|  |  |  | | | | | The Guardian World News | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Juan Carlos Hernandez Pulido captured with ID cards of newspaper employee killed in May, navy claims Mexican marines have captured a drug cartel suspect carrying the ID cards of a newspaper employee who was killed in May along with three photographers, the country's navy has said. Juan Carlos Hernandez Pulido, allegedly a local chief of informers for the Jalisco Nueva Generacion drug gang, was detained on Friday in the Gulf coast port city of Veracruz as he handed out packets of drugs to a group of men, the navy claimed. It said Hernandez Pulido was carrying the ID cards of Irasema Becerra, an administrative worker at a local newspaper and the girlfriend of one of the dead photographers. Five other journalists have been killed in Veracruz state this year. At the time, the killings had been thought to bear the hallmarks of the Zetas cartel; the victims were killed, dismembered and their bodies stuffed into black plastic bags dumped into a waste canal. However, Hernandez Pulido is allegedly linked to a gang allied with the Sinaloa cartel, which is fighting the Zetas for control of Veracruz and other states. Elsewhere in Veracruz, state prosecutors' office said seven members of a family, three adults and four children, were found dead at their home with their throats slit. The children were reportedly aged between three and 12 years old. The bodies were found Friday in the rural hamlet of Manlio Fabio Altamirano, on the Gulf Coast, by neighbours who smelled strange odours coming from the house. The family had been dead for about three days, prosecutors said. Federal police announced on Monday they have sent 600 additional officers and 20 bulletproof patrol vehicles to the western state of Michoacan, where suspected drug cartel gunmen have attacked police and hijacked and burned trucks to block highways in recent days. Police said the units would be used in anti-drug operations, to set up checkpoints and prevent road blockades. On Friday, five gunmen were killed when they opened fire on police from the hills around the city of Apatzingan. In the northern Mexican state of San Luis Potosi, state police said the gunmen who killed the mayor-elect of the city of Matehuala on Sunday used assault rifles of the kind frequently wielded by drug gangs. Edgar Morales Perez, of the Institutional Revolutionary party died in the attack along with an adviser who was travelling with him, but the adviser's wife survived. His party, known as the PRI, issued a statement on Sunday calling on authorities to investigate the killings and punish those responsible.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | US, UK and France seek to build more direct links with disparate rebels amid fears that Islamists are getting Gulf donations The US, Britain and France are scrambling to retain their influence with Syrian opposition groups amid fears that most support from the Gulf states has been diverted towards extremist Islamic groups. Rising concern that an increasingly sectarian civil war could spread across the region, combined with reports of brutality by some opposition groups, and evidence that the best-organised and best-funded rebel groups are disproportionately Salafist (militant Sunni fundamentalists), has triggered an urgent policy change in western capitals. Washington, London and Paris now agree that efforts to encourage a unified opposition around the exile-led Syrian National Council (SNC) have failed, and are now seeking to cultivate more direct links with internal Syrian groups. Ausama Monajed, a British-based SNC member, conceded: "The SNC could have done a better job, a more effective job, in organising the forms on the ground, and now the key issue is to bring fighting groups together in some other framework. But that does not mean that the SNC will be sidelined altogether. It is still the biggest political grouping and has a political and diplomatic role to play." Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, flew to Istanbul on Saturday to meet Syrian opposition activists and boost military and intelligence co-operation with the Turkish government to prevent the violence spreading across the border. Jon Wilks, Britain's special envoy to the Syrian opposition, was also in Istanbul last week for a meeting with someone the Foreign Office described as "a senior political representative" of the Free Syrian Army (FSA), during which he stressed the importance of human rights and respect for minorities as a condition of future co-operation. On Friday, the UK announced £5m in new non-military aid to Syrian opposition groups, pointedly insisting that all the recipients should be organisations inside Syria, therefore excluding the SNC. Clinton's meetings in Istanbul were also intended to sidestep the exile group, on the grounds that it had little influence on events inside Syria. "This was a conclusion the state department came to some time ago, and it is just now percolating through into policy," said Joseph Holliday, an expert on the Syrian rebels at the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War. Both Wilks and the US ambassador to Syria, Robert Ford – who was withdrawn from Damascus last October out of concern for his safety – took part in an unpublicised meeting in Cairo at the beginning of the month. The aim of the meeting, organised by the Doha centre of the Washington-based Brookings Institution thinktank, and attended by external and internal opposition groups including the FSA, was to set up a broad-based committee to hammer out a mutually agreed transition plan. In France, the government of François Hollande is under intense pressure, particularly from former president Nicolas Sarkozy, to intervene directly on the side of the opposition. Fabrice Balanche, a Syria expert at the University of Lyon, said the incoming foreign minister, Laurent Fabius, "realised that France had invested too much political capital in the SNC". He said the new government had instead thrown its weight behind Manaf Tlass – a former Republican Guard general and member of Bashar al-Assad's inner circle – who defected in July. France is hoping the FSA will coalesce around Tlass, providing some coherence to the disparate array of militias. However, a Syrian financier linked to the opposition warned that the FSA would remain divided as long as it relied on multiple, uncoordinated sources of funding. "The local brigade commanders on the ground swear allegiance to whoever supports them and the expat community sending them money is completely divided," the financier said. "These are [Syrian] expats in the States and the Gulf using their own trusted channels for getting money through, so the money is pouring in from many different pockets. The number of fighters each commander can summon wax and wane with his ability to arm and pay them and their families, so there is no particular leader with enough clout to bring the brigades together." The exceptions to this rule, he said, were Saudi Arabia and Qatar, but that money went disproportionately to Salafist and jihadist groups. "The most organised systems are run by extreme Islamist groups and they have the highest income. The more extreme brutality tends to come from that direction, but they have the most ammunition and guns, and they get their money from a unified source. All the other money comes from multiple sources and multiple channels. You can only unify these units with a unified source of money." Julien Barnes-Dacey, a Middle Eastern expert at the European Council for Foreign Relations, said that western states realised that "if they don't get on board now, they will lose every opportunity of leverage. If the Saudis and Qataris run loose with the groups they are backing, there will be great chance of blowback." "Blowback" is a term widely used to describe the backing of jihadist rebels against the Soviet army in Afghanistan in the 1980s, which provided a recruiting ground for al-Qaida and global jihadism. According to western diplomats, a Kuwaiti sheikh is also playing a key role in channelling money collected in the Gulf to militant groups judged to have sufficient Salafist credentials. Western influence with the FSA is limited by a continued refusal to supply arms because of the uncertainty of where the weapons would end up. Barack Obama is reported to have issued a "presidential finding" (a secret executive order) earlier this year, stepping up CIA activity in and around Syria, but that too stopped short of arms supplies. According to reports from Washington and the Turkish-Syrian border, the main US intelligence role as been to act with the Turks in stopping arms reaching groups they view as undesirable. On her visit to Istanbul, Clinton did hint at more direct action in the future. She said the US and Turkey had agreed on "very intensive operational planning" by military and intelligence officials. "We have been closely co-ordinating over the course of this conflict, but now we need to get into the real details." Clinton did not exclude the possibility of setting up a no-fly zone, long advocated by Turkey but rejected up to now by Washington because it would require a large-scale military operation. On Saturday she said the joint US-Turkish planning team would perform an "intense analysis" of all options as a possible precursor to more direct assistance.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Deal gives internet company a vast archive of digital reviews as part of goal to be principal destination for reviews and listings Google is to buy the travel guidebooks brand Frommer's as the internet company ramps up its bid to become the premier destination for local reviews and listings online. Google will pay an undisclosed sum for the Frommer's brand, which launched in 1957 when Arthur Frommer published his 'Europe on $5 a day' guidebook. The deal gives Google a vast and growing archive of digital reviews for its local listings, maps and mobile applications. It comes nearly a year after Google bought Zagat Survey, the restaurant review and ratings service. Google said the Frommer's purchase – which includes more than 300 guidebooks – would complement its aim to provide "a review for every relevant place in the world". The future of Frommer's print titles is understood to be safe in the near term, but could be made online-only as the brand is merged with Zagat inside Google. "The Frommer's team and the quality and scope of their content will be a great addition to the Zagat team. We can't wait to start working with them on our goal to provide a review for every relevant place in the world," said a spokeswoman for Google. Frommer's owner John Wiley & Sons announced the deal on Monday. The publishing group said Frommer's no longer aligned with its business strategy and the sale was part of plans to offload several other brands, including Webster's New World and CliffsNotes. Shares in John Wiley & Sons were down 0.27%, at $47.46 a share, in midday trading on the New York stock exchange. Google's stock was up almost 2%, to $654 a share, on the Nasdaq after the deal was announced.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | At least two other police officers and one civilian also wounded in exchange of fire at house near Texas A&M University A police officer and a bystander were killed and others injured Monday during a shoot-out with a gunman near a college campus in Texas. The officer received a fatal wound after reportedly trying to serve an eviction notice at a home close to A&M University. The gunfire prompted college officials to issue a "maroon alert" to any students still on campus during the summer break, warning them to stay indoors. A man at the address was also killed in the exchange of fire, while at least three others – including two law enforcement officers – were injured. The gunman was shot and later died, police officials said. Assistant police chief Scott McCollum named the dead officer as 41-year-old Brian Bachmann. He described as a constable in the local force, and was killed after confronting the gunman at an address in College Station, around 90 miles north-west of Houston. Local news reports suggest he was attempting to serve an eviction at the time of the shooting. McCollum said that backup arrived at the home, by which time "there was a constable down on the front yard". An exchange of fire took place, during which two other officers were also wounded by the gunman. The suspect was shot and later pronounced dead. The shooting led to officials at A&M University posting a message on its website shortly before 12.30pm local time, warning students and staff of an active shooter at an intersection close to campus. "Please avoid the area. Residents in the immediate area need to remain in their residence," it stated. At 12.44pm another message was posted confirming that the gunman had been taken into custody. Of the two other injured police officers, it is thought one was shot in the leg. Neither are thought to be in a life-threatening condition. It is not immediately clear if the two others shot in the incident were hit by the gunman's bullets or by police returning fire. A female bystander was taken to hospital and was undergoing surgery on Monday afternoon.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Mohammad Shibin given 12 life sentences for acting as ransom negotiator for pirates who killed four American hostages A Somali man who acted as a ransom negotiator for pirates who seized an yacht last year and killed four American hostages has been given 12 life sentences by a US federal judge. Mohammad Shibin was convicted in April on 15 charges including piracy, hostage taking, kidnapping and conspiracy. He was paid $30,000-$50,000 (£19,000-£32,000) in cash for his negotiating services, according to a federal indictment. In a courtroom in Norfolk, Virginia, Judge Robert Doumar of the US district court sentenced Shibin to serve 10 concurrent life sentences, two consecutive life sentences and two 20-year sentences and ordered him to pay $5.4m in restitution. "Mohammad Shibin was a key participant in two of the most heinous acts of piracy in modern memory," prosecuting US attorney Neil MacBride said in a statement. Pirates commandeered a US yacht carrying Jean and Scott Adam from California and Phyllis Macay and Bob Riggle from Seattle in February 2011 off the coast of Somalia. All four hostages were killed despite attempts by the US military to negotiate their release. Prosecutors said Shibin was among an elite group whose skills were needed to negotiate ransoms. According to evidence presented at the trial, Shibin researched the background of the hostages over the internet to determine how much ransom to demand and to find family members to contact for the payments. Shibin also served as a ransom negotiator for pirates who seized the M/V Marida Marguerite in 2010. The German-owned vessel had a crew of 22 men who were held hostage for seven months starting in May 2010 and reported being tortured. In 2011, Somali piracy cost the world economy $7bn (£6.4bn) and earned the pirates $160m (£102m) in ransoms, according to a report by the International Maritime Bureau. "[Shibin's] multiple life sentences should put all pirates on notice that the justice department will hold you accountable in a US courtroom for crimes on the high seas," MacBride said.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | France and Germany have both posted better-than-expected GDP for the last quarter, on a busy morning for economic data
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Vice-presidential candidate denies he profited from a 2008 meeting with Fed chairman in which officials outlined fears for financial crisis Paul Ryan, Mitt Romney's vice-presidential running mate, sold stock in US banks on the same day he attended a confidential meeting where top level officials disclosed the sector was heading for a deep crisis. The congressman on Monday denied profiting from information gleaned from the meeting on 18 September 2008 when Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke, then treasury secretary Hank Paulson and others outlined their fears for the banking sector. His office said he had no control over the trades. Public records show that on the same day as the meeting, Ryan sold stock in troubled banks including Wachovia and Citigroup and bought shares in Goldman Sachs, Paulson's old employer and a bank that had been disclosed to be stronger than many of its rivals. The sale was not illegal at the time. Not long after the meeting, Wachovia's already troubled share price went into free fall. It plunged 39% on the afternoon of 26 September alone as investors worried the bank would collapse. It was eventually taken over by Wells Fargo for $15bn, a fraction of its former value. Citigroup's share price fell soon after the meeting. In October 2008 Citigroup was among the largest beneficiary of the troubled asset relief program (Tarp), the taxpayer-funded bailout of the banking sector. Ryan was a supporter of the Tarp bailout – a position that has put him at odds with the right wing of his party despite his otherwise conservative credentials. Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo are now among his largest financial supporters, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. The trades were highlighted at the weekend by the Richmonder, a left-leaning political blog in Virginia. After the story was picked up by the media on Monday, the Romney campaign moved to deny it. Talking Points Memo quoted Larry Gaffney, an independent accountant for the partnership that handled the trades questioned by commentators, said the shares were not controlled by Ryan. "Trades are done automatically based on an algorithm on a regular basis," said Gaffney, in a statement to TPM that was provided by the Romney campaign "In addition, this index was held at the time within a partnership in which Rep. Ryan had and continues to have no trading authority." Until this year members of Congress were allowed to trade on price-sensitive information gathered at Washington meetings. Nor is Ryan alone in having done so. CBS's 60 Minutes criticised Democrat Nancy Pelosi for buying into Visa's initial public offering as the House discussed credit card legislation. After the CBS documentary, pressure mounted for change. In April, Barack Obama signed legislation that bars members of Congress and other federal workers from profiting from non-public information learned on the job. As well as banning insider trading the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (Stock) Act requires members of Congress to post details of transactions exceeding $1,000. In April the Office of Congressional Ethics cleared Spencer Bachus, Republican chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, of allegations of insider dealing. Critics had charged he had taken advantage of insider information to trade shares on numerous occasions. Bachus was present at the meeting that Ryan attended with Bernanke and Paulson. The next day he traded "short" options, betting on a decline in share prices in the financial services sector. Attendees at the meeting have said Bernanke and Paulson's warnings were met with stunned silence. "When you listened to him describe it you gulped," Senator Charles Schumer told the New York Times.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Attorney for the man who shot and killed Trayvon Martin says he'll use a self-defence argument to get the case dismissed The attorney for the man who shot and killed unarmed Florida teenager Trayvon Martin said on Monday he would seek to get the case dismissed using a traditional self-defence argument and not the state's "stand your ground" statute. Mark O'Mara, who is defending George Zimmerman against a second-degree murder charge after the fatal February shooting, said the traditional self-defence approach was appropriate because the facts suggested his client could not retreat from a beating Martin was giving him. Zimmerman's attorneys said last week they would use Florida's controversial "stand your ground" law, which allows people to use deadly force – rather than retreat – if they believe their lives are in danger. "The facts don't seem to support a 'stand your ground' defence," O'Mara said. Martin's 26 February death in a gated community in the Orlando suburb of Sanford first drew national attention on 8 March, the day his relatives held their first news conference to lament that Zimmerman had not been arrested. Martin was unarmed and walking back to an apartment where he was staying with his father at the time of the shooting. Zimmerman was not charged with second-degree murder until 44 days after the shooting. During that time, protesters around the nation demanded Zimmerman's arrest and the Sanford police department was accused of racism and incompetence. Zimmerman, 28, pleaded not guilty and was released on a $1m bond while awaiting trial. If a judge were to side with Zimmerman in a pretrial hearing under either theory, the murder charge would be dismissed immediately. O'Mara said that he would not have to invoke any part of the "stand your ground" statute under the strategy he plans to use. "I don't' like 'stand your ground' because I'm not sure it's a 'stand your ground' case," O'Mara said. University of Miami law professor Tamara Lave said this change by O'Mara may be a signal that he thinks his case for self-defence is solid even without the special provisions afforded by "stand your ground".
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | News organisations had hoped to view warrants and other evidence against James Holmes, but judge maintains secrecy A Colorado judge on Monday ordered that the bulk of key documents detailing the case against accused movie theater gunman James Holmes remain sealed, largely rejecting a request by news organisations to lift the so-called gag order. Arapahoe County district judge William Sylvester did allow for the release of 34 documents, mostly relating to media motions and procedural issues. But he ordered that the documents media members most wanted to see – affidavits of probable cause, subpoenas, arrest warrants, search warrants and requests for or court orders for production of records – all be kept under seal. Prosecutors have charged Holmes with 24 counts of first degree murder and 116 counts of attempted murder in the July shootings at a midnight screening of the Batman film The Dark Knight Rises in Aurora, Colorado. Twelve people were killed and 58 were wounded. The 24-year-old former graduate student was arrested shortly after the massacre. Authorities said he told police he was the Joker in a reference to Batman's comic-book nemesis. Lawyers for 20 news organizations, including The New York Times, The Associated Press, The Denver Post and CBS News last week asked Sylvester to unseal the documents, arguing that such secrecy in a high-profile case "undermines our nation's firm commitment to the transparency and public accountability of the criminal justice system". Thomson Reuters is not a party to the motion. Prosecutors and defense lawyers both objected, saying it was too early to open the file because the investigation was still ongoing. In most court cases, documents are open to the public. Public defender Daniel King has said that Holmes, a former neuroscience graduate student at the University of Colorado, suffered from a "mental illness" and sought help before the mass shooting. The remark was seen by legal experts as a signal that Holmes' defense attorneys may seek to mount an insanity defense on his behalf. Holmes is being held without bond and in solitary confinement at the Arapahoe County jail.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Deal gives internet company a vast archive of digital reviews as part of goal to be principal destination for reviews and listings Google is to buy the travel guidebooks brand Frommer's as the internet company ramps up its bid to become the premier destination for local reviews and listings online. Google will pay an undisclosed sum for the Frommer's brand, which launched in 1957 when Arthur Frommer published his 'Europe on $5 a day' guidebook. The deal gives Google a vast and growing archive of digital reviews for its local listings, maps and mobile applications. It comes nearly a year after Google bought Zagat Survey, the restaurant review and ratings service. Google said the Frommer's purchase – which includes more than 300 guidebooks – would complement its aim to provide "a review for every relevant place in the world". The future of Frommer's print titles is understood to be safe in the near term, but could be made online-only as the brand is merged with Zagat inside Google. "The Frommer's team and the quality and scope of their content will be a great addition to the Zagat team. We can't wait to start working with them on our goal to provide a review for every relevant place in the world," said a spokeswoman for Google. Frommer's owner John Wiley & Sons announced the deal on Monday. The publishing group said Frommer's no longer aligned with its business strategy and the sale was part of plans to offload several other brands, including Webster's New World and CliffsNotes. Shares in John Wiley & Sons were down 0.27%, at $47.46 a share, in midday trading on the New York stock exchange. Google's stock was up almost 2%, to $654 a share, on the Nasdaq after the deal was announced.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | At least two other police officers and one civilian also wounded in exchange of fire at house near Texas A&M University A police officer and a bystander were killed and others injured Monday during a shoot-out with a gunman near a college campus in Texas. The officer received a fatal wound after reportedly trying to serve an eviction notice at a home close to A&M University. The gunfire prompted college officials to issue a "maroon alert" to any students still on campus during the summer break, warning them to stay indoors. A man at the address was also killed in the exchange of fire, while at least three others – including two law enforcement officers – were injured. The gunman was shot and later died, police officials said. Assistant police chief Scott McCollum named the dead officer as 41-year-old Brian Bachmann. He described as a constable in the local force, and was killed after confronting the gunman at an address in College Station, around 90 miles north-west of Houston. Local news reports suggest he was attempting to serve an eviction at the time of the shooting. McCollum said that backup arrived at the home, by which time "there was a constable down on the front yard". An exchange of fire took place, during which two other officers were also wounded by the gunman. The suspect was shot and later pronounced dead. The shooting led to officials at A&M University posting a message on its website shortly before 12.30pm local time, warning students and staff of an active shooter at an intersection close to campus. "Please avoid the area. Residents in the immediate area need to remain in their residence," it stated. At 12.44pm another message was posted confirming that the gunman had been taken into custody. Of the two other injured police officers, it is thought one was shot in the leg. Neither are thought to be in a life-threatening condition. It is not immediately clear if the two others shot in the incident were hit by the gunman's bullets or by police returning fire. A female bystander was taken to hospital and was undergoing surgery on Monday afternoon.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Obama adviser claims Ryan excitement won't last as Republicans pounce on lower-than-usual crowds at Obama campaign events The Obama campaign has attempted to play down the apparent excitement generated by Mitt Romney's new running mate Paul Ryan, a move that boosted crowds at the Republican presidential challenger's events. Romney and Ryan, on their first full day campaigning together on Sunday, attracted much bigger audiences than normal for Romney events, which on the whole tend to be sparsely populated. It comes at a time when Barack Obama's own drawing-power has become an issue, with the campaign denying reports that turnout is well down on the 2008 campaign. Obama's senior adviser, David Axelrod, interviewed on CBS on Monday morning, expressed scepticism over whether the Romney-Ryan ticket would continue to generate the kind of enthusiasm seen at campaign events in North Carolina on Sunday. He recalled that when John McCain chose Sarah Palin as his running mate, there was the same "kind of excitement". But in the longer term Ryan is, like Palin, "not going to be a plus for Mr Romney", Axelrod said. Romney went campaigning on his own in Florida on Monday while Ryan went to Iowa to shadow Obama, who begins a three-day bus tour of the state, before hopping to Colorado, another swing state, where he will campaign on Tuesday. Ryan attracted a large crowd to his speech at the Iowa state fair, including noisy hecklers who accused him of waging war on the working-class. A New York Times reporter said Obama, at a fundraiser in his hometown Chicago on Sunday, attracted only a half-full crowd for an event where ticket prices began at $51. The Romney campaign spokesman, Ryan Williams, tweeted: "The thrill has gone." The Obama campaign, as well as other journalists, disputed the the New York Times assessment by the reporter, who later deleted her first comment and posted a modified tweet. By contrast, the Greensboro News-Record reported that a Romney-Ryan double act on Sunday attracted between 10,000 and 15,000 to a campaign event in High Point, North Carolina. The venue had room for only 1,200 and most of the crowd were not able to get into the venue. With polls showing a tight race in which the bulk of the voters have already made up their mind, some strategists calculate that the election will be decided not so much by swing voters but by getting out the party base. Making Ryan the vice-presidential running mate could help Romney generate enthusiasm among the party grassroots. But there is also a downside. Ryan's proposals to shake-up the popular healthcare programme for those aged 65 and over, Medicare, is a potential election-changing issue in states such as Florida, with its high proportion of retirees. But Ohio, another key swing state, also has a high proportion of Medicare recipients. The Romney campaign denied this was why Ryan was sent to Iowa rather than Florida and stressed the Wisconsin congressman will be campaigning in Florida on Saturday. Romney attracted a big crowd at his first event in Florida, at Flagler College, but this may have been partly because of earlier publicity suggesting that Ryan would also be present. As in North Carolina, some of the crowd had to listen from outside. Romney defended Ryan's proposed Medicare shake-up, saying reform is necessary to protect the programme for future generations. "We want to make sure that we preserve and protect Medicare," Romney said. At the same time, he has left himself a loophole if the controversy begins to damage his campaign, saying that the budget if he wins the White House would be his rather than Ryan's. An Obama campaign spokeswoman, Jan Psaki, travelling with the president to Iowa, tied Romney to the Ryan budget plan, saying he had described it as "marvellous". She added: "As the old saying goes, birds of a feather flock together." She also criticised Ryan for so far failing to support Obama's farm bill to help farmers hit by the drought in states such as Iowa, one of the themes the president is to pursue on his tour.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Vice-presidential candidate attended 2008 meeting with Fed chairman in which officials outlined fears for financial crisis Paul Ryan, Mitt Romney's vice-presidential running mate, sold stock in US banks on the same day he attended a confidential meeting where top level officials disclosed the sector was heading for a deep crisis. The congressman is facing questions about whether he profited from information gleaned from the meeting on 18 September 2008 when Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke, then treasury secretary Hank Paulson and others outlined their fears for the banking sector. Public records show that on the same day, Ryan sold stock in troubled banks including Wachovia and Citigroup and bought shares in Goldman Sachs, Paulson's old employer and a bank that had been disclosed to be stronger than many of its rivals. The sale was not illegal at the time. Not long after the meeting, Wachovia's already troubled share price went into free fall. It plunged 39% on the afternoon of 26 September alone as investors worried the bank would collapse. It was eventually taken over by Wells Fargo for $15bn, a fraction of its former value. Citigroup's share price fell soon after the meeting. In October 2008 Citigroup was among the largest beneficiary of the troubled asset relief program (Tarp), the taxpayer-funded bailout of the banking sector. Ryan was a supporter of the Tarp bailout – a position that has put him at odds with the right wing of his party despite his otherwise conservative credentials. Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo are now among his largest financial supporters, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. The trades were highlighted at the weekend by the Richmonder, a left-leaning political blog in Virginia. The disclosures raise further questions: the briefing started at 7pm, but the market would have closed earlier. Yet it is possible that Ryan's staff would have been briefed on the meeting earlier. The Guardian is pursuing a comment from Ryan's office. Until this year members of Congress were allowed to trade on price-sensitive information gathered at Washington meetings. Nor is Ryan alone in having done so. CBS's 60 Minutes criticised Democrat Nancy Pelosi for buying into Visa's initial public offering as the House discussed credit card legislation. After the CBS documentary, pressure mounted for change. In April, Barack Obama signed legislation that bars members of Congress and other federal workers from profiting from non-public information learned on the job. As well as banning insider trading the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (Stock) Act requires members of Congress to post details of transactions exceeding $1,000. In April the Office of Congressional Ethics cleared Spencer Bachus, Republican chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, of allegations of insider dealing. Critics had charged he had taken advantage of insider information to trade shares on numerous occasions. Bachus was present at the meeting that Ryan attended with Bernanke and Paulson. The next day he traded "short" options, betting on a decline in share prices in the financial services sector. Attendees at the meeting have said Bernanke and Paulson's warnings were met with stunned silence. "When you listened to him describe it you gulped," Senator Charles Schumer told the New York Times.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Military faces big task to get back to normal, says planning chief, after deploying 18,000 troops to London 2012 duties The armed forces will take two years to recover from their involvement in the Olympic Games because so many personnel have been deployed at short notice and taken away from normal duties, the military's chief planner for the Games has said. In an interview with the Guardian, Wing Commander Peter Daulby also warned that critics who wanted a smaller military put the country at risk of not being able to cope with these kind of civil emergencies, or a "national strategic shock". Daulby, who was put in charge of the military's Olympic planning 18 months ago, said the need to send thousands of extra troops to the Games at the last minute after the G4S debacle showed "the country needs a military for more than war fighting". Describing the Olympics as the largest peacetime operation ever performed by the armed forces, he said: "It just shows you the dangers of pulling the military down. I am sure that there are some people who think that if we are a smaller military power we will be less likely to get involved in international operations. "If we shrink the military, do we really understand what we are losing? Look at the speed with which we pushed up the throttle. It proves the military offers the country a huge amount of resilience." Daulby, 45, was one of several senior officers who spoke to the Guardian about the military's contribution to the Olympics, which increased more than threefold from May last year. Then, only 5,000 personnel were expected to be deployed, but that increased to 18,000 when the Olympic organisers Locog admitted they had significantly underestimated the number of security guards needed at the venues – and G4S conceded it had over-estimated its ability to recruit and train the extra staff. "We were originally planning to provide niche capabilities," said Daulby. "When the requirement for venue security was doubled, that was a bit of a game changer. We had to generate 18,000 people. That does not mean that there are 18,000 spare people. It means that the government has prioritised [the Olympics]. "It will take two years to recover from this, to get back to normal, to get everything back into kilter. You can't expect them to go back to normal routine very easily." He said the UK's commitment to Afghanistan had not been affected by the Olympics, but the military had exceeded by 6,000 the maximum number of people he thought the Ministry of Defence could supply. "Anything above 18,000 and you start to shut down elements of defence," he said. "We put a bucket of men up and that was taken. We put another bucket of men up and that was taken. We have proved we can do it … most people think they have done something really special here. I think there is a great sense that the UK has nailed this." The rush to train and get everyone ready meant "we were building the plane at the same time as flying the plane", he said. "We did not think that it would be healthy for the Olympic Games to be too militarised. Our fears were not well founded. It has been an enhancing experience." Brigadier Richard Smith said the scale and difficulty of the military's role in London 2012 was comparable to operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. "In terms of threat it is not comparable, but in terms of scale it is more than comparable. The complexity of the basing and the training to get them to task … it's been a massive operation in a short space of time. "In Iraq and in Helmand, we could build up over time and establish ourselves. For this we had a short space of time and we had to get it right first time." Smith said the armed forces had realised the need to reconnect with the British people after years of operations abroad, and admitted there was anxiety how the public would react to so many people in uniform at a sporting event. With the UK withdrawing from Afghanistan, and British bases in Germany being closed, too, the public will need to get used to seeing more of the military, he said. "It is a really important point. We recognised we have an opportunity to set conditions for us when we are predominantly UK-based armed forces. We want to easily connect with the people from whom we are drawn. This has given us the opportunity to show us as professional and approachable human beings." Smith said the military had tried to be flexible when presented with concerns, including those from some competitors. "In the equestrian community, they were worried that the helicopters from HMS Ocean would scare the competitors in the dressage at Greenwich Park. We adjusted the flight paths so they did not. We didn't want to blunder in as a blunt tool." Asked if the military could mount a similar operation in five years' time – when defence cuts will have stripped 20,000 posts from the army – he said: "I am not going to answer that. Give us a challenge and we will rise to it." Among the most difficult tasks in the days before the Games was finding enough portable toilets and showers to equip Tobacco Dock, east London, where 2,500 personnel were stationed for the Games. The military works on the basis of one toilet for 10 people, and one shower for every 20. "It has been a mammoth task," said Major Austin Lillywhite. "We had to go to Ireland for the portable toilets. We couldn't find them anywhere else at such short notice." The MoD hired 192 coaches to ferry troops to and from the Olympic venues, and spent £300,000 on equipment such as TVs for entertainment at the temporary bases. It also signed a laundry contract so that military uniform for everyone on duty had been cleaned and ironed. "We want the men and women to look a good standard. If they all turned their irons on at the same time in the morning, the power would go down." None of these contracts are coming out of the military budget. The Treasury and G4S will be paying for the military's extra contributions. G4S announced on Sunday that it was giving £2.5m to the armed forces as a goodwill gesture. The donation will go towards welfare amenities, including sports equipment, and to sports associations which have backed serving athletes, including rowing gold medallists Heather Stanning and Pete Reed. Provisions supplied to feed the Olympics troopsEggs: 205,800 Vanilla ice cream: 21,056 litres Potatoes: 38,999 kilograms Sausages: 7,756 kilograms Apples: 33,376 Beef: 7,252 kilograms Chicken: 5,240 kilograms
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | From China's blind goalball hero Chen Liangliang to all-conquering runner Oscar Pistorius, our guide to the outstanding athletes appearing at the London Paralympics Already missing the Olympics? Help is at hand – the Paralympics start on 29 August on Channel 4. Clare Balding will return to present proceedings, assisted by wheelchair basketball hero Ade Adepitan – and they will be describing a group of athletes whose travails are even more inspiring than those of their able-bodied counterparts. Here are 10 of the best: 1 Pierre Mainville, Canada (wheelchair fencing) In 2001, Mainville was being driven through Montreal when his car was shot at by the driver's jealous ex-boyfriend. He was paralysed from the waist down, and later took up wheelchair fencing to keep fit. The sport is similar to conventional fencing – except that the competitors' position is static. 2 Tatyana McFadden, USA (wheelchair racing) McFadden is a champion at both 100m sprints and 26-mile marathons. Born in Russia with a hole in her spine, McFadden spent her first six years in an orphanage before being adopted by a US state official. Alongside her record-breaking racing career, the 23-year-old campaigns for greater sporting provision for young people with disabilities. 3 Oscar Pistorius, South Africa (running) Born without calf bones, Pistorius's legs were amputated below the knee before he was a year old. Nicknamed the Blade Runner, Pistorius runs with the help of blade-like prosthetic limbs, and is now the world-record holder in the 100m, 200m and 400m. Despite considerable resistance, he also competes in able-bodied competitions and in 2011 was the first amputee to win a medal at the able-bodied world championships. 4 Natalie du Toit, South Africa (swimming) Eleven years ago, aged 17, Du Toit was scooting from her swimming practice to school when she was hit by a car. Her left leg was amputated, but she carried on swimming regardless and has since won 10 Paralympic medals. She has competed at the Olympics, too, finishing 16th at the 10km open-water race in Beijing in 2008. 5 Tom Aggar, GB (rowing) Once a promising squad player for premiership rugby team Saracens, Aggar was on a night out in 2005 when he slipped, fell eight feet on to concrete, fractured his back and paralysed his legs. He took up rowing to keep fit – and hasn't lost a race in five years. 6 Martine Wright, GB (sitting volleyball) Wright lost her legs in the 7/7 bombings in 2005. This isn't a handicap in paralympic volleyball, where some part of an athlete's bottom must touch the floor at all times. The sport is one of the few in the Paralympics in which athletes of any disability can compete against each other. 7 Peter Norfolk, GB (wheelchair tennis) Known as the Quadfather, quadriplegic Norfolk is already a double-gold winner at the Paralympics despite being unable to use his legs and one hand. Now 51, Norfolk has competed professionally for more than two decades, and will likely compete in this year's final against longtime US rival David Wagner. 8 Nigel Murray, GB (boccia) Murray is the world's best player at boccia, a sport similar to bowls that is predominantly played by people with cerebral palsy or motor disabilities. 9 Chen Liangliang (goalball) The hero of China's triumphant goalball team in Beijing. Designed for blind athletes, goalball is a three-a-side game comparable to handball, in which competitors attempt to hurl a ball filled with bells into the opposition goal. 10 Lee Pearson, GB (equestrian) Pearson was born with malformed muscles in his limbs, but grew up to be a prolific dressage champion. An extrovert who enjoys jet-skis as well as horses, he so charmed Margaret Thatcher as a child that she carried him up the stairs of 10 Downing Street during a charity event.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Victims in Monday afternoon shooting incident included two law enforcement officers, one of which has reportedly died Two people, including a police officer, died when a gunman opened fire near a college campus in Texas on Monday. Texas A&M University reported on its website that the shooter is in custody, having earlier warned students to remain inside. Meanwhile Rhonda Seaton of the College Station police department told CNN that several people were shot in the incident, including law enforcement officers. Police later confirmed that one officer and one other person had died and several more were injured. The extent of their injuries was not immediately known. An initial "code maroon" alert was sent out by college officials shortly before 12.30pm local time, warning students of an active shooter in an intersection close to campus. "Please avoid the area. Residents in the immediate area need to remain in their residence," it stated. At 12.44pm another message was posted confirming that the gunman had been taken into custody. Speaking to the Guardian, Seaton said: "Officers were called to respond to an active shooting. We have multiple injuries including to law enforcement officers. "The situation is now under control." She added: "At this time we believe there was only one suspect and that person has been detained." The campus police officer could not confirm how many people were shot and said she did not know the extent of their injuries.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Victims in Monday afternoon shooting incident included two law enforcement officers, according to police in College Station Police have confirmed that "multiple people" were injured after a gunman opened fire near a college campus in Texas. Texas A&M University reported on its website Monday afternoon that the shooter is in custody, having earlier warned students to remain inside. Meanwhile Rhonda Seaton of the College Station police department told CNN that several people were shot in the incident, including law enforcement officers. The number of those injured and the extent of their injuries was not immediately known. An initial "code maroon" alert was sent out by college officials shortly before 12.30pm local time, warning students of an active shooter in an intersection close to campus. "Please avoid the area. Residents in the immediate area need to remain in their residence," it stated. At 12.44pm another message was posted confirming that the gunman had been taken into custody. Speaking to the Guardian, Seaton said: "Officers were called to respond to an active shooting. We have multiple injuries including to law enforcement officers. "The situation is now under control." She added: "At this time we believe there was only one suspect and that person has been detained." The campus police officer could not confirm how many people were shot and said she did not know the extent of their injuries.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Victims in Monday afternoon shooting incident included two law enforcement officers, one of which has reportedly died Two people, including a police officer, died when a gunman opened fire near a college campus in Texas on Monday. Texas A&M University reported on its website that the shooter is in custody, having earlier warned students to remain inside. Meanwhile Rhonda Seaton of the College Station police department told CNN that several people were shot in the incident, including law enforcement officers. Police later confirmed that one officer and one other person had died and several more were injured. The extent of their injuries was not immediately known. An initial "code maroon" alert was sent out by college officials shortly before 12.30pm local time, warning students of an active shooter in an intersection close to campus. "Please avoid the area. Residents in the immediate area need to remain in their residence," it stated. At 12.44pm another message was posted confirming that the gunman had been taken into custody. Speaking to the Guardian, Seaton said: "Officers were called to respond to an active shooting. We have multiple injuries including to law enforcement officers. "The situation is now under control." She added: "At this time we believe there was only one suspect and that person has been detained." The campus police officer could not confirm how many people were shot and said she did not know the extent of their injuries.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Free Syrian Army fighters claim to have shot government MiG-23 jet over Deir Ezzor and captured the pilot Syrian rebels claim to have shot down a government warplane in the east of the country, in a significant propaganda boost after devastating aerial attacks. Free Syrian Army fighters in Deir Ezzor said they had downed the MiG-23 fighter jet early on Monday morning as it flew low on a bombing mission over the town's Mohassan district. Video shows part of a jet bursting into flames, followed by ecstatic rebel cries of "God is great". Syria's state news agency, Sana, said the jet had suffered a technical failure on a training mission and the pilot had ejected. The rebels said they had shot the MiG down using a heavy machine gun and captured the pilot, Colonel Mufeed Muhammed Salman, who appears in the video. Ziyad al-Ameer, a local activist and resident, said warplanes had been flying over the Mohassan district and neighbouring villages for several days. Two days ago a plane had bombed nearby Abu Lail, hitting a house and killing two brothers sleeping inside, he said. "MiGs are flying here every day and shooting at random, in addition to artillery shelling. As soon as the warplanes are done, the shelling starts again. The Syrian army was using helicopters before, but now they are using MiGs," Ameer said via Skype. He said he had hidden in the bushes when two MiGs flew over his neighbourhood early on Monday morning. One of them fired on a mosque and a deserted house. The planes had been in the air for about an hour and a half when the Othman ben Affan battalion, part of the Ahfad Muhammad brigade, shot one of them down, Ameer said. "The man who shot down the warplane is Muhamed Allawi. When I told him 'congratulations', he replied: 'Congratulations to all of us.'" The FSA said the pilot had tried to return to the nearby military airport, but rebels from Bu Omer had captured him. Four more warplanes had strafed the village, killing one fighter and wounding another. In the video the pilot appears composed, flanked by three FSA gunmen. He claims that bruises on his chin were caused by parachute ropes. Ameer said prisoners would be treated in accordance with the Geneva convention. "None of the FSA men touched him or said any bad words to him. He refused to have any food or drink and the doctor advised us to leave him to rest." Lieutenant Abu al-Abbas al-Sabawi, a commander in the Othman Ben Affan battalion, said his unit had downed the MiG using a machine gun. Despite claims that outside parties such as Qatar and Saudi Arabia are supporting the rebels, there is little evidence that heavy weapons or surface-to-air missiles have reached them. Sabawi said he had defected from Brigade 15 in Homs and joined the FSA a few months ago. "The warplanes have been shooting Muhassan district for three days," he said. "We prepared an ambush for these planes by using anti-aircraft guns loaded on cars, but they changed their movements. They used to target places where they suspected FSA men were gathering, but they stopped doing that. "Today we prepared another ambush among trees and bushes and we used all sorts of camouflage. As the plane was flying low we were able to shoot it down. A flame of fire came out of the plane – it seems the engine was hit. The pilot lost control and the plane started to go left and right. We guessed that the pilot was going to throw himself out of the plane so we chased him in our car until we captured him. There were explosions in plane because it was full of ammunition, but we got the pilot." Fighting continued elsewhere, with fierce battles in Aleppo and clashes and shelling in Damascus. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an activist group, said troops had carried out a large-scale raid in the capital, arresting at least 21 people. Activists reported fighting in Salahaddine, Aleppo's most contested neighbourhood, which the government said it retook from the rebels last week. Diplomatic efforts have been paralysed for weeks, after 17 months of revolt. General Babacar Gaye, head of the UN supervision mission, said: "It is clear that violence is increasing in many parts of Syria. The indiscriminate use of heavy weapons by the government and targeted attacks by the opposition in urban centres are inflicting a heavy toll on innocent civilians." He condemned Bashar al-Assad's regime for using heavy weaponsand urged it to shift from its military mindset to "a mindset of dialogue".
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Adviser warns that Ryan excitement won't last as Republicans pounce on lower-than-usual crowds at Obama campaign events The Obama campaign has attempted to play down the apparent excitement generated by Mitt Romney's new running mate Paul Ryan, a move that boosted crowds at the Republican presidential challenger's events. Romney and Ryan, on their first full day campaigning together on Sunday, attracted much bigger audiences than normal for Romney events, which on the whole tend to be sparsely populated. It comes at a time when Barack Obama's own drawing-power has become an issue, with the campaign denying reports that turnout is well down on the 2008 campaign. Obama's senior adviser, David Axelrod, interviewed on CBS on Monday morning, expressed scepticism over whether the Romney-Ryan ticket would continue to generate the kind of enthusiasm seen at campaign events in North Carolina on Sunday. He recalled that when John McCain chose Sarah Palin as his running mate, there was the same "kind of excitement". But in the longer term Ryan is, like Palin, "not going to be a plus for Mr Romney", Axelrod said. Romney went campaigning on his own in Florida on Monday while Ryan went to Iowa to shadow Obama, who begins a three-day bus tour of the state, before hopping to Colorado, another swing state, where he will campaign on Tuesday. A New York Times reporter said Obama, at a fundraiser in his hometown Chicago on Sunday, attracted only a half-full crowd for an event where ticket prices began at $51. The Romney campaign spokesman, Ryan Williams, tweeted: "The thrill has gone." The Obama campaign, as well as other journalists, disputed the the New York Times assessment by the reporter, who later deleted her first comment and posted a modified tweet." By contrast, the Greensboro News-Record reported that a Romney-Ryan double act on Sunday attracted between 10,000 and 15,000 to a campaign event in High Point, North Carolina. The venue had room for only 1,200 and most of the crowd were not able to get into the venue. With polls showing a tight race in which the bulk of the voters have already made up their mind, some strategists calculate that the election will decided not so much by swing voters but by getting out the party base. Making Ryan the vice-presidential running mate could help Romney generate enthusiasm among the party grassroots. But there is also a downside. Ryan's proposals to shake-up the popular healthcare programme for those aged 65 and over, Medicare, is a potential election-changing issue in states such as Florida, with its high proportion of retirees. But Ohio, another key swing state, also has a high proportion of Medicare recipients. The Romney campaign denied this was why Ryan was sent to Iowa rather than Florida and stressed the Wisconsin congressman will be campaigning in Florida on Saturday. Romney attracted a big crowd at his first event in Florida, at Flagler College, but this may have been partly because of earlier publicity suggesting that Ryan would also be present. As in North Carolina, some of the crowd had to listen from outside. Romney defended Ryan's proposed Medicare shake-up, saying reform is necessary to protect the programme for future generations. "We want to make sure that we preserve and protect Medicare," Romney said. At the same time, he has left himself a loophole if the controversy begins to damage his campaign, saying that the budget if he wins the White House would be his rather than Ryan's. An Obama campaign spokeswoman, Jan Psaki, travelling with the president to Iowa, tied Romney to the Ryan budget plan, saying he had described it as "marvellous". She added: "As the old saying goes, birds of a feather flock together." She also criticised Ryan for so far failing to support Obama's farm bill to help farmers hit by the drought in states such as Iowa, one of the themes the president is to pursue on his tour.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | US, UK and France seek to build more direct links with disparate rebels amid fears that Islamists are getting Gulf donations The US, Britain and France are scrambling to retain their influence with Syrian opposition groups amid fears that most support from the Gulf states has been diverted towards extremist Islamic groups. Rising concern that an increasingly sectarian civil war could spread across the region, combined with reports of brutality by some opposition groups, and evidence that the best-organised and best-funded rebel groups are disproportionately Salafist (militant Sunni fundamentalists), has triggered an urgent policy change in western capitals. Washington, London and Paris now agree that efforts to encourage a unified opposition around the exile-led Syrian National Council (SNC) have failed, and are now seeking to cultivate more direct links with internal Syrian groups. Ausama Monajed, a British-based SNC member, conceded: "The SNC could have done a better job, a more effective job, in organising the forms on the ground, and now the key issue is to bring fighting groups together in some other framework. But that does not mean that the SNC will be sidelined altogether. It is still the biggest political grouping and has a political and diplomatic role to play." Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, flew to Istanbul on Saturday to meet Syrian opposition activists and boost military and intelligence co-operation with the Turkish government to prevent the violence spreading across the border. Jon Wilks, Britain's special envoy to the Syrian opposition, was also in Istanbul last week for a meeting with someone the Foreign Office described as "a senior political representative" of the Free Syrian Army (FSA), during which he stressed the importance of human rights and respect for minorities as a condition of future co-operation. On Friday, the UK announced £5m in new non-military aid to Syrian opposition groups, pointedly insisting that all the recipients should be organisations inside Syria, therefore excluding the SNC. Clinton's meetings in Istanbul were also intended to sidestep the exile group, on the grounds that it had little influence on events inside Syria. "This was a conclusion the state department came to some time ago, and it is just now percolating through into policy," said Joseph Holliday, an expert on the Syrian rebels at the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War. Both Wilks and the US ambassador to Syria, Robert Ford – who was withdrawn from Damascus last October out of concern for his safety – took part in an unpublicised meeting in Cairo at the beginning of the month. The aim of the meeting, organised by the Doha centre of the Washington-based Brookings Institution thinktank, and attended by external and internal opposition groups including the FSA, was to set up a broad-based committee to hammer out a mutually agreed transition plan. In France, the government of François Hollande is under intense pressure, particularly from former president Nicolas Sarkozy, to intervene directly on the side of the opposition. Fabrice Balanche, a Syria expert at the University of Lyon, said the incoming foreign minister, Laurent Fabius, "realised that France had invested too much political capital in the SNC". He said the new government had instead thrown its weight behind Manaf Tlass – a former Republican Guard general and member of Bashar al-Assad's inner circle – who defected in July. France is hoping the FSA will coalesce around Tlass, providing some coherence to the disparate array of militias. However, a Syrian financier linked to the opposition warned that the FSA would remain divided as long as it relied on multiple, uncoordinated sources of funding. "The local brigade commanders on the ground swear allegiance to whoever supports them and the expat community sending them money is completely divided," the financier said. "These are [Syrian] expats in the States and the Gulf using their own trusted channels for getting money through, so the money is pouring in from many different pockets. The number of fighters each commander can summon wax and wane with his ability to arm and pay them and their families, so there is no particular leader with enough clout to bring the brigades together." The exceptions to this rule, he said, were Saudi Arabia and Qatar, but that money went disproportionately to Salafist and jihadist groups. "The most organised systems are run by extreme Islamist groups and they have the highest income. The more extreme brutality tends to come from that direction, but they have the most ammunition and guns, and they get their money from a unified source. All the other money comes from multiple sources and multiple channels. You can only unify these units with a unified source of money." Julien Barnes-Dacey, a Middle Eastern expert at the European Council for Foreign Relations, said that western states realised that "if they don't get on board now, they will lose every opportunity of leverage. If the Saudis and Qataris run loose with the groups they are backing, there will be great chance of blowback." "Blowback" is a term widely used to describe the backing of jihadist rebels against the Soviet army in Afghanistan in the 1980s, which provided a recruiting ground for al-Qaida and global jihadism. According to western diplomats, a Kuwaiti sheikh is also playing a key role in channelling money collected in the Gulf to militant groups judged to have sufficient Salafist credentials. Western influence with the FSA is limited by a continued refusal to supply arms because of the uncertainty of where the weapons would end up. Barack Obama is reported to have issued a "presidential finding" (a secret executive order) earlier this year, stepping up CIA activity in and around Syria, but that too stopped short of arms supplies. According to reports from Washington and the Turkish-Syrian border, the main US intelligence role as been to act with the Turks in stopping arms reaching groups they view as undesirable. On her visit to Istanbul, Clinton did hint at more direct action in the future. She said the US and Turkey had agreed on "very intensive operational planning" by military and intelligence officials. "We have been closely co-ordinating over the course of this conflict, but now we need to get into the real details." Clinton did not exclude the possibility of setting up a no-fly zone, long advocated by Turkey but rejected up to now by Washington because it would require a large-scale military operation. On Saturday she said the joint US-Turkish planning team would perform an "intense analysis" of all options as a possible precursor to more direct assistance.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Papers released by WikiLeaks show US department of homeland security paid $832,000 to deploy system in two cities It sounds like something from the film Minority Report: a CCTV surveillance system that recognises people from their face or walk and analyses whether they might be about to commit a terrorist or criminal act. But Trapwire is real and, according to documents released online by WikiLeaks last week, is being used in a number of countries to try to monitor people and threats. Founded by former CIA agents, Trapwire uses data from a network of CCTV systems and numberplate readers to figure out the threat level in huge numbers of locations. That means security officials can "focus on the highest priorities first, taking a proactive and collaborative approach to defence against attacks," say its creators. The documents outlining Trapwire's existence and its deployment in the US were apparently obtained in a hack of computer systems belonging to the intelligence company Stratfor at the end of last year. Documents from the US department of homeland security show that it paid $832,000 to deploy Trapwire in Washington DC and Seattle. Stratfor describes Trapwire as "a unique, predictive software system designed to detect patterns of pre-attack surveillance and logistical planning", and cites the Washington DC police chief mentioning it during a Senate committee hearing. It serves "a wide range of law enforcement personnel and public and private security officials domestically and internationally", Stratfor says. Some have expressed doubts that Trapwire could really forecast terrorist acts based on data from cameras, but Rik Ferguson, security consultant at Trend Micro, said the software for such systems had existed for some time. "There's a lot of crossover between CCTV and facial recognition," he said. "It's feasible to have a camera looking for suspicious behaviour – for example, in a computer server room it could recognise someone via facial recognition or your gait, then can identify them from the card they swipe to get in, and then know whether it's suspicious if they're meant to be a cleaner and they sit down at a computer terminal." The claims might seem overblown, but then the idea that the US could have an international monitoring system seemed absurd until the discovery of the Echelon system, used by the US to eavesdrop on electronic communications internationally. Trapwire has not yet commented on the leak.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | In interview with New York, Dimon says London whale has been 'harpooned' and compares regulation to the Soviet Union The controversial head of JP Morgan, Jamie Dimon, is no stranger to colourful language. In his latest outburst, he may have surpassed himself, describing the political atmosphere in relation to banking regulation as reminiscent of the Soviet Union and protesting that the United States is a "free fucking country". In an interview with New York magazine, Dimon, who famously described the bank's trading problems in London as a "tempest in a teapot" before the full extent of the losses became clear, said he now thinks that comment was "stupid". But in the article – his first in-depth interview since the bank's $5.8bn trading loss emerged – he makes a new set of strongly-worded remarks and characterises himself as an "outspoken defender of the truth". "Everyone is afraid of retaliation and retribution," he said. "We recently had an event with a hundred small bankers here, and 85% of them said they can't challenge the regulation because of the potential retribution. That's a terrible thing. Okay? This is not the Soviet Union. This is the United States of America. That's what I remember." The magazine reports that his voice rises to a near shout, when he says: "Guess what. It's a free. Fucking. Country." JP Morgan emerged from the credit crisis far less battle-scarred than its rivals. Before the London losses Dimon was the most respected banker on Wall Street and had used his position to push back against tighter regulation. Dimon, president and chief operating officer of JP Morgan, had initially dismissed talks of the "London whale" and mounting losses at the bank as a tempest in a teapot. As their true size emerged he had to backtrack. "This was perfect for everyone who was pushing for more regulation," he said. "We handed it to them on a silver platter. And then I made that stupid comment about a tempest in a teapot." Dimon told the magazine he had been told "a whole bunch of stuff that made me think it was a tempest in a teapot". When he first laid eyes on the positions built up by his London team, he said: "There was a moment of, I can't believe what we have." "I saw it all pass in front of my eyes," he said. "I saw the headlines, the investigations, the uproar, the breathlessness. 'Dimon Loses Luster', 'Dimon in the Rough.' I told everyone: 'this is going to be bad, it's going to go on, and we can't get out of it. So put your jerseys on: we're going to wrestle this thing down and fix it.' " JP Morgan fired Bruno Iskil, the trader known as the London Whale, in the wake of the scandal. In the New York magazine interview, Dimon said the Whale was not just dead, but "harpooned. Dessicated. Cremated".
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Norway government commission concludes authorities could have prevented or at least interrupted bomb and gun killings The Norwegian terror attacks which killed 77 in July last year could have been prevented or interrupted had police and the intelligence services not made a catalogue of blunders, according to an official report. Despite receiving a detailed description of Anders Behring Breivik 10 minutes after he let off a car bomb in the centre of Oslo, a catastrophic breakdown in police communications meant the rightwing terrorist was able to make the two-hour car journey to Utøya Island, passing two police cars, before boarding a boat with several assault rifles and going on to murder 69 children and young people. According to a 500-page report into the atrocity, the communications blunder – resulting in a note containing the description of Breivik being left on a table in the police operations room – was one of a series of failures which added to the death toll. Alexandra Bech Gjørv, chairman the 22 July Commission, said a failure to mobilise helicopters, share information or accept help from private individuals prepared to drive boats to Utøya contributed to "the most inconceivable brutality". With better communication and individual decision making, police near Utøya could have got to the island by 6pm, preventing an additional 25 minutes of slaughter, she said. Breivik might even have been stopped seven months before the attacks, had Norway's internal intelligence service, the PST, acted on a tip from customs officials who flagged a suspicious purchase of potential bomb-making chemicals from Poland. By December 2010, Breivik had already bought several semi-automatic assault rifles and was, said Gjørv, "highly visible on websites which must be called extreme". The prime minister, Jens Stoltenberg, said he deeply regretted the security and police blunders, and pledged to learn from the mistakes. Several of the heads of departments have already resigned, including the justice minister, Knut Storberget, and PST chief, Janne Kristiansen, but Oslo police chief Sissel Hammer says she will remain while she retains the trust of her superiors. The current justice minister, Grete Faremo, said she would look closely at recommendations from the report before making any decisions, including calls for bans on semi-automatic weapons and improvements in shift patterns for police officers, too many of whom were just working office hours. Professor Bjørn Ivar Kruke, a crisis management specialist at Stavanger University, who contributed to the report, said it would have been difficult to predict the shootings on Utøya, but the bomb in Oslo, which killed eight, had already been predicted. "It shouldn't be possible to drive a car up to the main entrance and walk away with a pistol in your hand. That should be expected," he said. A training exercise from 2006 had created the scenario of a car bomb attack on government buildings but a recommendation to close the roads around the central district had been snarled up in bureaucracy for five years, said the report. Gjørv said the commission had "become fascinated" with the way Britain concentrated much of its counter-terrorism expertise and prevention strategies in the office of the prime minister, but concluded that Norway would do better to improve leadership in its existing institutions.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | As bank seeks settlement over Iran transactions, CEO Peter Sands awaits whether he must attend hearing with US regulator Peter Sands, the chief executive of Standard Chartered, has arrived in New York as the bank attempts to negotiate a settlement with the US regulator that accused it of "scheming" to hide $250bn of transactions with Iran. Sands does not yet know if he will personally attend a hearing with New York's department of financial services (DFS) that has been scheduled for Wednesday. The bank is meanwhile seeking to clarify whether the discussions will be held in private or public. The Standard Chartered CEO said on a hastily convened conference call last week that the 27 pages of accusations published by the DFS, led by Benjamin Lawsky, contained a number of "factual inaccuracies". The DFS claimed Standard Chartered broke sanctions with Iran by moving 60,000 payments worth $250bn around the financial system but Sands argues the scale of the sanctions breach is much smaller – just under 300 payments worth $14m. A rule breach of that size would indicate a fine of around $5m on the basis of the scale used by the US government's office of foreign assets control which is also investigating. Analysts expect the fine to be larger, however. "Our working assumption is that it will be coerced into paying a settlement running to several hundred million dollars," said Ian Gordon, banks analyst at Investec. Sands and his colleagues were caught on the back foot by the DFS when it announced a week ago that it believed Standard Chartered had broken US sanctions with regard to trading with Iran. The 27 pages released by Lawsky's office contained emails between Standard Chartered officials and an exchange in which the head of risk was said to have replied to a colleague warning him of the perils of breaking sanctions: "You fucking Americans. Who are you to tell us, the rest of the world, that we're not going to deal with Iranians?" The current finance director, Richard Meddings, was head of the risk at the time – October 2006 – although the bank insists that the remarks are not representative of what was said. Shares in the bank stabilised on Monday, ending little changed at 1333p after a rollercoaster ride since the DFS made the allegations. At one point last Tuesday the shares were down almost 25% because of fears the bank could lose its licence in New York and its management team would need to quit. Ideally, Standard Chartered would aim to settle with all the regulators in the US – which also include the department of justice – at once, although it is not clear if this is possible before Wednesday when the DFS has set the hearing. Although Standard Chartered had been noting in its annual reports since 2010 that it was in "discussions" with regulators over historic breaches of sanctions, it had been thought a settlement was still some way off until the DFS levelled its accusations in public.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | EL James's Fifty Shades of Grey originated as a piece of fanfic based on the Twilight series. So is fan fiction something to be feared? And where did it all begin? If you were to lock a group of pop culture junkies and TV addicts in a bunker, tell them that the end of the world had arrived and that they had to preserve culture for posterity by writing books, what they would produce would be fan fiction (fanfic). This is actually the plot of a piece of fanfic from the 1950s, in which sci-fi fans survive Armageddon and rebuild civilisation in their own image. It may seem like a joke, but for many the rise of fanfic is "the end of the world". Fanfic is seen as the lowest point we've reached in the history of culture – it's crass, sycophantic, celebrity-obsessed, naive, badly written, derivative, consumerist, unoriginal – anti-original. From this perspective it's a disaster when a work of fanfic becomes the world's number one bestseller and kickstarts a global trend. As we all know, Fifty Shades of Grey, originated as a piece of fanfic based on the Twilight series. Since it hit 31 million sales in 37 countries worried voices are asking: is this the beginning of an era in which fanfic overthrows original creation? It's tempting to get caught up in paradigm-shift apocalypticism, but a closer inspection reveals that fanfic is not new at all. There have been phases, fads, peaks and controversies throughout its history and it displays and incredibly diverse range of sub-genres. There's crossover, AU, Hentai, OoC, Uber, Mary Sue, slash fic, hate fic, anti fic and even wing fic (in which familiar characters sprout wings and discover their new beauty through acts of mid-air coitus). So where did this terrifying range of forms begin? And is Fifty Shades really a threat to culture? It's time to learn some of the jargon that fans use to describe their fic. Folklore fanficIf one sees fanfic as "the work of amateurs retelling existing stories", then one would have to conclude that the number one book in the middle ages – the Bible – was a work of fanfic, as Matthew, Mark, Luke and John were non-professionals retelling the same story about the same character. However, such a definition of fanfic is skewed historically. There were no fans in the middle ages, and there were also no authors. If we see fanfic as "the reworking of another author's characters" then this form really only appears for the first time in history with the invention of legal authorship in the 18th century through copyright and intellectual property laws, after the invention of the printing press. After all, you can't have derivative works or copies if there are no regulations over what constitutes original works, or separates ownership from theft. Predating this change, with the exception of educated men of letters and Christian scholars, the populace experienced stories only through the aural folklore tradition. Such tales were re-tellings and re-makings of the same stories over generations – this was a manuscript culture in which texts were open to intervention and were not fixed. Nobody owned them and they were based on stock characters – The rake, the temptress, the Stephron and the Phyllis (Shepherd & Shepherdess), the priest, the devil, the good Samaritan. In England The Romance of the Rose was the paradigmatic example of the medieval form: one writer would begin the story and another would complete it. Even Shakespeare, did not own the stories in his plays. A patron would commission him to retell a story and he was paid in royalties. All stories within the medieval period were re-workings of stories about the same characters, but we could not call them fanfic as copyright law and the printing press had not yet sectioned off the professional, paid, copyright owner of original texts, from the rest of the populace, creating a subclass of fans. Fifty shades of AustenNo sooner had the novel emerged in the 18th century than popular authors such as Daniel Defoe started protesting that his work was being "kidnapped" and bowdlerised by amateur writers who reduced the value of his creations with inferior impersonations. Jane Austen was less concerned with such matters, basing characters like Wickham in Pride and Prejudice upon "The Rake" from the lore tradition. In the 20th century with developments in cheap printing techniques and distribution, Austen inspired fanzines. A cult of dedicated literary fans called themselves the Janeites and the novel Old Friends and New Fancies – an Imaginary Sequel to the Novels of Jane Austen by Sybil Brinton, published in 1913 was the first published work of Austen fan fiction. This is an example of continuation fic – the creation of storylines that use the same characters but elaborate on unresolved threads within the originals to create new episodes. A century later the Jane Austen Fanfiction Index now catalogues over two hundred thousand works of Austen fanfic, while Goodreads currently lists 242 published books of fanfic derived from Austen. Titles include Vanity and Vexation and Dating Mr Darcy. A great number of Austen fanfic stories are pornographic. The strange case of Sherlock & Mary SueIn the 1920s, fans of Conan Doyle started Sherlock Holmes societies in London and New York, at which they debated issues such as the question of whether Holmes's addiction to cocaine was beneficial to his perception or a sign of moral weakness. They also produced the Baker Street Journal, a hybrid zine, halfway between scholarly research and pure fandom and at gatherings read their own versions of stories they'd written themselves. The most notable works are examples of self-insert fic – in which the writer meets their hero. Examples include: My First Meeting with Sherlock Holmes by Ellery Queen and Sherlock Holmes in the White House by Roosevelt. Roosevelt in this case was not the then President, so this was also real person fic – in which a fan writes about politicians, sports celebrities, musicians, film stars etc, as if they are known to them – with self-insert. When the self-insert character is the author thinly disguised this is called Mary Sue fic. Mary Sues are usually flawless characters who outshine the famous characters they are placed beside. In 1973, one Paula Smith wrote an infamous fanzine short story: A Trekkies Tale in which the Starship Enterprise was visited by someone called Paula – a stunning woman who all the crew fell for. By the late 1980s there had been a glut of Mary Sues fictionally beaming themselves up on to the Starship Enterprise, and true fans started to view the sub-genre plots as insidious. Interestingly, by outshining the heroes Mary Sues reveal a lurking contempt on behalf of their fan writers towards the original characters. The Enchanted DuplicatorFrom the 1930s to 50s fanfic existed almost exclusively within the sci-fi communities, in clubs such as the Futurians (1937–1945). A fascinating bunch, obsessed with communism and latterly fascism). Many fans from such groups, such as, Isaac Asimov, went on to become published authors, blurring the distinction between amateur fan and professional writer. In 1952, the world's first book of fanfic about fans appeared. The Enchanted Duplicator by Walt Willis and Bob Shaw was a metafiction based on Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress, but which described a world populated with sci-fi fans. It chronicles the adventures of hero Jophan in "the land of Mundane". All of the characters in the book are renamed versions of real fans from the London SF circle of the 50s and the book was created entirely for their pleasure. The Enchanted Duplicator of the title is a mimeograph – a precursor to the photocopier and the chosen distribution medium of the fan. The book concludes with Jophan's discovery of "The Magic Mimeograph" which "… will produce the Perfect Fanzine … and now the song of the trumpets filled the air, ringing across Trufandom to the far mountains". This is fanfic squared and a way of life called "fandom". Slash and K/SWith the growth of television in the 50s fanfic spread globally. Sci-fi fanfic then morphed and its subtexts became dominant. Slash fic is sub-genre in which buddies from classic TV become gay lovers. The first slash fic novel to be published was The Ring of Soshern, a 105-pager by Jennifer Guttridge (1968). In it Spock and Kirk find themselves stranded on a remote, deserted planet. Spock goes into the state of "Pon Far": the violent "on heat" fever that comes to Vulcans, during which they must "have sex or die". To save Spock's life Kirk allows Spock to penetrate him, the two then fall in love and "spend all their remaining days on the planet exploiting both the planet and each other's bodies". The violent-sounding "slash" is so called because of the "/" separating the names of the two characters involved in homoerotic love or pornographic sex, for example Holmes/Watson, Spock/McCoy, Harry Potter/Ron, Starsky/Hutch, Jesus/Judas. Over the decades slash has also come to stand for porn of any kind, including "Het". Other subgenres in slash include femslash in which formerly het characters have lesbian experiences (Buffy is popular). HP femslash is Harry Potter lesbian porn; real person slash is where the writer makes love to a famous person; and, disturbingly, Chanslash is a Japanese sub-genre which involves coitus with famous characters who are underage. These two merge in Justin Bieber fanfic. On one site alone there are 16,040 stories available as ebooks by 8,028 authors, which feature the child star at different ages and to degrees of eroticism. The story 1st by Cassie Chassey is a Self-insert Mary Sue Het Slash romance which includes "emotional abuse, sexual abuse and sexual assault". There is a dark sexual undercurrent to the majority of fanfic, as if on a subconscious level the fan actually resents the control that their idol or idealised character has over their life. Through the act of writing fanfic, and subjecting characters to compulsive or vengeful love, sex, S&M or rape, the fan then regains control. James Potter and the prisoner of copyrightWhile fanfic multiplied exponentially with the invention of the internet, authors were split over what to do about it. Anne Rice, author of Interview with the Vampire vigorously defended her copyright, claiming that fanfic, in particular AU fic diluted the integrity of her characters and stories. In a letter to her fans she stated: "I do not allow fan fiction. The characters are copyrighted. It upsets me terribly to even think about fan fiction with my characters. It is absolutely essential that you respect my wishes." Fanfic authors then claimed that Rice had attacked them by email and even threatened their businesses. She also demanded that FanFic.net remove all fanfic stories. Since then authors such as Andre Norton, Mercedes Lackey and David Weber have also come to adopt a zero-tolerance stance. Contrary to this Douglas Adams claimed that fanfic expanded his understanding of the parallel universes he'd created in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and that they increased his sales. JK Rowling also encourages fanfic. In 2003 she said she was "flattered people wanted to write their own stories" based on her characters. She did however stipulate one condition – that they did not try to make money from their creations. Her stance was tested when fan/author George Lippert decided to commercially release a book of Continuation fic which was Extending the Canon. James Potter and the Hall of Elders' Crossing was based on a fictional son of Harry. Rowling threatened legal action for infringement, but after much adverse press from fans she relented and allowed the publication to go ahead. Fans now use disclaimers such as: "JK Rowling owns all recognisable characters/settings/spells/etc in this fanfiction." And Rowling permits all fanfic under the proviso that it does not contain racism or pornography. This an entirely futile request as slash HP (Harry Potter) has become one of the internet's most popular fanfic forms. In it Rowling's characters are made to have sex with each other in almost infinite variations: Harry/Ginny, Ron/Hermione, Snape/Narcissa. Arthur/Molly, Molly/Hermione, Hermione/Fred&George, Draco/Pansy. These have also been "crossed-over" with characters from other films and books, some of which are paedophilic in nature. Such quantities of posts are nearly impossible to track and monitor. Fan fiction.net has 603,410 HP fic stories. Rowling's launch of Pottermore online is set only to increase fan participation and produce even greater quantities of fanfic, including slash. There is even fanfic about Pottermore. Crossing over and mashing upThe most postmodern and aesthetically bankrupt of all fanfic, is when two well-known franchises from the same genre are "crossed over". So you get BattleStar Gallactica, crossed with Star Trek, which results in the story: Star Trek: Way of the Battlestar – author Carson Napier. One of the problems with this sub-genre is that narratives and character motivations have to be warped to fit convoluted, meaningless mergings. This is taken to absurd lengths with YouTube "films" like Battlestar Galactica Vs Star Wars Vs Star Trek Vs Babylon 5. Crossover has now become mainstream through such projects as Aliens Vs Predator which exists as cartoons, computer games, movies, a TV series and a series of novels. Crossover also jumps genres so Edward from Twilight ends up in Hogwarts, Bella ends up in ER and the characters of The X-Files clash with those of Breaking Dawn. While much credit has been given to mashup author Seth Grahame-Smith for "unleashing a whole new genre", with mashup, the truth is that the mashup technique behind Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, was developed decades before within fanfic. The aesthetic innovation that elevates mashup fic above Crossover fic is the deliberate clash of incompatible genres in a way which is deconstructive or at least humorous, as in Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter. Much mashup fanfic however simply creates an incomprehensible mess. See A Very Potter Sitcom, season 2! In which Dumbledore appears in Legally Blonde the Musical and the Triwizard mashup in which fans vote for fight stories to be written between characters such as Godzilla, Gandalf, Darth Vader and Spongebob Squarepants. This also results in meaningless second gen multiples like Darth Vader & Spongebob VS Edward & Harry Potter. Fanfic sites also post narratives of impossible meetings (usually sexual) between improbable characters – Captain Jean-Luc Picard has sex with Elrond from Lord of the Rings. Indiana Jones has sex with Voldemort – this is mashup slash. As no new plot or characters are being created, then all that can happen is the multiplication of crossover interactions and partners, and an attendant increase in sexual imagery and violence. There are literally millions of fanfic stories in which sex and humiliation (fuelled no doubt by fan boredom) are the only possible outcome of such contrived and meaningless confrontations. Alternative Twilight universesSince the 90s AU has dominated. AU fic (alternative universe) features stories which are based on "what-ifs", which deviate from the original novels or films. So there's "What if Darcy was blind" or "What if (in Twilight) Bella is engaged, to Jasper, not Edward". The stories must deviate from the canon but still remain familiar. There are currently over a hundred self-published Twilight AU novels, while fanfiction.net has 130,137 predominantly AU narratives which include: Edward and Bella meeting in kindergarten; Edward as a teacher, Bella as a student (with motorbike action); Jacob and Edward as gay lovers; Bella and Alice in love; Edward is an Angel; Bella is the vampire and Edward is the human; Bella is a millionaire and Edward is a professional thief; Edward is a tattoo artist; Bella is on the Titanic; Bella is going to commit suicide when sexy teacher Cullen saves the day; Bella owns a Pizza place called Pizza and Porn; Edward and Bella set in the 1800s (a rape fantasy). On this site 66,606 of the stories are rated M, for 18+. As one leading fanfic site claims, "the majority of Twilight fanfic is porn". Many of these stories will sound spookily familiar. In one: His Personal Assistant (2009), "Bella Swan, personal assistant to handsome, rich, successful Edward Cullen, decides to make oblivious boss fall in love with her"; in another (2009) "Edward is a millionaire obsessed with Isobella Swan". One, The Submissive by Tara Me Sue, is described as "37 chapters of juicy graphic detail", "Think Story of O meets Twilight minus the vampire stuff". This story, which can be found on fanfiction.net, like the others above, predates the publication of Fifty Shades by two years and was not written by EL James. 50,000 shades of loreFifty Shades series grew out of a multi-part series of Twilight fanfic called Master of the Universe. It placed the Bella and Edward love affair in an alternative universe, in contemporary Seattle and changed their names: Bella = Anastasia, Edward = Elliot Grey. Although the author then tried to erase evidence of its fanfic origins, it's clear that rather than being some lightning bolt new genre called "Mommy porn", Fifty Shades is actually a very generic work of Twilight fanfic from amongst tens of thousands already created. It is, in fact, a piece of "AU het slash Twilight fic", and as we've seen, in all slash fic, sex and sexual violence are the predictable components of the genre. We should not consider EL James an author in the conventional sense for the same reasons that we wouldn't call someone from before the invention of copyright an author. Rather, her books are like medieval lore – in a sense she doesn't own the content. This content was circulating in 60,000 variations among the fanfic of other Twilight fans for years before she even created the books. Like a gambling machine with a limited number of options for recombination, the story was going to eventually be spat out as a win for somebody. This isn't an example of plagiarism but a return to an earlier notion of collective creation. Fifty Shades is a book with 60,000 authors. The only innovation is not in the story itself but in the delivery system that launched it – Amazon KDP. Without Kindle the book(s) would never have escaped the gravitational pull of fanfic sites and would not have been able to earn their author any money. KDP, has become the Enchanted Duplicator that has monetised fanfic and propelled it into the market. The historic difference, the point we have just crossed, is that now, through the mechanism of epub, fanfic is heading towards becoming the cultural dominant. The much-hyped "next Fifty Shades", Gabriel's Inferno, also started life as Twilight fanfic, and the fact that Penguin hunted it down from fanfic sites and paid a "seven-figure" sum, marks the transition where the market turns upside down, and mainstream content is created by fans. Beyond that, as we have seen with other fanfic, Fifty Shades has launched a spate of impersonations, pastiches, parodies, homages and rip-offs. Like the Enchanted Duplicator, this is fanfic based on fanfic. Currently on Amazon there are 641 quickly made ebooks tagged under "Fifty Shades". They fall into the hate fic, insert fic, crossover fic and continuation fic categories and include: Fifty Shades of Earl Grey, Fifty Shades of Garbage, Fifty Shades of Bacon Flavoured Vagina Spray, Fifty Shades of Grey and Zombies, Fifty Shades of Pink, of Green, of Gay, of Alice in Wonderland, of Twilight. Finally with Fifty Shades being developed by Universal Pictures the phenomenon comes full circle. If any of the stars of Twilight the Movie appear in Fifty Shades the Movie, then the serpent will have devoured its tail. So what happens to culture when fanfic becomes the dominant economic model in publishing and the leader in cultural values – is that even possible? Surely derivative works have to be derived from something "original". With Fifty Shades this ceases to be the case, and, as we have seen, fanfic offers many tools for recycling (AU, crossover, mashup, self-insert, Mary Sue, the 12 varieties of slash etc) which takes the recombination of texts into the exponential. It is possible that with the enchanted duplication systems of fan-based epub, we might have arrived at a point in history where we've accumulated enough cultural material from the past for fans to remix indefinitely, and as they can now sell this content to each other this becomes a boom industry where none existed before. However, the point where fans become the creators, and a derivative work becomes the new original is also the point at which the culture industries stop needing to create anything new. Fanfic begets fanfic, which then in turn becomes mainstream which then begets further fanfic and so on. When we reach that point our future will not be fifty, but fifty thousand, shades of grey. • Ewan Morrison's fifth book Close Your Eyes is published by Jonathan Cape. He will be a delegate at the Edinburgh international book festival world conference, 17-23 August.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Pressure for action intensified last week as the department of agriculture warned food prices may be set to soar worldwide President Barack Obama moved to stem the impact of the worst drought in 50 years as he directed the department of agriculture to buy up to $170m of pork, lamb, chicken and catfish. The move comes as the G20 group of countries are reportedly planning their response to drought and soaring food prices around the world. The US is the world's largest exporter of corn, soybeans and wheat and the drought has already sent prices to record levels. Obama made the announcement on Monday at the start of his three-day trip to Iowa, a swing state the Democrats hope to win in this November's election. The state that has been hit hard by a drought that last week drove US corn prices to an all-time high. The farming crisis is emerging as a key battleground in the 2012 election. The president is trying to pass a farm bill through Congress that he claims will aid farmers but has been stalled by Republicans over what they see as excessive costs. Pressure for action intensified last week as the US department of agriculture (USDA) warned food prices were set to soar. USDA said the worst drought in 50 years had forced farmers to abandon corn fields covering an area larger area than Belgium and Luxembourg combined. The department slashed its forecasts for key crops including corn and soybeans and lowered production forecast for eggs, milk and pork. Blaming "extreme and dryness" in the Central Plains and the Corn Belt, the USDA said it now expects this year's corn harvest to be the lowest since 1995-1996. The food Obama intends the purchase will go toward "food nutrition assistance" programmes, like food banks. Obama also intends to push the department of defense to speed up purchases and said it was a good time to buy "while prices are low, and freeze it for later". "Right now folks here in Iowa and across the heartland are suffering from one of the worst droughts in 50 years," he said. "Farmers and ranchers depend on a good crop season to pay the bills and put a roof over their heads, and I know that things are tough right now." Obama is under pressure to drop laws that mandate the amount of corn ethanol that must be produced each year. This year 13.2bn gallons of corn ethanol will be mixed with gasoline to meet the federal renewable-fuel standards. Its production will require about 40% of this year's crop. Livestock farmers blame the mandate for driving up corn prices. Governors in Maryland and Delaware, two poultry-growing states, have called on Obama to ease the size of the mandate. Last week the United Nations released a report that said world food prices had increased by 6% in July, driven up by a 23% spike in corn prices. Oxfam called for urgent action and said the price rise threatened a return to the crisis of 2008 when similar price hikes triggered riots around the world as the United Nations said a billion people were going hungry. "This drought, combined with bad policies like ethanol mandates, has put the world's poor on a collision course with a food crisis," said Eric Munoz, senior policy advisor for Oxfam America. The impact of the world's poor and on the fragile global economy are likely to be major topics under discussion by the G20 later this month. G20 officials plan to hold a conference at the end of August and set a meeting for late September or early October, according to the Financial Times. In a report to investors Fidelity warned that the rise in agricultural commodity prices "could not be occurring at a worse time for the global economy with the eurozone sovereign debt crisis still in full flow, China slowing down and the US outlook looking increasingly uncertain. The biggest direct negative effect of higher food prices is on consumers, particularly in emerging markets. As consumers are forced to spend more on food items, discretionary spending is reduced in other areas, creating negative knock-on demand effects for other industries."
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | A selection of the most memorable and vibrant images taken by our photographers during the Games
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Jetskier climbs 8ft fence and walks undetected across two runways while wearing bright yellow life jacket A jetskier managed to breach security at JFK International Airport and walk undetected across two runways after swimming to shore from his stricken vehicle, it was reported Monday. Daniel Casillo, 31, was forced to abandon his vehicle after it broke down while he raced a friend in Jamaica Bay, close to New York's main air-transport hub, on Friday evening. According to the New York Post, Casillo then swam to land, climbed a perimeter fence and walked past JFK's $100m network of motion sensors, closed-circuit video surveillance and other security measures. Having walked across two runways and into a terminal building, Casillo approached a Delta Airlines employee, who alerted authorities. He has since been charged with criminal trespass. Casillo's girlfriend, Deanna Cowan, told the New York Post her boyfriend's adventure had begun after he and a friend decided to race each other. "They were trying to see who had the fastest jetskis, like idiots," Cowan said. At around 7.45pm Casillo's vehicle began taking on water, at which point he decided to swim to land owned by JFK, it was reported. Once there, according to the New York Post, he climbed an 8ft fence and walked to a terminal building while still wearing a bright-yellow life jacket. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said it would investigate the reported breach. The agency is due to meet the makers of the airport's security system later this week.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Norway government commission concludes authorities could have prevented or at least interrupted bomb and gun killings Norwegian authorities could have prevented or interrupted the bomb and gun attacks by a far-right fanatic that killed 77 people last year, a government appointed commission has said. The long-awaited report into the attacks on 22 July also said the domestic intelligence service could have done more to track down the gunman, but stopped short of saying it could have stopped him. Anders Behring Breivik, 33, has admitted to the bombing of the government's headquarters in Oslo, which killed eight people, and the subsequent shooting spree at a youth camp that left 69 dead, more than half of them teenagers. He is currently awaiting sentencing. While noting that the attacks "may be the most shocking and incomprehensible acts ever experienced in Norway", the 500-page report said the bombing "could have been prevented" if already adopted security measures had been implemented more effectively. Breivik was able to park a van with a fertiliser bomb just outside the high-rise building before he drove another car unhindered, to the Labour party's youth camp on Utøya. The report said that a car bomb "at the government complex and several co-ordinated attacks have been recurring scenarios in threat assessments as well as for safety analyses and exercise scenarios for many years". The police response was also slowed down by a series of blunders, including flaws in communication systems and the breakdown of an overloaded boat carrying a police anti-terror unit. Meanwhile, Norway's only police helicopter was left unused, its crew on vacation. Breivik's shooting spree lasted for more than an hour before he surrendered to police. The report said that a faster police response could have stopped Breivik's shooting spree earlier, but recognised that "hardly anyone could have imagined" the secondary attack on Utøya. "Sadly, however, after repeated school massacres in other countries, an armed desperado who shoots adolescents is indeed conceivable – also in Norway," it added. Though Breivik has admitted the attacks, he rejected criminal guilt during his trial, saying his victims had betrayed their country by embracing a multicultural society. Prosecutors have said there were doubts about his sanity and suggested Breivik be committed to compulsory psychiatric care instead of prison. A ruling is set for 24 August.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Romney heads to Florida while Ryan is dispatched to Iowa as the campaign week gets under way – follow our live coverage here
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Claims that 90% of Mexican drug war victims are criminals is a statistic far removed from Cristina Roman's experience in a country where police and military have fallen into corruption Cristina Roman didn't know where to begin. When asked how the epic violence and criminal impunity in her native Ciudad Juarez invaded her own life, she paused, then asked: "How far should I go back?" She decided to begin from May 2010. It was then at the height of the bloodletting there in Mexico's deadliest city when, one night at 4am, she, her husband and three sons awoke to a terrible pounding at their front door. "My husband went to see who they were. Then he said: 'Go hide with the kids. They have guns,'" she recalled. "By the time I had my baby in my arms, the gunmen were already in the house." Roman, 28, is a member of Mexicanos En Exilio – or "Mexicans In Exile" – a network of Mexican activists, journalists, politicos and ordinary working-class families like hers, who arrived in the United States seeking asylum from criminal assassins in Mexico. These are innocent victims of the Mexican drug war. In the words of their immigration lawyer, Carlos Spector, an immigration lawyer in El Paso, Texas, where most of these exiles end up, they "risked their lives for truth and justice in Mexico" and were "forced to leave because of the Mexican government's failure or unwillingness to protect them". Cristina's case is somewhat different, however. She didn't protest against corruption or document violence, but fell victim for a rather banal reason: being in the wrong place at the wrong time. The incident that put her in a drug cartel's crosshairs was a mass shooting she escaped as one of few surviving witnesses. From a small home in New Mexico, where she now lives in hiding, Cristina reflected on that event, but noted it wasn't her first brush with violence in Juarez. That's how she began describing the night three gunmen broke through her front door. Personal accounts like hers, while isolated, provide shocking glimpses of the trauma and tragedy that exist for people living amidst Mexico's brutal drug war. These stories also reveal a state of lawlessness that experts say is unlikely to stop any time soon. As gunman entered her home, Cristina told her sons, aged eight and six, to stay calm. The men soon called for her to come out. She did, and was immediately grabbed and thrown to the floor. The men then pistol-whipped her husband, who collapsed next to her. "They asked for money, jewelry, car keys, everything they wanted," she recalled. "I said: 'I don't know what you're looking for, but you can take whatever you want. I only want my children.'" One man – "El Vato" – hovered over her saying he would execute them all. Another gunman then said: "What are you doing? We came for him. Don't get out of control." He said: "Go to your kids' room, close the door, and no matter what you hear, don't leave, don't speak." Cristina did as told. And for the next half hour heard them beating her husband. He groaned and wept through the assault as she huddled with their sons in silence. After 30 minutes, when the noise finally ceased, Cristina came out to the awful realization that her husband had been kidnapped. Two hours later, her brother-in-law received a phone call with ransom instructions. Cristina's husband owned a small used-car dealership, and over the next two days, she and her brother-in-law hustled to sell his lot, liquidate assets, raise funds, withdraw savings. "We did everything we could to get all the money together and paid half the ransom the first day, the other half the second day," she said, her voice quivering. "The third day they were supposed to return him and they didn't. The fourth day they threw his dead body in the street." Mexican president Felipe Calderon often claims that 90% of the drug war victims are criminals. That vague sentencing of 60,000 people naturally enrages victims' families. Nik Steinberg, a Mexico researcher for Human Rights Watch, also disputes its validity. "The government has not produced empirical evidence to back up this claim," he said. "Instead what we have found in the overwhelming majority of killings in Mexico is that the government has not even opened a criminal investigation, let alone charged or sentenced someone." The men who killed Cristina's husband were never brought to justice. There is no way to know whether they worked for the Zetas or Sinoloa cartels, which are active in Juarez Valley. That is a strong possibility, however. According to Ben West, an analyst for geopolitical intelligence firm Stratfor, the cartels have increasingly diversified their criminal activity to include extortion, kidnapping and human trafficking, in response to losses incurred in the drug trade.
Ironically, this means that Mexican civilians are becoming victims of their government's success. West added: "You have criminal groups taking advantage of the overall security situation and basically pulling people at gunpoint and saying give me your money. With the police all caught up in this, there is no rule of law." Cristina took a job at a Juarez nightclub after her husband's murder. She went from stay-at-home mother to single breadwinner for three overnight, and moved in with her parents so they could help. And for almost a year, they managed. Then the cartel violence found her again. On 31 March, 2011, at about 8.30pm, a group of federal police officers entered the bar telling everyone to line up against the wall. Searching for weapons, they padded men between the legs, looked up women's skirts, emptied handbags and checked bathroom stalls. That level of scrutiny was unprecedented, Cristina said. At one point an officer even began groping a colleague of hers. She intervened, saying: "Hey – we respect you and your work, you should respect us. You can't treat us like that." The man backed off, but not before delivering an ominous message. "You haven't seen anything yet," he said. "The worst is yet to come." And truly, it was. A few minutes after the police left, two men entered the bar carrying automatic weapons. A man near entrance lunged for the doorway and they shot him. "That was the first person to go down," Cristina recalled. "I dropped to the floor. Everyone was screaming with fear." With ruthless abandon, the assassins opened fire in every direction, killing all they could, shooting everyone in sight. "I could see people around me in pain, some people dead," Cristina recalled. At some point the men lit the bar on fire. A waitress next to Cristina ran as soon as they left, saying: "I'd rather be shot to death than burn." "When it sounded like all the shooting had stopped, and you could smell the place was starting to burn, I had to go too," Cristina said. She ran outside, where several cars were on fire. She ran to the parking lot and suddenly froze when four pairs of headlights turned on. They were four federal police trucks. They had never left. "The only thing I thought at that moment was: Sin Madre," she said – a phrase that literally means "motherless" but is also slang for "goddammit." Incredibly, municipal police pulled up just then. They jumped from their cars, hurling curses at their rivals. "They turned their attention to them," Cristina said, referring to the federal police, who refused to let the responding officers through. "That's the only reason I got away." Despite serious efforts to purge corruption from their ranks, reports of Mexican law enforcement engaged in criminal activity are rampant. "What mostly happens is police officers work by day for the city, then as a side job also do security for the cartels," said West, of Strator. "And that obviously creates all sorts of conflicts of interest." "All levels of police are implicated," he added. "But what is probably most alarming is that the military is also falling into corruption. The government is running out of tools to fight this problem." Cristina showed great poise escaping the El Castillo bar massacre; she fell into a daze, however, immediately afterward. "I was just wandering," she said, "lost, till 4am when I finally got back to the house." The following day, three survivors gave statements to police about the event. Too intimidated, Cristina refused. She had no plans to talk, but that wouldn't make a difference, unfortunately. About a week later, a friend from the bar – another survivor – called Cristina to warn her that "sicarios" – assassins – were asking for them at nightclubs downtown. Cristina had no intention of going to work at a nightclub again. "I just couldn't," she said. Nevertheless, they found her one afternoon driving on a highway. They drove a Dodge Ram, and tried to bully her toward the shoulder. They wore masks, her son said, and tried to run her off the road but somehow she pulled away. "I'm still not sure how I managed to keep control of the car," she said. "They tried to kill me with my kids." She stayed up that night thinking about what to do. "It had gotten to the point where I was very scared, always worried that people were looking for me," she said. "I was terrified for my children." "I talked to my oldest son Raul about the possibility of coming to the US," she recalled. "I thought about it all night, and then on the 13 April I took my boys and what I could pack and went to the bridge." According to the department of homeland security, 4,400 Mexican nationals have applied for US asylum in 2012. That number already exceeds the 4,000 requests filed in 2011, and is more than three times the 1,200 made in 2005, before the drug war began. These people represent a fraction of the displaced, of course. And only a fraction of them will see their requests granted. Over the past six years, only 11% of asylum cases from Mexican nationals were granted. And that average is trending downward. As Crystal Massey, an activist in Spector's office, explained: "Unless you can show that you belong to a particular social group that is not the whole country right now, you don't qualify for asylum." Cristina's first hearing is this fall. With federal police implicated in the massacre she witnessed, she hopes a immigration judge will find her government complicit in her persecution. Her mother, sister, brother-in-law and nephews will go through asylum hearings too. They followed Cristina across the border after their own tragic run in with "sicarios". Gunman showed up at their door recently demanding to know Cristina's US address. Her father refused to reveal it, and for his loyalty he was taken with the promise that the rest of the family was next. Her father was never seen again and is assumed killed. When asked for her full name and age – "Cristina Roman Dozal, 28" – Cristina offered his name too: "Manuel Roman." And it's deaths like his, and her husband's, and the ruthless killings of innocents at the El Castillo bar that cause Cristina to grow upset when confronted by the claim that 90% of Mexican drug war victims are criminals. "In their crossfire they're getting innocent people. In the bar where I worked, maybe they were going after one bad person, but they killed innocent people too. And then there is more bloodshed when they pursue the witnesses," she said, her voice quivering. "They go for a person, kill their mother, kill their brother. They kill lots of innocent people. They killed my father. It just keeps spreading out and it's mostly innocent people."
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | President says move is in the interests of the nation and is not intended to embarrass any state institutions The Egyptian president, Mohamed Morsi, has said his decision to remove the military's two senior commanders was not personal but in the interests of the nation. In a televised address, Morsi said his actions "were not aimed at certain people" and had not been intended to embarrass any state institutions, but rather "to ensure that we move towards a better future with a new generation and long-awaited new blood". Morsi retired the military chief, Hussein Tantawi, the chief of staff, Sami Anan, and others in the upper echelons of the army, to be replaced by younger members of the supreme council of the armed forces (Scaf). Tantawi's replacement, Abdel-Fatah el-Sissi, was formerly the head of military intelligence. The president lauded the armed forces' role in protecting the nation. "I did not want to send negative messages about anyone, but my goal was to serve this nation and its people," he said. "We're aiming for stability, security and national revival. We're moving towards a better future." Morsi also appointed a vice-president, the senior judge Mahmoud Mekki, and annulled the military-issued constitutional declaration that gave the generals legislative and some executive powers previously reserved for the president and parliament. This month 16 border guards were killed at a police station in the Sinai peninsula as they sat to break their Ramadan fast. The attacks had already led to the removal of the head of general intelligence, Mourad Mowafi, as well as other senior military and police commanders. Many Egyptians feel that Morsi needs to tackle more practical matters, such as the power cuts that have hit the country during the summer. Morsi said in his speech: "We are aware of all the problems occurring in the country, and everything that the people are going through." But he stressed: "Now we must push for production and investment. We have no doubt our dreams will be realised." He said security forces would not tolerate protesters who blocked roads or committed any other actions that would impact productivity.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Paolo Gabriele, Benedict XVI's butler, ordered to stand trial over scandal that has exposed infighting at top of Catholic church A judge at the Vatican has ordered the pope's butler and a fellow lay employee to stand trial over leaks from Pope Benedict XVI's private apartment. The indictment accuses the butler Paolo Gabriele, who was arrested in May, of grand theft. While the Vatican had insisted Gabriele was the only person under investigation, the indictment also charges Claudio Sciarpelletti, a layman in the secretary of state's office, with aiding and abetting Gabriele. The scandal has embarrassed the Vatican as it has exposed the infighting at high church levels, primarily among Italian prelates. The Vatican has promised a public trial. No date was immediately announced, but officials said it would be no earlier than late September. The Vatican tribunal returns from summer recess on 20 September. Judge Piero Antonio Bonnet ruled there was no evidence to indict Sciarpelletti – a computer expert in the secretary of state's office and a friend of Gabriele – on a charge of revealing secrets and insufficient evidence for a charge of grand theft. There had been widespread speculation about the possibility of a mole in the secretary of state's office since some of the leaked documents seemed to cast doubt over Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone's ability as the Vatican's No 2. Gabriele, who is married, lives with his family in Vatican City. After several weeks in isolation in a Vatican security cell, he was released to house arrest over the summer. Sciarpelletti's office was searched on 24 May, hours after Gabriele's arrest, said Vatican spokesman the Rev Federico Lombardi. Sciarpelletti was arrested and spent one night in a Vatican security cell, but was released when it became clear he had not played a key role in the case, Lombardi said. "You can't speak of an accomplice in any way, but he was an acquaintance who could help Gabriele" in the butler's activities, Lombardi said. The indictment noted that a plain white, sealed envelope, was found in Sciarpelletti's desk with "Personal P Gabriele" written on the front and with the secretary of state's stamp on the back. Sciarpelletti has been suspended, with pay, the spokesman said. If Gabriele is convicted, a sentence could run from one to six years, Lombardi said. But that depended "on any possible pardon" from the pope, the spokesman added. "It's premature to speak of this now," Lombardi said of the possible sentence.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Second asset sale in as many days for oil giant as it shifts US focus from south of country to the north Oil behemoth BP has sold its Carson, California oil refinery for $2.5bn cash to Tesoro Corporation, a refinery firm based in oil-hungry Texas. The sale is the latest move in the company's reshaping of its US business, which has taken a battering since the Deepwater Horizon disaster. It comes days after BP announced a similar sale of its two gas processing plants in Texas – Sunray and Hemphill – to Eagle Rock Energy Partners for $227.5m cash. Friday's amuse-bouche to this morning's announcement continues the company's winding down of its southern businesses and the focusing on its northern assets. It also wants to continue expansion into shale gas which will make the US a net exporter for the first time in decades. Iain Conn, chief executive of BP's global refining and marketing business, said: Today's announcement is a significant step in the strategic refocusing of our US fuels business.
Together with the intended sale of Texas City, this will allow us to focus BP's operations and investments exclusively on our three northern US refineries, which are crude feedstock advantaged, and their large and important marketing businesses. BP is planning to sell off $38bn by the end of 2013 and the running total since 2010 is now at $26.5bn. And while $2.5bn seems like a lot of money to put into the pot of the London-based firm, it will pale into insignificance when the company's stake in Russian venture TNK-BP is finally sold off. The company is very, very keen to stress (twice in as many days) that its work in the US is far from over, giving the stock market a long list of its American businesses and achievements, just in case anyone thought it was starting a long retreat after its role in the biggest oil spill in history. It says (among numerous other achievements) that BP has invested more in the United States over the last five years than any other oil and gas company.
BP's commitment to U.S. energy security is reflected in its natural gas business, North America Gas (NAG), which is the seventh-largest producer of natural gas in the United States, with a presence in seven of the leading U.S. gas basins. Shares were down 1.2p, 0.3%, at 447.4p.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Iranian politicians and public raise concerns about response to quake that killed 300 people and injured thousands more Iran's government has faced criticism from politicians and the public over its handling of relief efforts after two large earthquakes killed 300 people and injured thousands in the north-west of the country. Members of parliament representing the affected areas complained about the shortage of tents for survivors, parliamentary news agency Icana said on Monday, and Iran's top lawmaker, Ali Larijani, stepped into the debate. "The crisis management headquarters must take broader steps to alleviate these concerns," Larijani, a rival to the president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and possible candidate in the 2013 presidential elections, was quoted as saying on Monday. Although officials announced on Sunday, less than 24 hours after the disaster, that search and rescue operations had finished and all survivors had been freed from the rubble, some residents expressed disbelief that authorities could have reached some of the most remote villages so soon. "I know the area well. There are some regions where there are villages that you can't even reach by car," one doctor in the city of Tabriz told Reuters by telephone on Monday, declining to give his name because of the sensitivity of the issue. "It's not possible for them to have finished so soon." The doctor said he had worked for 24 hours non-stop following the quake, attending to patients from surrounding villages who were rushed to Tabriz for medical care. "In the first hours after the quake, it was ordinary people and volunteers in their own cars going to the affected areas," the doctor said. "It was more ordinary people helping out than official crisis staff." The moderate conservative newspaper Asr-e Iran reported that a full 24 hours after the earthquake, some villages had not yet been visited by relief teams. "[Residents] say that most of the villages have been destroyed and still no tents have been sent, nor has any help been sent for the victims," the report said. Two large quakes with magnitudes of 6.4 and 6.3 struck East Azerbaijan province on Saturday afternoon, flattening villages and injuring thousands around the towns of Ahar, Varzaghan, and Harees, near the provincial capital of Tabriz. Officials said the emergency response to the disaster was rapid, even though relief teams were hampered by the remoteness of quake-hit villages. "We will rebuild these areas before the start of the winter," Hassan Ghadami, an emergency management official in the interior ministry, told politicians on Monday, Iran's state news agency, Irna, reported. The mud-brick construction of many village buildings was to blame for the wide destruction, he said. "Relief forces were despatched in a normal and natural way and they were despatched to the affected areas quickly," Ghadami was quoted as saying by Iranian agencies. Reza Sheibani, a Tabriz resident who owns a 24-hour pharmacy in Ahar, told Reuters by telephone that the government had acted well in deploying security forces to ensure public order in the panicked hours after the quakes. Ahmadinejad left as planned on Monday morning for Saudi Arabia, where he is to attend a meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Co-operation (OIC) expected to focus on the crisis in Syria. But his overseas trip exposed him to criticism at home that he was not showing empathy with the disaster victims. In an editorial titled "Mr. Ahmadinejad, where have you gone?" Asr-e Iran criticised his decision to leave the country with his closest advisers less than two days after the quakes. "In every other part of the world, the tradition is that when natural disasters happen, leaders will change their plans and visit the affected areas in order to show their compassion … and observe rescue efforts," Asr-e Iran wrote. Tabriz residents and legislators also criticised state-run television's early coverage of the disaster, saying it did not reflect the extent of the damage in the first hours. The lack of coverage, some said, contributed to a sense that the central government in Tehran did not care much about the people of northwest Iran, most of whom are Azeri Turks, the biggest ethnic minority in the country. "Even though [on Saturday night] hundreds of people were under the rubble, on the television broadcasts … there was no mention of the disaster," said Alireza Manadi Safidan, a legislator representing Tabriz, according to the Iranian Students' News Agency (Isna). "[State television] was busy counting how many medals Iran won," in the Olympics, the doctor in Tabriz said. "They didn't have any reaction to this event." Larijani said on Monday that state television ought to better reflect the country's sympathies for the earthquake victims, Icana reported.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Hussein Tantawi dismissed as Egyptian president extends powers, with showdown predicted at constitutional court The Egyptian president, Mohamed Morsi, has dismissed his military chief as part of a sweeping set of decisions that includes the appointment of a vice-president and the rescinding of a military order that curbed presidential powers. Presidential spokesman Yasser Ali announced the retirement of Hussein Tantawi, head of the armed forces, and the chief of staff, Sami Anan. They have been appointed as advisers to Morsi. The president also cancelled the complementary constitutional declaration issued by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (Scaf), announced days before he was declared the victor in June's elections. The addendum had curbed presidential power and kept much of it in the hands of the military council. "This sets up an inevitable showdown with the supreme constitutional court as the court is likely to attempt to overturn Morsi's cancelling of the supplemental constitutional declaration. It seems this move will require the sacking of the court if it is to stand," said Michael Hanna, a fellow at the Century Foundation, a US thinktank. The decisions follow an attack by unidentified assailants on a police station in North Sinai that resulted in the death of 16 policemen on 6 August. The incident triggered further clashes between security forces and militants in the peninsula and led to the Egyptian chief of intelligence, Mourad Mowafi, being removed, along with other senior security figures. Morsi's move on Sunday marks the latest blow in a tussle between the Muslim Brotherhood and the military over control of post-transitional Egypt. The decision to remove Tantawi and Anan was taken in consultation with Scaf, including Tantawi, the new deputy minister of defence, Mohamed el-Assar, told Reuters. Replacing Tantawi is the head of military intelligence, Abdel-Fatah el-Sissi – one of the generals who defended the use of "virginity tests" against female protesters in March 2011 – with El-Assar as his deputy. The new chief of staff is General Sidqi Sobhi Sayed. The appointments are all members of Scaf. Tantawi and Anan were honoured with accolades, Tantawi receiving the highest medal in the country, the Order of the Nile, and Anan also receiving a medal, which has led to speculation that rather than indicating a face-off, this latest move comes as part of the "safe exit scenario" that would see Scaf members leave office without fear of prosecution for crimes committed against protesters during their tenure, including when army APCs ran over Coptic Christian protesters on 9 October 2011, killing 27. "What is happening now was planned once Scaf realised they had to make a deal with the Brotherhood anyway," said Sherif Azer, deputy director of the Egyptian Organisation for Human Rights. "This moment where Scaf would fade back into the background was expected, and I believe that they knew this was their best option for a safe exit, just fade away from the political realm." Revolutionaries who participated in the ousting of the former president, Hosni Mubarak, in 2011 have remained opposed to the military throughout the transitional period, and have criticised the Muslim Brotherhood for what they see as the party's willingness to forgo the revolution in return for political gain. Gigi Ibrahim, a member of the Revolutionary Socialists group, said: "Morsi and Scaf joined forces in the face of the revolution to simply crush and control Egypt." With these latest decisions, and the continued absence of an elected parliament, legislative powers revert from Scaf to Morsi. The president also decreed that fresh parliamentary elections would take place 60 days after a new constitution is ratified in a popular referendum. A constituent assembly was formed to draft the constitution and, if the current assembly fails to come up with a draft, Morsi now has the power to appoint a new assembly to draft Egypt's future constitution. The president also appointed senior judge Mahmoud Mekki as his vice-president. Mekki was a senior figure in the independent judges movement during the Mubarak era that agitated for more judicial independence. Morsi had promised that his two first appointments would be Coptic Christian and female vice-presidents.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | The last act of the great sporting festival that enthralled the nation – and displayed a capacity to charm and amaze The great festival that began with the stirring resonances of Danny Boyle's opening ceremony came to a poignant end with a light-hearted pageant of British popular culture. An exploding Reliant Robin featured, along with Take That and the Spice Girls, the voices of John Lennon and Freddie Mercury, Tim Spall as Winston Churchill, Julian Lloyd Webber, Kate Moss in Alexander McQueen, an airborne Darcey Bussell, Madness, the Pet Shop Boys, Ray Davies singing Waterloo Sunset, and the thousands of athletes from 204 countries who had kept us enthralled and enraptured. To follow Boyle's Isles of Wonder with Kim Gavin's Symphony of British Music was a bit like switching from Ready Steady Go! to Top of the Pops, albeit with the same mind-boggling shuffling of scenery, dazzling choreography and brilliant use of lighting. British sports cars of the 1960s circled the track and giant models of the Albert Hall and the Shard were replaced by a shattered sculpture reformed to create the face of Lennon while the crowd sang the words to Imagine. It was, as promised, more cacophonous than symphonic. Bradley Wiggins will have loved the parade of 50 Vespas and Lambrettas, lights blazing and raccoon tails rampant, that accompanied Kaiser Chiefs' ardent version of Pinball Wizard. Jessie J, Tinie Tempah and Taio Cruz performed from moving Rolls-Royce convertibles, like an extended advert for the best of British bling, while Russell Brand sang I Am the Walrus from a psychedelic bus that metamorphosed into a giant transparent octopus from which Fatboy Slim delivered a short DJ set. When the Spice Girls sang from the top of black cabs, the Olympics seemed to have turned into the Motor Show. Last of all, after the speeches, Rio de Janeiro's preview of 2016 and the extinguishing of Thomas Heatherwick's cauldron, came the surviving members of the Who, closing the Games with the adrenaline shot of My Generation, although the real anthem of London 2012 had undoubtedly been David Bowie's Heroes. There was no message, and nor did there need to be, except "Wasn't it fun?" and "Aren't we great?" But Damien Hirst's tie-dyed rendering of the union flag, filling the ground on which the world's finest athletes had run and jumped and thrown their way into history, reminded those suspicious of raucous patriotism of how great the union flag suddenly looked when it was ripped out of the hands of the extreme right and wrapped around the shoulders of Jessica Ennis or Mo Farah. So much about the reality of London 2012 seemed surprising, even unprecedented. Some of us had thought Britain probably retained the capacity to host another Austerity Games, with a small budget and reduced expectations, like the one in 1948, but harboured doubts about what we might accomplish with the temptation of unlimited resources. Such fears now seem small-minded in the light of an event that began with an explosion of goodwill and never lost its capacity to charm and to amaze. These Games cost an absurd amount of money, of course, even with the subsidies provided by multinational sponsors whose presence often seemed incongruous and intrusive. But in an overcrowded city where people are accustomed to fighting for an inch of road or pavement, and where rich and poor are growing steadily further apart, benevolence was everywhere. The 70,000 unpaid gamesmakers set the tone, as they have done – sometimes with mixed results – since volunteers were first recruited in 1948. This time they represented all backgrounds and age groups, from students to retirees. During festivities six of them stepped forward to receive flowers from representatives of the athletes, including the gold-medal-winning rower Katherine Grainger. A German colleague whose Olympic experience stretches back to 1968 said that he and his compatriots had been astonished by the friendliness of their hosts: not just the games makers but the soldiers manning the security checkpoints with a good-humoured efficiency that does not always come easily to those who spend their working lives manning x-ray scanners. If it was a good Games for multiculturalist lefties, the Establishment also got their money's worth as Britain reconnected not just with the armed forces but with the royal family. Even a hardened republican could hardly fail to be amused by the Queen's readiness to be filmed with 007, or by Prince William's confession that he had been terrified, while watching the track cycling, of being caught with his wife on the velodrome's Kiss Cam. The politicians who set the whole thing up, including Tony Blair and Tessa Jowell, emerged in a better light, although those currently in power will be judged by what they do with the advantage accruing from its success. In particular they are now charged with ensuring that sport regains its proper place within the state school system, and nothing would be more popular than the immediate announcement of a decision to restore the Schools Sports Partnerships, a widely lamented victim of Michael Gove's cuts. The Schools Sports Partnership budget of £162m can now be seen as a small price to pay for a scheme which also recognised that conventional competitive sport is not for all children, whose needs could be answered in less orthodox ways. That, one may assume, was behind the prime minister's sneering reference last week to "Indian dancing", a remark revealing his true colours. Lord Coe, the architect of the Games and who is now in charge of their legacy, and whose mother was half-Indian, ought to be able to put him straight on that. Pointedly, a troupe of Indian dancers was included in the Monty Python sequence, along with a human cannonball and skating nuns. But the enduring memory of these Games will be of the sort of astonishment that crept over the face of a 20-year-old British competitor in the 400m hurdles when he was introduced to the crowd before his heat on the first morning of competition in the Olympic stadium. He had his game face on. As he stood over his blocks while his fellow competitors were introduced, his eyes were a blank. There was not a flicker when his own name was announced. "In lane eight, Jack Green of Great Britain." And then he heard the noise. He had never heard anything like it. No one had. Eighty thousand spectators were cheering him as though he already had a gold medal around his neck. There was nothing for it. The stern facade cracked and a smile escaped. It would linger on the faces of competitors and spectators alike for the rest of the Games. The noise never stopped, either. It crashed around the stadium, the Copper Box, the ExCeL, Centre Court and the velodrome. In the boxing hall it was measured at 113.7 decibels: louder than a jumbo jet at take-off, or so they said. It almost swamped Andy Murray, whose emotional response to his victory said everything about the unique effect of the Olympics on an athlete who probably thought he had seen and felt everything. Informal, unpretentious, sometimes delightfully unguarded, Britain's athletes displayed personal characteristics worth far more than any number of gold medals. Morning after morning they made the journey to the BBC's breakfast TV sofa, where they provided a living exhibition of the qualities – modesty, patience, unselfishness, courage, judgement, concentration, resilience, co-operation, gratitude – that sport can help to instill while also building bodies. Women occupied a special place in these Games. Lizzie Armitstead won Britain's first medal, a silver in the cycling road race, and the rowers Helen Glover and Heather Stanning took the team's first gold in the pairs. The success of Jessica Ennis and Victoria Pendleton and one or two others had been foretold, but the triumphs of Charlotte Dujardin – winning Britain's first dressage gold medal – and Nicola Adams – the first woman boxing champion in Olympic history – had a special savour, not least because they came from opposite ends of the British team's broad tonal spectrum. Jacques Rogge, the president of the IOC, praised London's organisation, and the work of the volunteers in particular. At the opening ceremony he had paid tribute to Britain's role in inventing and codifying so many modern sports, and in providing the ethical framework that inspired Pierre de Coubertin to revive the Games. They were generous words, but they were also a reminder of our duties to future generations. If only a fraction of the trouble and ingenuity that went into putting on these Olympics can be applied to give kids the opportunity and encouragement to do sport, then an important step will have been taken. In the sort of graceful gesture that has confounded pessimists by turning out to be characteristic of London 2012, as the end approached this week the organisers presented each of the games makers with a specially engraved aluminium relay baton as a keepsake. Somehow the rest of us need to ensure that it is not dropped.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Aliling handset maker says it could face severance costs of up to $275m as it begins reorganisation under new owner Motorola Mobility, the once-dominant but now ailing mobile handset maker, has told its staff that it is cutting 20% of its staff – about 4,000 people – and wlll close about a third of its 94 worldwide offices. In an SEC filing, Google said that the severance costs could be up to $275m in the two quarters to the end of the year and that there will also be "significant" other restructuring costs as it tried to restore the phone business to profitability. Two-third of the job losses will come outside the US, Google says in the filing. The company now plans to build high-end phones with sensors to detect people's entry into rooms, longer-lived batteries, higher-quality cameras and is recruiting artificial intelligence and supply chain experts to that end. The moves are the first signs of a complete reorganisation under the ownership of the search giant Google, which completed its $12.5bn acquisition of Motorola Mobility (MMI) in May, and appointed its own Dennis Woodside to run the company, displacing Sanjay Jha, who had run it since August 2008. Motorola once dominated the phone business, but the arrival of smartphones and particularly the iPhone hit its business. Although it tried to recover by adopting Google's Android software for its smartphones early on, soon after Jha took over, it has not been able to break Apple's grip on key parts of the US smartphone market, and its handset division has lost money in 14 of the past 16 quarters, while its share of both the smartphone and feature phone markets have shrunk. The company is retrenching to the US, and will stop competing in unprofitable markets and cease offering low-end phones, to concentrate instead on a few phones rather than 27 it presently markets, Woodside told the New York Times in an interview. ''We're excited about the smartphone business," Woodside, who previously led Google's sales and operations for the Americas, told the NYT. "The Google business is built on a wired model, and as the world moves to a pretty much completely wireless model over time, it's really going to be important for Google to understand everything about the mobile consumer." Google indicated previously that it bought MMI in order to gain access to its patent portfolio, and that it would not give it any special treatment over other companies building Android handsets. But some rivals to MMI such as Sony, HTC and LG, which are struggling in the smartphone market, are concerned that MMI may get "most favoured nation" status in funding and management, and access to new technology from Google. Woodside has embarked on a top-down shakeup in which 40% of MMI's former vice-presidents have been let go. He told the NYT that he wants to make MMI's phones cool again, and is setting up an "advanced technology" group, headed by Regina Dugan from the Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). Dugan, the NYT said, is hiring metals scientists, acoustic engineers and artificial intelligence experts. Meanwhile MMI is also tightening its supply chain, building fewer models and using half as many components under the direction of former Amazon Kindle supply chain manger Mark Randall. But MMI faces the same problems that other handset companies do: that Apple and Samsung together have locked up around half of the entire smartphone business, and about 90% of its profits, leaving others fighting for the remaining 10%. In the past quarter RIM, Nokia, LG and Sony have all lost money in the handset business, with only HTC and some Chinese companies competing at the low end making profits.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Ailing handset maker says it could face severance costs of up to $275m as it begins reorganisation under new owner Motorola Mobility, the once-dominant but now ailing mobile handset maker, has told its staff that it is cutting 20% of its staff – about 4,000 people – and wlll close about a third of its 94 worldwide offices. In an SEC filing, Google said that the severance costs could be up to $275m in the two quarters to the end of the year and that there will also be "significant" other restructuring costs as it tried to restore the phone business to profitability. Two-third of the job losses will come outside the US, Google says in the filing. The company now plans to build high-end phones with sensors to detect people's entry into rooms, longer-lived batteries, higher-quality cameras and is recruiting artificial intelligence and supply chain experts to that end. The moves are the first signs of a complete reorganisation under the ownership of the search giant Google, which completed its $12.5bn acquisition of Motorola Mobility (MMI) in May, and appointed its own Dennis Woodside to run the company, displacing Sanjay Jha, who had run it since August 2008. Motorola once dominated the phone business, but the arrival of smartphones and particularly the iPhone hit its business. Although it tried to recover by adopting Google's Android software for its smartphones early on, soon after Jha took over, it has not been able to break Apple's grip on key parts of the US smartphone market, and its handset division has lost money in 14 of the past 16 quarters, while its share of both the smartphone and feature phone markets have shrunk. The company is retrenching to the US, and will stop competing in unprofitable markets and cease offering low-end phones, to concentrate instead on a few phones rather than 27 it presently markets, Woodside told the New York Times in an interview. ''We're excited about the smartphone business," Woodside, who previously led Google's sales and operations for the Americas, told the NYT. "The Google business is built on a wired model, and as the world moves to a pretty much completely wireless model over time, it's really going to be important for Google to understand everything about the mobile consumer." Google indicated previously that it bought MMI in order to gain access to its patent portfolio, and that it would not give it any special treatment over other companies building Android handsets. But some rivals to MMI such as Sony, HTC and LG, which are struggling in the smartphone market, are concerned that MMI may get "most favoured nation" status in funding and management, and access to new technology from Google. Woodside has embarked on a top-down shakeup in which 40% of MMI's former vice-presidents have been let go. He told the NYT that he wants to make MMI's phones cool again, and is setting up an "advanced technology" group, headed by Regina Dugan from the Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). Dugan, the NYT said, is hiring metals scientists, acoustic engineers and artificial intelligence experts. Meanwhile MMI is also tightening its supply chain, building fewer models and using half as many components under the direction of former Amazon Kindle supply chain manger Mark Randall. But MMI faces the same problems that other handset companies do: that Apple and Samsung together have locked up around half of the entire smartphone business, and about 90% of its profits, leaving others fighting for the remaining 10%. In the past quarter RIM, Nokia, LG and Sony have all lost money in the handset business, with only HTC and some Chinese companies competing at the low end making profits.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Aliling handset maker says it could face severance costs of up to $275m as it begins reorganisation under new owner Google has begun the process of reshaping itself into a handset manufacturer capable of taking on Apple by announcing that 4,000 jobs – a fifth of the workforce – will be cut at Motorola Mobility, the formerly dominant and now ailing mobile handset maker it acquired a year ago. Two-thirds of the job losses will be from outside the US, and a third of Motorola's 94 worldwide offices will be closed. In a regulatory filing, Google said the severance costs could be up to $275m (£175m) in the two quarters to the end of the year and that there will also be "significant" other restructuring costs as it tries to restore the phone business to profitability. Unveiling his plans for Motorola, Google's former Americas boss, Dennis Woodside, who was placed in charge of the hardware company in March, promised to cut the number of devices from the 27 released last year to just a few. He said the new phones would have batteries that last for days, sharper cameras and the ability to recognise who is in a room by their voice. They are being developed by a team of metal scientists, acoustics engineers and artificial intelligence experts implanted like a Silicon Valley startup into the body of what was once the largest company of its kind. It was assembled by former Pentagon research boss Regina Dugan, whose arrival was announced in March. "We're excited about the smartphone business," Woodside told the New York Times. "The Google business is built on a wired model, and as the world moves to a pretty much completely wireless model over time, it's really going to be important for Google to understand everything about the mobile consumer." The moves are the first signs of a complete reorganisation under the ownership of the search giant Google, which completed its $12.5bn (£8bn) acquisition of Motorola in May, and appointed Woodside to replace its former chief executive Sanjay Jha, who had run the group since August 2008. There was speculation last summer that Google was merely interested in Motorola for its rich portfolio of patents, which it could use to defend its Android operating system against lawsuits from rivals. Monday's announcement confirms Google is looking to emulate Apple's success by creating a company that controls both the software and hardware components of smartphones, which are rapidly evolving into the personal computers of the future. Motorola once dominated the phone business, but the arrival of smartphones, and particularly the iPhone, hit its business. Although it tried to recover by adopting Google's Android software for its smartphones early on, it has not been able to break Apple's grip on key parts of the US smartphone market. Its handset division has lost money in 14 of the last 16 quarters, while its share of both the smartphone and feature phone markets has shrunk. The company is retrenching to the US. It will stop competing in unprofitable markets and cease offering low-end phones, to concentrate instead on a few phones rather than the 27 it presently markets, Woodside told the New York Times. Meanwhile, Google is buying Frommer's Travel Guides in its latest move to boost its content, following its acquisition of Zagat guidebooks last year.Google and Wiley & Sons did not announce financial terms for the Frommer's deal. "The Frommer's team and the quality and scope of their content will be a great addition to the Zagat team. We can't wait to start working with them on our goal to provide a review for every relevant place in the world," Google said in a statement. Google maintains that it will not give Motorola any special treatment over other companies building Android handsets. But some rivals such as Sony, HTC and LG, which are struggling in the smartphone market, are concerned that Google's hardware business may get "most favoured nation" status in funding and management, and access to the newest technology. Woodside has embarked on a top-down shakeup in which 40% of Motorola's former vice-presidents have been let go. Motorola is also tightening its supply chain, building fewer models and using half as many components under the direction of former Amazon Kindle supply chain manager Mark Randall. Google's venture into hardware could prove a costly gamble. It faces the same problems that other handset companies do: that Apple and Samsung together have locked up around half of the entire smartphone business, and about 90% of its profits, leaving others fighting for the remaining 10%. In the past quarter RIM, Nokia, LG and Sony have all lost money in the handset business, with only HTC and some Chinese companies competing at the low end making profits.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Drop in consumer spending and knock-on effect of eurozone crisis may trigger further easing of monetary policy Japan's economy grew at a slower-than-expected annualised rate of 1.4% in April-June, adding to worries over the global outlook, as consumer spending flagged following an earlier rebound from last year's earthquake and tsunami. The eurozone crisis also took a heavy toll as feeble demand hit Japan's export sector. Although the pace of growth dropped sharply from a revised 5.5% in the previous quarter, the economics minister, Motohisa Furukawa, struck an upbeat tone, saying in a statement that the economy "continues in an uptrend, led by domestic demand". The fact that the economy expanded, on top of the robust growth for the previous quarter, was a positive sign, said Junko Nishioka, an economist at RBS Japan Securities. She said government subsidies for purchases of energy-efficient vehicles were still helping to support growth. The economy would also be buttressed by strong public investment, which is due to peak in October-December. However, Nishioka said the risk of worsening deflation was a "pessimistic result" that might prompt Japan's central bank to consider further easing of monetary policy to support growth. Deflation, or falling prices, is a chronic problem for Japan and can be a drag on economic growth. Consumer spending makes up more than half of Japan's economic activity. After the 11 March disaster last year, many Japanese held back on spending and excursions, adding to damage from disruption to manufacturing after many automotive and electronics plants ground to a halt in north-eastern Japan. Robust public investment in reconstruction of housing and other buildings in the devastated region is likely to wane in coming months, further reducing momentum. Meanwhile, the strong Japanese yen has clobbered exports, and costs for importing fuel to offset lost generation capacity from closed nuclear power plants have mounted. Japan's economy grew 0.3% in the quarter ending in June, from 1% in January-March. That was lower than economists' forecasts of more than 2%, and translates to a 1.4% expansion in annualised terms. The latest growth marks a fourth straight quarter of growth, although still at fragile rates. The economy was virtually flat in October-December but did not shrink.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Scotland Yard launch 'review and examination' into delay in finding 12-year-old's body after three failed searches of property Stuart Hazell, the man accused of murdering the missing schoolgirl Tia Sharp is to appear in court . Hazell, 37, will appear via videolink at Camberwell Green magistrates' court charged with the murder of 12-year-old Tia, who was missing for a week before her body was discovered in her grandmother's house in New Addington, south-east London, last Friday. Tensions in the community of New Addington are running high as the investigation into the murder continues. Hazell was charged in the early hours of Sunday morning with the murder of the 12-year-old, who was last seen on Friday 3 August at the house Hazell shared with her grandmother, Christine Sharp, 46. Sharp, who was also arrested on suspicion of murder, has been released on police bail. She has not been charged. Natalie Sharp, 30, Tia's mother, and the girl's biological father, Steven Carter, visited the rapidly expanding shrine on Sunday. The child's mother left an orchid, a teddy bear, and a card that read: "Our baby girl, we love you very much, always will. Sorry baby that this should have happened. I wish I was there to protect you. We know you're safe now and you are home with us everywhere we go." Paul Meehan, 39, a neighbour, was arrested on suspicion of aiding an offender and has also been released on police bail. He has not been charged. No formal identification of the body found at 20 The Lindens, on the New Addington estate near Croydon, south-east London, has been made but Scotland Yard said the victim was named in the murder charge as Tia Sharp. The postmortem investigation, which was halted Saturday evening, was expected to resume on Sunday to provide more details of how the child died. It was likely to continue some time in the coming week, Scotland Yard said, adding that the decision on when to restart would be left to the pathologist. More than 80 officers were involved in the search for Tia after her mother reported her missing on 3 August. But it took four searches of her grandmother's home before officers found her. Scotland Yard has admitted that due to human error a specialist search team did not discover the body in the early hours of last Sunday morning when they examined the house; the search included the location where Tia was later discovered, which is understood to be the loft. It was only when another full forensic examination was carried out on Friday afternoon that the body was found, and the hunt for Hazell began. He was arrested at 8.25pm in Merton, after he was spotted by several members of the public. Scotland Yard has publicly admitting its failings over the search of Christine Sharp's home. Commander Neil Basu apologised to Natalie Sharp for the length of time it took to find her daughter's body. He said the force was doing a "review and examination" of its search processes to ensure such errors were not repeated. Over the weekend Basu gave more details of the three failed searches over the last week. Basu said: "It is important that we explain more about the circumstances of the searches. Four scene examinations were conducted of the property. The first followed immediately from the missing person report that was received on Friday 3 August. An initial visit was made to assess the situation and examine the property. This visit was not regarded or viewed as a full search of the property. "The second visit was a full search of the property with the consent of the occupiers. This was [on] 5 August over a period of two hours. All parts of the premises were searched including the location where a body was discovered, five days later, on Friday 10 August. An early review has been conducted and it is now clear that human error delayed the discovery of the body within the house." The Met said on Sunday it had not referred the inquiry to the Independent Police Complaints Commission. It is understood the IPCC has decided not to hold informal talks with the Met about the failures identified during the searches, and that the Met search team was led by a trained police search adviser. Hundreds of floral tributes, teddy bears and cards have been left outside the New Addington property where Tia stayed at weekends and during school holidays with her grandmother. Janette Dixon, 52, who left a teddy bear at the memorial, said: "It's heartbreaking. I have got four grandchildren of my own and the idea that something like this could happen is just devastating. The whole community was out searching for her, all day and everyday, but she was in that house all the time. It is unbelievable." Collette O'Brien said she felt guilty because the community had failed to find Tia. Laying two bunches of white flowers, she said: "I wanted to bring my daughters to pay our respects. It is hard to put into words. We all tried to find her but it appears she was in that house all the time. It is just heartbreaking. I feel this awful sense of guilt that I couldn't have done more."
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