|  |  |  | | | | | The Guardian World News | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | • Felix beats Jamaican 100m winner into second
• Carmelita Jeter gets bronze for USA A wonderful night for the USA's athletics team turned sour when Carmelita Jeter was questioned about her links with the controversial former coach, Mark Block. After finishing third in the 200m, Jeter became the first USA woman to win Olympic medals in both sprints at the same Games since Florence Griffith-Joyner in 1988. Block, the husband of the former world 200m champion Zhanna Pintusevich-Block, was banned from athletics for 10 years in 2011 because of his connections to the Balco doping scandal. "I am going to count to 10," Jeter said. "I am up here, I am a woman who has a medal in the 100m and 200m now, and for me to be asked that bothers me." Jeter explained that Block was a close friend of hers, and that "whatever happened with Mark Block before I came to Mark Block, has absolutely nothing to do with me". Block founded Total Sports Management, the company that represents Jeter. "I love that man, I love his family, I love his daughter," Jeter said. "Yes, he was banned, but that does not mean he cannot be a manager or an agent. He comes to meets that I am at because he is a great supporter of mine." That spat should not overshadow what was a superb 200m final. The winner was Jeter's team-mate Allyson Felix, who ran 21.88sec and became the first woman from the USA to win an Olympic sprint title since Gail Devers in 1996. Her first reaction when she crossed the line was not joy, but relief. After winning silver medals in the 200m at two successive Olympic Games, each time behind her great rival from Jamaica, Veronica Campbell-Brown, Felix had finally won the gold. To do it she did not have to beat only Campbell-Brown but one of the greatest line-ups ever assembled in the history of women's sprinting, packed with two Olympic champions in Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Sanya Richards-Ross and two world champions in Campbell-Brown and Jeter. As the silver medalist Fraser-Pryce put it: "If they ever put a field like this together again, I'm never going to run another 200m." In 2004 Felix had lost the Olympic final to Campbell-Brown by 0.13sec, and in 2008 she lost again, by just four-hundredths more. As she stood by her blocks on Wednesday night, she ran the memories of that defeat in Beijing through her mind, just as she has done every day since. "Before the race I thought about Beijing," she said. "I thought about crossing the line there and seeing my family and breaking down. I embrace those defeats, they are what have pushed me on all these years, and they are what makes this so sweet." The rivalry between Campbell-Brown and Felix is as great as any in the history of their sport, though there is nothing more to it than their battles on the track, neither trash-talks nor plays up for the press. They just race. Between them they have won every single Olympic and world 200m title since 2004. Before Campbell-Brown had taken two Olympic titles, Felix three world titles. But there was no doubt who was happier with their lot. Felix said she would give up all three of hers for just one of Campbell-Brown's. "I'm happy for her," Campbell-Brown said. "I knew how bad she wanted it." So desperate did Felix get for an Olympic gold that last year she took up 400m running, thinking it might be an easier route to success in London. It was not. The endurance work robbed her of her sprinting speed. Caught between the two events at the world championships in 2011, she won neither. Campbell-Brown took gold in the 200m, but she was not the only one who took advantage. Richards-Ross and Fraser-Pryce, both sensing an opportunity, decided to target the 200m too. Neither had ever competed in a major championships at that distance before. In the space of three weeks in June and July, Fraser-Pryce, Richards-Ross and Jeter set new personal bests, and there was only two-hundredths of a second between them. All of a sudden the field looked a little crowded. Campbell-Brown was still queen. She was trying to become the first woman in history to win sprint titles at three successive Games. She failed, but finished fourth. Richards-Ross came fifth. After her chastening season in 2011, Felix switched back to speed training and started doubling-up in the 100m rather than the 400m. She finished fifth in the final last Saturday, but in a new personal best of 10.89sec. That switch, she said, had made the difference, making her more aggressive in the 200m, where once she says would have been "more complacent". Felix, the son of a church minister, reads her favourite passage from Philippians before every race. It goes: "If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labour for me." Never more so than on Wednesday night.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Losses include charges related to plan to split off publishing assets from more lucrative film and TV sectors News Corporation made a loss of $1.6bn (£1.2bn) in the last quarter as it absorbed $2.8bn in charges related to a plan to spin off its ailing publishing businesses. The loss compared with a profit of $683m in the same period a year ago and came as revenues dipped 6.7% to $8.4bn, hit by a slide in audiences for TV shows including American Idol and disappointment at the box office for its Hollywood studio. The results were below analysts' expectations and the company's shares fell in after-hours trading. The fourth-quarter loss was linked "most significantly" to News Corp's Australian publishing assets, the company said. News Corp announced plans last month to split off its publishing assets including the Wall Street Journal, the Times and the Sun in the UK, and its Australian newspapers from the more lucrative film and television assets including Fox Broadcasting, the Twentieth Century Fox studios and its stake in BSkyB. The move comes in the wake of the phone-hacking scandal and has triggered an investigation in the US under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). News Corp said legal costs relating to the investigation had mounted to $224m for the 2012 fiscal year. Rupert Murdoch, chairman and chief executive, said in a press release: "News Corporation is in a strong operational, strategic and financial position, which should only be enhanced by the proposed separation of the media and entertainment and publishing businesses."
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Chief executive, Peter Sands', defence of bank in light of report by New York regulator sees market confidence rise It was a better day for the defence. Standard Chartered's share price rebounded 7%. Sir Mervyn King criticised the New York state department of financial services (DFS) for going solo before an investigation by five agencies has been concluded. The bank's chief executive, Peter Sands, sounding variously indignant and bemused, did a good job of presenting his case that Standard Chartered's indiscretions were tiny – a matter of a few millions of dollars arising from administrative errors. Ultimately, though, we are no closer to the heart of the matter since the central question is whose interpretation of US laws on "U-turn" transactions is correct. These laws, remember, involve transactions initiated offshore by non-Iranian foreign banks and only passing through the US on their way to other non-Iranian foreign banks. The New York DFS reckons there were dodgy transactions totalling $250bn; the bank, arguing the department is "incorrect as a matter of law," says $14m. So Standard Chartered is either guilty of monstrous deception or is virtually squeaky clean. And the truly baffling part of the tale is how, after two full years of investigation, the two sides could still be arguing about the technical meaning of a law. Shouldn't that have been sorted out in the first week, or at least the first month? It's too late now, but King is right – the DFS should not have broken ranks and gone public before basic legal points have been settled.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Chief executive Peter Sands's defence of bank in light of report by New York regulator sees market confidence rise It was a better day for the defence. Standard Chartered's share price rebounded 7%. Sir Mervyn King criticised the New York state department of financial services (DFS) for going solo before an investigation by five agencies has been concluded. The bank's chief executive, Peter Sands, sounding variously indignant and bemused, did a good job of presenting his case that Standard Chartered's indiscretions were tiny – a matter of a few millions of dollars arising from administrative errors. Ultimately, though, we are no closer to the heart of the matter since the central question is whose interpretation of US laws on "U-turn" transactions is correct. These laws, remember, involve transactions initiated offshore by non-Iranian foreign banks and only passing through the US on their way to other non-Iranian foreign banks. The New York DFS reckons there were dodgy transactions totalling $250bn; the bank, arguing the department is "incorrect as a matter of law," says $14m. So Standard Chartered is either guilty of monstrous deception or is virtually squeaky clean. And the truly baffling part of the tale is how, after two full years of investigation, the two sides could still be arguing about the technical meaning of a law. Shouldn't that have been sorted out in the first week, or at least the first month? It's too late now, but King is right – the DFS should not have broken ranks and gone public before basic legal points have been settled.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | • Felix beats Jamaican 100m winner into second
• Carmelita Jeter gets bronze for USA Allyson Felix's first reaction was not joy, but relief. After winning silver medals in the 200m at successive Olympic Games, each time behind her great rival from Jamaica, Veronica Campbell-Brown, Felix had finally got the gold. Felix, who says that she has been plagued by thoughts of her defeat in 2008 every night for the past four years, beat one of the greatest fields ever assembled in the history of women's sprinting. And she did it with ease. Her winning time was 21.88sec, which was some way off her best, but good enough on the night. Campbell-Brown was trying to become the first woman in history to win sprint titles at three successive Games. She did not do it, but finished fourth. Ahead of her were the USA's Carmelita Jeter, the world 100m champion, and her Jamaican team-mate Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, who was trying to become the first woman to win the sprint double at the Olympic Games since Florence Griffith Joyner did it in Seoul in 1988. In fifth was Sanya Richards-Ross, who would have been the first woman to do the Olympic 200m and 400m double since Marie-Jo Pérec in 1996. So Felix beat two current world champions, and two current Olympic champions. The medals for Jeter and Felix tipped the ongoing sprint rivalry between Jamaica and the USA back the other way, and bumped the Americans up the athletics medal table after a disappointing few days. Surprisingly, this was the USA's first female sprint gold since Gail Devers won the 100m in 1996. Felix did it in style, taking a narrow lead around the bend and holding on to it as the two Jamaican champions inside her came up to join her with 100m to go. Campbell-Brown began to go backwards, as Felix found another turn of speed and pushed on for the line. Jeter, in lane nine, barnstormed the finish to beat Campbell-Brown to bronze. She finished in 22.14sec, five hundredths behind Fraser-Pryce, who set a new personal best of 22.09. Campbell-Brown and Felix are two of the great sprinters of their time. They have fought a series of duels running right back to 2004, sharing every major medal between them, and with one or the other topping the world rankings every year between then and 2011. Campbell-Brown won two Olympic golds in that time, Felix three at world championships. But there was no disguising who was the happier of the two. Felix has said she would give all three of her golds to get her hands on just one of Campbell-Brown's. In 2004 there had been just 0.13 between them in the final, and in 2008 it was 0.17. "That 2008 final, every day since then I am always thinking about it," Felix has said. "I don't want to get that thought out of my head. It is my motivation. I've got to win, this is the one missing thing and it is the one that I want." In 2011 Felix got so desperate for an Olympic medal that she decided to step up to the 400m too, attempting to do the double at the world championships in Daegu. She reckoned she stood a better chance of winning that elusive Olympic gold at the longer distance. In the end though, the endurance work robbed her of her sprinting speed. Caught between the two events, she won neither. Campbell-Brown won gold that time, but she wasn't the only one who took advantage. Richards-Ross and Fraser-Pryce, both sensing an opportunity, both decided to target the 200m too. Neither had ever won a medal at a major championships at that distance. All of a sudden, the 200m had turned into one of the hottest events at the Games, the field stacked with champions of one sort or another. In the space of three weeks in June and July, both Fraser-Pryce, Richards-Ross and Jeter set new personal bests, and there were only two-hundredths of a second between them. Unhappy with the silver and bronze she won at the 2011 world championships, Felix told her coach Bob Kersee, who coached his wife Jackie Joyner-Kersee to two Olympic gold medals in the heptathlon, that she wanted to switch back to speed work and try for the 100m/200m double instead. She finished fifth behind Fraser-Pryce in the 100m final last Saturday, but in a new personal best time of 10.89. Following on from the 21.69 she ran in the 200m at the US trials, which was the fourth-quickest time in history, there was a sense that she had sheer speed in her slender legs that was going to be too much for her rivals. Felix, the son of a church minister, reads to herself from Philippians before every race. Her favourite passage reads "If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labour for me." Never more so than on Wednesday night.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | System has live video feeds, huge databases of recent crime patterns and can take input direct from the field in real time New York mayor Michael Bloomberg has unveiled a new crime-fighting system developed with Microsoft – and revealed that the city will take a cut of the profits if it is sold to other administrations. The innovation, which bears a passing resemblance to the futuristic hologram data screens used by Tom Cruise in the science fiction film Minority Report, will allow police to quickly collate and visualise vast amounts of data from cameras, licence plate readers, 911 calls, police databases and other sources. It will then display the information in real time, both visually and chronologically, allowing investigators to centralise information about crimes as they happen or are reported. "It is a one-stop shop for law enforcement," Bloomberg said at a City Hall press conference unveiling the new technology. But, though it has many screens, maps, and flashing visuals that make it look like science fiction, the new technology has a distinctly un-Hollywood name: the Domain Awareness System. Developed by Microsoft engineers working with New York police officers, DAS will allow a host of activities to be carried out, such as spotting a suspicious vehicle and being able to track its recent movements or use cameras to track back and see who left a suspicious package. It features live video feeds, huge databases of recent crime patterns and can take input direct from the field in real time via things like 911 calls or police radios. "All the information is presented visually and geographically and in chronological context," said police commissioner Ray Kelly. But there is more to the new system than just fighting crime in a city that has in recent decades shed a once fearsome reputation to become one of the safest big metropolitan areas in America. Part of the deal with Microsoft will result in the city of New York taking a 30% cut on any profits that the computer firm gets from selling the technology to other cities in America or around the world. "Maybe we can make a few bucks," Bloomberg said. "It is a great example of what the public and private sector can do to improve people's lives when we work together." Such partnerships with the private sector, especially in sensitive areas like law enforcement, are not without their critics who are concerned about introducing a profit motive into the traditional domain of public social policy. But they are becoming a Bloomberg specialism. He recently announced an agreement with investment bank Goldman Sachs to issue a loan, called a "social impact bond", that will fund a scheme to cut re-offending rates among young people leaving New York's notorious Rikers Island jail. If the scheme beats certain targets of youth behaviour Goldman could make several million dollars of profit.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ACLU denounces Delhi Charter School's policy of forcing tests on female students and banning them if results are confirmed State officials in Louisiana have ordered a school to change a policy that forces students who are "suspected" of being pregnant to take a pregnancy test, and for banning them from class if the results are confirmed. Civil liberties campaigners highlighted the policy at the Delhi Charter School, saying it was discriminatory and unconstitutional. Commentators expressed concern that any student merely "suspected" of being pregnant could be forced to take a test. State officials ordered the school to change its policy within a week or face sanction. "We request that you immediately revise your policy," the Louisiana state department of education said in a statement on Tuesday night. The edict followed a complaint from the American Civil Liberties Union which highlighted the case, saying the state-funded school was breaking the law. "This is in blatant violation of federal law and the US constitution." According to the school manual's "student pregnancy policy", students suspected of being pregnant must be tested. Those who test positive "will not be permitted to attend class on the campus" and instead be required to study at home. "Any student who is suspected of being pregnant and who refuses to submit to a pregnancy test shall be treated as a pregnant student and will be offered home study opportunities. If home study opportunities are not acceptable, the student will be counseled to seek other educational opportunities." Marjorie Esman, executive director of the ACLU, said in a letter the policy violated the Education Amendments and Equal Protection Clause by excluding students from class on the basis of sex. The manual says nothing about male students who father children. "What a school should do is treat pregnancy as any other medical condition and allow the student to participate fully in anything that she's medically capable of participating in," said Esman's letter. The policy presumed a pregnant student was unable to continue to attend class and violated the right to procreate and to decide whether to continue or terminate a pregnancy, she said. It also perpetuated "the archaic and pernicious stereotype that a girl's pregnancy sets a 'bad example' for her peers". The school did not immediately respond to a Guardian interview request on Wednesday but earlier in a statement to the Daily News the principal, Chris Broussard, said the school had contracted lawyers to help review its policy. "There have never been any complaints from students or parents about the school's policy. However, in light of the recent inquiry, the current policy has been forwarded to the law firm of Davenport, Files & Kelly in Monroe, La., to ensure that necessary revisions are made so that our school is in full compliance with the constitutional law." The ACLU noted that around 70% of teenage girls who gave birth left school, partly because of illegal discrimination. "Schools should be supporting pregnant and parenting teens that face numerous barriers to completing their education, not illegally excluding them from school." Another policy in the school's 216-page manual which caught attention was "reasonable corporal punishment of unruly students", defined as "paddling of the student's buttocks". Public displays of affection were banned because they showed "disdain for good taste". Such displays included "holding hands on school premises, hugging, kissing, leaning against each other and sitting in each others' laps".
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | UN secretary general thought to favour Nordic candidate to replace Kofi Annan, who will leave his post at the end of August The UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon has held talks with the Arab League in the hope of agreeing on a new Syrian peace envoy to replace Kofi Annan and keep open an alternative to the spiralling levels of violence. Western diplomats said that Ban hoped to make an announcement this week, and there was speculation he was leaning towards a Nordic candidate such as one of the former Finnish presidents Tarja Halonen or Martti Ahtisaari. It is unclear, however, whether the Arab League has agreed. Whoever is chosen would – like Annan, who steps down at the end of the month – have to represent both the UN and the Arab League. "Diplomats around the UN wonder why anyone would want to take the job," said Richard Gowan, a expert on international peacekeeping at New York University. "Some western officials think that replacing Annan at all is a bad idea, as it will create further false hopes about a peace deal that the UN simply can't deliver. There is an argument that a fairly low-profile envoy should replace Annan, whose celebrity arguably got in the way of his diplomatic efforts. A lower-level figure might be able to make more progress." Ban himself is said to harbour doubts over what a new envoy could achieve, faced with escalating violence and deep and persistent splits between the permanent members of the UN security council, but believes that the door to peace talks has to be kept open. His spokesman, Martin Nesirky, said: "The secretary general is in close, almost daily, contact with the secretary general of the League of Arab States on the work that needs to go into the selection of a successor to Kofi Annan. Kofi Annan is still in his post until the end of August and his office continues its work, but this needs to happen sooner rather than later." Announcing his resignation last week, Annan blamed "finger pointing and name mcalling" in the security council for the lack of progress, and insisted that Syria's leader, Bashar al-Assad, "must leave office". The former secretary general argued that the regime's "intransigence and refusal to implement the six-point peace plan has been the greatest obstacle to any peaceful political process". Russia and China, however, refuse to agree to any UN measure that threatens punitive measures against the Assad regime. The US, Britain and France believe that only the threat of further isolation – they rule out direct military intervention – would change the regime's mind. There are also deep international divisions on the future of the small UN observer force still in Syria but largely unable to function. Its mandate expires on 19 August. Russia and China want to renew the mandate in its existing form, but western states argues that would simply provide a figleaf for further atrocities against the civilian population. The UK wants to turn the UN mission in Damascus into a more political body, focusing on keeping lines of communication open between the warring parties. In the interregnum between Annan and his unnamed successor, there are few signs of any dramatic diplomatic breakthroughs. The pace of events is being dictated byevents on the ground, and governments in the neighbourhood and beyond have been struggling to keep place. RussiaMoscow has maintained its full support for Assad and has been the regime's main arms supplier. It has vetoed all attempts to impose punitive measures on the government. If Assad's grip on power continues to deteriorate, however, some believe Moscow will go back to the security council to cut a deal that would guarantee its hold on its naval base at Tartus. IranOf all Syria's neighbours, Iran is the most deeply involved in the conflict. It has admitted the presence of Revolutionary Guard units in the country. Annan sought to draw Iran into dialogue on Syria's fate, but the US objected to Tehran's participation. Meanwhile the supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, has underlined his personal support for Assad by sending his representative, Saeed Jalili, to Damascus. USThe Obama administration has largely given up on the UN as a route to a political settlement, and has gradually increased its support to the opposition. US intelligence agents are reportedly operating on the Syrian border in conjunction with the Turkish authorities, principally in a bid to ensure that the increasing flow of arms from Gulf states and wealthy Arab businessmen does not end up in the hands of al-Qaida. UKThe foreign secretary, William Hague, is due to issue a statement on Friday, further raising the level of non-lethal British support to the Syrian opposition. Increasing that support, in the form of communications equipment and training of human rights monitors, has been directed at local groups inside Syria rather than the deeply divided Syrian National Council. FranceFrançois Hollande's government has come under fire at home for the lack of diplomatic progress on Syria. His predecessor, Nicolas Sarkozy, broke his silence on Wednesday for the first time since his election defeat in May to call for a much tougher stance against Damascus, comparing the situation with Libya "where at least I took action". Hollande has sought to step up France's diplomatic efforts. The foreign minister, Laurent Fabius, is due to tour the region later this month, visiting Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey. France has called for UN security council member states to review the situation on 30 August. French diplomats concede that in the face of fierce Russian resistance to a tougher UN stance, there is unlikely to be a breakthrough, but they also point out that the situation on the ground could have changed dramatically in the next 20 days. Meanwhile, Paris has boosted its humanitarian efforts, dispatching a joint military-civilian medical unit to Jordan to help care for the growing numbers of wounded Syrian refugees crossing the border. TurkeyThe Turkish government has provided the main haven for the rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA), but has also sought to keep strict limits on the flow of arms across the border. The policy mirrors ambivalence inside Turkey, pitting the desire to get rid of Assad against the fear of the chaos that might follow his downfall. Sinan Ulgen, at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace said: "I think Turkish public opinion is coming to terms with all the risks of the post-Assad era not just for Syria but for Turkey too, with the possible fragmentation into ethnic mini-states. It increasingly clear that it would be unstable and would spillover into Turkey, particularly through the role of the Kurdish groups like the PKK." Qatar and Saudi ArabiaThe Gulf Arab states have taken the lead in channelling arms and training to the FSA, but have chafed at the lack of US enthusiasm for the effort and at Turkish limits on arms supplies. Consequently, despite the expenditure of millions of dollars, the rebels are still reported to be still short of ammunition and forced to pay inflated sums for small arms on the black market. Salman Shaikh, the director of the Brookings Doha Institution, said: "There is a danger of privatised efforts and a security vacuum. This cannot be left to the Gulf states. The arms supplies are going in fits and starts. Arms have been resold and passed on to Salafist groups. There needs to be one channel."
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Peter Sands claims 'factual inaccuracies' in accusations by US regulator that bankers helped Iran avoid financial sanctions Peter Sands, the chief executive of Standard Chartered, came out fighting against accusations by a US regulator that the British bank conspired with Iranian clients to move $250bn (£160bn) around the financial system for terrorists and "drug kingpins" as he attempted to repair the bank's battered reputation. Apologising for the first time for some breaches of US sanctions, Sands on Wednesday insisted the culture at Standard Chartered did not need to change even though the New York state department of financial services (DFS) has accused the bank's head of risk of criticising "fucking Americans" for banning trade with Iran. The head of risk at the time, October 2006, was Richard Meddings, who is now finance director. The bank insisted the quote was "not accurate". Sands said the accusations made by the New York regulator, led by Benjamin Lawsky, contained "factual inaccuracies" and that they would be contested at a hearing on 15 August. Bank of England governor Sir Mervyn King appeared to lend his support to Standard Chartered. "I think that all the UK authorities would ask is that the various regulatory bodies that are investigating a particular case try to work together and refrain from making too many public statements until the investigation is completed. That seems to me to be the appropriate time to make clear what the judgement is and what the punishment is," said King. London mayor Boris Johnson used his column in the Spectator magazine to ask "what is all this stuff about Standard Chartered?". "This British bank has generally enjoyed a high reputation for probity (as these places go) until yesterday, when some New York regulator apparently denounced Standard as a 'rogue institution'," he said. After a 20% slide in the bank's shares since the surprise announcement as London markets were closing on Monday, the shares rose 7% to £13.50 – still £2.50 down on their price before Monday's surprise announcement by the DFS. "It clearly has been very damaging. It would be unrealistic to pretend otherwise," said Sands. "We are going to have to work hard to restore the damage." . The City is concerned that the damning accusations, which cover the period 2001 to 2007, could force out Sands or Meddings – both highly regarded – or lead to the bank being stripped of its crucial banking licence in New York. Sands insisted there were "no grounds" for the US regulator to revoke the bank's licence. But he conceded that $14m of the bank's transactions – less than 300 out of 150m scrutinised – had broken US rules known as U-turns, which were transactions that US authorities allowed to take place as long as the money did not end up in Iranian banks. "That is clearly wrong and we are sorry those mistakes were made," said Sands, who has cut short his holiday after the sudden publication of the 27 pages of allegations from Lawsky. Sands said he did not recognise the $250bn figure announced by the regulator, nor the 60,000 transactions that Lawsky accused the bank of hiding. "There was no systematic attempt to circumvent sanctions," he said. He insisted that the remarks about "fucking Americans" were not accurate. Meddings, who is not named directly in the report, is said to have made the remarks after being warned by the bank's then chief executive for America about the risks the bank was running in dealing with Iran. Sands defended the bank's culture – which only last week was being touted as differentiating Standard Chartered from rivals such as HSBC and Barclays which, respectively, have been hit by money laundering and Libor scandals. "I don't think there is anything wrong with the culture at Standard Chartered ... We are about trying to do the right thing and run a good bank well," he said. The bank was caught on the back foot by the New York regulator, despite having revealed in its annual reports since 2010 that it was in discussions with a number of US bodies over breaches of sanctions. Sands made clear that here had been no advance warning from Lawsky and that the bank believed it was in co-ordinated discussions with all the US regulators. "We were surprised in the manner of the announcement and that it was done without giving us any notice," he said. There were reports on Wednesday that officials at the US Treasury and federal reserve were angry about the decision by Lawsky to go it alone with his allegations on Monday. King made comparisons with the Libor fine against Barclays, where there was co-ordinated response by a number of regulators. In Standard Chartered's case, King said, "one regulator, but not the others, has gone public while the investigation is still going on".
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Viktor Yanukovych makes Russian the official language in parts of the country despite street protests in capital Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych on Wednesday signed into law a bill making Russian the official language in parts of the former Soviet republic, angering opponents who warn it risks splitting it in two. The opposition, which has united to fight Yanukovych's Party of the Regions in an October 28 election, also cried foul after election authorities refused to allow jailed ex-prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko to run in the vote. A statement by the united opposition Batkivshchyna (Fatherland) said her exclusion by the central election commission had been carried out on Yanukovych's direct instructions and amounted to "a violation of the rights of millions of our fellow citizens who support Yulia Tymoshenko". Yanukovych's party rushed the language bill through parliament last month in what opponents saw as an attempt to rally flagging public support in Russian-speaking regions ahead of the October vote. The move led to street protests in the capital Kiev and brawls in parliament as the opposition, which fears it will lead to the status of Ukrainian as the state language being eroded, fought to block it. A statement by the presidential administration said Yanukovych had instructed his government to take the necessary steps to adopt local legislation to take account of the new law. Opposition politicians, including Tymoshenko and one-time foreign minister Arseny Yatseniuk whose two parties have united to fight the election together, have described the bill as a "crime against the state" which could set citizens at each other's throats. "Yanukovych has managed to do everything that the Russian emperors and the Soviet general secretaries could not do. He has passed a death sentence on the Ukrainian language," Oleg Medvedev, an opposition strategist, said. Yanukovych, himself a mother tongue Russian-speaker, has made few public comments on the issue. But his popularity would have taken a hard knock in his eastern Ukraine power base if he had failed to sign it into law. While Ukrainian is the country's only state language, the bill will make Russian an official regional language in predominantly Russian-speaking areas in the industrialised east and southern regions such as Crimea where Russia's Black Sea fleet is based.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Viktor Yanukovych makes Russian the official language in parts of the country despite street protests in capital Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych on Wednesday signed into law a bill which will make Russian the official language in parts of the former Soviet republic, angering opponents who warn it risks splitting the country. The opposition, which has united to fight Yanukovych's Party of the Regions in an October 28 election, also cried foul after election authorities refused to allow jailed ex-prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko run in the vote. A statement by the united opposition Batkivshchyna (Fatherland) said her exclusion by the central election commission had been carried out on Yanukovych's direct instructions and amounted to "a violation of the rights of millions of our fellow citizens who support Yulia Tymoshenko". Yanukovych's Regions rushed the language bill through parliament last month in what opponents saw as an attempt to rally flagging public support in Russian-speaking regions ahead of the October vote. The move led to street protests in the capital Kiev and brawls in parliament as the opposition, which fears it will lead to the status of Ukrainian as the state language being eroded, fought to block it. A statement by the presidential administration said Yanukovych had instructed his government to take the necessary steps to adopt local legislation to take account of the new law. Opposition politicians, including Tymoshenko and one-time foreign minister Arseny Yatseniuk whose two parties have united to fight the election together, have described the bill as a "crime against the state" which could set citizens at each other's throats. "Yanukovych has managed to do everything that the Russian emperors and the Soviet general secretaries could not do. He has passed a death sentence on the Ukrainian language," Oleg Medvedev, an opposition strategist, said. Yanukovych, himself a mother tongue Russian-speaker, has made few public comments on the issue. But his popularity would have taken a hard knock in his eastern Ukraine power base if he had failed to sign it into law. While Ukrainian is the only state language, the bill would make Russian an official regional language in predominantly Russian-speaking areas in the industrialised east and southern regions such as Crimea where Russia's Black Sea fleet is based.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Despite forces massed on both sides, neither seems willing or able to make decisive move on Salahedin neighbourhood The day started in Salahedin just as it had for the past fortnight, with rebels under fierce assault from a nearby ring road and the Syrian Air Force blitzing them from the skies. Just before daybreak, however, the frontline – thus far seemingly solid – began to wobble. Rebels briefly withdrew as the regime pushed forward with men and tanks. This, it seemed, was the start of the battle for Aleppo, an inexorable showdown for which the whole city had been nervously preparing. Then, only several hours after daybreak, the regime retreated and the weary guerillas returned to their sandbags. Government claims to have conquered the enemy stronghold were false, as were the rebels' later claims to have breached regime lines. Nothing seems to be going to script in this war. All the might that the forces loyal to Bashar al-Assad can muster is now camped just over a large bank of land to the east of Salahedin, the suburb of Aleppo that has become the focal point of the conflict. All the men the guerrilla force can assemble are holed up in crumbling buildings, the closest of them only 200m from the nearest regime tank. Yet the decisive battle that most in Aleppo seemed to have feared is slowly giving way to another – even more dreaded – reality. Stalemate, with neither side willing or able to advance. A new sense is beginning to settle in that neither Salahedin, nor the rest of Syria's second city, will see an end to the fighting any time soon. Despite its superior numbers and weaponry, the army appears in no hurry to bring the uprising here to an end. The siege that has crippled the city is likely to get far worse. "This will be a second Baba Amr," said Sheikh Salim al-Hoss, as he rested under a mulberry tree in a commandeered schoolyard just outside Aleppo. "They are going to wear us down. They think they have time on their side." Hoss was sitting with members of a military council, who were all breaking their daily Ramadan fast on Tuesday night, largely in silence. Snipers had killed two young rebels from their unit in the late afternoon and the rush to bury them before sunset seemed to have numbed the men. The effect on one of the dead men's fathers was more profound. He stood trembling and bewildered later in the evening as he received condolences in a hastily erected mourning tent. A tear ran down his face as lines of wellwishers reached for his hand. Just before noon he had spoken to his 24-year-old son, Ala'a Tamur, by phone in between battles on Salahedin's main frontline. Just before dinner he buried him. "Be proud you have a martyr, uncle," one of the men's colleagues told the boy's bereft father. The 73-year-old stared and nodded. Street 15 in Salahedin now resembles Leningrad in its darkest days, and the suburb itself is in far worse shape than when the Guardian last visited on Saturday. Most streets on the eastern side are now impassable by car. Broken sewage and water pipes and food leftovers have formed a festering stew over the few surfaces that aren't littered with the flotsam and jetsam of war. And Salahedin has a new arrival – flies, which swarm around anything organic. They are so thick in some parts that rebels look for detours to avoid them. As they do they need to avoid trampling on the only other thing that seems to be living at ground zero of the battle for Syria – kittens. Rebels have taken in many of them, and it's not uncommon to find a gnarled, sweaty guerrilla sleeping on the floor of a commandeered flat with an abandoned kitten asleep on his chest. Two men sleeping in what passes for a first aid clinic in one part of Salahedin had to throw their new pets aside late on Wednesday, when a wounded rebel appeared like a ghost in their darkened doorway. He fell on a foam mattress clutching his left side. "A sniper, haram," he said. "I was going to meet the defector." "Press hard [on the wound], press until it hurts," one bystander said. The men instead offered caresses and comforting words, then bundled him into the back of a 4x4, which rushed him away. Snipers continue to filter into Salahedin despite the almost impossible journey to get here. "We had four in this quarter alone today," said a rebel from Damascus, who himself defected three months ago. "There would be many more if they could find a way." Recent senior defectors, among them two colonels from Aleppo who made their way to a nearby town on Tuesday, claimed that the fear of large numbers of defections if a ground attack was launched was shaping regime tactics. "If they send the army in, they will throw off their clothes and leave," one of the men said. They want to sit back and bomb, just like they did in Homs." The defectors also claimed that jets would bomb Aleppo and the eastern hinterland between 3am and 5am. On cue, the jets arrived. The fulfilled prediction means the two officers will now be asked to help devise tactics to repel the assault. Whoever can prevail in a war of attrition will prevail in Aleppo and likely in the overall uprising. Though battle-weary and at times despairing, and still underprepared, the rebel forces appear to have the stamina to see the fight to a conclusion. Whether the people of Aleppo share their commitment is yet to be determined. The few cars moving on the largely empty streets were mostly carrying refugees. Those who remain have little reason to fully embrace the uprising that is now affecting all of them. As the Guardian left Aleppo late on Wednesday, our car was flagged down by a smiling rebel standing next to a thin 23-year-old. He had defected an hour before from the air force intelligence headquarters in the west of the city. Among Syria's pervasive security apparatus, none strike more fear into citizens. The defector, Khaldoun al-Shabibi, said that the tables were, however, turning. "They are terrified in there," he said. "Every time there is gunfire anywhere near the building they shoot crazily at anything outside. "It was never like that before. It's a sign that things are changing."
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Rolling report: Tonight's action includes Usain Bolt in the 200m semi-finals. Join Barry Glendenning for the latest
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Authorities originally said Wade Michael Page was killed by police, but federal officials now say he took his own life A white supremacist who killed six people at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head after he was shot by a police officer, the FBI said on Wednesday. Authorities originally said Wade Michael Page was killed by police, but federal officials now say he took his own life after being injured during an exchange of gunfire with officers. At a news briefing in Milwaukee, FBI special agent Teresa Carlson said investigators have not yet settled on a motive for the attack at the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin in Oak Creek on Sunday. Page, an army veteran whose record was marred by drunkenness and a failure to report for duty, walked into the temple just before 10.30am and opened fire with a 9mm pistol. Among those killed were the president of the temple, Satwant Singh Kaleka, who was shot as he tried to hold back Page with a butter knife. On Tuesday night, Oak Creek residents turned out in their hundreds for a vigil for the victims. Addressing the crowd, the town's police chief, John Edwards, said he was struck by the lack of hatred in the reaction of the Sikh community. Standing in front a row of people holding signs that spelled "practice peace", Edwards said: "In 28 years of law enforcement, I have seen a lot of hate. I have seen a lot of revenge. I've seen a lot of anger. What I saw, particularly from the Sikh community this week was compassion, concern, support. "What I didn't see was hate. I did not see revenge. I didn't see any of that. And in law enforcement that's unusual to not see that reaction to something like this. I want you all to understand how unique that is." At the FBI briefing on Wednesday, Carlson said Page had not come to the attention of federal officials before Sunday's incident. She said investigators were interviewing dozens of people who knew Page, in their attempts to determine a motive for the attack, which the FBI has classed as an act of domestic terrorism. Page had a record of minor alcohol-related crimes in Texas, Colorado and North Carolina. He was demoted during a stint in the army for getting drunk on duty and going absent without leave before he was discharged in 1998. After the army, Page drifted between jobs and played in white power bands. Sometimes he performed with a Nazi swastika hanging behind the drummer. His first band, Definite Hate, produced an album called Violent Victory with a cover design of a white fist punching a black man in the face. The fist is tattooed with the letters HFFH for "Hammerskins Forever, Forever Hammerskins" after a national skinhead organisation. Page stopped showing up for work in July. He visited a gun shop and, after clearing background checks, bought the gun he used in the shooting. His girlfriend, 31-year-old nursing student Misty Cook, was arrested on a provisional charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm, South Milwaukee police said Tuesday. The FBI said Wednesday her arrest was not linked to Sunday's shooting.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Joel Kolko was found not guilty of contacting boy who accused him of molestation after a juror's mother spoke to defendant A New York judge found no evidence of juror misconduct during a trial in which a Brooklyn rabbi was acquitted of violating an order barring him from interacting with a young boy who had accused him of sexual molestation. The Brooklyn district attorney's office said that on the final day of the four-day trial, the mother of juror No 6 was spotted having a "spirited conversation" with defendant Joel Kolko outside the courtroom. However, Kings County criminal judge Michael Gerstein held in a July 30 order that he saw no basis for questioning the juror and her mother about possible misconduct. "The behavior of juror No 6's mother may easily be characterized as unusual," Gerstein wrote. "But there has been no showing, let alone a colorable showing, that the mother's conduct impugned the integrity of the trial process." The trial is one of several high-profile cases involving the Orthodox Jewish community in Brooklyn, which has been roiled by allegations that religious leaders have covered up sex abuse against children. Brooklyn district attorney Charles Hynes has been accused in some media reports of helping community leaders cover up high-profile accusations. Defending his office's actions, Hynes has said secrecy may be necessary in some cases to help shield victims from harassment and intimidation. In 2007 Kolko, a rabbi and teacher at Yeshiva Torah Temimah in Brooklyn, was indicted for sexually abusing a former first-grade student. In 2008, he pleaded guilty to two counts of endangering the welfare of a child and was sentenced to three years' probation. He also was ordered to refrain from contacting the child. In 2010, Kolko was rearrested after prosecutors accused him of violating the protective order on two separate occasions. A jury acquitted Kolko on June 26 after just 10 minutes of deliberations. The following day, the Brooklyn district attorney's office sent the court a letter citing possible juror misconduct. The letter said that before summations, a self-described advocate for sex abuse victims, witnessed juror No 6's mother having a "spirited conversation" with Kolko outside the courtroom. The witness, Ben Hirsch, an advocate for sex abuse victims in the Orthodox Jewish community, said he did not overhear the conversation, according to the letter sent by the DA's office to the court. The DA's office asked the court to bring juror No 6 and her mother back for a hearing to determine if misconduct had occurred. Gerstein said there was no indication that something improper had taken place, or that juror No 6's mother influenced deliberations. "There is no evidence whatsoever that juror No 6 violated her oath in any way," he wrote. The DA's office declined to comment. A lawyer for Kolko, an elementary school teacher at Yeshiva Torah Temimah in Brooklyn, was not immediately available for comment.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Civilian deaths fall in Afghanistan but officials say decline is linked to an exceptionally harsh winter and not to improved security The number of civilians killed in Afghanistan's war has fallen for the first time in over half a decade, the UN said, but officials warned that the decline is a "hollow trend" linked to an exceptionally harsh winter, rather than evidence of improved security. Some 3,099 non-combatants were killed or injured between January and July of this year, about 15% fewer than in the same period of 2011. It is the first time since the UN started keeping records in 2007 that there has been a fall in civilian casualties, but senior UN diplomats cautioned against reading it as a sign that after more than a decade of war the country is finally getting safer. "The reduction in civilian casualties is welcome, but these gains are fragile. They do not reflect a move towards a peaceful society," said Nicholas Haysom, the deputy UN envoy to Afghanistan, at a news conference to launch the regular Protection of Civilians report. "This report does not suggest that Afghans are necessarily safer or better protected in their communities." Targeted Taliban assassinations of government officials, tribal elders and other civilians whom insurgents consider their enemies have surged in the same period. And thousands of people fled their homes because of violence, so there are now nearly 115,000 internal refugees from fighting. The worst winter Kabul has seen in well over a decade probably contributed to a lower toll in the first months of the year, as bitter temperatures and heavy snow damped down violence. "There was this exceptional decline not just in civilian casualties but of conflict related incidents overall," said James Rodehaver, deputy director of the UN's Human Rights Unit in Kabul. He highlighted the impact of a summer pick-up in fighting, saying deaths and injuries in July were about 5% higher than the same month in 2011. "That is one of the reasons we would caution reading too much into the 15% overall reduction in casualties. That is a very hollow trend," Rodehaver said. "The fact that were was a decline in May of this year, then a lower decline in June, and now an increase this July is rather telling, and I think it shows the direction the conflict may be heading in terms of impact on civilians." A rising toll in recent months would broadly fit with security data from the Nato-led coalition, which said that between April and June Taliban attacks on foreign and Afghan forces rose 11% from a year earlier. Despite the decline in overall deaths, the Taliban are still responsible for the vast majority of civilian casualties, "around 80%", and had shown no "real or concerted attempt" to cut back on the damage, Haysom said. Targeted assassinations are a particular concern, particularly when they use homemade bombs, which are both indiscriminate and disproportionate, the report said. These attacks soared by half compared with January to July 2011, with 255 people killed and 101 injured. The Taliban announced this year that they would target civilians "who work against the Mujahideen", even though the assassinations are not legal under international humanitarian and human rights laws, the UN said. The killing campaigns can weaken local government and intimidate small communities, who often feel they have little support from officials and security forces clustered into district centres, while the insurgents effectively control farmland and villages. "UNAMA's discussion with Afghans in rural communities across the country reflected a common perception that anti-government elements exercise de facto control of areas or entire districts in many regions," the report said, citing a survey on Afghans' perceptions of security.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Few people believe the trial of Bo Xilai's wife for the murder of businessman Neil Heywood is non-political, says Asia expert The facts will speak for themselves, Gu Kailai's son Bo Guagua proclaimed, as his mother prepares to stand trial on Thursday for the murder of British businessman Neil Heywood. Few others have such confidence in the transparency of a politicised case in a country where 98% of hearings end in conviction – and where state media has announced that there is "irrefutable" evidence against Gu and her co-defendant. Even the location is telling. Hefei, the capital of eastern Anhui province, is about 600 miles south of Beijing and further still from Chongqing, the scene of the alleged murder, where Gu's husband, Bo Xilai, remains popular despite his ousting as party secretary. The nondescript industrial city has no obvious advantage as the site of the highest-profile Chinese trial in decades, beyond its relative obscurity. Few here show much interest in, or knowledge of, the case, although many in China are wary of discussing such sensitive issues with foreigners. "Who's that?" replied one resident, when asked if he was aware of Gu's case. Told that she was Bo's wife, he asked bemusedly: "Why is she standing trial here?" "In Chongqing, people would have said there is a local bias either for or against," François Godement, a China politics expert at the European Council on Foreign Relations, told Associated Press. "In Beijing, it would have been a high-profile political case." The scandal is particularly sensitive given the transfer of power to a new generation of leaders this autumn. Bo Xilai had been tipped by some for promotion in that shake-up. Some experts have surmised that the Anhui judiciary may also be seen as more than usually politically reliable. All courts in China are under Communist party control, but the system here was previously overseen by Wang Shengjun, now head of China's supreme people's court. Behind the austere stone and glass facade of the spacious Hefei intermediate people's court, the courtroom is too cramped for foreign media to watch as Gu, 53, and family employee Zhang Xiaojun, 33, stand trial, officials insist. The hearing is expected to last up to a day. Two British diplomats will attend in a consular capacity and it is thought that each defendant will be allowed two relatives in court. State media have alleged that Gu killed Heywood because she feared for her son's safety after an economic conflict. "As I was cited as a motivating factor for the crimes accused of my mother, I have already submitted my witness statement," Bo Guagua wrote in an email to CNN. "I hope that my mother will have the opportunity to review them." Bo, who has remained in the US since graduating from Harvard this summer, added: "I have faith that facts will speak for themselves." Friends of Heywood fear the dead man is being smeared so Gu – who might otherwise face the death penalty – can use her concern for her son as a mitigating factor. They do not believe he would have threatened the family and least of all Bo Guagua, to whom he was closest. "He is not the person who has been portrayed – some kind of sleazeball," said one. Heywood was part of Gu's inner circle until he fell out with her some years ago. But friends say he remained on good terms with Bo Guagua; one said the two men spoke almost daily at times, although another thought it more a case of occasional social contact. "Heywood is in no position to answer any of this. They can paint him almost any way they want, because there's not going to be anyone to contest that in proceedings," said Glenn Tiffert an expert on Chinese law at the University of California, Berkeley. He added that an alleged confession by Gu would have been made "under considerable duress – duress that would call into question the credibility of the confession in our system." Tiffert said it was in defendants' interests to confess because it suggested they had accepted some moral responsibility for their actions, which could be taken into account in sentencing. At the same time, officials wanted an admission to help justify the outcome of the trial. Witnesses rarely appear in court, with cases usually relying on statements, but there is speculation that Patrick Devillers, the French architect who was also part of Gu's circle, may give evidence. He was detained by authorities in Cambodia at China's request and subsequently flew to China, with Cambodian officials saying he was wanted as a witness. Experts think authorities are likely to be punctilious in complying with legal requirements given the close scrutiny. But Kerry Brown, head of the Asia programme at Chatham House, said: "No one in their right mind would see Gu's trial as non-political. There is no way on this planet her trial outcome will not, finally, be signed off at Politburo level." He suggested it formed part of an essentially political narrative, justifying Bo's removal because he and his associates were "bad" people. He also noted the convenience of focusing on a murder charge, excluding the economic crimes to which Gu reportedly confessed. "A trial about economic corruption runs the risk of raising the question of how they [senior leaders] are all implicated. Murder doesn't," said Brown. "None of this means she actually did murder Heywood, but I suppose in their hearts the leadership must think that even in being implicated in this mess, she, and Bo, screwed up. So now they take the consequences."
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | New York police department is seeking information on threats toward the boxer's newly opened one-man show Twitter has complied with a court order to provide the New York police department with information on a user who threatened to commit an Aurora-style attack at Mike Tyson's one-man show. The NYPD issued a subpoena on Tuesday when Twitter refused to co-operate with an investigation into an anonymous users' posts referencing last month's Aurora, Colorado movie theater shooting which left 12 people dead and nearly 60 injured. Using the now-invalid handle @ObamasMistress, someone calling themselves Anonymous Celebrity tweeted threats including: "This shit ain't no joke yo I'm serious people are gonna die just like in aurora," and "I might just shoot up this theater in new York I know they leave their exit doors unlocked. Ha now I gotta plan it step by step." Police told the AP they received new information from Twitter "that we're using as part of our ongoing investigation," the spokesman said. Threats seemed to be directed towards the one-man show Mike Tyson: Undisputed Truth which deals with the former heavyweight champion's harsh Brooklyn upbringing and his contentious history with women. The show, directed by Spike Lee, transferred from Las Vegas to New York this week and opening night guests included Donald Trump, Gayle King and Derek Jeter. Police increased security at the midtown Manhattan Longacre Theater – where the show is playing – in response to the threats. Twitter told the NYPD in an email: We appreciate the timeliness and sensitivity of this matter, and have reviewed the reported Twitter account. While we do invoke emergency disclosure procedures when it appears that a threat is present, specific and immediate, this does not appear to fall under those strict parameter as per our policies.
Twitter's privacy policy became a subject of critical debate after it suspended British journalist Guy Adams' profile for tweeting the email address of an NBC executive. His account was eventually reinstated and Twitter issued an apology.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Punk band's members claim they are freer than those carrying out their prosecution as judge sets 17 August for verdict Three members of the feminist punk band Pussy Riot said Vladimir Putin's Russia was the one on trial as they delivered closing arguments on Wednesday in a case seen as a key test of the powerful president's desire to crackdown on dissent. "This is a trial of the whole government system of Russia, which so likes to show its harshness toward the individual, its indifference to his honour and dignity," Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 22, one of the trio on trial said in an impassioned statement. "If this political system throws itself against three girls… it shows this political system is afraid of truth." The judge set 17 August as the day she would deliver a verdict against the women, charged with hooliganism motivated by religious hatred following an anti-Putin performance in a Moscow cathedral. Prosecutors have asked for a three-year sentence, arguing that the women sought to insult all of Russian Orthodoxy and denying they were carrying out a political protest. Tolokonnikova called the charges against them a "political order for repression" and denounced Putin's "totalitarian-authoritarian system", insisting Pussy Riot were an example of "opposition art". "Even though we are behind bars, we are freer than those people," she said, looking at the prosecution from inside the glass cage where she and her two bandmates, Marina Alyokhina and Yekaterina Samutsevich, have spent the nine-day trial. "We can say what we want, while they can only say what political censorship allows." "Maybe they think it wouldn't be wrong to try us for speaking against Putin and his system, but they can't say that because it's been forbidden," she said, wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with the revolutionary words "No Pasaran". Couching their case in the long plight of political prisoners in the country, the three women urged Russians to reject Putin and embrace freedom. Alyokhina, 24, compared the trial to the Soviet Union's persecution of Joseph Brodsky, when the young poet was charged with being a "social parasite", becoming a global cause celebre that highlighted the government's farcical control over culture. "We are not guilty – the whole world is talking about it," Alyokhina said, hours after Madonna became the latest, and biggest, star to come to the women's defence. "I am not scared of you," Alyokhina told the court. "I'm not scared of lies and fiction, or the badly formed deception that is the verdict of this so-called court. Because my words will live, thanks to openness. "When thousands of people will read and watch this, this freedom will grow with every caring person who listens to us in this country." Lawyers for Pussy Riot have been expecting a guilty verdict and three-year sentence, but said that was called into question following the judge's delay in issuing her decision. Lawyer Nikolai Polozov said growing international attention, including recent messages of support from the likes of Madonna and Yoko Ono, had had their effect. "To take a quick decision under such pressure is very dangerous for the authorities, so they've taken a time out," he told the Guardian. "No matter what the verdict is, we have won," he added. Each woman ended her closing statement to loud applause from the Russian journalists sitting in the courtroom.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Mitt Romney and Barack Obama remain neck and neck in key swing states according to new polls - live coverage
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Mitt Romney and Barack Obama remain neck and neck in key swing states according to new polls
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Tea Party favourite Akin wins three-way Republican primary and vows to defeat 'job-killing liberal' McCaskill in November A Congressman who played up his Tea Party credentials broke out from a three-way Missouri Republican primary on Tuesday to earn the right to take on sitting Democratic senator Claire McCaskill in November, setting up one of the most closely watched US senate races of 2012. It was one of several primaries in which Republicans tried to lay the groundwork to wrest control of the US Senate from Democrats in November, and also hope to oust President Barack Obama from the White House. Todd Akin won a contest defined by which candidate was the most conservative. In doing so, he beat 2008 Republican-vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin's candidate of choice, former state treasurer Sarah Steelman, and John Brunner, a businessman who poured more than $7.5m of his own money into the race. Meanwhile in Michigan, Republicans selected former congressman Pete Hoekstra to take on Democratic Senator Debbie Stabenow in November. Democratic congressman John Conyers staved off a primary challenge in a slightly redrawn district to advance to November's election, when he will be strongly favored to win a 25th consecutive term in Congress. In another closely watched Missouri race, William Lacy Clay defeated Russ Carnahan in a showdown of two of Missouri's most prominent Democratic families. With primary elections being held in four states Tuesday, Missouri's Republican Senate primary figured to have the most national significance: the Republican Party needs to net four seats from Democrats to gain control of the Senate and Republicans viewed McCaskill as among their top targets this year. In a sign of the race to come, the candidates traded accusations of being a party extremist. "The choice is clear in November," Akin said in a victory speech. "The big-spending, budget-busting, job-killing liberal or the less-spending, balanced-budget, job-creating conservative." In an interview with The Associated Press, McCaskill said, "I don't know that Missouri voters will ever have more of a contrast." She added: "The issue here is not whether you can label him a conservative, but whether or not he is on the fringe a very extreme candidate. I believe he is." Akin, 65, who drew the backing of former Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, has billed himself as a tea party supporter and has a strong conservative voting record in Congress. Polls indicated that any of the three Republican contenders would stand a good chance of defeating McCaskill. In Michigan, Hoekstra enters his race against Stabenow as the underdog. Stabenow, the chairwoman of the Senate's agriculture committee, is seeking a third term and has enjoyed a steady lead in polls. In Washington state, seven people were running for a seat representing the newly drawn first congressional district. Washington state votes by mail, so all of the state's 3.7 million voters received their ballots weeks ago. The Kansas primary was defined by a fight between the state Republican Party's conservative wing and its more moderate elements. Conservative Republican challengers had unseated two Republican moderates in the Kansas Senate and led six others, improving their chances of reshaping the legislature and ending a check on the political right's agenda.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Supreme court sets stage for showdown with Ashraf, who has refused to ask Switzerland to reopen case against president Pakistan's supreme court has paved the way for the dismissal of the country's prime minister, Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, less than two months after his predecessor was ousted for disobeying the court under identical circumstances. Further inflaming already chronic political instability, the court on Wednesday summoned Ashraf to appear on 27 August to explain his refusal to obey its demand that he ask authorities in Switzerland to reopen a money laundering enquiry against the president, Asif Ali Zardari. It represents an almost exact rerun of the political and legal saga involving the former prime minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, who resisted the demands for months before finally being given a token 30-second jail term by the supreme court. That criminal conviction was enough, after yet more legal wrangling, to force Gilani to stand down from parliament and the premiership in June. The court's demands imperil the hopes of the government, led by the Pakistan People's party (PPP), to survive until the end of the year, when it would become the first in the country's history to serve a full five-year term. Despite strict laws that limit criticism of the judiciary, PPP officials have started lashing out at the supreme court, accusing its chief justice of bias and attempting to undermine the pre-eminence of parliament.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Hundreds turn out for vigil honouring victims of Wisconsin temple shooting as many learn about the faith for the first time Some came in sorrow, some in solidarity. Many carried a niggling sense of shame. It was not that the people of Oak Creek bore responsibility for the tragedy of a white supremacist shooting dead six worshippers in a Sikh temple on Sunday. But some residents turning out at Tuesday evening's candlelit vigil for the victims recognised that they knew too little about the Sikhs living, and dying, in their midst. "We didn't know about them," said Loren Bauer, a retired machinist. "We see them but we don't pay much attention. A lot of them drive cabs and have gas stations and convenience stores. The only thing I ever heard about them was that a lot of people thought they were Muslims after 9/11." Teri Pelzek, too, had barely heard of Sikhs. "I knew nothing about them at all. I don't think a lot of people did. When we don't know about somebody's religion we assume the worst," she said. Yet the rapid learning curve since the massacre delivered up the unexpected. Some at the vigil were struck by the Sikh community's willingness to forgive the man who committed murder in their temple, who was himself shot dead by the police, and to emphasise peace over vengeance. The town's police chief, John Edwards, was among them. "In 28 years of law enforcement, I have seen a lot of hate. I have seen a lot of revenge. I've seen a lot of anger. What I saw, particularly from the Sikh community this week was compassion, concern, support," he told the vigil standing in front a row of people holding signs that spelled out: practice peace. "What I didn't see was hate. I did not see revenge. I didn't see any of that. And in law enforcement that's unusual to not see that reaction to something like this. I want you all to understand how unique that is." Pelzek said that in a country so often unforgiving and vengeful it was startling to see the Sikh response to the tragedy. "It surprised everyone when they were victims of someone so full of hatred. Because of their reaction, saying they'd like to forgive and move on, I think that's quite the attitude to hear after what just happened," she said. The lesson, spelled out by Oak Creek's mayor, Steve Saffidi, was that it shouldn't have taken a tragedy for Sikhs, or anyone else, to find acceptance.
"Our healing process begins tonight when we come together, joining hands, sharing customs, meeting each other, some for the first time - many people that we have probably not met before. That is a good thing for our community," he said. The theme resonated through the evening. Wisconsin's governor, Scott Walker, said the legacy of the killings should be for people to pay a little bit more attention to their fellow citizens, their neighbours and their friends. The vigil was arranged to follow National Night Out where people in towns across the US gather one evening a year to combat crime and promote community spirit. In Oak Creek they cancelled the closing fireworks out of respect for the dead but not the cheerleaders so that groups of Sikhs made their way to the neighbouring park for the vigil to the sound of young women yelping as they waved their pom poms to dance music. In time, hundreds of people drifted across to don symbolic white turbans and hold candles. The murdered victims were honoured individually with short accounts of how each came to be in the US and their lives in Oak Creek. Four of them were Indian citizens. Satwant Kaleka, 65, is the victim most often talked about in the wider community because, the vigil was told, he "died defending the temple he built attempting to fend off a gunman who attacked worshippers on Sunday". The FBI told Kaleka's family that he tried to stop the killer with a knife. He was mortally wounded but his attempt bought time for other people to get away. HIs wife, Satpal, was hiding in a closet during the massacre. Kaleka came to the US in 1980 with only $100 but he built a successful business. Paramjit Kaur, 41, was the only woman killed. The audience heard her described as "selfless" in putting her 18- and 20-year-old sons first, and a great value on education. She arrived with her husband, Inder, from the Punjab region eight years ago and worked at a medical instruments company. Suveg Singh was, at 84, the oldest victim. He was a farmer who moved to the US with his wife only eight years ago in order to live with his sons. Singh was described as devout, "always happy" and a man willing to engage with anyone. Sita Singh, 41, was a priest at the temple born in India who moved to New York and then arrived in Oak Creek earlier this year. The vigil heard that he was a "top and dedicated man who was very easy to talk to". He is survived by his wife and four children. He led morning services at about 5am. Ranjit Singh, 49, was Sita's Singh's brother and a former priest at the temple. More recently he played drums during prayer services. He left India 15 years ago and has not seen his son, who was just seven months old back then, in that time. Singh and the boy were to be reunited during a visit to Delhi in November. His body is expected to be returned to India for burial along with his brother. Prakash Singh, brought his wife and two children, ages 11 and 12, family to the US from India only six weeks ago after seven years apart. Singh was a priest and received his permanent resident card at the beginning of the year after living in the US for nine years. Amardeep Singh, of the Sikh Coalition, thanked Oak Creek's citizens for turning out in solidarity. It was a view echoed by many of the Sikhs present who, until the temple tragedy, felt less than fully accepted not least because they were often mistaken for Muslims with the consequences that carries since 9/11. But Singh's repeated on emphasis on Sikhs as Americans – "I would like to thank every single person who is here for being here on this night out and wrapping your arms around your fellow Americans upon our time of grief" – suggested he believes there is still work to be done.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Rolling report: Nicola Adams overcame a tough bout against the experienced Indian Mary Kom
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | South African court jails Mziwamadoda Qwabe for 25 years, but family still wait for husband Shrien Dewani to face trial One of two men accused of being hired by British newlywed Shrien Dewani to kill his bride on their honeymoon in Cape Town has been jailed for 25 years after admitting murder. Victim Anni Dewani's family said they were happy with the sentence given to Mziwamadoda Qwabe but would not know what really happened until Shrien Dewani faces trial in South Africa. He has previously pledged to fight to clear his name but remains in a UK hospital under police supervision pending a decision to extradite him. Anni Dewani, 28, was shot dead and her body found in an abandoned taxi in Cape Town's Gugulethu township in November 2010. South Africa's national prosecuting authority said on Wednesday that Qwabe also admitted kidnapping, robbery and the illegal possession of a firearm. A second South African national, Xolile Mngeni, still faces charges over the killing. Anni Dewani's uncle Ashok Hindocha said: "We are just happy. Two of the accused have now pleaded guilty. Now we want to know what really happened to Anni, why they killed her." Hindocha said the family were still unable to begin mourning because of the proceedings. "With a case like this, everything comes back again," he said. "The way we feel is that we are going through legal torture. It is extremely stressful for the family. "I would have been much, much happier if all the accused were in South Africa and cross-examination took place and the truth could be found. "To us, Anni is still not dead. We haven't started the mourning process. We can't. We need to know what happened and then we can start working our way through it."
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Jorge Guerrero arranged to ship cocaine-soaked scuba diving certificates and empanadas stuffed with cocaine, authorities say A lost-luggage handler ran an Ecuador-to-New York smuggling ring that disguised drugs in chocolates and cocaine-soaked scuba diving certificates, and he stole valuables out of flyers' misplaced bags that he was hired to deliver, authorities have said. Jorge Guerrero arranged to ship innocent-looking but drug-laden packages on cargo planes from Guayaquil, Ecuador, to New York's Kennedy airport, authorities said, as Guerrero, his wife and four others pleaded not guilty to conspiracy and other charges. The packages went to parcel delivery companies, where the conspirators picked them up, authorities said. Seized shipments included sugar and oatmeal cookies packed atop half a kilo of cocaine, chocolate candies laced with heroin, and empanadas – a Latin American savoury pastry – stuffed with over a kilo of cocaine, all in professional-looking packages as if bound for store shelves, according to authorities. Also listed was a stack of diving course diplomas that had been drenched in more than a kilo of cocaine, which was apparently to be extracted later. Guerrero sometimes picked up the packages while on his trips for a baggage delivery company, and he also exploited his job to take jewellery, electronics and other items from the lost luggage to resell, authorities said. "The Guerrero organisation rarely overlooked an opportunity to earn a dishonest dollar," special narcotics prosecutor Bridget Brennan said. Her office and US immigration and customs enforcement did the investigation. Guerrero, 39, had worked for seven to 10 years for a Queens-based lost-luggage company, said his lawyer, Franklin Rothman. The company, which is not charged in the case, declined to comment. "Whatever this investigation yields, we haven't heard about the drugs being recovered from [Guerrero's] home," Rothman said. Guerrero's wife, Cecilia, 33, was an "active partner" and money manager in his smuggling scheme, assistant district attorney William Novak said. Her lawyer, Bryan Konoski, argued that the charges against her did not make her out to be a major player. "There's no allegation that she's out there wrapping up drugs into chocolate bars" or making drug deals, he said. The Guerreros had been married for 17 years and had three children, ranging from four to 12, who were in relatives' care, Konoski said. She is an Ecuadorean citizen. He is a US citizen originally from Ecuador. The drugs sell for about 10 times as much in the US as they do in Ecuador, while the stolen clothes and electronics would fetch more in Ecuador than they do in the US, authorities said. More than 50 handbags bearing such names as Louis Vuitton and Prada, 50 watches, 30 pairs of sunglasses by designers including Versace and Dior, 15 cameras, and other pricey goods were found at Guerrero's Queens home, along with three ledgers logging items he had fished from luggage and sold, authorities said.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Jorge Guerrero arranged to ship cocaine-soaked scuba diving certificates and empanadas stuffed with the drug, authorities say A lost-luggage handler ran an Ecuador-to-New York smuggling ring that disguised drugs in chocolates and cocaine-soaked scuba diving certificates, and stole valuables out of flyers' misplaced bags that he was hired to deliver, authorities have said. Jorge Guerrero arranged to ship innocent-looking but drug-laden packages on cargo planes from Guayaquil, Ecuador, to New York's JFK airport, authorities said, as he, his wife and four others pleaded not guilty to conspiracy and other charges. The packages went to parcel delivery companies, where the conspirators picked them up, authorities said. Seized shipments included sugar and oatmeal biscuits packed atop 0.5kg (1.1lb) of cocaine, chocolate sweets laced with heroin, and empanadas – a Latin American savoury pastry – stuffed with over 1kg of cocaine, all in professional-looking packages as if bound for store shelves, according to authorities. Also listed was a stack of diving course diplomas that had been drenched in more than 1kg of cocaine, which was apparently to be extracted later. Guerrero sometimes picked up the packages while on his trips for a baggage delivery company, and he also exploited his job to take jewellery, electronics and other items from the lost luggage to resell, authorities said. "The Guerrero organisation rarely overlooked an opportunity to earn a dishonest dollar," special narcotics prosecutor Bridget Brennan said. Her office and US immigration and customs enforcement did the investigation. Guerrero, 39, had worked for seven to 10 years for a lost-luggage firm based in Queens, New York, said his lawyer, Franklin Rothman. The company, which was not charged in the case, declined to comment. "Whatever this investigation yields, we haven't heard about the drugs being recovered from [Guerrero's] home," Rothman said. Guerrero's wife, Cecilia, 33, was an "active partner" and money manager in his smuggling scheme, assistant district attorney William Novak said. Her lawyer, Bryan Konoski, argued the charges against her did not make her out to be a major player. "There's no allegation that she's out there wrapping up drugs into chocolate bars" or making drug deals, he said. The Guerreros had been married for 17 years and had three children, who were in relatives' care, Konoski said. She is an Ecuadorean citizen. He is a US citizen originally from Ecuador. More than 50 handbags bearing such names as Louis Vuitton and Prada, 50 watches, 30 pairs of sunglasses by designers including Versace and Dior, 15 cameras, and other pricey goods were found at Guerrero's Queens home, along with three ledgers logging items he had fished from luggage and sold, authorities said.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Bo Guagua confident 'facts will speak for themselves' in trial of Gu Kailai, who is accused of murdering a British businessman The son of ousted Chinese politician Bo Xilai has broken his silence and submitted a witness statement to the murder trial of his mother, CNN has said, citing an email from the young man. Bo Guagua's mother, Gu Kailai, goes on trial on Thursday in one of the most politically sensitive cases in China in decades, accused of murdering a British businessman. Many ordinary Chinese see the charge as part of an attempt to ruin Bo Xilai politically. Gu, and a Bo family aide, have been charged with murdering Neil Heywood, a former family friend who lived in China and had helped get Guagua into Harrow, the exclusive British boarding school, and then into Oxford University. The trial is being held in the eastern Chinese city of Hefei. "As I was cited as a motivating factor for the crimes accused of my mother, I have already submitted my witness statement," Guagua told CNN in an email. "I hope that my mother will have the opportunity to review them," he added. "I have faith that facts will speak for themselves." CNN said on Wednesday he did not elaborate. Police sources initially claimed Gu had poisoned Heywood in a dispute over an illicit financial transaction she had wanted him to help her complete, and they portrayed Gu as a greedy wife who was translating her husband's connections into dollars. But when Gu was formally indicted, the official allegation instead hinted at a personal motive, saying Heywood had made unspecified threats against Guagua - a factor that could count as a mitigating circumstance and help Gu avoid execution. The trial will be held behind closed doors and none of the evidence will be tested in public. In almost all cases in China, defendants are quickly convicted and sentenced. Guagua graduated this year from Harvard Kennedy School and is believed to be still in the United States. Police sources say Heywood was likely to have been poisoned in a hotel in Chongqing, where Bo Xilai had been the powerful Communist party chief, in November last year. It is not clear what threat Heywood could have posed to the younger Bo. The British man's friends describe him as a devoted family man who was discreet about his Bo family connections.
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