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- Do graphic abortion ads belong on TV? Whether you like it or not, D.C. congressional candidate Missy Smith wants you to see images of dead and dismembered fetuses. It doesn't really matter much whether "you" are a 5-year-old child or a 50-year-old mother. Her spots have aired this week during the day and early-evening, and despite legion complaints, broadcasters say they are required by federal law to air the 30-second spots in full.
- Wednesday link dump: Let that tea be Shocker: An anti-Seals campaign ad actually features sea lions! Carl Paladino is apparently calling Park Slope lesbians and asking for their votes. New York assemblyman deliers ill-advised impression at campaign appearance. (Watch the whole thing.) "Tea is the Republican party's cocaine: thrilling for a moment, but ruinous over time."
- The new barbarism: Keeping science out of politics Joe Romm, climate activist extraordinaire, is upset at Scientific American for featuring a dumb online poll on global warming.
- O'Donnell threatens to sue station over video Republican Senate candidate Christine O'Donnell's campaign threatened to crush a radio station with a lawsuit if it posted video of an interview with the tea party favorite on the Internet.
- How to understand Fox News This originally appeared at Jonathan Bernstein's blog
- No, Matt Bai, Americans aren't yearning for daddy Generally, I'm happy to leave it to Jonathan Bernstein, whose blogging is often cross-posted here, to point out the inanity of Matt Bai's political analysis. But after reading Bai's latest effort in the New York Times, I can't resist.
- Our taste test of the finest and foulest Halloween candies My fingers literally trembled, as I tried to tear open the massive bag of mini Snickers I just bought. Which was a surprise to me, because when I decided to do a taste-test of everyone's favorite Halloween candies, I thought I'd be in for a test of culinary endurance. I mean, my taste for chocolate at this point runs toward bars that proclaim, proudly, howlittle sugar they contain, and I reserve my superfluous calories for, say, an extra taco. What I'm saying is that I grew out of this stuff.
- The Year in Sanity: Sid Lerner If you ever want to see a food fight, post something on the internet suggesting that we should stop or keep eating meat. Vegan warriors will line up on the one side, Ted Nugent marshals his band of meat eaters on the other, and peaceful vegetarians, pescatarians, and confused omnivores all get sucked into The Great Battle to Defend The Natural Order of Things. It's a subject that inflames passions first, inspires insults next, and leads to rational conversation about forty-third.
- Marie Claire's size-ism controversy Maura Kelly does not want to look at overweight people getting their mack on. In fact, as the 30-someting writer and recovering anorexic revealed in a Marie Claire blog about the sitcom "Mike and Molly" Monday, titled "Should 'Fatties' Get a Room?," "I think I'd be grossed out if I had to watch two characters with rolls and rolls of fat kissing each other ... because I'd be grossed out if I had to watch them doing anything." For someone who insists she's "not some size-ist jerk," her blithe comparison of the "very very fat" to "a very drunk person stumbling across a bar or a heroine [sic] addict slumping in a chair" sure set off size-ist jerk alarms across the land. And because Kelly herself opened up the floor when she ended her post with, "What do you guys think? Fat people making out on TV -- are you cool with it? Do you think I'm being an insensitive jerk?" a rousing chorus of "Since you asked ..." went up in response. "Size-ist? Check. Jerk? Check," wrote a typical commenter. "You have some major issues, a startling lack of humanity, and very poor professional judgment."
- Al Franken presents the "ditch" speech Sen. Al Franken stopped being funny once he began his campaign for the U.S. Senate, but since taking office he has, every now and then, allowed himself to crack a joke. At a Mark Dayton rally in Minnesota recently, he performed his own version of Barack Obama's now-tiresome "ditch" routine. His lengthier, funnier version.
The Guardian
- Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, convicted Lockerbie bomber, dies His brother confirms reports that sole person convicted of 1988 plane bombing that killed 270 people has died at home in LibyaAbdelbaset al-Megrahi, the former Libyan intelligence officer convicted of the 1988 Lockerbie bombing that killed 270 people, has died, his brother has said.Abdelbaset's brother, Abdelnasser al-Megrahi, confirmed reports that he had died aged 60 after a long battle with cancer. Abdelnasser, who was at the house in Tripoli where his dead brother lay on Sunday, told the Guardian: "I don't want to talk right now, I am very upset, I don't really feel like talking. He's dead, that's it, what more do you have to know?"In an interview with the Guardian earlier this year, Abdelnasser said that his brother, who had moved to the secret address from his large home in Tripoli, was innocent. "He really is ill, he is too ill to even change the channel on the TV, he is lying down all day."The Scottish government and East Renfrewshire council are investigating the claims of Megrahi's death. The Foreign Office is awaiting their confirmation. Megrahi was the only man convicted of the bombing, which killed 270 people, including 11 on the ground, when Pan Am Flight 103 blew up over Lockerbie four days before Christmas in 1988.There was no immediate reaction from the Libyan government.Abdulkarim Morajea, spokesman for the Democratic Libya Gathering, a party with the secularist National Forces Alliance, said he hoped elections due on 19 June would produce a government that will fully investigate Lockerbie. "He [Megrahi] is just another page in how Libya is governed, a chapter in our history. But it is not a chapter that is closed, 270 people died there (at Lockerbie). If we have a proper government, I hope it will be investigated."Abdelbaset al-Megrahi was sentenced to life in prison in 2001, but was released on compassionate grounds by the Scottish government in August 2009 after being diagnosed with terminal cancer. At the time, doctors estimated he had around three months to live.Megrahi's release prompted accusations that it had been linked to UK attempts to forge new trade deals with Libya, then still led by Muammar Gaddafi, and prompted outrage in the US, home to most of the victims on board the flight, after he returned to Tripoli to a hero's welcome.Carole Johnson, 68, from Greensburg, Pennsylvania, mother of Beth Ann Johnson, a 21-year-old American student on the plane, said at the news of Megrahi's death: "This is three years too late. While I'm happy that he is dead, long ago I left it in the hands of God. I know exactly where he is, and I know it is quite hot. I'm sure he and Gaddafi are reunited again."When a parent loses a child there is never closure. You find a way of coping, but to say closure indicates you are closing the door on what has happened, but it is never over. It is the closure of a chapter in the book, a long overdue chapter."Frank Duggan, president of Victims of Pan Am Flight 103, said: "He was an unrepentant murderer and now I hope he will finally see justice."But Jim Swire, whose daughter Flora was killed in the bombing, said the reported death was a "very sad event".Swire, a member of the Justice for Megrahi group, believes there is evidence yet to be released that will prove Megrahi's innocence."I met him last time face-to-face in Tripoli in December last year, when he was very sick and in a lot of pain."But he still wanted to talk to me about how information which he and his defence team have accumulated could be passed to me after his death."And I think that's a fairly amazing thing for a man who knows he's dying to do."Swire added: "Right up to the end he was determined – for his family's sake, he knew it was too late for him – how the verdict against him should be overturned."And also he wanted that for the sake of those relatives who had come to the conclusion after studying the evidence that he wasn't guilty, and I think that's going to happen."David Ben-Ayreah, a spokesman for the victims of Lockerbie families, said: "I was told seven days ago by very good sources in Tripoli that he was slipping in and out of quite deep comas, that the secondary tumours had affected his abdomen and lower chest, and that he had had three blood transfusions."His death is to be deeply regretted. As someone who attended the trial I have never taken the view that Megrahi was guilty. Megrahi is the 271st victim of Lockerbie."In August 2009, Kenny MacAskill , the Scottish justice secretary, said Megrahi was going home to die after release from Greenock prison, amid suggestions he had about three months to live.He acted on the basis of a medical report provided to him by Andrew Fraser, the director of health and care at the Scottish Prison Service.His report described the three-month prognosis as "reasonable", but stated that no one "would be willing to say" if Megrahi would live longer.Scottish ministers have always insisted that their decision was made in good faith, on compassionate grounds alone and followed the due process of Scottish law.After his return to Libya, Megrahi rarely appeared in public. His family had on several occasions said that he was near death, in what was seen as an attempt to justify his release.Prior to Megrahi's death, reports suggested his prostate cancer had spread to his neck. Others said he had been kept alive with cancer drugs unavailable in the UK.Megrahi lost an appeal against conviction in 2002 but was given a new chance in 2007 when the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC) referred his case back to senior judges for a second time.Following a £1.1m, three-year investigation into the case, the commission said there were grounds where it believed a miscarriage of justice may have occurred.The appeal in full got under way in April 2009, almost two years on from the SCCRC's referral, but was dropped by Megrahi two days before he was released.The decision to withdraw from the court process removed one possible obstacle to his returning to Libya by another mechanism, under a prisoner transfer agreement, although it was on compassionate grounds that he was ultimately released.The Justice for Megrahi campaign group has called for an independent inquiry to look again at the conviction.The SCCRC's report, which raised questions about identification evidence that led to Megrahi's conviction, has not been made public, but the Scottish government has pledged to bring about a change in the law to allow the paperwork to be published.Abdelbaset al-MegrahiGlobal terrorismAir transportLibyaMiddle East and North AfricaLockerbie plane bombingUK security and terrorismScotlandChris StephenJames MeikleMatt Williamsguardian.co.uk © 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
- Obama and Karzai outline post-2014 Afghanistan vision at ... US president urges Afghan counterpart to implement electoral reform, cut out corruption and press Taliban for settlementBarack Obama pressed the Afghanistan leader Hamid Karzai at the Nato summit in Chicago on Sunday to engage with greater urgency in secret talks with the Taliban about a political settlement.Obama also urged Karzai to implement electoral reforms to cut down in the 2014 presidential election the kind of corruption that tarnished Karzai's re-election in 2009.The pair were speaking at the opening of a two-day Nato summit in Chicago aimed at drawing up detailed plans for the withdrawal of the US-led, 130,000-strong international force by the end of 2014, and for a more modest presence beyond that date.After their meeting, Karzai reaffirmed his support for a timetable, which requires the Afghan army to take over the lead in combat by the middle of next year.Karzai added that he was "very much looking forward to an end to the war" and the day when Afghanistan would "no longer be a burden on the world".Obama said the Nato summit was about "painting a vision, post-2014, in which we have ended our combat role, the Afghan war as we understand it is over, but our commitment to friendship and partnership with Afghanistan continues."He added: "Both of us recognise that we still have a lot of work to do. The loss of life continues in Afghanistan. There will be hard days ahead, but we're confident that we're on the right track."Public weariness with the war has grown in the US and in other countries among the 50-strong international coalition.Almost all international forces are scheduled to be out by the end of 2014 after helping to maintain security for the presidential elections that year. Karzai has said he will not be standing again.The Obama administration had hoped Chicago would be the venue for a major announcement of a political settlement with the Taliban. But these hopes crumbled when the Taliban walked away from reconciliation talks in March.Secret talks have since been resumed, according to US officials. But Karzai, facing internal political opposition to the idea of reconciliation, has been reluctant to reach a deal.Obama flew to Chicago on Saturday night after 24 hours of negotiation with the leaders of the G8 at the presidential retreat Camp David which was dominated by the euro-zone crisis but also addressed issues such as Afghanistan.As well as pressing Karzai on a political settlement, Obama is having to focus on keeping the international force together, with some countries already preparing to leave early.The new French president, François Hollande, is standing by a pledge to end French involvement in combat operations at the end of this year. But he has offered a compromise that would see many of the troops remain in Afghanistan beyond that date in other roles.The head of Nato, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, promised on Sunday that the French decision would not precipitate a sudden exodus by other countries."There will be no rush for the exits," Rasmussen said. "Our goal, our strategy, our timetable remain unchanged."Rasmussen predicted a compromise would be reached that will see France move into a non-combat role in support of the international mission.After the 2014 pullout, a Nato force will be left behind, in part to help with training. No figure has yet been announced but US commanders in Kabul have spoken of around 15,000-20,000 personnel.Announcements about contributions from Nato countries towards the $4.1bn needed to finance that force for ten years are to be made at the Nato summit.Among the contributions, Britain is promising to provide $110m a year, Germany $200m and Australia $100m. The US is to take up the bulk of the costs, anything from between 50% and 75%. Obama is also planning to speak on the sidelines of the Nato summit with the Pakistan president Asif Ali Zardari.The US and Pakistan are engaged in negotiations about re-opening a supply route to Afghanistan through Pakistan closed in protest over the killing of Pakistan troops in a US air strike.The White House national security spokesman Ben Rhodes, briefing reporters on a flight to Chicago, predicted the issue of the border closure would be resolved soon. Although the US-led forces are able to transport supplies though alternative routes from the north of Afghanistan, it is more expensive."On the supply lines, we believe that this is going to be resolved. There have been positive steps, statements made by the Pakistanis, and we're currently negotiating the opening of the supply lines with them; we expect that to take some time. So there is still work to be done through those negotiations," Rhodes said."We're not anticipating necessarily closing out those negotiations this weekend."NatoAfghanistanBarack ObamaHamid KarzaiUS foreign policyUS militaryUnited StatesEwen MacAskillguardian.co.uk © 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
- Tanni Grey-Thompson warns that Paralympic legacy threaten... Former athlete, who won 11 gold medals, says welfare reforms are putting wider access to sport for disabled people at riskBritain's greatest Paralympian, Lady Tanni Grey-Thompson, has warned that disability benefit cuts will affect the development of top athletes and undermine the Games' key legacy aim of widening access to sport for disabled people.Hundreds of thousands of working age people will lose disability benefits over the next four years as a result of the government's controversial welfare reforms.Grey-Thompson, who won 11 Paralympic gold medals as a wheelchair athlete, said disability living allowance (DLA) had been crucial in enabling her and many other disabled athletes to participate and compete. "It's important to recognise that the cuts will affect Paralympians, who have higher living costs as a result of their impairment."Her comments come as the starting gun is fired on the 100-day countdown to the Paralympics, which take place at the end of August.She said that although the very top disabled athletes might get financial help from sponsors, many others would find it difficult to compete if they lost the benefit. "I know someone who is on the edge of qualification who has had her DLA removed. It impacts on her ability to get involved in society, not just sport."DLA is a non-means tested benefit, worth between £20 and £70 a week, paid to disabled people to help with the extra costs of transport, equipment, care and other specialist needs.The government plans to replace DLA, which goes to about 3.2 million people at an annual cost of £12.6bn, with personal independence payments (PIP) from 2013. It estimates that up to 500,000 people will lose entitlement to the benefit over the next four years as eligibility criteria are tightened and claims reassessed.Disability benefit cuts are proving increasingly controversial for ministers. The Royal British Legion has called for disabled ex-service personnel to be given special treatment after it emerged that many limbless war veterans with mobility impairments would not qualify for disability benefit under the proposed new PIP rules.Grey-Thompson added that it was not just an issue for elite athletes but would affect the health and wellbeing of thousands of disabled people whose ability to participate in sport would be curtailed if they lost financial support. This would drive up social care and NHS costs in the long term. Ministers hope an increase in sporting activity among disabled people, and improved wider public perceptions of disability, will be key long-term legacies of the Games.Grey-Thompson is spearheading an £8m Sport England programme, launched on Monday, that is aimed at increasing participation in sport by disabled people. At present only about 18% of disabled adults undertake physical activity for more than 30 minutes a week, compared with 38% of non-disabled adults.Her comments were backed by other Paralympians. Ben Rushgrove, a sprinter and silver medallist at the Beijing Games, said that while he had no problem with the principle of welfare reform, the loss of disability benefit would be an obstacle to sporting participation for many people. "Because of cuts people are going to go back into themselves a little. They won't have the funds to get out and about.He added: "We have to ask what type of society people want. In the UK years ago we made a decision to support those people who are the most vulnerable in society and we would not let them fall by the wayside. I feel that idea is being eroded away."There will always be people who game the system. But most disabled people are living hand to mouth. It's about getting the change right and the pace of change right."Ade Adepitan, the Paralympian wheelchair basketball medallist, who grew up in the East End of London, said disability benefit had been vital to enable him to travel to training and competitions. "Without DLA I would not have been able to do what I did or be a top athlete."Adepitan, who is co-presenting TV coverage of the games for Channel 4, said that people "need to get their facts straight" on disability benefits. Politicians' rhetoric about benefit cuts was in danger of "turning people against each other" and leading people to think incorrectly that "everyone on benefits is a scrounger".The rower Alan Crowther, who won four world championship gold medals and has competed in able-bodied teams, said DLA had been crucial to his development as a top disabled athlete: "If you took disability benefit away from me I'd be sat in the house unable to go anywhere."Crowther, who is blind, warned that disability benefit cuts, along with cuts to council social care budgets, would prevent many younger disabled people from participating in grassroots sport. "The government has played DLA totally wrong," he said.Sport England said challenges facing disabled people wanting to take part in sport included a lack of specialist equipment, transport issues, difficulty accessing sport facilities, poor information about sporting opportunities, and a lack of self-confidence among disabled people.A spokesman for the Department for Work and Pensions said DLA was outdated and the new PIP support would be focused on those disabled people "who need it most".Paralympics 2012Tanni Grey-ThompsonDisabilityBenefitsOlympic Games 2012WelfarePatrick Butlerguardian.co.uk © 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
- Boris Johnson's former aide takes PR job with News Intern... Guto Harri intends to use the post to 'combat hysteria', but move may reignite claims of Murdoch-Tory linksA key former aide to Boris Johnson, the London mayor, has been appointed as head of News International's communications team to help the beleaguered media company restore its reputation in the wake of the phone-hacking scandal.The decision to appoint Guto Harri, a former BBC political correspondent who had served as Johnson's director of external affairs for four years until less than two weeks ago and was widely seen as the Tory mayor's most trusted adviser, will surprise many at a time when evidence of links between senior Conservatives and News International revealed during the Leveson inquiry has raised eyebrows.Harri confirmed that he had turned down offers from a "luxury manufacturing company and a large public affairs firm" in favour of working for News International, a company he praised as delivering "first class journalism" and whose staff, he believes, have been unfairly tarnished because of a "few rotten apples".Harri, a Welsh speaker born in Cardiff, said he was "totally reconciled" that his move to News International, after four years with Johnson, would be seen in the media as "part of an irresistible geometrical pattern" between the Conservatives and News International.Harri's appointment at News International comes five years after he narrowly missed out on becoming David Cameron's director of communications when the then Tory opposition leader opted to give the job to Andy Coulson, the former editor of the News of the World. Coulson quit the Downing Street post last year amid pressure about phone hacking at the newspaper on his watch.Harri joined Johnson at city hall in May 2008 after being one of the Conservative mayor's first appointments on winning office.He said he had never been a card carrying member of the Conservatives or any other political party. "So I'm not a senior Tory who is suddenly jumping ship choosing, you know, 'one evil man over another'."In his new job, which starts on Monday, Harri said he intended to "combat some of the hysteria that is rife in British public life". "Not every politician is corrupt, not every banker gets an enormous bonus and doesn't think they give a monkey's for anything, and not everyone who works at News International was involved in phone hacking," he said.He added: "I know very good people who write for the Times and for the Sun and they are first class journalists and they are very decent people and again one of the reasons why I am more than happy, I'm delighted to take the job, is that those people cannot be tarred with the same soggy brush as just a few people who were either involved in criminal activity, which is a matter for the courts, or you know, were seemingly out of control."Harri was head of Johnson's media operation when the mayor dismissed allegations of widespread phone hacking at News International as politically motivated "codswallop" in September 2010. He insists this was just Johnson's own colourful way of repeating the "cold blooded advice" he received at the time from the former assistant commissioner of the Metropolitan police John Yates.Harri, who spent 18 years as a journalist and did a brief stint in public relations before joining Johnson in city hall, said he was first approached for the NI job by a headhunting firm over Christmas but made it clear he had no intention of leaving Johnson until he was re-elected this month.He said no one in Conservative circles had sought to dissuade him from taking up his role at News International in the light of the continuing revelations about the party's close links to the media firm, saying he had confided in only a handful of friends."Boris was more preoccupied with preventing me leaving city hall than trying to dictate to me where I should choose to ... the only issue for him was whether I was at city hall or not, it's my professional choice for better or worse to choose one company over another."Harri, a married father of three, replaces Andrew Honnor, who held the position in an interim capacity, and will answer directly to NI's chief executive, Tom Mockridge, to whom Harri paid tribute on the eve of joining the company for his handling of the phone-hacking scandal."I would not be joining this company myself if I thought that they condoned, and were actively involved in, any of the practices that they have rightly been condemned for and I cannot think that the people I have met and the man I will be reporting to is I think without doubt the person most determined to clean up any lingering odour of bad practices."I cannot think of any company in history – and this does go to the very top from the man himself in New York – that spends millions of pounds employing people to trawl the bowels of their own servers in order to find evidence to hand over to the police to actually convict their own staff."They are being extremely robust and arguably brutal about cleansing up the past, and they are not only disciplining people internally, they are handing over evidence to the police."Speaking just before flying to New York on Sunday evening for a two-day visit to company headquarters, Harri dismissed the findings of the Commons culture and media select committee, which concluded this month that Rupert Murdoch was "not fit to run an international company", as a "political point-scoring exercise" by the Labour members on the committee.Harri, who is expected to meet Murdoch during his trip, said: "If he's not fit to run a company than I'm sure the board or the shareholders would have something to say about that, and they didn't. Share prices went up that week and the board gave its unanimous support for him."In a swipe at Tom Watson, a Labour member of the culture and media committee and a vocal critic of News International and its parent company, Harri said: "Let's call it exactly what it was, is a political point-scoring exercise that was not endorsed by the Conservatives on the committee so it was not the view. Select committees rightly carry weight when they give all-party consensus on the basis of a near-judicial or near-professional judgment call. This was not that. This was a very effective Labour politician harnessing the committee and the opposition majority upon it to make a statement that was disowned by the Conservatives on the committee."Harri was speaking at his west London home in a room where a crate of Châteauneuf du Pape was stored, sent as a private joke by Johnson together with a lengthy thank you note for his four years of service.Harri said he never doubted that Johnson would win a second term as mayor, but in a veiled swipe at election strategist Lynton Crosby, who spearheaded Johnson's re-election campaign, he said he believed Johnson's majority of fewer than 63,000 votes could have been a more comfortable win if the campaign had not chosen to take the "bubbles out of the champagne"."It's fair to say that Boris came across in the campaign as a little less charismatic, a little less broadminded and a little less attractive even than the Boris most of London has seen over the past four years."Harri hinted at a difference of opinion over strategy which saw the mayor appeal to the core Tory vote during the seven weeks of the election period after four years of work to make him attractive to people "who generally would not vote Conservative". This had involved authentically "pitching out in all directions", from supporting an amnesty for illegal immigrants to engaging with Muslim communities, black churches and the gay community, while at the same time also batting for core Tory issues such as calling for the top rate of tax to be reduced to help the business community in the capital."That was almost the danger of the campaign, that he became more Tory at a time when being Tory seemed to be more of a liability than an asset."While the campaign was "quite right" to focus on Johnson's priorities of creating jobs and growth in the capital "maybe they didn't quite have the confidence in Boris that I have that the more people see the real Boris, the more they like him, not the other way around."Harri paid tribute to the campaign for its "enormous energy and commitment" and to Crosby personally for being a "strategic and logistical genius", but goes on to say that while he has "huge respect for the core Tory vote, it's not enough to win an election"."In the end Lynton Crosby is extremely experienced and capable and has fought elections all over the world and you can't deny that he has been campaign manager twice now and Boris has been re-elected so I pay tribute to his enormous skills, but I still think that Boris was undersold. It's not that the core things they focused on are not important, it's just not there are other things that are important to."News InternationalBoris JohnsonNewspapers & magazinesLondonLocal politicsHélène Mulhollandguardian.co.uk © 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
- Angela Merkel stands firm on Greece at G8 talks After inconclusive discussions, leaders issue communique saying 'the right measures are not the same for each of us'Angela Merkel has declined to shift position on fresh measures to stimulate demand in the euro area, including the idea of eurobonds, leaving other EU countries hoping she will adopt a more conciliatory mood when the EU heads of government meet on Wednesday for the next round of discussions.Barack Obama left the German chancellor in no doubt that he would like to see her adopt a less confrontational stance towards the Greek government, during a heated two-hour discussion at the G8 summit at Camp David, outside Washington.Obama, facing a presidential election in November, cannot afford US jobless numbers to rise this autumn, a serious possibility if there is no return of confidence in Europe. He is said to understand the necessity for the Greeks to undertake spending cuts, but stressed the same austerity approach across Europe would simply lead to recession.Following the discussion on Saturday, the G8 issued a communique that tried to reference all positions, including the right of the G8 to discuss the state of the European economy.The communique pointedly asserted that "the right measures are not the same for each of us", and committed the G8 to "take all necessary steps" to strengthen their economies. It said they wanted to keep Greece in the eurozone and vowed to work to promote growth in Europe, although behind the scenes distinct differences remained over what kinds of stimulus policies to pursue."Our imperative," the leaders said in their statement, "is to promote growth and jobs." The next test will come when the markets reopen and give their response to what have been inconclusive discussions.British officials said it was absurd that at one point Merkel seemed to want to remove most references to the eurozone crisis from the communique.David Cameron tried to act as conciliator between the positions of the Germans, French and Italians. He said he understood the desire of Mario Monti, the Italian prime minister, to see more structural reform to boost competitiveness. He said he could acknowledge the emphasis on growth advanced by François Hollande, the French president, with his proposal for Project Bonds, a form of capital investment. He also agreed with Merkel that the peripheral countries such as Greece need to take decisive action to address deficits.Cameron is keen to see Germany and the European Central Bank do more to accept the mutualisation of euro sovereign debt through eurobonds, but recognises that this would require the German taxpayer to carry a heavier burden at a time when Merkel is already being trounced in the polls by voters angry at the extent to which Germany is taking on the bulk of the cost of the euro crisis. Merkel faces elections herself next year.It is understood that Cameron regarded the quality of the discussion as one of the best he had heard from European leaders for more than a year, even if it produced little tangible in the short term.G8Angela MerkelBarack ObamaUnited StatesDavid CameronForeign policyGreeceEuropeEuroEuropean monetary unionEuropean Central BankPatrick Wintourguardian.co.uk © 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
- Syrian army shells town in Hama region At least 16 people killed in attack, while UN observers narrowly escape roadside car bomb in DamascusThe Syrian army has killed 16 people, including children, during shelling in the town of Souran in the central province of Hama, the British-based rights group the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says."The army shelled the town and then stormed it," the head of the group, Rami Abdelrahman, told Reuters, citing residents.Hama has been a focal point of Syria's 14-month uprising against the country's president, Bashar al-Assad.In a separate incident, a roadside bomb exploded in a restive suburb of Damascus as senior UN officials toured the area, blowing off the front of a parked vehicle but causing no casualties.Visiting UN peacekeeping chief Hervé Ladsous and Robert Mood, the chief of UN observers in Syria, were 150 metres away, along with accompanying journalists, when the blast went off in the Douma suburb, engulfing a Toyota pickup car in flames and smoke. It was not immediately clear what the target of the explosion was, but the car was parked near a security checkpoint.A security official at the checkpoint told the observers that gunmen had targeted two military buses in Douma earlier in the day, wounding more than 30 security agents.In Damascus, opposition groups reported fighting overnight between government forces and army defectors in the district of Kfar Souseh, a hotbed of dissent against Assad's regime. The district is a high security area, housing the foreign ministry and several security and intelligence agencies. It has also been the scene of frequent anti-Assad demonstrations since the uprising began."Violent clashes broke out between rebel fighters and regime troops at a checkpoint," the Observatory said in a statement.Syrian rebels claimed in an internet statement that they carried out a sophisticated attack that killed top political and security officials meeting in the capital. The posting claimed those killed included Assef Shawkat, deputy chief of staff for security affairs; defence minister Dawoud Rajha; interior minister Mohammad al-Shaar; and former defence minister Hasan Turkmani.Al-Shaar denied the rebel claims at a press conference. Turkmani was interviewed by state-run Syrian TV in his office, saying the claims were "blatant lies".Syrian officials rarely respond to claims and statements issued by the opposition and their quick denials were unusual.The revolt against Assad's regime started in March 2011 with mostly peaceful protests calling for political change. The deadly government crackdown led many opposition supporters to take up arms. Now, the regime is facing an armed insurgency targeting government installations, soldiers and security forces.In March, the UN said that 9,000 people had been killed. Hundreds more have died since.Clashes in the heart of the Syrian capital have become more common recently but are still rare compared to other opposition strongholds in Syria that witness deadly violence almost daily.A ceasefire that was supposed to start last month has never really taken hold, undermining the rest of international envoy Kofi Annan's plan, which is supposed to lead to talks to end the 15-month crisis.World powers remain divided on how to end Syria's crisis. The US and other Western and Arab nations have called for Assad to leave power, and the US and EU have placed increasingly stiff sanctions on Damascus. But with Russia and China blocking significant new UN punishments, US officials are trying to get consensus among other allies about ways to promote Assad's ouster.On Sunday, an anti-Syrian cleric and his bodyguard were shot dead in neighbouring Lebanon, where a spillover of Syria's conflict has inflamed tensions and triggered sectarian fighting in recent days.The two were on their way to a rally in a remote northern Sunni region when they were shot. The circumstances surrounding their deaths remain unclear but the state-run National News Agency said the sheikh and his guard appeared to have been killed by soldiers after their convoy failed to stop at an army checkpoint.The deaths could add to the tensions between pro- and anti-Syrian groups in the region, and there were fears of clashes breaking out as the cleric's supporters blocked roads with burning tyres in protest.The Lebanese army issued a statement, saying it deeply regretted the incident and that a committee will investigate.SyriaMiddle East and North AfricaArab and Middle East unrestLebanonguardian.co.uk © 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
- Italy earthquake kills five and razes centuries of history 3,000 bed down in makeshift accommodation after 6.0 magnitude quake destroys buildings across Emilia-RomagnaThree thousand people in northern Italy bedded down in tents or temporary accommodation on Sunday night after a strong earthquake in the early hours killed five people, injured scores more and toppled centuries-old churches and clock towers.Aftershocks in the Emilia-Romagna region continued to bring down damaged buildings during the day, injuring a firefighter, as emergency services scrambled to find temporary shelter for residents afraid to return home."Right now our absolute priority is for people to spend the night in acceptable conditions," said civil protection chief Franco Gabrielli. With storms forecast for the area, the Italian government was due to meet on Tuesday to consider declaring a state of emergency.The 6.0 magnitude earthquake, which struck the Emilia-Romagna region 3.2 miles below ground at 4.04am, was felt across northern Italy, from Liguria to the Veneto, and was described by one official as the worst in the area since the 1300s. The last serious earthquake to strike Italy was the 6.3 scale shock in L'Aquila in 2009 which killed nearly 300."There's nothing to be done," said Valeria Balboni, standing amid shattered glass in her family's bathroom fittings factory near Sant'Agostino. "We're going to have to close, like so many of the others."The earthquake left major towns such as Bologna unscathed but wrought havoc in small towns and villages dotting the countryside between Bologna, Ferrara and Modena.In San Felice sul Panaro, the tops of several towers of a 14th-century castle collapsed while fresco-filled churches in the town were seriously damaged."We have practically lost all our artistic patrimony," said mayor Alberto Silvestri.In Finale Emilia, the historic Palazzo dei Veneziani partly collapsed and 11 residents survived after knocking down a wall to escape.The Castello delle Rocche in the town was also damaged while a clock tower was split down the middle, with one side disintegrating into rubble before the remaining side collapsed during an aftershock."A thousand years of history disappears just like that," said mayor Fernando Ferioli.In the tiny hamlet of Buoncompra, 700 residents were evacuated to a makeshift emergency centre on the outskirts of town, overlooking the destroyed church of San Martino.Italy's cultural ministry said: "After an initial survey, damage to cultural patrimony appears significant."As a precaution, 500 prisoners were evacuated from a prison in Ferrara.Four night shift workers were killed at three different factories which collapsed, including Gerardo Cesaro, 57, one of 10 employees working at Tecopress, an aluminium car parts maker in Sant'Agostino. "We think everyone else got out of the factory, but he didn't make it out in time," the firm's human resource director, Adriano Orlandini, said after rescuers located Cesaro's body amid the rubble of the 45-year-old factory.Two of the other fatalities were workers at a nearby ceramics factory where staff drove up to the gates with their families on Sunday to peer at the mountain of twisted blue steel where the factory had stood. "He wasn't supposed to be there," the mother of one of the victims told Reuters. "He changed shifts with a friend who wanted to go to the beach."A fourth man, a Moroccan, died when he was hit by a falling beam at a plastics factory in Ponte Rodoni di Bondeno.A woman aged 106 was also killed in her bed at her rural house by a falling beam.Cheese producers said 300,000 wheels of grana and parmesan cheese had been lost as warehouses collapsed, while farmers were fighting to save livestock trapped in collapsed barns.In Finale Emilia, a five-year-old girl was pulled out of a collapsed building two hours after the quake when rescuers were telephoned by a doctor in New York.The girl's mother, who had been unable to get through to emergency services, had managed to call the doctor for help.On Sunday, stunned and tired residents in Finale Emilia who had been outside their homes since 4am walked up and down the rubble-strewn city centre, many running and crying in the streets as aftershocks struck, including one shortly after 3pm which measured 5.1."In the middle, get in the middle," one woman yelled to people on the pavements as a deep rumble shook the ground, sending bricks and cornices tumbling off a number of unstable old buildings.Describing the earthquake, resident Franca Zucchi said she was thrown out of bed and saw her chandelier swinging from wall to wall. "We all ran out into the streets in our pyjamas and underwear," Zucchi said. "I've never felt anything like it."Pope Benedict prayed for victims in his Sunday address and prime minister Mario Monti decided to cut short his trip to Chicago for the Nato summit in order to oversee the earthquake relief operation and follow the investigation into a bombing in Brindisi on Saturday which killed a schoolgirl.ItalyEarthquakesNatural disasters and extreme weatherEuropeTom KingtonAndrea Vogtguardian.co.uk © 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
- Israel PM: illegal African immigrants threaten identity o... Binyamin Netanyahu reignites row over fate of thousands of African migrants in IsraelThe Israeli prime minister has stoked a volatile debate about refugees and migrant workers from Africa, warning that "illegal infiltrators flooding the country" were threatening the security and identity of the Jewish state."If we don't stop their entry, the problem that currently stands at 60,000 could grow to 600,000, and that threatens our existence as a Jewish and democratic state," Binyamin Netanyahu said at Sunday's cabinet meeting. "This phenomenon is very grave and threatens the social fabric of society, our national security and our national identity." Israel's population is 7.8 million.His comments follow media reports of rising crime, including two gang rapes, in southern Tel Aviv, where many African migrants are concentrated. However, Micky Rosenfeld, spokesman for the Israeli police, said the overall crime rate in Israel had fallen. There had been one alleged rape of a teenage girl connected to the migrant community, for which three suspects were in custody, he added.Yohanan Danino, the Israeli police chief, said migrants should be permitted to work to discourage petty crime. Nearly all are unable to work legally, and live in overcrowded and impoverished conditions. "The community needs to be supported in order to prevent economic and social problems," said Rosenfeld.But the interior minister, Eli Yishai, rejected such a move, saying: "Why should we provide them with jobs? I'm sick of the bleeding hearts, including politicians. Jobs would settle them here, they'll make babies, and that offer will only result in hundreds of thousands more coming over here."Yishai repeated an earlier call for all migrants to be jailed pending deportation. "I want everyone to be able to walk the streets without fear or trepidation ... The migrants are giving birth to hundreds of thousands, and the Zionist dream is dying," he told Army Radio. Last week he said most migrants were involved in criminal activity.According to police data quoted by the Hotline for Migrant Workers, the crime rate among foreigners in Israel was 2.04% in 2010, compared with 4.99% among Israelis.More than 13,500 people entered Israel illegally in 2010, of whom almost two-thirds were Eritrean and one-third were Sudanese. Three were granted refugee status by Israel, rising to six last year. Human rights organisations say more than 50,000 asylum seekers and migrants have entered Israel illegally since 2005.Most are smuggled across the Israel-Egypt border by Bedouin tribesmen. Israel is constructing a vast steel fence through 150 miles of the Sinai desert as a deterrent to people-trafficking and the smuggling of drugs and weapons. The barrier would be completed, bar one small section, by October, Netanyahu said.Israel is also constructing the world's largest detention centre for asylum seekers and illegal migrants, capable of holding 11,000 people. The £58m building, close to the border, will receive its first detainees by the end of the year.Netanyahu said the state would embark on "the physical withdrawal" of migrants, despite fears among human rights organisations about the dangers they could face in their home countries. Yishai said: "I'm not responsible for what happens in Eritrea and Sudan, the UN is."As tensions rise in cities with relatively high African populations, the past month has seen a spate of attacks on buildings in south Tel Aviv that house asylum seekers and migrant workers. In one incident, a Molotov cocktail was thrown into the courtyard of a kindergarten. NGOs working with migrants have also received abusive and threatening calls.Amid the anti-immigration clamour, some Israelis have argued that, in the light of Jewish history, their state should be sympathetic and welcoming to those fleeing persecution.IsraelBinyamin NetanyahuMigrationMiddle East and North AfricaAfricaHarriet Sherwoodguardian.co.uk © 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
- Unions strengthen ties ahead of massive protest march in ... Public and Commercial Services union and Unite to deepen alliance amid growing concern over austerity measuresTrade union opposition to the government's austerity programme will be stepped up this week as two of Britain's most powerful private and public sector unions prepare to deepen their alliance, while the TUC will confirm a huge protest march will be held in London on 20 October.The Public and Commercial Services union, the largest civil service union in Britain, has been the subject of merger speculation with its much bigger counterpart, Unite, which has a predominantly private sector membership base and is the largest union in Britain with 1.5 million members. PCS delegates will vote on a motion at the union's annual conference this week to "explore" how to develop a co-operation agreement with Unite, although a merger will not be on the agenda.Mark Serwotka, the PCS general secretary, said: "We want to get closer and closer to Unite, with the test being does it make for more effective trade unionism. And if it does, that's when the question of a formal merger will arise."Serwotka said the trade union movement had to combat government spending cuts by combining public and private sector members. The majority of Unite's members are private sector employees, including branches at major companies from British Airways to Unilever, Vauxhall and Rolls-Royce. PCS has members at a range of government departments including the DVLA and UK Border Agency."We have got to look at the future of the labour movement and being more effective in fighting against government cuts. Closer co-operation with public and private sector unions will create the ability to fight back more effectively," Serwotka said.Noting that a co-operation agreement with Unite has produced "excellent results so far", the PCS motion states that "the further development of relations between the two unions should be explored". If delegates back the motion, PCS and Unite members will co-operate more closely at companies such as Fujitsu and Cap Gemini, firms which carry out public sector work and have PCS and Unite representation.The two unions are also working on a fourth national walkout in the protest against public sector pension reforms. A date of 28 June has been mooted but it is now thought that a one-day strike earlier in June or in early July is more likely.The government claimed 150,000 state employees took part in the latest one-day strike, on 10 May though it was augmented by a police protest featuring more than 30,000 officers and surprise action by prison officers.The TUC – which represents 58 unions with a total of more than 6 million members – is to confirm a successor to the "March for the Alternative" that was attended by up to 500,000 people on 26 March last year.The protest will end with a rally in Hyde Park, London. The TUC said the march would reflect a "clear shift" against austerity in public opinion across Europe, after the French election result, Greece's political struggles and confirmation that Britain has entered a double-dip recession. "There is a sense in the trade union movement that the argument is turning quite strongly against the government's economic strategy," it said. "The march last year was about cuts to services and the impact of government policies. This will be a much broader critique of government and the fact that their policies are holding back growth, increasing unemployment and going against the grain of where things are moving internationally."Trade unionsUnitePublic sector cutsPublic services policyPublic financeDan Milmoguardian.co.uk © 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
- IAEA chief to visit Iran for nuclear talks Yukiya Amano will hold talks with Iran's chief nuclear negotiator in attempt to reach breakthrough on inspectionsThe head of the UN nuclear watchdog will arrive in Tehran on Monday morning for a day of negotiations with the Iranian government on its co-operation with the agency, at the start of a week that is likely to be critical to an international effort to defuse tensions in the Gulf.Yukiya Amano, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), will hold talks with Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, and senior officials from the country's nuclear programme, with the aim of reaching a breakthrough agreement on inspections of sites and access to scientists suspected of having been involved in work on nuclear weapons.Two days later, Jalili will meet the EU foreign policy chief, Lady Ashton, and senior diplomats from six world powers – the US, UK, France, Russia, China and Germany – in Baghdad to discuss other confidence-building measures, including limits on Iranian uranium enrichment.The degree of progress at both meetings is likely to have an important bearing on the level of tension surrounding Iran's nuclear programme, the likelihood of an Israeli military strike against Iranian nuclear sites, and global oil prices.Amano's trip to Tehran is the first by an IAEA director general since his predecessor, Mohamed ElBaradei, visited in 2009. If the Japanese diplomat succeeds in securing an agreement on the IAEA investigation into alleged Iranian work on nuclear weapons, it would vindicate his tough approach to Tehran in the face of criticism that he is too closely aligned with the west."The focus of the visit will be on the issue of a framework. We hope the two sides can reach an agreement and draw up a new framework to answer [IAEA] questions and clear up ambiguities," the Iranian foreign minister, Ali Akbar Salehi, told local media at the weekend.The Iranian government has insisted on establishing such a framework before allowing IAEA inspectors to visit sensitive sites such as the Parchin military base, where the agency wants to investigate intelligence reports that Iranian technicians tested high-explosive components of a nuclear warhead.Iran has denied ever having conducted development work on nuclear weapons.The independent Institute for Science and International Security in Washington published satellite photos this month showing recent activity that could be an attempt to clean up the Parchin site.The IAEA chief inspector, Herman Nackaerts, who will be accompanying Amano to Tehran, has been reluctant to enter into any agreement with Iran that would tie the hands of his inspectors in conducting their investigation. Amano's decision to fly to Tehran to try to seal an agreement suggests he believes a compromise can be found.Diplomats who have followed the long history of negotiations with Tehran since its uranium enrichment and heavy water programmes were first revealed in 2002 point out that a previous agreement on a IAEA "work plan" to investigate allegations of weapons work fell apart in 2008 before inspectors could interview key nuclear scientists.An IAEA agreement in Tehran could have a positive impact on the Baghdad talks on Wednesday. The negotiations between Jalili, Ashton and the six-nation group will seek to build on a similar meeting in Istanbul last month, where Jalili agreed in principle to negotiate over Iran's nuclear programme.Western diplomats hope the Baghdad talks will make progress towards a confidence-building deal by which Iran would stop making 20% enriched uranium, a more concentrated material than the fuel used in modern power stations, which is closer to the level of purity needed for making weapons.In return, the west would provide fuel for a medical research reactor in Tehran and provide advice and equipment to improve safety standards at that reactor and at a nuclear power station at Bushehr, on the Gulf coast.Western officials said Tehran appeared to be keen to strike a bargain as it was faced with broad and damaging sanctions, including an EU oil embargo, the threat of Israeli military action and the substantial weakening of its only significant ally in the region, the Assad regime in Damascus."These negotiations could, if the parties have a real and serious will [for them to succeed], and on condition that realism reigns, open the road to a compromise which would permit on one hand the alleviation of the concerns of the west, while on the other hand bring Iran the assurances it needs on the pursuit of nuclear activities and uranium enrichment on its soil for completely civil purposes," the Iranian ambassador to Paris, Ali Ahani, wrote in Le Monde on Friday, in what appeared part of a public relations offensive before the Baghdad talks.IranInternational Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)Nuclear weaponsMiddle East and North AfricaJulian Borgerguardian.co.uk © 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. 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- MP3 Jewelry Simplifies The Listening Experience Lee Won-Jun's concept line seems like a great alternative to those tacky white earbuds. http://digg.com/news/business/mp3_jewelry_simplifies_the_listening_experience
- Saudi Arabia Seeks Union of Monarchies in Region The conservative monarchy wants to form a single federation with its five Persian Gulf neighbors to better resist the waves of change sweeping the Middle East. http://digg.com/news/story/saudi_arabia_seeks_union_of_monarchies_in_region
- Digital music player Spotify considers Dublin for their n... Their potential new offices will join with Google, Facebook and Zynga, among other digital media platforms with major offices in Ireland’s capital. Last year Twitter confirmed that they would locate their international headquarters in Dublin. http://digg.com/news/technology/digital_music_player_spotify_considers_dublin_for_their_new_location
- MINI’s John Cooper Works Lineup Gets New Engine For 2013 A brand new generation of the MINI Cooper is just around the corner but the performance flagships of the current range, the potent John Cooper Works models, will have to soldier on for a few more years until they're replaced. http://digg.com/news/sports/mini_s_john_cooper_works_lineup_gets_new_engine_for_2013
- Mark Zuckerberg Married -- Facebook Founder Weds Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg capped off a busy week by getting married today to longtime girlfriend Priscilla Chan.The couple, who met at… http://digg.com/news/story/mark_zuckerberg_married_facebook_founder_weds
- Lockerbie bomber Megrahi 'dead' Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, the only person ever convicted in connection with the 1988 Lockerbie bombing, has died in hospital from cancer, his brother tells agencies. http://digg.com/news/story/lockerbie_bomber_megrahi_dead
- Tweaking dietary fat intake could help slow brain aging, ... In a finding sure to re-ignite the debate over the harms of saturated fat, researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital published a study Friday suggesting that the kind of fat found in red meat and full-fat dairy products causes the brain to age more rapidly than other kinds of fat. Olive oil, avocado, and other monounsaturated fats appear to slow brain aging.
- Saturday Night Live: SNL Digital Short: Lazy Sunday 2 Parn and Samberg are back! http://digg.com/news/entertainment/saturday_night_live_snl_digital_short_lazy_sunday_2
- Growing eurozone crisis threatens to shatter Britain's st... Risk analysts are warning that a Greek exit from the single currency would wipe another ten per cent off the value of British banks. At the same time, recovery among manufacturers could be strangled by the crisis. http://digg.com/news/business/growing_eurozone_crisis_threatens_to_shatter_britain_s_stock_market_and_crush_hopes_for_economic_recovery
- The Truth is Out There: “The X-Files” Ended 10 Years ... It’s been 10 years since the small screen bid adieu to Fox Mulder and Dana Scully, the FBI agents who investigated paranormal activity on the FOX hit, The X-Files. The sci-fi show premiered on September 10, 1983 and aired its final episode on May 19, 2002. When the series ended, it was the longest-running sci-fi series in American television history, an honor that Smallville now holds. In the series finale, “The Truth,” Mulder accesses classified documents about the final colonization of the planet (the end of the world), which will occur on December 22, 2012. Mulder kills the man who di http://digg.com/news/entertainment/the_truth_is_out_there_the_x_files_ended_10_years_ago_video
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- "@TWICHISTE: Ciclo de Twitter: 1) Abres una cuenta 2) La ... "@TWICHISTE: Ciclo de Twitter: 1) Abres una cuenta 2) La dejas unos meses por no saber usarla 3) Entras de nuevo y te vuelves adicto! ;)"
- Verdomme mn hele twitter is DOOD!! Verdomme mn hele twitter is DOOD!!
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- Lockerbie families still seek answers from Libya For relatives of the people who died in the Lockerbie bombing, the death Sunday of the only man who was convicted stirred up questions once again about his guilt and whether others went unpunished.
- Lockerbie bomber dies in Libya hospital Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi, the former Libyan intelligence official who was sentenced to life in prison in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, has died, the Libyan government said on Sunday. He was 60. The bombing of the Dec. 21, 1988 Pan Am transatlantic flight to New York from London as it flew over [...]
- Afghan Karzai: Thanks for ‘your taxpayers’ money’ Looking to a day when "the Afghan war as we understand it is over," President Barack Obama met Sunday with Afghan President Hamid Karzai to discuss NATO's withdrawal from that strife-torn country by the end of 2014. Obama, who has put the draw-down of combat troops at the heart of his foreign policy, declared that "the [...]
- Protesters stream into Chicago park for NATO march A diverse crowd of protesters began streaming into a downtown Chicago park Sunday for one of the city's largest demonstrations in years — a march to the lakeside convention center hosting a historic NATO summit.
- Earthquake kills at least seven in Italy At least seven people died and 50 were injured after a 6.0-magnitude earthquake struck northern Italy early Sunday, authorities there said. According to CNN, two ceramic factory workers were killed in Sant'Agostino di Ferrara, another in a shed collapse in Ponte Rodoni di Bondeno, and three others in under rubble in various locations. Among the [...]
- White House: Megrahi death closes ‘unfortunate chapter’ The White House said Sunday that the death of convicted Lockerbie bomber Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi closed "an unfortunate chapter" that opened when Scotland freed the former Libyan intelligence officer on humanitarian grounds in 2009. "We have received confirmation from the Libyan government that Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi died earlier today," National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor [...]
- For NY farmers, fracking could mean salvation -- or ruin When Dan Fitzsimmons looks across the Susquehanna River and sees the flares of Pennsylvania gas wells, he thinks bitterly of the riches beneath his own land locked up by the heated debate that has kept ...
- Facebook stock limps into Monday: What's next after IPO? Facebook resumes trading on Wall Street on Monday with shares being closely watched to see how well they stand on their own after stumbling out of the gate in a historic but lackluster debut.
- Pelosi defends Dems' Rev. Wright fundraising appeal House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi defended the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee on "This Week" for sending a fundraising email that attempted to capitalize on the apparently dead advertising plan to link President Obama to Rev. Jeremiah Wright.
- Boehner insists on tying debt limit increase to spending ... House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, stood by his call insisting that any increase in the debt limit should be offset by greater cuts in spending and tax reform before the end of the year, saying that working toward an agreement now would improve the economy.
ESPN.com
- LeBrun: Kings' Dwight King making a name for himself Not letting a demotion to the third line get him down, Dwight King has been a pleasant surprise for the Kings against the Coyotes, writes Pierre LeBrun.
- Heat's Howard confronts Pacers' Stephenson Miami Heat veteran Juwan Howard and Indiana Pacers guard Lance Stephenson had to be separated following an on-court confrontation before the teams played Game 4 of their playoff series Sunday.
- I'll Have Another off to New York for Belmont I'll Have Another poked his head out of his stall, started nibbling on his nameplate tacked to a wall and looked up at all the people watching his every move.
- Gasol shares blame for Lakers' loss to Thunder Kobe Bryant hoped for more aggressiveness from the Lakers All-Star forward Pau Gasol in the Lakers' loss to the Thunder.
- Carpenter assures full 33-car field for Indy 500 Ed Carpenter has become the 33rd driver to qualify for the Indianapolis 500, assuring race officials they will have a full field for the May 27 race.
- Rangers coach Tortorella rips Devils' tactics In a heated Hudson River clash that is threatening to become pretty nasty, the gloves were officially dropped Sunday when Rangers coach John Tortorella ripped the Devils, accusing them of selling penalty calls and skirting the rules.
- Sandbagging in Sprint All-Star race annoys fans It didn't take teams very long to figure out their best shot at winning the All-Star race would be in the first 20 laps.
- Perez says Indians fans should support team Chris Perez is throwing some heat at Cleveland fans.
- Pressel ousted in semis after slow-play penalty Azahara Munoz of Spain defeated Morgan Pressel 2 and 1 in the semifinals of the Sybase Match Play Championship Sunday after a slow-play penalty against the American on the 12th hole turned the match, casting a shadow on the $1.5 million event.
- Marlins put MLB steals leader Bonifacio on DL The Miami Marlins have placed outfielder Emilio Bonifacio on the 15-day disabled list because of a sprained left thumb.
BBC News
- Lockerbie bomber Megrahi is dead Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset al-Megrahi dies at home in Tripoli, nearly three years after he was controversially freed from a Scottish prison.
- Deadly quake hits northern Italy A magnitude-6.0 earthquake in northern Italy kills at least seven people, causing "significant damage" to the region's cultural heritage.
- Thousands cheer winners Chelsea Thousands of Chelsea fans cheer on the squad during a parade to celebrate their team's Champions League victory in Munich.
- Nato to discuss Afghan withdrawal Nato leaders hold a summit dominated by Afghanistan, as the alliance prepares to hand over security duties to Afghans by the end of 2014.
- Falklands War memorial unveiled A service has taken place to dedicate a new memorial at Britain's National Memorial Arboretum to the Britons who died in the Falklands War.
- Balls warns of cuts 'catastrophe' Labour's Ed Balls warns the world economy faces a "catastrophe" unless Germany abandons pressure on eurozone countries to cut public spending.
- Chemical weapon 'risk' at Kinloss RAF Kinloss authorities knew the public could be at risk from chemical weapons buried near the base, according to documents obtained by BBC Scotland.
- Syria town shelling 'kills 34' Shelling by Syrian forces kills 34 people, according to the British-based group the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
- Chopper designer dies from cancer The designer of the iconic Raleigh Chopper bike dies after a battle with cancer.
- Muse carry Olympic flame in Devon Thousands turn out to see rock band Muse carry the Olympic flame in their home town of Teignmouth, on day two of the Olympic torch relay.
New York Times
- Obama’s Journey to Reshape Afghan War When President Obama joins other NATO leaders Sunday and Monday, the full extent of how his Afghan strategy has changed — from “war of necessity” to withdrawal on his terms — will be apparent.
- NATO Summit Shadowed by Tensions Over Pakistan President Obama met with President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan and American tensions with Pakistan remained unresolved as a NATO summit meeting started Sunday in Chicago.
- Some Gay Rights Advocates Uneasy About Long Jail Time for... Some argue that pinning blame on Dharun Ravi, who is scheduled to be sentenced on Monday, ignores the complicated social pressures that drive gay teenagers to kill themselves.
- Greek Crisis Poses Hard Choices for Western Leaders Although some European officials talk of “managing” a Greek exit from the euro, the political and financial costs, and risks of panic and contagion, would represent a fundamental challenge.
- 20th Anniversary of the Vows Column Six couples profiled in the first year of the Vows column look back at two decades of marriage — and divorce.
- Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi, Lockerbie Bomber, Dies at 60 Mr. Megrahi was the only person convicted in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland.
- Amanda Burden, Planning Commissioner, Is Remaking New Yor... Amanda M. Burden, New York’s City Planning Department director, is in Year 11 of a likely 12-year tenure.Fans of Amanda M. Burden, the planning commissioner, call her a visionary who will leave behind a much-improved city. But critics say the sum total of her ambitions will be a gentrified city and no longer a place for working-class New Yorkers.
- Pakistan Blocks Twitter Over Cartoon Contest The government blocked access to the social networking service on Sunday, after holding Twitter responsible for promoting a blasphemous cartoon contest, officials said.
- Italy Quake Kills 5 and Causes Widespread Damage An earthquake struck the northern Italian region of Emilia Romagna on Sunday, killing five people, wounding dozens and damaging historic buildings as well as warehouses and factories.
- The Long Run: How the Mormon Church Shaped Mitt Romney Mitt Romney at a campaign event in Iowa last year. “He just needs to know what God wants him to do and how he can get it done,” one friend said.While Mitt Romney has said little about his Mormon faith on the campaign trail, people who know him well call it a huge influence on his conduct and worldview.
Wall Street Journal
- Europe's Banks Fear Flight of Deposits The European Continent's financial system remains vulnerable to the prospect that stampedes of customers could yank their deposits from institutions perceived as shaky.
- J.P. Morgan Struggles to Unwind Huge Bets The size of J.P. Morgan's bets is bogging down its efforts to extract itself and threatening deeper losses.
- Facebook's IPO Sputters Facebook shares struggled to stay above their $38 IPO price, as Wall Street bankers stepped in to prevent the newly minted stock from ending its first day with an embarrassing loss.
- Samsung, Apple to Sit at the Table Chief executives of Apple and Samsung Electronics will meet in Monday in a court-directed session aimed at settling their smartphone patent war. But a deal seems unlikely.
- Saudi Oil Output Surpasses Russia Oil production in Saudi Arabia rose to 9.923 million barrels a day in March, from 9.853 million barrels a day in February, overtaking Russia as the world's largest producer for the first time in six years.
- Corn Takes Off as China Buys U.S. corn futures jumped 9.4% last week, lifted by concerns about tight current supplies and a rally in wheat prices.
- Launch Aborted Over Faulty Valve Space Exploration Technologies said a faulty engine valve was the culprit behind Saturday's aborted launch of the first private spacecraft aiming to dock with the international space station.
- GM to Forgo Super Bowl Ads General Motors has decided it won't advertise in the next Super Bowl, balking at steep ad rates as the auto maker overhauls its global marketing operations.
- For Gupta Trial, Tension and Tips Lawyers for former Goldman Sachs director Rajat Gupta say he was estranged from convicted hedge-fund mogul Raj Rajaratnam at the time of some alleged tips. Prosecutors say the friendship broke down much later.
- China Clears Google to Buy Motorola Mobility Google said Saturday that Chinese antitrust authorities have cleared the Internet giant's purchase of Motorola Mobility Holdings, pushing the $12.5 billion deal over its last regulatory hurdle.
CNN.com
- U.S. could lose aging eyes in the sky About every two weeks, Rick Allen gets a series of thermal snapshots from high above Earth that show how water gets used across the western United States, a perennial source of friction in the largely arid region.
- Alberto forecast to stay offshore; tropical storm watch r... Although Tropical Storm Alberto remained offshore, a swath of coastal South Carolina could experience tropical storm conditions Sunday and Monday, the National Hurricane Center said.
- Colsaerts holds nerve to win World Match Play Nicolas Colsaerts shoots into the Ryder Cup reckoning by beating Graeme McDowell to win the World Match Play Championship.
- Authorities: 2 latest suspects not involved in alleged NA... Two suspects who appeared in court in Illinois, Sunday are not believed to be part of an alleged terror plot in Chicago during the NATO summit, prosecutors said.
- Priscilla Chan: New doctor turned Mrs. Zuckerberg She likes Target, the Food Network and sun-dried tomatoes. She loves taking pictures of her dog Beast, and admits to checking her phone "every five seconds."
- Official: Ex-Yemeni President Saleh hospitalized Ex-Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh was admitted Sunday to a Sanaa hospital, the second time he's been to a hospital this month, a government official said.
- Lockerbie bomber dies more than two years after release Abdelbeset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi, the only person convicted in connection with the Lockerbie bombing that killed 270 people, died Sunday, the Libyan government and a family member said. He was 60.
- Gas prices down 18 cents since April, survey finds U.S. gasoline prices have dipped another 6 cents due to a continuing skid in crude oil, a new survey finds, with more declines seen on the horizon.
- Obama, Karzai meet at NATO summit More work must be done before NATO troops pull out of Afghanistan, U.S. President Barack Obama said as he met with Afghan President Hamid Karzai Sunday.
- Sharapova lifts trophy in rainy Rome Maria Sharapova beats Li Na in three sets to defend her Italian Open title in Rome in a bizarre match played in sometimes heavy rain
Sydney Morning Herald
- 'We want to live our lives' Residents in Pyrmont block know first-hand what a study confirms - most NSW apartments have defects.
- Making the next million Sydneysiders join a busload of geeks rolling through the US desert in a competition to build the next start-up.
- Loyalty - one way street Experts say retailers are the main beneficiaries of the latest shopper pitch, writes Georgia Wilkins.
- Good to go Blues skipper Paul Gallen is training and a definite starter for Origin I.
- Cannes in a spin A familiar duo combine for a film which has divided Cannes, writes Stephanie Bunbury.
- Hands off our perks Wealthy former premiers including Nick Greiner and Bob Carr, resist moves to cut taxpayer-funded benfits.
- Rain a trickle in driest May since 1859 The rain finally came but did not fall where it mattered.
- Dollar to plunge if Greece quits euro The Australian dollar could fall below US90¢ if Greece pulls out of the eurozone.
- Cross-sex child treatment on the rise Increasing number of children receiving treatment, including hormones, for gender disorder.
CNET News
- Apple, Samsung CEOs to meet in SF tomorrow The companies' chief executives and general counsels will meet as part of a court-ordered settlement conference to try to resolve some of the patent litigation against each other. [Read more]
- Hacktivists claim takedown of Chicago police Web site Anonymous group AntiS3curityOPS says action is in retaliation for alleged police brutality committed during protests against NATO summit. [Read more]
- How Zuckerberg's wedding reveals Facebook's problem On visiting the Facebook announcement of its CEO's wedding, I was served ads for insurance and heart attack prevention. Slightly inappropriate? [Read more]
- Microsoft quietly launches So.cl social network Software giant's "experiment in open search" is designed to be a research tool in which students share information on a variety of topics of interest. [Read more]
- A great-sounding pocket recorder: Zoom H2n Zoom's H2n Handy Recorder has built-in microphones and records MP3 files and 96-kHz/24-bit high-resolution audio. [Read more]
- Pakistan blocks Twitter over 'blasphemous' images, report... The country implements the ban over concerns about a promotion involving posting images of the prophet Muhammad. Facebook has taken a more conciliatory approach. [Read more]
- Mark Zuckerberg gets married at surprise wedding Fewer than 100 people arrived at the Facebook CEO's Palo Alto, Calif., home Saturday thinking they were there for his girlfriend's graduation celebration. Instead, the two shared their vows. [Read more]
- Here's how desperately cities want Apple stores According to a report, Apple gets hugely preferential leases just to open its stores in certain cities and locations. Why is anyone surprised? [Read more]
- China to Google: Android must remain open In OKing the Google-Motorola merger, regulators in China stipulate that Google must make the Android OS free and open for five years. [Read more]
- Do hybrid cars kill you with silence? This summer, the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration will begin creating guidelines for the minimum amount of noise a car engine can emit -- at lower speeds hybrid and electric cars cause too many accidents. [Read more]
Techmeme
- Nasdaq Is 'Humbly Embarrassed' Over Facebook Troubles (Wa... Wall Street Journal: Nasdaq Is ‘Humbly Embarrassed’ Over Facebook Troubles — Robert Greifeld, chief executive of Nasdaq OMX Group Inc., on Sunday acknowledged design problems with Nasdaq's technology after the exchange operator was widely seen as bungling the landmark listing of shares of Facebook Inc. on Friday.
- Microsoft Launches Socl Social Network: A Look Inside (Da... Danny Sullivan / Marketing Land: Microsoft Launches Socl Social Network: A Look Inside — Congrats, Mark Zuckerberg. You went public on Friday, got married on Saturday, and as a special present from part-owner and best partner Microsoft, now have a new social network to content with: Microsoft's So.cl. But don't worry too much.
- Apple, Samsung CEOs set for U.S. court talks (Dan Levine/... Dan Levine / Reuters: Apple, Samsung CEOs set for U.S. court talks — (Reuters) - The chief executives of Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd are used to running the show at their global tech empires, but they will be in for a different experience when they arrive at a San Francisco federal courthouse on Monday.
- The Undoing of Scott Thompson at Yahoo (James B. Stewart/... James B. Stewart / New York Times: The Undoing of Scott Thompson at Yahoo — When the activist shareholder Daniel Loeb confronted Yahoo's directors on May 3 with the possibility that Yahoo's recently hired chief executive, Scott Thompson, might have falsified his résumé by claiming to have a computer science degree, their initial reaction was disbelief.
- Microsoft quietly launches So.cl social network (Steven M... Steven Musil / CNET: Microsoft quietly launches So.cl social network — In the wake of social-networking giant Facebook's IPO, Microsoft has quietly launched So.cl, its own social networking foray. However, So.cl isn't a designed to be a Facebook challenger. The project, the details of which leaked out last year …
- Microsoft's So.cl Goes Live (Venkat/Techdows) Venkat / Techdows: Microsoft's So.cl Goes Live — Microsoft's social networking site, so.cl which gone live accidentally few months back is in fact launched by Microsoft and available to all at present, you can sign into this service with your Facebook username and password or with Windows Live account.
- Report: Pakistan Blocks Twitter Over Blasphemous Content,... Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch: Report: Pakistan Blocks Twitter Over Blasphemous Content, Facebook Complies? [Update: Back Up] — Another day, another example of a country making it harder for its people to use the web and some of its most effective channels of communication? There are reports coming in from Pakistan …
- Verizon confirms plans to raise FiOS rates (Sean Buckley/... Sean Buckley / FierceTelecom: Verizon confirms plans to raise FiOS rates — Verizon (NYSE: VZ) plans to implement price increases for its FiOS service to offset content costs and increase profitability, a senior executive said this week. — Shammo — Speaking at the 40th Annual J.P. Morgan Global Technology …
- 'The Golden Age of Silicon Valley Is Over, and We're Danc... Derek Thompson / The Atlantic Online: 'The Golden Age of Silicon Valley Is Over, and We're Dancing on its Grave' — To help make sense of the Facebook IPO, we caught up with Steve Blank, a professor at Berkeley and Stanford and serial entrepreneur from Silicon Valley. This conversation has been edited and condensed.
- Sprint now offering $100 credit when you trade in an iPho... Matthew Panzarino / The Next Web: Sprint now offering $100 credit when you trade in an iPhone from any other carrier — In an effort to attract iPhone users to its network, Sprint has begun offering a $100 credit when you turn in an iPhone from any other carrier. — Sprint sent us the details of the offering …
Slashdot
- Turning Soap Film Into a Projector Screen An anonymous reader writes "3 graduate students from University of Tokyo, Carnegie Mellon University, and the University of Tsukuba have developed a colloidal display — a clear projector screen that can control its transparency. Normally soap film will allow light to pass through, but the colloidal display does not. It mixes colloid into the solution and uses ultra sonic speakers to vibrate the surface of the soap film to achieve this. They have created several prototypes, such as 3D planar screen, to show how this technology can be useful." Read more of this story at Slashdot.
- Programming — Now Starting In Elementary School the agent man writes "The idea of getting kids interested in programming in spite of their common perception of programming to be 'hard and boring' is an ongoing Slashdot discussion. With support of the National Science Foundation, the Scalable Game Design project has explored how to bring computer science education into the curriculum of middle and high schools for some time. The results are overwhelmingly positive, suggesting that game design is highly motivational across gender and ethnicity lines. The project is also finding new ways of tracking programming skills transferring from game design to STEM simulation building. This NPR story highlights an early and unplanned foray into bringing game-design based computer science education even to elementary schools." Read more of this story at Slashdot.
- Assange Stands 'Real Chance' of Election In Australia Okian Warrior writes "Various new sources are reporting the results of a recent Labor Party poll, indicating that Julian Assange would be elected to the Australian senate, should he choose to run. From the Sun Daily article: 'Controversial WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange stands a real chance of winning an upper house seat in his native Australia if he presses ahead with plans to stand for election, a poll showed Saturday. A survey conducted by the ruling Labor party's internal pollsters UMR Research and published in the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper showed 25 percent of those polled would vote for the whistleblowing website chief.'" Read more of this story at Slashdot.
- Apple Lifts Ban On the Word "Jailbreak" Gunkerty Jeb writes "After banning the word 'jailbreak' from its app store and music library, Apple [Friday] reversed course and again permits the term — slang for hacking into a device to download unauthorized content — to appear on iTunes and its App Store. On Thursday bloggers noticed Apple had censored the word, using the Thin Lizzy album 'Jailbreak' as an example. For awhile, the title was listed as 'J******k' in Apple's music library, at least its U.S. version. In other instances, digital content continued to bear the full name Jailbreak." Read more of this story at Slashdot.
- Pakistan Blocks Twitter Over 'Blasphemous' Images Diggester writes with this news from the Times of India: "Pakistani authorities on Friday further widened the crackdown on websites with blasphemous contents by restricting access to popular social networking website Twitter. Pakistani users were unable to log into Twitter after internet service providers blocked access to the site." The block was prompted by Twitter's refusal to take down messages promoting a cartoon contest to which the Pakistani government objects for its depictions of Muhammad. This end-run falls right in line with the pessimistic reaction from Reporters Without Borders to the Pakistani court decision calling Internet censorship unconstitutional. Read more of this story at Slashdot.
- ARM, Intel Battle Heats Up An anonymous reader writes "Low-power processor maker ARM Holdings is stepping up rhetoric against chip rival Intel, saying it expects to take more of Intel's market share than Intel can take from them. With Intel being the No. 1 supplier of notebook PC processors, and ARM technology almost ubiquitously powering smartphones, the two companies are facing off as they both push into the other's market space. 'It's going to be quite hard for Intel to be much more than just one of several players,' ARMs CEO said of Intel." Read more of this story at Slashdot.
- Protecting State Secrets Through Copyright An anonymous reader writes "The United States has pursued Bradley Manning with full force for his role in supplying classified documents to WikiLeaks, in part because of the substantial difficulty in going after the organization directly. Criminal statutes generally deployed against those who leak classified government documents--such as the Espionage Act of 1917--are ill-equipped to prosecute third-party international distribution organizations like WikiLeaks. One potential tool that could be used to prosecute WikiLeaks is copyright law. The use of copyright law in this context has rarely been mentioned, and when it has, the approach has been largely derided by experts, who decry it as contrary to the purposes of copyright. But a paper just published in the Stanford Journal of International Law describes one novel way the U.S. could use copyright to go after WikiLeaks and similar leaking organizations directly--by bringing suit in foreign jurisdictions." Read more of this story at Slashdot.
- Zuckerberg Updates Relationship Status To "Married" theodp writes "A day after taking Facebook public, CEO Mark Zuckerberg changed his Facebook status to 'married' after wedding longtime girlfriend and recent med school grad Priscilla Chan on Saturday. No word if Zuckerberg heeded Donald Trump's prenup advice." Read more of this story at Slashdot.
- Quantifying the Risk of Texting Drivers An anonymous reader writes "More than 5000 people die each year as a result of being distracted while driving, and a new study indicates that teens and cell phones make for the most volatile combination. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that of all drivers under 20 involved in fatal crashes, 16 percent were distracted — the highest proportion of any age group. 'Shockingly, texting drivers took their eyes off the road for each text an average of 4.6 seconds — which at 55 mph, means they were driving the length of a football field without looking,' said David Hosansky." Read more of this story at Slashdot.
- 'First Base' In Greek Courts For ISP-Level Blocking arisvega writes "At a first level (the lowest court level in the Greek judiciary system) an order has been issued (article in Greek, Google translation is fair enough) for a 'plan on behalf of Internet Service Providers regarding he implementation of technological measures to deny access to internet users for webpages through which illegal copies of copyrighted work are being distributed.' The order seems to be general and descriptive, and is a manifestation of the implementation process for an even more general and vague larger-scale EU directive, which is the common source that caused the rulings recently posted on slashdot regarding the UK, the Netherlands and Finland. This appears to be one of the reasons that prompted Anonymous to launch defacing attacks on Greek government websites some three months back." Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Scientific American
- Can fMRI Really Tell if You're Lying?
- Minding Mistakes: How the Brain Monitors Errors and Learn...
- Reviews: "The Universe in a Nutshell"
- What is sarcoidosis?
- Hacking Memory to Break Drug Addiction
- ADV: Le PCC: Podcast de la Cabane au Canada Le PCC vous emmène en balade dans Montréal et parfois un peu plus loin...
- The Science of Star Wars
- Poisoned Pot Roast?: Plastic Storage Containers Also Cont...
- Tone Deafness and Bad Singing May Not Go Hand in Hand
- Cancer Drug Costs May Help Doctors Select a Treatment
Wired
- A former pony-tailed student communist leading a rag-tag ... *Given the state of things, it's a wonder that European "extremists" aren't a whole lot extremer than the likes of this guy. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/may/18/greek-leftist-leader-alexis-tsipras "I don't believe in heroes or saviours," says Alexis Tsipras, "but I do believe in fighting for rights ? no one has the right to reduce a proud people to such a state of ...
- The DIWire Bender, a wire-bending fabricator. *Gosh, I love wire art. I bet there's some way to mash-up an app for Calder-style mobiles to a gizmo like this, and go completely nuts. *That's really a beautiful example of "cheap complexity" in 3d manufacturing. The DIWire Bender by PENSA! 2 weeks 3 days ago "The DIWire Bender is a rapid prototype machine that bends metal ...
- A Google-a-Day Puzzle for May 20 Google's daily brainteaser helps hone your search skills.
- Stop the Tarbosaurus Auction! A Tyrannosaur fossil suspected to have been smuggled from Mongolia is set to be auctioned May 20. Scientists want the fossil to be donated to science and say the sale would further fuel illegal looting of fossils.
- Which of These Insane Stunt Crews Will Be the Jacka... The trio of films from the Jackass crew has grossed more than $334 million globally (emphasis on grossed). But they haven't cornered the global market on smart-stupid stunts. There are plenty of insane clown posses eager for fame. Who's got the goods?
- SpaceX Launch Aborted As Engine Ignition Begins This morning?s scheduled launch of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket was scrubbed with less than a second remaining on the countdown clock due to higher-than-expected pressure in one of the rocket?s engines.
- A Google-a-Day Puzzle for May 19 Google's daily brainteaser helps hone your search skills.
- Microsoft to Launch Amazon EC2 Rival. Again The rumor du jour is that Microsoft is just two weeks away from launching a competitor to Amazon's massively popular EC2 service. This seems like big news, until you consider that Microsoft already offers a competitor to Amazon EC2.
- Kickstarter of the Week: A Portable Scanner for Smartphones Using your smartphone to take a photo of a document is one of those things that seems like it should be easy, but just isn't. First you have to futz with the angle and the distance. Then there's the flash: on, it's too bright and washed out; off, it's dark and blurry.
- Full Coverage, Including Livestream: Historic SpaceX Laun... Check out Wired's full coverage of the historic SpaceX launch on our new commercial-space portal, Open Space. A live feed will begin an hour before the scheduled launch, which is at 1:55 a.m. PDT on Saturday, May 19.
The Independent
- Wind energy? No thanks – we want to keep our nuclear op... As soon as residents living near Hinkley Point, on the west Somerset coast, were told that a 12-pylon wind farm was planned for their rural idyll, opposition was quick to grow.
- Cameron made to pay more for EU membership David Cameron will be forced to accept a sizeable increase in Britain's contribution to European Union spending just days after calling for it to be frozen or even cut.
- Housing benefit reform strains Coalition unity The unity of the Coalition Government was under strain last night over moves to cut housing benefit as opposition to the measures grew among Tory and Liberal Democrat MPs. David Cameron yesterday stood by the moves in heated Commons exchanges as Ed Miliband, the Labour leader, claimed ministers were in disarray over the issue.
- British company link to drug used in execution The suspected source of the drug used in the execution of death-row prisoners in the US has been identified as a British company in Berkshire.
- Not his finest hour: As a young man, Churchill's views on... Winston Churchill is rightly remembered for leading Britain through her finest hour – but what if he also led the country through her most shameful hour? What if, in addition to rousing a nation to save the world from the Nazis, he fought for a raw white supremacism and a concentration camp network of his own? This question burns through Richard Toye's new history, Churchill's Empire, and is even seeping into the Oval Office.
- Vince Cable cancels talk in face of student protests Vince Cable last night cancelled a talk at Oxford University after being warned students were preparing to stage a major demonstration.
- Return of the gun on wish list for Santa In these recession-hit times, parents may be relieved to hear that the "Dream Dozen" Christmas toys all cost less than £100 this year. However, eyebrows in some households may shoot skywards at the news that one of the toys bears more than a passing resemblance to an AK-47 assault rifle.
- Exmoor still baffled by the case of the missing Emperor In a wooded copse strewn with fallen leaves, the Emperor's harem sit and wait. Once, there were around 60, but the numbers have dwindled over the past weeks. Perhaps those abandoning this idyllic spot have decided there is no point in waiting. Their stag will not be coming back.
- Rebellion against 'redundant' airline security rules grows The chairman of British Airways won support in the aviation industry last night for attacking "redundant" anti-terror checks imposed by the US, as calls grew for easier passage through British airports.
- 'Apprentice' star on bail over fraud A contestant in Lord Sugar's hit show The Apprentice will find out in December whether he is to be charged with fraud, police said.
South China Morning Post
- Day of mixed emotions for Chen supporters Friends and supporters of blind legal activist Chen Guangcheng , while happy to hear he had finally left for the US, expressed concerns over the fate of his relatives left behind in his Shandong home town.
- Chen flies out 'filled with deep emotions' Blind legal activist Chen Guangcheng, who caused a diplomatic crisis when he fled to the US embassy in Beijing last month, boarded a plane to New York with his family yesterday telling of his sadness at leaving his homeland.
- Qianhai sees bold future despite setbacks Shenzhen's ambitious plan to turn Qianhai, a 15-square-kilometre development zone, into "the Manhattan of the Pearl River Delta" has made an inroad with the opening of its over-the-counter stock exchange last week.
- Ratings for Ma hit rock bottom Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou probably never thought that his popularity could plummet to a level comparable to disgraced predecessor Chen Shui-bian, currently in jail for corruption.
- Briefs Twenty people were killed in an explosion inside a partly built expressway tunnel in Hunan yesterday, state media said.
- Ma likely to keep to the status quo Ma Ying-jeou will be speaking to multiple audiences today when he gives a speech following his inauguration to a second four-year term as Taiwan's president.
- Abducted fishermen may have been released The owners of three mainland fishing boats seized by North Koreans said they were still unable to contact the kidnapped fishermen yesterday, although a Chinese diplomatic official in North Korea said some had been released and were on their way home.
- Security tsar will attend party congress after all Security tsar Zhou Yongkang was elected a delegate for Xinjiang to the upcoming Communist Party congress, dispelling renewed speculation that he might have been sidelined.
- Activist has already seen the worst Fighter for land rights Li Biyun says her local government has been brutalising her for so long that imprisonment and torture don't scare her anymore, writes Mimi Lau.
Washington Post Front Page
- FBI links shots fired at Pentagon, Marine museum Two shootings that targeted U.S. military buildings in Northern Virginia have been conclusively linked to the same weapon, and law enforcement officials think a third attack on a Marine Corps recruiting office this week could be part of the same unexplained spree.
- The new game plan boosting colleges' odds IN STEVENSON, MD. -- Stevenson University was another small liberal arts school with a surplus of female students. Women outnumbered men 2 to 1, an extreme example of the imbalance that pervades higher education.
- The rise, fall and rise of John Boehner Just before Thanksgiving 1998, John A. Boehner hit bottom. The Ohio congressman, once a comer in the Republican Party, was unceremoniously removed from his post in the House leadership. Boehner's colleagues had a win-at-all-costs mind-set; he saw no point in antagonizing the Democratic minority j...
- Taliban unscathed by U.S. strikes An intense military campaign aimed at crippling the Taliban has so far failed to inflict more than fleeting setbacks on the insurgency or put meaningful pressure on its leaders to seek peace, according to U.S. military and intelligence officials citing the latest assessments of the war in...
- Groups meet at White House on gay ban President Obama met briefly on Tuesday with gay rights groups pushing to repeal the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy, according to people familiar with the meeting.
- Corrections The Washington Post is committed to correcting errors that appear in the newspaper. Those interested in contacting the paper for that purpose can:
- Party intensifies fears about alcohol energy drinks The revelation this week that sugary, high-alcohol energy drinks helped send nine Washington state college freshmen to the hospital after an off-campus party has renewed public concern about the hazards of the beverages.
- Digest A jury has been chosen in Texas for the trial of former U.S. House majority leader Tom DeLay, who is accused of illegally funneling corporate money to help Republicans in Texas legislative races in 2002.
- Global extinction crisis looms, study says A growing number of creatures could disappear from the Earth, with one-fifth of all vertebrates and as many as a third of all sharks and rays now facing the threat of extinction, according to a new survey assessing nearly 26,000 species around the world.
- Chris Cillizza: The Fix on the campaign trail With conventional wisdom congealing around the idea that Democrats are likely to lose the House and narrowly hold onto their majority in the Senate, plenty of people are talking about what the midterm election results might mean for President Obama ' s 2012 reelection race.
Washingtonpost.com
- Japan begins grim relief mission with towns flooded, thou... Rescue teams searched through matchstick rubble Saturday for thousands of people missing in flooded areas of northeastern Japan, beginning one of the most complex relief efforts in history.
- Japanese nuclear plants' operator scrambles to avert melt... Japanese authorities said Sunday that efforts to restart the cooling system at one of the reactors damaged by Friday's earthquake had failed, a major setback in the struggle to contain what has become the most serious nuclear power crisis in a quarter century.
- For autistic kids' parents, trial hits home
- Subterranean jail a sign of Gaddafi's grip
- Who will reach the Final Four?
New Matilda
- The Men Behind The Boom Jobs, jobs, jobs — it’s all we ever hear about. But what’s it really like to be a miner, childcare worker or scientist? Our occasional series sends Troy Henderson down the tunnel and into the lab to find out. Behind the rhetoric and beyond the boom — Matilda Snapshots is a warts and all picture of working life in Australia. John Reynolds is a bear of a man with close-cropped silver hair and an impressive moustache. He grew up in Huntly, a coal mining town south of Auckland, where his father introduced him to the mines as a teenager. He trained as an electrician but went back to mining in 1989, spending 11 years in the Queensland coalfields before relocating to the Illawarra in NSW. New Matilda joined the 49 year-old miner for his regular 6am to 6pm Saturday shift at NRE No. 1 Colliery in Russell Vale. The colliery has been mined for over 120 years. In 2004 Gujarat NRE, India’s largest producer of metallurgical coke, acquired the mine and invested $270 million in upgrades and expanding production. In 2008 NRE announced a further $500 million in planned investment to bring annual production up to 6 million tonnes by 2015. The company’s executive chairman, Arun Kumar Jagatramka, has worked overtime to build links with the local community, leading to his being named Illawarra Person of the Year 2009. But concerns over the impact of the carbon tax saw the company’s share price slump in 2011 — perhaps explaining Jagatramka’s extravagant claims that the tax could lead to $60 schooners and $20 loaves of bread. The 40-odd men on the morning shift change into their overalls and gumboots, collect their hardhats, headlamps, Kevlar gloves and oxygen flasks and head over to the muster area for the daily briefing at 6.15am. John knocks off a can of Mother while he waits. "Right guys shut up," says the shift manager, before giving a quick update on the state of play, and then announcing that Col would be in charge of the barbecue to mark the start of mining the economically vital long-wall. "Col!", says John. "Fuck! Hope he washes his hands, the c–." Around 6.30am we pile into the drift runner, a sort-of troop carrier, that sends us flying in through the mine mouth and down into the tunnels. The walls and roof are covered in steel mesh, ducts, pipes and cables that hang down like tree-roots from the ceiling. We arrive at the crib room, an underground mess hall with tables and benches, mine maps, and a board where the miners hang their ID tags. The Deputy, Steve Preen, shows me the compressed air breathing devices and the lifeline that leads you back to surface in an emergency. John is part of an eight-member team comprising six operators, a "lecky" (electrician), and a fitter. John operates the Sandvik MB670 Continuous Miner and works back-to-back 12-hour shifts on the weekend and a six-hour shift on Monday that starts at 5.15am. His team is doing "development" on the deep Wongawilli coal seam — opening up new sections of the mine in order to create a "network of rooms" that will allow for more rapid extraction. John’s regular breakfast is a meat pie, which he finds gives him the energy to see him through to lunch. After breakfast the crew takes the short walk to the coalface, but the Continuous Miner has a busted hydraulic hose. John is clearly unimpressed at the delay. An all-too-regular occurrence, he says, as we trudge back to the crib room. The technical hiccup gives us a chance to chat while John eats a bowl of cereal. He tells me he enjoys the hands-on nature of mining, the variety of tasks, and the fact that a shift goes quickly when you’re cutting coal. He earns around $125,000 a year before tax, but could make a lot more in QLD. The main attraction of working at the Russell Vale mine is improved lifestyle; John lives with his wife Michelle and four kids — three from his wife’s first marriage and one of their own — rather than being stuck in an isolated miners’ camp. We’re interrupted by good news: Ra, the energetic fitter, has fixed the hose! We head back to the coalface, wade through the mud, and climb up onto the Miner. The coal bands alternate between matt black and diamond glitter and the smell — a hint of phosphorous — is strong without being overpowering. John rips off the yellow "Broken" tag, fires up the MB670 and we’re ready to mine some coal! Or so we thought. "Just when you think you’re right you’re fuckin’ not", says John. He can hear something — an oil leak in the apron. "Get Ra here", he says. The leak seems serious: looks like we’re out for the shift. Back in the crib room John is even more disgruntled. We were well set up to make good metres. Our talk turns to politics. John is vice-president of the local branch of the CFMEU and speaks highly of district vice-president Bob Timbs, but he wouldn’t describe himself as a very political man. He’s not impressed by Julia Gillard ("couldn’t hold a candle to Helen Clarke") or Tony Abbott ("complete idiot") and despite his labour roots, would probably vote National if he had Australian citizenship. Like many, he can’t understand why Gillard replaced Kevin Rudd in the first place. John is less concerned about the carbon tax than he is about ongoing issues with equipment and maintenance and whether the company can make a return on its large investment. Steve Preen, the Deputy, doesn’t think much of our national leaders either but prefers Malcolm Turnbull to Abbott. On climate change, Steve’s a believer, and says "I guess that makes me a hypocrite being a coalminer". But, at the same time, mining has given him a 33-year career and allowed him to stay in the region he grew up in and still loves. He’d like the young guys at the mine to have the same opportunities. Mr Fix-it Ra has done it again. We head back to the coalface and the Continuous Miner lives up to its name. John moves the Miner forward, sets the parameters for the coal cutter and puts the MB670 to work. The cutter looks like a giant, spiked rolling pin as it crunches through the coal which crashes onto the floor. The coal is scooped up, transferred to the back of the Miner and poured into the waiting shuttle which transports each 10-tonne load to a crusher before being carried by conveyor belt up to the surface. Then it’s stockpiled and trucked to Port Kembla. As the MB670 moves forward the operators work quickly to stabilise the newly exposed roof and ribbing with steel mesh and 6 foot long steel rods that are bolted into place. I notice just one operator wears a face mask while he works and, while an exhaust fan sucks out most of the dust and gas, it’s hard not think about how much dust the men breathe in as I look at each blackened page of my notebook and wipe the clogged up tip of my pen. An operator tells me it’s not a very physical job, but it’s no office job either. The steel rods are heavy, conditions are cramped on the Miner, and wading through knee-deep mud in a dark tunnel isn’t for everyone. Teamwork and personal responsibility are also clearly important. If one person stuffs up it can have serious consequences for themselves and others. And then there is the danger, the rare cases where a gas outburst or a collapsed roof claims a life. The men continue to work quietly and efficiently. The cutting, loading, drilling and bolting fall into a rhythm and within a few hours they’ve cut six metres of coal — about 120 tonnes — and the shift is over. We pile back into the drift runner and speed up to the surface, trading one darkness for another. The miners return their equipment, wash their boots, and head for the showers to scrub off another day’s grime. Outside the full moon lights up the Pacific where at least a dozen coal ships wait patiently for the cargo that they’ll carry from the southern coalfields of NSW to the coke ovens of China and India. John Reynolds will drive home to his family, have dinner and try to get to bed by 9pm.
- How To Throw Away Your Life Savings Albury-based Trio Capital went under in 2009, leaving a trail of financial destruction in its wake. A Parliamentary inquiry into its collapse found that more than 6000 Australians invested in Trio and its web of related companies. All lost their money (though some have been compensated). Some lost their life savings. More than $176 million disappeared — most likely stolen in a clever trans-national fraud that saw super funds transferred to a British Virgin Islands account and then spirited away into the underworld of organised crime. The inquiry says that unlike the collapse of investment firms Storm Financial and Westpoint, Trio was not merely caused by incompetence and financial mismanagement. Trio was a carefully calculated and highly lucrative fraud. The implications for Australia’s superannuation industry and the agencies that regulate it are uncomfortable, to say the least. The inquiry has found that the two key regulators, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) and the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA), were asleep at the wheel. Trio’s auditors also signed off on a set of accounts that should have raised huge red flags. Financial planners recommended a product which, if they had bothered to look closely, was obviously too good to be true. This lack of due diligence from planners and advisors ended up costing their clients millions. And Trio’s appearance of being a reputable superannuation fund — it had the necessary paperwork from APRA and appeared in ratings from Morningstar — helped deceive investors too. The details of the Trio fraud are fascinating. There were all the usual features of high-level financial fraud including tortuous paper trials, tricky name changes, off-shore special purpose vehicles, overseas hedge funds, failed Wall Street merchant banks and $2 shelf companies headquartered in known tax shelters. The report states that "significant monies from these schemes were invested in the British Virgin Islands in hedge funds controlled by a Hong Kong-based American lawyer, Mr Flader. When these hedge funds collapsed, Australian investors’ funds disappeared. The committee understands that Mr Flader is well-known to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)". Oops. Many of the victims of Trio invested after Trio was recommended to them by their financial planners and advisors. In a masterpiece of understatement, the committee notes that "the evidence suggests that their recommendations were influenced by the high commissions paid by Trio." Well, who would have thought? Trio was largely the master plan of three men: Jack Flader, Paul Gresham and Shawn Richard. Richard, who had his name on many of the legal documents as the Australian director of Astarra Strategic (one of the many inter-related companies involved in the fraud), is the only one to have faced criminal charges. He went to jail for two and half years — a term many would consider rather light on, considering he was intimately involved in one of the largest financial frauds in Australian history. But Flader, allegedly the mastermind, is not being pursued. Perhaps the biggest scandal of all was the way that Trio’s fraud came to light. Was it due to watchful regulators pouncing on incriminating evidence? A brave whistle-blower within the organisation? Disgruntled investors? No, Trio first came to the attention of the authorities because John Hempton at Bronte Capital received a tip-off from a reader of his blog. That tipper, Dominic McCormick, noticed that the people involved in Astarra had links to companies involved in previous scams in the UK. Hempton also noticed the obvious Ponzi-like characteristics of the Trio group, which had been hiding in plain sight. He wrote a blog post about it, and also a letter to ASIC Chairman Tony D’Aloisio. Hempton took "about 40 minutes" to discover the following: "What attracted me to Absolute Alpha [Absolute Alpha changed its name to Astarra later] in the first case", Hempton writes, "was the CVs of the principal players." Those CVs, listed on Astarra’s publicly available material, included Eugene Liu, named as "chief investment strategist". Liu listed his involvement with the firm Pacific Continental Investments, which went bust during the global financial crisis. This Guardian article from 2008 calls Pacific Continental "possibly the UK’s most notorious firm of stockbrokers." Shawn Richard, the since-jailed CEO, turns out to have been a manager with Pacific Continental in Taiwan, although he didn’t list that on his bio at the time. Once alerted, ASIC did swing into action, sending Trio and Astarra a series of notices and enforcements. But the inquiry says that it failed to coordinate its activities with the ATO and ASIC. As a result, precious months elapsed, time which the overseas conspirators used to spirit away the money supposedly held in a shalf company in the British Virgin Islands. Eventually, Trio was investigated and fraud detected. Trio was wound up and Richards charged. But the investigation was hardly copybook. The inquiry says that ASIC and APRA was regularly uaware of each other’s activities: for instance, "when ASIC commenced its active surveillance of [Trio] in June 2009, it did not seem aware that Trio was not providing the prudential regulator [APRA] with basic facts about the existence of assets and their value". The record of the regulators before John Hempton wrote to D’Aloisio is discouraging. APRA supposedly conducted five prudential reviews of Trio between 2004 and 2009. Nothing was uncovered. Their record since is just as concerning. The inquiry notes that "there are no ongoing criminal investigations into the conduct of Mr Flader or others involved in developing and implementing this scheme." The committee describes Shawn Richard as "only … the local foot soldier of the scheme." There is plenty more blame to go round. Auditors WHK — the same guys who signed off on the Coalition’s 2010 election costings, which were later found to be billions of dollars in error — failed to ask any meaningful questions, when serious red flags should have been raised. But the real worry is what the Trio case suggests about the structure of Australia’s retirement savings. As Hempton notes in his original blog post, Australia’s superannuation system is effectively privatised social security. For those investing their own savings in self-managed superannuation funds (SMSFs), the opportunities for a total wipe-out of their life savings are all too evident. Unlike industry or retail funds, self-managed super is not regulated by APRA, but instead the ATO. As the inquiry notes, "The ATO’s focus is on the SMSF’s compliance with superannuation and taxation laws, not on prudential safeguards." Because they are not APRA-regulated, SMSFs are not insured against fraud or theft. SMSFs represent a large and growing pool of money that seems particularly vulnerable to shonky financial planners and dodgy investment vehicles. According to APRA, self-managed super funds accounted for around one-third of all Australia’s superannuation assets last year: a total of $407 billion in 2011. SMSF’s are also the fastest growing type of super fund, probably because of the tax advantages they confer. The opportunities for frauds and shonks are only too obvious — as are the weaknesses in the current regulatory regimes. Self-managed super can be a wonderful vehicle for saving for retirement. It can also be an opportunity to throw away your life savings. For mum and dad investors, it may be that the complexities and pitfalls of managing their own super are far more dangerous than many realise: certainy more dangerous than the associated returns justfiy. The performance of the regulators also provides a direct counter-example to the view that Australia survived the GFC because of our superior financial regulation. That may be the case in the banking industry, but what about super? Without far tighter regulation of the SMSF sector, Australia may be at risk from a domestic financial crisis brought on by a big failure in the superannuation industry. That’s a sobering thought.
- Lessons From Europe's Racist Right The National Front of Marine le Pen and Greece’s jack-booted Golden Dawn both had strong showings in recent elections. Both are also mentioned in the manifesto of Anders Breivik, Norway’s Christian jihadist, as part of the European bulwark against the expansion of Islam and multiculturalism. Although much has been said about whether the mainstream Right is responsible for Breivik, the European elections have now demonstrated that reputable politicians are happy to use the same talking points. Marine le Pen in particular uses language strikingly similar to Breivik’s manifesto. She rails against Muslim immigration from the Middle East and North Africa, saying that France is being swamped. Even halal meat is dangerous. Le Pen snarls about multiracialism and multiculturalism irretrievably altering the Hexagon’s Gallic integrity. From Breivik there is this, "You cannot defeat Islamisation or halt/reverse the Islamic colonization of Western Europe without first removing the political doctrines manifested through multiculturalism/cultural Marxism". Or this: "A modern cultural conservative (nationalist), anti-Jihad right wing alternative is emerging in Western Europe". Le Pen herself has said she has "de-demonised" her party. Where her Fascist father Jean-Marie was prone to anti-Semitic outbursts, his daughter, whom he once described as a, "big healthy blonde girl … an ideal physical specimen", has made it acceptable to vote for the National Front. Anders Breivik too knew the extreme Right had to abandon its storm-trooper rhetoric, even recommending that publicly racist members should be thrown out of the party. He wrote that, "By doing this we will gain the support of the masses and not end up as a marginalised and excessively demonised insignificant organisation." Cutting down on the anti-Semitism also makes the extreme Right palatable to Zionists. "Nevertheless, time is of the essence and it is imperative that the European Jewish community without delay take a stance on the ongoing Islamisation. Neutrality on this issue is not an option. The only way of doing this is to back the new right wing (anti-multiculturalism, pro-Israel) groups and political parties (also manifested through views such as by moderate Jewish writers Daniel Pipes and Bat Ye’or)." And finally a confirmation that, the enemy of my enemy is my friend: "A majority of Western European right wing groups are all anti-Islamisation and pro-Israel. They wish to include the Jews in our fight against multiculturalism and the Islamisation of Europe. Israel is at the forefront of global Jihad." That accords with Israel, allowing Geert Wilders from the Dutch, anti-Islamic Freedom Party to visit the Holy Land in 2010. Breivik and Wilders were singing from the same songbook. "Israel is a lighthouse and the only democracy in a dark and tyrannical region," Wilders declared. "It’s part of us, of our European identity. Israel is fighting our war." Israel has indeed played host to several extreme right wing politicians from Europe and Breivik has an explanation for what would have been unconscionable just a decade ago. "Jews will in a much larger degree start to support the ‘new right’ (just like everyone else), who oppose multiculturalism as a means to stop Islamisation, at least this is my hope. In the back of their minds they realise that a Muslim Europe will be more anti-Semitic than a Christian Europe." Breivik also found plenty of material when he looked to Australia. In his long list of like-minded political parties, I found the Australian Protectionist Party. While he didn’t endorse the Liberal-National Coalition, he quoted Quadrant’s Keith Windschuttle, a culture warrior appointed to the ABC Board by the Howard government, Ross Cameron, a minister in the Howard government and former Treasurer, Peter Costello. Breivik made this assessment of former Prime Minister John Howard himself: "Luckily, not all Christian leaders are appeasers of Islam. One of the intelligent ones comes from Australia, a country that has been fairly resistant to Political Correctness. They have taken serious steps towards actually enforcing their own borders, despite the predictable outcries from various NGOs and anti-racists, and Prime Minister John Howard has repeatedly proven to be one of the most sensible leaders in the Western world." One of the most sensible leaders in the Western world? Many Australians would agree with the mass murderer of Utoya Island, a sentiment one might have found in the opinion pages of the Australian newspaper, which Breivik references extensively as source material. While you may think these matching opinions were born of fear, at the zenith of the War on Terror, I have seen viewer comments to websites which indicate these beliefs are widely held today. This in April 2012: "We better wake up and see that our Australian "boat"(way of living as we knew it) is sinking, or the Muslim boat people will take over. Do not believe them that they are a peaceful and innocent religion. They are not!" The solution to the Islam "problem" is where most mainstream politicians and Anders Breivik part company. He has drawn up a comprehensive list of traitors in each European country: "We are in the process of flagging every single multiculturalist traitor in Western Europe. We will ensure that all category A and B traitors, the enablers of Islamisation and the destroyers of our cultures, nations and societies, will be executed and your property expropriated." According to Breivik’s reckoning there are approximately 400,000 Category A & B traitors, ranging from just 322 in Iceland to 82,820 in Germany. "The thing is that many of our political and cultural elites, including politicians, NGO leaders, university professors/lecturers, writers, journalists and editors — the individuals making up the majority of the so called category A and B traitors, knows exactly what they are doing. They know that they are contributing to a process of indirect cultural and demographical genocide and they need to be held accountable for their actions. The truth needs to come out." Anders Breivik didn’t calculate the number of traitors to be executed in Australia but his ideas have some support here. This 9 May comment was obviously posted in anger and frustration at the domestic political situation. I hope it’s only a rhetorical flourish made to reinforce his point. "Hi. Let me tell you something……..if Labor in Norway did what this Labor is doing to us……….Norway has a hero in Brevik! Just to mention this idiots try to bribe voters…they are worse than communists…they should let Brevik come to Australia!" Anders Breivik doesn’t need to come to Australia — his ideas are already here, albeit not yet written on the banners of a major political party as is the case in Europe. Only time will tell how many Australians believe, as Breivik does, that "We are in the very beginning of a very bloody cultural war, a war between nationalism and internationalism and we intend to win it."
- 'Two Sharp Eyes' For Timor East Timor’s new president Taur Matan Ruak will be officially sworn into office on 20 May, the same day the nation celebrates 10 years of independence, marking the start a new era for the country. José Maria Vasconcelos, known by his resistance name Taur Matan Ruak meaning "two sharp eyes", will be the third president and part of a new generation of leadership in East Timor. Over the last decade, the positions of president and prime minister have rotated between three men, Jose Ramos-Horta, Mari Alkatiri and Xanana Gusmao. With the nation preparing for the withdrawal of international troops and the UN after more than four years of peace, Ruak will inherit a vastly different set of challenges to those of his predecessor José Ramos-Horta in 2007. Photo courtesy of Meagan Weymes While on the international stage Ruak holds a low profile, the 55-year-old received more than 61 per cent of the vote in the second round of the presidential elections and gained the official endorsement of Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao. Ruak and Gusmao share a history dating back to the Indonesian occupation, where they both fought as part of the resistance. When Indonesia invaded in 1975, the then 19-year-old Ruak fled into the mountains and joined the resistance army Falintil. He spent 24 years in the jungle, moving up Falintil’s ranks and travelling across the country. Like many of his fellow resistance fighters, he was captured by the Indonesian forces in 1979 and spent 23 days imprisoned before escaping back into the mountains to fight. After East Timor voted for independence in a UN organised referendum in 1999, Ruak replaced Gusmao as Commander of East Timor’s military (FDTL). Then in late 2011, after more than a decade in charge of the military, he unexpectedly quit the post to announce he would move into politics, running for the position of president. Photo courtesy of Meagan Weymes One of his controversial policy platforms during the election campaign was the introduction of compulsory military service. Ruak told New Matilda the policy would help to tackle the problem of unemployment and what he describes as "an erosion of the value system which is traditional and secular in this country". "We need to prepare the youth with a strong sense of patriotism, of ownership of our country, of responsibility for its future and, above all, citizens who are engaged in serving the country and the people." Technically, introducing such a policy is beyond the powers of the president, but the former military commander says he will advocate the policy to new government. Poverty is another challenge facing East Timor, and Ruak told Timorese NGO La’o Hamutuk before the election his plan for tackling poverty involves reducing dependence on foreign imports and building up local industries like agriculture and tourism. The majority of East Timor’s state spending comes from a US$9.9 billion government oil fund, fed by reserves in the Timor Sea. Ruak insists one of the biggest problems with this is "corruption of the oil money". "To get out of petroleum dependency, Timor-Leste should invest strongly in human resources, increase the capacity of the private sector and other productive sectors." When it comes to international relations Ruak has made general commitments to building regional relationships but appears to prioritise domestic problems over international issues. Ruak says he appreciates the relationship of respect between East Timor’s neighbours, Indonesia and Australia, but says this relationship should be raised from a relationship of good neighbours to that of allies. "I truly believe that it will benefit the peoples of our three countries, our states and the region." East Timor is currently seeking membership of ASEAN, which Ramos-Horta has repeatedly stated is one of the most important priorities for the nation. Ruak says he supports ASEAN membership, but has made no commitment to prioritise the issue. "There is so much we can gain and learn from ASEAN member states and the organisation. Whether as a member of ASEAN or not, (East Timor) is irretrievably part of the region." Photo courtesy of Meagan Weymes On the issue of the Greater Sunrise oil and gas field, subject to an ongoing stand off between Australian company Woodside and East Timor’s government over how to extract the gas, Ruak is non-committal. The current government has stated it will not approve a development plan for the gas field that doesn’t include a pipeline to an LNG plant on the south coast of East Timor. In a provocative move, Prime Minister Gusmao yesterday unveiled a section of pipeline which he says could be used to carry gas from the disputed field into East Timor. Ruak would not reveal whether he supported the current government’s policy of building a pipeline to East Timor. "The most important stance that Timor-Leste may take to is to dialogue with all parties involved," he said. Upon being sworn in, the new president will take on one of his most important functions, appointing a new government, which is likely to involve some form of coalition with either Gusmao’s CNRT party or the nation’s biggest political party Fretilin. Until then, Ruak says the priority is to make sure the parliamentary elections, on 7 July, run as smoothly as the presidential elections, a step that will "reinforce the maturity of democracy in East Timor".
- Incredible Stories
- Why Slipper's Stuff-Ups Matter For weeks now the Australian public has been assailed with lurid stories about the travails of Peter Slipper MP, the current Speaker of the House of Representatives, who has been forced by circumstances to be temporarily suspended from discharging his duties. Much has been made about the integrity of the position of the Speakership in the Westminster system during the hullaballoo that has accompanied Slipper from his appointment to James Ashby’s accusations. A lot of this rhetoric has focused on the venerability of the Speaker’s role, going back to the time before the British Civil War and execution of Charles I by the British parliament in 1649 when being the Speaker was a dangerous past-time. As the official conduit between the King and the Parliament, the Speaker could become the focal point for the power struggle going on between the two institutions. Beating up or even executing the Speaker was one way of displaying disapproval of the Crown’s unwillingness to heed the Parliament, and an army with heavy weaponry evolved to defend the Speaker from unruly members. Today, the Sergeant at Arms and the Mace are relics of the Speaker’s private army, and to this day those successfully elected to the position feign reluctance as they are dragged to the chair in a ritualistic homage to the Speakers of ancient times who were at the forefront of the battle between the Crown and the Parliament for the right to exercise the authority to govern. The position of Speaker in the "lower" (as in lower class) or popular or representative chamber in a Westminster parliament is steeped in this tradition as well as being one of the officially recognised positions of prestige and importance in the parliamentary system by virtue of the role the Speaker plays as the chairperson responsible for the function and conduct of the house. In an interesting Australian quirk, the Speaker of the House of Representatives is actually recognised in the Australian Constitution. Electing a Speaker is the first thing the House of Representatives must do before it can proceed with its business (Section 30). This contrasts with the position of Prime Minister, which does not appear in the Constitution at all but is thought to apply by way of convention because the Australian system of government replicates the British system. Section 40 notes that motions before the House of Representatives shall pass on the attaining of a simple majority of those present without the Speaker exercising a deliberative vote. This section allows the Speaker only a casting vote in the event of a tied outcome. In a House of Representatives in which the numbers are nearly equal and a minority government depends on the vote on cross-benchers to get its legislation through the parliamentary lower house, the governing party’s position is made more precarious when it provides the Speaker. To improve its ability to get its program through the House and to reduce its dependence on the cross-bench, the Labor party decided to put a member of the main opposition party in to the Speakership, and Slipper appeared willing to turn his back on his party to oblige them. Turning one’s back on one’s political party (also known by the colloquial term as "ratting") is rare, although not unknown in Australian politics. The consequences can be quite dramatic, however, and the perpetrator is almost always vilified. Slipper’s disloyalty to the LNP has been complicated by the perception, inherited from Britain, that the Speaker of the House of Commons is considered to be detached, fair and non-partisan. The government and Slipper have tried to portray the ascendancy of the former LNP man to the chair as a manifestation of some antipodean manifestation of this British tradition. This is patently not the case in Australia, however. In Britain, the impartiality of the Speaker involves the consent of all the parties and is given practical application by the opposition party guaranteeing to not run a candidate against the Speaker in their electorate in exchange for the Speaker resigning from their party. This doesn’t happen in Australia, although it may be the case that the Speaker will observe the protocol of not attending party meetings. Like everything about Australian politics, partisan party considerations are uppermost in the election of the Speaker. The Australian Speaker will seek to at least give the impression of lofty independence and will be mindful that interpretations of the standing orders (or rules) by which the House operates that grossly offend the opposition today may bite the governing party in years to come should it find itself on the opposition benches tomorrow. The quickest way to end one’s career as Speaker, however, is to apply the rules or run the House in ways as to disadvantage, constrain or otherwise earn the ire of the Prime Minister.
- Carbon Capture A Costly Pipe Dream Try saying this phrase out loud: "carbon capture and storage is the potential solution to coal-fired power internationally". An incredulous smirk might appear on your face, but saying the phrase is simple enough. It certainly did the trick for Martin Ferguson, who rattled off the line on Monday. Talking up the promise of carbon capture and storage (CCS) is easy. Actually making it happen is a different story. Politicians and the fossil fuel industry have promised that CCS is on its way, but they can’t enjoy the benefit of the doubt forever. Proof is required to show that we’re talking about a concept that has real merit as a large-scale energy option and not just a cheap political excuse. Greenpeace has released a new report called "Dead and Buried: the demise of carbon capture and storage". It shows how attempts to demonstrate commercial-scale CCS have been marred by failure. Community opposition, economic and technical difficulties and a lack of serious private investment have meant that every attempt to build a commercial-scale CCS power station has fallen over. As a realistic option for future power generation, CCS only exists as rhetoric. CCS is a very expensive political excuse, paid for by taxpayers. Billions of dollars of public funds worldwide are currently tied up in programs designed to support CCS, when this money could be used to enable real, clean, renewable energy solutions that have already been available for years. Australia’s own $1.68 billion CCS Flagships program is one of the most absurd attempts to justify CCS. A Victorian company called HRL has been trying to build a new power station that runs on gasified brown coal. HRL’s project, Dual Gas, has been dubbed "clean coal" because it would use technology that makes brown coal burn with the emissions of black coal. Surprisingly, HRL also describes Dual Gas as a CCS project, which doesn’t stand up to scrutiny. HRL just want to commercialise their gasification technology and aren’t really bothered with CCS. When they first applied to the Howard government for funding in 2006, their proposal didn’t include CCS. After being prompted by the government to include CCS in their plans, HRL re-submitted their application and made a "plausible argument" for capturing CO2. They subsequently won a $100 million grant. Three years later, HRL applied to the EPA for works approval. But all their CCS plans amounted to was a claim that the plant would be "capture ready" and space would be set aside on the site of the power station to accommodate CCS, should it ever materialise. A pre-feasibility study into pre-combustion carbon capture was done last year, but it wasn’t the result of HRL’s effort. The $3.5 million study, referred to in HRL’s works approval application, was in fact paid for by the taxpayer. Perhaps the clearest indication that HRL aren’t bothered about CCS is the fact they have indicated a desire to get out of the project after one maintenance cycle (which would be about four years after it is built). Despite this distinct lack of enthusiasm for carbon capture and storage on HRL’s part, Dual Gas is now a part of CarbonNet, a Victorian Government effort that has been included in the Federal CCS Flagships program. CarbonNet intends to create pipeline infrastructure that can transport up to a million tonnes of CO2 per year. Its first challenge is to actually be relevant. That means having new sources of CO2 to take and transport. The three million tonnes of carbon pollution HRL’s project would generate makes it a perfect match for CarbonNet. In fact, Dual Gas has been dubbed "the most promising emissions source for the CarbonNet project", even though another document acknowledges "the carbon capture component of the project is not a high priority at this stage". At the time, it probably made sense to reinforce the purpose and value of two speculative projects by attaching one to the other. But after Dual Gas made a statement on 16 April that work on the power station project was to be frozen, attaching Dual Gas to CarbonNet might prove as strategic as a struggling swimmer tying themselves to a passing submarine. Let’s hope it happens. Between HRL’s Dual Gas and the Victorian Government’s CarbonNet, over a quarter of a billion dollars in taxpayers’ money is set to be sunk into project that will deliver little more than a dirty, expensive and unnecessary power station, and a great big pipe stretching right across Gippsland. Climate change is far too urgent for this. We don’t have the time or money to fritter about with the coal industry’s pipe dream. Calling CCS dead and buried could be just what we need to redouble our focus and efforts on real, renewable energy solutions to climate change, and stop hoodwinking our coal communities into believing that coal can ever be clean.
- Japan's Long Nuclear Winter Over a year after the earthquake that devastated swathes of Japan, the branches of Tohoku region’s cherry blossom trees remain bare. Layers of snow, metres deep, line the mountain roadsides. A bitterly cold winter has meant the hotly anticipated sakura season has come late this spring. Although Japan’s recovery is underway, the late blossom is a symbol of a region still struggling to attract the foreign tourists upon which it relies. Each year tourists flock to see the blossoms appear as spring sets in, but this year international arrivals plummeted. Domestic tourism has bounced back, as has the business sector, but international numbers are staying away still, worried about radioactive risks and general damage to the region. Last March’s earthquake killed more than 15,000 people and displaced 340,000 more as their homes were destroyed or rendered dangerous by the combined impact of the quake, the subsequent tsunami and the damaged nuclear reactor at Fukushima. The country’s wounded economy is struggling to recover. The winding lanes of Zao ski resort in Tohoku’s Yamagata prefecture are almost deserted. Taking in views of the mesmerising snow dusted mountains, only two solitary black dots dart expertly down the otherwise empty slopes. It’s a stark contrast to the months just before the earthquake when arrivals to the Tohoku region from Japan’s number one ski market, Australia, hit new heights, rising 451 per cent on the year before to 8120. Figures are yet to be confirmed for the full year following the earthquake, but Yamagata prefecture tourism chief Yasuhiro Nagasawa told New Matilda that this winter, the region’s ski resorts have been virtually abandoned by Australian tourists. Even those still tempted by Japan’s famed powder are heading to better known Niseko and Nagano, far from the perceived damage of Tohoku, he says. People are still worried about radiation risks from the nuclear reactor at Fukushima. Last year saw foreign visitor numbers to the Fukushima prefecture plummet 77 per cent to 20,190, Nagasawa says. The government has now introduced 2,700 Geiger counters across the Fukushima prefecture’s tourist attractions and public spaces to reassure visitors that there is no nuclear threat. Fukushima tourism department executive Nozemi Takeda admits the measurements showed the area directly surrounding the plant remained in the danger zone, but she insists that other parts were considered safe with readings well below worrying levels. Some areas have actually recorded levels lower than some of the major cities in the world, she claims. "Please tell everyone in Australia that Japan is safe," she says. Meanwhile, the devastated Fukushima and Miyagi provinces remain barren. Much of the debris has now been cleared, leaving a wasteland with little sign of life. The people whose homes were damaged by the quake have now been absorbed into other areas. Tour bus driver Michio Takahashi’s home in Yuriage, the most damaged area of Natori City, was written off after the first floor was wrecked by the tsunami. On the night of the quake, he was unable to get back to his home because the roads were closed, so he and his family took shelter in one of the buses from his work. They lived there for 10 days before the family was rehoused in a rental apartment. He received financial support from the Japanese government, but it came nowhere near the cost of a new house. Nonetheless, he remains optimistic. "At least I have a job," Takahashi told New Matilda. "We had always known about tsunami but we never imagined that could be so big — it was beyond our imaginations." Japan’s tourism officials admit the road to recovery will be a long one, despite progress made in the 12 months. The Japan Tourism Agency concedes reconstruction over the last 12 months had been "not easy" due to the extent of the damage to Tohoku’s coastal regions. But it insists that advances are being made. The government has allocated a budget of 18 trillion yen to the recovery effort, and has created a reconstruction agency headed by a dedicated minister. However, foreign tourists remain wary of visiting Tohoku, plenty are still keen to travel to Japan. Instead of heading for the northern region of Honshu, they are instead heading to destinations further South and to the West. In the west of Honshu, Japan’s former capital Kyoto remains a popular choice for tourists. While the city tourism department expects visitor numbers to have been impacted by the quake, down around 20 per cent on the previous year, it insists that international visitors are now returning in droves because of its rich and diverse arts scene and perfectly preserved historic district, Gion. Maiko, a young girl in training to become a Geisha, performs in a velvet-lined theatre in Gion. A mixture of Japanese and western tourists continue to attend the girl’s flawless performances. In contrast to Tohoku region, the cherry blossoms are already wilting along Kyoto’s Kamogawa river — a sign that life goes on. As are the tourists that are returning to the region, stuffed with noodles and wandering in search of a sake bar.
- Do We Need A Pollies' Code Of Conduct? Do our federal politicians need a code of conduct? "Yes!" I hear many of you say. After all lots of professions have them, from journalists to doctors. Given that politicians occupy the highest office of our democracy, it shouldn’t be too much to ask them to comply with a code of ethics that would ask them to act honourably, honestly and with integrity — should it? The talk about codes of conduct for federal parliamentarians is being driven by the current scandals engulfing politics, most notably of course the travails of the Member for Dobell, Craig Thomson. We don’t need to rehash the sordid details of Thomson’s exploits: the report by Fair Work Australia has done that quite comprehensively. As well as spending union members’ money on things like escort services and his own re-election campaign, Thomson appears to have lied about it to Fair Work Australia’s Terry Nassios to boot. Thomson’s response to the report has been a bizarre argument about being set up by union enemies. Given the forensic weight of evidence compiled by Fair Work Australia against him — including mobile phone records, credit card statements, signed receipts, logs from drivers and cab charges — it’s a claim bordering on the delusional. We can happily set the Thomson affair aside for a minute, though, to ask whether parliamentarians need a code of conduct in order to better regulate their behaviour. It’s an interesting question and one that has many implications for the practice of our democracy. The classical answer to this question would be yes. Legal principles stem from moral codes, after all. The Code of Hammurabi, for instance, includes an early regulation aimed at curbing corruption: a provision to penalise and remove judges from office for altering their judgements after handing them down. Centuries later, Pericles created the Athenian Oath, the first clause of which was "we will never bring disgrace on this our City by an act of dishonesty or cowardice". By the 19th century, John Stuart Mill was writing extensively on the issue of how to square the responsibilities of public office with the duties of morality. But that doesn’t mean codes of conduct are necessarily the best way to regulate the actions of our elected representatives. Codes of conduct are, first and foremost, an attempt to define and describe ethical roles and responsibilities. As any ethicist would point out, codes of conduct are normative: they are about ethical values and the ways that people and organisations ought to behave. Because of this, they embody a value system — a value system which not everyone may subscribe to, including the voters who put that representative there. Let’s take a simple example: should parliamentarians be duty-bound to honesty? It’s a seemingly simple question that has many complex implications. Misleading parliament is traditionally seen as one of the most serious things a member can do: in the Westminster system, tradition dictates that those who do so should immediately resign. The problem here is not just that no-one actually resigns anymore for misleading the parliament or the public — even in reasonably clear-cut cases such as the "children overboard" affair. It’s also a deeper philosophical question over what constitutes ethical behaviour in the first place. Codes of conduct are inherently about the means, not ends. But politics is all about ends, not means. This poses deep dilemmas even for ethical politicians (indeed, especially for ethical politicians), who must choose between greater and lesser evils in the everyday course of their job. Is healthcare more important than education? Is balancing the budget more important than borrowing money to invest in infrastructure? More prosaically, is abandoning a promise or backflipping on a position justifiable? If you can’t achieve anything without being elected, what sort of conduct is justified in the campaign? For some politicians, the answer is a very simple one: whatever they can get away with. The title of Graham Richardson’s 1994 book, Whatever It Takes, sums up the situation for some politicians nicely. Pericles himself, after formulating his famous oath, was involved in the sort of political contortions and backflips familiar to any contemporary observer of democracy. He ultimately led Athens into a disastrous series of wars. Few of us would applaud the behaviour of Craig Thomson. Rapping a Craig Thomson or a Mal Colston over the knuckles for obvious misconduct is one thing, but what are we to make of politicians who use their networks to make lots of money after leaving office, like Lindsay Tanner (now a merchant banker) or Kate Carnell (a corporate lobbyist)? And what principles of natural justice should apply? What about things parliamentarians did before they got elected? And what about actions that are legal, but unethical? The behaviour of more contested political figures, like John Howard or Gough Whitlam, are full of such examples. Both Whitlam and Howard made many enemies for actions that voters perceived at the time as dishonest, cynical, or ruthless. Malcolm Fraser’s successful attempt to get the Governor-General to remove Gough Whitlam’s government may or not have been constitutional. But was it ethical? Similarly, John Howard’s decision to commit Australian troops to the 2003 invasion of Iraq was certainly legal under Australian law. But was it illegal under international law? And was it the right thing to do? Ethical codes are often flimsy brakes on political action, especially when our leaders are faced with the relentless press of events. How seriously does the electorate take codes of conduct anyway? Few voters understand the existing rules enshrined in the Constitution, such as the one about parliamentarians being disqualified if bankrupt, or convicted of a crime with a sentence of more than a year in prison. As for the parliament’s standing orders — well, do even the parliamentarians understand them? It’s a fair bet that many don’t. In other words, a code of conduct for politicians is far from a panacea. Rather than achieve better standards, it is more likely to do what codes and regulations always do: ensnare the stupid and the unwary, while protecting the clever and the duplicitous.
- Waiting For Gay Marriage
NEWS.com.au | Top Stories
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