|  |  |  | | | | | The Guardian World News | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | • American's final race brings him his 22nd Olympic medal
• USA win the 4x100m medley relay final The greatest Olympian in the the history of the modern Games, Michael Phelps, has finished his career with an 18th Olympic gold, his 22nd medal, in the men's 4x100m medley relay final. At these Olympics he won four golds and two silvers. The final race at the Aquatics Centre at this year's Games was the scene of Phelps's latest and last medal. Matt Grevers led off in the backstroke leg, Brendan Hansen swam the breaststroke, Phelps did his usual butterfly leg and Nathan Adrian was the anchor in freestyle. For a moment the Japan team threatened to spoil Phelps' party as they led after the first two swims. However Phelps overhauled their lead during his butterfly leg. The USA team did not look back and Adrian's final leg sealed both the gold for the USA and Phelps's reputation as the greatest swimmer in Olympic history. The Americans clocked 3min 29.35sec, Japan touched in 3:31.26 to take the silver and Australia finished in 3:31.58 for the bronze. Phelps has said he will not race again after these Games, meaning that this performance on Saturday evening in the final of the 4x100m medley relay will be his last competitive appearance in a swimming pool.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Rolling report: Great Britain enjoyed an historic night of athletics at the Olympic Stadium. Sean Ingle watched it unfold
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Rolling report: Great Britain are in the medals hunt on a jam-packed night of finals in the Olympic Stadium. Join Sean Ingle
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Skirmishes have broken out in Aleppo as rebels pour in to confront regime loyalists in what will be a decisive clash The pitched battle for Syria's oldest city was edging ever closer to its ancient heart on Saturday, with skirmishes flaring near world-renowned landmarks and once impregnable pillars of state control. Monuments and security buildings stand cheek-by-jowl in Aleppo, a city of huge importance to the Syrian uprising, where a grand, 1,000-year-old citadel stands not far from a much-feared interrogation dungeon. Yesterday jets were bombing the centre of the city, barely a mile away from the citadel. Rebel groups claim that, after two weeks of bitter fighting, the city of almost 2.5 million people and linchpin of regime authority is almost within their reach. However, as rebel reinforcements continued to pour in from elsewhere in the country ahead of an expected push early this week, regime troops were also bolstering defences in areas they continue to hold, primarily in the west and centre of the city. The rebel force of about 6,000 fighters is being countered by a regime force thought to comprise at least double that number as well as large numbers of the loyalist Shabiha militia, many of whom come from Aleppo and have sworn to defend the city. Rebel forces have advanced from the north-east and were on Saturday trying to dislodge loyalists who were fighting them on the approaches to the Maysaloon district. Capturing this would open access roads to the city centre, where the fighting flared on Saturday. It would also, potentially, open a way for rebels, who maintain a foothold in the south-west of the city, to link up with the new arrivals. Rebel groups say they plan to target the air force intelligence headquarters, among the most feared authorities in Syria's extensive security apparatus. Many of the Aleppo-based rebels claim to have spent time in the building's solitary cells and torture rooms. "We are saving the tank shells we have for when we get access to the Air Force intelligence headquarters," said Mohammed Karim, from the rebel-held town of Azaz. "We will free the prisoners first, then destroy the building." Other fighters said getting a foothold in the heart of the city would be difficult. "It could be another three to six months," said Hussein Shmaili, a police captain who defected. Resting in a house on Aleppo's outer limits, Firas Abu Ayoub said: "The Shabiha are running the checkpoints. They are tough and they are are nasty and they want revenge for Zino Berri." Berri, allegedly the chief financier and organiser of the Shabiha in Aleppo, was captured with his two sons on Wednesday and savagely gunned down following a brief show trial. Video footage of the executions taken on mobile phones is being widely shared among rebel groups now advancing on Aleppo. Some rebel commanders are well aware of the damage the executions have done to their cause. Partly in a bid to rectify the damage, a major from the city of al-Bab, 30km from Aleppo, took the Observer to meet a group of regime prisoners captured in a battle a fortnight ago. All were housed in a classroom on the top floor of a school. "We were holding them before the Berris were caught," said Major Abu Mohammed al-Asmar. "And they have been treated like kings ever since they got here." The prisoners, among them three junior Alawite officers and a Shia sergeant, slept on mattresses alongside captured Sunni conscripts. All claimed they would return home if freed. "I just want a solution," said one of the Alawite officers. "Stability. Who really thinks about sectarianism here? Who doesn't want a state where people's rights are respected?" None would answer a question about whether the fall of the regime or its continued rule over Syria would make a difference to their lives. And nor would they address a constant refrain among exiled Alawites: that neither rebels nor world leaders could safeguard their futures in the power vacuum that it is likely to follow the end of the regime. "We don't want guarantees," said a second Alawite officer. "We just need peace." Later, Major Abu Mohammed said: "We would swap all of these prisoners for just one of our men. The Alawites would return to the army. All of them." As next week's showdown looms, fighters in the outskirts of Aleppo are continuing to ready for battle. In the early hours of Saturday, 60 members of the al-Bab brigade with bandanas and weapons they had captured from the prisoners now in the schoolhouse left for the frontline. Aleppo's much-vaunted wealth is on clear display in many well-to-do streets and its commercial districts still appear to be functioning despite the onslaught. Syrian leader, Bashar al-Assad, said in a statement during the week that the battle for the city would determine the future of Syria. "That's the first thing he has said that I agree with," Major Abu Mohammed said. "It's also very important for the rest of the Middle East."
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | MPs pass votes of no confidence in defence minister and interior minister, sparking fears for stability of government Afghanistan's parliament has voted to remove the country's two top security ministers from their jobs, a move that could disrupt the handover from western to Afghan troops, and destabilise a government already under pressure over corruption. MPs passed votes of no confidence in the defence minister, Abdul Rahim Wardak, and the interior minister, Bismillah Khan Mohammadi, criticising them on Saturday for failing to prevent cross-border shelling from Pakistan and security lapses that contributed to the murder of a northern MP at his daughter's wedding last month. President Hamid Karzai's office issued a statement acknowledging the vote, which neither condemned nor endorsed it. He promised a decision on the ministers' future after a meeting of his national security council on Sunday. The ministers may stay in power, as Karzai has effectively ignored previous parliamentary votes against some of his ministerial candidates by appointing them in an acting capacity then leaving them on the job for months at a time. But he has recently promised both his people and the international community a clean-up of the country's notoriously corrupt government. "The president has to introduce [new candidates] before a month is up," said Kabul MP Arfanullah Arfan. "We are concerned that it shouldn't be like it was in the past, when acting ministers spent a long time in their jobs. If this happens again, parliament will take a very serious decision." Wardak, who has been defence minister for nearly eight years and was previously deputy minister, has strong support from western powers in Afghanistan, and with their help has has overseen the expansion of the army's ranks to over 185,000. In the 1980s he fought against the Soviet and Afghan government troops as a mujahideen commander. He has also studied in the US, and speaks fluent English. Mohammadi, who also fought as a mujahideen commander, is an ethnic Tajik from the Northern Alliance power block that fought the Taliban in the 1990s and were key to the group's ousting in 2001. He served as chief of staff to the army from 2002 to 2010, before taking up his current job. The parliamentary vote came days after an Afghan television station reported that the finance minister, Omar Zakhilwal, another minister who has enjoyed the support of western nations in Afghanistan, had stashed away over $1m (£640,000) in foreign bank accounts. The report prompted calls for an investigation into Zakhilwal's finances, but he denied any wrongdoing and told the Tolo television channel that the money came from legitimate sources. He had earned up to $1,500 a day as a consultant before taking up his current job in 2009, he added. • Additional reporting by Mokhtar Amiri
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Up to 200,000 children a year fall into the hands of slave traders in India, many sold by their poverty-stricken parents for as little as £11. Now a group of activists has set out to rescue them from a life in the sweatshops of Delhi Azam was seven when his mother decided the time had come for him to go out to work. There were too many mouths to feed and no money coming in since her husband deserted her. And there were no opportunities in their village of Basagaon, which lies at the farthest and most desperate end of Bihar, the poorest state in India. Here more than half the population exist below the official poverty line of 22 rupees [25p] a day. Anjura Khatun knew what to do. The next time the child trafficker came to the village, they agreed a price. A few days later, Azam was on a train to Delhi. The boy was initially proud of his new role as family breadwinner. "My mum does not work, so I took the responsibility for feeding my family," he told the Observer, puffing out his chest. He has a sister and a brother, but Azam, now nine, is the first born. And after two nightmarish years in Delhi, he is older and wiser. From his arrival in the Indian capital, Azam worked in a plastics workshop, sorting through waste from 9am to 10pm. The boys lived six to a tiny room. He hated every minute of every day. "All we were doing was surviving," he says. "Every night when I went to sleep I was missing my village. "I was waiting and waiting for the owner to pay me so I could bring some money home for my mum. But the owner never gave us money. At first he said to wait for a few days, but then weeks went by and then months, and he never gave us anything." Azam wanted to escape, but he did not dare. "The man who took me to Delhi asked permission from my mum so I didn't think I could go back." He looks sideways at his mother. The 30-year-old looks away and fiddles with the hem of her bright yellow sari. She never worried about Azam while he was away, she says. Her husband had left her for another woman. They were desperate. "We had no money, no food. I had to send him to work. He was the oldest. We needed to eat. What else could I do?" Stories like this are repeated daily across the poorer regions of India. An estimated half a million children work in Delhi alone, many of them uprooted and three-quarters of them below the age of 14. Many are trafficked there by India's army of slave traders, stolen, tricked or sold by their parents for as little as 1,000 rupees (£11). No one is quite sure how big the Indian slave trade might be; estimates range from 150,000 to 200,000 children a year. But India is under increasing pressure to get a grip on the practice. In June, the US state department labelled India as a child-trafficking hub and urged the country to bring its laws into line with UN conventions. A series of raids to free child labourers in Delhi has heaped on the pressure, and the country's labour minister has promised a new law banning all child labour. But Gursharan Kaur, wife of Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh, says that, for real change to happen, Indian attitudes to child labour must change. "If everyone decides that they will not employ children, it will help a lot. It is the poor who send their children to work due to their low earnings. If their own families do not understand the child's rights, who will?" she said last month. An answer to that despairing question is emerging in the form of the activists of Bachpan Bachao Andolan (Save the Childhood Movement). Late last month in the Bihar town of Katihar, accompanied by the Observer, rescuers from the group intercepted the Seemanchal Express bound for Delhi, tipped off that a group of young children had boarded the train in Nepal, apparently unaccompanied by parents. It was the first operation of its kind. At 11.15pm, the white facade of Katihar station was bathed in light. Inside, people slept sprawled on the platforms and in the booking hall. On a far platform, a train stood waiting to leave, its long, blue-painted carriageways crammed with boys standing, sitting and lying in luggage racks. Inside the carriage the temperature was stifling, the stench of unwashed bodies and stale urine overwhelming. One small boy peered nervously out of the darkness at the far end of the narrow corridor. Suddenly hands stretched out towards the boys as soothing voices told them not to worry, and pulled them forward on to the platform, where they stood blinking in fear and confusion, as the train departed. The children come from all over India, but the state of Bihar is the hub of the trade, the poorest, the most desperate part of the country. Here, up against the border with Nepal, many parents are only too glad to have one less mouth to feed, one more member of the family bringing in a handful of rupees. The trade is at its height in the farthest reaches of the state, in the poverty-stricken countryside around the down-at-heel towns of Katihar and Sitamarhi. The rescuers worked long into the night, calming the boys, taking their names, contacting their parents. Some had travelled from Nepal, some from nearby villages. It was 2.30am when the boys are decanted into a grubby hotel near the station. The next day, when their parents arrived to collect them, there were few smiles. Many of the adults had the look of people who had just lost winning lottery tickets. Back in Basagaon, 40 miles north-east of Katihar, those who have been rescued and returned crowd into the yard of the largest building in the village. Some of their mothers are here, but there is no sign of the fathers. Like Anjura Khatun, the other boys' mothers plead poverty and say they had no choice but to send their children away to work. Nehiar Khathun's eyes are sunk deep in her face. She is 35 and sick, she says. She needs medicine. This is why she sent her son, Tahir, to Delhi. There was no choice. There were three boys and three girls to feed. Someone had to bring in the money, and her husband was no longer around. "All day I am working, I have all sorts of diseases, I need medical help. Who can help me? We have no money, no food. What is the point of studying?" she says. "Better that he starts working and earns some money so that I can have my treatments." Tahir boarded the train to Delhi in 2010, taken by a local trafficker called Javed. He was rescued six months ago, but his mother says she wants him to go back. Tahir looks at his feet as he talks. He wants to study to be an engineer. But he knows they need the money he can earn now. "I want that my sisters and brothers can get a good meal," he says. Tahir is 10. The traffickers promise the parents that the children will be earning good money – anything from 700 rupees [£8] a month to 3,000 rupees [£34]. But none of the children gathered in the courtyard were ever paid more than a handful of rupees for their work. Mohammed Abzal, 10, and Mohammed Saddam, 11, disappeared from Basagaon two years ago. Their mother, 35-year-old Lal Bannu, says the family were desperate. Her husband was working in Kolkata and Javed said the brothers could earn 1,400 rupees a month in Delhi. The boys worked there for two years before they were rescued. "I said they should go to earn, we needed the money," she says, her voice emotionless. "I wanted them to start earning. Money was a priority. My husband never sent us anything." None of the mothers will admit that they took money in exchange for their children, but activists working in the villages say that a price of between 1,000 rupees and 3,000 rupees is the norm. And the money is desperately needed. Welfare schemes designed to protect the poorest rarely filter down to those who need it most. The boys look around the muddy courtyard. Nothing has changed since they first left, they say. Their mother still has no money, no way to feed them. They seem oblivious to the falling rain. There is nothing here for us, they say. There is no point in staying. It would be better for everyone if we went back. Avdesh Kumar slipped away from Bhubharo village, in the countryside outside Sitamarhi, when he was 10. He dreamed of Delhi, could not see the point of school and anyway, everyone in the village felt he should be out working. When the local trafficker, Rama Shankar, suggested he go to the capital, he leaped at the chance. The older man sent a rickshaw to pick up Avdesh and four of his friends, who had slipped away from their homes in the early morning. All were excited at the adventure, certain that they were going to make their fortunes. As the train slipped through the countryside, Avdesh stood by the door and watched the world go by. It was his first time on a train. "I thought that if the train went any faster then it would fly," he says. His friend Pappo Kumar thought Delhi would be like the New York they had seen in the movies. It was a tradition in his village that children went out to work when they reached the age of eight, he said, and that made sense to the gang of friends. But Shankar had tricked them. "When we reached Delhi I saw a lot of crowds and people going very fast and it was very beautiful. But we hardly got a chance to see it. From that Friday we worked every day, for 17 hours every day, sewing saris." For the next 14 months, they were kept as prisoners, 49 boys to a room 30ft long and 15ft wide. Only for a few hours on a Sunday would their owner unlock the grille across their door and allow a few of them out, under strict escort, to wander round the local market. Avdesh was never one of those allowed out. He lived his life in that room, ate there, slept there, worked there day after day. "I wanted to see the city. I wanted to see my parents. But I had been kidnapped and there was never the chance to go out," he says. "I was trapped. Every day I wanted to run, but I did not know any way home." The promised money never materialised. It had all been for nothing. Most of the children who are rescued are taken to Bachpan Bachao Andolan's ashram on the outskirts of Delhi. When their parents are traced, they are given 20,000 rupees by the government to make a fresh start and a letter warning the parents that they will face jail if the child is found working again. When the Seemanchal Express that had been ambushed in Katihar finally pulled into Delhi, traffickers rounded up the children who had remained on the train and shepherded their cargo towards the doors. But the police, alerted by Bachpan Bachao Andolan, were waiting for them on this occasion. The remaining 31 children are led away to safety, but not before they have pointed out the traffickers. The children told police that the men paid their parents as much as 3,000 rupees to buy them. Twenty traffickers were arrested. In theory, they could face years in jail, but the reality of the Indian justice system is that within months most, if not all, will be out on bail. Few will ever face a court. Back in Bihar, more children are already boarding trains. The slave trade goes on.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Convicted murderer Gary Haugen has rejected clemency of Oregon governor John Kitzhaber and says he wants to die America's emotional debate over the role of the death penalty has taken a strange new twist after a convicted killer has been granted the legal right to insist on his right to be executed. Oregon death row inmate Gary Haugen, who was found guilty of murdering his girlfriend's mother and also another prisoner, says he still wants to die – despite a reprieve by anti-death penalty Oregon governor John Kitzhaber. Now a court has granted Haugen, 49, the right to reject Kitzhaber's clemency move, which was issued just weeks before he was scheduled to be executed by lethal injection last December. Kitzhaber had vowed that no death sentences would be carried out in Oregon while he was in office. But Judge Timothy Alexander has ruled in favour of Haugen, saying that earlier cases had established his right not to accept the stay of execution. "My decision … is not intended to be a criticism of Governor Kitzhaber or the views he has expressed. I'm required to set aside my personal views and decide this case on its merits and the law," the judge wrote in his judgement. However, the matter is not settled. The reprieve, which was set to expire after Kitzhaber left office, is now going be the subject of a legal appeal by the governor's legal team to get it put back place. Only when that appeal is heard will a new execution date be set. Haugen was sentenced to death for the 2007 murder of fellow prisoner David Polin. He and another inmate had stabbed Polin 83 times and crushed his head. At the time Haugen was serving a life sentence for the murder of Mary Archer, who he beat to death to death in 1981. America has a difficult relationship with the death penalty, which many other countries across the world have long abandoned. It varies state-by-state and often shifts with public opinion over time. Oregon has instituted the death penalty and then got rid of it numerous times in its history. At the moment the trend in the US is moving away from it. Since 2007 some five states, including Oregon, have stopped using it, making a total of 16 US states that no longer execute prisoners.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Surprise concession granted as China prepares for trial of Gu Kailai for alleged murder of Neil Heywood British diplomats will be allowed to attend the murder trial of Chinese politician Bo Xilai's wife, who stands accused of killing British businessman Neil Heywood. The move is being treated as an unusual concession by China. Heywood, who had lived in China for 10 years, was found dead last November in a hotel in the south-western city of Chongqing, where Bo was the former Communist party leader. Bo was later ousted amid a scandal triggered by the death. Chinese authorities at first blamed the death on excessive alcohol consumption but later accused Bo's wife, Gu Kailai, and an aide of poisoning the 41-year-old Briton. Diplomatic sources said it was unusual for China to allow British diplomats to attend such a sensitive hearing, particularly when no UK citizen was on trial. The British Foreign Office said last month: "We are dedicated to seeking justice for Neil Heywood and his family and we will be following developments closely." Bo has been suspended from top party bodies. His wife theoretically faces execution if convicted of murder. Chinese authorities announced last month that Gu and Zhang Xiaojun, a family employee, had been charged with "intentional homicide". The Chinese state news agency, Xinhua, said the police investigation showed that Gu and her son had has business conflicts with Heywood. Bo, who was once tipped to rise to the politburo standing committee – China top political body – had been suspended from the politburo for unspecified but serious violations of discipline. He had already been removed from his post as Chongqing party secretary. Heywood is thought to have become close to Bo and his wife after he helped smooth the way for their son Bo Guagua's schooling at Harrow, Heywood's alma mater. Bo Guagua is now living in the US after graduating from his Harvard masters course this year.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Stop-and-frisk use down 34% between April and June, Times reports, with reduction coinciding with intense media scrutiny New York's controversial stop-and-frisk policy of fighting crime, which many critics say involves racial profiling of black and Hispanic citizens, has been reduced markedly in recent months, it has been claimed. The New York police department's tactic has become a major source of debate in the city as proponents say it has played a huge role in reducing crime statistics, while others say it alienates minority groups. But on Saturday the New York Times reported that there had been a drop of 34% in the number of times that police had used stop-and-frisks. It said that from April to June New York police had conducted 133,934 stops, compared to 203,500 in the preceding three months of January to February. The drop coincided with a period of media debate over the role of stop-and-frisks in fighting New York crime, which civil rights groups have repeatedly protested. In June, thousands of New Yorkers took to the city's streets in a silent march to mayor Michael Bloomberg's home to protest against stop-and-frisks. Speaking at the demonstration, Benjamin Jealous, president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) said the notion that stop-and-frisk makes the city safer was "a big lie". He added: "What it does is it drives a wall between the most victimised communities in this city and the very people who have sworn to protect them."
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | • Williams hammers Sharapova 6-0, 6-1
• Williams wins her third Olympic gold Serena Williams produced a breathtaking performance to clinch the women's singles final and beat Maria Sharapova 6-0, 6-1. The victory won her the third Olympic gold medal of her career to follow her doubles successes in Sydney in 2000 and Beijing in 2008. Such was Williams's dominance in the first set that, at one point towards the end of the first set, she had hit more aces than her opponent had won points. In a ruthless performance she blew away Sharapova, the World No3, who was competing in her first Olympics and had to settle for silver. Williams has been in impressive form at Wimbledon and faced Sharapova on the back of another easy 6-1, 6-2 semi-final win over the top seed and World No1 Victoria Azarenka. She duly romped through the first set of the final too, dominating Sharapova's serve and crunching winners from the baseline. Despite blustery conditions on Centre Court, Williams was unafraid to hit powerfully, forcing Sharapova to lunge and gasp her way around the court. It wasn't until midway through the second set that Sharapova offered any form of real resistance. She won her first game at the tenth time of asking, 45 minutes after the match had begun. It was only the 17th game Williams had lost in the tournament. Despite pushing Williams to the brink of a break in the next game, Sharapova was then immediately broken on her next service game by the World No4 and appeared to have no answers to her powerful opponent, who served out to win. William's victory included 10 aces, 24 winners and only seven unforced errors and takes her winning streak to 17 matches since her loss to Virginie Razzano in the French Open in May. The win also means she has now won each grand slam singles title and the Olympic singles gold – a career Golden Slam that has only previously been achieved by Steffi Graf after her Olympic victory in 1988. Despite the enthusiastic support of the crowd, Sharapova looked a forlorn figure on the court. One fan's cry of "Maria, I still want to marry you" failed to console her as she suffered the most comprehensive defeat in Olympic women's singles final history. Andy Murray, too, had reason to be grumpy about Sharapova's defeat – the lightning quick match meant he was forced back on court for the doubles semi-final far sooner than he might have expected. The top-seeded Azarenka of Belarus won the women's singles bronze by beating the 14th seed Maria Kirilenko of Russia 6-3, 6-4. Sharapova's loss allowed Azarenka to retain the No1 ranking.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | • Williams hammers Sharapova 6-0, 6-1
• Williams wins third ever Olympic gold Serena Williams produced a breathtaking performance to clinch the women's singles final and beat Maria Sharapova 6-0, 6-1. The victory won her the third Olympic gold medal of her career to follow her doubles successes in Sydney in 2000 and Beijing in 2008. Such was Williams's dominance in the first set that, at one point, she had hit more aces more than her opponent had won points. In a ruthless performance she blew away Sharapova, the World No3, who was competing in the Olympics for the first time and had to settle for silver. Williams has been in impressive form at Wimbledon and faced Sharapova on the back of another ruthless 6-1, 6-2 semi-final win over the top seed and World No1 Victoria Azarenka. She duly romped through the first set of the final too and it wasn't until midway through the second set that Sharapova offered any form of resistance as she won her first game at the tenth time of asking. It was only the 17th game Williams had lost in the tournament. Despite pushing Williams to the brink of a break in the next game, Sharapova was then immediately broken on her next service game by the World No4 and appeared to have no answers to her powerful opponent, who served out to win. The victory takes Williams' winning streak to 17 matches following her success at the Wimbledon Championships in July. Williams will return to the court later on Saturday alongside her sister Venus to contest the women's doubles semi-final against Sharapova's Russian compatriots Maria Kirilenko and Nadia Petrova.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Jamaican star's first appearance in initial round of premier sprint event heightens excitement levels in Olympic Stadium As the seats filled up around the Olympic cauldron at the start of the second day of athletics on Saturday, the announcer teased the crowd, promising the first sighting of "a certain man by the name of Bolt". The roar, even at that, was unmistakable. The opening run for the Jamaican Olympic champion and world record holder on a track so fast it has been dubbed "the magic carpet" was a moment everyone had come to see. While Usain Bolt loosened up under a beanie hat on the warm-up track outside the 80,000-capacity arena, Boltmania inside was reaching fever pitch. There were even ghost sightings. The appearance of Dane Hyatt, a Jamaican 400m runner with a not dissimilar build to Bolt, prompted misplaced hoots of excitement from the Bolt spotters. On the day the American swimming great, Michael Phelps, would race in an Olympics for the last time and with Jessica Ennis's quest for gold gripping the partisan British crowd, the imminent arrival of the 25-year-old from Trelawny, Jamaica guaranteed there would be no letup in the star power coursing through the London 2012 Olympic park. "We have been waiting so long to see Usain Bolt on these grounds," said Sounez Charles, 34, a business analyst from London who was wearing a yellow, gold and black Jamaica top and tights emblazoned with the British flag. "I woke up at 5am this morning, totally energised. I am actually from east London. My parents came into Stratford in the 1960s from St Vincent. To see the 100m round one is absolutely brilliant. I know a lot of people say Bolt's too confident, but why not? He's good." In the runup to the track and field competition, Bolt had already proved a huge star in the athletes' village, even being cheered to the lunch counter in the canteen by athletes from all over the world. Such was his presence that he even enlisted a couple of his burlier team-mates, shot putters and discus throwers, to form an impromptu security cordon as he made his way around the village, smiling, laughing and joking. Now the public would get their chance to touch the hem of the fastest man on earth. "I'm excited, can't you tell," said Misi Goode, 42, from Wandsworth, wearing a Jamaica flag dress with union flag-painted toe nails. "He's a down-to-earth relaxed person. He plays PlayStation. He is the young people's example in sports and athletics." The anticipation of Bolt's first competitive appearance in the main stadium was only increased by the performance of female sprinters on Friday night, led by USA's world champion Carmelita Jeter, who recorded a time of 10.83sec. Seven runners completed the first round of the 100m in 11 seconds or better. With memories of Bolt's extraordinary record-smashing run in Beijing kept fresh by constant TV replays, it was impossible not to wonder what he might do on what has been designed to be even faster. Then, in the second heat, Justin Gatlin, USA gold medallist from Athens 2004 recorded the fastest first round time in Olympic history with 9.97sec. Finally Bolt appeared from the call area and peeled off his tracksuit by the starting blocks. Women whooped and soldiers took photos with their phones. "Loosen up your larynxes, here we go," called the stadium announcer. Even after a stumble at the start, the race was a cake-walk for Bolt. "I expected it, I'm running well, I'm happy, training is great," he said afterwards. "Reaction was good." "It looked like he was just jogging," said Andrew Newington, 44, from London. "It was a fantastic atmosphere, but the British athlete in his heat [James Dasaolu] got a bigger cheer than he did." Amid the fan fervour, sprint experts remained unconvinced that Bolt would manage to fulfil the simmering expectation. Bolt's lesser-known, but currently faster training partner and reigning world champion, Yohan Blake, could seize the limelight. He was certainly trying to grab the attention by warming up in a mismatched pair of fluorescent socks. "Technically, he's better," said Maurice Greene, the 2000 Olympic 100m champion. "You win and lose through your technique, and Usain has been having technical problems for the last two years. He hasn't fixed it since then … I don't see him fixing it now. " Fans weren't fussed, they were just delighted to have been there at Bolt first act of London 2012. "He's the main event," said Kim Glenister, 51, from London, before hesitating and adding "apart from Jess Ennis who is doing so well." "He's an exceptional athlete, a rare thing," she said.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | US secretary of state stresses need for 'free, fair and transparent' ballot in 2013, avoiding violence of last election US secretary of state Hillary Clinton urged Kenya on Saturday to hold free and fair elections and be a role model for Africa, underlining the need to avoid the bloodshed suffered during the last vote five years ago. The general election slated for next March will be the first since a disputed poll in 2007 that set off a politically based ethnic slaughter in which more than 1,200 people were killed. Clinton met President Mwai Kibaki, who is barred by law from seeking a third term, and Raila Odinga, the prime minister, who leads in opinion polls in the race to replace him. The two were the main rivals in the disputed presidential poll, when then opposition leader Odinga accused Kibaki of stealing the vote. Gangs faced off with machetes and clubs, and security forces opened fire on the streets, until mediator Kofi Annan brokered a power-sharing pact between Kibaki and Odinga that ended the violence and made Odinga prime minister. "The United States has pledged to assist the government of Kenya in ensuring that the upcoming elections are free, fair and transparent," Clinton told reporters in Nairobi. "We urge that the nation come together and prepare for elections which will be a real model for the entire world." Clinton made the remarks after meeting Chief Justice Willy Mutunga, a former law school lecturer with a track record of pushing for legal reform. Clinton, launching a seven-nation Africa tour in Senegal on Wednesday, urged Africa to recommit to democracy, declaring the "old ways of governing" can no longer work on a continent with strong economic growth and an increasingly empowered citizenry. She was also due to meet Somali President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed and other Somali leaders in Nairobi before travelling to Malawi and South Africa. Clinton's trip to Africa is intended in part to strengthen US security ties with allies such as Kenya, the economic powerhouse of eastern Africa, in the face of growing threats from Islamist militants. A statement from the Kenyan presidency said Clinton had "appreciated the frontline role" Kenya continued to play to stabilise Somalia and the Horn of Africa, and had promised her government's support for such initiatives. Nairobi has blamed a series of bomb and other attacks in Kenya on Somalia's al Qaeda-linked al-Shabaab, which has threatened to retaliate since Kenyan troops pursued the Islamists into Somalia in October. Clinton said she was encouraged by progress since Kenya adopted a new constitution in August 2010, which granted the judiciary "significant responsibilities". Analysts say the crisis over the 2007 election was made considerably worse by the parties' refusal to take disputes to the courts, which were widely seen as inefficient and corrupt. "However I am well aware that there are many issues yet to be decided and many laws to be passed," Clinton said, referring to groundwork being undertaken in preparation for the polls. Mutunga has won praise for restructuring the courts since taking over in June last year, including firing corrupt judges and setting up a special team of judges to handle election disputes well ahead of next year's presidential election. Clinton was also due to meet the elections commission, currently mired in a crisis over its decision to abandon plans to introduce an electronic register of voters after the tendering process descended into acrimony.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Hundreds of people told to evacuate in at least four counties on Friday, while authorities to close parts of Interstate 44 Wildfires whipped by gusty, southerly winds have swept through rural woodlands north and south of Oklahoma City, burning dozens of homes as firefighters struggled to contain some of the fires amid 113F heat. Hundreds of people were told to leave their homes in at least four counties on Friday, while smoke and flames prompted authorities to close parts of Interstate 44, the main roadway between Oklahoma City and Tulsa, and two state highways. "A man refused to leave. From what I know, he wanted to protect his property, but your life has to be more valuable than property," Oklahoma County sheriff John Whetsel said late Friday night. The sheriff said at least 25 homes, a daycare center and numerous outbuildings had burned in a fire that may have been deliberately set near Luther, a town about 20 miles northeast of Oklahoma City. Deputies were looking into reports about someone in a pickup truck who was seen throwing out newspapers that had been set on fire. By Friday night, the blaze had spread across 80 square miles. About 40 structures were destroyed by a blaze near Tulsa. And yet another blaze destroyed at least 25 structures, including a handful of homes, after starting near Noble, about 30 miles south of Oklahoma City, and moving toward Norman, home to the University of Oklahoma. "I loaded the kids up, grabbed my dogs, and it didn't even look like I had time to load the livestock, so I just got out of there," said Bo Ireland, who lives a few miles from where the Noble-area fire started. "It looked to me that, if the wind shifted even a little bit, I would be in the path of that fire. It was just too close." There were no immediate reports of injuries or livestock losses. Dayle Bishop said he may not have made it out of his home had a woman not knocked on his door and woken him up. Standing in a convenience store parking lot about 2 miles away from his home, he was pessimistic about its chances. "I know it's gone," said Bishop, who works nights as a nurse. "Didn't even have time to get anything out." But he noted, "it's just stuff." Charles Wright was with his daughter, Christina, along with their cat, at a makeshift evacuation center doubling as a staging area for fire engines, ambulances and other emergency equipment. He said law enforcement ordered them to leave their home in Norman. "Praying for miracles. Praying for the best, that's all we can do," said Wright, who managed to pack some clothes, jewelry and legal papers before fleeing. Ruth Hood splashed water onto two Chihuahua puppies that she grabbed along with several other animals and her children, and left as flames burned in her neighbor's yard. She said she couldn't be sure her home would survive. "No guarantee," Hood said. With the ongoing drought, high temperatures and gusty winds, it took little for fires to begin and spread – and there was little crews could do to fight them. "It's difficult for the firefighters to get into the area because it's heavily wooded on either side of the smaller roads. When the winds are blowing 25 mph it just blows the embers and fireballs across the roads as if they weren't even there," said Jerry Lojka with the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management. On Friday, the temperature in Norman hit 113F, and winds were gusting at 24mph. "I can tell you the temperatures and the wind are not helping the situation at all," said Meghan McCormick, a spokeswoman for the Cleveland County Sheriff's office. Russell Moore, 53, who lives in the Noble area, said he was outside in his yard when a sheriff's deputy drove down the road and told people to leave. He and his son went to a shelter set up at Noble City Hall. "About all we saw was smoke and a little bit of ash raining down from the sky," Moore said. "Everybody was piling into their vehicles and leaving as we were." Lojka said helicopters were helping ground crews with a fire near Mannford and Drumright in Creek County. Helicopters from the National Guard and the Bureau of Indian Affairs were fighting a fire in Creek County. The state was monitoring 11 fires by Friday afternoon. Governor Mary Fallin announced a statewide burn ban as the fire danger heightened. She previously had announced a state of emergency for all 77 counties due to the extreme drought.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | • Battle for Syria's largest city, Aleppo, nears decisive phase
• Fresh clashes reported in Damascus despite regime surge against rebels
• UN General Assembly criticises the Security Council for failing to act
• France to use UN Security Council presidency to push for humanitarian aid 12.56pm: The arming of Syria's rebels will have "very bad implications in the region," Iran's Defence Minister Ahmad Vahidi warned today, according to state television. The AFP news agency said that he added that "the region will face a major crisis if foreign forces, currently (covertly) present in Syria, enter the scene" and intervene militarily. 12.47pm: Far from there being a lull in fighting in Damascus, heavy explosions shook the Syrian capital today and helicopters circled overhead as rebels appeared to be renewing their offensive in the city, reports the Associated Press. The fresh battles show that President Bashar Assad's victories could be fleeting as armed opposition groups regroup and resurge, possibly forcing the regime to shuffle military units to react to attacks across the country. The country's civil war has intensified in recent weeks as rebels focused on the country's two biggest cities, Damascus and Aleppo. "We heard heavy bombing since dawn," a witness in Damascus told The Associated Press, asking that his name not be used out of fear for his personal safety. "Helicopters are in the sky." Saturday's violence comes only two weeks after the government crushed a rebel run on Damascus that included incursions by fighters into downtown neighborhoods and an audacious bomb attack that killed four members of Assad's inner circle. The fighting in Damascus appeared likely to drain the army's resources as fighting stretches into its second week in Aleppo, 350 kilometers (215 miles) to the north. Late Friday, Syria's official news agency SANA said government forces had hunted down the remnants of the "terrorist mercenaries" its term for the rebels in the capital's southern neighborhood of Tadamon.
12.29pm: A Syrian television presenter who was kidnapped from his Damascus home in mid-July has been executed, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Al Nusra, a little-known militant group, claimed the kidnapping and execution of Mohammed Al Saeed in a statement. The Observatory's Rami Abdel Rahman told the AFP news agency today: "The television presenter, a well-known figure on state TV, has been executed, and the Al Nusra Front has claimed responsibility for the killing." Last month, international media rights watchdog Reporters Without Borders issued a statement on Saeed's kidnapping, and urged his captors to release him. "News media and journalists – both professional and citizen journalists – should not be targeted by any of the parties in a war or civil war," it said at the time. 11.50am: On the diplomatic front, China has been hitting back at criticism of its position on Syria following a vote at the United Nations which overwhelmingly condemned the Syrian government. Wang Kejian, deputy head of the Chinese Foreign Ministry's West Asian and North African Affairs Department, reiterating China's opposition to an external intervention. "We should not easily close the window to a political solution let alone start military intervention," Wang said in a press conference earlier today in Beijing. He was speaking after a special session of the 193-nation UN General Assembly on Friday approved a Saudi-drafted resolution which expressed "grave concern" at the escalation of violence in Syria and condemned the Security Council for its inaction. Russia was among the 12 countries that opposed the resolution in the assembly while others that voted against it included China, Iran, North Korea, Belarus and Cuba. France has meanwhile said that it use its presidency of the UN Security Council to push for humanitarian aid for the Syrian, according to the Agence France Presse news agency. The French ambassador to the UN warned earlier today on Europe 1 radio that Russian and Chinese intransigence could lead to "a final disaster" 11.43am: Here's a link to video footage posted by a Syrian activist who said that it shows a jet swooping an firing on areas of Aleppo. 11.33am: Aerial operations against rebels in Syria's largest city appear to have resumed, according to this tweet from Sky News: Sky Correspondent: MiG fighter jets attacking Free Syrian Army positions in northern Aleppo — Sky News Newsdesk (@SkyNewsBreak) August 4, 2012
11.20am: In Saudi Arabia, a soldier and a gunman were killed late yesterday in an area populated by minority Shi'ite Muslims, according to reports coming through today. The deaths bring to 11 the number of people killed in the Qatif area since November in protests by members of Saudi Arabia's Shi'ite minority over what they see as entrenched discrimination, according to Reuters. "A security patrol was exposed to heavy fire from four armed rioters on motorbikes when pausing at a street intersection in Qatif," state news agency SPA reported, quoting Interior Ministry spokesman Mansour Turki. 11.16am: Iran has test fired a new short-range missile equipped with a guidance system it plans to install on all future missiles it builds, the country's Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) has reported. Defence Minister Ahmad Vahidi was quoted as saying: "With the fourth-generation of the Fateh 110, the armed forces of our country are able to target and destroy land and sea targets, enemy headquarters ... missile seats, ammunition sites, radars and other points." The Fateh 110 has a range of around 300 km (180 miles), IRNA said, meaning it would only be able to strike Iran's immediate neighbours. 10.58am:Kofi Annan, who has resigned as the UN and Arab League special envoy on Syria, has been the target of much criticism recently. Peter Beaumont, the Observer's foreign affairs editor, has been taking a look at the background to Annan's efforts however and says that he has been ill-supported by both Russia and the US, "who have preferred posturing to genuine negotiation". That was sharply dramatised by the blunderbuss dilomacy of both Sergei Lavrov and Hillary Clinton at the UN meeting on Syria on June 30th, where the two powers could not even agree on the most basic parsing of the communique that they had spent a day discussing, with Clinton arguing that it meant "Assad must go" and Lavrov immediately disputing that. It is precisely this that Annan means when he referred on Thursday to the continued "finger-pointing and name-calling in the Security Council." It is perhaps apocryphal - and this correspondent did not hear it himself at the meeting - but a colleague insists he overheard Clinton in an aside insisting to Lavrov as they left one of the closed sessions that he should desist from "contradicting her". Whether it is true or not, it does reflect a resentment in some quarters - not least in Moscow - over Clinton's personal style as Secretary of State, which has seemed to some less diplomatic than abrasive and uncompromising. The reality is that on all sides the players in Syria's agony have been more interested in their own agendas than in brigning an end to the bloodshed and civilian suffering.
10.47am: Syrian government forces have clashed with rebels around Aleppo's television and radio station today, according to activists who have been speaking to Reuters. One told the news agency that the rebels had sought to extend their area of control from the Salaheddine district, where the most intense fighting has been focused, northwards to the area around the television and radio station. "The Free Syria Army pushed from Salaheddine to al-Adhamiya where they clashed this morning with Syrian troops. But they had to retreat," said activist Barraa al-Halabi. A 19-year-old fighter called Mu'awiya al-Halabi, who was at the scene said Syrian snipers surrounded the station and targeted the rebels. "We were inside it for a few hours after clashes with the Syrian army but the Syrian army sent snipers and surrounded the TV station and as soon as morning came, the army started shooting. One of our fighters was martyred and four were wounded," he said. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which said 110 people had been killed on Friday, including 88 civilians, also confirmed the clash near the television and radio station. It said the terrestrial signal for Syrian television in Aleppo had been cut off. 10.43am: China says it is the West that should be blamed for obstructing diplomatic and political efforts to restore order and peace in Syria, the Associated Press news agency reports. The US and other nations have criticized China and Russia for using their veto power at the UN Security Council to block strong Western- and Arab-backed action against President Bashar Assad. But Wang Kejian, a deputy director of north African and west Asian affairs at the Chinese Foreign Ministry, told a news conference Saturday that some Western countries had hindered and sabotaged the political process by advocating regime change. Wang reiterated China's stance that the solution to the Syria crisis should be a political one and its opposition to any military intervention.
10.41am: Welcome to Middle East Live, with a focus on Syria, where the battle for the country's largest city of Aleppo appears to be reaching a decisive phase. Fresh clashes have also been reported in the capital, Damascus, despite a major push by regime forces in districts where rebels have been operating. The search for a coherent international response to the crisis is meanwhile continuing following the resignation of UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan and the failure of his six-point peace plan.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | A further 400 listed as missing as UN pledges aid amid 'chronic food shortages' for two-thirds of the population Almost 170 people have died in recent severe floods in North Korea, with a further 400 missing and more than 84,000 made homeless across the country, according to the state media. The official Korean Central News Agency said floods and a typhoon also displaced about 212,200 people and submerged more than 65,000 hectares (160,000 acres) of farmland between late June and the end of July. The flooding occurred after a severe drought and renewed concerns about North Korea's ability to feed its people. In June, the UN said two-thirds of the country's 24 million people were facing chronic food shortages. The UN World Food Programme announced on Friday the details of its first batch of emergency food aid to the country, although it did not state when it would arrive. The WFP said the emergency aid will provide the flood victims "with an initial ration of 400g of maize per day for 14 days". According to reports from the UN and Pyongyang's official KCNA news agency, the flooding has destroyed more than 45,000 hectares of farmland. A UN mission recently found considerable damage to maize, soybean and rice fields, the WFP said. A recent UN report classified 7.2 million of the population as "chronic poor", and said one in three children suffered from poor nutrition.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | A soldier and an alleged gunman died, with one soldier wounded, in a shootout during Shia protests in Qatif, in the oil-rich Eastern Province Two people have been killed in clashes between soldiers and Shia protesters in eastern Saudi Arabia, state media reported. A soldier and a Shia gunman were killed in a shootout in the city of Qatif late on Friday, according to the interior ministry. Spokesman Mansour Turki told the state news agency SPAs that a security patrol was shot at by four men on motorbikes. Another soldier was wounded in the incident. Four protesters were arrested, including one who was taken to hospital after suffering a bullet wound. The deaths bring to 11 the number of people killed in the Qatif area since November. The oil-rich Eastern Province is home to a Shia majority that has long complained of marginalisation. The world's top oil exporter follows the conservative Wahhabi school of Islam, which regards Shia Islam as heretical. Protests erupted in the region in March 2011 when a popular uprising in neighbouring Bahrain, which has a Shia majority and a Sunni royal family, was put down with the help of Saudi and other Gulf state troops.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Rolling report: Join Barry Glendenning in the Olympic Stadium as the men's 100m gets under way and the women's heptathlon continues
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Rolling report: Join Barry Glendenning in the Olympic Stadium as the men's 100m gets under way and the women's heptathlon continues
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