|  |  |  | | | | | The Guardian World News | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | As three members of the Russian punk band await a verdict, we examine how they managed to find themselves in the dock They have targeted some of Moscow's most well-secured sites with their flash concerts – the metro, a jail, Red Square – but it was a 40-second performance inside Russia's official church that proved a step too far for a system increasingly intolerant of dissent. "We are representatives of our generation," Maria Alyokhina told the court in an opening statement that reads like a manifesto, as Pussy Riot went on trial on charges of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred. "It is important for me to understand whether the church is growing along with society or whether it remains a conservative institution. In the search for an answer, I did not expect a repressive and inquisition-like reaction." Their lawyers called the court hearings worse than a Soviet-era show trial, although the consequences are likely to be less grave. In a move widely seen as a signal to the court, Putin said last week he thought the women should not be judged "too severely". Pussy Riot formed as an anonymous feminist punk collective in October 2010, in the weeks following Putin's declaration that he would return to the presidency following four years as prime minister. He had stepped down because the constitution did not allow more than two consecutive terms as president. His formal return, although expected, sent a wave of anger through segments of Russian society. Some began to refer to him as Tsar. Others began to use the word "authoritarian". The women of Pussy Riot, students and graduates of some of Moscow's most prestigious schools, were among that number. "A lot of us couldn't sleep after this announcement," a member of the band, who identified herself as Tyurya, told The Guardian during a rare interview early this year. "We felt such anger because of this rudeness, this arrogance towards citizens. So we decided, damn it, we need to do something." They looked at their influences – the Riot grrrl movement, punk rock, feminist thinkers such as Judith Butler and philosophers like Michel Foucault – and the form of protest became clear. Tolokonnikova, along with her husband Pyotr Verzilov, was a longtime member of Voina, a radical art collective that shot to global notoriety after holding a protest orgy in a Moscow museum and painting a massive phallus on a drawbridge across from the headquarters of the FSB security services in St Petersburg. "Art is politics," said Tolokonnikova when asked in January if Pussy Riot considered themselves protesters or artists. "We couldn't imagine ourselves without one or the other. We don't understand how an artist can think about society but say he's apolitical." They began gathering at the flat Samutsevich shared with her 73-year-old father, Stanislav, who attended every court hearing and was called to testify for the prosecution during the case against he daughter, whom he affectionately calls Katya. "At the end of last year, the girls began to gather at our home – they put some dresses together, drew something, talked," he told the court. "Katya didn't tell me what they were up to. I had no idea what it would lead to." What it led to was the most radical form of protest Russia has seen since demonstrators began taking to the streets in December to decry Putin's leadership. Pussy Riot carried out lightning punk performances around Moscow, shouting and stomping often until they were dragged away by police. Raw guitar was added to video clips later, creating a multimedia message that spread across the internet. Most shocking was their look – brightly coloured dresses and stockings accompanied by menacing balaclavas to ensure anonymity. "Our anonymity and visual look aren't common for female bands," Tyurya told The Guardian. "Even though we wear dresses, we make "unfeminine" movements. It's a multi-level way of breaking with traditional feminine behaviour." They began by performing in the metro, still considered a strategic site under Russian law, and were once detained but quickly released. Then came performances on posh Moscow streets and the roofs of city buses. When opposition leader Alexei Navalny was arrested at Russia's first big protest on 5 December and sentenced to 15 days' jail, they performed outside his cell. Their notoriety was sealed in January when eight members of the band took to a platform on Red Square calling for "revolt in Russia" and that "Putin has pissed himself" with fear. On 21 February four members of the band walked into the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, a gaudy church built after the Soviet collapse that hosts Russia's top officials on major holidays. They thought they were highlighting the church's increasingly close relationship with the state and what they saw as campaigning for Putin by Patriarch Kirill – its leader. "Our goal was to bring attention to Father Kirill's public statements that the Orthodox must vote for Putin," Alyokhina told the court. Video of the stunt went viral and launched a passionate discussion about the church's collaboration with Putin. State-run media decried the performance. Two weeks later, they were arrested. "I thought the church loved its children," Alyokhina's statement read. "It turns out the church only loves those children who believe in Putin." All eyes were on the trial as the prosecution and its witnesses argued that the women were doing the devil's work, that their bright clothes were an insult to prayer, that they were motivated by a deep hatred of all Orthodox Christians rather than by anger at the Putin regime. Church representatives argued that the trial was the work of God. Repeatedly denied the right to call witnesses, to make objections and, sometimes, even to speak, the defence also through protocol out the window and resorted to shouts and insults. It descended into a kangaroo court. Meanwhile the attention of global artists began to build, from Franz Ferdinand to Stephen Fry to Madonna. Pussy Riot chapters were launched throughout the world, imitation performances, balaclavas and all, carried out everywhere from Paris to Helsinki. All this for a band who has yet to put out an album. "For all the radicalism of their actions, Pussy Riot are basically a pop crossover," said Michael Idov, the editor of Russian GQ. "They are a brilliant brand – they have a very compelling story and easily reproducible look and, let's face it, a great band name."
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | William Hague insists WikiLeaks founder will not be allowed to leave country in his bid to escape extradition to Sweden A major diplomatic row over the fate of the fugitive Julian Assange erupted after the WikiLeaks founder was offered political asylum by Ecuador to escape extradition from Britain over allegations of serious sexual assaults. The foreign secretary, William Hague, responded by warning the Ecuadorean government that diplomatic immunity should not be used to harbour alleged criminals. He said Assange would be arrested if he leaves the embassy in London where he has lived for nearly two months. Ecuador's decision has also angered the Swedish authorities, who wish to question Assange and the two women who claim he assaulted them during a trip to the country in 2010. Assange denies the assault claims and says he fears being sent on to the United States where he could face political persecution for releasing thousands of secret US cables. The standoff will escalate tensions between the two countries over the fate of Assange, who has skipped bail while awaiting removal from the UK. It follows allegations from Ecuador that the British government has threatened to storm the embassy to seize Assange. Diplomatic posts are often considered the territory of the foreign nation. After a day of dramatic developments and protests, Assange watched the asylum decision from a room in the embassy in Knightsbridge, central London, via a live link to a press conference from the Ecuadorean capital, Quito. Hague responded by saying Assange would not be allowed safe passage out of the UK, and that it was a "matter of regret" that the Ecuadorean government decided to grant the WikiLeaks founder political asylum. But Hague said that did not change the fundamentals of the case. Speaking at the Foreign Office, he added the case could go on for a considerable time. "We will not allow Mr Assange safe passage out of the United Kingdom, nor is there any legal basis for us to do so." On Wednesday, British government officials sent a letter to Ecuadorean officials in Quito outlining the powers of the Diplomatic and Consular Premises Act 1987, which allows revocation of a building's diplomatic status if the foreign power occupying it "ceases to use land for the purposes of its mission or exclusively for the purposes of a consular post". Hague dismissed Ecuadorean claims that the letter was a threat to "attack" their embassy. "There is no threat here to storm an embassy. We are talking about an act of parliament in this country which stresses that it must be used in full conformity with international law," he said. Officials said use of the act has not been ruled out. Hague also denied claims by Assange and his supporters that there was a deal that would see him extradited to the US. The country's foreign affairs minister, Ricardo Patiño, said Assange was clear that he is being persecuted for political reasons because of the disclosure of documents by WikiLeaks. "Ecuador is sure that there is a real threat of him being extradited to a third country, without any guarantees. He would be subject to cruel treatment," Patino said in his press conference in Quito. The Ecuadorean government has conducted lengthy diplomatic talks with the UK, Swedish and US governments, Patiño said. He said that the UK's reaction amounted to a strong threat: "It is basically saying, 'We are going to beat you savagely if you don't behave … but if you behave, we may not beat you savagely." An official said Ecuador had acted within international and diplomatic law ever since Assange took refuge inside the building. The Swedish foreign ministry said it had summoned Ecuador's ambassador over the Latin American country's "unacceptable" decision to grant asylum. Assange will give a statement outside the embassy on Sunday afternoon, according to tweets posted on the WikiLeaks Twitter feed, prompting speculation that he could be arrested because the property might be outside the embassy. The lawyer of two Swedish women who made allegations of sexual assault against Assange denounced Ecuador's move as "absurd". Claes Borgstrom told reporters that the move was an abuse of the asylum instrument, the purpose of which is to protect people from persecution and torture if sent back to one's country of origin. "He doesn't risk being handed over to the United States for torture or the death penalty. He should be brought to justice in Sweden," she said. The Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) has convened an "extraordinary meeting" in Ecuador on Sunday to discuss the situation at the embassy. A statement released on the website of the foreign ministry of Peru, which currently holds the rotating presidency of the intergovernmental union, said: "The Foreign Ministry of Peru lets public opinion know that, in concordance with the statutory responsibilities of the temporary presidency of UNASUR, at the behest of the Republic of Ecuador and after consulting member states, an extraordinary meeting of the Counsel of Foreign Ministers of the Union has been convened on Sunday August 19 in the city of Guayaquil, Ecuador. "The meeting has been requested with the intention of considering the situation raised at the embassy of Ecuador in the United Kingdom."
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Follow live updates as the UN ends its observer mission in Syria
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Follow live updates as the UN ends its observer mission in Syria
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Jackie Powell has been arrested for allegedly failing to reveal information about where one of his victims is buried, say sources Moors murderer Ian Brady's legal advocate has been arrested for allegedly failing to reveal information about where one of his victims is buried, sources have confirmed. Jackie Powell was detained in south Wales on suspicion of preventing the burial of a body without lawful exercise. Powell, who was appointed Brady's legal advocate under the Mental Health Act in 1999, has told a Channel 4 documentary that Brady gave her a sealed envelope to pass on to Winnie Johnson, the mother of his 12-year-old victim Keith Bennett, in the event of Brady's death. Greater Manchester police said in a statement that Brady had finally disclosed details of the location of the body to one of his "long-term visitors" at Ashworth high-security hospital, where he is being detained. The force did not name the suspect but said a 49-year-old woman had been arrested in south Wales and remained in police custody for questioning. A police spokesman said: "On 30 July, 2012, Greater Manchester police received information that led officers to believe that Ian Brady had recently given details of the location of Keith Bennett's body to one of his long-term visitors. "Officers in the cold case unit made inquiries to verify the accuracy of this report and have since had extensive contact with Ashworth hospital and Keith's close family. "As a result, warrants obtained under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act were executed at Ashworth Hospital and a private address in South Wales. "A 49-year-old woman has been arrested in south Wales on suspicion of preventing the burial of a body without lawful exercise and remains in police custody for questioning. Searches of both locations are ongoing." A spokeswoman for Ashworth Hospital in Merseyside, where Brady has been detained for the last 25 years, declined to comment, saying it was a matter for the police. While Brady did reveal where some of his victims were buried, he has always refused to disclose any details about the location of the Keith's body, despite pleas from his family. His refusal has caused constant heartache for Keith's mother, Winnie Johnson, who has cancer and recently appealed for Brady to break his silence before she died. Now Jackie Powell has revealed that Brady gave her a sealed envelope to pass on to Johnson in the event of his death. She told the Daily Mirror: "I received a letter and a sealed envelope which said on the front 'to be opened in the event of my death'. "He says he doesn't wish to take his secrets to the grave and within the sealed envelope is a letter to Winnie Johnson. "Within that is the means of her possibly being able to rest." Brady and his partner, Myra Hindley, who died in jail in 2002 aged 60, were responsible for the murders of five youngsters in the 1960s. They lured the children and teenagers to their deaths, with victims sexually tortured before being buried on Saddleworth Moor above Manchester. Pauline Reade, 16, disappeared on her way to a disco on July 12, 1963 and John Kilbride, 12, was snatched in November the same year. Keith Bennett was taken on June 16, 1964 after he left home to visit his grandmother; Lesley Ann Downey, 10, was lured away from a funfair on Boxing Day, 1964; and Edward Evans, 17, was killed in October 1965. Brady was jailed for life at Chester Assizes in 1966 for the murders of John, Lesley Ann and Edward. Hindley was convicted of killing Lesley Ann and Edward and shielding Brady after John's murder, and jailed for life. In 1987 the pair finally admitted killing Keith and Pauline. Both were taken back to Saddleworth Moor in 1987 to help police find the remains of the missing victims but only Pauline's body was found. Johnson has made repeated calls for Brady to reveal the location of his grave. Last December she said she wanted to hear face-to-face from Brady where her son was buried. And in July she renewed her plea, saying in a letter to the killer that her dying wish was to know where Keith's body was. Brady, 74, was due to go before a mental health tribunal in July, but it was delayed after he suffered a seizure. The tribunal was to consider his application to be transferred to a Scottish prison and be allowed to die. He has been tube-fed since refusing food 12 years ago. But last month Johnson's solicitor said she would not be attending the hearing as it would be "too traumatic" for her. John Ainley, senior partner at North Ainley Halliwell, said that Johnson was in hospital and not well enough to attend. He said: "She has only one question to ask Ian Brady, that is 'Where is my son Keith?' "She is convinced that he could, if he wished, provide this information. "Her one and only desire is to give her son a proper family burial during her lifetime. Nothing short of that will ever give her peace of mind." On Wednesday The Sun reported that Johnson was being cared for in a hospice. The newspaper quoted her son Alan Bennett as saying: "Winnie is going in to a hospice for about two weeks. "She can be closely monitored and get the correct form of pain relief that is needed for when she returns home." It is understood that Johnson is not yet aware of the ongoing developments. Her lawyer, John Ainley, said: "Winnie has always believed that Ian Brady knew where her son was buried. She never thought anything else. "He had a dialogue with Winnie some years ago and she was certain that he could have provided information that would have given her closure in this harrowing case." The makers of the documentary said they had not seen the envelope. Documentaries commissioning editor and editor for Cutting Edge Emma Cooper said: "No one can verify the contents of the envelope and therefore what information it does or does not contain but given the enormity of the implications as suggested by Brady's letter, we felt we had a responsibility to inform the family via their family liaison officer. "Winnie's poor health was foremost in our decision-making and this is why we have decided to bring forward the broadcast of the film and make the existence of the envelope public." The film, Ian Brady: Endgames of a Psychopath, will be broadcast on Monday night at 9pm. In an interview for the programme, Powell said she received a letter of instruction and a sealed envelope from Brady via his solicitors. She explained that the letter of instruction states the additional envelope contains three letters - one apparently addressed to Winnie Johnson. Powell, who has professional obligations in her capacity as executor and her role as Brady's Mental Health Advocate, told the documentary she has not opened the sealed envelope, she cannot be certain of its contents.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Finnish foreign minister says: 'We have to face openly the possibility of a euro breakup'
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | More than 30 people killed at Lonmin platinum mine where strike over pay has escalated into alleged turf war between unions Police have been accused of a massacre after opening fire on mine workers in one of the deadliest days of protest in South Africa since the end of apartheid. In scenes that evoked memories of some of the country's darkest days, national television showed pictures of police in helmets and body armour shooting at workers on Thursday amid shouting, panic and clouds of dust at Lonmin's Marikana platinum mine. After three minutes of gunfire, bodies littered the ground in pools of blood. The South African police ministry said more than 30 striking miners had been killed. Newspaper reporter Poloko Tau tweeted from the scene: "Auto guns creacking [sic] and cocked like 100 at a time, scary … warzone down here, 1st shot fired … journalist running, diving and hiding amid shots, water canon spewing water at the strikers … my contact has just been shot dead …" The deaths came after a week of turmoil at the Marikana mine that had already seen 10 people killed, including two police officers and two security guards. Lonmin, the world's third biggest platinum producer, was forced to suspend production at the mine, about 60 miles north-west of Johannesburg, after what it called an illegal strike escalated into an alleged turf war between rival unions. His voice shaking with anger, the union leader Joseph Mathunjwa accused the Lonmin management of colluding with a rival union to orchestrate what he described as a massacre. Mathunjwa, president of the militant Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU), told the eNews channel: "We have to send condolences to those families whose members were brutally murdered by a lack of co-operation from management. We have done our bit. If the management had changed their commitment, surely lives could have been saved." South Africa's president, Jacob Zuma, condemned the killings but made no reference to the handling of the situation by the police. "We are shocked and dismayed at this senseless violence," he said. "We believe there is enough space in our democratic order for any dispute to be resolved through dialogue without any breaches of the law or violence. "We call upon the labour movement and business to work with government to arrest the situation before it deteriorates any further. I have instructed law enforcement agencies to do everything possible to bring the situation under control and to bring the perpetrators of violence to book." Zuma added: "We extend our deepest condolences to the families of all who have lost their lives since the beginning of this violent action." The opposition called for an independent investigation. Helen Zille, leader of the Democratic Alliance, said: "We call on union leaders, the police and everyone else involved to immediately work towards a de-escalation of the conflict. All action must be taken to avoid further bloodshed. "An urgent independent investigation is required to determine exactly what happened; and who is responsible for this massacre. The families of everyone involved, and indeed the nation, deserve to know how and why this bloodshed occurred." Roger Phillimore, the chairman of Lonmin, said: "We are treating the developments around police operations this afternoon with the utmost seriousness. The South African police service have been in charge of public order and safety on the ground since the violence between competing labour factions erupted over the weekend, claiming the lives of eight of our employees and two police officers. "It goes without saying that we deeply regret the further loss of life in what is clearly a public order rather than labour relations associated matter." The violence reportedly flared when police laying out barricades of barbed wire were outflanked by some of an estimated 3,000 miners massed on a rocky outcrop near the mine. Witnesses claimed that some of the miners were armed with pistols and fired first, while also charging the police with machetes and sticks. The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) said: "According to a Sapa report, police tried to disperse striking workers gathered on top of a hill, wielding pangas and chanting war songs. It ended in a three-minute shootout between the two groups, after police fired teargas and then used a water cannon to disperse the strikers, who retaliated by firing live ammunition at the police." The protests began last week when workers demanded a pay increase to 12,500 rand (£976) a month. The action turned deadly when the AMCU clashed with South Africa's dominant National Union of Mineworkers (NUM). The NUM rejected the charge of collusion with mine bosses. Spokesman Lesiba Seshoka said: "We are not surprised by his allegation … It is not true. Everyone can see through these lies." Seshoka blamed the AMCU – which has been poaching NUM members in platinum mines – for instigating the bloodshed. "These people said today they want to die on the hilltop. They said they will bring their children to die there. That is why we say the ringleaders must be arrested." There has been growing frustration with the governing African National Congress and its mainstream union allies for moving too slowly to deliver wage increases and public services. Radical and militant voices are making gains in some areas. Patrick Craven, the national spokesman for Cosatu, which is aligned to the ANC, said it would "convene an urgent meeting of the unions' leaderships to discuss what is emerging as a co-ordinated political strategy to use intimidation and violence, manipulated by disgruntled former union leaders, in a concerted drive to create breakaway 'unions' and divide and weaken the trade union movement". He added: "Cosatu calls upon all workers to remain vigilant but calm in the face of the most serious challenge to workers' unity and strength for many years." South Africa is home to four-fifths of the world's known platinum reserves but has been hit by union militancy and a sharp drop in the price of the precious metal this year. At least three people were killed in fighting in January that led to a six-week closure of the world's biggest platinum mine, run by Impala Platinum. Such incidents are seen as tarnishing South Africa's reputation among investors. This week's violence has forced Lonmin to freeze production at all its South African operations, which account for 12% of global platinum output. The company's London-listed shares fell more than 7% on Thursday. A spokesman at Lonmin's head office in London confirmed strikers had been served with an ultimatum to return to work on Thursday or face dismissal, but denied that might inflame the situation. "The mine cannot operate without the rock drill operators," he said. "The company tried every avenue it could to negotiate a settlement and we were left with no option."
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Chinese court will deliver a verdict in the murder trial of Gu Kailai, accused of killing businessman Neil Heywood, on Monday A Chinese court is due to deliver its verdict, and likely sentence, on Monday in a case against Gu Kailai over the murder of British businessman Neil Heywood, in the latest chapter of a scandal that toppled her once-powerful politician husband, Bo Xilai. She has admitted the killing. If, as expected, she is found guilty, it should push a key piece of an ugly political scandal into the background for the ruling Communist Party ahead of a transition of top leaders expected later this year. "It's set for next Monday at 9 in the morning," a court spokeswoman said by telephone on Friday from the intermediate people's court in Hefei, where Gu's 7-hour trial was held on 9 August. Chinese courts usually issue verdicts and sentences at the same hearing. At her trial, Gu said that she turned on Heywood, a family friend who helped her son Bo Guagua go to school in England, after she concluded that he had threatened her son, state media accounts have said. A day after Gu's trial, four policemen from Chongqing admitted in the same court to trying to cover up the murder. Bo was sacked as Chongqing boss in March and his wife was publicly accused of the murder in April, when Bo was dumped from the Politburo and detained on an accusation he had violated party discipline - code for corruption, abuse of power and other misdeeds. Bo's downfall has stirred more public division than that of any other party leader for more than 30 years. To leftist supporters, Bo became a charismatic rallying figure for efforts to reimpose party control over dizzying, unequal market growth. But he had made some powerful enemies among those who saw him as a dangerous opportunist who yearned to impose his harsh policies on the entire country. A verdict would also be delivered for Zhang Xiaojun, tried as an accomplice in the murder last November in Chongqing. The murder scandal erupted after former Chongqing police chief Wang Lijun dramatically sought temporary refuge in a US consulate in February, just weeks after he was said to have confronted Bo with Gu's involvement. Wang has yet to be indicted.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Ian Brady gave details of the location of Keith Bennett's body to one of his long-term visitors, police say Moors murderer Ian Brady has finally revealed the location of the body of 12-year-old Keith Bennett, police believe. Greater Manchester police said in a statement last night that Brady had revealed the whereabouts of his fourth victim to one of his long-term visitors in a letter, and officers had carried out arrests in relation to the information. A police spokesman said: "On 30 July 2012, Greater Manchester police received information that led officers to believe that Ian Brady had recently given details of the location of Keith Bennett's body to one of his long-term visitors. "Officers in the cold case unit made inquiries to accuracy of this report and have since had extensive contact with Ashworth hospital and Keith's close family. As a result, warrants obtained under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act were executed at Ashworth hospital and a private address in South Wales today. "A 49-year-old woman has been arrested in South Wales on suspicion of preventing the burial of a body without lawful exercise and remains in police custody for questioning. Searches of both locations are ongoing." The 12-year-old disappeared on 16 June 1964 while on his way to his grandmother's house in Longsight, Manchester, and although he is known to have become a victim of serial killer Brady and accomplice Myra Hindley, his body was never recovered. Police believed he was buried somewhere on Saddleworth Moor, above Manchester, where Brady had taken other victims. The two were responsible for the murders of five children in the 1960s, after driving them on to the moor. While Hindley said she stayed in the car, Brady sexually tortured and killed his victims on the moor. The victims include 16-year-old Pauline Reade and John Kilbride, 12, who disappeared in July and November 1963; Lesley Ann Downey, 10, who was lured from a funfair on Boxing Day 1964 and Edward Evans, 17, killed in October 1965. Brady was given a life sentence in 1966 for the murders of Kilbride, Downey and Evans, while Hindley was jailed for life for the murders of Downey and Evans, and for shielding Brady. The two admitted to killing Bennett and Reade only in 1987. Hindley became religious in later years and made attempts to be released, but died in jail in 2002 aged 60. Brady was declared criminally insane in 1985 and has been held at the high-security Ashworth hospital on Merseyside. He has mounted hunger strikes and said he wants to die. Keith Bennett's family, especially his mother, Winnie Johnson, have long agonised over his whereabouts, Brady refusing to say where on Saddleworth Moor the body could be found. Johnson made a number of pleas to Hindley to help discover where her son was buried. Johnson said in December she wanted Brady to tell her face-to-face of the whereabouts of her son. The 78-year-old has recently been diagnosed with cancer.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Journalist had been punished for lifting content from a New Yorker article about gun control without attribution All is forgiven for Time magazine writer and CNN host Fareed Zakaria, who last week was suspended by both outlets for apparent plagiarism. CNN said on Thursday that Zakaria's weekly "GPS" public affairs program will return to the air on 26 August. Time said in a separate statement that Zakaria's column would resume with the magazine's 7 September issue. Zakaria was suspended last Friday for lifting several paragraphs from a New Yorker magazine essay for his use in a recent Time column. A version of that column, which examined gun control, was subsequently posted on CNN's website. Zakaria apologized, acknowledging a "terrible mistake." CNN and Time said that each had conducted a thorough review and found Zakaria's recent "journalistic lapse" to be an isolated incident. Earlier this week, the Washington Post wrote that Zakaria, in his 2008 book "The Post-American World," had failed to indicate that he had taken a quotation from another book. But the Post later said that upon further inspection, it found that Zakaria did cite the source for the quote and said that the story should not have been printed. "We regret the error and apologize to Mr Zakaria," the Post wrote.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Human Rights Watch condemn death of children and civilians after regime's airstrike on strategic border town A heavy stench of death filled the air as a body was pulled from the ruins. Children lifted boulders to reveal bits of flesh and bone. Survivors stood weeping in the wreckage of their houses. At least 40 people are thought to have been killed when government jets bombarded the provincial Syrian town of Azaz on Wednesday. On Thursday, the full scale of the carnage became clear as journalists and human rights monitors reached the scene close to the Turkish border. Local people estimated that around 64 homes had been damaged or destroyed by the airstrike. Standing on a pile of concrete where his home once stood, Ahmad al-Aboud, 57, said he didn't hear a plane approaching. "There was a big explosion like an earthquake. We're all poor workers' families. We don't even have a gun in this area," he said. Another survivor told researchers from Human Rights Watch (HRW) he had seen his house destroyed with most of his extended family inside. He said: "I buried 12 of my family members today, including my father, my mother, and my sister – my brother's wife as well. Walid, my brother, was cut to pieces. We didn't recognise him at first. We buried my brother's children also. The youngest was 40 days old." Most of the seriously injured have been taken to Turkey through a nearby border crossing that has been commandeered by the Free Syrian Army. The crossing is also increasingly being used as a supply line into northern Syria, where a buffer zone had been established in all but name before Wednesday's regime attack. "This horrific attack killed and wounded scores of civilians and destroyed a whole residential block," said Anna Neistat, HRW's acting emergencies director. "Yet again, Syrian government forces attacked with callous disregard for civilian life." HRW said two nearby rebel facilities – an FSA brigade headquarters and a prison where government fighters were held – may have been targets of the jets. As the people of Azaz counted their dead, a diplomatic solution seemed less likely than ever. Officials in New York said the UN security council would end its observer mission in Syria. Before a security council meeting in New York on Friday, France and Russia both said the UN body would not renew the mandate of its much criticised four-month mission, which has been unable to stem the violence in Syria and has led to the resignation of its former chief, Kofi Annan. A veteran Algerian diplomat, Lakhdar Brahimi, has confirmed he will replace Annan as the international mediator on Syria, but with an altered mandate, UN sources said on Thursday. Friday's meeting is also due to discuss the Syrian regime's increased use of its air force over the past month, especially in the battle for Aleppo and its surrounds, where rebel forces are unable to combat the use of fast jets repeatedly dropping heavy bombs. People in Azaz are linking the airstrike to the kidnapping of a group of Lebanese Shia pilgrims in the area in May, according to one local person. The Lebanese hostages' whereabouts has been the subject of much interest in their homeland. A splinter group from the Free Syrian Army claims to be holding the men and alleges that some are linked to the Lebanese militia and political bloc, Hezbollah. "They were abducted by a gang named Ammar Dadikhi who claimed to be part of the FSA," said Abu Yousif when contacted by Skype. "They are not FSA – they are based at the mountain and they have even kidnapped FSA members and civilians from Azaz. Azaz has nothing to do them, these gangsters are kidnapping people for money. "I can assure they [the Lebanese] are not in Azaz and they [the kidnappers] do not represent the people of Azaz. All the people of Azaz have denounced the kidnapping of these Lebanese. Our main motive is to get our freedom and change the regime. We do not want to abduct or kill anyone." Azaz is part of a swath of north-western Syria that is under effective rebel control after an assault launched by rebel forces in mid-July. Syrian troops have been absent from the area since they were ousted in days of fighting that coincided with the rebel assault on Syria's second city, Aleppo. The regime has massed large numbers of tanks and infantry on Aleppo's southern outskirts, but has so far not sent them into the city, preferring to shell from afar with tanks and artillery and use its fighter jets to bomb key targets. A bakery in Aleppo was hit by a shell early on Thursday, killing an estimated 18 people, witnesses said. Rights groups said more than 150 people had been killed in Syria throughout the day. Daily death tolls, including those of regime troops, have been consistently higher in the past month than at any time since the uprising began in March 2011. Key rebel towns, including al-Bab on the north-eastern edge of Aleppo, were also bombed by jets on Thursday . The bombing seemed aimed at re-establishing regime power over a strategically crucial area, which is now being used as one of three nationwide hubs of the uprising. Syrian forces remain battle deployed in most of the country's key cities. Though weakened by defections and desertions, they still outgun and outman the rebel army, which is plagued by leadership problems but has shown an increasing ability to hold key ground. There were conflicting reports about the welfare of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad's brother, Maher al-Assad, who controls a key army division. Two officials told Reuters that Maher had lost a leg in the explosion in Damascus that killed regime security tsar Assef Shawkat. The Guardian could not confirm the report. In Damascus the UN's humanitarian chief, Lady Amos, said: "All parties must do more to protect civilians." France's foreign minister, Laurent Fabius, said in Jordan that Assad was "butchering his own people and the sooner he goes the better".
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | GOP candidate says he will not release more tax records but his own review shows 'I never paid less than 13%' in the last decade The Republican presidential candidate, Mitt Romney, has rejected a Democratic claim he had paid no tax over a 10-year period, saying that he had paid at least 13% a year. But he again refused to release his tax returns as Democrats are demanding.
The Obama campaign said it was not satisfied with Romney's statement and repeated its calls for the tax returns to be released. "He has the ability to prove his claim," a spokesman said, adding: "We would say 'prove it governor Romney'." Romney made his statement to reporters in response to a claim by the Democratic senate leader Harry Reid that he had been told by an informant inside Bain Capital, where Romney made his fortune, that he had paid no tax. "I did go back and look at my taxes and over the past 10 years I never paid less than 13%. I think the most recent year is 13.6 or something like that. So I paid taxes every single year," Romney said. He described the Reid report as totally false and challenged him to release the name of his informant. During the Republican primaries and caucuses, under pressure from his party rivals, Romney released his full tax returns for 2010 and a summary of his tax return for 2011. An Obama campaign spokesman said Romney's father, who was a governor and presidential candidate, had released 12 years' worth of tax returns and Romney should follow suit. The White House spokesman, Jay Carney, said Romney should follow presidential precedent by releasing multiple tax returns. Speaking at the daily press conference, Carney rejected suggestions that Obama is planning to remove Joe Biden as vice-president after a comment this week in which he told voters in Virginia if Romney became president, his approach to Wall Street would "put y'all back in chains". The 2008 Republican presidential candidate John McCain, responding to a question about whether Obama should swap Biden for secretary of state Hillary Clinton, long touted as an alternative VP: "I think he might be wise to do that, but it's not going to happen obviously, for a whole variety of reasons – including in fact, if I'm Hillary Clinton I'm not sure I would want to be on that team." Obama held a joint lunch on Thursday with Biden and Clinton. Carney said the Republicans knew what they were saying about Biden was ridiculous and they were only seeking to distract attention from policy issues. Commenting on the chains remark, Carney said Biden had already "explained the use of his words, his language and how he had meant to phrase it. And I think I made the point that we all — all of us who are out there every day giving speeches, taking questions, talking about the issues, sometimes don't use the exact language that we thought we were going to use or wanted to use. But you know what he was talking about."
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | William Hague insists WikiLeaks founder will not be allowed to leave country in his bid to escape extradition to Sweden A major diplomatic row over the fate of the fugitive Julian Assange erupted after the WikiLeaks founder was offered political asylum by Ecuador to escape extradition from Britain over allegations of serious sexual assaults. The foreign secretary, William Hague, responded by warning the Ecuadorean government that diplomatic immunity should not be used to harbour alleged criminals. He said Assange would be arrested if he leaves the embassy in London where he has lived for nearly two months. Ecuador's decision has also angered the Swedish authorities, who wish to question Assange and the two women who claim he assaulted them during a trip to the country in 2010. Assange denies the assault claims and says he fears being sent on to the United States where he could face political persecution for releasing thousands of secret US cables. The standoff will escalate tensions between the two countries over the fate of Assange, who has skipped bail while awaiting removal from the UK. It follows allegations from Ecuador that the British government has threatened to storm the embassy to seize Assange. Under international law, diplomatic posts are considered the territory of the foreign nation. After a day of dramatic developments and protests, Assange watched the asylum decision from a room in the embassy in Knightsbridge, central London, via a live link to a press conference from the Ecuadorean capital, Quito. Hague responded by saying Assange would not be allowed safe passage out of the UK, and that it was a "matter of regret" that the Ecuadorean government decided to grant the WikiLeaks founder political asylum. But Hague said that did not change the fundamentals of the case. Speaking at the Foreign Office, he added the case could go on for a considerable time. "We will not allow Mr Assange safe passage out of the United Kingdom, nor is there any legal basis for us to do so." On Wednesday, British government officials sent a letter to Ecuadorean officials in Quito outlining the powers of the Diplomatic and Consular Premises Act 1987, which allows revocation of a building's diplomatic status if the foreign power occupying it "ceases to use land for the purposes of its mission or exclusively for the purposes of a consular post". Hague dismissed Ecuadorean claims that the letter was a threat to "attack" their embassy. "There is no threat here to storm an embassy. We are talking about an act of parliament in this country which stresses that it must be used in full conformity with international law," he said. Officials said use of the act has not been ruled out. Hague also denied claims by Assange and his supporters that there was a deal that would see him extradited to the US. The country's foreign affairs minister, Ricardo Patiño, said Assange was clear that he is being persecuted for political reasons because of the disclosure of documents by WikiLeaks. "Ecuador is sure that there is a real threat of him being extradited to a third country, without any guarantees. He would be subject to cruel treatment," Patino said in his press conference in Quito. The Ecuadorean government has conducted lengthy diplomatic talks with the UK, Swedish and US governments, Patino said. He said that the UK's reaction amounted to a strong threat: "It is basically saying, 'We are going to beat you savagely if you don't behave … but if you behave, we may not beat you savagely." An official said Ecuador had acted within international and diplomatic law ever since Assange took refuge inside the building. The Swedish foreign ministry said it had summoned Ecuador's ambassador over the Latin American country's "unacceptable" decision to grant asylum. Assange will give a statement outside the embassy on Sunday afternoon, according to tweets posted on the WikiLeaks Twitter feed, prompting speculation that he could be arrested because the property might be outside the embassy. The lawyer of two Swedish women who made allegations of sexual assault against Assange denounced Ecuador's move as "absurd". Claes Borgstrom told reporters that the move was an abuse of the asylum instrument, the purpose of which is to protect people from persecution and torture if sent back to one's country of origin. "He doesn't risk being handed over to the United States for torture or the death penalty. He should be brought to justice in Sweden," she said.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | The Republican candidate was kept on the back foot for weeks but in choosing Paul Ryan, Romney is looking to his core vote After the 2008 Sarah Palin debacle, Mitt Romney was understandably keen to pick a very different kind of vice-presidential running mate. Instead of a relatively inexperienced governor of an outlying state, in Paul Ryan the Republican presidential candidate has gone for a consummate political professional with 14 years of congressional experience under his belt. But while Ryan is unlikely to have embarrassing, flustered moments in television studios when asked to list the daily newspapers he reads, he is proving every bit as controversial and polarising as his Alaskan predecessor. The Democrats have dubbed him a "certifiably rightwing idealogue", claiming he is out to destroy America's modest welfare programmes. Usually, vice-presidential candidates have only a few days in the media spotlight before retreating into obscurity, apart from one VP nationally televised debate in October. Palin did not follow that pattern and neither does Ryan, who after less than a week in the job has redefined the campaign and looks likely to go on doing so. The Romney campaign chose him to deliver the Republican base vote amid fears that die-hard conservatives could cost him the White House by staying at home on election day rather than turning out for a candidate they are ambivalent about. Conservatives are coming round, reflected in the crowds Ryan has been attracting on his tour of the swing states this week. The Democrats have been sending out panic-laden appeals for donations, one of them expressing concern over the size of the crowd. One of the appeals, for $3 or more, said of Romney-Ryan attacks: "This could cost us the election." Charlie Gruschow, the Iowa-based founder of the Tea Party of America, said there had been a large crowd to see Ryan in Iowa. Gruschow is one of many conservatives who were slow to warm to Romney, having first supported Herman Cain and then Newt Gingrich as the Republican presidential candidate. "Ryan has fired up the base," said Gruschow, after speaking to friends in the evangelical Christian community and the Tea Party who he said had been a little hesitant, a little concerned, about Romney. "I think now that Ryan has been selected as his running mate, there's a lot of enthusiasm. He is a Tea Party guy." Another of the Tea Party founders, Ryan Rhodes, also backed the vice-presidential pick. "I have seen a lot of people excited by Paul Ryan. He has given them a reason to vote. I think it would have been different if he had chosen Chris Christie [the New Jersey governor who is closer to the centre]. You would have seen a lot of people standing by." The choice of Ryan marks a major change in strategy by Romney. Until 1 August, when he said he had finally decided on Ryan as his running mate, Romney had been hoping to win the White House simply on widespread anti-Obama sentiment. Central to this strategy was focusing on the slowness of the US economic recovery and to make himself as small a target as possible, offering little in the way of policy detail. But that strategy was not working. The US is so polarised that there are, according to the polls, few undecided voters left. Compared with 2008, when about 25% of the electorate had still to make up their minds at this stage in the election, only about 5% are undecided. Both the Democratic and Republican strategists have concluded that the winner on 6 November will be the campaign that fires up its own supporters, that gets its base out, rather than the one that wins over the independent swing voters. Larry Sabato, professor of politics at the University of Virginia, said: "It is base v base. There are hardly any independents." At the cost of winning over a percentage of that small group in the centre, the campaigns risked alienating their core support, he said. This is why Romney picked a running mate with undisputed conservative credentials, from his love of the writings of the free-market idealogue Ayn Rand in his youth to his more recent budget plan to slash welfare spending. Ryan, aged 42, was born in Janesville, Wisconsin, into an Irish immigrant family whose business interests and network made them important players in their area. One of the biggest upsets in his life came when he was 16, when he found his father, a lawyer, dead from a heart attack, at the relatively early age of 55. As a result of that, intent on avoiding the same fate, he became a fitness enthusiast, a fan of a workout called P90X, a mixture of yoga, martial arts and other exercises early in the morning before starting his day in Congress. He is socially conservative, strongly Catholic, firmly opposed to abortion, even in cases of incest and rape. In his youth, he worked at a grill at the local McDonald's but otherwise has spent almost his entire life in politics. After university, he went to work as an intern on the staff of Republicans in Congress before becoming a congressman himself 14 years ago. He is liked by Democrats as well as Republicans in the House at a personal level, in spite of sharp differences over policy. For a large part of his time in Congress, he was isolated, a lonely figure at thinktanks, a policy wonk arguing in favour of wholesale reform of welfare to bring down spending. When he advocated such an approach in 2009, he had few supporters. His time came last year in the standoff between Obama and House Republicans over cutting debt. Few other Republicans had alternative ideas to put forward and Ryan's plan won favour. The House voted for it by 235 to 193. One of the contradictions in Paul's politics is that, in spite of his reputation as a costcutter, he voted for the huge bailouts to stimulate the economy and the car industry. He has since said he regretted voting for the programmes. Central to his budget plan is to tackle Medicare, the healthcare programme for those 65 and over, and Medicaid, a basic healthcare programme for the very poor. His views have won him the support of many wealthy conservatives, such as the Koch brothers, and media moguls such as Rupert Murdoch, whose Wall Street Journal campaigned for Ryan last week as vice-presidential running mate. These contacts have made him one of the best-funded members of Congress, with a campaign war chest of more than $5m (£3.2m). In spite of frantic appeals this week from Democratic fundraisers for more donations, senior Democratic strategists have said privately and publicly that Romney has made a mistake and that the choice of Ryan offers them a large list of areas for attack, especially over Medicare. The Democrats, like Labour in Britain, have long been regarded as the party that protects Medicare, which was introduced by the Democratic president Lyndon Johnson in the 1960s. Some Republicans are apprehensive too. The Politico website created a stir this week when it reported mainly anonymous Republicans saying Romney may have blundered. "This could be the defining moment of the campaign. If they win the battle to define Medicare, then I believe Romney wins the presidency. If they lose it, then they lose big in the fall," one of the Republican strategists said. The author Joe Klein, who has covered many US elections, is dismissive of Ryan's budget policy, questioning whether his thinking is as deep as some Republicans claim and describes him, in the current edition of Time, as living in a "libertarian Disneyland". Romney wants to make the election about Obama and the slow recovery from recession but the Democratic campaign has kept him on the defensive for more than a month: over his record at Bain Capital, where he made his fortune, some of it in closing firms; over his refusal to release more than two years' worth of tax returns; and then his disparaging remarks over the London Olympics. And now it is about Medicare – and will be in the weeks, or even months, ahead. The highest ratio of people on Medicare is in Florida, one of the key swing states with a high number of retirees. The second highest is Ohio, another key swing state. Brad Coker, the head of Mason-Dixon polling, which is based in Florida, said he thought Ryan was the best of the bunch considered by Romney. "All the discussion about the base not being excited has now gone away," Coker said. He does not think Medicare will be a problem in the long run. In the past, it has been a strong card for the Democrats but the Republicans can counter that line of attack this time with Obama's healthcare proposals, which Coker said are not popular either. Regardless of the election result, Larry Sabato thinks Ryan cannot lose. If Romney wins, then Ryan, as vice-president, will be well placed as a Republican presidential candidate for the future. If Romney loses in November, Sabato says Republicans will blame Romney rather than Ryan and predicts he will be the frontrunner, or close to it, when the party looks for a presidential candidate for 2016. "He is a guaranteed winner," Sabato said.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Human Rights Watch condemn death of children and civilians as regime's jets bombard strategic border town A heavy stench of death filled the air as a body was pulled from the ruins. Children lifted boulders to reveal bits of flesh and bone. Survivors stood weeping in the wreckage of their houses. At least 40 people are thought to have been killed when government jets bombarded the provincial town of Azaz on Wednesday. On Thursday, the full scale of the carnage became clear as journalists and human rights monitors reached the scene close to the Turkish border. Local people estimated that around 64 homes had been damaged or destroyed by the airstrike. Standing on a pile of concrete where his home once stood, Ahmad al-Aboud, 57, said he didn't hear a plane approaching. "There was a big explosion like an earthquake. We're all poor workers' families. We don't even have a gun in this area," he told the Guardian. Another survivor told researchers from Human Rights Watch (HRW) that he had seen his house destroyed with most of his extended family inside. "I buried 12 of my family members today, including my father, my mother, and my sister – my brother's wife as well. Walid, my brother, was cut into pieces. We didn't recognise him at first. We buried my brother's children also. The youngest was 40 days old," he said. Most of the seriously injured have been taken to Turkey through a nearby border crossing that has been commandeered by the Free Syria Army. The crossing is also increasingly being used as a supply line into northern Syria, where a buffer zone had been established in all but name before Wednesday's regime attack. "This horrific attack killed and wounded scores of civilians and destroyed a whole residential block," said Anna Neistat, HRW's acting emergencies director. "Yet again, Syrian government forces attacked with callous disregard for civilian life." HRW said two nearby rebel facilities in the vicinity – an FSA brigade headquarters, and a prison where government fighters were held – might have been targets of the jets. As the people of Azaz counted their dead, a diplomatic solution seemed less likely than ever. Officials in New York said the UN security council would end its observer mission in Syria. Before a security council meeting in New York on Friday, France and Russia both said the UN body would not renew the mandate of its much criticised four-month mission, which has been unable to stem the violence in Syria and has led to the resignation of its former chief, Kofi Annan. Friday's meeting is also due to discuss the Syrian regime's increased use of its air force over the past month, especially in the battle for Aleppo and its surrounds, where rebel forces are unable to combat the use of fast jets repeatedly dropping heavy bombs. People in the town are linking the airstrike to the kidnapping of a group of Lebanese Shia pilgrims in the area in May, according to one local person. The Lebaneses' whereabouts has been the subject of much interest in their homeland. A splinter group from the Free Syria Army claims to be holding the men and alleges that some are linked to the Lebanese militia and political bloc, Hezbollah. "They were abducted by a gang named Ammar Dadikhi who claimed to be part of the FSA," said Abu Yousif, contacted by Skype. "They are not FSA – they are based at the mountain and they have even kidnapped FSA members and civilians from Azaz. Azaz has nothing to do them, these gangsters are kidnapping people for money. I can assure they [the Lebanese] are not in Azaz and they [the kidnappers] do not represent the people of Azaz. All the people of Azaz have denounced the kidnapping of these Lebanese. Our main motive is to get our freedom and change the regime. We do not want to abduct or kill anyone." Azaz is part of a swath of north-western Syria that is under effective rebel control after an assault launched by rebel forces in mid-July. Syrian troops have been absent from the area since they were ousted in days of fighting that coincided with the rebel assault on Syria's second city, Aleppo. The regime has massed large numbers of tanks and infantry on Aleppo's southern outskirts, but has so far not sent them into the city, preferring to shell from afar with tanks and artillery and use its fighter jets to bomb key targets. A bakery in Aleppo was hit by a shell early on Thursday , killing an estimated 18 people, witnesses said. Rights groups said more than 150 people had been killed in Syria throughout the day. Daily death tolls, including those of regime troops, have been consistently higher in the past month than at any time since the uprising began in March 2011. Key rebel towns, including al-Bab on the north-eastern edge of Aleppo, were also bombed by jets on Thursday . The bombing seemed aimed at re-establishing regime power over a strategically crucial area, which is now being used as one of three nationwide hubs of the uprising. Syrian forces remain battle deployed in most of the country's key cities. Though weakened by defections and desertions, they still outgun and outman the rebel army, which is plagued by leadership problems but has shown an increasing ability to hold key ground. There were conflicting reports about the welfare of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad's brother, Maher al-Assad, who controls a key army division. Two officials told Reuters that Maher had lost a leg in the explosion in Damascus that killed regime security tsar, Assef Shawkat. However, the Guardian could not conform the report. In Damascus the UN's humanitarian chief, Lady Amos, said: "All parties must do more to protect civilians." France's foreign minister, Laurent Fabius, said in Jordan that Assad was "butchering his own people and the sooner he goes the better".
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Scientists who encoded the book say it could soon be cheaper to store information in DNA than in conventional digital devices Scientists have for the first time used DNA to encode the contents of a book. At 53,000 words, and including 11 images and a computer program, it is the largest amount of data yet stored artificially using the genetic material. The researchers claim that the cost of DNA coding is dropping so quickly that within five to 10 years it could be cheaper to store information using this method than in conventional digital devices. Deoxyribonucleic acid or DNA – the chemical that stores genetic instructions in almost all known organisms – has an impressive data capacity. One gram can store up to 455bn gigabytes: the contents of more than 100bn DVDs, making it the ultimate in compact storage media. A three-strong team led by Professor George Church of Harvard Medical School has now demonstrated that the technology to store data in DNA, while still slow, is becoming more practical. They report in the journal Science that the 5.27 megabit collection of data they stored is more than 600 times bigger than the largest dataset previously encoded this way. Writing the data to DNA took several days. "This is currently something for archival storage," explained co-author Dr Sriram Kosuri of Harvard's Wyss Institute, "but the timing is continually improving." DNA has numerous advantages over traditional digital storage media. It can be easily copied, and is often still readable after thousands of years in non-ideal conditions. Unlike ever-changing electronic storage formats such as magnetic tape and DVDs, the fundamental techniques required to read and write DNA information are as old as life on Earth. The researchers, who have filed a provisional patent application covering the idea, used off-the-shelf components to demonstrate their technique. To maximise the reliability of their method, and keep costs down, they avoided the need to create very long sequences of code – something that is much more expensive than creating lots of short chunks of DNA. The data was split into fragments that could be written very reliably, and was accompanied by an address book listing where to find each code section. Digital data is traditionally stored as binary code: ones and zeros. Although DNA offers the ability to use four "numbers": A, C, G and T, to minimise errors Church's team decided to stick with binary encoding, with A and C both indicating zero, and G and T representing one. The sequence of the artificial DNA was built up letter by letter using existing methods with the string of As, Cs, Ts and Gs coding for the letters of the book. The team developed a system in which an inkjet printer embeds short fragments of that artificially synthesised DNA onto a glass chip. Each DNA fragment also contains a digital address code that denotes its location within the original file. The fragments on the chip can later be "read" using standard techniques of the sort used to decipher the sequence of ancient DNA found in archeological material. A computer can then reassemble the original file in the right order using the address codes. The book – an HTML draft of a volume co-authored by the team leader – was written to the DNA with images embedded to demonstrate the storage medium's versatility. DNA is such a dense storage system because it is three-dimensional. Other advanced storage media, including experimental ones such as positioning individual atoms on a surface, are essentially confined to two dimensions. The work did not involve living organisms, which would have introduced unnecessary complications and some risks. The biological function of a cell could be affected and portions of DNA not used by the cell could be removed or mutated. "If the goal is information storage, there's no need to use a cell," said Kosuri. The data cannot be overwritten but, given the storage capacity, that is seen as a minor issue. The exercise was not completely error-free, but of the 5.27m bits stored, only 10 were found to be incorrect. The team suggests common error-checking techniques could be implemented in future, including multiple copies of the same information so mistakes can be easily identified. The costs of DNA-handling tools are not yet competitive enough to make this a large-scale storage medium. But the costs and scale of the tools are dropping much more quickly than their electronic equivalents. For example, handheld DNA sequencers are becoming available, which the authors suggest should greatly simplify information stored in DNA. Kosuri foresees this revolution in DNA technologies continuing. "We may hit a wall, but there's no fundamental reason why it shouldn't continue."
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Gunman allegedly carried Chick-fil-A sandwiches and said 'I don't like your policies' before shooting organisation's guard A man has been charged with assault with intent to kill after a security guard was shot at the Washington DC offices of the Family Research Council. Floyd Lee Corkins II, from Herndon, Virginia, was due to appear in the US district court in DC on Thursday afternoon. Corkins has also been charged with interstate transportation of a firearm and ammunition. Security guard Leonardo Reno Johnson was shot in the arm in the lobby of the conservative group's headquarters after challenging Corkins, the FBI said. Corkins, who authorities said was carrying 15 Chick-fil-A sandwiches, told the guard: "I don't like your politics" before firing. The FBI affidavit released on Thursday said that Corkins was subdued by the injured Johnson after the shooting. Corkins was carrying a legally owned 9mm Sig Sauer handgun, with a backpack containing 50 additional rounds of ammunition and the 15 sandwiches. Corkins, 28, lived with his parents and had recently been volunteering at an LGBT center in DC. His parents told FBI agents that he has "strong opinions with respect to those he believes do not treat homosexuals in a fair manner", according to the affidavit. The Family Research Council opposes gay marriage, and its president, Tom Perkins, attracted some criticism last month after emailing members suggesting they should support Chick-fil-A's stance on gay rights. The affidavit said Corkins had parked his Dodge Neon at the East Falls Church metro station in Virginia, catching a train with his gun to DC. The assault charge carries up to 30 years in prison and the weapons charge has a 10-year maximum sentence. Johnson, 46, was shot in the left arm and taken to hospital, where his mother, 72-year-old Virginia Johnson, said he was resting comfortably on Thursday morning. She said she had not been to visit him but had spoken to him by phone. "He said he feels very well," she told Associated Press. "I am proud of him, very proud of him." FRC president Tony Perkins said he visited Johnson, who had worked at the Family Research Council for over 11 years, in hospital and told him that he was a hero. "He said: 'This hero business is hard work,'" Perkins said on American Family Radio. Perkins added that the shooting would not deter his organization from its mission. "We're not going anywhere. We're not backing up, we're not shutting up. We have been called to speak the truth," Perkins said. "We will not be intimidated. We will not be silenced." More than 20 different LGBT organisations from across the US put out a statement condemning the shooting. "We were saddened to hear news of the shooting this morning at the offices of the Family Research Council. Our hearts go out to the shooting victim, his family and his co-workers," it said. "The motivation and circumstances behind today's tragedy are still unknown, but regardless of what emerges as the reason for this shooting, we utterly reject and condemn such violence. We wish for a swift and complete recovery for the victim of this terrible incident."
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Nadezhda Tolokonnikova says feminist punk band's predicament shows how freedom is being taken away from all Russians On the eve of a court verdict that could see three members of the punk band Pussy Riot jailed for participating in a protest in a cathedral, one of the women warned that the trial was a sign that freedom was disappearing in Vladimir Putin's Russia. "I hold no spite," Nadezhda Tolokonnikova wrote in a letter to supporters (in Russian) passed to one of her lawyers. "I have no private spite. But I have political spite. "Our being in jail is a clear and distinct sign that freedom is being taken away from the whole country," she wrote. "And this threat of destruction of the liberating, emancipatory forces of Russia is what makes me angry." The three band members – Tolokonnikova, Maria Alyokhina and Yekaterina Samutsevich – will hear the verdict against them on Friday afternoon. Prosecutors have asked the judge to jail the women for three years, arguing that they should be isolated from society after performing an anti-Putin punk prayer in the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow in February. They are accused of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred. Formed shortly after Putin announced his intention to return to the presidency last September, Pussy Riot say their performances, including that of the "punk prayer", are motivated by anger at Russia's lack of freedom and democracy, as well as its sexism. "The second wave of feminists said: the personal is political," Tolokonnikova wrote. "The Pussy Riot case has shown that the personal problems of three people, charged with hooliganism, can give life to a political movement." She marvelled at the international attention the case has received, with musicians including Madonna and Björk coming to Pussy Riot's support. Sir Paul McCartney added his voice on Thursday, saying in a statement on his website addressed to the three women: "I would like you to know that I very much hope the Russian authorities would support the principle of free speech for all their citizens and not feel that they have to punish you for your protest. "I hope you can stay strong and believe that I and many others like me who believe in free speech will do everything in our power to support you and the idea of artistic freedom." Dozens of protests are planned in cities around the world to coincide with the verdict reading on Friday. "It's still hard to believe this is not a dream," Tolokonnikova wrote. The trial comes amid a wider political crackdown on the opposition movement borne of fears over Putin's return to power. A series of laws targeting demonstrations, non-governmental organisations and the internet were adopted this summer, and charges have recently been brought against opposition leader Alexey Navalny. The opposition have called for supporters to don balaclavas, part of Pussy Riot's signature look, at a protest at the court on Friday. Another protest is planned for Sunday. "Something unbelievable is happening for modern Russian politics: the demanding, stubborn, authoritative and consistent impact of society on the authorities," Tolokonnikova wrote. "I'm grateful to everyone who has said: Freedom for Pussy Riot! We are witnessing a big and important political event, and the Putinist system is having a harder time controlling it." The women have been held in a pre-trial detention centre since early March. Prosecutors have asked they serve a term in a labour colony. "Whatever the verdict for Pussy Riot, we and you have already won," Tolokonnikova wrote. "Because we have learned to be angry and speak politically."
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | State governor Jan Brewer signed executive order contradicting Obama's plan to benefit young undocumented migrants Immigrant rights groups are gearing up for a legal and political fight in Arizona after the state's hardline Republican governor issued an order that bans young immigrants, spared deportation under a new federal initiative, from getting driver's licences and other state benefits. Jan Brewer, the state governor, is determined to curtail the rights of people in her state who qualify for the new rules, which give young undocumented migrants the right to work and spares them from the threat of deportation. The Referred Action for Childhood Arrivals scheme, which came into force on Wednesday, is expected to benefit more than one million people under 30 who can prove they arrived in the United States before they turned 16. Tens of thousands of undocumented youths have thronged to information events held across the United States in the past two days hoping to benefit from an executive order issued by Barack Obama that gives them the right to work and spares them from the threat of deportation. But in Arizona, as many immigrants in the state celebrated their newfound eligibility for a reprieve from the threat of deportation, Brewer signed an executive order on Wednesday directing state agencies to deprive them of ID cards, such as driver's licences, and healthcare benefits. The edict stated that "allowing more than an estimated 80,000 Deferred Action recipients improper access to state and local public benefits" would have "significant and lasting impacts on the Arizona budget its healthcare system and additional public benefits that Arizona taxpayers fund". As such, she ordered that "the issuance of Deferred Action employment authorisation documents to unlawfully present aliens does not confer upon them any lawful or authorised status and does now entitle them to any additional public benefit". A spokesman for Brewer told the Arizona Republic that the executive order was designed to clarify that the new federal guidelines do not give lawful status to individuals eligible under the scheme. But campaign groups said the decision to make the order on a day when hundreds of thousands of young people were celebrating was mean-spirited and smacked of politicking. "She has stuck her nose in for political reasons and has become the skunk at the garden party," said Frank Sharry, executive director of America's Voice, an advocacy group promoting immigration reform. The federal scheme is open to undocumented immigrants under the age of 30 who can prove they arrived in the United States before they turned 16. Those living in the country at least five years and are in school, have graduated or served in the military can apply for work permits. The initiative is designed to help hundreds of thousands of young people on the way to citizenship. Obama signed the order earlier this year after the Dream Act, which he supports, stalled in Congress. Many of those left frustrated by the Brewer's counter-measure descended on the state capitol on Wednesday in protest against the executive order. Local reports suggest that up to 200 people took part in the protest, organised by the Arizona Dream Act Coalition. Advocacy groups are preparing for a possible courtroom battle against the executive order. "There will no doubt be a battle fought on legal grounds as well as legislative and political," Sharry said. As the order came into force on Wednesday, huge crowds flocked to events designed to give information to potential applicants. Forms must be submitted by mail, and there is no appeal from rejected applications, so it is important that those who wish to record their status get their documents in order. In Chicago, some 13,000 people lined up for a workshop led by immigrant rights advocates on how to file the paperwork for their new status. It was a similar scene in Los Angeles. "It's something I have been waiting for since I was two years old," said Bupendra Ram, a 25-year-old communications graduate student in Fullerton, California: "This offers us an opportunity to fulfill the dreams I've had since I was a child." Of the one million people expected to file an application under the first year of the new guidelines, the department of homeland security estimates about 890,000 will be eligible.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Dallas mayor declares state of emergency as 381 total human cases have been reported in the state so far this year Aerial spraying of insecticide is set to begin over Dallas on Thursday night as the city battles the worst outbreak of the West Nile virus in the US this year. Mayor Mike Rawlings has declared a state of emergency and announced the first aerial spraying in the city and its northern suburbs since 1966 in response to the growing number of victims of the virus, which spreads to humans via mosquito bites and is reaching epidemic proportions in north Texas. "Right now, Texas has half the West Nile cases in the nation," Dr David Lakey, the Texas state health commissioner, told local reporters this week. "Dallas County has half of the cases in the state of Texas. So, about a quarter of all the cases in the United States are in this county. So, this isn't business as usual." According to Texas department of state health services figures, 381 West Nile cases have been confirmed in Texas this year, including 16 related deaths – on track for the most cases since the disease first reached the state a decade ago. Ten deaths and more than 200 cases have been reported in Dallas County, which with a population of around 2.4 million is the ninth most populous county in the US. Houston, the largest city in Texas, has recorded seven cases and one fatality. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said that as of August 14, 43 states have reported West Nile infection in people, birds or mosquitoes this year, with over 80% of cases from six states: Texas, Mississippi, Louisiana, Oklahoma, South Dakota and California. The 693 human cases reported to CDC through the second week in August is the highest number for that time of year since the virus was first detected in the US in 1999. At least 26 people have died. According to Dallas officials, the pesticide to be used Thursday evening, called Duet, has been approved by the Environmental Protection Agency and is similar to products presently being used against mosquitoes at ground level. It will be applied overnight by Clarke, a spraying company, at low dosages of fewer than one ounce per acre by twin-engine aircraft flying at an altitude of 300 feet and a speed of 170mph. Mayor Rawlings said that the spray poses no health threat. "I've been studying this closely, talked to a lot of people, the CDC, the EPA, and everybody says this is safe. Other cities have done this before – this is what New York City uses, this is what Sacramento's been doing for five years, and this dissipates very quickly and so there is no health effects proven and I think the science backs us up on that," he told HLN. "Beneficial insects need hopefully to be gone and be down in the earth when it gets night, that's when mosquitoes come out. It does impact very small insects if they come in contact with it." West Nile virus was first discovered in the US in New York. Researchers believe it is spread when a mosquito bites an infected bird and then a person. Most cases occur in the summer, with the greatest risk of infection coming from late August to early September. The very young, old, pregnant and those with weakened immune systems are most at risk. Most who contract the virus experience little or no adverse effects, but a small number – less than 1% – develop severe symptoms that can include neurological illness. Health officials advise minimizing the risk of being bitten by mosquitoes, for example by using insect repellents, wearing long sleeves and pants, reducing outdoor activity around dawn and dusk and eliminating areas of standing water around homes.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Romney's running mate wants to turn Medicare into a voucher programme, which may cost him votes among state's elderly When Paul Ryan arrives in Tampa Bay on his first visit as the newly announced junior half of Mitt Romney's White House ticket this weekend, he will feel the heat. But it won't be anything to do with Florida's blistering summer temperatures. Instead, he faces a barrage of awkward questions over his much-publicised and controversial plans for the future of the nation's healthcare programme for retirees, and demands for proof from many among the state's 3 million plus seniors that he is not, in fact, the Republican Party's devil in disguise. Since Romney tapped the Wisconsin congressman last Saturday as his running mate for November's presidential election, the political debate in Florida over the nomination has centered on one issue – Medicare. To many, Ryan is one of two things: the conservative architect of a budget-slashing master plan that will effectively kill off the existing system and leave the elderly carrying the can for the cost of their own healthcare; or the brilliant tactician behind an overdue and enduring reconstruction of the popular social welfare programme that has the additional benefit of helping reduce the burgeoning national debt. Whoever you believe, his comments at a $2,500-a-head Republican fundraiser on Treasure Island, near Tampa, on Saturday, and at a rally for supporters in the Villages, a sprawling complex for well-heeled retireees 100 miles to the north, earlier in the day, could define the race for Florida's 29 electoral college votes and determine whether he helps Romney's chances in the state or hinders them. "Any talk of changing Medicare or making cutbacks is a scary thing for seniors in Florida and for those approaching retirement age. It'll be up to Ryan and Romney to respond to those attacks and repeat their message over and over," said Aubrey Jewett, professor of political science at the University of Central Florida and a co-author of the book Politics in Florida. Jewett points out that John McCain, the losing Republican candidate in the 2008 general election, scored a significantly higher share of the vote from Florida seniors than Barack Obama and that Romney starts off with a solid core of support. "One of the pluses [of the Ryan pick] is it will help the conservative base rally more enthusiasm about him than Romney. In that sense the base was always going to turn out for Romney, not because they like him, but Ryan can help motivate that base." With more than 3.3 million voters over 65, and senior citizens making up 17.3% of its population according to the 2010 census, Florida has an older electorate than any other state. In fact, more than half its registered voters are over 50 so it was inevitable that the candidates' policies on healthcare would become a central plank of the election debate. A survey this month by the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) showed that 48% of respondents aged 50 to 64 and nearing retirement worried about unaffordable health expenses and that 63% said they felt neither Obama nor Romney had made a good job of explaining their plans for Medicare. "The message from voters 50-plus is clear," said Nancy LeaMond, executive vice-president of the AARP, in a statement. "In a razor-tight election, candidates have a major opportunity to reach key voters by speaking about their plans on Social Security and Medicare, and they are making a huge gamble if they ignore them." Senior Florida Democrats wasted little time after Saturday's announcement in attacking Ryan over his "Path to Prosperity" budget, particularly his plan for a gradual conversion of Medicare from a costly federal programme into a voucher-based private system. "Ryan is the architect of Romney's extreme budget plan which would end Medicare as we know it, increasing the healthcare costs for Florida's seniors by thousands every year," said Rod Smith, chairman of the Florida Democratic Party. "Romney and Ryan share a vision for America where the wealthiest few are prioritised over the middle class, students and seniors. That's not a vision which will move our state or country forward, and it is a vision which Floridians will wholeheartedly reject." Smith's views cut little ice with Irving Rabiner, a 69-year-old retired retail worker from Delray Beach and a registered Republican voter who believes Ryan was the perfect choice. "Some of the old people started getting scared by the Democrats' lies, that their money will be taken away from them," he said. "What they need to do is sit down and look at what this really says, that nobody over 55 will have anything done to their Medicare. Attacking Ryan and Romney over this is the only chance the Democrats have got, they can't muster anything else other than attacking Romney for that fake banking stuff." Republican strategists, too, are convinced that Ryan can handle any attack directed at him from Obama supporters in Florida, where his mother was revealed this week to be a condo-dwelling resident on Medicare in the small oceanfront town of Lauderdale-by-the Sea. "If he pushes back as he has done, and as he is uniquely qualified to do, then Medicare quickly collapses as an argument for them," said Rick Wilson, a Tallahassee-based political consultant. "Ryan is a young, articulate, smart conservative. He's going to be down here a lot, and there is no fear over putting him in front of a room full of seniors. Florida's seniors are concerned over Obamacare, they don't like it and it's never polled well, and over 58% opposed it. So this is not a conversation being held in a vacuum. There are other issues. Economic concerns drive voter behaviour." Among the other issues to have gained headlines in Florida since Ryan's nomination was his stance on Cuba, and his support a decade ago for the lifting of the US trade embargo with the communist country. More than 70% of Miami's registered Republican voters are Cuban-American and most favour the embargo, so Romney, in the city earlier this week, sought to assure them that Ryan changed his views many years ago and voted in 2007 for maintaining restrictions. "A lot has been made of that," said Dan Smith, professor of political science at the University of Florida. "The Obama campaign will choose Ryan's comments from as late as 2009 saying we should open trade with Cuba, and will be running Spanish-language ads in south Florida to soften support for Romney. "Younger Cuban-Americans don't see the embargo as importantly as their parents or grandparents, and Romney will be making efforts to court those younger voters." Smith added that another factor in Florida voters' minds will be that state's unemployment and foreclosure rates remain among the highest in the nation. "It's still the economy driving the Florida narrative but the Ryan budget helped to change that narrative," he said. Jewett, the University of Central Florida analyst, agrees. "The polls in Florida are very close and I would expect it to stay that way," he said. "In the long term, the focus won't be on Ryan so much, but you can be sure the Democrats will be bringing up the Ryan plan over and over."
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Analysts split on whether investors will take advantage of end of lock-up period as shares near half of the $38 IPO price Facebook's shares fell to new lows in early trading Thursday as insiders were freed to sell another 270m shares. The expiration of a lock-up period for insiders increased the pool of available shares by 60%. Facebook's share price fell close to 7% in early trading to $19.73, a level that is more than 46% lower than the $38 IPO price set in May. Goldman Sachs, Elevation Partners, which counts U2's Bono as a partner, and DST Global are among the early investors that will now be allowed to sell more shares. Goldman and DST were among the investors who increased the number of shares they sold at $38 shortly before the IPO. Facebook's shares have been hit hard as analysts have worried the firm has yet to figure out a way to make money from mobile users, the fastest growing of their business. After such a precipitous fall in share price, analysts are split on whether investors will take advantage of the end of the lock-up to sell more shares. One analyst, who wished to remain anonymous, pointed to Angie's List, a referral service, whose share price plummeted on Tuesday after its IPO lockup expired. "I wouldn't even think of buying this until the price comes down," he said. Tom Forte, analyst at Telsey Advisory Group, said he expected more volatility in Facebook's share price in the short term. Another 243m shares are set to be released from lockup between mid-October and mid-November. On November 14, co-founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg will be able to sell shares and more than 1.2bn shares will be available for trading. "I'm a glass half-full man on Facebook. In the near term I expect increasing pressure on the share price as more shares come unlocked. Holders may be unwilling ti part with their shares at nearly half their IPO price but in the near term there are going to be more shares out there and not enough demand to pick them up," he said. But Forte is more confident on Facebook's future once its gets through the lock-up period. He has a 12-month price target of $40-$42 for the shares. "I think Facebook will figure out a way to monetize mobile advertising," he said.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Taliban claims it downed Black Hawk helicopter in Kandahar province, killing seven US troops and four Afghans A Black Hawk helicopter has crashed in a restive region in southern Afghanistan, killing seven US soldiers and four Afghans. The Taliban said they had downed the aircraft, although the group are quick to claim crashes caused by mechanical problems as successful hits by their fighters. "We hit the ISAF helicopter with a rocket-propelled grenade," said Qari Yousef Ahmadi, Taliban spokesman for the southern region. The helicopter landed so hard it was destroyed, officials at the Pentagon told NBC news. In Kabul, Nato said it was investigating the cause of the crash in southern Kandahar province, the birthplace of the Taliban. The helicopter came down at about 11am in Shah Wali Kot, said Jawed Faisal, spokesman for the provincial governor. The crash site lies to the north-east of Kandahar city, in an area with a strong insurgent presence. Helicopter crashes have caused some of the highest death tolls of the war. Many have been the result of mechanical failures or errors by pilots flying in tough conditions, but insurgents have brought down some aircraft. Last August insurgents hit a chinook with rocket-propelled grenades as it carried troops on a combat mission, killing all 38 passengers. That was the deadliest day of the decade-long war for the US military. Many of those killed were from Navy Seal Team Six, the unit that killed Osama bin Laden in a night-time raid deep inside Pakistan, though it was not the same men on the chinook. In January a helicopter crash killed six soldiers, and on 12 March Turkish soldiers and two Afghan girls were killed when a helicopter crashed into an Afghan home. Additional reporting by Mokhtar Amiri
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Follow live updates as the Republican VP candidate campaigns in battleground state of Ohio where he'll discuss Medicare and China
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Students and workers try to return to the north-east amid rumours of impending attack related to the communal violence in home state Thousands of people from north-east India are fleeing the southern city of Bangalore amid rumours they will be attacked in retaliation for communal violence in their home state. Hundreds of students and workers from Assam state crowded Bangalore's main railway station on Thursday to try to board trains leaving the city, while officials tried to assure them of their safety. The exodus followed clashes in Assam in recent weeks between members of the indigenous Bodo tribe and Muslims that left more than 50 deaths and left 400,000 in displacement camps. The violence has spilled over to other states where Bodos and other ethnic tribal members from the impoverished north-east have migrated in search of jobs. Those fleeing Bangalore said they had heard that text messages were circulating which warned of attacks by Muslims. Jagadish Shettar, the chief minister of Karnataka state, met Assamese and Muslim leaders separately on Thursday in an effort to restore calm. Bangalore is the capital of Karnataka. Shettar said no one had seen any threatening text messages and authorities were trying to find out who was behind the rumours. He said police and security forces were on alert and telephone helplines had been set up to offere a sense of security to people in the city. Despite Shettar's assurances, many north-easterners said they felt insecure. "As a person from the north-east, we always stick out in a crowd. And sometimes that makes us afraid of being easy targets," said Ganesh Khanal, a clothing worker trying to board a train at Bangalore station. Khanal said he had been living in Bangalore for nearly three years but was returning to Assam as soon as he could secure a ticket. Decades of ethnic strife in India's north-east have forced hundreds of thousands of young people to move out of the region in search of education and employment. They find jobs mostly in the service sector of big cities, working in restaurants, shops and airlines. Also trying to leave was Rita Sarma, a college student. "Everyone is saying don't panic, nothing will happen," Sarma said at the railway station. "But I can't help feeling scared all the time." Railway authorities were adding coaches to trains heading to Gauhati, the main city in Assam. India's home minister, Sushil Kumar Shinde, said extra trains were running between Bangalore and Assam. The recent rioting in Assam between ethnic Bodos and Muslim settlers mainly concerned land rights. The rioting has largely been brought under control, although sporadic outbreaks have occurred over the past few days. On Saturday, two people died and dozens were injured in Mumbai in clashes between police and thousands of Muslims protesting against the deaths last month of Muslims in Assam. Violence has also been reported in the southern city of Hyderabad and the western cities of Pune and Nashik.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Car bombs explode in Baghdad and Kirkuk, and police checkpoints come under attack overnight At least 21 people have died in a dozen blasts and a series of shootings in cities and towns across Iraq. No one has claimed responsibility for latest in a series of attacks since US troops left in December. In Baghdad on Thursday, a car bomb killed six civilians and wounded 28 in the mainly Shia district of Husainiya. Four car bombs exploded in Kirkuk, 150 miles north of Baghdad, killing two and wounding 18. Overnight attacks on police checkpoints in the cities of Baquba and Falluja killed six police officers and wounded 13 and there were car bombs, shootings and sticky bombs – often explosives attached to vehicles with a magnet – in other towns. Nine were wounded by a car bomb in Taji, just to the north of Baghdad. Al-Qaida's local wing, the Islamic State of Iraq, said it carried out attacks in June and July as part of a renewed offensive. It has been reinvigorated by the inflow of fighters and cash into neighbouring Syria, providing a morale boost and some extra arms and cash, security experts say. Iraqi insurgents are vowing to retake territory lost during a long war with American troops. Security has been increased before the end of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan next week, a period when analysts believe insurgents may attempt a major attack.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Xan Brooks and Peter Bradshaw review Take This Waltz, The Expendables 2, The Bird and The Wedding Video
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Get the latest news and reaction as WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's application for political asylum is accepted by Ecuador's foreign minister
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Follow the latest developments as fighting continues in Syria and the OIC moves to isolate the Damascus regime
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Follow the latest developments as fighting continues in Syria and the OIC moves to isolate the Damascus regime
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