|  |  |  | | | | | The Guardian World News | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | New GDP data shows that Spain's economy has shrunk by 1.3% in the last 12 months, more than first thought, ahead of another bond auction
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Tropical storm that left 19 dead in Haiti blew past the Florida Keys as it prepares to make landfall near New Orleans as hurricane Tropical Storm Isaac continued on a path towards the US Gulf Coast on Monday, prompting fears that a strengthened hurricane could hit New Orleans on the seventh anniversary of Katrina. Having soaked Florida over the weekend, the storm – which is already thought responsible for the deaths of 19 people in Haiti and two in the Dominican Republic – is expected to gather strength before making landfall on Wednesday. Bobby Jindal, the Louisiana governor, declared a state of emergency and ordered the evacuation of tens of thousands of people from vulnerable areas as tropical storm Isaac drenched Florida and gathered strength over the Gulf of Mexico. Barack Obama also declared a federal state of emergency in Louisiana, making federal funding available for emergency activities related to the storm. Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center in Miami said Isaac could grow to a Category 1 hurricane over the warm waters of the Gulf and would hit the southern coastline along a 300-mile stretch from the bayous southwest of New Orleans to the Florida Panhandle late on Tuesday. The storm would be significantly weaker than Katrina, but officials warned that it was still enough to cause considerable damage and threaten life. The size of the warning area and the storm's wide bands of rain and wind prompted emergency declarations in four states. Residents were boarding up homes on Monday, ensuring they had enough food and water, and in many cases getting ready to evacuate. The oncoming storm stopped work on rigs that account for 24% of daily oil production in the US portion of the Gulf of Mexico and 8% of daily natural gas production. United Airlines cancelled all flights to and from New Orleans from midnight on Monday until Thursday. Organisers at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida, cancelled the first day of the event, due to culminate in the coronation of Mitt Romney as the party's presidential nominee on Thursday. Republican leaders, mindful of the ghost of hurricane Katrina and the stain left by the botched handling of it by the George Bush administration, fear the juxtaposition of images showing revelry in Tampa with havoc in the Gulf states. After the 2005 Gulf coast devastation, Republicans were so sensitive to the political danger around hurricanes and the appearance of partying at a time of trouble that they delayed the start of their national convention by a day in 2008 when Hurricane Gustav bore down on the Gulf, 1,200 miles away from where delegates were gathering in St Paul, Minnesota. Isaac was expected to hit the Gulf Coast late on Tuesday or in the early hours of Wednesday, one day short of the seven-year anniversary of Katrina. If Isaac hits during high tide, the storm could push floodwaters as deep as 12ft (4m) on shore in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama and up to 6ft in the Florida panhandle. All four states declared emergencies; the New Orleans mayor Mitch Landrieu warned the city would face tropical storm force winds by early Tuesday morning. More than 1,800 people were killed by Katrina and its aftermath. Seven years on, New Orleans is more prepared on every level – communication, levee defense, evacuation plans, and first responders – than it was before Katrina. Flood defences in New Orleans, which failed so catastrophically in 2005, have been rebuilt at a total cost running into billions of dollars and have so far proved sufficient to resist post-Katrina storms. Isaac will prove the largest test of the updated levee system since Katrina. It is also a significant test for mayor Mitch Landrieu, elected in 2010 to replace Ray Nagin, the mayor during Katrina who is the subject of a federal investigation for corruption. "The one thing that I have learned through all storms is be prepared for the unexpected," said Landrieu. "We are as well prepared as we can be for what we know. And we are prepared to react to the unexpected." Landrieu has been consistently warning of the dangers of the potential hurricane in the past few days, reminding residents that authorities thought Katrina "would be a wind and rain event". Fears of the impact of the latest storm persist: supermarkets are selling out of bottled water and gas prices have spiked. Some 53,000 residents of St Charles Parish near New Orleans were told to leave ahead of the storm. The city's improved levee system is expected to hold at bay the worst of the storm surge: but major flooding and winds are expected, and the preparations for the storm are a reminder of how recent the recovery has been in a region continually vulnerable to severe hurricanes. "I want to strongly urge all residents outside the levee to leave. If your plan is usually to leave, it is time to go," said Landrieu on Monday. On Magazine Street, one of the city's main shopping streets, many store owners were placing plywood or metal sheeting over windows. At Bella Prezza, a home furnishing store, a worker placed sheets of plywood over the windows and carried in cases of water. Lucien Bauduc, the owner and a New Orleans native sat inside, watching Isaac's progress on a TV. Since the storm was now predicted to be a category 1 hurricane, he did not plan to evacuate. "We're closing everything up as tight as possible," he said. Monica Bozeman, meteorologist at the National Hurricane Center in Miami, said Isaac was "weaker than Katrina" but remained a significant storm. "It is broader so it should have a wider impact along the Gulf Coast. The intensity, we are not quite sure yet," she told the Guardian. Federal officials said Isaac poses a risk to life and could cause extensive damage in the affected states. "There are some aspects of this storm that are very concerning, particularly storm surge as well as now potentially heavy rainfall across the area of impact," said Craig Fugate, an administrator with the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Before it honed in on America's coast, Isaac left a trail of destruction across the Caribbean. In Haiti, the official number of deaths resulting from the storm jumped to 19 on Monday. Two died in the neighbouring Dominican Republic. The storm knocked out power temporarily for around 16,000 customers throughout south Florida, and 555 flights were canceled at Miami International Airport. In the low-lying Keys, isolated patches of flooding were reported and some roads were littered with downed palm fronds and small branches, and two people were killed in a road accident.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Judge finds no fault in military investigation that cleared defence force of responsibility for protester being killed by bulldozer The death of the pro-Palestinian activist Rachel Corrie was not caused by the negligence of the Israeli state or army, a judge has ruled, dismissing a civil lawsuit brought by the family. Corrie's death was an accident for which the state of Israel was not responsible, said the judge at Haifa district court. There had been no fault in the internal Israeli military investigation clearing the driver of the bulldozer which crushed Corrie to death in March 2003 of any blame. The judge said the driver had not seen the young American activist. Corrie could have saved herself by moving out of the zone of danger as any reasonable person would have done, said Judge Oded Gershon. He ruled that no compensation would be paid and the family would not have to pay costs of the case. The lawsuit, filed by Corrie's parents, Cindy and Craig, of Olympia, Washington state, accused the Israeli military of either unlawfully or intentionally killing Rachel or of gross negligence. Their daughter was killed on 16 March 2003, crushed under an Israeli military bulldozer while trying to obstruct the demolition of a Palestinian home in Rafah on to the Gaza-Egypt border. At the time – the height of the second intifada, or Palestinian uprising – house demolitions were common, part of an increasing cycle of violence from both sides. Palestinian suicide bombers were causing death and destruction with terrifying frequency; the Israeli military was using its mighty force and weaponry to crush the uprising. The Israeli defence forces said the houses it targeted with bulldozers and shells were harbouring militants or weapons or being used to conceal arms-smuggling tunnels under the border. Human rights groups said the demolitions were collective punishment. Between 2000 to 2004 the Israeli military demolished around 1,700 homes in Rafah, leaving about 17,000 people homeless, according to the Israeli human rights organisation B'Tselem. Corrie was one of a group of around eight international activists acting as human shields against the demolitions. According to witness statements made at the time and evidence given in court, she clambered atop a pile of earth in the path of an advancing Caterpillar bulldozer. "She was standing on top of a pile of earth," fellow activist and eyewitness Richard Purssell, from Brighton, said at the time. "The driver cannot have failed to see her. As the blade pushed the pile, the earth rose up. Rachel slid down the pile. It looks as if her foot got caught. The driver didn't slow down; he just ran over her. Then he reversed the bulldozer back over her again." Tom Dale, an 18-year-old from Lichfield in Staffordshire, said: "The bulldozer went towards her very slowly, she was fully in clear view, straight in front of them. Unfortunately she couldn't keep her grip there and she started to slip down. You could see she was in serious trouble, there was panic in her face as she was turning around. All the activists there were screaming, running towards the bulldozer, trying to get them to stop. But they just kept on going." The day after Corrie's death, Israel's then prime minister, Ariel Sharon, promised US president George W Bush that Israel would conduct a "thorough, credible and transparent" investigation into the incident. Within a month the IDF had completed an internal inquiry led by its chief of staff. It concluded that its forces were not to blame, that the driver of the bulldozer had not seen the activist, that no charges would be brought and the case was closed. "Rachel Corrie was not run over by an engineering vehicle but rather was struck by a hard object, most probably a slab of concrete which was moved or slid down while the mound of earth which she was standing behind was moved," it said. Corrie and other ISM activists were accused by the investigators of "illegal, irresponsible and dangerous" behaviour. The Corries launched their civil lawsuit against the state of Israel as an "absolutely last resort". The case opened at Haifa district court in March 2010. Among those giving evidence was the driver of the bulldozer, who testified anonymously from behind a screen for "security reasons". He repeatedly insisted that the first time he saw the activist was when she was already dying: "I didn't see her before the incident. I saw people pulling the body out from under the earth." The hearings ended in July last year.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Image shows the layered face of Mount Sharp, giving more clues as to whether water once flowed on surface Nasa is showing off the first high-resolution colour picture sent back by the Mars rover Curiosity, detailing the mountain where scientists plan to focus their search for the chemical ingredients of life. The images reveal distinct tiers near the base of the three-mile-high mountain that rises from the floor of Gale Crater, where Curiosity landed on 6 August. Scientists estimate it will be a year before the rover reaches the layers of interest at the foot of the mountain, 6.2 miles from the landing site. From earlier orbital imagery, the layers appear to contain clays and other hydrated minerals that form in the presence of water, Nasa has said.
Previous missions to Mars have uncovered strong evidence for vast amounts of water flowing over its surface in the past. Curiosity was dispatched to hunt for organic materials and other chemistry considered necessary for life to evolve. In this first picture, the layers above where scientists expect to find hydrated minerals show sharp tilts, offering a strong hint of dramatic changes in Gale Crater, which is located in the planet's southern hemisphere near its equator. Mount Sharp, the name given to the towering formation at the centre of the crater, is believed to be the remains of sediment that once completely filled the 96-mile-wide basin.
"This is a spectacular feature that we're seeing very early," said John Grotzinger, a project scientist with the California Institute of Technology. "We can sense that there is a big change on Mount Sharp." The higher layers are steeply slanted relative to the layers of underlying rock, the reverse of similar features found in the Grand Canyon. "The layers are tilted in the Grand Canyon due to plate tectonics, so it's typical to see older layers be more deformed and more rotated than the ones above them," Grotzinger said. "In this case you have flat-line layers on Mars overlaid by tilted layers. The science team, of course, is deliberating over what this means.
"This thing just kind of jumped out at us as being something very different from what we ever expected." Take out plate tectonics and the most likely explanation for the angled layers has to do with the physical manner in which they were built up, such as being deposited by wind or by water. "On Earth there's a whole host of mechanisms that can generate inclined strata," Grotzinger said. "Probably we're going to have to drive up there to see what those strata are made of." Also on Monday, Nas said it used the rover to broadcast a message of congratulations to the Curiosity team from the Nasa chief, Charles Bolden, a demonstration of the high bandwidth available through a pair of US science satellites orbiting Mars.
"This is the first time that we've had a human voice transmitted back from another planet" beyond the moon, said Chad Edwards, chief telecommunications engineer for Nasa's Mars missions at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.
"We aren't quite yet at the point where we actually have a human present on the surface of Mars ... it is a small step."
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Fears of hantavirus outbreak as US health officials issue warning to walkers and campers Two people have died of the rare rodent-borne hantavirus after visiting Yosemite national park this summer. Officials from California's famed nature spot are warning past visitors to be aware of some flu-like aches and symptoms as fears rise of a possible outbreak. Health officials learned at the weekend that hantavirus had killed a second person, who had visited the park in June, spokesman Scott Gediman said. There is one other confirmed case of the illness and a fourth is being investigated. US federal health workers said symptoms may develop up to five weeks after exposure to the urine, droppings or saliva of infected rodents. There is no specific treatment for the virus and about one third of people who contract it will die. after the first death anyone with symptoms was advised to seek medical attention and let doctors know if they had been camping in Yosemite. They said that because thousands of people visit the park every month it would be impossible to track everyone who had been in Curry Village, where it is suspected the victims caught the virus. Park officials said visitors who stayed in tent cabins there between mid-June and the end of August should beware of fever, aches, dizziness and chills. Curry Village, a group of rustic cabins at the base of the 900 metre (3,000ft) promontory Glacier Point, is the most popular and economical lodging area in the park. Gediman said contractors were working on the cabins to protect park visitors. "This was never because the cabins were dirty, it was never because we didn't take care of them. This is just because approximately 20% of all deer mice are infected with hantavirus. And they're here in Yosemite Valley," he said. These are the first such deaths among park visitors, although two other people caught the virus in a more remote area in 2000 and 2010, officials said.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Image shows the layered face of Mount Sharp, giving more clues as to whether water once flowed on surface Nasa is showing off the first high-resolution colour picture sent back by the Mars rover Curiosity, detailing the mountain where scientists plan to focus their search for the chemical ingredients of life. The images reveal distinct tiers near the base of the three mile high mountain that rises from the floor of Gale Crater, where Curiosity landed on 6 August. Scientists estimate it will be a year before the rover reaches the layers of interest at the foot of the mountain, 6.2 miles from the landing site. From earlier orbital imagery the layers appear to contain clays and other hydrated minerals that form in the presence of water, Nasa has said.
Previous missions to Mars have uncovered strong evidence for vast amounts of water flowing over its surface in the past. Curiosity was dispatched to hunt for organic materials and other chemistry considered necessary for life to evolve. In this first picture, the layers above where scientists expect to find hydrated minerals show sharp tilts, offering a strong hint of dramatic changes in Gale Crater, which is located in the planet's southern hemisphere near its equator. Mount Sharp, the name given to the towering formation at the centre of the crater, is believed to be the remains of sediment that once completely filled the 96 mile wide basin.
"This is a spectacular feature that we're seeing very early," said project scientist John Grotzinger, with the California Institute of Technology. "We can sense that there is a big change on Mount Sharp." The higher layers are steeply slanted relative to the layers of underlying rock, the reverse of similar features found in Earth's Grand Canyon. "The layers are tilted in the Grand Canyon due to plate tectonics, so it's typical to see older layers be more deformed and more rotated than the ones above them," Grotzinger said. "In this case you have flat-line layers on Mars overlaid by tilted layers. The science team, of course, is deliberating over what this means.
"This thing just kind of jumped out at us as being something very different from what we ever expected." Take out plate tectonics and the most likely explanation for the angled layers has to do with the physical manner in which they were built up, such as being deposited by wind or by water. "On Earth there's a whole host of mechanisms that can generate inclined strata," Grotzinger said. "Probably we're going to have to drive up there to see what those strata are made of." Also on Monday Nas said it used the rover to broadcast a message of congratulations to the Curiosity team from Nasa chief Charles Bolden, a demonstration of the high bandwidth available through a pair of US science satellites orbiting Mars.
"This is the first time that we've had a human voice transmitted back from another planet" beyond the moon, said Chad Edwards, chief telecommunications engineer for Nasa's Mars missions at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.
"We aren't quite yet at the point where we actually have a human present on the surface of Mars ... it is a small step."
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Juan Manuel Santos confirms secret meetings have been held with rebels to revive negotiations that fell apart in 2002 Colombia's president has said peace talks with the Farc rebels are being arranged after secret talks took place between the government and leaders of the guerrilla movement. Following a week of growing rumours, President Juan Manuel Santos confirmed in a national television address on Monday night that his government has been conducting "exploratory talks" with rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia to seek an end to an insurgency that has lasted five decades. Santos did not confirm the timing but said that "in the coming days" he would reveal details of the outcome of the initial talks. Several media outlets reported that the two sides could begin formal negotiations as early as October and that the venue could be Cuba or Norway. Venezuela's President Hugo Chávez has reportedly been acting as a facilitator for the preliminary talks. The last time time the Farc sat down to peace talks in 1999 the government granted the rebels a 42,000 square kilometre swath of land as a safe haven in which to conduct the negotiations. But after two years the Farc were stronger, larger and bolder than ever in their attacks on the military and civilians. Talks broke down in 2002 after the Farc hijacked a commercial plane and kidnapped a senator. "We are going to learn from the errors of the past," said Santos in a clear reference to those failed talks. "Any [peace] process has to lead to the end of the conflict, not prolong it." Even as preliminary talks have been going on the Farc have stepped up their attacks in an apparent show of strength before discussing peace. According to the defence ministry acts of "terrorism" were up 53% in the first seven months of this year compared with the same period last year. On Sunday a car bomb blamed on the Farc killed six people including two children in the south-eastern town of Vistahermosa. But the guerrilla leadership has been making peace overtures for months. In January the Farc's new senior leader, Rodrigo Londoño, also known by the alias Timichenko, called for talks and then announced an end to kidnapping for ransom, which had been one of the government's demands. In April the group released the last 10 of its security force hostages, some of whom had been held for 14 years. The government then got congress to approve a constitutional amendment that lays the legal groundwork for an eventual peace process with rebels. The country's second-largest guerrilla group, the National Liberation Army, or ELN, told Reuters on Monday that it would join the Farc in peace talks with the government.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Burning of Qur'ans and urinating on corpses in Afghanistan led to allegations against six US army soldiers and three marines Six US army soldiers and three marines escaped criminal charges but received administrative punishments for mistakenly burning Qur'ans and urinating on the corpses of Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan, US military officials said Monday. US military leaders widely condemned the incident revealed earlier this year. The Qur'an burning triggered riots and retribution killings: two US troops were shot by an Afghan soldier and two US military advisers were gunned down at their desks at the interior ministry. The soldiers were disciplined for the burning of Qur'ans earlier this year at a US base in Afghanistan, and the marines were punished for their participation in a video that showed them urinating on Taliban corpses. Discipline against a Navy sailor in the Qur'an burnings was dismissed, and the Marine Corps said it would announce discipline against additional Marines in the urination case at a later date. The exact punishments were not disclosed on Monday but could include demotions, extra duty or forfeiture of pay. They could also stall any future advancement and end the military careers of the nine. Aimal Faizi, a spokesman for the Afghan president, said Hamid Karzai's office would review the decisions. News of the punishments came late at night in Afghanistan. The religious books and other materials were thrown into a pit used to burn rubbish at Bagram air field, a major US base north of Kabul. US officials said the holy books were pulled out by Afghan workers before they were destroyed. President Barack Obama later apologised to Karzai for the incident. The urination video, which came to light in January and appeared on YouTube, showed four marines in full combat gear urinating on the bodies of three dead men. On Monday, the Marine Corps revealed that there were also photographs taken at the time. In the video, one marine looks down at the bodies and says, "Have a good day, buddy." The unit involved fought in the southern Afghan province of Helmand for seven months before returning to its home base in North Carolina last September. The Marine Corps said one marine pleaded guilty to urinating on the Taliban soldiers and posing for a photograph. Another marine pleaded guilty to wrongfully videotaping the incident and posing for a photograph and a third pleaded guilty to failing to report the mistreatment of human casualties and lying about it.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | LA's concrete storm drains conceal a living, breathing waterway that has rarely been explored – until now A scorching morning in the San Fernando valley and I am driving up and down Balboa Boulevard, parks and fields either side of the motorway, lost. The talking GPS on my dashboard has lapsed into silence, defeated by an arcane destination with no zip code. I spy a park attendant emptying a bin and pull over to ask directions. He eyes me, baffled. I wonder if he is deaf and repeat the question. He still looks confused. "Did you say river?" Yes, I reply. Where is the river? He shakes his head. "What river?" I find an elderly woman with a straw hat walking her terrier and ask the same question. She looks puzzled. "What river, honey?" The river I am supposed to kayak, I reply. She looks at me compassionately, as if I have sunstroke. "I don't think you're in the right place." But I am. Swishing below, all but invisible from the park and motorway above, is the Los Angeles river. A river with water, fish, tadpoles, birds, reeds, banks, a river that flows for 52 miles skirting Burbank, north Hollywood, Silver Lake, downtown and Compton and empties into the Pacific Ocean at Long Beach. A regular river, except that to most Angelenos it's a secret. I ask three other people and receive the same blank looks until finally a park ranger confirms that, yes, there is a river at the bottom of a ravine all of 150ft away. There, amid the reeds, bob a dozen little green and red kayaks, and people wearing helmets and lifejackets are clambering inside them. It is the inaugural season of LA River Expeditions, a pioneering effort to reclaim a waterway that vanished from the city's consciousness almost a century ago. "Welcome," says George Wolfe, the group's founder. "I hope you're ready for adventure." We push off into the current. Until recently this excursion would have been considered not just mad but illegal. City authorities encased the river bed in concrete in the 1930s, turning it into a flood-control channel that was a byword for contamination and forbidden to boaters. For decades it languished all but forgotten, save for Hollywood using its storm drains in films such as Grease and Terminator 2. Now, however, it has formally opened to boating tours, specifically kayaks and canoes. Activists hope it is the first step towards transformation. "It's a milestone, and hopefully there are more to come," says Charles Eddy, a board member of Friends of the LA River, and part of this expedition, as he navigates his kayak through brambles. "If you think of the river as a blank palette, people will create all sorts of wonderful things." The kayak excursions are the latest twist in California's water wars, a saga immortalised in Roman Polanski's 1974 film Chinatown, a neo-noir exploration of intrigue and treachery with Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway set during the state's 1930s battles over land and water rights. The river, fed by streams from the Simi hills in Canoga park, originally provided food, water and transport for Gabrielino Indians and Spanish settlers. After the US seized control from Mexico the city's water needs outgrew the river. An aqueduct completed in 1913 directed water from the Owens river in the Sierra Nevada mountains to LA, ending dependence on the LA river. Disastrous flooding prompted its conversion – desecration, some critics would say – into a glorified drainage ditch. And so it remained for decades, a butt of jokes, a rubbish dump, out of sight and mind except when used as a backdrop for Hollywood car races and chases. Its nascent revival this summer as a source of recreation and environmental awareness comes amid a renewed water battle. The diverted Owens river is no longer enough – LA county is home to about 10 million people, not to mention vast farms further south clamouring for irrigation. Governor Jerry Brown is championing a proposed $14bn (£9bn) tunnel system to divert water from northern California to southern California's parched cities and farms. Two tubes, each 33ft wide, would direct part of the Sacramento river – up to 9,000 cubic feet a second – to existing pumps and aqueducts, supposedly ending the water conflicts that Ronald Reagan, Arnold Schwarzenegger and a string of other governors failed to resolve. "This thing is never going to be free of controversy and conflict," Brown told a press conference last month. "But we know a lot more today than we did then. Here we are, 30 years later, with a lot more knowledge and a lot more science." The US secretary of the interior, Ken Salazar, said the new tunnels would end "the epic water wars that have plagued this state for decades". Maybe, but the plan will have to overcome resistance from environmentalists who say it will kill salmon and farmers who complain about costs. Some analysts think the water wars will drag on, with southern California seeking ever more desperate remedies for its water shortages. The Los Angeles river, once the city's lifeblood, is a sideshow to the latest high-powered struggles for water. But to a coalition of artists, historians, environmentalists and outdoors enthusiasts its fate symbolises an attempt to make LA, branded by critics a soulless, dystopian metropolis, a kinder, gentler, more integrated city. "We have to start thinking in new ways, and using words differently. If you call it a sewer ditch you treat it like a sewer ditch. Call it a river and you treat it like a river," says Wolfe, the expedition leader, as our group paddles upstream through a gorge. An advertising copywriter with a passion for canoeing, Wolfe and some companions made the first journey down the entire river over three days in 2008. It was technically illegal – the city did not want anyone in its drainage ditch – but they rebuffed police challenges with a (legitimate) filming permit, a magical pass when dealing with the LAPD, and made it to Long Beach. The voyage obliged authorities to admit that the waterway was navigable, something previously denied, and created a legal wedge to demand public access under public trust doctrine, a concept dating from Roman law. Eddy says 80% of the water was treated sewage, most of the rest groundwater with modest contamination. "My dog has been drinking it for seven years and he hasn't got three tails." Inch by inch, authorities yielded, allowing Wolfe and his friends to take 300 people down the river in a pilot project last year. After nobody drowned or contracted a hideous disease, LA River Expeditions was allowed to start running regular, scheduled trips this summer for around 2,000 people. Tickets – $55 (£35) each – were snapped up within minutes of going on sale. "So here we are," says Wolfe, as the group of mostly novice kayakers bump and splash in his wake along a narrow stretch of surging water. The mood is giddy. Like the park attendant and dog-walker, until recently some of us did not even know there was a river, or where it was, or that it was usable. "I've lived near this river almost all my life and I've never been on it. I jumped at this chance," says Gloria Barke, 77, a retired events organiser, as her partner Robert Finkle, 81, a copyright lawyer, paddles from the back. The LA river will never compete with the Danube or Seine or Thames as an attraction for stressed city-dwellers. Nor will it inspire many poems or novels. It is too meagre, too hidden, to ever be fully part of the city. But advocates are on to something when they say it can transform perceptions of LA. After passing a concrete bridge with graffiti-daubed arches and a shopping trolley half-buried in mud, we enter a wilderness that seems a world removed from the freeways and urban sprawl above. "We call this the Grand Canyon," says Wolfe, showing his flair for advertising, as we paddle through a mini-gorge 15ft tall. Nature slowly asserts itself. To our left are wild fig trees, descendants of those planted by the Indians, to our right potentially deadly ricin-producing plants. Further on, hallucinogenic gypsum weed. "Around the next bend is the Apocalypse Now bit," says Wolfe. We encounter "fish sticks": improvised traps made by unknown hands to trap carp, tilapia and other species. A discourse on how to make the traps is drowned out by a passenger jet roaring low overhead, briefly breaking the spell. The sense that this is something special returns as we moor our boats and slosh ashore, inspecting plants, a turtle shell, a cascade, before resuming the journey. It is difficult to believe that the 405 freeway, the gridlocked bane of LA motorists, is just a mile away. Three hours later we return to where we started, a swampy bank, and moor the kayaks amid some ducks. The tour is over. We saw nothing that would excite David Attenborough. But we glimpsed another LA, one not consumed by automobiles, or turned into a strip mall, where nature and human optimism thrive in a watery realm, an ever so slightly mystic river.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Kelly says detectives' decision to fatally shoot gunman Jeffery Johnson, 58, on Friday was appropriate in the circumstances Raymond Kelly, the New York police commissioner, has defended two of his officers whose decision to fatally shoot an armed man outside the Empire State Building on Friday led to nine bystanders being injured. Kelly on Monday described the shooting as appropriate in the circumstances. The officers had been told that Jeffrey Johnson had killed a co-worker around the corner and was pointing his gun at the pair during rush hour on West 33rd St in Manhattan. The NYPD's handling of the shooting was questioned by one of those injured. A grand jury, convened on Monday, will decide whether the police response was reasonable. Robert Asika, 23, told the Guardian on Monday that he stood by his comments on Friday, when he accused police of "shooting randomly". Asika, who was on his way to hospital on Monday because of bleeding from the wound to his elbow, said he saw at least two others being hit by police bullets. He told the Guardian on Friday: "If you're gonna aim, try and aim perfectly. If you wanna aim at the target, you got to know what you're doing, because it's the street." NYPD officers are authorised to use deadly force if they believe their life is in danger. Sanford Rubenstein, a personal injury lawyer who has represented several clients suing the NYPD, including the family of Sean Bell, who was killed by police after leaving his bachelor party in 2006, said: "This is not a decision to be made by the commissioner or the mayor. Ultimately, it is a decision for a jury. "Clearly the man did have a gun and he had just murdered someone. The question is reasonableness. People who are innocent bystanders should not be put at risk of death possibly, or being wounded, if it's not 'reasonable' for the officers to take the action that they took. It is a serious issue. By firing 16 shots, six by one and I understand nine by the other, whether the police endangered innocent people."
The incident began just after 9am on Friday when Johnson, described as a "disgruntled former employee", walked up to Steve Ercolino, 41, his former manager at Hazan Imports, a business that operates from premises near the Empire State Building. Johnson shot him three times before calmly walking away. Reports suggest Johnson, 58, did not fire his gun when he was confronted by officers. The officers, who were on duty outside the Empire State Building, were alerted by a construction worker. Nine bystanders suffered non-life threatening injuries caused by police bullets. The patrolmen were placed on desk duty while prosecutors review their response.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Murders of former soldier and his girlfriend reveal militia's plan to stockpile weapons, poison food supply and assassinate Obama Four army soldiers killed a former comrade and his girlfriend to protect an anarchist militia group they formed that stockpiled assault weapons and plotted a range of anti-government attacks, prosecutors told a judge Monday. Prosecutors in rural Long County, near the sprawling army post Fort Stewart, said the militia group composed of active duty and former US military members spent at least $87,000 buying guns and bomb components. They planned a series of attacks, aimed ultimately at overthrowing the government and assassinating the president. Two people – former soldier Michael Roark and his 17-year-old girlfriend Tiffany York – were shot in the woods last December in order to keep the group's plans secret. "This domestic terrorist organization did not simply plan and talk," prosecutor Isabel Pauley told a superior court judge. "Prior to the murders in this case, the group took action. Evidence shows the group possessed the knowledge, means and motive to carry out their plans." One of the Fort Stewart soldiers charged in the case, army private first class Michael Burnett, also gave testimony that backed up many of the assertions made by prosecutors. The 26-year-old soldier pleaded guilty Monday to manslaughter, illegal gang activity and other charges. He made a deal to cooperate with prosecutors in their case against the three other soldiers. Prosecutors said the group called itself Fear, short for Forever Enduring Always Ready. Pauley said authorities do not know how many members the militia had. Burnett, 26, said he knew the group's leaders from serving with them at Fort Stewart. He agreed to testify against fellow soldiers private Isaac Aguigui, identified by prosecutors as the militia's founder and leader, sergeant Anthony Peden and private Christopher Salmon. All are charged by state authorities with malice murder, felony murder, criminal gang activity, aggravated assault and using a firearm with committing a felony. A hearing for the three soldiers was scheduled Thursday. Prosecutors say Roark, 19, served with the four defendants in the fourth brigade combat team of the army's third infantry division and became involved with the militia. Pauley said the group believed it had been betrayed by Roark, who left the army two days before he was killed, and decided the ex-soldier and his girlfriend needed to be silenced. Burnett testified that on the night of December 4, he and the three other soldiers lured Roark and York to some woods a short distance from the army post under the guise that they were going target shooting. He said Peden shot Roark's girlfriend in the head while she was trying to get out of her car. Salmon, he said, made Roark get on his knees and shot him twice in the head. Burnett said Aguigui ordered the killings. "A loose end is the way Isaac put it," Burnett said. Also charged in the killings is Salmon's wife, Heather Salmon. Pauley said Aguigui funded the militia using $500,000 in insurance and benefit payments from the death of his pregnant wife a year ago. Aguigui was not charged in his wife's death, but Pauley told the judge her death was "highly suspicious". She said Aguigui used the money to buy $87,000 worth of semiautomatic assault rifles, other guns and bomb components that were recovered from the accused soldiers' homes and from a storage locker. He also used the insurance payments to buy land for his militia group in Washington state, Pauley said. In a videotaped interview with military investigators, Pauley said, Aguigui called himself "the nicest cold-blooded murderer you will ever meet". He used the army to recruit militia members, who wore distinctive tattoos that resemble an anarchy symbol, she said. Prosecutors say they have no idea how many members belong to the group. "All members of the group were on active duty or were former members of the military," Pauley said. "He targeted soldiers who were in trouble or disillusioned." The prosecutor said the militia group had big plans. It plotted to take over Fort Stewart by seizing its ammunition control point and talked of bombing the Forsyth Park fountain in nearby Savannah, she said. In Washington state, she added, the group plotted to bomb a dam and poison the state's apple crop. Ultimately, prosecutors said, the militia's goal was to overthrow the government and assassinate the president. The army brought charges against the four accused soldiers in connection with the slayings of Roark and York in March but has yet to act on them. Fort Stewart spokesman Kevin Larson said he could not comment immediately on the militia accusations that emerged in civilian court Monday. District attorney Tom Durden said his office has been sharing information with federal authorities, but no charges have been filed in federal court. Jim Durham, an assistant US attorney for the southern district of Georgia, would not comment on whether a case is pending.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Site appeals against court request to hand over details of tweets relating to Occupy activist charged with disorderly conduct Twitter has lodged an appeal against a New York judge's decision that it must hand over detailed information related to an Occupy Wall Street protester charged with disorderly conduct. In July, Twitter was ordered to hand over almost three months' worth of messages and other details related to the account of activist Malcolm Harris. Harris was among the hundreds of protesters accused of disorderly conduct during a protest on Brooklyn bridge last October. Prosecutors have argued that Harris's tweets show he knew he should not have been on the bridge. He has filed his own appeal, arguing that the judge's ruling would hand over details of where he was and who he spoke to, as well as his tweets, and falls "so far outside the realm of a legitimate ruling that we are entitled to a pre-trial appeal". Twitter has argued that the posts belonged to Harris and, as such, it would be violating his fourth amendment right against unreasonable searches if it were to disclose the communications without first receiving a search warrant. The case has evolved into a closely watched legal scrap over the extent of the US authorities' right to access information from social networks. Twitter has previously resisted attempts by the US authorities to access the account of Icelandic MP and former WikiLeaks associate Birgitta Jónsdóttir. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has filed a motion with the court in support of Twitter. ACLU attorney Aden Fine said: "Under the first and fourth amendments, we have the right to speak freely on the internet, safe in the knowledge that the government can't get information about our speech without a warrant and without satisfying first amendment scrutiny. "We're hopeful that Twitter's appeal will overturn the criminal court's dangerous decision, and reaffirm that we retain our constitutional rights to speech and privacy online, as well as offline." The New York district attorney's office issued a subpoena to Twitter in January calling on the firm to hand over "any and all user information, including email address, as well as any and all tweets" for the period in question. Last month Manhattan criminal court judge Matthew Sciarrino rejected most of Twitter arguments that the authorities were infringing Harris's constitutional rights, and said that Twitter owned his messages. Sciarrino said he would review all the material that he ordered turned over and would pass on "relevant portions" to prosecutors.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Retired Seal who wrote book may face criminal charges after ignoring US military rule that requires pre-publication review The Pentagon is reviewing a copy of a forthcoming firsthand account of the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, checking for leaks of classified information. Pentagon spokesman George Little said on Monday that defense department officials "received the manuscript and we are looking at it". The book, No Easy Day, is scheduled for publication on 11 September, the anniversary of the 2001 attacks that bin Laden masterminded. The author, a former US navy Seal who participated in the raid, did not submit the book until now for the pre-publication review that is required by the military secrecy agreements officials say he signed. A special operations advocacy group, Special Operations-Opsec, is criticizing President Barack Obama over alleged leaks and the making of the raid the national security centerpiece of his re-election campaign. It has asked the US attorney general to block the book's release until the government can make sure it reveals no classified information. In a letter released to the Associated Press, the group asked the justice department "to immediately seek … an injunction in federal court to prevent this book from being published and distributed" until it can be reviewed. Justice department spokesman Dean Boyd said the department is reviewing the letter. Pentagon regulations stipulate that retired personnel, former employees and non-active duty members of the reserves "shall use the DOD security review process to ensure that information they submit for public release does not compromise national security". The CIA and special operations command could also weigh in on the review, since the CIA ran last year's operation against bin Laden. Pentagon officials say that if they determine the manuscript reveals classified information about the raid, the Pentagon would "defer to the department of justice". If the book has classified information, the former Seal could face criminal charges. The publisher says the author intends to give the "majority" of the proceeds to charity, but the justice department could still sue to collect any future book proceeds as well. The publisher, Dutton, announced the book's pending release last week, saying that No Easy Day will "set the record straight" on the bin Laden operation. The book has shot up to the top of the Amazon.com chart, reaching No 1 as of late Friday morning and remaining there Monday, displacing the million-selling erotic trilogy Fifty Shades of Gray.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Finance ministers announce working group to integrate policies as German business confidence falls to lowest level since 2010 Germany and France have moved to bury months of squabbling over how to resolve the euro crisis by agreeing to form a joint policymaking body to create a more integrated economic and fiscal policy in the eurozone and structure a new banking supervision regime. The announcement of the accord in Berlin came as Germany's leading business confidence index showed a greater than expected dip due to fears of the impact of the euro's travails on German exports. It is the fourth month in a row that German business confidence has fallen. The German and French finance ministers, Wolfgang Schäuble and Pierre Moscovici, said the aim of the new working group was to produce common policies on how to deal with Greece, Spain, and Italy as well as mapping out longer-term strategies. The Germans hope this will conclude in a full-scale political union within the eurozone. "We want to take joint decisions," said Schäuble, a Christian Democrat of the German chancellor Angela Merkel's party. Moscovici, a French Socialist, said the countries needed to "deepen our consultations". The eurozone's two biggest economies have been at odds since the election of François Hollande as French president in May. He has sought a policy shift geared to growth and jobs, while Berlin, dominating the EU response to the crisis for almost three years, has emphasised austerity, savage spending cuts, and debt reduction. Monday's announcement was an acknowledgment that eurozone crisis management will be paralysed if the two biggest players remain at loggerheads. The announcement came as the German headline Ifo index of business sentiment fell in August to its lowest level since March 2010, dropping to 102.3 from 103.3 in July. However, the current assessment component of the index dropped by less than expected, from 111.6 to 111.2. The Berlin talks kicked off what promises to be a fraught and frantic few weeks in crisis management after the August holiday lull. Policymakers at the European Central Bank (ECB) are to meet next week amid expectations that their president, Mario Draghi, could unveil plans to intervene in the bond markets to try to cap Spain's and Italy's borrowing costs. The following week the European Commission is to reveal new proposals for bank regulation and supervision, likely handing vast new powers to the ECB. The Franco-German accord came as Spain revealed its ailing economy did worse than thought over the past two years. The country's statistics office said its economy grew by just 0.4%, rather than 0.7%. It also said a recession the previous year shrank the economy by 0.3% rather than 0.1%, meaning Spain's economy has declined by around 4.5% in the four years since a housing bubble burst and the credit crunch hit in 2008. With economists seeing a further 2% fall in GDP over the next two years, predictions that Spain is in the middle of a lost decade now look to be accurate. The economy will not return to its 2007 size until the second half of this decade.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Move reveals differences with UK and US, which have been more guarded in their dealings with Syrian opposition groups The French president, François Hollande, has urged Syria's divided opposition to form a provisional government, saying that Paris would give it official recognition. The announcement on Monday was aimed at increasing pressure on Syria's president, Bashar al-Assad, but also revealed differences with other western capitals. Washington and London have been more guarded in their dealings with Syrian opposition groups which they see as too fractured and ineffective to form an alternative government. "France asks the Syrian opposition to form a provisional government, inclusive and representative, that can become the legitimate representative of the new Syria," Hollande said, at a meeting of French ambassadors at the presidential palace. "France will recognise the provisional government of Syria once it is formed." The Socialist president went on: "We are including our Arab partners to accelerate this step", but did not say whether he had their agreement. The Arab League is trying to encourage opposition factions to sign up to a common transition plan for a post-Assad Syria but the main exile group, the Syrian National Council (SNC), has been reluctant to take part, fearing a dilution of its influence. While Britain and the US have distanced themselves from the SNC, seeking closer ties with internal rebel elements, France has remained a strong backer. Egypt's new leader, Mohamed Morsi, has launched his own peace initiative in an effort to break the deadlock at a time of rising death tolls across Syria. He is due in Iran on Thursday in a significant sign of rapprochement between the two countries, and a step towards bridging Sunni-Shia differences in policy towards Damascus. Morsi's participation at the summit of the Non-Aligned Movement of developing countries in Tehran will mark the first visit by an Egyptian leader since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, and a substantial change from the foreign policy of the late dictator, Hosni Mubarak. Morsi will stay only a few hours in what will be largely a symbolic trip, but from Cairo's point of view it is intended to lay the foundations for a regional effort to stem deepening violence in Syria. His proposal, first put forward at a meeting this month in Mecca of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, is to form a contact group made up of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Iran, bringing together the most powerful Sunni backers of the Syrian rebels with Assad's only significant ally in the region, the Shia regime in Tehran. All four countries initially agreed to hold a foreign ministers meeting in Cairo this week, diplomats said, but it was postponed because of the NAM summit in Iran. Before his Tehran trip, the Egyptian leader is due to hold talks in Beijing on Tuesday with the Chinese government which has hitherto supported Russia in opposing punitive measures against the Assad regime at the UN security council. "Part of the mission is in China, part of the mission is in Russia and part of the mission is in Iran," Morsi's spokesman, Yasser Ali, said. It is not clear whether or when the Egyptian president will visit Russia as part of the initiative. Western officials say any attempt to broker peace in Syria will hinge on the role of Moscow, the Assad regime's principal sponsor and arms supplier. They argue that without Russian pressure, Assad is unlikely to give up his efforts to crush the insurgency. The Hollande offer to recognise the opposition also faced daunting odds, given the failure of previous efforts to bring the rebels together. Peter Harling, a Syria expert at the International Crisis Group, said that after the failure of the UN and Arab League to make any diplomatic progress, any effort is worthwhile when hundreds of casualties are reported daily. "Given how desperate the situation is and the need for some movement on the political front it's a welcome initiative," Harling said. "In the past, the US opposed any participation of Iran in the contact group, but it makes sense to include Iran in any negotiated transition. Tehran has much to lose, and it can cause damage in the region if it is excluded. It is just diplomatic common sense." Assad met Iranian officials in Damascus on Sunday and was quoted on Syrian state media as saying his regime would carry on fighting "whatever the price." The intensity of the fighting has dramatically increased in recent weeks culminating in a government offensive on Daraya on the south western edge of Damascus. Various opposition claims have put the death toll in the town at between 300 and 600, many of them civilians, from three days of heavy shelling and then a group attack on Saturday, when troops and allied militiamen when from door to door. If the reports are verified, it would be the worst massacre of the 17-month long conflict, which began in March last year with mostly peaceful anti-regime protests. Official restrictions on independent press coverage make it hard to confirm the casualty figures but independent witnesses spoke of seeing scores of bodies in the town and video footage which emerged yesterday showed mass burials. Video footage from Damascus showed a Syrian military helicopter fall to the ground in flames. The Syrian official news agency confirmed the crash but gave no details.As the civil war continued to intensify, 9,000 Syrian refugees were yesterday reported to be stuck at the Turkish border unable to cross because of a shortage of accomodation. Turkish officials said that new shelters should be ready for them over the course of the coming week and that they would meanwhile be given humanitarian relief supplies on the Syrian side of the border.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | GOP officials admit they would find it difficult to push on with their convention in the event of severe flooding in Louisiana Republicans are working on emergency plans to salvage their convention as tropical storm Isaac hurtles towards New Orleans, with party officials acknowledging that their carefully-choreographed event could face further disruption. The Republicans, still haunted by the fatal delays of President Bush in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina exactly seven years ago, would find it difficult to push ahead with their convention in Tampa in the event of serious flooding. Organisers said for the first time that the remaining days – Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday – may also be disrupted by Isaac hitting the Gulf coast. They expressed hope that the convention, with a reshaped schedule, would go ahead, but conceded that in a worst-case scenario the whole thing might have to be cancelled. Under that scenario, Romney would express regret over events in New Orleans and say that human life takes precedence over politics. Senior Republicans, including Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal and Florida governor Rick Scott, have pulled out of the convention to focus on leading the Isaac response in their states. Isaac has already affected the Republican convention, an event intended as a launchpad for Mitt Romney's bid for the White House and an occasion normally attracting guaranteed primetime television spots. It should have kicked off on Monday, but the Republican national committee cancelled the first day amid severe weather warnings for Florida. However, as delegates gathered for the convention's formal opening followed by its immediate adjournment, the National Hurricane Center lifted the tropical storm warning for Tampa. Romney, who remains in New Hampshire rehearsing his conference speech, expressed surprised when asked about the convention being cancelled. "Got a great convention ahead," he told the Washington Post. The Republicans intended to use the event to criticise Barack Obama's economic record and build up Romney's profile. But television networks are now sending teams to New Orleans, and focus on the imminent storm will almost certainly deflect attention from the convention. RNC chairman Reince Priebus admitted that the convention would have to compete with the weather story. "It's a terrible thing. We certainly hope it doesn't develop into something stronger. We have to tell the Mitt Romney story and prosecute the president on what he promised, what he delivered. And at the same time you have to report on this storm, because it is something that people need to know about," he told NBC. The convention was officially opened on Monday but went into recess again after less than 10 minutes, and was postponed until Tuesday. Priebus, speaking at the podium in front of mainly journalists, expressed hope that those in the path of Isaac will be kept out off harm's way. Priebus also launched a political gimmick, a clock ticking for the duration of the convention that will total the amount of federal debt accumulated during that time. There was also a prayer and a short video of Romney expressing his love of America. Isaac could also give Barack Obama an opportunity to make a high-profile intervention. Having learned the lessons from Bush, Obama would almost certainly head directly for New Orleans in the event of serious damage. Obama called the governors of the states in the path of the storm to offer government assistance. The compressed convention schedule caused another high-profile cancellation: entrepreneur and Romney backer Donald Trump was due to have a speaking slot on Monday, but was bumped from the schedule. The conservative talk show host Mike Huckabee has also pulled out. The former Arkansas governor had been due to speak Monday and has not been rescheduled for later in the week. Huckabee's non-appearance, though, could prove a blessing for the convention organisers, because he has been one of the few high-profile Republicans to speak out on behalf of the party's senatorial candidate Todd Akin, who is at the centre of the rape/abortion row. If Huckabee had spoken, it would have renewed a controversy the party has been trying to shove to the sidelines. The seventh anniversary of Katrina will fall on Wednesday. New Orleans has a special resonance for Republicans because of Bush and because of ideological arguments about the level of federal intervention, and this would make it difficult for the party to continue with a raucous convention gathering. Rich Galen, a Republican strategist, said the tone of the conference might have to be changed. "You can tone down the happy-days-are-here-again a bit," he told AP. Russ Schriefer, who is organising the convention schedule, told a press conference on Monday the party is not yet seriously looking at extending into Friday. "We are planning on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. If the weather changes in a way that we have to make some changes … it's a hypothetical question, so I don't want to answer it in that way." Schriefer said that the schedule was being reorganised to accommodate speakers who had been dropped. Speakers had been asked to shorten their speeches. "There's a weather event. We all know that," Schriefer said, responding to a question about the impact of the storm heading towards New Orleans. Various parties and events on the sidelines of the convention were cancelled on Monday, though Tampa was experiencing little more than heavy rain. A protest organised for Monday was among the events to suffer. Only a few hundred protesters turned up out of a predicted 5,000, and the organisers blamed the warnings about Isaac. The focus on the storm had one positive for the Republicans, distracting attention from a report that New Jersey governor Chris Christie had turned down the vice-presidential slot because he thought Obama was likely to win the election. Christie is lined up to be the keynote speaker, with the primetime television slot, on Tuesday night. According to the New York Post, Christie refused to give up his governorship to be Romney's running mate. Christie, though a popular figure, would have annoyed the conservative wing of the party because he is less hardline than many Republicans over guns and abortion. Romney campaign officials denied the story. Romney may have considered Christie early on when his strategy was to win over independent swing voters but when he shifted to a new strategy of cementing the party base then his eventual choice, Paul Ryan, is a better fit.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | In a country where many still call his religion a 'cult', Republican candidate – and fellow Mormons – have often seen their beliefs used against them in public life Philip Barlow does not recognise the descriptions of Mitt Romney, as a cold, stiff CEO. As Romney's church counsellor when the Republican presidential hopeful was a bishop in the Mormon church in Boston, Barlow saw him administer to the emotional and practical needs of all his flock. "It forces you to become intimately involved in the lives of people of all economic and racial backgrounds," he explains. "People would come to him with problems: a son who's strayed from the faith, a daughter with a drug problem, marriage difficulties. I was there with him in his home, every Saturday, talking about how he would handle these problems. In his personal life he's not stiff at all." So why, given such high favourability ratings and a reputation for being out of touch, doesn't Romney draw on that experience to show his capacity for empathy? The gamble, explains Barlow, the Arrington chair of Mormon history and culture at the Utah State University in Logan, may be too great. "It risks inviting more scrutiny of Mormonism. The political upside is it humanises the candidate. The political downside is it Mormonises the candidate." Now, Romney and his campaign team have decided that the risk is worth taking. This week, as Republicans gather in Tampa, Florida, to formally nominate Romney as their candidate for the White House, he will publicly embrace his religion. A Mormon bishop will perform the opening invocation on Thursday, the day of Romney's speech, and campaign officials have hinted that he will talk openly about his Mormonism. In a recent Washington Post column Michael Gerson argued that given Romney's performance so far, the downsides aren't that great. "Take away Romney's religion and you are left with Harvard, Bain and various corporate boardrooms," he wrote. "Mormonism has been one of the main stages for his leadership, as well as the main setting where he has displayed humanity. … Mormonism is the reason for Romney's rectitude, the explanation for his wholesomeness, the key to understanding his persona. Without it, he would merely be a stiff, able management consultant. Romney's reticence on religion leaves a large personal and biographical gap." 'Mormons understand why he keeps a distance'The emergence of a viable Mormon candidate for the presidency has posed significant challenges both for the candidate and the Mormon community, the overwhelming majority of whom are members of the Church of Latter-day Saints. Mormons still very much see themselves as outsiders. A Pew poll in January revealed that almost half believe they face a lot of discrimination – in fact they perceive themselves to be more discriminated against than black Americans – and more than two-thirds think their fellow countrymen do not regard Mormonism as part of mainstream America. That sense of alienation is well founded. Barely half of Americans believe Mormonism is a Christian religion, and in an open-ended question posed in a poll last November the word most frequently used to describe Mormonism was a "cult". A poll in 2007 revealed that people were less likely to vote for a Mormon presidential candidate than a candidate who was female, black, twice divorced or a smoker. Only Muslims and atheists fare worse. Most Americans now know Romney is Mormon. Indeed they are more comfortable with his faith than they are with Obama's (though that seems to be because a large percentage still believe he is a Muslim). But the group that is least comfortable with his religion – white evangelical Christians – also happens to be a crucial part of the Republican base. When he ran in 2008 opponents in South Carolina someone sent fake Mormon holiday cards claiming they were from him and an email from an unknown source with the subject line "Mitt Romney has a family secret he doesn't want you to know" that encouraged recipients to trust their "dark suspicions" about Mormonism. "It's like quicksand for him," explains one long time observer. "He can't just go there a little bit. Put your foot in and you're sucked in to the whole thing. I think most Mormons understand why he keeps a distance from the church." It is on this fragile and besieged sense of Mormon identity that Romney's candidacy rests as both a blessing and a burden. America is poised to pit its first black president against its first Mormon contender. They're calling it the Mormon Moment. But it doesn't seem to be a moment of unqualified joy for Mormons. "There is a sense of ambivalence in the community," explains Paul Reeve, associate professor of history at the university of Utah. "It signals to some Mormons that we might no longer be considered a pariah faith but instead might finally be arriving. A Mormon candidacy gives a sense of acceptance and legitimacy in mainstream American life. But there is also concern about the level of scrutiny it has brought to their faith. Every wart from Mormon history is being examined so closely it worries them." The media, they say, tend to concentrate on polygamy – which the church renounced in 1890 and only 2% of Mormons now endorse – and "magic underwear" – symbolically significant temple garments worn by many church members after they've taken part in an endowment ceremony. More than a third of Mormons think news coverage of their religion is unfair and more than half that they are badly portrayed in films and television. "Things that are sacred to us become this awful caricature," says Neylan McBaine, founder of the Mormon Women's Project. "The church membership is really feeling the weight of the Romney candidacy." If there is excitement in the Mormon community at Romney's candidacy it certainly seems muted. A recent poll found that 79% of Mormons in Utah, including more than half of Democrats and almost two-thirds of independents, felt his candidacy was "a good thing" for the Mormon church. But driving around Utah – where Mormons comprise more than half the population – for a few days I saw only a handful Romney bumper stickers and not a single poster. By this time four years ago black America was awash with t-shirts casting Obama alongside Martin Luther King and Malcolm X – essentially iconising a living candidate – and psychedelic posters proclaiming hope and change. Nevertheless, Barlow believes that while the ambivalence is real, "the dominant side of that equation is the pride. Mormons are not by and large a demonstrative people so it's a quiet pride." Joseph Smith's visits from the angelsEvery religion has its story. A narrative through which believers make sense of their faith. From the loaves and fishes to the creation story, religion is filled with tales of the fantastic. Every Sunday, Catholics are supposed to drink the blood and eat the flesh of Christ. Christians and Jews are taught that Moses parted the Red Sea and led the Israelites to the promised land. Hindus have Hanuman, the monkey god who carried an entire mountain covered with the sanjivini herb to save the life of Lakshmana. Some take them literally; for others they are metaphors. If they weren't fantastical, there would be precious little to put your faith in. Mormonism is no different. The religion started with Joseph Smith, a man in western New York who had many visions. During the 1820s he said an angel visited him and lead him to a buried book of golden plates inscribed with a Christian history of ancient American civilizations. It was one visit among many; he also claimed that the angels of Peter, James, John and John the Baptist visited him and endowed him with a range of priesthood authorities. Claiming that by the "by the gift and power of God" he translated the 500 pages in two months he published the Book of Mormon, organised the Church of Christ and was hailed as a prophet. The president of the church is still considered a prophet and God's spokesman to the world. Smith's small but growing band of followers were chased out of New York and settled in Kirtland, Ohio, from which they were expelled, pushing them south and west to Jackson County, Missouri. Attempts to lay down roots there were scuppered when the governor issued a "Mormon extermination order" insisting they must "be treated as enemies". They went north to Illinois where after a few years Smith and his brother were slaughtered by a mob. Brigham Young then took over and lead them westward where they settled in what was then Mexican land and would later become the state of Utah. "Even though more than a century has passed and we don't face anything like that level of persecution now there's a live nerve ending in the Mormon consciousness that's informed by that history," explains Barlow, "that does make us more sensitive to being misrepresented." In five elections, no Democrat has broken 35% in UtahMormons were not always considered conservative. The church drew significant fire for its opposition to slavery although it went on to exclude people of African descent from both the priesthood and participation in temple ceremonies until 1978. "Through the 19th century there was an attempt to insulate themselves from capitalism through communalism," says Reeve. In the post-war era the church comprised a significant portion of Democrats. In 1964 Lyndon Johnson won Utah; in 1960 Kennedy got 45%. But with the late '60s came the sexual revolution: women's rights, abortion, gay liberation and divorce. With little doctrinal room for manoeuvre on these social issues Mormons increasingly identified with the Republican Party. In the last five elections no Democratic candidate has broken 35% in Utah. "Mormons have their idiosyncratic dimensions that are particular to the faith but they are all part of a piece of that broader American story," says Barlow. Today there are 14 million Mormons worldwide, less than half of whom live in the US. Comprising just 2% of the US population they are no monolithic group. One in 7 is not white; slightly more than that are Democrats or lean that way; a quarter do not live in the west; and one in 10 is divorced or separated. Still, broadly speaking, they are far more likely to be conservative, educated and white than the country as a whole and more than half live in just three states: Utah, California and Idaho. For a group who feel excluded from the mainstream they have fared remarkably well in most sphere's of American life. Democratic senate majority leader, Harry Reid, is Mormon as is the author of the Twilight vampire series, Stephanie Meyer, and former Fox News anchor, Glenn Beck, the CEO of Jet Blue Airways, David Neeleman and the Marriott family that owns the hotel chain. (Romney is named after the Marriott founder, John Willard Marriott. Romney's first name is Willard. Mitt is his second.) Indeed, Romney is not the first Mormon to run for president. He's not even the first in his family – his father George, the former governor of Michigan, ran in 1968 – or the only one this year – John Huntsman, who bowed out early, is also Mormon. Greg Smith, a senior researcher for Pew forum on religious and public life, says the group Mormons most resemble in their feelings and attitudes are American Muslims. "Both groups feel they are discriminated against and not fully accepted by mainstream society. But both groups are still doing quite well and are happy with their lives and generally optimistic about the future." In Armitstead Maupin's Maybe the Moon the dwarf protagonist, Cady Roth, explains her conciliatory impulses thus: "When you're my size and not being tormented by elevator buttons, water fountains and ATMs, you spend your life accommodating the sensibilities of 'normal people'. You learn to bury your own feelings and honour theirs in the hope that they'll meet you halfway. It becomes your job, and yours alone, to explain, to ignore, to forgive – over and over again. There's no way you can get around this. You do it if you want to have a life and not spend it being corroded by your own anger. You do it if you want to belong to the human race."
Every minority candidate, it seems, must at some point during their campaign allay the fears of the majority if they want to be part of the electoral race. Obama did it in Pennsylvania as he sought to quell fears about his pastor, Jeremiah Wright. In 1960 John F Kennedy addressed his Catholicism in a now famous speech in Houston. "I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute," he said. "I am not the Catholic candidate for president. I am the Democratic Party's candidate for president, who happens also to be a Catholic. I do not speak for my church on public matters, and the church does not speak for me." Back in 2007 Romney claimed he wanted to give a speech on his faith but was dissuaded from doing so by his team. "The political advisers tell me: 'No, no, no, it's not a good idea. It draws too much attention to that issue alone.' " But shortly before the primaries four years ago he felt he had little choice. Having once been a frontrunner in Iowa back then he was losing ground to the lay preacher and former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee. Given that more than half of Iowa caucus-goers in 2008 described themselves as born-again or evangelical the Romney campaign felt they had no option but to address it. Shortly before Christmas in 2007 Romney spoke at the George HW Bush library in College Station, Texas. The speech was revealing on many fronts. Like Kennedy almost 50 years earlier he emphasised that if elected he would be representing America not his church. "Let me assure you that no authorities of my church, or of any other church for that matter, will ever exert influence on presidential decisions. Their authority is theirs, within the province of church affairs, and it ends where the affairs of the nation begin," he said. He also acknowledged and accepted his vulnerability on the issue. "Some believe such a confession of my faith will sink my candidacy," he said. "If they are right so be it. But I think they underestimate the American people." But then came a moment when Romney had to say something that Kennedy would never have had to say (although Obama, for different reasons has also had to stress): that he considers himself a Christian. "I believe that Jesus in the son of God and the saviour of mankind," he said. And while Kennedy saw American secularism as the bridge between his minority faith and politics, Romney argued that secularism was becoming a barrier between all faiths and politics, first caricaturing and then condemning those who advocate a strict separation between church and state. "They seek to remove from the public domain any acknowledgment of God," he said. "Religion is seen as merely a private affair, with no place in public life. It is as if they are intent on establishing a new religion in America – the religion of secularism. They are wrong. Freedom requires religion, just as religion requires freedom." His positioning reflects a general shift in American political culture toward a more explicit and flamboyant expression of religiosity. But it also revealed his particular challenges as a Mormon in the Republican Party in this moment. Unlike Obama, who has generally faced racialised attacks from outside his own party, Romney is most vulnerable to anti-Mormon attacks from within his own party. In the audience that day were, among others, the president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, Focus on the Family founder James Dobson, and the Reverend Lou Sheldon of the Traditional Values Coalition. They were pleased by the speech. But not everybody was convinced. In October a prominent Texas pastor, Robert Jeffress, branded Mormonism a cult and suggested Romney was not a proper Christian not long after introducing Rick Perry. "This isn't news," he said. "This idea that Mormonism is a theological cult is not news either. That has been the historical position of Christianity for a long time." "It is only faith in Jesus Christ, in Jesus Christ alone, that qualifies you as a Christian," Jeffress said. "They embraced another gospel, the Book of Mormon, and that is why they have never been considered by evangelical Christians to be part of the Christian family." Conservatives with no alternative will vote for RomneyThe trouble, as is always the case with prejudice, is to determine to what extent people are talking about who Romney is and to what extent they are talking about what he does. There are plenty of reasons why right wing conservatives might oppose him that have nothing to do with his denomination. The fact that he has taken a range of positions on abortion, gun control and provided a prototype for Obama's health-care plan would not endear him to them regardless of his religious beliefs. During his College Station speech Romney insisted that ditching his Mormon faith for something more palatable would not win him much support: "Americans do not respect believers of convenience. Americans tire of those who would jettison their beliefs, even to gain the world." The trouble is many on the right feel that while he has remained true to his religion, he has done precisely this in his politics over the years. "I think people's views on a generic anonymous Mormon can be quite different to their views about a particular candidate that they are familiar with," says Reeve. The question is whether the religious differences really will translate into any significant effect come polling day. "Romney's biggest problem was in the primaries," says Professor John Green, a political scientist in religion and politics at the University of Akron in Ohio. "When evangelicals have a conservative alternative, in say, Mike Huckabee or Rick Santorum they take it. But the part of the country that would most concerned by voting for a Mormon would be even more concerned by the prospect of a second term for Obama. So they'll vote for him." And that includes pastor Jeffress. "Given the choice between a Christian-like Barack Obama who embraces non-biblical principles like abortion and a Mormon like Mitt Romney who embraces Bible principles, there's every reason to support Mitt Romney in this election," he said. "I think as more evangelicals are aware of what this president is doing, I think they will turn out and vote. Not for partisan reasons, but because he opposes biblical principles."
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | South Korean group urges consumers to shun Apple as its market value suffers multimillion dollar fall Samsung has hit back at arch rival Apple as investors wiped $12bn (£7.6bn) off the South Korean group's market value in the wake of its dramatic loss to the iPhone maker in a high-profile US court battle. Shares in the Asian smartphone manufacturer plunged 7.5% in the South Korean capital Seoul on Monday as shareholders reacted to Friday's ruling that the group had copied key elements of the iPhone's behaviour and appearance, resulting in a $1bn fine. Samsung's management responded with an angry internal memo saying Apple had rebuffed attempts to settle the case out of court. Urging consumers to shun Apple products, Sansung said: "History has shown there has yet to be a company that has won the hearts and minds of consumers and achieved continuous growth when its primary means to competition has been the outright abuse of patent law, not the pursuit of innovation. We trust that the consumers and the market will side with those who prioritise innovation over litigation, and we will prove this beyond doubt." Analysts said the verdict could result in Apple broadening its attack on other handset makers that use Google's Android operating system, potentially hobbling them in the US, the richest segment of the $219bn (£138.6bn) global smartphone business. Those fears hit shares in Google, which fell 1.35% in early trading in New York. It might also open a door for Nokia, the loss-making Finnish mobile phone maker, because it would be able to offer products without fear of lawsuits. US-listed shares in Nokia gained 9% to in early trading. Although Samsung said it would appeal against the verdict, Judge Lucy Koh could triple the fine because the nine-strong jury in San Jose, California, determined that the infringement of Apple's patents and designs was "willful". Apple will also be able to apply for an injunction against the 24 smartphones and tablets named in the suit at a 20 September hearing. Apple's shares gained 2% in the first morning of trading after the victory, which chief executive Tim Cook told Apple staff on Friday had been "about something much more important than patents or money. It's about values … we [make products] to delight our customers, not for competitors to flagrantly copy". Apple filed the suit against Samsung in April 2011 and has dozens more in other countries against various Android handset makers, accusing them of infringing patents on function so that they behave like the iPhone or iPad. The lawsuits were initiated by the late Steve Jobs, Apple's co-founder, who said he would "go thermonuclear" against Google's Android, which he considered a copy of the iPhone's software. Versions of Android shown off before the iPhone's release in 2006 looked more like RIM's BlackBerry; those released after 2010 functioned much more like the iPhone. According to analysts, the verdict – and Apple's expected request for injunctions against Samsung's infringing phones – will not hurt the two companies' enormously valuable supplier relationship. Samsung's lawyer told the trial that the company provided about a quarter of the parts in every iPhone, measured by value. Apple is Samsung Electronics' biggest customer, with Samsung providing screens and memory chips for the iPhone and iPad. Since the verdict, there has been an increasing focus on the jury, which shocked observers by reaching a decision in just two and a half days, following four weeks of complicated arguments over "utlity patents" and "trade dress". Its foreman, Velvin Hogan, is himself a patent owner and the seven men and two women had legal and engineering experience from companies including Intel and AT&T. Those who have spoken to the press say they worked diligently through the 23 questions on the verdict form, some about alleged infringement by up to 24 devices from three different Samsung subsidiaries. The decision could embolden Apple to broaden its attack on Google's Android, especially the handset makers offering it. "We think that the real winner hear will be Microsoft and the Windows Phone ecosystem," Nomura analysts CW Chung and Manabu Akizuki said in a note. "As Android and Apple tear each other apart, Microsoft has been waiting in the wings and is in a very good position to move in and entice users to switch from Android to Microsoft." Microsoft's Windows Phone software only has about 5% of the global market, but Nokia has now staked its future in smartphones on it and is expected to unveil new devices next month. "In addition to Apple, we name Microsoft and Nokia as the main beneficiaries from this outcome," said Nordea analyst Sami Sarkamies.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Record is widely seen by scientists as strong signal of long-term climate warming The Arctic sea ice has hit its lowest extent ever recorded, according to the US-based National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC), the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency, and Norwegian, Danish and other government monitoring organisations. With possibly two weeks' further melt likely before the ice reaches its minimum extent and starts to refreeze ahead of the winter, satellites showed it had shrunk to 4.1m sq km (1.6m sq miles) on Sunday. The previous record of 4.3m sq km was set in 2007. The Guardian reported earlier this month that such a record low was likely to be hit imminently. NSIDC scientist Walt Meier said: "This is an indication that the Arctic sea ice cover is fundamentally changing." "The previous record, set in 2007, occurred because of near perfect summer weather for melting ice. Apart from one big storm in early August, weather patterns this year were unremarkable. The ice is so thin and weak now, it doesn't matter how the winds blow," said the NSIDC director, Mark Serreze. The record is widely seen by scientists at the NSIDC and elsewhere as a strong signal of long-term climate warming. "The Arctic used to be dominated by multiyear ice, or ice that stayed around for several years," Meier said. "Now it's becoming more of a seasonal ice cover and large areas are now prone to melting out in summer," said Serreze. "These figures are not the result of some freak of nature but the effects of man-made global warming caused by our reliance on dirty fossil fuels," said John Sauven, the Greenpeace UK director. "These preliminary figures provide irrefutable evidence that greenhouse gas emissions leading to global warming are damaging one of the planet's critical environments, one that helps maintain the stability of the global climate for every citizen of the world," said Sauven. Arctic sea ice follows an annual cycle of melting through the warm summer months and refreezing in the winter. It has shown a dramatic overall decline over the past 30 years. "Record-breaking ice minimums are becoming the new normal," says Clive Tesar of WWF's global Arctic programme. "We're breaking records on a regular basis as the sea ice continues its decline." According to many scientists, the sea ice plays a critical role in regulating climate, acting as a giant mirror that reflects much of the sun's energy, helping to cool the Earth. The formation of the sea ice produces dense saltwater, which sinks, helping drive the deep ocean currents. Without the ice, many scientists fear this balance could be upset, potentially causing major climatic changes.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | The Republican National Convention splutters into life in Tampa as Tropical Storm Isaac moves towards New Orleans
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | He's played a stranded alien, a vampire cellist and a pretty PoW – but David Bowie rarely gets his due as an actor. Ryan Gilbey talks to the directors who know him best about an original, 'incandescent' talent He hasn't performed in public for six years, or released an album in almost a decade, but there is a lot of David Bowie about. His music featured prominently in both the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2012 Olympic Games: Danny Boyle included a shot of him playing a discombobulated alien in Nicolas Roeg's The Man Who Fell to Earth; and the closing catwalk show played out to the sound of Bowie's Fashion (a big disappointment to those hoping for a rumoured live performance of Heroes). Even in his absence, Bowie eclipsed the stars who did turn up. Next year, the Victoria and Albert museum will host an extensive exhibition of Bowie's costumes, while the ICA in London pays tribute to his film work this weekend — an underrated aspect of his creative life that is easily as significant as his knack for throwing together a satin-and-thigh-boots ensemble. Unlike Madonna, Prince or Eminem, Bowie was an actor almost from the moment he began performing. He trained as a mime under Lindsay Kemp, who was also briefly his lover. When Kemp told a journalist in 1974, "I taught David to free his body," it was more than innuendo: mime technique is visible in everything from the Ziggy Stardust live show to Bowie's Broadway portrayal of The Elephant Man. He had been kicking around film ideas long before Roeg cast him as that forlorn extraterrestrial stranded in New Mexico in the mid-1970s. There had been talk of a film based around the Diamond Dogs album, while the documentary-maker DA Pennebaker, who shot Bowie's 1973 concert movie Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, was approached to collaborate on a fictional project: "He thought maybe I could help him, but I explained I didn't know how." Though the Ziggy Stardust film wasn't shown widely until 1983, chronologically it was Bowie's first full-length picture. "I love the film because it's so off-the-cuff," Pennebaker tells me. "We didn't have a lot of cameras. We hardly showed the band. It's a very sexy film, and nobody knows why; he's just standing there singing. But I liked that idea: one man, one concert." Pennebaker was on the Mississippi when he heard that he was wanted in London to shoot what would turn out to be Ziggy Stardust's swansong. "I thought the record company said 'Bryan Ferry'. I'd never heard of David Bowie." He met the singer backstage. "He was like a businessman; he didn't have that mercurial quality that booms out of him on stage. He was putting on his makeup and talking to his wife, Angie. He was behaving quite rationally, although he did say, 'Last night my mother saw her first spaceship', which I just put down to general conversation." Bowie blamed his own boredom with Ziggy for his initial lack of interest in the movie. "I was so fed up with him," he said in 1983. "But I dragged [the film] out and thought: 'This is a funny film! This boy used to dress like that for a living? My God, this is funny! Incredible! Wait till my son sees this!'" After killing Ziggy off in that July 1973 concert, Bowie cultivated a new persona: the gaunt Halloween Jack, as seen in Alan Yentob's disquieting 1974 BBC documentary Cracked Actor. With peg-teeth, skin like paper and hair the colour of burnt marmalade, Bowie is chauffeured around America's west coast like a bag of bones in a hearse, while Yentob gently probes the singer's relationship with his alter egos and interviews swooning US fans. Bowie might have looked like death warmed up and then left to go cold again, but it was the Diamond Dogs tour, glimpsed in Yentob's film, which transformed him from freak into American superstar. As well as capturing that point of commercial breakthrough, Cracked Actor convinced Roeg that he had found his man who fell to earth. "I went to meet David at his house in New York," he recalls. "After about three hours, maybe longer, he arrived and apologised for his lateness. I said, 'Let's have a chat.' He said, 'We don't need to chat. I want to do the film. So – I'll see you there.' I headed straight for the bar and had a large one. 'I'll see you there.' Fantastic!" They met again on set. "He kept rather distant, which was rather good for the part. He arrived in that car you see in Cracked Actor, and it had a whole trailer with a library of books. He always went back to that trailer. We spent a couple of evenings together but in the main he was separate; separate but always there. I felt he was perfect – the inflections, everything, so original. He wasn't inventing it, he was being it." The studio executives were more sceptical about Bowie's take on alien life. "They came on set one day after seeing the rushes and said, 'We're a little concerned about David's performance.' I said: 'Well, how should an alien act?'" That performance's general immunity from criticism may owe something to the perception that he was playing himself. "I didn't enjoy it as a movie to watch," Bowie later said. "It's very tight. Like a spring that's going to uncoil, it's got these terrific tensions, these very inhibited feelings in it." But his use of stills from that film on two subsequent album covers (Station to Station and Low) suggested that any discomfort was mixed with some pride. With the exception of The Man Who Fell to Earth and the unloved 1979 drama Just a Gigolo with Marlene Dietrich, which he described as "all my Elvis movies rolled into one", Bowie has taken only supporting parts on film. Within the space of a few years in the 1980s, he was a vampire cellist who ages 300 years in an afternoon (Tony Scott's The Hunger), a defiant and pretty PoW (Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence), a tight-trousered Goblin King with an exploding hairdo (Labyrinth), Pontius Pilate (The Last Temptation of Christ) and a hitman named Colin (Into the Night). The director Julien Temple first worked with Bowie on the 20-minute promo film Jazzin' for Blue Jean, in which he played the dual role of nerdy fan and preening rock god. "It examined that split which exists in him," Temple says. "There's 'normal David' and 'incandescent David'. He wasn't like those performers who exhibit a star-like aura wherever they go. We went to the Notting Hill carnival together, and people wanted to touch him, which was odd because he was this very normal south London guy. It was when he performed that a transformation occurred." Temple went on to cast Bowie in Absolute Beginners as the ruthless, amoral ad-man Vendice Partners, who dances on a giant typewriter. "David had worked in advertising early on and saw through it all. He was interested in using that weird transatlantic DJ voice – he really got off on that – and he was quite obsessed with the Sinatra thing. He made Vendice very Rat Pack-like." Bowie's film acting became more infrequent from the late 1980s on, his time dominated by one ambitious world tour after another. But he did hint that he was fostering a grand cinematic plan when he turned down Todd Haynes's request to use his music in Velvet Goldmine (named after a Bowie B-side), claiming he was holding them back for his own project. (Interviewed later on Jonathan Ross's Radio 2 show, he was dismissive of Haynes's film, which featured Jonathan Rhys Meyers as a Bowie-esque glam-rock chameleon: "He got the gay stuff right, but he can't do story.") While his son, Duncan Jones, is now an accomplished director (he made Moon and Source Code), Bowie's film work has become confined to eccentric cameos. He played himself in Zoolander and in the Ricky Gervais series Extras, and could be heard as Lord Highness on SpongeBob SquarePants. But one notable exception raises a hope that we haven't seen the last of Bowie the actor: as the electrical innovator Nikola Tesla in Christopher Nolan's Victorian thriller The Prestige, he is memorably haunted and distracted, though he was a down-to-earth presence on set. "Bowie showed up wearing a T-shirt and a pair of jeans and a baseball cap," the film's cinematographer, Wally Pfister, recalled in 2006. "And right away he told us: 'I'm not very good at hitting marks.' Then of course he nailed his marks every time.'" Temple believes that Bowie's legacy as an actor lies in his more fleeting, enigmatic appearances. "He's very good in supporting roles but I'm not sure, with the exception of The Man Who Fell to Earth, that he was really a lead actor. The charisma of that type of rock star was different to what was required of a movie star. Rappers in America have made a much more powerful transition to movies. I think it's hard to transfer what's so effective in one discipline to another without bringing along the baggage of the rock star image." This, argues Bowiefest co-curator Natasha Dack, is what makes him such a powerful screen presence. "He doesn't disappear into his roles. It's always him. He's always got that essential Bowieness."
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Fed members increasingly concerned about economic recovery ahead of next jobs report and September policy meeting The Federal Reserve needs to take action now to bring down the jobless rate, a top Fed official said on Monday. Charles Evans, president of the Chicago Federal Reserve, said the central bank should not wait for more data. "I don't think we should be in a mode where we are waiting to see what the next few data releases bring. We are well past the threshold for additional action; we should take that action now," he told reporters at a seminar at the Hong Kong Bankers Club. Last week the Fed released minutes from its last meeting a the end of July which showed its members were increasingly concerned about the slowdown in the US's fragile economic recovery. At their previous meeting in June the minutes showed only "a few members" thought further stimulus would likely be needed. Evans said that without a change in policy, the unemployment rate, now at 8.3%, was unlikely to fall below 7% before 2015 at the earliest. Last year the Fed launched a securities buying programme known as Operation Twist aimed at bringing down longer-term interest rates. Evans appeared to be giving support to a similar move. "It is time to take even stronger steps," he said. His comments come ahead of a speech Friday from Fed chairman Ben Bernanke at the Kansas City Fed's annual gathering of policymakers in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. That speech will be closely watched in Washington as well as by the financial markets. The economy is central to the 2012 election cycle and any move by Bernanke could trigger a furious backlash from Republican critics. After its last meeting the Fed signaled it was increasingly concerned about the apparent slowdown in the US recovery. Strong jobs growth over the winter collapsed in the spring. It has since recovered but remains historically weak compared to the job growth after previous recessions. Next Friday the Labor Department will release non-farm payroll figures for August – the closely watched monthly survey of US employment. Last month the US added 163,000 new jobs, higher than the 100,000 gain expected by economists but not enough to bring down the unemployment rate. The Federal Reserve Open Markets Committee, which sets Fed policy, meets after the release of those figures on September 12 and 13. That meeting is seen by economists as the last before the election at which the Fed in likely to act.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Yekaterina Samutsevich tells Guardian from cell that jail sentence handed to three band members shows Putin is scared A jailed member of the anti-Kremlin punk band Pussy Riot has said that the guilty verdict handed to her and two bandmates earlier this month has strengthened her resolve to fight for the removal of Vladimir Putin. In response to questions posed by the Guardian and handed to the band via their lawyer, Yekaterina Samutsevich, 30, described for the first time to western media the conditions the trio face and their reaction to the verdict. Samutsevich said she did not fear the two-year sentence handed down by a Moscow judge for their performance of an anti-Putin song in Moscow's official Orthodox cathedral. "Of course we didn't expect a not guilty verdict," she wrote. "To expect justice from a court that ignores all your objections is of course impossible. So we weren't shocked and, to the dismay of our enemies, didn't faint when we got the verdict." Samutsevich, along with bandmates Maria Alyokhina, 24, and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 22, were found guilty of "hooliganism motivated by religious hatred" for their February performance, despite insisting it was a form of political protest. Their lightning-quick trial, marked by procedural violations and absurdities, has highlighted the crackdown on dissent in Russia. "More than anything, our trial showed the dependence of the justice system, and its direct authority, on Putin's power, which clearly should not be the case in a government that calls itself democratic," Samutsevich said. Pussy Riot and their supporters have accused Putin, and the powerful Russian Orthodox church, of orchestrating the case against them. "Our verdict shows just how scared Putin's regime is of anyone who can undermine its legitimacy," Samutsevich said. She decried the government's increasingly conservative policies as well as a parliamentary vote in December 2011 that was marred by widespread allegations of fraud. Coming just over two months after Putin announced his plan to return to the presidency following four years as prime minister, they were the catalyst for mass protests that have rocked the capital since. Pussy Riot, a radical feminist punk band, were borne of those protests. Now, nearly one year after forming, three of the anonymous collective's members have become among Russia's most famous political prisoners. Two other members of the group have reportedly fled the country fearing further political reprisals. Samutsevich, Alyokhina and Tolokonnikova have been in a pre-trial detention centre in southern Moscow since their arrest in March, and will remain there while their lawyers appeal their sentence. If the appeal is declined, they will be sent to women's prison colonies to serve their two-year sentences while conducting light labour, minus the time they've already served. "We are all held in special cells, each made for four people, and we're all in separate cells, on different floors," Samutsevich wrote in a tiny scribble. "There are three other people in my cell, here for economic crimes. They are calm, intelligent people who support me and the ideas of our group." "This isn't surprising, because now only blind people can't see that since March 2012, Putin's regime has moved to direct repressive actions, starting with a major campaign against all dissenters, under which our group was one of the first to fall." Government critics have spoken of an increased campaign of intimidation since Putin's re-election in a controversial March vote. Several other activists, including opposition leader Alexey Navalny, are also facing criminal charges. "We are mentally prepared [for jail]," Samutsevich wrote. "I don't see anything superscary in having to serve 1.5 years and work. I don't think that it'll become some sort of especially difficult test for us – we've already lived through the past five months relatively easily, and the evil plan of our authorities – to jail us so as to break us and sour us – has already failed miserably. "The problem for Putin personally now is that a lot of people no longer see his strong hand and authority, but his fear and uncertainty in the face of the progressive citizens of Russia, who grow more and more numerous with every step like our verdict," Samutsevich wrote. The Pussy Riot trial has driven a further wedge through Russian society, splitting mainly urban liberals against a more traditional heartland that was largely insulted by the women's performance. Yet opposition to Putin continues to grow; a recent poll by the Levada Centre found that nearly half of all Russians want him to step down at the end of his term in six years. Pussy Riot have used performances to highlight the ills they see in Russian society, from Putin's growing authoritarianism to his close relationship with the Russian Orthodox Church. Samutsevich said the trio had not continued writing songs in jail. "The conditions in the pre-trial detention centre aren't really creative," she wrote. "For the next one and a half years, we'll have to continue to 'take a break' from our concert creative work." She also said the women's future in the group was in question. "Right now it's hard to say what we'll do when we're free. Of course, I'd want to continue in the same form of musical performances that we started with, but will our changed conditions, because of our arrest, allow that? So far I don't know." "What I can say for sure is that we still madly want changes in Russia – toward anti-authoritarian leftist ideas. We, along with many citizens of our country, are burning even more with the desire to finally take from Putin his monopoly on power, since his image no longer seems so total and terrible," she wrote. "In fact it is just an illusion, created by his spin doctors on government television channels."
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | North Korea's supreme leader Kim Jong-un orders his army to be ready with a 'prompt counterattack' against its enemies as US and South Korean troops stage joint military drills
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Storm that left eight dead in Haiti blew past the Florida Keys as it prepares to make landfall near New Orleans as hurricane Tropical storm Isaac rolled over the open Gulf of Mexico on Monday, where it was expected to grow into a hurricane before hitting land somewhere between Louisiana and Florida and close to the seventh anniversary of hurricane Katrina. The storm that left eight dead in Haiti blew past the Florida Keys with little damage and promised a drenching but little more for Tampa, where the planned Monday start of the Republican national convention was pushed back a day. The National Hurricane Center predicted Isaac would grow to a Category 1 hurricane over the warm Gulf and possibly hit late Tuesday somewhere along a roughly 300-mile (500-kilometer) stretch from the south-west of New Orleans to the Florida panhandle. That would be one day shy of seven years after hurricane Katrina struck in 2005. Earlier predictions said Isaac would be a Category 2 hurricane but National Hurricane Center director Rick Knabb told ABC's Good Morning America on Monday that Isaac would not be as strong as they initially thought. The size of the warning area and the storm's wide bands of rain and wind prompted emergency declarations in four states, and the hurricane-tested residents were boarding up homes, stocking up on food and water or getting ready to evacuate. Forecasters said if Isaac hits during high tide, the storm could push floodwaters as deep as 12ft (4m) on shore in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama and up to 6ft in the Florida panhandle. Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal declared a state of emergency, and 53,000 residents of St Charles Parish near New Orleans were told to leave ahead of the storm. Mississippi governor Phil Bryant, Florida governor Rick Scott and Alabama governor Robert Bentley also declared states of emergency. Meanwhile, the oncoming storm stopped work on rigs that account for 24% of daily oil production in the US portion of the Gulf of Mexico and 8% of daily natural gas production there, the federal bureau of safety and environmental enforcement said in its latest update Sunday. Several area governors have altered their plans for this week's Republican convention in Tampa. Bentley has canceled his trip, and Jindal said he is likely to do so unless the threat from the storm subsides. Scott gave up a chance to speak. Even though the storm was moving well west of Tampa, tropical storm-force winds and heavy rains were possible in the area because of Isaac's large size, forecasters said. A small group of protesters braved rainy weather Sunday and vowed to continue despite the weather, which already forced the Republicans to cancel Monday's opening session of the convention. Instead, the Republicans will briefly gavel the gathering to order Monday afternoon and then recess until Tuesday. As of 8am ET Monday, the storm was centered about 185 miles west-south-west of Fort Meyers, Florida, and 360 miles south-east of the mouth of the Mississippi river, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami. Isaac had top sustained winds of 65mph and was moving west-northwest near 14mph. The storm knocked out power temporarily for around 16,000 customers throughout south Florida, and 555 flights were canceled at Miami International Airport. In the low-lying Keys, isolated patches of flooding were reported and some roads were littered with downed palm fronds and small branches. But officials said damage appeared to be minimal. Before reaching Florida, Isaac was blamed for eight deaths in Haiti and two more in the Dominican Republic, and downed trees and power lines in Cuba.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Storm that left 19 dead in Haiti blew past the Florida Keys as it prepares to make landfall near New Orleans as hurricane Tropical storm Isaac rolled over the open Gulf of Mexico on Monday, where it was expected to grow into a hurricane before hitting land somewhere between Louisiana and Florida and close to the seventh anniversary of hurricane Katrina. The storm that left 19 dead in Haiti blew past the Florida Keys with little damage and promised a drenching but little more for Tampa, where the planned Monday start of the Republican national convention was pushed back a day. The National Hurricane Center predicted Isaac would grow to a Category 1 hurricane over the warm Gulf and possibly hit late Tuesday somewhere along a roughly 300-mile (500-kilometer) stretch from the south-west of New Orleans to the Florida panhandle. That would be one day shy of seven years after hurricane Katrina struck in 2005. Earlier predictions said Isaac would be a Category 2 hurricane but National Hurricane Center director Rick Knabb told ABC's Good Morning America on Monday that Isaac would not be as strong as they initially thought. The size of the warning area and the storm's wide bands of rain and wind prompted emergency declarations in four states, and the hurricane-tested residents were boarding up homes, stocking up on food and water or getting ready to evacuate. Forecasters said if Isaac hits during high tide, the storm could push floodwaters as deep as 12ft (4m) on shore in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama and up to 6ft in the Florida panhandle. Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal declared a state of emergency, and 53,000 residents of St Charles Parish near New Orleans were told to leave ahead of the storm. Mississippi governor Phil Bryant, Florida governor Rick Scott and Alabama governor Robert Bentley also declared states of emergency. Meanwhile, the oncoming storm stopped work on rigs that account for 24% of daily oil production in the US portion of the Gulf of Mexico and 8% of daily natural gas production there, the federal bureau of safety and environmental enforcement said in its latest update Sunday. Several area governors have altered their plans for this week's Republican convention in Tampa. Bentley has canceled his trip, and Jindal said he is likely to do so unless the threat from the storm subsides. Scott gave up a chance to speak. Even though the storm was moving well west of Tampa, tropical storm-force winds and heavy rains were possible in the area because of Isaac's large size, forecasters said. A small group of protesters braved rainy weather Sunday and vowed to continue despite the weather, which already forced the Republicans to cancel Monday's opening session of the convention. Instead, the Republicans will briefly gavel the gathering to order Monday afternoon and then recess until Tuesday. As of 8am ET Monday, the storm was centered about 185 miles west-south-west of Fort Myers, Florida, and 360 miles south-east of the mouth of the Mississippi river, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami. Isaac had top sustained winds of 65mph and was moving west-northwest near 14mph. The storm knocked out power temporarily for around 16,000 customers throughout south Florida, and 555 flights were canceled at Miami International Airport. In the low-lying Keys, isolated patches of flooding were reported and some roads were littered with downed palm fronds and small branches. But officials said damage appeared to be minimal. Before reaching Florida, Isaac was blamed for eight deaths in Haiti and two more in the Dominican Republic, and downed trees and power lines in Cuba.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Officials give conflicting accounts of motive behind slaughter, which occurred in area of Helmand held by Taliban commanders The Taliban have killed 17 civilians – reportedly by cutting their throats – in a remote and violent corner of Afghanistan's Helmand province that government officials admitted is entirely beyond their control. The reason for the slaughter was variously given as a fight between two Taliban commanders over women, Taliban anger over a music and dance party, or an insurgent crackdown on suspected government informers. The group, which included two women, were killed early on Sunday afternoon but news of their deaths only reached government-held areas on Monday. "This happened in a desert area, known as Roshanabad, which is not under the control of the government," said the Kajaki district governor, Mullah Sharafuddin, who said he did not know the motive behind the bloody attack. "I am the governor but I don't have full details because this land is under Taliban control." The Helmand police commander was told the 17 victims were targeted as government spies, said spokesman Farid Ahmad Farhang, who also acknowledged the area was in insurgent hands. The provincial governor's spokesman said the dead were probably caught up in a fight between two rival Taliban commanders for control of the dead women. "There are two Taliban commanders, Mullah Wali Mohammad and Mullah Sayed Gul, that control the area near Kajaki, but they argued about the two women," said spokesman Daoud Ahmadi. "We don't know exactly what the differences are, but the killing was because of the difference between the two commanders over these women," Ahmadi said. "Their throats were slit but their heads were not completely cut off," he added. Earlier reports had said the group found dead in Helmand were beheaded because they attended a party that insurgents considered immoral. "The victims threw a late-night dance and music party when the Taliban attacked," the Reuters news agency quoted the governor of nearby Musa Qala district, Nimatullah, saying. The Taliban could not be reached for comment, but there is a precedent for killings of civilians in quarrels driven by passion and jealousy in Afghanistan. On New Year's Day in 2010, six civilians were beheaded in neighbouring Uruzgan province, killings that were initially reported as a Taliban attack on alleged government spies. It later emerged they were the result of two groups fighting over a boy. Earlier this summer a woman was stoned to death in Parwan province, just a couple of hours' drive from Kabul. The killing was initially widely condemned as a Taliban punishment for adultery, but Parwan's governor later said she was involved with a commander who killed her to avoid losing face as news spread of his behaviour. The 17 killings on Sunday were the start of a bloody 24 hours in which 10 Afghan soldiers were killed in a nearby district by a Taliban assault, and Afghan army soldiers shot dead two Nato troops in the east. The Afghan soldiers died in an attack on a checkpoint in a violent part of Washir district; 11 Taliban were also killed and some soldiers fled the onslaught but the government has held the checkpoint. "Two weeks ago the Taliban attacked the same checkpost, five soldiers were killed but they didn't manage to take the checkpost," said Ahmadi, the governor's spokesman. "Last night it was similar, although 10 soldiers were killed, but the Taliban couldn't take control." The two foreign troops were killed during an operation in eastern Laghman province, where there are no Nato bases because security control has been handed over to Afghans. The shooting brings the number of foreign troops who have died at the hands of their Afghan allies this month to 12. Mokhtar Amiri contributed reporting
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Officials give conflicting accounts of motive behind slaughter, which occurred in area of Helmand held by Taliban commanders The Taliban have killed 17 civilians – reportedly by cutting their throats – in a remote and violent corner of Afghanistan's Helmand province that government officials admitted is entirely beyond their control. The reason for the slaughter was variously given as a fight between two Taliban commanders over women, Taliban anger over a music and dance party, or an insurgent crackdown on suspected government informers. The group, which included two women, were killed early on Sunday afternoon but news of their deaths only reached government-held areas on Monday. "This happened in a desert area, known as Roshanabad, which is not under the control of the government," said the Kajaki district governor, Mullah Sharafuddin, who said he did not know the motive behind the bloody attack. "I am the governor but I don't have full details because this land is under Taliban control." The Helmand police commander was told the 17 victims were targeted as government spies, said spokesman Farid Ahmad Farhang, who also acknowledged the area was in insurgent hands. The provincial governor's spokesman said the dead were probably caught up in a fight between two rival Taliban commanders for control of the dead women. "There are two Taliban commanders, Mullah Wali Mohammad and Mullah Sayed Gul, that control the area near Kajaki, but they argued about the two women," said spokesman Daoud Ahmadi. "We don't know exactly what the differences are, but the killing was because of the difference between the two commanders over these women," Ahmadi said. "Their throats were slit but their heads were not completely cut off," he added. Earlier reports had said the group found dead in Helmand were beheaded because they attended a party that insurgents considered immoral. "The victims threw a late-night dance and music party when the Taliban attacked," the Reuters news agency quoted the governor of nearby Musa Qala district, Nimatullah, saying. The Taliban could not be reached for comment, but there is a precedent for killings of civilians in quarrels driven by passion and jealousy in Afghanistan. On New Year's Day in 2010, six civilians were beheaded in neighbouring Uruzgan province, killings that were initially reported as a Taliban attack on alleged government spies. It later emerged they were the result of two groups fighting over a boy. Earlier this summer a woman was stoned to death in Parwan province, just a couple of hours' drive from Kabul. The killing was initially widely condemned as a Taliban punishment for adultery, but Parwan's governor later said she was involved with a commander who killed her to avoid losing face as news spread of his behaviour. The 17 killings on Sunday were the start of a bloody 24 hours in which 10 Afghan soldiers were killed in a nearby district by a Taliban assault, and Afghan army soldiers shot dead two Nato troops in the east. The Afghan soldiers died in an attack on a checkpoint in a violent part of Washir district; 11 Taliban were also killed and some soldiers fled the onslaught but the government has held the checkpoint. "Two weeks ago the Taliban attacked the same checkpost, five soldiers were killed but they didn't manage to take the checkpost," said Ahmadi, the governor's spokesman. "Last night it was similar, although 10 soldiers were killed, but the Taliban couldn't take control." The two foreign troops were killed during an operation in eastern Laghman province, where there are no Nato bases because security control has been handed over to Afghans. The shooting brings the number of foreign troops who have died at the hands of their Afghan allies this month to 12. Mokhtar Amiri contributed reporting
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Officials say 15 men and two women killed as punishment for attending a mixed-sex party with music and dancing Fifteen men and two women have been found beheaded in Afghanistan's southern Helmand province. Officials said the victims were killed by Taliban insurgents as punishment for attending a mixed-sex party with music and dancing. The bodies were found in a house near the Musa Qala district, 46 miles north of the provincial capital Lashkar Gah, on Monday, said the district governor Nimatullah, who goes by only one name. "The victims threw a late-night dance and music party when the Taliban attacked," on Sunday night, Nimatullah told Reuters. There were no immediate claims of responsibility. Men and women do not usually mingle in Afghanistan unless they are related, and parties involving both genders are rare and highly secretive affairs. For the Taliban, flirting, open displays of affection and the mixing of men and women are vehemently condemned. In June, Taliban gunmen stormed a luxury hotel near Kabul demanding to know where the "prostitutes and pimps" were, according to witnesses. Twenty people were killed. The Taliban said it launched that attack on Qarga Lake because the hotel was used for "wild parties". During their five-year reign, which was ended by US-backed Afghan forces in 2001, the Taliban banned women from voting, most work and leaving their homes unaccompanied by their husband or a male relative. Those rights have been painstakingly regained but Afghanistan remains one of the worst places on earth to be a woman. A spokesman for the Helmand governor, Daud Ahmadi, said a team had been sent to the site of the beheadings to investigate.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Intimidation of workers reported at mines as only one in 10 of 28,000-strong workforce defy strike Violence has spread to the other operations of the world's No 3 platinum producer Lonmin, the company has said, raising concerns of further unrest after 44 people were killed this month in a labour dispute at its Marikana mine near Johannesburg, South Africa. "There have been incidents of intimidation towards bus drivers overnight as well as intimidation of Eastern Platinum's workers this morning, preventing them from coming to work," Lonmin said. Lonmin, where most operations have been suspended for two weeks by a wage strike among around 3,000 of its workers, also said just over one in 10 of its 28,000-strong workforce had shown up for work on Monday morning, far short of the numbers needed to start mining ore. The trade union Solidarity, which represents skilled workers, also reported high levels of intimidation. In another development, workers at another South African mine run by Eastern Platinum were reportedly blocked from going to work on Monday by colleagues, the National Union of Mineworkers said. Lonmin is racing to resume ore extraction across its operations without a guarantee that striking workers will return to work this week after the end of a mourning period for colleagues killed in the recent wave of labour unrest. The violence stems from a bloody turf war between the dominant National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and the small but militant Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU), which has been spreading its influence through the mining sector. Lonmin has also said it may issue new shares to shore up a balance sheet affected badly by lost production and revenue.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Two United Nations workers sentenced for alleged involvement in ethnic violence between Buddhists and Muslims in June A court in Burma has sentenced two United Nations workers to prison terms for their alleged involvement in a spate of bloody communal violence in the west of the country in June. The punishments were handed down on Friday in the Rakhine state town of Maungdaw, said Aye Win, a UN spokesman based in Burma. One of those sentenced was an employee of the UN refugee agency and the other the UN World Food Programme. A spokesperson for the world body's refugee agency in Bangkok, Vivian Tan, called the verdicts "very disappointing". Tan said a third aid worker employed by another unidentified humanitarian group working with the UN was also convicted. UN officials said they had no details on the official charges. The Burma independent newspaper Weekly Eleven reported that the staff members – all believed to be from the local Muslim community – were charged with crimes including promoting hatred between Buddhists and Muslims and participation in arson attacks. The paper cited anonymous court sources in its report, and said the sentences ranged from two to six years. Violence between Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims exploded in June, leaving more than 80 people dead and thousands of homes burned to the ground. Human rights groups say around 100,000 people have been displaced during the conflict and have accused the government over cracking down too harshly on Muslims, allegations the government has denied. Humanitarian groups claim that at least 12 local staff employed by international aid groups were detained by the government in June for suspected involvement in the unrest. Six have so far been released. Last week, Doctors Without Borders said two of its employees were still being held, while the UN refugee agency said two Burmese nationals on its staff were in custody. The World Food Programme is also believed to have staff who have been detained.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Army helicopter crashes in suburb after apparently being hit during fighting between government forces and rebels A Syrian military helicopter has caught fire and crashed after it was apparently hit during fighting between government forces and rebels in the capital, Damascus, an activist group said. State-run media confirmed the crash in Damascus but gave no details. A video posted on the internet showed the helicopter engulfed in flames shortly before it hit the ground. The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which reported the crash, said there was intense fighting between troops backed by helicopter gunships and rebels in the western Damascus neighbourhood of Jobar. State media said the helicopter crashed in the al-Qaboun district, which is near Jobar. With its forces stretched thin by fighting on several fronts, President Bashar al-Assad's regime has been increasingly using air power against the rebels – both helicopters and warplanes. The army has been fighting major battles against rebels in Damascus and its suburbs for more than a month while engaged in what appears to be a stalemated fight against rebels for control of northern Aleppo, the country's largest city and commercial capital. The rebels are not known to have any answer to the regime's warplanes except anti-aircraft guns that they mostly use as an anti-personnel weapon. Last month, rebels claimed to have shot down a Russian-made MiG fighter, but the government blamed the crash on a malfunction. The Syrian conflict began 17 months ago with mostly peaceful protests demanding that Assad step down, but it has since developed into a civil war. Rights activists say at least 20,000 people have been killed so far.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | More than £7.6bn wiped off value of South Korean electronics giant after US jury finds it has infringed on Apple patents Samsung Electronics shares have slumped 7.5%, wiping more than $12bn (£7.6bn) off the South Korean giant's market value amid concerns about its lucrative smartphone business following a victory for Apple in a US patent court case. Samsung, which says it will contest the verdict, was ordered to pay $1.05bn in damages after a California jury found it had copied critical features of the iPhone and iPad and could face an outright sales ban on key products. Shares in Samsung – the world's biggest technology firm by revenue – experienced their biggest daily percentage drop on Monday in nearly four years, to 1.173m won ($1,000), before closing at 1.180m won. The broader Seoul market fell 0.1%. Trading volume was also heavy, with 1.27m Samsung shares changing hands, around four times the daily average it saw last week and the stock's biggest daily volume since October 2008. In the most closely watched patent trial in years, the jury at a federal court in San Jose, California, just miles from Apple's headquarters, found that Samsung infringed on six of seven Apple patents. The verdict, which surprised many analysts with its speed – coming after less than three days of deliberations – and the extent of Apple's victory, is likely to solidify the US firm's dominance of the exploding mobile computing market. Apple's triumph was also seen as a blow to Google, whose Android software powers the Samsung products that were found to infringe on Apple patents. But it could help Microsoft, which has been struggling to win ground with its rival Windows mobile operating system. Shares in Microsoft's handset partner Nokia jumped 6% in early trade on Monday. Analysts estimate Samsung's earnings will fall by 4% this year due to increased patent-related provisioning. Apple's lawyers said it plans to file for a sales injunction against Samsung, and the judge in the case set a hearing date for 20 September. Samsung, in turn, said the verdict "is not the final word in this case". Top executives at Samsung, led by the vice-chairman, Choi Gee-sung, and the head of its mobile division, JK Shin, held an emergency meeting on Sunday. The biggest concern for Samsung remains whether its latest flagship product the Galaxy S III, which was not included in the case, will also be targeted by Apple. The model is Samsung's bestselling smartphone, with sales exceeding 10m since its debut in late May.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | No immediate reports of damage or injuries after magnitude-7.3 quake is followed by 5.4 aftershock A magnitude-7.3 earthquake has struck off the coast of El Salvador followed by a magnitude-5.4 aftershock, authorities said. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries. A tsunami warning was put into effect for Costa Rica, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Panama and Mexico after the quake struck at 10.37pm on Sunday. The aftershock came an hour later. The warning was later rescinded, though David Walsh, an oceanographer with the Pacific Tsunami Centre in Hawaii, said a 3.94 inch (10cm) tsunami was registered off Acajutla, El Salvador. The quake was located 86 miles (138km) south-southwest of San Miguel at a depth of 33 miles, the US Geological Survey reported. The second quake registered about an hour later in the same area at a depth of 36 miles. Alfonso Lara, a technician with El Salvador's Civil Protection agency, said authorities were alerted to the threat of a tsunami. "We are doing a general monitoring of the entire coast through our technicians and representatives," he said. On Sunday, dozens of small to moderate earthquakes struck south-east California, knocking trailer homes off their foundations and shattering windows in a small farming town east of San Diego. The largest quake registered at a magnitude 5.5 and was centred about 3 miles north-west of the town of Brawley, according to the USGS. Another quake about an hour and a half earlier registered at magnitude 5.3. No injuries were reported.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Multiple states under threat of substantial damage as hurricane warning issued for northern Gulf of Mexico coast Millions of residents in four vulnerable Gulf Coast states were bracing for the arrival of a powerful tropical storm that has already claimed several lives on its path through the Caribbean. The governor of Florida, Rick Scott, declared a state of emergency ahead of tropical storm Isaac's expected landfall Sunday night in the Florida Keys, with the storm then expected to intensify into a 105mph hurricane as it moves north into the Gulf of Mexico and towards the Alabama-Mississippi-Louisiana coastline. But with tropical storm-force winds extending up to 200 miles from Isaac's centre, the area under threat for moderate to substantial damage covered much of southern and western Florida and along the Gulf Coast to Louisiana. Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center have issued a hurricane warning for the northern Gulf of Mexico coast from Louisiana to the Florida Panhandle, but said it was too soon to predict where Isaac, blamed for at least six deaths in Haiti, would make its second landfall, probably in the early hours of Wednesday. The current predicted track, subject to a wide margin of error, points the eye of the storm close to Biloxi, Mississippi, with a hurricane watch posted along the coast for hundreds of miles in either direction. "Waters along the forecast track are very warm and upper level winds are forecast by the global models to become conducive to strengthening," said Dr Michael Brennan, a senior hurricane centre expert. "It's important not to focus on the exact forecast track since significant hazards extend well away from the centre." Scott cancelled his appearance at tomorrow's Republican national convention in Tampa to concentrate on storm preparations, shortly before event organisers announced that the first day and a half would be shelved anyway to allow the storm to pass. "This is a state that has dealt with hurricanes forever. We are a state [where] we know we have to get prepared for hurricanes," Scott said. No mandatory evacuation of the Florida Keys was ordered, but a steady stream of traffic was building on Highway 1 towards the mainland late on Saturday and early today as conditions began to worsen. The storm has already contributed to two deaths on the roads, Florida Highway Patrol reported, with a crash on the Florida turnpike near Miami blamed on conditions. Many businesses were boarded up in Key West at the tip of the 150-mile island chain, and emergency managers called for all visitors to leave. By mid-morning Sunday, the Keys were being lashed by torrential rain and wind gusts in excess of 60mph as Isaac's outer bands closed in. Further east, thousands of families in Miami and surrounding towns lost power, still several hours ahead of the worst expected conditions. Florida Power and Light, the state's largest electricity provider, amassed a large fleet of vehicles and put more than 8,000 engineers on standby to move into affected areas and restore power once conditions allowed. "We've seen a gradual increase in thunderstorm activity," said Dr Rick Knabb, director of the hurricane centre. "People should stay indoors. We've lost lives in previous tropical storms when people have been out and about in their cars." Commanders at the naval air station in Pensacola, Florida, began moving more than 100 aircrafts to safety Sunday morning while long queues formed at DIY stores and supermarkets in southern Alabama and Mississippi as residents stocked up on supplies. Among the eight deaths reported so far by the Red Cross in Haiti were an eight-year-old girl and a 10-year-old girl killed when a wall fell onto her. The aid agency said that although the centre of the storm had passed, the country was still being drenched with rain. Almost 14,000 people, mostly those still living in tents since the devastation of the 2010 earthquake, were evacuated to emergency shelters. "The west and south-eastern departments are the most affected by the storm, causing the deaths of at least two persons and damaging bridges, roads and canals," United Nations spokeswoman Eliana Nebaa said in a statement. "The storm is also responsible for flooding, high water areas, and damages to tents and tarps in some camps." Several people were also reported missing in the Dominican Republic following Isaac's crossing on Saturday. Police said on Sunday night that two men had died after being swept away by flooded rivers that burst their banks.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Officials say 15 men and two women killed as punishment for attending a mixed-sex party with music and dancing Fifteen men and two women have been found beheaded in Afghanistan's southern Helmand province. Officials said the victims were killed by Taliban insurgents as punishment for attending a mixed-sex party with music and dancing. The bodies were found in a house near the Musa Qala district, 46 miles north of the provincial capital Lashkar Gah, on Monday, said the district governor Nimatullah, who goes by only one name. "The victims threw a late-night dance and music party when the Taliban attacked," on Sunday night, Nimatullah told Reuters. There were no immediate claims of responsibility. Men and women do not usually mingle in Afghanistan unless they are related, and parties involving both genders are rare and highly secretive affairs. For the Taliban, flirting, open displays of affection and the mixing of men and women are vehemently condemned. In June, Taliban gunmen stormed a luxury hotel near Kabul demanding to know where the "prostitutes and pimps" were, according to witnesses. Twenty people were killed. The Taliban said it launched that attack on Qarga Lake because the hotel was used for "wild parties". During their five-year reign, which was ended by US-backed Afghan forces in 2001, the Taliban banned women from voting, most work and leaving their homes unaccompanied by their husband or a male relative. Those rights have been painstakingly regained but Afghanistan remains one of the worst places on earth to be a woman. A spokesman for the Helmand governor, Daud Ahmadi, said a team had been sent to the site of the beheadings to investigate.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Influential pediatricians' group falls short of complete support for procedure, saying parents should make final decision The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has issued guidelines saying the health benefits of infant circumcision outweigh the risks of the surgery, but the influential physicians' group has fallen short of a universal recommendation of the procedure for all infants, saying parents should make the final call. The change was prompted by scientific evidence that suggests circumcision can reduce the risk of urinary tract infections in infants and cut the risk of penile cancer and sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV and the human papillomavirus, or HPV, which causes cervical and other cancers. The AAP's guidance, published on Monday in the journal Pediatrics comes down in favour of the procedure, saying the health benefits of newborn male circumcision "justify access to this procedure for families who choose it". "We're not saying you have to have it," said Dr Andrew Freedman, a pediatric urologist at Cedars-Sinai medical centre in Los Angeles, who chaired the AAP's circumcision taskforce. "We're saying if a family thinks it is in the child's best interests, the benefits are enough to help them do that," he said. Circumcision, the surgical removal of the foreskin of the penis, is a ritual obligation for infant Jewish boys and is also a common rite among Muslims, who account for the largest share of circumcised men worldwide. Other populations, including wider US society, adopted the practice due to potential health benefits but those advantages have become the subject of debate, including recent efforts to ban circumcision in San Francisco and Germany. Based on a review of more than 1,000 scientific articles, the taskforce said male circumcision does not appear to adversely affect penile sexual function, sensitivity of the penis or sexual satisfaction. The AAP said parents should be given unbiased information about the procedure and be allowed to make their own decision. But the group did say it was imperative that those performing circumcision were adequately trained, used sterile techniques and offered effective pain relief. Last week, an unnamed doctor in Germany filed charges against a rabbi for performing ritual circumcisions on infant boys, two months after a court in Cologne angered Jews and Muslims by banning the practice. Rabbi Shmuel Goldin, president of the Rabbinical Council of America, said circumcisions done for religious purposes did not typically involve pain medication but he noted that the procedure was quick and had a long tradition of success. "We've performed it for centuries with no adverse effects to our children," he said. "For us, it is such a critical component of our religious life that an attempt to eradicate it is an attempt to eradicate our religion. To have this happening in Germany, given our history, is particularly saddening to us." In the US, the guidelines may begin to turn the tide on infant circumcision, which has begun to fall in recent years as insurers have balked at paying for a procedure without a strong medical justification. In as many as 18 states the public Medicaid programme has stopped paying for the procedure, a trend some doctors fear could significantly increase US health costs because of a rise in cases of urinary tract and HIV infections. In a statement issued on Friday in anticipation of the guidelines, the anti-circumcision group Intact America said most of the studies underlying the guidelines were based on research done on adult men in Africa. "The taskforce has failed to consider the large body of evidence from the developed world that shows no medical benefits for the practice, and has given short shrift, if not dismissed out of hand, the serious ethical problems inherent in doctors removing healthy body parts from children who cannot consent," said Georganne Chapin, the group's executive director. Dr Douglas Diekema, a pediatric bioethicist from the Seattle Children's Research Institute and the University of Washington who served on the taskforce, said the group considered a wide range of ethical issues, including pain experienced by the child and whether parents have the right to make the decision without the child's consent. "There is no decision you can make that doesn't potentially put a child at risk. If you choose to circumcise, there is a risk he'll grow up to be a man who wishes he wasn't circumcised," Diekema said. Waiting until the child was older to make the choice about circumcision would lose much of the early benefits, and because the foreskin was thicker in teenagers the procedure carried more risks, he said. "I really don't think there is an easy answer … [but] we were unanimously agreed that it's inappropriate to do this procedure without adequate pain control. That, in many ways, is one of the biggest ethical issues."
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