|  |  |  | | | | | The Guardian World News | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Victory for government will force manufacturers to remove branding and sell tobacco products in generic green packets Australia's highest court has endorsed cigarette plain-packaging laws that will force tobacco companies to remove branding from their products. Tobacco companies British American Tobacco, Britain's Imperial Tobacco, Philip Morris and Japan Tobacco challenged the laws in Australia's high court, claiming the rules were unconstitutional because they effectively extinguished the companies' intellectual property rights. The court found Australia's laws to force companies to remove all branding and sell tobacco only in generic olive green packets, which also carry graphic health warnings, were legal and did not breach trademark rights.
The laws, the toughest in the world, are in line with World Health Organisation recommendations and are being watched closely by Britain, Norway, New Zealand, Canada and India, which are considering similar measures. The decision means that starting in December tobacco companies will no longer be able to display their distinctive colours, brand designs and logos on cigarette packs. The packs will instead come in a uniform shade of olive green and feature graphic health warnings and images such as cancer-riddled mouths and blinded eyeballs. The government hopes the new packs will make smoking as unglamorous as possible. The tobacco companies are worried the law will set a global precedent that could slash billions of dollars from the value of their brands. They argued in court that they new rules violate intellectual property rights and devalue their trademarks. The government would unfairly benefit from the law by using cigarette packs as a platform to promote its own message, without compensating the tobacco companies, they said. Australia's constitution says the government can only acquire the property of others on "just terms". British American Tobacco spokesman Scott McIntyre said it was disappointed with the court's decision but would comply with the law. "Although the [law] passed the constitutional test it's still a bad law that will only benefit organised crime groups which sell illegal tobacco on our streets," McIntyre said in a statement. "The illegal cigarette black market will grow further when all packs look the same and are easier to copy." The court has withheld its reasons for the judgment until later this year.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Investigators look for motives behind attack in Monterrey, scene of turf battles between Gulf drug cartel and Zetas gang Gunmen have killed eight people in a bar in the northern Mexico city of Monterrey, the scene of recent bloody turf battles between the Gulf drug cartel and the Zetas gang. Nuevo Leon state security spokesman Jorge Domene said a ninth person died when he apparently fell trying to flee the attackers across rooftops. The attack happened on Monday evening at the Matehuala Men's Club. Domene said some of the victims were bar employees. Authorities are investigating motives behind the attack, but say a recent upsurge in violence is a result of fighting between the Zetas and the Gulf cartels. In the city of Reynosa, across the border from McAllen, Texas, the Mexican army reported clashes that left four gunmen dead. The army said armed men attacked a patrol in the town centre of Reynosa, leaving four people dead. Presumed allies of the gunmen set up roadblocks throughout the city in order to stop army units moving freely. The military did not release the identities of any of the dead.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Nine people die in shootings in Monterrey, scene of violent turf war between rival drug gangs Gunmen have killed eight people in a bar in the northern Mexico city of Monterrey, the scene of recent bloody turf battles between the Gulf drug cartel and the Zetas gang. Nuevo Leon state security spokesman Jorge Domene said a ninth person died when he apparently fell trying to flee the attackers across rooftops. The attack happened on Monday evening at the Matehuala Men's Club. Domene said some of the victims were bar employees. Authorities are investigating motives behind the attack, but say a recent upsurge in violence is a result of fighting between the Zetas and the Gulf cartels. In the city of Reynosa, across the border from McAllen, Texas, the Mexican army reported clashes that left four gunmen dead. The army said a patrol was attacked by armed men in the town centre of Reynosa, leaving four people dead. Presumed allies of the gunmen set up roadblocks throughout the city in order to stop army units moving freely. The military did not release the identities of any of the dead.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Victory for government will force manufacturers to remove branding and sell tobacco products in generic green packets Australia's highest court has endorsed cigarette plain-packaging laws that will force tobacco companies to remove branding from their products. Tobacco companies British American Tobacco, Britain's Imperial Tobacco, Philip Morris and Japan Tobacco challenged the laws in Australia's high court, claiming the rules were unconstitutional because they effectively extinguished the companies' intellectual property rights. The court found Australia's laws to force companies to remove all branding and sell tobacco only in generic olive green packets, which also carry graphic health warnings, were legal and did not breach trademark rights.
The laws, the toughest in the world, are in line with World Health Organisation recommendations and are being watched closely by Britain, Norway, New Zealand, Canada and India, which are considering similar measures. The decision means that starting in December tobacco companies will no longer be able to display their distinctive colours, brand designs and logos on cigarette packs. The packs will instead come in a uniform shade of olive green and feature graphic health warnings and images such as cancer-riddled mouths and blinded eyeballs. The government hopes the new packs will make smoking as unglamorous as possible. The tobacco companies are worried the law will set a global precedent that could slash billions of dollars from the value of their brands. They argued in court that they new rules violate intellectual property rights and devalue their trademarks. The government would unfairly benefit from the law by using cigarette packs as a platform to promote its own message, without compensating the tobacco companies, they said. Australia's constitution says the government can only acquire the property of others on "just terms". British American Tobacco spokesman Scott McIntyre said it was disappointed with the court's decision but would comply with the law. "Although the [law] passed the constitutional test it's still a bad law that will only benefit organised crime groups which sell illegal tobacco on our streets," McIntyre said in a statement. "The illegal cigarette black market will grow further when all packs look the same and are easier to copy." The court has withheld its reasons for the judgment until later this year.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Outgoing director general of the public broadcaster had said he would step down after the London Olympics Mark Thompson, outgoing director general of the BBC, has been named the new president and chief executive of the New York Times. The 55-year-old replaces Janet Robinson, 62, who unexpectedly announced her retirement last December. In a statement Arthur Sulzberger Jr, chairman of the Times Company and the newspaper's publisher, called Thompson as "a gifted and experienced executive with strong credentials whose leadership at the BBC helped it to extend its trusted brand identity into new digital products and services." Thompson, who has been director general of the BBC since 2004 said in March that he intended to depart the public broadcaster after the London Olympics. The Guardian revealed in June that he was in talks to join the New York Times. In a statement on Tuesday, Thompson said: "The New York Times is one of the world's greatest news providers and a media brand of immense future potential both in the US and around the world. It is a real privilege to be asked to join the Times Company as it embarks on the next chapter in its history." Sulzberger added: "Our board concluded that Mark's experience and his accomplishments at the BBC made him the ideal candidate to lead the Times company at this moment in time when we are highly focused on growing our business through digital and global expansion." Thompson has spent most of his career at the BBC. He joined in 1979 as a production trainee and began his career in news, working on the BBC's flagship news shows the Nine O'Clock News and Panorama. He became the BBC's director of television in 2000. After a two-year stint as chief executive at the commercial broadcaster Channel 4, Thompson moved back to the BBC as director general in 2004. Thompson's unexpected return came after the BBC became involved in a disastrous tussle with the government over a poorly-framed story about the Iraq war, which led to the resignation of his predecessor. He took over BBC at a time of deep crisis, and faced a difficult task getting the organisation back on an even keel. He concentrated hard on preserving its editorial integrity and its independence from government – a tough job for a body established by royal charter and whose level of funding, through a compulsory licence fee, is determined by ministers. Thompson's leadership at the BBC has been not without controversy. Thompson once said the BBC had previously had a "massive leftwing bias", although he believed it no longer existed. He has also faced criticism over his $834,000 pay package, though the sum looks small compared to the $24m payoff Robinson received when she left the job he is now taking. Under Thompson's leadership the BBC has focused on digital and international expansion. He has also overseen a staff reduction plan, announcing plans to cut 2,000 jobs over five years and aiming to reduce costs by £700m a year. While the Times is one of the biggest names in online news it has struggled, along with its competitors, as digital ads have failed to make up for profits lost from declining print sales. Earlier this month the company announced it had made a net loss of $88.1m in the second quarter, as gains from paying subscribers and a small increase in revenues were wiped out by losses on About.com, a resource guide the company had bought to boost its online business. The BBC announced in March that Thompson would step down after the Olympics, leaving enough time to find and appoint a successor make his own plans for life after the corporation. Thompson held several discussions with New York Times executives in London, from the middle of May to the end of June, about joining the company. Sources close to the talks said the New York Times appeared to have had a coordinated plan to get Thompson into the job, and that those conversations developed as far as making practical arrangements. Others said Thompson was also considering several other jobs at the time. Negotiations with the New York Times accelerated in July after the appointment of George Entwistle as Thompson's successor. That left Thompson free to formalise the terms of his appointment in New York and for Entwistle to steer the BBC through its coverage of the London 2012 Olympics.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Outgoing director general of the public broadcaster had said he would step down after the London Olympics Mark Thompson, outgoing director general of the BBC, has been named the new president and chief executive of the New York Times. The 55-year-old replaces Janet Robinson, 62, who unexpectedly announced her retirement last December. In a statement Arthur Sulzberger Jr, chairman of the Times Company and the newspaper's publisher, called Thompson as "a gifted and experienced executive with strong credentials whose leadership at the BBC helped it to extend its trusted brand identity into new digital products and services." Thompson, who has been director general of the BBC since 2004 said in March that he intended to depart the public broadcaster after the London Olympics. The Guardian revealed in June that he was in talks to join the New York Times. In a statement on Tuesday, Thompson said: "The New York Times is one of the world's greatest news providers and a media brand of immense future potential both in the US and around the world. It is a real privilege to be asked to join the Times Company as it embarks on the next chapter in its history." Sulzberger added: "Our board concluded that Mark's experience and his accomplishments at the BBC made him the ideal candidate to lead the Times company at this moment in time when we are highly focused on growing our business through digital and global expansion." Thompson has spent most of his career at the BBC. He joined in 1979 as a production trainee and began his career in news, working on the BBC's flagship news shows the Nine O'Clock News and Panorama. He became the BBC's director of television in 2000. After a two-year stint as chief executive at the commercial broadcaster Channel 4, Thompson moved back to the BBC as director general in 2004. Thompson's unexpected return came after the BBC became involved in a disastrous tussle with the government over a poorly-framed story about the Iraq war, which led to the resignation of his predecessor. He took over BBC at a time of deep crisis, and faced a difficult task getting the organisation back on an even keel. He concentrated hard on preserving its editorial integrity and its independence from government – a tough job for a body established by royal charter and whose level of funding, through a compulsory licence fee, is determined by ministers. Thompson's leadership at the BBC has been not without controversy. Thompson once said the BBC had previously had a "massive leftwing bias", although he believed it no longer existed. He has also faced criticism over his pay package that once topped £800,000, though the sum looks small compared to the $24m payoff Robinson received when she left the job he is now taking. Under Thompson's leadership the BBC has focused on digital and international expansion. He has also overseen a staff reduction plan, announcing plans to cut 2,000 jobs over five years and aiming to reduce costs by £700m a year. While the Times is one of the biggest names in online news it has struggled, along with its competitors, as digital ads have failed to make up for profits lost from declining print sales. Earlier this month the company announced it had made a net loss of $88.1m in the second quarter, as gains from paying subscribers and a small increase in revenues were wiped out by losses on About.com, a resource guide the company had bought to boost its online business. The BBC announced in March that Thompson would step down after the Olympics, leaving enough time to find and appoint a successor make his own plans for life after the corporation. Thompson held several discussions with New York Times executives in London, from the middle of May to the end of June, about joining the company. Sources close to the talks said the New York Times appeared to have had a coordinated plan to get Thompson into the job, and that those conversations developed as far as making practical arrangements. Others said Thompson was also considering several other jobs at the time. Negotiations with the New York Times accelerated in July after the appointment of George Entwistle as Thompson's successor. That left Thompson free to formalise the terms of his appointment in New York and for Entwistle to steer the BBC through its coverage of the London 2012 Olympics.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | More than $60,000 in computers and other property was stolen, police said, but thief didn't know house belonged to the late Apple co-founder A thief broke into Steve Jobs' house in the high-tech hub of Palo Alto, stealing more than $60,000 in computers and jewelry without realizing he had hit the late Apple co-founder's property, authorities said on Tuesday. Kariem McFarlin, 35, was charged with burglary and selling stolen property after the break-in on July 17, when the house was vacant during renovations, said Scott Tsui, a Santa Clara County prosecutor. The burglary came just over nine months after Jobs died in October at age 56 and his Silicon Valley home, about 30 miles south of San Francisco, briefly became a gathering place for fans who left flowers on the sidewalk out front. McFarlin, who faces a plea hearing on 20 August, did not appear to know the house belonged to Jobs, Tsui said. "We don't have any evidence to show his house was targeted," Tsui said. "All we know is that it was a random burglary that can happen to people." McFarlin was arrested on 2 August and held on $500,000 bail, according to Santa Clara County inmate records. There are no indications that the house, which is an English-country style home close to the sidewalk, has been sold since Jobs died last year. Because high-tech components were stolen, Tsui said his office's high-technology crimes unit was involved in investigating the case. Palo Alto police declined to comment. An attorney for McFarlin could not immediately be reached for comment, nor could a representative for Apple.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | More than $60,000 in property was stolen, police said, but thief didn't know house belonged to the late Apple co-founder A thief broke into Steve Jobs' house in the high-tech hub of Palo Alto, stealing more than $60,000 in computers and jewelry without realizing he had hit the late Apple co-founder's property, authorities said on Tuesday. Kariem McFarlin, 35, was charged with burglary and selling stolen property after the break-in on July 17, when the house was vacant during renovations, said Scott Tsui, a Santa Clara County prosecutor. The burglary came just over nine months after Jobs died in October at age 56 and his Silicon Valley home, about 30 miles south of San Francisco, briefly became a gathering place for fans who left flowers on the sidewalk out front. McFarlin, who faces a plea hearing on 20 August, did not appear to know the house belonged to Jobs, Tsui said. "We don't have any evidence to show his house was targeted," Tsui said. "All we know is that it was a random burglary that can happen to people." McFarlin was arrested on 2 August and held on $500,000 bail, according to Santa Clara County inmate records. There are no indications that the house, which is an English-country style home close to the sidewalk, has been sold since Jobs died last year. Because high-tech components were stolen, Tsui said his office's high-technology crimes unit was involved in investigating the case. Palo Alto police declined to comment. An attorney for McFarlin could not immediately be reached for comment, nor could a representative for Apple.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Fallout from child sex abuse scandal continues for the university, which was warned after findings from independent investigation Pennsylvania State University has been warned it could lose its accreditation because of the child sex scandal involving former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky. The Middle States Commission on Higher Education told Penn State last week that its accreditation was in jeopardy because of the findings of an independent investigation into the Sandusky scandal and sanctions imposed on the high-profile football program. Accreditation guarantees the educational standards of a university and the validity of its degrees. It is crucial for drawing students and receiving public financing. Penn State "remains accredited while on warning", the commission said in an 8 August letter to university president Rodney Erickson that the school made public. There also is "insufficient evidence" that Penn State is in compliance with requirements on government policies and on integrity and providing information to the panel, it said. Penn State must submit a monitoring report by 30 September, the commission said. The report also must address the school's ability to pay financial settlements and other obligations. Sandusky, a former Penn State defensive co-ordinator, was convicted in June on 45 counts of child molestation, including incidents in Penn State locker rooms. He is in jail awaiting sentencing. Two university officials face charges of perjury and failure to report suspected abuse. Erickson said in a statement on Monday that he was confident that Penn State would provide documentation to the commission by the September deadline. "I am confident that we will fully demonstrate our fiscal stability," he said. Penn State faces a $60m fine imposed by the National Collegiate Athletic Association as well as legal and publicity costs and potential settlements in the Sandusky case. The Middle States Commission accredits colleges and universities in the Middle States region, which includes Pennsylvania.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Chief executive Peter Sands under pressure after bank agrees to pay fine levied by New York department of financial services Standard Chartered has fended off threats by a New York regulator to revoke its banking licence for alleged breaches of US sanctions but chief executive Peter Sands is under intense pressure after the bank agreed to pay a $340m (£220m) despite insisting that it had committed only minor breaches of the rules. Barely 24 hours before the bank was due to attend a hearing with the New York department of financial services (DFS), the regulator announced the surprise settlement which also includes the installation of monitors for at least a year to evaluate the bank's risk controls. Benjamin Lawsky, the head of the DFS, who stunned Standard Chartered last week with damning allegations of sanctions breaches, had summoned the bank to appear at a hearing in New York at 10am local time on Wednesday. But the showdown was adjourned following the settlement, which was announced after the London market had closed. Lawsky claims that Standard Chartered schemed to hide 60,000 transactions valued at around $250bn which breached sanctions with Iran. Sands admitted to only 300 breaches, with a much smaller value of around $14m. Lawsky had said that he could withdraw the bank's licence but has now dropped the threat, which analysts said could protect the share price on Wednesday. However, his statement announcing the settlement insisted that both sides had agreed that the wrong-doing covered $250bn - the full amount of his original order. The size of the fine is considerably larger than the $5m that the bank had argued its breaches should require it to pay – although it may still rise as the DFS is only one of a number of authorities which has been investigating possible breaches. Others authorities include the department of justice and the office of foreign assets control (Ofac). Standard Chartered has admitted since 2010 that it has been discussing potential sanctions breaches. But the bank was unprepared for the decision by the DFS to publish its allegations with Sands on holiday with his family. Investors fears that it could be stripped of its New York licence and possible resignations at the top of the bank sliced almost 25% off the bank's share price. The shares have been clawing back the losses, ending on Tuesday at £13.70, nearly 3% higher, but still below the levels around £16.00 from which they dropped last week. The loss of its banking licence would be more damaging than the fine, although Sands on Tuesday told the Business Standard paper in India – where the bank has a high street banking operation – that he did not believe the bank would be stripped of its ability to conduct business directly in the US. "We hope we do not lose our licence, we don't believe we should lose our licence and we don't believe we will," Sands said, adding the bank was planning for all possible outcomes. Ian Gordon, banks analyst at Investec, said: "It has taken the nuclear option off the table and suggests the total settlement will be manageable." Sands joined the bank as finance director in 2002 so has been on the board through most of the 2001-2007 period covered by the allegations. He was appointed chief executive in November 2006 when he was replaced as finance director by Richard Meddings, who joined the bank four years earlier and was previously head of risk. Meddings is the executive whom Lawsky claimed made a remark to a US-based Standard Chartered executive about "fucking Americans" when warned about the potential breaches of sanctions. Standard Chartered insists the remarks are inaccurate. Lawsky also hit out against accountants Deliotte which he said had drafted a "watered down version" of a report on the potential Iranian sanction breaches for Standard Chartered. Joe Echevarria, chief executive of Deloitte, told Reuters that the allegations were "distortions of the facts". "It's an unfortunate choice of words that was pulled out of context," Echevarria said.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Ecuador's president Rafael Correa has agreed to give the WikiLeaks founder asylum, according to an official in Quito Ecuador's president Rafael Correa has agreed to give Julian Assange asylum, officials within Ecuador's government have said. The WikiLeaks founder has been holed up at Ecuador's London embassy since 19 June, when he officially requested political asylum. "Ecuador will grant asylum to Julian Assange," said an official in the Ecuadorean capital Quito, who is familiar with the government discussions. On Monday, Correa told state-run ECTV that he would decide this week whether to grant asylum to Assange. Correa said a large amount of material about international law had to be examined to make a responsible informed decision. Ecuador's foreign minister Ricardo Patiño indicated that the president would reveal his answer once the Olympic Games were over. But it remains unclear if giving Assange asylum will allow him to leave Britain and fly to Ecuador, or amounts to little more than a symbolic gesture. At the moment he faces the prospect of arrest as soon as he leaves the embassy for breaching his bail conditions. "For Mr Assange to leave England, he should have a safe pass from the British [government]. Will that be possible? That's an issue we have to take into account," Patino told Reuters on Tuesday. Government sources in Quito confirmed that despite the outstanding legal issues Correa would grant Assange asylum – a move which would annoy Britain, the US and Sweden. They added that the offer was made to Assange several months ago, well before he sought refuge in the embassy, and following confidential negotiations with senior London embassy staff. The official with knowledge of the discussions said the embassy had discussed Assange's asylum request. The British government, however, "discouraged the idea," the offical said. The Swedish government was also "not very collaborative", the official said. The official added: "We see Assange's request as a humanitarian issue. The contact between the Ecuadorean government and WikiLeaks goes back to May 2011, when we became the first country to see the leaked US embassy cables completely declassified ... It is clear that when Julian entered the embassy there was already some sort of deal. We see in his work a parallel with our struggle for national sovereignty and the democratisation of international relations." Assange took refuge in Ecuador's embassy to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning over allegations of sexual misconduct. He is said to be living in one room of the diplomatic building, where he has a high-speed internet connection. Ecuadorean diplomats believe Assange is at risk of being extradited from Sweden to the US, where he could face the death penalty. Assange's supporters claim the US has already secretly indicted him following WikiLeaks' release in 2010 of US diplomatic cables, as well as classified Afghan and Iraq war logs. Correa and Patiño have both said that Ecuador will take a sovereign decision regarding Assange. They say they view his case as a humanitarian act, and are seeking to protect Assange's right to life and freedom. On Monday the state-run newspaper El Telégrafo confirmed a decision had been made, although the paper did not specify what that decision was. It said that senior officials had been meeting in the past few days to iron out the last legal details. Two weeks ago Assange's mother Christine Assange paid Ecuador an official visit, following an invitation by Ecuador's foreign affairs ministry. She met with Correa and Patiño, as well as with other top politicians, including Fernando Cordero, head of Ecuador's legislature. Both Patiño and Ms Assange appeared visibly touched during a press conference, which had to be briefly suspended when Ms Assange started crying. Ms Assange also held several public meetings in government buildings, and in one case she was accompanied by the head of Assange's defence team, Baltasar Garzón, the former Spanish judge who ordered the London arrest of Chile's General Pinochet. Other top political figures in Ecuador have been vocal about the government's support of Assange's bid. "Our comrade the president, who leads our international policy, will grant Julian Assange asylum," said María Augusta Calle, a congresswoman of the president's party, and former head of the Sovereignty, Foreign Affairs and Latin American Integration Commission during the 2008 Constitutional Assembly, during a meeting with Ms Assange. Over the past year and a half, Assange has remained in touch with Ecuador's embassy in London. In April, he interviewed President Correa for his TV show on Russia Today, the English-language channel funded by the Russian government. The interview, which lasted 75 minutes, included a pally exchange in which Assange and Correa bonded over freedom of speech and the negative role of the US in Latin America. At one point Correa joked: "Are you having a lot of fun with the interview, Julian?" Assange replied: "I'm enjoying your jokes a great deal, yes." Correa has made international headlines this year for what critics have called a government crackdown on private media. Analysts say that granting the WikiLeaks founder asylum could be a way for him to depict himself as a champion of freedom of speech ahead of the February 2013 presidential elections, in which he is expected to run again.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | GDP across 17-nation bloc fell in second quarter as German growth was offset by poor numbers from Spain and Italy The eurozone is on the brink of following Britain into a double-dip recession after its economy shrank between April and June. GDP across the 17-nation bloc fell by 0.2% in the second quarter of this year and economists believe the downturn is continuing. Better-than-expected figures from Germany and France were offset by sharp contractions elsewhere, with the Spanish, Italian, Finnish and Portuguese economies all shrinking. The wider European Union also suffered a 0.2% contraction. Europe's debt crisis is hitting exports, domestic sales and consumer confidence, adding to the pressure on European leaders. Last month eurozone consumer and business confidence fell for the fourth straight month, weakening significantly in France, Germany, Finland and Austria. Tim Ohlenburg, senior economist at the Centre for Economics and Business Research, said Europe's woes, including plunging business sentiment and weakening trade, are dragging the world economy down. "The fall in second quarter European output adds to the world economy's downward momentum," Ohlenburg said. The US economy grew by about 0.4% during the second quarter, while Japan posted 0.3% growth. The UK, though, shrank by 0.7%, according to last month's preliminary estimate from the Office for National Statistics. Rachel Reeves, the shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, said Europe's shrinking economy was a worry, but pointed out that only two members of the G20 – the UK and Italy – are in recession. "These are concerning growth figures, with the eurozone economy contracting in the last quarter. But they also show that despite all the problems in the euro area, France and Germany have so far managed to avoid recession, while Britain has now been in recession for the last nine months." The eurozone has avoided entering a technical recession, defined as two consecutive quarters of negative growth, because growth was flat over the first three months of 2012. Howard Archer of IHS Global Insight predicted that GDP will fall again during the current quarter. Archer said the eurozone was "struggling against tight fiscal policy in many countries, high and rising unemployment, muted global economic activity and ongoing serious sovereign debt tensions that weigh down on confidence and limit investment". Stock markets, however, were cheered by the news as the contraction was smaller than expected and share prices rose across Europe. The FTSE 100 finished 32 points higher at 5864, while the DAX closed 0.8% higher. The European commission vice-president, Olli Rehn, told CNBC that the EU and the European Central Bank would take action "once certain conditions are met". Rehn added that the euro was "irreversible". In Germany, there was some relief that the economy grew by 0.3%. Analysts, though, fear that Europe's powerhouse could slide into recession soon. "The German economy could contract in the summer," said Jörg Kramer of Commerzbank. "It is fundamentally in good structural shape, but can't decouple from the recession in the euro zone, plus the global economy has also shifted down a gear." With no growth in the last quarter, France has now been flatlining for the last nine months. The finance minister, Pierre Moscovici, said the performance was "not excellent", but was encouraged that France continued to avoid a recession. Moscovici said President François Hollande's government was determined to shrink the public sector deficit to 3% of GDP next year as promised, despite the fragile economy. The government needs to find €33bn in new taxes and spending cuts, even if growth meets its target of 1.2% next year, which most economists think is unlikely. Louise Cooper of BGC Partners warned that Hollande and the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, should not be overly jubilant. "This data does not change the economic outlook for the eurozone, it just gives the politicians a few weeks to breathe and holiday a little easier," said Cooper. Merkel returned from her summer break on Monday and is due to discuss the crisis with Canada's prime minister, Stephen Harper, on Wednesday. Portugal continued to be buffetted by the austerity programme now being implemented. Its GDP tumbled by 1.2% in the latest quarter and is 3.3% smaller than a year ago, while the unemployment rate crept up to a new record of 15%. Greece, whose economy shrank by 6.2% over the last year, sold more than €4bn of short-term debt, easing fears that it would struggle to repay a €3.2bn bond which matures next Monday.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Imane Boudlal files federal suit after supervisors at Disneyland theme park prohibited her from wearing headscarf to work A Muslim woman filed a federal suit against the Walt Disney Company on Monday on the grounds of religious discrimination and harassment. Imane Boudlal, a naturalized US citizen born in Morocco, says that while working at Disney's California theme park she endured harassment from supervisors and colleagues and faced discrimination for wearing a hijab before leaving the company in 2010. Boudlal asked her supervisors for permission to wear her hijab when she worked at the Storyteller's Cafe. Her request was denied and she was told that wearing the hijab would "negatively affect patrons' experiences at the Storytellers Cafe." The 28-year-old also claims coworkers and supervisors accosted her with anti-Muslim and anti-Arab slurs, calling her "terrorist", "camel" and "Kunta Kinte," in reference to the slave from Alex Haley's famous book Roots. Boudlal said colleagues also told her Arabs are terrorists, that she spoke a terrorist language and was trained to make bombs. "Disneyland calls itself the happiest place on earth, but I faced harassment as soon as I started working there," Boudlal said in a statement. "It only got worse when I decided to wear a hijab. My journey towards wearing it couldn't have been more American; it began at my naturalization ceremony I realized that I had the freedom to be who I want and freely practice my religion. Neither Disney nor anyone else can take that from me." When Boudlal told a manager about the harassment, she said they acknowledged it was a problem but took no action and said it would take time for a change. She filed her first written complaint three months after she started working at the cafe and continued to alert different supervisors to the harassment. Eventually, one told her to stop complaining. "Walt Disney Parks and Resorts has a history of accommodating religious requests from cast members of all faiths," the company said in a statement. "We presented Ms Boudlal with multiple options to accommodate her religious beliefs, as well as offered her several roles that would have allowed her to wear her own hijab. Unfortunately, she rejected all of our efforts and has since refused to come to work." Boudlal decided to wear her hijab in public a year after she started working at the theme park, but initially avoided wearing it to work because she thought she would be fired. When her request to wear it was denied, she offered to wear a hijab in colors matching her uniform or with a Disney logo. The company responded by telling her she could work in the back of the cafe where she wouldn't be seen by customers or wear a hat on top of her headscarf. Disney also designed specialty uniforms for Boudlal, an effort that worked with a different employee in 2010, who was told she couldn't wear her hijab while working as a vacation planner at a Disney resort. Boudlal refused these options and said she was taken off the schedule and discharged. Disney says she was given the options for accommodations and chose not to return to work. In a complaint Boudlal filed with the ACLU of Southern California in the Central District of California, she asked Disney for punitive damages, a permanent injunction not to prohibit employees wearing hijabs and for company anti-harassment training to include Muslim issues.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Romney denies clash with running mate as he refuses to say whether he supports plan to reshape the healthcare programme Mitt Romney's presidential campaign has been placed on the defensive over proposals by his running mate Paul Ryan to reshape Medicare, the popular healthcare programme for over-65s that has become a hot election issue. The Democrats stepped up their campaign on an argument they think is a winner, sending spokesmen out to claim Ryan's plan to reform the system would spell the end of Medicare, and distributing 100,000 bumper stickers that read: "Save Medicare, Vote Democrat". Since the announcement of Ryan as Romney's vice-presidential pick, the Republican challenger has faced persistent questioning over where he stands. The Romney team has been left vulnerable, in part because it has been sending out mixed messages. Romney, in a rare press conference on Monday night in Florida, repeatedly refused to say whether he backed Ryan's Medicare reform plan. Some of advisers have gone on television to say publicly that he wholly and enthusiastically endorsed Ryan's budget proposals and would, if president, have signed it. Others have sought to distance him from it, saying Romney was running on his own plan. At the Miami press conference, Romney insisted there was no contradiction. "I'm sure there are places that my budget is different than his, but we're on the same page," Romney said. "My plan for Medicare is very similar to his plan for Medicare." Barack Obama's senior campaign adviser, David Axelrod, returned to the television studios on Tuesday to say that election of the Romney-Ryan ticket would lead to a death spiral for Medicare. The issue is likely to dominate Ryan's visit at the weekend to Florida, a swing state in which seniors make up a large part of the population and where the Republican convention is to be held just over a week later. Republicans are hoping that the convention in Tampa will energise the campaign and silence anonymous critics within the party. On Tuesday, Politico published a lengthy piece, quoting unnamed party activists who said there was concern amongst GOP operatives in Washington about the Ryan pick, and in particular the Medicare issue. "This could be the defining moment of the campaign. If they win the battle to define Medicare, then I believe Romney wins the presidency. If they lose it, then they lose big in the fall," said one unnamed "strategist" quoted by Politico. On Tuesday, the Republicans announced that Chris Christie, the charismatic New Jersey governor, who was touted as a possible vice-presidential candidate, is to be given a prominent role, making the keynote address. The Florida governor, Marco Rubio, who Romney confirmed had been on his vice-presidential shortlist, is also being given a prominent slot, introducing Romney when he makes his speech accepting the party nomination as Republican presidential candidate. The keynote address at the Democratic convention will be given by former president Bill Clinton. Ryan is campaigning Tuesday in Nevada where a pro-Obama Super Pac funded mainly by unions is sponsoring an advertising campaign saying seniors are at risk from the Romney-Ryan ticket. Ryan is scheduled for a fundraising event at a casino complex owned by Sheldon Adelson, one of the big contributors to the Republican party. Adelson is a divisive figure: the New York Times reported Tuesday that a Chinese businessman linked to Adelson is the focus of a federal investigation into potential bribery.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Highest-ranking Syrian defector urges Assad's top officials to follow his example and the army to take 'side of the people' Syria's former prime minister Riyad Hijab claims Bashar al-Asssad's regime is on the point of collapse, having lost control of two-thirds of the country. In his first public appearance since he fled Damascus with his family a week ago, Hijab urged other top officials to follow his example and defect. He told a press conference in the Jordanian capital, Amman, the Syrian army needed to "take the side of the people". "I assure you, from my experience and former position, that the regime is collapsing, spiritually and financially, as it escalates militarily," Hijab said. "It no longer controls more than 30% of Syrian territory." Hijab said that while he was prime minister he had been unable to stop the regime using heavy artillery against Syrian cities it considered opposition strongholds. He said he had felt "pain in my soul" at the shelling of civilian areas. "I was powerless to stop the injustice," he said. But he added: "Syria is full of honourable officials and military leaders who are waiting for the chance to join the revolution. I urge the army to follow the example of Egypt's and Tunisia's armies and take the side of people." In Damascus, the regime shrugged off Hijab's defection and his new claims. Kadri Jamil, one of four deputy prime ministers in the Syrian government, told the Guardian that Hijab's defection had been a surprise and that here had been no inkling from the views he expressed in cabinet that he was about to become a critic. "He was a good actor. He wasn't truthful with us. He was a double-faced person," Jamil said, arguing that such defections could have a positive impact for the government. "There's a process of natural selection going on within the regime. It should have started long ago. The regime didn't have the courage to do it, but events have done it. All the corrupt elements within the regime are leaving the ship because they think it's sinking." He also hinted that foreign intelligence services had helped Hijab to defect. Opposition figures claim many other leading military and political figures in the regime have swapped sides but remained at their posts, either out of fear of what would happen to their families if they defected, or because they had been asked to stay by the rebels to supply intelligence on the inner workings of Assad's government. Hijab is the highest-ranking defector to date. His flight from Damascus came a month after the defection of a Republican Guard general and former member of Assad's inner circle, Manaf Tlass, and the Syrian ambassador to Baghdad, Nawaf al-Fares. In the past week the head of protocol at the presidential palace, Muhi al-Din Maslaman, has also defected.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Daily discount website that once grew rapidly faces declining momentum as shares fall 25% to an all-time low of $5.60 Shares in Groupon plummeted Tuesday as the firm once billed as "the fastest growing company ever" said sales had slowed. The daily deals site reported its first-ever quarterly profit as a public company on Monday after stock markets had closed. Revenues increased 45% on the year. But the sell-off began as investors took fright at numbers that seem to suggest a slowing appetite for daily deals. The stock price plummeted in after-hours trading and continued to fall when the markets opened Tuesday. By mid-morning Groupon's shares had fallen 25% to an all-time low of $5.60. Its shares are now worth less than a sixth of their $31 high. Groupon, which sells discount coupons to local businesses, was the fastest company ever to reach a $1bn in sales. Year on year Groupon is still growing fast but revenue rose just 2% from the first quarter. On a conference call with analysts chief executive Andrew Mason said Groupon Goods, a new division which sells items like heart-rate monitors, jewelry and yogurt makers, was growing fast. But the company's profit margin on goods is small compared to its core business of selling vouchers for local services like waxing, massage or discounts at restaurants. Groupon's billings – the amount of money it takes before it pays a cut to merchants – slipped 5% in the second quarter from the first three months of the year. Mason described the results as a "solid quarter" but said weakness in Europe had created "significant drag" and cost the company over $70m in billings as people had not taken up offers of "laser hair removal and luxury hotel stays in Monaco". Stifel Nicolaus analyst Nat Brogadir said the share price fall was "punishing but somewhat deserved". "Investors either want to see extreme growth and modest profitability or modest growth and good profits. It doesn't look like either are coming to fruition here," he said. So Young Lee at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey described the results as "disappointing". She said she was worried by the declining number of customers Groupon was adding, 1.2 million in the second quarter down from 3.1 million in the first quarter. "In the long term, Groupon's not even four years old and it has done some remarkable things but there are a lot of concerns," she said. Groupon went public last November in a blaze of publicity. Founder Andrew Mason initially played the fool, chugging beer in meetings and being photographed with a cat on his head. But the company's phenomenal growth attracted Silicon Valley investors and the attention of Google. As it reached a billion in sales Forbes magazine described it as the fastest growing company ever. The share sale was the largest tech IPO since Google and came after the daily deal site had rejected a $6bn takeover offer from the search giant. Groupon raised $700m selling shares at $20. The company was briefly valued at over $13bn, it is now worth less than $4bn. The Groupon IPO ushered in a series of disappointing share sales from a new generation of internet companies including Zynga, the online games firm, and culminating in Facebook's disastrous IPO in May. Zynga, owner of hit games including Words With Friends and Draw Something, has lost close to 70% of its value this year. Facebook's shares fell below their launch price of $38 on their second day of trading and have now fallen to $20. Forrester research analyst Sucharita Mulpuru said: "Those valuations were all about how much you can get someone to pay for your stock, they had nothing to do with fundamentals at all. It was about finding a greater fool to pay up." She said she believed that Facebook would eventually recover from its IPO debacle. "That's a strong, profitable business," she said. But the problems for Groupon and Zynga may be more fundamental. "They may just be fads," she said.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | July's fall is biggest since March last year in a property market which has lost 31% of its value since 2008 House prices in Spain fell by 11.2% in July, the biggest monthly fall since March last year. Overall prices have fallen by 31% since the financial crisis hit in 2008. Spain has an estimated 2 million unsold homes. Prices have slumped across the board and even in the big cities they are down 11.8% and 11% on the Mediterranean coast. The biggest falls have been in the Balearics and Canary Isles where prices declined in July by 14%. The government's decision to raise VAT from 4% to 10% on house purchases as of next year is expected to depress the market still further. Estate agents are reluctant to reveal the sort of discounts they are offering but it is a buyer's market. The huge surplus on the costa has rendered many developments effectively worthless and flats near the sea that might have cost upwards of €300,000 (£235,000) can be had for half that. The average price per square metre in July was €1,606, 8.3% down on a year ago. For a typical two-bedroom flat in town this amounts to an average drop from €113,500 to €105,000 in a year. Flats in big cities that may have cost €400,000 in 2008 can be had for €275,000 now. The most expensive areas are the Basque country, at over €3,000 per square metre, and Madrid (€2,500) – the cheapest are Castilla-LaMancha (€1,221) and Extremadura (€1,425). As is usually the case, prices are holding up better in the big cities – where there is still some hope of finding work – than in small towns and rural areas. A combination of falling prices, low interest rates, a weak euro and banks dumping unsold property at a discount means Spain continues to be an attractive option for Britons wanting a holiday or retirement home by the sea.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | The three years since Michael Jackson's death have been marked by an increasingly acrimonious feud that is tearing his family apart. But how did it come to this? Inter-generational Twitter feuds, alleged abductions and the direst allegations of false imprisonment of an elderly parent; world-famous siblings embroiled in protracted legal battles that recall Jarndyce and Jarndyce; and at the centre of it all, at the eye of a ghastly familial hurricane, lies a musical legend – the foremost musical legend of the past 40 years – who at his death had accumulated debts nearing half a billion dollars but who now, after three years as a corpse, and thanks to astute management of his estate and back catalogue, will soon once more be awash in accountants' black ink. Even in his grave, Michael Jackson lies uneasy, as his survivors collectively do as much to dishonour his name as the overzealous Santa Barbara Police Department twice did with its controversial failed child-molestation trials in 1993 and 2003. We are a very long way from Gary, Indiana, from Hitsville USA and from Motown's "Sound of Young America". It makes you want to cry out: "Stop! In the name of love." On one side of this toxic contretemps are the Jackson family matriarch, 82-year-old Katherine Jackson – the one truly dependable and loving person in MJ's life – and Michael's three children, Paris, Prince and Blanket, who together are the King of Pop's four principal legatees (along with a number of MJ's favourite charities, which get about one fifth of the estate annually). Michael made a point of excluding his siblings and his abusive father-manager, Joseph, from his will. This did not sit well with some of those on the other side of the dispute – Jermaine, Rebbie, Randy, Tito and, latterly, Janet, but not LaToya, Marlon or Jackie. Many of them had been receiving allowances from their superstar brother for years – all of which stopped at his death. Several of the aggrieved have sworn that Michael's will could not have been signed in Los Angeles on the date the document bears since, they argued, their late brother was in New York on that day. Thus, they said, Michael Jackson died intestate. In the state of California this means that the deceased's assets are portioned out by the state, not by the family's lawyers, with these going first to children, then to parents, then to siblings, depending on which of them survives the deceased. Such a situation can become the focus of multiple lawsuits, frivolous or otherwise, much more easily than can a well-managed, properly willed estate. This slender claim has been the basis for a family lawsuit (backed for a while even by Katherine) that was thrown out by first the Los Angeles superior court, then the California court of appeals and finally the California supreme court in the years since Jackson died. Why has the issue resurfaced now, and done so far more noisily than it did at the time of the comparatively low-visibility court cases? The focus of the recent disputes has been the team managing the Jackson estate, legendary entertainment lawyer John Branca and Jackson's friend, lawyer John McClain. Both were appointed by Michael as his executors well before his death, and he could scarcely have made a wiser choice. They have done a sterling job of turning Jackson's estate into a functioning money-spinner once again, all under the consistently approving eye of California superior court judge Mitchell Beckloff. Now that Jackson isn't buying up department stores' complete inventories of furniture, renting out entire hotel floors, or taking ruinously expensive narcotic safaris to the outer reaches of the Physicians' Desk Reference, expenditures have fallen off considerably. McClain and Branca meanwhile – two of the sharpest lawyers in modern entertainment, whose client base includes half of the Rock'n'Roll Hall of Fame – made a series of fantastically remunerative deals and licensing arrangements that have piloted the stricken estate from developing world debtor nation status to something approaching solvency. And the money will not stop pouring in over the years to come. Jackson sold 35m albums in the 12 months after his death – as a wise man said, death really is a great career move – while the rehearsal film about preparations for the This Is It tour made $260m (£166m) worldwide during a limited two-week release. Jackson's executors cut a lucrative deal allowing Pepsi to associate itself with the 25th anniversary reissue of the Bad album, and licensed the Jackson catalogue to Cirque de Soleil for its Immortal show, which has toured nationwide in the States and packed them in steadily at its home base in Las Vegas. These big moves and others, including album sales and the judicious exploitation of the Jackson-owned Beatles publishing rights, took the asset value of the estate from minus $500m to minus $25m in less than three years. It will only grow and grow. This is a Sinatra-sized musical legacy, at least in terms of cash, that will pay off for decades to come. Apparently, though, the contesting siblings see the executors as a new avenue of attack. Their particular issue with Branca and McClain concerns the 10% they earn from the estate in their role as executors. That's a pretty standard fee for managing a large estate, but that didn't stop siblings Randy, Jermaine, Tito, Janet and Rebbie from writing to the executors last month and demanding their resignations. Never mind a court ruling that the period to challenge the will had expired; they claimed that it remained "fake, flawed, and fraudulent", and that their brother had "despised" the executors while he was alive. Brother Randy later added a more startling allegation, claiming that "anyone who stands up to the executors is denied access to my mother". Which makes the disappearance – if that's what it was – of Katherine Jackson only days later all the more intriguing. It also brought the next generation of Jacksons, the children with no memory of Gary, Indiana, or Motown, into the picture. They are teenagers, so social media is their go-to avenue of communication, which troubles the older members of the scandal-prone, tabloid-catnip family. Jackson's daughter Paris – the one with the Village of the Damned eyes – stepped up as her generation's chatty, flying-thumbed representative in the feud. On 21 July, she tweeted: "yes, my grandmother is missing. i haven't spoken with her in a week i want her home now." And: "8 days and counting. something is really off, this isn't like her at all. I wanna talk directly to my grandmother!!" And finally: "9 days and counting … so help me god I will make whoever did this pay." The next day, several of Jackson's siblings showed up at the gated community in Los Angeles where Katherine lives with the children. The LAPD arrived on the scene after a call about a scuffle in which the elder siblings, Janet, Jermaine and Randy, allegedly tried to confiscate the mobiles of the increasingly talkative teenagers. Randy and Jermaine seem to have come to blows with Trent Jackson, a cousin who works for their mother, in a scene that one anonymous witness likened to The Jerry Springer Show. The same day, Katherine was spotted by a photographer in Arizona, evidently very contented and healthy, giving rise to speculation that Jackson's siblings had sent their mother there so as to better control the situation in LA. Instead, they had made it worse. The executors had already moved to have custody of the children signed over temporarily to Tito's son TJ (Tito's children get some support from the MJ will). Katherine, it emerged, was at a spa in Arizona, incommunicado, without her phone, iPad or a functioning TV, leaving her blissfully unaware of the endless spats unfolding in LA. Local police interviewed her at her daughter Rebbie's home nearby and found no reason for concern, but LAPD investigators who later turned up to check on her were turned away, as Arizona is outside their jurisdiction. Jermaine issued a statement on behalf of the family, or whichever faction of it he is in: "No one is being 'blocked' from speaking with Mother. She is merely an 82-year-old woman following doctor's orders to rest-up and de-stress, away from phones and computers. Everyone has been well aware of this within the family, but I would like to reiterate my reassurance to the outside world that Mother is fine. In the meantime, thank you for all your thoughts and concerns." What do these confusing titbits and unsourced accounts add up to? The whole story is riddled with contradictions, competing claims and counter-claims, and speculative accounting about other people's money. It is complicated by the fact that the Jackson family and all its tacky and embarrassing scandals can still, three years after Michael's death, drive the worst elements of the tabloid press into an orgasmic feeding frenzy, causing them to rely on paid witnesses and disgruntled, possibly mendacious former employees – and when they are not at hand, simply to make stuff up. The tabloid narrative on the Jacksons was set in stone decades ago and no one wishes to upset that money-spinning apple cart of rumour, lie and innuendo. So when something with a grain of truth to it rolls around, like this story of which we really know very little that is utterly reliable, that grain of truth has to be painstakingly extruded from a veritable Sargasso Sea of misinformation. You have been warned.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Bombers strike hospital gate bazaar in south-west and food market in north where child vendors sold snacks, killing 39 Attacks on a packed bazaar in south-western Afghanistan and a food market in the north have killed nearly 40 people and injured over 70 others, almost all of them civilians, making Tuesday one of the bloodiest days in a summer of heavy violence. In normally peaceful Nimroz province a team of suicide bombers struck around 3.30pm local time. One targeted a hospital gate bazaar bustling with people buying food for their evening meal, and making preparations for this weekend's Eid holiday, which marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan. At least 29 people died and more than 50 were injured, said Abdul Majid Latifi, head of the police's intelligence operation for the province. Of the dead, 24 were civilians, many of them women and children. "There were around 100 people selling phone cards, fruits and other things in a small space on the street, every three or four metres a vendor," said Abdul Hadi Azizi, head of the province's criminal investigation department. "Just imagine how many people must have been there with all the shoppers as well." Many of the wounded had serious injuries, so the toll was likely to rise, he added. The attack was the deadliest that Nimroz province has endured in over 10 years of war, but both of the intelligence officials warned that it could have been far worse. They disrupted a cell of 11 suicide attackers on Monday night, killing two in a village just outside the provincial capital, capturing three others, and confiscating a car packed with explosives and several guns and assault rifles. "Last night the group suicide attackers were planing something for today, so we launched an operation," said Latifi. However police did not manage to track down the whole group. Six suicide bombers escaped, but police shot three dead the next day before they could detonate their explosives. The one attacker who targeted the hospital gates caused most of the bloodshed; two policemen were also wounded by a separate explosion, Latifi added. There was no immediately obvious motive for the attack in a sparsely-populated corner of Afghanistan with no foreign presence, nestled against the border with Iran. It lies on a drug smuggling route, which brings some violence, but there has been little insurgent activity compared to neighbouring Helmand province. A Taliban spokesman declined to comment on whether the group were responsible for the attack. "I don't think there was any flashpoint or target. They are just trying to make a disaster by killing civilians," said Shakila Hakimi, head of the provincial council. The attacks came just days after two policemen shot dead nine of their comrades in an unprovoked attack in a northern corner of the province, a reminder of spreading violence. In northern Kunduz province, just a few hours after the Nimroz attack, a motorbike packed with explosives was detonated in a small town's food market as people prepared to break the Ramadan fast. "10 people were killed, and 21 injured, all civilians," said the provincial police chief, Samiullah Qatra, adding that among the victims were children who sold deep-fried potato pancakes and other popular snacks. There are growing fears in Afghanistan that as western troops speed up a security handover to their Afghan counterparts, who are much less well-trained and equipped, the country will see a rise in violence. The UN said this week that civilian casualties were around 5% higher in July than the same month of 2011. They had declined in the first half of the year but officials described the fall as a "hollow trend" linked to an exceptionally harsh winter, rather than evidence of improved security. 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. • Additional reporting by Mokhtar Amiri
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | At least 28 people have been killed and 70 injured in attacks that occurred in relatively peaceful city of Zaranj in Nimroz province Three suicide bombers killed at least 28 people on Tuesday in a usually peaceful city in south-western Afghanistan, an official said. According to police, 28 people were killed and more than 70 wounded in the explosions in the provincial capital of Zaranj. The bombings came a day after local authorities rounded up several insurgents suspected of preparing for suicide attacks in the area, Nimroz governor Abdul Karim Barawi said. The triple bombing in Nimroz province was the latest incident in a month of violence, during which Taliban insurgents and their allies have ratcheted up attacks as international troops increasingly hand over responsibility for security in the country to Afghan police and soldiers. In the first explosion on Tuesday, a bomber detonated his explosives in the heart of the city. At almost at the same time, police opened fire at two other attackers in other parts of the city, accidentally setting off their explosives, Barawi added. Most of those killed were civilians rushing to buy food to break the daily fast for the holy month of Ramadan. Nimroz is one of Afghanistan's relatively peaceful provinces but has seen an increase in violence recently. On Saturday, an Afghan police officer killed 11 of his fellow officers in the remote Dilaram district of the province.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Paul Ryan heads west on the campaign trail as election nears, with New Jersey governor Chris Christie picked for convention keynote. Follow it live
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | US senator Marco Rubio will introduce Mitt Romney later this month at Republican national convention in Tampa New Jersey governor Chris Christie will deliver the keynote address when Republicans gather this month for their national convention before the November presidential election, the party said on Tuesday. Christie, a colourful speaker popular among fiscal conservatives in his party, had considered a US presidential run himself before endorsing Mitt Romney, who will become the official Republican presidential nominee at the gathering. US senator Marco Rubio will introduce Romney at the convention, a Republican official also said. Rubio's home state of Florida – a battleground contest in November – will host the convention from 27 to 30 August in Tampa. "As governor of New Jersey, Chris Christie has proven how bold Republican leadership gets results," Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus said in a statement. "We have an opportunity in Tampa to make clear that if we tell each other the hard truths, tackle the big problems, and make bold choices, we will see America's comeback," he said. Christie, who is expected to seek re-election in 2013, has been a rising national figure in the Republican Party and has received praise for tax cuts, trimming the budget and other measures in his mid-Atlantic state. The governor will argue for shared sacrifice to address the country's problems, according to USA Today. "I'll try to tell some very direct and hard truths to people in the country about the trouble that we're in and the fact that fixing those problems is not going to be easy for any of them," he told the newspaper on Monday. Obama senior campaign adviser David Axelrod said Christie, with his lacerating wit, will be an entertaining speaker. "I think that he'll do a great job for governor Romney," Axelrod said Tuesday on CNN. "The problem for governor Romney isn't his keynote speaker, it's his point of view." Both Christie and Rubio had been mentioned as possible vice-presidential picks. Romney on Saturday chose US representative Paul Ryan of Wisconsin. Rubio is a Cuban-American who could help the party appeal to Hispanic voters. Democrats, who hold their national convention 3 to 7 September in Charlotte, North Carolina, also chose a Hispanic politician, San Antonio mayor Julian Castro, to deliver the keynote.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Sixteen officers injured and public buildings razed to ground in violent clashes between youths and police in northern France Violent clashes between youths and riot police in the northern French city of Amiens have left 16 officers injured and several public buildings were set fire in some of the worst rioting in the area for years – reopening the political debate about France's troubled housing estates. Rioting broke out on deprived estates in the north of the city at 9pm on Monday and continued until 4am. About 100 youths set fire to cars, a nursery school and a youth centre as well as firing buckshot and throwing projectiles at police officers, who filled the streets with teargas as reinforcements arrived from neighbouring areas. "The confrontations were very, very violent," the mayor of Amiens, Gilles Dumailly, told French television network BFM, describing "a scene of devastation". There had been unrest among youths on housing estates in Amiens-Nord earlier this month and again on Sunday night, apparently triggered by resentment over spot checks by police on residents. The French media reported that violence broke out between local residents and the police following a check on a driver said to be driving dangerously, near to the spot where the family and friends of a 20-year-old who died in a motorbike crash on Thursday had gathered for a memorial ceremony. As the unrest grew police fired teargas and Flash-Ball rounds, a type of rubber bullet, which some residents considered excessive. The poor relationship between police and local youths has often been the source of conflict on housing estates across France. The northern area of Amiens in the Somme is classed among the 15 most troubled neighbourhoods in France. It was recently included in a list of the government's new "priority security zones", which will get a reinforced police presence. There were riots in Amiens during the nationwide disturbances in 2005 across France's housing estates. The city has often experienced unrest, but the prefect's office said there had never been violence "as serious as this". Public buildings including a nursery school and sports centre were destroyed by fire, causing an estimated €1m (£800,000) in damage. The far-right Front National party immediately seized on the unrest in the rundown neighbourhood to link insecurity in France to the issue of "massive immigration". The president, François Hollande, said his interior minister, Manuel Valls, would go to Amiens "immediately" to "say once again that the state will mobilise all its resources to combat this violence". He added: "Our priority is security, which means that the next budget will include additional resources for the gendarmerie and the police."
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Sixteen officers injured and public buildings burnt down in violent clashes between youths and riot police in northern France Violent clashes between youths and riot police in the northern French city of Amiens have left 16 officers injured and several public buildings torched in some of the worst rioting in the area for years – reopening the fraught political debate about France's troubled housing estates. Rioting broke out on deprived estates in the north of the city at 9pm on Monday and raged until 4am. Around 100 youths set fire to cars, a nursery school and a youth centre as well as firing buckshot and projectiles at police officers, who saturated the streets with teargas as reinforcements arrived from neighbouring areas. "The confrontations were very, very violent," the mayor of Amiens, Gilles Dumailly, told French television network BFM, describing "a scene of devastation". There had been unrest among youths on housing estates in Amiens-Nord earlier this month and again on Sunday night, apparently sparked by tensions over spot checks by police on residents. French media reported that violence broke out between local residents and the police following a check on a driver said to be driving dangerously, near to the spot where the family and friends of a 20-year-old who died in a motorbike crash on Thursday had gathered for a memorial ceremony. As the unrest grew police fired teargas and flashball rounds. The poor relationship between police and local youths has often been the source of conflict on housing estates across France. The northern area of Amiens in the Somme is classed among the 15 most troubled neighbourhoods in France. It was recently included in a list of the government's new "priority security zones", which will get a reinforced police presence. There were riots in Amiens during the nationwide disturbances in 2005 across France's housing estates. The city has often experienced unrest, but the prefect's office said there had never been violence "as serious as this". Public buildings including a nursery school and sports centre were destroyed by fire, causing an estimated €1m (£800,000) in damage. The far-right Front National party immediately seized on the unrest in the run-down neighbourhood to link insecurity in France to the issue of "massive immigration". The president, François Hollande, said his interior minister, Manuel Valls, would go to Amiens "immediately" to "say once again that the state will mobilise all its resources to combat this violence". He added: "Our priority is security, which means that the next budget will include additional resources for the gendarmerie and the police."
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Bashar al-Assad's former prime minister urges forces loyal to regime to follow his lead and defect 'for the good of the people' Syria's former prime minister, Riyad Hijab, has claimed Bashar al-Asssad's regime is on the point of collapse, having lost control of two-thirds of the country, as he called on other top officials to follow his example and defect. In his first public appearance since he fled Damascus with his family a week ago, Hijab told a press conference in the Jordanian capital, Amman, the Syrian army needed to "take the side of the people". "I assure you, from my experience and former position, that the regime is collapsing, spiritually and financially, as it escalates militarily," Hijab said. "It no longer controls more than 30% of Syrian territory." Hijab said that while he was prime minister he had been unable to stop the regime's policy of using heavy artillery against Syrian cities considered by the regime as being opposition strongholds. He said he had felt "pain in my soul" of the shelling of civilian areas. "I was powerless to stop the injustice," he said, urging other senior figures to defect. "Syria is full of honourable officials and military leaders who are waiting for the chance to join the revolution. I urge the army to follow the example of Egypt's and Tunisia's armies take the side of people." Opposition figures claim many other leading military and political figures in the regime have swapped sides but remained at their posts, either out of fear of what would happen to their families if they defected, or because they had been asked to stay by the rebels to supply intelligence on the inner workings of Assad's government. Hijab is the highest-ranking defector to date. His flight from Damascus came a month after the defection of a Republican Guard general and former member of Assad's inner circle, Manaf Tlass, and the Syrian ambassador to Baghdad, Nawaf al-Fares. In the past week the head of protocol at the presidential palace, Muhi al-Din Maslaman, has also defected.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | With London 2012 over, Olympic medal-winning athletes head back to their home countries to face adoring crowds
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Authorities have faced growing criticism that they failed to react quickly enough to the disaster Iran has said it welcomes foreign aid for victims of the deadly twin earthquakes that hit the country's north-west last weekend. The remarks indicate authorities are still struggling to cope with the quakes' aftermath amid growing criticism that they failed to react quickly enough to the disaster. The affected region, which lies along the borders with Azerbaijan and Armenia, was hit by 6.4 and 6.3 magnitude quakes on Saturday that killed 306 and injured more than 3,000 people. For two days after the quakes, Tehran insisted it needed no foreign assistance to handle the situation. Iran's government said it has provided shelter for about 50,000 people who lost their homes during the quakes, which have been followed by scores of aftershocks. The quakes hit the towns of Ahar, Haris and Varzaqan in the Iranian province of East Azerbaijan. At least 12 villages were totally levelled, and 425 others sustained damage ranging from 50 to 80%, state TV and news agencies reported. The stricken region has a population of about 300,000. Many roads and other infrastructure were heavily damaged. State TV showed relief workers distributing tents and helping survivors, mainly in rural areas. Authorities said the quake caused $600m (£380m) of damage and in Tehran and other major cities, people stood in long lines to donate blood for the injured. On Monday, Iran's Red Crescent spokesman Pouya Hajian told the Isna news agency that the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent, Unicef, Turkey, Taiwan, Singapore, Germany and many embassies in Tehran had offered help but that the Iranian Red Crescent was able to support the quake-stricken areas. But on Tuesday vice-president Mohammad Reza Rahimi said Iran was now welcoming assistance from abroad for the quake victims. "Now and under the current circumstances, we are ready to receive help from various countries," Rahmi was quoted as saying by state Irna. His remarks followed what appears to have been scathing criticism at home. Lawmakers lashed out at the government over what they called its "slow reaction", Iranian newspapers reported on Tuesday. The independent Sharq daily quoted legislator Allahvedi Dehqani from Varzaqan – one of the epicentres – as saying first help arrived three hours after the quake jolted his constituency. Lawmaker Masoud Pezeshkian said that when a 6.4-quake causes "such a big loss, the main problem is mismanagement". On Monday, the government announced it would pay about $3,500 to each family whose property was damaged in the quakes, and would offer a $10,000 low-interest loan for reconstruction of family homes. Iran is located on seismic fault lines and is prone to earthquakes. In 2003, 26,000 people were killed by a 6.6 magnitude quake that hit the city of Bam.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | The talk is now of a timetable of weeks, rather than months, and before the US elections in November In the past few days, the Israeli public has been hit by a blizzard of speculative articles suggesting a military strike against Iran's nuclear sites is imminent. The talk is now of a timetable of weeks, rather than months and some observers believe that Israel will act in the run-up to the US presidential election – at a time when it could be difficult and damaging for President Obama to withhold his backing in the face of a hawkish and vehemently pro-Israel opponent, Mitt Romney, who has already indicated his support for unilateral action by the Jewish state. On Tuesday an article in Ma'ariv suggested that Netanyahu and Barak have set a deadline of 25 September for Obama to clearly state that the US itself will take military action. The date is the opening of the UN general assembly in New York, and also the eve of Yom Kippur, one of the most significant dates in the Jewish calendar. The implication is that, in the absence of a public declaration, Israel will press on with its own plans to strike at the Iranian nuclear programme. But it was two articles last Friday that kicked off the current storm. Writing in Israel's biggest-selling daily, Yedioth Ahronoth, Nahum Barnea and Simon Shiffer, both respected commentators, said: "Insofar as it depends on Binyamin Netanyahu and Ehud Barak, an Israeli military strike on the nuclear facilities in Iran will take place in these coming autumn months, before the US elections in November." But, it pointed out: "There is not a single senior official in the establishment - neither among the [Israeli Defence Forces] top brass nor in the security branches, or even the president - who supports an Israeli strike at the moment." Nevertheless, Netanyahu and Barak are determined, according to the authors. Despite US assurances that President Obama is committed to stopping the Iranian nuclear programme, "Netanyahu assessed that this was empty talk. That Obama will not take action. Barak was less confrontational, but his conclusion was similar. He said that Israel could not entrust its security in the hands of a foreign state... The US can live with a nuclear Iran. Israel cannot." On Monday morning, Barnea reported that he and Shiffer had been "bombarded with phone calls from people who asked if it was time to hide in the bomb shelters" over the weekend. Barak is also widely assumed to be the "decision maker", the anonymous key figure whose views were spread over two pages of Haaretz's weekend magazine on Friday. This thinly disguised figure said that time was running out to act against the Iranian nuclear programme, and the "immunity zone" - the point when key components of the programme are beyond reach in deep bunkers - was approaching. According to the decision maker: "As the Iranians continue to fortify their nuclear sites and disperse them and accumulate uranium, the moment is approaching when Israel will not be able to do anything. For the Americans, the Iranians are not yet approaching the immunity zone - because the Americans have much larger bombers and bombs, and the ability to repeat the operation a whole number of times. But for us, Iran could soon enter the immunity zone. And when that happens, it means putting a matter that is vital to our survival in the hands of the United States. Israel cannot allow this to happen. It cannot place the responsibility for its security and future in the hands of even its best and most loyal friend." Added into the mix was a much-quoted comment, made by Mossad chief Ehraim Halevy, to the New York Times the week before, in which he said: "If I was an Iranian, I would be very fearful of the next 12 weeks." It's possible that the single short quote was taken from a long, measured interview, but it should be assumed that Halevy understood that his words would have impact. He was swiftly followed by another former intelligence chief, Aharon Zeevi Farkash, former head of military intelligence in the IDF, who said: "It seems to me that [an Israeli attack] could come in the near future," that is, weeks or a couple of months." Despite the rising decibels, a decision by Netanyahu and Barak to take Israel into a war against the advice of current and former military and intelligence bigwigs, and against the opposition of most of the cabinet, would be an enormous political risk, even leaving aside the military, security and diplomatic consequences Former prime minister Ehud Olmert was the latest public figure to throw in his cautionary tuppence-worth, in a speech on Sunday. He said: "There is no reason whatsoever for Israel to act in the near future, not in the coming weeks and not in the coming months... We do not have to be hysterical. We have to calm down.... I am part of the circle that believes that Israel can not allow Iran to obtain nuclear weapons. The question is, how do we proceed with this?... This process must be made in full compliance with the international community." What about the Israeli public? According to an opinion poll in Ma'ariv last Friday, 41% believe that sanctions and diplomacy alone will not stop the Iranians developing a nuclear bomb. Twenty-two percent retained their faith in sanctions and diplomacy; 37% didn't know. A subsequent series of questions showed that most people hope for US involvement in military action, and believe it will be forthcoming. But if it comes to "the latest possible date that Israel can seriously harm the Iranian nuclear programme on its own", 35% said Israel should go it alone, 39% said leave it to the US and international community, and 26% said they didn't know. Four out of 10 said they trusted the judgment of Netanyahu and Barak on this issue, compared with 27% who answered in the negative. There are still those who believe Netanyahu and Barak are playing a dangerous game of bluff aimed at forcing America's hand. But, for now, those who believe Israel is heading towards war are speaking with louder voices.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Network says 219m people watched London 2012 Games, despite complaints over scheduling NBC's TV coverage of the London Olympics was the most-watched television event in US history, attracting 219.4m viewers, the network has said. Despite complaints during the Games of delays in broadcasting popular events until primetime hours, problems with online streaming and edited versions of the opening and closing ceremony, NBC said that more people watched the 2012 Olympics on television than the 215m who tuned in for the Beijing Games in 2008. NBC said it also smashed online records, recording nearly 2bn page views and 159m video streams of its Olympics coverage. NBC, a unit of cable operator Comcast Corp, paid $1.18bn for US broadcast rights to the London Olympics, and executives said earlier this month they expected to break even because of the strong TV ratings. The network, which showed a record 5,535 hours of sports and ceremonies across multiple broadcast and cable networks and online, said its primetime TV coverage averaged 31.1m viewers over the 17 nights of the Games. That made London the most-watched summer Olympics held outside the US since Montreal in 1976. The NBC Universal chief executive, Steve Burke, said in a statement that the results "exceeded all our expectations in viewership, digital, consumption and revenue". After coming under fire on social media for making Americans wait hours to watch the opening ceremony from London, NBC streamed the closing ceremony on Sunday live online. But it was criticised for interrupting its tape-delayed primetime evening coverage of the closing ceremony to show a preview of its new comedy Animal Practice. NBC said around 12.8m Americans stayed tuned for the commercial-free preview episode of Animal Practice – one of the network's new fall TV shows. NBC later resumed coverage of the later stages of the closing ceremony but edited out performances by Ray Davies, and Muse's rendition of the official London 2012 theme song Survival.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Rafael Correa says he hopes to announce decision soon on whether he will grant political asylum to WikiLeaks founder Ecuador's president, Rafael Correa, says he hopes to be able to announce this week whether he will grant political asylum to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. Correa told state TV a large amount of material about international law needed to be examined to make a responsible, informed decision. He said he expected to have the latest reports by Wednesday. Assange took refuge in Ecuador's embassy in London on 19 June to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning for alleged sexual misconduct. Ecuador is concerned Assange could run the risk of being extradited to the United States and possibly face the death sentence there. Assange's supporters believe he has been secretly indicted there.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Juan Carlos Hernández Pulido captured with ID cards of newspaper employee killed in May, navy claims Mexican marines have captured a drug cartel suspect carrying the ID cards of a newspaper employee who was killed in May along with three photographers, the country's navy has said. Juan Carlos Hernández Pulido, allegedly a local chief of informers for the Jalisco Nueva Generación drug gang, was detained on Friday in the Gulf coast port city of Veracruz as he handed out packets of drugs to a group of men, the navy claimed. It said Hernández Pulido was carrying the ID cards of Irasema Becerra, an administrative worker at a local newspaper and the girlfriend of one of the dead photographers. Five other journalists have been killed in Veracruz state this year. At the time, the killings had been thought to bear the hallmarks of the Zetas cartel; the victims were killed, dismembered and their bodies stuffed into black plastic bags dumped into a waste canal. However, Hernández Pulido is allegedly linked to a gang allied with the Sinaloa cartel, which is fighting the Zetas for control of Veracruz and other states. Elsewhere in Veracruz, the state prosecutors' office said seven members of a family, three adults and four children, were found dead at their home with their throats slit. The children were reportedly aged between three and 12 years old. The bodies were found Friday in the rural hamlet of Manlio Fabio Altamirano, on the Gulf coast, by neighbours who smelled strange odours coming from the house. The family had been dead for about three days, prosecutors said. Federal police announced on Monday they have sent 600 additional officers and 20 bulletproof patrol vehicles to the western state of Michoacán, where suspected drug cartel gunmen have attacked police and hijacked and burned trucks to block highways in recent days. Police said the units would be used in anti-drug operations, to set up checkpoints and prevent road blockades. On Friday, five gunmen were killed when they opened fire on police from the hills around the city of Apatzingán. In the northern Mexican state of San Luis Potosi, state police said the gunmen who killed the mayor-elect of the city of Matehuala on Sunday used assault rifles of the kind frequently wielded by drug gangs. Edgar Morales Perez, of the Institutional Revolutionary party died in the attack along with an adviser who was travelling with him, but the adviser's wife survived. His party, known as the PRI, issued a statement on Sunday calling on authorities to investigate the killings and punish those responsible.
  | | | | | | | | | |  | |  | |  |
Aucun commentaire:
Enregistrer un commentaire