d be happy for days.
It’s all women want, really: a little bit of commerce, the chance to enter a PIN every now and then. The occasional food-court kebab. Women are simple folk, with simple tastes, and all the more endearing for it. I’m sure Germaine "Hold on while I urinate on Bindi Irwin’s soul" Greer would disagree, but with all due respect, I think Louis Nowra, a man who had several female relatives, knows a bit more about what women want than someone who looks like his demented grandmother. I mean, if you met Louis Nowra’s demented grandmother at the post office, would you trust her judgement?
The point is, Nowra was quite right: women today have proven, through their love of purchasing things and stringing tinsel about their nethers, that The Female Eunuch was a bit of a fizzer. The ladies read it and said, "no thanks, Germaine, we’ve got better things to do than sit about knocking back menstrual martinis and bitching about bras; there’s bargains to be had! Pass me the hot glue gun, Tenielle!".
And all Nowra did was gently point this out and tastefully suggest that Greer perhaps should not have wasted her life in quite so pointless and repellent a fashion. And yet his mild views make him the subject of horrific rancour from the likes of Helen Razer, who tore into him like a Boxing Day sale.
For a start, Razer uses the most appalling language — hardly ladylike, and not at all the way to go about promoting emancipation. I can’t imagine Nelson Mandela ending apartheid if he’d gone strutting about bellowing "Free the cocking blacks, arsemothers!" and such vulgarities. Also, let’s be frank, Helen, that sort of thing is not going to help you land a man — although if I didn’t know better, I’d almost think some women nowadays didn’t even want to.
But the main point I’d deliver to the likes of Miss Razer is this: there is no need to resort to petty personal abuse and insults, just because someone called one of your heroes a dried-up old crone who needs to shut her gummy maw. Don’t get so emotional — I know you’re a woman, but still.
And so it goes on. Men bend over backwards to make women feel welcome and valued and pretty and women just keep nagging and finding fault with everything. No matter how much ground we give, we still get calls to smash the patriarchy, we still get moping about pay gaps, we still get those frigging tampon ads. If it weren’t for Bettina Arndt, a man could go off women altogether.
Is this constant complaining, this constant grasping need for more, this permanent dissatisfaction with everything, gracious? Is it nice? Is it the Australian way? Well, it is, a bit, but is that something to be proud of?
Can’t women just stop complaining and just appreciate how far they’ve come? The mountain they’ve scaled? When Edmund Hillary scaled a mountain, he didn’t stand there whining, "Oh come on, why can’t I go a bit higher?" No, he threw up his hands happily and shouted "I am the King! Bow before me, Earth!" And why? Partly because he had altitude sickness, but mostly because he was a gracious and respectful gentleman, something I wish I could say about some of these so-called "women".
I guess the point I’m making is this: women have done wonderful things, and they ought to be proud of themselves. And that’s not to say there’s still a lot more to be done, of course.
But honestly, you shouldn’t worry your pretty little heads about that, ‘kay?
- If He Could Turn Back Time
"Maybe he likes it up the poo valley," jokes Cosmo, a restaurant worker downing midday beers on Sydney’s Oxford Street.
Cosmo, 24, couldn’t give a toss if Tony Abbott feels threatened. Same old, he says. "I honestly think he’s a dickhead. Period. He just wants attention."
Shoulder shrug, eye roll, nasty jibe. The gay cafe set is unflustered to learn that they challenge the "right order of things" (Abbott’s words). "The guy’s a tool," said one. Another: "Got other things to worry about, mate."
Off the street, Tony Abbott’s remarks hit home-sweet-home in the online comments to news articles. "Whether you agree with him or not, at least Tony Abbott says what he thinks," posted one Herald Sun reader. Another: "It is threatening. It always will be, as it goes against what is natural in procreation."
If elected, will a threatened Tony Abbott wind back gay rights? Gay activists don’t think so. In fact, according to one gay historian, Abbott would find it hard to battle the rising tide of acceptance — even if he did have an anti-gay plan.
It started on Sunday night with a profile piece for 60 Minutes. Asked about homosexuality by Liz Hayes, Abbott replied, "I feel a bit threatened … as so many people [do]".
The next day, Lateline anchor Leigh Sales asked a pink tie-clad Abbott to explain. "Well, there is no doubt that it challenges, if you like, orthodox notions of the right order of things, but as I also said on the program, it happens, it’s a fact of life and we have to treat people as we find them," Abbott said.
Gay alarm bells rang. "I’m very surprised", Corey Irlam from the Australian Coalition for Equality told me. "This is some of the strongest language we’ve heard from any major leader of a party in the last decade against homosexuality."
Another case of the hip-shooting honesty that pollsters say gives Abbott traction? "I take it on face value that the initial comment was off the cuff," says Irlam. "But the second time was atrocious and calculated."
"Wildly irresponsible, but not calculated," is the way Dr Graham Willett puts it. He’s Deputy Director of the Australian Centre at the University of Melbourne. He published Living Out Loud: A History of Gay and Lesbian Activism in Australia in 2000.
"You can’t take on anything very seriously," he says. "He just seems to say stuff." But in this instance, Abbott probably "said something he really feels".
Irlam and Willett agree about the negative impact of comments like these. "For people who are vulnerable — young queer people — it says that, yes, there is something wrong with what you do … and that view is being endorsed by our leaders," says Willett.
"I’m worried about the validity his comments give to someone in the country who perhaps personally feels threatened, and that turns into actual discrimination," says Irlam.
But the more we learn about Abbott, the more we realise we know him already. We’ve heard this language before.
In 2000, as Employment Services Minister in the Howard government, Tony Abbott pledged to protect Christian agencies’ right to hire and fire those who lived "openly at variance with Church teaching," including gay and lesbian workers.
In September 2003, the Howard government voted against amendments to a bill allowing same-sex couples equal access to superannuation. "Look, I’m in favour of human rights, but I’m not in favour of putting gay relationships on the same pedestal that you put traditional Christian marriage," Abbott said at the time.
In 2004, a mix of perceived ABC political correctness and gay visibility inflamed Abbott once more. The ABC aired — twice — a 30 second clip of a group of girls heading to a fun fair on Play School. "My mums are taking me and my friend Meryn to an amusement park," said the narrator, Brenna. That single "s" in "mums" sparked an election-year storm. As Health Minister Abbott said, "I think that if I’d been watching it with my kids, I’d have been a bit shocked." (The then federal opposition leader, Mark Latham, also criticised the program, saying parents, not TV producers, should choose when to expose children to society’s diversity.)
In 2006, Abbott characterised the gay rights movement as an "adult hang up" and a burden to kids. The Tillman Park Children’s Centre in Sydney was using books that feature children with gay, lesbian and transgender parents. "I think it’s really pretty wacky stuff," Abbott told reporters. "Kids of that age just want to get on with being kids and why should we inflict all our adult hang-ups and angst on kids. Let children be children. Let them worry about all that stuff later. Let’s not force it on them."
Abbott certainly isn’t the only vocal opponent to some aspects of gay rights but, as Willett points out, it’s not solely the government of the day that determines the progress of gay and lesbian rights in the community. There are many stakeholders involved and it’s worth remembering, says Willett, that "[during] the Howard years we made enormous progress in terms of gay and lesbian rights, [which demonstrates that] the federal government is not the be all and end all." Willett doesn’t believe that an Abbott government would sound the death knell of the gay rights movement: "Even if he had a plan to stop gay and lesbian rights, I don’t think he could do it."
It was, in fact, the independent Australian Human Rights Commission that prompted Rudd’s 2008 omnibus review of laws relating to financial and workplace benefits and entitlements for gay people, says Willett. "You can see lots of ways in which the cabinet and the federal government don’t have a lot of power." It happened on their watch but it was the work of another government organisation.
Australia has been "swamped by a rising tide" of acceptance of gay and lesbian rights, says Willett. In a 2003 poll, just 34 per cent of Australians were in favour of legal recognition for same-sex couples. A poll a year later found 38 per cent of Australians in favour. By February 2006, 53 per cent of Australians thought the government should introduce laws recognising same-sex relationships. In 2007, that number had risen to 71 per cent. Most young people support equal partnership rights. The trend is clear.
Gabi Rosenstreich from the National LGBT Health Alliance agrees. "The majority of Australians are fairly sensible people and I doubt that many of them share his views of being threatened."
While Abbott’s comments are alarming, she says, they don’t change the focus of activism. The Liberal Party doesn’t have a history of being proactive, she says, "but people learn, and we’re happy to work with them on that. At the same time we shouldn’t become complacent about the rights we have achieved."
"The concern isn’t about Abbott’s comments rolling the clock back, its about not letting the ball roll forward," says Corey. But he too is willing to work with anyone in power. His organisation has invited Abbott to meet "ordinary gay and lesbian Australians and their families". No response, yet.
"We will work with anyone who is interested in the health and well being of all Australians," says Rosenstreich. "We are not a threat to society, we are society."
"We can’t go back," Willett says. "We have changed spectacularly. You can hold the line. But there’s no going back."
- Now THAT Is A Smart Car Toyota has copped a battering in the US following the recent recall of 4.2 million vehicles to replace floor mats — and another 2.4 million to install a shim behind the pedal assembly. And that is just in the US. A further two million vehicles have now been recalled worldwide.
The recalls were implemented after a spate of reports about Sudden Unintended Acceleration (SUA) in various Toyota vehicles. That is, cars have apparently accelerated without driver input. The LA Times reports that at least 34 people have died in the US as a result of SUA in Toyota vehicles between 2003 and 2009. Toyota’s mass recall serves as a fascinating event in the culture of automobility: mass production meets mass culture and mass panic.
The full dimensions of the SUA crisis may not yet have been reached but to date there have been three separate recalls issued as part of the SUA crisis:
First, accelerator pedal recall. On 1 February, Toyota announced that it had engineered a solution to the sticking gas pedal problem. This involved fitting a little piece of metal to the pedal assembly. Some Toyota service departments stayed open 24 hours a day to complete the recall.
Second, floor mat entrapment recall. The floor mat in the driver’s foot-well allegedly got caught up with the accelerator pedal so the pedal couldn’t be released from the depressed position.
Third, brake override system. On 22 February, Toyota announced that it will install a brake override system to reduce engine power when both the accelerator and brake pedal are pressed simultaneously. (This fix will disappoint hoons who only know how to do a burnout by braking hard and then flooring the accelerator thus locking the front wheels and allowing the rear wheels to spin in rear-wheel drive cars.)
The problem now facing Toyota is that the "fixes" offered by the company may not have actually fixed the problem. There have been numerous reports of claims of SUA events in vehicles that have allegedly been fixed.
Not surprisingly, sales and market share for Toyota are in steep decline because of the SUA recall. A conspiracy theory that the US Government felt no need to alleviate Toyota’s woes because of its post-bailout interest in General Motors (which is now looking more robust in terms of raw sales and market share) got so much traction that it was specifically denied in the recent House Energy and Commerce hearings on the Toyota recalls.
At the 2008 Consumer Electronics Show, GM Chairman and Chief Executive Rick Wagoner, made the case that the future of the company was fully automated driver-less vehicles. At the same time, Chief Technologist at GM, Larry Burns, stated, "We see vehicles going from being largely mechanical to becoming more and more electronic."
It was clear who GM had in their sights at the time as the Wall Street Journal noted when they reported the event. Mark LaNeve, GM’s US sales and marketing chief, told the Journal, "Toyota right now clearly has a leadership position on reputation, financial results, many other measures. That’s the position we need to attain."
A furore has erupted in the States over a "current affairs" style news report into the SUA. It emerged that expert commentary — later debunked — which sought to demonstrate flaws in a Toyota Camry’s electronic throttle was paid for by the lawyers representing litigants currently involved in a class action against Toyota. As Professor David Gilbert’s demonstration was debunked, the point was made that any cars with electronic throttles, when deliberately modified (which is what Gilbert did), will also lose control.
Motoring industry mega-site Edmunds.com has responded to the crisis in a highly entrepreneurial fashion. They’ve proposed an X-Prize type competition for researchers investigating the SUA with a $1 million prize to whoever can unravel the cause. The X-Prize is a $10 million one-off prize awarded to whoever achieves a specific goal, such as private spaceflight. Its purpose, according to the X-Prize Foundation website, is to incite "innovation by tapping into our competitive and entrepreneurial spirits". X-Prizes are not inherently technology-based, but so far their principal focus has been the development of new technologies.
Underlying the panicked responses to the Toyota recalls is an anxiety about the development and direction of new technologies. UK Top Gear magazine columnist, Paul Horrell, writing for the BBC News Magazine clearly articulates the problem with increased technological automation of vehicles and the loss of identity and freedoms that car owners experience: "[Consumers] don’t always want that level of soulless automation. They want an individual relationship with their cars … In an age where brands are a means of self-expression, that’s become a critical part of car marketing."
Make no mistake, what we are witnessing is the leading edge of the possible future of fully automated automobility. The ubiquity of ABS braking systems and cruise control show that we’ve already embraced technology-assisted automobility but the big game changes will come from technologies like "lane change" assistance and sat-nav-based traffic congestion avoidance journey assistance.
The "driver" will become a historical artefact of the culture of automobility. As Jeremy Packer noted in his book on US automobility, Mobility Without Mayhem: Safety, Cars, and Citizenship, there has been a strong connection between the self-control of the driver on the mythical "open road" and an enfranchised self-determining US citizenry. The panic over Toyota vehicles’ SUA is not so much a panic about technology itself but of losing control in the most intimate fashion over that which gives us the illusion of control.
Mike Allen at Popular Mechanics makes a strong case for how and why there is not a problem with the basic mechanics or mechatronics of fly-by-wire electronic throttle control in Toyota vehicles from either a design or an engineering point of view. Popular Mechanics is the original "how-to" bible for frontier technological determinists. This spirit of ruthless pragmatism was on show in late January when the magazine published an article entitled "How to Stop Sudden Unintended Acceleration".
The assumption underlying Allen’s piece is that if only consumers properly understood the engineering design behind fly-by-wire electronic throttle systems, then the population at large would not be filled with such panic. He is implicitly critical and disdainful of a particular kind of US consumer-citizen, the "stupid American".
The trope of the stupid American that pervades so much of US and international popular culture is of a lazy consumer-citizen profoundly comfortable with the conveniences afforded by modern technologies. A hyperbolic representation of the stupid American is found in the animated film Wall-E where a spaceship full of infantilised adult citizens are cared for by a paternalistic artificial intelligence. They are trapped in a constant state of dull comfort. Technology ceases to be the liberator and instead becomes the horror show of a technology that embodies an alien will. To move or to be moved, this is the question.
Whatever the answer, it is clear that the greater US public is concerned — even to the point of being fearful — of the direction that new automobile technologies are heading in. This is a future represented in such science fiction films as AI and Demolition Man, but what we are talking about here is science reality, not science fiction. The end game is completely automated vehicles and, unsurprisingly, this push has come from military research and development.
The real story in all this is not the actual design fault (if there even is a design fault), but the runaway panic about the future that has surged through the US car-owning public.
- Why Australia Supports Israel In the wake of the recent Dubai assassination scandal, Australia has abstained from a vote on human rights abuses during Israel’s attack on Gaza, breaking with its old habit of doing everything it can to support Israel’s defiance of UN resolutions.
The question is: Does this signify a meaningful change in Australia’s official approach to Israel’s behaviour? As I wrote recently, Australian support for Israel comes at a cost to this country, but to understand what might lead to a policy shift that recognises this, it’s necessary to understand how that support itself has been generated. So: why have we been such a loyal supporter of this distant state? Let’s look at some possible explanations.
One possibility is that the mainstream of both countries shares a set of values and beliefs. One way of gauging this is to look at the rhetoric of our elected representatives. Both ALP and Liberal Party leaders have emphasised this bond. Kevin Rudd has described himself as "passionately pro-Israel" and as having support for Israel "in his DNA"; and in moving an unprecedented parliamentary resolution congratulating Israel on 60 years of statehood, he described it as a "robust democracy" and a "custodian of freedom" in a region "abounding in autocracies and theocracies".
John Howard stated that "The personal affection I have for the state of Israel, the personal regard I have for the Jewish people of the world … is something I value as part of my being and as part of what I have tried to do with my life." Tony Abbott applauded the Israeli leadership for striving to preserve a "liberal, pluralist democracy" against the depredations of a Palestinian leadership "running a one party statelet dedicated to destroying its neighbour". He went further, to claim that the World Trade Centre and Bali bombings had transformed Westerners into being "all Israelis now".
There is plenty more of the same. But the rosy image of Israel that they present has been steadily undercut by growing international awareness of Israel’s human rights violations, its illegal and expanding settlements, associated roads and "security" wall in the West Bank and Jerusalem (most recently condemned by the International Red Cross), its illegal blockade and brutal 2008–9 assault on Gaza, the second-class status accorded non-Jewish Israelis, the virtually on-screen murder of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai by assassins carrying phony passports of other countries, and, most recently, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s announcement that two religious sites in the West Bank would become Israeli national heritage sites and promoted accordingly.
Netanyahu justified this move on the grounds that "Our existence … is anchored in … the national sentiment that we will bestow upon the coming generations and in our ability to justify our connection to the land." His words would seem to corroborate the view of Israeli human rights group B’Tselem, who have said that "What renders Israel’s abuses unique throughout the world is the relentless effort to justify what cannot be justified."
Given the deterioration in Israel’s image resulting from these events, it is maybe time to look at sources other than "shared values" as driving Australian government loyalty. There are at least four such possible sources: public opinion, the national interest, effective lobbying, and the strength of the Israeli narrative of the conflict.
The first of these — public opinion — was undoubtedly on Israel’s side until the late 1970s, in Australia, as in many comparable Western countries. When, for example, in 1974–5 a Palestinian delegation applied for visas to visit Australia, the Whitlam cabinet decided that approval would result in public outrage. A Gallup Poll showed they had read the public mind correctly: 74 per cent opposed the visit. But public opinion changes with new events, new information, and new public relations campaigns; and more recent polls show that among those Australians with any knowledge of the conflict, sympathy has shifted towards the Palestinians. Force of public opinion does not therefore appear a strong explanation for our continuing loyalty.
It is similarly difficult to discern that Australia’s loyalty to Israel has been maintained in the national interest. At times, Australia has been the only country to vote with Israel, the US and the latter’s four satellite Pacific states against UN resolutions that have been critical of Israel. Our American Alliance under the ANZUS treaty is considered the cornerstone of Australia’s national security and our desire to strengthen America’s commitment to it is sometimes presented as a good reason for following America’s lead in foreign policy actions around the world.
On the one hand this could explain our continuing support for Israel, yet that desire to please the US cannot play too much of a part, since Australia often goes beyond America in its protestations of loyalty to Israel. One example is our failure to support President Obama’s 2009 call for an end to Israeli settlement-building in the occupied territories. In addition, Palestine/Israel is only one of America’s many foreign policy concerns and the US has little to gain by selecting this particular issue as one on which to pressure Australia for support. Nor does Australia stand to gain very much by politically supporting Israel so resoundingly that we outdo the US.
Trade is another vital national interest and one where our leaders can be ideologically flexible as shown in the Australian Wheat Board dealings with Iraq but it cannot provide an explanation in this case, as, despite an increase under the Howard government, our trade with Israel remains modest, dwarfed by our trade with other Middle Eastern states.
That leaves effective lobbying as a possible reason, along with the related effect of a powerful pro-Israel narrative. Rubinstein and Fleischer describe the small Australian Jewish community as having a history of successful access to national decision-makers, and as having created an Australia-Israel relationship that is "much more intense, ongoing and politically important" than that in comparable nations. A significant contributor to this relationship is provided by a network of well-established Jewish-Australian organisations. Encouraged by Dr Evatt, the Department of External Affairs in 1944 assisted in the formation of several of these, including the federal Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ). These joined an earlier-formed Zionist Federation of Australia (ZFA), which is particularly oriented to supporting Israel as the Jewish homeland. The Zionist movement is considered especially strong in Australia by international standards and to have equal status with other community bodies such as ECAJ, which is not the case in Europe or the US.
Another organisation, the Australia/Israel and Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC) is the best-funded and most active of the Jewish lobby groups. Formed in 1997, its aim, as set out in Jews and Australian Politics, is "to confront the enemies of plurality and democracy and defend the interests of the state of Israel". It is privately funded, mostly by business interests. Another body, the Anti-Defamation Commission (ADC) specialises in monitoring the media and lodging complaints. Its activities include publishing and distributing material, providing speakers for television, radio, universities and colleges, contacting Australian journalists with information and comments, and bringing in Israeli and other speakers to meet and socialise with selected decision-makers.
A newer group is the Australia Israel Cultural Exchange (AICE) launched in 2002 by Foreign Minister Alexander Downer and then-Israeli Foreign Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Both AIJAC and AICE frequently arrange and fund trips to Israel for politicians, senior journalists, trade union leaders and other decision-makers; most recently, the June 2009 40-member delegation of MPs and others, led by Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard, to the Inaugural Australia-Israel Leadership Forum in Jerusalem. Other beneficiaries of these funded study tours include Paul Sheehan, Greg Sheridan, Janet Albrechtsen, Andrew Bolt, Alan Howe and Kevin Rudd. Few other countries are so generous to our opinion-makers.
The websites of the agencies illustrate their concentration on Israel-related issues, which generally comprise 80–100 per cent of all pieces posted. They also illustrate the vigour with which politicians are urged to pursue policies favourable to Israel and the equal vigour with which perceived criticisms of Israel are combated. SBS comes in for a lot of flak for its documentaries, and last year, for example, was impelled to rule out the use of the phrase "Palestinian land" to describe the occupied territories of East Jerusalem and the West Bank. They are now to be referred to solely by geographical location, as, for instance, "Israeli settlements on the West Bank". Local Jewish groups and individuals critical of Israeli policies also come under criticism.
Quite a bit of money is also involved. Australian Electoral Commission reports show that a small group of outstandingly successful Jewish-Australian businessmen have been major donors to both Labor and the Coalition as well as major supporters of AIJAC and its sister agencies. The same group sponsors a range of cultural, educational, sporting and other institutions that provide valued services to government and host politicians as patrons and honoured guests at status-enhancing events.
Our political leaders have also been rewarded with honours of various kinds. At least three (H.V. Evatt, Bob Carr and John Howard) have had forests planted in commemoration of their support. Howard received, among other bestowals, the American Jewish Committee’s highest honour, the American Liberties Medallion and the B’nai B’rith Gold Medal for "consistent support of Israel at the United Nations and throughout the world, combating anti-Semitism". Other awards include Bob Hawke’s Shield of Jerusalem, awarded by the World Zionist Organization and the Mayor of Jerusalem, and Malcolm Fraser’s Gold Medal for Humanitarian Services from International B’nai B’rith. All of these rewards involve strong connections and ready access to political leaders which are well-used. ALP leaders for example have come under heavy pressure to discipline backbenchers who criticise Israel’s continuing occupation of the Palestinian territories — pressure to which they have generally acceded.
All of the above suggests that at least a partial explanation of Australian Middle East policy lies in effective lobbying by local agencies and individuals such as to create "a history of successful access to national decision-makers" and an Australia-Israel relationship that is "much more intense, ongoing and politically important than that within comparable nations".
Effective lobbying requires a strong uncomplicated core narrative. Israel has such a narrative and many statements by Australian leaders indicate their acceptance of this narrative. Drawing on statements made by Evatt, Fraser, Howard, Downer, Hawke, Nelson, Abbott, Rudd, Gillard and others, the Australian version of this narrative can be summarised along the following lines.
Israel is: like us — part of the Western world and we are "all Israelis now"; a robust democracy and custodian of freedom; a beacon of hope; home to the Jewish people who have suffered many hardships and heroically overcome powerful evil forces to attain their ancient homeland; home to an industrious and gifted people who have made the desert bloom; and a peace-seeking nation, as demonstrated by generous offers made under the Oslo Accords.
Meanwhile, Palestine is: alien and anti-West — a home to terrorists; a one party statelet dedicated to destroying its neighbour; supported by autocracies and theocracies; part of the powerful evil forces; a country with a history of aggression and terrorism, but incompetent and disunited when confronted; not really a fixed homeland for a people who just wander around; backward — has never created anything much; no partner for peace; and not prepared to negotiate or renounce violence, as Oslo and Camp David showed.
This accepted narrative puts the small Palestinian-Australian lobby in a very weak position. Their spokespeople point out, for example, that while Israeli Independence Day is honoured by federal and state parliamentarians, it is rare for any MPs to attend events associated with al-Nakba, the annual Palestinian day of remembrance for their 1948 expulsion by the new Israeli state, because "it is suicidal for [Australian] politicians to be seen as pro-Arab". The Oslo Accords introduced a further double-bind, described by one Palestinian Australian as meaning that "our national liberation struggle movement has been catastrophically diluted and metamorphosed into a quasi struggle against what … is now termed a peace partner".
Neither public opinion nor national interests appear to adequately explain our Middle East policy. A reasonable conclusion, then, is that pro-Israel agencies and individuals in Australia have exerted an impressive influence on our governments.
But despite the discomfit exhibited by the Australian Government over the Dubai scandal, and the softening of Australian support at the UN, it is unlikely that we are yet seeing a major shift in policy.
While it would appear that the major factors keeping Australia within the small camp of uncritically pro-Israel nations has been some very effective lobbying, recent decades have shown just how powerful that lobbying can be.
Comments on this article will go into a moderation queue. Comments made outside business hours may not appear until the next day.
- The Seventh State Of Denial?
Three weeks ago a community meeting was held in the unprepossessing Northern Territory township of Elliot.
This settlement — much driven-through but rarely visited — is located on the Stuart Highway in the geographic heart of the Territory. It’s a symbolic location to host the first of the 39 workshops which will collectively constitute the "NT toward State 7 Information Roadshow".
Throughout 2010, the caravan will wind its way across the length and breadth of the territory, presenting workshops in locations as remote as Mutitjulu, nestled in the shadows of Uluru, and Yirrkala, a Yolngu settlement not far from the mining town of Nhulunbuy in East Arnhem Land.
It is unclear whether the mob at Maningrida and the good people of Galiwinku are desperately seeking further information about the advantages of the Northern Territory becoming Australia’s seventh state but they are going to hear about it anyway. The Territory Labor Government has made an art form of government-by-glossy-brochure and the statehood campaign will be no exception. A ritzy new website heralds the beginning of another publicity campaign to tempt Territorians towards statehood.
However, the beleaguered Henderson Government must first weather the charge that this is a "bread and circuses" extravaganza intended to distract voters from more immediate concerns.
Here in the Territory, the ALP clings unconvincingly to power with the support of maverick independent Gerry Wood, who has signed an agreement with Chief Minister Paul Henderson to pass budget bills and support the Government in no-confidence motions. This unprecedented arrangement has been a key factor in the current political paralysis in the Territory: the business of government has all but ground to a halt.
An inquiry currently investigating the parlous state of the child protection system in the NT is likely to produce a document asking serious questions about the Government’s stewardship of this critical portfolio.
The NT bureaucracy’s administration of the $672 million Strategic Indigenous Housing and Infrastructure Program (SIHIP), part of the federal government’s Northern Territory Intervention, has also left much to be desired. The SIHIP is something of a laughing stock — more than $45 million has been spent to build two houses in two years.
Major government undertakings such as the Territory 2030 Strategic Plan and the Integrated Regional Transport Strategy routinely run months behind schedule. Rarely is the electorate offered a convincing explanation for these delays. More typically, projects are simply nudged towards the backburner in the apparent hope that nobody will notice.
Is it any wonder then, that the NT Government wants to talk about statehood?
In 1978 the Federal Government passed the Northern Territory (Self-Government) Act, transferring many functions traditionally performed by state administrations to the NT government and giving ministers executive control over the associated finances. Subsequently there have been sporadic calls for full statehood, often couched in the language of freeing Territorians from the oppressive yoke of a distant and uncaring federal government.
It’s likely, however, that many Australians will want to argue that 220,000 Northern Territorians do not a state make. Just 1 per cent of the nation’s population live in the NT and we are allocated two Senate seats and two members of the House of Representatives: in other words, the Territory is over-represented in Canberra.
It seems unlikely that the populous jurisdictions of NSW and Victoria would welcome the arrival of a mini-state of 220,000 inhabitants — particularly if it is agitating for more senators. It seems even less likely that the smaller states would welcome the diminution of their status which would accompany the creation of a seventh state.
Under s121 of the Constitution, a new state can be created by an act of the federal parliament. At the time of Federation all states were entitled to an equal number of senators, and to a minimum of five House of Representative seats. These guarantees don’t apply to new states and the NT would need to do some fast talking to boost its representation.
True, a minimalist model could see the NT become a state without an increase in its representation in the federal parliament. But with all the original states occupying 12 Senate seats, an "NT state" with only two senators would surely constitute a real insult being added to perceived injury.
Curiously, the NT has already had a taste of statehood, since up until the early part of last century the Territory was part of South Australia. The crow-eaters identified the region as an economic liability, and hived it off to the federal government in return for a sack of sovereigns. Making a virtue of necessity, Statehood Steering Committee Chair — and Speaker of the House — Jane Aagaard has noted that "next year is the 100th year since the NT was last part of a state" and further observed that "committee members believe it is time to be a state of our own".
In 1988 a plebiscite of Territorians rejected the idea of statehood by the narrow margin of 51.3 per cent against. Folklore has it that an important reason for the defeat of the proposition was the widespread belief that the advent of statehood might threaten the sanctity of cracker night. The exploding of fireworks on Territory Day is one of the most sacred tenets of whitefella culture in the NT and is simply not negotiable.
Representations of Indigenous Territorians are prominent in the sometimes crude propaganda sponsored by the Government in an attempt to garner support for statehood but it’s difficult to make the case that Aboriginal people in the Territory have anything much to gain from such a reform. Still, Central Land Council Deputy Chair and member of the Statehood Steering Committee, Maurie Ryan Japarta has taken an active role in promoting the change, telling the National Indigenous Times that "It’s about time. We want to govern ourselves and be equal to other Australians."
Previously, one of the impediments to statehood was the belief that the Country Liberal Party (CLP), with its notoriously unsophisticated policies, could not be trusted to govern in the best interests of Indigenous Territorians.
The CLP enjoyed a mortal lock on power in the NT before the Martin Labor government seized control in 2001. But times have changed. The days of Aboriginal people in the NT automatically voting for Labor are over. Increasing numbers of Indigenous Territorians are highly critical of Territory Labor’s indifferent performance in the field of Aboriginal affairs and are ready to throw in their lot with the CLP.
So it’s unlikely that Aboriginal people in the NT will stymie the push for statehood but politicians in the six existing states, along with many of their constituents, will need a great deal of convincing that the Territory should be so elevated.
The NT Government has pressing matters to attend to in the critical portfolios of child protection, housing, health, transport and education, to name just a few. So when it comes to the less immediate consideration of furthering our status within the Commonwealth of Australia, it may be that this is not the time to work ourselves into a state.
- Way To Go, NATO Imagine that you woke this morning to discover a rocket had blown up 27 Victorian children as they travelled to school by bus. These were, of course, 27 children with parents and siblings who loved them, parents and siblings who will now grieve with the kind of grief that can’t be escaped; the kind of grief that prevents eating, thinking, living.
Imagine that the public statement made about the rocket attack was almost a pro forma. "I have made it clear to our forces," the relevant military officer said, "that we are here to protect the Victorian people and inadvertently killing or injuring civilians undermines their trust and confidence in our mission."
Imagine that, a few days later, you learned that another eight children, ranging in age from 11 to 17, had been taken overnight from the school in which they were sleeping in rural Victoria, handcuffed and then executed by foreign soldiers.
Imagine that the teacher present had tried to explain that the children were just children but the soldiers didn’t speak English. Later, the teacher will explain, "First the foreign troops entered the guest room and shot two of them. Then they entered another room and handcuffed the eight students. Then they killed them."
Imagine all of this, and you have a glimpse of life in Afghanistan in 2010.
The Washington Post has described the recent offensive in Marjah as more an attempt to garner domestic support for the war than a strictly military campaign. Nonetheless, a town of 50,000 people has been bombarded and devastated in what seems to be preparation for the bombardment and devastation of Kandahar, "the Taliban stonghold". As the senior NATO commander in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, has said, "This is all a war of perceptions … This is not a physical war in terms of how many people you kill or how much ground you capture, how many bridges you blow up. This is all in the minds of the participants."
For the average Afghan, caught in this "war of perceptions" between the Taliban and troops from Australia, the US, Italy, Germany and 40 other countries, life is becoming unbearable.
On Monday, another 10 Afghan civilians (and four NATO soldiers) were killed. On 23 February, eight civilians died after a bomb explosion from a major US-led offensive. On 21 February, 27 civilians, including four women and a child were killed. On that occasion General McChrystal apologised and then retracted the apology and blamed the Taliban for using "civilians for cover".
According to Robert Gates, US Secretary of Defense, "The thing to remember is that we’re at war … General McChrystal is doing everything humanly possible to avoid civilian casualties but it is also a fact that the Taliban mingle with civilians; they use them for cover, which obviously complicates any decision process by a commander on the ground in knowing whether he’s dealing with the Taliban or innocent civilians, or a combination of the two … It’s what makes war so ugly."
If by "civilians", McChrystal means the residents who live and sleep in the towns where foreign forces are conducting offensives, then he is right. That’s because these "Taliban operatives" (a term generally now applied to any form of Afghan resistance) live in homes with their families. Yes, even the Taliban have homes.
On 14 February, five civilians were killed in a drone attack, explained as a case of mistaken identity. The day before, "two stray NATO rockets" had killed 12 people.
It’s difficult to get exact figures regarding civilian deaths but for the past four years of the war in Afghanistan, they have averaged 137 per month.
The UN records that 346 children were killed in Afghanistan last year. Of that total, 131 children died during air strikes and 22 were killed in "nighttime raids by international special forces". The UN also claims that Taliban forces killed 128 children. In 38 cases, it was not possible to determine which side of the conflict caused the children’s deaths. UNICEF has officially declared Afghanistan the worst country for a child to be born in — worse, now, than the war-ravaged Sierra Leone.
The year 2009 recorded, in fact, the highest rate of civilian deaths for the people of Afghanistan since 2001 with conservative estimates putting the death toll at 2412. Cautious estimates for the first two months of this year show at least 100 recorded dead civilians. The casualties from the offensive in Marjah averaged 50 lives per week of the offensive. What will we see when the "surge" reaches its goal, Kandahar?
All of this raises the question: what are we still doing in Afghanistan? As Phyllis Bennis, a fellow of the US Institute for Policy Studies and author of Ending the US War in Afghanistan: A Primer, put it succinctly; when Gates said that civilian deaths are what makes war so ugly, "[he] should have said, this is especially why an occupation war in another country, where you don’t know the players, you don’t know the culture, you don’t have good intelligence, and you’re participating in a civil war in someone else’s land, is inevitably going to reach these kinds of terrible results."
Killing civilians at this rate simply emboldens the Taliban and resistance in general. Undoubtedly, many Afghans now see foreign troops as the enemy. They have a similar view about Karzai’s puppet government with its corruption and obscene human rights record.
The United States alone has lost 1003 troops, with over 5000 wounded in action. Some 105 foreign soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan in 2010, twice the number of this time last year. The 30,000 troops the Obama Administration recently sent in will cost America around US$1 million per soldier.
There’s no clear information about how many Afghan combatants have been killed.
Afghanistan is the second-longest running war the US and Australia have been involved in, outlasted only by Vietnam. Like Vietnam, "Operation Enduring Freedom" has become a quagmire of epic proportions.
The Obama Administration wants to intensify military operations in Afghanistan including troop surges and drone attacks. There will be 150,000 foreign troops in the country by the end of 2010. Meanwhile, death, displacement and despair for the Afghan people are on the rise.
This unrelenting war will, almost certainly, increase the number of civilian deaths, even as it drives people to the Taliban and other forms of resistance. As Najibullah Zazi, who pled guilty to planning a series of bomb attacks on the New York subway, said recently, "I would sacrifice myself to bring attention to what the US military was doing to civilians in Afghanistan."
Zazi’s reaction is extreme and unjustifiable.
But how would you feel if it were your child who was taken from their school in the middle of the night and shot?
- Private Cover Is Costing An Arm And A Leg In only a few days the Rudd Government’s health reform initiative has been overlaid with misinformation and confusion.
Some of the misinformation is mischievous: the Opposition Leader has gone out of his way to paint the scheme as costly when, in fact, the policies should actually save money because they are about achieving efficiency in healthcare. Of course, healthcare costs will rise in the future but if we make savings now, that rise will be less burdensome. Another political misrepresentation has been the claim by Shadow Minister Hockey that the policy "doesn’t add one single bed", as if this is a shortcoming. In fact, the Government’s intention is to make better use of existing hospital places for Australia already over-uses hospital services.
Some of the confusion is based on a simple misunderstanding. We have been conditioned to expect governments to address healthcare problems by spending money. Sometimes they spend public money and sometimes they try to lever private funds — as the Howard government did with private insurance — but as any economics student knows, when resources are fixed, more money does not bring forth more resources. Another million or billion dollars does not immediately create a new orthopaedic surgeon or a qualified nurse. Instead, extra funds fuel price inflation, which is one reason why medical and hospital costs have been rising at almost 4 per cent above general inflation. (This inflation is manifest both in public budgets and in private insurance premiums.)
Predictably, no state government has shown enthusiasm for the reform package, but it would be foolish to give an early endorsement when there is still a great amount of detail to be negotiated.
Put simply, the proposals, outlined in the Prime Minister’s Press Club Speech and detailed in this lengthy document, are designed to improve the efficiency of hospital care and to integrate this care with other aspects of healthcare.
There is certainly scope for improving hospital efficiency. According to the Productivity Commission, the cost per patient in public hospitals varies from $4000 in Victoria to $5000 in Western Australia. This is why the Commonwealth is changing the way it supports states for hospital funding from simple block grants to a method based on Victoria’s system, whereby funding is tied to activity. Under this system, the Commonwealth will make a standard payment (called the "efficient" cost) for treating a fracture, another for a normal delivery and so on. The Commonwealth will fund 60 per cent of the efficient cost, with the states to pick up the other 40 per cent, plus any variance over the efficient cost — giving state governments a strong incentive to economise.
"Casemix funding", as it is known, has its critics, because it pays for services rather than outcomes, but by any criterion of fiscal management, it is superior to open-ended funding.
Even greater savings may be realised if people can be kept out of hospital in the first place. If, through better primary care, preventable hospital admissions could be eliminated, the annual savings would be almost $2 billion. The Commonwealth recognises this, and as a first step it will bring all primary care — presently split between Medicare, special state clinics and public hospital outpatient services — under Commonwealth control. With integration there will be less incentive to shift cost and responsibility, less bureaucratic duplication, more seamless access by patients, and less risk of conflicting therapies.
The policy is short on detail about how primary care and hospital care will be integrated, however. Its practical measures, such as the establishment of Local Hospital Networks to manage regional clusters of hospitals, simply state that the networks "will be obliged to work with local primary health care providers". The passive voice omits important detail — who will enforce the obligation? Several commentators have already said that the policy is too hospital-centric.
The policy overlooks other inconsistencies and discontinuities in health programs. Bringing public funding more under Commonwealth control makes sense, but integrating public funding, in itself, does not make the delivery of healthcare more patient-friendly. For many years the Commonwealth has operated the Medical Benefits Scheme (Medicare) and the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme as separate programs, with different co-payments and different safety nets; should not the Commonwealth start by integrating its own programs? Will we still have free hospital outpatient services alongside Medicare services, with their high and open-ended co-payments? Has the Commonwealth thought through the consequences of continuing to provide free care in public hospitals while most primary care services attract co-payments? There is a great deal of detail to be sorted out.
The biggest loose end, however, relates to private hospitals. Private hospitals provide 40 per cent of all episodes of hospital care. These are mainly simpler cases, but nevertheless private hospitals are an essential part of Australia’s healthcare. The Prime Minister, in his Press Club speech and subsequent interviews, has said that if people cannot get care in a public hospital, then the Local Hospital Network will find them a bed in a private hospital. (In the official policy document, the only mention of private hospitals is the weak statement "networks will also collaborate with local private hospitals".)
This commitment is tantalising. At present private hospitals have their privileged stream of funding through heavily subsidised private insurance. Rather than providing integrated care they offer a platform for health service providers, in particular specialist medical practitioners. Thanks to subsidies to private insurance, the Commonwealth’s generous Medicare safety net provisions, and the availability of "no gap" cover, private hospitals and specialists do very well out of privately insured patients.
Much of the attraction of private insurance is that it allows people to jump the queue. If such queues can be significantly reduced (they will never be eliminated), and one can be admitted to a private hospital as a public patient, most of the attraction of private insurance will be lost.
Is it possible that the Government finally understands what health economists have been pointing out ever since the Howard government re-introduced subsidies for private insurance? That is, that private insurance is a very expensive and inequitable way to share healthcare costs and that it does nothing to ease pressure on public hospitals.
Even as membership of private insurance has risen from 30 per cent of the population to 45 per cent, waiting lists have remained, because where the money has gone, so too have the resources. A generously over-funded private sector has attracted medical specialists and other professionals away from public hospitals. As Paul Gross said on the ABC’s 7:30 Report on the day the policy was announced:
"I can just imagine a situation with a hip replacement where we depend on an orthopaedic surgeon and what the Government will do in promising access to a public hospital bed for that particular procedure is to assume that there will be an orthopaedic surgeon on tap who will be willing to accept the fee that will now be paid from an activity-based efficient costing coming from Canberra when he is earning six times that amount in the private sector for doing the same job."
"Six times" may be an exaggeration of the price premium, but Gross illustrates the problem, and it’s a problem of the Government’s own making — although, in justice to the present Government, it is one it inherited from its predecessor.
Of course, the Local Hospital Networks could yield to the private hospitals’ demands and pay inflated rates, but that would blow out the state governments’ budgets. That’s not likely to happen.
There is much to be gained from bringing private hospitals into the funding mainstream. The present situation in which private and public hospitals do not compete with one another is inconsistent with Commonwealth competition policy, and the split between the "gated community" of private hospitals for the well-off and public hospitals for the hoi polloi conflicts with the Government’s notion of "social inclusion". But to achieve this integration, the Government must unwind its subsidies for private insurance, and the Opposition must put sound economic management ahead of political opportunism.
- China's Dark City: Behind Chongqing'sCrime Crackdown The law-and-order crackdown in the Chinese megalopolis of Chongqing is not just about crime. It is a parable of corruption, politics and the state of justice in China
- Will Virginia Tea Party Politics Help or Hurt the GOP? Virginia's Fifth Congressional District seems ripe for a Republican victory -- unless the conservative passion of the Tea Party movement trumps political pragmatism
- Biden Israel Trip: Apology for Timing of Settlement News Vice President Joe Biden was publicly humiliated by the Israeli announcement of a controversial settlement project, and said it undermined trust in a new peace effort. But Israel has no plans to shelve the project
- Be Afraid, House Dems, Be Very Afraid (or Not) Republicans continue to write ominous memos and give cryptic quotes about the political danger House Democrats face if they pass the Senate health bill. How effective are the GOP threats?
- Eric Massa on Glenn Beck: Battle on Fox Over Controversy Many conservatives had warned Fox News superstar Glenn Beck to steer clear of aggrieved Democratic Congressman Eric Massa, but he just couldn't resist
- The Economy's Uneven Improvement This recovery will be uneven, disjointed and chocked full of surprises -- not a great outlook for corporate planners or investment managers, but a far better environment that we saw this time last year.
- Study: Sin Taxes Promote Healthier Food Choices When junk food cost more, people eat it less.
- Time Runs Out for 24: A TV Era Comes to an End According to reports, the Fox show is about to be cancelled. The '00s are definitely over
- Bloomberg Sports Targets Fantasy Baseball, Major League The media giant is selling its analytical expertise to baseball fans, and Major League Baseball teams. Can a Bloomberg consumer business hit it out of the park?
- How Safe Is Your Cell Phone? Your mobile emits a tiny amount of radiation. Is that safe in the long run?
- Chief Justice John Roberts and Obama White House: a tit f... ABC NewsChief Justice John Roberts and Obama White House: a tit for tatChristian Science MonitorChief Justice John Roberts said Tuesday, in response to an audience question, he was troubled that President Obama used the occasion of his State of the Union address to criticize a Supreme Court ruling. The Obama White House, in turn, reiterated its ...Chief justice chides State of the Union as 'political pep rally'CNNChief Justice Roberts 'Troubled' by Scene at the State of the Union AddressABC News2 Republican Senators Call on Obama to Stop 'Attacks' on Supreme CourtFOXNewsWashington Post -Los Angeles Times -CBS Newsall 370 news articles »
- Technology's Richest Billionaires - Forbes CBC.caTechnology's Richest BillionairesForbesBill Gates loses top spot, but stock surge lifts fortunes of youngest and once-young technology moguls. Bill Gates is no longer the world's richest man. Though the software visionary's net worth rose $13 billion to a whopping $53 billion in the last ...Mexico's Carlos Slim overtakes Gates in world rich listBBC NewsSlim Overtakes Gates, Buffett to Become Forbes Richest PersonBusinessWeekTelecoms tycoon Carlos Slim Helu is world's richest manTimes OnlineThe Guardian -MarketWatch -Reutersall 133 news articles »
- Senate Democrats Seek to Abolish Filibusters - FOXNews Senate Democrats Seek to Abolish FilibustersFOXNewsLooking to challenge a time-honored privilege widely used by both parties when they are in the minority, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on Wednesday vowed to remove the filibuster as a weapon to kill legislation by debating it to ...Senate passes $149 bln for jobless aid, tax breaksReutersSenate passes jobs measure with some GOP supportMiamiHerald.comStudent-Loan Bill May Enter Health-Care MixWall Street JournalCBS News -Jacksonville Daily News -AHN | All Headline Newsall 1,687 news articles »
- Obama decries waste, fraud in gov't health system - The A... New York Times (blog)Obama decries waste, fraud in gov't health systemThe Associated PressST. CHARLES, Mo. — President Barack Obama denounced waste, inefficiency and downright fraud in the government's health care system on Wednesday as he sought to rally public support for his revamped overhaul plan. "Improper payments cost taxpayers ...Obama: Nothing needs reform more than health careUSA TodaySebelius Cautions Health Insurers About Premium IncreasesWall Street JournalWhite House continues to slam insurersCNNReuters -BusinessWeek -Kansas City Starall 2,417 news articles »
- Netanyahu regrets 'timing' of E. J'lem housing announceme... Globe and MailNetanyahu regrets 'timing' of E. J'lem housing announcementHa'aretzPrime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told cabinet ministers yesterday that the timing of the Jerusalem District Planning and Building Committee's announcement of a plan to build 1600 new housing units in East Jerusalem - which was issued on ...Joe Biden and Obama 'humiliated' by Israel? Well, not exactly.Christian Science MonitorUS-Israel row highlights quandary over settlementsThe Associated PressBiden condemns recent Jewish settlement expansion amid Palestinian outragesXinhuaLos Angeles Times -CNN -Wall Street Journalall 4,009 news articles »
- 'JihadJane' indictment alleges threat from within US - Lo... Times Online'JihadJane' indictment alleges threat from within USLos Angeles TimesAmerican Colleen R. LaRose, 46, is accused of using the Internet to recruit and assist Muslim terrorist operations in Europe and Asia. By Richard A. Serrano Reporting from Washington - Using e-mail, YouTube videos, phony travel documents and a burning ...A Terror Suspect Who Fits No ProfileCBS NewsPa. suspect: Caretaker by day, 'Jihad Jane' onlineThe Associated Press'Jihad Jane's' Arrest Raises Fears About Homegrown TerroristsABC NewsChristian Science Monitor -New York Times -Irish Timesall 1,636 news articles »
- Va. gov counters state atty. gen.'s advice on gays - The ... Washington TimesVa. gov counters state atty. gen.'s advice on gaysThe Associated PressRICHMOND, Va. — Gov. Bob McDonnell directed state agencies not to discriminate against gay people in employment practices Wednesday, essentially overriding the Virginia attorney general's advice to public colleges. The governor issued the written ...From McDonnell, A Turn On Sexual OrientationAtlantic OnlineNorthern Virginia jurisdictions win homeland security fundsBizjournals.comVirginia Bans Mandatory Health InsuranceMedPage TodayFalls Church News Press -Washington Business Journal -Washington Examinerall 255 news articles »
- House rejects pullout from Afghanistan - Reuters Washington PostHouse rejects pullout from AfghanistanReutersTwo helicopters escorting US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates take off after a visit to Camp Black Horse where the Afghan National Army (ANA) receive training in Kabul March 10, 2010. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The House of Representatives on Wednesday ...House Votes Down Afghan Withdrawal ResolutionVoice of AmericaHouse Rejects Bid to End Afghan WarFOXNewsHouse rejects call for withdrawal from AfghanistanThe Associated PressWall Street Journal -MiamiHerald.com -Boston Heraldall 200 news articles »
- Female WWII aviators honored with gold medal - The Associ... Kansas City StarFemale WWII aviators honored with gold medalThe Associated PressWASHINGTON — They flew planes during World War II but weren't considered real military pilots. No flags were draped over their coffins when they died on duty. And when their service ended, they had to pay their own bus fare home. ...At Capitol ceremony, female aviators of WWII honoredMiamiHerald.comFormer World War II Female Pilot from Jacksonville Receives High HonorFirst Coast NewsCongress honors WASP WWII pilotsScripps NewsDetroit Free Press -The Detroit News -MyFox Atlantaall 500 news articles »
- US budget deficit hits record $221bn - BBC News France24US budget deficit hits record $221bnBBC NewsThe US government recorded a budget deficit of $221bn (£147.6bn) in February - the largest monthly deficit in its history. the total deficit since the beginning of the fiscal year in October now stands at $651.6bn, the figures from the US treasury show ...US Monthly Budget Deficit BalloonsWall Street JournalBudget deficit sets record in FebruaryThe Associated PressUS Posts Record $220.9 Billion Budget Gap in FebABC NewsAHN | All Headline News -BusinessWeekall 402 news articles »
